Noelle was weighing the proportion of awe and distaste she was willing to afford Emily as she watched the redhead down her drink in one go with no regard for the noisy and crowded surroundings of the dive they were in. Drinks were meant to be cradled and appreciated. All that waited at the bottom was an empty glass, an inevitable and tasteless ending. There was no reason to go looking for it.

The bartender appeared quite approving of Emily’s behavior and figure, watching Emily with a half-grin and glazed eyes as he distractedly supplied Noelle with her own drink. This was no surprise. Emily’s vivacious attitude and looks had a way with men that Noelle couldn’t replicate. The leering and slack jawed bartender continued to pay Noelle little mind as he slid her drink over, but that was alright, Noelle hated slack jawed men, leering men, and bartending men alike.

“Ugh! I can’t take this job hunting crap for much longer!” Emily’s cry left her mouth as soon as she moved the glass away, leaving no time for a post-chug breath. “You have no idea how lucky you are to have one, Ellie!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” tutted Noelle, “I don’t start until next week, anything could happen.”

“Yeah but you’ll be leaving me behind for Ithaca tomorrow.” said Emily, pushing the glass away to the edge of the bar to give the bartender something to do. “I’m going to be stuck here with just my parents for company! Get a job that isn’t five hours away!”

Noelle took a sip of her drink before answering. “That doesn’t sound so bad. You get along with your mom and dad. Mine are still angry that I went to the police academy instead of law school after college. Two lawyers in the house is already enough, last Thanksgiving was nothing but litigation talk.”

“Yes…but you have a job. Money. Purpose.”

“In Ithaca.”

“Oooh that’s right I forgot! Miss Future Big City Cop wants to hit the ground running.”

“It’s a city too,” huffed Noelle, “Old fears about 9/11 and the Philadelphia Lockdown have people on edge. All the New York cops are ex-military now. It’s such an overreaction, better police aren’t going to stop things like that from happening.”

“Philadelphia Lockdown..the bioterror outbreak? That was years ago already.”

“It hasn’t even been five.”

“Relax. Anyways, sounds like you should’ve joined the military smarty-pants. Did your time at Princeton not cover that?”

“I’m not looking to shoot at people.”

“Cops do that too!”

“If someone doesn’t comply I’d rather use the nightstick. It’s so much more physical. The human body was designed with tactility in mind.”

“Uh...who designed it like that?”

“God, obviously.”

“I doubt he thought about it like that!” Emily’s comment was coupled with a concerned look from the bartender. “Ellie, you need to stop saying things like that. You’ll never get to settle do-“

“I don’t care what people think of it,” said Noelle, her tone icy. The sudden interjection harshly cut off Emily’s comment. Emily showed no hurt in response to Noelle’s terseness, just a concerned look pleading with Noelle to reconsider her stance.

“I’m not ready,” said Noelle, “I don’t think I can do that right now. I don’t want to change just to hurt again.”

Emily offered a smile. Noelle knew that her friend wouldn’t push the issue any further today. It was sad that she would be moving away from the one person who treated her that way.

“Oh c’mon,” teased the bartender, “it can’t be that bad. You girls are always so overdramatic.”

Emily started to reach towards Noelle in a preemptive measure to censure the inevitable retort.

Too late. It was already primed and ready to go.

“Be quiet. Speak out of line again and I’ll tip you a cent to the dollar.”

Levi knew for a fact that the two foster girls living in the house up the road who were currently patronizing his bookshop were witches.

There wasn’t much about them that stood out to him besides the older one’s albinism. Levi had seen far stranger than white hair and red eyes in his time. The grade schooler that followed the white-haired teen around perusing the bookshop’s shelves was even more normal with her bushy head of strawberry blonde hair.

No normal human, or mage for that matter, would have pegged them as witches, but Levi knew. Their “social worker” he saw around town was a knight of The Congregation, and The Congregation only monitored people it thought were a threat.

As for why he recognized the knight, the two of them were acquainted. The less thought about that the better.

Witches were serious business. The kind of spells the little one could put out would undoubtedly overshadow any magic Levi had at hand, and the older one looked like she could kill with a glance. According to The Congregation, beings with that level of magical potency had to be registered, hidden, and watched. This policy was at odds with the favored public opinion of rounding witches up and locking them away in some facility at the ends of the earth.

Either way, they were treated as little more than weapons.

