Metanoia

Chapter 8: Ezra

(Oh look!! My lazy ass is finally editing the damn thing for once. This aside; how the hell does this have 387 views??? And also, I'll update this chapter later in. It's kinda rushed, because I was on hiatus but I guess I do need to update it, like, right now soooo...aughghghghghghghhghg.)

They used to revere us. They called us things like giants, beasts, overlords, immortals. They made sure that we had absolutely everything. Power, fame, perpetual youth? You name it, we got it. But soon that fear turned into something else—-hate. Alongside all those magicians, (byproducts of the Earth's dumbass powers) we were called witches, demons, threats instead. Eventually, we were hunted down, like the rest of the shitty magicians, and we had to go...undercover.

Unfortunately, I'm currently being called an asshole by you guessed it—Alina.

"Look at me!" Alina shrieks, whipping me back into the miserable reality that is Earth. "How can I stand idly by when I know now that anyone that surrounds me could be a magician? This very office is getting more and more dangerous..."

We're both standing at the gate of Metanoia.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up." I groan, raising my hands in defeat. Geez, we're all humans, okay?

That was all I could say. For the first time in my life, i don't know what to say.

"Give me the damned letter!" she roars again, snatching the letter from me. It's signed by this rando called Adriel Mann about how I have to go to Metanoia too. It's not surprising i got caught. Mr Garcia has been real careful with us since the Jovie incident. Plus, who wouldn't get suspicious of someone who'd been living for about 200 years? The old men will, of course.

She scans the letter and glares at me, her cat-like eyes begging for a different answer, her voice steely calm. "Please tell me this isn't true."

She tugs at my T-shirt. I suddenly want to go inside Metanoia.

"You're a creep, you know that, Alina?" I spit. Gosh dang it, where's my mood? "Aren't you supposed to be with, I dunno, Jovie?"

So I might have spoken Jov's name with a little too much disgust.

"She's gone," she says calmly. "Thanks to you. Now tell me."

She comes closer. And now she's inches close to my face, her breath against my skin. I can't help but shudder.

"I--" I click my tongue. "What do you want me to tell you?"

"I TOLD YOU FIVE SECONDS AGO!' she shrieks, this time really losing her shit. "Tell me this letter isn't real."

Tell her not everyone is a magician, not everyone is dangerous. yells a voice in me. Tell her to calm the fuck down.

I draw a shaky sigh. She is impossible, unmanipulatable...boring. "This isn't real. Happy now, bitcha-"

"-now tell me why you are here." Her voice is restrained with coldness, her eyes no longer giving a glow. Like after Jovie went there, she doesn't give a f*ck anymore.

"I--" But I snap myself shut when I'm about to answer. I'm much too sane for this.

I need to get her away from me, and I decide to use the harshest option.

Even though it might hurt a little.

"I'm a f*ckin immortal, you can't kill me." I huff. This is technically true. "Which means you're at my mercy, bitch."

I watch Alina's thin eyebrows shot up. "The hell do you mean?"

I can't hold my anger back anymore. "I mean business." I snap. "Now get lost."

She glares at me for a second.

"Shoo!"

And she bolts away. I watch her go.

She had once been the happy-go-lucky child, always playing with Jovie, who was alone without Tally Everhart. We had grown up together, drifted apart, and now...I hurt her. As her childhood friend. My gut wrenches, something I haven't done in a long time.

She's gone. I can't stop her.

I push the thought aside and push open the gates to Metanoia.

I look up at the very Victorian building with creaky doors. Reminds me of old times. I scratch its door and lick the dust.

"Get in here," The door slams open. "You a new magician?"

"Um, yeah."

I almost tumble when I catch myself and my eyes shot open. In front of me is a girl with the nametag Rowena, a woman in her 30s in a gown...

...and then I recongize those amber eyes. Those eyes which had glared at me before Mr Garcia barged in and ruined everything for all of us. Those teary eyes sprinting away from the building as fast as she could. Those must have made quite an impression in Alina's mind,

It's Jovie.