Fortunately for Lucille, Felicia had finished treating Peter, so she had time to patch her up quickly. Lucille had to take off her boots in order for her leg to be bandaged. While she wasn’t too keen on the idea, she still complied with the doctor’s orders. She wore long socks, but had to pull them down. Just like her arms, her leg had the word EARTH inked on the skin; however, the words on her arms have vanished.

“What’s with these tattoos on your legs?” Felicia inquired as she started bandaging her injured leg.

“They’re not tattoos; they’re inscriptions.”

“What’s the difference?” Janet asked; she was next to Felicia as she wanted to observe the treatment but became fascinated with Lucille’s legs.

“Tattoos are permanent, but inscriptions are not. Inscriptions are another form of word magic that mainly uses special word magic ink and can only be used by those ranked witches or higher. The downside is that they’re single usage only and it takes time for inscriptions to bleed into the skin; I mainly use them as a last resort. Once I use them, the ink disappears.”

“Word magic seems complicated.” Janet murmured.

“That’s why I like it so much.” Lucille chuckled.

Felicia was done with the bandaging. Lucille swung her leg to check the tightness. They were secure enough for her to keep moving around. She put her boots back on. “Thanks for everything, Felicia.”

“What are you going to do now?”

Lucille took a glance at her sleeping dogs across from her as she stood up. “I promised my dogs I’d take them to the faerie kingdom. I have no idea where it is, but I’m sure things will work out. I can’t stay in this town anymore thanks to those hunters. If I keep staying here, more people will get hurt. That’s why I’m going to move.”

“You’re moving…?” Thomas had overheard the conversation after he had returned from the restroom. He looked upset.

Lucille bent down so she was at eye level. “I’m sorry, Thomas. It has to be done. I don’t want people like Peter to keep getting hurt because of my dogs and me.” She patted his head when he hung it low.

“What are you going to do about your house?” Felicia asked. “You’re known for living in the forest, so what if those hunters try to search for your house?”

“No worries about my house. My cottage is quite special as it’s the first house I bought. I have inscribed a special word magic spell that allows my house to shrink to a microscopic size in order to store it into my ring.” She flashed her silver ring.

“When are you leaving?” Thomas asked.

“As soon as possible, so maybe tonight?”

“That’s way too fast!” Felicia remarked.

“Well, the faster the better, right?”

Lucille knew that if she were to delay her departure, she’d get anxious about leaving. She needed to leave fast so she wouldn’t look back. That has happened several other instances before, but somehow, the thought of leaving this quaint portside town hurt a lot more than the other towns she had lived in.

Janet then raised a hand. “If you’re going to leave, then can I come along with you?”

Lucille and Felicia were surprised by her abrupt request.

“You want to come along? What about your job as a vet? You work here!” Lucille had the most shocked reaction of the two.

“My job at this clinic is only temporary. I’m a part of the veterinary guild. All of the members are independent doctors stationed wherever the guildmaster tells us to go. For me, I was only stationed here because Felicia is a close friend of the guildmaster. I was actually kicked out from the previous clinic I worked at and was close to being blacklisted from the guild. Felicia only took me in recently because the guildmaster pleaded.”

Felicia furrowed her brows. “Don’t make it seem like you were shoved onto me. It’s true that Sarina and I are close friends, but I chose to let you work at my clinic not out of pity but out of the belief that you are talented and don’t deserve to be blacklisted.”

“Actually, I am in favor of letting her join us,” Noir said as he approached the women via flight. “She was the one who patched up Ange. I can’t thank her enough. However, Lucille is terrible with medical treatment, so it’d be great if a vet like you were to join us.”

“Did you have to diss me now that you can talk?” Lucille pouted. “Fine. You can come along. All of us will be glad to have you, Janet.”

“Thank you…” Janet remarked.

“When will you leave?” Felicia asked.

“Tonight if possible. If we loiter about, then rumors about my dogs being faeries will spread around more and the townspeople here will be in danger. It’s best to move as soon as possible.”

“Good call.” Janet remarked. “I’ll start packing. I also need to send out a letter to the guildmaster…” She headed back upstairs.

Lucille noticed Thomas pouting. She knelt down so she was at eye level. “Don’t make that face. We’ll see each other again.”

Thomas stayed silent. Lucille wondered what she could do to ease his sorrow.

“Thomas…” Ange started walking towards him. “I know you’ll miss us when we leave, but Noir and I promise to visit as soon as we return from the faerie kingdom.”

“How long will that take?”

“I don’t know…but we’ll return, so place some faith on us, okay?”

Thomas’s pout did not go away. This time, Noir approached Thomas. He had whispered something to Ange. The two then pounced on Thomas and started licking his face. The ticklish feeling caused the boy to start laughing.

“Stop! It tickles!”

“Will you promise to wait for us?”

“Yes…YES!”

Noir and Ange stopped licking Thomas and then went back to Lucille. Thomas was catching his breath. To be honest, Lucille didn’t want to part with Thomas either. She had enjoyed his company, so she knew she’d miss him a lot. However, she didn’t want to linger. An idea came to her. She handed the book she had been reading at the park to Thomas.

“How about this? You hold onto this book. That way, I know that I have to come back to retrieve it. Read it together with Peter. Think of the times we spent together and how I showed off word magic to you.”

Thomas, knowing additional words could not convince her to stay, clutched the book tightly. “You promised, okay?”

Lucille nodded.