#programmer anti

Jackie laughed a little. “I... really appreciate that, Ramram. A-and I really appreciate that you’re willing to stay behind with Michelle.”

“I can look after myself,” Michelle piped up. “I’m almost ten! And Ren showed me how to make instant noodles in the microwave! So I can make food.”

Jackie chuckled a little. “I remember. And I’m still impressed.” He glanced back down at his phone again, but no new messages had come in. The last one was from Marvin, reading, We’ll pick you up, Jackie. I don’t think we’re that far away. Jems says he’s okay to drive and he’ll honk when we get close. Jackie could’ve driven himself, but he wanted to leave the car for Rama in case of an emergency. So now he was just waiting for JJ and Marvin to show up.

Rama leaned over to look at the phone. “Didn’t you say that Jameson was getting a tattoo today? You know, you really should rest after that.”

“I know.” Jackie nodded. “But this is an emergency. I’m sure JJ knows what he’s doing.”

“I hope he does. Tattoos are essentially a bunch of really tiny wounds. And you’re a doctor, Jackie, you know how serious a bunch of wounds can be.”

“I know,” Jackie said again. “But...” He hesitated. “We might not get a chance like this again...”

“Uncle JJ has magic, he’ll be fine!” Michelle piped up.

Jackie smiled at her. “Good point, Michelle.” Jameson did have some form of healing magic. And these were magical tattoos he was getting. Surely he and Marvin knew what they were doing. Surely.

“Is there any word on Will?” Rama asked, concerned. Receiving a single text from Anti and no elaboration since then has really made the group worried about him. If something happened to Anti—which is extremely possible, given his text-based silence—then was Will alright?

“No, nothing ye—” Jackie started to say, but was interrupted by the swoop of a message sound. He glanced down at the phone in his hand. “Oh. Well, uh... speak of the devil...”

———————

Schneep had also leapt into action upon receiving the text, starting by asking countless questions that weren’t answered, as Anti seemingly disappeared right after sending the go message. He gave up on that once it became clear Anti wasn’t there anymore, instead directing the questions to everyone else. Do you even know what magic you need to use for this? he asked. The last I heard we still had not found anything actually helpful!

Admittedly no, Marvin said, speaking on behalf of him and JJ since JJ was driving the car. But Anti is in danger *now.* We have to try something at least, right? I have my cards on me, and Jems always has his magic, so we can improvise. You and Jackie just need to gather whatever supplies you need, too.

What supplies did they need? Jackie quickly volunteered to bring his first aid kit, but what did Schneep need to bring? He spent about ten minutes frantically searching through his superhero gadgets, testing them out and finding that most were broken from disuse and lack of maintenance. Ugh, just another thing that was IRIS’s fault! Though, the previous times he’d gone into the house on Aspen Street, he hadn’t run into any environments that would need most of these things... It was the inside of a house, there were no great heights that would require his longfall supports or climbing gear. And his shocking gloves were redundant these days. Maybe he could take his smoke bombs? But those were broken!

After a bit, he gave up on any of the gadgets. Most were useless, and the ones that seemed useful were broken. But there was one thing he did take. He rummaged around in his wardrobe, reaching to the very back, and found his hero costume. He hadn’t taken it when he’d left the city; the point was to lay low, so he thought he didn’t need it. That didn’t stop him from doing some stakeout work anyway (he just couldn’t stand by), which eventually led to him getting caught by IRIS. But he was glad he left it behind now. After all, if he’d worn it to that IRIS stakeout, they probably would’ve confiscated it once he got captured.

He barely managed to finish changing into his costume when the doorbell rang.

Schneep froze, still in the middle of adjusting the coat so it was comfortable. Who the hell could that be? People didn’t normally come up to his apartment, and he said he was going to meet the others near the house on Aspen Street, so it wasn’t any of them. Silently, he crept up to the door and peered through the peephole... but saw nobody.

Or at least, he didn’t see anybody at first. There was another knock on the door, and then a figure backed away from it, looking left and right in confusion. A redheaded boy—was that Will?

His instincts said this could be a trick. But... he could see through those illusions now. And even if he couldn’t, Distorter was probably busy with Anti. So Schneep opened the door and peered out. “Will?”

“Volt!” Will said, eyes snapping back towards him.

“Ah, no ‘Volt’ in the hallway,” Schneep said idly. “What are you doing here? Are you okay?”

“...I-I-I’m fine,” Will stammered... but Schneep could see the redness in his eyes, the sort that came from recent crying. “I—there was—Do you know the password?”

“The what?” Schneep blinked.

“Right, I-I guess Dad wouldn’t tell anyone else...” Will laughed a little, the sound wet. “Um, it’s Dad. That gray man, Distorter, h-h-he—” His voice hitched. “C-can I come inside?”

“Of course.” Schneep stepped aside, and Will hurried in. He was still wearing his school uniform and carrying his backpack. But most local schools have been out for at least two hours by now. “What happened? Oh, hang on, I have to let the others know you are here.” He took out his phone. “We were worried about you. Anti sent us a warning.”

“He did?!” Will’s eyes went wide.

“Yes, only a few minutes ago.” Schneep sent his message, then scrolled up to Anti’s. “At 5:01, apparently.”

“Th-th-that was probably right after the bus drove away...” Will said quietly.

“The bus?” Schneep prompted.

Will nodded, wringing his hands. He quickly stammered through an explanation of everything that happened, starting with how Distorter used a school staff member to make Anti think Will was in trouble, and ending with Distorter pulling a similar trick with a hypnotized bus driver, separating the father and son.

“That sounds awful, Will,” Schneep whispered. “B-but it is going to be okay. We have a plan.”

“Yeah, Dad... mentioned that a little bit...” Will said slowly. “A-are you... going to go after him?”

Schneep nodded. “Of course we are.”

Will slumped in relief at that. “Uh... your phone was beeping.”

“Oh, right.” Schneep looked at his text messages. It seems Jackie and Marvin had both responded to his message about Will.

Hes THERE?! Jackie said. How did he get there by himself?! Is he okay?

He would have told us if Will wasn’t okay, Marvin said. I think he’s safe, and thank god for that.

Schneep decided to quickly reply. He is fine, just a bit shaken. It seems Distorter found a loophole in our protection charms: controlling people other than ourselves. He gave a quick summary of Will’s story. Distorter lured Anti out of his flat by having someone else call him, and Anti pretended to be controlled. They went to the bus stop to get Will and Anti grabbed him and ran. Distorter chased, but they thought they lost him. Until Will got onto a bus and Distorter controlled the driver to take him away. It seems Anti told Will my address before then, so he found his way here eventually.

Jems says he’s very brave and clever, Marvin reported.

Im just glad hes okay, Jackie said. Rama said they could drive over to your place to pick him up, schneep. They can watch him and mich here.

Schneep glanced at Will, who was pacing back and forth during this whole exchange, trying not to appear as nervous as he was. “Are you okay with Rama picking you up and taking you to their house?”

“Yeah... I guess so,” Will said slowly. “That’s where me and Michelle usually stay while you guys do all this, huh?”

Schneep blinked. “Are you... upset that you cannot come, Will?”

“I... I’m just... worried about Dad,” Will said slowly. “He was really... freaked out. In like, that way that’s how he specifically freaks out. D’you know that?”

“I... think so...” Schneep said slowly. “But do not worry.” He put a hand on Will’s shoulder, squeezing it. “Anti is very strong, and with these magic charms, Distorter cannot influence him, or any of us. He will be okay. And so will you.”

Will nodded. He looked up at Schneep. “Promise to make sure he’s okay. And, uh, all the rest of you, too. You guys... you have to...” His eyes welled up. “Y-you guys have to c-come back soon, o-okay? I d-don’t want—I-I don’t want any of you to disappear suddenly again.”

In moments like these, Schneep was reminded that although Will was mature for his age, he was still a kid. He nodded seriously down at him. “I promise, all of us will do everything in our power to get back soon. Hopefully, we will be back before the night is over.”

“...okay.” Will let out a breath. “You promised. So I’m gonna remember that.”

“I would expect so,” Schneep chuckled. He turned back to the phone. Will is okay with Rama picking him up. Should I leave him here and hurry to meet you guys?

They debated over text for a bit, but ultimately, Will said he’d be fine waiting in Schneep’s apartment for Rama. “You have the magic protection thing here, too, right? I’ll be fine. You have to get to the house fast!” he said. And so, Schneep headed out, after quickly giving Will instructions on what he could and couldn’t touch in the apartment. Unlike the others, who had a car to get around, he was going to be stuck with walking and public transportation, so he had to hurry. He pulled a long dark coat on over his hero outfit and headed to the nearest bus stop.

———————

It was a short detour for JJ and Marvin to pick up Jackie. Part of it was probably because Jameson was driving unusually fast. He wasn’t a speeder by any means, but this was important! Once they arrived at Jackie’s house, JJ honked on the horn.

“It sounds like they’re outside,” Rama said.

“Yeah, sounds like.” Jackie took a deep breath. He walked over to Michelle and gave her a quick, tight hug. “I’ll be back by tomorrow.”

“...you promise?” Michelle asked, looking up at him with wide, nervous eyes.

Jackie smiled. “I promise. And when I’m back, we can watch anything you want. I know you’ve wanted me and Ren to watch that Supergirl show, right?”

Michelle nodded. “Yeah. Okay. W-we can do that!”

Jackie let go of her and turned around, and was immediately greeted by Rama. They looked at him, and Jackie gave them a hug, too, which they returned, squeezing him tight. “You be careful, Jackieboy,” they whispered. “Mi corazon.”

“I will,” Jackie whispered, leaning back. “I will.” He leaned in again for a brief kiss, then pulled back, double-checking his bag as an excuse to hide the worried tears in his eyes.

Rama squeezed his arm. “You got this,” they said. “Now go. Their car is probably blocking the drive, you guys have to leave first before we can go get Will.”

“Right, right.” Jackie nodded. “I... I love you.”

“I love you too,” Rama said. “But stop making this sound so final.”

Jackie laughed. “Okay, okay. I won’t say goodbye, then. Just... see you soon.”

“See you soon,” Rama repeated, smiling gently.

With that, Jackie hurried out of the house, making a beeline for the car parked in the drive. He opened up the back seat and climbed inside, looking up to see JJ and Marvin both turned in their seats, staring back at him. “Ready to go,” he said. “Hey, uh... how’d the tattoo appointment go?”

Well enough, JJ said, wincing slightly as he signed.

Jackie blinked, noting that. “It still hurts, doesn’t it?”

Yes, but this is an emergency, JJ said. Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt THAT much.

“...it doesn’t?” Jackie narrowed his eyes.

Don’t you trust me to know how my own body feels? JJ asked.

“I do, but I also know that you’d push on regardless anyway if you thought you had to.”

Marvin laughed. “He’s got you t’ere, Jems.”

Jameson made a face. Well in this case, I promise I can manage. It smarts, but I can handle it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need my hands to drive. He turned back around in his seat, putting the car in gear.

“Right, yeah, don’t let me stop you.” Jackie nodded. “We... we need to get there soon. Anti texted us like, what, forty-five minutes ago?”

“More like forty,” Marvin said, checking their messages. “But if he was over by his apartment when he wrote t’at, it’ll take him even longer t’ walk to Aspen Street. I doubt Distorter woul’ let him take th’ bus or train t’ere. So we’re still makin’ time. We wan’ to be t’ere before they arrive?”

“Ideally,” Jackie agreed. “Though I guess not necessarily? But the whole idea is to surprise Distorter, so... he might see us coming if we’re late...”

“We’ll hurry, t’en,” Marvin said.

JJ nodded decisively, stepping on the gas a little harder than he normally would have.

———————

They picked up Schneep on the way, arriving at the bus station in the suburbs just as the bus he’d come here on was pulling away. He didn’t say anything upon getting in the car other than a cursory hello. His expression was tense. Their upcoming mission must’ve been heavy on his mind. And, as the car started to wind further through the roads towards Aspen Street, it began to weigh down on the other three as well. Silence fell in the car as everyone began mentally preparing for what was to come.

Until... they saw something unusual on one street corner.

“Is that... Jack?” Marvin asked slowly. “And Stacy?”

Jackie and Schneep leaned to the side in unison. “Where?” Schneep asked.

“T’ere.” Marvin pointed. Sure enough, Jack and Stacy were standing right under the street sign for this intersection, with Stacy bouncing on her feet and Jack looking up and down the road. He spotted the approaching car quickly and began waving them down. “Uh, Jems?”

Jameson nodded, having the same curious thought Marvin was. He pulled to the side of the road and rolled down the window, looking at the two of them with a puzzled expression.

“So you guys were coming this way,” Stacy said with a sigh. “I was starting to get nervous.”

“What are ye doin’ out here?” Marvin asked.

Schneep rolled down his window in the back as well. “Are you two waiting for us? Did you know we were coming?” He took out his phone. “I am pretty sure Anti only sent the message in the chat with the five of us.”

“Anti sent you a message?” Jack asked, blinking in confusion.

“Oh, okay, you definitely didn’t get it if you’re that confused,” Jackie said.

“But t’en how and why are ye here waitin’ for us?” Marvin asked.

“Well, there’s a simple answer to that! ...sort of.” Jack held his pocket open, and Sam flew out. “We were just chilling at home when Sam jumped up and started insisting we had to meet you guys, saying you’d probably be heading to that Aspen Street house.”

JJ tilted his head to the side curiously. Really? Did they say WHY? Or did you just listen immediately?

“Of course we asked questions,” Stacy said defensively. “Me more than Jack, admittedly. I forgot about Sam’s, um... future vision powers.”

“It’s not really that,” Jack clarified. “It’s just that sometimes they get a feeling. Like, there’s a foreboding feeling, or whatever. They know when something bad will probably happen, and they know what to do to avoid that. They told me now that me and Stacy really needed to be here.” He tilted his head to the side and glanced towards Sam, who was flying in quick, tight circles in the air. “And now they’re saying that... we can... help you?”

“Help us?” Jackie repeated, blinking. “I, uh... I guess? Maybe? You guys don’t, uh, know what’s going on, though.”

“Not at all,” Stacy confirmed. “But you said something about Anti and a message?”

“Essentially, we are going to ambush Distorter,” Schneep said. “Anti is pretending to be under his control to hopefully lower his guard. When he heads into the house on Aspen Street, we will be there to... to stop him.”

“You... don’t sound too sure about that...” Stacy said slowly.

“Well, our plan is a bit shaky,” Schneep said. “I was expecting us to talk about it some more on the drive here.”

“You were?” Marvin looked back at him in surprise. “Why didn’ you say t’at?! I assumed you didn’ want to talk!”

“Yeah, me too,” Jackie said. “But I guess, uh, JJ wouldn’t have been able to participate much in that discussion anyway, since he needed to drive.”

Schneep blinked. “...ah. Well.”

JJ looked back at everyone. If we hurry, we can beat them to the house on Aspen Street. Then we can talk about what our plan is. We know time magic is the key, we can discuss from there.

“Time magic, huh?” Stacy blinked. “I’m not sure how much we can help with that, actually...” But Sam flew around behind her and began ramming into her, clearly trying to push her towards the car. “Whoa! Okay, okay!”

“Maybe ye can be lookouts,” Marvin suggested. “We’ll need t’ keep the car hidden.” He shuffled the cards in his hands. “I t’ink I have a spell t’at can help, but it’ll mean leavin’ some cards behind. If you two stay behind to keep an eye on th’ cards, and t’en maybe text us to know when Distorter and Anti are comin’... well, t’at woul’ be a real help.”

Jack nodded. “We can do that.”

Alright, get in, JJ said. Schneep, Jackie? You’re going to have to take off your seatbelts and squish together.

Jackie sighed. “Sure. It’s not safe, but at least we’re not that far away.”

Given what we’re going towards, I think the lack of seatbelts isn’t that much of a threat in comparison, JJ said grimly.

Jackie unbuckled his seatbelt and scooted over to the window. “..it’s still a threat,” he grumbled.

You’re undermining my dramatic moment, Jackie! JJ said.

“Good, I was trying to!”

Jack and Stacy piled into the car. The backseat was nowhere near big enough for four adults to sit, so everyone’s legs ended up overlapping as they all partially sat on top of each other. Sam flew into the car once everyone else was in, sitting in one of the cupholders. “Well, at leas’ we have Sam bein’ cute to emotionally support us,” Marvin commented.

JJ laughed slightly before turning his attention to the road.

...

...soon, it was upon them.

The house on Aspen Street looked the same as it always had. Always rundown, always dull, always seemingly lifeless. Nobody else knew that inside the house, space itself seemed to break as the environment turned against you. “You guys have to stick together,” Stacy said upon seeing it. “I-I don’t want to... y-you shouldn’t get split up like last time.”

“When ye came t’ rescue me, righ’?” Marvin asked quietly.

Stacy nodded. “Yeah. We all got separated.”

“Jems has told me abou’ his experiences in t’ere,” Marvin recalled. “It happens whenever ye step over a t’reshold, righ’?” He looked at JJ for confirmation, who nodded, parking the car on the street.

Schneep peered out the window, scanning the area. “I do not see Distorter or Anti,” he reported.

“Maybe they’re inside the house?” Jackie suggested. “Or... hiding in a bush?”

“Those bushes are not substantial enough to hide a person,” Schneep said. “Besides, Distorter would have no reason to hide in them, since he can disappear from everyone’s perception.” Except for Schneep’s, of course. “But yes, he could be inside with Anti. In which case... we will have to be prepared. We need to move fast.”

“And you need to stick together,” Stacy emphasized.

“We’re plannin’ on it,” Marvin said.

JJ turned back to look at everyone else. I think she means more than just... being in a huddled group. Right, Stacy?

Stacy nodded. “If you guys hold onto each other or something, it’ll probably stop the weird house magic from separating you guys.”

Schneep frowns. “That is a good idea... but we cannot hold hands all the time. I, for one, need a hand free to use my power.” His brow furrowed. “Verdammt. I should have brought some of my gear after all, I think the grapple cord could’ve come in handy here.”

You mean... a tether? JJ asked. I could try to connect us with my magic... He frowned. But that could disappear if I lose concentration, or... maybe it wouldn’t be enough. A magic rope seemed a lot more vulnerable to this strange separation than a physical rope was.

“Hmm...” Jack hummed. “Is everyone wearing pants with belt loops?”

Everyone glanced down at their pants in comical unison. “I think so?” Jackie said slowly. “Schneep, does your costume have belt loops?”

“It has loops for connecting various gadgets,” Schneep said.

“Close enough.” Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a few metal loops.

“...why do you have climbing carabiners?” Schneep asked, confused.

“I bought some at a sports supply shop a couple days ago,” Jack said. “I read online that if you have a lot of grocery bags, you can use them for easy carrying, so I thought I’d get some for me and Stacy’s grocery runs. But I just left them out on the counter for ages. I put them in my pocket earlier so I’d remember to put them away, but then Sam started freaking out, and... well, here we are.”

“That’s perfect, though!” Jackie gasped. “How many do you have?”

“Five,” Jack said, spreading them out.

Marvin counted on his fingers. “We’ll only need four, if we want t’ connect in a line. You can keep the las’ one.”

JJ nodded. Schneep and I are our best offense, so we should be on either end, with Jackie and Marvin in the middle. Any objections?

“None at all.” Marvin began searching through his cards. “Jus’ give me one moment to make t’at invisibility spell...” It would mean he’s going into the house with less than a full deck of runes, but he could work with that. A small price to pay for keeping Jack and Stacy hidden.

They moved fast once all those details were sorted. Marvin’s cards made the whole car—and its occupants—disappear from view. When the four of them said goodbye to Jack and Stacy and climbed out, they didn’t see a hint of the car they’d come from when they turned back around. Quickly, they headed to the front door, where they paused long enough to take out the carabiners. Schneep took up the front, followed by Jackie, then Marvin, then JJ in the back. The metal loops were large for what they were, but small compared to a length of rope, so they were standing awkwardly close together.

Schneep grabbed the front door’s handle. “If he is in there, we cannot waste time,” he said quietly. “I know it is hard to move like this, but we have to stay coordinated.”

The others nodded, all of them getting ready to move.

“On three, I open the door and we run in,” Schneep whispered. “One...” His grip tightened. “Two...” He turned the handle. “Three!”

Schneep flung the door open and they all rushed inside—and proceeded to trip over each other, Marvin and JJ collapsing and bringing Jackie down with them. Schneep managed to stay on his feet somehow, leaving Jackie in an awkward hands-and-feet position. “Good job, everyone,” Schneep muttered.

“Maybe t’is wasn’ the best idea after all,” Marvin groaned.

“Well, at the very least, it seems our entrance did not leave us vulnerable to attack.” Schneep scanned the empty living room. “Distorter is not here. I get the feeling he has not arrived yet.”

JJ grabbed a coat rack by the door, trying to pull himself up. Marvin helped, using his cane for leverage, and Jackie got up from there. Once they were all standing, the other three looked around as well. “No sign of him,” Jackie mumbled.

He can’t be that far, JJ said. We took long enough picking everyone up on the way. He looked out the front window, seeing nothing. We should... get ready.

Marvin shuffled nervously through his cards, fanning them out and double-checking they were all there. “I guess we’re really doin’ t’is...” He tried to mentally recall any of the time spells they’d found... but they hadn’t really found much of anything. Fear began to creep into his stomach, and his breathing started to speed up. He was going to mess this up. He had no idea what to do or how to do it, and this was all relying on his magick cards, he was going to let everyone down—

“Hey.” Jackie put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Don’t panic.”

“Huh?” Marvin looked over. “I-I’m not panicking.”

“You are,” Jackie said. “I can see it. Just... take deep breaths, okay? Remain calm.”

JJ nodded. Yes... we all seriously need to remain calm. His eyes darted around the room. This place is a magical echo chamber, remember? Anything we feel will reflect off the space in here and bounce back on us. If we get scared, we’ll soon be terrified. We have to stay confident.

Schneep nodded. “We can do this. And we should all say that we can. Everyone. We can do this.”

“W-we can d-do this,” Marvin repeated.

“We can do this,” Jackie whispered.

We can do this, JJ signed.

“That is the spirit.” Schneep nodded. “We have time to figure out the plan. Marvin, why not discuss the things you think could be helpful?”

“...right.” Marvin nodded. He looked down at his cards, separating out the jokers. “T’ese are the time cards. I t’ink... I can buy us some time...”

———————

Anti’s legs were really starting to hurt. It wasn’t every day he walked across the city without using the bus or trains, but Distorter clearly wasn’t leading him towards any of those. And if he wanted to keep up this charade, he couldn’t question anything. Maybe Distorter was making him walk on purpose, as some sort of punishment for fighting so much. Ugh. This sucked. He wasn’t that out of shape, was he?

But now, finally, they reached Aspen Street. Distorter paused to look back at him, his ever-present smile seemingly filled with excitement. “Almost there,” he said. “You can do it.”

Though he wanted to glare at Distorter and his stupid fucking passive-aggressive mockery of support, he forced himself to just nod slowly.

“You’re probably wondering what we’re going to do when we’re there,” Distorter said, turning back around. “Well, I think with your help, we can get a little party together. With all the rest of your friends there. Wouldn’t that be great?” He giggled. “Maybe that’s what they were texting you about earlier. Maybe they were planning a party.”

His heart skipped a beat when Distorter mentioned those texts. The second he’d sent his warning in the group chat, people had started responding. He had to quickly silence his phone before Distorter had turned around, curious about what all those sounds were. But luckily, Distorter had only said “It sounds like your friends really want to talk to you, huh? Don’t respond. We need to get home first.” And then he turned around and kept leading Anti through the streets. He'd dodged a bullet there; god, why was his phone unsilenced then of all times? Distorter had heard it... and he hadn’t forgotten about those texts, either.

They approached the house, and Distorter slowed to a stop, tilting his head to the side. He looked around... all around, torso twisting one way, and then another, spine cracking as it went. His smile remained present, but Anti couldn’t help but feel that was just a mask. “Do you hear anything?”

“...no,” Anti said honestly.

“Do you see anything?”

“No.”

“Look around. Listen closer. Is there anything unusual around?”

Uneasily, Anti looked around. He really couldn’t see anything weird about this area. Aspen Street was always quiet—or at least, this area was, the few times they’ve been here. Though... there was a faint, weird warping in the air. Was that... magic? Anti quickly looked away from it. His heart was pounding out of his chest. Good, the others were here. Hopefully. “No, there’s nothing unusual,” he said, keeping his tone dull.

“Good.” Distorter nodded once. “Come on.” He began walking up the path to the house’s front door.

Anti followed, eyes darting all around, looking for—there! Movement in the house’s window, for just a split second. His chest soared, filling with hope. The others were here! That meant that, even if this went wrong, at least he wasn’t going to be alone in here. And they probably also found Will and made sure he was safe. So that was good. He could face whatever was to come knowing his son was alright and his friends were going to be at his side.

———————

Jackie’s phone dinged with the noise of a text notification. He took it out and looked at the screen... reading a text from Stacy. His breath hitched. “Distorter is down the street!” he hissed. “And Anti’s with him!”

Jameson gasped. But he nodded, trying to project confidence. Then it’s time. Marvin, do you need help with anything?

“Y-yes, help me set up the time stop,” Marvin said. He’d never done this before, but he was pretty sure this one combination of cards would catch Distorter in time.

The group gathered by the front door, arranging Marvin’s cards in a large circle, with only one out of place. Then they hurried to stand by the side, ready to pounce into motion the moment the door opened. The carabiners still meant movement was awkward—Jackie fell to the side and almost collapsed the whole chain before he managed to grab onto the curtains—but they didn’t dare unclasp them, just in case. “They’re coming!” Jackie hissed. “I saw them!”

