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The melodic chime broke Lola out of her trance and dragged her back to reality. The young woman was up on the hundred and seventeenth floor looking over the city and everyone bustling around busy with work. She liked being up so high, invisible from everyone else and able to pretend, even if just a moment, that she was a part of their world. Because the truth was, she wasn’t. She couldn’t contribute like everyone else, and that made her a burden on society. But when she was up here, looking at the zeppelins floating by and cars zooming below, she could pretend. 

A little nudge at her foot and a blinking red dot on the little robo-maid at her feet demanded her attention again. Lola bent down, quickly scrolling through the screen to find what error message had sent it her way. 

[color=ed1c24] [b][i]Error 357: Lint Trap [/i][/b][/color]

Damn, just routine maintenance. Lola liked when she got the rare error messages, ones that would take most of her time to fiddle around with to figure out the problem. But the lint traps were a simple fix. “Come on little guy, I got you,” she said before heading towards the elevator and the service room. A quick swap of a filter and he’d be back on his way. There was already an older woman and a young boy on the elevator. Normally, Lola would have just grabbed the next one, but the robo-maid had already sped on and parked itself in the corner. She gave the two a small nod and smile, before joining in as well, pressing for her floor. Her fingers fidgeted with her uniform nervously. 

“What’s your element?” chimed the little boy abruptly. Lola wasn’t sure he was even asking her, as she looked quickly from the boy to his mother. The older woman just gave her a warm, motherly smile, and apologized.

“Sorry dear, he’s just learning about elements and their jobs at school so he’s been asking everyone.”

“Oh,” Lola said quietly, looking back at the floor quickly, not answering the question. [i]Twenty more floors. Come on...faster…[/i]

“Is it Alumieum?” 

“Aluminium,” his mother corrected him.

“A-lu-mi-num,” he repeated slower.

“Uh no…I can’t...it’s not aluminium,” she said quietly now begging the elevator to hurry up. 

“Well what is it?” 

“I uhm…” Lola said looking back at the boy and the mom again. She didn’t want to lie, but they were waiting for an answer. Lola’s mind went blank as she tried to recall the table of elements again. “I don’t have one…” she finally admitted, her face flushing red. The boy just gave her a puzzled look.

“You know, my cousin had a hard time figuring out hers. They went to a specialist and found out it was Unupentium which has such a short life so you can imagine how difficult it was to recognize. She’s got a job working with a couple of labs though, helping create them without the collider. Maybe you should go and see a specialist,” the woman offered trying to help. It was unheard of that people didn’t have elements, so Lola understood why the woman thought maybe Lola hadn’t looked hard enough. But she had seen specialists, done all kinds of tests. Hours upon hours of going through each element, each table trying to get something that worked. “A special case” they had called her. The older she got though, the less she agreed to continue the tests. It was a waste and every bad result was slowly turning Lola more and more bitter. She was a freak and that was that. 

“Uh yeah, that’s a good thought. Maybe I will,” Lola answered softly, straining a smile before the elevator finally offered her a reprieve. She quickly got off, the boy still giving her a confused look. Lola felt tears prick the back of her eyes as she heard the boy ask his mother if he wasn’t going to have an element and the all too familiar reassurance she gave back. 

But just as she was opening the door to the service room, the robo-maid chiming beside her again, she heard someone come up behind her. Before she could turn around and see who it was though, her world faded to black. The last thing she could remember was the chime of the lint error. 
[hr]

[i] That isn’t the hotel ceiling, [/i] thought Lola, still in a haze. The ornate dome was still spinning into focus as Lola fought off another wave of drowsiness. It reminded her of the time she was given anesthesia when she went in to have her appendix removed. But that was silly, she wasn’t having surgery. She was at the hotel, right? Her thoughts were muddled and fleeting. Every time she thought she caught one, it fluttered away in a warm fuzz. The sound of music and stirring helped her focus though, and soon she was able to look around a bit more. Yes this was definitely not the hotel. 

Lola quickly wiped away a bit of drool pooling on the corner of her mouth as she tried to sit up unsuccessfully. Every movement was heavy and like moving through syrup. Her attention was quickly enamored with the young woman dressed in flashy clothing performing unimaginable feats in front of her. Lola was entranced by it all, confused but completely captivated. She drank the water offered to her grateful to quench the cottony feel.  

It was all Lola could do to keep up with the rapid fire question and answer session occurring beside her. One of the other people located in the seats around her was interrogating the flashy woman who introduced herself as Gardenia. Lola didn’t immediately register that they were talking about her, about the pain and suffering she had gone through without magic. But she was claiming now that she had the ability to summon plants and flowers. Lola hadn’t seen non-plastic plants outside of the small gardens that were used in one of her biology labs. But that was crazy, plants weren’t an element. 

Lola gave the blonde in glasses a confused look as he quickly accepted the offer. But he made a lot of good points and the offer was enticing. But what was that saying, if it was too good to be true, it probably was. It was then the realization hit. She said her father did this. He took away her powers. She grew up resentful and bitter because of a shard? “You…” Lola started, her voice cracking. She cleared her throat and tried again, but stopped herself. She had offered to let them go, and return. Now that she knew about the shard, maybe if it was removed she would finally have her magic. But she could leave later, after at least giving it a shot, right? It wouldn’t hurt to see if the offer was valid. Plus, she wasn’t going to be alone anymore, there were others just like her.

“How do we unlock the shards? Can we do it now, before dinner?” Lola asked, her voice bubbling with excitement she hadn’t felt in years.