"A falafel a day is a falafel a day" is the fifth—no sixth— dumbest thing Izzy ever said aloud. She hadn't meant to ask Joe the code phrase so soon, especially with Sam and Fred around; she'd wanted to ask him if she could use The Book to find her father. If it had the history of other people's lives, then it must be able to tell her where her dad was and maybe even why he left.
But before she could ask, Izzy remembered her dad's instructions to not go looking for him. She was torn. She wanted to know he was okay but didn't want to disobey him.
Joe, Sam, Fred, and Izzy took a bus to Joralemon and found the bright green and gold dome-shaped falafel stand easily. Phil's Fantastic Falafel sat next to a small, empty park away from the street. A few round tables sat around the stand, the large green parasols closed since there was no need to hide from the sun on such a chilly day.
A familiar looking Asian girl with long black hair in a high ponytail stood in front ordering from the smiling man. Izzy made a good first impression by bumping into her, too busy talking to the boys about a superhero movie to stop in time.
"I'm sor—"
The girl whipped her head at Izzy and sneered at her.
All the color drain out of Izzy. "—reeeeeeee?"
The girl cocked her head and said in a raspy voice, "Excuse me?"
"I-I said I was sorry."
Another second of leering before the girl made a sound of disgust and turned away, grabbed her order, and tipped the cashier. When she spun back around, the annoyed look still in her eyes, Izzy leapt back, bumping into Joe behind her.
"What was that about?" the girl asked.
"I'm giving you your space."
"That 'sposed to be sarcasm or something?"
"I can't sarcasm on purpose."
The girl raised an eyebrow and stared down at Izzy like she was trying to figure her out.
Izzy gulped. "Every time I've been sarcastic it's been on accident or when I'm mad, I can't control it, I swear."
The girl shook her head. "Tch. Space cadet."
Fred stepped forward so he was indirectly between them and fixed the girl a hard look. "Hey, lay off her."
The girl paid no attention to Fred. She strolled past them, shouldering Izzy as she headed down the sidewalk and eating her falafel.
"I swear I saw her eat the foil," Sam muttered when she was far enough.
Izzy ran a hand over her hair. "Why do I anger the people I mildly inconvenience?"
"It could've been worse," Joe said. "With what I heard about her."
"You know her?"
"Everyone does," Fred said. "Rin goes to our school. That chick breaks femurs for kicks. Like, she literally kicks them to break them."
Izzy blanched. "What?!"
"That was just a rumor. All she did was…" Sam winced as if he were remembering something horribly unpleasant, "snapped a kid's collarbone."
"Why did she do that?"
Joe shrugged. "Why would you snap someone's collarbone?"
"I wouldn't snap anyone's collar bone!"
Izzy stared in the direction Rin went, her dark hair disappearing into the crowd, and a wave of anxiety wash over her. Going to a new school was hard enough (even if she didn't leave any friends behind or even teachers she liked), she didn't want to deal with someone already hating her for something so small.
Fred affectionately shook her shoulder. "Don't worry. Just bust out that kung fu magic like you did earlier and you'll handle her no problem."
She didn't know whether to tell him it was actually tae kwon do, not kung fu, or she'd prefer not to fight people if she could help it.
Joe patted her on the shoulder. "Ignore her—and them," he tossed a glance at Fred and Sam, "I'm sure she won't even bother you again. C'mon. Let's order."
The guy manning the stand—who must've been Phil—smiled as the three put in their order. When it was her turn to order, Izzy asked for the, "Paladino Supreme, please?"
"Paladino Supreme? " Sam asked, squinting at the menu. "I don't see that anywhere."
"It's on the secret menu," Izzy said. "A lot of food stands have a version of it if you ask."
Thankfully, Sam nodded, seemingly accepting Izzy's lie. She felt a little guilty but knew she couldn't tell him the truth.
Phil didn't even flinch at her made up order. "Of course, darling." He magically prepared their orders pretty quickly and handed them their food. The boys grabbed a table as Izzy stayed behind to pay.
She fished out her wallet. "How much do I owe you?"
"It's on the house, darling."
Too stunned to argue, Izzy thanked him and stuffed a wad of cash into the tip jar.
