Sorry it took so long!!! Please comment like you always have! I need inspiration for Chp 8 to continue on. 

J: VII                               Crossroads                    11:30 PM

          Jamie closed the front door. Before him all of his furniture sat, tidy and oblivious. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting. Possibly new and completely disheveled furniture? All arranged nicely to parallel his new and disheveled life. He thought about locking the door behind him, allowing him to escape this crazy situation so that he could hide and take nervous refuge beneath his covers. It may be his last hope to awaken tomorrow to find this past few days had all been a dream.

          Then he thought of Laurel, specifically he thought of him having to stand outside waiting all night for Jamie, anxious for his return to his side. Jamie wasn’t cruel enough to make him go through that. Especially since what ever danger Laurel claimed was relevant seemed to be very real to him. Jamie pushed his back up against the door. He needed a minute to breathe.

          He tried to debate over the possibilities before him. Laurel could always be mentally insane. After all he did persistently talk about energy, elements, and claims of witchery? What could be a more perfect technical definition of insane? The other four always seemed to be nice enough, could they really have it in them to set out on a mission to kill them? When it came down to details Jamie thought maybe it would be better if he stayed inside until he could just think through all of this tomorrow when his mind was more clear.

          It was only now that he realized he had slid down the door and was now sitting on the tile floored platform that marked the houses entry way. He took a few deep breaths lowering his head to rest on his knees. Jamie closed his eyes to try to find solace somewhere in his own mind. As he opened them something was wrong. He blinked again to make sure. The result remained the same. His vision was gone, all was black. Repeatedly he blinked again and again trying not to panic, yet he could still feel his heart begin to race a bit faster each moment. Oh no, he thought, I have stressed myself out. To the point of blindness! Then the visions came.

          He was lying on Laurel’s bare chest, fingers traveling up and down making circles across his skin. Rays of sunlight shone in through the window adjacent to the bed they were lying in. Making Laurel’s face washed out by bright light. It was the same vision he had seen so many times before, but he thought they had ended. It had been nearly a week since it had happened last. However the vision did not end where it normally did. This one continued on a part new to Jamie. He looked up to meet Laurel’s eyes, and then Jamie said the words he had never said to anyone but his mother “I love you.”

          Everything became black again. Only a matter of seconds later another vision began. It was mid-day and Jamie blinked as he looked up into the sun. As he glanced around he recognized where he was. It was the alley way between the side of his school and the house which stood next to it. To his right were dumpsters pressed against a two story brick wall, to the left was a chain link fence that almost dwarfed Jamie in comparison. He turned to look behind him, the same fence topped in spikes continued on behind him blocking off anyway to exit. A feeling of panic began to stir about his body. He looked around more feverishly, hoping he would find a route of escape previously missed. Walls, Fences, Spikes.  Nothing, he was trapped. As he thought Jamie couldn’t help but be confused. He had no idea what he was trapped by or why it was such a problem. Yet at the same time in his vision he could feel a need to panic, he felt as physically tied to this dream version of Jamie as he did to himself. However he was still distant, he couldn’t control him, and he couldn’t talk to him. All he could do was sit and observe. In the end Jamie didn’t know what the problem was but the Jamie in his vision did, and he was obviously terrified.

          Then it became apparent, four people stood in front of the only exit ahead of him. Each person linked hands and began to close the few yards length that separated him from the one group that he never wanted to see again. Slowly but surely they walked in step toward Jamie, all four staring intently at him, all mouthing words Jamie couldn’t hear. The sky darkened, casting a long dark shadow on the alley way in which they stood. Wind started tugging against Jamie’s clothes. It was pushing him towards them! Jamie pushed back, no matter how hard he tried he felt useless. The wind was grabbing, pulling, and twisting him towards the four.         

Jamie lost his grip as he stumbled reluctantly toward them, falling to his knees he cried out. “Laurel!” The dream Jamie yelled through the sobs that had begun to escape his mouth. Laurel wasn’t here, both Jamie’s knew that. They were only a few feet away now, and they stopped walking forward. Their words became audible to Jamie, who could still barely hear them over his sobs and the whistle of the wind in his ears.

