Amie was the first to wake. She watched Eric sleep for a few minutes. She yawned and pulled herself out of bed, swinging her feet on to the cold floor. She stretched her arms to try and work out of the morning fog. A couple more yawns forced their way free. She blinked heavily and tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

“Ugh,” she said as she stood.

“Ugh,” she repeated, now on her feet.

She had three free days to do whatever she wanted. Eric would come and help find a new place. She had two days to do whatever she wanted to do. She might just stay at home and read something. Amie couldn’t decide. First, she needed to get ready for a whole day of nothing. The shower promised instant refreshment, but food in her belly promised instant comfort. She made a face to herself and blew air out of the side of her mouth. Food would win.

Amie hadn’t spent as much time in the kitchen as she would have without Eric around. He liked cooking, and Amie didn’t. He knew how to cook all the costal dishes and that was her weakness. Amie set about preparing a simple breakfast for the two of them. It would be nice to repay the favor. She wanted to prepare some coffee, but they moved here with the bare minimum. Amie wrinkled her nose at the though of leaving the house unwashed and scraggly. They would have to do without coffee today. She pulled out a couple of pans and started her stove top. Mana sparks clicked into life igniting the natural gas. She cooked a few sausages and some eggs. It wasn’t a stellar meal, but it would be fine. When she finished everything she plated the food. Eric had woken at that time and joined her for a meal.

Eirc squinted at his food as he mechanically shoveled it into his mouth. Amie felt the same way, although she had a little more time to recover her humanity.

“I’m going to start some tea.” Amie stated.

Eric grunted and nodded, “It’s better than nothing.”

She started the kettle on the stove. It whistled after what felt like an eternity. She put the tea inside to steep. When it was done they both drank it straight. The tea was quite bitter. She hadn’t known what it was, but it was something that the merchant had claimed as a healthy tea. He had listed off a long list of plants that she couldn’t recognize.

“I hate this,” said Eric as he drank from his mug.

“Yeah, it’s pretty bad,” said Amie, as she too took another sip.

Eric seemed a little more alert. Amie felt a little better too.

“I think next time I’ll just buy a coffee dripper just to specifically avoid this tea in the future,” Amie said.

Eric nodded and asked, “What are your plans for today?”

“I was thinking of just staying home for now. I won’t have much free time later,” Amie tapped her index finger on her lips, “I still have to let the crystal charge for a few hours and I want to see what it does.”

“It’s a ghost.”

“It probably is. The whole thing was uncomfortable,” Amie added, “Did you know I was at risk for mana mutation while the crystal was being made?”

“Mana mutation? That’s horrible,” Eric said, “What’s that?”

She broke a bit off a sausage and threw it at him. Eric laughed. Her plate was almost empty so she finished the meal.

“I think I’ll take a shower now,” Eric asked, “Want to join me?”

“I don’t want you to be late for your appointments,” Amie said.

“It’ll be faster with both of us, besides I’ll wash your back.”

“Aright,” Amie said biting her lip.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“I’ll give you a deep scrub,” Eric said with a grin.

“That was awful, I thought you wanted me to shower with you?” Amie asked.

Eric laughed, “Race you?”

Eric won the race. Amie insisted that he had an advantage because he was already standing. The shower had turned out to take longer than Eric had promised. Amy watched Eric get dressed. He left, giving her a goodbye and a quick kiss as he left. Amie put the least amount of effort she possibly could, prioritizing comfort over all. She picked her tome off the table and rifled through the pages. She stared into the storage compartment and cursed. She hadn’t purchased any of the required books. She still had time before classes officially started. She silently cursed at her luck and closed her tome. Begrudgingly she put on a plain dress and quickly fixed her hair. She hesitated on putting on makeup. Eventually, however, she decided to spend the time to apply the most basic of basic just to avoid anyone telling her how tired she looked. Her walk to the various bookstores was uneventful. She had managed to grab a few of the required books used, but would need to visit one of the tower owned bookstores inside the actual tower. All Amie wanted to do was relax, and here she was making herself busy. Amie knew her own mind. If she didn’t take care of this now, it would be impossible to relax later.

The tower’s bookstore was quite large. It was much larger than many of the independent bookstores outside. She groaned to herself. It was going to be expensive. The class books that she had picked up were second hand and filled with useful notes and cheaper. She had already put such a burden on Eric, she had to cut costs wherever possible. She set out along one of the long bookshelves. One advantages of the tower book store was everything had been organized by category. The independent bookstores had their own organizational schemes and it made it harder to navigate them. A small red book caught her eye.

“Percival’s Practical Portal Pook,” Amie said to herself as she read.

The letter B had been partially scribbled over with red ink that almost matched the cover of the rest of the book. Amie turned the book around, looking for a price. She shrugged as she placed the book in the basket. The laugh from Eric might be worth it. She felt a little guilty after thinking about saving money, but it was unique. It could be a conversation starter if she made any wizard friends. There weren’t any other books that stood out and Amie was able to find the required materials with ease. There was a long line guided by stanchions and ropes. Students seemed to be shuffling forward at a slow pace. After a while Amie found herself at the counter. She carefully pulled books out from the basket she had aquired and stacked them from large to small. The Pook stood on top.

“Do you have any student identification?” asked the cashier.

Amie nodded, pulling a slip of paper out with an attached badge from her tome. The cashier read the number and compared it to a list under the counter.

“Scholarship,” the cashier said with a nod.

With that the cashier started with the red book. After an exhaustive search she set it aside and tallied the others.

“I’ll have to check in the back with this ‘Pook.’”

Amie nodded and watched the cashier walk into the back. Amie stood for what felt like entirely too long. She stood longer still. The cashier made her way back to the counter and put The Pook on the counter.

“I’m sorry that took so long, we had to consult the master catalog,” the cashier said, “It turns out that this pook isn’t even something we carry in stock.”

“So…” Amie said.

The cashier shrugged, “Keep it, I guess.”

Amie pushed it into her tome while the cashier totaled the books, pressing some faintly glowing numbers on the counter. Her father had warned her about the price of books, but Amie had laughed it off at the time.

“Ugh,” said Amie.

“Tell me about it,” the cashier said, “Part of why I like this job is because of the discount I get.”

Amie sighed and pulled some bills from her tome handing them to the woman.

“I wish I had a discount,” Amie lamented.

“Well,” replied the cashier, “That was with the discount.”

Amie gave a mirthless chuckle and pushed her books into the tome. The larger of the bunch she had to push in at an angle to fit.

“Well, thank you,” said Amie said as she started to walk away.

“Maybe I’ll see you later, I’m in Intro to Spell Formations too!”

Amie left the bookstore. The day had burned into the afternoon. The cashier seemed friendly enough, but a little awkward. Maybe the casheir was going to be one of her new wizard friends. Amie winced at the money she spent. The thought of picking up a lunch while shopping had been an idea that sat in the corner of her mind but it just wasn’t to be. She would have to be content with what they had at home. At least the comfortable chair wouldn’t let her down. There was also jam.

When Amie had arrived home she made a snack of bread and a generous helping of jam smeared on top. She sat in the comfortable chair and ate. There were crumbs, which she pushed to the floor. She would sweep in a bit. The thought of Percival’s Practical Portal Pook had prompted her to pull it from the tome and crack it open. The inside was filled with handwritten notes and diagrams. The margins were filled with even more scribbled notes. She could make out about half of what had been written, but it seemed to have other languages she could not recognize. The diagrams were easy enough to follow. There were different symbols for the types of mana but given time, she thought she could understand it. Amie could feel the curiosity inside her grow.