THE MOMENT
Brooke wasn’t used to things going so smoothly. It was a lovely fall morning with a crisp breeze in the air and gentle sunlight turning the sky from purple to orange, and she was on her way to her first, and probably only, stop of the day. She would be starting at a new school on Monday, but first she had some duties to accomplish. She was afraid she wouldn’t have enough time since it was already Thursday morning, but she relaxed once she saw the list.
She had the names of over 100 magically talented individuals, but the first one was easily the most impressive. She strolled through the wealthy neighborhood to stop at one of the smaller mansions. It was only a single-story home, but the house itself was as large as a football field, with even more yard space. There was a wrought-iron gate surrounding the property, and an intercom placed on a pedestal. She pressed the ‘Call’ button as soon as she spotted it. The device made a solid tone for a second before it was interrupted by a girl’s voice.
“Yeah?” she asked.
“Hello!” Brooke smiled even though no camera was visible on the keypad. “My name’s Brooke Alita Foster, and I’m looking for Mallory De Luca, are you her?” She was thrilled to use her full name; she’d been going solely by ‘Alita’ for so long that it started to feel constraining. Now that she had the option, she preferred her first name. The extended, tinny sigh answered Brooke long before the voice came back. It was the same word, but an entirely different tone.
“Yeah.” she said. It took Brooke an extended moment to realize that was the entire answer.
“Well, you may not know this, but I’m actually Magical Girl Red-,” Brooke felt silly explaining it to the intercom. She’d chosen to make the visit in full magical uniform, but it was useless if Mallory couldn’t see it.
“I have cameras everywhere on my property; I know who you are,” she interrupted the introduction. “Why are you here?”
“I’m in the process of being promoted.” Brooke smiled at the house. “I’m searching for a Magical Girl to take my place at the training camp, and according to Sharp research, you have the greatest aptitude ever recorded for magic. You’re just a few short interviews from becoming a magical girl yourself!”
“What, again?” Mallory’s voice came back with a deeper sigh. “I thought Sharp Development was an organized corporation. I told the last magical girl no thank you, and I’m telling you the same. I don’t know if you have any way to notarize this encounter, but I’ve got video. This is me informing you that the next magical girl trying to recruit me will be attacked. Thank you for your time. Have a good day. Leave.”
“Oh.. uh.. okay,” Brooke nodded. She used exaggerated motions to pull a black card from her node and drop it on the floor to create a portal; she wanted Mallory to see she was leaving, but she wasn’t quite done yet.
“Don’t you understand it’s literally the greatest magical talent ever recorded for magic. You’d be a great Magical Girl!” A cloud of nanos began to coalesce inside the fence boundaries, and in moments it solidified into an elongated barrel shape pointed at Brooke. The inside began to glow with blue light while iron bars disintegrated to make room.
“Do you understand that you’re trying to recruit me again?”
“I’m leaving!” Brooke began to sink into the hole, and the barrel tracked her movement until she vanished below the surface and the hole closed.
She emerged into a familiar office. It wasn’t where she was expecting to go, but she was in such a hurry that she didn’t have a clear destination in mind.
“How goes the search?” Bijou asked without standing to greet her visitor.
“How can someone have that much magical power and not be interested?” she asked without supplying any context. But Bijou was in charge of the Magical Girl training camp, and she knew her job well.
“Wait, you didn't visit Mallory, did you?” Bijou asked. “She’s not on the candidate list.”
“Well, now I know why…,” Brooke nodded. “I was trying to think outside the box, and I got a list of the most powerful magical persons to compare them to the list you gave me. Mallory was far beyond even your top choice, so I had to try.”
“You didn’t have to.” Bijou shook her head. “Even if she said yes, she wouldn’t have been accepted because she’s not on the list. It’s admirable that you took initiative and tried to think outside the box, but there’s a time and place for everything. Sharp Development is very particular about how our boxes are organized, and for this task, Alita, you should stick to that.”
“Brooke,” she corrected Bijou. She’d registered as a Magical Girl using her middle name, and that was what Bijou was used to.
“Right, it’ll take some effort,” Bijou smiled. “Kind of like your search. Best get moving, and hope you don’t have to visit all 200 candidates.”
“I might have to…,” Brooke sighed as she dropped another black card on the floor to head to her next destination. “None of them matched up to my list of 100 most magical people.”
“Most people with that much magical talent have things they’d rather be doing. We try not to bother them too much,” Bijou replied as Brooke descended through the portal and disappeared.