The Ether Witch Volume 2

Hamil glowered at the broken watch on the table before him. His arms crossed stubbornly across his middle, his right knee bouncing as he sat in the cellar of the brothel he and the ragtag group from the boat had been staying in while they sorted things out.

Tamlin Ashowan had instructed Hamil to try and see if there was anything of interest about the watch.

Hamil gently prodded a pointy molar with the tip of his tongue in the dim lighting.

The room he sat in smelled damp and musty, but the rows and rows of wine and ale barrels around him suggested he might at least be able to enjoy the local variety at some point in the near future.

During the first week of their time on the mainland, the Ashowans had insisted they all stay sharp and not venture outside in order to avoid drawing attention. So the opportunity to sample some refreshments had been as dry as the Lobahlan desert.

Halfway through the second week, Tamlin, Eli, the children, and the duchess—whom Hamil thought was rather charming—had ventured off. Since their return, it had been a quiet remainder of the week, but Hamil and Bes had been promised a good meal and wine before they all parted ways.

Drawing himself back to the present, Hamil leaned his forearms against the edge of the table and eyed the brass gears that gleamed in the torchlight with a sigh. Honestly, nothing seemed all that strange about the watch. The only sign that this particular device was supposed to be meant to tamper with time, was the compartment for the crystal.

"Do you even know how to put that back together?"

Hamil launched away from the table with a yelp of shock.

Only to find that Penelope had crept up silently near his right shoulder.

The little girl wore a lovely lilac colored dress made of light chiffon, and her long dark hair was partially pulled back. The duchess had ensured the child had had an impressive wardrobe in a short amount of time, and seemed to take great joy in styling her hair every morning.

"Erm—Yes. Yes! I think I—Yes, I remember how it goes back." Hamil cleared his throat. "I'm just trying to see if I missed anything."

Penelope tilted her head at the pieces on the table, and took a quiet step forward. "And?"

Hamil barely stopped himself from laughing. The expectant, serious tone in the little girl's voice sounded like that of a woman twenty years older.

"I can't see anything."

"Have you still not tried to put a crystal in?" she asked patiently.

Hamil cracked a half smile. "Ah. I do not believe putting in a crystal is a good idea. You see, if this watch does what I think it can, then it would do something that could be very bad for a lot of people. Not to mention it is quite difficult to get a crystal. The mages guard them carefully."

Penelope's dark brown eyes studied his face, her hands clasped behind her back as she leaned over even more closely to the table's surface and squinted. "If you already know what it does, why take it apart?"

Hamil cleared his throat again, a guilty flush climbing up his neck to warm his cheeks. Why was no one watching this child?

"Well, we aren't exactly sure we know what it does. But we probably know."

Penelope straightened with a disappointed downturn in her mouth that almost looked as though she were trying to imitate Lady Eli. "So you should put the crystal in to figure it out."

"No. Remember how I said it could be very bad for a lot of people?"

"How?"

Hamil pressed his lips into a thin line and weighed his next words carefully. "It's hard to say."

The little girl made an irritable sound with her tongue that prompted Hamil to stand. "Shouldn't you be back upstairs with Luca, Ms. Penelope?"

Penelope didn't budge from her spot beside the table. "If you had a crystal, could we try putting it into the watch?"

Hamil drew his shoulders straight as he stared skeptically at the child. "Why?"

Penelope's eyes darted away as she shrugged innocently. "Would people die if the crystal was put in?" she ventured on without answering the previous question.

Hamil took his time answering. There was no way she had a crystal, right? Then again, hadn't this family surprised him at every turn?

"I don't believe they would die."

An excited glint sparked in the child's dark eyes. "Then why don't we just check?" Penelope pulled one of her hands from behind her back and held up…

A crystal.

On a chain.

Like the one the engineers would wear back home in Lobahl.

Hamil swallowed. "Where did you get that?"

His mind raced. They were in a brothel… Was it possible that she had stolen it from one of the customers? Or had she taken it from one of the sailors? Or the captain of the ship? Or from someone back on the Isle of Quildon?

"Let's try it." Penelope turned her eager face to the watch pieces.

Hamil moved to grab the crystal from her hand, but despite her attention being elsewhere she was still paying enough attention to him that her hand snaked away from his grasp and into a discreet pocket in her dress.

"If you are too chicken to do it, I'll just try it myself sometime," Penelope announced matter-of-factly.