Levi’s mind wandered to the self-defense stratus, a fire producing bracelet, on his wrist. It was his only option for spellcasting, which was laughable compared to the two girls. Witches broke all the rules. They didn’t need covenants, an understanding of mysticism, stratus, belief, or anything else. They simply put out magic as if tossing about fire and lightning was part of God’s design for the human body. No doubt they could level the building in the time it would take him to conjure a measly fireball.

Fighting a witch was inadvisable. Luckily, he didn’t need to do stuff like that anymore.

The blonde excitedly rifled through a Peter Pan picture book Levi had left out for display. “He can fly Lorelei, look!” she babbled to the older girl while turning the pages chaotically. The book was a library discard Levi saved from the dumpster, hopefully she’d buy it and net him some profit.

“I know how Peter Pan goes Beth,” grunted the older girl, red eyes piercing through the veil of her blunt white bangs to peer at the book. She had a bob cut that made her look a few years older than she probably was, if Levi had to guess she was probably 13. Combined with her other features it was a fierce look, commanding all those around her besides the blonde to keep away.

Finding inspiration in the adventures of Peter, the blonde jumped high in the air and stayed there, hovering, before the elder yanked her back to the ground.

Levi did his best to keep a neutral expression on his face while the older girl looked around the bookshop, whispering chastisement to her foster sister over the flagrant display of magic. All practitioners were required to keep a filter on them at all times to trick the perception of non-magi. It wasn’t perfect, those paying attention could pick up on phenomena, and people like Levi who walked with magic all their lives would see right through it. Hovering was pretty obvious too; any random John Doe would notice that as long as they weren’t staring at their phones.

The elder girl calmed down, content that her sister’s secret was safe. All Levi had to do was pretend to have seen nothing and the two would remain blissfully unaware that there was another magic user in their midst.

He’d feel bad if the little one hovered again and someone noticed.

“I wouldn’t get into the habit of relying on your filter. If it ever breaks or you lose it you need to be used to hiding yourself.” Levi removed the pendant his filter was built into from his neck and waved it around for emphasis.

The albino girl hit Levi with a sharp glare, instinctively moving herself to come between his line of sight and the blonde.

An unnatural breeze flowed through the shop, scattering the loose papers on Levi’s desk all about. Levi did his best to keep his expression neutral, he had no desire to take on one witch, let alone two. “Lorelei, right? I’m not looking for trouble. Please don’t knock my stuff around, I have to clean it up now.”

“How do you know my name?” Power crackled around Lorelei, causing her hair to whip about as the unnatural wind inside the shop intensified. Levi’s request ignored, the scattered papers began circulating around the shop, creating an impromptu arena that saw the girls and Levi surrounded by a wall of invoices, receipts, and 5k flyers that Levi had neglected to distribute to customers.

“What?! Your friend used it just a minute ago!”

“Oh! I’m Beth!” shouted the little one excitedly. The unexpected outburst distracted Lorelei, and with a final whip, the papers fell to the floor. Beth paid the changing environment no heed, beaming a dazzling smile and focusing sparkling eyes on Levi.

“Listen,” started Lorelei, “we’re going. Now.” Lorelei wrapped a firm arm around Beth’s and began guiding her towards the entrance.

“H-hey! Wait!” protested Levi.

Lorelei halted. “Why should we? So you can take advantage of us? Try to kill us? Which is it?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I want you to spend money here!”

“I don’t believe you!” Lorelei went back to dragging Beth out of the store. “All of you mages are the same!”

Lorelei and Beth cleared the doorway, exiting the shop. Beth’s protests at being forced to leave prematurely slowly faded as the pair made their way down the street.

Levi scanned the shop, observing the mess that Lorelei’s outburst had brought upon him. The girl had the power to immolate him, cut off his breathing, freeze him solid, and so much more, yet instead she had chosen the crueler path of giving him cleaning.

Annoyed, Levi tossed his filter on his desk. “May as well get this over with,” he muttered as he braced against the desk and pushed himself up.

Just as he bent down to grab the first of the papers the shop bell rang as Beth came racing back in.

“I’m sorry about that! Lorelei’s actually really nice, I swear!”

An irate “Beth!” came from outside the shop, and with a startled *eep* the blonde darted back out the door into the afternoon sun.

“Ahhhh damn! They didn’t buy anything! What am I gonna do about this month’s rent?!”