The darkness of late evening was cut through by the streetlights and the glare of dozens of headlights passing every minute on a busy road. The choke of fumes billowing in the air of a dirty street made her nose wrinkle every time she left her crispy-clean shop. The quiet was eviscerated by rushing cars, horns, the train station just across the road, and music from a nightclub a few buildings down.
All of it blared in her ears.
Malcom, with his laptop bag strapped across his torso, held out a plastic bag stamped with the logo of her favourite Vietnamese restaurant from down the road. “Hank told me you haven’t eaten today, and Larry is just down the road watching your café. I’m walking you home.”
Grumbling, Skylar took the Pho with a “thanks” and cautiously looked around. She couldn’t see Larry, but the guy was a stalker who had a nasty habit of trying to follow her home. It’s why she had a knife clipped to her keyring and had no worries about pulling it if she needed to.
Malcom nodded, and they fell into step with each other as they began their journey through the bustling streets. The area was always full of people, the suburb busy even on a Monday evening and well into the middle of the night. Even now, with the sun halfway to setting, many walked around intoxicated, some even arm in arm as they laughed and stumbled together.
As much as tourists – and even those living within Sydney – thought Newtown was the most amazing, alternative place to visit, it had a lot of dangerous drawbacks. Skylar, although only five foot three, was all bite if someone dared to near her, and she’d rather use her knife to ward back thieves and creeps, since she didn’t want to out her witchcraft.
At least notagain– although she did give the violent woman a horrible spook when she tried to mug her on the way home one night.
Skylar was known in the area due to the café and living nearby. It meant her movements could easily be mapped, leaving her open to some shitty situations.
The silence between them was comfortable; both were reclusive in their own way, finding small talk less than appealing. Malcom even wore his headphones, and she noted the light thump coming from them. She preferred to listen out for danger, or the sounds of bats chirping as they flew overhead, leaving their resting places now that night was truly upon them.
After walking for fifteen minutes, her street grew visible. She gestured to Malcom, and he flicked one ear cup back to listen.
“Thanks again for walking me home,” she said as they passed old, near-vintage houses that blended from one suburb to the other, growing larger and less squished together the further they went from the main street.
It became less dirty as well, although rubbish and smashed glass was visible almost every ten metres next to curbs or on the sidewalks.
“You keep thanking me, but it’s seriously no problem. It’s not far for me to deviate from home, since I live on the other side of Stanmore.” He didn’t smile – he was rather stoic like that – but there was a kindness in his eyes she only saw in those who had been broken repeatedly by life and refused to watchothers suffer. “Plus, I like walking with you. Better than being by myself.”
“I guess that’s true,” she answered, hugging her warm, brothy food.
Kaylee... what are you doing? You have this nice guy, who is pretty cute-looking, waiting for you, and you’re dating that dickhead.
Like usual, especially when Malcom walked her home for her safety, she wanted tolovinglystrangle the woman.
When they made it to the top of her street, and it was fine for her to walk the short distance to her place, they parted ways. As always, he watched to make sure she got to her gate before heading off towards his own home.
The moment he was gone, she rushed to her front door. No animal greeted her, although she would have loved one if she had the time to properly care for it. The screeching yowls from a cat or an energetically barking dog would have been nice to come home to, and she tried not to think about the way her home welcomed her with cold silence.
She unzipped her big boots, kicked them off next to the entryway, toed off her socks, and hurried deeper into her home.
The building was like most in the area – narrow, to shove as many houses into one suburb, and two storeys. The only room upstairs besides the bathroom overlooked the street, and she used it as an office. Her house was old, well-loved and lived-in, and had a musty smell to it she could never find the source of. Skylar had lined the fleur-de-lis wallpapered walls with gothic décor, antique mirrors, and interesting, spooky art. If someone were to walk into her home, they’d likely think she was some kind of modern vampire and not a witch.
That, or she shopped for furniture during Halloween.
Which she did.
Not a single potted plant existed, as she’d killed every cactus, succulent, and even a self-maintaining terrarium. She’d never had a green thumb.
She went to her office – which housed her personal library – on the second level and pulled all three of her grimoires from her bookshelf. Returning downstairs, she carted her dinner from the hallway table to the dining table, then placed it down with the three heavy leatherbound books and sat in one of the four emerald-cushioned chairs.
After pouring in her desired chilli oil, hoisin sauce, a squeeze of lemon, and removing all the bean sprouts, she cracked her disposable chopsticks apart and ate with the provided paper spoon. She kept her books out of the firing line of the chicken broth as she slurped flat white rice noodles and flicked through the pages carefully, scanning the spells.
How to Summon a Cleaning Imp... How to Summon a Familiar... I definitely don’t want to summon a demon, even if it does promise to heighten my magic capabilities.
She wasn’t interested in more power, although she was pretty unimpressive with her own. Her father had been a witch and her mother a human, and it had lessened her abilities.
She was fine as she was, and had been growing her magic naturally through practise and manifestation meditation.
Skylar flicked through page after page, eventually abandoning her food to focus on the task. Then,finally, she found what she was looking for:
How to Summon an Incubus.
