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

“Oh gosh, not the capitalized names!”

Dawn started buzzing, and Cody drove faster. Soon enough, Valeri caught sight of a gas station.

Cody pulled into the gas station. "Okay! Let's get them out of the car."

Vendetta opened the door, and Dawn shot off into the parking lot.

The sword must have made at least twenty lightning-fast laps around the gas station before they finally hovered back to the group. Smoke curled off of Dawn’s blade and faded into the air.

“Feeling better now, Dawn?”

Dawn glowed a happy yellow. "Yep! I'm feeling great. I probably spooked those birds, though."

Vendetta sighed in relief. "Mind telling us what all of that was about?"

“That was way worse than any car-sickness I’ve heard of.” Valeri arched an eyebrow at Dawn.

“Yeah. Sorry.” Dawn blushed a pale pink. “I guess sometimes, my brilliance is too much to be contained. Get it? Brilliant as in light, sunlight, rising sun?” Dawn twirled.

"Dawn, that didn't seem just like car-sickness."

Dawn sighed. "I'm fine! No worries. Absolutely nothing to worry about."

Vendetta sighed. "Dusk!"

“Dawn, are you really okay? Were you having flashbacks again?” Dusk glowed a faint purple.

“I said I’m fine!” Dawn hovered back and forth. “I just— just needed to move around a bit. Circulation and all.”

“Dawn, swords don’t have circulatory systems.”

"Wait? Flashbacks?" Vendetta furrowed their eyebrows. "Dawn has flashbacks?"

Dawn reared back. "No! Of course not. What would I flashback to? Sleeping for fifty years?" They laughed nervously. "I'm going to take another lap."

Dawn paused in the middle of their twenty second lap and said, “Really, don’t worry about me, guys! Check out the gas station store or something.”

Valeri exchanged a glance with Vendetta. “Well, I suppose I am craving some candy for dessert…”

Vendetta crossed their arms. "Fine. But we need to talk about this later. If you're suffering from flashbacks, Dawn, then we want to help."

Dawn zoomed past. "I'm fine!"

Valeri could hear Dawn's "I'm fiiiiinnneeee!" still echoing as they stepped into the store. Inside, there were a couple people browsing the shelves, and a satyr was manning the counter.

"Do you feel like getting anything, Vendetta?"

Vendetta sighed. “I don’t know.” They fiddled with their fingers. “You pick something.”

Dusk vibrated petulantly beside them.

Valeri shrugged. "Alright." She started walking through the aisles, looking for skittles or something.

Suddenly, Valeri stopped short. "Wait a second... aren't these mermaid fangs?"

Vendetta walked over. “They sure are.” They snorted. “Why are these here?”

Dusk glowered a dark purple. “That seems dangerous.”

Vendetta nodded. “Yeah.”

“Should we buy them all and destroy them or something?” Valeri started reaching for the bag of fangs, but she froze at a sound behind her.

“Don’t move.”

Of course, Valeri immediately swiveled around. Their eyes widened at the sight of a blue portal, and a guy stepping through.