Jaded

Three women, the best of friends, walked down the street, talking and laughing even though their tired feet screamed at them. The day of work had been long, but they wouldn’t let that stop them. They were no strangers to working hard.

“Another day, another dollar,” Jade said to Eliza as they walked into their apartment.

“I think you mean ‘Another day, another dime,’” Eliza responded, setting down her purse on the counter.

“Yea, that too,” Jade chuckled.

“I don’t understand why you don’t use your magic to get us all better jobs,” Parker said as she pulled out food to make dinner for the trio.

“We’ve told you before, Parker. We don’t know how to do that. Plus, we don’t want to bring attention to the fact we have powers. I’ve personally never met another witch besides Liz, and I have no clue what they’re like,” Jade said, cutting up the veggies that Parker had gotten out for stir fry.

“Besides, it was witches that dumped us on the orphanage doorsteps. At least your parents were killed; they didn’t get a chance to take care of you. Our parents didn’t want us, which doesn’t give me the warm and fuzzies for witches,” Eliza said, watching the two women work on fixing dinner.

“True,” Parker said thoughtfully. She knew that her parents loved her very much. If the driver that had caused her parents’ crash hadn’t been drunk, she probably would still have them in her life.

The trio had been together since Parker had come to the Morning Glory Orphanage when she was seven. Jade and Eliza had been there since they were born, being brought to the orphanage within the same two-week period just after their births. As far at the caretakers at the orphanage could tell, Jade and Eliza weren’t related by blood, but as the girls found out, blood doesn’t mean anything. Blood can easily treat you worse than anyone and use the excuse that they’re blood so it’s not that bad.

“Damn it, Liz, why do you put the oil so high up? You rarely cook, and I can’t reach it!” Parker looked at Eliza, stomping her foot.

“Cuz, I like to watch you when you get mad! Don’t worry, when you grow up big like me…oh sorry, you’ll always be short,” Eliza said as she got the oil down for Parker, who stood at most 5 feet, 3 inches.

“Well, your 5 foot 9 inches can kiss my short ass!” Parker said as she grabbed the oil out of Eliza’s hand and continued to cook.

“Liz, stop putting stuff up so high. That was too high even for me, and I’m 5’6”. Parker, you know if you didn’t react so much, she wouldn’t do that stuff to you,” Jade said, feeling like the mom of the group.

“Sorry,” Eliza said, but not like she really meant it.

“I know, but I can’t help it. I get mad to easy,” Parker said looking embarrassed.

“Which is why I’m thankful you’re not a witch. High emotions can make it hard to control the magic,” Jade said.

Jade had learned the hard way to control her emotions early on. She was only 5 years old when 7-year-old Parker had come to live in the orphanage. The first night, Parker had spent the night crying. Some of the older girls had started to pick on her, and Jade had felt the tingle of magic in her fingertips. At the time, she didn’t know what it was, but she was too mad to really care. The girls kept picking on her, and when Jade couldn’t stand it any longer, she decided she was going to stand up to them.

Jade knew she would probably get beaten for it, but she didn’t care. She got out of her bed and confronted the girls. When she pointed at them, a bolt of magic was released and knocked the girl across the room. When they finally woke up, they couldn’t remember what had happened, but they left Jade alone, along with anyone who hung out with Jade. The few times after that they had tried to mess with them, Jade had used magic to make them do what she wanted.

She had thought it was great fun until she seriously injured a boy that had pushed her down outside. The boy survived but was never the same. That day she learned that there were consequences for her magic. When Eliza showed signs of power, she taught her how to control it. They both quickly learned that magic would get them in trouble in ways they didn’t want, so they rarely used it. With no one to teach the girls how to be a witch, the girls taught themselves as much as they could. When they were old enough, they got every book they could to see if they could figure out what they were. They found out that it wasn’t common knowledge that things like magic existed. Parker knew because she was there when the first magic was used in her defense. She kept the girls’ secret because they were the only ones to care about her.

Now, Jade and Eliza were 23, and Parker 25, and the trio understood more than they used to. They also didn’t trust anyone besides themselves. So, the trio was close and did just about everything together. They all worked together at the same jobs and pooled their money for their expenses. It worked well for them because they had a beautiful apartment that all three of them had a room in. The women looked vastly different but acted like sisters.

Jade had strawberry-blond hair she kept short in a pixie cut, with freckles splattered across her pale peach skin and a softer average build that wouldn’t change no matter how much she exercised. She had startling emerald-green eyes that seem to pierce a person’s soul. Eliza, however, had hair down to her waist that was black as coal. Her eyes were an icy blue color that didn’t seem natural but looked right in her tan face. She was very athletic and built to run. Parker had long brown hair with natural streaks of gold and chocolate brown eyes. She was petite and couldn’t gain muscle to save her life.

“So, we finally have two weeks off together. Are we still going to Savannah?” Parker said hopefully as she put food on plates.

“Yes, I got the hotel and plane tickets last week. Once I got Darlene’s promise to not call any of us in because we were going out of town, I decided it was safe to get them,” Jade said taking a bite of food.

“Yea, I talked to her too and let her know that we had nonrefundable tickets. We put in for this vacation six months ago. They can deal without us for a week, and if they can’t, then they’ll learn!” Eliza said.

