Kimo spent his Monday afternoon at the Hallowed Grounds Café, where the tables were cramped and crowds were thin. He had books from night school on the small table, huddled in one of the corners of the café. There was a lamp on the table with a shade covered in rhinestones emitting a gentle glow over his work. With eyes down and mind focused, he did not expect anyone to interrupt him, so he was surprised when he was approached by a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes.
Ariane Magda had worked at a pizza joint in the city that Kimo used to deliver for when he was jumping around part-time jobs. She had been in high school at the time and he heard plenty about her –a popular girl who was the captain of the girls' varsity lacrosse team, graduated with honors, and had been gossiped about as one of the most beautiful girls at Fire & Slice Pizza's. Kimo did not socialize much with his colleagues but with all the attention she got he assumed her simple and shallow.
When she approached his table he saw the face he remembered. Her features were a little more defined, her hair cut short at the shoulders, but after 8 years she still had a face beaming with beauty.
"You're Kimo Wells, am I right?" asked Ariane, staring at him with wide blue eyes.
Kimo gave a small nod. "I know who you are."
She grinned. "Good to know I'm still recognizable after all these years. But you look like you haven't changed at all."
"I remember you following with a popular crowd. Why would you remember someone like me? Have we ever even spoke before?"
"We did once. My mom couldn't pick me up from work and I asked you for a ride. You said: go fuck yourself."
Kimo's cheeks flushed with color. "I actually do remember that. I apologize. That was rude of me."
"Wow! Such a response that I was not expecting. Though you haven't aged a day, you seem to have changed." Ariana took a seat at the table. "I may know more about you than you'd expect." She looked at the teacup beside the textbooks. "Are you finished with your tea?"
"Um…mostly."
Ariane grabbed the cup from his hands. "I've been practicing the art of tasseography and I want to practice more with others. Reading your own future gets boring."
"Be my guest," Kimo said with a shrug.
Ariane placed a small plate over the cup, inverting it for a moment to let the remaining liquid drain away. She looked into the cup and Kimo could see thoughts swimming behind her eyes as she examined the leaves.
A crease stretched across her face and Kimo tried to read what she was thinking. He had some practice with facial intellect, but he struggled with people who mask their expressions easily and could not tell if her thoughts were positive or negative. But when she looked up at him he could see the sadness in her eyes.
"I'm sorry," she said in a flat tone.
Kimo's brow scrunched. "Why?"
"You're going to lose someone close to you. Someone you need answers from. But I don't see any reminiscent of the answers, so I guess you do not obtain them—at least, not any time soon. You've only begun to scratch the surface of the knowledge you wish to obtain. But it's likely this search will plummet you into a madness that has taken over many that try to learn about the black arts."
Kimo stared at her for a moment before he managed so say: "How did you do that?"
He snatched the cup from Ariane and looked at the pattern at the bottom, leaves in rigid positions, a few symbols came to mind, but he saw nothing that explained Ariane's reading. He felt a surge of frustration and jealousy that made him want to reach over the table and toss the girl across the room. She was like Jonathan; a bantric: a type of cursed sight.
"My mother is Dr. Gartiza," she said with a steely expression, knocking Kimo back into his seat with a moment of shock.
Dr. Gartiza was a teacher at his night school. Like most that taught dark arts, she was a little unhinged from reality. She taught wiccan magic, brilliant with spellwork, and obsessed with hallucinogenic substances. She had written a few books—Kimo had read them all—and she was currently working on a new piece that documented the strange Beasts of the West. There were accounts of users vanishing in the middle of woodlands. Dr. Gartiza claimed to have witnessed one of the disappearances. She had been wandering the cursed woodlands, unaware of the rumors, enchanted by the dark, tall trees that granted excellent growing conditions for mushrooms. She saw a stranger stumbling among the trees, his expression crazed and Dr. Gartiza kept her distance as she followed the user, wondering his objective. She was not able to uncover it before the man crossed paths with a beast. It swam out of the trees, a giant koi gliding across the wind, massive yellow eyes scanning the ground where it zoned in on the stranger, too frightened to move. The yellow eyes glowed brightly as she saw the user's soul rip from his body. Then the light was gone, the koi vanishing, and suddenly a new, massive tree took root in the woodlands. When she studied the trees around her, she peeled back some of the bark and saw squished organs rich with blood. She was unclear about how she escaped, many questioning her story, but she was determined to uncover the answers and bring light to a new existence.
"Have you known all this time?" Kimo asked. "I never read you as a user."
"This idea of a user is a retrospective scale. Abilities range, detection of difference can vary, and there is no hereditary pattern. My mother is very gifted. I only have scraps and pieces of her abilities. Simple divination is the extent of my powers, and an above average ability to mask such talents. Maybe if you paid attention more to the people around you, you would have noticed I'm a little more off than the rest of our colleagues had been."
"How much do you know?"
"Not a lot. My father does not much enjoy my mother's work and does not like her discussing things with me, even after all these years. He thinks that will keep me safe."
"It won't. Though there is a range to user abilities, you either have the change or you don't. My detection abilities may not be exceptional but there are people…and things…out there that will be able to detect your abnormality. It is a cruel world, and just being who you are puts you in danger. There are no exceptions."
"I've been safe so far. It's funny how my dad is so fearful of my mothers work. I'm aware that it is strange and unnatural, a path humanity was not meant to take, but I feel comforted by the work she does. Her spellwork and rituals make me feel safe. My father doesn't understand. Sometimes I think my mother should have kept her world from him."
"Probably would have been a good idea. It's a challenging subject to understand."
"So, you attend night school?"
"Pretty much."
"What is it like?" Ariane put her elbows up on the table.
"Dim. Not a lot of light in those rooms. And the hallways change a lot, makes it hard to know where you're going."
"It's seems like such an enchanting practice." She looked down at the table. "Sometimes, I fear for my mother. I've heard stories about users who go completely mad. They burn down their houses with themselves inside or slaughter their family and friends because they are convinced everything is a lie. I think the more you dive into those practices, the more your mind is stretched. The more risky it is that you will snap. The more my mother works, the more she tries to understand…I feel like parts of her are slipping away."
Kimo sighed. "You're not entirely wrong. It's so easy for someone like me. I can push myself to breaking point and not feel guilty because I have no one close to me I can hurt."
Ariane stared at him with sad eyes. "I'm sorry for this depressing conversation."
Kimo laughed. "I didn't think you were capable of depressing thoughts. You were always so positive and chatty, and I found it quite obnoxious. I apologize for that too."
The sorrow in Ariane's eyes drained a little and she mustered up a smile. "I'll let you get back to your work. And I hope I see you around."