The Frozen Lich Trading Company: The Lost Black Notebook

A warm beam of spring sunshine danced merrily through the open window between two towering bookcases onto hardwood flooring. Birds were singing their happiness that the long, hard winter had ended. In the corner of the room was a woman seated in front of a large canvas on an easel with a palette of paints on the table next to her where she was also resting her elbow that held up the hand her chin was resting on. Despite the sounds of spring, fresh air, and great lighting Sophie was staring at a blank canvas that was staring back at her.

“I have nothing,” she finally said to the dog curled up between her feet. “No inspiration. No muse. Nothing. Ugh…” she groaned in frustration.

Painting was a side job Sophie had recently picked up to try and save some money so she could get an apartment. Her primary job was great, and she loved being sent out on missions to retrieve hard to get items. Like retrieving rare books from monster infested, abandoned libraries and artwork from haunted, dilapidated mansions. Her employer, The Frozen Lich Trading Company, even had a big house with rooms for employees to rent, but it could get noisy in the company house. Especially when some of the members got to drinking down in the common area. Which was usually entertaining, but it also prevented her from being able to concentrate when she needed to.

Today was a rare treat with everyone being out either on a job or outside enjoying the warm weather. And wouldn’t it be Sophie’s luck that she was having the painter’s equivalent of writer’s block. She reached down and scratched behind the ears of her dog, Cali, who leaned into the welcomed scratches when elevated voices drifted into the room.

“Maybe if we ignore them, they’ll go away soon,” Sophie whispered to Cali who just looked up at her and then looked at the door. The voices were soon followed by a cabinet door being slammed and the sound of paper being thrown into the air downstairs. Whatever disagreement that was going on downstairs wasn’t going away. Sophie sighed and stretched.

“Might as well check it out since I’ve got nothing for this canvas,” she grumbled to her pup who yawned and stretched in response.

Pushing the chair back, Sophie stood up and made her way out of the library to the top of the stairs. A quick scan of the first floor confirmed scattered papers and she could distinguish the voices now: Dax and Talek. Of all the other members, these two were the ones she’d worked with the most. Lately they had gone on every job together like a regular team. Sophie quietly walked down the stairs to get closer enough to hear what they were saying but not be noticed. Her dog followed closely behind, just as curious as her owner.

“Give me back my black notebook, Talek,” Dax demanded.

“I don’t have your little black notebook. Maybe one of your many girlfriends took it,” Talek smirked.

“It was on my desk in my room and now it’s gone. You always talk about taking pages from it.”

“As much as I say you should share, I didn’t take your notebook.”

Sophie leaned up against the wall to the common eating area, “The only good contact in that whole book is your wine dealer.”

Both men turned to look at the newcomer.

“You’ve looked through my notebook?!”

She shrugged, “You left it out one time and I thought it was one of my sketchbooks. I flipped through it and happened to see the wine dealer contact and the very thorough daily To Do lists.”

“I happen to like being well organized and timely, thank you very much.”

“Regular stick in the mud,” Talek teased. “So you’re telling me this notebook is just a daily planner and doesn’t contain numbers for numerous women? What kind of little black book is this?!”

Dax huffed and rolled his eyes at both of his friends, “It is primarily my daily planner. It also has some important contact information in it.”

“Well that’s boring,” Talek shook his head.

“Then give me back my notebook,” Dax demanded again, adding emphasis by sticking his hand out.

“I can’t make your notebook materialize out of thin air, Buddy.”

Dax turned to Sophie who held up her hands in defense, laughing, “Don’t look at me. I don’t have your notebook. I’m just here trying to have quiet space to paint.”

“I just came here for lunch and this guy,” Talek gestured with his thumb towards Dax, “followed me in here accusing me of taking his notebook.”

“You paint?” Dax asked Sophie.

“No, I just said I’m here to paint because I had no other excuse to be here,” Sophie couldn’t help but be a smart ass. “It’s how I supplement my income from the jobs this place gives me.”

“Wait wait. How many side jobs do you have?” Talek asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Uuuuhh…” she really didn’t want to admit to how many side gigs she had.

“Maybe if you had a daily planner you’d be better at keeping track of all those side jobs,” Dax chided defensively.

Sophie gave Dax the side eye, “How do you know I don’t have a planner of my own?”

Dax opened his mouth to answer, but then closed it.

Talek burst out laughing, “There you go putting your foot in your mouth again. You must like the taste of it.”

“I don’t have my foot in my mouth as often you do, you hot head,” Dax glared at Talek and then looked back at Sophie. “If you find my little black notebook, I’ll give you this lottery ticket. Deal?”

“Why didn’t you offer me that if I helped??” Talek protested.

