School has started and homework is eating all my Fate-watching time! T_T
7 155 Twig ~Zenith~
The plan was for me and my boyfriend Tetsuo to go on a date, but while we were talking about it the date turned into a group date with everybody. So Phe and Cassie and an excited Princess Amber and, for some reason, Nerys, have tagged along to the levibike track. It looks like dirt bikes except they float, and because they float the track is a series of grassy hills instead of dusty ones.
Phe says, "Show of hands, whose parents wouldn't let them ride levibikes?"
Amber and Cassie raise their hands and I do too, since my parents wouldn't let me ride dirt bikes. Tetsuo says, "I was allowed but my sister had to sneak out."
"Um, I'm from Earth, I've never been on a floating bike. How do they work?"
The explanation comes scattered between my friends. Apparently an antigravity mineral exists in some worlds and by using a tiny amount in the right kind of engine you get a car or bike that naturally sits a few feet above the ground. Without friction between wheels and dirt, you can go at crazy speeds and do fancy jumps.
We sign in to the track, pay for our time and collect the helmets and safety pads that are required even for fairies who can use magic to protect themselves. Getting kitted up takes a few minutes, especially for Amber whose long hair needs to be braided and tucked up for safety. Nerys flutters around us, holding people's helmets for them. Nobody else seems surprised that she randomly tagged along, but I'm curious why a sylph would care about riding bikes. Or is she spying on my date?
Amber stuffs her helmet over her hair and throws a leg over her bike. She looks up at Nerys and fiddles with the straps on her shoulder pads so they leave part of a strap hanging free. Nerys grabs it and Amber starts her bike, leans forward, and she's off down the track with Nerys shrieking with laughter as she hangs on like a windsock in a storm.
"...so that's why she wanted to come." I mount my bike, a shiny blue one, and then have to take a few more minutes to make sure I understand the controls. Tetsuo helps me out and in that time Amber goes past again and Phe and Cassie are off racing her.
Tetsuo grins at me. "So, loser buys snacks?"
"Hang on, I never rode one of these before!"
"Couple laps to warm up then."
"Oh it is on!" I figure out how to start my bike and lean on the throttle. The bike jolts forward and I'd've fallen off if there wasn't some kind of magical field around it to keep me on. For an instant it's scary, but then muscle memory kicks in and I lean into the first turn just as I would on my bicycle.
Amber sweeps past me and Nerys jumps over to grab the back of my shirt. She whoops and I push the throttle forward and try to catch up with Amber.
We race, I lose count of laps and we're not really trying to beat each other. When I pull off the track I see there's a computer scoreboard that lists each of us by speed and skill. I'm at the bottom of the pack of course since it's my first time. Tetsuo has the best score and Amber is below him. She really is good at everything.
Nerys plops down on a nearby bench, looking dizzy and giggling. "That is soooo much fun!"
"Does Mom take you riding levibikes?" It doesn't seem like Mom's kind of thing.
"Nah, Selene and Priscilla do so I tag along with them."
I need something to drink. I get my safety gear off and head for a drinks machine at the end of the pull-off area. I get a bottle of lemonade and am looking at posters of pro levibike racers as my friends pull off the track one by one. They look as sweaty and thirsty and happy as I feel and pretty soon we're all sitting with drinks. Amber gets a bottle of fizzy water and pours it a little at a time into the cap so Nerys can drink.
There's a jingly musical sound in the air and I look up to see we've been joined by half a dozen little flying creatures.
"Pixies!" Cassie calls.
"Amber!" One of the pixies pipes, and they all fly down to circle around her and land one on each shoulder and the rest in her lap. Amber smiles and her hands curl around them affectionately. "Hi you all."
The only pixie whose name I can remember is Lockette, the pink-haired one who's best friends with Amber's mother. Lockette says, "Bloom wanted us to check on you."
Amber's face tightens, but I think I'm the only one who sees it.
Suddenly Nerys sits up straight, rising a little off the bench. "Digit!"
"What?" asks a pixie with silvery blue hair.
"You can help us!"
"Sure." Digit says.
Everyone's looking at Nerys with curiosity. Cassie asks, "Are you having an adventure without me?"
Nerys sighs, "Hardly."
