36. The Orphan
36. The Orphan
{Duffy}
As soon as they had arrived, Duffy kicked his boss and the ifrit out of the teleportation circle. Both lay sprawled on the floor of the hotel, groaning and disoriented.
Duffy ignored them and went about removing the rune-glyphs from the wood with a sponge. He carefully set down his censer and unclasped the rest of the instruments from the apparatus on his chest.
"How did I end up like this?" Duffy muttered while scrubbing the chalky runes away. "I'm pushing thirty, single, and forced to use my supernatural aptitude to bail you –" he kicked Janus again " – out of a firesword death match with a changeling of all creatures!"
"The djinni was trained," Janus croaked. He assumed a fetal position and tucked his thumb between his teeth. Sabur sought a similar form of comfort by lying face down and motionless.
Seriously. How did I get here?
The question spawned memories of a hard childhood in the foster care system.
***
At the age of six, Duffy's government-assigned guardians could no longer continue to deny the peculiarities that went on whenever he was present. These peculiarities included toys that would move on their own, milk disappearing from unopened bottles, doors locking that had no key or lock.
His guardians thought it best to keep Duffy out of the adoption circuit until all of these paranormal setbacks were sorted out. The boy was twelve when he met Janus Bergman. It would not have been the first interview Duffy had with an adult. In the past he had been made to meet with everyone from spiritual healers to professional ghostbusters. Once he even met a self proclaimed witch doctor from Haiti.
They all left the meetings stupidly terrified or downright confused.
The day when Duffy was led into an office and seated across from Mr. Bergman, he assumed this encounter wouldn't be any different from the others. Even though he didn't expect much from Mr. Bergman, he could not deny that there was something about him that the former specialists had not possessed. Something that Duffy could only describe as a wave of darkness that seemed to cling to the gentleman.
"Leave us to discuss matters in private," Mr. Bergman told Duffy's guardians. The expressions on their faces didn't register as being comfortable with the thought of leaving a twelve year old alone with this stranger. Still, they were eager to find answers to Duffy's affliction, so they obeyed. They shuffled out of the study, their faces a mixture of hope and concern.
Once the lock on the door clicked into place, a broad smile took over Mr. Bergman's fair features. He folded his hands on top of the desk. "Gordon McDuff." His voice sounded expensive and smooth like the clothes he wore.
"Do you know what you are?"
"An orphan," said Duffy. He added with a touch of guilt, "It means I ain't got parents."
Mr. Bergman looked on, the smile never waning. "Everyone here is an orphan. That's what makes you like the rest of the children. Can you tell me what makes you different from them?"
Duffy swung his legs to and fro underneath the desk. "I have to talk to strangers sometimes, 'cept they never adopt me."
Mr. Bergman's smile downgraded to a grin. "And why do your guardians make you talk to these strange people?"
Duffy looked up and noticed that the darkness following Mr. Bergman had become a concentrated mass occupying the corner of the room. Duffy kept his eyes on the shadow.
"Because I see things." He swung his legs again. "Things that nobody else can see."
Mr. Bergman leaned forward some. "Like what?"
"Like numbers. But when I write them down, they ain't numbers no more. Ms. Morgan says it's gibberish. I tell her it ain't 'cause I can read it."
"What happens when you read the numbers?"
"Things move and then I get time out or sometimes no dinner."
Mr. Bergman looked satisfied. Duffy didn't know what it meant. After a long while, Mr. Bergman said, "I'm an orphan too."
Duffy had never heard an adult speak so personally about themselves. He made sure to sit up straight and stop swinging his legs so much.
Mr. Bergman said in a voice that did not quite match his smile, "There were children in my village who picked on me for not having any parents. I always wanted to impress them. Despite how horribly they treated me, I wanted to be included in their games." He straightened his neck a little before clearing his throat. "I wanted their approval so badly that I was willing to accept a dare. They locked me inside of an abandoned manor and told me to stay there for one night. Then they would let me into their group. They promised."
Duffy thought he saw the dark mass in the corner shudder.
"What they did instead was come back to the house in the dark of night with matches and lighter fluid."
Duffy gasped. Mr. Bergman simply shook his head with a softer smile.
"Don't worry, Gordon. Thankfully, I was a lot like you. I could see things that other people couldn't. When I was trapped inside the house, trying to escape the smoke, I found something."
"What was it?" Duffy didn't mean to interrupt an adult, but he couldn't help himself. He had never met someone else who was truly like him.
Mr. Bergman seemed pleased by Duffy's enthusiasm. "What I found had been trapped there too. It was a creature chained to the inner walls of the great fireplace. Whoever had owned the manor before, had forgotten to set it free."
Then Mr. Bergman glanced to the corner of the room where the mass hovered motionless.
"The creature told me that his name was Sabur and together we made a pact. Sabur would protect me from the growing fire as long as he could bind himself to me. He would be free from imprisonment and I would be safe from the smoke and flames. Since then we have never been apart."
Duffy thought that he saw the tip of a horn or a wing peek through the shadow. It would be many years before he would be able to make out every horrifying detail.
Mr. Bergman leaned forward again. "The reason I came here, Gordon, is because I need someone to help me take care of Sabur and locate all those who try to use Sabur's kind for their own gain. You see, no one deserves to keep a demon except for me. I'm the only one who can give them the proper nourishment that their magnificent bodies require. Do you think you could help an old man with this, Gordon?"
Duffy squinted his eyes at the man who didn't look a day past thirty.
"Sure. I'll help. But only if you call me Duffy from now on."
***
Duffy could look back on that time and see that Janus had only adopted him because he needed the insurance. Whenever Janus murdered or robbed a fellow sorcerer, he would leave behind a trail. Only through Duffy's alchemy could he manage to stay hidden, undetected by both humans and demons.
Janus also needed a babysitter for Sabur, who had become overfed and overpowered.
In return, Janus had provided Duffy with things he could never get in the foster care system, including a world class education for his special abilities. Duffy had spent time in Egypt, Istanbul, Ireland, and the Caribbean, strengthening his craft under the tutelage of the most ancient and discreet magi sages. The up and coming magus had access to any spellbook he wanted, no matter how rare or taboo.
But these days Duffy wondered if having complete freedom as a magus was worth cleaning up after an ageless child and a gluttonous ifrit.
What would happen when Janus decided that he didn't need a magus anymore?
Duffy shrugged the thought away as he tucked the collector in the hotel bed right next to his beloved companion.
No, thought Duffy, as long as Janus is bound to Sabur, he will need me to watch over both of them.
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