《Rights & Rituals》


 Afternoon Walkies

    Sunlight happily shone into Nathaniel Jacobson¡¯s tired eyes as he walked. Turning the corner into the park where he was to meet the woman he had been thinking about all night long, he came face to face with her brown locks splayed over her customary button up shirt and had only one thing to say:


    ¡°Get to bed earlier, Sarah. I can¡¯t sleep when you pull that shit at 1 AM. You¡¯re driving me mad.¡±


    ¡°I did get to bed early. Whether you¡¯re lying down or not hardly makes a difference when it comes to magic.¡±


    ¡°Impossible as always.¡±


    He sighed. While losing some sleep because she was usingSightwas troublesome and while he did wish she was more considerate, her results were undeniable¡ªThey were the reason they were there at all that day.


    ¡°We should get going. Lead the way,¡± he said.


    She led him towards one of the buildings bordering the park and then ducked into a side street. The street came out behind the building to reveal a dilapidated house, skillfully hidden from view behind a new construction, it¡¯s walls cracked and crumbling, gently wrapped in a blanket of vegetation consisting of the overgrown remains of what might have once been a nice garden.


    ¡°A homeless guy, I¡¯m guessing? Do we have to worry about anyone else being here?¡±


    ¡°Overdosed in the building last night. His pals called it in, I think. Either way I doubt they¡¯ll be back this soon. And besides, ILockedit up.¡±


    ¡°Ooh, a freshy! Ladies first.¡±


    She clicked her tongue as her back disappeared into the lush foliage of the overgrown shrubbery, slipping past the iron fence. He followed so as not to be left behind. When they arrived at the front they were met with an doorless, empty door frame. Sarah faced the doorway and touched her necklace; "Open," she called, causing an almost electric shift in the air.


    A change could be felt within the open doorway. Not one that could be seen or smelt or touched, but it was clear to all present that somethinghadchanged, even if it looked, by all appearances, to be exactly the same.


    ¡°It¡¯s a dark, dirty, and disgusting drug den,¡± he complained.


    ¡°UseSight. It¡¯s what I¡¯ll be doing,¡± she replied ignoring the attempt at alliteration.


    He could tell she meant it by the fact that he immediately felt a pull on his magic. The twist in the back of his mind as the borrowed spell¡ªhisspell¡ªflowed through her. The sensation never quite lost its novelty, which is precisely why it made it so difficult to sleep.


    Ignoring the sensation, he activatedSightas well. The inside of the house now seemed as bright as daylight. Though both the grime and the thin blanket of litter that coated the floor took away from the effect. He started to take out his gloves, having learned to bring them after the third time he did this, when Sarah interrupted his thoughts.


    ¡°Is Dan already at the hut? I think this¡¯ll be enough to start production.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. The rest of his family is out of town on vacation so there¡¯s really nothing stopping him.¡±


    ¡°Good. It¡¯s that needle over there,¡± she pointed.


    He was only slightly miffed at the fact that she was better at using his own spell than he was. Only slightly. What was more irritating was that the charm was a needle. He was not prepared for that, what if it pierced his bag and stabbed him? Did the guy have Hepatitis, HIV or rabies even? He did not want to get pricked by a needle and roped into looking for a spirit which could give him a spell to cure AIDS if, that is, a spirit like that even existed in the first place. He could always count on AZT, he supposed.


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    The ghost-but-not thing, remnant really, was sitting next to the needle low on the floor. The tiny thing was an off-orange color and you could just about make out the decaying memories or whatever other psychic mumbo jumbo made it up with a little effort. He kind of wished that whoever had moved the body (The police he was guessing) could have moved it too. Though that would defeat the point of coming here¡ªThey were looking for it, after all. Sometimes he wished spirits would take money as trade and not something as unreasonable as the psychic equivalent of a half-rotten corpse.


    At that point a bit of thick collage paper was shoved at his hands, breaking his train of thought.


    ¡°I thought it might end up like this, so I packed appropriately. Dig in.¡±


    They finished quickly. The needle was wrapped in paper, packed securely and the house left behind. Having done what they came to do they set course for ¡°the hut".


    ¡°Dan probably has everything set up and ready to go. We¡¯re trying auto parts first?¡± said Nathan.


    ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re sure to be more profitable than the knitting and even that did well.¡±


    Through bargains with spirits they had obtained several spells:Lock, Knit, ShapeandWash.Sightwas a spell that Nathan had always been able to use, which he very generously shared with his friends/co-conspirators.


    ¡°It¡¯ll be nice to not have to go out gathering these things as often as we do.Shapeshouldn¡¯t use nearly as much energy per dollar earned. We¡¯ll have more time to devote to actualresearchand maybe find something game changing. Or fun, our spells are kind of plain so far.¡±


    ¡°Hmm,¡± she added noncommittally.


    The sun had begun to set by the time they reached the forest at the edge of town. From there on it was only a short jaunt through the lovely greenery to get to ¡°the hut¡±. Frankly, all of them thought that a hut in the woods was too stereotypical a location to do magic in, but they picked it out before they had any money to spend on non-abandoned accommodation. Later on they were too lazy to move their stuff just yet.


    When they approached the hut Nathan felt a happy tingle coming from his ankle.


    ¡°Bitey!¡± he shouted, smiling, and turned on Sight.


    ¡°Woof!¡± howled the spectral dog in an overly excitable tone.


    ¡°Here boy!¡±


    Nathan patted the creature on the head several times, cooing lovingly.


    ¡°Woof! Good pets...¡± it said haltingly. The creepy talking started to seem cute after a while.


    ¡°The talking still creeps me out,¡± said Sarah.


    ¡°Warm¡­ comfy¡­ blood¡­¡±


    The creepy talkingmostlyseemed cute after a while. Not that that made Nathan any less enthusiastic.


    ¡°Woof!¡±

 Verbal Abuse

    The hut served as their current place of business. It was an old brick building with only one room, probably because the owners had abandoned it before finishing the inside walls. It had no door. They used it as a place to store all the charms they collected, since no one wanted the associated remnants bothering them all day. They were kept in an earthenware pot over to one corner of the hut. It was a typical piece of pottery in both color and shape, though it was painted with misspelt kanji for decoration.


    Next to the vase, there were several unopened bottles of prune juice sitting on an old-timey woven blanket. On the wall above them was soviet style poster of a tiny old woman holding her arms out¡ªCaptioned simply, ¡°Grandma loves you.¡± Similar posters were scattered about the rest of the hut: ¡°Give granny a kiss¡±; ¡°I¡¯m too old for sports, dear¡±; ¡°I¡¯m not dying ¡®till you get married.¡±


    On the other side of the room, away from the remnants loitering near the pot, there was a plastic tarp they used for sitting and on it there lay a stack of pamphlets titled, ¡°Get to know your grandparents!¡± in colorful lettering. Floating above the tarp, there was a pair of knitting needles, filling the otherwise silent room with a soft, clicking sound as they knit a sweater out of a nearby pile of yarn.


    Luckily, spirits never seemed to be offended by the sparseness of their surroundings (or the extensive grandma memorabilia) when they came over for business; most of them didn¡¯t see much of a point in luxury, it seemed.


    Dan was already inside, sitting encircled by blueprints, when Sarah and Nathan came in.


    ¡°Dan!¡±


    ¡°Welcome back! I was just¡ª¡±


    ¡°All of you will die,¡± interrupted an emotionless monotone,


    ¡°And hell shall seem to you a mercy. Grievance demands retribution.¡±


    Spirits, no matter how they may appear, are always in pursuit of a single desire. To them, this desire is an almost carnal pleasure they will chase after unfailingly. The life of a spirit is, in summary, the eternal pursuit of their own unique brand of hedonism.


    The spirit that had just spoken seemed to enjoy attempting to inflict mental anguish. It followed the trio often, splitting its time between them. It had the vaguely disturbing shape of a grey balloon, floating absolutely still a few feet above the ground.


