The Stranger- Chapter 15

It was wonderful. Perfect. The boggart pressed closer to me, seemingly staring at me in anticipation. I nodded and smiled, and it squirmed in delight before floating back to the stove with the others. That’s when I noticed one boggart, peeking out from behind the stove. It was drooping, flinching every time another boggart came too close. What was wrong with it? Counting again, I now found seven boggarts. My heart sank looking at the poor creature, who was shaking as the largest boggart came by and started screeching at it. I jumped out of my seat and swatted the large black thing away, trying not to flinch as it hissed at me. Regardless, the thing moved away and left me with the frightened boggart behind the stove. I watched, amazed, as it morphed into a black kitten and brushed against my leg. I plucked it off the ground and hurried back to my chair, marveling at the creature that now resembled a real kitten perfectly. It even meowed and purred as I stroked it. All the other boggarts now turned to stare at us, their lips pulling back into a sneer. The boggart in my arms began to shake, but calmed down when I ran my hand over its fur again.

“You fool. Don’t bother being nice to that useless thing,” I jumped out of my skin hearing Wraith’s voice, looking up to see him… working at the stove? When did he come in?

Then I realized that the damn boggart must have transformed. Yes, counting again, there were only five other boggarts besides the one in my arms and the one now formed as Wraith. I shuddered at the sight of him.

“Why shouldn’t I be?”

“All it ever does is sit there and hide behind the stove. Completely useless.”

The kitten yowled, snuggling deeper into my arms. I looked at the other boggart again and cringed, feeling uneasy seeing Wraith’s form, even if it wasn’t real.

“Please, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t take that form.”

“I’ll take whatever form I damn well please, you stupid girl.” It worked at the stove angrily, stirring the soup a little too fast. Another boggart chattered at it and it calmed down a little, enough to prevent the soup from spilling. Turning to look at me, a smirk formed on its lips, “Besides, you should get used to this face. You’ll be seeing it for quite a while.”

“W-what are you saying?”

“The master shall be keeping you here as long as he can. He wants you to stay with him, away from that other angel.”

“Why? What does he want from me?”

The boggart paused what it was doing for a moment before sighing, “It’s a long, awful story, one that he’s already told too much about in those dreams of yours. I am not to tell you anything more.”

My voice faltered, images of my dreams, of Wraith’s past, flashing through my mind. How he had cried, when he sat there in Hell, wings of brilliant white feathers fading into those of a monster. How he had lain there, in a cell, hurt and used, swearing loyalty to an awful being against his will, losing his heart. His words echoed in my head.

“Lost… My… Beloved…”

For a moment, my heart ached for him. Was he truly the awful thing everyone made him out to be? Was he truly an evil beast? Wraith could have had someone special to him when he was once an angel, and was corrupted by lust for power. The regret he must feel…

“And honestly,” the boggart whispered, “I believe that you have hurt him, more than he has hurt you.”

“Excuse me? How on Earth is that possible? That’s preposterous!” I cried out.

“You shall see. And when you see, your heart will shatter into a million pieces,” shoulders sagging, the boggart seemed to lose all life and another boggart rushed forward to continue the stove work while it dragged itself to the chair next to me.

I stared at it, “Are you ill?”

“…In this form,” it hissed, “I feel what he has felt. I see what he has seen.” The boggart wavered, glancing at me one more time before fading back to its original form. It seemed to heave in relief, chattering to itself before slinking back to the stove. A mewl came from the small boggart I held, and I watched it curl into me. Black eyes burned into mine as it looked up at me. For a while, I merely sat there with the boggart, watching the others work in the kitchen. My eyelids eventually grew heavy. With nothing to entertain me, I surely felt as if I would drift to sleep any moment. One boggart noticed and wrapped a black tentacle around my arm, dragging me up. The small boggart jumped out of my eyes and back behind the stove, returning to the frightened state it had been in before. I helplessly followed the boggart that was pulling on me, stopping at a counter with a small bundle of carrots and a knife. It picked up the knife and held the carrot down, demonstrating rather impressively what it wanted me to do. The carrot was chopped perfectly into small pieces, and I attempted to do the same, making an uneven mess out of my first carrot. I had never exactly done any work in the kitchen, that was what we had cooks for… The carrot pieces were jagged and my cutting was slow. The boggart growled and took my hands, showing me again. I managed to get it mostly right after another carrot. It felt so strange, working with the slippery carrot and knife, let alone with a group of black creatures. Yet somehow, at the same time, I felt comforted, at home… Whenever I glanced up from what I was doing, any boggart that saw would offer some sort of lopsided smile and briefly check on me. No stares. No glares. No snickers, sniffs or comments. Just a group of black shapes chattering and working with me. What felt like seconds passed, when I had been in the kitchen for two hours. One showed me to the wash room every now and again when I needed it. Occasionally, the largest boggart would transform into Wraith’s form to speak. Their mouths weren’t built for the movement it took to speak English, the reason for such frequent shape-shifting, he told me. It unnerved me, having to look up and see a form exactly like my captor’s, but I eventually grew used to it. The boggart’s name was Taiph, and he was the head cook. The others were Dimo, Morphi, Correl, Neux, Borr, and Lyo, the smallest boggart, but it was rather difficult to tell any of them apart until they too morphed into some form. Immediately, they started harping questions,

