Chapter 0.07
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That morning, Cassandra had left the house, saying something about needing to spend some time looking at art to bring her head back out of depression. The girl struggled with it, Bella knew, had ever since her early teen years, and while it was unfortunate, she’d been learning decent coping mechanisms for dealing with it. Mostly she channelled her feelings into artwork and music, and Bella looked forward to what things she accomplished that way.
As it was, Bella took the opportunity to leave the house, too. And there was a special place she intended to go, somewhere she hadn’t been in a long time. Cassandra was learning about her heritage, and perhaps it was time Bella remembered hers.
A bright flash of light, and Bella appeared in front of magical headquarters. She hadn’t seen this place in so long. Her gaze drifted around; the bits and pieces of broken bridge and building weren’t new, but seemed to have progressed a good deal since her last visit. How long ago was that now? So long she’d forgotten just how long, it’d seem. Bella breathed in, and smiled to herself. It was nice to be back, even if she had mixed feelings and butterflies over it.
Bella took another breath in, and headed into the building. Somewhere in there, she knew, were the three Sages, and perhaps it was time to drop in on them and say hello. Nothing had changed on the inside since last she was here. Perhaps there were a few extra bookshelves, but that wasn’t much of a difference at all.
As she turned a corner, she found herself face to face with Simeon Silversweater, the Sage of Practical Magic. “Oh! It’s nice to see you, Simeon,” she greeted, smiling brightly.
“Well I’ll be,” Simeon answered, smiling almost as brightly. “If it isn’t Miss Bella Bachelor.”
“Mrs. Goth now,” Bella corrected.
“Oh, yes, I remember, you married Mortimer,” Simeon said, thoughtfully. “How’s he doing these days?”
Bella smiled, one eyebrow arching upward in apparent amusement. “He’s not as young anymore,” she said, “but he likes to think he is. He’s been writing a lot of books these days, mostly short stories.”
“That’s good,” Simeon answered. “You’ve had kids I’m sure.”
“Two,” Bella replied. “A girl, Cassandra, and a boy Alexander. Alexander’s still a boy, but Cassandra’s nearly a young woman now.” It was hard to believe her little girl was almost all grown up. Maybe they could go lingerie shopping sometime soon. That was a wild thought. It wasn’t like Cassandra had shown a lot of interest in the other gender. Bella wondered if maybe she never would, or perhaps she liked her own gender. That was a possibility.
“I’m glad your life’s been going well, Bella,” Simeon said, distracting her from her thoughts.
Bella smiled again. Simeon was always very nice to her, but she had a feeling it was because she was a pretty lady, and that was it. Lots of male Sims she knew had a crush on her long before she married Mortimer. It was almost amazing nobody had gotten into a fight with Mortimer over it; unless they had and she’d missed it. Mortimer was a fairly skilled duellist. Maybe the only one that could defeat him was –
“Bella?” another voice piped up. The mess of blond curls told her who it was easily enough, and she gave him a smile, too.
“Morgyn, how nice to see you!” she exclaimed. He might look mostly girly, but he was definitely male, and he’d known that even a long time ago.
Morgyn looked the same as always, albeit a bit more mature. He still had that strangely mischievous twinkle in his eyes he’d had when they were kids. Though his voice was different, and…
“Oh my gosh!” Bella said, gasping slightly. “Did you get the operations?”
“I did!” Morgyn answered, positively beaming. “I mostly match now.”
“I’m so happy for you!” Without much warning, Bella reached over and scooped Morgyn into a hug. Morgyn laughed brightly.
“I think you’re almost happier than I was,” he said.
“Nope,” Simeon answered, smirking wryly. “You were over the moon for at least three years straight. I had to listen to you giggling to yourself and mumbling about you’re a boy now for a few too many nights for me to accept her excitement is stronger.”
Morgyn almost turned pink. “Thanks Simeon.”
“No problem,” Simeon answered. “Wouldn’t want you losing touch with reality there.”
Bella giggled. It was great to see them, for sure. “Where’s L.?”
“Ah, probably out in Glimmerbrook,” Simeon answered. “She got married.”
“Oh, did she?” Bella asked.
“Some twerp named Don Lothario,” Morgyn answered, sounding annoyed.
“Oh.” Everyone knew that name. Why Katrina put up with him and his stunts, that one Bella never figured out, but on the other hand, she seemed to be sweet on him, and not just into him for his uh, assets.
“They had a baby, too,” Simeon said.
Bella couldn’t help the frown. Seemed Don’s ways weren’t changing anytime soon, though it was surprising Don had gotten married, especially after having a baby. (Bella just assumed the baby came before the marriage, that was pretty Don-like.) “Well, maybe I’ll catch her the next time I’m by,” she said. “If… of course, I can come by again.”
