PREVIOUSLY: Julie told Clarke’s sister that she had a way to not cut herself off completely. Chartreuse struggled with how to admit her feelings to Carrie.

PART 75b: MORE QUESTIONING

Clarke followed Tim upstairs to his bedroom. “You know, we could simply talk down in the living room,” he suggested.

Tim shook his head. “All discussions with L-Luci about L-Linquist’s l-language have been in my room. M-Might as well keep the weirdness confined to that part of the house.”

Clarke frowned. “What’s Julie doing that’s weird?”

“Nothing. S-Sorry, that’s not what I m-meant…” Tim pushed open the door to his room then gestured at his desk chair, moving to sit on the edge of his bed. Clarke closed the door after them before sitting. “It’s just, everything’s kinda connected,” Tim finished. “And I don’t want m-my parents walking in at a bad time.”

“Right. Okay.” Clarke rubbed his neck. It felt like they should ease into the conversation. “So, how are your studies?”

Tim smiled. “Fine. Also, Julie appreciated your birthday card.”

Or Tim could cut to the chase for him. “She… said that?”

“Not at first,” Tim admitted. “I’m still trying to understand her m-mannerisms. Her exact words were, ‘At least he didn’t send a gift too’, but she seemed flustered. The way L-Luci gets sometimes when explaining to me about a l-linguistic time travel thing that once included Frank.”

“Ah. And her parents, did they…"

“They d-didn’t do anything. They d-didn’t even come back to town this year. Jeeves got Julie a cake, that seemed to be enough.”

“Right,” Clarke said, feeling relieved. He’d hated the idea of not being there for Julie while her parents were around. A thought occurred. “How much has she told you anyway? About her family?”

Clarke nodded. “Except she won’t tell me directly.”

He licked his lips. “I think she knows that, unlike me, you’d end up pressing her for m-more details. Or m-maybe that she’d hate herself m-more for not giving them.”

“Right. Well, what about you, are you okay with this arrangement?”

Tim uncrossed then recrossed his legs. “I was getting pulled back in anyway, through L-Luci. This is a g-good way for both you and Julie to be happy without j-jeopardizing whatever Julie’s doing. Plus I get a better idea of what’s really going on with all my f-friends.”

“That’s not exactly an answer.”

“Hm. Right.” The shorter blonde ran a hand back through his curls. “I’m okay with this,” he decided. “I mean, it’s one m-more thing on top of Corry’s band, but we’re high school seniors now. I gotta get better at r-responsibility and c-conversations and the like.”

Clarke nodded. “You will let me know if it gets uncomfortable though, yes?”

Tim smiled again. “For sure.”

After a bit more talk about Julie’s state of mind, discussion shifted to Linquist’s language, Corry’s band, and finally the courses they were taking that year. Clarke was struck by just how much Tim was becoming a part of their circle of “temporal friends”, while - like Lee - still managing to stick to the fringes of the action. He wondered how sustainable that situation was.

“What can I get you?”

Chartreuse looked up at the redheaded waitress. “A whiskey?”

Theresa lifted an eyebrow. “Unless you’ve had a few extra birthdays, I think you’ll need to try again.”

Chartreuse smiled weakly. “Right. Then, like, a water. Actually, two waters.” Just as well - she had no idea what she’d be like while drunk.

“You got it.” Theresa smiled. “And hey, whatever you’re working up the courage for? I’m sure you’ve got that too.”

As the cafe waitress moved off, the pink haired mystic turned her attention towards the cafe window beside the booth. The cold November wind was blowing leaves and scattered newspaper pages down the street outside. The pages reminded Chartreuse that midterm report cards would be out soon. Which in turn reminded her that, one year ago, Carrie had been in the hospital. Heck, about a month ago Carrie had been back in the hospital! So what if it happened again, and Chartreuse STILL hadn’t said anything? No. She wasn’t going to back off today. She couldn’t.

“Hey, Chartreuse,” Carrie said, shrugging off her jacket and hanging it on the peg by the booth before sliding in to sit across from her.

“Carrie,” Chartreuse acknowledged, watching her through the reflection in the glass of the window. She closed her eyes, counted to three, then turned to face her friend while simultaneously reaching out to grasp both Carrie’s hands.

“I’m sorry, but I gotta, like, say this now. See, you are, you know, so VERY important to me. Like, more than friends important. And, you know, it’s important for me that you know that, even if I can never, like, show you those important feelings in public.” Chartreuse swallowed. “Or maybe even in private. But I couldn’t keep holding it in, you know? So I hope you knowing about my feelings doesn’t, you know, destroy our friendship forever?”

