It was Sunday afternoon when Megan snuck out of the academy. Though, 'snuck out' can't really be applied here because the headmaster is the best telepath in the world. Debatably, or at least the majority of the community believed so.

Knowing their mysterious headmaster, Megan suspected that Professor Xavier knew everything that happened around the campus and he was letting their students indulge a little. Especially with Megan, considering everything's that's happened.

It was four in the afternoon, and Megan wore her favorite DIY-ed cardigan that let hear wings breathe and a beanie that hid her ears because she didn't like people staring at her face. Not that she needed to hide because the academy was close to the safer parts of New York, and she's had experience in trying to have fun in the city with her friends before, but she just wanted to be ignored.

Still, that doesn't mean she would be left alone – she was a mutant. When she walked, people stared, especially with her wings. She can get away with looking as if she was some tumblr girl who was hardcore about her aesthetic, but that still led to a bunch of people bringing out their phones for a picture.

There were a few tongue-in-cheek moments with anti-mutant racists, but, whatever, she's been through worse.

During her walk outside, she came across one of the tall hotel buildings of the city.

It looked just as gaudy as the expensive hotels here in New York. It was high, it was shiny, and it looked pretty brand new-

"Hey!"

Something jumped onto her and made a grab of her beanie. It was small, furry and made a mad dash away from her.

Naturally, Megan chased for it, because whatever it was, it wasn't that fast. So, amidst all the pedestrians walking around her, Megan ran, and bumped and jumped and tried to close the gap between her and the animal.

Billy was again in front of the same restaurant.

Not that he wanted to be back here, okay maybe he does (on some basic shonen level) but he's here for more important matters.

A major console video game title was supposed to be released next month. The hype was almost at its peak and naturally Billy wanted to be one of the first to get an actual physical copy of the game – because it had a manual and some concept art as part of the package. Pre-ordered DLC too, but that's just a bonus.

His measly allowance could theoretically be used to buy such a game but that would mean that he either had to be as thrifty as he can (to an absurd point) or plead to his parents to buy him the game. He didn't want to go on those two routes so he did the next best thing: ask if there were openings for part-time jobs.

Unfortunately, his school (one of the more affluent schools in New York) didn't encourage their students getting part time jobs, at least ones that made you visible to the general public – fear of reprisal because a previous student was implicated for doing unsavory sideline jobs or something.

He remembered how the people here told him that no one would've found this place if they didn't have magic. Of course, that meant that he had to accept that he was magic as well, but that game that he wanted to play was supposedly a contender for the game of the year – he just had to get accept that fact in order to get that game.

My priorities are all over the place.

Grabbing hold of his amulet and taking it off, Billy steeled himself. His eyes didn't even blink but the concrete wall he was staring earlier morphed, squiggling like earthworms in the dirt, and became a restaurant.

"So can I get a part time job here?" Billy was again talking to the same bird lady.

"Why here?" the lady asked before sipping a cup of coffee, sitting on her desk. Billy had no idea how she was able to sip from that mug considering how her mouth was a literal beak.

"School policy." Billy said, "Or them discouraging students from working at retail stores and fast food chains."

The bird lady told her that working here is even more dangerous because of their clientele. Billy was obviously disheartened but the lady wasn't without sound advice: "I hear that there's a new hotel in town."

"Hey did you hear about that thing in the news?" asked an old lady with thick hair. She nursed an unlit cigarette between her fingers. She was in the process of lighting it up when her companion grabbed her lighter.

"You should worry about yourself," her companion told her, pocketing the lighter. "How much do I have to remind you that smoking is prohibited here now?"

The old lady harrumphed, saying that New York wasn't always like this.

"Doesn't matter and it's impolite, besides you're setting a bad example to the kids!" Her companion pointed at the people in front of them, which so happened to be Billy.

The old lady looked at Billy before grinning at Billy, "You underestimate these kids. Besides this is important! The news!"

"What about the news?" Her companion tried to hush her because her voice was starting to drown out everything else. "Is this about the bombing? Or that thing over at the 57th Street?"

Riding a train to his destination was an adventure in of itself. New Yorkers were colorful people, no question.

Billy let out a sigh of relief when train stopped because this was his stop.

