Smoke and Mirrors


Gwen


Verdona's House, Bellwood.

"Alohomora!" Gwen, with both hands resting on top of the safe, uttered the magical words and her hands briefly flickered in a very weak blue light. But the safe didn't open. That was the third time the girl had tried the spell without success. "Very funny, Grandma. You're pranking me. You've warded the vault off against magic."

Verdona, sat off to the side with her legs crossed, magazine in hand and a cup of tea in the other, let out a long sigh that showed her disappointment with her granddaughter. "I didn't ward off the vault. The problem is that you're distracted."

"Perhaps. I mean, I don't know if I'm comfortable trying to open a safe. This looks like Stealing 101 to Sorcerers," Gwen replied, trying to change the subject. She knew why she was distracted, and she suspected her grandmother also knew, but she wanted to avoid talking about that.

"Honey, I'm sure you can find heroic ways to use this ability as well. But we both know that's not what's distracting you," Verdona replied, getting up, "It's a certain brown haired, green eyed, stud named Benjamin."

Gwen wanted to fight back, but trying to argue with her grandmother was useless. Verdona was a born liar after all and could spot one a mile and a half away. "Okay, you're right." Gwen folded her arms. "I think Ben doesn't want to be my partner anymore. I can't really blame him. He thinks he's in love with me- I mean, with Lucky Girl. It would be too painful for him to have to work with her all the time. But the responsibility for all this confusion is on you, because you still don't want me to reveal my identity to him-"

"I'm responsible?" Verdona snorted. "I'm not very fond of the idea of you and Ben together, true, because he is. . . human. I'd rather see you dating a Sorcerer, of course. But I never forbade you from dating Ben. That's on you."

"He's my cousin, Grandma!" Gwen replied.

"Sometimes, I forget that your mother raised you like a typical American girl, not a Sorceress." Verdona rolled her eyes. "We Sorcerers are a free-spirited people, Gwen, we don't have to obey social conventions of humans. We are superior to them."

"We are not superior to anyone! And I don't like Ben that way!" she protested. Verdona was acting as if Gwen had feelings for Ben and was repressing those feelings because of social pressure. That wasn't the case. She didn't like Ben. Definitely not. Not even a little bit. "I wish I could tell him the truth."

"Okay, Gwen. Do you want to tell him the truth? All right, go ahead! I give you my permission! But that will only make things worse. You've been hiding from him the fact that you are a Sorceress for years. You want to be his partner because you think he can't handle things by himself. Ben will not accept that easily," Verdona replied, frowning.

Gwen lowered her head. Her grandmother was right.

"It's too dangerous for him to do this without me, Grandma," Gwen whispered, "I have to convince him to stay as Lucky Girl's partner."

"Hm . . ." Verdona put her hand on her chin, thinking. "You said this kid has a big ego. You can use that in your favor."


Cafe Le'Roys

"Here is your order, kids." The chubby middle-aged lady brought two pieces of pie for the Tennyson cousins.

"Thank you very much, Mrs. Dalton." Gwen thanked her with a smile.

For a few moments, Gwen just watched her brown-haired cousin eating his pie. She was thinking of a clever way to start the conversation. "You know, Ben, I'm not hungry. Would you like to have my pie too?"

Ben looked at her with a confused expression on his face. "Why are you acting so nice? What do you want from me?"

"I don't want anything," Gwen said in a gentle voice. "I'm a good cousin, and I understand you're going through a rough time, so I want to give you all my support . . . and pie."

Ben tilted his head a little to the side. "If you think I'm sad or something because Lucky Girl turned me down. Pfft well you're wrong. I'm totally over her."

There was one thing she could always count on about Ben. He could be completely broken inside, but he would always put up a tough guy attitude in front of people - including her. Normally, this was something that made Gwen angry, because it's a lot harder to help someone who doesn't open up, but now Gwen would use that in her favor.

"We're family, Ben. You know you can talk to me," she said, putting her hand on top of his. "We both know you are not over Lucky Girl. If you were, you would have no problem staying as her partner."

"H-How did you know that?" Ben asked, surprised.

"Well, that girl is persistent. After you didn't answer her messages, she texted me. But don't worry, I told her to let go of that partnership thing. I explained to Lucky Girl that you like her a lot, and it would be awkward and painful for you to have to work close to her knowing that she doesn't like you back. It was not right of her to ask you that. She should give you some space and let you heal your emotional wounds."

"WHAT? I can't believe you said that!" Ben spoke in an angry tone. "'Emotional wounds'? If she tells this crap to someone, people will think I'm a crying baby. I can't let that happen."

Ben took out his cell phone from his pocket, and began typing furiously. Then he showed the phone's screen to Gwen.

