Nathan Drake thought his past was dead, but now his daughter is gone, his enemies have supernatural powers, and magic makes it all complete.
Nathan Drake is many things. An adventurer, treasure hunter, con-man, and a pretty fair shot if he did say so himself. But most of all, he likes being called Dad. So much so that he gave up most things he once called important. His days of high speed chases may be limited now to tag on the beach, but better that than a gunshot to the gut.
Again.
The problem with having a past though, is that it always calls out to you, or worse, catches up with you. He really thought he put all this behind him this time, but when his past isn't as dead as he thought, and his enemies have put to shame the supernatural events he thought couldn't be topped, he really didn't need the magic to make it all complete.
“So who wants to open the obviously cursed chest?” Nate stood above the recently exhumed grave, frantically sketching their most recent find in his journal. The crisp, Irish air ruffled his slowly greying hair, chilling him after a long afternoon of digging.
“Ha ha, Dad,” Cassie said from the side of the hole, “This isn’t like one of your crazy stories.” His daughter stood up, brushing the dirt from her knees and tucking her short, blonde hair behind her glasses. “Not that they didn’t sound cool,” she said, a smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth.
“Oh?” He said, resting his elbows on his knees to lean over the pit, “And what makes you think that?” He grabbed his journal again to take note of the many different locks and charms that decorated the exterior of the chest.
“Well for one,” Cassie said, walking to look over his shoulder, “Nothing’s exploded yet. We aren’t paired with sketchy, edgy mercenaries, and nobody’s been shot.” Three pokes to his side pulled his gaze away from the strange small chest filling a grave that should have held a coffin. Cassie smiled at him mischievously, “Did I miss anything?”
“Zombies.” came Elena’s voice from the examination table down the row of graves. She didn’t even look up while she sorted through the few manuscript pages they had found that lead them here.
Cassie whipped around to look at her mom, suddenly very confused, “Wait, wait wait wait. You never said anything about—”
“They weren’t zombies,” Nate scoffed, pocketing his journal, “They were the descendents of spanish conquerors who were changed by a virus, or something.” He glanced up at Elena, who had a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. He sighed, “And what did we say about mentioning that stuff?”
Cassie groaned and rolled her eyes, “Not in public places, with people we don’t know, or where secret agents could take us away where we never see the light of day ever—”
“Cassie,” Nate said warningly, “I’m serious.”
She groaned, “I get it Dad. Serious adult stuff I can’t handle, or even be trusted—”
“Cassie.” Nate sharpened his voice. She flinched and met his eyes.
“Sorry dad,” she said, “I get it. It’s just,” she paused, “Come on, who would actually believe those stories if you told them?”
Thankfully, Elena had came over and wrapped her arms around Cassie’s shoulders. “There were a lot of people that got involved besides the ones we mentioned.” Elena ruffled Cassie’s hair and leaned to look into the hole. “Besides, the one thing we learned,” she reached over to poke Nate, “is that the past can always catch up with us.”
Nate laughed ruefully, “Now don’t jinx us in front of the obviously voodoo laced treasure.” He leaned back and called out to their small crew, “Hey Charles! Come get a few shots of this.”
“Yes sir!” came the excited call back. Charles half ran, half skipped over, camera in hand. Nate chuckled at their young intern’s excitement. Charles’ childlike exuberance clashed wildly with his college running back frame and close cut hair.
Nate turned back to their find, camera sounds rapid firing all around him. Elena moved out of their crew’s way and crouched next to him. “So,” she said, leaning on him, “Wanna explain why it’s cursed?”
Nate laughed, “Well besides the fact that this thing has every known deterrent against the supernatural possible?” He pointed at the bands wrapping the chest. “See these? They’re mostly rusted away because they’re iron, not steel. And these branches?” He gestured at some remarkably preserved branches woven between the bands, “That’s rowan, holly, and St. John’s Wort.” He brushed his fingers along the bottom of the “grave” and rubbed his fingers together. “And the whole thing has been practically buried in salt. Probably why the branches are so well preserved.” He stopped to jot down everything in the fresh journal he bought just for this dig.
Elena sniffed, “You two smell that?”
Nate took a deep breath, “Yeah, that’s weird.” He leaned a bit further over the open grave and waved his hand to move the air around. There was a dull smell in the air, very familiar but not enough to place it.
“Yeast,” Elena said suddenly, “Think there was bread in there too?”
Nate scratched his scruff thoughtfully, “Well add that onto the supernatural danger pile. People used to put fresh bread out to keep the local fairies happy. Not exactly a great sign considering our location.”
“Ooooo,” Cassie said, waving her arms dramatically, “Scary fairies.”
A husky laugh drew their attention to a well dressed man standing next to the examination table. Nate recognized the owner of this little graveyard, Ray, from his mountainous form and gravelly voice, “Don’t make fun of the fairies kid. Never make fun of the fairies.” He leaned against a sturdy light post, which groaned slightly under his bulk. “They are vindictive, manipulative, and more than happy to steal away kids like you.”
Cassie groaned quietly, “Seriously?”
Ray just chuckled, “Stay in Ireland long enough lass, and you’ll hear about them.”
“Yeah, outside of a bar maybe,” Cassie grumbled under her breath.
“Well,” Nate said, putting a warning hand on Cassie’s shoulder, “Whoever buried this sure didn’t want any trouble.” Nate chuckled lightly. Back in the day, this probably would have been a sure sign of immediate danger, either from the chest itself or a gun to his head. It was nice to be able to just enjoy things nowadays. “You get all the angles Charles?” he said, turning to their intern, who was talking on the phone.
“Got it all good, boss!” he said. Seriously, his demeanor always defied expectations for his build. “Oh by the way, someone named Dr. Halverson is on the line, says he’d like a favor.”
“Of course he would,” Drake said, reaching out for the phone. James was a symposium leader in just about every archeological conference around the world. Great guy, always up to date on everything, owns three museums outright, and gave Nate some of the best head starts he’d ever gotten. Always came with strings though.
“Hey James,” Nate said, putting the most cheer he could with literal treasure sitting unopened in front of him.
“Aww, you’d think the devil himself called to spit in your coffee.” It was James all right, quirky inflections and everything.
“Close enough, you know exactly where I am right now!” Nate teased.
“Yeah, yeah, but hey listen,” his voice became excited, speeding up as usual, “I’ve got two empty time slots at AP&G that I need filled, and every call for papers we’ve put out have gotten zip, nada.”
Nate thought for a second. AP&G was the next conference in DC right? And that was…
“James! That’s, like, three days from now!”
“I know! That’s why I need you! You’re the only one I know that has anything new from the past year. And I know how quickly you can prepare things.”
“James we’re in Ireland!”
“I can cover everything!” The desperation came through harder than Nate expected.
“What time slot James?” Nate said warily.
A heavy sigh came through the phone. “Our keynote speaker had an emergency and can’t make it.”
Nate let out a heavy breath. “Ohhhhhhh James.” He hung his head and ran some quick plans through his head. He knew how important this was to James. This was literally the largest conference on anything to do with a dig site in the world, but a keynote address, him? Oh he could do it. But this was a little more than a favor. He looked at Elena, who had stepped over to listen beside him. She was practically beaming and giving him a thumbs up. Figures, she’d been trying to get him to one of these things for years.
“Alright James, tell you what,” he said, smirking at Elena, “You get me and my family down there, and a rock concert of some kind for us, and I’ll go.”
The squeal of joy made Nate pull the phone away quickly. Elena just laughed. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ll get right on that. I’ll get your tickets to you asap, three right?”
Nate worked out the details with him, quickly going through their recent discoveries for ideas. There were plenty, but how in the world could he make it interesting for literal scientists? He certainly didn’t have any degrees in this stuff. Who knows what actual researchers thought about?
But he could worry about that in a bit.
“Alright then, now that that’s out of the way, let's get this thing out and hope the bottom doesn’t fall off.”
If there was one change that grated on Nate, it was the extensive documenting that they had to do now. In days better left in the past, a simple sketch in a journal was enough for him. A tradition that he still held dear after all this time. But now with the need to publish results in credible journals, it felt like every splinter needed a name, number, and birthday. Never mind the fact that they probably unearthed a literal trove of artifacts, but there would be some reviewer who wanted to know everything about the sets of scratches on the outside wood. Needless to say, Nate was itching to open the chest. But first things first.
