6 pm.

»Artie? Do you read me?«

»This better be an extreme emergency.«

»Kind of. Sorry to interrupt your date, but... uhm... you should come and see this. And maybe... bring Vanessa.«

»What? Why? What's going on over there?!«

»Let's... let's just say it includes Myka and an artifact. We're not really sure what it is yet, because I found her like this...«

»Like what, Pete, what is the problem?«

»... Claudia is already on it, but apparently, Myka disturbed several artefacts, so-«

»Pete!«

»Well, I'm not an expert or anything, but as far as I can tell... Mykes' on a trip.«

7 pm.

»It is a psychedelic experience alright.« Vanessa put the flashlight away.

»The signs are all there. From what I can gather«, she gave Myka a look, who currently lay on the floor and stroke the carpet (»Peeeeeete. Come herrre. This is AMAZING. LISTENS PEETE.«), »I'd say it's a level two trip.«

»I'll be right with you, Mykes...«, Pete promised and turned back to Vanessa. »What does that mean?«

»It means that she's pretty far down the rabbit hole, but she'll be back.«

»How long will she be like this?«

Vanessa shrugged. »No idea. That depends on the artifact.«

8 pm.

»Yunno, Leena... life is life n death is death n ardefacts are ardefacts. It's so simple when you think about it!« Myka slammed her flat hand against her forehead. »Whyy didn't nobody tell me that sooner?«

Leena sat next to her on the ground and handed her a cup of tea.

»I wish I could take a photo of your aura right now«, she mumbled and tried to make sure that Myka wouldn't spill anything. Quite an operation, regarding the fact that she dropped the cup and gasped in amazement after the first sip.

»Leeena. This tea tastes so purple.«

9 pm.

»Hunter S. Thompson's pen!«, Artie exclaimed. Claudia turned around and could not refrain from bursting out in laughter. »What does it do?«, Steve had joined them and read, with a frown, over Artie's shoulder. »Normally, if you try to use it, you'll experience the psychedelic trip Thompson went through when he wrote ,Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas', but I doubt that Myka'd be that stupid.« Behind them, Pete tried to keep Myka from something that looked like she was trying to make out with Trailer. »The question is: What did she do? And how do we reverse it?«

10 pm.

The door banged open and Steve stumbled in, catching his breath and propping himself up on his knees. »Bagged it!«, Claudia yelled behind him. »Any changes?«

Leena and Pete, who had split the Myka-Watch, looked up at them and then back at Myka. Artie swung around on his chair as well to see what happened, which was -

nothing at all.

The usually respectable agent was currently eating marshmallow cream out of its can. With a chocolate bar and an expression of deepest pleasure.

»No changes so far.«

Claudia cursed. »That's why they tell you to stay away from drugs...«

11 pm.

»Hey hey hey«, Pete jogged after Myka, who slalomed into the kitchen. Or attempted to. »Wait!« But she was already almost crawling into the fridge. »It's so bright and cold and beautiful... Claudia should writasong bout this...«

»Alright, alright...« Pete caught her wrist and pulled her back. »Wait. What's this?«

She stared at her hand for over ten seconds and then stated: »Ink. Hey, should I get a tattoo?« »No. Focus, Mykes. Why is there ink on your hand?« »Stupid pencil fell outta nowhere, yunno, like.. like...« But Pete didn't listen anymore. »Artie! I think I know what happened!«

Midnight.

»It's the ink. The artifact isn't the pen, but the ink!«

Artie hit the table and pointed at Pete. »And because it's still on her hands, bagging the pen won't help. Good work! Get the neutralizer!« »On it!«

But neutralizing her hand didn't get the ink cleanly off Myka's hands, as the team had to discover. The artifact's impact started to reverse when Leena dressed her hand in a neutralizer-soaked bandage, but only slowly.

»Great.«, Steve summarized the situation. »Now that we know she's going to be fine, we get to film her and put it on youtube.«

1 am.

When Helena entered, Myka got up way too quickly. »Age Gee«, she cried in delight and fell to the floor lengthwise. Her rebound didn't seem to have hurt, though, because she kept mumbling into the carpet. »Why hello, Darling«, Helena said, her hand still on the doorknob, »you seem a little... disarranged.«

Pete shot her a glance. He had been watching his partner for the past seven hours and was slightly annoyed. »She got whammied.«

»Oh. I see. Juggleballs?« »The ink of Hunter Thompson's pen.«

H.G. knit her eyebrows. »That must have been after my time. Care to elaborate?«

2 pm.

Before Artie went to bed, he peeked through the slightly open door into the living room to check on Myka. The quietness suggested that today's problem child had gone to morpheus' realm, and he didn't want to wake her up.

Indeed, Myka was sound asleep when he saw her, which didn't surprise him. What caught him a little off guard for a moment was that she lay in H.G.'s lap.

Helena fumbled with streaks of her hair and stared into space.

Well, Artie thought, this had been bound to happen. Sort of. If it was happening. He guessed.

3 pm.

»Thirsty«, was the word that fell from Myka's lips in a rough voice. Helena handed her a glass of water and she slowly sat up.

»God, I feel... wasted. What am I even doing here? And why are you here?«

H.G. smiled a little. »You got, as you like to call it these days, ,whammied'.« She watched Myka quietly finishing the glass of water and her left hand tearing at her hair, as the memories slowly came back to her. »Oh please no I didn't.«

Helena reached out and pulled her back. »Nevermind, darling. Just go back to sleep.«