Before leaving, Pendragon gave me the Unimportant Hat, as he explained, it was the thing that made people ignore me. "But I'm not giving you the Forgetting Fig."
I looked confused.
"Forgetting and ignoring are not the same thing, so do not interact with anyone, this time. Once they realize you're there, they'll see you." He turned me around and shoved me out of the backroom.
Aine read my look as I exited, and straightened up her back at once. She rested her hands on the glass counter, but for once I didn't mind the fingerprints. They were the last thing on my mind.
"That was fast!" Aine said, biting her lip.
"It's not over," I said simply. "Christ almighty it's not even close to over..." I felt like a zombie, or more like a guy on death row walking to his doom. I must've looked sick because Aine retrieved me one of the bottles of water we keep in the mini fridge.
I thanked her, and started to drink. I hadn't realized how dry my throat had become.
"Hey, whatever it is. You'll live." She smiled sweetly in the face of my concerned gaze. Her endless positivity was greatly appreciated, so I didn't tell her what lay ahead of me.
"And if I don't," I said half joking, "Cayce is yours."
"Awww I love her!" Aine clasped her hands over her mouth and looked conflicted.
"You're hoping I die now," I stated factually.
"Well, I'm neutral," she replied as she grabbed her pink feather duster. "For me, it's a win win!" Aine felt her job done in comforting me, so she went about dusting off the artifacts with a sing song hum in her voice.
It was odd but the momentary distraction helped. As the situation sank back into my awareness it felt more like a possibility rather than a death sentence. I headed out the door of The Shop with a "See you later" and I made my way to the only place I could picture putting myself into mortal danger.
The Brooklyn Bridge.
I placed the Unimportant Hat on my head and headed downtown. Strangely enough, it felt like another one of Pendragon's weird errands. 'Bring this rusted copper to Yerba's Plant Shop', 'Drop this penny, heads up, on the corner of 9th and Broadway,' and even 'Deliver this seed to a squirrel in Washington Square, it will be waiting under the arches. You can't miss it.' Oddly enough, the squirrel was there and the delivery happened. I chalked it up to Pendragon being insane and a coincidence, but now I realize that I've been toying in magic all along.
I arrived at the bridge and walked about halfway down making sure not to bump into anyone. I was still impressed at the effectiveness of the hat, which made it nearly impossible to walk on a crowded sidewalk. I skirted around people until making it to a part of the bridge that was easy to jump off.
Double checking that no one was watching me, I climbed up the iron railing, swung my legs over, and sat on the edge with my legs dangling off. My heart was pounding through my chest but I just pretended like I was dropping a penny heads up.
I was just delivering a pipe.
I was just bringing a seed to a squirrel.
I slid off the edge of the bridge and felt the weightlessness of free fall.
A great pit in my chest alerted me to the mortal danger. I closed my eyes and held the hat to my head with both my hands. As the fall went on for an entire second, two seconds, three seconds, I waited for the impact of water. After seven or so seconds, the impact never came.
I opened my eyes, and found myself falling in mid air. At least it felt like I was falling, but I wasn't. I was just hovering above the water. How strange the sensation! I closed my eyes and felt like I was falling through space, but when I opened them I could see plain as day that I was not moving at all.
I leaned over from my position in the air and stirred the water beneath me. It rippled. I looked up to the bridge and saw cars moving, people walking. I was just floating there, alive. I laughed. I roared with laughter. Exhilarating! Fantastic! It was like something straight out of a comic book!
"Okay!" I said once the novelty wore off, and my senses returned to normal. "Now how do I move..."
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