The moon was high that night.
Tucked away in the bad part of Dewton, close to the port, was a library. It was almost as old as the city itself, small, packed with so many books one could spend a lifetime trying to count them all. It wasn't the kind of place that got a lot of attention, a thin layer of dust ran across everything. Leafing through a book, the librarian sat at the front desk. His loyal pet - a colossal, jet-black thing closer to a wolf than a dog - laid at his feet.
A bell jingled. Someone had come inside.
Without even looking up from his book, the man knew who it was.
"Uele." the girl in question threw down the hood of her cloak. Doubled over with her hands on her knees, she gulped in heavy lungfuls of air. "You stayed open late tonight."
"It's not that..." she spoke through ragged breaths. Moving to a table meant for reading, she took a chair and began to drag it over to the desk. "Something happened."
He shut his book.
"Excuse me?"
So far, Saturday had been torture for Evan.
His father made him wake up at six. There was no breakfast on the table for him, and no real reason to be up at that hour - but his father made him wake up at six. Obviously he got home pretty late last night, and the jitters of sneaking back in kept him up a while longer. Evan forgot what time he had finally turned in, but whenever it was... he hadn't gotten enough sleep.
Chores followed that. Evan usually didn't do chores - the Thames had people for that. But apparently, his father had given them a day off, and their duties had been given to Evan. Washing dishes, doing laundry, cleaning the entire house - it wasn't fun. The worst part was that some of the servants had decided to watch the teen while he did their jobs. They weren't a kind audience.
If being denied breakfast wasn't enough, Evan had been given no lunch either. Well, he had, technically... he was served a single roll of bread. Dinner was no different. His father wanted him to suffer, not to starve.
One thing kept Evan going. One thing let him ignore his heavy eyes, and tired body, and empty stomach.
He was gonna see Ellie.
Laying on his bed, Evan watched the sky outside his window. Soon, it would be as dark as it got during the summer... his parents were attending a ball held by the Emperor that night. Sneaking out last night had been easy, thanks to how late it was when he had left. It looked like it would be a breeze once more.
In his hands, he played with the silver necklace. Last night he figured he'd just take a peek at the thing and wrap it back up. Now, he couldn't imagine putting it away. There was something special about it, he could tell. He didn't know precisely what made it unique, but... he could definitely tell. The way it had burned him last night, Ellie's reaction to it... it just wasn't normal.
The first thought his mind had leapt to was that it had to be magic somehow. But, that made no sense. History class was Evan's naptime and even he knew that, five hundred years ago, magic slowly trickled out of existence. It was all because of mana.
Mana was the invisible, airborne energy that mages could harness to cast spells. Just like how plants make oxygen, creatures called monsters produced it through their skin. Heroes started slaying monsters en masse, eventually bringing them to extinction, and a finite amount was left behind as a result. The last mages used it all up, and that was that. No more magic.
So, how could an ordinary piece of jewelry turn white hot... when it had been cold a few seconds before?
Maybe I just imagined it, or something?
Evan cast his glance down to his hand. It had faded a fair bit, but that burn mark still ran across the inside of his fingers.
Right. Couldn't be.
Shaking his head, he gave a resigned sigh. Nothing made sense.
Evan could hear commotion downstairs. His parents were headed out, it seemed. As she often did, his mom was yelling at his dad, this time for being too slow to get his coat on. Funny, he thought, how the guy commanded the Emperor's army but his mom still had him totally whipped.
He listened in. The front door opened... his parent's voices slowly grew more distant... then, the front door shut.
They were gone. He'd give it some time, but he'd be leaving soon, too.
Evan crept downstairs, sliding his hand along the banister. He had changed into nicer clothes than he usually wore, and had his wallet in his pocket - he was headed to see Ellie mostly out of the promise of answers, but hey, a date was a date.
Quietly, he tiptoed through the countless rooms of the palatial Thames residence. Evan had the path charted out in his head: he would leave the house through an exit to the garden, then hop the fence. Though he was no stranger to sneaking out, this time was different. His father had put the staff on guard to catch him if he tried to leave the house. And unlike last time, it wasn't late enough that most of them would be asleep. Stealth was of the essence.
Finally, Evan reached the last room. It was where his father kept his trophies, both from the battlefield and his hunting trips. The stuffed deer heads mounted on the walls gave Evan the creeps. How his father enjoyed having those things in the house, he didn't know.