“Alright Cassie, rapid fire for me.” Nate said, handing a voice recorder to Cassie.
“Ok,” she started, taking a deep breath, “so besides all of the supernatural stuff, the iron is still mostly flat, even with the rust, so it was well made, probably a wealthy guy. More recent too by the style of construction. The headstone says 1578, which … is maybe possible? Seems a long time for plants and stuff to stay recognizable. That would put this in the Elizabethan Era, which, Idunno, may have something to do with their superstition? Either way, rich guy, buried in a grave spot, probably pirates.”
Nate beamed at his daughter, for all her stubbornness she was good at this. “Good work! Well, we knew it was pirates for a while, based off of the priest’s journal.” He nodded towards Ray, who just gave him a thumbs up. “Never thought pirates would legitimately buy a grave plot though. Not really their style.” He rubbed his hands excitedly. Even after all this time, here he was sitting with a bunch of pirate treasure. Ironic in so many ways. I should send a picture to Sully. Give all of us a good laugh, he thought.
“Ok I’m done waiting,” he said, moving to the front of the chest. “Let’s see what we actually found.” Rapid fire clicks from the camera clashed horribly with the squealing joints on the chest. Nate looked excitedly into the chest to find…
A journal. “W- wait,” Nate said. His mind flashed quickly to the past. This was way too familiar. He quickly scooped up the journal and started pacing.
“A book?” Cassie sputtered behind him. “Pirates contacted a Catholic priest in hiding and spent a literal boatload of gold to bury a book?”
Nate wasn’t listening anymore.
I write this in the hope that we can be forgiven. May the Almighty grant us pardon for our sins and the dealings we had with them. I fear we may be too late, but what is done is done. Our contract is broken and our chains have been sealed away. Thomas is dead, his blood is on my hands. If for nothing else I must write the events of these forsaken months for his sake. If Her Majesty finds this, know that I did what I must to protect our lives. Though I fear my deceptions are not enough. To any who read this henceforth, know that you hold all of England, nay, all you hold dear on a knife’s edge. Pray do not make the same mistakes we did.
The Fey are real, and they are not to be trusted.
A forsaken man,
Francis Drake
Nate slammed the journal shut.
“Elena pack up, we’re done here.”
“Wait you were serious?” Cassie stood framed in the doorway of Nate’s hotel room. He was halfway done with his and Elena’s suitcases, Drake’s journal open on the side of the bed. Nate sighed heavily. He had hoped Elena could handle this conversation.
“But we were right!” Cassie said emphatically, “Pirates buried some huge secret in an Irish grave to hide something from the British Crown in plain sight! What if there’s more here? Are we going to just leave?”
“Yes,” Nate said with as much finality as he could. He finished folding the last few shirts and closed the suitcase. He turned to see Cassie holding her palms out in her way of saying, “What the heck Dad?” Nate closed the journal and waved it at Cassie. She knew their stories already, no point in sugarcoating this. “The pirate who wrote this doesn’t do anything halfway. Any hints, secrets, or treasure he has hidden are much better off staying that way. Just looking for whatever is hidden in here will definitely be dangerous, and most likely illegal. I made a promise not to do that anymore. Your mom and I both.”
“But you don’t know that!” She said, stepping into the room. “You yourself said that Drake was willing to lie about all kinds of things! This could be a chance to find out what really happened back then! This has to be why they hid it.”
Nate slammed the book against his hand. “This is a trap.” Cassie flinched, and stepped back towards the door. Oh good job Nate, you’ve definitely gotten better at holding your temper. He took a few deep breaths, and made a conscious effort to smile at Cassie. “Come sit for a sec,” he said, patting the less crowded part of the bed. She hesitated for a second, but still came over.
Nate let himself down on the bed, and put his arm around Cassie. Now how to say this next part. “So, uhm, you pretty much know all of our stories by heart right? The crazy ones?”
Cassie just nodded.
Nate sighed, peeking at the signature again. It was definitely Drake’s. He’d memorized that flowing script ages ago. He’d never mistake it. “If this had been any other pirate. I would have jumped on this in a heartbeat. But this is Sir Francis Drake,” He bounced the journal in his hands. “I’ve seen dozens of people die chasing his treasures.” He squeezed Cassie’s shoulder a little harder. “I don’t want to see that again.”
“But,” Cassie hesitated, “To not even want to read it? Or let anyone else read it? Aren’t you curious at all?”
Nate took a deep breath. “You have no idea how much I want to read this.” He looked directly into Cassie’s eyes. “And that’s what scares me the most.”
Cassie opened her mouth to respond, but a surprise hug cut her off. Elena wrapped Cassie up in a bear hug and moved her over to squeeze next to Nate. He chuckled, “You know, there’s plenty of room for everyone here.” Elena only responded by leaning on him harder, dragging Cassie with her. Nate just chuckled again and drew his family into a big hug.
They spent a moment in each other’s embrace, Nate feeling the tension leaving the room. He could feel Cassie squirming a bit, being a teenager. Heaven help them, she was so much like him. Then again that also meant…
Cassie burst out laughing. “Dad! No no no! Stop!” She keeled over as Nate tickled her side. Elena joined in laughing even as Cassie’s squirming threw her off the front of the bed. “Ha, ahahaha, Mom help!” Cassie called out as Elena laughed from the floor. Nate had to roll backwards over the bed to avoid Elena’s lunging attack, landing on his feet ready to dodge again.
The next few minutes were filled with laughing, running, and tripping over half-packed luggage as Nate tried to avoid a coordinated attack from his wife and daughter. A lingering thought of the plane they had to catch moved in the back of Nate’s mind, but right now, there were more important things to consider. Like how much he had to get Elena back for that well aimed pillow.
A few flying pillows, full body tackles, and tactical tickles later, the clock reminded them all that planes don’t wait for family bonding experiences. Elena gave Cassie one more hug before sending her to get her luggage ready.
Nate zipped up the last of their suitcases and sat on the bed with a sigh. Elena sat next to him and bumped him with her shoulder. “Hey,” she said, inviting conversation in their weird way with a smile.
“Hey,” he returned, bringing her into his arms gently. She twisted her head to look up at him expectantly. Thank goodness there was at least someone he could be completely honest with. “Elena what do I do?” he finally said.
“With what?” she said playfully.
“I… well, with this journal, with Cassie, I… what if there’s… I don’t want to…” Elena pinched his lips closed and moved up to face him.
“What’s really going on?” she said knowingly.
Nate took a deep breath, “I don’t want to go back to before. I’ve done it once already, and this is just begging me to do that.” He picked the journal up from the end table. He turned to the first page to read the signature again. Francis Drake, a man he stole a name and a lot of treasure from. And here he was again, tempting him with another.
Elena squeezed his arms gently and leaned her head on his shoulder. “Is it though? We are definitely not the same people as back then.” She traced her finger along the signature, seeming nostalgic in her tone. “And even if this journal does have a treasure waiting in it, haven’t we found a good way of getting them?” she said, gesturing around their motel room.
Nate looked around and remembered their most recent adventures. A lost city ruin in the Amazon, a new dig site in northern India, and they were still bringing things up from the shipwreck in Malaysia. And all without any life threatening adventures, with the exception of a few broken bones when Cassie decided to be Tarzan for a day. She was so much like him in some ways. He couldn’t help but teach her the right way to swing from vines after that. Even with Elena screaming, “She’s still in a cast!”
He looked back at the journal, then to Elena, “Promise you won’t let me go wild again?”
She smiled and hugged him close. “I promise.”
A text buzzed his leg.
James: Got you a rock concert. New group. Popular. Young. Might be good friends for Cassie :)
Elena raised an eyebrow at that, laughing slightly. Nate chuckled too.
DC was a long way away. He looked at the journal one last time. He’d had far worse reading material before. If he even got to read it first, judging by Cassie’s reaction and Elena’s playful tugs. Nate laughed and kissed her. The best part about this new life? He knew he had the time.
“Wow,” Nate said, stretching as much as he could in the rental car. The flight to DC had been long, but James had really splurged on them. Beds on a plane. When did those become a thing?
“I have to admit, this one takes the cake.” He said, bookmarking his place in Drake’s journal.
