Emma looked up and down the alley. Diagon Alley?! Of course she recognized the place immediately! It was right out of her favorite book series of all time. Her favorite characters. Her favorite plots. Her favorite magic. Emma could see the sign that read Ollivander's Wand Shop. She could see the Apothecary and Flourish and Blotts. All the owls flying around and all the people in different colored robes clued her in the most though. She even saw a few wands out. She saw sparkles and sparks. She saw things floating. She saw things disappearing and reappearing. She saw MAGIC!
It was like out of her dreams. Except she could feel the sun on her. She could hear the voices in her ears. Sharp. Crisp. She could see all the cloaks fluttering. Her nose smelled like food and animals. It was way too real to be just a dream. So. It was real? Emma was excited!
She and the others had come out of a side alley. Not Knockturn Alley. A random side alley. That was weird to her. The books never said anything about random side alleys.
Emma walked forward a little. The others were all talking behind her. Loudly.
"What are we all doing here?"
"Forget that. WHERE are we all. I refuse to believe this is real. It's gotta be a set, or a big theme park, or-"
"It's real enough." Said the brown haired boy. He sighed at Allison. "Whatever it is, it feels real."
Everybody was quiet. Nobody could say their own ears and eyes and skin was lying to them.
"Hey. Uh, you? Could you come back here?" The brown haired boy was talking to Emma. "I don't want any of us getting into trouble before we can figure this out."
"Yeah. Sure. And it's Emma." She said to him. She couldn't stop smiling. She listened though. Walked back into the alley's shadiness with the others.
"Oh yeah, and this is Allison." She introduced the only other person she knew. Wished she didn't. But she did, so it was on her to make the introductions here.
"Nice to meet you two. I'm Jake." Said the brown haired boy. He smiled at them in turn. He looked at the other boy who had woke up with him in the other room. "And this is Marcus."
"You guys know each other?" Emma said. "It didn't look like it back in there." She waved at the door they had come out of.
Marcus shrugged. "I was majorly freaked out. Bad show. My bad; but yeah we know each other. Sort of. Jake and me share a few classes. We aren't friends, but we aren't NOT friends, yah know?"
Jake nodded. "I suppose now is as good a time as any to get introductions out of the way. If you all want to give out names?" He looked at the others.
"Right. Names?" Allison demanded. She was looking at the rest who hadn't introduced themselves yet. "We don't have all day. We might get spotted, so hurry it up. Come on, people." She snapped her fingers.
"The name's Aaron." Said another boy. He wasn't looking too happy with Allison. He was a big guy. Like a sports type Emma thought. Aaron pointed at a redhead girl with short hair near him. "And this is Jessica. She's my best friend."
"Alright." Said Allison. She already was looking at someone else. A third boy. This boy was quiet. Standing a few feet away from anybody else. His eyes weren't looking at anybody else. Just the ground and the alley walls, Emma noticed. "And you?"
"Edward." The quiet boy whispered. He lowered his head. Long dark hair covered his eyes.
"Nice name." Emma told him. Smiled at him. Not just smiled at the situation as a whole, that she was loving! She just wanted to rush out again and explore the places she already had a pretty good idea about from the books. But she held herself back. She had to stick with the group. The group had to stick with the group. They were all they had here. However it happened. Why. Who. Stuff Emma didn't know yet. Probably better to be a bit cautious. Because there WERE dangers here.
Emma looked at Jake. He had this serious expression. He glanced out of the side alley to the main one a few times now. Jake knew about the dangers here too. Like her. Like her, he accepted it was real right away. There wasn't a way to deny it after all. She liked that about him.
"That's Anna." Edward said, and he pointed at a little thin blonde girl near the back of the group. "I don't have classes with her, but she goes to my school. I see her around."
"Huh. Looks like we're here in pairs?" Marcus said, looking to Jake with eyebrows that were furrowed in concentration.
"Looks like it." Said Jake heavily.
"Pairs?" Allison frowned. "All of us were abducted from different schools? Different cities? But by twos. You two good lookers, the quiet ones, the jock type, and of course myself along with the dyke-"
A few different voices all interrupted her with a few different versions of "Shut up!"
