Reader Believes

Chapter 30

            “So where are we going?”

            Hugh turned away from his attempted staring contest with Ahisu, the mage ignoring him in favour of keeping his eyes scanning the houses and trees they passed, and smiled at Rika. “Glen Park. It’s where a lot of us younger mages hang out. Well, those of us who haven’t been registered yet at least. It’s the unspoken rule that once you’re being tracked, you can’t come back.”

            Rika returned the smile for a moment before her lips pursed as she turned his words over in her mind. “And this Office you keep talking about, they don’t bother you? From what you’ve said, I’m surprised they don’t watch you or whatever.”

            “We’re not important enough to bother. Either because our powers aren’t of any use to them, or because we haven’t grown into our full strength yet. And from their perspective, a bunch of kids aren’t going to look like much of a threat.”

            “You’re sure this isn’t how they found you before? I don’t want to end up having to run or fight. Not when other people could get hurt.”

            Hugh shook his head. “Nah. They caught me visiting the same graveyard for the third time. I knew it was a risk, but I really needed another body and I hate taking ones that have proper gravestones and everything. I prefer the potter’s fields when I can get there. Until they saw me, I don’t think they knew the necromancer they were after was a kid. It’d be easy enough to keep an eye on disturbances in graveyards to look for necromancers. It’s not like we have much choice in it, if we want to practice our magic.”

            “Oh. That would be a smart way to do it. And easier too,” Rika replied, her hands once again straying to her pockets. The weight of her and Ahisu’s shrunken staffs pulled down on her clothes, making her grateful for the belt she wore that was keeping her jeans up. Even more than the physical weight, it was heaviness of the responsibility that Ahisu had entrusted her with his staff, that had her shoulders tense. She shook herself mentally and turned her attention back to Hugh, who paced beside her as they headed down the sidewalk. “Are there many of them? Other mages, I mean.”

            “There are a bunch of us. Not sure if I’d really call us more than a handful or two. People drift in and out, so it’s difficult to come up with a precise number. I’m guessing there will be at least four people, maybe as many as a dozen. The sun’s out, so there will likely be more of the group there. They know me, so we should be okay. If you don’t come with someone known, the whole group will scatter.”

            Ahisu snorted, earning himself a glare from Hugh. The mage met the expression with an impassive gaze. “There is greater safety in numbers. Fight back and make an example of them, and they will not dare to approach.”

            “You don’t know what it’s like! If we tried something like that, they’d only come with a stronger force. Half of us have families that are registered, which means they’d put pressure on them because of us. No one wants to see their parents or siblings punished because of something they did. We can’t risk it, so we scatter. One person getting caught is better than the whole group suffering.”

            Rika’s “Does that happen often?” covered up Ahisu’s soft reply of “Sacrifice”, stopping the argument before it could escalate.

            Hugh looked at her for a moment, a jaw tight, before his face relaxed. “No. It’s only happened once since I started hanging out with the others. Whenever it they do find us, we change meeting spots. As long as it hasn’t happened since the last time I was there, everyone should still be in the back corner of the park, underneath the trees.”

            “Don’t you worry about other people stumbling in there? I mean, it’s a public park, right? So anyone would show up. And if they heard you guys talking about magic…”

            “Nah, we take turns keeping an eye out and stopping people. And if anyone did hear anything and asked us about it, we’d say we were talking about a video game or a book or whatever. After all, no one who isn’t a mage really believes in magic,” Hugh said, a mocking smile pulling his lips upwards. “Just think about yourself. You said you didn’t believe in magic, until you actually saw it used. Our whole society denies its existence, considering it weird and crazy to believe in it if you’re not a little kid, which makes it just that much easier for us to operate without detection. When you don’t believe in magic, you’re far more likely to make up another, plausible sounding reason for stuff you see.”

            Rika nodded. “Like Connor and his game. He thought he’d just made up the replies he got from the animals, that it’d been a game he’d played when he was younger, but it wasn’t. I wonder if anyone else has magic and just convinced themselves they couldn’t possibly, because it’s not real.”

            “I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t a bunch of people like that. If your magic isn’t the obvious kind, or stuff that’s extremely specific or easy to ignore, it wouldn’t be hard to explain it away. If I hadn’t accidentally reanimated my dog’s corpse, I probably wouldn’t have known I was a necromancer.”

            “Really? How did you-”

            Hugh shook his head, jerking his chin towards the park entrance even as he slowed his steps. “Alright, you two are going to have to stay close and let me do the talking as we head over. The others can be kind of skittish. There should be people there that recognize me, but if there aren’t, I’m going to have to give them the password.”

            Ahisu’s eyebrows rose while Rika nodded. “We’ll follow you. You’re the expert here.”

            He smiled at her once, before he straightened his back and began marching towards the park’s far corner, the other two falling into step behind him.