He smiled, blue eyes twinkling. "Thank you, Isadora." He had a faint accent she couldn't place. "You're as sweet as I remember—from what Anthony's told me, I mean."
She glanced at the boys to make sure they couldn't hear her before leaning towards the man. "You know my dad? How? Can you tell me where he is? I know I'm not supposed to look for him, but I need to know if he's okay."
He looked away, scratching his cheek. "I'm not authorized to—"
"Please?"
Phil looked back at her, his shoulders sagging. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering quietly, "Dammit, Em," then said, louder, "look, Isadora. Your father is fine. He's capable, smart, and knows what he's doing."
"But what is he doing?"
"He's doing his best to keep you safe. And when he's done, he'll come home and explain everything. I promise."
Izzy huffed and resisted the urge to stomp her foot like frustrated little kid. Why did she always have to be left in the dark? Why couldn't her father ever tell her what was going on? She wasn't fragile, she was fifteen, but ever since the death of her mother, he's been twice as protective.
Not that she could blame him. Izzy understood where he was coming from and knew he only wanted her to be safe. She got that, but she wished she didn't have to put up with secrets all her life.
She slinked back, her eyes cast on her shoes. "Fine."
Phil chirped, "Now that you've moved into a new place and found the magician named Joe, I can report to your father that you're safe."
"So you do know where he is?"
"Yes… and no. It's complicated. I can't tell you anything beyond that. It's classified."
Izzy frowned. "Who are you, exactly?"
"Also classified."
Izzy huffed. "Alright. If you see him, can you tell him I love him and… and come home safely. We need to talk."
Phil smiled, but his eyes were so sad it shocked Izzy. "Of course, Isadora."
She thanked him again and returned to the three talking and enjoying their food at the table.
Joe was the first to notice her expression. He looked at her, concern. "Everything okay?"
"Was he giving you trouble?" Sam asked.
Izzy shook her head and forced a smile. "Everything's fine."
Fred and Joe nodded and went back to eating their food (or inhaling, in Fred's case). She could've sworn Sam curiously narrowed his eyes at her, but the look disappeared as soon as she noticed it.
For the next couple hours, the four of them hung out. They talked about games and movies and goofed around. When it was time for them to all go home, they all exchanged numbers.
She hadn't exchanged numbers with other kids in years. She looked at the three new numbers in her phone in between her parent's, Auntie Em's, and the nonemergency police number. With the additional numbers, she could actually scroll through her contacts.
She couldn't believe she made new friends on her first day to a new school. Izzy tried to contain her happiness; she didn't want to get strange looks by giggling like a dummy on the bus.
Again.
The bus ride served to calm Izzy and give her time to think. Despite her father's orders to find a particular boy she's never met before, take Bess and Houdini, (her pet rabbits, not the people she met earlier), move to a new apartment, and go to a new school, her father disappearing for short periods of time was nothing new. She dealt with it before and this would be no different.
She'd hoped.
Her dad would be back in a week, two weeks, tops. He'd be fine, and when he got back home, she'd introduce him to her new friends.
Over the past three weeks, Izzy in the group was quickly becoming the new normal. She accompanied the three of them to their trips to the mall, study sessions, and biweekly visits to Ray's pizza. Thankfully since they met, there've been no accidental warps, and Izzy was slowly becoming more and more comfortable around them. In fact, Joe even asked her to help him with his performance for the talent show since they got along well. It also didn't hurt that she would make a way lovelier assistant than Fred.
Despite their growing friendship, Izzy was absent during their—completely on purpose and mostly controlled—trips to the future. Most recently Joe, Fred, and Sam took a trip to 2111 for Jodie's Sweet Sixteen. Unfortunately, Izzy couldn't make it since she had tae kwon do class, but on a positive note, this gave them extra time to figure out how to introduce a friend to their great-granddaughters from the future.
The first Saturday of Izzy teaching Joe magic, they hung out at the vacant basketball court a block from his house. He sat crisscross across from her with a basketball on his lap while she drew circles over and over again with a piece of chalk.
"I'm sorry."
Joe frowned. "What's up?"
