Angelica made her way back to her room with minimal trouble. She closed the door, and found herself quickly locking it from the inside. The situation did not seem real.

For a split second she wondered if someone might actually come to try and rescue her. Her father would fly into a rage on finding she had been kidnapped, surely. She might be a little rebellious, but she was his daughter. Once he realized she had been kidnapped…but then they might not consider it to be all that odd for her to have disappeared. She had done so in the past, and no one would think it strange that she was upset about her sister’s wedding and wanted to get away. It could be months before anyone even realized she had not left of her own accord, if they ever did. Even Penelope would not find it hard to believe Angelica had run away after what had happened the night before.

The human sighed heavily before looking around her new room. It was at least as large as her room at home. She pulled the curtains open, looking out over a colorful garden. The ground sloped down beyond the garden, and she could see a rather run down building surrounded by a fence in ill-repair. There was a stretch of green valley before the mountains rose into the sky, topped by snow.

Angelica bent down, making the sign of the Heaven. “Thank you, Lady of the Light, for your protection during these difficult times. If it is your will, please grant me the strength to persevere.” She hesitated as her hand went to trace the familiar sign of the Earth. She found nothing for which she could thank Terranok. ‘Thank you for not letting your child kill me,’ seemed a little too ridiculous to say to a God. She could not imagine he would even bother to listen to such a statement.

Behind her a clock chimed. It was sitting on the fireplace mantle, free from the dust that coated everything else.

“Dinner at seven.” Her eyes drifted to the cloth covered piece of furniture beside the bed on which she saw a covered plate. She moved over pulled the lid off to reveal a sandwich and a bowl of soup. Her stomach felt too tied up in knots to eat anything now, so she recovered the dish, and looked out the window. Mountains stretched out into the distance. She could not see what it was that had stopped her from leaving, but it was there. She made her way out of the room.

Angelica walked down the path away from the mansion, the same way she had earlier that day. This time, however, she slowed her walk as she approached the place she had lost consciousness. She moved forward, a step at a time, feeling the air in front of her, until she felt sleep tug at her mind. At that, the human jumped back quickly, and waited for her head to clear. It took several minutes before the sleepy hazy seemed to clear, but she remained awake this time.

Angelica held out her hand again, feeling the air in front of her. There was a spell there, she knew. Invisible, but present just in front of her. Then her hand came into contact with, well nothing, but there was the slightest shimmer in the air. She pulled her hand back quickly, looking over it for any damage or lingering effects, but saw none.

With a deep breath, she reached out again. When she saw the shimmer, this time she moved her hand down and up and to the side, seeing if there was a break anywhere in what she assumed was the spell. When she did not find one, she began walking to the side, keeping her hand in the spell, watching for any interruption.

The line of the spell led her down the hill, around the garden, and out around the run down building that appeared to be a barn or stable that had fallen into disrepair. After circling around that, it moved back up the hill toward the mansion.

She saw Dusty sitting on a stone wall in the garden, watching her as she came closer. The spell apparently came rather close to the garden on this side of the house. She paused as she reached him.

“Aren’t you going to ask me what I’m doing?” she asked after a few moments of silence.

“I know what you’re doing,” he replied. “Though I admit I’m slightly surprised that you’re doing it.”

“I’m not about to assume that the spell goes all the way around the house without checking it out for myself.”

“I’ll save you some time in telling you that it does,” Dusty said.

“I have no reason to trust you.” Angelica put her hand back in the spell and continued walking.

Dusty hopped down from the wall, and followed her.

“What, are you here to keep me from running away when I find a hole in the spell?” She glanced at him over her shoulder, and then tripped on a piece of uneven ground. Dusty was at her side in a moment, steadying her. She pushed him away.

“No, I’m here to carry you back inside if you get too close to the spell.”

“What does that demon even want with me?”

“That, I do not know,” the young man replied.

She continued along the spell. It was not as restrictive a spell as she had assumed. It went all the way around the entire barn, and all of the gardens surrounding the mansion. It seemed more like a fence marking off property, than a spell to keep her inside. An invisible, magic fence, but a fence all the same.

“Why isn’t he like all the humanoid demons I’ve heard about?”

“Pardon?”

“That demon, Dylan. He’s not like what I’ve heard about humanoid demons.”

