Lola turned immediately, her gaze following Danae’s outstretched hand.

Danae was pointing at something standing a few feet away from them. It was less a person than the suggestion of one, a ripple in the air that seemed faintly like it was breaking the rules of how things were supposed to be. The crowd had unconsciously parted around it, like water in a river breaking around a rock. It seemed to most likely be some kind of ghost or spirit, but something about it felt different from anything Lola had seen before.

The being moved closer to the two of them, it’s mouth opening and closing as if it wanted to speak. Lola took a step forward, entranced, the rest of the world seeming to fall away for a moment.

“Who are you?” Lola asked.

It shook its head, and slowly raised an arm to point at the two of them, the gesture an almost perfect mirror of Danae’s still-outstretched hand.

“What do you want?” Danae asked quietly. It took another step forward, and then shook its head again. A palpable tension began to fill the air, an acrid sort of electricity crackling around them. Lola realized she was holding her breath, and she shared a glance with Danae, whose gaze was locked on the strange spirit. They seemed to be in a sort of battle of wills. Danae murmured, “What are you trying to tell us?” Unconsciously, Lola moved closer

Lola blinked.

When she opened her eyes, the crowd had converged again around the spot where… wait a minute, what had been there? She looked over at Danae, who was also blinking dazedly. She reached back several seconds into her memory, trying to recall what had been so strange, so important. They’d gone to the station, they’d stopped by the platform, and then they’d seen… they’d seen…

It was like there was a blind spot in her memory, her mind skipping over the moment like a scratched CD. Lola looked at Danae. “Did you…” She trailed off, unsure of how to vocalize what sounded a bit crazy even inside her own head.

Danae caught Lola’s gaze, her dark eyes even more piercing than usual. “Yes. I saw it too.”

Both Lola and Danae had troubled expressions on their faces as they stepped onto the subway car, looking deep in thought. Lola’s head was practically spinning, replaying the moment over and over again.

This really was too much, she thought to herself. Danae’s strange appearance and memory issues, Ree’s disappearance and the mysterious note, and now this too? It seemed her hunch the other night had been right. Something strange was happening. One weird, magical event was unusual, two was a coincidence, but three in the span of a few days?

“What was that?” she asked Danae in a low voice.

Danae pressed her lips together, looking perturbed. “I’m not sure. It keeps trying to slip out of my mind, and I’m sure one of lesser magic would already have forgotten.” She paused for a moment. “Although my memory is rather unreliable, I don’t think… I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before.”

They stood there in silence for a moment, processing this. Around them, the car was crowded as usual, the ordinary mix of college students, commuters with earbuds in, and a subway witch or two. The one thing they all had in common was a complete lack of interest in anyone or anything else.

All of a sudden, Lola snapped her fingers, an idea coming to mind. “Kezi! We should talk to Kezi about this! After all, they’re an exorcist- if anyone’s gonna be able to help us figure out what that was, it’s them!”

Danae nodded in agreement. “I still need to talk to them about my odd condition as well.”

Lola sighed. “There’s so much going on- I almost feel like I need to write a list or something. Talk to Kezi, help figure out Ree’s kidnappers, figure out what that thing was…” Her stomach growled again, and she added, “Go get some breakfast…” Danae cracked a slight smile at that. “If you don’t mind, I think I’m gonna call Kezi.”

“Good idea.”

Lola took out her phone and dialed Kezi’s number. The phone rang once, twice… finally, Kezi’s voice rang out, but Lola let out a disappointed breath when she heard the message: “Hey, this is Keziah Ngwenya, for some reason I’m not available right now, so go ahead and leave a message or whatever.”

“At the tone, please record a message.”

“Hey Kezi, sorry to bother you, but this is Lola again. Danae and I saw a weird… spirit-thing down at the 2nd Street subway station, and we were wondering if you’d be able to help us figure out what it was… it was really weird, kinda seemed like it wanted to talk to us or something?” Saying it out loud made Lola feel a little dumb- compared to everything else going on, the issue wasn’t really that pressing. “Again, so sorry to bother you, I know you’re probably really busy right now- just… call me back if you get the chance, okay? Bye!”

She hung up, slipping her phone back into her pocket, and let out a sigh, turning to Danae. “Guess that’s gonna have to wait.”

They sat in silence for a few moments, just listening to the clatter of the subway car and the whoosh of the wind blowing past. Lola caught a glimpse of some graffiti on the side of the tunnel, a stunning art piece of a woman half turned into a wolf. After a while, Danae spoke up, “If you don’t mind me changing the subject for now, what restaurant are you taking me to?”

