《Pandora’s Box, Repair & Service》


 Chapter 1

    Clara pulled up her hood. It wouldn''t be good to be seen around this part of town, or to be seen going into the workshop. It had a reputation.


    She pushed the door open and was greeted immediately.


    "NO SPIRIT MAGIC", a voice roared from inside.


    Clara hesitated at the door.


    The voice continued, "I CAN SMELL IT FROM HERE, NOPE. I DEAL IN CURSES, DIVINE ARTEFACTS GONE WRONG, BUT NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT, NO SPIRITS. NOPE. OUT."


    The angry voice had convinced her. This was probably the right place to go for her problem¡ªeven if they didn''t want her here.


    Clara fumbled with the item in question, slipping it into a container.


    In a quiet voice, she spoke into the doorway "I''ve put it away. May I come in? Please?"


    A pause, before the voice replied "FINE. WAIT UP".


    Clara opened the door fully and took a step inside.


    The front of the workshop wasn''t much to look at. The shop had originally been a food counter. Two tables, four chairs bolted into the walls, and a desk blocking off the rest of the room.


    The owner of the shop pushed open the desk and closed it behind her. That, or someone who acted like the owner.


    Taking a seat, she invited the customer to sit down.


    "I''m Anna. This is my shop. You are?", she announced.


    "Clara", she replied.


    "Who sent you?" Anna asked.


    "No-one. I... uh" Clara fumbled her words.


    "There''s no sign on the door¡±, Anna casually pointed towards the door, ¡°Who sent you here?".


    "I... uh.... the headmistress. She..." Clara¡¯s voice trailed off.


    "Ughh. Fine. Wait here", Anna replied before standing up from the table.


    Anna pushed open the desk once more, returning with two cups of tea. "Do you want one?"


    "Yes."


    "Oh."


    Anna marched out again, returning with another cup. "You won''t want to drink from that one."


    "Why?" Clara was holding a cup to her lips.


    "It''s not tea." Anna swapped the cups over, "This is tea. That one is for the kitty."


    Clara looked around. No sign of a cat.


    "He won''t come if you look for him. Have you met a cat before?" Anna asked rhetorically.


    Anna dipped her finger in the cup and began to draw out a circle on the surface of the table.


    "That''s? Ink?", Clara asked.


    "Conductive ink, yes. Now, bring out that awful spirit." Anna waved her hands as if she was in a rush.


    "But you said...", Clara hadn''t expected help.


    "I said I wouldn''t help you directly, but I am curious." Anna replied, omitting that she owed a certain head teacher a favour¡ªa big one. "Show me¡ªtake out the spirit."


    Clara was going to ask "What sort of cat eats ink?", not about her spirit problem, but she decided to move on.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "I made a wish", Clara began.


    "Here we go," Anna mumbled. "Fucking spirits."


    Clara carefully pulled out the spirit she''d put into storage. A golden apple, with a number of small bites taken out of it.


    The protection circle began to boil and sizzle, but the spell held.


    "I.. I... I''m not..." Clara began to stumble over her words.


    "So, what does the apple do, where did you get it?" Anna asked.


    "I made a wish, I wanted to be beautiful, well, admired. I... I found the apple in my back garden, on the old tree¡ªno other fruit..."


    Anna rolled her eyes. Of course there wouldn''t be other fruit, the spirits were rarely subtle. Not just a golden apple, no, it had to come from a barren tree.


    "Sooooo. Great, you became hot. When did the murdering start?" Anna had seen similar spirits before.


    Clara spat out her tea. "No one has died!"


    "Why did that old shithead teacher send you here?" Anna couldn''t understand¡ªit sounded too easy.


    "Every time I take a bite, I grow prettier, but..." Clara tried to explain.


    "You crave blood... You have to feed, what, what?" Anna began to list the usual suspects.


    Clara began to whisper. "I... can''t recognise people. I thought I had it under control, but I..." She looked away.


    "Your entire love triangle unravelled, huh? Typical. Let me guess. You ate more of the apple, hoping that would fix things?" Anna asked with a sigh.


    Clara nodded.


    "Made it worse? Oh... and you must have said something else to that old fart of a teacher. Hmm." Anna drummed her fingers on the table.


    Clara squirmed in her chair.


    "Let me guess" Anna spoke, "You said someone cursed you because you were so beautiful, right?"


    Clara mumbled something under her breath. Anna couldn''t hear it, but knew she was right.


