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

"Perhaps we can find a way to show that to everyone..."

"And maybe I can intimidate Joe with my hamster form, and you can convince him to tell the truth with your puppy eyes?" Valeri mused.

Vendetta nodded. “That would work.”

Dusk sighed. “Yeah, but there’s one problem.”

“What is it?”

Dusk floated off the table. “We don’t know what Joe’s signature is.”

Valeri bit her lip. “Cody would know, wouldn’t he? They used to be best friends.”

“But Cody’s in prison.” Dawn flickered pink.

Valeri glanced at Vendetta. “…Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Vendetta nodded. "Prison break!"

Dusk shushed them. "You might not want to shout your plans to commit crimes."

Vendetta nodded. "Prison break."

A sharp-edged grin slid onto Valeri's face. "Precisely."

"But how are you going to get to the prison, much less get inside? We're in Texas and Cody's in Washington, D.C." Dawn floated into the air and twisted nervously.

"Well-" Vendetta took the portal out of their pocket. "I still have this."

Dawn hovered closer to it. "You're right! We can teleport there."

"Didn't Joe blacklist our signatures or something?" Valeri eyed the portal.

"Maybe we can sneak a use of the portal in. He's probably distracted with Khalil, right?" Dawn said.

Vendetta shuddered. “Don’t remind me. But we might be able to get away with it.”

Dusk vibrated. “Then what are we waiting for? We need to save Cody and Khalil!”

"Let's do this." Valeri narrowed her eyes. "Time for a prison break."

Vendetta tossed the portal down onto the restaurant floor. “Alright! I’ve always wanted to do a heist!”

They threw down the portal and stepped through, entering the front office of a jailhouse.

Valeri and the weapons followed.

The receptionist looked up. But they didn’t get a chance to say anything before Valeri demanded, “Where are you keeping Cody?”

“Cody?” The receptionist’s eyebrows lowered in confusion.

“Malacoda,” Dusk clarified.

The receptionist scowled. “Ugh, that guy? Yeah, he’s back there. No visitors allowed, though. The last guy that came in tried to kill him.”

Vendetta blinked. “They what?”

"Uh-huh. It was totally a mess." The receptionist glanced at their nails for a second, then looked back up at the V siblings and the weapons. "So. Anything else I can help with?"

"Yeah. The thing is, we really need to see him." Valeri cast around desperately for an excuse. "W-we're family!"

The receptionist sighed. “I’ve heard that one before. Do you have any evidence?”

Vendetta nodded. “We do.” They turned on their puppy dog eyes. “So please let us through.”

The receptionist blinked a couple of times, then turned as if they were sleepwalking and said. “Of course, how could I doubt that you were family? Please follow me.”

As the receptionist walked down the hallway, Valeri grinned at Vendetta. “Nice work.”