You're weak. I don't need you anymore.

Taylor had run with tears in her eyes upon hearing those words. A betrayal and rejection from the one person that she had left. Without Emma, she was alone.

Her mother was dead. Her father might as well have been dead with how little he was involved with her life. And Emma, someone who she had thought was a sister…, it was all too much for her in the end.

So she ran and cried and cursed her very existence. Cursed the world for taking everything from her. Begged from someone, anyone, for salvation even though she knew deep down it would never come. It would've been nice if a benevolent god did exist, but in the end there was little use in hoping for that. In relying on such a supposed being. Her mother and by extension herself was never one much for religion after all.

It was only long after the sun had set and her tears had finally dried that she had finally realized her predicament. Alone at night in Brockton Bay, lost and without a cellphone. She did not need to be a genius to realize how much she had messed up.

*BANG!*

Taylor jumped and let out a shriek at the distant yet all too familiar sound of a gunshot in the distance. She had to find cover, somewhere safe to stay the night. Getting was a likely possibility but also probably not as worse as the alternatives. Everyone knew the rumors of what the ABB did to vulnerable girls and it wasn't a stretch to think that the other gangs in the city would be willing to do the same.

It was fortunate for her then that when she peaked around a corner she would find a store with its lights still lit.

Occultist

It was a small, rather worn down looking building. Almost a shack really, though the yard did look well maintained. There were a lot of strange trinkets hung across its roof and walls, and through the windows Taylor could see glimpses of even stranger objects within.

Taylor dug through her pockets. Hopefully a few crumpled dollars would be enough to buy something and be allowed to use the store's phone. Not that she expected her father to do much, but if he was too busy being depressed or working then she could at least Kurt or someone else in the Dockworker's Union to pick her up and get her home. There was also no way she could call Uncle Alan after Emma had all but tossed her aside for a new friend.

With nothing much else to lose Taylor approached the store and carefully opened the door. A pair of chimes rang as she pushed the door open, though the sound they made was rather strange. Not a varied clanking but one deep, loud, and resounding sound, like that of a bell. It was a sound that reverberated through her entire being and made her feel like her perspective had changed for just a brief moment. Like something had changed within her the second she crossed through the boundary.

Taylor shook her head as the sound faded.

Where did that come from? Whatever she was thinking, well it didn't matter anymore. She had just had to walk further into the store and find the owner.

The store itself was much more interesting inside than out. Its shelves were filled with all sorts of strange colored crystals, balls, and knickknacks. Most interesting of all were the bookshelves filled with books with worn and rugged looking covers of all sorts of materials. Some were written in English but many were written in a script that she didn't recognize though it did look ancient. Taylor really wanted to touch those books, to feel the covers, and open them off to decipher the contents within.

It was the sorta place that Mom would've loved actually…

"Oh. A pretty girl walked in!"

Taylor turned toward the counter and found herself looking at a surprisingly bright and cheerful looking girl. She was cute looking and small, though to be fair Taylor was much taller than most girls her age. She was dressed in a collared blouse and a long pink skirt, their bright coolers rather contrasting with the drab interior of the store. The most interesting thing about her were the three face piercings on the left side of her face that ended up suiting her.

"So what do you need Glasses?" the girl asked with pep in her voice. She had an interesting accent, so she probably wasn't born in the area.

"Um… hi." Taylor replied eloquently. She was never good with talking with strangers. Even if they were small and cute.

"Hi," Marina said with a smile on her face. She stood there seeming to wait for her to speak further.

"Do you work here?" Taylor decided to ask.

"I'm the owner, Marina. This is my shop. Is there anything you need from me?"

"You own this place?" Taylor asked, her eyes wide.

Marina rolled her eyes. "Yes I own this place. No I am not a child I am actually much older than I look. And no I'm not a local. I'm actually from Valland all the way in Europe before that damn Bright Lady went and wiped the country off the face of the continent. Or at least that's what I like to think happened, the reality of it… yea glad I was off elsewhere visiting an old friend when it happened."

"You're a refugee?" Taylor asked. It was easy to assume that the Bright Lady meant the Simurgh, whose attack on Europe was about half a year ago.

"I mean I was planning to leave. Lived there for a while, got bored, and decided to broaden my horizons a little. The Endbringer attack just moved my schedule up a little. No way I'm dealing with that."

"Oh um. That's good I guess. I'm sorry you lost your home."

Marina scoffed. "Lost my home a long time ago and good riddance. Just heading to where things are interesting now I guess. Would've tried someplace peaceful, but well no place is peaceful since Parahumans started popping up everywhere."