So I have to explain, "Someone on Earth I know—well know about, he makes video games I like to play, he's in trouble. I think he lost his shadow and turned a little bit evil and made a game that hypnotizes people. And Vera can't do anything about it because she's literally on the other side of the Earth." My friends look a little stumped and I remember that people in the magic dimension only colonize one continent on most worlds. "Earth's really big."
Lockette nods hard and backs me up, "Really really big and crowded."
Nerys chirps, "So maybe Tecna could held us help him over the internet."
"I'll ask her." Digit pulls up a pixie-sized holographic display from one of her gloves and zones out from the rest of us like any person surfing the internet.
Tetsuo says, "You really think someone's doing shadow magic on earth? You had that book..."
I shrug. "Who knows. I guess people can lose their shadows naturally, but it happened to Vera's teacher and Mr. Ishida."
Digit blinks out of her internet daze. "It's Naoki? Of course we'll help rescue him, he's in our raiding guild!"
"You're in a guild for a game on Earth?" That seems unlikely. And sort of unfair, since Earth people can't play magic dimension games.
This must've shown on my face because Digit says, "Just us since we joined while Tecna lived on Earth. Anyway, Tecna says call her or come to Zenith."
Amber says, "Ok." and gets on her phone.
I ask, "We could just go there? Isn't it another planet?"
"We can if it's part of a quest, probably just you and me though."
Cassie and Phe both look briefly startled, then hide it. Tetsuo mutters, "It's good to be the princess." then seems to realize that was rude even if Amber didn't hear. He claps me on the shoulder and says, "Congratulations on your first quest! Second quest?"
Phe asks, "Does the Magix Competition count as a quest?"
"I think so."
And they're off into debating what counts as a quest. Does it require travel? Does it require an enemy? Is there a highly unlikely shadow magician on Earth? How could we find out? That question fizzles out because I'm pretty sure Vera isn't interested in any magical quests. It's so sad.
By the time we're bored with that we've all finished our drinks and Nerys has convinced the pixies they have to try riding along with humans on levibikes. So we do a few more laps with our tiny passengers before we go home.
I didn't think Amber really meant it when she said we could just go to Zenith, but the next morning I'm awakened by a message saying the ship is here. I rush into my clothes and send an apology to Mom since we were supposed to go shopping today.
Amber owns the cutest spaceship ever. It's purple and pink, sleek and polished and beautiful. Ok, maybe Amber is spoiled.
"Come on, get in. Did you bring something to read?"
Inside are only two seats, a tiny space for luggage, and what must be the world's smallest bathroom. I see why Phe and Cassie couldn't tag along. I get in the passenger seat and put on my seatbelt. "I've got a book. Um, if you have this, why did you make a portal to Alfea before?"
"Mom locked it up." Amber touches a panel and it lights up into a screen with a pixelated cartoon face on it. "Good morning, Princess Amber! Where to today?"
"Zenith please, Pilot." Amber says and the ship's doors close and its engine begins to hum. As we rise above the courtyard Miss Grizelda comes running out, waving her arms at us and yelling.
My mouth drops open. "Amber, you..."
Amber giggles and waves at Miss Grizelda.
"Amber!" I'm caught between laughing and horror, "Did we sneak out? I didn't know we were sneaking out!"
"It's fine, we won't get in trouble. Here we go!"
The sound of the ship changes and the sky around us vanishes, replaced by weird lava-lamp swirls of color. Interdimensional space. It's much stranger than I imagined from reading about it. There's nothing to give any scale so the curls of color look both small and large, close and far away. The whole world is like that picture that's either a duck or a rabbit.
"How long is it going to look like this?"
The cartoon pilot answers, "Your trip will take approximately one hour and forty-nine minutes."
Amber's already got her nose in a book so I'm pretty sure she's done this a bunch of times before. I stare out the window for a while, watching space move. According to the textbook the swirling colors are just my brain trying to make sense of the reality of interdimensional space, but it certainly looks real. And I keep thinking I see pictures, it's kind of interesting.
I can't believe Amber ran off without asking permission! I bet we'll be in trouble when we get back, no matter what Amber thinks. I've got a feeling that this is the kind of thing her squire is supposed to stop her from doing.
When I get bored with watching the lights outside I pull out the book on shadow magic to give more attention to the parts I skimmed before. If it weren't for the whole 'shadows eat you' part, I can see why people get into this stuff. I've come upon a bit about invisibility—it's possible to weave shadows into a piece of clothing and then you have a real invisibility cloak. I get to the chapter on the history of shadow magic. The inventor was some wizard who ended up eaten by the shadows, even his name which makes it hard to write a chapter about him. This author did somehow track down the wizard's research notes and some of them got copied into this book. This guy was nuts. Half his notes are ranting about ruling the magic dimension. Good grief.
