After reaching his childhood friend and teacher, he told them that Lucia’s father would not listen to him instead of revealing the truth. Alex knew the person was just trying to protect his daughter in the only way he knew how, and he knew it was not his place to interfere in family matters.

Lucia became very angry and leapt to her feet before marching towards the exit and out of the house without saying any goodbyes. She was followed quickly by Alex and Luna, who had late start because they did not expect that she would leave so suddenly.

“I’ll never come back here again!” Lucia exclaimed very loudly in an angry voice.

“Miss…” said Alex weakly, and looked back over his shoulders towards the door.

To his surprise, he saw the man standing there smiling sadly as he watched them leave. For an instant, Alex thought he saw the man raise his hand and wave goodbye at them, but then the door closed shut to hide him completely from view.

Using her magic, she held both of the kids tightly in her embrace and flew through the air as quickly as she could as if she could not stand being there for another second. After speeding through the air for several seconds, she slowed down and apologized to the kids for soaring so fast as he seemed to have realised the discomfort they felt from her flying speed.

“I let my anger get the best of me,” she commented, looking saddened by her mistake.

“It’s okay, miss,” replied Luna gently, doing her best to pat the teacher on the back. “I think even I would’ve been angry if my father behaved like that towards me.”

This made Lucia smile a little and say, “Than you, Luna, for understanding.” She seemed to have cheered up a lot because she suddenly said with a cheeky smile, “By the way, make sure to remember to shut your mouths so no bugs fly down your throats.”

In an instant, Luna’s eyes widened, and she made a complicated face as she shut her mouth really tightly. Alex was amazed by the remarkable recovery his teacher made and felt grateful for his childhood friend despite the funny face she was making that made him almost burst into laughter.

It took them quite a while to reach Alex’s home, and once they landed, they saw his father, Samuel, helping his wife, Sarah, around the house. When he heard the sound of someone landing near the entrance, he paused and turned to smile when he saw who it was.

“Back so soon?” He asked them with a pleasant smile. “How’d it go?”

Lucia’s mood suddenly plummeted by his question, and she simply looked at him with sadness before walking silently into the house and upstairs with the intention of going to her room. They watched her go before Alex’s father turned back to face the children looking amazed.

“I take it the meeting didn’t go so well?” He asked, looking a little sad.

Luna nodded and said, “Yes, father! At first, I thought he was a nice guy from the way he greeted us, but when we requested his assistance, he refused and was very rude to Miss Lucia! Can you believe it?”

“Wow,” replied Samuel, widening his eyes and looking amazed. “That is harsh having to deal with the ego of a parent. It’s rough.”

“Like you from yesterday, dad?” Alex asked, looking shrewdly up at him.

Samuel winced when his son asked him that, he slowly turned to look stiffly at him and asked back, “You won’t let it down, will you?”

“Not when it’s still fresh in the memory,” replied Alex, smiling cheekily up at him. “Anyway, I’m hungry! Are you hungry too, Luna?”

“Yes, Alex!” Luna said, realising for the first time how hungry she was. As they both walked towards the entrance, she added, “He’s also very rude for giving us water instead of something to eat!”

Her childhood friend laughed and replied, “If you think with your stomach, you’ll obviously complain. Anyway, cheer up. We’re home, and I’m sure mom has something good to eat.”

“Yay!” Luna said happily, throwing her arms into the air before they entered the house and disappeared from view.

Samuel, who had watched them go and saw the interaction between them, smiled and commented, “Those two sure are close.” Then he sighed and looked up at the sky and thought, “Ah… I wish you were here too… Mike… Grace…” before sighing in resignation and thinking, “Man… What a bummer.”

For the rest of the day, Alex and Luna spent time together with Sarah helping her around the house, like carrying clothes to be washed or handing dishes for her to clean. They were not focused on studying that day because Sarah deemed that there was no point in studying when they had experienced something negative that day.

“Never do something grueling when you experienced something bad,” said Sarah to them while cleaning and handing them to Alex for him to put them away. “The best way to deal with depression is by doing something that calms you down, and most of the time it’s what you usually love doing the most.”

“How do you normally deal with depression, mom?” Alex asked out of curiosity.

“I cook,” she replied without hesitation, surprising both of the kids.

“You cook?” Her son asked, raising an eyebrow and looking doubtful. “How does that work, mom? I mean, you’d need to concentrate in cooking, right?”

“That’s the magic of it, Al,” she said with a smile. “Having to focus solely on cooking and checking that I’m using the right amount of ingredients takes a lot of focus, and it works well in making you forget about the bad experience. It’s even more worthwhile when, at the end of it all, your food puts a smile on someone’s face and makes them appreciate you for it. That feeling is… magical!”

Alex looked baffled as he could not comprehend how it could be so magical. Luna, on the other hand, was amazed by Sarah’s explanation and said, “I see.” She turned and glanced sideways at her childhood friend for a moment before asking him, “Will you eat if I cook for you, Alex?”

“Sure!” His reply came automatically as if it was obvious. He also added, “I’m sure it would taste lovely.”

