When they landed on the roof of a toy shop, Jewel promptly reached into her bottomless clutch purse and pulled out two new disposable yellow masks for Evelyn and Zara. By the time they had flown the rest of the way to Waru, Jay and Jewel had sweat their morph potion off, so they also put on a set of masks for themselves and then the gang was on their way once again.
The city of Waru reminded Evelyn more of the cities she saw in movies of New York and New Jersey, rather than the cities she had grown up around like Miami. The buildings were tall and expensive looking, each one bright and shinier than the next. Traffic was at a near standstill at every corner they turned and people on phones, in groups, in uniforms, in suits were hustling by at a city-dweller's pace, not paying the group any mind.
Jay and Jewel were walking behind them talking about, from what Evelyn could pick up, some new video game. Jewel apparently didn't play games and so Jay was explaining this new one they were playing to her. They were explaining the backstory of the main character and Jewel was listening, more so out of love than any actual interest in the game it seemed.
This left Evelyn walking beside Zara, who nervously kept checking to make sure her hair, now back into a ponytail, was tucked under her hoody.
Evelyn wracked her brain for something-- anything-- that could be a good conversation starter.
"S-so," Evelyn really wished she had thought of the conversation starter before she started talking because once she said that, Zara turned to her with brows raised expectantly, and she has nothing to say, "U-um, you use ice to fight, right? Or is it, like ice and water?"
Zara smiled and nodded, "That's right I didn't explain mage magic to you yet."
"Mage magic?" Evelyn asked.
"Yeah, so basically, the type of magic you use is usually dependant on what race or species you are," She explained, "Jewel's a fairy, so she uses fairy magic. Jay and Glory are insecta, so they use insecta magic. Mage's, like me, use mage magic. There's also general magic. You know random little spells-- like the morph potion we drank-- that we like to call enchantment but it's a little tricky for mages to use any useful enchantment."
"And mages can only use ice and water?" Evelyn furrowed her brows. That didn't sound like a sweet deal, "Or just like elements?"
"Bingo on that last one," Zara smirked, "Mages are able to learn two disciplines that we call cases. One is their primary case and one is their secondary case."
"Your primary case is ice and your secondary case is water," Evelyn guessed as they crossed the street.
Zara swerved and led them into an alleyway as a shortcut to the nearest street. "Well, aren't you smart!" she nodded, "I main ice. I learned ice when around four years old, I believe. Which is a pretty young age to choose your case, but I did anyway just 'cause I thought it looked cool."
Evelyn saw that they were entering an area that had fewer people. They passed by fewer shops and more apartment buildings. They weren't as shiny and sleek looking as when they first entered Waru, moreso dingy and grey with vines growing over most of them.
"You said that a mage can't use magic after they turn ten, right?" she asked.
Zara nodded, "It's a vague window of time, but around that time you should pick a case, yeah," she answered, "After you learn one case, you can take as long as you want to learn a second, if you even want to learn a second. But I've been told it's near impossible for someone to learn a case as an adult."
"But you think Robyn can help me learn? Why?" she asked as they passed what looked like an orange tabby cat sitting on the porch of an apartment complex but upon further inspection, had pure white eyes and no visible mouth. Yet it still mewled at them as they passed by it.
"Well I don't know the science behind it, but it's possible she could help you learn a case. If you could at least learn one case, then you'll be good enough to learn another," Zara smiled, "Leaning a second case is usually much harder though. Most people only learn their cases compliment because they can't get the hang of anything else. Usually, only the super-powerful people can learn non-compliment cases."
"What are the cases then? And what are compliments?" Evelyn frowned.
"Water and ice are two of the cases and they're what we call compliments. This means the ways you use these cases are very similar. For example, the position for battle when using water is just the same position you use for ice, just mirrored. The same goes for the other cases and their compliments: Fire and Lightning, and Land and Wind," she answered, "I picked ice as my first case, and then many years later, after trying and failing to learn fire, I learn water."
Zara stopped in front of a tall apartment complex that seemed to be on top of a tiny shop with tinted black window walls. The windows was almost completely covered with flyers and posters about magic and divination, even a painting of a crystal ball.
"So what cases does Eve know?" Evelyn asked.
Zara's brows furrowed for a second at the mention of the princess but shrugged, "She learned fire when she was like a toddler I think, and started learning lightning around like pre-teen age."
