War is Near

A new carnival approached the city. My friends and I decided we were going to meet there by the Ferris wheel tomorrow. John said he would have to take care of his sister since his parents had dinner night, so I decided I would help him pay the babysitter. He texted his parents that agreed, but he would have to leave with them since they didn’t want him doing anything funny with her. Barely did they know. So we agreed that John and I would be the first to go there.  

John and I were at the carnival at 5 pm to meet with a few of our friends, when he got a text and said he was sorry, but he had to go back because the babysitter had to leave his little sister but he would try to get back. I was kinda bummed, but okay. Our friends wouldn't come for a few hours.

I started walking toward the rollercoaster. They had built this extremely quickly, so I didn’t know if it was safe, but whatever. I entered the line. I was looking at the lake near and blinked. It was night. Weird. I thought nothing of this, not until I noticed that there was no lake. There was snow on the floor, and I had never seen the clothes I was wearing. I went to a guy near me that appeared to work here and approached him.

“Hey man, I know it’s your day off, but you still need to wait in the line… What happened to your head?” After he said that, he started calling a guy named John on his walkie-talkie. I put my left hand on my head and when I noticed I was bleeding. I also had a ring. Weird.

“Honey, are you okay?” Wait, John? I turned my head too fast and passed out. When I woke up, I was in a hospital, with just a late-20s guy looking at me. 

“Hey, you woke up!” He came and hugged me. He looked and sounded like John, but he was older, so it couldn't be him. 

“Who are you? Where am I? Where are my parents?” I started pushing him away when I noticed he was wearing a similar wedding ring. I freaked out. When I was about to scream, the doctor came in.

“Hi, you have a concussion, but your ECT hasn't come back yet, so maybe the damage can be greater. We talked to your employer, and she said that you will stay in town for 5 more days, so we will keep you overnight for observation.” He then turned to the guy and said. “Your husband was lucky that he had you as a healer. Your magic stopped a more severe loss of blood.” 

“Wait, what do you mean by employer and husband? I’m only 18. And what is this nonsense about magic?” I tried to sit up, but I felt dizzy and fell. The doctor then approached me, grabbed a small lantern, and shined my eyes.

“What is the last thing you remember?” The doctor was looking worried at me, 

“I was in the line for the roller coaster after my boyfriend John left, waiting for my school friends to come, I blinked, and was in a different place, but in the line for the roller coaster.” I didn’t understand their reactions, but the guy was getting freaked out.

“That was 10 years ago, Matt. A lot has happened. Like, a lot.” He came over and hugged me again. Yeah, that was John, with his black curly hair, his dark skin tone, and those lips…

“If this memory loss lasts for over 24 hours, which I think it will, you probably will have a permanent memory loss.” The doctor left just me and John alone

He then talked to me about what happened. His parents had figured it out and planned the thing to confront him and try to get him to conversion therapy, but he ran out back to the carnival to meet me. We found the owner and got jobs there. My parents went along with this, so I still talked to them. We got married 6 years ago. 

He also told me we discovered we were witches when we escaped with the carnival. He was a healer, and I was a technopath. So that explains how I always made my cell work. 2 years ago a vampire appeared and revealed the existence of vampires, werewolves, witches, and Furcifers, which are guys who can hide in plain sight, disappearing even from the best trackers.

My parents got here in Albany from the Keys, where they had moved 3 years ago, the next day. It was weird, to say the least. For me, it was like I had talked to them in person yesterday, but it was last Thanksgiving, which was over a year ago.

The next day I was feeling better, so I got discharged. My parents went with me and John since they would leave that day. We got to the carnival and my parents stayed with us for a while and then John drove them to the airport. 

I knew I was to be inside the trailer all the time, but I peeked around. I went around and found this weird girl in miniskirts and a crop top. She was pale with black hair. She didn't look anywhere over 23, but because she wasn’t purple with the cold, I assume she was a vampire. How she was in the middle of the sun, I didn't know. Her phone rang, and she answered. I kept moving. 

I went in the direction of the carnival that was closed due to it still being midday, and some people who were setting up started waving at me. Weird. but I have been living here for a decade. 

I took a left turn and saw myself lost. I kept walking and the buzz that I was feeling stopped. And then it got back. I looked in that direction. There was nothing. What was the name of the guys who could disappear? Furcifers, right? I approached, looking in that direction. The buzz went quickly to the right. It was probably his phone. So I can feel peoples’ phones? Neat.

I turned back to try to go back when I saw a weird building. I entered, and it was a house of mirrors. I saw myself with my black hair a little bit longer, and the blue eyes looked deeper. The skin was still pale. I had dark circles all over my eyes.

I hated these things since I always got lost on them. I kept moving, with an arm in front of me to avoid collisions. I got into an area where I was surrounded by mirrors and a woman with olive skin, channel straight hair, a one-shoulder red dress, and a huge gold necklace. 

"Did the bitch curse you too, Matthew? You never get lost here." She looked kinda behind me while she talked. Then I noticed that her reflections were kind of fuzzy. Another vampire?

"No, I have amnesia. What did you do to get cursed?" I was curious but scared at the same time. She then proceeded to come closer and put her hands at my temples and locked eye contact with me.

"Not a spell, but a hard physical impact. Unless you find a really good healer, you will remain like this, hell, even if you find one. And to answer your question, I killed three werewolves, and almost caused a war inside here. I regret it, not because I got trapped here, but because what I did was wrong." She removed her hand and made a sign for me to follow her. I did and she took me to the entrance. There, an old lady dressed in maroon was waiting.

"Matthew, you should've been in your trailer resting. In 3 days we will be parting to Magique. Mehi, I set you free. We will need your help in the future." The old lady said, and the vampire got mad because it was still daytime, but the old lady dismissed her.

"There was a buzz randomly somewhere here. I think it was one of those people who can hide. Also, there was a girl on a crop top and miniskirt looking around. And how did you find me?" She was impressed by me noticing these things, and an almost grieving look took her face for a few seconds. 

"You would be a great asset in the war to come, but your recovery is more important. And the buzzing was the phone of one of our helpers who warned me. The girl I have no idea, but she has access to a witch to be walking in daylight. She may not be a foe in this instant, but it raises some concern." We kept walking and got to the trailer area.

"War against who? And where is Magique? And how can that vampire walk when it's in the middle of the day?" She looks at me happy with these questions.

"War against the United States of America. They are planning on passing laws that would make our lives extremely hard. Because a witch enchanted a memento of her life as a human and it is always connected with her. Mehi is almost 3,000 years old, so anything like that would probably deteriorate, or because of time, she would lose the emotional connection." We got to mine and John's trailer and entered. She started and started making coffee.

"About Magique, is a place in Oregon where 5 packs of werewolves decided to create a nation. So a few vampires and covens decided to move there and a few furcifers too. They took their companies there and it caused a huge influx of our people moving there. The last straw was when a nationwide coven called The Witches of Revolution went there, in October last year. Now we are in January and the new laws are about to get voted, and we need to pass the borders before." She said all of that, drank a mug of coffee and then opened the door. She turned to me:

"Get some rest. Tomorrow grab your grimoire and study it. We need all hands on deck." And left.