Day in the story: 17th December (Wednesday)
When I finished repainting my laser, Shattered’s eyes, wind rotors and all the other upgrades onto the suit and painting both the image of the new scarf and Liora into the Spellbook, I had to try the magical-girl transformation thing I'd been thinking about the whole ti I was in the shower.
I was still in my underwear when I teleported back to my room, leaving Lio in the Domain for now. He lost interest in my painting after a while and went outside anyway. It mattered to to test this properly, so it had to be as if I was literally caught pants down. Although, mind you, they were still where they belonged.
I focused on the Lifeline Talisman’s painting of my Spell Book. It pulled the book along with the belt it was attached to and set the belt across my hips, where it should be. Then, with another thought, I used the suit’s painted soul anchor to bring it to .
There’s one thing about slowly stepping into a tight suit that’s painted and shaped to look like armor. There’s an entirely different feeling when that piece of clothing is yanked out of its soul-space, moved through a dinsion, and appears directly on your body, already thinking that it’s a power armor. Trust , it feels odd. Like a second skin blooming over you, sudden and real, and definitely not the glittery, twirling kind of magical-girl mont I’d imagined.
The effect, though, was exactly what I expected. In seconds I was fully armored, with my Spellbook, tool-belt, boots, scarf and the suit itself all landing on exactly as they should.
That’s the kind of magic I could get behind.
I’d slowly worked my way out of relying on preparation to hold my own in a fight by, oddly enough, preparing myself better. If that made any sense. It wasn’t foolproof, though. Not yet. I was still dependent on my Lifeline Talisman; without it I’d be as good as magicless again. That had to change, regardless of how sentintal the thing was. I needed to make the talisman redundant. I’d have to get my first tattoo sooner rather than later, one that showed my Spell Book inside my Domain, covering both problems at once.
That ant sketching out the design myself and finding an artist to ink it on , which I wasn’t exactly eager about. I’d never thought of my skin as a canvas for anything permanent. Part of that ca from never really being sure who I was, and part from the ordinary fear of getting bored with whatever mark I’d chosen.
Now, though, it wasn’t about style. It was life or death, and aesthetics would have to take a seat way in the back in the shadows. Or maybe that was the idea? What if I used ink invisible under normal light? If it worked, that would be perfect. Sothing that only showed under ultraviolet. Fantastic, if I could still use it.
Being unseen would be a huge advantage. No one could suspect of hiding power, especially once I started facing opponents sharp enough to dig up details about and plan counters. Still, the invisibility ca with a problem. I was almost certain I couldn’t infuse what I couldn’t see.
There had to be a workaround, sothing I was missing right now. Until I found it, the tattoo would have to wait.
With that thought, I teleported straight into the Bronx, to the place I’d once brought Penrose weeks ago, the sa place he had used to seize his Domain. I rembered how vividly he’d described using that kid, manipulating and finally killing him to get what he wanted. He must have seen the sa way: a disposable asset, only valuable until the day I wasn’t. But now? Now he felt more manageable than before.
The place itself had changed since I’d last been there. A thin veil of snow softened the streets and rooftops, almost giving the neighborhood a brighter tone despite the poverty underneath. But Ideworld had a way of cranking everything up to eleven, and it didn’t spare this place. The walls were cracked and crumbling, their gaps stuffed with rubbish and the stinking remains of dead rodents. Larger, living ones lurked in the shadows, their oversized bodies crouched low, only their red eyes betraying them.
The shadows of people moved here too, slow and heavy, carrying the weight of their lives on their bent shoulders. Most were hunched, dirty, exhausted, but still dragging groceries or scraps, whatever let them keep going. I wondered if they were drifting now, moving in a fog of survival, numbed into mindlessness just to endure this constant state of despair.
I wasn’t here for them, though. I was here to get a few blocks over, to the place where Wakefield’s poverty eased into a more ordered stretch, where a Jamaican community had made a ho when they’d been cast away from theirs.
I touched my Spell Book and focused on the fresh painting of my new companion: his bright scales, the ribbon of color along his sides. With a flicker of thought, and no resistance, I pulled him through the world toward . I wasn’t sure it would work, but he held my Authority like an object, so I tried.
Let’s just say he wasn’t thrilled when the world shifted under him mid-montum and he went snout-first into the snow-dusted pavent.
Ouch.
He lay there for a few seconds and I rushed to him to check if he was all right. “Lio! I’m so sorry,” I said as he pushed himself up and shook the snow off. He hissed and glared at , all angry whiskers and narrowed eyes, but the mont he noticed the new surroundings—actual things, actual sights—he brightened. Shadowlight ran along his sides, and he launched back into the air, practically beaming, like he’d already forgotten the rude landing.
Good.