Allison blinked. She stared. Her face scrunched up. "Ugh. I'm seriously stuck with a bunch of people who actually ENDORSE that kind of-"
"Yes, you are." Jake cut her off with a hard tone of voice. "So knock it off. Or, don't even start. Not with us. Got it? Keep it in your own head. Keep your thoughts to yourself. We all have enough going on that we don't need that kind of talk added on."
Allison looked around at them all again. Looking for someone to take her side. No face in there was any sort of friendly to her cause. She gave another disgusted noise and just leaned against a wall. She rolled her eyes too. Sent a middle finger at Emma.
Emma sent one back. She turned her head and stepped closer to the others.
"Ok people, getting back to the elephant in the room." Said Marcus. He gestured out of the alley. "I think a few of us already know what this looks like? Yeah, here's my take: This is vr. Some big virtual world. The biggest, most in depth game world anybody's ever made before. And we're all in it. Maybe we chose to be here and we lost our memories of volunteering because it's some top secret experimental tech stuff. Or maybe we're trapped in here on purpose by some psychotic scientists just to test it out. A big old science experiment would explain the deliberate pairings."
"That's stupid and makes no sense." Said Allison. "Even if this IS just some big virtual reality game, the technology to create something as complex as this would be CENTURIES ahead of anything we have today! Maybe over a thousand years! It's just impossible. This isn't a terrible sci fi movie."
"Maybe it's a terrible fantasy movie?" Aaron joked. "I hate to agree with you already Allie, but I don't think this is a virtual reality. The sun is warm, the air is fresh, the pebbles and stone really rub your feet the wrong way, and sound and sight and smell is all working how it always does. No vr game could be totally real like this. I don't care what The Matrix says."
"Sounds right to me." Said Jake. He smiled at Aaron. "What about a terrible fantasy movie then? What're you thinking?"
"Multiverse." Aaron said. He shrugged. "Isn't there some theory that whenever a book is written, a real version of that story's universe appears somewhere in the multiverse or something? Every story is real somewhere?"
"I've never heard of that theory." Allison scoffed. "No wonder why, it's totally ridiculous."
"It's got something going for it." Marcus refuted. thoughtful. "If it's not vr, if it feels real enough to be real, then it's gotta be real. And if it's real, then maybe we were taken out of our universe and put into this one."
"You're saying we're...like fanfic self inserts?" Edward spoke up suddenly. Real quiet still. He blushed when everybody looked at him. He avoided looking at anybody in return.
"That's what I was thinking too." Emma offered. "Thanks for taking my thunder." she added to Aaron. He laughed. "Fantasy universe. This is real and we're here. If magic is real in the multiverse then magic has to be able to MOVE THINGS across the multiverse right? So we were all picked up out of ours and dropped off here."
"That's insane." said Allison. Skeptical.
"Yeah, maybe. But it's better than the vr talk." Jake said, holding up a hand. "We all know we don't have the technology for that. So...it just can't be that as an explanation. So: It's real. Multiverse theory. One of them happens to be Harry Potter. Let's go with that."
"Multiverse theory." Allison repeated. She sighed. "Fine. We'll go with that-just for the sake of not going insane ourselves thinking about it. Let's say someone kidnapped us...with magic...from across universes. That's still leaving the question of WHY someone would kidnap us! Why bring us here? To this fairy tale, fantasy storybook world?"
"Maybe it's still a test. Just not a vr one." Emma mused. "Maybe whoever put us here wants us to do something. To watch us do something. That's how those self insert fanfics usually go right? So we're all here because- because we have to do something. And after we do it we can all go home again."
"WHAT would we have to do?" Allison asked quickly. Her stare was intense. Borderline hateful. Borderline skeptical. But intense...and...hopeful? She was looking at Emma with HOPE?
Huh. That's a different look for her. A nicer one. Never seen her look NICE before.
"Maybe become heroes?" Marcus spoke. "Those stories always have the protag getting wrapped up in the canon. They always have magic after the transport, don't they? So what if we do? What if we all have magic here when we obviously never did before? Back in our universe? If we want to go with the multiverse theory, what if we're here to win the war? Beat Voldemort? Hallelujah, peace and all to the world."
