I stared out the window of the airplane with the man who stopped me from following my sister sitting next to me.
"You want to know what sort of person might buy you?" he asked me. "I thought you weren't interested in any of that."
"I don't want many things in my life," I told him. "Just a place to call home and pain-free life. I'd like to brace myself for all possibilities for the future."
"How very prudent, but not to worry. You are a very special commodity. At the sum you'll go for, no buyer would abuse you. No one would spend that amount on a disposable toy," he told me, and I just looked at him with questions on the tip of my tongue. "Oh, that's right. You said you didn't care if you lived or died."
"You're right," I said looking back out the window. "How do you know someone's going to pay a lot for me anyway?"
"Oh, you'll see," he said, and I could see his smile in the reflection of the window. "Soon."
I woke up in the room Elias had given me and sat up, staring outside.
"It's morning already...?" I asked rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
"If you have no value in your life, why not give yourself over to someone who can make use of you?"
"I'll take you as my apprentice." The cloth moved in the wind revealing a skull sitting on a purple neck.
Oh, that's right. Elias bought me and brought me to his home.
"As of today, it is your home as well."
"But also to make you my bride."
Was he serious? His apprentice and his bride? I looked to the door at the sound of someone knocking on it. It opened to reveal a beautiful blonde woman in an old-fashioned pink and white dress and bonnet. She held out some clothes for me, and I got up and took them from her. She closed the door, and I changed into an off the shoulder light blue, short sleeved top that would partially fall over a pair of jean shorts. She also supplied me with black tights that came up to my mid-thigh and blue flats. I looked down at myself with my hair falling into my face, and I grabbed it. Should I cut it if he's going to train me? But if it's in magic, then I should be okay. Right? I looked up at the knocking again and went to the door to see the same woman as before. She grabbed my hand and pushed me down the stairs and into the kitchen.
"Ah, thank you," Elias said, and I watched her bow at the waist before leaving. "Good morning, Reika."
"Good morning," I greeted watching the woman leave. "Who's she?"
"She is the neighbor who lives here - a Silky," he told me, and I turned back to him.
"What's a Silky?"
"Silkies are spirits who enjoy dealing with the domestic matters of the houses where they live. Silver is my housekeeper - in essence - cooking, cleaning, even tending the hearth," he explained. I looked down at some papers he was messing with and saw a letter. Suddenly, it seemed to rip up and take another form before flying out of the window. I watched it go with wide eyes and jumped when I noticed Elias' face to close to mine. "Just a note dashed off to an acquaintance."
"An acquaintance, huh?" I asked looking out the window and watching the letter fly away. This man bought me for a ridiculous amount of money.
"Did you know you were asleep for two days?" he asked me and I quickly turned and stared at him shocked.
"Are you kidding?!" I asked him.
"I expect you were exhausted from all the stress," he said, and I thought about it for a moment. With the auction, Elias buying me, and the neighbors trying to lure me to their home I could picture me being stressed enough to sleep for a long time. I sat at the table across from Elias and Silver gave me a bowl of soup. I barely know anything about Elias. What kind of person is he? Why does he look the way he does? But... he took me in, and he's taking care of me, so I don't think he's a bad guy. He offered me his home when I had none. "I realize that you only just woke up..." I looked up at him. "But I'd like it if you'd get ready for our honeymoon."
"What? You were serious about that?" One thing that I do know is that he's weird. Really, really weird.
"I mentioned our honeymoon in jest..." he told me once we were in London's foggy air. "But, as we're already out running errands, I wish to introduce you to an acquaintance." I internally groaned. That skull head gives nothing that he's feeling away, so I can't read if he's serious at all. I looked up at him to see a human face with shoulder length blonde hair.
"Wha-" I gaped at him confused.
"Hmm?" he looked down at me confused.
"Y-y-your face!"