Cassie all but launched herself into the front seat. “Reallywhatdoesitsaycomeondadtellme!”
“Seatbelt young lady.”
Click. “So? New treasure, new adventure? Where are we going next?”
Nate rubbed his chin, “Nowhere, if we can believe this.” Fey? Magic? Even for Sir Drake, this was a little past his believable normal. He checked his phone for the fifth time this hour, looking for the lab results on the chest. If they could just get the carbon dating on it done… well, even then it was hard to believe what he had been reading.
Drake had found Avalon. Or at least its front door. “A hidden, highly advanced city is normal. Honestly, I almost expect them at this point. There’s enough examples. But he’s describing actual fairies. Human sized butterfly wings and all. Krakens, sirens, dragons. There’s too many specific details about creatures.”
He could feel Cassie bouncing in her seat. Nate turned his head to halfway face her in his seat. “No, I haven’t seen any more references to them using magic.”
“Aww. No more laser beams?”
Nate rubbed his eyes, “He doesn’t say much about it. His whole point of writing this was to teach people to avoid magic. He was absolutely terrified while writing this.”
“Wouldn’t mind some dowsing right now,” Elena grumbled from the driver’s seat.
Nate rested his hand on her leg, trying to comfort her, “The airline said they know where our luggage is.”
“Your presentation is tomorrow.”
“I still have my laptop,” he said placatingly.
She glared at him sidelong, “You are not giving a keynote address in that.”
Nate looked down at his khakis and button up. There were still a few dirt patches from Ireland on his sleeves. “Well nobody can say I don’t look the part.” He smirked back at her hardening glare, giving Cassie a high five.
“We’re finding you a suit.”
“Where are we going to find a tailored suit at 5:00 on a Monday?”
“We’re finding you a suit.”
“How-” Nate’s phone buzzed. He quickly looked, but it wasn’t the lab.
James: I heard the flight lost your luggage. Is everything ok?
Nate: Yeah we’re all fine. They
know where it all went.
James: Have everything you need for tomorrow?
Nate: I’ve got my laptop, but
all my suits were in our carry ons.
James: I’m so sorry Nate. I can’t help but feel responsible. Give me a sec.
James: Alright, I’ve got you a fitting appointment up town in half an hour. Can you get here by then?
Nate looked at the address of the shop. How in the world had he gotten an appointment that fast? He hadn’t even had time to think of a response! His mind flashed back involuntarily to his shady past. He shook his head. James wasn’t that kind of guy at all. Well connected yes, but he was a horrible liar.
“So uh, James came through… again.”
“Oh?”
“He got me a suit fitting at a shop up town, in like half an hour.” He said, plugging the store into maps. A strained grunt was Elena’s only response.
Nate reached over to squeeze her shoulder. “We can make this work. You’re meeting with your friends in an hour right?” He took a quick look at the map. “You can drop me off at the shop and still have plenty of time to get to the cafe.”
“Uh, what about me?” Cassie said.
Oh right. He was supposed to take her to the mall. He grumbled as he ran a few different scenarios in his head. Knowing Cassie, she’d be bored out of her mind in both situations. Elena was going to be a few hours with her friends. A suit fitting didn’t take that long, did it?
“Uh, Cassie can come with me-” she let out a resounding sigh, “- and afterwards we can still go to the mall! We’ll take a taxi there, or it’s a nice enough day out. We all need to stretch our legs after that flight.”
Cassie sighed again. Nate turned to see Elena’s your funeral look, before turning to Cassie. “It shouldn’t take that long. And who knows, maybe you’ll … find a dress you like?” Elena gave a short laugh and stole a glance at Nate. Yeah, this was well out of his depth. Cassie just raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, sure Dad. I’ll go with you.” She said, rolling her eyes, “But we’re going to the mall right after, right?”
“Right after,” he said, looking back to the map. “Should be right around here.”
Elena grunted and pulled into a metered stall. “I’ll drop you off here. See you at five.” She smiled and gave him a quick kiss.
Nate stepped out onto the busy curb, Cassie right behind him. She waved goodbye as Elena shoved her way back into DC traffic. Now where was this shop? He checked that Cassie was following him, and started down the road with purpose. It should be right around…
“Uh, Dad?” Cassie said, staring at a storefront.
“Oh hey you found… it.” He stared in shock at the storefront. No, this wasn’t a store. Stores had racks of clothes to pick from. You could be in and out of a store in 10 minutes if you knew what you wanted. This was not a store. Perfectly tailored dresses stood on decorative pedestals, with carpeted walkways meandering between the displays. This was a … a… dealership, a showroom, amuseum. But the blue dot and sign said he was in the right spot.
“Huh,” was all he managed to get out.
“Yeah, uh,” Cassie said, looking around quickly, “Can I… go to that cafe over there?”
“No, no,” Nate said, interrupting her, “I’m not going in there myself.”
“I really don’t think-”
“Come on,” Nate said, opening the door.
“I- ugh.” Heavy footfalls followed him through the door into what he could only describe as the most fitting atmosphere he’d ever seen. Gentle jazz flowed through hidden speakers, and he caught the occasional floral scent from different displays as he walked toward the front counter. If it wasn’t for the register, it might as well have been a reception desk. He could suddenly smell himself a lot better. This was going to go so well.
A cloth partition swished gently as a young woman walked out of the back area. Her chin length hair bounced as she made her way to the counter.
“Hello sir! How may I help you?” Her voice betrayed a nervousness behind a classic customer service smile.
“Uh, hi,” Nate managed to respond, “Is this the Carousel Boutique?”
“Yes, it is.” came the short reply. Not very talkative huh?
“So I think someone named James Halverson made an appointment for me?”
Her eyes widened suddenly, “Oh. Oh! Mr. Drake?”
Nate relaxed a little bit. He wasn’t in the wrong store. Not store. Whatever. “Yes that’s me. Sorry that I’m, uh-”
“Oh no, no,” the girl waved emphatically with both arms, “Mr. Halverson explained everything. Please, right this way.” She walked out from behind the counter and pulled the curtain back. “My name is Coco Pommel, and I’ll be your designer today.”
From the start, our journey seemed destined to bring us into contact with them. I call them Fey, for they fit no other description. Beings of magic, sorcery, and trickery bringing us in with honeyed words and shiny gifts. But be they Fey, Fell, or Demons of the deep, it matters little now. We have made powerful enemies, and they desire only our destruction. We thought our initial task a daring feat of exploration, to circumnavigate the known world. Now we know all too well the hopelessness of our current journey.
The world is too small to hide from those that hunt us.
When nothing I know can be trusted anymore, where do I turn? The stones we were instructed to find gave us power, but that power drove Thomas to madness, and that madness to death. We had grown dependent on these magical gifts to keep Her at bay, but now they are a signal flag. We are perpetually tracked, hunted. Many of the men do not dare to sleep. Some no longer can. Desperation has led us to seek help from a New-World shaman. Their legends may hold the key to breaking our curse.
Francis Drake
“So is this your daughter?”
Nate tried not to move as the now enthusiastic and flustered designer took multiple measurements. Nate looked over to Cassie, who was making a face at the fruit water they had been served when they entered this spacious fitting room. It had couches. The walls went almost to the ceiling, letting fancy lighting take up the space between rooms. Quiet muttering told him they weren’t the only ones there today.
“Yeah, uh, Cassie say hi.”
“Sup.”
Nate gave her a pleading look. She just smiled mischievously and stuck her tongue out at him, then turned back to stare at the water.
Miss Pommel just chuckled quietly, circling Nate. “I have to say, it’s a little refreshing to see someone my age in here for once.”
Cassie’s eyebrows shot up even higher. “Huh?”
“I’m actually a high school student, but I intern here on afternoons to get ready for an apprenticeship.” She walked over to a large shelf on the far wall and grabbed a notepad and measuring tape. Nate went to lift his arms, but she gently pressed them back to his sides.
“Huh,” Cassie responded, sounding impressed. She still turned back to the water, though.
“Keep staring,” Nate said, “It might do a trick.”
Cassie glared up at him, putting on her best unimpressed face. “It’s water pretending to be fruity.” She said, a little loudly.
“Thank you!” came a response from the next stall over.
“See?” she said, triumphant, “I’m not the only one! Right friend?”
