⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰
𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑚
𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑠
𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟
𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠
𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑡
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒, ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑
𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐁𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐡
⊱ ────── {⋅. ♪ .⋅} ────── ⊰
A kiss. One simple touch.
It can cause so much trouble, not just because of how nice it might feel on one's skin, rather who was behind the kiss.
Luna was pulled out of her dream, yet she could still feel the ghost of someone's lips on her skin. Luna breathes heavily as she turns to lay on her back only to realize she wasn't laying on her bed. Rather the blue-eyed girl was hovering over her bed, at the realization Luna was distracted from her dream making any heat she felt to be pushed away and replaced with fear. With her mind no longer on the dream, Luna fell on the lumpy mattress making her groan in pain at the abrupt contact.
Luna touches her shoulder being able to feel the pain but now awake she was able to hear the commotion happening outside. Giving her no time to think about her dream, and quickly Luna slips into her black night slippers grabs her navy hoodie, and walks out of her room in shorts and a spaghetti straps shirt.
Exiting her room Luna was able to see Molly had been the one who was screaming because of all the stuffed birds that were in her way. Karolina, like Luna, had also walked out of her room and was standing closer to the young teen while Nico with the staff in her hand was walking up the stairs, "Sorry. The new decor is my fault."
"Is there a reason that you decided to turn our home into the Bates Motel?" Gert asks from the bottom of the steps with a mug in her hand
Chase walks from his room towards the stairs being able to see the stuffed birds, "Pretty used to some crazy random shit happening around here, but this is definitely a new one."
"I'm trying to get back to Alex and the Dark, whatever that place was. I've been using the spell that Morgan gave me over and over again, but since I can't use the same spell twice, every time I try, I get another stupid stuffed bird. Watch." Nico explains annoyed with the whole situation they were in before she tightens her grip on the staff and commands it, "Tenebrae!"
A new stuffed bird appears next to Chase making him take a step back and say, "Point made. You can stop now."
While the stuffed magically popped next to Chase Luna couldn't help but her amazement at the magic be replaced by the heat she felt from the dream appear when seeing Chase in a sleeveless white shirt. Without wanting to Luna's eyes widen making her slowly turn her head to the side away from the group of girls she stood next to. In her head all Luna could think about is how embarrassing her situation was, even if no one around her had any clue as to what was going on in her head.
Doing her best to push away her embarrassment Luna continues to listen to the conversation going on as Karolina tells her girlfriend, "Nico, you need to get some rest."
"I can't." Nico states moving away from Karolina's touch by walking down the stairs making everyone around her follow, "Alex is back there alone."
"We all want to save Alex," Luna speaks up feeling guilty that she had put Alex being in trouble at the back of her mind, "trust that we do. It's just we don't know how"
"Morgan does. If I can figure out how to communicate with her. Maybe summon her with the Staff." Nico thinks out loud while looking down at her staff
"You cannot try to bring her here." Karolina strongly states before looking around the room as Nico still had her eyes down, "She trapped us in that place. Made us relive our worst nightmares."
"Wait, no, I thought that was Nico's spell that got us trapped in there." Gert questions
"And that creepy, racist magician," Chase adds making Luna nod her head in agreement while avoiding all possible eye contact with him
"Morgan gave it to her," Karolina states not wanting Nico to inherit someone else's blame
"And she sent Amy to save us," Nico says, it being the first time in the group at Amy was brought up after having seen her in the other world
"But that wasn't really Amy," Luna says not being able to help the statement coming out as a question
"Well, whoever it was, she helped us." Nico states doing her best to say the right words not only to convince everyone around her but herself, "Good or bad, human or not, maybe, you know, Morgan might be our only way to save Alex."
"Maybe you should talk to your mom. She knows a lot about magic, and it was her spell that got us back here." Karolina suggests while Molly walks away from the circle and into Alex's room
"Guys, can I ask a question without being judged?" Chase hesitantly asks
Luna couldn't help but look over at Chase only for him to already be looking at her while she says an honest, "No"
"Okay, I'm not suggesting we actually do this, I'm just saying the thought out loud so we can all hear how it sounds. But what if we didn't go back to that place?" Chase asks making everyone think about the experiences they had, "I mean, we barely made it out the first time."
"No," Molly states walking back towards the teens "we're not us without him."
Gert looks up from her bandaged shoulder, "It's Alex."
"Okay, well, sometimes bad ideas lead to good ideas. Sometimes they lead to other bad ideas that might get us all killed, so..." Chase looks around eyes ending up at Nico who now that they didn't have Alex was unofficially appointed the leader, "what do we do?"
"I'm not sure..." Nico says just as Old Lace walks into the Hostel with a growl, "Yet."
Old Lace snarls making everyone turn to look at her only for the dino to roar and run towards the nearest stuffed bird. With an open mouth, Old Lace picks up the bird and runs away from the teens. Gert walks to look into the direction Old Lace had run to, "Sorry. Old Lace broke Molly's window while we were gone, and I think hunting in the park made her a little feral."