“I suppose that’s just because of what you’ve heard. The humanoid demons they report on the radio are all ones who attack humans or towns, and generally cause what trouble they can for the Choir. Most of them are pretty violent.”

“And your master doesn’t do that?”

Dusty shook his head. “Not to say he isn’t powerful. He is a humanoid demon after all, but he’s not violent and dangerous. Unless you get him really angry that is.” He smiled.

Angelica wondered if he was trying to make a joke. A human who lived with a demon. She could not imagine a human resigning himself to serve a demon.

“Are you really a human?” she asked.

He looked surprised. “As opposed to…?”

“A demon in disguise or an illusion.”

“What do you know about magic?”

She knew very little, but she was not about to admit it. The idea of magic had always scared her. Magic made one able to do things they were not meant to do. What she did not had come from conversations she overheard, or bits that were mentioned in books she had read.

Dusty continued in the silence she had left. “Casting a spell requires three things: knowledge, power, and will, or energy as some call it.”

Angelica looked at her hand, rippling through the spell. Even though she was not supposed to know about magic, she was curious. She could not help if she just happened to overhear while she was trying to escape.

“The most obvious thing is that you need to know the spell and what it is meant to do. Finding a spell is fairly easy; there are numerous books and other sources. Then you also need the magic, and the ability to bend that magic into the spell. And how much magic and energy you need depend on the factors of the spell.” He paused. “You mentioned thinking I was an illusion somehow, so let’s go with that first. Basic illusions, like ones you can only see, use little magic, but a good deal of energy. Of course interacting with an illusion like this, your hand would go through it, it wouldn’t make any sound, or give off a smell. The more realistic the illusion, the more difficult.”

“But it is possible to make an illusion that would look, feel, sound, and…smell like a human.” Angelica accused.

“It is, but…well you won’t really understand amounts of magic. Shaping magic into a spell takes energy from your body, the same way walking or running does.” He reached out and took her hand, pulling it to his chest. “You can feel my heart beating, you can hear me talk. If I were an illusion, it would take the amount of energy it would take to run many miles. And as long as the illusion lasts, it continues drawing in energy and magic.”

Angelica suddenly realized what he had done, and pulled her hand back sharply. He released her hand. “So while such an illusion is possible, it’s not feasible,” he continued.

She could still feel his warmth, and the gentle thump of his heart. “So you’re really a human. You could still be under some sort of mind control.”

Dusty just laughed. “It seems not only were you told just enough about what magic can do to scare you, but they greatly underrepresented the difficulty of learning and casting magic.”

“You’re going to tell me it takes too much energy to cast a mind control spell for it to be feasible as well?”

“Mind control spells are a bit different, because you have the mind of the person you’re casting it on to contend with. The stronger the person’s mind and magical skill, the more energy it takes. Making someone with no skill subservient is easy. Making someone, even with no magic knowledge of their own, speak freely and respond to stimulus around them as a normal person would do, is quite a bit more difficult. And on top of all of that, I am trained in magic.”

By this time Angelica had completed the circle around the mansion, having found no breaks. She pulled her hand away with a slight sigh. She had expected it, but seeing the lack of a way out seemed to settle heavily on her shoulders. “Why are you telling me all this?” she let the annoyance she was feeling creep into her voice.

“I guess I’m just trying to put your mind at ease. I am just a human like you.”

“But one who serves a demon master, who happens to be holding me captive,” Angelica said icily.

“Like I said, Master Dylan is not like the demons about which you’ve heard. He’s always protected me, and treated me well, and I have no reason to think he will not do the same for you.”

“And I have no reason to trust either of you.”

“I can’t really argue with that. I suppose all we can do now is continue to show you we mean you no harm.” Dusty bowed, holding out his arm. “Now if you are done with your tour of the barrier spell, I would be most pleased to escort you back inside.”

She studied his face for a moment, before turning and walking toward the mansion. Her head felt heavy with everything the demon’s apprentice had told her about magic. She was a prisoner here. They could make her do anything they wanted. He had even said that using mind control on someone with no magical training was very easy.

However, if they were going to use that, why give her a room, and tell her about magic, and let her wander around the spell keeping her here, another part of her mind argued. Why would they care about gaining her trust?