Chapter Text
I sat on a stool in the alcove, a nook off the living room with a wooden counter and a large window overlooking the city. Beyond the city the Wastes were visible, green rolling hills and far-off forests populated by evil witches and wizards. On my counter sat stacks of plain felt hats and tins of beads, spools of thread, scissors, a can of assorted needles, thread wax, jars of buttons, boxes of feathers, and other various hat-making accoutrement. Several head mannequins donning finished hats lined the windowsill. My sisters all sat in the other room around a large worktable, a pile of hats lying forgotten in the center of the table as they chatted about God knew what. All I knew was that they were loud, but I didn’t quite have the energy to get up and close the door to my alcove.
The sound of the front door opening met my ears and my sisters jumped up from their seats.
“Mother!” they all cried.
“Hey, girls!” my mother’s voice chirped from the front door. Clicks of high heels against the wood floor, and my mother’s figure was suddenly visible from the alcove’s open door. She wore a long yellow dress and an outlandish hat embellished with plumes too large for it.
“I love your hat!” exclaimed Krista.
“It’s beautiful,” agreed Sasha, though her words were a bit garbled from the bread she was stuffing in her mouth.
“It’s all the rage in the Capitol,” my mother explained, twirling around to show off the hat. Her skirt fanned out around her legs and exposed the bottom of her white petticoat. “Our customers will love it! We’ll make dozens! That reminds me – where’s Levi?”
I sighed quietly as I saw Annie gesture towards my alcove. My mother turned and her face lit up. She dropped the hatboxes she was holding onto the table and hurried into the alcove, enveloping me in a warm hug.
“Hello, Mother,” I said, resting my chin against her shoulder.
“I missed you, my beautiful boy,” she said, pulling back to look at me.
“I’m glad you’re back.” It wasn’t a lie. It wasn’t like I had told her that I had missed her.
“Did you see the hat?” she asked, removing it from her head and placing it in front of me on the counter.
“How could I miss it?” I asked dryly, staring at it.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” she squealed.
“No,” I said.
“No?” she asked incredulously. “It’s gorgeous! The customers will love it.”
“I don’t doubt that they’ll love it. I just think it’s a monstrosity.”
She looked at me and gave a disapproving shake of her head, picking up the hat and somewhat dejectedly placing it back on her head. She still had a small amused smile on her lips.
“Well, you’ll just have to get over it, because I need you to make several along the same vein.”
“It shall be done,” I said.
She ruffled my hair and pranced out of the alcove, back to my sisters.
“It’s five o’clock, girls! Let’s get out of here,” suggested Mina.
“Let’s,” said Annie, standing from her seat and pushing in her chair. The rest of the conversation was a bit of a blur until:
“The parade is in town. We could- Oh my God!”
“What is it?”
“It’s Reaper’s Castle!”
The girls, including my mother, all raced to the living room window. I looked out the window in my alcove and stared out into the Wastes. I saw nothing for a moment, but then a cloud dissipated to reveal a strange lumbering apparatus trudging over a hill. I had never seen it before, but I knew enough of local lore to know what it was.
Reaper’s Castle was home to the Wizard Reaper, a formidable wizard gone rogue. He was supposedly one of the most powerful wizards in all of Ingary and had a reputation for eating attractive people’s hearts, regardless of whether they belonged to men or women.
“We better be careful out there,” said Annie.
“You don’t need to worry, Annie,” said Sasha. “Reaper only goes after pretty girls!”
Annie turned around and slapped Sasha on the shoulder. The girl laughingly pushed the last of her bread into her mouth and went to get her coat. I looked back down at the half-finished hat in my hands and reached over to grab another bead.
“You should come with us this time, Levi,” someone said. I looked up to see Petra leaning against the alcove’s doorframe, a coat slung over her shoulders and a small purse clutched in her hands. “It would be fun.”
“I’m fine,” I said. “You girls go out and have fun. Do whatever girls do together.”
“You’re thirty-one years old, Levi. How are you going to find a nice girl if you’re cooped up in this hat shop all the time?”
I shook my head.
“You know that I don’t need anyone, Petra. Besides, I’m the oldest. It’s my responsibility to keep the hat shop alive after Mother’s gone.”
Petra sighed and shook her head in the same way that my mother had when I told her the hat was ugly.
“When are you going to do something for yourself for once?” she asked, a small smile on her face and sadness in her eyes.
“I do things for myself,” I said, looking down to stitch a bead to the hat in my hands. “I enjoy trimming hats. And I read and write. And I cook good meals for myself.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
I knew, but I didn’t acknowledge it. She sighed again and bid me farewell before her footsteps picked up and disappeared.
