Home can be a lot of things, but sometimes its just the place you sleep. The gang are back in the great US of A at last. Events unfold including but not limited to: Sarah giving Hannah's cold shoulder a poke (not that it helps much) And Hannah gets a bit too close to a mythical mountain.

“Never again..”

My groan got Sarah’s attention, she slowed down her shuffle across the car park to keep pace with me.
“Stop being a baby. We didn't have a single rough flight.”

I groaned louder but stopped quickly to cup my belly instead
“Tell that to my stomach”

Sarah twitched hard and glared at me in warning.
“I swear if you puke in my car, I'm gonna slap you!”

She looked like she’d do it too.

“..See if I put the effort in to save you next time, this is the sympathy I get..”
I trailed off into grumbling when her glare focused back on me again.

Never again!
I don’t care if it brings half the world’s magic users to my doorstep, next time I’m warping home!

==========

“Com’ on sleepy head”
I groaned and tried to wave her away.

She never lets me sleep in.

After a moment’s pause something slapped my butt hard and I jolted up with a yelp.
“Damn it Sarah stop doing that!”
She danced away from me on her crutches with a mischievous grin.
“Pee break, you've been sleeping for hours”
My jaw cracked in a yawn and I swayed dazedly.

For some reason I'm in the back seat of a car..
Sarah’s car I think..
Why am I.. oh.. yeah.
“I hate planes..”

Sarah looked amused for some reason.
“So you've told me.. repeatedly.. for each plane we boarded”

She gave my foot a tug.
“Come on, UP missy!”

I growled at her but shuffled out of the car door to stand up anyway.
Good thing we’ve stopped, I need to pee..
.. oh yeah.. that..
THIS is gonna be interesting.

Sarah turned around and led the way into the services.
I followed behind her reluctantly.

===========

The stall door slammed loudly behind me and I staggered over to the sinks.
My hair looked perfect in the mirror but I could feel that underneath the illusion it was a mess.

Sarah took a bit longer to make her way out, the crutches were awkward to fit into a stall from the looks of it.

“..Women are gross”
Sarah turned on the tap to wash her hands without comment, but glared at me warningly in the mirror.
I threw my hands up in defence and tried to look innocent.
“Just an observation!.. toilet paper is like sandpaper too”
She winced a little and nodded reluctantly in agreement .

“When are you gonna..?”
She waved her hand at her face to show what she meant.
I frowned and twitched a hand toward the rough choker I’d made to hold the enchantment in place.
“Gonna leave it till it dies out. I need to know how long it will last.. amazed it’s lasted this long honestly”

Sarah nodded but before she could speak the door opened and an older woman walked in.
She glanced at us for a moment but headed over to the end stall without comment.

“Come on, Tor’s probably waiting. I’ll buy you a burger and we’ll head out again”

I gave the mirror, with my old ‘clone of Sarah’ face in it, one more fond glance.
Then nodded to myself and followed her out.

===========

“Wha’ time’s it?”
Sarah glanced at me over her shoulder.
“Two-thirty, your illusion faded about three hours ago. We figured we’d let you sleep”

I grunted and ran a hand over my face.
It felt weird still, my cheeks were too puffy, I'm never going to get used to that..

“Fourteen hours in flights, two short layovers, and.. how long have we been driving?”
Sarah shrugged a little.

Tor shifted gear in the driver’s seat.
“About nine hours total, we hit some traffic near Sacramento.”
I grunted and lay my head back down

The face illusion lasted about twenty-one hours then.. I can work with that..
I must have missed a decimal somewhere, the illusion was only meant to last for fifteen hours, at best.

“Don’t go back to sleep. We’re gonna stop off in Cottonwood for food in about twenty minutes”

I grunted and rolled myself up into a sitting position to stare out the window instead.
The parched grass dotted with little puffs of tree whizzing past and my eyes merged them into one long blur.
Every once in a while a few cars or a billboard would break the rhythm but I just leaned my head on the glass and focused on staying awake.
At least I didn't feel ill any more, sleep helps with that when I fly, shame I couldn't sleep while we were flying really.

============

We pulled off the Freeway on exit 664.
The sign for it perked me up a little.
I remember that sign.

“Cottonwood, is this where dad used to pull in for breakfast when he went fishing?”
Sarah shifted in her seat and looked at me in confusion.
“What?”

It took me a moment to realise why she didn't get what I meant.
“You might have been too young”
She frowned at me.

“We’re the same age.. no, you’re younger than me now..”
She started off sounding mad but trailed off thoughtfully with a smug smile.
Obviously she thought I was insulting her and felt the need to retaliate.
She needs to stop with this teasing stuff, I'm all for not addressing the elephant in the room but all this fake happiness about my change is annoying.

Tor silently pulled the car around to take us up across the overpass and back down on the other side, stopping short at the lights.

“I didn't mean it like that, he stopped taking us with him after the incident with the catfish.”
Sarah querked an eyebrow at me, unimpressed.
“We were like three years old, I figured you wouldn't remember it that’s all!”
She settled back into her seat and pouted to herself.

“Why do you think I wouldn't remember if you do?”
The lights changed and we rolled on to the next set, Tor shifted us into the left-hand lane so we could turn off for the little shopping mall.

I moved awkwardly in my seat and looked at the back of Sarah’s head.
“I'm not being mean Sarah, you know I've always remembered stuff better then you.”
She didn't turn around.
“Since.. since my awakening.. the second one. Stuffs been a lot clearer in my head then it was before. Feels like I relived my whole life on top of everything else..”
She didn't answer me but her shoulders lost a little tension so I figured she understood my point at least.

We pulled into the little mall and Tor swung us around into an open parking spot.
There were a lot of them around, business can’t be booming here.
Either that or we managed to come on the day no-one else needs to get food in Cottonwood.