    The harassment had been going on for years. The balloon''s behaviour was strangely formulaic, after its initial long winded monologue about how they had been destroying human souls when using the remnants and faced divine punishment, whenever it appeared it would usually spout out some ominous one liner followed by one of its taglines: ¡°Defilers are in turn defiled,¡± ¡°Grievance demands retribution,¡± and most famously, ¡°The cloak of delusion protects not the damned.¡±


    ¡°Frankly, I haven¡¯t been able to take that thing seriously since it spooked me in the shower that one time,¡± said Dan abruptly. The surprise had caused him to slip and fall, injuring his shoulder. Since then, he¡¯d been quietly seething at the thing, but the absurdity of the situation had wiped away most of his fear.


    ¡°Honestly! That thing is just the worst! If we were any worse at using Sight we might actually believe this garbage, and then where would be? At home crying?¡± Sarah complained.


    ¡°Your fate defies escape. The cloak of delusion protects not the damned.¡±


    ¡°And having to listen to this bullshit all day long fucks with my head even if I know it isn¡¯t true! The stupid thing is vauge enough about the whole thing that it sometimes scores a hit and it makes me miserable for hours and then I feel bad for falling for it! DAMN IT!¡±


    ¡°Eternity awaits. Grievance demands retribution,¡± It said, seeming to pounce on her weakness. Sarah felt like it had a smug expression at getting a rise out of her, but she was sure it was just her imagination as balloons didn¡¯t really have faces.


    At this point, Bitey came into the room and the Balloon left. Humans could neither meaningfully touch nor bespell spirits and the rule held vice versa. Both humans and spirits could do whatever they could get away with to their own kind, and Bitey, while generally loving, was in no way a fan of the Balloon.


    Nathan shot Sarah a sympathetic look while Dan looked on in obvious discomfort, he was neither good at dealing with displays of emotion, nor particularly bothered by the Ballon. It mostly left him alone after the shower incident. Both of them gave her a minute to compose herself.


    ¡°A spirit came by while you two were out,¡± Dan started tentatively.


    ¡°Besides the... you know?¡± replied Nathan.


    ¡°Yup, one of the ones that can talk well too. He said he¡¯d heard about us through the ¡°rumor mill¡± and that he wanted to do business.¡±


    ¡°If he wants to do business, we should probably ask him about it when we talk,¡± Sarah contributed, ¡°We already know there¡¯s some other magic group nearby, but we don¡¯t really know anything else. Spirits don¡¯t usually have loose lips, which is good for us too, I suppose.¡±


    ¡°Did he mention any specifics?¡± Nathan asked.


    Most spirits took mana from the remnants as barter, It made them smarter and expanded their awareness. Remnants count as men, which spirits are unable to interact with until they dissolve into mana naturally; this is a process that takes a long and variable amount of time and spirits generally don¡¯t want to spend their time babysitting remnants for several weeks at minimum. Humans, though, can grind remnants into mana immediately.


    ¡°He said he had an unusual arrangement in mind, that he didn¡¯t want to barter with mana. There was also something about buying his services on a case by case basis.¡±


    ¡°So, something like Grandma, but hopefully without all of... this?¡± asked Nathan, gesturing vaguely to the rest of the room.


    Grandma was the eccentric spirit that gave them Knit in exchange for a few remnants worth of mana and a small percentage of any profits obtained therefrom. Of course, they had to be the ones to spend it for her, since spirits could neither carry money or talk to people.


    Grandma¡¯s goal was apparently to become a celebrity grandmother. It was a weird thing to want even for spirits, and honesty, it was suspiciously in line with her spell, which usually had nothing to do with whatever it was the spirit wanted. Despite her eccentricities she was very nice and easy to work with. While not quite famous yet, spirit-wise, she was probably living the dream. Pictures of the fliers she¡¯d made them give out had even been shared all over the internet! She had a disgustingly satisfied expression for days afterwards.


    ¡°I guess. He agreed to a meeting tomorrow at noon; we¡¯ll see then.¡±


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°Right, that¡¯s sorted. I¡¯d like to try using Shape now. Pass me the stuff?¡± said Nathan.


    Dan passed him a metal cube.


    ¡°Try making the gear on this blueprint would you? I¡¯ve emailed some car repair shops and this seems to be the simplest thing that we might conceivably sell any of.¡±


    Nathan sent a pulse of mana to the ring on his finger and activated Shape. Instantly he felt his awareness expand. Spells usually felt like gaining another limb, they were clunky at first, but with practice you could refine them. Having a lot of widely different and interchangeable limbs probably wasn¡¯t too healthy. They¡¯d thought about how this worked in their brains, but concluded that however it was it was probably harmless enough since other magic users existed and they were totally fine¡ªpresumably, that is.


