Public Service Announcement: All magic-users, be aware of a citywide power outage 5:30 AM-12:15 PM Friday, December 13. Any use of spells, hexes, or charms during this time is likely to go wibbly-wobbly-topsy-turvy and, for your own safety, is strongly discouraged.
Alex
Jeremy, you up? I need your elf.
Alex
Your HELP. It’s the stupid speech-to-text.
Jeremy
Well, that’s good. Bootsie’s on vacation in Jamaica. Treating her-elf. Haha.
Alex
Yeah, I’m stuck. Come get me.
Alex
Sending you the location…
Jeremy
ALEX! I’m here. Where are you?
He glances around the side alley that his phone sent him to.
Alex
I’m behind the dumpster.
But Jeremy is already following the sound of his voice.
Jeremy
Man, you didn’t warn me that “stuck” meant stuck HALFWAY THROUGH A BRICK WALL.
Alex
I didn’t get the service announcement until I’d already tried walking through it.
Jeremy
Why were you trying to break into William’s Diner?
Alex
Not important right now, Jer.
Alex
What’s important is getting me UNSTUCK before the owner catches my head coming out of his wall!!! If I expose magic…
Jeremy
Well, it’s been nice knowing you…
Alex
You’re not really gonna leave.
Alex
Jeremy! Jeremy! Where are you going?
Jeremy
You know there was a key under the doormat, right?
Jeremy walks into the diner.
Jeremy
At least now I can look at your face.
Jeremy
Have you considered putting deer antlers on your head?
Jeremy
Then you could stay like this forever, pretending to be taxidermy.
Alex
That’s it. Get all the stupid ideas out first.
Jeremy
We could call the owner and tell him a relative died so he won’t want to come in today.
Jeremy
Elizabeth. Everyone I’ve ever met has a relative named Elizabeth.
Alex thinks about it a minute, but eventually dismisses the idea with a shake of his head.
Alex
We don’t know his phone number.
Alex
Come on, man, you always brag about what a genius you are at getting out of tough situations. Think of something.
Jeremy
Hey now! I am GREAT at this sort of stuff. It’s just that for some reason, this time, I keep on hitting a wall.
He raps his knuckles on Alex’s forehead, miming knocking on a door.
Jeremy
Seriously, man, how you holding up?
Alex
Well, my butt is freezing. I’ve got some potion bottles in my pocket.
Alex
Do you think they explode when they get too cold, like soda cans?
Jeremy
Alex! Why didn’t you say you had potions on you?
Jeremy
Those aren’t affected by the outage. Whatcha got?
Alex
Invisibility and uh…invisibility.
Jeremy
That’s perfect. You can just stay where you are, hiding out, until the Power comes back on.
Jeremy goes outside to retrieve the potions.
Jeremy
Here’s a straw. Drink up.
Alex hastily spits it back into the bottle.
Jeremy
What the hell, man?
Alex
That was the wrong one.
Jeremy
What do you mean the wrong one? You just said they were both invisibility!
Alex
Just give me the other bottle.
Jeremy
Nothing’s happening…
Alex
It should take a few moments for them both a few minutes to kick in.
Jeremy
Well then, I guess you have time to tell me what’s going on!
At that moment, the two friends catch sight of headlights shining through the diner’s windows.
Alex
Crap, that’s the owner’s car. Go hide.
Jeremy
How do you even know—
After racing to the diner’s bathroom, Jeremy tries to balance on top of one of the toilet seats.
His phone buzzes, and in his surprise, he almost loses his balance.
Alex
Jeremy, you’ve got to help me!
Jeremy
Help you?! I’m pretty sure that’s what got me into this mess in the first place.
Alex
You don’t understand. I’ve turned invisible—
Jeremy
I’m sure you’ve never looked better.
Alex
And worse than that, I’m TRAPPED INSIDE A WALL.
Jeremy
So…What else is new?
Alex
Wait…YOU did this to me? Dude, I know when I turned into a cat that one time, I threw up on your couch, but this is next level—
Jeremy
Me?! Are you serious? YOU did this to yourself.
Alex
I think I would remember tripping partway through a BUILDING.
Jeremy
What was IN that potion you took?
Jeremy
Well, figure it out! BEFORE the owner comes in the bathroom to clean.
Alex
OK, the front lights are on. Customers are starting to come in.
Jeremy
I’ll come back when the Power Outage is over to make sure you’re okay.
Jeremy
What? You remembered something?
Alex
Sort of. I was looking through my phone history, seeing if there might be anything that could jog my memory.
He sends Jeremy a screenshot of another texting conversation.
Alex
Look, Leah, about what I told you…I need you to just forget it.
Leah
Are you crazy? Just FORGET that magic is real?
Alex
If you wouldn’t mind.
Leah
But I DO mind. Don’t you understand how mindboggling all this is?
Leah
Maybe you don’t. Maybe being a wizard or a sorcerer or whatever, you’re so used to magic to be properly excited about it.
Leah
But the way I see it, the world is a completely different place than it was two days ago.
Leah
There are so many more possibilities!
Leah
I mean you GAVE me a dragon scale that can turn any metal into gold—
Leah
Imagine how many hungry people that could feed?
Leah
How many problems that could solve if only people knew about it.
Alex
No, NO, that is exactly what can’t happen. There are laws against revealing magic to normals.
Alex
Big, scary laws with very medieval punishments.
Alex
I made an exception.
Alex
Her family owns this diner and she always comes in here for breakfast in the morning.
Alex
Guess I was planning on spiking her coffee but ended up drinking the memory-wiping potion instead, which would have erased my last 24 hours.
Alex
Jeremy? You still there?
Jeremy
On a 1-10 scale of how bad this is, it’s an 11. Just in case you were wondering…
