The office was always busy full of Mages and Diviners, (Mages for the high council.) The dark purple carpets worn in the common walking paths were still vibrant against the cream walls which had mysterious burns and stains from spells gone airy or packages which exploded before screening. The large glass windows looked over the yorkshire dales meadows. Where people trained and tested new incantations in the constant ray of the sun. The office was a large three story research lab building with multiple districts collaborating and holding the magical worlds secret dealing with everything from complaints to minor threats to the code of secrecy and concealment. Cora led them out the white cubical filled room down a corridor which had laminate flooring with paintings lining the white walls and creating an illusion of it never ending a pitch black ceiling. Every fourteen metres there was an iron door leading to a laboratory of some kind after passing four they reached the end of the corridor and entered the door on the right Cora pressed her bracelet to the handle and a loud mechanical noise trembled through the air as the metal scraped across the tile flooring of the room Atlas didn’t follow them in to the room he took the left hand corridor and followed it till he was out of sight. Inside the lab the walls were a dark mint green colour lined with cabinets and cupboards other than for the breaks of the large glass windows to let in natural light. There were multiple island tables roughly six in two rows of three; they were a white metal magically created. It was called ironide and it was impenetrable to most acids and human created chemicals. It is metal with the outlook of wood. Cora took them to the island in the far corner where there was a white board on wheels filled with calculations and sketches of glasses and a pocket watch the table had objects neatly organised in size and colour order there was the pocket watch from the sketch along with a bunsen burner, a tool kit, bottles filled with clear to murky yellow colours, a large magnifying glass on an adjustable stand, and an array of papers in multiple piles with varied volume. “I just cleaned so it is safe for you two to touch the surface.” Cora explained excitedly, when it came to science Cora was a naturel but her free spiritedness combined with her childish looks made people easily underestimate her and her abilities. “So how long will it stay clean this time Cor?” Nolan laughed. “Probably not long but I can always re-tidie there’s all the time in the world,” Cora giggled, completely missing the joke. “So what is it you wanted to show us?” Violet asked, getting back to the point, “Ahh yes right, this!” Cora held the pocket watch up to the sky at their eye line, “Wonderful but what does it do?” Violet asked confusedly. “It’s a pocket watch?” Nolan emptily remarked, “No Nolan I thought it was a cockatoo,” Violet rolled her eyes, “You don’t have to be so sarcastic about it,” He protested folding his arms and snorting, "Jesus you are on one today aren't you.” Violet scoffed shaking her head slowly, “Anyway, Cora what is so amazing abou-,” Violet trailed off. Staring out the window she saw Seraphina a light ginger woman who always had her hair tied it a tight bun with the same consistency with her outfit she was always in a black turtle neck depending in the weather is whether the top had sleeves and if she wore her black blazer, she always pared this with a black pencil skirt which sat perfectly just above her knees, the one pop of colour within her abyss of black were her wine red oval glasses which never left her nose nobody even saw her clean the lenses but they were always as clear as crystal. “Hay earth to vi,” Nolan's deep voice brought her back to reality, “You were staring at Seraphina, weren't you?” Cora teased, and if possible Nolan became even huffier, “So what does the pocket watch do?” He asked pointedly. “Right the pocket watch, well its a communication device i created which you can easily hide as a typical watch but in time of need its in effect a walkie talkie and a pager combined.” Cora paused looking hopefully towards Violet and Nolan, her eyes sparkling, “So how does it work?” Violet pressed on. “Well do you see this?” she pointed to the pendent, “You hold this down and it created a one way call to its sister watch but if you click it twice you can leave a message and when the sister watch receives the message it will blink the projection light in the centre of where the hands were held.”Cora pointed out where the hands were. “What is the projection for ?” Nolan questioned. “The projection is for the messages if you twist the crown in the pendant,” she mimed twisting the crown clockwise, “Then the message will project out of the Icowy crystal which I implanted in the face. The message will show along with the time it was sent until you turn the crown ani-clockwise which sends a signal meaning the message was read.” Cora said everything without taking a breath meaning at the fast pace in which she developed when talking about science the saliva in her mouth frothed. “So what do you think?” Cora asked expectantly, “I think you need a glass of water.” Violet urged. “Sure but I mean about the pocketwatch?” Cora replied walking over to cupboards opening one pulling out a glass and using the sink in the far corner to fill it with water she took ten fairly large sips poured the rest of the water into the sink turned the glass over on the draining board and rejoined then at the island, “It is truly remarkable.” Nolan answered, “My question is would it work with larger groups, could you connect multiple watches?” Violet enquired. “In theory, yes, as long as all the Icowy are connected then there can be three way even four way calls but I do believe there is always a limit so it wouldn't be wise to go above four or five.” Cora voiced. “So how long will they take to make, as I presume this is just the prototype?” Nolan queried. “I could get a few made with detailed plans by thursday which gives me tomorrow and wednesday and then most of thursday so four days or just under.” Cora worked out. “That is truly remarkable," Nolan admired. “So what is this other invention?” Violet asked, pointing to the glasses sketch on the white board, “Ohh that was for Delilah.” Cora said offhandedly. “Delilah but what could she need you to make, that girl was the most powerful person i knew before i met seraphina?” Violet marveled. “It was a pair of glasses that let you see if someone is lying and what their true form is so if they have delved into the stygian magics more commonly known as the black arts or forbidden magic you can tell.” Cora explained. “Well that is some serious magic. How do you not tire ?” Nolan asked eagerly. “Well science and experimenting is my life and my incantations are heavily supported by the tools i have on hand but i sleep and take sunday as my resting day so i replenish the vast amount i can store at one given time.” Cora revealed. “Well as interesting as this is, I need to stop in with Ffion and Albion before our meeting with Seraphina.” Violet vocalized. “Very well then i will see you later.” Cora bid them good day and then exited the room which smelled of chlorine and cleaning chemicals.
