Crumbs of a Plot: Day 8

Thursday 8^thNovember

“Ow.” Tasha mumbled as she awoke, her eyes opening on a scene that caused her some confusion. “Train.” She complained at the world in general as she slowly worked out where she was. She had fallen asleep, leaning against the window of a moving train. Her neck was stiff and her back ached, and yet she felt more refreshed than she had for a couple of days.

As she came to she remembered why she was on the aforementioned train. When Reika had pulled her out of the gang’s clubhouse, the pair of them had run for Tasha’s flat where they had packed everything Tasha did not want to lose, sent it to Reika’s storage unit using their Duel Monsters and left the rest behind for when the gang came looking for her. Then they had legged it, getting a train to the furthest safe point they could think of, getting the earliest available train in the process.

 Tasha blinked and looked around, seeking out the friend that had come with her. Reika had not had to come with her, but the other Duellist had done so anyway. Tasha was not sorry but she could not help but wonder where her friend had gone.

She stretched, wincing as her neck twinged, objecting to the angle it had been at since she had fallen asleep, and stood up. The carriage was pretty empty, only a few people were around, some of whom were fast asleep, just as she had been until a few moments ago. Reika was nowhere in sight though, causing Tasha to worry that her friend had changed her mind and gone home. There was no reason for the other girl to run after all, she had no links to the gang of Duellists and none of them had seen her.

She should not have worried, Reika re-entered the carriage, carrying two bottles of cola and looking amused. “Hey.” She nodded as she slid into the seat next to Tasha, “Finally woke up then.”

“Sorry.” Tasha looked sheepish, “Where are we?”

“Somewhere.” Reika replied helpfully, “Between somewhere in the middle of nowhere and somewhere else. It’s highly possible we might be in the lake district right now.”

“Maybe, it’s still rather dark out.” Tasha tried to look through the window, but there was not even a hint of the outside world yet.

“Tasha.” Reika chuckled with an amused tone that suggested that her friend was being a little slow, “We’re in a tunnel.”

Tasha blinked twice and then face palmed.  “Give me the caffeine, please?” She held out her other hand.

Reika chuckled and gave her a bottle before pulling out her laptop, getting it out of sleep mode and started writing.

“You’re obsessed.” Tasha snorted before chugging half of the cola, letting out a burp and then going bright red as she blushed in embarrassment, “Pardon me.”

“And you,” Reika chuckled, “Didn’t get any writing done yesterday.”

Tasha paused, cussed and then pulled her laptop out of her bag and started tapping away. Still laughing at Tasha’s reaction to the simple statement the only time they got distracted was as they came out of the tunnel and got to see the lake district in the light of the sun rising.

“Wow.” Tasha commented, watching the huge lakes go flying past as the train sped on down the tracks. “Just wow.”

“We could stop here.” Reika offered.

“We’ve paid to go much further.” Tasha sighed, before pausing and frowning slightly. “We’re idiots, by the way.”

“Why?” Reika looked confused.

“We can get our Duel Monsters to take objects anywhere, right?” Tasha asked, continuing when Reika nodded, “So it figures that they could take us anywhere right?” Reika nodded again. “So why are we on the train?”

“Uhhh...” Reika paused, thought about it then sighed, shaking her head as she did so, “Scenic route.”

“At least we know that it will be easy to get back here if we want to.” Tasha sighed, frustrated.

Reika did not reply to that, too busy feeling like an idiot for not thinking about just getting the Duel Monsters to take them anywhere they needed to go. Not that she was very good at summoning the beasts from her deck. Reika had much more talent with the magic and traps that were at her disposal than she had in calling the huge Guardian Beasts that resided within the card in the holster at her belt.

“Right, shutting up.” Tasha decided out loud, turning her attention back to the screen of her laptop and tapping away, trying not to voice her curiosity as to why Reika’s family had a holiday home in Cornwall. It was something she had been wondering for a while but she had decided she was not going to ask until they were safely there and ensorcelled away.

As they pulled into the station in question, they shouldered their backpacks, grabbed their suitcases and headed out, emerging onto a little backwater, unmanned station. “It’s just a few minutes from here.” Reika informed her, carrying her suitcase down the narrow corridor between the trees to the left of the road they had emerged onto.

“Where are we, exactly?” Tasha asked for the second time as they continued down the well hidden pathway. The trees shielded them from view but also hid everything else, giving Tasha no idea of where they were. She started to get nervous. Here she was, out in the middle of nowhere with a girl she had only met days before. If she had not been so desperately seeking a hideaway where she could be away from the gang and they would never find her, she would have asked a lot more questions as they emerged onto a small cottage overlooking a huge cliff and a gorgeous cove which led around to a small village.

“That,” Reika pointed to the cove below, “Is Sennen Cove and this,” She gestured to the cottage, “Is our family’s hideaway.”

“I...” Tasha gazed between the cottage and the cove and then moved her gaze to the girl who had brought her here, “How?”

“This is where my sordid little tale comes into it.” Reika sighed, “Maybe we should put our stuff inside and then I’ll explain.”

Ushering Tasha into the silent domicile, Reika hit the on switch on the radio by the door. Tasha jumped at the sudden noise and swiftly became confused by the announcements from the ‘Wizarding Wireless Network.’

“That’s unusual.” Tasha commented, confused as Reika showed her to her room. “Custom station?”

“My family’s a little unusual.” Reika replied with a small, pensive smile. “Like I said, I’ll explain once we’ve settled.”

“Okay.” Tasha nodded. As Reika slipped off to check the water, gas and electricity situation, Tasha examined her room carefully. The furniture was rather sparse, just a single bed, a chest of drawers, a wardrobe and a vanity table, but it was obviously old and very well made. Tasha could not help but wonder how Reika’s family had managed to get their hands on such old, beautiful furniture.

“Wizarding Wireless Network.” Tasha chuckled as she unpacked her stuff into the right places, “Quite an imagination. I mean I don’t believe in...” She froze as she realised what she was about to say.

‘I don’t believe in wand waving nonsense’ sounded ridiculous when she thought about CardCon and what had happened. Her hand went to the lower half of her right leg as she sat on the bed and realised that she was in the home of a real live witch. One who would not attempt to murder her horribly as the ones who had attacked the convention would have done.

“You’ve worked it out?” Reika asked, hovering nervously in the doorway.

“I... Do you have a wand?” Tasha could not help but be curious.

Reika paused for a second, confused, then smiled slightly and entered the room, pulling the object out of her jacket pocket and warily handing it over. “Eleven inches, rowan and dragon heartstring.” Reika explained.

“So... your family is...” Tasha said as she gave the wand an experimental  wave, looked upset when nothing happened and handed it back.

“Mum’s a Muggle, Dad’s a Wizard.” Reika accepted it, unsurprised by the inertness of the wand when held by another, “Bit of a shock for her when she found out.”

“I can imagine.” Tasha yelped.

“Laptops, garden?” Reika offered.

“More sordid life story.” Tasha poked her in the arm.

“Deal.” Reika agreed. “Though I do have one request.”

“Oh?” Tasha asked, wondering what it was as she grabbed her laptop from her bag and followed Reika outside.

“Don’t tell anyone?” Reika asked her, “Please? The Muggles aren’t very forgiving of witches and wizards right now. Shadow-Touched are getting the sympathy vote still, but other magicals...”

“I won’t. I promise.” Tasha promised. Reika led her out to the garden, which stretched as far as the edge of the cliff and had a fence surrounding it, in an attempt to prevent anyone from falling down the sheer face.  It was not a neatly kept garden, there were too many wild flowers that looked like they had joined the garden by themselves within the flower beds and a lack of regulation in the way the hedges had grown that suggested that the cottage was not somewhere that was visited often. They sat at a picnic bench near the edge that gave them an excellent view of the beach below and the village that was, at most, a few miles further along the sands.

