The whole becoming-a-murderer and maybe-being-a-mage is weird, but the weirdest part for me is having people at my side. That’s how lonely I’ve been throughout life. I’ve had problems before, but I always faced them alone, and not because I chose to.
Donatello intertwines his fingers through mine, and Apollo’s arm drapes around my shoulders, tugging me closer to his chest. There are reassuring smiles on both their faces as we climb the floors, and I feel fucking treasured in this moment. And it’s a new feeling for me, to feel like I’m important to someone. Like someone cares about me.
The elevator doors open without a sound, and Donatello guides us down a hallway, pulling me by a hand. Though it’s a commercial building, it’s opposite to the ones I’ve seen in the human world. This place is fancy as shit. Marble floors and golden door frames, sideboards take the corners every several feet, expensive-looking vases filled with fresh flowers that give off a subtle scent. It looks more like the corridors of a palace.
I’m so distracted by how fancy the place is I don’t even notice Donatello knocking. The door swings open before I’m ready, and a beautiful woman stands in the way, unlike the stereotype I had built for a mage.
“Donatello. You’re just on time,” she says with a small smile, though her voice is perfectly empty. “Come on in.”
Donatello nods in greeting, then takes the lead. I follow him in, and my eyes lock with hers. She stares at me with curiosity brimming on her pupils. We enter a waiting room filled with soft plush chairs and love seats. No TVs, no magazines, just the seats, and so many plants. One wall is taken by them, like a vertical grass field. White vases with orchids and carnations take the spaces between seats.
Apollo sniffs, then sneezes. I glance over my shoulder at him with an amused smile. He curls his nose back at me. I guess his supreme shifter senses aren’t doing him good now.
Donatello takes us into a second room, separated from the first by sliding wood doors. In this room, the decoration changes. This woman has something with plants, but there are no flowers here, only ferns and snake plants, and the wood decoration makes me think of a forest. The very walls are wood-like, though it’s clearly wallpaper.
A couple of chairs sit on the fringes of the room. In the middle of it, there’s a round table with dark armchairs and a tall, large bowl of water at the very center. The curtains are down, and though I can’t see the source of the light, there’s a soft luminescence to the entire place.
The door shuts behind us softly. I whirl around to face the mage. She’s a beautiful woman, not much older than me. Almond-shaped eyes angled in the corners, soft lips, and a round face, she looks the part of an Asian pop singer, with her dark hair parted in the middle, draping down her back. Her clothes are more idol than crystal ball reader, with dark-washed jeans and a button-down pink shirt with a black bow tied around her neck. The girl has style, it’s undeniable.
“I’ll need you to give your word, Donatello,” is the first thing she says.
Donatello shifts in place to face her and nods. “You have my word your debt is paid, Tina. All you have to do is the scrying and to keep this to yourself.”
What’s this thing about vampires and debts? I archive it for later questioning. Donatello has been open with me so long, I’m sure he won’t mind being asked that.
Tina nods once, and her shoulders drop an inch. Was she worried Donatello wouldn’t do that? I wonder what favor Donatello did for her. This entire exchange of favors as payment is very weird, but I was raised human. Things change between races.
Tina finally glances at me. “The scrying. It’s for you, isn’t it?”
I nod, and Tina motions me to the table. She takes one chair and waits for me to take the other. I hesitate. She raises her brows.
“You think I can learn who sealed my powers?” I ask her. “Do you think I could find my mother too?”
Tina waves me off. “Here’s how it works: I will tell the water to show you what you need. You focus on the questions you want answers for, and then we hope the water brings them.”
“We hope?” Apollo’s voice sounds for the first time in a while. “So there’s a chance this won’t even work?”
She shrugs. “The water does not work for me. It’s free. Always moving, always changing, just like the future. It may hold the answers, or it may not. There’s only one way to find out.”
I share a glance with Apollo. His upper lip pulls up in obvious annoyance, and he turns to take a seat in the back of the room. Donatello shoots me a reassuring look before following the shifter. With my hands shaking, I sit down across from Tina.
The lights dim. Tina raises her hands over the bowl of water, closes her eyes, then nothing happens. There’s only silence for a long while, and I wonder if this was a mistake. The water might not be up for it today. It’s not like I can come back later. With Apollo’s boss aware of his position and what feels like an entire world of authorities after me, we can’t stay in the same place for long. Or at least I can’t stay.
The water ripples. My eyes shoot to it. Is this where things get weird, and the shallow water becomes a tsunami and drowns us out? I should have asked for more info about the whole matter — I have no idea what to expect.
Leaning forward, I peek into the bowl. There’s only limpid water for a moment, then it shifts, changes, and I’m staring at myself, like a mirror, but it’s not the present me. I’m much younger, a child. My brows furrow just as my surroundings become fuzzy, and my body grows heavy.
It’s like I’m about to crash into the bowl. Then I’m not standing in the room anymore.
Pain flares in my left shoulder, and I wince, grinding my teeth not to make a sound. When the pain subsides, I open my eyes and look around. A suburban living room like any other, with an ugly sofa and an old TV.
“This will do it,” a voice I know all too well calls behind me. I whirl around and see my mother. Her impatient expression is the same from my nightmares. She offers me a shirt, and I first notice I’m naked from the waist up. I pick the shirt up and throw it over my head. “It will keep you safe. It will keep us all safe.”
I tug on my collar to look at my left shoulder, and there it is. The seal burns with a strange light. My blood looks black beneath the skin. The glow mutes out, just as my heart beats faster. My mother put the seal on me. And from her words, she intended to keep me safe with it. But what did she mean by keeping us all safe? Did she think I couldn’t control my powers? Did she think I would use them to hurt people?
She walks out of my sight. I follow her with my gaze, wondering why I feel nothing. Am I evil for not loving my mother? The reason I want to see her is to know why. Why did she leave me? Why did she treat me so badly? I would like to belong, yeah, but it’s clear she doesn’t want me with her, and I don’t beg.
“Eat your sandwich,” she calls from somewhere else. “We have to leave.”