With a moving van in the driveway and a new neighborhood to explore. A young girl nervous and scared sits in her new backyard as her parents bring in boxes. They asked her to play outback. She knew she’d be in the way. It hadn’t even been a day but she already missed her friends, as she tossed a ball around the backyard. She was running all around kicking the ball against a tree, fence, or even the side of the house. The rubber ball bounced all around.
“Hello.” The little girl tripped over her ball only to turn and see another girl. Cute with rainbow freckles smiling wide.
“Hello…want to play?”
“Yes. I’m Lilly.”
“Alice.”
A year later, two little girls found themselves in an overgrown backyard, next to an abandoned house, a few houses down from there. When they had learned of the house they had recently heard of something called a Secret Garden, and with the imagination of two excitable girls they thought this backyard surrounded by fence could be their hidden garden. Or at the very least their little hideaway.
The girls played pretending to be gardeners and digging in the soil. Neither of them actually understanding how to take care of plants. Long into the day, they played when the sun began to lower.
“We should. Go.” Lilly said seeing the sky darken.
Alice did not want to go yet, for she needed to tend her rose bushes. “Just a few more minutes I need to clean my roses. They’re absolutely filthy.”
“I don’t think you clean them. Mom said all plants need is water and sunlight.”
“Well, these are filthy.” She gestured to an overgrown green bush that was not a rose bush. “You can go ahead. I’ll head home after I finish cleaning them.”
Lilly looked uncertain. Her head moved between the gate out and Alice. “Are you sure? Your mom won’t like it if you’re out past dark again.”
“Yes. I should only take a minute.” Alice began swiping at the not rosebush “Cleaning it.”
Lilly left trusting Alice to find her way home.
Alone in an overgrown backyard, a young girl cleans her roses, as the sun quickly lowers. Alice’s eyes have to struggle to see. “I’m almost done, I just need a bit more light.: She said to herself.
The bush began to light up a light shined behind her, “Thank you.” She said not thinking about how odd it was for a light to suddenly appear.
“You welcome.”
The voice though. The voice of another little girl made her jump, and turn all around little golden orbs floated in the yard as a little girl wearing a bright yellow dress, filled with sunflowers and a pretty headband.
“Wow!!” Alice’s voice was filled with wonder. “This place is beautiful.
The little girl on the porch smiled, “Thank you.”
As children do. It did not occur to her this was strange or off. She just saw another child, one her age. Someone else she could play with. Alice excitedly introduced herself. “I’m Alice.”
“I’m Tig.” The girl’s feet moved nervously.
“Want to be friends!”
Tig’s eyes widened as she jumped excitedly, “Yes!”
“Yay!” Alice thrust her fist into the air triumphant before remembering, “We’ll I got to go home before it gets dark.” She paused looking to the dark sky stars twinkling. “Or before they notice. You need to do it before you get in trouble.”
Tig stood with a smug smile. “I won’t get in trouble. I live here.”
“Lucky.” She said looking at all the dancing lights. “Then I’ll see you soon,” Alice said waving at the girl as she made her way out the gate, pushing the bush and hiding it out of the way.
Alice was, in fact, noticed and received a stern talking to about being out after dark, When she talked about a girl she met at the house her parents scolded her for trespassing in an abandoned house, and it was dangerous. She wasn’t allowed to go out for what felt like a long time.
“FREE!!” She yelled to the sky allowed to explore once more.
“It’s only been two days.”
“SO long!!! Let’s go meet my friend. I met her after you left.” She said practically bouncing off the steps and running to their secret garden, reaching the unlocked gate hidden by the massive overgrown bushes around it.
“I hope she didn’t forget me.” Alice was slightly nervous as she opened the gate.
Lilly huffed, “It’s been two days.”
“Forever.” She said as she ran straight to the back door completely ignoring what her parents told her. “Tig!!! Tig!!”
“My Mom said no one lives here Alice. It’s…Abandoned” Lilly looked pleased at remembering the word.
“Well, Tig lives here. She said so.” Alice said continuing her knock. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the curtain move by the window. She pointed to the window, “Tig!”
The curtain moved slightly, revealing a girl in a sunflower dress waving.
“Can you come out to play?”
Tig shook her head. “I can’t but I can watch. I like watching.” Her voice was crystal clear to Alice despite the closed window.
“Then you can be the princess in the tower. As we take care of the garden.” Alice said definitively.
Lilly looked confused at the window. “I can’t see her. Is she behind the curtain?”
Alice paused, looking at the girl right in front of the curtain. She was right there plain to see. “She’s right there.”
“Nu-uh.”
“Yuh-huh”. She looked back only for Tig to be gone. “I guess she stepped away.”
“Or was never there.”
“She was too.” Alice stomped away to her filthy rose bush. That she thought could use a good pruning. If only she knew what pruning was.
“Nu-uh”
“Yeah huh.”
