New Witch on the Block
“What? What did I do?” I whine.
Jamie looks at me incredulously, her pupils narrowing to slits. “YouweaponizedSkreet and almost killed three men, nearly set northern Maine on fire, and could’ve destroyed your world.”
I grimace. “Oh, right.”
“Plus, you need to schedule a few resources before we send you home,” she says as we make our way outside—or rather, out of the building. There is no “outside” here. Just those weird-ass plants.
She reaches out for me, and I take her arm. Light pours down around us and the voice lists off a new location. We zip away and appear in front of a dark building cast in long shadows. The egalitarian design is basic, but somehow still imposing. It’s those shadows.
“Why does it have to look so creepy?” I ask.
“It’s your imagination, because you know you’re getting a scolding,” Jamie says as she walks toward the building.
“It’s definitely creepy,” I mutter, following her.
The wall recognizes our magic on approach and a doorway materializes for us.
The inside is just as minimalist and utilitarian as the outside. A row of kiosks sits beyond the doorway and we approach the closest. Jamie has me place my hand down and state my name again, and then a three-dimensional projection appears in my magic that shows directions to where we need to be.
The projection collapses into the floor, and light beams me into the ceiling. I stagger as I appear on a different level, though I’m not sure where I am. Jamie isn’t with me, and a momentary panic swells in my stomach. There’s a gently pulsing line that runs from my feet to the hall ahead, and it’s my only real option since I don’t know how the light beam thing works to get out of here.
I follow the string of my magic light through empty, doorless halls. It feels like I’ve fallen into the backrooms, or something…so creepy. Finally, the light stops at a wall and creates a rectangular highlight. I press against it and pass through the wall into a smaller space that resembles an office.
A creature I could only describe as a rock golem stands at a series of kiosks that display various texts I can’t read, but images I recognize: me, sitting over Lei’s body. It appears to be fromJamie’s perspective as she approached me. Maybe she’s got the equivalent of a body cam on her? Magical body cam?
“Ms. Feng, please come in,” the golem says in a grating voice.
I take a few steps forward. My magic swirls beneath my feet and runs into one of the kiosks. The golem turns its attention that way and then looks at me.
“I’m Deputy Chief Earth Officer Rgald Onkgro, but you can call me Regie, if you like,” he says, smiling with rocky teeth.
“Nice to meet you, Rgald Onkgro,” I say, trying to replicate his name with a tongue that doesn’t feel suited to say it.
He smiles brighter. “Thanks for attempting it.”
Embarrassment burns in my cheeks and I look down. I’m reminded of every time I’ve ever shamed someone else for messing up my name, specifically Amherst, who really was trying her best. I think I’ll stick to Regie, though, since I don’t think my mouth will ever be able to make the right noises.
“Officer Ott tells me you had a run-in with Skreet,” Regie says.
“I did, yeah, a couple of run-ins,” I say.
He hums in a gravel-grinding way. “It seems you may have orchestrated the last one. Is that true?”
I bob my head. “Yeah, I was being harassed by another mage, and I…covered him in sugar and used a reversed projection ward to weaken the boundary to their plane.”
Regie suppresses a smile. “Gshao Lei, correct?”
I think he’s trying to say Zhao, so I just nod.
“Did you know that Skreet has annihilated two worlds?”
My stomach drops and my mouth goes dry.
“I didn’t know,” I murmur.
“It’s one of the reasons we’ve designed protections specifically against passing between their plane and others, but you are a young witch, inexperienced with the rules.”