“So...you’re a wizard?” Tasha asked Reika as they opened their laptops and settled.

“Witch.” Reika corrected absently, thinking about the food that needed to be gotten in and whether it would be easier to get a certain servant of the family to get it for her, “Guys are wizards, women are withes.”

“So, you’re a witch.” Tasha nodded her understanding, “Why don’t you live with other witches if ‘Muggles’ don’t like you very much?” She asked, slightly confused by the whole scenario.

“That’s where my story comes into it.” Reika sighed, “My Dad is a rather powerful wizard from a long line of wizards, what those who care about such things would call a ‘Pure-Blood.’ However his family were always rather progressive for Pure-Bloods and my dad fell in love with a Muggle woman he had met while spending time with his Muggle-Born friends.”

“Your mum.” Tasha realised.

Reika nodded, “There’s something you have to understand though, at the time my Mum and Dad met, there was a Dark Lord causing terror amongst the wizarding populace, the same Dark Lord who leads the terrorists who attacked CardCon and Domino over in Japan. “

“How old is he?” Tasha exclaimed.

“It’s complicated, let me explain my tale and you can ask questions afterwards. You might have less if you get the full story.” When Tasha pretended to zip her lips Reika continued, “Anyway, this Dark Lord rallied a lot of the Pure-Blood community to his cause and he wanted my Dad on his side. Of course Dad had fallen for Mum and was having none of it, so he hid among the Muggles. Gave up magic and focused on rebuilding his life with the money his parents had given his and his new wife. A decade after I was born, the Dark Lord made the mistake of attacking the Potter family and Harry, their son, somehow managed to defeat him at just a year old.”

“Something the parents did?” Tasha asked, unable to help herself.

“That’s the common thought.” Reika allowed, “Blood wards or something similar, very dark magic but it worked. Voldemort was destroyed and the wizarding world could rebuild itself. Just in time in fact because I had shown signs of magic, my Dad had had to come out of hiding so I could get training at Hogwarts, the prestigious school for magic up in Scotland and had started classes that September. With the Dark Lord dead the atmosphere in the school did a one eighty for the most part, though due to the influence of our headmaster who some people are sure is the only person the Dark Lord ever feared, it had been a safe zone for most of us.

Anyway, school life improved, I learnt magic, blah blah blah, I graduated with a bunch of OWLs and a few NEWTs, realised that even with the Dark Lord dead the wizarding world was full of morons with their heads up their rears and returned to the Muggle world and got myself a job as a secretary.”

“But if he was dead, how can he be back now?” Tasha wanted to know.

“No one knows.” Reika sighed. “We know he died when he attacked the Potters, but somehow his soul survived. Now he’s back from the dead and everyone’s running scared again.”

Tasha frowned, mulling the problem over in her mind. “Do you think he used the Shadows to do it?”

“Until the Pharaoh showed up, no one had ever heard of the Shadows, or Shadow Magic.” Reika shook her head.

“So you’re in hiding because this guy’s back and he’s attacking everyone again?” Tasha asked.

“He’s worse this time around.” Reika shook her head, “And that’s only part of the problem. The English Wizarding community doesn’t trust anyone who is Shadow-Touched very much. It’s partly because of what happened during Shadowmorn, partly the fault of the rumours that had come out of Hogwarts about soul stealing and murder attempts by Shadow wielders and mostly because of the blasted Daily Prophet.”

“Daily Prophet?” Tasha asked, confusion obvious in her features, “Is it a newspaper?”

“It’s the only newspaper since the man in charge of its only rival, The Quibbler, died.” Reika nodded, “And it’s controlled by the heavily Death Eater controlled government.”

“And we all know how much Death Eaters love Shadow-Touched.” Tasha face palmed with a groan. “So they’re printing propaganda against the Shadow-Touched and increasing the paranoia of the general populace and they’re reacting badly to anyone who might possibly have something weird about them.”

“You got it.” Reika was a little surprised by that.

“It’s not hard to work out.” Tasha sighed, “It’s happened lots of times in the course of history after all. Look at Hitler, after all. He’s the most famous example.”

“Who?” Reika blinked at her.

“World War Two.” Tasha snorted, “You don’t learn history in your crazy magic school?”

“Only Wizarding history.” Reika looked embarrassed, “And we had a ghost teaching it. He seemed to be obsessed with the Goblin Wars.”

“Oh yeay, a ghost on repeat, excellent way to learn things.” Tasha sighed, “Hitler led the Nazis. They believed that people with blonde hair and blue eyes were the Master Race and that everyone else was inferior. They thought they should rule the world to make humanity perfect and persecuted those who did not fit the plan. The ones who were worst off were the Jews,” Seeing Reika’s confusion she explained, “They’re a religious group. The Nazis issued so much propaganda against them because they generally had a lot of money and did not look how the Nazis thought humanity should look, that people were aiding and abetting the arrest and murder of a lot of them. Those who weren’t killed on the spot were taken to ‘Concentration Camps’ where they would work till death in despicable conditions or worse, be taken to the gas chambers and murdered on mass.”

“That’s horrible.” Reika looked stunned.

“We learnt about them in secondary school.” Tasha replied, “And it sounds like that’s what this Dark Lord wants to do to the Shadow-Touched.”

Reika fell silent and they wrote in the bright sunlight, the sounds of the wildlife around them the only noise except fingers on keys for a long while before Reika asked, “People wouldn’t let Vol... Him do that, would they?”

“When people are scared, they’re not at their best.” Tasha replied, wishing she could say otherwise, “And a lot of people will go with whatever makes life easier, no matter how bad it is. Remember most people are firmly of the opinion that ‘it’s okay as long as it doesn’t happen to me or mine.’ As long as they don’t had people like us in the family, they probably won’t stop him. There will be people who fight, there probably is already, but most will roll over and play dead. It’s how most people are.”

Silence fell again and Tasha watched Reika process this. Tasha did not like being honest about this but Reika had already obviously run into the problem first hand. “I take it you got chased out of London.”

“No.” Reika smiled bitterly, “But we got a warning from a friend of my father’s that we were going to get visited by some... not so nice... people who had heard that I was Shadow-Touched and we fled. We like living after all.” Reika’s gaze was sharp as she considered her friend, “You know all of the disappearances that have been happening? Where the skulls have been found floating over the houses afterwards?” Tasha nodded, “That’s the same guys.”

“So basically we’re screwed.” Tasha realised. “The magical government won’t stop them because they’re in the pockets of the ones behind it, and the mundane one can’t...”

“I know.” Reika nodded, “And this is why Mum and Dad let me bring you here. This place is heavily warded, repels Muggles and there’s no one who knows we own it.” She smirked slightly, “You have your gang to get away from, I have a civil war to try and ignore. This place, out in the middle of nowhere, should be perfect.”

It was, Tasha agreed. The peace and quiet bar the sounds of the waves below lapping against the sandy beach, the chirping birds in the trees and the wind was incredible, certainly more relaxing than home could ever have been. On the one hand she missed the low background chatter of the bakery. On the other she did miss the thought that at any minute her former friends could enter the bakery and cause everyone else a world of trouble.

“I should probably phone my parents.” Tasha realised, embarrassed when she realised she had not done so yet. “I mean I don’t think anyone has their number but I left stuff behind that means that if people look than they’ll find out where I came from and...what?” She trailed off as she realised Reika was staring at her.

“You can’t tell them where you are, you realise that, right? There’s no point in making this place a secret if you around telling everyone.” Reika growled.

