Just Trying to Help

“It won’t stop.”

“What?”

“The elevator. The elevator isn’t stopping!”

“It feels fine…”

“We just passed floor 30, which is what I pressed. None of the other buttons are lit, look!”

“Did you push the emergency button?”

“You’re literally standing there watching me punch it over and over!” she cried, panic starting to build in her voice. They had just passed floor 25. Was the elevator picking up speed? It felt like it.

“Ok, so it will stop at the basement floor…”

“How can you be sure?!” 

“Because I will make it so,” he said knowingly, pulling out his wand from his inside jacket pocket.

“Oh no, Charlie, you really shouldn’t…”

“Would you rather get smushed in a tin box? This thing is definitely picking up speed!”

“But have you even learned—” A flurry of golden sparks filled the elevator, loud bangs drowning out the end of Sally’s question. She sighed and hoped for the best. To her surprise, the elevator slowed, and the doors started to open. They were stuck between floors 14 and 15. If Charlie gave her a boost, Sally might be able to reach the landing to—but before she could continue strategizing their escape, the elevator shuddered and started moving again. This time, however, they were shooting back up the elevator shaft at double speed, doors stuck open.

“Damnit, Charles!” Sally screamed, clutching the guard railing of the elevator. She punched the close door and emergency stop buttons in turn, knowing full well they wouldn’t do any good.

“Hold on, hold on.” Charlie screwed up his face in concentration, purple sparks now coming from his wand and pink fog filling the elevator simultaneously. The fog smelled like cotton candy. Sally groaned and sank to the floor of the elevator, getting nauseous watching the floors whooshing by. Was getting crushed by the roof of the building better than the basement floor?

Blue smoke was now pouring out of the tip of Charlie’s wand. He was muttering furiously and waving his arms like a windmill, trying to send the smoke out the open doors. The floor counter on the elevator panel had stopped trying to keep up they were going so fast.

“Hold on!” he cried, throwing himself next to her. They braced themselves, and a moment later they shook violently as the elevator hit the top floor. There was a terrible grinding of broken mechanics and shrieking of metal scraping together. But the elevator stayed intact. It shuddered for a moment and then stopped. They uncovered their heads and looked miraculously at each other. Charlie started to laugh with relief and was just about to help Sally stand—when the elevator started moving again.

“No, no, no!” He moved to the door and stuck his head out, pointing his wand at the top of the broken elevator. They were still ascending, somehow, Sally watching blue sky appear, then puffy clouds, then—was that an airplane?

“Seriously?” she shouted at him as the elevator kept up speed, the sky turning darker the higher it went. Finally, he turned to look at her, face full of regret. The elevator shuddered to a stop and this time didn’t move again. She got up carefully and peered around him. They were carefully balanced on the edge of a crater on the moon.

“Seriously?!”

Her screech sent Charlie tumbling backwards down into the crater. Sally threw her arms up in frustration, turning to face the inside of the elevator again. She slammed her hand across the floor buttons furiously. They all lit up, which made her even more annoyed. She ventured out of the elevator to locate Charles. He better not have broken a leg, she thought sourly.

She stood on the edge of the crater, squinting around at their sudden surroundings. It was beautiful--as much as she hated to admit it--staring down at the earth from the darkness. Sally noticed Charlie ascending towards her slowly. He had magicked himself an escalator to get out of the crater and didn’t seem too keen on reaching the top. His shoulders were stooped as he stood still on the moving steps. He looked rather like a child pouting over a broken toy, gazing sadly at the wand in his hand. She scowled at him once more as he stepped off the escalator next to her.    

“THAT you can do…” she muttered. He dusted off his jacket without a reply, stashing his wand back inside his pocket. Watching the escalator fade into moon dust, a new thought came over her. She looked down and stomped her feet.

“Wait… gravity. And oxygen… how are we breathing, Charlie?”

“How is the elevator not floating away?” he countered with a shrug and a deep sigh.

Sally glanced nervously at the elevator box. She put one foot back in, but then hesitated. Was the magic connected to the elevator? Or to Charlie? Would she rather be stranded on the moon with him, or drifting around space in an elevator…?

A banging from the floor of the elevator box startled her.

“Oh god, what now?” she yelled as Charlie moved forward to investigate. He listened carefully for a moment and then knocked on the tile floor. A return knock followed immediately. Sally thought she heard him utter a soft “whew!” as he took out his wand again, trace a square on the floor, and then tap the floor three times in the middle of the square. The outline of the square glowed red, then gold, and then swung downward, as if it were a trap door on a hinge. Charlie beamed up at her, with a look of regained confidence.

“Shall we?” he motioned towards the hole. She glanced into it and scoffed. It looked like the elevator shaft they had just left, with a metal ladder below them.

“So, Tuck is tracking you after all, huh?” she teased, lowering herself down onto the ladder. The metal was cool under her hands and its sturdy build made her feel more secure immediately. This wasn’t newbie magic…

“Well, he is my mentor, he kind of has to,” Charlie muttered, blushing. He glanced around the moonscape one last time, a little wistful that he likely wouldn’t be back here ever again.

The climb went fairly quickly, considering how many thousands of miles they were above the earth. They exited a door at the bottom, blinking into the sunlight. They were now across the square from the building they had originally been investigating. Sally stretched her stiff arms, glancing around. There were fire trucks in front of the building that their rogue elevator had escaped from, with a group of people standing around gawking, pointing up at the thin wisp of grey smoke still coming from the roof. Great—so they hadn’t exactly been subtle.

She spotted who she was looking for and headed over to the fountain in the middle of the square. There was a handsome, grey husky sitting regally next to the edge of the water. He was watching the crowd jovially, panting slightly, which made him look like he was smiling. He stayed calmly out of the way of foot traffic though, and only wagged his fluffy tail briefly when they sat down next to him.

“Cheers for the assist, Tuck,” Sally said quietly. The dog nudged her knee with its nose playfully, and she took the permission to scratch him behind the ears. He laid his head on her lap and started speaking out the side of his mouth carefully, so that passers-by didn’t notice. His voice was deep, raspy, and didn’t match the happy-go-lucky temperament of his cuddly cover identity.

“Nice work, kids,” he grumbled sarcastically. “At least this little stunt was a good distraction for the other team to move into the unit we were looking for. We got the information and cleared out before the authorities could turn the fire alarms off…”

The dog raised his head and looked over at Charlie expectantly. Charlie hung his head and reluctantly held out his wand. Tuck took it gently in his canine mouth and muttered around it, “and you’re grounded.” With those parting words, the dog pranced in front of them for a moment, carefully chomping on the wand playfully before disappearing into the crowd.

“Man, I liked that one,” Charlie sighed, running his hand through his hair, shaking off more moon dust. “Guess that means certification’s out of the question this month.”

“Eh, maybe you’ll pass next month.”

“Oh, I will. You’ll have to put up with me again one of these days.”

“Combining departments,” Sally rolled her eyes, “I still don’t know what they’re thinking. I can solve cases just fine without magic. Hopefully they’ll have given up on the idea by the time you’re certified, and I can go back to filing normal paperwork rather than reporting to a dog. And you’ll go back to disarming cursed burial grounds, or hunting for vampires, or whatever it is they do on Floor Zero…”

“Maybe,” Charlie said thoughtfully. He took a moon rock out of his pocket and handed it to her. “But how boring would that be?”