On Monday morning, three days after the fight between Ro and Hamfist, Horace paced back and forth across an expensive-looking rug. Sitting at his desk, browsing the computer, Eric clicked through a website. In a chair on the other side of the desk, Eric’s friend Tony flipped through pictures on his phone. “Have you two found anything yet?”

“It’s been, like, two minutes since the last time you asked that, Boss Man. Nothing yet. Maybe these girls just don’t have Facebooks?” Eric sighed, annoyed that the site kept trying to pull people from all over the country as he typed in names from the phone book next to him.

“Impossible! They’re… they’re young! There’s no way they’d resist the siren call of popularity! Search harder!” Horace barked instructions at his minions. Sure, he knew better than to call them “minions” out loud, but he was thinking it.

Tony stopped his search for a moment, lifting a printout from the video he had recorded so he could compare them side by side. Grumbling, he set the paper back down. “Nope, not her. This sucks, I thought you said we’d be doing cool stuff, Hamfist.”

“The fight was pretty cool, until those girls went psycho on me.” His attention was wandering again, grinning as he remembered what fun it was to tower over everyone and smash cars with his fists. He wasn’t sure how he’d be satisfied with tabletop games afterwards, but at least he had his memories. He couldn’t wait to play again, since Boss Man wouldn’t give him another one of those crazy amulet things.

“Cool for you, I sat in the truck and filmed. I couldn’t even hear them, just you hamming it up. Hamfisting it up.” Tony went back to the main page and tried another search. This was painfully slow and boring.

“Will you two empty-headed buffoons stay on task and find those girls already? There’s a powerful magic-user on the loose that’s not me, I will not have my plans ruined when I am so close to accomplishing them! Besides, if you had waited until I was in position like you were supposed to, then you wouldn’t have been attacked by them.” Horace was nearly pulling his hair out. He wanted to throw something, but the sparsely-decorated office didn’t have much. He claimed it was a hideout to keep anyone from tracking him, but in reality he was too embarrassed by his actual home. His mother had been the daughter of the business magnate, but because she had gotten married to a man her father didn’t approve of, she didn’t get an inheritance. Which meant he didn’t either. Mentally, he cursed her spirit for being so foolish as to “marry for love”.

The silence continued to hang in the air for several minutes. Horace was just about to ask again when Tony shouted. “Hey, I got one! I knew I’d seen her somewhere before!”

Both Eric and Horace crowded around the lanky man’s phone. “That’s not the magic user, you dolt!”

“No, she’s the one with the wand. But check the name! Remember the news a while back? With the Hellhound? She was the one the crazy guy was shooting at. Huh, she works at a… vet clinic?” Tony pulled one of the photographs and held it up for comparison, Cheryl’s face captured in both images.

Horace’s eyes widened. “Hell… hound? Could it be…?” Rushing over to the other side of the room, he picked up his prized tome, with the gemstone in the cover, and flipped through it.

“Yo, what’s with that book, Boss?” Tony asked, while Eric shook his head.

Continuing to flip pages, Horace didn’t even look up. “Nothing your simple, feeble mind could hope to comprehend.”

Eric sighed. “First rule of the Boss Man, you can’t ever ask him about Magic Junk. It only gets worse from there.”

“‘Junk’? ‘JUNK’? I’ll have you know, fool, this is NOT ‘junk’. This, THIS! This is POWER! And it is MINE! This Demon… I’ll have his secrets, oh yes! Funny, this book doesn’t mention anything about a Hellhound, but maybe this Roffil didn’t know…? But the man is a genius, how could he not? Unless it’s something new…” Lost in the book, he was ignoring the two again.

Eric pointed at his temple and spun his finger in circles, indicating insanity, and Tony managed to not chuckle. Clearing his throat, he spoke up. “I dunno, in the game, you don’t really get information out of demons. They’re more likely to catch you in a trick, it’s best to just smash ‘em instead of talking to ‘em.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “You smash everything, Hamfist.”

“Hey, it works.”

