The Playing Fields First Draft

Chapter Four

           Hours later, and the group had yet to leave the Field. While they were heading toward the trees of the Forest, it seemed as though there was something that kept them from leaving the Field. While they had the key component Claire found, it seemed as though that wasn't enough to satisfy the fae running the game.

     The group decided to take a moment to rest while Rick studied the note again, looking for clues about what else the fae wanted them to do. While Claire had some knowledge of the fae, she was more than happy to let Rick figure out their mysteries on his own.

     Out of the group, Rick was the one that Claire understood the most, given her family's own lineage of paranormal hunters. That was probably the reason why Claire gave her given name as opposed to her family name, if Rick knew about her family's history, he'd turn over leadership to her.

     Even though Claire was the black sheep of the family.

     Careful Claire, you might open old wounds. Claire thought as she sat on a decently large rock.

     "Claire, what are you?" Mari asked, the youngish woman approached Claire.

     "Huh?" Claire asked, confused.

     "Outside of the Playing Fields, I mean." Mari clarified. "What do you do?"

     "Oh." Claire replied. "I'm a college student, sort of."

     "Sort of?" Mari asked, sensing a story from Claire.

     "Yeah..." Claire said, wistfully. "I had a rough first semester."

     "Ah." Mari replied, knowingly. "I had that."

     "How'd you deal with it?"

     "I dropped out."

     "What?" Claire gaped at Mari.

     "I dropped out, I was offered a job as a model." Mari replied, she sounded embarrassed by the admission.

     "Sounds like it wasn't a very good idea." Claire observed.

     "Actually, it was a good idea." Mari corrected her. "At least it was at the time." The correction came after Claire gave her a questioning look.

     "How?" Claire asked.

     "Well, it meant that I would be making money instead of bleeding it..."

     "No, I mean how did it become a bad idea?" Claire interrupted.

     "Oh." Mari frowned, it was a memory she didn't like to recall. "It all went downhill when I bloomed into my psychic abilities."

     That left Claire speechless.

     "Welcome to my life." Mari sighed. "Because I had no control over my powers at the time, I could hear what...certain members of the industry were thinking."

     "Why didn't you say something?" Claire asked.

     "First of all, reading someone else's mind without their permission is illegal." Mari answered. "And second, it wouldn't hold up in court."

     "So, what'd you do?" Claire asked.

     "I found a mentor." Mari said, glancing at Rick.

     Wait, what?

     "Rick has a higher psychic rating than I do." Mari continued. "So I became his student, and his partner in his paranormal investigation business."