Spliced

Stella slipped into Coal’s house. She could hear him in his main office talking to someone. She paused there, outside the door and looked ahead.

She saw in the future, when they would exit the room and the pained look that would be on Coal’s face when they did. She considered looking further ahead. Silver threads of visions enticed her.

She shook them off. There wasn’t time for that, not now. She was here for something specific and Coal could not find her here, not until after she had what she needed.

She stepped quickly and quietly past the closed door. Stella’s footwork was light and well-practiced. She continued forward, past another door, one she knew led to the front lounge where Coal kept most of his books, the less interesting ones. She arrived a moment later in the entertainment area. Some might have called it a kitchen or a dining room, and indeed there were elements of each here. There was a large wooden table, surrounded by matching chairs in the nearest end of the room. Then some empty space for standing and a bar. Behind the bar, in the corner there was a sink and some basic kitchen appliances.

But the table didn’t fit. It hadn’t been designed for this room, a room whose shape was long rather than wide. The table was a beautiful, heavy oak, also longer than it was wide, but not to the same proportions of the room. It came too close to the wall on one side while leaving a lot of empty space at the ends. In here it was mismatched, but Stella knew that Coal often moved it around. As a summoner, shifting furniture at a whim was as simple as clicking his fingers. He’d have placed this table here recently for some practical purpose.

It was not one usually used for eating from. It had been built hard-wearing, made to handle both sword cuts and magical spills. Coal had another dining room elsewhere in the house, with a massive glass table, which he disliked but kept because it had once belonged to his parents. It was one of the few things that remained of the original furniture. She expected Coal would get rid of it someday too. He had been working his way there. Shaking off the old piece by piece. Constantly improving on things.

As for the kitchen, it was through another door, one that lay behind the the bar. It led to a much larger, almost commercial kitchen with attached larder. The bar was really the primary feature of the entertainment room. Stella was sure the room was supposed to have another name but Coal called it the entertaining room, so she figured entertainment room was equally justified. The bar in question had it’s own sink and bench that curved around three sides, hugging two walls and then extending out into the room, lined with bar stools. Within the internal area of the bar, it held, in dark wooden cupboards, an abundance of liquor, some of it was quite fine. Stella was tempted to stop for a tipple. She was familiar with almost every bottle he owned.

But she had a mission. Maybe on the way out, if she had time.

She headed towards Coal’s other office. The one hidden behind a bookcase in his room. The one he used for only his closest friends and when he didn’t want to be disturbed or overheard.

She knew what she sought was there but she couldn’t quite see the exact location yet. She just saw the room. Where had he put it? Would he know if she took it? He was busy at the moment and she estimated that she had several minutes left. That was what her premonitions suggested, but premonitions were only statistical and still she must be careful. Plus she hadn’t really had time to do a deep dive on them yet. Bambi had told her focus on the future first but Stella couldn’t shake the feeling that this was important to get done quickly. Another small part of her was reminded of that old saying, 5 hours of testing saves 5 minutes of reading the manual and maybe if she used her full sight first she’d see a better path but that took guaranteed time and thieving was likely to be quick, so it was the former part that won.

This office, unlike his other one had windows, two large ceiling high ones that were semi-circle shaped at the top.

Like his other office, there was one desk with two chairs in front, and one large leather one behind. Three chairs in total, even though Coal never used this office for entertaining more than a single guest. Stella wasn’t even completely sure that Coal knew that she knew about this little secret room.

She moved around behind the desk, appreciating the warm rays of the afternoon sun. They lit up the whole room, softening the green leather top of the desk.

To her left lay some books and papers, a coaster imprinted with what she was sure were whiskey rings, and a knife. But not the knife she was looking for.

Coal emerged from his negotiations feeling very tired. Drake was an old friend, rival, and a hard bargainer. They were at a stalemate. Today neither man had gotten what he wanted, each too stubborn to budge on their requirements.

Coal had time though, possibly more than Drake did. The ability to be patient was often what won out in the end, especially for deals like these.

After that discussion he felt like he could use a hard drink to take the edge off. Drake had declined his offer of a drink, perhaps fearing a strategy to weaken his resolve, so Coal walked on his own toward his secret office, to the place where he kept the real top shelf stuff.

