"It's really you Case? I haven't seen you since I came home." She smiled. "I was about to come to get you."
He laughed. "You've been gone too long." He felt a bubbly feeling coming, but did his best to hold it down. "How have you been?"
She smiled and shifted her feet. "I've been doing excellently. I wanted to come back sooner but work has been so busy lately. I saw the fight on the news. Your father only told us yesterday it was you."
"Dad, you may have a memory issue."
His father left, after he patted him on the shoulder.
Casey finally gave her a proper look. "You look great."
She was brighter now. Her mom's color had come through more noticeably and the right blend of her parents looks.
She smiled. "Well you're not looking bad yourself."
"So where do you work now?" He touched behind his neck.
"You're worried about work and I'm worried about you. Anyway, guess?" Her smile grew playful.
Casey thought it over. She specialized in maths so maybe a bank? But she was so nice too…
"An insurance company?"
She giggled. "No. I work for an aberration containment company. I do logistics."
"Wow, that's really amazing. It might be a coincidence…"
"Kiana and Casey take a seat, please." Her father, Adrian Humes, stood at the podium with his Bible in hand. The other men and women looked back with curious or teasing glances. He and Kiana made their way to their seats. Adrian Humes was dark skinned, he was handsome but had an even more serious face than Casey's.
"You don't even come by, Casey." Adrian went on. "I used to cook for you and Ana all the time, you used to…"
The man went on for about a minute. The church laughed louder, and louder, and during that whole time Casey didn't dare look at Kiana. His face had turned cherry red. And he imagined hers didn't fare any better.
Eventually the congregation settled down and they got to business.
"This world is the Second Heaven. Brother Thompson, do you know what that means?"
Brother Thompson was a shy bald man. "I think it means this is our second chance."
"That's really an excellent way to see it, brother Thompson. Members. God has given us a second chance!"
He made his way down the stairway to stand closer to the members.
"We sorcerers in particular have a duty. We have a sacred charge to get rid of evil in every form. We wait for the descent of the Exiled. Those kicked out of the first heaven." He opened his Bible . "I'll begin reading from the book of third Acts."
"Abstain from the appearance of all evil. God's wrath finds those who roam like the Exiled, leading his people astray." He looked in the congregation's face, searching for confusion, and stopped at brother Thompson.
"This means we will be judged by the deed, not just the intention. Intent can be pure as snow. But when things go wrong, can you take responsibility for what you have sown? Can you repent for things you didn't foresee?"
"We as members have to be willing to bear responsibility. And in a modest way. All of us. I'll read from Ezekiel 4 for the message. 'To every man, I beseech you to not think of yourself as more highly than others. But to think soberly. According as God has dealt to every man this measure of faith."
He looked around again while delivering the next message. "And sometimes we can get in the way of others growth, if we don't let them take responsibility. This is something we as members and fathers, and mothers, we have to work on. It's been hard as a father not being able to see my daughter…"
They went through a few more scriptures connecting them all to behaviors. At the end of the night Casey had felt that he'd changed. Or at least knew what he should change.
Mostly he wanted to depend on himself more. And to actually make the difference that he thought needed to be made. Things like Legion shouldn't be attacking people freely and little kids shouldn't go missing. He needed to do something.
"So I think we made good progress tonight. Brothers and sisters, I'll be throwing a little going away party for Ana on Sunday. Please come, it's all free, or if you can't stay stop by to get something to eat."
Casey looked to Kiana.
"You're going already?"
She laughed. "Yeah. I've got to get back to work."
"So, when are you coming back?"
"It'll be at least a year. Just talk to me on the phone, it shouldn't be too different." She saw his sad expression. "It'll work out Casey."
"Okay but I am calling you so take that as a threat."
She shoved him a little, he'd forgotten how strong she was…
"You two won't stop."
"Dad it's Casey."
"I know. He's a good kid." He looked Casey up and down, smiled at the end. "So you seem alright? You made us proud. You did great protecting those people, you made everyone proud of you."
He offered his hand, Casey got up and took it up. The hard hand squeezed Casey's. Probably old man's strength. He did his best with his face not to show the Mr. Humes's victory. But he knew, and he left triumphantly.
Casey shook it off, and sat with Kiana. They talked until the old men were ready to go. A part of him wished they weren't, or that they were older, and slower; maybe then he'd have more time.
...…
Casey drove over the iron bridge headed to Williamstown. By population it was a small community of about two hundred people. The area of land that bore the name was huge. The local government had sold a large sum of acres to some rich foreigner. It made sense to him. The government actually did less for Old Providence than many other towns, especially compared to major cities.
He journeyed, passing salt ponds, bushes, poles, and a home, every other mile. Casey drove with the window down. The drive, along with music was very relaxing. And finally he arrived at his destination.
The Maypole's front gate. They were attached to stone walls, too, that had the name in bold yellow.
A small white and gray security booth sat outside the gate. Casey rolled down his window. A woman came out in her forties smiling.
"Did you come for Rico?"
"Yes, m'am."
"Alright. He'll be out in a minute. Just take a left into the first parking lot."
As she'd said he hadn't been long. They left soon after.
"Case, have you seen this? There's like an increase in people getting abducted? And now there's reports about the witches appearing again?"
"I've been reading all about it all morning. Well I know you'll probably think I'm being self righteous, but I keep seeing claims about the Earthen Faith being able to give normal people sorcery. Don't you think that's weird?"
"Yeah but it's hard to believe. Aren't your abilities genetic? I think it's impossible for other people to get your powers?"
"Yeah, it's just about. Normal people would get mana poisoning if they weren't born with nodes, so transplants are impossible. But that doesn't mean there isn't a way. I mean witches harvest nodes to ingest to strengthen themselves? Maybe…"
"Come on Case, I just ate earlier, don't go into the details. But, I don't think the Earthen Faith would do that. They're mostly country bumpkins that clean communities and take care of animals. They're good people."
"Do you think everyone who does good is good?"
"No, but I prefer that bad people do some good."
"Good should come from the hearth, and that should come from understanding, you can't trust your enemies, Rico."
They sat in silence for a while. Casey spoke first.
"I think I'm in love, again." He thought for a second. "It's more of a crush, at the moment."