Sarah sighed and her shoulders eased even more.
She turned around to me and smiled a little.
“What do you want then? From the looks of it we have a Subway, two types of pizza place, a coffee place or we could get sandwich stuff from the Grocery.”

I glanced around at the shops and made a considering sound from the back of my throat.
Most of them looked a bit run down.
I know they could be perfectly fine inside but my first instinct was to play it safe and go for the nice freshly painted Subway instead.

Sarah pulled a face I recognised.
She wants Pizza.
She ALWAYS wants Pizza.

“I guess, I’d like some Pizz-AHHH!”
My brand burned hard, it was so bad I couldn't breath!

I rolled around in the back seat trying desperately to make it stop.
Sarah and Tor were shouting but I couldn't tell what.

========

After an unbearable lifetime, the burn faded.
I laid out flat on the seat and breathed heavily.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!”
I flinched at Sarah’s volume but tried not to move myself too much, just in case.
“Binding.. It should have been on the video.”
My breathing wasn't steady enough for me to say much more.
Sarah glanced at Tor in confusion, he shrugged helplessly but seemed thoughtful.
After a moment of silence he answered her for me anyway, I almost felt tempted to mark it up as another time I owed him.
“I listened to the video a few more times last night, from the sound of it this Maxarimus guy traded you’re life for Hannah swearing to never tell a lie about her feelings again”

I greedily sucked in a few breaths and tapped his seat to show I’d pick up from there for him.
“He used magic to make sure I didn't break my vow, it’s the same stuff that put you in your coma and changed me into this”
My hand waved vaguely at my body but I didn't sit up yet.

Sarah looked ill.
“That’s so messed up.. Are you gonna be okay?”
I grunted and reluctantly rolled myself back into a sitting position.
“I’ll get over it. It’s just painful for a while, it fades pretty quickly”
She squinted at me, seeming to weight my words against some kind of truth scale only she knew of.

“What set it off?”
I sighed and she frowned at me warningly.

I didn't need to be told that lying would be a bad option at this point.
I don’t think I'm going to even attempt lying again to be honest, it’s too easy to slip out the wrong lie.. I do NOT want to have to go through THAT again any time soon.

“The pizza thing. I wanted Subway but you wanted pizza, so I said I did too”

Sarah glared at me for a moment, with a little huff she turned around in her seat a little more.
“I thought you liked pizza?”
I grimaced and looked to Tor for some help.

He didn't seem to get what I was subtly telling him.
If we’re keeping him around I'm going to have to teach him twin speak..

“It’s alright sometimes”
Sarah looked upset.
“All this time we’ve been having pizza and you don’t even like it?”
I shrugged carefully and popped the door open to get out.
My back was aching a little, I needed to walk it off for a bit.

Sarah got out quickly to follow me.
She was still frowning so I guess we can’t just drop this.
“What the hell Han? Why didn't you say anything?”

I paced in a circle and grimaced.
“Because I wanted to make you ha-”
There was a build-up of pressure in my spine.
I could JUST feel the beginnings of another burn coming up.

Sarah looked at me weirdly when I stood still for a few moments without saying anything.
Slowly the pressure eased and I sighed in relief.
Apparently, if I catch myself soon enough and don’t actually voice the lie, the burn can be avoided.
That’s useful to know.

“What’s-”
I looked up at her apologetically and she stopped talking.

“I originally did it because I was convinced that it was what you wanted and..”
I really didn't want to tell her this.
My head ducked down a little in embarrassment.
Eventually I managed to look back up at her but she still looked a little worried.

“I figured.. with mum and stuff.. well.. ’Sarah always gets her way’, what was the point in arguing, ya know?”

I cringed.
It looked like Sarah was going to cry or something.
She slowly moved closer, pulling me into a tight hug.

“Sorry” I muttered self-consciously.
She moved my head so it was resting on her collar bone.

“Oh Al..”
Sarah sighed with regret.
“I'm the one that should be sorry. I didn't even think..”

We both stood there in a silent hug for a while.
It felt nice.

==========

“Sure ya don’ wan’ one?”
I grimaced and waved her off.
Sarah eating pizza is disgusting, she talks with her mouthful and everything.

Tor chuckled to himself from the driver’s seat and took a big bite of his own pizza.
He’s obviously seen her eat like this before, probably thinks it’s cute or something.
They both keep sharing ‘looks’ every once in a while, then glancing away quickly afterwards.

It’s driving me insane!

I took a nice big bite of my Sub, to hide my annoyance.
Tuna and mayo, Italian foot-long with cucumber and green peppers.
Trust me, it’s sooo good.
Some country should have made this their national dish by now!

For a moment I forgot to be mad and just enjoyed the Tuna goodness.
Then they looked over at each other again, smiled and blushed hard.. again!

“Will you two just get a room”
Both of their blushes went up a few more degrees.

“HAN!”
I leaned back further into the corner and huddled my legs up protectively.
Even while stretching out Sarah could only just managed to swing her fist at my foot.
Another win for the change making me smaller than before!
If this keeps up I'm going to have to start liking this whole situation..

..yeah, not gonna happen.
It still sucks!

“You’re both driving me crazy with all the silent lovey-dovey looks. Can’t you both just admit you like each other and get it over with?”

Sarah growled at the back of her throat and shifted in her seat to open the door.
“Give us a minute Tor”
She climbed out with her crutches, careful to avoid spilling open her pizza box.
After straightening up and taking a deep calming breath she stuck her head back in to glare at me.

“Han, out.. now”
I watched her for a moment and shook my head a little.
..I may have gone a bit too far this time.
“NOW!”

