A new friend

Thomas showed her around the blue room while explaining everything to her.

"The trick is, we take a small room and expand its wall, we haven't taken more place than the cell you see."

"So it's like a divided reality?" Hailie asked thoughtfully.

Thomas smile.:" yeah you can call it that. That’s the scientific name. Around here we call it magic."

Hailie arched a brow toward him.

Thomas chuckled at her confused features:" Have you seen Harry Potter?"

"Are you crazy? Of course yes. I'm a potter head." Hailie said proudly.

" Yeah okay, that was a lot of enthusiasm for a 17-year-old."

" Ok, grandpa. It's not my fault you're all dead inside. Being enthusiastic for something is a sign that shows you're not close to the grave, old man." Hailie said with a glare toward Thomas.

Thomas rolled his eyes." For the benefit of the argument, I'm only two years older than you."

" Yeah okay whatever. Magic?"

"Now I see why he keeps you around." He quickly continued: "well if you remember it, they have tents that look like normal, small, tents. But inside of it is big and has extra rooms for everyone."

Hailie nodded. Vividly remembering the scene in harry potter and the goblet of fire.

" Well, what we do is similar to that. The outside is a normal room. The inside is more."

Hailie was fascinated.

"How do you do it? What's with all of the metals?"

Thomas's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

" We get a little help from white people. They can cause illusion. I'll tell you more about them later on the tour." Thomas winked at Hailie making her smile. Then he walked toward his table and took a small piece of metal.

" Do you like accessories?"

Hailie was so confused. Their conversation took an unusual turn.

"Just tell me what you like and trust me. This is gonna be so cool."

Hailie thought for a moment. " I like rings. The simple ones."

Thomas smiled at her. "A simple ring. Bryan really found his dream girl huh?"

'Only if you knew' Hailie thought to herself.

He then closed his hand around the metal and closed his eyes. Hailie looked at him and tried to figure out what he was doing because his face looked like he was trying to remember an answer in a history test or something, which Hailie was really familiar with thanks to Sadie.

Thomas opened his eyes. Now that Hailie looked closely, his eyes had a glint of silver in them. It really was beautiful.

" Okay m'lady, may I please have your beautiful hand?"

Hailie looked at him like he was crazy. Did he get high on metal or something?

(Which reminds me it's a good time to mention this: Don’t do drugs kids, it's not good or cool. )

Thomas rolled his eyes and smiled at her:" come on don’t you trust me?"

Hailie arched a brow at him.

Thomas rolled his eyes, again:" Okay that was a stupid question. But think about it, why would I hurt you? Bryan would literally kill me. Plus, he wouldn’t make me the tour guy if he didn’t trust me. He would let you be with your friend, Josh." He said Josh's name like he was spitting poison or something.

But he had a point. And for some reason, which if his father figured them out somehow she would be grounded for the rest of her life because there were hardly any reasons at all, she trusted Bryan.

So she held her hand out for Thomas. He smiled and slid the roundest, smoothest and shiniest ring she has seen her whole life. It was simple but it had these beautiful plant engravings.

"This is so beautiful. Where did you get it from?"

Thomas showed her an uneven, bumpy piece of metal.

" Okay really funny. Are you causing me hallucinations?"

" I already told you that’s white people's job. I made the ring, out of a piece of crap looking metal like this." Thomas said calmly.

Hailie looked at the ring on her right hand. Then at Thomas. Then again at her hand.

" Okay, that’s not funny if you're not watching a ping-pong tournament," He said.

She looked at him and opened her mouth to say something. Then she closed her mouth because she had absolutely nothing to say. She looked like a fish out of water.

" Oh my god did I break you? Bryan is going to kill me. Oh, I'm so dead. I broke Bryan's girlfriend." Thomas said panicking.

" No, you- this- how did you?" Hailie managed to say.

" Okay don't do that again. Like ever. In never. For eternity."

Hailie nodded, a smile spreading on her face.

" Okay, great. Glad we got that covered," He took a deep breath as if he wasn’t breathing, which made Hailie feel bad for scaring him," The simple version is that, we break the connection between the molecules of the metal with our brain, and reform it as we want."

" Just metal?"

" No, but metals are easier. Something about their type of molecules I guess. I don’t know I failed chemistry." He said shrugging.

" Yeah, I don’t think that you can explain this stuff with chemistry. Or any type of science for that matter."

Thomas shrugged. Hailie could feel he was hiding something, but she couldn’t risk and try to read his mind. Bryan told her to stay covered. Not that she cared about what he said, it wasn’t logical to try to be weird in a building full of people and, powers, she didn’t know.

" Well, are you ready to see more or you had enough for one night?" Thomas asked with an understanding.

Hailie honestly didn’t know. She wanted to know more, to see with her eyes and believe she's not alone. She was fascinated. But her mind was exploding. Besides, it was getting late and she had school tomorrow.

" Maybe show me another night? Can you just tell me what people can do on the way out?"

"Yeah sure. I can-"

" I think I can take it from here."

They turned around to see Josh standing behind them.

Thomas frowned, an expression Hailie didn’t see all night, and stood protectively in front of Hailie.

" No thank you, I'm okay. And I think Hailie is enjoying this too. We became good friends, didn’t we?"

Hailie nodded with a smile, not knowing Thomas's problem with josh.

" I'm sure about that. But Bryan needs you, and since I've known Hailie longer than anyone here, I'm gonna take her home. Bryan said so." Josh said calmly and folded his arms. His bicep showing perfectly.

Thomas's frown deepened. " I'm really not sure about that. Maybe you should ask him again. There can be a misunderstanding." He said jokingly but his tone was demanding.

" Come on man, Bryan wouldn’t send me here if it wasn’t urgent. He needs you in his room. And I cant go and ask him again because I'm not allowed in his room and you know it." Josh looked at Hailie and smiled. Damn the transition really suited him.

Thomas looked doubtful. He glanced between Hailie and josh, and finally spoke up.

" Just take her straight home. No playful stops. Just be safe, okay?"

Josh nodded and saluted him." Yes sir."

Thomas turned toward Hailie and smiled at her. After hesitating for a second, he finally hugged her.

" stick around will ya? I really like my new friend, and, and Bryan is practically glowing. You make him less grumpy."

Hailie laughed at the last sentence and nodded her head.

Thomas backed up and walked toward the door. He turned and looked josh directly in the eyes.

" Leave the education to me. Completely."

And with a wink at Hailie, he was out of the room.

"Let's get out of here, anywhere besides home?"

Hailie arched her brow.

" I thought there were no playful stops ?"

" ah what does he know? Anywhere in mind?"