"Oh, well, I could hardly go about in public like that! Of course, most people would assume I was in costume, but I would still draw far too much attention. A quick spell solves the problem." He grabbed my hands and placed them on his face. "See? There's even a tactile aspect to the illusion. How do I look? Handsome? Dashing?" he asked me. He was right. His head felt like a regular human face, and his hair was soft, but something still felt off as he smiled down at me.
"You look... strange and kinda sketchy," I told him. His face blanked.
"What?! How harsh!"
"I prefer your true face," I said, and he stared down at me as though confused by my words. I felt myself heat up. "W-weren't we going somewhere?" He nodded before turning and walking away with me behind him.
We stopped in front of what looked like a bookshop, and I stared in the window.
"This shop is a favorite of mine!" Elias told me. "You can find nearly any tool you can imagine." In a bookstore? He opened the door and walked inside with me behind him. I closed the door behind us and looked around.
"Is this place even open?" I asked him.
"Oh, it is. The storefront is a cover. The shopkeeper is in the back," he assured me. We continued walking to the back and he knocked on the door. "Angie? Angelica, are you in?"
"Who's there?" I looked passed Elias to see a woman in a blue jumpsuit and goggles step out. Her deep purple hair was tied up and a braid was going down the right side of her head. "Well, well Ainsworth. It's not every day you come trundling out of your den to visit the rest of the world."
"You are as much a recluse as I am, Madam Gem Bee," he said. Madam Gem Bee? Another name like Elias?
"Ha! I run a business, you know! Now, what brings you here?" she asked him. He moved aside so she could see me behind him.
"I'd like to commission something for her to use," he told her and she removed her goggles as though she had to see me better without them.
"Her...? If my eyes don't deceive me, this lass has mage talent," he said. Mage talent? "Indeed she does." He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pressed his face into my hair.
"Three days ago, she became my apprentice." The woman was silent for a moment.
"What? Your apprentice?!"
"Reika, is it?" Angelica asked handing me a cup of tea and I nodded my head. "You seem pleasant enough." She turned to Elias. "You didn't find her via underhanded means, did you?"
"Not to worry," Elias told her with a smile. "I paid for her fair and square."
"Paying for her in any way is underhanded! Could you at least try to acquire some common sense?! A recluse like him buying a person...? Has he done anything funny to you, lass?" she asked me and I looked into my tea.
"I most certainly have not! What do you take me for?" he asked her.
"Anything funny, huh?" I asked feeling their eyes turn to me.
"Reika... you do realize that if you don't deny it quickly, I could be in very deep trouble...?" Elias asked me.
"Let's see... He stripped me naked, scrubbed me clean, and proposed to me, does that count?" I asked her.
"Oh, is that all?" She asked with a smile on her face, but Elias still looked worried about her reaction. She quickly turned around and punched him right in the gut which shocked me. "You child-fancying hedge wizard! See if that poor girl's left solely in your care again! Now get out! Take a walk or something!" She closed the door between the two of him and us. "Land sakes! I swear, that man hasn't a lick of sense in that entire oversized skull! What's he thinking, going after a minor?!"
"Um... I'm actually eighteen," I told her. She turned to me for a moment.
"Really?" I nodded before looking around at all the machines and gemstones and the neighbors wondering around the place. "So that old hermit Ainsworth decided to get himself an apprentice, eh?" Is that really such a surprise to everyone? Is he really a bad guy? "Did he really propose to you?"
"Yes, but I couldn't tell if he was lying or not," I told her. She stared at me before walking away. I looked up at all the neighbors laughing and hanging around the place. "Ma'am? What kind of store is this? And who exactly are you?"
"Oh, I suppose I haven't introduced myself. The name's Angelica Purley. I'm one of the world's last Mages. I'm an Artificer! I make Magus Crafts."
"What are Mafus Crafts?" I asked her.
"They're tools and devices powered by magic instead of electricity, cutting gems for spellcasting, making knives for enchantments... I do it all," she explained.
