Mariel's Magic Pt. 01

This is a fantasy in which a magical girl is born to non-magical parents. The parents, and magical and non-magical friends they meet along the way, teach the girl how to use magic, and try to protect the her from those who want to turn her towards dark magic; then the girl and her friends join to battle against dark magic.

***

Chapter 1: Jonathan and Adriana

Jonathan Stone sat in his one-bedroom apartment on the third floor of an old, three-story building on Pine Street, between Octavia and Laguna, in San Francisco. He had just returned from a jog, going a mile up Bush Street and then back down Pine, moving against the traffic both ways. While letting himself in through the ground-floor entrance, he noticed a small girl, without a helmet, riding an electric scooter among the cars, and wondered how long it would be before she landed in the hospital.

From the street, his building had two doors, each with beautiful stained-glass windows. However, the effect of the windows was marred by the iron bars that covered them. From there, it was a straight flight of stairs up to his apartment. Halfway up, there was a small landing, which opened to the doors of the two second-floor apartments. Then the stairs continued to the back third-floor apartment and to a short hallway that led to Jonathan's apartment, which fronted the street. The ground-floor apartment was a single flat.

The building was well over a hundred years old and smelled of neglect. He barely noticed the scent anymore, but a visitor would comment. It had the smell of old wood, mold that had crept into the walls, ages-old dust that had worked into the crevices, and mediocre cleaning. Jonathan had housecleaners every two weeks, but they only did the basics. His place smelled clean after that, but after a few days, it reverted to its natural state.

There was a fireplace, blocked up long ago, so that the only thing it was used for was a place to put a space heater. The building had at one time been modernized to add central heating, but it was usually ineffective against the cold San Francisco winds, and the building had many small cracks and opening to let the drafts blow in. Sometimes the only warm place in the apartment was in front of that heater. The appliances that came with the place were ancient, but Jonathan did not care much. He depended on a toaster, coffee maker, microwave, and air fryer. He had been in the apartment for five years and never once turned on the oven. Honestly, he did not want to turn it on for fear of smoking out the creatures that had likely taken up residence there.

His apartment fronted the street, so he had two beautiful, rounded bay windows. They were single-paned windows, and the wind seemed to blow right through the glass. They were the only windows in the apartment, and he insisted that his housecleaners keep them spotless.

He was sitting on the window seat looking at the street and drinking coffee. Along with his coffee was a Danish that he had picked up at the corner market, three blocks up Pine. The Danish was a little stale, but he didn't mind. It was part of the charm of living here, where the corner store was an odd collection of this and that, and in exchange for convenience, customers were not that picky. This was probably left over from yesterday. Hell, it could have been a week old. The owner was not one to throw it out just because nobody bought it. As he bit into the pastry, his eyes followed the girl on the scooter again, then watched a couple walking a dog across the street. The sounds of the traffic were clear and unmuffled by the thin glass.

His apartment, with an almost but not quite cared-for look, was a perfect reflection of his life, comfortable, yet always missing something. He had no car because he had no garage, and street parking was nonexistent. But lacking a car did not bother him. A lot of people in the city got by with no car. The Metro was fine, and so was Uber, and if he needed to get out of town, he could rent something for a few days. The only thing he was really missing was a girlfriend, and that had been the case for a long while.

Sitting at the window, he was not quite ready to work, so he made another coffee in his Keurig. He had a pile of K-cups of different brands and flavors, though all were bold or dark. He was not picky and bought what was cheap from Amazon. He randomly picked something from the pile and looked at it. Honduran. OK, why not. It was strong and slightly bitter but satisfying.

As he sipped his coffee, his phone buzzed with a notification. "Teleconference at 9:30." It was only 8:30 now. He set an alarm on his computer and went back to the window. As he sat there, he glanced around his apartment, at the worn furniture that came with the place, plus a few things of his own. His hanging and potted plants were doing well enough. They were grouped near the windows and seemed to like it. He did not talk to them, as he had heard others did, but they were his only living companions, so he gave them the attention they deserved.

