The Thirteenth by G L Twynham

friend’s aid. Together they grabbed an arm each and dragged him to the side of the road where he lay limp on the grass.
    Delta grabbed his wrist. “He has a pulse,” she said with a huge sigh of relief, leaping over the unconscious body and grabbed Val, hugging her tightly. This display of public affection from Delta was most unusual and Val was quite shocked.
    “He is going to be OK, but he needs an ambulance. Call the police, Delta. That’s if they haven’t already seen the smoke. Oh, and find out where we are as well,” Val said, feeling a little silly with Delta still holding onto her. Val took a moment to feel good about the fact that she was completely in control of the situation. It was as if she knew inside that she was supposed to be doing this.
    Delta released Val and grabbed her pretty pink handbag off the ground. Pulling out her pink mobile phone, she started to dial. “So, do you have a name?” Val asked the unconscious man. “Let’s see.” She cautiously pulled his jacket lapel open and fumbled around in a feeble attempt to find his wallet.
    She would have never made a good thief; she had more thumbs than fingers. Val assumed that if his wallet wasn’t there then it was in his trouser pocket and that wasn’t a place she was prepared to visit.
    Delta came running back over. “I’ve called the police. They are already aware of the accident and are on their way.” She smiled like a child who had just received ten out of ten for a test.
    “Great, so where are we then?” Val asked.
    “Er…Didn’t ask that one, sorry.”
    Val smiled at her. It was hard enough, without worrying about minor details she could deal with later.
    “Let’s see if we can wake him up,” Val said as Delta knelt down on the other side of the man, tapping his hand in a very limp attempt to wake him. Val looked at her and wondered how she had made it to the age of eighteen with so little physical contact with the rest of the world.
    Val looked at the man for a second, then raising her hand she brought it down on his face with a thundering crash. Val had hoped the shock factor would work, but what happened next she really hadn’t expected. A blue flash sparked and crackled between them, and everything went black. Her insides went in, then out, and she found herself crashing face first into the mirror at the bookshop. With no time to put her arms out to cushion the impact, her head hit it with full force and she fell to the ground unconscious.
    When Val opened her eyes, she was instantly aware of a banging pain in her head. She was too dizzy to stand so for a moment she just lay there, wondering how long she had been knocked-out.
    Looking at the light coming in the window she could tell it was still daylight, but that wasn’t much help; she could have been out cold for hours or minutes. She pulled herself up on one of the shelves and called out Delta’s name. There wasn’t any answer.
    “Delta, where are you?” Val stood very still but there was still no noise at all. Val span around, in the hope that Delta was behind her. At last, the reality hit her: she was alone and Delta had been left behind.
    Val rushed over to the mirror and peered into it, but apart from her own reflection, there was nothing to see. She didn’t even notice that there were chunks of dried blood on one side of her face. Val felt sick. Where was Delta and how was she going to get her back? Val whimpered under her breath, “I will find you.”
    Delta stood at the side of the road next to the unconscious driver’s body, not sure she could cope with what she had just witnessed. She was alone, her friend had just faded into thin air and she had no idea where she was. She lifted her head towards the sky and cried out, “Val,” but there was no answer.

C HAPTER 3
Mistaken Identity
     
    Within seconds of Val’s magic show Delta was surrounded by police cars and ambulances, lights flashing, sirens wailing.
    The oppressive black smoke billowing from