1- Wine and witches

I pause for a moment to adjust my uncomfortable high heeled shoe. It's black to match my waitresses’ uniform which I honestly find to be too provocative for what is supposedly an upscale restaurant. Sex sells I guess, not that I would ever let a customer touch me that way.

 

Borderline is one of the few places in the city that allows both normal customers and Magics, so despite the long hours, barely adequate pay and uncomfortable uniform, it is perfect for me as one of the only places that will hire someone who is marked but has no marketable magic skills.

 

Like all children, I was tested for magic when I was only a few days old. Since my specific bloodline is unknown and my magic is unidentifiable, I was marked with a delicate swirling pattern around my upper right arm. While labelling everyone according to their species might seem concerning, it actually saves a lot of lives. Most species have weaknesses that are much easier to avoid if they aren't shoved in your face by some oblivious person who has no idea the damage they're causing.

 

I don't know a lot about the marks themselves, only that they are applied magically and that everyone has one unless they are one hundred percent, normal human. Normal humans make up about fifty percent of the population in big cities like this.

 

Some magics are easy to identify. Shifters inherit their abilities from their parents, so they are marked as Shifters from birth on their arms with varying marks depending on their individual species. Witches and Sorcerers also inherit their power from their parents and are easily identified. People like me however are harder to categorise.

 

I was left outside the hospital for magical beings when I was only a few hours old. After days of tests to confirm I was not any of the known species but that I did in fact have magic. I was marked as an unknown. Now that might sound all cool and mysterious but believe me it is not. Humans and Magics don't tend to get along all that well. No humans will accept me because I am marked as a Magic, and no Magics will accept me because I don't fit in with any of their groups.

 

I can't even find any other unknowns in this city as most people get their marks adjusted as soon as they are old enough to identify their powers for themselves. My life is not so easy. I do have magic, just as the tests showed, but it has never lined up with any known Magic species. For this reason, I have been unable to get my mark adjusted. This might not be a problem if my magic was something dramatic and powerful that demanded respect, but this is not the case.

 

I can't breathe fire like a dragon Shifter, or hex people who piss me off like Witches. I can't make potions like an Alchemist or seduce people like a Succubus. Now I don't mean to be unappreciative of the power I do have, it's interesting and all, but it just really doesn't pack much of a punch and most of the time it is just pretty much useless.

 

My special magical skill is the ability to see threads of fate. Now when people think of the threads of fate they always think of the red thread that is meant to tie them to their destined soul mate and blah blah blah. Yes I can see them. But there are other threads too, in different colours with different meanings.

 

There are blue threads connecting people which seem to represent that the pair are fated to be friends. This doesn't mean they won't have other friends or anything like that. Just that those specific people are destined to meet and that they will become close friends eventually.

 

Another thread is the black one. This one shows up between people who are fated to be enemies. I tend to avoid people who display too many of these threads. If someone has a lot of fated enemies they probably aren't the kind of person I want to be around anyways.

 

Occasionally I come across other threads, but I don't always know what they mean, and since I don't exactly have a guide book with colour coded charts I have no idea how to figure it out unless I plan to stalk people and their friends and figure out the relationships between them all.

 

I suspect that green threads are for fated mentor/mentee relationships. I often see them connecting young people to old, students to teachers or children to grandparents. The only other thread I am fairly sure of is white. I rarely see people with white threads, and when I do they tend to be doctors, fire fighters or other do-gooder types. My best guess is that they are fated to save the people they are tied to with white threads.

 

I see these threads constantly and it is a confusing mess, all the threads twisted around each other. Sometimes people mix up their blue threads with their red threads and end up in relationships that are doomed to fail. A lot of people have only one or two threads, or sometimes none at all. No one ever has more than one red thread though. One soul mate per person, no need to be greedy.

 

My saving grace is that I don't see the threads between people unless the two people are fairly close by each other, say a few blocks maybe. I don't know if I can see my own threads. I never have before, but that doesn't mean anything. I might not have any, or maybe I have never been close enough to anyone for my threads to be visible before.

 

I'm fairly sure that everyone has a red thread, even if they haven't met the person yet. I can also tell if the people whose fate is predicted by the thread have already met. If the thread is light and floaty like it's caught in a breeze, I know that they have not run into each other and solidified the relationship yet. If it is more solid and the thread is tight, I know that they have.

 

Now this might sound like a cool ability. It really isn't that great. Fate knows what it's doing and doesn't need any help from me, so basically all I can do is watch the threads and judge people silently for things they don't even know exist. Aside from being pretty useless as far as abilities go, it is also pretty distracting.

 

It's hard to pay attention to someone's face when you are busy staring at the shiny threads that are trailing off from their hearts which no one else can see. For the most part, I try to ignore them. As I am a bit of a social reject, most people don't go out of their way to interact with me when they can avoid it. Because of the threads, I have a bit of a reputation at work as a daydreamer.

 

The sleeves of my work top are long which cover my mark. The swirling patterns in my mark are supposed to represent the threads of fate, there are three of them in red, black and white. The mark is actually quite pretty but it is nothing compared to seeing the real threads. Still, at work I keep it covered and as long as people don't look too closely at me, I usually can pass for an ordinary human which makes serving human customers far easier than serving the Magics who tend to be stuck up towards humans.

 

I have rather pale skin and I am quite average in height and physique. My hair is straight and long, down past my waist. It is a dark midnight blue colour which most people assume is dyed but upon close inspection it is clear that I never have any regrowth or anything like that because it is in fact my natural hair. My matching eyebrows are another clue.

 

My eyes are also blue but they are so pale that most people think they are colourless. If I didn't have pupils I would probably look completely blind. They make people uncomfortable as they look a bit unnatural. It is for this reason that I have developed a habit of staring at the floor when I greet customers. This might be a problem in a human establishment, but in a place where Shifters and other Magics frequent it is almost expected as a way to avoid any confrontations or battles of dominance.

 

I did try wearing contacts a few months back but I found them too uncomfortable, besides, it would be too expensive for me to maintain. A throat clearing behind me jerks me from my brooding and I almost stumble as I turn on the spot in my high heels. I definitely lack the grace that some Magics are naturally blessed with.

 

I cringe slightly under the glare of my shift manager Anthony. I must have paused longer than I thought. I straighten my back and grab the tray of dirty dishes I had placed down a minute ago and continue on my way to the kitchen to swap it for a tray of food to deliver to table twenty.

 

I am just placing the last glass of wine down in front of a coven of Witches who are in the middle of their monthly 'girls night' when I notice for the first time, a blue thread drifting gently from my own chest. I slip with the glass and accidentally spill a little wine. Luckily the Witches are already sloshed enough not to notice my blunder.

 

I subtly wipe away the spill before hurrying away from their table. I trace my eyes along the thread. It is leading out the door of Borderline and out onto the street. I ache to follow it and meet whoever it is attached to. Due to my odd marking I have never really had any good friends, at least not since I was a kid. A fated friend is pretty much my dream come true.

 

For a moment, I consider ditching the last couple hours of my shift and going anyway. But it is a Saturday night and we are only halfway through the dinner rush. I would lose my job which I really need. I take a deep breath and remind myself that the thread means it is fated. I will meet and befriend the person eventually, even if I don't go searching for them.

 

I resign myself to waiting and hope that the person doesn't take too long to meet me. I've been lonely for a long time. Aside from having no real friends, I don't even date. In fact the idea is laughable. Even if there were someone willing to date me, I can see that there is no red thread between us which basically means the relationship is ultimately doomed. Even worse, I can see their actual red thread which means I know who they should be with.

 

No, dating is definitely impossible. I will just have to wait until my red thread appears.