Leaving his half-finished coffee on the window seat, he got up to take a shower. He stood in the old-fashioned claw-footed tub, drew the curtain around him, and waited for the water to get hot. It seemed to be coming from a long way off because it took a few minutes before it was even lukewarm. This was another thing he was used to. His rent was high, and the landlord was not great, but he liked the location, so he stayed.

He finished his shower, dried his hair, and started dressing. Just as he was putting on his pants, his front door buzzer sounded, and he pressed the button to see who it was.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Hi," came a woman's voice, "Jonathan Stone?"

"Yeah, that's me. Who's this?"

"Adriana Peters... uh... you don't know me... your Aunt Carol said I should look you up if I was in town. So, I'm in town and looking you up. I just had your address, so I didn't call."

He thought about Aunt Carol, back in Minnesota. Did she mention a woman named...

"What's your name again? Oh, hell, come on up, top floor." He buzzed the door of the building open and went back to dressing. Just as he finished buttoning the shirt, there was a knock.

He opened the door to find a medium-height woman in her mid-twenties, with messy blond hair, jeans, and a bomber jacket over a T-shirt. Her figure could be described as fit, like a woman who jogged a little, played tennis, or spent a few hours a week in the gym. Her eyes were blue grey. She did not wear much makeup, but she did not need any. He was immediately entranced by her pretty face.

"Adriana Peters," she said, sticking out her hand while looking up and smiling at him.

He took her hand and then said, "Come in, Adriana." She passed into the room and looked around a little as he shut the door.

"Do you mind if I set this down?" she asked, referring to the pack she had strapped to her back. Oddly, he was so focused on her face that he had not noticed the big bag.

"Sure, anyplace. Do you want some coffee?"

"That'd be great."

Jonathan led Adriana into the kitchen, motioning toward a chair at the tiny table that served as his dining space. To Jonathan, the apartment suddenly felt more lived-in and welcoming with someone else there. He presented the container of K-cups to her.

"Pick one."

She looked up at him and smiled, then picked through the little cups before choosing Peruvian Bold.

"Is this a good one?" she asked.

"No idea, I just pick them at random, and honestly can't tell the difference."

He pulled an oversized coffee mug from the cupboard, the only size he had, and set it beneath the spout of the coffee maker. When the mug was full, he asked, "Milk? Sugar? Anything?"

"No, thanks."

"So, Aunt Carol gave you my name? Are you friends?"

"No," replied Adriana. "She and my mom are friends. I needed a break and just decided to come. My mom didn't like the idea of my coming alone and talked to Carol about it. Carol said you lived here, and mom made me promise that I would come to you when I got here. I know, I'm 25 and can look after myself, but I promised mom to make her happy. So, here I am. I hope you don't mind."

"Did you hitchhike or something?" Jonathan asked, eyeing the pack.

"God no. A plane, like everyone else." Then she looked over at the bag. "Yeah, I guess it looks a bit on-the-road, but no. I'll find a hotel or motel or something. I just wanted to get my visit with you done, make mom happy, and then figure things out from there."

"Well," said Jonathan, "you're welcome to hang out here until you book something. I have to get to work in a bit, but you won't be in the way."

"That'd be great, thanks. Do you work at home, or something?"

"Yeah, I work for a company in Massachusetts, but I work from here. Tech job."

Adriana perked up at that. "Me too. For the last three years, I worked for a startup company in Texas, but I worked out of my bedroom back in Minnesota. The startup got acquired for a bunch of money, and I got some of it. For me, it was a lot of money. Then the new company let us all go. They just wanted the technology. That was OK with me. There was nothing big I wanted to buy, and with the buyout money, I could travel or do whatever I wanted for quite a long time. So, that's what I'm doing."

Jonathan told her his story. After getting his master's, he started working at the Massachusetts company. There seemed little chance of big buyout money, but he liked what he did, liked the people, and unlike a lot of tech jobs, he was paid well without having to work 24/7 and sleep under his desk.

After this, the conversation flowed easily, with Jonathan sharing some of his favorite spots in the city. He told her that he liked taking and posting photos of the city and the surrounding Bay Area. On weekends, he often rented a car to get out and hike through the hills, coming back with hundreds of photos.

