—~—
"You want to go back to America?" Serafall's blue eyes widened a fraction and her expression quickly morphed from light teasing to concern.
"Just for a visit," I reassured her with an encouraging smile. "There are some things I want to pick up that would help me out," I explained. "I want to pick up some more clothes, some personal belongings and maybe try and raid Justin's magical treasure trove."
Serafall looked at me silently for a few moments, her eyes roaming over my face. "Alright," she said finally and offered me a kind smile. "We can go if you want to," she told me.
She paused. "Or would you like to go by yourself, Harry?" There was a look of understanding within her eyes.
I swallowed and licked my lips, my fingers grasping tighter on the body of my new staff. When I'd decided on the whim to ask, I hadn't really considered what it would be like to return home.
It wasn't home as I wanted to remember it, after all. It was the remains of the house that I'd smashed in and set on fire during my fight with Justin. Would it even still be standing? What if the fire had consumed everything and it had already been demolished?
I'd managed to eventually come to terms with what had gone down between Justin and I. It hadn't been easy, and it had involved a lot of nightmares and days of exhaustion from lack of sleep, but eventually I'd gotten to the point where the thought of home had not made me sick to my stomach.
Elaine.
Elaine had never tried to contact me after the time I had tried to reach out to her. The moment when I had seen her through my mind, smiling and happy, despite everything that had happened. As the days had gone on, I kept expecting a sign. Some small thing to let me know that she was thinking about me.
But it never came. I had considered trying again. I desperately wanted something to hold onto, anything at all to give me a sense of direction.
It had occurred to me slowly, by slowly.
That she had given me a sign and that sign was a whole lot of nothing.
I didn't try to contact her again. I didn't think I could deal with the emotions that would have come up with it. But now that I was thinking about going back they were coming at me like a tidal wave.
I took a deep breath and smiled at Serafall. "I think I need to go by myself," I told her. "But thank you all the same."
Serafall gave me a tender smile and a look of understanding. "Of course," she said. "Do you want me to look after lazybones for you?" She asked, bouncing Bob's skull on her hand.
In an instant, Bob's eye sockets came to life with the tell-tale pinpricks of orange light. "I'm not lazy," he protested. "I'm just bodily challenged. Trust me, if I could walk, I would walk."
I shook my head in amusement. "Why don't you explain to Serafall what we need to do to make her magic wand work for her, considering she isn't a wizard," I suggested to Bob.
"Good idea," Bob agreed. "She won't be a cheapskate like you."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm on a student's allowance, bite me."
Serafall meanwhile had lifted Bob's skull up to her face and was peering into the eye sockets, a burning curiosity in her eyes.
"Can you pick me up in half an hour?" I asked Serafall, trying to catch her attention before she began to forget.
Serafall blinked rapidly and looked up from Bob, smiling at me. "Of course!" she agreed easily. "Half an hour. You have fun, Harry!" she said brightly, smiling at me as she lifted the hand holding her magical wand up and twirled it around in a circle. "Abracadabra!" She exclaimed and whacked me on the chest.
I suddenly found myself beset by a wave of magical energy that rose up and engulfed me, whisking me away from the mountain top in another flash of light.
The transition this time wasn't as harsh as the jump from Japan to Sweden. In fact, it was frighteningly pleasant. One moment I had been chilled to the bone by the mountain winds, and the next I found myself standing in my old front yard.
The sun was just breaking over the horizon and there was a heavy blanket of mist over the yard. I couldn't help but stare, stupefied after a sudden realization.
It had been evening in Japan, midday in Sweden and now morning in America. I had technically just travelled back in time in the most mundane and boring way possible.
By the magic of time zones.
As I stood there I began to inhale softly, breathing in the morning air. A faint acrid scent hung in the air, but beneath it, I could still smell the nostalgic scent of my old home.
I found myself staring at my old house. The building had been wrapped up in yellow and black banded police tape. There went my hope that it had been left undisturbed, but then, I never really expected that to be the case.
The house looked even worse than I had left it. The front was still caved in from the spell I had used to declare my arrival. What was worse, was that the bottom half of the house had been charred black and there were sections completely missing. The house showed clear signs of water damage as well.
The front yard had also been massacred with tyre tracks that zipped around and across. Someone had definitely called in the police and fire fighters. It made me a bit concerned as to what I would find inside the house, and whether anything would be left inside.
One the other hand, maybe they had saved a lot of the things inside? Or perhaps they had found the strange occult things that were casually dispersed throughout the house and taken them in as evidence.
The chances of them having stumbled across the cellar, where Justin stored the majority of his magical things, were slim. Still, the thought of the perplexed expressions that the police would have had upon finding a room filled with strange things like powdered rhino horn, or a jar filled with lion testicles would have been priceless.
The entrance was in plain sight around the corner of the house. It lead down beneath the foundation. The reason it was hard to find was because Justin had placed a ward over it and had made it impossible to notice unless you already knew it was there.
Elaine and I hadn't even known there had been a cellar until a few months after Justin had adopted us. It had only been on chance that I had the misfortune of stumbling over it, and when I say stumbled, I was being literal.
I gave it a fifty fifty chance that the wards covering the entrance had managed to stand up to the fire and the destruction of the house itself. If they had then I was confident that the cellar would lay undisturbed.
Whether or not the wards had managed to hold up after the time the house had been left, I wouldn't be certain until I took a look. But that was a secondary concern and had just been an excuse to Serafall and Bob to get her to send me over.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that I needed closure. As far as I was concerned, the matter had been done and settled. I had no more thoughts for Justin and what he had done.
It had hurt at the time, but he had made his choice and I had made mine.
But Elaine…
I shook my head and slapped my cheek lightly with my free hand. I didn't have time to get caught up in my emotions. I needed to go grab whatever remained of my clothes. I was beginning to get sick of wearing the same uniform every day in and out. Don't get me wrong—It was a great fit and probably the best clothes I had ever worn. I'd even started to enchant it with simple things, like making it stain proof, smell proof and to a lesser extent, waterproof. Considering it came in three pieces it had taken a decent amount of effort as well.