“You said it!” came the response. She sounded young, maybe about Cassie’s age. Her voice clashed wildly against the setting though. Whoever she was, this was not her arena. “At least you aren’t getting stuck with a thousand- Ow!”
“Whoops! So sorry, darling.” Now that voice fit here. Like a glove. But also a little young. Was this a trade school? “Now shush! Let’s not disturb the other patrons.” A couple more grumbles we cut off with a muted ow. Nate just chuckled quietly.
Miss Pommel nervously shifted from foot to foot next to him, casting glances over the wall. “I’m so sorry about that Mr. Drake-”
“Naw, don’t be,” he said, “Is it a busy day today?” He looked over at Cassie, still trying to give her a look, but she was distractedly looking at the wall they shared with the other customer.
“Oh, uh, actually you’re our only appointment for the afternoon,” she said, setting down her tape measure.
Nate laughed, “You would make friends with ghosts, Cassie.” Now he was the one getting a look.
Miss Pommel nervously laughed along, “Ah, well, yes. That was actually the owner. She needed to use the shop for some last minute costume repairs.”
Cassie shifted to look at her, eyebrow raised. “How old is your boss?”
“She’s only a year older than me.”
“Bull-” Nate threw the hardest glance he could at Cassie, “-llllhhmmmm”
Miss Pommel just smiled excitedly and offered Nate a well-cushioned chair. “She is a prodigy in modern fashion. She’s been winning competitions since her middle school days and accepting commissions almost as long. All while still in school!”
Leave it to James to always know the rising talent, Nate thought. He glanced over at Cassie to see her reaction… aaaand she was upside down in her chair, on her phone. Yes this was boring, but this was also a very fancy and most likely gossipy place.
“Cassie,” he sighed. “Go and… walk the showroom or something.”
“Thank you,” she said, feigning exhaustion. She flipped onto the floor and disappeared through the heavy curtains. Nate shook his head slightly. He loved her to death, but she was just such a teenager right now.
Nate’s phone buzzed gently. Using his free hand, he saw Elena sending a picture on the family chat. He tapped it impatiently. For the amount he paid each month you would think a picture would download faster.
A hundred and forty four. There were a hundred and forty four tiles on the ceiling of the dressing room, and zero signal. Cassie was ecstatic to be out of there. This place was not her style. Everything had frills, or sequins, or both, and were made of materials she couldn’t even pronounce. She walked past some of the displays, footsteps padded by the thick carpet, confused at how intricate some of these dresses were. Give her a swimsuit, shorts, and boat shoes and she’d be three miles out to sea before she could even get one of these things on.
Her phone buzzed softly. It had only taken getting halfway out of the store to get signal again. She glanced at her phone, only one bar. So much for internet browsing. Even her mom’s picture wasn’t coming through.
Cassie sighed and let the soft jazz wash over her. At least the music was relaxing. Nothing else had been so far this trip. Dad freaking out over a journal, a sudden trip to DC, and now trapped in a dress shop way fancier than anywhere she’d ever been before. And to top it all off, she’d be trapped in the hotel all day tomorrow. As the minutes wore on, she couldn’t help but dread the rest of this trip.
Stupid journal scaring everybody.
She sat on one of the display pedestals, trying to use her phone with the little signal she had. The curtain in the back rustled, pulling Cassie out of her thoughts. A bunch of high school girls walked out of the back, chatting quietly.
“Well at least he was laughing!”
“Still, dear, this is hardly the place for your off-hand comments.”
“Hey, I didn’t start it this time!”
Well, hello dressing room neighbors, you don’t look anything like I imagined, she thought. She recognized the first girl by her voice. She’d somehow dyed her hair a literal rainbow, and dressed and looked ready to run a marathon. The dark haired girl she was arguing with was apparently the owner, based off of her voice, and she looked it too. She was about as girly as you could get.
Surprisingly, there was a third girl with them, currently face first in a book and actively ignoring the other two. She had also managed to dye her hair crazy colors, this time in purples.
“Start it or not, darling, we are guests here, and we shouldn’t bother paying customers.”
Cassie snorted loudly, “Yeah right. You all were the best part of... whatever that was.”
Shop owner girl stopped in surprise, causing the book girl to run into the back of her.
“Ha! See?” said the rainbow haired girl, “Told ya’ they wouldn’t mind.”
The owner took a deep breath, obviously annoyed with the other, and turned to smile at Cassie. A surprisingly real smile considering. “Well I’m glad you enjoyed our charades,” she said, glaring at the other girl, “We do try and make everyone feel comfortable here.”
“Your internet could use some work,” Cassie said, waving her phone.
Book girl looked up, “Don’t you get signal in here?”
“Yeah, like one bar.”
Book girl looked confused, but the rainbow haired girl spoke up, “Not all of us have a super phone like you, Twilight.”
Book girl, Twilight, paused then shrugged, turning to Cassie, “Well it’s nice to meet you! I’m Twilight.”
The owner suddenly perked up, “Oh where are my manners! Rarity, at your service.”
Rainbow hair pointed to herself confidently, “And I’m Rainbow Dash. Dash for short.”
Wait what? That was her name? Cassie thought. That’s awesome.
They all looked at her expectantly. “Oh! Uh, hi. I’m Cassie. Cassie Drake.”
Dash and Twilight suddenly lit up. “Oh my gosh, really!” Dash said, running up to her. Cassie scooted back reflexively as Dash rushed over to her. “You’re Cassie Drake! The youngest, most successful treasure hunter of our generation! You’re like, a real life Daring Doo!”
Twilight hovered over Dash’s shoulder, obviously eager to join in. This was definitely a strange feeling. Normally it was her Mom and Dad getting all this attention. Then again, when was the last time she’d been out with kids close to her age? Wait, Daring Doo? She laughed a little.
“Oh yeah, those movies,” she laughed a little, remembering her Dad’s running commentary on the action. Not to mention the many comparisons he made to his own crazy stories. And the fact that he knew the person the movies were based off of.
“They were books first,” Twilight grumbled, “And they left out a lot.”
“So?” Dash said, “They were still awesome!” She turned back to Cassie getting more excited. “So tell me, I’ve gotta know. Is that anything like what real treasure hunting is like?”
Cassie had anticipated this. Her experience was nothing like the movies, but her Dad on the other hand, well, his stories were just as unbelievable, if not more so. She opened her mouth to say so, but then suddenly remembered the rule. Her eyes flicked to the curtain, which lay still. “Uh, kinda,” she said, quickly trying to come up with a good explanation. “I don’t get to do much still. I’m ‘Too Young’ to do most of the stuff, but there are definitely a lot of exciting moments.”
Eager head nods practically begged her to say more. She peeked at her phone. Mom’s picture still hadn’t downloaded. Well, she wasn’t doing anything else. “All right, so this one time we were looking for this ancient ruins in the jungles of India...”
It was really nice, for once, telling her stories to people. They were so genuine when asking her questions. A lot of them really good questions too. Ones that meant they understood a lot of what she was saying. Twilight pretty much figured out the tablet puzzle she was explaining before she even finished! And put it in historical context! She grinned as she told the story about her Dad almost dropping a solid gold bust down a chasm right after they opened said puzzle. Even Rarity had joined in the conversation to laugh and joke about everything.
Cassie glanced at her watch, and was shocked to see how much time had passed. “Wow, how long does it take to get a suit?”
“Well, dear,” Rarity started, “Miss Pommel is designing it for him. We don’t do anything less than perfection here, and perfection takes time.”
Cassie pursed her lips tightly. If they didn’t get going soon, things in the mall would start closing before they could get there. She glanced back at the curtain, wondering if she should go ask how much longer it would take.
“Oh, shoot!” Twilight said, tapping away at her phone, “Pinkie is wondering where we are. And Granny is asking if we need a ride.”
“The mall isn’t going anywhere,” Dash said, eagerly waiting for the next story.
Cassie perked up. It would be a hard sell for Dad, but if she could swing it…
“Oh you all are going to the mall too?”
Twilight looked up hopefully, “Yeah! We’re actually meeting up with the rest of our friends there. We just had to fix a few things here first.” She looked to the other two quickly, then added, “Want to come with?”
Cassie looked back at the curtain again. Well, nothing ventured…
“Hang on a sec.” Cassie quickly walked back to the curtain and found the fitting room.
