CW:

Colors blur together fuzzily, lights flickering gently as my eyes open. Foreign shapes, sounds, and smells all mixing blearily through the sleep addled fog I find myself clawing through. Slowly, the room stops spinning and the colors and shapes solidify into a configuration that makes sense. As I regain my cognitive functions, I notice one thing. This is definitely not my room.

The click of a doorknob across the room catches my attention. I turn to look at the door, my head throbbing gently at the motion. The person who enters my room is thankfully a familiar face.

"Oh, you're awake. I was starting to worry." The man enters the room, carrying a wooden tray with two bowls of what I can only presume is soup based on the smell.

"Morning, Professor Richter," I croak out softly, my throat feeling dry and underused. I cough a bit, looking around for some water. Thankfully, there's a glass on the bedside table. I down the glass thirstily, an unseen well of energy within me feeling graciously replenished. Just as soon as it does though, I can feel a small amount of it sapped back out of me. 

My hands shaking slightly, I set the glass down, now drained of its contents. The professor places the wooden tray on a nearby desk, looking me up and down with a watchful eye. "You look awful," he finally says, I smile at the observation.

I cough out a dry laugh, immediately regretting my decision. "I feel awful." Richter doesn't comment further, instead reaching over and picking up one of the bowls from the tray. He places it and a spoon on the bedside table.

Carefully, I take tentative sips from the bowl. For every bit of strength I regain, I can feel a fraction of it being sapped from me via a magical contract. I push through the strain, feeling my body crying out in happiness over finally having some nutrients put into it.

I finally push away the bowl once it's empty, the professor having finished his own bowl long before me. "How long have I been out?" I ask.

"That depends," Richter says, straightening up. "Your mother brought you to me two evenings ago. Friday evening? It's now Sunday morning." My face blanches at that.

"Gods above, I've been out since Thursday evening." I drag a hand down my face. "No wonder I'm starving."

Richter pauses for a moment at that. "The blood moon?" I wince upon hearing him say that, nodding slightly. "Bloody hells, girl, what did you cast that could have knocked you out for almost three days." He's already turning away from me and towards his bookcase.

"I was performing a simple blood favor ritual, but I kind of met an… Unexpected obstacle?" 

Richter doesn't bother looking at me, pulling out books from his shelf occasionally to look at. "Like what?" He asks.

"Like a Greater Spirit." That gets his attention. Richter immediately closes the book he was glancing through, his eyes whipping up and scanning my face as if to try and decipher if I’m telling the truth. He must have found whatever he was looking for, because his mouth falls open.

“What in the bloody hells could you have wished for to have a Greater Spirit answer that request?” His voice is equal parts horror and intrigue.

“Ummm…” I look away, not wanting to answer that question despite knowing that I need to. “I asked her to help my friend, Daniel.”

Richter’s eyes narrow upon hearing that, a cold fury boiling inside him. “You, what,” he seethes quietly. I wince at his words, expecting the reaction. “Do you know how dangerous that is. To put your friend into the sights of a Greater Spirit like that? Not only that, but to also give that greater spirit an opportunity to introduce an innocent mortal to the likes of magic? After all of that training, how daft can you be!”

I wince, “I think calling him just a mortal is a little harsh, I mean, we’re all just as mortal as him.”

“But the Greater Spirit isn’t.” Richter jabs a finger towards me. “You’ll be lucky if this is something we can smooth over cleanly over the next week or so. You’ll need to be on top of things for the next few weeks in case there’s anything magical that needs to be cleaned up.”

I look down nervously, bracing myself for the next bout of yelling. “Actually, about that?” Richter freezes, his expression stony as he glances towards me once more. “The price for the favor. Two weeks. Two weeks of my magic and energy.” Surprisingly, the professor doesn’t blow up at that. Instead, his face shifts into a frown. He turns back to his books, continuing to flip through them.

While still flipping through his books, he starts muttering. Presumably to himself, but it’s loud enough that I can hear it. “Two weeks is a lot of energy and magic. What could they have done…” Richter turns around meeting my eyes before addressing me, “Petunia, what problem did your friend have?”

I shrug, “Um… depression? Not sure what exactly to be honest.”