Horace held the book aloft, turning it to show the pages with runes and diagrams to the two men. “Ah, but you see, with this… It will be me, catching him. He will be at my mercy, or else he’ll be banished back to the World of Chaos from whence he came.”

“That fancy necklace is one thing, but do you really think that thing’s real…?”

“A magician of MY standing can tell, it uses real runes. This isn’t some sort of game. The rituals inside are those of real power.”

Tony scoffed. “A magician? Yeah? I ain’t ever seen you actually do any stuff.”

Horace fixed him with an intense glare, one that actually made Tony squirm a little in his seat. “I’ll have you know, I’ve successfully cast over a dozen spells, and have completely memorized two. I have spent my life and my fortune collecting items and books from all over the world. I may just have the largest library of actual magic on Earth!”

Tony looked over at his friend, who nodded, a worried expression on his face. Wisely, Tony decided to let the matter drop. “Ah, dang, that’s pretty awesome, I had no idea, Boss.”

Like a cat showing off a crunchy leaf they brought in from outside, Horace puffed out his chest at the praise, before going back to his book. “Though, do find out what you can about this girl. If she’s involved in this Hellhound business, she might be deeper involved than we thought. She might even be the one that brought the Demon to Ida Grove somehow…”

Eric excitedly shouted. “Hey, I got her! I got both of them!” Turning his monitor around, he showed off a selfie of Ro and Mandy, smiling next to each other, with ice cream cones. “That’s the one that nearly killed me! I don’t think I’ll ever forget that face…”

Horace snapped the book closed, coming over to inspect the image. “Hm… You said this one… threw a rock at you? As in, she picked it up and threw it?”

“Nah, she Yoda’d it. You know, floated it up and sent it flying. I dunno how.”

“A spell like that…” Horace’s eyes widened, pieces fitting together, jagged and ill-fitting, but they were the best he’d had yet. The house where his apprentice had his accident had a ruined floor with dirt piled everywhere, like someone had dug a pit below, except… “That rotten little coward…! Jared! Ugh, you two… find out what you can, how long she’s known magic, anything! I have a phone call to make.”

In a Des Moines hospital, Jared’s phone rang. Fresh out of a surgery and incredibly groggy, he blearily answered it. “Nngh, yah?”

“Jared! You imbecille! How could you think you could hide this information from me?”

The force of the voice on the other end actually made the wounded man recoil, letting out a groan as he struggled to get his mind to wobble in some semblance of motion. “Master?”

The voice was angry. “Mind telling me WHY you lied about your ‘accident’?”

“Uhh, wha? N-no, I… I fell down the stairs…”

“You were attacked by a powerful magic user, weren’t you? No thanks to YOU, I’ve found her, and I’ll take what’s mine. When I’m done, perhaps you can beg me for your life, and I’ll see how merciful I’m feeling after your failure!”

“Oh, crap, uh… Wait, ‘her’?”

“Yes, this mage woman. I don’t know what you did to get her ire, but you should have told me about losing the wand I gave you! Lucky for you, as formidable as she is, she doesn’t stand a chance against a REAL mage like me!”

“Yeah, but–” The wheels just weren’t clicking, with all the sedative in the way. Jared’s arm throbbed inside the bandages, tubes red with fluid they drained from the surgery site. Within, more of his arm had been reconstructed, bone fragments bolted together with metal plates when large enough, removed and replaced with artificial material when not.

“I’ll have no excuses from a failure like you! You’re lucky you’re out of my way at the moment, you’re not worth the trip to come out there and kill you myself!”

“I’m not–”

“Don’t lie to me again, boy! I saw the house! There was quite a fight, fire and earth. And I know you don’t know any spells that would burst the floor like that! But WE managed to track her down, and we know all her tricks! We’ve seen her using the same spell she used on you! This Rochelle was a fool to intrude on MY domain! You’re lucky you escaped with your life, this woman… She’s a Demon! THE Demon!”

