The next day I was up and early at Arthur’s farm. I let him know that Ernie wanted me over there full time, so yesterday was my last day.

“Aw, shucks. You did good, kid. I think you’ve really shaped up under the sun. A man’s gotta earn his keep.”

All you did was sit in the shade and watch the rest of us work, fatass.

I wasn’t going to let that comment slide. I nodded and walked away. Arthur, now facing away from me, started reprimanding someone about the quality of their work, so I created a water ball about the size of his head and imagined it moving as fast as a bullet.

It didn’t go quite that fast, but it was enough that it knocked him out cold. Arthur fell on top of the person he was supervising, suffocating the poor guy with his corpulent body.

“H-help! Get him off me! C-can’t…breathe!”

Two other guys stopped working and looked up, then rushed over. They used all their might to roll Arthur off so the man trapped underneath could move his legs.

“Is he dead?” one of them asked.

The other shook his head and placed two fingers on Arthur’s neck to check for his pulse. “Think he’s just unconscious. What the hell happened?”

“Wasn’t me! One minute we were talking and the next—"

I looked around. No one had noticed me do it, so I walked away, and before long I was shearing animals at Ernie’s.

I only meant to mess with him, but that ball flew faster than I thought. Yeah that kind of impact would knock anyone cold.

That meant this card was strong enough to protect me against people. Given how much I hated the guy, I got over my guilt pretty quickly.

Elsa didn’t talk to me while we worked today. I tried to strike up a conversation, but she just told me to shut up. I thought she was just being emotional when Ernie made her my apprentice, but it looked like she’d taken it personally. I was a walking piece of resentment.

Whatever.

On our first break, I asked her for another sloppy. I thought I’d shoot my shot, get turned down, and walk away with some light banter as a way to break the ice, but to my surprise she agreed. She walked me over to the back wall behind Ernie’s house and I got in her face. But once again I underestimated Alster’s virginity and released uncontrollably. This time it was all over her.

She turned beet red. “Y-y-you!!! Look what you did!”

I sighed. I didn’t need her shrill voice ruining my gentleman’s time. As I was debating cooking up a water ball to splash her with, I froze up.

Because Elsa screamed out of nowhere.

“Hey, quiet!” I hissed in a whisper. “I’ll get you water! Just wait—"

“Help! Ernie!”

My heart started racing.

Why the hell is she yelling?! Ernie’s going to be here any second!

Ernie had heard the girl’s screams and came running. At the sound of the door pushed wide open, I pulled up my pants and distanced myself from her.

Ernie had bolted here. I wasn’t ready and was unable to do anything but wait and see what she’d say.

“What happened?!” Ernie said, noticing the girl’s face soaking wet and knees bent on the ground.

“Alster… he—”

“Did he do something to you, Elsa?”

I got defensive and waved my hands in a cross pattern. “No, of course—”

I looked at Elsa’s face and saw a small grin forming. It was there for less than a second; a devil’s grin that told me an idea had popped into her head.

“Mr. Ernie. Thank god, you’re here. Alster tried forcing me to…” she said with tears coming down her eyes.

“To what?” Ernie said, his voice becoming unsteady. I could hear his breathing. He was angry.

“He said if I didn’t… perform, he’d tell you I wasn’t working properly and get me fired. I resisted so he—”

She stopped herself, putting her face in her hands and crying like a Broadway star. This girl was a natural at acting.

Ernie clenched his fist. “You’d take advantage of a lady in front of my house?”

I couldn’t believe my ears. My throat closed as I made a brutal realization.

Did she plan this?!

I immediately raised my voice to defend myself. “Ernie, she’s lying!—”

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Ernie socked me in the face. He wasn’t that strong and thanks to my card’s effects, I may have felt slightly less pain. Still, it was enough to disorient me.

“Get out! I will let your father know about this, you hear me?!”

I looked at Elsa with fury. She was now unable to hide her smile through her hands.

No.

My heart raced faster.

I just patched things up with the guy. They are not doing this to me.

I won’t have it!

I don’t know if it was the heat of the moment, or the thought of seeing Trent’s disappointed face again that made me do it, but I created a water ball in front of me and shot it at a tree. The impact was loud, like a swimmer diving from a high tower.

Fear flashed in Ernie’s and Elsa’s eyes.

“Listen to me, Ernie. If you say anything negative about me to Trent, my next water ball will smash your face in.”

“Y-you have a spellcard? How—”

I threw another water ball at the tree. “Be quiet. And you, bitch. Explain to him what really happened, or I’ll do it to you instead.”

Elsa immediately confessed that she had lied and had agreed to a sloppy to get me fired. So I would go back to Arthur’s farm. That way anything I’d tell people would just be the desperate words of a loser who couldn’t hold a job.

Ernie’s gaze was like I’d committed murder. “You’re awful…”

What?

“Ernie, Did you not hear anything she just said?”

Ernie shook his head. “You threatened to expose a secret so she’d have no choice. What you did is unforgivable!”

I thought about what I could possibly say to get him to believe me. But from the fury in his eyes, it was clear to me I would be the villain no matter what I said.

