Chapter 5-
So, You're Even Lying to Yourself Now…
Summery:
Jake and Ezekiel get some more information…
Magnus learns a few things…
Though whether it's that Magic actually exists somewhere, or that Ezekiel and Jake need a psychiatrist is up for debate
Jace teases Alec about Magnus; because of course he does…
Notes:
Okay, sorry this took so long to get up…
but there's a reason for that
This kinda ended up with four parts so it might actually Technically count as two chapters… but oh well, I like it anyways
Hope you guys do too…
_Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus_
"This was the BEST day ever! Thank you SO much for getting me in!" Simon exclaimed as soon as they entered the shop, bounding over and hugging Magnus excitedly, nearly knocking him over in his enthusiasm
Magnus chuckled,
"It was nothing, sweetheart, I'm glad you're enjoying it…" he said before shifting his gaze to Raphael,
"And you? Enjoying the convention, darling?"
Alec snickered a bit, glancing over to see his reaction
Raphael gave Magnus a glare that would have anyone else backing away slowly, or at the very least putting a bit of distance between them and Raph…
Kinda like Alec was doing right now,
Magnus just laughed
Simon rolled his eyes slightly, before throwing his arm around Raphael's shoulder,
"Actually he's hated pretty much all of it, except the Doctor Who booth and tormenting Jace, but he's been amazing…hasn't complained once" he finished beaming, before leaning over and kissing Raphael's cheek
Raphael smiled slipping his arm around Simon and shrugging
"It's fine amor,…I know how much you wanted to come. I am really glad you got to; and that I got to see how happy it made you"
"Well, I'm really glad that you went too; it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without you; even though I know how much you didn't like it."
He blushed kinda sheepishly
"I know how much I can get carried away with this…it was a lot today…"
Raphael smiled gently, shaking his head
"It okay, I can tell how much you loved it; it's more than worth a bit of annoyance seeing you so happy"
"Aww…so adorable" Magnus singsonged
Raphael rolled his eyes, but didn't look nearly as annoyed as he had…
Alec breathed a sigh of relief, before turning to Magnus
"So, you said you found something interesting?"
Magnus nodded eagerly
"Yes; well, more someone…
I was investigating and saw a couple guys who seemed out of place;
They weren't really looking at the booths and seemed about as interested in the convention as you and Raph"
Alec chuckled slightly,
"So I followed, keeping an eye on them…
They we're bickering and snarking, they didn't notice me…
One was tall, around 5'11" light brown hair, rather nice blue eyes, kind of a country boy vibe, complete with a southern accent.
The other one was about 5'8" Korean, though judging by the accent he is from Australia,
He was actually pretty cute, not my type, but cute just the same.
He seemed much more enthusiastic than the other; he was laughing and smiling, seemed a lot less uptight then his partner.
They seemed to be looking for something, and they were questioning some of the patrons…
Seems to be aware of the case, I was curious so I stayed on them.
At one point, they split up, I decided to follow the Australian, as, well, quite frankly, he seemed more interesting,
I thought of texting you to follow the other, but he was rather quick and I didn't want to lose him.
He looked around, gravitating towards the less in use areas.
For a moment I thought he spotted me trailing him as he ducked behind a large, garish standing poster,
But when I glanced behind it, there was actually a door…
It was locked, I knew he hadn't came out so he must have entered the room."
Alec nodded consideringly
"Hmm, that is pretty suspicious, we'll have to go and check it out tomorrow…"
Magnus got a slightly guilty look
"Actually, we don't…I already did; it's a storage room, really rather creepy, way too quiet and unsettling"
"So you went back to check the room?" Alec asked curiously
"Umm…Back?" he said, sheepishly
Alec stilled
"You didn't actually break into the room while the suspicious person you were tracking was also, clearly in the locked room,
That he obviously broke into as well, did you?"
Magnus shrugged slightly
Alec groaned, shaking his head
"I thought you agreed not to take any crazy risks?"