"Wow..." I whispered looking at the different tools and gems laying around.
"Mama?" We both looked to see a little girl with shoulder-length purple hair and dark eyes peeking around the corner. "Are there customers?"
"Althea! Sorry, sweetpea, but there's a change of plans. Be good now, okay?" Angelica asked the young girl.
"But, mama, you promised you'd help me practice today!" Althea ran into the room and stopped right in front of her mom.
"Another time," Angelica told her. "Run on back to your room, now." The girl turned and ran away from the two of us.
"Is that your daughter?" I asked her curiously.
"Aye, sorry about her lack of manners," Angelica said.
"Mama! I'm ready to play now!"
"What's she practicing for?" I asked her.
"Ah... for better or worse, she's got her own share of Mage Talent. She's a stubborn little thing - wants to be an Artificer like me." One of the neighbors crawled up my legs and into my lap before rubbing its head under my chin. "But the times being what they are, I wish she'd set her sights on a more normal career."
"That's the second time you've mentioned something about Mage Talent. What is that?" I asked her.
"What? Hasn't Elias told you about it yet?" she asked me and I shook my head. "He never was any good at clear explanations. First off, are you familiar with the difference between alchemy and magic?" I shook my head again. "Well, as you might guess, Alchemy's the type of science used by Alchemists. Magic, though, is the province of Mages. They make things happen by borrowing power from Fairies, Spirits, Ghosts, or Demons. It seems more like a miracle."
"A miracle...?"
"See, the world follows natural laws. Alchemists study those laws and learn to manipulate them," she said. "It's like a computer program: make this change, get that result. Alchemists tweak or temporarily rewrite the natural laws for what they want. That process is Alchemy. But Mages like us, we use the power we borrow and we interfere with those laws or break them outright, to get the same kinds of results." I thought about her words and looked down at the neighbor still in my lap. "Sounds like magic's the easy way, huh? But it's not. We're manipulating someone else's power and that makes it hard to work with any kind of precision. Nearly anything's possible, but you have to study as hard as Alchemists do. And if you try something too big and get in over your head..." She raised her sleeves and my eyes widened at the gens that seemed implanted in her arms. "Well, there are consequences."
"Your arms...! What happened?"
"I made a dunderheaded mistake when I was training, and this was the result. As I said, Mages have to study as much as Alchemists. If you try to take shortcuts instead, this kind of thing can happen. So be a good student for him, okay?"
"That's one of those things that seem easy to say but harder to do in reality," I said petting the salamander in my lap. It grabbed my hand and started licking it making me smile down at it. "Do you really think I'll be able to use magic someday?"
"If he's keeping you on, that means you've got the potential," she told me. "Want to give it a try?"
"What?" Next to her head, water started being collected before another neighbor appeared.
"Hey there, little pup! Glad to meetcha! Now, Angelica here's my one and only, so I can't be your new bestie, but I'll lend you a hand," he told me.
"This is Hugo, my familiar," Angelica told me. "He's a Vodyanoi - a type of water spirit. He's a bit of a prankster, but he does his part when there's work. Hugo, help the lass out, would you? We're going to try some magic."
"Wait, what?!" I asked her confused. "B-But I've never done any magic before! Elias' hasn't taught me anything yet!"
"Well, you know what they say. Their's a first time for everything!" She told me with a grin before handing me a stone. "This here's a stone Alchemists use for practice. They'd usually draw a matrix to put it in, but we'll skip that. Cup it in your hands and Envision the shape you want it to take."
"Envision a shape?" I asked her before she placed her hand over my eyes and forced them closed.
"Mm. How about your favorite flower? Picture that cleary in your mind," she told me.
"Flowers, huh?" I asked her. No wonder she and Elias get along so well... Both of them are so abrupt about everything they do or say.