"Uh, speaking of that, I'm starving," Molly says suddenly very interested in the conversation at hand
"Oh, I still have Dale's road trip money. We can actually go out and, like, get a nice brunch." Gert suggests with a smile
"Maybe we could get mimosas," Molly suggests with a bright smile
"Molls," Luna says with a chuckle "We've been gone for six months not six years. Plus I think orange juice in a fancy glass tastes equally as nice"
"I'll take it," Molly replies her smile not once disappearing
"Look, as much as I would love to toast to not being on the run from our parents anymore, we do have really pressing issues at hand," Karolina states sharing her opinion on going out for a nice brunch
"No, no, you should go. We can't do anything for Alex until I learn how to get back there anyway." Nico says wanting everyone to go out enjoy their day because she took away six months from their life
"You don't have to do this alone," Karolina tells her girlfriend
"I kinda do. I'm the only witch in our friend group." Nico states looking around the group
"Probably a good idea to scope out what we've missed in six months." Chase voices looking over at Luna who was doing her best not to turn to look at him as she can see from her peripheral vision
"I would like to check on my mom. I'm sure that she's worried sick." Karolina says knowing the last time she saw her mom she had just given birth
"I'll go with you." Molly quickly speaks up "I made a sacred vow to Xavin that I would protect the Holy Mother, and I intend to keep it. I just really need to eat something first."
"Enjoy your oat milk lattes," Nico says with a chuckle before turning around to walk back upstairs to work on her magic
The rest of the teens go to their own room to change out of their pajamas and into clothes for their brunch.
Without thinking much of it Luna wore a pair of black flip flop sandals with a spaghetti-strapped blue and white dress. The one thing Luna did think more about was how to wear her hair, the scar on her temple had healed and the scab was no longer a black color but a red scar. In the end, Luna slightly parts her hair so that she can brush it to cover her scar and create braids to look like a headband.
With everyone ready, the five teens make their way to a breakfast spot only to have to stand in a very long line. Once they had gotten closer to the entrance they were given a menu to browse what they could order once inside.
"Okay. So it'll be, uh, pancakes, hash browns, breakfast burrito, and an avocado toast." Molly lists off from the menu and looks up at the teens, "What are you guys getting?"
"Hungrier by the second," Chase replies looking around in the line they were waiting
"We've been eating out of a dumpster for months. I think we can survive waiting 40 minutes for fresh waffles." Karolina says with a smile and arms crossed
At the word of waffles a hungry Molly praises, "Oh, my God, waffles?"
"Are we sure there aren't equally delicious breakfast options at a place with no line?" Chase asks the closed menu in his hand
"No line, no good," Molly speaks up closing her menu to look over at Chase
"Golden rule of brunch spots." Karolina follows backing Molly up
"No, I got to disagree with that," Luna says looking back down at her menu, knowing that some restaurants that have lines don't always have good food or at least certain items on their menu aren't worth the wait
"Did you know that your brain will actually trick you into thinking the food is better just because you waited in line for it?" Gert informs the teens catching someone's attention making him walk up from behind Karolina
"What we're waiting for is given a false sense of importance because..."
Gert eyes widen at the familiar words the stranger was saying and ends the saying with him, "...Why else would we all have agreed to wait for it?"
"Sorry." The stranger says looking away from Gert and to the group, "I don't mean to eavesdrop on a conversation. I just, I don't think I've ever met anyone who also listens to the People are Trash podcast."
"It's my favorite," Gert replies leaving the stranger dressed in Black speechless
"Oh my stars now there is two of them," Luna gushes while raising a hand to cover her smile at the interaction happening before her
"I'm Max." The stranger introduces himself to Gert and extends his hand out for her to shake
"Gert."
Letting of each other's hands Max says, "Nice to meet you."
"So Max, whats with the white raven's you selling something or?" Luna asks wanting to give the guy a chance for Gert but first she had to make sure he was good enough for her
"Oh, I'm actually not selling anything. I'm giving these out." Max explains opening his purple satchel and takes out a phone handing it over to Molly, "It's the Wizard's new phone. Meet the WizPhone Corvus."
"It's purple." Molly giggles looking down at the phone
"Yeah." Max simply replies as he starts to hand out every teen a phone
Max reaches out to hand Luna a purple WizPhone but she shakes her head, "No thanks, don't believe in things ever truly being free"
"I can respect that," Max says moving on from Luna to hand Chase the phone as he was the one who stood next to her
"You work for Wizard?" Karolina asks looking down at the phone as it was something, they could put under the list of things they missed in the past six months
"Part of my internship program. I'm a junior at USC." Max replies having been asked that question multiple times and having practiced his answer
"Oh, awesome. What are you studying?" Gert asks interested in the college man
"I'm a health and humanities major with a social justice minor." Max lists off
"How is handing out cell phones gonna help humanity?" Chase asks raising the purple phone in his hand
"Oh, well, it's not like we're just giving them away to cute girls at hipster breakfast spots." Max starts to explain glancing over at Gert when he says 'cute girls' making the purple head smile, "Um, L.A. is full of kids who don't have anyone. On the WizPhone Corvus, people have an immediate community of fellow users. And that means power to the disadvantaged, which should be the point of anything we put our time into, I mean, don't you think?"
Max finished his explanation by looking down at Gert leaving the girl speechless but lets out, "I do think, yeah."
"Yeah, so.." Max chuckles but before he can continue a waitress exits the restaurant and calls out, "Molly, party of five?"
"Oh, that's us." Molly quickly says before walking over to the waitress making everyone follow Molly
Everyone except Gert who turns back to face Max and nervously says, "Um... Yeah, I'll catch you on the way out?"
"Yeah, I'll be here." Max stammers as he watches Gert walk into the restaurant with a phone in hand
The teens are seated at a table big enough for the five of them, and they were all still looking at their menu's most of them not having settled on what to order.