“I... I’m not going to tell them where I am, just that I’ve gone away for a few days and I’ll give them a call when I’m on my way back.” Tasha had to pause to think about it, “At least that way they won’t worry if someone from the authorities goes and talks to them.”

“Fine, fine.” Reika grouched, “Just...”

“I’ll be careful.” Tasha promised, pulling her phone out of her pocket and switching it on, swiftly entering her parents’ phone number and hitting call. She got off of her seat and went and leant against the railings as the dial tone started going off.

“Tarrent Household, Jennifer speaking.” Tasha let out a relieved sigh when her mother picked up the phone on the other end.

“Hi Mum.” Tasha mentally grinned as she spoke.

“Tasha, hi.” Her mother sounded delighted, “How are you? How’s everything going?”

“Uhhh...” Tasha let out a nervous chuckle.

“Oh honey, not again.” Her mother sounded exasperated, “You promised me you were out of the gang business, I told you Duel Monsters was nothing but trouble.”

“It’s not the game’s fault Mum, it those idiots.” Tasha defended the card game though she could not help but start to wonder if her mother was right. “Anyway, a friend and I have gone on vacation, it was a bit last minute so I didn’t have time to tell you before hand.”

“Anywhere nice? It can’t be abroad, you left your passport here.” Her mother sounded intrigued.

“Just some seaside place, I just needed to get away, you know?” Tasha replied, “I just thought I’d let you know that I’d vanished for a while and there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Be careful.” Her mother requested, “You know we’d rather you were here than up there. Especially after...”

“I know.” Tasha cut her off, not wanting to get into a row about how she wanted to live on her own and have her own life instead of being coddled by her mother who was just concerned for her disabled daughter, “I’ll be fine Mum. And if I’m not, you’ll be the first person I come to, okay?”

“Alright.” Her mother was sceptical, it was unsurprising considering Tasha had said that before and had not done so. Her mother thought it was because Tasha was afraid her mother would get her committed again, like she had when Tasha had woken up from the Shadow Game, she could not know that it was actually because Tasha was afraid of telling her parents about her powers after the last time she had brought up the subject of magic around them. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Sure, Mum.” Tasha promised with a sigh. “Love you. Bye.” She put the phone down before her mother could respond and turned back to the table to find Reika watching her like a hawk. “See?” She demanded sharply, “I didn’t give our hiding place away.”

“No.” Reika allowed, “But that didn’t sound like a fun phone call.”

“My mother doesn’t believe in magic.” Tasha snorted, “She believes Shadowmorn was a publicity stunt gone wrong and the terrorists who attacked CardCon used some kind of hallucinogenic drug so people thought they were using magic.”

“Seriously?” Reika was incredulous, wondering how someone could refuse the proof of their own eyes quite that thoroughly.

“Those are just her saner theories.” Tasha nodded, slumping back into her seat, “But then she never did accept my story about the Shadow Game. She had me committed to an asylum until I stopped talking about it.” Tasha looked both frustrated and sad about that, “It took me a year or so, but I worked out the sooner I played along and pretended to stop hearing voices and talking about the game world I’d lived in for the past year, the sooner I could get home, so I just stopped talking to anyone.” She chuckled as she smiled at Reika, “You’re the first person I’ve had an honest conversation about all of this stuff with outside of the blasted Duelling Club for about eight years.”

“I’m honoured.” Reika smiled back, though she felt like kicking Tasha’s mother. She could understand where the woman had come from. It was not normal for someone to talk about hearing voices and game worlds that only she could see, but would it not have been better for Tasha to live in her own fantasy world than open up to the wrong people because there was no one else she could discuss her abilities and history with?

Still she was here and Tasha was here and they could discuss whatever they needed to with each other and even if they weirded each other out for a while at least they knew that the other person would not flee or abandon them to their troubles.

It was a strange thought, that they had only just met and already Reika knew more about Tasha than her parents did. The Half-Blood witch could not help but wonder why they had both opened up to each other so much over such a short period of time. It was not even like they had that much in common besides National Novel Writing Month, the need to find somewhere peaceful to write, being Shadow-Touched and a love of Duel Monsters. It was insane for Reika to suddenly decide she needed to drag the other girl, to a magical hideaway and show her part of her world.

And yet it felt right, trusting the once Muggle, now magical brunette with some of the secrets of her world. Trusting her to keep the secrets and not spread them around was a huge risk, but for some reason Reika felt it was the right one and she could not work out why.

Tasha felt much the same way about her secrets. Why she had suddenly, out of nowhere, decided that she could trust the Witch before her. She had not told many about her past, mostly due to the lessons she had learned in the asylum before her own lies had gotten her out of there. No one wanted to listen to what they believed was the ravings of a lunatic, even when she had been able to show off her powers to prove what she had been saying. Reika was the only one who she had ever told who had both believed her and not wanted to use her powers for their own gain. It was a weird feeling to have someone she could trust to be like that.

Tasha supposed that it was because Reika had her own abilities, ones that could probably do a lot more than hers could. Magic was not new to the half caste young woman in front of her. So she probably thought Tasha was weird but probably was not fazed by the possibilities that were presented. Tasha found herself curious as to what a school of magic could teach children.

“What was Hogwarts like?” Tasha asked, interrupting the writing process as she hit the twenty-one thousand mark and paused to check her notes as to what she was writing next.

“Hogwarts?” Reika blinked at her, confusion written all over her face. “You want to know about my school?”

“Yeah.” Tasha nodded, “It’s not every day I get to meet someone who went through a magical senior school. I mean it hasto be more interesting than my boring old, what was the word you used? Muggle?”

“That’s the official term for non-magicals, yes.” Reika nodded. “Though I don’t think you count.”

“I was born Muggle.” Tasha pointed out.

“And that still seems weird to me.” Reika complained under her breath.

“Why?” Tasha asked curiously.

“Well Muggles are Muggles.” Reika tried to explain it, “I mean...” She sighed, giving up on writing until she had explained properly. “Until Shadowmorn Muggles were Muggles and Wizards were Wizards. It was that simple. As far as we were concerned, everyone who had magic were Wizards and no non-Wizard was allowed to know about the Wizarding world.”

“And then the Shadows gave Muggles magic and everything changed.” Tasha got it.

“I mean I don’t know what would have happened in your case.” Reika nodded, “You were magical long before Shadowmorn, but people don’t like that Muggles suddenly have control over this powerful magic that’s obviously dark and is stronger than the magic we’ve hidden for over a thousand years. You’ve seen some of the fallout.”

“CardCon.” Tasha murmured, gaze falling back to the screen of her laptop.

“And Domino.” Reika nodded, “Though that one, I’m pretty certain, was meant to be a direct strike on Harry Potter and, in the same strike, the Pharaoh.”

“You mentioned Harry Potter before. Isn’t he the one who killed the Dark Lord as a baby?” Tasha asked, mulling it over in her mind.

“That’s right.” Reika nodded, “He’s been friends with the Pharaoh since they both started Hogwarts.”

“Umm, the Pharaoh’s only a year younger than us.” Tasha pointed out.

“I know, but he’s been going to Hogwarts.” Reika chuckled, “The Wizarding community isn’t large, things like this get around quickly. Besides where did you think he disappeared to for nine months of the year?”

“Huh.” Tasha blinked, “That makes so much sense. I suppose they just overlooked the age difference or something.”

“Rumour mill says De-aging Amulets that make him and his friends look the right age for school again.” Reika passed on with a giggle.

“Wizards can do that?” Tasha looked shocked. She grinned when Reika nodded, “I want one that makes me look this age forever.”

“I’m not sure I can do that but I’m sure there someone out there who would try.” Reika shrugged, “Anyway, you wanted to know about Hogwarts.”