    It didn''t matter¡ªthe solution was the same. "Soooooooo. Eat the apple." Anna explained.


    "What?" Clara did not expect a simple answer to her problem.


    "Eat it! Complete the spell! La-de-da,¡± Anna waved her hands, ¡±it''ll undo everything.¡±


    Anna continued with a deadpan tone ¡°The last bite will change you back, but at a price! You will lose everything you gained!"


    "Really?", Clara asked eagerly.


    "Of course. Spirits are cruel, but a bit... simple minded."


    This is why Anna hated spirit magic¡ªthe cure was always inside of them all along.


    Anna had the rule for a very good reason. Spirit magic always backfired, and people only ever asked when it was way, way too late to change anything. Usually after not one, but several people had died. It seemed about four was the number where the guilt became unliveable.


    Clara''s problem was surprisingly easy¡ªno undead, no divine quests¡ªjust simple envy. People didn¡¯t need Anna the engineer, they needed Anna the therapist.


    "You''ll need to eat all of it. Go on", Anna carefully pointed to the item in question, while avoiding touching it directly with her fingers. She pinched her nose, "It stinks", waving at it with her other hand.


    Clara picked the Apple up and began to bite into it.


    Her skin tightened, her eyes widened. Her shape changed in proportion, numerous times.


    For a moment, it was as if an angel had descended. She had an ethereal glow around her.


    With only the stem left to eat, Clara pulled out a hand mirror.


    "Don''t", Anna spoke clearly without raising her voice, very much implying ¡®If you break it, you bought it.¡¯


    It took Clara a moment to decide, but she went with Anna''s advice.


    The glow shattered and she felt her body shrinking, skin regaining hair, wrinkles, warts, and all. Even her scars returned.


    "You can look in the mirror now, if you''d like", Anna spoke with a gentler tone.


    Clara hesitated, but checked anyway.


    Waiting to see her old face, she was surprised. She looked the same as she did this morning, or near enough.


    "It''ll slowly undo. Over the next couple of years", Anna began to warn her.


    "Oh my!" Clara put away the mirror, "Thank you! Oh! Kitten!" she announced. The promised cat had appeared.


    The kitten was licking away at the edges of the now-dead circuit.


    "Little tyke loves the taste of used ink", Anna scratched the kitten¡¯s neck with a smile, "and I didn''t do anything".


    With a deadpan voice Anna continued, "The power was inside you all along, truly this was a lesson for us all from spirit world, surely we have much to learn about ourselves!"


    Clara giggled, and stood up from the table. "You say it''ll wear off, how long do I have?"


    "Oh... no rush... a few years at least, hmm. I''d say you''ll get as uglier as everyone else does, it''s called ageing."


    "What?" Clara paused putting on her cloak, "Wait?"


    She had been in a little bit of a rush.


    "Yep. Sad but true, sorry. Now the spirit magic has gone, you''ll age like a normal person. Terrible." Anna continued in her deadpan tone.


    "I..." Clara pointed to her various features, "I''m not going to change back?"


    "Nope. Now get going. You have a love triangle to repair. Do you want help with that?"


    "I''ll be ok. I''m better at lies than curses," Clara grinned, "and thanks again. I know you did something to make it stick."


    "I told you, I don''t do spirit magic. Now, away with you¡ªyou still stink of it!" Anna waved dismissively and shooed Clara out of the shop, bolting the door behind her.


    Thankfully, Clara''s boon had been fairly simple to resolve.


    Usually the spirits weren''t so playful. She figured Anna must have picked up the apple as a child, but had only been tempted to use it recently. Something like that¡ªmaybe the spirit had a crush on the girl, who knows.


    Picking up the kitten, she poured him into her backpack. If she didn''t, he''d climb up himself¡ªusing his claws.


    She double-checked the locks on the workshop''s windows. The furnace was off, the kitten was napping, in her left hand she had her portable thermal lance, and in her right, her favourite sledge hammer.


    It was time to pay a visit to the headmistress.

 Chapter 2

    The fastest way to travel was in a straight line, but Anna had made a few concessions along the way.


    The city officials had frowned upon her early attempts at simplifying transit, and had insisted they "had enough streets already". Fools.


    The academy was a different matter entirely. Privately owned, and funded, they could do with a few extra ventilation holes.


    Anna had already warmed the thermal lance in anticipation, but was disappointed to find the headmistress waiting for her outside the school.


    "Heyyyyy!"