The dingy brown awning above them read, "MANO'S MYSTERIOUS FORTUNE TELLING PALACE OF WONDER and apartment complex" in shimmering gold paint by someone who clearly not a professional painter.
Jewel read the name aloud as they caught with up the two and snorted. Jay smirked, "You're kidding, right, Z?"
"What better place to hide a you-know-what than in the house of a fake fortune teller," Zara grinned, opening the door and holding it open for the rest of the gang, "Trust me, you're gonna love Mano."
Walking into Mano's fortune-telling palace was like stepping into a Bath and Body Works factory. It smelled like every flower and tree under the sun sprayed into all the crevices of the room, it nearly made her lightheaded.
They stood in a small room with yellowing white walls and a wooden floor. To their right were two elevators and in front of them was what they assumed to be the reception desk. It was long and tall, made of very soft-looking brown wood, with papers and glitter scattered about it and a plaque stoof atop that read, "The Mysterious Mr. Mano."
Sat behnind the desk was whom they assumed to be the man of the hour, Mr. Mano the Mysterious.
Mano was an averagely heighted man with hot pink skin and a shiny bald head. His eyes were a dull pitch black without pupils and he had a wide nose and no lips, just a flap in the middle of his face to indicate that he did have a mouth. That day, Mano wore a bright yellow suit with a black shirt underneath and a matching yellow tie. The most striking thing about him though was the large black scar, the shape of a wide X, across his mouth. It would almost look like a tattoo if not for the clearly shredded skin around the scar. The wall behind him was completely covered in glittery mauve curtains.
When they entered a little bell above the door rang and, at the sight of Zara, Mano broke into a wide, no-lipped grin, his teeth glowing aqua blue.
"Miss Zara Engels! My love! You haven't paid me a visit in a while!" he gushed, leaning forward. With his hands now visibly over the desk, they could see he didn't have the same hands they had but mushy pink lumps for hands, that he could fix into certain shapes to hold things, like his chin as he leaned against his elbows, "I knew you'd be in Diamond for the princess's ball, but I never thought you'd stop by to see little ol' me!"
His voice was much deeper than they had all expected and, before Zara could even say why they were here, Jewel hopped forward, resting her head atop her sister's.
"Can you read my fortune?" she squeaked.
Mano jumped and clapped his hands, "Oh, of course, my dear! Engels, who is this, a new partner or something?" he put a hand over his heart, "Zara is a good friend of mine, so I can get you a really great discount."
Zara rolled her eyes, pushing Jewel's smiling face away from her and introducing her guests, "This is my big sister, Jewel, our childhood buddy, Jay, and a special little lady over here that needs to see Robyn," Zara nodded, "I already texted her."
Mano's face dropped into a pout, "You're not here to see me?" his gaze panned over to the rest of the group, "You don't don't wanna get your fortune told?"
"Sorry, Mano. I love you, buddy, but I already know Robyn's gonna charge me a hefty price," Zara explain walking around the reception desk and gesturing the rest of the group to follow her, "I don't have time to pay for your scams--ah, I mean fortunes,"
Mano huffed as Zara pulled back the pink curtains behind him to reveal a doorway to an unlit hallway.
She beckoned the rest of the group with her hands, "Come on ya'll, there's no light so we gotta stick together." As the last person disappeared into the dark hallway, Mano promptly closed the curtain behind him again.
As the group found themselves walking in the dark, they noticed a faint pink light at end of the hallway they were trudging through. Evelyn reached out and grabbed what she expected to be the hood of Zara's hoody to make sure she wouldn't run into anything.
Evelyn also assumed they were either on concrete or tile because the floor felt harder than the wood inside the shop. Their walk to the other side of the hallway was silent, and when Zara stopped in front of them to fold back ye another pink curtain, they all crashed into each other.
After exiting the long, dark hallway, they found themselves in a completely new room. It was a small rectangle with no windows or ceiling fan. The ceiling faded into a black void and the floors were plush purple carpet. The beige walls were lined with posters in varying languages. Most of them had the three Xs that Evelyn remembered Zara saying was a common symbol of magic, some had hand positions for the different cases of magic, some had magic theories, and whatnot.
Lining the perimeter of the room were dozens of school desks, draped and decorated to create several altars, each one containing different herbs, writings, and statues. Books littered the room, from alters to scattered about the floor, all of which had text written upon them that Evelyn couldn't read. The entire room smelled of evergreen trees as if they had just wandered into a forest. And smack dab in the middle of the room, sat a big yellow couch that was low to the ground.
