Two Sided

CHAPTER 2

    “So what does Emilio have you doing? He’s gotta have you doing something other than doing boring tasks like cleaning and picking herbs.” James asked. 

    “For your information mister, I enjoy cleaning and going to pick herbs. But he does have me do other things.” Akila explained. 

    “Oh yeah? What then?” 

    “He lets me make some medicines and remedies.”

    “Come on! There’s gotta be something better than that.” James groaned out. 

    “Fine. But you can’t tell anyone. Not even your dog.” Akila whispered. 

    “Well damn. It must be very serious if I can’t even Lucky (Jame’s dog).” He whispered back. Akila looked around, making sure that the coast was clear of anyone or anything. Once she was sure it was, she leaned over and whispered in James’s ear. 

    “He’s been teaching me the Toorkuns (magic arts in Afrikaans).” 

    James immediately stopped in his tracks, making Akila stop with him. 

    “Akila! You know that that stuff is forbidden! The Old Ones outlawed the Toorkuns when one of their members went insane with power! You can’t be doing this!” James whisper shouted. He knew that if Akila were to continue learning this, something bad would happen.

    “Relax! Do you forget that the Old Ones are all dead? It’s not like they can do anything. And besides, it would take years for me to even be able to master more than three spells. And I have a good teacher. Do you forget that Emilio could master more than five spells before he could even walk? It’ll be fine.” Akila shot back. She then continued walking. She heard James let out a frustrated huff before he caught up with her. The two walked in complete silence. 

    They finally reached Emilio’s place. It was a small two-story building that was perfect for two (Akila and Emilio). The bottom story was where the shop was. It was called Recardo’s Remedies. The shop was a family shop that was passed down through each generation. Emilio was the last one left in his family. Like Akila, he lost his family in during the Bleeding Night. So he was left to run the shop. Akila entered, James behind her. Upon entering, a bell went off signaling that someone walked in, 

    “Be with you in a minute!” A muffled voice yelled. Sounds of struggle followed

    "It’s just James and me, sir! We’ve got the herbs you needed!” Akila shouted back. 

    “Alright! One moment!” The same muffled voice yelled along with more sounds of struggling. Akila sat the basket down on the counter and looked around the shop. It was a quaint, homey place. A counter to ring up items, a table lined with medicines and remedies, a shelf of books on medicine that one could purchase, and finally, a table in the center of the room that held potions. Specifically, love potions. Emilio always had a high request in town for them by the ladies. Now, above the shop, was where Emilio and Akila lived. Emilio had her move in once he took her on as an apprentice. It’s cozy and feels like home. It wasn’t fancy or anything, but just somewhere they could rest with a roof over their heads. The sound of a curtain opening pulled Akila from her thoughts. She turned around and saw her master, Emilio. His fiery red hair was slightly messy and his shirt was partially unbuttoned and half of it was untucked. 

    “Oh my! Did the ferrets get out again?” Akila asked. 

    “Yep. Those wiggly little bastards are too smart,” Emilio growled out. Akila walked behind the counter. 

    “I can tell.” She giggled while she began to fix his hair. “They must’ve given you the workout of a lifetime if you're this roused up. There.” She finished fixing his hair. “Make sure to fix your shirt too.” 

    Emilio looked down at his shirt and gasped. “Terribly sorry that you have to see me in such a messy state James,” He said while he fixed his shirt. 

    “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. Ferrets are nasty little-”

    “James!” Akila cut him off, knowing he was going to use some profanities in that sentence. 

    “Sorry,” James mumbled. 

    Emilio finished with his shirt and grabbed the basket with the herbs. He looked through it before looking at Akila. 

    “Everything I need is here. Thank you very much, darling.” Emilio told her. An unnoticed glare was shot at him by James. 

    “You’re welcome. Anything else I can do for you?” Akila asked. 

    “Not unless you want to play with the ferrets. It might get some of their energy out.” He suggested. Akila’s eyes lit up. She loves animals of any kind. 

    “I would love to!” She chirped. She went through the curtains that led to the back room and emerged a few minutes later with a large cage with five ferrets in it. 

    “I’ll take them upstairs. If a customer comes I’ll handle them.” She told Emilio. She wasn’t going to ask what he needed the herbs for. He refused to tell her until it was done. 

    “Thank you, darling. Have fun.” Emilio smiled at them before he walked into the back with the herbs; not to be seen for a while. 

