Potter's Field

Chapter Eighteen/Part Two: Serious?

Silver lay back down and pulled a different book toward her, opening it up to the first page. 

            “What I need is a servant,” Mars said suddenly, still scooping pudding into his mouth.  “Someone who will do my bidding without question.”

            “What about Samuel?” Silver asked, laying the book on her stomach.

            “He’s my butler.”

            “And that’s different, how?”

            Mars didn’t answer as he was slurping up the rest of the chocolate milk.  Silver could only stare at these antics.  She rarely saw Mars eat like this.  Usually, he was all manners, though he seemed to give special exception to anything chocolate, which he put in his mouth in the most convenient and quickest way possible. 

The pudding and milk now gone, Mars tossed the pudding cup and bottle behind him. The library immediately perked up and blew the cup and bottle into the garbage.  “Excellent,” Mars said, glad to see that all the spells interrupted in the battle had been successfully reinstalled.  He turned to Silver who snorted when she saw the ring of chocolate milk around his mouth. 

            “What you need is a nursemaid,” Silver said as Mars wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his maroon, long-sleeved shirt.  Despite the somber clothes, he was the picture of a normal, messy eleven-year-old.  “Or I guess, if you ever get past age eleven, a wife.  She’d be able to watch over you, wipe your chin, fix your dinner, though I’m sure the whole love thing might be a bit difficult for her.”  Silver chuckled, turning her eyes back to the book in her lap. 

            Mars was unusually silent after such a quip, so Silver looked up, expectantly – maybe he was giving her the stink eye.  But no, he had the strangest look on his face as he stared at her, only his eyes visible as he continued to slowly wipe his face with his arm.  In fact, he wasn’t really staring at her so much as studying her silver bang.  Her forehead wrinkled in confusion.  The air felt heavier all of a sudden as if her statement had dampened everything, like a sudden cold spell. 

Mars continued to stare unwaveringly at her hair.  She squirmed.  She hadn’t told him much about the place she’d been with Randall, and he hadn’t pushed.  She’d mentioned the chain, but left out the woman with the silver rope of hair and the way her braid had glowed when she performed the magic to put the two chains back together.  Having him stare at her like this, though, made her wonder if he knew about everything that had happened anyway. 

Silver put a hand self-consciously to cover her silver bang, not sure what to do.  At her movement, he looked away from the bang and into her eyes, smiling wryly.  “I had a wife once, you know,” he said suddenly, startling her.

            She looked at him for a few seconds, heart beating a little too fast.  No way.  This wasn’t a serious conversation, was it?  The sudden change in atmosphere made her feel confused like she’d run a marathon while crying and performing heart surgery on herself.  Weird.  It reminded her a little of her conversation with Stella at The Bank. 

She turned her eyes back to the book in her lap.  “Really?”  She started, nonchalantly, “What was she like?”  Perhaps it was the start of a joke?

            He didn’t answer for a few seconds, then stated just as nonchalantly, “She was quite beautiful.” 

            “Musta been crazy too, if she married you,” Silver snickered, glancing sideways at him, hoping the quip might diffuse the strangely serious atmosphere.  Mars just stared at her, expressionless, and the tension continued to build rather than dissipate until Silver couldn’t stand it anymore.  She rolled her shoulders uncomfortably.  “Well?  What happened to her?”

            Mars suddenly smiled and shook his head.  “She died – how do you kids say it now…duh.”

            Silver rolled her eyes, feeling a spark of relief that his sarcasm had returned, even if it was about his wife-of-the-distant-past’s death.  “You say that so casually.  What, you didn’t love her?  She the nagging type?  Wanted you to give up your dreams of ruling the world or something?”

            Mars rolled his eyes but didn’t answer.  He looked down at the cane in his lap and started twirling it absentmindedly.  When he didn’t say anything for a few seconds, Silver frowned and turned back to her own book.  Apparently, they weren’t going to discuss it.