    "Biiitttchhh", Anna charged into her old friend and attempted to knock her to the floor.


    Unsuccessfully. The headmistress remained upright.


    "Anna, dearest, please? and put down the lance. So unsightly."


    "Fine. I''m still angry. I said ..." Anna muttered.


    "I know I know. No spirits. Besides, You fixed her, right? Better than I could,"


    "Whatever, but you could have done it.", Maybe without preserving the beauty''s looks, but the headmistress was more than capable.


    "Look, Anna. What if I told you that all of the spirit problems have been, well, getting easier."


    "I''d say, .... Fuck. Wait?"


    "Yep. Not just here, but all across the surrounding area¡ªbut it is localised."


    "Fuck fuck fuck."


    "Thought you might say that."


    Anna reached into the emergency compartment of her bag and retrieved a cigarette. The cat leaped after her, trying to snatch it from her hand, then her mouth.


    "No. No Kitty. Nooooo."


    He only gave up once it was lit.


    "Wow, that bad?" she took a seat next to Anna, now slowly puffing away.


    "No-one died. A golden apple and no-one died. She didn''t have to eat anyone, either. Means a big one''s coming. Not a boon. A sprite. I can feel it."


    "That¡¯s why I sent her your way."


    "I knew there was something up. That wasn''t your favour, was it?"


    "Nope. That was me saving time. You believe me now, huh?"


    "Fucker", she stubbed out the cigarette into the neatly mown lawn, taking extra care to spread the ash as wide as possible.


    She was annoyingly right. Anna would have never believed without seeing it. A beauty spirit that tame could have been resold for, well, a considerable amount.


    When you''re that beautiful you can ask people to wear name-tags. When you''re that beautiful, other people''s names don''t matter.


    You don''t really suffer from ordinary problems, although you still have problems. Like a sprite arriving.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Unlike a spirit, a sprite had sentience, as well as power. Someone had made a powerful wish and a heavy price would have to be paid.


    Again.


    Anna fumbled in her bag, and pulled out a long metal tube fastened to a leather harness. She strapped it to her neck, carefully adjusted it¡ªand was stopped from activating it by her friend.


    "I come back, it''s only temporary death." Anna protested.


    "But... the gardens... the mess."


    "Oh come on, I stopped using that method a while back. This is clean." Anna announced and punched herself in the neck, falling backwards onto the ground.


    Her friend stood watch over her now lifeless corpse. A few seconds passed before the device reset, pushed out of her body and clicked into a safe position. Anna gasped for air a few times, then promptly took the device off, inspected it for damage, then packed it away.


    "That¡¯s, that''s new."


    "Disconnects the soul from the body. Microdose. I have about four uses left," implying, ¡®I did it the nice and clean way for you¡¯. Anna moved on.


    "I spoke to Death, and well, they say that there''s good, and there''s bad news"


    "I want the Bad Ne..."


    "The Good news is that it isn''t a sprite. The ambient energy has been waning because it''s been gathered somewhere else. The spirits haven''t been as cruel because it''s been harder to reach through the void."


    The first part wasn''t actually good news. The second part wasn''t good news either.


    "Something is trying to come through the void?"


    "Yeah. I lied. There''s bad news, and worse news. Something already came through."


    "What."


    "A titan has just hatched," Anna explained, "One of the old divines. Um."


    "Anna, we don''t all have the ear of a God."


    Anna held back a correction.


    "Anna, yes, yes I know, not a God, a Divine, come on," she''d seen Anna''s frown and corrected herself, "What''s a titan?"


    "Ugh. Look, death isn''t some kinda lecturer with course notes, it''s, they''re..."


    "What?"


    "I can only bring back so much information, ok?"


    "Fine."


    "Look, the gods and divines as we know them won''t be around forever, and haven''t been around forever. They came second, third? Maybe. Even death, well, they hint that someone else used to have their job. They hint that the old guy was, um, a little evil."


    "... and that''s what''s been reborn?"


    "Not yet. Ugh." Anna grumbled.


    "Anna, can you please, just, spit it out,"


    Her head was always a little giddy after a temporary death.


    "Something bad, really bad, has been sealed away with the blood of a titan. The last titan. There shouldn''t be any more, but¡­¡± Anna¡¯s voice trailed off.


    "One just got born, huh."


    "Yeah. Death hinted that it had happened before. Another hint that the titan wouldn''t be an issue. Then an unambiguous warning, that we had to find him first. You hear me? Unambiguous."