"Oh, it wasn't that crazy, I was just curious and he most definitely didn't seem dangerous…"
"But you couldn't be sure, and in a locked room-"
Raphael shook his head, cutting Alec off
"Alec it's fine, Mags can handle just about anything…and if he was really a threat Magnus would have noticed something…
So, what happened next?" he asked,
"I slipped into the room
He was searching for something, going through a set of shelves
He seemed quite anxious; he kept glancing around nervously, though as I said, the room was rather unsettling
In any case, I finally got too curious and asked him what he was doing,"
He paused, chuckling a bit before continuing
"I startled the poor dear, quite a bit,
I questioned him, then his friend came in, apparently he'd texted, saying he found something,
He got quite defensive when he thought for a moment I was flirting with his friend,
I do believe there's something there; though they don't seem to acknowledge it…they may need a bit of a push-"
"So, just so we're clear, you're in a room with two strange, suspicious people who obviously broke into a locked room and are in some way involved in a case where people are apparently disappearing…
And you're main focus is on them apparently having crushes on each other…
Right?" Alec interrupted exasperatedly
Magnus rolled his eyes before putting his hand on Alec's shoulder, squeezing lightly, giving him an affectionate smile
"Darling, lighten up, it's fine… and that is not my main focus, I just found it interesting…
In any case;
They're names are Ezekiel Jones, and Jake Stone,
I purposely irritated Ezekiel to make them slip up so they thought they'd accidentally told me their names, but I'd heard while I was tailing them…
Ezekiel tried lying quite a bit about what they were doing;
it was really quite entertaining,
Jake was more honest, but he wasn't being entirely truthful either, though I let them believe I bought it…
He told me they were PI's investigating and hired by the family of one of the people who disappeared,
They are investigating, but are not PI's, though they do believe the disappearance are true…
I do not know what exactly their motivation is, but I believe they are not involved in any of the disappearances or odd behavior,
Though they know more than they are letting on…
They seem to think the patrons are being affected by some kind of toxin that is messing with their perception of reality…
It's a bit unorthodox, but worth looking into…
In actuality I wonder if they may in fact be affected as well…
Some of the lies Ezekiel told he actually believed parts of them, most of which didn't really make sense.
I wonder if whatever it is can in some way make them believe their own lies.
In any case I do believe it would be beneficial to keep an eye on them,
I asked them if they would like to collaborate on the case, to share information; I think if I can gain their trust I could find out what they know about this and perhaps determine if they are, in fact affected as well…
They're coming by the agency tomorrow in order to go over what we have so far, I figure I can get more info on them then
In the mean time,
Simon and Raphael, I'd like you to keep investigating…I know Simon put in for a bit of vacation time for this week so he could attend more of the events at the convention, if you guys don't mind?"
"So we get to go back tomorrow!?" Simon asked excitedly
"Great…"Raphael said, trying to fight off the groan…
"Yes, dear, though if you could try to stay on the lookout for anything suspicious…"
Simon nodded quickly "Of course, no problem… also, since I'm more used to this kind of crowd maybe I'll be more likely to notice something that's not quite right."
Magnus smiled approvingly, nodding
"Wonderful, thank you darling"
"We'll go separately, I want to talk to Jace, ask him again…now that he had some time to think and we're more sure something's going on he may be able to think of something…" Alec says
Magnus tilts his head curiously
"Darling, I appreciate that, but you have to work tomorrow…"
Alec shook his head
"Not anymore, I texted Luke, gave him a heads up, explained some of what's going on and that while it's not yet an official case I want to look into it with you, just to be sure…
He agreed, so I can help with this all the way through.