“Of course!” Simeon said, almost at the exact same time as Morgyn.
“Absolutely,” Morgyn said, nodding.
“Any of the Goths are absolutely welcome any time,” Simeon said.
“My daughter’s aware of her heritage now,” Bella said. “She’ll be coming this way sooner or later, I suspect. Even if only to visit Caster’s Alley.” She certainly had all the training she’d need available to her in the form of her parents. No matter what it was she wanted to do, they could help her, though Mortimer had mostly mastered untamed magic, and wasn’t so great at the other two branches. If Cassandra wanted to master one of those, she might have to visit the Sages anyway.
“We’ll be looking forward to it,” Morgyn said. “Even if it is only for Caster’s Alley.”
“I have no doubts,” Bella said. “Mortimer and I can probably teach her some things ourselves, but knowing our luck, she’ll want to specialise in practical magic or something.”
* * *
“I’m sure you’re not here just for a social call,” Simeon eventually said, handing Bella a glass of water. The three, Simeon, Bella, and Morgyn, had settled down in one of the libraries to catch up with one another. All of them had gone to school together, though Bella and Morgyn were notably more vain than Simeon was. Either that or he saw no practical use to youth potions, the world may never know.
“Of course,” Bella said, taking the glass gratefully. Simeon sat down, and Bella lightly tapped the glass rim. “You’re aware of Circe’s actions I presume?” she asked. Both Morgyn and Simeon nodded, though they glanced between one another in curiosity. Nobody had spoken of Circe since her banishment from Magic Realm, and it was strange someone felt the need to discuss her now. Bella breathed in.
“Well, she’s been sighted in Forgotten Hollow. I don’t know what she intends to do in Forgotten Hollow, but I can take a few guesses. Becoming the Sage of Untamed Magic was her life’s work, you both know that as well as I do. Unfortunately I think she’s gotten a bit overly ambitious, if you know what I mean. Vladislaus is one of the oldest vampires alive today and he runs Forgotten Hollow. I think she means to become a vampire.”
Simeon and Morgyn glanced at one another. “I’m not sure what we’re going to do with this information,” Simeon said.
“Give her another chance,” Bella replied.
“That sounds very dangerous,” Simeon answered.
“Vampire magic doesn’t have the same restrictions that spellcaster magic does,” Bella explained. “I know no one wants to think about it, but she could wreak serious havoc if left alone and Vladislaus decides to take her under his wing. We could have a vampire spellcaster war, and that’s the last thing anyone needs.”
“I’m not sure giving Circe her magic back will solve anything,” Simeon said. “And Morgyn is the new Sage of Untamed Magic. We won’t ask him to step down.”
“No, of course not,” Bella said. “I wouldn’t ask that either, I’m sure Morgyn’s doing a fine job. It’s just that now she’ll need something to do with herself. And I think perhaps giving her something to do with herself, rather than letting her to her own devices, might be a safer option.”
Morgyn looked thoughtful for a moment, and then tilted his head. “If we give her her magic back,” he said, “she could theoretically become an assistant for the Sages. I wouldn’t mind having one of those around.”
“An assistant?” Simeon asked, looking at Morgyn incredulously.
“Sure,” Morgyn said. “Headquarters don’t clean themselves you know, and there are always young spellcasters around to teach magic to. She’d be a Sage in all but name, and a little more mobile than we are.”
Simeon looked less than thrilled with the idea. “I wouldn’t want to do anything without L. around,” he said.
“Okay, well, I’ll go with it,” Morgyn said, “and if anything goes wrong I guess it’s my problem.”
“This is the only problem with you,” Simeon said, looking annoyed. “Always doing whatever you want.”
“Hey, I never said I wasn’t suited to my magic branch.” There was a reason untamed magic was the one Morgyn had gone for, and nobody could say it wasn’t fitting. Morgyn was probably the wildest and least behaved of the Sages. L. mostly kept up with him, but certainly didn’t manage to surpass him.
“Unfortunately,” Simeon said, tone drawling. “We’re supposed to come to these sorts of decisions as a collective whole, you know. It isn’t Morgyn the One-Man Sage Team, it’s the Sages, plural. Count them, one two three, there are three of them, and you’re only one!”
Bella tried not to laugh. They still bickered like siblings. At least that much hadn’t changed any.
Morgyn’s eyes rolled, the blond making hand motions that indicated Simeon’s rambling was going in one ear and out the other. All Morgyn heard was blah blah blabbity blah… besides, if one wanted to get technical about it, this sounded like Bella was asking them for a favour. Bella never asked them for a favour, and Morgyn was perhaps a little too enthusiastic about seeing it handled.