“Are you really the Purity?”

“Do you have your wings yet?”

“Why do you taunt our Master?”

“Have you ever cooked before?”

I stared blankly at all of them, attempting to answer their questions when they calmed down, “I’m not sure what I am, and no, I will not have my wings for another two weeks. I certainly do not mean to taunt Wraith, I just want to understand things. And no, I haven’t cooked before…” Heat crept into my cheeks.

I believe it was Borr, in the form of a wrinkled, balding old man, who mumbled, “For someone who’s never cooked, you caught on quickly…”

I gave a ghost of a smile. The boggart that now resembled a frail child, Lyo, grabbed my arm and shyly hid his face. Someone snorted, and I turned to see Taiph sneering at him,

“This one is useless. A mute, an awful cook, and frail. I do not understand why he’s permitted in the manor, let alone the kitchen.”

“Maybe he hasn’t grown up yet…” I offered.

The boggarts howled with laughter, “He is full grown, foolish girl! And he will never belong here, being the runt that he is! He can barely hold a spoon!”

I frowned as Lyo hung his head in shame. The poor thing, taunted by the others. I rested a hand on his bony shoulder and smiled reassuringly. He smiled back, albeit half-heartedly. Taiph was watching me with a somewhat soft expression, one that didn’t seem to belong to him, before it faded off and became a snarl again. He sighed,

“Do not bother with that thing!”

“Maybe I want to.”

Baffled, Taiph stumbled on his words, “…W-well, you shouldn’t…”

“There were a lot of things I should not have done.” One of them, would be trying to get closer to Wraith and help him. What on Earth was I thinking? How could I help a demon, one who, no matter how regretful, had chosen to become the monster he is? It was impossible.

And it was too late for me to realize my mistake.

I leaned against the table in the middle of the room and dropped my head into my hands, sighing heavily, thinking of what could have been prevented, thinking of the struggle and fear that I wouldn’t have felt the past two nights, and the horrible mess I wouldn’t be in now. I was causing trouble for Kendell. He said he wouldn’t be able to come for me for some time. What if I had my wings before he rescued me? What would happen? Someone tapped on my shoulder, and I looked down to see Lyo staring. Then, I noticed very faint golden specks floating around him. A burst of hope filled me as I remembered that I hadn’t taken that awful ball of chocolate this morning. A clenching feeling entered my stomach, reminding me that I also hadn’t eaten. I looked around the room, but couldn’t find any of the disgusting chocolate. Maybe I could finally attempt to use my magick again. A fresh loaf of bread from this morning was sitting on the table, and I focused the light around it. A smile split my lips as the bread slowly began to float. The boggarts’ faces contorted into panic, the bread flying higher, faster, and drifting towards me. It landed in my hands and a piece broke off. I grabbed it and ate, smirking at the shocked silence, and proud of how I managed to move the bread at all.

“Foolish girl, you will not be doing any of that!” Taiph growled, running to the back of the kitchen and reaching his hand into a brown sack. He pulled a familiar brown ball from it, one that made my appetite dissipate quicker than it had appeared. The bread in my mouth suddenly tasted like sand, ever so difficult to swallow, and I cried out,

“No, please! Don’t force me to eat that vile thing!”

“Master’s orders,” he replied curtly, jaw set as he rushed towards me.

