659Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1JuWOXUVrj
«Chapter 4»
⟨⟨New Moon⟩⟩659Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmgwGeXktP2
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His cloak flapped behind him, much like it had on the beach.
There was no moon in the sky and therefore no light to accentuate his features, but I could almost imagine the upward curve of the corner of his lips and the knowing grey eyes.
"You are late," I said.
"Ran into some Bradzees on the way. Annoying little fellows they are." He shrugged and dropped on the floor next to me.
"Bradzees?"
"Yes. I caught one for you. He's a little one. I'll make sure to return her to her family." He shuffled inside his cloak and brought out the creature, barely as long as my pinky.
I gasped. "What is that?"
"Want to hold it?" He thrusted his hand towards me. I jerked back. The creature seemed to be squirming in his hold.
"No!" But curiosity got better of me. "Yes," I said meekly.
I had not realized it, but everything seemed to slowly be clearing out of the blackness around me. The features of everything had become more prominent and I could clearly see even the briefest of the embroideries on the magician's cloak.
Now, in my hand I held what could clearly be defined as a miniaturized monkey with brown fur and only lacking a tail. I opened my palm to get a good long look at it. And that was when things went sideways.
"That little troll!" Etaine cried out. I could only watch as it jumped out of my hand and ran across the roof, away from us. It disappeared in a blink.
He scrambled to his feet and ran after the little creature. He came to a stop at the edge of the roof.
"How could you let it go?" He turned towards me.
"It slipped!" I defended.
"Slipped? I trusted you! I thought you would be careful with the little guy!" He had started pacing then. He took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. "He had a family! His family's going to kill me. I mean, really, REALLY kill me. I am blaming you." He groaned.
"Quiet down, would you? And quit pacing. It's no use waking my whole family! Let's just calm down, first."
"Calm down? How do you propose I calm down when I am going to be dead in the morning because SOMEONE thought it appropriate to let a small week-old Bradzee just SLIP through their fingers!"
"Well, if you could just be still for a bit, that little Bradzee, as you call it, would be a teeny bit easier to find!"
"You want to LOOK for it? You must be more out of it than others think I am! Let me tell you this. The Bradzees are annoying little pains for people like me who know about them and their little Brains have so much unrequited mischief up their sleeves, they have the ability to have someone KILLED and it would look like an accident. And that is exactly what everyone is going to think happened to me when they find my body washed up at the shore of the Waverly because YOU were not capable of doing the simplest task of taking care of the Bradzee!"
While he had wandered off to the other side of the rooftop, I stood at the corner, patiently waiting for him to stop his rant, with my hands folded behind me.
"Care for some breaths?" I asked finally.
He exhaled. "Fine. Yes, I am sorry. We should start looking for it."
"No need," I said and brought my hands forward for him to see.
The magician gasped and ran towards me. He stopped mere inches away before snatching the Bradzee from my hand.
He hurriedly stuffed the little guy inside his cloak before looking back at me.
"How did you find it?" He asked. He was honestly surprised.
"It was really just hiding behind the drainage pipe," I shrugged.
"It couldn't have! These creatures are really hard to find, you know? And infinitely so when you are looking for them."
"As it is with most things in life." I laughed and dropped to the ground again. "I really think that you give them more credit than is necessary."
"Au contraire! I believe that you are the one who gives yourself less credit than is due to you."
"I will take your word for it. But the Bradzee... That was real? And not just my dream?"
"You think you are dreaming?"
"What else could it be?" I shrugged. "It is not really often when you see creatures such as that wandering the Earth."
"No, these Bradzees," he said, motioning to his cloak. "You come across them more often than you may come across any other fellow human being. They are everywhere. Everybody has seen them properly at least once in their lives, they just dismiss it to be a trick on their eyes."
The realization dawned. "So that trick you pulled with throwing that ball from your sleeve at that unimaginable speed... You had a Bradzee in there, didn't you?"
He winked and a white grin lit his face.
I was proud.
"Tell me, Etaine," I said. "Are there more creatures by the likes of that Bradzee?"
"Oh, you would not believe me if I told you!"
"I have seen the Bradzee. I'm ready to believe now."
He sighed and leaned back on the stone roof, folding his hands under his head. "I can tell you about the creatures living in the depths of the ocean and those which wander the roofs of towns such as Waverly, but this late at night, I am ready to bet that you would have fallen asleep before I could even begin."
I nodded and yawned. I fell to the floor beside him and curled up. "You are right."
He hummed. "You know I have been waiting for you to ask me something."
"What 'something'?"
"You really don't want to ask it?"
"I want to ask you a lot of things. I just do not understand what you want me to ask you."
He shifted to face me. "You really want me to spell it out for you?"
"You know, I pride myself into producing a good answer to every question I can. It is seldom that I do not know something. So when I admit to not knowing what question you expect me to be asking you, you should take my word for it."
"Alright, then. The question is 'why me?'"
"Huh?"
"Well, you know, out of the fifty or so people present in the market yesterday, why did I chose you?"
"See, now that is a question which I know the answer to. But I'm stuck with two options. One, which is the obvious one, is that you wanted to buy some fruits. And second, for which I would judge you immensely if it turns out to be correct, is that you were intrigued by the fact that I, out of all the people present, was not caught up in your show of lies. You felt offended and tried to impress me by stealing those fruits without having me know, which clearly did not work."
"Yes, clearly. And on that matter, I still do not know how you knew it!"
I yawned again. "Well, you still have until the next New Moon to figure it out."
"Why until then?"
"For one thing, I do not believe that you would be able to figure it out any time soon; and for another, my father has decided to move to the next town since our business 'does not seem to be growing,' as he puts it."
"So you'll leave then?
"Why? Have you already become so attached to me, Magician?"
"No. In all honesty, I find you rather annoying. But not as much as the Bradzees yet. I just worry that the time may not be enough to prove to you that my magic is no trick."
"No. It's tricks AND charm, that's what."
"You think I'm charming?"
"The town thinks you are charming. I receprocate your feeling on the 'finding you annoying' part."
He chuckled. "Will you be minding the shop tomorrow, Cloi?"
"No. All fruits sold out and another crop is ready to be harvested. My father has told me to store up some water from the lake for the new batch of pumpkins."
"It's perfect then! You're going through the woods, I presume?"
"Is there any other way?" I raised my brow.
I saw him roll his eyes before closing them. "I shall accompany you tomorrow."
I hummed in response and closed my own eyes.
"Clio?" He spoke after some time.
"Yes?" I breathed out.
"Do you see any stars?"
"No," I replied without opening my eyes.
Then I heard shuffling beside me. When I opened my eyes, the masked magician was nowhere to be seen.
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