The world isn’t what it used to be. A long time ago, things seemed to be normal. At least, to the human eye. It used to be the humans were oblivious to what surrounded them. They had no idea that the world they knew would be no more. It was safe to say there weren’t many who did, not even the eight who were recruited to fight. Not until it was late in the battle. But it was an eye opener, for everyone involved, and the world changed… forever.

We hadn’t been in the city for long before we both got an itch to get out the house. It was for the best; we needed to do some job hunting. I knew we lived in the technology age; every business seemed to have a website, no matter how small. But it was those small businesses that seemed prone to hiring people new to the city. Besides, it served as an excuse to do a bit of sightseeing.

I dragged my brother into the small building that housed a bookstore. It was a relic; a lot of people simply downloaded their books for the most part. But for people like me, it was like walking into heaven. I was one of those who still preferred the smell of a good, old fashioned book.

Mason rolled his eyes but deep down, he enjoyed the feel of turning a page instead of swiping to the left or right. The old man at the counter looked at us for a moment, as though he was figuring out what we wanted. I noticed a small twitch or twinkle in his eyes before he gave a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Looking for something in particular?”

“Oh… not really. Just looking…” I answered.

“Let me know if you need anything, then.” he turned back to his own book without hesitation. I shrugged a bit before venturing off. I had a bit of money; if I saw something of interest, I would buy it.

After searching aimlessly, I found Mason in a small aisle, flipping through a book with a smirk on his face. I stood beside him and looked at the book: “List of Supernatural Beings”. I held in my laughter as I made my selection, an instruction book on how to read Tarot cards. For some reason, it peaked my interest, especially since it came with a deck of Tarot cards. I always wondered if I had “the gift”…

“You think all this is real, don’t you? I would’ve thought this shit would’ve been under fiction…”

“Of course, it’s real! Why would people spend so much time on research if it wasn’t?”

“Pfft; that doesn’t make it real…”

“It don’t make your daddy real…” I mumbled, an inside joke between the two of us. Mason, on cue, raised his eyebrows in shock.

“Yours, with his disco pimping ass,” it was his usual answer and we both laughed. “Seriously, sis, you really believe all this? That there are aliens and UFOs, a Loch Ness monster and Bigfoot? Ghosts and shit like that?”

“I can’t explain it but I do. I’ve always wanted to go on an expedition or whatever. Just to find the truth, you know?” I tried to concentrate more on the book in my hand. Mason snorted out a laugh.

“Then let’s do that, then. As soon as we come up with the ends, let’s bounce out of here! An expedition…” he shook his head.

“Oh, everything in this section is real. But, of all people, the two of you should know that… right?” a guy’s voice startled me. We turned around and I was expecting to see the guy from the counter. Instead, I was looking into dark brown eyes. The guy was around the same height as us but it was the way he looked that made me want to stop breathing; I tried to figure out in a good or bad way. He was handsome enough, with dark chocolate, smooth skin. It was the slight arch in his eyebrows that made me stare; it gave him a devilish look. The craziest thing was nothing screamed “danger” right off but it was weird.

“Uh… do we know you…?”

“Right. What you mean by ‘of all people’?” Mason questioned, his body stiffening. The guy’s full lips stretched into a smile as he gave us a curious look.

“You mean… oh, come on! There’s no way you two don’t know… this is some sort of joke, right?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. But the more you talk, the more you creep me out…” I backed away. Mason gave my shoulder a protective squeeze but glared at the guy, who threw his hands up defensively.

“I’m not here to cause any problems, believe me. I definitely didn’t mean to creep you out. Wow… you two seriously don’t know what you are. I,” the guy looked back at the counter and then back at us. “I don’t feel comfortable talking here…”

“That makes the three of us…” I mumbled and I saw that Mason nodded in agreement.

“I can explain better in private. Or at least… not here. Accept my apology by letting me treat you two to lunch.” unlike the man at the counter, when this guy smiled, it definitely reached his eyes. I didn’t know about this situation; it still creeped me out as I eyed him strangely.

“Man… I don’t know how ya’ll do things here but we ain’t into all that bisexual/incest bullshit!” Mason raised his voice. Instead of becoming offended, the guy laughed heartily.

“It’s nothing like that! I honestly don’t want to hurt either of you, let alone sleep with you. I just want to be your friend… and tutor.” he tried to reassure but didn’t take his eyes off me. I knew those looks. He didn’t want to sleep with me, my ass! Yet still, I was intrigued. I stopped concentrating on his eyes and thought about the tone of his voice. It had its own unique way of easing tension; he wasn’t really threatening. I went back to his eyes. He was the devil; he had to be. The way he looked was how I always imagined Satan would look at people, particularly when he wanted them to do something. Why was I on the verge of agreeing to this…?

Mason broke the hypnotic stare between the two of us by pulling me along with him.

“Excuse us for a sec…” he said and we went just outside. I glanced and saw that the guy still looked at us as though he was simply waiting patiently. “Why am I getting this sense of trust from him? Do you feel it, too…?”

“Yeah. I just wanna know why. A stranger comes in from nowhere, offends us; I mean, what does he mean by we don’t know what we are…? Fucking creepy…”

“I know. But, at the same time… he didn’t say ‘who’, he said ‘what’ we are. Like we’re different,” Mason looked as though he was deep in thought. “It sounds like he knows something that we don’t. I wanna find out.”

“I don’t know…”

“You read about this shit all the time, I know you do. What does this usually mean?”

“Well… usually what happens is that someone finds out that they have these locked away powers and have to save the world and all that. But… that’s fiction.”

“Thought you said you believed in all that.”

“I believe in aliens and witches and ghosts; that’s different! This… this is weird, Mase.”

“Come on, Morgan! Let’s indulge him. We get free food out of it, at worst. He can’t do nothing to us in some restaurant. And, even if he tries, it’s two against one: I’ll take those odds in my sleep!” he tried to reason. I still said nothing, thinking about the whole ordeal. Mason was right; the odds were against the guy if he wanted to try anything. He could try to poison us; but then, if we picked the restaurant, he wouldn’t have a chance to. And… free food was free food! The worst that could happen would be we found out the guy was a total crackpot!

Before I could make up my mind, the guy came out the book store and looked at us, his small smile never leaving him.

“Look, I know that you two are new in town and really aren’t used to such hospitality. She’s still unsure of everything and you won’t make a move until she’s comfortable,” he put his full attention on Mason but I stood there in shock; how the hell did he know that? “You have instilled some sort of trust in me and that’s a good start. I don’t want to toot my own horn but… I think you should go with that feeling. I’ll understand if you don’t take me up on my offer. Just so you know: if you don’t, you’ll miss out on the greatest experience of your lives.” he finished explaining. Mason and I exchanged looks. If it wasn’t sparked before, my interest was then! The greatest experience of our lives. Whoever this guy was, it was like he read our minds. It was a risk but if he was right, I didn’t want to miss out on something like that.

“No funny stuff!” Mason warned.

“That’s a promise.”

“And… we pick the restaurant, right?” I asked. The guy gave me another full smile and I blushed a little.

“Of course.”