I'm dozing off over my book when the sound of the engine changes and we're back in ordinary space. Space, with a planet gleaming like a pearl before us. It's all the colors of ice: blinding white at the poles shading to a ring of metallic blue and green around the equator.
It crashes in on me that I'm looking at another planet and for a long minute all I can do is stare.
Amber taps a control and we dive towards the planet. As it grows in the window colored stars blink in around us: more ships traveling in or out. We sail past them, the planet Zenith growing quickly in the window in front of us. It's soon clear we're heading for the metallic band around the equator—which comes into focus as a city, gleaming skyscrapers and great glass structures that must be greenhouses. I see roads of greeny-black glass—solar panels?-and looping bridges and the motion of highways like rivers.
The cartoon pilot says, "May I assume we're visiting my creators?"
"That's right, Pilot."
"Tecna made this ship?" I ask.
"She and Timmy programmed the pilot. Look, that's where we're going! Apogee City."
The whole place is city, but I notice a needle-thin tower with a rounded building on top of it—like balancing a plate on a pole, except this is a building. It grows in the window, it's much bigger than I immediately thought, a huge structure and I see gardens and a lake on top of the plate. A landing pad site beside the lake and the ship slows smoothly to set down.
The doors open and I get out, and turn slowly trying to look at everything. I thought I was used to the magic dimension, but Zenith is something new. We're standing in a bowl-shaped valley, with grass and trees, bigger than a sports stadium. I know it's on top of the spire above the city proper, but there are buildings up here too, small ones but totally futuristic looking, all glass and chrome and the gleaming green metal.
Amber says, "Isn't it great? This is the Guardian Fairy's residence. We can go into the city later, you have to see the mall here!"
Shopping had not crossed my mind as a thing to do on an alien planet, but ok.
Then a woman comes out of one of the little buildings and pulls Amber into a hug. Amber laughs, a sound of real delight. "Aunt Tecna!"
"Hello, Jewel."
I recognize Tecna from the Winx Band cds. She barely looks older—she's taller in person though, and her hair has grown to reach her shoulders. She looks like an aunt—I don't even know what an aunt should look like, but Tecna looks like it. She looks over at me and offers her hand. "This is Twyla? Nice to meet you. How are you finding the magic dimension?"
"It's so cool! I love going to Alfea and… Zenith is really pretty."
"It is. I'm guessing Amber will take you to the mall after we get Naoki sorted out. How do you think he got into this kind of mess?"
Amber's bright eyes glance at me for an answer so I say, "I don't know. It could be an accident but it happened to Vera's teacher miss Sophie too."
"Sophie too?" Tecna repeats, directing us to one of the little buildings. This one is an elevator, and in a few seconds it takes us down a floor into a futuristic interior with sleek lines and odd metallic tapestries hanging on the walls. There are lots of plants in pots—and big planters full of moss with little flowers growing from it but I feel like the moss is here for some reason, like it's making oxygen or something.
Little Digit is there, playing a video game with a pixie-sized controller in front of a people-sized TV. Digit pops up when she sees us. "Come help me test my predictive software!"
I look at Amber, who shrugs.
Tecna says, "Please? She needs a bigger sample size."
The pixie floats two tablets to us, "I wrote a program to predict a fairy's likelihood of bonding with a pixie. Please answer the questions on the screen."
It looks like an internet survey. I input my age now, age of first transformation, magical birthsign, and realm of origin—Magix, because Earth isn't an option on the menu. The next question is 'choose the closest to your magical color.' There's an aqua, so I choose that.
Amber's tapping away and without looking up says, "Lockette's already called dibs on me so I might skew your data."
"Is that how it works?" I ask, a little horrified at the thought that I might inherit Nerys.
"No." Amber, Tecna and Digit all say.
"Oh good."
Tecna's working at her computer, a big set of screens and keyboards built into the wall. She looks back at me and smiles the same 'welcome to the weirdness of the magic dimension' smile I get from my teachers a lot.
I answer more questions, which all seem super random. "So… what kind of music I like has something to do with whether I'll bond with a pixie? Is there a question about whether I want to bond with a pixie?"
