Page 2 of Silent Jay

What do I do? Such a mortal question.

I chewed on my lower lip.

Although my first instinct was to say something vague and cryptic, I knew two things after spending three months working with Chad in the gym: A) he wasn’t really interested, and B) he probably struggled with the directions to open his cereal box this morning.

I grinned at him. “I’m a plumber.”

Chad raised an eyebrow. “Female plumber?”

“Aww, I didn’t realize you knew I was a girl.” I squeezed my arms together, accentuating my sports bra-crushed cleavage.

Chad let himself get an eyeful before focusing on my face. “You’re just one of the bros here.”

I saluted him with my middle finger and turned toward the exit. Another ribbon of magic snaked its way up my spandexshorts and vibrated around my thigh. A sense of urgency prickled my skin. I plucked my duffle bag off the wall and rushed out of the building. I practically ran to my topless jeep, parked all the way in the back, wishing I hadn’t read a stupid article on how healthier people parked further away from their destination to get extra movement in their bodies.

I was an immortal enchantress who roamed this world before parking was even a thing. Twenty extra steps didn’t do anything for me.

“Fucking Internet,” I swore.

I swung into the driver’s seat and tossed my gym bag behind me. It clanked against something metal, and I winced, trying to remember what it could’ve landed on. Climbing gear, a first aid kit, extra gas, blankets… I think the blankets were covering a kettlebell, maybe? Or did I leave a cauldron back there?

The ribbon shot up my shirt, between my breasts, and tingled around my neck.

“I get it. You need help right now. I’m moving as fast as I can.” I punched the start button on my jeep and pulled out of the lot.

The ribbon of magic guided me to the west. I pointed my car in that direction, driving down the empty highway, forever grateful I didn’t have a meaningless mortal job tying me down.

Are you, though? It could give you purpose. Help you make friends. Give you something to do.

Just stop.

I scowled. I really needed to stop talking to myself.

My car gained speed, and the magic ribbon calmed. Bracing the steering wheel against my knees, I felt behind me for my water. The jeep swerved a few times but mostly stayed in the correct lane. After finding my fancy bottle, I pressed a button on the lid, releasing a grainy brown protein powder into the liquid, and violently shook the thing.

God, I loved food, but if I wanted to keep growing my mortal muscles, the least I could do was feed them correctly. I’d searched heaven and earth for a protein powder that didn’t taste like ass. Flat root beer float was the best I could get.

With my car speeding down the highway, I opened my third eye. A ball of pure power, only other supernaturals could see, peeled open in the center of my forehead. Magic of every type overlaid the world in a swirls of lines and textures. Unlike the creatures inhabiting earth, the Ley Lines hadn’t changed in the thousand years I’d been alive. They crossed the earth’s surface, in various sizes and strengths, like a network of colored cables managed by a teenager building his first computer. That is to say, completely random patterns with the most used bits covered in something sticky no one wanted to talk about.

I took a drag on my protein drink, imagining my muscles doubling in size.

It doesn’t work like that.

Let a girl dream!

I picked Graeagle in Northern California as my home for the last few months because…well…I wasn’t really sure. But it was far away from my old life and something new. I needed a break from the endless repetition of existence, something completely different.

It’s been months now, and you’re still depressed.

You are.

My gut twisted.

“No, Jay.” I met my gaze in the rear-view mirror. The grid of power crisscrossing my vision made my honey skin glow almost purple. My rich green eyes swam with gold flecks opposite the crystal white eye of churning power in the center of my forehead. “A thousand years old, powerful beyond imagination, you speak at least twenty languages. You’re not a ball of sad! The age of the Internet makes everyone feel lost.”

I lifted my protein shake to my lips, and something silver flashed in my peripheral vision. Everyone says there’s this moment of calm, where you know something bad’s about to happen, but you can’t do anything about it.

Yeah, I didn’t have that moment.

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