Page 14 of Clarity

I did a quick cleanup, the best I could with limited space and supplies, then snatched the door open.

“Sorry,” I mumbled to the flight attendant before I rushed past to get to my seat. I was looking for Parris the whole way, but didn’t see him.

I had no idea how the hell he’d made it onto the flight.

Or hell,ifhe’d made it on, and that whole encounter wasn’t just some elaborate hallucination he’d projected into my head.

Either way, I was much less confident about my plan than I’d been getting onto this plane. Much less certain of what I needed to do or what results I could possibly get.

And there wasn’t much I could do about it.

For the rest of the flight, I worried—about when Parris was going to pop up again, what I’d do once I got off this plane, what my future was going to look like.

I’d expected to be relieved to be home, empowered by my roots when we landed.

Instead… there was nothing but confusion in my mind when I stepped out of the airport.

But… all I could do was keep moving forward.

Four

The first thing I did was find a church.

Fear aside, there was no way I could live with myself if I didn’t take the time to light a candle for my dearly missed friend, and speak his name.

Phoenix.

Despite being mortal, he wasveryattuned to the earth,andthe spirit world. Enough that “vampires” and “lycans”, all that… wouldn’t have even raised his eyebrows. He would’ve just wanted the tea.

And this shit I was going throughnow?

Piping hot.

I wasn’t sure about the lore on if a vampire could enter a church or not, so I was half worried about being interrupted the whole time I was there. Instead of sticking around to really talk to Phoenix, to bask in the energy of the building… I kept it short.

Lest Parris show up and fuck me on the altar or something.

That sacrilegious thought made me leaveeven fasterto keep it pushing to my true destination. I didn’t even bother with any kind of evasive maneuvers. By this point, I could safely assume Parris would find me wherever I went.

There wasn’t much I could do about it.

Yet.

What I couldn’t do in my own power was one thing, but damn near anything felt possible as soon as I stepped through the front door ofPierre’s Fine Books and Apothecary.It was empty, not even the tourists were out at this late hour, so it was nothing for me to head straight to the front counter, navigating crowded shelves in the dim light.

“Anle?*,” the woman at the counter muttered, without even looking up from whatever she was scribbling in a tattered notebook.

If I wasn’t here for anything important, I’d fuck with her as payment for her rudeness. Clearly she was preoccupied and didn’t want her focus broken, but damn.

I settled for a simple, “Thanks Roseline,” not listening for or even expecting an answer as I kept walking to reach the stairs leading to the living quarters above the shop.

Where I’d grown up.

Though I hadn't been away for too long, there was still a clear sense of anticipation and relief coursing through me as I unlocked the door.

I washome.

As soon as I rounded the corner from the foyer, I found my mother and one of my aunts seated in the living room, having tea.