Richter shakes his head, “Depression is tough, but it’s a complicated and steady process to help, it doesn’t require energy on the scale of what you gave.”

“Yeah… I got the feeling it was something worse than that. She said she gave me a ‘discount’, because it was the Blood Moon.”

“A discount? Greater Spirits don’t do anything for free. What kind of angle could they be going for?” Richter asks, flipping through more pages. “What kind of problem did she fix…” He seems to find whatever he’s looking for because he eventually places the book down on his desk. He busies himself with gathering together vials of ingredients, mixing them into a large beaker as he goes. Eventually, I can see him running out of the room to grab more ingredients.

Instinctively I lift my hand up to start sketching out a quick spell matrix, but nothing happens. I sigh, dropping my hand. So, it’s really gone. Cut off from magic for two weeks. I’ll have to settle for written studies again in the interim.

Eventually, Professor Richter returns with a large sack, holding it carefully. Dipping his hand into the bag slowly, he pulls back a small handful of powder. Holding his hand over the beaker, he slowly sprinkles the dust into the beaker. The liquid inside the beaker begins to glow brighter and brighter with every bit of dust that floats into it. Finally satisfied with the amount of glowing in the beaker, Richter drops the rest of the dust back into the bag. He ties the bag closed and sets it aside carefully, taking great care into not spilling any dust at all.

Lifting the glowing beaker, he hands it to me. “Alright, drink up.”

I lean forward to take a tentative sniff, crinkling my nose at the strong smell of soap. “What is this?”

“It’s an elixir. Drink before the magic dissipates.” Nodding, I put the beaker to my lips and just begin chugging the stuff. It tastes a lot like what it smells like, which is namely a very soapy taste. I can feel energy coursing through my veins once more. Magical energies travelling quickly through my body and towards my core. Then, as soon as they enter, I can feel them sapped away from my core. I can feel the energy drained from me quicker than the energy entering from the elixir. Once the beaker is gone, all I can feel is a slightly soapy taste in my mouth and not even a lick of energy in my body.

I put down the beaker, cringing slightly as the aftertaste catches up to me. “Didn’t work. No juice.”

“What? Nothing?” Richter scowls, looking at the page of the book he was looking at before. “One week is bad enough, but two weeks without your magic while we try to deal with whatever it is this Greater Spirit is planning will be hell for us.”

“Why are you so sure she’s planning something?” I ask. “Haven’t you always told me that the Fae are honest in their deals?”

“Honest to a point. The point is important.” Richter corrects. “They can always uphold their end of the bargain and have ulterior motives. They live for chaos. If a Greater Spirit has decided to step out of the shadows, they’ve seen something that we can’t yet. Some opportunity here that they couldn’t let slip. I just hate not having any idea what it could be.” Richter closes his book, slipping it back on the shelf. “You’ll need to keep an eye out and let me know if you get any of your magic back soon. You’re the full wizard now, I’m just a magician. And magicians always have a limit to their usefulness.”

I sigh, laying back on the bed. “I may be a full wizard, but you’re the one with the years of wizarding experience. Yeah, though, I’ll keep you updated.”

“And check up on your friend. You’ll need to keep a close eye on him. He’s the catalyst for something big now, whether he likes it or not. Obviously don’t tell him about any of the magic if he hasn’t noticed anything himself.” Richter explains. I nod quickly, wincing as the quick motion reminds me that, yes, I still have a headache.

I push myself up, quickly feeling the strain of standing. My legs feel feeble and weak, enough strength to keep me standing, but a walk around the block is out of the question. Steadying myself on the bedside table, I turn to Richter sheepishly. “I don’t suppose you can drop me off at Daniel’s house? I really ought to head there before heading home.”

Richter rolls his eyes, but doesn’t voice any of his complaints to me. Picking up his bag of magic dust, he beckons for me to follow him. Using my surroundings to steady myself, I follow behind him carefully. He places his bag of magic dust inside a steel safe, locking it with a key he keeps around his neck.

By the time we’ve made it out to the car, I’m winded and panting heavily. “Fucking hell… I feel like I’m seventy years old. I was thinking that I was gonna miss the magic more than anything, but I’m gonna have a hell of a time in Phys Ed for the next two weeks…” I curse breathily as I finally plop myself down into the passenger seat.