"This gem is an artificial crystal," Angelica told me. "To create it liquid was poured into a mold and then put under massive pressure until it crystallized. Think of it this way: air was just liquid heated into vapor, and your will is pressure. Between them, you make a crystal form." I don't have a favorite flower... but... there was that one time...
"Mama! Look at all the pretty flowers!" I ran into the field with a broad grin on my face.
"Be careful, Reika!" Mama called out to me. "Keep hold of Chise's hand!"
"Okay, Mama!" I ran back to Mama and held my baby sister's hand tightly and we started picking the flowers together.
"Aren't the flowers pretty!" Mama asked us. "I think they're beautiful, Chise, Reika."
"Reika!" I quickly opened my eyes when I heard Elias' voice and his hand grab my arm. His other hand was in front of my eyes so I could barely see through his gloved fingers.
"Elias...?"
"Angelica, I'd appreciate it if you'd not go about teaching things to my apprentice," Elias told her. I moved his hand to see the floor of this small room filled with crystal poppies.
"When did... I didn't know magic could do this much with one crystal," I said as Elias put his hands on my shoulders.
"It can't." I turned to see Angelica scowling at us and breaking off one of the poppies. "We can think of it as miraculous, but even magic has its limits. Ainsworth! What is she?"
"Reika is a half-breed. A Sleigh Beggy and Sleigh Fendeil," Elias told her.
"Well, that'd explain it," Angelica said. "No normal apprentice could manage this! Why didn't you tell me?"
"The fewer who know, the better," Elias told her. "Don't be so upset." Elias placed one of his hands on my head.
"Sleigh Beggy are like living sponges, and Sleigh Fendeil are living weapons," Angelica said and I looked up at her.
"How's that?"
"Sleigh Fendeil use their bodies to protect neighbors and those who are important to them. Sleigh Beggy soak up the energy in the world around them and store it in their bodies as magic," Angelica explained. "To be both means you can use the magic you store as a weapon against those who cross you. You see things most cannot because your brain and eyes are constantly steeped in that power. But it appears that you've absorbed a bit too much. So much I'm surprised you're still alive, to be honest. There's so much magic stored within you that you're incapable of expending only a little at a time for now. Using as a weapon right now would most likely end up with you killing them." I looked down at my hands in shock as they shook at the news.
"I was able to transport us home from the auction house in only one jump because I tapped into your magic instead of using mine," Elias told me.
"Hugo! Why didn't you warn me?" Angelica asked her familiar and Hugo seemed to jump and hold up his hands in defense.
"B-but, Angelica...!"
"Don't blame your Vodyanoi," Elias told her. "Reika is a special creature to them. They are drawn to her like moths to a flame and she protects them from those who'd harm them."
"You say I'm absorbing magic, but I don't feel like I am," I said.
"Of course now," Angelica said. "It's as natural to you as breathing. For now, just think of yourself as unskilled at the subtler things. It means you'll have to work harder than most on those." I nodded before bowing slightly to her.
"I'm sorry I made such a mess in your store." She placed her hand on my head and messed up my hair a bit.
"There, there, lass. You don't need to apologize," she told me. "It was entirely his fault! It wouldn't have happened if that bone-skilled good-for-nothing had spoken up!"
"Good-for-nothing...?"
"What good is a master who doesn't teach his apprentice anything?!" Angelica asked him. "Lass, could you fetch the broom from the closet in the next room?"
"Yes, ma'am." I walked out of the room before looking back to see Elias whispering something in Angelica's ear.
"What, Ainsworth?" He spoke to her and she scratched her neck. "Aye, I could make that. You really want to hide the fact that she's a half-breed that badly?" I paused and clenched my fists.
"That is part of the reason, yes," Elias told her.
"I'll be raising my price accordingly," she warned and I continued to collect the broom she requested. I went back to the other room once I'd gotten it and Angelica called me over to her.
