“Is that the group there?” I asked, motioning toward the table, and Sara nodded.
“Definitely, yeah, that’s Sean from Deimos.” Right. His stage name was The Terrorizer, and it was completely fitting.
The three of us made our way over, and to my surprise, Sean immediately came off as the absolute nicest guy ever.
“Well if it isn’t Broomarella!” he said as soon as he saw us, motioning for the three of us to take a seat. “Did you have fun at the presentation, Sara?”
“I was pretty nervous,” Sara admitted with a smile.
“Fair enough. Nothing a good drink won’t fix,” Sean said, motioning for the fairy to come back. “And who are your friends?”
“This is Ellie and Tina,” Sara said, and Sean’s eyebrows rose when he looked at me.
“Boy, do you ever look like Karen,” he commented, and I smiled.
“You’re not the first person to tell me that tonight.”
“Whoops, sorry to be a broken record. Well, it’s nice to meet you all. This is my brother Simon and my mom Savanna.” I smiled at the two people next to Sean. They were all tall with very broad shoulders, even Savanna, who looked like she was probably in her early sixties. We exchanged smiles, and the fairy came over to take our drink orders, shortly followed by the arrival of more members of the broom competition who took their spots in the seats next to us.
About twenty minutes later, Karen Voda walked through the door. She made her way over toward the group, and I turned away quickly so she wouldn’t see me. She sat down with at least five people between us, and I let out a sigh of relief. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to say hi to her. Okay, I didn’t want to say hi to her. A part of me didn’t want to get my hopes up, just to have them dashed. And to be honest, a part of me didn’t want to know where I came from. Couldn’t I just remain a member of the coven of Jupiter forever? I didn’t need to know where I came from. I didn’t want to find out that my worst fears, that my parents had abandoned me and not a sister of mine, were real.
For the first time in my life, I realized there was a strange sort of security in not knowing where you came from.
Then, from the other side of the table, I heard someone speak.
“Hey, Karen, do you know Sara’s friend Tina? The two of you look really similar. Are you sisters or something?”
I closed my eyes and sighed. There went any chance of anonymity.
Chapter 3
As much as I had wanted not to speak to Karen, there was still a part of me that really did want to say hi to her. It was like my brain was being torn in two. Did she sound like me? Did we have the same personality? Would I know when I spoke to her if we were related? I was about to find out.
“Who’s that?” Karen asked, and somebody pointed me out. She looked toward me, and our eyes locked for what felt like an eternity, but in reality was probably only a couple of seconds.
She gasped, her eyes widening, then immediately got up from the table and took off, making her way back into the street.
“Was it something you said?” one of the other attendees asked after a minute of awkward silence from everybody at the table. After all, I didn’t think anybody had been expecting that kind of reaction. I certainly hadn’t. Why had she run away from me like that? Did she know who I was, or was it simply the shock of being faced with somebody who looked exactly like her?
“She came here alone tonight, too,” one of the other people at the table said. “I think she was the only one of us who didn’t have friends or family in the stands.”
“Well, she comes from the coven of Titan,” someone else replied. “You have to kind of assume those people are going to be more secretive than the rest of us.”
“I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it, dear,” Savanna said, reaching over and patting my hand. “It was probably just a little bit of a shock, since the two of you look so similar.”
I nodded mutely and Ellie put a drink in front of me.
“Drink that,” she told me in a low voice, and I did as she ordered. Immediately, the feeling of dread that had come over me lifted, and I started to feel normal again. It was a good feeling; I didn’t want to ruin Sara’s night while she socialized with what I supposed were her new coworkers.
And luckily, it appeared nobody else wanted to ruin the night either, and the conversations at the table quickly moved on to other things.
“So when is the first competition?” a witch named Portia from the thunder coven of Dione, the mother of one of the other athletes, asked with a British accent.
“Two days from now,” Lisa, one of the athletes with a matching accent who I assumed was her daughter, replied. “Although, we are not all taking part in that day’s competition. There are only two competitions per week, and four athletes per competition.”
