Early in the morning, the contestants and Drake found themselves heading back home. Words of farewell were exchanged with Jake and his family over a bountiful breakfast. At the dock, Drake and Genie gave each other a silent hug, before he got on the boat and they sailed back towards Australia.

      Well, they would have, if they hadn’t fallen victim to a freak storm once more only a few miles off of sea from Mageria. “Is this the same storm from earlier?” Drake shouted to the captain.

      “It can’t be!” The captain responded in kind, desperately trying to keep control of the ship, “Storms don’t just wait around!”

      Just as their first time through the storm, a bright flash brought them out to clear skies, where it remained smooth sailing until they docked once again at Circular Quay, the port they had left the previous day from.

~~~

First Fleet Park

      After docking, it was a short walk to a small nearby park, where a familiar face was waiting for them.

      Frankie smiled, “So nice to see everyone safe and sound. And just in time for this week’s transformation!”

      Frankie gestured to four large, assistant size boxes. The boxes were rather simplistic, having just a red door with a white border and a hole for the face. In front of the boxes, a green velvet poker table was set up. Each of the assistants that lost got into one of the boxes, lining up their faces with the tiny windows.

      “So, based on the result of the poll, I thought I’d go ahead and try doing a little card trick,” Frankie grinned, producing a deck of comically large playing cards roughly the size of a sheet of paper, and doing her best to shuffle them.

      Frankie walked down the line of boxes, slotting a random playing card into the window of each of the boxes. She snapped her fingers, and the boxes simultaneously opened, revealing their contents empty. Frankie walked back down the line of boxes, pulling out the cards and approaching Drake.

      “Okay Drake, I want you to inspect the cards, just to make sure there’s no funny business going on. Dahlia, Paxton, feel free to join in,” She laid the deck of cards out on the table, their suits and numbers face up. The three observers made short work of sorting out the deck to double check all the cards were there, making sure to pay special attention for any folds or noticeable tricks to the cards. Satisfied, the three of them tried their best to shuffle the oversized playing cards, leaving them in a pile on the Poker table.

      “Great, now we’re going to play a game of poker. but to make things more interesting, I’ll only get two cards.” Frankie spread out the cards, only showing off their backs. “Paxton, Dahlia, as the winners of the challenge, you two can pick what cards I’ll us.”

      Dahlia and Paxton each picked a card at random, Frankie separating them from the pile before re-stacking the deck. She walked over to the central two boxes from earlier, sliding the cards into the face window. “Alright, Drake, could you please flip over the top five cards and tell me what hand you’ve got.

      Drake did as she asked, flipping over a seven of hearts, an ace of spades, a two of diamonds, an 8 of clubs, and a seven of diamonds. “Looks like a pair of sevens.” Drake said.

      Frankie’s eyes twinkled, well then, we better hope I have some very good cards. She stood between the two doors, unlatching them and revealing the sites inside.

      Inside were two women, one of them wearing a tube dress in all black, the other, a tube dress in all red. Their upper halves were normal: Natalie, Olive, Rachel, and Kacie. However, what was strange was that there were no lower halves to be seen, the girl in red having Natalie’s upper half be the proper orientation while Rachel was upside down supporting them on her arms, while the girl in black had Olive’s upper being supported by the upside down Kacie.

      “Oops, sorry Drake, looks like I just beat you out with a pair of Queens,” Frankie grinned, pulling out the oversized playing cards to the audience, which now matched pretty closely to the merged contestants.

~~~

Dahlia & Paxton’s Rehearsal

      “Alright!” Frankie beamed, a twinkle in her emerald green eyes as she prepared for her very first outing as a magician on ANGA. “So, do you two have any ideas on what you want to do for the show on Saturday.”

      Paxton blushed, “N-not really.”

      Dahlia smiled, “… I want to be art…”

      Penny and Jean, who had been sitting in on the rehearsal grinned at the strange girl’s request. “So, you want to do a show themed around art?” Frankie asked, a little confused.

      “…No…” Dahlia sighed, she looked longingly into the mirror, “… I want to be art… Something to be looked at… The focus of attention~…” Dahlia closed her eyes, her hands hugging herself and rubbing down her body.

      Paxton looked at Dahlia weirdly, as the gears in Frankie’s head looked like they were turning. “And what will you do as Art?”

      “…Art captures a moment in time… and I will be that moment’s muse…” Dahlia opened her eyes, looking at herself in the mirror and blushing, “…I-if that’s alright…”

      “That’s perfectly fine,” Jean grinned, walking over and giving Dahlia a hug, “Don’t be embarrassed to do something out of the ordinary.”

