Scene II

Two days after the "tunnel incident" I was back in the offices of MI5. The doctors have previously done a full check-up and determined there was nothing wrong with my head except a nasty bruise. But my superior, director of intelligence, Mr. Whitmore, was not concurring with that assessment. In fact he was shouting that there was something wrong with my head just now.
"What the hell is wrong with you, agent Pike?! You actually expect me to believe your report? Do you really think…"
Mr. Whitmore has spent his entire life defusing nuclear devices while suspended upside down with a blindfold on, or so he would like us all to believe. The senior agents all liked to denigrate us rookies by constantly talking how we have it easy, the Soviets are no longer a threat, only rainbows and sunshine from now on in this job.
The reason for his shouting is the report I submitted regarding what happened during the operation the day before yesterday. He was convinced I fucked up a routine operation and that I was trying to cover it up by making things up.
"I mean, come on. A bloody unicorn?" he was looking at me incredulously.
"It looked like a unicorn. It might have been a sta-"
"You have to be fucking joking!"
"Sir, I am not making this up. There were two boys and-"
"Shut it!" Whitmore looked up at the ceiling. He was sitting behind his desk, which was covered in important looking papers. A neat row of snowglobes was arranged on the edge of the desk. He gets one every Christmas from what I assume is a family member, although I never heard him mention having a family.
I was standing in front, with Lucy standing next to me. She barely talked to me since that night. I can only assume she was angry with me. She's been working really hard towards some sort of promotion, the chances of getting it now looked really slim. After a long silence during which no one looked at each other, Whitmore finally spoke up.
"Agent Jones, can you corroborate any part of agent Pike's story?"
Lucy glanced at me and said "No sir, we got separated."
"So, you don't know anything about unicorns and grim reapers holidaying in Surrey?"
Lucy glanced at me again. "No, I'm afraid not, sir. But if Milton says…"
"Dismissed, agent Jones."
Lucy froze with her mouth open. She wanted to say something, but then changed her mind and after giving a quick salute, walked out of the office.
"Close the door after you Jones, if you will."
After the sound of the closing door there was more silence. Whitmore was looking at me intently. I wasn't saying anything, waiting for some sort of punishment. They will probably suspend me without pay. Or they might fire me. Either way, my life has changed since that night. Seeing what I had seen, it made me completely change my view of the world. There was something in it not explained by any book I read.
"Agent Pike, do you stand behind your story?" Whitmore asked me.
"Yes sir, I do."
"You want me to send this report upstream? The way it looks now?"
"I wrote an accurate report about what happened, sir. How it will look to others is out of my hands. Sir."
"You do realise they will deem you mentally unstable? That is grounds for laying you off, Pike."
I had nothing to say to that, so I just shrugged my shoulders. Whitmore sighed. He started digging into the pile of papers, and after a brief shuffle, pulled out one folder and handed it to me. The yellow folder had stamps "TOP SECRET" and "EYES ONLY". I was a bit confused. I looked at Whitmore. He just nodded his head towards the folder. After I was finished reading it, I put it back on the desk and said nothing.
"So?"
I looked at him. He had a hint of a smile in the corner of his mouth.
"Magic – is real?" I uttered in disbelief.
"Yes. We've known it for a long time now. There is a sort of, uh, gentlemen's agreement between them and us normal people. They stay out of our world, and we stay out of theirs."
My world was changing rapidly. It was all set off two days ago with that boy with glasses. So he must have been a – wizard or something.
"So…what happens now?" I asked.
"Now, agent Pike, you will get promoted. Officially, you will take an unpaid vacation, courtesy of you failing a routine operation. But unofficially, you will embark on the most dangerous mission this service has ever devised."
He made a dramatic pause.
"Agent Pike, you will infiltrate the wizardry world."