Carrie raised her eyebrows and blinked her blue eyes, her gorgeous blue eyes. Seemingly on the verge of making a quip, with the corner of her mouth turned up, she then thought better of it, and instead said, “Actually, Chartreuse, I suspected you felt that way.”

Having not anticipated that particular response, Chartreuse wasn’t sure where to go with the conversation. She released Carrie’s hands from her grip. “You… but… h-how long?”

Carrie reached up and started to do that cute thing where she looped strands of her hair around her fingers and started tugging. “From when Clarke’s sister was in town. I got to thinking more about how you’d been reacting to me then, and as such I started paying more attention to how you were looking at me presently. To be honest, when I clued in as to your true feelings, I was squicked out. Initially.” She paused.

“Initially?” Chartreuse squeaked out, her insides feeling like they were being compressed in a vice.

Carrie sighed. “When did it start for you? Like, all summer, were you undressing me with your eyes while I was obliviously–"

“NO!” Chartreuse gasped. “It was, like, the dance, at the end of September. When we were, you know, doing that reading on Corry, and I worried I’d almost lost you. That’s when I really felt connected, when I really felt… felt us…"

Carrie let out a breath. “Okay. Okay, good, that makes me feel better about things. I think.” She yanked hard on her hair, hard enough to start grimacing. “Thing is, we BOTH know I date guys. So if that’s my preference, you know what that HAS to mean for us as a couple, right?”

Chartreuse reached into her pocket, squeezing the meditation crystal she’d placed there. Seeking a measure of tranquility in the inevitable end. “Carrie, I can’t say it. You have to, you know, say it to me.”

“Chartreuse…" Carrie’s eyes flickered all around the room, checking for anyone listening, or perhaps seeking a distraction, before finally bringing her gaze back to Chartreuse’s face. The blonde bit down on her lip. “Chartreuse, I… I… damn it, the fact is, I don’t know. I actually don’t.” She winced. “Ohh, no, please don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“That crazy hopeful look, don’t do that.”

“What look am I SUPPOSED to, like, get?!”

“Not that one.” Her already low voice became a whisper. “Chartreuse, seriously, I don’t think I like girls, not the way you do.”

Chartreuse slumped in her seat. “Carrie, you’re killing me here.”

“I don’t like girls - but honestly, with you I don’t know! So maybe you’re… different?”

“Carrie, I’m still a girl!”

“But you… go both ways.”

“That doesn’t, like, make me not a girl! Look!” Chartreuse straightened, stretching her arms out. “Girl parts. Same as you.”

“I… I know.” Was Carrie’s gaze lingering a bit on her body? Or was that wishful thinking? “Okay, let me lay it all out here,” Carrie sighed, looking out the window.

“Like I said, at first I was squicked out by the thought of the two of us. Particularly given how you’d been training me. But then I realized, the first guy I decided to really commit to, Glen? He turned out to be a trainer too! Worse, he’s mostly seeing me as Future Carrie, making him the latest in a LONG chain of guys who never did it for me emotionally. And with that realization, coupled with your apparent interest, came a questioning of my entire gender choices. Leading to me no longer being squicked, but more, uh, curious.”

She returned her gaze to Chartreuse, her cheeks colouring in a way that made Chartreuse want to hug her. “But DON’T get excited, because following that I, uh, looked up a couple stories. On the internet. And reading them didn’t turn me on. I just couldn’t picture myself doing, um, those things. In that way. So I’m pretty sure I’m straight. Except the girls in those stories weren’t like you, heck, NO ONE is like you, so… so we’re back to damn it, I don’t know. You know?”

“Not really,” Chartreuse admitted, wishing for all the world that she did. “I never, like, went through a questioning phase. My parents talked to me, I read some books, and it all kind of, you know, snapped into place.”

“Lucky you,” Carrie sighed.

“Could you two keep it down here, please? You’re bothering the other patrons.”

Chartreuse jerked her gaze over to Theresa, who was now setting a couple of water glasses on their table. She tried to keep from looking too troubled herself, figuring Carrie’s horrified, wide-eyed stare said it all.

As soon as the water glasses were down, Theresa raised both hands. “Wow, sorry! That was a joke. I don’t know what you said, you two girls have been as quiet as church mice. Quieter, even. CSIS is worried you’re planning some form of espionage. I’ll assume you need another few minutes before you order, okay?”