Reluctantly I popped my door open and slid out the other side of the car.
Sarah’s glare didn't get any weaker, she nodded her head off toward the shops and started hobbling along on her crutches.

I glanced back at Tor for some kind of help but he put his hand up to show he was keeping out of it.
Judging by the look on his face he was a bit annoyed at me too.
My shoulders slumped and I followed her.

This is so not fair!
Normally it’s ME that has to do the telling off when SHE mouths off.
I don’t get why them flirting was annoying me so much anyway?
My emotions are just out of whack at the moment for some reason I guess.
I’d love to blame it on hormones but I've got a lot more likely culprit.
The awakening..

Last time I went through this I had no control AT ALL.
One minute I’d be so happy I was glowing.
Literally glowing.. it’s a fire user thing, don’t ask.

The next I’d be sinking into depression because I saw a leaf fall off a tree or something equally stupid and it reminded me of ‘how fragile life is’..

It’s not THAT bad this time in comparison, most likely thanks to Inner-Hannah taking the reins on it all.. but some part of it must still be affecting me..
Maybe I'm getting the emotional run off from Inner-Hannah dealing with it all?

I’ll have to meditate and check on her when we get back ho-

========

Sarah yelped and wobbled dangerously.
I staggered backwards a little, barely stopping myself from falling on my ass from the impact.

She turned around and growled at me angrily.
“What the hell is your problem!”

My shoulders sunk a little.. she's really angry.
Now I'm thinking about it, I could feel something WAS off with me.
Its possibly been going on since I woke up in the hospital honestly.

..I've got a problem..

My vision blurred and I drew in a ragged breath.

..Something’s really wrong with me..

My eyes hurt.
Why am I even bothering? I always mess everything up!

The blob in front of me, that was Sarah a second ago, moved.
Her hand came down on my shoulder but I jerked away from her.

I couldn't hold it in any more, I burst into tears and collapsed.
Somehow Sarah managed to catch me before I hit the ground.
It must have been really awkward with her leg and everything.

..her leg must hurt..

It must really, REALLY hurt an.. and I annoyed her even though she was hurt..

My head kept running guiltily through everything I’d been doing to her since I changed, then it went even further back.

I stole her favourite bracelet when we were kids!
It was really pretty and she wouldn't let me keep it but I took it anyway, I've got it in a box with my photo’s at home.
I'm such a bad sister!

========

“HAN!”
I twitched in my haze but didn't answer.
I shouldn't-

“HAN! Han, com’ on Han. I'm sorry.”
My shoulder twitched, something was poking me.

Slowly I could feel something changing in my head, it felt like someone was tugging me out of a swimming pool of Jello.
It took almost half a minute, Sarah’s voice was getting more frantic as time went on, but eventually the feeling cleared completely and my head felt lighter.

I opened my eyes, breathing out harshly in relief.

My breath misted as if it we were standing in a freezer or something.
My arm’s felt awkward, not cold but cool and a little numb..

“Han?.. Tor, her eyes are open!”

I blinked a few times to clear my eyes, my eyelash’s felt heavy and stiff.

“Han?”

Apparently I’d been laying on the asphalt, all curled up in the foetal position.
With a big shudder I managed to push myself upright.
There was a crinkling sound and some flakes of something drifted off my shirt.

Sarah was standing about a yard away from me.
She looked really worried and she was holding a long, white tipped tree branch for some reason?

“You’re okay..”
She took in a shuddering breath and dropped the stick to hug herself tight instead.

I glanced around.
The car park was still surprisingly empty of people nearby.
Kind of lucky.
It would have been embarrassing to have a freak out with everyone watching me.

“Han, can you step clear of it?”
I glanced at her and frowned.
Clear of where?

She gestured at the floor.
My head followed her finger and I jolted back in surprise.

In a set of expanding rings around me was.. ice?
The asphalt was almost pure white at the center, under my feet, but as it expanded out it thinned into just a smattering of frost.

I tested the ground with my hand and it felt a little uneven, as if the asphalt had buckled from the cold.
My foot caught slightly on a crack that had formed under the thick frost as I gently eased myself up.

“What the hell?”
I shook my leg a little and a thin layer of frost came off of my jeans.

“Hannah! Come on, we gotta go. Quick, before someone notices”
Sarah clapped her hands to get my attention and gestured to the car, her eyes were tight with worry.

I nodded and moved out of the rings toward the car, initially in a slow walk but gaining speed as I went.
She’s right, we need to get out of here.
This kind of thing is bound to attract attention and I do NOT need the MPA on my ass on top of everything else!

========

Tor pulled us quickly out of the car park and back over the bridge to the Freeway.
He looked a bit spooked about it all.
I wasn't feeling much better.

My hand stayed tight on top of the discarded pizza boxes from Sarah and Tor’s forgotten meals.
None of us felt like talking unsurprisingly.
I don’t know what they were thinking but my mind was stuck on the ‘why?’ more then anything.

Why did I just freak out?
Why did it all spiral out of control like that?
Why..

WHY ICE?!

I'm a FIRE user.
If I was going to have a burst of magic, it would have been fire!

Hell, it shouldn't even have been fire!
I got that under control years ago.
At the very worst I should have turned the floor orange..

Why Ice, of all things?!

========

“Han?”
Sarah sounded unsure of herself.
I looked away from the window to watch her.
“Yeah?”
She looked nervous as well, a bit too nervous to be normal honestly.

“You’re not gonna flash freeze my car, are you?”

For a moment we both sat staring at each other.
Her mouth twitched a little, mine did too.

Almost in sync we both cracked up laughing.
It wasn't really funny but we needed to laugh.
It was either laugh or cry at this point and I've done enough of that today so far.

Tor didn't turn away from the wheel, he didn't look angry or anything but I think at this point he just wanted to get the whole journey over with.
It’s a long drive from Los Angeles to home.
I'm kind of glad I slept through most of it.

