Chapter 44: Research

The next morning, Tamara and Mokuba's bodyguard showed up early to escort them to breakfast. Noticing the absence of Seto, Tamara decided to risk speaking. "Did it work?"

Marc, Mokuba, and Joan explained everything they could while they finished getting ready. Marc and Mokuba wore their trousers and shirts from the night before, ditching their ties and jackets while Joan slipped into a simple, versatile dress. Joan's ring continued to light up, but no more weird sensations pulsed through the men's heads.

Once out of the suite, Marc and Mokuba flanked Joan, holding her hand whenever possible and preventing other game developers from approaching too close. Joan kept her ring hand under her plate as they moved through the buffet line. They picked an empty table, and the bodyguards sat beside Marc and Mokuba, forming a barrier of two people between Joan and the game developers who joined their table. Thankfully, none of them inquired about her ring as she concealed it under the table.

As the game developers talked about things that went over Joan's head, her gaze wandered the banquet hall. She spotted Maximillion Pegasus in the sea of people. He caught her staring and flashed a smile that seemed awkwardly apologetic and almost benevolent. Joan remembered his comment about his Millennium Eye and wondered for a moment if she should ask his opinion on her newfound magical power. However, Pegasus remained immersed in his own conversation, and Joan doubted Mokuba would want to risk going anywhere near him.

After breakfast, Joan gathered her things and got into Tamara's Toyota Prius with Mokuba and his bodyguard. Joan hadn't realized that Tamara would double as her chauffeur once Seto departed with his, but apparently that was part of Tamara's job description. Despite Joan's conviction that public transportation was better for the environment and statistically safer than driving, she had to admit that she was no longer anonymous enough to consider herself a statistic after all the media coverage.

Mokuba directed Tamara to the Super Kaiba Megacorp office, and they parked in Mokuba's reserved spot behind the building. They then headed up the narrow staircase and entered the brightly lit office. Once there, Mokuba clapped to get everyone's attention. Joan hid her hand halfway inside her unzipped laptop bag while Mokuba addressed his staff.

"I'd like to thank all of you who dropped into the Silicon Valley Game Developers Summit these past two weeks and also those of you who kept things running here while I was away. Our demo tournament was a major success, and we made some awesome international connections. However, some very strange things happened last night at the charity ball, and at this point, I'd like to ask any of you who have had personal encounters with magic to speak up so we can put our heads together and figure out what's going on."

The office remained silent until Laura stood. "I know what you're thinking: Has Mokuba lost it? I'd like to assure you all that no, he hasn't lost it. Either magic is real, or we got pranked really hard last night, so we're still trying to figure out how it happened. That is all." Laura sat down and let the rest of her coworkers murmur amongst themselves.

"Thanks, Laura." Mokuba turned and noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He addressed his audience once more. "Oh, and whoever put that Kuriboh on Marc's desk, I'll take it. He's taking my place at the Summit today, so it's only fair." The developers went back to their computers, and Mokuba grabbed a brown furball off Marc's desk. "You can set up here for today." He gave Joan's shoulder a squeeze before heading to his workstation in the middle of the room, followed by his bodyguard.

Joan took a deep breath and pushed Marc's monitor aside, then took out her laptop. She checked his chair thoroughly for tacks or other sharp objects while Tamara watched with concern. "What are you doing?"

"Old habit. I'll tell you why later." Relieved to find nothing nefarious, Joan sat down, and Tamara stood watch.

Joan fired up her laptop and plugged in Marc's Ethernet cable. After briefly checking her email for anything urgent, she started researching the magical properties of her gemstones. Although Joan detected a few patterns, she found that different cultures ascribed different meanings to them. Perhaps the origins of the stones played a role in their properties.

Remembering that her gems were lab-created, she adjusted her keywords, but nothing useful came up. She considered writing an email to the manufacturer of her ring but ultimately decided that doing so might make her come off as crazy. Besides, the stones themselves could have come from different laboratories. Joan checked the manufacturer's website and saw that everything was supposedly made in America, but she couldn't find any specifics. She still flew blind.

"How do you feel about lunch?"

Joan looked up at Tamara with screen-strained eyes. "Long overdue."

"Let's see if anyone else wants to join us," Tamara suggested.

Joan made her way through the rows of white desks to where Mokuba sat in the center of the room. She gently massaged his tense shoulders.

"Hey," Mokuba responded, still glued to his screen.

"Wanna get some lunch?" Joan asked.

"I'd love to, but I really want to finish this ring thing so it doesn't ruin our trip. Bring me back something?"

"Sure thing." Joan gave Mokuba a small kiss and headed over to Laura. "Wanna get some lunch?"

"Hold on." Laura pounded out another two sentences on her keyboard before swiveling to face Joan. "I need to pick your brain about what happened last night. Let's do this." She stood and slung a leather purse over her shoulder but paused when she saw Joan's peridot flash. "Um . . . think you could take that off in case anyone sees?"

"Uh, it actually doesn't come off."

Joan let Laura prod and pull on her ring for a while. Laura then turned and dug through a crate under her desk. She pulled out a pair of thick black gloves with knobs on the knuckles and handed them to Joan.

Joan tried on the gloves before properly looking them over. "I think these would make me even more conspicuous. What are these gloves even for?"

Laura shrugged innocently. "I've been taking motorcycle lessons after work."

Joan took the gloves off and handed them back to Laura. "Sorry, but I think it's better if I just let people see it. Mokuba's working on something to control the flashing anyway, so we can pass it off as that if anyone asks."

Laura cringed. "It's still going to drive me nuts. Could you just, you know, keep it under wraps as much as possible?"

Joan sighed. "Yeah, I was planning to do that anyway."

"OK, good." Laura tossed the gloves back into the crate, and the three women headed down the narrow staircase and out to lunch.

Tamara and Laura wound up talking more about motorcycles than Joan and Laura spoke about the ring. However, Joan did convey the essentials about Michael's hospital trip and how all the men experienced brain zaps at the same time with no perceivable magic happening.

Laura pursed her lips at several points in Joan's story as she tried to figure out what might be going on. "I still think someone is messing with you, but if they got to Michael too, that's just plain weird. Whatever happens, keep me in the loop."

"Sure," Joan agreed.