Michael

  Michael sat on the edge of his bed, clutching his head with his hands. The nightmare gave him a headache. He hadn't dreamed of his mother in a long time. It was always the same dream, a green plain where the ruins of a great obelisk lay—the place where his family had been nearly wiped out. Thirsty, he fumbled in the darkness of his room, searching for the pitcher and glass on the nightstand beside his bed. He drank a couple of glasses of water. The water tasted awful. He collapsed onto the damp bed and looked up at the black ceiling. He was wet. The nightmare had made him sweat throughout the night. He rolled in the bed, looking for a dry spot, but found none. He grimaced. His head was killing him.

  In the darkness, he heard the roosters crowing in the henhouse, the dogs barking as they played behind the manor, and the wind rattling the windows. The thick curtains allowed only a sliver of light to filter through. He imagined it was after six in the morning. It was time to get up and help with the housework. But he was not ready to face his family. The dark was good. He liked her. She wouldn't ask him questions or care for him. She would just hold him in her heartless embrace and let him dwell in his self-pity all he wanted. It was what he needed at the moment.

  Knock, knock, knock

  Knock, knock, knock

  Someone was knocking at the door.

  Knock, Knock, Knock

  Knock, Knock, Knock

  Michael groaned and put a pillow over his head.

  Knock, Knock, Knock

  Knock, Knock, Knock

  Michael sat up in his bed. He didn't feel like asking who it was. He just watched the door.

  Bam! Bam! Bam! “Michael, open the damn door, or I’ll kick it down!” yelled a voice.

  Michael didn't move. He watched the shadows at the foot of the door. He counted two pairs of legs.

  Bam! Bam! Bam! The door shook in the frame, as if it were being kicked. Bam! Bam! Bam!

  “Who is it?” Michael finally asked.

  “It’s me, Ale. Get up already, we’re hungry.”

  “Get up, get up, get uuuuup!” shouted another voice. It was Julie.

  Michael frowned, thinking he'd misheard. And what does it have to do with me that they're hungry? He wondered as he stood up. He went to the wardrobe and put on some new clothes, throwing the old ones on the floor. Then he went to the door.

  “Are you going to open or not?” Helena asked.

  “I’m coming, I’m coming. Just a moment,” Michael said as he opened the door.

  He found Helena on the other side, with her arms crossed and making faces with her mouth. Julie imitated her.

  “Finally,” Helena said when she saw him. “Do you know how long I’ve been calling you?”

  “How long?” He asked with a yawn.

  "Uh, well, like five minutes, you know."

  “Five long minutes,” Julie added. “I’m hungry.”

  “What time is it?” Michael asked. The hallway looked clearly illuminated by sunlight. Either he had miscalculated the time, or he managed to catch some sleep.

  “Eight thirty,” Helena replied. “You overslept.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were expecting me for breakfast.”

  Helena scoffed. “And since when do we wait for you every time you fall asleep? We haven’t eaten ‘cause Agnes won’t let us.”

  “Mom has us grounded,” Julie said.

  Michael frowned. "And what's wrong with her this time?"

  “What do you think? She decided to go on strike until you confess where you've been.”

  “Is she still on that? I thought she'd forgotten about it.”

  “You know she’s not going to stop. And now she’s taking it out on the rest of the family.”

  “And what did Elsa, Natalia, and Grandpa say? I don’t think they’ll put up with the abuse, especially Grandpa.” He was surprised by Agnes’s attitude. She was becoming desperate.

  “No, she did cook for them, but except Natalia. She denied her the food. She blames her for your rebelliousness.”

  "And how did she take it?"

  “What do you think? She’s waiting for you in the kitchen. Agnes made it a condition that only you can use her kitchen. Otherwise, we’ll all starve to death.”

  “I’m hungry, hurry up!” Julie shouted.

  “See, we’re all suffering because of you. Why don’t you just tell us where you were?”

  "I’m sorry, but I have to decline. For our safety."

  “Well, now it's your turn to cook till you confess, or Agnes gets tired of pestering you, or Natalie kills you,” Helena said. “Be thankful it wasn't her who came looking for you. You would have woken up with the door broken down and a madwoman inside your room.”

  Michael let out a long sigh. “I understand, I understand. Let me clean the room, and I’ll run downstairs.”

  Helena glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "You're not going to make me come back, are you?"

  "I promise."

  Helena nodded and left. She reminded him of it again as she went downstairs. Julie, on the other hand, stayed behind. She looked at Michael with her bright green eyes.

  ?“What do you want?” he asked her.

  “Nothing,” she replied with an innocent smile.

  “And your sister?”

  “Downstairs, in the henhouse, I think.”

