Weeks pass, and he doesn't catch a single card.
When cards become active, he goes looking. They just disappear before he gets there.
He's getting worried, and he's not sure he's satisfied with Kero's explanations.
He tries to focus on school.
Weeks pass, and he doesn't catch a single card.
When cards become active, he goes looking. They just disappear before he gets there.
He's getting worried, and he's not sure he's satisfied with Kero's explanations.
He tries to focus on school.
"...a library? With one of those booths? Or just a park—people aren't likely to just assume we're talking about real things when we mention magic—and actually I would really love to not be sopping wet..."
"You can. I thought you were afraid I'd run away if you lost sight of me."
"If you disappear I will find you," she says with a casual finality suggesting not a promise or a threat, but merely a prediction of fact. "It is very frustrating to spend almost two decades unable to find any other magic."
"To your house, then. Change your clothes, wear something good for a hike."
"How? Why? Who made them? How many are there, what can they do, why now not before, what other kinds of magic are there?"
"A powerful sorcerer made them for kicks. He died. They were sealed away, so no one could use them to do anything stupid or dangerous. Some kid opened them, and now they're doing stupid and dangerous things. I come from a family of sorcerers, and you've seen some of our magic. It's elemental forces, channeled through my bow, and then through the arrows. What's yours?"
"Yes. Yes it was. Except I could already do some magic before and I didn't have a family of sorcerers."
"Please, bring your skepticism out into the open, so we can all have a look."
"It's—" They arrive at the apartment building, just off the storm. "—here."
"You can come in, if you like."
And if he likes, he will find a small but tidy apartment in a small but tidy building.
"No, I live with mom," she says, removing her drenched shoes and socks and making her way to her room, then bathroom. "Try not to get any storm dirt onto anything, but otherwise make yourself comfortable."
It is small but tidy! The door opens to a living room with a couple of sofas, a bookshelf, a rug, a center table, and no TV. There's a door over there that leads into a small kitchen, and the small hall that-a-way where bedrooms-and-bathroom are.