Burning in a Memory

by Constance Sharper

  “It’s me,” Adam called through the door, as if she couldn’t see him. The sound of his voice snapped her out of her daze though, and she unbolted the locks.

  “Hey, I was waiting for you,” she said with a careful smile as she opened the door. Adam actually looked taken aback to see her, but if he checked her out at all, he did it subtly.

  Something drew her attention behind him and she spotted a black sedan, just in time to see it pulling away from the corner. Her driveway was empty, making it very clear that Adam had not driven here alone. She didn’t blame him for the safety precautions, but stashed the information in the back of her mind.

  “How are you doing? Did you see a doctor? Please tell me you’re doing better,” Adam asked.

  He shamelessly searched for the gash on her forehead, which had been red and raw the day earlier. She’d concealed it well with caked-on foundation and it appeared to be sufficient enough to satisfy his inquiry.

  “Yea, yea, doctors. I’m feeling all right. Come in, please.”

  His lips formed a thin line of disapproval but it disappeared when she waved him inside. He followed her into the dining room before turning his attention to the home. She anxiously waited as he took a cursory look around. She’d spent hours cleaning the place and moving furniture in and out until it looked like a home again. It only lacked personal touches, photos, and a true sense of being lived in. She hoped he would overlook the latter. Nineteen year olds were never known for their decorating skills.

  “It’s nice,” he surmised lightly and it sounded like he’d given it as little thought as she hoped.

  “We can sit in the living room,” she said and gestured to the other room. Of all of the rooms, it smelled the least of bleach and more of fresh air from the open windows.

  “Do you have roommates?” he asked.

  “Just me,” she said.

  He made it into the living room and did another sweeping look. This time he made a face.

  “This is huge for just you. I wish I had these digs in college. Do you own it?”

  She laughed but her stomach did a somersault.

  “I rent. I thought later I’d find a roommate but I haven’t been trying that hard,” she said.

  He bought it apparently.

  “I don’t blame you. I hate sharing a house.”

  Once in the living room, he invited himself to sit down on the leather couch and stretched out. He seemed fairly relaxed with her, so she tried to follow suit. She circled to the fridge and fetched two cans of Coke.

  “Would you like something to drink?” she offered.

  “Please sit. I came to check on you, not for you to wait on me.”

  She waved him down before he could get up from his seat. Sliding the cold cans onto the counter, she grabbed the phone from its cradle. Hitting the button, she listened for the dial tone.

  “Well, I gotta order the pizza anyway. Preference on type? Place?”

  “I like everything. Your choice,” he said.

  “Papa John’s it is.”

  She dialed from memory and pressed the phone to her ear. A medium pepperoni was always the go-to, but she honestly wasn’t even hungry. The cashier on the other end rattled off an estimated time and hung up. She replaced the phone in the cradle and readied herself for the inevitable.

  “So, let’s talk,” she regarded him. Crossing into the living room, she handed him a can before settling into a rocking chair. Adam finally perked up and slid to the end of his seat.

  “What do you want to know?” he asked cautiously in return.

  “It’s so weird that I don’t even know what to ask you. I spent the whole time doubting what I saw, but every time I convinced myself that what I saw was the result of heat stroke or a concussion, it didn’t add up. I know I wouldn’t have survived that rockslide if not for a miracle. Or magic.”

  “I was hoping you’d think it was just a concussion. That works on a lot of people,” he said.

  “I guess I’m not ‘a lot of people.’ I want you to know, though, that I didn’t tell anyone what I saw.”

  He met her eyes and nodded.

  “Thank you,” he quipped.

  She cracked open her soda and took a long sip while she formulated her thoughts. This conversation wasn’t going as easily as she’d hoped. She could see the tension in the muscle ticks of his neck and shoulders. If she could have found a way to make him feel more comfortable, she would have jumped on it. When she found no way out, she just dove in the only questions she could ask.

  “How did you do it? How did you save us?”

  “I used magic to shelter us, the same as Angie used to stop the boulder from crushing her.”

  “So you’re both the same,” she gasped. Putting a hand to her forehead, she focused on the ground. “How come I’ve never heard of this before?”

  “It’s not exactly something that’s common knowledge. My kind has been hunted and killed all throughout history. But unless we have that label affixed to us, it’s impossible to tell us apart from other people. We are normal with normal lives and only other mages can see through that.”

  She looked up at him.

  “So you’re a witch?”

  He laughed dryly.

  “No,” he said.

  “A telepath?”

  “No. No way. I am a mage. Angie is a mage. It’s a bit different, but please don’t picture the green woman over the smoking cauldron. I’m also not on the X-men team or anything of the sort.”

  She smiled at him shyly. She was certain she saw a hint of pink in his cheeks now.

  “Sorry. I’m still learning. What else can you do?”

  Adam frowned momentarily, as if he reconsidered teaching her anything. If he had reservations, he finally gave them up.

  “It’s hard to show really. We work within the power of our auras upon the world around us. I’ll spare you the long explanations though.”

  Right when he finished speaking, she heard the fridge door open. Glasses rattled overhead. The candles in the corner flickered and reached all the way up to the ceiling. The potted plant in the corner sprouted flowers and died within the same second. Her head was whirling to keep up with it all. She let her jaw hit the floor.

