Chapter 2
Credence's POV
"I'm more of a chaser, really," the man who Mary Lou had been speaking to for the past few minutes responded. The sun was high in the sky, slinking behind cloud cover. I offered a leaflet to a passerby, who shook his head and walked away. I watched as he flipped a dime to a homeless man sitting in the street.
"Hear my words and heed my warning, and laugh if you dare." Mary Lou cautioned. I lowered my head to the ground, knowing exactly what would come next.
"Witches live among us."
Who decided that something like magic should be persecuted?
I blinked. That question from a few days before still lingered in my head, winding around my brain like a snake trapping its prey. I couldn't stop thinking about it. More importantly, that man.
He hadn't said witchcraft, or sorcery, or any other synonyms that had been drilled into my head as dangerous or unholy.
Magic.
It seemed simpler, somehow. More innocent.
Fascinating.
"What do you say to that, friend?" Mary Lou called out, stirring me from my thoughts.
The man she was still addressing—the British one with the curly, sandy-colored hair—seemed distracted, though. Glancing around, he finally muttered a simple "Excuse me," before darting off inside the bank.
Lifting my head to scan the crowd, my eye was caught by a familiar face. Standing on the far end of the mass of people stood the mysterious man from a few days earlier. Looking straight at me, he pulled his right hand out from the pockets of his overcoat and raised it in a small wave, smiling at me before slipping away in the opposite direction and disappearing down a small alleyway.
I stared in that direction, feeling a small shock of deja vu run through me. I found my mouth twisting into a small smile, more than I felt I had in a long time.
Magic.
3rd Person POV
A boy of 21 years leaned against an alleyway wall, staring up at the sky above. He smiled.
He needed to meet that boy again, the Second Salemer. No matter what.
The air was deprived of energy today, dark or otherwise, which was a tad disappointing. But that was one of the last things on the boy's mind right now.
A few scattered individuals walked past the passageway the boy stood concealed in, none of them so much as glancing at him.
He almost laughed out loud, but instead turned away and dissolved into the shadows.