“I did, yes. Details woman, details.” Tasha waved at her.

“Well, there are four houses...”

Crumbs of a Plot: Day 7

Wednesday 7^thNovember

The first thing Tasha noticed when she entered Crumbs at lunch time on Wednesday lunchtime was how loud the place was. Looking around it was not hard to work out why. There were a lot of people in their late teens to early twenties hanging around, most of whom looked like students and they were not exactly keeping it down. A lot of the regulars had fled and Tasha could not help but wonder if she would be better off finding another spot to write in for the day.

Deciding to risk it, she joined the queue and quickly checked to see if her table was available or whether she would have to try and squeeze in somewhere. It was free but before she could get through the queue, a group of people had come in together and one of them had sat at her table, reserving it for the group.

“Shit.” Tasha muttered under her breath as she noticed it happening.

“Busy today.” Morgan warned her, “You’re going to be hard pressed to find space.”

“I’ve noticed.” Tasha grouched, shoulders sinking, “Don’t suppose you know anywhere else round here that I could get away with writing all day in, do you?”

Morgan hummed as she thought, making up Tasha’s hot chocolate as she did so, “I think most places around here are going to be quite busy. The university near here doesn’t tend to have classes on a Wednesday, so the students tend to migrate into town.”

“Yeay.” Tasha deadpanned. “Guess I’ll head home then, can I get that to go?”

“Wait a sec,” Morgan held up a hand and then darted into the side room between the shop front and the kitchens, emerging a few seconds later with a grin on her face, “There’s no cake consultations booked today. If you want the booth, go ahead. Just be warned I’m going to direct other Wrimos there too so you’ll probably have to share.”

“I can play nice.” Tasha grinned at her, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Morgan chuckled back at her, amused by the sudden mood switch, “Here’s your order. Go enjoy.”

Tasha shot off into the little booth. The table inside had four seats around it, though it could easily fit more if necessary and was shielded from view by a set of dividers that could be moved around to prove maximum coverage with minimal effort. As she settled into the chair she felt safer than she had since yesterday when her former team mates had entered her sanctuary. Here she was hidden from view and she would not need to hide under the table if she heard them come in.

Not that she should have to feel like she was being hunted all the time, but it seemed that everywhere she went, one of the other club members turned up. She knew they were looking for her right now, but even when they had not been she had not been able to shift them. It was getting frustrating and she was seriously considering moving. Or she had been until she had met Reika. Now she did not want to move, she just wished she could actually find a place that she could escape to without having to worry.

It was harder to get lost in her writing with the events of yesterday in her mind. She was more than a little curious as to what had happened to drive Reika out of London. It had to have been bad for Reika and her family to move all the way up here. Not only that but Reika had not wanted to share. Tasha had thought her story was bad enough, Reika’s looked like it was worse.

She could not help but wonder if Reika had accidently set the Shadows on someone. It was possible, she knew it was. She had done it herself in one of her more desperate moments in the years since her recovery from Ryou’s Shadow Game. That did not mean that she had liked it when it had happened, or that it had happened without repercussions.

Plus she was fully aware of the dangers associated with being a Shadow-Touched or even just liking the game of Duel Monsters. She had lost her leg to the same terrorist group after all, who had invaded Japan, attacked Domino City and murdered thousands in cold blood. All of this painted a pretty grim picture of how bad it could have gotten in such a large city for one Shadow-Touched. There was no way, once she had been outed that it would have been safe for her to stay in the capital for long. Tahsa had gotten away with it purely because she had been careful with her powers and her Duelling Club had not said anything because some of them were Shadow-Touched too and they had wanted to use her extra powers for their own personal gain.

There was no use in revealing the goose that laid the golden eggs after all. Everyone would want a piece or worse would cut it up to get at the gold inside. Neither was productive for the Duelling Club and Tasha rather liked living. She had heard rumours of Shadow-Touched being arrested in other countries and never being seen again after all. It did not happen in Japan, mostly because the Shadow-Touched there were under the protection of the Pharaoh and the Japanese Government had apparently aligned themselves with him long before Shadowmorn, not that anyone had been aware of it before hand, not even the Pharaoh himself.

Here in England, the home of the terrorist threat that had done so much damage over the last few months, people did not just tend to disappear, there were threats delivered and then, if someone was either very lucky or very unlucky depending on the situation, they either came home to their house in flames and something called a ‘Dark Mark’ floating over their house, a skull with a snake emerging from its mouth, or they were discovered underneath such a mark, dead as a doornail.

It was part of the reason why Tasha had kept so quiet about her powers for so long. She had heard rumours of a place where Duellists could go where they would not be judged for their skills but as the people they were. She doubted the rumours were true, but it was something to think about on days when she just wanted to hide away from the world. She did not want to go crazy again and she had not been completely sane when she had first woken up. It had taken her a couple of years to get back to sanity in fact. Learning to walk on her prosthetic leg had been easy in comparison.

Sometimes to preserve her grip on her sanity, she had to get away from everything. That was why National Novel Writing Month was so important to her. She could use it as an excuse in order to get everyone to just leave her alone to get on with it. It was not exactly like she hated people but sometimes she just had to avoid them for a while.

Glancing at her work, she realised that as her thoughts had turned morose so had her writing. It was a good point for a down turn for her characters but she needed to shift her train of thoughts.

It jumped the rails completely as Julie slumped into the chair opposite her. Tasha immediately started to pack up. If Julie was here, the rest of the pack of baying hounds could not be far behind. Julie, however, just held up her hands in a manner that screamed ‘don’t shoot.’

“Tasha wait.” Julie pleaded, “I just need to talk to you.”

“It’s never just talk, Ju.” Tasha shook her head, “Not with you lot. Not since Brighton.”

Julie winced, remembering how the Duelling Club had gone to an international tournament in Brighton a few years back and there had been trouble caused by someone who had expected the King of Games to be there. Tasha had had to reveal her powers to them then and there had always been something they needed of the young woman ever since, even if it was as simple as asking the cards in their deck if they we willing to accept new members to their number.

“I know but there’s no one else who knows the Shadows like you do. Not anyone who we can go to anyway. It’s not like we have a direct line to the Pharaoh.” Julie sounded a little bitter, causing Tasha to pause.

“What’s happened?” Tasha asked, still packing and deciding she would have to call Reika to tell her that she would not be at Crumbs the next day if her Duelling Club had found her once again.

“Adam happened.” Julie grouched, causing Tasha to grimace. She had expected that whatever had gone wrong was because of the club’s leader. Adam did not have the best moral compass and anyone who followed him generally got dragged into something insane.

“What did he do this time?” Tasha could not help but ask, sinking back into her seat.

“He found this,” Julie slid a piece of a green gem across the table to Tasha, who picked it up and examined it carefully for a few moments. She could feel the power shifting in the glowing emerald green shard. She could feel her own powers shifting in response. She wanted that shard, more than that, she wanted the power that came with the shard, it would be hers...

Realising where her thoughts were going, she chucked the little green gem back across the table. “Destroy it.” Tasha glowered at the enticingly winking piece of gemstone. “I don’t care where Adam got it, or what he wants to do with it. Destroy it.”

“Already tried after Adam got all hopped up on whatever energy this damn thing gives off.” Julie put the gem stone away as if it was the most precious object in the world to her, causing Tasha’s eyes to narrow, “It’s not exactly easy.”

“It doesn’t look like you’re trying very hard.” Tasha commented sharply.

“No, true.” Julie allowed, “But we did when we first got them and realised what they could do.”

“Them? They?” Tasha demanded, wondering if she had gotten out at the best time, “There’s more than just this shard?”