“Brace yourselves, everyone,” Schneep muttered.

———————

Distorter grabbed onto the doorknob, waiting on the doorstop, making sure Anti was with him. His smile widened. “Let’s go.”

He opened the door, and stepped inside. Anti lingered back—

A blackened hand shot out and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him through the door as well. Anti yelped, too taken off guard to fight back. Once inside, though, he regained his senses and wrenched himself free, stumbling to the side, eyes darting around

and seeing

nothing.

Just an empty room.

Nobody

Was there.

“...wh... what the...?” Anti’s eyes widened in surprised horror. Had he been mistaken? Had he not seen that movement inside after all?

And then Distorter began to laugh. Quietly, at first. But as Anti turned to stare at him, that laughter increased, growing louder to shrieking peals. All of it directed squarely at Anti. “Oh, I’m sorry!” Distorter said, tilting his head too far to the side. “It’s just so funny! The expression on your face! What, were you expecting your friends to jump me? Attack me with spells and lightning? Did you forget how this house works, Aodhán?! No space is the same! Especially when I don’t want it to be.”

———————

The floor began to shake. “What the—” Marvin glanced downwards, leaning onto his cane for support in this now-unstable environment. “What’s goin’ on?!”

Jameson summoned magic in his hands, the air around him lighting up blue as he did.

“Th-this has never happened before!” Jackie gasped. “I-is it an earthquake?!”

“With our luck? No!” Schneep glanced around. He lunged to the side, grabbing onto the archway that led into the kitchen—dragging everyone else along with him with surprisingly little effort. “Everyone hold on!”

“Hold on t’ what?!” Marvin gasped, looking around. “The furniture!”

The furniture, too, was shaking. And the shaking grew faster, and faster, loud thumps becoming even louder crashing. JJ winced, pressing his hands to his ears and dispelling the magic as he did. The furniture—the world was shaking so much that every item was leaving an afterimage. Half-formed blurred shapes of things breaking off and spinning into the air, multiplying rapidly.

SNAP!

Jameson looked down towards the sound. The carabiner connecting him to Marvin broke. One of the metal sides snapped right in two. “Jems!” Marvin gasped realizing the same thing. “Hold on!” He lunged towards Jameson—

SNAP!

The loop connecting him to Jackie broke. The sheer force of whatever shaking was going on caused it buckle and disconnect. Marvin fell to the ground... and when he looked up, Jameson was gone, only afterimages left behind in the shaking.

Jackie and Schneep saw Marvin struggle to get up, and saw as he, too, began shaking away into mere echoes. “Marvin! Wait!” Jackie cried. Marvin turned around to look at them, but the image of him disappeared before he could reach back towards them.

“Marvin!” Jackie screamed. He started to run towards the spot he’d been, but Schneep grabbed him and pulled him back. “Let me go, Henrik!”

“No!” Schneep shook his head. “Jackie, I think the house—its distortion of space is—th-the separation is in the rooms now! If you get too far from me, we will disappear from each other!”

Jackie looked back at him, tears in his wide eyes. “What are we supposed to do?!”

The floor gave a solid heave, knocking both of them to the floor. Schneep rolled over, grabbing Jackie and wrapping his arms around him, holding him tightly. “Hold onto me!” he gasped.

Jackie, stunned, could only do as he asked and wrap his arms around him, squeezing, holding onto what felt like the only solid thing. The floor—the walls—the ceiling around them seemed to break, but at the same time, the room stayed intact. It all began to shake away, and they could only make sure they had each other close.

———————

“This... this doesn’t make any sense!” Anti staggered backwards, away from Distorter, even though that just led him further into the house. “I just—we were—you couldn’t have—even if you guessed we were planning something, you’d never expect—I-I didn’t—”

“Didn’t give anything away?” Distorter asked. “You’re a very good actor, Aodhán. I’ll give you that.” He clapped sarcastically. “But you didn’t think I wouldn’t know my attempts to reach into your mind had failed? What, do you think Jameson doesn’t feel when his spells fail, too? These powers are part of us, stuff like that is as intuitive as knowing when you fail to grab something with your hand. And even if it wasn’t, your eyes didn’t start bleeding. That’s a dead giveaway.”

Anti’s mind was spinning. God, he was such an idiot. A failure. He thought he was playing along with Distorter, but he was only doing what this creature wanted him to. And now, his friends were in here... because of him. Because he sent that text. He led them here, into this trap... into his domain.

Distorter laughed. “Oh, I don’t need to see into your mind to know what you’re thinking now. Yes! This is all your fault.”

The world was spinning. No, the house was spinning, leaving streaks of itself in its wake. Anti couldn’t breathe. The very air of this place was pressing down on him. He fell to his knees—or was he pushed? Pushed by the weight of this house and everything that had ever happened in it?

“And now you’re all here!” That laughter rang out again. “With all my friends in one place...

Anti's eyes narrow in suspicion, then widen again. "Oh, fuck, yeah! You're--wait." He glances at the redheaded boy. "Uh, I mean--"

"Dad, I'm eleven, I hear you say that all the time," the boy says.

Anti laughs. "Alright, fine." He turns back to Bro. "You're from that--that other place. You're... Chase. Right. Sorry, I forgot your name." Then he notices the wound. He inhales sharply. "A-are you alright? Stupid question, you're not. Shit, we have to get to a hospital, uhhh..." He pulls out his phone.

Chase waves Anti off and tries not to let himself grimace, “no no I… I’m fine- I can heal fast just- hurts like a bitch till then…”

"I'm Will," says the boy.

Bro smiles down at the boy and waves, “Hi Will, you’re Anti’s son, huh? He def mentioned you pretty sure…”

"Yeah, this is Will," Anti repeats. "What're you doing here, anyway? How are you here?"

Chase’s eyes then widen as he straightens up and looks around frantically, “Oh shit right-! Uh I don’t know how it happened but- Magnificent… he took Alt- and made him use this weird doorway thingy! And then- god everything happened so fast… there was this huge burst of light then… I was here.” He shakes his head, “But god damn this… this isn’t good- Mag could still have Alt or- or he might go after some of you all again-!”

He looks at Anti desperately, squeezing his aching stomach. “Anti, can you help me find them?”

"Doorway thing...?" Anti is confused by that, but decides to move on. He's seen weirder. The point is that shit's going down. "Yeah, man, of course I'll help you find them. If that cat c--bitch is here, it could mean trouble..." He shivers just remembering things in that other world. "I gotta get Will home first, though. Or, maybe to Rama's house, it'll be safer that way. Yeah, I can call them to come here and pick him up."

"Daaaad," Will whines.

"No, don't be like that, bud, this is dangerous. Rama will keep you safe." Anti looks down at his phone again and starts tapping. "If you're sure that you can heal, we'll forget the hospital. I'm texting the others to let them know. Maybe they've seen Alt or Magnificent. In the meantime... I dunno. I need to stay here and wait for Rama to come get Will. You can stay too, or maybe I can give you the others' addresses and you can start looking around? Do you have your phone with you?"

Chase pats down his outfit in mid panic before relaxing, pulling out his phone. He’s not even in his super suit- but he does keep his utility belt tucked under his shirt sometimes. He’s wearing a tank top that looks like his super suit but with his emblem tinier in the upper corner- new merch he was trying out… heroes gotta eat too you know? And of course- his signature jacket, but one of his knock off ones that had a hood. He might not even need to whip out his mask- “yeah yeah I got it I….” He grips at his stomach and pushes past a wave of pain but it’s getting less and less. Only problem with super healing is it took energy from other parts of his body- meaning he might be grounded for a bit. God that sucked ass… but the others were always telling him he shouldn’t be pushing through injuries anyways. But his nerves were on fire thinking about Alt…

“I… fuck I guess I should try to recover for now… I might get myself lost otherwise. Hopefully one of the others might run into Alt…” He chewed on his lip in worry. “I hope he’s okay… and that whatever magic Mag used- hopefully he’ll be out of commission for a bit…” But- things like that don’t usually go their way.

"Okay good." Anti looks at him, concerned. "Yeah, sit down, man. There are benches everywhere. Alt's pretty tough, he'll be fine for a little while." Probably. Maybe.

Bro nods and stumbles to sink into a bench, holding his wound. He could feel it closing up and hardening but god that burned like a motherfucker. Sometimes he hated his ability- but it made it so he could save people faster and that’s what matters.

"Okay so I don't think cell reception works in other universes but WiFi is probably fine, so turn on the WiFi texting option so we can reach you just in case. I'll call my friend to come get Will." Anti glances down at his own phone. "Looks like Jackie and Schneep might be here soon, too. Good."

"I like your jacket," Will says to Bro.

Anti laughs. "Yeah, his jacket is cool."

Bro blinks and then smiles at Will, “Thanks lil dude! I… designed it myself- kinda- this is, a knockoff of the one I made. Superhero Fan merch you know-“ ah his delirium is showing off his adhd wonderful but hey, maybe this kid likes superheroes…

"Oh, cool. A real superhero?" Will's eyes are wide. "Like Uncle Schneep? Wicked. Michelle would go crazy!"

Bro grins wide and nods, “Yup! I’m Bro Fantastic~!” Shit did he even have his mask? He was too tired to check- would be cool to show the kid though. “Though you little dude, can just call me Chase if ya want- or bro~!”

Will looks over at Anti. "How do you know this guy?!"

Anti smiles gently. Eleven-year-olds are probably smart enough to understand multiverses, right? But are they emotionally ready to deal with that being real? Probably not. "It's a long story." Anti sits down on the other side of the bench Bro sits on. "Uh... we have some time. I'll explain..." Bro settles in to listen to Anti’s retelling, even if all he could feel was dull panic swirling in his gut.

-----------

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, Alt pops into being in a suburb. It's fairly ordinary-looking. Houses are taken care of. Except... for one. One that has yellowing grass, grayed peeling paint, and shingles falling off the roof. But Alt doesn't see that right away. He appears with his back to it.

Alt’s body is hard to piece back together at first, pixels and shapes at first before finally snapping back together. He crashes to the ground and grips tightly at his arm, biting back a pained scream. Black magic pulses painfully in his veins and it burned, eating away at him. Purple still fought in his eyes but- he was away from Mag and his influence so it was starting to clear. He grit his teeth and ducked his head to the ground, letting out an angry scream. “that MOTHER F̵̟̂U̵̎̉C̷̡̈́Ḱ̸͊E̵͐̒R̷͂̇!”

Okay okay- he needed to try to figure out what the hell was happening… all he could piece together was Mag took him, and used him for something. Something dangerous… Chase was there but- didn’t manage to stop it. Alt finally peeks up his head to try to look around, feeling himself pale. This… this wasn’t Brighton- it didn’t feel right. God no- did Mag actually manage to- to multiverse hop?? And he used Alt to do it!

Alt glitches angrily and curses up a storm as he tries to get to his feet. Ugh he feels faint- but he has to try to get up. He has to stop Mag- he has to find Chase!

As Alt struggles to get up, the door to the house behind him slowly opens. Then he hears it. The voice, so hard to describe and yet so distinct in its indistinctness.

"Well look who's back!"

Alt’s blood runs cold and he stumbles back from the door, unable to stop his limbs from starting to tremble. His eyes widen and he tries to glitch back but the black magic flares and leaves his body only fizzing with glitches. “No- no no no- not you…!” He whispers, dread filling every inch of his body.

Distorter giggles. How did he get so close to Alt without him realizing?! He's only a few feet away. "How'd you get here, Anti?" he asks, grin widening. "All by yourself, too? None of those friends of yours with you? Aw, what a shame. But it's okay." He takes a few steps forward. "They'd only get in the way." His head tilts to the side. "Looks like you're having trouble there. Can't get those powers to work like they should? How useless."

Alt’s panicking, trying to back away as he feels gray fogging up his vision. No no no!

“I… I don’t know- Mag… Mag did something…! He… he…” Alt tries to get his magic to work- but anything he tries to summon has the dark magic reacting in kind, sapping his energy. Still, Alt tries to hold out a sparking hand, blue and green struggling to flare up in his eyes. “S-stay back-! G-get away from me!!!”

"Oh? But it sounds like you need help. I'm happy to be there." Distorter's grin widens further. He walks right up to Alt, undeterred by his threats and sparking, and reaches out with a blackened hand. Stay calm, Alt. Nothing bad is going to happen =)

Alt shudders and tries to pull away but his thoughts start to fizzle into nothing but fog. Especially as Distorter manages to grab him.

He… he does need help. He’s in pain- he’s scared. Distorter can… can help… right? He’s… he’s helped before… right? It was all so… fuzzy.

Calm washes over him so fast he nearly loses his balance. It’s like all his senses have been turned down to zero. His eyes widen and the magic around him fizzles into the air into nothing but spare electricity.

“…help…” He whimpers- whether it’s to Distorter or a cry for someone else… it’s hard to say.

"Shh. Don't worry." Distorter's smile widens again as he steadies Alt from falling, holding him up. His grip is tight, clenching his upper arms. "Do you think that Magnificent came with you? He probably did, right? We should go find him before he finds you." Maybe this time he'd get one up on that magician. He'd be a useful friend. Or at the very least, it would be good to stop him before he messed with the others.

Alt swayed in Distorter’s grip, head threatening to fall to his chest. It felt like something was trying to leak out of his eye but he could barely feel it. “Yeah… mag… mag’s here.., we… we gotta… gotta stop him…”

Distorter was powerful, he could help Alt stop magnificent. …they were friends after all…

Distorter briefly wonders if any more people from Alt's universe showed up. If they did, it would be good to have a... shield of some kind. "Come on. We'll go together. We'll help each other. You can protect me, and I'll make sure nothing bothers you."

“Mmmmkay… yeah…” Alt muttered dazedly, eyes glazing over. “We can… protect e’chther…” His mouth didn’t want to work.

His mind tried to wander, brief panic flickering in his gut. A smiling face was in his vision- a nicer smile then Distorter’s… with sun kissed cheeks that radiated warmth. But, Alt couldn’t grasp onto why he was important. It didn’t matter. Distorter would tell him what mattered.

"Exactly." Distorter lets go of Alt, letting him balance on his own two feet. Is he still swaying? Whatever happened to him before must've done a real number on him. It'll be fine, though. Nothing to worry about. Now... where to go? He thinks about it for a moment, then nods. "Magnificent will try to head to a certain place sooner or later. Let's see if we can beat him there." He disappears from Alt's vision, reappearing some way down the sidewalk. "This way."

Alt nods distantly and trembles slightly before pulling his body to walk after Distorter. He gripped at his arm, a dull ache trying to make itself known. Blood flowed slowly down his cheeks as he dazedly walked after Distorter. He had to find Magnificent… he had to. Nothing else mattered.

————

Magnificent himself has appeared in a different, unfamiliar location--just as he wanted. This looks like a neighborhood, made up of rows and rows of old-fashioned-looking townhouses. He stands near a street intersection No people or cars are in sight... but there's a weird green glow coming from around one corner.

Magnificent looks around his new surroundings, a burst of pride and erratic excitement overcoming him. He laughed madly, clawing back his hair as he took stock of himself. Kinda weak from the spell but nothing he can’t recover… he just needed another source of magic to steal. But, at least he had enough to disguise himself… he can’t draw too much attention to himself right away. In a buzz of static his eccentric clothes change into something light and casual- a dark green button up, a black blazer, black pants and purple dress shoes. His scar is disguised- his hair pulled up into a brunette bun on his head. He grinned and checked himself over. Alright- perfectly normal!

He closed his eyes to let out some energy, trying to see if he can sense any magic sources nearby. Once recovered… he could hunt down the greatest sources of magic he can find here…

He opens his eyes to notice the green light and tilted his head curiously, much like a cat would. He started to slink towards it, almost hungrily.

There is a man standing at a bus stop. He's wearing a red jacket, which calls Jackie to mind, but he's not him. His hair is dyed green like meadow grass and his eyes are framed by a pair of glasses. The green glow is coming from something... floating... near the man. Something... green. And... spherical. It's moving up and down somewhat frantically, making it hard to notice details.

"--can't figure out what you're saying if you go so fast!" The man is talking to the floating thing. "I get it, it's important, but--really? Yeah, I know, but I can't fucking drive, do you want me to just walk away? We can keep going to their house--Okay, okay! Look, calm down, anyone could see you." The man glances around--and notices Magnificent. He freezes like a deer caught in headlights. The green thing also freezes and ducks behind him, like it's hiding.

Magnificent smiles charmingly at the two as he approaches. “Well… don’t you keep the most peculiar company?” He muses silkily, walking up but stopping just a bit short of the pair.

“You seem distressed, young man. Might I ask what’s troubling you and your… pet?” His eyes locked into the glow from the spherical thing- he couldn’t understand the power that came from it but it had something. And that was enough…

"Uhhh..." Jack takes a single step backwards, immediately wary. This stranger... he looks like Marvin, but he obviously can't be him. Unless he figured out some new spell with those cards, but even if he did, Marvin would never call Sam a pet. "W-well, I... I'm actually on my way to visit some friends, but they... want to leave..."

Sam wants to leave because Sam was suddenly struck by the feeling that something terrible is going to happen. And as they hide behind him, they say that this might be it.

No kidding. But Jack's not sure how to proceed. He didn't expect to be ambushed by...whoever this is. Maybe this is one of Distorter's tricks that he heard so much about? "And, uh... I-I don't want to upset them, so I'll just... hurry and go..." Sam really doesn't want him to go to Marvin and JJ's house. They say the bad feeling just gets worse when they think about that.

Magnificent tilts his head like a predator looking down at its prey. Jack can see his image stutter slightly, one of his eyes glowing green, the other devoid of life, surrounded by ugly raised scars like cris cross over each other like lightning. But, the image quickly fades as the stranger smiles.

“I see- well. Don’t let me keep you! Sounds like this is an urgent matter… so sorry to disturb.”

It was taking everything in him not to pounce right now- but he needs to be patient. In control.

"Uh... yeah." Jack starts walking backwards... slowly... and then abruptly turns and hurries away, walking as fast as possible without actually running--who knows what would happen if he ran?! Sam perches on his shoulder as he fumbles with his pocket and starts pulling out the phone. He has to tell the others! This feels like some weird shit that'll involve them!

Ah perfect- these idiotic humans never thought about how bad it was to turn their back on a threat. Mag grins and then lashes out a hand to try to grab Sam in a flash of purple and green magic.

Sam's pupil widens as the magic grabs them and yanks them back. Jack immediately stops and spins around. "Sam!" he cries. "No no no, let them go!" Sam squirms, nerve-tail lashing, and Magnificent now has a clear view of them in all their eyeball-ness for the first time.

Magnificent’s eyes widen at the sight then he laughs, holding the eye up closer to his face with his magic. “Well aren’t you a curious little thing?” He purrs. He then cups his hands around the eyeball and starts to crush his magic around them. “I hope you’re not too attached to your human, little eye, because I need whatever magic or power is running through those nerves of yours!”

He’s not sure if he can- but he tries to see if he can siphon some magic from this strange glowing creature.

Sam squirms, tail lashing. Their glow dims slightly and Magnificent feels... something. It feels sour, in some way. And sharp. But it's only a small trickle, and their glow is still going pretty strong.

Magnificent squirms slightly at the feeling of the magic he siphoned. Unpleasant… but something…

"Hey! Asshole!" Jack looks around, desperately. He doesn't want to get too close but he can't just let Sam be hurt. In desperation--acting on instinct and not really thinking--he throws his phone at Magnificent. Immediately regretting it the moment it leaves his hand but oh well its too late now he's committed!

Before Mag could push for more he hears the shout and then lifts up a hand to catch the phone in a wave of magic.

Unnatural cat-like eyes meet Jack’s glowing in the night as the man grins. “ooooh? Is the human thinking himself brave? How adorable~!”

He flicks his hand and his magic darts back to make Jack’s phone hit in the stomach. Magnificent’s voice darkens to something dangerous, “I have no use for useless things like you- get out of my sight and I might spare you~” He chuckles, crushing a hand around Sam.

Jack staggers back and barely manages to grab his phone before it falls to the ground. What should he do? What can he do?! He looks at Sam. Their nerve-tail flails wildly, but they tell Jack to get out of here, that they don't think anything too bad will happen. But Jack can't just leave them!

Then he has an idea. He makes a show of fumbling with his phone as he puts it back in his jacket pocket, using the motion to hide him dialing the first number on his recent contacts. "I-I'm not useless," he says, further distracting this--this evil doppleganger. "I--I know about you. Or--or your kind. You're a magician, aren't you?! What are you going to do with Sam? They can't--they can't help people like you!"

Magnificent chuckles more and tosses Sam up and down in his magic, like someone throwing a ball. “I guess you could lump me up in that title- though I am something far greater~!” He purrs with pride. “As for your little creature- I don’t need much… just a bit of whatever power they have to claim for my own. Then- I can hunt for… bigger fish~” Mag’s eyes glow brighter as he grins. “You know of magicians- that means some are around… I guess you were more useful to me than I thought!”

He shakes his head and then looks down at Sam. “Though- you are rather unusual, little eye… maybe I should keep you to study closer, hm?”

Nope nope nope nope--Jack can feel Sam's distress at that statement. They say something about deja vu and other Sams that he doesn't quite understand, but it's not the time to ask about that. "No!" Jack blurts out. "No, you can't--you can't get anything from them!" That sounds desperate (which it is) but he's pretty sure it's true. "I can--i-if you're so curious I can tell you anything you want about them, just leave them alone!"

There's a faint voice on the other end of the phone conversation. He can barely hear it but it's recognizable. He wonders how fast they can get here. Even if they run it'll take a while--maybe there's some magic that can help.

Magnificent studies Jack with a critical eye. He could see a faint magic aura from this boy- but it’s faint. Not even flowing in his blood, just there. How disappointing.

Mag pulls his lip back in a snarl. “I have no time to waste on hardly magic mortals, boy. I doubt any information you know will even be of use to me.”

Mag squeezes at Sam trying to see if he can get another inkling of magic- he can’t teleport right now, and he isn’t stooping down to running away from something that’s not even a threat.

Jack's heart pounds in his chest. Sam is begging him to leave, to run, reassuring him they'll be alright. He doesn't believe them. But he'd be no help if he gets himself killed. He stands there, frozen, watching Magnificent squeeze his friend--

And then there's a puff of blue smoke behind Magnificent. Before it even disperses there are three wheels of blue light spinning out, heading straight for Magnificent.

The dark magician barely has a chance to suck anything from the eye before he’s struck by bolts of blue light. One hits his arm- then the others manage to throw him off his feet, He flies back, the magic holding back Sam crackling into static. He yells in anger, his disguise also melting away to show the masked villain in all his dramatic glory.

He turns to snarl at the source of magic that dared to strike him-!

Jameson stands there, hands raised, a shield crystalizing into place even as the smoke from the teleportation spell still lingers. His eyes widen. He thought he recognized the voice over the phone but he hoped he was wrong.

Sam flies to Jack as soon as they're able, smacking into his chest. He catches them and holds them close to his chest.

Go! Jameson signs.

Jack hesitates.

Go! He repeats, more insistently. Tell the others!

After another second, Jack nods, and turns and runs.

Jameson lets out a breath of relief. He just needs to distract Magnificent for long enough. He's sure that the dark magician would prefer him as a target instead of Jack.

And he's right- Magnificent's eyes light up hungrily as he pulls himself and sways slightly, looking off kilted as he grins wildly. "Well well well! Hello there, kitten~!" He laughs. "Oh I was hoping the universe would be kind to me... and they deliver you here to me on a sliver platter!"

The mad magician then lunges at Jameson with his hand outstretched- trying to grab him with his claws.

Luckily, Jameson's shield is solid. He spins it around to block Magnificent's attack. How are you here?! he asks, unsure if Mag would know what he's saying. Then he puts his hands together, cupping them like he's holding a ball. A sphere of blue light forms in his hands and he drops it on the ground, letting it splash. The magic spreads across the sidewalk, turning it blue and slick like ice.

Magnificent bangs across the shield and then jumps back, landing in a crouched position on the sidewalk. His eyes reflect the light like a cats as he giggles, pulling himself up to full height.

A voice slithers into Jameson's head, purring, "Now Jameson... so hostile~! Is this anyway to treat your master?" His eyes are swirling as he tries to advance. "It'd be so much easier if you didn't fight, little bird... I won't harm you, I only need to borrow something from you."

The magic spreads across the sidewalk and Magnificent stumbles then hurries to hold himself up, trying not to fall flat on his face. He growls. Being drained is a real inconvenience... but all he had to do was make Jameson fall back under his thrall.

Jameson flinches back, keeping the shield up. He smiles a bit as he sees Magnificent stumble--there's something vindicating about that--but it distracts him for just enough to make eye contact. The swirls are familiar... comforting... His shield is flickering... No--no! He shakes his head and tries to resist but... why would you resist something so beautiful? The shield dies quickly.

Magnificent grins even wider and strides forward more, humming. "Very very good, birdie~! Fall nice and deep for me... and this won't hurt a bit~"

He approaches and then grabs Jameson's arm, digging his nail into the skin, branches of black veins spreading across the surface. Then, he tries to siphon magic from the magician, greedy trying to pull as much as he can.

Jameson shivers. There's a dead feeling creeping into him from his arm, from the spot where Magnificent grabbed him. He looks down and sees the black veins spreading. Faint alarm bells go off in his head but he can't bring himself to do anything about it, even as weakness makes his arms and legs tremble. He falls to his knees, breathing heavily.

The air seems to shimmer...

