𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐀, 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

01 - deja vu and a hot stranger

˖*࿐ •*⁀➷

WHEN SHE WAS HAVING A FAIRLY OKAY DAY, Mabel knew something was going to go to shit. That's how it always happened. And duh, of course she was right. 

 Minding her own goddamn business for once, she'd been sitting outside her favorite coffee shop with her pen in hand, the ink tip flying across the paper in front of her. The brunette had been especially worked up today, waking up with more anger than usual. She never had a reason to be mad, and the rage had seemed to sit in the back of her mind since she was a child, almost like something left over from a past life. 

"Mabel!"

She looked up for a moment, catching sight of Dakota speed-walking toward her. It was unusual to see the cracked-out kid moving at any pace over a slow, leisurely walk, which startled her for a moment. Mabel glanced back down at her paper, frowning at the strange sketch of a spear. Something about the sight made her uncomfortable, a strange lump rising in her throat for a moment. 

Straightening in her chair and shaking away the unease, she looked back towards the boy approaching her. "Dakota," she murmured. "What is it?"

The dark-haired boy panted as he came to a stop by her table. "Okay, so like, two things." 

Mabel waited, raising a brow in mild interest. 

"Reyna heard about your... incident today." Dakota seemed to hold back a smirk, trying to settle his face into a reprimanding scold. It didn't work. Mabel stifled a grin of her own, flexing her bruised knuckles around her pen. "She doesn't really give a shit, but she has to pretend to. So she said don't do it again."

The daughter of Trivia shrugged, rolling her eyes lightly as she side-eyed a lingering spirit. The dark-haired woman hovered just behind Dakota's shoulder, eyeing her with curiosity; Mabel just tilted her head to the side, willing the figure away for the time being so she could concentrate.

Dakota seemed to remember something, straightening after a moment. "Oh, also! The horns were sounded at the Caldecott just now, and Hazel and Frank are on duty there. Thought you'd want to know."

Mabel kept a blank face, yet she stood abruptly. Her chair skidded back as she gathered her papers calmly, stuffing them into the shoulder bag that was swung over her arm. "Thanks Dakota, I'm just gonna—"

She took off at a speed walk, down the street and towards the opening of the tunnel. People and Lares avoided her gaze as she passed, faltering at the sight of her poker face. A stare she had mastered, the singular look that sent mortal, monster, and half-blood alike packing. 

A crowd had gathered along the bank of the Little Tiber, and Mabel pushed to the front. She peered at the dark tunnel, shadows creeping between her fingers anxiously. There was a strange tug at the back of her mind as a face flashed forward, a lingering memory of dark hair and warm eyes that disappeared as soon as she tried to grasp it. She frowned, brow scrunching as her foot started to ache. 

A daughter of Venus standing to her left murmured, "What's going on?"

Mabel frowned before two figures emerged from the tunnel, one of them freezing in his tracks. A small breath of relief slipped from the daughter of Trivia's lips when she caught sight of Frank looking shaken, turning to glance at the boy behind him. 

The newcomer... had an old woman on his back? He was tall, maybe around six foot, with tousled hair falling over his forehead. And there was something about him that poked at her, digging into her brain like an itch she couldn't scratch, or a whisper she couldn't hear. She felt a gaze on the side of her face, turning to catch the eye of their dear praetor.