"Thanks for taking me," I say and swing my arms at my side. Maia approved my corset as the dress I wear while on work as a mage. It's the same
corset, dyed to a pure black due to dark magic I released in a time of anger. Thorne helped me add lightly colored stones to the neckline. She also tied back my hair into a high ponytail and braided the remains. She tied it off with a black satin ribbon. The Vandenberg boots rise to the middle of my thighs and Maia has sewn them to fit them into my slender legs.
"Sure thing," Rune answers, he extends his arms into the air and yawns, "This should be an easy job. What are you going to do after?"
"I don't know," I sigh, "Echo asked me to go grocery shopping with him and Thorne asked me to garden and Maia-,"
"Seems like Thorne really warmed up to you," Rune interrupts.
"Yeah," I say with a smile, "So what's the job?"
"I grabbed this request right when we got it. It's easy. The guy at the fruit stand has been complaining about a thief stealing his product. Use magic, take him down, and gain profit," he laughs.
We stop in the middle of the Market District. Darkness and pinkness has blanketed over the sky that was so blue only a few hours ago. The air felt heavier than it did when it was light. It hangs thick, with a twinge of anticipation and promise swirling in the glimmer of royal blue sky and buzzing bugs. Rune smiles and holds a silver key that glimmers in the pale moonlight. He slides the key into the lock adjacent to the sign that says Magic Apples and More. I laugh to myself about the cute and punny magic name the owner gave his store. We slide in through the door. He leads the way and I allow him to. I would rather be alone right now, but I let him be the leader because I wouldn't know just to react if I found the thief.
We walk around the stand, between the nooks and crannies. Wooden cartons are filled to the brink with fruit, Rune steps on a loose raspberry.
"Why didn't Echo or anyone else want to come?" I shyly ask, recalling how a few hours ago when we picked this job: Echo looked at me, studying my mannerisms, I fiddled with the jewels on my corset. Loudly and clearly, he coughed the phlegm in his throat. His head steered to the left and his mismatched eyes gazed out the window. He swung his face back around, "I don't want to go with you. I have plans, I met this girl today and I plan on hitting it." Maia covers her face with her hands and Thorne looks away with red across her cheeks. Rune shows his teeth, smiles wide, congratulates Echo and gives him a high five.
"Nah, don't take it personally," Rune says, "There's no other girl. I know him too well, he said something about being in the rain."
"The ra-?" I start and Rune throws his arm over my chest. He puts a finger to his lips. The doorknob jingles. He pulls his hand away until it gets to my shoulder and grips it tightly.
"Call of Fox: cunning. Blend Space," he mutters and the door slowly lifts itself to open. We stand in the middle of the stand. The air is thick with humidity. My hands lift to my face, they are translucent, I can see through them. I wave my arms rapidly, testing this new spell experience. Rune swats my arm down and shakes his head, with the trace of a disappointed smile on his lips. The clock above the service door turns itself backward and forwards, grinding the gears inside until it makes an electric spark. The clock that rests above the stove, next to the day old strawberry pastries begins to seizure, as well. The hands on any instrument that reads time begins to shutter and rapidly move themselves forward or backward, as if time was nonexistent in these moments.
A cloaked figure walks through the door. He steps slowly, careful not to make any noise. His steps are quiet as he wanders around the stand. He reaches into a barrel and pulls out apples and pours them
into a burlap sack. The air swirls around us, slowly in between the spaces of the air and I hear a raindrop fall in the distance. I remove myself from Rune and step forward, the cloaked man is completely oblivious to Rune and I, thanks to his magic. My finger tips touch the edge of the back cloak. I pull it off, swiftly, it flys off the body like
smoke trailing from one of my father's cigars.
