“We’ve never done this!” I cry while I try pulling my pants up, but because Torin is holding on so tightly, I do little to salvage the situation. Kit makes sure to step back so I get a full view of this display as Torin finally lowers my feet and even pulls my pants back up after I’ve finished flashing my coworkers and boss.
“Are we doing a wheelbarrow race at the company picnic this year? If so, Torin and Riley are already practicing,” Mickey says.
“Well… that was a fitting start to what is yet to come,” I declare as I wave toward the table in the library. Honestly, anywhere works as a good spot to ruin my life.
“Far more entertaining than any of the meetings we have at work,” Vinny says.
Vinny and Imani are both agents with the Magical Interference Unit, which I belonged to for around ten years before quitting three years ago when I lost my eyesight. About two weeks ago, I agreed to return in exchange for them helping me heal Torin.
Lt. Lindsey, who runs the meetings that Vinny is dissing, looks less than impressed by Vinny’s dislike for her super old-school PowerPoint slides with no pictures and only text… lots of text. And it’s always so small you have to kind of lean forward to read them. I think she believes that means we’re enraptured by them instead of realizing that she’s causing eyestrain.
“Riley, if it helps you feel better, we can all get naked,” Torin offers.
I’m not quite sure how that could help any part of this, but Mickey shrugs for some reason like he’s game.
Everyone has a seat and then proceeds to stare at us. When I don’t say anything, Torin pats me on the back. “Would you like me to tell them?”
“I got this,” I say before taking a deep breath. “I guess I should start from the beginning.”
“From birth sounds like a bit much,” Torin comments.
“No, from the beginning of this,” I say, waving my hands around.
“Ooh, jazz hands,” Mickey says as he jazz-hands me back.
Deciding that Mickey and Torin are no help, I pull my gloves off and toss them onto the table. “About four years ago, anyhigh-level or strong magic I used started causing me pain. It began in my eyes and progressed to my fingers and eventually my feet.”
Imani reaches out and grabs my hand so she can examine the inky stain covering my skin. “What the hell is this?”
“I… don’t quite know.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” she asks.
“Because… I didn’t want to get thrown out of the Magical Interference Unit for being incapable of using my magic,” I admit. “I just… thought if I left and found a way to stop it, I could then return without anyone knowing… but instead, it’s gotten progressively worse.”
“How much worse?” Imani questions as she tries pushing my sleeve up before finding that the stain goes up higher than the sleeve does.
“Beyond… my limbs, it also affects my eyes… to the point where I can’t see anymore without using magic to look through Kit’s eyes.”
“And you didn’ttell us that?” Imani asks in disbelief. “Like… you’re completely blind?”
“Yes.”
“But you can see through Kit’s eyes?” Vinny asks.
“Yes, I use magic to do so.”
Imani looks hurt that I didn’t tell her this sooner, but it’s not like we saw each other as much as we used to once I left the unit. “Why didn’t you tell us?” she asks again.
“This… environment doesn’t always offer a chance to,” Mickey says. “Don’t you think I heard again and again how I would never amount to anything in this unit because of my lack of physical skills? It’s so strict and almost… degrading if you aren’t perfect in every sense. The only reason I scraped by was my smarts, and Riley just didn’t have that to help him scrape by.”
I narrow my eyes at Mickey. It started off really nice and then turned to shit by the end.
“What Mickey said!” Torin announces.
“Excuse me? I’m smart… ish!”
“He is smart about what food will be best,” Torin acknowledges, which… doesn’t seem to help at all.
