Can she sense my unease?
Perhaps my star is learning to read me just as well as I read her. Or perhaps she’s just feeling what I’m feeling now that we’ve stopped and the energy of this place is easier to grab hold of.
Magick, so much magick.
The kind that always gathers in places like this, where demons or humans or other beings congregate and live. Even if they don’t actively wield it, every creature has magick within them, a force of their life and their soul that creates a unique signature and leaves its traces behind wherever they go.
There are so many traces in a place like this. Centuries of traces, ley lines of power that would only take half a thought to open a portal and step through, flowing all around us.
The tangle of all that power is overwhelming.
“I’m fine,” I assure her. “It’s just… a lot.”
“If you’d rather we didn’t—”
“It’s alright. I’ll let you know if it becomes too much.”
I would have to be on death’s very door to make that confession, and perhaps Seren knows as much—my witch who’stoo stubborn for her own good and never backs down from a fight—but she takes me at my word.
We climb out of the car, and I stretch muscles sore from sitting in one place for so long, unfurl invisible wings, and whip my currently nonexistent tail behind me to expel some of my excess energy.
“Where do we go from here?”
Seren’s already got her rectangular device—something she told me is called acell phone—in her hand and is tapping on it.
“I’ve got someone who might be able to help with that. Come on.”
She takes my hand, and I’m powerless to do anything but follow her up and out of the chamber to the street level above.
There are people everywhere. Old and young, all different skin tones and hair colors. Most of them have muted energy signatures that mark them asmundane, as Seren calls them, not actively practicing witches or wielders.
The day is cool but comfortable, springtime here in this realm. Above, a bright blue sky is filled with white, fluffy clouds and sun shining down over the city.
We walk from where we left the car, down several crowded streets, until we reach a wide-open green space. It’s dotted with people and criss-crossed with walkways running from one end to the other.
“Boston Common,” Seren explains as we head down one of the paved paths that leads toward a large fountain surrounded by benches. “The person who can help us said he’d meet us here.”
I’m only half-listening, most of my attention spent watching the people we pass, the buildings surrounding the common, the ceaseless bustle of life all around us.
It’s only when Seren’s steps slow that my attention is drawn back to her.
A shadow passes over her expression. “I’ve got a feeling you’re not going to like this.”
After giving that ominous warning, Seren steps ahead of me and raises her hand in greeting to someone heading toward us on the sidewalk.
A human man.
He’s of average height and build, annoyingly not all that different from my own in this glamoured state. Medium brown hair and a friendly enough face, split into a smile when he sees Seren approach.
His magick is different from hers.
It’s obvious as soon as he gets close enough for me to sense it. Still with the same metallic note all human magick possesses, but notably duller and with a less aggressive edge than my witch’s. It gives me a fierce sense of satisfaction to know that between the two of them, this man is obviously out-matched.
Seren gestures to me while addressing the man. “This is Callum.”
I try not to let myself be disheartened at the introduction.
Just Callum.