"But the war already gets won in the canon series." Emma said, shaking her head. "Harry and Dumbledore, even Snape, they win it. And since we haven't met any of them yet to throw things off I'm pretty sure the story will resolve itself like it does in the series. We won't have to do anything. Just sit back and let it play out. Victory. War won. Peace reigns. I don't think we'd be brought here just to fix something that's going to fix itself on it's own."
Marcus grinned. "Point."
"Well then maybe it's a different kind of test than THAT." Jessica said. She ran a worried hand through her short red hair. She held them together at her waist and wrung them. "Maybe whoever brought us here just wants to watch what we do. See what kind of things we get up to with magic and this whole fantasy world to explore. Trouble is if we do something good will they be upset or proud? If we do something bad will they be upset or proud? What do they want us to do? What do they EXPECT from us?"
"You're talking like they're god or something?" Marcus responded. He frowned a bit. "Like they're going to judge us?"
Jessica looked at him. Earnest. Intense. "Who else has the power to make fiction into reality, whole new universes, to move people across them, and to give people magic if that theory is true? Who ELSE but the Lord Himself could do these things? Impossible for us, but not for Him."
"Well uh, if I believed in that kinda stuff maybe I'd-" Marcus started.
Emma interrupted him quickly. Real quick. "Or maybe no one put us here for ANY reason. Maybe we're just here to be cut loose in a sandbox and they just want to get amusement out of watching over us. Maybe it's not a test. Just a way to pass time. Like playing a video game or watching a movie. Except they're going to get to watch a group of idiots struggle in the multiverse. Maybe they're a sadist. Like that Lovecraft alien...what's his name...who always messes with humans?"
They were all quiet again.
"Whatever's going on here, we should stick together." Said Jake firmly. "All we have is each other. And maybe magic I guess, going by the theory-but we'd have to test that first somehow." He added with a grin.
"As soon as possible." Anna said flatly, talking for the first time. Everybody looked down at her. She was really really small for her age. Emma almost even thought she wasn't the same age as the rest of them. "I want to do magic."
"I think that's a great idea." Allison said quickly. She looked around herself. Her eyes narrowed at two robed men walking down the main alley hand in hand. "This whole world is just freaky and weird. and who knows what kind of sick, dangerous people are living in it with us normal people."
Jake glared at her. He caught sight of the passing couple before they got lost in the crowd. His glare got two times worse. "I'm pretty sure you'll be fine on that front. Looks like nobody's scared to flaunt their depravity in this place." His voice was heavy sarcasm.
"That's a good point." Allison replied seriously. "At least we'll be able to see them coming."
"Fuck off!" Emma snapped at her. "Seriously. Fuck. Off. If we have to be stuck in this virtual world or real fantasy multiverse or whatever this is, I at least don't want to have to share it with you. You go away, go somewhere else, I don't care. Just stay away. I'm not going to put up with you for who knows how long before we even get home again! I'll snap and kill you way before then." she finished in a mutter. Half joking. Half not.
Jessica spoke up in soft tones. Shocking everyone. "I agree. Having someone so full of hate in the group isn't going to make things easy." Her blue eyes blinked at Allison, who was looking back at her with shock and betrayal. "But: The Lord created us all in His image. All of us are equal, all of us are free to live and love here as he intended-as given to us by the gift of free will. He accepts and loves all, as we love and accept all of each other. So we need to allow her to stay, so we can show her that there are better things than just hatred and evil. That she can see that the love of all INCLUDES HER TOO. And-" Jessica wrung her hands again. Her blue eyes were worried. "-who knows what might happen to her on her own anyway?"
"Who cares?" Emma laughed. Nobody laughed too. She felt a squirming in her stomach.
"I do." Jake said. "At least...I don't want that on my conscience, you know? Do you two? You want to know you told her to fuck off from the group and she ended up blown apart or hit with a killing curse? If we don't have magic here, how are we going to defend ourselves against what those of us who read the books KNOW what's coming?"
Emma glared. "I'd take that on my conscience yeah." She said defiantly. "Cause it wouldn't be on MY conscience. It'd be on her for going off and-"
"Victim blaming now? When a low life shows her true colors!" Allison cut across with an ugly laugh to match Emma's. "You just admitted you can't wait to see me get murdered! You're so disgusting and horrible inside that you WANT that to happen! You'd be glad to see it! I guess gays aren't all rainbows and sunshine, are they? But of course them and the stupid media always wants to say different! Like you're all the victims here."