Magnificent laughs as blue light floods into his veins, pulsing with energy then fading to blazing purple. He feels his magic and strength returning. He doesn't drain Jameson completely though, not yet- He may be of use to him... he needs to find another way to hop to the next multiverse before he finishes up here. Oh and find his cub... just in case. But, this will suffice for now~

He lets Jameson drop to the ice below and sighs dreamily, "Mmmm just what I needed! Thank you very much, Jameson~!" He then bends down to pick him up by his hair and hums in thought, "You should stick by me though, little lark~ I may have further use of you."

The mad magician is too distracted by his prize to notice anything shimmering in the air-

Jameson's eyes are glazed over. He doesn't react at all to anything Magnificent is saying or doing. The combined hypnotism and draining has left him weak. He looks up at Mag and mumbles in a raspy voice, "Yes... yes, Magnif—"

And then, for a split second, there's a flicker of orange and blue and yellow, a spiral much different than the ones Magnificent uses—

And Jameson is gone.

The stolen magic remains in Magnificent's veins, but the blue ice coating the sidewalk is also gone.

As if it—and Jameson—were never here in the first place.

Magnificent blinks in mild surprise at the new colors- then springs to his feet as Jameson disappears, wildly looking around for any lingering hints of magic. He then curses in Gaelic and throws a tinted punch into the bus stop sign, making it dent in on itself in a burst of purple and green sparks.

“Fucking—!” Anti jumped in surprise at the loud sound. He always kept his phone on vibrate, but it was currently resting between a metal water bottle and a knife, so when it vibrated it made a loud clattering sound. He picked it up and glanced at the Caller ID, expecting one of his friends. But instead, this was... Will’s school?

His annoyance quickly turned into confused anxiety. It was about 2:30, near the end of the school day. In another forty minutes or so, he’d have to hurry to meet Will at the bus stop. Why was the primary school calling him right now? Was it an early day or something? He took a deep breath and answered the call. “Hello?”

“Hi, is this Mr. McLoughlin?” asked a polite female voice. “Will McLoughlin’s father?”

“Speaking. What’s this call for?”

“This is Brenda with Mirygale Public Primary, there’s been an incident at the school and we need you to come pick him up.”

“Whaaat sort of incident?” Anti asked slowly.

“It seems Will got in a physical fight with another boy and has been injured,” the voice explained patiently.

Anti felt a jolt pass through his entire body. “What?!”

“It’s quite a shock. We’ve called for the hospital but—”

“The hospital?!” Anti shot to his feet. “It’s that bad?!”

“Will will be fine,” the voice reassured him. “But the nurse said it would be better if he was taken to some sort of emergency room. We’re calling to notify you so you can get here before the ambulance does.”

“The ambulance?!” Anti’s voice cracks. “I-I’ll be right there!” He hung up, shoving his phone in his pocket.

His heart was pounding, the fear so thick it felt like a physical stab to the chest. He barely took the time to grab his wallet and a single knife before rushing out of the room, and through the living room to the front door.

He took the steps downstairs two at a time, going so fast that sometimes the only thing that kept him from falling was his iron death grip on the railing. The neighbors were probably going to complain about loud noises in the hall and the stairwell, but he didn’t care! He ran out across the lobby and burst through the front doors of the apartment building, looking left and right. Which bus route would be the fastest way to Will’s school?!

Anti took a deep breath. Alright, calm down. He’d be no use to Will if he was in a panic when he got there. He needed to be calm, otherwise Will would be freaked out to see his dad so worried. Ugh, why did he have to get in a fight?! It had been years since he’d done that! And what sort of fight between eleven-year-olds got so bad that one of them needed to go to the hospital?!

Wait... hold on a second.

Now that he’d stopped moving for a second, some doubts were starting to arise in his mind. Questions about this whole thing. As far as he knew, there was no one named Brenda working the phones at Will’s school. Maybe... maybe she’d been a recent hire? Yeah, that would make sense. She’d used the term ‘emergency room’ instead of something like A&E, so maybe she just moved here from America... though... she didn’t have an American accent... And wait, who would Will be picking a fight with? Anti had always encouraged him to come to him with his problems and complaints from school, in the hopes that talking it out wouldn’t lead to something drastic like this. But... maybe someone else had started the fight? Will hadn’t spoken about any bullies or enemies, though...

And... he didn’t think... any of the staff at Will’s school called him by his shortened nickname... He was pretty sure that it was school policy to refer to the students by their full names, so... he’d be ‘William,’ not ‘Will,’ wouldn’t he...?

A laugh danced through the air behind him. “I guess you really do care.”

Anti spun around, reaching into his pocket for that knife he’d grabbed. There, standing right in front of the entrance to his apartment building, leaning back against the closed glass doors... was Distorter.

“Y-you...” Anti’s eyes went wide. “H-how? How did you—th-that was really the school’s number—” He could feel that charmed bracelet still on his wrist. He’d been wearing it ever since JJ and the magicians made it, even in bed and in the shower. There was no way Distorter could’ve tricked him into thinking that call was something else!

“You all seem to think you’re the only friends I have,” Distorter said. “I make new ones all the time! Brenda is so nice, have you ever met her? Probably not, janitors don’t usually attend PTA meetings.”

Anti instantly understood what happened. Distorter had mind controlled some poor woman at Will’s school, using her to make that call, all while he waited down here for Anti to come rushing out in a panic—which he had. Falling right into his trap. Anti took a step backwards. “Will... Will isn’t... actually hurt, is he?”

“Oh, he’s fine, I’d never do anything to him,” Distorter said. “I don’t even have thoughts about hurting my kids! Unlike some people.”

“Bullshit,” Anti retorted. “We know your past now, you fucking freak. Even more than we did before. We actually saw what you did to your family!”

In an instant, Distorter is in front of him, inches from his face. Anti bit back a yelp as he felt his nails dig into his shoulders through his shirt. “...you saw what?” Distorter’s voice was low, threatening. Unlike any tone they’d ever heard from him before.

Anti swallowed the sudden fear in his throat. “We saw your past,” he said quietly. “We saw you kill them... and then... turn it on yourself.”

Distorter’s face was so close to his; Anti couldn’t really see his mouth from this angle, but he had the strangest feeling the ever-present smile had disappeared. “How?”

“F-fucking... magic and shit, that’s how.” Anti tried to maintain an air of confidence as he slowly moved his hand towards his pocket. He needed to grab his knife, or his phone, or both—

Suddenly, Distorter backed up again, letting go of Anti’s shoulders. He still blocked the way back into the apartment, standing there with his head tilted to the side and his arms dangling loosely. “Well, the past is never dead, now, is it?” he said. “No matter how much you try to kill it. Right? You know that, don’t you... Aodhán?”

Anti shivered. He didn’t dare take his eyes off of Distorter. But he knew this area, surely he could just turn and run without worrying about navigating unfamiliar surroundings. He couldn’t hear any pedestrians right now (which was a little weird, there was a fair amount of foot traffic here) or any cars, either. So he didn’t have to worry about getting distracted by people. He could just run. Maybe get Distorter to follow him around the block so he could end up back here and go inside? But could he ever outrun Distorter? That was the question, wasn’t it?

“Nothing to say to that?” Distorter asked. “That’s fine. Now that you’re here, I want you to do something.” He leaned forward, his whole body moving like it was a single line instead of bending at the waist like a normal person would. “Come with me.”

A strange sensation washed over Anti’s mind. It was... cold, though you couldn’t exactly describe it as that when it wasn’t something he physically felt. It was... cold thoughts, pressing up against the glass window of his consciousness. He instinctively knew that this was Distorter’s power. It was being blocked by the charmed bracelet after all! A vicious triumph surged in his heart, but he was careful not to let it show on his face. The second Distorter realized his mind tricks weren’t working, he might try something else. He had to use this advantage while he had it... so he took a step back, trying to look confused and conflicted. “Come... with... you?”

“Yes,” Distorter nodded, taking a step forward. “I have something I want to show you.”

Those chill thoughts became even colder, wrapping all the way around Anti like he was sticking his head out through a door and into the cool autumn air. He winced; even if this wasn’t controlling him, it still wasn’t pleasant to experience. “S-stop that,” he said, clutching his head with one hand. While his other kept trying to reach into his pocket...

“Stop doing that,” Distorter snapped, and Anti instinctively froze, not sure what ‘that’ was supposed to mean. “This won’t take long. It’ll be over before you know it. You can even take a nap. I know how much you struggle with getting enough sleep. Wouldn’t a nap be nice?”

Anti pretended to consider this. He had to sell the illusion that he was falling into Distorter’s fog. “It... would...” he said slowly. “But...” Secretly, his mind was whirling. He had to contact the others without Distorter realizing. He could probably grab his phone really quick and send a message, but only when Distorter looked away—which he wasn’t doing.

“But what?” Distorter pushed, and the autumn chill in Anti’s mind began to grow even colder, like the first days of winter.

“But... will...” Anti trailed off. What could he say right now?! The only thing he could think of was—

“Will? Aw, so you’re still worried about him?” Distorter asked.

Anti inhaled sharply, his head instinctively snapping to the side, looking towards where Will’s bus stop was. Shit! Could Distorter read his mind after all?! How did he know he was worried about him?! Will was the last person Anti wanted to draw Distorter’s attention to!

“Sh sh shhh... calm down,” Distorter said, and those cold thoughts became even frostier. “Will will be fine. It’s so nice that you said his name, but he’ll be fine without you. Better than ever, even.”

Oh... okay, he hadn’t read Anti’s mind. He’d just heard ‘but... will...’ and assumed Anti meant his son, and wasn’t asking the start of a question. “I... I can’t leave him...” Anti said quietly. Which was true, even if the dull tone he was using wasn’t at all accurate to how he was feeling. “I... H-he needs to... get home... I-I left him behind before, when... when IRIS—”

“You did leave him, didn’t you?” Distorter interrupted. Anti tried not to glare in anger. Like the IRIS shit had been his fault. Like he’d meant to leave Will behind. “Hmm... alright... let’s go pick him up, then.”

“What?!” Anti gasped.

The cold thoughts became a blizzard, a whirling whiteout that would’ve overwhelmed him if not for the glass casing of the charm protecting his mind. “Let’s... go... get him,” Distorter said slowly, like he was repeating things for a child. “We’ll take him back home, and then you and I can go do that thing I wanted you to do.” His smile widened. “Don’t worry. He’ll be safe without you. Safer than ever, even. You’re no good for him, after all. Right?”

That last word was accompanied by another spike of cold. Distorter wanted Anti to agree with him. “R...right...” Anti said reluctantly. “We’ll go... take him home...”

“That’s the spirit!” Distorter said cheerfully. “Go on, you lead the way.”

Again, the cold spiked. Anti winced, then stepped forward, slowly, hesitantly, walking towards Will’s bus station. He was too deep in this act now; he had to keep it up. And forget contacting his friends! If Distorter was behind him—which he was, Anti could hear his footsteps, feel his presence prickling the back of his neck—then he would see him grabbing his phone.

New priority: get Will the fuck out of here.

His mind raced as he walked, going as slow as he could possibly excuse to try and save time. Luckily, people seemed to shuffle along when under Distorter’s control, so that wasn’t too suspicious. Okay. Okay. There was a train station near-ish by. If he and Will could somehow get there, maybe they could hop on a train and separate from Distorter? But Distorter would probably realize when he was trying to leave... Maybe he could just... bring Will back to the house? Assuming that Distorter wouldn’t suddenly change his tune when he saw Will and say something like ‘actually, wouldn’t it be easier if he came with us?’ Because Anti could definitely picture him doing that. Maybe they just had to book it. If they wove through the buildings enough, maybe they could lose Distorter. He was probably faster than Anti, but Anti had this area memorized. Maybe he could find some twist or turn that Distorter wasn’t expecting.

Shit, they were already at the bus stop.

Anti instinctively went to stand at his usual spot waiting for Will, leaning up against the corner of a building (far enough away that Will wouldn’t be embarrassed to have his dad there, but close enough that other people would know he was supposed to be there, and wasn’t just being creepy). He considered his options as he stared down the street, looking for the bus, trying to ignore Distorter. The gray man slipped into a nearby alleyway, but he was still in the corner of Anti’s vision. Ignore that. Try to ignore that. Consider the options. The last one of just running was probably their best bet. God, he wished he’d thought to bring his gun with him. The kickback from the bullet usually delayed Distorter for a second. But considering he’d initially thought he was going to Will’s school... well, there was no way he was taking that there. Grabbing his small knife was already pushing it, he had no doubt he’d be banned from school grounds at best if they saw he had that.

Shit, there’s the bus.

His eyes locked onto it. Would Will see Distorter hiding in the shadows? Probably, since he was still wearing his own protection charm. And he was a pretty observant kid, too. Okay, so he had to quickly and discreetly explain the plan to Will before he drew too much attention to himself. Okay, and then they’d run—where would they run? Across the street was probably the safest bet, but that might bring them into the path of the bus.

Shit, the bus’s doors were opening.

Anti watched as the kids moved up from the back of the bus, moving against the windows until they reached the door and flooded out. Will was the last one to leave, as he paused to say goodbye to the bus driver. Thus, he was pretty much alone when he stepped out onto the sidewalk. He looked around, and spotted Anti quickly, waving cheerfully as he walked over. Anti swallowed a lump in his throat and hurried forward to meet him.

“Hi Dad!” Will smiled, but then tilted his head to the side. He knew enough about his dad to recognize when something was wrong. The smile slowly fell from his face. “What’s—”

“Hey bud, can we hurry over here really quick?” Anti interrupted. He held out his hand, which Will took, and guided him towards the street.

“Uh—what’s going on?” Will asked. “Dad, you said to never walk in front of a bus.”

“Yeah, I know, but we’re taking a different way home,” Anti said. He stepped off the curb and into the street, glancing back over his shoulder—and his heart stopped. Distorter was following him! He was hurrying past the other kids, black eyes fixed on Anti as he approached. Anti felt his legs lock up in fear.

Something shifted in the engine of the bus. It was going to move! “Dad!” Will hissed. “The driver can’t see us from here!”

A bolt of an idea struck Anti’s head. “Hurry!” he said, running forward. Will followed, of course, and they reached the other side of the bus. Will kept going into the middle of the street, but Anti stopped, letting go of his head. He looked back over his shoulder. Distorter stepped into the street, lunging for Anti. And then Anti jumped forward—

—right as the school bus moved, slamming into Distorter. There was a horrible SMAK! of an impact, but the bus didn’t stop. Distorter wasn’t easily seen, and it was clear he was trying to be unnoticed by everyone but Anti right now, so the driver didn’t realize he’d hit him and just kept going forward.

“What?! Dad!” Will turned around, staring at Anti with wide eyes, his face white as a sheet. “What—why did you—was that—”

“Sorry bud, I realize that probably worried you.” Anti walked over to Will, holding his hand out again. “I just had the idea right now. Distorter—the gray man is here. H-he’s really coming after me. We have to hurry home.”

Will inhaled sharply, and quickly reached out to grab Anti’s hand. Anti could feel him trembling in his grasp. “W-we shouldn’t stay in the street.”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Anti rushed across the street, taking Will with him. They stopped when they reached the sidewalk, and Anti glanced over his shoulder to look at the bus. It was moving out of place. And he could see blackened claw-like hands poking out of the back, grabbing at the asphalt. Distorter would be free in a second. Anti faced forward again and hurried into the alleyway in front of them instead of going either left or right.

“Dad, what happened?” Will asked, looking up at him.

“Um—okay, I-I’ll start from the beginning,” Anti said. His heart was pounding out of his chest. The alleyway in front of them was partially blocked off by an open gate. He and Will hurried forward, and Anti pulled the gate closed behind them. Anything to stall Distorter. “Okay, so, I got a call from your school...”

They hurried through the alleyways, ducking and turning whenever they could. Anti kept glancing over his shoulder, checking and double checking that Distorter wasn’t there. He didn’t seem to be, but he knew that he was pursuing them. They had to lose him before they got back to their apartment.

“S-so he hypnotized the janitor lady to do that?” Will asked as they wove through bags of trash dumped all around in this small side street.

“Yeah. You know the janitor?”

“A little, I’ve seen her around.” Will was breathing heavily, but he trudged along, keeping up with Anti—though not without effort. “Why did you pretend you were also controlled, Dad?”

“Me and my friends have a plan,” Anti said vaguely. “Distorter doesn’t know we have these protective charms. So we’re going to try to lure him into a trap.”

“Really? How?”

“We... figured we would...” Anti hesitated, trying to figure out how to say ‘we were going to wing it’ in a way that wouldn’t worry Will. “We figured we’d stop him outside the house on Aspen Street. If one of us could, uh, warn the others.”

“Okay...” Will nodded. “Um, you should call the others, right?”

“Yeah, I will.” Anti nodded. “But I need to make sure you’re safe first. I’d hate if I got distracted and you got hurt because of that.”

Will squeezed his hand. “Thanks, Dad. Um... do you know where we are, by the way?”

“Yeah.” He hadn’t been lying when he said he had this area memorized. Back when he first moved into his apartment building, he spent a lot of time wandering the roads, side streets, and alleys around the building. Partly out of a sense of aimless energy driving him to do something, partly to prepare for disasters. If something happened, if there was a disaster or he got in a fight or something, he needed to know the area around him. He hadn’t explored like that in a while, since that need had slowly faded, and his spikes of energy were less frequent. But the layout hadn’t really changed much. “We’re almost home.”

They hurried across a wide street, going into another alley. Anti’s thoughts traced the patterns of the map he’d built up in his mind. They were so close! There was their apartment building up ahead. He just had to go around the corner, and—

...

Distorter was there.

He wasn’t looking at them. His back was to them. But still, he was standing in the middle of the alleyway, right where they needed to go. He was... waiting for them. He hadn’t been following them at all, had he? He’d turned around and planned to intercept them at the building, didn’t he?

Will inhaled sharply, holding Anti’s hand in a death grip. “...Dad?” he breathed.

“I know...” Anti whispered back. “Let’s just... back up.”

They walked backwards, back towards another intersection. Okay. Okay. New plan. They had to get somewhere else safe. His friends’ homes were also protected, and Schneep’s apartment was the closest. Still, they might need to take a bus. Good thing he knew where the nearest station was.

Anti and Will turned down another alleyway, hurrying away from their building, and Anti leaned down to whisper to Will. “I think we need to go to Schneep’s place,” he said. “I know you’ve never been there, but—”

“I know you’re here.”

Both Will and Anti yelped in surprise. “Run, Dad!” Will said, grabbing his hand and yanking him along.

Distorter laughed, the sound reaching out towards them. “It’s no use! You know I’m so much faster than you, don’t you? Oh Wiiiiill! Come over here! You don’t want to spend time with that man. Do you know he’s dangerous?”

“Sh-shut up!” Will shouted, breathing heavily. “He’s... my... dad!”

“But you could have a better one!”

“Just run, Will!” Anti insisted.

Footsteps followed behind them. As Will started to lag behind, Anti scooped him up, despite how heavy he was getting, and kept running. They were close to the bus station! So close!

They burst out onto the main street, emerging from the back alleys. Anti glanced left, then right, then left again, and hurried to the bus station over there. They were in luck, he could see a bus rolling down the street towards them. It was the wrong line for getting to Schneep’s place, but they just needed to buy some time and get some distance between them and Distorter.

The bus reached the stop before they did, and for a second, kept going past it. “Hey you fuck!” Anti shouted.

“Hey!” Will waved his hands frantically. “Hey, we need you!”

The driver must’ve spotted them, because it then rolled to a stop. Anti ran up to the doors and leapt onto the bus as soon as they opened, setting Will down on the floor of the bus. “Thanks,” he said, panting. “I, uh...” He reached for his pocket... then froze. He didn’t bring his wallet. Where he kept his bus pass. And money. “...shit.”

“Something wrong?” The bus driver squinted at him, looking a bit suspicious. She glanced down at Will with concern. “Is everything okay, kid?”

“We’re running from a scary man!” Will said. “Can you close the doors please?!”

“Hm...” The bus driver still looked a bit suspicious. She glanced out the open doors, and Anti and Will turned around, looking out with her. Distorter was there, standing down the street... not moving towards them. He was just staring, his head tilted to the side. What was he doing?! Clearly, the bus driver couldn’t see him, otherwise she would’ve had more of a reaction. But she did close the doors. “It’s 4 quid for an adults to ride and 2 for children under twelve to ride. Unless you have a pass.”

“Y-yeah, I know...” Anti said slowly. “I uh...”

“Oh!” Will took off his school backpack and opened up one of the side pockets, taking out a handful of coins. “Is this enough?”

The bus driver looked at the varied collection. She took most of it, leaving behind two coins. “This is enough. Thanks kid. Hey, let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you.” She glanced back up at Anti, still a bit wary.

Anti’s heart panged a bit. But Will took his hand. “Thanks for helping me and my dad,” he said. “Come on, Dad, let’s sit down.”

“Y-yeah.” Anti nodded.

There were a few other passengers, most of whom were staring at the pair. Will walked towards an empty bench close to the door, taking the window seat. Anti sat next to him. As the bus started to roll, they looked out the window and saw Distorter. His eyes met theirs... and he waved goodbye, continuing to do so even as the bus turned a corner and disappeared.

———————

The bus ride was short and uneventful, but Anti had a hard time focusing on it. He knew the stop they needed to get off on, but  his mind was racing, telling him everything that could go wrong. What if Distorter was waiting for them again? What if one of the passengers on this bus ride called the police because they thought Anti was suspicious? What if he didn’t actually know the stop he wanted to get off of, or the bus line that led to Schneep’s place? Occasionally, the image of Distorter holding Will flashed through his mind, hurting as much as a stab wound every time it came up.

After a bit, though, they reached the right stop (if he was right and he wasn’t wrong about the stop or the line they needed) and got off. Distorter was nowhere in sight at this stop. They sat on the bench, and Anti kept glancing around, clutching the fabric of his jeans.

“...Dad?” Will asked quietly. “Are you alright?”

Anti tensed a bit. God, he was setting such a bad example. What was wrong with him right now? No no, it was... fine. Will was just concerned, because he was a good kid like that. He wasn’t thinking that his dad sucked or anything. “I’m... i-it’s complicated, Will,” he said quietly. “I’m fine, though, I promise. Why do you ask?”

“You didn’t say anything the whole bus ride,” Will pointed out. “And you never tried to call your friends, which... I thought we were going to do?”

“Fuck,” Anti cursed. “I-I forgot.” He reached for his pocket and took out his phone. But he fumbled with it, and it clattered to the sidewalk. “Shit.” He bent down and grabbed it.

“Are... you... okay?” Will asked again, in that same quiet tone.

Anti hesitated. He sighed. “You’re a big kid now. When you ask stuff like that...” He hesitated, thinking how to phrase this. Wondering if he even should. “Do you want to actually talk, or do you need to be... reassured?”

“Um...” Will paused, thinking about it. “I think... something in between, maybe.”

“Okay. Okay.” Anti nodded. “I-I was... really thrown off when Distorter said you got in a fight. He made me think you were hurt enough to need a hospital, and... that scared me. I-I didn’t think much about it, because I was so worried. And I’m... still feeling that a little.” He clenched his fists. For a second, his mind wandered down a path where Will had been in a fight like that, but he pushed it away. “But I’ll be fine. I’ve faced a lot of scary things before.” He smiled at Will. “I’ll be alright, as long as I know you are alright.”

Will nodded slowly. He reached out and grabbed Anti’s hand. Anti thought Will’s hand was shaking... but then he realized the shaking was coming from him. “Dad... do you... have problems?”

Anti laughed a little. “I think everyone has problems.”

“But I mean like...” Will paused. “Problems that most people don’t have. And I don’t mean the magic stuff. I mean... other stuff.”

Anti’s smile faded slightly as he looked at Will. “I...” He wasn’t sure how to proceed with this. “You’re... you’re a smart kid, Will. I don’t want to lie to you, ever. But... stuff like this is... difficult to talk about. And I don’t think... I don’t think kids should worry about their parents, you know? Though I-I appreciate that you do, you know, that’s... very nice of you. I don’t want you to spend too much time thinking about me, though. I want you to spend time being a kid.”

“But... you’re my dad,” Will said, blinking in confusion. “How could I not think about you?”

“I...” Anti let out a huff of a laugh. “Thanks... Will. Really. If... if you really want to talk about this, we can talk about it. But I don’t know if this is the best time for it, you know?”

“I guess you’re right,” Will said reluctantly. “I just... I want you to be okay, Dad.”

Anti squeezed his hand. “Will, I promise, even with all the weird and bad magic stuff happening, even with Distorter, I’m more okay than I’ve been before. And I promise, I’ll always... I-I won’t let whatever’s going on with me be a problem to you.” He smiled slightly. “I’ll always take care of you.”

Will stared at him. Then nodded, and gave a little scoff. “Well I know you will, Dad.”

Anti laughed. “I’m glad to hear that! There are some kids...” A memory flashed in his mind. “...who can’t really know that with such... certainty.”

“Yeah...” Will nodded. “I’m glad that I’m not one of them anymore.” He smiled at Anti.

And Anti smiled back, a warm feeling in his heart. Part of him said that he shouldn’t take value from his kid’s words, that he was supposed to be the one reassuring him in turn, that he didn’t deserve to hear such nice things. But he ignored that. If Will trusted him, surely he was doing something right.

Will glanced down the street. “Uh... is that our bus?”

“Hm?” Anti turned to look, seeing a bus approaching. He squinted, trying to see its number. “Yeah, that’s the 230. Okay, I realize you’ve never been to Schneep’s place before, so I’m gonna explain what’s going to happen.” He saw how some of Will’s anxiety melted away at that; he was always a little worried when he didn’t know the steps to do stuff. “We’re going to ride the bus until it passes Gingham, and then we’re going to pull the cord to signal that we’re getting out at the next stop. Schneep’s building is on that street, it’s called Highloft Flats. Big sign, always advertising tenants we can’t miss it.”

