Month 12, Day 4, 4:00PM

Frank Poe

Hours later, Frank sat at his desk with a fat sheaf of paper that had been carefully bound in red tape through the nine holes that were punched through the stack. The “cover” of the file was an encryption array. Linked with the red tape binding, the array kept the file safe from any prying eyes that did not have the “key.” Frank had memorized the string of numbers and letters which served as that key.

He was rereading it the third time to make sure he had not missed anything.

The oath, to his delight, had only been a mild blood print vow. He was required to keep it secret from anyone “not assisting in the investigation.” He almost laughed at them. Either they were incompetent, or they planned to give him information that was practically common knowledge.

Then Frank’s good mood after receiving his bound copy of the official investigative summaries was significantly dampened; his meeting with the boy could only be described as disastrous.

‘What a debacle.’ Frank thought. ‘What were the chances I would find another fate-cursed individual?’

Apparently, it was a one-in-one chance. There was no such thing as coincidence. That boy was present at the battle between the stags and the Morrows. He could have been a source of information to rival the Coppers.

But, Frank had no doubt that any further interaction with Percy should only occur at a very long distance away. And, given the boy’s story of misfortune, he was more dangerous than a red sun at morning. Storms would follow that boy wherever he went.

Frank would keep an eye out for moths.

That hadn’t been the only surprise.

Marie proved immune to the koi. Obviously, she had only been slightly affected by his curse, but the koi technically affected people seperately. When completely active, others besides Frank would not usually see them.

There were implications.

He could consult the Red Guard who developed his artifact coat and spell array, but that would mean they would want to examine Marie.

The thought of her being subjected to their examination troubled him. The Red Guard used ungentle examinations of the new or the different. Of course they purportedly took an oath to defend humanity. But, defending humanity didn’t always include defending individual humans.

In fact, the opposite was true. If an experiment on an individual would keep humanity safe, well … The lives of the many outweighed the lives of the few. Fair enough. Until the Red Guard counted you among the few.

Frank felt lucky to have survived them; but, perhaps he was being unfair. The Red Guard did supply the coat, and it was a marvel.

HIs koi coat had a number of protections that stabilized the will, had built defensive, anti-curse, and anti-divination wards. It was self repairing, self cleaning, and had between twenty and thirty pockets—Frank never made a full count—some of which were expanded spaces, and many of which he could never figure out what to fill with.

Of course, the silk koi hand stitched into the carefully dyed blue wool included a remarkable spell. The koi-stabilization spell was built into his coat like an artifact. Without it, he doubted the Red Guard would have allowed him to walk around in public at all.

But, he could also draw the koi stabilization spell array and cast it with the components. Moreover, so long as he was wearing the coat, and muttered the chant, he could even cast the stabilization spell with a surprisingly mild application of will. It would also automatically react in the presence of certain conditions.

In any case, this time the spell worked exactly as designed. Whatever dangerous effects his curse might have had on Percy, Frank felt sure that the spell negated them. Frank’s meeting would unlikely crack the foundations of the future.

Frank concluded that his mistake with Frigg had been consulting with her while he had will strain. Just a little bit of expression of his will, and he could have read Frigg better. He’d become complacent.

Frank had no excuse.

With those dire musings out of the way, he definitely had good news for Professor Lacer. The coppers arranged the file with the most recent reports on top, and in those first slender few pages Frank learned that it wasn’t only the Verdant Stag that had some influence over the Raven Queen. And, because Lacer had already assisted at the scene of the fight, Frank had no trouble sharing.

There were many interesting things to share. For instance, Ennis Naught.

Reading through the entire file, Frank learned that Ennis Naught seemed a relatively vain and shallow man. According to the investigators, just the sort of dupe that Raven Queen could manipulate with her deeper schemes. While he seemed to be her father, the file wondered how a clever teenage could so thoroughly embarrass everyone who was seeking her out.

In the earlier summaries of his testimony, Frank read that Ennis was, for instance, very upset that the coppers had not retrieved his “valuables” from the his room at the inn; his trinkets included a enchanted fire lighter, a gold and silver filigree smoking box, an ivory comb, and a few changes of clothes that were, purportedly, “the finest quality wool.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Frank snorted. If you were bragging about your clothes, they were not that nice.

But, that first summary of Ennis’s interview revealed the leverage to get the Raven Queen to meet with Lacer.

Ennis—probably more interested in his own skin than the well being of his daughter—entered into a dubious marriage agreement with the Gervins. In exchange, he gave his most valuable possession to them: his wife’s ring. A powerful conduit with enchantments that were subtle and difficult to replicate, the Naught Family passed the an heirloom from mother to daughter. Siobhan Naught seemed to be the last.

When the Raven Queen used a well-known piece of blood magic to send a second raven to speak with Ennis, she claimed that her original conduit was broken during the first communication. Accordingly, the Raven Queen wanted her ring. That second communication was a surprisingly desperate move; she must have wanted the ring very badly. Especially since the messenger spell would always kill the raven she used.

