May's Mystical Mosaic

Butterfly Effect

As night settled over the city and the clock struck midnight, I hurried off into the night. I was ready to cleanse the city from evil which was starting to get too comfortable in my beloved's kingdom.

I put on my glass slippers in a hurry, which turned my evening dress into a gorgeous blue gown that might seem impractical for crime fighting but was the most useful thing ever with all of the hidden gadgets and tricks up its sleeve, oftentimes literally.

Then, for the final touch, I put on my sparkling tiara, which immediately created a golden butterfly-shaped mask on my face, completing the look.

Tonight was the night that Butterfly Effect would put a final stop to the Time Stealer, a deranged villain who kept drugging young girls, doing with them who knew what, and then tossing them away without any memory of what had happened to them during the time they were missing. Since no one else could or would take up the case, and the Butterfly Effect was a hero of justice, she was the one who brought justice to those whom the country failed to protect. She was the one to help the helpless, and even though I was their queen, it didn't stop me from risking my life for them.

"Jaq, can you stall Prince Charming for me?" I asked quickly dialing my friend, my sidekick, the only person who knew about my secret life.

"Cindy, you really should stop calling him that. After all, he is the king now," Jaq said scoldingly, although his words didn't have the usual bite like they did when he was really angry, so I didn't pay much attention to what he said.

"He will always be my one and only Prince Charming," I said in a sickeningly sweet tone, trying to imitate those cute girls I often saw in movies and dramas. "Anyway, can you stall him?"

"You scared me there for a moment," Jaq said, laughing at my antics. "I can stall him, but are you sure you know what you are doing? Should the queen really put herself at risk as you do daily?"

"My job is to protect my people, and this time the Time Stealer is hurting my subjects. He must be stopped," I said determinedly, leaving no room for debate.

"I understand that, but Cindy, he is dange..." Jaq started to say, but I hung up the phone before he could finish his gloomy thought.

Just because he was the only one allowed to call me by my nickname and speak freely to me didn't mean I would listen to everything he had to say. I knew he worried about me, but even so, listening to him list all the dangers was a waste of time. Especially now that I received a tip about the Time Stealer's whereabouts.

As I scaled down the building and into a dark alley, something didn't feel quite right.

The street was quiet.

Too quiet.

The movement sensors in my mask didn't detect any activity in the street, the supposed hunting grounds of that despicable criminal. If that was true, there had to be something going on—some movement, some sound—and yet there was nothing.

Worried about failing yet another of my subjects, I decided to do a full sweep of the place when I was suddenly struck on the head with something that felt very much like a flower pot. Was this a cartoon or real life? Who got struck with flower pots in reality?

Before I could use one of the thousand little gimmicks in my outfit, a dark mist enveloped me, and I drowned in it, losing all sense more quickly than I thought was possible. How anyone could get a drop on me, a trained professional, was beyond me.

And then it hit me.

It was a trap.

The tip I got was from the Time Stealer himself, and I fell for that scared, timid voice that called my tip line, so I rushed into action without much preparation, hoping to save the newest victim the caller claimed she was about to become.