Luke said to just call in if we need any extra assistance, so we're good"
Magnus smiled, relieved
Now they have the entire team in on this. With the four of them he had no doubt they could handle anything
_Other-Other-Other-Other-Other_
"-llo, wa's that" Ezekiel answered the phone ineloquently, around a yawn, blinking sleepily to see the screen
"Hi! Good morning!" Cassie chirped happily, that was just way too much energy this early
"Mmm…Cas, it's not even six yet-"
"I know but this couldn't wait, where's Jake?" she asked eagerly, seemingly trying to peer around the phone"
He turned the phone so she could see the other man
"Here Cassie, what is it?" Jake asked sleepily
"Whoa, well, first off don't spin the phone like that, it's making me dizzy, can you guys move closer together so I can talk to both of you, we have some news"
Ezekiel sighed, before shrugging and getting up, moving over to the other bed, sitting next to Jake, before turning the screen to face them, being sure they were both in frame…
Jake looked kinda out of it, he was kind of staring at Ezekiel, uncomprehendingly,
Must still be pretty tired, neither of them were really morning people
"This better?" he asked
She nodded happily
"Yeah, definitely; like I said we have some news…
So, like we said, that universe is totally devoid of Magic, right?"
she asked eagerly
They nodded,
"Yeah, but I wanted to ask you, are psychic powers considered Magic?
See at the convention we kinda ran into this psychic and he seems to know a lot…
I was thinking it could be one of the artifacts, but he has a whole business and everything, so it couldn't have just been in the past few days…
Could there actually be psychics here?"
"Hmm…I don't really know, psychic phenomena isn't necessarily based entirely in Magic, it could be possible I suppose,
Probably not on the level we get here, but it could be…
Though none of the artifacts are used for psychic abilities-"
Ezekiel sat up straighter
"Wait, you know what artifact we're looking for!?" he exclaimed
She nodded eagerly
"Yeah, see, like I was saying, there's no magic in the universe,
Because of that I was able to run a few algorithms and integrate them with a few divining spells and find the traces of the magic used in that universe "
Jake laughed, shaking his head
"Cassie, you're a genius"
She grinned, before sobering a bit
"Thanks Jake, but the only thing is…this is actually worse than we had originally thought…" She trailed off, glancing over to Jenkins
"What do you mean?" Ezekiel asked, concerned
"We we're mistaken before; there isn't one artifact there are actually four…
Meredith's Charm; Meredith was a witch that lived around the turn of the 20th century,
she took issue with peoples satirizing of All Hollow's Eve, feeling that it was making light of a sacred day,
she decided to retaliate, and had a rather unique since of humor, creating a charm.
It looks like a small blood red crystal, and transforms people Into whatever they happen to be dressed as.
We believe that the universe is making it not quite as powerful, that is why they are just convinced they are these characters, rather than actually turning into them…
So that's a bit better anyway.
The next one is Apate's talisman: Apate was the personified spirit of deceit, deception, guile and fraud–
the talisman is a black sapphire, it makes the holder almost irresistibly magnetic, and dulls people's senses and intuition, it works on all but the strongest minds…
Once again, it may not be as powerful there, but it will still work.
But that's not the worst of it
We have found out why the people have been disappearing,
Lorelei's Feather is also present…
Lorelei was a succubus and a Legendary Siren her feather allows the holder to actually take a person's essence's, their strengths, abilities, talents, everything…
It works best during the full moon, which, doesn't happen for another two days, but I would imagine the person who took the artifacts is using this time to catch those who's abilities he desires, keeping them subdued until the right time…"
"Wow, that is way worse…
Guys, how are we going to handle this on our own?" Ezekiel asked,
the weight of the mission suddenly hitting him.
Jake put his hand on his shoulder, reassuringly
"We'll find a way" he said determined
"You think?" Ezekiel asked, glancing over at him
Jake nodded
"Hey, at the end of the day, it's an artifact; it's the same thing we do every day"
Ezekiel smiled gratefully, leaning a bit closer
"Thanks"
"Sure"
Jenkins cleared his throat, startling them slightly; they looked back at the screen
"Actually, Mr. Stone, that isn't all of it"
"Oh come on!
