It was another slow day at the crystal shop. I ran a cloth across the top of the display case once again, cleaning off fingerprints. It was amazing to me that such perfectly clear glass was considered so mundane and beneath notice. Lydia came in from her lunch break, holding a small booklet that she plopped down onto the desk, a smirk on her face. “Check out the latest tabloid.”
I groaned at the sight of the familiar picture of my back, the picture that’s been on everyone’s mind the last few days. Me, jumping over a wall, after I stopped some creep from forcing himself on a woman behind a coffee shop. In massive text, “Is Superbunny an alien from outer space?” was emblazoned on the side of the photo.
“What do you think? Some cultures claimed there were rabbits living on the moon, you know.” I guess my expression of confusion showed, as she added more explanation. “I think it was Japan, they saw a rabbit in the shape of the dark spots or something.”
I rolled my eyes and slid the “tabloid” to the side. “I don’t know anything about that. Maybe it was just someone pulling a prank? Ben told me something about ‘furry fans’, maybe it’s one of them.” I resumed cleaning the display case.
“I dunno, maybe? That’s still kinda cool, too, though. This town’s so boring, it’s nice to have something unusual going on.” She went into the back, leaving the paper on the counter. I figured I’d check out what they were guessing about me, since I had to admit I was curious.
I was still cleaning the other display cases when someone came in, a woman who looked around like she didn’t know what she wanted. Still, it was better than doing nothing. “Hi, welcome to the ‘Sparkle of Your Eye’ crystal shop! If you like, I could help you find something, or answer any questions you might have?” I did my best to be cheerful and kind. I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d seen her before, but it was always a little difficult with humans. They all looked alike to me.
She looked like she was about to jump out of her skin, and gave me an odd look. I got a lot of those, Ben said it was probably my hair or my collar, or both. There was still a counter between me and her, so it wasn’t the hooves. “Oh, sorry, I just… I had a rough night last Thursday, and I’m still kinda jumpy, I guess.” She paused for a moment, as if debating whether to continue, but I suppose she decided to change the subject. “A friend of mine is big into crystal healing and stuff like that? She was telling me I should get some, and so when I saw this place, I thought I’d take a look around? But I don’t really know… It all sounds pretty silly, I guess.”
I smiled sweetly. “Oh, not at all! Many gemstones are attuned to different kinds of energies, after all.”
The woman looked at me incredulously for a moment, but shook her head, deciding it would be impolite to say anything. “I guess I’m just looking for something like a necklace, something that’ll help me feel better.”
“Well, that’s pretty vague, but I hope things go better for you.” She seemed to almost flinch when I said that. “We have a few complete necklaces over here, but we also have some that can accept a stone of your choice, so if you don’t see one that appeals to you, we can make one. Or your friend, who knows about crystals.”
I was showing her the stand of necklace designs, a rotating box that sat on the central counter, when she gestured to the tabloid still sitting next to it. “I met her, you know.”
I froze in place. “Huh? The… Superbunny?” I still hated that name.
“Yeah, before that photo went viral. I might’ve been the first.” She rubbed her arm lightly, giving herself a squeeze, in a very defensive posture. Now that she said it, I recognized her scent. I couldn’t smell as well in this form as I could normally, but I was still much more sensitive than real humans.
I swallowed hard, trying to keep my voice even. “Oh, I don’t know. Seems like everyone’s talking about her lately. What’s your thoughts on her?”
She was looking at the tabloid, seeming not to be paying much attention to me, which was probably a good thing. “I’m not sure. I know one thing, it wasn’t a costume. Maybe she really is from another planet.”
“Like from Venus? Where you’d burn, drown, be crushed, all that?” I tried to be dismissive, rolling my eyes.
“No, like, way out there. I don’t know… I guess it’s hard to believe me, huh?” She seemed to be lost in thought, staring at the tabloid, sad.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean like that… No, I believe you!” I reached out to take her hands in mine, so I could give her a smile. “It doesn’t matter where she’s from, as long as she’s nice and she helped you, right?”
