The woman in the driver seat looked at her in her rearview view. 

“You okay honey?”

Keeya nodded and gulped feeling her stomach return. She didn’t trust herself to say anything until she was out of the van. 

“Fun huh?” Marcella said patting  Keeya’s back a little too hard. 

“Ugh, why did we need to be driven again.”

Marcella looked over at Meg who was teasing Marco up ahead. 

Keeya followed her line of sight.

“It’s best to preserve as much Dawns Light as you can.”

“Well if that’s how we get to our missions I just hope we don’t get that woman again.” 

“Ha no way! Mrs Peterson is so cool. She is a total soccer mom and when she was younger she was the getaway driver for a bank robbery.” 

“I never would have guessed,” Keeya’s said burping as her stomach settled then she looked back the way they came but the van was already gone. When did she leave? 

She shook her head and turned around and saw a massive building made almost entirely of glass windows off in the distance.

“What is that?” Keeya exclaimed. 

“Wait, aren’t you from this city? And you’ve never heard of the McCormic buildings?” Meg asked.

“I’m twelve!” Keeya said defensively. 

She walked forward continuing to look around. Her neighborhood look thriving compared to this place. This place was well and truly abandoned. And from what Keeya could tell it had happened in stages. There were old signs of the snake invasion ruined by the elements and partially buried in evacuation orders and then magical kid sign up advertisements. It was like time had stopped the day humans left and a new timeline had begun. 

As the trope walked forward they passed a large metal box that had newspapers yellowing behind a scratched up plastic door with the headline about the cost of warehouses and whether historical buildings should be used. 

She scoffed seeing the results of that outcome in person. Popup tents that looked like they were supposed to be temporary had over the years become permanent fixtures. 

Keeya looked in them curious 

Inside were ration boxes, medical supplies and toiletries. 

Just beyond the tents was a very familiar road block and sign

WARNING PETRIFICATION ZONE

AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY

Meg held up the caution tape and all five of them strode in like they owned the place. Keeya brought up the rear and she reveled in how different it felt to enter the zone as a magical girl. 

It was like that time she was too excited to play in the snow and went out without her jacket. When the cold almost got to be too much her dad came out and put her jacket on. She was still outside, still in the freezing elements but the warmth of that jacket bought her hours of protection. 

“Playtime” she said to herself under her breath.

First thing that struck Keeya was how crowded the place was. She didn’t realize how many adults would be here too. There were people from all the magical kid corps as well as people from the military based on their  uniforms. Keeya recognized a few army uniforms that looked like her mom’s. 

Keeya always stopped to admire the other magical kids, their wide array of uniforms, from the Lolita to superhero, was something she thought she would never get used to seeing in real life. 

She checked her uniform and straightened her bow. 

Meg lead the way now, and was greeted by almost everyone that passed. And then came her squad. Keeya could tell instantly from their matching uniforms. 

“Well well well look who’s back!” One of them said.

“Did you bring donuts?” Another asked

“Section Leader you said we would get a break soon!” The last one complained.

“Well, I can go all day, but my back is another story.” The first said to the last.

“Thats what she said” the middle one said.

Keeya felt dizzy trying to keep up with the whole exchange. It was like when the football team all came together in the cafeteria. 

Meg tapped her drum stick on each of their heads. Making each of them cry out. 

“Shut up you idiots. If you gave me a second and used your eyes you would see that I have some people here with me. Come on guys, I swear they don’t bite.”

As the groups approached one another Keeya got a better look at them. 

The one closest to the wall and Meg was a short and stocky teenage boy with black curly hair and tan skin. He constantly had a funny grin on his face, as if even breathing amused him. 

The one on the opposite end was a tall skinny blonde teenage boy with freckles splashed across his face. 

Lastly in the middle was an asian boy, his stringy hair sticking to his damp face. He looked the youngest out of them all but still Keeya was shocked. They all had to be pushing sixteen to seventeen. 

Meg sighed and rubbed the back of her head, causing more of her hair to escape the ponytail. 

“Alright, this is Team Garden; Marcella, Marco, Joyce and their rookie Keeya.”

Meg gestured to each of them and then to her team pointing to the boy with black hair first.

“This is Alejandro ‘moon moon’, Tianyu ‘Mulan’, and Wesley ‘legs’”

Keeya just looked puzzled. 

“I decided to save us some time and introduce them with their legal names and what we call each other on a regular basis. Just to save us time.”

Now Keeya had even more questions.

“So these guys are the backup? Seriously? A rookie too? Sounds like they doubled our workload instead of reducing it,” Legs complained, he looked down at Keeya and she held his gaze defiantly.

“No wait, I’ve heard of Team Garden. They are the newest Zookeepers for HQ. I heard they’ve been sweeping across the northern border and actually pushing it back,” Mulan said assessing them with a more calculated air but then shrugged.

“Zookeepers have like extra Dawns Light right? And their powers are for like super mobility yeah?” Moon Moon asked.

“Way to finally be on beat, Moon Moon,” Mulan said sarcastically.

“Moon moon is right, experience aside they will be a big help to us. Now let’s go. Which building have we been assigned to?” Meg said twirling her drum stick again. It was like she couldn’t stop moving.

“Lakeside,” Legs replied.

“Right then, let’s go losers. Time to earn our rations” Meg said groaning and she walked on, the other three tagging along like unruly ducklings.