“Charmwill, Charmwill, Charmwill,” Justina exhaled. “You’re always trying to see the ripe in the world, even when it’s rotten. I will do it, only to prove you wrong.”
The Godmother added the rotten apple to the scale. It didn’t work. But before she could comment, Charmwill shushed her and pointed at the worm climbing out of the apple, gliding over to the snakes. Surprisingly the little, helpless worm freaked out a couple of snakes, scaring them out of the pan, and balancing the scale in turn.
“Some worm,” Justina said.
Pickwick really wished he could talk now, and scream that Justina could not be blind. How did she know about the worm? Instead, Pickwick occupied himself with the rotten apple healing itself afterwards. The apple looked so juicy and delicious now, having been cured of the worm that was infecting it. Pickwick licked its lips.
“See? I told you,” Charmwill said, and pulled out his pipe. He felt proud, puffing Dragonbreath in the air. The ship shook slightly when he did, and Pickwick wondered if it was the dragon’s time to wake up. “Like the apple, you should give the boy a chance. All the apple needed was to get that worm out of it. In fact, the darkness inside the boy could be the weapon he could use against evil if nurtured and taken care of, if you only let me show him the way.”
“Alright,” Justina gave up, waving her hands in the air, almost blushing. “I’ll free the boy, but under the three conditions of the Council of Fairy Heaven.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” Charmwill winked at Pickwick with victorious eyebrows, still drawing on his pipe. Pickwick winked back.
“Rule number one is that the boy will be sent to the Ordinary World as a mortal, which means he could die like any other human,” Justina said.
“Agreed,” Charmwill said with the pipe in his mouth.
“Rule number two: the boy will be sent to the Ordinary World without previous memories. He will not remember anything about his past. You will have to tell him that he’s a half-angel that used to live in Fairy Heaven, though.”
“That’s a bit contradictory,” Charmwill commented. “Why would I torture him by telling him he was banned from Fairy Heaven if he was destined to live as an amnesiac mortal?”
“Because of rule number three, which is that he has a choice to continue living as a mortal in the Ordinary World or seek forgiveness and go back to Fairy Heaven.” Justina said. “In that case, erasing his memories is for his own good, so he doesn’t think about the girl that got him banned.”
Charmwill rubbed his chin, “I thought that he was doomed not to be forgiven. What has changed?”
“Your desire to save him is what changed,” Justina said. ”If someone as prestigious as you decided the boy should be saved, why not give him a chance to repent? As Justice, I believe in wrong and right, but I also believe in strong willed hearts.”
“And what does he have to do exactly to be forgiven if he ever chooses to return to Fairy Heaven?” Charmwill said.
“He has to kill ninety-nine vampires in the Ordinary World,” the Godmother raised a forefinger in the air.
“Ninety-nine vampires?” Charmwill’s heart missed a beat. “That’s an absurd amount to kill for a mortal without powers.”
“These are the rules upon which I am allowed to unshadow him. You will have to teach him to be a mortal vampire hunter, and if he desires returning home, free and forgiven, he will have to do as I said. It’s the only thing that’d cleanse him of the darkness he has inside him.”
Charmwill considered the offer for a moment, looking down at Loki’s chained shadow. “Like I said, I accept,” he nodded back at the Godmother who signaled to the mermaids to pull the coffin up to the ship.
The mermaids opened the glass coffin, hypnotized Loki by staring at his shadow a tad too long, and freed him from his chains. Charmwill knocked on Pickwick’s beak, tic-to-tic-tac-toc, and it turned into a book, which he started drawing in. As he drew, Loki began to come back to life, taking the form of the human Charmwill designed in his book.
“You’re not planning to change his looks in the Ordinary World, are you?” Justina asked.
“Not at all,” Charmwill said, turning the book back into Pickwick. “I only gave him black hair, instead of blonde, as the prophecy reads.”
One of the mermaids wrapped a thin necklace made of seashells around Loki’s neck and kissed his mouth, murmuring something about the second life the boy was just given. It was part of the waking ritual. Everyone stared at the unconscious boy in the glass coffin because he looked like a male sleeping beauty.
Within minutes, the mermaid’s kiss would wake Loki up for the second time in his life. He was going to be reborn, and have another chance in the Ordinary World. The mermaids couldn’t stop staring at him. There was something mysterious about Loki that made them believe that he would save the Fairyworld from the imminent evil that was prophesized. Pickwick was sad that Loki would wake up in the Ordinary World, oblivious to all of this.