Chapter Twenty-Four: I Believe That Every Person Is Born With Talent

~Maya Angelou

Reviews:

BabaLooWho: froster? They're cool. I can imagine Jamie manifesting and singing "Let it go" to because that's just the kind of person she is. Thanks for reviewing!

Marigold Elizabeth Everdeen: I know, right? Verdi is amazing. Seriously. Thanks for reviewing!

ilikekotlc: okay, I'll add your vote in. And I agree; that would make sense. Like, we have way too many telepaths in the series—I thought it was supposed to be a rare ability? Anyway, thanks for reviewing!

ayden123plat: okay, thanks for reviewing!

Recap: well, I met Edaline... and then went to sleep—after drawing a little bit more, of course.

Word count: 2,712

ONTO THE NEXT CHAPTER!


Jamie found herself walking around at an island called Mysterium. No, she wasn't suddenly taking an island vacation. As cool as that would be, she was in her favorite book. She didn't want to be spending time at an island.

That being said, she wouldn't pass up the opportunity if offered. Island vacations were cool, after all.

Small, identical buildings lined the narrow streets. They were so perfect, it almost seemed fictional—which it was, technically. Street vendors filled the air with the scent of spices and sweets, and conversations buzzed around the crowded sidewalks. There was a huge crowd, but Jamie (and Edaline and Sophie—they existed, too) still stuck out like an admittedly sassy but sore thumb. It wasn't because of her stunningly gorgeous face, though, but her gown. Compared to the simple tunics and pants all the other elves were wearing, her fancy dress was drawing a lot of attention. If the dress wasn't pretty, Jamie would be annoyed. Sophie, on the other hand, clearly didn't agree:

"Hey, how come they don't have to dress up?" she complained.

"Mysterium is a working-class city." Edaline replied simply, and if Jamie hadn't been isekai-ed into Keeper of the Lost Cities, she'd have been confused—like Sophie:

"Oh. But wait—doesn't everyone get the same amount of money in their birth fund?"

Edaline nodded. "Money has nothing to do with social rank. Our world is 'talent based.' Those with simpler abilities work simpler jobs—and they dress correspondingly."

"Seems kind of unfair. You can't control how much talent you're born with. Why should you live a lesser life?"

Sophie spoke quietly, but she had a point. The human world—the real world—was based on money, like Sophie hinted at. The thing about money is, you don't have to be born with it. You can make it from nothing. But you have to be born with a talent. Even other normal talents, such as drawing or singing, are things you're born with. There's a small difference between skills and talents; skills are cultivated, whereas talents come naturally. So, in this case, were humans better than elves?

Maybe. Maybe not. But if they were, well... there was a reason why Shannon Messenger referred to the Lost Cities as a "crumbling utopia."

However, Edaline had a different opinion: "Their lives aren't lesser. They have houses just as fine as Alden's or ours. But when they come to work, they come to a different type of city. They come to a city designed for their work."

"Ah." Jamie understood—not what Edaline was saying, but that she was plucking out some of the harsher truths and leaving a sort of true, sort of not sentence behind.

She looked around again, sensing that the somewhat tense conversation was done. Everyone was busy with their own lives, but they seemed to recognize Edaline. Some people waved at her. She didn't wave back.

"You okay?" Sophie asked her.

"Yes, I'm just not used to being around so many people." Edaline kept her head down as she lead them through the busy village, avoiding the other elves they ran into. It seemed that everyone else wasn't used to Edaline being around other people, too, because Jamie was acutely aware of the whispers that followed them now.

"Look, it's Edaline Ruewen—can you believe it?"

"I thought she doesn't leave the house—"

"She doesn't—"

Edaline pretended to not notice, but didn't slow her pace until they reached the only building that that was different—and boy, it was really different. It was painted about twenty different colors and had curved walls and a crooked roof. It looked like it belonged in a nursery rhyme, which was ironic since the Dizznee kids' names actually did rhyme.

Speaking of the Dizznees... wasn't this where they met Dex and Kesler?

She looked to the name of the store—Sʟᴜʀᴘs ᴀɴᴅ Bᴜʀᴘs: Yᴏᴜʀ Mᴇʀʀʏ Aᴘᴏᴛʜᴇᴄᴀʀʏ.

Yup; Jamie didn't need her memories to know that this was the Dizznees' shop.

The door belched as they entered—which sort of made sense because it was called Slurps and Burps, after all. The inside of the store was filled with a maze of shelves that were filled with colored bottles that were filled with liquids and pills that were filled with... something. As much as Jamie wanted to carefully inspect each and every concoction (and maybe even try some with absolutely no regard for her safety because she was smart that way), she followed Edaline to the back. She didn't want to get lost, even though it would be one of the cooler places to get lost.