As Theresa moved off, Carrie let her bright red face drop down until her forehead was touching the table. Chartreuse reached over to give her friend a pat on the shoulder. “Carrie, would you like to, I don’t know, sleep with some of my crystals tonight? To, you know, relax your mind?”

The noise Carrie let out was either a laugh or a sob, it was hard to tell. Then she raised her head, and it was even harder to read her expression. “Sleep with your CRYSTALS? Oh, Chartreuse.”

“Carrie… um, look, that wasn’t, like, a euphemism…"

“I know. Oh, I know.” She reached out to grasp Chartreuse by the arm, and now her smile was genuine. “Please, keep being the random, confusing ray of sunshine in my tortured, temporal existence. Just know that, as far as any relationship goes…" Her voice trailed off.

“You’re still, you know, figuring things out?”

Carrie slowly nodded, then pulled her hand back. “I am. I will say something though. Something that’s going to break all the rules I set in place, including us not talking about powers any more. So promise not to tell Glen about this?”

Chartreuse nodded. “Of course!”

Her hair looped around her fingers again. “Okay. Here it is. I… last month, I… oh hell. I wiped an entire timeline out of existence. To save a single person.”

Carrie’s face had become neutral, but something about her eyes seemed to be asking ‘could you love a person capable of that?’. “Carrie…" Before Chartreuse could complete the thought, she was struck by a realization. “Was the person Frank?”

“Ow!” Carrie untangled her hand from her hair. “How did you know?”

“This, like, impression I had last month. When the two of us were checking on you in the hospital. In retrospect I thought I had, you know, misread his upcoming breakup with Luci, but if your condition back then was, like, linked to this wiped out timeline thing…"

“It was. And if you were that close to working it out? Maybe it explains why Glen seems to know something now too…" Carrie shook her head, then made a decision. “Chartreuse, I can’t handle this alone. After we order? No more secrets.” She smiled sadly. “I’m going to lay a timeline theory on you that will blow your mind.”

NEXT: Bad Signs. Care to cast the weekly T&T vote? At least one person found us there this month.

ASIDE: This was the first new part (separate from the original T&T writing) to be written since Part 48, and the “LoN” guest post, which started off Book 3; more Chartreuse was necessary here. New commentary coming this Sunday.

PREVIOUSLY: Glen taught Carrie how to temporally banish Mindylenopia. Frank and Luci broke up. Chartreuse fell in love with Carrie.

PART 75a: HI ANXIETY

“Hi Carrie! I’m in love with you. That’s, like, okay, right?”

Chartreuse smiled engagingly. For about five seconds. Then she knocked her fist against her forehead several times and cleared her throat. Finally, taking a quick breath, she looked back into the mirror.

“Carrie, you look so ravishing today, and you know, for the record, I’d LOVE to ravish… okay, HELL no.”

This time, the pink haired mystic paced back and forth across her bedroom floor several times, pausing twice to adjust the straps of her dress, only then resuming her position in front of the vanity.

“Carrie, here’s the thing. I feel we have a certain, you know, bond. It’s not about powers, it goes beyond that. It’s like, sometimes when I see you - particularly when you’re cheerleading - I have this, like, overwhelming desire to run over, grab you around the waist, and bury my face in your–”

“Please, I beg of you, don’t finish that sentence.”

Chartreuse yelped and spun around so fast that she nearly lost her footing. She managed to grab the edge of her desk to stay upright. “Azure! Privacy!!”

Her younger sister pointed. “Open door.”

“I thought you were, you know, out studying all this morning!”

“Faye switched it to the afternoon.”

“Well… SHOULDER, you perv! Bury my face in her, like, SHOULDER.”

“Uh huh. I would totally take you to task for that, if it weren’t for one thing.”

Chartreuse planted her hands on her hips. “What thing?”

Azure leaned back against the doorframe, shoving her hands into her jeans. “You’re obviously enough of a basket case about it already.”

“Thanks.” Chartreuse marched over to grab her bedroom door, with the intention of slamming it. Her sister reached out and slapped her palm against it before she could.

“Hold on. For serious, what’s the deal with you and Carrie?”

“There IS no deal with, you know, us.”

“I’ve noticed. What, did she find out you were a lesbian and kick your ass to the curb?”

“I’m not a lesbian.” She shoved at the door, but Azure shoved back.

“Oh, sis, really? You still talk like your last valley girl girlfriend, you CANNOT be that much in denial.”

