Chapter 439: Amelia

“Oh, shit!” Alex breathed.

Claire peered over his shoulder. Her eyes widened. “Is that—”

“Yeah,” Alex said eagerly. “Keep an eye on things here, yeah? Make sure the moat doesn’t blow the town up or something.”

“That will not happen,” Rhyss said.

“Good,” Alex said with a huge grin. There was no way he could miss a chance to make another contract for his summons. Ein’Zahl had made Glint leagues more effective. If he could get a second one, not even he knew how much stronger he’d get.

The monster he was getting offered a contract for was Princess. He could only imagine what kind of creature could have been related to her. It was probably going to be some giant wretched beast. He was practically cackling at the thought of it.

“We’ll keep an eye on things,” Clarie said. “Get in there. And change your clothes. You’ve got the wrong ones on. Remember to make an impression. Good luck.”

Alex looked down at himself. He blinked. Then, with a thought, he summoned his tuxedo. Then he cleared his throat and straightened his tie as he let a confident expression wash across his features. Claire was right. The first impression was important. He was heading into a battle.

It was one he would have preferred to have Claire at his side for, but that wasn’t an option.

“Thanks,” Alex said. He looked down to the card. “I accept the request to speak. I’ll hear the offer out.”

Darkness bloomed across the surface of the Spatial Mirror. It filled it completely within seconds. Something shifted within Alex’s stomach. He felt the ground tremble beneath him — though perhaps the thing that had shaken had been him.

The spatial mirror bucked in his grip. Alex braced himself. He hadn’t forgotten how this worked. The darkness in the card expanded outward to fill his entire vision until nothing remained but pitch black. Then he was falling within it, wind screaming through his hair as he plummeted through nothingness, yanked into the depths of his own card.

Shadows raced past him. The back of Alex’s neck prickled as he fell. Just as he had the last time he’d been here, he could have sworn there was something else in the shadows. Gazes peering at him as he rushed past the empty dark, leaving behind the domains of whoever — or whatever — the territory belonged to.

The sensation didn’t last for more than a few seconds at most.

Alex’s feet found solid ground. He landed with a thud, a tremor shooting up his legs and into his chest from the force of the impact. His discomfort didn’t make it into his features. He’d already readied himself. Showing any manner of weakness was a great way to completely undermine his bargaining before it even began.

It was instrumental to make sure he came at this from a position of power. After all, he was going to have to scam whatever monstrous entity waiting for him into thinking that he was far more powerful than he actually was.

Okay. What do we— what the fuck?

Alex froze. No amount of mental preparation could have readied him for the sight before him.

He was in a nicely decorated room.

A pretty room, with fashionable white furniture carved with hearts and a bed complete with silken drapes at its center. Fluffy covers had been pushed into a messy corner to reveal very comfortable looking pillows and sheets.

Across from it was a closet stuffed full of gowns, dresses, and everything in between. Many were decorated with flashy sequins, frills, and an assortment of other expensive-looking accessories. The craftsmanship that had gone into everything was impossible to miss. The clothes were expensive.

They were also pink.

Very, very pink.

Pink enough to make a ripe peach feel jealous, in every shade of the color from flamingo to Valentine’s Day and each one in between.

The clothes weren’t the only ones. The curtains on either side of the large window at the end of the room, the plush and fluffy carpet beneath his feet, a number of undergarments strewn across the floor, the papers on the table, quills and ink, the drawings on the papers… and the very panicked looking woman hurriedly stuffing something into her drawer with one hand.

She wore wrinkled silk pajamas that clearly hadn’t been ironed in quite some time — pink, of course — and had a head of long, messy blonde hair Her hair was the only thing in the room that wasn’t some shade of pink or white.

The woman had done her best to rectify that by filling it with a bright pink lotus flower accessory that protruded from her messy locks like the mast of a sinking ship. With her other hand, she was desperately tugging at her hair with a comb in a futile attempt to straighten it.

It didn’t seem that she’d noticed Alex’s presence yet.

He stood in stunned silence for a few seconds, unable to do anything but stare as the woman gave up on using her hand and started stomping on a the stubborn bundle of cloth poking out from her dresser.

“Come on!” She hissed to herself. “Get in! I have company!”

Alex cleared his throat.

The woman froze.

Then she straightened. The woman stood nearly a head and a half shorter than Alex. She was even shorter than he’d thought. Slowly, the woman turned toward him. Her features marked her as somewhere around his age and perhaps a few years older.

