Carry On SnowBaz

Snowday (9)

Simon

"I love this place!" I say and fall on the bench across of Penny, who already takes off her coat. The interior looks like an American Diner, mostly small booths for a max of four people with surprisingly comfy benches and some bigger round tables with a bunch of different old chairs in the back. It seems chaotic at the first glance, but the atmosphere is so cosy and warm – magickal – that I immediately feel more relaxed. The most relaxed since I woke up this night actually. I didn't really like the idea of being surrounded by magic again, I was afraid it would hurt like the door that wouldn't open for me. But the moment I stepped into the pub and saw the magic around me it was so real, I could almost feel it. Almost...

But it reminds me again how great magic is, how beautiful it felt to be surrounded by surreal and fantastic things. It feels like Watford. And despite everything that happened there, Watford always was a home for me....

Maybe I can belong here even without magic. I mean nearly every mage knows The Greatest Mage, even if nobody knows what really happened in the night of the defeat of the Humdrum... of me... That I was the evil monster that divided the whole world of mages and triggered a war, of which everyone was afraid... I don't think they would believe the whole story. I mean I still have no clue why it was me. Why I was the Chosen One to destroy and save them. I wonder what they think happened to the Humdrum... I wonder if anybody here will recognize me as the Simon Snow...

Baz slides next to me and interrupts my spiralling thoughts. I try to focus on the weird colourful lights over our booth. There are four of them, I don't really get how they work. Maybe it knows our favourite colours? The one over Penny's head glowing yellow-green (I think she likes green but always assumed her favourite colour was purple?), the one next to her just plain white. Above my head is a blue-grey flame that keeps getting lighter (weird) and the one next to Baz is pink (Now that's a surprise! I thought he likes dark colours. Like black. Or dark green. But a black light would be no light, wouldn't it?) That makes me smile a bit and my flame's blue gets brighter. (Okay, I guess the favourite colour theory doesn't make sense...)

"I knew you would like it here," Penny says beaming. She places her elbows on the table and props up her chin with her hands.

"It's even more magickal here than in Watford," Baz says while he slips out of his coat. (I'm still freezing even with my coat on. I did never freeze that much like this winter. During my years at Watford, I've always just been burning because of my overflowing magic. Now I'm a real frostbite...)

"Exactly!" Penny answers excited and I need a second to catch up again. "That's because the owners of this house are American. And as you know, the Americans have a totally different view to magic. They don't only use it for handy and profitable things. They also use it because of its beauty. Because of the fantastic things you can create with it. Like this place." She throws her arms in the air and grins broadly. "In America, there are tons of places like this. Micah showed them all to me."

"Why didn't you show us this pub earlier?" I ask her. "It's great."

She blushes a bit and knocks her head. "I wasn't sure if you would like it here... You know, because you can't feel it like we do."

I just shrug and lean half against the backrest of the bench and half against Baz's shoulder. It's so comfortable, I could fall asleep. Baz tears down my woolhat I am still wearing and loosens my flattened curls with his fingers.

"We should eat something, don't you think?" he says exhilarated and the light above his head changes from pink to purple. Mine gets a purple touch, too. (Maybe it adjusts itself to your body's temperature?)

"Oh please," I say and squint at the tables around us, which are covered with strange but incredibly delicious smelling food. "I'm already dying of starvation."