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”To the park my sister,” Cassiopeia said once she was settled in the front passenger seat. ”So are we excited to go to a creepy warehouse and meet people we’ve never met before and try to save their lives and possibly get maimed in the journey?” Cassiopeia asked. She knew the Grimm Brothers tales of the fairy tales as well and she had a feeling their take on all those stories were going to be a bit more accurate. This wasn’t going to be a Disney fairy tale and as much as it still confused Cassiopeia that all of this was real, it was real. Which meant people could die but there was actual magic in this supposed land. Who the hell knew what would happen to any of them.
Cassiopeia rolled the window down a bit, shutting her eyes as cool air flowed over her and she tried to center herself. Her mind was racing and she couldn’t keep her emotions in check. She was up one moment and going through a crisis in the next. This was probably going to be a very bad idea but Cassiopeia was finding herself drawn to the unknown.

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Once the girls made it into the kitchen, Willow poured them their drinks and handed one to her friend. ”Come on, let’s go up to my room and I will show you.” She took Annie’s free hand and led her friend back down the hall and up the stairs to her room. Willow was grateful to have a stable family, a mother that was now willing to tell her what had happened and offered to continue to help in any way. She was also grateful for having an amazing friend like Annie. If anyone could help her navigate the uncharted seas of being adopted, it would be her. Everything else that came with the news of being adopted, watching people burn and meeting Merlin, those were all things that Willow would address later. One thing at a time was all she could handle at the moment.
Willow closed her bedroom door once they were inside and walked over to her desk and pulled the letter out from her purse and handed it to Annie. ”It’s very vague but talks about my birth parents being alive. Like I said, I’m not the only one to get this letter and for the others it was word for word the same. Other than who it was addressed to of course. Then the park, those poor people… It was the stuff out of nightmares Annie and there was this guy there named Merlin and I really do think it’s the real Merlin,” she said, rambling now.

Smile, Annie greeted her friend by returning the hug. Plus, she was eager to be back somewhere safe. Annie had kind of been shocked into silence as Willow calmly explained her predicament. She just stared a little dumbly at her friend, not even answering the question about ice tea. I, Annabelle thought, am terrible under pressure. Annie knew she needed to calm down. Being lead by the hand upstairs Annie quietly accepted the letter and opened it. It was exactly the same as the one that she recieved. Her hands were shaking. This wasn't right. This was impossible. Willow was suffering and needed her best friend but Annie felt like she wasn't strong enough. Willow was adopted, too? Why hadn't her parents told her?

Annie set the letter down on the desk and took a few deep breathes. "O-okay, Willow. You've been through a lot. Y-your parents didn't tell you that you- were adopted. Obviously that's something I never had to figure out," Annie laughed out a breathy excuse of a laugh, "So I don't know exactly how you're feeling. But this letter- a-and wizards, it's all fake, it's all...s-some kind of scam. Let's just...stay focused on what matters. Your family. Let's talk about that." She said. Annie took her friend by the hand and lead her to the bed so they could sit on it together.

"I'm here for you." Annabelle concluded, putting on a brave face. She wasn't going to let her friend Willow fall into some kind of scam or trap that baited people with their insecurities.

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Matthew's face flushed red once more as Colby went on about how this was good for him and how he needed to be more adventurous. It sounded like the kind of thing youd hear in a young adult novel just before the friend or lover convinces the protagonist to go off on a grande adventure that would forever change their life. Maybe this would be good for him, maybe this will help them get closer in one way or another? Or maybe they'll all get killed and die in the process. It was all still very unknown. Matthew watched as Colby took the boxes and made his way out, staying for a few seconds longer to collect himself before marching off towards the car.

He made his way into the backseat, being careful not to disturb the mess or uh...hunting gear, that they had. As soon as Cassiopa opened her mouth, matthew immediately began to get nervous again. He hadnt even noticed but his hand was gently tugging against the jacket he was wearing, breathe held, and eyes cast down as he thought about the possibility of his death. "H-hopefully it doesn't come to that, r-right? It'll be fine. We have t-two Hoods, a k-kid of Pendragon, and...and...well I'm sure we'll be fine." Surelt he would drag this party down. He was the NPC escort that the D&D party had to protect. No skills, no magic, just ordinary "Mad"dy.