“We ought to get sowhere so I can check what happened to the person who lived here, okay?” No answer from the lóng. Instead he flew frantic patterns, darting from car to pavent to wall, sniffing snow and peering at anyone who stirred. People woke from their drifting and scattered, terrified.
It hit then that not every shadow around here was used to seeing the kind of things that break common sense. I’d have to rember that when I walked among them. There was so much to learn about this place.
“Lio!” I called, and finally he settled, hovering close and calm for a beat, looking at like he cared about the plan.
“I’ve got to move, so follow . If you’re hungry and you know how, grab a little bird or rat or whatever you want. Otherwise stay close, okay?”
He looked like he understood, or at least I hoped he did, so I tried another test.
“Can you control your shadowlight, Lio? The light you give off.” He flared a little. Well, he was already better at this than I was. “Great. Do you know colors? Can you glow green when you agree with ?”
His horns pulsed. Shadowlight spiraled around his body and ran down to his tail before leaking into the air. It started bright green, softened into a pastel, and finally faded into the washed-out color of late autumn leaves.
“That’s what I’m talking about. Do that when you agree with . Use red for disagreent, and flare yellow when you want my attention, okay?” He flashed green again, and that little victory was enough to make nod. We moved on toward the Jamaican part of Wakefield while I kept glancing at the sky.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
It was clear here. The mirrored version, way out toward Manhattan, hung like a giant alien mothership over the city. I had a few questions about it I’d love to check out one day. Are there edges to the reflected city? What’s on its underside?
Common sense said there had to be edges, but common sense didn’t always an much in Ideworld. Maybe those edges only showed from down here, and from up there the whole thing looked seamless. Maybe the underside didn’t exist at all. Still, it was a good thing to wonder about while walking a relatively safe street.
Relatively safe, because I’d just noticed a group of young n Ideworld was loudly hinting belonged to a gang. Their faces were wholly tattooed, they wore heavy jackets that looked perfect for hiding things, and one of them swung a baseball bat to freshen the air in a few parked cars by making holes where the windows used to be.
I was wearing my hood, but because of the shadowlight in my veins I felt warm enough to forget to put anything over my pretty tight suit. Not to sound vain, but I was built well enough to be an eye-catcher, especially in those clothes. I made a ntal note to get so infused pants I could call to myself when I needed to hide my pretty ass. I could’ve painted my icy jacket into the Spell Book at the very least, maybe that would’ve helped.
The group, however, noticed right away and started their mating song.
“Would ya look at that cake!” one of them called, and I bailed. I jumped onto a streetlamp, then onto the roof, leaving them shrieking below. I didn’t have ti for them, nor was I inclined to do anything about it. I wasn’t the police or a hero, as Malik would’ve put it.
They kept shouting after , angry I’d slipped away, while I moved over rooftops that slowly shed their poverty-rough look and began to resemble a mash-up of modern architecture and classical Jamaican style with columns, white and yellow paint, neat facades.
Despite the snow and the cold, there were palm trees here and the whole block looked like it had been cut straight out of the Caribbean. I dropped down and asked the first person I t for the address.
She was an old lady with black skin, heavy accent, warm clothes in sumry greens and yellows. One of the extra eyes on the side of my hood caught Lio checking her from a distance. He hovered above her so as not to scare her and munched on so at that by that point didn’t resemble anything living.
“I know this place, right. You gotta move that way.” She pointed along the row of buildings. “It’s right around the corner. Just be careful, there’s a monster living there.” She warned as I started to leave.
“Monster? What do you an?”
“A tall man. He walks out at night only, when most of us are drifting peaceful. He’s one of the changed ones.”
“Changed? How do you an?”
“Don’t you know? The ones that change because of their nature. His must be a wicked one, I tell you.” She ant the shadows that shift shape to match the thoughts of their casters. A tall one, could be the very guy I was looking for.
“Have you seen him lately?”
“No, not for so ti.” She answered, but Lio flared yellow shadowlight and drew my attention. “Why do you ask?”
“Nothing important. Just wanted to be safe, that’s all.” I said, while I looked in the direction Lio had been facing. Great, the gang I’d left behind were running toward .
So people practically invite violence. If they were going to interfere with what I was trying to do, it would only drag things out, so I decided to teach them a lesson. One that taught respect without killing them. Painting anything in the snow was out of the question, which left my usual tools, mostly ant for killing. Mostly, but not entirely.
I focused on my Spell Book and asked it to bring my heavy sheet—let’s call it a blanket, to sound more reasonable. It draped over like a poncho. I quickly removed the authority woven into it so I wouldn’t trap myself. It was instantly obvious to then that I should have used it like a cloak from the start. Maybe I wouldn’t have drawn their attention.
“Lio, thanks for the warning. Stay away for now, okay? I want to teach them a lesson without killing them.”
