Chương 151: Act 3, Chapter 5: Yes, magic is real. And it’s here to hurt you

Day in the story: 31st December (Wednesday), around noon The plan changed a bit since our initial conception, but all for the better. This allowed me to pack somewhat light for the trip. Just a few necessities: a toothbrush, cosmetics, and a few clothes.

I could have pretended to take more, to match the monster of a suitcase Sophie prepared or the backpack Nick was taking, but since we were using magic to get there in the first place, I decided to cut myself some slack and not carry a whole closet's worth of clothes when I had access to them through my soul core. We stood—the three of us—beneath the celestial ceiling of Grand Central, waiting for the rest of our friends to emerge from the tides of people.

On New Year's Eve, the station felt like the center of the world. Light spilled from the chandeliers and bounced off polished stone, and the crowd was in a permanent rush mode. People moved with excessive countdown energy as winter coats brushed past each other. I watched Sophie lean into Nickolas while he scanned the ceiling with the stars painted above us. I spent some time here last week.

Most people didn't know that the Guild of Magic smoke shop housed the entrance to the spatial platform with a Guild Gate leading right into their New York headquarters. Today, I wasn't here for that reason, but it felt nice to be in the know for once about the secrets of a hidden society. Having the time to stand idly was another feeling I enjoyed in that moment.

While my lovely pair indulged in each other's presence, I took the time to admire the grand artistry of the architectural designs and ponder the significance of the stars painted above us, the clear indicator of where "up" is. Wouldn't it be better if the floor was marked that way instead? There would at least be some food for thought and originality in that.

"Hi guys!" Jason's voice carried from behind us with a perfect happiness that suggested the last month hadn't happened at all. I quickly clasped my hands behind my back, letting my fingernails do the seeing. It was even easier now, as each of the eyeballs embedded in them could move and turn in accordance with my needs.

"Jason," Nick greeted him with a quick turn toward the sound of his voice.

"Good to finally see you," Sophie said, to mine and Jason's apparent surprise.

"What?" he replied as he came closer, in his fashionably oversized coat with a mane a lion could only dream of.

"My disappearance worked out in the end if Miss deLonge feels nice to see me."

"That was the one freebie you get for being traumatized and almost turned into a glorified whiskey bottle. You get to earn everything else."

"And there she is, my knockoff Alexa," he replied.

"Knockoff? I'm as original in my dislike of you as she is."

"Maybe even more so now," he said.

"As now she is secretly in love with me."

"Yeah, it's such a secret that despite having three brains, none of them knows anything about it." I burst out laughing as she said that. I would be lying if I said I didn't miss that banter.

"Keep it civil, guys," I told them as I noticed how uncomfortable the whole thing had made Nick feel. He was rigid and unmoving, breathing in quick, shallow breaths, just standing aside and listening. He tried to fit into our group, but it had been difficult for him so far.

"Jason," I addressed him directly, eye to eye.

"I'm giving you a pass because Soph provided very compelling arguments why I should. I assume that you are genuine in everything you-related."

"That's it? No veiled threats?"

"Nope. Not my style." I lied, but all of those eyes trained on me told me they knew better.

"I would like you to give me the courtesy of treating me like a human as well, and not what you actually think of me." I told him, but I knew this talk would have to be postponed, as Hannah, Elena, Ty, Evan, and Peaches were already coming over.

"I will actually do my best to do just that, you know?"

"I know, I know," I replied as I joined Sophie in waving. They noticed us pretty quickly and were already on their way when I spotted Peter and Zoe rushing frantically through the crowd, bags thrown over their shoulders. As if we would leave without them, I thought with amusement. It was time to start our little performance, though.

"Hello, guys!" I said with overwhelming cheer in my voice as I started hugging everyone one by one. When I was done, Peter and Zoe finally managed to reach us as well, and our merry group was complete.

"Let's get going," Evan began in his usual diplomatic tone.

"We are going—""—to miss the train! We know!" Tyler finished for him.

"Sorry about that, but he's been complaining about it the whole trip here."