“Uh huh.” Julie nodded, seemingly unphased by Tasha’s anger, “While we’re carrying them they boost our powers.”

“You’re using something you don’t know what it is, in order to power up abilities you don’t understand?” Tasha demanded, ignoring the fact that Julie was shushing her. “Are you all really that stupid?”

“Apparently.” Julie allowed the jab, though Tasha could read her like a book and see that she was getting hot under the collar, “There’s a hitch though.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Tasha snarked, having wondered when Julie would get to the point.

“Adam and Lina duelled, using the stones to boost their powers to the point where they were duelling with real monsters and real magic.” Julie explained, ignoring Tasha’s question about how hadn’t they been arrested for endangering lives yet, “Lina lost. Now she won’t wake up.”

“You...” Tasha took a deep breath. Held it. Counted to ten, then counted backwards from ten releasing her breath slowly and then and only then, when she could guarantee that she was not going to scream in Julie’s face, did she talk again. “You want me to help her.”

“Please?” Julie asked, no practically pleaded.

“That’s not Shadows.” Tasha stated pointedly, “It reacts with it, but it isn’t Shadows. I don’t even know if there’s anything I can do to fix it.”

“You have to try.” Julie told her pointedly, anger rising.

“I...” Tasha bit her tongue, trying to control her own steadily building rage. She had known this would happen. They would want something from her and they would prod and poke and cajole and accuse and rant until they got it. She had tried so many times since Brighton to get away from them, but she had never quite managed it and here they were again, expecting things of her. The Duelling Club had long ago turned from a group of friendly Duellists into a gang of Duellists who would do anything they wanted.  

“You’re the most powerful Shadow-Touched in the area, hell you’re probably the only person the Duel Monsters refer to as a Priestess in England unless the Court are stupid enough to have come over here. You’re the only one who can help.” And here was the guilt tripping.

“I... I’ll try.” Tasha sighed finally, “But on one condition.”

“What?” Julie looked less than amused.

“This is the last time.” Tasha told her, “No more chasing me, no more begging me to help with just one more issue. After this, I’m out.”

“Adam won’t like that.”

“Adam can go...” Tasha cut herself off midsentence. “It that or nothing. I refuse to be hounded out of my home and life by you lot. Either you let me help Lina and then leave me alone, or I refuse to help her and disappear off of the map.”

“You wouldn’t.” Julie snorted, “I know you, you’re better than that.”

“You used to be.” Tasha actually felt sad about the way her former friend had changed, just a few months ago she had been one of Tasha’s only allies at the Duelling Club, now she seemed as twisted as the rest of them, “What happened?”

“Well you see, a certain little Shade vanished and suddenly the rest of us had Adam breathing down our necks constantly. Those of us who couldn’t afford to move away had to change and adapt.” Julie growled, “It was either that or see what Adam could do when pissed.”

Tasha winced. She knew what Adam could do when ticked off. She had been one of the only members of the club who could handle him in a rage, purely because she frightened him. He could not control her or her powers, so he always pulled his temper with her. The last thing he had wanted to do was find out if she could create Shadow Games of her own.

“Anyway.” Julie sighed and stood up. “I’ll talk to the club, if you’re serious meet me at the old hangout.”

“Why isn’t she in hospital?” Tasha scowled, confused.

“Because then we’d have to explain what happened and the last thing we want is to attract the wrong sort of attention. After all you remember CardCon.” Julie’s eyes flickered to Tasha’s right leg causing the older of the pair to scowl.

“Go on. Shoo.” Tasha glowered, “I have a word target to hit before I get myself dragged into whatever the hell you lot are buried in.”

Julie just replied to her glower with a smirk. “See you later, Tasha.” With that she darted out of the enclosure. The moment she was gone Tasha sank into her seat and banged her head against the table, feeling the cold wooden surface against her skin, the temperate easing the headache she could feel coming on.

It screamed trap. There was no denying that. And she was letting herself be dragged back in after she had worked so hard to pull herself out. There was still the option of moving to another part of the United Kingdom and getting away from this madness. Well, in theory anyway. Her job was not transferable, so if she moved she would have to find a new job. Her skills were transferable at least, but did not want to be hounded out of her life here. Not after she had rebuilt it after CardCon.

“If they try anything while I’m around I’ll back you up.” Reika’s voice echoed in her head as she turned the whole scenario over in her mind, trying to work out what was the best way to cope. They would keep coming here, disturbing her and hounding her into finding a new hideout if she did not go, but if she did she was not entirely certain they would let her go again. Not if her departure had warped the gang this much, though she was certain that part of it was those blasted green stones.

She did not want to drag Reika into her problems and in truth she had not been around when Julie had entered Crumbs so Tasha had no real right to drag her into this, as much as she wanted backup when she went to check Lina over. And she would go and check on her, Tasha knew she would. She could not help herself. She wanted to both make sure Lina was alright and ensure that she found a way of preventing the Duelling Club from doing it to someone else.

Having felt the power of the stone, she was pretty certain she would not be able to break whatever grip it had on Lina, whether it was her soul, her mind or her body. It was stronger than her, she knew that. It scared her a little actually, to know that she was stronger than any member of the club and that one shard eclipsed her power completely.

It was another reason she was not sure about bringing Reika into her troubles. She might stand a chance, they wanted her among their number. Reika was an outsider, potential trouble. Tasha knew how Adam thought, he would not like an outsider at their old hangout, no way no how.

Perhaps she should just leave a message for her friend. At least that way, if she did not show up on Friday, Reika could get a missing persons alert put out. The club would have to let her go if the police were looking for her or there would be uproar and it would attract the sort of attention that Adam had worked so hard to avoid for the last couple of years. I.E. The attention of the law.

She hated that she was thinking like this. They had been good people. Some of them probably still were but where just frightened by Adam. It was possible she would go, be able to work out how to bypass whatever hold the green stone had on Lina, get her coherent again and then never be bothered by the club again. That was the best case scenario.

In the worst case scenario, she fought Adam or one of the others in order to escape after finding out that she could not help Lina and lost and whatever had happened to Lina happened to her.

Her common sense was screaming for her to run for the hills. As far away as possible and not look back. Possibly head for one of the places she knew was safe, like Borderlands, where the bouncers kept the club out, or get a train out to her parents’ house, where she could hide and no one would know where she was.

It was the sensible option, but there was always the next time, or the time after that. Or worse, the club could decide that she had a verbal agreement with them to come tonight, which technically she did, and when she broke it, they could cause more problems for her than they already were.

No, her options were go alone without a backup plan, take Reika in with her, or tell Reika where she was going and that she would see her on Friday. All of the options had pluses and minuses to them. She just had to work out which one was the best plan and she only had a few hours before Crumbs closed to make up her mind.

Any thoughts of writing long gone from her mind, Tasha leant back in her chair, tipping backwards so that it was only the hind legs of the chair touching the floor and tried to plan. She needed a backup plan. She had enough experience with the gang to know what the option of them leaving her alone afterwards was not even slightly going to happen. Adam would not allow it.

In theory she should phone the police, but then she would have to explain why she had known where a group of criminals, for that was what some of them were after some of the escapades that had occurred after she had gotten out, and had not reported them sooner. Or worse, Adam would make it sound like she was with them and drag her down with them.

She needed someone she could trust, someone who had their own powers. Really she needed someone stronger than her. Since there was no one she knew like that in the United Kingdom, she was left trying to work out the best way to get backup without endangering others or getting herself into trouble.

“Hey.” Tasha froze and the chair fell forward, as hands covered her eyes even as she recognised the voice speaking. “Guess who.”

“Reika.” The relief in her tone caused the hands to recede from her vision and made their owner slip into a seat next to her, a concerned look on her features.

