Mirror’s
“I didn’t know you had children Mr. Grant-“
Marc was just about to lose it- nosy old ladies, reckless annoying teenagers- (‘I’m 21 you know. I’m legally an adult so you can’t tell me what to do-‘) and on top of it all the whole mess that he’d just had to pull them out of because Steven kept insisting on butting in.
”Oh Steven’s not my father- he’s my cousin, twice removed on my mother’s side. And removed once more- so technically not cousins.” The teen-no adult in question chimed in cheerfully.
”Oh-“ The lady was taken back a brief look of confusion came over her face.
“Real complicated mess he got into, couldn’t believe the affair when it all happened. Sleeping with Great Aun-“ Marc swiftly cut her off by shoving his hand over her mouth.
The woman gaped at them in absolute horror.
”She tells lots of stories.” He faked a smile. “Overactive imagination…”
“Oh dear- my grandson is quite the same. They never quite grow out of it do they?”
“No they don’t.” Marc smirked, glancing over to the furious girl.
The apartment elevator thankfully chimed in and Marc tugged on her shoulder drawing her away before she could spout off any other nonsense, but she still had the nerve to give an over exaggerating goodbye. She was going to get Steven into trouble if she came up with any more of her silly stories.
”Come on, you have to admit the look on her face was hilarious.” Olive rolled her eyes. “You're as bad as Wong honestly, he never appreciates me or Stephen’s jokes.”
“Fortunately I’m not here to entertain you, so maybe you should go back to making jokes with Stephen. Who is he, your dad?” Marc asked.
Olive frowned when he mentioned the name, a brief flash of guilt overcoming her face. A moment later and she was back to her overly annoying smile.
”A friend-“ She answered quickly. “Good save towards the end with that truck. I still can’t believe Steven tried to throw the gun.”
Marc thought back to the past events. Once Marc was absolutely sure he was in control he’d had the girl- Olive, use one of her weird magic portal’s to bring them back to London. It saved him more time then he’d initially thought he’d take away from Steven, but Steven would still wake up tomorrow and realize that it was Sunday.
Unlocking the door and letting the girl in, he took the Scarab out of his pocket. Blood was still stained upon the sleek golden tool.
“Here- take this to the sink and wash it.” Marc ordered.
The girl gave a grimace and glared at him when he tossed it into her hands, and swiftly rushed over to the kitchen sink. Repeating ‘gross, gross, gross.” under her breath.
Taking in the appearance of Steven’s apartment he was grateful that he didn’t have to take care of too much, his clothes could be dumped in the laundry and taken back to the storage unit. He’d tuck the cellphone back in its spot in the apartment after the girl left and he could listen to Layla’s messages.
“Aw no-“ The girls voice caught his attention.
“Don’t tell me you managed to break the scarab.” Marc groaned.
”No- it’s….your fish!” The girl sounded heartbroken.
Marc turned to the fish tank where Steven’s pet fish would normally be swimming about- except…it wasn’t swimming any more.
“Shit.”
…
She couldn’t believe it.
She was a glorified house pet stuck inside a 9 by 9 cubicle. Sure she had a key and could come and go- but what was the point of having a super cool Sorcerer helping you if you shove her into a storage unit.
“Stay here and I’ll come back after Steven’s shift.” Olive mimicked.
They’d come to the storage unit to stow away the Scarab and Marc had gone back to his apartment after leaving behind a key to the storage unit.
It wasn’t like she had much of a choice, she was short on funds and it wasn’t like she could just run back home…Stephen and Wong wouldn’t let her out of their sights if she even tried to sneak back into the Sanctum. So instead she’d reluctantly accepted a key and had come and gone to the Unit to sleep.
Marc’s silly little cot was going to mess up her back.
“Better off sleeping on the concrete.” Olive muttered to herself.
The storage unit was a bit eerie with the mirror-like walls surrounding her, but she’d spent most of her free time sightseeing so she could avoid sitting around. She’d also taken the time to reinforce her cloaking spell, hoping that she hadn’t leaked too much energy with that healing spell on her arm. (And wasn’t she lucky she hadn’t grown 2 bone’s when she’d healed it?)
“Pesky brat-“
Oh right-
How could she forget the lurking Moon God that had decided to bug her since he couldn’t bug Steven.
“I’m not in the mood for your attitude today- so if you’ve got nothing nice to say…maybe just don't say anything at all.” Olive groaned.
“You dare sit around- you don’t know what’s even happening right now! Harrow will steal it-“
Olive sat up then.
