Swift (Strangetown Magic Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

the drooling mess I'd be if we actually got naked and down and dirty—then you can become lost in a heartbeat. I've heard what happens, I've seen it, and it's perverse and even for the nice ones like Zeno it isn't their fault, it's just the effect they have on us. Let an elf get too close and they own you and you want them to and you will do anything, give anything, to make it last one second longer.
    So, that's why I hit him. I will be beholden to no man, woman, beast, religion or law. I am me, Swift, and I will not be made an addict. At least, not to anything else. Magic is my drug of choice and that's more than enough of a problem for one lifetime.
    Do I get lonely? Hell, yes. But I have made it this far without breaking, and there have been those I have shared my life with, made a home with, and they all leave in the end. I wouldn't change it, but for now, in these dangerous times, I was happy to be independent, or as independent as you can be when surrounded by madness and the only thing between you and the end is your wits, your magic, and the kindness of others.
    I put my fingers to my lips and wondered if a regular man would ever be enough after a taste of what utter bliss could be like if I wasn't such a stubborn witch.

 
     
     
    To the Supermarket
    Let's say your town got overrun by aliens, or the whole country, world, whatever. Meltdown, right? People freak out, panic ensues, maybe everyone turns on each other and the army and police forces can't cope. Banking systems collapse, the Internet goes down, stores are ransacked, nothing gets made or delivered, and basically it's hell on earth.
    None of that happened. Okay, hardly any of it.
    I think everyone was surprised, but humanity dealt with the adjustment surprisingly well. Everyone still needs to eat, buy overpriced clothes, go to the cinema and bowling, buy cheap food at fast-food chains and mull over what coffee to buy. So supermarkets remained open just as they always did, the financial systems of the world carried on regardless, and not a lot changed in many regards.
    Apart from all the hate and the opportunism, the name-calling and the mass exodus of Strangetown. We're about fifty-fifty here now. Half Normal, half Strange. Some would call it rather cosmopolitan in its own way—it's certainly a species melting pot of diversity. Many Strange have done well in their new world, and many humans have taken advantage of the situation.
    Some have become hunters, others have gone with the flow and welcomed with open arms the opportunity to get a veritable smorgasbord of discount labor. Who can blame them, it's business, right? Everyone wants a job, and one advantage of living here is you can take your pick of houses, rent free, but for food, clothing, even utilities I am still amazed run so efficiently, well, just like always, you gotta pay with cash. Be it of the cold hard kind or the virtual, doesn't matter—everything costs, same as ever.
    As I approached the supermarket, my belly went into overdrive on the hunger front. The rumbles echoed around the city, bounced off satellites far into space, and would be the first message an alien species would hear millions of years into the future before deciding to skip planet Earth as the language was incomprehensible.
    Using magic always drains me in this way. Some human Strange need to sleep, others get manic for a while then sink into serious depression, others have seizures, or if you are really unlucky you will fall into a magic coma for maybe a few seconds, maybe a few days or weeks if it's intense enough—everyone's different, so I don't complain. Watch it! I don't.
    I was damn hungry though.
    The once-packed car park was mostly empty of cars, replaced with bicycles, weird rickshaw type things, skateboards, even a few dangerous looking flying nasties snapping at each other, their riders hurrying to buy what they needed before the impatient things ate each other. There were plenty of Strange and Normal loitering