“It wasn’t–” But a tone cut him off, and the line was dead. Jared stared at his phone, blinking slowly. “Aw, crap.” Finally, he set it down and fell back asleep. He’d deal with it once he was actually awake.

Monday afternoon, Elsie and “James” sat at the counter of the bookstore, as usual. I sat next to Master, laying my chin on his thigh. He looked like something was troubling him, though. Finally, he set down the book he was reading, and pulled out one of the forms from below the counter. “Heck with it, I’m bidding on that book.”

“You are, James? I thought you weren’t interested?”

“I really don’t like the feel of it going to that jerk, Augustine. I don’t like thinking what he might do with it.” He filled out his information, pausing as he contemplated an amount to put down.

“You’re not thinking of putting down a fake bid, are you?” Her tone had a bit of worry to it, considering she knew how much she was paying the man.

“I have… an amount of gold stashed away that I can use. I don’t like dipping into it, since once it’s gone, it’s gone. But this guy… He makes my stomach turn.” I couldn’t see the amount he put down from here, but he must have settled on something, as he then slipped the form under the counter.

“Gold? Really? James, you’re just full of surprises, aren’tcha?” Elsie smirked, hoping she could tease a bit more out of her mysterious employee.

James chuckled, and the tip of my tail flicked in amusement. “Oh, more than you could imagine, I bet…”

Picking up the phone, James started to dial the number from the previous high-bid form. “Hello, may I speak to Mr. Augustine, please? Yes, this is James, from Reading Is Magic. That’s right, you’ve been outbid. No, sir, I’d need you to sign a new form in person. There’s still plenty of time in the month, you can come in later, no need to worry. I’m sorry, I can’t give you any information about a customer. Well, you wouldn’t want me giving others your details, would you? Thank you, sir. The new high bid is seven fifty, I recommend at least a thousand, but it’s up to you. Yes, sir. We look forward to seeing you, have a lovely day.” Master looked utterly pleased with himself for getting to deliver the news.

“You know, I’d say you’re doing that just to taunt him. Is it really worth that much money?”

James grinned wider. “Oh no, not at all. I bid to keep the book out of his hands. The call was to taunt him. He says he’s ‘so incredibly busy’ and ‘can’t possibly drop everything and come in’ right now. With luck, he’ll forget, but it’s more likely he’ll come in and bid. So at a minimum, I just doubled the amount you’ll get for that book.”

“Oh, gee, I don’t know if I like you doing this, James… This seems kinda… unethical, isn’t it? I’ve never run an auction before, are you allowed to bid on your own item?”

“It’s not my item, it’s the store’s, and by extension, yours. But if it bothers you, how about if I promise to not bid again?” I tilted my head at that, it wasn’t like Master to just give up so easily.

“I don’t know… Maybe it’s best if you don’t. But you already called him, so… I don’t know what to do.” Elsie looked down at the tome, tucked away behind the counter. She was getting a gut feeling about all this that she really didn’t like, as though she was going to end up on some documentary about the hidden world of book collecting. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be as a victim who was stabbed over a book. “I know he’s a blowhard, but he’s really under your skin. What did he do to get you all wound up like this?”

James frowned, looking down at the pen in his hand. “He hurt someone. …Not… quite a friend, but… Someone who didn’t deserve it. You know that ‘kidnapping’ a while back? Augustine put the kid up to it, and has been threatening him since.”

Elsie’s eyes were wide. Mentally, she was calculating that the odds of her having a nice, quiet, normal life while all this happened were dropping wildly. “What are you getting me into the middle of, James?”

He chuckled. “Me? You’re the one who had the book long before I came along. Sooner or later, Augustine would’ve come looking for it, I imagine.”

That didn’t help her worried expression.

Tuesday afternoon, Ro dropped her keys on the table and plopped down on the couch. It’d been a long day at work, and all she wanted to do was put on Netflix and watch something. She and Mandy had been watching a fantasy series that was pretty popular, but after the turn her life had taken, it was a little less fun and a little more worrying to think about that kind of thing. Maybe Mandy wouldn’t mind if she watched an episode without her…

Instead, her phone rang. Why was Jared calling? “Hey, like, what’s up?”

