Magic Reborn

The air whipped around them chilled by the early start of winter, and the dazzling lights of the skyline gave way to the rolling curves of the milky-way. Hecate cruised through the air lazily, half-tempted to jettison the scrappy little upstarts gliding beside her. But, her curiosity had been property piqued by this itchy-witchy little girl who had dared to seek her out in this modern age.

"Tell me, itchy-witchy... what do you want from me?" Hecate sneered, glancing down at the pair of companions.

Alice, for her part, held her head up proudly (in spite of all of her trembling); so much so that the horns curving out from the depths of her fiery locks gleamed bashfully in the starlight. She felt Arch shaking just as badly as he carried her weight through the air, and she reached down and slowly patted the side of his scaly neck, as if to say: "I've got this."

Her head still high, Alice turned slightly to look up at the mighty creature glowering upon them. Her impatience glinted in her yellow, dragon's eyes.

"Well? What is it you want from me?"

"To temp you," Alice smirked.

***

“Bye guys!” Alice laughed, the study group dispersing one by one outside the library. They all waved back as they headed in different directions, back to parked cars, to dorms, or the bicycle rack - where Alice’s dusty blue steed awaited her.

As she twisted her combination into place on the lock, she was suddenly aware of a pair of eyes watching her back. She groaned softly and rolled eyes.

“Oh, God no…” she stood up and turned to look over her shoulder. On the other side of the bike rack a lanky, raven-haired boy stood with his face buried in a campus newspaper. Alice freed her bike and pushed it in his direction, rolling her eyes again as she said,

“It’s the 21st century, try using your phone.”

Arch instantly dropped the paper from his face and grinned like a cheshire cat as he started keeping pace with her.

“You know the classics never die,” he chuckled.

“What do you want, Archie?” Alice moaned (halfway tempted to peddle off without him). Archie shrugged and replied,

“What makes you think I want anything, ‘cept to say ‘hi?’”

“Because we agreed you and your whole family were going to leave me alone for this year,” Alice shot back. “Or at least until I finished being a freshman.”

They turned a corner and found themselves standing at the bottom of a steep hill. Just over and past the hill awaited Alice’s apartment - stocked to the brim with all of her favorite comforts and, more pleasingly, absolutely no magic.

Dammit, what a long walk!

“You wound me, Friday!” Archie cried, slamming one hand over his chest and pretending to be stabbed. Alice lowered her head and hurried on as a couple of passing students shot them annoyed looks.

“I only mean I thought you knew me better than that!” Archie corrected as he hurried to catch up. His smile faded slightly and he jumped in front of her path forcing her to stop.

“Look, I didn’t come to try and force something on you,” he said apologetically. “You said you wanted more time, so more time it is.”

“Thank you, Archie. I appreciate that,” Alice replied softening. He nodded then stepped away out of the way, freeing them both up to the mercy of the upwards hike.

“Buuuut…?”

“Oh, God! But what?” Alice groaned.

“There is something I wanted to warn you about,” Archie reached over and placed his hand over hers. They abruptly stopped and he looked at her seriously.

“Al, he’s back.”

A cold, heavy stone dropped into the pit of her stomach and suddenly it felt like the world was about to give way underfoot. Alice gripped the handle bar tighter, savoring the comforting warmth of Archie’s touch. Then she pulled away and pushed her bike onward, forcing herself to collect what little nerve she had left.

“That’s not possible,” she stated. “That’s completely impossible - he’s gone. Like, forever. We both saw it happen.”

“You’re right, we both saw him go ‘ka-blewie,’” Archie pressed, keeping pace with her. “But Aunt Babbie has been getting signs lately, and every lead I’ve followed has brought me back to…”

“Archie, I need you to listen to me!” Alice snapped, stopping dead in her tracks. He fell back slightly as she glared at him with a cold rage he didn’t think he would ever see again.

“Whatever Aunt Babs is seeing, it is not that - person. And I am not getting involved. Period.” Then she looked to up at remained of the hill and muttered,

“Screw it!”

In one swoop Alice leapt onto her bike and raced up the incline, falling over the other side without another single word. All Archie could do was watch, standing there even after she was gone- struck not by astonishment, but rather disappointment.

Finally, he placed his hands on his hips and let out a long, low whistle. He muttered to himself,

“Well… shit.”