But every now and then I got a bit nostalgic and wanted to wear something a bit more casual and lazy. There were a pair of sweatpants in my drawers that I was dying to get into.
More than that, I had been unable to find any clothes my size in the city. They wanted ridiculous amounts of money to get things custom ordered and fitted. I wasn't a bank and I wasn't getting a massive allowance either. The pittance that I did receive was all being put toward my projects.
Thankfully, it seemed like Serafall had taken an interest and was filling to help me out. I gave my new staff an admiring look, my eyes roaming over the texture of the tall focus. I was grateful that she had decided to step in. This was something beyond anything I thought I'd ever be able to make. It was a one of a kind focus and more than that, it was a live. I could feel its energy beneath my fingertips. More needed to be done to it to make it work efficiently without damaging it, but that could wait.
I only had half an hour and I'd already wasted a few minutes standing around and inner monologuing. I began to walk forward, my steps squelching in the moist grass with every footstep that I took.
I made my way up to the front of the house and ducked under the police tape that had been wrapped around the front of the house. I didn't need to bother about opening the door either, considering it laid halfway through the house from when I had knocked, really, really hard.
I felt a faint charge, barely a whisper of energy as I crossed into the house. The threshold laid in tatters. The owner of the house had been killed and the other occupants had run away. This wasn't anyone's home anymore.
The acrid scent of burnt plastic, paint, fabrics, and everything else, filled my nose. It had been two weeks and it stunk just as badly as it had when I had set fire to everything. The inside looked just as bad as the outside as I stepped through the hallway and looked into the lounge room.
On the floor there was the taped outline of where I had left Justin after I had bled him dry for Lea. I swallowed a lump that formed in my throat and gripped my new staff tighter. I hesitated a moment before stepping into the lounge room.
Everything was black, or a burnish shade of whatever it had looked like previously. The power I had unleashed when I had broken Elaine's binding spell had reduced most things to cinders, or charred the outside of whatever it had come into contact with.
Down on the ground beside the lounge room table laid what remained of my copy of the Hobbit. The cover was charred beyond recognition and had been reduced to ashes. Beside it was the straitjacket that Justin had intended to put me in. It was no longer white and large swaths of the linen had been burned away.
I lingered for only a moment before I walked through the lounge room and made my way to the staircase that lead up to the second floor. The stairs were covered with water stains. They'd been covered in lacquer like your average stairs, but it hadn't been made two weeks' worth of moisture and bad weather. My first step onto the stairs came with a groan of wood. I hesitated a moment before taking the next step, and then another, and soon enough, despite my trepidation over the state of the stairs, I found myself on the second floor.
The sight of everything around me was sobering. This wasn't recognisable as my home anymore. I had seen to that when I had returned with my vengeance and unmade Justin. The heat damage upstairs was nowhere near as bad as it had been downstairs at ground zero.
The paint was an off colour shade of dark, acrid brown. All the doors were open as well. Someone had gone through every room, it seemed. I made my way along, peering into each room as I passed them.
Justin's room had been torn apart, his clothes and things had been scattered everywhere, as if someone had taken the time to look through everything they could find.
Elaine's room was much the same, her shirts, skirts and undergarments were scattered around the room, even more so than how it had been when she had run. It looked like they'd all been soaked as well. The air was filled with a strong musky scent of mildew.
Finally, I made my way into my room. Like the others, someone had apparently torn through it like a hurricane. Everything had been pulled out of my wardrobe and drawers. My bed had been pushed onto its side and torn open as well. The springs were sticking out and the padding was scattered on the floor.
Even the posters on the wall had been torn off.
I felt a wave of anger push through me at the sight of everything in my room having been destroyed and my fingers tightened around my staff again, digging into the rough grain. How dare anyone do this to my stuff? Why would they even do it? There was nothing of value in my room at all, only sentimental crap and clothes.
I bit back down on my anger and I began to sift through the clutter on my floor, trying to pick out whatever remained that could be salvaged. Sadly, all my sweatpants were beyond help. They had been soaked through and stunk of mildew and other unpleasant things.
I could have probably taken them and given them a thorough washing. But I didn't want to. It wouldn't be the same, and I'd always know what state they had been. There was something distinctively unpleasant about the thought. I really didn't want to deal with any of it. I let out an aggravated sound and turned away, making my way back out.
It had been a pointless attempt from the start. I should have known that anything that was left here wouldn't be salvageable.
I made my way out of my room and paused as I crossed past Elaine's door. I glanced back in and my eyes roamed over all the upturned furniture and the clothes strewn everywhere. For a brief moment, I considered grabbing something and attempting to contact Elaine again.
It lasted for a moment before I remembered my resolution. I wasn't going to contact Elaine, and I wasn't going to try. She was just as capable as I was. If she wanted to, she would have.
She hadn't, so she didn't.
It was as simple as that.
There was one thing left that I needed to do. It was time to raid the cellar. I made my way back downstairs, my hand on the banister as I carefully made my way down the stairs.
I stepped off the stairwell and made my way back out of the front door. I took a right and walked around the edge of the house. There, up against the middle of the wall was the entrance to Justin's workshop. As I got closer, I couldn't sense any energy in the warding spells that had guarded it. No doubt, when the threshold had fallen, they had nothing to cling to and had, over the course of the weeks dissipated and left the contents unprotected aside from a double set of bolted locks on both sides of the steel flap.
The wards had been linked to the bolts. Using the proper key to unlock them would have similarly disarmed the wards. Doing what I was about to do while the wards were active would have vaporized me on the spot, or at least boiled all the water in my body. Justin had taken great pleasure in showing Elaine and I using a cow carcass.
Suffice it to say, I hadn't looked at a hamburger the same since. It hadn't stopped me from eating them though. That would have just been insanity.
I lifted my hand up and focused my will into a sharp point. "Forzare," I whispered out and shot forth an ice pick of force at one of the bolts. The force collided with the edge of the lock and with a grinding sound, blew it open. I repeated the act three more times and gripped the handle, pulling the metal door open and revealing the stairwell that lead down into the cellar.
