A Stranger in the Shadows ((open to one))

Clara carefully shut the door to her apartment building. It was 5:30am. Her brown hair was thrown up in a messy bun, and she was wearing a frilly white shirt. She wasn't wearing shoes, too risky. They make noise on floor, and that was something she couldn't afford. In one hand was a bag filled with her father's favorite shabti and his staff, and in the other was the staff her father had made for her.

This early in the morning was the only time she could get away from her mother and step-father, along with his children. They resented her for her ablility to charm animals, and treated her like dirt for it. She wanted to find her father again, or at least have the reassurence that he was eaither alive and okay, or dead and in a good place. He had gone on a business trip to Egypt a few years ago, and never returned. Her mother took it as an opertunity to re-marry a more "normal" person.

She looked around the street as she passed across, soundlessly. Upon arriving in a dark ally, she set down the bag filled with her father's items, and shakily gripped her staff. Since her mother sent Clara's step-brothers to boarding school, she hadn't been able to practice. They were always calling early in the morning on American time. Then everyone would be awake, leaving her to a day full of chores and almost no privacy. But since they got back, everyone in her apartment slept in until about 9:30. Giving her plenty of practicing time.

She suddenly saw something dark move out of the corner of her eye. It was a black widow spider. Perfect... she thought to herself. Since she was little, she could charm basically any poison animal, and spiders were poisonous.

She raised her staff, whispered a spell her dad had taught her, and aimed it at the spider. Before she knew it, she was blown backwards and the spider raced off into the darkness. She cursed and jumped up, looking around, she suddenly noticed someone staring at her through the shadows. She raised her staff and whispered, "Who are you and what do you want?"

Khonsu stood in the shadows of an alleyway, chuckling at a young magician as she tried to charm a spider. Her spell had backfired, not like Khonsu had anything to do with it. Now she had spotted him and asked "Who are you and what do your want?" So now Khonsu was in a jam. He tried to normally avoid magicians, they didn't seem too nice to him. Either way, now he was caught.

Khonsu stepped out into the light, his silver necklaces shining brightly in the moonlight. He wore, as always, an Italian tailored suit that made him look more like a jazz player than an egyptian god. "I am who I am, and do I need to want something?" He said, in a mysterious tone. Khonsu was sure that the magician would stumble on his peculiar answer, as many mortal minds were weak in that way, but he could never tell for sure.

Clara wasn't normally the type to be startled, but this was one of those cases where she couldn't help it. She was expecting a mortal or some "bad boy" coming down the alley for a dare, not some smart-talking... What was he? She couldn't tell. He was wearing very nice clothes for being in an alley, and he looked, for the most part, human. There was, however, a strange tone to his voice along with his answer. It seemed too complex for a random stranger, unless he was a kidnapper or something, but Clara didn't have to worry about that.

She sat there for a moment, pondering what he had said, and trying to make sence of it. She quickly stood up and brushed off herself off and slowly took a step toward the stranger. "No," she answered, "I suppose not," making sure her British accent was known, she picked up her staff and took another step toward him, "It's just that normaly when someone interupts my concentration in a dark alley at five thirty in the morning, I'd like to know who it was, and why it was so important."

She had done it, the one thing she was good at. Decieving and threatening. Taking one more step toward him, she wondered who he was and what he wanted.

"It's just that normaly when someone interupts my concentration in a dark alley at five thirty in the morning, I'd like to know who it was, and why it was so important." The girl said. Khonsu understood this, but she was saying the wrong things to say to him of all people.

"You may not want to know who I am...magician" Khonsu said. He said the word "magician" as if he hated it, like he wanted to spit on it. Then he threw his head back and laughed like a maniac, a deep and hearty chuckle. His body glowed a silvery-blue color. Immediately, he stopped laughing and the light faded from him. "Do you still wish to know who I am, because I wish to know who you are very much."

Clara's courage faltered for a moment and she took a step back as this person started laughing maniacly. She cocked her head to the side and looked at him, "H-how do you know I'm a magician?" she asked him. If he knew about magicians, shouldn't he be a magician as well? That was the only way he could know, right? And a magician wouldn't harm another magicain, whould they?

Regaining her composer, she looked at the 'magician' in front of her, and pointed her staff at his chest, "Not until you tell me who you are," she whispered, "Because I care very much to know. Are you a magician? Or what?"



((Ugh, terrible!))