The Magic Pact

Chapter 1-1

Chapter 1

The next day, they saw no one. The following day gave them a man on a motorcycle who didn’t stop to talk, and a half-dead old woman by the side of the road. She seemed confused as to where she was. Disoriented. But Ken got the impression that the woman had been left by her group, seen as a burden. They gave her some water.

The woman couldn’t walk, and their horses couldn’t carry another person. Ken asked Yuuki to look for wild berries. Once she was gone, she did the humane thing and shot the poor woman in the head.

Yuuki wasn’t pleased. She knew it was better than leaving her to die of thirst or hunger, but she didn’t like that they killed an innocent person. She thought that the woman might have family somewhere. And she was a little pissed that Ken didn’t discuss it with her first.

“I did what needed to be done,” she said. In her heart, Kenna Crossley was still a killer. She’d taken out dozens of people and hundreds of creatures. Stopping the pain of somebody’s grandmother didn’t even register. She simply did it. And now it was over.

“What if I’m injured?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Yuuki, I wouldn’t kill you even if you asked me to. I could never hurt you. You know that.” Sighing, “That woman was going to die. I just made it painless.” When Yuuki said nothing, she continued. “We’re gonna be killing people on this trip. Sometimes they won’t seem like a threat to us. Are you still up for that? It’s not gonna be all monsters.”

Gulping, Yuuki didn’t look at her for a long time. When she did, she nodded. “I know why we’re here. I just didn’t expect that.”

Ken took up her hand and kissed it. “Hopefully, we won’t encounter anything like this again.”

The two mounted their horses and took off at a quick pace down the road. If anyone heard the gun shot, they didn’t want to be there for someone to find them. Anyone willing to run towards that sound was someone they didn’t want to meet.

By the end of the day, they reached the outskirts of a place called Junction City. In an effort to save on grain for the horses, Ken let them loose in a large backyard, where they could graze on overgrown grass. The house itself provided their shelter for the evening. Though it had been broken into at some point, it still contained beds and pots and loads of other stuff they could use. Ken built a small fire inside the oven and cooked their dinner over it.

Yuuki checked the house for things worth taking with them. She found a small pantry in the basement with two unopened cans of veggies—asparagus and peas respectively—and some chocolate. The two ate the candy together and relished in the sugar rush.

Though Ken didn’t need to sleep as much as Yuuki did, thanks to the stem stones, they filed into their sleeping bags at the same time. She worried that Yuuki might not want to cuddle tonight, but before she could broach the subject, Yuuki wrapped one arm around her. Ken breathed a sigh of relief.

That night, she couldn’t get much rest. Not because of the dead woman but because of the voices. They were ever-present, murmuring advice or commentary on everything she did. For the most part, they did so quietly. Unobtrusively. But not this night. The Teacher kept pointing out that they were running low on food, and the Martyr suggested she eat less to compensate. Though it would feel terrible, Kenna didn’t need as much nourishment. She could subsist, at least in part, on the extra energy inside her. Her body would protest, but it would survive.

Of course, the Healer thought this was a terrible idea, and a cruel one at that. He instructed Ken to just do some foraging in the morning. If this house had some canned food, why wouldn’t some of the others? Obviously, there hadn’t been too many people through this area after what appeared to be an initial exodus. Whatever they were running from didn’t seem to be here, either. Though, to be safe, the two didn’t drink the water without boiling it first.

The Augur warned of potential danger in town. And reminded her to keep an eye on Yuuki. She wasn’t a fighter, he said. She just attached herself to other people and survived that way.

“I need her just as much,” she whispered to the dead creature.

“Do you really?”

“Yes.”

“You might lose her on this trip,” he pointed out. “Are you ready for that? Can you accomplish your mission if she dies?”

“Shut up. Yuuki is not dying. I won’t let that happen.” She’d learned her lesson with what happened to Gage. Dakota gave him too much responsibility, let him take the lead on a job. Though it wasn’t her dad’s fault, the death could have been prevented. By making him hang back. By putting himself on the front lines instead.

Ken knew Yuuki wasn’t a killer or even an expert explorer. But she traveled with perhaps the strongest person on the planet. Just through proximity, she would be safe. Or at least as safe as possible.

Speaking to herself unsurprisingly woke Yuuki, who pulled her closer before falling back asleep.

“Can she survive without you?” asked the Augur. “Turn back now and save your love.”

“We’re not turning back.” She took her voice down a notch. “We’re gonna see this through. Moíra is a threat to everyone’s safety. We have to take her out.”

“If you die, the deactivated talismans die with you. Magic dies.”

“I’m not gonna die. And even if I did, I don’t see how that’s a bad thing. The ones I ‘saved’ will still work, and the others—the dangerous ones—won’t.”

The Devotee scoffed. “They were given to humanity to help you.”

“Look what we did with it.”

The voices quieted. She tried to fall asleep but found she was too riled up to do so. Traveling all day on no rest would be difficult, to say the least. And she wasn’t looking forward to it.