I made my way down the stairs and into the dank dark of the cellar. The further I went down, the colder and darker it got until I found myself standing in the bit of light provided from above. I closed my eyes and focused, reaching out with my senses into the room before me. "Flickum Bicus," I murmured and pushed my will out into the room along with a tiny bit of energy. It was as if a wave rolled out through the room before me, and as it did, candles began to flicker to life, illuminating Justin's abandoned workshop.
I found myself looking at the reason I called it a cellar instead of a basement. Justin had been an avid collector of wine and had an entire wall lined with bottles. The vintages ranged from twenty years ago back to as far as a century.
Besides the wine racks in the back, every other wall was lined with benches and tables were scattered methodically throughout the floor space. Shelves lined the walls, their contents blanketing every inch of said walls.
There was a metric ton of stuff down here, and if I was being perfectly honest, I had no idea what most of it did, or was for. But, what I did know, that a lot of it was valuable, both cost wise and metaphysically. There were untold possibilities of what the materials down here could be used for. Justin even had his own stockpile of precious metals to work with. Nothing excessive, unless you considered several pounds of platinum, gold, silver, bronze and iron to be excessive.
To the left there was an entire bookcase filled with jars, the contents ranging from strange or otherwise to outright disturbing. Eyes and various organs of every animal you could imagine. Anything you'd think you'd need for in a potion for spell was stocked. Even things that weren't supposed to physically exist, like the sound of a cats footstep, or the first light of the New Year. Things that weren't supposed to be captured had been captured.
I knew how do to do things similar. I'd managed to succeed in folding sunlight into a napkin, and even stealing a small animal's shadow. I could do those and many more, but I had no reason to at the moment, especially because it potion making was a vague art that I, quite frankly, sucked at.
There was so much stuff down here that I didn't quite know where to begin. Justin had been a neat freak, thankfully, and everything was categorised and in its proper place. Bookshelves filled with journals of meticulously noted experiments filled a portion of the large room. Somehow, I felt that if I checked the last writings he had done, I would have found his plots to bring Elaine and I down and make us his slaves.
The brief spark of anger inside me at the thought made me feel a lot better about basically stealing a dead man's belongings.
I began to make my way through the cellar, looking around and trying to find things worth taking with me. I started at the back, specifically where he had stockpiled the various precious metals and gemstones that were apparently vital in high level magic.
They laid in the corner, a series of bars stacked neatly upon each other, ordered from least valuable to most valuable. The top most bar of each pile was missing sections from where Justin must have extracted the material that he had needed for whatever he had used it for.
It occurred to me, as I stared down at the pile of various metals, worth enough to buy half a dozen houses, that I had no way to carry it all. A moment later, I realized that I didn't need to. All I had to do was get Serafall to whip up a transportation circle beneath it and it would appear in my room.
I chortled and reached down, picking up a thin bar of platinum from the pile, slipping it into my pocket.
I glanced around and decided that there wasn't much else that I needed at that moment. Realistically, what I did need was a journal detailing the best method, script and placement for runic work. Bob was a wonderful resource, but he had a distinct inability to actually show me what he wanted carved while he was inside the skull.
A few days after the incident with Raynare and Issei, I had made the mistake of giving Bob permission to hop out of the skull. It had been a very, very, very bad decision on my part. He had done the minimum work that he needed to before vanishing for the night. By the time I had woken up in the morning he had returned, but the next day I had overheard some strange… things from some of my female classmates.
Suffice it to say I was very reluctant to let him out again without good reason.
Before I left the back of the cellar, I found myself glancing at the bottles of wine that lined the back wall and licking my lips. It wasn't like anyone else was ever going to know about them. What was the harm in grabbing a bottle and taking it home to try?
I didn't bother looking at labels, I just grabbed the oldest looking bottle that I could see off the rack. I figured that the older it was the better. That's how it worked, at least I assumed.
I made my way back to the front of the cellar, a bottle of wine in one hand, my new staff in the other, and an ingot of precious metal in my pocket that weighed three times as much as the staff and wine together.
Which, considering my staff was made out of an entire tree, didn't quite make much sense. I found myself glancing at the long foci in my hand as I walked. It was actually very lightly. I wasn't sure if that should have surprised me or not. Serafall had shrunk a few tons of tree into a magical rod and didn't seem the least bit surprised that she could twirl it in her fingers.
I set the bottle of wine on a bench near Justin's bookshelf and leaned my staff against it as well. I turned my attention to the bookshelf. It was jam packed with leather bound books, the spines of which were etched with details of the contents. The subjects ranged from summoning, to specific creatures and species, to potions, to spell theory, to maps of worldwide leylines and even to something called the Unseelie Accords. If I remembered correctly, that had something to do with Lea and her people.
I considered grabbing it, but decided not to as my eyes finally fell upon the spine of the book I had been looking for. I ran my finger over the top and hooked it, tugging the volume out of its place. "Runic Compendium," I murmured as I pulled the book out from its place and opened it, flipping through the pages.
I was right. There were squiggly lines on the pages as well as entire pages of exactly why said squiggly lines were important, and what they were used for.
I reached over to grab the bottle of wine and my staff, but as I did, I suddenly became aware that I was no longer alone in the cellar.
A man with a naked sword in his hand appeared out of the darkness without warning. One moment he had not been there, and the next he had been standing in front of the exit, blocking the morning sunlight. There had been no sound, or hint of magic to announce his arrival at all.
He was as tall as I was, but rather than being lanky like I was, he had broad shoulders and a thick chest. He carried his weight well with a sort of well-earned dignity. His brown hair was littered with streaks of grey and tied back. He had a thick, well-trimmed grey goatee that added to the no-nonsense expression he was wearing.
He wore a long dark coat that matched the pants and jacket adorned him as well. His shirt was a bright glaring white that looked more at home in a ballroom than on someone in a dark cellar wielding a sword that was over half as tall as he was.
Did I mention the sword? Because it was huge and silver and looked to be absurdly sharp. The way he held it told me that he knew how to use it, there was a certain Have you ever found yourself confronted by a stranger with a gigantic sword, blocking the only exit out of the room you're in? It isn't pleasant by any measure.