      “And where do you see yourself in this, Paxton?” Penny asked, walking over and putting four arms on her shoulder and having her face towards the mirror, “If Dahlia’s art, what do you see yourself as? The viewer? The curator? The artist?”

      “I-I don’t know,” Paxton blushed, trying to look away from herself in the mirror, “I- I don’t see myself at all…” tears were starting to well up in her face a little bit.

      “Don’t worry Paxton,” Frankie came over, standing in between her and her reflection, giving her a hug, “Trick building is a process. Especially when you’re working with a team. Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll be able to find you your own spot in the spotlight."

~~~

Moleside Inn (Natalie’s Room)

      “Come on! Just five minutes!” Rachel pleaded her conjoined partner, desperately clawing at the end of the bed, trying to pull them towards the floor.

      “Rachel!” Natalie shouted, holding on to her bedpost with one hand, while flipping through one of her historical big box trick books she had brought with her “We need to pick something to rehearse tomorrow!”

      “Just five minutes in the courtyard! We’ve been in here for almost four hours already!”
     “It’s only been thirty minutes!” Natalie shouts back.

      “And I’m already sooooo bored,” Rachel whined, “Why don’t we go to Luna Park? I’ll let you pick the rides!”

      “Rachel, you can’t just wing every challenge,” Natalie sighed, “There are some things in life you actually have to prepare for.”

      “Yeah, and you can usually push those things off. Now let’s go!” Rachel gave a particularly hard yank, catching Natalie off guard as the natural momentum of their body pulled them and the blanket they were resting on top of to the floor.

      “Rachel!

~~~

Moleside Inn (Olive’s Room)

      In stark contrast, Olive and Kacie were lounging on her sofa, the pair just long enough that they could sit up somewhat. On the dresser on either side of them, a cup of tea freshly brewed by Olive rested.

      Olive sipped hers patiently, “How are you doing dear?” she asked Kacie. She was wearing Tetra, and had mostly been silent for the past twenty minutes.

      Some music gradually got louder, as Tetra’s own voice gained volume, “I’m doing fine,” the animated face grinned, “I had put the volume down so that it wouldn’t disturb you.”

      “Oh dear, you couldn’t bother me,” Olive waved her hand.

      “Well,” Two little red circles of blush appeared on Tetra’s animated face, “I thought that you’d probably want to watch TV or something. So, I didn’t want to be rude.”

      “Dear, trust me, when you meet a nice fellow and have kids of your own one day, it’ll take a cargo train in order to break your concentration,” Olive giggled.

      “Alright then, if you say so,” Kacie beamed, as she went back to focusing on her music, mashing up two songs, before becoming dissatisfied, swapping out one of the samples with another of a faster BPM.

      “So, are you trying a setlist together for our act?” Olive asked, smiling as she watched Kacie work.

      “Hm?… Oh yeah,” Tetra said, pulled out of her moment of focus by Olive.

      “Am I allowed a request?” Olive beamed.

      “Of course, Olive,” Tetra smiled.

      “Would you mind working ‘Dancing Queen’ into the mix?” Olive grinned, “It’s one of my absolute favorite songs.”

      “Uhh…” A little teardrop appeared on Tetra’s monitor, “I mean… I can try. Disco’s not really one of my forte’s unfortunately.”

      “Well… It’s not that important,” Olive sighed, obviously disappointed.

      “No, it’ll be fine,” Tetra held her hands up, “Just means I might have to rearrange some things here and there…” Underneath her breath whispered, “probably have to start the whole thing over from scratch.”

      “Oh thank you so much dear,” Olive flexed her ab muscles just enough so that she could give her a small hug with her fingertips.

      “Ha ha. Don’t mention it,” Kacie’s mind immediately set to work on the new task ahead of her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

& Question Corner &

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To the Girls:

“Great game of hide and seek, yet the premise of loosing your head for a bit is quite a unique twist to it. Anyway I'm glad you made it into the Island of Mageria. That Jake seems to be quite a sweet Mayor. And I have to agree with Genie her father seems to be not the brightest light on the chandelier, yet he is quite a heartwarming and great guy.

You will have fun there Sweeties. Also I know your punishment will be again making you uneasy and a bit more difficult to do your prep work, but I can assure you, you will emerge as much better and enriched people. And again, I'm getting giddy to see you all! Also congratulations on Team PD for winning the challenge, or shall I say the game?

