The mansion

From inside, he could see the little girl was jumping up and down, trying to catch Lenora. The parents were talking with Imperia, but it was hard to tell what they were saying. Suddenly, Imperia snapped her fingers, and her hand became engulfed in a flame. Despite the family's shock at the sight, Imperia and Lenora were unfazed. She snapped her fingers again, and the flame was extinguished almost immediately.
 
Robby jumped in fear and almost went to try to find a way to extinguish the fire, but then it was gone. Oh. It was just some kind of magician's trick, like the flying fairy thing. Just smoke, mirrors, and probably strings. All perfectly explainable if you knew how the trick worked. Not that he did, but he knew it was a trick, and that was the first step.
 
After a moment, the parents nodded, and the whole family walked out of the mansion. Imperia peeked out of the door and waved at the. "Bye bye, have a nice day!" She called out. The family nodded and waved back. Imperia and the fairy still hadn't noticed Robby yet.
 
Robby waited until the family was on their way before turning and hurrying back to the road. He really needed to get this milk back to his mother! He glanced back at the house as he hurried away. It was an interesting place. Other people were coming and going unharmed. Maybe tomorrow he'd try looking a little closer. Maybe. It was still freaky.

He got home and delivered the milk to his mother, who scolded him for taking so long. His father jumped in and tried to scold her for scolding Robby, and that devolved into yet another fight. They didn't even notice when Roby went to his room and closed the door. He lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling for a while. That strange mansion kept playing in his mind. What was with that place? Where had it come from? Was it going to stay, or was it going to disappear again? Did he want to know? Maybe. If he did disappear without a trace, it wasn't like anyone would notice.

The next morning, Robby packed a knapsack with everything he thought he might need and headed back toward the mansion.
 
The mansion was still there, like always since it arrived. The open sign was up too. After a couple knocks on the front door, it was opened by Imperia.

"Hm? You're back?" She asked. What was he doing here? And why the bag? It wasn't her business though, so she kept those thoughts to herself. "Well then Welcome to Pearlhall again. Is there anything you're interested in? I assure you we'll have just the right spell, tome, or potion in stock."
Despite the visitors yesterday, they hadn't actually sold anything, so it'd be nice to make at least one sale.
 
Roddy held the bag close, trying to keep easy access to the zipper. He wasn't very good at this kind of thing, but he wanted to be able to grab one of the wooden stakes or the bottle of holy water at the first sign of trouble! He didn't actually know if the water was holy or not. The bloke who'd sold it to him a month ago swore he'd knicked from a church. It was worth a try. As was the table salt and the genuine silver chain he'd borrowed from his mother's jewelry box.

"I want to know why you're here," he said, trying to keep his shaking voice steady. "Houses don't just pop up out of nowhere, but none of the police believe us to check it out. So I'm here to ask what you want."
 
Imperia blinked in confusion. Again? "But I already told you. I'm just a traveler setting up shop," She replied, leaning against the door. "Although, I haven't actually sold anything yet..." While Lenora was frustrated by this, Imperia didn't care much if they made a profit or not. She had enough money and really just wanted to share her magic with others. The money was just a nice bonus.

"As for my house, you're right. It didn't just pop up. You and your people just didn't notice me." Imperia had many abilities, one of which behind the power to grant flight to anything and anyone. She just hid herself with a spell. It was more fun that way.
 
Robby eyed the strange lady skeptically. "Right," he said, drawing out the word. "I totally believe that you moved an entire building without anyone noticing and that you're just traveling around offering to sell stuff. Makes total sense and isn't suspicious at all."
 
A grin spread across Imperia's face then and she snickered. "Alright, alright, alright, I'll show you," She said. She turned around to face the mansion and backed up. Then, she closed her eyes and began to focus. After a moment, she reached out and placed her palm on the wall, letting go quickly after.

Suddenly, the house began to rise, coming off the ground. It was hovering now. It really was. Despite this, people could be seen wondering the streets, going about their day as if nothing was wrong. After a bit, Imperia reached up and touched the mansion again. It gently glided back down to the ground where it was.
 
Robby started in surprise when the house moved, grabbing his bag tightly. The building moved, or at least, the windows showed movement. He frowned, studying the view out the closest window. "That's a cool trick. How do you do it? Video screens in the windows?" he asked boldly.

In truth, he was shaking on the inside. What if it wasn't a trick? But it had to be! This kind of thing wasn't real!
 
Imperia opened her eyes and giggled. She had to explore this world if it meant meeting people like him. "While I'm not quite sure what you mean, I do understand the word 'trick,'" she responded. "Tell me, do you really believe that? After everything you've seen?" She thought back to when Lenora terrified him. Imperia hoped that she'd apologize for that at some point.
 
"I'm saying you have a really cool act, but I'm not buying it," Robby replied. "I'm trying to figure out what your angle is. No one moves an entire house just to sell junky stuff like you've got here. Do you have, like, a black market? Not totally legal items? Cheap stuff that falls apart? What?"
 
"After everything you've seen, you think my merchandise is fake now?" Imperia asked. Legality was never an issue in other worlds she visited, but now it made her wonder. What would other people here think of her products? She tapped her chin as she thought for a moment. "... What will it take for you to believe in me?"
 
Robby's forehead wrinkled as he stared at her. "Believe in you? What are you, Santa?" He huffed, still holding his bag close. "Fine. If you want me to believe that this really is some kind of actual-factual magic, then do something that can't possibly be explained as a trick. Like make me fly or turn me into an animal of some kind or something like that."
 
"Wait one moment, would you?" Imperia asked. Before he could reply, she walked inside the mansion, eventually coming back out with thick book that had a gray cover. It looked old and dusty. She opened the book to a seemingly random page and closed her eyes. She began to trace her fingers on the writing and recite it, as if she knew it by heart.

"O avian of flame, guardian of the skies, will you wake for only a moment?" As she spoke, sparks began to rise from the book. "I promise thee, you may return soon. Grace us with your might." At that moment, the book burst into flames. Then, the fire, molded itself, taking the shape of a bird with bright orange and red feathers and orange pupil-less eyes, just like Lenora's. Then, it began flying around the mansion, stopping to land on Imperia's shoulder. The flames on the book soon extinguished themselves, revealing the book to be completely unscathed.
 
Robby jumped at the sudden fire and backed away. His heart thudded rapidly in his chest at the sight of a flying fire bird, but he steeled his resolve, determined not to run away like a small child. It took him a moment to find his voice. "That's great, but I saw a magician on television do a trick like that only a couple of weeks ago!" he stated. Actually, it had been more like a year, and there hadn't been a fire bird, but magicians were known for bird tricks. Birds came out of everywhere all the time for their tricks.
 
"You're a difficult one," Imperia replied, scratching the phoenix's head, who nuzzled her hand in response. She closed the book.
 
"Or maybe you're just not as good a magic user as you think you are, if you even are a magic user at all," Robby retorted. "It shouldn't be this hard to convince someone you're using real magic, right? So maybe you aren't."
 
"Very well then. If you truly believe that, then I think this trick will help sway you," Imperia said. She led the young man inside the mansion and shut the door. She looked towards the phoenix on her shoulder and opened the book again. An orange aura formed around the bird and it into the book, disappearing amongst its pages. After returning the book to a low shelf to the left, she turned her attention to a painting on the wall. "Take a good close look at this painting, okay?" She asked the young man.
 
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"Why? Will it steal my soul or something?" Robby asked suspiciously. Despite his complaints, though, he turned to look at the painting, not sure what it was he was supposed to see or what the painting was supposed to represent.
 
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