Whatever Bella Goth wanted, she tended to get, as it happened, and in Magic Realm, it wasn’t much different. But of course, Bella was also a member of the Five Families. Goth, Crowley, Bachelor, Crumplebottom, and Alistair all had a hand in shaping and founding Magic Realm. None of them lived now. Bella was rumoured to have, besides her Bachelor blood, Crowley blood from her mother Jocasta, but it was hard to say for sure. The Crowleys had been destroyed some time ago. By Circe, if Morgyn remembered correctly.
Morgyn was curious enough to go along with it. Simeon may not like it, but Bella had a point. Circe was dangerous, and Circe with vampire mind control powers was likely to become even worse. Some spellcasters were quite dangerous to vampires, such as Mortimer Goth and Morgyn, but those that were dangerous to vampires were dwindling in number, and soon there’d be none of them left to protect the ones that weren’t.
“I’m more interested in what she’s doing,” Morgyn said, eventually. “Vladislaus is notoriously difficult to get along with.”
“If I recall,” Simeon said, “so is Circe.”
Bella shook her head. “Not exactly,” she said. “Circe’s easy enough to get along with if you have something she wants. But I guess that’s the hard part.” Having something Circe wanted was a mystical art long lost to time, almost. “I wouldn’t know about Straud,” Bella said. “What I know about vampires is pretty slim, and Vladislaus even more so.”
“I can’t say I’m terribly familiar with them either,” Morgyn said, tapping his leg in thought. “They stay away from us, and we tend to stay away from them, that’s all I know.” Truthfully, that was all he had to know. The rest was unnecessary detailing.
“In any case, Circe knows enough to be dangerous to Magic Realm,” Bella said. “That’s the only reason I’m asking this, so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
“I had no doubts,” Morgyn replied.
“Neither did I,” Simeon said.
“Good,” Bella said. “I’ll volunteer for the task of locating her. I’ll let you know how it goes later. In the meantime, take care of yourselves.” Bella would suggest a ward or two, but the Magic Realm had plenty.
As she stood and moved to leave, Morgyn caught her hand. He gave her a pointed look. “You need to be careful, too.”
“Don’t be silly,” Bella answered, laughing lightly. “I always am.”
Sometimes, not enough.
* * *
That evening, Bella had an extra spring to her step. She was as cheerful as could be, flouncing around the house, and come bed time, she twirled into the bedroom and happily fell into the seat at her vanity to start taking her jewellery out and putting them all back where they belonged. Mortimer was on the sofa by the windows, looking over something. He glanced up when she came in, and looked mildly perplexed at her happily humming over there.
“You seem to be in a good mood,” he commented, his pen in his teeth as he rifled through some papers.
Bella smiled. “I am,” she answered. “I went to visit Magic Realm today.” And she’d had quite an interesting conversation with a couple of the Sages. It was unfortunate L. wasn’t there, but she was sure there’d be time to catch up with L. later.
“Did you?” Mortimer asked, one eyebrow raising in surprise. “I figured you wouldn’t go back there.” So far, none of them had. Bella had lost her family in the fight when the Bachelors and Goths left Magic Realm. But they were the only two of the original five families left. (No one knew where aunt Agnes was. She may still be alive, but she was certainly childless and certainly barren.)
“Cassandra and Alexander might visit there someday, and I was curious how things were going,” Bella explained.
“So how were they?” Mortimer asked. She’d already gone, and he could admit some curiosity himself.
“Falling apart,” Bella said, sighing, “as usual. Morgyn was made Sage of Untamed Magic after Circe, apparently.”
Mortimer grunted. “He’s probably a better choice.” Morgyn always was a very good spellcaster, Mortimer had to give him that. He’d been good enough to almost keep up with Mortimer, but he was getting too old to think about becoming a sage of all things. That was for those more spritely spellcasters to manage.
“Oh, Morgyn had surgery, and is now mostly physically male, too.”
“That’s good then,” Mortimer answered. Morgyn had been born female, but insisted he was male from early teenhood. Mortimer never had a reason to doubt the idea. Surely Morgyn knew better than Mortimer did. “How are Simeon and L.?”
“L. got married,” Bella said. “I hear, to one Don Lothario.” Bella made a face.
Mortimer almost matched that expression, his eyebrows drawing together, one side of his nose raising. “Ew.”
