Amber - excerpt

This is about Amber! I think she's pretty cool. And I think the next one's gonna be dealing with Fleur, then Caitlin, then the boys come! I'm open for male name suggestions!

Here we go

---

It was a dark night. No stars, no moon, just layers and layers of thick clouds. Amber watched the sky wistfully, and then she looked at the symbol on her hand. She hadn’t used shapeshifting for ages. The Wiheom would sense her magic, and it was not safe.

She wondered what was happening in America. She knew that children had been taken hostage. Amber pulled her red hair into a ponytail and stared out, through the trees, out of the little apartment. Being a Magi was hard in its own, but hiding the fact from ordinary people that the Wiheom were not just an ordinary terrorist group was even harder.

She glanced at the luminous hands on her watch. Only 1 a.m. in the morning. There were ages to go before the sun rose. She couldn’t sleep; the Wiheom were prowling the streets and she was good as dead if she so much slept a wink during the night.

Now even that woman Emilie had left. Gone to France. Amber shifted in the rough armchair. She needed some adventure. She couldn’t sit still.

As soon as she got up, a paper airplane, crusted over with ice, swooped into her hands from the open window. She smiled as the ice melted from the warmth of her palms. Amber unfolded the fragile paper and read:

Coming soon. Stay out of danger. Don’t try to shapeshift AT ALL. They’ll sense you.

Caitlin

Amber stroked the name. She knew Caitlin would tell her to stay out of danger. Suddenly, a bolt of inky-black streaked through the open window, narrowly missing the airplane and Amber. Wiheom!

They must have sensed the magic ice. Amber pulled a sheet of paper from a stack, scribbled a note quickly, and folded it into a paper bird. She cast her blue light over the piece of origami, turning it into a swallow that flew out of the window.

There was no use hiding. Now she could use her magic.

First, she activated the shield all Magi had around her. Then, summoning each scrap of the light, she turned herself into a small robin. It was like flipping over. One second, she was Amber, the other, a fluttering robin.

Too late, she realized that the Wiheom would be suspicious of this robin flying on a cloudy night. But there was no time to shapeshift now. They would be here any minute. She slipped through the window and was gone.

For the first time in six months, Amber was free. Free to use her magic. Now, the next thing she needed to do was to fly to France and see Emilie.

A small pinprick of light shone in the sky. A star. Hope.

---

this is magicc