A twist of her earrings. "I should've mentioned this sooner, but only some people have natural magical abilities. I've heard there's a test for it but I don't know how to perform it."
"Huh." That was news to him. Admittedly, Joe didn't know much about real magic. The only person he could ask, his uncle Joe, was frequently away and insisted on never getting a phone.
"Have you ever used magic before, or have had an outburst of some kind?"
He told her about the first time he ever slowed down the time of an object using his mind.
Izzy dropped her chalk and stared at him like he admitted to walking on water. "You've done that? Seriously?"
"Yeah. Is that good?"
"It's incredible! Centralized time manipulation? Controlling time is one of the hardest things you can do. I was pretty sure it was impossible before we warped."
Joe rubbed the back of his head kind of flattered. "Well, besides the first time, I've never done it on purpose, any of the times it happened."
There've been a couple times over the years Joe, Sam, and Fred were in a jam and Joe—somehow— was able to slow the time around objects: bullets flying at them, the three of them falling out a window, a cranky old woman throwing rotten fruit at them. Most of the time, he's done it completely by mistake.
Izzy's jaw dropped. "You've done it more than once?"
"Yeah."
"Pfft. Way to humble brag. You sure you even need me?"
"Yes! I mean there's still things I have no clue about. Like do spells have to be spoken in pig Latin? Why not Spanish or Hebrew or, y'know, actual Latin?"
Izzy picked up the piece of chalk and frowned at it. "I… don't know, just how it works. Even for nonmagical people, they can use pig Latin to make magical items work. Like wands or other items."
"Or The Book." Joe remembered Sam and Fred telling him about the time they and Samantha warped to Russia. She used The Book to bring objects from the past into the present, but she never demonstrated any magical capabilities outside of that.
Izzy nodded. "For magical people, speaking in pig Latin helps us concentrate and focus our energy for what we want to do. Think of words like, uh, training wheels. A skilled wizard or witch really doesn't need it –although, in some instances, it can help conserve energy—but for a newbie or someone learning how to use magic for the first time it's an excellent crutch."
"The first time I did magic," Joe said. "I didn't use any pig Latin, though. I was speaking English."
Izzy shrugged. "It must've been a coincidence. You spoke in English but you were doing the spell regardless."
She snapped the piece of chalk in half in one hand. "Soon, it'll be like second nature to you and you'll do it without thinking. I used to levitate pencils in class when I was bored without thinking about it. I even, um…"
Izzy cast her eyes away from his, an embarrassed glow around her. Joe quirked a brow.
"You even what?"
"I used to steal snacks and soda from vending items when no one was looking."
Joe laughed. "You? Stealing?" He couldn't imagine it. She seemed too innocent to even jaywalk or download music without buying it first.
She blushed. "Just promise me you won't abuse your power like I did."
"No promises."
Izzy fixed him with a look, but Joe could tell she was trying not to smile. He couldn't help but chuckle.
"Anyway," she said, "before you begin to practice magic, there's a bunch of reading and meditation you're supposed to do... But that's dull and boring, which is why we're going to nix it. I believe you learn best by doing. So, I'll have you start by moving the basketball."
"Okay, and how do I do that?"
Her face screwed up in thought. "Hmm..."
She exhaled, the tension in her face fading away. Silently, she raised her hand and the basketball hovered in the air, surrounded by a transparent green aura. She spoke, her voice more controlled than he ever heard before, "I think of my arm extending beyond myself, changing shape, and surrounding the ball. I get this tiggly-wiggly tug in my gut—"
"Tiggly-wiggly?"
"Yes, hush. I can basically call on this feeling whenever I want; I channel it into exerting my will over things."
She blinked and looked at him quizzically. "Am I making any sense?"
"I think so," Joe said. "Let me try."
Izzy lowered the basketball and the glowing stopped. Joe lifted his hand at the ball and stared at it, focusing on calling forth the "tiggly-wiggly" feeling for a moment then a minute. Sweat dripped down his temple. He concentrated, and concentrated…
"Do you remember the feeling?"
Joe jumped. Izzy covered her mouth to cough, but Joe knew she was laughing.
"Sorry. I was going to say when I first starting practicing, it was pretty… let's say sporadic. My dad told me to close my eyes and focus on the sensation instead of the object and work outwards from there. That might help."
