Flora Deschamps is, if she may say so herself, quite the witch with a pretty useful power to see auras and the magic around her. That being said, it can be quite amusing to find that another witch of whom she does not know is trying to follow her while failing to be sneaky about it. Maybe they really were trying to be discreet, she doesn’t know, but their aura, a murky green splashed with bits of orange, definitely caught her eye from a mile away and stayed in her site for most of her afternoon. She first spotted them walking down the street across from her when she was going into a class and quickly figured they must be related to whatever happened to Effie’s skin if they’re were here in town. Then, an hour later once she was done with her lecture, she easily spotted them not so sneakily hanging around campus near her building. This continued well into the evening.

Flora let out a huff, talking to one of her classmates and offering to walk them to their last class to see if the dude was still going to follow her, then low and behold, he did! So, after seeing her classmates off, she plopped herself down at one of the empty tables outside and fished out her laptop. It was getting pretty late but fortunately, there were still students hanging around this area so she would be fine.

“What are you doing?”

Flora didn’t have to look up to know who was speaking to her. She smiled, putting her headphones on before beginning to talk to the Blue Jay the sat on the stone wall behind her.

“He thinks he’s being sneaky and I want to find out exactly what it is he’s trying to accomplish by following me around.” She said cheerily, pulling up an assignment on her laptop.

“And you expect to do that by sitting here doing homework?”

“Nope, but that’s what I have you for,” she said and the bird seemed to scoff at her. “Please, Jean. I’m pretty sure he’s one of the guys that took Effie’s skin and the sooner we get that back, the better.”

“Fine, I’ll go and I’ll let you know what I find out. If he gets too close though, I’ll be back,” The bird warned before flying off. Flora pulled up her messages on her laptop and began to type out a text to Kleo and Alexei.

F: I think those witches are back, well, at least one of them seems to be here on campus right now. He’s been trailing me for hours now.

Almost instantly, she got a reply.

A: Shit, be careful. I can come meet you, where are you?

F: One of the tables on the west side. He’s kept his distance so far, but I’ll let you know if that changes.

A: Do you think he’d try anything in public?

F: He shouldn’t, but actually, I may need you for something else. My familiar’s checking him out now and if we can figure out where the skin is, we can grab it while he’s distracted.

A: And by we, you mean me.

F: :)

Flora paused in her planning when she realized they hadn’t gotten a response from Kleo.

F: Any word from Kleo?

A: Pretty sure he’s closing up tonight so he probably isn’t looking at his phone.

F: Hm, alright then. He should be fine if he’s there at least.

Flora glanced around again, making sure she still saw that greenish orange aura just a bit away. He was sitting somewhere near the physics building looking very out of place and she wondered how on earth he thought he was being inconspicuous.

“We’re in luck.” Jean said, landing on the table where she sat. “I may have found his truck and the skin. It’s not very well hidden but there’s not much I can do to grab it for you,” He said, ruffling his feathers. “He doesn’t seem like the brightest, leaving it out like that, but aside from his size he doesn’t appear that intimidating at all.”

“His friend or whomever the other witch is must be the brains of the operation then,” Flora said softly, typing away on her computer. “I’ll tell Alexei about the skin and the truck but I need you to help him by keeping an eye out in case his friend shows up.”

“And how exactly do you plan for him to get the skin? To break into the guy’s truck?”

Flora grinned at him, pulling a bobby-pin out of her hair.

“A quick charm will do just the trick.”

***

Alexei looked around the parking lot, trying to suppress the nervous feeling bubbling up in side of him. He fiddled with the bobby-pin in his hand and followed Flora’s familiar to the pickup truck that rested in guest parking. He didn’t know if he was more nervous about running into one of the witches that owned it or getting caught picking a car lock with a bobby-pin by campus security. He could probably, maybe handle getting away from the witches with Jean’s help but he didn’t know what he’d say to campus security. He could probably kiss his scholarship and TA position away, that’s for sure.

“The coast is clear.”

He glanced up at the bird as it perched on the hood of the truck and kneeled down to figure out how he was supposed to pick a car lock with a hair accessory. He had just gotten used to the way Nox spoke to him, and hearing Jean talk for the first time probably shouldn’t have surprised him as much as it did. The way Jean spoke to him felt different from Nox, though. Nox was almost comforting, like a warm sensation padding its way through his brain whereas Jean’s voice fluttered around in a higher pitch. He sort of reminded him of the talking clock from that one Disney movie with the way he spoke and hopped around with what seemed to be impatience.

“Come on, let’s get this over with unless you want a witch spotting you. I’ll keep an eye out and will let you know if anything changes.”

“Gotcha,” Alexei whispered and looked at the bobby-pin before placing it inside the lock. He heard a click and his eyes widened. Of course, it had to be charmed. He should have expected as much. He opened the door as quietly as he could and climbed inside, taking a look around.

“Inside the glove compartment.”

Alexei nodded, grabbing the handle but when it didn’t budge, he brought the bobby-pin up to the lock as he did with the door. It popped open, revealing a tightly sealed package. He pulled it out, carefully opening the padded envelope to reveal the fur pelt inside. A smile of both relieve and accomplishment found its way to his face and he hurried out of there, placing the skin in his bag before making sure everything else was left just how he found it.

***

Flora grinned as the text notification popped up on her screen.

A: Got it :)

F: Awesome, head my way while I figure out how to lose this dude.

A: Be there soon.

It wasn’t long before Alexei was sat beside her, arm propped up on the table and holding up his chin.

“So, where is this guy?”

“Just outside the physics building. Trust me, you’ll know him when you see him,” She said as he took a quick look over.

“Has he moved at all?”

“Nah, I think he’s just sitting there but I can’t figure out why.” Silence fell between the two of them and Flora checked her messages again. She had tried texting Kleo again directly but still had no response. “Didn’t Nox say there were two of them?” Alexei asked and she paused.

“Yeah, but I haven’t sensed his aura anywhere,” she said, suddenly feeling unsure about the situation. One glance at Alexei and she could tell that he felt the same.

“I have a study group that I was supposed to go to if you want to come? It’ll be inside where it’s warm at least and if this guys still around, we can figure out what to do then,” he suggested to her and she weighed her options. She didn’t really want to go home with this guy trailing her and also didn’t really want to confront him in public when people were out. She sighed to herself then packed up her stuff.

“Sure, I’ll do some homework or something,” she smiled softly and they headed over together.

By the time the study session was over, the guy was nowhere to be seen.