“I’m, like, bisexual. Okay?” Giving up after a second attempt on the door, Chartreuse went over to her bed, throwing herself sideways onto it and deliberately looking at the opposite wall.

“Wow.” Azure cleared her throat. “Right, well, for the record? Mom thinks you’re a lesbian.”

“Bully for her.”

“I’m just saying. A day or so after that time I pulled you back from the brink? She sat me down and gave me the whole lecture about respecting people’s life choices. On top of the one about using our power responsibly, I might add. So if you’re going to start switch-hitting? You might want to give her the heads up.”

“It doesn’t matter, everyone’s, you know, misconceptions are safe. Carrie’s female too.”

“Okay, back to that. What, you think you’ve got a chance with that cheerleader girl?”

Chartreuse grabbed her pillow with the intention of throwing it towards Azure, but she ended up clutching it against her chest instead, not sure how to respond.

“Does Carrie know about your sexual preferences?” Azure pressed.

Chartreuse swallowed. “She’s, like, the only one who does. Aside from Laurie. And now you.”

“So you have a chance. Why’d she end your mystic sessions?”

“To be with her boyfriend.”

“So you don’t have a chance. I’m starting to see the problem.”

Chartreuse gripped the pillow tighter. “Thing is, I’m not sure Carrie can be, like, HAPPY with Glen. Especially recently, now that we know for a fact how he likes her for who she’s going to become, whereas I’M the one who, you know, likes her for who she is NOW.”

“Okay, well, you didn’t always feel that way.”

Chartreuse rolled over to eye her blue haired sister again. Azure was now leaning against the bedroom wall, hands behind her head, staring back at her. “Meaning what?” Chartreuse demanded.

“Meaning I’m not a totally insensitive jerk. I wouldn’t have teased you so much about Carrie if I’d thought you had the hots for real. You spent all summer together without wanting to jump her bones. What changed?” She paled. “Oh no, was it the teasing itself?”

“Ha ha, don’t give yourself so much credit.” Chartreuse thought back to that time at the dance, when she’d acted as Carrie’s anchor to the present. When she’d felt their hearts beating in tandem. When their powers had practically interfaced, and not only then, but the other time, days later at school.

“It was a little over a month ago that I, like, became consciously aware of something that I’d known for a while,” she concluded. “Namely that the two of us… resonate. Spiritually. Despite her, you know, fears, and her occasional bouts of bitchiness doing their best to mask it. Once I was past that, deep down… I saw we, like, resonate.”

Azure stared. “Resonate? What does THAT mean, is this some mystic family thing that I’m gonna understand when I’m older?”

“It’s, like, hard to explain, okay?” Chartreuse sighed. “It’s why I feel like I’m bisexual. I’ve tended to, you know, feel romance spiritually like that before it gets tied to gender.” She smacked herself in the face with her pillow. “A feeling which is NOW the reason I can’t quit Carrie.”

“No, you can’t quit Carrie because she hasn’t outright rejected you yet. Which, now that I understand where this came from, is because she hasn’t been given that opportunity, right? Is that what you’ve been ramping up to today, with your posturing in front of the mirror?”

“Maybe?” Chartreuse kicked herself back up into a sitting position. “I mean, part of me hopes that once she’s said ‘no’, I can, you know, get on with my life. Except, what if she says, like, ‘never come near me again’? I don’t think I could TAKE that, and we’re still sorta friends now, so maybe I should, you know, keep trying to be happy with that.”

“Mmm hmmm. What if she says ‘yes’?”

Chartreuse felt thrown off her stride. “What?”

“You’re building up this huge confession/rejection scenario in your head, and time delaying it as much as you can. Well, what if Carrie says ‘yes’ to a relationship? What if our whole school starts talking about you two as this huge lesbian couple, because they don’t understand the whole bisexual thing?”

Chartreuse bit down on her lip. “Oh, geez. I like to think I wouldn’t, like, care that much. But Carrie sure would. Which means there’s, you know, no WAY I can talk to her.”

“Oh no, you HAVE to talk to her. Otherwise you’ll go nuts. More than usual. But you also have to see the repercussions from Carrie’s point of view. Otherwise you’re not gonna be able to interpret her answer, and you’ll be back here moaning in another two weeks.”

Chartreuse shifted her gaze from Azure back to her vanity. “Huh. Meaning… when I say it… don’t, like, make it a formal declaration? Because that makes it awkward. And about me. When it’s, you know, more about me caring for her in a special way. From afar, if necessary.” She smiled. “Heck, Carrie should like me framing it as being about her, she’s got an ego.” Chartreuse drew in a deep breath. “Thanks, Azure.”