Atop the yellow couch was a large woman. She was laying on her side, sleeping quietly, with long jet black hair faded into green ombre covering her face. From what they could see, this figure wore a black sportsbra, and long black skirt with a high slit on either leg, no shoes, and a purple hooded cape that covered her entire body.
The moment that Zara closed the curtain behind them, the woman's eyes opened slowly and she eyed Zara with a cool expression.
"You're early, Engels," she said slowly. Narrowing her eyes, she sat up slowly. She had tanned skin and bright pink lips to compliment her royal purple irises. Now that they could have a front view of the woman, they were able to see the strange markings that littered her body. Black dots and Xs arranged themselves all over her, most notably around her neck and an X below each eye.
"I wanted your advice on something, Robyn, and maybe even some physical help" Zara explained, "It's something a little different this time."
Robyn raised an eyebrow and snapped her fingers. Four purple pillows shot up from behind her couch and glided onto the carpet in front of Robyn.
"Sit, please," she nodded. The group did as they were told with Evelyn and Zara sitting in the middle and Jay and Jewel on either side of them.
"So this is my sister, Jewel, and our childhood friend, Jay," Zara pointed to both of them as she introduced, unlooping her mask from her ears, "They're both in the bureau with me."
Robyn nodded again, "Nice to meet you two," her eyes landed on Evelyn, "And you are?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," she bit her lip and turned to Evelyn with a nod. It took Evelyn a few seconds to understand what she wanted but then she gasped.
"Oh!" Evelyn nodded and lowered her mask, "Hi," she squeaked nervously.
Very unlike Officer Glory, Robyn's cool expression didn't change. She blinked at her boredly and then flicked her gaze back to Zara, "This... is not the princess."
"No, she's..." Zara tried to find the words.
"A clone?" Jewel suggested.
"Nah," Jay shook their head, "More like... a twin but not related."
Jewel scrunched up her face, "How can someone have a twin they're not related to?"
"I believe I'm from, like, a parallel world or something. I know you're not too fond of the princess," Evelyn interrupted. Robyn's eyes narrowed, "But I'm not anything like her. I think. I've never seen her, but-"
"Her name is Evelyn and she's on our side," Zara cut in, "But she's from a different world and it's not like ours at all."
Robyn crossed her arms as Jewel continued, "Evvy's world doesn't have magic or elves or fairies or happiness!"
Her little sister sighed, "I know this sounds hard to believe and like we're being tricked by the royal family but-"
"No no, I know exactly what you're talking about," Robyn smirked, "It was just funny trying to see you explain."
"Wait," Evelyn sat up, "So then you know Earth?"
Robyn folded her legs into a more comfortable sitting position and then waved her right hand lazily. A big red book from the corner of the room with a gold spine and lettering floated into her hands. She flicked through it calmly, "You're here to ask if I can take you back to Earth? That may be even beyond my expertise. May be."
"No, well I-," Zara looked to Evelyn, "that wasn't our intention yet. I think? Do you want to go back home now? Glory saw your face so you might be in real danger,"
Evelyn frowned and turned to Robyn again, "If you were to send me home, would that mean I'd never be able to come back?" Evelyn asked, "Like never ever?"
"I mean, hypothetically, if I could send you back, you'd probably lose all contact with the magical world including me and any other magician, so I might not be able to bring you back alone," she nodded, "I mean... I'm not saying you couldn't be... brought back here again somehow, but this is all up to fate."
"But..." she looked to Zara, "I mean I do miss my world just a little bit."
Evelyn traced the features of Zara's face with her gaze. This was the first time they were so close without Evelyn feeling super nervous. Zara's big, curved eyes were drooped and her pink lips were in a tight frown. Suddenly all the nervousness was back and Evelyn felt her face heat up looking at the other woman's lips.
"I don't... think I want to go back though," she said softly, "I like being with you guys. I don't know, it sounds crazy, but-"
Zara raised an eyebrow, "You don't wanna go home?"
"It's not that I don't wanna go home," she frowned, "I just don't wanna leave."
"Are you sure?" Jewel asked, "Remember Glory? There's gonna be a lot more people like him if you stay. Especially around us,"
"I want to be here," Evelyn nodded and turned to Zara again, her face no longer sad but surprised, "Because I want to help take down Eve. I'm a literal clone of her. Paired with Zara, who knows her so well apparently, we could be super freakin' powerful." Robyn smirked.
