Levi pushed the wet mop across the hardwood floor of his shop, creating a smear of moisture that got scattered farther about as he moved forward to further dispel the dust and grime from the business’ main deck. What had started with him retrieving the scattered papers had evolved into a multi-day cleaning extravaganza; partly to make the shop more presentable, and mostly so he could avoid looking further into the financial paperwork he had hastily returned to his desk.

Accounting duties were instead being handled by a pale boy sitting in Levi’s chair. He typed wordlessly on the shop computer, inputting figures and executing calculations with an inhuman efficiency. He did not blink even once despite the harsh artificial glow of the monitor clashing wildly with the poor lighting of the store. If one were to observe the non-spectacle of it all they would be left to ponder why Levi was leaving his financials up to a child who looked not a day over 12.

The boy looked up from his work. “In the red again, master,” he said, still typing away with an emotionless tone. “It seems as if your shoddy dream of a dingy bookshop wasn’t meant to be.”

Levi took a break from his haphazard mopping to glance at the boy. “I thought you were just a golem Hugo. Who taught you such abusive language?”

“I guess I grew a heart after you named me.”

“What?! Really?!”

“No. Any acrimony you experience is a mere reaction to your unique personality, master.”

“Damn straight,” said Levi, hands on his hips. He walked over to the desk, entirely abandoning his cleaning. “Now stop teasing me and tell me how we’re really doing.”

“As I said, in the red. In case you don’t know, that isn’t a good thing. It might be time for you to throw in the towel.”

“Hugo, I took a vow to try everything at least once. Right now it’s the bookstore’s turn. We can turn this around, we just need to try!”

“More like you need to try. I’m the one staffing most of the time while you’re running around with your little adventures and ‘trying everything at least once.’”

Levi opened his mouth for a retort.

“More importantly,” interrupted Hugo, “I’m picking up a space with no magic readings outside the shop.”

“That’s good!” said Levi, waving his hands in a dismissive manner. “That just means The Congregation isn’t snooping around our place. The surveillance last month was really scary. I didn’t even want to go grocery shopping.”

Hugo stopped typing. “I informed you of the reading for a reason. Seems you don’t understand, so I’ll repeat it: I’m picking up a space with no magic readings outside the shop.”

The gears in Levi’s head clicked into place. “That’s not possible. Everything has a subtle touch of magic in it. Everything.”

“Well the thing across the street doesn’t.”

Levi threw open the door to The Dusty Tome. All looked normal on his street. People milled about their day, some walking along while others stopped to check out the shops lining the sidewalk. There was a squad car parked outside the bakery, probably the chief’s, but that’s all that stood out. If there was really some sort of magical aberration in the vicinity, Levi couldn’t find it.

“Location,” he demanded.

“Alleyway. Left of the café.”

Levi jogged out of the shop and crossed the street to the cafe with no attention paid to possible traffic. On the other side he was met with a perplexed cat, frozen to the spot out of reaction to whatever it was Hugo had picked up. Felines were known to have a level of perception into the world beyond that of humans. Back in the middle ages people kept them as a sort of radar, though many mages were unscrupulous so it may be more accurate to refer to a cat’s job as a canary in the coal mine.

Whatever was lurking in the alley was unnatural enough to short out this creature’s brain. Levi peered into the dark alley, but his eyes could make out nothing. He half considered leaving the issue be and returning to his shop. Levi had no firearms and no sturdy combat knife available to him, the odds were not in his favor if it came down to a life or death struggle.

A sharp female gasp from further into the alley tore any remaining thoughts of retreat from his mind and he pressed onward. It, whatever it was, had caught someone.

Light retreated from Levi’s surroundings as he made his way deeper into the alley. With each step he took the air became heavier and more oppressive. Sparks of magic began to course through his veins in anticipation. It had been awhile since he’d seen action, but not long enough for him to forget this feeling.

Levi noticed movement up ahead and increased his pace, bringing him face to face with a woman in a police uniform and an unexplainable creature.

The girl had jet black hair tied up in a neat bun, although a few strands now flew loosely in the air due to her struggling against a tendril around her waist. She was young, easily a few years younger than Levi, and had a slim athletic build well suited to her profession. Noticing Levi’s presence she turned to face him, steely blue eyes cutting a path through the darkness to meet his own. Her lips were parted in surprise at his appearance before pressing together to draw a strict line across her face.

“Get out of here!” she bellowed, the fear she was trying to suppress broke through as her voice cracked.

In desperation, she brought her hands together and swung them like a club, smashing them against the creature’s head. Her violent action solicited nothing more than the sound of a wet slap. The woman was taken aback at this and stared blankly at the creature. Having expected to do some damage against skin and bone, she was not prepared to strike a substance that was clearly only masquerading as human skin.

The blow jostled the head of the man-shaped monstrosity, eliciting a whistle of air and a strangled “hElP” from his mouth.

Breaking free from her wandering mind, the police girl followed up with a swift knee strike to its stomach and an elbow to the chin. The dull slaps of her blows were replaced with the sound of flesh striking rubber as the creature tensed under her assault.

The tension in the tendril responded in kind, tightening its grip around the girl’s waste. Strength fled her body as her breathing and maneuverability were cut even further. It was clear to Levi that human physical strength wasn’t going to cut it here. The girl fumbled about with the little mobility she had left but it was getting her nowhere. Any more of this and her ribs would crumble inwards. He had to act.

Levi let his magic flow into the stratus on his wrist, the bracelet heating quickly as it converted his internal magic to a powerful blaze. A rotating wheel of flame came forth from his stratus, and with a grunt he flung his arm upwards, hurling the fire as a buzz saw projectile.

