Alice Shaw
New member
Witch watched as Wildcat went down, her head hitting the ground hard. She could see that her best friend still had some life in her from the way her head moved as the man made of shadows stepped over her. Witch’s hands quivered as she tried to draw on the energy of the world around her to freeze the man in front of her. But her hands were shaking too much, and Wildcat was reaching for her, a hand weakly outstretched, and Wildcat needed her, she needed her, and–
An ice-cold hand wrapped around her throat and lifted her off her feet. She grabbed it to keep herself from hanging uncomfortably from his grip, once again trying to channel her magic. But nothing happened, and an unsettling cold started to set into her bones. She shook as she tried to draw the sigils on his arms. Her eyelids grew heavy. She slammed one of her hands into his arm and weakly dispelled magic into him, but it did nothing. She had to channel something bigger. She had to channel something bigger.
She breathed in deeply as the cold started to drown her out, and she summoned everything she had to do one explosive channel. One last push. She grit her teeth and slammed her hand down on the man’s arm–
And when she opened her eyes again, it was daylight.
Alice looked around the street, blinking against the bright light. She pushed up off the ground, looking at the buildings. Everything was slightly off. Places looked dirtier, there were buildings she could have sworn were other businesses labeled as new storefronts. Maybe the area had just changed in the last week or so. It had been a while since she and Sam had come to downtown Columbus, after all. Things changed faster in the city than they did in little Lockbourne.
It was colder than it should have been for early fall. It should have still been warm enough that she didn’t need her thermals on under her armored dress and leggings. And yet, Alice was finding herself almost frozen to the bone. She pulled her phone out as she stepped off the main road and into an alley. She caught a few eyes looking her way, but none of the enthusiastic clapping she was used to following them.
She went to dial Sam’s number out of habit, only to find her phone was disconnected. That was strange. Stranger than even the sense of displacement she’d been feeling. Something was going on. Something bad.
Well if she couldn’t call Sam, she was going to have to find the car.
Half an hour later revealed the bug was gone. There was no sign of the little green vehicle. She had wandered around downtown for the entire time, garnering looks and stares wherever she went. You’d think the people of the city would be used to seeing herself and Wildcat around, but they were looking at her with some weird kind of pity. What had happened?
After a few more blocks, Alice nearly collapsed against a wall. Whatever was happening, she needed help and she needed it fast. This would work best if she could get in touch with her mother or the Walshes. But for that, she was going to need to find a phone. The nearest open business was a garage right across the street. She hurried across the street, tugging her mask in place as she got closer. She was dressed in costume, which meant she couldn’t take off her mask. Maybe someone inside would still help her, or at least explain why downtown seemed so abandoned on a Friday in August.
She pushed open the door and heard the bell ring over her head. “Hello? Is anyone here? I need to use your phone, if possible.”