It seemed to calm her down a bit, and she nodded. “Yeah, you’re right, I guess. Maybe we’ll find out more later, if she ever decides to go public. You know, it’s funny, but she said the same thing you did. ‘I hope things go better for you.’”
“Is that unusual? I mean, doesn’t everyone hope for that, when they hear someone’s facing hardship?” I couldn’t help but tilt my head slightly.
“No, I guess not, it’s just… I don’t think I’d heard anyone phrase it exactly like that before. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to talk your ear off or anything.” Maybe she was sensing my tension, but if she did, she probably mistook it for annoyance.
I tried to give a gentle chuckle to reassure her. “Don’t worry about it. You should bring your friend in here, we’ve started keeping a ‘special stock’ of gemstones that are especially receptive for energies. Perhaps they can pick out something that’d work well for you, something they know how to make use of?”
The woman gave me a confused look. “‘Know how to make use of’? Is it really all that complicated? They’re just… rocks, aren’t they?”
I took a moment, trying to figure out how to walk the fine line between explaining what I meant and not revealing too much about magic. “For a basic atmosphere, you don’t need much. Something you like the look of, that helps you focus your own thoughts. For more complicated things, they need to be cut just right, with the right angles and free of impurities. If you’re practiced enough, you can ‘feel’ it when you try to attune to it. Your friend will probably understand what I mean, so don’t worry about it too much. If she’s wanting to help you, then it’ll depend on what she’s… practiced with, I suppose.”
“Well, what would you recommend for atmosphere?” She was definitely skeptical of what I was saying. I was beginning to wonder how much her friend had told her.
“Oh, let’s see… You said you were feeling nervous, so I figured you would probably want something more protective. Amethyst is a good stone for that.” I stepped over to one of the standing sets of shelves near the counter, kneeling down to a bin on a lower shelf. These were the lower-cost stones, ones that held some essence but were too impure or cracked to be of use for actually imbuing with a spell. I picked out a nice stone about as thick as my finger and half as long, smiling as I presented it to her. It had a hexagonal cross-section, one end cut to a point, but the other was a rough break. “Like this one. A deep color, though not very uniform. Focusing on this might help ward off intrusive thoughts? Perhaps keep it by your bed, or your desk? I don’t know if we have a necklace fitting for one this size, but we could order it, or a dedicated jeweler could help you with that.”
She took it in her hand, but she wasn’t looking at the stone at all. She was looking at me with a mix of confusion and fear. “You… Why are you wearing those… boots?”
I did my best to keep my response calm, but it came out more measured and cautious. “Why not? I like them and find them comfortable.”
“She had hooves like that. I didn’t tell anyone, I didn’t think they’d believe me. I saw her when she kicked those men that were mugging me.” Her voice sounded like she was on the edge of accusing me.
I took a quick look around, making sure Lydia hadn’t come out of the back. “Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve met her too. She’s… actually the reason I came to this town. She brought me here.” The woman’s eyes went wide, so I continued. “I was born in… My friend calls it a ‘compound’, up in the mountains? But it was very isolated, I didn’t know anything about the outside world. My… My father was killed by a bad man, and Superbunny helped me escape from him before he could kill me too. She’s my hero, and I want to be just like her, strong and brave. The boots help me feel like that.”
She had her hand over her mouth, the fear melting into a look of sympathy. “Oh, my gosh! That’s so incredible! I’m so sorry you had to go through all that… You know, I thought I was crazy, that I imagined the hooves, because nobody else seems to have seen them. I mean, a rabbit is one thing, but what is she?”
“When we were coming here, she told me she’s a ‘hoofbun’, half horse, half rabbit. But don’t tell anyone. I don’t think she wants people to know much about her, since she hasn’t spoken up about the photos. She didn’t even tell me her name, and I was too scared and in shock to ask.”
She nodded, though she seemed pretty relieved. “Yeah, I suppose. Okay. Oh! I should get going, how much for this?”
