Shadowcast

Night on the Town: Part 2

The crowds grew more and more dense as they approached Stormborough. Carriage traffic became more frequent and frantic through the air canals. Liza caught herself looking up at the light show instead of paying attention to the storefronts. She almost missed a little corner bodega with an arcane neon light above the door reading "Spells N' Stuff."

"How about that one?" she said, pointing to the sign.

"You've got a good eye for cities," Wren said, "The best shops in Besnior are just out of sight."

As they approached the shop, Liza noticed a drow girl about their age leaving it. She looked distressed. "I'll be right back. I'm going to find a bathroom." The others didn't even seem to notice. They were entranced by the promise of magic trinkets. Mako in particular was already studying the neon sign and had to be dragged into the establishment. Liza followed the drow girl down an alley. She wasn't sure why she was so ready to follow her. Maybe the new clothes made her feel more confident. As she passed the girl, she could have sworn she saw her whispering into a brass ring.

Okay, Liza thought to herself, she's either using some kind of magic ring or she's tripping balls and thinks the ring can hear her.

"Is everything alright?" she asked her.

"That's really none of your business," the girl responded, quickly stowing the ring.

"Whatever it is, maybe I can help."

"You've already done enough. You can help now by staying out of the way so you don't become collateral damage."

"Collateral damage?" Liza looked down and saw that the girl had produced a set of glowing claws over her back hand. She looked up and noticed that she noticed that she had noticed. Liza kept her hands away from her sides and reached out to her. "I'm Liza."

The girl stared her down, reflective eyes flitting to all corners of her form. After a tense moment of absolute silence, she dismissed her glowing claws and took Liza's hand. "Petra. Sorry, I need to make sure certain people aren't following me."

"Ooh, mysterious." Liza turned Petra's wrist over to see where the claws came from. "I like what you did there with the claws. Do you go to Sigilspear?"

"I was heading in that direction. I just needed to check in with my... parents."

"Ah." Liza nodded and pointed to the pocket where she'd put the ring. "Your parents are big on education, too?"

"Yes. They also want me to get in close with someone there."

Liza gave her a devious, knowing smile. "Who's that?"

"You know drow. ALways fishing for powerful connections. The heir of the Inquisitor of Arcana is going to Sigilspear. If I could get to know them, it would give my... family some valuable favors."

"Inquisitor of Arcana?"

"Yes. The Inquisition, the Rakna'aran government."

"Right, right, right. I've never been there."

"You're not missing much. Black brick buildings, skies so choked with smog the snow is gray, traitors and infidels on every corner. But that's not why I'm here. I need to befriend the heir of House Ruzicka-"

"I know him!"

"Him?!"

"Yeah. Alusius. He's kind of a dick, but I know there's a good heart somewhere in him. Probably in his chest."

"You're hopeless," Petra said with a smile. Her pocket started to rumble. "That's my... parents. They're sending me back."

"Back home?"

"No, casting a spell of sending. They're sending a message back to me."

"Oh."

....

"So I need you to leave."

...

"Oh!" Liza gave Petra a thumbs-up and walked out of the alley. "Good luck!"

Her friends exited the store at the same time, laughing and showing off their new arcane trinkets. Liza felt a bit of weight leave her shoulders. She was afraid the other two wouldn't be so welcoming of Mako, but she was delightedly wrong.

"Look at this!" Wendy said, tapping her staff on the ground. A thin green stalk wound its way up the wood and metal until it reached the top, where a little daisy blossomed from the tip.

"Not that I'm jealous or anything," Mako said, "But I could have done that for free."

"Could you have made that pen, then?" Wendy pointed to the fountain pen floating beside Mako, scribbling down their conversation on a pad of paper held by her third arm.

"I'm not good enough to make those yet. I think I have some good ideas, but I'm still trying to get the ink from my last scribing experiment out of my shorts." Mako noticed the pen was still writing her words down. "Stop it, you!"

"Check it out, I'm a ranger!" Wren tossed his new cloak out in front of him, and it changed to a mottled green and brown color. "And now I'm in the KDF!" The camouflage cloak changed once again, this time to a solid military gray with blue stripes running down it. "And now I'm evil!" The cloak turned black, and the end became frayed and tendril-like.

"That's some cool stuff," Liza said.

"There she is!" said Wren, "I was almost worried. Where were you?"

"I talked to this girl in an alley. Her family wants a piece of AJ."

"Who?" asked the other three.

"Alusius. I don't know where AJ came from, but I kind of like it. I'll see if he likes it."

"He won't," said Wren.

"I know. That's the fun part!"

"I got you something," said Wendy, handing Liza a small notebook with a stiff leather cover, "I know you have your scrap paper, but if you're going to learn magic the way the rest of us do, you need a proper notebook to take proper notes. Don't make a big deal of it."

"Oh, Wendy," Liza said, "You didn't have to get me anything."

"You don't understand," Mako said, "You need this like you need water and sunlight. It's where you keep your notes on the spells you learn. And whatever else you keep notes on. It's impossible to keep it all in your head."

"I have my glyph circles," Wendy said, conjuring her fiery arcane circles.

"I have a journal," said Wren, "but I left it in our room."

"And I... don't do spells like you do," Mako said, pulling down her goggles and flipping down a pair of glowing lenses, "I don't do magic. I build magic things. But the principle is the same."

Liza took out a little pencil and scribbled down her first written words in this new life.

Don't panic. You'll be fine.

Wendy shuffled up beside Liza. "Do you like it?"

"Wendy, I love it."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Author's Note:

I'll be perfectly honest. I don't know how to smoothly end this scene! This whole book is a work-in-progress, so I'm sure I'll get it eventually. I actually go back and make edits on the parts I've already published. Nothing major, just little tweaks to make things flow better.