"I told you she was a clone," Jewel chimed.
Jay rolled their eyes, "She was using figurative language,"
"Well then," Robyn interrupted their little moment. She now had a small smile on her face, "If you aren't asking me to bring you back to Earth, then what are you asking me?"
"I'd just like to see if maybe you know how I got here?" Evelyn asked, "It's not like there's any magic on Earth, so I'm stumped. I was just struck by lightning and ended up here instead of in heaven, you know, where most people who get struck by lightning end up."
For the first time since they had arrived, Robyn had widened her eyes. She sat up straight in shock at the mention and then furrowed her brows slowly, "Lightning, you say?"
"We were also wondering whether it's possible that she can learn a case or at least some type of magic," Zara added, "She's obviously pass the age of ten but..."
"That's probably doable," Robyn nodded, poking out her bottom lip in thought and flipping through her book again, seemingly looking for something, "If she truly is the princess's alternate, she probably has a lot of magic if we can just drive it out of her."
"What do you mean 'if'?" Zara raised an eyebrow, "Do you think it's possible she's not actually a parallel version of Eve? She has the exact same last name, birthday, and family."
Robyn looked at Zara blankly for a second and, as if she hadn't heard her, turned to Evelyn, "You wanna know why people on Earth can't use magic, or specific people of your dimension?"
Evelyn nodded, but Jewel groaned, "Oh no we're back in science class again!"
"Are you going to lecture us about Essence?" Jay moaned, "I always hated science, dude."
Robyn just giggled, "Many eons ago, the Goddess Virgo gave everyone on this planet magic," Robyn began, "She did this by giving us the element Ess, which is now in all of us. When mixed with oxygen, it causes a chemical reaction called Essense. This Essence is what you might call magical energy and allows us to use magic. If unused by around the age of ten, the Ess in one's body might become permanently dormant and they won't be able to use magic or only use a small amount of magic for the rest of their life."
"And so the people on Earth don't have Ess?" Evelyn guessed.
Robyn pursed her lips, "If only it were that simple," she sighed, "I don't want to bore you with the details, but have you noticed that a lot of things here are named the same as Earth but look slightly different? Well, magicians have found the same goes with oxygen. It appears even if Earthlings had something similar to Ess, it wouldn't matter because the elements that make up your oxygen are actually made up of very slightly different versions of the elements that make up our oxygen. That slight difference is important, because it stifles the Ess of anyone on Earth, instead of activates it. Even people from our world."
Zara licked her lips, "So you're saying that the reason why Earth people can't use magic is that they have different oxygen?" she leaned forward, "So, like, hypothetically, anyone on Earth could use magic if they were here on Dremel?"
"That's just a hypothesis," Robyn shook her head, "That's the problem. You'd need to go to Earth and experiment its oxygen physically. It'd take a huge amount of Essence to be able to physically go to Earth and come back. Most people who have tried, have their Ess deactivated upon breathing the oxygen and get trapped. Or die trying to come back."
"So if we were to send Evelyn back, it probably would be for good," Zara pursed her lips and turned to the girl in question.
Evelyn turned to Robyn instead, not just because staring at Zara made her nervous for some reason, "Wait when you say physically, do you mean..." Robyn's lips curled into a smile, "That you can go to Earth but just, like, not physically?"
The others in the group widened their eyes. Robyn beamed, "Let me teach you something they don't teach you science class, ladies and Jay," she showed them the page in her book that she was looking at.
As she turned the book towards them the gibberish blurred into actual legible text. The page she was showing them said, "Chapter 6: Souligro." It had a picture of a drawn person standing with their legs shoulder-width apart. The drawing had its fingers crossed, just like Zara did on the train, except it had one arm straight above them and one arm straightened below.
"This is Souligro," she began, "This is a form of mental transportation. Your physical body remains here, but your soul travels through dimensions, time, you name it."
"How does this solve our problem thought?" Zara leaned back on her palms, "We can't send her back mentally, her parents would be pissed."
"My parents would probably find a way to blame the other and fight about it for years," Evelyn grumbled.
Robyn scowled at Zara, "No, Engels, I told you, sending her back would be a march harder task, maybe even for me," she looked back at Evelyn, "We're not going to use Souligro to get to Earth."