The two argued and played for the day feeling tired and eventually going home. But before they left Alice knocked on the door "Bye Tig. I hope you had fun watching. I have to go. I got in trouble for being out so late last time."
"Bye Alice. Come by again."
"I will!"
#
Inside a room filled with shelves and knickknacks. A place that could be any room in any house. If that house was made in Victorian England, been well kept. There were even gas lanterns all around the room giving the place a dim glow. The shadows danced all around the room deep and dark. The scent of tea drifts through the air, as a little doll in a Victorian dress sets a fresh pot of tea down on a coffee table where two large chairs sit across from one another.
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Nicki took in the entire environment noting the endless hallway to nothing behind the chairs. Drystia placed the tea and constantly rearranged the snack on the table. Finally, Nicki couldn’t hold back his curiosity, “Drystia is this to purposely scare the crap out of a Hero? Cause this is deeply unsettling on its own.” He down at her. Her dress was brand new, clean, and perfectly placed. She had helped her put it together she said it was for the next Hero but seeing this he added, “Because add a talking doll they are going to scream.”
“They will not.” Her words confident. “I think I figured out why they all scream.”
“Because a living doll is unsettling, and is a universal horror trope through the multiverse.” Nicki quipped.
Ignoring his comment, “It’s because they see me, a doll, in an unexpected setting. And where do dolls belong?”
Nicki titled, “Where?”
“A tea party. So I’m going to have a tea party with them.” Drystia sounded so sincere he felt bad, knowing it wouldn’t work.
“Do not ask them that. It will only make it worse.”
“Hmph.” She huffed. “It’s a tea party. I’m a doll. It makes sense.”
“In a creepy house with an old Victorian doll.”
“I’m not a Victorian doll.” Her voice filled with triumph.
Does she think that will make a difference? “I know. Somehow that makes it more unsettling.”
“Rude.” She turned her hands on her hips, “Shouldn't you be out searching for your book? Its been weeks at this point is it even possible to find at this point?”
Nicki let out a frustrated sigh, “Honestly, I don’t know. I’m fumbling through magic, outside my domain. I’m also apparently stumbling through the magical community.”
“I thought you said they were essentially just normal people?”
“And psychic dogs.” He snorted out.
“What?”
Seeing the surprise on her stiff face made him smile. “So much of the magic here is astoundingly mundane then, bam. Out of nowhere. Real true magical animals.”
“Have you tried talking to them; the other magic people I mean? They might be able to help.”
Nicki was tired, of the search. Tired of trying to hunt down something he didn’t even know was still in the city. They could have easily grabbed it and left the city, hell they could have left the country, and he would have no idea either way. He could only hope. “Couldn’t hurt. I’m running out of ideas.”
#
With the hum of the engine and the palpable anger, two women sit in a car driving off. Lilly for her part was still trying to wake up after Alice had shown up at her apartment that morning and grabbed her. After Alice learned the truth and her shouting at her she fully expected her to never talk to her again. Of course, Lilly wouldn’t have let that happen. She was just going to let her cool down.
Looking from her seat she could see Alice’s glare locked onto the road. “Alice”
“Grrrr”
“Did you just growl at me?”
Her glare shifted slightly before locking back onto the road.
“Alice. I understand your angry.” Lilly started only for Alice to let out a bark of laughter.
“Oh, I’m not angry.” She said through gritted teeth.
“You clearly are.”
“I’m fucking furious!” She shouted shutting down anything Lilly was going to say. Instead, they sat there. Alice glared all the while. She actually thought it was a bit impressive. Still, she wanted to know.
“Where are we going?”
Alice didn’t respond immediately but seemed to think about it. “To where it all started.”
Why is she being cryptic? It’s too early for that. Just tell me. Lilly didn’t say any of that she simply looked at her tired and annoyed stares. Somehow breaking through her anger. Shifting it to annoyance.
“The house. The one you all sent me away for.”
It took a minute to understand. When she did she felt dumb not catching on. “Oh. You didn’t have to be all cryptic.”
“Seriously Lilly?” She asked confused.
“SSooooorrry” She dragged out the word. “How was I supposed to know?” She sank into her seat. “You just grabbed me this morning and said something about proving it was real. You have to explain things.” She also wanted to sleep. It was her day off from the shop. She was going to sleep in, something she was seriously looking forward to.
“She was real. The magic I saw there was real.” Alice sounded more like she was trying to convince herself.
“Alice we had the local coven go out and check the house out. There was nothing. No spirits, no goblins, brownies, ghosts, poltergeists. Just a house.” She had also gone back to the place over the years looking for something. Anything to prove her friend wasn’t crazy. Though looking at Alice’s reaction she felt like she may have erred somehow.
Alice looked like she was about to start yelling when she calmly replied, “And you still sent me away?”
“I didn't. We didn't. You sounded insane to any mundane, and even the non.” Lilly almost shouted annoyed. She had been a child she couldn’t have helped if she wanted.