“No problem. You better now?”

Chartreuse nodded. “I think so.”

“Awesome.” Her sister pushed off from the wall. “In gratitude, you’re now covering my laundry duty for the rest of the month.”

“Wait, what??”

“Bye sis, love you,” Azure said, waving airily as she vanished into the hallway. Chartreuse finally threw the pillow at her.

Luci spotted Frank shortly after entering the library. He waved her over, then returned to scrutinizing the book he had on the table.

“Okay, I’m here, what is it you’ve found?” Luci asked, leaning in to look over his shoulder.

“It’s…" Upon turning his head and seeing how close she was, he seemed to freeze up.

Luci took a sideways step away from his chair. “Sorry. Too close?”

“No, it’s… well, maybe. I’m still processing the fact that we’re not… you know.”

“Dating?” Luci finished. She shifted her weight back and forth. “You can send me an email or something with whatever you found out, if that’s easier.”

“No, no, that’s silly… we’re still friends, and I invited you here because this is something you really do need to see in person. I’m just… still processing.”

Luci sighed. “Honestly? I kind of am too,” she admitted. She pulled out the chair next to Frank and sat down. “Not so much the physical proximity stuff, but when I’m writing in my diary, like about a movie I want to see, I’ll first think ‘I should talk to Frank about this!’. As if that wouldn’t be super awkward. So I’m glad you thought of a better reason to call me.”

He smiled wryly. “Alas, it’s just back to time travel. A little personal project I undertook, to keep busy until Carrie becomes more forthcoming.” He glanced at the book of local newspaper clippings, then met her gaze again. “In fact, context first. You know how Carrie banished Mindy to some other time?”

Luci nodded. “Tough thing to forget. Carrie almost got you too, and Julie, and me.”

“Right. And Clarke later told me that Carrie had said she didn’t know when Mindy ended up. But ignoring the ‘when’, doesn’t it stand to reason that, geographically, Mindy would still have ended up here in town?”

Luci leaned on her elbow. “I guess. Temporal Carrie sure didn’t seem to be in the mood to be doing spatial calculations. Though that means it’s equally possible Mindy found herself floating out in Earth orbit around the sun.”

“Okay, that’s a chilling thought… I prefer mine. Which led me to the idea that, what if Mindy left a footprint back in that past? Here in town? One that we might be able to locate today?”

Luci frowned. “Like what? ‘Don’t let Carrie get shot’ carved into a tree trunk 400 years ago?”

“I didn’t need to go that far back.” He pulled over the newspaper book. “What’s your opinion on this?” He tapped at the section ‘Reader Poetry’.

Luci scanned over the entry he was indicating.

‘Back through time, to this Narrow Glen,

I’ve thought within it, now and then.

Of what I did, of memories lost,

Of charging forward, no matter the cost.

Thus, when what was old, becomes new again?

Do heed these words: Don’t trust that Glen.’

It was simply signed, “Mindy”. Luci jerked her gaze up to the top of the page.

“Published five years ago,” Frank acknowledged. “On the exact date in October when Mindy first appeared, smashing into our school. That’s how I found it. I thought I’d check those anniversary newspapers first.”

Luci sat back. “Damn. I mean, we have no guarantee that this was our Mindy, but that’s a freaky coincidence. And more to the point… only five years? It means that, even if we were to assume this ‘Mindy’ was eighty years old at that point…"

He nodded. “Mindy could still exist in our present.”

NEXT: More Questioning.

ASIDE: I wrote a guest post yesterday over at “The Archive of Unusual Events”, check it out here: 13th Floor Concerns. And while there, consider exploring more of Stable’s serial - unusual things surround us! Hope your Christmases were merry.

PREVIOUSLY: A violin was broken, and Megan said she’d be blamed. She told the principal there would be repercussions if he believed the others.

PART 74b: THE MEDIANT

“Hey, Corry. Sorry, but Mrs. Willis can’t talk with you now. She had to see someone about a violin. She did mention that this was on the music podium for you though.” Megan held up the USB drive.

“Oh. I see,” Corry said, frowning.

“Though you know,” Megan continued blithely, “since I’ve been so nice to you lately, I think it’s time you did me a favour in return.”

“Depends on if I get my recordings back,” Corry said, moving towards her.

“You didn’t make a backup, did you!” Megan smirked, dodging away from him. “Come come, there’s no need to rush. Let’s talk about Kim Carpenter.”