  “You’re a superhero,” she said.

  This time she was certain his face lit up. He focused on his Coke now.

  “I’m not. It’s useful but surprisingly less useful than you think it would be. Those are just parlor tricks. The hard things come with work and exercising your aura is like exercising any other muscle. Some are better athletes than others.”

  “Well, I’m sure you’re one of the best,” she exclaimed.

  Adam denied it with a shake of his head.

  “You saved my life, Adam. I can never thank you enough for that.”

  This clearly affected him.

  “I’m glad I did, Adelaide. But I do have one thing to ask you for now. Angie babbled to my coven about what happened at the rock wall and now they’re concerned. They want to meet you and see that you are harmless.”

  Before she could answer, a resounding knock came at the door and she could smell the pizza before she opened it. The sixteen-year-old driver did little more than pocket a twenty and thrust a hot box at her face before he was out in the driveway again. She swiveled and found Adam back in the dining room, but his attention wasn’t on her. He faced the back window and the weedy yard beyond it. His fingertips drifted out and brushed the thin curtains. Her heart skipped a beat.

  “Is something wrong?” She cued.

  “No,” he said, sounding uncertain. He strode across the room, his footsteps silent on the wooden floor, as he drifted back into the hall.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked again. She was rapidly becoming desperate for an answer.

  “Nothing,” he insisted.

  As if in a rush to dismiss the weird behavior, he hurried to take the pizza from her. She followed him back into the kitchen where he already opened the box.

&nbs
p; “Pepperoni lover?”

  He plopped it down into the counter, and opened the nearest cabinets. She didn’t have many plates but he found them, setting them out on the counter.

  “You said you didn’t care!”

  He smiled again.

  “I love everything. I eat pizza all the time. Have you ever heard of JoJo’s down on Market Street?” he asked. When she shook her head, he added, “We’ll have to go there when you meet my coven. Best in town, but, unfortunately, they don’t deliver.”

  They returned to the couches once they had plated the pizza.

  “That’s fine. When were you thinking?” she asked while picking off the crust.

  “Tomorrow, if that’s okay. Sooner rather than later will help calm them down. I think if they meet you, they won’t be concerned either.”

  “Okay,” she said. She watched her food but had yet to eat it. For the first time, it felt like her low riding jeans clung too tight and her push up bra was far too flashy.

  “I’m sorry if I’m making you uncomfortable,” he finally acknowledged. “I thought it was going well until now. What got you? The coven thing?”

  He seemed genuinely concerned so she was honest.

  “What were you looking for just now? In the other room?”

  “It’s hard to explain. I wish you didn’t ask…I just get a really bad feeling here. Not from you, but your entire place. I feel something foreboding…something dangerous coming, but I can’t pin what.”

  Her heart pounded and she could hear the blood rushing in her ears. She curled her hands into fists on her lap, fighting to keep her face stoic.

  “That’s creepy. Are you psychic too?”

  “No,” he denied with a half chuckle. Despite his odd revelation, he seemed calm and interested in his food. She tried to mimic him.

  “If you want to know, I’m not psychic but I do feel like I can get a good read on places. Even on people. You, for example, watch me an awful lot like you don’t trust me. I can feel your discomfort, your fear, even if it’s subtle. That’s not exactly the effect I want to have on humans who find out I’m a mage.”

  She’d underestimated how sharp Adam would be, and it struck her hard now. While he read her correctly, he read her absolutely incorrectly as well. She moved to change the subject quickly.

  “How do you like the pizza?” she asked.

  “It’s good.” He polished off his plate with ease. She had a few bites before she gave up and set it down. His phone buzzed and he pulled it from his pocket. After glancing at the screen, he made a face.

  “I’m sorry but I guess my ride is here. Adelaide, lunch tomorrow with my coven at one?”

  “I hope they’re as nice as you,” she said.

  “I’ll make them be nice to you. Don’t be nervous. I’ll pick you up tomorrow so you don’t have to drive.”

  “Got it.”

  She beat him to the door and held it open. The black sedan waited at the curb. Adam hesitated beside her. Barely a foot away, she could actually feel the heat of his body. He leaned closer and she froze. But his lips only brushed her ear instead of her lips.

  “I don’t mean to scare you, but please be careful, Adelaide. I hope I’m wrong about my feeling here.”

  Before she could react, or remember how to breathe, he was already down the driveway. She closed the door to block her face from his sight, scared her expression might betray her secrets. What danger was Adam picking up on? Was he already, even subconsciously, onto her?

  Three

  She couldn’t breathe. The lack of air woke her from a dead sleep, clawing at her throat. She finally gasped and got a solid gulp of oxygen. Red faced and wheezing, it took a few minutes to calm down. A thin layer of sleep left her mind hazy and her vision blurry, but she remembered the foreign house and the strange bedroom. She frantically pushed the sheets from her until they slipped to the floor. The air smelled fine now. Maybe the constriction in her throat had been a dream. She tried to convince herself of that as she was no stranger to night terrors, but something still irked her.