Joe said okay and tried to do that.
He closed his eyes and tried to recall how it felt. He thought about the time his friends and his sister warped to ancient China. He remembered when Wang shot an arrow at Anna, how terrified he was when he thought he was about to lose her, his only option when he could get to her in time—
Joe gasped. "I felt it! I felt the tiggly-wiggly! …and I'm really glad no one was around to hear me say that."
Izzy clapped her hand. "Do it again! You're so close."
Joe thought about the feeling again, and slowly, he was able to conjure it again. It traveled from his gut, up his arms, and to his hands. He opened his eyes and channeled it into making the ball…
"Iseray."
A green aura surrounded the ball as it shakily rose into the air. He raised his arm and the ball hovered higher into the air above him.
Izzy cheered. "You did it!"
She hugged him, catching Joe off guard. He lost his concentration and dropped the ball… right on top of Izzy's head.
"Ack!"
"Sorry!"
"I-it's okay." She beamed at him. "You did great."
Over the next week, Joe spent some of his free time practicing levitating objects about the size of the basketball. Eventually, he could do it almost effortlessly and didn't even need to speak any magic words.
Fred, Sam, and the girls were impressed at first, much to Joe's amusement. For years now, they've been dismissive of his abilities as a magician and now he could do real magic. Their shocked reaction felt like a personal victory until he ruined it by showboating every chance he got and ruined the novelty of his new trick quickly. Next time, we wouldn't wear out the freshness of the next new spell he'd learn.
Still, who could blame him, really?
The next Saturday afternoon, the four of them hung out at Ray's Pizza. They crowded around the pinball table, watching Izzy beautifully fail at playing pinball. She frantically jabbed the buttons on the side hard enough to dent the machine over and over, but somehow the balls kept falling through.
Besides Joe, Fred leaned on the pinball machine and pounded the top of the glass as he laughed, rattling Sam's plate and Joe's cup. "How are you so bad at this?"
Izzy's eyes squinted in focus and frustration. "I've never pinballed before. Am I doing something wrong?"
Across from Joe, Sam dabbed some grease off a piece of pepperoni pizza with a napkin and smirked. "Yeah, you actually have to hit the ball."
Izzy's brow furrowed. "Wait. I have to hit the ball?"
Joe laughed and cracked his knuckles. "Move aside, Iz. I'll show you how it's done."
"Please," Fred said, "you're almost as bad as she is."
"Wanna bet?"
"Sure. I like my odds."
Joe was about to retort with the stakes of their bet when Sam interrupted, "Hey, isn't that Anna?"
"Your sister?" Izzy perked up and looked over to where Sam was pointing. "When did she get here?"
Joe glanced at Anna out of the corner of his eye. She sat alone at a table on the far end of the room. Her back was turned to them, but Joe recognized her spiky hair and pastel sweater.
Fred placed his chin in his hands. "Didn't your mom say she was at a birthday party or something? What's she doing here?"
"You think she got kicked out again?" Sam asked.
Izzy frowned, concerned. "We should invite her over to hang out with us."
Joe sipped from his soda. "Nah, I'm sure she's fine. Ignore her and she won't bother us."
"Are you sure?" she insisted. "I wouldn't want her to be— oh, cute! You didn't tell me she has a boyfriend."
"She doesn't."
Izzy pointed behind him. "Then who's that guy?"
Joe turned. A boy with dark spiky hair, a ripped shirt from that rock band Anna liked, and baggy black jeans with enough chains to tie Anna to a railroad track walked to the table carrying two plates of pizza. He slid into the seat next to Anna and kissed her on the cheek.
Joe practically did a spit take in Sam's direction.
Sam jumped back. "Ah! Disgusting!"
Joe put his fingers to his lips. "Shh!"
"Hey, don't shush me—"
"Shh!"
Sam looked incredulously at Fred. "He did it again."
Joe glared at the two across the room. "Since when did she have a boyfriend? "
"Your sister has a boyfriend. Big deal," Fred said. "So, are we gonna do this thing or—"
Joe was already halfway down the restaurant, sneaking up on Anna and the mystery guy, occasionally hiding underneath tables and behind the Grecian columns when it looked like they were going to glance in his direction. He crouched behind the both the two shared and motioned for the three of them to join them.
