Jake’s POV

I sighed and signed some release paperwork from the precinct, which meant that I was finally able to be let out from holding. “I’m sorry that this happened to you, Jake.” Robert, my family’s lawyer said and handed me my stuff. The officers had confiscated everything I had when they arrested me.

“It’s annoying, but at least it’s over.” I said and slide my jacket back on. It was absolutely freezing inside the cells, and they wouldn’t give me any blankets because they ‘didn’t have enough to go around’.”

“I guarantee you, I will make sure that the officers who put the warrant out will face the proper punishment.” Robert said as we left the building.

“Thanks Robert, but honestly, it may be more trouble than it’s worth. I kinda get why they thought I was going to flee the country. I mean, I would’ve put a warrant out for my arrest to if I was in their shoes.” I told him.

“Yeah. But you may be able to get compensation if we do file charges.” He said. I was going to ask how much, but decided against it.

“No, don’t worry about it. Besides, I make plenty of money.”

He looked upset and shook his head, “Yeah, about that.” We arrived at my car and stopped. “If I’m going to defend you, I need to know where you got so much money, despite losing your job nearly a year and a half ago."

"I sell paper now, and other stuff.” I told him.

He took a deep breath and held it for a moment, “Drugs?”

“No, I don’t sell drugs.” He sighed, relieved.

“Then what? It must be something expensive to make so much money.”

I smiled, and decided to tell him the truth. It’s not like he would believe it anyway. “I sell sheets of paper, and what is essentially a portion of my life force, to birds, and they pay me in gold coins.”

“Jake, please take this seriously.” He frowned, not finding it funny. I on the other hand was barely keeping it together. It was the first time I had ever told anyone what it was I actually did, without leaving out any details, and it just sounded so stupid. I was snickering as he rolled his eyes, probably thinking I was just having a laugh at my own joke.

“So is it some new age stuff then? Like healing crystals or something.”

“You could say that, yeah. But everything is totally legal, and I reported it all on my taxes.” I said.

“Yeah, I know. That’s good, this whole situation would have been way worse if you hadn’t.” He pushed his glasses up and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alright, just… can you bring me some of the stuff you sell so I can keep it, in case the police come with a warrant for it, and you drop of the face of the Earth again?”

“Um… that will be more difficult.” I said, suddenly no longer laughing. I could get him some paper, no problem, but I couldn’t exactly just hand him a daljar full of mana.

“Why? You said it wasn’t drugs.”

“It isn’t, but it is hard to explain. Plus, it is a pretty well guarded secret.”

“Look, I can’t force you, but they’re going to get a warrant for it eventually, I’m just trying to get ahead of it.” I groaned, he was right. I hadn’t even considered that they may want proof of transactions. “They may already be in the process of it right now.” Robert said. A stiff breeze blew past us and his tie started to flap around over his shoulder. He grabbed it and put it under his blazer, then buttoned it up.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do if they do that. I can’t give them anything.” I said.

“Well, they aren’t going to give you much of a choice. Failure to comply with a warrant will have you right back in those cells, and I won’t be able to get you out this time.” He started to sound upset.

“Alright, I’ll think of something.” I sighed.

“Something legal?”

“Obviously.”

“Something that makes sense?” I remained quiet on that one. “Great…”

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With that, I got in my car and went home. It had only been a few hours, so I expected that maybe the moving job would be done, but they must have just arrived, because they were picking up the bed when I got there. “Hey, you guys must be the new movers.” I greeted them.

“Yes sir. Sorry about the delay, we got here as fast as we could.” One of the new men said. There were only two, just like the last guys, but they were dressed in the same uniforms.

“It’s no problem. Is that guy okay? He was bleeding a lot.” I asked.

“Yeah, but he’s getting stitches. The other guy is still filling out accident reports at the hospital.”

“Okay, well, the shed should still be open, but if it isn’t just knock and I’ll unlock it.” I said and headed inside. In the house, Mum was cooking something.

“Oh, Jake. Are you okay? Did everything go well?” She asked as soon as she saw me. She was carrying a plate of sweets, which were still steaming.

“Yeah, everything went fine. Why are you making biscuits?” I asked.

“I decided to make the nice men outside some snacks.” She explained. I wasn’t surprised, she once made a chocolate cake for a plumber that came to install her new shower a few years ago. My Mum’s answer for having company of any kind was always to feed them.