I stared down at the hat I held before pushing the needle back through the felt. I lifted my hands above the counter and let the hat fall onto it, sighing as I heard the plop of the felt against the wood. I sighed again and pushed my palms into my eyes. When I dropped my hands and opened my eyes again the castle was gone from the Wastes, probably having disappeared behind a wisp of fog. The front door clicked closed and I was alone.
“I fucking hate trimming hats,” I said to myself.
I slid off of my stool and untied my apron from around my waist, hanging the fabric on a peg on the wall. After unrolling my sleeves and buttoning the cuffs I turned off the light, slid on my coat, and pocketed the key. I took one last look at the workroom before I turned and walked out of the door, locking it behind me and stepping out into the world.
The parade was indeed in town. I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant because I never paid much attention to politics or current events, but I did know that there were soldiers in the parade. It was probably sent from the Capitol City to garner support for a battle and to boost the soldiers’ morale. Whatever it meant, it was getting in my way. The bakery where my sister Isabel worked was directly across the road from the hat shop; however, the parade marched along said street. I would have to go the long way, which involved weaving through crowds of delighted parade-goers and winding along backroads until I could pass under the road. I hastily pushed my way past the crowds – an endeavor that was much easier than I had thought it would be – and into the street beside the shop. Once in the alley I began waking between the buildings towards the belowground passage. I took several turns throughout my journey, but one particular turn brought me face-to-face (or, because I was so regrettably short, face-to-chest) with two soldiers.
I could tell from their uniforms that they weren’t in the militia; these were members of the guard, tasked with keeping the peace in the already peaceful town of Market Chipping. That explained why they weren’t in the parade, but it didn’t explain why they were looking at me so lewdly.
“Well, look who we have here,” said one of the guards. He had a large unkempt mustache and red hair. “Short but broad. Just my type.”
I furrowed my brows.
“Look. I’m exhausted,” I said. “I just want to go see my sister.”
The other guard laughed and nudged the first with his shoulder.
“Your mustache weirds all the cute ones out,” he chuckled. I let out an annoyed huff of air.
“Just let me by,” I told them. “I don’t want any trouble.”
“You might not want any trouble, but trouble is our shared middle name,” said the one with the mustache. He flashed me a wry grin.
“To what are you referring?” I asked dryly.
“The two of us like to… have fun together, sweetheart,” the clean-shaven guard said with a wink. “We’re starting to get adventurous and want to add another variable to the bedroom.”
“I’m not too keen on having a cock up my ass, so if you would please let me by-“
“No can do, sweet cheeks,” clucked the mustached one. The other guard made to grab me by the bicep, but he never made it.
Instead there was an arm draping around my shoulders and a large pale hand wrapping around the soldier’s wrist.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you, brother,” a deep voice said beside me. I looked up to see the voice’s owner.
He was a remarkably tall man with closely-cropped black hair and pale blue eyes that were trained on the guards in front of me. He wore a black jacket over his shoulders, a blousy white shirt, slim black trousers, and shiny leather shoes that came to a blunt point at the toe. His expression was friendly enough, but his eyes were ice, and not only in color.
“I’d appreciate if you’d leave my brother alone,” the man said.
He was far taller than both of the guards (he had to be closer to seven feet than to six), and that, coupled with his unbelievably handsome face, made for an intimidating picture. The soldiers swallowed and backed up a couple of steps.
“This is your brother?” one asked me as evenly as possible.
Now I had never seen my supposed brother in my life. I didn’t even have a brother, but I knew that he was trying to scare off my potential attackers, so I played along.
“Can’t you see the resemblance?” I scoffed.
“We were just trying to help him find his way to his sister,” the mustached guard lied badly. “We were going to escort him there. You know, someone as short as him might-“
“Actually, I think you were just leaving,” said the man. He tossed the fingers of the hand not on my shoulder and the guards immediately stiffened, standing straight up with impeccable, soldier-like postures.
“What? What’s going on?” asked the clean-shaven one frantically. “I’m not doing this by myself!”
“I’m not either!”
The man smirked and flicked his fingers again. The guards’ legs began moving of their own accord, stiff and unbending. He moved me out of the way and let the soldiers pass. They marched out of sight, all the while yelling and grunting obscenities about how they couldn’t control their movements. We were lucky that the noise of the parade disguised their noises of distress.
Once they were out of sight the man turned to me, removing his arm from my shoulder and stepping a respectful distance away.
“The guy with the dead animal on his face was right,” he said. I held back a snort at the description. “It’s not safe for someone as short as you to be wandering alleys alone, especially with a war brewing.”
“I don’t need your help if that’s what you’re insinuating,” I said dryly, a little pissed that he would mention my height. “I can take care of myself.”
“I don’t doubt that you could take care of yourself in a fist fight, but not many people are relying on their fists anymore.”
