The air felt cleaner as I stepped through the door. The air of metal, stale donuts, and sweat was sucked behind us as a sharp smell of citrus brushed against my nose. Any signs of the police department were gone. The three of us were standing in a kitchen, being used by several people.

A guy with long brown hair was anchored at the stove. His hands did nothing as ingredients dropped themselves into the pan. A short guy with a small stubble chin was drumming next to the long hair guy. His eyes watering at the presentation. A small line was starting to build behind the small chin man. A mix of people talking to themselves waiting for the food to be done. A couple of them looked over at the three of us and waved. All of them were saying hi to Ian and Andy while I tried to shrink myself. Hunching my shoulders while I put my head down.

I tried, but someone was already staring at me. A thin black-haired girl sat at one of the counters peeling an orange as she kept eye contact. Milky white irises studied me as Ian shut the door behind me.

Those contact lenses have to be painful. Why would she and Ian wear those? But something was off. You can always tell if someone was wearing colored contacts. But these, they felt here. They felt unnerving. Hers at least. The longer I stared back, the more of a cold knife dug in my back. Ian's eyes were weird and kinda comforting at the same time.

"Hey, Niki!" Ian waved, taking a couple of steps in the center of the chaos.

The white eyes glanced back at Ian, resuming the peeling of her orange. "Hey. She's the new girl?"

Ian nodded with a smile. Andy waddled over to a lone coffee cup with a crooked tree on the corner closest to the fridge.

"Yup!" Ian turned back to me and thumbed over to his friend. "Meril this is Nikki. Nikki has-"

"Hey." Nikki motioned with the orange in her hand, getting up and leaving the kitchen.

The cold knife in my back left with her as it traced over my leg. I let out a shiver as Ian gave an awkward positive smile. Andy was too busy examining the tea bag in his coffee cup along with the other people in the kitchen.

"She's not always like that," Ian assured. "She's nice when she gets to know you."

I nodded back swallowing memories of a kid me alone. Everyone keeping their distance from the corner of their eyes. Nothing really changes when you grow up. It just gets worse or stays the same.

"So this is the kitchen," Andy coughed.

Ian perked up, gesturing around the room. "Yeah! We got so many different kinds of foods that you can make. Most of our fruits and vegetables are grown from Andy and the greenhouse group backyard. If you have any allergies please let us know and we can totally work with that."

I glanced over at the other people that stayed in the room. The line had finally started to move. They were busy grabbing glasses and plates. No one was rushing out. They all were unfazed with the sudden appearance of three walking out what looked like the pantry. A couple of them chatting with each other about something. Pans and knives moving on their own as food hovered and glowed a green tint, gliding to the plates.

"Did you want anything to eat?" Andy asked, taking a sip of his mug.

I shook my head. "Nah, I'm good."

My stomach rumbled in pain. The last good thing I ate was stale donuts that an AA meeting was about to throw out. This seems nice. But it only takes a second for it to all blow up in your face.

Ian and Andy gave each other looks before the door to the back slammed open. A guy with fresh cuts and sweat splashed on his face barreled through. His shirt was torn open with grass stains and dirt covering his jeans.

"Andy!" The guy shouted, heaving out air. His eyes frantic.

Andy merely waved. Unphased, somehow. "Uh, hey, what's up?"

The guy took in several breaths to regain himself. "So, um, we were getting some potatoes for dinner from the garden and uh-"

A scream cut off the guy causing him to twitch. Most of the people in the kitchen glanced by the door before going back to what they were doing. I looked over the poor guy's shoulder to see what the hell was happening. From what I could see from the open space were....vines whipping at people. Trees throwing apples, and the grass growing and entangling others as they tried to run away.

What the fu-

"Oh shoot!" Andy exclaimed. "I thought I turned the enchantments off. My bad!"

"Eh, it's okay," The guy shrugged. "If you could help out real quick, we'd appreciate that."

Andy looked at Ian who nodded back. Andy waved at me before following the beaten guy outside. I just stared, trying to process the war between food and humans.

"So Andy is very protective around his garden," Ian explained, picking up the silence. "We get rabbits and raccoons roaming around and eating his stuff. So he usually cast some charms to protect it from intruders."

"Uh-huh." I nodded watching a poor guy get swept by a huge cabbage leaf.

"Its...uh....not really this crazy. Usually."

"I hope not."

An apple came rocketing by the door. Bouncing off of it and rolling around the ground. On one of the sides was a jagged mischief looking smiley face.

Maybe it's not too late to walk back in the pantry and let the chubby man and beak lady arrest me.

