I didn't sleep at all that night, and first thing in the morning, I ran all the way back to the store, hoping that she'd be there. She was, smoking a cigarette, just like yesterday.

When I collapsed to my knees in front of her, gasping to regain my breath, she checked her watch. "Hey, I thought maybe you'd wait a bit longer. Seems you don't have much common sense after all."

I glowered at her, but was too busy trying to breathe to retort. Shaking her head, she crouched in front of me and grabbed my chin, turning my head this way and that as if inspecting me for injuries or something. "Good. You listened to me and lit the candle." She met my gaze, looking almost eager. "What'd you see?"

I thought back to those eery glowing eyes and shuddered. "Eyes in the window," I managed after a minute.

Her eyes widened. "Wow. That was close, kiddo. What, you forget about the candle?" My silence - rather sheepish - was answer enough. "Idiot."

"Am not!" I retorted, feeling stupid immediately afterward. "... I didn't exactly want to, either, but..." I frowned and glared at her. "What was that?"

"Probably a gremlin. They love magical magnets like you. Real yummy people. Mmm. Chocolate."

"You're insane."

"Hey, welcome to my world, kiddo."

I glared at her, then lowered my head and muttered. She didn't reply, so I raised my voice. "Thank you. For the candle. I..."

"It's fine." She flicked her cigarette, only to realize it'd burned down. Scowling, she tossed it away and pulled a pack out of her pocket, taking out another one and lighting it with a lighter that had a tiger - in silver stencil - on one side. "So what do they call you, kid?"

I glowered up at her. "Not 'kid', or 'kiddo'," I retorted. To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to tell her my name. Maybe she'd do something weird like cast a spell on me or something. Or turn me into a frog. Ick. "... my name's Sven, if you've gotta know. You?"

She was silent for a long time, tipping her head back to stare up at the sky. Then, in a soft, sad, hollow voice, she murmured, "Arana. They call me Arana."

Weird name... "Is that like, Latin or something?"

She dropped her head to look at me again and quirked a brow. "No."

"Then what is it?"

"What is Sven?"

"Russian."

"Right."

"It is."

"Okay."

"... you're trying to distract me."

"Is it working?"

I glowered at her. For some reason, I got the feeling she was laughing at me, and my ego was bruised because of it. Getting to my feet, I spun away. "What the fuck ever. Goodbye, Arana. Have a nice life," I snapped.

"Sven."

I don't know why, to this day, that I stopped. Life would be so much easier if I hadn't. If I'd just kept on going, walked away... But I didn't. I stopped, hearing her voice saying my name like that. Like she was warning me that turning my back on her was a bad idea. Or maybe she was silently telling me that turning my back on this - whatever this was - was the bad idea. Like if I walked away, I'd end up dead in a ditch somewhere or something equally gruesome and horrifying.

I stopped, and she went on. "Let me teach you. It is my penance. Please let me at least teach you how to defend yourself from these things?"

"Like gremlins," I said, still not looking at her. I was afraid that if I looked at her, this would all become real, rather than the bad dream I was seriously hoping it was.

"And worse."

I gulped. "There's worse?"

"Yes." Arana sighed, scuffing her bright green shoe on the ground. "Yes. Sven, you're one of 'worse', to be perfectly honest."

Finally, I turned and looked at her, confused. "I'm worse than a gremlin? I'm just a human," I protested (and if I were honest with myself, the thought that I was worse than an airplane-sabotaging fiend was sort of terrifying).

She nodded. "Yes, you are indeed very human." She seemed amused by something or other. "But you're more, as well. Not many are more nowadays. Too many of your kind have locked away their ability because they believe it is evil, Satanic."

I sputtered. "S-satanic? Seriously? So I'm like... like a..." I couldn't say it. There was no way I could say it (and she was crazy if she thought I was actually a... god, I couldn't even think it).

"A witch, Sven. You're a witch," she replied, completely nonplussed.

"Fuck." I sat down on the ground and stared up at her. "A witch? Aren't only women like that?"

Arana laughed. "No! It's a misconception. Warlocks are demons, not male witches. Witch is a general term for your kind, not just female." The scorn for said misconception was written clearly on her face, annoyance at humans in general for making such a mockery out of... witches.

I cringed. "... wow. I... wow." I got to my feet, shaking my head as I backed away from her. "No way. I'm not a... a witch. No. There's no such thing, I-"

"Then what did you see in the window?" she asked softly, cutting me off.

I didn't answer. Instead, I turned and ran.

xXx

Ellonah was home when I returned, shutting the door and locking everything there was to lock, then doing the same for all the windows. She just watched me, perplexed, until I went around a second time to make sure they were firmly locked.

"Sven, what is the matter with you?"

I yelped and spun away from one of the three kitchen windows to look at her. She'd been sitting at the table this entire time and I hadn't even noticed her. "Elly!" I said, glancing around. "... Uh... Hi. Breakfast?" I went to the freezer and pulled out Eggo Waffles.

"Sven!" she snapped, scowling.

I looked at her, wide-eyed, and then said, "Uh... what? You don't like waffles? I could make pancakes..."

"Sven, I'm going to deck you," she threatened, now glaring at me. "What the hell is your problem?"

I hung my head, quickly coming up with an explanation. "Well... Okay, I touched this one girl's butt, and now her boyfriend's after my head. And I'm not talking about the one on my shoulders."

Ellonah gaped at me, but then her face turned red with indignation. "Sven! What were you thinking? Oh, gods, what's going to happen? He's going to kill you and then I'll have a dead little-"

"Elly, I'm yanking your chain," I said, giving in. "Actually, I was just doing that to freak you out."

Silence. She looked like she couldn't decided to murder me now or in my sleep. I hoped she'd decide to do it in my sleep. I didn't want to feel it. Finally, after what seemed like forever, she slowly got up. And decked me. "Asshole!" she snapped and stomped into her room.

I hung my head. It wasn't like I could tell her that this weird voodoo girl told me that I'm actually a witch. Maybe she wouldn't be dragged along if she didn't know about Arana and gremlins and... witches. Maybe.