"Sounds like a date to me," Zelo said matter-of-factly, swinging his black tail to and fro.

"It was not a date."

Gil scoffed. "I'm with the cat on this. And I can't believe I just said that."

Avalon rolled her eyes, glad that Gil still had his humour despite their crucial situation. "It was not a date. We just–" She shrugged when she couldn't find the right words. "We get along really well, is all."

This time, Zelo and Gil both scoffed in sync, making Avalon shake her head in exasperation as she turned her attention back to the task at hand – brewing a potion.

So what if her and Neymar got along? Really well, that was. They didn't know each other all that long, sure. Yet she felt she'd always had him on speed dial to call whenever something was up. Which had begun with Davi and his bed time whenever his dad wasn't around but did it really matter all that much?

They usually talked for a while as soon as Davi had fallen asleep, gradually lengthening their phone calls day by day. They wrote text messages now and then. And they goofed off and had fun, be that in the kitchen making dirty jokes or on the beach creating sand sharks.

And now, as of today's exchange at the aquarium, they apparently also had reached a point where it was okay to trust the other with serious stuff too. Like, dead or alive serious stuff. Her warden's mother's missing case being closed, for one.

In such a short time they'd become... friends. Yes, that's what it was. They'd connected on that level fairly quickly. So much so that people looking at them basically had to assume there was much more going on, nevermind his "off the market" status.

Thinking back on tonight, she had to admit the idea wasn't all that far-fetched. Especially when you considered their almost-moment. Yes. It certainly could be misconstrued as a date.

Avalon groaned, letting her head fall down. Trust the cat to just right out say it. Great, she thought, leaning back from the concoction on the portable cook plate, now I'm starting to think it too!

"Ah," Zelo commented in a knowing voice, "I know comprehension when I see it."

"Well, no one likes a know-it-all," Avalon retorted, lacking a better comeback. Besides, she already knew any reply would have been admission enough for him.

The cat lay on the counter of the bar slash witch kitchen slash headquarter of the "Free Neymar Club", watching his reluctant-but-not-so-reluctant-anymore student do what witches normally liked to do: brewing magical potions, for example. His pitch-black body formed a stark contrast to the white paint of the furniture, the drastically opposing colours softened only somewhat by the dim lighting provided by spots in the ceiling.

Outside the floor-length window, night was holding Castelldefels in its clutches. Initially, Avalon hadn't wanted to put on lights at all – the risk of being seen was too high – but that had proven irrelevant because she'd magically hidden the bar. Thanks to Zelo's foresight, it was hidden behind an obfuscation spell that Avalon had activated when she'd locked the door behind her and Gil, just before Neymar had stormed up the stairs in pursuit of Zelo in the afternoon.

Also, Neymar and Nina had gone out to some club, so there was no bad witch in the house. Leave it to Nina and that stupid love spell to separate Neymar from his son, though.

Once Poker had run inside and up the stairs to where he sensed his owner, it hadn't taken the "happy couple" more than half an hour to go out. Neymar hadn't even taken the time to put Davi to bed – which gave Avalon all the more reason to severely start hating the bitch of of a witch and take measures into her hands. There was no more time or room to be afraid of Nina and her powers. Going by Davi's sadness when he'd been tucked into bed by Avalon instead of his dad, there really wasn't just one man's heart at risk – there were two. And one of those definitely lay in Avalon's field of responsibility. She'd signed a contract to look after Davi, after all. And Goddesses of the Moon, she would!

Now, with the first day of "Nina in the house" almost over and done with (shocks and surprises all inclusive), their little league of fighters for Neymar's freedom (Gil's words) had relocated to their secret headquarters at the little bar on the top floor of the house.

Since there were no obvious clues to anyone having gone inside, Avalon was pretty certain the spell was working. She thanked her lucky stars for that; what with her magical abilities being rusty to the core.

Didn't mean Nina didn't know about the spell, though. Or the one she'd used to make Poker get into the house. Which certainly left a sour aftertaste to its glorious success.

Gil sat on one of the bar stools on the other side of the bar, flipping through Avalon's "Book of Shadows" app on her smartphone. So far, Avalon had only given him permission to look through the recipes; the witch wide web was password protected anyhow.

