The Riddle Of Magic

Chapter 1: Symposium - Seven Spells

It had been a busy day around the Hotel, and Charlie Morningstar hadn't seen the Radio Demon at all.

He wasn't in his tower, or the kitchen. He wasn't in the lobby with Husk. Niffty hadn't seen him, and neither had any of the Hotel's residents.

She couldn't ask Vaggie, since that would lead to a lot of questions she wasn't ready to answer, and an argument she wasn't ready to have.

Last week, Alastor had agreed to let her study magic with him; but had needed a few days to arrange things before they finally got started. Well, today was Monday, and she wanted to get started as soon as they could!

It was approaching evening, which left a rather low chance of him being in the managers' office considering he hadn't been there all day, but she decided to give it a try all the same.

"Al, are you in here?" Charlie asked, as she opened the door to peek inside.

Not here either - wait! She spied movement on their shared desk.

A tiny shadow was sitting on Al's side, and it looked up as she entered. It gurgled a squeak at her, waving its tiny nub of an arm as it used a rolled up piece of paper to stand up on its equally tiny nub legs.

"Well, hello there!" Charlie smiled to the spectre. "You're one of Al's - is he around?"

It offered the roll of paper to her with both hands, and she took it with a quiet thanks. She unrolled the paper, seeing it was a note from the Radio Demon.

Hello Charlie!

I hope you didn't expect us to commit to this in our office!

Arcane studies are best held separate from other parts of your life! To that end, we'll be holding lessons in my suite.

We'll start between the hours of six and eight. If you don't arrive by eight then I'll assume you're not available!

~Alastor

P.S. You can give this note back to the Pidgin. It'll take care of it!

"Pidgin?" Charlie asked, and the tiny shadow's head quirked up. "That's you?"

It chirped, holding its tinny stubs out for the letter.

"Oh, here you go!" Charlie smiled, rolling up the letter and handing it back to the small shade.

A veiled mouth split open on its small face, and it pulled the paper into itself, as though it was eating it.

It patted its little belly once it was done, looking up at her with a satisfied hum.

"Aww, did you like that?" Charlie giggled. She looked at the clock, realizing she must have missed Alastor when she'd checked his tower earlier. "It's after six, so I guess he's there now. Would you like me to take you to him?"

The Pidgin shadow looked up at her, the stubby horns and ears tilting as it cocked its head.

Charlie cupped her hands, holding them out to it. "I'm headed that way anyway!"

The minion tottled over, hopping into her hands, and she headed off toward Alastor's radio tower.

The princess felt a chill as she approached, and wished that she had her pink jacket with her. She'd opted to change out of her standard work attire, donning plain black pants and a white blouse with suspenders. The closer she got to Alastor's room, the more intimidated Charlie felt, and she tried to take comfort from the adorable spectre in her arms.