I hadn’t the first clue about how I was going to figure out what the earrings were supposed to pinpoint, nor how I was going to deal with them. With the aches starting, and the problem seeming a little overwhelming, my first reaction was to go see if I couldn’t get more crepes. But my better side reminded me that those things got me in enough trouble this morning, so I passed on that idea… even though I was really craving chocolate.

So instead of going and pursuing food that would inevitably get me in deeper trouble, I decided to head off to class and come up with a plan while sitting in the lecture hall. On the one hand, it was just math next. On the other hand, it was math next. I was a little torn; math being my weakest subject meant I should pay attention and study harder, but it was just so boring.

As fate would have it, paying attention proved prudent. We were discussing triangles, which got us off topic into a triangulation of signals. Does magic work like electricity? That would be really cool, and might… no, most definitely would help realize one of the two goals I had set. But I needed somebody who would understand all of that. Somebody with enough magic power to know not to wear the… I need Val. She’s perfect, now I just need her to have a cancelled class next period to help me out.

I pinged off a quick message to Val explaining the idea I had and what I needed her to do. I sent a copy to Krys and Elise, including their parts, and felt very pleased with myself. I didn’t know what would happen, or where the triangulation would point us, but if we could get any kind of fix on this problem I’d be happy.

About three hours later I got a message from Elise that she and Val were pinpointing the location of whatever the earrings were hunting for, and that they were sending Krys to the location. About thirty seconds later, I saw Krys coming down the hall. She seemed very intent on her crystal’s map function, so I was concerned she’d bump into people, but ash I pulled up next to her, I noticed students getting out of her way fast.

“Krys, how’re we doing on the hunt?” I asked.

“I’ve got a tracker from Val and Elise’s information, and my crystal should be able to track the item or person, but I’m getting weird interference in this hallway.” Krys responded, looking irritated.

“OK, can you send me the information and I’ll also try to scan?” I cooed, hoping to convince her.

She made a swiping motion and my crystal vibrated to notify me that I had incoming. After I got everything downloaded to the crystal and had Krys tell me exactly where we needed to be, I got to work hunting for the target until I had to run off to my next class. Classes ended for the day relatively quick, and I got another mail telling me where the next location to search was. Oddly enough, I was already in the area.

I called up Val, a question in my mind.

“Hey, Val, You said it might be a person these things were after earlier. With how it moved on us, I would think that’s the most accurate assumption, so with that train of thought…” I led in with.

“You want us to try figuring out who that person is, right? Get to the café and we’ll see if we can’t cook something up.” Val replied and cut off the call.

I got a message shortly after from Fianna, No news. Stay out of trouble. –Fianna

That was… unhelpful. Not to mention it was a little presumptuous, me getting into… actually that makes a lot of sense… But still, she could have worded it nicer.

I headed off to meet up with Val and Elise, hoping beyond hope that we could solve this fast or that midnight would make everything right again. I wanted to at least get some information about what was being hunted for here, something that might fix my standing with Fianna.

When I grabbed myself some food from one of the vendors and sat down with my crew, I wasn’t certain where to begin. Luckily, Elise was a fantastic reader of people, and began filling me in.

“So we’ve got a working idea as to how to track whoever it is we’re after, and we’re fairly certain that we can get to them… if they’re close by. Going over the list of places they’ve been… I’m guessing she’s a first year student.”

I nodded, “Makes sense, all the search areas were right near my classrooms. It was kind of odd.”

Elise looked at me for a moment, processing that information. Before she could follow up, Krys appeared, looking somewhat devastated.

“I couldn’t find anything, there was this weird interference whenever I got close to the spot.” She pouted.

I patted her on the head and offered to get her a milkshake for her efforts. Her mood immediately brightened, so I went to get everyone one since I had roped them into this with no warning or promise of reward.

“Hey, Laurie, you said all the areas were close to you, right?” Elise said, coming up beside me as I was getting everything on a tray.

“Yeah, almost right on top of where I was if you look at a map.” I replied.

“You don’t think… maybe the earrings are after you?” Elise asked warily.

“I hadn’t really thought about that, seeing as I’m not really that big a catch here. I’m average in the looks, brains, and bust areas. I’m below average on the personality scale. And don’t even get me started on how bad my relationship skills are.” I said in exasperation.

“Look, I’m just saying, the evidence is there… we just need Val to finish her work. In the mean time, I’ll smooth things over with Fianna for you. I know you two are both somewhat… inept at certain things, so I should probably give you both some pointers so you don’t screw up again.” She said, her voice sounding like a mother talking to children who don’t understand the world.

I mulled over the implications of me being the target of this tracking spell, not certain who or what would be after me. Unless… what if it was mom? What if she was trying to find me because she couldn’t get in contact otherwise? What if she had been hurt and kidnapped years ago and just now… no, that’s stupid.

I wasn’t certain if it was the little negative voice in my head that liked to put me down gaining power, or if maybe the PMS was kicking in and reminding me that mood swings are a thing, but for whatever reason I started to feel depressed. I didn’t know how to handle it, and honestly I wasn’t certain if I could handle it, but I put on a brave face and got back to the matter at hand.

“We’re just about done.” Val said to me as I passed her a mint chip milkshake.

“Cool, we’re ready whenever you are.” I said, passing Krys her chocolate shake and Elise her almond mocha shake.

I set the tray down and sipped quietly at my black cherry and chip shake as I tried to get a grasp on my emotions. If Elise was right, this could change a lot about what I knew about the world. If she was wrong, and I hoped that was the case, I would be relived and a little annoyed that she would psyche me out like that.

“Laurie, did Fianna have any kind of information for us?” Elise asked, almost certainly knowing my answer ahead of time.

“Fianna and I haven’t shared anything at this time. We’re… in a bit of a rough patch. I thought we could do what we could ourselves before handing things off to her.” I replied.

“That’s head girl thinking for you. I can see why she wanted you to be her successor.” Elise teased.

Val’s head popped up, “Wait, what happened? Who’s Fianna’s successor?”

I waved at her slightly, cringing a little since I hadn’t mentioned this yet to her.

“I’m going to need some details here woman, but we’ll address that after I solve this puzzle. Then you’ll owe me again.” Val scowled at me.

We waited in silence again, each left to our thoughts for what felt like forever. It was about five minutes to midnight when Val stood up smirking at up.

“You girls ready? We’ve got only enough time for one shot, but these earrings will shoot off toward the girl they’re hunting for if she’s in the café, or in the direction of her current location if she’s beyond the walls here.” Val said proudly.

I looked at Krys and Elise before giving the go ahead to Val.

The next thing I know I’m dodging the whole café's earrings. Not just mine, not just Val’s, every girl in the café lost their earrings because the dumb things wanted to attack me.

Val and Krys looked on in abject horror, Elise looked dumbfounded, and as I got back to my feet, I met the eyes of Fianna from across the room. There was a look of disappointment and shock on her face, which kind of made me feel small. Then the rest of the room burst into outrage as everyone became their normal glamoured selves. Through the chaos, Fianna and Lillian approached the group I had assembled.

“So… I know you said don’t get into trouble, but we figured out what was being hunted for!” I exclaimed exuberantly.