We already have an artifact that steals peoples souls or abilities or whatever, how much worse can it get!?" Ezekiel demanded exasperatedly
"Zeke, you know never to ask that" Jake said rolling his eyes slightly
"I'm afraid worse still…
There is one other artifact that was taken, whatever they used to cross universes,
we can see its magical signature, but don't know what it is, it's nothing we've ever cataloged before
But it is, by far, the most powerful thing in that universe at the moment…
The signature looks similar to the Janis compass, but quite a bit more powerful.
Also, we do have an idea who, or more accurately, what the thief is"
"We're really not gonna like this, are we?" Jake asked, somewhat resigned
Jenkins nodded apologetically
"Afraid not, Mr. Stone… the thief is a warlock"
"Ah, crap" Ezekiel muttered
"So, not only do we have four powerful magical artifacts to track down and grab…
We also have a person who can wield their own magic as well?"
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, they're not a very powerful warlock?" Cassie ventures hopefully
"How do you mean?" Jake asks
"Well, generally warlocks wouldn't bother with artifacts and the like
Actually, most would see the mere suggestion as anything from a poor joke to a grievous insult.
We believe that the reason he took the artifacts and transported to a non-magical universe was a rather desperate grab for power that he simply doesn't have a chance for here.
He felt that if he was the only magical being in existence then he could gain the power and acclaim he hasn't achieved here"
"Oh, great; so we have a vaguely delusional, megalomaniac warlock with four powerful magical artifacts, and an inferiority complex…that makes me feel better"
Ezekiel snarked, rolling his eyes
Really how did they end up with this?
They were in an alternate universe, tracking down a crazy warlock who's set on stealing people's abilities with the aid of a feather from a siren, and becoming the 'most powerful being in the world'
When did his life become a comic book?
_Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus_
Magnus sighed slightly as he busied himself around his office waiting for his new contacts to join him…
In truth, Magnus was rather relieved Alexander would be working the case with official clearance.
This did seem to be more than he'd initially thought and having the departments backing, as well as Alexander by his side, made him far more confident.
In truth, he was rather looking forward to seeing Ezekiel again, the kid seemed quite fun,
he was snarky and had a good sense of humor;
It might be rather fun working a case with him…
At least it would be if they were honest about their evidence,
He had a feeling that they knew more about this than they were letting on…
Magnus hoped, if he could gain their trust then they would be more forthcoming with their information
He was pulled from his musings when he heard the door open
He glanced towards the front, seeing them standing in the entrance, glancing around
Magnus sent off a quick text to Alec before moving into the room, putting on a beaming smile
"Good morning, boys… so wonderful to see you again" he said chipperly, before slowing, tilting his head slightly
"Morning Magnus"
"Hey"
"Ezekiel, are you quite alright?" he asked concerned
The man seemed much more subdued than he was yesterday
Ezekiel shook his head, putting on a, totally fake, bright smile,
"No, nothing's wrong, just not much of a morning person, so ready to go over the case?"
"Sure, darling…would you like me to start, or would you like to?"
"You can" he said with a shrug
Yeah something was definitely up with the guy
"Well, truth be told I don't know a whole lot…
I was hired by the event coordinator because he didn't want to get the police involved if it was unnecessary;
At least that's what he said, in truth I thought he was using this as an excuse to meet me, he mentioned that he'd read all about me and my cases, and seemed rather enamored
I talked to nearly twenty people at the convention who seemed to believe that they were, in fact their characters…
I didn't see any marks of deception in their actions, so either they are sociopaths, or they were telling the truth,
I am going to assume it is the latter.
As of yet there are three people that are possibly missing,
but the only evidence of that is that two people didn't meet up with their friends as they said they would and one actor blew off an appearance,
none of which is really hard evidence…
In all honesty the most intriguing evidence of an actual case I found yesterday was you" he finished with a smirk
"How are we evidence?" Ezekiel asked uncertainly
Magnus chuckled
He'd really meant to approach this a different way, but he had a feeling it'd be the best way to get the truth
At least the boy didn't seem so down now…
"Well, darling; you turned up at the scene, lied about, well everything, and you most definitely know more than you have let on as of yet…"
"Well, like I said we-" Jake started
Magnus rolled his eyes
"You lied too dear, at least his we're entertaining…
You we're partially truthful; but then again, so was Ezekiel
So here's how this is going to go, I'm going to tell you everything I know about you guys,
and you can fill in what I'm missing, as a lot doesn't make sense…
Alright?" He finished with a smirk leaning against the front desk casually, raising an eyebrow
"You know, you do that eyebrow thing a lot, like an annoying amount.
