An old tram curved itself making a long, unpleasant creak and entered a wide bridge across the Rhine. The warm sun of the last summer days brightly lit the streets up, forcing constantly hurrying pedestrians to squint and cover their eyes with hands. An old lady looked outside of the tram window and then stared obscenely intently at the young woman sitting in front of her.

"So unnatural! White! Completely white! Horrible!" the lady shook her head and clicked her tongue in displeasure.

The girl bent over her book and pretended not to hear those comments. The old lady obviously didn't expect to be ignored so frankly, she clicked her tongue once again and frowned.

"Youth nowadays! Back then, I at your age..." started she grumpily.

"...were building pyramids of Giza!" the young woman unexpectedly replied, loudly clapping her book. "By the way, it IS natural!"

Small, fast-moving eyes of the old lady lit with anger and her cheeks turned red. However, before she managed to answer something, the tram's wheels creaked and the slightly rusty, big machine stopped. The young woman rapidly stood up and, as soon as doors opened, she jumped out of the tram, throwing back a cold glance.

It was a wrong station. The girl turned around and looked at the intricate towers of Basel's city centre on the other side of the majestic river, then she moved her eyes to a board with a timetable and to her watch. Numbers on a yellowish, shabby paper didn't look very promising.

"Whatever. I better walk," she quietly mumbled, twisting a long strand of her snow-white hair on her finger.

For a few more seconds the woman remained motionless, enjoying the warm sun and pleasantly lively hustle and bustle of the big city around her. Then she shook her head and quickly marched further to the downtown. The watch inexorably reminded that the girl was late, so she rushed through the streets faster and faster, nearly falling down a couple of times and scrupulously stepping in every puddle on her way.

A loud group of teenagers in grey-black uniform with strange signs on it stretched across the entire pavement, leaving almost no place for other pedestrians. Unfortunately for them, the white-haired girl was completely distracted by a funny sunny bunny that was cheerfully jumping from one shiny roof to another. Before the young men even managed to react, the girl bumped into them.

"Oh, sorry! Sorry!" she muttered instantly, pulling her head into her shoulders trying to escape quickly.

The boys angrily gazed at the small, rapidly receding silhouette for some more moments before moving further.

Although the sun was still shining brightly, coloring the sky orange, it was already slowly getting late. The girl stopped in front of a massive stadium and tried to catch her breath. The watch stated that she still had minimum five more minutes to pretend that she didn’t have to run through several blocks. Looking at her reflection in glance, black doors, she swiftly adjusted her colorful, floral dress and wavy hair. Suddenly the door opened, almost hitting the girl on her nose.

“Oh, Ragna, are you okay?”, asked a boy, carefully examining the young woman.

“Yes, it is fine. You are earlier than I expected, Vince,” she replied, straightening her back in a desperate attempt to add a few extra millimetres to her humble height.

Now, when the boy approached his friend closer, it became clearly visible how tall he was. Although, it wasn’t particularly difficult to outgrow Ragna, Vince did it way too early from her point of view. The two had ten years difference in age and only less than three centimetres difference in height.

“Right, we finished the training a bit earlier. I slightly bent my sabre...” answered the boy, awkwardly lowering his big, light-grey eyes. “What’s for the dinner?”

“I cooked a chicken pie yesterday. We can have it if your parents didn’t leave anything else,” the girl replied.

“Can we take the food to our apartment?” Vince folded his palms pleadingly.

“Why?”

“Dad bought a couple of new videotapes yesterday. I wanted to watch something.”

“Firstly, no, I don’t want to run between floors loaded with bowls and plates!” Ragna commanded strictly. “Secondly, you are not allowed to watch TV that long.”

“It is Friday and I got 6 in Math, so my parents allowed me one movie tonight!” Vince happily explained.

“I wasn’t informed.”

“They left you a note.”

“I see, you have planned it properly,” laughed the girl. “Okay, after the dinner. What do you want to watch?”

“Independence Day. It is the last year’s movie. Something about aliens!” Vince sounded very excited.

“Aliens? Really?” chuckled the girl.

“Yes! I bet there are actually some aliens out there!” Vince stubbornly stated.

“Sure. Together with witches and fairies,” Ragna smiled.

“No. I’m no baby to believe in magic! I believe in science that assumes that aliens can be real!” the boy looked very proud of his point.

“Fine, alien. As long as you don’t have nightmares after that.”

The two turned to a long stair, narrowly squeezed between flat houses. As they stopped in the middle of it for a short break, they heard loud footsteps approaching them from behind.

“Hey, short one!” shouted out a cracking teenager’s voice.

“I rather prefer to be called compact…” replied Ragna slowly turning her head back.

“Doesn’t matter. Do you mind playing a little bit of hide-and-sick?” a tall, muscular young man with wide shoulders stepped closer, smiling slyly.

“What do you need? Go away!” Vince commanded bravely, grabbing his sabre case.

Ragna carefully examined the stranger and his two friends standing behind him. For a second, she thought that the uniform of those young men looked familiar to her. Grey-black suits with such strange signs, resembling constellations …Where had she seen it before?

“You better don’t get involved, human!” grinned the stranger.

“Listen, run as fast as you can when I count to five…” Ragna whispered to Vince, softly pushing him behind her back.

“But!” the boy tried to protest.

“Do as I say!” Ragna angrily ordered.

“Let’s not make too much noise,” hissed the man in the uniform.

“One,” the girl frowned.

“I don’t think we want to disturb humans,” continued the stranger.