"So then how does the Souligro help us again?" Jay raised their hand, "or did you just wanna tell us about it 'cause it's cool?"
Robyn chuckled, "No, Souligro will help us with our other problem. We're not going to use Souligro to get to Earth. We're gonna use it to go into Evelyn's memories," she grinned, "We go back to all the points of her memory where there's a high concentration of unused, activatable Ess. Evelyn should be able to absorb it even in the present time because physically she's still in Dremel. After gathering a decent amount, she should be able to start using magic and learn a case."
"Cool!" Jewel leaned forward, "Like time travel?"
"Kinda?" Robyn nodded, "To be honest, I'm excited because I don't actually know how to any forms of Souligro, other than memory. So actually going back in time or going to Earth might cost an actual arm and a leg."
"Speaking of which," Zara flicked stray strands out her face and smoothened it back into her ponytail, "We really appreciate this, but how much is all this info and a Souligro session going to cost?"
For once (while looking at Zara) Robyn's face sunk in a wicked smirk, "To be honest, it may take a few sessions of Souligro to be able to actually use magic. And even then, she's going to need someone to teach her. Unless you intend for her to use ice or water like you, you're going to need someone well versed in all cases" she answered, "So I want two things,"
"Please don't break my pockets," Zara grimaced, gesturing to Jewel, "Not in front of family."
"I don't want any of your money. At least not today. Or even any object," She shook her head with a sinister smile on her face, "Just two conditions."
"Those two conditions being?"
"I'm very interested in your friend's circumstances, so I think I'm being pretty generous," she started, "I want to stay at your place for the next few days or so until she has completed her Souligro sessions and learned the basics of magic, including choosing a case."
Zara was visibly shocked at this, "You're offering to be in the same house as me? Like willingly?"
Robyn rolled her eyes, "I don't want you coming here every other day and raising suspicion. I'm sure that insecta officer is down the block looking for you as we speak, am I right?" Zara didn't respond, "And, as I said, I'm interested in your friend's circumstance so I'd like to be able to question her and run tests at my own convenience. And I can tell just from your gaze, you'd never let her stay here."
Zara sighed, "Alright, alright, you can stay with us," she shrugged, "I don't see anything wrong with it. What's your second demand?"
Robyn smiled, "I want you all to take me to the princess's ball."
Zara choked on her own spit, "You what?"
"Yay! That's easy!" Jewel squeaked, "The more the merrier!"
"You just want to come with us?" Zara raised an eyebrow, "That's it?"
Robyn combed her long black hair with her fingers absentmindedly, "No, that's not it," she grinned, "I will need an escort, of course, who do you think I am?"
"Okay, Jay can escort you," Zara snorted, "We have a deal now?"
"What?" Jewel huffed, "Jay isn't allowed to escort anyone other than me!"
Jay, who was sitting cross-legged and running their hands through the plush carpet out of boredom looked up, "Huh? Am I escorting you? Wait, I'm going to the ball?"
Robyn didn't pay their conversation any mind and turned to Evelyn, "Would you do me the honor of letting me escort you to the ball, Evelyn? That's your name, right?"
Everybody's head turned to Evelyn and she felt her face heat up. Zara scowled, "You want to escort Evelyn? Are you planning something? What's your motive?"
"My motive is to escort a pretty girl to a party," Robyn rolled her eyes, "Surely, you're familiar with the concept, you show up to the ball with a different girl every year."
"You do?" Evelyn turned to Zara with a shocked expression. She wasn't exactly the most social person, so seeing that Zara was actually a lady's gal was really surprising.
"Th-those were all just my partners from the bureau! I was on assignment and you know that!" Zara's ears began to flush red, "Besides I was going to take Evelyn! We were a party of four, if you go with Evelyn, who will I go with?"
Evelyn didn't know what made her face heat up, the fact that Zara and Robyn both wanted to escort Evelyn or the fact that Zara was actually blushing.
"Well if you're on assignment, won't you be working? Why do you need an escort?" Robyn smiled, "Besides, these are my terms. What are you so worked up about, don't tell me you've caught feelings for her just because she looks like the princess?"
Evelyn furrowed her brows and turned to Zara, whose face was now completely red, "No, that's- I- No!" she sputtered, avoiding Evelyn's gaze, "You usually ask for money, poison, ingredients, even sometimes you ask for people! You've never asked for something like this before."
