The entire drive to the orphanage was uneasy.The disgusting air made it hard to breathe, so everyone had to breathe with their mouths but even then I could taste the gunk particles as they scraped my tongue. appeared very sketchy. He would keep looking back at us with of terror and dread, probably because having two cops, one musclebound, the other dressed in a black cloak, would be pretty unsettling. I heard a small bump behind me, and Snidely apparently heard it too, But after a few seconds with no bumps, we decided it was nothing, well I did anyway. Snidely still appeared puzzled. Suddenly I heard a phone buzz from the glovebox. The man reached in and picked it out, I recognized the phone was a blackberry. The driver flipped it open and spoke Spanish into it, which seemed odd since he looked Russian, but made sense when I noticed the caller sounded Cuban. Periodically he would speak in English and say a few words like Stroller, quota, madam, and a few others that sounded like they didn't belong in the same sentence.

Eventually, the caller grew furious and cursed the driver, about how he would be burned or something. The call ended and our driver threw the phone in the passenger's seat. Snidely balled a fist but wore a calm face. Eventually, after passing the Brooklyn bridge we came to a stop near a building. It was a skyscraper that could best be described as looking like a bullet. That was not the weirdest part though, the entire building smelled minty. Every breath made me feel relief, it was like eating a fine meal after weeks of starvation. And right on top of the revolving door was a sign that read, "Angel Arms" 'okay pay now-!" The driver stopped mid-sentence and looking at my reflection In the rearview mirror, it was clear why. The illusion pebbles had worn off. Now he just saw two kids in the place of ominous police officers. This was the second time we showed magic to the public and the day wasn't over.

I was about to reach in the backpack for the mindwipe pebbles when I heard another bump and froze. Seconds passed and another bump rang out. I realized it was coming from the rear. I went over to the car door only to see it lock the second my fingers brushed the handle. "Damn now I have to deal with kids." The Russian grumbled, steeping on the pedal. The tires hissed as the car ran ahead and I was slammed back into my seat. The Russian reached out an arm and grabbed Snidely by the throat. Snidely threw a quick jab the area between the man's nose and lips, resulting in a thick crack and squish and part of the man's face caved in, making him violently wriggle and mistakenly step on the brake. The Russian kept his hold, and Snidely's face grew beat red. I threw a punch but was batted away by a pained Snidely.

Snidely undid his seatbelt and stabbed the point into the Russian's shoulder. It was remarkably clean and precise, almost like he had done it before. I could see Its edge poke out through the other end. The Russian's arm squirmed oddly as Snidely ripped out the seatbelt, now blue in the face. Thick blood onto the floor. The Russian let go of Snidely and he fell to the floor, breathing heavily. The Russian scrambled to put the keys back in the ignition but was too pained to do so " The keys!" Snidely yelled, "Grab the damn keys, Luke!" I looked for the keys but couldn't find them. Eventually, I found them right on the floor. I quickly grabbed the keys, which was slightly difficult because they were soaked with blood. But before I could hand them to Snidely, I was punched in the face and for a brief moment, I saw nothing but white flashes before I was met with the grinning face of the Russian.

His face snapped into place and I could hear the blood slow down to faint drips. I couldn't believe it. This man was regenerating. Like he was some sort of creature. No different than the leech I left at the station.Snidely cursed at me to hand him the keys. I did, but they were intercepted by the Russian, and he slammed the keys into the ignition. Snidely turned over and kicked open the window, spraying glass all over his face, before crawling out the window. The Russian swore and unlocked the doors, which I took as a chance to open mine and wriggle out. My body smashed to the sidewalk but I didn't care. I needed to get away from this monster. I could hear more bumps. Something in the car's rear was alive and very aggravated.

Snidely shouted at me to blow up the lock as I did with the gun, however, I was still rearing back from that one punch, making it difficult to focus. Finally, I threw a jet of lightning from my fingertips and it shredded through, coating me in sparks. Snidely quickly pulled the rear door open with a creak, and a figure fell out. A young woman, covered in scrapes and on her arms and legs. Her eyes opened lazily as if she were drugged which wouldn't really be a stretch. The woman wore a suit that was completely black save for a small symbol by her heart of a purple flower glowing vibrantly, with a thin white outline around it. The words "Hello, my name is Barbara" were sown neatly around the symbol in white. The two of us just sat there, staring at the woman as the worst taxi in the world sped off and vanished into the distance, I tireshtires hissing.

The woman's eyes shot open. They were amber and appeared slightly dilated as if that presumed Drug was beginning to wane. The woman staggered to her and grabbed onto a nearby wall for support, groaning the entire time. After a few seconds of dusting grime off herself, the woman chuckled, like she had won an award against all odds. Then she looked at us I saw her eyes fluctuate between our faces as if she remembered us, but just barely. Suddenly, I heard rapid footsteps behind me and turned around to see a petite woman running over to us. She wore the same clothes as the other woman, except her symbol had a gray outline around it and the words " Hello my name is Zalia Rexid, " sowed onto it in dark green.Her teeth were thin and her ears were pretty long. Her whole face was topped off with an infectious smile, that slowly curved into a frown when she looked down at Brenda for a few seconds before changing back to a smile.