    He tried to mold the metal using his newfound power, and having felt a large drain on his personal mana almost immediately, he started to use up the remnant in the needle charm that was still safely wrapped up in his bag.


    After a minute or so, he had obtained a¡­ gear-like object. The body had multiple ingressed bits and the teeth were of really inconsistent size. After several more attempts. Sarah suggested he try making sticks of fixed length. Each rod came out a different length. It seemed he couldn¡¯t really make anything to a tighter tolerance than 1 or 2 inches, which was unacceptable for car parts. Suffice to say, they were terribly disappointed with.


    As Nathan put the half used needle charm into the pot with the others, he took a moment to consider how overcharged they¡¯d been when they bought the spell. They¡¯d let slip to the spirit that they wanted it¡ªbadly. The spirit had charged them thrice what they usually paid, and what they got in return appeared to be a cool, but basically unusable Spell.


    ¡°That took a lot more mana than the test run with wood. Much slower too,¡± said Dan.


    ¡°Guess we''re sticking with knitting. It¡¯s a mana hog but what can you do?¡±


    Knit used a remnant or two a day and made about as many sweaters. They had a lot of remnants stored up when they acquired the spell, but by now they had already mostly cleared out the town and had to mill around waiting for someone new to die. The obituaries really helped with keeping track. All in all they¡¯d managed to earn four thousand or so dollars in the year they had Knit available, but that was mostly during the first few weeks. Nevertheless, it made them sure that they could do this for a living, if only they put in the effort to get the right spells, or if they found a way to gather more remnants.


    ¡°Maybe we could make some furniture, or strangely shaped food if it works better on softer stuff? I¡¯m sure there¡¯s a use for this thing!¡± Dan said optimistically, even though all of them knew no one would want to buy lumpy furniture or ameboid steak.


    They hung out a bit after that. Joking around while sitting on the tarp. Dan left first, saying he had to send some apology emails to business who he¡¯d promised to send samples to before he forgot.


    After a bit, Nathan turned to Sarah.


    ¡°We should probably get going too, it¡¯s late out.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± sighed Sarah.


    ¡°I know you don¡¯t like Bitey overly much, but do you want to take him home with you? I¡¯m sure he¡¯d be happy to bark at the Balloon some more.¡±


    Bitey nodded, keeping his mouth tactfully shut.


    ¡°Sure.¡± said Sarah.


    <hr>


    Near the end of the woods, Sarah tripped.


    ¡°Defilers are in turn defiled.¡±


    Bitey growled, and Sarah looked upwards. The balloon was there, floating above them. Bitey lunged at it. He could jump two or three meters high, but the balloon floated higher. How physics worked with regards to spirits was ever a mystery. On a whim she activated Sight.


    ¡°The coat of delusion protects not the damned,¡± warned the Balloon.


    It said that same line every time she used Sight near it. She couldn¡¯t say it didn¡¯t bother her. She was the best at using the spell amongst the trio, much to Nathan¡¯s chagrin. He only used it for the basics, and Dan didn¡¯t really practice magic in his spare time. Using any spell would give you the ability to see spirits to some extent, but Sight made it much clearer, and if you practiced, you could see more beyond.


    It let you see a lot of things: emotions, memories, thoughts, desires, even intentions. The experience was akin to synesthesia, really. She¡¯d always liked the spell, using it often even in her spare time. After the balloon had appeared, she used it compulsively. Always checking for anything out of the ordinary in the remnants. The results were always the same, decaying memories. No intent, no thoughts, but the notion that she might not be seeing the full picture persisted, even though she had been as thorough as humanly possible. She was an anxious person by nature.


    When she looked at the balloon now, she could only make out its intent. It disturbed her. Did the balloon really not have emotion? Was it hiding them somehow? Was whatever intent was, metaphysically speaking, sufficient to explain its behaviour? If she couldn¡¯t even read the Balloon fully, was she wrong about the remnants?


