Dark Mage: Dead Guy in My Head, Send Help

Well, I have very few things—the closet is practically empty. In principle, it should be like that; I don't like any fashionable clothes. Mum constantly complained to my father that dragging me to the store for new things is a real problem. But still, I thought that I had more of them somehow.

When I was taking a bath after a long journey, the clock already showed half past eleven, and it started to rain outside.

Hah! Here are the first delights of independent life—at home, they would start putting me to bed at ten o'clock, but here I can go to bed whenever I want. Beauty!

Usually, before going to bed, Eldric and I wished each other goodnight, but today I don't even remember whether it happened or not. I was so tired that as soon as my head hit the soft pillow, I passed out.

I was awakened by an unusual sound—a knock on the door. And they were knocking persistently, apparently for a long time.

I threw a blanket over my shoulders, put on my slippers, shuffled to the door, and asked:

"Who's there?"

"Emperor Gladstone," someone's rough voice answered from behind the door.

"Who?!"

"Yes, you open the door; the director sent me."

I opened the door and saw a fat guy of about sixteen, at least three heads taller than me. He was wearing a dark suit with an emblem of flames and the number "3" embroidered on the left side. He looked me up and down and snorted dismissively.

"Look… You're really only twelve, I'll be… And I thought Edward Frederick was joking. Now that's something," he looked at me for a while as if I were a rare animal, and then asked. "Are you Miles Fielding?"

"I am."

"Are you really twelve?" he asked.

"In a few months, it will be thirteen, if that matters."

"It's funny… The guys told me this morning that the baby was brought to school yesterday, then the principal did the same in the morning, but I still didn't believe it. Now I can see for myself," the guy shook his head. "Isn't it too early for you to go to Pendragon, kid? You have to think with your head here, and not just cry loudly from morning till night. And it would be nice to have some kind of Gift…"

"Yes, I guess," I answered and yawned. "Why did you come?"

"Wake you up and tell you that we usually have breakfast here at eight in the morning, okay? So come on, little one, wake up and run to the main building, to the fifth floor—that's where the cafeteria is," he grinned. "We live here without mummies, so no one takes us to the tables, okay? If you're late, you'll go without food."

"Okay, thank you."

"You're welcome," he said and walked down the corridor, commenting on what he had seen. "Twelve years… Holy shit… Everyone's going to piss themselves laughing!"

I closed the door, threw the blanket on the bed, and stretched—I had slept well.

"Listen, Miles, I don't like this fatty. Would you like to rip off his right ear if you get the chance?" Eldric asked me.

"Let him live for now. He hasn't talked into the severed ear yet," I said and looked out the window.

By the way, I didn't live very high up—on the second floor—but the view from the room was great! I like that. Even if it was an inner courtyard, it was a park or something like that. I don't know yet how everything is arranged here. In any case, the thickets were very dense, and I like it when there is a lot of greenery under the windows. Well, I noticed paths between the trees, so most likely it was a park.

The rain had stopped long ago, and the sun was shining brightly through the window. So, it was sunrise from my side, and then the sun went down… Well, that's great; I can't stand it when the sun is blazing through the window all day. It's better than that, when there's a little bit of good stuff.

The clock on my mobile showed "07:15", so I had time for everything and more. I managed not only to get myself in order but also to leave early.

I really wanted to be in the dining room before everyone got there. If this chubby guy was staring at me like I was a two-headed dwarf for three minutes, then I didn't want to be the last one to come to breakfast and make a spectacle out of it.

However, everything did not go according to plan.

I arrived at the main building at a quarter to eight, as planned, but there was no dining room on the fifth floor. And there was no fifth floor at all, if you don't count the attic.

The whole thing ended with some guy catching me and asking me a bunch of questions—like whose son I am, and why am I wandering around the school without my parents? I spent a long time explaining that I was a student at Pendragon Academy, and he just laughed in response.

Oh, how he got on my nerves! A little more, and I would have had to resort to extreme measures. Eldric also told me that it was time. But this time he was lucky. We met the school principal, who resolved the situation in an instant.

"What happened, Percival Eldwood?" Harrington asked, looking at us with a smile.

"Well, Your Excellency, I found a boy in the halls. He's wandering aimlessly around the building, saying he's looking for the canteen," at that moment, the man squeezed my shoulder because I wanted to break free. "And he's lying too! He says he's a student at Pendragon, Viscount Miles Fielding… I think he's someone's son; he's just afraid his parents will give him a hard time for hanging around…"

"Release the boy immediately," the director said sternly.

"I'm sorry?"

"Did you hear me?"

The man loosened his grip, and I immediately broke free from his clutches.

"Mr. Director, I just… Do you know who this is?"

"Of course," he nodded. "The boy himself told you who he is. His name is Miles Fielding, and since yesterday, he really is a student of our school. So please remember him, Percival Eldwood."

The man frowned, sighed in disappointment, looked at me, and said:

"Actually, our dining room is on the first floor, Viscount."

"Thank you for the information," I replied, and then he nodded and left, leaving the director and me alone.

"Well, Miles, what do you need here?" asked the count.

"I was looking for the canteen and got a little lost," I replied.

"Yeah, I see," he nodded. "By the way, Percival Eldwood is our master caretaker, and if I weren't here, you could easily have been left without breakfast. He's a former policeman, so he likes all sorts of investigations and interrogations."