All the sensations of the outside world came to a muffle once the latch clicked close. This was my safe space. I leaned on the door to catch myself as my whole body relaxed. The only thing that ever interrupted the peace was a knock. I didn't even get that at home if the twins were overly excited to share something with me.

It was a small office. When you first walked in, my desk wasn't the first thing you'd see. That was by design. I sometimes needed to pretend I wasn't there, so I’d hide under it. Instead, it was the window cut out of the upper wall. It gave the room natural lighting without seeing the other buildings behind the salon. On the sill were a variety of plants, mostly different kinds of ivy that were slowly taking over the wall. I'm honestly surprised I've kept them alive this long.

I glanced over to Remington, who hovered behind one of the two beige, cushioned chairs meant for guests. Their eyes danced over the bookshelves that were built on the wall behind either side of the desk. They were lit up with a warm light over my collection of books. I didn't have enough room at home anymore for them, so they ended up here.

"You just about have a library," Remington remarked.

"I like to read," I smiled into the words. My eyes lowered down to the floor in a bit of embarrassment. "A lot."

Remington let out a soft chuckle. "Ain't nothin' wrong with that. I like readin' comics here and there." They did seem like the graphic novel kind of person. I nodded in approval. "The plants and books makes the place rather cozy. I like it in here."

"I do too." I pushed myself off the door. "You can sit anywhere you'd like. My chair is the most comfortable."

"I'll take this seat."

Remington sat in the closest chair to them. I started to my desk, which happened to have a lot of fidget toys on it. Getting a haircut could be very stressful for some, and I did my damndest to make everyone as comfortable as they could be.

I slid my finger tips along the smooth surface of the desk as I swung myself around to the opposite side of Remington. When I sat in my chair, however, I noticed their demeanor fell once more.

"I promise there won't be any scissors today."

Remington jumped at my voice. "O-Oh," they stammered.

It was time to bring out the big guns, as they say. I pulled out the middle drawer, where I took out a D20. I sat it between us. "Would you like to play a game?"

Remington seemed surprised. A smile slowly brightened their face. "You play Caves & Chimeras?"

"No," I shook my head. "The twins want to, but Mama's afraid they'll get addicted like Papa and not do their school work." I picked up the die between my fingers. "It doesn't stop them from collecting the dice though. A few have ended up in my office."

I pointed to one of the bubble fidgets. It was a 10x10 silicone block with each row being a different color of the rainbow. "While we talk, how about we play? First past 50 wins."

"What do we win?"

After a moment of thought, I replied, "If you win, I'll give you Mitzi's family discount. If I win, you pay full price." I put the die back down on the desk. "You can go first."

Remington studied me for a moment through squinted eyes. Then, they picked up the die and rolled it. I looked on in shock at the 18 on their first roll.

"What do you want to do with your hair?" I asked while they began to pop in the silicone bubbles.

"I want to go back to my natural color." They paused for a moment and recounted how many they had done. "Maybe. It depends how much, and more important, if I can let go of the past."

Once Remington finished, I picked up the die. I rolled a 4. This got Remington to snort. "I know," I smirked. I went into this knowing full well my luck was bad. "Do you use box dyes to bleach your hair?"

"Yeah. Well..." They paused to roll again. This time, they got an 11. "...my friend helps me. I miss a lot when I do it on my own."

Remington's eyes had some life in them again. I watched them sparkle for a moment, but then noticed something odd about them. Or rather, their eyelashes.

"Your natural color wouldn't happen to be ginger, would it?"

This made them grimace. "Yeah. How could ya tell?"

"Your eyelashes," I pointed out.

"Or how you can't see them," they laughed. "Your turn, by the way."

I picked the die up. "Okay, business mode for a second." Slowly, I let out a sigh as I gathered all the images in my head of what I would need to do to help Remington. "I would prefer to do a deep conditioning first, then give it a rest to see how much damage there is to your hair. As a disclaimer, this is your hair. You can tell me no at anytime."

"I know I ain't been takin' the best of care of it, so whatever you think is best."

The D20 rolled a shocking 17. There went all my luck for today. Maybe even the week. "Still, I want to make sure you're comfortable through the whole process. We do no-talking appointments per request on Mondays. And, if you're more comfortable doing it at your home, I have a travel kit..." I looked around the office. It was not here. "...somewhere."

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

I finished popping the 17th bubble. While Remington took their turn, my face twisted in confusion as I tried to remember where I last had the bag. I had to go over to old man Jenkins' place last week. However, I knew I brought it back to the salon that day, because I had to cover for Rashmi. He had to pick up his sick daughter from school.

"The twins!" I shouted, which scared Remington. "Sorry," I held up my hands. "I got excited. The bag is at home. Mama said the twins could have a streak of color in their hair."

I picked up the die. It landed on 8. "I need to grab it soon, or I'll forget again. So, you get to see a little magic today."

Papa taught me not to open portals around humans. Despite them not being able to see magic, they couldn't miss a dimensional rift torn open right in front of them. Whatever was going on, I didn't see any point in hiding magic from Remington now.

"There won't be no more demons, right?"

Quickly, I poked the pops in, "I sure hope not."

They rolled a 15, which made Remington the winner. They gave a happy little clap.

I pulled out one of my business cards from the drawer. The back was blank, so I could write prices and other notes for customers to remember.

I leaned over the desk to hand Remington the card. They took it gently from my hand. "Family discount included, even if you didn't win."

"Well shit! If all ya wanted was to play a game, you could of asked." Remington laughed. Their green eyes scanned over my writing. "This ain't as bad as I thought it would be either.”

