Steel Flight [Completed]

Chapter 8: Kelpie

-Jack

I watched Skai go, remembering again the day I had stayed longer on top of the barn, even though I knew I was supposed to be down helping in the field.

I stood, resolved not to let her go alone.

"Could I perhaps interest a young man such as yourself with some rare and unusual finds?"

I yelped and lost my balance, sprawling across my seat. Where had he come from?

"What?" I asked weakly, when my heart had slowed.

"I have some things you might find to be of some interest." It was the man from the station, strange clothes, thin mustache, and all. Now that he was closer, I saw that his eyes were dark, maybe even black, and warm. They seemed to suggest he had secrets to reveal to me.

I got back up and tried to get around him. "Thanks, but-"

He moved with me. "Unusual things. Some might even say. . . magical."

I stopped, hardly daring to breathe. "Magical?"

The man nodded seriously. "Indeed."

I swallowed, reigning in my emotions. The worst thing one could do when it came to tricks was to give the trickster too much enthusiasm. So instead, I narrowed my eyes, trying to see past his eyes. "How do I know they're magical?"

He looked quite surprised. "Why my dear boy, you don't!"

I looked at him incredulously. I was not a fool. At least, not most of the time.

"Well you can't expect me to demonstrate here in front of all these people! How long do you think it would stay yours, eh? Two seconds? Three?"

I looked around at the men, women, and few kids. He did have a point.

"However," he stressed the word heavily, "I may have a solution. If you were to give me something now, go off alone to test the merchandise, and find that it is, indeed," he leaned in and whispered, "magical," then winked. "Then you could give me the rest of my payment."

I mulled it over. "How would I find you?"

He winked again, eyes twinkling. "Oh, I don't think that will be an issue."

Uhhh. . .

As I considered his offer further, I realized the obvious problem, shoulders slumping. "I don't have anything of value."

He studied me with kind eyes. "I'll be the judge of that. What have you got?"

I looked back at my duffel, slung over one shoulder. Maybe value was the wrong word. Everything I still owned was of great value to me: a little cotton bunny toy Mum made for Ana, a clever wooden contraption that served as Finley's favorite game, a brass ring Dad bartered for from the traveling traders.

"Um," I shifted uncomfortably. "A quilt, some old clothes, a painting,"

"I accept." He sat down in Skai's empty seat and crossed his legs.

"Wait. Which thing?"

"I have started a collection of rare paintings."

I blinked. "But you haven't even seen it yet!"

He gave me a wry smile. "Whereas we're haggling over an item I haven't yet named for you."

I stopped. "What are we bartering for?" My mind had been in overdrive, imagining objects that could stop time; fantastical whirlwinds; and trinkets full of life, able to grant one immortality.

He leaned forward, eyes serious, as if he was about to reveal a dark secret. "A handful of magical-" (I leaned forward too) "-beans!"

I sat back, stunned. "Beans?!"

"Why of course! Plant them in the ground and-"

"Beans?"

"Magical beans, that when carefully planted will grow to touch the sky."

I looked out the window at the world blurring by faster than my eyes could make sense of and swallowed my disappointment. Not all of the magic from Mum's stories was obvious. Some of it came in small, seemingly insignificant packages. A whole civilization had supposedly been conquered using only the magic contained in a single seed. Granted, that seed could do a lot more than grow really tall, but the principle was the same.

Thanks to thoughts such as these, my excitement was building again. For so long, I had imagined that magic only existed somewhere in the blue distance, to the east. Who would've thought I would find it here, in Juxtaposition? All those time-wasting daydreams that were now becoming my reality. . .

Then, I again reigned in my emotions. Just because a random stranger claimed a handful of beans was magical, that didn't mean I should lose Mum's painting for it. It had taken her three days just to paint the foundation of color, much less the fiery wheat at dusk, the motion of wind and energy all throughout it, and the detailed portrait of our best milking cow.

"Let me get this straight. I give you the painting, you give me the beans, I go off and test them, and if they're magical. . .?"

"All you must do for now is give me the painting and agree to do a tiny little favor for me if they do turn out to have magical properties."

"And if they're not magical?"

"Then you are under no obligation to do any service for me."

I folded my arms. "While you keep the painting."

"My dear boy, you cannot expect me to simply give you the beans. How do I know you won't take them and run? For all I know, you could even be a wizard in disguise, simply waiting for your chance to take them from me. Besides. You said yourself it's not valuable."

I couldn't think of an answer.

"You have heard my offer. Now you can take it, or you can leave it." He looked down at his gloved hands clasped around his knee.

Mum's painting.

Real magic.

Sweat creeped down my face, making it impossible to think straight. I had other things of hers...

He moved to get up.

"Wait!" I unzipped my duffel bag, unwound my quilt, and pulled out her painting. I took one last look at her careful attention to detail, at the field that was now little more than ash, at the sun that tonight would set over the Farmlands, as it always had, but not over me, before holding it out to him. "I accept."

A/N: Thanks for reading! Comment below: what did you like? Dislike? Do you think Jack made the right decision? I'd love to hear from you!