We both realized that it had gotten quite late, but Lauren wanted to make me that teleportation artifact before I left. I agreed. It felt even more important in the wake of a kidnapping attempt.
She took a deep breath, obviously trying to put the fight with the were-lions behind her. "Great. You can watch if you like. Give me your phone." She held out a hand, peremptorily.
"Uh...why?"
She smiled. "I mean, I can enchant a magic wand for you to wave around if you want, but it's probably easier just to put it on your phone. Unlock it, please."
"Oh...um, okay, I guess." I pulled out my phone -- I had five unanswered text messages from my roommates, but I ignored them, and unlocked it for her.
"So...this is how it'll work..." Lauren set the phone down on the kitchen counter. She pulled out the little journal she'd made some notes in, set it next to her phone. She'd asked about my height and weight, whether I was right or left-handed, that sort of thing. It was all there in very tidy, legible script.
I realized that this was the first time that I
knew
someone was about to do magic. Up to this point, when Viv and Diana had used magic, I hadn't been expecting it. I leaned forward, trying to make sure I didn't miss it.
She swiped through the apps on my home screen. "What's your favorite ride-sharing app? You've got a few here..."
"Uh...that one." I indicated one of the apps.
"Okay, cool." She opened the app, put in her address as one of the saved locations, and closed out of the app.
Then she went and got the keycard she used to enter the building and her apartment, a piece of mail -- her monthly rent statement, it looked like? -- and a glossy brochure that, after a moment, I realized was an advertisement for the apartment complex she lived in.
She pulled out a book of matches and scratched one, lighting it.
"Uh, what're...?" As I watched, she held the match up to the corner of the rent statement above my phone. It slowly caught, and began burning.
Lauren began muttering, a barely audible chant. I craned in, trying to catch the words. "
The price is paid. The price is paid. The price is paid.
"
The flame slowly consuming the rent statement was odd. For one thing, it was smokeless. For another, it was more intensely yellow than a normal flame -- not enough to be truly visually disturbing, but certainly
off
, somehow, not as orange-yellow as it should be.
She set it down on the kitchen counter, still burning, and picked up the brochure. The cover featured an attractive couple in a brightly lit, spacious-looking apartment, with the words WELCOME HOME NEIGHBOR emblazoned on it in big, friendly letters.
"
Welcome home. Welcome home. Welcome home.
" Lauren's soft, droning monotone began again as she lit the brochure on fire. This time, the flame was an odd, blueish-green. She set that down on the table.
I watched in silence.
Then she picked up the keycard.
"
Safe and sound. Safe and sound. Safe and sound.
"
As she uttered the new chant, the keycard -- instead of melting or blackening, like the laws of physics might lead you to believe --
also
burst into flame, a deep, blood red glow. After it caught, she set it down as well. The three objects formed a triangle around my phone, slowly burning up, an odd, smokeless display.
As they burned down to nothing, Lauren whispered,
"The price is paid. Welcome home. Safe and sound."
Nothing moved, but there was an unpleasant, disorienting, perspective shift for a moment -- as if my phone was suddenly far away, at the bottom of a very deep well, even though it was still sitting on the counter. The effect was gone in a split second, but it was enough to make me queasy.
"Okay, you're all set." Lauren sounded pleased.
"Didn't...you need that keycard?" There was nothing left of any of the objects she'd set on fire, not even ashes.
She shrugged. "I have an extra."
"So that...that was it?" My phone looked the same.
She gave me a look. "Oh? Was it not a satisfying performance? Not exciting enough?"
"I, uh, no--"
She waved me to silence. "Look, here's how it works. You have two options -- the quick way and the slower way. For the slower way..." She pulled up the ride-sharing app on my phone. There was a button in the lower corner of the app I had never seen before:
EMERGENCY RIDE HOME
. She tapped it.
The typical screen that came up when you booked a ride appeared. A message, saying
Sharing your driver details in 60 seconds...
began counting down.
"If you do it this way, you can cancel the teleport any time until this timer expires. I figured that might be handy in case you're about to try something incredibly stupid, which seems like something you'd do. Your other option is just your standard emergency-SOS shortcut on your phone, hitting the lock button five times or whatever. Normally that immediately dials 911. Now it teleports you to my apartment instead. No timer on that one, so I can't demonstrate it for you without burning out the magic."
I tried to imagine how this worked, in practice. "So...that spell...what, redesigned the rideshare app to add that button and reprogrammed the emergency call functionality on my phone? Lauren, that's amazing, how did..."
