"WHAT?!" The four agents all said in unison. Thankfully, the private room that they were in was completely soundproof; otherwise, they would've startled the rest of the restaurant with their sudden outburst.
"You heard right." Evan said calmly while scrolling through his phone. "We talked about it shortly after we came home from the beach."
"Why?" Maria couldn't help but ask. The young woman was still trying to come to terms with what they had just told her. Something like this was way too crazy to drop on them out of the blue.
"It's pretty clear by now that our father wants you guys to be our personal bodyguards whenever the situation arises." The lone 'earth magic' user of the group explained. "Hell, our mother pretty much told us that directly after we told them about what happened a few days ago. Because of that, our father gave us the green light to give you all the enchantment. All of Elaine's people have it, so it makes sense that we'd give it to you guys as well."
"You're serious?" Cyrus asked just to make sure that he wasn't imagining things.
"Dead serious." Evan smiled.
"Doesn't the flying enchantment cost like twenty million dollars?" Maria asked.
"Twenty-five million, per person!" Evan clarified.
"Oh, shit...." Valerie leaned back in her seat. The woman was starting to feel lightheaded.
Actually, now that she thought about it, this was fantastic news. This by itself meant that the Commissioner had directly acknowledged the group's value. If he himself gave the twins the okay to do this, then it meant that he knew how capable they were of keeping his children safe. Which also meant that he was confident in their skills. This one announcement basically validated to Valerie that she was going to be rising through the ranks of the DPA. It was exactly what she wanted to hear.
It took a moment for the group to fully absorb the new information that was suddenly thrusted upon them. But after a few minutes of thinking, they were more than a bit into it. The flying enchantment was one of, if not the most valuable, enchantments known to man. One that would allow them to soar through the skies unobstructed with a simple thought. Such a skill was the kind that every sorcerer dreamed of having. It was direct confirmation that you were a part of the McNamara family's inner circle.
"When did you plan on giving it to us?" Freddy asked the twins after fully calming himself down.
"Tonight." Elizabeth said in a nonchalant tone.
"Tonight? Like, tonight, tonight?" Valerie inquired.
"Right after we leave from here."
"Well, damn...." Cyrus simply said as he looked up at the ceiling. The young man had no clue what to think about all of this. He was basically being offered the gift of a lifetime. One that would allow him to live out his childhood fantasies. The fact that he was given such a wonderful opportunity that few would ever receive was certainly not lost on the 'tree magic' user at all.
"Thank you, thank you so much!" Valerie leaned over and grabbed Evan's hands to show her appreciation. "I promise that I'll use it well!"
"Me too!" Freddy echoed.
"Same here!" Cyrus then said after coming out of his musings.
"Thank you." Maria looked to Elizabeth in her usual stoic fashion. The raven-haired teen still had her trepidations about working with the twins more in the future, but the fact that she was about to receive possibly the greatest enchantment ever created made her temporarily loosen her views on the two rich kids. Not all the way, but enough to let them know that she was grateful for the opportunity.
Before anyone could get out another word, Bianca returned with the group's drinks. After distributing the beverages to the appropriate person, the woman then took their orders before disappearing once again to go get them their food.
'God, I love my job!' Cyrus thought with a smile as he began to plan all of the things that he was going to do once he received the enchantment from the twins.
The young man was now happier than ever that he had decided to join the DPA all those months ago. Ever since then, the trajectory of his life had radically improved. If this was any indication of how things were going to go for him, then the freckle-faced teen had more than enough reason to feel optimistic.
His boring and bland life seemed so far in the past now compared to how it was when he first met Ayako in those woods. And it seemed like even more good times were right around the corner.
-(o)-
Roughly an hour later, the group of six young sorcerers was finally finished with their meal. Just like they had expected, the food was exquisite. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the kind of fine dining that only the upper echelon of society got to enjoy on a regular basis.
Now that everyone's bellies were full, it was time for them to make their way to the MacNamara residence. They all had a full night ahead of them, so the sooner they got out of Aurum, the better.