Lucky Girl (2 days ago): "Ben, you are a wonderful person and one of the best agents of S.E.C.T. I wish we would continue to be friends and working partners."

Ben (seconds ago): "Fine by me. If my cousin said something to you, please ignore her, she hates me and was just trying to make fun of me in a very unfunny way."

She should be happy that her plan had worked perfectly, but she could only think of one thing.

"Do you think I hate you, Ben?" she asked in a low voice.

"Maybe I was kinda harsh on that message. But I do think we love-hate each other." Ben replied.

"I lo- I like you a lot. And everything I do, I do to help you," she said, with a hint of sadness in her eyes.

"Oh, come on, I'm trying to get angry at you here. Why do you have to use the puppy dog eyes on me? Not fair." Ben cracked a smile. "Come here," He said, moving his chair from the other side of the table and placing it right next to her. Then he wrapped her in a hug. "You're my DweeBest friend! You know that."

She gently caressed his hair, and she could feel his breath on her neck - which definitely did NOT mean she got butterflies in her stomach.


S.E.C.T. had several "teleport elevators" at their bases scattered in strategic locations around the globe. A teleport elevator, instead of going up or down, could teleport everything inside it to some other elevator somewhere else. Of course, those elevators were built using alien technology.

A teleport elevator was large enough that Grandpa's RV could fit inside it, as Lucky Girl could personally confirm when she saw the Rust Bucket inside the teleport elevator at S.E.C.T.'s Bellwood base.

And not only was the Rust Bucket there, Ben - "wearing" his Watch Boy disguise - and Grandpa Max were waiting for her in the elevator.

"Nice to meet you, Lucky Girl. You remind me of someone I know." Max shook her hand.

"I hear that a lot." Lucky Girl tried to hide the nervousness under a smile. She was really putting that Charm of Luck to the test. If Grandpa Max weren't able to figure out who she was, she would admit the amulet is a lot more powerful than she had thought it to be.

"Hi," Ben said, squeezing her hand quickly and avoiding eye contact.

"Hi, Ben," She replied in the most gentle voice she could, trying to make him feel more comfortable.

Grandpa Max used the elevator panel, entering some secret access code, and the door closed.

A few seconds later the door opened again. Lucky Girl felt a heavy dizziness, and noticed that Ben seemed really uncomfortable too. Max, however, was looking normal. "You get used to it eventually," he said.

Two people were waiting for them: a dark-skinned man wearing glasses, and a woman with short brown hair.

"Mr. Tennyson, what an honor! I thought you had retired!" The man said, smiling as he saw Grandpa Max.

"Hello, Elliot. I came out of retirement. I found out that sitting around was not for me." Grandpa wasn't actually lying, he was really a very active person, but the main reason he came back to S.E.C.T. was the same reason that led Gwen to enlist: to watch Ben's back.

"These are Watch Boy and Lucky Girl. They're working with me," Max said, making the introductions.

"And this is my partner, Molly Gunther," Elliot said, introducing the woman, who greeted Grandpa and Ben.

But when Agent Gunther went to shake hands with Lucky Girl, her handshake was quick and she had a frown on her face. "I guess she didn't like me very much" Lucky Girl thought.

"How can we help you?" Max asked.

"Actually, we just called you guys to watch our operation. We found out that Eric Edwards is hiding in the snowy mountains of White Peaks. We thought you guys would want to see the bastard getting arrested," Elliot said.

"It's great news. But we have to make sure he talks," Ben said. "He was responsible for the disappearance of several people in Bellwood, we need to find out exactly what he did to them."

"Oh, we have an ace up our sleeve for that." Elliot smiled. "A recent addition to S.E.C.T . . . Tomyx."

The young Vilgaxian, wearing a black S.E.C.T. uniform - extra-large of course - entered the room. "Hello everyone!" He said excitedly.

Lucky Girl didn't know how to feel about his presence. He really seemed to be a good guy, but she still didn't trust him - he had put an alien watch on her cousin's wrist and started that whole mess after all. And Lucky Girl didn't know if Tomyx had some hidden agenda, but she had a feeling he was still hiding something.

"We'll use the 'all Vilgaxians are evil' stereotype in our favor. We'll play Edwards, make him think that our agent here is a high-ranking Vilgaxian officer who came to help him escape. If we're lucky, he will buy it," Elliot spoke.

"Nothing like using a freak to catch a freak-worshiper," Molly said with a smirk.

Lucky Girl was a little uncomfortable with the use of the word "freak." She might not like Tomyx very much - but calling him a "freak" was totally uncalled for. It looked like Molly had something personal against the alien. Or maybe against all aliens.

"Give a ride to the squid-boy in your RV, Mr. Tennyson, so you can keep him hidden from people's sight until we get to White Peaks," Molly said to Grandpa. "Elliot, I'll wait for you in the car." And then she left the room walking toward the garage.