Now she looked gratified at my appreciation. "No, no. It doesn't...mess with things in the detailed way you're describing. It's more like I..." she hesitated, obviously trying to find the words "...changed the reality around your phone. It's already a tool you use in emergencies, and a tool you use to catch a ride home. I just...tweaked things, so that it's supposed to give you a ride home for free in emergencies. I was clear about where
home
is, and gave it the power to send you there; the magic just kind of takes care of the interface/user experience stuff."
I blinked. "And...how much power did this take? Like, as much as I just gave you, or...?"
She nodded. "Good question. This was a big one; you picked the most magically expensive of the three options, and I made it even more costly by not doing some involved, hours-long ceremony. This took everything you just gave me, and then some." And she did, I admit, look tired -- it might've been the late hour, but I thought there was a tightness around her eyes, a weariness in her movements, that hadn't been there just a few moments ago.
She flashed me a smile. "Ordinarily I'm supposed to get a cut of the thaumaturgical energy to keep for myself; this took more than I got. But I don't mind; I thought I'd do you a solid, to show you can trust me. I'm on your team, Matt, even if I didn't tell you everything at first. Really."
I nodded. That hadn't been a question in my mind -- not after she'd stood up for me with the werelions -- but this cemented the affection I was feeling for her. "Thank you. Seriously."
She gave me a hug. "Okay. You gotta go. It's super late and I have stuff to do tomorrow."
I hugged her back. "Same. Thanks, Lauren. For everything. I'll see you soon."
---
It was well after midnight by the time I left Lauren's apartment. It was a warm summer night, but -- walking the dark streets back to my apartment alone -- I admittedly felt afraid.
Someone had just tried to
kidnap
me. Presumably to tie me up in their basement and use me for my thaumaturgy.
And the kidnappers in question were evidently
lion-people.
I spent the whole way back looking over my shoulder, studying every drunk couple stumbling home from a bar, every group of friends laughing with each other, even the guy standing and smoking a cigarette out in front of the QuikMart. Any of them could be...what? A potential supernatural creature, witch, or something else, who wanted to use me?
I had always felt fairly capable, and this was a safe area; I walked around at night mostly not even thinking about the potential for mugging. But the memory of Maya smoothly launching me over her shoulder, slamming me down flat on my back, had me feeling quite vulnerable. If Lauren hadn't been there...
Maybe this was how women felt walking alone at night. I realized I was subconsciously clutching my phone in my pocket, fingers on the button that would trigger the emergency dial. It at least helped to know that I had a way to get out of trouble.
The relief I felt when I pulled the door closed behind me in my own apartment was palpable. My roommates were all asleep, but the knowledge that they were here was comforting.
That comfort was almost immediately eclipsed by exhaustion. It had been an astonishingly busy day. Diana. Viv. Lauren. Werelions.
Twenty four hours ago, I had been dancing with Viv, trying to figure out what a thaumaturge was.
---
Monday morning. The first day of my summer classes, and I'd overslept. Blearily, I stumbled out of bed and started going through my morning routine.
Maybe it seems odd to you that I'd still go to class. But I didn't know what else to do, really. And from what I could tell, Diana, Viv, and Lauren all did more mundane things with their time, too. It wasn't spells and sorcery 24/7.
A truth that became almost immediately apparent when I got out of the shower and went into the living room.
"You look like hell. Why didn't you answer our texts last night?" Alyssa said flatly, eyeing me from the couch where she was eating some toast.
"I ended up, uh...out late." I said the words shortly. I had gotten their texts, but Lauren and I had been busy...and then I figured I was already on my way home. "And, uh, I didn't see them until I was headed home last night anyway, sorry."
"Out late? You were gone early too...we didn't see you at all yesterday, dude." Chris was at the table, the usual mountain of breakfast in front of the big man. He actually put his fork down to talk to me -- an unheard-of occurrence during breakfast.
I tried to let their concern warm my heart as opposed to irritating me. I couldn't tell them everything, obviously. "I, uh...actually ended up on two back-to-back dates, unexpectedly. First with the girl from last night and then the one from Friday."
"Yeah? Well, maybe give us a heads-up next time, Chris here was worried sick." Alyssa poked him in the ribs.
"First of all, Alyssa was the one who was ready to call the cops if you weren't here in the morning." He glared at her, then glanced back at me. "But for real, we were a little worried."
"Look, my bad, okay? Sorry. I'll, uh, text back sooner next time." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "I've just...been busy."
Alyssa gave me an annoyed look. "Yeah, we know. You were barely around all weekend. I mean, who even
are
these girls, anyway? You had better keep hanging out with us even though your dating life is apparently picking up."
I was about to give her a snarky reply, but I was preempted.
"Man, stop giving him the third degree. He's just living his life."
The three of us all paused. It was unusual for Sam to interject in our good-natured bickering.
