Telluric

Chapter V: Tarot Cards

V

School was boring as ever. The monotonous rushing sounds of teachers attempting to cram two days into one, the students bustling to their classes, and the time ticking down caused him to become quite fatigued.

Noah fell asleep in a few of his classes, namely Chemistry and Trigonometry. But it was only for a few minutes. He was still in shock and disbelief from the events that happened the day before. It was all over the news, and photos of him, Clary, and Terri Smith were plastered all over the television and papers.

People asked him questions. Questions that Noah seemed unable to respond to, disappointing the people who asked them. He only showed him the bandages that the paramedics had wrapped around his leg. Noah felt bad; he didn't want to disappoint them. He remained silent for the school day. Even Mayla and Diego couldn't refrain from the questions.

"What was it like?" Mayla asked, adjusting the blue scarf on her dark skin. Her bronze-brown eyes sparked with curiosity. Noah felt incredibly bad that he had to disappoint her. He just shook his head and she sighed and got back to eating her lunch.

"Are you okay?" Diego asked. Noah only nodded his head solemnly, Diego looking a bit worried.

Minutes later, the bell rung, and everyone hurried to their classes.

***

Noah began his trek to Toil and Trouble through the cutting cold of winter. The sky was clear and sapphire blue clouds were nowhere to be seen. After about twenty minutes, Noah arrived at the shop.

"Clary, are you here?" Noah called out. The shop was a bit cramped, but it was warm and homely. Stacks of various natural ingredients were on shelves, drawers with labels in Latin, Spanish, French, and English, and books on botany, potions, natural remedies and chemistry looked all looked at least thirty years old.

"Here!" Clary walked out of the back, through a beaded doorway. She half-smiled at Noah, and in her hand a book; no smaller than a textbook. Noah smiled back, and the two approached the checkout counter. Clary took out a cigarette and lit it, the without touching anything. Noah didn't question it, as he found it to be a bit too much at the moment. She offered one to Noah, but he declined.

"Clary, there's something I wanted to talk to you about..." Noah began after a few minutes. Clary held the cigarette between her index and middle finger and puffed smoke out of her mouth. "It's just... you killed those two people. I mean... you didn't even give them to the police."

"They wouldn't have done anything." She told Noah, taking another puff of her cigarette. "That's not what I wanted to talk about though." Noah tried to speak, but she waved her cigarette-holding hand to dismiss him.

She sighed and began to lament.

"Noah, I'm sure you've already figured it out, but I'm a witch." She began. Noah stared clueless at her, trying to interject with a question. Ignoring it, she continued. "But I specialize in fire. Normally, I try to not use it, though I can't help myself sometimes." She trailed off, obviously referring what Noah just said. Taking another puff of her cigarette, she doused the small butt in an ashtray. "My ancestors lived in Salem, centuries ago. But when they found that hundreds of women were being slaughtered for witchery, they fled into the woods, and found a small settlement named Graywood.

"Only a few hundred witches survive today; on their own or with a coven, or whatever. The point I'm trying to make is that the book that was stolen from me was my book of spells, handed through the Thompson family for generations, all that bullshit. Basically, I really need to find the book. Not just because it's a family heirloom, but because it has... really dangerous spells in it, and it someone wicked has it..." She trailed off.