"I'm going to kill you myself!" Emma yelled, launching at her. "Multiverse theory, bitch: In at least ONE universe I probably didn't kill you, so I don't have to feel bad in this one!"
"That's timelines, you dumbass!" Marcus said as he leaped to grab her. He held her back from Allison. "It goes multiverse, universe, then timeline. Top to bottom."
"Shut up, you're not an expert!" Emma grunted. Thrashing. "Let me go or let HER go! Or- or I'm leaving!"
"That's a really stupid threat." Anna commented plainly, a small smile turning at her lip corners.
Jake swiped at his face and shook his head at Emma. "Just stop it. We're a group, we were brought here as a group. So we're sticking together. Nothing else to it, OK? We'll just have to put up with each other."
"Fuck that. I'm not." Emma said vehemently. But she'd stopped trying to get out of Marcus's grip. "Seriously, either she goes or I'm going."
"You're all lunatics." Allison spat. "Always getting aggressive just because someone doesn't buy into your-"
"SHUT UP!" Aaron shouted. "Everybody shut up! Jesus fucking Christ people! This is just wasting time and it's total bullshit! Allison, if you're going to be a homophobe, keep it to yourself! Last warning, or we WILL kick you out of the group. Emma, don't say shit to her. Don't react. Don't start shit. That goes for everybody else too. Nobody's leaving anybody behind. In case you guys forgot how the story goes, we're going to have terrorists with magic and a total dictatorship government going on soon! Mass murderers and rapists all around. A fucking war. And on top of that, nobody knows how or IF we're even going to get back home! So everybody keep your shit together, PLEASE!"
It was totally silent.
Aaron turned to Jessica, a bit flushed and offered out. "Sorry for using the J man's name like that by the way. Heat of the moment. My family isn't a big religious one."
Jessica just smiled. "It's all right. Don't even worry about it. That's little stuff compared to our situation, isn't it?"
"Fine..." Emma heaved. "Fine. If Allison doesn't spout off her bullshit even ONE MORE TIME, I won't say shit back. Promise. Can't promise I won't leave though. I know a lot about this world. I bet I could handle it."
"Good." Jake looked at Marcus. "You can probably let her go now."
"Oh, right." Marcus's arms left Emma's shoulders. "Sorry."
"Ok." Jake sighed. He looked at Allison. "So?"
A long time of nothing.
Allison sighed. Like it was a huge effort. "Alright. I'll keep my- OPINIONS about...THOSE kinds of...people to myself." She clearly only said it to stay with the group. But she said it.
"Awesome. Thanks." Jake nodded at her. "Now can we all just chill out and figure out what we want to do next? We don't even have a place to stay, or any galleons or anything."
"What are galleons?" Allison asked quietly. Almost mumbling.
Emma liked seeing HER cowed for once. "You don't know what fucking galleons are-"
"Hey!" Jake cut across. "Seriously, what the heck did i just say? Cool it."
"Unlike you people, I never read those books or watched the movies. Never interested me." Allison's expression was smug. Like it put her above any of them. Yeah right. "So. Galleons. Jake: What are those?"
"Magic society's money. It's gold." Jake explained patiently. "There are also sickles and knuts. Like nickles and pennies, but I forget the exact numbers."
"Ok." Allison said simply. "So we need to get our hands on some of this fantasy world's currency. How would we do that?"
"I'll get it." said Anna in her flat tones. Without another word she walked out of the side alley into the main one that was so crowded.
They stared after her.
"Is someone gonna stop her?" Marcus spoke. He answered his own question and walked after Anna.
Jake nodded and hurried out of the alley too A fast walk. Not a run or anything. Not like he was being suspicious.
That was cool. Good. Emma thought. They didn't know exactly what year they were in now, did they? Maybe the war was already going on. The first or the second, though? Who knew? Not them. Not yet. But they had to know somehow. Sooooo...
Emma hurried out after Jake, Marcus and Anna. She threw a look back at the others. "Follow me or not, I don't care. Just keep an eye on Edward and Jessica, ok? Make sure neither of them faints or something."