“Take his power, take his might. Spirits of our dead take flight. Strip his life, restore our reign, stack all in the Origin’s name. Take his power…” The chant repeated, and Jamie’s sobs became silence as he stared up at them in awe. The dream Jamie struggled until he could stand to face them. If he was going to be defeated he would try to do so standing up, not cowering. Still they towered over him in all their supernatural power. Their faces turned evil by the darkness of the shadows and the focus that was across their face. Lined up in a perfect line their booming voices echoed in unison, not one voice was different from the others. They had become one. The wind grew more violent, screaming in his ears. Pulling and grabbing became cutting and tearing, as if the wind itself were sharp and jagged. Jamie watched as the dream version of himself clawed at his throat as if he couldn’t breathe. They were sucking all the air out of the alley!

He watched as dream Jamie once again fell to his knees. He rolled over lying on his side still clutching his throat. The angle of the vision changed to a close-up on Jamie’s face, as if this were a horror movie. Jamie shuddered at the image, dream Jamie mouthed one final word as he was dying there on the cement. Laurel

Everything once again went black. Jamie came to in a start, kicking against the floor to gain purchase. As he did he stood up in a protective stance, looking around at his house. Everything looked to be in place, he crouched over putting his hands on his knees. He was gasping for air. Other than his shortness of breath he was fine and unharmed. As his breathing evened out he leaned against the door. The visions were pretty clear, he decided to follow Laurel before he ended up in that alley for real.

Great, he was crazy as well.

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His room had never felt so distant and strange to him before. As he finished packing the last of his three outfits he couldn’t help but feeling a stranger in this place. Like a bandit stealing items from a past life. He put everything he needed in his large black backpack. As he walked to the other side of his bed he stopped in front of his green messenger bag. He grabbed it and tried stuffing it into his other backpack. The wonders of having multiple sized bags, he thought.  He needed those contents, books, mp3 players, things that were necessary to running away. As he pressed it down more he felt something strange, it felt like a hard cover. He didn’t own any hard covered books, they were too expensive for his no salary wallet. He pulled the book out of his messenger bag, it was Lillian’s book of magic or whatever she had called it. She must have slipped it in before he left! He finished getting everything in the bag.

Jamie walked over to the desk against the wall and began rummaging for paper and a pen. When he had found it he took his cell phone out of his pocket and placed it in the top drawer, he shut it closed. Jamie tried to do the best he could to not think. The more he thought the more emotional he would become. At this moment emotions were not his friend. The plain white page stared up at him waiting, expecting. Jamie stared back, contemplating how to say goodbye to the person who cared for him the most. He sat down and picked up the pen. He began as simply as he could, hoping the rest would write itself.

‘Dear Mom,

I love you.

I need to tell you that I am running away. Lyspen is not my kind of town and I need to start following life for myself. Please know this has nothing to do with you. You haven’t done anything wrong. I just need to find myself before it’s too late. I don’t want to be lost and hopeless, stuck in a pattern I must live like the rest of this country. I promise I’ll be safe, try not to worry about me, I can handle it. Please, don’t try to find me. I have left my cell here, but I will try to contact you soon. Thank you, for everything. Know there is not one single thing about this relationship that I regret. I’ll miss you.

                                                            Love Forever and Always,

                                                                                    Jamie’

          Jamie watched the paper waiting for it to disappear, his last hope that this was all a dream. It remained as it was, solid and existing, sitting upon his desk. He ran through a mental checklist making sure everything was taken care of. As he grabbed his bag of the bed to go downstairs he thought of Carly. Jamie knew he couldn’t leave her out of the loop on this one, he still had to make amends with her. He added a P.S. to the note he left his mother telling her about the letter he was leaving for Carly. In it he asked her to forward it to her if she could.

                   ‘Carly,

Hey. I’m going to be leaving for awhile. I just wanted you to know, I’m not angry with you, and I hope that you will forgive me. I’m also sorry I am leaving. I’ll t     ell you the entire story when I get back. I promise it’s a good one.

                                                                                                Love,

                                                                                                Jamie’

          Some of the pressure that had been pushing against his chest released. He felt better knowing he said his goodbyes to the two people who had always been there for him. He folded his note to Carly and wrote her name on the front. He chose to leave the note to his mother open, the sooner she was able to read it the better.