“It was from a ten dollar bin, so let me just ring you up.” I smiled as I completed the sale. I’d have been tempted to let her keep it for free, but I knew Lydia would get mad at me if I did that. Maybe I could give her a discount on a ‘special stock’ gem if she brought her friend with her, since I was allowed to set those prices.
The woman waved on her way out. “Bye! It was nice meeting you. I don’t know if this will do anything, but you’ve certainly helped take a load off my mind!”
That night, I was sitting in a chair in Ben’s kitchen. He was flipping through the tabloid I’d brought home, as Lydia said she’d already read it and I could keep it.
“Space, huh? I mean, they’re kind of right. You are from another world.”
I waved a paw dismissively. “Yeah, but where is it? It doesn’t feel like I travelled through ‘space’ to get here, it’s more like… going sideways in a direction that doesn’t exist?”
“Huh, that’s a phrase.” He raised an eyebrow.
“Well, I’ve been thinking about it a lot. At first, I thought maybe this was a world inside the Storms, but with the stars and everything, I don’t know. It doesn’t feel like this place is ‘inside’ anything.” I was sitting backwards in the chair, so I could rest my arms on the back of it and my chin on my arms.
“The Storms…? I think you mentioned something about an experiment, and that’s how you got here?”
“Yeah. I’m still not sure what they are, exactly, but I’d say it’s… like Earth and Terra are on opposite sides of them? Master was able to stabilize a ‘hole’ through one, it was like looking through a mirror except it was a different place reflected. Like scrying, but no glass, like you could actually step through.”
“A portal. From your world to ours. Somehow, these Storms don’t just… unmake things.” He seemed to be thinking about something.
Meanwhile, the word “unmake” sent a shudder down my spine, for a reason I couldn’t place. I was feeling uneasy, trying to think about the Storms. “Yeah. Like, if there’s a wall that keeps us from going from one to the other, the Storms are… a tear in that wall. But if that’s true, why are they storms at all? Shouldn’t they just be like a portal?”
Ben sighed and plopped the tabloid onto the table. “Who knows? All we know is that there’s a relation, but all we can really do is guess.”
I also sighed. My chin was back on my arms. “Master would’ve known more… He was the one studying them. I tried to follow his explanations, but when it came to magic, a lot of it went over my head. I do better when I have tasks I can do, like carry things or pull a plow.”
“Or fight criminals?” He glanced at the paper before moving to the fridge, getting things out to start cooking.
“It’s something. I’ve trained most of my life, sparring with soldiers and guards. Strength is one thing, but the training means I can anticipate where they’ll attack, know how to dodge or strike first, and win the fight without hurting them too badly.”
He was chopping vegetables, so I stood up and picked a nice piece of lettuce to nibble on. Seeing me, he admonished me. “Hey, now, don’t spoil your appetite. Surprised you didn’t go for a carrot.”
“They’re good, but they’re so sweet, especially Earth ones. It’s better when they’re part of something, rather than just on their own.” The lettuce was nice and juicy, it did a good job of being a simple treat.
“You know, I don’t think I ever asked how old you are.” The knife sliced through vegetables, the pieces being put into a bowl. It was for something he called “stir-fry”, and it was surprisingly tasty when he made it, so I was looking forward to it.
I puffed my chest out a little in pride. “I’m almost six years old. Isn’t that amazing?”
It certainly got a reaction, Ben nearly dropping the knife in shock. “Six?”
“I know! A construct lasting that long is pretty much unheard of, not without having to regularly be imbued with more energy. But I’m self-sustaining, though I do require food and sleep. Master estimated I might even be able to survive indefinitely, but we really have no idea… I bet you had no idea I was so old, did you?”
“Ah, well, ‘old’ isn’t exactly the word I was thinking of…” Taking the knife again, he resumed his work, chuckling to himself. “‘Almost six’, so you’re still five and some months?”
“My anniversary of my activation is next month. Right around when summer starts shifting to fall. Another month, and it’d be the Fall Festival in Freymoor.”