"Thank you all for coming, we hope to see you again soon!" Bianca told the group with a radiant smile as they all stood up from their seats. The woman was notably cheery at the moment, mainly due to the fact that she had received a hefty two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar tip from the group of sorcerers, over half of which came from Cyrus.
With no point in sticking around any longer, everyone stood up and began making their way out of their private room and toward the front door. However, just as Cyrus was about to leave the room, the 'tree magic' user's ex-girlfriend suddenly grabbed his hand and pulled him to the side.
"Be honest with me..." Bianca said to Cyrus with a serious expression on her face. "Did your mom make you break up with me? I know she still hates my guts after everything that happened."
Completely taken aback by this, Cyrus couldn't help but hesitate before he gave the woman an answer.
"N-no, I...ugh..." The young man stuttered before letting out a defeated sigh. "I was just going through a lot at the time. Look, can we talk about this some other time? Please?"
Bianca stared at the freckle-faced teen for a good five seconds while looking him up and down. Then, the woman suddenly used her right hand to smoothly reach into his left pants pocket, the place where he always kept his phone, and pulled the device out as if it were the most normal thing in the world. She then proceeded to unlock the man's phone before going to his contacts list and typing something on the screen.
"Here." Bianca said after handing Cyrus back his phone. "I changed my number a while back. This is my new one. We need to talk, like seriously talk. Soon."
"Yeah, okay." Was all that Cyrus could say. After all, it was the least that he could do in this situation. He did suddenly break up with the woman over text for what were admittedly immature reasons. Sure, the guy was going through a pretty serious episode of depression at the time, but there was still no excuse for how he handled things. "Soon."
The two former lovers then stared at each other for a brief moment before Bianca spoke up once again. "It was nice seeing you. I'm glad that you finally made some more friends."
"Thanks." Cyrus nodded. "It was nice seeing you, too."
With that, Cyrus quickly took his leave to rejoin the rest of his friends. In all honesty, that could've gone a whole lot worse. But the young man was glad that their brief interaction was at least somewhat amicable. And although he wasn't necessarily looking forward to his future, and probably uncomfortable, the conversation with his ex, Cyrus was glad to see that she wasn't completely mad at him. Or at least she didn't outwardly show it if she was.
'Talk about awkward.' The young man thought to himself just before catching up with the rest of the group.
-(o)-
[30 Minutes Later]
"...and that's pretty much why I decided not to go to a regular university." Cyrus finished his story as the group walked up to the door of the MacNamara residence.
"I guess that makes sense." Elizabeth nodded her head in understanding.
"Still, though, losing out on a full-ride scholarship had to suck." Freddy then said. "And to lose it to the coach's nephew of all people had to be hard to hear."
"Gotta love good old nepotism, right?" Valerie said nonchalantly from behind Evan.
"Mhmm..."Maria nodded.
"But hey, at least you had the chance to get one. My grades were so bad that most schools wouldn't even look at my wrestling, softball, or basketball highlights."
"Eh, college is overrated anyway." Evan grinned while opening the door and allowing the others to go in ahead of him. "I still don't get why our parents are making Elizabeth go even though she already has her own business."
The 'earth magic' user rolled her eyes at that comment. "Well, not all of us can graduate at the age of fifteen and immediately start working for a big company like you did."
"Hey, it's not my fault that I'm just amazing!"
The 'wind magic' user's words earned a few laughs in response. Once everyone was inside the building, they all took some time to put their shoes on the shelf before making their way over to the living room. The twins still had some stuff that they needed to explain before they started giving everyone the flying enchantment. And they wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. Now was the perfect time to do it since they were fully energized from their previous meal, so the sooner they got the details out of the way, the better.
Once everyone was seated, the twins quickly got to work on the impromptu lecture.
"Alright." Freddy was the first to speak. "So, what do we need to know before we get the party started?"
"First things first, we need to go over the basics of how the enchantment works. There's a bit of a learning curve to it. So the more you know before we give it to you, the easier time you're going to have when you actually have it."
"That makes sense." Cyrus nodded at what Evan was saying. "I can't imagine that it would be particularly easy to use."
"It's a bit tough at first, but after a brief adjustment period, you guys will be right as rain- what the hell?"