“Oh crap oh crap oh–Oh, good, you’re there! Hey, so, uh, did you… actually fight Hamfist–I mean, Eric?” He sounded super nervous, and she wondered what was on his mind.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Yeah, he was, like, all green and huge and junk. You didn’t see on the news about an ogre thing smashing up cars at the mall?” It had been scary, but secretly, she was looking forward a little to bragging about it.

“No, but I heard from– From my boss. You gotta listen, he’s after you now! He knows you can use magic, and he is pissed off!”

“Well, like, I bet there’s a whole lot of people pissed off. Hamfist smashed a lot of cars, and scared a lot of people, you know.” This was supposed to be her bragging time, and Jared was ruining it.

“No, he thinks you’re a demon! Listen, he’s got… That book you sold me? It talks about a demon that’s come to Earth, and he thinks that’s you! He’s gonna try to kill you, or worse!”

“Pfft, worse? C’mon, what’s worse than killing?”

Jared sighed. “You know my arm? That Tola guy did that when he was being nice. You don’t want to know what someone like the Master will do when he’s mad. I’m telling you, you need to watch out. I don’t know what he knows, but he said your name.”

A cold chill ran down Ro’s spine, and she sat up. “You… Look, like, how bad is he? I think I need to know, right? Do you think I can take him, if he fought me?”

“How should I know? He says you used Tola’s earth spell, but even I don’t know what the Master knows. He says you’re no match for him, so unless you got a lot more you haven’t shown, I wouldn’t count on it.”

“I… don’t… really, no. Oh God, I gotta call Tola!” Her breathing was coming faster, she was starting to panic.

“If there’s anything I can do, let me know, okay? I want to help, I really do, I just… Ugh, I don’t know what to do! I’m… I’m scared…”

Ro was barely listening, her hands were starting to shake. “Yeah, thanks. I’m gonna…” The words left her lips but she didn’t finish the thought. She just hit the End Call button, navigating to her contacts and calling the mage.

Wednesday, “James” sat at the counter, looking incredibly uncomfortable. Every time the door’s bell rang, his gaze shot up, relaxing once he verified that the person who entered wasn’t Augustine. With such tension, I couldn’t relax either, sitting off to the side and watching.

Elsie had easily picked up on this. “What’s got such a bug up your backside, James?”

“Sorry, it’s just… There’s… stuff going on. Big stuff. It’s not… I don’t think I can really talk about it. It just feels like things are going so fast, like I’m swept in a current heading towards a waterfall, I suppose.”

“Is it the book? If you want, you can take the day off, I’m sure I can manage any bids that come in. Can’t imagine anyone other than him coming in, though…” There’d only been the one serious bidder, in Elsie’s view, but the campaign still raised some awareness and brought in some traffic. Numbers this week were definitely up.

“No, it’s… Well, it’s A book, but not that book.” James looked frustrated, his hands fiddling idly with the book he was holding. He wasn’t able to read, his thoughts refused to focus on the words on the page, when there was so much on his mind instead. “Why isn’t he showing up? Maybe I should make another bid.”

“You said you wouldn’t.” Elsie didn’t like this nervous energy. “I thought you wanted to keep him from getting it, but now you want him to come in and bid?”

“I want him to come in. What happens next…” He sighed a little, glancing sidelong at the older woman. “Maybe you should call it an early day. Get some food, head home.”

“Not a chance in heck, buddy! You’re making it sound like you’re gonna do something, in my store? You better give me one gosh darn good reason. Maybe I should call the cops and have them nearby?” She crossed her arms, glaring at the strange man. Possibly dangerous man. The thought crossed her mind and she wondered if she had missed the signs before…

“It won’t be me doing anything, I assure you.” James looked away, resuming his watch on the door. It would only be a few minutes before his eyes widened, and the sharp-dressed Horace Augustine stepped inside the shop. James carefully stood from his stool behind the counter.