“Alright, listen,” I said firmly. I waited for them to quiet down. Ernie realized he wasn’t in a position to hit me again no matter how badly he wanted to. I put my hand up. “Let’s stop this here. Elsa, I won’t say anything about your private life to anyone. In return, you do your work and leave me alone. And you Ernie, you let me continue working here. You don’t say a word about this to anyone. And we move on. I’ll continue doing the best I can to shear animals. Alright?”

He frowned. “I don’t want a rapist working for me.”

“I did no such thing to her. I asked and she obliged. It’s her way of getting what she wants. How do you think she got transferred here anyway? Arthur also got the same treatment.”

Elsa turned red. “Y-you said you wouldn’t tell!”

“Ernie doesn’t count,” I replied spitefully. “So are we good, then, Ernie?”

“I guess I don’t have a choice, seeing as you’re threatening me with magic,” Ernie hissed.

“I’m getting back to work. You can fire me if I don’t do a good job and I swear I’ll leave you alone. But you can’t fire me just ‘cause Elsa wants you to. And remember, I know where you live.”

The heat died down between the three of us. As Ernie nodded hesitantly and went back inside, Elsa and I went back to shearing sheep. The sun retreated behind a few clouds and a cool breeze swept in and whistled through my hair.

I wanted nothing more to do with Elsa, so I didn’t even look in her direction. From this moment until the minute I got off work, my eyes would be glued to the sheep.

How in the world am I going to work right across from her from now on? Is it worth going back to hard labor just to avoid her?

I looked at her for a moment, then remembered sweating like a pig all day while putting up with Arthur. Just the thought of seeing Arthur again curled my facial muscles into a scowl.

No. Why am I scared? I have a water card. They saw how fast it moves. If she or Ernie do anything, they’re fucked. And Ernie’s the type to stay out of trouble.

He won’t betray me.

* * *

A few hours passed in the blink of an eye.

It was astounding to me how much better my concentration was thanks to these cards. Shoot, if I’d had it back in school there would’ve been no need to fake attention deficit for an Adderall script. It was like shearing sheep was the most interesting thing in the world all of a sudden. My hands expertly moved in ways that seemed natural to me, and my cuts were more even and smoother than before. The wool I sheared had the same thickness across and was smooth with no obvious imperfections. It would be perfect for Ernie to spin into yarn.

New Skill Acquired: Shearing

My crotch began to shine through my pants because of my cards and the black dashboard with white letters appeared in front of me.

I got scared and looked at Elsa. She hadn’t seen it. Good.

I need new pants. Some with deep pockets so I won’t have to put my cards here.

I glanced at my Shearing skill and noticed it was already level 5. Still, I wondered what the heck that was all about. What exactly did the skill allow me to do that I couldn’t before?

Maybe it just improves my concentration to get better on my own.

The dashboard disappeared and I kept cutting. The piles of wool started growing. I looked over at Elsa and saw her struggling. Sometimes her shears went too deep and cut a piece of the animal’s skin, making it run around the pen. It took forever for them to calm down.

“Hey…” she said faintly. I winced.

Then reluctantly looked over.

“Um, how do you get your cuts so even? And how do you never touch the animal’s skin with your shears?”

“Didn’t I say not to talk to me?”

Her gaze sank. “Yeah. But it’s your job to help me.”

Bitch.

I sighed. I didn’t want to get more involved with her, but she was supposed to be my apprentice. I got up and showed her proper technique. I asked her to demonstrate on my sheep, which was almost fully sheared, how she would go about it. Her hand placement was awkward and she couldn’t hold her shears steady. When I told her everything she was doing wrong as coldly as I could, she looked ready to cry.

I hadn’t been that much better than her before, but with my card judging my work to hers was like comparing a seasoned veteran’s masterpiece to a toddler’s poopy mess. I could see the finished product in my mind and my hands worked to get me there without much effort. It was because of that, I was able to keep my patience with her.

“Just copy what I do.”

After about ten minutes of instruction, her technique had marginally improved. Now she just needed more practice.

“Thanks.”

I nodded and turned to my sheep when she put a hand gently around my neck.

“What?”

“How did you get a spellcard?”

“Don’t pry into my life.”

My tone was rough. I was hoping with this, she’d stop talking to me. But she kept going.

“But it’s just… they’re supposed to be extremely rare. I can’t imagine there would be one here in the village. Like only really important people have one.”

“Maybe I’m just that good.”

That got a laugh out of her. Her accompanying smile seemed innocent and she was twirling her hair like this morning hadn’t happened.

I was still furious. But now I was confused. How was she able to act innocent with me after the stunt she’d pulled?

“You seem different than before,” she said, with eyes looking into my soul.

“Different how?”

“I don’t know. Like, more manly.”

“Are you hitting on me?”

“In your dreams,” she said softly, her face hopeful our supposed flirting would continue.

I blinked fast for a moment, completely taken aback by her attempt at an endearing attitude, and returned to my sheep.

But my hands trembled and I couldn’t shear properly.

I think I’d figured her out. She was genuinely insane. I knew from previous experience to avoid the bipolar ones unless they were hot.

She stood there for a moment, staring at me as I had my back turned to her. I could feel her gaze boring holes into my back. When was she going to leave?

It was another five seconds before she finally moved back to her station. The longest five seconds of my life.