THE VIBRANT RESTAURANT was adorned with colorful papel picado banners, intricate tile-work, and flickering candles on every table. The air was thick with the aroma of sizzling fajitas, spicy salsa, and freshly made tortillas.

“What if it is the truth,” Lola stirred the milky drink. “You don’t know Elena.”

“Eliana.” Santiago repeated, “She saved my life. I think I owe her the benefit of the doubt.”

“I don’t know. How much does she really care about you if she came to steal an heirloom off your corpse?” She said.

“Well, I ain’t dead and she didn’t take anything.” Santiago said.

“Of course, Rose is lying. I’m sure she’d have said anything to stop you from leaving.” Alejo took another bite of his burrito mumbling through a mouthful, “Bonus points for Eliana being fine as hell.”

Santiago rolled his eyes.

“Great so you’re thinking with your dick as per usual.” She flicked Santiago’s forehead, “You can’t trust every pretty girl who bats their eyes at you.”

Santiago failed to stop the grin that spread across his face. It was not the reason. Though it was a bonus.

“Are you really someone who should be giving that advice?” Santiago said.

She brushed him off pretending to act insulted. “Listen this isn’t about me, it’s about you.”

“Look I promise, It’s not because she’s an attractive woman—”Said Santiago

“Drop dead gorgeous with a nice rack.” Alejo interjected.

“I think she’s telling me the truth and that’s all I want.” Santiago shrugged, “If she turns about to be like Rose, I’ll cut her loose too.”

Alejo sighed, “Damn I want your kind of problems.”

A loud bang caught everyone’s attention as the door slammed open and the entry bell rattled. A person did not walk through the doorway. Instead, a steady stream of orbs floated in like dandelion seeds in the wind.

They glittered beautifully and as they floated over the tables people looked at them in awe. Some were able to grab a hold of the bubbles as they settled on surfaces. The children poked at them with curious wonder.

The atmosphere shifted.

Santiago saw the elation that filled everyone's faces yet every hair on his body stood on end. Silver strands hung between the bulbs thin as spider silk.

The chain around his neck burned red hot. He cursed and ripped it off.

His companions looked at him like he had gone insane as he tenderly prodded his skin. “Something’s wrong.”

As if in response the orbs glowed brilliantly letting out a shrill whistle.

One blew and sent splinters of wood scattering across the room.

In succession the others started firing off.

Santiago dove to grab one from the hands of a small child who panicked trying to shake off the screaming bomb.

Without warning everything around him stopped. No, not stopped. Slowed down to the point where it looked as if time stood still.

First a wave of euphoria hit as the rush of heightened perception filled him with an exhilarating energy. Colors appeared more vibrant, each hue more intense and saturated. Every object, texture, and detail had become crystal clear.

Santiago felt the heat of the energy under his palms, the child’s weeping face frozen. Tears glistened as the skin reddened underneath the heat.

Once when he was a child, he had unknowingly plugged a damaged vacuum into a socket. His body locked up. Every cell in his body was vibrating.

It was not painful. It was simply unnatural.

The orb vibrated in his palms.

He could feel every atom of the structure within. These glowing orbs were simple store-bought light bulbs charged with enough energy to light a building. He plucked at the silvery string, and it dissolved.

The radiance dwindles instantly leaving only an echo of the enchantment of lingering warmth.

Santiago could perceive the very flow of magic within spells. The interplay of arcane energies weaving and pulsating currents that guide and shaped the spells. The thin strands which appeared now thick cords woven across the room connecting each orb. The trail stretched out through the door.

Santiago lurched forward to grab hold over the thickest point of the rope and gave it a tug.

Like someone hitting the play button there was a flurry of motion around him. The bulbs in midair shattered on the floor. Some wobbled idle on the surfaces of the tables.

People screamed and scrambled for the exit. Some of the workers were helping up injured customers who bled from the wooden shrapnel.

“Yago! How did you get all the way over there?” Alejo shouted from the opposite side of the restaurant.

“I don’t know.” His heart thudded in his chest. Everything was different.

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He couldn’t explain it. The things themselves had not changed. What he could see was more. He had been seeing the world in standard definition and now his vision was ultra-HD.

“Oh, your eyes!” Lola came to an abrupt halt. The familiar hazel had been replaced with a luminescent silver. The penetrating gaze sent a chill down her spine.

“Get down!” He lurched forward and both fell to the floor as the entire glass paneled wall shattered.

He raised himself off her and slowly checked for cuts before she replied. “I’m good.”

“Alejo!” Santiago called, pressed a hand over his burning eyes. His vision was clear yet after what he had seen moments ago, he felt half blind.

Hot needles danced through his eyes and sockets pulsating through his temples. Even the air that brushed his eyes with each blink felt like sandpaper.

“I’m okay.” He popped up from behind a booth wall. “What was that?”

“Santiago! Come on out, no one else has to get hurt.” Louis called.

The three of them peered out the open frames.

Three witches stood in the parking lot. Louis stepped forward, his blond waves cascaded past his shoulders, he looked to be in his early twenties. Strong jawed with somber eyes the same shade of pale yellow of his hair. A chain dangled from his neck with a golden pendant, a symbol carved into it.

It was not ordinary though Santiago did not think this pendant served to suppress his powers.

