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Audition today. Coming?

Veronica woke up to the sound of knocking. “What?”

“Ronni, you got to set an alarm. Aren’t you supposed to go for an audition today?” Her cousin said through the bedroom door.

“That’s not til two.” She flopped over and pulled the blankets over her head.

“It’s already noon, sleepyhead. You better get cleaned up before Mary comes.”

“It’s more time for you to hang out with her and fangirl your face off.”

“Don’t make me come in there!”

“Alright, alright. I’m getting up.” Veronica rolled over to the edge of the bed and reached for her phone.

Audition today. Coming?

She put the phone down on the nightstand and began stretching wearily. The phone buzzed.

Where?

She smiled. He’d probably come. Probably.

Across from the Sherman on 53rd at 2

She went for a shower and came back to get warmed up for her audition. There was a message on her phone.

c u there ☺️

She felt better knowing she’d see him today. They had called over the weekend and kept in contact online, but she actually missed him. What did that mean? She hardly knew the guy. They had a couple of nice dates, but so what? She had to get dressed and ready for her audition. She still hadn’t heard back from any of the places she’d already been. It was cutting down her self-confidence. She expected she’d have to go through a lot of auditions to land a job, but it’s been weeks. She got herself together and went downstairs.

“Mary’s here!” Luz said merrily.

“Hi, Meirhe.” Veronica said. “I’m going to drink some juice and we can get going.”

“Ye should have a bite te eat as well. Nothin’ heavy.”

“Yes, Mom.”

“She’s just being helpful, Ronni.”

“It would be helpful if I could go back to living my life without worrying about a bag of coal dropping out of the sky to kill me.” She stuck a slice of bread in the toaster.

“I know. Tis difficult te live with a threat loomin’ over ye.”

“So, Mary…” Luz said.

“May-ra. Meirhe, dear heart.”

“How did you learn how to do magic?”

“Tis commonplace among m’people. We learn what ye call magic the way ye learn readin’ and writin’. Takes years te master, but I was able te teach it te some o’ me friends here on yer world.”

“Really?”

“Aye, Angelica en Phillipe have become quite skilled in makin’s en folds. Tanda en Rose had quite a bit o’ difficulty performin’ folds but they do passably well with makin’s.”

“What’s folds and makin’s?” Luz asked eagerly.

“A fold is…” She thought a moment and grabbed a decoration off of Luz’s Christmas tree. It was a marshmallow snowman standing on a piece of graham cracker. “Suppose this is you en ye want te get from here te here.” She walked the snowman along the arm of her chair. “A fold is a shortcut te walkin’ the distance.” She pulled up a scarf and spread it over the arm of the chair. “Ye could walk the length o’ this scarf er ye can fold it te get te the same place in one step. That’s a fold. Yer foldin’ space te get someplace without traversin’ the area.”

“That’s amazing.” Luz said.

“Only because ye have no learned how. A babe in arms thinks it’s amazin’ that adults can run en drive cars.”

“That makes sense. What about makin’s?”

“Tis just as it says. Yer makin’ something. Food. Objects. Whatever.”

“Like you made those chairs at the restaurant.” Veronica said as she pulled her toast out and spread peanut butter on it.

“You made chairs?”

Meirhe flicked her wrist and a cup of coffee appeared. “Aye.”

“How do you make something from nothing?” Luz asked in amazement.

“Tis not literally from nothin’. I can draw dust en moisture from the air te construct nearly anything I have ever encountered er can imagine.”

“That’s still amazing.” Luz said.

“Much like card tricks en DIY television shows, once ye know how it stops bein’ amazin’ en starts bein’ more like, hmm, that’s handy.”

“Can you teach me?”

“Oh my goodness, Luz!” Veronica yelled from the kitchen. “We’ve got to go.”

“If ye would like te try, I would be happy te try te teach ye, Dear Luz.”

“Okay, here we go. Going to the audition now. You can go to bruja school when we get back. Byeee.”

“Go.” Luz said. “Take the drama queen to her audition.”

Meirhe reached out and took Veronica’s hand. They vanished in a torrent of golden sparks.

Bryce was standing on the corner of 53rd and 7th waiting for Veronica to arrive. He had his gloved hands tucked into his coat pockets and he was bouncing lightly to try to keep warm. He was looking down 53rd Street when he heard a strange sizzling sound behind him.

When he turned around, Meirhe and Veronica were standing behind him. “Wow, hello Veronica. Meirhe.”

“Oh, I’m so glad you made it!” Veronica ran over and hugged him.

Meirhe was scanning rooflines suspiciously. “Young folk, we need te get inside with all haste. Come along now.” She waved toward the building as she corralled them away from the curb.

She seemed more relaxed once they got inside, but she kept scanning balconies for suspicious silhouettes.

“You don’t think he’s in here, do you?” Veronica asked.

“Twould be most unwise. Being inside the building limits avenues o’ escape. Unless Krampus has an ability te fold er do something similar, he’d be trapped after he launched his attack. Even so, let us stay well away from balconies en rooflines.

Which way te yer audition, Dear Veronica?”

She pulled a note from her pocket. “Eighteenth floor.”

“There are the elevators. Let’s get under cover.” Bryce said.

The trio headed for the elevators as Meirhe and Bryce scanned the upper balconies for threats.