I nodded as I did the math in my head. That meant there was basically a forty percent chance that Sara was going to be competing in just a couple of days, since there were about twenty athletes.
“Have you been told who’s competing on that first date yet?” Simon asked.
“We have, yeah,” Lisa nodded, looking down the table at him. She pulled out a sheet of paper from the purse sitting next to her and handed it down the table to Simon.
“Can I have a look at that when you’re finished with it?” I asked, and he nodded.
“Sure, no problem.” He handed me the piece of paper a moment later, and I glanced at it. Sure enough, two days from now, on Sunday night, was the first of the broom flying competitions. The first contest was going to be between four of the competitors that were sitting at the table now. When I saw the list of names for the second contest, however, I let out a small gasp. Sara was on that list. She was only days away from making her debut!
To my dismay, one of the people she was competing against was Sean, stage name Terrorizer. The other was a wizard named James, who went by Jack, sitting next to Sean’s mom Savanna, across from us. He had messy brown hair and an easy manner about him. He seemed like the sort of guy who was super popular and got along well with everyone, despite the fact that he hadn’t brought along any friends or family to the bar. His coven was that of Ariel, an air coven. The fourth competitor was a witch sitting at the very far end of the table, which was now so big thanks to added friends and family that it took up the entire length of the bar. Her name was Andrea, and she was from the coven of Mimas. I couldn’t remember what element that coven was from. There were so many of them it was hard to keep them all straight sometimes.
Maybe water? I had a feeling it might have also been a water coven.
I passed the paper back down to Lisa, who flashed me a smile as she took it back.
“So who’s going to win this thing?” Jack asked, leaning back in his seat. “I suppose everyone thinks they’re the favorites here, but let’s be honest, one of us has to be better than the rest.”
“And I suppose you think it’s you, don’t you?” another wizard asked. He was from one of the fire covens, and his name was Daniel, or maybe Derek?
“Of course, Derek, my dear,” Jack said, flashing him an easy smile. “I’ve been beating you since we were five years old.”
“Right. I’m sure you’d remember it that way, seeing as you’re still a child,” Derek retorted. Their words were spoken lightly, and each was smiling, but I couldn’t help but notice that neither smile reached its owner’s eyes. There was history between these two; that much even I noticed.
“Well, we’ll just have to see, won’t we? I’d like to think we’re both a little bit better than when we used to play tag on brooms in your mom’s backyard. Remember that time when you tagged me, weren’t watching where you were going, and went straight into the big oak tree in the backyard?”
This time Derek’s laugh was genuine. “I might still have the scar from that, but since my mom made us end the game, I won.”
“Well, the two of you play each other in the second week of competition,” Lisa said, looking at the s
chedule that I’d handed back to her. “So you’ll be able to compare—erm—broom sizes then.”
Everyone at the table snickered, and I couldn’t help but notice a blush rise in both men’s faces. Though while Derek tried to hide his, Jack only beamed further, like he was proud of the insinuation. I definitely did not like him. He was the arrogant type, the sort of person who probably thought there wasn’t a chance anyone was going to come close to beating him. I hoped Sara destroyed him on Sunday night.
Chapter 4
“So, Tina, what’s your story?” Lisa asked me, leaning over the table a bit to catch my eye. “Everyone seems to be avoiding the elephant in the room, but are you and Karen related?”
I plastered a smile on my face and shrugged. “To be honest, I wouldn’t have a clue. I have no idea what coven I’m from; I only discovered that I was a witch a few months ago.”
“Really?” Derek asked. “How on earth does that happen?”
Suddenly, I found the entire table turned toward me, all wanting to know my story. I shot an apologetic look to Sara; I had no intention of stealing the spotlight when this was supposed to be her time, but she flashed me a smile and nodded slightly. She was obviously completely fine with it.
