On March 11th, I woke up around seven thirty in the morning. I got up, took a shower, and changed into a tie-dyed t-shirt tie and orange and bright purple sweatpants. I headed downstairs into the kitchen to get some breakfast. I saw my mom finishing putting her dishes away. 

“Hi Ink, how was your sleep?” 

“Pretty good, believe it or not. How about yours?”

“Good, look I need to run some errands for a while, maybe until one. Can you watch the shop until then, and if you have time could you clean the place up for your father?” 

“Of course, it shouldn't be a problem.” I said. 

“I will probably be hanging out with my friends later, but it shouldn't be an issue.” 

“Ok well, if you want, I can drive you to them or they are more than welcome to hang out here," she said with a smile. As she walked down the stairs. I poured my milk and cereal into the bowl. After finishing my breakfast, I headed down into the shop. 

Flipping the entry sign to read open, I started to get the store ready for the day. I brought out the different books which showed the different furniture styles and wood and how each of them would look depending on the varnish or finish. One of them was a big shopping catalog that included every single item we offered even if they weren't displayed in the store, as well as my commission prices for ordering a custom sculpture. I remember when we first opened the shop, and my mom surprised me with this concept and her confidence in my skilled work. 

Mom explained to me, “Since a lot of this was because of you, you should be able to sell some of the products which have made so much of this possible.” I remember smiling so much when she told me that, that it felt like the entire room grew brighter. It just made me feel happy to know that I had made her proud.

As I finished setting the shop up, I grabbed a couple cleaning rags and supplies and started to clean the store window. I went to the outside of the store to clean the smudges that were created by annoying little kids who pressed their faces and hands against the glass to see the merchandise. I wiped down the window admiring the completely clear blue sky, not a single cloud in sight. I felt my phone vibrate as I looked at the great blanket of blue. Walking back inside I saw there was a text on the group chat from Brad. “Hey, I don't remember if we talked about this yesterday, but who’s getting which magic item?”

“I don't think we discussed it, but I have Hachiko either way so I'm good.” I texted.

“Yeah, we didn't talk about it, do we want to meet up later and talk about it?” Alex asked.

“Sure, but I'm out shopping, ETA maybe 12ish.” Tulip replied. 

“So, noon?” Alex questioned. 

“I have to look after the shop till 1ish.” 

“I have football practice from 1-2.” Brad chimed in. 

“Ok what about 3?” I texted getting somewhat annoyed at this point. 

“I have no life,” Alex texted. 

“I should be done shopping by then," Tulip said. Brad responded with a Gif of a dog nodding its head. I planned for the rest of the day and finished cleaning the shop. There wasn't a lot to do since we always kept the place fairly clean, so I headed to the workshop, to start working on my new golem. As I opened the door to the workshop, I heard a loud clicking noise from behind me. I turned around, I saw a torrential downpour of rain. 

“Weird,” I said to myself as I continued inside. I spent maybe an hour and a half working to refine the textures of the tail to make sure that the grooves between the scales were just right. Eventually my work was interrupted when I heard a voice calling out to me. 

“Hello? Anyone home?” 

“Coming!” I called out. Walking out of the room, wiping the sawdust off my apron to make sure it was clean. “Welcome to Quality Family Carpentry, how can I help you…” My voice trailed off as I looked at the man on the other side of the room.

It was Antonio. He was dressed in simple blue jeans and a long sleeve golf shirt with the collar popped. He had gloves but notably despite the pretty nasty rainstorm happening outside, he was completely dry. Not a single drop of water on him anywhere. He had a strange expression. I am not the best at deciphering people's emotions, but Antonito was different. Like Brad, Guams and Tyrone. I had known him for so long he was one of the few people could accurately read. His face had a strange mix of sadness, anxiety and seriousness. Thinking fast I quickly sent a text to the group chat.

“A SHOP HELP!” putting my phone back in my pocket. I turned towards Antonio, the emotions and memories of what he and the others did to me swirled like a tornado in the back of my mind. We stared at each other for a few moments before Antonio spoke. 

