Moist was constantly pacing around. It was dark outside and the stars were shining. He worried, because it wasn’t typical for Adora to leave randomly without even talking to him a bit. The door swung upon and he heard familiar footsteps coming up to his room. The tapping of the high heals brought a smile to his face. “Adora.”, he greeted her with relieve. She smiled back, but something was odd. “Hello.” “Did you finished your business?” “Yes, I got what I wanted.” The voice that she used was certainly not what Moist had expected. “What is wrong? Your voice is so…so angry?” Before Moist could even think, Adora grabbed him by the neck and kicked the back of his knee. Then she pushed his head roughly on the desk. “What?” Moist was so confused that he couldn’t even react. Moist felt how his shirt was pulled up. “Are you undressing me?” “No, just at the spot where I need it.” Adora pushed her finger into the mark. Moist whimpered his whole body seem to prickle and felt numb. He knew exactly what she meant. But why? And how did she know? “Adora, please…” “What?!”, she hissed. “Stop, please, you are hurting me. Please stop pushing finger in my back. It’s worse than a tie around my neck.” Adora lifted her finger. “Explain yourself.” Instead she pushed his head closer to the desk, so he couldn’t lift it. “I can’t talk like that?” Then he was pulled back and pushed into the chair. “Au! What the hell? Why?” “Why do you have a mark?” “You wouldn’t understand.” “Oh, I wouldn’t understand that you were a girl and you used a dangerous sigil by a witch. You stolen magic…” “Wait! Wait! Wait! No, I never stolen from a witch. Where did you got that from?” “From your aunt and uncle.” Moist’s face went pale and his little finger was starting to flatter. “You what?!” “I visited them.” “Are you insane?” Moist jumped up and started to pace around more shaking this time. “You never talk to me about you. I know nothing about you and you are the one who wants to marry me?” “Yes, but I…you don’t need to know that. My aunt and uncle are horrible! They…oh no. I’m dead. This is worse than being hanged.” Adora grabbed Moist and pressed him against the wall. “Stop running around. It’s okay. Why should they come? I just talked to them. You met my mom and I have the right to met your family.” “They are not my family. I don’t have a family and I’m not a girl! My life began as a conman. There was no life before!” “Yes, there was a life before and I want to know about it.” “I don’t want you to know about it. I don’t want anyone to know! That is not me!” “I’m worried!” “Worried?” “Yes.” She gave Moist some space to breath. “Stealing a permanent spell from a witch using potential dark magic is suicidal!” Adora had care hidden in her eyes and Moist saw it. “Yes, it was suicidal for my old self.” Moist noticed how many life’s he actually had and how often he had died. But this now was fully him and he wanted nothing to do with his old life. “But it is not dark magic nor have I stolen a spell. I’m not that stupid.” “How did you got it then.” Moist paused and looked at the wall.
Then he sighted. “Fine. I’ll tell you everything. But I don’t want that you see me different. I don’t want anyone to see me like that.” Adora sat down on the coach. Moist sat down next to her. Moist chewed on his lip for a while, thinking on how to begin. Adora watched him expectant. “Okay.” Moist said after a while. “So I or rather to say my old self was born as a girl. I don’t know why. I think I was born under a cruel star and a bad omen. My parents felt very creative and the gods felt cruel. I got this horrible name. But seeing it now, well it might be a good name. Moist sounds much more like a boys name. Doesn’t it?” Adora nodded, but was rather keen on the story. “My life was fine and okay until my parents both got sick. They had ‘cold hallucinations’. It was horrible. I’m so glad that we now have medicine against it. Otherwise it would probably also be the reason my death.” “Cold hallucinations?” “It’s a disease that runs in the gens of my family. It gives you horrible hallucinations. My parents couldn’t even think straight in the end. Then a cold comes on top of it and then the death.” “Do you also have this disease?” “I take medicine. I had hallucinations in the post office back then, but that where the letters. Although I’m not sure if it is just a mixture of my sickness, tiredness and the letters.” “Are you okay?” “Yes, I’m fine. As I said. It just shows in some nightmares and night walking.” “Is that why you always move in the night?” Moist nods. “But I’m fine. I just take my medicine whenever I night walk. But now back to my past life. My parents died and my aunt adopted me. She was horrible. I needed to wear dresses and have long hair and worst of all high heals.” “You don’t like high heals or rather do you just don’t like wearing them?”, Adora asked a bit offended. “Honestly I even prefer your high heals stabbed into my foot than actually wearing them myself. I love them on you, but I wouldn’t wear them.” “I can’t imagine you wearing them.” “You don’t want to. Anyways, I got send to a stupid private school and well I was different. My name was Moist and I wanted to be a he not a she. That was reason enough to be laughed at and blamed and…I don’t want to go in detail about being bullied really. One time they nearly hanged me in the school garden, but our teacher luckily came before that happened. I never talked. I was never a good speaker. They solved problems with their fists and talking just made it worse. So I shut up. For very long. Once I refused to speak for a whole half year, because I feared that every word of me could make it worse. But my aunt got my report card saying that I was way too quiet and said I should say a word or she would put me in my room and let me starve. Then I talked a little more.” “You and no talking?” “Yes, hard to believe, but it’s the truth.” “I can’t imagine. Honestly I can’t imagine any of this.” “That’s good actually. I don’t want you to imagine my old self.” Moist laughed a bit but it didn’t felt like a joke.