"So why don't I show you to your room?" Ian coughed closing the door and muffling the shouts coming from Andy.

I nodded doing as alittle as possible to peel my eyes away from the scene. Ian led me out of the kitchen and to the living room. It was spacious and less hectic from the kitchen. There were three sections to the place.

A dining room that was tucked in a corner by the door we came out of. A playroom with a card table set up was on the right side of the area and shelves of board games. At the table was a girl with strawberry blonde hair studying some cards. Her face was scrunched up like she was wincing from something. She lowered her head towards her cards tapping on the table in a fast rhythm. The third section was a living room. It had a tv with a spacious couch holding up several people laying on it.

Ian led me through the living room and over to the stair where it hugged the wall. Resting by the front door where a metal statue of a knight stood by. I couldn't help but feel a cold breeze on the back of my neck.

The second floor seemed calmer compared to the garden wars. There was only one person in the hallway. He was sitting in front of two dark red doors, looking up from his notebooks and mumbling to himself.

I swear to god if he summons something I will throw Ian in front of me and run. I will even use his body to surf down the stairs and as a shield.

"Right!" Ian clapped. "So this is the second floor. Bedrooms are here along with the libraries. We got one library with regular books and another with magic. But there's a one hour limit to using it."

"Why?" I asked.

The guy at the red doors looked up from his notes and nodded at us. Getting closer he looked about my age. Dark skin, black bags underneath his glassy eyes. His small head looked like it was mustering all it could from dozing off. His thick fingers were twirling around a piece of chalk with ease. His other hand tapping along his starchy mess of notes. All covered in weird symbols and some other sleep-deprived handwriting I couldn't understand.

"Hey, Ian." He waved as we stopped by. "Whatcha doing?"

"Giving a tour for our new resident," Ian explained while I barely waved. "What are you doing Blane?"

"Bout to unlock this seal you got here." Blane boasted, lumbering his way up.

Ian flashed an excited smile. I took a step back looking over at the stairs. I got enough energy to jump down the flight of stairs and use the momentum to roll out through the door. And maybe crawl away if they haven't caught me.

Ian laughed. "Really? Well, go ahead."

Blane flashed a half-smile of his own as gripped the chalk as he started drawing shapes around the door for about a couple seconds. It was weird. The glassy look that was present flickered away as his eyes came to life. Scanning his work rapidly as his hand had finished drawing. Blane took a couple steps in to get a closer look at his work and pressed his left hand against it.

All the symbols started to give out a bright blue glow for a second then faded away. The chalked symbols were gone and Blane looked back at Ian with a proud grin.

Ian nodded back, grin full. "Not bad. I'm kinda impressed."

Blane scoffed cracking one of his fingers. "Now, excuse me. I have some arcane articles to catch up on."

As soon as Blane opened the door a crack, his body was launched into the other side of the hallway. Crashing into the wall and curling up as his back hit the ground. Ian's smile dropped and walked over to the groaning body of Blane. The doors slammed shut on its own. The sound of air being sucked out could be heard from behind it. The symbols that were drawn changed into a reddish tint and swirled around to form a giant X.

What the hell did I get myself into?

"You didn't actually think I only had one seal on the door, right?" Ian asked, offering a hand.

Blane let out a grunt as he took the offered hand. "Maybe."

Ian let out a laugh and flashed his smile. He gave Blaine a gentle pat on the back as he helped him up. "Yeah, there's about a thousand seals and counterspells on there. And each one is more difficult and explosive. Go eat some dinner big guy and get some sleep."

Blane waved bye as he waddled downstairs using the wall as support. I looked back at him with a concerned look carved into my face. The man showed off a smile that looked hopeful and kind. And yet, I'm still waiting for the floor to drop and land on the pile of scrap metal.

"Um," I stammered, looking over at the violent red doors. "Why don't you let him in the magic library-thingy?"

"Magic can be pretty addictive," Ian sighed, the brightness in his eyes dulling. "You want to learn spells to be able to do all of these incredible things that you lose sight of yourself. You disregard a lot of what makes you and you're left with nothing but a skeleton that can recite words. Some people can't find a balance. And we help remind people who lost that."

Ian knocked on the door muttering something under his breath. The X glowed and swirled away into the finish. It took a second but the bright smile returned. He glanced back at me showing it off.

His body halfway turned to the other end of the hallway."Let me show you your room! I think it's the last one on the left."

Addictive? This shit is addictive? The thing that's made my life a living hell, with the sole purpose to make me suffer, forcing me to live without one good thing is addictive. Live a day in my skin and see they can handle the flames that boil my insides for eighteen years.