Beauty and the Magician (Tales of the Red Witch Book 1)

Chapter 18 - Unexpected housekeeper

It had to have been the longest hour in the history of hours. Annika hated being idle and vibrated with her impatience. She especially hated being idle when there was obviously so much to do in this odd shop. She shifted uncomfortably. And finally her need to get up got the best of her. "Is there a bathroom here?"

"Upstairs." The boy finally answered, though he never bothered to move his blue eyes from his work. She pushed herself up and headed for the stairs. When Mr. Pig went to follow her she firmly told him to stay put and that she would be back down in a moment. He dropped his ample rump down on the floor at the base of the stairs and grunted. She climbed the mountainous stairs carefully, stepping around the piles and lifting her skirts high to avoid catching them on anything. Her tail poked out and she could feel the boy's eyes on it. Let him stare. It was probably best for him to get it out of his system now.

On the second floor, she spotted another staircase, though this one devoid of books, and four doors. The first door was wide open, it contained a neat wooden bed, a side table, a chest of drawers and a bookcase. Much like the downstairs, the room was a mess with the sheets in a pile on the bare feather mattress and colorful clothes, books and sugary food were strewn about the space. It definitely belonged to the boy downstairs.

The next door was closed but opened when she tried the knob. It was another neat little bedroom just like the boy's, but the lack of items told her that no one used it.

The next door hid the bathroom, it was expectedly filthy. She clasped a hand over her mouth at the odor. The smell was not dissimilar from the downstairs smell but it had an added tang that she wished she didn't recognize. She shuddered not wanting to touch anything and thought that she would be better off going outside, but she did what she needed to do and walked back out into the hallway.

She studied the last door. Light came in from the window at the end of the hall illuminating the strange markings carved into the wood. It appeared to be some kind of writing, but not one she could recognize. She ran a paw over the marks and pulled her hand back with a start when they glowed in response. She tried the doorknob but found it locked. No surprises there, it probably belonged to the master.

She looked out the window and gasped to see a vast flat desolate landscape. In the distance were enormous white-capped mountains.

"Definitely not Hafenstadt." she muttered. Far in the distance she was certain she saw something large flying over one of the peaks. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her paws and then looked out again, the flying creature was gone. She must be seeing things. She sighed.

She thought of Sofie. She would die to know that she was standing in a magician's home and that she had somehow made it way out here, where ever here was.

When she got back to the first floor, she found herself pacing around the room disdainfully eyeing the trash as if the piles where the ones that pushed their way into the house instead of her.

"I could clean up a little, if you want." She offered. Surely the boy would prefer a clean house. Well, in truth... cleaning was for purely selfish reasons. She could no longer tolerate the smell or the standing around. And perhaps the cleaning would earn her a favor from the mysterious magician.

The boy shrugged again. He had told her not to touch anything but surely that didn't extend to the putrid trash decorating what was likely a lovely little workshop. Annika sighed and got to work. She no longer cared if she had the stubborn boy's approval.

She took a deep breath, cringing again at the smell, her cat nose twitching. She decided that she would start at the disgusting splotchy cupboard. There had to be some food inside.