Trigger

My head snaps up. Alastor, my pact companion, has just alerted me to a new magical presence that showed up halfway across the globe. I start remote viewing, pushing my mind out to that new point. I reach it in ghostly form and see a young angel, shifting to a more suitable form. She glances around but doesn’t notice me. I hover far enough away that she shouldn’t be able to sense the psychic power as I watch her. In a blink, she has transformed her outfit and looks like an American teen. Short, body almost too good to be real, long blond hair, and blue eyes. And a magic user. I can feel the magical energy radiating off of her like a beacon. It may not stand out if she were somewhere else, but on Earth… Well, I’ve been looking for others like myself anyways, so I may as well keep an eye on her.

I watch as she talks with someone else who materializes into existence from a portal or another dimension, as that second girl leaves, and as she flies alone for a while. When it seems to be a long flight, I pull back into my own body, scanning Earth for more magic users again, then retire to my hotel. I’ll need to eat at some point, but I prefer waiting until the wee hours of the morning so there’s no chance anyone will see me. Once I’m settled in my room again, I seek the girl again with my remote viewing. I’m confused for a moment when the magical aura emanates from a cat until I remember that I too can shapeshift. Perhaps it's a more common ability than I thought, at least among magic users. I keep half of my attention on her as I prepare for bed. She spends a while as a cat in the home of a perfectly ordinary family. I don’t notice when she shapeshifts back into a girl, but she must have, because my attention is called back when I see a truck barreling toward her. I notice the driver’s face, and my stomach sinks. He isn’t some distracted driver, texting or checking his phone. No, his eyes are locked on her and his face is oddly smooth. There is no visible rage there, but the icy calm in his eyes is as familiar to me as breathing. The girl jumps out of the way at the last second, and the driver, gritting his teeth as he sees an older woman emerge from her house, drives down the street and takes the corner so sharply that two wheels lift off the ground. I watch as the girl stands and brushes off her jeans. A crushed flower clings to her pants and she misses it in her hasty swipe.

“I’m fine, truly, I am.” She assures the older lady before resuming walking down the street. I have to admit, I’m impressed with her composure. She looks young, although I suppose it’s possible she is older than her appearance suggests, given that she’s a shifter.

I watch her closer after that near miss with the truck, and I see her fly to a college and wander for a while. I notice another presence, not quite human, lurking there too and my senses go on full alert. I decide it’s better safe than sorry and quickly get ready, then seek a place near the college to make a portal to. It takes me a while to find a secluded enough spot, even with Alastor’s help. I don’t want to use a building within the campus itself, so I choose the football field and hover using remote viewing for a few minutes before deeming it safe and creating the portal. I step through and close it behind me, then seek the girl’s presence again. Her energy already feels familiar to me, and it doesn’t take long for me to locate her in a room within a campus building. I hurry there, the sirens filling me with a sense of chilly calm as I settle into my natural role. I was built for high-stress situations like this. Honestly, the strangest thing will be remembering I have powers to use and not just relying on my human ability anymore.

I hear gunshots as I approach the magical girl’s area. There’s a man standing in the doorway of the school. He’s holding a gun and shooting into what I can only imagine is a classroom. I can feel a group of people huddled inside, the magical girl being one. I don’t hesitate as I start running, launching myself at the gunman and using the palm of my hand to hit the base of his skull. He falls in slow motion. I see the crumpled bone and the spray of blood as if through someone else’s eyes. The man is dead before he hits the floor, but I don’t watch, already scanning for new threats. I don’t see any. There are a few people laying on the floor bleeding heavily, but the girl seems unharmed. She’s kneeling by a student who was shot in the torso. I barely spare him a glance. I’ve seen too many injuries in my time in the army, and I already know he won’t make it. I keep scanning. There are a couple more who have a chance if the ambulance gets here soon. I see at least one who’s already gone though. I sigh. I’m sure the girl was their target. Things like this will just keep happening unless she learns to shield her aura, or leaves Earth.