The resident genius of the group was cut off when a massive mana signature suddenly appeared within the range of the group's mana-sensing ability. Actually, it was three mana signatures. One huge one, along with two other impressive ones. Not even a couple of seconds after they felt the unknown sorcerers' presence, they all heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway.
"Who's that?" Maria questioned. Although it wasn't nearly as much as what she felt when she was exposed to Deputy Chief Mubele's mana, the presence that she was feeling now was definitely comparable to it. Whoever this new arrival was, they were without a doubt an S-rank sorcerer. And there weren't many of their kind running around.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Elizabeth rolled her eyes, much to the confusion of the four agents. The dark-skinned woman, along with her brother, knew exactly who this was. It was almost impossible for them not to.
"They're strong." Valerie tensed up a bit as she heard the sound of the car door closing and felt the new presence getting closer.
"How much you wanna bet she came here exactly when she wanted to?" Evan asked his sister despite already knowing the answer himself.
"What's going on?" Cyrus couldn't help but ask. This was easily the second most powerful sorcerer he had ever felt before, and it wasn't even close.
Before either of the two twins could respond, the front door opened up, and a voice that the agents found awfully familiar shouted right after entering the house.
"Hey, Thing One and Thing Two! One of you go pour me a glass of tea, I'm thirsty!"
"Oh, me too, please!"
A moment later, Elaine MacNamara entered the living room alongside her two companions, Michiko and Nicholas.
To say that the four agents were starstruck at the sudden appearance of one of the most famous women in the world would be putting it mildly.
Standing there, in all her glory, wearing a baby-blue turtlenecked crop top, a matching skirt, a black letterman jacket, and some high-top black Converse with knee-high socks was one of the most powerful sorcerers on the planet. A woman who was just as dangerous as she was beautiful. A sorcerer with the power to wipe an entire city off the map if she wanted to. And someone with the skills to give even the likes of Jean-Jacques Mubele a run for his money.
'Oh...'
'My...'
'God!' The four agents collectively thought as they fully took in the sight of the woman standing before them.
To think that either of them would have the opportunity to meet Elaine MacNamara in the flesh like this was nothing short of crazy. It was the kind of situation that none of them ever thought that they would be in. Even if they were now tasked with being the twins' personal bodyguards, they never once even considered the possibility that they would be able to meet their sister.
"What are you doing here?" Evan asked the elder MacNamara sibling with a scowl on his face while not even trying to hide his displeasure.
"Checking up on you." Elaine said with a smirk.
'My mom is going to freak out when I tell her about this.' Cyrus thought to himself as he watched the woman confidently stride across the living room before sitting in the loveseat directly to his left. 'She's even prettier in person.'
'I wonder if she'll let me take a picture with her?' Valerie wondered. Getting a photo with an A-list celebrity like Elaine would sure as hell make all of her relatives jealous.
"Oh, I'm sure..." Elizabeth once again rolled her eyes while crossing her arms over her chest.
"Okay, that's technically a lie." Elaine clarified. "We actually didn't even plan on coming here today."
"What do you mean?"
"Our flight got canceled at the last minute." Nick, the man with the goatee and neat caesar cut, explained. The man was wearing a simple black hoodie and red gym shorts along with some expensive-looking sneakers. "We were going to wait at the airport until we could get another one, but someone spotted Elaine and a crowd of people started hounding us."
"And this is why I said we should've just flown private." Michiko said while leaning up against the nearby wall. "But no, your sister wanted to save the money...."
'How old is she?' Maria couldn't help but wonder after briefly examining the youthful-looking woman.
To her, Michiko Honda barely looked like she was old enough to drive, and even that was a generous estimation. The woman with the lime-green hair was dressed in a long-sleeved, one-piece purple dress with a black bomber jacket and high-top sneakers. And to be honest, the whole ensemble looked kind of weird on her. Almost like a kid doing their best to look like an adult.
"So..." Elaine then looked at the twins. "Are you two going to introduce us to your friends here, or are you just going to keep being rude?"
