I Am Totally a Real-Life Wizard (Not Clickbait, I Swear!)

"Oh, great." Valeri groaned. "Hopefully it isn't anything super powerful."

Dawn hummed and floated over to the phone. "So it looks like Josephinzo sensed something, then teleported to Cody's personal... evil laboratory?"

"I thought teleporting into private property was illegal?"

Cody grumbled, "I don't even have a regular laboratory, much less an evil one. Unless you count the garage, or the company's lab."

Khalil grinned. "Aw, our garage full of your little trinkets."

Cody's face fell. "Not-" He sighed. "Not anymore."

Khalil frowned. "Oh."

"Why? What happened?" Valeri asked.

"If it was Josephinzo..." Khalil frowned and took a deep breath to attempt to calm xerself down.

Cody sighed. "Joe ruined my business, but I would still build things. It was what I loved. But then you disappeared, Khalil, and suddenly I couldn't bear to enjoy anything again. So I packed everything up and put it in the basement. I couldn't bear to get rid of it, but looking at it made me sick."

Khalil sighed. "You were allowed to be happy when I was gone."

Cody shook his head. "Was I, though? Were you happy?"

Khalil stared at Cody for a moment, then huffed a small sigh. "Of course not... it was terrible being trapped in that cloak and being separated from you. But that doesn't mean you, at least, couldn't find some happiness."

Dawn flickered nervously. “Khalil, what was it like to be trapped in the cloak? If you’re okay with answering, of course!”

Khalil shook xer head. “That’s not important right now. What’s important is finding out how to stop Joe.”

Cody gazed at Khalil with a troubled look on his face. Valeri guessed he'd be asking xem about it later, but for now, Cody glanced at the siblings and nodded. "Well, we'll have to prove an inconsistency in Joe's story. We know I don't have an evil lab, so where exactly was Joe during that time he claimed to be in my lab?"

"If he broke into your house, we're screwed." Dusk sighed. "But if he were anywhere else, we have a chance."

"Where would he even be that day, then? At home, writing out his timeline?" Vendetta plucked a blade of grass. "We need to find them somewhere that he was caught on camera or something."

"But we have no idea where in America Joe could have been that day, do we?" Valeri sighed.

Suddenly, an arrow floated out of Dusk's quiver, and the bow glowed light purple. "Oh! Lavender thinks they can help." The arrow bobbed in the air for a moment, spinning slowly.

"Lavender? Can you track past whereabouts because it's been years now?"

The arrows circled around Lavender for a moment before zooming out to begin spelling.

Vendetta muttered along, keeping track of the letters in their head. "A, U, S, T, I, N. Austin!'

"Austin, Texas?"

Lavender bobbed a yes.

"Wonderful. We'll head straight there." Cody stood up and brushed off his pants, then paused. "After we sleep, of course."

Vendetta nodded. "Yes! Sleep sounds good."

Dawn vibrated. "Under the stars! It's just like being 1,500 again."

Dusk laughed. "I suppose it is."

"Ah, the good old days!" Dawn hummed happily as the group trekked back to the mattresses.

Soon enough, everyone had gotten settled with pillows and sleeping bags, and Valeri sighed in contentment. As they drifted off to sleep, they heard the faint sound of voices from Cody and Khalil's direction.