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“So you don’t know like anything about this guy?” K asks. They're sitting criss cross in the middle of the lounge couch watching Evan as he paces back and forth behind the couch.
Team Muggle had congregated in the shared space to hear Evan recount his experience in the headmistress’s office. The idiosyncrasies of the group had left them to migrate to various states of rest around the room.
“I know he’s my cousin and a part of this ‘unsleeping city’ thing.” Evan replies “I mean it makes sense for me to have an extended family and them being non-magical could definitely explain why they don’t know me or I don’t know them.”
“Guys,” interrupts Sam lounging on the floor “Google doesn’t know what the unsleeping city is,”.
Sam adds from her spot lounging on the floor with T2.
“Look up the guy’s name. What was it again?” replies Jammer perched on the arm of a neighboring chair.
“Cody Walsh,” Evan flips through his papers, “It says he lives in Queens.”
“Isn’t it a little weird that this guy became magic out of nowhere?” K's voice grows squeaky with critique.
“Ok but we did that.” Says Sam.
“And we know that magic just kinda happens sometimes.” Jammer pitches in.
“But we're teenagers, this is an adult.” says K waving their hands emphatically
“Oo, think he’s this goth guy,” Sam says, moving to sit on the couch and she hands off her phone to Evan who joins her on the couch. Evan is face to face with the instagram of
@Night.Angel.
Cody Walsh
Queens NYC
Lord of Hell
Jersey Devil
“Maybe?” says Evan.
“I mean he does kinda look like you” Sam adds, clicking on a photo of a goth man proudly holding a sword.
Jammer leans over Sam and Evan’s shoulders to get a look. “But if you dressed like K.”
“What?!” exclaims K joining the huddle, “I would never dress like that. “
“That doesn’t seem like necessarily a bad dude.” Says Jammer giving his judgment.
“Oo, he even kinda looks like you,” Sam says, holding up her phone with an image of a goth man holding a sword proudly.
“Oh yeah I see it,” Jammer nods.
Wait hold on” K climbs over Evan hovering in his space to see Sam’s phone “Oh he’s kinda cool. The aesthetic is mall goth with some trad goth vibes and punk influence, which has some red flags but isn’t the worst.”
“You should reach out, see what happens” Says Jammer.
“Yeah, I mean we shouldn’t let our guard down but he doesn’t seem dangerous.” K says twirling her wand anxiously.
Evan looks to Sam to gauge her opinion..
She puts her hand on his shoulder sharing a closeness with Evan, “We’re your family. So however it goes with this guy you’re gonna be fine, because We’ve got your back.”
Evan nods and takes his phone out of his pocket and starts to compose a message. When he concludes his draft he hands it over to his friends to revise. “Too formal” “This is not the time to try to learn emoji” “Leave out the evil being attached to your soul thing for now” and then it is sent.
The group has only started affirmations towards Evan before his phone chimes.
hey man, great hearing from you!
thought it was super fucked up that no one was looking out for you
i know youre at wizard school (which seems super weird cause it doesn’t sound like youre a wizard) but i have a bunch of friends who are really great with magic and would be stoked to help you out
“Who does he think he is telling you 're not a wizard?!” Interjects K
“Maybe you're a warlock,” Supplies Jammer
“Ooh, or like a dark mage!” Continues Sam.
Evan doesn't speak, the world outside of the phone's text is distant. The LCD light pulling him like a moth. choosing instead to respond to the text.
What does help mean in this context?
The three dots of Cody typing begin to have meaning in Evan's head. His mind is filled with thoughts of asking Nurse StitchKnit to remove his magic, and of the weird evil wizards, and whatever the hell Philtrum is up to.
But then another chime
like help you practice
my friend Pete, his magic is pure chaos but he can control it
its so sick dude!
And he said he would be down to talk to you about that
also my other friend works at the local wizard society. so like it has research and magic practice space to freak out in
Evan pulls away from his phone sitting back on the couch. The ancient cushions don't register to him. He feels like the floor has come out from under him. The air in his lungs is not moving fast enough to keep up with his free fall. The unfocused world is just a messy white blur.
If this is what he's wanted, why is he so scared of it? Was the pain he went through completely unnecessary?
“Evan, bud? You with us?” Sam's voice cuts through his implosion.
One of the faces of his shadow tries to retort and say something horrible to his friend. Evan reflexively grabs it and wrangles it back into place taking his full effort and fully breaking his thought spiral.
His friends, the shadows, and darkness in the room enclose on Evan, feeling the gravitational pull of his internal black hole. Before, just as quickly, returning to their natural spots.
“Um yeah, sorry. I kinda got lost there for a sec.” The response is almost automatic to Evan.
“Yeah, this was probably too much for one day. All that long lost relative stuff.,” Jammer says trying to reassure Evan.
“You know we don’t have to do this right now, we could go do something else,” K offers carefully avoiding contact with the shaky Evan.
“Yeah, I could use a break.” Evan sets his phone down on the table and wipes his hands on his khakis.