Bloom (ARBAON #2)

Chapter One

That's when I heard the knocking.

"Oh, shit. Is this what you were trying to tell me? Maybe, this is why I keep you around."

Sol made an offended noise before sitting back on her heels and licking her front paw.

I put my hand through my hair, and took a breath before opening the door.

"It's of the utmost importance that you start responding to our inquiries, Derrick." Lana Hsu stood on my doorstep. Her and her Magic Federation colleagues had been harassing me for weeks to join their little magic club. Something about me being a powerful warlock and using my abilities for homeland security, or becoming some kind of magic instructor to their recruits. They kept showing up and it was getting kind of aggravating. I felt like I was being stalked.

"Lana," I said with false enthusiasm. "Hey, did you want some coffee? I was just about to make some."

Lana was tall, wearing a sleek leather jacket, fitted leather pants and black pumps. Her hair was in a short professional bob, and she didn't carry a briefcase but a small, chic, black backpack. On the one hand I enjoyed her hardcore belief in always wearing black but on the other hand constant presence was becoming insufferable.

I relaxed the magical security barrier I still kept up and Lana came into my apartment. "You're only getting stronger, Derrick. You have to decide what it is you want to do. Powerful warlocks need to be monitored or join the federation. The monitoring process isn't that bad, we just install a censor in your arm to keep track of your magic levels and location." Lana was saying as we walked into my kitchen. I turned the kettle on trying to ignore her.

"I think this qualifies as harassment, don't you?" My tattoos felt thick across my body as the vines moved, and the flowers budded, bloomed and then died.

Lana was watching them with a great deal of interest, as she sat primly on a stool. "You're an emotional warlock—"

"I know what I am." I said, noticing the way she sat all the way on the edge of her stool. I grabbed myself a bowl from a cabinet, and then opened the fridge pouring in a generous amount of milk before adding the frosted flakes.

"It's understandable that your emotions caused you to curse yourself all those months ago. Reeling from the loss of your memories and a difficult break up would make anyone lose control. From what I understand you and Miguel no longer—"

I pointed my spoon at her. "Don't talk about him, Lana."

She only blinked. "I'm just trying to let you see that I understand."

I shook my head, feeling anger pulse through my veins slipping into my magic and making me feel like I wanted to do something volatile. It was still like this after all these months. Over six months since the breakup and I'd been depressed, resentful but now I was just angry. Mostly at myself. I sat down slowly across from Lana as she kept blathering on.

"We've been looking at your files. The magic federation can tell you about your history, your childhood, everything you'd ever want to know. It's time you moved on, Derrick. Miguel isn't a part of your life anymore. You can't just sit around waiting for him to come back." And this constant prodding into my personal life wasn't helping things either.

"I don't want to join your fucking magic club and I don't need your little friends to rifle around my life, Lana." Yeah, so maybe I still wondered about my childhood and everything I was missing out on. But, I'd be fine not knowing. My memory was almost certainly never coming back and I was okay with that. Mostly.

"You have a responsibility to help us. No one has potential like yours. Wouldn't you want to help other witches and warlocks come into their own? I've heard that you're giving the little girl lessons, how is she worthy of learning from you but others aren't?"