Scars, Spells and Secrets

Chapter 8

The next day, Florence took Elizabeth to get her ring enchanted

The younger witch had fully expected them to go to the fairy market, but instead was ushered to get into her landlady's beat up yellow hatchback. The ride was a rather long one, taking them deep into the city. Elizabeth took the hour or so of the journey to lightly nap, having been far too anxious to sleep the night before. She'd briefly considered calling her doctor and leaving a message requesting something to help calm her nerves, but had a shock of fear as she'd remembered how her visit had ended. However, here in the vehicle half as old as she was the girl was able to rest while half-listening to some twangy old country.

When they arrived, Florence had to lightly shake her awake.

"Sorry," Elizabeth yawned from behind her hand. She climbed out of the car, stretching her long limbs to alleviate some of the stiffness. She was surprised to find them in an apartment complex. "This is where the enchanter lives?" she asked, following the older woman up a set of stairs.

"Yes, he said he's got a few days off of work and should be able to work on your ring right away." She quickly knocked on a door with a weathered "213" painted on its surface.

A man answered the door, squinting slightly in the morning light. He was a little taller than Elizabeth, the messy black hair on top of his head ending somewhere just over six feet off of the carpet that he stood on in bare feet. "Oh, hello Florence." He smiled and stepped out of the way to let them inside. Elizabeth stepped inside quickly after her landlady, eyes taking a moment to adjust to the darker interior. The enchanter rushed to clear off his couch, where it appeared that he'd been folding laundry. "Come on and sit down!" His home was decorated in what could generously be called an eclectic manner with at least three mismatched lamps that the young witch could see. None of the furniture was from the same set either, and an upturned milk crate seemed to be serving as an ottoman for one of the worn chairs.

She carefully sat on the sofa, smiling. "Thank you for seeing us so quickly."

"Oh, not a problem! Florence said this was important, after all." He smiled proudly and held his hand out. "Where's the ring you want done?"

Elizabeth pulled it carefully off of her finger and set it in his palm. "Will this work?" she asked.

He turned it this way and that in his hands and beamed. "Yeah! I think this is milky quartz. That'll way help!" He plodded off towards his kitchen, continuing to speak from there. "So this is actually a pretty quick thing. I got the ingredients from the alchemist last night. Fortunately they were done, so we didn't have to wait another month." He laughed as if he'd made a joke, tinkering with something rather loudly. Elizabeth nodded politely and Florence made a bit of a face.

"I don't like dealing with her if I don't have to," she whispered to Elizabeth. "She's a bit rude."

Elizabeth nodded slowly. "I'll keep that in mind for if I ever meet her then," she said.

It was only five minutes at most before the enchanter brought the ring back over, grinning and offering it out to Elizabeth. She took it and carefully slid it back on her slender finger. "Thank you. Ooh, it's warm." She laughed softly and flexed her hand. "Other than that, it doesn't feel different."

He absolutely beamed at her. "It will if someone plans to hurt you. If they're just sort of idly thinking about it or mad at you like in traffic it'll tingle or get warm again, but it'll squeeze and get really hot if they've got any intention to cause you harm."

Florence stood and offered him a jar of some kind of preserves from her rather sturdy purse. "Thank you so much, Edgar."

"Oh, not a problem!" He took it and went to the kitchen. While he was there, Florence lead Elizabeth back out to the car. "Well! That was simple. He's such a good boy, always eager to help."