“Anniversary of your activation?”
“Well, that’s what I’ve been going by. My body had been created, but I wasn’t ‘alive’ until that day, when Master did the final step of the process, imbuing me with energy in order to bring me to life. I figure it’s the closest I have to a ‘birthday’, the 22nd day of August. It can be a little hard sometimes to track the exact date, so I usually just go by the seasons.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Ben paused for a moment, setting the knife aside. “August? Why does Terra have a month named after an Earth emperor?”
“Huh?”
Pulling out his phone, he tapped the screen before showing it to me. It was a calendar, like ones I’d seen before. “July and August were named after Julius Caesar and Augustus, emperors of Rome here on Earth.”
I looked at the screen, but everything seemed to be the same, so I shrugged. “I don’t know. Who are the others named after?”
“I could look it up, but the point is that you should have… I don’t know, different names for them, at the very least. Shouldn’t you?”
I picked another piece of lettuce before shrugging. “I guess it’s another one of those things that we’re linked with? Like English and platypuses?”
“That’s… Yeah, I guess. I guess I just expected something different. Now I’m really wondering what sort of history our worlds have with each other. It’s gotta be more than just a few travellers back and forth…”
I munched the lettuce, pondering his words. What exactly did happen? How were our two worlds linked, and why?
Having nothing better to do, I was spending my day off at the mall, eating lunch at the food court. It was nice to sit and watch the humans, the way they’d interact with each other, smiling and laughing. Women with strollers containing tiny babies, which made me wonder what I would’ve been like, if I’d been born instead of created. What was it like to grow up? To be able to amass literal decades of experience? Then again, maybe I wasn’t missing much.
I was absently chewing on a cheesesteak sandwich as I watched people going back and forth. I’d started to get used to the sweetness of the bread, as well as the aromas of so many different foods with different spices all being cooked at once. This world was so incredible, so different, and yet there was so much that was familiar. A few tables over, a couple were talking and laughing, and I was reminded of home. Seeing patrons at the inn talking and laughing over a meal, after a long day in the fields. I guess at their core, humans really are the same no matter which world they’re in.
A younger man caught my eye as he squeezed between tables next to me, only to stumble when his foot caught a chair that’d been left out, dropping a backpack he was carrying and letting books spill out across the tile floor. “Ugh, this human form is so limiting,” I heard him mutter to himself.
Quickly, I was on my hooves, clopping over as he was picking up books. “I know, tell me about it! I don’t know how any of them stand it, really.” I smiled as I knelt down to help him collect his things.
He seemed surprised, taking the stack of books from my hands to put into the pack. “Um, sorry?”
“Ah, sorry, I should introduce myself. My name’s Flopsy! Why don’t you join me for lunch?” I gestured over to where I was sitting.
He looked over at the food, then back at me. “Oh, um, okay, sure. I guess?” He seemed to be completely unsure of things. It was a little amusing, honestly.
“It’ll even be my treat. What would you like?” I couldn’t help but be excited at the chance to talk to another non-human. Ben was nice to talk to, but it wasn’t quite the same as meeting someone who might be more like me!
“Oh, that’s all right, I’ll buy my own food. Just… watch my bag, and I’ll be back?” Maybe I was too cheerful, he seemed to be really shy. Maybe he’s just not used to being around someone like me.
I nodded and sat down, watching him go to the Taco Bell place. I had tried it before, but I didn’t like it much. Too much spice in the meat, and the lettuce was always so limp and tasteless. I took some breaths to try to calm myself down, so I wouldn’t make him so uncomfortable. Soon enough, he sat down with a tray.
He eyed me a little cautiously as he unwrapped a piece of food. “So, you’re… Flopsy? Like, an online name? Or just a nickname?”
I tilted my head slightly. “Huh? No, it’s just my name. That’s what I’ve always been called. I like it, though. What about you?”
