“All I need is a husk to put his soul into. I could have gotten one sooner, but they tend to deteriorate quickly if not used right away and I don’t have the special storage,” I explain the plan.

“So, let me get this right? You’re going to revive the dead man, you’ve been lusting over,” Erica asks.

“You forgot the part where she trapped his soul in a crystal,” Tonya adds her two cents.

“That’s exactly what I’m going to do,” they’re my best friends, they’ll help.

“You are out of your damn mind. Why would you even try something like that? Wasn’t he into the whole spiritual magic and shit? You know angels and demons? He couldn’t stick with regular magic like everyone else? Knowing that you’re going to try to bring him back,” Tonya asks in a way that cuts me.

“You don’t understand. Justin saved my life, the least I can do is save his,” I respond.

“But he’s already gone, you just trapped him,” Erica joins.

“He must have been great in bed, I can’t think of a single man I’d want to bring back,” Tonya jokes.

I expected the two of them to be much more supportive. We had been friends for a long time, almost as long as I had known Justin. We had all played on the same basketball team, went into the same career field. I was the maid of honor in Erica’s wedding. I was even there when Tonya had her baby. They always supported me in everything I did, until now. I’m getting nothing but pushback tonight. I know where they’re coming from, there’s only three real rules they taught us in school:

Don’t purposely try to dispel the shroud that hides the magical world. That will get you killed. Don’t bite off more than you can chew, otherwise it chews you, then you die. The laws of life and death are absolute. You only live once, just make it worth it.

But we’re adults now. Those rules were put in place to keep children from doing stupid things. Some rules are meant to be broken. I know they both have loved ones they would bring back if they could, if they had known how. Despite that, I can still hear the judgement in their voices.

“Are you listening to us,” Erica waves a drink in front of my face.

“No, I was just,” I’m interrupted.

“Thinking about Angel Dick Justin, we know,” Tonya snorts with laughter.

“Look, what you need to do is focus on you, and let this whole thing go,” Erica always thinks she’s a psychiatrist. “Have out thought about quitting your little funky ass TSA job, and coming to get some real money. Reactivate that license and do some work with us.”

The Shadow Syndicate, at least that’s what most people call them, because there’s no real name. I should say it has many different names and roles. The three biggest things they do is keep the magic barrier up that hides the appearances of Elves, Orcs and so on. The second is providing the cleanup crews as I like to call them for when the supernatural stuff gets out of hand. Lastly, they provide licenses. These licenses let you take jobs. Sometimes it’s hunting supernatural creatures like vampires, people who take bounties on criminals or just revenge, artifacts both magic and non, private detectives, missing people, and the list goes on. Everyone has a basic set of skills and passes some tests to get licensed but people find an expertise after that. Really, it’s just a magic card that lets you make money a lot of different ways.

I used to be licensed, Justin and I would mostly hunt criminals and cryptids. People who had committed crimes against humanity or other magical and supernatural beings. Maybe some creature eating wooden fences. I don’t know. We lived a comfortable life; way more than I do on my TSA salary. I just couldn’t bring myself to keep doing the work. Sure, I could have switched to doing training, or teaching. I just wanted anything to be so far from that world. I let my license lapse, and all I had to do was apply for it to be renewed each year and do a job or two. Something easy like banish a ghost, capture a gnome. I just couldn’t do it.

“Girl, you know I can’t do that anymore,” I wave them off.

“Can’t or won’t,” Tonya asks like a stern mom.

“Both,” Erica and I say in unison.

“I knew you’d say that,” Erica laughs.

“That doesn’t make it wrong,” I shoot her a scowl with it.

“Look, I know you loved him,” Tonya starts. “But you have given up on life. It’s been a few years at this point. You need to find something new. I’m not saying go out there and start searching the world to see if dragons still exist. All I’m saying is I’m worried about you. You’ve always been obsessive, but this is a new level,” If Tonya’s father hadn’t been eaten by a deranged werewolf, she would have been a therapist.

“Also, that TSA job is tacky as fuck,” Erica says before sipping from her glass of wine.

“Maybe you’re right,” I tell them what they want to hear.

“Maybe,” Erica asks.

“I know you’re just fronting. All I’m saying is think about this before you do something crazy that you regret,” Tonya cuts her off.

“Okay, enough about Sad Sierra. Let’s talk about Incredible Erica,” Erica fluffs her hair.

“First off, that hair isn’t real,” Tonya scoffs at her.

“Second, incredible does not start with an E,” I laugh at her.

“I should go to my car, I got something that’ll turn y’all into the ugly witches you really are,” Erica turns her head away pretending to be hurt.

I know they’ve got my best interest at heart, and I know they planned this dinner because they’re watching out for me. I love my girls, Tonya a little more than Erica, but nothing but love. Still, they don’t really know what it means to lose the love of your life. Losing the other half of your heart, your soul. Being left behind when you were supposed to be together forever. They could never understand the pain that I went through, that I still feel.