Young Writers Society

"A computer?" Thytes said slowly. "Are these logs not just written logs?"

Kendrik huffed. The lion looked back to see the hound wrapping an arm around Jaron. "Jaron an' I can pick this place apart if we need ta. What's so important about some notes from someone who couldn't even stay on the ship? 'Cause this place is abandoned, ain't it?"



Taber blinked. A very nice lady had just walked up to him and introduced herself. She seemed to know him? Between the piles of paper scattered across the room (it was an extremely cluttered room for such a clean ship), as well as the lingering fear of barging into a room with a stranger inside, it took him a few seconds before he picked up on what she was saying. Part of the ship? Who-

"Magic!" Taber shouted, immediately wrapping her up in a hug and spinning around. He set her down a couple seconds later, but didn't let go of her. "I'm so happy you're here! It's been a while!"

Nadira shook her head.

"Logs are digitized," she said. "They make an electronic copy of them - it's safer for storage. Even if the original version of them is destroyed, the data can be accessed from other points in the ship."

Signia crossed her arms, her attention finally shifting back to the conversation. Codix wondered if it was pointless to try guessing what she was thinking about; she wasn't remotely like his childhood friend anymore.

"Logs can give us an idea of what happened here," she said. "If the ship was failing or they encountered trouble leading up to whatever happened, it would be recorded there."


"It definitely has been," the woman replied, eagerly returning the hug with one of her own. Charlie - and presumably Asteri - stared. Magic? The way Taber said it made it almost sound like a name, but that couldn't be right.

"How does that work?" said a very weak voice. Thytes glanced back and stepped out of the way as Jaron walked over to Codix, Kendrik still holding onto the fox. "How can you make that electronic, and why is it all over the ship?"

"An' the ship looks so empty and clean, I don't think they had much time ta say they were leavin', much less leave," Kendrik said, looking around. "I can't see any signs of a struggle or an attack. Either somethin' went wrong with the ship, or was about ta."



Taber held onto Magic for a little while longer before something popped into his mind.

"That's right!" he said, letting go of Magic and turning to the others. "Charlie, Asteri, this is Magic! They're the personification of magic, and sometimes a ship!"

"It's typed into a keyboard," Nadira explained. This conversation was reminding her of the one she had with Boris back when they first ended up in Atlantis; it was difficult explaining advanced technology to someone who didn't even have a point of comparison. "The computers - what stores the data - are all connected through the ship's systems. You can pull up anything put into a computer through another computer, as long as it's connected."


Magic gave a wave.

Charlie and Asteri continued to stare.

"Magic's real?" she managed to get out, staring at the person who should have been an impossibility. She had dealt with all sorts of alien-related things before, but those incidents were always explained. Magic was never at fault.

"It definitely is," Magic said, grinning as they turned back to the two. "Your friend's using it right now, though he probably doesn't know it - unless that's Prince Asteri of the demons, and not Prince Asteri of the dai."

Charlie glanced over at him.

"Dai," Magic safely guessed, Asteri staring at them all the while. "There's a lot of things that 'science' explains that's actually magic, like how some species in different realities can shapeshift. You might call it science, but it's because of magic running in their veins."

Jaron got up close to Nadira. Maybe too close, but it was so unlike Jaron to do anything other than shy from people that Kendrik was reasonably sure he couldn't hold Jaron back. "You need to show me how that works," he whispered to Nadira. And that was a little more confirmation - Jaron had that strange intensity to his voice that he got when he found something interesting to pick apart. Might as well let the fox be excited; Kendrik loved seeing him like that.



"Wow!" Taber said. He stared down at his arms. "So, I'm using magic whenever I turn into stuff, like a lion or a wolf or a human? That's so cool!"

Nadira smiled.

"I will," she promised. "We just need to find a room with a computer."


"You are," they confirmed, grinning at Taber. "It's like when I change my forms. Magic lets me go from this-" They gestured down at themselves. "-to this-" Their form glitched and turned into a person with black hair and blue eyes. "-back to this!"

Their form returned to its original one.

Immediately darting to the entrance of the room, dragging Kendrik along with him, Jaron nodded. "Find me one," the fox said, looking back to Nadira.



