Supernatural Taxes

5) Every student in the Botany Wing prays for my imminent demise.

"Hey Atalanta..."

Atla was taking a walk back to her flat, trying to clear her head. Her vision was blocked by her new roommate for life. Other pedestrians regarded Atla and the pot plant floating in front of her like a slightly interesting curio. Atla didn't know how many magicians there were in Amsterdam but there couldn't be more than a handful at her university, she was one of those oddities now too.

"Hey, hey, A-ta-lan-ta."

Atla relented, brooding too much wouldn't help either, "Just call me Atla," she muttered softly, "If we're going to be together awhile call me Atla that's what everyone calls me. Also, let me hold you, I, don't like these stares." She spoke from the corner of her mouth.

"... Okay Atla, my name is Athanasius, please call me Thanos. I know that this isn't what you wanted, but it's good to meet you again and truly talk to you." Atla picked the small pot up out of the air and they continued walking. About ten minutes of silence later, "Whereabouts are you going?"

"Hmmm, nowhere really," She habitually replied to the common question, wandering helped her think.

"Oh! In that case – ahem. Well, in that case could we stop by an open and secluded area, a park perhaps? Thanos managed to continue his respectable tone.

"What for?"

"To use a spell! Thanos began his pitch, "Now you may have heard a lot of bad rumours about grimoires, some people say that they're nothing like the original wish that the Writer made and limited to the point of uselessness, but..." his plea continued to float in through one ear, "...it's magical isn't it? It's awesome to just say the name of a spell and, bam, it happens..." and out the other.

Atla thought about it, she had to use a spell today, her savings depended on it. It would be better to use it somewhere unseen. She should look at this with a positive mindset, maybe the spells were really cool.

"... And you've got fourt –I mean nine- grimoires, not to brag or anything but that's almost three times the normal amount! I really think you'll enjoy,"

"–Okay."

"huh?"

"I said okay, let's go then," She psyched herself up.

***

"So which spell do you want to use?" They were a little way off of a sidepath in Frankendael Park, shrouded by tall grasses and droopy trees.

"Honestly I just want to use a spell after so long. But let me think, a good spell for beginners huh?" Atla also caught a mutter of, "Don't want to scare her away."

"How about this one? Catch!" A thick tome the size of an old encyclopaedia appeared between them, Atla almost dropped it at the sudden materialisation. A grimoire. It was intricately patterned in black and swamp green with no discernible words, the unbroken alien script swept and sprouted new lines over the cover, onto the first page and beyond, like some abstract tattoo.

"Ruth called it, 'Identify.' It was made from a wish that lets you know the name of whatever you are focussing on, in every language."

"Wow, that actually sounds really cool," Admitted Atla. She held the grimoire for Thanos to take back, she doubted her hands were clean. Once she motioned for him to take it it was gone, disappearing wherever Magic kept the grimoires it held.

"Yohoho, I know right, try using it on that tree."

"Which one?"

"That one there; oh yeah, I don't have paws anymore. Whatever, pick any tree and say Identify."

Atla looked at a pale old tree in front of her and said the spell's name, "Identify."

White Birch Tree, Paper Birch, Canoe Birch; Witte Berkenboom; Abedul Blanco; Betula Papyrifera... the list went on. Nothing in her surroundings changed, no sound or light effects that she'd used her Magic, Thanos, to 'read' one of her grimoires which caused a spell to be cast. But a bunch of information was now in her head, like the kind of eureka moment when you remember something you've forgotten, "Haha, this is awesome!"

"It is!" Thanos sounded like he'd just had an itch scratched.

She examined her new knowledge, "Betula Papyrifera, I even know the Latin name. The Botany students would kill for this. I thought that grimoires were a lot more dangerous."

"Identify," she knew every name for a little red flower.

"Identify," she knew every name for the grass beneath her.

"Identify?" she'd turned her attention to the rusty lamppost, but nothing happened.

"Oh yes, that is one of the limitations, instead of being able to identify anything and anyone it only works on plants," explained Thanos.

"Oh, I see," Atla was a little disappointed that she couldn't use identify to remember acquaintances' names but the power was still awesome, she just didn't know how much she would use it since she was studying business. "Hey Thanos, can you use Identify on yourself, you're a plant right now?"

"I haven't tried it before,"

"Okay well then, Identify," Star Cactus, Window Succulent; Sterkaktus; Stercactus; Haworthia Retusa... "It works. Let's see, the Latin name is Haworthia Retusa and the common name is Haworthia Retusa. Wait, no that's the Latin name again, the normal name is Haworthia Retusa.

"...Hey Thanos. What on earth's happening?"

"Ah I should probably mention the other limitation. Once you've learnt the plant's names you can only speak its Latin name."

—Whack, "Say that first!" She scored a homerun; the Haworthia Retusa got knocked through a tree and out of sight. His surprised yell faded as he flew away, blasting off again.

Atla rubbedher temples and trudged over the Lolium Perenne after it. The pot had bruisedher knuckles.