“Okay… well, I know of her,” Corry said with a shrug - and a glare.

“Kim is in the chess club,” Megan elaborated. “They’re having a tournament next week, and I owe her for the Julie deal, so I’d like for the girl to do well. If you catch my drift.”

“That’s outrageous,” Corry protested, even as he heard his sister murmur something to Chartreuse.

“… more going on … indebted to Megan …” was all Corry could pick out of Chartreuse’s reply, seeing as Megan was continuing to speak at him.

“I’m not saying she has to win,” the dark haired girl stated. “I just want you to get her in the top three. I mean, it’s about time I flexed my authority over you - or would you prefer I demand a more humiliating action?”

“Listen Megan,” Chartreuse cut in, stepping forwards. “Corry’s right not to, you know, get involved in this stuff just now.”

“Oh come ON,” Megan fired back. “Kim deserves a shot. And we’re going to keep talking about this, so long as I’m holding this USB drive!” She held it up again for emphasis.

“Thanks, I’ll take that,” Julie remarked, plucking it from Megan’s hands as she walked into the room behind her.

Megan jumped as Julie continued past her to set a violin down on the teacher’s large central podium.  “Next person to see Mrs. Willis, could they tell her the violin’s arrived?” the long haired brunette asked. “She was supposed to be picking it up from the office but I guess she got sidetracked. So I said I could bring it here.”

“Oh, of course,” Megan retorted, folding her arms as she looked from Julie to Corry. “The two of you working together. I should have guessed.”

Julie flashed Megan what Corry interpreted to be an apologetic smile before handing his recordings back to him. Then she leaned in, in order to whisper into his ear.

“Kim would want to win on her own merits,” came Julie’s quiet advice. “I’m betting that Megan never even asked her permission.”

Megan’s attempt to interrupt Julie by saying something about Kim’s disappointment was similarly cut off by an exclamation by Chartreuse. “Betting!” the pink haired girl challenged, hands on her hips. “You’re betting on the outcome of the game!”

Megan fired a confused look back at Chartreuse. “Well, what’s wrong with some friends making a wager?” she said defensively.

This whole situation was starting to click for Corry though. Julie would, after all, know Kim’s preferences, having been a former ally of Kim herself. So Megan getting him to rig the chess tournament would only be of benefit to her and any betting friends, regardless of whether his involvement was successful, unsuccessful, or even discovered. “Let’s have this out with her then,” Corry quickly whispered to Julie in return.

Instead, Julie drew back, shaking her head. “I can’t stay,” she asserted. “It’s probably best to leave you all to your own devices.” She glanced at everyone, then as she turned away, mumbled, “No need for the voice of another, right?”

Corry opened his mouth to protest, but then thought better of it and simply pocketed his band’s recordings. Megan was the first to speak up after Julie left. “Corry, please,” she insisted. “Don’t make me break out the big guns here or anything.”

The redhead frowned, not sure if Megan was turning her gaze towards his sister or the violin, so settled for a blanket, “You wouldn’t dare,” as his reply.

However, by that point Laurie had also started into a bit of a panicky run-on sentence about the feasibility of Corry giving help to Megan. Laurie stopped only when Chartreuse interjected with, “Oh, we’re, like, total witnesses! If anything happens here, we’re, you know, on Corry’s side!”

“HEY!” Megan shouted in obvious irritation. She rounded on Chartreuse. “Does that mean you would even lie for him?” Without waiting for an answer, she began to advance on Corry. “As for you,” she started, but got no further, lurching to the side. It was a little hard to tell if the stumble was genuine or planned, but Corry moved to help her regardless.

“Yeow!” spilled from Corry’s lips instead, as he misjudged the location of the central podium, bashing his elbow hard against it. The podium vibrated, even as Megan managed to catch herself on a stand, raising a hand to halt Corry’s advance. He raised both his own hands to acknowledge he’d keep his distance - which was when things took a decidedly bizarre turn.

“Watch it, the violin, the violin!” Laurie gasped, and out of the corner of his eye Corry saw his sister charge forwards, trip, and slam into the tall podium, wrapping her hands around the musical instrument.  The podium itself, which he granted might have been unbalanced by his earlier actions, now began to tip.

Megan began to lower her arm. “Is your sister… okay?” she mused, quirking an eyebrow.

“Yeah, don’t involve me in things with my sister around!” Corry retorted, turning to try and help Laurie out. Chartreuse was able to move a little faster.

