"Carla—?" His eyes were fixed on the silhouette of his sister. He shivered, but forced himself to regain focus. "Carla!" he shouted.
As if snapping out of a trance, her strange look broke with the sounds of her brother's voice. She blinked and wiped her eyes. It did little to clear them from the dust and dim light of the cloud covered moon. An outline of a person in the distance caught her attention.
"Carlos?" she managed weakly. She began to cough, her eyes were stinging. As the haze settled, the silhouette of the person materialized as her brother wearing wide-eyes and a pale face. "W-what happened?" she asked.
For a moment, he didn't answer her. Instead, he just stood there, not sure what to do. They never used their names publicly while they were hunting for bounties, but given the scene, there was no one there to identity them. His eyebrows knitted together as he studied her.
"Do you remember anything?" His eyes narrowed. "You said and did some strange things...at least stranger than usual. You even said something about Ellis. Who the heck is that?" He paused to carefully study her bleeding hand and puzzled gaze. A red tear-like trail slid down her face. "Forget it, let's just go!"
Carla stood up and looked at the ground, stained with water. Chills crawled up her spine as she tried to recall what happened. She only remembered walking to the place she stood now, holding the tiny stone that warmed her hand. Something warm slide down her fingers, and she realized, her hand was the source of the liquid she thought was water.
Her immediate reaction was to try and remain as calm as possible. They needed the money; they could not back out now. As she began to walk to him, tension built in her muscles, causing her to stop halfway from where he stood.
Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! I can't move! She realized, panicking. There was no pain that stood out other than the pain in her hand. Carlos was beginning to walk towards her. A voice, a male's voice, silenced her nervous thoughts.
You're well, Carla. You found your bounty. Isn't it Wonderful? The voice commented smoothly. Then, the tension in her body stopped. As did the mysterious voice. Carla was confused. Sure, she had her moments of motivating herself in tough situations, but her internal thoughts never sounded like that.
In her current state of mind, one thing was certain to her. They needed money. So, she pushed back her imaginary sensations, and declared to Carlos that they will dig up their dead man.
Four days earlier, a birthday celebration was due for Ellis. Since she was unsure of the day of her real birthday, Ellis decided to choose her own. She decided to celebrate it on October 31, better known as El Dia de los Muertos or Halloween, as they called it in the Estados Unidos. Although Nadie naturally found her choice strange, she dismissed it as, Ellis being Ellis. She did notice that Ellis seemed to love the holiday's decorations of skulls.
Gifts Nadie gave in previous years were sometimes keepsakes themed with beautifully painted skulls. Ellis loved them; she told her that they were better than the skull keychain Nadie gave to her four years ago. Lucky for Nadie, they were easy to find around that time of the year.
This year's birthday, however, was even more special, seeing as Ellis would turn 18. Like previous years, Nadie decided to ask Ellis what she would cherish for her birthday. Ellis came up with an idea that left her speechless.
"I want to go visit the town at the edge of the Witch's Village."
Since their experience in that town, they lived their life on the road taking small gigs here and there. They almost settled in a small town, but Ellis suggested they keep their adventures on the road.
Exploring new places seemed to add to their happy memories. Somehow though, it reminded Ellis of old stories and places, too. She had always been easy going with gifts, so Nadie never expected her gift request to land them back in a town that awoke so many powerful memories. Back then, those memories were not the most pleasant, but they were all Ellis could remember.
"I never thought that we'd come back here." Nadie said, staring blankly at a bird sitting on a stop sign. Her brown hair was styled in a ponytail with a few loose curly strands swinging around her left eye. She wore skinny black jeans and a thin gray t-shirt.
"Me neither," replied Ellis, her round blue eyes slowly scanning the town. Her blonde hair was styled in a bob that hugged her face and brought attention to her eyes.
"You know, you never told me why you wanted to come here." Nadie pointed out.
"Because...it's because... I don't know. I don't know why I wanted to be here," Ellis said finally.
"That's fine. Sometimes people just want to revisit a place."
"Maybe…"
Walking in the heat of that old town reminded Nadie of four years ago, when they could hardly find gigs. They'd made a promise back then, Ellis would never use her powers, and she would never use her gun. That promise meant hunting bounties was out of the question. This agreement, although hard, had allowed them to live a peaceful life. Nadie didn't see the need to use a gun to protect herself nor Ellis, as they were no longer on the radar of people looking to weaponize Ellis.
Nadie never imagined that her life would lead her to a bounty she now considers family. Ellis, an artificial witch, was the only one of her kind left. She had mastered her powers and no longer was a threat to anyone. Nadie, orphaned by a fire in her village, turned to hunting bounties, seeing as she had nothing to lose. That was before she met Ellis.
