I had to head to the impound to get my car back, a task I was dreading. I had never been a fan of bureaucratic hassles. I wanted to get it done to get back to experimenting with my new powers. Jesse also had her own errands to run, which meant she couldn’t come along this time. She had dropped everything the day before to rush to the hospital with me, and now she had to catch up on things.

So, after a quick goodbye and promise to catch up later, I dialled my insurance company. I wanted to make sure my situation wouldn’t mess with my premiums. The accident hadn’t involved anyone else, but I was still worried it might show up on my record, affecting my future rates. I’d gotten through the initial layers of customer service and was now talking to a representative.

“Thanks for calling, sir. Let me just check your file,” the woman said on the other end, her voice as professional as you’d expect. A few moments later, she returned with some confusing news.

“I’m sorry, but there are no claims filed on your vehicle. We don’t show anything registered for an accident.”

I blinked, frowning. "What? But I had my car towed from an accident yesterday. You’re telling me the tow company didn’t notify you?"

The representative seemed equally puzzled. "No, we didn’t receive any claims. Would you like to file one now? I can walk you through the process."

I sighed and explained the situation, filing the claim for the accident despite the lack of any records on file. It was an odd start to the day, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but there wasn’t much I could do but move forward.

After looking up directions to the impound, I realised I needed to get a bus and a metro to get there. I set off. The bus stop wasn’t too far, and within minutes I was waiting for the right bus. When it pulled up, I boarded, grateful that it wasn’t too crowded. As I walked towards an open seat in the back, I noticed a small kid, perhaps ten years old, blowing bubble gum, The bubble he blew wasn’t translucent like it should’ve been. Instead, it was bright orange and seemed to flicker like a flame. A small, magical fireball.

I froze for a moment, feeling it with my spatial sense. There it was again—movement, but this time it wasn’t physical movement. The bubble had a unique, almost ethereal quality to it, and I was starting to think that the “movement” I’d been sensing wasn’t movement at all—it was magic.

The bubble popped with a soft pop sending a small wave of heat across my arm. The woman sitting next to him immediately smacked him upside the head, "I told you not to do that in a crowded space." She scolded him, her voice sharp. "Disobey me again and I'm failing you outright. Understood?". The kid had a sour look on his face, but he seemed to relent.

Well, that answered the question of whether I was a unique or not. At least there's other folks with magic besides me.

"Whatcha looking at mister?" The boy asked trying to appear innocent.

"I've never seen anyone display powers in public before", I hedged, settling on a half truth.

"Why?" The kid seemed confused, unable to understand why that would be surprising.

"Ah, a practitioner of the old ways", The woman said, nodding knowingly. "Your kind are few these days, with the Veil turning the practice into little more than an oddity for most mages. You must be new to the city, to have never seen magic in public before. Come from one of those isolationist settlements in the southern islands have you?".

Trying not to show my confusion, I just nodded. Perhaps I could use this opportunity to gain some knowledge. Taking a guess, I asked "Could you tell me a bit more about the veil? All I was taught was that it helps us a bit to hide." I took a seat near them and extended my hand. "I'm Eli."

"Crystal", she said, taking my hand. Her eyes briefly flashed bright fiery red, and went back to their regular pale blue hue. It felt like a greeting of some sort. She seemed to be expecting a reply from me in some manner. I was completely unaware of what was expected of me and just smiled awkwardly, withdrawing my hand. She sniffed, her expression turning a bit sour and began her explanation.

"Your master should have explained this to you properly. The veil was created by the great God of secrets. With his divine wisdom, he wove the Veil between worlds - a shroud of secrecy between the mundane and the magical". Her words had a cadence to them, like a repeated explanation. "The Veil allows true mages to practice their craft without falling prey to mundane interference or persecution. To the mundane, magic became rumour, strange events, and mere coincidence." She continued. "We carry forth his will, only letting those who carry true understanding pass beyond the veil's influence".

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It was clear she held this supposed god in high regard. Not wanting to risk upsetting her further, I mulled over her words. So thats why I hadn't seen any magic till now. But who allowed me to see past it? She made it sound like a group of followers of this secretive god were watching and only letting those with magic see past the veil. But how would they know if someone was a mage or not? And how did they know to allow me access when I haven't even met any of them. Was there some sort of surveillance for magic users?

