The Pause [Adopted Book]

Discovery

I glanced down at the blueprints, then back up, making sure every block was in place. Finally, after all that work, I was done.

Well, not quite. Next came the arduous task of hiding it. I didn't want Wish to wear himself out if he didn't have to. He was already going to be busy keeping himself invisible, not to mention Arctic's disguise.

The two were working on it now. Arctic was muttering lines under his breath, trying in vain to sound arrogant. Wish, meanwhile, was focusing on his illusions, causing the cobalt coloring on Arctic's hair and skin to fade into an icy hue. The effect was perfect. Arctic was the spitting image of a Winter Steve, complete with the clothes I had designed. The other Winter Steves were just mirages, made to mimic Arctic's disguise. They were Wish's idea. He said it was much less likely for Arctic to get hit if there were other targets, provided that Arctic could mimic three sets of Winter Steve powers at once. As it turned out, he could.

Overall, things seemed to be going pretty well. At least, I was done with the machine, and Wish was beaming. He and Arctic were joking around while they worked, and Wish wasn't using even a hint of illusion on himself. That would come later, when he practiced his invisibility.

I, personally, was going to stay hidden the old-fashioned way, sticking by the machine so that I could pull the lever at just the right moment.

I could work my hiding spot into the design.

With a high whistle, I got the attention of both allays, who had been playing around until that moment, darting through Wish's illusions with glee. Now, they flew over to me, curious.

"Can you get me some grass blocks?" I asked them. They shared a glance before nodding. I handed each of them a grass block from my inventory, then started to work. Most of my creation powers were worn out already from making the machine. I wouldn't be able to do much with my energy. Not for the rest of the day, at least.

I carefully placed the dirt over the redstone wiring, making sure not to break anything that needed to move. It would be a greater challenge to make the 'hillside' look natural, and not like a suspicious lump of grass. Thankfully, the allays brought me plenty of dirt. I made sure to reward them with cookies when I could. It was a tactic Wish had taught me, although he had never needed bribes to get Freya to work with him.

Arctic paused in his rehearsing, turning to watch.

"Looks like an igloo." he noted. I sighed.

"It's not supposed to." I wished, briefly, that I had grown up with the Orange Steves, who would have taught me more about landscape design. I only had the knowledge of the Red Kingdom.

"Trying making it less symmetrical." Wish suggested. With a flick of his hand, a perfect grassy hillside appeared, complete with flowers and trees. I sighed, running my hand through the illusion and feeling the thin air underneath. It disappeared again, highlighting my own sloppy work.

"I'll do that." I promised, accepting Freya's offer of three stacks of dirt. "Just give me a moment."

"Do you want our help?" Arctic offered. I shook my head.

"Too little time. You need to practice. Have you made the ice trails yet?" I prompted. The two steves shared a glance before shaking their heads. "Try that, then. Your part is more dangerous than mine." I turned back to the machine, trying to level it out with the ground, adding some greenery that would hopefully make it look less suspicious. Less like an igloo, as Arctic had put it.

After all, we didn't have much-

I doubled over as the vision came. It hit me like a chest of bricks, and I winced as the images flashed before my eyes.