By the time we made it out of the Columbus Circle station, the sun had shifted behind the buildings, indicating that it was already past its peak. That was the thing about daylight saving—it made every day feel like it was ending by 4 pm. It was only a little past 12 pm, which meant we had about three hours to kill before we had to be back for the order.
We backtracked all the way to the parking garage and I was still amazed by how all of the workers ignored us when we waltzed into their establishment and drove away in Bev's car. Traffic picked up downtown since it was Saturday. It took us twenty minutes to reach our next destination, which was an apartment building in the west village. It was one of those high rise luxury buildings with a doorman and valet—the kind that required a minimum income of 7-figures.
"Who are we visiting?" I probed.
"A friend," Bev responded, giving me no more information. It was hard not feeling like a burden with these two even though it was never my idea to join them.
We had to sign in at the desk and it wasn't until the security guard called the tenant, were we allowed to go upstairs. The building reminded me of a really expensive hotel, the kind where everything was made of glass and breakable. Even the elevator felt luxurious. Bev pressed the top floor button that required a passcode to go along with it. On the 50th floor, the elevator doors opened straight into someone's living room.
I stepped into the apartment of my dreams. 20-foot ceilings, an open kitchen concept with a massive island, floor to ceiling windows that made you feel like you were in the clouds. I was immediately jealous of anyone who got to live here.
The guys stepped off the elevator and walked into the living room, making themselves comfortable on the couch. I walked through the apartment much slower, taking in all of the decorative art pieces. Everything was modern chic and felt like it came straight out of Vogue magazine. I could tell it was a woman's apartment by the decor pieces. The clean, crisp patterns and the neutral colors with a touch of a baby pink, was the exact aesthic that I was obsessed with and everything in this apartment fit in that box.
"Maggie! Are you gonna come greet us anytime soon? Or do you normally let just anyone into your apartment?" Jace yelled out, settling deeper into the white couch and putting his feet up on the wooden coffee table. Bev perched on his seat, resting his elbows on his knees. I stood next to the windows gazing at life passing down on the street, mesmerized by the fast pace of NYC.
"How about you start calling before your visits, that way I can be ready. You can not expect me to always be presentable and available for you at your beck and call, Jace."
I shifted from the window to see a gorgeous young woman, maybe a little older than us, with bright platinum shoulder-length hair and striking blue eyes that I could feel piercing me from the distance between us. She looked like the kind of person who lived in this apartment.
She floated to where Jace and Bev sat and they both sprung up to hug her in greeting. I noticed how Jace's demeanor shifted with Maggie. An element of his Golden Boy persona peaked through—the charming, carefree easy to be around Jace was back, but I could tell it wasn't an act like before. He was relaxed in her presence to the point where his contagious smile was present and thriving. Even Bev's usual tense and strict nature eased up. They all sunk into the plush couch catching up like old friends did.
Maggie turned to me, acknowledging my presence for the first time. "What's your name, sweetheart?" She eyed me down, a frown forming on her lips. I was already intimated by her and its been two minutes.
"Elliot," I offered moving to perch on the arm of the couch that faced her.
"Mags, this is who we mentioned to you before," said Jace, the smile wiping away from his face.
"Right...your little problem," she said eyeing me again. I couldn't tell if she was judging me or trying to place me from the little she could tell about me.
"Do you think you could help us?"
"Didn't you already try with the stone?" She asked, her eyes finally dragging away from mine and refocusing on Jace sitting in front of her.
"Yes, but you've always had a way with spells—maybe you'll have better luck."
"You're that desperate?"
"We are quickly running out of options, Mags. We just spent our last bit of coin on one of Kee's mixings as a last resort."
"What happens if you can't reverse it?"
Jace and Bev shared a look, their eyebrows furrowed. I was avoiding asking that question myself. I had a strong feeling that I wasn't going to like the answer.
Bev sighed, "let's hope we don't get to that point."
"I can try it, but I need to eat lunch first," she said getting up from the couch moving into the kitchen. "Best not to try that kind of magic on an empty stomach. Did you guys already lunch?"
