Karla is not having an easy go of it. We can feel the turbulent Mana around her from the house. Matthew keeps glancing that way, thinking I don't notice; and Maggie hasn't taken a sip of her coffee in nearly a minute.
And me, well, I am so sensitive to Mana that I can feel every tendril of chaotic material wrapping itself into knots, and forming something, something dense. I know what it is, but only because the poor soul stuck in that old car told us her plans.
We were expecting this last night, but I guess its only when she selects something like this that the Mana storms occur.
"Anne, you're crying again." Matthew reminds me.
"I know. I know how painful the mana knots that are forming over there can be."
"Because of your family?" Maggie asks. She knows I ran away, but not why.
"Kind-of. I did have some experiments ran on me, but nothing like what that poor girl is going through. I had the luxury of being built up to a mana storm of that level. She is effectively a week old, and a raw, unguarded soul." I look at Matthew. "If my family gets a hold of her, she will be another statistic. Are you sure nobody knows she is a vehicle type?"
"Absolutely." He says, glancing back over there again. "My research depends on her surviving, and Thank all that is good that Maggie contacted me before the magister's office. I was able to get myself assigned to this case because I told her how to phrase things."
"I am used to simple things gaining Magical life, the most complex one I have ever seen was a toaster." Maggie said to the room.
"My childhood home was one. If we were threatened, the house locked down, and some amazing and crazy things happened. But he couldn't move. he was stuck." I answered.
"I have seen a bicycle, once. just long enough to watch a Magister rip its soul from the bike, and force it into a stone along with hundreds of others."
"A Philosopher's stone, he was attempting immortality?" I ask Matthew.
"No, My Dad was attempting to resurrect my mother; not only did he fail, but when the stone broke, they... "
At his pause, Maggie and I knew what he had witnessed. Magic-lifeform souls are believed to be catalysts for the ancient philosopher's stone. To my knowledge, only two have ever been successfully made, and neither used another life form's soul. A knock on Maggie's front door attracted our attention. This time of night, there shouldn't be any visitors. I wave her back, and answer the door to her home. The man standing before the door recognizes me, well, the family resemblance anyway, and kneels so fast that I think he might have broken his knee.
"I did not know you would answer the door." he says, a peal of reverence in his voice.
Damn this face, and damn my sister.
"I am busy," I lie, "What do you want at this hour." I use his misconception to my advantage.
"I have been told to invite you back to the residence, and was told to ensure all of your belongings returned with you." My former butler stated.
"I am not going anywhere tonight." Damn, damn, damn, and double damn. How did they find me. Well, I guess with a face like this, its not hard to keep tabs on me.
"Then neither am I Elianna." He said my full first name. He knows I am not my sister, this makes it worse.
"Elianna?" Matthew asks from behind me. "As in Elianna Meira, Heiress to the Empyrean Conglomerate, The missing Duchess?"
"One in the same," Maggie answers, knowing the truth. I had to tell her to be able to stay in that little shed when she bought this old junkyard. "I'll help you Anna, give me the word." She says, I know what she means, but I am not doing that. The former assassin already ready for even a slight nod.
"Maggie, what the Nine Hells did you drag me into?" Matthew asks. The stupid butler still kneeling because I hadn't told him to stand up yet.
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"Matthew, you know what you are involved with." Maggie grins at him. "I wouldn't have called you first if I didn't think you couldn't handle it. Its why I called you and not Todric, or Benjamin."
"You considered Benjamin?" he asked. I didn't know either of these people, but by the change of hand guesture from the kneeling idiot, his one flaw in his otherwise stationary presence, I knew he knew these people."
"How long has the family known my location?" I ask him, ignoring the two people in the house.
"Just under a quarter of an hour, Mistress." he says.
"Kyle, that title is to never leave your mouth in my presence again."
"Understood, Duchess." he answers.
"Kyle, stand up, and walk with me." When I begin walking, he follows, gently shutting the door behind him without loosing a pace. I walk over to the window that sees the front gate of the lot I have called home for the past twenty some-odd years. "Inside that area is a Magic soul." I tell him.
"Yes, Duchess, I can feel the mana knots forming to strengthen its presence, although I couldn't feel them on the porch."
