Matilda, Child of Fire

TSoT/MMV: Five Years Later: Thirty Shades of Tangerine

17 TSoT/MMV: Five Years Later: Thirty Shades of Tangerine

"You need to go and find yourself/You say you'd rather be alone/'Cause you think you won't find it tied to someone else..."

–Ben Platt, song "Grow As We Go"

10 am Azores/6 am EST, Five Years Later, Matilda's Bedroom, Madalena Village, Azores, Epicenter Pico No. 23

A smoky sunlit haze emanated throughout the ornately-styled plaster crown-molding of the Old World French apartment stairwell as she traversed the walkway upward, her curls bouncing, admiring what she imagined to be 24 karat gold paint on an intricate, gargantuan six-paneled hammered-glass window, but as of yet remained silver-gray in this monochromatic montage.

All of a sudden, she felt an unseen force—where was it from? Chasing her, pursuing her—and she understood in her instantaneous fight-or-flight response, that she had to run away, as far as her legs could possibly carry her; she heard echoes between the stairs, underneath, beneath her as she continued her pursuit of a safe haven in the veritable labyrinth she had found herself in.

As she continued racing up the stairs, she felt the ground shift beneath her feet, from stone or whatever solid material it was—into what she recognized as the same sand-colored Japanese tatami bamboo material that lined the second floor of Epicenter Pico No. 23, her childhood home in the Azores.

Upstairs, and through a landing and past one—two—then three more corridors—she perceived herself hunted by an unseen creature. She didn't want to whirl around to determine whether the being was good or evil—all she knew in her frenzied imagination was to secret herself away in the massive Parisian-style hybridized endroit meant limitless safety and security. Rounding a corner, she suddenly found herself facing a child's nursery in what appeared to be a British boarding school, a piece of paper with a green crayon-scrawl that she believed was her name. Purely on impulse, she ducked behind the bright, if not mildly outdated room, trying to shut the lightweight white door, to wall herself in for the longest of eternities.

But the door wouldn't shut—not completely—as she found herself frantically yanking the door—

Matilda awoke with a start. It was just a dream, she realized, as she heard the opening lyrics of Ben Platt's "Grow As We Go" playing on her alarm radio clock. Day 1 of the new job. Adjusting to the light streaming through her balcony window, she blinked sleepily, looking past her dark emerald-green crocheted bedcovers, her goldenrod-hued bedsheets, and myriad patterned pillows, toward her fireproof glazed wood table at the foot of her bed, her potted plants perfectly in place. Matilda's simple ivory-colored nightstands were perched on either side of her queen-sized mattress, each with its own tiny cubic lamp, its stem composed of gold-painted bronze in the shape of tropical bamboo common to the Azores; the wallpaper at the head of her bed was an enlarged photographic print of a forest she'd admired back in Seattle, where Vera Manor was situated. Her second home.

Here goes nothing, she thought to herself, as she put on the clothing she had carefully set aside for the momentous occasion. Black slacks, a maroon silk sleeveless camisole blouse to compliment her now-auburn hair, and a houndstooth grey blazer made up her chic ensemble. She dashed out her bedroom door, past the stylized recreation room hallway of polished wood, and down the wrought-iron steep circular staircase to the kitchen, where she greeted her parents, grabbed her lunch and a protein bar, and hastily bade her farewells.

10:45 am Azores/6:45 am EST, Epicenter Pico No. 23 to Purgatory Corporation

Matilda ran her finger along the sterling silver ring she wore, containing five tiny baguette-cut diamonds, side-by-side. One diamond for each member of the family. Her father Harry had channeled Jimmy's silversmithing skills and made it for her during the past summer, imbuing it with Whitelighter magic so she could instantly portal to her new job. She secretly wondered whether it could be used for arriving at locations besides work and home but hadn't had the chance to test it out.