The Lightning Mage

53 | The After Party, Revisited

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Cydney stared at the piece of paper on her palms.

"We are chilling in Phoenix, Arizona, right now. We're still waiting for you. ;)
xoxo, Sy."

After a few seconds, the note disappeared into thin air, just like all the previous messages the Witches had sent her over the past few weeks.

Cydney sighed and leaned back on the bench. She was sitting in front of the apartment building that Lyn and Irene lived in. They were throwing a party right now because their team clinched a pretty high rank.

Yes, their team. Cydney had somehow joined Lyn's questing team.

A few weeks after she had broken up with Emily, Lyn had finally quit her guild. Cydney had watched the redhead spend the next few weeks working throughout the hours of the cafe while downing cups of coffee, sometimes even forgetting to eat. And so, when Lyn had asked her to join the team, she had been more than willing to help her out.

It had been months since she had joined, and Cydney was... happy. Genuinely happy.

Not just with Lyn, but with the rest of the team too. Irene was hilarious and extremely amusing to be around, and she acted as a much-needed buffer against Lyn's unintentional smotherings; Raph was a sweet guy who had infinite patience, even as Lyn kept forgetting about his dietary restrictions; and last but not least, her new best friend, Millie. Every other weekend, Millie would ask to hang out, bringing Cydney to places all around the city, and spending all their money together. For the first time in eight years, Cydney finally felt that... life was good.

Until she met the Witches in that joint commission.

Seeing her mother in Priya's crystal ball triggered all the anguish, pain, and guilt buried deep within her. Her memories of home flooded back into her: her parents, her brother, Claudia... Imran...

Life was good now, but it was arguably much better then.

And not only did the Witches remind her about life back home, but they also offered to help her get back, sending her a message every other day to tell her where to find them. She finally had an actual chance of going back home; she didn't need to struggle by herself anymore.

But the more she thought about this, the more her heart was split apart. Should she go back home, or should she stay with her new friends?

"Cinna!"

Lyn stumbled towards her, giggling like a drunk idiot.

"Lyn," Cydney called out.

Of course, whenever she was having these dilemmas, Lyn would magically appear as if the universe was trying to make her decision as difficult as possible.

And to make things even harder, the universe made Lyn trip over nothing. Cydney grabbed her before she hit the ground, and she latched onto her arms like a koala bear hanging onto its tree.

"Lyn, be careful."

"What are you doing here, Cinna?" Lyn crooned. "Come back with me!"

Lyn's face was close, much closer than usual; her breath warmed her neck, sending shivers down her abdomen, and heating up her entire body. The exhilarating sensation almost clouded the fact that her breath stank of alcohol. Almost.

"You're so drunk..." Cydney muttered, turning her face away; this smell was the reason she had left the party. "Sorry, Lyn, I'm not very good with crowds, so I'll- I'll just stay here for now..."

"What? You should've told me that! I'll chase them away for you."

Cydney could not help but chuckle. "Why would you do that? You invited them."