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"We should go camping sometime then. After all this is figured out." She waved her hand vaguely. Rose thought about Sierra's question for a little while. "Well I don't usually get off work from the bar until pretty late like 2 am. So I don't think I'll go tonight. I do have tomorrow off. I'll probably go tomorrow. Do you want to go with me?"

She didn't want to go alone and figured Willow wasn't going to be down with going. And with Mab off dealing with other stuff... She sighed frustrated. Mab was supposed to be helping her with this. This was their thing. She regretted bringing in the others a bit, but at least Sierra was involved.

"Do you think Willow will be okay?" The girl had seemed really distressed. Rose felt bad for her and chewed on her lip a bit as she continued down the hiking trail. "Like, think she'll make it up with her mom? I don't know how I would handle it if I was in her place. She's got to be over 18 why didn't they at least tell her then?" Rose asked rhetorically, there wasn't any way that Sierra knew the answer.

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Colby rolled his eyes at Layla's 'joke'. "Honestly, it was fair. If it had been me I might have done a similar thing." He shrugged. He really didn't blame her for her reaction to Matthew's note. That had been just as weird as Tink's staring. Why not just be direct? He didn't get it.

"Love the idea of being maimed. Basically a life goal of mine." But then he caught how nervous Matthew looked. He sighed slightly, trying to keep some annoyance at him out of his voice. "We'll be fine. You know we're only going up against Maleficent. How hard can she be to beat? Didn't she just have like a rock tossed on her head or something?" Colby asked, sort of joking, but also definitely getting Maleficent and the witch from snow white mixed up.

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Megan didn't touch the tea Merlin had offered her, slowly replaying the information he had given them in her mind. A beloved cartoon dwarf named Grumpy was the identity of the John Doe they had gone to investigate the death of at the orphanage. They were from a place called Arcadia - which sounded to her like the name of a town in Canada - and their parents had sent them to Kansas in order to keep them safe from Maleficent. Their parents had been fighting what seemed to be a losing battle for over a decade. And of course, as her brother pointed out, Merlin hadn't even told them the identity of their parents. It seemed like they would be revealed to be Disney characters.

She had to wonder if her mother was one of the ghosts at the Haunted Mansion - what had the bride with the axe been named? Maybe that was the answer. Her brother was probably the son of Prince Charming or something. Maybe Robin Hood? Was he a person in Arcadia or was he a sentient, talking fox with a hat? She just had more questions as she considered Merlin's story, still trying her best to give him the benefit of the doubt. Megan did remember him. She knew she had seen him as a small child. Maybe he was simply mad - but what if he wasn't? What if her parents really were out there in danger? "I'd like to know who our parents are as well."

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Wichita Kansas, Rosalia's Apartment:

Taylor entered the room and started to look around it somewhat it was pretty small in her opinion but it was a whole hell of a lot better than living on the streets. She looked over towards Rosalia and smiled towards her slightly, she certainly was going to take up on the offer to take a shower. "Thank you." She said as she quickly went into the shower, and Lucky quickly started to search around the room, jumping off of the couch with a slight thud. A few seconds later Rosalia would hear the shower going off now as well, and Lucky found a small corner in the small apartment and laid down.

About ten minutes later Taylor came out of the bathroom still wearing her clothes since she didnt have anything else to wear, then there was a knock on the door. It was the building's landlord there, an older looking man but he always looked like he was angry about something as well and always hounded his tenants on rent for those who were behind. "Whos that?" Taylor asked looking over at Rosalia with a little bit of a confused look, and slightly paranoid that she might have called someone as well on her.

Wichita Kansas Willow's House:

When Willow mentioned the name Merlin she would remember that encounter with him back out on the streets as well, and the flashes as well from when she was younger as well. Willow would receive a text from Sierra as well, checking in on her there was a knock on the door and Willow's mother stuck her head in. "I'm going to order dinner for tonight, what would the two of you like?" She asked them, assuming that Annie would be staying for a few hours and have dinner with them or not.

Wichita Kansas Outside of Merlin's Warehouse:

Tinker would look over towards Jack for a moment and gave him a little bit of an annoyed look, she did spend the last few hours with the others, though the two boys kind of were annoying to her but she didnt really say it out loud. Since she was the one who was watching and protecting them all after all as well. Her hands sparkled slightly and threw them at Jack and he would start to float about a foot off of his chair, and gave him a slight smirk. "The one and only." She said.

