The Whitespire courtyard looked like a glitter-bombed riot. The Fairy Queen had actually delivered. She'd dragged her "gracious donation" of a bathtub into the public square, and with it, the veil had snapped. Suddenly, the palace was crawling with the fairies in every single corner, the fairies just... there, standing around with their creepy, unblinking eyes.
But as Margo and Elliot stood on the balcony overlooking the chaos, the triumphant high was curdling.
"Okay, Elliot, level with me," Margo muttered, her grip tightening on a cocktail glass. "What the fuck is wrong with these cocksuckers? We gave the people their sight back, we exposed the invisible bug-monsters, and yet the vibe in here is less 'Happy Feast Day' and more 'Children of the Corn.' Why is everyone looking at us like we're the ones with the extra appendages?"
Elliot scanned the crowd, his eyes tracking a group of Fillorian guards who were whispering in a huddle, pointedly ignoring a fairy standing three feet away. "It's... atmospheric. And not the good, moody-indie-film kind. It's the 'we're about to be the main course' kind."
Before he could finish, Tick scurried past, "Tick!" Elliot called out, flashing a practiced, charming smile. "The man of the hour. Tell us, how's the populace enjoying the new... visibility? It's a lot to take in, I imagine."
Tick jumped, nearly dropping a stack of scrolls. He didn't look at them directly. "Oh! High King, High Queen! Yes, yes. It's a marvel. Truly. A... a bit of a shock to the system, as one might say. The people are just... processing. It's a lot of, ah, newfound reality to digest."
"Processing," Margo repeated, her voice dripping with skepticism. "They look like they're processing a collective stroke, Tick. Is there a reason my personal guard is currently avoiding eye contact like I'm a high school ex?"
Tick let out a high-pitched, nervous titter. "Heavens, no! They're simply... respectful! The sight of the fairies is quite taxing on the mortal psyche. We're all just a bit tired. If you'll excuse me, the plumbing in the East Wing has, ah, developed a mind of its own!"
He bowed frantically and scurried off before Margo could drop a heavy-handed metaphor on him.
Elliot watched him go, his smile remaining perfectly in place even as his eyes turned skeptical. "Well, that was a giant, steaming pile of bullshit."
"Deeply unconvincing," Margo agreed, her voice dropping into a low, dangerous tone. She leaned against the railing, watching a pair of servants walk by. Usually, they would bow low; today, they gave the sovereigns a look that was somewhere between pity and cold fury.
"I'm feeling a tad bit hostile, El," Margo whispered. "And not my usual 'I need a drink and a vibrator' hostile. More like... 'I need to sharpen my heels' hostile. You don't think these ungrateful assholes are actually planning to turn against us, do you?"
Elliot took a slow sip of his drink, his gaze fixed on the disappearing back of a guard. "No, of course not, Margo. We're the heroes. We saved the—"
He stopped as another group of servants passed. One of them didn't just look away; they spat on the ground once they thought they were out of range. The look on their faces wasn't fear, it was of disgustz
Elliot's smile finally slipped. "Okay. Maybe they are."
"The Queen," Margo realized, her eyes snapping toward the fairy encampment. "She didn't just give us the tub because we asked nicely. She gave it to us because she knew that if the people saw the monsters they'd been living with, they wouldn't blame the disgusts. They'd blame the Kings who let them in."
Margo gripped the stone railing so hard her knuckles turned white. "Shit. We didn't win a bargaining chip, El. We just gave her the match to light the bonfire under our asses."
———-
Alicia looked up from a notebook she'd been writing a spell on as Kai strolled in with Marina trailing behind him like a lethal shadow.
"What exactly is going on? Why'd you want me to meet you here ASAP" Alicia asked with a cautious voice. "And why do both of you look like you're about to commit a felony?"
"I'd like to know that as well," Marina added, crossing her arms and leaning against the doorframe. "He's been speaking in riddles and pirate accents for the last hour."
Kai caught their looks and offered a dismissive wave of his hand. "Oh, don't mind me. We are simply about to enter someone else's home. Think of it as a housewarming party, only the host isn't what most would think and the house doesn't technically exist in this dimension."
Alicia brow furrowed. "We're going to where?"
"We are going to retrieve the fifth key," Kai said, his eyes gleaming. Before they could ask how, he turned and pointed a long finger at the grand piano sitting in the corner of the room.
Marina stared at the instrument, then back at Kai. "So? It's a piano, Kai. Unless it's a Transformer, I don't see how it's getting us to a key."
Kai didn't answer. He moved toward the piano with a sudden, focused intensity. He hovered his hands over the ivory keys, his eyes half-lidded. 'What was that note Kady played in the original timeline?' He thought. 'Something haunting... a minor chord that felt like a secret.'
He pressed a sequence of keys. Plink. Plonk.
Nothing happened.
He tried again, a more complex arrangement. Cling. Thud.
Silence.
Kai looked back over his shoulder at the two women, a sheepish, lopsided grin on his face. "In my defense, I'm a much better singer than I am a maestro. This thing is out of tune, or perhaps I'm just too 'modern' for this classical bullshit."
Alicia let out a small giggle at his uncharacteristic clumsiness, while Marina just shook her head, muttering something about wanting her afternoon back.
"One more time for the fans," Kai whispered.
He closed his eyes, remembering the exact resonance of the "Unity Key" melody. This time, his fingers moved with precision, striking a haunting, rhythmic chord that seemed to vibrate in the floorboards.
The world around them remained the same and yet for some reason it felt different.
Without a single piece of furniture moving, the atmosphere of the cottage shifted from its previous dim lighting and was replaced by a warm, amber glow. The silence was obliterated by the sudden, deafening sound of upbeat jazz and the rhythmic thumping of bass.
The Physical Kids' cottage was suddenly packed. Students in vintage-style clothes were dancing, laughing, and clinking glasses. A girl in a sequined dress spun past Marina, nearly knocking her over.
Marina's hand went instinctively to her pocket, her eyes darting around. "What the fuck is happening? Where did all these people come from?"
"Uhhh, a party is happening, duh," Kai said, his body already swaying to the music. He looked around the crowded room with a smirk of pure satisfaction. "Welcome to the party of the pocket realm created for the key or at least, the one hidden in the cracks of the real world."
Before Alicia could protest, Kai grabbed a drink from a passing tray and merged into the crowd of singing students. Alicia and Marina stood frozen at the edge of the room, looking at each other in total, dumbfounded silence.
"I'm starting to think he's not a magician," Marina muttered, watching Kai spin a random student across the floor. "He's just a chaos god with a really good haircut."