I stared at the invitation with very alert eyes. The second I read what it contained I instantly snapped my fingers. "On alert everyone! We have an intruder in our midst!"
Eco awoke in a start, the first flicker of emotion showing on his face, something usually reserved for worrisome situations like this.
The spirits, which had no need to sleep, seemed startled into awareness themselves. They looked around frantically while I began to cast a spell. I first cast a protection barrier using my power as I poured down the crystals into the offering bowl.
It was on little notice, so I was not able to set up a proper ritual, lucky for me I was an energy witch. I could cast magick with just the energy, not relying on spells.
The only issue was that I had no teachers or guidance whatsoever, so normally my abilities in that area were limited to well-practiced tricks or just slightly altering the flow the energy went in.
I murmured under my breath, casting the second spell, pulling in the nature energy that surrounded me. I believed magick was supposed to work with nature, not against it.
Like anyone, I abide by a set of moral rules. While I knew I had the power for grey and black magic, I solely stuck to the white arts.
My belief in morals and karma was too strong to meddle in blood magick or anything of a darker nature. I preferred working with the shrubs, herbs, and trees around me to subtly boost my household's wellbeing.
Thankfully, due to my nature as an energy witch, I often could sense other presences with incredible accuracy, but I was not sure why I had not this time. "Did you guys see anything?" I asked the spirits.
They shook their heads, seemingly all as confused as me as to how someone had gotten in, left a note, and not one of us noticed. The whole thing screamed a mystical creature, a hybrid.
I wasn't an expert on hybrid or multi-species prevalence or lack thereof in the real world, so I did not know if it was truly rare or not. I could only surmise, given I had not experienced such a thing before.
I looked down at the letter once more, looking at my companions to communicate with our eyes. I sighed, putting it down. I didn't sense anyone else present besides us, and the faint sprinkle on the letter.
Even searching the ground unsurprisingly yielded no results. I called my bird and asked him to surveil the area. I wasn't completely certain he understood, but that was all I could do.
Suddenly the memories of that night came back like a light switch. "It was her, wasn't it!" Eco looked at my strange, sudden outburst. "Who?" He eyed me with a hint of skepticism. I just smiled and patted his shoulder. "Leave it to me, I'll take care of it!" I said as he looked at me with doubt written all over his features.
"Mmmhm, whatever you say. Who is it though? You're not going to sidetrack me." He looked down at my hand, which I realized belatedly I had forgotten to cover. I gasped. "It's not what you think!" I mentally smacked myself over the head, what kind of reply was that? That was so cliché and obvious.
He noticed it too and just looked at me deadpan until I would speak up. "Okay, okay, fine... I was marked by a Nahuala Pantera, it was an accident, okay? And before you go on and freak out, I am taking care of it."
"Taking care of it? I am not stupid. I am quite aware as to what those marks mean in folklore, you're lucky to be still alive after being marked as prey. Now, as much as myths have faded, you can't just walk around showing or covering your hand in a wrap every day, some elders, if they spot you, will still get superstitious." He launched into a long ramble and lecture, information was something he was good at.
I attempted to distract him. "Hey, how about we go shopping at the mall soon?"
Clearly my attempt didn't work, as he looked at me unamused. I was too easy to see through, especially when he gave me that look. "Well, it is the weekend now!" I said, floundering. "We can garbage dive for some makeup I can use to cover the mark." I looked at him hoping he'd take the bait.
Finally he closed his book and nodded to me. It was a simple nod, devoid of much emotion but still one I would gladly accept.
We made our way to a plaza. I saw some people in roller skates having fun and hanging out, other teenagers seeming to get into their own chaos. I felt a bit of a longing for that as well, knowing I didn't fit in and could not afford to.
"Shall we?" I said in the bright, warm light of the sky. I had to shield my face lest I got a sunburn. We rummaged around for what we could, taking our own time to enjoy the fun of perusing the stores without buying. We'd pretend we were winners of a game and would discuss what strategies we'd use if we had five minutes to grab everything we wanted in the store, what we would grab first and how we'd do it.
"Well, I'd definitely dash first to those gift-card stands over there. That is easy money, then I would head for the most expensive section," I said, pointing. He nodded. "To maximize your time you need to not only plot the easiest route to run around the store, but also what items are easiest to carry per their worth."
I was enjoying bonding with him when he asked again, "So why couldn't you sense them?"
I instantly knew what he was referring to, my other ability beyond sensing and communicating with energy, I could sense strings of fate. Everyone had one, it didn't have to be romantic. It wasn't all the kinds of red strings of fate that connect you to a soulmate that many are familiar with. Most anyone can have some sort of connections, good or bad.
People could have even thousands at once, the most prominent energies that stood out to me though were those that I was present for.
"I don't know... I didn't sense anyone's strings," I said.
The universe was full of strings, that was the energy that seemed to wind up emotions, life, the Earth's existence.
My ability had one fatal flaw though, I never could seem to accurately sense those who had a strong string connecting to me.
"Real useful, how you can tell when other people are meant for each other but never yourself," he said as if trying to rub it in. I ruffled his hair, brushing it off, his cold, direct tone was just how he was.
He was about to say something when he crashed into a little girl.
She looked up at us as if she was already about to cry. She looked exceptionally nervous for a child who just bumped into someone. She started to hic as she said, "S-sorry, I didn't m-m-mean to." My features instantly softened as I saw the girl not only had a stutter but kept glancing behind her as if scared.
Eco and I glanced at each other, the both of us having experienced enough bad things in life to recognize the girl in front of us didn't feel safe.
I knelt down. "Hi sweetheart, it's okay. Are you hurt?" I gently probed, trying to speak softly as to not scare the child. She looked at me trembling before glancing behind her. I instantly felt worried, she looked just a bit younger than Eco.
She stuttered more and panicked as if not sure how to answer, so I decided it would be best to get her out of there first before asking her further. I looked at Eco again and he nodded before stepping up. "I'm Eco. I have some bandages we can apply, it looks like you scraped your knee. Shall we go find a place to sit so we can fix it up?" he asked in a calm voice, trying to make the situation seem casual.
She nodded slowly. I backed off a bit, worrying my presence might startle her further. I watched as Eco stretched out a hand to her. "I-I'm... I-I don't know w-who I-I am." The girl seemed to blurt out before she thought better of it.
It caught us both by surprise. I had to force on a calm look before I gently said, "That's okay. There is a safe play area for children in this area, we can go to sort this all out. Let's just get you bandaged up for now, okay?"
I tried as much as possible to make the girl feel safe with our gentle sincerity. Sometimes I learned honesty is the best way to make a child trust you. She followed Eco while I trailed behind.
My eyes stopped shortly by their hearts as I saw something else. I saw they were connected by fate.
They were soulmates...