// THE MARSCAPONE SCHOOL OF MAGIC //


I have gone days without true rest.

Images and plans whirr through my mind wild and unchained as I obsessively try to plan for every eventuality. It has been so long since I’ve done anything like this.

But I cannot lose my fortitude.

My wife has communed with me and shown me a face. Who is she? I cannot know her name because my son doesn’t call her by name, or at least not in the visions.

But I don’t need a name. A face is sufficient. My wife has given that to me.

MYRTLE

HOW ARE YOU TONIGHT, HUSBAND?

VINCENT

GETTING BY.

CAN YOU GLEAN ANY CLUES ABOUT WHAT THEY’VE DONE TO HIM?


A magic-user’s scry could be extremely useful but of course complete information was not yielded. We had no access to his thoughts or memories and so we had no definitive proof that he’d been operated upon.

All we had to go on was the sound of his muffled voice of reply. It was ill-formed and lispy.

MYRTLE

DO YOU THINK THEY’VE PULLED HIS TEETH?


My wife knows what’s on my mind. But I’m so furious about it that I can hardly speak in my rational self.

VINCENT

THEY MAY HAVE TAKEN HIS TEETH AS…


I struggle to find the word.

VINCENT

EXTRANEOUS.

MYRTLE

HE DOES HAVE AN UNUSUAL SET.

VINCENT

HE WAS BORN THAT WAY!

MYRTLE

THEY DON’T KNOW THAT.

VINCENT

IF THEY’VE HARMED EVEN ONE HAIR UPON HIS HEAD…


I clench my fingers into a tight fist.

MYRTLE

WE WEREN’T EVEN SURE OURSELVES IF HE WAS SUPPOSED TO POSSESS SUCH A SET.

THEY’VE ALWAYS SEEMED SO…FERAL.

VINCENT

THAT’S NOT THE POINT.

THEY’VE STOLEN HIM FROM HIS HOME AND NOW THEY’VE PERFORMED MODIFICATIONS?

MYRTLE

PERHAPS IT’S FOR THE BEST.

PERHAPS HE NEEDED TO HAVE THEM PULLED.

I’VE OFTEN WONDERED MYSELF…

VINCENT

WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON, WOMAN?!

MYRTLE

OUR SIDE OF COURSE!

I JUST CAN’T HELP BUT IMAGINE THE SIGHT FROM THE OTHER SIDE.

THEY MIGHT HAVE THOUGHT WE WERE NEGLECTING HIS CARE.

VINCENT

HE DOESN’T GROW TEETH AS THE MORTALS DO.

NO MYSTERY SINCE HE’S NOT A MORTAL.

I FAIL TO SEE THAT AS A CONDEMNATION TO SURGICAL INTERVENTION.

MYRTLE

THEY MAY NOT BE FAMILIAR WITH EXTRANATURAL CHILDREN.

WE WEREN’T EITHER.


I try to release my tension as I know it does me no good in the here and now.

VINCENT

MAYBE THEY SHOULD HAVE ASKED BEFORE ABDUCTING HIM.

MYRTLE

AND WHAT WOULD WE HAVE TOLD THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE?

WE’VE NEVER KNOWN OURSELVES WHY HE APPEARS AS HE DOES.

IT COULD BE EVIDENCE OF A CURSE.

VINCENT

AND WHAT RECOURSE WOULD SOME KIDNAPPERS HAVE FOR RECTIFYING A CURSE?

IT IS OUR CROSS TO BEAR.

AND NOW HE’S BEEN MAIMED ALL BECAUSE HE WAS A CURIOUS CHILD AND OPENED THE FRONT DOOR.

IF IT IS A CURSE, I RESENT THOSE THAT ARE TOO STUPID TO KNOW.


It is not often I condemned the Mortals to such judgement but I felt lost and angry.

VINCENT

HIS TEETH ALMOST CERTAINLY WOULD HAVE REFORMED WHEN HE CAME OF AGE.

MYRTLE

HE’S OLD ENOUGH AND WE’VE SEEN LITTLE CHANGE.

VINCENT

HE’S ONLY TWELVE!

YOU SOUND LIKE YOU’RE TRYING TO MAKE UP ANY KIND OF EXCUSE FOR THESE BASTARDS.

MYRTLE

I’M NOT!

I’M SIMPLY TRYING TO KEEP MY HOPES UP FOR OUR BOY RETURNING HOME!

VINCENT

OH, HE’S COMING HOME, THAT MUCH IS FOR CERTAIN.

IF I HAVE TO BLOW THE PLACE TO KINGDOM COME.

I’M GOING THERE AND I’M NOT COMING BACK UNTIL KEVIN IS WITH ME.

MYRTLE

I SURE HOPE THAT IS THE CASE.


Mages are generally unable to change their own shape. It was a common belief that the use of magic was contingent on a pact, a promise. Some books claimed such a trade would go through the Lady Mystra. But we had no proof one way or the other.

Myrtle could not change her own form, a feat she called ‘polymorph self’. And so it was just too dangerous. She wouldn’t be coming with me.