“I grew up in the human world,” I explained, telling everyone the tale of how I came to live in Western Woods, how the coven of Jupiter had adopted me, and how I had no idea where I really came from.
“Well, it’s obvious you’ve got to be related to her,” Jack said. “She saw the resemblance as fast as the rest of us, and then rushed out of here. That means she has to know who you are. If not, she would have just stayed and tried to figure it out, too.”
“Maybe she was just creeped out a little,” Derek countered. “I mean, they did look basically exactly the same. That’s kind of weird when you’re not expecting it, I imagine.”
“Well, I’m sure it’s all going to come out eventually,” Lisa said. “I’m quite certain Tina doesn’t want us speculating as to what coven she’s from.”
I shot her a grateful smile as the wizards who had been most enthusiastically asking about it looked suitably chastised.
“I do have a question, though,” Sean asked. “What, to you, is the coolest part of being a witch? I mean, to us, having grown up with it, we don’t know any different. But you must have one thing that just blows you away more than anything else.”
I smiled as I thought about the answer. “Gee, I’m not sure I can limit it to one thing,” I grinned. “I really like how the food here has magical properties. Like, in the human world, if I wanted a boost of confidence, I’d have to listen to some upbeat music or something. Here, I can eat a cupcake laced with a certain potion and it’s like I’m Wonder Woman. That’s definitely very cool. Also, the portals are so convenient. It’s nice to be able to travel the world without having to sit on a plane for hours.”
The table murmured a combination of assent and confusion at the idea that humans couldn’t travel wherever they wanted at will within seconds.
“What about broom flying?” Lisa asked. “Are you not a fan of that?”
I looked at Sara and laughed. “Sara can attest to the fact that I have not immediately taken to broom flying. Right now, I’d rather walk somewhere, or take a car, than fly there.”
“What’s a car?” someone’s friend asked, and I found myself having to explain the concept entirely to the table of witches and wizards.
Eventually, the conversation moved on, and I found myself taking a more passive role as I listened to the stories everyone else told.
There was Anthony, who insisted that everyone call him Tony, the wizard from the coven of fire who told us all how, when he was a child, he had accidentally gotten on his mother’s broom and started to fly. As she panicked, thinking her young son who had no idea what he was doing was going to hurt himself—or worse—it turned out Tony had a knack for flying, and he spent the next thirty minutes happily flying around, naturally knowing what to do.
I tried not to roll my eyes at the story. There definitely was a whole lot of ego in this room. But then, Tony’s mother was one of the family members he had brought tonight—along with his fiancé, his dad, and his sister—and she confirmed the story, so maybe there was a bit of truth to it after all.
I couldn’t help but notice that as everyone told stories about how good they were on the broom, Sara’s face was getting whiter and whiter. Evidently, she didn’t think she was going to be able to compete with this crowd.
“Hey,” I told her quietly. “Don’t worry about what they’re all saying. It’s all talk. Wait until you see how they are when you’re racing against them. Odds are half these stories are either complete hyperbole or straight-up lies.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Of course,” Sara said, nodding hurriedly and looking relieved. “I can’t believe two days from now I’m going to be competing.”
“And you’re going to do fine,” I said, squeezing her hand. “I promise.”
Sara shot me a smile as the fairy came by for another round of drink orders.
A couple of hours later, everything seemed to be wrapping up. Everyone was starting to head on home, and slowly the group of people in the bar trickled out into waiting chariots, ready to be taken back to the portals to go back to their respective hometowns.
“I’m totally calling in sick to work tomorrow,” Ellie muttered as the three of us stumbled out of the bar.
“You look like you’re about to be sick now,” I said, alarmed, as I looked at Ellie’s face. She was pale, but with a tinge of green.
“Ugh, you’re right,” she said, her eyes widening all of a sudden. “Hold on.”
Ellie ran over to the side of the building, into a small alley, and came back a moment later looking a lot better.
“Well, that helped. Do you guys mind waiting out here while I go back into the bathroom to clean up a bit?”