In the back was a laboratory complete with beakers bubbling over burners with rainbow-colored flames. A slender man in a long white lab coat—Kesler—hovered over the experiments with a skinny boy—Dex—at his side.

"I'll be with you in two minutes," Kesler promised as he added a blob of orange slime to one of the test tubes. "Get ready to add the amarallitine, Dex."

Amarallitine... Was it just Jamie, or was that a super pretty name for a chemical?

Dex used a long pair of tongs to pick up a glowing yellow vial and hold it over the experiment from a safe distance. "Ready?"

"Not yet." Kesler slipped on a pair of thick black glasses. "Okay. Now!"

He jumped back as the boy poured in the contents of the vial. The beaker sparked and released an enormous plume of smoke that smelled like dirty feet. Jamie was a little concerned, but neither Dex nor Kesler yelled at them to get down or something, so she tried to not panic. She kind of failed, but that was besides the point.

When the smoke cleared, Kesler pounded Dex's back and removed his glasses. "First one we haven't exploded all day." He then looked up. "Edaline! Is that really you?"

Although Jamie would've responded with a sarcastic, No, this is an illusion, Edaline just said softly, "Hello, Kesler."

"'Hello, Kesler,'" he mocked in a friendly fashion—although, his impression was surprisingly accurate. "That's all you have to say? Get over here and give me a hug!"

Even though Edaline's pace suggested that she wasn't very enthusiastic about it, she got wrapped in a bear hug. "You look good, Eda—but what are you doing here? You never come to town."

"I know." Edaline handed him a crumpled scrap of paper. "Elwin said I need to get these for Sophie and Jamie."

Kesler scanned the sheet for about half a second before his head snapped up in shock. "Sophie and Jamie?" His eyes found where they were standing. Jamie held her hand up and wiggled her fingers in hello. His jaw fell slack. "Did I... miss something?"

"Yes." Edaline took a deep breath. "They live with us now."

Kesler's eyes darted between the three (Sophie, Jamie, and Edaline, that is) as if he couldn't decide who wasn't more fascinating. Clearly, he figured Jamie was (probably because of her eyes that everyone called red, even though they were just a reddish brown. Jamie would fight whoever argued with her about that) because his eyes grew wider and stayed on her until he eventually said, "Since when?"

"Since yesterday—" Edaline cut herself off in a way that suggested she didn't want to waste time with the details "—it's a long story. Sophie, Jamie, this is my brother-in-law, Kesler, and my nephew, Dex."

"Hi," Sophie mumbled, and Jamie followed suit. She mentally congratulated herself on not shouting "I know" with about three hundred exclamation marks at the end. It may have not really been a big achievement, but baby steps, people! Besides, she was handling being isekai-ed better than about 90% of fangirls/fanboys, so, there.

"Sophie and Jamie will be starting at Foxfire on Monday," Edaline explained.

"Cool!" Dex exclaimed with so much enthusiasm, the fangirl in Jamie started, well, fangirling. Okay, so maybe she wasn't handling it that much better… "What level will you be?"

"Level Two," Sophie said.

"Both of us," Jamie added because she had a feeling that Dex was going to forget about her (because, you know, Dexphie). Forgetting about Jamie Blair was a crime worthy of capital punishment, and Dex was too adorable for her to let him die.

"Me too! Do you know your schedule al—whoa!" Dex leaned closer to Sophie's face and pointed to her eyeballs, which was sort of weird, but whatever. What did Jamie know about what was normal and what wasn't? "How'd you do that?"

Jamie bit back a laugh at Sophie's expression.

"Um… Jamie's eyes are red?" Sophie offered as a response.

Jamie glared at her as Dex whipped around to see her oh-so interesting eye color—which was brown. Brown! Not red! "Really?!" he asked her. She nodded. "I turn mine red sometimes, too—it totally freaks everyone out." He frowned and turned back to Sophie. "But I've never seen brown before. I like it."

Since Dex wasn't facing her anymore, Jamie winked at Sophie as she blushed at Dex's compliment. Sophie ignored her, though, and replied to Dex, "Actually, I just have brown eyes. Same with Jamie. I mean, her eyes are naturally red."

"Really? Excellent. Do you see them, Dad?"

"I do." Kesler was still staring at Jamie like she was a ghost. "Where exactly are you from, Jamie?"

Why only Jamie? It didn't make sense, seeing as Sophie was obviously more important and impressive compared to her (no sarcasm whatsoever. Seriously) but she still replied, "The Forbidden Cities."

It only occurred to her after Kesler and Dex shouted "What!?" and "That's the coolest thing I've ever heard! Was it awesome? I bet it was awesome. Hey, are you human? Is that why you have brown eyes?" at the same time (ten points to whoever guesses who said what) that that was one bomb she probably shouldn't have dropped so casually.