“Got it.” Will nodded. “And... later, are you... going to be okay with talking about... stuff?”

“My stuff, you mean?” Anti asked, and Will nodded. He sighed. “Honestly, I’m sometimes still... figuring my stuff out. I have some ideas, but... I promise I’ll be ready to talk about this stuff one day. Just not... soon. Okay? Worst comes to worst, ask me on your thirteenth birthday.”

“Deal.” Will nodded again, and Anti knew he’d take that seriously.

The bus approached, and the two of them stood up. Will let go of Anti’s hand, his preteen embarrassment about showing affection to his parents kicking in. Anti didn’t mind, though. He understood. And anyway, his mind was racing, thinking about ways he could get a ride even though he didn’t have his pass or money for the fare. He’d pretend to take the money from his pocket, then ask Will for the money for his fare, and then slip that in the little fare container, pretending to add his. Yeah, that would work.

It rumbled to a stop in front of them, and the doors opened. Both of them stepped forward, with Will moving a bit faster. He stepped into the bus ahead of Anti—

A coldness wrapped around Anti’s thoughts. He gasped in shock, stumbling. And then something slammed into his side, knocking him to the ground. “You need to look around some more!”

Will spun around, gasping. “Dad!” He rushed forward.

But: “Close the door!”

Will slammed against the glass doors of the bus as they closed right in front of him. He shrieked in alarm, banging his fists against them.

“No! Will!” Anti cried. He tried to stand up, but hands wrapped around his neck, squeezing tight. He choked, and thrashed wildly, clawing at the figure pinning him down. But the figure was unaffected, pushing him further against the ground. “You bastard! Let me go!”

“Drive!”

The bus started to move. Will screamed in alarm, trying to shove his way through the doors. They rattled, but didn’t give. “Will! Will!” Anti gasped, trying to speak even as the words were strangled in his throat. He reached into his pocket, desperately clawing at it, and pulled out the knife he’d grabbed, slashing at the figure on top of him.

“Ever so violent, Aodhán!” Distorter laughed, leaning over Anti. The blood from his eyes dripped onto Anti’s face, and he instinctively blinked, flinching as it got close to his own eyes. “He’s fine, isn’t he? My bus driver friend will take good care of him. All of you always forget how many friends I have. And I’ve been so busy making new ones, ever since your group has blocked me out.”

Anti choked, his eyes widening at the implications. But he could think about this when he could breathe! He stabbed his knife into Distorter’s arm around the elbow. It didn’t feel like stabbing flesh, more like stabbing styrofoam in the shape of an arm.

“What would Will say if he saw you doing this?” Distorter hissed. “How do you think he’d respond if he knew what you were thinking?”

“What... the fuck...” Anti gasped out, struggling for words.

“Aw, we can’t talk like this, can we?” Distorter moved fast, his arms going from Anti’s throat to his wrists, his iron grip pinning him down, his whole body pressing against his. “Much better. Anyway, do you think Will would be so inclined to trust you if he knew? If he heard about the urges you were holding back?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Anti growled, trying to break free.

“How often do you think about stabbing someone?” Distorter asked casually. “How often do you want to hurt someone?”

“Never, you sick fuck!” Anti snapped.

“Oh you can’t lie to me, Aodhán!” Distorter leaned closer to him. “I’ve seen your mind. I know how often you get caught up in those fantasies. I know very well. And you’ve let that part of you take over in the past, haven’t you?”

“Sh-shut up!” Anti glared up at him. “Those—these thoughts—they aren’t mine!”

“Then where are they coming from? Because they’re not coming from me, I assure you!” Distorter laughed.

“They—they might—They—” Anti stammered. “M-my brain may make them, but I don’t like them. And they’re not part of me! Don’t pretend like I’m a monster like you!”

“Is what you’ve done really different from what I’ve done?” Distorter asked. “Just because your son is alright, doesn’t mean that everyone you’ve ever fought with has come out of that encounter unscathed. How long is it before you give in? How long before you give in to those thoughts?”

Anti paused, gasping for air. Since when was Distorter so strong?! “Can you shut up about my mind for five seconds?”

“Your mind is close to mine, you know,” Distorter continued. “And that scares you.”

Anti squinted up at him, looking at his smiling face. “If my mind is close to yours... is that why you think I’m irredeemable? Because... that’s what you think about yourself?”

Distorter didn’t respond. He stared down at him, completely still.

And then Anti felt his mind grow cold.

“A-ah!” Anti winced. He knew this cold couldn’t hurt him, not while he was wearing that protection charm, but it was still somehow uncomfortable, like hearing a storm outside and worrying about how close it was getting to your house. And that discomfort intensified. He tried—and failed—to bite back a cry.

“Stop struggling,” Distorter said, leaning closer to him.

Anti’s instinct was to say fuck him and keep struggling, but it hit him that Distorter wasn’t going to stop until he was fully under his control. And the strength of this mental attack—it scared him. Could Distorter break through the charm’s protection?

Slowly, he lowered his head against the ground. He had to pretend again. He had to pretend that he wasn’t screaming for Will on the inside. He had to pretend that he didn’t want to growl out at Distorter and demand to know where that bus was taking Will. He had to pretend his hands weren’t shaking. He had to pretend. He had to pretend.

“Thank you,” Distorter said, his grip loosening slightly. “I can tell you’re still worried about Will, aren’t you? Don’t worry.” He let go of Anti’s left wrist and patted his face condescendingly. “I wouldn’t hurt him. You know that, right?”

Reluctantly, Anti nodded. He did have to admit that Distorter had never really hurt Will, or Michelle, or any other kids. And that controlling a bus driver to go off route was too... high-profile for him. But he didn’t have to be happy about it. His grip tightened on his knife.

“Now give me that.” Distorter pulled Anti’s right wrist upwards—and the knife within it. His fingers clawed at Anti’s, scratching his flesh.

Instinctively,  Anti’s grip tightened again.

“Give me that.”

He didn’t want to. But that cold attack sharpened, and he lost concentration on his grip for a moment. Just enough for Distorter to pry the knife out of his grip and toss it into the street. Shit.

“Alright, now we’re going to stand up, okay?” Distorter said. He backed off, getting off Anti and standing up himself.

God, he hated this. He wanted to lunge at Distorter, and he almost did, forgetting the plan to lead Distorter into a trap. But then... he thought about Will. On a bus, driven by someone who Distorter could control. He might’ve believed that Distorter wouldn’t hurt Will... but he also believed that Distorter would leverage Will’s wellbeing anyway. He could take him somewhere far away and threaten to never let him be found again. So... he stood up, slowly, clumsily.

“There we are.” Distorter’s smile widened. “Now let’s go. We’re going home.”

Home... to the house on Aspen Street. Anti knew where that was. He turned and started walking, once again mimicking the slow shuffle of someone under Distorter’s control.

“You can do it,” Distorter said, a mocking ‘encouragement’ in his voice. “Here, just follow me.” He walked ahead of Anti, gesturing for him to follow him.

Wait... was Distorter going to walk in front of him the whole time?

This... this was an opportunity.

“Well—what now?” Marvin asked, glancing back at the hospital nervously. “If Distorter is followin’ us, we jus’ left behind the one guy who coul’ tell us where he was.”

“We’ll survive,” Anti said firmly. “The same way we did before Volt could see him. I’m more worried about him. He’s still vulnerable.”

Persephone will protect him, JJ said. She’s the head of the Magic Circle for a reason.

“Where are we going?” Jackie asked, looking around the street. Mirygale didn’t usually have a lot of traffic, since the trains and buses were pretty efficient, but around this specific downtown area, there was always a bit of chaos. “I need a destination, preferably sooner than later.”

“We’re going to go to the house where the Magic Circle usually meets up,” Aoife explained. “Hang on, I have it in my phone, we’ll use the GPS.” She took out her phone and started hooking it up to the car. “That place is warded to hell and back. It’s also not too far from JJ and Marvin’s place, if we need something from there.”

“Right. Okay. That works.” Jackie nodded. He glanced down at Aoife’s phone, noting the first turn he had to take. “Read those directions out loud for me when they show up. Please?”

“No problem,” Aoife said. “Do we want to call any of your other friends? Your families?”

“Fuuuuck, Will’s going to be so worried,” Anti grumbled.

Did you call him while we were waiting in the hospital? Jameson asked.

“Rama’s watching him, and Jackie called Rama, I talked to him then,” Anti explained. “You were asleep while all that happened. Uh, so Rama’s all caught up on the stabbing situation, but we should probably update them and the kids, yeah. And probably Jack and Stacy, too!”

“What if Distorter goes after any o’ them, next?” Marvin muttered.

“That’s why we need to update them!” Anti took out his phone.

Jackie clutched the steering wheel tight in his hands. “Should we pick them up? Get them to come with us to this Magic Circle place? I-I don’t know if they’ll be—if they’ll be safe on their own—I-I know Sam can counteract Distorter, on some level, but they’re only with Jack, not the others, what if—”

“Bejesus, remember to breathe, Jackie!” Marvin said.

“And keep your eyes on the road,” Aoife added. “You have to turn left at the rotary up here.”

Jackie forced himself to breathe deeply, but his grip on the steering wheel remained tight as he guided the car through the roundabout.

“I’m a bit worried about them too, but let’s focus on getting you guys to safety first,” Aoife continued. “You five are Distorter’s main targets, and most at risk because of that. Once we get you to the Magic Circle’s house, we’ll double back for everyone else. It’s like how in airplanes they tell you to put on your oxygen before anyone else’s.”

“...oxygen?” Marvin repeated, confused.

“Yeah, like in all those safety reminders they give you, remember?” Aoife prompted.

He’s never been in a plane, JJ explained. He’s from before they were common, remember?

“Ah! Shit, right. Sometimes I forget you’re from a different time entirely, Marvin.”

“Well, I... s’pose t’at jus’ means I’m successfully blendin’ in.” Marvin smiled weakly.

Jackie looked nervous, but he nodded. “You’re... you’re right. Distorter seems to be making a beeline for us now. I-I think that he’ll keep coming after us until he runs into an obstacle. We... we need to get somewhere he can’t reach. Then... we can bring Rama and the others there after.”

“That sounds like a plan.” Anti looked down at his phone screen, open to all his contacts. He sighed. “I guess I’ll... have to explain this as calmly as possible. We don’t want anyone to lose their shit. And... we don’t want the kids to be afraid.” He paused, then inhaled deeply. “Alright. I’ll call Rama first. They have the kids, and that should be our highest priority.” The others nodded in agreement.

Anti made three calls while Jackie followed Aoife’s directions to the Magic Circle’s hideout. First, to Rama, which he put on speaker so that Jackie could talk to them and Michelle. Rama was clearly freaked out, but kept it together for the kids. Will took it in stride, saying he was ready to do anything to stop the guy who hurt his dad (“I’ll kick his ass!” “Hah! Thanks, bud, but remember not to say that word too often.) and so did Michelle, though she might not have fully understood what was happening (“She’s a sweet girl, but I think she needs to work on her critical thinking” Jackie said after Anti hung up).

Then, Anti called Jack, who was shocked but assured him he would be fine. “I think Sam would warn me if Distorter was coming,” he said. “I can adapt! You guys just get somewhere safe soon, okay?”

Then, finally, Anti called Stacy with the news. And she was... quiet about it. For a moment, Anti wondered if the call had dropped, but she started talking before he could ask if she was there. “I... I don’t really know how to react to that,” she said softly. “I should probably be more worried, cause he keeps telling me to get out of the city, but... he’s never... actually done anything to me. So... I think... I-I hope I’ll be okay... actually.”

“It’s weird, huh?” Anti muttered. “Maybe... maybe he can’t bear to get rid of the last reminder of how things used to be. He can’t... fully kill the past.”

“That sounds, uh, ominous,” Stacy commented.

“Sorry, I was thinking about something else,” Anti said, shaking his head slightly. “Anyway, we’re heading to this place where the Magic Circle meets—”

“We’re almost there, actually,” Aoife interrupted.

“We’re almost there, actually,” Anti repeated. “Once we get there and get settled, we might like... send someone to get you or something. I don’t know. We’ll keep you updated. Oh, and we’ve already called Rama and Jack, too.”

“Got it,” Stacy confirmed. “Call me with updates. I’ll keep an eye out for it. And I’ll call you if I... see him. Or... anything else unusual.”

“Great, that’s fucking sucking diesel,” Anti said.

JJ and Stacy both burst into laughter at the same time. Jackie and Aoife also couldn’t keep the grin off their faces. Marvin was the only one who looked confused. “Uhhhh what?” he said.

“It’s an Irish thing, I think,” Jackie said. “I’ve never heard you say it before, but your accent got a lot thicker all of a sudden. I think that’s the most Irish I’ve ever heard you be.”

“I’ve never heard something like that!” Stacy giggled.

“I get more Irish when I’m stressed, a-fucking-pparently,” Anti said deadpan. “Look, just keep in contact, okay?”

“Yeah, I will.” Stacy coughed, trying to stop her giggles. “Thanks for that. Uh... see you.” And with that, she hung up.

That was some much-needed levity in this situation, JJ said.

“Oh you only think it’s funny cause you’re not Irish,” Anti grumbled.

I think it’s funny because it was really out-of-pocket and strange to hear, JJ explained. His eyes drifted away from Anti and out the front windshield—and then he sat up straight. This place looks familiar.

“I told you we were almost there,” Aoife said. “Jackie, it’s that brown one right there.” She pointed.

“They’re all brown out here,” Jackie grumbled.

“Just park between those two cars.”

Jackie did so. The parking spot set him up directly in front of a particular brown brick townhouse, nearly identical to the other two townhouses besides it. But Jameson recognized it. He pushed open the car door and hurried out, nearly tripping over his own feet (and the curb) in the process.

“Careful, Jems!” Marvin yelped. “You’re still exhausted from t’at teleportin’.”

I’m getting better, Jameson insisted.

“Well, teleporting across such a wide distance when you have hardly any teleportation practice is going to take a toll on your body,” Aoife explained, getting out of the passenger side door.

“So... this is it, then?” Anti gave the townhouse a look once he and Marvin were out of the car. “It looks... normal.”

“Well, uh... I think that’s kind of the point?” Jackie said, making sure the car doors were locked once he also got out. “I mean, magicians are like a whole secret society, you know? If something looked obviously magic, it’d draw suspicion.”

Anti snorted. “Well, maybe you should go super over-the-top with the magic, it’ll probably also have the same effect. People will think they’re special effects or something.”

“That... that would still draw attention, Anti...” Jackie said slowly.

“Come on, boys.” Aoife gestured for them all to follow her, going up the townhouse steps towards the doorway. The others all followed her, sticking close together, all anxiously glancing around at the empty street, searching for signs that the world around them was merely a distortion. Aoife didn’t comment on this, merely knocked on the door. It was opened almost immediately by a man with dyed-dark-blue hair, who looked Aoife up and down and then stepped aside, ushering everyone in. “Alright, inside,” Aoife said, leading the way. The guys all shuffled in behind her.

“Huh... you know, it almost looks like home in here,” Marvin mused, looking at the small entryway with its hallway and stairs.

That’s what I thought too, JJ agreed. All it needs is a dining room and more cat fur.

Marvin gasped. “Mr. Fluffington! We left him behind, too! We shoul’ get him!”

“He’ll be fine,” Jackie assured him. “Distorter’s never shown any interest in animals.”

“T’ings feel diff’rent now, t’ough...” Marvin said, his expression still drawn with worry.

“Don’t worry, we can go get him for you,” Aoife assured him. “Uh... Raven’s good with animals, we can send them. And Basil, too, since he can drive.”

Is the whole Magic Circle here right now? Jameson asked.

Aoife shook her head. “Nope. Neil and Dylan live far away, and they’re also pretty new anyway, so they’re not here. A couple other people are missing too, I think?”

“Morgana and Lily are,” said the blue-haired man.

Anti jumped in surprise. “Fuck, I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting you to talk.”

The man grinned. “Hi, I’m Cobalt. I set up a lot of the wards.” He patted the wall, his eyes glowing the same dark blue color as his hair. The wall seemed to ripple outwards from his hand, like the surface of a lake, and that ripple spread to the ceiling, the floor, the doors, the stairs—every single part of the townhouse.

Jackie covered his mouth. “Oh I don’t like that effect.”

“It might’ve been a bit much,” Cobalt agreed. “But Aoife had a vision that we’d need it, and we trust her, even if she’s not an official member anymore.”

Jackie nodded. “No, uh, I really appreciate it. It’s—i-it’s good to have security here.” He looked back at the closed front door and reached out to turn the deadbolt. The moment it clicked into place, relief washed over him, his posture slumping.

“So... is t’ere anywhere to sit?” Marvin asked.

“Here, just in the living room should be good,” Cobalt said, pointing to the big archway to the left.

“T’anks.” Marvin smiled. “I’m jus’... tired.”

The group all shuffled into the large living room to the side, with JJ and Marvin immediately plopping down onto the sofa. There were four other people already in here—other members of the Magic Circle. Cobalt went over to one in a gray beanie and started explaining that Marvin had a cat and he wanted to have him here if possible. The second one nodded along.

“So... do we have a plan now?” Anti asked. “Or are we just going to hunker down here for eternity?”

“The plan is to now get all the rest of your friends here,” Aoife explained. “The ones you called in the car. You guys try to get some rest while we do that.”

“Okay, but what about after that?” Anti continued. “We can’t just fucking hide in here. That’s no different from how we were hiding from IRIS for ages. Everything was just getting back to normal, I refuse to let him take that away from us again!” He folded his arms. “Besides, Volt’s still in the hospital, separated from us. We gotta do something about that.”

Persephone is there to protect him, JJ said.

“Yeah, but she’s just one magician, and Hen is injured,” Anti insisted.

“Well, what do you want us to do, Anti?” Jackie asked. “Genuine question. I really want some suggestions right now.” He rubbed his eyes, accidentally getting smudges on his glasses in the process. It was like... eight thirty in the evening. They’d spent the whole day researching before this. He was exhausted.

“I... I-I don’t know!” Anti shook his head. “We... we still don’t know what to do to get rid of him. Between the time magic, and the house on Aspen Street being some sort of magic echo chamber... pocket dimension... thing... There’s something there with those two things! With our plan to cast a spell inside the house and make it more powerful! But—but there’s something missing! We don’t know what fucking spell to cast! And until we figure that out, we’re on the back foot. We’re just fucking... reacting to him and never actually taking swings. But if he’s going to keep coming after us, we’re not going to have time to fucking take those swings! I don’t know! Fuck!” He kicked the wall.

Please don’t do that, Persephone would have to clean up any marks you leave, Jameson said idly.

Aoife frowned. “What’s this about a magical echo chamber...?”

“Oh, uh... we read abou’ it in one o’ Jems’ magical books,” Marvin said. “D’you know about them?”

“Yes I do... if you’re referring to the naturally-occurring places where spells are amplified,” Aoife said.

“Yeah, we are.” Marvin nodded. “T’at house where Distorter is from is one. Or... was one. Now it’s like... a pocket dimension t’ing.”

If the world was a kaleidoscope, JJ said.

“If the world was a color telescope?” Aoife repeated, confused.

“He said ‘kaleidoscope’,” Jackie translated.

“...huh. That’s... very... unusual.” Aoife looked thoughtful, biting her lip. “You know... if there’s a pocket dimension—or an echo chamber—at play, then maybe we could finally prove to ABIM that this Distorter is real. There are spells built for detecting both of those.”

“Oh, so now the magicians’ secret bureaucracy wants to fucking help?” Anti scoffed. “You know, there were probably plenty of ways you could’ve proven Distorter was real before this! If our word wasn’t fucking good enough!”

“Look, I don’t like how they’ve been handling this either!” Aoife snapped. “Why do you think I’ve been helping you guys so much even though there’s no case for me to be assigned to? Whatever’s going on with them right now, it’s dumb and bad and I hate it. At least you guys have the Circle to help you.” She sighed. “Anyway... did you just imply that an echo chamber... became a pocket dimension?”

That’s what we can best figure, JJ confirmed. I’m guessing that sort of thing isn’t normal?

“I’ve never heard of it...” Aoife muttered. “But sometimes... strange things just happen in the world. Anomalies, we call them. Your friend Jack has that magical eyeball, right? That’s an anomaly. There’s no explanation for it that we can currently figure out. It just... happens.”

“So... Distorter is an anomaly?” Jackie whispered. That language reminded him too much of IRIS...

“I guess?” Aoife said. “It’s just a word for something unexplained. Which... he is.”

“You know, maybe we’ll never get an explanation for why Distorter is th’ way he is,” Marvin muttered.

Anti frowned. “Well, that would fucking suck. Because if there’s no reason, then it’s fucking hard to understand and actually fight against.”

We know some things about Distorter, JJ said. We know his powers, for example. We know that the only thing that’s really been able to hurt him so far is electricity. He paused, biting his lip. Aoife... do you think... the Magic Circle has some electrical spells I can learn?

Aoife glanced at the rest of the magicians in the room, who were watching and listening to the conversation curiously. One cleared his throat. “We do, we have a lot of group spellbooks on hand,” he said. “But... from what I’m hearing... you need to focus on defense before focusing on offense.”

Anti glared at him. “And who are you?”

“My name’s Callisto, nice to meet you.” The man walked over and held out his hand for a shake, but Anti just kept staring at him.

“Don’t mind him, he’s always like that,” Jackie explained, taking the offered hand and shaking it to make up for the awkwardness. “I’m Jackie, this is Anti, Marvin, and... well, you guys already know JJ. Uh, do you guys have anything that could help with... defense, then?”

“Well, maybe,” Callisto said. “We’ve been working on embedding spells into charms. By now, we’ve gotten pretty good at it, so we’d just need a spell to protect your mind. Then we could put it into an item, and as long as you have the item within a few feet of your person, your mind will be protected.”

JJ blinked. I’ve... never found spells that could protect against Distorter’s powers...

“You haven’t? Well... that’s surprising,” Callisto said, his expression matching his words. “Mental wards might be trickier to cast than physical ones, but they do exist.”

Aoife looked at JJ, confused. “You, uh... Do you mean to say that Distorter’s been too powerful for the protection spells you’ve found before?”

No, I mean to say that I’ve never found any sort of mental protection spells that you’re both telling me are apparently fairly common, JJ insisted.

There was a moment of silence. “Uh... well, JJ, where do you normally find your magic spells?” Jackie slowly asked. “I know you get some from online, but you also have all those books in your workshop that we looked through today—”

“God, t’at was jus’ today?” Marvin muttered.

Anti snorted. “Tell me about it.”

“—and you also said that there were magical sections of the library, too,” Jackie continued. “Maybe... the places you’re looking... just don’t have these spells?”

“If JJ uses the hidden library on Hadron Street, then I know that there are books on mental protection there,” Aoife said. “There’s a whole section on it.”

I have never seen this section you’re referring to! JJ insisted.

“It’s labeled ‘mental magic,’ surely you’ve at least walked past it!” Aoife said, exasperated.

Jameson paused. His face turned very red. Well I... I don’t think I’ve looked there. I think I assumed it was only about... casting mental spells.

“Well, it... it does have books on that. But it also has books on protections against it!” Aoife sighed, exasperated.

Well why weren’t they sorted with all the books about warding and protection?! Jameson said defensively, quickly covering up his embarrassment. That would make more sense to me!

“I don’t know! I don’t control the library shelving system!” Aoife shook her head. “But you’ve seriously never even looked in that section?”

If I did, I don’t remember, JJ said.

“Jackson, have you ever searched up mental protection spells on those magical websites you directed me to earlier?” Anti asked. “Surely they might have something on there. They looked pretty fucking extensive.”

Jameson paused, thinking about it. His expression dropped to uncertainty. I don’t... remember...

“You have so many books, Jems,” Marvin said gently. “Surely t’ere might’ve been somet’ing along t’ese lines in one of them.”

Jameson shook his head slowly. I don’t... remember.

Everyone glanced around uneasily. “Well... maybe... uh, you get your spellbooks from hidden magic shops, right, JJ?” Jackie asked. “I think I remember you told me that sometime. Did you never see a book that might have mental protection when browsing those shops?”

I... just... don’t... remember... Jameson signed slowly, each word taking an age to form.

“Well... I don’t fucking trust that,” Anti muttered.

“I-i-it’s, uh... possible that... Distorter has something to do with this,” Jackie said slowly. “Maybe he... didn’t want you to find any spells that could defend against him?”

JJ went pale. His fingers curled into fists as he stared into the middle distance. Marvin quickly put his hand on his arm. He recognized the signs of panic in Jameson by now, and he tried to head them off at the pass. “Well, either way, it sounds as t’ough the Magic Circle has spells of the sort,” he said quickly. “Why don’ we see what they can do for us?”

Jameson nodded slowly. Right...

“Ah, uh, we keep some of the spare books upstairs,” Callisto said awkwardly. “We can take you up there to look at them? They’re free for any Circle members to use, so... it’s no problem, you know.”

“JJ’s an official member now?” Jackie asked curiously.

“Well, we haven’t done all the paperwork, but basically,” Callisto explained. “We can put his name down on the membership list now that you guys are here, actually. There’s also supposed to be this whole ceremony thing, but uh... this probably isn’t the time for that.”

Do you mind if I don’t... JJ paused. Do you mind if I continue to sit here? I’m still quite tired.

“He cast a teleportation when he wasn’t prepared for it,” Aoife explained. “Went pretty far, too.”

“Ah, the tank’s on E, then,” commented another one of the magicians in the room.

Thanks L, thanks very much, I definitely want a car metaphor right now, JJ said.

