Instantly, the situation became way more complicated than Ennette had initially thought—complicated and awkward. This wasn’t the Archon versus a delinquent—this was a delinquent at the mercy of his mother.

But isn’t this a good thing? Ennette wondered. If the Archon is Maziar’s mother, won’t they be more invested in my well-being? Is this my transmigration status bonus??

“...I’m sorry,” Maziar said as if he were being forced to speak, and he turned his eyes away.

Yulda pursed her wine-colored lips as she turned her attention back to Ennette. “First and foremost, I owe you an apology for the actions of my ridiculous offspring,” the Archon said. “And while he may not like it, I intend to share the blame and responsibility for what’s happened to you. He is the way he is, but that is also, in part, my fault.”

“I-I really just want to find my way home,” Ennette said. “But that’s not possible, is it?”

“I’m afraid not. Not without first breaking the contract, and unless you are both prepared for the consequences, I cannot recommend that. But I’ll do my best to find someone who can help you once we can end it,” said the Archon.

“What happens if we try to break it?” Ennette asked.

“Your body could be melted by ether, crushed by pressure, or just twisted into a new decoration for the Archon’s collection of horrors,” Maziar said halfheartedly. Yulda rolled her eyes and Ennette stared at him, her lip curling. “But don’t worry, ‘cause whatever happens to you would happen to me, too, so. There’s that, at least.”

“Bullshit,” Ennette said.

“Unfortunately, however carelessly he’s treated this, he’s not wrong,” Yulda said, and Ennette’s stomach twisted. “I could attempt to break the contract forcibly, but that would be ill-advised, especially since we don’t know the contract’s contents. It could very well cause the deaths of one or even both of you. As it is, we are already in a legal gray-area with caster law, given that you are, at least to our knowledge, a human. It is illegal to hold one of our own as familiars.”

“Why are you telling her that?” Maziar scowled.

“Because she needs to know,” Yulda snorted. “And you, apparently, need the reminder. If someone from the Imperial Tower comes to inspect the situation, she needs to know how dangerous it is—for both of you.”

“Both of us?” asked Ennette.

The Archon nodded. “The Imperial Tower would likely try to forcibly break the contract to avoid conflicts with other Towers and Planes Councils,” she said, waving a hand in the air. “The politics of it all get very complicated, but depending on who finds out, they could help—or they could get you killed. It’s better for us to figure out what’s going on between the two of you before going to them.

“Still, in the worst case, we could appeal to them,” she went on to say. “That could work in your favor, might I add, because Maziar would be considered a criminal if they decide he mistreated you in any way.”

Mazier looked like he wanted to protest, but Yulda shut him down with a glare. The information was like a breath of fresh air to Ennette, and she felt a huge weight lifted off her chest. It wasn’t a great position, but it sounded like she had some means of protecting herself. As long as she was alive, that is.

“Listen,” Ennette said, “To be honest, I don’t even blame him. As long as we can break this stupid contract and I can go home, I promise I’ll just think of it as a nightmare and move on with my life.”

“Thank you,” Yulda responded with a nod.

“But… how do we break the contract?” Ennette asked.

“Ah,” said the Archon. “Therein lies the problem. You see, I’ve seen many kinds of familiar contracts in my life, but I’ve never seen one like yours.”

“Which means?”

“Honestly? I have no idea.”

That seemed like very bad news. “Then what do I do from here?” Ennette asked. “Where do I go?”

“Well,” Yulda started, taking a seat back at her desk. “There’s only so much I can arrange for you right now. The other students present during the summoning certainly aren’t going to forget what they saw. Right now, we are just going to hold our breaths and hope that none of them really understand what happened.”

“And we don’t need to tell them the whole truth about what’s going on either,” Maziar offered. “We could tell them that the contract was already broken.”

“Yes, but the fact of the matter is that it’s not broken, and we’d need a decent excuse to keep her around or else they’ll start… digging.” She said the last word as if it was a particularly unpleasant thing.

“I mean, but, how close do he and I have to be?” asked Ennette. “Can’t you just say that we are looking into ways to get me home? And I could wait in a nearby town… or something.”

Yulda shook her head. “Unfortunately, given the way that the mana is flowing between the two of you, I don’t think that’s a viable option. Although,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “We could go a similar route but set you up as a prospective student in the meantime. That could work.”

Ennette chuckled. “A student? At the Northern Tower? Me?” She hadn’t expected Yulda to tell jokes.

She’s… serious!? Ennette realized.

“No,” Ennette said with half a laugh. “You’re joking, right? I can’t do magic!!”

“You technically don’t need to be able to do magic to become a student at the Tower,” Maziar told her. He sounded like he was seriously considering the idea. “You just need to be tested for magic potential.”

“Which is easy enough for me to arrange,” Yulda said. “I could do it myself, and Marlen and Zerathon could serve as the witnesses.”

Ennette felt sick. This was like the worst test-anxiety she’d ever had, except the principal was offering to help her cheat.

“You think the council would buy that?” Maziar asked.

“I think they’d rather buy that than have to come here in the middle of their beloved vacation season.”

“And if she fails?”

“You do realize Marlen and Zerathon are the witnesses for a reason, right?” Yulda asked her son with narrowed eyes.