"Ms. Penelope. Your family is oddly afraid of chickens, so I rather think being too chicken is a compliment. And just so you know," Hamil bent down to be eye level with the child. "This watch will never be left unattended, and should not be taken lightly. It could do something like stop time, and you might get stuck in a world where no one can move but yourself. Or you could accidentally move something. Like a vase. Then a maid might trip over the vase, bruising her shin, and so she is late serving wine to her master, and this makes him angry, so he punishes her. Then her husband is angry that she has been treated so poorly, so he comes and tries to confront the master, only he gets himself killed." He took a breath. "Do you see what I mean now?"

Penelope's expression didn't budge. Instead she said, "You didn't even notice me walk up behind you in an empty room. I can get that watch no problem."

Hamil made an irritated noise in the back of his throat before grasping Penelope's shoulders and turning her back toward the cellar stairs. "I am bringing you to your mother, and I am telling her you stole a crystal from somewhere, and that you are going to try and tamper with something that could put you in danger."

Penelope whirled back around on him, wrenching herself from his grasp. "We're already all in danger! Can't you tell? And-And something about that watch is really important! So we should know what it does, and we can figure that out! Tam said you were supposed to, and now we can!"

Hamil was about to give another speech on how the watch was dangerous, but Penelope was marching back over to the table.

She frowned at the pieces and then started to pick them up and fit them together. Only she was doing a terrible job and with the force she was exerting over the gears Hamil had to lunge for the pieces in her hands in an effort to save them.

"Enough! You might hurt yourself!"

Penelope's emptied hands curled into fists. "Put it back together and let's try the crystal. Or… Or else!"

Hamil's shoulders drooped, the longing for that promised divine cup of wine deepening. "Or else what?"

Penelope's eyes narrowed. "I'll say you hurt me."

Hamil blinked. "But I haven't."

The child then proceeded to shock him beyond reason by slapping herself across the face.

"Good Goddess!" Hamil snatched her arm to stop her from doing such an alarming thing again.

"I'll say you hit me," Penelope informed Hamil in low tones, her cheek already a deep pink.

Hamil nearly whimpered. "Tell the truth. This is an organized crime family, isn't it? Your father calls himself the devil, your mother is a giant hybrid beast, and your brother… He generally seems lovely. But he got really intense that one time!"

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Penelope's mouth pursed. "Just put it together!"

"You know, I'd heard the occasional rumor about your family. About how wholesome you all were." Hamil lowered Penelope's arm, but didn't let go. "Now I'm even questioning if the sun queen is as impressive as rumors say, or if she just has a bad temper and a good sense of where to stand for optimal lighting."

"Are we doing this or not?" Penelope insisted, her voice nearly a whine.

Hamil lifted his gaze to stare blindly ahead of himself. "I don't ever want children."

Turning back to his work table, Hamil briefly recalled how once upon a time he had enjoyed Penelope's company, and how frivolous those early days aboard the ship had been…

"What are you waiting for?"

Hamil plopped himself down in his chair before grumbling to himself. "Father always did say the real world would surprise me."

Penelope frowned. "What are you? A baby? The world is awful. Now hurry up!"

"Coming from you, that's rich!" Hamil reeled back, his incredulousness directing itself at Penelope. "You're the daughter of arguably the most influential and powerful families in your kingdom, and I think even one or two other kingdoms."

The little girl's lips quivered.

That was odd.

She looked away.

Hamil turned back to the table.

"I'm sorry I was mean. I don't need to be mean to you. Thank you for finishing the watch," she croaked. "I sometimes forget to be nice."

Blinking, Hamil turned back to see Penelope's face tilted toward the ground as she twisted awkwardly back and forth.

It took a moment, but eventually Hamil remembered he was technically the older one, and so he shouldn't hold a grudge against an eight or nine year old. So he returned his attention back to the watch. "Why do you even want this watch fixed so badly?"

"I think more bad stuff is going to happen and… and this might help us."

Hamil carefully refitted the gears back together. "And why's that?"

"Reasons."

Shooting a dubious look over his shoulder, Hamil didn't press that particular topic. "I do need to know where you got that crystal."

Penelope fidgeted a little. "It's fine. The person I… I took it from they—they won't be… too mad."

Hamil narrowed his eyes but resumed re-assembling the watch.

