I walk into my room humming. It’s been a good day overall.

  I make my way over to Elizabeth’s room and knock on her door.

  Elizabeth opens the door a fraction and looks out with one eye. When she sees its me, she opens the door the rest of the way. “What is it Elly?”

  “I forgot to mention it earlier, but I uh, I got you a present.” I take the spirit necklace out of my pocket and hold it out to her. The phoenix surrounded by flames is quite pretty, even if it’s a simple wooden necklace. “This cost me a lot,” I say, undoing the clasp and motioning for her to turn around. “So I want you to wear it everywhere you go. And don’t you dare break it.”

  She turns around with a small smile. I reclasp it around her neck, shaking my head.

  She holds the phoenix up, studying it. “It… It’s beautiful Elly,” She looks down, hiding her face behind her hair. “Why all of a sudden?”

  I put my hand on her head. “It’s a charm. In case you get yourself into any trouble.”

  “Then shouldn’t you wear it?”

  I give her a light shove, and she gives a half-laugh.

  She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand, then turns around to face me. “Mom’s growing on you Elly. You’re not the superstitious one.”

  I look her over, surprised to see the red eyes of recent crying..

  “Yeah, well, times are changing.” I pull her into a hug, and gently wipe the tears that start to fall with my thumb. I should’ve realized that something was wrong from our conversation earlier.

  After a moment, she pushes me away and shakes her head. She gives me a bright smile, trying to hide the tears that had just been falling.

  I kiss her forehead. “See you Wednesday Sunshine.”

  She laughs. “I’ll see you before that, we live in the same house.”

  I roll my eyes, then turn around to head back to my room.

  “Thank you Elly.”

  “Always, Sunshine.”

  I close the door behind me and return to my bed. I want to do some preparing before I tackle the next level of my dungeon. My fight against Hathor’s daughter had taught me that I don’t have any long range attacks. Something that I want to remedy while I can.

  I pull out Sheyla’s book, and open it up.

  “Alright book. Listen here, I know we have this whole love-hate relationship thing going on, but I need you to do me a solid. Can you give me a longer range attack spell?”

  I turn the page.

  Love’s Sensual-

  I grab the page and pull it taut. My eyes narrow as I genuinely consider ripping it, “I’ll do it. You know I will.” I let go of the page, and flip it again.

  Earth Spear: Root Chakra Spell. A spear of earth shoots from the ground in the direction you desire. Speed increases with mastery.

  Warning: Requires Geb’s approval.

  Requirements: 10-100 psi/use.

  It’s not something I can practice right now, but I memorize the shapes I have to twist my psi into.

  ***

  The next morning, I wake up to a blue screen waiting for me.

  “Oh gods.” I say, reading through the quest. I pull out my phone and message the group chat.

  So uh… emergency meeting. I need to get to the city Museum in the next three hours or bad things are going to happen.

  I can’t tell them specifics, due to the non-disclosure agreement. Thankfully, all three of them seem surprisingly willing to skip school.

  I pull Thoth’s mask out of my pocket, feeling the purple feathers sticking out of it. This mask gives me some protection from the cameras a museum is sure to have, probably, but I don’t know what the other three are going to do.

  I roll out of bed and make my way to my closet.

  I put on a black shirt, some pants that are easy to move in, then throw a long dark purple coat over the ensemble. I pull my hair back into a ponytail and tie it with a pink bow. Once I’m happy with my appearance, I grab several scarves from the back of my closet and place them in my inventory.

  It’s raining outside when I step out the front door, Blake’s car waiting for me. Blake steps out of the car and opens the back door for me.

  Rose is sitting back there, wearing a leather jacket. Her hair is freshly dyed purple, with blue tips. She smiles at me as I slip into the back seat. Her hand reaches out, gently grabbing mine.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  I’m surprised by the bold move, but I don’t say anything, instead enjoying the soft feeling of her skin.

  Damien gives me a small wave from the front seat, then gives a long yawn as he turns back to the front. I notice him wearing the familiar hoodie of a bald man giving a monster his singular punch.

  Blake drops into the driver’s seat a moment later and we’re peeling out of the driveway.

  The car is silent for a little while as everyone is still waking up from the early morning.

  “Alright El, what exactly are we getting into?” Blake finally asks, pulling onto the freeway in the direction of downtown.

  “Are you guys ready to be actual superheroes?” I ask, leaning forward. Everyone’s attention focuses on me. “Someone is planning on stealing something from the exhibit we’re going to. If they succeed, I’ve been told that it’ll be really bad.”

  The others stay silent at that.

  “Did you all bring your costumes?” I ask.

  “Costumes?” Damien asks.

  I shake my head in disappointment. “You guys are lucky I came prepared.” I pull out the scarves that I’d grabbed from my closet.

  Aw damn, I pulled my hand out of Rose’s. This feels so sad.

  I hide my sadness by handing each of them a scarf.

  Blake glances down at the black and white scarf I’d handed him, then turns his eyes back to the road. “If we wear these around our face, we’re going to look like bad-movie thieves.”

  Damien holds out his own dark brown scarf. “It’s better than nothing I guess.”

  Rose shakes her head as I offer her a scarf, and instead pulls out a black and red skull mask that covers the lower half of her face. At my curious look, she says, “It looked cool.”

  Damien looks back at her, “We look like we’re in a punk band.”

