Chapter 1:

As Hannha walked hand in hand with the jester, she felt amazed at the sudden improvement in her physical condition, her muscles felt less sore, the headaches and sore throat were gone, overall, she was fine except for the hunger and the thirst she still had.

Could it be that strange violet light from earlier when she hel the jester's hand that improved her physical condition?

What if it didn't really hurt anymore because she was already dead? If dying could still make her feel hungry and thirsty for whatever reason she had her complaints ready about the customer service.

Magic? Mana? It wasn't a bad guess. Even if she had never witnessed actual magic. It was a not-so-common ability anymore nowadays, those who possesed mana most didn't have well developed and trained mana veins despite being just a handful of people who attained that quality, through talent or artifacts, not even the best healers could dream of such skill treatment as the one she just recieved from the jester.

Still, those doubts were not going to changes her situation, following a strange jester through the crowd of people to Gods know where; the wind returned, the people continued walking and despite the fragile patience that the citizens of Nexus usually had, no one let out a shout or complaint at the jester's jigling bells with every step he took, indeed, they did not even seem to notice the man's extravagant appereances or his presence.

Hannah took a better look at the jester, he was tall and thin, his face was covered by a white mask half black and half white, with a happy face that seemed to have no holes for the person wearing it to see through, with a black tear on the white half under one of the holes that are for eyes; his hat had two large and long peaks, with two bells at the end o each tip that curved down to the sides, his shoulders had ruffles as did his wrists, although on these they were slightly transparent white.

The pattern of his costume was chaotic, on one side there were sequences of squares that varied between white and purple but were cut by striped sequences of squares that varied between white and a sof violet, then on the other hald of his costume was a solid purple with a white diamond pattern, eight of white and among those eight were two of the softer purple of the costume; at the end of that sequence of small diamonds was one at the end of black which stood out more than the others,

Below the waist the jester wore baggy pumped up shorts that came to his knees, a simpler purple and white striped pattern with long black stockings on the rest of the leg; his big shows had the toe of them curved slightly upward.

Eventually Hannah tired of looking at the man, the extravance of his clothing was beggining to give her headaches again if she had to notice every detail of his clothes.

Before she knew it, they had walked to a dingy, empty alleyway away from the main street of the town, at the end of the corridor was a full size tent that stood out vividly in the darkness with its white and red coloring, and as soon as they entered, the quiet atmosphere returned, and Hannah once again didn't feel the wind or any wisp of air.

Now that she was a little more aware of her surroundings, she began to tremble, it was not at all normal that sudden atmosphere, she wanted to run away from there if she didn't have the feeling that something terrible would happen if she did.

When the jester and the girl stopped in front of the tent, the masked man let go of Hannah's hand, made an extravagant turn aroun himself until he ended up next to the entrance, taking the curtain and opening it for Hannah with a bow. The inside of the tent could not be seen die to a bright, blinding white light coming from the entrance.

Oh, yeah, not creepy at all...

I'm sure this isn't what they meant about not following strangers.

The girl shifted her gaze from the entrance to the jester and back to the entrance, unsure of what to expect to find or what was going to happen to her if she crossed it. The jester looked intriged at the pink haired girl who clearly didn't seem convinced to enter, not understanding the reason of her hesitation.

And the jester's jingle bells rang, it was a low tinkling and then a slightly high-pitched one, sounding rhythmically and slowly to each other impatiently, the tempo gradually increasing. Hannah felt the heavy tension forming for each passing second and for each tinkling, still, she felt a doubt gnawing throughout that time.

"Mister Jester, am I dead?" she finally said, a soft and gentle tone, infused with naive curiosity and innocence, Even if she managed to avoid letting her underlying fear and sadness show through, she couldn't control the slight tremor in her voice.

The tinkling of bells stopped, the jester cocked his head at the question and the bells rang again, a rhytmically lively and vibrant sound, it gave the sensation in anyone's body to move and smile, or like a child's laughter. It was possibly the closest thing to a laugh Hannah was going to hear from that jester, feeling auncomfortable at the lightness the man seemed to take to her existential doubt.

The harlequin stopped the tinkling and made the gesture of wiping a tear from his face - mask? - causing Hannah, who crossed her arms indignantly, to frown and pout. However, the girl couldn't deny that that 'laugh' made the tense atmosphere calm down, if it wasn't for her existencial doubt, she would have calmed down a bit by now.

