Chapter 4 Cryptic farewells

Bri

“Hey, Mags?” I said with a heavy heart, as I wiped down a table after closing. She scowled at my tone, holding a finger up. She disappeared into the office coming back with a pipe. I sighed. Was I going to risk going home high? I was never sure who may be there or when someone would show up at the house, my family home, I had to maintain absolute control, but tonight I wouldn’t care. I plopped my ass in a chair and motioned for her to sit. She handed me the lighter and bowl, which I took from her. “You know how I've told you we are the same but different?” I said in a whisper of a tone, placing my finger over my lips and pointing to my ear, looking around in hopes she understood I meant to be vague. “I'm aware at this point Bri,” Maggie admitted. I sighed taking a hit.

I exhaled and looked at her, the magic languidly rose within me, resting at the surface, which I chose to allow her to see. She deserved for me to be honest. Her eyes widened but she simply nodded before letting out a long exhale. “You and this place have been a temporary sanctuary for me,” I said, passing her the lighter and bowl back. I hesitated before I projected to her mind ‘I have to leave, I will miss you and I'm sorry I don’t know the exact day but it’s coming soon, just know you are going to be missed.’ I stated. Her eyes were wide with questions, curiosity, and despair. “But Brianna… .” She tried to protest. I pressed my finger to my lips, shushing her again, and gestured for her to take a hit. ‘I can’t risk you or your people, bad things are coming to me and I don’t want you or anyone else caught up in it.’

My breath hitched, holding back the words I wished I could say, to tell this woman who gave me shelter and acceptance that I needed help, that I was in danger, to plead to her as the little girl lost to me long ago needed to when no one heard her. But she and the human practitioners were at risk. ‘I don’t want your people tied up in this.’ I insisted. “The customers are going to be devastated.” She added. I scoffed. “They can't help it, they don't know why but they swarm into this place like you are the queen of the hive.” I took a heavy breath. I felt it but I never thought past myself to see it. ‘I can’t stay Mags, I’m running out of time. I can’t be saved from this and there’s more at stake than anyone will ever know.’ I continued. Mags passed me the bowl after taking a drag. “I guess I kinda always assumed there was more.” Being careful with her wording. “There's always more Mags, you have no idea,” I whispered out loud, meeting her eyes with my eerily lit ones. I took a hit and blew out. “You are destined for something good Bri, whatever it is, you will come out on the other side.” I went back to projecting in her mind ‘Too many people want me for my destiny. If the time comes and anyone asks, I just stopped coming in, you know nothing about me. I just came and did my job until I didn’t. It’s to keep you safe,’ I said. “Ok.” She agreed to stop pushing for now.

I left Maggie stewing over finding capable hands to take over for me. I gladly worked seven days a week for tips and coffee, maybe the pot was another reason, but it was really just the place, the energy, and Maggie I would miss. The money I had earned I had rolled up under the floorboard with other items I intended on taking with me. It would sustain me until I could get my accounts in order. The lawyer signed a gag order on all the paperwork so he couldn’t reveal anything about them, where I was, or whose name they fell under. My father had had 10-year-old me call him myself to ensure he could take care of his final will, still sealed until I turned 22. There were no fantasies that it was a coincidence that they would take me at 21 and his will would be revealed in my 22nd year. I walked home, I had a car they gave me but I refused to use it as it was chipped with a tracker. Not to mention they made sure to give me the brightest teal little bug on the planet so I’d be like a beacon to all the highway cameras I was sure they could tap into.

I walked the wet streets in the drizzling rain with my hood pulled up. My gaze followed the reflection of lamplight on the wet bricks the old streets were made of. How I wish I could step into that puddle like something out of Mary Poppins and find myself in different circumstances. In a world where I couldn’t be controlled, where I had a handle on my own life, where my powers were ordinary and good things were possible. Yet, here I was extraordinary and in the perilous clutches of that woman and her henchlings. I wasn’t strong enough to fight them yet but I couldn’t allow myself to grow anymore. Things were getting harder to hide. I stopped, looking up at the house, her house, the metal fence backed with its well-manicured hedge and wrought iron gate. The three-story mansion was painted pristine white, like most of the others that bordered the outskirts of the garden district. I let out a sigh and my stomach grumbled.