Merlin looked at Tinker Bell and shook his head a little bit at her. "Please put him back down." Merlin instructed her, and Tinker rolled her eyes slightly and waved her hand a bit and Jack would land back on the chair with a hard thud. "You aren't fun old man." She said as she went to grab some food, Merlin shook his head a little bit, and turned his attention back over towards Megan and Jack, I am sorry for that, she's like that a lot." He said when they asked about who their parents were he nodded and looked over at Megan. "I am sure you do remember me, your parents are King Arthur Pendragon, and Queen Guinevere." He said while looking over at Jack for a moment he knew that his father worked with Maleficent. "Your father is Rumpelstiltskin."

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Sierra nodded a little bit and thought for a moment, looking at Rose and smiled. "Tomorrow works, and maybe I can swing by the bar as well just to keep you company to?" Sierra offered, since she didnt really have anything else to do for the rest of the day, and started to think about Willow when Rose asked about her. She really did hope that she was doing alright, she couldn't imagine what she was going through since it took her this long to find out that she was adopted and her parents never told her either.

"I'm going to text her." Sierra said as she started to take out her phone, and slowed down a little bit.

"Hey it's Sierra, was wondering if you are doing alright?"

Sierra hit send, Maleficent was quietly following them, she looked over at Pandora who was still being very quiet, and stared at the two girls for a moment. One of them was on their phone, she waved her hand a little bit, as a nearby tree root tripped her. Though it was subtle that they wouldn't see it move, and she was now on the ground as well, looking over at her daughter.

"Just play along for now." She said as Maleficent changed her outfit to a jogging outfit and the invisibility disapeared, and made her way out of the woods to help Sierra up. "Are you alright?" She asked as Sierra groaned a little bit, and went to pick up her phone seeing that the screen was cracked now. "Yeah i'm fine thanks.." Sierra said softly.

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"You guys said the park right?" Layla asked as soon as everyone was out she climbed into the drivers seat of their car and turned the ignition to the jeep on. She looked at Colby and Matt for a moment, wondering how well the two of them would actually survive in the wilderness as well. She remembered watching the Maleficent movie a while back she remembered that she had some kind of dragon form, that would actually be cool to face. "Killing a dragon would be pretty cool." Layla said looking at the three of them as she drove down the road.

A few minutes later they were now at the park and Layla parked the car in the parking lot just outside of the park itself, looking at the two boys. "I guess see you guys later, unless you two want us to take you to your guys place, and get your things, and then we can grab our things at our place." Layla said, she wasn't sure what they wanted to do, and she was pretty sure that her sister wouldn't mind really either.

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"I'd like that. I'll get you a few drinks if you want." Rose responded. Nodding when she said she was going to text Willow to check up on her. "That's a good idea." She chewed on her lip a bit as she kept following the trail. It would be nice to have a friendly face at the bar, and maybe if Willow was up for it she could join too. It might be good for her to get out of the house. "Invite Willow to drinks." Rose added.

That was when Sierra trip and fell. Rose reflexively asked, "Are you okay?" Then looked up at the woman who appeared to be a jogger. "What did you trip on? I'll have one of the guys grind it down." Rose said while checking the ground near where Sierra triped. "Hi, I haven't seen you around here." She smiled at the woman.

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She had no idea what her mother had planned as they followed and trailed the girls. They must be children, much like her, born in the other world and whisked away. Otherwise what they were doing was very sketchy. She listened as the girls spoke, joked, and did their average thing. She wondered if they were truly aware of what the world was really like before her mother waved her hand and the root of the nearby tree moved, tripping one of the girls.

Her mother quickly changed and ran over. She was told to play along, so she did. She came running up as the other girl came on to the scene. "Mom, why did you...oh!" She looked over at the girls, mock sympathy and concern on her face. "What happened? Is everyone all right?" Once she, or rather her character, had been assured all were well she continued. "We were jogging around here. We ran through our old trail so often we wanted something new, so we came here. She ran off when she heard something and I didn't realize it until I turned to see her running off. Classic mom." She gave her mother a hearty chuckle.

She hoped she was selling this well.

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The park looked pretty normal to her at the moment but Cassiopeia found herself now hunting around for something abnormal or someone lurking in the shadows for them. She hated that, was this what it was going to be like in that other land. Always looking over your shoulder and never feeling fully safe. She sighed. ”Just seeing a dragon would be kind of cool,” she noted.
”I don’t think they want us to drive them home, or else they wouldn’t have asked to be dropped off at the park Lala,” Cassiopeia noted. She hooked her hand onto the outside of the car and looked back at the boys. ”We’ll see you at the warehouse, ya?” If she didn’t see them there, she was going to be pissed. After all they had helped Tink convince the Hood sisters to come along on this crazy adventure.

