“I’ll need to check out the building myself first, before I take this contract,” I said.

  “It is not a problem. When are we able to go?”

  This guy wanted to go with me? I was not so sure about that.

  “I’d prefer to go alone. We’re not contracted yet.”

  “I understand. I’ll come by tomorrow around 5 PM. Is that enough time to check the building?”

  Was he checking my abilities with these probing questions? Hard to tell. His face didn’t betray any emotion—he might as well have been a drone.

  “Yes. I’ll be done by then. How much is your boss willing to pay for this item?” I had to ask, you know? I’m saving for a yacht or something. Don’t know yet.

  “We can pay in rare Heartstone or in dollars. $100,000. Thirty percent as a down payment, rest upon delivery. Heartstone upon delivery as well, of course.”

  Of course... To be honest, this was my first time negotiating something like this. I’m usually hired to steal simple stuff, easier to access through Ideworld. Not some dark Crystal Heart. But all things considered, I think I played the part pretty well, because as soon as I nodded in agreement, he stood up, looked around one more time, and walked off.

  This thing was interesting, but also challenging. Nonetheless, my mentor always said that with great power—nah, just kidding—he said I should go with the flow. “Your imagination is your power.”

  So I sat down at my desk and finished the image for this children’s book. And as soon as I was done, I called my friend Peter and went to meet him for something to eat in the city.

  Did you expect me to immediately drop everything and go to another world to investigate? I considered it, but decided against it. I needed this art project done, and I needed to eat. I didn’t want my stomach growling while I was sneaking around.

  So I went to meet Peter.

  “Is it relevant to this case?” the officer asked. She was pretty good at keeping up with the story. She might be becoming Awakened, so I needed to be careful.

  “How would I know? Isn’t it your job to determine that?”

  “Were you discussing anything relevant to the case with him, or was he part of your ‘investigation’?” Air quotes. She was playing with her life here.

  I declined to answer and continued from where I left off. Rude interrupters.

  Anyway, I got back home pretty full. It was Italian, if you need to know—could be relevant, the Mafia is from there too. I took my body paint, stripped to my panties, and started painting myself. That earned a look from Mr. John. One more point for me.

  “Why did you paint yourself?” Ugh. Another dumb question. I was getting there.

  “I paint myself because, as I said, I’m a mage of the Domain of Artistic Creation. My authority lies within that.”

  “Authority? I don’t understand.”

  Clearly. And you’ll forget it anyway, so why bother? Eh.

  “Since I was a child, I’ve been obsessed with art—painting in particular.”

  “Is it rel—”

  “Yes, it is relevant. Please let me finish.”

  I was obsessed with art and lucky enough to become Awakened. It happens sometimes—to the best of us, of course. I started showing some abilities that could be described as magic. My paintings would move from time to time, as if they were alive.

  Long story short, that got noticed by my mentor, who later explained everything to me. On my first trip to Ideworld, I found my shadow-self there, and lo and behold, she had a crystal heart inside her. That was what gave me powers. It also influenced everything around me—made things more creative and artistic, if you know what I mean.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  That’s how these things work.

  Coming to the point—I took the heart for myself and created my own Domain. Since then, I’ve been able to use my powers more freely.

  “I still don’t understand the connection between authority and painting.”

  Totally forgot that part! My bad.

  “Authority is basically your willpower to change things connected to your Domain. For example, when I paint something, I can infuse it with my authority—my imagination—to do things normal paint can’t. Like in my story, when you rudely interrupted, I was painting myself in silver paint. It made me more durable. My skin became a piece of armor, infused with my authority.”

  “This has got to be a joke, right?” she said, turning to John, who just shrugged.

  “You believe what you want. It is what happened.”

  Is the paradox still coming, or are these people going to keep me forever? Never mind.

  That evening, I painted myself in beautiful silver paint. As I worked, light from my Domain’s Crystal Heart shone through me. You’d have to be there to understand how beautiful it really is. Streaks of mist-like light appeared across my skin, glittering with colorful magic dust. I love that part.

  So I painted and painted. First, a base layer—silver, like armor. Then I added detail, highlights here and there to make it look like polished steel. Finally, I painted my feet to look like rabbit paws. I needed to be fast and jump high, and that intention, that will, I infused into the paint.

  When I was done, I waited for it to dry, packed my spray cans into a handy bag, dressed in comfy jeans, a hoodie, and sneakers, and went out.

  I took the bus to the center—Delanyo Corp. building was there. The ride was great. I saw some intriguing pigeons trying to steal bread from a homeless man. Natural selection at work!

  (They didn’t like that joke. Anyway.)

  I arrived quickly. It’s the tall one with the glass exterior. Not the prettiest around, but not bad to look at. I went inside. The hall was spacious, and people were still walking around.

  Do they work until nightfall? When do they live?

  The officer didn’t answer. Probably thought it was rhetorical. I wasn’t going to ask again.

  I asked the pretty lady at the reception desk about the companies located there. She said it was all Delanyo—they deal with some computer stuff. She explained it better, but I forgot the details. Something like software or security.

  She asked if I was meeting someone, but I said I just needed to use the restroom, if possible.

  She wasn’t going to let me. Company policy, yada yada.

  “Such a shame, but I understand,” I said. “Do you even like working here?”

  She looked really uncomfortable.

  “We’re advised to like it, yes.”

  That pretty much said it all. I said goodbye and went outside, behind the building, looking for a spot to do my thing.

  “What thing is that exactly?” the officer interrupted again.

  Does she not know I’ll explain anyway? Why do people need to add their two cents into everything? She’s breaking the flow of my story.

  I went behind the building and found a loading ramp and some backdoors. There was a security officer there, which surprised me. I hadn’t expected that.

  “Hello,” I said in my most confident voice.

  “Excuse me? Who’s there?” he said, immediately looking at me.

  I did my best I’m not a threat, just a lost girl pose. And I’m sure he bought it, because he slumped his shoulders and put the cigarette back in his mouth.

  “You need something, girl?” he said, lowering his voice to sound deeper than it had been seconds ago.

  Am I pretty or what? Officer John seems to think so. Score.

  “Yeah, I was just sightseeing, but I took a wrong turn. Or at least, I thought so... before I got closer to you,” I said to him. Good one, right? “You’re a sight worth seeing, my good man.”

  He melted on the spot. Truth be told, he wasn’t entirely bad-looking. Just not my type.

  “When do you finish your shift?”

  He got visibly anxious. “I can’t really disclose that, but I can show you around tomorrow. What do you say?” He was really trying.

  “Deal. But show me what you’re packing, man.” He blushed.

  “What do you mean?”

  “If you don’t wanna undress here, go to your security booth and take a picture,” I said.

  He thought about it for a second, but went anyway.

  As soon as he turned, I used my magically-enhanced rabbit feet and jumped onto his booth, then higher still onto the building’s low balcony. I was in.

  Mr. John looked amused, but my female officer friend was not so easily distracted.

  I moved to one of the walls and took out my spray cans. I could see inside the building normally, but what I was really interested in was how it looked in the shadow world.

  I started painting a small mural—doors with multiple moons above them, each in a different phase. You have to see the Ideworld to really get it.

  When I finished, I placed my hand on the mural and infused it with my authority to open a gateway to the other side.

  It sparkled like if someone threw a rainbow at them, and it all dissolved into mist of light. Then the doors were ready to open.

  So I opened them.

  Behind them was the same place I had just stood in, only now—in Ideworld.

  And I should say, because it’s important and probably even relevant: I’m special like that. Not every Domain gives the power to freely travel between worlds. Only some do.

  Most mages use established portals—but those are usually guarded or hidden in hard-to-reach places.