Fall in love in a weekwe get by

– This story began a very long time ago. Even before Dougal was born. And even in my worst nightmare I could not imagine that many years later her son would have to pay for the mistakes of a sixteen-year-old girl. – Sabella stood up. – Let's go. I'll show you what we were like then.

We moved from the kitchen to the already familiar sofa in front of the “TV”, and she commanded:

– Me and ?egana, high school.

Under a spreading oak tree, so huge that only the lower branches were included in the frame, sat a very young Sabella. Blonde hair covered her shoulders, huge blue eyes looked at the photographer with such undisguised tenderness that it was clear that someone close was taking the picture. She held the open book with one hand, and with the other covered the fingers of the then headmistress, but of the same young schoolgirl Maskelyne. It also turned out to be not at all difficult to recognize her, despite her perky youth haircut and not yet fully formed figure. All the same plump, sensual lips and a cold, appraising gaze that seems to be calculating benefits. She hugged Sabella from behind and smiled predatorily.

“We've been best friends since elementary school,” Sabella said. – common hobbies, common friends, common thoughts. Or so I thought. Now I don’t know anymore. I was sixteen when Norman, Dougal's father, died. “An accident,” she added briefly, as if it still hurt her to remember it. – My mother was never distinguished by meekness and gentleness. You know, there are people who value someone else’s opinion and good name more than their loved ones. And I couldn’t lose the only thing I had left of my loved one. Norman died in the spring. Dougal was born in the fall. And all this time I lived with Regan. I had nowhere else to go. My mother refused to let me go home and waited for me to come to my senses. I also couldn’t count on any funds until I came of age. So I owed a lot to Regan and her parents. And such a small thing as a magical oath did not seem too high a price to me. Yes, and I swore by trifles. The only request that I will fulfill one day. Nothing impossible, illegal or inadequate.

Sabella looked at me with a sad smile.

– That's the whole story. The oath was remembered twenty-nine years later. Regan wanted my son to work for her.

And she can still smile! Yes, I would be for this…

– In my opinion, this is no longer adequate! – I was indignant. – Is he a commodity to her?! Or a slave? Why couldn't it be refused? Sabella!

– Five years of contract work in exchange for those six months… For Regan it sounds reasonable and sane. If it were just me, I wouldn’t even think of objecting,” she sighed. “But Dougal and his life have nothing to do with my stupidity and the imprecise wording of the oath. So I was going to refuse or make another request. But such things are not to be joked about. You see what happened to Miss Blair, and this is for the only mistake in the ritual. And here is a violation of the oath. Maybe it wouldn’t have stopped me, but Regan had foreseen this outcome, so Dougal found out about everything first. And, of course, he agreed.

“Magic is not only wonderful, but also scary,” I muttered. I remembered my thoughts in the laboratory about the vacuum available to dropouts. – You can do so much… So, five years. And Maskelyne wants to get the most out of them. Has it passed?..

– Since August last year. The second year has just begun.

– Tell me, Sabella, but why does he allow this? Monitor, try to take away inventions?

– Inventions are included in the contract. A professor at the Academy must conduct scientific work, publish in specialized publications, and attend conferences. Of course, everything comes with the seasoning that “the basis for these achievements was provided by the Panacea Academy.”

– Prestige and benefit? What does this give her? Money? – I involuntarily became interested. In my native world I never dealt with scientists – this topic is not very interesting to the reading public, scientific sensations are usually understandable only to a narrow circle. But, judging by Maskelyne, exactly the same squabbles are going on in the academic environment as elsewhere.

“Money too, but something else is more important to Regan.” She's ambitious. He wants to be the director of not just an Academy, but the best academy in Europe, and even in the world.

– And in fact? The academy seemed to me…prestigious, perhaps, although I’m already starting to hate this word. But I have nothing to compare with. Is this a true impression, or did I buy into the external shine?