Cera awoke to the familiar sight of Dawn Jean's floor. Her body felt heavy, as if she had run a marathon. Her arms ached as she pushed herself up. Her vision was blurry, but she could make out a pair of dark leather shoes. Pulling her head up, she saw the same man from before looking down at her from a chair.

  "I was starting to worry you wouldn't wake," he said, leaning back in the chair and letting his arms dangle. He turned his head toward the ceiling. "I've seen people fall into a coma when I've released that much power."

  "Is she dead?" Cera asked, her voice still weak, as she looked over the shriveled remains inside the clothes Dawn Jean had been wearing before Cera had passed out. The limbs almost looked like brittle tree branches in both size and color.

  "Yep," the man answered, still looking at the ceiling as if he were deeply relaxed and almost about to drift off into a nap. "All that remains is the last poor soul she possessed, and it looks like she had been in there for quite a while. The body is almost completely hollowed out."

  "What the hell was she?"

  "A witch who thought she was more powerful than she actually was. She was a parasite, living in other people's bodies and draining their life to sustain herself. A rather pathetic one, if you ask me."

  “Was she about to do that to me?” Cera inquired as she steadied herself and sat on the floor, trying to come to grips with what she had witnessed and how her body felt. She looked around to see the damage around the room was much more significant that she had imagined.

  "Yep, to think all I wanted was some herbs," he replied.

  "And I wanted some magic rocks," Cera said, straightening up with a wobble that nearly sent her back to the ground. She regained her balance, however, as the man continued to chuckle. "What's so funny?"

  "I didn't expect you to be into magic rocks, let alone be so easily charmed, judging by your own aura."

  "What are you talking about?" Cera asked, raising her hand to examine something unusual. A strange sensation washed over her as she gazed at her hand, leaving her in shock. "What the hell is this?"

  The stranger looked puzzled.

  She saw hues and shades of orange radiating from her hands. She looked around her body; it was all around her. From her feet to her head. An orange glow surrounded Cera as her eyes widened. "What is going on?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "I'm glowing orange, dude!" Cera yelled. The man laughed again, as Cera became more frustrated with his lack of seriousness. He walked over to her, placed his hand barely above her hand, and began to motion through the aura coming from her. "Tell me what's going on."

  "It's your aur–"

  "I don't have an aura!"

  "Wait, are you serious?" the man asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Waving his hands around her, he demonstrated how the aura moved with his motions, like a hand passing through a small cloud of smoke. "You've never seen this before?"

  "No!" Cera screamed. "I've never seen anything like this until today, and I met you weirdos."

  "Oh, well that's interesting," he replied, walking around her and observing the colors emanating from Cera's body. Cera was at a loss for words. She thought the strangeness of the day had ended. "So it is actually Cera, right?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "Your name is Cera," he replied, stepping back and studying her. "You have an aura, a name that sounds like a sorceress, and you're somehow confused by this?"

  "Yes!" Cera yelled. "And by the way, I don't even know your name."

  "That's because I didn't give it, nor was I asked."

  "Alright, smartass. What is your name?"

  "Sullivan LePage," he replied as Cera frowned. Her mind couldn't comprehend what she was seeing. At first, she thought she was sick, perhaps from some sort of poison Dawn Jean had given her, but she remembered throwing it up on command from the man standing before her. "But everyone who knows me calls me Sully."

  “Okay, Sully, how about you tell me what the hell is going on here?”

  “I don’t really know,” Sully replied. “You have an aura, which seems a little above your typical magic user.”

  “Magic doesn’t exist!” Cera replied. “It’s only found in books, movies, and those role-playing games my ex used to play!”

  “Well, apparently, it does,” Sully said, turning around and starting to walk towards the front of the store. She watched as Sully examined a small table full of small plastic baggies of dried herbs. “So, let me guess, your ex played a bard, didn’t they?”

  “What?”

  “A bard, the guys who play lutes and have charisma,” Sully answered, continuing to rummage through the baggies, picking up each one and inspecting it carefully before returning it to the table. “I’m more of a fighter type. Being a magic user in tabletops would seem a little cliché, at least in my opinion.”

  “I don’t care about any of that,” Cera said, marching towards Sully as he cracked a grin at a small baggie labeled wormwood before he pocketed it. “Wait, are you shoplifting right now?”

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  "I doubt the shop owner will mind," Sully chuckled again, glancing back into the other room. He moved to another table, discovered a small bag labeled 'lavender,' and slipped it into his pocket. "That should do. And why do you care, anyway? She tried to steal your body."

  Cera paused, considering his point. She looked down at a small table of crystals and stones, selected a few, and stuffed them into her pockets. She watched Sully do a quick scan of the room before heading toward the front door. "Where are you going?" she asked.

  He paused and turned to face Cera, seemingly puzzled by the question. "Well, I got what I needed," he replied. "Can't see much reason to stay." As he gently pushed open the front door, the familiar bell rang through the room.

  "Really?" Cera asked, exasperated. "That's all I get?"

  "Nice to meet you," Sully replied.

  "That's all you got?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "Oh, hey, I saved your life from an old woman who tried to take over your body, made you pass out somehow, and when you woke up, you started to glow orange. And by the way, magic is real. And it's nice to meet you!"

  "I'm not really seeing the problem here," Sully said as he stared back with the door still open. "I saved your life, shoplifted some herbs from a dead witch, and now I'm moving on."