He felt a little sad for these ravens; some of her character showed in casting that spell. Sacrifice creatures for her own ends, the Raven Queen was ruthless enough to cast blood magic and sacrifice innocent creatures for her magic. While killing a likely hand-raised raven was no worse than eating a roast chicken, Frank was mostly vegetarian for a reason.

Still, the ring would be the perfect way to get a meeting without the involvement of the Stags, if Frank or Thaddeus Lacer could discover a way to contact her.

Frank knew all too well how important a connection to a mother could be. Frank figured that she would have been incredibly angry with her father for giving the heirloom away to strangers, and the opportunity to get it back would be a good method to meet her.

Frank had enough information to go back to Grandmaster Lacer. He wrote Lacer for a meeting. He delivered the note to Marie, for her to carry to the University.

He found her at the worktable working through the lessons in the primer.

“I have a note for you to deliver to the University. You wouldn’t have any trouble delivering it, would you?”

“No.” Marie replied, looking up from her work. She seemed to be practicing the drawing exercises, and she’d drawn miniature versions of the animal call spell, as well as triangles, squares, pentagrams, hexagrams, and octograms.

She put away her pencil and drawing tools, then she took the note and stood, but paused before she walked to the door.

“Poe, I was wondering about glamour spells … How hard are they?”

“Glamour spells?” Frank wondered if there was someone she wanted to impress. Frank first guessed that she was just curious about the magic.

“Let’s see.” Frank tried to recall the full range of magic that thaumaturges called glamour. “There are different types, and some glamours are more difficult than others. Light and illusion magic, of course, can change how people look. That’s simple to understand, but difficult to execute because it takes a clever imagination. Potions can give glamour as well … Cortez’ Youth Potion makes one seem younger for a few hours, but it doesn’t actually have any long-term effect on the body. That can be made by an young thaumaturge in exchange for a several hours of patient application of their will.” Frank paused. “Those are the legal spells.”

“What about the illegal ones?”

“I will not be teaching these to you during you apprenticeship with me, but you should know what to avoid. The illegal spells affect the mind. These spells make the target of the spell attractive, usually sexually attractive, but not always. Sometimes they just fascinate. Also, so-called ‘love potions’ cause infatuation or even obsession; these can either make the drinker seem attractive or make the drinker attracted to someone else. The illegal effect these has on the mind can be dangerous, but that doesn't make them hard to find.”

Marie seemed to contemplate that for a moment. “What about arousal potions? I’ve heard them called ‘love potions’ too. What kind of magic are they?”

Frank blushed furiously. Of course she would know about those.

“Those have a physiological effect and are not illegal, usually.”

“Physiological?”

“Oh, those just affect the ah … body parts involved.”

“Ok.”

“Why?” Frank asked.

“I just … wanted to know more about the spells Mille was using, and when I’d be able to cast them.”

Frank puzzled on that response for a bit. Marie always seemed confident enough about herself that she wouldn’t be interested changing her appearance. Except.

“If you want fewer people to ask about you looking like the Raven Queen, you may need to wear something other than black.” Frank advised.

“No. I was hoping to attract a lover.” Marie replied earnestly.

Frank gasped.

“You … you are entirely too young for …” Frank sputtered.

Then Maire’s face broke into a mischievous grin, and she laughed.

“Got you. Actually, Mille handled all the glamours at the massage parlor, and I wondered when I could do that kind of magic.”

“Oh.” Frank breathed in relief. “Only masters are allowed to sell magic to others; apprentices and journeyman are restricted in their ability to sell magic. But even so, you won’t be able to cast those spells for a long time; perhaps as long as several years.”

“Mille can do them though.”

“Mille is an adult. You can learn more about glamour at the university, but since you insist, I’ll show you an optical spell that you can learn with low will requirements. The spell makes a color changing light. It will be good practice if you are interested in all sorts of visual magic. Hiding small facial blemishes might be something you could do for a short period of time or making a very simple concealing potion, but a longer-lasting potion or enchantment based spell would take time to build your capacity.” Frank paused.

“Mille showed me one of her spells once and tried to explain it to me, she said it wasn’t hard.”

Frank knew Marie was sensitive about Mille, especially now that the prostitute was hurt, but, he needed to impress Marie with caution.

“Even if you knew Mille’s spells, actually casting spells of that level is dangerous for you. At least now while you have a low capacity. You must write down and show me any of her magics before you try them. I’ll need to supervise all your magic.”

Marie seemed to nod.

Frank rubbed the stubble on his chin. Marie would be the death of him. ‘I’d never be able to look Mama Stella in the eye if I allowed Marie to … attract that sort of attention. I’ll have to keep an eye on her.’ Frank hoped he didn’t look too obviously distressed.

“I’ll go drop this off.”

“Be back before dark?” Poe asked.

“Sure.” Marie replied easily, and she strode out of the office with Frank’s letter in hand.

‘Why did I take an apprentice again?’ Frank thought.