Jamie observed Master Edwards’ masculine face contorting itself to a more angular, soft oval face. His chestnut hair turned platinum. His shoulder-length hair grew a few more feet, his green eyes turned a lightning blue. His big stature morphed into a feminine figure until finally, the mysterious person was a woman that looked like a female version of Henry.
“You’re Mrs. Veinham, Benny’s mom?”
The woman smiled and walked barefoot into the room, cloaked in a fluffy black chiffon gown. She stopped at the window and looked out at the rose garden, all while Jamie watched skeptically but she continued to pack her clothes. The woman didn’t utter a word until Jamie finished packing and zipped up her rather normal suitcase, one with wheels and a pull-out handle, that she would’ve owned back on Earth.
“I heard you were scatterbrained, but you seem normal enough."
“Huh? Who said that? Master Edwards? Henry? Benny? General Ames?”
She laughed.
“Sorry, but who are you again?”
“I am Henry’s mom.”
“Benny and General Ames too, right?”
“They’re also my sons, but the most precious to me is little Henry.”
Isn’t she too obvious with her favoritism? Jamie thought. I would hate it if my mom acted like this.
“So is there something you need?”
By this point, Mrs. Veinham was already at the doorway. “No, I just wanted to stop by and check out your view, I’ve never been in this room before. Good luck with the contest.”
Jamie watched her walk away, Mrs. Veinham was mesmerizing in an enchanting ice queen kind of way, but her visit was odd. The kids did tell me, that their mom thought that I would die, now after meeting her, that sounds like the woman, although we barely spoke, Jamie thought.
Woof! Woof!
I almost forgot! Jamie thought and looked under her bed. The little pup had just woken up from its nap. The pup ran to her and Jamie petted him. He smiled.
“Hmm. I just realized I have no idea how to train a wolf. In the real world, I’ll be scared… but I have powers here so I’m not scared of you. Ha. I should name you, shouldn’t I?” Jamie said to the pup.
She stood up with the pup still in her arms. “Wait, who will care for you when I'm gone?” She looked down at the pup. “I did find dealing with the shapeshifters was pretty easy, so taking you along shouldn’t be too big of a problem. Master Edwards will be with us too. He did give you that treat earlier, so he isn't heartless.”
Jamie pursed her lips and started to walk out of her room. “Let’s go to the rose garden, we can work on my mana control.”
Jamie walked down the hallway and as she walked, she created a mana thread, it started to spin above her head. Jamie smiled contently. However, she then felt a wetness on her. “AHAHA, you peed on me!”
“Hahaha!” Master Edwards approached from behind. “Take her to the animal tamer, she’ll have it trained in a second.”
“Where is this person?”
“She’s just a few blocks down from Benny’s tailor for his shield coat. We can stop by tomorrow.”
“Oh okay. And um, are you keeping track of what I owe? I hope I don't land in huge debt from everything.”
"So far, you don't owe anything, Ames has been especially generous with you."
"That's a relief, I should thank him again the next time I see him."
“Where are you going?”
“I have to change.”
***
Jamie closed the door to her room again, the cold gold doorknob felt oddly nice against her warm fingers. She looked down at the mana diaper she had made for the little pup and grinned. I'm pretty crafty, she thought.
She started to spin her mana thread once more and smiled toothily. Adventuring! Me! Anxious me as an adventurer! She thought.
“Hahaha!”
“What’s so funny?” Benny asked and as usual, his trusted side-kick was beside him eating something. Today, he was licking a head-size lollipop, he already had a red mustache from the candy food dye.
“Nothing, I just felt so happy that I laughed. I've never done that before,” Jamie said.
“We just got back.”
“From what?”
“Our scouting assignment. Did you hear?”
“No, Benny, I have no friends here or a TV or whatever the Mander method is for getting news.”
“Oh. Well, the bounty hunters already caught like five, so you need to hurry.”
“What? When is the countdown?”
“It started already.”
