Hexus

)7( Parley

[3:24PM, December 31, UTC ±00:00]

Esther looked at the pair still standing by the shiny black car. From the metal details alone, she knew it was very expensive, and wondered who their parents were to let them out of the house in something they could easily crash. Not everyone is as clumsy as me, she thought. They could be great drivers, for all I know. The boy with the black hair looked tired, even though he was trying to smile. The girl looked really pretty; Esther wasn’t sure if the white hair had something to do with it but it seemed to fit her. She was also really tall, taller than all the girls in Esther’s school. The girl stepped around the car and walked towards them. Her brother took a moment to close and lock the doors before walking across the street to their side yard. Esther turned her eyes to the girl.

“Hi,” she said, offering her hand. “I’m Moira.”

“Esther,” she said, as they completed the handshake. Moira moved her hand to Linus who hesitated before taking it.

“Linus,” he said with his ‘big-brother’ voice. Esther could recognize it; he talked like that to anyone he didn’t like being around her. The black-haired boy came to stand beside Moira.

“Nathan,” he said. Esther looked at him, but he did nothing else. He just had a bored stare.

“Did you know we were coming?” Moira asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, we –“

“No, we didn’t,” Linus interrupted. “You just met us outside.” Esther turned to look at him and Moira angled her head to one side as if to say she didn’t believe him. He kept a steady gaze, but Esther could see his jaw working. He was nervous.

“You’re hiding something,” Moira said with a sigh. “I’d ask you what it is, but I don’t believe in taking information from those unwilling to share; unless it’s vital, of course. No matter, we’re here now, and we have a proposition for you.”

Esther looked into her smiling light gray eyes and somehow didn’t feel threatened or apprehensive about what she said. You’d have thought she just said she wanted to share candy. Esther frowned a bit at herself; she was usually friendly, but not careless. She turned to the brother, looking to see if he would give a sign that she should be more guarded, but he didn’t. If anything, his expression looked even softer and he wasn’t scowling so much.

She’d never felt so at ease around strangers before.

“What’s your proposition?” Linus said, still using the supposed-to-be-intimidating voice.

“Do you believe in magic?” Moira said, still smiling.

Linus frowned “What does that have to do with anything?”

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.” Her smile widened into a grin. She turned to Nathan, who just gave a silent approving nod, before turning back to them.

“How would you like to be able to do a bit of magic?”

Esther frowned.

 Do magic? As in, become a witch?