Enchantress

13

^^ Erfan ^^

— Johnathan —

My mother was a lovely person. Kind, caring, gentle, and polite. She also happened to be incredibly smart, when it came to social interactions, understanding and interpreting people's emotions, and strategies built upon said understanding of her opponents' Psyches. She was differently Gifted from myself, -who was not good at understanding Psyches, but could comprehend complex and even theoretical mathematics instantly,- but she was still no less Gifted than I. She was, however, unable to lie to me, instead choosing to talk around or ignore subjects she didn't wish to discuss with me, either because I was too young and innocent, or because she was sure I'd disapprove of whatever she'd done, usually in service of keeping me alive or happy.

About three weeks prior to today, she'd gone off to work for the day like usual, then stayed the night, which was also mostly not unusual; she'd called that night and again in the morning, and I could tell that everything was fine, though I sensed some urgency or nervousness from her at first. Then, she'd come home, and she'd brought bodyguards home with her. This was new, but not greatly surprising; many of her more high-paying clients often wanted to keep her around, and this one seemed to have finally made her an offer she couldn't refuse. I suspected that this involved my health, and I was proven correct soon after that when she revealed that the client had agreed to pay all my hospital bills going forward.

Then, she'd been given a new building by her Client, -though she didn't want me to know that at the time, and had tried to hide it,- and she'd opened a Branch Office for Mrs. Farman's Salon inside what had to be the coolest building to ever exist: a 200-Year-Old, 100ft tall Tower, built by the British Government of the New York Colony during the height of the Revolutionary War, likely to prevent the rebels from sneaking down through the Catskills and into New Amsterdam/New York to attack them unawares. The tower was in good repair, and in fact was easily modified with a technological method I couldn't understand yet, that had replaced all the stone inside with metal and glass, which was then turned into the worlds largest privately-owned aquarium, I was absolutely sure of it.

On top was an observatory, -just for me, Mom said, but I let the other people in all the time, so long as Doctor Goodwin and Miss Agnus said it was alright,- a large cafeteria/food court/pool hall type place, a greenhouse, a chemical laboratory, (which I was only allowed into with direct adult supervision, unfortunately,) and an Aquaponics Garden, with a dome over it all made of photovoltaic glass. Once Doctor Goodwin had seen the Trio of Laboratory, Observatory, and Greenhouse, he'd moved our lessons into the Towers, and most of the kids the ladies brought with them to work started doing their schoolwork up there as well, both online schooling and homeschooling, while their mothers were usually in the Food Court just outside the wide doors unless they had work.

Then, the Grand Opening Ceremony came around, and I was informed about my upcoming surgery, my sixth one in just the past two years. I wasn't allowed to come to the Grand Opening, due to it being a Brothel and Casino and thus not a place for children, no matter how mature they were, but I didn't mind, because Agnus stayed with me, helping me with an experiment in turning Water into Ice without any Imperfections. Essentially, I needed to get the water to a temperature that it would stick together at, a super-freezing temperature, but not give it any shocks which would result in the formation of asymmetrical ice crystals. It was a delicate experiment, one that required incredibly precise calculations, so we messed up multiple times, but neither of us minded, continuing the experiment until there was something of an explosion as lightning struck the Generator, making all the lights flicker and some black out completely, so we had to go inside until the Dry Lightning was finished, and by then it was very late, so we both went to bed.