Amber nods absently. "That's question forty-one. Maybe it should be the first!"
Digit explains, "If you like hip-hop music and there's a pixie of hip-hop music, you're more likely to bond!"
"But Musa got Tune and Cherie, neither of them are hip-hop pixies. Here, I'm done. What do I win?"
While I answer the last few questions Digit does whatever she does to get a result and announces, "Your chances of bonding with a pixie is eighty percent, above average. Your most likely pixie powers are fire, destiny or portals."
Digit's looking at the tablet but I see Amber's face. She doesn't look thrilled. Dismayed, maybe even disgusted. I don't know why, but I can tell she's upset. Thinking to distract Digit I offer my tablet, "Here, what does mine say?"
Amber smiles at me and gets her composure back while Digit compiles my data.
"Twyla, your chance of bonding with a pixie is sixty percent. Slightly above average. Your most likely pixie powers are sky, dream and possibility."
That sounds like it means a lot, but I don't understand exactly what it is that it means. I'm not even sure I want to bond with a pixie, really. Cassie wants to, and the second- and third-years seem really happy with their cute little pixies and Mom and Nerys… I'm not sure I want to be that close with someone.
Tecna gestures and three holographic screens go up on the wall in front of her. Amber and I go over to see, with little Digit fluttering behind us. Apparently Tecna's computer has the same capability as mine since she's connected to the Earth internet and the same product launch video I was watching. She watches it intently and recognizes the same moment I did when the light falls over and Mr. Ishida's shadow disappears. Tecna and Digit have the same, "are we really seeing this?" reaction I had and we watch the rest of the video to make sure. Then I tell them about the game with its puzzle that Vera thought was magically fun instead of just normally fun.
Tecna sighs. "Naoki, what've you gotten into this time?"
Amber asks, "This time?"
"For a guy whose job is sitting at a computer all day Naoki gets into a remarkable amount of trouble." Tecna says dryly.
"We read his blog." Digit chirps.
"Naoki liiiiiiikes Aunt Tecna!" Amber singsongs and Tecna chuckles
A question I probably should've asked before jumps into my head and out my mouth, "How many people on earth know about the magic dimension anyway?"
"You've probably met most of them. Bloom's parents in Gardenia, Morgana and Rick of course, Selina-"
"Aunt Roxy." Amber adds, "But she mostly lives here."
"And most of the people we met during the whole thing with the Talent Thief. Evans and Gomez, and the talents. Come to think of it..." Tecna pulls up another holographic screen, taps a few buttons on it, and slides some data off the edge of the window. My phone and Amber's both chime and I see a 'file received' alert. I tap the icon and it's a list of names and pictures. A quick scroll shows me a few names I recognize. "Annabelle? I have her cds too! And Madder..." My friend Emma's favorite singer, with black lipstick and spiked red hair.
Amber's saying, "So if it's a shadow magician maybe he'll go after more of the talents?"
"Just in case."
I bring myself back to the task at hand. "Do you have anything of Mr. Ishida's to get his shadow to come back? The magic needs something that'll remind the person of their dream."
"I think I do. When Naoki sold his first game he sent me the beta version with a special skin he made for me." Tecna puts it up on the screen. I don't recognize the game, it's some kind of old point-and-click. The skin replaces the slightly pixelated detective hero with a slightly pixelated Detective Tecna heroine in a little deerstalker hat with a magnifying glass. It's super cute. Amber giggles.
"Can we just call Mr. Ishida and play it for him?"
"Should work."
"And then we can go shopping!"
My brain skips for a moment. we're doing something important here, saving the kids of Earth from educational failure, and Amber's already thinking ahead to shopping? I guess Amber's already had lots of adventures so it's not a big deal to her. Also we could've just video-call Tecna. I think Amber brought us all the way to another planet to hit the mall, which isn't bad but… it's something.
They haven't noticed me side-eyeing because Tecna is making the call to earth. Her computer makes a phone-ringing noise, and after a minute the video screen loads. Mr. Ishida is trying to pat down his wild hair, looking down at the corner of his screen—using his camera for a mirror like everybody does. He looks up when the connection is made, his face glowing with nervous delight.
"H-hi Tecna! Um, was there a raid today? I've been a little distracted lately! Who are your friends?"
Tecna is looking very perplexed. "Naoki, are you… all right?"
"Huh? Of course! Why?"
