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Pandora felt the woman was laying it on a bit thick, but even she couldn't wave away the literal magic being done in front of her. If what she was saying was true, then she had come from this world where magic existed. Where fairy tales were real? The woman was clearly not Cinderella. Pandora had to admit, she was intrigued by the offer. She wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but a stubborn part of herself kept her grounded here.

"You may want to start explaining then. If I am to believe you, I was taken from my home by this...Merlin. If that is the case...why? There must be a reason. Was I in danger? Was he evil? Was it for the greater good? I have a life here and am comfortable, what exactly could you offer me that I cannot achieve or haven't already achieved here?" Pandora felt she knew the answer to that, but she wanted to hear it from the woman's lips. She also had a feeling she knew the answer to the previous question. It must have been an attempt to save her from her "wicked mother", if her magic is to be believed as well as her attitude. Pandora wasn't opposed to it, she just wanted confirmation.

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Maddy sat further back into his chair with his hands up in surrender towards Cassiopa. "Cool your jets there huntress. Look even Tink agrees with me that you're Hoods. I hadn't realised how aggressive the family was, always assumed they'd be jolly and jovial not...constantly threatening." He looked towards Colby and smiled as he played along with the story Maddy was attempting to weave. It was always surprising to him how someone could be so attractive, smart, and cool at the same time. Meanwhile Maddy had none of those traits to call for his own. As the rest of the table continued their discussions he sat there and thought about what it was that could possibly be done to show proof. Sure she had shown her wings before but that could've been a trick of the light.

He sat forward, leaning on the table now, hands clasped together. What could she do to help prove this all to them? "Well...perhaps you could take us to Merlin? Have him do something do magical, so outlandish, that it couldnt possibly be waved away by near science and illusion. As to exactly what that would be well, perhaps we can all think of something that would suffice for us all? Aside from death threats and fights that is." Maddy took the letter back that he had handed them, folding it up and placing it back into his bag.

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Megan considered for a moment whether or not she ought to lie to her brother. He had gotten one of these letters too, so this did concern him. Would he freak out if she told him a wizard she remembered dimly from her childhood had been attacked in Oak Park, only to kill his assailants with a fireball? And that they were all supposedly the children of fairytale characters? Once again, she figured the answer was a definite yes. Her brother tended to freak out over a lot of things, even if he tended to try to hide those panic attacks from others. "This is going to sound bloody daft, but keep an open mind," she began. He was going to have to freak out over this situation sooner or later.

"I went to Oak Park to take a look around, do some investigating. It's really a lovely place, I ought to come here and read Mary Shelley next week, the weather is perfect for it as well. But I met a man that I remember from when I was little - before we were adopted. Others who got the same letters showed up as well. Now I know that you're feeling skeptical already, so I might as well just blurt out this next part - though I do think you should try to consider it as being possible, as it's simply improbable and not impossible... He's a wizard called Merlin. He says we're all the children of fairytale characters. I saw him do magic, Jack..." A card appeared in her hand with an address on it and she glanced over to where the others were, just in time to see Merlin step through a portal. "Oh, but I forgot to mention - there were some odd men in the park and Merlin killed them."

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Cassiopeia looked at the boys and gave them an inappropriate gesture. ”Wit will only get you so far in life and as for happy go lucky, not in the vocabulary. Also, there are many different versions of Robin Hood and he wasn’t jovial and accommodating in all of them. As for proof, what do you think sis?” Cassiopeia looked over at Layla for any input she might have in the situation. ”Do you have anything that is our parents?” She didn’t think Tink would, but maybe if she saw something that was his, she would remember.
She looked back at the one who claimed to be the son of the Cheshire cat and nodded, able to see it in a way. Although Disney did not portray the cat as a man and she didn’t know much about Alice in Wonderland beyond that. Wasn’t her cup of tea. ”And who is your fairly odd parent?” Cassiopeia asked the curly haired one. She couldn’t recall if he had said it already.