At least they knew now what Nina had done to the front door – and all the other doors as soon as she'd had the house for herself. Notification spells, to let her know when someone entered or left the house. Further investigation done by Zelo revealed that the spells had only been placed on entrances to the house itself; which meant the premises themselves were spell-free. Small favours.

When Gil wasn't scouring through the app (undoubtedly trying to guess the password here and there), he read the witch in action instructions for the potion she was currently making; a deed usually reserved for Zelo, who, naturally, had complained about losing that right to a human. Which had made Gil switch between reading the book of shadows and scratching Zelo behind the ears. He'd stopped complaining then.

The mixture currently brewing on the tiny portable stove would help keep Poker's reaction to Nina in check, a hopefully more potent potion than what Fidelia had had in stock for them earlier. The dog in question was occupying what little space there was between the door and the bar, happy to simply lie on the floor, his head resting on his front paws as he watched the rest of the room's occupants.

"Now now, my dear student," Zelo retorted. "Just because I'm always right doesn't give you permission to call your teacher names. Besides, while you were out frolocking on your date–"

"It was not a date."

"–Gil and I were actually doing some work of the magical variety to get us and everyone involved out of this mess."

"Free Neymar!" Gil suddenly said, pumping a fist into the air. Avalon glanced at the Brazilian in surprise but his attention was back on the phone after his proclaim of their club's motto.

Zelo tilted his head in self-complacency, obviously glad that the name he'd given their operation had caught on so successfully. "Oh, how I wish to have hands to copy that gesture."

"Work? All you managed to do is get some coffee at the local VME. And you would have them if you hadn't played around with the dark arts," Avalon added in a mumble. She stared hard at the brew in front of her, cautiously steering the wooden spoon clockwise three times before placing the spoon back down next to the copper pot. Latest history with making potions had made her all the more careful.

Gil lifted his eyes from the phone at that. "That's a thing? Dark arts?" He looked around but neither Avalon nor Zelo felt the need to elaborate. He sighed and put the phone on the counter, turned around so that Avalon could see the next instructions for herself now. "Is that what Nina's all about, then?"

Zelo's tail switched to and fro as he contemplated this new question; loaded on so many levels. "So it would seem," the cat said.

"You said the other night that love spells are really difficult spells that are forbidden, right?" Gil crossed his arms on the counter to put his head on his lower arms. From that position, he expectantly glanced sideways at Zelo who sat up to lick his front paws. But the cat didn't show any signs of continuing with the conversation.

The brew started to bubble so she steered it again like before. When it became clear that Zelo didn't want to continue with the conversation, Avalon reluctantly continued for him. "They are. Forbidden and difficult, I mean. It's a bit more complicated than that but strictly speaking they actually aren't dark arts."

"Why the hell not?" Gil exclaimed, outraged. He sat up to look at her. "They play with human emotions on a pretty disturbing level, don't they? If that isn't dark, what is?"

Avalon shrugged. "Necromancy, demonology, shapeshifting... that sort of stuff."

"Demon– wait, shapeshifting?!" The Brazilian lifted an eyebrow, glancing at Zelo's dark form. "So Zelo was actually a dark wizard?"

Avalon glared at him. "Of course not! The rules for what is black magic and what is not are... well, they were made up a few centuries ago and they haven't been revised ever since. Which makes them kind of out-of-date in terms of what society thinks is good or evil today."

"They're archaic and primitive is what I'm sure you meant to say," Zelo added. Avalon hid her smile; he just couldn't not say something, could he now? "Let me tell you something, lad," he said, turning to Gil. "The terms black magic and white magic are nothing more than old-fashioned labels meant to keep the wizarding communities and covens in line. Now, back then, as Avalon has said, things were thought of differently than today. The covens didn't have a problem with someone manipulating someone else's feelings. But pray to the Moon Goddesses you let some dead guy walk around again or attempt to shift your shape!"

"So, going by those... definitions," Gil mused, "Zelo's the dark wizard. But Nina isn't?"

Zelo meowed at that. "Smart boy."

"But love spells are forbidden. Dark arts or black magic or not. So why aren't the covens doing anything about it?"