"I try to make sure nothing costs an arm and a leg."

"You got yourself a customer." Remington placed the card in their front bib pocket. "Now, what was this about magic?"

I wasn't sure what they were talking about. What magic? I replayed our conversation, searching for what my brain had filed away. "Oh! Right, the bag."

I hurried over to the door. Even though everyone respectfully knocked and waited for me to answer, in that one chance that someone were to barge in, I always locked it when making portals.

"Please stay in here," I told Remington. "It won't be long."

I placed my fingertips on the door. It drained more of my vitality to summon portals than it did for Papa. He thought it was odd, considering that our family was a recognized name among witches for our powers. The twins didn't have any problems either. I wished I knew what was wrong with me. Maybe it was the pressure I put on myself. Either way, it made me feel like half a witch. To make Papa proud, I kept at it, despite how much energy would be zapped out of me afterwards.

Finally, my hand became warm and a bit tingly. It was time! To open a portal, I first had to embody the location. That meant I had to have been there once before. The more details I could recall, the less reach and magic I needed to use. I pushed my hand flat on the door, and soon the door was replaced with a clear image of my room.

I stepped in, then turned around to Remington with a, "Tada!" Jazz hands included. They clapped with a bit of a chuckle. I wished I would stop being an embarrassment to myself like this.

I hurried away, only to nearly trip over my laundry basket. Why can't clothes fold and put themselves away? Maybe I could pay Anna or Gabriel to do it for me, but that meant I couldn't bother them until after they're done.

Worth it.

My hands found my hips as I looked around for the bag. It was probably still in the bathroom. We had part of it renovated when I started out doing hair. So, it had a mini station where I now do my family's hair.

"You really are a witch!" Remington called out excitedly.

"Most Villas are." This fact upset Sachi a lot when she found out she was human. I scuffed at the thought of my sister. She disowned us unless she wanted money.

"A friend of mine is a witch too, but she can't do nothin' like this," I heard Remington a bit closer than I anticipated.

There was the bag, proudly sitting up by the sink. I looked around the bathroom to make sure it wasn't missing anything. I'm surprised nothing was left out. It seemed the only time I was organized was when it came to cosmetology.

"There's a trend going around where the recent generation of witches aren't being taught magic...."

The backpack was carefully slugged over my shoulder. Before I could fully leave the bathroom, I paused in the doorway. Remington was in my room. They were happily stimming in place in amazement at the portal.

They turned to me and abruptly stopped. "I'm sorry!" Remington hurried back into the office. "I should have asked before going into your room like that."

I followed them back in. "Are you..." I looked back to the portal confused, then back to Remington. "Are you okay?"

They looked down at themselves to check. "Yeah?"

"How did you..." I held my head. "This doesn't make any sense. What's going on?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset ya."

I forced my face to soften as I looked at Remington. That seemed to put them more at ease. "I'm not upset. I'm confused."

First order of business, I reached over to the portal to break the spell. The rift closed in on itself to return the door back to its original state.

Finally, I turned back to Remington. "Portals are connected to a witch's frequency. Think of it like radio stations. We'll say mine is 97.1. My siblings would be 97.2 and 3. Does that make sense so far?"

Remington's expression said no despite their slow nod. Okay, I'm going to have to change my direction.

"A comic series then. Papa was the first edition, and us kids are the reprints. We're all different editions of the same comic."

"That's weird, but I get it a little more."

I nodded. "Good. So, even with us being close, they're still differences. Those differences are enough that if we go through each other's portals, we get burnt."

Remington looked themselves over once more. "I'm alright though."

"That's why I'm freaking out! You're not even a witch. You shouldn't have been able to go through at all!" I groaned to calm back down. "How did you do it?"

They shook their head. "I just walked in."

"Hey, Boss!" Mitzi called with a knock. I opened the door, which made her jump. "Oh, I didn't know you were right there."

"Hi."

"Hey," she grinned. "I forgot to tell ya it's your turn for lunch."

I didn't want to go to lunch. There was a mystery to be solved! "I'm fine. I just took a break helping Mama."

Mitzi was not pleased with my answer. She put her hands on her hips and frowned deeply. "That's work, Tetsuo, not a proper lunch."

I knew I was in real trouble when she used my name.

Mitzi turned to Remington. "Will you do me a favor?"

"Depends what it is."

She pointed to me while she continued, "Take Tetsuo out to lunch. He ain't eat nothin' all day."

"Excuse me!" I furrowed my brows while pouting. "I had a donut!"

"At whatever ungodly hour you woke up," she countered.

My jaw dropped slightly. "What do you mean? 5am is a reasonable hour." This made both Mitzi and Remington grimace. "In my defense, I help open the café sometimes, okay?"

Mitzi sighed. "Boss, you do realize it's well past 5pm now, right?"

"I'll eat in a couple o' hours after we close. It'll be fine."

A smirk suddenly appeared on the makeup artist. "What if I told you that Remington's favorite place happens to be Toast & Oats?"

I forgot the food truck would be out at the Pumpkin Fest. This changed everything! I waved my arms in excitement. I turned to Remington, who took a step back. "I love that breakfast food truck! Would you like to go later?" Mitzi cleared her throat. "...right now?"

Remington took a moment to consider. Their eyes slid over to Mitzi. I looked to see if she was doing anything, but she quickly straightened in fake innocence. We were both powerless against her, it seemed.

"It does sound mighty tasty right now," Remington nervously laughed.

It was time to save us both from Mitzi and get out of here. "Great! Let's go!"