Come to think of it, where does Tor even live?
He’s not local, I know that much.
Sarah’s production company signed him on.
The Hub staff approved him so I never bothered to really look into it.
What if he lives on the east coast or something?
He’s driving us all this way and he might have to fly home afterwards!

My curiosity was piqued.
I leaned forward in the seat and brought my mouth closer to Tor’s ear.
“Where're ya from Tor?”
He shuddered visibly, my breath on his ear must have tickled.
I felt a little smug for getting the reaction out of him but Sarah’s warning look made me sit back a little further away from him and not try it again.

He’s cute but Sarah’s obviously building up for her big moment to ask him out.
I’d have to be a real bas- a real bitch to poach someone she’s fancied for so long.
She doesn't date enough as it is!

Well.. Tor’s not my type anyway, so there..
It’s nice to know I can still get a reaction out of him though, even with this stupid childish face.

“I'm from Las Vegas..?”
He said it as more of a question then an answer, as if he was confused about why I was asking.

I smirked a little, it was understandable confusion, he’s not privy to how my mind works.

With the awakening, I'm switching mental gears a lot at the moment anyway.
At least I've got an excuse to be spontaneous for a while, that’s a useful card to be able to play if I do something stupid.

“Wouldn't have pinned you for a Vegas kid? Bright lights, casinos and strip joints?”
I tried to catch his eye in the rear-view mirror but he wasn't co-operating.

“I was thinking more.. Kansas farm-boy?.. Oh! Or Texas cow-boy!.. Defiantly a boy scout at some point either way, right?”
I tried to give a big cheesy grin at him in the mirror.

By the time he turned his head to glance at me the grin had gone a little limp.
Grinning wide like that made my cheeks hurt..
..Stupid new face..

Tor’s eyes were smiling, obviously he found something funny.
“What’s so funny huh?”
Impulse control is apparently not something I've got a lot of at the moment.

I reached out and slapped his shoulder lightly when he didn’t answer fast enough, not hard, he’s still driving after all.

He smirked back at me in the mirror.
“Las Vegas, New Mexico”
Sarah giggled.

I huffed and slid back into my seat properly.
“..tease”

He mimed tilting an imaginary hat at me, without looking away from the road.
“Ma’am”

Sarah giggled some more.
I huffed again, louder this time, and turned away to look out the window so I didn't have to look at their smug faces.
Teasing’s only fun when you’re the one doing it..

========

Most of the journey was boring after that.
Sarah turned the radio on so we had some noise but no one seemed to be willing to talk.
Either that, or I was still radiating annoyance at Tor for getting me earlier and they didn't want to argue with me.

For a while I considered going back to sleep but I wasn't sleepy anymore.
The freak-out session in the car park and the resulting Ice magic had woken me up nicely.

I know I should really be trying to work out what the hell happened there, but it’s not like I can do research in the car!
This is why the Hub has its Mage library.
In my case, I’d have a better chance of getting answers if I drop in to see Fena and Edith.
Fena is like a walking encyclopaedia of weird magic stuff.

It’s not life threatening or anything anyway.
I just have to be careful to not let myself get worked up over things until I can sort it out.
Nice and easy..

“Ohh, Lake Shasta..”
I leaned across the back seat and stuck my face against the window.
We went over the bridge slowly, traffic was pretty thick for some reason.

Lake Shasta is huge, well it seems it anyway..
Okay.. maybe that idea is tinged with some leftover awe from my childhood.
It’s not really THAT big, especially compared to the ‘Upper’ back home, but the water looks brighter for some reason and all the rough edges to the riverbank are really interesting.
Put together it makes it look deeper and wider than it really is.
It almost looks like someone just dumped a load of water into a valley, which makes sense I guess.
It’s not really a lake, there’s a Dam somewhere around here that turned it into a reservoir in the fifty’s.

They had a display about the river once, at the end of the tour through the Shasta Caverns.
Dad took us to the Caverns a few times each summer when we were kids, the Air-con at home wasn't working well enough for his liking apparently, he never liked the heat that much.

Caverns are really cool places.. as in they are cold, not like their ‘interesting cool’..
Although I guess they were pretty ‘interesting cool’ too when we were kids.
Sarah didn't like them though.
Mum used to take her to the play area while Dad took me with him on the tour.

I opened my mouth to mention it to Sarah but stopped before voicing anything.
She was sleeping in the passenger seat, her head lolled away from me against the window.

She wouldn't have cared anyway, Sarah doesn't tend to care about stuff if Dad was involved.
I tried to talk about it to her once but she cut me off and didn't want to talk about it for some reason.

A glance at Tor told me that he wasn't up for conversation either.
He looked a bit annoyed at the cars in front of us.
We’d got past the bridge but the traffic hadn't eased at all.
It looked like there was some kind of road works or an accident being recovered ahead of us.

I sighed and settled back in my seat a bit more to stare out the window again instead.

========

We followed the I-5 for another hour or so.
The Traffic eased and Tor seemed to lose some of his tension with it.

He calmed down so much, that I even managed to get him to play a hushed game of ‘l Spy’ with me.
It didn't last long.
Once the initial ‘tree, bush, road, rock, car and hill’ options were used up it just became silly.

Even though the interstate was lined with a pretty thick run of trees I could tell when we got close to Mount Shasta.
No magic user could ignore it.
It’s huge, even for a mountain, but the pure primal energy that was just oozing off of it was much more impressive than its actual size.
The power sent vibrations out for miles that could touch you to your very core!

The Klamath tribes believed that a spirit called ‘Skell’ lived on top of the mountain and fought another spirit called ‘Llao’ by throwing hot rocks and Lava at his home on ‘Mount Mazama’.