“Two.”

“Just a little bit of fun,” the man was getting closer and closer.

“FIVE!” Ragna shouted out loudly, pushing Vince away from her.

Before the boy managed to understand what was going on, an extremely bright flash of lightning lit up everything around, blinding the strangers. The stairs, houses and even the busy city below the hill drowned in the impenetrable, snow-white light for some moments. Birds soared into the strongly electrified air, and car alarms throughout the whole neighbourhood, or even the whole city, squealed loudly.

Vince ran. He didn’t want to, but some invisible power was adamantly pushing him away from the stairs. He still couldn’t see properly, trembling white light barely began to disappear. The boy could still feel dozens of small bolts of lightning running fast through the air and stinging him sometimes. He managed to take his own feet under control and stop only when he already almost reached his house. Vince looked around hoping to see Ragna, but he was standing in the middle of the street all alone. Or at least, he thought, that he was all alone.

“Fortis Compedibus!” screamed a young man in the uniform, staring at the boy menacingly.

The next second Vince felt how something wrapped around his body immobilizing and suffocating him and then pulled him towards the man. The boy desperately tried to resist but his every attempt squeezed invisible shackles around him only tighter. His lungs lacking oxygen filled with dull, burning pain, making him nearly collapse. Vince made one last effort and raised his eyes at the man.

The stranger seemed to enjoy the suffering of his victim. His mouth opened in a wide smile, exposing crooked teeth. He was about to step forward, closer to the boy, when an immense white bird suddenly clung to his back with its long claws. The bird opened its huge, curved beak making a loud cry, and thin spiderwebs of hot, glowing lightning surrounded the young man, severely burning his skin here and there.

The bird made one more loud cry, letting the trembling from fear and pain body out of its claws and landed on the ground not far from Vince. The stranger shook his head, trying to recover from the shock, jumped on his feet, threw an angry glance at the bird, and quickly ran away, disappearing in the dusk.

Now, when the shackles disappeared together with the strange man, Vince freely fell on the asphalt, greedily gasping for air. He stared at the mighty bird and nearly chucked when it waved its giant wings and turned into a human, into Ragna. In a second the girl neared her friend and attentively examined him, then patted his messy, dark-brown hair and held out her hand to help him up.

“Come. We better leave,” she said, looking around.

Vince was too shocked to object. He silently got up and followed Ragna. The front door of their house. First floor. Second floor. Ragna’s flat. The boy closed the door behind him and slipped to the floor. He had so many questions and absolutely no powers to ask them all. He could only silently move his lips trying to make a sound and quickly blink in surprise.

The woman carefully put her hand on Vince’s arms, covered in shallow cuts left by mysterious shackles. Tiny, thin lightning run through the air this time calmly warming up the boy. As Ragna removed her hand, all the cuts were gone.

“Who are you? A witch?” finally whispered Vince.

“A witch?” the woman seemed offended. “I have absolutely nothing to do with witches! Unlike those nice men, who attacked us.”

“Then who are you?”

“A Caladrius.”

“Who?” Vince wrinkled his snub nose.

“Yeah, right. Humans are more familiar with our slightly more selfish fellow friends, Phoenixes…” Ragna shrugged. “My kind is slightly different. I am a Caladrius - a healing bird. We are masters over death and life, we can heal ourselves and others. Even the deadliest wounds and diseases, we can heal everything.”

“Wow...” the boy gaped in surprise. "How...I can't believe it, is it even real?"

"As you see...But I can kick you to make sure you are not sleeping."

“No. No, thanks..." Vince answered a little scared. "And those guys? Who are they? What did they want?”

“Oh, those wizards. Well, I guess they wanted to kill me…” Ragna answered sitting down on the floor near the boy.

“Why?”

“You see, the problem with Caladrius’s powers… Our magic works only with those, whom we sincerely want to heal of our own free will. And that is not always the case. So, wizards learned how to create healing potions out of…You know, out of us…”

“So, they just kill you?” Vince shook his head in disappointment.

“I mean, it was forbidden some centuries ago, but there are always some poachers, who want to try their luck.”

“Yeah, right. Those guys definitely had bad luck today,” chuckled the boy.

“Yes, I actually didn’t want to hurt them that badly. I haven’t used my powers for years…” Ragna rubbed her forehead squinting awkwardly.

“Why? That was so cool!”

“You know, last time I did it back in Estonia, it attracted a whole bunch of poachers…”

“Oh…” Vince sighed. “If they come again, I will help you! Don’t send me away!”

“I don’t think your parents would like this idea,” laughed Ragna.

“So what? I have my sabre, I can fight!” insisted Vince.

“You remember that you can’t actually cut anybody with a sport sabre, right?”

“It still hits painfully!”

“True, true…And now get up my little knight,” said the girl heading to the kitchen. “I should still feed you before your parents pick you up.”

Vince didn’t eat much that evening. In fact, food was the last thing he could think about after everything he had just seen. After calming down a little bit he bombarded Ragna with endless questions. Unfortunately, she couldn’t answer most of them. According to her, Birds and other creatures avoided magical communities and preferred hiding among humans or, even better, far from any civilization. Ragna only knew very remotely that there are some hidden magical cities with their rules and laws, but that was pretty much it. The girl mostly knew about healing and other supernatural creatures. However, even those tiny pieces of information were highly fascinating for Vince.

The two didn’t notice how cold night slowly enveloped the city. It was already half-past ten when Vince’s mother – Lara knocked on Ragna’s door. The boy skillfully pretended that nothing interesting had happened today and lectured his unfortunate parent, that half-past ten was unforgivable too late for a thirteen-year-old child to go to sleep.

