Rising Shards

Roux, Marne, Diast and I were in a standoff. The line had gotten longer behind us, so if I was generous and gave up my spot to Roux, I couldn’t guarantee I could get my precious Raina Starlight hair clip.

“Listen Diast, we’re supposed to be the adults in the room here—”

“Like you’ve done anything adultlike in the last, like, your whole life.” Diast said.

“Real mature, doctor,” Marne said. “I’d prefer if you could try to be a little more mature than the faculty event at that golf course a few years back.”

“How do you know about…?” Diast said, eyes widening. “Right, crap, you’re kind of staff…damn it.”

“Excellent,” Marne said. “I savor the flavor of your unfavorable memories.”

“I hate the way you’re talking even more than usual somehow,” Diast muttered. “But they’re only giving away fifty of these hairpins or whatever and because I’m such a great teacher I’m helping my student get one, so can you just go to the back, maybe?”

“It’s a hundred and fifty,” I said. “Wait, did you two get ticket things?”

“Yeah.” Roux said.

“What numbers are yours?” I asked.

“One hundred and thirteen, and one hundred and fourteen.” Roux said. “The Tyrant Rangers keychain is only in the first fifty.”

“Alright,” I sighed. “Dr. Diast, let’s trade.”

“What?” Diast said. “But…”

“We might lose out…but there’s a better chance of us still getting the Raina clips than them getting the keychains.” I said. “And if we trade, they’ll leave us alone.”

Diast sighed deeply. “You’re freaking lucky, Marne.”

I handed my ticket to Roux first. Diast didn’t look like she wanted to give her ticket to the wizard, but the trade was made. Roux teased dropping her ticket and making me pick it up, but eventually caved and dropped it in my hand.

Somewhat defeated, we went back in the line to our new spots. In somewhat a victory, we didn’t have to smell the weird body spray Razmus or Roux or both used. The wait was a lot longer than I anticipated now, but it moved relatively quickly.

“So that’s a good sign,” Diast said, noting the parent/guardians and their kids walking with prize packs, which were just in plastic bags with the Shafey’s logo on them. I drooled at the thought of the Raina hair pin being so close. “They must not need a lot for this parent and kid test if this line’s going this quick.”

I had a lot more confidence in Diast’s parent/guardian-ing skills than she did. She was nervous like she was in the apartment again as we steadily moved up the line, and I wanted to do something for her when she was practically shaking as we approached Shafey’s. The line split into five rows, with two staffers at the end handing out prize packs. Diast winced as two younger kids were turned away, despite them screaming that they were siblings and family should count. If I had brought Stella, our age difference would at least hopefully negate that, but if it did it was luck I was with Dr. Diast. Finally, it was our turn.

“So, you two parent and kid?” A bored Shafey’s worker said as the other took our tickets.

“Yep!” I said.

“This here’s my girl.” Dr. Diast said, patting my shoulders. “Right, buddy?” I nodded enthusiastically.

“Cool, here you go,” they said, handing us two prize packs.

“We won!” I said, giddy as we left the line. “Well, there wasn’t much to win, but. Still! Congrats to us!”

“And that was just free?” Diast asked. “Is Shafey’s owned by people from Haven?”

“Maybe,” I said.

There was one last thing to check. Either my act of kindness to Roux and Marne had granted me the universe good will to get the hair clips, or I got completely screwed for it. I dove into my bag, squealing at the Raina Starlight merch in pristine condition.

“The hair clips!” I said, kissing the beautiful pin with the color scheme of the spines of the recently announced rerelease of the first wave of Raina Starlight’s books. “What else is in there…?”

As I searched for any other cool stuff in the prize pack (some stuff I thought would be good for Kalei and maybe Lillia), Diast poked through her bag, visibly relieved the staffers hadn’t rejected her as my parent. She gave me the Raina Starlight pin from her prize pack, then pulled out two slips of paper.

“We also won…tickets to a mat ball game?” Diast said.

“Oh.” I said.

“It’s actually for today,” Diast said. “In an hour or so. Do…you wanna go to it?”

“We did…win it?” I said.

Ahead of us, Roux and Marne were sitting near the fountain in the open space. They held up their keychains and high fived once they noticed us, an act they clearly rehearsed and waited for us to be close to do.

Roux gave me finger guns before leaving. I assumed the wizard was her ride but maybe not? Did she have a license? Family to pick her up? Magic spells to teleport back home? All questions I couldn’t answer. Razmus cackled as he searched through his prize pack.

“Right, I’m gonna get some water quick to wash out the taste of giving Razmus Marne anything.” Diast said.

I missed my chance to flee with Diast as Razmus approached me.

“Here, hair dye,” Razmus said. He handed me a glowing marble looking thing.

“What is this?” I asked.

“My thank you for graciously giving us your spots in line,” Razmus said.

“What is it?” I asked, squinting at the marble. “Is it magic? Was this in the prize pack?”

“Yes and no,” Razmus said. “That thing right there tells you that your beloved Dr. Diast is hiding something from you.”

“Huh?” I asked.

“And until you find out what, that thing’s gonna keep glowing.”

“Huh? Huh? Huh?”

To demonstrate, he swiped it from me and held it closer to Diast, who had her back to us as she got drinks from a vending machine. It glowed brighter when he held it out and dimmed when he brought it away from her. “See? Totally hiding something. Anyways, later.” Razmus patted his t-shirt. “This bitch has a Tyrant Rangers keychain to sell online for a much higher price than the none dollars I paid for it. Byeeeee…”

Razmus left me in the middle of the mall feeling very confused. I pocketed the marble as Diast returned to me. She had two water bottles, and graciously gave me one, which was good because my mouth was suddenly dry.

“So, what’s the game plan, buddy?” Diast said.

I knew Razmus could just be lying to me and gave me like a magic piece of garbage or something, but I couldn’t shake the thought of Diast hiding something from me. Not wanting to be awkward though, I blurted the first thing that came to my mind that wasn’t asking what she was hiding.

“Let’s…” I said. “Go to a mat ball game?”