"You might really regret being a smoker later in life," she said to him as he leaned back in the passenger's seat.

  What was there to regret? It was a vice that granted short term relief and if any problems came up there was surely some magic that could wipe them away. Perhaps the nothingness could even be used to remove diseases by destroying them all at once.

  "That fact doesn't particularly concern me..."

  Her name was Lola, or that was what she had told him at the very least. He had no reason to believe she wasn't telling the truth, but for whatever reason she made his paranoia spike whenever she raised her voice.

  "How old were you again?"

  "I'm seventeen," he muttered in response.

  So far her questions had all been the standard fair. The kind of things a co-worker would ask a peer's son while driving them to school as a favor. The situation had all the trappings of mundanity, but it was anything but.

  "You're eerily similar to your father when you speak, you know?"

  He could hear nervousness in her voice as she spoke. That indicated she was either anxious by nature or that she was somewhat intimidated by his father. Although the most likely explanation was that it could be a mix of both.

  For whatever reason his odd sense for magic reacted far less to her than it had reacted to James the night before. Maybe it was a sign that she was more in control? If so that would mean she was far more of a threat than James. The nervous act could even have been a clever fabrication on her part.

  "You give all the most normal responses, but it still feels like you're picking me apart in your mind just like your father does."

  Could that have been a slip up on her part? That observation was far too astute for the kind nervous persona that she put on. It really cemented the fact that her exterior had to be a fabrication to some extent.

  He assumed that she had to be trying to bait him. The most effective interrogation tactic was to entrap the interrogatee with mundane conversation until they built a rapport. Only for the one being interrogated to open up and then accidentally let something slip.

  Maybe by pointing out the interrogation method she was using and showing he was on to her, he could make her slip up. If he ended up being wrong she would just think he was an overly paranoid teen and would most likely give up on trying to communicate with him any further. It wasn't fool proof, but it was something.

  "You were trying to build a rapport with mundane topics in order to make me open up to you and let slip some piece of information that might confirm some suspicion you're holding."

  A slight twitch in her left hand made her grip on the steering wheel loosen somewhat. A minute display of panic that she had quickly suppressed. She had most likely assumed that whatever psychological framework lay beneath his exterior was susceptible to casual friendliness.

  "The nervousness you display is only partially real, but is also a fabrication designed to make others think you're either somewhat gullible or too inept to pick someone apart for information."

  This time he could see a slight twitch beneath her eye. He had hit the mark and she was beginning to crack. She had misidentified his profile, but he had deployed the perfect methods against someone with hers. Now to use what he had gathered so far and deliver the coup de grace.

  "You're astute, incredibly observational by nature, and also a naturally anxious individual."

  He couldn't let her get a word in. If he kept pushing he would finally break her and be able to extract whatever she was hiding. There had to be a reason she wanted to talk to him and it hadn't been something as simple as everyday curiosity.

  "Your interrogation skills are good, which makes me assume your line of work is investigative in nature."

  She began pulling the car into an alleyway. Either a sign that she was responsible by nature or that she needed him to be even more isolated so she could attempt to employ a new tactic. As the car came to a stop she slowly breathed out. Weakness or growing determination, which one was it?

  "You suspect me of something, but your line of work makes it so that you can't accuse me outright, which makes me assume you can't reveal the nature of your employment openly."

  He turned his head to inspect her more closely. All signs pointed to the observations being spot on. The fabrication was cracking and the real her would soon rear its ugly head. Power surged inside her and made the hairs on his arms stand up like he had been charged with static electricity.

  "I was wrong, you're far scarier than your father is," she said shakily.

  Perfect. He had made himself more imposing than even his own father through his questioning. All of the observations had been surface level and couldn't be turned against him if she tried to accuse him of anything now. All he had shown was a natural talent for inquiry and a great understanding of the human psyche.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  "So I'll just have to throw out an observation of my own and see if it lands."

  He quickly suppressed all the emotion on his face and focused on controlling his movements. She was going to flip the board and he had to weather her next accusation if there was going to be any chance of winning. It would most likely be an accusation powerful enough to drag her down into the abyss if it didn't elicit a reaction from him.

  "Unbeknownst to your father, you emerged and managed to suss out that we weren't ordinaires without us realizing you're one of us."

  Fuck. He should've pushed her even harder as to ensure she wouldn't throw out a real accusation. It would most likely end up dragging her down if this accusation didn't land and she was betting everything on a hunch. His father was unscrupulous and would surely find a way to crush her if her suspicions had been misplaced.

  "You've somehow managed to stay beneath your father's notice while you learned to control your powers in secret."

