Madeleine Grows a Pair

15 - Nightmare/ Dream Sequence

Espresso walked at a brisk pace. Normally he wouldn't have the slightest clue how to pinpoint a specific cookie in a kingdom full of them, but unfortunately he knew the perfect one for the job.

A bell chimed as he entered a coffee shop and he sat down on the chair opposite to his target.

Latte looked up from the newspaper she was reading, "You never go looking for me, what's up?"

Espresso got straight to the point, "I need you to find the cookie with the knife; the one with the goggles."

"And why is that?" She folded up the newspaper slowly, pressing the creases in until they laid flat.

"I have a feeling they were leaving out some of the details."

"New kingdom drama? Why didn't you just say so?" Latte chugged the rest of her drink and shot up from her chair, "Let's go!"

Espresso followed her out of the store, "It's more like 'developing' drama instead of something new."

"Tell me everything."

Espresso gave her the basics of his recent talk with Black Raisin, leaving out details that would out her wings, not that he thought she cared much.

Latte, meanwhile, unlocked her spoon from a bike rack. She channeled her magic into it and the device started floating in her grip.

She mounted the spoon, "I see. Hop on."

Espresso joined her and they lifted into the air together. He would've refused her offer any other day, but despite Latte's reckless flying this was the most efficient way.

Latte leaned back to face him, "You do realize I need a name to find a cookie, right?"

Latte genuinely had a spell for tracking down a cookie and knowing their whereabouts. It's why she always knew when Espresso was coming home, and also why it seemed like she was always teleporting into unsuspecting conversations. The cost of that kind of spell required something from both sides. The magic of the caster and the name of the target.

Espresso almost slapped himself. There was no way he could remember the name of some random stranger who he happened to interrogate a week-ish ago.

He must've made a face, because Latte laughed, "Lucky you, I don't forget names, and unfortunately for them that cookie revealed it when they pleaded us not to turn them in."

When the two reached high enough upon her flying spoon, they stopped and continued levitating in place. Latte stood up suddenly, perfectly balanced despite her high heeled boots. Her hands glowed as coffee magic accumulated in one central spot, oozing out of her as she traced a glyph in the air.

Her concentration on the spoon wavered and their stasis in the air started to shake. She continued working on the spell.

Espresso looked less than pleased. He braced both hands on the spoon and sighed, "Leave the flying to me. Just focus on the spell."

He was going to need it if he wanted to find answers.

He palmed the stem of the spoon, feeling the magic ebb out from under him as he shoved his coffee magic in to replace Latte's. This wasn't the first time he'd flown with magic tools before, and admittedly, it probably wouldn't be the last.

Latte dexterously finished the glyph with a hum and activated it by uttering a name and conjuring a quick burst of magic. A thin white line popped out and wrapped itself around her wrist, loosely tugging her in a general direction. The line was continuous, presumably connecting to the target of the spell, and it thinned with distance.