Clockwork Commoner

Hi eveyone! Thanks for joining me and reading my story, it means alot. =) This is a story Im going to submit to a young authers contest for my school and i wanted to post it up here to. sooo yeah. Thanks and enjoy!

~ PunkAngel789

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London – 1893

There was a soft rapping on the old wooden door. "Cordilia, sweetheart." A middle aged woman entered her only daughters bedroom to find that her daughter was asleep, slumped over her workbench littered with bits of clockwork and tools along with a book of spells, chalk, and incense scattered about every available space on the desk.

The mother looking at her daughter and smiled, shaking her head. She went over to her daughter and nudged her softly, crooning, "Cordy, love. Wake up. It’s a big day."

Her daughter opened her eyes slowly and smiled tiredly up at her mother. She began to sit up, wincing slightly at her stiff back. As much as she loved to tinker and experiment with metal and magic into the late hours of the night, it always left her sore in the morning. She stood slowly and stretched, her joints popped and cracked as she shook off the stiffness of her night slumped over her worktable. She gave a deep yawn.

Her mother laughed, "Your to young to have your body making those kinds of noises, just wait till you get older. Now get washed up and get dressed. I’ll start on breakfast."

"Alright mum." Cordy smiled as her mother left the room. Cordy stood and rubbed the last of the sleep out of her eyes and let out one last morning yawn before making her way to the bathroom. She stood in front of the mirror and dipped her hands into the water basin. She washed a smudge of grease off her face and ran a comb through her hair. She looked herself over. Her hair was fiery red with streaks of brown; freckles spotted her pale face and her large green eyes shone with excitement. Today was indeed a very big day.

Today was the day that’ Cordilia was going to perform her first real summons. Her father was a magician and had been teaching Cordy the basics of alchemy, potion making and summoning djinn. Along with her magical studies Cody’s mother taught her all about machines, clockwork and how different mechanisms work together. Cordy loved to watch her mother work on projects and bring hunks of metal and gears to life in her own small works as well. That in itself was magical to her.

She made her way back to her room and rummaged through her pounded metal-and-wood wardrobe. She picked out her favorite forest green shirt, with loose sleeves and a wide neckline with a small tie at the neck, and a pair of black trousers. She laced up her gleaming steel engraved corset her mum made for her and tied her oil-stained smock around her waist. Cordy took her copper rimmed goggles and hung them around her neck then looked over herself once more in the mirror. She smiled at herself then headed downstairs into the kitchen.

She was welcomed into the small cozy kitchen with the smell of bacon and eggs, sizzling away in the pan. Her mother smiled at her as Cordy took her seat at the counter that looks over the stove. Cordy watched her mum intently as she stoked the fire under the big black oven and turned and bacon, sending small beads of grease popping up from the pan. Her mother put a few crispy strips on a plate along with a heap of eggs. She set the plate in front of her daughter.

"Eat up, then go to the study. Your dads already there, setting up."

Cordilia nodded, already savagely plowing through her breakfast. She could hardly contain her excitement! All her skills where going to be tested today, she was eager to make her father proud. Magic ran in the family. Her father and her uncle learned magic from their father and he learned magic form his father and he learned magic form his father before him. Cordilia was proud to be part of such a family where tricks and secrets had been handed down for so many generations.

Cordy cleaned her plate and her mother ruffled her hair as she jumped down from her stool. "Good luck Cordy, dear!" Her mother smiled after her as she darted down the hall and into the study.

When Cordy burst into the study she was greeted with her father’s smiling face. He had cleared the center of the room and pushed the desk and bookshelves up to the wall, covered them with a deep purple cloth and drawn the curtains shut. He also set up the incense and candles in a neat array in the corner and set a basket of various colored chalk next to it.