Wonder Made

Epilogue - Because who doesn't like more?

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A lizard man, stocky, with mottled brown snout and cap slung low over his eyes, slid the package toward Peneloper. "You're all set," he rumbled, his yellow teeth glinting severely under the overhead lights.

She blinked. "That's it? No more ridiculous steps? No more paperwork to sign?"

The guard sat back on his chair and hefted a skull of steaming coffee to his mouth. "You use the sign-in sheet?"

Peneloper reached under the glass and grabbed the paper and twine wrapped package. It hadn't even looked like it had been inspected. She nodded.

The lizard man leaned over, spilling coffee down the front of his uniform, and pressed a button. To her left, the doors slid back. "He's already waiting for you. Go straight. Visitors room, can't miss it. Big, honking sign."

Peneloper nodded, noting the man's name tag, Doug followed by four squares. She waved. "Thank you."

He nodded as he took a gulp of his coffee and opened a paper skewing him from sight. And that's how Peneloper entered the Rose and Relinquished, the layers' finest magical jail, without the ado a magical place should have. Then again, she'd be situated behind a desk to conduct magical business, so the way the jail functioned shouldn't have been a surprise.

She needed to stop searching for absurdity everywhere. Sometimes, it was just a Doug Four Squares, stuffed into a guards navy shirt and slacks, sipping coffee and reading the paper as he buzzed you on through to the visitors' room. Which, she couldn't have missed, even if she'd closed her eyes - the sign, more like a roadside billboard, flashed "Visitors Go Here" in changing neons, each tube thicker than she was. How the wall hadn't buckled under the weight of one of them, let alone the set, made her remember that magic could be found even in the more mundane settings.

She needed to learn that. But learning had always proven difficult for her, so much so Howell protested to her graduating and had started circulating a petition for Peneloper to be held back a year. He'd gotten ten other teachers' signatures and brought the whole stupid thing to Principal Gale.

Gale had dismissed the charge, and the hammy Mr. Howell, threw the petition into an overflowing trash bin, opened a fresh bottle of her 'apple juice', and congratulated Peneloper on graduating. She snuck a cigarette and then asked what plans Peneloper had after high school.

Since "I've inherited a curse and must work beside the stupidest people in the world," sounded fishy, insane and would instantly draw Gale's suspicion, Peneloper settled on "doing office temp work for some of the stupidest people in the world," which wasn't so much of a lie as a stretch of the truth. Principal Gale sympathized with her pain. If anyone knew the tortures of working alongside idiots, it was her.

Gideon sat furthest from the entrance, hands shackled to the table, his ankles sporting similar restraints. They glowed a bright orange, matching the jumpsuit he wore. His hair had grown longer, though she saw some of her nagging finally got through - he'd gotten a hair tie to keep it out of his face, and considering that she was visiting him, her other request had gone through.

She bounded over to him, navigating the spacious rows of other round tables, where visitors from across the layers conversed with their convicted in-laws, siblings, parents, children, lovers, or other. Peneloper plopped into the chair opposite Gideon and placed the package on the table.

Gideon didn't pay attention to the package. In true Gideon fashion, his gaze focused on her and made her feel as though she were the only one whose existence mattered. If his rehabilitation was going to be successful, he'd have to learn to see everyone else, and not be so singular. That kind of limited sight could lead to obsession, and obsession had landed him back in the Rose.