“My name’s Zachary, or just Zach.” He looked around a little nervously. I already knew that nobody had been paying much attention to me, but I couldn’t fault him for wanting to make sure we weren’t being listened to.
“Really? That’s a neat name, I’ve never heard one like that before.” I smiled sweetly, taking a bite of my sandwich. He gave me a confused expression, though. Did I say something odd? Once I swallowed, I added, “But I’m not from around here. Are you?”
That seemed to relax him a little. “Yeah, born here. Who’d move TO Lapine Falls?” He gave a single chuckle at that, as if it was some bitter joke that made sense to him.
“I dunno, I did, I guess. I mean, this place is so huge compared to Freymoor. But one thing’s really been bothering me: where are all the farms?” I gestured with my sandwich at the crowded food court. “There’s so many people living here, thousands even, and I haven’t seen a single plot of farmland.”
“Huge? Farms? Wow, you really aren’t from here, huh? How big is Freymoor?”
“Oh, it wasn’t big, I’d say maybe 80 or 100 people? I’d been to bigger cities, like Linport, but even that doesn’t compare to this place. Have you ever visited Linport? I used to train with the town guard there.”
He gave a nervous chuckle, looking around again. “No, I’ve never heard of it… Are you doing a bit? Someone recording this to post online or something?”
I looked around when he did, but the scene looked the same to me, humans absorbed in their own conversations, their own little worlds. “A bit? No, I just thought… I guess it was silly of me, sorry.” It made sense that he wouldn’t know Terra, if he was born here on Earth. “My friend said there were only humans here, I thought maybe you might have… I dunno, travelled.” I was kicking myself for assuming so much.
“Okay, what? Look, if this is a prank, it’s not cool, okay?” He seemed to be getting upset.
“Why would it be a prank? You’re the one who said your human form is limiting! I gotta admit, though, you did a really good job on it. You even got the scent down!” The disappointment was stinging, and him starting to get hostile made me defensive. Maybe if I complimented him, he’d relax?
He’d bitten into his burrito while I was talking, causing him to stop and respond around a mouthful of food. “What scent?”
Before I could say anything more, a larger young man came up and slapped a hand on his back loudly. “Hey, Z-boy, that looks good. Gimme some cash so I can get some too.”
The impact made Zach cough, having sent food down the wrong pipe. Once he got his breath, he looked positively fearful of the figure looming over him. “Jim? I-I don’t have any cash on me…”
The newcomer gave a sneer in response. “Then gimme your card, twerp. C’mon, you don’t wanna look like a jerk in front of your little girlfriend here, do you?”
I bristled a little, but I let Zach handle this. I was a bit curious what he’d do, after all. Wincing, he dug out his plastic card, like the one I’d seen Ben use, and handed it over to the man who snatched it roughly out of his hand. Jim, with a laugh, walked off towards the food counter.
“Ugh, I hope he gives it back this time.” Zach looked utterly defeated.
I tried to give a gentle, compassionate tone to my voice. “What was that about? Why didn’t you do anything?”
“Oh, Jim’s always doing that kind of thing. It’s just easier to give him what he wants. Otherwise he’d just beat me up and take it anyway.”
Oh no, this was not going to stand. I got up to my hooves and calmly slid my chair under the table. “I’ll handle this.”
“What? What are you going to do?” He seemed almost to panic, nearly knocking his chair over as he stood up. I was already heading over to this Jim fellow, leaving Zach to hurry to catch up.
“I don’t tolerate people getting robbed in front of me, especially not a friend.” There were too many people to drop my disguise, but I wouldn’t need to for this.
Zach looked towards Jim and back to me. “No, c’mon, don’t make it worse, please…!”
“Jim, is it? Face me, you honorless dog!” I called out as I neared the counter, while Jim waited in line to order.
My words partially had the desired effect. The man turned to face me, but he was laughing. “Z-boy, really? You gotta go crying to your girl because you can’t face me? What kind of man are you?”
