Page 10 of Extraordinary Quests for Amateur Witches

When Klaus and Kieran finally got back to Gellingham that night, Briar and Delilah were waiting for them in the living room.

“Kieran!” Delilah cried as she leapt up from the couch, Briar close behind her.

She crossed the room and threw her arms around Kieran before he could so much as shrug off his coat.

As she squeezed him, she felt the tears in his coat.

She pulled back, gently touching one ripped, copper-stained spot.

“What in the world happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine—I promise. The coat is the only casualty.” Kieran glanced down at it again, frowning. “Shame, really. I quite liked it.”

“I’m also uninjured,” Klaus volunteered, despite the fact that no one had asked him, “for the record. The monster failed to touch me.”

“Monster?” Delilah’s gaze flicked to her father. “What in the world are you talking about?”

“Long story,” Kieran said, gesturing to the couches. “We should sit.”

The girls exchanged a look before nodding and heading back to the seating area.

Klaus and Kieran joined them, and for the next while, Kieran broke down the entire afternoon for Delilah and Briar: meeting Elias, risking himself to save Sebastian, and, ultimately, Verbena’s quest. The entire time, Delilah stared at him, gaping, and Briar’s eyes got wider and wider.

When he finished, Briar and Delilah looked gobsmacked.

“So if Elias heard all that with his listening bug,” Kieran added, rubbing his chin in thought, “then I suspect I’m not going to be the only one searching for the scepter parts. And Elias is a powerful man with a lot of money at his disposal. I…can’t exactly say the same.”

“Then we need to get going as soon as possible,” Delilah said.

Kieran’s eyebrow shot up. “We?”

“Obviously,” Briar echoed, nodding. “You think we’d let you go on some huge, dangerous journey alone? Come on, Kieran, you know us. Where you go, we go. We’re like those bonded kittens at the shelter who can’t be adopted separately.”

“Well, you’ll need funding for that much travel,” Klaus quickly cut in. He met Kieran’s gaze. “I’ve spent nearly six months competing against Elias. He’s a horrid little rat man with horrid little rat schemes. And I’ll be damned if I don’t at least give you a leg up in beating him to the punch.”

“That’s all fine and good,” Delilah shot back, “but I doubt it’s just professional rivalry motivating you. You want a panacea too.”

“Of course,” Klaus said, shrugging. “But that can be discussed once Kieran has the scepter. I may be ambitious, but I also know when to pivot. Right now, you’re my best bet, Kieran Pelumbra.”

Kieran quickly held up his hands, eyes flicking around the room at the three of them.

“L-listen, this is all great but—this is a massive undertaking. We have no idea what to expect from any of these places, much less what it’ll take to get the pieces of the scepter once we’re there.

It could be really dangerous, especially considering I’m… not exactly great at magic.”

“All the more reason to bring us,” Briar pointed out.

“She has a point,” Klaus agreed.

Delilah nodded. “I’m with Briar on this one.”

Kieran let out a breath. He loved Briar and Delilah very much, but they were two of the stubbornest people alive. He suspected that even if he did want to go alone, it was unlikely he could persuade them to stay behind. Plus, with Klaus’s funding…

“Well,” Kieran said, rubbing his sweaty palms on his pants, “looks like I need to make a few phone calls, but other than that…I guess we’d better start packing.”

And as Delilah and Briar whooped and cheered, a small smile crossed Kieran’s face.

He might just have a chance.

That night, Kieran sat on the couch in the living room staring at his book of poetry.

Part of him wanted to write—to get his feelings out—but he feared he might accidentally curse someone else.

It was a pity, because he had some great ideas from the day.

Something about how love was like a growth on his heart that couldn’t be removed, just like the mushrooms on that toad monster.

I can’t believe Ash called me melodramatic.

As he rubbed a thumb across the blank page, the phone began to trill.

Kieran perked up. Is it Ash? Did he hear that I nearly died? Maybe the thought of losing me made him realize what a terrible mistake this break is. Perhaps he wants to beg for my forgiveness? Although, then again, he won’t be able to hear me—

“Pelumbra-Bea residence,” Kieran said into the receiver.

“Hello,” said an unfamiliar voice. It was deep and resonant but gentle, demanding the listener’s ear. “Is this Kieran? It’s Sebastian Feng. We met in the woods this afternoon?”

“Oh! Y-yeah—this is Kieran. I’m…surprised to hear from you,” Kieran said, at a loss for how else to put it.

