#backpack lore

Exploring the bag-of-tricks backpack was surprisingly fun.

Niko had never really appreciated just how many odds and ends Charles kept stored in there. Some of them were useful items, such as the tape measure or lexicographical lenses, but then there were bizarre things like the jar of bees and mildly disturbing things like the collection of rodent skulls. And nearly every object, from cursed jewelry to color-changing pens, carried a story, which Charles was eager to share and Niko was happy to listen to.

They didn’t make nearly as rapid progress as Niko had predicted, but the main goal of keeping Charles both busy and cheerful was accomplished. He didn’t fret at all when Edwin and Crystal left the office for another day of questioning suspects. He and Niko settled in on the office floor and continued their work. Charles searched the pockets while Niko recorded their findings. Having a complete inventory, she felt, would prove quite useful.

They both found it easy to get sidetracked. An enchanted goblet from a local tavern owner led to Charles reminiscing about the clubs and bars he’d snuck into as a living teen, which somehow led to him and Niko comparing pickup lines. Niko’s favorite was “Your smile is so bright I need sunglasses,” but Charles favored “Is this Heaven? ‘Cause you look like an angel.”

“Here’s another one,” Niko suggested. “I hope you know CPR, because you take my breath away.”

Charles chuckled. “That’s a good one! But I probably can’t use it.” His smile shifted to the special one he wore whenever he was thinking about his partner. “Edwin would point out that neither of us need to breathe.”

“Are you thinking of practicing any of these pickup lines on him?” Niko inquired, trying and failing to sound innocent.

“What? Of course not!” Charles spluttered, looking rather flustered. “I just meant—that’s what he’d say.”

Niko nodded. “I suppose you wouldn’t need pickup lines for him. He’s already happy to follow you anywhere.”

Charles ducked his head and shifted his attention back to the bag. “We should probably get back to work.”

Niko exercised considerable restraint by letting the subject drop.

They inventoried cassette tapes, vintage trading cards, and a handheld device Charles referred to as a ‘game boy’. “This is like looking through a time capsule,” Niko gushed.

“We actually made one back in ’95,” Charles told her. “We said we wouldn’t open it for at least thirty years, but I can show you the box.” Niko nodded eagerly and Charles began digging around in the backpack. “Nope, not there. Not there…” He rummaged around for another minute before setting the bag aside. “Think I must have left it in the Ghost Cave.”

“Ghost Cave?”

“It’s this really big pocket inside the backpack, so big it’s like a room.” Charles gestured with his hands, looking excited. “Sometimes we use it as a hiding place since nobody but us can get in, but it’s also a fun place to hang out since we keep our extra games and stuff in there.”

“Only ghosts can get in?” Niko clarified.

“Nah, we just call it the Ghost Cave ‘cause that’s a cool name. Living people can get in if I open the way for them, but they can’t stay for very long without running out of fresh air. I could give you a quick tour if you like.” Charles looked hopeful.

“If you’re sure it’s okay with Edwin, I’d like that a lot.” Niko found it hard to contain her enthusiasm. She didn’t think even Crystal had seen the boys’ secret hideout yet!

Charles guided Niko’s legs into the opening of the backpack. It felt a bit strange, sitting on solid floor while her legs dangled into empty void. Niko swallowed back her nerves. She trusted Charles.

“Ready?” he asked. Niko replied that she was, and he gently pushed her into the void.

For a moment, there was only freefall through darkness, but then Niko felt herself sliding down the smooth surface of a tunnel. It leveled out at the bottom and deposited her with a gentle bounce onto a very soft floor in a dimly lit space. Niko scrambled to her feet and looked around.

 It felt a bit like being inside a large tent. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all made of the same dark canvas material as the backpack, and riddled with buckles, flaps, and zippers. The low ceiling was strung with ropes of colored fairy lights casting a cozy glow over the room. A set of lava lamps sitting between a red and blue beanbag added their own illumination. As her eyes adjusted, Niko also made out a bookshelf, a low table stacked with board games, and what looked like an old play station console.

She turned back to the tunnel slide. It curved up into the ceiling like a chimney, and she saw Charles through the open mouth of the bag at the top. “What do you think?” he called.