Once I’m satisfied that there’s no immediate danger, I look back at the gunman. I vastly underestimated my strength, it seems. I thought my strike would send him sprawling and knock him out, not that it would blow his brains all over the floor. I look back at the girl and am surprised to find her already kneeling over another person, this one much less injured. I didn’t expect her to be able to make tactical decisions like knowing someone is too far gone to save. I glance at the first boy she was with and blink in surprise. He is gingerly feeling his bloodstained shirt, but the skin is healed. All of her power must be bound up in healing if she was able to do so much to save him in such a short time. I watch, fascinated, as she moves on to the next person, two already completely healed. The first boy doesn’t even look pale from the blood loss, and I’m impressed. I’m even more impressed when the person I believed to be dead sits up shakily, their scalp knitting back together as life comes back into their eyes. I’m much less impressed when she approaches the gunman and his skull begins to fix itself under her watch.

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“What do you think you’re doing?” I ask, stepping between her and the man who just tried to kill her. She blinks at me, the top of her head barely coming to my chin.

“I’m healing him.” She says, matter of factly.

“Well, I can see that. I mean to ask, why are you healing the person who just tried to kill you and was willing to take out others to see you dead?” She cringes a bit at my words but doesn’t back down.

“Everyone deserves a second chance. I trust you will be able to keep him restrained until the police get here, based on how you handled him the first time. Just, take his gun away and tie him up or something.” She steps around me, her focus back on him. I try to block her again and she makes a frustrated noise in her throat.

“Look, this only works for another few minutes or I’m gonna end up using up my once-a-year healing on him, so can you please let me finish?” I raise my eyebrows at her tone, but step back, quickly stripping the body of weapons and trying not to focus on how his skull is rippling with the power this strange girl is pouring into him. I bind his wrists with his belt and let her finish healing before I do anything else. The man comes to struggling, but I have him secured tightly. He glares at the girl, opening his mouth to say something. I step forward into his line of sight and his mouth clicks shut again, though the anger doesn’t leave his face. I look around the room and see the faces of the students. Surprisingly, none of them are panicking, despite the fact that nothing about what just happened is normal. I heard a couple of ‘thank you’s’ to the girl when she healed people, but now that they are healed, they just seem to be mildly afraid of me and angry at the gunman. The girl they are completely ignoring. I focus on the gunman and take control of his mind. I instruct him to cooperate completely with the authorities and give them all the information they ask for, aside from what happened in this room. Instead, I give him a story that involves him slipping on some water, hitting his head, and coming to, bound by his own belt. His brain readily accepts my mind control, and, as simple as flicking a switch, I prevent him from knowing I controlled him. To add credence to my story, certainly not just because I want to, I splash some water on the floor from my elemental magic and slap him on the back of the head, taking care not to do it quite so hard this time. I look around at the students, and one by one I take control of each of their minds, instructing them to tell the authorities the same story. The gunman burst in, slipped on some water, hit his head, and blacked out. One of the boys bound him up, and he woke up like that. I give special instructions not to mention me or the girl who healed them. My control only lasts for twenty-four hours, but it should be enough time to get away. Finally, I look back at the girl.

“Come with me,” I say as I start towards the door. I only go a few steps before I realize she hasn’t moved. She is looking at me suspiciously. I sigh and reach out to control her mind the same as I have everyone else’s. ‘Just until we’re out of here and safe.’ I reason, despite a pinch in the back of my mind, Alastor advising me against it. The second I try to take control I’m hit by a spike of pain, worse than even being shot had been. Alastor sighs in my mind, appearing in the air next to me.

‘I tried to warn you.’ He says as he disconnects me from the mind control, bringing sweet relief. I feel a trickle of liquid down my upper lip and wipe it away, glancing at my hand to see that it’s blood. The girl appears not to have even noticed my efforts, for which I can only be grateful.

“Look,” I say, “I just saved you from that man who was going to kill you. Now, I want to leave before anyone shows up with too many questions about what happened, okay?” When she still hesitates, I stick out my hand. “I’m Trigger. I wish we could have met another way, but I promise I’ll answer any questions you want as soon as we’re a safe distance from here. Please.” She timidly nods and puts her hand in mine.

“Lillith,” She says. “Nice to meet you, I suppose.”