"You're sounding more scatterbrained than usual, and you don't have a shadow."
Mr. Ishida leans away from his camera to turn on a lamp. He hold out his hands and looks down at the total lack of shadow on his desk. "Whoa! This is so cool! Why aren't I invisible? If my hands aren't blocking the light they shouldn't be reflecting any light so I should be invisible! Will I wake up invisible tomorrow? Oh… haha, this is a bad thing isn't it?"
"'Fraid so." Tecna says, smiling.
Mr. Ishida droops. "I'm still waiting for my superpowers."
Amber pipes up, "Your superpower is programming! I've played all your games, they're great! Want to team up on the fairy detective game you made Aunt Tecna?"
After squinting a moment through his glasses Mr. Ishida guesses, "I know your voice… Firejewel! My favorite epic level DPS!"
That was my role too, during my brief stint on World of Battlecraft before I stopped paying for it to save up for archery range time. I would've pegged Amber for a healer.
They bring up the detective fairy game—skipping the intro so I don't quite understand the story Something about looking for clues and the identity of the criminal is randomized each time, it'd make more sense if Amber and Mr. Ishida were playing slowly instead of racing each other and clicking through the text screens. Amber's collected six clues when Mr. Ishida collects the seventh and makes an accusation, winning the game.
"Oh! It's back." Mr. Ishida says, waving his hand in front of the light again. "...oh dear. I think I've been using my powers for evil. With great coding skill comes great responsibility!"
"Can you fix the game so it's just normally fun?" I ask.
"Aha, yes, I'll release a patch tomorrow. Or Tuesday. I'm not really sure how I did that, the algorithms came together into some kind of unholy union and I couldn't resist plugging it all in. maybe I should start now… hang on! How did my shadow come off in the first place? Is that Godzilla thing going to come back?"
Tecna looks at Amber and me. I shrug. Nobody's mentioned a giant lizard, I'd have to ask Vera to ask Shimmergloom.
"Looks like no on the crocodile man. Your shadow might've come off while you were making your livestream last week, do you remember anything happening?"
"Aha, I nearly got bonked by a spotlight! That was memorable."
Amber asks, "Was anybody strange there in the room?"
"No, just the video people and a few of their kids who wanted to be there for the release."
Kids? Could a kid be a shadow magician? Well, Amber and I are kids and we're fairies. Amber looks at me and shrugs.
"Did one of them enchant me? Hang on, I was enchanted and I didn't get to enjoy it! Or study it! I didn't even notice, I just thought I wasn't quite well."
Tecna's shaking her head, smiling. "You wouldn't have enjoyed the rest of the side effects, Naoki-kun. And don't try bribing Amber to cast spells on you just so you can see what it feels like, she won't and neither will I—but Digit and I will help you write that patch if you want."
Amber mutters something that includes the words, 'for enough in-game gold...' and tugs me away from the screen, "Twig, shopping!"
I'd rather stay and hang out with Mr. Ishida over the internet, but if he and Tecna are working he wouldn't be able to tell me about his company's upcoming projects anyway, so I let Amber pull me away.
She certainly knows where she's going—back up to the park at the top of the building. It seems to be an actual park, because there are some people hanging around, taking walks and chatting like people do at parks. Only one of them pays attention to us, a blonde woman who smiles and calls Amber 'Firejewel.'
"Hi Iris! How's the robots?"
"They're doing well, Jewel. They're building a city on the tundra and working to restore the environment there. Would you like to visit in the summer?"
"Ooh! Yeah! Can I? Twyla too, she's my squire."
Iris nods too and I smile back. Amber's already turning away. She calls, "We're going into the city, Iris, see you later! Twig, come on!" She climbs the side of the bowl-shaped park we're in and I follow her up to the edge. It's steep, grassy but clearly people aren't supposed to get up here. I pull myself up and look over the side and down.
All the way down. It's like flying, being up this high. The whole city sparkles metallic green below us and a cold wind pours up the edge.
Amber's long hair blows back and she grins, "I love doing this!"
And she launches herself off the edge.
I yelp automatically, but see Amber's magic flare as her wings appear.
Ok, I'm not doing that. I transform with my feet on the ground. As my wings unfold, any fear of heights I had vanishes. My whole body knows I won't fall, it's a neat feeling. I step up to the edge—that wind is cold on my wings but I dive off into it. The wind actually pulls me up, tossing me into the sky. I turn, fold my wings in, and follow Amber down.