  “Doing her chores and yours as well, I suppose.”

  Julie shrugged. “We need to talk. It’s extremely important.”

  Michael stroked her head and turned away, leaving the door open for her to enter. “Have the service personnel arrived yet?” he asked.

  “Only those who work outside. Nelly and her family haven’t arrived yet,” Julie said as she closed the door.

  Michael stood over one of the beige wool rugs that spread over the walnut floor and looked around his room. It was large enough to hold all his furniture and still have room to spare. The room was modest in appearance, if compared to the rest of the house, yet Michael considered it his little sanctuary, and for that reason, he was always careful with its upkeep.

  An intense glow emanated from Michael, covering the entire room. Next, several objects began to move on their own volition, levitating and flying through the air from one side of the room to the other, as if guided by an invisible and mystical force under Michael's control. A bright mark was visible on the skin of his right hand. To waste energy and a charge on such a mundane spell. He smiled. But who am I kidding? Mundane spells are all I know.

  The silk velvet curtains were drawn back, and the windows opened, allowing the morning light and breeze to enter. Julie walked towards one of the windows. Her two pigtails flew up and began to spin. “No, stop!” she cried between giggles, grabbing her head.

  The pillows, bedspread, and sheets on Michael's four-poster bed rose up. The pillows shook themselves, and the bedspread and sheets stretched and folded themselves in the air. A feather duster floated over from a corner and gently swept across the bed and the two dark-oak nightstands by it. From the mahogany chest of drawers came out fresh sheets and a new bedspread, which spread out and settled over the mattress. The pillows descended slowly, coming to rest at the top of the bed.

  The laundry trunk next to the imported six-foot-tall mango wood wardrobe opened its mouth, and the clothes Michael wore to sleep rose from the floor and flew towards it; the bedspread and dirty sheets followed. Then the trunk slammed shut, locking away its treasure.

  A broom and dustpan joined the duster in the center of the room, and they began to dance around it, sweeping and cleaning the furniture, floors, walls, doors, and windows. The three companions moved in perfect sync.

  There were books and papers scattered over the tea table and three tufted armchairs on the opposite side of the bed, next to a dwarf bookcase filled with a wide range of books. Michael decided not to touch the place when he saw Julie moving towards it. The little girl tidied one of the armchairs and sat down. She saw the necklace that Denis had entrusted to Michael on the table. She picked it up and began to examine it, rubbing its surface with her tiny fingers.

  Michael walked to a window and rested his arms on the sill. The morning wind caressed his black hair, alleviating his headache. His bedroom was on the top floor of the manor, offering a vast view of the back of the house. From there, he could see the Rodwood forest gleaming green under the yellow sun. The great forest stretched for leagues like a carpet to the northern mountains, where the blue of the sky seemed to welcome the high peaks.

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  "What a great day," Michael said, taking a long breath.

  As he gazed from the window, he heard the dogs barking in the yard. They were running in circles around Esther. She was coming out of the henhouse with a wicker basket, probably full of eggs, and the dogs' antics made her work harder, as she tried to avoid them.

  Esther and the dogs crossed the yard, passing the oak behind the house. It seemed her aim was the door that led to the kitchen. As she drew near, she looked up and spotted him. She stopped. Her face had no expression, but Michael could feel her anger. It seemed she was also hungry. The girl raised a finger at him and said something. It was impossible to hear because of the distance, though Michael could clearly guess what she wanted to say: “Do not move. Wait, right there.”

  She went into the house.

  Michael moved away from the window and went to the black, golden-plated washbasin and pitcher near him to wash his face and brush his teeth. The room continued to clean itself. A towel flew to him, and he used it to dry his face. Next, a pair of boots and socks followed him over to where Julie was sitting. Michael moved the books that were covering one of the armchairs and sat down. The little girl continued to stare at the jewelry in her hands.

  The secret of the necklace didn't last long under Agnes and Natalia's watchful eyes. One afternoon, while Michael was in his workshop in the mansion's basement, engrossed in his research on the necklace, Julie sneaked in and surprised him. In a moment of carelessness, he had forgotten to lock the door, allowing the little girl to slip inside. She told him that her mother and aunt suspected he was up to something. He had been holed up in his workshop for several days, only coming out when it was time to eat or sleep. Fortunately, it was Julie they had sent to investigate. It didn't take much for Michael to win her loyalty; he merely had to tell her the truth about the necklace and who owned it. He made her promise not to tell anyone.

  “Do you see anything?” Michael asked as he put on his boots.

  “I try, but I can’t see anything. Yesterday I could see a tiny light, but today it won’t do anything,” Julie replied, glancing at the quartz. "Could it be that it broke?"