One of the room's walls was all windows, giving a view of the garden. Evan could see the fence from here... and Pieter, coming around the corner. It looked like he had just finished up tending to his mother's chrysanthemums, and was coming back inside.
Shit!
Whirling around, Evan scanned the room. A place to hide, a place to hide, he needed a place to hide!
Behind the couch, no time to move it over.
Under the table, he couldn't fit.
The taxidermy bear in the corner?
Far, far too furry... but beggars can't be choosers. Evan was just able to zip behind it as Pieter opened the door.
For a second, Evan thought he was in the clear. Pieter strode towards the door to the hallway, pulling off his gloves. But then, the man paused, spinning on his heel. He was looking right at the bear, Evan could tell. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as the man's footsteps came closer and closer. What was his dad gonna do when he heard he tried to sneak out? It'd somehow have to be worse than shipping him off to Uncle Lot's.
The bear moved... unfortunately for Evan, it hadn't come back to life. No, Pieter had pushed it aside, and was now staring right at him. Disapprovement was on his face, clear as day.
"Explain yourself."
"Uhh..." he bit his tongue. "I was looking for a midnight snack?"
"Evan." the old man pinched the brim of his nose in frustration. "That one only works if you're in the kitchen."
The teen hung his head as the old man continued.
"I can't believe you, Evan. You angered your father just yesterday, and yet you're already disobeying him! When are you going to-"
"You don't get it!" a surge of anger erupted in Evan's chest. Pieter stepped back, shocked by the sudden outburst. "Dad is, dad's just... I don't..."
He let a puff of air out of his teeth.
"Look. I've." he looked to the side, scratching his nose. "I've... got a date."
"A date?" the old butler asked.
"It's, it's this girl I met at the market. About a month ago." this was hard for Evan. He could feel his cheeks glowing, the blood rushing to them. "She's, uh... a fortuneteller. Really, really cute, and I just... I like her a lot. She's cool. And... important, to me."
Silence hung in the air, a pregnant pause. Evan stood there, staring at the ground, wringing his hands.
"Well..." Pieter folded the gloves in his hands neatly, fidgeting with them. "I suppose... oh, damn it. Who am I to interfere with young love?"
He turned around again, making his way to the door. A smile spread across Evan's face.
"You should be glad I like you..." the butler said, shutting the door behind him.
Once again, Evan walked down to that marketplace by the river. Just like last time, his nerves were frayed. But it was for a different reason.
If you asked him, he'd never admit it, but - at seventeen years old - this was going to be his first ever date. Well, the first one his parents hadn't set up for him.
Evan knew that Ellie just wanted something that had to do with the necklace, but still: he was in new territory, and that put butterflies in his stomach. What if she really meant it when she said they could hold hands?
Sheesh. I'm such a loser.
By the time Evan got to the marketplace, it was when most of the tents were being brought down. A crowd was still present, but shrinking more and more as the stalls closed, making Ellie's tent easy to see from afar. The girl was already standing outside, and when she noticed Evan, she gave him a gentle wave.
Uh oh...
If Evan had been on edge before, he could really feel the blood pumping now. Ellie usually wore that same old dress with the neat pattern, but today she had traded it out for a different one. This new garment was a deep golden-orange shade, nearly red, like the color of the sun when it was just about to disappear behind the horizon. It was loose, flowing over her body as smooth as cream. Most importantly, the skirt was shorter! The fabric ended halfway down her thighs, which were covered by cute black tights... Evan was gonna have a hard time keeping his eyes on her face.
"Hi, Evan!" the girl greeted him as he reached her tent. He said nothing in response - anxiety had his tongue in a headlock - but managed a smile.
When Ellie turned to lock the place up, Evan noticed that she had a purse slung over her shoulder. It was small and leather, but neatly designed... strange. He always considered her feminine, but he never pegged her as the purse-carrying type of girl.
"So..." turning back, she folded her hands together. From her expression, it was clear she expected Evan to say something. Snapped out of his thoughts, he stumbled over himself as his brain cells rushed to string together some words.
"You're really hot." Evan's lips moved without him even thinking, as if his mouth had a mind of its own.
Crap!
Thankfully, the girl brushed it off, laughing. "Well, thank you." she said, sweeping a curl of black hair behind her ear. "Do you have the tickets?"
"Uhh..." Evan dug into his pocket, taking out his wallet. Thankfully, he had remembered to tuck them in there right before he had left. "Yes, right here."
"Wonderful." she said. "Ready to go?"
Evan nodded, trying to ignore his sweaty palms.