The magician raised his hands. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to set you off.”

JJ sighed. No, it’s fine, I’m just... tired.

“Maybe refrain from comments for a bit, Leo?” Callisto muttered. “Though, actually—maybe we can get one of the emergency energy crystals down here? That might be able to help him!”

“The what?” Jackie blinked.

The magicians all nodded, then. “I’ll go get that right away, then, sir!” The magician, Leo, gave a quick salute and hurried out of the room and up the stairs in the hallway.

“I’m coming with you!” Callisto called, following. “I’m grabbing some of those books!”

The three non-magicians in the room all exchanged confused glances. “Hey, can someone fucking explain the crystal thing?” Anti asked. “Jackson, do you know what they mean?”

Vaguely... I can guess, I think... JJ said slowly. It’s something about how... some crystals can absorb magic, isn’t it?

Aoife nodded. “The Magic Circle, and other magician societies like them, have a collection of crystals that members can pour spare bits of power into for other members to use in case of an emergency. They have to be quartz, specifically, as that crystal species is known for channeling magic so efficiently that you can absorb other people’s powers through it.”

“I’m sorry, what?!” Marvin blinked.

“I mean that... if I were to pour my magic into something like a sapphire, then JJ wouldn’t be able to pull that magic back out to use it,” Aoife elaborated. “But if I poured it into certain types of quartz, like amethyst or rose quartz, then Jameson would be able to absorb the magic from that gem and use it like it was his own.”

“Oh... okay, then,” Marvin said slowly, while JJ nodded along beside him.

Aoife faced the other magicians in the room. “While those two are upstairs, we need to talk about getting the rest of their group back here safe. Persephone is with the one stuck in the hospital currently, but there’s a chance that Distorter will go after three other people—and two children as well...”

The group discussed what to do for a while, and Anti and Jackie took out their phones to text the others with updates. JJ, though, just leaned his head back against the sofa. He tried not to think about the implications of never finding a mental protection spell despite how common they apparently were. There... there had to be a reason for that. And the reason probably was oddly gray and colorless and constantly grinning. But if he started thinking about how Distorter could’ve possibly interfered so much with his spells, his heart began to pound as a clawing feeling of nervousness climbed up from his stomach to envelop his whole torso. His hands began to shake. His thoughts froze, any emotions coming to a complete stop. So, he tried not to think about it. Just focus on your breathing. Imagine that there were sheep jumping over fences, in time with the rhythm of your chest rising and falling... rising and falling...

Something nudged him, and JJ opened his eyes, realizing that he must’ve fallen asleep like he had in the hospital waiting room. He turned to look towards the nudge and saw Marvin looking at him intently. “Hey.” Marvin smiled. “T’is guy has somet’ing for you.”

Callisto was standing in front of JJ and Marvin, holding out a chunk of white semi-translucent crystal. It wasn’t giving off light, but nonetheless it gave the impression that it was glowing from within, that there was something beneath the surface of the crystal making it brighter. “Here,” he said gently. “This should help you with your magic.”

JJ blinked, then nodded. He took the crystal. Thanks, he said with a faint smile.

Callisto smiled back. “Of course.” Then he turned back to the rest of the room, rejoining the discussion.

JJ set the rock down, balancing it on his leg. He rubbed his eyes and looked at everyone. Most of the random magicians had left, leaving only Aoife and Callisto. Leo was here too, but he was only dropping off a few things on the coffee table before leaving. Jackie and the two magicians had sat down, but Anti was still standing, looking out the front window with his arms folded in front of him. What did I miss? I must’ve dozed off, JJ said.

“Eh, not much,” Marvin said. “We jus’ decided to try and get Jack, Stacy, and Rama and the kids here. I don’ know if they’ll be in any danger. I t’ink he would’ve already done somet’ing to Stacy by now, and Sam is givin’ Jack some mild protection. But everyone’s worried about them anyway, and especially worried about the kids. I don’ blame them, t’ough. They’re kids. And Distorter already went after them once.”

Jameson shuddered. I almost forgot he did that.

“Yeah, well, Anti and Jackie won’ ever forget t’at,” Marvin said quietly.

What did he even... do with them? Jameson asked slowly.

“Prob’ly kept them in the house,” Marvin muttered. “I don’ t’ink he’d hurt them. He has a soft spot for kids... and now we know why. He prob’ly feels... guilty.”

Jameson shuddered, remembering the divination memories that he’d experienced of the man in the house. He should, he said shortly. Anyway, how are they getting them here?

“Magicians are swingin’ by to pick them all up,” Marvin explained. “Rama, too. Jackie drove the family car to our house, so Rama can’ drive the kids here themself.”

That’s probably for the best, anyway, JJ said. I don’t know if Rama could fight against Distorter. They’ve never really had to. He looked down at the crystal and frowned. I... don’t know how to use this...

Marvin shrugged. “Maybe it’ll jus’ work if you... will it to? A lot of your magic works on imagination alone.”

It does not.

“More t’an mine does, at least.”

Well, that was true. Witchcraft was confined to runes and rituals, while magicians with inner magic like Jameson could get a lot more creative about how they channeled it—though tools and spellwords and runes definitely helped with the channeling. Jameson thought about that as he picked up the crystal and looked at it, turning it back and forth in his grip. Part of him didn’t want to use it, since absorbing strange magic seemed like a bad idea. But at the same time, what if Distorter showed up here? He didn’t want to be helpless to fight him like he was in the hospital earlier. So he took a deep breath. How would this work? Should he just... picture the magic from the crystal being sucked into his hand like a vacuum—

Just thinking that must’ve been enough, because the crystal flared with white light, and then its strange inner glow faded. Instantly, Jameson felt more awake, like a shot of adrenaline right to the brain stem. He sat up straight. Wow. He hadn’t realized just how drained he’d been in the first place. He was barely back up to base levels and he felt so much better already.

Jackie glanced over. “Oh! You look... more awake, JJ.” He smiled. “Uh, we’re talking about making those protective charms now.”

You are? JJ asked. Marvin just told me you were talking about getting the others over here.

“Ah, righ’, I wasn’ done talkin’,” Marvin said. “We got distracted with the magical, mystical crystal. Uh, yeah, it’s... basic’lly t’at. Callisto and Aoife started explainin’ how to make magical charms, and how they’re different t’an witchcraft talismans like my cards.”

“I don’t get it, personally,” Anti muttered, still looking out the window. “It seems like the only difference between a charm and a talisman is how they’re made. Sounds like they do the same shit.”

“Well, I... guess you’re not entirely wrong?” Aoife said slowly, sounding like she hated to admit that. “But there’s a lot more nuance to it—”

“We don’t have time for nuance,” Anti interrupted. “The sooner we get these things up and running, the sooner we can switch gears and start working on ways to take out Distorter again. I... I get more worried the longer this goes on.” He rubbed his arms.

JJ whistled so that Anti would glance back at him. I think it would be good to know how to make them, though, he pointed out. In case something happens to one.

“Hm... yeah...” Anti mumbled.

“It’s simple enough,” Aoife said. “First, you take a simple object. Like this.” She held up a silver bracelet. “See how there’s not too many moving parts here? It’s basically a single band with a hinge in the middle so you can slip it on your wrist easier. Then, you focus your magic into a point.” She raised her other hand, pointer finger up and pointing to the sky. Her fingertip began to glow. “I’m going to use my finger, but you can use a wand or stylus or maybe even a ballpoint pen if you want. Just, you know... a thin, narrow thing you can write with. Because that’s what you’re going to be doing next: writing.” She pressed her finger to the bracelet and started to trace tiny letters, leaving glowing yellow light on the bracelet. “You write down the words for the spell you want the charm to have. You can even say them out loud if you think it’ll help. All the while, you have to focus on pushing your magic into the object, filling it up. You really need to focus for this.” The glowing words she was tracing began to flicker. “Ah, yeah, see? This already isn’t going well because I’m distracted.” The words then faded entirely, and she put the bracelet down. “But basically, you keep doing that until the charm is done.”

And how will we know when the charm is done? JJ asked.

“You’ll... feel it?” Aoife said slowly. “It’s like... like you’re holding onto a taut string the whole time, and then the string snaps. The connection between you and the charm will break. It’s a very distinct feeling.”

JJ nodded, trying his best to commit this to memory.

Anti had looked away for a bit, but now glanced back over. “Hey. Can you do this with living things?”

Aoife blinked. “...what?”

“I don’t think living things can be charms,” Jackie said, confused. “Aoife said the object needs to be simple, and living beings are pretty complicated.”

“Besides, t’at seems like... like blasphemy, or somet’ing,” Marvin muttered.

You’re not religious, Marvin, JJ said.

“I was raised it, so I know what blasphemy means,” Marvin said. “I’m exaggerating to be funny, but my point is t’at makin’ a livin’ t’ing into a charm seems like it shoul’ be against the laws of magic.”

“Well... I don’t know if it’s ever been tried, but I agree,” Aoife said. “In my line of work, I know how to recognize black magic, and that’s the sort of thing that would fit into the darker side of things. Something about... defying the laws of nature...”

Anti frowned. “What if we got spell words tattooed on us? Then the tattoo is the charm, and it’s always nearby, so our minds are always protected.”

“I... guess I see your logic?” Jackie said slowly. “Has that ever been done before? Magic tattoos?"

"There have been tattoos done with magic, but I don’t know about tattoos that are meant to be magical,” Aoife said. “I’ll have to look into that later. For now, we should focus on making traditional charms.” She gestured at the coffee table. There was a book on it, open to what were clearly instructions for a spell. Besides that were a pile of things. Simple jewelry, like bangles and earrings and amulets, but also small knickknacks like tiny metal animals, glass baubles, small cushions, wooden flutes, and hand mirrors. Nothing that was more than two or three pieces.

JJ nodded. That seems like a good idea. Can... I help with this?

“Well, we were hoping for that,” Aoife said, glancing at Callisto. “But, uh, if you still think you’re low on magic, you don’t have to.”

No no, I want to, JJ said. I need to know how to do it. Besides, that crystal really helped.

“You really drained the thing,” Callisto muttered, looking at the crystal that was now sitting on the couch cushion.

Was I not supposed to...?

“No no, it’s fine.”

Jackie leaned closer, looking at the pile of random stuff. “We need something that’ll always be close by to us, right? So it should be something you wear, or something that fits into a pocket... I guess we all choose our own? Then when the others get here, they choose theirs?”

Aoife nodded. “That’s the plan. Though I guess you could choose for your friends if you think you know their taste.”

Jackie snorted. “Michelle likes to choose her own stuff. It’s why we don’t give her traditional birthday presents anymore. The past couple years, we’ve just had her choose stuff and we’ve paid for it.”

JJ got up and looked over the stuff idly. He looks at Marvin. Anything catching your eye?

“Uhhh I don’ know... maybe a button or somet’ing,” Marvin muttered.

Here, I’m having trouble deciding, you choose something and I’ll do yours first.

“Aw, t’anks, Jems.” Marvin smiled. “But remember to take care of yourself, okay?”

Of course. JJ nodded. His mind was beginning to wander a little. Anti had brought up magical tattoos. It seemed like a good idea, didn’t it? And... if he could be sure he was always protected... if he could make sure that Distorter never hid any spells from him again... well, that would really help them all out... wouldn’t it?

He shook his head slightly. This wasn’t the time to think about it.

“Jus’ don’ push yourself too hard,” Marvin commented, nudging JJ’s shoulder with his own. “You have a habit of doin’ t’at.”

I know, JJ sighed.

“Yeah, same some of that for the rest of us,” Jackie joked nervously. He and Anti didn’t have any magic, so they couldn’t really make the charms, but they sat there and kept the magicians company. And occasionally tried to give advice, though Anti’s advice was a bit... sarcastic.

“...Jackie,” Marvin said. “Don’ you dare imply you also have t’at habit.”

“Well he does,” Anti muttered.

“Well don’ say it!” Marvin protested. “T’at jus’ reinforces it!”

“Hah... thanks, Marvin.” Jackie smiled a little. “Uh, it’s late. I think we should all go to bed now that we have these charms.”

Anti snorted. “Don’t tell me you’re getting tired at nine thirty at night. That’s weak.”

“I go to bed much earlier than you do, Anti,” Jackie said.

Well... we HAVE had a long day, JJ said, stifling a yawn.

“You all can sleep here for the night, if you want to,” Aoife said. “They have rooms for visiting magicians, or in case Magic Circle members can’t stay at home for whatever reason. They’re more like bunk rooms than bedrooms but—”

There was a knock at the door. Instantly, Jackie was up and rushing for the entryway. “I thought you were tired!” Anti said—but the snappish comment loses some of its bite when he was also running towards the knock.

The front door opened, and—“Jackie!” Immediately, Jackie was wrapped up in a tight hug. Rama had arrived, and was very clearly relieved to see him. Michelle came in after them, hugging Jackie from the side. “Oh I’m so glad you’re okay! Can you imagine how I felt when a stranger showed up at my door and said that you were being attacked again? I just about had a mental breakdown right there!”

Jackie slumped in relief, melting into the hug. “Sorry, Ramram,” he mumbled.

“Sorry? Don’t say that like you need to apologize for this!” Rama drew back, still with their hands on his shoulders. “It’s that fu—that freaking thing’s fault, not yours! I just...” They let out a breath.

“Hi Dad.” Michelle smiled up at him.

“Hi, Mich.” Jackie ruffled her hair.

“I’m here too!” Another small figure squeezed past Rama and Jackie, who were blocking the doorway. “Dad!”

“Will!” Anti cried out. He fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around him. “Hey there, bud. How are you?”

“I’m good,” Will said. “The magician guy kinda freaked me out at first, I thought that he might be actually Distorter in disguise.” Said ‘magician guy’ shuffled into the room behind Rama, causing them and Jackie to move to the side to make room for everyone. “But he showed off some magic, and I don’t think Distorter would do that. Or if he did, it would just look like... bootleg JJ’s magic. This guy’s was different.”

Anti laughed. “Well aren’t you clever.” He gave Will one more squeeze before standing up. “How much did the magic guy explain to you? Do you know the whole deal?”

“Uncle Schneep is in the hospital, right?” Michelle piped up.

“Yep, unfortunately.” Jackie sighed. “We had to leave him here, but don’t worry, there’s a magician there to protect him.” He paused. “Speaking of which, we have some stuff to show you guys. Some stuff that will help protect you, too. I hope I chose good ones for you guys...”

Jackie and Anti led their families back into the living room, where they showed off the magic charms they made (“Hey, Jems did most of the work, give him credit!” Marvin joked). A few minutes later, there was another knock. No one rushed to the door this time, but Jackie walked there at a much more reasonable pace. He soon returned to the living room with Jack and Stacy in tow, with Jack carrying a cat carrier. “I guess we’re all here now,” Jackie said.

“Well, other than Schneep,” Jack said. “Poor guy.”

“Yeah, I hope he’ll be fine,” Anti added.

Distorter really, REALLY wants him dead now, JJ added, fretting.

“He’ll be okay,” Marvin said quietly. “Even injured, he’s the toughest one of us.” He chuckled. “Well anyway. Mr. Fluffington!”

Jack laughed. “Yeah, Stacy picked him up for you.” He set the carrier down and opened up the top. Mr. Fluffington poked his head out and looked around at his new surroundings.

Grinning, Marvin pushed himself to his feet and walked over, kneeling on the floor next to the carrier so he could pet Fluffington. “Hello Mister. Sorry for the sudden transportation. But you must’ve been very good to let Stacy put you in your carrier!” He looked up at Jack and Stacy as he said that. “How are you two? Did you run into your man?”

Stacy blinked. “Our man?”

“Distorter, I mean,” Marvin clarified.

“Oh, uh... no, I didn’t,” Stacy said. “It’s been pretty quiet for me. I-I wonder if he’s given up on scaring me out of here.” There was little hope in her voice as she said that, though.

“I also haven’t seen him,” Jack said. “Though, if I had seen him, couldn’t he have made me forget that I saw him? Well, not with Sam with me, I guess, I think they ward off his, uh... metal powers a bit.”

Anti’s eyes flicked up and down, looking Jack over. “Where is Sam? I don’t see them with you. Usually they’re pretty visible in your pockets.”

“I actually... dropped them off at the hospital,” Jack said sheepishly. “They insisted they could help Schneep by being there. And, uh, I agreed. Cause like I said, they ward off Distorter’s mental powers a bit.”

JJ tilted his head to the side. Maybe we should’ve used something from Sam to help with the charms.

“Like what? A blood sample?” Marvin asked. “Do they even have blood?”

I... don’t... know, JJ said slowly. Though I guess even if they did, taking enough blood to make a difference in the magic would be pretty invasive for the little guy.

“I miss Sam,” Will said from where he was sitting by the coffee table. “They have to come see us later.”

Jack smiled. “Well, they’re pretty good at flying around the city on their own, so maybe they’ll do just that.”

“What’s all this jewelry, by the way?” Stacy asked, looking at the table.

“Apparently they’re magic protection charms,” Rama said. “Oh, good to see you two by the way. I’m glad you got here safely.”

“You too,” Jack and Stacy said in unison—then glanced at each other in surprise at the unison.

After some discussion, everyone picked out a protection charm, and then agreed to stay the night. Callisto said they could use the kitchen if they needed food, and that he could even pick up some cat food for Fluffington. The bunkrooms were on the first floor, with four beds to a room and three rooms altogether—just enough for the nine of them. They quickly settled into groups—Jackie and Rama with Michelle, of course, Anti and Will together with Jack, and JJ and Marvin sharing. Stacy decided to stay with Jackie and his family, even though that meant one room would be more full than the others.

Marvin made sure that Fluffington was comfortable, setting him up with a pillow and blanket bed on the spare bottom bunk, then got ready for bed himself. He and JJ would be going to sleep at the same time. “You know... I’m getting really tired of not sleepin’ at home,” Marvin muttered. “It was IRIS, t’en it was the apartment in the other city, and jus’ when I was gettin’ used to sleepin’ in my own bed again, t’is happened.”

JJ sighed. It’s... a lot. But hopefully, with these charms, we’ll be safe enough to go back home soon. He looked at his mask. The backside now had writing on it, designating it as one of the protection charms. He thought it would come in handy, though it did mean that he had to keep it nearby from now on. That was fine, though. He had a spare charm as well, a plain gold ring. Still... he couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy. He wasn’t about to tell Marvin that, of course. He didn’t want to worry him. But the feelings were there.

“Hopefully,” Marvin agreed, sighing. “Alrigh’. Good night, Jems. We shoul’ go visit Schneep in the morning.”

I was planning on it, JJ said. In fact, I don’t know if you saw me talking to Aoife about this, but I gave her one the last charm so she could deliver it to him tonight. I know that visiting hours are over, but she could probably sneak in.

“Uh... if anyone doesn’ need a charm, it’s Volt,” Marvin pointed out. “His whole t’ing is t’at Distorter can’ mess with him now.”

I know, but just to be sure, JJ said.

Marvin gave him the side-eye. “T’is isn’ goin’ to be like the cameras again, is it?”

Cameras?

“You know, when you got a lot of t’ose IRIS cameras and put them up in the house and kept obsessively checking on them. You...” Marvin paused. “When you get anxious, Jems, you tend to get really deep into it, y’know? I jus’... I don’ t’ink it’s good for you. Or for anyone else.”

JJ stared at Marvin. Then he sighed, leaning against the ladder to the bunk bed. You’re... probably right. But I just... I don’t know... how to not do this.

“Well, you can always ask me if somet’ing you’re doin’ is over-the-top,” Marvin said. “I’d be glad to answer, no matter what.”

JJ thought about that. He bit his lip, drumming a nervous pattern on the metal ladder, his nails making a ping sound every time they made contact. In that case... I’ve been thinking about something else. Through the whole charm making process, I was thinking about something else. Something... that might help us. But... it might not work. And it might be a bit... strange. Maybe risky? I don’t know. Because I don’t know much about... the process.

Intrigued, Marvin sat up straight to attention, leaning forward onto his knees. “Go on.”

And though he was nervous, JJ did go on, explaining the idea he’d had.

———————

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Schneep tried to get some sleep. He knew he needed it, but it was difficult, for a myriad of reasons. The most obvious of which being the stab wound that kept sending pangs of pain across his back. But he realized it would be a lot worse if the doctors hadn’t prescribed him a heavy dose of painkillers, so he felt like he shouldn’t complain about that. Especially since they’d already had a difficult enough time finding a medicine that would play well with the other medications he took.

Another reason it was hard to sleep was because of the big, wide room he found himself in. He hadn’t often had to sleep overnight in a hospital, but when he did before, he was able to have a private room. Not this time. The general ward was a lot bigger, and that made him uneasy, especially after what happened with Distorter earlier. That creature could attack from any side at any moment. And with his bed in the middle of a room, he couldn’t see everything at once.

Persephone was here to keep him safe, of course—a phrase which made him chuckle internally when he thought about it. The goddess of death keeping someone safe. It sounded very ominous. But Persephone the magician seemed nice enough. She’d made some light conversation with Schneep after things calmed down a bit, but when it became clear he didn’t want to talk, she left him alone, just sitting by his bed and keeping an eye on things. But... that was the thing. She couldn’t keep an eye on things. Distorter could walk right up to her face and she wouldn’t know about it if he didn’t want her to. And that was another thing keeping Schneep awake. He was the only one who could see Distorter. He was the only one who would know he was coming.

But there was only so much he could do while laid up with a stab wound. He cursed Distorter for the injury; why did he want him dead specifically?! Was it because he was a threat? That was the only reason Schneep could think of. But he couldn’t help but ruminate on it as he laid here... which was another reason he couldn’t sleep.

After who knew how long, someone did walk into the ward. Schneep’s eyes instantly locked on them, but he relaxed when he realized it was just Aoife. She was wearing a pair of nurse’s scrubs, or at least an illusion of one. Visiting hours must’ve been over, otherwise she could’ve just walked in with her regular clothes. “Hey Sephy, hey Schneep,” she said as she approached the bed.

Persephone instinctively narrowed her eyes. “Are you—"

“It is really her,” Schneep interrupted. “I would have seen through any illusion if it was Distorter.”

“Oh.” Persephone shrank back. “Sorry.”

Aoife grinned. “No, it’s okay, it’s good to be vigilant. Anyway, I just wanted to check on you.”

“Uh... you could’ve texted me to ask how things were going,” Persephone pointed out.

“...oh yeah, I could’ve,” Aoife realized.

Schneep chuckled. “I am fine, or at least as fine as I can be.” He was laying on his side as he spoke, not wanting to twist the stab wound too much. “There have been no disturbanes.”

“Yeah, I haven’t seen anything, either,” Persephone said. “The shield is holding up.” She leaned down, checking the cards that Marvin had left behind. “These are some powerful talismans. Quite flexible, too. How’re things at the house? The others?”

“They’re all fine, don’t worry,” Aoife assured her—though she mostly looked at Schneep as she said it. “We got them there without any problems, and we even picked up the others.”

“Others?” Schneep asked.

“Jackie’s spouse and daughter, Anti’s son, and your two friends... Jack and Stacy? Oh, speaking of which.” Aoife reaches into her hoodie pocket, passing right through the illusion as she did so (Schneep wondered why his powers couldn’t pierce her illusion but could fight back against Distorter so easily. Had IRIS designed him that way?). After a second, she took out a glowing green orb. “I saw this little guy wandering about the front entrance. I think it was looking for a way in.”

Schneep perked up. “Sam!”

Sam bounced in Aoife’s hand, then launched off it like a diving board. They flew around Schneep’s head for a bit before settling down on the pillow, right in between his chin and his chest.

“Jack said they wanted to check on you,” Aoife said. “But I think they were having trouble getting into the hospital. They don’t have thumbs to open the doors.”

Schneep chuckled. “And I suppose they do not weigh enough to push them.” He reached up to pat them gently, petting the top of their ‘body’ like he would pet a cat. “Thank you, little eye friend. I appreciate you being here.” Sam’s iris curved like a smile and they waved their nerve-tail happily.

“I also also have this.” Aoife took out a black bracelet. It looked to be carved from a single bit of black stone, faint red flecks on its surface, with white runes of some sort drawn on its surface. “It’s a charm that will protect you against mental magic interference. Me and JJ made a bunch of them, and he wanted one to go to you, Schneep.”

“Ah... well..” Schneep blinked. “I do not need one, you know.”

“...right...” Aoife said slowly, realizing this.

“But it is very like Jamie to give one to me, and very sweet of him to think of me,” Schneep chuckled. “Persephone, why don’t you take it? That will be more helpful than me having it, I think.”

“Oh! Good idea!” Persephone nodded. “It looks like it’ll look great on me, too.”

Aoife laughed. “Here you are, then.” She passed it over. “Anything else we should talk about while I’m here?”

“Yeah, did you offer the bunk rooms to JJ and his friends?”

“We did, and they decided to take the offer...”

The two of them talked about the others, and that eventually morphed into talking about the Magic Circle and ABIM and a bunch of other magic-based stuff. Schneep’s mind started to wander as the conversation got further from his experience...

“You know it’ll never be enough. No matter how many failsafes you have, no matter how many fucked up enhancements in your body, it’ll never be enough. I’ll always find a way.”

Schneep inhaled sharply. He sat up and looked around... but Distorter was nowhere in sight. Was he nearby? Was Schneep not immune to his telepathy? Or... was that voice just in his head?

He waited, tense, but nothing happened. And after a bit, Sam moved closer to him, resting on his lap and looking up at him with what must be concern. Schneep looked down at them and sighed, petting their ‘body’ once again. He felt the same with them nearby as he did without them. And Sam could... repel Distorter in some way, couldn’t they? So... he was probably safe.