No offence intended to the Klamath tribe but I've been to Crater Lake, the giant hole in the ground where Mount Mazama once stood and there’s no magical residue there.
I’d love to put the whole thing off as old superstition.
A god-like being that throws hot rocks and Lava from the top of a volcanic mountain?
Let’s be honest, logic dictates it’s more likely to have just been the volcanic mountain.. ya know..
Being a Volcano.
If I wasn't a mage, I’d probably just write it all off easily but just driving past the Mount Shasta puts me on edge.
It feels like something old and powerful is watching me!

The only other time I've felt that kind of oppressing power before was when I passed one of the True Fae guardians in a hall at the Hub.
Normally they stay out of sight in the halls, I don’t know why she chose to walk past me.

She’d looked a bit weak, really delicate features with an aristocratic feel about her.
She was almost pure white, her skin, her hair, her clothing, all of it as white as the halls of the Hub.
The only splash of color to her was her eyes, dark black pupil-less eyes.
Her eyes looked like tiny black-holes.
It only lasted for a moment, but when we made eye contact I felt pressure crash down upon me.
I get the same feeling from just being NEAR Mount Shasta.

My legs came up to my chest and I huddled into the corner seat furthest from the mountain while we followed the I-5 around it.
The feeling stayed with me, even after we turned off the I-5 at Weed and on to Route 97.

Eventually Tor got us out of the mountain’s ‘range of effect’ and I let out a big sigh of relief.
Being near there is defiantly not a nice feeling!

This is the first time I've had to come near it since I discovered magic.
Normally I just use a waypoint or warp myself around the country in small trips.
I’ll have to make a note to never get this close again.

I feel kind of dirty.
Can’t shake the feeling that whatever gives the mountain its power noticed me.
Don’t ask me why, it’s just my gut instinct, telling me that coming back here would be a very bad idea!

=========

Sarah woke up as we were passing out of a little one-horse town called ‘Macdoel’.
She’s never been good at sleeping in a car, she must be pretty tired for her to have even tried to honestly.

The sign we passed on the way out, assured me that we were ten miles away from ‘Dorris’ and thirty miles from ‘Klamath Falls’.
Home sweet home.

“Are we going straight back to the flat when we get into town?”
It had been bugging me for a while, we barely have enough space for me and Sarah in the flat.
Unless she’s planning to share a bed with Tor.. and let’s be honest, what are the odds of THAT with the way they keep dancing around each other?

“We have to report into the Hub for a scan and debriefing. Probably some decontamination time too”
I blinked at her for a moment in confusion.

Really?.. I never have to do any of that normally?

Sarah must have read my disbelief on my face because she shrugged.
“It’s standard procedure. The real hard work is going back to the studio and trying to pretend everything is normal.”
She frowned and rolled her shoulder uncomfortably.
“Explaining any ‘CGI creatures or effects’ that are on the footage ahead of time is annoying, we had to call in a mage to wipe the studio staff’s memories once because they got the footage before Tor could crop out the unbelievable parts.”

She really didn't look comfortable with the idea of memory wiping people.

It’s understandable, I'm not particularly comfortable with it myself.
I still do it, it’s necessary sometimes, but some low grade mages get a bit too liberal with its use.
After a while, I think they just figure that it’s easier to wipe or modify a memory instead of coming up with a believable cover story.

“But yeah.. Normally we get checked in, spend twenty minutes in decontamination, have a short debriefing to hand over any items we retrieved for inspection and then we can leave.”

I shrugged back at her but didn't argue the point.

For some reason no-one’s ever made me go through that kind of after-mission stuff..
Normally I just go home and then file a report with Felicia, the hub receptionist, in the morning.

Unless I'm injured obviously, then I tend to drop by Fena’s for some healing and sympathy first.

“If it’s standard procedure then it can’t be that bad. What’s the worst that can happen?”

========

We ended up having to park a few streets away from the Hub’s entrance.

I can’t believe I never noticed just how many car’s there are in this area?
There’s only a few empty store fronts and a motel used by Hub guests in this section of town but virtually every inch of side-walk has a car parked alongside it.
You would think the Hub could come up with a more covert way to hide the entrance.
A private car park nearby or something?

Then again, if they ever had the police try to raid them it would only take one mage to get rid of any evidence and the memory of it all.. I guess.

They would do it without blinking too!
I once saw a SWAT mage wipe a year of a woman’s memory clear, just because her boyfriend turned out to be an unregistered Parthax demon!
Parthax demons are vegetarian and, aside from some weird looking toes, they look human too!
The Hub has a few doctors on the payroll who helped her ‘get over her spontaneous amnesia’ but it still doesn't feel right to me..

That’s not even considering when they do memory modifications either.
That’s just messed up.. and awkward for everyone involved.
People who get memory modifications tend to be disorientated for a while because every time they find a situation that doesn't match up with their ‘new’ memories, it takes a few moments for their brain to come up with a ‘believable’ reasoning that fits with the modified memories.

It can lead to some weird situations.

One woman whose dog turned out to be a weird magical cross-breed, she woke up the next morning convinced she’d had to give the dog up.
She loved the dog, so giving it up didn't initially make sense to her, but within minutes she would swear blind that the dog bit her and she’d developed a deep-seated fear of dogs from it.

That’s the problem with memory modification, you can NEVER know which direction someone’s brain will go with the new information you’re dumping in there.
I don’t like using memory modification OR memory wiping.

If a civilian gets caught in the crossfire while I'm on a mission, I tend to send them to the nearest Hub for an induction.
Knowing about magic CAN be dangerous but at least if they get an induction they get to choose if they remember everything or not.
Plus the induction team tend to be a less.. loose.. with their casting.