"For now, here's what I have on hand," she told me. "A stone knife carved in the dew from a moonflower. A cloak woven from a Thunderbird's feathers. Let's see... some Glaistyn hide, a belt... and I think I'll toss in some steel-vine thread and a Crystal-Lens Pocket-glass. I'll take some measurements and make the needed adjustments. After I have what I need and you're done cleaning wait out in the store for a bit."
"Yes, ma'am." I started cleaning the mess I'd made with the help of the neighbors. I put it all in a box before moving them to another part of the store only to see Angelica working on something. Hugo noticed me and placed his finger over his lips in a motion to keep quiet. I smiled at him and did the same with a nod.
When I was finished cleaning, I joined Elias in the bookstore.
"Ah, is she finished?" he asked me and I shook my head.
"No, not yet. She said she'd make some adjustments first," I said sitting next to him as he read his book. "Have you known her for long?"
"Since she was a child. Her father was an Artificer known for his Magus Crafts, and she often assisted him," he told me. "However, he was an Alchemist and her talents lay elsewhere."
"In magic?" I guessed.
"Yes," he confirmed. "As a mage, she couldn't replicate his work using his methods, but she studied hard and has found her own ways of getting similar results." I thought about how they treated each other earlier and him whispering in her ear.
"Are you two... I mean..." I felt my face heat up at the thought. "Are you two... lovers... or something?" He seemed to pale at my words, if possible.
"P-Please don't make jokes in such terrible taste! I-I treated her as a daughter once! And I'd never take such a sharp-tongued contrary woman as... as...! B-Besides, she's long since wed! She has a child!" he reminded me.
"There's plenty of single mothers out in the world, you know?" I stated. "Besides, how would I know she has a husband?"
"But I have you!"
"I bought you to be my apprentice, as I said, but also to make you my bride."
"So, you weren't kidding?" I asked him. "So... would you have a mistress, then?"
"Why must you twist the knife?!"
"Shut up! Both of you!" Angelica shouted at us, stepping out of the back of her shop.
"Take care of yourself," Angelica told me as we prepared to leave London with my new items in hand.
"I will," I said smiling at her as she and her daughter saw us off.
"Don't let him do anything funny."
"I'm not doing anything funny!" I laughed lightly before Elias and I left to go to the train station and go home.
"By the by..." Elias started as we walked along the path home. Since no one else was around the red cloth he used to hide his face was behind his head. "Are you so very fond of poppies, then?"
"Huh?" I asked confused.
"Those were beautifully made," He reminded me of the crystal poppies I'd made at Angelica's shop.
"Oh, those? I just remembered them from when my mom took me and my baby sister to see a field of them," I told him.
"Tell me of your parents," he requested, and I stopped walking and looked back at him, his head cocked to the side. "Are they dead? Or did they abandon you?"
"Daddy...?"
"Mama!"
"That was a blunt question," I stated.
"Whatever led you here, your past can't change the fact that you're with me now," he told me placing his hand on my cheek.
"True," I said placing my hand on his while thinking. His words were nothing but air to him, but they still feel warm and kind. "My dad took my baby brother and disappeared. I don't even know if they're alive. My mom killed herself when I was a kid in front of me and my sister. And my sister... She killed herself just a few weeks before the auction." I turned around and walked home. "But as you said, I'm here now. The past may define who I am, but I won't let it control me."
As we approached the house, a man stood up by the doorway and waved at us.
"Aha! Ainsworth!" he called out. "I wrote and told you when I'd be arriving! Why are you always out of the house when I come calling? What kind of hermit are you?"
"Even I have the occasional errand," Elias told him. "Besides, you're hardly ever eager to come to see me." I took a good look at the man and saw a cross hanging from his neck. Is he a priest?
"Well, your maid seems to hate me, so I wasn't even allowed to wait inside. I've been standing around out here," he said before noticing me. "Oh, hello. You must be his new apprentice, Reika. My name is Simon Cullum. I stopped by to ask you for help - both of you."
"Our help?"