Getting to the hotel was the easy part. It was located in one of the better areas of the city, and just a few blocks away from his usual areas. Sure, that meant he had to commute but it was a chilly day, so it was more tiring than it was annoying.

He definitely looked out-of-place because he wore baggy jeans and a faded jacket while the people around here wore crisp-looking branded clothes.

"Hey!"

Someone bumped into him who made him lose his balance, and his butt ended up on the floor.

"Sorry!" the voice was feminine but the figure didn't stop to help him up. Typical New Yorkers, Billy guessed.

When he was dusting his jeans off, the girl was nowhere to be found.

In any case, it was a good thing that bird lady gave her explicit instructions.

Megan had caught up to the animal: it was a cat with brown fur. Midway through the chase, the cat let go of her beanie, which dropped on the floor.

"Urgh, finally." With tired legs, she walked towards her article of clothing and studied it. "Nope, this is gonna need to be washed."

She placed her beanie into her bag and looked around. "Where am I?"

This was an area of New York that she didn't know that well. Walking around, the people that passed her by didn't particularly take notice of her. It was a new experience but not necessarily a welcoming one because Megan was more used to people staring and pointing fingers at her due to her mutant heritage.

When her feet began to throb from too much walking, she decided to take a break. She was in a commercial district that's for sure. She wanted to check her phone's GPS her exact location but she can't risk someone snatching it from her hands while walking in a place that she didn't know that well, despite how homey this place is.

In front of her was a restaurant. It looked like just like every other privately-owned restaurant here in New York but it was as if people disregarded it. Or rather, didn't notice the establishment.

The patio was deserted but appeared to be well-taken care of. The flowers on the centerpiece vases looked exotic – one of which Megan could swear glittered like rainbows.

There was a blackboard sight that said "Café's Now Open!" in chalk. It gave a totally homey feel that let made her at ease if she wasn't curious as to why this place was so deserted.

Either the restaurant wasn't doing well, which doesn't make sense because it didn't look decrypt or ill-kept, or people actively avoided the place.

Again, curious. Megan began to take her steps towards the entrance.

"Oh-welcome!" the door opened, and an employee carrying a spray bottle stopped in front of her. Megan studied him. Definitely years older than her, muscular but in a lean, model-esque kinda way. If he was younger, Megan would've found him very hot.

Hot guys, a homey café, the feeling of seclusion, the afternoon and that chilly weather. Mood. Mood. This is totally my mood.

"Uh, excuse me." The guys said as he opened the door for her before leaving.

"My, my," a female voice said. "What do we have here?"

Megan turned to the voice and instinctively took a step back. It's a bird.

"Now, that's just mean, coming from someone like you." The bird-lady said.

"Sorry." She replied. The lady was right. Megan was a mutant, she's seen through even more bizarre kids. But this bird-lady's… it's definitely something.

For a moment, there was a silence between them until the bird-lady impatiently asked, "So, are you gonna get a table or what?"

Noticing that the entire establishment was almost deserted, she decided that this was the perfect place to retreat from the world. "For one please." Besides, this place did not feel sketchy at all.

The bird-lady nodded before opening the door and calling over the guy from earlier, "Bob!"

The hot older guy answered and led her to a table but not before the appearance of a platinum-haired woman with… womanly features.

"Malfala-puntila, what did I tell you about customer service?" The woman asked.

The bird-lady actually looked sheepish, "That I should be welcoming."

"And…?" The platinum-haired lady urged on.

"…and I should try to sound less aggressive."

"Alright!" The woman grinned with a clap, "Now, let's get back to work. Wouldn't want to make your mom angry, don't we?"

That made the bird-lady alert. "Yes ma'am!"

"Good." She smiled at the bird lady and then to Megan before walking past them.

Bob handed her a menu which Megan took with a slight blush. She took her order, avoiding his eyes because he was hot.

Dear God, she needs to tell this to her friends. Bringing out her phone to send a text, she came to a realization. There's no signal. "Weird." Maybe she should call customer service?

The call wouldn't go through. Odd.

She tried to reset her phone. No dice. Tried waving it around and tapping on it. Nada. Maybe it was her location? She stood up and snuck out of the restaurant, raising her phone futilely for the signal that won't com–

"It's back." Full bars.

