Caffeine and Magix

writing-prompt-s:

All your life, mythological beings have tried to pick you up. Childhood? Forced adoption. Teenagehood/Adulthood? Marriage. For example, selkies purposefully left their skins where you’d find them; banshees serenade you outside every night. Now at 30, you’ve learned why you attract them all…

A devil rescues you from the thing in the lake.

“They really didn’t mean to scare you,” the devil says, dusting her hands. She squints over the lake, cataloguing the ripples as the thing returns to the depths from which it came. “I think the language barrier got in the way. They didn’t know you don’t have gills.”

You are shaking so hard you can’t speak for a solid minute. You’d been strolling by the lake after your solo dinner when the thing emerged from the shallows. You didn’t expect there to be anything out here this far from any mountains with lore or cities with ghosts. So much for your vacation.

“Hey,” the devil says. She’s dressed in a sundress that’s too exposed for the chill this time of year. She makes sure it covers her knees when she squats next to you. “You okay?”

You burst into tears. “N-no!” Your teeth are chattering from getting drenched. “I don’t— I didn’t do anything to them, did I? To any of them? Why do they— why?” Your sobs steal your breath.

“Oh dear,” the devil says. She gathers you in resisting from the ground into her arms. She is smaller than you but shows no strain as she heads for the front door of your rental cabin. “Come in, let’s get you warmed up.”

You don’t fight even though you know her for what she is. As scared as you are, devils are the least frightening of what comes after you. They, at least, need your consent before they change the course of your life forever.

The devil sets you up with a steaming cup of tea and then busies herself warming the bath. “Should have been obvious of course,” she says as she works. “I can’t believe they’ve never seen a human before. I’m sure they’ll want to apologize before we leave. Maybe in the morning.”

Before we leave. The fire you’re sitting by is hot, but you’re still shivering when you ask, “We?”

The devil is flustered. “I mean, if you agree, of course. A proper deal.”

“Deal?”

“Bath first,” she says firmly, regaining her footing. She plucks the mug from your hands and hustles you to the bathroom. “Then questions.”

She leaves you alone to bathe. You wish she didn’t. You are… not okay. Besides the bruises flowering in your skin from the lake thing, you’re hurt deeper down. You just needed one weekend without an abduction or attack or marriage proposal and it wasn’t possible. This is your last straw.

Maybe, for the first time in your life, you’re ready to give in.

“I’ll go with you,” you say as soon as you open the door. The scent of herbs and potatoes hits your nose. The devil pauses in stirring home fries on the stove to stare at you. Your stomach growls, but you ignore it. “If…if you answer my questions.”

The devil bites her lip. “You’re very upset right now. Maybe you should sleep on this? I don’t want you to regret—“

You explode. “You think I can sleep? Every day of my life i spend on edge. Is this mushroom rings going to transport me underhill? Is my new coworker a vampire determined to make me his spouse? Will the banshee creeping outside my window try to steal me from my bed tonight or tomorrow night? Every day these people try to trick me or steal me or capture me and I— I can’t do it anymore. I just can’t do it anymore.”

So lost in your words you don’t notice when she comes to stand beside you. You do notice when, patting your shoulder, she shushes you and leads you to the couch.

“I know, I know, I can’t imagine. How hard it’s been! How sorry I am that no one’s explained…”

You sniffle. “Explained what?”

“This isn’t a deal,” she says. She bites her lip again. “I…well. You should know. Free information, no strings attached. An apology of sorts.”

You don’t care how many strings are attached. You just want to know. “Please.”

“It’s your soul,” she says. “It’s… every living thing has a soul. It shows what type of person you are. My soul is green. I was a doctor before I was a devil and green means that I’m a healer. Do you understand?”

You nod.

She gestures with her hands. “Humans are…special. There are the green ones and the orange ones and the yellow ones. All sorts of colors! All kinds of meanings! I’m partial to the red ones myself. The fighters. But humans aren’t just colors. Their souls sometimes show their futures.” She turns to look at you. Her eyes are a startling bright purple. “That’s why you’ve been through so much. Because of your future.”

Your heart is beating faster and faster. Your hands are sweating. You curl your hands into fists. “What is it then? Am I cursed? Will I have something they all want? All of these monsters? What could my future possibly hold that warrants all this?”

“It’s not what you have,” the devil hedges. “It’s what you’ll become.”

“And what is that?”

“A god,” she says, the words bursting from chest like a sigh. She lays her hands over your fists. “You’ll be a god.”

You think you’re going to throw up.

(To be continued but my 30 min are up)