“I need to check something. I’m almost sure I heard about it somewhere…” May said, she whispered, more to herself than to Karina.

  “Take the time you want; we have until tomorrow night to start the mission anyway.”

  May checked on some old books she kept in her room, and also on the internet. Her frowning face indicated to Karina that she was still very far from what she was looking for.

  “Didn’t find what you wanted, May?”

  “It’s just that I don’t remember the specific word. But it’s something related to the historical buildings. I heard about it on the Agency once; they were searching for something at these places. But I can’t remember what it was.”

  “If it was something related to the Agency, you probably won’t find it online.”

  “I know, but sometimes it’s a matter of being able to read between the lines.”

  “If you say so…” Karina yawned. “I’m going to sleep anyway, I need to be fully rested for tomorrow. We might encounter creatures right off the bat.”

  “Yeah, right. I will just keep searching.”

  May tried everything she remembered. She even tried taking a card and other divination methods. But they were of no help if she didn’t know exactly what she was looking for.

  The girl looked through the books once more before heading to the bedroom. Inside, she saw Otto waiting for her by the window.

  “Hey, Otto! Are you alright?” She petted the cat, and he purred to her touch. “I’m so happy you’re fine. You came here just to show me you had recovered?”

  She gave a snack to the cat, and the familiar eagerly accepted it. Before he reached for the window again, she said:

  “I promise I’ll find whoever attacked you. I won’t let any other familiar get injured.”

  Otto meowed before he jumped into the night, engaged in whatever activities familiars did when they weren’t delivering messages.

  ***

  By the morning, May told Karina about Otto and how she didn’t find anything in her search.

  “I feel like we’re losing a big piece of this puzzle. You know when there’s this piece that connects everything? It’s like that.”

  “Maybe it will come to our minds in the moment we need the most. Some things only work this way.”

  “Yeah, I can only hope.”

  The girls organized everything they needed for the mission. They had suitcases full of clothes and jewelry, everything they would probably use in a month, inside the Casino. They could always ask the Agency for more, but in infiltration missions, it was better not to try to communicate with the people outside.

  When the night arrived, they tried on different outfits in front of the mirror.

  “I wanna cause a good first impression there. I want them to say: ‘That woman, she has the money, she knows what she’s doing’. Then people will start betting on me in whatever game I’m playing. It will be so much fun.”

  “Right, K. But remember, we will be there for a mission. And we’ll need to focus. We’ll play lots and lots of games, but we must always be watching everyone around us.”

  “I know, I know. But you can do missions and also have fun in the meantime. Especially when the Agency is paying for everything…”

  “You have a point. But don’t forget to focus on what’s important.”

  Karina wore a long red sequin dress. The stones on the dress shone beautifully against the girl’s skin.

  “What do you think about this one?”

  “Perfect for a great first impression, like you want.” May smiled at her friend. “But you’re gorgeous, you could cause a great first impression even wearing a sack of potatoes.”

  When the night arrived, the girls were ready for the Casino. Karina decided on wearing the red dress, and May wore an elegant black dress. They both had fake jewelry around their necks and ears.

  “You know that I hate keeping the guns in a purse. It’s so strange.”

  “Better get used to it. Because we’ll be doing that a lot, K. Because of security, you know, we had to place some spells inside the purses to hide the guns…”

  The place was majestic from the outside. Adorned with large marble columns in the entrance and it was a building almost as tall as the Agency. The Casino shone with opulence and wealth. People came and went, and they smiled and laughed.

  As soon as they got out of the car with the bags, Karina said:

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Wow, it’s really big and impressive.”

  “I guess you could say so.”

  They went to the front lobby for the check-in and picked up the keys to their room. Someone came and took their bags to their room while they finished everything. When they went to the room, they were surprised by how big it was.

  “It’s so fancy. These sheets are so soft. Feel it, May.”

  “It’s nice knowing that we will stay in a comfortable room while here. But I’m afraid of leaving stuff here. Will the staff be suspicious of the magical items I bought?”

  “I hope not, it would give us such a headache to deal with the Agency…”

  “But what do you think we should do first?”

  “Let’s explore! I bet there’s a lot to see here.”

  The girls decided to walk around the Casino. They went to a fancy restaurant and to a tennis court outside the building. The corridors with the rooms looked mostly the same. The place also had a gym and a pool. But what caught the attention of the girls the most was the gaming room. It was a room as big as it could be, hundreds or even thousands of machines. There were tables in which people played all sorts of games, going from card games to spinning balls and even things with cups and stuff. Karina didn’t even recognize most of the games that were played.

  They saw the security drag a man, and the man screamed:

  “I swear, I still have money, I still can play. Please, let me continue. I was just about to win.”

