Sophia stared at him.
[I could kill him right here, I could destroy this entire building block.]
Restraint.
She picked up her rice ball and her water and walked out into the cold.
Over the next few weeks, she learned where to sleep. The park bench was too exposed, too cold. She found better places, a stairwell behind a closed restaurant, the heated vent of an office building, a 24-hour laundromat where the warmth and the noise and the flickering fluorescent lights made sleep possible.
[How am I so different from these humans? Is it some innate ability to detect witches? How bullshit]
She learned where to eat. The convenience store near the park was closed to her now, but there were others, farther away, where the clerks didn't look at her twice. She learned to buy food that didn't need preparation, rice balls, bread, fruit, things she could eat with her hands.
The city was full of people who didn't want to be seen. The homeless, the desperate, the lost. She blended in with them, a small figure in a too-thin coat, her hair pulled back, her face down.
[I really should go back, I can't survive on my own forever, no job will hire me no matter how strong of a witch I am]
Tired.
Black Scene.
[But the moment father gets me back, he won't let me go anymore.]
"Hey."
The voice came from above her. She looked up.
A woman stood there.
She was tall, taller than Sophia, with ginger hair that fell past her shoulders and gold eyes that caught the light from the streetlamp and held it. She wore a long coat, dark and practical, and her hands were shoved into her pockets.
She was smoking a cigarette.
She wore a heavy coat and boots and a scarf that had been wrapped so many times around her neck that her face was almost hidden.
[Bingo, they'd said she'd be here]
The smoke curled around her face, pale in the cold air, and she watched Sophia with an expression that was impossible to read.
Her eyes were a deep unsettling amber.
"Hey," she said again. "You need any money?"
Sophia shook her head.
"I'm not homeless."
"You're not very convincing, you're sitting on the sidewalks, if you aren't homeless then what are you?'
The woman crouched. Her boots crunched in the snow. Her breath fogged in the air between them.
"You're freezing," she observed. "And you look like you haven't eaten in days."
"I haven't."
"Where are your parents?"
"I ran away from home, I've never seen my mom and my dad is kind of a bitch."
The woman's expression flickered. Something passed through her gold eyes, recognition, maybe, or sympathy, or something else entirely.
The snow fell between them, silent and patient.
"You're a witch," the woman said finally. It wasn't a question.
"So are you."
The woman's lips curved. Not quite a smile. Something smaller. Something that might have been acknowledgment.
"You're one weird ass kid."
"You're what, twelve? Thirteen?"
"Fourteen."
The woman snorted. "I have a kid around your age, maybe a little bit younger, his mother abandoned him, I think you should be lucky."
Sophia's jaw tightened.
She started to push herself up, to leave, to find somewhere else to stay, but the woman held up a hand.
"Relax. I'm not going to hurt you." She took a drag of her cigarette, exhaled. "I'm not going to report you either, if that's what you're worried about."
"Why would I be worried about that?"
"Because you're running from something." The woman's gold eyes swept over her, assessing. "What's your name?"
"Sophia."
She flicked her cigarette into the snow, watched it hiss and die. "I'm Reina."
"I didn't ask."
"No, you didn't." Reina smiled. It was a real smile, crooked and warm and completely unexpected. "But I'm telling you anyway."
Reina didn't leave.
She sat down in the doorway across from Sophia, her back against the wall, her legs stretched out in front of her. She pulled out another cigarette, lit it, and smoked in silence.
The snow continued to fall.
"Why are you still here?" Sophia asked finally.
"Because it's cold, and you look like you haven't eaten in days, and I'm not a complete monster." Reina blew a smoke ring, watched it dissolve. "Also, I'm bored."
"You're bored."
"Extremely."
Sophia stared at her.
Reina stared back.
"You're strange," Sophia said.
"I've been told."
"Come on," she said, holding out her hand. "Let's get you something to eat."
Sophia stared at the offered hand.
It was warm. She could tell from here, could see the faint steam rising from the woman's palm, could feel the heat radiating from her skin.
She pulled off her scarf. Wrapped it around Sophia's neck.
"Come on, kid. Let's get you inside."
The diner was warm.
Too warm, almost, after days in the cold. Sophia's skin prickled as she stepped through the door, her fingers tingling, her cheeks burning.
Reina guided her to a booth near the back, away from the windows, away from the other customers. She ordered food, lots of food, more than Sophia had ever seen, and didn't flinch when the waitress asked how she was going to pay.
"Don't worry about it," Reina said, catching Sophia's look. "Order as much as you want."
The food arrived.
Burgers. Fries. Milkshakes. Things Sophia had read about but never tasted, never been allowed to try.
She ate.
Not gracefully. Not politely. She ate like she was starving, because she was, because her body was screaming for fuel, because the patriarch's cooks had always kept her full but never satisfied.
Reina watched her eat.
"Did you really run away without a plan?"
"I had a plan."
"What was it?"
Sophia paused, a fry halfway to her mouth. "I was going to... find a PC cafe and live there."
Reina blinked. "That was your plan?"
"I'd never been to one before."
"You ran away from your family to play video games?"
"Yes."
For a moment, Reina stared at her. Then she laughed, a loud, genuine laugh that made the other customers turn and stare.
"What, so did they not allow you to play games?"
"Nope."
She finished her food.
The milkshake was too sweet. The fries were too salty. The burger was greasy and messy and perfect.
They talked.
Not about anything important. Not about where Sophia had come from or why she'd left or what she was running from. They talked about the weather, about the city, about nothing at all.
Reina told her about the restaurant where she worked, the one with the fryer that always broke and the manager who never noticed. She told her about the regulars, the ones who ordered the same thing every day, the ones who tipped in loose change and sad stories.
She told her about the alley behind the restaurant, where she went to smoke and think and pretend she wasn't as alone as she was.
"Thank you," she said.
Reina waved a hand. "Hold on, I've got to make a call."
She stepped outside, the cold winter brushed past her forearm, as she held a phone up towards her ear.
"Yeah I found her."
"....."
"Change of plans, I'm taking her in."
"..."
"What do you mean, hand her over? She's just going to escape anyway. I've already got Arthur under control, what's the problem in taking another child?"
"....."
"Really?" Reina rolled her eyes. "I can control her, who do you think I am?"
"...."
"If the Millers want her back then tell them she doesn't want to return."
"......"
"Shi, if they really do come after her then you all do something about it."
"......"
"It's not like they can forcefully take her away, she is practically a nuke."
"...."
"Anyways, inform the higher ups that she's going to be under my control now."
Reina walked back into the diner.
Sophia looked up.
Reina's eyes were gold, like the patriarch's, but warmer. Kinder. More alive.
"Stay with me," Reina said. "I've got a place. It's small. It's messy. It's not what you're used to. But it's warm, and it's safe, and there's a convenience store down the street"
"Why?" Sophia asked. "Why would you help me?"
Reina was quiet for a moment.
"It's because you're a cute kid."
She reached across the table and took Sophia's hand.
"I can't just let you stay out in the streets can I?"
Sophia looked at their joined hands. Reina's were warm, calloused, steady.
"That's a terrible reason."