The jester inserted a couple of fingers into the happy mouth of his mask, pulling out from inside a small note that just said 'no', Hannah frowned, but let out a sigh of relief finally. even if she didn't know how reliable the man's words could be, she decided to believe it for the sake of her own mental health.

The luminous entrance in front of her still screamed suspicion in her body, but not wanting to anger the jester and fearing the consequences, she closed her eyes tight, reached out her hand to the entrance and leapt to cross through that light. For a few short seconds, a warmth surrounded her being, from the last hair on her skin to a cozy feeling in her heart, and then the sensation of air entering her nostrils again. Startled, she opened her eyes slowly, her eyes adjusting to the sudden light.

Being able to finally focus her eyes Hannah was surprised to see the biggest house she ever thought she could see, it looked like the interior of the mansions her mother used to see in magazines; a huge living room right in front of the entrance of the house, a kitchen connected to the living room itself, a big brown table made of oak with several chairs on the right side, on the left side was the living room with a modular L-shaped sofa, with the typical decorations of any living room except for the luxuries and charities of the furniture.

The girl hesitated about going a little further in, she noticed some stairs leading to the second floor which was just a high balcony that sectioned off with doors to hallways and more rooms, overwhelmed by the sudden change in location she turned her gaze back expecting to see the jester enter after her, nothing. When she looked forward again, the jester was leaning forward just the right distance to face Hannah causing her to startle, again the jingle of the jester's bells rang out playfully and cheerfully.

"It's not that funny...!" the pink-haired girl tried to defend herself with a blush of embarrassment on her cheeks, even as weird as that harlequin was, she couldn't deny that the man's 'laugh' was able to make the discomfort Hannah felt a few seconds ago lift a little.

Suddenly, a delicious smell flooded the room, making Hannah's already hungry stomach growl as she turned her head almost instantly to the seconds ago large empty dining room table, now with a long banquet of food. The girl looked quickly towards the jester, as if expecting some response from him, asking... no, begging with her eyes to eat. It only took the jester's nod, opening his arms and presenting the food, for Hannah not to hesitate a second longer.

Fuck precautions, Hannah had been hungry for weeks, and as soon as she could, she rushed to the table and grabbed the first plate she saw, starting to gobble down that feast. It was a wonderful feeling Hannah hadn't experienced in years, hot, clean food, her mouth full and her jaw beginning to tire from chewing from so much food; she didn't bother grabbing a fork either, even if it was uncomfortable the sticky feeling in her hands. She felt like she was in her own heaven, but also the small pathetic feeling emerged from being in such a state, so desperate to survive, to even ignore the logic of the situation.

After possibly an hour of eating and choking multiple times, Hannah finally dropped into the back of her seat after awkwardly wiping her face and hands with several napkins, she was shaking, and now that she was more relaxed she could notice the tears already drying on her cheeks; once situated in the situation, she turned her gaze to the jester.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The man was sitting in the seat at the other end of the table, completely still in his place, elbows on the table and hands clasped, Hannah didn't notice in the whole process that the jester had moved his place, but now that she saw him she felt a mixture of doubt and discomfort.

Had he been watching her eat the whole time? She couldn't help but feel embarrassed at that.

Hannah blinked, and as soon as she did the jester disappeared from his seat and reappeared sitting on the seat on the other side opposite her, his hands still clasped together with fingers intertwined a jingle sounded from his bells, a normal one instead of the jolly one Hannah had already learned to recognize.

Then, the jester stuck a couple of fingers into the mouthpiece of his mask, pulling out a blank sheet of paper; he reached up towards Hannah to behind her ear, which made her startle with surprise, and like a magic trick pulled out a writing pen with red ink. In spite of herself, the pink-haired girl couldn't help but be surprised by even that little trick with some nostalgia. William also used to do similar magic tricks for her when she was younger.

The being began to write on the paper almost mechanically what seemed to be a list, it seemed that the man was used to it.

Maybe she wasn't the first person to come there?

When he finished, the jester showed both palms of his hand to Hannah and with a movement, with yet another magic trick, a note appeared with something already written on it; the pink-haired girl couldn't help but feel surprised and happy with those tricks, they reminded her so much of her tramp friend's company, and above all, they were less scary.

Little Hanna, if you want to live here, you must follow certain rules.

Hannah swallowed saliva, but looked at the jester and nodded with determination to accept. She felt too many suspicions, too many for the very decision to stay in that place with a strange magical man dressed as a jester to even be an option to consider, but all that was a thousand times better than going back to the streets of Nexus City with daily abuse and insults from their rotten society.

