and there shall be an age of darkness

[impetuous_force]

Bella is careful.

Bella is careful to go to the magic shop during lunch - not at night, not when her parents might notice her leaving home, not when her teachers might notice her skipping classes. She is careful to wear her crucifix, carry her holy water gun, keep her demon whistle ready to hand. She is careful to wrap her occult purchases in disguising packaging: chip bags, gym clothes, grocery totes. She is careful to restrict herself to spells that are necessary - whether "necessary" means for the result or for managing her mercifully limited dependence on the damn things is always carefully recorded in opaque code in her notebook, and if the ratio gets too low, she goes cold turkey outside dire emergencies for at least three days. This is uncomfortable, and it kills her class performance and her temper for those days, but she has to be careful. Her parents don't want her doing magic. They're afraid she'll get addicted. (Done.) They're afraid she'll get snapped up by the USADI, drafted into casting more than she can handle or things that shouldn't be cast at all. (Not done; and another reason to be careful.) They're afraid she'll get a spell wrong and hurt herself. (Not done; yet another reason to be... careful.)

She is confident that witchery has saved her life at least twice, possibly as many as four times; she's sure it's saved others more than that. A month ago she located the hiding place of the Gem of Amara, determined it ludicrously easy to find, and conjured it to her for safekeeping in Forks under considerably more sophisticated wards placed gradually over the course of weeks. (Not in the house; any vampire with a non-vampire demon friend could bypass that protection and she doesn't want to put her parents in harm's way. But in a house, because the protection is non-negligible; USADI experimental reports say that squatters count as living human residents, and she can get into the basement section of a consistently occupied old Victorian close to the city walls without bothering - or alerting - those who make it their hangout.) With this gem more securely stowed, it will at least take longer for some vampire or other to come across it, render themselves invincible, and slaughter an entire metropolitan area before USADI calls in something sufficiently heavy-duty to get around the damn thing.

She's looking into how to destroy it, but while Forks has the advantage of safety, it also has the disadvantage of a relatively cruddy magic shop. The Witchnook is capable of special-ordering things, albeit with a lag time of weeks or months, but Bella's not sure how far to trust the proprietor. She supposes her parents don't know she's a witch yet, so it can't be "not at all", but, well. She'll come up with some other books to order in the same batch, as cover.

Bella is careful when she goes out at night. She wears her cross, she carries her holy water gun and her demon whistle. She sets her alarm clock at maximum volume for fifteen minutes after she expects to be back, with a note taped to it for her parents, in case she runs into trouble. And usually she doesn't go out at night at all.

Tonight she needs a spell ingredient that cannot be out of doors during the daylight without losing its potency, though, so if she wants to get it home at all, she is going to have to spend ten minutes walking to the Witchnook, pay for her twilight powder, and spend ten minutes walking back.

Forks has walls.

She'll be okay.

She'll be careful.

Comments

[eversomuchfun]

"I wonder what they'll do with me then," he says dryly.

[impetuous_force]

"No idea." She starts setting up the slides for the observations.

[eversomuchfun]

'John' assists as much as is reasonable.

[impetuous_force]

Class proceeds. She needs to lay eyes on him regularly to be confident he's not eating people. She doesn't have to talk to him.

[eversomuchfun]

At some point during the lesson - it's hard to tell exactly when - a certain water gun appears among Bella's belongings.

[impetuous_force]

She looks at it.

She does not smack herself on the forehead.

She just tucks it onto her belt where it belongs, biting her lip.

[eversomuchfun]

Her lab partner smiles slightly.

[impetuous_force]

Of course he does.

Bella goes on with the assignment. She hasn't had time to check the USB key yet; she's going to have to go back to the house and fetch it after school. She does not know what to make of "John Escott" or "Sherlock Holmes" at all.

One of the laser pointers is tucked up her sleeve, clipped by its pen-cap-like protruberance to a rubber band there; the others are at home waiting for her to find new homes for them for reverse-engineering in case the plans are bust.

[eversomuchfun]

Class ends. Next up: lunch!

'John' inspects the food, complains theatrically, and then gets himself an apple juice "because it's harder to fuck it up when it comes in a bottle" and retires to a table to drink it, discouraging visitors with sarcasm and glaring.

[impetuous_force]

Bella sits at another table, not with Angela as usual but with some more casual friends. She's mildly entertained by the complaints; that's one way to handle it.

[eversomuchfun]

Apple juice and misanthropy for lunch it is! Two great tastes that taste great together.

[impetuous_force]

Pfff.

Mike is being annoyingly solicitous to Bella today. She deflects him, gently, as though oblivious; she's known him since kindergarten and she's accustomed to him, but that doesn't mean she wants to go to dinner and a movie without at least four of their other friends along to make it clearly a group thing.

Presently lunch is over and it's time for World History.

Then gym.

Bella doesn't have to swing through the locker room. She does gentle mat-related exercises in the corner; Ms. Finch knows better than to demand that she learn floor hockey.

[eversomuchfun]

By chance, the new student happens to have gym with her.

Ms. Finch takes one look at his outfit - the same rather flamboyant one from last night - and says, "You don't have gym clothes yet, do you."

"Correct," says 'John'.

Ms. Finch sighs. "Fine. You can go sit with Bella." She points. "And please get some gym clothes."

"As soon as I can," he assures her, and goes to sit with Bella.

[impetuous_force]

"Hello again." She leans to touch the toes on one outstretched leg.

[eversomuchfun]

"Here I am in tragic exile until such time as I obtain gym clothes," he agrees. "I suppose I'll have to get a job. Won't that be exciting."

[impetuous_force]

"Potentially. The USADI outpost is always hiring but I might die of irony."

[eversomuchfun]

He giggles. "You wouldn't be the only one. Besides, I'm sure they do more than wave a cross."

[impetuous_force]

"I imagine so. How did you get into town?"

[eversomuchfun]

"Oh, how most people do, of course. They waved crosses. I didn't flinch."

[impetuous_force]

Bella peers at the crucifix around her own neck. Everyone wears one. The worldwide adherence to Catholicism just about tripled over the course of the few years it took for vampires to be truly common knowledge, but the crosses and holy water work for everyone. "How'd you do that?"

[eversomuchfun]

"It is possible to train yourself out of the habit."

[impetuous_force]

"It must be staggeringly difficult, for the tests to be so reliable regardless."

[eversomuchfun]

"I have often been accused of excessive stubbornness."

[impetuous_force]

"Ah."

[eversomuchfun]

He shrugs.

"And that is the exciting story of how I entered the town."