Stories under the Velvet Sky

Chapter Twenty Nine: For Something Worth Fighting

Things had gotten really kind of quiet on Thursday. I got the feeling that everyone was kind of tense for some reason or the other, so I tried not to bother them too much. Keeping mostly to myself wasn’t too hard; I played video games or read books while locked up in my room. Nothing could hold my interest for too terribly long though; I got bored rather quickly, discarding one task and moving on to the next.

Being slightly crazy in a good, strange way, I’d chosen to wear a sparkly gray babydoll T-shirt that day that read, “Fresh Bait” in light pink text with a small chibi piranha chewing on the left corner of ‘bait.’ Along with a pair of black flare yoga pants, baby blue socks, and my good old tennis shoes, I felt ready to sit around and do nothing all day.

Having run out of books I wanted to read, I decided to raid my closet. On the top shelf, close to the ceiling, were boxes that held my parents’ belongings. My relatives had tried to claim them instead, but uncle Eric had found a will that left all of their stuff to me, and then promptly told them to bugger off.

No, I didn’t know why he’d done it British.

Taking one of the boxes down, I went through its’ contents. There were tons of books written in Latin, and a couple written in Greek. Understanding neither of those two languages, I set them aside to give to Eric; he had a personal library downstairs that he never let me enter, though I’d seen glimpses when I’d had to fetch him from it to tell him to come to dinner. He’d probably be able to find a use for them.

There were a few more empty candle holders, a deck of playing cards, a set of glass-looking vials and bottles for chemistry, and a familiar silver ring.

Well, that made the box my father’s belongings.

A soft knock drew me from my musings. “Come in.” I said, briefly glancing toward the door before looking at the objects again.

“Going through Isaac’s stuff, huh?” My uncle stepped inside without so much as a greeting, crouching down next to me and looking over what I’d set out in front of me. “Recognize any of it?” He asked, giving me an encouraging smile.

I shrugged, unsure of why he’d come here. “Eh, the ring, and maybe a couple of the books, but not much else. Like you, he’d never let me in his library unless it was important.” I told him, pulling a giant stuffed rabbit out of the box along with a top hat.

I’d forgotten about those…

Eric nodded. “You decide what you’re going to do with his stuff?”

“Probably give it to you.” I answered, shrugging again. I felt slightly nostalgic looking at my parents’ belongings again. I hadn’t thought of them in a long time; preferred not to really. “I’ll likely hold on to mom’s stuff; I like her candles, and the blankets are still in good condition, but I’m not much of a scientist, and I know you like to collect weird stuff like dad did.”

He chortled, picking up one of the Latin books and skimming through it. “I won’t object to it if that’s really what you want to do. Think carefully about it before you’re certain; I don’t want you giving anything away if you’re still attached to it.” He said, patting me on the head like I was a small child again.

Weird man. “Eh, the only things I’m attached to are the rabbit and hat. Dad used to do stage magic to cheer me up when I was upset, or scared as a kid. I never did figure out how he’d managed to pull something that big out of such a tiny hat…” I trailed off, lost in the memory for a moment. I’d been so enchanted whenever he’d done something like that, that I’d forget whatever had been bothering me so much.

“It is magic.” Eric interrupted my thoughts again, smiling mischievously. “You’ll find that there are some things in this world that cannot be explained through what we know of science. As you’ve probably heard, Magic is simply science that we do not understand. Though you’ll never find a magician telling you his or her secrets…” he chuckled. “Did you want help putting things away?”