The Phoenix and the Witch

by H. M. Gooden

  Cat and Evelyn nodded and walked across the short parking lot to enter the store. Cat entered first and was amused to notice that, while the signs were slightly different from what she was used to seeing in North America, everything else was the same. Prices were in pounds, which would have been confusing except for the handy little app on her phone that her dad had insisted she download before leaving. You could always trust a banker to give good practical advice about handling money conversion while travelling, Cat thought with a smile.

  While she paid for her sandwich, she looked at the display of junk at the counter and was fascinated to see a few different types of chocolate bars available, as well as the odd flavours of chips, or rather crisps, as she noted they were called in the UK. No BBQ or nacho flavour, but lots of paprika, cheese and onion, or roast chicken. Odd, but not really surprising that people would have different tastes in a different country. She waited until Evelyn had paid before they both walked back to the van where Zahara was just finishing up. She seemed slightly flustered and not nearly as happy as she'd been when they left her only minutes earlier.

  "What's wrong? Is something up with the van?" Evelyn asked, startling her.

  Zahara's head snapped up.

  "No, don't worry, the van's fine. Nothing's wrong."

  Both Cat and Evelyn looked at her skeptically, but Zahara looked down before she lifted a shoulder.

  "Well, everything is fine. Just dealt with a manky tosser who felt the need to explain why I should 'go back to my own country' while I was trying to get the petrol. Luckily, he had better things to do with his time and left after a minute or so."

  Cat was shocked, but Evelyn looked thoroughly pissed off and glared, searching the parking lot for the culprit.

  "Where is he? Let me go and talk to him."

  Zahara shook her head. "It's not worth it. It's been happening more often over the past year. It's like, with everything that's going on in the world lately, the nutters feel free to treat people like crap openly now. You may not be surprised to hear it, but there's a lot of xenophobia in Britain." She looked pointedly at Evelyn. "I'm sure you know a thing or two about dealing with racism yourself, coming from America."

  Evelyn set her jaw with frustration and Cat felt helpless. She felt both responsible for bad behaviour as a representative of the white majority, and embarrassed and angry that people felt entitled to treat other people badly, based solely on superficial differences. She felt her emotions start to rise and her chest begin warm with anger.

  "I'm sorry that this is happening to you. It's not fair and it's not right. If you tell me where he went, I wouldn't mind seeing who did this to you."

  Evelyn tilted her head, her eyes narrowed, and Cat realized she was likely glowing to her sensitive eyes.

  "What are you going to do?" Evelyn asked.

  "I just want to see if I can persuade him that this type of thinking isn't advisable, that's all."

  Evelyn smiled, a sly little smile of amusement mixed with a hint of desire for revenge.

  "Yes, Zahara, let's have Cat talk to the nice man. After all, she's white and cute and can get away with talking to this type of person without the same repercussions either of us might face."

  Zahara looked back and forth between the two girls, suspicious that something was going on, but seemed tempted to see what Cat was planning.

  "You promise not to make a big deal of it? Or do something to get any of us in trouble? I'm supposed to have you at the boarding house in Edinburgh by evening."

  Cat nodded innocently, still feeling the burning in her chest bubbling away, and crossed her heart.

  Zahara thought for a moment before she relented. "He just walked into the store. He's a six-footer, early twenties, with dirty blond hair and a bit of a tummy. His shirt was red and he was wearing jeans."

  Cat nodded, realizing they must have passed by him on their way out.

  "I'll be right back. Do you want me to get you a sandwich or a drink while I'm there? I imagine you don't really want to deal with any of that right now?"

  Zahara smiled. "Thanks. I'll go and use the loo, but I'd love a curried chicken sandwich if you can grab me one, with just a water to drink. Thanks again."

  Cat winked at Zahara and Evelyn and went back into the store. This time, she looked around at the people, soon spotting the man who fit Zahara's description. He looked like an average young white male, dressed in normal clothes but clearly not poor, based on his flashy watch and apparently new leather shoes. She went over to stand close to him on the pretext of buying the sandwich and water, entering into the line directly behind him. Unnoticed, Cat sized up his aura. While not stellar in anyway, neither was the aura abnormally dark. There were a few smudges here and there, but overall his aura was a slightly tarnished silver colour.