  “Hello?” she humored herself with the question. No sound returned. “Anyone here?”

  She rose from the bed carefully. Though this house was firmly rooted in the middle of suburbia, the streetlights were sparse and little outside light filtered through the windows. Feet touching the cold floor, she counted the steps until her outstretched fingers grazed the light switch. The room illuminated and revealed no one.

  She walked into living room where cold pizza and dirty dishes waited. The lingering scent of bleach mixed with the pizza, but she didn’t smell anything else. She circulated the house and did a ten point inspection to find that nothing seemed out of place. She returned to the living room and dropped onto the leather couch. Her hand returned to her throat. She thought smoke had clogged it.

  She paced her breathing now. With her mind set so much on Adam, she was surprised that she had enough energy to dream at all.

  “Adelaide. Come here, Adelaide.”

  Adelaide froze. Her eyes snapped open and she coughed. If she’d imagine smoke before, it smelled real now and burned her lungs. The voice hadn’t been in her head nor had the scent. She lunged to her feet, and struggled to stay upright as she looked for the source of the voice.

  The living room was empty so she rushed into the dining room. She saw the figure by the door and backpedaled, but the figure followed quicker than she could move. It stood in the living room with her in seconds. Adelaide’s back smacked against the wall and she went still. The light from the bedroom illuminated the figure and revealed a woman. At first look, she appeared short and thin. Curls of bleached blonde hair tumbled down into her face and her coat seemed to swallow her being. Closer inspection revealed glassy, pale blue skin and unusually massive pupils. The tattoo on the back of her neck glowed red and had grown in size since the time Adelaide had last seen it.

  “Shit,” Adelaide cursed.

  Adelaide pressed back into the cement, as if she could distance herself more from the woman. The woman before her was the closest thing to a monster the world would ever know, and she looked barely over the age of twenty-four. The woman was a shade and greeted her with a smile.

  “How did you find me?” Adelaide asked, cutting to the chase. She scoped out the exit and her position against the wall, but found no way out that wouldn’t leave her painfully vulnerable. The shade, named Mistel, clearly knew that. Her smile widened.

  “You think I couldn’t sniff you out?” Mistel asked in turn.

  Adelaide spoke after a beat.

  “No, I don’t believe that you can.”

  Mistel twitched, confirming that Adelaide was right.

  “That masquerade doesn’t work so well when I already know who you are, what you look like, and your new human name. So I found you because of the landlord at your old place, the stewardess who sold your ticket, the cab driver who probably really misses all of his digits…” Mistel hissed, her words trailing off. Adelaide gagged in return, her mind flashing through all of the people that she met on the way to Denver.

  “All that effort to find me? Almost like your new coven has little use for you…” she pointed out brazenly.

  Mistel exploded and the shade screamed. Adelaide clasped her hands over her ears but still lost her equilibrium. While Mistel’s scream was crippling, it was the explosion of aura magic that followed that was worse. It rushed through the air and felt like a wall of concrete upon impact. Adelaide yelped as a cold, prickling sensation snaked up her spine. The scent of bitter smoke thickened until it permeated every inch of the house.

  Through the darkness now, Mistel looked different. Her pale, blue tinged skin seemed more prominently discolored and shattered, like broken glass. The pupils in her eyes dilated until they consumed the entire iris with deep black.

  “Don’t taunt me, Adelaide,” Mistel whispered. “I will drag you back to my coven served on a bloody platter if I have to.”

  Adelaide knew,
without a doubt, that Mistel wasn’t lying. She stayed quiet until the shade calmed down, as if nothing had ever angered her in the first place. Mistel continued talking.

  “I haven’t taken you yet because I think waiting for the best opportunity is worth it. Don’t misperceive my mercy thus far. I am not going to let you get away, and I’ll be extremely angry if I have to come find you again. Why did you run, Adelaide? Are you running away from me?” Calculation crossed Mistel’s face, and the shade blatantly sized her up.

  “Stop it! You can’t touch me. I am being protected by the Hawthorn coven,” Adelaide said, the jumbled set of words escaping her. She regretted it immediately, but the atmosphere did shift. Mistel retreated a step back. It was shock, instead of anger, showing on her face.

  “The Hawthorns are shades,” Mistel pointed out.

  “They are powerful shades. In fact, they are one of the most powerful shade covens in the northwest!” Adelaide added on now, too late to stop this train. Her fingers unconsciously rose to clasp the egg shaped pendant around her neck, a gift from the Hawthorns, and she held it tight.

  “I don’t believe you. Why would the Hawthorns protect you? Hawthorns don’t negotiate with mages,” Mistel spat.

  Adelaide worked to sell it.

  “I imagine they usually don’t, but I’ve made a deal with them. They are going to spare me, they are going to protect me, because I’m doing them a favor,” Adelaide explained.

  “What? What are you doing for them?” Mistel’s questions sounded like accusations.

  Adelaide paused. She never wanted to reveal this to anyone, much less Mistel. But if saying it stopped the shade from tearing her apart in the living room, she would do it.

  “How long did it really take you to find me, Mistel?” Adelaide asked slowly.

  Mistel’s eyes bored forward into the darkness.