I Sold My Soul for Chocolate

Chapter 1

First of all, no, there's no way we'll ask her to let me go. Zehna would never let me go to a paranormal party. She’s never done it before, so why now? And if we ask her and she says no, she'd watch me all day and all night. I’ll just sneak out in the evening again,” I said for the third time as we made our way across the street.

My best friend, Liney, rolled her bright blue eyes and sighed. Her straight brown hair stretched all the way down to her hips. It hung there perfectly, thanks to magic flowing through her veins. She wore blue shorts and a white shirt with a sun drawn on it. Despite looking completely normal, she was, in fact, a witch. Not especially strong, as she was still learning, but a witch non-the-less.

I stared at my reflection in the fashion store we passed. Black hair, slightly curly, up to my shoulders. A black metal band shirt. Black skinny jeans. Black boots. The typical ‘rebel’ type, and looked more like a witch than the actual one walking right by my side.

In spite of my appearance, I wasn't a witch. Nor was I vampire. Or a werewolf, fairy, or any other magical creature I didn’t yet know of.

Just a normal human girl, albeit adopted by a witch, and therefore introduced to the wonderful world of magic and the supernatural. It felt like being colour-blind in an art gallery featuring the newest collection of the 'Magical Colours' theme.

“Drink one of her charisma coffees. Make a smooth lie you're going shopping with me, and we'll go to the party. It's a well-known place, nothing bad can happen,” she said, flicking her hair. “You know I won’t let any vampire feed off you or anything. And we'll invite Argal.”

I sighed, and nodded, avoiding a group of guys who couldn't tear their gazes of Liney. A perk of being a witch was being able to carry enchanting amulets. She had tons, including the 'beauty enchanter', as she called it, which she bought online for quite a bit of money. It was simply and purely unfair, and I couldn’t deny my petty jealousy. I sometimes wished I didn’t know about the other, super-natural world. It was obvious why it was kept secret.

“You know I really want to go. But Argal... Argal will forget about me as soon as he sees a hot vamp. You know how he is.” I sighed, sliding a hand into my pocket uncomfortably. “So, Liney, you'll be the only one to protect your poor human friend,” I said jokingly, only half annoyed that I was so helpless.

Liney giggled, then stopped suddenly to stare at a dress in a shop we were passing. I contained a sigh and looked around, realizing she'd take a while.

Growing up with a witch made me crave for the kind of powers Liney possessed. I couldn't help but wish I could be a witch, like Liney. Hell, I even considered letting a vampire turn me, in spite of the insanely low success rate. It was one in a thousand, or something. I wasn’t really sure, the fact disheartened me too much to continue researching.

I sub-consciously reached for the black feather I wore as a pendant around my neck. Zehna said I was holding it in my hand when she found me, sitting in a puddle of rain while werewolves devoured my aunt nearby because she owed money to their company... And that piece of information was about the only thing I knew of my life before Zehna.

And I couldn’t complain about Zehna - she was a great parent, and she ran a small supernatural cafe, selling magic-infused beverages, such as her famous charisma coffee. She was an incredibly powerful and talented witch, which I witnessed first-hand when she electrocuted a werewolf boy who tried to kiss me back when I was twelve.

But in spite of that, she used her powers to make great coffee, food, and even do minor healing to those who needed it most.

I could imagine the calm and joy as the memories of sitting by the large window in our apartment above the shop, reading books while drinking the tea of relaxation...

“Kay, are you listening?” Liney asked, raising an eyebrow, and I blinked, looking at her with a nod.

“Yes, of course,” I said, as her blue eyes narrowed before she let out a small chuckle, shaking her head in the ‘I give up’ motion.

“I was saying Argal is on the Rigon Square. We'll invite him although he’ll ditch us, his presence alone should shoo some creeps away.”

Because I was 'aware', I could see all the supernatural beings around me. I could see all except the ‘Otherworld’. When I asked what the Otherworld is, she couldn't explain. She simply said it was the magical dimension existent only in one's mind, where the witches and wizards draw power from. 

“Argal is doing street magic again, isn't he?” I asked as we made a turn and walked across the tram rails, entering the Rigon Square. It was a pleasant place, one of the many highlights of our city, with ancient architecture basking in the sun and the many cafes and shops resting embedded into it.

It was a big place, with a statue of a guy on a horse in the middle. Kids were crowding around someone right by it, and I knew it was Argal. He couldn't help but show off, and he loved mesmerising humans in the form of street magic. Cards disappearing, and such, but he did it for real. He wasn't skilled with his hands as the other street magicians were, so he was basically cheating, as I made sure to point out whenever I could.

The noise of the city was even greater among the crowd, with the children yelling out in awe and confusion whenever Argal did something incredible. Luckily, they were children, so I found it easy to peek over their heads and look at Argal.