“I’ve got ya!” Laurie’s friend shouted, jumping to catch her. However, Laurie was apparently more concerned with the violin.

“Here, quick, take it!” the redheaded girl said, shoving the violin at Chartreuse.

“I’ve got it,” Chartreuse retorted, and with a finesse that managed to impress even Corry, she was able to slide the violin onto the floor while dropping down on one knee, yet still get her arms back into a position to brace Laurie.  Though with her hands free, Laurie was also able to partially break her own fall.

As the podium fully overbalanced itself, Corry turned back towards Megan to check her reaction. Only to have the dark haired girl reach out and jab him in the chest. “Now Corry, about Kim,” the girl began.

Unfortunately, the half step back that Corry had taken to try and avoid Megan’s jab caused him to knock against Chartreuse’s leg, and now he was the one off balance. He instinctively reached out for Megan, trying to keep from falling. She only stared, dumbstruck, as he grabbed her arm.

“What ARE you DOING?” Megan protested, trying to twist free by pushing at him.

“Don’t shove me!” Corry warned her simultaneously - but it was too late. He felt himself falling back, and pulling Megan along with him.

It was the feeling of landing on the violin that pained him more than the physical contact with the instrument itself. Though Megan dumping herself into his lap didn’t help the situation. Shoving her out of the way, Corry quickly rolled up onto one knee, but it was too late. It was possible that the neck of the violin had already been hit by the podium, but as to the rest… well, at this point the body of the instrument seemed beyond repair. The violin let out a feeble twang as one of it’s strings popped loose.

“Oooh, NO,” Corry sister gasped upon moving the podium aside.

“Brilliant,” Megan muttered, glaring at him.

“What do we do now?” Chartreuse wondered, also looking to the redheaded boy.

Corry fell silent after completing the story. Hunt scrutinized him briefly before speaking. “So your story is that while you were the direct cause of most of the damage, there were certain extenuating circumstances.”

Corry nodded. “Pretty much. Laurie tripping, Chartreuse’s leg, Megan being NO help… of course, I have no idea if their stories corroborate that. Laurie and Chartreuse weren’t in the best position to see, and while we were waiting outside, Megan said she’d put the worst possible spin on events unless I agreed to her terms about Kim. Needless to say, I didn’t do that.”

“Mmmm. Thing is, it seems possible that you would be accepting the bulk of the blame here simply because it helps your situation with Megan. Or alternatively, in order to avoid the breakage being blamed on your sister. What do you have to say about that?”

Corry shrugged noncommittally. “You’re certainly welcome to interpret the entire situation as you see fit. I’ll pay up, if that’s your decision.”

The principal rubbed his forehead, the whole situation abruptly reminding him of a movie he’d seen. “Rashomon,” he muttered.

“Sir?”

“Nothing.” The principal stood. “You may go. Come by the office fifteen minutes before school starts tomorrow. At that time, I’ll advise you and then the others as to my decision regarding culpability.”

Chartreuse slid into the seat next to Corry, plunking her cafeteria tray down on the table. She stared at him pointedly for a few seconds, before saying, “So??”

He looked back at her. “So?” he repeated easily.

Chartreuse sighed. “So, come on! You know, what did Hunt decide?! When I went to talk to him, he would only say it, like, wasn’t my concern any more.”

“So, maybe he’s right. Maybe it’s not.” Corry bit into his sandwich.

“Co-rry!” Chartreuse sighed in exasperation. “I’m serious! I mean, sure, Megan was at fault, but I’m worried I, like, came down too hard on her. In order to deflect away from Laurie. I’ve even, you know, started worrying that I mixed up who said what in a couple of places.”

Corry shook his head as he swallowed. “I wouldn’t worry about that. We all have selective memories to a degree. Come to think, it’s something Glen could manipulate, if we’re not careful.”

“But if I dug in too much, maybe Megan will target me - us - next or something! Aren’t you worried about her reaction at ALL?”

Corry sighed, then glanced around to see if anyone was specifically listening to their conversation. No one was. “Fine. If you must know, when Julie found out what happened, she went to see Hunt first thing this morning. And she’s using her own funds to pay for a replacement. As such, I got let off with a warning, violin case closed.”

Chartreuse blinked. “Oh!” She thought on that for a moment. “You figure Julie felt responsible, considering she, like, brought the violin into the room in the first place?”

“Beats me. Any discussions I have with Julie these days tend to be initiated on her end,” Corry said. “But it’s likely, and while her actions may consolidate our alliance, it doesn’t give Megan a reason to start a civil war. Satisfied?” He bit again into his sandwich.

