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“What are those rocks?”
Geoffrey placed the crystal back in the bowl and covered it. “It’s a soul.”
The shock rocked Oliver back in his seat. “How?”
“It’s the blackest of magic. Someone is stripping the souls of familiars. And using them to control the beasts.”
Oliver thought of the cabinet full of crystals and stones. How many were there? Definitely hundreds, maybe more. He’d only taken three. Why those three? What of the others?
“Does that mean one of those is Rill’s?” Oliver asked, looking at the bird who had settled on his perch.
Rill looked up and beeped at him. An affirmative.
“I’m so sorry, buddy,” he said.
“How do we give the souls back?” Oliver asked.
Geoffrey shrugged. “I don’t know, my boy.”
“Rill chose them. I assume he has two friends still in whatever horrible experiment this is.”
Geoffrey nodded slowly, thoughtfully.
“How do we stop this, this, horror?”
Geoffrey perked up and looked at him, his usual humor returning. “Leave that to me, it’s the tricksy part. You, are going to stay here, work with Rill, and be ready to give your statement in court.”
Oliver felt useless. But he knew nothing of supernatural law, and nothing about magic, so he was useless. He sagged in his seat. Then he thought of all the crystals and stones the birds had dropped on the roof among the coins. Were some of those souls as well?
“Can you tell a soul from a regular old crystal?” he asked the older wizard.
Geoffrey nodded.
Oliver plucked up the crystal he’d retrieved from the roof and handed it to his uncle. “What do you think?”
His uncle clutched it and closed his eyes. Then they flew open surprised. “This is no familiar soul; it’s a wizard.”
“Well, shit.” Oliver said, thrusting his hands through his mussed-up hair. “I think Rill stumbled on something big.”
“I think you are right. We are going to have to trust some people to get this fixed, but it’s dangerous. We don’t know who’s involved or what they’ll be willing to do to keep this secret.”
“Yeah.”
After that, his uncle left, the wizard soul in his hand. Oliver had to trust his uncle knew what to do since he surely did not. He looked at Rill, still grateful for the bird, although this level of crazy wasn’t in his comfort zone. What was he going to do? He was poor, undertrained, a crappy wizard, and he worked at Walmart. He wasn’t cut out for this level of intrigue and danger. He stood and paced.
Well, at least he’d hidden the souls they’d stolen, but looking around his apartment, it all seemed inadequate especially if multiple powerful wizards were involved, or worse the entire Guild. What a disaster. All he wanted was to learn to be a better wizard, and instead, he’d stumbled into something dark, scary, and entirely out of his depth.
He had to work in the morning, but he was too amped up to sleep or rest, so he called in sick. He was one of their more dependable employees, so his boss was shocked, but he had tons of sick leave, and this warranted taking it.
He slept fitfully and finally got up and went for a run. He hadn’t heard from his uncle for almost twenty-four hours and was growing worried. When Geoffrey finally knocked on his door, his anxiety was so tight, he nearly had a heart attack.
Oliver opened the door, his trepidation so high, he felt sick.
His uncle handed him a paper. He took it with shaking hands. “Hold tight to this, study it. We’re going before the High Wizard.”
Chapter Eleven
Oliver had a set of wizard’s robes that he’d never taken out of the package. He was waiting until he was less of a shit wizard before he wore them. But Geoffrey insisted he be appropriately attired. At least the robes weren’t as uncomfortable as a suit and tie.