"Luna, isn't that Renee?" Gert asks making Luna look up from her menu only to see Renee walking over to them with a waitress apron. Luna can only hum a 'yes' not being able to meet anyone's eyes
Renee walks over to the table with a notepad in hand and when she sees Luna the brunette shares a welcoming smile, "Hey Silvers"
Luna doesn't say anything she only smiles making Renee look around the table and slightly remembering two of the girls and with her pen, she points, "uh Gert and Molly right?"
The girls nod their heads having only met her once, making Renee continue speaking, "Welcome everyone to Fred 62, I'm Renee I'll be your server today. Are y'all ready to order or are we starting just with drinks first?"
The teens all say their drinks and order, except for when it came to Luna Renee guessed her order. In the past whenever the two went out to eat at a breakfast shop Luna always ordered the same thing, "Let me guess, a hot chocolate, iced water, and the stuffed French toast?"
"Yes," Luna says being able to hold back her smile, but she couldn't help her cheeks from blushing, "Yes please"
"All right, I'll be back with your drinks soon," Renee says with a smile looking at everyone before walking away with notepad and menus in hand
"How do you know our waitress?" Karolina asks leaning slightly into the table, having noticed the blush on Luna's cheeks
"She uh," Luna says rubbing her forehead glancing to look at Chase and then back at the blonde who didn't know about her sexuality, "That was Renee my ex"
"She looks different," Molly says playing with the napkin that had the utensils wrapped up
"Molls the last time you saw Renee she was sweaty from dance practice and not wearing make-up," Luna says, and it was all true, the last time she had seen Renee she didn't have highlights in her light brown hair. Nor did the girl wear red lipstick and eyeliner outside of dance recitals yet there Renee stood grown up. Not wanting the conversation to stay on her or her ex, Luna changed the subject.
Their food arrived fairly quickly, and just like they had previously stated they were hungry, and the food quickly eaten. With empty plates, the bill plus tip being paid, and happy stomachs Gert speaks up, "Oh, that was so good!"
"Well, now that we're full and poor again, we should decide what we're gonna do for money," Chase speaks up looking around the booth at the teen girls he was surrounded by, "I mean, we don't have to pay for rent, but I wouldn't mind being able to eat like this every so often."
"Wait, are we just gonna go back to living together at the hostel?" Gert asks everyone but Luna paying close attention to the conversation being had. Luna's attention was on Renee who had a backpack over her shoulder and walking towards the restaurant's exit
"I don't know, but um excuse me," Luna says not putting much thought into her answer before quickly making up her mind and standing up from her seat to head over to the exit.
While the dinner was crowded with people, they all mainly were sitting down allowing for Luna to quickly make her way outside. Once outside Luna calls out to the brunette who was walking down the sidewalk with no restaurant line, "Renee wait up!"
Renee turns around at her name being called out, "Hey Silvers"
"Um" Luna starts out not having planned what she wanted to say allowing for her nerves to be very present, "H-how's your family been?"
"My family?" Renee asks puzzled not knowing why Luna stopped her much less if all she wanted to know was how her family was doing. Luna nods her head making Renee answer her question, "Uh good. Yeah abuela is now teaching dance classes at home and she has started going to the opera with my mom's boss"
Since Luna wasn't wearing jeans, she didn't have anywhere to place her hands when asking, "Your mom's still a nurse at the practice?"
"Actually, she will soon be a nurse practitioner but yeah same practice. Oh, and Mani recently went to a concert in celebration of pot" Renee says with a chuckle making Luna laugh having spent enough time around the girl's family to know how they are to certain ways of life
"Did he get away with it?" Luna asks with a smile making Renee laugh
"No, he is actually still grounded," Renee says with a smile and while she needed to get to her bus stop Renee speaks up once more to end their conversation while also keeping it going, "I need to get going but don't know if you'd be interested, later today mom's throwing a party for Winston celebrating his fifth-year sobriety chip. You're welcome to join if you'd want, I know abuela would like seeing you"
"Thank you, I'll... I'll definitely think about it"
"You're welcome to invite your friend if you'd like," Renee says making Luna nod her head, "See you later then Silvers"
"Bye" Luna replies with a smile and she watches Renee walk down the street before turning around to get back to her friends
Luna turns around with the intention of heading back into the restaurant only to see her friends outside the restaurant where she had just missed a fight.
"Get lost." Molly was telling a male stranger she had thrown against the restaurant's welcome stand. The stranger dazzled that a young teen girl had the strength to throw him away from the person he had been attacking, quickly crawls over to his thrown backpack before running away. He had almost run into Luna if she hadn't moved away and closer to the restaurant's door with wide eyes
"Hey, Max, are you okay?" Gert asks being the first one to reach Max's side
"Uh, yeah. I think... maybe I just need to lay down." Max stumbles as he stands up only to slowly fall back onto an empty chair
"He's gone. We'll get you some help." Karolina tells the injured man as the rest of the runaway teens walk over to stand near him
"Just... breathe." Gert calmly tells Max who was holding on to his right arm in pain
Chase picks up the cracked phone that used to belong to the stranger and confused he asks, "All that, over a phone?"
It seemed the whole altercation happened because Max bumped into the guy and he got angry for his cracked screen. While Max offered to give him another free phone the man wasn't listening only blinded by anger.
While they all waited for the ambulance to check up on Max, Karolina and Molly chose it to be the best time to leave in search of Leslie. Since they were going to check what they believed to be a no longer standing Gibborim church first, they took the car. Leaving Gert to wait alongside Max as he got bandaged up by the paramedics they had called. As for Chase he stood next to Luna who was doing her best to divert the conversation away from Renee.