"I'm not the delicate type of soul." Jessica said demurely, shaking her head. She chased after Emma immediately. Allison was next after Jessica.
Aaron hesitated on the spot. Watched the others take off. He looked at Edward. He shrugged. Tried to smile all friendly like. "Guess we'll be staying here? Or do you want to go look around the place too?"
"I'd like to stay back here." Edward spoke. He looked at his feet. "I can test if we have magic. Accidental magic, deliberate attempts at apparating. If any of it works even a little, then we'll know."
"That'll be useful information." Aaron nodded. "We'll be the ones to figure it out, then. Yeah. What were the three D's again? I don't have the books all memorized. I don't get a lot of time to read at all actually."
"Deliberation...determination...destination?" Edward spoke slowly. Concentrating.
"Yeah." Aaron shut his eyes and let himself drift off. He kept his arms at his sides. "Deliberation...determination. Destination. Figure out where you want to go, focus on it, and then go to it. Like that Twidly guy said in that chapter. Ok. Where I want to go is..." He spun around on the spot. He lost his balance and opened his eyes. He fell against the alley wall.
"Where were you going?" Edward asked. "If it was somewhere too far-"
"I was planning on going THERE." Aaron pointed at a spot a few feet away. Behind them. He flexed his arms and jumped a little. "No problem though. First attempt didn't work? So I'll try again. It took a few tries for the canon cast of characters too, didn't it? And what about what they said in the Matrix? Nobody ever does it the first time? Hey, you want to get in on it too?"
"I don't want to lose an arm." Edward replied, looking at the wall.
"The test will go a lot faster with two of us experimenting on it." Aaron said. Smiling. "Plus, you know, think about how cool you'll look to Emma or Jessica if you were the first guy of the group to teleport?"
"Is that why you're trying to do this?" Edward asked. "To impress the girls?"
"The girls?" Aaron snorted. "Hell no: I'm trying to impress that Jake guy."
Edward's head came up for the first time. Looked past Aaron's shoulder. His face was flushed. "O-oh. You're..."
"Yeah." Aaron shrugged. Looked at the ground. "Keep that a secret though for me, ok? Especially with Allison around. I haven't shared it with too many people in uh, our reality or universe or whatever it is we have going on here. I don't think I'd want to share it with any of you yet either. Except, you know, YOU."
"Sure." Edward whispered. His eyes lowered again. "I won't say anything. And I'll help test apparating." He added quickly.
Aaron grinned. "Thanks, dude."
Anna walked through the dreamworld with a hand in her pocket. With a purpose. Her purpose? She needed to get wizarding money for the group. She threaded the crowds some more. Even after losing the others. She entered the nearest bookshop. Not Flourish and Blotts. It was a small one. There were two witches in another aisle near the back.
Anna ignored them and walked to the front counter. A wizard was standing there in blue robes. He was thirty, maybe. About the age of her father. He looked really funny in those clothes.
"Hello there, little miss. What can I do for you?" He spoke to her with a smile. He looked her up and down. "Muggleborn?"
Anna's fingers touched the warm metal in her pocket. She smiled up at the wizard. "Yes. I'm looking for a book. For pleasure reading. Are there any magic fairy tales here? Children's stories?"
"Children's aisle is over this way." He nodded. He walked out from behind the counter and started off. He motioned her to follow: She did. "We have all sorts of fairy tales and stories here. From oldest to newest. Pictures and small page count to thicker anthologies. And if you need any-"
Anna pulled the blade out of her pocket and shoved it with both hands into the man's back. She drew it out and shoved it in again. Again. She kicked at his legs and leaned her weight onto him. He fell. She straddled him and drove her knife against the back of his neck with her whole body. It sunk in a few inches. She tried to pull it out again. It didn't work.
Anna didn't want to lose her blade. But...she might have something better now, she thought. She began feeling and tearing at the man's robes as he shuddered and bled under her. She found it after a minute. The wand! Yes! She took it up in her hand and felt a tingling shoot through her arm. She stood up and turned around at the sounds of footsteps and gasping. It was those two witches. They weren't staying around to attack her. They ran out of the shop.