  All of us look at him, with his graphic art hoodie and brown scarf. He’s decently muscular, but he still has a kinda-cute nerdy look to him, that is, unfortunately, not punk at all.

  “If you like the look, I can buy you some new clothes.” Rose offers.

  Blake snorts, but when I look at him, his face is emotionless.

  Damien gives his friend a look, then turns back to Rose. “That’d be cool.” He turns to me, “I’m guessing you’re wearing the mask you showed us?”

  I nod. “On the topic of what’s about to happen, I think you two should stay in the car.”

  Blake and Damien stiffen at my words.

  “Look, I’m not the only one who’s figured out how to stop regular bullets. And without the gun that Mr. Monroe’s assistant has…” I pause, then puff out my cheeks, “For this one, you guys are our getaway car. Honestly, that’s a cool task in and of itself.”

  They’re both clearly uncomfortable with the idea, but there’s no way for them to argue with it, so instead we go back to silence.

  Rose pulls out her phone, and I look out the window, watching the rain in the morning light.

  “It’s happening today, right?” Rose asks, drawing my attention back to her. She’s looking at her phone while cutely biting a lip.

  “Yeah.”

  “Then we have a small problem.” Rose says, swiping through her phone.

  “What’s that?” Blake asks, looking back at us through his rearview mirror.

  “It’s a private viewing.” Rose says, scrolling up and down. She looks up, meeting my eyes. “Which means we need money or connections to get in.”

  Ah. That would be a slight issue, wouldn’t it.

  Rose sighs, then switches something on her phone. “I’ll make a call. Give me a few minutes.”

  She places the phone to her ear, and looks out the window. Suddenly her whole demeanor shifts into a cutesy look, her eyes fluttering.

  “Hi Sofia! Yeah… I know, I know. I have a favor to ask, but you can’t tell dad, since y’know, I’m supposed to be in school right now… Oh, no need to worry, it’s actually related to my education, I promise…. Mhm. Yep, so I’m hoping to get a couple tickets to this museum exhibit today, but it’s a private viewing. Do you think you could get me in?... Oh! Thank you. I really appreciate it. I only need two. Yep, I really owe you one... Alright, bye!”

  She hangs up on the call, then lets out a long sigh, her body deflating into itself. Her hand reaches out for mine and holds it in a tight grip. “Why does she have to be so goddamned nice?” She looks at me with a pout. “It’d be so much easier to hate her if she were an evil witch after dad for his money.”

  Her phone dings, and she looks down at it.

  “And there they are. How did she do that so fast?” She shakes her head. “So what next?”

  I pull out my own masquerade mask, and place it over my face.

  Rose sighs, “That is a pretty mask.”

  “Rose. You shouldn’t do anything unless you have to.” I say, looking into her eyes. “Even with your mask, it’s no guarantee, so let me handle things once we’re inside.”

  Rose crosses her arms, “Now I know how the boys feel. What’s your plan then?”

  I shrug. “A dash of magic, and the occasional explosion should do it.”

  Rose rolls her eyes.

  ***

  A security guard checks through Rose’s purse, and then has the two of us walk through a metal detector. Thanks to the use of inventories, nothing is set off and we make our way into the exhibit itself.

  Outside of the staff, only ten or so people walk through the exhibits, every single one of them carrying an air of importance, and wearing designer clothing.

  Rose winks at me, then walks away to look at the many Egyptian artifacts. We decided it was better to separate until we find something important.

  Following her example, I walk up to a weathered statue and look at it. The hieroglyphs are faded, but they look cool all the same.

  “Excuse me, miss?” I look to my side to see a female attendant smiling politely to me, “We don’t like people to wear masks here.”

  I pull a hundred dollar bill from my inventory, -thank you Doss- and place it in the attendant’s pocket. “Can you please ignore it this once? I don’t like showing my face in public. Adoring fans and all that. You understand, right?”

  I think I play the part of a famous rich person quite well. I have the crazy and eccentric bit down already.

  The attendant stuffs the hundred deeper into her pocket, “Of course we understand. We wouldn’t want to offend a big donor to the museum.”

  “Exactly!” I give her a smile.

  I hope the museum doesn’t blame the poor woman. A hundred dollars is quite a tip, and I do appear to be a harmless teenage girl.

  An hour of meandering through the exhibit passes before two more Beta Testers walk in. They aren’t exactly subtle, as the security guard from earlier is flung across the room.

  They both wear ski masks. The man holds a shotgun over his shoulder, and the woman has a pool of black smoke falling off a sheathed dagger at their waist.

  The guy points his gun upwards and fires, a loud roaring sound grabbing the attentions of everyone in the building.

  “Alright everyone, we’re going to meak this quick. Get into the center of the room, and we’ll be done in a few minutes.” His voice echoes into the silence that followed his gunshot.

  The people don’t hesitate as everyone, guests and staff walk in front of the Egyptian Chariot that marks the center of the room. I notice that Rose isn’t among them.

  I consider things for a long moment.

  I have to guard the hostages and deal with two Beta Testers.

  Also, can I just say, they could do so much better than ski masks. Come on, if you’re going to rob a place, do it with style.

  And you do look wonderful, don’t you dear?

  Hush.

  I reach up, adjusting my masquerade mask.

  “[Defence Of The Earth]”