Loki trudged through the rest of the shift regretting his choice, but he never let it show outwardly.

Instead, Loki made sure to spend the time studying the area around him.

The steampunk nature had left him confused about certain things.

For example, every few minutes or seconds, Loki didn't really know how long, certain gears on the walls shifted.

Well, this on its own wouldn't have kept Loki's attention as much as it did since Loki wasn't very interested in mechanical items.

He did study enough of it to make sure his alchemical puppets behaved as he wanted them to, but that was more of making magic bend things in ways he wanted to and it wasn't something he was genuinely passionate about like he was about runes.

The reason it grabbed Loki's attention was because for as long as Loki stayed there, the detection field spread around the area changed every time the gears turned.

At first, Loki simply assumed that different runic circuits were carved into the gears, which changed accordingly when the gears spun around.

Except no matter how hard Loki tried to observe any runes, he just couldn't.

For a while, Loki wondered if the same 'entity' that had trapped him and everyone else in an illusion before was responsible for hiding the runic circuits from his gaze.

After all, no one would expose a system directly to their enemy, would they?

This was what became a point of contention for as long as Loki stared at the gears.

'Why would the person expose the gears but not the system that caused the magic around them to change?'

"Luna, why do you think someone would reveal the gears but not the magical mechanism that it changes? Is it pride?"

Loki felt like Luna didn't even take her time to stare at the gears to think up an answer, as if she was far more advanced than Loki.

Luna looked at the gears and said something strange-

"I've always wondered why the Ravenclaw Owl asks us about answers it already knows too…perhaps it just needs to be reminded of things it has forgotten?'

"Oh!" An idea flickered to life in Loki's mind. "Could you repeat that again Luna!?"

"It just needs to be reminded of things it has forgotten?"

"No! Before that!"

"I've always wondered why the Ravenclaw Owl asks us about answers it already knows?"

"Yes! Precisely!" Loki nodded sagely. "This is a puzzle! It must be one! The creator must've set it up for inquisitive people like us!"

"...but weren't we asked by Shacklelightning not to become curious?"

Loki frowned.

"True…what should we do then?"

".....a secret's safe only if no one knows about it." Luna said while looking at the two other girls who were so openly discussing everything about Hogwarts gossip, before turning to stare at the other side of the hallway where the carvings of legendary animals of the wizarding world were moulded into short narratives.

Loki looked around and when he found no one looking at him he looked back at the gears and activated his spirit vision.

"Huh?" Loki was suddenly taken aback.

'The spirit threads…they're moving like wires…behind the walls.'

'Someone's controlling them by controlling their fate?'

'Fool pathway?'

Before Loki could do anything else, however, he suddenly felt sluggish-

Almost on reflex, Loki dragged his spirit body thread back to himself with a jerk that sent his head spinning.

'Dominic did say not to get curious…'

'Wai- Luna!!!'

Before any other thought could arrive in Loki's mind, he simply jerked Luna back by her shoulder.

Luna immediately grabbed Loki's hand as she rushed to hold it with both her hands for warmth.

As her face came into view, Loki saw Luna's eyes tremble with fear and suffocation.

"It's alright…Dominic told us not to grow curious about anything around us. This is likely what he was talking about. Let's stay away…"

Luna nodded, greedily gulping water from the bottle Loki had conjured.

As Luna calmed down, Loki's mind wandered.

'Has Mione's team encountered something dangerous already?'

'Why was Astoria sent to her team while Ginny to ours? Wouldn't it have been more meaningful if Ginny was in Harry's team? Given how much she clearly 'likes' him?'

Not having answers to such questions, Loki closed his eyes for a 'brief' moment before opening them once again to find Dominic standing in front of him.

He was standing a lot further, at the door, but Loki hadn't realised he'd walked back to the door while observing the spirit body threads of the gears.

"Time's up Loki."

Loki's brows raised as he pulled out his coin and performed a simple toss.

"Heads…you're real.", Loki said with a little confusion since Dominic looked rather ridiculous in his current outfit.

Dominic was wearing a hat with a pinwheel attached to its head.

It spun enchantingly enough that Luna was curious about it, but given her most recent fright because of curiosity, she kept looking away.

"The hat's for helping avoid whatever's happening in here?" Loki asked dryly, wondering why they hadn't just been given a hat too.

"Yes. And this is the only one of its kind."

"I see…" with the question answered, Loki walked back with his team following him as he followed Dominic who was standing at the door.

Once they all stepped outside they all simultaneously took a deep breath in.

Luna was perfectly fine since she knew nothing about her memories but she did become stable enough to let go of Loki's hand. Yet, she occasionally trembled.

Ginny and Susan suddenly realised just how much time they'd spent talking about absolutely nonsensical things with each other and blushed heavily but that didn't last long when they realised that their throats were as dry as a desert and felt like grating sandpapers.

Loki was the only one who 'seemed' normal.

But that was only because he was using illusions to look normal.

Otherwise, he too was conjuring water to sooth his nerves and cool down his overheating brain.

'I didn't think about it much inside that room...but the fool pathway? Marionettes? Do the Unspeakables have a Fool pathway Beyonder in their midst?'

'No that would be a much bigger news if it were true.'

'So something else?'

'But what?'

'Some demonic item? Like my Disk of Wishes?'

'Given how the Miracle Invoker is Sequence 2 a mere Marionette Beyonder Characteristic should indeed be much more common.'

'But all the gears in there had their spirit body threads plucked away.'

Loki frowned as he reached a different conclusion.

'That wasn't the work of a mere marionettist. I'm sure the Sequence 5 Marionettist can only control three maximum people at once.'

'But the Fool Blasphemy card is with Helena…'

Loki put his thoughts on the matter aside for now as he broke his illusion and asked Dominic a simple question.

"Everything alright with the other team?"

Dominic laughed which made Ginny feel strange for a second before her eyes widened.

"No way! Ron!?" Ginny practically gasped.

"Yes…your brother…he started crying…he had to be isolated after he started losing control from seeing spiders everywhere."

Loki deadpanned.

'Spiders?'

'Seriously!? He's a Beyonder and he's still afraid of spiders?'

Ginny blushed and kept her head down as Susan tried cheering her up, but her throat was still too sore to talk right now.

As such, Luna was the only one left-

"Roonie Toonie has a nice ring to it."

Everyone's eyes widened at the same time before they all brought their hands to their lips to keep their laughs quiet, some out of respect but others because their throats would hurt because of laughter.

"PPfffftttttt." they all snickered at the same time.

Ginny suddenly emboldened made it her mission to tease Ron with his new name in the Gryffindor common room.

Loki, who noticed this, only shook his head in a call for mercy for Ron.

'Poor guy, he just can't catch a break can he…'

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A/N : Thank you for reading.