Welcome to Almusilaa

Chapter Fifteen

Extra chapter and special announcement!

We stayed there talking to Phoenix for a while though never going into specifics about the plan. A customer came in for an appointment and we took that as our cue to leave, bidding Phoenix good bye. We returned to Abigail's lab after a short walk. Well, short by human standards. My feet hurt from the rough concrete against the pads of my paws.

Geez, I just did my cardio for the week I thought as I climbed down the stairs, puffing from the effort. Charlie looked down apologeticly before slowing her pace to a crawl. I gave her a nod of thanks.

Finally we came to the door and Charlie pushed it open. I looked around and I saw I was not the only one who was struggling with all of the walking. For every step Charlie took, we had to take two to three to cross the same distance. Most of us sat down on the cold concrete floor to rest but Nicole flopped down with no reservations, rolling over to lay on her back. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth as she panted in an attempt to catch her breath.

Lauren and Mrs. Suffrage looked over and smiled in greeting. Abigail on the other hand was so absorbed by her task that she didn't seem to realise that we had come back. She didn't look up until Charlie pulled out a chair across from her.

"Oh Charlie, you're back. Would you mind helping me with an experiment? I'm trying to figure out which material will hold magic for the longest." Abigail said.

"What's this for?" Charlie asked. Abigail was working on something on the table and I wanted to see so I jumped up on to the table. A few others jumped up as well to see what was going on.

Abigail had a weird copper tool in her hand and a piece of wood in front of her. The piece of wood was small, around the same size and thickness of a smartphone. Beside her was a glass bowl and in the glass bowl was a small contained fire. Abigail set the tool in the glowing coals of the fire before showing Charlie what she had done.

"I'm experimenting with making Flora more accessible." Abigail began. On the little piece of wood were the now semi familiar runes that Charlie had used to summon Flora.

"Mostly, to non-warlocks." I looked at Nicole and she returned my confused look. I knew that Charlie and Abigail could summon Flora but I didn't really understand much beyond that. Abigail must have seen our exchange because she began explaining.

"Not anyone can just write the runes somewhere and Flora will appear. You need to... charge? I think that's the best word- the runes with magic, but we're trying to make this more accessible to the other races who can't use magic, like werewolves and vampires." She explained. I didn't get it completely but I nodded my head politely.

"This will also make it easier for young warlocks to summon Flora. I've experimented a bit with these little blocks-" She said as she held up the piece of wood, "-and all I have to do is charge it like this-" she paused, rubbing her thumb over the burnt in runes. I watched as they glowed faintly before the front of the piece of wood disappeared. Flora was there, smaller then when she appeared on the wall. Abigail turned the little piece of wood around to show the back and sides of the piece of wood. It looked completely normal, except for the missing front.

"Hello Abigail." Flora said cheerily.

"Hello Flora, just giving these guys a demonstration." Abigail said before touching the wood again. Flora vanished, leaving the block of wood the same, though the runes had a faint glow that lingered before disappearing. Abigail continued with her explanation.

"But with werewolves and vampires, they obviously can't do that because they don't have magic." Abigail said.

"What about the Fae?" I asked.