He repeated that to himself as he laid down again and closed his eyes, trying to sleep once more.

———————

“You want to what?”

The next morning, everyone woke up at around the same time, raiding the Magic Circle’s kitchen for breakfast. But Marvin and JJ had lingered longer than they would’ve otherwise, asking Anti to stay late as well so they could talk with him. Now, they were the only three people in the Circle’s fairly large dining room, all sitting at the table. Anti folded his arms, staring at the two of them with shock and minor suspicion.

I want to try creating tattoos that will help my magic, JJ said, summing up their request.

“No, I get that, I just... why are you telling me?” Anti raised an eyebrow.

“You have tattoos, don’ ye?” Marvin asked. “When Jems told me t’is idea last nigh’, I instantly t’ought of you.”

“I... I mean, I do,” Anti said haltingly.

You must not talk about them much because I’ve never even seen any, JJ said.

“Yeah, well... I deliberately got them in places that I could cover up.” Anti paused. “Here, I can show you one.” He took off his jacket, then rolled up the left sleeve of his T-shirt. There was dark, semi-faded tattoo on his upper arm, just a few numbers in his own handwriting. “That’s the date I adopted Will.”

“Awww!” Marvin grinned.

“Shut up.” Anti quickly pulled his sleeve down. “How do you know about it, though, Marvin?” His eyes narrowed. Now that the shock had faded, the suspicion was all that was left.

“You told me about them, of course,” Marvin said.

“I did?” Anti blinked.

“Yeah. I don’ blame you for not rememberin’ t’ough.” Marvin shrugged. “You were pretty drunk at the time. It was a New Year’s Eve t’ing, maybe around 2015, t’ough I don’ remember if we were ringin’ in t’at year or seein’ it out. We went out to t’at one pub cause they had specials t’at night—”

“Oh! Right, I... I remember that night.” Anti nodded. “That was the first night I’d left Will with a babysitter. For the entire night, I mean, not just a few hours. Hah, okay, it all makes sense now. I probably got drunk cause I was nervous.” He sighed. “I felt like... I should always be with him. And I was... never enough for him. Especially in those early days...”

Well... I suppose it worked out in the end, JJ said. On all accounts. Not only does Will still adore you, but now we had someone to ask about this idea.

“Yeah, yeah.” Anti shook his head a bit. “A-anyway. You got this idea cause I asked about it while we were making charms, huh?”

JJ smiled slightly. Guilty as charged. So, really, when you think about it, it’s actually YOUR idea.

“Oh no, don’t put this on me, I don’t know enough about magic to say it’s a good idea or not.” Anti snorted. “You’re the one who actually wants to do it. And you’re the one who’ll have to come up with the design and everything.”

“But you know somewhere we can go, righ’?” Marvin prompted.

“Well, yeah, I know a place,” Anti said slowly. “But... hm.” He pressed his lips close together. “Will we be breaking some sort of magician law by showing magical rune shit to a normal person? I don’t want to get in trouble with magic police.”

It should be fine... JJ said slowly. I mean, the tattoo guy wouldn’t know that whatever design we came up with was actually magic. They’d probably think I was just into the look of it all. Maybe they might think I’m weird...

“Hm.” Anti still didn’t look convinced. “I don’t know... with Distorter out there, I don’t think it’s a good idea to go to a strange place full of needles. What if he, like, mind controls the tattoo artist? At the very least, he could cause them to fuck up the design so it wouldn’t work. And also, if something goes wrong and you explode in the parlor, I don’t feel like explaining to the artist what the hell happened!”

It's not without risk, JJ admitted. But I think we need every edge we can get when it comes to Distorter. We still don’t fully know how we’re going to get rid of him. We just have this vague idea of using time magic in the house on Aspen Street.

“Well, let me bring up a counterpoint that’s related to that,” Anti said. “Do you have a design in mind already? Do you know what you want this... magic tattoo to do? Because if you don’t, it might end up just being a distraction.”

I have... a vague idea... JJ said slowly.

“Really? T’at’s more t’an you’ve told me.” Marvin was clearly surprised; Jameson hadn’t mentioned what the tattoo would actually do when they discussed it.

I only came up with it last night, when I was trying to sleep, JJ explained. Anyway. You know that thing I did when we broke out of IRIS? The... ice bird thing.

“Ice bird...? Oh yeah, it did look like you had wings.” Anti nodded.

I wonder if I could find some way to... control that? JJ mused. Or find some way to... not pass out immediately after? I think... something like that... it would be very helpful when fighting Distorter. And maybe if we could mix in some more mental protection, that would be great.

“Huh.” Anti blinked. “Well... you could probably get a pretty cool design with that. Some badass wings on you somewhere.” He chuckled. “But still. I don’t want to get some random tattoo artist involved in this. Maybe if you could find a magician who had a day job at a parlor?”

“Oh!” Marvin inhaled sharply, sitting up straight. “I jus’ remembered somet’ing, actually. Only magicians can make charms righ’? Which is different from talismans like my cards. So... we can’ get t’ese done at some random tattoo parlor. Unless the guy t’ere is also a magician in his spare time.”

JJ’s heart sank. He’d been so caught up in the idea that he’d forgotten that particular part of charm making. Well... maybe we could make it more like a talisman, then, he suggested. Where the power is derived from the symbols and not an inner power.

Marvin shook his head. “I don’ t’ink t’at would work, Jems. If we want the tattoos to work with your power, they need to have t’at inner power themselves.”

Jameson thought about that. He was pretty sure Marvin didn’t really know that, but he agreed with him regardless. It followed the laws of magic as he knew them. Maybe... I could give it to myself...? he speculated.

“Noooo that’s how you get tetanus,” Anti quickly said. “And you don’t want those muscle spasms, they fucking suck.”

“...they way you say t’at is very... knowing...” Marvin said slowly.

“Look, let’s just say that not all my tattoos were done in reputable parlors,” Anti said. “Anyway, there are a lot more symptoms you could develop from bad tattoos as well. Not to mention they also just... might not look good. Especially if you’re a complete newbie doing it on yourself.”

“T’at is also very knowing,” Marvin muttered.

“And in this case, you really need to get the design down, right?” Anti prompted. “You need someone who’s at least done art before.”

That’s a good point, JJ admitted.

“Look, if you’re okay with going to a random parlor, I can go with you to the one I got this done at.” Anti patted his shoulder, right over the now-hidden tattoo. “But that doesn’t solve the issue of needing to put power into the design. You... might just have to ask someone here if they’ll help you with that.”

JJ squirmed a little. I feel like I ask the Magic Circle for too much sometimes...

“Well, you’re a member now, aren’t ye?” Marvin patted JJ’s back. “They have t’ help you wit’ stuff like t’is! Righ’? And they have a way you can make up for it, righ’? So you don’ have to feel bad about takin’ all their time.” He chuckled. “You know... you don’ have to put everyt’ing on yourself. We’ve talked abou’ t’is. Even yesterday, we talked abou’ it.”

Jameson sighed. I know... I don’t know what it is about me.

“You just worry a lot, Jackson,” Anti said. “You think everything could go wrong. So to cope with all that anxiety, you think that if you just do everything yourself, if you just control everything yourself, then you can make sure it all works out. If it’s under your direct supervision and action, then it will be fine and nothing will go wrong, because then you can be sure. But not everything is under your control, you know. Even our own thoughts aren’t fully under our control. So you’re holding yourself to this impossible standard and it might help with that specific anxiety, but by spreading yourself out you’re just taking on new, stress-related anxiety instead.”

JJ and Marvin stared at Anti. A few seconds passed.

“I mean... I can’t know what’s going on in your head, but that’s what I think.” Anti shrugged.

Sometimes I forget that you studied psychology... Jameson said slowly.

Anti grinned. “So I nailed it?”

I think you did... though I don’t think I realized that until after you said it... JJ looked down at the wooden surface of the table. He nodded slowly. Alright. I know Aoife left already, but... when Persephone gets back, I can ask her about it.

“Righ’, she and Aoife are switchin’ guard duty,” Marvin said. That was something that had been discussed at breakfast. “Well, in t’at case, we’ll see her aroun’ thirty minutes from now. Do you t’ink t’at’s enough time to get some design drafts made?”

I don’t know, maybe? JJ shrugged.

“Depends on how elaborate you want it to be,” Anti muttered. “You guys are the magic guys, I’ll leave that up to you. But if you ever have any questions about that tattoo part... well, here I am.”

“T’anks, Anti.” Marvin smiled. “It really means a lot t’at you’re willin’ to share t’is.”

JJ nodded. I... I really appreciate you two going with this idea of mine.

“Hey, it’s not a bad one, if it works,” Marvin said. “T’ough if it backfires it’s all your fault.” His grin vanished when he saw how JJ’s face immediately went pale. “Jokin’! I’m only jokin’, Jems, you know t’at.”

I do... it’s just that I’m... still worried, I think, JJ said. We don’t even know if the idea will work. Aoife didn’t seem to like it last night.

“Well fuck her,” Anti said bluntly. “It’s worth a shot.”

Oh I don’t think she meant ill of it, JJ said. She’s just used to doing things a certain way. I think if I went to her with this serious concept, she... He paused, thinking about it. Well, she wouldn’t discourage me.

“I see.” Anti nodded. “Well anyway. You should probably get started on those designs if she’s coming back in less than thirty minutes.”

Right. Thank you again, Anti.

“Any time.” Anti nodded. “Good luck.”

———————

Persephone got back at the expected time, and immediately called all of the group into the living room for a status update. Obviously everyone was concerned about Schneep, but she reported that it was all fine. Distorter hadn’t attacked at all, and Sam had arrived safely, watching over Schneep for the whole night. “He misses you guys,” she said. “Aoife told him you guys were safe and all the tension just slumped out of him.”

“Ooo very artistic way of saying it,” Anti muttered.

“How much longer is he going to be in the hospital?” Jackie asked. “I’m guessing at least a week?”

“Two weeks,” Persephone confirmed. “Although... do you think your friend would be receptive to magical healing? With that, we could get him fixed up in no time.”

The guys all glanced at each other. “I don’t see why not...” Jackie said slowly.

Are you asking me to do the healing? JJ asked.

“Oh, no, Aoife said that she was going to bring a friend to help with that,” Persephone said. “You’re a good healer, JJ, but I think a stab wound of that severity is a bit out of your pay grade. And it’ll probably take you a while to fully recover from all the magic you spent yesterday, anyway.”

Fair enough... JJ said.

“Doesn’t... doesn’t Schneep have some, uh... things?” Rama asked slowly. “With, uh... IRIS? In his... body?”

“Oh shit, the weird science shit they did might affect the healing?” Anti asked.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Persephone said. “We were thinking we’d heal him if he wanted, and don’t if he doesn’t want it. Aoife has promised to text me to keep me updated. I think she mentioned she might text you too, JJ.”

JJ nodded in acknowledgement and took out his phone to check for texts. Nothing so far.

“Anyway... I don’t know if you guys want to continue staying here,” Persephone said. “We’re warded here, so I understand if you guys think this place is safer than your homes. But we don’t want to keep you here. And, uh... we really can’t stop you if you want to leave. We’re just a private group, we don’t really have authority, especially over you guys without magic. But if you’re going to stay, I’d like to know so we can arrange things.”

Jackie and Rama glanced at each other. Then Jackie slowly raised his hand. “Can you, uh.. can you put up some of those wards around our houses? W-we can pay you, if you need.”

“Oh!” Stacy gasped. “That’s a good idea!”

Persephone grinned. “We’d love to help. Uh, we do actually offer that service to people sometimes.”

“So we will need to pay,” Jackie summed up.

“Well, things are tough for you guys, and you’re JJ’s friends, so we can cut the fee if you need,” Persephone offered.

Rama shook their head. “No, no, we’ll still give you something, it’s only fair.”

The group discussed some things, and in the end, everyone decided to try going back home... as soon as the Magic Circle could ward their places. Stacy and Jack were also slightly uneasy about living on their own, so Jack decided to move from his hotel room to Stacy’s rental place. He was already staying there for safety a lot, anyway, but now they’ve just made it official. The wards would take a moment to be set up, so everyone was stuck in the Magic Circle house for at least one more night. No complaints were made about that, though.

Afterwards, JJ and Marvin pulled Persephone aside to explain JJ’s idea, much like they’d done with Anti earlier. She listened intently, saying nothing even when JJ presented her with a rough sketch idea of a runic design. But after looking that over, she glanced back up at JJ and said, “So... this super-powerful ‘ice bird’ thing... you want to trigger it regularly?”

No, not really, JJ said. I think I just want to make sure I’m not so tired afterwards.

“That might be a bit tough to do with the runes you have here,” Persephone said, glancing back down at the scrap paper the sketch was drawn on. “But you can work on that. You’re sure you’ll have time to, though? I think Distorter won’t hesitate to attack again soon, considering how relentless he was about getting to your friend Schneep.”

JJ hesitated, then nodded slowly. I think it’ll be more of a side project, but... I want to try, at least.

“It’s up to you.” Persephone chuckled. “Fighting past the exhausted effects of the ice bird will be difficult... all magic comes with a price, you know. More power always means more energy. But I’ve never heard of this ice bird thing, so you’d be more of an expert on it than me.”

“Really?” Marvin blinked. “T’is... isn’ a known t’ing magicians can do?”

“Oh definitely not.” Persephone shook her head vigorously. “Like I said, I’ve never heard of I at all. The closest thing I can think of is becoming a warlock, when your emotions get so heightened that it gives you a specialized form of magic. But this sounds... different.”

I don’t know much about it myself, JJ admitted. I’ve only done it the one time, and that was... a very unique, desperate situation. Which... now that I think about it, I WOULD like to trigger it more regularly—or at least find some way to control it, so I don’t have to wait to get desperate again.

Persephone chuckled. “Well, you can work on that. As for the actual tattoo-making process... well, I don’t have too much experience in that myself, but I do have some.” She rolled up her sleeve, much like Anti did earlier, revealing a tattoo of a hollow black heart with a curvy, flowery shape. “And I have an idea. I don’t think you need a magician to give the tattoo to you. Well... you might, because they won’t ask questions. But I think you can use your own power for it.”

JJ raised an eyebrow. Go on?

“You know those emergency crystals we have?” Persephone asked. “You drained magic from some yesterday. I was thinking that if you filled one up with your magic, we could attach it to the needle and the magic would flow from the crystal, through the needle, into the ink. And therefore, make the tattoo magical.”

That’s brilliant! JJ said excitedly. Oh, but—how would we attach it?

“Don’t you worry about that,” Persephone said. “I can work on that. Me and Morgana make magical stuff like that in our spare time together. You know, specialty devices. I think Morgana is really into it.”

Are you sure? JJ asked. It won’t be... too much work?

“No, I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Persephone assured him.

Jameson felt anxiety creeping up into his throat. But then he remembered what Anti said earlier. That he was needed everything to be in control so he knew it wouldn’t go wrong. He took a deep breath, and nodded. Thank you, then. I’m... I’m really trusting you with this.

Persephone smiled. “Just make sure to show up on time for Circle group spells, you know?”

Yes, yes, I will. JJ smiled a little. We’ll see you later. It sounds like this design still needs some refining. But also... while we’re here, we’re going to look through your books for more time magic.

“We are?” Marvin blinked. “Well I s’pose t’ere’s  not much else to do here. Sure, we can do t’at.”

“Go on upstairs to find those books then.” Persephone nodded towards the staircase. “Good luck.”

Thank you, JJ said.

“You’re Dr. Parker, right?” the doctor interrupted. “It sounds as though you and your group here have already been through a lot. If you want to file a police report, you probably have a way to contact them already.” He gave Jackie a significant look. “We don’t have to note down anything you don’t want.”

Jackie slumped in relief. “O-okay.” He hadn’t been looking forward to that. It was getting harder and harder to explain their situation to other people, police included. If they could just skip that, it would be great. They already had a lot to deal with, since Jameson’s teleporting had probably been caught on camera. “So... recovery ward. Which one?”

The doctor gave him the room number, and also some directions—not that Jackie needed it, since he’d worked here for ages. He thanked him anyway and walked back to the others, who were still sitting on chairs in the waiting room. “So?” Anti asked. “How’s uh... things?”

“Schneep’s probably going to be fine,” Jackie said. “I-I mean, hopefully. The stab missed important parts, which is... so fucking lucky, considering how deep it went. I-I-I really thought it was going to... to hit something bad...” He trailed off for a moment.

“So where’d they put him?” Marvin asked.

“Oh, uh, recovery ward. We can go see him, if you want to wake JJ up for that.”

Marvin nodded. He turned and silently shook JJ, who’d remained asleep for the entire hour-long wait they’d been sitting in here. Jameson didn’t wake up immediately, but after a bit, slowly cracked open one eye. “Hey, Jems. Can you walk? We’re goin’ to see Schneep in his hospital room.”

JJ blinked slowly and nodded. He pushed himself upright, swaying a little. Then he tried to get to his feet, but his legs shook and wouldn’t hold his weight, so he paused, staying in the chair.

“...I don’t think he can actually walk,” Anti said.

“I got it, I can help.” Jackie took JJ’s hand and pulled him up. JJ staggered for a bit, but once he was actually on his feet he breathed deeply and steadied himself. “We’ll need to get you a chair again. Was teleporting that much really so bad for you?”

Don’t do that much, JJ signed slowly.

“What abou’ when we were escapin’ IRIS?” Marvin asked quietly. “T’at... icebird t’ing you did... No urge to do it again?”

Jameson shook his head slowly. Ice bird...?

Marvin shrugged. “Kinda what it looked like. I realize now t’at I’ve never called it t’at to your face.” He adjusted his cane, using it to stand up with a grunt of effort. “God. I was doin’ so good earlier today. The stress really takes it out of me.”

“Luckily, it’s not too far a walk,” Jackie said. “Come on, guys.”

The recovery ward wasn’t far, but it still took them a while to get there between JJ’s exhaustion and Marvin’s sudden lack of energy. They made it eventually, though. The recovery ward wasn’t a private hospital room like they’d gotten in the past. Instead, it was a wide room filled with rows of hospital beds, with a few curtains dividing them but no walls to block sound or anything. Luckily, it was mostly empty. There were three other patients here besides Schneep, all of them sort of scattered about. The group paid them no mind and made their way to Schneep’s bed. It was in the middle of the second row from the left, and the curtain was open, allowing them to see him lying in the bed, a couple devices around monitoring his vitals in case his condition took a turn. Anti hurried over to grab some chairs (stealing them from another patients’ bedside, who shot him a dirty look but didn’t say anything) and dragged them over to Schneep’s bed, setting them up just in time for JJ and Marvin to sit down.

Schneep was lying on his side, so as to not lie on the wound in his back. His clothes—or at least his shirt and jacket—had been replaced with a hospital gown, and the group could see bandages through the slight gap in the back. His eyes were closed. Or, they assumed both of them were, since they could only see one. There were some bandages on his face, covering the scratch Distorter made across his face. One went over his right eye, which the scratch went dangerously close to.

He's very pale... Jameson says slowly.

“He probably lost a lot of blood,” Jackie muttered back. “But, uh, he’s fine. The machines say so. And you can see his chest rising and falling so that’s fine.”

“I do not feel fine,” Schneep mumbled, eyes still closed.

“Holy fuck!” Anti jumped. “Dude! They said you wouldn’t be awake!”

“I am not awake,” Schneep continued, still not opening his eyes. “I am dreaming. This was all a nightmare.”

Jackie laughed morbidly. “Uh... sorry, Volt. That’s... not exactly true.”

“I know. But is nice to think.” Schneep opened his one visible eye, looking at all his friends lined up on one side of the bed. “None of you are hurt...? He did not hurt you?”

“We’re all okay,” Marvin confirmed. “Well, Jems is a bit exhausted, since he used a lot of magic to teleport us to the hospital.”

“I can see that,” Schneep said. “Jamie, your head is nodding.”

JJ’s head shot upright at the comment. I’m not dozing.

“You sort of are, Jackson,” Anti chuckled. “Sleeping while sitting upright, what a talent you have.”

“You did not need to get to the hospital so quickly,” Schneep said. “I-it hurt, but... I would have been fine.”

“I... I’m not so sure about that, Schneep,” Jackie said quietly. “That stab went pretty deep, a-and then you fell on your back, fell on the blade! Y-you’re really lucky that there’s no permanent damage, much less... s-something worse.”

Schneep raised his head from the pillow slightly. “More than luck, I think. IRIS’s work likely saved me.” He laughed drily, then coughed a little. “I-I should not be thanking them for that.”

“Then don’t,” Anti said bluntly. “Fuck them. Even if the shit they did to you made you, uh, super durable or whatever the fuck, that still doesn’t mean they were right to do it.”

Schneep was quiet at that. He nodded slightly. “Do you... do you think the doctors here... saw the differences inside me?” The question was barely a whisper.

The other three all glanced at Jackie; he was the doctor here. “I-I don’t know for sure, since I’m not a surgeon,” Jackie said haltingly. “But... I can’t imagine how they would... avoid that. H-how, uh... extensive was the... stuff?”

“Very,” Schneep said grimly. “I saw an X-ray one time while in IRIS. I...” He went even paler, though the others didn’t think that was possible. “I... am not sure how much of me is... still human.”

“Hey, your humanity isn’ dependent on how much flesh and blood you have,” Marvin said. “It’s not like we can give out a percentage that someone stops bein’ human at an’ starts bein’ some sort of robot. T’at’s not how it works.”

“Many a sci-fi horror story would disagree with you there, Marvin,” Anti said.

“Well t’ose are stories,” Marvin said firmly. “In real life, a person is a person regardless of what they’ve been t’rough and what they’ve had changed.”

Schneep smiled faintly. “Th... th-thank you... Marvin.” His quiet voice sounded choked as he blinked tears out of his visible eye. He took a deep breath. “W-well... even with IRIS’s work, I think it will be a minute before I can leave the hospital. I feel... I-I feel...”

Shitty? JJ supplied.

“Yes, that. But mostly very tired.” Schneep sighed. “Why now, of all times? After so long being gone?”

“I don’t know, but I think we all need to be on our guard.” Anti’s eyes darted around. “This is probably the start of some sort of plan. Did you guys realize he went right for Schneep? The one person who could knock him down with those shocks he does?”

“He went for his eyes, too,” Marvin muttered, gesturing to his own eyes. “See t’at long scratch? It barely missed, t’anks to Jems here.”

Jameson shuddered, rubbing his throat—and the scars upon it.

“He tried to take out the person who was a threat to him,” Jackie summed up. “Or, failing that, he at least tried to blind the one person who could always see him.” He shuddered as well. “How... diabolical.”

Schneep looked vaguely nervous about all this, but hey, he always knew Distorter had it out for him. “So... what will he do next, do you think?” he asked. “Do you think he will try to... finish the job?” He looked around the room. But he couldn’t get a good vantage point of all of it while lying on his side, so he tried to awkwardly prop himself up and twist around.

“Whoa, hey, try not to move your back so much,” Jackie said, reaching out and gently pulling him back into the position from before. “You might tear open your stitches.”

“Is that all they did to make this better?” Schneep muttered absentmindedly, allowing himself to be moved.

“Well they’re very deep stitches, and some staples, too,” Jackie said. “Which is why it would be very bad if they tore.”

“Right, right.” Schneep nodded, his head once again resting on the pillow. “In any case... do you all think that?”

“Yeah, I think he’ll try to do that,” Anti muttered. “We shouldn’t leave you alone.”

“Jems, do you have the energy to make some shields or some such?” Marvin asked.

JJ (who was totally not nodding off again) frowned. I’m not sure... probably not. I could try to do a basic one, but I think Distorter would be able to get through it. If we want magical protection over Schneep, I think you’d have to do it, Marvin.

“Well I... did bring my cards...” Marvin said slowly.

“You did?” Jackie blinked.

“Sort of. They were jus’ in my pocket the whole time, I didn’, like, bring them as a conscious decision.” Marvin patted himself down until he found the pocket with his cards. Then he brought out the deck and fanned through it, looking at the symbols. “We’d want... some sort of... invisible barrier, righ’? Oh, but t’en the problem is t’at I won’ be able to use the cards I set down. They need to stay in formation to maintain the spell.”

It's better than risking Distorter returning to attack Schneep again, isn’t it? Jameson pointed out.

“Yes...I jus’ worry abou’ us afterwards,” Marvin said. “T’ere’s a chance Distorter will decide to attack us instead.”

“Well... we can handle him if we need to,” Anti said firmly. “Volt’s too vulnerable right now.”

Jackie nodded. “I-it’s... scary, to think Distorter might do that... and we’ll have less resources to fight him. But... you know, th-they say ‘wounded and children first’ for a reason, right?”

“Isn’ it ‘women and children first’?” Marvin asked, confused.

“Well... yeah, but... you know what I mean.” Jackie insisted. “If a natural disaster strikes, hospitals are evacuated first for a reason!"

"Are they evacuated first...?” Anti wondered.

“Stop poking holes in my arguments, I’m trying to make a point!”

Marvin and Anti grinned. “It’s a bit funny when you get all huffy like t’at, Jackie,” Marvin chuckled. “Alrigh’, I’ll see if I can whip somet’ing up. We’ll want the rest of us t’ be able to walk t’rough the barrier... but we want it t’ be very strong for everyone else...” He slid out from his chair and onto the ground (to the confused but accepting stares of the others) and shuffled through his cards, arranging and rearranging them into patterns on the floor. After a bit, he nodded, satisfied, and pushed some of the cards under Schneep’s hospital bed, where he started putting them into their final pattern.

A ripple spread through the air around them, a quiet shimmer like a heat haze that circled around them before fading. The barrier was in place—

THUD!

Anti jumped and his head shot up, hand going to his jacket pocket. “What was that? Did you guys hear that?!”

