REALIZATION

Somewhere, in an office building early next morning, there was one man already in his workspace. He had on a dark, silk blue dress shirt, with a gray suit and a fake flower in his lapel.

It was so early the sun wasn't up, and he sat at his desk, waiting. He had a shiny silver hourglass the size of a desk lamp, and he was watching the sand fall. The sand was also silver. A tall girl snuck up on him, and was standing at his door.

"Does it really take that much concentration?" She asked.

"No," he replied slowly. "But under the circumstances, I must give this my undivided attention. It isn't easy to accelerate time, and it's even harder because of the people you guys are hunting."

She laughed and walked into the room.

"Fair point. So how bad is it? What are the odds?"

He laughed, an intense, happy laugh the filled the room with warmth."These kids could murder you in their sleep. Blind."

"Well damn." She replied. "I'm glad we don't pay you to be optimistic."

She looked at him intently, but he never turned around. "You barely pay me for the stuff I actually do. So I want information."

"What type of information? We told you, if you know too much, you are going to be killed."

He turned around, and looked at her for the first time. His eyes were celestial, a harlequin of colors in his eyes.

"I know that. What I'm asking for is simple. I want to know their names."

The girl stopped smiling. "Can't you just find that out by watching them?" She was worried for herself. Telling him anything could put her in danger. "No, I can't. I don't hear them, I just watch them as they go."

"Wow, I bet that's boring." She said, trying to change the subject.

"It's not as boring as you think. These are some very interesting people. That's why I want to know their names. The more I know about them, the stronger my magic is, and the more I can do."

I can use this. She realized. If it helps his powers, we can't be penalized. "I guess I can tell you their names, as long as you don't ask for anything else."

His eyes brightened, and the colors sparkled.

"I won't ask for anything else, I promise."

She tried to see if she could remember them all. The main three were obvious, but the gypsy and the human girl were hard to recall. The human boy was easy though. They'd been talking about him the most.

"Ok, are you ready?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Aren't you going to write them down?"

"I don't need to."

His voice carried a certain weight with it. She felt like this magical man was hiding something. She couldn't even tell if that was his real body. His eyes were so unusual, it bothered her at first but the more due talked to him the more amazing she thought they were.

She tried to shoo away her thoughts and began to recite the people's names.

"The first one is Allen Spears."

"Which one is that?" He asked.

"The one that used to be normal before-"

"Ah, I know him. One of my favorites."

She gave him a puzzled look. "Favorites?"

He gave a sheepish smile. "Yeah, this thing is like a gigantic soap opera for me."

She took a step back. "Wow. And I thought I had no life."

He laughed, taking no offense to her comment.

"What are the rest called?"

"The main three are Donovan, Jamie, and Marissa. Their surnames have yet to be discovered, becau-"

He hunched over and shook violently.

She instinctively leaped forward to help him, but remembered the terms of their agreement.

"Are you okay?" She managed to say.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good." She hoped she didn't sound insincere.

His body had a little pink aura forming around it, and the colors in his eyes seemed like they were coming out of his head. They started to look like little holographic balls floating right outside his eye.

"The final two...Um, I actually don't remember those girls names."

He turned directly towards her, and she was completely certain that those little lights were moving outside of his eye sockets. "It's okay. I have everything I needed to know."

Allen

I had a revelation when I woke up, and it wasn't a good one. For starters, I realized how much I needed sleep, because it was almost five in the evening when I woke up. Second, my feelings.... were different. It was like my conscious clicked on and questioned everything I did the past few days.

"Why did I help Samantha?" It asked. I know I needed to find Jacob, and I know that I wanted to learn magic from her, but I still felt like it was something I shouldn't have done.

The questions popped up in my head, over and over until I finally realized what happened.

Why did I sleep with Samantha?

Why did I continue to help her after we were attacked at the hotel? Why did I bring her and Samirah back to my place, when I had planned to find Jacob as soon as possible?

Because she hexed me, that's why. She'd been using her magic on me the entire time, coercing me to be her minuteman. I wondered what happened when she took over me, controlling my body, probably reading my thoughts. I was so mad I wanted to... I wanted to... damn it.

There wasn't anything I could do. She's a girl, and she just went through something I'd never be able to do. That being said, I had no feelings for her anymore either.

Not just hormonal feelings, I didn't feel any sympathy for her. I suppose, the way I felt was close to hate, because the more I thought about it the more I questioned why I brought her here, why I accepted her offer. She was powerless now, no use to me at all.

