Warmth Beneath the Dusky Skies

09, Rekindled Warmth

As they wrapped up their breakfast, Marice decided to head out a bit and visit the square's alchemy emporium. Katherine aside, Richelle insisted on tagging along with them as she wouldn't be allowed to go anywhere else. The spider familiar joined in as well, probably because she didn't want to be left out.

However, as they left the unit and looked out from the corridor, a few people from the atrium square immediately spotted them. And with cameras at the ready, they formed a small crowd below them, causing Marice and her companions to backpedal out of sight.

"I had a feeling they would still be here," Richelle said, folding her arms. "How annoying. What do these people even get from following us around like this?"

"Money," Marice said.

"It can't be that much. It's only a matter of time before these people get into trouble, and I wouldn't even care in the slightest."

"I can understand," Katherine said, tugging at her sweatshirt. "Marice and her mom have been a hot topic on the internet for two days now. Any news about celebrities like them, no matter how small and trivial it may be, will net them millions of clicks in just a span of twenty four hours!"

"Eh? Really?"

Marice gave her an annoyed look. "Hmph, don't act like you aren't a part of this. People can't shut up about you and your... specs..."

She put a hand over her mouth. "A-Ah! You don't have to remind me!"

Richelle glanced at the two policemen guarding the staircase, one of them equipped with an armored suit. "What do we do now? Can we ask the police to kick them out of the building or something?"

"I didn't want to resort to this," Marice said, fishing out a bottle from her cargo shorts, "but it's for the sake of my own sanity."

Katherine gasped. "Those wasps...! Marice, isn't that a bit too much?"

"We can't rely on the police all the time. And if those fools don't want to respect our space, I'll make them."

Marice deactivated the talisman attached to the bottle and began chanting a spell under her breath. As a magic circle lit up beneath her feet, a faint purple light enveloped each of the preserved wasps, causing them to start twitching to life.

"Whoa!" Richelle uttered as the wasps flew out of the bottle one by one. "You brought them back to life!"

Marice took a deep breath, opening her eyes. "No, I merely reanimated them. These wasps are still dead."

She exchanged amazed looks with the spider familiar. "Oh... but that's still awesome! You got to teach me that!"

"Anyway, shall we?"

With the wasps buzzing around them, Marice led the three of them downstairs. Both the police personnel and the nosy mob took notice of the insects, prompting most of them to immediately take their distance. And while there were a handful who stood their ground, Marice simply ordered her wasps via telepathy to chase them out of the way.

One of them was a young lady who was filming them with her phone's camera. "What's with you? You're gonna get people hurt!"

A man wearing an AR visor clenched a fist at her. "Yeah! You didn't have to scare us like that!"

"Sorry," Marice replied as she continued walking past them, "I didn't seem to recall inviting any of you in here. Stop wasting our time and leave us alone."

"Wow," the young lady said. "Your mother is so sweet and kind. Why can't you be a little more like her?"

Marice suddenly stopped in her tracks, facing them. "Yeah, why can't I be more like her so that everybody can take advantage of me for being so soft."