Cloverfield Magic

Chapter 6 - Teeth

At seventeen, Lana was working her usual corner when Alice appears out of nowhere and beats up her pimp. At first, Lana thought Alice was a vengeful ghost - unnaturally white from head to toe, except for her cloudy red eyes and the crimson blood smeared over her knuckles. The pale girl frowned as she thumbed through the bills she picked out of the unconscious man's pockets. Looking at the slack-jawed Lana up and down, the girl asks, "You work with him, right? If you show me where he keeps the money, I'll give you a cut. You can blame the robbery on me if anyone asks."

"Who are you?" Lana asks incredulously.

The pale girl smiles. The gesture is unnatural, overly practiced, and all teeth. "I've been thinking about that actually! Between Alice, Angel, and Artemis, which name do you think suits me the most?" the other girl asks.

Dumbfounded, Lana picks the name that feels most familiar to her. "Alice?"

"Hm. Thanks! I think I like that name the most too. In that case, I guess I'm Alice."

"Who do you work for?" Lana asks.

"Myself?" Alice responds with a confused tilt of her head.

Lana's mind spun. Was this 'Alice' saying that she was the head of her own gang? Before her mama had passed, she had always told Lana that fate works in strange ways. Looking at the strange girl before her, Lana knew that this was fate at work.

"I'll show you where our base of operations is if you agree to let me join your gang," Lana negotiates. She was tired of working the street, night after night with no end in sight. "Give me one year, and I'll show you that I'm capable of."

Alice considers Lana's offer. "I dunno if I'd call us a gang, but..." The albino girl pulls something out of her pocket and flicks it to the other girl. Lana catches it midair and when she opens her hand, she realizes it's a polished animal fang. In the dark of the night, the two girls watch sparks fly across the bleached bone, and Alice whistles in approval. "I knew I could sense something special about you. You have magic potential."

Drawing Lana in a one-armed hug, Alice carefully plucks the bone back and flashes Lana that same toothy grin. "Ok, you can join my Coven! There's not many of us right now, but we've got a little place for ourselves downtown."

Lana isn't sure if she heard the other girl correctly, but the pale girl's confident smile is infectious, and for the first time since her mama died, Lana felt genuinely safe in someone else's arms.

+

In the spellcasting world, Lana quickly became known as "the Ear." It's thanks to Lana's magic that Alice's Coven is able to stay one step ahead of its rivals and potential enemies.

Unfortunately, it feels like lately Lana only had bad news to deliver. Grimacing a little, Lana barges into Alice's bedroom with an announcement, "Alice, wake up. Calla was just kidnapped by the Bureau."

A tired Alice groans as she struggles to pull herself out of bed before getting tangled in her bedsheets and tripping over onto her face, muffled cursing filling the room as she yells into the rug.

"I see you went out hunting last night," Lana comments as she takes note of the several smashed crystals on the floor of Alice's bedroom. "How many of the members of the Circle did you kill?"

"Just two. I stole their soulstones and shattered them. That should hopefully slow down their production of anti-magic charms at least. Tell me more about Calla. What's going on?"

"Someone has been feeding them information on our locations and movements," Lana reports. "Since this morning, they're hit three of our safehouses. There's a group of Bureau agents and spellcasters on their way here."

"Is Lenny still recovering?"

"Yes, but I think he's well enough to fight."

"No need for that." Alice removes a charm from her wristlet and passes it to Lana. "I traded some of my magic for this charm a long time ago in case of an emergency like this. It's a space-weaving charm. Use it to get as many people and supplies out of here as possible. I'll keep the Doves distracted."

Looking Lana in the eye, Alice promises, "Don't worry. Just hold on to the charm I just gave you, and I'll find you after the fight. We'll get through this. Together."

Lana nods and rushes out of the room to mobilize everyone in the base. Alice sighs and begins to prepare for battle.

+

In the darkness of the hidden chamber under the floorboards, Alice listens to the chaotic scramble of Bureau agents above. Despite thinking that fear was something she had left behind in her past, she was proven wrong when footsteps too close to her hiding spot made her tremble.

She was so exhausted from her repeated magic output and endless fighting. Hopefully she was able to buy enough time for everyone to get away.

Someone stomps on the floorboards above her head. One bang. Then another. Alice realizes in horror that her current hiding spot will soon be discovered. A third bang. A fourth. As a last-ditch effort, Alice changes her form back into a small white rabbit and begins to dig into the dirt below her. A hand grabs her by the leg, and on reflex, Alice twists around and bites back.