“I’ll stay here for a bit. You two can go home,” Virgil told Ace and Carson.

Ace nodded and handed Virgil the key. “Return this when you’re done.”

“Got it.”

Once Virgil was alone in the tower, he practiced again. For his second attempt on another amulet, the protection effect seemed to get worse. And so, he practiced again and again, with varying outcomes. But eventually, he had to return home for the night. He still had some work to do tomorrow.

After that day, Virgil would return to the tower after work on his own. “Practice makes perfect” was something that had been taught to him for years, and he would sacrifice his resting time to reach that perfection.

Over a few weeks, Carson noticed that Virgil’s free time for himself had changed into charms practicing sessions. He would mention how Virgil headed to the tower again on some days.

One night, after Virgil returned home from his practice and dropped his body on the bed, he noticed Carson staring at the ceiling again.

“Is something bothering you?”

“Hmm… Just the same stuff, you know. Remember what I told you about my dad?”

Virgil nodded as Carson told him about old memories, good and bad alike. It had been a while since they were talking like this at late night. Though, Virgil noticed one thing.

Carson had been talking a lot more. As much as Virgil felt like that could make him rest easy, he remembered—he hadn’t been talking to Carson as before. But despite that thought, Virgil ignored his thought, as he continued listening to Carson’s stories.

Eventually, Carson asked one thing: “Do you think John’s returning?”

“Mhm. If nothing goes wrong, he’d be back in a few days. And it wasn’t the first time he’s away for his business, too.”

“And he left you alone?”

“Mhm.”

“Oh.”

Before Carson moved in, Virgil himself didn’t even mind when John was out for his family business. John was living his own life, and Virgil was living his own life. It’s not like Virgil would be totally alone without him.

Carson continued, “You know, now I think about it. If I weren’t here, you’d be pretty lonely right now.”

“Why?”

“I mean, haven’t you been to that tower every day by yourself? You’d probably go home alone, and just… I don’t know, something about getting home alone at night seems lonelier than usual.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Virgil chuckled. He wasn’t lonely, despite how he had been talking to people less recently. It’s just a part of life, he believed.

“Oh, alright. If you need anything, I’ll most likely be at home. Just come home if you need anything, alright?”

With that sentiment, Virgil couldn’t help but smile. “Alright.”

A few days later, Virgil arrived at the tower to practice charms again. This time, he would practice the basic charms first, then the warding charm.

As he arrived at the charms floor to practice, he heard footsteps from downstairs. It could be Ace or Carson, since they could have another copy of the key. But even then, he only heard footsteps that belonged to one person—unless Carson’s steps were extra silent today.

Or it could be John, who might return to Ironport today.