  Karina looked at May, mortified:

  “People really get emotional over these games, don’t they?”

  The other girl nodded her head in agreement. She was in awe of everything and how elegant the people were. Women wearing extravagant dresses and men wearing fancy suits, some men even wore top hats. She looked over at a woman who wore something that resembled a bird on her head.

  “And people here seem to have money, K. I have never seen anything like this.”

  “May, there’s something that I’ve been waiting to ask you. Can you cheat in the games using divination?”

  “Not exactly. I mean, I never tried anything like this. But I don’t think it works like that. And remember, we shall not expose magic to ordinary people.”

  “I know, but you saw that man being dragged. We need to keep winning if we wanna stay here…”

  And May knew her friend was right, and now that she thought about it, this mission could get complicated.

  “And tell me, K., did you feel anything suspicious here in the Casino?”

  “It’s too soon to tell, I’m not so sure.”

  “Well, take your time. We need to be careful in this mission.”

  They decided to explore other places in the Casino. They found an opera room, but it had a show going on already, so they couldn’t get in.

  ***

  Back in their room, they discussed what they had seen and what the next steps would be.

  “We need to blend in with everyone here; we will need to gamble a lot.”

  “Yes, we should take part in gaming and gambling. Maybe go to a couple of concerts.”

  “And what do you think, May, should we focus on investigating other gamblers or the staff?”

  “It’s a tricky question, K. The staff may or may not be involved in whatever is happening here. But there are things we might not discover if we don’t investigate the staff.”

  “You’re right, I know you’re going to say that we should be careful and all that stuff.” Karina smiled. “I know you damn too well, May.”

  “Now that you say it, there’s also something we should do. We should look for magic and magical energy. You told me you didn’t feel anything, but what about now?”

  Karina closed her eyes and concentrated a bit. May saw her magical energy and a flow moving from inside her. The absence of words, a nonverbal spell being conjured. May also did one or two tricks, as it was necessary that they wouldn’t be detected by any creatures or people capable of using magic.

  “Do you feel anything, K?”

  The other girl’s mind was clear; she used her magic to touch upon the hunting state. She could feel the life force and magic of her friend in front of her. It was warm and welcoming. Karina tried to focus on the Casino as a whole; she felt invisible threads of all the people gambling and playing. Sensitive to every smell, she could almost tell how clean the room had been before they arrived. And yet she wasn’t proficient in the skill. To be good at hunting, it required practice and experience, and she was still getting there.

  “There is something here. I can tell that there’s something or someone using magic. There’s also some… other stuff, but that’s the limit of my skill; I can’t distinguish it all. I know it’s there, I just don’t know where and what.”

  “That’s good already, we now know for sure that we’re on the right path. Maybe now that I know there’s something, the divination will help out.”

  Karina moved and placed her hands in front of May.

  “Let me help you, as you helped me. I will cover your magical energy.”

  “Alright, thanks, K.” May picked up her deck, but stored it again. “I want to try something different. I haven’t been very lucky with the deck lately.”

  “You know it’s a matter of knowledge and interpretation. I trust you, May, you’re probably taking the right cards. You just don’t know how to read it yet.”

  “I guess you’re right, but… let’s try something different. Variety is good, anyway.”

  May looked through her bags until she pulled a small hand mirror. It was originally golden, but now the color was indistinguishable, considering how old the mirror was. Karina had seen the mirror once or twice, although she didn’t know what use it was for her friend.

  “I will use this,” May stated. “And by the look in your face, I guess you never heard of catoptromancy.”

  Karina confirmed with her head.

  “It’s a form of divination, using a mirror. In this case, this is an ancient mirror that came from a long line of people able to see the future. Through the ages, they used it wisely, seeking advice and guidance. Let me show you how it works.”

  May focused and looked at the mirror intensely. Karina saw the magic energy of her friend swirling around the mirror, faintly.

  “Now I gotta look into my own eyes and never look to the side… Ah, there it is, I see it, it appears in my peripheral view, as I’m a little far from the truth yet.” May said, before she added, “Also, I’m not that powerful. I see people, dozens of people. Their torsos were naked, and they were trying to reach for something. They’re crawling all over each other, almost like they’re fighting. And there’s blood, a lot of it. They’re looking for something, but they haven’t found it yet. That’s all I can see.”

  “Wow, it was really interesting. But how does it relate to the Casino?”

  “I… I don’t know. I mean, it relates in some way, because I focused on the Casino, all my questions were about it. But we can’t know for sure, we gotta discover.”

  As it was summer, it was hot, but even so, a chill ran down May’s spine.

  “I hope we discover it before it discovers us.”