“Where could it be…,” Sarah was mumbling as she was looking for the cy tag she made the previous day.

  The tag had to be energised through the night so Sarah hasn’t had any opportunity to use it yet. And just when there was, she couldn’t find it. Sarah looked all around her room to no results. But suddenly she found the tag hidden behind the fern.

  “There you are!” Sarah said. “I thought I’d never find you!”

  Sarah moved the fern from the windowsill to the desk and opened the window. She preferred not to test the spell out in her room. She didn’t want it to be flooded with a sudden downpour.

  Sarah put her hand with the tag out the window and shouted “Rain!”

  Above the Lewis garden a small cloud appeared. Sarah thought it would be bigger, but there might have been multiple factors at py. From the length of the word she wrote on the tag to her general ck of training. From the clouds rain droplets started falling. In the beginning a few, but with time there were more and more.

  “I did it!” Sarah shouted her happiness out. She was overjoyed with the results.

  But just then Sarah heard a voice from the garden.

  “That’s cool! But could you please make it go away? I have no umbrel!”

  Sarah looked down and saw Angelo soaked to the skin from the rain she caused.

  “Oh no! I’m so sorry!” said Sarah. “Come inside! I’ll find something to dry you with!”

  Angelo was sitting at Sarah's desk as she was drying him with her hair dryer. She put it on the highest settings and was drying Angelo very carefully. Soon she turned it off.

  “Alright, that should be enough,” Sarah said as Angelo seemed dry. “I am so, so sorry once again.”

  “Nah, don’t mention it,” said Angelo. “Although do watch out in the future.”

  “Of course, of course, of course!” said Sarah, putting the hair dryer away.

  Aunt Caitlyn came to the room with a mug.

  “Bck tea with honey. Drink, Angelo, while it’s hot. We don’t want you to catch a cold.”

  “It’s the second time someone has brewed tea for me today,” said Angelo. “Not that I compin, but it’s weird that it happened twice.”

  Angelo took the mug and sipped the tea. It had an unfamiliar bittersweet taste, but he liked it.

  “Should I leave you?” aunt Caitlyn asked.

  “Yes, please,” said Angelo. “There’s something I’d like to discuss with Sarah.”

  “Alright. If I can be of any help then call me,” said aunt Caitlyn as she was leaving the room.

  “So… You said you want to discuss something with me,” said Sarah.

  “Yes,” said Angelo. “And I’m sorry for not doing it on the phone or through the chat. I think I simply wanted to hear your opinion face to face.”

  “Is it that important to you?” asked Sarah.

  “Yes, but it’s more about it being a tough dilemma.”

  “So what is it about?”

  “Let me expin.”

  It took Angelo quite some time to expin the details to Sarah. It was almost obvious to Sarah that Angelo should abandon the job. But then why was it such a dilemma?

  “Why do you have to think about it?” Sarah asked Angelo.

  “Ah, right, I haven’t told you, have I?” said Angelo. “Okay I’ll expin.”

  The truth was that Angelo made the deal with Mr. Ovid to save his family’s lives. They all became afflicted with an incurable disease. And it broke Angelo.

  Mr. Ovid found him in this weak state. The genie offered him a simple deal. Three wishes for thirteen gigs. And who was Angelo to deny?

  Angelo’s first wish was to make his family perfectly healthy. His second wish was for all of them to have enough wealth to make ends meet. And the st wish was for a weapon for more dangerous gigs.

  This was the st time Angelo saw his family. With the crossbow he got from Mr. Ovid, he went to Oftenhides. And he can only return after the thirteenth job is done.

  Hearing that story Sarah understood where Angelo’s dilemma came from. And it made her feel strange. Now that she knew the whole picture it was even more impossible for her to tell her friend what to do.

  “I… I’m sorry…,” said Sarah. “I simply have no idea what to tell you… On one hand I get how you want to leave them be. If it was me in your pce I would want them to be happy. But that’s me and I know why you are doing all of that. I understand that you want to see your family. And I understand that’s why you might want to go with his pn.”

  Sarah had to take a few deep breaths.

  “I too wouldn’t know what to do,” she finished her logorrhea.

  Angelo seemed to be staring into the distance for a while. Finally he sipped some more tea and said to Sarah “I see… So not really that much different from what Ursu told me.”

  “I’m sorry if you are disappointed,” said Sarah. “I really tried to come up with something helpful.”

  “No, it’s fine,” said Angelo. “It’s not like I expected you to form something that will answer my question definitely. And I don’t mean it sarcastically, just in case you might think so.”

  Sarah smiled.

  “Well… I guess I’ll have to talk to Giovanna tomorrow,” said Angelo, drinking the st sips of tea. “I’ll get going now, it’s getting te. Thanks for trying to help anyway.”

  “Don’t mention it,” said Sarah. “That’s what friends do…, right?”

  “Yes. It’s good to have friends,” said Angelo. “Alright, bye!”

  “Take care!” said Sarah.

  Talking to Angelo felt great to Sarah even despite how she ultimately failed to help him. She felt that she had truly become friends with him. She remembered how Giovanna came to her with her secret. And she did feel the same about Giovanna. It is indeed good to have friends.

  That night Angelo woke up suddenly around three with heavy breathing.

  He dreamt of his mother, his father and his little brother. He saw them as vividly as if he left them just that day. They were standing at the end of a long tunnel and smiling and calling him. Angelo tried to run to them as fast as he could. But with each step Angelo took the tunnel was becoming longer and longer. The farther Angelo got the farther away his family got.

  And after running for some time like that Angelo woke up.

  Angelo couldn’t wait to see them. This was the only reason he remained obedient to Mr. Ovid. His obedience was what was keeping his family safe and what gave Angelo the possibility of seeing them again one day. If Angelo ever runs away it would mean the end for them.

  The dream suddenly felt determined to do everything he had to to see them. Yes, he was ready to follow Lord Alfred’s pn. He was ready to separate the cait sith daughter from her lover by force. He was ready to do it if it meant getting one step closer.

  But then Angelo calmed down. Was he really ready to do this cruel thing? Even if it meant returning to the family?

  He had to talk to Giovanna.