Another on time update!? Man I am killing it, unfortunately it seems like the finals I have next week are going to kill me so I'm going to have to push back next weeks update from Friday to Sunday in order to have enough time to properly edit the chapter. For all of you taking finals right now Good Luck and I hope this gives you a quick break to relax and breath. 

The bookcase landed on the toppled base of the case next to it, leaving just enough room underneath for them to avoid being crushed. However, many of the books it contained toppled onto her back and she groaned in pain as the little boy began to cry beneath her. Luckily she hadn’t been in the textbook or autobiography sections, so she remained conscious, but she briefly cursed whoever had designed book edges to be so sharp.

The sounds of breaking ceramic from the upstairs apartment reminding her of a horrifying ‘what if’. So she laid still, afraid to move the objects on top of her and begged to any god she could think of that the ceiling above them would remain intact.

After about a minute of shaking the ground slowly started to calm until finally, the earthquake had passed. The first voice they heard was the little boys frantic mother as she dug through the mess above them desperately shouting his name.

“Easton? Easton!” Hearing his name the boy tried to escape into his mother's arms, crying for her to come and help him. His magic flared desperately as he tried to free them, but he could only manage to shift some of the books around them. When a load bearing book shifted next to them and made the wood above them creak ominously he began to cry harder, burrowing himself into Nic’s chest.

She wrapped her arms around him and whispered calmly into his ear, telling him that everything would be all right and slowly counting with him until he had calmed down enough to keep his magic under control. Despite her calm tone fear clawed at her chest and she silently worried about the safety of things she couldn’t see.

She tried to calm herself by imagining her brother running through the front door and saving her just like he had so many times when they were younger, but it just made her more nervous. Had he been injured, trapped, or maybe even… she banished the thought from her head before she could even finish thinking it. Isaac was fine, because he had to be, and she was going to fine, because he would never forgive her if she wasn’t.

“Mrs. Phebes! We’re down here!`` she shouted, hoping that at least one of the two women could hear her from under all the books and shelving.

“Nicole! Hang on! I’m going to get help!” Mrs. Phebes muffled but familiar voice called as she quickly made her way to the door. It didn’t take long to grab a few people who were more than willing to help as soon as they heard the words ‘trapped kids’.

Once they’d unburied and lifted the shelf high enough, Nic pushed Easton out and into his mother's open arms. She quickly followed, trying not to look at their rescuers trembling arms or listen to the protesting creak of the wood. Once out she took what felt like her first full breath since the quake had started and looked over at the young boy. His mother was showering him with kisses while she wiped tears from his face as quickly as they reappeared. After she had finished triple checking that her baby was okay she turned to Nic with tears in her eyes.

“Thank you. Thank you so much you, you saved my little boy.” Nic smiled tiredly and was just about to tell her how it was no big deal when a pair of small arms wrapped themselves around her waist.

Once she recovered from her initial surprise she looked down at the top of Eastons scruffy brown hair. From her new vantage point she could see what looked like forest green streaks appearing near the base of the strands, a clear sign that the boy had magic in his veins. It paired well with his dark green and brown eyes, framed by red and puffy skin, that looked up at her in what could almost be called reverence.

He buried his face back into her stomach and said a muffled thank you before latching back onto his mother's side, still glancing at her occasionally. She smiled warmly back at him before she was pulled away so that Mrs. Phebes could fuss over her.

Remarkably, she walked away with only a few scrapes, bruises, and a fairly large and painful bruise on her back where she’d caught the largest books that Mrs.Phebes suspected was a bruised rib. Easton’s mother insisted that she give Nic a small home brewed potion she’d made to help with the pain, which she was more then eager to accept given that she was quickly losing the positive side effects of her adrenaline rush.

Mrs. Phebes reassured the people who’d helped free them that there was no one else in the store and after making sure that Nic wasn’t in any immediate danger of death, she insisted that the teenager take the rest of the day off and go home.

Nic wanted to object, guilt clawing at her when she thought of the older woman trying to clean up both the store and her undoubtedly destroyed apartment by herself. However, the growing fear in the back of her mind over her brothers well being was strong enough to swallow her guilt and make her accept the older witches kind gesture.

She retrieved her bag from the chaos of the back room and was almost half way home when her mind seemed to catch up to her body. She leaned on a crooked street lamp as the events that had just happened slowly replayed themselves in her mind and she tried listing the facts to stave off the feeling of drowning that threatened to overwhelm her.

She had been in the store, the ground had begun to shake, Easton had been across the room, but then, he wasn’t. Nic had wanted him to move, and he had, without walking. The only explanation was something she had ruled an impossibility years ago, but now, was it possible? Had she done magic?

She tried to keep her breathing steadily and told herself not to jump to conclusions as she slowly looked up to see a blackbird perched on the roof of a nearby building. A circle of bright yellow framed it’s scorched black pupils, which where staring directly at her, and she couldn’t help staring back for a few seconds before it flew away without a sound.