THE MOMENT
"Order for Moose?" The young witch called out from her broom. She floated over the school's courtyard but most of the students ignored her. A tall, broad-shouldered young man stood up and flagged her down. She descended at an angle to land in front of him. Despite his size, he had a young face. She wasn't sure if he was a student or staff member, but it didn't matter.
"Moose?" she asked. He nodded and she handed him a small brown paper sack. "Thank you," she smiled and waved as her broom carried her upward again. Moose waved and sat down again with his friends.
[She was a real witch?] the question appeared on her white face mask in red text.
"She sure was," Moose nodded as he began to unpack the back.
"You know fae are real, why are witches a surprise?" Quinn asked. Dara shrugged.
[It just surprised me.] her mask replied. She couldn't go into the fact that she wanted to learn magic. When she agreed to attend the school, Janet made it sound like she could learn how to use magic. But, it was nearing the end of her first full week and not a single person mentioned magic at all.
[Where did she come from?] Dara asked. Moose had just taken his first bite and could not answer right away. Alvin spoke up to answer Dara's question while Moose gave his sandwich a confused look.
"Chroma Corp. imported New York City to the school server for housing. The first thing she did was offer out the businesses to anyone that wanted to run them," he explained. It wasn't until after he finished that he realized that information might not be common knowledge. He only knew that because of the B.A.A. files on Chroma. But Dara and Quinn nodded.
"Everything okay?" Alvin asked Moose. He was still chewing his first bite and eyeing the sandwich with a far-off look; as if he was trying to remember something. He nodded, grinned, then shook his head.
"This ain't my order...," Moose said. "No idea what it is, but it's really good," he said. "Makes me feel warm inside." Alvin laughed and reached for the sandwich. Moose gave him a confused look, but let the sandwich go. The moment he did, the group heard a loud retching exclamation of disgust.
"EEUGGGGGHHHH!!!" one of the other students across the courtyard growled. As they all turned to see who it was, Alvin recognized the student's long, flowing mane of rainbow hair. Alvin couldn't help but chuckle again. `He peeled the bread back and looked at the meat inside. It was light pink, like roast beef; but he angled it into the sunlight and it shimmered as if it was coated in golden glitter. Alvin nodded to himself, then looked up at his three friends.
"It's unicorn meat; I'm guessing you got Ark's order," Alvin said.
[UNICORN MEAT???] Dara asked with large, bolded letters.
"Who's Ark?" Moose asked at the same time. Alvin nodded at Dara first.
"Yeah, unicorn meat," he confirmed. "It's pretty common in the multiverse." Then, he turned to Moose and nodded towards the student with rainbow hair. He was now holding his node to his ear and talking to someone with obvious anger.
"Alexander Royce Kingston. #47, La Corona. He's half vampire, half unicorn and completely spoiled."
"The unicorn ordered unicorn meat?" Quinn asked.
"I'm guessing the vampire half ordered the sandwich," Alvin chuckled. "I feel bad for the delivery girl though, it looks like he's already yelling at someone about it."
"Hey, you're Moose, right?" a new voice spoke up next to their table. The four students turned as one to see a student with a translucent, violet visor across her eyes. Moose nodded at her.
"Yeah?" he said. "Somethin' I can help you with?"
"You have a class with Abby Araña?" she asked. Moose nodded again. "Have you seen her?" the girl asked.
"She's been absent all week," Moose shook his head. The girl sighed heavily, then nodded.
"Thank you," she said. She turned to leave, but Moose stopped her.
"Wait, what's your name? In case I see her?" he asked.
"Eury," she said. She waved at them then, headed off to ask someone else.
"Whoa...," Alvin commented after Eury walked off.
[Whoa what?] Dara asked. Alvin looked at her, then at Moose and Quinn. All three of them were focused on him.
"You guys don't get it?" he asked. All three shook their heads.
"Abby Araña?" he asked. "She's on the B-Squad."
[Okay?] Dara said.
"And?" Quinn added.
"Ballisea's derby team....," he said. Moose's eyes went wide and Alvin knew that he got it. Alvin knew Dara and Quinn were both relatively new to the multiverse.
"She's asking around for a teammate...on Ballisea's team. Which means that Ballisea can't find her either." Despite the sudden shock on their faces, Alvin couldn't enjoy the moment. He was very distracted by a soft whisper in his ear.
"You are a very clever boy," Ballisea said. He'd never heard her voice before, but he knew it was her. "Clever enough to help me find my missing team member, I think. You're on the case starting now."