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Willow was relieved when Merlin gave them all cards, out of thin air, to use if they wanted to see him again. They could leave this place and not have to answer any questions, none of them knew the answers to. She shoved the card into her bag and pulled her keys out to unlock her SUV. ”Let’s just go. We can talk about this later,” she said and grabbed onto Sierra’s hand, pulling her away and back to the car. She was very impressed how calm the girl who had taken a phone call seemed to be acting. Either nothing surprised her or she had an excellent poker face.
Willow got into her driver’s seat and started the car by pushing the start button. Once everyone was inside she pulled away as calmly as she could manage and drove out of the park and away from the blaring sirens. If they wanted to go back to the diner, she would take the long way around. ”This can’t be real… Can it? No, the mind is a powerful thing but this? Not this,” Willow said, shaking her head as she drove.

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"Yeah, let's go back to the diner." She was irritated at the girl with the dog. The girl seemed to believe that she was the only one who mattered, which was just a jerk way to live. When the girl mentioned a criminal background Rose wasn't totally surprised, but also wasn't going to judge the girl on that. Heck, the bouncer at the bar she worked at had a criminal background. That didn't bother her at all. It was the straight-up selfish way she spoke to them. The man calling himself Merlin walked through a portal. She blinked in surprise. According to Pendragon, he was throwing fireballs and walking through portals. This was wild and something she wasn't totally ready to grasp.

Rose sighed deeply and followed Willow to her the car. She looked at the card that Merlin had given her. She was fully planning on heading there ASAP. There was no way she was going to just let this sit. Three days was entirely too long to wait to find out the truth. If this guy was real...Well her parents were alive and she could see them again. Before she did this though she needed to talk to the Buckners.

Rose climbed into the car, she was still staring at the card and didn't look up again until they were back at the diner. There was a lot on her mind. A lot to figure out. A lot to get answers for.

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"My last name isn't cat." Colby shrugged. He didn't know how everyone had gotten their names. He had been adopted out so he had his adopted parents name. There was nothing saying that these two couldn't have their adopted parents' name. But as for proof. Colby considered the options, short of just going to Arcadia he wasn't certain would be enough. He could ask dozens of questions but if he didn't remember Arcadia there was no way to compare her words to his memory.

"Can you do magic? Stuff that doesn't look like a sleight of hand." Both Colby and Mathew knew magic well enough that they would be able to tell how most stuff was done. He wasn't worried about that. What Colby wanted to see was real magic. If she could do something that wouldn't look like a trick or sleight of hand he had a feeling he at least would believe. The wings had been a good trick that was for certain and he was leaning toward Tink telling the truth.

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"You do realize that that comment is not exactly reassuring about anything you know," he responded, when he first heard the words about it not being the best thing. Though he liked to think that he tended to keep an open mind about things, and unlike some people, he was always hell bent on getting to learn the truth. To him, it wouldn't even matter all too much if the truth was something that was impossible or something, as long as it was what actually happened. "Alright, shoot, what is it?"

Listening to her words, he made a bit of a face when she commented about magic. "You saw someone you remember before the orphanage? Before the adoption and everything?" he asked her, a bit stunned, considering a lot of his own memories of that time weren't exactly all too clear. When she mentioned his name, as well as fairy tale characters, he had no idea what to think of it all, so he focused in on the words about the guy killing two people, and apparently knowing magic. "You do realize that magic is a bit far fetched right? Though considering the fact that we saw someone on video who looked like a Disney character... It doesn't sound like too much of a stretch..."

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Rosalia wasn't too keen on sticking around with the group in the park, they also seemed keen on heading to a diner which made absolutely no sense whatsoever in her mind. There wasn't any reason to really go off and get a snack or something at a freaking diner! Ignoring everyone else's words for the most part, she figured that she had said everything that she had needed to to the group, and Merlin went through a freaking portal of all things (which made her have a bunch of other questions) but she didn't say anything to him.

Instead, she headed out of the park and away from the weird group who had magically all popped up in one place like a freaking TV show or a movie, with the little puppy in tow. There were a lot of thoughts that were racing through her head about what Merlin had told her, about who her parents were and everything, but her mind wasn't wanting to accept anything relating to that as fact. She had lived by herself for years, and no one really did care about her, that much was the truth. So why should she care about what anyone else said about her or her family?

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Wichita Kansas Annabelle's Home:

Isabella listened in on Jack's conversation crossing her arms over her chest while she waited for Annabelle to respond to her while still holding the letter in her hand. She wasn't sure if the girl was daydreaming right now or not, but her attention was now on Jack when he did mention about the case back at the orphanage earlier having the security tapes taken also. "So what did she say, and does she want us to come over now or something?" Isabella asked nudging Jack, if there was a connection then they needed to be there as soon as possible.