“You alright?” Reika asked, worried.

“Yes.” Tasha nodded hastily, pausing when Reika gave her a disbelieving look.

“They came in again, didn’t they?” Reika asked, growling and looking around as best she could.

“I thought you were in work today.” Tasha tried to change the subject, still not entirely certain she wanted to drag Reika into her troubles.

“I was, finished about an hour ago.” Reika shrugged, “Thought I’d come by and see if you were still here. I didn’t expect you to be staring into empty space. What happened?”

“Julie came by.” Tasha sighed, “She needs my help with something.”

“You did tell her no, right?” Reika gained a scowl at Tasha’s sheepishness.

“I said that I would go this one time as long as this was the final time.” Tasha paused at the look on Reika’s face, “What?”

“You’re a moron. You realise that right?” Reika asked, scowling at her.

“I know.” Tasha let out a heavy sigh, pursing her lips as she did so, “But...”

“What do they have over you?” Reika demanded, “What could possibly keep pulling you back in? Because you told me the other day you wanted out, no, that you were out, and now you’re going to help them?”

“They were my friends. Some of them at least.” Tasha replied, looking down at the floor and scuffing her feet against the floor, “And...”

“What do you want me to do?”

Tasha’s head shot up at that, watching her friend carefully. Frustrated resignation was on Reika’s features, but the other young woman was watching her carefully, waiting for her orders.

“I don’t know.” Tasha admitted. “I don’t want to go alone, but I don’t want you in there either.”

“I could kidnap you if that helps.” Reika offered, “I know this nice little vacation spot where you could hide from them.”

“Heh. I wish.” Tasha snorted, her amusement plain, “I’d still have to come back here to get my stuff eventually.”

“Damn.” Reika sighed.

“Reika...” Tasha trailed off, visibly gathered her courage and then nodded, “I want you to stay out and wait for me. If I’m not out by morning and haven’t texted you, then get some help. Please?”

Reika obviously didn’t like the plan, but she did not say a word against it, just nodded and helped her gather the last of her scattered stuff together before they left. Reika still was not talking to her when Tasha left her to hover around and wait, making Tasha slightly nervous, but the brunette pushed it aside as she hovered by the doorway, waiting for Julie.

It did not take long for the other woman to show up. Tasha half suspected that she had been waiting for her. It would not have surprised her if she had. It was not like she knew what the gang got up to when they were not causing trouble, it was possible they had thought that she would be there much earlier. In the old days, before she had revealed her powers and even in the six months after, she had dropped everything whenever they had said that they needed help.

Nowadays however, she was too busy cussing the fact that they had found her again to rush anywhere.

The fact that Reika was out there, ready to call in backup if she needed it was reassuring as she followed Julie into the old clubhouse to find that a lot of the Duelling Club she had been avoiding for the last few months were hovering around. She could feel the power of the green, glowing stones pressing down on her as she moved amongst the glowering club members, trying to ignore the way her own powers rallied against it only to get flatted.

“You don’t look so good.” Adam said as she reached the inner door, smirking at her. Tasha felt dizzy, the weight of the magic pressing against her and the siren call of the green stone causing her head to spin.

“Your stones are hexed.” Tasha grouched, refusing to show weakness in front of the jackass.  “Where’s Lina?”

“Through here.” Adam stepped aside, gesturing for her to precede him.

“Did Julie pass on my message?” Tasha asked as she stepped through, the weight suddenly dropping off as she passed into the second room and moved to Lina’s side. The moment her power was not being suppressed she sent it weaving around Lina, causing her to sense the emptiness inside the girl’s shell. The body was breathing, but there was no spirit there. Her soul was gone.

“Yeah, yeah.” Adam waved off her question. “So what’s the problem?”

“How the hell did you steal her soul?” Tasha glared at Adam, suddenly a lot warier.

“I have her soul?” Adam asked, looking highly amused and considering the green stone on a chain around his neck.

“Yes, no, I don’t know where it is, but it’s not there!” She pointed at Lina. 

“Well, can you fix it?” Adam asked, “I mean you’re the Shadow Priestess, you’re the expert on crap like this, right?”

“I don’t know.” Tasha admitted, “The stones don’t use Shadow magic. I can try but I can’t make any promises.” She held out her hand, “Your stone, I want it.”

Adam scowled, “Julie had a stone for you, you threw it at her.”

“I don’t want it forever.” Tasha snapped back, mentally reminding herself that anything that had her ready to proclaim ‘my precious’ within seconds of her having her hand on it was a bad thing, “I just need your stone to see if Lina’s in there. If she’s not it’s possible I might be able to work out where she was sent by tracing the magicks.”

“Whatever.” Adam hesitated long enough for Tasha to realise that the same obsession that was trying to claim her had already hit Adam a long time ago and that he was not strong enough to resist it, then he glowered at her, “I’m watching you.” He snarled as he took off the necklace it was attached to and handed it over.

Tasha braced herself the moment she took the stone, just standing near it had been bad enough when there had been several pieces in one room, all resonating off of each other, actually holding it was another matter entirely. Her own magic was amplified by the glowing green crystal, the darkness multiplied by the echo in the gem. The green magic, for that was the only way she could describe it without a proper name for it, swirled with her own Shadows and suddenly she could understand why the Duelling Club were so reluctant to let go of the powerful shards.

Taking a deep breath and reminding herself that she did not have to accept the power of the shard, not when she was as powerful as she was on her own and when she had a friend waiting for her outside who probably would not be impressed if she got herself caught up in whatever this stuff was, she tried to seek out anything resembling a soul within the glowing green. She could sense malevolence within it and a power that drained light and amplified darkness, but there was no trace of Lina within the stone.

Pushing further did not yeld any answers either. There was a power sink within the stone that absorbed some of the power of the holder and fed it elsewhere but she could not cross its threshold with her powers alone and she refused to push too hard and risk her own soul. Not for this.

As she emerged from the sea of green, she found Adam was watching her with something akin to delight on his features. “What?” She demanded, shoving the necklace back at him.

The delight lingered as he looked her over, amusement rising as he said, “You look good with the Green in your eyes.”

Tasha frowned slightly, confused by his statement. “Take your damn pendant. There’s nothing I can do here.”

“What do you mean ‘there’s nothing you can do here’?” The delight and amusement fled as Adam snatched the pendant out of her hand, “You’re the expert.”

“In Shadows, not Green.” Tasha snarled back, “I can’t work against something I don’t know. Her soul isn’t in there anyway, it’s gone somewhere else. Probably to the same place all those souls lost during Shadowmorn went. I can’t help them either, remember?”

Adam let out a snarl, but acknowledged her point. Tasha had tried and tried to locate the souls of those who had fallen during the attack, but she could not reach souls that had been removed from their bodies so it made sense that she could not help here. That did not mean that he did not believe that she had a duty to try. Once a member of his gang, always a member of his gang in his mind. And they had to work together. “Take your damn stone.”

“No.” Tasha shook head, though it was harder to do so, “I’m leaving. I’m out, remember?”

“You’re never out.” Adam snapped, “You joined us, remember?”

“I joined you years ago! When this club used to be a decent, well respected Duelling society!” Shadows leapt as Tasha let go of her anger, the magic responding eagerly to her call when there was nothing to suppress it. “The agreement was that I would check Lina and then I would be left alone, remember?”

“That was the agreement you had with Julie, she had no right to agree that for the gang.” Adam snarled back, for once not backing down at the display of power, “You’re ours. You belong to us!” Shadows formed around him too, green swirling within the black mists. Tasha snarled, realising she was in for the fight of her life if he decided he was attacked her and reached for her deck.