  “You don’t do people well, do you?” Cera remarked as she walked towards the door next to Sully. She noticed the rain had stopped, people were strolling along the sidewalks, and it seemed like a typical day. “I have so many questions.”

  “Can you ask them while we walk?” Sully replied, stepping outside. A sliver of sunlight pierced the overcast sky. Sully walked away from the shop and stood on the sidewalk, looking back at Cera. “Are you coming or not?”

  “Where are we going?”

  “A cemetery.”

  “That’s not exactly reassuring, is it?”

  “What do you mean about a stranger and a young woman going on an adventure to a cemetery after the stranger essentially killed an older woman in front of her?” Sully commented as he turned and started walking down the street. “Your choice.”

  Cera hesitated only briefly before following Sully. She looked around to see that no one else seemed to be aware of her aura. They appeared like ordinary people, walking while looking at their phones, letting their dogs pull them, and simply going about their daily lives.

  “I guess I should start by asking why you were at the shop,” Cera said.

  “I needed a few things before I went to the cemetery down the road,” Sully replied.

  “So you have some kind of magical way of tracking down other people like you?”

  “What do you mean?” Sully responded, seemingly confused by Cera’s question. The two continued walking, passing more people on the street.

  “Like how did you know where to find the shop?”

  “Oh! That’s what you mean. Well, I have one of the most powerful tools in existence,” Sully answered as he reached into his pocket. Cera watched curiously to see what magical item Sully might pull out. He withdrew it and briefly showed it to her, “It’s a phone, and it has Google on it.”

  “Very funny,” Cera grumbled as Sully placed the phone back into his pocket as he cracked a boyish grin. Cera realized she was going to have to ask questions that didn’t allow her companion to be a smart ass, “Alright, let’s ask a more personal question then?”

  “Shoot.”

  “How long have you been doing this?”

  “Saving people by accident and then answering questions while walking?”

  “No, how long have you been doing this magic thing?”

  “Since I could talk, honestly,” Sully replied. “I was born into it. I said my first words, and then I started learning from my Mother and her sisters.”

  “Alright, so is everyone like that?” Cera asked as Sully quickly turned left onto another street. “Do you have to be born into a magical family?”

  “Not exactly,” Sully answered. “Some of us are born into practicing families, while others start to realize it when they’re teenagers and get educated on how to do it—”

  “Like Hogwarts?” Cera blurted out with a laugh. As Sully continued at a steady pace, she could see a slight look of disgust on his face.

  “No, it’s not like Hogwarts,” Sully responded. “It’s much more rigorous than just sitting in classrooms with Alan Rickman.”

  “Alright, so families and magic college, but not Hogwarts, got it,” Cera continued, as she noticed a younger female waiting for a bus at a stop. She had multi-colored hair, facial piercings, and colorful tattoos on her arms. But that wasn’t what Cera noticed.

  She glowed a soft yellow hue, turning to the two of them and gently nodding as if acknowledging them. Sully nodded back in return. “What about her?”

  “What?”

  “She glows like we do,” Cera whispered, turning back to look at the woman now texting on her phone. Sully turned back, giving her another look as well. “Do you think she went to your not-Hogwarts?”

  “How would I know that?” Sully said, looking ahead at the road where black iron fencing and stone headstones dotted a field of green grass. “She could be from a family, or educated, or one of those people who learn from forums and subreddits.”

  “Wait, there’s an online community?” Cera said in surprise. “You mean like people can watch tutorial videos on how to use magic?”

  Sully nodded. “Yeah, that’s a more recent thing. It started in the nineties with newsgroups where people would write how-to guides for spells, learning from other magic users.”

  “That’s wild.”

  "Yeah, a lot of people aren't big fans of it. My family didn't like it either," Sully explained. "They think it causes a lot of danger or exposes those born into it. Honestly, some people even look down on those who get schooling."

  "How do you feel about it?"

  "I'm not one for gatekeeping or elitism."

  "Where is your family now?"

  "Most of them are dead," Sully replied, stopping at the black iron fencing that looked into the cemetery. He pointed to a headstone, heavily covered in crime scene tape. "That's it."

  "What is it?" Cera asked, noticing Sully looking down the fence as he headed toward the entrance. She quickened her pace to catch up as she watched him approach a large hole with crime scene tape. "Why are we here?"

  Sully circled the yellow tape, peering into the deep hole. She finally caught up and looked down to see a coffin, crudely pried open. Its fabric was damp from the Seattle rain, but most importantly, the body was missing.

  "So why are we here again?" Cera asked, watching Sully kneel down and study the hole. She watched as he pulled out a small glass vial from his pocket and started to feel around the loose soil. "What the hell are you doing? This is a crime scene!"

  "It's the entire reason why I'm here," Sully replied, clenching some dirt in his fingers and rubbing it before placing it into the glass vial. He looked up at Cera. "Alright, I got what I need," he said, standing up and beginning to walk away from the site.

  "Wait, not only have you made me an accessory to tampering, but you also haven't told me anything!"

  "You asked questions. It's not my fault you chose poorly."

  “Seriously?” Cera responded with an annoyed tone in her voice. As Sully turned back around, walking over to her as he pulled out his phone. He handed over his phone, a beat up haggard older model.

  “Put your phone number in there,” he replied as Cera put in her name and number in his contact information before handing it over to Sully. He started punching keys in quickly before Cera felt a vibration coming from her phone.

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s an address, meet me there in the morning.”