Like seeing a ghost

Who: Harper & Lucius
When: Evening
Where: Nevermore

Broken mirrors. That was the key to getting rid of the bastards for longer than an hour. Once he and Marlowe had realized that, they'd made it a point to break the reflective surfaces as soon as the fuckers came through. Screw the bad luck they'd be getting for all the broken glass, a few hours of peace with no shadows showing up was well deserved.

Marlowe had gotten some rest, that was what had mattered. Then Lucius caught a few z's. Sleeping wasn't something you could keep denying for long, and along with that on the list of necessities of life was eating. With neither one of them having much culinary skill, Lucius decided to let Marlowe stay at the house while he went out on a food run. He left the house, leaving a kiss on the girls forehead and a knife in her hand should anything return while he was gone.

Lucius borrowed her car, making his way down the streets of Marquette in search of some sort of decent consumption. He found himself passing the same street where he'd bought his book on telekinetic powers. It couldn't hurt to run in and gather up some reading material on shadowy beings or demons or whatever the hell they were. He pulled over in front of the store and parked the car, walking inside quickly. He didn't have time to dawdle around. Marlowe was home alone and he wasn't about to waste any more time than necessary. Harper was standing at the front of the store and he walked over to her.

"Hey. Point me in the direction of shadowy demons and the like." he said.

Harper had seen him coming up to the door as she was working on straightening the window display. He came into the store and walked right up to her. She was standing there, facing him at a total loss for words. “Y-y-y….” Harper started, she could feel her heartbeat race as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing. He was… “Your alive.” She managed to spit out after some trouble. Harper didn’t even care if it made her seem completely bizarre as she reached out to touch his shoulder, needing to confirm what she was seeing.

He stared at her, his eyebrow cocked into an upside down 'v' shape as she touched his arm. "What are you talking about?" he questioned. "Of course I'm alive. Have been all day." No thanks to the f*cking shadows, that's for sure... He shook his head and asked again. "Books. Shadows, demons... I need some, do you guys have any here?"

She was still in a bit of shock. Harper had clearly seen him fly over the car and land in a heap of blood, even if he had survived he'd've been injured in some way. Maybe he wasn't human? Then why would she have seen it? Harper shook her head slightly- shadows? "Shadows? Um, I think I may have some left." 'Shadows' had been a popular topic as of late. "Any particular kind of shadows?" She asked as she headed back to the stacks, her good hand rubbing her cast nervously.

"One's that like mirrors." he told her, following the girl towards the books. "You okay?" he questioned. "You seem... a bit edgy." 'Edgy' was an understatement. The poor girl looked at him as if she'd seen a ghost or something. And what was that bit about 'you're alive'? Why wouldn't he be alive? Did she know about the shadows?

She stopped and turned around. "Mirrors?" That would be a no. "We don't exactly have anything on 'mirror shadows', but…" Maybe there was something that hadn't been bought yet. Harper turned back around and headed into one of the isles and started to scan the books, ignoring his other question- after all, what could she say? 'Are you a demon?' 'I saw you hit by a car!' She found the book she was looking for and pulled it out. "This has a section about 'realm guardians'. It's the best book we have about what's going on…" Or so they've found. "I know this sounds strange… but…" She had to know. "Were you in a car accident recently?"

He took the book from her, his eyes flicking up to hers at the question. "A car accident?" he asked. "Uh, no." He shook his head. "What kind of question is that? I haven't even been out of the house in nearly a day."

Harpers heart leaped into her throat. "Nothing, forget I asked." She said, handing him the book. "I must have been thinking of someone else." She picked her nail nervously on her cast as she exited the row of books. "I speak to so many people, sometimes I get them mixed up." Harper walked to the front counter, a little quicker than she probably should have. She felt as if she might tear up from the confusion. She'd seen him- she was sure of it. If he hadn't- she hadn't. Could he have a twin? The demon thing wasn't completely out, maybe she was wrong and her visions weren't real and she -was- insane.

He continued to stare at the girl. There was something she wasn't telling him. "Harper... I don't look like or sound like anyone else in town, how could you possibly have mixed me up with someone else?" he questioned. "Tell me what's going on because seriously, after the last couple of days, nothing you could say would really surprise me."

She couldn't tell him because she didn't even really know what was going on. Shaking her head Harper pulled on the well practiced 'good employee smile'. "No, you don't. But I've met so many new people recently I probably just mixed up who told me what story." She'd only met the man once and probably would have forgotten all about him, but his interest in psychics and the fact that he was a little cute had made him stick in her head. So when she saw him in the vision she was certain it had been him- now she wasn't so sure.

He searched her eyes for any fragment of truth. She wasn't telling him everything. He knew that, but getting her to fess up wasn't in his list of top priorities at the moment. Marlowe was at her house, alone and he was here trying to solve the riddles this girl was throwing out with every word she spoke. He shrugged. "Okay then... whatever." he said to her. "How much for the book?"

It was a smaller, paperback. "Twelve, ninety-eight." She said off the top of her head, it was just one of those prices she knew. Harper reached out with her good hand and took the book so she could ring it up for him, sure enough she'd guessed right- thank god for general pricings.

He nodded and pulled out his wallet, handing her the cash. He'd wait til he got back to Marlowe's place to worry anymore about the book or the shadows. Looking down at his watch he noted that they hadn't appeared again. Broken mirrors really did the trick.

She gave him his change in exchange and tucked the book into the bag. "Have a nice night." She told him. She was getting some pretty bad chills about this whole thing.

He nodded and took the bag. "Yeah, thanks. You too." he told her, turning around. The girl really had something on her mind, he could tell by the look in her eyes. Even if she did a good job of keeping her features from telling the story, her eyes did all the talking. He shook away the thought and headed for the door.

Hesitant to say anything at all Harper resisted until the very end when he reached to push open the door. "Just… be careful when crossing the street ok?" It was better to be safe than sorry right?

He turned to look at her again, a bit dumbfounded at her simple request. "Uh... okay..." he said shrugging his shoulders a bit. "Not really sure what that's supposed to mean, but sure thing Harper."

Harper slumped back onto the stool behind the counter after he left. He thought she was a freak. She’d thought he was dead. She had no idea what was going on.