A Wisp of Fire

“So have you found a partner yet?” The urge to scream rose in Averi held back by her locking her jaw. The question that she knew was coming every time her mother phoned and dreaded every time. The answer, invariably, was no. She had not found a partner, male or female. The script to this would be; Averi would listen as her mother lectured her on the importance of finding someone followed by the best way to attract a man into her life. Or a woman, her mother was very open to the idea of a daughter in law. It would be modern! “No, ma,” Averi breathed, mentally counting down for when the lecture started. A disappointed sigh came through the phone line. And 3, 2… “Averi, you’re 28 now. You can’t keep lounging about that apartment doing nothing with your life. You need to find someone!” “I’m not lounging about my apartment. I have a job, a life.” It wouldn’t work, never worked. As far as her mother was concerned, Averi’s life was worthless, not that she would say those exact words. It didn’t matter that Averi was happy living like this. It was not enough. She was not on the arm of some rich man, warming his bed, providing a home, and birthing his children. “You’re a messenger girl! Four years of university, and for what? So you could zip about that city on a bike earning pennies.” Averi zoned her mother out, looking up at her ceiling calmly as the lecture continued. A flutter of wings burst passed her window, and her wind chime gently rang in the breeze. She ran her hand over the sofa drape, tracing the patterns on it as she let the world settle her. Electricity buzzed around her, and the cries of children playing wrapped around her as her fingers circled and zigzagger. Heat found her, burning deep inside her chest in a burst of fire and wind. “Averi!” “Yes, Ma?” Averi coughed, sitting up and clutching as her chest as her heart cried in pain. An attack? No, just being too careless with her mediation. She looked down under her top. No marks, but there was black dirt under her fingernails. She rarely did anything beyond trimming her nails down, but now they had black underneath them. “Honestly! Averi, you need a date for the wedding. You have six months, find someone!” “I don’t know if I can go to the wedding,” Averi grabbed a tissue and stuffed it up her nose as blood began to drip down from it. She had wards to protect her from this kind of thing, but they didn’t always work. Her innate magic was too weak for them to acknowledge a threat. Her magic was all external stuff, but what she had been doing? That was internal. “You know my employers don’t like to give me time off.” Ever, at all. “Ask them! The wedding will be in your city so you will only need a few days off,” her mother sniffed. “We worked hard for this match, Averi! You will be at your sister’s wedding. And if you do not bring yourself a partner, I will find one for you.” “Yes, Ma,” Averi grimaced. Her mother was getting desperate, but if Linda was marrying, that meant it was only Averi left. Up until now, she had lived safely with the knowledge that her younger sister was unwed too. Their other siblings were married off and living lives of luxury. Her mother struggled with how Averi was averse to following their footsteps. A distinct chime moved through the apartment, and Averi rolled off the sofa quickly. She dived over to her laptop and checked the message. It was a job. “Work?” her mother checked, tiredness in her tone. “Yes,” Averi smiled, looking over the request. It was nothing too serious. The trolls needed to send some paperwork to the local coven about getting a new bridge blessed. Either group were likely to do her harm, and the distance was not great. She typed out an acknowledgement as her mother listed the downsides of this job. “Ma, I have to go. Give Linda my love and tell her I’m proud of her for finishing her degree first.” Not all of their sisters had. “Yes, yes. Go. Find a date!” Averi clicked off the phone and pulled on her boots. She quickly drew a signal on her hand before covering it with her biking gloves. Helmet in hand, she locked up and jogged down the stairs to her bike. Her apartment block was nicer than many in the area, namely because of the local coven lived in it and were known to put wolfbane about to shoo off the local wolf boys if they were too loud or noisy. They also kept the place civilian free and safe for the supernatural community to reside there. Averi pressed a kiss to her fingers and ran her hands over the protective runes as she passed them, trusting the magic to keep her safe. “Averi!” “Afternoon, Wes,” Averi beamed at the young boy as he ran over, hands outstretched. She glanced around, but his mother failed to appear. “How was playgroup today?” She swept him up close as he grabbed on to her, balancing him on her hip as she supported both him and the bike. “Ronin was mean,” Wes pouted, his bottom lip sticking out. Wes was no older than four, but not quite in school yet. He would start in the coming September. The child had a shock of white hair that stuck out wildly despite his mother's attempts to tame it and a litter of freckles over his cheekbones that made him look darling. “What did he do?” Averi wasn’t surprised. Ronin was the son of one of the local knuckleheads. His father wasn’t that bad as they went, but his son was desperately trying to be like his pa, which meant a lot of picking on weaker members of his playgroup and beating up