They waved goodbye to Cora as the door closed behind them and they followed the same corridor Atlas had taken till they found a similar steel door but with a name plait which read Ffion and Albion Laboratory or forensics. Violet knocked on the door six times in a rhythm knock knock then three right after each other with the final after a short pause, The steel scraped against the tile again as the door opened revealing a similar layout to the lab. There were minor differences between them, there were two desks with computers plugged in at the front with large chalk boards filled with information in large paragraphs connected by lines linking each piece of evidence. “Hay Violet we were expecting you.” Ffion and Albion said in unison not looking up from their microscopes, “You have got to stop doing that, it's freaky as heck,” Violet complained. “We apologise, it is just a habit,” Ffion apologized. “Its more like a sixth sense if you ask me.” Nolan interjected, “Good thing nobody was asking you.” Violet said, poking her tongue out at Nolan and then walking over to the island they were working on. Nolan continued acting all offended “You’re so mean sometimes you know that right.” Nolan reminded, “Someone has to knock you off your pedestal,” Violet joked making Nolan laugh, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” “Okay love birds, Violet, do you want that evidence or not ?” Albion asked so politely nobody registered he had asked anything for a few seconds til it clicked and violet hurriedly said, “Obviously, and shouldn’t you know that with your, as Nolan so graciously put it your sixth sense?” “We can see small events but things are ever changing, nothing is ever fully set in stone, fate is constantly unsettled.”Ffion whispered looking into and adjusting the microscope. “So the evidence I asked you to look at, wher-?” Violet pressed. “There wasn’t anything majorly concerning but the tests picked up on traces of magic so you should have Seraphina take a look and potentially send it to the high council depending on where you found it.” Albion cut across her, not letting her finish. Fifon walked to the back of the room pressed her hands to the large empty wall and muttered something under her breath, after a long pause neon yellow mist created a doorway which Fifion pushed through and reappeared a few moments later holding multiple ziplock bags which had water, dirt, and other substances in them. “We had them as first priority but there were a few delays,” Fifion apologised, handing them to Violet who took them holding them awkwardly. “Here use this,” Albion had pulled a drawstring bag seemingly out of thin air, “Thank you?” Violet said, taking it out of his hands and placing the bags within the bag and drawing it shut. “So you know we have a meeting with seraphina, do you?” Nolan put the question to them. “We do but we shan't disclose anything Seraphina wishes to tell you herself.” They said in unison as Albion went back to his microscope, “Are you sure you can’t even spare the slightest detail?” Nolan begged. “You will do better to ask seraphina.” Fifion disclosed. “You will know what you need to when you need to Nolan.” Albion said sternly. “Fine.” Nolan finished with a huff. “We should get going then otherwise Seraphina will have our heads if we are late.” Violet hurried, guiding Nolan towards the door “Thank you for everything.” Violet thanked Albion and Fifion apologetically.
Once they were outside in the substantially warmer corridor Violet turned to Nolan and narrowed her eyes, “You couldn’t help yourself could you, you just had to ask!” “What are you having a go at me for now?” Nolan queried, “Only the fact you tried to get information about a meeting before it happened people talk Nolan!” Violet nagged, “What on earth do you mean, it's not like it's the end of the world i just wanted to know what we were getting ourselves into miss Queen of worries.” Nolan joked. “ Well I am glad you find the humor in all this but this is serious, missions are highly regarded and secreted by anyone involved so nobody on the wrong side finds out.” Violet barked, “Jesus Violet calm down, it wont happen again, okay.” Nolan backed down, “One never tells a woman to calm down and two as long as it never happens again then we are fine, sure.” Violet settled down feeling slightly calmer. “Right, do you know where the meeting is being held?” Nolan asked, genuinely confused. “Dude you're the one who told me we had a meeting so how am i supposed to know?” Violet swore, “Right,” Nolan scratched his head, “Maybe it is in a conference room?” He queried, “We can go look.”Violet suggested, to a nod from Nolan.
They set off for the conference rooms which were back the way they had come through the extremely busy office which was even more crowded as time had passed over the morning. People were running from their stations through doors which had not been there when they had arrived. There was a constant flow of people through the portal which seemed to be holding up substantially for such a small portal. Violet and Nolan navigated their way through the rabble and out the other side closing a door on the hallway or half frosted glass panelled conference rooms, as they walked along every few were occupied with communicating cohorts but the majority were empty. The corridor seemed to be never ending but as they neared the end they stopped dead outside an open door where Seraphina was leaning against the frame looking impatient and every so often checking her watch, “Your late!” Her voice carried a strong stern demeanour amplified by her strong high society British accent. Her clothes were pitch black under the dim lights making her skin more pail then it needed to be. They followed her inside and they sat around a large long rectangular glass table on the five office chairs, Seraphina sat at the head of the table while Violet and Nolan sat on the far side backs facing the windows. 11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0NGmfXcZzI
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