She had woken up several hours later for work, but didn’t even realize, the first thing on her mind was looking for someone in particular to talk about what had happened.

  The sky looked a more vibrant blue that day, the air around her felt heavier and richer, every breath she took filled her with an energy she had never experienced before.

  “Shouldn’t you be at work right now?” he said while overlooking the horizon. She found him at the place they used to hang out, even though they hadn’t visited there since graduation, she somehow knew she would find him there.

  “Work? Forget about that, you’re not even working yourself.”

  “It’s my day off, asshat” he stopped looking over the railing and took a peek at his old friend, “so you’re quitting already? How am I not surprised-”

  “God, SHUT UP about work. Something happened.”

  He didn’t need her to tell him that, one look at her and he knew something was up. Something was different. “Should I be worried?”

  “I dunno, man, maybe?” she shrugged.

  “Well, get on with it, bitch, what is it?” frustration was starting to show on his face, along with a little bit of worry.

  “Remember the massacre at Zlín? From like half a decade ago?”

  “... Barely. What of it?” he was concerned, whatever she was talking about seemed serious, but her demeanour was what alerted him the most. He had known Ella since primary school, and for years now she had an air of defeat looming over her. Today she looked different, almost high, but still too aware for her to be. And he knew she had no money to indulge anymore, so what could be happening?

  “Well… I caught it. I caught it” she sighed and leaned chest first into the railing.

  “You caught… what? An std or something? Did you went to see a prostitute you horny-”

  “You are NOT listening! Man, I thought you were smarter than this…”

  “Well, what IS it then?” He urged her to continue.

  “The spell casting thing… Those people the U.N were rounding up? What that woman who killed all those people could do. I’m one of them.” She sighed again, louder, and seemed to melt over the railing.

  “...You’re shitting me…” His blood was running cold. He had heard him speak about nothing for too many years not to realize this wasn’t one of those times.

  “I… Don’t know what to do. I don’t want to be taken away”

  He stumbled to find the words, “y-yeah, we are not gonna let ‘em…”

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “The thing is… I don’t feel as if I could be caught. There’s something wrong with me, I know it. I feel unstoppable” she turned around and let herself fall sitting against the railing. “I had the most beautiful, most lucid dream of my life. I removed my boss’ stomach out of his mouth and then sat on a throne of pure gold. And all the while, living lights of bright colour I had never seen danced across the sky, egging me on.”

  “Ella… Get a grip. How did you find out?”

  She looked at him with detached eyes and spoke listlessly “I can move things with my mind. Yesterday I wanted toast and I… I just got it.”

  “Toast…” he looked at the horizon and thought long and hard. Before anything could take any sort of form in his mind, his body slowly gave up, and he fell sitting next to Ella. “Can… Can you do other things?”

  “I… don’t… know.” Her body looked like a puppet with the strings cut. Like something that should have a spirit or a soul contained, but was abandoned by its most essential part.”I know I should be scared. But the emotion is in my head and I’m… Not there anymore.”

  And at that moment, her phone rang. The thing had been going off non stop since before she had woken up, but only just now realized it.

  “Are… You going to take that?” he said with a nervous look on his face.

  “Hmmm” she mumbled as she lifted the phone up to her eyes and looked at it, eyes half closed and frowning. “It’s my manager.”

  She remembered. Yeah, it was that woman, the manager. The fear she made her feel now felt almost surreal. What was it that she could do to her that made her person take a different shape? When was it that she had let go of her pride? She picked up.

  “Where the hell are you, you piece of trash?!” sounded from the other side so loudly that both of them could hear it.

  “Where am I? I’m in my favourite place… I Haven't been able to visit since I began working for you people. It’s been a few moments, no? It felt like decades, in my mind it probably was.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Shut up for a second. You wasted so much of my time, you don’t even pay me enough for me to want to hear you out of work hours.”

  “THESE ARE WORK HOURS!”

  “Not anymore, bitch, they aren’t”

  “The fuck did you just call me?!”

  “I called you something in particular? Something I said made you feel some kind of way? I’m not speaking to you, I’m merely a channel for the universe to verbalize the truth.”

  “...You are tripping-”

  “I’m on a trip alright, the power kind.”

  “What you are, you little shit, is fucking fired.”

  The phone went silent, Ella let it fall to the ground and it bounced far away from her. She then looked to the side, and his friend was looking at her, mouth agape.

  “Selim.” She began with an unnerving calmness.

  “Y-yes?”

  “I just lost my job.”

  “Well… It appears so… But don’t worry, it was just a dead end thing anyway, we can probably find you something better-”

  “Worry? Find something better? You don’t get it do you? I can do whatever I want, I’ve never felt like this, but it sure as hell doesn’t feel like worry.”

  He slowly closed his mouth. And then he spoke, “what... did you say you could do?”

  “I can move objects with my mind, probably other things, it feels like I can do other things.”

  “Right, that’s cool, Ella. That’s pretty cool…”

  They both sat around on the ground for a bit. Selim was breathing heavily, but Ella didn’t seem to notice, or perhaps she didn’t care? So many things were going through his mind. His friend was a spell caster, and seemed to be completely out of it. “No,” he thought, “I have to make sure she is alright”. Ella had just lost her job, she was acting like a completely different person, and this is after seeking for the first time in months. He had to remain calm to help her through whatever she was going through. That’s what friends are for, after all.

  After trying to compose himself for a bit, he finally spoke, “you are sure you are a spell caster?”

  Ella flicked her fingers in a strange way and her phone went flying towards her. After catching it, she looked at Selim and told him, “I’m pretty sure, yeah.”

  “Alright… So you ARE a spell caster… The first thing on our mind should be how to hide you from the authorities…”

  “The first thing on my mind is how I’m gonna use these Odin sent powers to get me some money…”

  “I’m not kidding, the Council of Spell Caster Regulation is fucking vicious-”

  Before he was able to finish what he was saying, she grabbed him by the jaw and pulled him close enough for him to smell her breath as she told him, “hey, I’m not kidding either-”

  He remained paralyzed as if he had been hypnotized and awaited for her to finish as if that would bring him back to life. And when she did, it was as if an iceberg cracked and fell explosively into the water below.

  “I’m going to rob my former boss’ place, and you are gonna help me.”

  He had heard her be serious before, so he knew she wasn’t kidding, but this was the first time he saw her even suggest something like that. Except this wasn’t a suggestion. He felt it deep within his bones:

  This was a command.