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Willow sighed and nodded, holding her friend’s hand while Annie spoke to her after reading the letter. She looked over at Annie, shocked when she said that she had received the letter as well but she didn’t seem to think it was real. Unfortunately, Willow had evidence that it was. ”I seriously wish I could agree with you Annie, but I can’t. In the park, I heard you watching the news when I first called you. I was there for the after and that is when I met Merlin. He gave me a card and a location to meet him, as well as the people I was with and then he just disappeared,” she said and snapped her fingers. ”I am certain it is all real Annie and with the news of being adopted, this letter and key from my birth parents... It's hard to ignore it all,” Willow said and handed another envelope written in fine script was Willow’s name but a foreign last name and she showed Annie the key she was given.
Willow heard her phone chime and moved to pick it up when her mother came back, asking what they would like for supper. ”Oh, could we have breakfast for supper? I’ve always loved that.” Breakfast foods seemed to be Willow’s comfort food and she needed a lot of that. ”Thanks mom,” she said with a small smile before looking at her phone and saw that Sierra had texted her. She smiled a bit more, not realizing and sent a reply back.

”Hey Sierra, I’m doing alright. My mom had some things from my birth parents that she gave me and now my best friend is here.
Strangest thing though, she also received a letter but she is telling me it’s a scam, so now I’m trying to figure out how to convince her it’s not.”

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Jack still wasn't all too sure what to think about this entire situation, considering the fact that he was hearing about everything and magic actually being real. Nothing was making all too much sense, and he wasn't even sure he cared much for Tinker Bell, who somehow made him start floating! That once again threw everything he knew about physics (which wasn't much) and logic out the window entirely. How the hell was she able to do that? There was no way she could have actually pulled that off in a standard magician's trick which typically involves a lot of planning probably. So what just happened?

He decided not to say anything at all really to Tinker Bell, instead choosing to focus on what it was that Merlin was saying, even though he had already decided to take everything he said with a grain of salt. At the least he was planning on hearing the man out. Jack had to fight back the urge to snicker at who Merlin said Megan's parents were. "Well I guess that explains the last name," he said to her, before he noticed for a moment that Merlin almost seemed to hesitate when addressing him. When he heard the answer, he had to think back as to who exactly Rumpelstiltskin was. "Okay, I'm going to be honest, I don't really remember all too much about that fairy tale, but guessing he isn't exactly a nice person?"

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"Knock yourself out," she said with a slight laugh towards Taylor and a wave as she heard the shower turn on, clearly indicating that she was there. Rosalia looked at Lucky as the puppy started exploring his surroundings and he jumped down and found himself a corner. "Well aren't you being adorable... Welcome to your new home," Rosaila spoke towards the puppy, talking to him more then she was talking to herself or anyone else in particular. She typically didn't talk to many people, so she was perfectly fine talking to the puppy.

After a while, she heard Taylor get out of the bathroom, and she glanced towards her. "Have fun?" she asked, before she heard a knock on the door and she let out a sigh, getting up from where she was on the couch and headed for the door, not really wanting to answer the door all too much. "Hey there," she said towards the man after she opened the door a crack to see who it was, before opening it fully so that they could talk. "What can I do for you?"

Annie shook her head, putting a palm up to her face. Willow wasn't a liar. But this was...impossible! This Merlin guy, he had to be some kind of mad drug dealer who could give people hallucinations. Or something. Because...because...! Annie kept quiet as Willow's mom entered the room, turning her face away so Willow's mother wouldn't get suspicious and waited until she left.

"M-magic isn't real," Annie said with a nervous, incredulous smile. It seemed like she was trying to convince herself more than she was Willow. "Magic isn't real, Willow. Merlin isn't real, he's a fairytale. He must have...didn't he hurt you? I ran into someone who said they were Merlin, t-too. Bald guy. I- he- made me see things. He must...have some kind of hallucinogen." Annie claimed, nodding quickly.

"I called the cops on him. This guy is dangerous, he has to be. Don't- don't let him trick you." Annebelle trailed off. This was nuts. Magic wasn't real. He must have tricked Willow somehow, and Annie was concerned for the safety, physical and mental, of her best friend.

