Part 1

“See, it’s simple,” Ammie spread an array of flat purple rocks on the table. The rocks were large enough not to fall through the wire, but their jangling on the metallic surface was enough to set anyone’s teeth on edge.

“I’m just not suited for imbuing luck, I guess,” Élise said around the straw in her mouth. The short girl was curled over her cup as if it were a pillow.

“You’re going to hurt your teeth like that,” Juliette said calmly. She spared her friends a glance, light bouncing off her glasses, before returning to poring over the heavy tome she held in one hand. It was the kind of book that looked as if it deserved its own haunted mansion to exist in unironically.

The daytime hum of a busy street cocooned the three friends into a pocket of safety. No one cared about the plethora of purple rocks, clearly used for some kind of protection magic, nor the ghastly book proudly displayed for all to see.

Élise let go of the straw and instead rested her chin on the cup’s lid. Her brown ears tufted from above her headband, drooping slightly. “I’m just not cut out for magic.”

Ammie sighed, amused despite herself. Lis had a way of drooping her whole body that made her look like a hanging willow. “I’m trying to show you that it’s not so hard. Just watch me.”

“I’ve seen you do it before,” Lis whined. Her green eyes were hooded under the sun that haloed her light brown hair into a shining blonde.

“Do try to keep your voice down,” Juliette sighed, turning a page. 

Lis snorted. “Nobody’s paying us any attention. Besides, if the humans are going to notice us, then they’ll look to the two of you first.”

Ammie grimaced, twirling her black bangs. “She has a point. Most humans don’t have two-toned hair,” she gestured to her red strands.

“Or blue hair,” Juliette conceded. “And purple eyes.”

Lis stared at them, her petite triangle of a nose twitching. “I was thinking more about the cat ears and tails, but sure, take the features humans can actually pay to make happen.”

Ammie laughed. She looked around at the humans sitting and chatting, the shoppers streaming by in clusters, toting bags stuffed with all the finest of things. 

It was good to take a break from La Ville now and again. 

“I’m surprised your parents are letting you work with commercial witchcraft,” Juliette set the book onto the table with a light rattle.

Ammie grimaced as her intelligent friend continued, “The second-in-line typically follows in the footsteps of the Hero, just in case they’re called to action.”

Lis waved the question away. “Typically, yeah, but there’s probably never been such a workaholic hero as Tristian. A workaholic and an invincible prodigy.”

“Exactly,” Ammie smiled. “My brother won’t be needing a replacement.”

Lis and Juliette launched into a conversation on how their gated community’s mirage should look humbler than it did, or they would have people waiting around outside of it for a chance to rob them of money that didn’t exist.

Ammie’s wrist was tingling. As soon as she’d finished speaking, her eyes had been trained on it, wondering what was happening. There weren’t any bugs on her, but it didn’t exactly feel like an insect was crawling around on her skin.

More like something was chiseling its way to the surface from inside of her. 

“Ammie?” She heard Lis call her name, but Ammie’s focus was entirely on her wrist.

A red line appeared as if from an invisible ink. It circled its way around perfectly, stopping when the circle was nearly closed. Then it cut the rest of the way back to the circle’s end with jagged edges that dipped far into it. Like a saw, hacking pieces of it away.

“Amélie?” Juliette said, a new urgency in her voice.

Ammie gave a wheezing gasp.

“What is it?” Lis was peering over her shoulder, shaking her slightly. “What’s wrong?”

The world started to tilt, but Ammie didn’t fall. Her friends were on either side of her, holding her in place. The endless streams of people swirled together in her vision, whirling into a runny, watercolor mess.

Juliette saw it first. “Oh, stars.”

“What? What’s wrong?” Lis sounded panicked.

“Amélie?” Juliette bent down to her level. “I need you to focus on something else. We have to get you out of here. Can you stand?”

Ammie turned her head creakily, like a sticky drawer, to see her friend’s beautiful amethyst-colored cat’s eyes.

“This isn’t happening,” she said before passing out, her wrist still pulsing from the new Hero’s mark now engraved on her skin.