we will seek my buried inheritance

[self_composed]

Bella fixes French toast for breakfast to salvage stale bread, and, having seen Charlie off to work, hops in her own car and makes for Alice's house. She arrives at nine-thirty, and goes up to the doorbell and rings it.

Comments

[self_composed]

"So if I wasn't a wuss and could cheerfully take a hammer to my own foot or stick my arm in a cage of rats, what would that be? Besides convenient."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Sexy as hell."

[self_composed]

"Rather literally, at that," Bella says, thinking of the theory Elias had that instead of selling one's entire soul to hell for power, wishcoin-makers served out their sentences piecemeal.

[edgeofyourseat]

Alice laughs.

[self_composed]

"I'm getting the impression that at this point there is not a thing I could do or a way I could turn out to be that would make you lose interest in me. Short of killing you, and you'd probably find that fascinating on the way there too."

[edgeofyourseat]

"...Oh, honey," he sighs, hugging his armful of notebooks, "you say the sweetest things."

[self_composed]

"Did I approve 'honey'?" Bella asks, mock-stern. "I did not."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Sorry," he says with irrepressible cheer. "Do ya not like it?"

[self_composed]

"Makes it sound like we're a married couple. In the 1950's," Bella says.

[edgeofyourseat]

"And?"

[self_composed]

"And we are not that and it is not then and, no, we cannot be that for Halloween and start practicing ridiculously early."

[edgeofyourseat]

He laughs.

"Okay. No honey."

[self_composed]

Bella smiles a satisfied smile. Then she trips on a rock, but her normally unhelpful reflexes catch her before she can collect any coins from it.

"You know," she says, "my magic powers put the Mario games in a whole new light."

[edgeofyourseat]

"...Whaddya mean?"

[self_composed]

"He punches blocks," Bella says. "And coins appear. Enough of them and he gets a second life."

[edgeofyourseat]

Alice laughs again. "That's awesome."

[self_composed]

"I haven't played any video games in a long time. I never had my own system - had to go over to people's houses to play. But I'm pretty sure that's how it works." She slows down her pace a bit. "I wonder how many coinmakers there are in the world. And who they are."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Betcha we could find out."

[self_composed]

"By magic?" Bella asks. "Or by looking?"

[edgeofyourseat]

"By taking over the world and seeing who squawks? But those too."

[self_composed]

"But," Bella says, "if there are a bunch - and Elias knew like five individuals and one little cabal and they all lived on this continent - why hasn't one of them taken over the world yet?"

[edgeofyourseat]

"Didn't think of it," he suggests. "Didn't wanna put the work in. Too busy smacking each other around. Never hurt themselves enough to get a good stash going. Who knows?"

[self_composed]

"Or, one of them has," Bella says. "And is running the world in secret." She cocks her head. "If so they are doing a terrible job and I must depose them."

[edgeofyourseat]

"...I love you," says Alice.

[self_composed]

"Aww," says Bella.

Walk-walk-walk. "Are we going the right way?" She looks at the sun, and checks the time on her phone. "I think this is south. South-southwest maybe."