Wichita Kansas, Motel:

Maleficent leaned back in her seat looking across the room at her daughter as she asked her some more questions, she hated Merlin for taking her daughter away from her in the first place. "Merlin and his merry band of idiots believe that I am a monster. And that what I am doing is evil. That is why he took you away from me in the first place, believing that he could turn you against me." Maleficent said as she ran a hand through her hair and smiled at her daughter.

"I can offer you to teach you everything I know, magic, power anything that you could absolutely want wealth, money, power anything your hearts desire." Maleficent said as she stood up. "Isnt your life a little bit boring here, you could get anything and everything you want if you choose to come with me my daughter." Maleficent said as she approached Pandora a hand, whether she wanted to accept her offer though was ultimately up to her daughter after all.

Wichita Kansas, Oak Park:

The sirens were getting much louder now until the police finally arrived now at the scene, and they started to approach the two bodies, one of them stood at the part where the bodies were now as well. When the officer spotted Megan talking on the phone who he instantly recognized as well. "What happened here, did you see anything we got a call from the chief." He said while the other officers started to corner off the scene from the other pedestrians as well, now that a group of other people were starting to get curios as well and some started to take pictures.

Wichita Kansas, Streets:

The puppy was happily laying in Rosalia's arms when the police sirens started to get louder, and then the police were starting to corner off the area around the park. When one of the cars pulled over not to far from the park and one of the officers stepped out of the car seeing Rosalia there and looked at the puppy for a moment before speaking. "Good afternoon ma'am were you at the park recently did you see anything at all?" The officer asked while looking at her, hoping that there was some kind of information on what happened there.

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Sierra blushed slightly feeling Willow grabbing her by the arm looking at the coroner lady who went by the name Megan, making sure that she could remember her face. Maybe going to the police station to talk to her in person, she was still a little bit freaked out at what happened. "Yeah lets head back to the diner." Sierra said as she climbed back into the front seat sitting next to Willow rubbing her arm slightly, she wondered if fleeing the scene was actually a bad thing as well she didn't really know.

"This is all really weird.." Sierra said as she pulled out the card that Merlin had given her, as well as seeing the man stepping through a portal as well, Sierra leaned back in her seat while looking over her shoulder at Rose and then Willow. "So i'm not high or anything, but you all saw that happen right with the guy claiming to be Merlin stepping through the portal and giving us these cards in our hands magically?" She eventually asked.

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Layla leaned back in her seat while looking over at her sister and thought for a moment, taking one of the forks there and lightly twirled it around between her fingers. "Something that our parents had that could be passed down to us or something." Layla suggested while looking over at Mathew. "Hey, not my fault that you didn't just come straight up and say something, instead of doing some weird shady kind of shit." Layla said, though she did feel sorry for scaring the shit out of him earlier, but at the time she felt it was really weird and shady.

Tinker looked at the four of them for a moment as she thought about it, and nodded. "Alright then." Tinker said as she looked around, luckily there wasn't really anyone looking their way before opening a small portal and stuck her hand through it, and pulled out a simple locket and then the small portal closed and slid it over towards Layla and Cassiopeia. On it had their names inscribed into it, and if it was opened it would have the a small picture of the two of them as babies. "Proof enough?" Tinker asked.

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Pandora had figured out that much. Was this woman, her mother (which was still hard to process), evil? And if so, did that matter? Pandora wasn't the shining beacon of morality either. And she had it right, life was getting a bit too boring. A bit too predictive. She had what she desired and it never did feel like it was enough. Like a part of her was still missing. Perhaps this is what that was.

She didn't want a family. Not really. But power? That was something she could get behind. And magic? That too seemed great. Pandora considered her options. Those men that came to her apartment...were they Merlin's men? And did Merlin really have her best interests at heart?

So with resolve, she reached out to her mother's hand. "I'm in." She didn't know what she was signing up for, but she figured she could at least take a look. If all else fails, she'd leave. She got out of tighter spots before.