"Is it not doable?" Robyn smirked, clearly amused at annoying Zara, "Because while I'm interested in your friend's world, I could happily just look up a book about it. I don't exactly need your business, Engels."
Zara shook her head, "Okay so your final terms are that Evelyn escorts you to the ball and that you stay with us to teach Evelyn magic. That's it?"
"Seems like a pretty good deal to me," Jewel commented.
"Same here," Jay chimed in, picking out pieces of glitter from the carpet, "you guys kept talking about 'giving and arm and a leg' so I've been freaked out about it."
"No arms or legs. Just Evelyn," Robyn grinned at Zara's annoyed expression, "If you want her to learn her case, that is."
"Of course I do," Zara turned to Evelyn, "Do you agree to the terms?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah, of course!" she said, her gaze shifting from Robyn to Zara to her hands on her lap nervously, "Sounds like fun."
"Great," Robyn smiled, "We can begin the first Souligro session any time you're ready. Whether you wanna begin right now or tomorrow, we should be all set."
"You can do it right now?" Zara and Jewel both said at the same time, one excited and one shocked. Zara continued, "I'd prefer if you started now so that we can see if this plan actually works,"
"I was actually hoping for the same thing," Robyn nodded in agreement, "Unfortunately, I don't think it would be wise to do this with more than just Evelyn and me, so I'll have to ask you to wait with Mano in the main room."
"Aw!" Jewel pouted, "We can't do the Souligro-ing all together?"
Robyn laughed at Jewel's words, shaking her head, "No, I'm afraid too many people 'Souligro-ing' at the same time can put a strain on Evelyn," she explained, using Jewel's made-up terminology, "The more people going into Evelyn's mind, the bigger the strain it puts on her head. Especially considering her memories come from an entirely different dimension, it will take a great deal of concentration."
"So Evelyn is from an alternate dimension," Zara nodded, "Like, we can confirm that?"
"I can't confirm whether it's an alternate dimension or not," Robyn confessed, flipping through her book again, "But, the dimension that Earth is in is called the Loan dimension, completely different from ours" she explained, pronouncing it like the name Owen with an L.
"So we'll leave while you two do your Souligro thing," Zara stood up with a sigh, "and keep Mano company until you guys are ready."
"Yeah, have him tell you your fortune," she grinned, "Barely anybody comes by anymore since the princess came to Diamond, so business has been slow this month. He's more than doubled his usual prices."
The others got up as well and began following Zara. Jewel smirked, "I wanna mess with him," she snickered, "See if he's a fraud,"
Before they disappeared behind the pink curtain, Zara stopped to turn around, "We'll be waiting for you, okay? So take your time and do your best... and good luck!" she smiled. One by one, they went behind the pink curtain, their footsteps could be heard padding against the concrete floor and getting further and further away.
Robyn sighed with a smile, "I love messing with Engels," she snorted, her eyes dancing across a paragraph in her book, "Her very presence annoys me so it's always fun to annoy her back."
Evelyn gave a half-smile, "She said you hate her."
Robyn laughed, "Hate her? No, I don't think I hate her," she spoke slowly because she was still reading the passage from her book while replying, "Maybe when I was, like, a teenager. But, no, I've always disliked her to an extent. She's too bossy and uptight when it comes to work. Not all of us are trained soldiers," she rolled her eyes and continued.
"Anyway, let's begin," she smiled warmly, "Copy my hands," she set the book down and closed her eyes, assuming the same position as the drawing in the book. With both hands having her index and middle fingers crossed, she put her right hand in the air and the left down in her lap. Evelyn obediently mirrored her.
Robyn took a few deep and slow breaths, a barely visibly lavender fog pooling around her seemingly from nowhere. Evelyn felt the tension in her body, in her chest and jaw increase, but breathed deeply to not lose concentration.
"Ready?" Robyn asked softly, "Close your eyes,"
Evelyn did as she was told and suddenly everything happened at once. The tension she felt in her chest dropped to her gut as if she were on a rollercoaster. Despite seeing nothing but black through her eyelids, she felt the room spin beneath her. Trying really hard to keep her bearings, she finally gave in and opened her eyes.
Instead of looking down at the plush purple carpet, she was now looking at her own feet. They were tiny and covered by bright pink sneakers, atop of a grey sidewalk.
