Cloaks

I hadn’t felt nervous butterflies in years, but as I made my way back to my lab I couldn’t help but feel them bubbling away in the pit of my belly like I’d swallowed a whole swarm of the things.

As I descended the narrow staircase leading to my lab underneath the pub, I felt like a kid at Christmas, ready to open all of his presents and waste the day playing with his favourite ones.

My market trip had been more successful than I ever could have wished for, and the items that I’d collected were all perfect for use in my experiments and my fingers were itching to start working on the micro-climates so I could test my first marketable Magitech device.

But, as I pushed open the heavy oak doors to my workspace, my excitement turned to sudden shock.

Sophia was back. Slumped in my chair, at my desk… and for the first time since I’d known her she looked hurt, her face battered and bruised.

“Sophia?” I gasped, dropping my bag to te side, trying to keep the worry out of my voice. “What hap