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Matthew sighed at Colbys comment. This was an adventure of a lifetime and all he could do is worry. He knew he shouldn't, that seldomly those who worry are the ones who dont survive in the movies. It was their incessant fear that kept them from acting and caused them their life. He needed to be better, he needed to do better. He couldn't help but laugh at Colnys remark about the rock, knowing full well that wasn't at all how Maleficent had been destroyed. The hood sisters did however remind him of her draconic form, the lime green flames that symbolized evil in many a film. "You're right. This'll be fine. This'll be fun. " He said as his hand gripped the armrest on the door.

"Maybe we can meet others along the way. Aladdin, Magic Carpet, the Genie of the lamp, Alice, Our parents, and Peter Pan. Hopefully it's more like the Disney rendition for him, always had a bit of a crush on him." His face immediately reddened as he realized what hed said, hands clasped over his mouth as they slowly dropped so that he may speak and change the subject. "We'll meet you there. No sense doubling back to know? Ready Colbs?" He didn't really wait for a response, opening the door and clambering out so he could leave the embarrassment behind as his face still felt hot.

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Even though she had seen Merlin murder those people in the park with magic, Megan's eyes widened as Tinker Bell made Jack begin to float. A cynic would have suggested that there were hidden wires and Jack had orchestrated all of this as an elaborate prank. Maybe they both had been drugged with some sort of aerosol spray they hadn't noticed - it couldn't have been anything in the drinks, as Megan hadn't touched hers. She didn't know how to respond as Merlin apologized for Tinker Bell's behavior, so she just nodded. Megan was still silent as Merlin told them who their parents were. Her brother was the son of Rumpelstiltskin - she didn't remember a single thing about Rumpelstiltskin.

But King Arthur and Queen Guinevere? Megan knew about them. She had been teased in school because of her last name, Pendragon. Bullies used to take a ruler and jab it into Megan's lunch, asking her if she was worthy enough to pull the "sword" from the "stone." Megan swallowed thickly. Her father was the legendary king of England? "...Didn't Lady Guinevere end up cheating on Arthur with Lancelot?" Megan asked. There were certainly better questions to ask, but it was the first one that came to mind. She remembered things about that in the stories. "And... are you quite sure Jack isn't the son of King Arthur and I'm the child of this.... this Rumpel person? He's more the royal type than I am."

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"Yeah see you at the warehouse. I'm gonna just ditch school. I don't think I'll be going back ever again actually." A part of Colby was a little sad about that. The rest of him was fairly excited about it. He hated college. It wasn't helping him. He saw no point. So no reason to keep going. Especially now. He realized he didn't even know exactly what time it was.

"Thanks for the ride. And sorry Matthew is super weird." Colby said when Matthew got out of the car. He rolled his eyes and climbed out following after Matthew. Colby grabbed the leftover boxes. "All right, now where did we leave the car?" He looked around for his car.

Colby found it, he gave a satisfied grin. Happy that his car was still there. When he got to it though it looked like someone had tried to jimmy open the door. He noticed the scrapes on the driver's window door. He shook his head and muttered "Amateurs." Before unlocking the doors and climbing. When Matthew climbed in he handed him the leftovers.

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Wichita Kansas, Rosalia's Apartment:

Taylor looked at the man suscpicously who was at the door that Rosalia had answered to, she didn't know him at all but she looked really uneasy as well. She turned her attention towards Lucky and made her way over and sat down next to the dog who looked like he was about to crash for the next few hours. The man looked over into the room seeing the random girl as well as the dog, getting a little bit of an annoyed look seeing the dog. "He isn't going to be a problem is he?" He asked, they were allowed to have pets in the building, but if there was any kind of noise complaint then there was usually some kind of trouble.

"I noticed you coming in with the dog, and just wanted to make sure that there wasn't going to be an issue really. Also rent is due next week." He warned her, usually he did go door to door to let them know that rent was going to be due soon. He turned his attention towards the hallway, seeing someone he didn't really recognize, before turning his attention back to Rosalia.

Wichita Kansas Willow's House:

Willow's mother smiled and nodded towards her. "Sure thing." She said as she started to head out of her room again and started to go and make it as well. Annabelle would be able to see the text from Sierra on Willow's phone as well, without any kind of issue, as a few minutes passed by eventually Willow's mother came into the room with two plates of scrambled eggs, sausages, toast, as well as a pancake. "I made you a plate as well if you want it." She said to Annabelle.