“Y-yeah, what was that?” Jackie blinked.

Schneep once again tried to twist around; the sound had come from behind him, right next to the side of his bed. “I-it was too close to be normal.”

A chilling laugh ran through the air. “I guess that’s what I get for trying to rush it.”

Everyone froze. Marvin tried to scramble to his feet using the chair. “Where is he?!” he hissed.

“Right here.” In the blink of an eye, Distorter appeared, standing disturbingly close to Schneep’s bed. He waved, wiggling his blackened fingers.

“Verdammt—!” Schneep hissed, putting more force into turning around to look at Distorter. “You—h-how long have you been here?!” His voice cracked a little, trying to hold back the pain that had flared across his back and deep into his wound when he turned quickly like that.”

“Oh, please keep twisting around, Henrik, hopefully you’ll ruin all those good doctors’ work and bleed out!” Distorter said cheerfully.

“Get back, fucker!” Anti drew the knife he’d kept hidden in his jacket pocket.

“Hm... no.” Distorter shrugged, folding his arms behind his back. He stared at the four of them, standing on the opposite side of Schneep’s hospital bed. He must have approached from that angle so that Schneep, laying on his side, wouldn’t see him through the illusion he made. “I think I’ll stay right here. Right outside this barrier you just barely conjured.”

JJ blinked. Was that thudding sound... because of him? Did he run into the barrier?

Anti grinned. “Ha ha. Imagine him running face-first into an invisible wall. Haaa ha!” He points at Distorter mockingly.

“You’re lucky you got it up in time,” Distorter said softly. “Otherwise I’d have my nails in your freak’s eyeballs right now.” He sighed dramatically. “My own hesitation, I guess. I walked in and saw you messing with stuff on the floor, Marvin, and it took me a second too long to realize what you were trying!”

Marvin went pale. If he hadn’t figured out a good pattern in time...

We’ll give you one warning before we attack, Jameson threatened, his eyes flickering blue.

“No, you’re not going to attack at all,” Distorter said. “Look at you, Jameson Jackson! You’re exhausted. Wow, such a long teleport must’ve really drained your energy, huh?” He clicked his tongue. “Good luck for me that you did that, even if it took me a while to get here!”

“I’ll stab you, bitch!” Anti hissed.

“And if you do, that will go very poorly for you.” Distorter’s form flickered. For a moment, he didn’t look like that gray, smiling monster, but instead a normal patient in a hospital gown. “The nurses will hear a scream, and run in to see you attacking a defenseless patient. Oh, poor Anti. You’ll finally go to jail!”

Anti glared, but said nothing more.

Jackie’s eyes darted to the door. He leaned close to the others and whispered. “We have to—”

“Run? No, don’t think about it. You all know that I’m a lot faster than you. Especially with Marvin’s problems, and Jameson being exhausted. Not to mention, it’s hard to run when you feel so dizzy.” Distorter tilted his head.

All at once, the four of them were hit with a wave of vertigo, like the ground was pitching beneath their feet, the deck of a ship in a storm. Jackie covered his mouth, suddenly nauseous, Marvin fell back to the floor, and JJ gripped the arms of his chair for dear life. Anti stumbled, grabbing the back of another chair, head pitching towards the slightly shimmery barrier—

“Careful!” Jackie grabbed Anti and pulled him back. “H-he’ll be able to—once you pass through that, he’ll be able to—”

“I definitely will!” Distorter said cheerfully. “And I promise you, I won’t hesitate.”

JJ shook off the remaining wave of dizziness, now fading into the background. Wait... are we stuck?

“Y-you all are not stuck!” Schneep insisted. “You just—have to be fast. You can reach the exit easily—”

“You might think that, but what if you forget where the exit is?” Distorter interrupted. “What if I push a couple hospital beds around, but take away your vision so you don’t see that? What if you’re suddenly not in the hospital at all? What if one of these other patients around you gets up and grabs you, because I asked them nicely to do that for me?” His grin widened.

“...we’re at an impasse,” Marvin muttered.

“No, you are not!” Schneep pushed himself back around to look at the others. “Look, you can fight him off, I am sure you can if you must!”

“Oh, but Henrik, you know how hard it is to focus on that when the world is shifting around you,” Distorter said.

Anti glared at Distorter. Jackie stared at him with wide eyes. JJ’s eyes darted around, and Marvin climbed to his feet once again, never tearing his gaze away from Distorter as he did so. “So... you’re just going to sit out there?” Anti asked after a moment. “Camping us, like a bitchy PvP gamer?”

“Why not?” Distorter shrugged. “I don’t need to eat or sleep. You all do. And visiting hours at the hospital don’t last forever.”

“So you’re just going to stay here until someone comes to kick us out, then?” Anti muttered. “I don’t think that’ll go as well as you think it will.”

“Why?” Distorter tilted his head to the side. “More people are just... more opportunities.” His grin widened further. “In fact, can’t they go through this shield of yours? Why don’t I just wake up one of these other patients and ask them to grab you for me?”

“T’at’s not how it works!” Marvin hurried to say. “I’ve made it so only friends of Schneep can pass t’rough the barrier. Strangers, even nurses, won’ be able to get t’rough.”

“Wow, that’s a little inconvenient, isn’t it?” Distorter laughed. “What if they need access to him? To help him with his medical problems? Didn’t think of that, did you?”

“I t’ink the minor inconvenience of t’at is outweighed by keeping you out,” Marvin said firmly.

“Maybe the nurses will call the police or something if they see Distorter here...?” Jackie said hesitantly. Then he shook his head. “No, that wouldn’t work. They probably won’t even see him, and they definitely won’t believe us if we tell them.”

“Well, then, maybe we—we need someone who will believe us!” Schneep gasped. “One of you, call Stacy or Jack or someone!”

“Yes, please call them,” Distorter said. “I have some unfinished business with both of them.” His hands clenched at his sides.

“...not unfinished enough to seek them out, I guess,” Anti said quietly.

Jameson frowned, and took out his phone, quickly unlocking it and starting to type. Marvin glanced down at it. “What are you doin’?” he asked quietly.

JJ made a hushing sound, glancing at Distorter significantly.

“Oh? Do you think you can keep secrets from me?” Distorter laughed. “I already know what you’re doing! You think that your magician friends can help you, do you? Go on, try and get them over here. They’ll just be more opportunities for me, like I said. Even better ones, in fact, because their magic makes them much more powerful!”

“Ugh, you’re just trying to psych us out!” Anti scoffed. “Keep texting them, Jackson. If they bring enough people, they’ll be able to overpower this guy. He’s always run away before, when all of us stand together!”

“Things are different now, Aodhán,” Distorter said, his voice low and threatening. “When you all returned after your little stint with IRIS, I realized how much I missed you all. I used to be happy making friends out of anyone in the city, but then I met all of you. And you’ve all been so fun—and so infuriating.” He folded his arms behind his back, moving around the others, circling them like a predator. Everyone shuffled around to keep an eye on him, not daring to look away. “I need to finish business with you before I can go back to how things were before. Though, do I even want things to go back to how they were before? It’s hard to decide. Some of you need to die, for sure, but I’ll miss things when you’re gone. I’ll miss how easy it is to fuck with you all.” He laughed.

“So is that why you took so long to actually start doing shit?” Anti asked, raising an eyebrow.

Distorter didn’t answer right away, just stared at him with his black eyes. “Planning takes time, Aodhán.”

“Oh yes, what a complex plan you’ve drawn up here,” Anti drawled. “Step one, attack Schneep. Step two, if he doesn’t die, attack him again.”

“The straightforward approach is often the best!” Distorter laughed, but it felt like his eyes were staring daggers at Anti.

“Stop talking with him,” Jackie whispered to him. “You’re just goading him on.”

“Oh, he can’t get to us while we’re in here,” Anti said, rolling his eyes.

“No, but he can still reach us in other ways,” Jackie insisted.

“Thank you for remembering, Jackie.” Distorter stopped his circling. “You’re such a good friend, you know? And as a good friend, I’d like it if you smiled for me.”

Jackie went very still, his eyes widening. His breath hitched, chest heaving up and down. A single drop of blood trickled from one eye, trailing down his cheek from under his glasses.

“Jackie, please!” Schneep lunged over, grabbing Jackie’s hand and squeezing tight. “You can fight him off!”

“I-I...” Jackie’s breathing quickened, his body trembling.

I let the Magic Circle know what’s happening, they’ll be here soon! JJ said. Jackie, you can stay strong. And you too, Marvin.

Marvin’s posture was tense, his lips pressed close together. Something crimson started to well in his eye, as well. He reached back to grab onto the arm of the chair, his other hand gripping the handle of his cane tightly.

“I just need to reach one of you,” Distorter said in a singsong voice.

Jameson glared at him. His eyes flared blue and he raised a hand, shooting a bolt of blue light at Distorter. But as the beam hit, Distorter only laughed, stumbling back very slightly. Blue ice formed on his shoulder where the spot connected. He didn’t care, though. “I know your tricks by now, Jameson Jackson! You can’t fool me! Honestly, you should’ve aimed for my feet, maybe you could’ve frozen me to the spot!”

Gritting his teeth, Jameson cast another spell at him. The bolt headed straight towards Distorter, who started to dodge—but then another branch arced away from the main body, connecting solidly with Distorter’s side and sending him spinning away. JJ had cast a lightning-based spell, but stumbled and lost his balance immediately after. Jackie caught him, the trance over him snapping the second Distorter was hit. “C-careful, JJ,” Jackie said haltingly. “Y-you’re still tired from the teleportation, y-you can’t cast new spells now!”

JJ nodded, breathing heavily.

Distorter clambered to his hands and feet, limbs twisting unnaturally. He stared at the group, twisting his head to the side, still grinning. Jackie, JJ, and Marvin tried to hide how unnerved they were, but Anti and Schneep managed to glare at him without any anxiety in their faces at all. “So that’s how we want to play,” Distorter said quietly. “I may not be able to affect one of you, but the rest of you are still vulnerable.”

The hospital ward around them creaked, then rumbled, as if the very structure of it was becoming unstable. The floor pitched and shifted. Marvin cried out and stumbled, and Anti hurried to grab him before he fell right out through the barrier’s limits. “Everyone, brace yourselves!” Anti hissed.

Everything seemed to tilt, the ground beneath them shifting, turning into a slope. The four of them—everyone but Schneep, secure in bed—scrambled, instinctively trying to keep their balance. “I-it is not real!” Schneep said desperately. “Whatever you all are seeing, it is not real! Do not move out of the barrier!”

Close your eyes! JJ said, squeezing his eyes shut. He still felt the unnatural shift of gravity, but without the visual effect, it was a lot easier to ignore it for the illusion it was. The others quickly followed suit.

“What you can’t see can’t hurt you? Is that what you’re thinking?” Distorter’s voice seemed to come from right in their ear. Jackie instinctively cracked an eye open, scanning the room. He couldn’t see Distorter, though... nor could he see Schneep, who seemingly vanished from the bed. He cried out and lunged for the bed—and the illusion broke as his arm hit Schneep, flung across his stomach. Schneep stared at him, worried, and grabbed Jackie’s hand supportively. Jackie nodded back, closing his eyes again.

“But what you see doesn’t purely come from your eyes,” Distorter’s voice continued. “Otherwise, we would never dream.”

The darkness covering Anti’s vision began to take form, dark fuzzy shapes becoming an environment around him. A gray room, with gray furniture, extending into a gray hallway. In the distance, he saw... Will, half-hidden in the darkness. He waved at Anti. But then something moved in the shadows behind him. A massive hand, spindly and blackened. It slowly reached forward, then suddenly wrapped its fingers around Will and yanked him back into the darkness. A scream echoed through the air.

Anti gasped and instinctively stepped forward, but stopped himself. This wasn’t real. This wasn’t real! It couldn’t possibly be real!

Something grabbed his arm. “Anti!” Jackie said urgently.

“I-I hear you,” Anti mumbled. “I-I’m not seeing the hospital, though.”

“Just don’t move, and it’ll be fine,” Jackie said.

“Careful which voice you listen to, as well,” Distorter said, a laugh tracing each syllable.

Marvin diligently kept his eyes closed, despite the way the scenery around him shifted and reformed, images that he saw in his head as solidly as things he could see with his eyes. He was in the house he shared with Jameson, he was in the house he’d once lived in decades ago, he was in that house on Aspen Street. “Marvin? Marvin!” Schneep’s voice said. “You have moved too close to the barrier! You have to take a step backwards!”

But then a second voice rang out. “Marvin, stay where you are! He is right in front of you!” Schneep gasped. “If you move too much, he will be able to grab you.”

A third voice shouted contradicting advice. “Marvin, you backed up too much, you are in danger of backing out of the shield’s range!” Again, it was Schneep. “Step forward a little bit.”

“All of you... sh-shut up,” Marvin muttered, holding tight to his cane. This anchored him to the ground. If it didn’t move, he wasn’t moving. He knew where it was.

The three voices said something, all of their voices overlapping and hard to distinguish. They all seemed to come from different directions. Marvin opened his eyes to get his bearings—but the environment around him didn’t change. He didn’t see the hospital. He swallowed a lump in his throat and slowly lowered himself to the ground. If he was sitting, then he wasn’t moving. He couldn’t possibly move out of the barrier.

“What’s going on here?!”

JJ opened his eyes, and the dizzying ever-changing landscape faded away slightly. He could see the ward around him once again—and he could see three people running towards him and his friends. Persephone and two of the Magic Circle magicians, Neil and Dylan. “Jameson?” She blinked in surprise. “What’s going on? Your text sounded urgent!”

I told you, it’s that Distorter I told you about before, Jameson said, slumping back in his chair, relieved. Can you see him?

Persephone’s eyes darted around. “No... but I trust you. Can you see him?”

Jameson also looked around. No, not right now. He hides from sight like that, though.

“Well it’s going to be hard to take care of something we can’t see,” Persephone pointed out. “Here, the best we can do right now is protect you guys as you leave the room.” She held up her hands, which began to glow a cool mint green color. “Come on!”

JJ started to stand up, but then stopped, hesitating. I... don’t know if we can leave just like that, he said. He’s threatening to attack us if we leave the safety of this barrier. I told you that in my message.

“Well, he hasn’t attacked us, has he?” Persephone asked. “Maybe he’s intimidated. Look, if we just get you guys out of the room, I’m sure we can outrun him.”

Can you teleport? JJ asked. That would make this all very easy.

“No, I’m sorry, teleporting is difficult,” Persephone said. “We’ll just have to make do.”

Jameson hesitated. How... did you get here so fast, then? You live a while away. And if you drove here, traffic is bound to be terrible this time of day...

“Well, I didn’t drive, I walked,” Persephone said.

What about them? Jameson nodded at Neil and Dylan, who were just... standing there quietly. Though the second Jameson turned his attention to them, they snap up and start looking around.

“They walked, too,” Persephone said.

They must’ve walked a far distance, Jameson said.

“Well, they were in the area.”

Really? What a coincidence.

“It’s a lucky coincidence, if anything.” Persephone smiled faintly. Her eyes darted around the room again. “Jameson, please, we have to hurry. We don’t have time for all these questions. What if your Distorter guy suddenly appears?”

Jameson stared at her. Then he slowly shook his head. Persephone isn’t fluent in sign language. She tries, but she’s still learning. I don’t believe she’d know the sign ‘coincidence.’

Persephone’s eyes widened. Her pupils widened. They kept widening, the black engulfing the rest of her eyes as a grin stretched across her face. “Well, aren’t you clever?”

It’s more like you’re lazy, than anything else, JJ said, staring at the distorted Persephone. Or maybe you’re not as powerful as you say you are. After all, aren’t you supposed to be able to learn anything about me oh so easily?

“So I don’t pay attention to the unimportant people in your life. Sue me.” The distorted Persephone shrugged. “I’m still quite powerful. For example, I can still do this.”

Pain flared in Jameson’s throat. His hands shot to his neck, where he felt something warm and sticky there. Blood. The scars on his neck—the scars Distorter had caused—the ones that took his voice—they were open, weeping wounds again. He couldn’t breathe. Air wasn’t coming down his throat. No, no, no, this wasn’t real!

“M-my friends, please! Can you hear me?!” Schneep watched the others from his bed, head turning on a swivel to look at all of them. Jameson had his hands wrapped around his throat, Marvin had collapsed to the ground and was covering his ears, Anti was standing frozen in place, eyes staring into the distance, and Jackie was holding onto Schneep’s hand with one of his own, and Anti’s hand with his other, his eyes squeezed shut. Schneep squeezed Jackie’s hand tightly. “Pl-please, if you can hear me, say something!”

“Oops, it seems like I’m blocking out your voice, Volty boy!” Distorter stood as close to the group as he could manage, blackened hands pressed against Marvin’s invisible barrier. “You can’t help them at all! You can’t help anyone, really.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Schneep snapped. “You know nothing about me! As much as you think you know, there are a million things you do not.”

“Sure, maybe I don’t know every single thought and opinion that crosses your mind, but I know all the important stuff.” Distorter’s head slowly tilted to the side as his attention switched from the other four to Schneep. “I know about all the pain IRIS put you in when they made you into something else. I know every single trigger in there that will send you spiraling into delusion. I even know about Mr. and Mrs. Schneeplestein back in Germany! Did you ever tell your friends that Mummy and Daddy were the reason you moved to a whole different country? You don’t talk about them much at all.”

“Because they are in the past,” Schneep growled. “Do not think you can get to me with them.”

“Right, because you and your therapist already worked out all your issues there. It’s been a while since you talked to your therapist, by the way. Malcolm, right? Do you think he’d believe you if you told him everything that happened? Or would he just recommend you go to a special facility for some quiet time? I know you trust him, but you know that nobody would fucking believe you if you said there were wires and metal in your body. Especially since you already have that ‘bugs beneath your skin’ thing? Man, it’s been a while since you had to deal with that! The medicine must be working, huh? Ever worry if that particular paranoia will come back?”

Schneep gritted his teeth. He tried to ignore Distorter’s ramblings, but it was hard to do that when the rest of the hospital ward was basically silent except for him.

“Nothing to say, huh? That’s fine.” Distorter pressed his head against the barrier. “Nothing you say is ever of any worth, anyway. You know, I was able to learn more about the ‘EX subject’ plans IRIS had by peeking at some of their minds. They originally wanted to remove your vocal cords, but then realized that would make communicating difficult. The same way that turning off the voice on your GPS would make driving just a tad too difficult.”

He couldn’t help but shudder at that new fact.

“Do you think you could ever truly tell your friends what happened?” Distorter whispered. “You told Jackie enough to convince him to leave. But do you think you could ever share the details with anyone? Or do you think that telling them will degrade your true friendship into pity? Pooooor Henrik. He’s made of glass, you know. He’s so fucking delicate. We can’t do anything fun with him anymore! We have to take care of him. He’s not a person. He’s something to be checked on, but not spent time with. Like one of those virtual pets.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Schneep lunged forward, getting halfway out of bed when the pain suddenly flared in his back. He shrieked in pain and fell to the side, landing hard on the railing around the bed before rolling back onto the mattress. The wound in his back ached as he laid on top of it.

Distorter laughed. “Oh, man, maybe I shouldn’t have stabbed you that much. If you were just a bit more healed, you’d have run right over to me... and then you’d really be dead. Or at least blind.”

Schneep panted heavily, looking up at the fluorescent lights in the ceiling. Don’t listen to him. Don’t let him bait you. If Marvin hadn’t thought to make the card formation under the bed, you might’ve stepped on it and ruined it in your haste. Don’t listen. Don’t listen.

“It’s hard not to, though, isn’t it?” Distorter whispered. “Just you and me here right now. Your friends are in their own worlds. Even the other patients don’t know what’s happening over here. I’ll wear you down eventually, you know. So why don’t you—"

The sound of a door opening echoed from the side.

Schneep quickly sat up, head snapping towards the sound. Two women hurried into the ward. He recognized the one with the short red hair—Aoife. The other woman with the long black hair was a stranger, but judging by the way her eyes were glowing mint green, she was also a magician. “Aoife! Help!” He waved wildly.

Aoife spotted him and the others and hurried across the rows of beds to get there, the other woman trailing behind her. “Henrik. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you.” She smiled a little, then quickly became serious. “What’s going on? Where is he?”

“Over there!” Schneep pointed at Distorter, who was slowly backing away from the barrier. “He is next to that bed!”

“Got it.” Aoife’s eyes began glowing yellow, and she thrust her hands forward. A square of yellow glass-like magic rushed from her hands, getting bigger and bigger and longer and longer as it went, passing through all the beds with ease. Distorter broke into a sprint to the side, dodging the attack.

“To the left of that magic!” Schneep said, pointing. The other woman immediately sprung into action, sending darts of mint green mist at the spot Schneep indicated, absolutely pelting the area. Distorter hissed as each one hit him, and he quickly scrambled under a nearby bed. “Underneath that bed!” Schneep added.

The two magicians looked at each other, then sent out laser-like beams of magic, each closing in on the bed from either side. They started to go underneath—and Distorter scrambled out from under the foot of the bed, darting for a door.

Jameson blinked wildly as the world did a strange perspective shift. He thought he was looking one way, but really he was looking another. It was nauseating. And... suddenly Aoife and Persephone were here. His expression brightened, but he didn’t say anything. What if this was another trick?

The other three were also able to shake off their illusions, as Distorter’s concentration waned. “H-hey!” Jackie gasped. “Who—you guys?!” He stared at the two newcomers. “Aoife?”

“An’ Miss Persephone,” Marvin mumbled. “’t’s good t’see ye.”

Aoife waved at the group. “Hey! I hope we didn’t take too long. I was doing some scrying earlier in the day and I knew you guys would need us here, but even so, getting through rush hour traffic was a nightmare. I can never account for that.”

“Wait, who the hell is that?” Anti eyed Persephone suspiciously.

“To the right!” Schneep shouted, pointing at another location. Aoife and Persephone both attacked that area, with Aoife sending out spheres that shattered on impact, and Persephone causing misty tendrils to rise up from the ground, grasping at things.

“Um, ‘Miss Persephone,’ apparently,” Jackie said. “Nice to... meet you? Magic Circle lady?”

“Nice to meet you too,” Persephone said, clearly distracted.

Schneep looked at his friends. “Now that they are here, you must get out of here!”

“Yes!” Aoife nodded. “I can make a shield around us as we leave, so your Distorter can’t reach us.”

What if you’re not really here? Jameson asked, staring at the two of them. We know better than to fall for tricks.

“Tricks, you said?” Persephone blinked. “Like an illusion? Uh... I don’t really know how to prove that we’re not that.”

“You need to look at the edges and the details,” Aoife said. “They’ll always appear unclear or indistinct in an illusion. Or at least, that’s how I’ve been trained to spot magical ones. I’m not sure how different it’ll be with a creature that can manipulate minds.”

“Over there!” Schneep twisted around, pointing to another location, and the magicians switched their attacks to that area.

“Jems.” Marvin pushed himself to his feet. “I-I don’ want to risk walkin’ into a trap, either. But your friends here seem... accurate, I s’pose?”

If you were a trick, you would say that, JJ said, now staring at Marvin. His expression is a strange combination of suspicious and dazed.

“For the love of god, Jameson!” Schneep snapped. “You cannot spend your life doubting what is real! I-it just hurts you! Do you think Distorter could make all of us here? All of this?! He is good, but something is always amiss with him!”

Jameson started, then nodded, standing up. I can’t be of much help with the magic.

“Because of your surprise teleport, I remember,” Persephone said.

“We’ll take care of the people who saw you do that later,” Aoife added. “But right now?” She clapped her hands and shouted a word. A dome of yellow energy surrounded her, with a doorway-sized hole on one side, close to the group. “Come on! We’ll get you to safety.”

“Is it really okay to leave Schneep alone here?” Jackie asked, looking at him worriedly.

“For now, I will be fine,” Schneep said. “Come back later to check if you must. And bring some noise-canceling headphones.”

Anti eyed Persephone suspiciously again, but then nodded. “We’ll be fine once we’re out of Distorter’s range. It’s a wide range, but if we’re somewhere he can’t fucking run to easily, we can work with that. Let’s go!” He took a deep breath and ran into Aoife’s shield.

“Persephone, can you make some sort of tunnel up to the barrier?!” Schneep gasped. “Keep him away!”

“Got it.” Persephone gestured at Aoife’s shield, and a mint-colored tunnel attached to the doorway in the side, leading directly up to what must’ve been the edge of the barrier.

“Alright, w-we’ll see you later, Schneep,” Jackie stammered. “Let’s go!”

“We’ll be righ’ back for you!” Marvin added.

If you can, find a way to get your phone! JJ said.

“Get out of here, you all!” Schneep snapped. “Go!”

The three of them hurried to Aoife’s side, and she immediately closed the shield completely, forming a solid yellow dome. She gestured for the others to run with her and hurried to the ward doorway.

Persephone backed up against the barrier. “Is there any way you could let me in? I want to stay to protect you.”

“I do not think so,” Schneep said. “Sorry. I think it is best if you leave with them.” He glanced around the room. “Distorter has gone; he might be following them.”

Persephone hesitated, then shook her head and sat down on a neighboring bed. “No, I’ll stay. Jameson is a Circle member, and we look after each other. He cares about you a lot, so looking after him means keeping you safe.”

“Whoa, how’d you just do that?!” Jackie gasped.

Anti couldn’t help but laugh a little. “If you click a link with the middle mouse button, it opens it in another tab in most computers.”

“Middle mouse button?”

“The scroll wheel. I’m surprised you don’t know any of this.” Anti grinned. “If you click the scroll wheel on a blank page, you can also get this smooth scrolling thing. Watch.” He did just that, moving the mouse up and down. The webpage scrolled in accordance with the movement.

