Dante SpookThe smell of her vanilla root beer was intoxicating .

She was taking short sips from her purple cartoon dinosaur mug. The smell enveloped the air inside our neon green beat up Volkswagen four door car as we cruised across the barren city streets. I causally toyed with our radio dial as I tried to find a station worth listening too; it was unavoidable for me to skip the channel with a sermon of fire and brimstone from a fanatical raving evangelical Lutheran preacher who in my opinion was foaming in the mouth with self righteousness. The dial stopped at KC and the Sunshine Band... I came to the conclusion that there was nothing on the radio that was better than this which was not saying much. I was not in the mood to think about metaphysisical things like if god exists and would he approve of me using magic. My Daughter Aisha was 12 and still blissfully unaware of magic and the other side of the world. The side of the world that is magical. That is other side that ordinary people are blind to. I want to tell the normal people about wizards. But it is easier to keep the lie going. Better to live with a lie than to know what is really going on. They would crap their pants if they knew. They would go ungodly raving mad if the illusion of their normalcy was dispelled. Those people who dont cast spells and talk to fairies whose freeholds are magically hidden in the grimy polluted corners of the urban wasteland. They dont make Faustian deals in the pale light of the full moon as unearthly creatures gleam their sinister smiles in the cold night air. Its good for them to not know how wizards go about their ordeals. Once you start getting involved in the world of magic, just like the mafia it is harder to get out. How can you go back from a normal life after that? You cant. What is normal once a person bravely crosses the threshold into this new universe? Weird starts becoming the new normal. Soon you dont even blink when blood thirsty trolls come knocking at your door looking for the head of that guy would pissed their fae masters. The fae are sensitive pussies when it comes to other peoples diatribes. That is just my own personal experience talking. My ex wife hardly understands my life which is one of many reasons we divorced. Also the little fact that several of the people on the high council of the fae want me dead. So I am on the lamb, running away from them.