          Jamie walked to the door. He made his way through and shut his door behind him. He didn’t want to look back. After all that wasn’t his room, it wasn’t his house, and he didn’t want to invade the tenant’s privacy any longer. Every detail of the house became so apparent to Jamie. Every noise the stairs made, the feeling of the carpet against his shoes as he walked downstairs. They all stuck out, burning their images and memories into his brain.

          He left the letters on the kitchen counter. That was his last deed, it felt as if he were laying roes on his own grave. As if he were dead, this was his funeral. A single tear fell on his mom’s letter. Jamie brushed his cheek scolding himself for letting emotion sneak through. If he was going to remain strong he needed to keep his guard up. Jamie left his house for what may have been the very last time.

////////

          Jamie locked the door behind him. Just because he might turn out to be safe he was not about to subject his mom to four teens who had the power to murder everyone they stood near. He bent down as he placed his key on top of the bristly Welcome Mat. He imagined this as his farewell to his mother, yelling thank into the void darkness of his mind. Getting this mat in return, ‘You’re Welcome’ it said.

          “Goodbye.” With that he stood up and walked to the street. Jamie only now noticed it was raining. When did that start? He immediately felt guilty for taking such a long time, Laurel must be freezing by now. Jamie zipped his jacket tighter as he approached Laurel’s figure, which was just a silhouette standing against the rain.

          “What took so long? I was about to come in to make sure you were still okay.” A frown brought the corners of Jamie’s mouth down. His guilt was only perpetuated by Laurel’s comment. How long had he been gone? He forgot to check the time after the visions ended. For all he knew it could have been hours.

          “Sorry I ran into some…complications.” As he thought about it he decided he didn’t want to tell Laurel about the visions he had. Doing so would reveal that he was thinking about ditching Laurel. The idea hurt Jamie; He couldn’t imagine how much it would hurt Laurel.

          “Was your mom awake?” Laurel’s brows furrowed in a look of worry and contemplation. Jamie was not expecting this as a possible question. He felt tears well up in his eyes. He realized this had been his expectation all along, hidden by his subconscious. He had stalled a little bit with every step through the house, not covering a single noise he made. Silently hoping that his mother would awaken, swoop in, and shelter him under her wings. Even now Jamie wished it had happened, he wanted to be saved, to cry as she comforted him. He had wanted her to talk him out of it, to make all the problems go away.

          “No.” Jamie said as he struggled to keep his voice steady. No tears have fallen in front of Laurel, and he needed it to stay that way.

          “Jamie? What’s wrong?” Laurel was getting protective. Jamie watched as Laurel’s chest heaved, his breathing becoming accelerated. His hands were slightly twitching as they became fists, releasing and regaining tension. His eyes glanced between Jamie and the surroundings of the street and houses, waiting for any sign of danger.

 Jamie felt comforted by his sudden alertness. It was apparent that when it came to danger Laurel would be willing to step up and fight in the matter of an instant. Jamie decided this was a confirmation of his vision. Right here, next to Laurel, this was where he needed to be. This is where he wanted to be. The man standing in front of him was willing to die for him, more than that Jamie loved him. This too had been confirmed by his visions. As he continued to stare at Laurel he realized that he was completely dry. Jamie looked down at his blue sweater, he was dry as well. He glanced upwards to the sky, the rain continued to pour.

“Laurel, Laurel. Calm down, I’m fine.” He placed his hand on Laurel’s shoulder to assure him further. “It’s fine. I’ll tell you about it later I promise.” He watched as Laurel began to calm. It was a striking difference. He looked like an entirely different person when he was enraged.

“Okay, let’s go.” Laurel started walking down the street. Jamie followed and did a little hop step to catch up with him.

          “Hey, Laurel. Umm…how are we dry? I mean, it’s raining pretty hard right now.” Laurel turned and Jamie’s heart skipped as a sly smile grew across his face. It had been at least a week since he had seen that smirk. Jamie warmed as he felt his skin flush.

          “Magic.” With that he let out an entrancing laugh, the kind that only Laurel could. Well, Jamie had been awaiting proof and this seemed proof enough. He was dry while the world was wet. As they walked Jamie knew there was no going back now. It was full speed ahead…wherever that is.