“Hey Dad?” she said, peeking into the curtain. He was currently standing on a box, multiple pins sticking out of the hems near his feet. There went the easy answer. “How much longer will this take?” she asked, gesturing to his hems.
He raised an eyebrow at her, obviously already on to her. Seriously, she couldn’t hide anything from him. He looked down to the designer, Miss Pommade?, and she looked back up to her.
“It will probably be about an hour still,” she said, putting on her best smile. The one that said, I’m really sorry, this isn’t what you want to hear, please don’t be mad.
“Right,” Cassie said, bracing herself, “So you know the girls that were in the room next to us? They’re going to the mall right now too. Can I go with them? I’ve got my phone, and you can find us when you’re done here.”
Dad’s brow furrowed. Was he actually thinking about it? That would be a first. “Which girls are you talking about?”
“Mr. Drake?” a voice said from her side. Twilight pulled the curtain a little farther to stand next to Cassie.
He looked at Twilight, recognition flashing in his eyes. Had they talked to him after she left? “Oh she means you all. Hello again!” He tilted his head, smiling slightly.
Twilight smiled back, “We heard you both were going to the mall, and, well, we are too!”
Dad nodded, brow still furrowed.
Twilight chuckled nervously. “And well, we’re getting picked up by one of our friend’s grandma, and she’ll be with us the whole time, and… uh,” she stumbled over her words, getting more and more flustered.
A shout came from down the hallway, “Cassie’s really cool and we want to hang out!” Cassie looked back to see Rarity shushing Dash.
Dad laughed, “Wow, haven’t scared them off yet? That’s a new record.” Cassie felt her face get hot. Yeah, fine, she wasn’t exactly the most social person with girls her age. It’s not like he traveled the world as a kid, never staying in one spot for more than a month.
She looked up at him to retort, but stopped when she saw him frown concernedly.
“You’ve got someone looking out for you all?” he said suddenly.
“Yes!” Twilight said excitedly.
What… He fired off a bunch more questions. Schedules, places, how many people there’d be, how they’d get there. Is he actually thinking about this? Cassie thought, not daring to hope.
He paused for a second, brow furrowed again. Then he nodded, narrowly missing headbutting Miss Pommel. “Alright. Have fun Cass!” He smiled at her encouragingly. “Just make sure to keep your phone on you, alright? And send me a text when you get there. I’ll catch up in a bit.”
Twilight turned to beam at her. Cassie looked behind her and saw the other two smiling and giving each other a thumbs up. “I… wow, alright Dad! See you in a bit!” She quickly turned back to the other girls, confused but excited.
“How in the world did you convince him?” she said, walking with the girls out of the store, “That’s the first time he ever let me go anywhere!”
Rarity laughed, “There’s nothing quite like being responsible that helps adults trust you.”
“And having adult supervision,” Twilight added, texting quickly.
“Yeah,” Dash said, bumping Cassie’s shoulder, “He could see how awesome we are. Now let’s get to the mall!” She walked up to the curb and looked both ways expectantly. “How long till Granny gets here?”
Twilight craned her neck over the traffic on the road. “She said she’s on her-”
Tires squealed as the brightest short bus Cassie had ever seen came careening around the corner, coming to a rest perfectly on the curbside. The van was painted all kinds of bright colors, multiple distinct symbols accenting the rainbow trim. She almost didn’t know where to look first. It wasn’t the hippiest bus she’d ever seen, but man, it was certainly up there.
The bus doors opened up to show a frustrated old lady. “Gosh, darn lights changing way too quickly here! Not ‘nough time for even a prize bull to get out th’ gate!” Old frustrated country grandma. Cassie smiled. And she thought this trip was going to be boring. “Well wat’cha wait’n for girls! Hop in!”
The three girls quickly moved to get in the bus. Cassie followed behind, stepping up through the door. The grandma looked her up and down, then smiled gently. “Cassie, right?”
“Yes ma’am.” Cassie replied. Ma’am? Where did that come from? Stupid Cass, be normal.
She scoffed loudly, but still smiled broadly. “Ain't no ma’am here. Just call me Granny Smith. Or just Granny.”
Cassie just nodded, to be safe. Dang it, why was she getting nervous now! They already liked her… she thought. They wouldn’t invite her if they didn’t like her. CALM DOWN!
She jumped as Dash put a hand on her shoulder and dragged her around to the front bench. “You’re with me! You gotta tell me the rest of the India story.” Dash looked positively ecstatic.
A small thump on the seat back showed a suddenly anxious Twilight peeking over. “Uh, your, uh, phone fell out of your pocket.” She reached out with Cassie’s phone in her hand. Cassie slapped her suddenly empty pocket.
“Wow, I didn’t even hear it fall out.” She said, gratefully taking her phone back.
“Yeah, well, uh, I saw it falling and uh,” Twilight paused, fumbling over her words, “Caught... it before it hit the ground.” Why was she so nervous about that? She looked around at the other girls. Dash had a strangely smug grin on her face, while Rarity was glaring at Twilight. Weird.
“Well, nice reflexes!” Cassie said, as nonchalant as possible. Twilight just sighed and opened something in her lap. Dash suddenly was muffling laughter. “What-” she started, but a $5 bill came flying from Twilight. Dash’s hand shot out and grabbed it faster than Cassie could blink. Did… did Twilight lose a bet? By catching her phone?
“What?” she repeated.
“We gett’n outta here or are y’all gonna flop all over the seats? Get those belts on!” Granny called from the front. A small chorus of clicks came in response. Cassie looked around again at the girls.
“Oh don’t mind them dear,” Rarity said from the other side, “Though they could have waited until later to settle things.” Dash just burst out laughing, and another thump and a groan came from Twilight.
Well, her new friends were definitely weird, she thought with a smirk. And Dad thought she scared everyone else away. Ha!
The bus rumbled to life, and tires squealed as they tore out of the parking spot into traffic. Dash whooped loudly, and Cassie joined in laughing. After the bus settled down, Dash turned expectantly towards Cassie.
She stole a moment to look at her phone, brow furrowing. Mom’s picture still hadn’t downloaded? A tight turn tore her out of her thoughts as Dash had to save her from flying into the aisle. Worrying about poor signal could wait, she actually had friends her age on a trip for once. She planned on enjoying this.
I apologise for the scattered nature of my thoughts. My own words sound as those of a madman, even to my own eyes. To explain our plight, I must start from the beginning. Of our first meeting with Her, and the sweetened trap She had already lain for us. She spoke of magic, of power, all from a throne of vines in a hidden city, and promised us wealth and riches untold. We only had to deliver these accursed stones to her. And the tool of our destruction? A compass, which pointed not naturally, but by some unknown force to magics both great and small. It’s unearthly glow the only defense we dare still use.
Francis Drake
Twilight rubbed the bridge of her nose again, almost sending her glasses flying off her face. Gonna catch those with magic too? After Principal Celestia specifically told us NOT to? she berated herself. It wasn’t like her to forget rules. Especially how strongly the Principal had told them before they left. Even Pinkie was a little quiet after that talk. The last time the principal had asked them not to use magic was apparently the Friendship Games, according to her friends, and even that talk hadn’t been half as intense as this one.
You know, maybe a sunken cruise ship and forty odd strangers on school grounds had something to do with that.
Which is why she thought it would be easy money to bet that Rainbow Dash would have broken first. But no, she just had to get starstruck by one of the most well-travelled, accomplished teens their age. And a cracked cell phone didn’t exactly constitute a “life-threatening situation, magical catastrophe, or otherwise last resort.”
She halfway listened to the conversation in front of her, still feeling mildly chastened, hearing stories of hidden treasures, ancient puzzles, and the intricacies of historical geolocation. She smirked a little as Cassie obviously tried to simplify the topic to not sound too nerdy. Ha! Too late for that, I’m already onto you, She thought excitedly. She hadn’t had a chance to really stretch her knowledge of treasure hunting much since the last Daring Doo convention. Some of the more involved mechanics still went over Dash’s head. You would think flying experience would make understanding triangulation easy.
She was jerked out of her thoughts as a tight turn dug her seat belt into her waist.
“Dang nabbit you tiny thing! That don’t ee’n count as a car! You’re driving my milk crate! Get out the way!” Granny shouted from the front.
