Yeah, I could have magicked my clothes but I can't magic iron, so I'd say that that gate saved my life. He looked a little upset and I almost changed my mind. I figured he just wanted someone to do the job for free. I wasn't the only magic user in town and he knew it. 'Find someone else,' I said with an unapologetic shrug. I might even have had something called a key with me. You know, if he'd just called before showing up at my gate, I might've been a little more inclined-or prepared-to go with him. I figured someone must've wanted something badly but he was worried about it. He was talking but he wasn't saying much, if you get what I mean. Probably too startled by that blast of his horn. Which made me wonder why I'd gone out to see him in them. You know, the type with the cute little cartoons you wouldn't be caught dead being seen in. Normally, I'd be off in a sec, jumping into his car to head off wherever, but I'd already showered and was in a comfy pair of PJs. There was a job that needed doing, but he needed an extra pair of eyes and hands. 'But yeah, it's important,' he stressed, though I couldn't see why it was so important for me to open the gate and head off to nowhere with him. Which was interesting, to say the least, because we'd been in places together before, with no hurry, and my mouth would be running and his would be shut.

Locked, like the door of my heart, you could say-and he was ruffling his hair, shuffling his feet, and well, talking, while his car was still running-though idling might be the better word. But there I was, leaning over it-it was closed. We were talking over the gate a strange sort of place to have a conversation, if you ask me.

Knight of Light by Deirdra Eden