Taber clapped his paws. "Wow, that's so cool!" he said. "You have a lot of forms, don't you?"

Finding a room with a computer was easier said than done. Nadira didn't have any sort of map to guide them - it was trial and error. She and Codix would check a room, only to realize it was for storage or something else that wouldn't require the type of computer that they were looking for.

Throughout it all, Signia lingered behind them. She didn't check a single room. She just watched, offering no input to any of the brief conversations going on as they checked each room.


"I do," Magic proudly confirmed. Charlie was only just starting to used to the idea of shapeshifting aliens. A shapeshifting personification of a concept was making her head hurt.

They thought for a second, a contemplative expression flickering across their face.

"If you give me a request," Magic said, "I could change my form to match it. I can basically change my appearance to look like anyone or anything - there's really no limit to it!"

The longer they walked, the more Kendrik realized that he (for once) was the least tense person in the group. Thytes kept close behind Kendrik and Jaron, and Kendrik barely needed to notice the lion's constant glances down hallways to figure out the lion was more than a little bothered about Taber having run off. If Kendrik liked Taber more, he would've joined Thytes in looking up and down even nook and cranny on the ship. It didn't help that Kendrik had other things to worry about - Jaron was starting to shake with rage over the lack of computers. The fox had scrunched up his face, and Kendrik got the impression it would only take a couple more empty rooms for Jaron to start screaming. The poor fox.

"I have to believe Taber is fine," Thytes mumbled, just loud enough to make it obvious he was looking for reassurance. "He, at the very least, can take care of himself."

Kendrik rolled his eyes, but didn't want to fire back a comment - the last thing he wanted was for the lion to get any more nervous.



"Can you look like me?" Taber said. "I feel like it'd be rude to ask you to take anybody else's form, since they can't really give permission, but I can!"

Codix could sense the rising tensions, and he continued their search for a computer with vigor. After another handful of minutes had passed, they finally found one in a relatively ordinary bedroom at the end of the hallway - or, at least, one that looked ordinary at first glance. It quickly became apparent that the room had belonged to someone important from the sheer amount of belongings in it.

"You found the captain's room," Signia said, slipping into the room after Nadira and Codix. When the two shot her a questioning look, she briefly explained how she knew. "I recognize some of the symbols."

"...I recognize the computer," Nadira quietly said. Codix turned, and he felt his heart skip a beat when he saw said system. It was a sleek, simple model - nothing like the clunky ones of Earth - but it was the familiarity of it that made him stare. "It's the same model as the one that you first hooked me up to."

"It was one of the most widely used ones," Signia pointed out. "Everyone had them. I still have mine, and I don't even-"

She paused, sensing that the conversation was about something more than nostalgia.

Codix wiped a tear out of the corner of his eye and joined Nadira over by the computer. "I should be able to hook you up, then," he said, giving his best friend a smile.


"Sure thing!" Magic agreed. The change was like the one before - their form shifted like it was glitching out, and then suddenly the perfect replica of Taber stood in their place. "Here you go, Taber. Oh, that sounds weird hearing it in your voice."

Asteri cleared his throat.

"Could you..." The dai faltered. "Could you do me?"

Taber!Magic turned around to look at him and Charlie. Charlie took the opportunity to make her own request - she just had to see Magic do that, too. "Could you do me, too?" she shyly asked. For someone who was something that was so important to how the universe ran, Magic seemed like a relatively casual kind of person.

"Of course," Magic replied, grinning as their form shifted from Taber to Asteri. Though most of Asteri was covered up, Charlie could see all the little details shared between them - loose strings, blemishes on the mask, and even the stray strand of hair that had slipped out from underneath his hood.

And then the switch happened again, and Charlie found herself look at herself. It was unlike nothing she had ever seen before - Codix had never tried to copy her appearance. It was almost like looking at a photo, but it felt far more real that a picture could ever feel - even though she was technically looking at another person instead of herself.

Magic returned to their first form.

"There you go," they said, grinning. "One trio of magical shapeshifts."

Landon had been in the bathroom, splashing water on his face. That was the last thing he'd been aware of, but then there had been some sort of... Transition in his memory.

