The Young Millionaire's Travels- the First, the Last, and the Only of this Series

Twenty years, I had studied round the world, feasting upon unearthly powers and drunk with my own worldly knowledge. And it had taken only ten of the twenty for my home to fall into chaos. Gather round, no, come closer. I won't bite, come closer still. Ah, yes, you may sit down now whilst I spin you a tale true yet unbelievable.

I had a sweetheart, when I was sixteen. Her name was Coralie, and she had a smile that was as sweet as I knew her to be, and hair in the shade of a sunset. I promised her I'd return with the world to give her, but first I had to find my way out of the small town we'd grown up in together, I needed to see so much more of the world.

She called me stupid and prematurely senile, but in truth, she loved me for it, for she was a hopeless romantic at heart. To prove to me she'd wait, she'd given me a precious family heirloom to keep within a silk cloth, to prove myself on my return. I held it close to my heart, that golden band wrapped in silk, and touched my lips to the ring for the promise.

I had taken only five steps from my home before I was at knife-point by a strange man in an old-fashioned cloak. The figure then pushed back the hood to reveal an owl-eyed woman aged thirty, who wore cosmetics with a finesse that made me wonder at how old she "truly" was.

She "humphed" and turned her back on me instantly, muttering curse words about finding some "stupid little kid" instead of "revenge." Feeling put out and ruffled at near-death, I called out, "Madam!"

She half-turned, her ample bosom swaying with the movement and causing my young eyes to stray and linger sinfully, "Yeah, kid?" Her nonchalance at pressing a blade to my throat infuriated me to no end.

I spluttered, "What's the meaning of this? Is this some sort of joke?"

"Nice to meet you too, my name's Aurora." She beamed, and it then occurred to me that this lady was mad.

That thought lasted a moment before she pressed up her bosom again and I began blushing furiously and momentarily forgot all mechanisms of speech, "T-t-todd, ma'am."

"Well, that's odd... Todd...Odd, it works. Alright, Odd, I suspect you're some species of hobo or rather I don't care. Wanna come along with me?"

I shook my head vigorously "no", but she sighed and amended, "You'd think I'd want to kidnap you? I like my men big thanks, and not scrawny boys." She chuckled at my flustered scowl and eased the pressure of the knife completely, stepping backwards, "Anywho, I'll bet you're running away from that town there behind you and didn't even figure to pack more than a water bottle and a train ticket out."

Defensive, I shrugged, "Not like I had anything else to take, that town back there has nothing left for me. They won't take kindly to outsiders either, so I'd suggest you turn back now."

She picked at her fingernails, neither rising to the challenge nor heading in the other direction, "Did you know that I'm no stranger to this place and that I actually grew up in it? No? Oh, well, listen here, I so happen to have been a friend of your family for generations."

"How come I've never heard of you then?"

She sighed, rubbing her temples wearily, "Because, like you, I wanted to leave. Unlike you, I can't turn back because I am now sincerely considered a disgrace." She grinned ruefully, "But you don't have to be if you turn back now."

"Never will I return till I'm good and ready. But I still can't trust you."

"Here, then, I have a letter from your mother, specifically asking I take charge of you and give you a worldly education, so to say."

I gaped, taken aback, "She knew I left? I told no one!"

"Mothers know all, dearie, now take your ratty backpack and let's head on our way to the next train. I can always explain more on the journey ahead of us." She hefted my bag up on her shoulder with an ease unknown to me, then whistled her way down the path while I examined the letter and found it said exactly what Aurora said it would. It even had my mother's stamp and a picture of her and Aurora as children, laughing and truly happy.

It was so incredibly accurate and detail-bound that I was certain it was a fake.

I had no choice but to follow, due to the fact that I did plan so poorly for my actual expedition and would undoubtedly end up at knife-point once again, sooner or later. However, when I slid up beside her, I saw a marking on her wrist when the sleeve folded upwards, with my name in blood-red surrounded by the Devil’s symbol of a pentagram. It would seem my newest traveling companion was some form of sorceress, in league with the Prince of Darkness himself. I was horrified, but also fascinated. If she were truly some practitioner of the darker arts, I’d want to learn all I could before making a hasty escape. Like, for example, how on earth she had known my own mother or how she could have so cunningly faked that letter. And if not, then I’d simply make off with her money and be done with it.