They were on the main road. The GPS was set. Cruise Control on. Now it was time to relax and let the car do most of the work. Camille loved technology that removed manual labor. She really looked forward to completely self-driving cars. What she had already wasn't half bad, though.

Camille peeked at her passenger. The girl looked curiously around with an eager smile. It made Camille smile, too.

"First time in a Tesla?"

"First time in a car, technically. But the Tesla is nice."

There was a slight disconnect there. She was speaking the truth, according to what Karin had shared, but she didn't act like it was her actual first time in a car. If it was, Camille would have expected her to have stronger feelings, like panic or be mesmerized.

“Karin has told me briefly what happened. I have some experience with the Consortium. Maybe you could tell me everything from the start with your own words, so I can get a clearer picture?”

Mina nodded. “I don’t mind sharing what I know. First, did Karin tell you that I have sort of second-hand memories from Martin?”

“Second-hand, how?”

“Well, I probably remember most of what he did, only every memory is dulled. It’s like I watched everything on TV once. Only everything was a bit boring to watch. I know for a fact that Martin was scared out of his wits during the chaos in the mansion, but I don’t remember that feeling at all. To me, it was just like watching an actor pretending to be afraid.”

“That sounds rather jarring. Is disconnected a good description?”

“Disconnected isn’t a bad word. Okay, let’s see. Martin and three of his fellow musicians took on a job as the orchestra for a social event with the cream of the society. It was supposed to be a well-paying, cushy job.”

She went on to tell how everything went to hell, how he escaped with a bullet in his guts and everything up to and including his meeting with the witch. Camille occasionally interrupted with clarifying questions.

“So the witch’s exact words were ‘a new life’?” Camille asked.

Mina nodded. “Yes. He accepted the deal, and she stabbed him with a dagger or knife. That’s the last of his memories. After that, my first memory starts. Which was super confusing, because my head was full of thoughts that were all a jumbled mess. It took some time until I managed to separate my own thoughts from Martin’s memories.”

"But you can easily tell them apart now?"

"Yes and no. I sort of default to Martin's opinions on topics I have no personal experience with. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't. Take you, for example."

"Me?"

"Martin was in love with you throughout high school."

It was a good thing Camille wasn't actively driving, because then she might have veered off in surprise. She had picked up some hints that he might have been into her, but not really in any serious way.

"Are you sure?”

“Oh yes. I don’t have the feelings he had, which is probably a good thing. Otherwise I might be feeling a bit love-sick towards you, which would be pretty weird. What I do have is remnants of writing love poems, staring at your picture, and other thoughts. Some of them are a bit …not PG.”

“Not PG?”

“Mature stuff.”

“I don’t follow…?”

“He was jerking off thinking of you.”

Despite this being thirty five years ago, she could still feel herself redden a bit at the thought. It was an odd mix of creepy and flattering, leaning more towards the former than the latter. Logically, it was no worse than the times she masturbated thinking of movie stars. Emotionally, though…

“Too much information, I take it?” Mina asked.

“Maybe a bit.”

It was weird speaking to Mina. She looked like a child, but spoke in a sometimes mature, sometimes juvenile way that left Camille’s mind reeling with emotional whiplash.

“Anyway, back on track; when I first met you, I inherited Martin’s opinion of you; he obviously liked you. He called you Sunshine, remember?”

“Yes, he did. I’d almost forgotten that.”

“He always enjoyed your smile, which he felt shone like the sun.”

“That’s… flattering.”

Also kind of not true. She had up and down days like everyone else. Sometimes her smile was genuine. Sometimes it was just a facade. A very convincing facade, apparently. Either that, or he had somehow never seen her on a bad day, which sounded rather improbable.

“Now I’m forming my own opinion of you, based on our interaction. And I can say truthfully that I like you, too.”

“Well, thank you.”

Camille wasn’t used to people being so direct. Mina was like a child in that fashion, only with the vocabulary of an adult. A child that was more like the age of five than ten or twelve.

They drove in silence for a while. Mina broke the silence: “Let me guess; it’s hard to speak with me?”

“Well, somewhat, yes. I’m just not used to your way of expressing opinions. It’s not wrong, just something I have no experience with.”

“What about your children?”

“It’s different. I know them, and I know what they feel already. And even they don’t express themselves quite so sincerely.”

“That sounds a bit sad. That you can’t express that you like someone without weirding them out.”

“Well, we live in a society where it can be easily misunderstood. No one is harmed by the fact that you say you like me. But how would you like it if an adult man came up to you and said he liked you?”

“Depends on what he meant by liking me, I guess?”

“Yes, but how would you know?”

“I’d just … isn’t it obvious in which way he liked me? I mean, it’s not weird that Karin likes me, because I know there’s no sexual or romantic feelings involved. If there were, it’d be super weird and maybe a bit gross.”

