Dirk could feel himself struggling, his eyes trying to force themselves shut, the body desperate to recharge. He couldn’t let it. Not until he got home. And yet, despite his exhaustion, he simply wasn’t ready to let go yet. Through the thick fog of tiredness, Dirk searched for a solution. Eventually, he found it.
It turned out there was quite a lot you could do with your magic when it covered a fairly vague category of ‘office design’. Using the last bits of his strength, Dirk conjured a refrigerator against the nearby wall, already plugged into the power socket and everything. Dragging himself toward it, Dirk pulled the fridge open and smirked at the dozens of energy drinks inside. He took one and popped the tab, downing it almost instantly.
Now with enough energy to last him at least another two hours, Dirk sat back in his comfortable office chair, admiring the fantastic office fitout. Melbourne businesses would be jealous if they ever saw this place.
Of course, they weren’t ever likely to see it. This building would remain an artistic work of office interior design close to Melbourne that nobody ever knew about. Dirk was perfectly fine with that. People didn’t need to know that he was a genius, so long as he knew it.
Now that his mind was racing from the energy drink, he supposed it was finally time to consider what Madeline had said. Was there really a way to free them all of this curse? It seemed like bait; far too good to be true. But what could Madeline possibly want with him? He wished he’d asked more questions while he had the chance. Who was she working for? How had she known to find him there, at that gala? There was absolutely no chance that it had been a mere coincidence.
If he decided to go along with it, to see what Madeline had planned, what would it cost? His ambitions at toppling the aristocracy, for sure, but he could always continue that after the whole crew situation was dealt with. Would he have to betray the others, though? The thought would have disgusted him before, but given they’d gone behind his back to work with Gideon… could he actually do it?
Dirk didn’t want to know the answer to that.