Chapter 7

He stiffened as he spotted a blue glowing letter on the kitchen table. "I'll be up in a minute." He let her walk ahead as he quickly turned to the kitchen. He picked up the glowing letter, muttering a quick prayer of luck to his god.

The metallic blue letter had a white wax seal on it. His family's insignia, a dragon curled around a tornado, sealed the letter. He sighed and broke the seal. He pulled out the note and recognised his father's handwriting. Call me. That was it. That was it? Such a waste of good paper. He went to his sink, opened the cabinet under it and pulled out a scribe bowl. He tapped it three times, said his father's name and waited for a response. The water in the bowl rippled. A hazy image of his home fazed in until he saw his father glowering at him.

"What took you so long?" his father's grave voice bubbled through the water.

He leaned across the table to make sure that Mbilu was in his room. "I was busy. What's so urgent that we can't text?"

"The prince had tea with us today."

He rolled his eyes. It's been two years why can't he let it go. He groaned. How petty could Djimon be? "I promised to stop stealing his boyfriends, why is he still pestering you?"

"You stole his what?" his father sputtered.

"Is that why he's constantly annoying us? You're busy stealing his lovers?" His mother's lilac face popped up in front of his father's.

"Hello ma." He hid a smile.

"Aside from that, he came for a different reason." Both parents sat side by side now.

"He wants you to convince your court to join the war. And he wants us to convince you to convince them." his father explained. He suppressed an irritated groan. It was a matter of time before the kingdoms started coming for ministers one by one.

"Did you say no?"

"Of course." his mother huffed.

"Then he threatened us." his father continued.

"Is that all?" Djimon was all talk and no bite. His threats held no merit. No one ever took him seriously. He was too kind and too easily influenced. A few words could stop him in his tracks.

His mother bit her lip in worry. "My sister dropped by not long after him."

That, that was a serious threat. His aunt was right hand to Queen Isadora. More than willing to do anything to please the queen of the air folk. She'd once voluntarily maimed her own daughter so she wouldn't be a threat to the princess's beauty. Aunt Ria was a bigger threat than the prince himself. At least Djimon could be talked down and reasoned with but Ria was the definition of lawful evil. She performed every duty perfectly, no matter how damaging to the soul and morals it could be.

Yellow eyes glanced at stormy grey ones. "Same proposition, same threat." It was not the same threat and everyone knew it.

"Wow. That's crazy." He attempted to add some nonchalance into his voice.

"Take this seriously. Apparently the war is starting to affect the nobles and you know how much the kingdoms care for their nobles and royalty." He'd failed at remaining indifferent but at least he'd gotten a different reaction rather than fear.

"A bit too much for my liking."

"Exactly. We're warning you to be careful of what you do or say." a breeze ruffled his father's shumagh. His mother must be cooling the air around him. Though his father had a lot of patience, it was always lost whenever politics and lives were at stake.

"Don't trust anyone around you. Don't take food from strangers. Don't accept any gifts. And don't sleep around with anyone who's willing. They could be bought off and poison you." His mother took the scribe bowl from his father and started ranting out a list of precautions she'd drilled into him since she was a child.

"Thank you for the advice ma."

"I'm being serious my baby. Don't forget to lock the doors and windows. Don't forget to activate the protections around your house, ok?"

"OK ma. Can I say bye to baba?"

His father came back into the bowl. "Please listen to your ma. It would let us sleep better." his eyebrows furrowed and his lips thinned in a straight line. He was worried.

"I will."

"I want to hear the doors lock and protections activate." his mother's uncharacteristically loud voice called out.

Anything to make his parents feel better. He turned around, snapped his fingers, locked the doors and activated the protections. The familiar clicks and snaps of physical windows and doors closing brought a sigh to his lips. The familiar whoosh of the barriers settling over his home brought a sounded sigh of relief from his parents. He turned back to the scribe bowl.

"Be good and be safe." his mother called out.

"I will."

"Stop stealing the nobles' play toys."

"I will."

"Bye my baby." "Bye son."

"Bye guys." He drawled out. The conversation drained him.

His father's demeanour changed from concerned to angry. "Guys? Are we your friends? You disrespectful child." Remi grabbed the bowl and emptied the bowl into the sink. He smiled to himself. Saying that was such a risk but it was worth seeing something rather than fear on his parents' faces.