“I… don’t think it’s always so easy to figure out.”

“No? Maybe I have a knack for guessing correctly, then. Or maybe I’ve just never been aware of a time I’ve been wrong.”

“Not to be a party popper here, but you’ve ‘lived’ for only two days, right?”

“I guess?”

“Your sample size might be a bit too small to confidently say you’ve ‘never been proven wrong’, unless you deliberately want to mislead people.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Oh, sorry. In this case, I’m drawing from Martin’s experiences too. Maybe he too had a knack for figuring out people’s feelings. It’s how he knew that you weren’t in love with him, and never tried to ask you for a date or something. He was afraid it’d ruin your relationship later.”

“Wait, wait. He ‘knew’ that?”

“Yeah, he spent a good amount of time with you, helping you with homework and whatnot, right? He clearly picked up the vibes that you just wanted to stay friends, so he did just that.”

“How could he have… I mean, he wasn’t wrong, it’s just.... I can’t tell in which way someone likes me or not. I can barely tell whether someone likes me or not.”

“Huh. Maybe I should ask how others feel and compare to what I think they are feeling? I, or rather Martin, always thought it was so weird in romantic movies when people were not aware of each other’s feelings. He thought it was just for dramatic effect. I mean, I can’t tell how someone feels about me if they call me or send a text. Face to face, though? No problem at all.”

“That sounds incredibly useful, actually.”

“I guess it is. Maybe I’m playing life on ‘easy mode’ and have never tried ‘normal’.”

“That’s a gaming term, isn’t it?”

“Yup.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call ‘getting shot in the guts’ a part of an easy life.”

“Yeah, well, I guess that’s the super challenging endgame content. Literally endgame.”

“And now you’re losing me with your metaphors. I assume that was some kind of joke? Right. Mind if I switch topic?"

"Go ahead."

"The massacre at the party. Karin shared all you told her. It's very clear to me that the Consortium is trying to cover it up. As for the perpetrators... You witnessed them. They were all human, right?"

"Yes...?"

"If so, I struggle to think of who else it could be but the Consortium. I don't know of any other group powerful enough to create such a mess within Consortium territory."

"Wait wait wait wait. Why are you asking if they were human? What other options are there?"

"Please do mean favor and forget about it. Please?"

"No, you can't just hint at something like that and leave me hanging. What are the alternatives? Robots? Aliens?"

"I'm sorry, I really can't speak about it."

"You can't as in you are not permitted to discuss it?"

"Yes. I shouldn't have mentioned anything about it in the first place."

"Okay, I get it. How about I talk about and you listen to my wild speculations?"

"Mina, I'm dead serious. This could get me into real trouble. Please, pretty please, just drop the topic, okay?"

The girl looked at her with concern.

"My apologies. I didn't realize how sensitive the subject was. Can I ask other questions about the Consortium, or is everything confidential?"

"Ask away. I'll let you know if you cross any line."

"Good. So, first question... Are you a member, an employee or otherwise a part of the Consortium?"

"If I have to put it into words, I'm something of a freelancer for the Consortium. Has Karin told you what I do?"

Mina shook her head.

"I’m a surgeon," she smiled, "a magic surgeon."

“Ooh, sounds cool. What does that involve?”

"Well, I am a surgeon in the regular sense of the word. But I also have a magic trick up my sleeve.”

“Wow, Martin would be so happy if he knew you completed your doctor’s degree. Your math grades weren’t exactly stellar. What’s your magic trick?”

Camille smiled. It had always been her dream to become a doctor, but the road had been long and hard. Funny how much this conversation reminded her of a past she had mostly forgotten.

“Well, like all other forms of magic, it only really works on children or unveiled people. But for those, I can very locally revert something to what it was before. It’s limited in how far back I can revert something and how large, but can make all the difference in surgeries."

“Wow, that’s incredible! So you can just magic away tremors and wounds?”

“To a certain extent, yes. It depends on how long it has been there. To be honest, tumors aren’t that easy to deal with, not for me nor anyone else. A regular surgeon can also remove a tumor, but there’s no way of knowing if cancer cells have already spread to the rest of the body or not. There are some people that have been born with non-cancer tumors. For example small blobs of fat.”

“I see.”

“Wounds are usually a lot easier to deal with, at least if they are fairly recent.”

“That’s neat. Say, hypothetically, could you have saved Martin if he was on the operating table?”

“Maybe, but I doubt it. I doubt my magic would have been very effective on him. He was veiled, which meant he would dampened my magic to the point of ineffectiveness. So could I have saved him without relying on my magic? Most likely no.”

Despite the morbid topic, this was more of her home turf; she was much more comfortable talking about this than complicated feelings.

