I woke up to the sound of a car alarm going off outside and shot up like lightning. It took me a moment to remember where I was. I wasn’t at home or even the manor — I was in New York City.

  I quickly got dressed into a silky purple dress that Sylvis had left for me, and slipped into white slippers also left for me. I was going to brush my teeth in the bathroom, but paused when I noticed the woman standing in front of me in the hallway.

  Rosalie.

  I blinked at her, and she blinked at me before turning and walking to wherever she had been going before noticing me. Strange.

  After brushing my teeth, I made it to the kitchen table where everyone had apparently been waiting for me. Oops. Had Rosalie come by my room to wake me? That’s so embarrassing. It didn’t help that everyone’s stares were on me as I took my seat. My hands iced over in my lap.

  “Now that we’re all here.” Maverick glanced at me. Shut up! “It’s time we discussed our plan for tracking down the Magus of Historia.”

  “What did you see in your vision, Rosalie?” Zephyr prodded.

  “A flash of light before Earth caved in on itself,” Rosalie answered. “Floating above Earth was the leader of the Magus of Historia.”

  “W-what does he look like?” Aidan found his courage to interact with Rosalie directly.

  “She. She wears an eyepatch and a cloak that conceals everything but her long braid.”

  “Did you happen to see where she was when Earth got destroyed?” I asked, hoping I might recognize the location.

  Rosalie shook her head.

  “So they could be hiding anywhere. Just wonderful.” Maverick slammed his open palm on the table and rolled his eyes. He got up from his seat and moved to one of the armchairs in the living room, still facing us.

  “How do we know if they’re even here yet?” I asked. “What if they arrive later? What if this doesn’t happen for several years?!” I began to panic. As much as I was happy to be back on Earth, I kind of just wanted my life to go back to normal — even if that meant returning to the manor.

  Rosalie shook her head. “I caught a glimpse of the year through another vision.”

  “How are we to find them if we have no clues? What of your other visions? Were there any locations in those?” Zephyr asked.

  “Skyscrapers and pizza,” Rosalie answered. “Sylvis deduced it must be New York, New York.”

  “And how do you know it isn’t Chicago?! They have pizza too!” I shouted.

  “Oh? I thought the Yorks invented pizza,” she mused. “This is indeed troubling. Does Chicago also have a statue of someone holding a torch?”

  “No.” I sighed in relief.

  “So the Magus of Historia really are here…” Zephyr muttered, looking lost in thought.

  “If Rosalie isn’t talking out of her ass.” Maverick twirled a coffee mug with his finger.

  Rosalie narrowed her eyes at him. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

  “I mean sometimes you make up predictions.”

  “I-I don’t make up predictions!” She looked angered and offended. “It’s just that I sometimes confuse them with my dreams!”

  “A sock kidnapping you. Really?” Maverick deadpanned.

  “I-it felt real!” She clenched her fists at her side. “Besides, it’s always good to be prepared.” She crossed her arms and looked away from him — directly at Finn who simply shrugged at her. I could see her blush.

  I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Listen, we know they’re somewhere in this city. Sure, the city is huge, but we should be out there looking for them. Like at a mall! This totally isn’t just me making an excuse to go to the mall.”

  “Mall?” Aidan asked.

  “Oh! I want to go!” Finn’s eyes lit up as he likely realized what this meant. “There are so many cool things at the mall!”

  “L-like what?” Aidan looked excited now.

  “A bunch of stores with gadgets and clothes and weapons—”

  “Uh, those are fake props,” I corrected.

  All excitement disappeared from his face. “…Well, there’s always the train?”

  “That’s for little kids," I explained.

  “Hm… We’ll go to this mall of yours then,” Rosalie agreed. “Sylvis said I needed a new set of clothes to ‘fit in’.” She looked annoyed by this. Her clothes definitely were a bit more formal than what most people wore. A long black dress that hugged her frame — a slit on the right revealing her thigh. If anything, her eyes and ears stuck out more. I wonder if I could trick her into buying a cosplay…

  Finn snickered at me.

  “What is it?” Rosalie turned her head to Finn in a rapid movement. “Is she making fun of my outfit?”

  “Quite the opposite.” Finn couldn’t stop snickering. Ugh! Way to go, Finn!