Sam groaned. "Are we really going follow him?"
Evidently, yes. The three of the followed Joe to where he was hiding—not even bothering to sneak— and squatted next to him.
"You know," Fred whispered, "stalking your sister was exactly how I wanted to spend my Saturday."
"Isn't this a breach of Anna's privacy?" Sam asked.
"Please! All the times she's breached my privacy?"
Anna was always spying on him or had her nose in his business.
"I'm not sure about this Joe," Izzy said.
"I just want to check this guy out—"
"I'm sorry to interrupt," a voice said above them, "but you know we can hear you, right?"
The four of them looked in the direction of the voice. The mystery guy and Anna looked down on them; him with a confused expression, her with a look of fear and annoyance.
Izzy waved. "Hello."
Anna sneered at them. "What are you doing?"
"We're being awful ninjas," Fred said.
Joe stood and crossed his arms. "What do you think you're up to?"
"Minding our own business." Anna took a sip of her soda. "Maybe you should take a cue."
Joe ignored Fred laughing next to him, and said, "You're gonna be in so much trouble when we get home."
"What's with the angry dad routine?" Sam whispered to Fred and Izzy.
Joe rolled his eyes and was ready to refute Sam's claim, when Anna said, "Can't you leave us alone and give us since privacy?"
"I'm surprised you even know what that word means."
Izzy put her hand on Joe's arm. "C'mon. Let's leave them alone."
"Yeah, Joe," Fred chimed in. "We still got pinball to play."
The boy's face lit up. "Oh, you're the Joe I hear so much about."
Anna blushed and nudged him. "Matty…"
Joe's eye twitched. Matty?
Matty held out his hand to Joe and smiled. "Matthew Garcia. Nice to meet you. Anna's told me a lot about…"
Joe glowered at him.
Sweat dripped down Matthew's temple. "Uhhh…"
Izzy jumped in and shook his hand. "Hi Matthew, I'm Izzy. Ignore Joe, he's cranky."
"Hey!" Joe protested.
"Hi, Izzy. Why is your boyfriend so upset?"
She kept smiling but there was a blank look on her face like Mathew asked her a question in Spanish. "My wha…?"
Joe stepped forward. "She's not my girlfriend and we're going home. Come on, Anna."
"You can't just make me go home!" Anna said.
As soon as they were home, Joe busted Anna to their parents.
Izzy sat with Fred and Sam in Joe's room while the two played some fantasy RPG video game they were engrossed in. As she watched them play, she couldn't help but eavesdrop, picking up parts of Joe and Anna's shouting match from the kitchen downstairs.
"This is so unfair," Anna whined. "My life is none of your beeswax!
"You're way too young to date, Anna," Joe said.
"You're not the boss of me! Besides, he was on a date, too."
"Again, Izzy's not my girlfriend! And even if she was out wouldn't change anything."
Izzy spun her earrings. "So, is this awkward, right? Am I'm reading this situation correctly?"
Fred didn't peel his eyes from the screen. "Pretty much."
Izzy felt somewhat responsible for this situation. If she hadn't pointed out Matthew at the restaurant, then Joe wouldn't have ruined their date. She didn't get what he was so upset about. Granted, she would probably be protective of her younger sibling if she had one, but Matthew seemed nice enough, sweet even.
"I feel bad."
"Don't. They fight all the time. Wish they didn't fight in the kitchen, though."
Sam sighed. "Why don't you carry snacks with you wherever you go?"
"Uh, because I eat them?"
"We should help them out," Izzy said. "Siblings shouldn't fight."
Fred snorted. "Spoken like an only child."
"How do you plan to do that anyway?" Sam asked.
Izzy wasn't sure. She never had to be a moderator between two parties. She looked at the door, wishing there was something she could do to fix this situation.
"I bet you're just mad I'm dating before you are!"
Joe's ears burned at Anna's accusation. "That's ridiculous! I—"
"Kids. That's enough."
The sound of their father's powerful voice was enough to get the two to stop arguing. They both simultaneously straighten and turned to face their parent.