“Look,” I said darkly. “I appreciate what you did for me back there, but I think I can get to my sister’s bakery by myself. I don’t need an escort.”
“I’m not a fucking escort service,” he snapped. I was a bit surprised, but then he took a deep breath to calm himself down. “I’m merely a man who wants to help.”
“And I’m a man who wants you to fuck off. Goodbye.”
I turned and was about to leave when I felt a hand on my shoulder, this time much firmer. I fleetingly thought that I might have been better off dealing with the guards than with him.
“What do you want now?” I growled, turning.
He wasn’t looking at me. Instead he was staring down the adjoining alley, the alley from where I had just come. His jaw was incredibly tight, pushing out a faint scar on his jaw.
“I think you might want to rethink my offer,” he said lowly.
I leaned back to see what he was staring at and immediately wished I hadn’t. Oozing from the alley’s brick walls were humanoid creatures composed of a black viscous substance not unlike tar. They all wore green military jackets with gold epaulettes and were rapidly approaching the man and me.
“What the fuck-“ I began, but he cut me off by grabbing my wrist and pulling me into the next alley.
“I’m being followed-“
“You’re being followed and you offer to escort me to the bakery?”
“Shut up for a second. I’m being followed and it looks like you’re involved.”
“Why am I involved?”
“I talked for you for too long.”
“Oh. Great. I’m ecstatic.”
The man dug his bitten nails into my wrist and glared at me, pulling me along faster.
“Ow,” I said.
“That’s what you get for being a dick.”
“What happened to the gentlemanly manner back there?”
“It tends to go away when there are shit monsters after you.”
I cringed.
“Are they actually made of shit?” I asked.
“Not that I know of, though I wouldn’t put it past her.”
“Her?”
He looked like he was about to answer, but he was interrupted by the sight of more shit monsters dripping through the walls ahead of us. The man’s grip on my wrist disappeared, and he replaced it by placing his arm back around my shoulders.
“Brace yourself,” he warned me.
“What’s about to happen?” I asked, though I thought the question was stupid. I was certain we were about to get smothered by black goop, but, again, he surprised me.
“We’re going up.”
He grabbed my hand with his free one and pushed off the ground, rocketing up into the air and above the rooftops. I slammed my eyes closed and brought my knees up to my chest.
“Open your eyes,” I heard.
I obeyed instinctively, amazed to find that we were hovering over the shit monsters in the alley. Their heads were angled up to look at us, and even though they had no eyes I could tell they were angry.
“Straighten your legs,” he swallowed. “We’re going to start walking.”
“Walking?” I asked. “We’re in the fucking sky, if you haven’t noticed.”
“And I’m a wizard, if you haven’t noticed. Trust me.”
“You led those shit monsters to me. Why should I trust you?”
“Just straighten your legs.”
“Fine.”
I slowly lowered my feet until they were even with his, his grip on my hand tightening.
“Now start walking.”
He reached out one long leg and I followed, astounded to find that it was just like walking on solid ground minus a bit of gravity.
We walked several steps before he spoke again, his voice a bit strained.
“You’re a natural,” he swallowed. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh, spit at him, or just let go and fall to my death. “The first time I did this I almost died.”
“What’s with your voice?”
“I still feel like I’m going to die.”
“You’re scared of heights,” I said. “Of fucking course. The flying wizard is scared of heights.”
“I can drop you.”
“That might be preferable.”
“Here you go, then.”
“No! No, no. That was a joke.”
“That’s what I thought.”
We stepped off a church spire and propelled ourselves forward. We were silent as we passed over the parade and, eventually, the bakery rooftop.
“This is the bakery,” I said, gesturing to the building with my foot.
“Looks like we’re going down, then.”
Without any warning whatsoever we dropped like rocks, only stopping when we were level with the bakery’s second-floor balcony. I glared at the man and he looked like he was going to be sick. I suddenly felt a little better. Karma, bitch.
He let me float down onto the balcony before he stood on the railing and looked down at me.
“Thank you, oh mighty one,” I scoffed.
“I could have left you to die back there.”
“Maybe you should have. I wouldn’t have had to deal with your shit if I were dead.”
“Don’t joke about death with a wizard, sweetheart,” he said with a glare. “I can make it happen very easily.”
I tried to conceal my nervous gulp by coughing. He looked over his shoulder at the street below.
“I think we’ve lost them, but I still wouldn’t go outside for at least fifteen minutes. I’ll try and draw the rest of them off,” he said.
“You do that.”
“You’re a huge asshole, just so you know.”
“Choke on a dick.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Goodbye.”
He leaned back and plummeted. When I leaned over the railing I couldn’t see him anywhere, instead finding myself looking down into a crowd of faceless parade-goers.