Salvage: Book 3 of the Magic Mutations Series

23: Olivia

April, 2019

"How do you—" she started to ask, the surprise in her tone only accentuating the Australian accent. But I cut her off... again, without thinking.

"Because I am one too," I said.

When she continued to stare at me, bewildered, I turned on my heel and lifted the bottom of my shirt so that my tattoo would peek out.

"See?" I asked before lowering the cloth again. It was way too cold for me to expose my skin for too long.

"I do," she whispered, eyes going over me quickly, hesitantly, as her head tilted to the side.

Moments of silence passed without her saying anything further.

And my heart was pounding in my chest, wondering what she'd say or think. I had never met another Terra Fairy... and I was more than eager for her to like me.

I had started to think of other things to say as she seemed to be waiting for me to talk next.

But then all words left my mind as she stuck her hand out. "My name is Emma," she said, a small smile tugging at her face—though that same hesitancy lingered there.

Slipping my hand into her bronze one, I shook once before replying, "Olivia."

Though as my name left my mouth, her face dropped. And she let me go, taking a step away. "Olivia?" she repeated.

"Yes..." I mumbled, gaze wandering over her as I began to ponder if we had met before. She didn't seem familiar.

But whatever distress had been consuming her was shaken away, a smile stealing her face afterwards instead. "Well, it's lovely to meet you," she then said. "But... can you just bear with me a moment?"

"Um... yes?" I asked, head tilting to the side as I wondered what I had to bear with.

Though my confusion was quickly quelled. After spinning on her heel, she walked back over to the corpse. Kneeling down beside it, she sifted through her bag once more until she found another contraption. Then, placing a small metal device on the chest of the remnants of the Made, she gave it three taps and the body disappeared, the silver contraption clanging on the ground.

She picked up the cubed shape and threw it back into her bag before returning to my side quickly as though nothing had happened.

But I couldn't stop my eyes darting between the vacant ground and her innocent blinks.

"That was cool," Ben muttered as I exclaimed, "What the heck did you just do?"

"Hmm?" she asked, turning her head to follow my line of sight. "Oh, with the Vanisher?"

She released a laugh then pulled the metal object out of her bag once more, gently placing it in my hand. I twisted it this way and that, taking in the floral designs etched in the gunmetal grey... designs that were all too familiar.

"Don't tap it, by the way, otherwise a body will come out," she warned before going on to explain, "It's a Vanisher. I reacted just like you the first time I saw it work. My best explanation is it's like a," another giggle escaped, "Like a Pokeball."

Ben let out a snort as I continued to stare at the device, flabbergasted. "I'll say," I whispered.

"Can't be leaving bodies lying around... which reminds me... how come you're not freaking out?" she asked.

"Freaking out about what?" I questioned, handing back the device to her as I met her gaze again, slowly coming back to the conversation.

"That you just saw me kill a vampire and suck it up into the Vanisher?"