Harmless Attic Hobbies (Just a side venture, honest)

Trudy barely avoided stomping to the door, though her hard raps showed a lack of patience from her, while Zelfie and Constance barely caught up just as the door began to open slightly, allowing a tired, suspicious eye to peer through.

“May I help you?” The eye asked, squinting.

Trudy’s smile was functionally polite. “Good afternoon, I’m the city’s public inspector. My team and I are grading and evaluating… architectural work. Right now, I’m asking politely to be admitted in. Will you?”

“No, you aren’t,” the eye immediately accused, though it widened with some surprise at the sight of two more, far more properly dressed students with University badges hanging from the lapels of their clothes.

“Trudy, why are you on a warpath-” Zelfie began complaining, while Constance tried talking overtop to apologize to the occupant. That was, until Trudy’s curt answer silenced everyone.

“There’s Malevolence in this house. I felt it.”

Constance blinked. “You can feel it? But I don’t…”

“I’m not good at much, but I’m good for this much,” Trudy cooly retorted. Something the eye in the door spluttered at.

“Y-You can’t accuse random people of harbouring Malevolence!” The person behind nearly shrieked.

Trudy folded her arms, unmoved. “I’m not accusing anyone, I’m just saying there’s Malevolence in this house. I’d be worried if I were neighbours with pure evil. Are you? Maybe you should let us in to see if we can clean your home?”

There was a pregnant pause, as the eye realized that three pairs were boring back at it. Surely, no one would willingly live with Malevolence, unless…

The door slammed shut. “Curses!”

“This isn’t a laughing matter!” Trudy warned as she stepped back. “We need to make sure!”

“You think we should report this?” Zel wondered.

Constance frowned. “It’s suspicious, but if neither you nor I can feel the presence of-”

“HAAAI-OW!”

The two turned to see Trudy charge at the door before bouncing off the solid wood. The increasingly irate woman went and started kicking at the barrier, shouting. It was doubly undignified for Zel to witness, since she was seeing the likeness of a local hero screech.

“I’ve seen what this stuff does! The sooner you give it up, the sooner I’ll go away!”

Constance’s stare flattened at the proceedings. “I suppose Trudy making a ruckus would be ground for getting one of the professors-”

She was interrupted once more when she and Zelfie both felt the tingling of their spine, at a sudden upwelling of foul sensations. In an instant, they glanced up and felt themselves drawn to a window on the upper floor of the house.

Trudy had begun swearing outright.

“I’ll be damned,” Zel said, reaching into the pocket of her jacket worn over her dress. Searching for stray pockets of Malevolence for research was one thing, but she was trained not to stand idle when something of this level was active.

“Zelfie, keep Trudy out of trouble and see if you can delay whatever’s happening inside,” Constance quickly orders, already halfway swirling around, “I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

Taking no further notice of her pseudo-rival’s disappearing back, Zel drew an old arrow, the tip wrapped in fabric for personal safety, and pointed it at the door.

“Trudy, out of the way!”

With a wave, the arrow started interfering with the Spirit Energy in the world, and the handle was wrenched open by an unseen force.

At the sight of Trudy’s curious look, the researcher quickly explained. “It was blessed by a Spirit with a sense of humour, so it “pulls”, than “goes” – come on.”

The two barrelled through the smashed door, putting them inside an empty house. Were it for the Malevolence burning above their head, it would have been just an ordinary home. Though perhaps a little too unlived in.

A wood sink was filled with unwashed plates, and besides the kitchen, it seemed like every other room was mostly a tribute to dust, with the furniture and shelves existing only to be caked in the matter.

Trudy took a mournful glance around her. “Someone here’s been miserable.”

That moment quickly passed with another pulse of Malevolence, leading to the two rushing up a stairway, and then another that led upwards to a locked door at the top of the building, where the sensation was strongest.

Another twitch of the Spirit-blessed tool wrenched that open too, and Trudy and Zel filed into a dank and plain attic, at the opposite end of which was a rather bedraggled woman, hair unkempt and eyes tired and baggy.

More importantly, however, was a box she was holding, and for Trudy, she immediately recognized it – the memory of her annoyance at Paul was still too fresh.

It was filled with various glass beads and pendants, most of them unstrung, but in each glowed a little bit of red – not enough by itself, but when a box was concerned.

“Ma’am, put that down! It’s dangerous!” Zel warned. “I don’t know where you got all that but-”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” The woman snarled. “You’re all useless. Belzac, the Spirits… Anyone can do what they want with Malevolence! These tools Liev gave me… they’ll go to those who deserve it! Not to you!”

Trudy’s attitude darkened immediately. “Liev? You work for that old fart!? Oh, I’ve got questions for you!”

“Stay away!”

The woman thrust her hand into the box and pulled a handful of baubles free, which glowed bright under her command.

The Malevolence obeyed none of it, and only took it as an excuse to rampage, with violet-crimson light roiling out of control, pressing against the wood and glass until it burst in a spray of shrapnel.

The woman screamed, and Zel wasn’t sure how her tool would help her.

But Trudy, in a sudden shift, was silent and simply opted to lift a finger.

As she glowed, too, in unison with the Malevolent light.

Zel didn’t know how to manipulate the corrosive energy, which felt like it would burn if she tried to command it, but now, she felt its floes and streams swirl around Trudy, and she could only stare in disbelief at how she stood calmly in the centre of the maelstrom, which slowly swirled to a halt, until the three of them stood in a still-life explosion.

“Y-You…” The woman tried to whisper.

Trudy’s eyes glowed so bright the coloured shades couldn’t hold them back.