    Anna didn''t have a contract with death, but had encountered them enough times that they''d become social calls rather than nerve-racking adventures. Death had been surprisingly friendly, patient too. Even so, Death didn''t like to spill all of the details.


    This time, Death had repeated the warning twice.


    "If something were to hatch, well, the real problem will be who finds it first. What they might have planned? Who knows." Anna sighed.


    It was serious.


    "That big bad thing, sealed away by the ancient gods, knows the titan has hatched too." Anna explained.


    "Fuck", her friend paused, "Hey, is that another cigarette?"


    "No. And No¡± Anna waved it around. ¡°This is my last not-a-cigarette."


    "What the hell is it?"


    Anna coughed, "Well, it''s a whole packet''s worth. I condensed it into one. Saves time."


    "Gimmie."


    The earlier scene repeated, but this time it was her friend desperately trying to grab it from her mouth, rather than a cat.


    "Is that it? No clues?"


    "One big one. It hatched. Oh, and that it wasn''t the first titan," Anna smirked, "We''re looking for a powerful egg. Ugh, I probably owe em again."


    "What? How can you owe death? I mean, doesn''t death get your soul anyway?"


    "Oh, a favour. See, I''m a mortal, I can''t be learning things from gods, not without a cost, not without breaking the rules, but, if I happened to stumble onto some undead that happened to need purging, or say a lost soul, or a tear in the void, or prevent the assassination of the prince, something like that."


    Anna had done a number of small favours over the last few years.


    "Anyway, if I happened to do something like that, for no reason, well, I''d find all of this out." Anna explained.


    "If another God checks in, there''s a backstory." her friend corrected her.


    "That or I just happen to be told things I''ll find out myself. Told things a few days early by an impatient god, a god who wants to trick me into free work. Like a certain head teacher I know."


    Anna stubbed out the second cigarette.


    "I thought you said death wasn''t a God. How many cigarettes are in that? There''s so much ash."


    "I don''t pronounce it with a capital-G. The cigarette? A pack? So like, 100?"


    "That''ll kill you."


    "I know." Anna rolled her eyes, "This one is for the comedown."

 Chapter 3

    Inside the headmistress''s office, Anna made herself comfortable.


    She cleared space on the desk to sit, moving the paperwork onto the chair nearby.


    "First my front lawn, now my desk. Won''t you use a chair?" the headmistress sighed. Anna was not the easiest of friends to have.


    "That chair is the wrong height. Too small." Anna replied. "I''ll swap with you."


    Translation: "I''m fine here, but if you want, I can make more of a mess."


    "How did you fix it? Her curse?" she changed the topic. Getting Anna to sit was already a victory.


    "You mean, spirit magic?" Anna replied. "You knew she was lying."


    "Clara wouldn''t tell me the truth, and I couldn''t work it out." she replied, "I knew you''d be able to fix it"


    "I did. So, pay me! $500," Anna smacked her hand on the table theatrically. "No less. Then I want answers."


    "I dunno Anna," the headmistress sighed, "I don''t have that sort of money." A total lie.


    The exchange was mostly ceremonial in nature. The headmistress wanted to find out what had happened, Anna wanted to show off to her friend.


    "I bought this packet of cured meat," the headmistress pulled out a brown paper envelope from her desk.


    "From Bollazanna''s?" Anna asked coyly. If it wasn''t, she''d ask for a little more. This had been an annoying problem to deal with, albeit easy.


    "Of course," she slid it across the desk towards Anna. "Check it. Meat''s all there."


    "So," Anna began to inhale the beef jerky, "It worra spurut roght ..."


    "Please. Please. I''ll wait."


    "Ah. It was a spirit, right? Made her beautiful, but took away her ability to recognise people? A vanity spirit. They love to punish shallow people¡ªand well, I explained that was exactly what your student was doing. So...", Anna rushed out a few words between mouthfuls.


    "So the spirit didn''t take away her beauty? That''s it?"


    "Yep. Heh." Anna smiled briefly, "She could have gotten waay waay more beautiful," she waved her hands over her body, exaggerating the shape.


    "Wait. Huh. You didn''t tell her that, did you?" the headmistress panicked. Clara had already caused enough trouble.


    "That was part of it. She almost fucked it up, too. Why did she bring a mirror? Spirits fucking love mirrors," Anna rolled her eyes, "She did better than I thought she would, anyway. More importantly, why did you drag me here? I said I want answers." Anna pointed to her, ¡°Your turn."


