Chapter 2

When I opened my eyes to my dream world, I found myself floating around in a purple void, with odd spongey spheres floating around me. 

What is this place?

"It's your destiny" boomed a man's voice.

 "You have to protect your world".

 "Can't you pick one of my friends?" replied another voice, that sounded just like mine.

"No, I can't. You were chosen by the Ancient One in my dream. And you are far more talented than your friends". 

With a flash of white light, my surroundings changed and now I'm in a Mansion like house. In front of me stood a tall figure dressed in blue robes, with a red cloak that hung around his neck. 

Is this the man who was talking?

I squinted my eyes to try and make out any details on him, but it was useless.

"What exactly do I need to protect earth from?".

 I shivered as I felt a warm, human body stepped through me, going closer to the mysterious man. I glanced down at myself. 

Am I a.... ghost? 

I drifted next to the person who walked right through me, to see if I could interact with them and immediately recognized who they were, it was me. I waved my translucent blue hand in front of my human face, but nothing happened. 

Interesting. 

"From threats that live in other universes and dimensions".

My human self stared at the man in confusion. 

"So, you're saying that the Marvel universe is real?". 

He nodded his head.

 "Of course, it's real? Do you not believe that it is?". 

"Well, I always thought that magic and different universes were just...". 

I woke up to Rachel gently shaking me awake. 

"I'm up, I'm up" I said, sitting up on my bed. 

"How long have I been sleeping for?". 

"You've been out since I came home last night from the store" replied Rachel, as she now leaned against my bedroom doorway. 

"Are you okay?".

I nodded my head. 

"Yeah, just a bit tired".

 "Just a bit? Vanessa, you slept for 20 hours". 

"Well, I did stay up late the previous night working on an assignment".

 I glanced at my phone and remembered about the password problem. 

"Rachel, can you help me get into my phone? It locked me out last night".

 "Did you disable it?" she asked, as I handed it to her. 

"No, the phone just set up a password all on its own and now I'm locked out".

 "There doesn't seem to be a password because I just got in with no problem".

I got up from my bed and stood next to her. 

"Can you show me?". 

"Sure".

 Rachel turned my phone off and then back on again. Within seconds, she got onto my home screen, and it didn't even ask to put a password in. 

That's strange. 

"I'm going to go make lunch. Do you want anything?". 

"No thank you, I'm good. I better pack my briefcase and get ready to go". 

"Before you do that, you might want to change your clothes" suggested Rachel, before going to the apartment kitchen.

I looked down at my shirt and realized that she's right; There was a dark wet circle on my top, just on my chest. 

Ewe, that must be my drool. 

I casually closed my door, pulled out my magician tuxedo suit from my closet and changed into it. After tying the bow tie around my neck, I slipped my arms into the black jacket and set my tall black top hat on my head.

Wow, I look good, I thought, staring at my outfit in the mirror. 

Now I must pack my briefcase.

I glanced down at my watch. 

It's 2:00pm, so I have time to pack and drive over to the kid's birthday party.

I brought out my briefcase from in-between my bed shelf and my nightstand, setting it down on my bed with care.

Touching the smooth black case top, I flipped up the latches and opened it, revealing the props I need to pull off amazing magic tricks. My briefcase was mostly packed, I just had to put my 3 decks of cards back, since I was practicing yesterday morning. I grabbed those packs off my dresser and pressed them into their plastic holders.

Now you might be thinking that I just bought my briefcase with all the props inside, like a magic kit from a store. But actually, I bought the case empty and took all my magic props I have from different sets and neatly organized it in there, making my own customized kit. After clicking the 3rd pack of playing cards in place, I slid my hand onto the 4th deck next to it. 

I never use this deck of cards, even though it's not a trick deck. I've just treated it as an extra.

Also, this deck feels different in my hands, like it's capable of more than it looks. 

I looked down on the deck case and read the label in my head. 

The Mimic Deck. Why would anyone name a regular pack of cards that? 

Oh well, I'll probably never use it.

Shrugging my slim shoulders, I closed my briefcase, clicked the latches on and turned off my room light, heading towards the apartment door. I quickly slipped on some tall black boots with thick heels and grabbed my car keys off the key hook by the door.

"Don't forget your phone!" said Rachel, calling from the kitchen. 

"I've got it" I replied, putting it into my shallow pocket on the front of my pants. 

"See you later". 

I exited the apartment building and walked into the parking lot, stepping into the front driver's seat of my small, grey Honda car. I put my black briefcase in the passenger seat next to me and started the vehicle, wanting to get the heater going.

 Damn it's cold, I thought, as I pulled out my phone from my pocket and typed up the street address to my ex-boyfriend's house

2028 Queen Street Kingston ON.

 I tapped 'start route' on the screen and attached my phone to the black phone holder on my dashboard. Once the car was warm enough, I turned up the heat knob and backed my car out of its parking spot, before driving out of the parking lot. Keeping my eyes on the road, I quickly glanced at the time on my phone screen. It said 2:15pm. 

Did It really take me fifth-teen minutes just to get ready and get to my car?

"Oh well" I mumbled, shrugging my small, slim shoulders. 

"Hey Google, can you play my 'favorite songs' playlist on Spotify?". 

"Yes, of course" responded Google, before it started playing 'Whatever it takes' by Imagine Dragons.

I slowed down the car to a complete stop in front of a red light and slightly loosened my grip on the steering wheel.

 The kids at Liam's birthday party will hopefully be amazed at my magic tricks. I better do card tricks and some visual tricks with objects, I thought, as I watched the traffic of vehicles flow in front of me.