Boys weren’t paying much attention to all the pies, chocolate, and Haribo bears placed in front of them. They already announced their decision: they didn’t want to forget anything, but they wanted El to tell them everything.

“In the end, maybe it’s not that bad to teach them a bit of magic. They definitely can master some alchemy. And who am I to be a standard of morals in here? How many hell dangerous things have I done at their age” - thought El looking at actively gesticulating Sam.

For the last ten minutes, the boy was giving a presentation of over more than enough reasons to entrust those two El’s magical secrets. He was very persuasive. However, just like always. Unlike his rather calm and introverted brother, Sam was always loud, communicative, and – what was the most important about him – extremely persuasive.

That’s why El was desperately trying not to listen to him now. She didn’t want to be manipulated by the 12 years old boy that easily. Moreover, the young woman still wanted to judge the whole situation from the point of view of a responsible adult. Unfortunately, there was no responsible adult in this room at that moment.

- Okay, okay, Don Chisciotte and Sancio Panza. But don’t tell me I didn’t warn you – El took a sip of her favorite tea.

Sam froze for a second. His face lit up with a victorious smile. Once again, he was the king of bargaining here, nobody had ever managed to say “no” to him.

- So, you won’t erase our memories? – made sure Nick.

- I won’t. So far. If you both promise not to create any unnecessary problems!

- Of course, we won’t! – Sam exclaimed delightedly.

Years ago, El gave the same promises to Arcada…Ever since creating unnecessary problems for him was the girl’s main activity.

- Tell us, who are you? – Nick looked at El so attentively, as if he could see right through her soul. Lucky for her she didn’t have any.

- A necromancer. Capable of general magical tricks and add-ons like healing, reviving, and connecting dead. Basically, I normally deal with death and life energies and everything around that.

- And can you like summon zombies? – somehow that was the first association to “reviving” and “death energy” for Sam.

- Not the zombies in the sense you mean. If you want such zombies, you can check my university during the exam week – this phrase left an unpleasant feeling inside El. This semester she took a couple of courses that were definitely going to become a problem later. But that was a problem of the future El, not the current one. So, she calmed down quickly.

The rest of the evening boys spent bombing their nanny with questions. The witch explained to them the system of different dimensions, called Terras. She told the brothers about different kinds of magic and magical creatures. She also mentioned the council of elders and its rules. But just a little bit. This wasn’t her favorite topic.

- Are there many necromancers like you? – asked Nick finishing his piece of a strawberry pie.

- Like me? No, not many. We are rare. Those of us, who are worth something, are even rarer – El slightly laughed. According to her definition of “being worth something” there were actually only two somewhat good necromancers: The Monster above all monsters and of course El herself. Ephir was as always excluded from this shortlist. She had always found him too spineless.

- And why is magic a secret in our world? – kept asking Nick.

- Not like it’s a secret. Just humans of Terra Maria turned themselves against magic many ages ago and so shall it be. Council believes humans have the right to choose their own way, make their own mistakes, learn from them and achieve their own victories. We respect the decision of Terra Maria to live without magic...We don’t respect the ways you guys dealt with us back then. Inquisition was still a very cruel and unfair thing. But well, that’s your way.

- Wait. And why do you even go to the university then? You can have whatever you want just like that – Sam stared at the girl.

He was indeed clever but also quite lazy, so among all so far unclear things, this was the most unclear one for him.

El instantly remembered the time when she was getting her bachelor's degree. According to her diploma, she was actually a teacher, so boys had to listen to a very long speech about the importance of education. Such a brilliant speech would be enough to earn one more diploma. El felt herself like a proud good teacher once in a while.

That night boys couldn’t fall asleep that easily. Nick kept reorganizing his self-made plush toys, hoping that this activity will help him to calm down. The boys promised not to tell anything to their parents, so Nicklas was trying hard to act as if nothing had happened. He was very good at it; he was always good at controlling his emotions, unlike his brother.

Sam looked like a bomb that was about to explode. He was laughing more than usual, talking more than usual, and even eating more than usual. The last one was due to Nick though. He hoped that food would make his brother shut up.

Fortunately for the boys, Luisa came home very late that day and fell asleep almost immediately. And Finn wasn’t particularly an attentive father and blamed Sam’s excitement on the new tablets boys got at school. Finn generally was slightly failing his father’s duties. The only thing he knew about both his kids for sure was that Nick had light blue eyes, just like his Scandinavian father, and Samuel – brown, like his Sicilian mother. Everything else, including friends, hobbies, and sometimes even age, always eluded him.

However, Finn knew one more thing for sure: next week he and his wife were supposed to take part in a large conference far away from their small, peaceful town. That’s why El’s morning started from a very guilty look that both parents gave to her.

- I know, that’s a bit too much – started Luisa again.

- Well, I guess it’s okay – sighed El contemplating the inevitable.

- We will pay you double! And will bring something nice from Geneva! – exclaimed Luisa happily as she was already running downstairs.

El could feel relief in her voice. Sure, Finn and Luisa were happy. Since the beginning of quarantine, the couple didn’t have many chances to leave their hometown. Geneva was a nice change of scenery for a while.

The witch closed the door, sat down on the sofa, and looked out of the window. It was raining. Again. “God bless distance learning” - thought El opening her laptop.