His grey eyes stared across at me, probably half a dozen meters away. They were touched with crow's-feet at the corner and looked dangerous. The candlelight from the room shaded them the same colour that it did his sword.
A cold sweat seemed to break out on the back of my neck. I suddenly found myself terrified in a way that defied reasoning. I'd felt terror before. When I had been confronted by He Who Walks Behind. This fear wasn't something insidious and magical. This was a more natural fear of something bigger and scarier confronting you in a dark room with no way out.
My hand hovered over my staff, just beyond touching it. I found myself frozen in place, torn between grabbing a weapon to defend myself, and not giving the stranger a reason to use the weapon he had in his hand.
The man remained standing in front of the staircase the lead up to the surface. He hadn't made any move to attack me yet, or speak, or do anything. All he did was observe me, patiently watching what I was going to do.
I took a deep breath and slowly drew my hand away from my staff, and turned to face him. "Hi," I said to him after a moment. "How can I help you?" I asked, trying to keep my voice as polite as possible.
Those cold grey eyes regarded me for a long moment. "I am Warden Morgan of the White Council," he said to me.
I blinked a few times, before it dawned on me.
He was a wizard.
He was a wizard of the White Council that Lea and Bob had told me about.
Or was he? As my eyes flickered over his form, I tried to look for any signs that would give him away as anything else, or prove that he was who he said he was.
"Harry," I introduced myself to him after a moment of recomposing myself, my eyes flickering down to the sword he held in his hand. "You know," I said after a moment. "I've never heard of a wizard using a sword before."
"Harry Dresden, son of Margaret LeFay and Malcolm Dresden, foster son to Justin DuMorne." Morgan spoke, his calm as he regarded me. "This sword is a symbol of my authority granted by the council."
I found myself rendered momentarily speechless once more and nodded mutely. The way he said my mother's name. The tinge of emotion that appeared minutely in his features as her name passed over his tongue.
"You knew my mother?" I blurted out suddenly.
The man's lips thinned out ever so slightly. "I knew your mother and your foster father," he told me after a long moment, a sour look on his face. "Justin DuMorne was found murdered in this very house two weeks ago, his body showing significant trauma from fire magic and his throat slit." His eyes became harder and I caught his fingers tightening on his sword.
The possibility that I was about to be attacked began to become more likely by the second, and I found myself panicking.
"It wasn't my fault!" I practically stammered. "Justin brainwashed Elaine and he tried to do the same to me when I got home from school—and there was a straitjacket—and a demon that he sent after me and—"
"Be silent, boy," Morgan barked out, his voice firm and rough with a hint of steel in his eye.
My teeth clinked together as I did just that.
Morgan didn't speak up straight away, instead, he looked at me for a long time, his eyes squared directly against mine. It was a hard effort not to make eye contact, I was not keen to start another soul gaze with a random stranger. "You claim that DuMorne was a warlock?" Morgan finally spoke again.
"Warlock?" I repeated the word he used.
It sounded familiar. I had to take a moment to think back on the lecture that Bob had given me on the White Council and magic in general. If I remembered correctly, that was what people who broke one of the Seven Laws of magic were. The fourth law of which 'Thou Shall not Enthrall Another'.
"Yes!" I nodded quickly. "He enthralled Elaine," I repeated. "He did something to her when I was at school and she was sick. I came home earlier to see how she was doing and found him there with a straitjacket. He told me to sit down and do what he told me and I ran away." The words flew from my lips rapidly fire, I couldn't stop speaking.
All the while, Morgan listened, his expression becoming impassive. "Where is she?" He asked, his voice unemotive. "If it is as you say, she will have traces of the magic used upon her and will be able to corroborate your side of the story."
"She," I hesitated a moment. "She ran away after I…stopped Justin," I managed to say after a moment.
A single grey eyebrow rose up. "How unfortunate," he said. "You also said that he sent a demon after you. Two weeks ago there was a significant explosion at a gas station approximately five miles away."
I nodded slowly. "Right," I agreed quickly. "After I ran away, he sent it after me and it attacked me inside the gas station."
"There was the charred remains of a corpse at the scene, it was in three sections."
A minor shudder ran through me as Stan's death played back again through my mind. It was as crystal clear as ever, yet I found that as time had gone on, I had begun to react less and less to the gruesome and traumatic sight of his death and the evisceration of his soul.
I swallowed and nodded. "The demon killed Stan," I whispered. "I…I was so angry." I took a deep breath and exhaled, slowly.
I remembered what I had done. I'd brought out my magic and formed it into a burning guillotine. I had brought it down upon He Who Walks Behind. It had been the most powerful magic I had ever cast, and it had caused the tanks of gas buried beneath the gas station to explode.
I had somehow used that same magic to break free of the binds of magic that Elaine had used on me, and had even almost used it against Raynare during our final confrontation. I'd tried to use it since then, but I had been unable to. Whatever it was, I wasn't able to use it outside of extreme emotional states.
"DuMorne threatened to enthral you, you ran away, he sent a demon after you, and you killed the demon," Morgan repeated slowly, a sour look crossing his features briefly, "and then you went back to confront him? Why did you not come to the White Council with evidence?"
"I didn't know the White Council was even a thing until my Godmother told me," I told Morgan quickly. I saw his eyes narrow and I rushed to say more. "Justin never told Elaine or me anything about the council. We never even met any other wizards—you're the first I've met, actually," I admitted, before hesitating a moment. "At least, I think you are," I said slowly and swallowed. "Can you prove that you're a wizard?"
A sudden thrum of power ran through the massive sword in his hand and a moment later it began to give off a faint silver light. The level of danger it represented went from a solid five to a seven, one being a loaf of bread and ten being a loaded gun pressed against your forehead.
"Is that proof enough for you?" Morgan asked calmly. The magic began to fade from the blade and the cellar darkened again.
I wanted to say no, that it wasn't, that I had seen people do similar feats in the past two weeks, and that they were no more a wizard than Bob was a role model. But, I wanted to keep my head where it was significantly more.
"Magic sword, wizard, got it," I agreed quickly, before hesitating. "Why are you here exactly?" I asked. "Or rather, I just got here a few minutes ago, that was rather quick."