    The others weren¡¯t bothered by these thoughts, as they couldn¡¯t use Sight as well as her. She didn¡¯t share her thoughts on the Balloon, even though she knew they¡¯d most likely take it in stride.


    ¡°I have been sent to collect the damned,¡± it said on the day it had appeared and never again.


    Seeing the Balloon always played with her emotions, and right now her anxiety changed to anger and anger to hatred.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to kill you; you¡¯ll be gone forever, unable to bother anyone ever again. You¡¯ll have achieved nothing, ending up as nothing but spare mana in a spell, and I¡¯ll know that your whole spiel about damnation had been a lie all along, since I doubt you¡¯ll be collecting souls from beyond the grave,¡± she said. It was a habit that made her feel a bit better, at least for a little while. She knew that hatred was not a healthy way to deal with her emotions, but that was all she could think of. She figured that was about as good a threat as she could give the thing.


    The intent behind the threat was very real, but humans could barely even touch spirits, and even then only lightly while channeling mana. If she could harm the stupid thing, she would¡¯ve done so already. Spirits generally refused to kill each other, she¡¯d tried to convince a few, but they found her offerings wanting in proportion to the task. She didn¡¯t think the balloon would harm her even if it could. After all, that would ruin the game.


    ¡°Damnation is inevitable. The cloak of delusion protects not the damned.¡± it called out as Sarah faded into the distance, continuing the trek back home.

 Roadtrip

    A body swung on the wind somewhere in the woods, a new addition to an endless multitude, examined briefly, then left far behind by the two travelers.


    ¡°Craw~¡±


    Sarah turned irrately to Nathan, who had produced the offensively bird-like sound.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t do that. It annoys me.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t help it. I¡¯m turning into a crow from all this scavenging we¡¯ve been doing, we¡¯ve been hopping around the woods since 5 AM. I¡¯ll become a gorgeous man crow and all the girl crows will love me very much. Very much. Look at how good I am at finding dead stuff! That has to be attractive in a crow!¡±


    Nathan spread his arms wide towards the remnants surrounding him. There were seven all in all, nested between the trees. Most were more than half gone, having decayed with the passage of time. Though one seemed just about intact, or as whole as these things could be.


    ¡°It was my Idea to come here, lover boy. You¡¯re just a lackey. No one wants a lackey.¡±


    ¡°And what a great idea it was, but no one told the crows that, did they?¡±, Nathan said before cooing at one of the remnants, ¡°Awww. You¡¯re gonna make me sooo popular with those corvaceous babes, won¡¯t you boy?¡±


    It remained motionless, nothing but a shapeless, humorless blob. Its surface undulating as memories rose out of and sank back into the main mass.


    Time had eroded what bits of memory remained to the point of half coherency, grinding them into a coarse-grained mental sand whose grains then stuck to each other in clumps, forming a composite of sorts. As Nathan stared into the blob, one of the more coherent memories surfaced.


    A pot of crimson liquid on a stove, and in it floating vegetables. The water boiled with soft whimpers in place of bubbling. A paintbrush, moved by an unseen hand, stirred delicately. When the stew was done, the brush pulled long lines of color on a nearby canvas, the strokes slowly morphing into the silhouette of a woman; she wept. It reeked with the stench of blood with a waft of vegetable stew.


    The memory stayed on the surface briefly, long enough for Nathan to catch each and every horrifying detail. It wavered, oozing downwards, and dripping onto the floor before disappearing back into the blob.


    ¡°Always an adventure, these things,¡± commented Nathan in a relaxed tone, ¡°You must be getting more detail than me with how good you are, and you still look every time. How do you cope? I know I do it by trivialising the experience, and I know that wouldn¡¯t be considered ¡°healthy¡±, but I also don¡¯t think I want to stop. I kind of like myself this way. Unbothered.¡±


    ¡°I had a lot of motivation to start with. You get used to it.¡±


    ¡°But the experience you get from Sight is as vivid as the rest of your senses, hell it basically is the rest of your senses. It¡¯s like getting used to eating vomit inducing, half-rotten food. The mental stuff is easy, just don¡¯t give it any importance, but you can¡¯t just block out a visceral experience.¡±


