Amid The Shadows Ch. 13

Claude leant forward and tapped on the thick partition between driver and passenger, 'Here will do my good man.' The vehicle pulled to a close outside an underground tube station.

As the taxi pulled away and Claude rearranged the bank noted in his wallet, Jensen gripped his shoulder. 'I'm sorry I mentioned my mother, I shouldn't have tired to use something so painful against you. Whatever and however you felt for each other is your own business.'

Claude nodded and headed towards the tube station. Jensen groaned internally, another journey on a smelly train surrounded by strangers. Wonderful. Jensen looked to the clock tower over head, it had been over an hour since he'd last seen Alex, an hour too long. Shoving his hands into his jacket pockets, he descended the station steps and waited for the tin can train to arrive.

**

Alex stood by the water fountain, bending over the fixture to take a drink. She stepped back and fumbled in the pack retrieving a cereal bar. She ate with a ravenous hunger. Her stomach was still churning slightly from the early sickness but she needed the energy. She'd walked through the raising dawn, she was close to the entrance of her destination.

The hills and mountains sprawled ruggedly in front of her, hard to believe that two hours walk from a town bought you to such beautiful surroundings. She followed the rocky footpath with a small smile, the path had been smoothed overtime by ramblers and tourists and the night's light rain has made it slippy. She caught herself a few times as she felt an urge to divert from the main path.

The key around her neck was singing and dancing with anticipation. She stood for a second and held the item in her free hand. A wave of magic overtook her senses and she the key were one, its song was a jingle of notes, peaceful, calming. Images flashes in her mind, Alex needed to move. Needed to find the stone box that the key fit into. Alex saw a flash, something craved into stone and fear overtook her. This was the place she has dreamed about and been attacked in. Taking a deep breath she starting a slow walk, as she moved further up the mountain, she fell into an easy rhythm. She could do this, she was grown woman and coming into powers she had never known. This was a time to prove her own self worth.

The cave's entrance could have been easily missed by the untrained eye. Years of playing hide and seek with the wolf pack's security guards had made her aware sometimes the most interesting place wasn't the most obvious to hide and stay hidden.

Alex pushed back a decades growth of moss and grass, her finger nails full with greenery. She saw the small entrance and as she leaned to the side a small corridor of stone leading into total darkness. She dropped her back pack to move some of the rugged rocks blocking the base of the craved doorway. Thirty three stones later, Alex wiped the sweat from her brow, collecting her bag she took a step and was confronted with an invisible wall.

She pushed, she prodded, she poked, nothing was penetrating this thing physically. She kicked a stone with her walking boot only to have it flying back and smacking her in the cheek. It stung but all Alex could do was laugh. After a few moments of light relief she spoke to the entrance. 'Yeah, yeah Karma's a bitch.'

She ran her fingers over the entrance, looking for any figures or symbols of precautionary magic craved above or around the entrance. Two small runes craved into the stone. Water runes. To protect the crave against the elements. She scanned around the other side of the door and spotted one detail. One mark, a circle blasted into the stone. She'd read about in old cases and histories, when group magic was performed together, the compression of magic could leave an imprint. In some cases a perfectly formed circle chipped into the stone at some force.

She studying the door intently. She was going to have to break the protection spell surrounding the door way. This was going to take time and energy.

**