My hands shook from the magic running through them. I concentrated, blocking out Miles’ screaming and reached within me to cut off the flow of magic. Nothing happened. Oh crap. This was bad. I tried again and again, but there was no stopping it.
“Please, don’t let me hurt anyone,” I silently prayed.
I couldn’t make out what Miles was yelling over the quaking earth.
Several mages approached the perimeter of the training area. I felt their magic surge. They better be putting up a shield. My magic was reaching the outer edges of the training area.
The strain made my arms shake, but no matter how hard I tried to stop my magic, it wouldn’t.
I saw the bluish tint of the shield as it flickered over me. Through the shield, I saw the anxious and panicked faces staring at me. They looked at me like I was a monster. Maybe I was a monster.
Miles yelled at someone and a male mage stepped through the shield.
“I’m sorry,” he said
“What —” I asked.
His magic hit me. It stabbed into me and shot electricity throughout my body. My teeth rattled and my eyes rolled back into my head as I toppled into unconsciousness.
11
I woke up to blinding light flooding in from the windows. I squinted in the searing light. I felt like I’d been on a bender and drank my way through the majority of the Mid Line bars. My head pounded in synch with my galloping heart. My tongue felt thick and too big for my mouth.
Based on how much light was coming in, I was out for hours. Would the others worry when I didn’t come back after training? Somehow, I doubted Miles told them I was detained.
I forced myself to concentrate through the pain and discomfort. I was I laying on a bed, but I couldn’t move my arms or legs. When Miles had the mage knock me out, they obviously wanted the assurance that I wouldn’t go using my magic again – hence the drastic approach to incapacitate me. I didn’t I blame him, it was a wise decision and I’d have done the same to an out-of-control mage.
People needed protection from me. I’d shown my true self and it was ugly and warped, but a part of me ached to use my magic again. To feel that flood of power again and the incredible sensation that came with. Using my magic made me feel alive in a way that nothing else could. It was as if someone flipped a switch and I saw every little thing that had been muffled and hidden. It was intoxicating sensation and I wanted that fix again.
It was only sheer luck that there was another magic user here today that was strong enough to subdue me. Who knew how bad things would have gotten if he wasn’t there? How many people would have been hurt or killed just because I wanted to show off and prove I was a bad ass?
“You deserve to be thrown into the deepest, darkest pit in the Mage Guild Headquarters. You’re a menace,” said Miles from the door.
He wasn’t wrong. Death was too much of a mercy for me.
“So, throw me in it,” I said, coughing to clear the heavy gravel sound from my throat. I forced out the words through the pain in my throat. “What are you waiting for?”
“The Guild Master gave you leniency this time and this time only. Although, it was stupid of them to leave you on your own in the first place. You’re a loose cannon and a risk to everyone around you. No one should have the power you do.”
“Well, get over it. I have no control over the magic I was born with. Either train me or don’t.”
“You said it there, ‘control’. Either you learn it or you don’t. If you fail, I don’t have to put up with you. And, you’re one less problem for the Guild.”
“Bite me.”
He hissed in a breath and left the way he came.
A healer came in soon after Miles left. She was young and couldn’t be much older than me. If she has a position with the enforcers, then she was very skilled. That reassured and concerned me. It meant I was in that bad of shape.
“What’s the damage?” I asked.
The healer ignored me and started waving her hands above me, assessing my condition. She looked at me. After several awkward minutes, the healer broke the silence.
“You’re lucky.”
“Of course. And, I remind myself of that every day,” I said and winked.
She squinted at me and frowned, her faced lined with disapproval, her back rigid.
“You don’t remember how you got here, do you?”
“I was attacked by a mage to stop my magic,” I said.
“We had to kill you.”
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“You heard me. The mage subdued you and even unconscious, your magic wouldn’t shut off. It took stopping your heart to get the magic to stop attacking everyone and everything.”
She was lying. Once you were out cold, then your magic was supposed to stop. It required a person to control and funnel it through their body. Why had mine not stopped?
“You are stable enough. I’ll be telling Mr. Miles that he can get you home,” she said and left my room.
I want Muffin. I felt so helpless. It’s been years since I was so lost and unsure of myself. I also didn’t trust Miles. He wasn’t my friend or ally. And, I genuinely believed he wanted me to fail.
A short time later, Miles came back in.
“Get up. Zora says you are fit to leave. I suggest you think on this experience and figure out what you want. You are either an