He flared green in answer just as they closed in and began posturing.
“You thought you were gonna run away from the Jacobs?” One of them jeered. Jacobs? If that was their na, la.
“Look, guys. I know I don’t look like much, but I can and will hurt you if you start anything funny.”
“Bitch likes to talk, but you ran as soon as you saw us, eh?”
I sighed. “I ran by jumping on top of a lamp and onto a roof. Was that detail too hard to grasp? I could snap you all like twigs.” At least that’s how it sounded in my head. The truth was ssier. They could be a lot of things. Reclairs, shadow-spawned, mages, warlocks. Could pure shadows be mages like that? I wasn’t sure. I’d have to ask soone who knew more.
For now, out of ignorance and hope, I assud they were just normal gang shadows. I hoped I wouldn’t be proven wrong. People were scattering from the street, heading for ho. A few pulled out phones as they left. Calling the police, maybe.
If I was going to co out on top, it had to be quick and decisive. No ti for flourishes, just a doodle.
I tossed a card over them as they kept shuffling forward with their queasy grins. The one with the bat craned his neck to follow its flight, only to see appear in its place as it passed overhead. I dropped my blanket onto him and made it heavy as lead. The weight pinned the guy beneath while I landed on another’s shoulders and sent him sprawling.
I grabbed my scarf and flung it over one of the two still standing; he looked bewildered for a second as it stiffened into hard steel and trapped him. The last guy left was facing , and I had Noxy aid straight at his forehead. His eyes darted to his fallen mates, but with no help coming he raised his hands.
“I made a bad decision, miss. No need to get bloody, ok?” he said.
Four guys pacified in less than a breath. Pretty good.
“Look,” I began, “what’s your na?”
“J-j-joel,” he stuttered.
“Listen, Joel. I have nothing against a bit of cri now and then, so I won’t judge how you spend your ti. Just take your guys and leave alone.” He gulped and looked relieved. For so reason Malik’s stupid smile flashed in my head. Eh.
“Also, you know what? That cri I just ntioned, keep it very minimal, okay?” He looked confused, and I didn’t bla him. “Just occasional destruction of property is fine, I guess. Don’t hurt people, or I’ll co for you. You understand?”
He nodded. I bet he didn’t. Hell, I wasn’t even sure what I’d asked of him. Malik and his ridiculous standards of behavior were to bla for that. They’d rubbed off on .
I’d officially beco a magical girl upholding the law. My bad.
It was going to co back to bite in the ass, I was sure of it. I lowered the gun as I moved back a little and willed the blanket and scarf back over myself, stripping the authority from both as soon as they shifted back into place.
“While we’re talking,” I said, as the guys retreated a bit from , helping the one I’d dropped to the ground to stand up, “do you know anything about the guy living around the corner? The tall changed man?”
“You an Victor?” the guy with the bad accent answered.
“Victor Bohr, yes.” I confird. “You know him?”
“Yeah, he’s a pretty chill dude.”
“I heard he’s a monster, just minutes ago, from a lady I t here.”
“Those are prejudiced old fucks. Just because he’s changed doesn’t an he’s a monster.” That was rich coming from a guy who, just seconds ago, wanted to do Reality-only-knows-what to and got his ass handed to him on a platter, or under a blanket. Did that an this Victor guy was more like them, and actually a monster? Difficult to tell. I wasn’t exactly an angel either.
“Interesting. Why do you think he’s a chill dude?” I asked, slipping back into investigative mode. I could feel Lio sowhere to my right, but couldn’t see him without moving my head. He was very good at making himself scarce.
“He spent ti with us. Likes to laugh and drink, but we haven’t seen him for so ti now.”
“First of all, when you go around breaking people’s stuff, you’re not exactly approachable. Work on that. Secondly, when was the last ti you saw him?”
“I dunno. Few days?”
“It was before those strange dudes appeared,” the guy I’d dropped added.
“What strange guys?” I asked.
“Hard to say. Just… strange, you know? Like not from this world.” Could be my side. Most likely were.
“Where did you see them?”
“Here. They were passing through with so heavy stuff. We wanted so of that for ourselves, but one guy just splattered little Timmy like he was a fly, so we moved away. We haven’t seen Victor since that day.”
“And those guys, you know where they went?”
“West. To Van Cortlandt Park.” Another park. Fantastic.
“We could take you there, if you want,” their leader said, checking out again. I bet they’d like that.
“No need. I’ll find it myself. Now get out of here before I change my mind about letting you go,” I said, just as my enhanced hearing picked up the faint wail of police sirens, growing louder, coming this way.
I didn’t wait to see if they’d follow my advice. I ran toward the place where Victor lived, hoping to finally find an answer about what had happened to him.
User Comments
0 comments from readers