"I could eat," shrugged Jace, following Maggie into the kitchen.
I took a seat at the dining table so that I could look out the window. The New York City skyline from this high up was unreal. I couldn't take my eyes off it. Ever since I was little, I dreamed about living in the City one day and had even considered going to college here to make it a reality. Ultimately, I figured that I needed to experience life outside of New York before deciding to settle down here.
Bev stayed on the couch scrolling through his phone as Maggie and Jace were in the kitchen deciding on a restaurant to order from for lunch. I couldn't help but notice their close proximity to each other and the comfortable body language they exhibited. Jace leaned his back on the counter, his arms resting to his sides, not closed off like they normally were. Maggie looked over his shoulder as they scrolled through his phone finding a nearby restaurant. They were definitely close friends, and if I read things correctly, probably more than that.
"Are you guys good with Chinese food?" Jace asked over his shoulder making eye contact with me.
"Yea, that's fine," responded Bev and I nodded along, not really caring. I wasn't really hungry anyway.
"Perfect," Maggie purred and Jace smiled leaning in closer to her. I averted my eyes back out to the window, feeling like I was witnessing something private.
Twenty minutes later the food arrived and everyone sat at the dining table with me as Maggie passed around everyone's individual meal. When I pictured this weekend, I never thought I would be sitting at a table with three young powerful magicians to enjoy a meal together. Something about the present scene felt out of character. I was the outsider intruding on a hangout between friends which made me feel more out of place than when we were in the secret underground magical market. At least there I could get lost, but here I was stuck and available for anyone's scrutiny.
"You don't talk much, do you?" Maggie asked me, eyeing me from her seat directly across from mine. She reminded me of the girls from school who thought they were better than everyone just because they had nicer things and grew up never hearing the word 'no'.
Jace scuffed, shaking his head. "Please, she doesn't stop talking."
A piece of orange chicken fell off my fork. "Oh, I'm sorry if my asking you questions annoys you. It's not like you easily offer up any information," I retorted, glaring at Jace, suddenly heated from his remark.
"Please don't start fighting again. I'm trying to enjoy my meal here." Bev sends us warning looks.
"Sorry, I did not mean to strike a nerve," Maggie inserted.
"It's fine," I said clearing my throat. "So, how do you guys know each other? Or does like everyone know each other?" I tried changing the subject.
"We learned how to fly our brooms together actually," said Jace.
"That's a thing? Like in Harry Potter?"
"Don't listen to him. We worked on a project together when I first moved to New York two years ago and met that way. It took a while to get used to Jace's impulsive personality but I think we have become good friends for a reason."
"That's probably the nicest thing you've ever said about me."
"Don't get used to it," she said grabbing her empty food container to throw out. "Alright now that I'm properly fueled, I can try the stone. Do you have one with you?" Her question directed at Bev, who reached into his jacket pocket and unwrapped the same clear stone he had me hold last night and passed it to Maggie. She examined it for a minute and then excused herself to refreshen up first.
I finished my food, dumped the container and washed my hands in the sink since I knew that I would have to cut open my palm as part of the spell. Maggie reappeared in a different outfit. She changed out of the all white dress she had on before into a black jumpsuit.
"Okay, I'm ready. Join me, Elliot." She held her hand out to me and motioned me to join her in the living room.
She passed me a pocket knife and I cut in the same spot I had last night. The wound hadn't completely healed yet so it was easy to get blood to spread out. She took the stone and rotated it on my bloody palm, making sure every part was covered. She squeezed my hand closed with the stone in the middle, immediately chanting a cantantion under her breath. The stone heated up a lot faster than it did last night, and for a moment I felt like this was actually going to work.
From the corner of my eye I could see Bev and Jace standing to the side, one looking more concerned than the other. The stone heated up to the point where it was uncomfortable to hold, but I couldn't move since Maggie's hands were squeezing mine closed. Her lips moved quickly and she looked like she was in a trance. I got flashbacks of Dayna.