The swerve had interrupted the conversation going on between Dash, Rarity, and Cassie, and in the break where everyone was repositioning themselves, Cassie looked back with concern to Twilight.
Twilight tried to smile comfortingly, putting her accidental magic to the side for now. “Oh don’t mind Granny Smith. She’s actually a pretty good driver.”
“Oh,” Cassie said, starting a bit, “No that’s not- this is nothing. My dad is waaaaay worse.” She waved her phone a bit, and Twilight had to force herself not to flinch. “It’s just, my phone’s been acting up ever since we landed. I’m still waiting for a picture my mom sent me like, a half hour ago.”
“Well that’s weird,” Twilight said, reaching out for it, “I’ve got great signal here.” Cassie handed her phone over, and Twilight took an initial inventory. Well-worn case, sturdy, meant for rugged use and impact. Sheesh, she could have let this hit the floor and the floor would have dented. Let’s see, wait… that can’t be right, she thought. Both of them were on AT&T. Twilight pulled out her phone. Yup, full bars and LTE. Meanwhile Cassie had one bar and no data.
“This is really weird,” she said, leaning down the aisle to show Cassie, “Is it ok if I try something?”
Dash leaned forwards, eyebrow raised. “You gonna hack her phone?”
Dang it, Dash. Don’t put it that way! That’s not even- She frantically thought. But Cassie actually looked impressed. She still glared at Dash, so she wouldn’t be encouraged. “I was actually just going to hotspot her.” She said flatly.
“So you can hack phones?” Cassie said incredulously.
“I- well,” Twilight stuttered. What would a normal person say? “Yes?” she said, shrugging slightly. Maybe not that.
Cassie just crookedly smiled, “Awesome.”
Huh. Well that worked. She turned to the phones to tackle this problem. Just start the hotspot, get this connected, and… what? She glanced quickly between the phones. Her phone said Cassie was connected. She could see that. Then why was Cassie still only displaying one bar and no connection? She went deep into the settings, checking everything twice. DNS was set, MAC filtering shouldn’t even be a problem, there should be nothing wrong! Maybe she should start a traceroute-
Her thoughts were interrupted as she was thrown into the seat in front of her. Ow. “We’re here!” Granny announced enthusiastically.
Twilight readjusted her glasses, sure enough, the mall sprawled out in front of them, taking up much more of the horizon than she’d thought possible. Was that a rollercoaster? She snapped out of her awe as the girls were already filing out of the bus. She tapped a few quick keys on her phone, sending a traceroute routine to work on Cassie’s phone. If it had one bar, it was connected somewhere. She just had to find out where.
“Earth to Twilight!” Dash waved her arms in front of Twilight’s face. “You with us?”
Waving Dash’s arm aside, she handed Cassie’s phone back to her. “Something’s up with your phone. I’m still figuring out what’s wrong, so let me know when it beeps at you.”
Cassie looked at her phone screen, which was now filled with all kinds of path data and packet retrievals. Which now that Twilight thought about it, probably looked like every scene from- “You’re totally hacking my phone!” Cassie said with a laugh.
“I- this isn’t hacking!” she said, blushing. “This is tech support 101!”
“Right,” Cassie said, still smirking, “Good hacking.”
The girls all laughed, and after a second, Twilight couldn’t help but join in. After all, it really did look like it to anyone who didn’t know better.
Their little group merged into the crowd flowing into the main doors, which opened up into the most spacious mall, or well building, that Twilight had ever seen. The mall stretched up three floors, with decorative landings occasionally interrupting the view of the skylights. It was filled with people, all sitting at restaurant tables, filing in and out of every kind of store imaginable, and skating on an indoor ice skating rink.
So that’s why it was cold in here, she thought, shivering.
Twilight pulled out her phone. In a crowd like this, finding everyone else would take forever. She quickly started typing a response to Pinkie’s last text, when over the dull roar of the crowd came the cry-
“TwiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIILIIIIIIIGHT!” A blur of pink hit Twilight in the side with a hug, then immediately disappeared. “Hi Rainbow Dash, Hi Rarity! Hi random new girl who I don’t know!”
Pinkie bounced lightly in front of Cassie. She gasped loudly and spurted out, “You’ll never guess what they have here!” Cassie just stared, wide eyed, mouth opening and closing. Pinkie continued, “A bakery! That’s right, a full bakery! Malls never have a bakery! I thought it couldn’t get any better, but they have a full fondue station! A FULL FONDUE STATION!” She practically vibrated with energy.
Twilight pocketed her phone. “That’s great Pinkie! We should all-”
“I even brought you all some!” She interrupted, pulling out five skewers of still steaming cheese on bread from somewhere. She handed one to each of them, bouncing as she went.
Twilight quickly ate her piece, trying not to drip cheese everywhere. It really did taste amazing, and it was still warm. Somehow. Twilight looked up to see Cassie staring blankly at her bread.
“Might want to eat that before it drips, darling,” Rarity said, placing a hand on Cassie’s shoulder. Cassie jumped slightly, then quickly ate her piece. Her eyes sparkled lightly, a grin forming at the corners of her mouth.
“So, uh, who’re you?” She asked Pinkie tentatively.
Twilight pulled out her phone again as Pinkie excitedly introduced herself. She quickly found Sunset’s number and texted her.
Twilight: So Pinkie found us, are you all coming soon?
Sunset: We’re on our way. Pinkie ran ahead and Fluttershy got distracted by a puppy.
Twilight: Cool, we’re close to the ice rink. See you soon!
She looked up and everyone was gone. Oh no wait, there they were. They had all moved over to a large map of the mall, and were excitedly pointing out stores they wanted to visit. She pocketed her phone and jogged over.
“-got to go on the rollercoaster. I hear that the turns are so tight, you almost black out.” Dash said, motioning tight curves with her hands.
Thank goodness we ate a light dinner.
They spent the next few minutes looking over their options. Twilight wanted a trip to the hobby store, her drone needed a few replacement parts, Rainbow was dead set on the rollercoaster, and Rarity wanted to check on some peers Fall lines. Pinkie was distracted by a cupcake she pulled from somewhere.
“So what should we do first?” Twilight said, pulling up her scheduling app.
“I think the coaster is closing soon, if you want to ride it,” a voice said from behind her. She quickly turned to see a middle aged man in a long coat behind her. “Just a little tip from someone who lives here.” He smiled and walked away.
“Thanks random person!” Pinkie called after him. Twilight’s stomach turned. She had hoped to stave off the coaster for now, her head still hurt from the car ride over. Perhaps she should have sat upright while fixing Cassie’s phone.
“There y’all are!” Twilight turned to see the crowd part slightly, letting Applejack, Sunset, and Fluttershy merge into their now sizeable group. “Sorry ‘bout that, somebody had to stop and pet every animal in the pet shop.”
Fluttershy gave a small squeak and abashed smile. “They just looked so lonely,” she said quietly, twisting her hair in her hands.
“So,” Sunset said, stepping into the center, “What’s the plan?”
“Rollercoaster!” Dash, Pinkie, and Cassie shouted at the same time. Sunset looked over to Cassie, then turned to Twilight, eyebrow raised. Before she could say anything, Dash stepped in and started introducing Cassie to everyone as a real life Daring Doo.
Twilights phone buzzed softly. Looks like the traceroute encountered a problem. Strange, it should have buzzed Cassie’s phone. She looked at the summary and froze. What in the world was this? The pings she sent had gone all over the place. Scrolling through the sites, there were a lot of unlabeled, unindexed addresses. Was her phone connected to the dark web?
As she kept scrolling, some troubling patterns appeared. It looked like whatever happened, her phone was stuck in a loop around this one site. A proxy site. That meant any and all signals going too and from her phone were probably being monitored. Why, how, what was going on? She needed to know. A few keystrokes later and a cracking program was on Cassie’s phone. Time for some actual hacking. She’d find out who was listening.
“You ok Twilight?” Sunset said concernedly. Twilight looked up to see everyone staring at her.
She started sweating. It’s not like I can say, ‘Oh yeah! Everything’s fine! Someone is just listening to everything we say!’
“Uh, yeah! Everything’s normal! Perfectly fine!” She said, putting on her best smile. “So where are we going now?”
