Zak's Second Chance

Four

I eyed my diner uniform then the airplane tickets I was eyeing on my laptop. Do I want to go with them, or do I forget it and go to work? I took a deep breath then looked at the picture of Tiny and me on my nightstand.

"You'd tell me to go with them, Tiny." I whispered and looked at my issue. I took a deep, somewhat calming breath, then clicked the button to buy the tickets.
•~•
I held the tickets in my hand then walked towards the flight gate and saw the guys but Zak looked like a robber with his black hood up, his hat on under the hood, black sunglasses on, black sweatpants, and black sneakers. I shook my head then smirked and went over behind them, snatching his hat off and flipping it onto my head as he turned.

"Hmm, it seems either I have a big head or you have a small one. Either way, this fits perfectly." I said and the guys lit up as they saw me.

"Lina!" I laughed as they group hugged me but Zak stood back, making my eyebrow lift.

"Stupid, give me a hug if you want this back." Then he gave me a hug and I flipped the hat onto his head.

"Hmm, fits you better." I grinned and he laughed as he let me go and fixed it on his head.

"Why did you come here?" Jay asked and I eyed Zak.

"You didn't tell them?"

"Never really came up?" He offered and I rolled my eyes.

"Bank robber over here invited me the other day when he, apparently, rushed out for coffee." Then the guys eyed us.

"But, you two are cool, right?" Aaron asked and I smiled.

"Yeah, we're cool. We settled things." I smiled and Zak nodded.

"Good." Billy said then they called a flight.

"And that would be us." I laughed then we boarded the flight and got our seats. Coincidentally, I was two rows away from Aaron, five seats from Jay, one row from Billy, and three seats on the other side from Zak. When we took off though, I laid my head back and fell asleep.
•~•
"We're at the Gold Mine in northern California where over three hundred miners have died from five different collapses." Zak said but I hung back behind the cameras.

"And tonight we have a very special guest who is a very close friend of ours. Because there was black magic practiced in this mine, we have brought in the most famous light witch that we know, that you love to see, the sarcastic, the amazing, and the absolute best friend a human being could ever have: Evelina Nilsson." I smiled and went to him then he hugged me and I held his neck tightly.

"I'm so going to kill you later." I whispered and he nervously laughed but I shoved him away.

"Alright, get off me, hippo." I said and he looked offended.

"Okay, I take all that back!"

"Yeah right." I rolled my eyes then he sighed.

"Evelina, as I said a few seconds ago, black magic was practiced in these mine shafts. Is there anything you know about the magic that we don't?" He asked and I nodded.

"You do need to be careful because sometimes magic can hang around for decades, centuries, even a millennia after it has stopped being cast. So say these black magic users were here in the 1850s and 1860s, their magic may still be here within the walls of the mine shafts. If you do one thing that causes the magic to activate, it's a domino effect. That one wrong step will cause you to make more and more until the curse, whatever it may be, falls on you and not even a grand light witch can fully cleanse you until the caster of the spell cleanses you." He nodded and crossed his arms.

"So even if the magic users are long gone and haven't been here for decades, their magic is still active?" I nodded and tried to explain it better.

"It's like a hibernating bear. Even if it is asleep during the winter, if you mess with it, it'll wake up." He nodded and sighed.

"Do you have anything that may protect us?" Then I tried to think.

"I might but there's no guarantee it'll work." He nodded then we agreed I'd help them by giving them my magic ward crystals for the night. And as I drove back to the hotel, I prayed to the grand witch that they would be okay.