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Moira moved to the centaur, tentatively gesturing at her gym bag. He grunted and held it out, half of the bag crushed in his massive fist. Moira unzipped one of the exterior pockets and pulled out a ring of keys and a chunk of crystal on a chain.

“What is that?” he pointed to the crystal.

“It’s a crystal, something I use to hold a spell. It’s late and no one should be around, but we can’t risk having some see you.”

“I don’t need it.”

“Please, we can’t risk—”

“When I say I do not need it, it is because I do not. I can make myself invisible to human eyes.”

“Fine.” Moira stuffed the crystal back into the bag, zipping it closed. “We’re headed for that truck over there, do you know what a truck is?”

“I am not completely ignorant of the polluting and lazy ways of humans. I know what a truck is.”

“Good.” Moira stepped back, jiggling the keys nervously, watching him.

The centaur stepped out of the trees, and for the first time Moira saw his face in full. He was beautiful, not the pale beauty of slender artistic men, or the overly polished beauty of the famous. High sharp cheekbones were matched by a strong jaw. It was a sculpted face, the hollows between cheek and jaw shadowed in the moonlight. His eyes were large and dark, glittering beneath straight black brows. He turned to her, feeling her gaze, and Moira was caught by his. His eyes were black, completely black, no white surrounding.

“Your eyes…they’re black.”

Those obsidian pools took her in, examining her head to toe.

“Yes, green-eyed witch, my eyes are black.”

“I’m sorry. It just…startled me.”

Moira realized she didn’t even know his name. She opened her mouth to ask, but he turned his gaze to the sky, tipping his head back, and a shower of pale sparks, like the fuzzy lights of a firework, spilled over him. The sparks lit up the night for a brief moment, as fleeting as the light of a falling star.

As the white sparks faded Moira could see that he was now a shadowy form, nothing more than tinted mist. She tilted her head to the side. As impressive as his spell was, he was still very noticeable. It would take completely invisibility to hide a ten-foot centaur.
“You need to be completely invisible, not just transparent.”

His head turned to her and Moira sucked in a breath when she saw that his eyes were still black, not transparent in the least.

“You can see me?”

“Yea. You kind of look like a ghost, but I can see you.”

“You should not be able to see me.”

“Sorry, but I can.”

He stepped forward, his ghostly form no less intimidating than when he was solid. Tilting his head, he examined her a second time.

“You…are not human.”