Furthermore, you all dear to me, and even if some stuff cruel or unfair, keep in mind nobody wants to hurt you physically or mentally, yet if anyone of you experiences something like that, let Drake or anyone of ANGA know. You can also contact me if need be. That is also the fact after ANGA, I also recommend you get in contact with an Member of ISAG, even if you don't begin to work in the magic field. Because you are already been looked up for potential places.” -Andrea (@@Jeaune)

 Dahlia: “…Thanks for the good luck Andrea… You are a wonderful hostess… And yet we have not properly met…”

 Kacie: “The island was definitely lovely! And Jake seemed like a very kind man. The punishment didn’t end up being that bad, but I”m still thankful you thought ahead just in case! And don’t worry, I’ll be sure to contact the proper authorities when encountering people like that.”

 Paxton: Paxton smiles at the camera, not a hint of blush on her face. “Thank you so much Andrea! Seriously, it’s been so nice to get to chat with you over the past week and a half. It’s really helped me get a better idea of what I want to do with my life.”

 Olive: “Why thanks you, dear. I didn’t think for a minute that anybody was interested in harming us, but it’s good to get to get some confirmation. I can’t waiting meet you too. Especially because I still owe you those shortbread cookies.”

 Rachel: “It’s not really the transformation I have an issue with this week, it’s more so the person I’m stuck to! (From the ground, Natalie shouts, ‘The feeling is very mutual!”)

 Natalie: “Oh man! The ISAG! They’re interested in finding us contracts!” Natalie looked on the verge of explosion, “Eeeeee! I’ve heard they have some of the most up-to-date assistant records of any magic organization! Ooh! I’m so excited now!”

To Drake:

Hey Drake, I know I have been a pain in the rump especially treating you like a bad boy. I know of course that someone has to maintain order and keep the whole show from bloating into death. Thing is and that was making me angry that you kept quite stubborn, grinded my gears. Yet I know when I overstepped my boundaries, yes I threatened you, yes I was overly emotional and yes, I also submitted myself to bad judgement. I'm writing you to apologize for that. You do an amazing job at keeping everything a float. In that regard you and me are quite similar.

Haven't talked about it for now, but when I don't have a show as Assistant or Magicienne, I still work a normal job, I'm dispatcher at the German Railway, dealing with the complicate and unpredictable is my daily bread. So I should know exactly what it means to deal with such a crappy, thrown off schedule.

Well, enough of that sobby talk, I know you don't expect me to give you advice, but here is mine. I saw what happened to you and I know it's hard, but when you truly love her, keep up! I know what I'm talking about, I have been through a ton of similar stuff. Yes, I know what was inside of that little box. And I know this wasn't for show. Then again I feel sorry for having demonized you the last week all along.

By the way, and this is my last comment for today, can you tell Howard, that he still needs to work on his way how he talks about young Talents? Seriously, his remark was quite, shall I say, condescending. I'm well aware that I'm fairly young in the game, yet I already build an impressive Routine.” -Andrea (@@Jeaune)

 Drake: Drake smiles, “Thanks Andrea, I’m glad we could start seeing eye to eye. And as I’ve said multiple times before, I think that this get together will be a rather good thing for the girls. Especially with the wild week they’ve just had.

 With Genie… I don’t know… I think that ship may have finally sailed. I appreciate the words of encouragement though.

 As for Howard, I’ll tell him, but I tried to tell him stuff all last season and he didn’t really seem interested in hearing anything I had to say. I think you’ll probably just have to forgive him for being from a different time and hoping he does slightly better next time at bat.”

To David: “Yeah thanks for the offer but I must pass.” -Rei (@@quad2)

 David: “Alright Rei, just remember if there’s ever a proper emergency. I can probably get someone over to your shop much faster than the regular police.”

To the contestants: “Damn, you had such a scary mini challenge. Much worse than what I could think up.” -Rei (@@quad2)

 Olive: “Oh, it wasn’t that bad dear. I scare like a young pup and I was fine for most of it.”

 Dahlia: “…In the end… People are the scariest thing…”

 Natalie: “I’m sure you could probably come up with a more intense challenge, Rei! After all, you were quite the daredevil back in the day!”

 Paxton: Paxton blushes. “Oh I wasn’t scared though.”

 Rachel: Rachel grinned, “Knowing you though, Rei. I bet if you had been in charge of this challenge you probably would have let Kacie win.”