Ragna lingered on the stairwell for a while and observed how Vince and Lara walked up one more floor and disappeared behind the door of their apartment. The white-haired girl wondered shortly if today’s occasion would have any consequences. She wouldn’t want to move and hide again. She loved her small but cosy home, had just started her master’s at the university and didn’t want to change anything.

Fast steps echoed in long corridors. An old butler entered the bedroom and quickly opened heavy, velvet curtains letting coldly yellow, morning sunlight inside the bedroom and lighting up all sorts of the most unexpected things chaotically scattered everywhere around. Fresh air from an open window like a knife cut thick and viscous smell of tobacco and cherries.

"Danielle, why..." a devastated male voice came from under the blanket.

A young man raised from the bed angrily staring at the butler.

"Sir, it is already almost ten. And You have received several letter butterflies," the servant replied calmly. "I guess, it was a long night, but now it's time to start a new day."

"Ugh…You know, it was indeed a long night..." mumbled the young man. "Yesterday evening...I felt something strange..."

"I assume, a food poisoning, Sir," said the butler disapprovingly glancing at the plate with last week's meal.

"No, Danielle...Although, maybe this as well. But I felt something else. A very strong wave of magic… I couldn’t fall asleep almost the whole night long after that…” said the man falling on the bed again.

“I am very sorry to hear that, Sir. But breakfast is already prepared, You should get up now.”

A flock of big butterflies entered the room through the open door. Instead of intricate muster, their white wings were cowered in illegible inscriptions. One of the butterflies landed on the man’s hand instantly turning into a letter:

“Dear Felix,

I urgently need your help. Pay us a visit as soon as you can. It is something extremely important! Lilac was horrible injured! Our healers are not sure if they can help him!!

Yours faithfully,

Cousin Annabelle.”

Danielle waved his hands scaring away irritating butterflies curling in front of his nose.

“Judging from stamps on those annoying creatures: they are all from Mrs Woodward. I believe, Sir, You better hurry up,” kindly suggested the butler leaving the room.

Felix stretched himself, slowly walked to a huge mirror and looked at his reflection with displeasure. He tied his shoulder-long, copper hair in a ponytail, exposing his sharp cheekbones and once again examined his still sleepy face. It was freckled and calm as usual, however, today his magnetic, dark brown with amber rim eyes were underlined by blackish bruises – evidence of the sleepless night. The man huffed and swiftly threw a vivid shirt over his tattooed shoulders hiding pictures of snakes, spiders and skulls scattered all over his arms.

Half an hour later Felix stepped out of the widely opened, giant, wooden door of the ancient mansion, situated on a rocky hill right above a small town in a mountain valley. The man stopped for a moment on the porch basking in the sun and then suddenly disappeared in clouds of dark fog.

In less than a second Felix was already standing on a sandy path in front of an ivy-covered cottage, hidden in the middle of a mountain forest. A round maid’s face glanced out of the window and mumbled something. A heavy, wooden door decorated with forged floral pattern opened with a loud creak letting the long-awaited guest inside.

A tall, well-built butler, who looked more like a bodyguard than a servant, silently pointed at the wide corridor to the left of the entrance. Felix nodded and slowly walked towards the hallway shortly glancing around. He spotted two pairs of curious, hazel eyes peeping out from behind a thick railing. The man slyly smiled and waved his hand, making the two small spies squeak in surprise.

Loud female cry filled the narrow corridor. Felix instantly knew where he was supposed to go. He opened a door to a small room and looked around. A small woman jumped up, wiped away her tears, pushed back her caramel curls and gazed at the man.

“Cousin! Thank God! Look! Look at my boy!” she nearly burst into tears again pointing at the bed behind her.

Felix looked at the young man lying there. One of his hazel eyes was motionlessly and quite unnaturally staring directly at the ceiling. Seemed like it was blinded by something, that also left horrible bleeding burns all around the boy’s face. Lotions and various potions that were lined up on the bedside table obviously didn’t help, blood mixing with tears from the second eye was running down the boy’s cheek that was slightly twitching in pain.

“What has happened to you?!” Felix’s voice gave out his worry.

“Last night we found him like that at the porch. Our healer couldn’t help…He said the electricity that has hurt him is still wandering around Lilac’s body and hurting him,” answered Annabelle.

“Who did it?!” the man croaked viciously.

“A Caladrius!” replied the woman handing her cousin a long, snow-white feather.

“What?” Felix raised his thick eyebrows. “There is none of their kind here.”

“Ah…They…The boys were…They went to a human city yesterday…” confusedly muttered Annabelle.

“They did what?” Felix closed his eyes in an unsuccessful attempt to calm down. “Who allowed them to go outside of our land?”.

“Cousin…They are just boys…They just wanted to relax after school,” Mrs Woodward’s voice sounded disgustingly sweet.

“They didn’t get any permission!” shouted out Felix. “I know, youth is rebellious, though,” after a moment he continued calmly. “I could have ignored the fact that they ran away. But tell me, dear cousin, what made such a peaceful creature as Caladrius attack your son?” Felix’s hypnotizing eyes glared into the woman.

“What do you mean?” Annabelle huffed resentfully. “They just…I don’t know. Maybe that damn bird has something against wizards!”

“I bet it does. Especially against of those, who hunt it,” the man neared his cousin paralyzing her with his harsh gaze.