    ¡°Look, what do you want me to say? Yeah it kind of sucked at first, but then I stopped caring about the gross and disturbing bits. People are uncomfortable with butchery, but butchers get along just fine. We¡¯re like butchers, carving dead stuff into a desirable product. Except more ethical, since our stuff was dead before we got there.¡±


    ¡°In some places, butchers were considered untouchables, you know? Maybe they had the right of it. Our souls might be tainted, dirty in ways we can''t see, or have trained ourselves to ignore, and that¡¯s why we can stomach stuff like what we were doing now. Maybe it¡¯d be best for the world to shun us. Though that might happen regardless, I can¡¯t imagine people having a good reaction to us harvesting ghosts for profit. ¡±


    ¡°Just drop it, and they aren¡¯t ¡°ghosts¡±. I¡¯ve told you several times. Do you even care about all this?¡± said Sara tersely.


    ¡°No, not really. I think about it sometimes, when prompted, but right now I¡¯m just kind of bored,¡± replied Nathan.


    ¡°Thought so. It¡¯s 10 AM already, we should get back to the car. Wouldn¡¯t want to be late for our meeting now, would we?¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°Now leaving Buckwood¡± proclaimed a road sign as they drove back home.


    They knew there was a rest stop just up ahead, even though it was only a 30 minute drive between the largely rural towns of Buckwood and Riverdane. The road between the two towns was part of a regionally important highway, and so there was a rest stop dead center in between the two towns. It was staffed mostly by Riverdane residents, since it was the larger of the two.


    ¡°Stop at the rest stop, would you?¡±, asked Nathan, ¡°I think they have burgers, and I¡¯m really hungry after running around in the woods for five hours.¡±


    ¡°Fine. Guess you¡¯re not turning crow-like after all, otherwise you¡¯d have feasted on some forest rat.¡±


    ¡°Hardy har har.¡±


    When they reached their destination, they pulled over into a parking spot. Curiously one of the parked cars had two spirits around it. It wasn¡¯t exactly uncommon, since people died in accidents all the time, but you didn¡¯t see it every day.


    They got out of the car and noticed that a girl was looking intently their way. While they were used to getting stared at it was usually because they were behaving strangely while looking for remnants. It was slightly unnerving to see someone so focused on them just because, so Sarah used Sight, and Nathan could, as always, tell when she did.


    ¡°She wants to¡­ look at you?¡± said Sarah.


    Objectively speaking, Nathan was the eye candy of their group. He had attractive facial features, while being solidly built. He didn¡¯t even need to try with clothing and Sarah was almost sure she caught him wearing makeup once or twice. Either way, while it wasn¡¯t a bad thing to have something nice to look at all day, people didn¡¯t tend to look at him that way just randomly on the street.


    ¡°Huh.The crow life seems less appealing now, what a confidence boost!¡± said Nathan happily. He waved at the girl, smiling benevolently. She fluttered away, nervous, trying, and failing, not to stare.


    Having turned towards the entrance, a glistening neon sign informed them that they had reached the ¡°Big bad rest stop¡±. From the outside it appeared to be made of wood, though it was likely that concrete lay beneath the faux-wood fa?ade. Though the outside was all fake, they at least delivered on the implied promise of a homey feel. The interior was dotted with chairs and rectangular tables, strewn tastefully around a¡ªpresumably fake¡ªtaxidermy bear. Over to one side of the room there was a buffet-style lunch line packed tight with people, and opposite to it an empty fireplace; it was summer after all.


    Among the multitude of enticing smells mostly coming from hearty, nutritious food, one could quite clearly make out the undertone of burgers. Judging by the half-empty burger section of the buffet line, despite the rest of the food seeming to be in near infinite supply. They were clearly a much sought after commodity.


    Nathan and Sarah joined the line, oohing and awing at the food. It really did smell good. Sarah wasn¡¯t quite hungry enough to buy any, but Nathan filled his plate with a burger and a plate of cucumber salad. As he did this, the man behind them turned their way.