“Okay, do you want me to take it out to them?” I offered.

“Yes please, that would be nice.” She said and handed me the tray. I took it out to them, explained why she made it, that she does this for everyone, and asked if they wanted me to put into their truck for them. They seemed surprised, but happy, and clicked their truck open with their key fob. I put the sweets away and went back inside to tell Mum what Suma had told me; that we needed to travel to go meet some Royal Council.

“Mum, I have some news.” I said, walking back into the kitchen.

“Did they not like the biscuits?” She asked, worried.

“What? No, no, they liked them. It’s not about that.” She was at the sink, cleaning the dishes she had gotten dirty when baking.

“What is it?” She turned back to the sink and resumed cleaning.

“Suma told me that we received some kind of royal notice. We have to travel to see some kind of Royal Council.” I explained.

“Is that good?” She looked back at me, still wiping a dish with a rag.

“I don’t know, but she sounded nervous.” I grabbed a towel and started helping her dry the ones she had already cleaned.

“So not good then…”

“Probably not.” I sighed. “But that’s not all. Robert said that the police are probably going to get a warrant to go through my financials and they’re going to want me to prove I haven’t broken any laws and that all my money was acquired legally.”

“When it rains, it pours.”

“If worse comes to worse, I can just stay with Suma for a while. I mean, it won’t be great, and I’ll definitely be a fugitive, but you know…”

“No, we will figure this out. I don’t… I don’t want you to have to leave.” Mum said, her voice was breaking and she had stopped doing the dishes. I put the plate down and hugged her.

“I know, Mum.”

Mum and I talked for a while, but eventually I called Suma and told her I was ready to come back. A few minutes later, she said she was about to summon me. I kissed Mum on the cheek and started to disappear. When my sight came back again, I was standing in the room that Captain Gigoales had given me, holding the twin sized mattress I bought.

“Ah, that explains why you were harder to summon this time.” Suma chirped, breathing heavy and looking tired. “Is that your… bed?”

“Yeah, can you help me make a frame for it?” I asked, placing it on the ground.

“A frame? What do you mean?” She made a perch using one of the vines on the floor. Once she did that, I made a mental note to clean some of the vines up, or at least organize them a bit so I didn’t trip over them at night.

“My bed needs to be a few feet off the ground.” I told her.

“Oh yes, I remember you told me once that you sleep elevated off of the floor.” I had a flashback to that one time when Suma summoned me from my bed, and I fell to the ground in front of her. That was probably what she was thinking about too.

“Yeah, can you help me make a frame?”

“I can help you if you need it, but you can manipulate the vines as well as I can now. It should not be a difficult task for you anymore.” She said.

“Yeah, I just think it will go faster is all.”

“Very well.” She said and started molding several vines.

“Just do on your side, what I do here.” She nodded and copied me. It didn’t take us long. I didn’t need anything fancy after all; just four legs and a few supports.

“Is this how you wanted it?”

“Yeah, this looks good.” I looked around the room, making the frame used most of the vines in the room, so that was one problem solved at least. The rest of the room felt empty. It was almost entirely made of molded stone, so it had an unnatural smoothness to it. The only non-stone parts were the vines on the floor, and some vines that made up my makeshift door. Originally, I was supposed to use magic to open a hole in the stone wall, but when I tried to, I accidentally turned the stone into a different color. I spent the next thirty minutes explaining to the Captain and the Lieutenant the differences between metamorphic, igneous, and sedimentary rocks, and how I imagined them during the spell. They were interested in the spell, and the explanation, but didn’t want me to change the colors of the walls every time I got up to pee in the middle of the night. The vine door was added a day later.

“By the way, I told Mum about the council’s summons.” I said.

“How was she?”

“Not happy, she is stressed out about everything that is happening.”

“That seems reasonable. I am rather surprised you are handling it so well.”

“Is that what it seems like? Because I’m not. I think at this point I’m just getting numb from it all. Or maybe it’s just that I know I have an out here if I ever need it.” Suma nodded. I guess she understood. “Suma, I’m pretty tired. I think I’m going to go ahead and go to sleep.”

“I understand, Jake. Sleep well.” With that, she opened the vines, and left.