“Lilac…He would have never…It is forbidden, he knows…” Mrs Woodward sounded strongly uncertain.

Felix grabbed the feather from his cousin’s hands. It slightly struck him with electricity and then suddenly became cold as ice.

“So, what do you want me to do, dear cousin?” the man calmly asked.

“I want to heal my beautiful boy!” the poor mother cried out feigned tragic. “If healers can’t help, you know what can!”

“Ah…” Felix sighed quietly and emotionlessly. “You want me to kill the innocent bird…Nice.”

“It is not innocent!” shouted out Annabelle and immediately covered her mouth with her hands as Felix ragefully glanced at her. “It has injured your nephew. Please. Have some mercy on him.”

Felix silently turned away and before Mrs Woodward managed to blink, he had already disappeared into clouds of dark fog. As an experienced warrior wizard, he didn’t have any difficulties finding the trace of the Caladrius, especially having its feather. The bird didn’t use any magic to hide itself, so soon enough Felix was already standing in front of a shabby door in a house somewhere in Basel’s suburbs.

The man listened carefully. He put his hand on the keyhole and whispered something. The mechanism obediently cracked, and the door slowly opened. Nobody was home. Felix went inside and looked around. It was a very small and slightly empty flat. The sofa in the living room had already lost its colours, and its springs were already clearly visible under the upholstery. In front of the sofa was standing a cabinet filled with books, mostly dedicated to linguistic, and in the middle of it was standing a tiny TV. The kitchen was separated from the living room with a narrow but tall counter. Right behind it an old and obviously tired of its existence fridge desperately tried to produce enough cold to keep its scanty content fresh.

Felix neared the window, opened thick curtains, and winced. The sight of a human city with all those cars, sparkling billboards and dark smog made the wizard feel sick. He walked around the flat once again and then sat down on the sofa. The spring unpleasantly pricked him, forcing him to get up immediately. Felix huffed irritatingly and mumbled: “Invisibilia in Oculis” becoming invisible in the same second.

Somebody twisted a key in the keyhole and the door opened again. A rather short and a little chubby girl with a long, thick, snow-white braid entered the apartment. She quickly walked towards the bedroom carelessly throwing some books on the counter. One of the folios slide along the desk and pushed a small snowball globe.

Felix quietly walked to the kitchen and took the globe. There was a pretty, dark-red house inside of it surrounded by small, neatly trimmed bushes. Glittery snowflakes were slowly floating around, landing on ceramic snowdrifts. Felix turned the globe upside-down. A strange combination of numbers was scrawled on the globe’s bottom right under a tiny lever: “9.12.19.2

22.12.18”. The wizard carefully examined it and then slightly twisted the lever. A beautiful, but a little dreary melody filled the room.

Something rustled in the bedroom, and the white-haired girl carefully stepped out of it. She looked around, slowly moving around her apartment and yet managing to stumble upon the counter's corner. The girl shortly squeezed her eyes shut and the next moment when she opened them, she saw a sharp, thin dagger held up to her neck by somebody, standing behind her.

"Well, hello, birdy," Felix had to bend almost double to whisper it in Ragna’s ear.

The girl shivered, threw her head back and stared right at the wizard. For a second Felix got confused. One couldn't call the young woman standing in front of him particularly beautiful, but her big, crystal blue eyes full of childish naivety and accented by dark black eyebrows together with thick lips, naturally curved in a slight smile made her strangely adorable.

"Let me go," Ragna attempted to sound harsh, but her voice treacherously trembled with fear.

"To let you roast me with your lightnings? Sounds like a fair deal, right?” Felix chuckled.

"Would you like rare, medium-rare or well done?" the girl frowned closely staring at the intruder.

The wizard smiled confidently and slyly. He moved the dagger closer to Ragna’s neck, making her shiver again. Felix kept his weapon like that for a few more seconds and then suddenly hid it in his belt.

"What do you need here?" Ragna exhaled with relief.

"Ah birdy, you see, you've recently injured my nephew...What a pity..." Felix said thoughtfully following the girl with his hypnotic look.

"Your nephew broke the law and attacked me!" the young woman replied angrily.

"Yes, I guessed that it wasn’t Lilac’s zoological interest that brought him to you."

"Right. So, you better leave me alone and do something with that boy!" Ragna frowned.

"I would love to, actually. But you know, it's easier to present somebody in court when this somebody is...a bit more alive than Lilac now," Felix shrugged nearing the girl.

"Oh, come on, I didn't strike him that much!" Ragna proudly huffed.

"I don't know, birdy, his face looks like a burnt sole. Our healer said he can't heal the boy, your electricity is still inside, destroying his body."

"Then you have a bad healer!" the girl stated dryly.

"Well, that's also highly possible..."

Ragna jumped to the counter, grabbed a small piece of paper and a pencil, and wrote something.

"Swear to me, that those kids will be punished," Ragna strictly demanded. "One of them attacked a human child with a very painful spell!"

"I will take care of it, don't worry. From now on they won't even be able to breathe without my permission," Felix's smile looked so cruel, that the girl instantly believed him.

"Here. This potion will heal your nephew," Ragna handed the wizard the piece of paper. "Also put a lotion of Calendula and metal crumb on his face. It will neutralize the electricity."

Felix bent forward and attentively gazed Ragna right in the eyes, then carefully took the paper with his long fingers and smiled charmingly and at the same time somehow frighteningly. The girl shivered and backed down, trying to escape this strange look.

"Thank you, birdy. I owe you," the man pronounced slowly and softly.