anyone who wanted to fight back. Ronin was a troublemaker and brat, but Averi had seen his good side too. She’s seen him scared of monsters under the bed and turning off the light when there was a storm. Ronin hid it well, but there was a heart under his bluster. It was a shame that Wes, the gentle soul that he was, struggled to deal with the little monster. Not strong enough to fight back but with too much compassion to watch the boy get away with it. “He stole Reina’s red pencil,” Wes said with seriousness. “Reina was really upset. She wanted to colour in the roses, see? We had arts and crafts. But Ronin wanted to colour blood. He did a picture of his dad beating up a snitch. The teacher told her to share, but Ronin never gives things back.” Averi didn’t know Reina. She wasn’t one of the pups or children running around this area at least. Averi knew most of the brats in the area. When being a messenger didn’t cover all the bills, she sometimes moonlighted as a babysitter. Her boss let her know which job she was bound for on the day. He was rather good at making sure her bills got covered with a bit of spare change for the odd new thing. “Did you tell Mrs Gragan?” “She didn’t listen. She never listens,” Wes looked either side of them before leaning in close. “I’m going to steal it back for Reina tomorrow before Ronin gets to class,” his eyes sparkled conspiratorially. A plan had been made behind those sparkling blue eyes to get Reani her stuff back. Being a soft-hearted child did not stop Wes playing the hero when he felt it important. Averi had a house plant just for him, trying to keep him safe from any dangers he might try to conquer. It was hard to tell if it was working or not, but the boy was still here. “I see,” Averi smiled, “Be careful not to get caught!” “Never!” Wes beamed, his young face practically glowing with excitement. “Wesley!” Wes pulled a face as his stepfather appeared, looking disapproving at him. Averi smiled warmly at the man, ignoring the look of dismissal at her. It was safer to be dismissed than noticed by the people of the community when you were powerless like she was. “I told you to stay close,” he scolded, reaching to take back his son. “You left me with Ronin and his cronies!” “You really should learn to get along with them,” Colin shook his head as Wes unwilling let go of Averi and was placed firmly on the floor. “Where did you even learn that word?” “I read it in a book,” Wes shrugged, turning back to Averi and fishing something out of his pocket. “Here, I found this for you.” “That’s kind of you, Wes,” Averi accepted the gift carefully, smiling as feather floated into her hand. Wes had been collecting feathers for her since she told him a story about people who were gifted powers from birds. The sweetheart had decided that he’d find a bird willing to give Averi powers and had started gifting her any feathers he found. This one was a grey thing. “I’ll bind it with the rest,” she promised, placing it carefully into her backpack. “You’re welcome.” Most children were taught to say please and thank you. The children around this area were taught to acknowledge but not say the words. The local fae were kind to the children, but the moment they were adults, by fae standards not human, they were fair game. Wes was still many years from being in danger of saying the wrong phrase, but it was essential to train the little ones early. “Come on, Wes. We’d better leave Miss Averi to her job now,” Colin coaxed, running his hands through Wes’s hair somehow making it wilder. His eyes flashed with irritation at the gift-giving. Wolf boy struggled with a stepson not innate to being manly and overbearing. Wes pulled a face but nodded. “See you soon, Averi.” “See you soon,” Averi nodded at Colin before heading out on her bike, making sure to turn on the light. The night was setting in, and the streetlights weren’t perfect around here. One side effect of the about of warding to kept civilians out of the area was things were often left to rot and ruin. The witches would sometimes loosen the spells to ensure the council fixed the roads and maintained the lights, but they were in May now. The seasons were switching from spring to summer, and the community was reluctant to let unknown humans into their realm. She kept her bike well maintained, and her electric devices warded from stray magic or mischief. One of the tech witches was always willing to help in return for Averi delivering any broken devices she found littering about the streets. Averi glided over the pothole-filled roads and through the masses travelling to and from work calmly, watching as the city shifted from the warded area to the normal. Even here, there was magic to be found if a person knew where to look. A streetlight buzzed too bright from an electric imp, a gargoyle smoking a joint on top of a building, symbols painted onto the sides of shops to keep them safe; a typical human ignored it all, but it was there. So close that a human with a touch more insight than the rest would see and yet none ever seemed to until it was too late. Averi was lucky. She may be powerless, but her family's blood sang with magic. It filled most of them up until they were blind from the stuff. It was clear from a young age she would be powerless, but her family had trained her as well as any supernatural child. She knew how to stay safe and out of the sights of dangerous creatures. So far, she’d held out.