Self-taught, from hearing alone? It sounded so ridiculous that it had to be true. Any other slave would have kept their head down and ignored it. After all, what use would a slave have with those skills they were never meant to know? Which meant Scrooge learned out of curiosity, and not only that, had a good brain for it.

Poe lightly tapped his arm as he listened and thought. In the end, why not be blunt? He doubted Scrooge would be tattling on him to Magica.

"I'll be blunt," he finally said. "I don't trust you. Seeing my dear sister attached to a slave... is unnerving. I don't know what you did to charm her, and if I asked, you'd say you didn't know either. You're too smart for a slave, a live one, and you bear the scar of McDuck." To Poe, it was one coincidence too many.

"Oh, I won't harm you, and I won't kill you... you mean too much to Magica for that."