  “I don’t think so. I don’t know how to make the stone glow either. It only glows when it feels like it. It must have some trick I don’t know about, or maybe we’re just not good enough to light it.”

  “Haven’t you figured out what it is yet?”

  “No, I haven’t found anything,” Michael said, looking at the books, notebooks, and papers scattered around. “I don’t know what the hell that thing is. I know it’s an artifact, obviously from the engravings, but I don’t know what its function is. However, seeing all the engravings it has, I'm sure it is powerful.”

  “Why don’t you ask Emma? She should know.”

  “I want to see if I can solve it on my own first.”

  “But haven't you just said that you can't?”

  Emma was the most reasonable choice if he wanted to find out what the strange object was. There were very few things she didn't know, especially about Sayr and Spelldraw. That was why she was his majaádo teacher. However, Michael didn't want to involve her. The necklace could cause problems. Michael had already given Emma enough trouble with Denis. He didn't want to cause her any more. Besides, he thought the fewer people who knew about the necklace, the better. He took the necklace from Julie's hands and put it in his trousers pocket.

  ?“Tell me what you were going to say, ‘cause the captain is on her way,” he said.

  “Oh, yes… It’s about her. My sister is planning something mad.”

  Michael frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “She wants to sneak into the carpenter’s house.”

  “At Luke's house? But what's wrong with her? Is she mad?”

  “That’s what I told her. But it only made her angry.”

  Michael grabbed his head. He felt the pain getting worse. “You don't know why she made that decision?”

  “She says she saw something suspicious yesterday afternoon. A carriage dropped off lots of gigantic boxes at the carpenter’s home. She says something is wrong.”

  "Doesn't she know what was in the boxes?"

  Julie shrugged. “I don’t know. She didn’t tell me much.”

  “Luke's house doubles as a shop, and there's also his workshop at the back of the house. It's right to assume that the boxes contain products for the shop or the workshop. Do you know when she's going to do it?”

  “She said today. She wants to take advantage of the meeting to be held at the shrine to discuss the festival for Pact Day. She says that surely the whole village will be there, leaving the carpenter’s house alone.”

  “I have to admit it's a good plan…” Michael's eyes became wide. He recalled a little detail about Luke’s house that no one knew. He got up from the armchair and checked the almanac he had on the bookshelf.

  It was Sacrado, the 18th. Middle of the month. As every month around this time, Luke would leave for the city with Justin to buy supplies for the shop, workshop, and farm. Leaving his nephew alone with...

  “Oh, no,” Michael said. “This is serious.”

  “What, what? What’s wrong?” Julie asked.

  “Well, it’s just that—”

  ?The door burst open. Esther stormed in, her face contorted with rage. “Can you tell me what you’re doing?” she demanded, hands on her hips.

  “We’re sorry. We were—”

  “Wasting time, I see,” Esther said. Her gaze fell on Julie. “I can’t take my eyes off you for a second, you little brat. Don’t think you’re going to leave all your responsibilities to me again. Do you hear me?!”

  Julie shrank back in the armchair. “I’m sorry, sister,” she replied in a small voice.

  “Don’t give me that wounded cat look, you’re not fooling me. Don't confuse me with this idiot?” Esther said, pointing at Michael.

  “Hey, I’m not—”

  “And what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in the kitchen making breakfast by now. It’s your fault Mum is mad at us. Why don’t you stop messing around and tell her once and for all where you were? I don’t know what the problem is. Sometimes you can be as stubborn as a mule. The only thing missing is the braying.”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “Complicated is the situation we are in because of you. Can't you see that we are all suffering? Stop being selfish and confess already.”

  Michael shook his head, which enraged Esther even more. Her face turned red.

  "How can you be such an idiot?!" she yelled. Esther made a move as if she were going to hit Michael, but stopped herself. She took a deep breath and calmed down. "Forget it. I won't pressure you anymore. I'll let Natalie handle you." She looked around, noticing the magical event unfolding. "When are you going to finish?"

  “This will be enough,” Michael said, ending the spell. The broom, duster, and dustpan were the only things still moving in the room. The dustpan emptied its contents into a bucket by the door, then returned to its corner along its companions.

  “Esther, sit down. Please,” Michael said, pointing to the chair he was using.

  “We don’t have time. You have to—”

  “Sit down! I say.” Michael raised his voice.

  Esther's bravado evaporated in an instant under Michael's hard gaze. She sat down without replying.

  Michael went to the door and closed it. “Julie told me about what you’re planning to do today,” he said as he walked back to the armchairs.

  “Why did you tell him? I told you not to say anything,” Esther barked at her sister.

  Julie lowered her head. “I’m sorry,” she said softly.

