The feeling of Magick being used nearby was an unwelcome one to my slightly nauseous stomach.

The pull tugged me more in the direction of the Hotel, right into the foyer, a dusty room with an expanse of horribly chosen carpet. Which clashed with the curtains.

I shuffled across it, following the pull. Right until it stopped in front of William and two impeccably dressed men.

Probably some of his posh friends.

William seemed relieved to see me, 'Alina! I'd like to introduce you to a couple of old friends, James Scott-Green and Robert Taylor'

I held out my hand, 'Alina Ascania. Pleasure to meet you.'

So you can be civil if you want.

Shut up.

Shut doesn't-

Shhhh.

The men shook my hand, one, Robert I think, taking the time to kiss it.

As if that was supposed to impress me.

I didn't stay to listen to their mindless chatter for long, pushing past them with some excuse. James whistled as I walked away, 'She's a beauty William. Where do you pick them up?'

I glanced back, sending a wink at my uncomfortable friend, sandwiched in between his insufferable friends.

»--«

Up in my room I sat at the window, Faé stone removed from it's holder and in a bowl before me. In the right hand was a dagger, a present from Mother dearest; in the left, a potion of herbs and water.

Not for the spell, for me. They're very good pain killers.

Using the tip of the dagger, I traced a faint line across my palm. Blood bloomed over the scars from many previous spells. Twisting my wrist, I winced as the blood dripped onto the faded crystal.

'Aquae vitae vivifica hic lapis apud appositi.'

The stone glowed, red getting absorbed into the light. I dripped more onto it, squeezing my hand tighter.

'Vivifica his appositi industria fluxus corrigere.'

The stone glowed again, its colour reappearing as the red disappeared.

I repeated the ritual until the crystal shone with it's original emerald colour.

Then I downed the pain-killer potion and sank onto the bed, barely mustering the energy to wrap a cloth around my bleeding palm.

»--«

William woke me when it was dinner time, splashing some alcohol over my wound and bandaging it up again.

Pain certainly wakes you up fast. The sad thing is that I was too weak to use my newly reinstated magick to heal it.

I slotted my faé stone back into my ring, sliding it onto my finger.

William dragged me downstairs and out into the street, hailing a taxi for some random place in central London. 

We didn't even get any food.

After several diversions around collapsed buildings, we reached our destination, an unassuming little wool shop with  only a couple of customers in it. William had told me nothing about what we were doing here.

To my annoyance.

Entering the shop, William marched straight up to the cash register and the woman behind it.

'Excuse me,' The woman looked up at us, 'Do you have any purple wool?'

The woman nodded, 'How much?'

'5 shillings worth please.'

She nodded again, beckoning us through the curtain behind her, 'It's in the back.'

William smiled and thanked her as he moved past, pulling me after him.

Am I the only one confused?

Nope.

Behind the curtain was an armoured door with a flashing red light which turned green as we watched it.

'Seriously?'

William just grinned.

»--«

Turns out we were meeting the team of Magicks that had been assembled from various countries allied with Britain and America.

Not one woman. Well, besides me.

The chatter stopped as we entered, every eye in the meeting room drawn to us. I fidgeted in the rather pretty dress that one of the Nurses on my floor had lent me.

I was starting to regret wearing it.

William cleared his throat, moving forward to start introductions.

I already knew their names from the files William had given me so I zoned out, only surfacing to mentally add Scott-Green and Taylor to the list.

»--«

I was disturbed from my thoughts by William waving his hand in front of my face, 'Hello? Is anybody home?'

I grinned and waved back at him. William turned back to the rest of the room, attempting to pull me closer to the table.

I pushed his hand away, stepping up to the table laden with maps and reports. 

'Hey Edwards, why'd you bring your woman to the meeting? It's called a secret base for a reason.'

William looked amused, opening his mouth to speak.

But I was much quicker than him.

I snorted, 'Me? And William? Hell no. I've known him far too long for that.'

William grinned, pretending to be offended as they all turned to look at him. 

There was a long pause. 

William and I glanced at each other, both struggling not to laugh.

I clapped my hands together, (and I'm pretty sure that half of them jumped), 'Well, now that that's out of the way, let's get started.'

»--«

William started the meeting by explaining the task we had been given by the Authorities of Britain and America. They had asked us to form a task-force that would accompany various SOE teams on missions across France and Germany.

There were a couple of groans when he explained that we'd have to hide our magick most of the time, but other then that everyone seemed to welcome the idea of helping with the war effort. 

They have no idea what's coming.

What's that supposed to mean?

We gathered round the maps, a literal angel handing round many cups of coffee while William pointed out the locations of various teams and missions being carried out currently. Then he paired us all off. We would work in teams, two magicks to each mission that William thought necessary. Only some of the teams would actually need magick assistance; like the idiots straying into magickally dangerous territories.

I was paired with William, which I was very glad about. Everyone else was a pain in the neck.

The meeting finally ended, after lots of discussion about teams and ways of concealing magick. 

When they'd all left, out the exits into various parts of central London, William sighed and wiped his forehead, 'That was interesting.'

I grinned, 'You could say that. Are we going to have a training session?'

'I'm not sure. I need to communicate with my contact from the Authority and ask him about where we could hold one. Some of the men definitely need it.'

I smirked, 'I'm sure I could whip them into shape.'

William grinned, collapsing on the table and closing his eyes, 'They won't know what hit them.'

»--«

Back at the hotel, William escorted me back to my room, wished me goodnight and closed the door.

I barely made it to my bed before my carefully constructed walls cracked and a wash of emotion flowed through me.

It's not safe to bottle your emotions like that.

Lay off.

I saw her everywhere, in the flowers a stubborn housewife put outside her window, in the nurses who lent me clothes, even in William; when his playful side came out. 

I stood up and moved to the corner of my room, grabbing a sleeping draft. Downing it in one, I collapsed on my bed, not bothering to get changed or get under the covers.

I soon drifted off into a world of half-truths and Katys screaming from sinking ships.

'It's all your fault.'

[8793 Words]