“God, you’re a wizard,” Jackie mumbled.

Anti laughed louder. “I’m not. I just picked up a lot of stuff from experience.” The smile faded from his face as he actually read the webpage now. “Hm... no news about IRIS here, either.”

“I’m not surprised,” Jackie said. “It’s only been a day since we sent the footage.”

Yesterday, Anti and Jack had gone to the library to use their computers, spending the whole afternoon uploading the footage from the camera to a hard drive that the group had bought during the tech-buying spree a few days ago. From there, they sent the raw footage to various news sources. Just about as many as they could find before the library closed. They also printed out screenshots, copied photos, did just about everything they could to get backups, and this morning Jack and Stacy had gone to send packets of the physical copies to other news sources. They also sent both digital and physical copies to the Mirygale police, since Detective Kikelomo had said she’d start an investigation into IRIS.

This all might’ve been a bit overkill, but none of them wanted to take chances. They knew that some news places might think the whole thing was a big prank. But they needed someone to take them seriously. Otherwise, IRIS would still be a threat.

“Y’know... have you thought that... maybe this plan won’t work?” Jackie whispered, not wanting to say it out loud. “I mean, just because IRIS’s experiments might be exposed, it doesn’t guarantee they’ll forget about us.”

“...Yeah, I know,” Anti agreed, his voice just as quiet. “But the plan’s not to take them down forever. We just need to get them to leave us alone long enough for us to deal with Distorter. And like... these guys seem like the type to avoid taking risks. That detective lady is probably our best bet. If IRIS knows that a city is onto them, they’ll pull out, at least for a little bit.”

Jackie nodded. “I guess that’s all true.” He laughed a little. “Good thing Schneep ran into her, right?”

“Hrm.” Anti grumbled wordlessly.

“What?” Jackie looked at him, rolling his desk chair a bit closer to Anti’s. “What is it? You don’t like her?”

“No, it’s not just that.” Anti shook his head. “It’s just that... She happened to be in town? The town that’s at least an hour’s drive from where she lives? In the exact same shop that Volt and Jackson went to? At the exact moment the two of them went out? It’s a bit suspicious, isn’t it?”

Jackie blinked. “Well, look at it this way. Why would she plan to be there? What sort of nefarious scheme required her to run into Schneep and promise to investigate IRIS for him?”

“I dunno. Maybe IRIS hired her.”

“Well if they did, it’s a good thing we sent the recordings and photos to people besides Rachel,” Jackie pointed out. “Besides. I don’t think that’s IRIS’s style, anyway. They’re a lot more... direct.”

“...true,” Anti admitted. He opened another tab on the browser and typed in another address. “So... what if it was Distorter? We know he doesn’t have to be nearby to...” He trailed off. “Y-you know. To... do his thing.”

Jackie shuddered. “That’s true. But Schneep and JJ are very experienced in spotting the signs of Distorter’s control. It’s not exactly subtle. They would’ve realized she was different.”

“...yeah.” Anti nodded slowly. He was quiet for a minute, searching through the site he’d pulled up. Then he whispered, “Thanks.”

“Thanks?” Jackie repeated, confused.

“For, uh... keeping me grounded, I guess,” Anti mumbled. “I have... problems with that.”

Jackie was silent. Then he nodded. “No problem.”

They continued to read and search for a while, but after about an hour, they had to give up. It seemed like one day wasn’t enough time for news to arrive. It also didn’t help that they were being charged every thirty minutes for using the computer. The two of them paid for their time in cash, then headed out onto the street.

“The library didn’t charge me and Jack for using their stuff,” Anti muttered. “And we had to use their special computers with editing software and shit.”

“Well the whole point of the library is to offer things for no cost,” Jackie pointed out. “An Internet cafe is not the same. We could’ve just gone to the library again, you know.”

“No. They might’ve realized I was there two days in a row,” Anti said stubbornly. 

“I don’t think the library cares about how often people visit,” Jackie laughed. “In fact, I think they’d be delighted to see you there so often. That’s probably good for, uh... numbers, or whatever.”

Anti grumbled some more. “I just don’t want to stand out. I already look pretty distinct. Even though the streaks in my hair are really fading.”

“You’ll be fine,” Jackie said, nudging him. “But if you’re really so concerned, that cafe didn’t cost that much, really.”

Anti grunted noncommittally. 

They walked down the street until they reached the bus stop. It was a nice bus stop, actually. There was a little metal structure with a bench inside and plants on the roof—a good way to bring some green to the otherwise dull gray urban landscape. Jackie checked the schedule hanging on the inside of the stop. “Alright, if all goes well, the bus will be here in five minutes,” Jackie said. “Probably closer to six.”

“Cool.” Anti folded his arms and leaned against one of the metal support poles. He idly watched the few cars going down the street, eyes flicking back and forth.

Jackie sat down on the bench. “So... uh, how have things been?”

“I dunno.” Anti shrugged. “Same as you, really. How have things been with you?”

“Well... I’ve been worried about Marvin,” Jackie said. “The whole, you know... ‘time freeze having an effect on him’ thing...” He sighed. “He’s been acting weird since then, have you seen it?”

“Not really...” Anti started to say, then trailed off. “I mean... I guess a little. He’s been kinda quiet, maybe?”

Jackie nodded. “Yeah, that! He’s not really talking to anyone that much. Even JJ. I wonder what’s going on.”

“He’s probably having some existential shit,” Anti said. “That’s what always happens in time travel stories. Or to people with time manipulation powers. You start to wonder about the nature of stuff. And in Marvin’s case, do you think that if Volt and Jackson hadn’t been with him, he’d have just disappeared?”

Jackie shuddered. “I don’t want to think about that!”

Anti grinned. “When I was younger, I wasn’t much for reading, but there was this one series I remember very distinctly about time travel. One character could pause time, though as the story went on she began to lose control of the ability and could only stay in the normal flow of time by holding onto another character. She ended up defeating the villain by letting go of the second character, grabbing onto the bad guy, and disappearing into a void together. Then her molecules pulled apart and she disappeared from the timeline.”

“Jesus fucking hell!” Jackie blinked. “How old were you when you read that? Cause if you were a kid, that’s pretty dark and intense!”

“I thought it was cool.” Anti chuckled. “Besides, kids love that dark shit. But yeah... I wouldn’t let Will read that series until he was at least thirteen. Wish I could remember the name of the books, though.”

“I-I-I really hope that sort of thing wouldn’t happen to Marvin...” Jackie muttered.

Anti blinked. “Well, I’m sure... I’m sure it wasn’t like that. From what he told us when you all got back, I bet... I-I bet he would’ve just snapped out of the spell.” He hunched his shoulders. “...sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“No, it’s fine, really!” Jackie said hurriedly. “I just... it’s not what you said, it’s just me being all anxious and stuff.” He smiled at him hesitantly. “I’m sure Marvin would’ve been fine too. JJ seemed to think he would be... eventually.”

“Yeah. Jackson’s the magic expert, listen to him.” Anti nodded. He continued to watch the cars, his vision blurring a little as his eyes lost focus. “I don’t think we should use that spell again, though. Unless we really have to.”

“Oh yeah, no, definitely,” Jackie agreed. “I think Marvin’s been a bit scared off from experimenting with his cards for a while... which is actually... kind of sad, I think. I mean, he seems to really like those cards. I guess cause they’re a connection to his life before Distorter got involved. Though that’s just me guessing, of course. I-I mean, aren’t they also the reason he got transported to this time in the first place?”

Anti didn’t answer. Something was... off. He’d seen something on the other side of the road. But when he tried to focus on it, he couldn’t quite make it out. In fact... he couldn’t quite make anything out. It all felt so... distant all of a sudden.

This immediately put him on alert—but even that alert felt distant. “Jackie,” he said quietly. “Something’s wrong.”

“Huh?” Jackie looked over at Anti. His eyes widened and he gasped. “Anti! Your eyes are bleeding!”

Anti inhaled sharply, wanting to feel more distressed from that news than he actually was. He reached up and touched his face. A single drop of blood had fallen from one eye, tracing down his cheek. “He’s here.”

Jackie shot to his feet. “W-we have to get out of here!”

“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you guys, I had a dream about him,” Anti said idly.

“What?! Why didn’t you say anything?!”

“It, uh... felt private,” Anti said slowly.

Jackie threw his hands in the air, exasperated. “I’d be more mad if I didn’t know you and your habits. Come on!” He grabbed Anti by the arm and pulled him out of the bus stop. Anti stumbled, trying to run but having difficulty, his body feeling disconnected from his mind.

The thing on the other side of the street laughed. “Don’t worry... I’m not really here,” said a voice.

Jackie froze for a moment. Then stiffened and started to run down the street, pulling Anti behind him.

“Not even going to listen to me, are you?” Distorter made a tut-tut sound. It wasn’t clear where his voice was coming from. It was just... there. “That’s not fair, Jackie.”

“H-hey! Leave him fucking alone!” Anti shook his head, trying to push past the fog. He focused on the grip Jackie had on his arms, on the way the air passed through his nose and mouth. Things started to come a bit more into view. Focus! He wouldn’t let this bitch control him! “What are you even doing here?! Just fucking with us?!”

“I wanted to tell you something,” Distorter said.

“Don’t listen!” Jackie continued to pull Anti down the street, but Distorter’s voice remained around them.

“Maybe it’s better to say, I want to warn you,” Distorter continued. “I’m starting to miss you guys, you know? I think you should hurry back. Or else... something might happen.”

Anti stopped. Jackie tried to keep running, and yanked Anti’s arm painfully in the process. “Ow! Fuck!”

“Sorry!” Jackie stopped as well, glancing back at Anti apologetically. “But—what are you doing?! He can’t actually do anything, you know!”

Distorter laughed. “I can do a whole lot. Just because you guys are far away doesn’t mean I’m powerless. For every day you don’t come back, something will happen. I’ll be generous. You’ll get to have the rest of this day. Then, tomorrow morning, something will happen... and it will be all your fault.”

And then, abruptly, everything shifted. Anti blinked, finding himself once again aware and present in the world. He shook his head, then looked at Jackie. Jackie stared back with wide eyes. “He can’t... mean that, right?” Jackie whispered. “It has to be a bluff.”

Anti just stared back, a grim expression on his face. “We have to tell the others.”

———————

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell us about that dream?!” Jack, usually pretty calm, seemed kind of pissed by this news. Anti and Jackie had gathered everyone up in the apartment’s living room, telling them about Distorter’s sudden appearance—and Anti told them all about the dream he had with him. “I was literally right there! I checked on you! Opportune moment to say something!”

It does seem like something we should’ve known, JJ added tentatively.

“Look, we had more stuff to think about after that,” Anti said. “We had the whole IRIS time freeze shit to deal with. It kinda just slipped my mind. Besides,” He looked at Jack. “I wasn’t going to say anything in front of Will. I know he’s a strong kid, but he’s still a kid. It would freak him out to hear I had a dream where Distorter tried to claw my throat out.”

Jameson shuddered, his hand going up towards his own throat. Marvin, sitting on the sofa next to him, patted his shoulder comfortingly. 

“Well... yeah, that makes sense,” Jack mumbled. “Sorry. I just... that seems really important.”

“I can’t believe him hearing about me upset him so much,” Stacy said, looking off to the side thoughtfully. “Well... actually, I can believe it, since it sounded like you just kept pushing him. That wasn’t the smartest thing to do.”

“Yeah, well, I guess I wasn’t exactly thinking rationally,” Anti said. “Maybe some part of me wanted to get under his fucking nerves, even.”

“...probably not the best idea,” Jackie said, agreeing with Stacy.

“Look, can we focus on the most recent problem?” Anti asked. “The guy tried to threaten us. He basically said ‘come back to Mirygale or else.’”

“Or else what?” Rama asked. “Is he going to attack us?”

“If he is, it will not be physically,” Schneep muttered. “Even though he cannot be hurt by most things, we still outnumber him by a great deal. As long as we are all together, he cannot hurt our bodies. Our minds, however...”

“Do you think he’ll go for the kids again?” Jackie asked quietly, glancing down the hall towards the bedroom where Will and Michelle were. The adults had asked them to stay out of this conversation, saying it was ‘grown-up stuff.’ Will hadn’t really been happy about not being included, but he went with it. Michelle was just happy she could make him play with her while the adults talked.

“I... don’t know,” Anti admitted in the same quiet tone. “There’s always a chance. Or there’s a chance he’ll use his powers on us. Like... what happened with you, Jackie, that day at the park.”

Jackie shivered, and Rama walked over to his chair, putting their hands on his shoulders. “We won’t let that happen again,” they said.

What he’s planning to do doesn’t really matter, I think, JJ said. What matters is if we’ll cave to this demand to return back to Mirygale. We still don’t know if it’s safe there. IRIS might swoop in and grab us. In fact, for all we know, Distorter might WANT them to do that!

“That’s crazy,” Jackie said. “IRIS is very interested in Distorter, I don’t think he’d want to risk a run-in with a potential enemy.”

“Well... he definitely took advantage of me being locked in there,” Anti muttered.

“That is different, though,” Schneep said. “That is merely making the best of a bad situation... er, the best for him I mean. I agree with Jackie, I do not think Distorter would go out of his way to get IRIS involved.”

“Yeah!” Jackie nodded. “I don’t know what IRIS’s plans are for Distorter and the house on Aspen Street, but knowing what we know now, it can’t be good. At very best, they’ll hurt a lot of people by throwing them into the house’s weird pocket dimension. Distorter knows that and wouldn’t risk it.”

Do you think IRIS is powerful enough to contain him? Jameson asked.

“Yeah, what do you think, Jackie?” Stacy asked. “You, uh... have the biggest history with them.”

Jackie bit his lip, looking momentarily ashamed of his past decision. “...maybe. They’d struggle with it, and I can definitely see him escaping a few times and causing damage along the way, but he’s still just one guy, you know? IRIS has him beat on numbers alone. And... I think they’re trying to prepare for anomalies like him.” He glanced at Schneep.

Schneep folded his arms and glanced to the side. “That is true...”

“Maybe we could pit them against each other somehow.” Anti grinned.

JJ tilted his head. If IRIS caught Distorter, maybe they would leave the rest of us alone...

“I... don’t think they would,” Stacy said slowly. “I mean... you guys have magic and stuff. I don’t think they’d forget about that so easily.”

Jameson’s shoulders slumped. I know... I suppose it’s just wishful thinking. Again, Marvin patted his shoulder. He hadn’t said a word this whole time, but he’d always be there for his friend.

“We will keep that idea in mind if we need it, though,” Schneep said. “For now... what could Distorter possibly do to us if we do not return to Mirygale? Should we risk him finding some new way to hurt us?”

“Why does he even want you guys to go back there?” Jack asked. “He’s not... stuck there, is he?”

“Nah.” Anti shook his head. “He was able to go all the way to that IRIS place to break me out. I know he was physically there, I saw the weird claw marks he left behind. If he could go that far, he could reach here. It’s almost the same distance, just in the opposite direction.”

“Hm.” Jack frowned. Something moved in his hoodie pocket, and he looked down. “Sam?” Sam squirmed out, flying into the air nearby. “They say that they feel like if we don’t go back soon, something bad will happen. But also that something bad will happen when we do go back.”

“Wow, that’s very helpful,” Anti drawled.

Sam flew over to him, a streak of green light through the air, and smacked hard against his shoulder.

“Ow!” Anti rubbed the spot they hit. “God, it’s like being hit with a bigger-than-usual paintball. I get it, though. Sorry, Sam, I know you’re just trying to help.”

Sam bobbed up and down, and Jack laughed. “They said, damn right!”

Anti burst into laughter as well. “Who knew something so cute could swear?”

“They’re also flattered that you think they’re cute,” Jack reported as Sam flew back over to him, settling on his shoulder this time.

“Well, as unspecific as that is, it is good to know that both our options are bad,” Schneep muttered. “So now we must simply decide which is worse.”

Rama pursed their lips. “In my opinion, the worst thing we can do is bring the kids closer to danger. And I don’t think taking them back to the city where this thing lives is the best idea. A-at the same time, though... I know Michelle’s been missing her friends from school.”

“She wanted to start playing football this fall...” Jackie said quietly. “Hard to do that when we’re hiding from IRIS.”

But that brings up the point of IRIS again, Jameson said. Even if we return to Mirygale, we probably can’t go back to things as normal until we’re really sure that they’re gone. So... we’d still be in hiding for a while regardless. It’s just more risky to be hiding in Mirygale, closer to all their centers of operation.

Rama nodded slowly.

“Perhaps this is an empty threat?” Schneep wondered. “What can Distorter really do to us when we stick together? Historically, that has been the best way to defeat him. He cannot affect all of us at once—and he cannot affect me at all anymore.”

“I really doubt that it’s empty,” Anti said. “But... we agreed to take care of IRIS before we did anything with Distorter. Cause we’re not gonna be able to do fuck all if we’re hiding from them. We should stick to that idea.”

“Yeah... the last thing we want is to get caught again,” Jackie said slowly.

Stacy shrugged. “I’m good with whatever you guys want to do. Though I’m not really in any hurry to get close to him again, so... there’s that.”

So we’re all in agreement, then? JJ asked.

“U-uh...” Marvin coughed, clearing his throat a little. Everyone started in surprise and glanced at him. “M-maybe... I coul’... use my cards?” He offered hesitantly. “See... into the possible futures?”

Jackie blinked. “Do you... really want to do that?”

“If... it’s easiest,” Marvin said quietly. “We coul’... know what’s comin’.”

“Marvin, please do not force yourself to do something you are uncomfortable with,” Schneep said softly.

“I-I’m not—!” Marvin started to protest.

“It, uh, definitely seems like you are, sometimes,” Anti said. “You’ve been real fucking quiet lately. Something’s bothering you. Probably what happened at the IRIS place. Like, obviously we don’t know what’s going on in your head, but you’ve been acting different ever since then.”

Jack nodded. “This has all been a lot of pressure, you know? And what happened with your cards was... really scary. I-it’s okay if you’re feeling off. You don’t have to feel obligated to help.”

Marvin glanced back and forth between the two of them, then slumped back against the sofa. “Fuck you, McLoughlins,” he muttered.

Jameson grinned slightly. They’re right, though. We’ve all been worried about you.

Marvin sighed. “I’m... I’m jus’ t’inkin’ about a lot.” He twisted his hands in his lap. “T’is... is a lot of... power. I-I want to help. To... use it to help.”

“Thank you for that, Marvin,” Schneep said. “Truly. But you do not have to.”

“You can do whatever you want,” Jackie added. “But just... we want you to be comfortable. With yourself. And your cards. And just in general.”

“Mm-hm.” Marvin looked at his hands. “I... jus’ want to help.”

Jameson nudged him. Don’t force yourself to, though. That’ll just hurt you in the long run. Remember what you’ve told me about spreading myself too thin? Same idea here.

“I guess you’re right.” Marvin smiled hesitantly. “I... I-I guess I won’ use my cards. But... I wonder if we shoul’... go back to Mirygale. Jus’ in case.”

“...we’ll give it a couple days,” Anti said slowly. “See if something happens.”

The others all nodded. It might be a bit risky, but going back to the city felt even riskier. They would wait, and hope nothing bad happened in the meantime.

———————

Over the next three days, Anti kept returning to the library and the Internet cafe to repeatedly check for any news on IRIS, each time accompanied by one of the others. Jack again, then Jameson, then on the third day, Schneep. It was a bright, sunny morning when the two of them took the bus to the library together. “Hm... this place does not look much like a library on the outside,” Schneep said as they walked in.

“It’s the architecture, right?” Anti said. “You usually think of libraries as... classical, for some reason. Not modern and urban like this. It’s like someone attached metal pillars to a metal box and plopped it in a concrete square surrounded by artsy shit.”

Schneep chuckled. “That is exactly what it looks like. And I think people think of libraries as classical for two reasons. One, that sort of classic architecture is considered intellectual, probably because of the association of it with the Renaissance and the rise of ‘modern science’. Two, we are old, and that is what libraries looked like when we were little. Perhaps as more modern libraries are built, younger kids’ views of libraries will broaden.”

“Hm.” Anti shrugged. “I guess. I never really explored a lot of libraries growing up. The only one I really knew was the one attached to my secondary school. And then, when I was, like, a young adult, I had other shit going on.”

“Really?” Schneep tilted his head. “This... is probably the most I’ve ever heard you talk about yourself.”

“Hah... I’m trying to make an effort with you guys,” Anti said. “Don’t let it get to your head.”

“Of course not.” Schneep chuckled.

As the two of them talked, they walked into the library and took the elevator up to the second floor. There were computers on all stories of the library, but Anti had noted that the ones on this floor seemed a bit newer than the others. They walked past the round help desk (where Anti grabbed a temporary library card) and the shelves of books, reaching the three rows of computers on tables. Looked like no one else was here today, except for one woman going back and forth between a computer on the end of a row and the nearby printer, fussing over them both.

Anti sat at the far end of the bottom row, powering up the computer there. It asked for his library card number, and he entered in the one from the temporary card. “Hm... do they just hand out cards these days?” Schneep asked. “It has been so long since I went to the library.”

“No, these are just for internet access,” Anti said. “See how this is flimsy?” He waved the temporary card back and forth, showing how it flapped. “They mass-print them out, and each one only works for a day. Maybe a couple days. I don’t remember.” He quickly opened up the browser and went to the same websites he’d been checking recently.

“Fascinating,” Schneep said. “It is very handy that they just hand those out. I saw a sign for free chargers on the way in as well. Fascinating. Fascinating. Fascinating. Fascinating.”

“You good, Volt?” Anti glanced at him.

“Y-yes.” Schneep shook his head slightly. “I am just... feeling a bit off. I think it has been too long since I took my medicine, you know?”

“Hm... another reason to go home soon, I guess,” Anti muttered.

“I-I will be fine,” Schneep said. “Don’t let me distract you.” He dragged over a chair from another computer so he could sit next to Anti. “Now. Local news sites? I use those quite often myself.”

“Yeah, you were the one who gave me some of these addresses,” Anti said.

“Oh. Right.”

“You sure you’re okay?” Anti looked at him again, concern on his face.

“Yes, I am sure,” Schneep insisted. “Just continue to scroll through the page, please.”

Anti scrolled. “It’s easier to Control F and search for IRIS, you know. But yeah, no harm in being thorough—”

Schneep inhaled sharply. He pointed at a line on the screen. “A-are you seeing this?!”

Anti blinked. He hadn’t really been focusing too much on all the headlines, but now he leaned forward. The headline read: Fire at Local Coffee Shop Almost Burns it Down. It was accompanied by a picture of a building with soot-stained walls. A building that looked familiar. “Isn’t that... the shop you worked at?”

“Latte Lake,” Schneep said idly. “Y-yes. So... it is real. C-can you click on that?”

“Yeah.” Anti did so, and both of them leaned forward to read intently. Apparently a worker said that she might’ve left a stove in the back on when she closed up shop. ‘I was... in a daze [that night],’ the quote read. “That—that is Jennifer,” Schneep muttered. “We often had the same shift. She was always very focused. To the point of being a bit intense about the closing-up procedure. She... she would not... leave a stove on. Even if in a daze.”

Anti stared at the text on the screen, a sinking feeling in his stomach. He returned to the main page of the website, using the Control F command to start searching for specific phrases. Addresses, place names, people names—“Oh my god.” Anti clicked on another headline. “What’s the name of Jameson’s stage manager, again?”

“Darla,” Schneep said. “I think.”

“That’s what I thought. Last name?”

“I-I do not know.”

Anti bit his lip. “Me neither. But look at this.” The headline read, Car Accident Leaves Woman Injured. The article listed the woman’s name as Darla Knight. He used the same command to search the phrase ‘stage manager’—and found it listed as the woman’s occupation. “Oh my god.”

Schneep inhaled sharply, his eyes going wide. “That—there are—look! Th-the statement from her, she mentions she is ‘in a daze.’”

“‘It was like my body stepped into the road on its own’,” Anti read, that feeling of dread growing in his stomach. “Oh my fucking god. Shit. Shit.”

“Th-this could be a coincidence, right?” Schneep asked hesitantly. “A coincidence that... two people we know back home... have been caught in tragedies...”

“Do you know the names of any people Jackie works with?” Anti asked.

“Ah, there is Dr. Green, I think? I cannot remember his first name right now. B-but Jackie’s hospital is Mirygale Saint General, remember?”

Anti was already searching that up. After a bit of scrolling, he found a single article—dated from three days ago. There was a theft of supplies at Mirygale Saint General Hospital. They were looking for suspects, but it was still early. Anti would bet that they’d find the culprit to be someone Jackie worked with frequently, though. “This is what Distorter meant,” Anti whispered. “We thought he’d target us. But... h-he’s making it hard for people back home...”

“A-are we sure?” Schneep asked.

“Look at the dates on these! This hospital thing was the morning after Distorter made that threat. Then the car accident was the day after, and the fire was this morning!” Anti shook his head. “Three times is too much to be a coincidence.”

Schneep sat there, staring quietly. Then he shook his head. “I-is there any news about IRIS?”

“Nothing I can see,” Anti said, quickly scrolling. He searched up IRIS, using both the Control F command and the website’s built-in searchbar. “Nothing at all.”

Schneep stood up. “We have to go home. Not to the flat. To Mirygale.”

“I... I think the others will agree,” Anti said quietly. It was still a risk, but... their friends were caring people. They wouldn’t let others suffer for their choices. He logged out of the computer, then stood up. “We need to tell them right now.”

...

A few hours later, a large group of people—mostly adults, but accompanied by two young kids—boarded the train across the country, the line heading north.