Zelo brushed a paw over his snout. "Well, my best guess is they simply don't know about it. Beside the fact that covens don't monitor every person on this planet – they do have their own lives, you know? – even if they did, they wouldn't think it weird for someone, much less a celebrity they don't know personally, to fall in love. Also, we're in a time and age where relationships don't last the time it takes for a Mentos to be digested."

"But then, what are we waiting for? We just tell them and they'll come and help Neymar!" Gil exclaimed, smiling brightly. "Avalon, you can call your coven and then they will deal with the whole Nina situation. Easy peasy, right?"

Avalon and Zelo exchanged a glance, making Gil frown in confusion.

"Right?" the Brazilian repeated, much less sure of himself now.

A beat of silence in which Gil looked from Avalon to Zelo and back again. Both were silent. But where the cat's tail twitched about, Avalon was completely frozen to the spot, not even blinking. Caught in the memory of the magical pink, turquoise and golden whirlwind – powerful, relentless, uncontrollable and destructive. So different from before in the garden.

An awkward silence stretched through the room, broken only when Gil breathed out heavily as he wiped a hand across his face. "I'm really afraid to ask now."

At last, Avalon took a shaky breath to speak, her voice barely more than a whisper when she said, "It's not easy peasy. It's... complicated."

Much like back then. No, stop it, she reprimanded herself, hearing the echoes of a wailing scream in her mind. You can't let the past get to you!

Gil sighed. He pushed his fingers through his short locks only to form a fist and grab them in a sign of frustration. "God! It's never good when someone starts with these kinds of words. What's the sitch?"

Zelo's next words, spoken softly and with an understanding Avalon hadn't been sure she'd heard in awhile from him, surprised the witch. "The coven is not an option right now. Let's leave it at that, Gil."

Gil pursed his lips, naturally not getting the hint. How could he? He didn't know about Avalon's past. "But aren't covens like your family or clan or something? At least like-minded witches like in the movies, right?"

"Don't use Hollywood as a reference for the supernatural," Zelo said in a sharp and educating tone. "They take certain elements and throw them together in any way they deem useful for the story they want to tell, nothing more, nothing less. Here's an anecdote to internalise that fact: When it comes to magical beings, they only ever got the talking cat part somewhat right. And that one was just a hand puppet from a comedy show that's about as old as you I would guess."

Immediately after hearing this, the tension left Avalon's body. Suddenly, she was tired, burned out and looking forward to a good night of sleep. But at least she wasn't paralysed from thinking of her past.

She managed a soft giggle, grateful for the change of topic. "And who inspired them to that I wonder?"

Zelo hissed indignantly. "Not my fault they chased me around like the animal rights freaks they were! I had to do something or they would've catnapped me to the US and claimed they'd rescued a poor animal from the vicious streets of Europe."

"Good graces. I can't thank the universe enough for their failure. Otherwise I'd have found myself with a teacher actually capable of casting spells to teach me magic."

"You know as well as I that none of the others come close to my pure genius."

"Or humble nature."

"Uh, guys? Back to topic, please?" Gil interrupted the banter.

Avalon took a deep breath. "Right. Sorry."

Zelo turned back toward Gil, his tail switching from one side to the other – teacher mode. "As I was saying. The coven's not an option at this point in time."

"Or ever," Avalon softly added, ignoring the confused look Gil threw her way.

The alarm on her phone went off. Avalon shut off the plate and used an oven glove to pour the potion into several little vials they'd prepared for this purpose. The slightly milky liquid kept on twirling softly inside the vial, telling Avalon she'd gotten it right the first time around. She smiled, proud that she wouldn't need to brew batches two to seven; unlike some other potion she still had trouble with. Poor Zelo's smelling sense. Still without a solution.

Zelo went on. "In this endeavour, we are on our own."

You could tell that Gil wanted to know more about what they led on. Then he took a deep breath and let it go slowly. "Okay. Fine by me. We're on our own. You say we're on our own so we're on our own. Any idea what we're gonna do and how we're gonna do that? On our own."

Avalon was cleaning the pot after having finished bottling the potion. The water running and the scrubbing of the sponge over the cobber material were the only sounds for as long as it took her to get the rest of the potion out of the pot.

She didn't have to say anything in return. Everyone knew the answer.

They didn't have a damned clue.

- - -

Published on: 04 November 2017