As they step out of the lockup, the cool evening air is a welcome contrast to the strange warmth of the ever-shifting space inside. The three exchange glances, the weight of the day’s events settling in now that they’re back in the real world.
“That was… a lot,” Veronica finally says, stretching her arms. “I think I deserve a drink after that.”
Elizabeth laughs, adjusting the robe Daniel gave her over her usual clothes. “You deserve more than that. I think we all do.”
Daniel exhales, rubbing his forehead. “Food first. Then we figure out where that stage even came from.”
They settle on a quiet, dimly lit restaurant nearby, ordering whatever comforts them most after a day of being wax figures, dolls, and escape artists. As their meals arrive, Elizabeth leans forward.
“So, the stage,” she says, stirring her drink. “That wasn’t there before, right?”
Daniel shakes his head. “No chance. It just… appeared when you two were getting ready to perform.”
Veronica taps her fingers on the table. “So, the storage unit is changing. The more tricks we perform, the more it adapts.”
Elizabeth raises an eyebrow. “Or reveals more of itself.”
A thoughtful silence lingers between them.
Daniel leans back, thinking. “If the lockup has a stage now, what else is it hiding?”
As they eat, Veronica leans back in her chair, swirling her drink. “Alright, so being a wax dummy? It was… weird.”
Elizabeth smirks. “Weird how?”
Veronica exhales. “At first, it was like—bam—I was in the wax, then everything just stopped. I couldn’t move, couldn’t feel, couldn’t even think properly. Like I was frozen in a single moment. I was aware, kind of, but it was distant, like I was watching myself from the outside.”
Elizabeth nods, resting her chin on her hand. “Yeah, same. It wasn’t like being asleep or unconscious. More like being paused. No sense of time, just this vague awareness that I was waiting for something to happen.”
Daniel frowns. “Waiting for what?”
Elizabeth shrugs. “I don’t know. To be used? Like I wasn’t a person anymore, just an object, waiting to be put on display or melted down. It didn’t feel scary at the time, just… normal.”
Veronica shivers. “Yeah, that’s what freaks me out the most. It felt normal. I wasn’t worried, I wasn’t panicking—I was just… there.” She takes a sip of her drink. “I do not want to go through that again.”
Elizabeth smirks. “Oh, come on, it had its perks. No stress, no worries—just perfectly smooth, flawless wax skin.” She flexes her fingers. “Though I am glad to be able to move again.”
Veronica gives her a deadpan look. “You actually enjoyed it?”
Elizabeth chuckles. “No, but I will say it gave me a new appreciation for statues.”
Daniel rubs his temple. “So, the lockup didn’t just change your forms, it changed how you thought. The moment you became wax, you accepted it.”
Elizabeth and Veronica exchange glances.
Veronica sighs. “Yeah. And that’s what makes it so damn creepy.”
After their bizarre day in the lockup, the three return to their normal routines—but "normal" isn't quite the same anymore.
Veronica
At work, Veronica finds herself distracted. Her escape attempt had gone beyond just slipping out of cuffs—it had awakened something in her. The way the catsuit let her move, stretch, and adapt was still with her. She tests it, subtly at first, flexing her fingers, stretching her limbs a little farther than before. It’s exhilarating, but it also makes her uneasy.
One evening, while idly watching a crime show, she instinctively tries to wiggle out of her hoodie—without using her hands. To her shock, the fabric loosens as if responding to her thoughts, sliding off like a second skin. She stares at it for a long moment before hurriedly putting it back on.
She tells herself she won’t mess with it again. But by the end of the week, she’s already trying out new ways to escape—just to see if she can.
Elizabeth
Elizabeth, meanwhile, feels like she’s caught in two worlds. On stage at rehearsals, she moves with newfound grace, her motions more precise, more fluid. Her director notices. “You’ve stepped up your game, McGee,” they say. “What changed?”
She has no answer—at least, not one she can explain. The remnants of the dancer doll still linger in her body. Sometimes, when she moves, it’s as if unseen hands are guiding her. And when she stands still too long, she catches herself posing, waiting, as if she expects someone to wind her up again.
Then, there’s the voice. The performer’s voice. She doesn’t even realize it at first, but during a monologue, something slips out—a turn of phrase, an inflection that isn’t hers. A memory that isn’t hers. The performer’s presence isn’t gone. It left something behind.
Elizabeth isn’t sure if that excites or terrifies her.
Daniel
For Daniel, the week is filled with research. The robe from the lockup still lingers in his thoughts. When he first put it on, it felt like it belonged to him—like it had been waiting for him. He doesn’t know what that means, but he’s determined to find out.
Every night, he combs through the book, searching for mentions of Kashmir’s past performances, the tricks, the illusions—anything that might explain the storage unit’s strange transformations.
And then he finds it. A single passage that makes his blood run cold:
"To don the magician’s mantle is to inherit not just the tricks, but the stage itself."
The stage hadn’t just appeared. It had recognized him.
Daniel closes the book, his mind racing. The lockup isn’t just some place with enchanted props. It’s something more. Something living.
And he’s becoming a part of it.
But you dear reader want to find out more on how their week went. Don't worry, more is to come soon.
Chapter Thirty One: Recasting Veronica and Elizabeth
Chapter Thirty: The Dollmakers Baptism
Chapter Twenty Nine: The Swinging Spy's final mission
Chapter Twenty Eight: Who was Kashmir again?
Chapter Twenty Seven: This is getting weird, even for us.
Chapter Twenty Six: Elizabeth Needs a Key
Chapter Twenty Five: Assembling Elizabeth the Doll
Chapter Twenty Four: Veronica vs the Guillotine
Chapter Twenty Three: Return to the Lockup
Chapter Twenty Two: Now what did Daniel do?
Chapter Twenty One: What did the ladies do this week?
Chapter Twenty: The Captured Cat gets wet.
Chapter Nineteen: Veronica becomes the Captured Cat.
Chapter Eighteen: The Living Dummy
Chapter Seventeen: Spilt switch and back again.
Chapter Sixteen: The Heist goes wrong, oh my.
Chapter Fifteen: Preparing for the Heist
Chapter Fourteen: Introducing The Transposition Trick
Chapter Thirteen: Stretching, Spikes and Shackles.
Chapter Twelve: Blades and Misalignment
Chapter Eleven: Veronica finds her suit
Chapter Ten: The Lockup. Veronica gets a glow up
Chapter Nine: Compacting Veronica
Chapter Eight: Pancakes and inflating balloons
Chapter Seven: But wait, there's more!
Chapter Four: One becomes two, two become one