Chapter Text
“Hey babe, you ever wonder what your life’d be like if it was a novel?” Heather looked up from her book, blinking in surprise.
“Huh? What brought this on?” she asked, marking her page and turning her full attention towards her girlfriend. Grace shrugged, still staring at the patterns the shadows made on the ceiling.
“I dunno, just thinking about random stuff. Honestly, mine would probably be a boring YA novel. I’m nothing special, not like you and Spooks are,” she said. It wasn’t a sad or resentful statement, just matter-of-fact. She knew she was ordinary. That didn’t mean she wanted to be special. Ordinary life was stressful enough, thanks.
Heather frowned, leaning over to rest her head against Grace’s shoulder. “You’re special to me. You don’t need to be a mage to be special, Gracie. I like you just the way you are, weird magic-user magnetism and all,” she said, eyes sparkling with mirth as she leaned up to peck Grace on the cheek.
“Heard my name, whaddya want,” grumbled the third and last occupant of the apartment, having just stumbled out of his bedroom. Heather rolled her eyes, hurling a throw pillow at him.
“Peace and quiet, Spooky. Get outta here,” she snapped, only half-joking. A tendril of shadow peeled itself away from the ceiling, catching the pillow before it could connect. He continued on to the kitchen, tossing it back over his shoulder.
“The living room is a place for all living beings, and I’m still kicking, so piss off,” he called, laughing and ducking another pillow. Heather collapsed back against Grace’s arm, snuggling into her chest and pouting.
“Talk about a mood-killer… Remind me why we live with him again?” she muttered petulantly, looking up at Grace. Grace shrugged, looking down and kissing the top of her head.
“He brings in money,” she chuckled, the sound rumbling in her chest and vibrating Heather’s ear. Heather sighed dramatically, throwing an arm around Grace and closing her eyes.
“Yeah, I guess… He’s still useful, we can keep him,” she muttered. The peace was short-lived though, as once again the calm was shattered by Aiden.
“Uh, guys? We have a problem…!” he called, slowly backing out of the kitchen.
“Another I-blew-up-the-stove-making-eggs problem, or a magic problem?” Grace called back. Aiden glanced at her in mock-offense, sticking his tongue out before turning back to whatever was going on in the kitchen.
“That was one time, and the second one. Some kinda weird portal thing?” he said, peering back around the corner and quickly backing up again when a shaft of blue light spilled out of the doorway.
Grace Matthews.
Grace jumped, her skin paling slightly in shock. “W-What? Who are you? How d’you know my name?” she asked, stiffening.
That is not important. Your help is needed.
“Help? What kinda help?” she asked, glaring at the light suspiciously. Aiden muttered something that sounded like ‘I just wanted coffee not a Cthulhu portal in the fuckin’ fridge’, but she ignored him.
My people are in danger. You alone are the key to saving my civilization.
She laughed, subconsciously tightening her grip around Heather. “Pal, you’ll have to find a different hero. We all have class in the morning,” she said, addressing the light in the kitchen. It flashed brighter, something happening beyond the doorway that made Aiden pale.
“Uh, Grace?” he squeaked, looking terrified. “It doesn’t seem very happy you said that…” He stepped back again, eyes wide. Something solid reached out of the kitchen, chasing after him. It looked like a tangible thread of light, not unlike Aiden’s shadows.
“Aiden, get out of the way of that thing!” she yelped, extracting herself from under Heather and leaping across the room to tug him out of the way.
You have made a mistake, Grace Matthews. In time, you will come to realize that my world and yours are more connected than you previously presumed.
The light retreated back into the kitchen, dimmer now.
I will be contacting you again in one week’s time. Do not disappoint me.
The light flared brighter, forcing Aiden (who was looking at it) to shield his eyes. When he looked back, the portal was gone. The only thing left to suggest something had happened was the still half-open fridge, which he closed quickly. His face had a slight green tinge to it. “You’re not really gonna listen to that thing, are you Grace?” he asked quietly, rejoining the other two in the living room. She sighed, pushing her braids back from her face.
“Maybe? I don’t know, it didn’t sound too happy that I refused to help…” Heather sat up, sighing.
“The fact remains, whether you agree or not we still need a plan of action. One in case we accept, and one in case the refusal goes sour. Agreed?”
Everyone nodded, settling either on the floor or a chair. “So let’s start from the beginning. Aiden, could you tell us how the portal opened?” Grace asked, looking over at him. He nodded, frowning slightly.
“Yeah. So when I went into the kitchen, I wanted to get some coffee. Everything was normal until I opened the fridge to get the milk, because then there was this floating blue light in there, like a really bright lightbulb. I must’ve bumped it or something, because the next thing I know it was like it… exploded or something. The light grew really big and bright, with these little swirls coming off of it. It…it was so bright it burned me, in my core,” he explained, patting his chest. One of the aurae curled around his arm hissed, its form darkening slightly before going back to semi-transparent.
“It must have been some sort of purer magic, then. Not only that, but pure light magic, if it burned your core,” Heather mused, sitting up and threading her fingers together thoughtfully. He nodded, pulling his knees up to his chest. “I wonder why it spoke to Grace specifically, though. Do you have any ideas?” she asked, turning to Grace. She shrugged, tucking a loose braid behind her ear.
“I have no clue. I’m pretty sure I haven’t pissed off any magic lightbulbs lately,” she said, smiling humorlessly.
“So in other words, we have no information at all.”
Aiden groaned, slumping back against the leg of the armchair. “I just have one question.” The other two turned to look at him curiously, Grace raising an eyebrow in an unspoken question. He sat up and pointed an accusing finger at the two of them, narrowing his eyes. “Which one of you fuckers tempted Murphy?”