  "It doesn't matter what she said to me. What matters is the stupid thing you're planning to do. Why the hell do you want to break into Luke's house? You know you could go to prison, don't you?

  “I know it’s crazy, but it has to be done. You’d do the same.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  "If you had seen those men, the ones who brought those boxes, you would also think something was wrong. They don't inspire confidence."

  “Nothing about Luke inspires you any confidence since Denis left,” Michael said. “He shouldn’t have told you the reason for his leaving.”

  “Don't get confused. This has nothing to do with Denis. It's that man. The carpenter is up to something strange. I'm sure of it. What happened with Denis just opened my eyes.”

  “And it also made you obsessed with him.” Michael chuckled. “You've been spying on Luke and his house ever since Denis left. It's a miracle he hasn't said anything yet.”

  “Listen. I know you find this funny, but it’s not. I can prove it. If you want, you can ask old Milton. It was thanks to him that I figured everything out.”

  Michael remained silent. He cleared the last armchair of papers and books and sat down. “Well, my Captain, you’ve got me intrigued. Tell me what happened.”

  “I was in the green when I saw Milton talking to two men in front of the Grandhouse. I had never seen them before. They talked for a while and then walked over to a carriage, waiting on the side of the road. The driver was watching them. The two men got into the carriage, and Milton went to speak to the driver. Milton said something while pointing to his right. The driver bowed in response and drove off in the opposite direction.

  “I went to Milton to ask him what was going on. The carriage was already far away when I arrived. Milton explained to me that the men were looking for Luke's shop. Apparently, they had been given the wrong address. They had been told it was the three-story property next to the green. Milton corrected them and told them that they had already passed the shop and needed to turn back, but because the carriage was so big, he recommended they follow the road until they left the village so they could turn around easily. He told me that the men didn't inspire him much confidence, especially the driver. He thought they were highway robbers when he saw them.

  “I didn’t quite understand what he meant, but when I saw them coming back down the road, I got chills, Michael. I’ve never seen such an ugly man in my life. He was bald, and he had a huge scar running from his forehead to his chin on the right side of his face. He was broad-shouldered, with large hands and hairy arms. The man stared at me like he wanted to devour me. Milton was right. Those men were robbers. I assure you they were, Michael.”

  “Milton thought that they were robbers?”

  “He did it, I swear.”

  If it weren't for Milton, Michael would have assumed Esther was lying to him or exaggerating the tale. She had embarked on a personal vendetta against Luke ever since she learned that Denis left because of him. Even so, he still didn't believe the whole story. He would have to check it with Milton when he saw him again.

  “And how many boxes are we talking about, and what size are they?” he asked.

  “Five. They were large. A little longer than this bookcase, but not as tall. It took four men to lift them off the carriage and carry them behind the house. Luke's apprentice helped them.”

  "How do you know they took them behind the house? Were you there?"

  Esther snorted. “Of course not. I spied on everything from a safe distance. I saw them being taken down through the sidegarden to the right of the house.”

  "And was Luke there?"

  “He was, and was acting strangely. He was pacing back and forth, looking everywhere. That's why I didn't get too close. That happened around late in the afternoon. There were people around, but I still wasn't comfortable getting near. And you know, some of the neighbours offered to help when they saw the men struggling with the boxes, but Luke stopped them. He was very insistent on that.”

  Michael scratched his jaw as he thought. The story had become interesting. It temporarily made him forget about his headache. “Maybe he was worried that someone would accidentally discover the contents of the boxes,” he said.

  Esther smiled from ear to ear. “Exactly. That's what I thought.”

  “But that doesn't change the fact that it's still madness to break into his house.” Michael watched her for a moment. “I’m not going to change your mind, am I?”

  Esther said nothing. She crossed her arms and looked towards the door.

  “I don’t feel like arguing with you today, Esther. I really don’t… I’ll do it.”

  Esther raised her eyebrows. She looked at Julie as if to ask if she heard the same thing. Julie was just as surprised.

  “The boxes should be in Luke’s workshop at the back of the house. I’ll sneak in there and check them for you. However, I want you to promise me that if I don’t find anything out of the ordinary, you’ll forget about your revenge against Luke. Do you agree?”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “Because you are my family. I promised to protect you. Besides, it doesn’t matter if I get caught; not many people in the village like me.” Michael stood up from the armchair. “Come on, we have to go. Natalie and Ale must be waiting for me in the kitchen.”

  Michael went to the door and opened it. He signaled for the sisters to go out first. Esther did not look happy. Julie smiled with a grimace. He took one last look around his room and made a mental note that later he would empty the dirty water in the washbasin, refill the pitchers with fresh water, and tidy up the books and papers over the bookcase. He closed the door and left.