  There had to be an out. He had cornered her and she had chosen fight, but maybe he could switch it up again and get in her good graces somehow. The fabrication was half real and that could indicate she might be kind by nature as well. If so he had to play for sympathy to make her work with him. He would have to display some feigned weakness to force her to empathize with him.

  He averted his eyes to look outside the window. Failure to maintain eye contact, check. He began nervously rubbing the cigarette burns on his arm. Signs of past emotional trauma, check.

  "I d-don't know what you mean," he said shakily.

  Unsteady voice, check. And lastly of all a weak final attempt at denial. Check and mate. Her breathing pattern had noticeably changed. As his real self was replaced by a weaker and more vulnerable persona, she was all too willing to think of it as the real him. She thought she had struck gold, but her emotions wouldn't let her celebrate her supposed victory.

  "Are you okay?" she asked him gently.

  Using his body as cover, he undid the button on the sleeve of his shirt. As he turned to face her she would see the scars burned into his flesh and it would end up as his victory. Her mind would disassemble all the information and form all the wrong conclusions. She would think he had been putting up a strong and self assured front while hiding a traumatized and vulnerable teen underneath.

  "Can't you just let it go?" he stammered weakly.

  She grabbed his arm and stared at the scars across the length of the forearm. Her eyes went wide and the guilt was practically dripping from her expression. All his observations of her so far had been right and she was far too kind for her own good.

  "Who did this to you?"

  Her protective instincts had been triggered. She could've been the big sister at home or maybe she had wanted to become a nurse to help people. Either way she had shown her greatest weakness and he wasn't going to let that advantage slip away.

  "I don't want to talk about it!" he exclaimed with feigned exasperation.

  "Was it someone in your school, a relative, or a parent?"

  He looked away from her the moment the word parent left her mouth. This would make her far less likely to speak of this to his father and allow him to carry on with business with impunity. The deception was only made so much more effective due to the grain of truth resting within the heart of it.

  "I'm so sorry! I should have just let it go..."

  He had to fight the urge to grin. It was a decisive victory. Now she would seek to build a genuine rapport without trying to force some confession out of him. He could feed her falsehoods mixed with truth and get the target off his back while getting her over to his side.

  She turned the key in the ignition and pulled the car out of the alleyway. Now he just had to establish a false timeline, which would lay all possible suspicions to rest. She probably had no idea of the activities he had been engaging in and he would use this vulnerable persona she had accepted as fact to the utmost.

  "So how long has it been since you emerged?" she asked him without raising her voice.

  "Week and a half, I really thought I was going crazy..."

  "You're not alone, Al, I thought I was going crazy too when I came face to face with my soul and it started speaking."

  Did that mean the shadow was his actual soul or was she just speaking in metaphor? The shadow and him shared a lot of traits, but even though he accepted it he couldn't really see it as himself. There were subtle differences, but maybe the mind and soul were separate in some way. It could be it was more of a metaphysical representation of the true him in some way.

  "I've been figuring things out on my own, but I'd much rather no one knew..."

  She put a hand on his shoulder after she pulled up to the school. She turned her head to look him in the eyes before she spoke.

  "I won't tell anyone, I can promise you that."

  "This will be our little secret, and if you ever need any help you need only call," she said to him before handing him a small card with her number.

  "Thank you," he muttered to her as he exited the car.

  He slipped the card into his pocket as passed the gates and entered the school grounds. It had been a bit shaky for a while there, but in the end he had managed to wrap her around his finger. Now she was too blinded by her protectiveness to ever suspect him.

  Jane would most likely be able to shed some light on his father's work, which would give him more tools to manipulate Lola. With the knowledge he now possessed he would be able to avoid having his secrets revealed for a while longer. There was a chance he would have to burn Lola in the future, but he wouldn't lose any sleep if it came to that.

  His father would most likely become a problem in the future, but as long as he pretended he was still confined within his mind he could plot his downfall in peace. If he could suss out the exact abilities of his father and his associates it would be far easier to evade notice in the future.

  "This is beginning to really come together," he said to himself as he entered the school building.

  It was during moments like that when the evil he shared with his father came in handy. It had been a long time since he had truly used those skills, but they weren't rusty in the least. Swaying someone once he had exposed their weaknesses felt easier than ever.

  As he stepped up to his locker and opened it, he felt his eye twitch. Did those stupid fucking animals think they would ever get away with that. He felt the shape of the spell within him and grit his teeth. The prospect of killing someone not on Jane's list felt more desirable than ever.

  "Not a single one of you fucks will make it out of this unscathed..."

  He began walking down the corridors of the school while cracking his knuckles. When he was done with those pieces of shit hiding in the building they would wish he would just kill them. They would wish they hadn't dared to fuck with him.

  "You're all going to regret ever being born," he muttered to himself as he felt the power surge within him.