And then suddenly he, the room, Lina’s soulless body and the maelstrom of magic that had been before her had vanished to be replaced by the slightly pale but ecstatic face of her friend. “I did it?” the half Asian girl seemed as shocked as Tasha felt as she slipped a Monster Recovery card back into her deck, “I did it!”

“You can tell me all about what you did when we get the hell out of here.” Tasha grabbed her friend’s arm and dragged her away. “Come on!”

Crumbs of a Plot: Day 6: The Day the Originality Died

OOPS SORRY GUYS, WHAT DISTRACTED ME AGAIN?!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday 6^thNovember

“Looking smart today.” Reika commented as Tasha slumped at the table they had shared for the last couple of days.

“Work tonight.” Tasha grouched, “I have to dress well. Part of the job description.”

“At least you get to wear sensible shoes.” Reika offered, trying to be reassuring.  

“Ha.” Tasha opened her backpack and revealed her work shoes, “These are what I’m wearing tonight. The trainers I have on now are what I normally wear.”

“Oh.” Reika grimaced as she took in what the shoes actually looked like, “You realise that in a zombie apocalypse those would be completely impractical right?”

“No, no, I could use them as a weapon.” Tasha pointed out with a chuckle, “See?” She indicated the heels, “Pointy.”

Reika just laughed, turning her attention back to her laptop. Taking that as the hint it was, Tasha joined her, taking her backpack off the table and leaving her laptop to boot up while she joined the rather short queue at the counter. Her phone vibrated as she steadily moved up the queue causing her to glower as she checked the caller I.D.

“Denied.” Tasha hissed, cutting off the incoming call from her former friends in the Duelling club. She didn’t want anything to do with them. Not after the explosive row she had had with them on the day she had graduated from university.

“Everything alright?” Jen asked as her sisters bustled around behind her, trying to find odd jobs to do.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Tasha shrugged it off before pausing and staring as she noticed Dee rearranging the counter. “I thought she got...”

Jen let out a nervous chuckle, “Yeah, then mum had a word with the pair of them. Steffan is the boss here, but our mum owns the bakery and...”

“Ah.” Tasha nodded her understanding, feeling sorry for Steffan. It could not be fun to be constantly undermined.

“She’s not allowed to take orders anymore though.” Jen confided in her with a small smile, “Mum did agree that was a bad idea.”

“Oh good.” Tasha looked relieved at that, trying to ignore the vibrating in her back pocket. Obviously they were desperate to reach her. Well she did not feel like reciprocating. She would phone back between leaving here and work but not before. She collected her order and darted back across to the corner table, where her laptop was finally fully booted up and Reika was lost in her novel.

It was not hard for Tasha to settle at her own keyboard and get going, pausing to semi-distractedly to take a sip of her drink and a bite of her cake, and she was about finished with her day’s goal when the door opened and voices she recognised but wished she did not floated in.

“Seriously, what did you do?” One of the girls entering the bakery asked the only male in the group. “Tasha never used to ignore her phone.”

“I didn’t...okay... you remember the day you guys came back to the clubhouse to find it wreaked?” The guy looked sheepish, gazing around the cafe section and causing Tasha to wheel around and attempt to bury herself in her laptop top. “That was her.”

“Seriously?” The other girl asked, “Why?”

“Because he was being a complete and utter moron and it was the only way to get through to him.” Tasha grumbled, just loud enough for Reika to hear her and look up, concerned confusion on her features.

“I wanted some help with an idiot idea.” The boy sounded as embarrassed as Tasha felt, “When I was... insistent, Tasha and I got into a fight and well...”

“She hasn’t spoken to us since.” The first girl sounded frustrated. “You’re a moron, you know that?”

“Yeah. I do.” The boy was embarrassed, “Still, we need her right now and...”

“Not here.” The second girl sounded sharp, Tasha could almost feel a gaze drilling into her back, the tension ramped up. Her hand twitched towards her deck in response to the power she could feel boiling near the counter. She glanced up and realised that Reika’s gaze had turned to the trio at the counter, her expression hard.

“I know, I know.” The boy said as they passed on their orders, “I just wish... she knew stuff, even before everything changed, you know?”

Tasha sank further and further under the table, wanting to avoid being spotted by her former team mates.

“Out.” The first girl ordered.

“What?” The boy yelped.

“We’ll bring your drink out, just shoo.” The first girl reiterated her order.

The door’s bell tinkled as the boy left again and Tasha relaxed slightly though she did not come up from where she was hidden until Reika murmured, “It’s safe to come out now.”

Tasha was embarrassed as she emerged from underneath the table. “Sorry.”

“I felt that.” Reika’s eyes flickered towards the door, “You want to talk about it?”

“I...not here.” Tasha shook her head, realising that Reika had a deck of Duel Monsters cards in her hands too, “It’s a long story.”

Reika smirked at her as she put her deck away, “I’ll protect you from the scary Duellists if we go for lunch.”

“They’re not scary.” Tasha protested, “I just...” She trailed off with a sigh, “Somewhere else. Not here. Please?”

“Sure, anywhere you fancy or is it back to McDonalds?” Reika asked, shutting her laptop and swiftly packing away her stuff, keeping an eye on the door as Tasha did the same.

“Sandwiches and the park?” Tasha asked, wanting to avoid talking about the subject where there would be a lot of people gathered.

“In November?” Reika blinked at her, then realisation hit her and she nodded, “Sure, I could go for a brisk walk.”

“Sorry.” Tasha was embarrassed as they exited the cafe.

“It’s fine.” Reika shrugged as they headed for the nearest Subway, “I’ve already long surpassed today’s target and you’ve got me intrigued now.”

“Heh.” Tasha let out a bitter chuckle. “This is going to sound mad. Just warning you.”

Reika watched her for a little bit, considering her companion carefully. The brunette, Caucasian woman honestly seemed to think she would not believe her.

“Tasha, you want to know why I moved away from London?” Reika asked her finally, causing Tasha to blink at her.

“You said your dad got a job up here.” Tasha was confused, wondering if Reika had lied to her the other day.

“He did, but he got it so he could move out of the area.” Reika sighed, seemed to gather up her courage and then spat it out as fast as she could, “I’m Shadow-Touched.”

“You’re...” Tasha paused, then felt a huge smile cross her features, “You are? That’s great!” She hugged her friend, then realised that Reika did not seem as happy about that as she was. “What’s wrong?” She asked as she let go.

“People back home weren’t as accepting as you.” Reika explained, “Not after Shadowmorn. It didn’t matter I’d helped to save people during it. I was Shadow-Touched, that meant people thought I could bring the problem back down on their heads and after CardCon...”

Tasha shivered, “I was at that convention.” She murmured to Reika, “It was horrible and I was one of the ones who could fight back.”

“Ouch.” Reika winced in appreciation. “You got out alright though?”

Tasha shook her head slightly, “Not quite.” She tapped her right leg below the knee, “Prosthetic.”

Reika blinked and looked down at the limb in question. From here she could not tell that Tasha’s leg was not real and she seemed so sturdy on it that it came as a surprise. “You’re...”

“I know. Kaiba Corp funded the medical care for anyone injured that needed specialist treatment and couldn’t get it quickly on the NHS, so I was given a prosthetic long before the NHS waiting line could have gotten me one.” Tasha had a small, proud smile on her face, “I need a walking stick when it’s playing up, but I surprised everyone with how well I’m coping.”

“I am too, it’s been what, three months?” Reika looked impressed, “And you had a falling out with your club because of your leg?”

“No,” Tasha shook her head, her proud smile fading, “I’d all but left long before that. I...” She sighed, “You’re Shadow-Touched, so you know the cards are all real. Every card that responds to a Duellist has a monster attached to it right?” She asked, becoming reassured when Reika nodded. “Well I was friends with this kid called Ryou when I was younger and got myself caught in what he called a Shadow Game.”