    ¡°The burgers here taste great, don¡¯t they? I drive over here on most of my lunch breaks. The rest stop might as well be an actual restaurant with how popular it is. It¡¯s only a 15 minute drive too!¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± said Nathan, smiling awkwardly. He didn¡¯t quite know how to respond to people suddenly striking up a conversation with him while waiting in line. Sarah just remained silent, ignoring the guy.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    Thankfully, the guy took the hint. He seemed just a bit dejected though. Nathan felt bad, but what could he do? He assumed the guy was a bit eccentric, and so wasn¡¯t really up to making friends. It took a special kind of personality to drive fifteen minutes each way just to get a particular burger to eat on your lunch break.


    They reached the end of the line, paid and then sat down on one of the tables furthest from the center.


    When he began eating, it was clear to see on Nathan¡¯s face just how much he really enjoyed the burger. As he took each bite his face would switch briefly to a grimace. His jaw would then move up and down, chewing methodically, before an audible swallowing sound could be heard.


    ¡°It tastes like what I imagine iron dissolved in turpentine would,¡± explained Nathan.


    ¡°That sounds chemically implausible,¡± Sarah would know, she was enrolled in their college¡¯s chemistry course, ¡±Don¡¯t stare at remnants so much.¡±


    ¡°Mmm,¡± agreed Nathan through a mouth that had suddenly been filled with deliciousness.


    ¡°Actually, once the weird synesthesia clears up a bit these things really are good. Like, I can totally believe a person driving fifteen minutes each way just to get these, at least occasionally. They¡¯d have to be a bit of a burger fan to do it as often as that guy though.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t exactly feel like braving the line again. I¡¯ll try one the next time we¡¯re here. I have a feeling we¡¯ll become regulars.¡±


    ¡°True, true.¡±


    They finished their food in silence and made to leave, but as they reached the door the girl from before bumped into Nathan.


    ¡°Oh, s-sorry,¡± said the girl.


    ¡°Oh, hi again! My name¡¯s Nathan. What¡¯s yours?¡±


    ¡°Olivia.¡±


    ¡°Nice to meet you, Olivia! I couldn¡¯t help but notice you staring at us while we were in the parking lot and I have to ask¡­ Do you want my number?¡± said Nathan brazenly. He was slightly more nervous on the inside then he showed, but he wasn¡¯t about to pass up the opportunity.


    ¡°Um¡­ I-ah¡­¡±, she mumbled seemingly startled by such a blas¨¦ action from a complete stranger, ¡°Actually yes! I¡¯d like that, ah, very much!¡±


    ¡°Great! It¡¯s xxx-xxxx.¡±


    ¡°Could you repeat that?¡± asked the girl while pulling out a notepad covered densely in text.


    When all was said and done, Nathan left with a satisfied smile on his face. Under more normal circumstances he would have asked her for her number too, but he¡¯d feel bad pressuring the girl any further.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t we feeling good about ourselves?¡± asked Sarah.


    ¡°Yes actually! It¡¯s surprisingly flattering when you know a cute girl wants to stare at you. I guess being good at Sight really does have its upsides! Anyway I couldn¡¯t just let an opportunity that magically landed in my lap go to waste. People can rarely be as certain about this kind of stuff as we can, imagine all the happy couples that might have been, but weren¡¯t. I have a unique opportunity here, which I¡¯d rather not waste.¡±


    ¡°That is much more insightful than your usual clap-trap.¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡± objected Nathan as they made their way to the car.


    <hr>


    Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack.


    The needles, reinvigorated by mana from the spirits, knit continuously in the cool air. The forest provided ample shade in the summer, keeping the hut cool even with noon fast approaching.


    Sarah was reading a book on the tarp, while Nathan watched the needles working. Their rhythmic motion, unobstructed by hands at work, was almost hypnotic. Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack.


    The door opened briefly, letting Dan in. He was dressed less casually than the others, clearly having come from some more formal engagement than prowling the woods.


    ¡°Hi guys! Sorry I¡¯m late, the meeting with my sister''s teacher ran long. They kept telling me how wonderfully talented she is, and she is¡ªreally¡ªbut I can¡¯t make her participate in inter-school competitions if she doesn¡¯t want to, no matter how much the school begs. I do feel like she might be wasting her potential somewhat, but what she wants to do is on her, isn¡¯t it? And¡­¡± Started dan.