“Sure,” Sara said. “I know I could use the fresh air. I definitely had a bit too much to drink, too.”
I had never been a really big drinker—working as a bartender back in Seattle, I was all too aware of what overly drunk people did, and I just did not want to be a part of that—so while I was definitely a little bit light-headed, and it seemed like I didn’t have a single care in the world, I wasn’t even remotely close to as drunk as Ellie, who looked like she was going to struggle to make it back to Western Woods without assistance.
“I love you guys, you know that?” Sara said. “I love both of you. You’re my sisters. Even you, Tina. You might not be able to use thunder like the rest of us, but you’re still my sister. I don’t care what anybody says. I love you.”
“Thanks, Sara,” I said as she stumbled toward me into a hug that was more like half hug, half me holding her upright. “I love you too.”
A minute later Ellie came back from the bathroom. “That was fast,” I said, raising my eyebrows.
“You guys…” Ellie trailed off, and I immediately knew something was wrong.
“What is it?” I asked, my eyes widening.
“I don’t think I feel very drunk anymore. You need to come and see this.”
An ominous feeling definitely came over me as Ellie led us past the back of the bar, toward the bathrooms. Slumped against the men’s room door was Jack. I hoped he was passed out, but as I leaned over and checked for a pulse, that hope disappeared. He was dead.
Chapter 5
“Oh no, that’s Jack!” Sara cried. “Is he dead?”
“Yeah, he’s dead,” I said solemnly. “Have you told anyone?”
Ellie shook her head. “No. I just found him and came to get you.”
“Ok, you call the Enforcers. I’m going to go tell the bartender,” I said. I waited to make sure Ellie managed to find her phone, but it wasn’t a problem. She was right; finding a body had definitely sobered her up quickly.
Making my way to the bar, I found the fairy who had been helping us all night, and she fluttered over, her golden wings
moving at a thousand miles a minute as soon as I grabbed her attention, a polite smile on her face.
“Yes, can I get you something else?”
“Um, no,” I said, not entirely sure how to tell someone there was a dead guy in the bathroom at her place of work. “I just thought you should know…my friend found the body of one of the wizards who was here tonight. He’s just in front of the men’s room door.”
The fairy brought a hand to her mouth and dropped the thankfully empty tray she’d been holding. “Dead?”
I nodded. “Yes. One of my friends is calling the Enforcers here in Desert Plains, but you should probably let your boss know, whoever that is.”
“Of course. Yeah. Of course, I’ll go do that now. Thanks.”
The fairy fluttered away and I made my way back to the bathrooms. Sara was now sitting on a chair right next to the hallway that led to the bathrooms, and Ellie was crouched over the body.
“Careful not to touch anything,” I said, and Ellie shot me a look that said duh, I’m not an idiot.
“Enforcers are on their way. I thought I’d have a look, though. I mean, I’m no expert, but it doesn’t really look like there’s any injury to his body. He certainly wasn’t whacked over the head or anything like that. Maybe poisoned?”
“Who would want to kill him, though?” Sara said. “I mean, Jack was one of those guys who seemed like he’d get along with everyone.”
“He and Derek seemed to have a bit of history,” I said, and Ellie nodded.
“Yeah. Obviously, someone who was here tonight wanted him dead. I suppose they thought in a room full of Jack’s competitors, there would be no end to the number of suspects.”
“Anything else on the body that might give an idea of who did this?” I asked, peering over to look at Jack’s lifeless form. One could have been forgiven for thinking he had just drunk too much and passed out. He looked like he was sleeping, with his head slumped against his shoulder. To be completely honest, nothing else really looked out of place. His shirt was untucked, but then I was fairly certain it had been when we had arrived as well. He wore a casual pair of blue jeans, not the normal magical clothes a lot of wizards wore. His wand, which had been in his back pocket, had snapped in half when he’d fallen to the ground, presumably. Honestly, I couldn’t really see anything that indicated who might have killed him.
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