  Sending out a pulse of warmth, Cat added the thought that all people are equal and deserving of love. She'd never tried to send a thought before, focusing only on healing what was injured or darkened in the past. She knew that in this case, it wasn't an injury to the man's aura so much as a deficiency in it, a belief system that needed changing. She worked on it gently for the minute or so that she spent in line, then paid for the items she was holding and followed the man as he left. She made no effort to intercept or speak with him, although she was curious to see if anything would happen, based on her first efforts at fine-tuning someone else's aura.

  The man walked across the road with Cat a few paces behind. He was just passing the van where Zahara and Evelyn were waiting, when he paused. As though he'd been struck by a sudden inspiration, he looked at Zahara, his eyes opening wide as his cheeks reddened and embarrassment flooded his face.

  "Um, I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I don't know why I said those awful things to you, but I deeply regret them and I promise, I'll never speak that way to anyone in the future. I had no right and it was wrong. I understand if you can't forgive me."

  He bowed his head before walking away, not waiting for an answer, leaving both Zahara and Evelyn blinking in astonishment.

  "Okay, that was amazing!" Evelyn hooted, clapping her hands once the man was out of earshot. "I didn't see any bruising. What'd you say to him?"

  Cat shrugged, smiling smugly as she joined them. "Oh, that's the best part. I didn't say anything, just tried to send the thought that everyone is equal while I waited in line."

  Evelyn practically crowed in delight.

  "That is so cool! You have got to tell me how that works later and..." Evelyn abruptly stopped speaking, looking awkwardly at Zahara, who seemed confused but not shocked.

  Cat looked at Evelyn, passing a thought over to her via mind.

  Do you think we should fill her in? See if she knows anything? She does have that green aura after all. Maybe she can handle it?

  Evelyn still looked uncomfortable, but nodded slowly.

  Okay, go ahead, but carefully.

  "Um, Zahara, I don't know how much you know about things that are sort of, um, different?" Cat said.

  Zahara's demeanour relaxed, going from tense and confused to open and accepting. Cat felt a sigh of relief escape at her nonverbal response.

  "I have some abilities to affect people. Sometimes I can do things like heal and other...stuff." Cat said.

  Zahara smiled at her awkward explanation. "Go ahead. You can tell me more, if you'd like. I know a few things and was just waiting for you to give me an opening. In fact, your teacher, Mr. Grayson, is friends with my relatives. We have a few different... abilities... in my family as well."

  Cat looked at her, eager to hear more.

  "How about we get back on the road?" Evelyn suggested, looking around the busy parking lot with discomfort. "Maybe talk and drive at the same time? I don't think this is a conversation for the wide open, if you know what I mean."

  Zahara followed Evelyn's gaze around the parking lot and nodded.

  "Yes, it’s much better to talk in private. The next few hours are mostly countryside anyways, so le
t's get on with it. It'll give us enough time to get fully acquainted with each other as well."

  THE NEXT FEW HOURS passed comfortably, with Cat and Evelyn magically getting a second wind while spending their time learning more about the girl driving them. It turned out Zahara was only nineteen and originally from London, although her parents had emigrated from Pakistan several years before she was born. She had three brothers, which meant she was quite capable of defending herself from the taunting and roughhousing that was part of the package when you were the only girl in a large family. Zahara was Muslim, followed a mostly halal diet, and observed Ramadan, which she explained in detail to Cat and Evelyn. She didn't wear a hijab, as her mother believed it was up to each woman to decide what was important to them and how best practice their faith. Her mother didn't wear one either, but when Zahara had hit her teens she considered the traditional clothing custom for awhile. She described how she sometimes felt ashamed that she didn't wear one, because she felt it might mean that she wasn't strong enough in her faith to wear it, but at other times she felt that the hijab was an archaic remnant of the past.