  “I see.” She turned back to me. “Thank you for the compliment.” She smiled.

  “Uh… Y-you’re welcome?” I hesitated. She took what Finn said literally.

  “You guys have a nice trip. I’m going to enjoy the peace and quiet.” Maverick lounged back into the seat, his upper back falling off the chair as he rested his no doubt dirty feet on the clean table.

  “Oh, no you don’t.” Rosalie yanked Maverick’s wrist, pulling him off the chair and knocking it over in the process. I was both stunned and awed as I watched her drag him across the floor and out the door. He really was powerless without his magic.

  “Where are we going?” I struggled to catch up with Rosalie, who was rounding the corner. Maverick was sliding on his knees as she dragged him around. He must really not want to go shopping. Part of me couldn't help but delight in how pathetic he looked. Deep down, he must have resented her.

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  “The car park,” Rosalie answered.

  “The parking garage? Why do you know the British variant? Wait… Why are we going to the parking garage…?” My chest panged and it felt like my heart would stop beating. Were we going to drive somewhere?

  “To get our car, of course.”

  “We have a car?! And who’s driving?!” I squeaked.

  “Sylvis bought you an SUV. I will be driving today, though I imagine Maverick will be driving in the future, seeing as he’s the one with the driver’s license.”

  “Maverick has a driver’s license?”

  “It’s fake, of course.”

  We had reached the parking garage at this point. “Oh, that makes me feel so much better…” I said sarcastically.

  Rosalie discreetly summoned the battery-operated car key and unlocked the white SUV. The headlights flashed, and a click sounded. I didn’t trust Rosalie’s driving one bit and wanted to ride shotgun, but Maverick had already been limply stuffed in that seat, his expression unamused and distraught. Instead, I decided to sit in the middle row behind Maverick so I could get a good view of the dashboard.

  Finn sat next to me, and Zephyr and Aidan sat in the back. I immediately had to get up and strap Zephyr and Aidan in as they didn’t know what seatbelts were. I told them the seatbelt would save their lives when Rosalie would inevitably crash. They both looked frightened and Rosalie looked angry, but it was the truth!. I was happy to see Finn was already strapped in and eagerly looking out the window as he tapped his fingers on the armrest. Apparently, me visualizing our deaths had no effect on him.

  Rosalie backed out of the parking lot at what must have been forty miles per hour, miraculously not hitting the other cars. I gripped the armrests beside me for life as she accelerated out of the garage.

  She seamlessly navigated through traffic and surprisingly stopped at every red light. As soon as the light turned green, the car was already at the speed limit — our heads slamming against the headrest. I didn't miss the other drivers' confused and disgusted expressions.

  Finn seemed to be enjoying the ride, but Aidan looked scared out of his mind. Zephyr looked concerned as well. My fearmongering probably didn't help.

  I slowly started to relax as I realized Rosalie wasn’t a bad driver. Outside of the parking garage, she always went the exact speed limit. Even if the car in front of her didn’t. I wondered how she’d learned how to drive. She must have been to Earth before, sometime during the last century. I wondered if Maverick could drive.

  We reached the mall before I knew it, and Rosalie once again sped into the parking spot, narrowly missing the cars parked on all sides of her. She immediately turned off the car and opened the door before I could finish counting to three.

  I had to unbuckle Aidan’s seatbelt, who didn’t seem to process that the ride was over. He was gripping the ends of the armrests while his chest heaved up and down. Zephyr didn’t have any problems figuring out how the mechanism worked.

  “Can we go faster next time?” Finn asked, as we finished unboarding the car.

  “There are laws regulating how fast you can go,” I explained, really not wanting Rosalie to go any faster.

  “Aw, that’s too bad. We should drive around on private property and test the limits of the car!” His eyes sparkled, and I couldn’t believe what he was suggesting.

  “No.”

  Though I would keep it in mind in the event we needed to pry information out of the Magus of Historia members. If Rosalie's driving was enough to shake Aidan up, maybe it would do the same to them.

  We walked into the mall as normally as we could muster. It didn’t help that Finn and Aidan were immediately drawn to those kid car carts that parents push their offspring around in. I facepalmed, temporarily wishing I didn’t know these people when I saw other shoppers staring at them. Finn instantly backed away when he read that thought, but it took Aidan a moment longer to process what was going on.