I stepped up, glaring into his face, only a couple feet away. Within arm’s reach. “What kind of man are you, Jim? Incapable of earning your own money, so you have to resort to petty theft? Your kind isn’t welcome in this mall, and I doubt you’d be welcome in any city.”
He finally acknowledged my presence, while Zach held back some distance. Others were turning to look, perhaps because of my firm tone or harsh words. “What the hell is with you, freaky bitch? Your Hot Topic-looking hair isn’t welcome in this mall, I’d say! Why don’t you run along before I slap some sense into you?”
I wasn’t phased at all. “Surrender the card you stole and leave. Or, if you want, you can try to ‘slap some sense into me’, but I doubt you’ll enjoy the result.” Sure, it wouldn’t be a real fight, but it might be a little fun to flex a little.
If he’d been a warrior with any sort of training, he might have thought twice about the confidence I showed. Instead, he swung his hand towards me. Not that I let it connect. My hand was already at his throat, lifting him by his chin effortlessly off his feet. I heard the plastic card clatter on the tile as both of his hands grasped at my arm, and the surprised gasps of people who were watching. They were already giving a wide berth even before he swung, and rather than make too big a show, I tossed him back towards the nearby wall, letting his back thud against it. From the distance most people were at, it would probably just look like I pushed him, but I knew Jim would have felt his feet leave the ground.
Sure enough, Jim was pressed against the wall, eyes wide in panic, as I knelt down and picked up the card, turning to hand it to Zach with a smile. Jim took that moment to slip into the hallway next to him that led to the restrooms, and Zach took the card with a mix of shock and trepidation.
The action over, the crowd that had started to gather dispersed, and I waved back to the table. “There, now you don’t have to worry about him returning your card thing. Let’s get back to eating lunch.”
Zach looked almost numb as he followed, cautiously sitting back down, almost as if he was scared of offending me. He didn’t touch his food as I took a bite of my sandwich. It wasn’t until I swallowed that he finally spoke. “What the hell was that?”
“What was what?”
“That whole… all of it! I saw you pick him up! His feet were literally off the ground!”
“Well, yeah. I’m a lot stronger than I look. Back in Freymoor, I used to do a lot of farm work.” I smiled, proud of how helpful I was back home.
Zach let his head fall into his hands, letting out a low groan.
I was confused, I thought he’d be happier about this. “What’s wrong?”
“I just got saved by a girl in front of everyone. And Jim’s just gonna hunt me down later anyway. This is the worst day of my life.”
“You’d rather be robbed? My friend tells me these cards contain all of a person’s money, usually. Not that I really know how that works, though.”
He looked up, almost glaring at me. “What’s wrong with you? You don’t know what a debit card is?”
I was a little taken aback. I was beginning to think I’d made a mistake. “No… I’m not from Lapine Falls, I’ve never seen them before coming here. Or any of the technology you have here. We didn’t have electricity, or phones, or malls, or cars, or any of this stuff. I’m still adjusting to all this stuff, sorry.”
“Wait, you’re serious? What are you, Amish?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know what Amish means. My friend tells me that I was in an ‘isolated compound’, up in the mountains. I’d lived there my whole life.”
“So the boots, the hair, all that stuff is… What, you’re rebelling?”
“Rebelling? No, this is… It’s natural. I’ve always been like this.” I shrugged a little. “I’m not as good as you are at adopting a human form.”
He stared at me blankly. “What do you mean, human form?”
Come to think of it, he was getting pretty worked up before Jim showed up, wasn’t he? “Um. You… You aren’t human, right? What are you?”
“What are you talking about? Of course I’m human! What else would I be?” He continued to stare at me as if I was completely insane.
Yep, I’d definitely messed up a lot here. “Ah. Oh. Huh.” I grimaced. “Okay, well, uh… Look, um, how about I give you my phone number? And if anything happens, like that Jim guy does anything, you can call me and I’ll help out?”
The offer seemed to surprise him, but he brought out his phone. “Why? Why do you care?”