"Are you alright Brenda?" She asked sounding slightly irritated Brenda didn't respond and just rubbed her head, and I noticed a deep gash on the side of the forehead, that seemed fresh. Zalia stopped like she just remembered something important, and her face snapped back to us, and with a gasp and a chuckle she said, "Ah you must be the new orphans yes?" We nodded in perfect unison."That's good. Follow me and I'll take you to where you will be staying" she said, her voice crisp and delicate. Zalia walked over to the Angel Arms building, and though she was, walking, she was quite fast. We all had to jog just to keep up. Once I walked into the building, my nose was bombarded with constant sweet smells. It was like the perfect blend of peaches cakes, mints, and sugar. And there was a faint tang of earthiness around all the smells and it should've ruined everything but since it was rather faint it was only noticeable after taking in everything else, like an aftertaste.

The inside of the building was rather cool. It was a shining white and rather cylindrical room with a stairwell in the middle that rose so high I couldn't even see the top. People in suits like Zalia's kept walking to the multiple floors via the stairwell, and every few seconds people would look down and give us odd looks. Maybe most of the staff wasn't informed about Petal Orphanage but what would be the reason? Zalia walked us over to the stairwell and said, " I'm sure Brenda here can take you up to the orphanage, and when you see Tyler tell him he failed ok? He should know what it means" Before either I or Snidely could Answer Zalia walked away, her shoes clicking on the linoleum flooring. Brenda sighed and rested on the banister for a bit before walking up. We followed. And every few seconds, she would stop to pant briefly, and the gash in her cheek balloon up a bit. Eventually, though, we stopped on the third floor and walked across a hallway until we came to a wooden door that smelled like a fresh car with the same symbol on it that Brenda and Zalia had, a beautiful flower; smack-dab in the middle.

Snidely twisted on the knob and turned. The door creaked open. Inside was an enormous room, alluring images of beautiful landscapes were painted on the walls and floor. I could smell lots of meaty foods to my left. I slowly strutted in and turned to see a bunch of people around a table eating. There were 12 people combined on the table, 6 on each side of the table eating scrumptious food, all children, ranging from 6 to if I were to guess 15 years old. One of the children snapped his head over to me, a boy who looked Italian and held a glass with some weird green substance sloshing around inside it. "Well hello Luke, " he said, making all the other kids turn to me. For a brief moment, I froze, fearing that I had been found out. Then I remembered that my fake identity shared my name, and relaxed.

Hopefully, to everyone, it would appear that I was just confused by the rando knowing my name, and not a child spy rather shaken by his experience with the magic police. "How'd you know my name?" I asked after a few seconds of complete silence save for the sounds of silverware scraping plates as the kids resumed eating. The boy opened his mouth to answer but was quickly silenced as a man strode in. He appeared at least 6 foot 4 in height, had a cylindrical face with wild brown hair and a wavy beard. I knew who he was before I even glanced at his suit, which exactly like that of his wife. He was Alexander Rexid the richest botanist in the world who somehow found a magical weapon of mass destruction. The boy from earlier looked past me. I turned around to see Snidely standing by the door, and Brenda nowhere to be seen, like Sweden in a world war. The boy was looking at Snidely like he knew something about him, Though Snidely just looked at the boy like he had no idea who he was.

"I like to inform, my children of when new children are coming. It tends to make them more prepared" botanist said, with an unnatural emphasis on "prepared" by clasping his fingers together and cracking his knuckles. "Speaking of my children, perhaps its time I introduce you to them. This is Tyler Erickson, " he said, pointing at the boy from earlier, who tilted his glass to let a bit of the liquid seep out onto his meal which was a beautiful steak. And before I knew it my mouth was watering. Then there are the curious Caville twins Luna and Juniper" he said pointing to two blonde girls at the far end of the table who were having a heated argument about which method was better, accidental, or disguise. I had no clue about what they meant but from how they talked it was clear to me that they were quite familiar with both methods."And then there's Jacob Quench and his older brother Craig" Two Mexican boys In gray jackets looked to me and waved, the shorter of the two had scars over his fingers that looked he was cut by something hot. There was even a deep crack in his left ring finger that reached the bone and made it snap back at random intervals.

I grimaced at the thought of whatever must have happened to him "And finally there's Eleanor Steyr. And these are six of the twelve children here at Petal Orphanage." Rexid finished pointing to a girl in a colorful jacket with the illustration of what looked like a white plane or black eagle depending on how I looked at it. She wasn't looking at me though, she was sensually stirring her turtle soup while looking Tyler dead in the eye, who seemed to squirm in his seat a little. Suddenly a boy strode in, with thick brown hair with twigs in it, green eyes that made me think of lone sprouts of grass in infertile land; able to succeed wheredwhere others fail, and tan olive skin. "Here is my own son, Isaac. He visits the orphanage on occasion. Now sit and wait for your food ok" he said, gesturing towards the table. Snidely and I slowly and awkwardly sat at the table and the moment we did, the Caville twins stopped talking and looked at us briefly. Not like normal people though.