Annie wasn't really sure what to say. She thought she was crazy. But she also didn't want to admit she tore up the letter, because this sounded like evidence. She really did make a lot of mistakes. Not to mention, she just wanted to go back to her normal life. "Y-yes, it did. I...I tore it up though. It's in shreds in my trash can. I know I should recycle paper I was just...mad. At the letter. I guess." She half-heartedly laughed, nervous, rubbing her arm with her hand.

"It's just...I didn't think...you would know about the letter. That's crazy, right?" She looked over to Detective Gold who was still on the phone. What was going on? Annebelle felt anxious, just like she did when she was talking to the stranger who made light come out of his hands. As if something big was going on, something she didn't understand, and Annebelle hated things she didn't understand.

"I just...I really need to get to college soon, actually." She smiled but it didn't reach her eyes, the young woman was uncomfortable.

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Cassiopeia watched Tink, wondering what exactly the fairy, for who she was named for, was going to do. Did she even believe in fairies? Tink seemed to open up a portal but Cassiopeia didn’t seem to have a word for what she saw. All she saw was the woman’s hand disappear and then it came back, holding a gold locket in her hand before handing it over to the girls. Cassiopeia stared at Tink’s hand, seeing that it was fully intact before the weight of the locket jogged her attention. She looked at the precious metal, turning it over in her hand to see both her sister and her name inscribed on it. Carefully, Cassiopeia popped the locket open and saw a baby photo. Somehow, she knew it was the two of them.
The red haired Hood twin seemed to be at a loss for words, for once. She stared at it before looking at Layla, wondering what her sister seemed to make of this. She looked back at Tink and her well intacted hand. ”How did you do that?” she asked, referring to the portal making. It was hard not to believe, something but Cassiopeia was struggling for words right now.

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Willow nodded slowly when Sierra asked them if they had all seen that. It was hard to not see a man suddenly disappear. She wondered what had been on the other side of the portal. Was it just the building that Merlin had told them to go to? Willow drove in silence, adopting Rose’s quiet until they reached the diner and she parked in the same spot as before. She shut the car off, the only sound being the soft music playing through the speakers. ”I don’t know if I can go. I don’t know if I should go,” Willow clarified. It wasn’t that she physically could or couldn’t go, she wasn’t sure she would be able to handle it mentally.
Willow looked at the others in the car. She still didn’t really know all these people but suddenly they had all been thrown into the same situation. Bonded by circumstance and environment rather than common interests. These people seemed nice enough, they had shown compassion when Willow found out she was adopted but hearing that the world was bigger than even the world maps showed was a bit disconcerting. She opened up her door, silencing the radio and got out of the car for some much needed fresh air.

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As far as Matthew could tell, these Hood kids thought small. Trinkets, physical evidence, all things easily acquired and manipulated. Who was to say she couldnt fake Arcadian birth certificates, or simply have a broken arrow that "belonged" to their father? No, Colby was right. They needed something intangible. Some proof that magic truly exists and that beyond it is another world unknown to man. He wanted to answer the red headed hood about his lineage but his eyes were fixated on Tink. What would she do with such demands? How would she prove her validity as an other realmly being? They were distracted before but now he knew her wing trick. His eyes were fixated on her hands to see if there was a mechanism, or fish wire, something to show it was all smoke and mirrors.

But Matthew learned two things in that moment. One, Tink was not a one trick pony. Two, magic was real and she could do it in their realm. A small portal opened up before Tink, Matthew trying to get a glance inside of it to see the land beyond, to see where it is she was reaching. Her hand vanished within the space and then arrived once more with a small locket for the two new girls. "I think we can all agree that an actual vortex into another realm that produced a trinket from your childhood is a good enough piece of evidence? As for who may parents are, well I came to this realm with a trinket from them. A hat and a riddle. The Mad Hatters hat to be exact. Tink here confirmed that he was my father that I'd been searching for all these years in while in the system."

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"Yes, I think... I think he knew my birth family," Megan answered her brother. She was pacing back and forth slightly as she talked, noting that the others had already pretty much left the area. She was glad to see them gone. They had been a bit disturbed, even accusing Megan of having some sort of hand in all of this. Besides, she didn't know them. And they didn't know her. The only thing that connected them was the entire matter of this letter - she lumped them in with Isabella. It was her and her brother against the world. She hadn't made up her mind on how she felt about the girl with the dog either. "Can you get to the park, Jackie?" Megan then asked.