Past their greasy hairs and stinky, sweaty, clothes, sat a wizard.

He was quite tall, obvious even as he sat on an empty wooden crate. In his hands, he held a deck of cards. A bright smile complimented his golden eyes and his plain jeans and a simple white shirt contrasted the bizarreness of his face. Long, snow-white hair extended to the middle of his back, flowing as flawlessly as Liney’s. 

I recalled the time when I’d first seen him, two years prior. I had had a huge crush on him, even went as far as to ask him out, but he bluntly informed me he didn’t like girls, but if I cut my hair, he could give it a try for a night. We ended up staying friends and all attraction I ever felt disappeared with a single statement.

He noticed us immediately, as wizards do, and deigned us a smile before making his deck of cards disappear. The kids looked around in confusion, and Argal looked up at me.

“Hand over the cards, young lady,” he said, and I raised my eyebrows in confusion, triggering his grin.

“Come on, you're holding them!” he said, and I lifted my hand. There was a deck of cards in it, and I was clutching it tightly. How I wished I was a witch! In spite of having witnessed countless of Argal's 'tricks', I was still as surprised and awed as those children.

The kids started yelling in surprise and amazement as I threw the deck over to Argal. The cards flew apart from each other, spraying out in the wind, but then flew back together within moments, landing in Argal's hand in perfect order, making the children even more confused and amazed.

“That's all, folk! Go to your parents now!” he said, standing up and waving the children away. They expressed their disappointment loudly, but they scattered anyways, leaving the wizard alone.

Argal approached us with a smile, and I smiled back, as always.

“Well, since you came here instead of simply texting me, I assume you want me to go somewhere with you,” he said, and Liney smirked.

“You're correct. We need you to come to that party at Wolfrun's tonight, and keep and eye out for Kay, so vampires don't eat her, and she doesn't get a love spell in her drink.” She nodded at me as I rolled my eyes.

“Sure. Good time to relax. This time, Kay, I'll truly stay with you. I won't let vampires try and drink your blood again,” he said, and I smiled.

“Yea, right. I'll keep close to Liney, just in case,” I replied and winked, making Argal chuckle.

“Fine. I'll meet you there at ten?” he asked, and Liney confirmed.

“We're off to the store, so see you there,” Liney added, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me away.

She knew I wasn't keen on shopping, so she always took me to unplanned shopping trips. Zehna taught me to be humble in spending... and I blew all my pocket money on expensive chocolate, anyways, so I wouldn’t have enough to spend on clothes even I wanted to.

I was the bag holder, because she didn't have a boyfriend. I didn't find the fact surprising- her expectations were almost unrealistically high. She wanted to find true, honest love, and get her prince on a white horse. Of course, someone as good looking as her refused to consider the less-pretty guys, unless they did something to really grab her attention. Which is mostly embarrass themselves, which would entertain her for a whole five minutes.

She dragged me into several shops, trying on tons of dresses, and failing to persuade me to join her. I tried a single shirt, realised I couldn’t afford ten percent of it, and put it back.

It was getting dark outside once we were done, and I had to admit we had fun- we tried out more silly things than we did for real, and had a good laugh while pretending to be trees in a silly-patterned outfit.

We walked together to Zehna's coffee shop. Humans simply went past it, unable to see it, although it was right there, in-between a barber shop ran by a werewolf and a bakery ran by a witch. She put taste magic in her bread, without the humans' knowledge, of course. Zehna's was supernatural-only, as the effects of her beverages were too great for the Magic Regulation Laws, making her shop unavailable to the un-aware.

It was a building with coffee-coloured walls, looking cozy even from the outside. There was quiet, relaxing 80's music playing from the inside, and I already felt great. In fact, I wouldn't mind staying at home all day.

We went in quickly, and the smell of coffee and herbs hit my nose pleasantly. I loved the smell.

Zehna was chatting with a vampire wearing clothes from the 70s by the counter, all the while stirring her coffee. She smiled at us when she saw us, and then continued her chat. In spite of being well over a hundred old, Zehna looked to be no more than fifty. A witch thing. She was wearing a flowery dress and had her hair pulled up in a bun, and brandished a kind, pleasant smile. Just looking at her made me proud to be her kid.

We found an empty spot near a group of college witches, who had their notes out and chanted some memory spells, seeming to learn spell structure. I got denied my college application, so I decided to take a gap year after the summer holidays, to help Zehna around the shop and get over my immeasurable disappointment and prepare better for next year. 

Liney did the same thing when we were in high-school, and let me copy her answers on tests, casting a spell that made the teacher refuse to look at us. Some supernaturals went to supernatural-only schools, but those were expensive, so most mingled with humans, but few were as creative at cheating as Liney was.