Haru stared at Saturnus’s extended hand awaiting hers in reciprocation.

  The stranger sitting on the window-mounted planter smiled a toothy, over-white grin. “I promise, I won’t bite. Much.”

  Strong thumps caused extrusions to form on the surface of the box containing the tiara behind Haru, it dancing from each impact growing faster in succession.

  Her heart raced and her gut churned at the mere idea of touching Saturnus.

  “You know, it’s impolite to turn down a handshake.” Saturnus spoke insistently.

  “It’s impolite to sit on someone’s flowers outside their bedroom window.” Haru matched his tone.

  The grin melted from Saturnus’s face. “Then invite me in. I’m just as uncomfortable sitting out here as you are having to stare at me through your window.”

  Haru’s expression remained flat. “What’s uncomfortable is being locked up in my own apartment. But I’m making do.”

  Saturnus let his hand fall to his side, and he returned to face outward, away from the window. “I don’t appreciate the hostility. Imagine coming all this way, making time out of your busy schedule, to be treated like a common prowler. I’m here to help.”

  A sense of guilt creeped up from within her gut. He did have a point, if he was going to do any harm, Saturnus would have already. But a soft hand on her left shoulder blade filled her with a warmth, and the sense of guilt melted away. “A wretched demon such as yourself could offer no help.” Haru blurted, a voice in the back of her mind spurred forth the words from her mouth. She was surprised by what she said. “Begone from this place foul wretch.”

  That wouldn’t be the way she would have said it, but Haru agreed with the sentiment that fell from between her lips.

  Saturnus scrambled to his feet and perched like a gargoyle upon the corner of the planter. He parted his lips in full, and four fangs extended over his canines, two on top, two on the bottom. He let out a chittering as his jaw quivered like a squirrel in the face of a predator.

  The whole time Haru spoke, the box the tiara was in continued to dance from the violent rattling. Finally, it toppled over from the crashing back and forth, and the tiara hurled itself through the air at Saturnus. The metal headband smacked into the window and ricochetted at Haru. Without thinking, she reached out and grabbed it as it hurtled toward her.

  Saturnus lost his balance and tumbled backwards, off the planter, to the ground.

  Haru stretched and reached for the hand on her back. She caught it and spun to see who was behind her. But as she pivoted, the hand she held lost its form, disappearing into a plume of dust. But just before it entirely dissipated, the witch caught sight of the fading figure, the blue robe and wise eyes of an elder.

  “Oracle.” She muttered, sighing and lowering her gaze. A sense of isolation set in once again, realizing she was alone.

  Haru walked over to the window and looked down at the avenue for any sign of Saturnus but found nothing.

  She looked up and down the road to no avail. Then Haru tried to lean out to see if he was still in the alley. But the moment her head drew close to the threshold, holographic scrolling red caution tape appeared, and she bumped her forehead into an invisible barrier.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Retreating in frustration, the witch stared at the tiara for a moment, wondering what kind of force caused it to suddenly lurch into motion. She sat down and flipped the box back over, placing the headband back inside.

  But as she pulled her hand away, the tiara leaped and gravitated back into her grip. Haru grumbled and placed it in the box once again. But the same thing happened, the tiara launched into motion and flung itself back into her hand.

  With more insistence, she returned the tiara to the box and quickly slapped her hand down on her lap. It rattled for a moment but then settled.

  Satisfied, Haru looked out the window, to see if the stranger had returned. But she was still alone. Then a banging on her front door urged her to her feet.

  The moment her hand left her lap, a force sent the box tumbling through the air. In the blink of an eye, the tiara forced itself back into Haru’s grip.

  More banging came from the apartment’s front door. “Guards. Open up, it’s time to go.” The voice was harsh, but artificially deeper.

  Haru looked down at the tiara in her hand and decided there would soon be more prominent hills to die on than keeping a piece of jewelry in a box. She sighed and moved to the door.

  Before she could close halfway from the bedroom to her door, more banging erupted.

  “C’mon, let’s go. We aren’t going to wait all day.” The guard boomed.

  Finally crossing the room, Haru pulled the handle and sheepishly opened the door. The guard’s height shocked Haru. He was… short. About as tall as the witch. In fact, he and the other two in his entourage were equally not-tall guards, at eye level with Haru.

  The leader reached for her, to pull her from the apartment. “There’s no—” The guard stopped the moment the force of his attempted grab collided with the barrier.

  An audible crunch filled both the hallway and Haru’s apartment.

  The guard and the witch locked eyes. Then he looked down at his smooshed hand. Haru followed his gaze.

  He yelped and jumped back, dancing, bringing his knees high and spinning slowly while wagging his hand.

  Haru blinked. “There’s a barrier you placed on the door. No one can enter or leave.” She spoke plainly.

  The other two guards gasped and gawked at the smooshed hand that the leader held by the wrist. One of the others blew on it delicately. The third cooed with a soft voice.

  Haru tilted her head at the spectacle. Then she noticed that the leader had a purple hood poking out of his breastplate, with golden embroidery. It was the same guard she’d seen in the Magi’s audience hall antechamber. In fact, the other two had similar hoods, one white with red embroidery of similar style, the third’s green and white.

  Muttering to each other, the leader calmed down, shaking off his hand one last time. The other two nodded and then returned to standing upright from being bent over, back to looking serious as a guard would normally.

  The leader poked at the barrier, causing the red scrolling caution tape to appear. He pulled out a keyring, but instead of keys, they were tiny, curved daggers smaller than Haru’s pinky. The ring had dozens of tiny blades.

  The guard began to poke through them like he was quickly reading pages of a book. “No, no.” He stopped, keeping his chin down but casting his attention toward the door. “No, not that one. No, no, no.” He looked up again. “Maybe…” He isolated the blade and held it up. “No, that won’t do it.” The leader scoffed and lowered his head again, continuing to thumb through.

  The other two turned their attention down the hall, then whispered in the leader’s ear.

  “Well, don’t distract me then, keep watch.” The guard continued to walk their fingers around the keyring.

  Haru blinked but didn’t move.

  The leader isolated a blade and stared at the barrier. “Yeah, there it is.” He swiped it from his shoulder down to hip like swinging a sword. The barrier turned solid red for a moment, then burst into small shards and dissipated.

  Haru turned to look at her apartment as a whimsy washed over her. “I just—”

  The leader returned the keyring to his hip, reached into the apartment and snatched her up by her waist. “No time. Talk later, move now.”

  Scooped up and urged forth by the leader, Haru gasped and looked back as she was rushed down the apartment steps, robbed of the chance to take one last look at the apartment in which she’d made many memories with Vernal.

  Before she knew it, Haru and the three guards were outside on the avenue. She clutched the tiara with trembling arms. The four rounded the corner, moving toward an alleyway on the far side of the building to the left.

  But just as they closed in, a glimmer of green poured out from the alleyway to where they were walking. In their path was Invidius, accompanied by a dozen full-sized, standard guards.

  The demon scoffed and chuckled. “Too easy.”

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