"You must have been a lacklustre apprentice if you were unable to sense the spell that you triggered when you entered the building," Morgan said.
I couldn't help but frown at that. I had sensed something when I had stepped into the house. I had thought it was just the remnants of the threshold reacting to one of the residents returning, but apparently that hadn't been it at all. It'd been a magical trip wire. Go figure.
"So, the alarm went off, and you came to see who returned to the scene of the crime?" I spoke my thoughts allowed, frowning. "What now?" I asked cautiously. "I didn't kill Justin using magic, so I didn't break any of the laws," I pointed out carefully.
"You speak truth," Morgan agreed, his hard grey eyes regarding me. "I cannot sense any traces of black magic within you. However, a wizard of the council has been killed, and by your claim he was a warlock. A full investigation must be done, regarding his death, your accusations, as well as what will become of you, as both an apprentice to a wizard and potential apprentice to a warlock."
"Oh." I said dumbly and found myself at a loss for words. That was practically reasonable. I had no idea what I had been expecting.
"I will have you accompany me to the White Council right now," Morgan said to me, his eyes flickering over to my staff and the book of runes that I had taken from the shelf. "That is an interesting staff you have there, unfinished as it may be." He said, almost conversationally.
I swallowed. "Y-Yeah, it's one of a kind." I shook my head. "I'm sorry, I can't go with you to the council right now," I told him hesitantly. "I have school tomorrow and I need to get back home. Is there an address I can grab from you for when I have time?"
Morgan blinked slowly and frowned. "That wasn't a request," he told me, his voice firm and leaving no room for discussion. "You will be coming with me to see the council and resolve this matter. The only choice you have regarding it is whether you will come willingly, or not." He paused for a brief moment. "It should go without saying that the former will do significantly more for your case than the latter."
We stood there in silence.
Morgan was blocking the only exit to the room. The only way out of the cellar was either with him, or through him. I tried to keep my gaze steady and not let it dart around, looking for ways to get out of the situation.
I was certain that if it came down to it, I'd be able to beat him. After all. I wasn't just a wizard anymore. I was a Devil. I'd cast down a demon and punched a fallen angel through a wall. I'd fought my mentor and come out on top—technically—and he had been a friend of this 'Warden'.
There was no way a mere wizard, even one who looked like he could bench press me, could match up to that, was there? Even if he had a massive gleaming silver sword that was apparently capable of channelling magic, I was certain that I was in a league above.
It took me a few tense moments of staring at Morgan's impassive face to realize that, for some unknown reason, I was feeling unnerved and needlessly aggressive. I swallowed and exhaled slowly. "Where did you say we needed to go?" I asked him after a long moment of internal deliberation. "How long will it take?"
"Wise choice," Morgan said to me, his lips quirking into a faint smirk.
I scowled briefly, but didn't rise to the obvious bait. Instead, I waited for him to answer the questions I had posed.
"I will arrange a meeting location with a member of the senior council to determine how to proceed," Morgan explained to me. "It is uncommon for a member of the white council to be killed by their apprentice, and especially so without resorting to magic to deal the final blow." He stared at me, his eyes intense. "However, it should take no more than a day or two to have the matter sorted."
I nodded slowly, taking in what he said. Somehow it didn't surprise me that this was an uncommon situation. First of all, I'd killed my mentor, a wizard and powerful in his own right. Secondly, I hadn't used magic to do it—at least, not to finish him off. From the way he said it, it sounded like he had come here expecting to find that I had been tainted by killing Justin. He had come with his sword drawn with the expectation of having to fight me off and perhaps even execute me for breaking the first law of magic.
Still, a day or two. That was a long time. I shuddered to think of how Sona would react to me missing two full days of school. On the other hand, having a legitimate reason for it would definitely stop her in her tracks, especially if it wasn't my fault that I just so happened to miss out on a pop quiz that I had been expected to take tomorrow.
"Alright," I said after a moment. "My ride will be here soon," I told the gruff looking Warden. "Do you mind waiting so I can explain to them what's happening?" I asked. "I don't think it'd end well if she found that I wasn't here."
Morgan regarded me for a long moment. "You said that you had not known about the council prior to your godmother having informed you of us. Who is your Godmother?" he asked me. "Is she a sorcerer, or a minor talent?" He raised an eyebrow and I could hear the disdain in his voice.
It was pretty clear that he was bias toward 'lesser' magic users. Sorcerer was basically a derogatory term for someone who didn't quality to be a wizard. Justin had taken great pleasure in explaining what a wizard was to Elaine and I.
Every wizard was a magic user, but not every magic user was a wizard. There were apparently plenty of small time practitioners with talent in certain branches of magic. But their talent was limited to that specific branch of magic. A Hydromancer could potentially control water magic with the best of them, but wouldn't be able to summon he tiniest bit of fire for the life of him, and a Pyromancer would likewise find making water move in a cup all but impossible.
Simply put, a Sorcerer was someone who didn't have enough talent or power to become a full-blown wizard. That power manifested itself in things like the ability to soul gaze, or use 'the sight'. If you didn't have the ability to do either of those, chances were you weren't going to be recognized as a wizard.
"Something like that," I said to Morgan dryly, not bothering to elaborate or agree. I was fairly certain that if Lea had found out that I had even hinted that she was comparable to a Sorcerer, I probably wouldn't live to hear the end of it. She had proven that her vindictive streak ran a mile wide and was liable to get those who found themselves pitted against it killed. "Either way, it's not godmother that is coming to pick me up," I told him.
I hesitated for a moment, wavering on whether or not I should elaborate, before deciding not to.
"If this is a trick or a ruse, I warn you that it will not work, and the consequences will be dire for you," Morgan told me, a brief scowl crossing his sour features. "We will wait for five minutes," he told me. "No more, no less."
I nodded slowly and found my attention drawn to the sword in his hand, and the oddly fancy clothes he wore. "What is it exactly that a warden does?" I asked him. "Is it like a magical police force or something?"
Morgan gave a gruff bark of laughter. "Something like that," he agreed. "My job is to protect the members of the council and to uphold the laws of magic, and apprehend any who would break them," he told me, a grim smile settling onto his features.
