It Might Kill Me

One

She was walking down a street she's never seen before in her life, even though she had been living in this town for years, something just wasn't right. The road was narrow and the store fronts were a little out of the ordinary. It had been a while since she had been in this part of the town but she still knew it well, at least she thought she did. She picked up her pace as she saw a tall man step out of a store in a black trench coat the blew out behind him. She couldn't see his face which made it all the more frightening. Looking over her shoulder she saw that he was following her and was starting to catch up. Breaking into a trot she checked again he did the same only it was much quicker than her feeble legs could carry her. "Shit," she cursed under her breath. He was on her with in seconds; except he did nothing threatening he simple placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Miss?" he said in a deep voice that was slightly accented with what could be a Scottish background. She stopped in her tracks almost tripping over her own feet but his hand steadied her.

"Yes?" she swallowed hard staring up at the tall man's face.

"What are you doing in this part of town?" he asked looking around.

"I ah, live here, well not here exactly but," she stammered.

"Where do you live?" he asked.

"On the other side of town," she replied. Her heart was racing and she was sure that he could hear it.

"Well did you know that this place is where prostitutes roam? Now such a pretty young girl such as you isn't selling her body now is she?" he asked a little worried. The features on his face were so strange from what she was used to seeing. A long straight nose stuck out from between two piercing brown eyes.

"No, no of course not, I'm far from that, I was just…" she trailed off as he pressed a finger to her lips.

"No need to explain, go on you walk up a head I'll trail behind just hurry on home," he said.

"That's the thing, I don't exactly remember this street ever being here," she replied.

" So you don't know how to get home?" he asked.

"No, I don't even know how I got here," she answered.

"Come, you look cold I'll take you back to my place for a minute and you can call your mom, it's safer there than in this bloody street," he said pushing gently yet firmly between her shoulders telling her to move on. Sure enough a few odd looking people reared their ugly heads from the shadows. He led her to a large white building with several confusing fire escapes crossing over the one wall. The man reached up and pulled one of the ladder's down. "You first," she clambered up the ladder to the first landing. The tall man followed. They continued up the fire escape until they reached the very top door. He took out a key and unlocked it and went inside beckoning for her to follow him.

"Why did you bring me here?" she asked.

"It was just a matter of time before they attacked you," he replied. She didn't understand this at all and was starting to get a little scared as to what was going on and why he had brought her to his house.

"What's you're name?" she asked.

"Samuel Morvant, but that's not too important and what about you?" he asked pulling the trench coat off to reveal a black dress shirt and black jeans. The hood came off and revealed shoulder length red hair and a square jaw.

"I'm Penelope Benson," she replied looking around her. The room was dimly lit and she couldn't make out any comprehensible object at all.

"That's a pretty name," he smiled at her. There was a long silence as he looked into her face, Penelope quickly turned her head and looked around the room trying to see if she could make out where she was before his piercing gaze became too much more awkward than it already was.

"You don't know me, but I'm almost sure I know who you are," he sat down on a bucket that was stationed at a small round table. She found another bucket and sat down across from him. "You might be thinking that we've never met until just now. Well you are wrong, we've met a long time ago."

"No we haven't," she stared at him with disbelief.

"Oh yes we have, you were nothing but a wee lass," Penelope cocked an eyebrow at him. He was clearly Scottish in some sense.

"Okay that still doesn't explain why I'm here or why you just grabbed me off the street technically this is still considered kidnapping," she replied.

"Yes, I suppose I should explain myself," he straightened himself. "I knew you grandmother. You may not remember her, as you were only two when she went missing. She was my teacher, but she was no ordinary teacher Penelope. She taught magic, the kind of magic you only hear about in stories." He snapped his fingers and a flame ignited on his finger tip. Penelope gasped at the sight. " Your grandmother taught me this. Now you may think you are merely a mortal. You're family has a secret, and this secret has to be kept a secret. Do you want to know why?" he continued. Penelope merely nodded. "If the secret escapes then you and your families fate is doomed. Just recently I have found the truth about what happened to your dear grandmother. There is a guild of bad people out there, they walk among these streets, you are just lucky that I found you before they did."

"What about my mom or dad? Are they just like me?" she asked.

"You Father is like you and your grandmother. Now please listen carefully, I'm going to call your mother, and when she comes to get you, please go with her. This is my number," he snapped his fingers again and a card with a number written on it appeared. "Please call me if you need to, but never return to this street again by yourself. Also if you end up trying to find out more about your grandmother, please be careful who you talk to. If you want to please, please contact me first! Do you hear?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"That's a good lass," he stood and went into the dark. Penelope assumed that he went to a phone. As she sat in the dim ring of light she began to wonder about what he meant by her not being a mortal. Penelope heard him talking quietly on the phone to her mother. Does she know? Penelope wondered. Did this mean that she had to go to magic school as well? Is she in danger? Why would her father hide this from her and why did she not remember her grandmother? All of these questions floated around in her mind as she sat in the dim light waiting.