As Chase and Luna waited under the shade of a sidewalk tree Luna asks, "Uh Gert asked something about the Hostel before i walked out, what was it about?"
With crossed arms Chase notices Luna rubbing her thumb nail making him know she was nervous. So to make her feel more comfortable he drops his hands to his side, "She asked if we were all just going to go back living together at the Hostel"
"Did you all agree on anything?" Luna asks not having thought much on her future as she had been so focused on the bit of her life where one of her friends was stuck in an alternate world and they had missed six months of their life
"Only that home is definitely not an option"
"Well.." Luna trails off as she suddenly remembers vital information "it is for me. Technically I'm eighteen now so according to my mothers will I now can officially sell our old home if I want. Right now its being rented out, if I sell the house I'm meant to spend the money on my education since I don't get her money until I'm twenty four"
"Is that what you want? Sell your old home?" Chase asks but really he wanted to ask if she was going to still leave the Hostel like previously planned so she can attend a university in Massachusetts
"I don't know know what I want. Well thats a lie I know right now I just want-" At Lunas words Chase couldn't help but be filled with hope and dread, "to get Alex back from that reverse Narnia, the future can wait till then"
"Right. Yeah. Wait reverse Narnia?"
"Yeah" Luna shyly replies having the need to explain herself, "Having missed six months started to mess with my head, because i started to question how everything worked. Like why isn't my hair longer or if that world exist does that mean others do to and just so much more. So to calm my brain i thought of Narnia, us now this real world is our Narnia because it's better than the other place and time moves quickly. While the other world is the four siblings war filled England because time moves at an unbearable pace and they are unhappy. If that makes sense"
Chase couldn't but chuckle as it did make sense and he would have never thought of it that way, "It makes sense"
The brunette believed that tension would be fade away once Gert joined them on their walk back to the Hostel. Yet when she did return Gert was too entranced in her phone, walking in front of Luna and Chase with her head down looking down at her new WizPhone.
"I'm telling you, there's something weird going on with those phones," Chase starts once again on their walk down the empty sunny residential streets
"I'm not arguing with you, but we have no proof nor knowledge of what weirdness they hold. Gert, what do you think?" Luna asks only for Gert to ignore her, "Gert?"
"Hmm?" Gert hums with a smile as she continues looking down at her phone, Luna had not once seen the purple head so interested in a deceive
"The phones," Chase states while he and Luna share a puzzled look
"Oh, yeah, they're great, right?" Gert smiles mindlessly replying making them know she wasn't listening to a word they had been saying
"No." Luna says with a worried chuckle, "Chase thinks they're evil."
Not looking up from her dinging phone Gert chuckles making Luna ask, "What?"
"I just told Max what you said about the phones being evil and he sent me this gif of Nicolas Cage looking crazy." Gert says with a laugh only taking her eyes off the phone for a second to look over at Luna and then Chase who both weren't sharing her humor, "Told him you guys wouldn't get it."
They continue walking as they reached the corner where they were supposed to make a left turn but Gert continues walking straight. Before Gert can make it off the sidewalk and into the street where Luna and Chase both hear and see the oncoming car, Chase calls out, "Wait, Gert, stop!", while also taking a hold of Gerts arms to stop her.
At the force of being stopped in her place, Gert drops her phone on the ground making it crack. The car beeps as it had the right of way and only continues driving away.
"You cracked it!" Gert groans in annoyance reaching down the empty street for her phone that was emitting some static noise. With the phone in hand Gert turns around and angrily shouts at Chase, "What did you do?!"
"Gert! You almost got ran over!" Luna exclaims worried for Gert, so thankful that Chase had quicker reflexes than her
Gert only huffs in annoyance and walks away in the right direction now that she wasn't looking at her phone. Chase calls out in her direction, "I'm sorry. I can fix it, okay?"
"Well we got our something weird" Luna sadly says looking over at Gert who didn't look back and was in her own world
The rest of the walk back to the Hostel was walked in silence as Chase and Luna both kept a close eye on Gert just to make sure she didn't run into anymore on running traffic.
When they did arrive to the Hostel, Chase kept his promise to fixing Gert's phone. While Gert didn't have her phone, Luna was finding her unbearable. So in the midst of wanting her phone back, Gert walks towards Chase's room down stairs and is able to see him turn the phone into ash.
"Uh... I can explain." Chase hesitantly speaks up seeing Gert walk towards him her eyes focused on what used to be her phone, the only thing left of it was the feather Chase held in some tweezers, "I found this weird feather and then the phone turned to ash and... Okay, you know what, I can't explain."
"I cannot believe you, Chase." Gert angrily states towering over Chase
Nico walking out in the hallway confused walks towards the two, "What's going on?"
"Chase just disintegrated my phone in some kind of semi‐psychotic protective rage." Gert says looking over at Nico only to see Luna walking towards them with her old phone and charger in hand
"No, I found this weird feather in the phone and then look," Chase says raising his left hand to show his ash overed fingertips, "it just kind of like self‐combusted."
"What's happening?" Karolina asks quickly walking over to the group
"Uh... Chase blew up Gert's phone." Nico replies not quite understanding what she had walked into
"Why do you immediately believe her?" Chase asks being the only one who was sitting down
"Feminism?" Nico undecidedly replies
"How am I supposed to text Max now?" Gert asks everyone making her priorities be known
"Here." Chase states taking out his WizPhone from his denim jacket and handing it over to Gert
"Who's Max?" Nico asks not having been told who they had met out during the teens brunch
"Gert's new boyfriend." Karolina and Luna both speak up only the brunette says the phrase in a teasing tone as that was the only good thing that had come up from having gone out of brunch. Well other than getting to eat warm, and good food, that was delivered in public without worry.