“You’d do well to come with us. There’s no need for this to get messy.” Louis said with a charming smile that did not touch his eyes.

“What do you want with me?” Said Santiago.

“Me, nothing.” Louis shrugged, “My employer would like to meet you.”

“You could have asked.” Alejo sniped.

“Make no mistake, this is not a request. Santiago will be coming with us. Whether he comes peacefully or in pieces makes little difference to me.” His hollow smile did not flinch as he looked over the boy.

“You guys need to go.” Santiago murmured.

“Shut up.” Alejo replied flatly, “You really think we going to leave you after he threatened to cut you up.”

“They have a reason to want to keep me alive. That doesn’t extend to you.” Santiago hissed.

“He’s right, you know.” Amani murmured in Alejo’s ear. The boy jolted back, hitting the wall. As quickly as she came, she melted away into the air.

“Y’all saw that right.” Alejo said.

“I didn’t see anything.” Lola said, her face blanched.

A massive tarantula crawled over her friend’s shoulder. She screamed, whacking him with a nearby pitcher. As the arachnid hit the floor it exploded into hundreds more scuttling towards her.

“Lola!” Alejo hollered as the girl scrambled back screaming at the top of her lungs.

“They’re all over me, get them off!” She shrieked, flinging her jacket off she clawed her inked arms raw.

Alejo grabbed a hold of her wrist to pin her between him and the counter. “Lola you gotta stop, it’s not real.”

Santiago made a move to help his friend and a scream from outside pulled his attention. “Mom!”

Santiago ran outside. His mother in Louis’s grasp, a hand clasped around her throat. “Let her go. You want me fine. Just let her go, please.”

Louise beckoned him forward.

“Santiago! It’s not real!” Alejo called, he held steadfast on to the writhing girl. “They’re in your head man. Focus man!”

Santiago looked back at the man who held his mother. His head throbbed and his eyes stung but the light returned. This time it was a heavy veil over his eyes Santiago pulled it away from his face.

The woman in his arms was not his mother, it was a slim woman with rich dark skin, she smiled at him.

“You can see through my illusions. That’s impressive.” She leaned to look past him, “And for kindling like you to be able to resist, equally so.”

It was not strings this time. Over his friends and himself was a translucent cloth that altered their vision.

Before he could reach his friends the ground under Santiago shifted and slid back towards the witches. He nearly stumbled on the earthen treadmill.

Alejo watched helplessly as his two friends were at the mercy of the witch’s magic. He had no way to stop it.

He froze.

Alejo let go of the girl and bolted across the restaurant. He had no idea if it would work. At this point it was all he had.

Santiago struggled against the ground as it shoved him every which way as he tried to get away.

The witches laughed amused by the pitiful attempts to escape. Diallo lazily waved his hand as he orchestrated the trick floor.

They were playing with him.

“Hey asshole! Catch!” Alejo pitched the pendant straight at Diallo’s head.

He caught it easily with a bemused expression. Raising his other hand to whisk away the glass pitcher Alejo sent rocketing towards him, only brushing air. The glass shattered against Diallo’s face.

Louis and Amani watched in shock as their companion hit the floor clutching his bloodied face.

Louis turned right into Santiago’s fist.

Alejo jumped on top of Diallo and pinned him to the floor, the pendant pressed against the back of the neck.

Amani raised a hand towards Alejo. Lola roared as she caught the woman by her thick mane of hair slamming her to the concrete.

Santiago grinned as he punched Louis in the gut making the man wretch as he doubled over.

Santiago was not by any means a gifted spellcaster. In a fight with magic, he was all but useless.

Now a street fight. That he could handle.

He knew magic took focus. Beating them senseless to prevent them from being able to cast was about the best they could muster.

The sirens echoed down the street and skidded to a halt. Officers exited their vehicles ordering them all to stand back with their hands up.

Santiago had Louis in headlock bending his arm back painfully.

His friends looked at him.

Louis raised his free hand. The lights of the cruisers grew to be blinding before the two cars exploded.

The shockwave sent all of them in a tumble across the asphalt.

Santiago’s ears rang, his lungs burned from the smoking blaze a few yards away. His head felt like it was splitting in two.

A hand grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him to his knees. Louis grabbed him by the throat cutting off his airway.

Blood trickled down his face past his Cheshire grin, “Pieces it is.”

There was a flicker and Santiago fell face first into the pavement. He groaned as the pressure had eased around his windpipe.

Louis screamed in agony, clutching the bloodied stump.

“You never said whose pieces it would be.” Eliana said icily.

Santiago fumbled backward and flung the severed hand off himself.

She stalked over, manicured nails digging into his cheek ignoring the pool of blood that formed under her feet. “Who sent you? I’d answer quickly, you only have a few minutes left.”

Louis trembled in her hands, “Please, don’t kill me.”

“I won’t, the blood loss will.” She smiled tenderly, “Now don’t make me ask a second time you still have another hand.”

Her claws tightened around his jaw eliciting audible pops.

“Eliana, stop.” Santiago breathed.

She raised a brow, “He tried to murder you and your friends. You want me to show him mercy.”

“People are hurt. Innocent people. We need to get help. We can question them later.” He struggled to his feet.

She sighed letting Louis slip from her grasp on to the soaked asphalt. “Very well.”