I felt an energy charge run through my body making every hair stand up. My eyes involuntarily shut and I could feel Maggie's presence in my head. Visuals flashed before my eyes but it was a bunch of stuff that didn't make sense to me. The encounter that I had with Dayna replayed in my head now, but it felt like I was watching it through a pool of water. It wasn't as vivid as when Dayna was in my head showing me the scene of Jace breaking into my bedroom for the first time.
The scene with Dayna started getting fuzzier and fuzzier and I could feel the energy leaving me. I wanted to collapse onto the couch, but Maggie's strong hold on my hands kept me in place. My mouth dried up, and my head pounded against my skull. I could feel myself growing weaker as the seconds passed.
I barely registered the pain from the heat of the stone. It felt far away. I heard a loud pitch scream then. I thought it had come from me, but I could feel that my mouth was still closed. Strong hands grabbed onto my arms and yanked me away from Maggie, collapsing us onto the couch. I could feel a body under me holding me tightly against their chest. The connection broke, bringing me back into reality, and I was able to crack an eye open. Maggie had finally stopped screaming after Bev had engulfed her in his arms. Her perfect hair stuck up in every direction and tears stained her face.
My body was on fire. Every nerve felt like it was being attacked making every slight movement feel like a slap to the face. Jace held onto me despite the fact that I tried to wiggle out of his grasp. "Let me go," I finally gasped out.
He let up his hold a bit. "Are you good?" I shook my head, not bringing myself to open my mouth again.
I shifted to the side to set myself on the couch. My body still felt like it was on fire. I closed my eyes to see if the pain would pass—it didn't. I felt Jace's body move off the couch from beside me. Maggie was sitting on the floor, seemingly also in pain. Bev was doing his best to soothe her, but I could hear her crying from here.
Jace's body towered over me, casting a shadow. "What hurts?"
I opened my mouth and cursed. "Everything."
"Fuck, okay." He put a bottle to my mouth. My eyes flung open and I looked down to see a small glass bottle with a mysterious blue liquid in it.
"What is it?"
"Just drink it, you'll feel better."
I let him pour the drink down my throat, gagging from the metal taste. "What the hell was that?"
"It's a healing mix. It's mostly natural with a bit of a twist."
"It tasted like blood."
"Well, did it work?"
My body didn't feel like it was on fire anymore. My nervous system wasn't as sensitive either. I could breath and the pain in my head subdued. "I think so, yea." I noticed my hands then. They were an angry red and peeling. The stone was outline on the palm of my right hand where I had clutched it. "My hand," was all I could say. I didn't feel the pain from my hand probably because of the healing mix, but that didn't stop the blood from seeping through the wound.
"Shit," I heard Jace mumble. He grabbed my hand and started to wrap it in gauze that materialized out of thin air. "Sorry about this. You weren't supposed to get hurt."
Maggie looked better now, finally calmed down. She came and sat next to me, watching Jace carefully wrap my hand. "I don't know what happened. I'm normally able to maintain better control. One more minute and I would have it done it."
"One more minute and you'd probably be dead," Bev said shaking his head. He eyed me with worried eyes, the most concerned I've ever seen him for me.
"Perhaps," Maggie paused, "Dayna's put a lot of energy into that spell. She really doesn't want it tampered with. You guys should probably stop trying to reverse it before something worse happens."
Jace pursed his lips, sitting back on his ankles after finishing with my hand. "We can't stop trying just yet," was all he said before he got up to wash my blood off his hands.
Maggie sent me a sad smile accompanied with a shrug as if to say 'I tried.' My lack of knowledge about this world made it really hard to make decisions for myself. We were clearly badly affected from Maggies attempt to manipulate my head, but a simple healing mix brought me back to my normal state, so how would I be able to register the level of danger I'm actually in.
Bev got back on the phone, pacing in the kitchen now. Jace disappeared to one of the bathrooms and Maggie and I sat exhausted on the couch—a comfortable silence between us.