Magic Mania: Book One

6

Completely dreading it, the following day, Stephen decided to "go for a walk" where he had last seen the God of Mischief. He kept mulling over what he'd done last night: he'd performed the spell to tell whether catastrophe was happening in the other dimension. The result?

Strange was now 110% certain – the spell hadn't so much as shown him as further amplified the feeling he'd already felt, but he now had a vague idea what the danger included, and he believed it now to be even more imperative to find a team, and yet more important for Loki to be in it. He'd have come find him last night straight after he had performed the spell, but it had left him drained and completely empty of energy, and Stephen had collapsed straight onto the sofa again, at only 8 o'clock.

So, that following morning, Strange was to be found strolling down the rain-washed streets, soaked within the time it had taken to lock the front door with a spell. It had been a month ago that he had gone for a walk to get away from the pressures of wizardry and Kamar-Taj-er-y. Stephen had taken a route he didn't usually, and so happened to pass a dark, dank, totally unpleasant side-street. He'd glanced down it, not having the best of experiences in empty side-streets and muggers, and, well, he at least thought it was Loki. Thinking back on it, he was only about 50% sure... OK, 30%.

But the thing he was 300% sure on was that he knew Loki was alive. It was the same sort of way Stephen knew there was danger – he just knew. It didn't make sense, but not everything did; not everything had to.

Quoting the Ancient One at a time like this, he chided himself. Honestly Stephen Strange, focus on where you're going; you nearly walked into a lamppost.

And nearly walked into a lamppost he did. Strange knew he should have had some coffee before he came out. Or tea. He was partial to a good cup of tea.

After taking approximately 17 wrong turns, which Strange thought was pretty good seeing as he didn't particularly know the area, (why would he?) he finally arrived at the side-street. Stephen peered around the corner cautiously. Someone was down there, though their facial features couldn't be seen clearly in the lack of light.

OK Stephen, what's the plan? He asked himself in his head. Walk past and check whether it is Loki or not? If they aren't, walk past like you normally would.

But Stephen, don't you think the locals would get suspicious of a random man wearing wizard clothing and a magic cloak walked down a dark alleyway with a dead end and back again?

Well, I guess that would be suspicious, so with hindsight, no. Are you sure you can't see who it is from here? That would prevent that problem.

No, Stephen, I can't see, and squinting isn't going to help one bit, everyone knows that. Why are you still looking around the corner of the building?

Strange suddenly realised, while his brain had been having an argument with itself, (like all academically-advanced brains did, of course) that he had indeed been staring around the corner of the building for an inappropriate duration of time. That was actually starting to make his neck ache, and his cloak was actually trying to drag him back. He murmured to it to knock it off, before finally realising why his cloak was trying to drag him back.

The figure in the alleyway was looking directly at him. With an audible sigh, they beckoned for Strange to come over.

And it was Loki.

Stephen stepped forward into the alleyway cautiously, as though expecting something, but as soon as he did, he felt the presence of magic; he could sense someone had cast a charm to protect the area, though while anyone would expend the energy to protect somewhere as dingy as this was beyond him. The alley was between two houses, or maybe flats, and their upstairs windows faced them, otherwise, it was almost completely hidden from view. The alley was about 5 feet wide, but quite long, with a brick wall at the end. There was something strange though, (and no, that wasn't a pun) about the side-street. Most would have been full of litter, would have smelt like drugs, especially in such a bad area, but this one was spotless, and Stephen could even detect a light minty scent. Huh. It wasn't even raining in here.