Balthazar went to the old shop. He was saddened to see it as a cellular phone store. "What a waste of space…" He muttered as he slipped into the store.

A young man looked up from the counter at Balthazar. He did a double take as he noticed the eclectic way that Balthazar was dressed. With reluctance he smiled.

Balthazar walked calmly up to the counter and put on an overwhelmed expression. "Excuse me, but I need some help. My niece tells me that I should have a cellular phone, but I don't have a clue about them. Can you show me the best models and their features?" He asked as he cast a complex spell.

"Sure thing, follow me," the kid said as he motioned for Balthazar to follow him to a wall of different phones. He didn't notice that when Balthazar seemed to follow him, a second Balthazar still stood at the counter for a moment.

Balthazar watched his illusion trail behind the young man. It was programmed to respond to questions and make comments that would keep the clerk talking.

Quietly he walked behind the counter and headed to the door at the back of the shop. He made his way down to the basement. It was currently being used as a storage room.

Balthazar stooped down in front of a section of the brick wall. He had to move aside an old add sign, to clear the wall space. With a wave of his hand the wall parted to reveal a small hiding place. He reached in and pulled out an old doctor's bag.

He opened up the bag and checked the contents; a rolled parchment, a folded up piece of velvet cloth, and a few other odds and ends.

He pulled out the parchment and unrolled it carefully. It was incredibly old, but his preservation spells seemed to be holding up. It showed a picture that depicted the process for a human fusion spell. The very same spell that Veronica had cast on Morgana, and had ultimately killed her.

He carefully placed the parchment back in the bag. He removed the folded velvet cloth next and opened it up. Inside was the necklace that Elaine had dreamt about. A single tear fell from his eyes to land on the cloth. He hadn't been completely sure if Veronica's soul had died when Morgana had attacked her from within, but now he was almost sure of it. He had only to perform the "True Sight" spell to find out. Part of him didn't want to know.

He wrapped the necklace back up, grabbed the bag, and closed the secret-hole back up. Then he headed back up the stairs. Once back in the store he grinned to see his illusion nodding away at the clerk. He waited till the young man turned his back for a moment then he dispelled the illusion and stepped into its place.

"Yes, I'll take that one," he said pointing to the phone that the clerk had just been showing the illusion.

The clerk smiled and nodded. "Great choice sir!"

Balthazar was led over the counter. Twenty minutes later he walked out of the store, the new owner of a Verizon Android phone. He had plenty of money from years of investing, but he had been forced to give the guy Elaine's address, since he no longer had a home of his own.

He looked at the phone with amusement. He had no clue what to do with it, since he hadn't really been there when the clerk had shown him how it worked. He figured Elaine could explain it, if he really wanted to use the darn thing.

With his new phone and old belongings in tow he headed back to the lab.

Elaine had just finished the new program for the coils when Balthazar returned. She looked up from the computer when he entered the lab. She realized that he looked a bit tired, and worried about something.

"Let's get back to work," he ordered as soon as he removed his coat, and set a bag down on the table.

Elaine went to stand in the circle obediently when he pointed her to it. He didn't seem like he wanted to talk about whatever was bothering him, and she wasn't going to push him. He had her practice her fire this time.

"You have the very basics of fire down, now it's time to learn a little more impressive version: The fireball." He walked around her for a moment, gathering fire into his hands.

She noticed that the fire hung suspended in the air, never touching his hands. Her mind whirled with the implications that brought to the world of physics. Apparently magic didn't exactly follow all the laws that she knew of.

Balthazar threw the small fireball at the same wall that he had shot with the plasma bolt. The fire exploded onto the brick, causing a much larger burn mark. "Fire can be manipulated to many different forms and uses."

In demonstration he waved a hand at some candles that were sitting on the table. With a muttered incantation the wicks lit with tiny flames. Then he turned to Elaine and motioned for her to try the fireball.

Elaine managed a tiny flame the size of a walnut the first few times, but she got much better as the evening progressed. After a couple of hours her fireballs could range to any size that she willed. She was starting to get impressed with herself.

"Did you see that one?" She exclaimed after hurtling a fireball the size of a basket ball at the poor scorched wall.

Balthazar nodded. She was doing quite well, so he figured it was time for her to learn some defensive magic. He moved to stand across from her. "You have a good handle on the fireball, now you need to learn to defend against it. Go ahead and throw a fireball at me."

Elaine felt her heart skip a beat. She didn't want to do anything that would hurt him. She really hoped he knew what he was doing. Carefully she formed a softball sized fireball in her hands.

"You sure about this?" She asked.

"Just throw it already," Balthazar said with a roll of his eyes.

Reluctantly Elaine released the fireball, sending it right at him.

"Best way to defend against fire," he said calmly as the fireball flew towards him. "Vacuum sphere." As he spoke he called forth a sphere of air to capture the fireball. It hung suspended in the air for a second, then he moved his hands and it extinguished the fireball.

"Your turn," Balthazar said as he called forth a basketball sized fireball.

"Wait!" Elaine exclaimed in panic. He hadn't even explained the vacuum sphere to her yet.

Balthazar let loose the fireball with a smile. It flew directly at Elaine, leaving her no time to think. Instinctively she reacted, calling up a vacuum sphere of her own. With a stunned look she put the fireball out.