“What are you talking about-“ Olive asked.
“The bag you fool! Check the bag!” Khonshu screamed.
The one thing she’d refused to do since she’d stuck around the storage unit was go through Marc Spector’s stuff. She wasn’t that kind of person, nor did she want to unearth any of his dirty laundry, figuratively or literally.
“THE DUFFLE BAG-“ Khonshu’s voice pierced at her skull.
Swinging off the cot she’d knelt down to the black duffle bag and swiftly unzipped the top. Clothes- a license…
No scarab-
“No- no he put it in here…” Olive murmured.
She thought back to the previous day- just grateful to finally have a place to sleep. Marc had been searching for the extra storage key-
He must have forgotten to put the Scarab away.
“Steven-“
…
Just his luck-
How on earth did he even get into these messes.
First he’d found out he missed his date after somehow mixing up the days, then his beloved one-finned wonder had simply regrown his fin. (Of course Steven knew this couldn’t really be Gus.) And to top it off that creepy man from the mountains was in his museum.
And now- now was the worst.
Jackals- bloody Jackals were chasing after him.
Fleeing into the bathroom Steven watched in horror as the lights began to flicker- the door was caving in under the weight of the beasts attacks. The mirror man was walking towards him.
The what!?
“Steven- you’ve got to give me control. I can save us.” Mirror-Steven said calmly.
How was he so calm!?
“Oh gods- I’m going to die- I’m going to die.” Steven muttered.
“Calm down!” Someone grabbed his shoulder. “Your not going to die.”
Whirling around he found the nice girl from the village standing beside him. Behind her a strange sparky circle showed a strange room surrounded by hazy mirrors. Before he could get a good glimpse however- a whisk of her hand and the sparks closed and fizzled out.
“Steven-“ Mirror-Steven called again. “You can’t let her do this alone-“
In Steven’s eyes it seemed the girl could do anything from heal broken bones to appear out of thin air, why couldn’t she take on a jackal on her own.
“Steven!” Mirror-Steven yelled.
The door was nearly broken open-
The girl lowered into a defensive stance and raised her hands up. More of those sparks appeared along with weird- were those runes!?
“Give me control-“ The mirror yelled once more.
So he did.
…
“You just had to keep a hold of that stupid Scarab!” Olive screeched squirming under his grip.
The jackals had broken down the door, but Marc had grabbed hold of it it, unleashing all of his anger and rage unto the creature. Olive could only stand by and watch in horror, magic fizzling out as Marc destroyed the jackal- and the bathroom around them.
“What were you thinking.” Marc- now unsuited- growled. His hand dug into her shoulder where he’d grabbed onto it to drag her out of the bathroom. She struggled more trying to shimmy out of his grips- his fingers were digging in harshly and it hurt. She managed to tug out of his grasp pushing his chest back away from her and he stumbled a few steps.
She was stronger than she looked.
“Khonshu-“
“I had it handled!” Marc screamed.
“No you don’t!” Olive screamed back. “This isn’t fair to Steven! He was terrified!”
“Then. Go. Home!”
“The girl will stay.”
Khonshu stood behind them, going unnoticed by the two’s argument. The two were drawing closer and closer to fighting one another instead of focusing on the actual enemy. But the God had seen the avatar- he couldn’t risk him ruining everything. The girl had leapt into action and her ability to take them from one place to the next was a welcome addition. He could use her and her powers until her grew tired of her or his avatar could prove to him he could handle things on her own.
“What do you mean!? Your the one who told her she wasn’t needed, that she was annoying, a useless Wizard!” Marc exclaimed. The girl let out a frustrated growl.
“I’m a Sorcerer! And, If I hadn’t shown up, Steven wouldn’t have given up control.” Olive yelled. “What would have happened then- how would you feel if he got hurt!?”
“You don’t know anything about Steven!”
“ENOUGH.” The building shook with Khonshu’s rage. “I will not repeat myself. You will return the scarab to the Storage Unit, the girl will stay. By both you and the useless worm. If you mess this up- I’ll kill you all.”
Marc stood still taking in heavy breaths. He glared at the girl standing in front of him, her eyes filled with equal amounts of anger. Everything was falling apart- he’d had control before she had come around. She was ruining everything- her and her mystical little witch powers. She would ruin everything for Steven if she stuck around- but he couldn’t deny one thing.
There was something else in her eyes- something he recognized.
Determination.
This girl wasn’t giving in- and now with Khonshu’s permission she had an in- and she wouldn’t let it go anytime soon.