“Your parents could have vouched for me. They could have simply talked to me, then I might have known not to talk about it.”
“My parents tried. But you kept insisting it was real, that the things you saw, that no one else could be real. Then you went around stubbornly trying to prove it.”
Alice glared out the window silently.
“Look-”
Alice cut her off with a glare.
Lilly started over, “Look I wish I could have helped. But I was also a kid.”
“I...I-” Alice seemed to deflate not having anywhere to put her anger
Finally seeing her calm a bit, “Look if you think there’s something—”
“There is.” Her voice filled with conviction
“Then I’ll go with you.”
“You already are.” She replied smiling.
“Cause you kidnapped me. Now you know I’m doing it willingly.:
Letting out a long breath, Alice laughed, “Lilly thanks. Somehow that—”
“Made you feel better?” She said cheekily cutting her off.
“Yeah.”
With that mess all out of the way, Lilly couldn’t hold back her curiosity. “So why the sudden ability to see everything again? You didn’t explain that. Is it why you've been so crazy lately.”
Alice bit her lip before explaining everything. From the first time meeting a man whose eyes sparked. To the mysterious disappearance case of someone walking into a supply closet and then the sudden appearance of a man from nowhere covered in blood from that same supply closet. Then all the way to the book she took and how it gave her the ability to see.
Lilly for her part sat and listened, taking it all in, wondering what her friend had gotten them into.
#
“Told you it would be a disaster.” Nicki loosened his cravat and fell onto the couch. His entire butler outfit as he liked to call it was disheveled and full of wrinkles.
“Well, you didn't help. I mean I finally got them to calm down; then you come out of nowhere dressed as a butler. One who doesn’t know how to use an iron.” She said grabbing his wrinkled coat.
At the time Nicki thought he looked good in the outfit, but for some reason, it didn’t occur to him that he might need to press his suit. Cause of course a good butler’s outfit would be perfect, and this was just embarrassing. His face heated, “I feel like I did a good job. They even took a cup of tea.” His words were flat, even though he didn’t believe them.
Drystia snorted, “To throw at you.”
The tea had long since dried leaving a brown stain across his suit. Nicki had actually forgotten about that. Not wanting to talk about his issue he changed the subject. “I still don’t know why you chose the setting. It was doomed to haunted house status.”
Letting out a long sigh she plopped into the couch next to him. “I was going for a dreamlike thing. Make everything a bit surreal, and only kind of make sense. You know convince them it was a dream.”
“Huh...” Nick thought about the plan. Looking at it from the point of view of someone arriving. You’re groggy, and a doll in a Victorian dress greets you after a traumatic incident. “Yeah, that might have worked even with me there.”
“Yeah, I just don’t understand why it didn’t.” Drystia pulled out the man’s folder looking for a clue as to why he had such an extreme reaction when she found it. “Oh.”
“What?”
She let the folder fall, “He had a bad experience at one of those extreme haunted houses.”
“Bad I’ll admit, but doesn’t explain the extreme reaction.”
“It was a Victorian-themed house, where the actors dressed as dolls, butlers, and maids. So we just recreated his most traumatic experience.”
Nicki was gob-smacked by the coincidence, “That’ll do it.”
The silence dragged on; thinking the conversation was over Nicki turned on the TV where a certain movie about a wobbly pirate was playing.
The port the undead pirates were raiding had just exploded when Drystia spoke, “So.”
“So?”
“What about you? Does this mean you’re coming back?” Nicki couldn’t decide if she sounded hopeful or disappointed. He turned the TV volume down as he gave it some thought. The book is filled with a lot of dangerous information. Enough that it could change how the entire world worked if they did enough magic. Yet, it would take a long time to be able to use any of it. Let alone affect the mana around the world. One person would have to hold onto it and study it for a long time. Is it really that important? His thoughts raced in circles before he concluded. “No. I need to keep looking, Might have to use bigger search parameters though. The book might not be in the city.”
“How long are you gonna keep actively hunting for it?”
“Till it either spreads or the world explodes.”
“Wait what?” Panic clear in her voice, “It can do that?”
“Ha. The look on your face.” Nicki laughed before he thought for a second. “No. Well, at least not in the way you think.”
Drystia was stunned it took her a few minutes to gather her thoughts, “Are you gonna hunt it to the ends of the Earth?”
Leaning deeper into the chair Nicki focused on the TV trying not to think, “I don’t know—” He trailed off noticing a scene of the pirate looking at his compass navigating through the sea. Nicki had started to read through a primer on modifying spells after his disastrous foray into modifying on his own. Now he was making connections and if he was right he could modify one of the few spells he thought might work. “I might have an idea.” Nick stood and ran back into the library while the idea was fresh in his mind.
Leaving a confused doll sitting on a couch watching a movie about pirates.
* * *