Hollow

6. A Mess of Black Hair and a Slight Smile

Uploaded: 26 June 2014

Eve spent most of her afternoons since arriving in Concordia either working out simple spells with Sacheverell or working through her tangled memories. The sustained mental effort made her feel like she was back in school, and the only way Eve found she could cope with it was to take a page out of Morgan's book and escape her lessons by hiding outside. Unfortunately, she neglected to be diverse in her hiding spots and was always found in one of three places. This time, it was a wild looking garden at the side of the house. Eve attempted to make herself small as she ripped out the weeds that had begun to grow there, but it was no use. The wizard found her anyway.

"I left you a new spell two days ago, I'm guessing you haven't even looked at it."

"I have so," Eve was defiant as she ripped out a clump of green by its roots.

"Oh," Sacheverell dug his hands into his pockets, "Then remind me again, what is this one supposed to do?"

Eve scrunched up her face in a scowl at having been trapped. The spell lay untouched on her writing desk. She should have known better, wizards were sneaky. The next spell she learned would be a spell of hiding.

“If you want to discontinue these lessons, that’s fine with me, but there is only so much you can do to find your friend if you spend all your time pulling weeds. And more importantly, Sachie leaned in close to her, dropping his voice to a whisper, “Seraphine will be angry. Eve, please learn your spells.”

Eve puffed out her lower lip as she stood up, “Fine.”

“Thank you!” the wizard’s whole body spelled out relief.

Eve walked past him toward the house.

“Now, it’s a spell of mending. Something a little different, but not too complicated,” Sachie trotted behind her.

“Do I need anything for it?”

“You will find out once you read the spell.”

Eve sighed, turning the corner to the house, and stopped. It was so sudden Sacheverell ran into the back of her, knocking her forward a little. Seraphine noticed. So did the man at the door. For a moment, the two of them locked eyes, Eve and the man with the mess of black hair. It was the same one; she was certain. Though he was thinner and paler than she remembered. Then he smiled. Her heart ached from how hard it beat. Eve’s eyes grew wide, and the man turned back to Seraphine as soon as it all happened. She wanted to run to him, but she was frozen. She wanted to say his name, but there was a lump in her throat she couldn’t swallow. Seraphine folded her arms and shook her head. The man turned to go.

Eve started to follow, but had only taken a step before she was called by Seraphine, “Inside, both of you!”

She obeyed and returned to the house, Sacheverell behind her. Seraphine held the door for them.

“Who was that?” the wizard asked before either of them had crossed the threshold.

“A wizard by the name of Laurentin,” Seraphine ushered them both inside, shutting the door behind them.

“What did he want?”

“To stay, but he’s no longer welcome at any of the Wards.”

“Why?” Eve’s voice cracked as the question escaped, “Is he a dark wizard?”

Seraphine folded her arms again, “I don’t know about ‘dark,’ but he’s a sneaky bastard who got involved with some shady business a few years back.”

Eve swallowed, “Like what?”

Seraphine shrugged, “A wizard called Cassander was causing trouble in some places, Laurentin got involved somehow. That’s all I know about it, really. We cannot give sanctuary to people who have reached such a level of corruption. In the case of these two wizards, they showed a distinct disregard for human life. They would have to submit themselves to the Council at Ward Thirteen if they ever wished to have their names be cleared.”

It was Cassander. It was his fault, Eve had never heard the name before, but it still wrung her heart regardless of her own associations with it. A stranger’s tears began to fill her eyes, and Eve had to bite the inside of her lip to fight them back.

“Are you alright?” Seraphine’s expression softened as she looked down at Eve.

“Yeah,” Eve rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, “I just…suddenly felt sad…But I’m fine.” Eve nodded as if she were confirming it for herself as much as Seraphine.

Seraphine looked down at Eve with her hands on her hips and an expression that was almost soft, “Well, alright. If you say so. Now,” she straightened herself up, “I should tell the others about our visitor, I suppose. You,” she pointed a finger at Eve, “Stop slacking off. And you,” she pointed at the wizard, “Stop losing your student.”

Sacheverell winced at the scolding, but Eve just nodded.

“I’m going to go work on that spell, I guess,” Eve said as she turned to follow Seraphine.

“Well…I’ll be in the study…”

“I know,” Eve paused as she spoke, then continued up the stairs to her room.

She didn’t bother turning the lights on as she entered. The light from the window made it so she could see well enough. There, lying open on her writing desk, was Eve’s little book of memories. It was already turned to a blank page, so as Eve sat down, she wrote the words Not Mine, in small, neat letters at the top. Her pen stopped there. Eve sat back in her chair with her eyes closed. She could see him from before. Before she ever knew him, at least. But this had been their first time meeting, the wizard Laurentin and this other person who had decided to move into her head. Eve could remember the heartbreak that was felt when it was him who arrived—a stranger. He had come to tell her that everything would be alright, but she could see it was a lie. Eve could see it too. She knew him well enough to see he wasn’t putting any effort into this lie. But there was the connection between her two sets of memories.

Laurentin… Is that what you go by now?

Eve wrote down the name, followed by a brief description of the scene. It was strange, when she had seen him smile earlier, she had felt so happy. She had missed him for so long, but he had once again managed to show up when she least expected it. But as she sat alone in her room, Eve couldn’t find that happiness. Her life, her memories, how many other lies had he created for her? Everything she had hoped for was tainted. Eve shut her notebook, revealing Sacheverell’s spell of mending lying underneath. She wondered if maybe she could use it fix everything—to put her world back together. To pick up where she left off, her and Morgan in that little coffee shop. Looking it over, it didn’t seem like that sort of spell. But she might be able to repair the holes in her socks, if the need ever arose.

There was a knock at her door.

“Y—yes…” Eve cleared her throat and tried again, “Yes?”

“Sachie said you were studying. Are you really studying?”

Eve turned to see Rune sticking his head into her room.

“I was thinking about it.”

“Awe,” Rune wrinkled his nose at the idea.

Eve put on a frown and nodded.

“Awe, don’t worry, Eve, I can help you with it! Can I help you with it?”

Eve thought about it for a moment, “I suppose so…Do you… Do you have socks with holes in them? Or any clothes for that matter?”

“Yeah, I’ve got loads!” Rune dropped to the floor and pulled off a shoe, “See?” he twisted his ankle around to show a large hole in the heel of his sock. “Most of my socks end up like this. It drives Mom nuts because she can’t figure out how it happens, so I just end up hiding a lot of them now so she won’t find out.”

“Well, Rune, bring me your socks! We’ll see if I can’t master this spell too!”

Rune scrambled to his feet and darted out of her room, leaving his one shoe behind. Smiling, Eve stood to switch on her bedroom lights. She could see Rune across the hall fumbling under his mattress, pulling out socks one by one. And she was alright with the idea of not eating Italian ice cream with Morgan. She had Rune and his socks, and Seraphine to look out for her, and Sacheverell to help her learn new things. Even though Morgan had left her lonely sometimes, he at least made sure she wasn’t alone.