Charmed

Bright Soul

Rudo Simainga’s wide eyed gaze followed the jean clad man toddling towards the car park, eyes vacant, lost in a daze of lobotomy-like tranquility that mocked her.

That newly minted imbecile was her fault.

Had she intercepted the psycho sooner he wouldn't have turned the poor guy's brain into mush. Not that she'd expected it. Even Tinashe couldn’t have predicted this.

A second ripple of energy sliced into her and met with a reflexive pulse from her core. The energy seeped into the ground locking her in rigor.

Stupid enchantments!

The spell infused henna tattoos on her hands required an open psychic channel which left her vulnerable to magic. And of course the psycho just had to throw a hex bomb. Rudo swooped her phone off the pavement ignoring her spastic muscles and scrolled down the contact list.

She needed Tinashe. Well, at the very least the dumb guy with the sauced up intellect needed him.

Genius that she was, she'd bumped Tinashe from her speed dial because what self-respecting college girl has her brother on speed dial? With her finger ready to hit dial she turned her focus back to the car park.

Shoot! He'd disappeared!

The suave skinny jean clad dude who'd offered her a doobie not ten minutes ago. The dude who'd been stupid enough to confront a man lurking in the shadows, at night, on a college campus. The hapless victim of the lobotomy hex. He'd vanished! Poof!

Damn it all!

She could only imagine the trouble he'd get himself into by the time someone noticed his odd behaviour and ushered him to Tinashe's door. But there'd be time to fuss about him later. He couldn't possibly get himself into that much trouble right? At least he’d be safe until she’d tagged the hex-bomb-tossing psycho.

As if on cue, the hooded man slunk out of the shadows and crossed the single line of trees between the car park and the all-male dorms aka the Ruins to join the stream of students. He blended in without effort. If not for the trail of mauve miasma emitted by the bag on his back she'd have lost him.

Rudo pushed off the wall, ignored the numbing spike in her lower back and trotted after him. She must catch up before he left the crowd. Her life depended on it. Amidst the heaving throng he might be unable to distinguish intentional contact from accidental and not throw another hex. One directed at her. A hex she couldn’t survive.

Sure the simplicity of the plan had it's weakness, or a thousand, but she didn't have a choice. She'd already let her hesitation get in the way tonight. Tinashe would not tolerate another mistake.

By the time she reached the Ruins, psycho sorcerer had crossed the road. He joined the group headed towards the University of Zambia’s banking annex.

Each puff of cold June air burned her nostrils and dried her airways. She endured the faint inducing repetition of puff, stab, puff, stab and jogged on. Sadly, not an aftereffect of the hex. Confident she didn’t need it, she’d abandoned Tinashe's prescribed workout routine.

What aura reader needed to be in top physical condition anyway? The present situation in no ways reflected the normal order of things. Chasing psycho sorcerers was Tinashe's job.

A few more meters.

Hang in there collapsing airways.

Her feet hit the road. Tyres screeched.

***

She came out of nowhere, soul blazing like the sun.

Granted, he hadn't been paying much attention to the road engrossed in divining a solution to his boredom.

Chisomo Muduzi reacted in between heartbeats, shocked to action by the blinding light. The car came to a screeching halt a few inches from the incandescent girl. She paused mid sprint and spun. In a second that lasted forever but not long enough his need, his desire and all he was, sharpened into a singular purpose, her acquisition.

Her lips curled and off she went as if she hadn't come within inches of his tyres.

An alien sensation tickled his insides and settled on his chest. A once familiar feeling, burned away by time, drowned by drinking too long from the mire of ordinary. He gripped the wheel and rode the cocktail of confusion and excitement to it's ebb. Did that girl just smile in the face of danger? How deliriously odd.

He must have her, this unique girl with the blazing soul and no fear.

In truth she was as physically generic as they come. Average build, symmetrical body structure. Not bad looking. Pretty. Not the kind of knee jellying beauty to swoon over. But for her soul, an ordinary human specimen if ever he'd seen one.

He grunted, disgusted. Since when had he began to see himself outside the definition of human? Had he fallen so far?

A car honk snapped him back. He gestured an apology to the driver and crawled forward ready to turn into the first open parking spot. He battled the urge to jump out of his car and after her with no regard for reality. Instinct alone moved him forward while his intellect refused to address the absurdity of the situation.

He could think about it later. For now finding her was all that mattered.

***