I wasn’t quite finished with the story I was telling by the time 2025 ended and so decided to continue it until it reached an ending point. Then I will start a new one. Besides, I kind of want to see where Penelope ends up. And so we have…
Day 186: The woman’s smile seemed carved onto her face.
The woman’s smile seemed carved onto her face. The man was frowning. He reached a hand towards the small of his back. “I think you should join me at the store. I’m certain we will find something you like.”
Penelope clutched the small vine and then looked down at it. “It is nice,” she told him. She looked up and the older woman was starting to look nervous. “But I think I am good,” she said.
Underneath her shirt, Penelope could feel the luck charm warm against her skin. It wasn’t as warm as it was before and she wondered if her luck was going to run out. Thinking she might want to do something before the man in front of her pulled out what she suspected would be a gun. She tried to smile at him while pulsing magic into the plant. She felt it shiver slightly along it’s length.
The man’s smile dropped. “I really think you should come with me.”
The woman next to him was no longer smiling. Her eyes were darting from side to side as though looking out for the neighbors. None of them were around at the moment and the woman didn’t see Michaelson walking down the sidewalk.
“Perhaps we should go inside,” she suggested. “I’m…I’m sure I have the plant …tags with the names on them. You can see if they would be right for you.”
“Yes,” the man said. “Perhaps you’d better come inside.”
Penelope pulsed magic through the plant and vines shot out. This time instead of the entire plant exploding out of the container, only the vines stretched. The vines wrapped around both the man and the woman, pinning their arms to their sides. The man stumbled and knocked into the older woman. Both fell to the ground. Penelope heard footsteps running and looked up. Michaelson was sprinting the last of the sidewalk. His own hand was drifting to his own back, and Penelope knew he had a gun there.
“What happened,” he asked. His hand slipped away from the small of his back as it no longer seemed necessary. Both of the people on the other side of the fence were tightly wrapped with vines. The man looked like he was starting to shred his.
“They wanted me to go somewhere with them and when I refused, they wanted me to go into the house. It looked like he was reaching for a gun,” Penelope said. As she spoke, she felt the warmth of the charm flicker and then grow ice cold before returning to ordinary metal against her skin.
She guessed she was out of luck.
“You do not know what you have done,” the man said.
“Who are you,” Michaelson asked.
The man tore through the last of the vines and stood up. The woman was slower to release herself and he left her to it, not bothering to help. She glared at him as she struggled out of her vines and sat up.
“I am Agent Johnson of the Imperial Watch,” he said. He looked at Penelope, glaring. “You have attacked a government agent.” He looked to Michaelson. “And you are impeding an ongoing investigation.”
“What investigation?” Michaelson asked.
‘That is classified,” the man, Johnson declared. He glared at the two of them.
Ten til Midnight 