“Shadow Game?” Reika blinked at her, pausing as they bought their food and then starting again outside the shop, “You mean...”

Tasha nodded, “I lost. Got my soul stuck in a figurine from some tabletop RPG. Was there until the Pharaoh freed all the souls Ryou had in his collection.”

“You know, before Shadowmorn I’d have said you were crazy.” Reika snorted.

“I thought I was crazy for a long time.” Tasha assured her, “Especially after I started hearing things. Turned out that I could hear the Duel Monsters in people’s decks. I gave up duelling competitively after that, it seemed a little unfair.”

“I suppose I can understand that.” Reika nodded approvingly. “You still joined a Duelling club though.”

“I liked playing. I didn’t want to give up the game completely.” Tasha shrugged, “My ‘friends’ though wanted me to help them rig Duels by listening in to the conversations being held by peoples’ decks. I refused.”

“Lovely.” Reika grimaced. “Let me guess, that guy wanted you to help him do something else unsavoury when he realised your powers got a boost during Shadowmorn.”

“He wanted to rob a bank.” Reika laughed but Tasha was dead serious, “No, I’m not joking. I wish I was. I got into a fight with him over the fact he wanted to use his new powers to lord it over people. We wreaked the clubhouse.”

“Bloody hell!” Reika yelped, “Now I see why you were avoiding them.”

“Whatever trouble they want me to get them out of, they can bugger off because they’re bound to be in it because they did something ridiculous.” Tasha grouched.

“Well,” Reika looked thoughtful, “If they try anything while I’m around I’ll back you up.”

“You don’t need to.” Tasha shook her head, feeling guilty for dragging Reika into her problems. “I’m fine on my own. “

“I can tell.” Reika teased, “You did a very good job of hiding under the table.”

“Shush.” Tasha grouched, pretending not to still be embarrassed by that little incident. “I couldn’t think of any other way to hide at the time. I didn’t want to be spotted.”

“Oh I understand that.” Reika grinned, “But I’m pretty sure that they spotted you. At least the second girl did.”

“Julie was always on my side.” Tasha sighed, “She won’t give me away.”

“That’s good.” Reika looked relieved at that. She glanced around, noting that Tasha seemed really uncomfortable and wanting to change the subject, finally giving up and asking, “So what do you run?”

“Harpies.” Tasha looked embarrassed, “You know, the old retro Harpie ladies. I never saw a point in upgrading out of a deck that I would never use competitively.”

“No harm in that.” Reika allowed, “Though I would have thought that you get beaten quiet regularly.”

“Actually no.” Tasha shook her head, “If I combo my harpies with some of the newer winged beats creatures they do quite well, especially now that I have a few synchros around.” She looked sheepish, “You’re a Guardian Beast player. Sorry, I heard your deck. A couple of them were growling at my cards.”

Reika paused and then grinned back at her. “It’s okay. I’ve had my cards a rather long time too. I can’t hear them all the time like you but I swear they like me.”

“Oh they do.” Tasha reassured her with a return grin, “And being able to hear the beasts within the cards isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It can drive me mental. I mean they’re silent most of the time, because you know, the creatures are paying attention to what’s going on in their world, rather than ours, but when we get all het up, they come to the surface, just waiting to be called. That’s when it can get loud.”

“I’m surprised you don’t end up having to take painkillers at tournaments.” Reika shook her head, imagining the potential noise.

“I did. That was another reason I stopped going. I couldn’t put up with having to take a ridiculous amount of headache meds every time I went within twenty yards of any tournament.” Tasha chuckled, “Of course I handle it much better now, but I was like fourteen when I woke up from the Shadow Game. I couldn’t cope with it.”

“Ouch.” Reika hugged her friend, “At least you’ve got the knack now, right?”

“Yeap.” Tasha chirped happily, “And as long as I stay away from any morons like my old Duelling Club there won’t be any more issues.”

Reika slipped into silence as they turned a corner and found a wall to sit on, watching the few birds that were hardy or foolish enough to try and swim on the partly frozen lake in front of them swim around looking for a meal. She had wanted to know more about the reason Tasha had tried to hide, and now she knew. That reason would have freaked her out a few months back, but then she had changed since Shadowmorn. Freaking out because Tasha was touched by the Shadows was ridiculous when she had been too. She had been, in her eyes anyway, perfectly normal before the crisis had happened.

Now she was a freak, much like Tasha and it was a nice feeling, though a little bit of a selfish one, to know that there were people who were weirder than her. She had to wonder though, since her deck leader had told her that the Court were stronger than your average Shadow-Touched because they had been to the Shadow Realm before Shadowmorn, if Tasha was as strong as some of those, or whether she still had a long way to go to match any of them.

Not that she would want to do anything to cause a test of that. The Court were powerful, it was not advisable to get into a brawl with them. Besides, it did not matter how much you wanted to get into a fight with them, you did not want to bring the Pharaoh down on your head. She had heard the rumours of how powerful Yugi Mutou was and with the recent demise of his family, no one wanted to risk pissing him off.

“So... you know all about my sordid little tale of woe.” Tasha said finally, as she finished her sandwich and turned to look at Reika, “What’s your story?”

Reika considered the young woman before her. Tasha’s wavy brunette hair had come loose from its ponytail in places and there was honest curiosity in her slate grey eyes.

“Well,” Reika sighed, “You know I come from London and I’m Shadow-Touched, what else do you want to know?”

“What happened? I mean...” Tasha trailed off.

Reika stood up and offered Tasha a hand off of the wall, “Another day, okay? I don’t feel like talking about it today. Besides there isn’t much to tell. Pissed off the wrong person, got into trouble for it and had to skip town.”

“Reika...”

“No, Tasha.” The Asian woman shook her head, “Tomorrow. Or maybe Friday considering I’m in work for the next couple of days, but not today.”

“Okay.” Tasha allowed. “Shall we head back to Crumbs?” She asked, shivering slightly. “I want to get tomorrow’s count finished before work.”

“Sure.” Reika nodded, relieved to be changing the subject back to the nice safe topic of National Novel Writing Month. “You can’t be far off of that now.”

Small talk filled the gap between leaving the park an getting back to Crumbs, nothing heavy, no talk of their powers or back stories, just the quiet chatter of a pair of women who had found a mutual interest in something. Tactics and past experiences with silly mistakes and fateful cockups got them back to the bakery in plenty of time to snatch their table away from the pair of teenagers that looked like they were trying to skip school and wanted somewhere out of the way to do so.

The afternoon quiet was punctuated by only one minor event, they got to see a rather harassed husband come in around three in the afternoon and practically beg on his hands on knees for a speciality cake. Of course it was far, far too late to start from scratch, even when they had made the cake for the woman whose son had an allergy to the filling Dee had written down they had been lucky and had another red velvet cake on the go. He did manage to at least get them to ice some words onto one of the pre prepared cakes in the counter, but that was as much as they could do for the rather desperate young man who had fallen into his wife’s bad books because he had forgotten their anniversary.

When Crumbs closed for the day the pair of them went their separate ways, Tasha heading for work and Reika heading for home, but they did exchange phone numbers before they went so they had an easy way of contacting each other. Tasha found she was surprisingly upset when she realised that Reika would not be there for the next couple of days. She had found that she rather enjoyed the company of the other young woman, and it was rather nice to have a friend around who she could discuss anything with and she would not turn away or demand anything.

Still, she had only known Reika for a few days. She could cope with not having her friend around for a couple of days. At least she hoped she could. She was rather sad if she could not.