“The problem with any surgery is that it is extremely invasive. People that are already severely reduced might die from shock or complications both during or after the surgery. From what Karin described, Martin was in seriously bad shape. It’s very likely that emergency doctors would have decided to leave the bullet inside and rely on medicines to get him stable, before advising surgery.”

“Sounds like he was probably going to die anyway. No need to mince words or worry about my feelings. Martin is dead now, and truthfully I’m sort of glad he is. Because otherwise I wouldn’t be here now.”

“I guess that’s one way to look at it,” Camille agreed, feeling less enthusiastic with the topic shift back to feelings.

“Can I ask you more about if someone is veiled or not? I'm not sure I understand exactly what the difference is. It's obviously not whether you actually have magic, because Karin has none and is unveiled. Is it how 'open' you are? Can you technically be unveiled and unaware of it?"

"Well, it is not strictly binary. You're on to something, though. It's useful to think of it as a reverse correlation with skepticism to the supernatural."

"So a hippie that believes in love and unicorns might unknowingly be unveiled?"

"To be unveiled is to know magic exists, not just ‘sort of’ believe it. Said hippie would still be genuinely surprised if she witnessed a fireball. But you are partially right. Such an individual would dampen less magic than your average adult."

"Adult, huh? Reading between the lines; children are less dampening, right?"

"Correct. Which is why I am a surgeon specializing in children. The younger, the better. To brag a little, I have been known to pull off some miraculous surgeries. Honestly, my biggest challenge is avoiding suspicion. There's a reason why my assistants are also my apprentices."

"Wow, that's really cool. Let me guess, you also operate on unveiled people?"

"Correct again. And that's the sort of work I do for the Consortium. They call me up pretty regularly. It can be a headache to meet their requests while also fulfilling all my normal obligations. Fortunately, they pay really well. I donate some of the money I earn to my regular hospital, and it goes a long way towards easing tensions. The cover story I tell my veiled colleagues is that I'm doing surgeries in a private hospital for the ultra-rich."

"Sounds like you've got a good gig going on, as long as you don't stress yourself to death. How do you juggle family with all that?"

"Well, to be honest, the answer is that I don't do a very good job of it. My children are all grown-up now, and thank God for that. My husband is very accommodating, but he puts his foot down when I work too much. If not for him, I probably would have worked even more."

She didn't want to go into too much details. The near divorce, the partial neglect of her children... Hopefully such things were all in the past.

"So, can you tell me more about the Consortium itself?"

"Probably. What has Karin told you so far?"

"Not much. They're the supernatural FBI, and uphold the Law of the Veil."

"I can see why she would think of them that way. It's not correct, but it's not entirely wrong, either. A lot of what I know is classified, but I can say that they're an international group that serves the regional magic groups. It only has jurisdiction where the local group allows it, but at least in this part of the world, that’s basically everywhere."

"Does that mean they’re supposed to be the good guys?"

“Well, their primary purpose is to protect the interests of the underlying groups, otherwise they’ll lose both jurisdiction and funding. As the name implies, they’re an association of common business interests.”

“Okay. Let's for a moment assume that it was the Consortium slaughtering the party, and not some other hidden organization. What would the Consortium gain from doing that? Could it be their goal to eliminate competition?”

“No, that doesn’t quite make sense. They can’t afford to focus on one particular group over the others, at least not openly. I know they tried to cover it up, but its too big to fully brush under the rug. Even before Karin told me about it, I had heard rumors of it myself through other unveiled contacts. The local group was making a big fuss about it, before suddenly backtracking all their comments. To me, that's a clear sign someone either gave them a good enough reason for the incident, or simply strong-armed them into shutting up.”

“If I understand you correctly, you have no idea of the motivation behind such an operation?”

“Well, the only reasonable explanation I can think of is that all, or almost all of the participants in the party broke the Law of the Veil. Exactly how, I don’t know.”

“Can you break the Law of the Veil if you’re unaware of it?”

“I don’t think that is possible. Then again, I’m not an expert.”

They sat in silence for a bit. Mina yawned.

"Can I ask you about awakened powers?" she asked.

"You can, but I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the topic. Our destination, Dawnhill Academy, should have experts far more capable than me. How about you take a nap instead? It's still a long drive left, and then you have to walk an hour or two from the public road to the academy itself. It'll be early morning before you reach your destination.”

“You make a compelling argument. I already took a nap today, but I guess another one can't hurt. It's almost scary how much faster I tire as a child.”

She settled in a more comfortable position, half-way lying on the side.

“By the way, I’m super grateful that you’re helping me so much,” she smiled, “You’re going to be so sleepy tomorrow…”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

It was true, Camille was really going to struggle tomorrow. But still, she wouldn’t regret it. Her dream was to help people. That had never changed.