"He's not my boyfriend." Gert quickly replies only to return to her phone and start to text her new made friend
"Where's Molly?" Luna asks turning to look at Karolina who should be the last person the youngest teen was with
"She met some nice kids at the Church," Karolina replies having learned a lot by visiting her mom "which, surprise, my mother is restarting with fewer evil aliens."
No one comments on Leslie's commitment to restarting her Church. Instead Nico looks over at Gert's phone and picks it out of her typing hands. At the action Luna winches knowing there wasn't going to be a good outcome and Chase speaks up, "No, don't!"
"Are these the new Wizard phones?" Nico asks looking down at the purple phone oblivious to the glare Gert was sending her
"Yeah. They're handing them out for free, everybody's got one." Karolina replies to her girlfriend towering over her shoulder
"Morgan." Nico comments only for Gert to rip the phone out of her hands and push her aside while walking out of the room. "Ow! What the hell!"
"This is what I'm talking about." Chase states ready to go on to his ramble of how the phones were evil making Luna raise her hands in surrender knowing he was right
"What does Morgan have to do with the phones?" Karolina asks Nico who was rubbing her shoulder
"Everything. She's here in our world." Nico states taking everyone surprised
"What? How?" Karolina quickly asks
"When I sent us to where she was, she came here. She works for Wizard now." Nico informs everyone
"Hah! I knew this feather was evil." Chase says holding up the black feather that had come from the phone, "And I bet it goes all the way to the top-"
"Can we not right now" Luna interrupts Chase having heard his theories already
"She's also kind of dating my dad." Nico hesitantly admits having yet to process the news she had been met with a few hours ago
"Ew," Luna mumbles not being able to hold back her comment. She wasn't in disgust that someone was dating Robert but rather that Nico's dad decided to date Morgan who honestly made their life hell.
"So how do we stop her?" Karolina asks
"Well, I don't know if we should." Nico admits not being able to look Karolina in the eye when saying, "My mom won't help me save Alex, but Morgan will. She wants to train me, help me master my powers."
"That's a horrible idea." Karolina replies making Luna take a step away from the couple feeling like the conversation had shifted to be had privately, "She's a stranger from another dimension."
"How is this any different than when you went to Jonah for help?" Nico asks Karolina as the two now met eyes and making Chase and Luna feel awkward for just standing there in the middle of an unresolved conflict, "Except for the fact that I'm being honest about it, not sneaking around behind your back."
"So, uh..." Chase trails off getting everyone back to the real topic at hand, "about this feather."
"In Wicca, feathers are sacred objects. They're ruled by air. Used to focus thoughts and communicate with others. They can also be the conduit of enchantment." Nico shares while looking down at the tray that held the black feather and the remains of Gert's phone, "Maybe it's just a marketing device, but either way, I can learn something."
"How?" Karolina asks
"W-wait can I say it," Luna interrupts Nico making the teen dressed in black nod her head. With a smile Luna raises her hands, one of them still holding her old phone and charger but that doesn't stop her from doing jazz hands while saying, "Magic"
Luna being right that Nico was going to use magic to learn something about the feather happily follows Nico out of the room. Nico had gone up to her room to grab her Staff while she told them all to grab a bowl and fill it up with water.
With the Staff in hand Nico places the feather into the bowl allowing for it to get soaked. Pointing the staff at the bowl Nico commands it, "Reveal yourself."
The black water absorbs the black feather and starts to move before it disappears and flames appear. The flames vanish and turn into sand only for then the black water to return. In the bowl the teens could all see Alex looking up at them
"Alex?" Chase asks in disbelief, "How is this possible?"
"Must be linked to that place." Karolina whispers looking up from the bowl, "We should stop."
"Nico. Help me!" Alex shouts through the water making Luna's heart break as she sees red running down Alex's neck, "Nico, help me!"
Alex's pleading shouts didn't make Nico's heart break; it made her angry. That anger was channeled to turn Nico's eyes the purple cracks while black veins starts to appear on her hand and raise up her skin
"Stop!" Karolina worriedly states only to push the bowl off the table and at that action Nico's dark features disappeared, but the water also splashed Luna's exposed toes
"Why did you do that?" Nico angrily asks Karolina, "He was calling for me. I could have talked to him."
"Whatever this darkness is, Nico, you can't control it." Karolina replies standing her ground and believing what she had done was the right thing
"You don't know anything about it." Nico protests not looking up at her girlfriend before walking away
"So... anyone want to help me take Gert's phone away from her?" Luna asks trying to break the tension
"I'll go," Chase says being the first to walk out of the room and up the stairs as he had been the one to give Gert his phone
Before walking out of the room Luna turns to send a pleading look at Karolina. Karolina nods her head as to silently say she would follow after Luna making Luna run after Chase.
Chase walks into Gerts room only to see her sitting at the end of her bed holding a pillow her attention fully put on the phone, "I was right, we got to destroy that phone."
"If you touch this phone, I swear to God, I will have Old Lace rip your face off!" Gert shouts standing up from the end of her bed
"Gert? What are you listening to?" Luna curiously asks being able to hear a high pitched sound coming from Gert's direction yet to everyone else they could hear voices echoing through the phone
"What's wrong with me?" Gert states starting to come out of the fog the purple phone had put her brain in and turns it off before throwing the phone on her bed, "That was weird."
