The Warlock's Shadow

Licking Wounds

(Two Days and One Night Until the Celestial Shadow)

As soon as our cloaked attackers left we were able to get up. Immediately I made for Nocturne and carefully picked him up in my arms. Due to his coloring it was difficult to tell how beat up he really was or not. Lisa and Sasha staggered to their feet finding their dragons. Both Zero and Topaz seemed to look how we all felt. They all slowly climbed up our bodies and made their home on our shoulders whimpering and nursing their wounds. I noticed the area seemed a bit brighter after the figures left, thinking that they must have used some kind of concealment spell. We all stood there for a moment, put our foreheads together, wrapped our arms around each other in a group hug. Lisa began to break down and finally cried. I did my best to tighten my grip on her just a little to let her know I was there. After we collected ourselves we looked up at each other and assessed our damage. It seemed we got nothing more than some bumps and bruises. I was the worst off with an eye that was swollen shut. Sasha had a bit of a phoenix egg bump on their head, Lisa just had some bruises and scratches on her face and arms.

Wordlessly agreeing that we needed to stay together, we all walked to my house. As soon as we walked in the door Mom saw us.

“Alex. Sasha. What on earth happened? Are you alright?” she rushed towards us and inspected us “Oh, Alex your eye. Is anything broken? What happened?”

“We’re okay I think, Mom. I think it’s mostly our pride that’s hurt.” I hooked a thumb at Lisa lazily as it was the only motion I could do that didn’t hurt. “This is our friend Lisa by the way.”

“Oh you poor thing. All of you here, sit. Sit,” We all sat down on the couch. Mom came in with a large cold steak and placed it over my eye. “Sorry, Alex, I couldn’t find a cold compress. You’ll have to make do with that until the swelling goes down.” She tended to the rest of our wounds, bumps and bruises. Same with our dragons. She placed our dragons in Glace’s care. Glace looked after them and helped nurse them. During Mom’s triage we explained what happened, without telling her exactly what we were doing beforehand or the fact that our attackers stole a book that belonged to Blight. It wouldn’t have been something she’d approve of. We hid the truth by telling her we were staying late to study and keep up on our work. Which in and of itself wasn’t a lie exactly.

“...then on the way home we were jumped by these people in super dark cloaks, then we came here.”

“It’s probably those damned cultists,” Mom spat. “You’re lucky you weren’t killed, or worse,” I shivered at the thought.

Lisa spoke up in a small voice, “Ms. Umbra? May I use your crystal ball to call home?”

“Oh yes of course, dear. You should call home too, Sasha. I think it is also best you both stay here tonight. Best not to tempt fate further.” Sasha and Lisa agreed. It was the end of the week since there was no school, it would work out.

The call to each of Lisa and Sasha’s families went as well as it could. Mom helped calm the parents down and assured they were safe at our home. She promised to put wards on all the doors and windows to make sure it was impossible to see inside or even get inside. She even over-promised Sasha’s parents as per usual that they would be all better by the time they returned home tomorrow. Still worried about getting jinxed or cursed despite knowing Sasha’s family for nearly fifteen years.

“Alright,” Mom said, clapping her hands together. “With that all settled, how about we get you three fed then off to bed, hm?”

Luckily Mom had just started cooking so it was easy to add more meat and vegetables to the stew that was planned for dinner. I gave the steak that was cooling my eye back and she cooked it rare for the dragons. She placed the large chuck of meat on a plate and put it down on the floor for them. Glace took it upon themselves to swallow every fourth bite as they were almost pre chewing the steak for our companions like a mother bird.

After we ate, Mom sent us to bed. I gave Lisa my room and lent her some of my sleep clothes. They were a bit oversized on her. Sasha was happy to be in their clothes as is and I grabbed my regular set of lounge pants and random t-shirt. Sasha took the floor and I took the couch. Glace, being much older and a bit larger than our hatchling dragons, did his best to wrap themselves around the three smaller younger dragons to keep them safe.

The next morning when we woke up, Mom made us all a huge breakfast. We gathered around the table to eat, our bodies still sore and bruised. The swelling in my eye had gone down but it was adorned now with a large black and blue spot. For as hungry as we all were our bodies wouldn’t let us scarf down the food like ravenous wolves. So we took it slow, same with the strips of half raw bacon Mom set out for the dragons. After getting dressed, and giving Lisa the privacy she needed to dress as well of course, we regrouped in my room to discuss our next steps.

“We need to get that book back,” I said after closing my bedroom door. Lisa and Sasha looked at me like I had two heads. “We also have to find out how they knew we had that book.”

“I’ll agree with that part,” Sasha said. “It’s weird that they knew we had the book but not where we got it.”

“Yeah, and I told them where I got it,” I said as I hung my head. “If I didn’t tell them, I didn’t know what they would have done to Nocturne. The guy already had his foot on his head and…” Lisa put her hand on my shoulder.

“It’s okay,” she said. “Sasha and I would have done the same in your situation.” Sasha nodded in agreement. “Let the book go. We have bigger things to deal with. If we get the opportunity we will get the book. Right now we don’t have the capabilities to get the book back. And that’s okay.” I smiled at her, hearing her reassurance definitely helped me regain some footing.