The car roars to life suddenly, Richter scoffing at me. “You should have thought of that before you made a hair brained bargain with a faery. If you’re lucky, school will be the most of your worries.” He grumbles, putting the car into drive and pulling away from his house. I watch the wooded area around us carefully as we drive down the dirt road into town.

Richter’s house is on the very edge of town, out of view. His explanation for living away from the rest of town is that it’s always easier to practice large spells where others can’t see the mistakes. I think he just likes the forest, I’ve never seen him go into any spells without reading them over forty times first.

Richter speaks up once more, pulling my attention away from the surrounding forest. “Aren’t you in your final year anyways? You’re eighteen, what do you care about your grades, as long as you’re passing.” I sigh, leaning against the window at the thought.

“That’s the thing. As long as I am passing. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but lately I’ve been a little more focused on the lessons you’ve been giving me. P.E. is the only grade I have that hasn’t been slipping.” I explain with a roll of my eyes.

“Ah.” He says simply.

“Yes. Ah.” I say, giving him a pointed look. “The only thing I’m not slipping in is Math. For obvious reasons.” I turn my eyes back towards the forest, watching for any signs of hidden entrances to the Fae-wild, despite knowing that I will likely never see them without access to my magic. “What are you going to do?” I ask, realizing that I hadn’t asked yet.

“About what?” He asks tersely, his attention still solely on the road.

“About the situation.”

“About your mess.” He corrects.

“About my mess,” I admit begrudgingly, “I know you’re not one to leave the heavy lifting to other people, even if you are just a Magician nowadays.”

He nods, his eyes scanning the road as we pull into the outskirts of town. “I’m going to be investigating the forest. Keep an eye out for any activity from the Fae-wild. Unfortunately, research and observation are the safest forms of action without knowing what’s actually going on.” I nod, digesting this info. Most wouldn’t consider investigating the Fae-wild as a safe course of action, but I trust the professor to know what he’s doing. “Don’t forget that you need to tell me where this friends house is, I have no idea where I’m going.”

I look at the street signs as we pass them, “three more streets and then you’ll make a right. He lives on eighth street.”

“Three more streets and then down to eighth, got it.”

The rest of the drive is brief and it passes in silence, neither of us with anything left to say. I point out Daniel's house and Richter kicks me out of his car once we’re in front of it. I gather myself and look at my surroundings, noticing an extra car in front of his house. My blood chills at the worry that maybe his father is home early, but it doesn’t look like his fathers car.

I steel my resolve and carefully walk up to the front door. Panting, I opt to ring the doorbell. I feel as if my arm would break if I attempt to knock on the door in this state. The house inside is strangely silent in the moments following the doorbell. As if there had been noise before that I didn’t notice, but now there isn’t any at all.

I press the doorbell again, this time there’s some commotion on the other side of the door. I can’t quite make out what’s happening, but something is happening. Eventually, the noise subsides. I wait for a couple of moments, trying to decide whether I want to ring the doorbell again or not.

Then the door opens.

Or rather, it cracks open slightly, the head of a girl my age or maybe slightly younger popping out to peek at me. Her hair is shoulder length and a beautiful Auburn color, which catches my eyes instantly. It reminds me of Mrs. Sangrey’s hair. Her amber eyes widen as she sees me, darting left and right as she looks at me. “T-tuni?” She says in shock and a little bit of horror.

My eye’s narrow quickly upon hearing that, scanning her face quickly. I only know one person who calls me that…

“D-Daniel...?” I ask tentatively.

She cringes upon hearing me say the name, but she nods. “A-actually, i-it’s um… it’s D-Dawn now…” She says, wringing her hands as she says so. My head is spinning slightly at this, increasing the already growing headache. I push gently against the door, causing Dawn to back away from the door and let me in. “U-um, come on in…” She offers.

I nod, walking towards the living room and towards her couch. “I need to sit down before we talk about this.”

SylkWeaver

Another Petunia chapter. There will probably be a few more where it's useful. Also, for anyone who hasn't seen, my new story Rise of the Woman Forged From Wind is now up! It's also trans fiction, tho more blatantly trans and a bit less magic this time. If you like Trans and especially VRMMO stories, please check it out! That's all for now, ty for still reading my story after that long break!