Simon

I wake up with a start when a paper bag is dropped into my lap. Christopher is standing over me.

"Where's Davy?" he asks.

"Dunno. Said he had to get everything ready and left me here." I say as I roll my stiff shoulders. The Mage chained me back up before he left. Not that I planned on escaping. I must have fallen asleep in the darkness.

I adjust how I'm sitting so my hands can comfortably open the bag. I see that it's holding a bottled water, a packet of crisps, and some first aid supplies. I take the water and toss the rest aside. I'm not hungry and I don't see much point in trying to patch up my arm and head when I'm just going to be cut open again for the Mage's spell.

Christopher slides down into a sitting position on the beam across from mine. I can see him better as early morning light begins streaming in the high windows.

"Listen," he begins, "I wish things were different."

"Ha," I mutter as I twist the cap back on the water.

"Lucy used to give me the same attitude when she was calling me on my crap," he says, almost smiling to himself. "Not a day goes by that I don't think about her. She's the main reason I've helped Davy for so long. After he told me she sacrificed herself to save you, I knew I had to keep helping him to make sure she didn't die for nothing."

I look up at him when he mentions my mum sacrificing herself. The way he phrases it makes me think he doesn't know that my father was the one who plunged a dagger into her chest. I think about correcting him, but it doesn't matter. In two days, she'll be saved and this conversation will never happen.

"He said you turned to help him with the attack on Watford," I say. "Do you regret it?"

"I did what I had to. I wouldn't have chosen this for myself if that's what you're asking. Being a vampire is…" he trails off.

Baz's words weave through my head. "It's death," I finally say.

"Yeah," Christopher agrees. "I definitely don't mind being stronger, but it isolates you from others in a way I can't explain."

I nod silently as he continues.

"When I first found out I wasn't going to Watford, I didn't even really care that much. I had Normal friends and was happy enough with my life. But my parents never looked at me the same. They were always ashamed. I moved out when I was only 17 and worked as a waiter for a while in London. Lucy was the only one who stayed in touch. She had introduced me to Davy when I was younger. He was outraged at how I had practically been cast out and said it was all because the old families had a giant stick up their arse about only training the elite." He laughs as he recalls the memory. I stay quiet.

"He started visiting me every week once I was on my own. Got me a wand. Taught me spells. I was hopeless at first, but I got better. And I started to think about all the other kids who would keep being denied the opportunities I was just because they weren't gifted enough at age 11. It was infuriating," he says as he scrunches up his face in frustration.

"Anyway, Davy started coming around less and less and I stopped hearing from Lucy altogether. I wish they had told me about you. Maybe I could have helped," he says wistfully. "Five years went by without a word from either of them. I moved on with my life. Moved up to management at the restaurant. Got a flat with my boyfriend."

My eyes had drifted to the floor as Christopher continued, but my head jerks up in surprise at the word 'boyfriend.'

"Oh c'mon mate," Christopher starts to smile again. "You didn't think you were the only queer Salisbury?"

I don't respond beyond closing my mouth into a flat line, so Christopher keeps going.

"His name was Daniel. I had a thing for guitarists back then. We had been living together just over a year when Davy showed up on my doorstep. He told me everything that night while Daniel was playing a gig at the pub around the corner. I found out about you and your mum and how Davy needed my help to change the tide."

"He asked you to become a vampire?" I ask.

"We needed the vampires to agree to launch the attack. They wouldn't listen to a couple of mages, only one of their own. I did what I had to do," he finishes.

I feel a wave of sympathy come over for me. The Mage influenced me in the same way. I always felt like I had a purpose and was doing what was right for the world when I followed him. Even after everything, I still do.

"I don't agree with everything Davy's done. He's made a lot of mistakes. But at the core he has always been right. And while the life you know now will be lost, things will be better in the long run. You and your mother will be free. Your friends will be safe. I won't loathe myself every day for what I am. And the future will be filled with so much more possibility for all," he says, his voice so hopeful.

"Yeah," I say closing my eyes. I hear Christopher get to his feet. He walks by me and puts a hand on my shoulder for a moment before continuing past to his corner of the room. I hear him pull out a book and start flipping through the pages.

My thoughts drift to Baz. I'm not sure if he really was in my dream before. It seemed so real.

I can feel the shadow of his lips against mine and my heart aches for his touch. It seems like such a cruel fate for the world to have brought Baz and me together again this past week, just to rip us apart from each other forever.

Something else is plaguing my thoughts as I sit listening to Christopher turn the page every few minutes. The Mage explained how he'll have to end my life to fully take my power now. He promised to cause me as little pain as possible and that it would be over soon. That I'll be reunited with my mother and we can start our new life.

But that's not the vow he made.

When I go back in time, no one you love will get hurt. They will be safe.

They will be safe. To absorb my power as a baby, the Mage will have to take my life again.

This isn't going to be a fresh start. This is going to be the end.

I think about how little time Baz and I had together and start to regret it as the pain threatens to close in around me.

No, I think to myself. I'd rather have had the time with Baz that I did than live a life without ever knowing…

I lean my head back against the beam and will myself to dream of him while I still can.