Sebastian sounded almost amused at that. “Are you? You saved my life. Calling to say thank you seems like the least I can do. I’m just glad you were easy to find in the phone book.”

Kieran wrinkled his forehead. Part of him wanted to wave off Sebastian’s statement about saving his life, but of course it was true. Sebastian would have been ripped asunder without Kieran’s help. Still, Kieran couldn’t help but tilt his head to the side in question. “What about Elias?”

Sebastian paused for a moment. “What about him?”

“You work for him—isn’t it, I dunno, bad form to reach out to the enemy? Or are you trying to get information out of me because your listening bug is gone?”

Sebastian was silent. Then, completely out of the blue, he snorted.

“Enemy?” he repeated. “You’ve misjudged me, Kieran. Elias is my employer—I do what he asks and he pays me, end of story. I couldn’t care less about his professional rivalries. In fact, that’s part of why I wanted to call you.”

Kieran’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh?”

“Elias has already started hiring mercenaries to help him get that scepter,” Sebastian said, his voice even. “It won’t be long before he sends them after you.”

Kieran’s face drained of color. “That sounds…bad?”

“Indeed.” Sebastian cleared his throat. “You’ll need to be stealthy if you want to find it. Elias has a lot of money, and he’s going to do everything in his power to get that panacea.”

Kieran tried to swallow, but his mouth had gone dry. He’d figured Elias would try to get the scepter, but mercenaries? People didn’t hire mercenaries unless they wanted to dispose of someone permanently.

After a long, pregnant pause, he set his book down on the side table beside the couch. “I…appreciate the warning,” Kieran said, nodding to himself. “I didn’t know Elias was quite so…”

“Bloodthirsty?” Sebastian hummed softly to himself. “Greed does that to people.”

Kieran looked down at his hands. He knew that all too well—the Pelumbra family’s greed had driven them to all kinds of immoral deeds. It seemed Elias wasn’t all that different from his family in that sense.

After a beat, Kieran asked, “Are you…going to keep working for him?”

Sebastian took a moment to consider it. “I…suppose. I don’t know. As I said before, I work for him because he pays me. Until I find someone else who needs my skill set and has a salary for me, that’s what I’ll do.”

“What if I hired you?”

For the first time in the conversation, Sebastian sounded genuinely shocked. “Excuse me?”

“I mean, I can use all the help I can get.” Kieran shrugged.

Perhaps he was going out on a limb, but if Elias was hiring mercenaries, he was going to need more than just Briar and Delilah to protect him.

“If it’s money you need, I can work something out with Klaus.

Plus, having someone around who has worked for Elias might be just what we need to get a leg up on him. ”

Sebastian paused, sounding nonplussed. “You’re…serious? You haven’t even seen my résumé.”

Kieran laughed. Sebastian sounded so overly formal that Kieran had to wonder whether he was trying to sound more grown-up on purpose or he was just like that. “I suppose that’s true. Any highlights I should know about?”

Sebastian went quiet for a moment as he considered it. This line of questioning seemed to have chipped at his assuredness. Kieran got the sense that he’d practiced this phone call beforehand but hadn’t considered something like this happening.

Finally, all business, Sebastian said, “I excelled in school, particularly in the sciences. I finished my education two years early with perfect test scores, and I’ve worked since then.

I know how to chart the stars, survive in the wilderness, and decode cyphers.

And I’m trained in self-defense. If you need additional information, I can furnish letters of recommendation from my former employers. ”

Kieran had to stop himself from laughing—he hadn’t expected Sebastian to take this so seriously.

It was strangely endearing. “Well, that makes one of us. Maybe you can show me a few things. Anyway, I’ll have to talk to the others, but I think it’s safe to say you’ve got the job if you want it. What do you think?”

Sebastian considered it. “I’ll…have to let you know. Perhaps I can call you once I’ve had a chance to think about it?”

Kieran smiled. “Sounds like a plan to me—we’ll be leaving Gellingham on Wednesday, so you have until then to decide. But I think you’d be a great fit.”

“I appreciate that. And…thank you again for today. I don’t know many people who would risk their own lives for a total stranger like that.”

Kieran shrugged nonchalantly. “All in a day’s work, I guess. I should get to bed, though. Talk soon?”

“I’d love to.” Sebastian coughed, as if he’d blurted the phrase out too quickly, and cleared his throat. “Er, anyway, ah—sleep well, Kieran. I’ll be in touch.”

Before Kieran could even say goodbye, the line went dead.

A few days later, Kieran, Delilah, and Briar returned to the airfield where they’d first landed in Gellingham six months ago.