The Assistant’s Contraption
By Charles Payseur
Rascan was not pleased. He tore through the pile of papers on his desk, an organizer’s nightmare of scraps of sketches for random inventions, schema, and incantations.
“Friday!” he shouted as loud as he could, voice booming out into the largely empty manor. Rascan didn’t care about disturbing the neighbors (the nearest were miles down the road), nor did he care that his shouts would frighten the small herd of cats that wandered about the property like little princes (they were well used to his behavior by now). He cared only that he couldn’t find where he had put his damned copy of blighted Lady Coregold’s The Mechanics of Life and Un-Life. How was he supposed to finish work on the Creature nearing completion in his laboratory if he couldn’