“What? Where is Master Edwards?”
“He went to a tea party.”
“What? A tea party? What?”
“You’re saying ‘What’ a lot.” Benny giggled.
“A lot!” Henry said and laughed.
“We need to find him and leave! Right now! This is a round I might win! Come on!”
“I don’t know how we can find him. He could be anywhere.”
“Do people usually get invites for this sort of thing?”
“Yes, I always get handwritten invites for parties.”
“Where is his room?”
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Follow me," Benny said.
***
Jamie turned the doorknob to Master Edwards’ room, but it didn’t budge.
“It’s locked.”
Jamie pulled her grimoire out, took the small glasses tied to it, put the glasses on, and flipped through the pages at lightning speed.
“Here!” She pressed on the page and whispered the spell.
“That should do it!” She held her hand on the doorknob and attempted to open it again. “It’s still locked. Can you try Benny?”
“I’m not there yet.”
“What, they teach you how to summon a death dragon but not spells to unlock things?”
“Yup.”
“Ugh. Wait! I know! He loves nature so maybe his window is open. Henry give me the coordinates for Master Edward’s balcony."
Henry pulled out his water mana globe from his face and swept his sugar-stained hands across it. He telepathically sent her the coordinates.
“Thanks,” Jamie created a transport portal and the three zapped away.
***
Once on the balcony, the three stared at closed windows.
Benny motioned for his brother to move aside. “Move Jamie! I’ll blast through the wall!”
"Hold on!" Jamie walked up to the third-floor balcony door and turned the gold knob. “It’s unlocked.”
They entered Master Edwards’ room. The room was styled old Victorian, with jade-green wallpaper, painted on were white and yellow magnolia flowers intricately woven together as they bloomed throughout with bees buzzing about them. His three walls were filled with shelves bursting with books of varying sizes and colors, it felt oddly cozy.
He had a small desk by the window which they immediately approached. The desk was extremely orderly as if Master Edwards was expecting a room inspector. Jamie looked through the neatly stacked blank scrolls and accidentally knocked his green quill to the floor. She bent down to pick it up and noticed a brown leathered book, tucked in it was a small black note.
Could that be the invite? Jamie thought and grabbed the book. She opened the book on the table and held her hand down on the page so as not to lose the page.
The note read, “If Bastards need love, let it be three times as much.” The bottom of the note had a gold stamp of an olive-clover grass. This symbol, I've seen it somewhere, Jamie thought.
“What are you doing?” Master Edwards asked as he stood behind Jamie.
Startled, Jamie turned around. He swiftly took the note and book from her hand and gave her a stern look.
“Sorry, we were trying to find your tea party invite so we could meet you. I’ve heard that the bounty hunters were already capturing the shapeshifters.”
“I see. Don’t worry, we’ll head out tomorrow morning. Grab your pup, he’s chewing my bedsheets.”
“Sorry!” Jamie rushed over and grabbed the pup. He appeared as if he knew we intruded. Is there some sort of detection spell? She wondered and raised her palm to detect any spells.
“We’re taking into account how many are out there, so don’t worry. And who told you I was a tea party?” He said and laughed. “What are you doing?’
“Um.” Darn-it! I can’t focus on trying to find the spell and talk with him, she thought.
He noticed what she was trying to do, but failed at. “I did not take you for a snooper. But yes, there is a barrier spell here. It lets me know if anyone entered it.”
“Benny told me.”
Master Edwards looked over at Benny, who avoided his gaze. “I was with Ames, we were finalizing where everyone should go.” He turned to Benny. “So you think I just go to tea parties?”
“That’s what my brother said.”
“That Ames, don’t believe what he has to say.” Master Edwards looked at the little motley crew, Henry was finishing up his lollipop, Benny was snooping among his books, and Jamie was still attempting to detect his barrier detection spell. He sighed. “All of you, get out. Finish packing, we leave first thing in the morning. As for you boys, your mom said you can come along. She gave you a pretty allowance too.”