“No!” In a panic, a massive, transparent wall of light started to form and separate me from the boggarts. It wasn’t growing quickly enough, another wave of panic coursing through me, causing a part of it to dart out and strike Taiph. He stumbled back. I cursed at how slow and weak my power was, faintly remembering Wraith tell me that once I had my wings, I could use it properly. Taiph’s expression morphed into that of an angry tiger, and he stalked forward again. By now, the barrier around me was strong enough to keep him out.

“Master will come back eventually, and you will suffer, if you do not obey me right now!” Taiph growled.

“Go away! I thought I could do things like this around you! I thought I could trust all of you to be more understanding than Wraith!”

The expressions of the other boggarts fell into sympathy, even Taiph’s falling down, but he quickly regained his angry demeanor.

“You thought wrong. We are not here to be your friend. We are here to keep you occupied because you were unable to handle being alone in Master’s room. Now let your defenses down and come here!”

“No!”

To my surprise, Taiph blinked at me, his form wavering before shifting back into a black shape. He tossed the ball to the side and hunched over, lips bent into a frown. I let my walls come down. The other boggarts’ faces seemed to soften. Correl, in the form of an old woman, shuffled toward me,

“We do not want to cause you pain, girl. But if we do not follow Master’s orders, bad things happen. I fear for Taiph, now. Master will not be pleased with what he has chosen to do.”

“Wraith won’t find out, will he?”

She smiled, a sad, half hearted smile, “When we change form, we usually take on the form of those dead and gone. Taiph, however, must take Master’s form. He is the only one among us that has seen Master’s memories for himself, and he can see what Master is doing in that form. This also means Master can look through his eyes, and see what is happening in the manor… It is useless to try and hide things from him, he will always know.”

“W-what will happen to Taiph…?” A small twinge of dread ran through me.

“He will most likely be held out in the sun for a bit of time… I remember when Neux had disobeyed Master… They kept her out there until her skin was boiling. It took her a week to recover.” Correl shivered.

“So if Taiph is hurt, it will be my fault…”

“Not to burden your thoughts, dear, but yes.”

I frowned. Was keeping my practically useless power really that important to me? I did have to learn how to use it, but I was sure I knew enough… But I had only been using it for a week! I couldn’t have done so much in only a week. I needed time to adjust to it.

“When does Wraith come back?”

Correl sighed, “Usually by late evening.  Although he might come back earlier now…”

“I’m so sorry. I’m selfish enough to make Taiph have to sacrifice himself,” I closed my eyes and raised a hand to rub my temple.

“If you ate that sedative, he would not be punished.”

If I had just eaten the sedative… I pondered the time Wraith would return. Perhaps, if I ate it later, Taiph would be spared. Then I could still have my power for some time before it was taken away again. It could work-

“If you wish to wait to take the sedative, you had better start using your pathetic powers now. It will not be long before Master returns.” Shuffling back to the stove to tend the soup, Correl narrowed her eyes at me. I looked back at Taiph, slumping over as he worked in the kitchen, no doubt troubled with the thoughts of his punishment to come. Guilt ran through me. He had decided to be punished because of my own stubborn attitude.

I sat down in a chair and dismissed my feelings, focusing solely on finding the specks of light again. I should take the opportunity to practice while I can, and simply take the disgusting sedative later. In a few moments, the light became visible, floating around the kitchen. I noticed that the particles strayed from the boggarts, floating away from them. They began to float towards me. I held out my hands and let them gather there, mentally compressing them into a sphere. It glowed a golden light, and the boggarts stared at it in disdain. Ignoring them, I began to bend the sphere into different shapes and sizes. I made a bird, a rabbit, a sword, and a turtle. The particles moved very slowly, taking at least ten minutes to morph into a different form. It frustrated me, made me ever so much more eager to get my wings in hopes that I could use my magick more effectively. Lyo sat next to me, watching me play with the light. When he reached out and tried to touch it, his finger had burned and he let out quite the yelp. From then on, he kept his hands away, but still watched me nonetheless.

Time passed, and eventually I was able to gather the light slightly more quickly than before. Even if it was little progress, it was better than none at all. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Taiph’s black form snap up from its slouched position. He chattered loudly, and I noticed Lyo’s eyes grow wide. He looked at me frantically, and Correl sighed,

“Master is almost home.”

Author's Note

Ouffff, I haven't updated in forever, sorry.