  Most interesting to Cat was when Zahara described the secret family legacy, which she usually kept safe from outsiders. She wasn't quite as human as Cat and Evelyn had initially thought. In fact, Zahara came from a family descended from Jinn.

  Evelyn had been particularly fascinated by that part of the story.

  "So Jinns are real too?"

  Zahara kept her eyes on the road as the countryside passed by.

  "Yes. While we're basically human for all intents and purposes, we are a little different. We can marry and have children outside of people descended from Jinn, but most of my ancestors can claim a straight line of descent from a single Jinn ancestor who lived around the time of Muhammad.

  "But how does that work? Don't most religions considered Jinn to be evil spirits? Can you grant wishes?"

  Cat was confused, as the only Jinn she knew of was Robin Williams' character from Aladdin.

  "Jinn are like anything else," Zahara explained. "There are many different types of Jinn, with good, bad and everything in between, the same as with humans. My family is mostly tied to the land, what you'd call earth mages. I can borrow power from the earth to travel quickly or to grow plants. But no, I can't grant wishes, which I'm grateful for. The Jinn that could do that mostly ended up controlled by evil and powerful men and there are very few in existence today because of it." Zahara looked over her shoulder shyly, before turning to look at the road again. "But I can turn in to a shahrubah, which is a type of desert fox. Whenever possible, that’s how I like to spend my time. I always feel much more comfortable in my fox form."

  "No way!" Cat exclaimed. "That is so cool!"

  Zahara threw a quick glance at Cat, who blushed.

  "We have a friend who can turn into a dragon, and I recently discovered I can turn into a phoenix, although not consistently yet. I've only managed to do it a few times since the first time I accidentally changed."

  Cat thought about New Years, feeling a shiver go down her spine as she remembered how she'd changed during the battle on the bridge with Dub for the first time. A curious weight settled on her chest, which was banished by Zahara's next words.

  "Well, that's a relief then. I must say, I was a little nervous to tell you all this, but it sounds like you've had your own strange things to deal with."

  Evelyn laughed. "Yeah, it's been a weird few years. Can you tell us more about your powers? I'm curious to know what an earth mage can do, especially as you've grown up with it in your life. We've all been muddling along and we really only came into our gifts just a few years ago."

  Zahara complied with Evelyn's request, and the girls continued to exchange information about what sort of powers they had and the events the girls had faced in their area over the previous two years. As they passed into Scotland, they took a short break for more gas in Gretna Green, which Zahara explained was once an elopement capital due to the different marriage laws in England and Scotland.

  Through the long journey, the three girls continued to share abridged life histories. Cat felt as though they'd been friends with Zahara forever. She knew Zahara had been planted by Mr. Grayson, probably with Robin's approval, and would likely play some role in the battle ahead. This made sense, otherwise there was very little chance that the three girls would ever have met, and certainly not in an environment that allowed them to speak so openly. Instead of feeling controlled, Cat was grateful for the chance to meet someone as amazing as Zahara was proving to be.

  At long, long last they reach the bed and breakfast near the University of Edinburgh where they'd be staying, a short distance off High Street in a secluded residential area. By the time they arrived, Cat and Evelyn were exhausted. As interested in their new friend as they were, they wanted to go to sleep immediately. They were met by a cheerful landlady named Mrs. Binns, who reminded a sleepy Cat of Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast. Mrs. Binns took one look at the girls and whisked them up to their room. They gratefully dropped their bags on the suitcase holders provided in the room but politely declined the offer of food, choosing instead to go right to bed. Zahara promised to wake them if the girls weren't up by nine am, before heading to go her own room.

  Cat looked at Evelyn with bleary eyes.

  "What a day, hey? I'll give my parents a quick text. Do you want them to let your mom know? I want to talk about Zahara more, but I can't even stay awake right now."

  Evelyn yawned and lay down on her bed. "Yes, please. I'll see you tomorrow."

