The Dungeon Child

I am at school again.

Granted a two-day period where I can simply relax was pleasant, and I've been figuring out the whole schedule - it's split into seven days, five of which I go to school on and two that I can do nothing on. Granted, I was otherwise occupied on those days, and the Mother evidently explained about Thesis on the fifth day so that I could skip out on school.

This morning, I made sure to infuse enough mana into Theory that she can comprehend and follow my instructions, and ordered her explicitly to hide whenever Pop is in the room. Although I can't tell if she understood, her overall method is to hide anyway. I only hope that she doesn't attempt to pounce on Pop.

Albeit, I wouldn't entirely mind if she gave him a good scare.

"Jason? Are you listening?"

I snap my attention back up to the teacher, a stern-looking woman with a stiff suit and glasses. She's incredibly thin, to the point that it's difficult to actually listen to what she's saying without noticing the sheer frailty of this woman. "What?"

She sighs irritably, then points to the black board with her scribblings on it. "Principal Handel tells me you can't read. Is that true?"

I flinch, then grudgingly nod. She smiles patronizingly. "Then listen a little closer, won't you? You're not going to learn if you never listen. Does that make sense?"

She speaks to me as though I'm five years old. I haven't been five in at least a year.

Regardless, I have to agree with her. An inability to read or write is a horrific disability at best and a nightmare at worst. If I remain unable to do either for too long I can't imagine I'll be able to do very well at all in any activity. Well, any non-magic related activity.

As she heads back to the board, I do my level best to pay attention, to listen to what she's saying and to absorb the information, so as to better-

-and it's an hour later. Blinking sharply, I sit up, a faint soreness having built up in my rump. Looking around, I can only stare in confusion at the slowly emptying classroom. "What happened?"

Charlie chuckles at me. "You were staring at the teacher like she wasn't there."

My eyes feel dry, and I rub them in an attempt to fix it somehow. "I was trying to listen."

She nods sagely. "Yeah, Mrs. Biggs is easy to sleep to."

I consider the thought curiously, but my thoughts instead turn to Theory. Is she still alive? Has she been thrown out like Thesis, or is she following orders as I asked? Actually, how do I know she even could tell what I was saying? What if Pop's made it into my room!?

I put my head in my hands with a sigh. It'd be a lot nicer if I had minions that were less easy to get rid of - it'd been why Theory's trapdoor technique was so interesting to me. It meant she could stay out of sight and still protect my dungeon, keeping herself safe and leaving it defended at the same time. I can give mana to all the spiders and insects I want, but in the end, they're easier to get rid of when I have to keep them smaller.

It's such an annoyance that I can't just-

Wait.

I eye Charlie appraisingly, and she frowns self-consciously. "What?"

This is a terrible idea.

Folding my hands, I ensure that no one else is in the room - and there isn't anybody. All of the other kids have left, and the teacher is long gone. Probably tired from my unintentional torpor.

Returning my attention to Charlie, I hesitantly whisper, "Can I tell you a secret?"

Her interest is instantly piqued. "Sure! What is it?"

I lean in, dropping my voice further. "You can't tell anyone, okay? Nobody."

Charlie's eyes widen. "Is it a big secret?"

I nod furiously. "This is my biggest secret."

She scoots in, extremely excited at this point. "I promise not to tell anyone."

I narrow my eyes. "Promise?" Ideally, I'd like to make it a sealed contract, but I have a feeling Charlie would be scared off by it.

When I receive her nod, I once again look around, biting my lip nervously.

This is absolutely a terrible idea.

Taking a deep breath, I put my mouth right next to her ear and whisper, "I can do magic."

Leaning back, I stare at her as she processes it, a solemn expression on my face. She blinks at first, trying to tell if I'm kidding, then looks suspicious, and then settles into disbelief. Not for the first time, I'm amazed at the sheer variety and depth human expression is capable of conveying.

She raises an eyebrow. "Prove it."

An appropriate question, but one that's easily answered. Preparing a minuscule amount of mana, I form it into a candy stick, gently hovering over my hand. Her eyes widen enormously as it does, and an involuntary gasp falls from her mouth. "You can do magic."

I nod seriously, then hand the candy stick to her. She stares at it as though it might explode at any moment, even though it's just sitting there.

Hm. Food that secretly explodes. I should have tried that a long time ago. It would have worked wonders on tired and hungry adventurers in my dungeon.

Looking up at me, she swallows through a dry throat, and then questions start dropping like rainfall. "You can do magic? How did you learn it? Were you born with it? Is it hard? Can I eat this, or is it fake? Is this one of those really good tricks Daddy does sometimes?"

I reel slightly, trying to catch up with the sudden barrage of questions, and then she asks the one I was waiting for.

"Can I learn it?"

I seize upon the question, answering it and ignoring the rest. "Yes. I can teach you magic, but it might feel weird."

She nods rapidly, excited, and I grin inwardly. This is the perfect time to execute a certain part of my plan!

Standing, I put my finger on her forehead and draw every fraction of mana I have at my disposal to the forefront of my mind, channeling it into her mind and extending it throughout her. Once again, my lack of knowledge regarding human biology cripples my finer tuning, but the overall effect still works excellently. Task finished, I stumble backward and land on my rump, utterly drained.

Blinking, her eyes dilate and then go back to normal as her facial features slack. Pleased, I ask, "How do you feel?"

She looks at me dully, then nods slowly. A weird tinge of - I don't know what to call it, but it feels painfully familiar. Shaking it off, I ask her, "What do you want to do?"

Her attention crystallized on me. "Whatever you want to do."

I rejoice inwardly. I was totally unsure if it would be possible to enthrall humans, but apparently it is! There are so many possibilities with this - I can potentially put all of humanity under my control, given they agree to let me change them. Albeit, that strange feeling is returning much stronger than before, but I can ignore that.

Satisfied, I ask her, "So, what do you want to do now?"

In the exact same tone, she repeats, "Whatever you want to do."

The feeling absolutely stabs at my core, and I nearly fall over from the intensity of it. Blinking away the minuscule drops of liquid at my eyes, I hold a hand to my chest. Charlie doesn't move.

I know exactly what I just did. I pulled Charlie's... Charlie-ness away from her as surely as Pop had taken Thesis from me, and this time it is completely my fault.

I don't hesitate once I realize what I've done. Reaching a hand forward, I order Charlie, "Say that you want me to free you."

Her forehead furrows. "You want me to-"

I demand in panicked fury, "SAY IT!"

Flinching, she repeats after me in a downcast voice, "I want you to free me."

Touching my finger to her forehead again, I focus, searching for my own traces of signature mana, and find them primarily in her head, but slowly spreading down to her core. It's much easier for me to absorb mana than it is for me to output it, so I pull it back into me with a grimace. I can't get the traces of it away from her core, but the majority of it ends up back in my own core.

Leaning back with a sigh, I watch the dots of her eyes once again dilate, and then shrink to normal. Blinking, she looks around curiously, then sees me. Smiling widely, she asks, "Did it work?"

Closing my eyes, I fall back onto my back with a groan of relief. I can't imagine what I would have done if that hadn't worked. Aside from the obvious ramifications of her allies and family members noticing, I would never have forgiven myself if it had been permanent. It is a bit of a shame that I couldn't-

"Whoa, Argus! This is so cool!"

Snapping my eyes open, I sit up to see a small spark of flame levitating over Charlie's open palm.