When she straightened up, she was no longer a grown woman in Robyn's room, she was much smaller, sitting outside the basketball court of her old elementary school.
"Evelyn!" A boy's voice called and she turned to see two fellow kindergarteners approaching her. Suddenly she couldn't remember anything about Robyn or Dremel or Zara Engels.
At the moment all she knew was that she was that it was her second day of kindergarten.
***
Jewel and Jay were huddled around Mano's desk, clearly messing with him.
"So if you're a real psychic, how did you get your powers?" Jewel crossed her arms.
Mano grinned, leaning over his desk and lowering his voice, "It's a crazy story, kid. I'm not even sure if I'm allowed to tell you."
"Tell us," Jay gasped, pretending to be interested, "Were you visited by a god?"
"Did you drink radioactive fluid?" Jewel leaned forward, inches away from Mano's face.
"Did you get struck by magical lightning?" Jay shifted their weight to their hip.
"No, no, no, children, my story is much scarier than all of that," he smirked, "and I'll tell you the whole tale for just a small price,"
The fairy and moth groaned.
Zara was hardly paying attention to the three. She was sitting at the window seat next to the tinted window, looking out at the people passing by the shop, mask back on and hood up. She traced a few of the drawings and posters on the windows with her finger absentmindedly and occasionally looked back at her sister.
"You'll take what I have and you'll tell me your backstory! Money doesn't fall from the sky, you old phony!" Jewel snarled, holding Mano by the collar.
Zara shook her head and turned back to the window. There was a couple, a man and a woman, outside. They were looking up to the sky warily, which seemed to be turning grey. Zara sighed, they should get going soon. Hopefully, Evelyn's almost done with her Souligro.
On the other side of the room, Mano was already halfway through his backstory.
"...in a laboratory! I was picked and prodded but they kept telling me I was the chosen one!" Mano shrieked from across the room, "They injected me with a bright purple liquid-- I remember it like it was yesterday. Since that day I'd been given sight into the future! It was like they opened my sixth eye!"
"That whole story was so fake, dude," Jewel snorted.
Jay laughed, "yeah and we have no way to know if you're telling the truth or not," they raised an eyebrow, "Tell us our future."
"You think my knowledge is free?" Mano clutched his heart as if they had deeply offended him.
Zara pulled her phone out of her pocket and shifted over to her text messages. She grazed over one particular text message from one of her former work partners.
"Alright, then it's just you. Alone."
Zara sent back 'okay' and then deleted her colleague's message. She looked back up at Mano and the gang, amused by his ridiculous fortune telling.
"My dear, I see blonde! Oh my, so much blonde!" he gasped, holding Jewel's open palm in both of his hands, "On whose head, I cannot tell you! But oh me oh my! I see luscious full blonde hair! Pale as the snow! Gorgeous blonde hair in your future, my dear!"
"I think you have the wrong sister," Jay snickered, nodding their head towards Zara. The group's gaze went to Zara, who gave a weak smile and flicked off her hood to reveal her "luscious full blonde hair."
Jewel snorted, "Dude, are you actually a psychic?"
"No no no, believe me. Remember these two words, Julia Aina," he said ominously, "Watch out for the blonde clown! Blondes and clowns! They are a bad omen for you!" he exclaimed in (notably) not two words.
Jewel had to bite her lips to keep from laughing, "I'll keep an eye out for the blonde clown," she nodded.
Zara giggled, shifting her gaze back out the window, a flash of green skin from down the street catching her gaze. Her eyes widened and she snapped her head around.
"Glory's here! Here's right down the block!" she yelled.
Jewel froze, "What?"
Jay furrowed their brows, "He followed us?" he turned to Jewel, "You said he would probably be too shocked after seeing Evelyn's face to pursue her without telling the royal family first."
"I guess his curiosity got the better of him," Zara mumbled, putting her hood back up, "We gotta get Evelyn out of here. He's asking around. Someone will tell him that they saw us go in here eventually."
"Here," Jewel grabbed her purse and rifled through it. Once she was elbow deep into her unending little clutch purse, she finally pulled out a pink reusable zip-lock bag filled with a glowing bright blue powder, "this is-"
"Invisibility powder," Zara nodded, recognizing it, "Don't you need to cast a spell before using it?"
"It takes too long," she shook her head, unzipping the bag and grabbing a handful, "It'll still work, it just won't be as potent. See?" she sprinkled a bit of the powder on Jay.