At that moment, Nadie, the ex-bounty hunter, began to reconsider that promise. There were new businesses here and there, but the town was still a desert for gigs. Ellis asked someone if there was an Amigo Tacos restaurant nearby. It shouldn't have surprised Nadie that there was one just a few blocks away.
"Ellis, this town has really moved up." Nadie commented. She saw a dazed look on Ellis face. "I mean... it's developed."
When they got to the Amigo Tacos restaurant, it appeared as if the whole town was there. Nadie waited outside while Ellis decided to ask one of the waitresses about job openings. From the window, Nadie saw the waitress's smile turn into a frown as she shook her head.
"Great!" she stated clinching her teeth as she turned to lean against the window. "If there are no jobs even at Amigo Tacos..." Nadie mumbled to herself, but was stopped by the flapping movement of a bounty poster across the street. Not that they would go after anyone, but it couldn't hurt to look, right?
Guessing that it would take Ellis a few minutes to get out of the restaurant, she began walking toward her target. Since there was no traffic, she only had to slide between a few parked cars.
Suddenly, her foot collided with something hard. She felt herself trying to keep balance, an attempt turned to failure. Her foot was completely tangled to what felt like an ankle. Her body landed on the ground along with someone else, who landed right on top of her.
"Can't you watch where you're going!?" A sharp male's voice came from above her head.
"What kind of jerk runs into a gal and blames her?" Nadie found herself shouting back, her head a few inches from the ground. On most days, she would not let rudeness get to her. But today, it crashed into her.
She turned and saw the profile of his face outlined by the sun. His features came into focus slowly as he began to rise. He wore a confident frown, yet he held himself as if he were unfamiliar to the area. He dusted himself off without looking at Nadie.
Pushing herself from the ground, and saw his dirty pair of sneakers and stuffed, stone-washed jeans with a hole near his pocket. His tan shirt, buttoned just enough to show a peak of his upper chest, had no evidence of dust. Even so, he continued to search and sweep his hands across it.
Pushing herself from the ground, she felt a scratch on her knee. She had managed to scuff a hole in her jeans as well. Though she cursed mentally, she chose to only say out loud, "Great!"
Then, the guy that fell on her took her by surprise. He helped her get off the ground.
"Thank you." he said, looking directly into her eyes.
"I don't understand. What are you thanking me for?"
"I was giving you the response I was looking for after helping you off the ground. I already gave up on hearing an apology from you for tripping me." His light brown eyes narrowed with Nadie's hesitation. Then, he turned away, and walked inside the Amigo Tacos. Holding the door for a young girl, his face seemed to soften as she walked by him.
She turned to him, smiled, and said, "Thank you, sir." she chirped. He tilted his head, probably wondering why she would call him 'sir'.
"You're welcome, miss," he responded, returning the formality with a nod.
She then turned her attention to a ruffled Nadie. "Hey, what happen?"
"I wasn't paying attention and ran into someone," Nadie replied. She turned to see if he was still standing at the door, but it was already almost closed.
"Where were you going?" Ellis asked innocently.
"I saw an ad across the street, so I wanted to check to see if it was a potential gig," Nadie managed to say calmly.
"Let's go, then. They don't have anything at Amigo Tacos."
When they made it across the street, Nadie was relieved to find that the wanted poster was not the only ad there. "Looks like there's some help wanted at this bar," she said
"Nadie, look at this bounty!" exclaimed Ellis. She sounded surprised. Maybe she changed her mind about hunting bounties.
"Ellis, we agreed that we wouldn't run that kind of lifestyle. But...this town is a desert for gigs. So we may just have to—." Nadie said, only for Ellis to cut her off.
Ellis took Nadie's head and turned it to the wanted picture. They both stood silent for a moment, gazing at the bounty poster pinned against the board, wind blowing it sideways. A dry ball of brush rolled against Ellis's leg, causing her to look down. Nadie was broken out of her stupor by the sudden movement. Ellis then kicked the old ball away from her as Nadie returned her attention to the poster.
"What kind of joke is this?" Nadie shouted. "Don't they know not to waste people's time?" she took a deep breath, calming herself.
"Let's just get out of this heat, Ellis." Nadie said while wiping her head. "Why the heck is it so hot in October, anyway?"
"Maybe it's weather stuff like, El Niño." Ellis shrugged.
Hi. Thank you for reading this Fanfiction. I just want to say a special thanks to Alisontheperson for her awesome editing on the story. It took me a long time to post, but I'm hoping to get into a better flow. :)