  They were attracted to everything. The candy store, the pretzel shop, the anime store… Especially the anime store. Even though Finn knew the weapons were fake, he was still entranced by them. Especially a certain monster-hunting lance.

  Where was I supposed to take them first? I knew Rosalie needed a new outfit, supposedly. Maybe we should have stuck around the anime store longer— no, okay.

  And that’s when we passed by the phone store. I immediately dragged everyone in there.

  “Oh! This is cool! This is exactly what we need!” Finn beamed at me. “Nice going, Ella!”

  “I especially need to replace the one I likely won’t see again for a long time.” I sighed.

  “Oh, you mean this one?” Maverick reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out… nothing. He seemed surprised himself.

  “Haha. Very funny,” I said sarcastically while rolling my eyes.

  I walked up as confidently as I could to the counter, and made my demand. “I need five of the latest iPhones.”

  Rosalie cleared her throat.

  “Make that six.”

  The guy at the counter, barely older than me, stared the six of us down. “Uh huh… You have the money?”

  “This subjectively handsome young man will be paying for it.” I put on my best smile as I folded my elbows and leaned my palms on Maverick’s shoulder that just so happened to be the same height as my head. He instantly shrugged me off.

  The employee narrowed his eyes as he glanced between the two of us. I could’ve sworn he mumbled something about “daddy’s credit card” before walking over to the line of iPhones. “What colors?” He couldn’t have sounded more bored even if he were held hostage and forced to watch paint dry.

  “Red!” Aidan eagerly shouted.

  “Black,” Maverick said coolly.

  “White,” Zephyr answered confidently.

  “Blue,” Finn answered.

  “Smaragdine.” Rosalie crossed her arms.

  “What the hell is that?” The employee looked absolutely flabbergasted.

  “The color I desire my phone to be in.” Rosalie looked to be losing her patience.

  “We have blue, black, white, yellow, purple, and red.”

  Rosalie tsked. “Such an advanced society, and yet you can only produce plastic in limited colors. I will take purple.”

  “It’s not plastic…” I murmured, hoping she wouldn’t hear because I genuinely did not want to get into a conversation about what iPhones are made out of. “But I’ll also take the purple.”

  The employee lazily knocked each of the boxes into the basket he was carrying before bringing it to the counter. He went through the very long and boring process of setting up each phone’s SIM card and whatnot, and I had to force Aidan to promise me he’d save all questions until after we were out of the store.

  Realizing all of this would be easier to explain sitting rather than standing, I led them to a section of the mall with those comfy chairs and recliners. Maverick swiped his card on the recliner and closed his eyes (hopefully listening) while it gave him a massage.

  “These phones will allow us to communicate with each other from long distances,” I explained. “Kind of like walkie-talkies—” I facepalmed. “Just realized you’re from an alternate world and not from the past.”

  “H-how does that work?” Aidan looked utterly confused.

  “Well…” I snatched his phone so I could find his phone number. I typed it into my phone and called him. Stupid me didn’t think to check how loud the volume was, so of course it was max volume, causing Aidan to drop it.

  “Fragile Earth devices,” Rosalie muttered.

  I picked up the phone and answered, lowering the volume in the process. “Hold it up to your ear.” I handed the phone back to Aidan. He did as I said, and I held mine up to my ear and began talking. His eyes widened and his smile grew.

  “T-that’s so cool!” he exclaimed.

  “Can I try?” Zephyr looked interested.

  One by one, I added each of our numbers to the contacts list along with our names. I gave them a very brief overview of how to make phone calls, as well as the speaker button in case they were somewhere crowded and couldn’t hear. Or, god forbid, got into a fight. I also explained how the volume worked and warned them never to press and hold the power button. I would explain how that worked later.

  “Great. Now that we have that settled, you and Rosalie can have your “girl time” and go shopping. We’ll catch up with you later.” Maverick waved and sprinted off.

  “Wait!” I shouted, but he had already taken off. So had the others! I didn’t trust any of them alone in this mall! Ugh. I hoped Sylvis had accounted for this!

  “Shall we start there?” Rosalie pointed to Victoria’s Secret.

  “No,” I answered pointedly. I had another place in mind. I beckoned her to follow me.