Slowly, Jay began to fade away until they completely disappeared. She walked over to Zara and threw a bit on her too before sprinkling herself.
"I used it on me and Jay to catch you and Ev when we were on the train without getting caught, but Evelyn and Glory had given me time to cast the spell to strengthen that batch," Jewel explained, "Only the people who have been dusted with the powder can be seen, but everyone else can probably hear and feel us so we have to be careful."
Mano nodded from behind his desk, "Yes, ma'am, I can still hear you. Wherever you are."
Zara nodded, now being able to see both Jay and Jewel, "Alright. Let's get Evelyn and get-"
"What a disgusting little hovel this i- oh hello!" Glory stepped through the door. Everyone in the room except for Mano froze. Glory and the three men from the train looked around the room. His sickening yellow eyes traced every bead and tapestry on the wall before landing on the only person he could see, Mano.
"Hello! The famous Officer Glory Odonata, what a lovely surprise," Mano gushed.
Zara and Jewel stared at each other in fear. Jay was attempting to tip-toe away from Mano's desk very very carefully as Glory and his goons approached.
"Mano, is it? Have we met? I absolutely love your suit," Glory traced the man up and down with his eyes.
"Why, thank you! Yes, we've met a few times actually. More recently, I believe you kicked me in the head and called me a variety of slurs when I couldn't find my train ticket last Friday. But that was ages ago! Water under the bridge!" he sighed, "What can I do for a highly esteemed officer, like yourself? Are you looking for lodging or would you like your fortune read by yours truly? By the way, we only have these two elevators, so if you are looking for lodging and both of these elevators break, we do not have stairs."
"Neither," Glory rolled his eyes, "I'm looking for someone. A few someones actually. Most importantly, a young mage named Zara Engels,"
Zara scowled and turned to Jewel, who was already looking at her. She waved her hands wildly to get Jay's attention and then, making sure they were both watching, pointed to the curtain behind Mano. The other two both nodded.
"Zara Engels... the name sounds familiar but..." Mano crossed his arms and pretended to think for a moment, "Most people don't tell me their names when they wander into my magical palace. They're usually too busy asking for my guidance to give me any pleasantries."
One of Glory's cronies raised an eyebrow, looking around at the damaged wooden floor "Magical palace?"
"If you're a psychic, shouldn't you be able to see what your customers' names are with your third eye or whatever?" another snorted.
"My third eye doesn't do anything of the sort!" Marvin scoffed, "And who told you that I have five eyes? Was it Robby?"
"There is a person with the mage I was talking about," Glory ignored Mano's antics and pressed on, "Someone with brown skin and long brown locs; about this tall. They're probably wearing a mask, but they were wearing a blue dress the last I saw of them. Have you seen them?"
The invisible crew tip-toed around to Mano's little desk. Here came the challenge now. How were they going to go through the curtain without the officers noticing and most importantly, without the officers finding the secret room behind Mano?
Zara carefully dropped to the floor on all fours, and the other two quickly followed in suit. Luckily the curtain was very thick so lifting the curtain from the bottom didn't sway the top that much. Zara gestured for the other two to crawl in first. When they were already on their way down the dark tunnel, Zara gave Mano's ankle a little tap to let him know that they were behind him and gone.
"That doesn't sound familiar, the only customer I've had today, unfortunately, was a young blonde girl," Mano pretended to recall, "Cute girl too, palest blonde hair I'd ever seen. Didn't care to catch her name though, I just took her money and gave her a room key," he chuckled.
Zara finally went through the curtain and gently set it down behind her, making her way down the long dark hallway to Robyn's room.
Glory's eyes widened along with his massive smile, "Bright blonde hair? Did she have a black hooded sweater and a white shirt that showed her navel?"
"Sure did! Cute little black skirt as well!" Mano nodded, "She came here and asked for lodging. Just for a few hours. As I said, no pleasantries, I just gave her a key and she hopped onto the elevator."
"Do you remember what room you gave her? Or at least what floor she was on?" Glory leaned forward.
Mano made a disgruntled scoff and clutched his heart as if he were in pain, "You want me to give away my customer's private information? When I became a landlord and magical fortune-telling palace owner, I promised to protect my customers as if they were my kin!
You're asking me to compromise the safety of my dear tenants? You could never convince me to do such a thing," he quickly recovered, leaning forward with a wide smirk, "without payment, of course."
***