Ember Heart: The Revival

Chapter 2 - An Exciting Trip to the Grocery Store

The interview never came up again. When her mother asked, Isa mumbled and shrugged her off. It was as if the whole thing never happened.

A new barrier was constructed between Isa and her father. She made sure to get up after he'd left for work and ate her dinner in her room whenever she could.

Isa spent her time scouring the house for information on guilds. While a person could use magic without any affiliation to a guild, it was much harder to find work. Wizards made their money through requests the general public made. It was difficult to find a normal company that would willingly hire a wizard.

She searched through her old school textbooks, random atlases and maps, and any book she could find for information about guilds. There was nothing. In truth, Isa wasn't sure what she was looking for. Should she start practicing magic first, or make it a priority to join a guild? She didn't know how to do either of those things.

As she was pouring over an encyclopedia, her mother poked her head into her room.

"I'm going to go to the grocery store again. It looks like I forgot a few things," she said.

Isa sat up. "I'll go."

"You want to come along?"

"No, I'll go. You can stay here." Isa stood from her bed.

"Thank you." Her mother smiled and placed a hand on her heart. "That's so sweet of you."

"It's no problem." This provided the perfect opportunity for her to sneak to the library to look for information. There had to be a book that could tell her what to do.

Her mother fished a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it over. "It's just a few things. Let me grab my purse and I can give you some money."

Isa followed her mother to the kitchen. She carefully counted a wad of bills and handed them over to Isa. "Remember, don't talk to strangers. Don't let anybody lead you away. Keep that intimidating look on your face, it'll scare people off."

"Mom, I'll be fine. I can take care of myself." Isa gave her mother a quick peck on the cheek before heading out the front door.

Since the library was closer, Isa went there first. It was a tall beat-up building near the center of town. She did love to read when she was younger, but slowly that passion faded away and she became, like Akira siad, a blank slate. His words simmered in her mind days after they talked. She didn't want to be an empty person. Magic would help that. Magic would fix everything.

Isa arrived after a short, but sweaty walk. She pushed open the library's front door, wondering if the inside had changed in ten years.

It hadn't. It was like walking through a memory. The towers of bookshelves were the same dingy color she remembered. Isa even recognized the librarian sitting behind the counter, though she gained quite a lot of wrinkles.

Isa headed straight for the nonfiction section. She ran her finger over the spines as she went from topic to topic. It took her thirty minutes to quickly browse every title they had. There was not a single mention, of magic, wizards, or guilds.

Isa sighed and stood from where she was crouched on the ground. Maybe books that were considered "risque" were kept in a different section. She rolled her eyes at the thought. The whole stigma was stupid. Sure, there may be some bad wizards out there, but there are bad people in every group. An individual shouldn't define the population.

"Excuse me?" Isa approached the librarian's desk tentatively. The librarian remained engrossed in her book. "Excuse me?" Isa said louder.

The librarian jumped. She pulled her spectacles higher on her nose. "Yes?"