"I wasn't."

"You kind of were," Hannah confirmed with a nod as she slightly adjusted her glasses.

"Totally!" Elena added, and the group turned to Pam, who was completely lost in thought, staring at another cluster of people in the distance.

"I wonder if they have everything figured out," she said, breaking the tension but introducing a pleasant confusion. I thought it was a welcome change.

"Guys," Peter started, "we have like half an hour. That's plenty of time."

"Said the man who just sprinted here, dragging his girlfriend into a record women's pace," Evan replied as Jason motioned for us to grab our bags, suitcases, or whatever people were carrying and follow him.

"Can't wait to finally have some vacation, however brief it will be," Elena chimed in like a little bird, happiness spilling out of her. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"I just wish it was something more interesting than Cold Spring," Hannah said.

"Oh!" Sophie seized the moment, her cue to unveil the plan.

"Speaking of that, I found something in my mother's old family heirloom chest."

"You have those?" Elena mused, drifting closer to Sophie. She was the lynchpin meant to unknowingly make our plan work, drawn to mystery and secrets like a moth to a flame.

"What is it?"

"It's an old, ancient brooch shaped like the letter A," Sophie said, "one that was supposed to have power over matters of space and time." By old and ancient, she meant made by me last week.

"Mom told me that if a group of people are willing enough, this trinket can take them to the place where her family took root."

"What's that nonsense supposed to mean?" Tyler asked, frowning like a wounded animal. Despite being of Native American descent, he didn't believe in anything supernatural at all. A perfect match for Elena, I'd say.

"It means that if we focus on it instead of Cold Spring, maybe we'll end up somewhere in Europe, where my family is from."

"Newsflash: all you white folks are from there."

"Let's try this!" Elena shouted.

"Honey…" Tyler tried, and failed.

"Ty!" Elena cut him short.

"We have nothing to lose, right? If it doesn't work, you get your win. If it does work, I get mine, which will be yours too, right?"

"True…" he managed to say, matching the word with a long exhale.

"Seriously?" Hannah asked as Sophie stopped to look for the brooch in her purse. The rest of us followed.

"I don't mind trying," I said, followed by Peter, Zoe, Nick, and Jason adding similar sentiments, playing perfectly to our tune. That forced the rest of the group to comply.

"Can't believe we're doing this," Tyler muttered.

"Shut up and do what the girls want," Evan told him.

"That's interesting," Peaches said as she leaned in to look at the brooch.

"Doesn't look very ancient, though. Can I see it?"

"Later," Sophie said.

"Let's make an unbroken circle." She led us to a wall near the platform. People rushed past so quickly that no one paid us any attention. I wasn't sure I could transport all of us at once, but I had a contingency for that.

"Keep one hand on your belongings, just in case, and put a free one on the person to your right." Everyone followed her instructions. She extended her free hand, palm open, toward the center of the circle. Nick held her luggage while wearing his backpack. I made sure everything was within my reach to transport and closed my eyes for a few seconds as a signal to Sophie.

"Don't laugh," she said, "but I'll have to say an incantation now."

"Oh my God!" Elena couldn't contain herself.

"This is it!"

"With power granted by my ancestors, I, Sophia deLonge—""Sophia?" Jason asked quietly, trying to earn a few giggles from the boys.

"—I, Sophia deLonge," she continued "ask the world to comply and move us to my family's rightful home." She finished and pressed the heirloom just right as she clasped it in her fist, making the small lightbulb inside glow and shine red. Good show, right? While all of that played out, I focused on the recreation of the painting that was now in her aunt's house tucked in my bag and pulled everyone, along with our baggage, into the transition. I almost had it, but it felt like one person too many.

Not wanting to split the group in two, I opened the floodgates instead, granting the tattoo on my back authority to bathe me in the full light of my Domain. Power surged through me, shadowlight stretching to every person around us, and I made the world move. When the brief confusion subsided, we found ourselves inside a mansion that Sophie and I had visited last week, when her aunt first received the gifted painting I made for her.