"Well, do me a favour then, disappear!" Ragna angrily ordered turning around. She absolutely didn't want the wizard to see, that her cheeks got flushed.

The wizard glanced around once again, smiled and in a second, he vanished in the air.

A moment later Felix stepped out of the dark fog far away from the noisy human city. The man sighed with relief. He was standing in a yard of an old, yet still majestic, huge mansion, situated on a rock right above a crystal-clear mountain lake. For a moment the wizard stared at a town further on the lake’s shore. Neat houses with tall, slim towers; people slowly walking along cosy, paved streets; and endless sea of green trees and colourful, blossoming flowers. Everything here was saturated with peace and tranquillity and reliably protected from prying eyes by cold and harsh mountains surrounding the area.

The wizard looked at the paper that he got from Ragna and walked towards the great building. Unexpectedly for the wizard, the mansion turned out to be in turmoil. Loud talks filled long and wide corridors; people were running from room to room, hastily checking something. Some of them dragged along garbage bags stuffed to the brim.

“Aya…Mr. Calliophis! We didn’t expect to see you, today!” a loud bass voice suddenly shouted out.

As Felix turned his head, he saw a big, no, giant man in a strict suit. He looked very lively and rather youngish, although grey hair in his masterfully curled moustache and several quite deep wrinkles on his dark brown skin gave away his actual age. The man kindly smiled, yet guiltily hiding his brown, almost black, eyes.

“Alastair! My friend! Are you trying to rebuild the whole school over the weekend?” Felix gazed around in surprise.

“I am terribly sorry… You shouldn’t have seen this place in such a mess…” awkwardly apologized the giant man. “We had a strange accident yesterday evening. I had to call almost all the teachers and service staff today to fix it…” he continued trying to lead his guest to a quieter place.

“What has happened?” asked Felix following his friend.

“I don’t know yet. Some blast of energy last night exploded almost all bottles with different healing potions and lotions. Some of the healers’ artefacts trembled and shone whole night long after that, even those that were asleep for dozens of years,” explained Alastair.

“Ah, I see. Do you want me to tell you what that blast was?” Felix grinned with undisguised superiority.

“Sure! Have you also felt it?”

“Yes. And today I have met the cause of that blast,” the wizard’s voice sounded triumphantly proud.

“Well, feel free to tell me. I am really curious what was the reason for those shameful destructions!” Alastair adjusted his moustache and impatiently glanced at his friend.

“A bird. One of those, that we never thought we would ever see. A Caladrius,” Felix whispered the last word bringing his finger to his lips.

“What?” the giant man exclaimed in surprise. “Are you sure?” he asked lowering his voice.

“Yes, absolutely. Some of your students, including my dear nephew Lilac, escaped to a humans’ city yesterday and came across her there. The idiots acted aggressively, so the birdy showed them her rage,” laughed the wizard.

“I can’t believe…We haven’t met any of their kind for ages…” Alastair replied thoughtfully. “And those fools attacked it…How did they manage to leave Occultikon without us noticing it?”

“Those are the results of Dorian’s work. You remember yourself, he never cared about discipline,” Felix breathed out irritatingly.

“I know… He was a powerful wizard and eccentric man. Who could have guessed that it is not the best combination for the Academy’s principal?” the giant man closed his eyes and rubbed his wide forehead.

“Meh, he was just a lazy, crazy old man,” Felix shrugged.

“Don’t be so strict with him. He was your teacher once as well!” Alastair pronounced slightly reproachfully.

“He was. But now I’ a grown man over thirty and I’m allowed to have an opinion” huffed the young man. “He didn’t bother controlling difficult students, and now we have gangs of aggressive teenage wizards, attacking humans and magical creatures!”

“Felix…There are no difficult students, they are just kids who lost the right path,” Alastair said softly.

“Well, okay. Now I will show them the right path,” the redhead smiled coldly.

“For some reason, I fear it… We will bring those children to court. They must be punished but according to the law. I will deal with it. As a new principal, I am responsible for them.”

“Right…I actually came to you to speak about that,” Felix handed to his friend a little piece of paper. “Can anybody of your healers do this for me?”

“Hmm…Rare ingredients, one needs a lot of magic to prepare such potion…” the giant man carefully examined the paper. “Who gave it to you?”

“The Caladrius girl. Lilac was severely injured, so she gave me the recipe of the potion to heal him in exchange to promise that those boys will be fairly punished.”

“I see. This is really a strong potion and honestly, not many wizards know such. Intriguing…”

Alastair quickly marched along the corridor, checking room after room. He opened a door to a big class hole, filled with the evening sunlight. The room seemed to be most affected by yesterday's blast: most of the shelves were completely empty; pieces of glass were still lying here and there; curiously looking objects in vitrines still slightly trembled. A short, round, old man in a thick, wide sweater and pants with large pockets was standing in the middle of the class, rubbing his grey hair, and chewing on a big chocolate bar.

“Isaac!” loud Alastair’s voice made the man slightly jump. “Come here for a second!”

“Sure, sure, Professor Alsiende,” Isaac hurried to the principal swiftly moving his little legs. “Ah, Mr Calliophis! Glad to see You!”

“Good evening, Professor Hofmann,” Felix replied slightly backing down. A sickly sweet smell coming from the man instantly made the redhead feel dizzy.

“What can I do for You?” Isaac smiled widely.

“Well, first of all, could You please finish tidying up your classroom. There are still some glass shards on the floor,” Alastair looked around appraisingly. “And then, I would like You to prepare this one,” the giant man showed Professor Hofmann the piece of paper.

