edited: 27/06/2017

Remy suppressed a yawn as Sarah babbled on about whatever movie it was that they were about to watch. She was acting as though they hadn't had an argument only last week, just as she always did, because neither of them truly cared enough to acknowledge it. If Sarah and Remy were really friends, they would have been upset by it, would have continued the argument further. Instead, both of them had swept it aside like dead leaves during autumn, because neither of them particularly cared if the other was angry, and neither of them wanted to waste their energy on a friendship that didn't really matter.

Remy was bored already, and they had not even got into the theatre yet. Much to Remy's dismay, the queue for the tickets was long, which meant she would have to endure at least ten minutes of Sarah's mindless chatter. She wished she could be content listening to it, content with having a mediocre life just as everybody else was, but she couldn't be. She was bored. She wanted something more, but she just didn't know what that was yet.

"So, has your mystery guy made a reappearance?" Sarah questioned suddenly, and Remy was surprised to see that the corners of Sarah's mouth were upturned as though she was mocking her. Sarah had never been scornful before; Remy always thought she was lacking such personality to show any sort of sardonic humour.

Remy sighed, gazing out of the window as if waiting for some sort of escape. "Funnily enough, yes, he has," she responded simply.

Sarah raised her eyebrows and pushed her glasses back up onto the bridge of her nose. "I was joking," she said, barely loud enough to be heard over the dull drone of other people's voices.

"Oh, sorry," Remy said with a false smile plastered on her face, "I thought you were actually interested. Never mind, then."

Sarah's usually colourless face flushed with colour, and Remy couldn't help but feel satisfied at the embarrassment she had caused as she returned to staring out of the window, admiring the way the rain trailed down the glass and fell into patterns. Her heart stopped suddenly as a figure raced past the glass. She had only caught a glimpse of him, and his features had been distorted by the rain, but she was sure it was the boy from the beach.

"That was him," she said urgently, pointing to the window even though he was long gone now. She glanced at Sarah desperately before, without any thought, she bent under the red rope in front of her and ran straight out of the cinema.

"Remy!" Sarah shouted behind her, and Remy groaned when she realised she was following her. Of course this was the one time that her friend had decided to act spontaneously. "Where are you going?"

She ignored her, following the figure round a corner and calling after him. "Oi, wizard guy!"

The boy stopped in his tracks, turning to look at her stonily. She was selfishly glad when he barely acknowledged Sarah. "What on Refilyn do you want now?" He pulled her into a narrow alleyway between two buildings, his long fingers wrapped around her forearm tightly and his eyes cautiously flashing from her to the street in front of him every few seconds.

Remy paused, her mouth open and ready for a response but her mind not giving one. What did she want with him? She had no excuse this time; they had not crossed paths. She had ran out of a cinema to see him, but why? And more than that, what on earth was Refilyn? Instead of bothering to ask, she turned to Sarah, whose eyes were wide as she caught her breath.

"I told you he was real," she said, motioning her hands toward him and ignoring him as he rolled his eyes. She couldn't help notice that he was dressed differently this time, with a simple black shirt that stuck damply to his torso and blue denim jeans. Still, his unusually bright eyes and natural allure made it clear he did not belong in a small town with small-minded people. Perhaps Sarah was too small-minded to notice that, though.

"He's just a boy. I thought he was a wizard," she replied plainly, her brown eyes looking him up and down shamelessly, her straight brown hair sticking damply to her face. She took her glasses off and wiped the lenses to clear them of raindrops, as though there was not a magical and rather attractive warlock standing in front of her. Remy couldn't help but roll her eyes, almost in sync with the boy as he did the same.

"I am a warlock," he said bitterly. He turned to Remy, his arms crossed over his chest. "Who is this, and must you really have involved her, too?"

The question was forgotten at the sound of footsteps, and he pulled her further into the alley, where shadows engulfed them, as did the smell of rotten vegetables. He froze, and Remy could feel his muscles tense against her as the man walked straight past without a second glance. He looked like one of the men who had been at the beach last week, with the same long black coat and hooded eyes as the man in her dream, though Remy was sure it was not him from his skinny torso and evident unattractiveness.

The boy loosened his grip reluctantly, leaving Remy feeling as though she was missing out on something, his touch and proximity, though she couldn't understand why. "Those guys are still after you?"

"It appears so." He walked slowly back to the opening of the alleyway, nudging Sarah aside to get there, and looked both ways before stepping back out onto the street and heading in the opposite direction that the man had gone. "Although I suppose technically it is I who is after them."

"Does he always walk off like that?" Sarah asked, raising an eyebrow and pulling her hood over her hair, though it seemed silly to Remy to do so now; they were both already soaking wet.

