Chapter 40: Girlfriend

Zelda Dobinski

I hadn't planned on returning to the city any time soon, but the fact that I hadn't heard from Infinity in a long time had me worried. She hadn't called in weeks and I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that something wasn't right. What if she was hurt? What if something big was going on?

Spring break was a good enough reason to return home. It was just enough time that I could figure out what was going on, but not too much time that I would have to deal with anyone I wouldn't want to. As I traveled by train, I decided to give the Bone household a call, for Infinity's cellphone had been shut off. She had at least given me a warning about that, talking about how money was tight because Lyell was renovating their new home while he and Amy were away. Her grandmother picked up on the second ring. "Hello?" Her voice was as cheerful as ever, which was a relatively good sign.

"Hello, Mrs. Jones." I said awkwardly. "It's Zelda Dobinski. I wanted to know if Infinity was around?" It was spring break for the academy as well. They wouldn't have to go back until the following week.

"She hasn't been staying here, I'm afraid. Are you planning on coming back?" Maisie's voice was solemn. "If so, I would advise you not to. There are very wicked things going on, my dear."

"I'm already on the train." I was curious as to what could be happening. When I had left, things were starting to get bad and Infinity had kept me up to speed on a lot of things, such as Asa's betrayal, her father's awakening, Dagbert the Drowner and Miss Chrystal's true identity, but I had a sense that things were just getting worse. When Miss Chrystal awakened that enchanter, he brought with him a kind of evil that the city hadn't seen in a long time. I was willing to bet everything was out of even Ezekiel's skeletal hands now. "Where is she staying?"

"Piminy Street, which I do not like one bit, but she's staying at the kettle shop with a woman named Katya Kettle. She has been training her in return for Infinity's protection. She's most likely to be there."

"Thank you very much. I appreciate it." I said a quick goodbye and ended the call. While I had the feeling that things in the city were going to be bad, I felt that I had an obligation to be there. If Infinity was fighting instead of running, then it had to be serious. It was time for me to tap into some of my own courage and fight alongside her.

The train ride took an hour total and I was dropped off at a station about a mile from Piminy Street. It wasn't that nice of a day out, but I didn't have the extra cash for a taxi. As I walked through the streets of the city, it was obvious that the air there had changed. The magic was stronger and my anxiety was growing the closer I got. How could Infinity bear to live in such a place?

I turned down the ancient street. I was told that a thousand years ago, Borlath had single-handedly destroyed the city, engulfing it in a terrible blaze that had killed most of the inhabitants. Because most of the other magicians and powerful people of the city had lived on Piminy Street, they had used their combined magic to keep them safe. Aside from the ruins on the academy grounds, Piminy Street was the only thing that still stood from that time. Everything else had been rebuilt afterwards, including the cathedral.

Last I had heard, the street had been mostly abandoned but I could see lights on in many of the dilapidated buildings. The air was colder and heavier here and I knew that if anyone saw me, I would not be welcome.

The only building that gave any kind of semblance of warmth was the Kettle Shop. The door before me had a pale white glow to it and I felt drawn towards the rune that had been carved into the door. When I put my hand on it, I felt calm and welcome. I pressed my palm flat against the etching and pushed the door open. The gentle tingle of bells would alert the occupants of my presence.

For a kettle shop, there weren't very many kettles. But the ones that did adorn the bare shelves looked like they were carefully polished and handcrafted. The smell of metal and soot lingered in the air while a small lavender candle that burned on a lone wooden table tried to mask it. "Miss, I'm afraid my shop is closed. However did you get in?" The strong, deep voice of a woman that I couldn't see almost made me leap from my own skin. When I turned my head, I could see the metal, industrial looking door that she had come from. She had a crown of auburn curls and she wore overalls that were streaked with what looked like soot. She was a large and intimidating woman, but something about her also told me that she was kind.

"The door, it was unlocked." I murmured. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I'm looking for someone. I was told that my friend was living here? Her name is Infinity Bone."

"You're a friend of Infinity's?" She arched her brow at me. "I guess I have to believe you because you were able to get through the door, but I don't believe I have met you before."

"I attend college about an hour away. My name is Zelda."

"She's training at the moment, but since you've come all this way, I'm sure she'll welcome the break. Come." Katya Kettle waved me over with a muscular arm and lead me through the large metal door she had come from. Inside the room was a forge and beautiful shields and swords adorned the walls. "You'll have to come through here to get to my garden. Don't mind the mess."

"You're a blacksmith?" I stepped to avoid tripping on an anvil.

"Aye, I am." She opened the door to the garden and poked her head out gingerly. "Lower your sword." She called. "You have a visitor." She hesitated for a second before opening the door fully. When I stepped out into the practically bare garden, I was surprised to see some kind of training course.

"Who is it?" While I was able to recognize Infinity's voice, it held confidence that she didn't have before. I turned my head to get a better look at her and gasped audibly. No longer was the scrawny, frightened girl who drowned in her own anxiety and fear. The girl that stood before me was strong. She had focused hazel eyes and a confident grin. Her blonde hair was tied up into a cascading ponytail and she was coated in a layer of sweat. "Zelda?" She dropped her stance and my eyes fell to her bleeding and callused hands

"Hi." I said breathlessly. "I hadn't heard from you in a while and I've come to check on you."

"You…you shouldn't have come back. This is a dangerous place to be right now." She squeezed her hand shut and winced from the pain.

"Why don't you just heal those?" I asked her.