And do you actually practice posing?" Ezekiel snarked
Ah, good, he was back…
Magnus chuckled, shrugging
"What can I say? I'm inquisitive, can't help it, and no, guess I'm just naturally graceful" he gave a cheeky wink
Ezekiel rolled his eyes
Magnus continued;
"You guys are investigating, but you are not PI's
You weren't hired by any of the families of people missing, as their haven't been any reported missing to the SBPD
That would be the first stop for any panicked family member…
You do believe the patrons are being affected by something, but it's not a 'toxin';
From what I've observed I'd gather its some type of object
which doesn't make sense, but that is the truth…
To you in any case.
You are most definitely not from here, and are quite guarded as to where exactly that is, as you were so shocked by my assertion.
You weren't lying about being Librarians, but there was something off about the way you said it,
Also you expected a different reaction from me to that assertion, which was rather curious really…
You two have been working together for a few years;
Which is rather curious, as I really cannot fathom a career field that would employ a cowboy with advanced degrees in art and history and a world class thief…"
They both looked totally shocked and on the verge of panic
Ezekiel let out a forced, obviously fake laugh
"Good story, you're very creative…I don't know where you'd come up with this" he tried somewhat desperately
Magnus grinned, stepping a bit closer
"That is true enough; though in truth I don't think I could come up with something this intriguing,
So, would you guys like to try the truth, now?"
"Uhh…it's kind of top secret" Ezekiel ventures hopefully
"So, you are with some government team?"
"Yes…We're with Interpol, that's why all the lies. So you see how we couldn't tell you the truth"
Magnus smiled tilting his head slightly
Ezekiel was beginning to hate that look; it Meant nothing good
"You are still lying darling; you don't work for interpol...
At least you no longer do.
I believe you worked for them for a while, but left,
I'm guessing they began to ask more of you than you felt comfortable doing.
That took a great deal of courage, I respect that a great deal, darling…
By the way; I have not yet told Alexander about your less than legal past…
since there is no record, that means you have not been caught or it was expunged during the government work,
And, as I believe it was more the challenge than anything malicious I left that part out."
"Uhh…thanks" he said cautiously,
"So, care to try again?"
"We work for-"
"Lying"
"We've been sent b-"
"Still lying"
"I wanted to see t-"
"Nope, next"
"W-"
"Uh uh, still not the truth"
"Damnit! Didn't I tell you how annoying that is!?"
"Yes, yes you did; next attempt?"
Ezekiel groaned, glaring slightly at Magnus
"What's it matter, you wouldn't believe me anyways!" he snapped
"Ezekiel, sh-" Jake began,
"Try me" Magnus challenged leaning forward slightly
"Fine-"
"Zeke will you j-"
"We're travelers from another universe, sent by an immortal former Knight of the round table,
trying to track down a bunch of magical artifacts being wielded by a megalomaniac warlock
who apparently stole them and came here in an attempt to use his pretty limited magic abilities and the artifacts to become the most powerful being in this universe!"
Ezekiel completely froze, eyes wide slapping his hand over his mouth
Magnus just stared in shock
"Uhh…well…t-that's rather unexpected" he stammered, taking a couple steps back, glancing towards the door,
gauging how quickly he could get around the, clearly deranged, men.