The four of them were sitting around the kitchen table at their parent's request. They sat across from them, with Anna scooted away from him.
"Joe," his mother said. "We understand you're worried about Anna, and your father and I can't be happier that you're concerned for her safety—"
Anna blew out an exasperated breath.
"—but we can handle her."
"Yeah, Joe!"
"Don't think you're off the hook, young lady," Dad said. "You're still in trouble for not telling us about your boyfriend."
Anna sulked in her chair. "Oh."
Joe stopped himself from smirking if only because he knew if he did, he'd get that look from his mom.
"Your mother and I need to discuss whether we should let you continue seeing this Matthew boy or not—"
"What? But Dad, I—"
"And you're grounded for a week for not telling us," Mom finished.
Anna's mouth hung open like she was in shocked, but nodded, sulking further into her seat.
At that, their parents kicked them out of the kitchen so they could talk. Once they were far enough away in the living room that their conversation was muffled, Anna spun on him, glowering at him so fiercely he stopped dead in his tracks.
"I know you're jealous of me. It's sad."
"Tch. Get real. What's to be jealous of? Your stuffed animal collection or your knowledge of celebrity birthdays?"
"It's true! I get a boyfriend before you get a girlfriend. I get better grades than you do. I'm better at using The Book than you are—"
"Whoa! First of all, no you're not—"
"I am! And I know you hate me for it. You hate me for everything."
Joe froze, stunned silent.
She hugged herself and murmured, "The one time you pay attention to me and you go and ruin everything."
"Anna, I don't—"
"Stay out of my business and leave me alone, okay?"
Joe watched as she stormed up the stairs to her room, too stunned to move.
Anna thought he hated her?
Sure, he was being kind of tough on her, but only because he was worried about her. Didn't Anna see that? It had to be more to it.
He thought about what she said about The Book. Admittedly, she was better at using it. Whenever she took it (without asking, of course. She never asked.) she'd would rarely, if ever, have trouble warping and she never lost it. It was his Book, but of course, she had to be better at using it than he was.
Joe kept The Book away from her whenever he could and would only begrudgingly bring her along with them on their warps if they were seeing the girls. Joe would be lying if he said he wasn't jealous, but he never considered how it would affect how he treated her.
It wasn't just The Book, now that he was thinking about it. He ignored her a lot and would exclude her from activities when Sam and Fred were over. Joe acted like he never wanted her to be around.
Of course Anna thought he hated her.
Joe rubbed his hands over his face and fell against the living room wall. He slid to the floor and when he looked back up, there was Izzy, standing frozen like a statue mid-step in a spot previously behind him and staring at him like a deer caught in headlights.
His face heated. "Were you—"
"I swear, I was coming back from the bathroom and I saw you two arguing and I froze and I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I'm sorry!"
Her words ran together so fast, in another situation it would've been funny, but Joe just groaned and covered his face again, too embarrassed to look at her.
"Joe," Izzy said softly, the wood creaking underneath her feet as she crept closer and knelt in front of him. "I'm sorry. Are you… are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Joe flattened out imaginary wrinkles in his jeans, avoiding eye contact with her. "I'm perfectly fine."
"I see. This is your fine face, not your pouty face?"
"So what if it is?"
Izzy flinched and stared at the ground. He felt like a bigger jerk for snapping at her; yelling at Izzy was sort of like yelling at a bunny.
"Sorry, I'm sorry." Joe sighed. "This whole thing with Anna is kind of upsetting."
"Why?"
"She's only thirteen and she's dating some... well, you saw him!"
"He seemed nice," she said. "You can't judge someone completely by their looks."
Joe rubbed the back of his neck. "I know, I know."
"Maybe you should go talk to her."
"Yeah, right. You saw how it went last time."
"I mean with a nicer approach. Don't go for the 'Angry Dad' approach."
"Ha ha."
Izzy nudged him. "I'm serious. If you handle this now, you'll feel a lot better. I can even go with you if you want, for emotional support."
She smiled reassuringly at Joe as he considered it. Despite everything, he did want to make amends. Izzy was a girl after all. Maybe she'd be a good mediator between the two.
