The Death Clause

Chapter 1 - The Boy, The Girl, and The Guy Who Knew

The shadow jerked back at her response, moving away like the silhouette of a snake at the sight of her eyes.

Julia Padler stepped back, as if determined to prevent it, whatever it was, from touching the tips of her shoes. The sound of its annoyed whispers followed it to a place Julia couldn't fathom. These shadows, some called them demons, hated roaming the earth with no host or body to inhabit. Julia could only imagine it was off looking for someone to live in, just not someone like her.

Julia glanced over her shoulders to the damp and rainy streets, to the well-illuminated side of the road where cars drove through. She found only a few souls wandering, shoulders hunched, collars pulled up around their faces. There, between the garbage cans, was the shadow she had seen before, waiting patiently. Julia eyed it from the corner where she stood, and although it lacked eyes or a mouth, she felt it notice her gaze. And then it left, moving away once more.

With a sigh, Julia tossed her sports bag over her shoulder and then turned back. The spots of pain from her training began to throb, and she wondered if anything she did make a meaningful difference. After all, being a Willower didn't just mean one could see the unseen, but also use magic in one way or another. Something Julia found herself severely lacking. Even the simple spell of opening locks proved to be an impossible task for her. So, Julia wondered if being a Willower was an impossible dream or, if possible, it would prove to be a death wish. Something she would find out today.

Julia had made an appointment to meet with someone who worked for Callico, someone Rick had pointed out as having come from their impoverished neighborhood and thus would lend a hand to help them climb out of the said hellhole. Although Julia couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt from thinking of her home district that way, it was a place she had fond memories of. A place where she played as a child with all her neighborhood friends before they grew up and everything began to look gray and bleak.

Now, what was left were beautiful memories and some hard truths she could not help but want to run away from. This brought her to the center of entertainment for ground workers and magical creatures. A place for enslaved people to momentarily forget their daily routine and for magical creatures to just belong in this modern age.

Julia turned into a smaller alleyway at Burnburry, exiting the old shopping street at the edge of the city and into the branches of smaller alleys filled with rows of bars and midnight cafes. It was her favorite place to hang out, the small space was only large enough for two people to walk side by side.

The old bricks of Burnburry stood sternly, covered with chipped white paint and illegally drawn graffiti; the colors were an explosion of mismatched designs that added to its charm, an ignored slice of life in the veins of a mega-city.

The signs of every bar and cafe lit up with neon lights, the windows and doors thick with layers of old paint—dark green and gray, blue and white. The color palette of each one stood out like a sore thumb, while people sat with a glass of beer outside the bars, speaking quietly to one another. Their clothes were old but clean. Some of them were not even human; the glint of their eyes or the shape of their body parts gave them away. But they acted as humans, chatting, minding their own business.

As Julia walked past the tenth bar on that small path, leaning back to let a couple pass, she finally received a call. It was Rick.

"Hey, where are you?"

"Sorry, got carried away, look behind you."

Julia glanced over her shoulders. The boy she had been waiting for was standing by an open door, his face half concealed by a newsboy cap, revealing only the frown of his lips and the lengths of his hair. Julia recognized his height, the familiar navy blue sweater, black jeans, and tall boots he was often seen in. In the dark, he seemed paler than usual.