Twilit Mage

Chapter 5: Hello

Mercury turned around. Standing in front of her, hands in his pockets, was a boy about her age. He was tall and lanky, his lime-green hoodie and worn-out jacket at least two sizes too big on him; falling into his smirking face was messy honey-colored hair that could probably use a haircut. His brown eyes were framed by a pair of black glasses, staring confidently at the thief.

"This girl didn't steal stuff," he said, turning to the crowd. "I saw the dude snatching her bag. He's lying."

More whispers in the crowd, but this time it was the man who was starting to look sorely uncomfortable. His hand let go of Mercury's arm. Whispering a curse, he turned on his heel and started to run.

And tripped over nothing.

This time the crowd didn't whisper. A pair of large, hulking men darted out to grab the thief and hold him down as a group of people ran off to call security. The crowd around them dissolved.

Mercury was left with her savior, still feeling shaky and unsure what to say.

"Dude," the boy said after a minute, grinning widely to reveal a slight gap between his front teeth. "What the hell was that? You were freaking badass just now!"

Mercury blinked at him for a minute, trying to process his words. Then she threw a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure he wasn't talking to someone behind her. There was nobody.

"Uh...huh?" she said intelligently. "Badass...me?"

The boy grinned even wider. "Sure! I mean, the way you just jumped and chased him on that..." He gestured vaguely with his hands. "That metal...fence...don't fall...thingy..."

"The railing," Mercury offered quietly.

"Yeah, that thing! That was hella dangerous and you just...zoom. Like a circus artist!" His eyes were wide and sparkling with excitement. "How was that not the most epic thing ever?"

He was serious.

He was seriously calling her, Mercury Day, badass and epic. He thought she was cool. And there was no way he was right, no way there was anything remotely amazing about her, but it still made her happy. So incredibly, stupidly happy.

Before she could help it her vision blurred, tears of gratitude welling up in her eyes. She tried to blink them away, but more kept coming. With an awkward smile and a sniffle she lowered her head and turned away, hoping the boy hadn't noticed her crying yet, hoping–

"Hey! What's wrong?"

She looked up. The boy had stopped grinning. Instead of excited amazement his brown eyes were now filled with worry, a slight hint of panic tinting his voice.

"You okay?" he asked, one hand inadvertently reaching towards her. "Did that guy hurt you? Do you need anything?"

"No." Mercury sniffled and wiped at her eyes with an embarrassed smile. On one hand she was glad the guy wasn't laughing at her, but on the other she hated to be seen like this, crying over something so stupid and making this stranger worry for no reason. "Sorry, it's just...Nobody's ever called me...badass or epic or...or anything like that before, so I'm just...a bit overwhelmed..." She wiped her eyes again. "Don't mind me. I'm a crybaby, I need to–"

"Wait a sec." The boy gave a quick nod, still looking a bit worried as he started to dig through his pockets. "You need a tissue, right? I think I got some tissues with me...in...here...somewhere...uh..." He patted each one of his pockets, systematically searching his entire torso, then his backpack, then his torso again, growing more and more confused. "Or...maybe not...?"

Mercury tried to wave him off. "Don't worry, it's fine–"

"No, I almost found it! Here? No...the next one...Dude, I had a pocket here too? There's ten bucks in here. Nice. But no tissues...uh..."

A few people walked past them, snickering at his almost dance-like search through his apparently endless pockets. Mercury turned red and shot an accusing look after them. The boy, becoming aware how ridiculous his movements looked, struck a pose and grinned sheepishly. "Hey, Macarena."

Mercury started laughing through her tears.

The boy gave a sigh of relief and abandoned his fruitless search of tissues. "Okay, you're smiling? Whew, good. I thought I'd have to start breakdancing in here to make you laugh."

Mercury had the vague feeling that he might actually do it.

The boy grinned again, sticking his hands into his pockets and leaning sideways against the railing. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Huh? Ah, i-it's Mercury," Mercury stuttered, her face flushing again as she stumbled over the words. Was this stranger seriously asking her name? "A-And you? I mean...what's yours?" She laughed nervously. "Your name, no, wait, that's obvious..."

Great, I'm screwing up again...Why can't I ever talk to people without embarrassing myself?

The boy, however, didn't mind. He just smiled, wider than all the smiles he had given her before. "Mercury? Cool name!" he said brightly. "I'm Raoul. Some people call me Shut Up Raoul, but just Raoul's fine."

Mercury laughed, gradually feeling herself relax. "Okay...Raoul."

"Cool. So, Mercury..." Raoul looked at the railing as if he considered sitting on it, then returned to leaning where he was. "You're from DC, I guess?"

"Yeah...well, near DC." Mercury smiled. "And you?"

For some reason she couldn't help hoping he lived somewhere near her.

"Oh, uh, I'm just visiting." Mercury's heart sank as Raoul shrugged and added, "I was actually supposed to fly back a couple days ago, but that was when the airport blew up. So I just kinda ended up in the hospital, checkups, whatever, y'know? Kinda got stuck here for a bit longer."

Mercury paled. "You were in that explosion?"

"Not sure." Raoul grinned sheepishly, running a hand through his hair and avoiding her eyes. "I don't remember a thing. Probably though."

Take care! Mercury wanted to shout, but she knew that would just make her look like an idiot. She shuddered. Caught up in that explosion...he could have died...they could never have met, and...

"Wow," she said quietly, forcing her face not to betray too much emotion. "That's...scary."

"Not really. I mean, it's all over in a sec– wait, sorry, just kidding! I'm not planning to die," Raoul said hurriedly, catching sight of Mercury's face. "I think I just got knocked out or something."

Mercury smiled uncomfortably. The urge to shout at Raoul to be more careful hadn't vanished.

"When are you flying back?" she said instead, hoping against hope that he was at least staying for another week.

Raoul shrugged again. "Tomorrow."

Tomorrow. And he lived so far away he had to take a plane.

Mercury looked down at her feet and said nothing. She shouldn't go around feeling sad about someone she had just met, she knew. But Raoul seemed so nice, so fun and easy to talk to that she couldn't help wanting to spend more time with him.

Well, that feeling was probably one-sided. There was no way someone like Raoul, who had popular written all over his face, would want to keep in touch with some girl he had only talked to once. Especially not over a long distance. He probably had enough friends where he lived.

"Okay," she said softly, even though it wasn't okay. "I hope you won't get caught up in any more explosions then."

"I'm gonna try." Raoul laughed, glanced at his watch, and turned serious in a second. "Yikes, it's that late already? Crap, I'm late, I gotta go...Watch out, Mercury, okay? Don't let anybody steal your bag again." He winked, and before Mercury knew what was happening, he had pulled her into a quick hug and started marching towards the exit. When Mercury gazed after him, he turned around and smiled at her over his shoulder.

Mercury smiled back, mentally slapping herself for not asking for his number as something caught her eye. A plastic bag poking out of his backpack...a bag with a symbol on it that looked awfully familiar. The open book, the two hands holding it, the P and T printed on the pages, one letter each...

It was exactly the same symbol Principal Blake had scribbled down on her instructions.