It has turned out that Fatma is the muscle in their operation, magically speaking; Lisa is the ritualist and her cousin, Amir, whom I had the pleasure to meet with his conjured firearm not directly aimed at me but quite obviously pointed in my direction, is the head of their field operations. I am a bit sad about that. I wanted my students to use what I taught them, not necessarily as leaders, but for sure as ritualists.


    A: I am pleased to meet me cousin’s teacher.


    P: I always hoped to see knowledge spread and be used.


    F: I have used it. It has gotten me my racial ability. I did the ritual myself.


    P: Had you looted it conventionally.


    F: No, the government actually delivered essences for the better pupils of the class.


    P: Impressive. Are you working for more essences?


    A: Eventually


    F: They know I have gotten one. I cannot risk questions.


    A: For now we need allies


    P: Against whom?


    A: Whoever will come out on top. It isn’t going to be us.


    Is this guy a realist?


    P: That won’t be me either.


    F: But you are a full essence magician.


    P: But I am alone. And my face has been on TV. I would be a liability here. I need to rebase.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The looks I got from that were somehow more measured.


    A: I see. What would that entail?


    P: I need to make allies in a certain sense.


    A: You want essences.


    P: And stones. You seem resourceful.


    F: He can tell, cousin. Full essence magicians have a sixth sense.


    P: But you still need potions.


    F: We have contacts who are not in perfect health or, better from our perspective, whose family members are sick.


    They have been hard negotiators. We have resolved all but one question.


    A: We have one customer who insists on personal service. The disease is congenital.


    He probably knows that I can teleport away. And if he does not, I will not tell him.


    P: Yes?


    A: There is an essence for you in the deal.


    I need allies.


    F: We know that you have all your essences. But you have a family, don’t you.


    P: I am going to do it.


    L: And I am going to join you.


    Returning to the car I at least find out that Lisa is a cat person.


    L: Those two are adorable. Are you getting lonely?


    P: Yes, that is one of the reasons.


    L: Let me enter our meeting point into the navigation system … Did you have to get a car so old that it doesn’t have built-in navigation?


    P: Is that general annoyance or do you not dare let anybody know our meeting point?


    L: Both


    P: I get a discrete navigation system.


    She is happier with that.


    L: You are pretty spry for an older fellow


    P: I am young enough to still go to the movies.


    L: I saw that one on TV


    P: Genuine TV, not a streaming service?


    L: Yes, old man. Do you think we are going to survive this?


    P: This mission? Probably. Or do you mean in the long run?


    L: The long run.


    P: I don’t know. I got enemies and you are not good at hiding quietly.


    L: Right. I still feel … We are not going to make it. Everybody will fight for essences now. Hell, we are very close to doing so. I am cold.


    She is leaning closer. I put a hand around her shoulders.


    The seats in this car recline far.