////////

          It felt as if they had been walking for hours now. Jamie was cold, but at least he wasn’t wet. It was a strange feeling knowing that he was enshrouded by magic, unsettling almost. A force that as he was raised was told was fake, imaginary. Now he was part of an exclusive world. One which he didn’t have resources to even start to understand. He thought of the book that now resided on the bag he carried on his back, he had a way to educate himself. Maybe…it all depended on how much of the script was true and how much was fairy tell legend. Of course he could always ask the source, now that Laurel and he were in this together Jamie was sure he would happily share some of his information. Especially sense it was the only way Jamie could truly learn how to adapt to this way of life. He would wait a bit before bringing any of his questions up, it would be best to let Laurel think of his plans at the moment.

          He heard the sloshing sounds as he walked through the puddles of water that were forming on the ground. Everything seemed normal enough, he felt each drop hit his skin, at times he even swore he could feel drops plunk down onto his scalp and then trickle in a stream down his face. Yet as he brushed his hands across his cheeks all that he felt was dry skin. A chill shivered down his spine, he felt like an amputee with phantom pains, it was a foreign sickening feeling.

          “You’ll get used to it.” Laurel must have sensed his discomfort, or noticed his constant re-confirming that he wasn’t wet. Jamie looked at Laurel, he was no more than three feet away but he was still surprisingly hard to see. His black hair faded into the surroundings. Of course, his black coat didn’t help any, it was nearly impossible to make out. It was as if his head was floating along in the darkness. Jamie was starting to doubt this plan. They had made their way out of the city and were now somewhere in the tree filled hills. There were no street lights to guide them, and from the looks of it they were heading absolutely nowhere at an alarmingly slow rate.

          “Laurel?” Jamie cleared his throat nervously. “Where is it we’re going?”

          “This moment? We are going to a train station.”

          “And after that?” Laurel’s eyes melted all the ice cold feeling in Jamie’s body. He still couldn’t believe this boy standing in front of him was real.

          “It’s a surprise.” Laurel smiled and took his hand out of his pocket. Jamie watched as he reached toward him. It took Jamie a second to realize what Laurel was doing. Once he understood Jamie placed his hand in Laurel’s. It was warm, accompanied by the energy waves that were slowly becoming familiar and welcomed to Jamie. It was scary how easily Laurel could get Jamie to trust him, with his hand around Jamie’s he felt like everything was in control.

////////

          Jamie’s hand fumbled as it searched in the pockets of his jeans. It took him a few moments to process the fact that there was nothing in them. He forgot that he had intentionally made sure they were empty. Yet by trained repetition he was looking for his cell phone to check what time it was. He didn’t like the feeling of being cut off from the instantaneous knowledge that his phone provided him with. It made him anxious.

          “Laurel?” Jamie used his right hand to stifle a yawn. His left was still intertwined with Laurels. “What time is it?”

          “1:35….AM.” A questioning look spread across Jamie’s face. Laurel didn’t check his watch, or any sort of clock. He hadn’t since they had left Lyspen. Either he was being sarcastic or Jamie was missing something.

          “How do you know?” He asked. Laurel just shrugged and kept moving forward. Jamie decided not to pursue the matter further. Instead he would let it sit in the mental pile he was keeping. It was already stacked pretty high from all of the questions that were rattling around, bouncing of the sides of his mind. The good news was it had stopped raining, the bad news? Jamie’s feet felt as if they would start bleeding any moment now, if they hadn’t already. He was a slacker at simple P.E. games, so walking for hours was definitely not in his physical stamina level.

          “Where is this train station? I still don’t see any sign of a city anywhere near here. I’m not sure how long I will be able to keep walking.” Jamie had held off on saying this for awhile now, he didn’t want to sound like the kid on a road trip constantly nagging and asking questions. The only reason he asked was because he really couldn’t stand the pain any longer.

          “We’ll be there soon. I think.” Laurel stared off in the distance as if he were calculating some sort of trigonometry equation. “I’m sorry Jamie.” He turned his head to meet Jamie’s gaze. Laurel’s eyes were filled with merciful passion. Jamie knew with one-hundred percent certainty in that instant that Laurel wasn’t doing this to hurt him. “Are you tired?” Most surprising to Jamie was how fast Laurel could change from being stoic, to being filled with so much emotion. He never knew which version of Laurel he would be standing next to.

          “Well, there’s that. Plus my feet hurt something awful.” Jamie really didn’t want to be the one to complain. He didn’t want to look weak in front of Laurel.

