WALPURGIA ✔️

Chapter 14 - Salem Gasse

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"Ready to leave, Madame?", the boy straightened at my sight. I hesitated, frowning in confusion.

The messenger was merely ten years old, good four heads smaller than me, reaching my hips. His long, golden hair was a mess, his green eyes were the same unnatural colour of the goddess.

For a moment, I suspected it might have been her, but something protested at that thought.

The little boy bore a crooked smile, revealing some missing teeth. Like his smile, his uniform was crooked and a bit dirty. I wondered where he had crawled through to look like that.

"Thomas Travers, Madame. I was sent by Madame de Chauvette to pick you up for another chat." His fast, high voice was beaming with magic.

An earth witch. Good with directions, excellent at memory spells and wicked.

"My pleasure, Thomas", I shook his tiny hand. Thomas radiated of hidden knowledge; probably familiar with every hidden ally, every hidden shortcut and the people of this city. A powerful ally, a good spying eye for Genevieve.

"Let's get going. We don't want to make Madame wait, she has a strong ... disliking for tardiness. Come on, follow me!" The boy was as fast as his speaking manner, and I struggled to keep up with him.

We almost ran through 'Steinstrasse' to 'Dreizehner Graben', leaving the inn behind us with every fast step. We passed by a butcher's, a small book store and several tight houses next to each other.

The uncanny smell of the city laid in the air, mixed with several notes of meat, flowers, ink, rust, perfume, dirt - the list went on.

"Where are we headed to, Thomas?", I finally caught up to him and grabbed him by his collar. The boy continued running on the spot.
"We are not far away anymore!" He wouldn't tell me in public.

I let my eyes dart over the street, noticing curious vampires staring at us. I took him by the hand. "Don't run away from me like that!" Female witches looked up for a quick second. I was glad to be wearing a hat. To them, the scene must have looked like a mother who couldn't control her son.

'A behaving spell does wonders. My boy kept on sneaking out at night but evidently my words stopped him', a witch silently told me. I let my third eye find her. In the book store we had left behind, she had her nose deep within a book about medicine making. 'Don't be ashamed to use it, you only want the best for him, don't you?' I nodded, answering her indirectly to buy me some time.

I clutched his little hand closer. For a moment, fear glimmered in his strange eyes. "Of course not, Thomas", I whispered only for him to hear. The boy smiled, tugging at my hand to start walking again.

"It's nice to have somebody hold my hand! My mother never did that for me." It took me a moment to understand him, his speaking pattern way too excited.
"Why not?", wizards moved to the side to let me pass by, eyeing Thomas. I pressed him closer, hiding him in my dress. Why did I do that?

"Why not? Because she sent me of to work for Madame of course! Father loves his booze and they couldn't afford having me because of that! I was lucky Madame saw my potential and hired me."
"Thomas ..."
"Don't feel sorry for me, Madame. I stopped caring about them long ago! My job's more important after all!", he whistled a tune, his tone happy.

I forgot what this time meant truly; fighting for your own survival.

"Doesn't anybody else treat you warmly?"
"The cooks do when I don't eat enough. They tell me I look worse than a broomstick! And the maids! They make sure to wake me in the morning so they can make the beds. Madame also makes sure I have something to wear. The others are stricter, hitting me if I do something they don't approve of."