Besides, someone needed to look after the other children and continue the charade that nothing was amiss.

VINCENT

PREPARE FOR THE INEVITABLE.

IF THEY HAVE ALTERED HIM AGAINST HIS WILL I LIKELY WON’T BE ABLE TO CONTAIN MY FURY.


She holds her tongue for a moment, knowing it better than trying to speak to me right now.

MYRTLE

SO LONG AS THE BLOODSHED IS FAR FROM OUR HOME. WE WILL HANDLE ANYTHING THAT COMES TO US.


And yet we’d been unprepared for their first visit. Between a midday outing and my need for slumber, they’d slipped into our school without so much as a roadblock.

VINCENT

YOU’LL NEED TO REFRESH YOUR DEFENSES.


Myrtle was skilled at conjuring wards, but such magical protections needed attention and energy.

MYRTLE

I KNOW. I WAS WAITING UNTIL HE RETURNED TO US.

VINCENT

HE’LL RETURN. I PROMISE.


I reach forward and embrace her in a chaste display. I had not yet been bested and I was not about to start living defeat.

MYRTLE

WHY DO YOU THINK THEY TOOK HIM?


It was a rhetorical question but it lined up with my own curiosity.

VINCENT

BESIDES THE PERSONAL?

TO CLAIM YOU STOLE THE SON OF ELYSION OUT FROM UNDERNEATH THEIR NOSES?

THE COUNT BELIEVES IT HAS TO DO WITH LENARD’S INVOLVEMENT WITH THE GENETIC SEQUENCING PROJECT.

MYRTLE

BUT ISN’T MAGIC JUST THAT?


We release our comforting hold on each other and catch the other’s gaze in the side of our eyes.

VINCENT

THAT IS WHAT I SAID BUT IT’S POSSIBLE THEY LIVE WITH THE WORST KIND OF SKEPTICISM.

I DO NOT THINK THEIR SCIENCE WILL GET THEM ANY CLOSER TO THE TRUTH.

MYRTLE

I DO NOT WANT OUR FAMILY TO BE AT THE CENTER OF THIS CONFLICT.

VINCENT

WE MAY HAVE NO CHOICE.

MYRTLE

THEY CANNOT PROVE ANYTHING; THE BOY CAN’T WORK MAGIC.

VINCENT

THAT WE KNOW OF.

MYRTLE

I’VE SEEN THE BOY EVERY DAY OF HIS LIFE.

I DO NOT FEAR HIM INVOKING SOME CORNER OF THE WEAVE WITHOUT ME HAVING NOTICED.


It was true that each day had proceded much the same as the day before. The chance that their son could risk the Reveal was just too much to bear. The silence is peppered with words unsaid.

MYRTLE

I JUST WANT HIM HOME WHERE WE CAN PROTECT HIM AND KNOW WHERE HE IS.

I FEEL THIS IS ONE GRAND PUNISHMENT THAT HE’S HAVING TO ENDURE INSTEAD OF US.

VINCENT

I CAN’T HELP BUT FEAR THE SAME.

MYRTLE

WHO DO WE HAVE TO TURN TO?

VINCENT

NO ONE, WIFE.

IT’S US AGAINST THE WORLD, YET AGAIN.

MYRTLE

I’M GLAD I HAVE YOU, VINCENT.

HOW WOULD I GET HIM BACK WITHOUT YOU BY MY SIDE?

VINCENT

I HAVEN’T SAVED HIM YET.

MYRTLE

AND YET YOU’VE COME CLOSER THAN I COULD HAVE BY MYSELF.

VINCENT

AND STILL STRONGER IS THE SUSPICION THAT THIS WHOLE THING IS BECAUSE I AM THE BOY’S FATHER.

YOU VERY WELL MIGHT NOT HAVE HAD YOUR SON STOLEN FROM YOU WERE THAT NOT TRUE.

MYRTLE

THROUGH IT ALL, I’M GLAD YOU’RE BY MY SIDE.

VINCENT

YOU’LL SEE IF YOU STILL FEEL THAT WAY ONCE I GET THE BOY BACK.

MYRTLE

NOTHING COULD SEE ME REGRET MY TIME WITH YOU, VINCENT.

I MAY NOT HAVE KNOWN WHO I MARRIED –

VINCENT

THAT WAS NO FAULT OF MINE.


But I know I’m being facetious.

VINCENT

IF YOU’LL RECALL, YOU DIDN’T TELL ME YOU COULD WORK MAGIC.

MYRTLE

AND YET YOU STILL KNEW WHAT I WAS.

VINCENT

I WAS NOT FLOUNDERING IN THE DARKNESS, NO.

WERE YOU SO UNHAPPY TO HAVE MARRIED MORE THAN A MERE LAWYER?

MYRTLE

I WAS AT THE TIME.

VINCENT

YOU WISHED I HAD BEEN LIKE YOU.

MYRTLE

I DID THEN. I DON’T NOW.

VINCENT

YOU ARE TOO MUCH, DEAR WIFE.