***
“See you tomorrow, make sure you pack extra snacks!” Jamie waved and started up her mana thread above her head once more, it spun around and around as she made her way to General Ames’ study. Life is so much better when you’re around kids with what seems to be an endless supply of money and snacks.
She entered the empty study, filled with rows of books and grimoires. Jamie briskly walked over toward the history section. She pulled down a green book with gold letters, titled, “AM Rulers.”
AM must mean After Merge, Jamie thought as she flipped to the last page, which was empty. According to Lisaria, the last page will always be empty and when the time comes, the book magically adds the latest information on the recently deceased ruler to that empty page while it also adds a new blank page. She flipped one page before the last. There it is! Jamie thought. I knew I saw it somewhere.
On the page was an emblem, the same gold olive-clover grass symbol she had seen on the black note. What does this mean? Did that letter come from the king or royalty? And they address someone who is a bastard, so does that mean Master Edwards is an illiterate son, but to whom and who cares?
Jamie started to massage her temples. What am I doing? This doesn’t concern me. But the letter is all mysterious and a riddle, who writes riddles? Oh right, I am in another world. HA!
She yawned and gently closed the book.
***
The next morning, Master Edwards was dressed in a long-sleeve white tunic shirt and green leather pants. He leaned against a pillar by the castle entrance and waited for the kids and Jamie.
“What are you wearing?” he asked.
“What? I’m wearing armor.”
He looked with astonishment at Jamie, fully decked out in a steel half-body plated armor with a helmet that shielded her face. She wheeled behind her, a small suitcase.
“We’re just going to a small village, very remote, they herd sheep there. It’s famous for wool sweaters and goods, and goat cheese.”
“So?”
“So, you’re dressed like you’re going to fight the Demon King and his demons and trolls.”
“Well, I kinda am. We’re going to hunt shapeshifters. It was absurd what you gave me to wear last time, besides Navarda, everybody was in bodysuits and I was in a white dress.”
“Unlike you, I have poetic intentions. That dress was supposed to signify your purity! Now go change,” he said, “Or, can I help you?” He said and tapped his fingers on her armor. Despite not feeling his touch through her metal attire, Jamie blushed and she felt goosebumps.
She flicked his hand off. Be strong Jamie! She thought.
Master Edwards heard metal clanking noises and turned to see both Benny and Henry also decked out in armor. So much so that they could barely walk since strapped to their pants were steel plates.
“This is ridiculous, how much coin did you spend?”
“Enough,” Benny said. “These are magically enhanced. There’s a magic escape button that can transport us away. And, Mom said we look fabulous. She had a painter come to take a mana snapshot before we left.”
“Why didn’t you get the bodysuits then?”
“We didn’t think it looked cool.”
“You three don’t know what tacky means.”
Jamie furrowed her brows. “Hey. I take offense to that, I have great taste.”
“Just go change. You shouldn’t alarm the folks at Lyon Village with your get-up. They had girls kidnapped and a couple dead, not an enemy invasion. Now go. Wear something similar to me. Basic pedestrian, poor people clothes.”
Jamie looked at Master Edwards, because he was so good-looking, basic clothes still looked amazing on him. So lucky, she thought. Without the Veinhams, I would be super poor. Oh well, it isn't like I was rich in my other life. Once you’re poor, you can handle any lifestyle change, but being rich doesn’t take much getting used to.
A few minutes later, Jamie appeared with her yellow boots and a black dress that went down to her legs. Adorned on her head was her old crown of daisies. In her free arm was her pup.
“You look lovely.”
“Thank you,” Jamie said as she looked down at the ground.
She heard a transport portal open and the boys came out, both dressed in similar outfits. White button-ups, blue suspenders for Henry, and red for Benny, with brown linen pants. They too, wore their yellow dwarf rain dragon boots.
Master Edwards raised his palm to cast a transport portal, he smirked, “Brace yourselves.”