The Golden Bond

CHAPTER 1

It seemed like the atmosphere in the room changed suddenly, and notjust because the cold January air had snuck into the shop. It wasbecause of him, although it wasn't until later that I became aware ofthe frightening and unnatural abilities he held.

He was a tall man in his early thirties. He took a sip from thecoffee he held, and brushed away a couple of half-melted snowflakesthat glistened in his dark hair. He was dressed in monotone colours,a charcoal grey suit with a black shirt and a stylish grey-blue tie.Over these he wore a black overcoat. His sparkling blue eyes met mineas I lifted them from the packet I'd been working on to greet him.For a moment it felt as if time seemed to stop and we were caught inthis vacuum, conveying unspoken thoughts with our eyes. The silencewas broken by his greeting.

"Good afternoon."

"Afternoon," I replied and straightened upbehind my workbench.

He approached me with hesitant footsteps while he looked about. "Soyou wrap presents for customers here, right?" he asked as if hewasn't sure he'd entered the correct shop. Obviously, there was noway he could have missed the big neon sign saying Sofia'sWrapping Service.

"I believe so," I replied flippantly, "may Ihelp you somehow?"

"I need this to be wrapped," he said. Heremoved his coat, as if planning to spend a long time indoors, whichrevealed an athletic figure. He took a small, bizarre object out ofhis suit pocket and showed off a shiny stone-like oval in his openpalm.

I reached out to take the object but he closed his hand quickly andpulled it away. My hand was left hanging in the air.

"You're not allowed to touch it," he said.

I snorted sarcastically. "How am I supposed to wrap this weirdthing for you if I'm not allowed to touch it?" I asked, looking athim in disbelief.

"I'll help you," he said, acting as if it wasthe most natural thing in the world.

I didn't know how to answer and after I'd stood there like that forquite a while, he came closer to the workbench and asked, "so, whatshall I do?" Is he really trying to tell me how to do my job? Noteven Adrian, the baker from next door, who was a proven friend ofmany years dared to touch my papers and he was about here everymorning. Everyone knows full well that my kingdom only has one ruler.The sudden rise in my emotions probably manifested in a dismissiveshaking of the head because the man looked at me amusedly while stillwaiting.

"You're not going to earn much money like this,Sofia. You are Sofia, right?" he spoke in a somewhat cheeky tone.

The nerve of him! "Yes, I'm Sofia. And yourhonourable name, Mr. Cocky?" I replied in a very similar manner.Oh, girl, you're brave!

"William," answered the stranger.

"OK, William, here's how it is:" I began tolecture, "you can either give me that thing or you can go and buy amediocre, decorative bag from the stationer's opposite. My wrappingservice consists of making creative packages, in order to fulfil thistask I need to measure the object to be wrapped, weigh it and basedon that information I can then choose the appropriate packaging."I'd hardly finished the sentence before William grasped my ruler inhis hand.

"Four and a half by three centimetres. Weight,about 100 grams." Pleased with himself, he conjured a beautiful,albeit smug, smile that spread widely over his face.

What kind of game are we playing, for god sake? I honestly wanted toshow him the door until he abruptly went back to a serious face andspoke again.

"Look, Sofia, there are important reasons why noone is allowed touch this stone."

So, a stone indeed...