"These phones are making people violent." Chase speaks up once more specifically to Gert who now was listening, "You also happen to be a person psychically connected to a dinosaur. We got to get rid of them."
"Chase is right." Karolina says having entered the room right in time and Nico trailing behind but the two standing on opposite ends of each other, "Whatever Morgan is doing with these phones is bad."
"I never said they were bad, I said they were magic." Nico states looking over at the blonde before inhaling deeply "If Morgan wants me to trust her, then maybe she'll talk to me about the phones. My dad invited me to the Wizard party tonight. I'll go and‐‐"
Karolina cuts Nico off, "We'll all go. It'll be safer that way."
"I mean, that works. Max already invited me." Gert comments with a slight smile on her face
"Yeah, I don't really thi‐‐" Nico tries to speak up once more only to be cut off
"Karolina's right," Chase states siding with the blonde, "Until we find out what Morgan and, more importantly, what Max is up to, we should stick together."
"And I think that we should leave the Corvus phones here, just in case," Karolina advises while taking out her own purple phone from her back jean pocket
"No, wait, how will I find Max in a crowded room?" Gert protests making Luna hold back a laugh at the purple girls question
"You will look, Gert, with your eyes," Karolina replies not believing her priorities making Gert roll her eyes
~~
It wasn't until Luna had started to get ready that she was contemplating what to do. She finally had gotten her phone to charge but that just added pressure to her decision. She had told Renee that she would think about visiting the party her family was throwing and so she was. Yet Luna also knew that joining everyone at the party was important because they needed to figure out what was happening with the new Wizard phones
Walking down the stairs Luna knew she had to tell everyone that she would be late to joining them at the party. It was the one thing she dread when seeming almost everyone gathered around down stairs dressed for the party.
Taking the last step her heels click making her take the attention that was given to her, "I won't be leaving with you all. I've got something to do beforehand"
"You don't need a ride?" Karolina asks dressed in a long sleeved v-neck dark blue velvet dress
"No," Luna says raising her phone doing her best to ignore Chase's stares, "I got that covered, but I'll meet you all at the party once I'm done"
With no one opposing Luna leaving she walks away from them all convincing herself she was doing the right thing.
Luna arrived to the familiar apartment complex and thanks her driver. In not trusting the new WizPhones Luna used her old phone to log in to her old Lyft app account knowing her debit card was still connected after six months.
With a black flower embroidered clutch Luna walks up the steps of the red apartment and clicks on the known buzzer.
"Yeah?" A young teen's voice booms through the speaker making Luna lightly smile at the familiarity
"Man's it's Luna. Can you tell Renee to meet me down here?" Luna asks knowing she needed to set boundaries so while she waited Luna used her old phone to add the Wiz-Parties address into the destination of the Lyft app. She hoped that the conversation would take less than twenty minutes as that's what her wait time was
After minutes of anxiously waiting the speaker buzzes again only for the same voice to say, "She's on her way"
Luna starts to play with the sleeve of her orange silk wrap dress trying her best not to pace as her black heels that she wore were already getting tiring. Luna sees Renee walk towards the apartment gate with the keys in her back pocket and opens the gate to stand before Luna. Renee checks Luna out coming to the realization that she wasn't dressed up to come up stairs.
Luna stood dressed in a dark orange silk v-neck long sleeves cold shoulder wrap dress. The dress had a slit on the skirt allowing for Luna's black heels to show with the way she stood. If the dress didn't set her apart from the neighborhood she was in, the gold necklace around her neck definitely did. Luna had her hair straightened but unlike in the morning her hair was let down with no accessories and the ends of her hair was curled. The foundation she wore covered up her scar and the thin black eyeliner along with the orange of her dress made Luna's blue eyes pop in the dimmed light.
"Hey, so I guess you're not dressed up for this party?" Renee rhetorically asks
"No" Luna slightly shakes her head "Um I want to talk to you, but just want to check if I can dump all of this on you"
"You're asking if I'm emotionally available?" Renee asks making Luna nod her straightened hair head "Yeah but I'm guessing you got somewhere to go?"
"Yeah, my friends are waiting for me at a Wizard launch party, but I needed tell you... that I did love you. I just – I guess I was afraid to lose you once those words were said"
"You have horrible timing Silvers," Renee states with a sigh looking away from the girl before her
"I know, I just-- wanted you to know." Luna stutters in a whisper before breathing in any courage she could fake, "Especially because I never thought I'd see you again. I know we ended things because we both agreed but I know we broke up because really, I wasn't committed. So, I just need you to know that you weren't a phase or for you to question yourself. A part of me I guess just knew that if I stayed, I knew it wouldn't be forever, and I couldn't do that to you"
Renee crosses her arms and sighs, "Why now? Why tell me all of this now? You could have always reached out"
"I could make excuses but really it's because there is someone-"
"Your guy friend who couldn't keep his heart eyes off you?" Renee asks with a small smirk
Luna couldn't help but smile and let out a chuckle, "Yeah. Chase, he uh... I've come to the realization that I love him. Yet I haven't told him because I've been carrying guilt when it comes to relationships because of how I handled ours. I'm sorry for coming back into your life only to leave once more. You don't have to forgive me but I just needed you to know and believe me when I say I hope one day you find a girl that loves you the way you deserve to be loved."