Taylor nodded. Yea Parahumans and Endbringers there really wasn't much peace anywhere in the world. "Things have gotten weird ever since Scion popped up. Parahumans are pretty cool though. I mean I really like Armsmaster and Alexandria." And there she was running off her mouth again. Marina seemed nice enough and with Emma no longer an option Taylor couldn't help but spill out most of what she had been holding in. "This is a pretty cool looking store though. It's very occulty and supernatural. Which is really hard to find since most of those things fell out of favor ever since Parahumans did show up. Not to say you're outdated or anything, I think it's cool that you're still selling stuff like this. It's like a piece of old history."

"Wow. Maybe I should call you Chatty instead," Marina commented.

"I'm sorry," Taylor said.

"Oh it's not a problem. It's cute actually. Didn't think I'd get a nice girl like you come into my store usually the sort of things I deal with tend to scare them off."

"Cute?" Taylor asked. It was the second time Marina had called her that. It was also the first someone outside of her family complimented her on her appearance. Emma was usually the one getting called beautiful when it had been the two of them.

"Yea. Don't you think so? Every girl should know they're cute."

"I'm just so tall and skinny. And my lips are really big." Taylor looked downwards and muttered the last part. "Also my chest is really small."

"Please, tall and skinny, that's a model look. And the lips just mean you're expressive. Also, how old are you?"

"Thirteen."

"See plenty of room to grow and develop. Also, wow. You are really tall for your age." Marina stepped out from behind the counter and quickly stood next to her. "Yep got several centimeters on me."

Taylor stepped back, not quite expecting this cute and petite girl to suddenly get so close like that. "Um thanks. How old are you?"

Marina gave her a cheeky smile. "It's a bit rude to ask a girl her age don't you think?"

"But… didn't you ask how old I was?"

"I did," Marina replied cheerfully as she stepped back and twirled back around. Her hair and skirt fluttered lightly in the breeze. "So, watcha buying? Plenty of stock here, noticed you were really interested in those books over there."

"Yea. They're just look so interesting." Taylor admitted. "I've never seen any books like those in the library or bookstore here."

Marina cheered. "Nice a fellow reader! Surprised how hard it is to find a person who likes a good book nowadays."

Taylor smiled, Marina's cheerful attitude having long since infected her. "Books are great aren't they?"

"They are. Really makes me mad that the Bright Lady had to go and destroy the Vatican too. Not that I wanted to go back and study there, but they had so many ancient books that are just lost now. It's a shame."

"You studied at the Vatican?" Taylor asked. Before the Simurgh the Vatican was a secular and strange place. There were plenty of travelers to the place and as many rumors to match but very little information actually left the place. And there really wasn't anything leftover to learn after the Endbringer attacked. "What was that place like? Was it true that they practiced all sorts of weird religions there?"

Marina frowned and crossed her arms. "It really isn't a good place at all." She shook her head. "I mean living there had always been interesting but after what I went through back in… let's just say that maybe the world is better off with that place wiped off the map. Some things I think deserved to be forgotten or hidden."

It seemed like a really sensitive subject for Marina, so Taylor decided to change the subject. "How much do those books cost?" Her hands once began to dig through the few dollars she had.

"For you? I'll let you borrow one for free. Just come back to return it in a few weeks and maybe buy another once you've gotten your allowance," Marina replied while looking at Taylor's pocket. "Also, you came in here for another reason right? No need to be scared I won't bite… that hard."

Wow. Marina was really perceptive. "Yea is there a landline I could use?" Taylor asked.

Marina tilted her head. "I mean there is a landline you could use, but couldn't you just ask for a cell phone? Even I have one. They're convenient and everyone's using them now."

"I… my family we don't really use cell phones," Taylor replied. She gulped, hoping Marina wouldn't inquire any further. Just holding one of those things after what happened to Mom…

Marina stared at her for a moment before using her thumb to point backwards. "Landline is down that hallway second door to the left. First door's the bathroom if you need it."

"Thanks," Taylor quickly ran off to the phone. It was in a rather quant looking kitchen with a kettle on a stove and a considerable selection of teas and coffees visible on a nearby counter. She was tempted to grab one of the former herself, some of them looked really good, but didn't want to impose upon her host. Instead she quickly made her call to Kurt and Lacey. They were quick to respond and even quicker to agree to pick her up once she had explained the situation to them.

In the end she would rather trust them than her father at this point.

As she made her way back to the storefront, she began to hear another voice that wasn't Marina's. A rather angry and gruff one at that. She moved quietly and peeked around the corner to observe the commotion.

