The awkward classmates, his tired eyed teacher, even the fan blowing in the corner all froze. Before James could react the entire room and the people ...n it fell away from him out of sight. James found himself in a void of clouds in a blue sky. And without a chance to question where he was, a towering figure emerged, made of monolithic limbs made of gears and vast intricate mechanisms beyond his understanding. Brushing past long thick hair revealing a face that smirked at James, he had a feeling. I couldn’t have looked more awkward.“Good shot, Pilot. That bomb bat would have been on us if you hadn’t have distracted it.” said a tousle-haired youth of indeterminate gender, looking too young by a few years for it to really matter that much anyway. Their oversized boots flopped open unlaced, leaving a mystery how the boots stayed on the feet, unless they were filled with hideously out-sized feet.The freckled pixie face was sooty except for where the eyes had been protected by flying. ”I nodded and accepted the praise, bumping knuckles. As silly as it was, it was Paige’s obvious admiration of my new body that made me decide, in that moment, that I wanted to keep it. “Will do,” I told her.And just like that, with Paige’s unhesitating acceptance of my magically-enhanced body and her complete amnesia of the previous hour’s events, I knew that everything in my life was poised to change. “So,” I asked carefully. “What did you have in mind for your boy’s 18th birthday?”***Paige. Talk about fortuitous timing. I looked over toward the Omni Hotel parking garage but it was blocked from view by shops.Dimitri gave me Smetlana's number and said he would contact me when they got to the market, their first destination of the day. We agreed that the outdoor market would provide the greatest opportunity for distraction and the easiest escape. It was busy and getting busier which was good, as long as she wanted to leave with me. If not, it was the worst possible case. She would.