“Ah, yes, Jim, was it? I’m here to place a bid on the book.” A man so used to ignoring people he saw as beneath him had no chance of picking up the tension in the air.

“James.” He didn’t move.

“My apologies. James. I’m afraid I must ask your help. And, I suppose, offer an apology.” Horace was clearly uncomfortable with speaking those words. I stood at attention, waiting at the ready in case he tried anything.

My Master blinked. “That’s… surprising. What are you hoping for?”

“The book. I require it, more than you can know. For the good of the city, I demand you relinquish it to me immediately.”

James narrowed his eyes. “Making demands is neither asking for help nor an apology.”

“Ugh. No, you’re right. Listen, when we first encountered each other, I had believed you to be… something– someone you are not. I’m afraid I was a bit rude during that visit to the premises. And very well, name your price for the book. I must purchase it outright, I cannot wait for the month to complete.” Horace crossed his arms, annoyed that this peon wasn’t listening to his obvious superior.

“Why? I want to hear your reason, and then I’ll consider it.”

Elsie cleared her throat. “James, you can’t do that, we have to do this auction by the rules! Besides, it’s my decision…” Her words trailed off as both men gave her ice-cold stares. She didn’t like the feeling that there was something huge, and she felt so tiny. Like a storm brewing, putting her one lightning strike away from disaster.

Horace turned back to James. “You wouldn’t believe me. A mind like yours couldn’t possibly comprehend…”

“Then you get nothing. And I’ll ban you from bidding. And from the store. Set foot on this property and you’ll be trespassing.” His voice had an edge as sharp as his ice blade.

The two stared for a moment, the silence broken when Horace scoffed. “Fine. I need it… to hunt a Demon.”

Elsie gasped, but neither man looked at her.

“Rochelle is not a demon.” James said with as much firmness as he could.

“You know of her? She must have you under her spell already. She has two other women under her command as well, I think one of them might have summoned her and the Hellhound. Listen, if you fight me on this, it won’t go well for you.”

Elsie tried to cut in again. “I knew there was a Hellhound! I knew things have been weird lately!” James raised a hand without looking.

“Augustine, listen to me. There is no Hellhound, and Rochelle is not a demon. I won’t let you hurt her, this is your last warning.”

Horace brought his hands together. “And what makes you so sure?”

“Because I’M the demon!” Planting a hand on the counter, Tola swung over it, landing on his feet in front of it, moving to position himself between Horace and Elsie.

Elsie looked like her eyes were about to pop out of her head. “WHAT?” Horace, meanwhile, was in stunned silence, taking a half step back at the motion but recovering.

“Is that so? That makes this easier, then!” He started to pull his hands apart.

The air swirled with energy, but I knew the others wouldn’t be able to sense it. “He’s casting a spell!” I broke my silence, but Elsie was still too stunned to look for the source of the voice.

“I got it.” Tola raised his hands, watching, as runes appeared one by one around Horace’s arms. In a few seconds, Horace had a ball of fire, the bright light filling the store as heat crackled, but it was condensed, compressed. With a motion, he hurled it at Tola.

Instead of detonating, Tola had caught it. With a hand raised, the ball halted in midair, a set of runes circling it. “That’s your power? You had me worried, Augustine. You didn’t even seal your casting to stop me from inserting my own control? Who taught you this?” Chuckling, he brought it down, holding his hand low. “Princess, if you would?”

Elsie watched as I opened my mouth, closing it on the ball of fire. Once it was safely contained, Master let it go, and a wave of heat washed over me, making me feel flush but my innate magic protected me from harm. Once it was gone, I opened my mouth to breathe, mostly to get the taste off my tongue. “Bleh, I think Jared’s was stronger.”

Horace stared in horror, looking at Tola and back to me.

Tola took the chance. “Listen to me. That book you have, Roffil’s book… Roffil was an idiot, a poor excuse for an initiate with sloppy runework. But he got a lucky breakthrough about something nobody understood, and he got one thing right. I did come from another world.”