Adriana's eyes lit up with interest. "I'd love to join you if you don't mind. It sounds like a perfect way to see this area."

"That'd be great," Jonathan replied, surprised at her offer, and excited to have what might generously be called a date with this pretty woman. "You can take photos, too. I get a lot of good images with my phone. I take a big camera with me, mostly for the telephoto lens."

The conference call alert sounded, and he said, "Time for work. This will probably be two hours. Feel free with the apartment. If you want to take a shower, go ahead. There're clean towels in that cupboard," he said, pointing.

"Thanks, Jonathan, I won't disturb you, and a shower sounds great."

Jonathan sat down to his conference and finished his coffee as the group got into the details of the project they were working on. Of the twelve-person team, he was, more or less, second in command, and spent a lot of time giving directions, listening to their questions, and making suggestions on how each was to complete their tasks.

Three-quarters of an hour after the meeting started, Adriana opened the bedroom door, dressed now in a skirt and sweater, her hair combed neatly, and wearing a little makeup. She wore light pink polish on her fingers; and had unearthed from the depths of her pack a thin gold necklace with a small diamond pendant.

She sat on the old couch and opened her phone, thinking about finding a hotel or motel. Instead, she found herself gazing at the young man. He was just over six feet, with the lean build of a long-time runner. His longish dark brown hair sat above brown eyes. Handsome, she thought to herself. She turned back to her phone to pull up an app to book a room. She should have done so before leaving Minnesota, but everything had been very spur-of-the-moment. She had an app open and was starting to look for a place when she found Jonathan standing in front of her.

"Taking a little break. Want more coffee?" he asked.

"No, thanks. I hate to ask, but toast would be nice."

"Sure," and he put bread in the toaster and popped another K-cup in the coffee maker.

"Maybe," Adriana said tentatively, "half a cup of coffee?"

"OK, I'll share this one with you." He pulled a clean cup from the cupboard, let it fill with coffee, and then poured half into her cup.

"There you go," and looked at her as he handed her the cup, admiring her. "OK, back to the meeting."

He sat back down and was soon in the thick of it again. Adriana ate the toast, drank her coffee, and forgot about where she was going to stay. She was watching Jonathan. He needed a shave, but that did not mar his good looks. His voice had a nice tone, and she wondered if he was a singer. He seemed a pleasant person, the way he talked to his team, which was about half men and half women. He was very confident, and much more articulate than the average tech guy. She looked around at the walls and saw a number of framed photos, mostly landscapes. Some were small, but others were quite large, and all looked professional. Were they his? Maybe he was an artist.

She smiled to herself at the thought of wandering around with him, taking pictures, eating in a nice seafood restaurant, walking along the beach, and visiting museums. She realized as she sat there that she was spinning out an entire itinerary of very date-like activities with him, while she knew nothing about him. He might be gay. Well, she was not against making a friend of a gay man, but something in her was definitely disappointed at the thought.

She went back to her phone and the travel app, and started looking at what was available. There wasn't much, and what was available at short notice was expensive. She was kicking herself for not doing this before she left home. Did she want to spend $300 per night? That made no sense to her at all. She could stay in Oakland or someplace else in the East Bay, but then, getting there and then getting back into San Francisco started to sound like a lot of work.

She was brooding about this when Jonathan left his desk and came over.

"All done," said Jonathan. "Do you want to get some lunch with me?"

"Sure, I'm starving."

"If you like Japanese food, we can go to Japantown, just a few blocks away. Rice and chicken, teriyaki, noodles, sushi, that kind of thing. It's so close I eat there all the time."

"As long as there is nothing raw, it sounds great."

Adriana put her bomber jacket back on, along with some mini boots, and they left to walk the two blocks to the big tourist spot. They ambled through Peace Plaza, where Adriana saw the tall pagoda, and into the interior mall with its line of restaurants running down the center.

They waited in line for fifteen minutes and then were shown to a booth. It was not a fancy place by any means, but to Adriana, it was fascinating. This might have been a tourist spot, but it didn't seem like that. There were lots of families, people by themselves, teenagers, and most looked Asian.

"Do you recommend anything?" she asked Jonathan.