"Since your apologizing for things I should too," Renee says making Luna raise her eyebrows not understanding, "it wasn't entirely your fault we broke up. You were never good with saying how you felt or expressing it vocally which now I understand because I get that's not your love language. Which by the look you're giving me you don't know what that is um but that's okay uh. What I'm trying to say is I know you cared, I did feel awkward around how much money and connections you have but not once did I question if you cared about me or not. I mean you painted a photo of my grandma in front of the Sistine Chapel. It was stupid of me to think you didn't care or that I couldn't fit into your high-end world."
"She still caries it around?" Luna asks with a smile knowing the painting she gave to Renee's abuelita was the most challenging and time committing work she had done to this day.
"Oh, she made me scan it, and print it so she can carry a wallet sized photo of it in her purse to show everyone," Renee says with a laugh making Luna laugh as well happy to know her hard work and tears didn't go to waste from both the art work and dance/Spanish lessons Renee's abuela had given her
"Thank you Renee, for- for being a lot of my firsts. For welcoming me into your family when I couldn't do the same. Tell your family I said hello? Or don't? Erm I don't know, how to move on from this."
"Thanks for being honest with me," Renee whispers it being a lot to process but in reality she held no hard feeling for Luna, "Now go, tell that boy you love him"
"I will. See you never m—" Luna catches herself almost letting 'my Slytherin' leave her mouth as it used to be their goodbye nicknames as a homage to having met at a Harry Potter marathon at a theater, "Renee?"
"See you never Luna" Renee replies with a nod
With those last words Luna turns around to walk down the steps while Renee watched her go.
Luna couldn't help but feel silly sitting in the back of a stranger's car in a fancy silk wrap dress. Under that silliness Luna also felt content, and knowing she was going to be faced with questions once she arrived to the party she rehearsed in her head what she would say. Specifically, what she would say to Chase, and if she was going to take Renee's advice and tell Chase then and there that she loves him.
Arriving at the Wizard Party alone was weird, and scary because she was so accustomed to having someone by her side at these events. Walking down the path way where Morgan's face had been blown up in six different panels decorating the walk way, Luna couldn't help but feel self-conscious. Everyone in the night sky wore dark colored formal wear and there she stood in a dark orange colored dresses, anyone able to pick her out from the crowd. Lucky for her everyone's attention was on the stage by the pool where Tina had just slapped Morgan on stage a while after being announced the new CEO of Wizard.
"Security!" Robert calls out as he stood on the side of the stage next to Nico making two men from each direction run up towards Tina
The security guards take a hold of Tina's arms and lift her up as she struggles to get out of their grasp. She mumbles something to Nico who stood near her dad who tried to comfort her only to then leave her side to run up the stage where the mic was held.
"My apologies. Carry on!" Robert speaks into the crowd making the music start back up
With a laugh Luna looks out into the crowd that started to disburse in search for a certain teen boy. Luna see's Chase standing by the bar ordering a drink, making her try her best to walk down the steps as the ends of her dress flowed behind her.
Chase had his back to Luna so he couldn't see her walking towards him, but he could hear her once she said his name. Turning around with a glass in hand he sees Luna before him and gulps down the drink he had in his mouth.
"Can we talk? Privately?" Luna asks him making Chase nod his head placing the glass cup in his hand on the bar before following after her
Luna started to walk towards a secluded area where no one had yet to go towards. The Hotel had a big outdoor party venue and surprisingly the garden portion where a water fountain resided wasn't something the guests cared to be around, giving the two privacy
"Where did you go?" Chase asks standing a few feet across from Luna
Deciding to be honest Luna replies, "I went to visit Renee"
"Are you going to get back with her?" Chase asks taking Luna by surprise not expecting that question but decides then to abandon what she had prepared in the car ride
"No. I- I needed to tell her that I loved her"
"Oh" Chase states confused by her words and also hurt
"Loved as in past tense," Luna clarifies not knowing what to say next, "Stars, um"
"Did you just pull be aside to tell me you told your ex you love her while when I told you I loved you, you gave me no answer"
"No. No, I-" Luna sighs closing her eyes as she starts to tear up. Luna tries to blink her tears away before looking up at Chase, "I love you Chase. I am in love with you because you are so certain of yourself, you know who you are and what you want. You are able to admit in past and present mistakes. You're so accommodating, patient, and kind a-and loving. You apologize only when you mean it and i-I know I'm not an easy person to love-"
"You are," Chase states making Luna hums quizzically "It's easy to fall in love with you"
Luna couldn't help but smile at his words and content with throwing away her plan on what she was going to say, "I'm sorry"
"So, you love me?" Chase asks with a smirk making Luna smile
"Yeah, I'm in love with you." Luna states nervously taking a step forward, "Now that we aren't about to face immediate danger, do you still love me?"
"If I kiss you will that answer your question?"
"No but you can kiss me," Luna replies with a smile
Chase closes the space between the two and raises his hand to hold Luna's face in the palm of his hands. Chase then leans down to softly press his lips on Luna's lips, the kiss was quick as he pulls away only to whisper, "I'm in love with you". Luna couldn't help the smile appearing on her lips at hearing those words
Luna then moves back in to kiss Chase while wrapping her arms around his waist since his hands were still cupping her cheeks. Chase smiles against her lips and returns the kiss as he moves closer to her to deepen the kiss. Needing to breathe the couple pull away only to rest their foreheads on each other's, in the midst of their heavy breathing fanning each other's lips Luna asks, "Does this mean we are back together?"