Penelope drifted toward his elbow, but didn't say another word as she watched him work. At one point Hamil glanced out of the corner of his eye at her and noted the way her brows furrowed in interest.

He continued his work until at last the watch was whole once more in his hand, then he popped open the back, and stared at the empty compartment. His heartbeat fluttered.

"Give me the crystal."

"I'll do it." Penelope's voice was quiet.

When Hamil turned around in his seat he fixed her with the most serious look he could muster.

"No. This is dangerous, remember, and—"

She snatched it out of his hands and bolted across the room.

"EY!"

Hamil rushed over to where Penelope had managed to wedge herself between two ale barrels. He tried to follow after her, but the size difference proved detrimental. This meant he had no choice but to watch as she pulled the crystal out of her pocket, pressed it into the back compartment, and with shaking hands, turned it back around.

Sweat trickled down Hamil's forehead as he waited for something to go horribly wrong.

But nothing happened.

He let out a breath of relief.

That is until Penelope reached up, and twisted the pin at the top. She stumbled backward until she thumped against the wall.

"Penelope! Get back here! Now! You need to—"

Hamil's words were cut off, as Penelope lifted her eyes, and he discovered they were filled with pure white light.

"Wh—"

A swell of light over the glass watch face gathered, then formed an orb, and drifted upward. Two more followed shortly after.

Hamil's entire body tingled with the sense of power he had never encountered before.

The orbs of light proceeded to shoot out in separate directions, but all stopped when they had reached equal distance from Penelope. Then they stretched wide and tall.

Hamil gaped, at a complete loss for words, when images began to slowly appear within the orbs.

In one orb, Penelope sitting curled up in a cage in what looked like a ship's cabin.

Hamil barely managed to tear his eyes away from it, but he forced himself to look at the next image to find the duchess sitting in a sun-filled window with Penelope in front of her as she spoke with a warm smile whilst she pinned Penelope's hair back. It looked like a scene that would have taken place earlier that day. On shaking legs, he stepped back from the barrels.

Then the third image was of Penelope, Luca, two red-haired boys, a blond boy, and an older brunette boy standing on a grassy slope at night. Each of them screamed soundlessly, and tears streamed down Luca and Penelope's faces in the image. Luca suddenly bolted away from the line of children, though the image moved slowly.

Hamil's eyes widened as the image began to pull away from the line of children, and revealed a battle. A battle filled with knights, witches, and ancient beasts. There were three figures huddled away from the battle, and the soldiers were gradually turning to look at them…

His heart must have ceased beating as he witnessed the dark, terrifying vision before the scenes flickered, and were replaced with white light. The lightened shapes collapsed back into orbs, and whizzed back to the watch still held in Penelope's hand.

And just as quickly as it had happened in the first place, the watch ceased to look special in any kind of way.

Hamil tried to swallow away the uncomfortable feeling in his throat, but it remained parched with awe.

A soft rustling snapped his attention back to Penelope who had sunk to her knees.

There were no words that could come to Hamil as he tried to form some semblance of a logical explanation about what had happened.

Regardless, he crouched. "Penelope… Please come out now."

The child was visibly trembling as she nodded. She stowed the watch with its crystal into the pocket of her dress, and crawled out from between the barrels.

"Are you alright?" Hamil asked gently.

Penelope remained slumped on the ground for a moment. But when she lifted her face up, she revealed a flood of tears pouring out of her eyes that preceded a heart rendering sob, and the words. "I w-want Tam and Eli! Dad!" she choked out between her tears.

Hamil was caught between wanting to go get her parents and staying with her to make sure she didn't do anything else that may be dangerous.

A cloud of black and silver vapor whooshed forward through the air coming from behind Hamil, and by the time he had blinked, there stood Tamlin Ashowan, the wisps of magic already dissipating.

Tam dropped to his knees and gathered Penelope into his arms as she cried. He gently laid a hand over her own, making soothing shushes as he managed to stand back up with the child in his arms.

When he turned back around to lock eyes with Hamil, the expression on Tamlin Ashowan's face had the Lobahlan feeling a mite faint.

"What the hell happened?" Tam growled.

Hamil felt his own unsteady hand come up to rest atop his head. "Uh. I don't… Know. But I think Penelope might have a better idea than she lets on."

Tam did not look in any way placated by this answer.

And Hamil had the disappointing premonition that he wasn't going to be enjoying a glass of wine any time soon.