It was a bit hard to tell through the stricken expression upon them.

“Oh,” she said. “You’re… early. I was still getting ready for your arrival.”

Am I?

Alex did his best not to glance around the room too much.

“I see,” he squeezed out, trying to keep his tone straight and failing miserably. He would have said more if he could have managed it. But the woman had managed to completely take him off guard. This incredibly comfortable — and equally as messy — room couldn’t have been farther from his expectations. “Should… I wait somewhere?”

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“No, no!” The woman hurried over the bed, flinging the messy covers to the ground and hurriedly patting it. “Please, sit down! Don’t go!”

Alex stared at her. He looked down to the bed. Then he glanced at the chair beside the desk. “I’m…”

“Of course! Chairs!” she exclaimed, jumping up from the bed. She scrambled over the messy clothes and grabbed the chair pulling it out and pushing it toward Alex. She gave him a hopeful grin. “I have one.”

“I… can see that,” Alex said slowly. He lowered himself into the chair. “I think your brush is still in your hair.”

The woman paused. She reached up, freeing the brush from its prison, and let out an uneasy laugh. “Oh, I just keep it there. Easy access. For when I need it. You know.”

Is this some kind of joke?

“Right,” Alex said. It was really hard to avoid looking at the messy room. There weren’t really any places for him to look that weren’t somehow disorderly in some manner or another. Whoever this was, she definitely hadn’t been expecting company. “Of course.”

They were silent for a second. The woman made no moves to sit down. She stood awkwardly before Alex, shifting from one foot to the other, her fingers clenching and unclenching as if she’d forgotten how a conversation worked.

“Tea!” the woman suddenly exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. “Do you want tea? Of course you do. I’ll—”

“I’m okay,” Alex said. “No need for tea. We can just talk.”

“Of course. No tea. Nobody would want tea,” the woman said immediately. “Talking is good. I can talk all you want.”

“Perhaps about yourself?” Alex asked, trying to keep his features straight. He hadn’t worn his mask this time. He was starting to wish that he had, but summoning it now would have been a little too rude.

Did… she even try to summon me? How did this lady send a contract offer out to Princess?

“Right! Myself. Me.” She nodded sagely. “I’m Amelia.”

Then she paused, as if that was enough, and stared at him expectantly, practically vibrating on the spot.

Something prickled against the back of Alex’s neck. Something was up here. The whole situation was ridiculous. But, despite that, Amelia’s gaze seemed off.

It was almost primal. Like a bear that had been caged in a circus for a few too many years and was on the verge of snapping and ripping its handler to shreds.

“That’s… nice,” Alex said. “I’m Alex. Perhaps you could tell me a bit about why you sent out a contract offer to me? What can you provide?”

“Contract offer?” Amelia repeated in confusion. Then her gaze lit up. “Oh! Yes, yes. Of course. I can provide it.”

“Provide what?” Alex asked.

Amelia shifted uncomfortably. “Whatever it is you’re looking for.”

They stared at each other.

Amelia cleared her throat. Then she gave him a weak grin that had probably been meant to be reassuring. It seemed more like she was losing a fight against a particularly nasty meal she’d eaten the night before.

“You weren’t planning on summoning me here, were you?” Alex asked.

“Of course I was!” Amelia exclaimed. She wrung her hands together nervously. “I am the best contractee. A very skilled one. At… whatever it is that I’m supposed to do.”

“…right,” Alex said.

He let the word hang in the air for a moment.

I’m really not sure what I’m meant to do here. Seriously, how does someone accidentally send a contract out? Surely she had to be strong enough to actually justify doing it, right? There’s no way it’s a freak accident, is there?

“I’m the best option,” Amelia said. She squinted at Alex, clearly trying to figure out if her attempts to sway him were working. “Guaranteed.”

“Even though you don’t seem to know what it is that you’re the best option for,” Alex said.

Amelia gave him an enthusiastic nod. “Exactly. Because I’m the best.”

They were quiet.

Alex arched an eyebrow. He rose slightly from his chair.

“No!” Amelia exclaimed, lunging forward. She slammed Alex back down into his seat. The breath exploded from his lungs in a surprised grunt.

She was strong.

Alex’s tailbone throbbed. He’d been slammed down hard enough for his System-empowered body to have been hurt, and Amelia clearly hadn’t even been trying to do anything more than keep him there.