“Sure, sure! Let me see,” Isaac carefully read the recipe. “Ah…Hmm…Let me think…Where did You get that from?”

“From a friend,” Alastair answered vaguely. “Do you know this potion?”

“Sure, sure!” the round man actively nodded. “It will…It may just last a bit…I must see.”

“No problem, could You please bring it to me tomorrow morning?” Felix smiled slightly aggressively. The smell of candies made him feel way too sick.

“Ah…Tomorrow…Yes, sure, sure!” the round man nodded again. “Is this friend… Are we getting a new healer teacher for the Academy?” Isaac widely smiled again.

“Hmm, I haven’t thought about it, but maybe that’s a good idea…” Alastair rubbed his sharp chin.

“Oh, so we are? Who is it if it’s not a secret?” Professor Hofmann piercingly looked at the giant man in front of him.

“No, no. It is just an idea. Nothing concrete…” the principal replied thoughtfully and slowly walked along the corridor staring into the void.

“Ah, I see. No worries, Mr Calliophis the potion will be ready tomorrow. You’ve asked the best healer of the whole Alpine Trinitas!” Isaac held out his short hand, holding a few small candies on his palm. “Do You want any? Professor Alsiende?”

Felix nodded negatively, mumbled something that sounded like “Thank you” and followed Alastair. He still remembered very well how Professor Hofmann used to stuff his students with candies all the time. Fortunately for the redhead and his teeth, he didn’t study healing magic, so he was mostly spared from this sugary torture.

Alastair marched along the corridor quietly complaining about dust and glass shards. Felix glanced at the man’s face: the principal’s eyes were focused on something invisible in front of him and slight wrinkles got a little more visible for a moment.

“So, this bird…Who is she?” the giant man finally asked.

“Hmm… As I said, a young girl. I would say in her twenties, assuming from all the books at her place – a university student. Don’t really know anything else…”

“I wonder how much she knows about healing magic. This potion is impressive, but does she know anything else?”

“I have absolutely no idea. I guess birds like her know quite some things,” Felix rubbed his roman nose. “Why? Do you think she could teach here?”

“Well, we need somebody for the healer specialisation,” Alastair raised his dark eyes.

“Do you think it is safe to bring the bird to Occultikon? I am not sure that local wizards will be polite with her…”

“Right but being alone out there she can meet poachers again. And next time real ones, not just school kids. Here she will be under my protection and later, hopefully, also under the protection of loyal and thankful students,” the principal explained slowly. “Could you tell her about my suggestion, please?”

“Sure, my friend,” Felix widely smiled with his most diabolic smile.

“I beg you! Talk to her normally! Don’t use your tricks! And be nice!” the man declared strictly. “I think a creature like her could be a very valuable teacher, we shouldn’t miss the chance.”

“Okay-okay. I will talk to her tomorrow. And we still need to think about punishment for Lilac and his friends!” answered Felix bowing to his friend before leaving him.

“Sure. Thank you, Felix,” Alastair waved the young man goodbye and disappeared in his office.

The next morning busy Danielle with a usual move widely opened the window of Felix's bedroom at around nine o'clock and didn't miss a chance to complain about the strong smell of cherries and cigarettes that once again firmly stuck to the antique furniture of the room.

Felix only quietly huffed. This smell never disturbed him, in fact, now he was much more irritated by the fact that his clothes smelled like rather cheap female perfume.

"Well, Sir, next time you will choose your company more carefully," instructively noticed Danielle observing the moody face of his master.

Felix had already finished his breakfast when his butler informed him about Professor Hofmann, who was waiting for him in the main parlour.

"Good morning, dear Professor," said the redhead trying to look friendly.

"Ah! Mr Calliophis! Good morning! How are You doing?" the round man attempted to act lively. His messy grey hair and big, dark circles under his eyes clearly gave out the fact, that he had a difficult night though.

"I'm fine. But I see, You had a lot of work yesterday?"

"Oh, well... Just some cleaning up after that... You know, that blast a day ago. But Your potion is ready! And the lotion! And I dared to add a little chocolate to this set," Isaac kindly smiled handing Felix a little bag. "I assumed; some sweets will cheer up the one who is so seriously sick. By the way, who is the unfortunate one?"

"Mh, thanks. It's for a friend of mine. Thanks for helping me out, Professor," Felix answered politely.

"It's always my pleasure!  Do you need anything else?" Isaac wanted to sound polite, but he clearly wasn’t satisfied with the answer.

"No, thank You. I'll tell Alastair to grant You a small bonus for Your help."

"Oh, there is no need, Mr Calliophis! You don't owe me anything!" the round man negatively nodded and crossed his hands.

"As You wish. Come, be my guest. I, unfortunately, need to leave now but Danielle can suggest You tea with pie."

"Oh, that's very kind of You! You know, I can never say no to a pie!" Isaac smiled happily. "By the way, Mr Calliophis, do You know if we are getting a new healer teacher? I just...As a...As the head of the specialization, I need to know..."

"I don't know. You should talk about it with Alastair, that's up to him," Felix answered dryly approaching the front door.

"Sure, sure! Professor Alsiende knows best. I will ask..." mumbled the round man.

Felix shortly nodded and disappeared the next second. He teleported to the cottage in the woods, swiftly ran to the front door and impatiently and loudly knocked on it. A scared maid hurried to let the prominent guest inside and called her mistress. Annabelle didn't make Felix wait too long. She knew that her cousin was already angry enough with her and her older son, so the woman didn't want to cause more trouble.