An onsite SWAT mage will normally just take a whole day from someone rather than trying to find out when during the day they actually came into contact with anything magical.
I've been on the other end of that kind of situation, it’s not nice.

Sarah told the SWAT team who rescued us from Vlad’s place that I got involved ‘after prom’, seconds later and I had no memory of how or why I was waking up in my room.
A moment after that and I was convinced that I got blisteringly drunk the night before.
Despite the fact that I’d never drunk alcohol before that and I was suspiciously lacking a hangover!

For years after that, until Edith’s ‘Juju stick’ gave me the ACTUAL memories back at least, I avoided alcohol like the plague!
It seems irrational to me now, and I can’t help resenting the way it affected me so badly without my knowledge.

=======

“You getting out or what?”
I blinked rapidly and glanced over at Sarah.
She was standing outside the car, leaning back in with a fond smile on her face.

“I don’t know where you go sometimes, the lights are on but no-one’s home.”
I shrugged and shuffled out of the car.
It happens, I get kind of lost in thought.
As Max said ‘one thought does tend to lead to another’
It’s going to happen even more for a while, reincarnation sucks like that.

“Let me do the talking. When we’re cleared I’ll have a word with my supervisor to get everything sorted, have you sorted for a new ID and stuff.”

My eyebrow popped up, I would think that my complete change in gender and apparently age too would be more of a problem for them to handle.
It’s not exactly normal..

“Legal are surprisingly quick about these things. I got them to sort out my passport and renew my driving licence, took less than twenty minutes, beats the DMV at least.”

I grinned and couldn't hold back a snort of amusement.

“What?”
She probably would have slapped my arm just for the sake of it if she didn't need both hands to use her crutches.

“You cheated to get your licence.. explains your driving..”
I didn't wait for her response, just shot off ahead of her to avoid any kind of retribution.
It sounded like Tor found it amusing at least, even if Sarah was yelling after me angrily.
They were both left in my dust as I rounded the last corner and came to a stop near the entrance way to the Hub.

..well.. I think it’s the entrance way at least?
It’s the right place, just..
Where I used to see a tacky disused comic book shop with a terrible name, which just so happened to spell out USMPA G-O.
There was just a blank shop?

Peeling crème paint, empty glass windows which showed nothing but a lot of dust and debris inside.
The door wigged me out the most honestly, it was glowing blue!
REALLY blue, like the color I see if I keep my eyes open when I warp somewhere.

Never let it be said I'm not brave!
..also I could hear Sarah catching up to me and I REALLY don’t want to give her a chance to get back at me so easily.

With a deep breath I stepped up to the glowing blue door and cautiously prodded it with a finger.
My finger tingled for a moment and seemed to disappear the more I pushed at the door.

A glance back over my shoulder showed Sarah and Tor rounding the corner so I figured, to hell with it.
I shut my eyes instinctively and stepped through the glowing blue door.

========

The sound of a lot of feet moving and the muffled rumble of people talking was the first thing I picked up.
I peaked an eye open and sighed in relief when I saw the Hub’s reception area, looking just as it had the last time I saw it.

Feeling a bit stupid for getting so worked up by the entrance way acting weird, I straightened up and tried to look like I hadn't just been worried magic was going to do something screwy to me.
My first step told me that I really had been worried, my shoe crunched a little on a few ice crystals that fell off of it and came under foot.

I glanced down at it and frowned hard.
“Brilliant.. at least I didn't burn anything I guess.”
When I looked back up my eyes met Felicia’s stare.

She was behind her desk as usual, although the paperwork that used to litter it was missing.

I didn't know it until the higher ups called me in to help upgrade the communications system and tools behind her desk, but there really IS a reason why they pay her so much, while putting up with her attitude problems.
Somehow, they wouldn't explain it to me in anything but vague words, her being at that desk allows the Hub to draw power from the laylines around town.

I can guess it’s not a direct connection.
Probably something like her being here completes the ‘circuit’ and lets some remote place draw the power for storage or something.
If it worked as a direct connection then I’d never have been allowed in here..
As bad as it was when my Locus point nature crushed that idiot mages base into a tiny cube, imagine how bad it would be if I managed to collapse a Hub in the same way!

Hub G-0 is almost completely built within the fae realm too.
Maven the fae queen who, for lack of a better word, ‘rents’ the space to us would NOT be happy if I managed to turn her entire N’th dimensional realm into a fist sized cube!
Just the thought of it makes me shudder..

The shudder wasn't helped by the blank look of annoyance on Felicia’s face.
She obviously didn't recognise me.
I tried to not feel hurt by that, I wouldn't have recognised me either I guess..

=======

My mouth stretched into a weak smile and I made my way over to her.
Hopefully she will take this all in stride, she tends to go with the flow on most things, she did when I first turned up for a mission briefing dressed as Hannah at least.

I barely got within a foot of her desk before some kind of alarm went off on it.
Vaguely it felt familiar, probably one of the ones I installed.
The alarm itself at least, not whatever set it off.

I just did the enchanting necessary to give her a computer and newer tools on her desk, with connections to all the old output devices already in place.
The computer let all the other tools be integrated into one messy system.
They got some software guys in, from somewhere, to build a program that let her use everything despite the different kit involved.
I dunno how it works, I just enchanted the computer to run off ambient magic instead of electricity.
I'm a mage, not a computer.. tech-y type person!

The higher ups were really impressed at least, apparently not many people go into the whole ‘enchanting technology’ thing.
I don’t know why, my phone has so many useful extra features because I enchanted it.
Remote dialling and no need to charge it, just being the tip of the iceberg.

Edith gets really grumpy about my phone though.
Apparently she thinks using minor blood magic enchantments to make ‘New’fangled machines’ work with magic is appalling..
Crazy little Yoda woman..

