Chapter 440: Deals

The world jerked. Alex’s stomach shot up into his throat, then slammed down into his intestines. Amelia and her room vanished, and he found himself standing back in Mirrorwane once more, staring at the surface of his Spatial Mirror.

If it hadn’t been for the sudden lack of a crowd around him, he almost could have convinced himself that he hadn’t left in the first place. But practically the whole town had been staring into the moat when he’d left. Now, they were nowhere to be seen. Everyone had dispersed and returned to work.

That or they were checking out the moat in the Mirrorlands.

Alex stood still for a moment as he tried to process the incredibly odd contract he’d just made. It still felt like a practical joke.

Maybe I just ate something really off? Did that seriously just happen?

His spatial mirror wasn’t of any help. They never showed when a contract had been made. The only information about Princess was the very same information that had always been there. There was really only one way to find out how the contract had gone.

But this definitely wasn’t the place. He’d been generally trying to keep the fact that his summons could become intelligent under wraps. It wasn’t exactly a full on secret, but that didn’t mean he wanted to go broadcasting it out for no reason.

And something tells me that any conversation with Amelia probably isn’t going to be the kind of thing I want to be putting out for the whole town to hear.

Alex sent one last glance at the moat now surrounding Mirrorwane. The rivers of crackling mist coursing through its depths hadn’t gotten any less intimidating. Between this and the Veil of Stolen Confessions, Mirrorwane was starting to look quite intimidating.

At this rate, they weren’t even going to need a lake of Riftwarped Qi surrounding the town to make it look like the outpost of some game’s final villain. They were already practically there. All he had to do was get a few creepy watchtowers and a giant castle at the top of a hill somewhere. Then he’d be set.

Alex chuckled to himself as he headed over toward the Town Hall. It was predictably empty. Nobody was allowed in other than himself and Claire, which made the area an ideal spot to have an interview with a potentially deranged princess.

He turned Princess’ Spatial Mirror over in his hand and peered into its depths. A small frown tugged at the corners of his lips as a thought struck him.

I do wonder what Amelia is going to think of the fact that she’s been contracted into the body of a hideous sludge monster. She did really seem to like pink quite a bit. Seemed like the kind of lady that put a lot of value into making sure she was all prim and proper and all that shit.

Princess’ form was many things. There were many words that Alex would have been happy to use to describe her in a complementary manner. She was huge. Lumbering. Intimidating. Sludgy in all the best ways. Deadly and powerful.

But beautiful… well, there would have to be one seriously fucked up beholder to find beauty in anything other than her deadly ceramic claws.

Alex shrugged to himself. That was life.

Then, with a thought, he summoned Princess.

The ground at his feet bubbled. He took a step back as Princess rose up from the ground. She lifted to her full height, looming above him and nearly reaching the ceiling of the Town Hall. Her three ceramic masked faces stared down at Alex.

Then something shimmered in the carved eyes of the one in the center. A flash of dull pink lit behind each one. The other two remained exactly as they had been, blank and dull. There was a long pause. Princess didn’t so much as twitch. Alex had never seen her so still. It looked almost like she’d been carved out of droopy obsidian.

They stared at each other.

“Amelia?” Alex asked carefully. “You in there?”

I don’t think she’s too happy with—

“By all the gods,” Amelia whispered. Her voice was surprisingly clear despite Alex being entirely unable to place what exactly was making it. The sound just came from the general direction of the middle mask.

Her neck let out a wet squelch as she turned her head in a full three hundred and sixty degrees to take in the room. Then she looked down at her body.

Alex coughed into his fist.

Holy shit. I didn’t know Princess could do that. I mean, I guess it makes sense. She doesn’t really have bones. But that was pretty gross. Like a fucked up owl.

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“Hello,” Alex said. “Welcome to—”

“Look at me!” Amelia exclaimed, lifting a huge hand before herself and turning it over. “Look at my body!”

Alex grimaced.

Can’t say I didn’t see that one coming.

“It is definitely a little bit of a color scheme shift,” Alex admitted. “In all fairness, I would have told you a bit more about the form you’d be inhabiting if you’d given me time. But we got interrupted and kind of had to make the deal at the very last second. So—”

“This is awesome!” Amelia let out a delighted laugh, swiping a massive hand through the air. Alex ducked to avoid being decapitated, but it didn’t seem like Amelia had even noticed that she’d nearly decapitated her summoner. “I’m huge! I’ve always wanted to be a little taller!”

Huh?

Alex blinked. That hadn’t been the reaction he’d been expecting in the slightest.

“How do I look?” Amelia asked, rotating Princess’ center head around to look back at Alex. “Am I intimidating? Am I standing right? Oh, it’s been so long since I’ve been out of my room. I hope I make a good impression. There are other people waiting outside, right? Am I intimidating? A bit sexy?”

“Definitely the former,” Alex said through a strangled cough.