I found Morgan's intense gaze settling on my face again. "You mentioned that DuMorne had sent a demon after you," he spoke up again. "There were traces of powerful magic at the gas station that was destroyed. The fires that ravaged the site had purified most of it by the time I arrived, however, what was left was still potent enough to be sensed." As he spoke his gaze never wavered. "Tell me about your encounter with the demon that DuMorne sent after you. How did you overcome it" He didn't quite so much ask as demand.
"By chance," I told him honestly without a hint of shame. "It was playing with me the entire time. Mocking me, and threatening me." My fist clenched at my side and a fresh surge of anger rolled through me at the memory of how it had casually attacked me, slamming me around inside the convenience store and goading me.
"I managed to get Stan outside away from it," I said, my voice bitter. "I got out a few minutes later, but, It had used some sort of power on Stan, he'd had tons of time to run away, but he had only made it to the gas pumps." I heard my knuckles pop as my fists clenched tighter.
I would never forget the look of confused terror on his face when he died. "It killed Stan."
I closed my eyes and forced myself to calm down. "That was the first time I'd ever used magic to try and hurt something," I told Morgan, my voice quiet. "I was so angry. It destroyed Stan completely. He never had a chance, just because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
I opened my eyes again. "It never realized where it was standing," I told Morgan and looked down at my hand. "Gas pumps were made to stop accidental fires," I told him. "The safety mechanisms don't do much when you firebomb them."
To my surprise, I found Morgan's features set into another grim smile, a vague look of amusement in his eyes that slowly faded away. "You're not telling me everything," he stated after a moment. "What are you leaving out?"
I wasn't about to tell him what had happened to me. How I, by the time I had escaped outside had been more broken than whole, how it had smashed me against the counter, the racks, the glass fridges. I'd barely been seeing straight before the end. If it hadn't been for Serafall, I wasn't certain I would have surprised, even if I hadn't been caught in the explosion and impaled through the chest.
Think of the Devil, and she shall appear.
Between Morgan and I, a faint azure script appeared upon the cellar floor, and soon after it was joined by concentric circles and formed into a rotating magical circle.
"That's my ride," I told Morgan with a brief grin as I saw him draw up his sword to defend himself. I couldn't help but feel amusement at the brief shock of his expression, followed by the clenching of his jaw and the bulging of a vein near his temple.
The magic circle rose up into the air, and beneath it, a body began to materialize slowly. Slim coltish legs appeared first, covered by pink and black striped thigh-highs. It was quickly followed by a customary fluttering pink and white skirt and the rest of the…unique outfit.
The expression on Morgan's face as he watched the young girl appear between us was priceless. He looked like he was caught between disbelief at the surreal outfit she wore, and shock at her method of arrival.
"Harry!" Serafall exclaimed, throwing her arms up and out in excitement! "Look! I arrived right on time!" she told me proudly. "I was waiting and everything," she insisted with a beaming smile.
The smile dwindled and she blinked owlishly as she glanced around the cellar behind me. "How odd," she said, her nose crinkling. "There are some nasty things here, Harry," she told me with a sound of disapproval. "I hope you weren't expecting to bring…whatever that is, back with us." She said as she leaned forward and peered at one of the shelves covered with jars of various animal bits and pieces.
"Not right now, anyway," I told her with a chuckle, unable to help but smile at the shift in atmosphere she brought along with her.
Behind her, Morgan looked like he was about to have a stroke. I don't think Serafall even realized there was someone else in the room at that point.
She casually twirled around her 'magic wand' before tapping it on her cheek. "I suppose if you need them," she relented after a moment. "I won't pretend to know about your weird wizardy business," she told me teasingly.
An honest to god growl came from Morgan as he realized that the young 'girl' who had appeared was oblivious to his presence.
A brief mischievous look crossed Serafall's features. She gave me a brief wink before she gasped, and I watched her expression morph into one of shock as she rounded on Morgan, letting out a surprised yelp, her eyes going wide at the sight of him.
"When did you get here?" She exclaimed, her voice high and shocked. "A sword! Harry he's got a sword!" she cried out a moment later, clutching her magic wand to her chest.
Morgan wasn't having any of it. He growled again, his eyes narrowed and his sword clenched in his hands. "Who are you?" he barked out, demanding to know. The blade of his sword ignites with a silvery magic that once more illuminated the cellar.
If I thought it had been dangerous before when he had channelled magic through it, this took it to a whole new level. The hair on the back of my neck prickled and I felt a dramatic rise of tension in the room.
And it abruptly fell apart as Serafall enthusiastically answered Morgan's demand.
"I am Magical Girl Levia-tan!" She exclaimed brightly, twirling around and posing, her fingers in a peace sign in front of one of her eyes as she winked, her star-topped rod partially behind her.
Whatever Morgan had been expecting, it certainly hadn't been that. His features were frozen in a mask of agitation that slowly broke away.
"As in Serafall Leviathan," Morgan said carefully, his eyes never quite leaving Serafall's body, and his sword never quite lowering.
Said Devil Lord let out a playful laugh and waved her hand dismissively. "It's Levia-tan," she insisted with a bright smile that slowly dwindled. Her bright, wide eyes became bit more focused as they swept over Morgan's body. "It's rare to see a Warden on duty with his sword and not his cloak," she said after a few moments, her voice suddenly a lot less perky and a lot more serious.
It was a sudden change that I had not been expecting from her. It was like she had flipped a switch. She looked the same in every single aspect, yet her mannerisms had suddenly done a swift turnaround.
The sudden shift had not gone unnoticed by Morgan. I could see the vein on his forehead throbbing slightly and he slowly by slowly began to lower the tip of his sword down, though, he never quite dropped his guard.
"I hope you're not being unpleasant to my cute friend Harry here," Serafall said after a few moments, her lips slowly forming into a simple smile.
Morgan stared at Serafall for a long moment, before he straightened up and to my surprise, gave a polite almost-bow to the girl standing between us. "I am Warden Morgan," he introduced himself to her, his voice sounding very formal. "I am here on duty in regards to the apprentice wizard behind you, Lady Serafall," he said, his voice surprisingly careful for how he was addressing her.
