Chapter 16: An 'Eerie' Job.
Loki looked at the lock in front of him with a blank expression.
'Magic seems to work by taking something from me, which I think is spirituality, and performing the action I think of in exchange.'
'So how do I create a spell to open the lock in exchange?'
'Do I just think about opening the lock instead?'
Loki thought hard about opening the lock in front of him by pushing out a small part of his spirituality towards the lock.
*Click* *click*
And after hearing audible clicking noises Loki immediately became excited and pushed the door to check if it was open but he got nothing other than a slightly bruised nose.
'Huh? It still isn't open.'
'Maybe only a few pins were set?'
'Perhaps I need to supply more spirituality for the spell to be fully successful?'
Loki tried performing the spell again except this time he charged the spell with half of the spirituality he had on him.
He pushed his mind entirely to form an image of an open lock and did his best to keep the image in his focus even as various other thoughts kept trying to distract him.
*Click* *Click* *Click* *Click* *Click*
"Oh! I heard five clicks!"
Loki pushed the door again and finally found it swinging, indicating that the lock was opened.
"Ohh!!!!! I'm a genius!"
'But this method leaves me too tired in exchange.'
'So spirituality is something that is related to the stamina of the wizard?' Loki wondered but with no other explanation popping up in his mind, he skipped any further debate on it with himself.
'Perhaps if I eat well from now on, I will be able to gain more spirituality since I'll have more stamina?'
'Well, nothing wrong in trying.'
Loki spent the entirety of the next month working on his magic as he tried inventing a few other spells, but given how uncontrollable his magic seemed to be, very few tries resulted in success.
On the last day before Loki had to meet his boss again, he sat down and began to consolidate all the work he had done in the previous month.
'Alright, let's do a check on the types of magics I know.'
'A Light spell that takes very little spirituality but needs it continuously to stay active.'
'A levitation spell that takes up a quarter of my stamina.'
'A Lock Unlock Spell that takes up a quarter of my stamina.'
'A knockback spell whose output depends on the amount of spirituality poured into the spell. But with my entire stock, I can knock back an open wooden door easily.
'A loosely successful Lace tying spell that might tie the laces wrongly.'
'And finally, a fire spell that generates a stream of fire, this also depends on the amount of spirituality poured into the spell, but it also needs it continuously to sustain the spell.'
'Six magics all different from each other and all useful!'
'But the trouble being that their activation time is dependent on luck, sometimes they activate instantaneously while other times they activate after almost a second.'
'I guess I did a good amount of work this last month.'
'Haha! I should be a genius if I can do such things so easily!'
'Perhaps I'm the only person who can do such powerful magics wandlessly!'
"Big Bwother! Big Bwother! You're smiling weirdly again."
"Sorry for scaring you Elane. But big brother was just a little happy."
"No problem big bwother! I know you're a hero and not a demon lord."
"Thank you Elane!"
Loki hugged Elane and they both continued playing with their dolls.
Loki's physique during this month hadn't 'cured' but it was definitely not as bad as he was before, there was some springiness in his muscles, his body seemed fuller and no bones poked to showcase his skeleton.
Soon the night passed and Loki woke up and dressed with a little worry in his eyes.
The stealing felt a little more real this time.
'Strange. Why am I feeling nervous on the second time instead of the first?'
'Haha, I hope I'm not raising any flags.'
Setting his mask on his face, Loki finally slipped out of the house and began to move towards Whitechapel High Street.
With each step he took the perpetual cold air of London began to bite against his ears.
'Is it just me or did the clouds just get darker?'
'Is it going to rain again today?'
'How does it rain so much here?'
Loki pulled his jacket closer and stood waiting at Whitechapel High Street.
"Boo."
"Haha, not funny." Loki said laughing dryly.
"Tsk. Kids are only good when they are innocent. Follow me."
Loki began to follow his boss and soon realised that they were moving towards the black market.
"Are we going to pick up our targets?"
"Oh? The little kid is learning." apart from that particular comment their journey was silent.
They soon arrived at the black market and the boss went to the shack first to retrieve his target, at which point Loki noticed the shack owner and the rest of the people around the shack act strangely as if they was particularly gleeful to see 'Boss' for some reason.
Once the Boss returned, he nodded for Loki to go and get his target.
Loki moved to the shack and stood in the short queue, only to soon arrive in front of the same scary-looking man to whom he had sold his loot the last month.
"Oh? You're back? At least you came back only after a month." The man said but Loki noticed an eerie glint in his eyes and sent shivers down his spine in spite of his innocent words.
"Yes.", Loki said gulping a little.
"I see. Are you here to stare at me?" The man asked with a slight chuckle since Loki hadn't stated his purpose yet.
"Boss said you had my target?"
"Of course. But perhaps you should follow your boss today instead of going where the target is. Might learn a thing or two you never know." The scary-looking man said as Loki heard a round of chuckles from those that surrounded the shack.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Sometimes misfortune blessed on to others can serve as a preliminary warning."
*Slam*
Before Loki could continue the conversation the man slammed his hand on the wooden table scaring Loki and causing him to jump in fright, but the man just smiled and lifted his hand, revealing a small white slip of paper.
Loki looked at the piece of paper and picked it up before quickly running away under the harsh mocking gazes of the rest of the people in the line.
As Loki's gaze rested on the boss, he wondered 'Should I tell him about what happened at the shack?'
'No. If he was at least a little descent, I might've. But not when he is only using me without regard for my life.'
Loki moved closer and peaked at the address on the Boss's slip to try and understand why the man in the shack was so gleeful, but it seemed like any other ordinary address to him.
[12 Grimmauld Place, Borough of Islington, London]
"Where are you going?"
"Here.", Loki said, showing off his address pointing to a house in Notting Hill.
"Make sure to get everything. I don't want anything less than last time. Or you know what will happen."
"And I wish you bad luck!" Loki said rudely and trotted off towards his own target house with a skip in his step, happy that some misfortune was about to befall his captor.
'Ha! I hope I can be free from him today. I hope I won't have to work under his thumb any longer.'
Turning around the corner, Loki immediately went into hiding to make sure he could follow his boss today, he didn't want to miss the special show he was going to be given, not when he had front seat tickets to it.
'I don't know what it is but I feel something incredible is about to happen.'
'But doesn't he have a gun? Won't he be able to defend himself?'
'Maybe he doesn't know how to shoot because he's partially blind?'