"Good morning, dear! We didn't expect to see you today!" she opened her arms for a hug.

"This is to heal your son," Felix answered emotionlessly stepping back from the hugs.

"Oh, how wonderful! Thank you, cousin! You are our saviour!" Mrs Woodward's face lit up. "And the bird? Is it among the ingredients of the potion?"

"Annabelle!" Felix frowned and shouted out loudly, making the woman jump up in fear. "How dare you..." he was about to scream again as he noticed two pairs of hazel eyes spying on him from the second floor. "I have my honour and I would never fall so low," he had to force himself to sound softer. "Lilac was the one to attack. He committed a crime, and he will face his punishment. Now go to your son, don't make me be impolite with you again!" he ordered.

Mrs Woodward pressed her oval head into her shoulders and obeyed. She obviously wanted to disagree with the punishment, but the flaming eyes of her cousin clearly hinted to her, that every argument would just make it worse.

Felix remained alone in the large hall. He kept silent for a second and then raised his eyes to the two mysterious spies.

"I do hope you are not going to disappoint me like your older brother..." he said softly then slowly walked to the Lilac's room.

The family's healer put the lotion on the boy's wounds and carefully counted ten drops of the potion, adding it to fragrant herbal tea. It didn't last long after the first sip to see rapid improvements in Lilac's condition. The burns stopped pulsating, and, in a moment, deep wounds started to heal. The horrible scar that disfigured the young man's face started slowly disappearing, allowing him to see with both eyes and properly speak again.

"Would you be so kind to tell me, what for the God's sake made you think, that you are allowed to leave Occultikon without my permission?" Felix stared at his nephew precisely.

"I...Ah...Ugh...Aga..." the boy glanced at his mother. "We just wanted to hang out a little bit..." he muttered.

"Oh, I hope you had enough fun to face the consequences now!" the redhead frowned strictly.

"Uncle, I...Please!" Lilac begged.

"Poachers must be sentenced to prison according to the law, you know this. For attacking a Caladrius..."

"Felix, please!" Annabelle cried interrupting her brother. "I beg you! I beg you on my knees! You can ask whatever you want! The Woodwards will be endlessly loyal to you! But don't send him to prison!"

Felix stood up straight. His lips curved into a sly smile as he elegantly adjusted his wavy hair.

"Well...The Woodwards could be useful, that's right," he replied thoughtfully following his cousin with his hypnotically shining eyes. "Lilac will face a detention and community service, no prison. But..."

"But?" Annabelle replied with slight worry.

"My good friend, Professor Alsiende, wants to join the House of Nobles as the second member from our city. I would appreciate it if your husband could grant us his voice."

"But...We are... Narcissus is...he promised to vote for Lemonie." Mrs Woodward seemed pretty confused.

"Well. Either Narcissus changes his mind, or... I think it was four... Right, four years of prison one gets for poaching endangered creatures..."

"My father will vote the way you want!" Lilac said loud and clearly looking at his nodding mother. "He will, don't worry. Thank you, uncle!"

"I'm glad we could find a compromise," Felix clearly stared at his cousin with his wide open, evilly sparkling eyes. "It is better for your son and moreover, Professor Alsiende is a much better candidate, loyal to Occultikon. I suspect that Lemonie is highly influenced by the nobles of the la Manch Trinitas."

"His ideas though..." Annabelle objected quietly.

"His ideas are mediocre and populist. A war, the way he and his French patrons see it is way too barbaric. We here prefer more elegant ways," angry Felix's eyes almost ignited Mrs Woodward. "Oh, by the way. I'll spare you, but you must tell me which one of your empty-headed friends attacked the human child," he glanced at his nephew.

"Ah...Well...Erick ran after the child, I guess...Thomas stayed with me...What will happen to him?" Lilac looked scared.

"Oh, don't worry, I am not a monster after all," Felix answered kindly as he was about to leave the room. “Though wait...No, I actually am one," he added softly and with obvious satisfaction.

Felix disappeared in the dark fog before he even crossed the main hall. The next second, he was standing in front of a shabby block of flats in a noisy, bustling suburb of the huge human city. The man had always treated humans with certain squeamishness peculiar to almost all wizards. Now again this attitude made the redhead feel disgusted from having to walk the streets of the human city. He shivered and was already about to step towards the dull block of flats when its front door opened and a small figure with a bun of snow-white hair quickly ran out of it and marched away. Felix raised his thick eyebrow and shortly stared at his reflection in a car's window. A man like him dressed in a colourful floral shirt and leather jeans could hardly remain unnoticed that easily. Yet, Ragna obviously didn't pay much attention to him. The girl seemed to be in a hurry and was rather carefully looking where she was going vainly trying not to stumble in a hurry.

The redhead remained motionless for one more moment and then slowly followed the bird. He still needed to talk to her. At least, because he promised Alastair. Felix didn't feel comfortable weaving among humans. Every time somebody got way too close to him, the man jumped to the side with disgust. After half an hour of chasing he stopped in front of an old, beautifully decorated with intricate stucco house. He hesitated for a second, then grabbed his napkin, wrapped it around a door handle and pulled the door. The wood creaked letting the wizard inside a long, dark hall of the library.

Heavy steps of Felix's patent leather shoes loudly echoed in the corridors between endless bookshelves.

It was silent and empty. Dust was dancing in the air, lit by dim sunlight. The air itself was heavy and stale. It seemed like nobody had visited this library for at least several centuries.