"And please, keep this between us - I'd rather not experience an asylum against my own volition." Her eyes then snapped over to the cops as they approached. She really couldn't be cross with them, as she had been the one to call them. She tucked the card Merlin had given her away in her pocket. "I've got to dash," she apologized to Jack, ending the phone call as she walked towards the cop heading her way. "I'm afraid I didn't get a good look at them - there was an old man with some sort of... homemade explosive, I think, that caused the damage here," Megan explained with a grimace. "He vanished not too long after I called this in too."

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He listened to her words, and thought about how best to answer her. Jack glanced over at Isabella, thinking how best to deal with this. Megan specifically said to keep it between them, meaning she probably didn't want to include Isabella in the whole thing. If that was the case, he had to find some way to make it so that Isabella didn't go with him to the park, or really question why he didn't want her to tag along. "...Alright Meg, if you're sure about it," he said before she hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket.

Turning to look at his partner, he once more found himself thinking about what best to say to her, and to Annabelle. The fact that Annabelle seemed to want them to leave did help somewhat though. "Thank you for your time," he said simply to Annabelle, before looking at Isabella. "I'm gonna head to the park to make sure Meg is alright, nothing too be concerned about, she's fine and actually told me not to show up, but I'm going to head over there anyway. It's not that far of a walk. You head back to the station and start seeing what you can dig up on our potential kidnapper, and the other case we were working on earlier," he said to her, not really wanting to say out loud around Annabelle that they also had to deal with a murder in town. "So ladies, I'll see you both around," he said with a slight smile, before he walked away from the two, and out the door.

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She was more then happy to get away from the lunatics in the park. There were just way too many people in one place for her liking. How was it that everyone ended up in the park? There was no way that could be a coincidence, it was just way too convenient for so many people who had the same problem all show up at the same time. Just way too weird, and she was glad to say the least that no one seemed to follow her out of the park. Those weirdos needed to get a life or something, or go back to their typical standard lives then one dealing with magic and whatever. They at least seemed to have normal lives. Not her, she was completely different. No normal life for her.

Her mind wandered to the card that Merlin had given to her, and she was glad that Lucky seemed to be settling down in her arms before the police showed up in the area. Turning to look at the cops who spoke to her, she contemplated what to say to them. "Unfortunately, no, I didn't really see anything. I mean yeah, I just came from the park, but I didn't see anything, I heard some sort of commotion and headed that way to see what was going on, but all of the chaos was gone by the time I got there, so I turned and left again. Figured I'd hear about what happened in a newspaper or something later on."

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"I understand Willow. You're not high Sierra. That just happened." She blinked, and considered if she was hallucinating and that didn't fit either. "Thanks for driving Willow. If you wanna give me your number I can update you, or Sierra can if you already knew each other?" Rose couldn't remember if Willow and Sierra had just met this morning or if they had already been friends.

Rose started at the card again. She needed to know who her parents were. She needed to see their faces and to have them tell her they didn't abandon her. Willow hadn't even known she was adopted. But Rose had always known. She had the memory of crying in the forest lost and alone. She had once held the shape of her mother's face in her mind's eye. It was gone now, she was too old. But she knew if she saw her she would recognize her. It would all come back to her.

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Colby did his best to not let his jaw drop when Tink literally opened a portal and pulled a necklace out. That was impressive. He couldn't figure out how that would be faked, and he was good at magic. He glanced at Matthew knowing he was also good at magic. If the two of them were fooled...well they were no Penn & Teller.

"Admittedly I have to agree with her. You were a bit weird." Colby agreed with the blonde Hood sister. "Also my name is Colby Jackson. Nice to meet you both." He said realizing he hadn't introduced himself to her. These girls knew who his supposed real parent was but not even his name that he had lived with since he was two.

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Wichita Kansas Annabelle's Home:

Isabella looked at Annabelle for a moment, she could understand being angry and what not but if it was evidence then it shouldn't really have been shredded up in the first place. "I understand that, I was adopted as well." Isabella said she didn't really have any intention on meeting her parents yet anyway, she was still a little bit more than annoyed with having to be abandoned growing up as well. She looked at Jack for a moment and nodded slightly. "Alright then, just give me a call or something." Isabella said, while fishing through her pockets and pulled out her card and handed it over to Annabelle. "If something else comes up, or if you remember anything please don't hesitate to call." Isabella said, as she turned around and started to head out the door shortly after Jack and made her way over towards her car. "You sure you don't want a ride over there?" She offered.