    "I didn''t. You wanted to come inside."


    Anna stared back. "Yes. You. Did". She began to wave her hands in frustration. "A weirdo vanity spirit? Something that valuable that somehow you didn''t recognise? You wanted me to take it and resell it. Then you''d use the debt to, ugh, don''t think I don''t ..."


    Anna puffed her cheeks and sat back down. "So. Out with it. What''s your scheme this time?"


    "You mean, aside from the end of the world?" the headmistress replied. That hadn''t been part of of the plan, and in all honestly had thrown the both of them for a few minutes.


    "Yes, aside from the, hey, no, not the end of the world, just a start to an endless war against the dead. Aside from that. Oh and aside from being told by death that I have to find a egg. That. So. Out with it."


    The headmistress opened her mouth to correct her¡ª"the end of the world as we know it"¡ªbut she gave up. Anna didn''t like idioms, and she wanted a favour from her. However, asking directly would not be easy.


    "Do you have plans to find the egg?" she did not want to explain things to Anna just yet.


    "Linda." Anna replied. She was serious. First-name serious. Heavens help her if Anna decided to keep going.


    The headmistress pouted. "Can''t we talk about the more pressing matters first?"


    "No. Now, yes, that salami was great but you''d better start talking before I carve myself a shorter route home." Anna spoke slowly.


    The thermal lance in Anna''s hand did not look lit, but the headmistress suspected it was ready to go nonetheless.


    Anna repeated her demands, "Linda. What''s your scheme? Don¡¯t make me use your surname."


    Linda mulled over her choices.


    She decided to tell some of the truth.


    "Fine. I need a new teacher.... wait, huh, aren''t you meant to say no here?" Linda asked.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    "You already know my answer, No." Anna replied, "What else is there?"


    There was a fizzing noise from the lance.


    Linda realised she''d gone a little too far. "I''m under oath."


    "Twenty questions or opposite day?" Anna replied. Two standard ways to tiptoe around the edge of a magical contract.


    "It would be a lot easier if you were a member of staff?" Linda tried one last time.


    "Let''s see. An oath, on you, which means it''s probably nobility, or maybe the crown. No-one else has that sort of money, well, maybe, but also the," Anna made little quote marks, ¡®I''ll execute you if you don''t thing¡¯. "That really gives it away, Linda. Then, a problem you can''t handle yourself, and probably one where you can''t trust anyone else."


    Anna made a few mental calculations. "I want 50%. No oath of loyalty."


    "50% with oath, 30% without."


    "Wow, Linda, 40% or I''m cutting my way home."


    "37%, I know you like that number."


    "Fine. I''ll take 60%, I like it better. You''re never this easy to negotiate with. I''m doing this out of pity."


    "Is that why you''re doubling your usual fee?"


    "No, that''s spite. I''m taking the job out of pity, but charging you extra because I resent having to do it," Anna explained. "Again."


    "60%, and you''ll stay for the whole year?"


    Anna almost agreed.


    There was a slight problem. 60% of nothing was nothing. Linda would tell her if she did it for no cash, but only afterwards. Before then, Linda would almost certainly pretend the Oath prevented her from explaining things.


    "80%, and you''ll pay me a full salary, let''s see¡ªa full department head''s salary, along with the budget to match. Whatever''s larger," Anna countered.


    "Full salary, no extra budget, 50%."


    Fuck fuck fuck. Anna knew it would be nothing. Probably.


    "Full salary. 60%. Stay for the year. Absolute freedom in curriculum and full access to all equipment. No paperwork either."


    "Deal. It''s the daughter of the current Crown." Linda accepted the verbal contract.


    "Which one?"


    "Both of them."


    Anna fumbled in her backpack, pulling out a tiny cigarette made with the leftovers from manufacturing the previous two. Touching it to the lance to light it, Anna extracted four puffs before it was unusable.


    "You. Absolute. Fucker." Anna didn''t shout, she fell backward into her chair. "You set me up. I thought I would be undercover, the super cool teacher, but no. No. I''m the impartial observer. Fuck."


    Local politics. The only thing worse than spirit magic¡ªyou could fix spirit magic. This situation would be far trickier.


    Without going into detail, the crown was a ceremonial role, mostly. Two people given ultimate power of veto, but also expected never to use it.