Felix carefully examined every narrow corridor searching for the bird. Suddenly he felt a tiny sharp blade pointed at his neck. Ragna held a small paper-knife in front of her. The girl's big eyes, full of childish fear, were attentively following every wizard's move.

"Wow! So, you really hope to beat me with this toothpick?" Felix grinned calmly. "Hide this miserly of a weapon, I'm here to talk to you."

"If you don't like paper knives, I can suggest you lightnings!" Ragna answered strictly and frowned.

"Nah, I'm an experienced warrior magician, your lightnings won't be a big problem for me," Felix smiled with superiority putting his finger on the sharp end of the knife. "Totalis Interitus!" whispered the wizard and the blade turned into ashes.

Felix bent over right to the young woman’s face hypnotically staring at her with his golden-brown eyes. Ragna felt a strong but strangely pleasant smell of cherries and tobacco. She stepped back panicky searching for a way to retreat, made another step and stumbled on a pile of books, lying on the ground. The girl loudly squeaked waving her hands in an attempt to keep her balance. Felix rapidly held out his long hand, grabbed Ragna’s collar, and pulled her, getting her back on her feet.

"I didn't give you any permission to leave, birdy," he mumbled focused and confidently smiled. "Calm down, I swear, I am not intending to harm you...Besides, you are wonderfully dealing with it yourself."

Ragna blushed out of awkwardness and hid her eyes. She adjusted her small, black dress and gazed at the man.

“I hope, I’m not disturbing you from studying,” Felix charmingly smiled.

“No, but you are disturbing me from working,” Ragna replied puffing out her cheeks.

“Oh, you work here…Among humans…” the wizard said with undisguised disdain.

“Well, I generally live among humans, so nothing unexpected,” the girl shrugged and turned away to the bookshelves.

“Do you like it?”

“Hmm, humans don’t kill my kind, so I have nothing against them.”

“Only because they don’t know how to use your kind.”

“Fair enough for me,” Ragna replied smiling peacefully. “I just try to make the best out of my life. Conflicts between magical and human worlds are not interesting for me.”

“In the end, they will still affect you. Nowadays those annoying parasites with their technologies are everywhere, bringing disbalance and poisoning our lands.”

“Well…Humans use their technologies to survive. They can’t support their needs with magic and you guys left them without guidance. You shouldn’t be surprised now.”

“We left humans for a reason. Why should we help those who hunted us down and killed for centuries!” Felix hissed irritatingly trying to take his anger under control.

“Oh really?” Ragna suddenly turned to the man and attentively gazed into his motionless eyes. “What a familiar story…”

“I know. We weren’t fair to magical creatures as well, so you left, and you have your right to avoid wizards. Just like we have our right to avoid humans.” Felix said softly twisting a strand of Ragna’s snow-white hair on his finger.

“I don’t know. As for me, digging our old grievances, we all won’t go too far. My advice, next time wizards decide to deal with humans, try not to curse them with deadly diseases and natural catastrophes, so that they have fewer reasons to start a new inquisition.”

“Are you trying to lecture me, birdy? I don’t remember asking,” Felix whispered threateningly nearing the woman’s face.

“Reasonable comment. I guess my instinct of self-preservation failed this time. Anyways, I assume, you came to talk about something else?”

“That’s right,” Felix sighed and closed his eyes for a few moments trying to calm down. "I came to ask you; how much do you know about healing magic?"

Ragna raised her dark eyebrows. "Much enough to be more useful alive," she carefully replied.

"You know, there's a big Academy of magic in the city I'm from. Its principal, my friend, is looking for somebody who could teach healing. You seem to be suitable for this position."

"Meh, I'm not interested in magic," the girl waved her hand with neglect.

"This job is pretty well paid," Felix narrows his sparkling eyes.

"You got my attention," Ragna immediately turned her head to the wizard looking at him with a wide smile.

"Here, take this," Felix held out a small wooden box, decorated with wooden carvings.

"What's that?"

"It's a box with a portal. If you want to accept my friend's offer, open this box and the portal will bring you straight to Occultikon, to the Doctrina de Antiquis Academy. If you decide to become a teacher there, I, with my oath, will grant you safety. No uneducated youngsters or actual poachers will dare to touch you. And you can share your knowledge and questionable opinions with the children."

"Okay, okay. What's with money?" Ragna gazed at Felix happily.

"We will pay you in gold, you can later exchange it for human's money."

"How much?"

"Do you care only about money?"

"Well, I'm a student in need, you, fancy douchebag!" Ragna hissed.

“Or maybe I won’t grant you any safety…” Felix said thoughtfully nearing the girl and attentively staring into her eyes.

“Hey!” a loud voice unexpectedly thundered behind the two. “Who are you? What do you need here?!” Vince angrily stared at the redhead reaching out to his sabre case.

“It is okay, calm down. This nice gentleman is already leaving,” Ragna softly put her hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I would prefer not to stay in such company,” Felix winced.

“Get out of here!” Vince commanded ragefully.

“Vincenzo Brivio, please, be polite…” sighed the girl.

“Do me a favour and get out of here, please,” the boy slowly repeated staring at the redhead.

Felix huffed and stepped back. He wasn’t interested in controversy with this child. Humans were irritating and disgusting from his point of view, but murdering a kid was way beneath his dignity.

“Use the box if you don’t want to spend the rest of your days being surrounded by those cockroaches,” he mumbled shortly and disappeared into the darkness.