Young Writers Society

“Mm.” Pratik squinted at her. That didn’t add up. You didn’t just use magic by accident. She knew where it was coming from. Why wouldn’t she tell him?

"She's not lying," Gabriel said, sensing what Pratik was thinking. "You just worded the question weird. Quinn's a witch-in-training, so she has her own magic. No extra magical devices needed."

Having a deal with a demon probably didn't hurt, though.

“So, spirits, then?” Pratik asked. Perhaps that explained it. Although sorcerers didn’t have this effect. At least not back home. Maybe Earth was different.

Gabriel stared.

"Why would spirits be involved?" he asked. He should have been turning this conversation over to Quinn, but Quinn was still new to magic in comparison to him. She didn't know all of the nuances. "Ghosts are made of magic, but no one uses them in their spells."

(Oops haha yes my boy Pratik is also from Beirania)(Altho ig I did say I was gonna wipe their memories so… Hm…)

“So what’s the source of the magic? Nature? The energy has to come from somewhere it’s not spontaneous.”

This was...weird.

Gabriel studied Pratik for a moment, trying to figure out how someone could be aware that magic existed without actually understanding how it worked. Pratik was asking similar questions to what Quinn might have asked when she was first getting introduced to magic, but she had never been as calm as Pratik was.

"Souls," Gabriel said. "Maybe a little bit of the environment if we're being technical, but most magic comes from within. Quinn's just gets the occasional boost sometimes."

Quinn, meanwhile, sent a concerned look to Ky. She had been quiet for awhile. "Do you have any questions?" she softly, carefully asked.

(Haha fair. I think I’ll shift it, then. Keep Pratik in canon and make Ky be innocently from Earth haha)

Huh. Weird. Things really must be different here — he’d need to study up on that, then. “Ah, okay. That’s interesting.”

Ky’s questions were ones that shouldn’t be asked in polite company. “…no?”

That seemed to satisfy Pratik's curiosity, but it didn't satisfy Gabriel's. Still, Gabriel had other priorities right now. He eyed the woods around them for any twigs that looked even a little bit dry and grabbed them. Gabriel placed the sticks in a pile far enough away from the tent that it wouldn't accidentally catch on fire, but close enough that the majority of the future fire was sitting underneath the canopy that came out the front of the tent. Gabriel didn't want his hard work to go to waste if there was another downpour.

"I can handle starting the fire," he said, mainly to Quinn.

Quinn gave Ky a quick, hesitant look, then nodded.

Quinn had to think about magic before she used hers, but Gabriel's was all instinct at this point. He just held his hand out and thought about a flame appearing there, and then there was one. He placed the flame down into the pile of twigs. After a moment of holding it there, their campfire burst into life.

Interesting. Pratik watched him calmly. He definitely needed to read up on Earth magic. Or whatever sort of magic this was supposed to be. He couldn’t very well ask if they were from Earth, now could he? That’d be suspicious, if they didn’t know about the other realms.

Ky was shivering at this point but she didn’t even notice. She was too focused on the freaks in front of her. Magic? Ghosts? Spirits? What were the chances of her making it out of this unscathed? Very, very small.

Quinn quietly muttered a spell that warmed and dried the ground right around the campfire. When she was sure it was no longer soaked, she sat down right where she was standing.

Gabriel quickly followed her lead. He plopped himself down on the ground next to her.

"Does you want any snacks?" Quinn asked. She pulled her backpack onto her lap. "I put some in here before we left for the hike."

Snacks. Ky almost rolled her eyes. When was she going to wake up from this nightmare? Or was she really supposed to believe that a witch was going to pass out fruit snacks around a supernaturally made fire?

She stared, shifting her weight as she considered. At this point, she was considering leaving them here. It clearly wasn’t safe to be around them. But. Then. She glanced down the path. It clearly wasn’t safe to be away from them, either. But…

“We’ve proven ourselves friendly,” Pratik pointed out, as if he was reading her mind. Her gaze snapped towards him. He gave a little shrug and flopped unceremoniously to the ground. “Helped you in the briars. Offering you food and shelter and safety in numbers… you’ll be on your own if you leave. You versus ghost.”

Ky shivered and sat down reluctantly.

Quinn froze in the middle of her snack search. She hadn't realized what Ky was thinking until Pratik started trying to reassure her.

"...We're not dangerous," Quinn said. Her fingers brushed up against a snack bar. Pulling it out, she awkwardly offered it to Ky. "I...I know it's overwhelming, but magic is just..."

She faltered, not sure how to explain it.

"It's like breathing," Gabriel decided. Before Quinn could offer him a snack bar, he reached out and snagged one from the depths of her backpack.

Quinn nodded.

"Maybe driving is a better analogy," Gabriel corrected. He unwrapped his bar and took a musing bite out of it. "Sometimes there's shitty drivers that get into accidents, but, almost all of the time, the driving is safe."

Eh. Pratik wasn’t sure he’d agree with either of those analogies. But. They were close enough that he didn’t feel like splitting hairs. He pulled a sandwich out of his backpack and started eating it.

Ky looked between all of them, then landed back on Quinn’s offer. She was so hungry. But it wouldn’t be right to accept help from strangers. The entire point of this torture was to punish her.

She still wanted it, though.

But she dropped her gaze and nodded, adding nothing to the conversation. She appreciated that they were trying to make her feel better. But it wasn’t working.

Quinn could guess that Ky wanted the snack bar, but also saw how Ky looked down and away from the bar. She couldn't tell if Ky was nodding to the offer or the conversation. She guessed it was the conversation. If Ky was going to take the snack bar, she would have already grabbed it out of Quinn's hands.

"It's not poisoned," Gabriel said. He took another bite out of his. "I'm able to eat mine fine."

That wouldn't have been all that reassuring if Ky knew Gabriel was a demon and had a completely different immune system than regular humans did, but Gabriel thankfully hadn't brought that up yet.

“I don’t think it’s poisoned.” Ky frowned, looking at him. “At least I didn’t until you said that… but it’s your food, not mine. You don’t have to share.”