My thoughts were interrupted as my stop approached. "Guess that's me", I said, bidding goodbye to crystal and her apprentice before making my way off the bus. I moved to the metro for the impound. A thankfully uneventful ride since it was the weekend.

I reached the impound in another hour without any more magical encounters. After providing the officer my details and the car registration, He checked his computer and replied "Ah. I see you have an unpaid fine for obstruction."

"Huh? My car was brought in after an accident, it had no fines on it." I responded confused.

"Accident? Its marked as abandoned/obstructing the road and was towed as a result", he replied equally confused. "I think I remember it; I was on shift last night, it didn't look like the car had been in any accidents. Are you trying to get out of paying the fines?" He narrowed his eyes at me.

Still confused, I payed the fine and let him lead me to the car, and there it was, pristine, without a scratch on it. It certainly didn't look like a car that had been flipped end over end just half a day ago. I got in, trying to wrap my head around this development. The car had definitely been in a crash; I remember the EMT telling me that it was a bad one. The concussion wasn't bad enough that I was remembering wrong, was it? Still, I couldn't help but be thankful for not having to get a totalled car fixed. I started the car, expecting my streak of fortune to end, But it started without issue, and I started driving off. I figured that the veil must have influenced the officer to write it as a fine rather than a crash, if they had even seen a crash car at all.

What little I knew of the veil suggested that it would help cover perception, but not affect physical reality. So, I doubted it was responsible for the car being fixed. I called my insurance and canceled the claim, telling them that it was a mistake on my part and just a fine and not a crash. As I drove home, I turned over the mystery in my head.

As I drove home, I noticed more magical occurences around me. Small things at first, a man lighting a cigarette with a flame on his fingertips. A silver haired woman walking her dog, which seemed to be blinking in and out of visibility. Magic seemed common enough, just hidden in plain sight, only detectable when you were part of the club. I couldn't help feel a slight unease; I had stumbled into something much bigger than I'd anticipated.

As I turned into my driveway, I couldn't shake the sense that my life had taken a turn into something far more complicated that I had bargained for. I needed help, someone I could trust. I decided to call Jesse again. I was eager to tell her about my outing, the mysterious fix to my car, and the magical revelations. The phone rang a few times before she picked up.

"Hey, Jesse. You won’t believe what happened today," I started, still buzzed from the day's discoveries.

"Eli, hey," she responded, a bit distracted. "What do you mean?"

"My car—it was fine, completely undamaged. The crash? It's like it never happened. And listen, there's magic everywhere. People are just walking around using it like it's totally normal."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, then she spoke, her voice oddly distant. "Uh, what are you talking about, Eli? Come on, enough with the trick stories. You had me convinced for a minute there yesterday with all that spatial awareness stuff, but I'm not falling for it again. What’s gotten into you?"

I froze, Her words hitting me like a sack of bricks. "Jesse, what do you mean, trick stories? We spent the whole day testing my abilities. And the old man—the one who attacked me—we figured out it was telekinesis!". I kept trying to get her to remember.

There was a small dismissive laugh from her, it wasn’t the reaction I was hoping for. "Okay, Eli, whatever you say. You really need to work on your storytelling. I'll catch up with you later, alright? Bye."

The line went dead.

I stared at my phone, confusion and panic creeping in. Had she really forgotten everything? It seemed impossible—unless the Veil was somehow working retroactively, even after she'd been initially convinced of magic? I felt my stomach drop at the prospect of not being able to rely on Jesse. This was unacceptable. I needed to figure out a way around it. But how? She was the one who was good at this sort of stuff. Maybe I could get her on board again from scratch and explain about the veil and get her input as well? If it kept happening every time she split, that wasn't really viable.

I couldn't believe it. This was beyond anything I could have imagined. Jesse was my anchor, my closest ally in all of this. If I couldn’t trust her, who could I trust?

As if on cue, a voice broke into my thoughts.

"I heard you were looking for a master?". I spun around. I hadn't sensed anyone nearby. The old man was standing behind me, casually holding the knife in one hand. It was as though he had appeared out of nowhere.

And my spatial sense.... It was still completely blank, he wasn't on it at all.