Warlock

An Argument with the In-Law

Dixie followed, squinting at the naiad as well. Recognition dawned on her face, but Loch's gears refused to lock into place.

"You're the one who he got the scrutatio orbs from, I assume?" Perhaps he could not recognize the naiad because he had aged. Naiads did not have to physically age, but some of them chose to for the sake of superiority. Loch found it petty, though long ago he had altered his own appearance to incite fear and respect.

"Yes. I have a collection of relics. If you ever need anything, ask Skye and I'll see if I have it." He did not want to talk to this man, let alone chat politely with him. However, Skye was clearly delighted by their friendliness. Skye had never mentioned his parents, so this uncle could be the one he had to earn the approval of. Loch knew that much from the movie research he had done.

"Do you still have the golden orchid we found in Iran?"

"I do have a golden or–" The gears slid into place, and with them came a flood of memories.

Loch stared at Darius in horror. He still had a few hundred years left in his sentence, and this naiad was the only one who knew. He had been the only one present when that wretched werewolf had convinced him to make the deal, and when Loch had blocked everyone's memories of him, he had erased all physical records of that meeting as well. "Darius from Baltak Valley."

Skye glanced between them and cut in. "Have you met before?" His voice was quiet, as if he knew their history was negative.

Darius smiled and waved a waiter over to their table. "I'll have the country style breakfast, and they'll have..." He turned to Skye and Loch with his eyebrows raised, waiting for them to order. It was as if he wanted them to wait with snakes in their stomachs for his response. Unfortunately, his face was as locked to their understanding.

Dixie had been sitting low in her seat, but she perked up at the mention of food. "I'll have a strawberry sundae with a BLT. Take off the tomato, though. That stuff's nasty." She slid a flask out of her coat pocket, most likely filled with blood to accompany the meal.

"We'll have hot chocolate and French toast." Skye turned to Darius as soon as the waiter had left, raising his eyebrows expectantly.

"The most feared warlock in the world for hundreds of years, and you let my nephew order for you." The naiad chuckled, shaking his head. Dixie seemed to share his amusement, but she stayed quiet. "Yes, Skelly, we've met before. A long, long time ago, I made a deal with him on the behalf of the Others of the Baltak Valley. If you've ever read stories about genies tricking people when they make wishes to make their immortality not include agelessness or to give them true love with an idiot, those stories came from him. Only the desperate make a deal with a warlock, and I was very desperate. As a result, I ended up working as his servant for hundreds of years, though clearly I didn't make an impact on his memory."

Loch remembered him perfectly well, now. "In my defense, I did release you three hundred years early. You also got your side of the deal for every year you worked for me."

Darius turned to Skye. His half-smile and relaxed posture did not disappear, but his voice lost all liveliness. "You didn't make a deal with him, did you? Has he ever had you shake his hand? How did you get him to give you the scrutatio orbs? And the dragon keys?"

"I never made any kind of deal with him, I promise. He just gave the relics to me," Skye promised.

The old naiad did not appear convinced. "Why? He always has a motivation. You don't just trust an ancient warlock. I've told you this." His half-smile had begun to slip, and Loch could see panic setting in. Skye struggled for words and looked to Loch for help.