Wichita Kansas Outside of Merlin's Warehouse:

Tinker walked over and sat down on a chair not to far away from both Jack and Megan, she watched the two of them a little bit more while she drank her tea when Merlin spoke up again looking at Jack. "In the story your father did force a millers daughter to spin straw into gold. Or he would behead her, which was really gruesome to hear when that actually did happen. Your father is very manipulative and will make anyone do just about anything. And he works for Maleficent as well." Merlin answered, before addressing Megan and shook his head slightly.

"You are King Arthur's daughter, and the stories tend to vary but you are Guinevere's daughter as well." Merlin said, while looking over towards Tinker Bell who was now on her phone at the moment. "Are the others on their way?" He asked her when Tinker Bell gave a slight nod. "Yeah four of them are tieing up loose ends they should be here pretty soon." Tinker answered.

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Sierra groaned a little bit as she dusted herself up, and looked down at the cracked screen on her phone groaning some more she was a little bit more than annoyed that she was really stupid. She turned towards both Maleficent and Pandora who came running up shortly behind the strange woman. "Just my pride I guess, and my phone screen, I tripped on one of those tree root things that stick out of the ground a bit." Sierra answered looking between the two of them and then over towards Rose. She didn't really go out for runs usually like this so she wasn't really recognizing the two of them at all either, but suspected that they were just a mother daughter duo going out for a run.

Maleficent took a moment and looked at the screen seeing the crack on it, she could fix it without much of an issue really with her magic but she also didn't want to freak the two out so easily either. "I know of a place where you could get your phone fixed really easy and cheap to, I could take you two if you'd like?" Maleficent offered, as Sierra looked over at Rose for a moment wondering what she wanted to do first. "I'm Sierra by the way. And you two are?" She said introducing herself to the two women, before texting Willow real quick, surprised with the little bit of information.

"Thats good to hear that you worked out things with your mom, oh yeah me and Rose and I are going to hang out at a bar later if you want to hang out maybe and talk about more what happened earlier?"

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Layla looked towards Mathew for a moment when he mentioned Peter Pan being cute and having a crush on him she couldn't help but chuckle a little bit, usually kids had some kind of fascination with animated characters. "Isnt he a kid forever or something though?" Layla asked teasingly as she watched the two of them getting out of the car and looked over towards her sister and shrugged a little bit. "Was being nice and offering a ride to their place." She told her as she watched the two of them starting to head off to their own car. "See you later Colby Cheese, and Fork Boy." Layla said, giving them one last little jab they were pretty weird in her opinion.

Once they were in theirs Layla started to pull out and started to make the drive back over towards their apartment, they mostly just needed their cats and some spare clothes, and some camping gear. They were pretty much good on their other hunting gear from earlier, as Layla got out of the car and headed back into their apartment building.

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Pandora didn't know what her mother's plan was, but she doubted it was for anything good. So far the girls seemed to be buying it. Really this was an easy con. Far beneath her skills. "Oh yeah, yikes. Cracked phone. I can't count on both hands the number of times I drop the darn thing. It always costs so much to get that extra insurance, but considering the damage we do to our phones, it kind of seems worth it." She gave a warm smile before her mother offered to take them.

That was random and, if she were in their shoes, she wouldn't just leave with a stranger. But Pandora was close to their age. "Oh yeah, I know the place. They do such a good job of repairing damage. Super quick too." She didn't want to add any more than needed. Still, she wondered if her mom had a back-plan in case this didn't work.

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He was a bit surprised that Megan instantly thought that of the two of them he seemed more like a royal. That was a little bit strange to think about, and he was somewhat glad that he wasn't royalty. That sort of life would probably just plain suck horribly. However, upon hearing the story his father was a part of, he would have preferred to be a royal. "Okay... That sounds more then a bit gruesome, not going to lie," Jack commented when he heard about the story. He had heard about some sort of fairy tale involving someone turning straw into gold, but he never remembered it ending that badly.

The other fact regarding his father being one of the villains and was working with Maleficent made him stop and think about why he was even there then. Considering the fact that Maleficent was the big bad or whatever you wanted to call her, and it sounded like his dad was right there with her. "Okay... Going to ask this and excuse me for being a bit blunt... If my dad was a villain or something, and is working with the person causing all of these problems for you... Then why did I get brought here? I mean, it just seems a bit weird to bring a villain's kid along with the kids of all the hero people or whatever..."