"Yes," she sighed, following him quickly so as not to lose him for a third time, uncaring if Sarah was following them or not. She didn't think it fair that Sarah got to see somebody as peculiar as him without showing any interest in him whatsoever; Remy thought he deserved at least a little bit of curiosity from other people, what with his elegant yet firm mannerisms and silver flecked eyes.

"Honestly, I don't understand why you're so obsessed with this guy," Sarah mumbled, causing Remy to grimace as she narrowed her eyes at the boy in front of her. He appeared to be going back to the street where the portal had been, which didn't surprise her much, but did disappoint her. She was tired of not getting answers. He acted as though she was supposed to just believe he was a warlock, yet wouldn't explain anything, leaving her with images of white sparks flashing from slender hands and bright purple whirlpools in the middle of brick walls, something she would never understand, instead. The more she sat at home thinking about it, the more she was sure she had imagined it all, but then he would always reappear and she was forced to dwell on the matter even more. It was becoming a cycle, one that she couldn't break out of. "Isn't he a bit too weird, even for you?"

He came to a halt in front of the girls and glared at Sarah. "And what is that supposed to mean, mortal?"

Remy was so used to being on the receiving end of his hostility that she was glad when he spoke to Sarah so sourly. She smirked as Sarah squirmed uncomfortably under his gaze, biting her lip nervously. "I just meant you're not like the guys Remy usually goes for," she stuttered with wide eyes. "I, er, didn't mean it offensively."

"Well, I can assure you that Remy," he glanced at her, putting in extra effort to pronounce her name, "will not be 'going for' me in any way, shape, or form, thank you very much." He didn't have to use air quotations to make it clear that Sarah's slang was not something he usually said himself; his awkwardness when saying it was enough. "Refilyn knows what that means, anyway."

"Just to be clear, I never said I wanted to go for you," Remy intervened, forcing herself not to blush. "Strange men who claim they're warlocks and wear weird contact lenses aren't really my thing."

"And here I was thinking you liked me," he taunted. "Will my poor heart ever heal?"

"All hearts heal with time," she responded just as sarcastically. "I hope we can still be friends."

Sarah cleared her throat as though to remind the pair that she was still there, and Remy ran a hand through her now soaking wet hair, huffing when the boy began to walk off again, this time more reluctantly, as though he didn't quite know where he was going.

"Lost?" she teased, unused to seeing him out of sorts and enjoying it thoroughly. Perhaps now she had the upper hand, and she could use it to gain the answers she so desperately wanted.

"One is never lost. I am merely taking time to explore this wonderful town." As he spoke, he walked in the opposite direction to the alleyway where Remy had followed him the first time they had met, and she smirked slightly as he grimaced at a spilled dustbin.

"I'll leave you to explore then, if you don't need any help."

He blinked, his expression conflicted. "Fine, I may be slightly lost. If you could direct me to my portal, it would be greatly appreciated. Seen it about recently?"

"Will it be in the same place as last time?"

"Yes. I always keep it in the same place, but this town is so unadorned that I can never distinguish between the streets. How do you mortals possibly find your way around?" His eyes scoured the dull streets as he spoke, his eyebrows furrowed.

"It's this way," she directed, pointing to the street that she remembered following him onto last time. He followed but didn't thank her. Remy wasn't expecting him to.

She stopped at the alleyway, stumbling backwards slightly when she found that the portal was back, as though it had never disappeared in the first place.

The boy licked his lips eagerly, though he didn't walk towards it right away. His eyes darkened, his face falling slightly. Remy simply watched, not wanting to pry. She doubted he would tell her, even if she asked.

"Could you at least answer one question?" she asked despite her attempt at restraining herself. She was itching for something, anything, that would help her to understand, and perhaps itching for something that would make this seem more real and less like something that could only happen in her imagination.

"What is that thing?" Sarah gasped, her expression gormless as the light of the portal glowed on her face, turning her already pale complexion into a sickly white one.

"That depends," he responded, ignoring her friend as though she wasn't there at all. Remy often did the same.

"Just tell me why you keep coming here. You clearly hate it, and those men keep chasing after you."

"I'm looking for somebody." His eyes faded into a glassy stare, but he snapped out of it a moment later at the sound of a shout.

Remy turned behind her to find the man in black running towards them, his features dark and hazy in the rain. She could barely make his expression out, but even glancing at him made her feel cold. He had almost reached them when the boy's hand found the middle of her back and he forced her forward, towards the purple inferno of the portal. She didn't struggle, even when fear consumed her.

They were running, and then they weren't. His hand was around her waist, and then it wasn't. She had to squeeze her eyes shut when the flash of light burned her eyes. For a moment, there was nothing; just her and an empty abyss of blinding illumination. It felt as though she was flying. And then she felt as though she was falling, and she screamed.

And then there was a surface beneath her again, and a shooting pain that jolted up from her ankle to her knee, and air.

When she opened her eyes, she never wanted to close them again.