The curse of the broken soul

The strange sightings

"Hey! Ian!" Barley calls out with a wide and nervous smile. He wasn't too sure if he wanted to let his brother know about his little guest just yet. On one hand it could be great for his training to become an even greater wizard but on the other hand he could end up getting very badly hurt or worse. The curse was that powerful and that threatening. He also wasn't sure how well he would take it, if he were to react a certain way it could very well cause the imp to have another meltdown and thus igniting the powers of the curse.

Ian certainly had no idea there was some stranger in their house but he was able to pick up on his brother's weird behaviour. "Uhh...hey Barley." He says awkwardly, he seemed way more cheerful than usual but in a way it felt uncanny. Like he was trying to pretend but his acting was way over the top. Next he was able to notice how Barley was all wet and had some mud on him as well. "What the-?! What happened to you this time?!" He asks.

Barley looks down at himself, seeing his damp clothes slowly dry on him made him feel a bit sticky. "Oh this? Haha! I just wanted to go out, let Blazey go for a walk when it started raining out of nowhere! And I may have sort of...slipped and fell in some mud."

Ian sighs a bit, sometimes it felt like he was the older brother instead. "Ok...maybe you should go and have a shower real quick, if you track in too much mud Mum is going to flip!"

"Yeah yeah, I know." Barley says with a light shrug, he may have felt cold but aside from that being covered in mud didn't bother him that much.

As for the younger brother however, he was not the least bit amused, he pointed his staff at his dirty older brother. "Barley, go shower now or I will drag you outside and cast some spells that will wash this mud off for sure!"

Barley shuddered a bit at the thought, while he does push Ian to use his magic skills as much as he can and whenever he can, he didn't like the idea of him casting a spell that would spray cold freezing water all over him. "Alright, alright! Fine....just give me a second while I grab some clothes for after I hop out..." he slowly backed up against his bedroom door and dashed inside, closing it behind him. However Ian waited just outside the door, he didn't want him to try and weasel his way out of this one.

As Barley went back into his room he saw the imp was cuddling the bear that was on the bed. He gasps a bit and quickly rushed over to her and snatched the old toy right from her hands. "Where did you get that?!" He asks in a blind panic.

Although he didn't sound or look mad the fact he had snatched the object right out Izzy's hands was more than enough to make her believe that he was angry. Tears began to swell up in her large blue eyes as she sat there in complete shock. Barley immediately began to panic even more. "Gah! N-no no- don't!"

Just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, a knock could be heard on the door. "Barley are you ok in there?"

The elf gasps as he suddenly, by instinct, grabbed ahold of the imp and pressed her right against his body, smothering her ever so slightly. "Uh- YEAH BRO! I'M FINE! JUST...JUST LOOKING FOR SOMETHING!" He cries out, he kept the small imp muffled against his chest. That is when the door began to creak open a bit, at this point Barley's heart was pounding. "NO DON'T COME IN! I'M NAKED!" He lied, he hated to have to lie to Ian but he felt like he had too, like it was his best choice.

Ian immediately closed the door, luckily he didn't see anything. A small sigh of relief exhaled from Barley's lips, he kept holding onto Izzy as he slowly turns to look down at her. "Izzy..." he says in a whisper. Her large blue eyes looked up at him, making him blush a little as he realised just how close they were. "I uh- Ahem! I am sorry to have startled you like that...but right now I have to go for a bit but I promise you I will be right back...but listen carefully...I'm not...exactly allowed to have guests here so you have to stay hidden..." Barley then picks her up and carefully puts her inside a closet of his. "Ian isn't the type to snoop around but one cannot be too careful so just stay in here until I get back, ok? Do you understand?" He asks, still whispering.