Anna pointed the wand down at the man's back. Focus, Anna. Focus. "Diffindo!" she said clearly, slashing the wand down vaguely. Nothing. She breathed and bit her lip. "DIFFINDO!" She flourished it about. There was a little sputter of purple sparks at the end. That would be useful if she was able to jab it into someone's face-maybe she could take out an eye-but it wasn't what she wanted here. "DIFFINDO!" she yelled and slashed the wand again. She repeated this but only got more sparks.
Damnit! Damnit damnit damnit!
Anna whirled. Shoved a few books off a shelf. Turned back and kicked the dying wizard in the ribs. She stomped on his back in frustration. She just had to-
'No, no.' She told herself. 'Calm down. You have the wand. You can do magic. Just not very well. Take the wand, disappear, figure out how to do it well. Then use it well. Just be patient. Learn and watch.'
Anna slid the wand down into the waistband of her underwear and pulled her shirt down over her waist again. She looked herself over and paused. She had blood on her. She kicked off her shoes and strode over to the counter. She got behind it and took a little box out of a cubby hole. She opened the box and found a little mound of coins. She took a handful out and shoved them into her pockets. She left the shop, satisfied. It was a crowded day today. Everyone was shopping. No one would see her if she could just make it back into that alley and-
A hand grabbed her shoulder.
Anna turned and looked up into the face of Jake. Emma, Allison and Jessica were behind him.
"Where the HELL did you go?" he said in a quiet hiss. "We were looking for you up and down the place. We were WORRIED. We-"
"I was trying to find money like you wanted." Anna stated.
"Well? Did you even find any?" Allison said. Scornful.
Anna pulled out a single gold galleon from her pocket and held it out. She stowed it away quickly.
"How did you get that?" Jake asked, eyebrow raised.
"I found someone who helped me." Anna said simply. She walked past them and back down the main alley. Toward their side alley again. They followed her with bemusement. Some amusement.
They entered the mouth of the alley. Anna watched Aaron and Edward spin around together and fall to the ground. Aaron swore. Edward flushed and looked up at the group, then looked away again.
"What are you guys doing back here?" Emma asked. She was smiling.
"What's it look like? Trying to teleport." Aaron replied. He dusted himself off and stood up. "It's not going so well."
"Maybe we just DON'T have magic." Allison said.
"No way." Aaron said quickly. "We can't apparate, fine. But we haven't gotten to accidental magic yet. That shit's common in magic kids, right? We should try that."
"We'd have to get someone really scared or angry to test it." Emma stated. "Who wants to volunteer to have all their buttons pressed at once? No mercy until you pop!"
"I'm not volunteering." Allison said instantly.
"It sounds like whoever it is will need a damn safe word." Marcus murmured, shaking his head. "Intense stuff."
"We'll have a safe word." Jake assured. Entirely serious. "Nobody's going to get bullied here. We won't go too far for results, if we can even get any."
"So you guys found Anna." Said Aaron. "Did she find any cash?"
"She did." Jake said. He gestured down to her. "How much did you get, exactly? Just the one galleon, or-" He went quiet as she took her hand out of her pocket.
Anna showed off her handful of coins. Gold silver and bronze. "I still have a little more in my pockets." She stated, feeling pleased with herself. Her contribution to the group. She'd never had a group before. Never been a part of one. She'd never had friends. Her father had never let her have such things.
"How did you get all of that?" asked Allison. She was looking at Anna's clothes. "No, wait, don't answer! Because it totally looks like you killed someone for it." She joked.
Anna just looked at them.
They eyed her clothes some more.
"Is that seriously BLOOD?" Marcus shrilled. He stepped away from her. "What the HELL is wrong with you?! You psychopath!"
"Calm down." Jake said firmly. He lifted his hands and stepped in front of Anna. His back to her. "Everybody calm down! Let's not just go flying off the handle here. Let Anna talk. Anna: Tell us how you got that money."
"I walked into a bookshop and took it."
"HOW did you take it? Did you hurt anybody?" Jake questioned harshly over his shoulder.
"Yes. I stabbed a wizard. Several times. I took his wand too. Do you want to see me do magic with it?" She took it out of her waistband and held it up. Smiled at it. She pointed it at the wall. "DIFFINDO!" She said clearly. Purple sparks exploded out of the wand tip.
Everyone yelled and backed away.
