"YOU'RE MARY CHRISTMAX?!"

Mary/Destiny hushes Daniella as she rushes her out of the plane. Daniella's coughing forces incoming passengers to set themselves aside as Mary rushes her through.

"Where in the world are we going, Mary? Destiny? What should I even call you at this point?"

"Call me whatever you want."

"Come on, Destiny, don't degrade yourself like that..."

"Well, there we are! Call me Destiny!"

"Whatever, Mary! I mean Destiny! You still didn't answer my question! Where are we going?"

"Someone who will make you feel better."

"Yeah.. the airport clinic... or like a hospital off-location or something..."

"Not just physically better! I mean, I do want you to feel better and get rid of your cough as it is rather unbecoming, but I also do want you to feel better in the head. The person I'm taking you to can do that!"

Now in the middle of Gate 3, Daniella pauses in her tracks, also forcing Destiny to cease moving as well.

"Why do you always become dramatic at the worst of moments?" complains Destiny.

"Look who's the crybaby now?" retorts Daniella who is about to start laughing, but her cough interrupts her. It's moist. In Destiny's ears, it sounds as though Daniella is about to have mucus come out of her mouth. Destiny instantly rushes Daniella to the nearest ladies' restroom, where Daniella... does her thing in a stall while Destiny covers her ears in anguish. She manages to hear Daniella flush, wash her hands, and rinse her mouth.

Destiny finally comes closer to Daniella as she pats her mouth with tissues.

"Ew," remarks Destiny.

"Oh, shut up, you!" Daniella says as she tries to engage with Destiny in a hug, but Destiny immediately backs away, quipping "Whatever you have, I don't want it."

Daniella is about to respond, but she starts coughing again, running back to the stall. "Nope! There's nothing " She shouts to Destiny. I'm fine! Wait..." Daniella literally waits. "Yep! All good! We can leave now." she concludes as she washes her hands and approaches Destiny.

"Cool cool..." Destiny looks around.

"Um... what are you doing?"

"Looking for an entrance."

"To where? We're not -" Daniella tries to finish her sentence, but she continues to cough as Destiny continues to think. The latter has a lightbulb. "Ah!"

"What?" asks Daniella.

Destiny places her hand on Daniella's shoulder. "Close your eyes."

Daniella does so. Destiny snaps her fingers, and they vanish from the restroom they are in.

The chaotic duo find themselves within a suburban living room. There, a sophisticated-looking middle-aged woman reads from a magazine. Daniella peaks at the magazine. It appears to be Vogue. "This lady has impeccable taste..." silently observes Daniella. Sensing the duo's appearance, the woman raises a finger at the duo.

"One moment, dears. Allow me to just finish this paragraph." which the woman does. As soon as she is done, she places the magazine on the coffee table and gives the two her attention. She looks at Daniella first.

"You must be Daniella Spencer." remarks the woman.

"That I am." replies Daniella.

"Daniella, meet my mom." says Mary/Destiny.

"A pleasure to meet you.... Destiny's mother." says Daniella, which earns an eyebrow raise from Destiny's mother.

"You're aware that her real name is not Destiny, right?"

"Yes, I'm aware that Destiny's real name is Mary Christmax."

The woman tsks. "Mary Christmax Claus."

Destiny groans at the revelation as she notices Daniella's eyes widening once more.

"Claus as in... Santa -"

"NO!" exclaims the two women.

"Santa is my Uncle!" explains Mary/Destiny. "I believe you've met my dad before. He's at work right now though."

Daniella pauses and thinks. A few seconds later, it hits her.

"Oh my god." realizes Daniella. "Your dad is Cosmo Claus? Cosmo Claus is your dad? Is that where you get 'Eureka' from?"

"Eureka!" confirms Mary/Destiny.

Daniella nods as this all computes in her head. "Can I ask a question?"

The other two women nod.

"Cool." begins Daniella. "So if her dad is... her dad... who are you exactly? I know your Destiny's... Mary's mom... but -"

"I'm Ostara." interrupts Mary/Destiny's mom. "Ostara Primavera."

Daniella slowly nods. "Ostara as in... Easter?"

Mary/Destiny makes the cutting gesture at Daniella, but the motion is ill-timed as Ostara raises her eyebrow at Daniella, who instantly apologizes, saying "I. AM. SO. SORRY!"

Ostara shakes her head and smiles as she watches Daniella freak out and immediately start coughing, which takes Ostara aback.

"Huh. How interesting." observes Ostara.

"What?" asks Daniella, who is recovering from her cough.

"Mary, do you not notice what the cause is here?"

Destiny gives her mom an immature snarky look. "Why do you think I brought her here? She needs that attitude juice of yours."

"No...." replies Ostara. "Based on what you've been telling me about her, it's a little more than that. I'm gonna have to mix drinks."

"If it's juice-juice, I just want you to all know that I'm allergic to kiwis. Don't ask how I found out. I swear I didn't do anything stupid but... " Daniella continues to cough.

"Come with me, girls" requests Ostara as she motions them to follow her into the kitchen.

"Come on, Dani, come on." urges Destiny as she helps Daniella make her way into the kitchen, where Ostara is already pouring drinks into a jug from two other jugs.

"Oh wow. That's going to be strong." remarks Destiny. Daniella gives Destiny a concerned look.

"Mary, could you make sure that your room is tidy enough for Daniella to visit once we're done with our little lesson here?" asks Ostara in the most mom way possible. Her daughter shrugs and throws a thumbs up.

"Good luck!" wishes Destiny as she throws a peace sign to Daniella and heads upstairs.

A polite but awkward silence enters the kitchen as Daniella watches Ostara mix the drinks. It's a slow, meticulous process, but it intrigues Daniella.