She proved to be a remarkably nice old lady, with occasional moments of forgetfulness, but she told us we could stay for a few days if we wanted. Sophie explained who we were, reminding her aunt of the times they had spent together when she was younger. She didn't even ask how we got there, and despite the curious looks from the people working in the mansion, it was clear we wouldn't need to find another place to stay.

"This is a ballroom!" Elena shouted, and indeed we were standing in a room designed for elaborate, rich-people parties, the kind where champagne glasses clicked and heels stormed across parquet floors. This one, however, hadn't seen such an occasion in many years, as the sole woman overlooking the estate was no longer in her prime.

"What the actual fuck?" Peaches exclaimed as she slowly turned on her heels.

"This thing actually worked? Was I hit on the head?" She took her pom-pom hat off and checked her own skull.

"I'm as surprised as you are," Sophie lied.

"But I know this place. I was here as a child. We're in Paris, if I'm not mistaken." She stressed the word a bit too much. She wasn't as good an actress as I had hoped, probably too invested in the whole thing to sell it properly, but no one seemed to care. They spread out like locusts, touching chairs along the walls, running their hands over warm wood panels, studying paintings, anything to tell them whether they were dreaming or if this was really happening.

"Nicely done," Jason whispered to me.

"I didn't expect you to take us to Paris. I thought we were going upstate."

"It's something we planned for some time. Now you know. I hope you'll enjoy your stay."

"You aren't plannin' on leaving me here, are you?" he asked, half joking, half serious.

"That's an idea worth considering. Thanks," I replied as I moved away. After just a few steps, though, the strength left my legs. They buckled under me and I fell. Through my painted eyes I briefly saw Nick notice what was happening. He tried to rush toward me, but stopped as Jason's arm slid across my back and under my armpit, holding me upright.

"You okay?" he asked. My head was spinning. All my additional senses blurred, as did my natural sight. Exhaustion settled into my body, piling onto the strain that had already been stretching my soul thin. [Aftereffects of the tattoo opening hit you hard. It not only granted you power directly from your Domain, but forced you to draw on almost all of it, along with nearly all of your own soul's stamina, for that single spell.] Yeah. I certainly overdid that one. The passive effect is no longer active as well.

[Seems like it needs some time to regain its functionality, as Daisy suggested...]"Alexa?" Zoe's voice reached me after a while. I looked up at her leaning over me, as if she were floating above my vision.

"What's… what's going on?" I asked as I pushed myself up from where I had been lying. I was no longer in the ballroom where we'd arrived, but in some kind of bedroom, dominated by a massive bed with a burgundy canopy overhead.

"You lost consciousness after transporting us here," Zoe said.

"You fell at first, then you sat down, and then you just drifted off. Sophie found her aunt—lovely lady—and they arranged a room for you. Jason carried you here. He stayed by your side for two hours, along with me and Peter, before they finally dragged him away to do some sightseeing."

"Yeah," Peter added.

"I confirmed for Sophie that you're healthy, just exhausted, and that's why you collapsed." He looked genuinely concerned.

"Too many people for one transport? Did it strain you that much?"

"Just a bit too much, but that wasn't the main reason," I said.

"I have a tattoo that lets me channel power directly from my Domain. It was… too much. Now I know better."

"You inked yourself? You?" Peter asked, incredulous.

"She's an artist, Pete. That's normal. Don't be a bigot," Zoe scolded him.

"No, that's not what he meant," I said quickly.

"He knows I was opposed to them for my whole life. Wasn't really sure what I'd felt would sit right with me for so called ever."

"Oh."

"Yeah. This one's for magical purposes, though—and it looks pretty great. Take a look." I turned slightly and lifted my shirt to show them.

"That's your Domain," Peter said, "and some of your tools."

"It's so vivid and detailed," Zoe added.

"I love it."

"Sorry for keeping you here," I said.

"Would you like to join the rest now?"

"You feel better?" Zoe asked.

"Yes. I don't want to spend New Year's in bed. At least not doing something like this."