Wichita Kansas, Maleficent's Lair:

Maleficent gave Pandora a smile, she was a little bit surprised that she was onboard so quickly but she was glad that her daughter was on board for now at least. "I am glad then." Maleficent said as she took Pandora's hand, and then green fire started to cover the room, and then they. They then appeared in what looked like a really nice high rise apartment, she started to walk further into the room everything looked very expensive and high end as well. "Can I get you anything?" She offered, as she went over and sat down on a chair stretching out slightly, on a nearby table Pandora would be able to notice some pictures of a few other people, and where their current residences were now as well.

Wichita Kansas, Oak Park:

The police officer listened to Megan and started to write down on his notepad on what she had seen and would occasionally look back at the two bodies. The bodies were burnt now, though there didn't look to be any kind of explosion on the ground which was a little bit weird to see as well. "Did you witness anyone else while at the scene as well?" The officer then asked, another officer knelt down to look at the body though didn't really touch it as to disturb the scene.

Wichita Kansas, Streets:

The officer took down Rosalia's statement and nodded slightly he didn't think much about it and then pulled out a card and gave it to her. "Alright then, if you remember anything feel free to give us a call." He said, as he turned and headed back in the direction of the park. Lucky was still pretty content and happy in Rosalia's arms, Rosalia would then recognize the same girl from earlier in the day on the far end of the alleyway scavenging through some trash, the puppy seemed to perk up a little bit now as well.

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Once they were back at the dinner Sierra leaned back in the car seat a little bit, she was still having a really hard time processing what had just happened. A part of her did wish that it was just a really weird dream, she looked at Willow for a moment biting her bottom lip for a moment. "I would look into it I guess." Sierra said as she pulled out the card again and started to look at it again, she still had a lot more questions than answers right now. Sierra got out of the car and stretched out slightly while looking back at Rose and Willow, she wasn't really hungry right now though.

"Either of you guys want lunch or something?" Sierra asked, and nodded towards Rose. "I have Willow's number, I can keep her updated or something, or you can exchange numbers to?" Sierra said shrugging slightly, she didn't really mind she could text the both of them at anytime really now a this point as well.

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Tinker looked over at Cassiopeia who asked how she actually did that and smirked a little bit. "Would you believe me if I said it was magic now?" She said sarcastically as she looked between the two boys who seemed to believe that her second little trick of the day was actually real. "And before you two ask, yes it is from your pops." Tinker said, as Layla quickly snatched it out of her sister's hand and started to look at it rather closely. She was still trying to process everything, they were originally just going out on a small hunting trip.

Layla then looked at Colby who introduced himself. "Layla Hood." She said extending her hand over towards him. "So your name is kind of like Colby Jack Cheese then?" She decided to tease him a little bit while looking back at her twin sister, wondering what she wanted to do right now as well. "I'm sure you have more questions? Feel free to shoot." Tinker said, while Layla leaned back slightly letting her sister ask first.

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Megan thought for a moment whether or not to mention those heading to the diner. As much as she would have liked to give more information to the officer, she didn't want to throw them under the bus. They were annoying, but they didn't deserve to get caught up in a police investigation. "No, I was a bit distracted by the explosion," Megan lied. Her brother was on the way and once Jack got here, they could head to the address indicated on the card. They'd figure out more about this together - and hopefully he would be able to ditch Isabella in the process.

"Please don't touch anything, it'll be a nightmare to process the scene if you do," Megan couldn't help but comment. "Forensics should be the only ones handling things here, unless you want to come back as a result for the killer." Sure, the office hadn't started to touch anything yet but Megan felt it was only a matter of time. People couldn't help themselves in these situations in her experience. She could have offered him some gloves, but she didn't want to encourage it.