“Look Ink, I know you hate me, but I need to talk to you.” His voice sounded desperate in a way I had never heard from him before.

Now there were more than a couple reasons why I did not want to talk to Antonio, so I said as much. “Look I don't care what you have to say after everything you have done to me. GET OUT NOW!” I yelled pointing towards the raging storm outside that seemed to mirror my heart. With a roar of thunder and a flash of lighting shaking the building. Even Antonio seemed surprised at the strength of the storm. 

Despite my words, he persisted. “Please, I need to talk to you. You are the only one left. Tyrone has gone crazy, Guams right alongside him, and Brad won't talk to me. I don't know what to do anymore. I am scared. Please, even if it's for a few minutes, please I need to talk to you.” 

Seeing the desperation in his face, the raging storm of anger and hate in my heart softened a little. Not completely, but enough for the smallest amounts of compassion to seep through. “Fine, five minutes, that's all you get.” 

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Ok fine, five minutes is all I need. You know the textbook fire that happened on Monday?” I raised my bandaged hand in acknowledgement. “Right," he said with a deep shame in his voice. “Long story short, me, Tyrone and Guams all three of us were the ones who caused that thing with the sprinklers.” I nodded, trying to stay calm but now confused why he was here. I assumed he was here to kill me, but if he wasn't then why was he here. “I'll explain how we did it soon, but did you hear about the convenience store robbery on Wednesday?” 

“Yeah, there were three dead police officers, with one in the hospital." I said shakily. Still blaming myself for their deaths, but I needed to keep appearances at the moment. The last thing I needed was for Antonio to suspect something was up. 

“Right well, that was also us. Last week, we found a book you might've seen Tyrone holding. He never lets it out of his sight; he's obsessed with the thing.” 

“The leather book with weird bindings?” 

“Yeah, that's the one. We found the book on the weekend, Sunday night. I think it was an attempt to get us to hang out again. Brad was busy and you blocked Tyrone when this started. That's beside the point though. The point is when we found it, we opened it, and it gave us these powers. It's hard to explain but just watch.” 

Antonio turned towards the window where the rain was still hammering down. He reached out his hand towards the storms and closed his fist. It took me a moment to realize what he was doing. I didn't see anything, I didn’t feel anything, I didn't hear anything. That's when I realized, I didn't hear anything. I looked out the window more closely this time, the rain had stopped. It wasn't all the raindrops, but enough of them for me to notice. I was shocked. He made a couple gestures with his hand pointing left and right, up and down with every gesture the raindrops followed perfectly. 

“What in the world Antonio, I knew you guys were powerful, but I didn't think you guys were this powerful.” I was shocked by the display of power before me. 

“Yeah, I know neither did we, but our power grows more and more every day, it scares me.” He paused for a moment before he spoke up again. “What do you mean, you knew we were powerful?” I looked at him with fear, releasing my mistake. “Wait a minute, Ink can you see magic?” 

“Whatttt no magic isn't real everybody knows that.” I lied very unconvincingly, "You're insane don't be sil–” Two watery tendrils came out of Antonio's back breaking through his shirt and wrapped around my neck starting to tighten. I just stared at him, having expected this outcome for a while now. 

“Really, you're not even a little bit surprised I can do this? Ink, for all your preaching about how lying is just as bad as committing the crime yourself, you sure do seem to be pretty hypocritical right now. Could you remind me what you said you would do to me? That's right, you threatened to hurt us. Maybe I should hurt you, after all what good are laws and rulings if they don't affect everyone equally.” He said with a truly devilish tone. He looked at me smiling, my throat was being tightened by the water tendrils. It was getting hard to breathe and I was unable to respond, and I just stared at him with fear. 

Antoino shook his head and took a step back and started to hold his head in his hands, releasing me from his grasp causing me to fall to the floor with a thud. He started to mutter to himself. For a second, I thought I saw a flash of black in his eyes. It was hard to tell since I was too busy gasping for air. By the time I was able to get up, Antonio had managed to calm himself down. 