The woman laughed and dug into their food. “The plane leaves tomorrow at 8:45 am. So set your alarm ladies and make sure to pack tonight. I am not gonna miss this plane for anything!”

“Checking in, Jade Waters.” Jade said walking up to the front desk at the hotel.

“Yes! Miss Waters, welcome! The penthouse suit is ready. Matt will take your belongings to your room. I see it’s for you and two others is that correct?” A perky bleach blond said with perfectly styled hair and perfect nails.

“Yes.” Jade said plastering on her best customer service smile.

“Here are your keys. If you all need anything, feel free to ask. We are here to make your stay magical.”

Jade chuckled at the wording but said nothing. She collected the keys and followed the bell hop to their room. She knew the first-class ticket and the luxury hotel penthouse were a frivolous expense, but they hadn’t taken a vacation in 5 years and she personally worked three jobs this last year to make this trip the best. She wanted to give her best friends something good they could think about when times got tough.

“Wow! This place is NICE! How did we get the 5-star treatment?” Eliza said as they got on the elevator.

“We have busted our asses for 5 years to get here. We better get better than 5 stars!” Parker said laughing.

“Well, we have spa days, beach days, club nights, and tours. Don’t worry we will have a great 10 days!” Jade said laughing.

The bell hop led the ladies to their room and quietly disappeared after given a nice tip. The ladies walked around the penthouse to look at their home for the next 10 days. Jade’s first stop was the balcony. She had requested this room mainly for the view of the ocean. Growing up in Tennessee there were river beaches, but nothing compared to the beach that gave way to the ocean. The smell and sound of the ocean seeped into Jade and she relaxed completely. Jade had been to the beach before and it was so wondrous that she promised every chance she got she would go to the beach for vacations. When the girls had planned on taking vacation, they all agreed the beach was a requirement.

As Jade stood on the balcony her eyes were drawn to the beach. Oddly, there weren’t a lot of people on the beach. There were 2 guys dress in black jeans and shirt that stood out. Everyone else was in bathing suits, the longer Jade watched the 2 she knew there was something about them. There was an air of something around them. She also noticed that the people around them quickly packed their stuff and left the beach.

After several minutes Jade could feel magic around her. She knew it wasn’t her or Eliza’s magic, but she knew it was directed at her. She looked at the taller of the two men and saw that he was looking directly at her. They were only 5 stories up, so she was able to see the men clearly. When electricity ran through Jade’s body, she knew they were witches. She put a protective circle around herself and the 2 girls that had no clue what was going on. She tried to blur her appearance but something about the man’s magic was keeping her from doing so.

Jade could see the taller man say something to the other man. The other one looked up startled. He responded to the first man and seemed to say, “forget about her.” Both men concentrated on a group of 3 people sitting on the beach. The group seemed to notice them when their attention turned to them. Once of them threw what looked like a ball of fire towards the other men but it didn’t even phase them.

The taller man waved his hands in a delicate pattern and a cloud of sand swirled around the other 3 men. The 3 men tried to throw balls of black, green, and gray towards the two men, but they bounced off the sand barrier and exploded. The battle was strangely quiet. With the amount of explosions, there should have been some kind of noise. Jade couldn’t believe her eyes. She wanted to run inside and hide but she was glued to the spot watching. She had never found anyone who could use magic outside Eliza and herself.

The two men started to move in sync with each other. Each movement of their hands and bodies were perfectly choreographed. It looked like the men were dancing to some music that Jade couldn’t hear. Jade couldn't tell who was in the right in the battle that took place silently on the beach, but she knew that the two men were winning. The other group had stopped throwing balls of magic and begin to try to retreat. When there was no escape the 3 surrender and looked defeated in a way Jade had never seen.

As she watched the men give themselves to the two in black, she felt a pressure in her head she had never heard before. She closed her eyes thinking that the excitement had given her a migraine but then she heard a deep voice that sent chills up her back. “Worry not little sister the danger is over. Please come down so we may talk.”

Jade’s eyes snapped open, and she looked into the eyes of the taller man. She shook her head to clear it. When her eyes went back to the taller man he was gone. A cold chill ran up her spine and she was finally able to move. She ran inside looking for her friends. Eliza must have felt Jade’s worry because she came running out of the room she had claimed as hers.

“What’s wrong?” Eliza said.

“You will never believe what I just saw on the beach!” Jade said still trying to make since of everything.

Jade told her what she had seen, and Eliza went white. “What should we do?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think they will come after us, but I also know he knows where we are. I’ve made it my mission in life to stay away from anyone with magic besides you Jade.” Eliza said firmly.

“I think we’re safe because you need a key to get to this floor. Let just be careful when we go out. We know there are other witches in the area, so we know to keep up our guard. Don’t tell Parker you know she’ll freak.”

Both girls agreed and went to their rooms to unpack. Jade knew she wouldn’t be spending much time out on her balcony even though she wanted to. She didn’t want any more surprises and didn’t want to chance those men saw her again.

Just as she finished unpacking her clothes her stomach rumbled. She hadn’t eaten anything yet because she had been too excited to eat. Now that they were there and settled in, she was starving. She grabbed her purse ready to hit the town.

“Y’all wanna go out to eat or order room service?” She said coming out of her room.

“Hello little sister!” A deep voice said from the couch in the living room.