Multiverse of Magic & Mistakes (Completed)

1.3.21 Chapter 21

Bath, UK, Earth, September 2019.

School started again, and Lily was thrown back into the chaos of lessons and coursework and swimming practice and shifts at the Rainbow Roast and university prep, all without her best friend. It was her final year of mandatory schooling, and after a few days, Lily was ready for it to be over and to head off to university already.

Matilda and Toby (who, to Lily's disdain were a proper couple now) had remarked about how lucky Vi was, in winning that scholarship and a place at a Swiss university that had accepted her in a whole year early. Lily had agreed, going along with it.

The others could never know the truth of where Vi was; she had promised Vi and Rho that the secret of the Mages world of Verdyn was safe with her. And even if she told the rest of the group from school, she thought it was unlikely they would believe her, just another one of the stories that she was known to love so much.

She had been back at school just over a week before things took a weird turn. Connie Crabbe, a usually stoic girl from the year below, who was on the swim team, showed up to afternoon practice in floods of tears, saying that her puppy had gone missing. Or rather the puppy was her younger brother's, but Connie was a huge animal lover and considered the dog as much hers as his. She would join her brother daily on taking the adorable corgi around the block.

"We woke up, and he was just gone," She said through fits of tears, whilst Lily simultaneously tried to listen and pull on her swimming cap. "My dad thinks he must have got outside somehow, but all the doors were locked. Liam is distraught!"

As she swam up and down, only half following the coach's instructions, Lily thought of the Missing Cat and Missing Dog posters that were now so prevalent all over Bath city centre. And not just their town, a few internet searches later that evening and Lily had come again across the national and international message boards, social media groups, and crackpot speculation regarding this global phenomenon. In every village, town and city globally, it seemed there was a huge spike in numbers of missing pets. All of them seemed to have vanished overnight, leaving a worried and puzzled owner in the morning. The missing pet's story was even picked up on the local news and featured several interviews with upset pet owners, including Connie and Liam's father.

Lily thought of Middy, who gone missing suddenly. It had turned out that the Talloways missing cat, was not actually a blue-grey feline but a member of a secret group of shape-shifters called Guardians. Could all of the missing pets actually be Guardians? Where were they all going? And why now?

Middy had also vanished. Again. Lily had offered him her family's unused garden shed to hide out in whilst he was stuck in human form. She had given him a spare key to use the facilities whilst her parents were out and some of her older brother Ash's outgrown clothes to wear. And then, Violet had shown up, with that tall slightly out of place new boyfriend of hers. Shortly after that illuminating conversation, Lily had headed out to the shed to speak to Middy, to let him know that Vi was OK, to try and alleviate some of his worries. But he was gone. Lily had searched everywhere she could think of, going as far as to pay another visit to Vi's parents, but no trace of Middy, either in Chartreux cat or human boy form was to be seen. That was so timely, that Lily thought that it had to be related to the Guardians. Something was afoot.

The next day the shit truly hit the fan. Lily turned on the TV at breakfast time to find headlines full of bizarre stories.

A range of natural disasters had occurred across the country all at about the same time. A large area of woodland surrounding near Sheffield was on fire. In unrelated news, several house fires had occurred across the country, at seemingly random locations; the police chief was investigating if it were arson. A sinkhole had opened directly under a new family's house in Nottingham; a complicated rescue operation was underway. Properties seemingly scattered across the country had suddenly suffered subsidence. A village situated quite some distance from any water sources had flooded; water companies were investigating. And more intriguingly a whole orchard of pear trees had sprouted overnight blocking the main road. In central London, a vineyard had appeared, growing straight up from the concrete of Trafalgar Square. In Scotland, a forest had blown down. All of the trees lying flat on the ground in the same direction, as if flattened by an immense gust of wind. A Cornish beach covered in a layer of ice.