“This is the best secret hideout ever!” she squealed. “Thank you for showing me!”

“Can you move out of the way for a sec so I can come down?” Niko obliged, and then Charles joined her in the room. He started to get to his feet out of habit, but Niko stopped him. “Right, I forgot about that.” He gave the cast on his leg an annoyed look.

Niko was looking back up the tunnel. She could now see a series of fabric loops protruding from the canvas, spaced evenly like the rungs of a ladder. But climbing a ladder was not exactly an option for Charles right now. “I know this might be an awkward question, but how are you going to get back up?”

“Don’t need to.” Charles became cheerful again. “Directions and space are pretty flexible in here. I can convince the backpack to reverse gravity in just the entrance so I slide back out. The best fun in both directions! But Edwin prefers the ladder.”

He started scooting across the floor toward the bookshelf and Niko followed him. She noticed the floor now felt more solid and less bouncy than upon her arrival.

“Does the bag shift itself to accommodate different people?” she wondered. “If it can make a slide for you, a ladder for Edwin, and make the floor into a soft landing for me…”

“Yeah, the backpack is brills,” Charles said. “Especially for people it likes, and I think it likes you, Niko.”

Niko ran a hand along the wall. “I’m glad.” The wall didn’t react in any discernable way. Niko wasn’t sure if she would feel comforted or alarmed if the room around them started purring. Probably both.

Charles finally reached the shelf and began rummaging through the collection of boxes and knickknacks along the bottom. “Here’s the time capsule!” he exclaimed. “It’s set on a timer lock, so I can’t open it yet, but I think I remember everything we put in it.” He started rattling off a list of items, much of it ‘90s tech that Niko had never seen outside of movies. She asked Charles if he could show her a ‘palm pilot’ and he obliged by unzipping a section of the wall, reaching inside, and pulling one out.

“You can retrieve things even from inside the backpack?” Niko exclaimed. “That’s so cool!” That was even more exciting than the ancient technology in her hands.

Charles brightened at the praise, but made a visible effort to sound modest. “It’s all connected by the magical void, innit? ‘Where’ doesn’t matter. Any spot can reach any other spot if you know how.”

“How do you do it?”

“Got to concentrate on the pocket. Every single pocket is unique. Visualize the one you want, and the bag does the rest.” He demonstrated again, this time offering Niko a button with a smiley face. She beamed and pinned it to the front of her sweater.

“So you keep track of hundreds of different pockets all in your head?”

He chuckled. “Well, I guess I never counted, but yeah.”

“Charles, that’s really impressive.” Niko looked at him seriously. “I don’t know anyone else who can do that.”

Charles blushed and ducked his head. “I have been practicing for a few decades.” He picked up a Rubik’s Cube and began messing with it.

“Still, Edwin or I would need to write it all down if we wanted to remember,” Niko pointed out. “You’ve got a really good memory.”

“Oi, I’m not the only one,” Charles objected. “Edwin remembers loads of facts about supernatural beings. And you can explain the plots of every single episode, movie, book, or video game of Scooby-Doo, and loads more anime and manga besides.”

“I suppose,” Niko conceded. “But telling stories isn’t exactly a useful skill.”

“Could be useful someday,” Charles argued. “If we ever had another run-in with the Fae—they’re a tricky bunch, but they love stories.  Bet you’d be a match for them.” He set his puzzle aside. “Besides, even if something isn’t useful, it’s still impressive.”

Niko looked at the completely solved Rubik’s Cube and had to agree. “Thank you, Charles.”

Charles was bored and Niko was running out of ideas to keep him occupied.

He’d already turned down her suggestions of playing Cluedo and watching Scooby-Doo together. He’d ignored her prompts to tell stories from past cases—normally a surefire way to cheer him up—and expressed evident disinterest in conducting supplemental research on shapeshifters. Niko refrained from requesting his help with the paperwork. Everyone working with the Dead Boy Detectives loathed the stacks of forms the Night Nurse insisted the agency complete after every closed case, but Niko had found herself rather skilled at it, and claimed it as her job after she rejoined the team in London. After all, if she wasn’t doing much field work anymore, she had to find some way to stay useful in the office.