“Duh, to the rollercoaster!” Dash said triumphantly, starting to walk away. Everyone else quickly fell in step behind her, except for Sunset, who glanced concernedly at Twilight.
“Is… everything ok? Really?”
“I, uh, maybe,” Twilight said, fiddling with her phone, “I don’t know for sure yet, I’ll tell you when I figure something out.” She quickly walked to rejoin their group. She avoided looking at Sunset, who fell into step next to her. They were here to enjoy themselves, not worry about a possibly hacked phone.
“No Granny, I really think ya’ shouldn’t ride this one.” Applejack stated firmly.
“Oh fiddle faddle, I’ll ride it if I wanna!” Granny shot back just as firmly.
The girls just laughed and returned to talking about their trip so far. Thinking back, it’d been one of the fastest, least planned trips they’d taken so far. They get a call asking for an emergency rock concert for some scholar at a conference here, with only two days to prepare. Rarity had immediately freaked out, trying to fix up some of their costumes, but ran out of time to finish back at home. Granny was thankfully available to drive, but loading the bus had been a tight, last minute rush. Even with all the rush, Twilight was more interested in the fact that a scholar apparently needed a rock concert.
But hey, they were getting paid very well. Enough that even Principal Celestia had conceded that it was a good idea they go. The delayed homework wouldn’t be fun, but honestly, they were practically being paid a used car each. Which is why a trip to the mall definitely made it into their schedules.
Their group ambled through the mall, splitting into smaller groups when the crowd pressed tighter. Twilight couldn’t catch up with Cassie, unfortunately, who was up in the front with Dash, Pinkie, and Applejack. She fell back to the rest of their group, ending up next to Sunset.
“So you randomly found a minor teenage celebrity in Rarity’s shop?” Sunset asked.
Twilight laughed softly, “Yeah I guess we did! We met her dad too, who’s a really big deal in the archeological community.” Twilight launched into an explanation about the historical importance of the Drake family’s discoveries, stopping when she noticed that only Granny was still listening.
She blushed. “So yeah! They’re really famous and go on a lot of adventures and stuff.”
Sunset let out a short laugh, “Sound familiar much?”
“Oh gosh, you don’t think we’re that famous do you?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well,” Sunset said, gesturing around the mall, “Some rich guy apparently knew enough about us to call us just for our music.” Her eyes glazed over slightly as she continued, “Imagine if more people knew what else we’ve done.”
Twilight shivered slightly. Being local legends was one thing, but the moment they actually made it on the news… Who knew what would happen then? Probably something similar to Cassie’s phone now that she thought of it.
Her phone buzzed urgently in her pocket. Speak of the devil. She quickly pulled up her program, and frowned slightly. It had gotten a lot less than she would have liked.
“Whaaaaaaaaat?” Dash complained from in front of her. She looked up to see large strips of caution tape blocking off a major hallway. “How are we supposed to get to the coaster now?”
“That’s weird, this is the only way to that whole section of the mall,” Cassie mused.
The girls muttered and craned their necks over the tape, trying to see why it had closed. Just as they turned to each other to decide their next steps, a door to their left flew open, showing a shorter, college age girl in a security uniform, clearly out of breath.
“Hi, are you all looking to ride the coaster?” she asked quickly.
The girls all nodded and agreed.
The security girl waved them over, smiling. “Come on through here then, it’s just this next little section that needed some clean up after an accident. We’re bringing people through here to get to the other side.” This was met with all kinds of cheers and relieved sighs.
As they walked through the side hallway, Twilight turned back to her phone, and the concerning results from her cracking. Out of the little she got, she had a list of all the connections to the proxy intercepting Cassie’s signals. A few keystrokes later, and she saw that a lot of the connections had location data! Now she was getting somewhere.
Tilting her phone to see through the glare of the strange hallway lighting, she sent a list of location data to her map aaaaand… She froze in place.
30 dots pulsed softly on top of the mall. Most around the north section where the coaster was.
“Twilight?” Sunset said concernedly. The rest of their group slowly stopped walking, looking back. Twilight stared at the security guard, who’s smile was becoming more and more strained.
She could sense the cold sweat coming before she felt it. “Uh… uh…” Think! Think harder! “Hey Cassie?” She signaled for her to come to the back of the group. “Can I see your phone real quick?” Someone was after Cassie. That was the only logical conclusion. But why? And why go to these huge lengths?
She glanced quickly behind her, and saw four more “security” guards blocking their way back to the mall. Slowly turning back to the group, she saw Sunset’s eyes widen in fear, and the look started to be mirrored across the group in varying levels.
“Did you… find out what was wrong with it?” Cassie said, nervously shuffling in front of Twilight.
Twilight looked up at her, and spared a quick glance at Sunset, then to Dash at the front of the group. “Uh, yeah, I think we need to actually get going to-”
Sharp clicks echoed in the concrete hallway as all four guards drew pistols from various places.
The girls all froze, and all Twilight could do was meet Cassie’s fearful gaze, and start panicking… er… planning.
Nate liked to think he was a good planner. He thought ahead, he did his research, and he generally made good schedules. It wasn’t his fault life just hated him.
Life and this taxi driver.
The car swerved dangerously as Nate struggled to wrestle the gun out of the drivers free hand. He pressed his back against the passenger side door for leverage, and managed to twist the guy’s hand at an awkward angle. The guy yelled and tore his arm from Nate’s grip, bringing it back through the small grate that separated them both.
Nate quickly dove behind the driver’s seat, putting as many obstacles he could between him and the gun.
“Much as I love a good drive, I think this is my stop!” he said, searching the door for an unlock button.
The driver swerved violently, throwing Nate back into the passenger side. “As I started saying,” the driver growled, “You’ll sit quietly... or your daughter gets a bullet.”
Nate’s blood froze, his eyes flicking to his phone on the floor. Message failed to deliver. Great. Just perfect. Keep track of the streets, just keep track of the streets, I still have one way out. He sat against the passenger door, hands behind his back, searching for the lock.
But first, “So I have to be honest, I actually don’t know what this is about, this time.” Still gotta get the guy somehow. Can’t report if he’s unconscious or… he tried not to think about the simpler alternative. Still, he had to buy Cassie some time. Time? Time for what?! She’d never been in this kind of situation before!
“Really?” The driver said, unimpressed, “Cause the boss never stops talking about you.”
Nate slid his phone over with his foot and picked it up, using the movement to try a new spot on the door. “So I guess I get to… re-meet this,” he found the lock, “Guy? Girl? Honestly, for the reception you gave me there’s a lotta names I can pick from.”
They slowed to turn a corner, and Nate mapped it out in his head. Elena was right around the corner from here, and the car had slowed down. One glance showed a set of anti-crash poles along the sidewalk. There was his escape. He hooked his new suit bag in his foot, he’d need the padding, and flipped the lock and handle at the same time.
The driver panicked and brought his gun up again. His last mistake. Nate was already rolling out of the car, narrowly missing the door as it hit the crash pole. The impact dragged the car around to the right, amplified by the driver’s wild swing with his gun, sending the front of the car directly into another pole. He seriously hoped that bang was the airbag, but he didn’t wait. Elena had the car and Cassie was a hostage. He jumped to his feet, suit bag in hand. His only shield for now.
He took two steps before falling to one knee, just now noticing the pain that came with his rollout. Not as young as I was huh? Now I feel bad for Sully, he thought, wincing as the crowd’s screams finally registered. The driver isn’t alone, not by a long shot.
“He has a gun!” he shouted, pointing at the crashed taxi. That did the trick, sending dozens of people panicking and running in every direction. He stumbled back to his feet, rubbing out his back. He needed to get back to Elena. Cassie wouldn’t have much time. He needed to find her before she disappeared, possibly forever.
No! Don’t think about that. Just get to Elena, get to Elena. He took off with a limping trot, praying that Cassie was safe.
The girls were marched further into the deserted area of the mall, the rollercoaster rising imposingly in front of them. All of the storefronts were closed, lights off, with more armed people every few yards down the wide hallway.
Sunset walked near the center of the group, putting Cassie in the exact center next to Granny. A quick tap on Twilight’s wrist and a short burst of magic had told her all of Twilight’s recent memories. She didn’t think Principal Celestia would hold that against her. Over 30 people? She thought, incredulous. She discreetly bumped Rarity, then glanced at their five escorts.