It was a druggie. Worn and dirty clothes, marks all over his arms where he injected himself, and a very wiry body. His eyes were erratic and he held a knife in his hands that he pointed at the store owner.

"Open the register," the man demanded. Spittle flying all over.

Marina simply wiped the spit off her face in disgust. "Do you really think this is a good idea?"

"Can do what I want with a pretty girl like you." He reached for her face with a hand only for Marina to immediately back away in disgust. "Maybe take off that skirt of yours and we can work something else."

"No," Marina replied plainly. She glanced briefly at Taylor's direction but otherwise didn't do anything to notify the mugger of her presence. "And that's the last warning before things get bloody."

Taylor wasn't quite sure where Marina was getting this confidence from, but it definitely wasn't something she felt for the smaller girl herself. She had just been about to run off to the landline again when the man reached forward and grabbed Marina by the collar of her blouse.

"Bitch. You think you can tell me what to do!?"

Marina swung her hand down against the man's hand. He let out a primal scream as his hand was stuck against the nearby counter, a knife firmly embedded itself through the back of his hand and into the wood.

"GUAAaAGAGH! Fuck you-" he rose his free hand ready to stab with his knife only to freeze once he noticed the barrel of a pistol now pointed between his eyes.

"Drop the knife," Marina commanded, her voice now had a tone of steel and venom. A complete contrast to her previous demeanor and appearance.

The man complied, his blade clattering onto the floor of the shop.

"I am going to take the knife out now. You are going to walk away and never return. If you or any of your merchant friends do… Well, I don't think they'll be looking for you very hard. Would they?" Marina pulled out the knife letting the man shriek as his blood splattered all over the floor of the shop. He quickly ran out of the store, cupping his injury.

Taylor simply stood there almost transfixed by what she had just seen. The blood and violence disgusted her but the way that Marina had moved so swiftly and elegantly had transfixed her.

"Sorry you had to see that," Marina said as she began to wipe the blood off her knife with a cloth. Her gun she stuffed back into a holster that she kept underneath her blouse. "Oftentimes force is necessary for those that refuse to see reason."

"It's fine," Taylor replied as she stepped back into the store. "I'm just surprised you were so cool about that."

Marina smirked. "A lady needs to have a couple of ways to defend herself. You should learn a few tricks too. Brockton Bay is fine for me, rent is cheap and all that, but I think you should learn some self defense."

"I don't think it's legal for me to get a gun," Taylor replied. Now that she would ever one even if it was. It just seemed too dangerous for her to handle.

"Plenty of ways to defend yourself apart from a gun," Marina replied as she picked up the man's knife, took a quick look at it, and tossed it in the trash. "Not that though. Only thing worth anything from him was the blood."

"Blood?" Taylor asked.

"Oh nothing. Just going to get that cleaned up later," Marina waved her off.

"I can get a mop."

"No it's fine, I'll deal with it myself later. No need to bother a customer. Speaking of which." Marina took out a small slip of paper that she wrote on. Once she was finished she walked to a nearby bookshelf, grabbed a book with a strange musty leather cover, and handed both things to Taylor. "Try this out. A bit esoteric but the notes I've written down there should help you figure things out."

"What's it about?" Taylor asked.

"Oh just old European folklore and a bit of the occult. More entertainment than anything useful."

"I didn't think it was possible to do something useful with the occult. Especially since Parahumans kinda disproved or recontextualized most of that stuff," Taylor mouthed off only to cover her mouth once she remembered what sort of store she's in.

Marina simply snorted, in good humor. "At least you're honest. Still, somehow I've found a use for most of my skills even after all these years."

Taylor could only nod dumbly before the chimes in the store rang once more. She turned around to find Lacey already walking in her direction.

"Oh sweetie, I'm glad you're okay," the woman said as she gave Taylor a quick hug. "Danny and everyone else was so worried."

That was… nice to hear. It'd be nicer if her father was actually there to act like he did.

Lacey let go of Taylor and turned toward Marina. "Thank you for watching out for Taylor."

"You're welcome. If anything, I should thank her for coming. She's a very nice girl."

"She is. Everyone in the Docks loves her and her father."

Taylor had a very hard time believing that.

"Come on," Lacey gestured outside. "Kurt's waiting for us in the car outside. Don't want to stay out here for too long… also you're going to explain why you ran off alone like that after dark."

Dread immediately overtook Taylor. She was going to be in big trouble, wasn't she? All she could do was prepare herself for her fate, barely acknowledging the book she held in her hands until she had already gotten in Kurt's car and had been driven away.