"It's all pretty good. Just look at the pictures on the menu; that's the best way to order."

Adriana examined the pictures, ignored the names, and settled for chicken and rice, titled chicken donburi. Jonathan ordered grilled eel over rice, and they both ordered a glass of cheap wine. Adriana obviously liked what she was eating, and Jonathan was glad. If this was some kind of date, he wanted her to have a good time because he wanted to see her again.

He had broken up with a girl a year earlier, and the experience made him so sad that he could not muster the energy to get back into dating. He had gotten used to being with someone that he liked and maybe even loved. He had gotten used to sharing his bed with someone, and sometimes her bed as well, although that was difficult because she shared an apartment with another woman -- a woman who then became her lover. Maybe, he thought, that was another source of reluctance to get back into dating.

When Adriana wasn't looking, he watched her. He liked the little smile that played on her lips as she delicately ate. He also liked how her long eyelashes seemed to shade her eyes, and the stray hair that curled around her right ear, and the way her fingers tried to flick the curl back into place.

"This place has been here forever," said Jonathan. "It's fun to wander through here or just hang out here. When I get tired of being cooped up alone, I come over for coffee and just sit watching the people."

Through the large windows opening onto the mall corridor, they could see people passing by, and Adriana was fascinated.

"Well, we're not in Duluth anymore, are we, Toto?" she said, looking down at an imaginary dog. "How long have you lived here, Jonathan?"

"Five years. I've been in the area for nine years, ever since I came out to go to school at Stanford, south of here. I liked it and stayed. I found this apartment five years ago, and the rent is controlled, so it's relatively cheap now. And I love this neighborhood. I go back to Duluth to see my mom once a year or so."

They talked a little about Duluth, where they were both raised. They had lived in different parts of town, so they had no friends in common and hung out at different places while growing up, so the subject of home was soon exhausted. They did not even bother talking about the weather in Duluth, which they both hated.

"I complain about the cold San Francisco wind sometimes," said Jonathan. "Now you remind me of Minnesota winters. God, am I spoiled here."

After eating, they explored the shops for an hour, and Adriana bought a few things she might take home as gifts. For herself, she bought a beautiful silk kimono. Then Jonathan took her to the little market on the outside of the mall to buy snacks to take home. Adriana found this to be an exotic experience, looking at the many things on the shelves with what she took to be labels written in Japanese.

"Pick something that looks good to eat, and it probably is. If you look at the back, you'll see that the ingredients are in English, in case you're allergic to something." Adriana selected a package of colorful individually wrapped cookies, while Jonathan loaded up on a variety of chips and spicy things like chickpeas.

As they were heading back to his apartment, Jonathan pointed out the Hotel Kabuki and suggested seeing if that place had any deals on rooms. She stopped right there and opened the travel app on her phone. To her surprise, she could get a room for three nights for $150 per night. She booked the room immediately before someone grabbed it.

Back at his apartment, Adriana settled into his sofa while he went back to work. There were two hours before she could check into her room, and she killed the time on social media. When it was nearly three, Jonathan watched as she collected her things to put them in her backpack.

Hesitantly, he said, "Can I buy you dinner tonight? We could go to the Cliff House and get a table where we can look at the ocean."

She looked at him, considering. In her mind, this could be the second date, and she wondered if that was a good idea. They were standing near each other, and she noticed how his long brown hair was covering his left eye, and without thinking about it, reached to brush it away.

"Sorry... you had hair in your eyes... well, yeah, that would be nice."

"OK, I can meet you in the hotel lobby about six."

She grabbed her pack, and he walked her down the street to the hotel.

***

That evening, with their ride waiting on the street, he met Adriana in the hotel lobby. It was cold, and both were dressed warmly, her again in her bomber jacket. The trip to the Cliff House took less than twenty minutes, and the reservation was at seven, so they sat at the bar, Jonathan drinking beer and Adriana Chardonnay. Adriana had on a dress that showed the curves of her breasts. The dress had come out of the backpack quite wrinkled, but she was able to iron it back into shape in her room. She was still wearing her mini boots, and around her neck, the same necklace. To Jonathan, she was stunning, and he was starting to think that dating was not so bad.