"So is this a potion or something?" asks Daniella.

"Something like that," replies Ostara.

"Is one of the drinks the 'attitude juice'" that Destiny, excuse me, Mary was talking about?"

"Something like that," replies Ostara once more.

Daniella chuckles. "You know you are just as mysterious as y-" her words are interrupted by a violent cough.

"That's what you get for having an attitude," notes Ostara.

Daniella opens up her mouth to speak but more coughing ensues. Daniella decides to settle on saying nothing for the moment and to simply trust in whatever Ostara is up to... After all, if Destiny thought this was a bad idea, she wouldn't have taken her here. It's never what she had in mind whenever she thought of witchcraft and potions, but she'll take it...

"I think you should know that Mary is quite fond of you." remarks Ostara. "She usually doesn't like most humans.... but somehow you have been the only human that my daughter has grown emotionally invested in for quite some time now."

Touched, Daniella grasps at her heart, but since her heart is inside of her body, she ends up grasping at her left breast instead. Ostara watches this happen and chuckles. Realizing her actions, she releases her left boob, awkwardly laughing in embarrassment.

"Here drink this," commands Ostara as she forces the cup into Daniella's mouth and insists that she drinks. Daniella struggles to do so, coughing out some of the liquid, but she manages to get some down her throat.

The taste is unusually strong and bitter for so-called "juice. Daniella likes to think that the taste of the drink is a mixture of lemonade, aloe vera juice, durian juice, and bottled up revel berry-flavored Guayaki Yerba Mate... which sounds fantastically delicious in theory, but is extremely overwhelming and lowkey gross in its application.

Ostara senses Daniella's struggle. "I know this is hard to ask of you, but I need you to commit to swallowing the whole thing." sweetly states Ostara.

Daniella raises an eyebrow and immediately starts coughing.

"Do NOT get defensive. Your defensiveness is literally making you sick! Do you not understand that part?" lectures Ostara.

Daniella pauses. She takes the deepest breath she could take and motions for Ostara to give her the cup. Daniella takes the cup and chugs the whole thing in one attempt. It looks like her partying days from college are beginning to pay off as she feels as though it has prepared her for this particular moment. Once she's done, she hands her cup to an impressed Ostara, who pours her some more.

"What's the -" Daniella tries to ask, but she is immediately hushed by Ostara.

"Don't speak, just drink."

Daniella thinks another snarky retort that is tied back to her college days but she coughs a little into her elbow before she resumes drinking. Once she chugs it again, she hands the cup back to Ostara who pours it again.

"If you whine, you will get worse, I promise you that. Just one more cup, I promise. And take your time to drink it this time, alright?" assures Ostara with a creepy smile on her face. Daniella nods and drinks the juice. After finishing returning the cup to Ostara, Daniella feels a lot of mucus overtaking mouth, Ostara guides Daniella into the kitchen sink and lets Daniella vomit up all of the phlegm as Ostara holds her hair.

"I'm so sorry I'm doing this in your sink."

Ostara tsks. "Don't you ever apologize for anything in this house, ever."

Destiny, who has heard the commotion from her room, quickly runs down to the kitchen and witnesses Daniella's ailment. Once Daniella appears to be done. Ostara silently hands a weakened Daniella over to Destiny, who helps up the stairs and guides her into her room.

"Wow....! I didn't..." starts Daniella but Destiny hushes her as she helps her settle into her bed. "Don't speak, Daniella. I know just what you're thinking, but you need to save your voice. You're going to need it." explains Destiny as she takes off Daniella's boots.

"What for-"

"Shhhhh. Don't speak!"

Destiny helps Daniella settle underneath the bed sheets and comforter and settles her in.

"Get some sleep, Daniella. We all know you're going to need it for what comes next. Good night!"

Destiny turns off the main lights, exits, and closes the door behind her. All that is left in the room are fairy lights. Daniella tries to find a comfortable position but finds herself settling for sleeping on her back.

Within a few seconds, Daniella's eyelids grow heavy and the room begins to spin around her. The various posters and fairy lights around Destiny's bedroom appear to fly off the wall. The decor does a little dance for her and then spins into some kind of bioluminescent light show whirlpool which looks eerily similar to the black and white hypnotic spiral. She could swear that some lights just flew directly into her eyes, instantly knocking her out.

Daniella wakes up in her airplane seat. She gasps for air and pants nonstop as she looks at the window, noticing that the plane is still on the runway. She looks around her cabin and notices that passengers are still boarding. On the positive side, she notes that her coughing has ceased after all.

"Oh! Miss Spencer! You're awake!" exclaims Lexi who just found her. "I am so sorry to do this to you but-Oh my...You might want to wipe.." Lexi hands Daniella a tissue napkin while gesturing to her that there is drool on her face. Now blushing, Daniella quickly wipes the droll away.

"Thank you," says Daniella.

"Of course! It's always my pleasure to help! I actually came here to explain that there's been a mishap with your seat... so we're going to have to upgrade you to Business Class. I am so sorry for the inconvenience..."

Daniella shrugs. "Sounds good to me."

Lexi smiles. "Great! Let's grab your stuff and we can head on over!"

The stewardess once again guides Daniella to her seat and helps up place her items into the overhead compartment, takes Daniella's drink request, and goes about her business. Daniella, who was on autopilot through the interaction, slumps into her seat after buckling up.

"You know, it seems to me that there is always a catch to sitting in business class. What exactly could it be this time around?" silently remarks Daniella as she settles into her new spot and looks out the window.

"Daniella! My dear sweetheart! What in the world are you doing here?" exclaims a joyful voice.

An increasingly confused Daniella turns around. Her mouth is instantly agape by the sight that immediately greets her.

To be continued... 

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