“We could practice sketching binding sigils?” Niko suggested, but Charles was already shaking his head.

“I think you’ve got the hang of those by now.” He smiled, but it was strained. “You’re really good at the detail work on runes.”

“I’ve had lots of calligraphy practice,” Niko said, trying to sound modest.

Charles started to say something else and then grimaced. Niko’s gaze strayed to the cast on his leg.

Detective work was dangerous, Edwin had emphasized time and again. Still, Niko hadn’t known there were creatures that could seriously injure a ghost until Edwin and Crystal had hauled Charles back to the office with his leg mangled from a skirmish with an escaped hellhound. It would heal, Edwin insisted, but Charles needed to keep his weight off it for a full week. He’d asked Niko to keep an eye on his partner and ensure Charles didn’t overexert himself.

Charles clearly hated being cooped up indoors while Edwin and Crystal continued working on cases without him. He served as the self-declared protector of the team, always putting himself between his friends and any danger, which was how he’d wound up getting mauled in the first place. Today, Edwin and Crystal were only out interviewing suspects for the current case, but Charles was likely imagining all sorts of terrible scenarios that could happen to them in his absence. With his leg in a cast, he couldn’t work off his nervous energy as he usually did, and Niko had her work cut out keeping him seated on the sofa.

“You’re a good student, Niko,” Charles assured her. “Pretty soon, Edwin and I will run out of things to teach you.”

“You haven’t taught me how to use the bag-of-tricks backpack yet,” Niko pointed out. She turned to survey the bag in question. It sat innocently on the floor within Charles’ reach. One would never guess by looking at it just how many things could fit inside it.

“It’s better if I’m the one who handles that.” Charles sat up straight and mimicked Edwin’s precise manner with his next words. “It is a highly temperamental and potentially volatile magical artifact, as Edwin would say.” He relaxed his posture again. “We don’t want anyone losing fingers.”

“I’ve put things in the bag before,” Niko reminded him.

“Putting things in is easy. It’s getting them out again that’s the difficult part.” Charles pulled the bag onto his lap and began fiddling with the straps while he spoke. “Or finding them again, if you weren’t careful about putting them away. There’s an infinite void in here connected to about a thousand different pockets, and some of the things we stored are too dangerous to risk letting out.”

“You must have figured out how to navigate it somehow,” Niko pressed. If she could get Charles talking, maybe he could forget his pain and frustration for a little while.

“A lot of it was trial and error at first,” Charles admitted. “It took me a while to get a feel for how things worked. Spent a lot of time talking to the bag. Oh, we don’t think it’s sentient or anything,” he was quick to clarify. “But I think Edwin might’ve hurt its feelings in the early days, and that’s why it doesn’t let him use it.”

Niko nodded, considering. “Should I introduce myself? If it has feelings, then I want to be considerate of them.”

“Go ahead.” Charles passed her the backpack. “No clue if it understands human speech, but I figure being nice never hurts.”

The bag felt rather heavy in Niko’s lap, and she tried not to think about Charles’ mention of losing fingers. She cleared her throat. “Hello, Charles’ backpack.” She paused. “Does it have a name?”

Charles looked embarrassed. “Guess I never thought of that.”

“Well, my name is Niko,” she told it. “I’m a friend of Charles and Edwin. I get to help them with their cases sometimes.” Less often now that she was relegated to desk work, but Niko tried not to dwell on that. “I know you help them out a lot, and Charles is really glad to have you.” She turned to Charles. “If it doesn’t have eyes, how can it recognize me? I know most animals recognize people by scent, so it’s courteous to offer your hand for them to sniff.”

“I reckon it goes by touch. You can put your hand here, if you like.” Charles moved Niko’s hand to the open flap. “Feel free to pet it, too. It won’t mind.”

Niko concentrated on calm, happy thoughts as she stroked the weathered fabric. It didn’t feel anything remotely like a pet animal’s fur, but that was probably the closest analogy, judging by how Charles spoke of it. And by all observations, the backpack was far friendlier than the Dandelion Sprites she’d kept in a jar in her room for weeks. Still… “Has it ever bitten someone’s fingers off?”

