Recovery And Magic

9

Somehow, I was hungry. After all of that. The growling in my stomach pushed enough room for food. I grabbed a plate and waited in line. Some weird pulse in my brain dragged my hands to one of the many pans of scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash browns. Dodging floating glasses of orange juice and coffee. The air buzzed from chatter as the residents talked with each other. It was weird. Most of my mornings were filled with car alarms and police officers telling me to move. Then asking me where my parents were when they realized how young I am.

I wandered out of the kitchen and found Mary-Beth by the table. Tucked at the corner of the table was Blane slouched over, head down. A chair was pushed over to my direction while Mary-Beth focused on her food. Bobbing her head along to music from her headphones. The small smile on my face started to grow as I saw that.

"Hey." I waved while taking my seat.

Mary-Beth glanced over at me and waved. Blane let out a muffled grunt as he kept his face down.

"What's wrong with you?"

" Long night," Blane grumbled, his left hand reaching out for a steaming cup a foot away.

"He was studying." Mary-Beth pipped up.

Blane lifted his head enough for his eyes to be seen. Shooting a drained look while Mary-Beth shrugged.

"You had a lot of thoughts running through your head last night. About formulas, sigils, and materials. You were going till three in the morning."

Blane nodded, putting down his eyes as he pulled the cup closer. "Right. Sorry. I got stuck in a grove and I forgot to set my timer."

"What were you studying?" I asked, stabbing pieces of eggs onto my fork.

"Eh, usual alchemist stuff. Turning coal to gold. Immortality. Breaking all the seals on the library doors."

"Did you get close?"

"Not even one sigil."

A laugh escaped my throat. The taste of eggs tumbling around my mouth as Blane laughed back. Mary-Beth smiled along, nodding to a beat.

"So how'd your first meeting with M.A. go?"

I glanced over to Mary-Beth. I expected her to quote from the thousands of grainy thoughts flooding my brain. But she stayed silent. Bobbing in her own world, eating pancakes. The hole in my stomach clogged up by the eggs. Turning to lead the longer it settled.

"Um," I stammered, forcing down the new food. "Okay. Niki was pretty helpful introducing me to the group."

"That's good," Blane yawned. "You also got Jabel so that's an added bonus."

"Is he good?"

"He managed to quit magic. He gave up his magic three years ago."

So there is hope. I'm not a traitor. I just have to control it. If I can control it, then I can quit it. And I can get rid of it.

Some of the food softened as the hole of stomach reopened. I nodded, taking another bite of eggs into my mouth. I glanced over to the center of the living room, where the circle of chairs was. The meeting looked like it ended. Some people stayed chatting with Jabel while Niki was busy folding up the chairs. Her eyes flickered up to me and gave a quick smile before going back to work. I just waved as I worked on chewing my meal.

My eyes were busy taking in more the scenery as I ate. More details started to pop out. The walls had a couple of framed pictures of people smiling in candid moments. A calendar with chicken scratch sprawled over the dates. And a long poster, displayed in a laminated frame to show off the list of words by the shelves of board games and books.