She keeps glowing, I think she's doing it on purpose so I can follow her mad dive at a slower pace. The wind pushes me back and forth as I hold my wings cupped to slow my descent. Buildings rise around me and I land next to Amber on a sidewalk made of solar panels.
She's already looking in shop windows, at the most shiny futuristic clothes I've ever seen. All the locals are wearing them too—Vera would love this. Iridescent fabric, lots of netting, metallic panels. I'm not sure where I'd wear something like that other than Halloween, but they're pretty cute.
"I need that dress. And you need a coat." Amber announces.
I do need a coat. It's cold here! But I'm not sure I need a coat from a fancy store like this one. I don't know if I can afford it. But we go in and play with this wonderful holographic booth that puts illusory clothes on us and amber tells me about all the designers. She knows some of them—Queen Stella, and Mom's friend Chime, and the local Zenith fashion people. She seems to know everyone who works in the stores too, or at least they know her.
They keep giving her free stuff.
Not a huge amount of free stuff, but as we wander from shop to shop one person after another waves her off when she goes to pay, or winks and adds something free into her bag. They do it for me too, and I accumulate half a dozen small accessories that I feel a little guilty about. But Amber doesn't seem to think anything of it so this kind of thing must happen to her all the time. So I'm having a lot of fun, but it's also a little uncomfortable because I've never been shopping with a … one-percenter, I guess. Amber's so nice, but she is a princess so she's different from normal people.
Amber's ends up in a metallic silver dress that reflects shimmers of aqua from no source I can see. It's an adorable little dress.
"That one's so pretty. Prince Aiden should see you in it… or maybe Jamie?"
Amber makes a face. "Did Eimi tell you to bug me about Jamie? It's not like that. I get to have some friends who aren't royalty."
I make an apologetic wave, "Eimi didn't tell me to, I wouldn't anyway, it's your business who you're friends with. They're both cute boys.
Amber giggles and waves her hand, magically swapping her dress for a glittery pantsuit a few sizes too big for her. I'm wearing the same thing (only mine fits, because I'm taller) and I think we'd be visible in the dark.
"What's with the sparkly clothes anyway? They're not a thing in Magix."
Amber doesn't know so she asks her phone, which responds in a robot voice telling us that with the changing climate of Zenith it was hard to grow natural fibers so synthetic clothing became normal and "the style for extreme effects became popular."
"Maybe the nonglittery version looks really plasticy." Amber guesses. "I wish the twins would leave me alone about being friends with a commoner. Jamie's nice. His dream is to be a ship's captain someday, not just fishing."
"I'd ask them to give you a break but I'm a commoner too so I don't think they'd listen." I offer. Eimi and Eili are really cool but on the subject of royal behavior they're what Mom would call a force of nature.
Amber magically changes back into her own clothes, the sign we're moving on to the next place. I can't magic outfits on and off so I have to duck back into a changing room and do it the normal way. We've got a lot of loot, especially since people keep giving Amber things. "Is it time to go home? My phone changed to Zenith time so I don't know what time it is at Alfea."
"Yeah, I guess… it's about time for dinner."
"No wonder I'm hungry!"
We pick up dinner to go on the way back to the tower where Tecna lives. Apparently she gets this awesome apartment with a park on top because she's the Guardian Fairy of Zenith and that comes with an 'official residence granted by the crown.'
"Pretty sweet deal."
"They all say it's sooooo much work and I'll find out when I become Guardian Fairy of Domino."
"You get the job next?" My point of view suddenly changes and I wonder what kind of job rates such a cool house and if Amber gets a choice about inheriting it.
"Mmhm." Amber sighs suddenly. "Prob'ly. I'm the princess and the Fairy of the Dragonfire."
I don't know what to say since Amber sounds unhappy about being basically the coolest thing in the whole magic dimension. What do you say about that? But I do feel sorry for her because it has to be a lot of pressure being the coolest thing ever.
Before I can remotely think of a reply Amber twirls and laughs, her arms full of takeout and shopping. "It's snowing!"
It's just a flurry blowing down the street but when I look up past the buildings the sky is solid white—tinted green in spots from the city lights. It's gorgeous, as the snow gets thicker it's catching all the colors from the neon. Amber makes all the stuff float so she can catch handfuls of snowflakes.