Charles launched into a tale about a warlock who had captured him and Edwin in ’97 and been tricked into sticking his hand in the bag. He cut himself off before going into any grisly details. “But the bag knew he was a bad guy,” he assured her. “It would never do that to a friend of ours. It’s a good bag.” He stroked it fondly and beamed.

There wasn’t enough room on the sofa for Niko to discreetly shift a few inches away. “I think I’ll respect its boundaries,” she said. In spite of her caution, or perhaps because of it, she was still curious to learn more. “Could I watch you retrieve something from it?”

“Sure.” Charles hefted the bag and reached inside, pulling out his cricket back in one well-practiced movement. “I always keep this in a pocket that’s easy to reach. Never know when you might need it in a hurry.”

“Are some pockets harder to access?” Niko asked.

“Yeah, we put some of the more problematic stuff in those. There was this one time during a case, we found an ancient scroll detailing an invocation for the spirit of spring.” Charles smirked. “Edwin read it, and the spell made every plant in the area start growing like mad. Couldn’t figure out how to make it stop, so we put the scroll in the bag. Best to leave that where we won’t pull it out again by accident.”

“Can you show me how you get an object from one of the hard-to-reach pockets?”

“Sure.” Charles stuck his hand in the bag and visibly concentrated. His arm disappeared into the void up to his shoulder before he fetched out a bundle of white yarn that sparkled in the light. “This is from one of the waterproof pockets. Don’t want it getting wet; it takes ages for this stuff to dry out.”

“What is it?” Niko asked eagerly. She really wanted to touch it, but knew better than to do that without approval.

“Enchanted cotton yarn. You can use it to make clothes that are fireproof, bulletproof, and curse-proof.” His smile morphed into a thoughtful look. “You know, maybe we should leave this out for Edwin. He was talking the other day about a project—oh.” He grimaced.

“What’s wrong?” At first, Niko thought his leg might be paining him again, but Charles’ face now wore a familiar self-deprecating expression.

“He doesn’t have the tools he needs.” Charles looked away. “I lost the enchanted knitting needles back in ’92. They’re somewhere in the bag, but it could take ages to find them.”

Niko frowned. “What makes you say that? You’ve always found things quickly before.”

“I wasn’t careful putting them away, was I?” Charles huffed. “The bag doesn’t magically give me stuff I ask for,” he explained. “I have to look in the right place. If you just drop something into the void, it could wind up anywhere. I’d have to search every pocket manually to find it again.” His face twisted with regret. “I did try looking for a while, but it wasn’t enough.”

Niko decided she couldn’t let Charles wallow in his misery. “You said there are about a thousand pockets, right?” She did some quick mental calculations. “If it takes you two minutes to search each one, then you can search thirty pockets an hour, seven hundred and twenty a day, and five thousand forty a week.” She tilted her head in consideration. “Although it might be fewer than that because you’ll want to take breaks occasionally.”

Charles frowned. “I can hardly sit here searching the bag all day and all night while we’ve got cases to… oh.” His face fell. “I guess I do have plenty of time now.” He smiled ruefully. “Not going to be much use on cases for a while, am I?”

Niko huffed in indignation. “Edwin says being a detective is more than just legwork.” She began listing things off on her fingers. “You’re good at runes and crafting disguises. You’ve got an excellent memory and really good people skills—better than anyone else at the agency. And you’re the one Edwin trusts to navigate the backpack.” She crossed her arms. “You’re not useless, Charles, and Edwin would have sharp words with anyone who said that about his best friend.”

Charles looked taken aback for a moment, then he brightened. “Yeah, you’re right.” He knocked his shoulder against hers. “Thanks, Niko.”

“We can make this a case of our own,” Niko declared. “The Case of the Missing Knitting Needles? Or the Case of the Backpack Inventory?” The Backpack Blunder was alliterative, but Niko needed an antonym for blunder to apply here. Solution? That wasn’t alliterative. She needed a solution synonym…

Charles chuckled. “We can pick out a name later. Right now, I’d rather keep this under wraps. I don’t want to disappoint Edwin if we don’t turn up anything.”