**

Mbilu waited in the living room while her friends played with the bunnies on the side of the room. Her foot tapped the tiled floor. They'd been waiting for 10 minutes now.

Three days ago, they'd given the chocolate sticks to their friend who's an expert at everything weed food related. There was something very wrong with the snack Sari had received at the party. What kind of drugs were put in the snack to make Sari see alternate versions of people? Nakai walked out of her lab and into the living room. She held an envelope in her hand. She sat on the couch opposite Mbilu.

"So...can I hear the story again?"

Sari went right into explaining the story.

After Mbilu had went off to dance with Remi, Sari went for a smoke. She'd met a guy who as selling weed chocolate sticks. Her being a lover of the elusive snack, had bought a packet. After eating a few, she began hallucinating. Everyone looked different as if she'd gone into an alternate universe where everyone was replaced with monsters. The only difference was that some people remained people and some people had turned completely into monsters. The guy who'd given her the snack; had light green skin, blue scales on his arms and neck, four scars across neck and razor sharp teeth. At first Sari had denied what she saw but once she started looking around the room and saw the distorted people, she'd begun to believe it.

Apparently when Laylah found her, she'd been convulsing on the floor and crying. Laylah had taken her to an empty room and hid her there. She went to fetch Mbilu and Remi. Remi called his friend, who was also a doctor, to help. Sari screamed when she saw Remi and his friend. Mbilu kneeled down and tried to help her. She'd told her that Remi and his friend were there to help. Sari kept screaming. She kept saying they were monsters. She said they were demons and that she must be in hell. She called Remi the devil and kept pulling Mbilu away from him. Laylah and Mbilu held her down as Remi and his friend put her to sleep. After that it wasn't long before screams and panic had erupted from the rest of the party. Mbilu remained with Sari while Laylah went off to help Remi and his friend.

Laylah said that there was a mass hysteria. Everyone who'd eaten the snack had started screaming then convulsing. She said it was chaotic. The ambulances had arrived. Paramedics and those that were sober did their best to hold down their friends and let the medical professionals do their jobs. The next day the incident was labelled as a mass hysteria. Everyone who had been to the party had their blood tested. Apparently a mixture of drugs had been the reason for the hallucinations and convulsions. Yet it didn't make sense that everyone saw the same things. Laylah had said that when she caught up to Gerald fighting some girl, he'd also screamed at the sight of Remi and his friend. She said that Gerald grabbed her away from them and called Remi the devil and his friend a demon. The same went for their associates from campus.

The universities surrounding the area had closed for a week seeing as most of their students had attended the party. Everyone had to remain home for the week and isolate themselves in case the hallucinations come back. Their parents had banned them from attending parties and their every moves were being tracked until then. Mbilu didn't trust what the science committee had to say about the contents of the snacks. No one should be able to have the same hallucinations. It should be impossible for a mass amount of people to see the same people as monsters and demons and the same people as humans.

"Hectic. I'm glad I got high and forgot about the party. Sorry about the whole...seeing things thing." Nakai stroked one of her bunnies on her lap.

"It's all good. What did you find?"

She pulled out a bunch of papers from the file she brought in. "Guys, this is so strange. So like I did the tests like 4 times and they came out the same? The scientists and doctors are lying. There's something else in here and it's either not drugs or a new drug no one knows. And it's shiny."

"What do you mean shiny?" Sari peeked up.

She took out one chocolate stick and broke it open. "It looks like glitter." she separated the pieces and showed them were the weed started and where other substances have been put in.

"Ooh, I love glitter." Laylah stared at the broken pieces in awe.

"Do drugs shimmer and shine?" Mbilu pursed her lips. It was so off. The situation was getting more complicated.

"Ask your boyfriend for that." Laylah replied.

"Yeah I will."

"Boyfriend? Since when do you have a boyfriend?" Nakai perked up.

Laylah clapped her hands and leaned forward. "Her boyfriend was actually the handsome man who saved Sari's life."

Nakai placed a hand in Mbilu's knee and shook it in excitement. "OK girl I see you. So what's the story?"

Laylah went off telling Nakai how she'd met Remi and his friend while Mbilu took a chocolate stick and hid it in her bag. She'd convince Remi to run some tests and find out what exactly it was. Or she'd try out herself too see what everyone else saw when they looked at Remi.