He had seriously misread her. That was more than a little annoying. Claire had just been telling him to be better at reading people. This was about more than just avoiding accidentally insulting someone. Making assumptions was a great way for him to get taken off guard midway through a fight.

“Oh,” Amelia said. She looked down at herself again. “I do seem a little bit… drippy. A little makeover will definitely fix that up.”

“Right,” Alex said slowly. He wasn’t sure any manner of makeover in the world could ever possibly make Princess not drippy… but so long as Amelia was happy with the state of things, he wasn’t particularly bothered about it. “So you like the body?”

“Oh, I love it!” Amelia exclaimed. She splattered down to the ground, shrinking to Alex’s eye level with a blurred squelch and a delighted, girly giggle that sounded downright terrifying coming from Princess’ masked features. “This is incredible! Oh, I can’t wait to travel the world. It’s been so long since I’ve been out of my room. There must be so many amazing things to see. Grandpa really did give me a fantastic gift. I wish I could thank him. But then Father would find out what we’re doing. That would be bad. So I’ll just thank you. Thank you — uh… what was your name again?”

“Alex,” he said.

“Right,” Amelia said, rising back to her full height and twirling around to get another look at the room. Something about the movement felt distinctly… human. He could practically see Amelia dancing around her room — but watching Princess’ massive body replicate the motion was certainly an interesting experience. “Alex. That’s right. Did anyone ever tell you your name is a bit similar to mine? Alex. Amelia.”

“No. I don’t think they have. I haven’t met an Amelia before.” Alex paused for a moment. Then a grin spread across his lips. Amelia’s excitement was infections. “But I do know an Alyssa. Now that is pretty similar.”

“You know more people?” Amelia exclaimed in delight. “Truly?”

“I have a town,” Alex said. He nodded over his shoulder. “We’re in the town hall right now. I know a bunch of people.”

Amelia stared at him. The pink light glowing behind her eyes seemed to intensify. “No way. Seriously? Are you friends with any of them?”

“Several of them,” Alex said.

“Incredible. How fun. I’ve dreamed of having friends again,” Amelia breathed. She leaned closer and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Do you have… a girlfriend?”

Alex would have laughed if the question hadn’t been so sad.

“I do,” he said. “She’s outside in the town somewhere. You’ll get to meet her soon. After we go over the ground rules of how this contract will work.”

“A girlfriend. I’ve never met someone’s girlfriend before,” Amelia said. She clapped her hands together with a powerful thud that sent sludge splattering in every direction. “I can’t wait! I have so many questions! Grandpa mentioned that there was a special type of fun gossip that you can have when you’re friends with someone’s girlfriend. I never got to find out.”

That… sounds concerning.

“I take it you haven’t been in a relationship?” Alex guessed.

“Oh. I was in one once,” Amelia said, leaning back and tilting all three of her heads to the side. “We didn’t stay together for very long.”

“On account of your father?” Alex’s eyes narrowed slightly. Anyone who kept their daughter trapped in a tower when she so clearly was desperate for any form of human contact was a real bastard.

“No.” Amelia shook her head. “Not initially. I had one before Father banned me from leaving my tower. I was pretty young at the time. I don’t know if it was a real relationship. But it was the closest to one I got. We just had to end things.”

“Why?” Alex asked, unable to help himself.

“I accidentally snapped his spine when I hugged him,” Amelia said with a sigh. “I felt really bad about it.”

Alex stared at her for a moment. Then he cleared his throat.

“Ah.”

“Yeah,” Amelia said with a sad nod. Then her eyes lit up again. “But now I can find a new one! You’ll help, right? I just need an introduction to someone good! My personality will do the rest. Grandpa always says I have a great personality.”

“I’m… sure we can keep an eye out,” Alex said. “Isn’t your real body still back in your room, though?”

“Yeah,” Amelia said. She shrugged. “But this one is way better, so it’s fine!”

Whelp. Works for me.

“I’m glad you like it,” Alex said. “Let me just go over a few things with you really quick. Then we can head out.”

“Okay,” Amelia said cheerfully. “What are they?”

“First, the monster you’re inside is named Princess. We…”

Alex trailed off.

We should hide the fact that you’re intelligent.

But the idea of saying that when Amelia was so clearly excited about being able to speak to someone else for the first time in years… he couldn’t bring himself to say it. He grimaced.

“Yeah?” Amelia asked eagerly. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Alex said through a sigh. People would have figured it out eventually. A lot of them already knew about Ein’Zahl, even if not by name. “Forget it. The main thing I’m going to be asking you to do is fight with me. The rules are pretty simple. Follow orders. Don’t hurt or endanger my allies.”

“And in exchange, I get to travel around and see the world? And talk to people? And have this new body?” Amelia asked. “That’s all I have to do?”

“Yes,” Alex said. “Pretty much. I’m not getting into any real specifics here, but—”

“Deal!” Amelia exclaimed. “Can we go meet your girlfriend and see your town now?”

Alex couldn’t help himself. He burst into laughter.

“Sure. Why not. This should be fun.”