Rarity shook her head slowly. “I work fast, but not that fast,” she whispered, unable to hide the trembling in her voice. No barriers for now then.
They stopped in front of the rollercoaster’s entrance, where a middle-aged man leaned on a ticketing booth. His salt and pepper hair was slicked back and shaved on the sides, but his most prominent features were the scars that covered most of his face. They looked like a combination of cuts and burns, all layered over the top of each other.
When he spoke, though, his voice was smoother than the kiosk salesman who tried to force lotion on her.
“You know, Nicole,” he glanced at the girl who brought them into the hallway, “I love hosting guests. I really do!” He stood, and calmly walked towards their group. The girls instinctively pressed closer together, Granny pulling Cassie into a protective embrace.
“But I believe my specific instructions were ‘As alone as possible’, and we have, what?” His head bobbed slightly, “Nine? Nine people? Come on Nicole. That is… a lot of extra clean up.”
Quiet sobbing drew Sunset’s gaze to Fluttershy, who had broken down behind Applejacks protective stance. She clenched her fists tightly. They needed a way out of this quickly. She tapped Twilight’s wrist again, reading her mind, and almost immediately regretted it. The room shattered into a thousand versions of itself, each slightly different than the rest. The sheer number of plans made Sunset break the connection, and hold her head in one hand.
Twilight grimaced, patting Sunsets arm comfortingly. They both glanced at Cassie. In all of Twilight’s plans, she was the part Twilight was least comfortable about. She just didn’t know enough about her to plan far enough ahead. But if Cassie’s tears were anything to go by, she would need to be protected.
Sunset looked back towards their captor. He was staring at his phone, frowning slightly. “I hand Nate to him on a silver platter, and he still manages to screw it up.”
Cassie let out a short gasp through her raspy breathing. Someone she knows? Sunset put a hand on her shoulder and pulsed her magic. Images of a family car trip flashed through her mind. Cassie hugged a rugged, yet kind man. Her dad?
Click.
Sunset broke the connection, only to see the man in front of them level a gun to their group.
“You know Cassie,” he said, steadying his gun at Applejack, “If your Dad knew how to follow directions, there would be a lot less dead people in the world.” A crooked smile broke the crisscrossing scars on his face.
Time seemed to slow as his finger wrapped around the trigger. Sunset’s eyes flicked nervously to Twilight, who had somehow gotten next to Rarity and was gripping her tightly, whispering lowly.
“Nowadays, though, one body should do the trick,” he said.
“NOW!” Twilight screamed in panic. A resounding ping echoed through the mall as bullet met shield mere inches from Applejack’s head. Shocked screams came from both groups, and the guy’s eyes widened in horror.
“Magic!” He screamed, and began emptying his gun at the shield. Rarity screamed from the effort of getting a shield around their small group, bullets raining down from nearly every direction.
“Everyone brace!” Twilight yelled, “Applejack now!” Sunset grabbed onto Fluttershy and Granny, and watched as Applejack wound up.
What was she-
The ground was gone. Or rather, everything in this part of the mall had left the ground from the impact of Applejack punching the floor. Everyone, their kidnappers included, wailed as the floor and it’s shrapnel came up to meet them. Sunset braced as shards of concrete flew towards them, only to have her stomach drop as their group was forcefully thrown across the room into a kiosk down the hallway.
Sunset hit the kiosk full force, cracking the display case. The world span around her, and she vaguely heard Twilight yell something. Seconds later, the ground shook again as multiple explosions rocked the mall. Pinkie’s work probably.
She shook her head, trying to clear the fog. Her vision still swam, but she could make out a rainbow blur shooting off with a Granny colored blob.
Twilight was suddenly in front of her, “Sunset! Sunset can you hear me?” Lound pings sounded as bullets started hitting shields again.
Sunset clenched her jaw, willing the pain to go away. “I’m here,” she said, shakily, waiting as the room came into focus.
Fluttershy was cradling a sobbing Cassie, backs against the kiosk, while Rarity was maintaining a shield around their little bunker. Explosions rocked the hallway as Pinkie passed piles of explosive sprinkles to Applejack, and Twilight threw large chunks of floor at the enemy. Dash and Granny were nowhere to be seen.
“We just need to hold out for two and a half minutes,” Twilight said, struggling to catch her breath. “Two and a half minutes and we can escape.” Desperation had crept into her voice, and her expression was less than inspiring.
Sunset turned to Cassie, who was still crying uncontrollably. “What is going on?” She demanded. “Why, why in the world are people SHOOTING AT US?!”
“I DON’T KNOW!” Cassie screamed, straining against Fluttershy’s grip. Sunset groaned in frustration. She had to know something. Sunset pressed a hand against Cassie’s head and pulsed.
Something here. There has to be. Campfires, dig sites, plane trips. This man knew Cassie’s father somehow, but where? Stories, pictures, a closet- The memory caught. There!
Cassie opened up a journal, peeking over her shoulder. If her parents caught her in here, she was so dead. She flipped through the pages, seeing sketch after sketch of artifacts, gold, and architecture. A photograph fell out as she turned another page, and she was surprised to see her parents and Sully sitting on the largest pile of treasure she had ever seen. Even more shocking, though, was Dad with a shotgun slung over his shoulder.
The memory skipped and stories flowed on a boat trip.
“So what was with the shotgun then?” Cassie asked incredulously.
“Well, uh,” Nate looked very uncomfortable, and glanced at Elena, “Some of the people I worked with-”
Elena snorted, “Worked with.” She said in air quotes.
Nate chuckled softly, “Yeah, fair. Competed with, then. They were willing to do anything to get what they wanted. So, when we had different ideas on what good and bad were... we had to be able to… defend ourselves.”
Sunset broke the connection, reeling. Twilight called Cassie’s family treasure hunters and archaeologists. Since when did that involve being proficient in guns! “What did your Dad do?” She yelled over the gunfire.
Cassie stared in shock and confusion. “W- what? What are you- what is- my Dad?” She buried her head in her hands. “What is going on?” She was barely audible over the din of the fight.
Sunset only grunted in response, still shaking off the pounding pain in her head. “Twilight, what’s the plan?”
“30 seconds and we should have a way out,” she said, straining to throw multiple floor chunks at once with telekinesis.
30 seconds seemed a lot longer when multiple people were trying to maneuver their shots around the shield. One guy had even gotten close enough to try and climb over the shield. A rainbow colored flash later, and the guy went skidding across the floor.
“Granny’s on her way,” Dash said, arms full of baseball bats, “Got these just in case though.” Sunset quickly took one, not even thinking where Dash got them. With no offensive magic of her own, she’d take anything she could get right now.
Fluttershy looked up at them in horror. “We’re not actually going to hurt them, are we?”
“A little late for that, Fluttershy,” Applejack said, grimacing as she magically enhanced another sprinkle laden pitch. “I’m tryn’a just scare ‘em away, but-” she cut herself off, diving to the floor as a hail of bullets came over the shield, “-they’re not exactly returnin’ the favor!”
Sunset looked panickedly at Twilight, who was still sweating with the effort of throwing anything she could get her magic on. With a strained heave, most of the potted trees and chairs in the hallway flew towards their captors, sending them screaming for cover. “We need to get to the doors, now!” Twilight yelled, pointing deeper into the mall, where the light of day glimmered promisingly.
Dash dragged Fluttershy and Cassie to their feet, trying to speed them along as the group rushed out of their now rubble laden cover. Sunset quickly took stock of their situation as the room came into view. The constant bombardment from Pinkie, Applejack, and Twilight had left most of the hallway in ruins, craters dotting the floor and storefronts, some of which held a few of their captors. She hoped their slumped forms were just stunned or knocked out. The bat in her hands suddenly felt a lot heavier.
Rarity shifted her shields around them as their remaining captors regrouped from Twilight’s furniture assault and opened fire once more. Sunset caught a glimpse of their captors’ leader, hunkered down by the coaster.
As they passed he stood, a crazed smile visible even from this distance. “You think you’re out? You think you’ve escaped?!” He raised something above his head, object glowing ominously. “I can find you all! You, your families, everyone that would help you!” His crazed laughter followed them away from the mayhem, and echoed in Sunset’s mind as they burst out of the mall.
