Fifteen

CHIARA

“HEY. Have you ever noticed how hungry you get more than other people you know? It’s because magick uses a lot of our energy when we utilize it. I needed a lot of protein growing up.”

I see him pause for a moment in my periphery, so I turn my head toward him knowing fully well he has experienced the same with food.

It wasn’t just a pause.

It was a flinch.

“So you’ve noticed,” I state carefully.

He nods slowly and releases me then to go to the fridge. He opens the doors and takes out several bento boxes of food.

All have thick steaks on them.

“My biggest motivation for getting rich is my fear of getting hungry,” he explains softly as he fixes them to go to the microwave for heating. “I was always hungry growing up. I mixed with street kids who knew how to filch their way around just so I could eat because, even with foster families, I always felt like I wasn’t eating enough. I’m always malnourished on my charts. I always eat more than others share, but I was always so thin and p