Walking back into the patio. "That's definitely weird." Going inside the patio, cellphone reception becomes nothing. Out of the patio, it's as strong as ever.

In. Out. In. Out.

There's only one explanation for this: this restaurant's most definitely haunted.

"What are you doing?"

Megan turned to look and found a boy who appeared to be the same age as her. He had short dark brunet hair and was giving her a look.

"Oh," she said lamely, "nothing."

"There's no reception inside?" He asked.

"Yeah." But more than that, "Why is that?"

The teen looked at her with a pensive look, "Magic?"

"Huh?"

He adjusted his backpack before walking past her, "Maybe the magic here controlled the radio waves around. I mean things like wifi and cellular data uses radio frequencies right?"

"B-but magic isn't-"

That made the boy stop on his tracks, "Oh, don't tell me."

"Tell me what?"

The boy mysteriously looked at her before saying, "Nevermind."

Once inside, the boy went over to the bird woman and had a little chat with her.

Megan sheepishly followed and tried to eavesdrop since they were close to her table.

"I came because your mom told me that you could help me." He was looking at a piece of paper that he pulled out from her

"Oh," the bird studied her for a minute before saying, "with what?"

"I need money, are you guys hiring?"

"…er."

It was that moment that the lady with the platinum-colored hair came out.

"Miss Mirajane!" Billy looked at her with surprise. "I didn't think I'd run into you like this."

The woman named looked at the boy for a second before having an 'aha' look, "Billy, right?"

The boy nodded eagerly. "Thank you for the amulet." He pulled out said amulet from his pocket and showed it to her "It's been very useful."

Mirajane smiled, "Would be more useful if you're actually wearing it."

Billy placed the amulet back into his pocket, "Well, in order for me to find this place, I have to use magic."

"That does open up the question of why you're here."

Thus led to Billy explaining what he was doing here.

"I just need an income to buy my game." Billy summarized.

Mirajane was about to say something when the door burst open.

"Mirajane! I have a problem!"

Billy actually winced due to the surprise. He turned to the direction of the door and saw… isn't she the lady from the subway?

Now that Billy's had more clear view of the lady, he studied her. With poofy greying hair, in a tight dress that reach a little above her knees, and face caked with make-up, Billy immediately thought of a drag queen when he saw her.

"Beth?" Mirajane asked as the old woman ran to Mirajane for a hug.

"My cat's been missing for 5 days." Her voice was husky in a chain-smoker kind of way.

"You have to excuse my friend, Mira, Beth's kinda known to be dramatic." Her companion, an old portly woman name Sam who looked similarly to Beth, said, patting her friend's shoulders.

"Quiet Sam, I'm in the middle of a mental breakdown!" Beth said, shooting daggers at her friend.

"If you only shut your windows, then the cat wouldn't have left, it's as simple as that, but did you listen to me? No!" Sam crossed her arms and returned Beth's look.

"Ladies, uh, can we just get along?" Mirajane whispered as Beth hugged her.

"I don't know what to do, and to think that my poor, poor baby is somewhere in this city, alone, with no one to feed him." With a wail, she let go of Mirajane and looked at her, "You gotta help me, Mira, you just gotta."

Billy stood in the sidelines as this old lady simple bulldozed her way into his moment.

"Um… can you at least show me a picture of you cat?" Mirajane asked.

"Better yet, why not summon or scry for your cat?" the birdlady walked, holding a tray of snacks.

"My cat is special." Beth said, bringing out her phone. With a few taps, she handed it to Mirajane, "Here, this is what my baby looks like."

"Aww, she's so cute!" Mirajane squealed.

"Not the response I was looking for, but I don't disagree with you."

"Sorry-"

"I think I've seen that cat around." The came from a new voice.

It came from the pink-haired girl with wings. Billy did a double take. Oh, mutant, or maybe a real fairy? She was using paper towels to pat her hands dry and. isn't she that girl from the entrance too?

"You've seen my baby?" Beth asked.

The pink-haired girl nodded. "That's that cat that grabbed my hat earlier."

"Where have you see her?" Sam asked.

"Just outside, a little while ago. The cat couldn't have gone far."

Beth was already running outside.