=========

I shook my head hard to clear my train of thought again, this REALLY needs sorting out.
I'm so easily distracted it’s not healthy.
Powers be, if I go on a mission and get distracted it could literally be the death of me!

Felicia was looking at me weirdly.
If I didn't know better I’d say she was afraid of me for some reason?

Come to think of it, the alarms sound has stopped now and-
I glanced around the room a little with nervous gulp.
-there’s a lot of intimidating looking SWAT members with guns, trying to look inconspicuous, in the usual crowd of people moving about.

My head turned back to look at Felicia and she flinched a little.
Before I could voice any sort of question or protest someone clapped their hand down on my shoulder and leaned past me.

“Team Tomb Raider and assistant reporting in for debriefing and inspection”
I let out a breath I hadn't realised I’d been holding, it was Sarah, having caught up with me instead of some SWAT guy getting suddenly physical.

Felicia’s mouth gaped open a little and she shot a nervous look behind us for a moment.
Eventually she shrugged, waving us off down the left corridor out of reception.

Sarah seemed to know where she was going at least.
She led the way, hobbling along on her crutches, while Tor brought up the rear at his usual lumbering pace.

I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.
It’s probably all in my head but I swear I saw the same, off-duty looking, SWAT members walk past us a few times as we walked the halls.
I guess it COULD just be coincidence, I had first-hand knowledge of how easy it is to end up walking in circles through these halls.

Normally I avoid them, like most mages do.
There’s a specific safe warp point set up in a back room of the motel down the street that most mages tend to use as an unofficial exit for the Hub, if they don’t want to face the hallways at least.

Sarah took a seemingly random right turn at a crossroads, then another sharp right moments later.
I followed along dutifully.

My eyebrow DID raise a little in amusement when we took a final right and ended up in dead-end corridor leading to a single, worn looking, door at the end.
Who said that three rights make a left?
Whoever it was obviously never tried to walk anywhere in the Fae realm!

Sarah stepped aside a little and waved me to the door.
“Ladies first”
She had a smug smile on her face that annoyed me for some reason.

I mimicked her movement and let a mocking look pass over my own face.
“Age before beauty”
She glared at me for that one.

Before we could come up with anything else to needle each other with Tor sighed loudly and squeezed past us to go through the door first.
“Can you both give it a rest?”
We shared a guilty look and shrugged in sync.
I put my hand up for a high five of peace and she easily slapped it in acceptance.

Tor’s right, with everything else going on, we really don’t need to be arguing at the moment.
I think we’re both just a bit edgy and upset, so we’re lashing out a bit.
I know I am a least..

We both turned to face the door and I didn't argue when Sarah hung back on her crutches this time, I just followed after Tor instead.

=========

“You've really never been in decontamination before?”

A grunt came out of me rather than really answering her.
She’s asked like five times now..

I don’t get what the big deal is.
The rules are different for mages, even more so for awakened mages.

Admittedly, I've never actually met any of the other, on staff, awakened mages since I started working for the Hub but the few low grade mage’s I've worked with before had whole teams surrounding them when they got deployed.
I just got given my briefing and had to file for travel expenses after the mission was over, when necessary.

I'm more interested in these ‘decontamination’ rooms anyway.
The glasses wearing lab tech guy who greeted Tor when we came in, seemed to be a bit.. distracted.
I trusted Sarah’s blasé attitude when he waved us toward, what looked like, three solid stone cubical rooms about the size of a small bathroom.

The moment I stepped inside the room had gone momentarily dark, then the door sealed tight and everything lit up again.

The walls MUST be enchanted.
If I run my hands over them all I can feel is cold stone but looking at them.. well..
..They kind of don’t exist?

I mean.. they EXIST but they’re see-through!

Pretty cool little bit of enchanting honestly.
I’ll have to ask someone how it works, when we get out of here.
I've been staring at this wall trying to break it down in my head but all the glyphs they used must be inscribed on the outside because I can’t find anything remotely useful inside by running my hands over the wall.

========

“Han? Give it a rest will you. We’ll be out in a minute, don’t worry.”
She offered me a reassuring smile.

I was tempted to glare at her in response.

I'm not freaking out!
I'm just curious..
It’s not often I get to see magic, this well made, that I don’t already have some kind of inherited knowledge about.

Sarah’s smile slipped a little into worry so I gave my inspection up with a sigh.
We’re going to be in here for who-knows how long.
Best to not start another argument over something petty.

“Hey Tor, you okay buddy?”
He glanced over at me from his ‘room’ and grunted.
He’s probably dead tired.
I would be, having to drive for hours on end, after having so many flights beforehand as well.

Taking a leaf out of his book, I slid myself into a corner of my ‘room’ and tried to distract myself.

Maybe if I inverted a ‘Lux’ rune and connected it to a ‘Speculo’ rune, on either side, I might be able to remake this ‘invisible walls’ enchantment they have?

It would need a LOT of control clusters though and..

DAMN IT! Where’s my notebook when I need it?
Trying to work out a new spell in my head is annoying AND confusing!

=========

We’d been in the rooms for about twenty minutes when the distracted lab tech guy came over to check on us.
He had a clipboard with him and was inspecting something in the top right corner on each of our see-through doorways.

It annoyed me a little that he didn't even bother to greet us, just went about checking whatever was written up there and making notes.

Finally he finished with Tor’s block and lowered his clip board to inspect us curiously.
His eyes settled on Sarah and he walked over to her room.

“Ms.Cooper. I'm getting some readings that are a bit.. well..”
He actually showed an emotion at last, pushing his glasses up his nose nervously.

“Come on Reggie, we’ve done this song and dance enough times. What’s the damage? An extra ten minutes before we’re clear?”
Sarah seemed to be well versed in how this stuff works, probably from personal experience.

