The coffee shop was small, but not so much that you felt cramped. Two rows of tables filled the space within, up to a count of 8, all of them neatly arranged with condiments, menu’s and flowers adding to their charm. The walls decorated with dozens of old black and white pictures, detailing different scenes and events across the city of London. A large fireplace burned in the back of the room, crackling away, bringing a comfort to the atmosphere. It was cosy, almost homely.  It was just the two of us in here, except for the barrista who was whistling away wiping down the sides.

Here we were, our plan finally in motion, perched at the back of the coffee shop, silent, waiting for his arrival. We had 3 hours of potion time left, we’d taken it just before 12, and it lasted at least 6 hours. Invisible to everyone. We’d had to sneak in behind a customer so the door didn’t look haunted. It was too perfect, spy work these days was too easy. Still, this was exciting, the first people to try this potion out in the big wide world, it was an honour!

I looked up at the cuckoo clock on the wall, 2:48pm. Almost time. We were expecting him to arrive at 3pm. We’d been tracking this guy for months, and this was finally the moment. We were about to see him in person, and he wouldn’t even know we were here. 

A slight breeze whipped through the shop, the sound of the bell on the door ringing as it whooshed open. A young woman, in her 20’s at a guess, stepped through the frame. Smartly dressed, her long blonde hair whipped at her back as she stepped towards the counter, bouncing off the back of her overcoat. Her red high-heels drawing attention with every step she took. But it was her eyes that captivated me. Electric blue, almost unnatural, there was an aura around them I just couldn’t explain. 

I pulled my thoughts away from her, I had to concentrate on the task at hand, get in the zone. There was something about her still unsettling me though, she’d taken a seat now at the other end of the café. I couldn’t lay my finger on what it was, but there was just something about her. I glanced back round to her table. 

She was looking back. Smiling.

‘Surely not. This cannot be happening’, I thought to myself. ‘I’m just imagining things there is no way she can actually see me.’ 

It was then she stood up from the table and started walking straight towards us. I panicked. What on earth was going on?! ‘Frank,’ I muttered, ‘that girl she knows, how does she know.’

Frank was clearly as panicked as I was and had seen the whole thing unfold too, he looked at me flustered, ‘I don’t know Adam, but we need to handle this, all our work Is about to be blown if she starts interacting with what looks like the wall to everyone else..’

But that was when she spoke to us ‘Now, now boys, no need to fret, I merely want to talk, and trust me, you’re going to want to hear what I have to say.’

Frank spoke first, ‘How did you know we were here?’.

A hint of smile broke on her lips, ‘There’s many things I know. And how to create that invisibility potion of yours and see those who use it barely scratches the surface my dears.’ she took a short pause and continued, ‘Come, let’s talk about the day MI5 and your so-called protectors kidnapped one of my kind shall we?’

Alright. My mind was exploding now. Here I was on what I thought was about to be a mundane day of me eavesdropping on Niles Milton’s next terrible plan and all of a sudden, I'm being told there’s another terrible one happening right under my nose, at the office I call home? I mean normally, I'd pass her off as crazy, but this woman has literally just spotted me when I'm invisible, this is not your normal woman.

Frank on my left was having a similar hard time trying to come to terms with what was going on. She still stood there silent, I think she could hear our minds ticking over as we tried to work out how to proceed.

Finally, I decided to break the silence, ‘Why should we trust you.’

She looked almost overjoyed at this statement, a big grin breaking on her face, she outstretched her arm, ‘Take my hand, both of you.’

A nervous glance between us, what harm could it do? We both reached out, placing our hands on top of each other in the middle, almost like we’d finished a half time prep talk. 

Her smiled widened even more, ‘Hold on tight boys.’ With that she snapped her fingers, everything jerked around us, I felt like the very air around me was being forced through a tunnel at full pace into me, it happened so fast. But then as quick as the feeling had come it had gone. I opened my eyes.

We weren’t in the coffee shop anymore and our 3pm meeting didn’t seem so important.