My attention was still wrapped up in the strange shift in Serafall's demeanour.
"You are referring to the unfortunate situation regarding the warlock Justin DuMorne, I presume," Serafall said, her voice still oddly formal and precise. "As the formal representative of the Four Great Satan's and the Seventy Two pillars, I am of course happy to offer cooperation with the peaceful resolution of the matter."
I couldn't help but blink in surprise at that.
Morgan couldn't hold back his surprise either, though it was more a narrowing of his eyes, than a blatant blink as I had done.
"That is very kind of you, Lady Serafall," Morgan said, maintaining the tone had had used. "The boy behind you, Harry Dresden, apprenticed to Justin DuMorne, a wizard of the White Council. I require that he departs with me to resolve the matter at hand and to determine his future."
"We are of course happy to assist you with your investigation," Serafall said smoothly as she looked Morgan directly in the eyes. Her smile widened a fraction. "I can assure you that I am very interested in Harry's future, it belongs to me, after all."
Morgan, to his credit, didn't react too overly to the statement. A simple clenching of the jaw that may have gone unnoticed if I hadn't been paying attention to him. His gaze carefully moved from Serafall to me, and I could see the unspoken accusation in his eyes.
"Remember the part where you asked if I was leaving anything out?" I gave him a wry grin. "I got caught in the explosion from the fuel pumps," I admitted. "I got impaled through the chest by some of the debris and almost died."
Morgan's gaze narrowed and drifted back to Serafall. "And Lady Serafall just happened to stumble across you?" He said slowly.
"I was out taking a walk," Serafall supplied happily, her happy-go-lucky personality briefly shining through again.
Morgan's sour face, if possible, got even sourer. "I do not mean to question you, your eminence, but a walk?" He asked carefully. I could tell as much as anyone could that he thought she was lying, but didn't have the balls to call her out on it.
"I take very enthusiastic walks!" Serafall supplied with a grin, before dismissively waving her hand and glanced over to me. "You do yourself a disservice, Harry," she told me with an amused look crossing her face. "You were going to die regardless of being caught in the explosion," She told me as if discussing the weather. "You had internal bleeding, countless broken bones and a not insignificant amount of brain damage."
"That…honestly shouldn't surprise me," I said after a moment, my brow furrowing as I vividly remember the amount of agony I was in. Hadn't I decided right there at the end as well? That I was going to die so I might as well take the monster with me? It was hard to remember, but, I was certain I had even acknowledged the real possibility that I did have brain damage, it was a bit worrying to know that my self-diagnosis had been correct.
Serafall turned her attention back to Morgan, who was beginning to do a very passable impression of biting down on a lemon. "As I said previously, I am more than happy to assist the White Council with its investigation into the matter," she told Morgan coolly. "However, both Harry and I have other obligations that we must attend to for the moment."
Serafall's features took on a considering look. "I would propose that it is in everyone's best interests to delay the meeting until this coming weekend. This will give you more than enough time to gather the appropriate members of the senior council to do a full investigation, and will allow Harry to not miss out on any school time."
Morgan seemed to be internally debating over how to react to Serafall's 'suggestion' of what they should do. "I have your word that the boy will be there for the meeting?" he asked after a brief moment of silence.
"You have my word," Serafall told Morgan benevolently, beaming at him in pleasure at the apparent acceptance of her suggestion.
"Then I would propose, that this coming Saturday that we would have you meet us in the house above to resolve the matter of council member DuMornes death, the boys involvement in it and the validity of his claims against the deceased." Morgan said slowly, choosing his words carefully.
Serafall frowned briefly. "That sounds a bit macabre," she mused aloud. "Having the proceedings take place in the same place as my poor Harry's traumatic event? Why can't we have it somewhere a bit nicer? I hear that iHop have really nice pancakes, you know?"
The dark haired devil lord casually reached up and began toying with one of her twin-tails, looking thoughtful. "It's better to have somewhere a bit more private for this sort of thing though, right?" She shook her head quickly and schooled her face into a more serious look. "If you think about it, it is fairly reasonable," she conceded, her cheeks a faint red.
"It's decided!" Serafall exclaimed after a few moments. "Saturday evening, how does eight in the evening sound?" She suggested. "That way Harry can still go to school!"
"I'm personally happy with it being Sunday, myself," I suggested. "I don't mind missing school at all."
Serafall's lovely features turned a bit grim as she looked toward me. "No," she said to me firmly, and a chill ran down my spine. "You will not miss any school, you will get straight A's, or else."
She turned back to Morgan and smiled once more. "Saturday evening," she told him.
Morgan's features remained sour and set in stone for a few more moments, before finally he inclined his head ever so slightly. "Very well," he said, lifting his sword up and sheathing it for the first time since he had made his presence known. "In exchange, please refrain from disturbing the contents of the house above, or removing any of the items from within this room," he said, giving me a directed look as he said it.
"Just the book and the wine then?" I asked after a moment, glancing over to where the bottle of wine and the book rested.
An unpleasant look crossed Morgan's features, and after a few seconds he gave a begrudging nod. "Just those," he acknowledged reluctantly. "Shall we arrange a neutral third party to attend as well?"
Serafall let out a faint chortle and waved her hand dismissively. "No need, no need," she said lightly. "This is purely between Harry and your white council," she told him. "I'm simply going to attend as a witness and as Harry's caretaker," she told him with a dazzling smile.
Morgan looked like he had something else to say about that, but held his silence and inclined his head respectfully again. "By your leave, Lady Serafall," he said before glancing toward me briefly. He said nothing and turned, leaving the cellar without another word, his footsteps falling heavily and echoing throughout the underground room.
I found myself staring after him, a strange feeling in my chest. That had been strange, to say the least, and it had ended a lot…simpler than I had expected, thanks to the timely interruption of Serafall.
"Thank you," I said to Serafall, my thanks heartfelt. "That could have ended badly."