I pulled mine out, so I could get to the screen that showed my number. I didn’t have the string of digits memorized yet, after all. “Because you’re my friend. Even if I misunderstood you earlier, we can still be friends, can’t we? Besides, if what you said is true, I feel bad for making things worse between you two.”
Numbers exchanged, I put my phone away into a pocket of my skirt. Zach slipped his into a pocket as well. “It was pretty awesome, the way you did that. How strong are you?” He was relaxing a bit more, even getting back to his neglected food.
“Oh, I don’t know, I’ve never really measured it. I just did work and helped out, things like carrying lumber for construction, or working on the farms.” I smiled softly, but the smile faded as I thought of home. “I hope they’re doing okay without me and M– my father. Getting ready for the Fall Festival was always a big challenge, they needed all the hands they could get.”
He nodded, though it was clear he was still pretty confused. “I’m sure they’ll be fine. It might be tough, but it sounds like everyone’s pretty tough, to live that kind of life. I mean, if they’re even half as strong as you, right?” He gave a weak chuckle.
I smiled again, returning the laugh. Most humans wouldn’t be, but I shouldn’t be admitting that freely. I already did way more than I should today, it would be best if I tried to downplay things. “Hah, yeah, I suppose you’re right. Even if I knew how to get back, I couldn’t go anyway.”
“You get kicked out or something? You and your dad? Are you gonna be going to Lapine High?” He mumbled around a mouthful of burrito. At least, I think that’s what he said.
“No, I… he…” I grimaced, sighing heavily. “A man killed my father. He tried to kill me, too, but I escaped.” My mind went back to yesterday, the woman I spoke to that I had saved before. “I, uh, you know about the… the Superbunny?”
His eyes were wide as he swallowed hard. “Are you for real, with all this? That’s crazy… And I’ve heard of it, yeah. Someone in a costume?”
“Well, don’t tell anyone, but she… she’s the reason I’m alive, and made it here. She rescued me from the guy that killed my father and brought me to this town, but I don’t know… what direction we went, so I don’t even know where home is or how to get there. And even if I did, that man might be there, looking for me.” I wasn’t sure what hurt worse, remembering Master’s death, or having to make up this story.
“Holy shit… Look, um. That’s pretty heavy stuff. Maybe we can hang out later? I have to get going pretty soon, I have to be home before mom gets home from work or I’ll get in trouble.” With his food gone, he was getting his backpack settled in place.
“Yeah, that sounds good. Maybe my friend will be there too, he’ll be happy I’m making friends.” I waved as he stood up to leave.
Zach stopped in place. “Uh, he’s not, like, your boyfriend or anything, is he?”
“Boyfriend?” I had to stop for a moment, the word dredging up some long-forgotten thought. Boyfriend, dating, romance, paramour… I burst into laughter at the idea. “Oh, oh no! No, that’s… Definitely not a thing that’s happening, no. Ben’s helping me get settled into this place, letting me stay with him while I figure things out, what I’m going to do. Maybe I’ll even find a way home some day, I don’t know. He helped me get a job, so I can pay for my lodgings and food, too.”
Zach seemed to relax a little, though he was a little puzzled. Whatever question he might have had, it didn’t seem to be worth the time it would take, as he just nodded. “Okay, then. I’ll text you later, okay? Or text me whenever. We’ll figure it out. I gotta run or I’m gonna miss the bus!”
I waved again as he left. Once I was alone, I gathered up the paper and trays, taking care of the mess. I’d had my fill of people-watching today, so it was time to head home.
A figure in the crowd watched the hooved girl leave. Malik was adjusting pretty well to this city of science, but the display was something he simply couldn’t ignore. Tugging on the “baseball cap” he wore, he made sure the brand on his forehead was hidden. It wouldn’t do him much good to be recognized now. This place was such a decadent palace of opulence, like nearly every place he found himself. A crowning achievement of the human race without the taint of magic to hold them back, and here that abomination was, fouling it with her presence. He’d have his chance soon enough, though. When he chose to strike, his prey would not escape him.