A Lesson in Magic (by Kit Bryan) novel Chapter 10

Lesson 10- Nap time is non–negotiable; everyone needs the

“Uhm… Can you repeat that?” I ask, staring up at Torin. He shrugs.

uty rest.

“You’re hired. I needed another bartender anyway. Catcher can’t work late nights half the time because he’s looking after his kid.” He explains. I frown.

“But I don’t even know how to mix drinks.” I point out. Torin stares at me.

“So? You didn’t know how to mix drinks tonight either and it worked out fine. Laura can teach you what you need to know later.” He decides, then he narrows his eyes at me slightly, making his usually scary expression flat out terrifying.

“But fair warning, this job isn’t going to magically make me trust you. If you think that you can guilt me into letting you leave by trying to do me a favour by covering for Laura tonight, you’re wrong.” He warns. I roll my eyes.

“I never thought that for a second. But you helped me out when I was attacked, so I figured I might as well help you out here. Also watching you behind the bar being ignored was physically painful for me. People are idiots. Besides, I can’t leave. What else am I going to do?” I point out, my smile dimming a little. Torin clears his throat and looks away. Hah, progress, he does feel bad about all of this.

“One more thing. Don’t stand in the way of someone trying to leave the bar ever again. Those two were harmless enough, but not everyone is. You could have gotten badly hurt.” He lectures me. Oddly enough, his lecture makes me smile again.

“Aww, are you worried about me? I’m sorry, I’ll be more careful next time. I’ll just yell at them and tell them that I’ll send big scary you after them. I bet that’ll make them behave.” I joke. Torin blinks at me.

“No one sends me anywhere.” He finally answers and I laugh.

“Sure they don’t. Why don’t you sit back down and have a drink while I finish cleaning up?” I suggest. He’s halfway back to his seat when he realises what he’s doing. He stops, turns on the spot and marches back to join me behind the bar where he starts helping with the cleanup. I try to hide my amusement, but I don’t think I’m doing a very good job. He’s acting like a little kid and is intentionally doing the exact opposite of what I told him to do. Well, at least he’s helping with the cleaning. It’s not super spacious back here so I squeeze past him to get to the little sink so I can wipe the bar down properly. I’m not great at pouring drinks and it is definitely a little sticky. I brush past Torin again to get back to the far side of the bar I’m cleaning, doing that weird blinking thing again. Seriously, it’s like everything I do confuses him. Considering I’m t supernatural drama, shouldn’t I be the one who gets all confused?

“Is something wrong?” I ask. Torin turns away from me and goes back to stacking the last few glasses.

“No. It’s just… We’re alone here.” He answers, weird thing to point out.

me he stops and watches as ing with all the crazy new

his voice is quiet. I freeze up. Uh, what? Is he like… Hitting on me or something? Because that is a super

“Okay… What about it?” I ask defensively. He doesn’t answer, just wanders away to lock up the front door. Yeah this is something we need to sort out. I clear my throat.

“Are you trying to make a move on me or something? Because you might be hot as hell, pun totally intended, but I barely know you. Plus you’re keeping me trapped here… Also if I agree to work for you then you would technically be my boss. So like, you seem nice and all, but no. Just no. Sorry…” I trail off. awkwardly. There’s a loud clanking as Torin actually drops his keys on the floor. He stares at me and I’ve apparently finally broken his poker face because his expression is a weird mix of confused and horrified. Abandoning his keys, he takes a few steps closer, but stays on the far side of the bar. He’s holding his hands up and walking slowly like he’s trying not to spook me.

3

“No, no… You’ve totally misunderstood. I didn’t mean… Ah shit.” He looks so completely stumped. Like he can’t quite get the words out. It’s the complete all those customers saw him like this they wouldn’t be nearly as scared of opposite of the serious and reserved attitude he’s demonstrated so far. I bet

him

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08:49 Mon, Dec 29 j

Lesson 10- Nap time is non–negotiable; everyone needs their beauty rest.

“All right, calm down. I didn’t mean to freak you out. I was just… You know what, never mind. Why don‘ sighs and sits down on the barstool across from me.

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me what you meant?” I encourage. He

“All I meant is that… Most people avoid being alone with me. I don’t think I’ve actually had a one on one conversation with anyone in years. You don’t seem all that bothered by it.” He is staring at the counter. He mutters something else under his breath, I’m not totally sure he means for me to hear it.

“Besides, I wouldn’t try anything on a woman who is probably traumatised… Not to mention exhausted.” He grumbles.

“Well… Thanks. And I told you already, I’m not scared of you. You literally saved my life. So I’ve decided to trust you, as long as you don’t do anything too stupid I’m going to try to give you the benefit of the doubt. Admittedly accusing you of hitting on me probably wasn’t the best way to demonstrate that… Sorry.” I apologise. Torin shakes his head

“No… It’s fine.” He answers shortly. He clears his throat and straightens up, then I watch as he plasters his usual poker face back on. Well, baby steps.

We finish cleaning in an awkward silence.

“So… Uh… Hey is there a reason everyone here paid in cash? I don’t think I’ve even used cash in forever. It’s just weird to me that so many people are using

it.” I point out.

“A lot of supernatural beings are distrusting of that kind of thing. Mostly because a lot of them live longer than the average human, so they remember what it was like not having much technology. They didn’t grow up with it. Apparently, change is hard.” He explains as he goes around turning out all the lights. Most of them appear to be candles or lanterns, but apparently there are a lot of strategically placed electric lights which has me grinning. Apparently the candles are mostly for the aesthetic and I love that. It’s actually starting to get bright outside. No wonder I’m so tired, my head feels heavy and my wrist is kind of hurting now. The injured one, not the one with the weird magic binding spell thing. He leads me to what is basically a dirty old store room.

“Sorry, I don’t really have a spare room here… I mean, it’s a bar… But there’s an old recliner in here that might be alright? We can sort it out better tomorrow.” He clears off junk from an old, but basically clean recliner. It’s not great, but it should be comfortable enough to sleep on. Particularly since I am so damn tired.

“It’s fine.” I answer optimistically. I think I can see a blanket somewhere too. I get the feeling that Torin has used this recliner to crash here in the past. I settle into the recliner, already kind of half asleep.

“You are… Not what I expected. You seem almost happy to be here. A lot of awful things happened to you today. I don’t understand why you aren’t more upset.” Torin points out. I shrug.

“That’s not exactly right. It’s more like I’m not especially UNhappy to be here. Besides, some good things happened too. I’m alive for starters, and I met some interesting people, made a couple friends. Things could be worse. Also I’m just far too tired to worry about it all right now. I’ll probably have a melt down later. So just be prepared for that I guess.” My words are said jokingly but I kind of mean it. I do feel okay now, but I don’t think it’s really all sunk in. But eventually this situation is going to start to actually feel real, and then we’re going to have problems.

3

“Well… I’m going home. I’ll be back tomorrow. Don’t try to leave.” Torin warns. I wave at him, too tired to even answer him properly. This has been the longest day.