Serafall spun around to face me, and the serious look that was alien to her features began to fade away. "Don't worry about it," she said lightly, giving a faint laugh along with a beaming smile. "You're my cute Knight after all, I can't let anything bad happen to you." She reached over and… frowned, glancing up over my head. "You're too tall," she chided me lightly, drawing her hand back.
"Preaching to the choir," I said dryly before I glanced behind me at the collection behind us. "Do you think they'd notice if took some of the stuff?" I asked suddenly, looking back at Serafall.
Serafall gave a light shrug of the shoulder. "Probably," she answered honestly before stepping around me to the bookshelf and beginning to glance over the books it was loaded with. "Did you find what you were looking for?" She asked, glancing over at me.
I reached over and picked up the tome that I had taken from the bookshelf. "I did," I told her. "Plus a little something for my staff," I told her, fishing out the platinum ingot from my pocket and showing her with a grin. "Justin had an entire stack of ingots over in the corner," I told her. "Easily worth a few hundred thousand dollars."
Serafall gave the ingot in my hand a dispassionate look. "That's interesting," she said lightly. "But if you wanted money, I can just give you some, you know?" she chided me.
I hesitated a moment. "Really?" I asked, unable to keep the uncertainty out of my voice.
"Of course!" Serafall said, looking shocked that I'd think otherwise. "Anything to do with making magic wands, or love potions or invisibility cloaks or anything! You just tell me what you need and we can make them together!" She declared passionately, stepping closer to me and clasping my hand between hers as she looked up into my face.
"R-Right," I said after a moment, and gingerly tugging my hand free. "…Hey, where's Bob?" I asked suddenly, realizing that there was a distinct lack of the skull in her hands.
Serafall blinked. "Lazybones? He told me that he wanted a chance to stretch his legs so I took him back to Sona's and let him out of the skull for a bit," she told him helpfully. "He says you've been keeping him stuck in there for over a week!" She gave me a stern look and scolded me lightly. "Shame on you!"
Perhaps if the situation had been different, if she hadn't let out Bob from his skull with apparent free reign, maybe then I'd have been able to enjoy the cute expression on her face. As it was, I was just concerned about what strange rumours I'd be hearing tomorrow at school.
When I say 'concerned' I meant 'genuinely terrified to find out what disturbing things Bob had tricked random, innocent school girls into doing'. The only solace that I had was that no matter what, he'd be back by morning. That is, unless he wanted to be scattered into nothingness by the morning sun.
It was pointless to head back and try and 'stop him'. The cat was out of the bag and it was going to scratch up all the new furniture. There was no doubts about it.
I let out a soft sigh. "Right, look. Bob, he isn't normal. Last time I let him out, the next day a couple girls came to school talking about how they ended up having an all night slumber party."
"Why is that a bad thing?" Serafall asked confusedly. "Sleepovers are fun! Or at least, I think they are." She frowned and considered it for a moment before nodding. "Yes, I'm definitely sure they're fun! I have it on a reliable source."
"Is the reliable source one of the animes' that you watch?" I asked suspiciously.
Serafall schooled her face into a neutral expression and didn't answer.
I shook my head. "Look, long story short, they spent a lot of time in bed and none of it asleep," I explained to her carefully.
"Well that's silly," Serafall said with a roll of her eyes. "Why would you bother staying in bed unless…" She blinked slowly and her eyes widened as it dawned on her. "They did it!" She exclaimed.
"It?" I echoed innocently. "What do you mean 'it'?"
"You know!" Serafall insisted. "It!"
"You lost me," I told her, unable to hold back a grin
Serafall's eyes narrowed as she realized I was messing with her. "I'm going to punish you if you don't be nicer to me, Harry!" she informed me heatedly, waving her magical rod in the air threateningly.
"So, what was 'it' again?" I asked lightly, "It sounds very important, why don't you tell me about 'it'?" I suggested.
Seeing that I wasn't being cowed by her scolding, Serafall pouted. "You're mean Harry," she complained, before folding her arms across her chest stubbornly. "You won't like me when you become mean to me," she informed me testily.
"So what you're saying, is that… I won't like you when you're angry?" I asked her, struggling to keep a straight face.
Serafall looked to me and nodded seriously, stomping a foot rather lightly and thrusting her magical rod in my face again. "That's right!" She exclaimed. "You won't like me when I'm angry!"
She jabbed my nose with the rod a few times and I had to reach up and swat it away, seeing that she wasn't going to stop. Leave it to her to come up with a way around the height difference.
"Quit it," I protested as she attempted to jab me again with it and attempted to snatch it from her hands, only for her to dance out of the way.
"Too slow!" She exclaimed. "You'll never be fast enough to catch Levia-tan with that speed!" she mocked me, before freezing.
Her eyes slowly widened and she seemed stare at me intently. It was actually quite unnerving after the first few seconds.
"…What is it?" I asked hesitantly, not entirely certain that I wanted to know what was going on through her head.
Serafall straightened up and brought one of her hands up to her mouth and bit down on her thumb as her eyes flickering over my body.
"For the record this is creeping me out," I told her bluntly. "I feel like I should be covering myself up."
The dark haired devil blinked rapidly, seemingly knocked out of her sudden intense staring and let out a light laugh. "Sorry Harry!" She said to me lightly, offering me a beaming smile. "I was just thinking, you're really kinda cute, you know?"
For the umpteenth time in her presence, I found myself at a loss for words. "Thank you," I finally said politely. "You're very…cute as well," I responded awkwardly and grimaced.
"What brought that on?"
Serafall's lips curved up into a pleased little smile. "I was just thinking how photogenic you are," she remarked lightly, "and how I really need to introduce a new character on my television show."
I was certain I had misheard her. "Pardon?"
My words passed right through her ears without a hint of them being heard.
"A New Hero Appears! Magical Dres-tan!"
"What? Absolutely not!"
"How about…Suddenly a Rival! Bishōnen Wizard-kun!"
"I don't know why that word didn't translate, but I refuse."
"Uhm…Debonair Wizard! Tuxedo Mystery!"
"Where are you even coming up with these?"
"The Lone Ranger! Dirty Harry!"
I found myself hesitating to dismiss that one out of hand. "Well…"
Serafall's eyes gleamed triumphantly.
—~—