Stella rifled through several drawers but it was to no avail. She paused and considered where else to look. There were the shelves. It could be hidden behind the books or in one of the cabinets. But her instinct and her magic drew her back to the desk. She opened the drawers again and one by one she placed the contents on the desk as she gave each a through search over with her hands. She felt about for false bases and hidden latches. It was the top drawer that she found it. When her fingers pressed up, something clicked and when she opened the bottom of the three drawers she found its contents had changed. There right in front of her was the blade she had come for. It was silver with an elegantly carved handle shaped like a daffodil. She took it out and turned it over. Strange to think that something so small could be so powerful.

Without planning to she was suddenly struck by a vision of Coal coming into the room. Based on her estimate of how far away the vision was she didn’t have time to leave the way she had come in. She glanced toward the window but it wasn’t the sort that opened. She hurriedly put things back the way they had been, including clicking the switch in the topmost drawer. Then with little time to spare and nowhere else to go she ducked down beneath the desk. She hid in the little enclave where the feet usually went. Lucky for her the front of the desk was thick and solid so she would not be seen until someone went around behind the desk. Unfortunately for her, she was almost certain that was exactly what Coal was planning to do.

She heard Coal enter the room. He paused to close the door behind himself. Then she heard his footsteps make their way across the soft carpet toward the desk.

With naught to do under the desk but look at the future, Stella was surprised to find that she had a small chance after all. She just needed to buy a second or two. She reached into her pocket for her burner cellphone. She dialed Coal’s number and hit the call button.

He stopped to get his phone out and check who it was. Right as he hit the answer button Stella hung up. Then she turned off her phone. She hoped that had been long enough. She waited with baited breath.

Coal stayed standing where it was for some time then she heard him move again but it didn’t matter, this time she was certain she had gotten the timing right and she knew how she was going to be able to get out of here.

She heard him at the side of the desk, so close she could just make out the faint sound of his breathing. Her own breathing was slow and silent. She had no fear. She knew what was coming. Everything was completely under her control.

Suddenly, just as Stella had foreseen, Coal paused, turned, and walked out of the office. From elsewhere in the house she could make out the sounds of someone moving about.

Stella was on her feet quickly and back to rifling through the desk drawers. She had to move quickly. They would be returning soon. No time for her to leave just yet but while she’d been under the desk she’d been trying different possibilities out in her head. In the middle drawer, with the latch clicked, she found them. A small collection of infusements. These ones hung on necklaces, not the sort a man like Coal would wear but then they hadn’t originally belonged to him. Stella took only the one she needed and she hung it around her neck. Then carefully with time to spare she put everything away again.

She stepped back from the desk and then off to the side of the room where a shelf took up most of the wall space. She focused her mind on the magic in the charm. She felt it warm against her skin and cold at the same time. A sharpness like plunging frozen hands into warm water but she made it work. Stella was well practiced at using infusements and it was a good thing too for this charm’s infuser had been not much more than a child. A talented one but young and imprecise, and the magic she had imbued it was average at best. It would not last very long but Stella was efficient enough to draw it out slower. She may not be a sorcerer but she had learned from someone who had rivalled the best of them.

Coal re-entered the room followed by another man, one Stella recognised as Lucifer, a friend of Coal’s who most people simply referred to as Luci. He was fair-haired and slimmer than Coal but of a near enough height. He was well dressed, as was expected of any aristocrat. He wore a tailored outfit a shade or two lighter than Coal’s own. His eyes were blue, like Coals, but nowhere near as piercing.

Neither of them noticed Stella. She stood by the bookshelf, waiting for them to move out of the way of her only exit. By using the magic in the charm she had shifted her body out of the visible spectrum. It wasn’t the only charm she had active on her but the other required very little focus to use. It was a binding charm, not for her own magic but to repel other magics, a very specific set of magics. It effectively did the same thing the invisibility charm did only on a different level. It was tailored especially for Coal’s defenses and that focus was part of what made it so easy to use. Not all of his defenses however, just the one that notified him of company. So Stella stood inches from them, invisible in more ways than one, slowly draining the magic in the necklace that kept her physical form hidden, but as they closed the door behind them, she realised she was far from free.