lexicality | so there was this deck of cards, right

Jessica's house is cute. Lexi could see doing a lot of her homework here, listening to the calming chatter of gossip and getting help from Jessica on math (Bella's no help there) and helping Jessica on English. Forks isn't so bad. She doesn't mind the rain as much as Bella does.

Jessica goes to pee before they even start their assignment, after just introducing Lexi to her mom and dad as "one of Chief Swan's kids", and Lexi doesn't want to do work by herself or she wouldn't have come over in the first place. She sits on the couch and plunks her bag down and waits. There's a random deck of cards over there; she picks it up and flips through it. She's been trying to learn to bridge-shuffle.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

incanted

"I do want to!" shrieks Bella, trying to help out by aiming him so he doesn't have to wrench around in her hand like that. "I'm not going anywhere!"

From:

cardistry

"Did you pick a direction? 'Up' is a good place to start!"

Half a beat, and then another "Fuck you!" and another blast. It's unclear whether the words are some kind of incantation, or purely decorative.

From:

incanted

Bella wants to go up.

She shoots into the air, and has a moment's trouble controlling her speed, but after that it's like she was born to fly, and she's navigating quite handily, maintaining line of sight and aim while declining to present a still target.

From:

cardistry

Brilliance heaves a sigh of relief.

"Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!"

It's probably an incantation.

From:

incanted

Bella's certainly not going to interrupt him to ask. She flies. She points Brilliance at the rest of himself.

She didn't recognize Jessica's house, since she's never been there, so she isn't wondering where Lexi is.

From:

cardistry

In spare seconds between mystical profanities, Brilliance explains, "He talked somebody into unison. There's someone else in there. If we hit him hard enough to knock him out, they'll separate."

From:

incanted

"Will they be okay?"

From:

cardistry

"Probably," says Brilliance. "Except for the part where they almost helped destroy their own planet." And, yelled at the distant figure, "Fuck you!"

From:

incanted

Bella continues her fly-aim-fly-aim pattern. "Should I be doing anything I'm not?"

From:

cardistry

"I'm getting about two percent of the power output I'm used to," he frets. "I don't know what's wrong, but - it would probably help if you cast some of these with me. Sorry about the incantation," he adds.

From:

incanted

"I'll deal. FUCK YOU!" she hollers at the planet-destroying white-haired dude.

From:

cardistry

This time, the blast of energy is much thicker and brighter, and leaves a deep scar in the earth where it strikes. The trees are also taking a serious beating.

"That's more like it," says Brilliance with satisfaction.

From:

incanted

Bella flies forward to relocate the blasted opponent. "Where are we?" she asks.

From:

cardistry

The white-haired dude rises up out of the blasted dirt. He looks kind of pissed.

"I don't know," says Brilliance. "Still on Earth. The farthest from bystanders that a short-range transport spell could take us."

From:

incanted

"Fuck you!" Bella incants at the white-haired dude, and then she circles around to get him again from another angle. "Fuck you!"

From:

cardistry

The white-haired dude manages to let off an answering energy blast.

"Shield!" says Brilliance, and the counnter-rotating circled pentagrams appear facing the blast. It pushes the shield back a few feet in the air, and Bella and Brilliance with it, but doesn't break through.

From:

incanted

"Fuck you fuck you," mutters Bella, zooming faster, since it doesn't seem to matter how loudly or enthusiastically she says it and since she's getting the hang of aiming, "fuck you."

From:

cardistry

The first two don't manage to knock the white-haired man out of the sky.

The third one does.

From:

incanted

Bella zips forward and aims Brilliance straight down.

"Fuck. You."

From:

cardistry

The blast pins the white-haired figure against the ground.

When the multicoloured glow fades, the white-haired dude glows white all over, and then the white collects into a small rectangular shape that rises up out of - someone's - chest. The light fades; the shape is a pack of cards.

From:

incanted

Bella descends.

And she recognizes a face.

"Lexi!" she cries. "Lexi - Lexi -" She lands, drops Brilliance, and falls forward onto her knees to lean over her sister.

From:

lexicality

"Oh," says Lexi, dazed. "I found you. I was looking for you. I found a pack of cards that said it had limitless power. And I thought that sounded like something you should have."

From:

incanted

Bella sobs and pulls her twin up into a hug.

From:

lexicality

"You're dressed funny," observes Lexi. "And I thought I'd wait and bring you the cards - but it said it couldn't wait - so I figured I'd take it and then I'd let you boss me except on weekends - but then turned out I didn't know how to drive the thing."