The Undoing of My Reality [UNDOING I]

Baby's first kidnapping

"Okay!" Oliver clasped their hands together, pacing back in forth. All four of us stood in the Lotus Casino parking lot. I leaned on the van, Will was crouched down on the ground, and Leo, in Leo fashion, was sitting on the roof of the van.

"The Lotus is a dangerous place!" Oliver explained. "Time is warped, it's easy to get sucked in. We need to tread easy. I've been here before, I was trapped here for a month. It felt like two hours. We aren't gonna be fucking around." They stared directly at Leo. "Which means don't touch anything. Don't accept any drinks, don't accept any food, and no matter how much the song slaps, don't go out on the dance floor. Got it, y'all?"

We all nodded.

"So uh... where's the ruby?" I asked.

"It's used as a mood lighting in the middle of the lobby. in a light bulb glass, on the chandellier. Any ideas on how we can get it?" Their eyes flicker to all three of us. Will raises her hand.

"I can climb." She crosses her arms. "Why don't we have someone throw it off balance, and I can catch it and drop it down to Leo?"

"Too risky." Oliver shakes their head. "If we miss and it shatters, we're fucked. I can't throw, either. Can you, Luna?"

I shook my head. I really couldn't throw for shit. Leo hopped down, landing right next to me. Oh god, did he have to do that? Really? I already found the whole "sitting criss cross on the top of a van" thing pretty attractive, especially since he was dressed up (we all were. Matches the aesthetic.) But... Seriously?!

"I can throw." I didn't have to look at him to know that he was smirking. I just knew. He grabbed a pebble off the ground. "Name something-"

"Leo, we can't risk it." Oliver tried to let him down gently.

"No wait," I bit my lip. "Let... Let him prove himself, this is the one shot we have." I spoke up, which caused everyone's head to snap over to me. I hadn't spoken much to Oliver or Will the entire trip, so it took the two by surprise. Oliver shifted his weight side to side; Will crossed her arms. She saw what I was doing, not only was I trying to put myself out there more, but I was also trying to get her sibling to be more open minded. She nodded in approval. Leo grinned at me; I returned with a soft smile.

"Alright... See that license plate over there?" Oliver pointed to a minivan across the street.

"Mhm."

"See the 0?"

"Mmmmmmhm!"

"If you can hit that, then we'll go with the plan." Oliver rubbed their nonexistent facial hair. I didn't know why they didn't trust Leo, but looking back, I think they were just stressed out. The fate of the world was in our hands, and Oliver didn't want to fuck it up. Other than that, I think they were just curious. I, on the other hand, was skeptical.

Don't get me wrong, I knew Leo had aim. I also knew he was good at math, and made a mean churro. But the van itself was twenty feet away, and the 0 was an inch an a half long. You know how license plates are.

Leo's eyes drift down to his feet, then out to the license plate. I knew his thinking look, it was when he stuck his tongue out ever-so-slightly, and his brow furrowed. His eyes would glaze over sometimes as he became enveloped in his own thoughts. It took a lot for him to concentrate, and often times I caught him talking to himself. He reeled his hand back, and threw the small pebble out.

Dead on.

Oliver raised an eyebrow in surprise. The pebble put a dent right in the middle of the 0. Not only had Leo hit the target dead on, he hit it hard.