The man Ratvert had captured was smiling, wearing a formal tie and suit shoes. His felt hat gave him a curiously serious air.
"Anoir has many secrets according to the photos I've just sent to my employer, I advise you to start now with your letter of apology and detailed explanation of the latest events."
Her voice was soft, almost lulling. However, his appearance clearly clashed with his old-fashioned oral expression.
"But of course, or I could kill you, right now, as a member of the elite paranormal investigation camp, I'd just have to explain that you were attacking innocent people without magic" Ratvert replied, his tone in suspense.
"Anoir? Without magic? I doubt it very much Mr. Investigator, it would be a big ink stain in your file, let's not go that far"
Ratvert turned to me, his face in the shape of a question mark.
"Uh, yes it's true, I've mastered magic now..."
"Especially as it's a rare magic, isn't it? I was able to observe it from my glider shuttle, and take a few incriminating photos that neither of you want published" Enchained the man, bound tightly by the bonds.
Ratvert had, over time, developed an affection for Anoir, from trying to teach him practical magic. He loved the naïve yet serious side of this 17-year-old, who often had a trick up his sleeve when it came to working out magical theories - sometimes shaky, of course, but never without the aim of improving a formula that had been around for years and was already being practiced.
That day, however, he was taken aback when he learned from this stranger that Anoir had now mastered magic. It was like arriving at the end of a tunnel you'd forgotten you'd entered, and that the solution was simpler than it seemed. However, this was rather untrue, a raven had given him this gift and this kind of event is so rare that he didn't suspect it for a moment at the time.
"I hope you intend to explain; young man when we get inside; as for you, what exactly do you want?"
"It's very simple, you know 'Coffee cream' don't you?" His smile faded to reveal his scattered teeth. I took a step back, thinking of that mysterious letter that had induced me to steal a grimoire of magic in a hurry.
"Indeed, I know this underworld group, they're small among the tide of groups that do the same thing they do, trafficking in human beings."
"We don't traffic that way ourselves, we've evolved, let's say we conduct job interviews with hand-picked people for small.... Special affairs"
I had to know more, before Ratvert spoke again, I approached close to the face of the bound man.
"How did you find out about my mastery of magic? Did you send me that letter?"
"We have several devious ways of monitoring our territory, so your little trick, Anoir, didn't escape us and our associate....In trade..... You caught his eye with your powers, as for the letter, we have quite a vast network, it wasn't me who sent it." He had explained all this in one breath, then regaining air, he continued, in a hypnotic voice.
"If you agree to do us a small favor, we'll leave you alone, and pay you, rest assured, a fair wage, so you won't have to break into libraries to find you ancient magic books."
Ratvert put his hand on my shoulder, and turning his head towards me, he wore a hard look mixed with astonishment.
He gestured with his hand for me to listen rather than speak.
"He refuses, don't show up here again, next time I won't be so gentle with your group, just leave and walk straight on, in that direction."
With a quick gesture as he was untied from his bonds, he handed me a business card with a telephone number and no address.
Ratvert worked his magic discreetly, an action I knew well, he confused the spy's mind and he walked in the direction Ratvert had indicated, straight ahead.
I put the business card in my pocket.
"Inside, I have two three words to say to you" Ratvert led the way quickly and we found ourselves in the living room, the flower clock showing 5.30pm.
And so Anoir and Ratvert talked for thirty minutes, Anoir telling him about the previous days with his new power and how he'd obtained it. With every pause in his story, Ratvert tried to understand, asking him specific questions about this magic, Necromancy. A magic he'd never heard of before. At the end of the discussion, Ratvert decided to teach him bone magic before he went to the Fur School in Scotland. Deep down, the vampire was proud to see that Charles Junior's big brother knew how to educate himself, where before he'd been the crutch that kept him straight in his magic theory classes.
"Concerning this group, 'Coffee cream'', keep away from them, they'll offer you a large sum of money but their little jobs are often illegal and dangerous, I'll see at my office if I can launch an investigation to stop them in their tracks, maybe that'll stop their need to recruit and blackmail you."
"I understand, thank you Ratvert, can we start tomorrow for the bone magic classes? I'll study the theory of this mastery in more detail tonight, we've got about 30 days left for me to master it 100%, let's not waste any time."
"This magic will allow you to defend yourself, it's the best in this field along with mana shields, it's curious that you started by learning this magic precisely, or is your necromancy magic associated?" His chin was up, his right hand rubbing it as it did whenever he was thinking, then he set his gaze on the clock.
"I've got to go, see you later Anoir, tell your father he'll have to pay me a fee for your classes, it'll take place in the office's special refectory, no longer in your room, we'll need equipment."
He added, succinctly.
"I'll pick you up here at 6 a.m. sharp, don't keep me waiting". He finished his sentence with a cheerful smile. And I felt a surge of energy, so once he'd left the house, I switched on my desktop computer to begin my in-depth study. In my pocket, the business card folded.
On the forum where I'd posted messages on the subject of necromancy, I was reading tips given by users who were often in working life, and who worked in construction, garages, office automation and even as real teachers.
The reference page on bone magic wasn't very well supplied in terms of documents, but there was a small group of people who had been exchanging ideas on the subject for years, and they were still active. The last post was three days ago.
My first post went something like this:
"Good evening, I'm a practitioner of this magic, I've managed to strengthen my phalanges with an extra layer of bone, I'm looking for information on books or documents that deal with this subject, any ideas?"
Quickly a user named "Metallic Spine", replied.
"Hi, welcome to the page, we finally have a new practitioner! This magic is very complete for defense as well as attack, our friend "Pink Skull Bone" on this forum is in the police force and he manages to stop up to 10 protesters single-handedly with this magic, as for our buddy "Augmented Flexible Tendons", he works as a forensic doctor, he's an expert in the field of reconstruction, I'm sending you a link to the most reliable and complete sales site for this kind of learning..."
He had put up a hyperlink, which I clicked on after reading his message.
The site was called "At the little bone in the corner". On the book page, I was pleased to find that there were all the basic and advanced works on the subject, there was even a hidden section entitled: "Banned books" but entry to this page requires three different passwords.
The item section contained sections on artifacts that increased bone magic performance and duration.
After surfing and putting all the books I needed in my shopping cart, I was quickly demoralized.
The amount I had to pay was far beyond the money I had in my pocket. I had set up a bank account when I was 15 and it contained 150 euros, while the all-inclusive bill came to 1627 euros. Magic books are so expensive! I needed money, and I certainly wasn't going to ask my father for it, because I knew his answer by heart: "To pay for a vacation, I have to work like everyone else, so you have to work too to pay for a vacation".
Suddenly, the business card in my pocket seemed quite attractive...