          “We’re almost there.” Laurel said and then paused as if in mid-thought. “I’ll carry you.” Before Jamie had a chance to protest Laurel’s hands were on his back and the back of his knees. Jamie held his breath as the disorientation of being lifted through the air took hold of him. He laid his head against Laurel’s chest as he cradled him. The cotton fabric of his light blue turtle neck rubbed against his nose and sheltered him from the cold. It was only a matter of minutes before the beat of Laurel’s heart mixed together with the warmth and rhythm of the up and down motion. As they all combined, Jamie fell to sleep.

////////

          Jamie blinked against the harsh fluorescent light that filled the room as his eyes first opened. White light was all that he could see for a few seconds at least. As his vision came to he saw rows of wooden benches around him. He was lying on his side and his first thought was that of a church. No…it couldn’t be the lighting was all wrong it was more like a hospital. Jamie sat up. There was a span of green and white tiles which formed an almost dizzying checked pattern, yet all the dirt covering the floor and the dingy smell that emitted from every surface spoke to the fact that this wasn’t a hospital either.

          Jamie slowly remembered that Laurel said they were going to a train station. This must be it. The question being, where was Laurel? Jamie looked over his shoulder, and leaned a little to try to see beyond the corner. He saw Laurel standing at a window of double-paned glass. Behind the glass stood a middle-aged looking man. The circles puffing out at the bottom of his eyes looked like they were the least of his problems. Jamie couldn’t help but wonder if the attendant was even sober, his red vest was barely buttoned, and his undershirt was only half tucked in.

          As he kept giving the ticket seller a once over a shiver of fear sent the hairs on the back of his neck to a standing position. Jamie had never been this far away from his home, not without his mom, or a team of chaperones. Seeing this sketchy looking man, with all of his unkempt greasy hair, made Jamie realize how unprotected and vulnerable he was.

          Jamie stood and walked toward Laurel. If he need protection it was best he was by Laurel’s side, knowing that he would definitely step up and at least try to protect Jamie. As he stepped up to them he caught the end of their conversation.

          “That’s really the quickest way you can take care of this? I have schedules to attain to; I need it to be faster than that.” Laurel didn’t sound extremely enthused about whatever was happening.

          “I already told you, err…mister.” The attendant’s voice was grainy, and fit well with his grungy appearance. “I can’t do nuttin ‘bout it. She’s runnin’ all the time. Her tires are worn, so she’s down for the maintaining. It’s gonna take a few hours to fix.” Another thing that fit with this man, he was as uneducated as he looked. It’s not great to judge a book by its cover, but unsettling enough this character read directly as written. Jamie inched closer to Laurel’s side. He could see Laurel’s shoulders were tense and yelled of his frustration. When he turned to look at Jamie, some of his tension released. Jamie watched as Laurel let go of the air he had been holding in his chest. Jamie was glad to know that he could be of some use.

          “Hi babe,” Laurel said. He leaned over and kissed Jamie on the cheek. Jamie jumped a little not sure how to respond. He glanced to the guy behind the glass; he quickly tried to remove his shocked expression. Even when his mouth had closed, and his brow had lowered, the worst part remained. The utter look of disgust in his eyes. Sheer disapproval, sheer hatred.

          Jamie looked down, he was embarrassed and fighting off tears. This was the first person to witness their relationship, and Jamie couldn’t help but feel this was how most people would respond to them. He wanted to hide, he wanted to yell. He wanted to be home.

          “It’s fine,” Laurel said. “We’ll wait ‘till the train is ready to leave.” Laurel must have caught on, his arm was wrapped around Jamie’s shoulder and he was leading him back to the waiting area. Jamie counted the pale dirty squares as they passed beneath his feet. A trick he had learned from his mother, counting dissipates anger.

////////

          It had been about thirty minutes. There was no telling how long it was going to take to fix whatever was causing the delay. Jamie felt bad because he could tell how much it was getting under Laurel’s skin. Given he had very good reasons to be anxious. The two of them were sitting ducks, just waiting for the other four to hunt them down and make their kill. Jamie wasn’t too excited about the prospect either. In the end he decided it wasn’t something to fret over, after all there was nothing they could do to change it. When the train was up it was up, but until then they had to sit and wait. Unless…

          “Um Laurel?” He looked at Jamie from where he was sitting, head in hands, he looked defeated.