“Yeah, I had a couple of reasons to give up. But instead I ran away. I had planed everything for years. But it was my sixteens birthday, when I decided to put the plan into action. They wanted me to marry a rich lord as soon as I’m finished with school and since my grades where horrible in this year, they knew I wouldn’t make the next school year. They had started to search potential husbands for me.” Before Adora could ask to go into detail about the men, Moist added.” “They were ugly, stupid and snobbish and I had no interest into meeting any of them. It was the night of my birthday I had stolen some food and I had stolen some of the clothing of my uncle. I climbed outside and ran off into the forest. I hid myself wearing my uncle’s clothing and used my old dress to keep me warm. People searched for me. But I had cut my hair and worn a hat dragged into my face. I started to steal to keep myself alive. I was good in the hid and seek game I played with my town. I’m great in vanishing in the crowed. I also stayed in other towns and would steal food there. That went like this for a half year. One day in the forest someone found me, because I was using their garden as my sleeping place. It was a witch, but I was luckily that it was a witch that I knew. Calder Weathwax. A younger sister of Esmeralda. She owned me a favour, because I once had convinced my aunt to not clear the forest, since it was the home of animals and witches.” “So you had convincing skills.” “Not that good ones, but yes. It always was one of my talents. Whatever, I told her about my problem and situation. She knew my wish and she knew a way to help me. But I would have to prove myself as ready, because it would require a lot of physical strength. I agreed and started a half year of hard work.” “You and hard work?” “Hey, what does that mean now?! I can be hard working if I really want something.” “Really?” “Yes, if I wouldn’t work hard for things I want then I wouldn’t have you here right now.” “Fair point. Continue.” “Alright, I had to do a lot of her everyday work and she had to remind me quiet often that stealing wasn’t okay. I was exhausted, but the worst part was only yet to come. It was winter, when she started to carve the sigil. We had a ceremony for no one and had a meal with other witches for no one and I had a long sleep of a whole day for no one. And then on the night of the last day in the year, she lit the sigil on fire ask me one final time if I wanted that and reminded me of the no going back part. I agreed and she pressed it into my flesh while speaking a magic spell.” “Did it hurt?” “Temporary yes, but as I said the worst was yet to come…I woke up on the next day still looking the same.” “It didn’t work?” “No, it was a progress. My whole transformation took one year. From spring to winter. For the witch I was a great experiment to test her knowledge on a patient, but for me it was a dream come true, but I had to go trough a nightmare first.” “What exactly do you mean? Did you had to do more house work or what?”
“Oh, I wasn’t able to do anything really. My days where all the same. I woke up in sweat, because I only had bad dreams and because my body would have fever. Everyday my whole body needed to be weight and measured to see my progress. Then I would lie down in the bed of the river. Waves splashing against my body for hours. Then I had food and would sleep again. The change outside wasn‘t so horrible. It just tickled a bit sometimes. When my first beard hair grow or when my chest flattened or when my lineaments changed, that was all soft and simple. But my inner part was hurting like hell. Every month when I was bleeding it was changing. And the whole river would be red and I would still need to lay in it.“ “Are you biologically a man then? Like I mean…” Adora searched for the right polite words. “Yes, my chromosomes changed as well. That’s why I had so horrible fevers nearly everyday and I’m also able to have babies like every other man. It all works the same. Thanks to the permanent sigil.” “And as you where totally changed?” “As the year was over we had a celebration with other witches. More for the witch who created my spell and who made me a full grown up man of eighteen years. She wrote a book about me or rather about the spell. Other witches say it’s a very good book. But I leaved. I went back into my old town just to see if someone would recognise me. But they didn’t. I stolen a horse from my uncle. A weak one. And then I rode away far away and started my career as a conman. Well you know the rest of the story.” Moist had a smile on his face. Part of this smile was just for show, but the other part was happy to finally shared his story. Adora was silent now. She needed to proceed the information she just got. Moist accepted that.
BANG! A brick hit trough the window. Moist let out a scream and then Adora did too, but mostly because Moist immediately trough himself on top of her to push both of them on the ground. “What the hell…?!” Adora started, but Moist shushed her. “Stop shushing me. Get down from me.” Moist waited but as he didn’t heard anything else, he got down from her, but both stayed in a low position. “I’m going to get my crossbow.” She wanted to get up and search for her weapon, but Moist held her back. He had found the brick that hit trough the window and the note that was attached to it. “It’s them. It’s my aunt and my uncle.” Adora immediately took the note from him. “This hide and seek game has taken long enough. Stop lying!” Adora read out loud. “What the hell is wrong with them?!” “I told you they are horrible.” “Arrow trough their head then!” “No! Adora, you can’t just kill them!” “Of course.” The argument was rather whispered and hushed. “I’m going to end them now.” Adora got up and opened the door with passion. She stormed down the stairs to get her crossbow, but outside she saw no one. “Cowards!”, she yelled down the street. Mr. Pump was already taking care of the glass of the destroyed window. Then he started to bodyguard the outside of the house. Adora suddenly felt strange. She blinked a couple of times and let her crossbow sink down. What was going on? “Moist!”, she mumbled loud. Moist looked outside the window, although Mr. Pump didn’t wanted that. “Adora? What’s wrong?” Then Adora just passed out right in front of his eyes. Moist immediately ran down. “Adora!?” But she wasn’t there. Moist whole brain went blank and his body started to shake. He didn’t cared that Mr. Pump wanted to keep him safe inside. His cruel family had kidnapped his love. Tears dripped down his cheeks and he wanted to scream on the top of his lungs, but his voice didn’t made a sound. There was no time to waste. Moist immediately got a horse to follow. Mr. Pump wanted to stop him as this was clearly a trap. Moist knew that but he had no other choice.
