Daggers strapped on a leather belt and a cloak filled with sharp-edged weapons, the assassin gaped at the boba tea choices chalked on a board displayed outside of a cafe. She clasped her hands excitedly and turned around to her best friend with a pleading gaze. “Can I please get one before we—”

Kate grabbed the hood of her friend’s cloak and dragged her along with a heavy sigh, not allowing her to complete the sentence. “This is a mission; remember, the rules are not to get sidetracked.” The humans sitting at table umbrellas, she noticed, were trying their best to hide, glancing at Sara at her offbeat personality that somehow matched her Gothic outfit.

The assassin grumbled as they continued their walk down small shops and slipped into a dark alley.

Kate was focusing on the task at hand of finding the doorway when she heard a slurping sound that caught her off guard in the dark alley. She glanced behind her shoulders to find her friend drinking boba tea. “Um, where did you get that?”

Sara shrugged, grinning slyly. “I saw a staff finish a drink, and somehow it magically appeared in my hands.”

Furrowing her eyebrows, Kate stared at her in disbelief. “You know that’s stealing—” She shook her head and rubbed her temple. “Never mind.” Grabbing the drink from Sara, she nodded in approval. “Good Thai tea flavor.”

After that moment of getting distracted, they turned their attention back to their mission. A brick wall blocked their path. Sara raised her eyebrows, sipping on her drink happily. “You know where we are going?”

“Yes,” answered Kate, her tone exasperated by what she had to do next. Her lips pressed together, thinking about where the Archangel told her to go. They wandered around the bustling streets of Las Vegas looking for a hidden bank as discreetly as possible, seemingly like lost teenagers.

Michael had told the girls that footage at the Heaven and Hell bank had a Gala open an account by the name of Thomas Pitch. The Archangel wished for them to check the H&H, but he expected that this would be a buff, so he decided not to come with them.

“So,” Kate started, putting her hands on her hips, “Michael told us to walk through this wall, didn’t he?”

Sara shrugged in her cropped jacket with no midriff and said, “I don’t remember.”

“You aren’t helpful, and you need to remember these things!” lectured Kate.

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“I was too busy fixing my skirt because it kept falling!” Sara traced her fingers along the two belt buckles and looped her finger around the circular hilt of her dagger.

The older teenager frowned. “We need to focus.” She eyed the brick wall, not wanting to smack into it, but felt stepping through it might not work for some reason. She muttered, taking a deep breath, “Okay, so only people with magical abilities can go through this wall.”

Looking at her surroundings, she watched to see if anyone was walking past them, but the alley stayed empty beside them. She stepped back and spirited herself towards the wall.

Kate smacked against it, and her loving friend let out a snort. She groaned and touched her bleeding nose, feeling scratches on her face. She heard Sara's giggle even louder: “Shut up! I should’ve made you do this!” Her cheeks reddened, knowing that this was the brick wall they had to go to.

The graffiti painted on the shops’ outer bricks marked the word: magic. Michael had told them that was the word they were looking for. What was she missing?

The young assassin trailed her fingers along the words, feeling the rough bumps of the bricks. She whispered, “Magic.” Sara’s coal eyes lit up, and she swirled in her miniskirt. “We have to use our magic before we can enter!”

Kate brushed off some dirt on her face from the wall, smiling in her slim gray jeans and a t-shirt that had a dove on it. “Why did I miss that?” Flames burst from her hands, and bricks from the wall crumbled to the ground, revealing medieval doors with vines snaking around them. She swung the door open, with Sara behind her.

The door slammed on Sara’s face before she could follow her friend and the bricks covered the door. Of course, she had to expect that individuals had to use their magic to enter. Heaven and Hell would be strict, with mundane allowed.

A chill ran up Sara’s spine, and she glanced around nervously. She hugged herself, calling for her friend despite knowing she couldn’t hear her. “Kate?” She swallowed down her nerves and stretched out her hand, unsure what she should do.

In the open, Sara had never used her powers unless she was with Kate. The thought of her powers getting out of control frightened her. However, she had to trust her abilities for only a few seconds.

She took a deep breath, her hand quivering in the air, and imagined the door opening to let her see Kate.

Nothing happened besides her disappointment in herself smashing into millions of pieces.

Sara didn’t have flames to reveal her main powers. What was her main power? Each Gala, even with their multiple powers, had one that they were incredibly strengthened in. Sara hadn’t found hers yet.

Whatever it was.

So, she decided to do something simple. She raised her other hand, where she held her drink, and let herself practice using her mind. Sara’s gaze leveled evenly on the drink, letting her thoughts disappear.

Fly.

Sara expected the tea to levitate from her hand, but instead, it shot up in the air and vanished in the clouds, out of sight.

Once again, bricks crumbled to the ground, and she grinned at herself, striding to the doors with her heels echoing off the brick-stone pavement.

“So impressive,” mocked Sal.

“Oh, shut up,” snapped Sara.

Before she entered the Heaven and Hell bank, she heard a shout nearby, “Ow, what just hit me in the head...a drink, where the hell did that come from?”

Oops.