          “What?” Laurel slightly shouted. Jamie tried not to let his expression show any twinge of flinching. Laurel had never snapped at him before.

          “Couldn’t you, fix it? The train, I mean. Or speed up time or something?” Laurel shook his head in response before returning to his shut off position, head and hands yet again. So much for that stroke of genius.

          “No.” Laurel answered. Jamie took this to mean the conversation was still open.

          “But if you really have all of these powers, or spells or whatever. There should be something you can do. Right?”

          “Jamie, it doesn’t just work like that. You can’t just, boom.” Laurel sat up straight and cocked his fingers as if he were shooting an invisible pistol. “Point and shoot at something. It doesn’t work like that.”

          “Then how does it work? Explain something to me! Jeez, I am following you God knows where. I think some explanations would be nice. I’ve given up everything for you! Yet you can’t even take a moment to explain how any of this is supposed to work? Or, or…where we are going even. I want to leave. I’m going home. This is bullshit!” Laurel sat still, obviously stunned, his mouth slightly agape. Jamie wasn’t entirely sure but it appeared as if Laurel’s eyes were watering. He instantly wanted to take back everything. At the same time, he didn’t, he couldn’t. He meant what he had said and one way or another Laurel needed to hear it.

          “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to come out like that. I just….I need to know.”

          “Don’t be,” Laurel cleared his throat. “Sorry. You’re right. You are absolutely right.”

          “I am?” Jamie asked. Was he? He knew that what he had said had been his truth but at the same time it felt slightly wrong. When Laurel wanted to open up he would. He didn’t want to force anything to happen.

          “Yes. I’ve been unfair. I expected you to just follow me blindly and give up your entire world to me with no explanation. I should have been more sensitive than that. At the very least I owe you every helping tip I can provide to you. I know this is hard for you Jamie. It’s hard for me as well, we are both leaving people we love behind. And know now that I can’t tell you everything. Not right now. Over time of course I will try to. However, it may take awhile. But whenever I can answer a question you hold I will. This is my second promise to you Jamie.” Jamie could see that he meant every word he said, it echoed through every one of Laurel’s muscles.

          “Your second? What was your first?”

          “To always protect you at any cost. I thought that went without saying.” Laurel’s little smirk of a smile spread across his face. Jamie couldn’t help but to smile back, it had been too long since he had seen that smile, the one which was now illuminating Laurel’s entire face.

////////

          “So the answer is no?” Jamie asked just wanting to make sure. Laurel was sitting on the bench and Laurel was lying on his back filling in the rest of the open space of the bench.

          “It’s too hard to restore a broken item which I have never even seen. Especially since the others aren’t here. If I was familiar with all of the workings of a train, and if I had everyone together to add the needed energy involved. Then yes, it may be a possibility.  Like I said it’s more complicated than point and shoot.” Jamie was glad the fight had been resolved so easily, he wouldn’t be sure what to do if it had turned into something large and stand-offish. At the same time this selective information was only confusing him further.

          So to fix something Laurel needed energy? Like voltage? No that was stupid. That wouldn’t make any sense, but at the same time, what about all of this did make sense? Jamie looked down at his hands, a layer of dust had begun to form beneath his nails from his recent trek into the mountains. Mental note was as soon as possible. Jamie lifter his head and laid it on Laurel’s thigh. A tingle went through his body. Energy! Of course, after all Jamie was a witch now, he could help.

          “I could help. If I have power, I can fill the place of the others.” Jamie was glad he remembered these facts. He was beaming at the thought of helping.

          “Jamie. No,” said Laurel. The smile fell from Jamie’s face instantly.

          “No? Why not?”

          “First off, you aren’t strong enough. Either you won’t do anything. Or your power will be too miss-guided to do any good. You need to learn control and stability first. Secondly, we are too close to the others still. Any use of magic and they will be able to track it. Think GPS, but much much more accurate. We can’t afford that risk.” Jamie bit down on his lip this wasn’t the reply he had expected. Laurel made very solid points obviously. There was no real way to contest his reasons.

          “You can teach me. Right now. I am a pretty quick study. We nee to take a chance, if we just sit here, they’ll find us. If we do magic, they’ll find us. If we use magic at least the train will be fixed and we can leave before they get here.”