"Alright."
Joe trudged up the stair with Izzy in tow and stopped in front of Anna's door. He reached to knock on the ajar door and hesitated. He looked to Izzy who gave him an encouraging smile. He knocked softly on the pink door. "Hey, Anna?"
No response. He knocked again, harder this time.
The door slowly swung open, revealing the room and Anna, who was sitting on her bed, flipping through pages of The Book.
Joe marched in, forgetting all about Izzy and his plans to apologize. "What are you doing?!"
Anna jumped and looked at them, staring at Joe like a toddler who was caught stealing cookies. "Oh, fart."
"How did you steal The Book. Fred and Sam were in the room."
"Oh, please. You know how they get when they play—hey!"
Joe grabbed The Book and tried to yank it out of her hands. "You have no right to be in my business!"
Anna pulled back on it. "You're such a hypocrite! Besides, I'm trying to prove a point!"
They jerked The Book back and forth like a game of tug-o-war, trying to pull it out of the other's hands.
Izzy unfroze herself from underneath the threshold and darted over to them. "Don't fight, you two! We can—"
With a final tug, Joe wrenched The Book out of Anna's hands and whacked Izzy in the face. Immediately, green mist pooled out of The Book entangling all three of them.
Anna's scowl was visible past the fog. "Great! Look what you—"
And midsentence, the three of them were tossed through time.
The three of them landed on a speckled linoleum floor with a thud and an oof. Joe sat up and took a quick look around to make no one was trying to kill them in that instant. They were in a hallway across from bathrooms and a snack machine on one end. Classical music played overhead. There was a soft din of conversation from the other end of the hall turned off to the left leading to somewhere.
Where the heck where they? Did Anna mean to warp them to some random hallway?
He scowled at Anna as she stood. "Congrats, Anna. You sure proved you're better with The Book than me."
She brushed some dust off her pants then put her hands on her hips. "How is this my fault? You were yanking The Book out of my hands!"
"Because it's my Book!"
"Ugh…"
They both turned to see Izzy cupping her eye where Joe hit her, a pained look on her face.
"Izzy!" Joe cried. He completely forgot all about her, even after he hit her in the face. Joe helped her to the bench against the wall, ignoring Anna rolling her eyes. She mumbled something about going to the bathroom and left before Joe could say anything.
Joe turned back to Izzy. "I'm sorry I hit you."
"It's okay." She forced an unconvincing smile. "You didn't do it on purpose, and besides it doesn't hurt that bad."
It looked like it hurt that bad. There was a small bruise forming around her eye and she was squinting a bit.
"We should probably find you some ice or something."
"Is there ice here?"
"I don't even know where 'here' is." Joe sighed and grumbled, "We wouldn't even be here if you didn't insist I say sorry."
Izzy's shoulders droop and she looked at the floor. "You're right and I'm sorry, but I wanted to help. I hated to see you two fight."
Joe softened begrudgingly. While he was still kind of upset at her, he also appreciated her efforts and the fact she cared enough to try. Before he could tell her so, Anna was back. She handed Izzy a wrapped ice cream sandwich.
"I got it for your eye," she explained. "And a snack for later."
Izzy looked at her, surprised but clearly grateful. "Thank you, Anna."
Anna flashed her a grin. "Don't mention it. Now, let's find The Book and get out of here."
"Where is here, anyway?" Joe asked.
Izzy shrugged. "One way to find out."
The three of them walked to the end of the hallway until they came across a set of elevators, both with a down button. They agreed to go down it, starting at the bottom and working their way up if need be.
Anna nonchalantly glanced at Izzy as she punched the button. "So, Izzy, do you have any annoying siblings you wished would stay out of your business?"
Joe scoffed. "Really?"
"I'm an only child," Izzy said.
"Must be nice." Anna shot him a look.
"I don't know. It'd be nice to have some company when my dad's away instead of just me and my rabbits."
"What about your mom?"
"She's dead."
Izzy's eyes were distant and a little watery. Joe already knew, of course, but he still never knew how to respond when it was brought up. Izzy would probably deny it, but it made him feel like a crummy friend.
"How'd she die?" Anna asked.
"Seriously?" Joe hissed.