    ¡°Dan,¡± said Sarah, ¡°Breathe.¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ yeah. I got a bit carried away, didn¡¯t I? Eitherway, I¡¯ve bought the supplies already and I¡¯ve sent you two your cash,¡± he said, pulling up his left arm. In it were several very large spools of quality yarn.


    ¡°Finding a place which sold yarn of this quality in bulk was a real nightmare. I¡¯ve added the expense to our ledgers already and all that. We¡¯ve gotten popular online lately, so we need the yarn; we¡¯re quite cheap for the quality we offer.


    ¡°There¡¯s people waiting in line to buy stuff, I¡¯ve got a list five names long! It¡¯s good that you found six, or is that seven, of the things? You know how bad I am with Sight. Anyway, It¡¯ll be good to be able to churn out the sweaters on a consistent schedule, people don¡¯t like having to wait god knows how long. How was the forest by the way?¡±


    ¡°It was fine, we didn¡¯t run into anything too troublesome,¡± lied Nathan, ¡±They were mostly bound to some rocks sitting on the ground. There was one bound to some sort of huge boulder, but no trouble beyond that.¡±


    ¡°Good to hear.¡±


    Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack.


    The room was again silent but for the clicking of the needles. It was a companionable silence, they had covered all that needed to be said and were waiting for their guest. The needles worked on, a small tuft of circular fabric emerging in a vibrant green color. Knit, purl, knit, purl, knit, purl¡ª


    Bang!


    ¡°HOLY FUCKING SHIT! Was that a gunshot!?¡± Said Nathan as he stared towards the source of the sound, the window. The bullet had hit one of grandma¡¯s posters right in the face and ricocheted onto the floor.


    Nathan and Sarah stared at the deformed bit of brass sitting on the floor, with eyes wide open and minds completely blank. This event was so far from their expectations that they couldn¡¯t even begin to react.


    Dan had moved away from the window, and was looking at the blood slowly seeping from a graze on his upper arm in confusion.


    That was when the spent bullet started floating upwards. The flat, broken remnants that remained after it had hit the wall rose into the air.


    ¡°Get down!¡± Said Nathan dropping to the floor. Right before the floating shrapnel shot towards them in what might as well have been shotgun fire.


    Sarah had escaped the shot by pressing herself to the wall, but Dan hadn¡¯t. His right arm was spurting blood, from several wounds, and a bit of shrapnell had embedded itself in his sternum, breaking ribs from the conducted force.


    Sarah ran over to¡ª


    Bang!


    Another bullet hit the far wall. Nervously, they watched, and the shrapnel rose once more.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± Said Sarah, as she was hit with it head on. But the shot was weaker this time, and while she was scratched up, there were no punctures.


    They listened, but no third shot came, instead there were rapid footsteps.


    ¡°Lock!¡± screamed Sarah as the door burst open to reveal a man partway through the doorway. His left hand had cleared the porch and was apparently stuck limply in its position, constricted and without circulation, sitting half inside half outside. He had slammed head first into the now warded doorway and bounced back slightly. His right hand reached for the gun that had slipped from his hand in the crash, futilely trying to stretch out and grab it.


    ¡°He¡¯s¡­ He¡¯s a sheriff?¡± said Nathan, Dan¡¯s blood dripping of him. Dan¡¯s bleeding somehow seemed to have stopped and Nathan was now looking at the man in the doorway.


    He was leanly built, and visibly desperate to reach his gun. His left hand had turned a light blue already. Most notably, he was dressed in a sheriff¡¯s uniform.


    Crack!


    His left shoulder let out a sickening crack, extending far beyond its usual capacity and dropping the sheriff¡¯s body down low enough that he could reach his gun.


    Nathan lunged and grabbed the sheriff¡¯s ischemic left arm.


    Suddenly, the sheriff''s neck started to extend, getting longer and longer inch by inch until¡ªCrick!¡ªWith a pop, his neck jerked, stretching further and then stopping as the sheriff went limp, hanging from his trapped limb.


    He hung there for a long moment. Swaying in the wide open doorway from a single point of suspension. His arm blue, his shoulder dislocated, and his neck unsettlingly long. He looked a parody of a man¡ªa mutilated, disturbing corpse.


    The body dropped.


    thump.