"Is that what you want?" Chase asks caressing her cheek with his thumb
At his question Luna couldn't help but think of the first time they started their relationship, "Very much so"
"Good" Chase says with a smile before leaning once more to kiss her
Soon their happy bubble was interrupted by a distressed Karolina. Not saying much Karolina tells them that it was time to go so they went in search for Gert before leaving the party without Nico.
The drive back was fairly quiet but it very obvious that Chase and Luna were back together which seemed to be the only good thing to come out of their day. Arriving at the hostel the four teens walk into the foyer when Karolina asks, "What are we gonna do? Nico is completely under her spell."
"Max said the phones are being released worldwide any day now." Chase shares, the news being the first time Luna had heard it "I mean, they're selling them like they're gonna save humanity. Sounds a lot like PRIDE's old cover story."
A thud appears from upstairs but only Gert hears it making Karolina look over at Chase and say, "I have a feeling this is a lot worse than PRIDE."
"Wait, guys. Do you hear that?" Gert asks making everyone go quiet and listen to the whispers coming from upstairs. Luna wasn't able to hear the whispers as clearly as everyone else which makes her second guess if she even heard anything but when everyone moves to walk up the stairs she follows
Gert being the first the follow the noise opens her bedroom door where she sees Molly standing in the middle of the room while a purple Wiz Phone floated in the air in front of her. Both Gert and Luna shout Molly's name but the young teen continues to stare at the screen
"Why is the phone floating?" Chase asks it being a new thing they just learned that day the phones do
"I guess I didn't download that app." Gert mumbles as she continues to worriedly look across the room at Molly, nobody daring to take a step towards the brunette
"And what is that sound?" Chase asks hearing a females voice whisper coming from the phone
"What sound?" Karolina asks not being able to hear anything making Luna's shoulders relax because if Karolina did hear it then maybe not being able to clearly hear the sound meant her ears were perfectly healed and normal
"You don't hear that?" Gert questions looking down the line at Karolina who stood next to Luna
"It's like Morgan le Fay's talking into a fan, only louder." Chase explains looking at the floating phone
"Way louder." Gert states
"Well, this is clearly her work. What should we do?" Karolina asks looking away from Molly and towards everyone
"Simple." Chase replies before slowly walking towards the phone with a stretched out hand
Before Chase can even come close Molly turns to him and growls, "Don't even!"
"Molly, it's me. It's Chase." Chase calmly says still trying to reach out for the phone. Molly being under the phone's spell makes her eyes glow yet Chase doesn't stop reaching for the phone. Making Molly use her supernatural strength and throw Chase out of the room. Chase falls onto the floor and bangs the back of his head on the staircase banister making him groan in pain
Luna tries her best to run towards Chase in her heels being followed by Karolina and Gert. The three kneel down by his side while Luna asks, "Stars! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, but..." Chase heavily breaths holding on to his stomach, "oh, that hurt."
"I have an idea." Karolina announces making them all share a look and without a word they all stand up to walk back towards the bedroom only to stand outside of the doors
"She's under that thing's spell." Gert says looking down at Molly who now sat on the end of the bed with the phone in her hand
"I think I can knock it out of her hand. Here goes." Karolina mumbles to herself but before she can make her hand glow Luna interrupts her
"Wait!" Everyone turns to look at Luna who had a better idea "Let me do it, I have better control over the air and your lights will alert her"
"Okay" Karolina says with an encouraging nod before dropping her hand to her side
Luna touches her totem making it glow a faint red. Believing it would give her more control, Luna extends both hands out and welcomes the coldness touching her palms. Luna also believed that the air would just swoop the phone out of Molly's grasp but what she didn't factor in was Molly's strength.
With Molly turning to glare at them ready to shout, Luna allows for the coldness to leave the palms of her hands and changes tactic. As Molly screams at them to get out Luna focuses on the metal of the phone crushes it while Molly still held on to it.
The phone now broken and no longer controlling Molly, the change was instant. Molly no longer looked at the four teens before her in anger but rather confused as the phone falls out of her hand.
"Molly." Gert hesitantly asks taking a step towards the standing teen girl
"What happened?" Molly asks feeling like she missed something big and it wasn't because they were all wearing formal attire
The four teens share side glances before Karolina questions, "You don't remember?"
"Why are you guys looking at me like that? What'd I do?" Molly asks her mind racing to the worst things possible, "What'd I do?"
Everyone sighs in relief that they were no longer in danger because of the WizPhone. The had calmed Molly down and sharing what happened, as well how the phones were actually evil all thanks to Morgan Wizard's new CEO. With all the news of the day was out in the open the teens go to their rooms as it was late in the night.
Entering their old shared room Luna was ready to take off her shoes and change into her pajamas so she can go to bed. Before she can do so Chase takes her hand and turns her around
"Did I tell you look beautiful today?" Chase asks Luna wrapping his arms around her waist while she rests her arms on top of his
"Hm nope." Luna replies with a sly smile
"Well you do" Chase says leaning in to kiss Luna's forehead
"Thank you." Luna mumbles with eyes closed, and in opening them she looks up at Chase "You look great every day, so I'll tell you tomorrow that you look beautiful"
"This is new," Chase says looking past the brunette before him and at the wall where Luna's butterfly painting was
Even though she knew what painting he was talking about Luna turns around to see painted wall, "Painted it after you left, um it's not done though. I probably won't finish it any time soon"
"Why not?"
"I don't feel the need to anymore"
A/N: this chapter definitely wasn't supposed to go in this direction, like Renee was supposed to take a whole different role and Luna wasn't supposed to say ily to Chase