'Well, shit.' Freddy blinked in surprise at that statement. He wasn't expecting the famous pop star/actress to be so causal.
Evan looked at his sister for a good three seconds before letting out a defeated sigh. "Everyone, the narcissistic amalgamation of pride and undeserved talent that you see here before you is our beloved sister, Elaine MacNamara, more commonly known as Skye. I'm sure that all of you are big fans."
"Nice to meet you all!" Elaine said to the four agents with a friendly wave.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am." Cyrus said in a polite tone, it wouldn't do him any good to come off as rude to the woman.
Freddy clapped his hands together with a smile. "I am a huge fan of your work! I have all of your albums, and I love all of them!"
"What he said!" Valerie echoed the 'dark magic' user's sentiment. "I'm also a fan of your movies. Your acting is fantastic!"
"Hello." Maria said calmly while trying to keep herself from fangirling.
"Well..." The elder 'wind magic' user grinned. "Y'all seem like nice and well-behaved young adults. I guess the DPA is doing a good job at fostering its talent these days. Hmmm...now that I'm getting a good look at you, you all look like the attractive yet diverse cast of modern teen drama."
"Thank you!" The four agents said in unison.
"And these two are..." Elizabeth then declared while motioning over to Nicholas. "Nicholas Chapman, Elaine's personal assistant/agent/manager/errand boy. He's a 'healing magic' user that's been working for our sister for a few years now. Our families are pretty close."
"Hello everyone!" Nicholas said with a polite bow.
'He's cute.' Freddy thought while checking the man out.
"And the munchkin here..." Evan lazily shot a thumb in the direction of Michiko. "Is Michiko Honda, Elaine's best friend, long-time collaborator, and a constant thorn in my side. I know you guys don't recognize her without her signature mask, but she's actually DJ Shade."
"What?!" The four agents practically screamed after hearing the last part of that sentence.
"You're DJ Shade?!" Valerie then asked the woman with a look of genuine astonishment on her face.
"As I live and breathe!" Michiko proudly announced with a funky pose.
Aside from being Elaine's longtime musical partner, Michiko was also one of the most in-demand record producers in the industry. Her work had won her numerous awards and people were lining up around the corner to try and work with her. Most people had never seen the woman's face before due to her always wearing a cyberpunk-style mask whenever she's out doing performances, but here she was, standing right in front of the four agents as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
'This shit is insane.' Maria said to herself.
'Man, this is turning out to be one hell of a day.' Cyrus thought. If he had known that he was going to be meeting two famous celebrities, he would've tried to dress a bit nicer.
"You guys don't need to introduce yourselves." Elaine then said while leaning forward in her seat. "I already know who all of you are. First and foremost, thank you guys for looking after by brother and sister. I know that they can be a handful, but I'm glad that you all are here to help them out whenever they need it. My father said that y'all were pretty capable, and I have no reason to doubt that."
"Oh, stop." Freddy waved off. "You're going to make me blush."
"Okay, so why are you really here?" Elizabeth then asked her sister. "I doubt you'd come here if you were just passing through."
"Okay, you got me!" Elaine gave the dark-skinned woman a smile before responding. "Dad told me that he gave you the okay on giving these four the flying enchantment. I was planning on coming here to see if you guys messed it up, but the fact that our flight got canceled just gave us an excuse to come here sooner than I planned."
"We also called up to Aurum earlier to try and grab a bite, but the manager said that you guys already had the table. We assumed that you were all together, so we came down here to see what the deal was." Nicholas then clarified.
"Of course." The 'earth magic' user rolled her eyes for what felt like the thousandth time tonight. Leave it to their sister to conveniently show up out of nowhere just when they were about to do something big.
Elaine's eyes briefly scanned over the group of agents before momentarily pausing on Cryus. For a split second, their eyes met, and the young 'tree magic' user couldn't help but notice something odd in the way the woman looked at him. He couldn't quite tell what the woman was thinking, and he wasn't sure as to if he should say something or not.
"So, I take it that you already explained everything about the enchantment to them?"
"Evan was just about to start telling us before y'all walked in." Cyrus then said.