With a wavering voice, Elsie managed to find the courage to speak. “James…? What… What world a-are you from?”

Horace whispered in fear. “The World of Chaos…”

“No. I come from Earth, just like you. I was born here.”

Horace shook his head. “But you said…?”

Tola grimaced. “Roffil… is not on Earth. The Storms, the Unmaker Storms, the Chaos Storms, whatever you want to call them… They’re some kind of break in the boundary between worlds. Or between the world and the void between them, I don’t know. If you’re caught in them, there’s a chance… Possibly a rare chance, I’m not sure, but a chance, you can find yourself in another world. I’ve spent the last year on Terra with Princess, and I want to go back. That’s all I want, but I need Roffil’s book. So, I’m going to ask once. Please, give me that book.”

Horace took a step back. “You… think I’ll believe that? Lies! That’s all lies! Mark my words, demon. I underestimated you, but I won’t make that mistake again! Next time we meet, I’ll be victorious!” With that, he took off running out the door. In the tense silence, we heard a car engine roar to life before tires peeled out, taking off down the road.

With that over, Tola let out the breath he’d been holding in with a heavy sigh, nearly collapsing against the counter.

Elsie let out a soft whimper, and both Tola and I jumped slightly. We’d honestly almost forgotten she was there. “What… That… What just h-happened? J-James…?”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Tola groaned. “Welcome to the worst-kept friggin’ secret in Ida Grove, apparently!”

It took a few minutes of placating gestures and words, but Tola finally got Elsie calmed down enough to talk properly.

“That was… You… He…” Okay, not quite properly yet. “He threw a ball of fire at you?”

“Yes, I didn’t expect him to jump to an attack like that, especially one as dangerous as that. Fire is risky, it’s too easy to lose control of it, and then you’ve got a building on fire. Especially in a bookstore! Idiot.”

“How did he… How did you do that thing, where you caught it? A-and… and your dog talked? I heard that, right?” She was starting to come around, her mind processing things instead of spinning wheels in mud.

At that, Tola winced, looking down at me. I nodded. “Uh, yeah, I’m… not actually a dog?”

“It’s a long story,” Tola added. Elsie had a horrified expression, and I knew what was on her mind. It was obvious, the same thing that was always on someone’s mind in this town.

“I’m a dragon.”

“Okay, it’s not a long story.” Tola sighed heavily, rolling his eyes. “Let’s go to the back room? If the bell rings, I’ll handle it.”

Elsie nodded, and the three of us went into the room. Once there, I dismissed the illusion, allowing her to see the actual me. “Ta-daaa. This is what I actually look like. Chad saw a little bit of my disguise fail, and he jumped to Hellhound, and that’s how that whole rumor got started. No Hell here, just a pet dragon belonging to a mage.”

“Oh, gee, no wonder there’s not been any dog hair, huh?” It was a nervous chuckle, but it was good she was starting to break through the fear.

Tola smiled. “Like I said, you’d have no problems with allergies.”

She nodded, looking between the two of us. “So… That book is…”

“Is real magic, yes. There is no game, I made that up. I was never in Europe, I was in Terra this past year.”

“I knew you were lying, but I couldn’t imagine what the truth was! I just figured it was, oh gee, I don’t know, some kind of old English manuscript?” She still wasn’t taking her eyes off me, though I suppose I can’t blame her.

Tola nodded, watching her. “Do you want to pet her? She doesn’t bite. Well, unless you threaten me, I suppose.” He chuckled a little.

Elsie jumped a little at the comment, reacting with a bit of awkwardness. “Oh, I didn’t mean to stare, it’s just…” She gestured, figuring the sight of me was explanation enough.

I sat in my best impression of a regal pose. “It’s all right. I know it’s a lot to handle. It might help. And I promise, I won’t bite.”

The older woman leaned forward, swallowing hard, and extended a shaky hand, hovering it over my head. When she wouldn’t take that final step, I forced the issue, by leaning in and pressing the top of my head against her hand. She let out a squeak, but once it was done, she was more calm, and even started stroking my head. “It’s… smooth!”