“I'm so sorry about that, but this is exactly why I need your help. This is going too far and I'm afraid of what's going to happen. It was all fun and games when we were just doing stupid stuff like cooking eggs and bacon off Tyrone's chest but this.” He said with pure fear in his voice. “This is too much. It needs to stop, I don't know how you're connected to all of this or even if you're connected at all, but I'm begging you, help me. We killed three people. I don't want to hurt anyone else. My mind feels wrong, and I don't know what to do. They're strong and they are so much more far gone than I am. When I talked to Tyrone about the police, there wasn't a single hint of remorse in his voice. He laughed Ink, He just laughed, and laughed. And Guams just joined in for some reason. Guams Ink, the most cowardly of us all! The one who you hate for running away after your sculpture broke, he laughed. There was no fear in his voice, it wasn't even bravery or unearned pride, it was just an evil laugh, and it scares me. I know Tyrone and Guams plan to go bigger. I don't know how exactly, but they do. Please Ink, I know I'm asking for a lot right now, but if you have some way to stop this, then please let me help you. I'll fight with you, do whatever you need me to do to end this, this can not continue.” He pleaded with such conviction, such raw emotion and a strange almost primal fear I hardly recognized him. For a moment, I forgot about what he had done to me and instead all I saw was one of my dearest friends needing my help, but only for a moment before remembering the situation we were in. 

“Look, I'll think about it, I'll let you know my answer tomorrow. In the meantime, keep yourself together, please.” For the first time in three months, I spoke to him with kindness and compassion. We stared at each other for a couple minutes. Before the door swung open with Alex running through holding a baseball bat ready to swing. She quickly looked at the two of us, then at me, to which I just subtly shook my head while staring daggers into her. My best attempt at saying don't do it.

Quickly assessing the situation, she put down the baseball bat and said, “Hey Ink, are you ready to go and do that thing?” 

“Yeah, in a minute I just need to close down the shop.” My voice was shaking. Thankfully, the strangulation helped make me a bit more convincing. 

Antonio just looked at me, looked down and turned around. “I'll wait for your answer Ink.” he said as he walked out the door. And it was at that moment I realized something. His clothes hung on his body much more than they usually did. Assuming his water came from within himself then he must be incredibly thin, especially if he was the cause of the storm. As Alex and I watched him go down the street and around a corner we both let out a massive sigh of relief. 

“Thank you so much, I thought I was about to die" I said, rubbing my neck. 

“Why was he here?” Alex questioned.

“He wanted me to help him stop the others.” 

“He wants to betray Tyrone and Guams? Why I thought they were working together?” 

“It's complicated and something we should discuss with others.” 

“Yeah definitely, you should probably tell the others that you're okay they were kind of freaking out," Alex advised.

Heeding her advice I quickly checked my phone which had several panicked texts from the others. First trying to figure out what exactly my hastily written text meant and after finally figuring it out. There were several more texts about everyone but Alex being too far away and Alex saying how she was coming over there with her baseball bat. I quickly texted “Don’t worry, I’m okay. It got weird, I'll explain later.” 

“Well, if everything’s good, should I just go?" Alex asked, awkwardly pointing to the exit. 

“Uh yeah, I think sorry for wasting your time over this I thought this was going to go very differently.” I apologized rubbing the back of my head.

it's fine I'm just glad that he doesn't suspect you because that could lead to me getting killed, anyways take care see you later.”

“You too,” was all I was able to get out before she left, I started to clean up the mess that Antonio had made. After that I decided that it was as good enough time as any to continue to work on my golem. I worked on the large mane of the creature as well as the fangs and eyes of the tail. As I carved, I thought about what Antonio had said to me. Antonio spoke with so much fear, I knew he wasn't lying. It was something about the way he talked about all of this. It was serious in a way he rarely was. Antonio was smart enough to know if something is wrong and to try to get out of it if he could. My anger for the man aside, I don't think he was lying. His power was definitely corrupting him and making it harder for him to think and act like himself. I was always under the impression that we could control magic, I never considered magic controlling someone.