"Good!" The elder 'wind magic' then said while leaning back in her seat. "Evan, be a dear and go fetch me that tea I asked for. I can take it over from here."
Evan looked like he was about to give the woman some sort of rude remark, but the look that his sister gave him instantly stopped him from doing so. The man then briskly shoved his hands into his pockets before walking off in the direction of the kitchen.
'Talk about bossy.' Valerie thought while examining the way that the woman handled herself. 'She's almost as bad as my mom.'
While Evan was busy preparing Elaine and Michiko their drinks, the dread-headed woman stood up and began telling the four agents everything that they needed to know. Fortunately, there wasn't that much important information that she needed to tell them. So, the whole conversation was going to go by quickly.
"First things first, I hope y'all understand the gift that you're about to receive. The flying enchantment is easily one of the greatest assets a sorcerer can have in their arsenal. And there are many people out there who would literally kill to get their hands on it."
"So we've heard." Cyrus then said as he focused his attention on what the resident superstar was saying. "From what I know, there's less than two hundred people in the world who currently have it. Most of whom are in the higher ranks of the DPA."
"Exactly!" Elaine seemed impressed that the young man knew his stuff. "The majority who have it are station Chiefs and above, like Chief Chandler and Valerie's mother. Most of the others who have it are people whom my father deemed valuable enough to the DPA, like Theo and Robin. After that, are people who are personally affiliated with our family, like Michiko, Nick, and the rest of my friends. The rest are people who bought the enchantment outright from our family."
"And how many people were able to do that?" Maria asked, genuinely curious as to how many sorcerers there were with that kind of cash.
"Currently, there are six. The most famous of which is Wang Jiayi in China. Then again, the Chinese government fronted the bill for her, so I don't know if that really counts."
The four agents nodded their heads in understanding as they all did their best to absorb the new information. For some reason, they all felt like they should've been taking notes, but it wasn't like they had pen and paper available to do that.
Before Elaine continued speaking, Evan returned with the drinks. After handing the beverages off to their intended recipients, the man then took a seat right next to Valerie on the sofa, much to the delight of the young 'fire magic' user who tried her best to hide the smile on her face.
'So, that's how it is, huh?' Michiko thought while stealing a glance at the two.
"As I'm sure you're all well aware, receiving this enchantment basically means that everyone is going to know that you're closely affiliated with our family. And although something like that certainly has its perks, it also means that you're going to have a lot of eyes on you. Don't worry, though, after you get the enchantment, you're essentially going to be under our protection. So, no one's going to try to mess with you since it means that they'll also be crossing us in the process."
"It almost sounds like we're joining the mob or something." Freddy commented.
'Well, he's not totally wrong.' Evan and Elizabeth both thought in unison.
"Hey, being under the umbrella of one of the Nine Families isn't all bad." Elaine replied jokingly. "Now then, onto the good part! The flying enchantment itself will allow you to perform unassisted flight whenever and wherever you want. If you've ever picked up a superhero comic, it's basically the same as that. How long you'll be able to sustain your flight depends on how much mana you have. Think of it like sprinting. The more energy you put into it, the faster you'll be able to go. But on the flip side, the faster you burn through your mana, the quicker you'll end up not being able to keep yourself airborne."
Cyrus nodded after hearing that. The explanation made total sense in his opinion. The 'tree magic' user's burgeoning journey into the world of enchantment already told him as much. How powerful the enchantment was depended on how much mana you focused on whatever skill you were using. If you wanted the effect to last longer, you'd need to put more juice behind it and vice-versa.
"Keep in mind, flying is also an active process. You have to consciously put effort into it if you want to keep yourself in the air. The minute you lose focus, you'll start to fall. So, think about that whenever you attempt to use any other spells while using it."
"Makes sense."
Before Elaine could continue talking, Michiko decided that now would be a good time to have a bit of fun. Out of nowhere, the youthful-looking woman walked across the living room and sat herself right on top of Evan's lap. The woman even went through the effort to put her arm around the 'wind magic' user's neck and snuggle up close to him.
"Do you mind?" The world-famous DJ said to the man with a devious grin on her face. "I got tired of standing."