  Cat watched as her friend closed her eyes and started to snore lightly. Cat got into her bed and sent her parents a short text to let them know they'd arrived, asking them to let Marie-Jean know, and was grateful to receive a quick response. She'd hardly managed to put the phone on the side table before laying her head on the pillow and almost immediately, Cat was asleep.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Cat woke abruptly, disoriented when she sat up to find herself in a cozy little room that had lacy sunflower curtains and doilies on the small bookshelves beneath the large window. She looked down at her bed, noting the floral pattern on the duvet before flipping the covers off and placing her feet on a braided rag rug beside the bed. Her things were still placed haphazardly on the suitcase rack where she'd thrown them the night before. She carefully grabbed a change of clothing out of her suitcase, trying to avoid spilling everything on the floor.

  Looking over at the bed where Evelyn still fast asleep, Cat took her clothes into the bathroom, planning to have a quick shower to help her wake up. It took awhile to figure out the ancient plumbing, but Cat was grateful to have hot water to wash the travel dirt away, even if the water pressure wasn't the greatest. Quickly getting dressed, she left the bathroom and returned to the bedroom, where she found Evelyn already awake and getting her things together.

  "Good morning," said Cat. She walked over to the bed and put her pjs under the pillow, before straightening the bed covers.

  "How'd you sleep?" Cat asked, curious to know if Evelyn had had any prophetic dreams on their first night in the old country.

  Evelyn shook her head while attempting to open her eyes fully.

  "Good morning. Man, I slept like a dead thing. I feel a little more human, but now I'm starving. Do you mind waiting for me to have a quick shower, then we can go find something to eat?"

  Cat looked at her watch, noticing that it was only 8:30.

  "Sure, go ahead. I want to write in my journal anyway and Zahara said she'd be here at nine to wake us. Why don't you take your time, enjoy your shower? And oh, the tap goes opposite to what you'd expect, by the way. I'll wait out here for you and until Zahara shows up."

  Evelyn razzed her a little about her plan. "Journal? Since when do you keep a journal? Isn't that for old spinsters or something?"

  Cat cheeks started to burn and her shoulders tensed. "No, it's not for old spinsters! It's just, well, since all the weird stuff started happe
ning, I've been thinking maybe I should start keeping a record. My grandma kept one and it was very useful to me when I was starting to find out about my powers. And I also want to remember our trip, so there's that too."

  Cat trailed off lamely, feeling the same way she did when Vanessa teased her about stuff, clumsy and awkward with her words.

  Evelyn noticed Cat's embarrassment and quickly apologized. "Oh, Cat! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I was just teasing you."

  Cat brushed her apology aside, already regretting her outburst. "It's okay, I know you were. I just feel silly about it, that's all. Go shower and I'll write in my old-lady journal."

  Cat smiled for Evelyn's benefit, then sat down at the cute little desk with an old fashioned hutch attached to start writing. She wasn't sure where her bout of sensitivity had come from, because Evelyn hadn't done anything wrong. Normally, Cat would have just blown it off. Maybe it was the lack of sleep causing her tenderness. The more she reflected about her over-the-top reaction, the worse she felt.

  Poor Evelyn! My god, jet lag is worse than PMS.

  Cat started to write in the journal, feeling better about her plan to apologize to Evelyn when she came out of the bathroom. She struggled to put her thoughts on paper, with her mind still jumbled with the sights and sounds that the long journey had already provided. And then there was always the chance someone may read the journal someday, which made her feel like sanitizing her words a little, fearful of any future embarrassment that could occur when her grandchildren or someone else read her story. She looked up after what seemed like only a minute to a knock on the door, but when she glanced at her watch, Cat realized it was almost nine o'clock. She walked over to answer it, hearing a voice as she arrived at the door.

  "Hello? Is anyone awake? I promised to come and knock you up in the morning if you weren't up yet."

  It was unmistakably Zahara, so Cat opened the door and ushered her into the small room.

  "Come in. Evelyn's just finishing in the bathroom. Umm, knock me up? I think that may mean something very different here from what it means in the States."