“Because you likely took it and hid it, that’s why,” Dax replied smugly.

Sophie pushed herself off the wall she had been leaning on and held out her hand to Dax, “It’s a deal. We’ll even shake on it.”

“Fiiine,” he drawled and grabbed her hand to shake on the deal.

“Good. Now reach into your left back pocket,” Sophie said with a widening grin.

“What?”

“Reach into the left back pocket of your pants,” she gestured for him to comply.

“Okay, but I don’t know why,” he sighed and reached his hand back. Then he froze, his cheeks turning a bright crimson red.

“Oh don’t tell me you had it on you this whole time you blaming me and even threw my papers at me?!?” Talek exclaimed.

“I… well… I’m right-handed and never put anything in my left….”

“You can’t say never now, you dunce,” Talek teased and poked him in the chest. “You owe me an apology.”

Dax dropped his head and slouched his shoulders in defeat as he pulled his little black notebook from his back pocket.

“I’m sorry for accusing you, Talek. This is one time where you were innocent.”

“A half apology, but I’ll accept it. Now I’m going to finally make that sandwich I came in here to make,” he slapped Dax on the shoulder and looked at Sophie, “I hope you win big with that lottery ticket! The drawing was this morning. You should be able to check the numbers with your cell phone.”

“She has a cell phone?! How do you even afford a cell phone working here at your level???”

“Side jobs. Duh,” Sophie snickered and held her hand out for the ticket.

Dax pulled the ticket out of his notebook and placed it her hand, “I’m going to feel even worse if I just lost a winning lottery ticket because of my stupidity.”

“You should check those numbers now,” Talek said from somewhere in the pantry he’d disappeared into.

“Alright alright. I’ll check now,” Sophie laughed and pulled out the cell phone from her pocket. She typed in the lottery webpage address and started comparing the numbers on the front page to the ticket in her hand. Four out of the five numbers matched. That can’t be right, she thought and double checked, then triple checked.

“Weelllll…???” Talek popped his head out of the pantry.

She looked up at him and looked back down at her phone.

“Oh my gods! She won something… I’m so stupid!!” Dax sat down and buried his face in his hands.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Talek laughed. “How much did ya win?”

Sophie hesitated for a few seconds, “This ticket has four of the five numbers.”

Dax groaned and kept his face in his hands.

“Holy shit! That’s a good chunk of cash for you finding someone’s little black notebook in their back pocket,” Talek laughed even harder.

Sophie looked down at the payouts and had to take a seat herself: $60,000. She glanced up at Dax who was just wallowing in agony of the full realization of what he just gave up. There was no way she could just take the whole prize money. As funny as the whole situation was, she felt bad.

“Guys…” she took a deep breath. “The prize is $60k.”

Dax groaned again. He was visibly ill.

“Damn…” is all Talek said with a mouthful of a sandwich he’d thrown together.

“I really can’t take it all. $5 or something would have just been funny. This though…. This would be mean.”

“A deal is a deal. You guys even shook on it.”

“Well yeah, but still. Let’s split it three ways. $20k each.”

Dax looked up at her, mouth open in shock.

Talek put his sandwich down and gave Sophie his full attention, “I mean, I won’t turn down such generosity, but you did win that fair and square. Are you sure?”

Sophie looked down at her cell phone again for a minute and then looked back up at her friends, “Yeah, I’m sure. Dax bought the ticket so he deserves some of it. And I say split it evenly between us since we are pretty much a regular team. We have each other’s back.”

“I’ll drink to that! A beer would go well with this sandwich too.”

Dax still hadn’t said a single word. Sophie was afraid the shock of the whole situation had broken his brain or something. But then he stood up, walked over to her, and give her a big hug.

“Thank you,” He said quietly.

“You’re welcome,” Sophie softly giggled and patted his back.

“Look at the big ol’ softy,” Talek chuckled and took another bite of his sandwich.

“Har har,” Dax shot back as he stood up and walked back to his seat.

“Now I can get this dream apartment I’ve been saving up for,” Sophie said excitedly. “Cali can have more space to chill and play. And I can paint what I want, not just what sells. Read my books in peace and quiet….”

“So that’s what the side jobs were for, eh? Don’t you go thinking you won’t have visitors. I’ll be dragging Dax along to make sure he continues to be sociable.”

“That’s his excuse to visit and his unspoken warning to keep food in your kitchen.”

“All of that was pretty much a given with you guys,” Sophie laughed. “We should go pick the prize money up tomorrow since we don’t have a job lined up for a couple of days.”

“Hell yeah! Field trip tomorrow!” Talek shouted with a fist pump into the air before taking another bite of his sandwich.