"Discipline." She shrugged. "I'm quite proud of them. They're a reminder of how far I have come and how hard I have been working." She held her hand away from her body and I watched as an impressive sword made of pure, beautiful light materialized itself in her hand. "I've been learning to expand my powers. Not only can I heal, I can use my energy to summon a weapon. This whole time, everyone told me I was a White Witch but I didn't know what it fully meant until recently."

"That's amazing. But what's going on? As soon as I stepped off the train I felt sick."

"Nothing good. Maybe we should go inside. It's not safe to talk out here." She ushered me back towards the door and asked if I would like to sit. Katya prepared us tea and a couple of sandwiches and took a seat in the third empty chair as Infinity began to catch me up on the things that had happened in the last month that I had missed.

I couldn't believe the dreadful things that had come from her mouth. I knew that the Bloors had done nasty things before, such as breaking up families, but lately, their tactics had amplified to the point that no one was safe anymore. Billy was trapped, Salem was gone, Tancred had been brought back from death and Manfred was treating Infinity very oddly. I found myself hating him even more than I did when I left. "Manfred has felt strongly about you since the moment you stepped into the academy." I admitted to her. "Asa and Salem shrugged it off as me being jealous and paranoid, but I knew better. He was interested in you and he hated himself for it. He has a lot of issues and honestly, he needs therapy. Salem had the means and the ability to help him, but he just sits back and watches. He was strong enough to stop all of this from the beginning."

"That's not fair." Infinity glared at me. "He has been through a lot too, and it's not exactly easy for him to control people. He almost caused a car accident trying to wipe my memories. Salem's endowment is very powerful, but that doesn't mean he can use it freely. It hurts him if he uses it too often for anything beyond simple telepathy. Honestly, he has been using it so much since I moved here that I suspect that it's the reason his tumor came back when it did."

I knew how strongly she felt about Salem, but something about him never sat well with me. No one that was raised by Harold and Ezekiel could be anything but cruel. The awkward silence in the room threatened to consume me and I began to wonder if it was a mistake coming back. "I don't know. I guess I've never really been a huge fan of Salem."

"He wasn't the greatest when we met. He sat back and watched all of this with what I honestly thought was amusement because he believed he was above all of this. Even after I got hurt. But Manfred went too far and it pushed Salem over the edge because I was just going to submit to it all. I thought that if I did what he wanted, he would let us all go. That's why we broke up and he left the city. Because I wasn't fighting hard enough for the people that deserved it."

"So to punish you, he just up and left you to fight for your own as some kind of motivator? I smell bullshit." I rubbed my temples. "I don't want to argue with you, I just want you to watch your back. I shouldn't have even left you in all of this." I glanced over at Katya that watched us with fascination. "I can retake this semester. I'm staying until this is over."

"Zel, that's fucking stupid-"

"I already watched you suffer once. I'm not going to do it again. I'm staying and that's final."

"What if Manfred finds out? He had no problem doing what he did to Asa."

"Then I'll send him flying to another country." I rolled my eyes. "You're not getting rid of me easily, Fin."

So it was settled. To keep my parents safe, I wasn't going to let anyone know I was back, especially not my cousins or my aunt. I would have to email all of my professors and see if there was a way for me to finish my courses online, but if there wasn't, I would take the hit. During the week while Infinity was at the academy, I would stay at the Kettle Shop and make sure Katya was safe in addition to Infinity's protection runes.

It felt good to spend time with Infinity again. The majority of our friendship had been spent with me talking to her while she lay comatose in a hospital and then communicating through instant messages, emails and phone calls when I started school, it felt amazing to have something tangible. While Beth and I had considered each other "best friends", it was just us sticking together because we both had telekinesis. With Infinity, there was substance. We had the same interests and genuinely enjoyed each other's company.

She was someone I could talk about just about anything with. We spent a lot of our nights doing the typical girl things that we never got to do growing up. I braided her hair, she painted my nails, I showed her how to do the make-up tricks I had learned online. I told her about Jack, a guy that I had started hanging out with that was in one of my classes and how I had a huge crush on him.

I hadn't fully realized how unhealthy my relationship and infatuation with Manfred was until Jack and I started hanging out, then eventually hooking up. As soon as I mentioned that I had hooked up with Jack, Infinity's face went the same shade of red as the lipstick I had just put on her. "What's that look for?" I asked her, trying not to let my smirk betray me.

"I slept with Salem." She blurted, covering her face.

I couldn't help but to laugh at her. She had been so awkward around Salem the summer I left. The fact that he could even get her to agree to having some kind of relationship with him surprised me. "Was anyone home? Did your grandmas find out?"

"Oh god, no." She groaned. "We didn't even do it at home… It was in his car. In the Academy parking lot."

"Fin!" I nudged her shoulder. "You could have gotten caught by a police officer or something!" I leaned closer. "You wouldn't know it looking at them because of their completely different lifestyles, but Manfred and Salem are identical. I wonder if that goes for like…everything? Was Salem big too?"

"Zelda! I didn't want to know that!" She scooted away from me as if I had some kind of infectious disease, but she resigned to answering my question anyway. "I don't really know about Salem. I didn't see it but it hurt really badly. But I think just about anything would have. I completely stonewalled him after it happened and locked myself in my room."

"It's nice to see that you're still a giant fucking mess under your sword fighting warrior façade. For a minute, I thought you were finally cooler than me."

"Jokes on you, you're still a massive dork." The blush cleared from her face and she smacked me hard with her pillow.

Every night until Infinity went back to the academy went like that and I almost forgot how shitty everything in the city would soon become. Before she left, I made her promise not to tell anyone I was back yet, not even Charlie. The less allies they knew about, the less likely I would be to "disappear" too.