**

Remi stood behind his seat and shook it at the council meeting room. The room had been shrunk today. To make it more intimate for one on one or small group meetings. Today he and Reuben were meeting with Leopold and Risso. Nervous couldn't even begin to describe how he felt. His hearts wouldn't stop hammering into his chest and spine. His tail was tightly wound around his arm. And Reuben's calm face was frustrating him.

"You're too relaxed."

"You're heating up. Stop or you might set the room on fire." Reuben casually leaned against the chair. His hands sitting on his chest and his eyes closed.

It was acts like this that reminded Remi that Reuben was a bred noble through and through. "I can't. We're in shit."

"Just outside the door, cool your cinders."

Remi released a smoke filled breath and chugged the remaining of the iced water left on the table.

The volcano and ash cloud carved door opened. Leopold and Risso walked into the room. Reuben stood. They'd both bowed once Leopold and Risso reached their seats. They sat down. Risso took out her rainbow notebook and wrote today's date on a blank page. Remi ran his tongue against his teeth so hard he'd tasted blood.

"Let's not beat around the bush. What happened?" Leopold started the meeting.

Reuben explained the past few days events.

Remi was more than glad when he changed the details about him being with Mbilu. The same can't be said about the angry calm expression Leopold had to Risso's confusing anger. Leopold's hair swirled on his head as if it were a living flame. Remi wondered whether he'd be able to take on Leopold's heat. He was only half a dragon jinn while Leopold is half a volcano nymph. Were their powers compatible? Was one more powerful than the other? He didn't want to find out. Leopold's had more training than him and lived longer than everyone in the kingdom. Remi wouldn't win a fight against him in strength. He probably could in strategy but that only depended on how much knowledge had of the modern human world. If he had a little then Remi could win, if not then he's a dead man.

"Remi, what of the human responses?"

"It's a good thing we're the majority in medicine and science. We managed to mitigate the fallout. They believe it's a mass hysteria and common drugs had been mixed together. The only problem we have now is the youth turning it into a trend by stealing actual drugs, combining them and trying them out to see for themselves." Why were human youths such clout chasers? Why did social media apps condone and popularise dangerous trends?

"That's the human's problem not ours." Leopold waved away the issue.

"Another would be the investigations taking place in the city. Cape Town has trended twice for magical reasons. The other kingdoms are using this as an excuse to zone in on the city and possibly make it their new haven by driving the humans out with fear." Remi continued on.

"That is our problem. We have jurisdiction over the human world since majority of our kingdom spills into it." Leopold mumbled.

"Any other problems? You two seem to be filled with them." Risso's tiny yet stern voice reminded them she was there.

"The prince of Madinat Alkunuz and Ria Greystorm had a chat with my parents. Practically threatened them and me. They want us to join the war and take in their citizens." Remi continued. Risso was right, problems followed them like bees to honey.

"That would be a no on all fronts." Risso piped up.

" Why don't we assign a task force into their area of living and dispel the rogue magic?" Reuben suggested.

"That would be a great idea if it wasn't being caused by officials threatening us." Risso piped up.

"They're doing all they can to unravel us and aren't caring about the consequences." Remi tapped the table.

"In order to stop them and stop them exposing us we need to deal with the root problem."

"Talk to the kingdoms. Hold a grand meeting with the leaders and find a solution." Reuben suggested. Diplomacy among the noble was his forte.

" That's a good idea. I'll hold a meeting but while I do that, can you two please get a grip on your area? If I hear that Cape Town is trending once more, I'll send a task force to investigate you. Understood?"

"Yes, your majesty." Remi and Reuben bowed to the king and Risso.

"Good." Leopold helped Risso off her chair then walked off with the child.

Remi's phone vibrated. He pulled it out his pocket and checked the message under the table.

Do drugs shimmer and shine? From Mbilu.

No they don't love. He replied.

Do you think it's glue? She responded.

Maybe. Why? Are one of your friends experimenting again? He replied.

Something like that. She responded.

Please advice against it. Don't just watch and see what happens. He sent.

Can I come over? He quickly sent another message.

I'll watch at least the first 5 minutes then call for help. Sure you can come over. She replied.

"What are you doing?" Reuben whined.

"We were ordered to lay low, weren't we?"

"Fair."