Chapter Text
Sophie laid in bed, grinning at the little ceramic charm which hung around her neck. The tiny Easter egg was patterned with leaves similar to the ones which marked her favourite Guardian's forehead, and she felt warm and tingly all over just looking at the pendant. Her eyes fluttered shut, and the Dreamsand which curled over her head took the form of her playing with the Pooka and helping prepare for Easter.
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Halfway around the world, a dark-skinned woman shivered and looked up from her book. She'd imbued enough fear in this area to keep the gangs away for a while. Marking her page, she shut the book and stood silently. Nobody noticed when her skin shimmered grey, or when she walked behind a tree and vanished into its shadow, and when she materialised in southern France only one head lifted.
"What trouble is there, Penny?"
She pursed her lips. "I'm not sure, but I've got a feeling we should convene."
The man sighed and stood, ruffling the hair of the urchin he'd been telling stories with. The child smiled up at the adults, and Julia gave her friend's arm a tug. The little girl scampered off, and the two adults looked at each other. The man's appearance shimmered, and his colourful jacket and brightly patterned baggy pants became a coat of feathers. His dip-dyed blonde hair became a short crest of turquoise feathers, and his sky blue eyes turned opalescent.
"Alright." he grumbled, hovering with his translucent gold wings. "Let's get Sarah first, she's somewhere in India if I remember rightly."
Penny smirked and opened up the shadow of a street lamp. "Tajikistan, actually. Right continent, though."
The man sighed, elbowing her in a friendly manner. "I can't keep track of all our shadows like you can."
The woman rolled her eyes and ushered her friend through the portal, following after and blinking as her eyes adjusted to the light of the public library. "I need new contacts." she grumbled, spotting the shortest of their number reading to a small circle of ragged-looking children. She closed the book and smiled, and the children began to talk amongst themselves.
"Sarah, we gotta go." Penny whispered when their friend approached
The curvy woman nodded, sun-bleached curls bouncing across a golden-tanned forehead. "Tim too?"
The man stuck out his tongue, and Penny rolled her eyes. "Yes, Tim too."
Sarah shimmered, and her dress turned into flowing Dreamsand robes. Her hair, likewise, became a gravity-defying mass of corkscrew curls in ceaseless motion. "Let's go." she smiled, sliding through Penny's shadow without hesitation.
Tim sighed and flew through the portal as well, coming out in the main room of Natasha's house. The Ukrainian woman was going through basic forms with her short sword, but stopped when her companions materialised behind the couch. "Where's the fire?"
Penny frowned slightly. "I'm not sure, but something big is gonna happen real soon."
Natasha rolled her eyes. "Brilliant, and in the meantime I suppose we're going to go over the contingency plans?"
Penny fixed her with a glare. "I'm still a black belt in-"
"Five kinds of martial arts, yeah, we know." Timothy said. "What we need to do is figure out what Penny's sensing, when and where it's gonna be, and get there so we can make it, well, less bad."
The others nodded, and Natasha pulled a globe from the nearest bookshelf. "Well then, no time to waste." she grinned as they gathered around the kitchen table, flickering absently between their human and Avatar forms. Unbeknownst to them, in a town called Burgess, a little girl slowly faded from all memory.