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"Nope, he's not going to be a problem, he's more or less probably going to just be knocked out for a few hours, seems pretty tired to me... But don't worry about him, the little puppy won't cause problems. And yeah, I know, rent is due next week, don't worry, and thanks for the reminder," she responded simply to the landlord, nodding her head slightly, not really sure what else to say about it. However, Rosalia did notice that he seemed to get distracted by someone out in the hallway, and that confused her a bit, and she instantly poked her head out into the hallway to look at who he was looking at.

She didn't recognize the person who seemed to be staring back at her, specifically her apartment. "Who the hell is that?" she muttered somewhat, before pulling her head back into the apartment. "Well, guess I'll see you later then," she said to him, before she shut the door and walked back towards Taylor. "Okay, that was weird... Not him popping up to talk or anything, that's pretty common... But there is some weirdo outside who seemed to be staring at me, it was really weird."

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Megan was intrigued by the story of Jack's father. While it was gruesome and vile to threaten to behead people if they didn't spin straw into gold, as she was certain that was impossible... it played to her love of the macabre. There was a reason that she chose to become a medical examiner, rather than say a pathologist. She adored the strange and unusual. An insomniac, she would spend her nights listening to true crime podcasts, reading the Wikipedia entries for various serial killers. At the morgue, she would speak to the corpses, as if they could actually respond and tell her about the circumstances of their death. "Do you still have the head?" she couldn't help but ask.

"Of course, Jack's question is important as well. Why did you take the children of villains as well as heroes? Are there other children here with villains for a parent?" Megan inquired. She still didn't feel quite at home with the idea that her father was King Arthur and her mother was Queen Guinevere. She kept waiting for Merlin to tell her that there indeed had been a mix up and she was the daughter of Dr. Frankenstein or something like that. She took her brother's hand though to show solidarity with him. She didn't care if his father was a monster - that didn't change the fact that he was her brother.

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Matthew sat in the car once it was finally unlocked. He waited for Colby to enter and then took the leftovers from him as he handed them over. He'd heard his comment before entering in, waiting for Colby to buckle up before initiating some conversation. "You mentioned amateurs...who are amateur? The Hood girls?" Matthew hadnt noticed the markings that his friend had. The scent of the leftovers chinese food quickly began to fill the car. Matthew wanted to open it up and take a few more bites, hunger striking again even if they had just eaten. "What is it about Chinese food that fills you up and then makes you hungry in a matter of minutes. I'm sure I'll get a chance to finish this off once we're st Merlins place and meeting Merlins beard only knows who."

His fingers rapped on the top of the take out boxes, thinking about what it is that lay in store for them and how he could best help the group when they did make the cross for Arcadia. He wondered if perhaps he would gain some new abilities as soon as he entered the land of magic. Perhaps hed have the chance to slow or halt time like his father supposedly had. Or maybe he would be capable of doing things that literature never dared to even mention. The ideas ofcourse ran wild in his mind as they drove.

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"My name is Rose." She said as she mentally marked where they were on the trail so she could report the root. One of the guys would grind it down later to make it safe for hikers and joggers like the mother-daughter duo in front of her. There was something unsettling about them. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. She glanced at Sierra to see if her friend caught it too.

"It's fine. Thanks. I've got my bike at the trailhead. I'll take her after we finish our hike. What's the name of the place?" She asked. Rose would look the place up. She certainly didn't want to get into the car with strangers, but if Sierra insisted she would go with her to protect her. She could box, sort of.

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"Oh, someone tried to break into my car, but failed." Colby explained. "The Hood girls seem smart. If a bit extreme. I can get behind their thoughts though." He drove away from the park, taking a last look in the review mirror at it. He would never think of the park the same again. It was where he had met Tink and things had gotten weird.

Up to that moment, it had seemed like a prank or something. Heck, even Tink had seemed like a prank at first. He wasn't certain what he thought about being the kid of some cat though.

Soon they were at the apartment complex. He pulled into his parking spot. "Alright meet back in here in thirty?" He figured he could get all of his stuff gathered, and get his cat. He was not leaving Jack here, which really who went on an adventure with their cat? Apparently, the son of the Chesire cat did. He grinned at the thought and climbed out of the car. "Do you have a cooler? We can keep the leftovers in it unless you finish them now."