Chapter 10

A knock on my door startles me. I wake to find myself on my living room floor, paper stuck to my face. Another knock. I pull the paper from my face and get up. Wiping the sleep from my eyes, I answer the door.

“Hi, can I help you with something?” I ask.

“I just want to check something real quick,” the lady says as she pokes my hand with a needle I hadn’t seen.

“Ow, what the hell, lady?”

“Just a minute,” she says as she puts a drop of my blood in a tube and begins to shake it.

“Look lady, I don’t know who you are or what you are doing, but if you don’t tell me now, I’m calling the police.” I say angrily.

“Just a moment, it’s almost finished.”

“It’s too early for this, I’m calling the police.”

“Now it’s ready. May I come in so we can speak?”

“Lady you just stole my blood, and now you want to come in? I don’t even know you!”

“Oh, sorry, sorry. I forget that in the human communities, no one knows me. I am Professor Mary Antigonus from Pinus Alba. Now may I come in to speak?”

“Wait, what? Human community? Because there is another kind? And I’ve never heard of Pinus Alba.”

“Well, if you let me in, I can tell you all about it.”

“Fine, come in,” I tell her.

“Thank you.”

She takes a look around and shakes her head. She motions for me to sit before she sits on the couch.

“You’re a witch,” she states matter of factly.

“I’m a what?”

“A witch. It is rare that we find one of our kind in the human communities. But here you are. You have just turned twenty-one and have begun to get your powers. You must have lots of questions. Shh, let me finish.” she says, when I try to interrupt. “So I needed to confirm you are a witch, that’s why I needed your blood. It also told me what kind of witch you are. You are a rare one indeed, a creator witch. I bet your parents put you in a human community to protect you.

About fifty years ago, the ruling witch, Sala, ordered the extermination of your kind. Some went into hiding, of course. But most of them were killed. See, Sala, was afraid that he would be killed by a creator witch. You probably don’t know what that is. A creator witch is very powerful. They can create things almost by wishing for them. It’s kind of like how an engineer draws out what he wants and then he makes it a reality. Of course that usually takes a lot of time.

Creator witches merely have to draw or sometimes just imagine something and then they can make it real in an instant. Like you did with that beautiful tree. Of course engineers use paper or computers when drawing, but your kind can draw in or on anything according to your particular powers. You have your fire creators, water creators, mind creators, earth creators, and the rarest light creators. Light creators were rare even before the extermination of your kind.

You would be the first creator witch that we have come across since the new ruler took over five years ago. Oh, don’t worry dear, the exterminations have stopped. See Samiya, our new ruler, she thought that was unjust and put a stop to it. I mean killing people because you're afraid of them, how ridiculous, right? Of course humans do that all the time, so it might not be a surprise to you.

And it turns out Sala was killed by a fire creator. Funny how that worked out. Just self-fulfilling prophecies and what not. It’s like with Oedipus. The king went to see the oracles, they said he would be killed by his son. So the king thought he would have his newborn son killed first. Anyways, you know the story. The kid survives, raised by some nice farmers. When Oedipus grows up he goes to see the oracles.

They tell him he will kill his father and marry his mother. He doesn’t like that and so he leaves home. On his travels, he kills the king and marries the queen. Now the way I see it, if the king had ignored those oracles, he would not have been killed by his son. Same with Sala. If he had ignored the seer, we would still have lots of creator witches and they would have had no reason to kill him, maybe.” She laughed.

“Whether your parents are still alive or not, we will see. Sala’s son, Rian, would have been ruling when you were born and he vowed revenge against creators. But Samiya is ruling now, so I have a feeling more creators will show up eventually. By the way, you will start aging slower now that you have your powers. So you will need to leave the human community. Yes, and come to Pinus Alba. You will meet witches of all kinds. There are so many first years this year. I am excited. Are you excited? Of course you are, who wouldn’t be. Would you be a dear, and fetch me a glass of water, please?”

I got up to get her a glass of water as she continued to talk. “You won’t need to bring anything except your clothing. It doesn’t cost anything, unlike these human schools. And the school is protected, only those who are allowed to be there can actually step foot on the grounds. All first years get their first runes, they are like tattoos.

The first rune you will get, will allow you to walk around campus without being killed. It’s a new rune every year, but they get recycled. We have nine runes associated with our school. The rune you get will be active until you graduate in nine years. Last year's graduates have already had theirs transformed to show they graduated from Pinus Alba.

They are no longer allowed on campus unless they get permission and are given a temporary rune, which only lasts long enough for their business to be concluded. Oh boy, look at the time. I must be getting back. It was nice speaking with you, once you let me in. I will be back tomorrow.” And she left before I could say anything. I thought she would never stop talking.

I look at the clock. I have to be at work in two hours. I throw some food in the microwave and jump in the shower. Once out of the shower, I get dressed and grab my food. I set it on the table while I looked for my shoes. I put them on then ate my food while I watched some tv. Afterwards, I brushed my teeth and headed to work.

Mr. Reese greeted me as always. I clocked in and got to work. I sprayed all the shoes with disinfectant, wiped down my counter, and then wiped down the empty tables. By the time I was done, families began arriving. I put the bumpers up on all the lanes they will be using and got them set up for Kids’ Night. Kids get a token for prizes for each strike they get. After I get families set up, I go to the back to get the light weight balls. I roll the two carts out with the five, eight, and ten pound balls. Kids rush over to pick their ball. I head back to my counter to help more customers.

I start thinking about the stuff that professor said earlier. I learned what I am, though I’m not sure I believe it. I just want to keep things the same. I’m not that great with change, to be honest. I got curious. I ducked behind the counter and tried to see if I could create something again. I didn’t work. I still have no idea how this power thing works. I’ll have to ask when the professor comes back tomorrow. Maybe I’ll actually make breakfast as well. I stand up to find a little boy standing in front of the counter.

“Excuse me, I got two strikes already. Can I get the tokens for them? I have been waiting for three months to have enough tokens and with these two more, I finally have enough.” The boy said.

“Sure kid. Here you go, I’ll open up the prize counter in just a minute, after I help the next customer, okay?”

“Okay!”

“How may I help you, sir?”

“I’m Debbie’s boyfriend, is she here?” He said.

“She’s working at the snack bar.”

“Thanks,” he said as he walked away.

I walked to the prize counter and helped the boy with his prize. He picked Uno Attack for twenty tokens. Then I went back to my counter.

At eleven o’clock, I began my closing ritual. I sprayed all the shoes with disinfectant, wiped down the tables, swept and mopped, and then counted out the draw. I handed the money over to Mr. Reese and clocked out.