The bells rang in a happy jingle at her response, and the jester slid the previously written note toward Hannah.

Rules of coexistence in The House

1. It is forbidden to stay or come on Mondays.

2. Mention of the Jester to outsiders is forbidden.

3. All the rooms and places of The House are at your disposal, but it is forbidden to enter the Purple Door.

4. You may not take any objects outside from The House, only those which I personally give you if you ask for them.

5. Never try to remove the Jester's mask.

Okay, simple enough...

Everything screams me to try, intrusive thoughts, out!

Hannah took one more look at the list to make sure she understood, they were nothing complicated to comply with, she just had to keep her curiosity and impulses at bay.

"Why can't I be in on Mondays, what happens on Mondays?" she asked with interest and doubtful of how the jester would react to her question.

So far if she listed what at the moment the jester had done for her; feeding her, a place to apparently live there, and not least, saving her life from dying on the street, she had no reason at the moment to think he meant her harm, but there was no evidence that he wouldn't in the future either.

The jester cocked his head to one side and the tinkling of bells echoed with unwavering authority, cutting and definite as the blow of a hammer to an anvil. Hannah decided to label in her mind that sound as 'seriousness'.

Another note pulled from his mouth, and magically floated in the air in front of Hannah before burning to ashes in front of her.

You don't have to know

Once the note faded, Hannah swallowed hard on her saliva, feeling the tension go on forever.

Fortunately it didn't last as long as the pink-haired girl thought it would, and the jester returned with his usual jingle to get her attention again, partially snapping her out of that tension. Another note appeared and instead of floating as before, the jester himself held it with one hand for Hannah.

Don't worry too much, don't think so much!

As long as you abide by the rules

you're free to stay and wander

around The House at your leisure...

As much as you want!

Ah, yeah, sounds very reliable... don't worry, my ass.

Hannah thought in an internal pout, but said nothing outloud, instead, she stayed silent thinking about it.

"How much is... That much?" Hannah felt some angst at the doubt, she didn't want to go back to the streets any time soon, even if she still had her doubts about The House, at least until she was herself able to stand alone, she wanted to take the opportunity, however rare and even risky it was. It couldn't be worse than dying from starvation.

All you want!

Too ambiguous to be sure, and too beneficial to her to trust, what was in it for the jester, what if she asked one more time?

No, I don't want to ruin it and have him change his mind...I'll have time to figure it out on my own.

A meow interrupted Hannah's chain of thought, confused and somewhat unsettled she looked around to see where it was coming from until she saw something small move across the kitchen doorway.

A black cat with a blue collar walked elegantly and sat down after hopping up to climb onto the long dining room table. Hannah noticed the animal, her curiosity about animals winning out over her confusion about what a cat was doing in this place. She saw cats around the alleys of the city, but the times the girl had seen one that was dirty or tame, she could count on one hand, and fewer still had the opportunity to see one as close as she did at that moment.

Lily?, she read the cat's name in her head.

A neat, black fur, quite grown up, probably adult, and what Hannah liked the most as soon as she saw her: a deep navy blue eye color, in a way, the pink hair felt that the cat was smiling at her when she looked at her.

Then, "Lily" meowed once more, and Hannah came out of her trance of contemplating the cat noticing how the cat's eyes glowed a soft light blue color, one by one the dishes began to float, some rags even approached the table and began to clean the furniture, even with the detail of wiping a stubborn soy stain on Hannah's cheek with a handkerchief on Lily's behalf.

It lasted only a matter of seconds, the jester jingled happily and clapped his hands soundlessly, seeming to flatter the cat, Hannah decided to imitate him, equally surprised by it.

I didn't know animals could also use mana... no, wait, does that make sense to begin with? Maybe it's a cat-shaped beast that acts like a cat... sounds like a cat... and... ugh, who cares at this point?

Hannah debated in her mind, and like everything before, decided to put it off once she could think alone in a calmer situation. It was all too much to comprehend for now.

"Thank you..." coyly the pink-haired girl whispered to the feline, who with pride in her work walked back inside the kitchen along with all the dirty dishes hovering in a row behind her. It was an... amusing sight, as far as that situation went.

Until that moment Hannah witnessed how her hunger and physical discomfort had almost disappeared after shaking hands with a stranger dressed as a jester, a huge house set inside a circus tent which entrance was so bright you couldn't see through it, food that appeared out of nowhere, ... and there was no need to mention the jester. A magical cat was the least rare thing about her whole bizarre situation.

And it was only the first day in the house.