Chapter 4

"Hello, my name is Doctor Stephen Strange, and I need you to come with me".

 I stood up from the couch. 

"Is it just me or did you just come out of the movie?" I asked, with concern.

 "No, I didn't come out of a movie. I just came from New York". The Doctor cleared his throat.

"Anyways, I need your help". 

"You need my help? With what?".

 "Can we discuss it at my place?" he asked, leaning closer to me. 

"But I just met you. And I'm watching a movie with my friend". 

Suddenly, we both heard footsteps, with each one sounding closer and closer than the last. Doctor Strange looked past my shoulder.

"Someone's coming".

 Acting quickly, the sorcerer grabbed my hand and the handle on my briefcase, before taking me through the portal and closed it. I glanced around the room we were in, noticing it's the exact same room from my dream. 

"So, why exactly do you need my help? Aren't you one of the most powerful sorcerers?".

"Yes, I am. But unfortunately, Wong has suddenly vanished. That's why I need you to help me find him and defeat a universal threat". 

 I narrowed my eyes at him. 

 "What kind of threat?". 

"From this''.

 Doctor Strange handed me a printed photo of a mixed mythical creature. 

"Where did you get this photo". 

"From my library". 

I sighed. 

"Even if I wanted to help you, I can't; I'm just a regular person". 

"Regular? Vanessa, you've got a gift for magic" replied Doctor Strange, holding up my black leather briefcase. 

"But I can only do magic with cards and props".

 Doctor Strange gave me a toothy smile. 

"I know. That's why I'm going to enhance your magic abilities; So, you can use them in battle".

I let my gaze drop to the floor. 

"It's your destiny". 

"Can't you pick one of my friends?".

 "No, I can't. You were chosen by the Ancient One in my dream. And you are-".

 "Far more talented than my friends, I know". 

The Doctor looked at me in bewilderment, as if I had just read his thoughts.

 "So, the Marvel universe is real" I said, skipping to the end of the conservation. 

He nodded his head. "Of course, it's real. Don't you-".

Doctor Strange suddenly stopped himself. 

"Were you asking me if the Marvel universe is real?". 

I shook my head.

 "No, I already know it exists". 

He stepped closer to me. 

"Do you know something I don't?".

 I locked my eyes with his crystal blue eyes.

 "Of course not. It's hard to keep secrets from you". 

He let out a small chuckle. 

"I suppose it is". 

"This is somewhat off topic, but what about my college programs and schoolwork? Do you expect me to drop those so I can help you defeat a messed-up creature that threatens our world?".

"Yes, I do. You can't learn magic and do your schoolwork; You'll be exhausted" explained Doctor Strange, crossing his arms in front of his muscular chest. 

"I guess I'll be helping you find your friend and save the universe. So, when do I start my magic training?". 

"Shortly. First, you're going to show me what magic abilities you have so far" replied Doctor Strange, as he walked over to the left railing of the massive staircase and leaned on it. 

"O-Okay, I never had shown this magic trick before, so please don't freak out".

I closed my eyes and used my shapeshifting power, turning myself into an identical copy of Doctor Strange. 

"How do I look?" I asked, in his manly baritone voice.

 "Exactly like myself. Tell me, is this an illusion I'm seeing?" he asked, slowly circling me to have a closer look". 

"No, sir. I shapeshifted into you" I explained, putting the palm of my hand against his. 

"Extortionary. Can you only shapeshift into different people?".

"No, I can shapeshift into any living thing," I said, removing my hand from his. I took seven big steps back, giving myself enough space to transform into a bird.

"You might want to put up your index finger". 

Doctor Strange looked at me, warily. I began to lightly jog forward, before leaping into the air and turned into a black-capped chickadee. I flapped my tiny dark grey wings over to the master of the mystic arts and landed gently on his shaky, right index finger. 

"Interesting. Question, when do you use this unique ability?" asked Doctor Strange, while stroking my back with his left trembling left index and middle fingers. 

A moment of silence passed, before he brought me closer to his face.

"You probably don't understand what I'm saying, do you?". 

"Of course, I do. I was just thinking about my answer" I chirped loudly. 

"I've only used my power to help me get to school". 

"So, you just fly to and from school as a chickadee?". 

"No, not as a chickadee; I would turn into a hawk" I explained, as I hopped off Doctor Strange's finger and hovered in front of him.

 "Does your-". 

Before he could finish asking his question, I swerved around his head and turned back into my human form, clothes and all.

"Do you have any other magic abilities I should know about?". 

"Yeah". 

I grabbed my black briefcase that Doctor Strange put by his feet and opened it up, bringing out my regular deck of cards. I slid the deck out of the case and into my right hand, before slipping the case into my front pyjama pocket and fanned out the cards to Doctor Strange. 

"Pick a card". 

He glanced at the cards before looking up at me again. 

"Magic tricks? This is your other power?". 

"Yeah, you don't sound too impressed" I replied, as the Doctor pulled out a card.

"I'm not too sure how you can do magic tricks in a fight". 

"Did you memorize your card?". 

"Yes". 

"I'm going to take your card, slip it into the deck and do a riffle shuffle" I said, explaining as I did exactly that. 

"Now I could do all kinds of fancy shuffles, but then you'll be here all day; So, I'm going to do what's called the messy shuffle".

 I started taking small handfuls of the cards and flipped them onto each other, to get the deck messed up. 

"Now the deck is completely messed up. We have some fronts facing backs-". 

I cut about to a third of the deck and showed him a face card facing the red back of another.

 "-some backs facing fronts-".

 I cut to another third at the back of the deck and showed the back of a face facing the front of another.

"-and fronts facing fronts".

 I cut the deck to the middle and showed a face card facing another face card. Smoothly, I placed half of the deck that was in my right hand onto the other half, with a face card facing up on the top. 

"So, is this five of hearts your card?" I asked, showing him the card. 

"No". 

"Okay. I'm going to give it to you. Can you place it on the table and put your hand on it?". 

I flipped over the card and gave it to him. He placed it on the small waist height wooden table, that just suddenly appeared next to him.

Doctor Strange covered the card with his hand and raised an eyebrow at me. 

She must have summoned this table because I sure didn't. 

"I'm going to snap my fingers and now the entire deck is facing one way" I said, before snapping my fingers and fanning out the deck completely to show him. 

I gathered up the cards back into a deck in my hands. 

"Can you flip the five of hearts?".

 Doctor Strange flipped it over and saw that the card wasn't the five of hearts anymore; it was now the three of clubs.

"Well, that was a good card trick. Next time you should use a brand-new card deck so it wouldn't give away the magic part of the trick" explained Doctor Strange as he gave his card back to me.

 He turned his back to me and started to walk up the grand staircase. As fast as I could, I put my deck of cards back in my briefcase and caught up to him on the stairs. 

"Wait, you know how I did it?" I asked, carrying my briefcase with me.

"Yes, I was watching your hands closely. Now I'm going to prepare a spot upstairs to do your training in. The cloak of levitation will show you the room you'll be staying in. Meet me up on the third floor after you drop off your briefcase".

 Doctor Strange glanced down at my pyjamas before looking back into my brown eyes. 

"And while you're there, change your clothes''.