They looked at us like a 5 star chef would look at a sloppy joe. It was like being visually dissected as the eyes worked over my joints, neck, legs, chest, my backpack- I took in a sharp breath as realization hit and made the hairs on my neck grow stiff, and lightly shuffled over to the side so as to obscure Luna from seeing the Horace symbol on my backpack. She looked over to Jacob and briefly raised one finger before she turned to her plate and began eating her food, which was a plate of grilled salmon and a dozen or so chicken drumsticks dipped in a fine layer of honey mustard, that strange green liquid Tyler had on his food. Redid swayed of the kitchen, carrying two plates. He made no sound as he walked over to us. And I could tell that it had nothing to do with his shoes like how I felt with Dawson. It felt more methodical. Like he memorized the orphanage so perfectly he knew where to step without making a sound. It made me feel slightly more unnerved than Dawson. Still I was feeling pretty ecstatic with what food we were going to get.

Would it be devilled eggs with yolks shinier than gold? Or perhaps some broiled paprika and lemon pepper chicken breasts. Or maybe something even better. Rexid gave me and Snidely a plate of a cold, soggy, and wet turkey sandwich. "I'm sorry you have to eat such horrible meals but it's a general rule here that the more you put your weight around here the higher quality food you get." Rexid said, sensually strumming his fingers along the edges of the table like a technosexual would to a monitor. Looking closer, I noticed that the turkey was dripping with whatever green liquid Tyler had. Looking around at everyone else's meals I noticed that their meats were also dripping with the same green liquid. It was green meat all around. I bit into the sandwich and immediately noticed that the meat must've expired as it felt crunchy in some areas and I could feel the individual strips of grime and bacteria as they sunk through the slits in my teeth an ravished my taste buds.

My tongue temporarily went limp and my vision blurred. And just when I was about to projectile-vomit on my plate I stopped. My taste buds were beautifully caressed with a sweet and spicy taste. Like sugar mixed with peanutbutter, strawberries, walnuts, onions and a bell pepper. It should have tasted awful and bitter but it had the perfect amounts of each and that made it all the more amazing. It took me a few moments to even fully process the taste, as I was still getting over the somber sandwich, but once I did I powered through the horrible sandwich for that heavenly aftertaste, and ripped it to peices. Snidely meanwhile, took a single bite of his sandwich, gave an excited gasp signaling he felt the aftertaste, and was about to take another bite when he stopped.and ripped a peice of the turkey off, the green liquid staining his fingers as he pushed it Into his pocket.

Tyler briefly smiled and I noticed that he was glancing at Snidely through the reflection in his glass combined with the reflection in Luna's plate, though I didn't know why he was smiling so ominously at the time. After everyone was done eating (except for Snidely who gave his food to Luna) night fell and I was begining to feel rather drowsy. Tyler offered to take us to our room. We accepted. He took us down a hallway with three marble doors on each side. Each of said doors had two letters separated by an and symbol, like "L&E" or "C&J" and the like hanging above them in LED lights for some reason.Rexid had way to much money on his hands that was certain. We stopped to a door marked "L&S" and Tyler opened it majestically. The entire room was coated in thick sheets of plastic.

Therewas a bunk bed, a flat screen TV mounted on the wall, that was showing the news, and a window giving me a great view over central park. The bus was still there, and I could see a news crew crowding around it."In case your wondering why the plastic, we generally like to keep everything nice and orderly at Petal Orphanage." Tyler said in a way that sounded rehearsed. I thanked Tyler for showing us to our room, and told him that he failed, according to Zalia. He scowled and squeezed the doorknob so tightly he crushed a part of it, and walked off to his room, shipping out his cell phone from his pocket he flipped it open, dialed a number and put it to his ear. I was about to shut the door and go to sleep when I heard Tyler say "What the hell is wrong with you? Master won't like this " and froze in confusion, and began eavesdropping purely out of curiosity.

"I-im sorry please I couldn't take her to the shop, I was interrupted." The voice on the other line said. I sucked In a deep breath when I realized who it was: The Russian kidnapper we had met moments prior. Tyler entered his room and closed the door, cutting me off from hearing the rest of the conversation. I turned to Snidely, and he sat on the top bunk with a puzzled expression on his face. Snidely picked up the remote and recorded the news broadcast before turnin off the TV, and killing the lights. So there were just the two of us in absaloue darkness. And even though I couldn't read his mind or anything. It was pretty clear that me and Snidely were both wondering just what the hell we had gotten ourselves into.