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”That’s what, not how. How do you do magic? How did you do that,” Cassiopeia pressed. Layla snatched the locket from her hand and Cassiopeia almost snatched it back but stopped herself. It wasn’t just hers and she wasn’t the only one trying to process everything. ”I think I need a beer,” she muttered. She looked over at Colby and Matthew. ”The Mad Hatter and the Cheshire cat? Wow, match made in heaven or what,” she muttered.
She looked back at Tink when she asked if they had more questions. ”Why were we sent here? Why are they in trouble now and we’re the ones who can supposedly save them?” Cassiopeia had a billion questions rolling around in her head, it was whatever tumbled out of her mouth first that would be answered. She leaned back into her own chair, leaning closer to her sister in a show of solidarity and plainly needing the comfort a person you’ve been with your entire life could give you.

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Willow got out of the car as well, if only because the others did and she didn’t want to be left. ”We can exchange numbers as well Rose, maybe start a group chat. I should go home… I need to talk to my parents, well, adoptive parents I guess. Perhaps we can meet up later,” Willow suggested. She looked at the girls before walking over and hugged both of them before giving Rose her number.
She got back in her car, waved to them and then headed down the road for home. It still didn’t seem quite real to her but it was settling and she knew, deep down she knew that it was. You couldn’t explain away a man disappearing into a portal and the brutal honesty he was saying. Willow felt defeated as she drove, as well as lost and confused. She pulled into her driveway and shut the car off. Willow took another minute to brace herself before she walked inside to talk to her parents about what the hell just happened

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Matthew looked down onto the table as Colby agreed with the Hoods in thinking his idea was...weird. What else was he supposed to do? Let Tink continue staring at them until they left? Go over to them and say "Hey I'm sorry but my friend over there who I just met moments ago is actually a fairy from pixie hollow named tinker bell who used magic to enter our realm and help find us so that we may save our fairy tale families from mortal peril in another world in which time functions differently and is under the rule of villains." Oh sure cuz that would go over so well. Some of his curls began to fall in front of his face, tickling his nose as he sat there and dared not to move. It was embarrassing to day the least to think the guy you like finds you weird of all things.

Before he could say anything in protest or even speak, one of the two Hoods called them a match made in heaven. His cheeks became flush with pink from eye to eye and across his nose. Embarrassment filling him to the brim as his mind raced at the thought of him and Colby as a couple. His hands began to fidget with themselves, fingers slipping in and out of each other as they became slightly heated and sweaty with embarrassment and nerves. She continued past the statement as if she hadn't just read his life with her words and declared it publicly before them all. She asked about the same questions that the pair already had back at the park, and he so desperately wanted to answer but there was a knot in his throat as he went to speak and his face became even more red with embarrassment, taking a large drink of his water and avoiding eye contact with them all.

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As Pandora held her mother's hand, the two were transported elsewhere. If Pandora didn't believe her mother had magic before, this basically confirmed it. It was a nice high rise apartment. Nicer than her own, which bugged her for some reason. Then again, she could have opted for higher if she wanted to. "Nice place. Are we in Kansas anymore?" she asked nonchalantly. She figured they had to be if Maleficent was looking for her.

As for what she wanted? She wanted to get started on magic training. I wanted more information on where she came from. What her mother did. What made Merlin want to take her away. But that would all come soon. "Why now? I guess that's as good a place to start as any. Why have you come now? And how did you find me exactly? I know you have magic and shit, but there's gotta be more. Is there a tracking device in me, because if so I want it out now."

Annie frowned. The officer was adopted too? Did she understand? It seemed like it was over, for now. Detectives Isabella and Gold began to wrap up their investigation and leave. "Okay. Okay, I won't hesitate. Goodbye. Thanks for...coming?" She wasn't really sure what the polite way to bid a pair of officers ado was. She looked over at Doug and then back at the detectives.

She stood up and began to follow them out, not pressuring them but sort of acting as a barrier into the rest of the house that was slowly closing as the two made their way close to the door. She waved one last time and then closed it behind them, locking the door. Annie exhaled a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. That was stressful. Hopefully she could put the whole thing behind her. Now it was off to college.

...

Annie went over to the blinds and peeked through the window, watching the detectives in their car. She really didn't want to go out there. She didn't feel safe. Annebelle wanted to be safe, indoors, where no magic wizards could attack her with scary mind blasts, or whatever the hell she thought she saw. Maybe...maybe she'd stay inside, for now. Skip classes for the day. There was no reason to go everyday, and she was doing well enough in the classes should would miss today, right? Annie peeled apart the blinds and scanned the environment outside.