Dear Diary,

It's been a week. Thankfully I have a new job because bills definitely do not care that I’ve been experiencing magical burn out. I’ve been resting and doing the rejuvenation and restoration practices…honestly I feel like I’ve spent the whole week back in first year Energy Work 101. I kind of feel bad for thinking those classes were useless at the time. Maybe I’ll send Professor Wallen a card or something this Yule.

Taking this time to rest has at least made Nevermore happy. I’ve dusted his area and actually remembered to water the plant. It's grown a lot and the area is sunnier than it really should be considering it's such a tiny window. I can only assume this is the gnome’s doing and will just be grateful.

I meet with the new client tonight, downtown at a restaurant called Gallo’s. Thankfully they’re buying. I’m not saying things are tight but my food budget hasn’t been roomy enough for anything exciting. Since that job for Cooper wasn’t exactly legal, I didn’t get paid.

…

Well…what can I say. Gallo’s makes some really good tiramisu. The pasta was good too but I can’t pronounce it much less spell it. I know that there were truffles in it because I never had truffles before and didn’t know what the flavor was.

Anyways.

Mr. Gallo, the head of the family, is more than a restaurant owner, apparently. I never watched mobster movies so I dunno if they’re spot on or not but now I wish I had for maybe a little heads up. I felt like an idiot trying to figure out the play on words and reading between the lines. Mr. Gallo said it was refreshing.

He needs me to resurrect an old man who died recently. Apparently he was the head honcho of the family who died of a heart attack a few days ago and left the family in a bit of an uproar. Mr. Gallo wants his dad back up and running just long enough to make it clear who the boss is then the man can go back to his peaceful rest.

The pay is good but they want it off the record, so they came to me rather than Crane who is all about the paperwork. I guess I can understand that, especially if you know that a man named Pickle would be overseeing it being filed away in archives.

I tried to explain to Gallo that I’m not exactly in tip top shape. My palms were sweating so hard and I’m sure my face was flushed…or as flushed as it gets anyways. I kept wondering if they knew my dad was a Law Mage or if they cared. Dad would definitely flip out if he knew where I was today.

Finally, I told them I kind of fucked up a job for the cops the other day but that I couldn’t share what it was about, only that it burned me pretty bad.

Mr. Gallo turned to one of his men, a dude with more neck than humans really ought to have, and said “haven’t we all been burned by the cops at some point?”

The guy said it was a good sign and we all laughed…well, they laughed. I tried to make it look like I was laughing but mostly I was trying not to throw up. I heard that smiling prevents vomiting, I don’t know if it's true.

I told them I would need to get some supplies since I wasn’t feeling my best. They gave me a day and made it clear that I wasn’t to talk to anyone about the job. I assured them I kept clients and jobs confidential and headed out. Gallo had me driven back home in one of his cars. Again, I don’t think I had much of an option.

I have most of what I need for the working, thankfully. However, I will need to run to June’s for a battery. I don’t have it in me to channel that much energy, even if its just a short run resurrection spell for one freshly dead.

When I got back to the apartment, I had a letter taped to my door. It was from Mom and Dad. Get Well Soon. I doubt they delivered it by hand but it was definitely a message. We are close and you need to respond.

I texted mom to thank her and she asked how I was feeling. I assured her I was fine but as soon as I hit send she told me that Dad heard about what happened and that she knew something bad would happen to me in “that city.” The same old arguments cropped up. I’m too exhausted to write them all out. I promised to come visit for the holidays this year since I didn’t have extra credit work as an excuse now that I’m graduated. Honestly, I’d been hoping that I would be too busy with work but now I’ll just have to suck it up and go.

Right now, I just want to sleep. All those carbs from dinner I guess.

Dear Diary,

Well, Gallo Senior is up and running…well…he’s up. I don’t think he’s run for a decade or more by the looks of him.

I should back track.

This morning…well, yesterday morning seeing as its after midnight…I went to Junes when the shop opened. The battery cost the rest of my funds so I really needed this job to work out. Damn things really do cost too much. I need to make some when I feel better but hell, who has the energy to pour their wellbeing into a few crystals or candles on a high holy day anymore? I had to get a candle version. The rechargeable crystals were double and I didn’t have the funds for that.

Gallo’s guys met me at the restaurant and drove me uptown. The house was nice. Like…really nice. I was afraid to touch anything and I’m pretty sure if I had to tell the layout of the rooms I was marched through, I’d get someone lost.

They brought me to a big bedroom where Mr. Gallo waited and the corpse was laid out.

Gallo did right by the corpse at least. He was still icy from preservation but not frozen. I told his men that they will want to get a warming blanket and went through the full ritual and aftercare guidance. I’m surprised I remember it all but then again Professor Sulak had been a stickler for that sort of thing.

Doing the resurrection ritual with a battery isn’t too different than doing it traditionally. The difference is that you are directing the energy through the battery rather than yourself. I know some like to draw the energy from the battery into themselves and then do the ritual like normal but my energy body is still super raw. I think any energy I draw on right now my energy body would just eat and lay me out for additional rest rather than direct into the ritual.

It took a few hours. Gallo Senior wasn’t too keen on returning to his body. When he did he was a bit pissy. I kept at it until he was able to respond to basic questions with eye blinking then wrapped it up with the short term anchors. Thankfully I didn’t have to do any major soul binding and grounding since Mr. Gallo assured me that he would be dispatching his father in a few days.

I got my stuff cleaned up and rested while the old man regained his senses. As soon as he was able to speak, he looked at his son and…well, I’ll just say it I guess. “Murdered. I was murdered.”

I’ve never been ushered out of a room so fast in my life. The guys practically carried me out of there after a word from Mr. Gallo.

I waited in some other room for him and when he came out he handed me a huge wad of cash and told me the extra was to keep my mouth shut. Before I could assure him that I would never tell anyone anything, he let me know that I would be making a visit to dear old dad on the other side if I ever told anyone. I just nodded and took the ride home.

I’m not sure if I’m glad for the money and to finally be doing the work I spent years of training on or if I prefer snowmen and gardens. School definitely didn’t prepare me for mobster hits in ethics class.