"What? I was just asking." She turned to Izzy. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
"It's okay."
She clenched her trembling free hand. "She… she died in a car accident when I was eleven."
The elevator dinged and they went in awkward silence. Joe hit the button for the first floor, unable to think of what to say other than a lame, "I'm sorry."
Izzy nodded absently like she didn't really hear him. "Afterwards I was upset, I was devastated, but I remember my dad being a complete wreck when it happened. He disappeared the first time for two months."
Joe frowned. "He just left you by yourself?"
"No, there was a lady taking care of me. I called her Aunty Em but she wasn't really my aunt. I don't know who she was. My dad was an orphan and my mom's parents disowned her for practicing magic, so I don't know them."
Anna winced. "Harsh."
"Who was aunty Em?" Joe asked.
"I don't know. A friend of his, I guess, but I haven't seen her before or since. And when I ask him, he dodges the subject."
Anna held up a hand. "Wait, you said that was the first time he disappeared? It happened again after that?"
Izzy tensed like the question caught her off guard. She spun her earrings around and stared at the ground as if searching for something to say.
"…no," she said slowly, then with forced assurance, "no, he hasn't done it since."
There was something she was hiding, but before either Joe or Anna could answer, the elevator dinged and opened. Izzy was the first one out.
Joe glanced at Anna and caught the look on her face. She noticed something was off, too, but wasn't saying anything.
The two of them followed her out of the elevator and took in their surroundings.
Joe didn't know where they warped to, but he wasn't expecting to be looking at a huge glass wall at the end of a large room that overlooked parks and vaguely recognizable buildings. A spiral staircase in the center of the building led up to a third story floor. To the furthest left corner of the room was a gift shop, but everywhere else was art.
An abundance of paintings and sculptures of all various sizes, shapes, and colors surrounded them in every direction. It was almost overwhelming. Small clusters of people—a group of elderly people being led by a tour guide, a horde of middle schoolers in familiar maroon and gold uniforms gathered around the entrance, a few couples both with and without small children—gathered on every level to appreciate the art on display.
"Huh," was Joe's reaction. "We're at some art museum. At least we're in a place where no one will want to kill us."
Izzy grinned and bounced around like a kid in the candy store. "I know this place! My parents took me here for my eleventh birthday. They had this beautiful sculpture made out of all these semiprecious stones and I—"
"Oh no…" Anna whined and pulled them by the arm under the staircase.
"What's wrong?" Joe asked.
"It's me."
Joe was half tempted to say something slick, but the desire was squashed by the worried look on Anna's face. She peeked behind the staircase at whatever they were hiding from and swore.
Joe and Izzy gave each other a confused glance and looked to see what she was so nervous about.
Izzy gasped. "Is that—"
"It's you!" Joe whipped his head back at Anna.
"Yeah, that's what I said."
Among the crowd of middle schoolers, there was Anna, looking over the crowd of her peers as if searching for someone.
Anna moaned. "Why this day?"
"What's wrong with this day?" Joe asked. "Did something happen?"
Her face went red. Anna crossed her arms and glowered at him, seemingly for no reason. "Let's just not cross my path, okay?"
Joe wanted to ask her what her problem was, but he didn't want to add that on top of their previous argument. He sighed. "Alright. It's better if we don't risk running into you."
Her shoulders slouched, and she seemed to relax. "Right. So what's the plan?"
"We should split up. We'll find The Book a lot faster that way."
Anna snorted. "Split up? It's not Scooby Doo. I say we stick together."
Joe clenched his jaw. "Why ask me the plan if you're gonna come up with your own plan?"
"Why come up with a lame plan?"
Izzy stepped between the two of them, raising her hand not holding the ice cream bar up in surrender. "Why don't we try it both ways?"
The two of them stopped glaring at each other and looked at her. She gulped and smiled weakly.
"We can start looking for The Book split up, then if we can't find anything in twenty minutes, we'll look together? Or, um…"
This was obviously a worse plan, and Joe could tell she knew that, too, just by looking at her, but Anna huffed and said, "Fine," before heading towards the gift shop and keeping her face away from her past self.
And with that, the three of them went their separate ways in search for The Book.