I got up, and went upstairs. I thought they'd be in my room, but both of them were gone, and the bed was a mess. There was a note on the bed spread, and it said, "Tried to wake you up, but you slept like a bear. Went to the park to let her play, we'll be back soon. -Sam"

I crumpled the note up in my hands.

I was deep in thought, trying to figure out how I got into this. No, I wanted to figure out why I agreed on the first place. She was elusive, quirky and seductive. But that's not what got me. It was her magic, and now that she had no magic, all of the feelings I had for her were starting to fade. It was like some type of love spell, making me do her bidding endlessly.

But all of that was over with. Now that I was awake, it was time to get to business. First, I was going to go back to the bar, and test out my magic. Sam said instead of studying magic, she did it by simply believing in her abilities.

If that's the case, it should be easy to interrogate the bar patrons and ask if they've seen someone like Jacob. If that fails... well, I still have my werewolf form. I had already made up my mind not to concern myself with Sam and Samirah. I've helped her. My job is done.

Samantha

I was sitting on a bench in Sardis Park.

The sun was lower in the sky, but it hadn't started to set yet. It was a beautiful day outside, and the constant wind felt great. I wish we had kites to fly. That would've been fun for both of us. There was a book in my hand that I wasn't actually reading, and Samirah was playing with other children. It was cute, watching her play. I could say that this is why I wasn't reading, but it's not. I wasn't reading because I hate reading, and this book was boring as dirt.

"Benny! Come on, Benny, let's go!" A middle aged woman called her son, and let the leash holding their dog go. They had a little dachshund puppy. It was hyper and energetic, and if it was unlucky it could've been stomped to death by any of the kids in the park.

Fortunately, the boy named Benny picked up the tiny dog. Running towards his mother, he let the leash drag behind him. Samirah was watching with pure fascination. As soon as they were gone, she walked back up to me.

"Sam, can I have a dog?" She asked.

I almost didn't know what to tell her. I had no money, and no job. I'm pretty sure my actual home disappeared with my magic too, because I used some of my magic to create it.

"You're gifted, Samirah. You should be able to conjure up anything you desire."

"Isn't that the reason my mommy is gone?" She asked in a low voice. I had nothing to say, because she was right. My family suffered because we thought we could get what we wanted whenever we wanted it. And it took generations to realize that.

"Yes, but that curse is gone. We destroyed it, the four of us. Everything that was created with magic was destroyed with magic."

She sat down next to me, and looked at the kids still playing. "So, everything that your family had is gone? You can't bring anything back?"

"There was only one original thing in that house," I told her. "and that was my great grandmother's necklace." I instinctively grabbed for my neck, reaching for it, but it wasn't there.

"What the..." I mumbled as I checked my pockets. Samirah, just started at me, unblinking. I never took off the necklace, and there's no way I left it at Allen's house. In one of my pockets, I pulled out the charm bracelet I had taken from my room. How did this still exist? Where was the necklace?

"Samirah, did you see what I did with the necklace?" I looked up to where she was sitting, but she was gone. "Samirah?" I called. "Samirah!" I looked towards the playground, but all the children had vanished.

"Samirah!" I screamed. "Where did you go?!" Clouds started to cover the sky, but they weren't gray. They were huge and white. The wind blew louder, and shadows started moving independently across the park. Some were random shapes, some silhouettes of people.

I leaped up, not sure were to look or search, just going anywhere, looking for an answer.

Suddenly, my arms and legs snapped together, as if they were bound by rope. The swings kept moving as if someone was still there.

"Samirah, stop this! What would your mother think of she saw what you were doing?"

And everything froze. The wind, shadows, and clouds. The swings, birds, and insects, everything just stopped.

"My mother is the reason I'm doing this in the first place."

Marissa

Donovan and Jamie didn't look too good. I'm sure if they didn't have pride they would've tucked their tails in and hid their snouts with their paws, but they persisted. Even though they were starting to look like dying strays they still bared their teeth and growled.

"Stop the facade, and save your strength. The spell wasn't meant to kill you, but resisting it might do you in." The warlock was advising us, while Axel looked ready for murder.

He slung Danielle on his shoulder, and I tried to run, but my legs were wrapped in vines.

"I didn't forget about you." The warlock said, catching my eye.

I had to stand there and watch as they got ready to leave. "You mutts are like a virus. Your powers are so strong, it leaks out and infects others. Word to the wise, don't come into close contact with any humans until we kill you. You've already infected this girl, and we don't even know what you've done to that boy, Allen."