"I can do this!" She said with joy and relief.

"Yes you can. You can do a lot of things you never would have thought possible. Merlin believed that your strength as a person determines your strength as a sorcerer," Balthazar replied with a proud smile.

Elaine examined her weak physique with a frown.

Balthazar walked over and tapped her collarbone, above her heart. "Your strength here."

Elaine smiled and nodded. "That's deep," she commented thoughtfully.

Balthazar just nodded his agreement. "Now, back to plasma bolts."

Elaine sighed with exhaustion. "I have a better idea. How about a break?" She suggested. Without waiting for an answer she walked over to the coils and started moving them back into place.

Balthazar frowned. He wasn't sure what she was up to, but she needed to take training more seriously, and he told her so. "You aren't taking this seriously Elaine."

"Sure I am, but everyone needs a break while working. Plus, I have something I'd like to show you," She said while she worked on getting things hooked up to her safety cage. After a few minutes everything was in place. She glanced up to see Balthazar watching her with a scowl.

"Lighten up boss," She said with a brilliant smile. "Come into my cage." She cringed at the creepy way that last bit had come out.

Balthazar almost lost his composure at that. It was certainly a new line to him. "I don't think anyone has ever said anything like that to me before, and I've lived a very long time," he answered her with a smile.

After a moment he did finally join her in the cage. Shyly she glanced at him before pressing the button to dim the lights. He raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't comment.

"I discovered something very beautiful while working on these tonight. I was thinking of how I didn't really have anyone special to share it with," she explained softly. "Then I realized that you might appreciate what I had found. You like music, don't you?" She finished with a question.

"Of course I do, music is a form of magic all its own." He answered her with interest. He was a bit honored that she wanted to share something with him, something she might have normally shared with someone she considered special to her.

"Then here we go," she said as she typed a command into the computer. The coils fired up, causing huge bolts of electricity to leap back and forth between them and the top of the cage. They made music as they moved, a mix of classical and funky.

"They fire at such a high frequency, that the sparks create sound waves as they move through the air," Elaine explained as Balthazar looked at her questioningly. "Which is totally… nerdy," she admitted with a shy smile.

"It's cool," Balthazar admitted.

Elaine typed in a different code, and the song changed to one that she had been listening to this morning, before Balthazar had woken up. It was a modern song called "Secrets" by the group One Republic. Done by the Tesla coils it was impressive, and very beautiful. It made her think of him, and magic.

Balthazar found the song to be very appealing when performed by the coils. He didn't know what the song was, but it was nice. He found himself smiling with enjoyment. Elaine was leaning a bit against his side, since it was a small cage, which made him smile more. With a barely conscious thought he gazed into her eyes, and inadvertently started the "True Sight" spell.

He saw her as she really was. Young and vibrant, with a very insecure side. Her soul reflected that with pictures of the way she saw herself. The pictures were far from true, being not as pretty or smart as she truly was. He looked deeper to see that her soul was her, and Veronica, all at once. An image of the two of them overlaid each other for a second, then combined into the woman that Elaine would become with training and confidence. Balthazar felt he would be honored to know the woman she could be, and vowed he would help her become it.

When he pulled away he was saddened, but excited at the same time. Then he saw that Elaine had seen his soul, just as he knew she would. She had a stunned, almost fearful expression on her face.

"Oh gods…" she muttered before sinking to the floor of the cage. The coils had gone quiet in the time it had taken for the "True Sight" to work.

He didn't know what she had seen, but whatever it was had overwhelmed her. He opened the cage, then picked her up and carried her to the nearest chair. He set her down gently and knelt in front of her with concern etched deep into his face.

After a few minutes Elaine looked up into his eyes. She flinched away from them, fearing it would happen again. Gently she felt his hand caress her face, and she braved looking into his eyes once more. Nothing happened, other than her noticing that they were a very nice shade of blue.

"You've lived so long and seen so much. It was a bit overwhelming," she spoke after a few minutes.

Balthazar nodded solemnly. "I am over 1000 years old Elaine, a lot can happen in that much time." His voice was soft as he spoke.

Elaine blinked at the number. He had known he was old, but she hadn't realized the extent of it. She hadn't learned everything about him, just what kind of man he was, and it made her like him just a little more.

"What the hell was that?" She questioned after taking a moment to process everything.

"It's called True Sight, it's a spell… a type of soul gaze if you will," he explained.

"Why did it happen?" She asked, hoping she hadn't accidentally done it without realizing it.

Balthazar hesitated before answering, "I cast it. I wanted to know if you were ready for all of this." He hoped that hadn't sounded as weak as it had to him.

Elaine nodded, and looked at him expectantly. "What did you learn?"

Balthazar let out the breath he had been holding. "I learned that you are, and that you have the potential to be truly great," he said with a grin. "For now, though I think it's time for some sleep. You've had a busy day."

Elaine agreed with him, but she couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't exactly telling her everything. She decided to go with it for now, and was grateful that he was calling it a night. She looked at her watch and grimaced when it read one in the morning. It was much later than she had expected.

They headed back to her place in silence. Both lost in thought. Her mind was wondering about him, and what he was leaving out. His mind was on the fact that she had the soul of his love, but with her own personality infused with it. Somehow that made her that much more interesting to him. Not because of Veronica, but because of her!