For a moment, Lola flushed slightly at the wording. She’d almost made it sound like Lola was taking her out on a date… but that was just Danae’s rather archaic way of speaking.

Lola responded, “It’s called the Breakfast Hut! I’ve been eating their pancakes pretty much my entire life, it was a very defining part of my childhood.”

“Pancakes… I’m not sure if I’ve had those before.” Danae almost sounded like she was talking to herself.

Lola fake-gasped and pressed her hand to her chest in mock affront. “Never had pancakes? Well, we have to fix that as soon as possible!” The speakers above them dinged, announcing they’d arrived at the next station. Lola caught Danae’s eye. “This is our stop!”

When they emerged from the subway station into the bright morning, Lola had to blink a few times to get adjusted to the sunlight. She gestured with her hand for Danae to follow. “Come on, it’s just a block away.”

In no time, they’d arrived at the restaurant. Luckily, Lola’d had the presence of mind to call ahead and reserve a table, because the place was crowded, the tables packed with people.

Danae whispered something to Rova and Dulun, and they flew off, landing on the telephone wire above as the two of them settled down to eat, at a cute little light-green table with matching chairs. There was a little vase full of small white flowers perched in the middle of the table, and there was a menu and a glass of water set in front of each chair.

Lola took a sip of water as Danae flipped through the menu. “Which of these pancakes are your favorite?” she asked Lola, eyes scanning across the menu.

Without a hint of hesitation, Lola replied, “Blueberry-chocolate, it’s not even a question.” She sighed wistfully, thinking of her one true love (blueberry-chocolate pancakes).

Danae nodded thoughtfully. “Good to know.”

At that moment, the waiter came up to take their orders. Lola ordered her usual (blueberry-chocolate pancakes), and the waiter turned to Danae, who said simply, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

As the waiter left, Danae looked up at Lola and said, in her typical, rather quiet, voice, “Thank you so much for getting me breakfast. I do appreciate your hospitality quite a lot.”

Lola smiled. “Of course! I don’t mind at all.” Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. “By the way, I just realized- we’ve known each other for nearly two days now, but I hardly know anything about you. I’ve told you about my undying love for chocolate-blueberry pancakes… what’s your favorite food?”

This time, it was Danae’s turn to reply immediately. “I like soup.”

“Any kind of soup in particular?”

Danae shrugged. “Soup.”

Lola had no choice but to nod approvingly. “Honestly, a very valid answer.” She laced her fingers together, propped up her chin, and peered at Danae. “Alright, now it’s your turn: ask me a question!”

Danae hummed. “What is your favorite species of butterfly?”

“I haven’t really thought about it before… monarch butterflies are pretty, though!” Danae nodded approvingly. Lola fired off her next question: “If you were stranded on a desert island and could only bring three things, what would you bring?”

It took a few moments of thought before Danae replied, “A compass, a book, and perhaps some kind of book.”

Lola laughed. “How practical, I like it. But what about Rova and Dulun?”

“Well, they’d be with me, of course. They go where I go.”

The two of them continued in this vein for the next ten minutes or so, trading questions back and forth. Lola answered various inquiries about her favorite string instrument (the cello), what she’d save in an apartment fire (her recipe books), and the language she best liked the sound of (French, as she’d studied it at school). In return, she learned that Danae’s favorite color was blue, that her hobbies included collecting the most colorful pieces of broken glass she could find on the street, and that she didn’t have a 2nd favorite animal other than crows (‘Just crows,’ she’d responded. ‘I like crows’).

When it was Danae’s turn again, she leaned forward and asked, “What is your most treasured memory?”

Most treasured…? Lola frowned to herself as she mulled over the question. Pretty weighty stuff to be thinking about before breakfast, honestly. “I’m… not quite sure, frankly. I guess... probably my mom teaching me how to cook when I was younger?”

She was definitely fond of the memory, and it was one of her favorites, but the word ‘treasured’ felt so weighty to her. To treasure a memory, to prize it above all others… the answer she’d gone with felt a bit unsatisfactory, but at that moment the food arrived, effectively cutting off any further conversation as Lola’s view narrowed to a tunnel vision of her most dearly beloved, long-awaited blueberry-chocolate pancakes.

Existential crisis forgotten, she thanked the waiter, turned to Danae, and gestured to the food with a grin. “Are you ready? ‘Cause these pancakes are about to change your life!”