A Lesson in Magic (by Kit Bryan) novel Chapter 31

A Lesson in Magic

Lesson 31- Only colour on paper, not on yourself or the furniture.

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Since I’m awake and I honestly have nothing better to do, I go join Laura to get the bar ready for the night. I wander in and find her wiping down the bar which is completely covered in little spots of dust.

“What the hell? But it was totally clean last night! I made sure of it.” I say horrified. Did I screw up? Use the wrong cleaner or something? I don’t know how

it could get so dirty so fast! Laura is scrubbing and looks kind of pissed off. It seems like cleaning the bar is taking a lot of elbow grease. Laura gives a frustrated sigh and throws her cleaning cloth onto the bar looking totally disgusted.

“No, no. It’s not your fault. It’s these damn dust sprites. They live in the rafters and whenever this place is empty I swear they have dance parties on this

bar or something. It’s not just regular dust either, it sticks. I don’t know how it sticks so much but it’s a nightmare to scrub off.” She groans. I look at the

spots again. Not spots, footprints. Little tiny ones. How big are dust sprites? What do they look like? I’m determined. I want to see one.

“Where are they now? I want to see!” I say eagerly as I grab a cloth and start helping her scrub the bar. She’s right, this stuff sticks horribly. Laura laughs.

“Good luck with that. They’re notoriously shy. If they were easy to spot, I would have caught one of the little buggers by now and POLITELY asked them to keep their feet off the bar.” She grumbles. She says politely but she looks murderous. I suspect that her version of ‘asking‘ might be a little more aggressive

than she’s saying.

“Why do they climb all over the bar?” I question.

“They only do it when it’s perfectly clean. I’m starting to think that they just like making a mess.” She sighs. I start to form a plan.

“How big are they?” I ask and Laura shrugs, holding up her hands to gesture something about the size of an orange.

“Hmm… I’m going to catch one.” I declare. She rolls her eyes.

“Yeah, sure you are. I’ll believe it when I see it. Damn little pests.” She grumbles.

A woman on a mission, I rush out to the back to see if I can find Kyle or Torin. I find them both in the kitchen.

“Hey I need someone to do me a favour.” I announce loudly. Kyle jumps and almost knocks over a plate then turns to glare at me. Torin just turns to look at

me, a blank expression on his face.

“Right… Well I need someone to go shopping for me before everything closes. I’d go myself but.., Well, you know… Kyle?” I turn to him hopefully. He scoffs

and shakes his head.

“Hell no. I have way too much to do. Order whatever it is online and wait a few days.” He says grumpily. I’ve noticed he’s always more cranky when he’s in the kitchen. Maybe because he’s focussing? I don’t know. I turn to Torin.

“Torin? Could you go? I’d order it online but I really want it tonight. I can walt if I HAVE to, but I’d rather not.” I confess. When I ask Torin, Kyle inhales a sharp breath and begins to choke. Torin is standing a little in front of him and since they’re both facing me he can’t see Kyle’s face which has gone pale. He also can’t see Kyle mouthing at me to shut up and to just leave. I ignore him. As far as I can tell, Torin is the least busy person here right now. It’s not like it’s a difficult task. Torin glances sideways at Kyle and then in the general direction of the bar where Laura is still cleaning.

“Is it important?” He asks seriously. His tone is almost pained.I forgot that he hates leaving this place with people in it. Other than me apparently. I shrug.

“Not really, just something that would make me happy. But it’s fine if you can’t go. I’ll understand.” I try to stay cheerful but a bit of disappointment is definitely leaking through into my tone.

“Would you be okay here without me?” He asks awkwardly and I raise an eyebrow. Is he actually considering going? I already told him it isn’t really

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Lesson 31- Only colour on paper, not on yourself or the furniture.

important. Still, I answer his question.

“I’d be fine. We all would be.” I assure him. He looks nervous and grumbles a bit, but he agrees to go shopping for me. Delighted, I beam a smile at him and

explain what I want him to get for me.

“I’ll be back in less than an hour. Laura knows how to open but… Maybe tell her to wait until I get here. If there are customers they can wait an extra few

minutes.” he decides. Apparently letting us be here alone is one thing, but customers too? That’s too much for him? Interesting. Kind of rude to the people

waiting to get in though…

“We still don’t know who is trying to hurt you. We shouldn’t let just anyone in unless we know it’s safe.” He mutters and I melt. Aww, I take it back. He isn’t being rude, he’s being sweet. Doing my shopping and delaying opening so that I stay safe. I’m fairly convinced that he is secretly a giant teddy bear, no

matter how intimidating he is on his first impression.

Torin leaves and Kyle turns on me.

“What the hell are you thinking? You can’t send TORIN to run your little errands!” He hisses the words at me and I roll my eyes at him.

“Why not?” I say defiantly and Kyle groans, dragging a hand down his face like I’m stressing him out. Like he just can’t comprehend my level of stupidity.

“It’s not like he minded. He’s really nice.” I say affectionately. Kyle scoffs.

“Nice? He barely tolerates us. I’m fairly sure that the only reason he keeps me around is because he likes my cooking, and Laura is only here because people are too scared of the demon to drink anything he makes! He is NOT nice, he’s kind of an asshole!” Kyle argues. I shrug.

“Well he’s been kind to me. Maybe he would be nicer to you if you didn’t call him names behind his back and flinch every time he so much as looks at you.” 1 comment with more than a little bit of sass. Kyle scoffs again and turns back to his cooking, silently dismissing me. Apparently he is done with me and the entire conversation. Well that’s fine with me. I don’t think I want to talk to him while he’s being so pig headed anyway. I head back to the front of the bar to let Laura know that she doesn’t need to hurry so much, and so I can help clean. I’m determined that tonight, the bar will be SPOTLESS.

Torin makes it back only a few minutes after our usual opening time. He rushes to unlock the main doors.

“I left your shopping by your bedroom door.” He tells me as he takes his usual seat at the bar.

“You aren’t going to ask what I want them for?” I ask him and he shrugs.

“They seem pretty self explanatory to me, although I don’t know why you would need so many.” He adds. I grin.

“I guess you’ll find out if my plan works.” I decide. Torin looks curious but people are arriving and I have work to do, so we will have to chat later.

Comments

Leslie Williams

Hmm, he said he left the items by her door but the last 2 items for her were left in her room.

7 days ago

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