Chapter 13

Riley was full to bursting.

"Come on..." Tobias coaxed, holding out a bit of tenganut.

A mix of apple and coconut, Riley found she couldn't get enough of it, which was all the prompting Tobias had needed.

He'd call to her, and every time she came, she'd get a reward.

"Operant conditioning only works if you don't kill me from overfeeding," she complained, hopping slowly forward, doing her best to keep up the timid animal act.

He'd been at this for hours, and she had held out at first, stretching out her ruse, gradually increasing her rate of compliance.

Hours from dinner, the night had grown late, and Tobias, after an evening of family singing and talk, was scribbling upon a bit of unrolled parchment he had retrieved from a tube within his satchel, with his three books open before him, sprawled out on the kitchen table.

Riley, in a fit of curiosity, wanting a better view, hopped up in the chair beside him as Tobias startled.

In an act of academic instinct, he pulled the strange reed from the parchment to avoid marring his writing, looking over at her with puzzlement.

"Hungry?" He asked rhetorically before taking another bit of tenganut off a plate to his side, offering it to her.

"No, but I need you to trust me so..." Riley took it from his hand in a skittish action, then nibbled it, letting the remnants fall to the table so she could more easily devour it.

Tobias took a chunk off the plate himself and chewed it meditatively, running his right hand through his hair with a sigh.

"What am I going to do with you?" He asked Riley, that same look of worry as before turning.

"Funny, I feel the same," she said to herself in a pointed reply.

Tobias set his elbows on the table and rested his head in his hands.

"The walls are closing in... There's so much pressure..." He muttered to himself, staring down at his parchment scroll as if it had all the answers.

Riley cocked her head, paying close attention.

Slowly, Tobias turned his gaze upon Riley and stared.

"They're all counting on me. I don't know how much you cost, but it's not like we have much," he monologued, "I'm going to fail... I'm going to fail."

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

"What should I do?" Riley wondered within. The last thing she wanted was to be enslaved to someone, but there was no denying that this family was full of decent people.

Cedric had arrived for dinner with half of a wooden crate stuffed with remnants of linen and batting for a bed. Everyone thought she was a dumb animal, and she had been bought with a specific purpose in mind, but they cared at least a little bit.

Compared to what she had seen in her brief experience in the world, she had gotten incredibly lucky.

Hopping down from the chair, she moved over towards Tobias and pressed against his leg in a show of support and gratitude for not being a raging prick about things; all the while, the guilt of how much she was hiding tore at her.

Tobias looked down, surprised, and then pet her ears back, "I need to talk to Justinian."

Rising from his seat, he quietly padded over to his satchel and removed a small blue crystal that, to Riley's eyes, had a similar spark of energy within it as the music crystal.

Looking suspiciously about the empty room, Tobias walked towards the hallway and made certain the door to his parents' room and the room he shared with Darius was shut before heading for the stairs.

Riley watched him descend, then hopped over towards the banister and swiveled her ears.

A blue flash followed as a new voice drifted towards her.

"It's almost halfnight, you ok?"

"No... My Granda, he bought me a companion," Tobias reported as Riley again cocked her head.

"Oh... Oh, buddy, you're screwed. I know you can't cast for shit," A warm chuckle punctuated the voice.

"Keep it down! I'm down in the workshop, but if my family finds out..." Tobias continued.

Inwardly, Riley grinned. Got ya!

A pang of guilt washed over her ship of inner victory like a wave.

Still, this was leverage. This was something she could work with!

"Relax, you've got me through theory; I've helped you snow the inspectors, if only just. Is your companion intelligent?" They asked.

"Seems like your average animal. We're not rich; she's only second tier. I can sense a bit of power within her, but not by much. Binding is a complex spell, though, and so far, I can barely pull my fire magic with the help you've given me. How can I know all the theory and not be able to put it into practice? It's been years..." Tobias' tone rose high and desperate as the voice interrupted.

"You've never had any confidence, and I've never had any smarts. That's why I swing a hammer, and you crack the tomes. If you'd just get over yourself..." This time, it was Tobias' turn to interrupt.

"You know my Granda has been telling everyone and their kras that I'm to be a sorcerer? I can't walk in my damn neighborhood without people smiling at me like I'm some first tier hero... Local boy makes good might as well be a banner strung over the streets here! I'm... I'm so screwed..." His voice was quivering. Riley could feel the distress.

She pitied him as she turned it over in her head.

"There's nothing I can do to help you with the binding, but I've got a few tricks up my sleeve for everything else. You sure she's just a dumb animal, a second tier?" The voice pressed.

"Seems that way, yeah. I wouldn't be stupid enough to try a ritual. I know I can't compete with something that could turn it around on me... I don't want to get Fae blinded," Tobias replied.

"Thank the twelve Gods they're extinct, or you'd be a meal," Justinian intoned.

"Definitely... Tomorrow, before class, the normal place?" Tobias asked.

"Yeah, got our homework done?" The voice wondered.

"Almost, then sleep, if I can sleep, that would be a change," he replied.

"Hey, at least one of us can rest. See you then," The dull blue light faded as Tobias came up the stairs.

It was time to make her move.

Tobias trudged up the stairs like a man on the way to his own execution as Riley worked up her courage.

Focusing all of her will, working with the thought much the same way she did as her prompts, she projected her words towards the worried sorcerer as he turned to put his crystal back in the satchel.

"Hi, it sounds like you've got problems," Riley said, pushing with all of her will.

"By the dead gods!" Tobias shouted, dropping the crystal and gripping the side of his head, looking at Riley as if he had seen a ghost.