Emerson had always thought that leprechauns didn't exist. They were just the stupid, wise tales that were told by her grandfather.
She knew about the buckle shoes and the solitary confinement; the fact that they were always male; their job as a cob...
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(Ailis POV)
I needed to do something. I could tell she was drifting. The last few weeks Emerson had weaseled her way into some sticky situation. Things were getting worse. She had stolen from her sister which I allowed since Lily had been stealing from her for years, but then she took some necklaces from her mother, and that was horrible having to hide as she lied to her mother. I could tell when she was lying, her right eye always seemed to twitch. I wondered if her mother had noticed this as well.
Emerson has gone down a path that was opening up a bad side of her. She was forming her addiction, realizing how easy it was to just take things that didn't belong to her and I had been feeding the addiction. I needed the gold just as badly as she thought she needed it. The magic was the only thing that would allow me to keep my Leprechaun powers... but if anyone found out how I had gotten it then it would all be over for me. Gambling had almost ruined my life and now I had opened up a new world to Emerson. Stealing had become a part of her daily life, whether she was thinking about it or acting on it.
Nathan had been the only good part and I had tried pushing her away from him. Maybe I wasn't cut out for something like this. Maybe I needed to just step away, tell the council I couldn't't fix things. They would erase everything, all the mistakes I've made and put her life back together. Or at least put it back on track where it would be if I hadn't messed with things. This assignment was horrible. It allowed us to play with people's lives and honestly we had no clue what we were doing. It would be better if there was more of an apprentice period. This would be so much easier if I had someone here to show me the ropes.
I felt the weight of my pocket, it was heavy with magic. The powder weighing them down. I couldn't believe how much I had fit in my pockets. Emerson had so much going on with helping her mother plan a wedding... all because we were able to get enough magic to wish things back to normal.
It felt wrong though that my magic supply had come from someone else committing crimes. When it was gambling it would be my own fault. Now Emerson was playing with my life and it hurt me. I was hoping that if we were able to stop this soon then there would be no harm. As long as I left it out of my report and the council didn't check too closely into my history they would never notice the sudden flux of magic. I just had to be careful.
This meant Emerson needed to be careful too.
I watched as her chest raises slowly, the adrenaline of stealing from the store had kept her awake for a while but she crashed pretty soon into the morning hours. I couldn't sleep though, fears of my entire world imploding kept me up. I watched the sun rise through the blinds of her bedroom, careful to not open them up too much. I didn't want anyone seeing in and I didn't want to wake Emerson with the blinding light.
I could feel the bags forming under my eyes, the darkness taking hold of my skin. My hair though a bright red was probably dull due to exhaustion. I would need to get some sleep some time today, but right now was not the time. I groaned as I stretched out my back. I needed to finish writing these contract. Emerson would have to sign one as soon as she woke up. We wouldn't be able to continue this assignment without the commitment from her that she wasn't going to steal anymore. We only had a few weeks left and if we could make the magic we have last for the rest of that time, then things would be good.