“All right,” Niko agreed. “It can be a surprise.”

It had been some time since Niko had actively participated on a case, and she’d never paired up with Charles for one before. She found she was quite looking forward to this.

Niko didn’t tell Charles her idea right away. Ideas were like tea—they needed to steep for a while before they were ready to share.

She and Charles had the office to themselves again today. Edwin was out visiting the apothecary to replenish his potion-making kit, while Crystal had declared she needed a break from anything supernatural and gone to the movies. She’d invited Niko to join her, but Niko had regretfully turned her down. She wanted to test her theory about the bag-of-tricks backpack today. As much as she enjoyed spending time with Charles, she missed hanging out with Crystal and would make it up to her after this.

They were reaching the last few dozen or so of the pockets, many of them ones Charles had forgotten about or only used once. Charles’ mood soured after he found a pair of fox earrings which reminded him of the Case of the Crafty Kitsune—the only time a shapeshifter had managed to properly trick them—but he brightened again when he uncovered a vase full of lilies of the valley.

“The vase is enchanted so that the flowers never need water and never wilt,” he explained eagerly to Niko. “Best of all, the spell makes it so that even ghosts can smell them!” He inhaled deeply and set the vase down with a dreamy sigh. “Only trouble was that some of our clients were allergic, so we had to put it away. But, hey, that answers your question from the other day—ghosts can sneeze under the right circumstances.”

“Lots of impossible things are possible under the right circumstances,” Niko agreed. She decided now was as good a time as any to put forward her idea. “Remember when you showed me the Ghost Cave? You said the backpack can alter its entrance.”

“Yeah. Pretty brills, innit?”

“How do you tell it to do that?”

“I don’t know exactly.” Charles frowned, looking as though he was trying to put a complicated idea into words. “I guess it’s more like asking than telling. The bag doesn’t like it if you’re too bossy. I picture what I need, and then the bag shifts to help me. Same way I picture the pockets I want to retrieve items from. Only it’s not just a picture, because it’s the nature of the pocket, too, like whether it’s strong or waterproof or resistant to magic—that’s not something you can see.”

Niko nodded slowly. “I think I understand. So, you ask the bag for something, and then it tries to give you what you ask for?”

“Yeah. Only, I’m not asking in words, but images and feelings. I’m translating into what I know the bag understands.”

Niko made an inquiring sound.

“It’s like when Edwin asks me for books,” Charles explained, gesturing to the bookcase. “He’s got an organization system for the shelves that makes sense to him and he remembers where everything belongs. But I never remember the titles or authors or where to find anything. So he describes a book by its color and size, so I know what to look for.” He chuckled. “That helps especially when the book isn’t where he thought he left it.”

“That makes sense.” Charles was a more visual person, Niko reflected. “You’ve got a good eye for details,” she added.

“Thanks.” Even that small praise made Charles brighten a tiny bit. “Edwin’s really good at mentally mapping a space, but that doesn’t work with the backpack.” He picked up a pencil sharpener and a frog-shaped paperweight to demonstrate. “All of the pockets exist in a void, and can be rearranged however you want.” He slid the objects across the floor and then swapped them out with the flower vase and a faded silver coin. “It would be like having the books but no bookshelf. Edwin hates not knowing where to find things. But I can call up the pockets with the items, so I can use the backpack.” Charles sat back, looking pleased with himself.

Niko felt she understood the backpack a lot better now. Charles was really good at explaining things. And it sounded as though her idea had a decent chance of working. “Can you ask the bag for objects if you don’t remember which pocket you put them in?”

“No.” Charles’ face fell. “It doesn’t work that way. I told you, I’ve tried. It’s not the backpack’s fault,” he clarified, clearly trying to spare the bag’s feelings. “It’s just, the bag understands pockets not objects.”

“Oh…” Niko remembered now. Charles had said something like this on their first day. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t still onto something here. “Was the Ghost Cave a pocket you found, or was it something the backpack made because you wanted it?”