Everyone, especially Valerie, watched in total confusion at the scene playing out before them. If they didn't already know that the woman was an adult, they certainly would've found the whole thing to be a bit weird. None of them were trying to be judgmental, but it was hard not to.
"Get off, pedophile bait!" Evan frowned before grabbing Michiko by the waist and quite literally throwing her across the room back to the spot where she was originally standing.
The green-haired woman quickly got herself back in order before leaning back up against the wall. For a split second, Valerie could've sworn that she saw Michiko smile in her direction before the look completely vanished from her face.
"Desperate as hell." Nick smiled from across the room, earning an annoyed glare from his friend. "No wonder why your ass is still single."
"Fuck off, Mr. Arranged Marriage!"
"Anyways..." Elaine spoke up before directing their attention to the four agents. "Any questions?"
Cyrus was the first to raise his hand. "How exactly are we going to do this? What's the process?"
Surprisingly, Elizabeth was the one who answered the question. "It's really not as complicated as you think. It's basically the same as any other enchantment. All we need to do is place the enchantment on your back. We'll have to apply it directly on the skin, though. And the whole process only takes about ten minutes, if that."
"Sounds easy enough."
"It used to be a lot more difficult, but our grandfather found a way to streamline the process a few years after he created the enchantment." Elaine followed up. "It does still hurt a bit, though. Think of it like getting a tattoo. The runes we use will be permanently etched onto your skin after we're done. So, if that's not your thing, I suggest you come to peace with it in the next few minutes."
'So, we're basically being branded as their property....' Maria mused. That's pretty much what it sounded like to her. Of course, she still wasn't about to turn the enchantment down, but she already knew that her mother wasn't going to be happy about it when she saw it.
"That's pretty much it!" Elaine then clapped her hands together with a smile on her face. "Once we're done, it's pretty much just practicing on your own from there. Keep in mind, though, you're going to have times when you activate the enchantment by accident. So, you might have a couple of nights where you wake up with your face on the ceiling. When that happens, try not to freak out. Just like regular spells, the flying enchantment can get a bit funky when your emotions are out of whack."
"Well, that doesn't sound nearly as bad as I thought it'd be." Cyrus said. "I thought there was going to be some whole ritual involved."
"Nope!" Evan smiled. "Clean and simple!"
"So, here's how we're going to do this...."
Elaine then took a moment to have everyone partner up. Since she and both the twins were present, they would be able to get this done much faster than if it were just Evan and Elizabeth. Elaine would handle doing the enchantment for Cyrus, Elizabeth would do it for Maria, and Evan would take care of both Valerie and Freddy. Elaine did offer to take one of the two agents for Evan, but the young 'wind magic' user insisted that it wouldn't be a problem for him.
So, with the game plan decided, everyone quickly split off and went to their respective rooms to hurry and get things started. Evan and Valerie made their way up to his room, Elizabeth and Maria went up to the 'earth magic' user's room, and Elaine led Cyrus up one floor to the guest bedroom, which just so happened to be her old bedroom. This left Freddy downstairs with Michiko and Nick until it was his turn to be called.
"Excited?" Elaine asked Cyrus as they walked down the long hallway. How they all managed to live in what was essentially a small castle was a complete mystery to him. Even his family home wasn't nearly as spacious as this place.
"Definitely!" Cyrus smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, I remember when my dad finally let me get the enchantment. He made me wait until my fifteenth birthday. I was so happy when it finally happened that I literally flew out the window with excitement and almost face-planted right into the backyard."
"Now, that must've been a sight to see."
"I'm sure it was."
Cyrus would be the first to admit how weird it was that he was having such a casual conversation with one of the most famous women on the planet. The whole thing felt like some bizarre fever dream. One that he would wake up from at any given moment. That being said, all of the nervousness was being drowned out by the amount of excitement that was currently welling up inside of him. After all, he was about to become one of the few people alive who would literally be able to touch the clouds. Whatever doubts the young man may have had about the whole thing were now officially gone. Nothing but mere dust in the wind at the thought of being able to soar through the skies like one of those heroes in the old comic books that his father collected.