 Kacie: “It’s a shame that Olive and I couldn’t flip the game on Genie, but oh well.”

To the contestants: “How did you girls manage? While I know how to hide well, I doubt I'd be able to keep my cool the entire time.” -Jeanne (@@quad2)

 Rachel: “I don’t want to talk about the challenge.”

 Dahlia: “…perseverance is key…”

 Natalie: “I think it’s always best to go for places you imagine don’t normally get checked. So I know that most people (other than myself) don’t really ever go to the library, so I thought it would have been a pretty safe hiding spot.”

 Paxton: Paxton blushed, “I just got lucky…”

 Kacie: “I think Olive and I had a pretty clever idea to work as a team to try and jump Genie. It’s just sort of a shame it didn’t work all that well.”

 Olive: “Oh, don’t you worry, dear. I’m sure you’d be able to do it with enough reason to try.”

To Paxton: “Congratulations on winning the midweek challenge! And don’t worry about hiding under the bed, I probably would’ve done it too.” -Shannon (@@FlagsOtherSide)

 Paxton: Paxton blushes. “T-thanks. I just got lucky though.”

To Rachel: “Well, an effort was made…” -Shannon (@@FlagsOtherSide)

 Rachel: “Look! Okay! No! So, I swear it was going to be a really smart play, because why would the hunter go back to where they started? I just got unlucky.” Rachel sighed

 Natalie: “You didn’t even think about the fact that maybe Genie could sense your magic?”

 Rachel: “…”

To everyone: “I want to thank you for coming to our home I do hope, you all had a good time. I do hope you can visit again soon. ANGA is welcome to come again any time. I also want to wish you all good luck in the show.” -Jacob Schutter (@@James-MacCloude)

 Dahlia: “… It was a beautiful place… You have many lovely paintings…”

 Natalie: “It was so great and an honor to meet Genie’s family, Jake! Tell Genie thanks for signing my copies of the Realm Wars DVDs, and also you have quite the interesting collection of books in your library!”

 Paxton: Paxton blushes. “It was very nice…”

 Kacie: “Thank you so much for hosting Jake! It was pretty great to meet some of the local musicians. They had quite the interesting sound to them.”

 Rachel: “It was a pleasure, Jake. I don’t think I’ve ever been on an island like Mageria before. So I guess I can scratch visiting a strange island off my bucket list.”

 Olive: “Oh it was absolutely wonderful to meet you, Dear. And please give my regards to Jenny. She and I had an excellent conversation yesterday.”

To Dahlia: “You have a good partner in Paxton, so congratulations on your win.” -Jacob Schutter (@@James-MacCloude)

 Dahlia: “…She is an interesting one… yes…”

To Paxton: “I'm sorry about my boy James' behavior, I know he's seems attracted to you, I can see why, you're very smart, beautiful, and you have good conjuring skills. If you wish him to leave you be he will, but if you'd rather him come see you from time to time after the ANGA season is done, just say the word.” -Jacob Schutter (@@James-MacCloude)

 Paxton: Paxton blushes, “Uh- I-it’s okay Jake… Y-you don’t have to do anything. It was just an accident after all.”

To Drake: “Just wanted to let you know, about your filming crewman that was found unconscious, he's alright, and is awake. He told us he was jumped from behind and his ID was swiped. We found out later it was a female shapeshifter, or one with shapeshifting magic, and also a magic presence dampening charm. She's been caught. IT WASN"T YOUR Fault. This kind of criminal is hard to spot much less guard against. Expect a generous check to be deposited into your favorite charity's account in your name.” -Jacob Schutter (@@James-MacCloude)

 Drake: “Thanks for the heads up Ja- Mr. Schutter. And I know that it wasn’t our fault, but I would still like to extend an apology on behalf of Channel 17 and the ANGA production team for allowing something like to happen.

 Since it seems like this was a mutual error, how about we split a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association? As it is my charity of choice.”

To Paxton: “Sorry about the hug, I get a little over excited sometimes, especially when I meet pretty and smart lady like yourself. When your time on ANGA is done for a while, come to Mageria as our guest.

I'm routing for you to win.” -James Schutter. (@@James-MacCloude)

 Paxton: Paxton blushes profusely, her entire face turning pink, “I-It’s okay… I just wasn’t expecting it… I’ve never been hugged by someone so tall before,” Paxton looks away from the camera, smiling, “It was nice though… Thanks… I’ll definitely consider it…”