          “If, and that’s a big if. If we fix the train. You are forgetting the part where you might do something wrong, in which case, the four will still know we did magic and then we will be here with no escape.” Laurel closed his eyes, apparently trying to figure out what to do. Jamie watched as he leaned back slumping against the back of the bench. Jamie sat up and did the same, but leaving his eyes open. He wanted to remain awake and present.

          “Well I think this phrase has never fit better.” Laurel paused eyes still closed. “‘Go big, or go home.’” Laurel chuckled opening his eyes to stare at the ceiling. After a moment he rolled his head to look at Jamie. With a sparkle in those blue eyes he seemed suddenly confident. “Go big or go home. Indeed.”

////////

          “So….where do we start? Do we say a spell or drink some sort of potion?” Jamie guessed he was wrong from the chuckle the Laurel gave.

          “Sure, if this were a movie. That just might work.” Jamie was sitting cross legged on the bench, Laurel was cheated towards him. Jamie jumped nervously at the sound of a heater rumbling to life somewhere in the background. All this expectation had made him a little bit edgy. Especially because the four swords of his death could storm into the station at any moment. He remembered the vision of him being stuck in the alley, weren’t they saying a spell of some sort?

          “I know I don’t understand how any of this works, but can’t we say a spell? I’ve…heard they work.” Jamie was still reluctant to tell Laurel what he had seen. After all if Laurel answered no then the vision must have been nothing more than a dream, not an actual prediction. Jamie would feel oddly comforted knowing it was just a product of his manic imagination.

          “Spells work. Depending on what you are doing. For instance, if you have an immediate situation in which you need to change someone’s mind or persuade an event to happen. Then you would need a spell. Or what we call chants. Times when you need to call the elements into your doing. You can also use chants to ask for the aid of the Ancients. Chants are powerful but difficult to encompass entirely. They take a lot of focus, and you need to be sure it is the exact situation that the chant is called for. Or else it’s useless. As for potions…”Laurel once again giggled at the prospect. Jamie could feel its warmth. He was glad that his questions were starting to get answered and weren’t being taken as a nuisance. 

          “Potions,” Laurel continued. “They are mainly a product of the media. They took a few instances and assumed they knew how our world turned. In the ancient times there were some people, a select few who knew our craft. They weren’t elementals, so they had limited mortal power. But they did have powers, everyone does. It’s truly a matter of learning how to use them and focus them into something palpable. Potions helped these people connect to the magical energy that they held. This led to potions for health, when the two began to form a more solid representation and validity the people started researching why they worked. This led to science. People in general started to think more rationally bringing in an era in which people no longer needed magic, the mortals who used to be witches, stopped practicing and began studying instead. Whether it is for better or for worse it led us to this world we have today. Medicine became precise and potions moved along into the background, and magic went with it. Now it’s become some sort of fable, distorted by movies, books, and whatever else.

          “So the answer is no. A potion would not really help us.” 

          “Well, thanks for the history lesson. I guess?” Laurel didn’t necessarily answer his question. Jamie was more interested about how they should approach this, not how they shouldn’t.

          “I’m just trying to teach you. You’ll have to forgive me Jamie. I’ve never had to do this before. We do have very little time to train you, if you need to fight, I want you to be ready. History is part of understanding how to use what you have.” Jamie stoked his hands against his pants nervously. They didn’t have the luxury of time, they needed to fix the train.  

          “No, I know. Thank you for that. What do we do then? We are running out of time at the moment.” Laurel stood up in front of Jamie and put both his hands out palms out. Jamie took one in each of his own and stood up to join him.

          “What we do, is wish.”

          “Wish?” Laurel shook their hands up and down.

          “Do you feel that Jamie?” He looked down at their hands, they were intertwined. He felt the energy pulsing between them. Felt the heat it generated. “That is all we need. All that energy is just waiting to be directed somewhere. Close you eyes.        Jamie watched the room disappear on the other side of his lids. His nerves felt as if they sped up the flow of that energy. He could use that.

          “I need you to concentrate. Set on our goal and focus that energy towards it. Imagine it draining from your body and leaving to accomplish the goal. Will it to be done. Need it to happen and think of nothing else. Go.”

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