Interview

Sybill entered the office and immediately sprawled across the nearest divan.

"I feel the tightness in the body."

Sybill stopped.

"In the whole body."

She shifted uncomfortably against the divan.

"The gown is the too heavy, the Sammy."

Another pause.

"I am the all hot and sweaty now."

Sammy looked at her and rolled his eyes.

"I told you so," Sammy and Silvi said at the same time.

At the sound of approaching footsteps, Sybill quickly composed herself.

She sat upright with perfect stiffness, her hands folded neatly in her lap.

The moment the grandmaster entered, she rose and bowed precisely ninety degrees.

"You're bowing too low," Sammy whispered.

Sybill straightened at once and adjusted her posture.

The grandmaster carried a sheet of paper in one hand.

"Let us begin."

He gestured towards a long table where a hundred candles had been arranged in neat rows.

"Light only the marked wick."

Sybill swept one hand through the air.

Among the hundred candles, a single marked wick burst into flame.

The grandmaster made a note on his paper.

Next came a large wooden box packed to the brim with hay.

"Find the needle."

Sybill barely moved her fingers.

From somewhere deep inside the tightly packed hay, a tiny silver needle slipped free and floated gently into her palm.

The grandmaster paused before making another note.

For the next test, a small glass of black ink was placed before her.

"Separate it."

With a turn of her wrist, the liquid shifted.

Clear water gathered on one side of the glass while the pigment collected neatly on the other.

Sammy tried not to smile.

The grandmaster lowered his paper slightly.

"Very good."

Then, without warning, one of the attendants behind Sybill released an arrow.

Sammy's eyes widened.

Sybill did not even turn around.

The arrow snapped cleanly in two before it could reach her.

Both halves struck the floor behind her.

Sammy's mouth fell open.

Sybill glanced towards him.

He quickly closed it.

The grandmaster glanced down at his notes.

So far, she had completed every test with almost insulting ease.

His gaze shifted towards the enormous mirror behind his desk.

There was one thing left to determine.

Could she control more than one spell at the same time?

"One final exercise."

He gestured towards the mirror.

"I want you to conjure several barriers while simultaneously shattering this mirror."

Sybill looked at the enormous mirror.

Then her gaze slowly travelled around the office.

Several smaller mirrors decorated the walls between the paintings, while polished sheets of glass protected the artwork.

She raised one hand.

Transparent barriers immediately formed around the grandmaster, Sammy, the attendants, and Sybill herself.

At the same instant, the enormous mirror behind the grandmaster shattered.

Then every other mirror followed.

The glass covering the paintings burst apart as well.

Hundreds of glittering fragments shot through the room.

Not one reached them.

The shards struck the invisible barriers and stopped, suspended around them in midair.

Sammy froze.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

Sybill turned her wrist.

Every fragment flew backwards.

The mirrors reassembled, the glass slipped perfectly back over the paintings, and within seconds, everything stood exactly as it had before.

Not a single crack remained.

Sybill lowered her hand.

The grandmaster remained silent for a moment, taking in what had just happened.

Sammy pressed his lips together, trying not to smile.

Then the grandmaster finally lowered the paper in his hand.

"Miss Sybill Florence, my name is Erasmus Hofstader, and I welcome you to the staff."

He composed himself.

"You have been hired. You will receive the details of your lessons tomorrow. For now, you may proceed to your assigned lodgings."

Sybill rose and bowed again.

Perfectly this time.

Silvi whispered through the enchanted earring.

"I look forward to teaching the heir. Thank you."

"I look forward to teaching the heir. Thank you," Sybill repeated.

Sammy smiled.

Silvi and he had spoken often about his life, but Sybill remained a mystery to him—one he knew would not be easy to unravel.

He still remembered the moment he had first entered her Domain.

Sammy had been in terrible shape when he arrived.

One arm had been fractured in several places, and his injured leg could barely support his weight. Even reaching the seemingly deserted cottage had taken nearly everything he had left.

Inside, he had found only a few pieces of furniture and the barest essentials: rusty pots and pans, a clouded mirror, and the modest remains of a home trapped in a bygone era.

A porcelain doll sat motionless upon the table.

Its shiny face was turned towards him.

Black button eyes stared beneath three painted lashes on either side, while two red dots decorated its cheeks.

A blue dress covered its small porcelain body.

And then it blinked.

Maybe he was imagining things.

Perhaps the trauma of his escape had addled his brain.

Sammy had been trying to decide whether it was watching him when a woman suddenly appeared.

She was remarkably small, with long, shiny black tresses and enormous lavender eyes.

The expression on her face looked, to Sammy, like deep displeasure at his continued existence.

He stumbled backwards.

His injured leg gave way beneath him, and he crashed to the floor.

Pain shot through his fractured arm as he instinctively tried to raise both hands over himself like a shield.

"Please don't kill me!"

The woman merely stood there, blinking at him.

Once.

Twice.

For what felt like an eternity.

The doll jumped several times, trying to gain the strange woman's attention.

And then it spoke.

No—she spoke.

Shivers rattled Sammy's spine.

He had wandered into a house of horrors—or perhaps he had already been killed, and this was the afterlife.

Please don......kill...... darkness flooded his vision and he passed out.