Anna looked at her group. "I got us money and proved we can do magic. I did good didn't I? I was helpful."
"GOOD?!" Aaron exploded at her. "You fucking murdered a dude and then robbed his corpse! GOOD? GOOD?! YOU THINK THAT WAS HELPFUL?! WE'RE GOING TO HAVE AURORS AND SHIT ON OUR CASE NOW, YOU STUPID SOCIOPATHIC LITTLE-"
"Enough!" Jake shouted. He slammed his foot on the ground. He looked back at Anna. His face was white. His lips were shaking. "You did...good. Ok? Yeah. Real good. We got money, we can do magic. Great. But just don't- do anything like that again without...talking to me first. Got it?"
"Ok." Anna replied. Nodded. She smiled. She had helped her group. Maybe her friends? Jake appreciated it. Appreciated HER. No one had ever appreciated her before. Whenever she tried to do anything different or extra, her father would just hurt her worse for it. Even if it was something he would have appreciated. Appreciated her for. No, he just got angry. But not these people. Not her group.
"Ok." Jake nodded at her. "Ok. Ok. What we should do now is-"
"Get the hell outta here?" Marcus interrupted.
"Yeah." Jake agreed. "We get out of here. We find- find a phone. We call our houses. Our families. We can just get plane rides back or something."
"Where do we GO?" Allison asked. Insistent. She was as pale as Jake. "And wherever we do go, can we go as far away from this literal MURDERER as possible?!"
"No. We're not leaving anybody." Jake responded. He was fierce and strong. "Look: We all just woke up here. We don't know if it's VR or if it's a fantasy dreamland, right? We don't KNOW if it's actually real. We don't- I don't think Anna would have...if this was real. We don't know! Nobody knows! How CAN IT be real! Because we know the author, we know the story was written in books and that's where it should've stayed! It's literally fiction. We're IN fiction. Every single person here is fake, they were made up, this whole place isn't-"
"What are you going on about?" Emma said, staring. "I thought we agreed this was an alternate universe. It's A universe. It's real. If someone wrote a book in another universe that made OUR universe show up, would you say we were all fake too? Just NPC's in a video game that you can carjack and kill at random? I don't think you would. So don't start going down that train of thought here! These are PEOPLE, this is REAL. End of-"
"Story?" Allison said.
"DISCUSSION." Emma finished, glaring. "Don't YOU start getting any sick ideas into your head now too! We don't need you going on a fucking gay purge just cause you think none of this matters. I'm pretty sure we can all still get hurt and die here, right? So it matters at least that we keep following the rules! How's that? Even in video games you have to follow the rules or you lose."
"You don't HAVE TO..." Edward said softly. He was smiling a little. "I really don't."
"That's great, but this isn't a video game." Emma gritted. "Guys, come on! Nobody-this is real. This happening. Don't start second guessing that."
"We should've been FIRST guessing that." Marcus muttered. "I don't even know. We don't know. That's your point isn't it? We can't know. If this is VR or a dream or a different universe. And if it's the last one how do we know it didn't just come into existence like a day ago? Or half an hour ago with our appearance in it?"
"That doesn't make the people in it any less real." Jessica whispered. "Everyone has a soul, everyone feels, everyone is as complex and alive as we are. The second you think otherwise is when you'll give in to-"
"Sin? Satan? Shut up." Allison snapped.
"Uncalled for." Aaron sniped at her.
"Not cutting loose the psycho killer is uncalled for!" Allison yelled suddenly. She threw herself at Jake. "Get rid of her, right now! She's probably the one who brought us here! She seems to know how to use magic pretty well already when THESE TWO idiots can't even teleport!" She gestured at Aaron and Edward.
"Look, I don't- I don't- UGH!" Jake shoved at Allison. He turned around to look at Anna. He looked back at the others. He put his head in his hands and stalked off. He kicked the wall. He punched at it.
Anna looked at him. She looked at the rest. They were looking at her with fear. With anger. With disgust. All the things her father ever did. Jake at least appreciated her help. Her extra. But they didn't. Anna didn't want to stay with people like her father.
She ran out of the side alley. The money clanked in her pocket. The wand was tight in her hand. Behind her she heard one of the others yell. "Goddammit, don't let her out of sight again!"