“You do realize that if she’s a student, she’s going to need more than the word of a couple of old badgers and an Archon who’s rarely around, right?” Maziar asked back, mirroring her look.

Oh. my God, Ennette thought to herself again, looking between them as they schemed together. The resemblance between them was actually shocking. Never in a million years would I have thought they were related in the book, but standing between them it’s impossible to miss! Dear Author, what is this?!

Yulda chewed on her pinky’s fingernail as she pressed her forefinger against her temple. “Fine. Point taken,” she said after a moment. “Then we won’t make her a student. We’ll make her an apprentice instead.”

“What’s the difference between a student and an apprentice?” Ennette inserted herself back into the exchange, feeling lost.

“And exactly whose apprentice is she going to be?” added Maziar.

“Yours, brat. Whose else would she be?” Yulda told her son before looking at Ennette. “An apprentice is more of a prospective student role. It’s usually reserved for children and individuals of lower status who may have a degree of potential but haven’t had the opportunities or resources to properly grow that potential.

“They are sponsored by a member of the Tower,” she added. “They serve that individual in exchange for education. Once a season, they are tested until they either pass the test, have their sponsorship canceled, or decide to leave on their own.”

Ennette’s eye twitched. “When you say, ‘serve,’ do you mean that I’m to be a servant?”

“Within reason,” she shrugged. “But he’ll also be entirely responsible for your well-being. You’re certainly not to be taken advantage of unless Maziar wishes to hang from the Tower by his toes—but you’ll need to do enough for the others to buy into it. ”

“Which entails what, exactly?”

“You’ll be performing basic tasks to earn your keep, and you’ll do what Maziar orders you to do—with the express understanding that he must do as I order him to.”

“Is there any possible way you could pretend like you don’t think I’m the worst person on the planet?” Maziar asked with a taut grin. “You say that like I have ill-intentions—as if I want anything to do with it in the first place.”

“You think I want anything to do with this?” Ennette turned to him. “I was going to ask her to make sure that I never had to see you again—but whoops, looks like you screwed that up, too!”

“I’m so sorry that you’re now forced to deal with me,” Maziar retorted—clearly not meaning his apology this time.

“You should be!” Ennette said, crossing her arms. To the Archon, she said, “Fine. So I have to bring him tea or carry his books or whatever apprentices do. For how long, exactly?”

“However long it takes to break the contract,” Yulda said.

“Is there a guesstimate or anything? Just in case I decide death is better than being at the bottom of the food chain at a literal magic school filled with over-privileged jerks like him?” Ennette pointed to Maziar, forgetting for a moment that she was his mother. “I mean,” Ennette started again, looking for a way to correct herself. “I’m sure he’s… not the worst. It’s just… the situation…”

“If killing you wasn’t likely to mean killing myself, I’d suggest it would be far easier for you to die before we go about acting out this farce,” Maziar said dryly.

“Don’t worry, child,” Yulda said with a sigh. “I wonder about him, too, sometimes.”

Ennette glanced at him with a smirk and a shrug. While it didn’t solve her problems, it was pretty amusing to watch the villain be at the mercy of mommy dearest.

“Just remember that when she isn’t here, you’ll still need to listen to me,” Maziar said, pointing between him and Yulda.

“You are always like this, aren’t you?” said Ennette.

Shooting her a grin, Maziar waggled his eyebrows, then turned his attention back to his mother.

With a skeptical expression, Yulda said, “For now, Maziar, why don’t you show her around the South Cradle? I’ll have Marlen set up a room next to yours. Marlen?”

The space beside her warped, and the secretary appeared beside her with a slight bow.

Ennette eyed him with interest. Learning magic suddenly seemed much more appealing. She had no need for light shows, but teleportation could be interesting.

“Marlen, could you go to the South Cradle and make a door for Ennette?” Yulda asked.

“A door?” Marlen asked. “Is the young miss staying with us, then?”

“For now.”

Ennette leaned over to Maziar while Marlen wrote down Yulda’s instructions.

“‘Make’ a door?”

Maziar closed the distance between them by leaning into her face, and her heart skipped a beat at how close his face was to hers.

In a low voice, he responded, “Yes. ‘Make’ a door. This is a Tower; we don’t exactly follow the rules of time and space all the time.”

“Is that a spell that everyone here knows?” she asked bashfully. And do you have to be so close to tell me that?

“Marlen has the dimensional affinity,” Maziar told her. “If one isn’t careful, they might get devoured by their own space and turned into mush. It’s a very unpleasant sight.”

“That’s horrifying.” Ennette shivered and saw the neat and orderly man in a new light.

“That’s magic,” Maziar grinned again, and Ennette fought the desire to slap his mouth right off his face.

“Wait, dimensional affinity? Can’t he help me get home?”

Maziar shook his head. “Not likely. If your plane is as far as we think it is, you’ll need more than just one high rank caster to open a portal safely—and that doesn’t include anything about the contract issue.”

“Oh… Right.”

Marlen stood and summoned a green portal with a series of swift movements.

“Shall we?” he asked, pointing to the portal. Maziar stepped forward without hesitation and hopped through.

Ennette followed with far more hesitation, wondering if this would be the actual moment she would die.