    “Well, come on James! These ferrets aren’t going to play with themselves!” She told him as she walked up the stairs that led to her living quarters, James close behind. She managed to open the front door and walk through, James closing it behind him. Akila set down the cage on the floor and sat down in front of it. She unlocked the latch and opened the door. Once she did, the ferrets came running out and onto her. It was quite funny actually. They loved Akila and they didn’t like Emilio. She giggled as they all piled into her lap. She took off her headscarf and set it down on the floor. She picked up one of the ferrets. This one was pure white with black paws; its name was Sneaky. 

    “Well hi there. You all seem happy to see me,” She said as she let Sneaky climb onto her shoulder, the ferret curling up around her neck like he always did. The rest of the ferrets were piled in her lap still, only moving every now and then. 

    “You all don’t look energetic at all. Don’t tell me you all just made Emilio chase you guys for fun?” She spoke to them. She didn’t get a reply seeing as they were animals and humans can’t understand them. 

    “I think they did,” James spoke from the couch.  

    “You little rascals!” Akila giggled out. Everything was calm. Until James sneezed. All the ferrets went running off in different directions, startled by the sneeze. The two were dead silent until they looked at each other. Loud laughter ensued after that. At that moment, everything was good in life. There was peace in their lives for once. 

    Until there was a knock on the door. Akila and James froze. They knew that it couldn’t be Emilio because he never knocked before entering. Even the ferrets froze in place and stopped wiggling around. Akila brought out her knife and tossed it to James. He was more skilled that her in hand to hand combat than she was; plus she had all the ferrets on her. James slowly walked towards the door, trying not to make a sound. He hid behind the door and placed his hand on the door handle. Akila sat in place, acting as bait for whoever it was. James opened the door, slightly hiding behind it. He cracked the door wide enough to peek his head through. On the other side was a little girl. She couldn’t be any older than ten. She had dirty blonde hair that held a vibrant pink at its ends. She was on the short side, but she looked very mature for her age. Her face held practically no emotion. James couldn’t tell what was scarier, her not showing any emotion or the fact that her hands were stained red. 

    “Can I help you?” James asked. The girl said nothing but held out a cream envelope that was sealed with blue wax. James took the letter and examined it. The wax seal had a crest of some sort in it. He didn’t recognize it at all. He flipped it over and saw very neat and fancy cursive handwriting on the front. Akila Dea is what it read. 

    “Who sent this?” He asked bringing his head up from the letter. But his question went unanswered for the girl had completely vanished. He didn’t even hear her walk down the steps or hear the shop door open and close. He looked around, trying to see if it was just his mind playing games on him. But surely, the girl was gone.  

    James closed the door and walked back over to Akila. He handed the knife and letter to her. The ferrets went back to wiggling and playing around. Except for Sneaky who was still around Akila's neck just relaxing.

    “Who was it?” Akila asked. She wasn’t able to get a good look at the person because James was blocking her view. 

    “It was some little girl.” James’s voice sounded distant. “She had blonde hair that was pink at the ends. Small. And she held no emotion on her face. And her hands,” He trailed off, almost scared to tell Akila what he saw. 

    “What about her hands?” She grew curious about this person now. 

    “They were stained red. I’ve never seen her around the kingdom, let alone this part of town,” He explained. Akila looked down at the letter in her hands, flipping it from side to side to see it all. She even took a good look at the wax seal. 

    “I’ve never seen this kind of crest before,” She told him. Holding the envelope away from the ferrets. 

    “Me either. I had to have come from a foreign kingdom or lord or something.” James scratched his jaw, something he did when he thinks. 

    “But why would someone set foot in here? No one ever comes into the kingdom. You’d be asking for a death wish if you did,” she paused, “I’m gonna open it.” She took her knife and slid it between the flap and pocket. 

    “Wait! You don’t even know what’s in there! For all we know, it could have a spell on it that it explodes upon opening!” James warned her. She looked up at him with a ‘really’ face. Even the ferret around her neck gave him the same face. 

    “The first thing Emilio taught me when he was teaching me the Toorkuns is how to detect spells cast upon objects. And I can detect that there are no spells on this.” She waved the letter in the air on the last part of what she said. 

    “Yeah, but, what if that girl did something to it? I mean, she did just pop up out of nowhere and disappeared into thin air.” James argued. Akila just shook her head. 

    She slid her knife through the wax, opening it. She pulled out a piece of paper from inside. It looked like a regular and normal letter With cursive handwriting on it. 

    “It’s just a normal letter.” She told James. 

    “Read it aloud.” Akila cleared her throat then began reading.