His words made her blush a little and blink in surprise before she happily smiled and said, “Then please wait! I’ll make you a delicious meal tonight!” She turned back to Sarah and asked energetically, “Mother, Please teach me how to cook! I’ll make the meals!”

“Woah! Hold your horses, Luna!” Sarah exclaimed with a laugh. “Cooking is not a subject you study, it’s an art and it takes time to master it.” This made Luna looked crestfallen, but Sarah placed a gentle hand on her head and ruffled her hair while saying, “It’s okay though. You can watch me cook, and help me with the ingredients. That way, you can get the basics down.”

This instantly cheered up the young girl, who beamed at her mother and said happily, “Thank you, mother! You’re the greatest,” and she hugged Sarah around the waist.

After being done with the dishes, Alex went away to train with his father in physical exercise. He did not feel the need to share the experience he had with Lucia’s father because he felt it was none of his business to trifle in. So, while he trained, Luna stayed with Sarah and helped her cut up the ingredients to make the food. She was paying close attention to the details of how much of each that Sarah was putting in and jotted it down on a notebook she kept at her side as tips that she could use when she started cooking on her own.

During dinner, the family members were eating happily while chatting to one another while Lucia seemed to be distant. More than being silent, it appeared as though something was on her mind as she ate her food rapidly and finished before everyone else, bidding them goodnight and heading back to her room after placing her plate in the kitchen.

“Do you think she is alright?” Sarah asked them curiously, watching the shadow of the young girl disappear on the flight of stairs.

“I don’t know. She seemed really preoccupied with something,” commented Samuel, looking equally worried as his wife.

“Maybe miss has stuff to do?” Luna asked curiously.

Alex did not say anything as he continued to eat his meal, but he was also concerned about his teacher. He remembered her smiling on their way back when Luna cheered her up, but she stopped smiling after coming home and looked as though she was deep in thought about something.

The next morning, he woke up, got ready to train, and went downstairs only to find his mother waiting to tell him that Lucia had gone out on some important business. When he asked her what business, his mother shrugged her shoulders and admitted that the magic teacher did not wish to disclose it.

“What are you doing, miss?” He thought anxiously.

The day progressed with him training in the morning with his father, who made him run around the house a few times and begin training to do push ups. When he left for work after breakfast, Alex sat down with Luna to study while being supervised by his mother. Throughout the day, even while he was preoccupied with work, in the back of his mind, he was still worried about his teacher.

It was not until evening that Lucia returned home looking very tired, but she appeared as though she was pleased with herself. When she came home, she immediately searched the house and found them sitting in the living room talking casually.

“Alex!” She said, causing them to look towards her and look surprised. “I’ve got good news!”

She expected him to react with a, “Really? What is it, miss?” but instead was faced with her student looking angrily at her and was asked, “Where in the world were you, miss?”

“Huh?” She asked, taken aback by his anger while blinking in surprise.

“What were you doing all this time, miss? We were worried about you!” Alex complained, narrowing his eyebrows and looking sternly at her.

Lucia, who was taken aback by her student’s anger, suddenly realised what the reason was, and all she could do was smile faintly from embarrassment.

“Right. I didn’t exactly explain my actions, did I?” She asked with a faint smile on her face.

“No, you did not, and that left us feeling worried because we had no idea what was happening!” Her student said, looking sadly at her.

“Sorry, Alex,” his teacher apologised, looking sadly at him. “I guess I got carried away with what I was doing and forgot to let you know.”

Alex breathed a sigh while looking a little relieved and said, “Please let us know next time, miss, because I hate to sit around not knowing what’s happening to you.”

“Yes, miss,” added Luna with a faint smile, “because he kept getting distracted during his studies and training.”

Lucia was surprised to hear it, and she turned to look at her student in amazement while asking, “Really?” When he nodded while looking a little annoyed, she felt warmly about her student and walked over to pat him gently on the head before saying, “It’s okay, Alex. Nothing bad will happen to me.”

“Maybe not, miss, but it still makes me worry because you’re an important person to me!” He stated with a firm look on his face.

His teacher took a moment to react, and she blushed a little before ruffling his hair energetically and saying, “Don’t be silly, Alex! You’re much too young to be saying that to me! Besides, I’m sure someone over there might’ve been happy to hear it say to them instead,” and she looked over his shoulder to gaze at Luna.

Luna, who had gone stiff after hearing her childhood friend say those special words to the magic teacher, suddenly snapped out of her reverie as she felt that she was in the spotlight. She glanced to her right to see Sarah eying her with a knowing look on her face and then at Lucia, who was smiling serenely at her.

As Alex looked over his shoulder at her, Luna’s face turned crimson red and she seemed to emit smoke out of her head. This caused her to place her hands on either side of her cheeks and hide her face from sight.

Lucia laughed when she saw that reaction before moving away from Alex and told him, “Sorry that I got carried away with my plan, but actually, ever since we returned home yesterday, I’ve been thinking about what other methods there are to making a contract with a Spirit of Life. That’s why I went out today to the library to find some sort of clue and, after searching through all the books for the entire day, I finally found an alternative!”