“I did not say it, but I was definitely thinking it.” Sure, Don Lothario was physically attractive, always had been. Nobody could deny that much, but on the flip side, Don was also a player and certainly wasn’t going to be held down by no marriage thing. He was good if you were looking for a good time and that was it, but nothing else. What was interesting was L. had apparently managed to get him to marry her. Bella had to wonder if that had… magical assistance. “Simeon’s the same as always,” Bella went on. “A little chubbier than I remember, though.”
“It figures he’d gain weight,” Mortimer said. “There isn’t much to do around Magic HQ but read and charm the brooms into dancing.”
“I’ve never seen anyone charm brooms into dancing,” Bella said, laughing a little.
“Really?” Mortimer asked. “It’s amusing, you should try it out sometime. My friend Mark and I used to make the brooms at HQ do the dance of the sugar plum fairy. Nice magical practice, too.” Mortimer stacked his papers back together, marked his place in his book, and set it on the table.
“That’s an exciting adventure I was unaware you’d ever had,” Bella said, dropping the last bit of her jewellery into the jewellery box and closing it. Mortimer stood up and stretched out, sitting down on his side of the bed.
“Sure, I’ve gotten into a lot of adventures you were unaware of,” he said, settling down. “I fell out of a tree when I was nine, and busted my jaw.” That was why it was a little oddly shaped.
“Oh,” Bella said, tilting her head a little at him. “Huh. Anyway, I went to see if I could negotiate with the sages.”
“Negotiate what?” Mortimer asked. That was odd, he didn’t think there was anything to negotiate.
“I asked them to give Circe her magic back,” Bella answered, “and give her another chance at HQ. I’m going to go find her in Forgotten Hollow later and let her know.”
“What?” Mortimer asked, sitting up in alarm. “Bella, that’s a crazy idea.” She couldn’t be serious!
“I just think if she had another chance to prove herself,” Bella argued, “she’d rise to the occasion instead of falling to whatever depravity Straud has in mind. Vampire magic doesn’t have the same restrictions. And becoming a Sage was Circe’s life ambition! Maybe it all just got to her head.”
Mortimer almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but then, this was Bella. He shook his head a little. “Bella, honestly.” He didn’t even know what to say. “This is why I love you, it really it is, you always see the best in people. As much as it pains me to say it, though, she almost killed you.”
Bella frowned slightly, standing and reaching out to pat his cheek. “But she didn’t, Mortimer,” Bella whispered. “There’s good in her somewhere, I know it!” There had to be. “I know it is.”
Mortimer loosed a sigh, reaching up to take his wife’s hand, kissing her palm. “I know you believe that, more than anything. But Bella, that good in her needs to be outside of her, too.”
Though sadness crept into her brown eyes, Bella knew he was right. Her gaze fell to their hands. He hadn’t let hers go, and she wasn’t upset about that in the least. She liked being close to Mortimer. “You’re right,” she admitted. “But it will never have the opportunity to be outside of her if no one gives her a chance.”
“We gave her chances, Bella,” Mortimer argued. “She destroyed the Crowleys, went hunting the Alistairs down like animals, and the Charms too, if I recall. It’s a little bit too late for chances, my love.”
Bella shook her head. “I refuse to give up. I know you don’t like this, I’m sorry, but somewhere in there, she’s still my friend.”
“No, she isn’t!” Mortimer’s voice raised slightly. He took a moment, closed his eyes, and breathed out slowly. He was getting a little frantic about this, and losing control of his emotions wouldn’t lend well to communicating effectively, he knew this.
“Bella,” he started again, “please think about this a little more. If she turns against you, then what? You can’t defeat her by yourself, and you probably don’t have the heart to fight her anyway. Tell you what, let me come with you. Please.”
“You don’t have -“
Mortimer shook his head. “Yes, I do. I can’t lose you.”
“Oh Mortimer,” Bella whispered, sighing. “You won’t.”
“You don’t know that,” he said. “I wish it was that simple, but it isn’t, and I can’t take the chance.”
“You’re so busy already with the publisher anyway, and -“
“I’m never too busy for you, flower,” Mortimer said. “You and the kids, Bella, you’re all that matters to me in this life. I can’t lose you.” He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t face a world Bella wasn’t in. He wanted to think that, if he did lose Bella, he’d still be there for the kids, but while he may not do anything unspeakably stupid, he would likely never be the same. Inevitably, some of the weight would be put on Cassandra’s shoulders, and it wasn’t her weight to bear.
“Okay,” Bella finally conceded. “I’ll wait for you, and we’ll go together.”
“That’s all I can ask.” He could ask her not to go, sure, but he knew that she wouldn’t ever give up. And it was that insistence that everyone had good in them somewhere that made her such a vibrant light.