I chuckled a little. “It’s scales, of course it’s smooth. If you had tried before, I wouldn’t have let you pet me, because the illusion is only visual. You would’ve felt smooth scales instead of fur, and that would’ve… caused problems. To put it mildly. It’s funny, usually people comment that I’m warm.”

Bringing her hand past my neck, she placed it on my side, under my wing that I raised for her. Smiling, she let out a nervous titter. “You are warm, yeah… I thought, you know…”

Tola nodded. “Dragons have innate fire magic. Princess can make her body temperature nearly anything she wants. It takes some effort, but she can even be as hot as a stovetop if she wants.”

I huffed a little. “I let you put a kettle on me to boil water ONCE, just to see if I could, and you won’t let me live it down.”

I guess that broke through the last of Elsie’s nervousness, as she started laughing. Perhaps she imagined the scene, and that’s what did it. Either way, we let her get it out of her system. It was nice to not have to hide, even if it might cause problems down the line. It was a full minute before she calmed down, though it might be simply because she needed to breathe.

Tola put a hand on her shoulder. “So, yeah. Sorry for not telling you earlier, but… can you blame me? Us?”

“No, I guess I can’t. Oh, geez. You know, I was beginning to wonder if you were some kind of serial killer or something, the way you’ve been the last couple of days. Though, that’d be downright normal by comparison! Hah!” She playfully slapped Tola’s upper arm in return.

“No, no. It’s just that Mr. Augustine is… making more trouble. Apparently he’s gotten his sights set on poor Ro, a friend of mine. Though what he’s going to do now is… anybody’s guess. Maybe I should’ve done something more to him.” He scowled a little, the worry creeping in.

“Better that you didn’t, Master. Besides, we don’t know where he’s hiding the book, or who else he’s got with him. He had Jared, he might have others. Like Hamfist.”

Elsie’s eyes went wide. “That’s…! I saw that on the news! They’re saying it’s some kinda prank, or a movie shoot gone wrong, but a big green monster was smashing stuff up at the mall and calling himself Hamfist! Everyone was running so they didn’t get pictures, but they told police and such…”

“We don’t know what his goal was, but yeah, that was him. He gave an object to a guy who used it to do that stunt. Ro happened to be there, and her and her friends stopped him.”

Her eyes were wide, but she nodded. “And… that’s why he… thinks she’s a demon?”

“Well, she stopped him with magic, that I taught her. As payment for information on the book, and because she’d picked up enough to get started, but needed answers. I couldn’t just leave her in the dark when she’d gotten a peek, you know?”

Elsie crossed her arms. “So, what about me? What are you going to do?”

Tola looked at her with a blank look. “What do you mean?”

“You’re not gonna… make me disappear, or silence me, or erase my memory, or something like that, are you?”

“Would I sit here and explain everything if I was? No, you’ve seen the truth, so there’s no point in hiding it from you anymore.”

She looked towards the front of the store. “Are you going to teach me magic?”

“I don’t know if I can, I’m a pretty lousy teacher. Ro’s just got a special knack for it, I wasn’t able to teach it to her friend or to Cheryl. Maybe you have to have a natural aptitude, I don’t actually know how it works. I’m pretty new to all this, I’m more of an ‘honorary degree’ kind of Guild Mage.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his badge, pinning it to his chest. “No sense hiding this anymore, either. I didn’t want Augustine to see it, but now he knows.”

She eyed the badge, looking up at Tola. “You got that on… what was it, Terra?”

“Yeah. But a thousand of these wouldn’t compare to the most important thing I found there.” He smiled softly, and I looked up with my head tilted. “You, Princess.”

I let out a squeak, blushing deeply and tucking a wing over my face, huffing. “M-Master, don’t… You’re embarrassing me!”

He reached down and patted my shoulder, since the wing blocked my horns. With a gentle laugh, he spoke. “Yeah, but I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true. You mean the world to me, girl. Both worlds.”

Elsie giggled, giving a soft “Awww”.