It had been a long time since she had felt this familiar tug, this gravitational pull directing her towards somewhere, someone. This internal need to seek them out. Nyx hated it. She sat atop her domain licking a dark paw and gazing out over the forest before her. Why should she go? Whoever it was would just use her and then abandon her. Just like her previous ward had done, and the one before that, and well, everyone before that. She guided them and protected them and taught them what she knew and as soon as they could they cast her aside without a second thought.
Still though, the feeling would not subside. She recalled old conversations with her last ward, painful memories for her. Promises and departures. “I need you to stay here and guard the place,” her ward had requested. “This place needs a good caretaker, and I can think of none better than you,” the woman had told her, stroking her fur. She of course had agreed like a fool. She was left to prop this place up, she was Atlas holding the world up by her lonesome. Her ward never came back.
She leapt from the roof of her domain, landing softly on the ground below and began her patrol. The Crepe Myrtles on the property were in full bloom filling the air with a calming fragrance. Water collected on her fur as she wove through the too tall grass, wet from the rains that had come the night before. She happened upon a puddle and caught a reflection of herself that drew her up short. Her dark eyes settled on the collar around her neck, and the moon shaped pendant dangling from it. She muttered some curses as her own reflection judged her. She wanted to stomp around like a petulant child.
“I’m not going,” she said to the reflection.
It stared back at her unblinking.
“They’ll just leave us again.”
Nothing.
She hissed. “I hate you.”
The reflection remained impassive.
She marched away, muttering curses under her breath, but heading decidedly away from her domain.
-Break-
As it turned out the room where Maggie had ended up was deep underground. Probably had something to do with getting around the electrical interference of the city above. It made sense but damn did walking all those stairs with a reeking bucket of vomit suck. The building above was an antique shop being run by a nice old lady named Elenore. She was a bit surprised Maggie had popped out from the “basement” as she called it because apparently that Ley Way had not been used in quite some time. She directed her to a washroom where she could clean up and when Maggie told her she didn’t really need anything else she let Maggie go on her way. Nice lady.
She had started this plan cynically and while she hadn’t changed how she viewed most people in the magical world, the encounters she had so far, barring the dick bag on the train, were nice. People helping her on my way and not really asking for anything in return. She had the sudden realization that being rude to people herself would just be perpetrating the exact same dickish mentality she was trying to avoid and while she hadn’t necessarily been rude to anyone, she recalled her own thoughts about her parents and their obliviousness and her general world outlook and frowned. Something to work on, she thought.
Her luck ran dry when it turned out no place in town was going to rent a car to a teenage girl. She found a local library and did some web searches and learned very quickly she wouldn’t be walking out to the property. Then she remembered her mom mentioning that there were caretakers who took care of the property routinely. Only problem was she didn’t remember if she had ever said their names and she definitely didn’t have any random email giving her that information… that would’ve been too easy.
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Not a problem though, how many landscapers could be in this area? Three as it turned out. She called the first one, a Simpson’s Landscaping and they hadn’t the slightest clue who was managing the property. Neither did the second… or the third. Maybe it wasn’t landscapers who handled it? Maybe a handyman or something. She wasn’t entirely sure, but she was hungry and had plenty of time to make calls after she ate and besides her bags were getting kind of heavy to lug around, she could do with a break.
The benefit of living in a small town is that everyone knows everybody. The waitress who worked at the diner Maggie had dropped in knew of the place she wanted to go and knew that the only people that ever went that way were a local farmer and his family.
“Yeah, Mr. Joe and his family live out that way. Just him, his wife and daughter. Well and the animals of course. You might be able to catch them coming to town, or maybe find out how to contact them from the Feed and Livestock Store, they probably have to call him to make pick ups. Maybe even they make some deliveries out that way. Why you wanna go over there anyways, I’m sure you’ve heard the stories?”
“It’s actually my family's property,” Maggie stated.
The woman laughed, “your family owns the old Fain house? Yikes.”
“That bad, eh?”
“It’s kind of a local legend around here. You know, classic abandoned haunted house type stuff. Kids daring each other to stay an entire night inside of it, the works.” She made some gestures with her hands, wiggling her fingers at Maggie menacingly “beware beware Endora Fain, cross not into the witch’s domain.” She paused briefly, “ah hell, I forgot the rest.”
Maggie frowned at this revelation. “My parents told me it had a caretaker. Would they really let random kids enter our property?”
The woman scratched her neck. “I haven’t been out that way in a hot minute, but from what I remember the place was in shambles. But maybe it’s been fixed up?” She didn’t seem confident in that.
She thanked the woman profusely and gave her a generous tip. It couldn’t hurt to be on friendly terms with the local gossip.
She got the very odd feeling that someone was watching her, but a quick scan of the area revealed no one. All the other patrons were deep into their own conversations and cups. She shrugged it off.
Maggie was hoofing it down the road and wishing idly there was the magical equivalent of an uber, or even just a regular cab service in this tiny town, when she got that tingling feeling on the back of her neck again. She picked up her pace just a smidge and with great speed spun around and shouted “Hah!” to an empty sidewalk.
She scratched the back of her head. Maybe the ladies' story about a haunted house was getting to her. Stupid, she thought. She had never really been bothered by scary movies or anything. I mean, her real greatest fear was being locked up in an insane asylum while being totally sane and then trying to explain to the asylum people that she wasn’t crazy, but only sounding crazier while she kept telling them she wasn’t crazy. She shivered just thinking about it. That and dolphins, the little rapists.
Ding, the bell chimed above the door to the Feed Store. It was standard for a general hardware store. A bit rustic, but nice. It had the smell of well-oiled tools and saw dust which Maggie appreciated. Her dad was a hobbyist woodworker and she had spent a lot of time holding flashlights for the man while he grumbled about dovetails not fitting together properly.
The man working behind the counter was helping another customer, so Maggie waited patiently until her turn came.
“Help ya miss?” The man asked. He was a tall bloke with a thick mustache and eyebrows to match. Face weathered and sun beaten, definitely a working man. He was sporting a name tag on his shirt that read “Cliff”
Maggie let her pack slide to the ground and leaned up on the counter. “I sure hope so. I’m looking for a man.”
“Don’t do much match makin round here,” Cliff grunted out.
Maggie snorted, “a Joe Ginson?”
“Whatcha want with Mr. Joe?” The man asked.
“My family owns the property out by his farm, and I was maybe hoping to catch a ride out that way if he was going to be coming into town anytime soon?”
“Hm,” the man said.
“Or maybe I could pay for a ride from you if any deliveries were going to be made out that way?” she offered.
“Well, I can’t say I’d be divulging any of my paying clients' information to strangers. Not good for business, yeah? But if you’re needing a ride, well, the delivery boy might be making rounds that way tomorrow. You’ll have to be here early, round six I suspect, but I’ll mention you tagging along.”
“That would be stellar. I’m Maggie by the way.”
“Well Maggie, you any good at lifting 50-pound bags of feed?” Cliff asked with two raised brows.