If you like to start reading from the beginning, check out A Grave Mistake: Chapter 1

Magic should be available to all who can use it. Isn’t that what they’ve always said? That’s all I was trying to do. Level the playing field. But they’re panicking now and I guess it’s my fault.

CHAPTER 9 – HAROLD WATSON
Day 3, 8 pm

His surroundings were blurred and transparent as he transitioned back to his home. The blur of dark shapes before him slowly came into focus and became solid. Harold had just spent the day with his grandson and getting there had been so easy! He couldn’t believe the gift he’d been given.

The only light was coming from the streetlight outside, he could tell, that something wasn’t right. He was standing in the kitchen there were dark shapes all over the floor and nothing appeared to be where it should have been. As he slowly shuffled his way down the hall to turn on a light, he noticed that the front door was open. He groped along the wall for a light, trying his best not to trip over the miscellaneous objects strew across the floor.

“Leave the light off,” a child’s voice said in the darkness. “And get down. They might still be out there.”

“Who’s there?” he whispered.

“It’s Kaiden.”

“How did you get in here? What happened to my house?”

“The men who kidnapped Jack did it. They broke in and left the door open when they left.”

“What do you mean they kidnapped Jack? We have to call the police.” He reached into his pocket for his phone.

“I already did,” Kaiden said. “I talked to them for forever.”

Harold put his phone back in his pocket. “You should go home. Your parents must be worried sick!”

“Not until we find Jack. You have to teleport us to him.”

“Do you know where he is?”

“No,” Kaiden said. “But can’t you just imagine where he is and take us there.”

Harold filled one of the chairs back upright and sat down. “I don’t think that’s how it works.” He was silent for a few moments as he tried to gather his thoughts. “I’ve been thinking about how all this happened and I have a theory. You guys said that all this started after Jack went to the doctor’s office, right?”

“Yeah,” Kaiden said.

“I was at the doctor’s office on the day I first started teleporting too.”

“Does this mean we have to go your doctor’s office?”

“Not we. Me.” Harold said. “Please step back.”

Kaiden frowned, but did as he was told. Harold began to imagine the outside of his doctor’s office. Soon the dark shapes around him started to fade from view. Then, everything was dark for a moment. As things came back into focus he found himself wedged between a thick, prickly hedge and a dilapidated fence. He’d specifically transported himself here so that he would be out of sight of anyone potentially watching him appear, but he hadn’t anticipated on it being quite so uncomfortable.

As he stepped out from behind the bushes he saw that the all of the lights were off and it appeared to be empty. He brushed a couple stray leaves out of his hair and dusted off his pants as he walked to the front door. It was well after closing, but he tried the door anyway just in case. It jiggled a bit, but remained firmly closed.

The more he thought about it, the more sure he was that it all started here. But, the question now was, where was Jack? He slowly prowled around the perimeter of the building looking in the windows as we went. He made it almost all the way around when he got to the locked gate of the underground parking garage. He could see through the bars and was considering teleporting past the gate when he heard a door slam inside the garage. Then, the sound of footsteps and voices, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying.

Suddenly, the gate started to roll up as the sound of clattering metal echoed against the concrete walls of the garage. He started to sneak under the opening gate when someone yanked his shirt from behind and pulled him back. He looked over and saw Kaiden silently motioning him away from the from the gate. They crouched behind one of the giant potted plants that lined the walk-way to the front door.

“I thought I told you not to come here,” he whispered to Kaiden.

They crouched even lower as a black van drove out of the garage and past them.

“It’s a good thing I did, because if I didn’t, they’d have thrown you into their van already,” Kaiden whispered back. As soon as the van reached the end of the parking lot and turned left, Kaiden started sprinting towards the closing gate. He just managed to duck under before it clattered shut behind him the grinding metal sound stopped with a final thunk.

“C’mon.” He stuck his hand through the bars and motioned for Harold to hurry up and join him.

Realizing he didn’t have much choice, Harold teleported from his hiding place to the other side of the parking gate.

“Wow! And I thought my power was handy.” A tall, lean man stepped out from the shadows.

Terrified, Harold and Kaiden stared back in silence.

Chapter 10 coming soon 🙂