At least Sophie saved her from responding to that whirlwind of questions by saying, "We're not human. We were just raised by them."

Edaline stopped him from asking anymore questions: "Dex, I think you're making them uncomfortable."

Jamie would've hugged Edaline for saying that if it wasn't really rude.

"Am I? Sorry. I didn't mean to."

Sophie shrugged. "It's okay. I know I'm strange."

Dex smiled, flashing deep dimples. "I like strange." Sweet KotLC, Dex is so adorable. "Hey, do you—"

Dex was interrupted by the door burping (well, that was something Jamie never thought she'd say).

"You!" A tall woman in a dark green cape stalked through the store, pushing past Sophie and Edaline. An incredibly tall girl in a hooded cloak dragged behind like a pink Grim Reaper.

Hold up—why was she in a cloak?

Wait... No... This couldn't possibly be...?

"What's wrong now, Vika?" Kesler's voice, which was previously cheerful, was now annoyed.

...It was!

"Ask your son. This has his handiwork written all over it." Vika whipped the hood down from Stina's head, revealing...

A shiny bald scalp.

It took Jamie a second to process what she was seeing. Sure, she read it, but actually seeing it was...

Ten times funnier.

She clapped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from cackling out loud. She failed when Dex said, "Hey, Stina. Did you change something? 'Cause you look different today. Wait, don't tell me..."

"Mom!" Stina growled. Dex grinned at Jamie as she snickered behind her hand.

Kesler's cheeks twitched, like he was battling a laugh. "We don't sell any balding solutions here, Vika."

"Just because you don't sell them doesn't mean you don't make them," she insisted.

Kesler glanced at Dex.

"You know how to make them, too," he reminded.

"I know it was you, you stupid sasquatch!" Stina screamed.

Dex, a sasquatch? No. Sassysquatch…?

Okay, maybe—especially since Dex just rolled his eyes and pointed to a space behind Stina's ear. "Did you know you have a dent in your skull right there?"

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the first time Jamie saw an elf be violent.

Stina lunged for Dex in a flurry of bony appendages—but Kesler pushed her back. "That's enough!" he shouted. "Control your daughter, Vika!"

"Why should I? It's not like you control your children."

Jamie's jaw dropped. Sure, she never had any real parents until Alice and Scott, but she was 99.9% sure that that wasn't proper parenting. What kind of mother says that? No wonder Stina acted like that.

Apparently, this was normal for Vika Heks, though, because Kesler looked furious, not shocked, and quickly composed himself. "We have Hairoids in stock. Take some on the house, and she'll have her hair back in a week."

"A week?!" Stina wailed. "I can't go back to school looking like… like…"

"Like an ogre?" Dex suggested with a wicked grin that made Jamie question how she ever thought he was adorable and everything else in her life because she was dramatic that way.

Stina screamed again.

"If my daughter misses any days of school because of your son, I will make sure he is held responsible!" Vika threatened.

"You can't prove anything," Dex grumbled.

"I won't need to. They'll except nothing less from a bad match!"

A… bad match? That was… that was… That was when a couple was ruled "genetically incompatible" based on a number of things. It may have not been romantic, but it meant a lot to a lot of people.

It was also an insult.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do," Kesler all but spat. "You two are going to get out of my sight, and when I finish helping these customers, I'll see if I can make the Hairoids more potent. If I can't, wear a hat."

Vika stared him down, but he didn't flinch. (Go Kesler!) "I guess we have no choice. It's not like anyone else would waste their lives making ridiculous medicines in a useless shop."

"If it's so useless, why does everyone buy from me?" he countered.

Vika couldn't seem to find a retort, so she threw the hood over Stina's head and dragged her to the door.

"I'll get you for this," she promised Dex.

"Oooh, I'm really scared."

Stina's bitter eyes focused on poor Sophie. "What are you looking at?"

Sophie looked away. "Nothing."

Stina glared at Jamie, practically daring her to say something.

Jamie blinked. "…Baldness?"

Vika dragged Stina away before she could attack Jamie, too.


Questions:

1. Favorite quote from chapter twenty-three of When Wishes Come True?

2. What ability do you think suits Jamie the best?

Please vote on the poll—or, you know, just review your answer...

Linh SongxJamie Blair(Jinh): 6 votes

Fitz VackerxJamie Blair(Jafitz): 15 votes

Biana VackerxJamie Blair(Jiana): 3 votes

Tam SongxJamie Blair(Tamie): 18 votes

Dex DizzneexJamie Blair(Demie): 3 vote

Tamie wins, holding 40% of 45 votes.

And, remember; please review!

~Sarcasticsnark13