I glanced at the lab tech guy again.

Seriously, his names Reggie?..
He doesn't look like a Reggie to me.
Defiantly not a Reginald either!

I shuddered a little.

What do I know about names anyway?
The LAST Reginald I knew turned out to be called Bob!

“uh..”
‘Reggie’ seemed a bit more flustered now.
“A bit longer than that Ma’am. You didn't happen to come into contact with some kind of.. class five or above magical object, did you?”

Sarah looked nervous now.

“Not really..”
She didn't sound sure of that though.

‘Reggie’ sighed and pushed his glasses up to rub his nose a little.
“I'm getting the most residual feedback from your..”
He shot a momentarily confused look at me but seemed to come to some kind of decision eventually.
“..assistant.”

I frowned at him.
I'm getting a bit annoyed with that term.
Assistant, my ass!
How about ‘Savior’ or ‘Long suffering sibling’ instead?

“Mr.Nobbs has the least residue, so little it’s as if he hasn't even been in contact with the object at all?”
‘Reggie’ seemed really confused by that.
I was more interested in the other bit of information he’d said.

Nobbs.. Tor Nobbs..
No wonder the poor guy just goes by ‘Tor’.

For some reason it feels like the name ‘Nobbs’ should mean something to me but I'm drawing a blank on that one.
Probably some Arista incarnation from fifteen-hundred B.C that had a pet cat called Nobbs or something equally inane.
It happens all the time..

Sarah chewed her lip nervously and shot me a worried look.
I shrugged back at her, they are going to find out eventually, what’s the worst that can happen.

“On our last expedition a mage tried to trap us with something called-”
She cut herself off and looked momentarily confused.

I decided to pick up for her, it’s not THAT hard a name to remember.
“The bindings of bad faith”

‘Reggie’ jerked as if someone had electrocuted him.
His head twitched from me to Sarah and back a few times in worry.
“Seriously?”
I shrugged, Sarah nodded.
Tor didn't answer.. well.. unless you consider a rumbling snore as an answer at least?

“This isn't good. Not good at all..”
My lips twitched into a smirk.
“Tell me about it, Max is an utter bastard at times”

‘Reggie’ twitched and shot a nervous look up at the top right-hand corner of my doorway again.
Slowly he brought his eyes down to me, it looked like he was sweating all of a sudden.
I wish I knew what that corner bit said..
Judging by his face, it’s not anything good.

“..Max?”
His voice came out as an almost horse whisper.

I cocked my head to the side and considered him for a moment.
Maybe he’s heard of him.
Awakened mages of Max’s level aren't exactly common.

“Maxarimus.. well, John.. I call him John normally. It really gets his goat, stupid big headed ass-hole”

It felt good to cuss him out AND spread the use of his name at the same time.
Maybe one day I can get us to a point where EVERYONE calls him John.
Just imagine the look on his face!

‘Reggie’s glasses started fogging up, he was sweating so much
He must have heard of Max for sure, I wonder what Max did to him?

Without any form of warning ‘Reggie’ lunged away from us and slapped his palm down hard on a big red button on his desk.
I’d not noticed it before, it looks like it was partly buried under a load of paperwork.
Almost as if it was rarely, if ever, used.

Red lights started flashing around us and a loud whooping warning siren went off, giving me a headache instantly.
In seconds a group of armed SWAT guys came pouring in the door as if they had been just waiting to be called.
I got a glimpse of their nervous, wide eyed stares before everything jolted.

After a moment pause there was another big jolt and I was thrown to the ground as the entire room I was in went shooting backwards somehow.
The invisible walls went back to plain stone and I was plunged into darkness.

I was only just gathering my whit’s from what was happening when it all stopped with another jolt.
A yelp of surprise escaped my mouth but, for the amount of speed and force that seemed to be involved, I didn't actually feel very hurt by sliding across the floor into the back wall so sharply.

I hope Sarah’s okay?
She’s got her leg, and she was the only one standing up when this all happened too..

Slowly I eased my hand along the floor and eventually found a side wall to follow up so I could get into a standing position.

“Hello?”
I felt a bit stupid knocking on the stone wall but there weren't many other options.
What else am I going to do when it’s so dark I can’t even see my-
.. Duh!.. Am I a mage or not?!

With less than a push at my core a blue flame ignited in my palm.
It’s the same type of fire I used to light up the temple entrance in the jungle.
The flame came out a little more violet then my normal sky blue but a flame’s a flame.
It’s a really basic spell.
The ‘Safety flame’ was the first thing Fena ever showed me how to make.
It can’t burn anything and feeds off of ambient magic to pour out light.
Not sure HOW I managed to mess it up enough to change the color so much but it’s not THAT important.

What IS important is that I'm now locked in a stone box, who-knows-where for who-knows-what reason!
I felt little chill of fear go up my spine..

My nose scrunched up and I tried to forcefully warp out of the box to the nearest waypoint.
..Then I tried desperately for the nearest back-alley I could remember.
..Nothing.

"I can't warp out.."
My stomach sunk like a stone.

I'm trapped.
I can't get out..
My breath started coming in short, sharp pants.

The air feels warm, kinda stuffy..
Logically there must be some kind of airflow in here, probably magical, but my chest feels tight.
I can’t breathe properly..

Are the walls getting closer?
It feels like the walls are getting closer..

I sunk to my knees in the corner and tried to get a clear breath in.
Even though I had a light source now, maybe I would be better off without it?
I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and just focused on breathing.

“HELP!”
No-one answered.
I went back to breathing.

Just breath.
It’s okay, just breath..
Without conscious effort my arms came up to hug my knees and I started slowly rocking in the corner.
“LET ME OUT OF HERE!”

No-one answered..