"The Magic-life is the soul from a young girl named Karla Kross. She was adamant that her name was spelled with a K, although I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was unaware of the character she named. Since I know you won't divulge anything here, when around her, I am simply 'Anna' nothing more, nothing less. So get used to calling me that." I tell him. I see a bit of the stuffiness in his body go away, a good sign.
"Understood. How old is this Karla?" he asks.
"This is her first." Matthew answers.
"This much from a first week solidification?" he asks surprised.
"She is a rare, vehicle type. We have to keep her hidden, at least until 3 months, when the Mana solidification will make it almost impossible to rip her soul out." Maggie tells the scared man. "I've already had to kill three people who were carrying artificial soul-wells this week, to keep her alive, but we've been keeping all of that from her. Well, we've been keeping a lot from her actually."
"For good reason." Kyle seems to begin to understand the situation here. "You were lucky to find such a strong soul. Do you plan on harvesting it yourself?" he seems surprised when I cast a blade of ice against his throat.
"I aim to see exactly how powerful she can become, and if you ever hint at harvesting her again, this blade won't be forming against your neck, but inside it." I tell him. Maggie seems impressed, but knows my threat is empty. My spells aren't capable of being lethal. I can only heal or defend, unlike my sister, who can't heal.
As midnight approaches, the Mana knots stop forming, and we know the storm is over, so we all go back, Kyle included, to see her. When we first enter the small yard, I don't feel her drawing in Mana, and I can feel the well at the back of the car is nearly empty, its not completely, but close. I tap her dented and rusty hood with a flat palm, and her voice comes from the center of the front dash. I can tell she is crying.
"You came back?" I hear her voice, and see two camera lenses adjust at the same time.
"I could tell your upgrade was over. mind if we take a look?" I ask, wanting to see this engine that obviously caused pain. The latch gently popped, and I lifted the hood, and stared at a pristine engine bay, the whole thing white, white engine, white fan, white pulleys, the air filter, and the valve-cover were a deep, rich, blue color, and the belt, and a few hoses, were black. It was the small inline six I knew, so I could help with some things to make it more predictable. The engine turned over, and roared to life. It was at this moment, that I realized, the engine upgrade, didn't include an exhaust pipe. I set the hood down, and felt the latch grab it, and she pulled it shut.
"There is a new person here." she says, but I can tell she is slightly apprehensive. "There are four new people here, besides him." she says. I look around, but see nobody,
"Karla, you can see things besides normal light, right?" Kyle asks.
"I don't know what your visible spectrum is, but I would have to say yes." At her words, I cast a fog spell, and it accumulates around the four extra people.
"I think the four of you have overstayed your welcome. This is my land, and you are trespassing." I hear Maggie say; the four run out of the small yard, I feel them still running, surrounded by my fog, a mile away. Karla seemed to wait a while as well, sensing that something was going on. When I relaxed a little bit, she told us she had a choice for something new for herself.
"So, I now have three options, and am required to choose one before I am allowed to accumulate Mana again." she tells us. I look to Matthew, who has been the one to take on the role of figuring out how to help her. "One is 'Mana sight - the ability to see mana flows, in all 360 degrees, even if asleep.' The second one is 'Natural compass - always know your location, how to get back home, and which way is north, even when asleep.' and the third one is 'Auto-heal - Automatically uses an external reservoir to heal, or correct a limited amount of damage per day,' there is a note underneath, 'these skills are upgrade-able, skills not selected will appear again, in seven days'."
"I would auto-heal." Kyle says, seeming to realize what was going on. I nod in agreement, as does Matthew, and Maggie. Within a couple of seconds, the bottle in the trunk expands to about the size of a 1Liter soda bottle, and a slow, methodical buzz of Mana begins in the air again.
"Oh! that feels nice." Karla says. "It feels like a spa-day."
The frame visibly straightens, only a slight bit of dog-tracking appears to stay, but every body panel is still smashed, dented, rusted, and otherwise looks like a derelict. for now, this should be a decent defense.
"I am heading to bed, Kyle, I will talk with you tomorrow, please stay with Matthew tonight."
"Sure thing, Anna." he said, still seeming uncomfortable, but at least understanding why I didn't want this being to know who I really was.