Apocalypse: Fairy System by Macronomicon (fox in socks read aloud txt) 📕

it.” She narrowed in on Jake’s confident speech and began creeping that direction. A moment later, she was hovering over Jake and Mr. Surpey as they walked toward the castle entrance through the courtyard.

Jake was wearing keegan-style robes, which must have been why she was able to catch up with them.

She considered dropping down and saying goodbye in person, but she absolutely didn’t want to get in trouble with Mr. Surpey, so she decided she would just watch for now.

The front gate swung open, creating a path leading into the courtyard of the mansion/castle. A carriage drawn by a pair of matching black lizards with iridescent scales rolled inside, gliding silently on ivory wheels.

The carriage came to a halt in front of Jake and Mr. Surpey, where they were waiting. Jake copied Mr. Surpey and folded his hands, trying to act the part as best he could.

A keegan in a blue and black checkered robe stepped out of the carriage while his driver rested the prod on his knees, staring idly into the distance—nearly directly at Nancy, if a dozen feet too low.

“Lovely night, isn’t it?” the keegan said, glancing up at the moon as he stretched.

“Indeed,” Mr. Surpey said with a bow. “Allow me to make formal introductions. Jake Baker, this is your sponsor, Judge Mirzos Elkor. You will call him Judge Elkor or ‘sir’. Judge, this is your sponsee, Jake Baker.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Judge Elkor said, extending his hand.

Jake seemed to reflexively go for a handshake, raising his hand, but the judge’s reach extended beyond Jake’s childish palm, landing a single finger on the boy’s forehead.

Crack!

A blinding flash of greenish energy seared into Nancy’s eyes, cutting out her vision.

As Nancy was blinking tears out of her eyes, she saw Jake topple backwards, stiff as a felled tree.

Jake’s eyes were open, an expression of confusion frozen on his face. He was dead. They killed him!

“No!” Nancy gasped before she slapped her hands over her mouth.

Luckily, Mr. Surpey was shouting. Like, a lot.

“What in the Roil do you think you’re doing!?” Mr. Surpey shouted. “You’re supposed to take him home!”

“I’m expediting the process,” Judge Elkor said, raising his chin, looking down at Mr. Surpey. “Your rules are wasteful and poorly thought-out, Mr. O’sut.”

The keegan paused, looking at something in the air. “Although you do deliver results. Look at that, five whole levels from a single urchin. Magnificent.”

“The rules are in place to protect you! You just committed a reaping, not an Honor Duel!”

“Pssht.” Judge Elkor waved him off as he headed back toward the carriage. “I haven’t the time to tiptoe around the law. I am the law in Solmnath. Other than your whining, I’m very impressed by the quality of your goods.”

He stepped onto the carriage’s step and glanced over his shoulder. “Which is why I’ll expect the next one a month from now.”

“What next one?” Mr. Surpey—O’sut?—asked, glaring at the judge. “You’ve refused to follow the terms I’ve set down. I wouldn’t take your money now if you begged me.”

“Oh you won’t be taking my money. Your payment will be my silence. Goodbye, Mr. O’sut.”

Mr. Surpey watched the carriage circle around him, gracefully leaving the way it had come.

“FFFUCK!

“Damn these arrogant Mystborn sons of Roil-welted whores who’ve nothing between their ears but laziness and greed!” Mr. Surpey shouted at the top of his lungs once the drawbridge was closed.

“Jeopardize themselves, me, and everyone else because they want to cut a few corners! Idiots! Myst-addled fools!”

He turned toward her.

Nancy dropped her face below the edge of the rooftop, hand clamped over her mouth. She felt hot tears trickle down the back of her palm, involuntary whimpers rising from her throat.

Their captor continued shouting, drowning out Nancy’s quiet sobs.

“Skol, take the boy and a shovel out into the wilderness and burn his body, clothes and all. If I find out you lifted some of the silk for your wife, I will straight up murder you! Once he’s bones, bury him deep, where scavengers can’t get to him. I want plenty of time for the Myst to be scattered into nature so a Seer can’t Read them.

“Right now!” Mr. Surpey said, clapping his hands before stomping inside the castle.

I have to leave, right now. If they found out she was out here, they would kill her too! She had to get back to their room.

Taking the opportunity, Nancy scrambled back across the rooftop, trying to locate the door back to the dark passageway leading to their room.

There it is, Nancy thought, spotting her bracelet, the white beads glowing faintly purple in the moonlight. She yanked the door open and slipped into the darkness as quickly and quietly as she could. The dark no longer held any fear for her. If Mr. Surpey couldn’t see in the dark, then the dark was a good thing.

She crawled back, her heart pounding in her chest, blindly trailing her fingers across the ceiling until she came across the seam of the door. Groping around, she found the handle, twisted it, then burst out into the children’s room.

“Nancy, are you okay? What happened?” Thomas asked as she shoved his bed back over the trap door, her breath coming hot and fast.

When the door was covered, Nancy sank to her knees and began bawling, not strong enough yet to tell them what had happened to Jake. What was going to happen to them.

“Here you are. Snacks!” the melas maid said, bumping the door open with her hip, pulling a cart full of delicious meats and cheeses, along with a large pitcher of water and several glasses.

The dark orange woman paused when nobody cheered for snacks, pursing her lips when she noticed Nancy’s sobbing. “Oh dear, is she alright?”

“She, uh…misses her mommy and daddy,” Thomas said,