Charles stared into the distance for a long moment. “I guess I don’t know for sure,” he admitted. “The first time we used it…” He looked uncomfortable and began toying with the shoulder straps of the backpack. “We had a case back in ’94 that ended badly. The ground started shaking and the red light came.” Charles swallowed and looked away. “Edwin was hurt, so he couldn’t run. I didn’t have a plan—I just wanted to keep him safe. I knew the bag could hold living things and magical things without harming them. I didn’t visualize a specific pocket or anything. But when I climbed in after him, there was this whole room-sized pocket I’d never seen before.” A flicker of awe and something like affection crossed his face. “I always thought we just got lucky, or that the bag was looking after us. But I guess it never occurred to me that the bag might have made something new because we needed it. Didn’t know it could do that.” He gave it a considering look. “I guess I still don’t know.”

“You said the backpack has feelings,” Niko reminded him. “I think it was looking after you. I’ll bet it tries to do nice things for you, the same way you try to do nice things for Edwin.”

Charles smiled and stroked the fabric fondly. “Maybe.”

“Try asking it for something now,” Niko suggested. “Something you use a lot.”

“Niko.” There was a look on his face—not impatient or exasperated as there would have been with Edwin or Crystal. It was more resigned, and apprehensive—the look of someone who didn’t want to let their friends down, but felt it was inevitable. Niko was determined to make that look go away.

“You think an old backpack can’t learn new tricks?” she challenged. “At least give it the chance to try. I’ll bet there’s a lot it can do that you haven’t discovered yet.”

Charles sighed and reached into the bag. A moment later, he showed his hand was still empty. “It’s no use. I told you, it doesn’t do objects.”

“Try again,” Niko insisted. “This time, concentrate on the object and the pocket, so the bag can connect the two. Like learning a new language.”

Charles looked doubtful, but continued to humor her. Niko wouldn’t let him quit. She knew she was being pushy, knew that it wasn’t always a good thing to be stubborn with friends, but she wanted to thoroughly test this before giving up.

On his twelfth try, Charles pulled out his cricket bat. He was so surprised he nearly dropped it. Niko applauded.

“I don’t believe it.” Charles laughed, disbelief and delight spreading across his face as he laughed. “Niko, that actually worked!”

“Do it again,” she encouraged.

Charles returned his bat to the bag and then tried again. He came up empty-handed, but this time Niko recognized the determination in his expression. It was far easier to believe something was possible and worth attempting if you’d already succeeded once. Charles kept practicing until he could retrieve his bat every time, then moved to experimenting with different objects.

“This is brills!” he exclaimed some time later. He rubbed at the fabric of the bag as though giving a belly rub to a dog. “You’re doing such a good job. I’m so proud of you!” The bag didn’t react in any way that Niko could see, but she imagined it doing the equivalent of wagging its tail.

“Now try asking for something that you don’t know where it is,” Niko suggested. “See if it can retrieve that.”

Charles hesitated. “I don’t want to push it too hard in one day. It’s already done so well.”

“Just try?” Niko used her pleading Puppy Dog Eyes expression.

Charles closed his eyes and reached into the bag. Niko held her breath for several long seconds before Charles pulled out a pair of silvery knitting needles. “Finally,” he breathed. “I finally found them!” He swept up the backpack in a hug. “Thank you. I’ve been looking for these for ages. You’re the best magical backpack in the world. Edwin’s going to be so happy!”

“Shall we tell him?” Niko asked. She loved the open display of affection between Charles and the backpack, but she was also very keen to witness a similar show between Edwin and Charles.

“Nah, I want to gift-wrap them first,” Charles said. “Do this thing properly.” He turned to Niko, his smile bright enough to illuminate even the void of the backpack. “Niko, you’re absolutely brilliant. Come on, you can have a hug too, if you want one.”

He opened his arms and Niko returned his embrace. She couldn’t feel it properly, but it still felt nice. Edwin and Crystal didn’t really do hugs very much, but Niko liked hugs and it seemed Charles was the same. Another reason to spend more time together.

The week had proved a marvelous success, and Niko was almost sad that it was nearly over.