With You

I´m looking for a place
I´m searching for a face
Is anybody here I know
Cause nothing´s going right

And everything´s a mess
And no one likes to be alone

Isn't anyone trying to find me?
Won't somebody come take me home
It's a damn cold night
Trying to figure out this life
Wont you take me by the hand
take me somewhere new
I don´t know who you are
but I

I'm with you

*~*~*

Chapter 1 - A New Home

Allura shivered as the rain poured harder. Two months had passed since that rainy night on her deserted island, but the cold here was just as bad.

She looked around and watched people on the sidewalks, rushing into hotels and Fifth Avenue stores as lightning cracked overhead. The newly-turned 6-year-old looked at the clouds and thought to herself, rubbing her eyes when a raindrop hit one of them. She sighed and stood up, seeing that stubbornness wasn´t getting her anywhere, following a group of tourists into the lobby of the Empire State Building.

People around her were soaking wet, but not enough to compare with Allura. She was practically drowning in water; she had been outside for so long. The young witch ignored the odd looks from the couple next to her and took out the note in her pocket, making sure it wasn´t smudged too badly. Allura reread it again and smiled to herself, hoping to meet this mystery stranger that promised her a good home and away from memories of her brother.

Allura cringed, imaging his face in her mind. No one could match his trademark look of hatred; no one could send you as much chills down your spine.

"No one could desert me like Tom did," the girl added to her list, grabbing some towels that were being handed out and dried off her note first, then her shirt and jeans. The storm had made her clothes skintight and Allura felt uncomfortable as people started noticing her more. She almost defended herself when a middle-aged woman approached her.

"Why, dearie, you look absolutely dreadful. Here, take my coat, you need it much more than anyone else in here." Allura silently acknowledged that the woman had a British accent such as herself, but dismissed it when the woman smiled at her kindly. No one working for Tom would be so nice to a slum like me, the 6-year-old thought, returning the woman´s smile and putting the coat over herself. It felt warm around her body and Allura wrapped it around her snugly and feeling dryer by the minute. She looked up curiously at the woman, who was still looking down at her with a bright smile.

"Thank you," Allura mumbled shyly, her face reddening. "Why are you doing this for me?"

The middle-aged woman laughed heartily, but Allura could have sworn she saw the woman hide an expression of aggravation. She patted the girl´s shoulder and smiled brightly again. "Oh, don´t you worry about that, miss. I have plenty more coats where that came from." The woman leaned closer. "It´s a magic coat, you see, it will be warm in the winter and cool in the summer, so you will be fine in whatever weather you happen to be in," she whispered. Allura´s eyes went wide and she looked at the woman curiously still.

"Are you a witch?" Allura whispered back. The woman just winked at her and glanced at Allura´s note in her hand.

"Oh, I see you got my message?" The woman´s smile grew bigger. "Well, if you want to see how my apartment looks, you´re welcome to stay with me. It looks like the rain stopped, dearie. Come on, take my hand and we´ll be there in a few seconds." Allura glanced at the rain and felt confused. For a moment it had been plummeting down rain, the next minute stopping immediately. She looked back at the woman suspiciously.

The woman noticed, smiling weakly and grinning at her. "Oh, you´re kidding yourself, dearie. No one can control nature. It´s just an on-and-off day for the weather today, that´s all. Only powerful wizards could stop nature´s control over us."

Allura gulped. That´s what I was afraid of, she thought, remembering Tom.

The woman noticed Allura´s panicked look and gave a reassuring smile. "I´m not here to hurt you, dearie, I´m here to take you to a home. You don´t deserve an address on the sidewalk of New York City, it´s too hostile out here and you know it." She took the girl´s hand in hers. "Now come on, it´s perfectly dry outside, and that coat of yours should keep you out of trouble." She winked again, heading towards the door.

After a while of walking they arrived at a set of apartments, scrunched together very sloppy in the backside of Manhattan. Allura gave one look at it and thought the woman was kidding, but as they walked inside the place looked as fancy as the Milford Plaza Hotel. The girl gazed in wonder at the life she had never had, smiling as they went into the woman´s room.

Allura sat herself on the couch and looked around at the pictures on the walls. Many were moving by themselves and had teenagers in them, one of them looking oddly familiar.
The woman noticed where Allura was looking and smiled. "Yes, that´s me at graduation. Those are my friends next to me. They´re long gone now, working in different places around the world. I haven´t seen them since." She sighed. Changing the subject because of the look Allura was giving her, the woman smiled and handed the girl a drink. "Here, that´s tea I brewed just this morning. I think I may have put too much lemon in it, though." The woman laughed as Allura drank some and puckered her lips. "Well, aren´t you the expressive one! I guess I´ll have to add more sugar in it next time, eh?" Allura nodded vigorously, the woman laughing again. "I´m terribly sorry about that, love. Now, enough about my tea, what about yourself? Here we´ve known each other for about an hour and we haven´t even introduced. What´s your name, for instance?"

Allura stopped puckering her lips, getting the taste of sour lemon out of her mouth and worrying. What if I told her my name? She´s a wizard and probably knows who Tom is; she could tell him I´m here! Allura thought and panicked. "My name?" she asked uncertainly, the woman nodding. "Um, well, it´s a bit hard to spell for me right now, but I think you pronounce it like ..." she thought harder, thinking of a name she would love to have. Suddenly the island popped in her head, remembering Tom had barely paid attention to how she loved the name of it. "Sri~Lanka. But call me Sri, the Lanka doesn´t sound as good."

"Is Lanka your last name?"

The girl shook her head furiously. "Oh no, that sounds odd, doesn´t it? My last name´s hard to spell too, and I can´t say it very good but you could say it´s ..." again she thought with all her might, making up a nonsense word in her head. "Jesukai. That´s my name, Sri~Lanka Jesukai. But like I said, call me Sri." She smiled weakly.

The middle-aged woman laughed heartily. "I´ve never seen a child have so much trouble with their name. It´s okay, I had a hard time saying my name when I was your age."

Sri looked up. "Really?"

The woman nodded, smiling softly. "It´s French, you see, which is odd because I´m British by birth, but my father was from Paris. So, just for now, you can call me Grandma Lelchet."