"I'm sorry about Molly," Elliot said, after she had left, "But don't take it personal. She became an agent after losing a brother in an alien incident. . . She doesn't like aliens very much."

Gwen remembered her grandmother Verdona saying that Sorcerers were superior to humans. Unfortunately, there was still a long way to go until humans and aliens could coexist in harmony.

Lucky Girl, Ben, Max and Tomyx got in the Rust Bucket, and followed Elliot and Molly in a black car ahead. Although they had been teleported to a closer location, the ride to the place where Edwards was hidden would still be a little long - and probably it would feel even longer because of the awkward silence inside the RV. Only Ben and Tomyx occasionally exchanged a few words.

Lucky Girl remembered how impossible it was to have silence in that RV during the many trips with Grandpa Max. Either, Gwen and Ben were fighting, playing or both. Those were good memories.

Ben finally broke the silence, and spoke directly to her. "Why do you want to be my partner so much? You have so many options. For example, Tomyx. He shoots laser from his eyes, he's very strong, he can turn his arms into tentacles, and, on top of that, he thinks you're ugly, so he will never cause problems between you and your boyfriend."

"Mr. Ben!" Tomyx's eyes widened. "I'd never say you're ugly, Miss Lucky Girl. The thing is, for me no human is attractive, because the beauty standards of my species are very different from humans' beauty standards. The same way I would never be considered attractive by any human in their right mind."

"You're my friend, Ben," Lucky Girl said, answering his first question. "I don't want to distance myself from you." That was a very deep truth in Gwen Tennyson's life as well, one that she wouldn't normally admit.

"And your boyfriend doesn't care about you having a 'friendship' with me?" Ben asked, arching an eyebrow.

"My boyfriend trusts me." Lucky Girl had actually decided to pretend to have a boyfriend. Since she wasn't going to reveal that she was his cousin, it would be better to let Ben think she already had someone than to simply say she didn't want anything to do with him.

"You two . . . Have you dated before?" Tomyx asked.

"No!" The two of them answered at the same time.

"I . . . I used to like her. But it's in the past now." Ben shrugged.

He was trying to hide his feelings, but she could always read the truth in Ben's eyes. And even though Watch Boy had red eyes instead of green ones, Lucky Girl could still read them. And he was hurt.

At that moment, Gwen Tennyson hated Lucky Girl. She had hurt Ben.

The main purpose of Lucky Girl should be to protect Ben, not to break his heart.

"We're here," Max said, interrupting her thoughts.

They were at the foot of a snow-covered mountain, and, at the top of this mountain, there was an isolated house. Elliot's car stopped, and Grandpa Max stopped the RV too.

Tomyx changed S.E.C.T.'s uniform for the standard uniform of Vilgax's armies and walked in the snow until he got to the house at the top of the mountain. There was a hidden camera with him, so the whole crew could see everything he was seeing.

Tomyx knocked on the door, and Edwards opened, startled.

"My lord!" Edwards said, bowing.

Tomyx shoved him away, almost knocking him on the floor, and closed the door.

"What a mess you made, Edwards!" Tomyx shouted, in a scary voice, quite unlike his usual gentle voice.

"Forgive me, my lord," Edwards said, cringing. "I didn't expect two children to be able to kill one of our deadliest creatures."

"Spare me any of your excuses, weak man. It doesn't matter anymore now," Tomyx said, angry. "You're a wanted man in this country. We'll send you to another place, and see if you can still be of any value. Now, I want a complete report, with ALL the details of the operations you were conducting here. Don't leave ANYTHING out, you definitely don't want to show yourself to be even more incompetent than you already have."

"Wow, Tomyx is a very good actor!" Ben exclaimed, watching everything through a screen inside the Rust Bucket.

"Yeah, maybe too good," Lucky Girl thought. "How much of the Tomyx we know is not an act too?"

For over an hour, Edwards gave a complete and detailed report, under Tomyx's flawless conduction. Among the many new pieces of intel they discovered, like names of several other humans loyal to Vilgax, Edwards also gave the coordinates of an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where the missing people had been taken by the Vilgaxians. He really didn't know what happened to them there.

"Is that all?" Tomyx asked.

"Yes, my lord," Edwards confirmed.

A huge smile crossed Tomyx's lips. "OK then. I arrest you in the name of the law!" The Vilgaxian turned his right arm into tentacles to immobilize the man and, with his left hand, he showed his identification as an agent of S.E.C.T.

"Well, now all we have to do is go to the island Edwards mentioned and rescue the people," Ben said.

TO BE CONTINUED


Thanks to bearhow and Aurora Nightstar for Beta reading this!

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