The flame struck the creature’s black arm at the elbow. It continued to rotate as it ground against the monster’s body. Levi bristled at this. The superheated magical flame was powerful enough to cut through brick and steel and should have instantly blown through any organic material.

The seconds passed excruciatingly slowly until finally the fire won out and severed the appendage from the main body. Perplexed, the creature shifted its attention to Levi as he burst forward, magical energy congregating in his limbs to increase their power and durability. Levi threw a straight left into the thing’s solar plexus. The addition of magical strength to the blow overcame the defense offered by the creature’s rubber-like body and it was blown backwards twenty feet, crashing into a dumpster further down the alley.

Removed from its host, the tendril and arm restraining the policewoman dissolved, the black fading from them as they turned to dust and crumbled away. The woman drew in a sharp breath as her breathing was freed up, eliciting a coughing fit. Even as her body racked with spasms she kept an intent stare fixed on Levi’s bracelet.

Levi hoped there was nothing to her gaze. She should have been too preoccupied being strangled to notice the source of the flames, assuming his filter hadn’t completely concealed them from her in the first place.

“The fire,” she groaned, “can you do it again?” The girl began to push herself up as she turned her head to look further down the alley.

Surprised by her response, Levi was a half step slow to react to her prompt.

Tendrils whistled through the air and grabbed Levi by his wrists before violently pulling him off balance. The creature dragged him to its main body before Levi could compose himself and fight the pull of the monster. The dark appendages came from the man’s chest now, and their tug plunged Levi’s lands into the blackness now occupying the center of the creature. The stratus sparked at the touch of the tendrils, energy arcing from it to the creature. Wherever the power touched the blackness pulsated and boiled, rolling in and out as if testing the stratus. Levi couldn’t help but to think of a cat, tentatively sniffing at its owner’s fingers before coming in for a scratch.

“hElP mEeEe! h-“

The cry for help cut off along with the rest of the creature’s movements. Life left its eyes while the color faded from its body as it turned pale. Flakes began to drift from the thing’s skin, and with a tentative tug of his arms, Levi caused the body to burst into dust. Whatever it was, it was dead.

No. Not dead. Gone.

The policewoman stepped towards him. Levi hadn’t noticed her getting up. It would have been for the best that she stayed on the ground and recuperated for longer. Her eyes sheened steely and probing as she kept an eye out for any remnants of the thing that had so recently rendered her powerless. With no trace to be found, she refocused on Levi.

“The fire, was that magic?”

“What makes you say that?”

“That situation,” her eyes narrowed, “defied explanation.”

“And if I told you it was all magic, you’d be fine with that?” laughed Levi nervously.

“Everyone knows it exists. That it used to exist,” she said.

The woman’s strength gave out and she stumbled. Levi barely caught her before she hit the ground and worked to keep her upright. For all her clear mindedness, she was obviously exhausted.

Worry pricked at Levi’s mind as the woman reestablished eye contact with him. Letting a person here or there see magic was no big deal, but The Congregation had no qualms about coming down on mages who were too careless when it came to ignoring the Masquerade Order. No doubt they would be quick to learn of anything he did in particular.

Levi directed magic to his chest to trigger his filter. The memory spell encoded into it was perfect for erasing new memories and was the standard for this type of situation ever since the magical community turned its back on more intrusive long term memory spells.

The woman continued to look at him quizzically. The filter should have done its job by now. Levi sent another pulse of magic through.

She responded by pushing him away.

“Who said you could get so handsy? Just answer my question!”

Why wasn’t it working? Her memory should have been wiped by now. The filter itself was inside a cheap pendant but it’s reliability should be top notch.

A hazy memory of a pendant being nonchalantly tossed onto his desk popped into his head.

“Oh shit…,”

He had forgotten it. He was in hot water now.

Levi was saved by a cheery “Hey!” from the entrance to the alley.

“Noelle! Are you down here?”

Levi recognized it as the cheery voice of Chief Brue, a regular at the café near the bookstore. As Brue made his way down the alley the heaping platter of donuts, coffee, and sandwiches he was carrying came into view

“Why’d you come down here Noelle?” asked Chief Brue, a perplexed look crossed his face as he noticed Levi. “Oh, Levi! See you met the new recruit!”

“Y-yeah,” Levi barely stammered out, “she seems like a sharp one, this…um…Noelle.”

The woman shifted to a disarming smile. “Oh, you know this man Chief?”

It was never good news when someone could change their vibe on a dime like that.

“Of course! He’s the owner of the new bookshop across the street. I take the kids there whenever they just want to browse for something, y’know? He has so much variety in there, there’s always something to get. Hell, the other day my wife told me we had too many books in the house. Can you believe-,“

“It’s nice to meet a business owner, you must be industrious. I might stop by later to continue our conversation,” she said quickly, trying to bulldoze over Brue’s tangent.

“What were you talking about?” inquired Brue.

“Just some series popular with young people,” started Noelle, “It sounded interesting. There were all sorts of aspects to it, even magic.”

“Sounds nice. We all need some magic every now and then!” cheered Brue, “Anyways, I was in line longer than expected. We need to get back to the car.”

The two officers bid their farewells and exited the alley. As he watched their silhouettes disappear into the sunlight Levi replayed Noelle’s final comment again and again.

I might stop by later to continue our conversation.

In other goods, she was going to stop by and he’d better be there when she did.

Levi sighed. His easy life in Ithaca had come to an end.