    The current two were tied to different gods, who didn''t exactly get on. As a result, the church factions were a little hostile, and other groups would use this to pressure the crowns politically.


    "Wait, Wait. Which god picked her? Can''t you bring someone from... oh no", Anna found a new way to slump into the chair. The bad news just kept coming.


    "Please. Please. Linda. Please tell me you brought me here for backup, support, fighting power."


    Anna wanted to hear a lie¡ªLinda seemed to do it so effortlessly, so one more didn''t seem like too much to ask.


    "You''re one of the few people who can swear an oath that both of the factions respect, and, um, yes, we can''t bring her god in, because she has an elemental blessing."


    "Oh thank fuck." To Anna, it was good news.


    It could have been much worse. There were gods that mortals avoided, ones that the other deities avoided, and the ones even Anna wouldn¡¯t touch with a stick.


    "Anna?" Linda was surprised. It sounded bad enough already.


    "Look. Option 1 was ¡®The gods are fighting too¡¯, Option 2 was ¡®Her element is highly unstable or dangerous and we cannot safely perform the oath¡¯, Option 3 was ¡®Don''t even mention her god¡¯. Option 2 is the least bad. Let me celebrate the least-bad moments."


    Anna was lucky, or very unlucky. She''d opted out of the blessing, aged 8, and had further entangled herself with the divinities. Unbound to any, she could freely swear an oath of truth before multiple gods.


    She prided herself on her neutrality, or, in her words, "Leave me the fuck alone, deal with your own problems, shitholes."


    Anna''s explanations were often short and to the point.


    About her eighth birthday, she would reply tersely, "During the choosing ritual, I temporarily severed the link between my soul and my body, and could not receive a blessing as a result."


    She''d opted out. Most didn''t realise it was a choice, and it made a reasonable explanation as to why she could swear an oath before more than one god without treading on anyone''s toes. Even the elemental planes had favourites.


    The real answer as to why Anna was neutral wasn''t so obvious.


    Yes, she didn''t have a blessing, yes, she had a relatively neutral stance amongst the major and minor pantheons of divines, many owed her favours too¡ªbut it was her friendship with Death that truly gave her the ability to remain neutral.


    None of the other gods wanted to get involved.


    Anna had performed her role as a neutral observer only a few times before, and regretted it deeply.


    Instead of helping people to rebuild trust, she found herself being an umpire for a longstanding grudge match. Always there to settle the scores, rather than end the gameplay.


    She hoped this time it would be different, or at least that the mistakes would be new this time around.


    "I''m... well, misery shared is..." Linda began.


    "Misery acknowledged", Anna interrupted her, "Linda. I''m. Ugh. Well, fine. You finally got me, the teacher you''ve always wanted. I have a few questions."


    "Please", Linda smiled¡ªshe hoped it meant Anna was taking things seriously.


    "Number one. When do I start? Two, where am I staying on site. Three, what exactly are you going to offer me not to take out my frustrations on my way home?"


    Three was the most important, the other two could wait. "Clarence, come in."


    "Yes, Head." a young man poked his head through the door, checked it was safe to come in, and carefully shut it behind him without making a noise.


    "This is our newest department head, Anna. Please escort her to the researcher''s canteen."


    Anna looked confused.


    "Every day, all night, never closes, all you can eat, all expenses paid, free canteen for members of staff, and yes, I eat there. Not a trick. That was my actual plan to lure you here, long term."


    Anna grumbled.


    Linda smiled. Anna was strong, determined, but also deeply forgetful. Especially about breakfast, lunch, dinner. In other words, ¡®Yes I have trapped you here, but it won''t be me keeping you here¡¯.


    Anna grumbled because she''d forgotten to eat. Linda''s plan was made clear before her eyes.


    It wasn''t going to be a year. She would struggle to live away from such a wondrous service. It would ruin her. She thought through her choices. Would it be better to try and avoid the temptation?


    "Give me the closest accommodation and workshop to the canteen and I won¡¯t have to move as much."


    Linda nodded towards Clarence, "Give her the basement workshop under the canteen, hmm. Move the garden keeper somewhere, tell him I said please, and let me know where he needs to go."


    A short park separated the two with a river bisecting it, no walls to destroy but Linda knew that tomorrow there''d be a new bridge, or the old one will have somehow moved a few meters down river.


    Anna was not someone who enjoyed detours. Linda handed over the requisite keys to Anna and sent her to the canteen to eat first.


    A full stomach usually, but not always, kept Anna in check.