Jake covered his eyes shaking his head resignedly before taking a deep breath and looking back at Magnus
"Okay, uhh…don't freak out…it's fine" he said holding his hands up placatingly
Despite the situation, Magnus managed a sarcastic look
"Oh, yeah, it's totally fine. I'm alone with two people who genuinely believe they're travelers from another universe and on an apparent magical quest to try to stop a deranged warlock…
Yep, that is totally fine" he finished somewhat frantically
"Okay, let me try again…" Ezekiel started slowly
"Sure, go ahead, let's see where this goes" Magnus said, with a rather exaggerated, dramatic wave, perching on the edge of the desk
This should be interesting…
_Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec_
"You really haven't seen anything suspicious here?" Alec asked Jace once again
"Dude, I already said I haven't, been too busy…" he said glancing around the venue, smirking at a relatively pretty girl in a tight blue dress and light blue hair, winking
He didn't have to be in costume today so he was really scanning the crowd
Alec rolled his eyes slightly
Eh, at least here he wasn't hitting on Alec's coworkers
"Well, it seems something weird is going on, we're on the case officially now, so just kind of keep an eye out, okay?"
Jace rolled his eyes before getting a bit of a devious grin
Alec fought back a groan,
That look was never a good thing
"You know, I can't believe you didn't tell me when you actually hooked up with Magnus"
"What!?" Alec squawked
"Oh come on you're not even hiding it anymore…"
"We're not! We didn't, you don't…that's not…oh just stop, nothing happened between us, you jackass" he finally grumbled
"Ha! Yeah right! What you think I'm blind?"
"What do you mean?"
"Dude, seriously?
He was literally hanging on your arm,
He dragged you away from a chance to see me totally embarrassed, and you let him!"
"Hey! That was for your benefit!"
"Uh huh, you guys apparently have a standing date now for Thursdays, and it didn't sound like a new thing"
"It's not a date! Raphael and Simon are gonna be there too!"
Jace snorted, rolling his eyes again
"What, you've never heard of a double date?"
"It's not a-"
"Dude, I heard about the car incident"
"It wasn-"
"Please, you were caught fooling around with him in a car"
"We weren't 'fooling around'! We were just kissing…
And it was a cover for a CASE!"
"Yeah, never heard that one for you before" he said sarcastically rolling his eyes
"Jace it's not-"
"Alec, come on, if your gonna lie, at least come up with something believable" he said, still scanning the crowd
Alec groaned
"Magnus and I are not-"
"Yeah, you are, save it dude, I'm so not buying it…I'll keep it secret though if that's what you're worried about" he said with a grin
"Right, like you could keep a secret" Alec muttered
"Hey I could totally…" He started trailing off, looking over towards one of the booths and slipping into a flirty smile
Alec glanced over in the same direction
A man was standing there; he was fairly attractive
Tall, tan, with dark hair and blue eyes, very expensive looking suit
Alec looked away, rolling his eyes somewhat
Jace turned back to him with a grin, slapping him on the back
"Don't worry Alec, I got you covered, your secrets safe with me… Maybe now you'll lighten up a bit
talk to you later" he said glancing over again
"Or tomorrow…" he said with a wink before moving away from Alec and heading towards the well dressed man.
Alec shook his head slightly
His brother really was scantless;
At least it distracted him from him and Magnus…
_End Of Chapter/Notes_
Okay, so this chapter kinda got away from me and ended up with more than I meant, but I like it anyhow…
The artifacts took me forever cause I kinda wanted to come up with something plausible sounding for the librarians universe; also for a bit I kinda got the artifacts for this show mixed up with the artifacts for Warehouse 13 and now I really want to rewatch that show.
The only parts I actually had planned was Jace teasing Alec, and Magnus finding out about Magic, but I just settled on the artifacts (the first one I may have got a bit desperate because I'm pretty sure I got the idea from a Halloween episode of the Simpsons—It's official, I watch WAY too much TV) and wanted to give them something to actually look for…
And I had just planned to recap Magnus telling the others about Ezekiel and Jake, but I started writing and the scene was done before I knew it
And it gave me a chance for a bit of Saphael, so I couldn't pass it up…
What do you guys think so far?