“Please don’t leave!” Amelia begged. It didn’t even seem like she’d realized how much strength she’d used. Her eyes started to tear up. “I’m sorry. I lied. I have no idea why you’re here. But don’t leave. Please. It’s been so long. It’s been so long. I just want to speak with somebody.”

“Whoa,” Alex said, raising his hands carefully. “We can speak.”

Amelia’s eyes lit up in an instant. All the sadness in her features evaporated. She released his shoulders and pranced back. “Thank you! Oh, this is lovely. It’s been so long since I’ve spoken to someone. What do you want to speak about? What do you want to know? Ask me anything.”

“Uh… maybe we could start with the contract?” Alex suggested.“The thing you sent out?”

“Oh. That was from this card my grandpa gave me,” Amelia rambled. “It was black. And blank. For a long time. I hid it from my father so he wouldn’t take it away. After he banned Grandpa from speaking with me, he made me give back everything else he’d got me. I kept the card, though. And I’m glad I did. Now I can speak with someone. I love this contract thing. It’s lovely.”

Alex took a moment to try and process the woman’s rapid-fire words.

What the hell is going on here? Is her dad abusive or something? And just how long has it been since she’s spoken with someone?

“That contract was for finding someone to control… actually, put a pin in that,” Alex said. “Why did your dad ban your grandpa from speaking with you?”

“He won’t let anyone speak with me,” Amelia said with sigh. “Nobody other than him. He says it’s too dangerous. Even the servants can’t speak to me. He kills them if they do.”

Holy shit.

“And if he found out I were here?” Alex asked cautiously.

Amelia’s features turned deathly serious. “Don’t worry. I’m sure I can stuff you into my drawer if we need to. I’ve fit a whole mattress in there before.”

Alex glanced over to the drawer that she’d been stomping on.

That bundle of cloth is an entire mattress? For this huge bed? What did she do? Wring the air out of it?

“Let’s avoid that if possible,” Alex said. “Look. I’ll be straight with you, Amelia. I’m an Evoker, and I’m here to find someone who can inhabit my monster and control them in a fight. That’s what the contract was for.”

“A warrior?” Amelia blinked.

“Basically,” Alex said. “They control the monster from afar. I think your mind temporarily enters it whilst it’s summoned. I need somebody skilled at fighting. Someone strong.”

Amelia stared at him, uncomprehending.

Then her head tilted to the side.

“Are you telling me that if you give me this contract, I can leave my room?”

“…yes,” Alex said. “I do believe that would be the—”

Amelia flung herself at Alex’s feet. At least, she tried to. Instead of sliding to a stop, she bowled straight through the legs of the chair beneath him. It disintegrated with a loud crunch and she continued into the desk behind it.

The desk put up no more of a fight than the chair had. The wood crunched as she tore clean through it before slamming into the wall. Alex tumbled to the ground amidst a cloud of wood splinters, his head spinning in shock.

A moment later, two hands shot down to his shoulders. Amelia yanked him off the ground and plopped him back down on his feet, her cheeks bright red with embarrassment. She hurriedly brushed the wood shavings off his clothes, but each movement of her hand felt like he was getting stuck with a bat.

“Sorry! Sorry!” Amelia exclaimed.

Alex stumbled back, raising his hands defensively . “It’s okay! I’m fine!”

He snuck a glance at the wall. There was a dent in it.

There was a dent in solid stone. A big one.

Holy shit. She didn’t even try to hit the wall. She just tripped into it. How strong is this lady?

“It’s been a really long time since I’ve spoken with anyone,” Amelia said desperately, dropping into something between a bow and a stumble. “Please make that contract with me. I haven’t left my room in years. Father has me cooped up like a plump pig. I don’t care what I have to do. If you can let me see anything that isn’t the view out of that window, I’ll do it.”

She stuck her hand out.

Are the entirety of my contracts going to be with prisoners?

Alex stared at her palm. This was the oddest contract offer he’d gotten. Granted, he’d only received one other, but he was pretty sure it still counted.

“Uh…”

“Come on. I promise I’m strong,” Amelia said. “I mean, it’s been a long time since I got to fight anything. But I’m strong. And—”

Her eyes suddenly went wide and her posture went stiff.

“What is it?” Alex asked.

“Father heard. He’s coming,” Amelia hissed. Panic cut across her features. “Please! We have to hurry! You can set the terms! I don’t care what they are!”

Alex hesitated for a second.

Oh, fuck it.

He reached out and took Amelia’s hand.