Next thing he knew, he was in some sort of metal box. At least, that was what he could figure out from feeling around. The room around him was completely dark, and for a moment he wondered if he'd somehow been drugged and kidnapped back in the gala bathroom.

He wasn't tied up, though, or gagged, like one would expect. So maybe he had ended up in this room by some other means?

He waisted no more time in crawling around on all fours, trying to find a door. He ran into a couple of things along the way, but eventually came to a wall. Pounding at it as loudly as he dared, he was taken aback when it simply slid in on itself, leaving him to stumble to the floor.

Light from the hall shone into the room now, and he glanced behind him long enough to see that he'd been trapped in some sort of supply closet.

Landon blinked for a moment before quickly standing and walking down the hall. Something about the layout of the hall, or maybe the lighting nagged at him. He frowned as he walked, though it was apparent by his loud footsteps that he wasn't as weary of his surroundings as he probably should have been.

The section of the hall he was trapising through had no windows, and therefore he wasn't able to place exactly where he was before he heard voices echoing past.

More curious than various, he turned the corner and approached the only open door near him- the source of the voices he heard.

A small group of people was gathered in the room, and his eyes widened briefly at the sight of the two large bipedal animals- he couldn't figure out what they were exactly at first, only that the word 'werewolf' initially stood out to him.

"Uhm- hello." He cleared his throat and stepped gingerly into the room, playing with his tie nervously. "I don't suppose you know how I ended up here, do you? Or- where we are, exactly?"

Jaron sprinted across the room as soon as Codix and Nadira pointed out the computer, flopping onto the chair in front of it and letting it spin him around as he tapped and poked at the piece of metal.

"Probably ain't good ta be pokin' it," Kendrik said. While Thytes rumbled and flopped down on what had been the captain's bed, the hound set a paw on Jaron's shoulder.

The fox huffed and crossed his arms, but had to hold back a laugh as Kendrik tugged at one of his ears.

Nadira and Codix shared a small smile as Codix started to hook Nadira up; he always made sure to have some spare cords on him, and she had a few stashed around her body as well. It would just take a minute or two for her to be fully hooked up, seeing that this body was more used to Earth technology.


"I don't-" Charlie started to say, but Magic quickly cut her off when they saw who the voice belonged to. It was Landon, dressed in a very nice suit and tie. Part of them wondered what he had been doing before he ended up here, but they were more focused on him being there.

"Landon!" they exclaimed, a smile spreading across their face as they quickly approached their friend. But they forgot about the pesky, unfamiliar heels, and it wasn't long before they were stumbling right towards him. They managed to regain their balance and make the whole thing look natural, except for one thing...

...their trip had made them go right into Landon, and they had just planted a kiss on his cheek by accident.

Their face quickly growing warm, they tried to hurry away from him-

-only to once again trip thanks to their heels and start to fall backwards.

Landon jumped a little as one of the members of the group- an unfamiliar woman- called his name. He blinked in confusion and opened his mouth, but didn't have time to say anything before she stumbled and fell into him.

He barely registered her lips coming in contact with his cheek, and then she was stumbling back again. Without thinking, he reached out an arm and scooped it around her waist, catching her before she fell.

Letting out a breath, he made sure she was steady, putting her back on her feet before he spoke.

"Wow. A- are you okay?" He asked carefully, his face pink from all of the confusion and events to process.

A hand came up to his cheek and he pulled it back, looking briefly at the smudge of lipstick that it came away with. He shook his head quickly, forcing his mind back to his most pressing question.

"Um. I'm sorry, do I- do I know you?" He got out.

"I-I'm okay," Magic managed to get out, quickly looking away from Landon - and the mark they had left on his cheek. They didn't know their face could ever get so red; they had felt flustered around him before, but this was different. How were you supposed to act around someone you knew that you had just accidentally kissed?

"And you do know me," they confirmed, a little bit of an embarrassed stutter to their voice. "We're, you know..."

Was friends a good way to describe it? They thought they were friends, but there was nothing to say that Landon did. And if they didn't feel the same about that, they were in a lot more trouble than they thought.