Chapter 4 Sensation
#MAEVE
I woke before my alarm staring at the cracked ceiling of apartment 4B whike rain tapped softly against the window. Something felt off though not in a dangerous way. It was more like I'd forgotten something important and couldn't remember what.
I rubbed my face with both hands before sitting up. The apartment looked exactly the way I'd left it. Thr herbs still drying from the ceiling in tangled bunches, my boots still abandoned beside the couch. Nothing had changed. So why couldn't I shake the feeling?
I walked to the window and pushed it open, letting the cold Seattle air in with the smell of rain and wet pavement. It didn't help. By the time I'd showered and gotten dressed, the feeling had settled under my skin like an itch I couldn't reach.
"You are officially losing your mind" I muttered, locking my apartment door behind me.
The walk to Moon & Ash usually cleared my head. Today it didn't. Every few minutes I caught myself glancing over my shoulder, not because I thought someone was following me, but because I kept feeling like someone had just walked past. Except nobody had.
Business kept me distracted for most of the morning. Humans wandered in and out looking for lucky charms, candles, crystals, herbs for a hundred small hopes they'd never say out loud. One woman was convinced her boyfriend had been possessed because he forgot their anniversary.
"He isn't possessed" I told her, wrapping a bundle of rosemary. "He's just a man."
She sighed like I broke her heart a little. "I was hoping it was demons."
"I'm sure demons have much better things to do."
By late afternoon the human customers thinned out and the ones who actually knew what Moon & Ash sold started drifting in. A young sorcerer wanted protection charms before attempting a ritual he clearly wasn't qualified for.
A pair of shapeshifter twins spent twenty minutes arguing about whether fate existed amd completely ignored the reading they'd paid for.
By the time the last appointment left, my head was pounding. I flipped the sign to CLOSED and stretched my arms over my head.
"Long day." One of the hanging plants brushed my shoulder with a leaf.
"I know. You're exhausted too." It slapped me again. "Rude."
I laughed to myself and grabbed my bag. The streets were nearly empty by the time I started home, rain drizzling from a sky that never seemed to fully commit to it.
The cold was biting through my jacket. I kept my hands in my pockets and kept walking and that was when the feeling came back. There is definitely someone from the Lore.
I slowed without meaning to. I couldn't explain how I knew, only that I did. Magic recognizes magic the way a smell recognizes a memory. Humans felt quiet when they passed you on the street.
Supernaturals never did. Their presence lingered in the air like a fingerprint you couldn't see but somehow still noticed.
Whoever this was, they weren't human. That much I knew. Vampire, demon, sorcerer, I had no way of telling anymore. I've been so away from the Lore long enough that I lost the knack for reading it.
The strange part was that it didn't feel threatening. It should have. Instead my heart beat a little faster for reasons I couldn't name. I stopped walking. The feeling stopped too.
I turned around. Nothing but rain, passing cars and a man walking his dog half a block down. I exhaled slowly.
"You're imagining things" I turned the corner toward my apartment. The feeling followed.
By the third block, I knew for certain someone was behind me keeping enough distance to avoid suspicion and not quite enough to leave my instincts alone. I smiled to myself without looking back.
"If you're planning to rob me, you're going to be disappointed"
No answer. I kept walking. The footsteps multiplied. One, two, three, four. Wonderful. Bounty hunters. I nearly rolled my eyes. I thought I lost them.
"They really need a new hobby"
Instead of heading for my building, I turned into a narrow alley lit by a single flickering streetlamp and the footsteps followed immediately. Exactly the way I'd expected them to.
One man stepped into the alley behind me while three more blocked the exit. Archers. Very professional ones at that. One of them smiled like he already won.
"Maeve Ashcroft”
That wasn’t even my last name for fuck’s same. I sighed and turned to face him.
"I was hoping you'd mistake me for someone else" I pursed my lips.
"The bounty says alive”
"That's thoughtful of whoever put it up”
"You'll come quietly”
"I don't think I will” I looked around the empty alley and shrugged.
"Don't make this difficult” Another hunter took a cautious step forward.
"I wasn't planning to. You four seem determined to do that yourselves"
The first arrow flew. I snapped my fingers and the alley disappeared, or at least it disappeared for them. Suddenly there were twelve versions of me standing in twelve different places.
One folded her arms. Another yawned dramatically. One waved cheerfully. Another blew them a kiss. The hunters froze.
"Oh no. Math” one of my illusions gasped.
A hunter fired and the arrow passed straight through me, or rather through one of me. The illusion vanished with a laugh while three more appeared behind him.
"You missed”
"No, over here”
"Actually, I'm this one”
The alley twisted around them. Walls stretched impossibly high, doorways appeared where solid brick had been a second earlier. One hunter ran straight into a wall he'd mistaken for an exit.
Another swung his blade at an illusion and knocked his own partner to the ground. I leaned against a wall that wasn't really there and watched the chaos unfold.
“This is why communication is important”
One of them finally spotted me. "The real one's there"
He sprinted toward me. I waited until he was only a few feet away before reaching out and tapping his shoulder from behind. He froze then turned around very slowly.
"Oh” I said, smiling sweetly. "You almost had me"
The poor man screamed. I laughed so hard I nearly felt bad about it.
By the time the rest of them worked out which direction I'd actually gone, I was already halfway down the next street.
I reached my apartment building still smiling to myself. "They're definitely telling embarrassing stories about me tonight”
"Probably involving therapy” a plant inside my bag whispered.
"I support it”
Someone was waiting outside. Ryson looked up the moment he saw me and smiled, holding up a paper bag like a peace offering.
"I brought food”
"I knew there was a reason I kept you around”
"You wound me." He laughed, walking over to kiss my forehead. "I thought it was my sparkling personality”
"I tolerate your personality because you occasionally feed me”
"I'll take it”
He studied my face for a second then frowned. "You look happier than usuall”
"I spent the last fifteen minutes making four bounty hunters question reality”
"Should I be concerned?”
"They're the ones who should be concerned”
"I missed you” He straightened then laughd and shook his head.
"I saw you yesterday”
"It felt longer”
Something in his expression shifted, the smile still there but with something nervous underneath it now. Maybe he bas an assignment.
"I actually came because I wanted to ask you something”
I looked at him carefully. "That face usually costs me money"
"It won't this time”
"I don't believe you”
He laughed quietly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I've got one last bounty”
My smile disappeared. "No”
"I haven't even explained”
"You said bounty. My answer is still no"
"It isn't a job like that"
I folded my arms. "Ryson”
He stepped closer until there was barely any space left between us. "I just need reconnaissance"
I didn't answer.
"I trust you more than anyone else"
That made me hesitate which he knew it would.
"I hate Lore politics" I said, looking away. "I spent years getting away from all that"
"I know that love”
"I don't want kingdoms dragging me into whatever they're fighting about this week”
"I won't ask you to fight" he said, reaching for my hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "I just need your eyes"
Silence stretched between us. He knew exactly why I hated going back and he knew exactly how to talk me into it anyway. I closed my eyes for a second before letting out a tired breath.
"If I end up arrested, possessed or accidentally start a war, I'm blaming you"
A relieved smile broke across his face. "So that's a yes?"
"I hate you"
"I know!”
"Fine"
He pulled me into a quick hug before I could change my mind. "I'll pick you up tomorrow"
I watched him walk away and that strange feeling settled around me again. Someone from the Lore was still nearby. Watching. For reasons I couldn't explain, the thought didn't frighten me. It only made me wonder when I'd see him again.