“Right,” I said. “We definitely don’t have time to plan much, the Celestial Shadow is only two days away. So, let’s brainstorm some ideas on what we need to do next and who the thief is. First things first, we should check up on Crowly. He could be in danger.”

“Yeah, he seems pretty smart but he is an old man and deserves the heads-up,” Sasha said. They idly rubbed Topaz’s head to make them more comfortable.

“But what do we do about all the wards your mom put up all around the house?” Lisa asked. I thought for a moment. She had a good point, that would be a challenge to get past.

“Yeah, that’s a problem for sure.” Mom had planned on taking them down when it was a good time to help Sasha and Lisa get home. “I may have to go this one alone. When you guys leave I can walk out soon after. I’ll get to Crowly’s and warn him.”

“But what if he was the one who was behind the attack?” Sasha said. “We never confirmed that Mr. Roland is still on the run or if Crowly had anything to do with Blight.”

“I think Crowly is someone safe,” I said. “If Crowly wanted to hurt us he would have done it already. His store is massive, he could have made us get lost and killed us, skipped town and no one would have known.” The fantastical theory left my mouth before I had really comprehended what it was I said. Wow, maybe Sasha was right after all. Maybe Crowly really was evil the whole time and just didn’t want to make his store messy. Still we had to check. Sasha and Lisa acknowledged my point. Just then Mom knocked on the door and walked in.

“Hey, guys,” she said in that typical caring Mom tone. “I just closed off the crystal ball after talking with your parents and they are anxious to have you both home. So gather your things and let’s go. I’ll walk you both home and make sure you’re safe.” We said our goodbyes and I walked with everyone to the door. Mom drew an arm’s-length circle in the air and a loud ’pop.’ filled the air as the wards were removed. She escorted Sasha and Lisa out in front of her.

“Oh, by the way, Alex,” Mom said, turning as she walked out the door. “I called the authorities after you all went to sleep last night. There will be a Knight here within a couple hours to watch over the house until the cults are disbanded.” Great, now I had a time limit.

I kept watch next to a window and waited for Mom to double back with Lisa after dropping off Sasha. Once I saw her, Nocturne and I watched the clock. After about five minutes we left making sure to lock the door behind us and ran for Crowly’s Tomes, Oddities and Bookends. I ran as fast as I could to make good time. Only getting there in a few minutes where it was about a five minute walk. I did not expect what I was about to see.

Crowly’s shop was completely smashed and looted. The windows were broken, the old door that was always stuck was torn off its hinges. Nocturne and I looked at each other wearily and slowly walked inside.

“Hello?” I called out. “Crowly? Are you here?” The whole shop as far as I could see was completely and totally ransacked. Barely any books were left on the shelf. Amulets and trinkets were thrown about or smashed. Some books were ripped up or otherwise destroyed. “Crowly?” I called out again. “Are you okay?”

“Quite,” an old rattled familiar voice said behind me. I turned to see Crowly standing as he usually did. Fingertips touching in a pyramid shape close to his chest, his dragon sitting on his shoulder. His black suit was completely clean and untarnished. “If you couldn’t figure it out for yourself, the shop is closed until further notice.”

“I just,” I started and took a deep breath trying to hold back tears. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. This was my fault. Your books, your curios, your store being destroyed. It’s all my fault.”

He arched an eyebrow as he looked down his nose at me. “How, pray tell, is this,” he motioned to the destruction. “Your fault exactly?” I told him a brief rundown of what happened. That cultists wanted the book he gave us and wanted to know where I had gotten it, plus the stakes involved.

“This wasn’t your fault, boy,” he said.

“What?”

“I had been running from several cultists for a while now and I thought giving you a seemingly random book would eventually get them to leave me alone. Little did I know that you would take such keen interest in the book where you would draw attention to yourself. If anything, I should be apologizing to you. So,” he paused as he regarded me. “I apologize. I apologize for carelessly giving you something dangerous, just for the sake of being left alone not only by you and your…unique Fae friend, but by the very people who were after me.

“I can pick up and fix the store. That’s nothing to worry about. I’m sorry you had to get hurt in the process.” I sniffled at the release from guilt and accepted the old man’s apology.

“Once I’ve fixed this up and cleaned. You and your friends are welcome anytime you like.”

I slowly walked towards the door and turned towards Crowly. “Thanks,” I said.

“However, do keep an eye on your Fae friend while they are here.” We laughed a bit at that. Crowly’s laugh was strangely warm, reminding me of a wizened grandparent. Nocturne and I left and ran back home. We made it inside and collapsed on the couch. About ten minutes later Mom walked in, finishing her conversation with the Knight who would be keeping an eye out for us.

She turned the TV on and immediately made sure the news was on. The anchor woman talked about an increase of cult activity and made mention of Crowly’s shop being destroyed. Nocturne made himself comfortable on an ottoman with Glace while Mom brought me in for a side hug where she made sure I was safe. I couldn’t help but worry about what we were going to do in the next couple days when the main event was here. Were we going to be able to get away and do the sealing spell? Or even if we did, would we succeed?