Rebellious phase

He had lost her.

Somewhere along the way, he had lost sight of the devil girl. One moment she was turning around a corner whilst Perses was in hot pursuit, and the next, she was gone. Vanished even.

After losing sight of her, Perses began to feel rather silly about his actions. He had even slammed into what was probably the next teacher. Crouching down, he covered his head with his hands in embarrassment.

"Smack Smack"

"Hey, hello, what's wrong with you, magic kid, don't slow down now."

He had even failed to escape the really strange girl who continued to smack his head for no apparent reason.

"Hey, I have a name, strange girl. It's Perses."

Hectate was overly flustered by her new nickname and blushed with irritation, "Strange girl, how dare you, a mere magic creature call me something like that. Hmph, I even told you my real name, so use it, alright."

"Well, sure, if you use my name."

"Fine, have it your way, Percy. Anyway, my house is this way, so come on already, it'd make my mum really happy to see something weird like you."

Standing just outside the cathedral in broad daylight, the girl attempted to pull and then drag Perses away with little success.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm looking for someone, also I'm human so stop-"

"No, no, no. No matter how I look at it, you're clearly not, you liar. With that much magic inside you, you might even die."

"Huh, die? I have no idea what you are talking about."

Still attempting to drag the boy with all her might, the girl fell backwards, falling on her rear.

"Ouchh, this is all your fault, stupid Perses. We non-humans should be sticking together, so do everything I say already."

That last bit caught his attention. He let go of his head, looking at the strange girl. "Non-human, so you're not a human. Then what are you?".

The girls' anger subsided, "Ha, it's about time you figured it out; how intuitive of you. Yes, you're exactly right; I'm a magic user, the only one in the kingdom. Except my mum, I think."

Standing up, she pointed towards herself with pride.

'Is she really different, like me?'.

"So you're not human either."

Hearing his response, Hectia's grin widened even further, full of emotion, "Yep, I'm excited too. I couldn't show just anyone my magic until now. I've waited years for this. Watch in amazement, Percy, the power magic holds is absolute. Hyahhh"

Reaching out her hand with a battle cry free of embarrassment, a small ball of flame shot out of her hand silently. There was no pause, no warning, only an ear-shattering explosion a moment later.

"KÅ BÖŌM"

A Giant, sturdy tree close enough to shield them from the sun erupted in flames. "Snap". The tree fell shortly after collapsing in a ball of flame.

Perses watched on helplessly, blinded by the explosion. Perses yelled out, but his ears were still recovering, so he could hardly even hear his own voice.

"What is wrong with you!!."

Hectia's face was elated as she gazed at the destruction. Her ecstatic smile slowly faded, brought back to reality by Perses' yell. Eventually, her mouth opened as she cast an indifferent gaze towards Perses and then back towards the destruction. Without sparing even a look of remorse, she turned to walk away in the opposite direction. She didn't get far before breaking into an awkward run, leaving Perses alone at the crime scene.

"Huh." Hearing the sound of panicked voices in the cathedral behind him woke him from his trance, and he began to back up. His casual retreat also turned into a breakout run as he chased after the strange girl in a flustered panic.

It took only a short while for him to catch up. Despite only needing to run after the girl for only a few minutes, he found her lying on the floor, breathing heavily.

"Um, what the hell did you just do?"

Recognizing the voice of Perses behind her, the girl stood up with resolve still beaming.

"Magic"

"Yeah, I guessed that much already. I mean, why did you blow up a tree? What if it starts a fire?."

"Ah that yes you see uh I, didn't know I could do that either."

"What?." Perses couldn't meaningfully interrogate the girl; she was just too bizarre. He was suspended by disbelief.

"Well, you see, so it's like, I don't get many opportunities to practice, and I didn't know my mana had grown that much and um, it's supposed to be a secret, uh and so don't tell anyone., okay?"

"When anyone asks me the first thing I'll tell them was that you did it."

"Nooooo you can't" Lunging at Perses with tears in her eyes, she grabbed hold of him. He tried to force her off of him but couldn't bring himself to throw the weak girl to the floor.

"Please Percy if they found out I did it, I might be in serious trouble."

"Well obviosly you blew up a tree-"

"No, you can't". Perses had long since given up on forcing the girl off him, surrendering to his fate. When he looked closer at the teary-eyed girl, he noticed something he should of sooner. Fear. Perses' nonchalant indifference had allowed him to calmly answer the girl before, but now he couldn't help but feel a little tense.

The girl's eyes had begun to change shape again as if she had lost complete control of them. There wasn't anything funny about her reaction anymore. She was genuinely terrified, and this knawed on Perse's heartstrings.

"Alright, fine I won't tell anyone, ok just calm down. You said you wanted me to go somewhere right."

The girl nodded. Her fearful expression had already vanished; instead, she grinned at Perses.

"Yes come on lets go".

The girl quickly shrugged off her negative thoughts, leading Perses to a large house only a short distance away. He couldn't help but feel a second wave of disbelief in such a short time frame.

The house was made of dark birch wood and stood alone, away from the other buildings. It was situated just outside the wealthy residential area Perses had visited with Machia on his first day. It was at this point he begun to feel a creeping sensation that he wasn't supposed to be here. Despite this pang of guilt Perses couldn't help but be invited by the mystery of the girl. He was drawn to it even. The missing companionship of Machia even for just a day encouraged him to follow the daring girl even now.

Without knocking of any kind, the girl casually swung the colossal door open with a carefree attitude. He noticed she was a little shaky and uneven when doing so.

Leading the way into the large empty house, Perses couldn't help but take one last glance at his surroundings, fearful he was being led to another dangerous place.

Before he could come to a decision, he was yanked indoors.

Inside, the house was decorated with all kinds of peculiar objects that lay scattered around, the most prominent of which were blue cracked globes that littered the floor. Luckily they both had shoes on as it would be very easy to damage the soles of their feet.

Absentminded as usual, the girl led the way into the house, unconcerned with the mess that lay around her. Leading him to a particularly crude door that was made of metal, the girl paused before delicately knocking. Whatever was inside, she seemed abnormally careful to not offend it.

"Hectate"

Hearing her name being called out in response, she flinched. "Oh, I forgot."

"Hectate what do you think your doing?"

The girl casually began to back up for the second time today, preparing to escape. However, before she could manage, the door opened, and a hand grabbed her shoulder. Then another grabbed hold of her other shoulder. Perses couldn't help but smile deviously at the fear on the girl's face. Only just now did he realize he was still a little resentful after being tricked earlier.

But then a third hand grabbed her leg, causing Perses' smile to be short-lived. Standing just beside the girl, he watched on helplessly as a fourth hand grabbed her opposite knee.

"Wait I didn't ahhhhhhh" the girl screamed as an armada of hands surrounded her and pulled her towards the room. Her attempts to grab the door were fruitless as she was helplessly dragged into the room, much to the horror of Perses.

Horrified, he attempted to escape the confines of the house. Blocking his exit, however, was a hand that was utterly detached from any conceivable owner. It pointed towards the door.

Perses gulped, terrified of defying the force that commanded the hands. He looked towards the eerie doorway and paused.

'Machia wouldn't surrender to something like this.'

Filled with a newfound defiance, he rushed past the static hand towards the door. Noticing his reflection in one of the cracked globes was the last thing he saw before he was swarmed by hands that appeared out of the house's dark corners. They dropped down on him and dragged him helplessly back towards and through the metal door muffling his yells.

One tiny hand followed after him tenderly, carrying the shoe he had lost in the struggle. However, after it had entered the doorway, the door closed entirely, sealing them inside.

Watching intently an invisible shape gazed at the now closed metal door.