Mythfits

11- Steve

Clara,

Hey, I know this is sort of out of the blue, but I was wondering if you would be willing to translate a book for me? A classmate of mine needs to find a cure for her sister, and she has a book, but it's written in Japanese, which none of us can read. Can you help?

Thanks so much,

Steve

I look over my email for a second, before pressing send. I won't be surprised if she decides not to help, but I have a sneaking suspicion that she'll be curious; Clara, like every other females in her family, is a Völva, a Norse sorceresses. While the rest of her family sticks to the standard magic staff, healing, prophecy and runes, Clara branched out, learning about magic from all over the world. 

The last I had heard, she was studying with a pair of kitsune sisters and learning to read Japanese. Hopefully, she will be intrigued by our problem and help out. Clara never was one to shy away from an opportunity to gain more knowledge- an old book on kitsunes would be right up her alley.

Listening to the rain quietly drumming on the roof, I recall just how far she was willing to go to learn something new; in 3rd grade Clara had been trying to figure out transformation magic by watching me turn into a bat over, and over, and over again. Well, she had thought that she'd figured it out and cast a spell one of our classmates during recess, causing him to turn into a fish. Needless to say, it was awkward for everyone, especially me when I had to explain to the teacher where Jimmy had disappeared to and why my friend had put a goldfish in the drinking fountain. Clara and her family had moved shortly afterwards, but occasionally we still talk.

Shutting down my computer, I close my eyes, stretching, as a blinding flash of light fills the room, accompanied by the crash of thunder. The lights flicker momentarily, before shutting down, immersing the room in complete darkness. My breath catches in my chest, and I start panicking, not being able to see anything, I claw, to no avail, at the light switch on the wall. My breathing becoming more and more shallow, I close my eyes, shifting into a bat.

Wrapping my wings around myself, I force myself to slow my breathing and my heart rate. I am not in mortal danger, it is only a power outage, I remind myself. When I am calm, I open my eyes, but the blanket of total darkness presses down on me, suffocating me. Something on the other side of the wall goes thump, and I swear that I jump right out of my fur, but then the door opens and Ethan, holding a flashlight walks in, laughing.

Turning back, I snatch the flashlight he offers, "Thanks. But did you seriously have to bang around like that? You could have given me a heart attack!"

Ethan looks up at me, all 8-year-old innocence, "What? I didn't do anything!"

I give him a look but he just smiles all the sweeter, "You moron." I say, and thump him playfully on the head as I try to mask just how scared I had been. I know right, what vampire is afraid of the dark? Ha. Yeah, right......