“I guess.” Chartreuse looked down at her cafeteria tray. “So what are you going to do about the, you know, chess match?”

“I’m going to keep out of it and gamble that Kim’s smart enough to not need any help.”

“Ah. Makes sense.” She pushed her peas around on the plate. “So are you SURE that Megan has, like, no reason to–”

“Chartreuse, really? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you had some skeleton in your closet that you didn’t want Megan exposing.”

Chartreuse dropped her fork back onto the tray. “Right, well, that’s silly, because, you know, my default mode is weird, so what could she do to me? Thanks for the info, Corry! I’m gonna go eat with Laurie instead. To, like, reassure her.”

She stood back up and grabbed her tray, glancing briefly over her shoulder as she moved away, to see if Corry was still watching her. He wasn’t. No one was watching her. Especially not the blonde girl in the corner, talking to future-boy, about the things that THEY’D once shared together…

Chartreuse let out a breath through pursed lips. God, she had to stop obsessing. She HAD to. But thus far, every effort to distract herself from Carrie had ultimately led nowhere. Except back to her classmate. The girl she loved.

Chartreuse winced. Could it be that she had no option left aside from… confrontation?

NEXT: Hi Anxiety. You could vote at WFG with a click.

ASIDE: Anyone else know about “Rashomon”? ‘Farscape’ did something similar with their episode ‘The Ugly Truth’ - Hunt’s remark to start us off in Part 73a.

PREVIOUSLY: A violin was broken, and both Laurie and Chartreuse explained what they knew… from their perspective.

PART 74a: LEADING TONE

“Corry broke the violin,” Megan Falls said simply. She sat down, smoothing out her long skirt. “You won’t hear that from the other three of course, because they’re in their own little clique. In fact, my account is likely to be the only truly unbiased view you’re going to get… since I don’t particularly care what happens to them.”

“That strikes me as a bit pessimistic,” Mr. Hunt mused.

Megan shrugged, levelly meeting his gaze. “It’s simply the truth of the situation. Now, where did you want to start? When Julie first brought the violin in, or with Laurie’s klutz routine?”

“How about you tell me why you were in the music room in the first place,” the principal suggested.

“Oh, that? Well, I AM in the band,” Megan sighed, leaning back in her chair. “As such, I came by to talk to Mrs. Willis about one of our pieces. After classes. It was during our discussion that she was paged away, on account of the donated violin in the office. I said I’d wait around for her to come back, she agreed and added that if Corry came by, I was to let him know his USB drive was on her podium, if he needed it. That they could always talk about the contents tomorrow."

Mr. Hunt nodded. “All right. So then Corry and his friends showed up, and you said…”

“Hey, Corry. Sorry, but Mrs. Willis can’t talk with you now. She had to see someone about a violin. She did mention that this was on the music podium for you though.” Megan held up the USB drive.

Corry made some random retort, after which Megan cut to the chase by asking about a favour, but all Corry could think about was his dumb band recordings. He made a grab for the device.

“Concerned? Didn’t you make a backup?" the dark haired girl sighed, moving quickly out of his range. That made their whole situation awkward, as what she wanted to explain with regards to Kim Carpenter could look like blackmail. Nevertheless, she broached the topic, and Corry grudgingly accepted the conversational shift.

“Kim is in the chess club,” Megan continued, with exaggerated patience. “They’re having a tournament next week, and I owe her, so I’d like for Kim to do well. If you catch my drift.”

“This is outrageous,” Corry protested, as Laurie and Chartreuse began mumbling to each other.

Megan shook her head. “Look, I’m not saying she has to win. Simply hint to your people that she should be in the top three. It’s about time I flexed SOME authority, and she’s a devout follower of mine. Is this really so inconvenient?”

“Okay, like, listen Megan,” Chartreuse randomly put in, stepping forwards. “It is, you know, totally not cool for Corry to, like, do stuff like this, or some junk.”

“Oh come ON,” Megan fired back. “Kim deserves a shot. Now, how long am I going to be holding this device?”

“Thanks, I’ll take it,” Julie remarked, entering the room behind Megan and plucking the USB drive from her hands.

Megan jumped as Julie continued past her to set a violin down on the teacher’s large central podium. “Next person to see Mrs. Willis, could they tell her the violin’s arrived?” the long haired brunette asked. “She was supposed to be picking it up from the office but I guess she got sidetracked. So I said I could bring it here.”

Megan paused. “Why DID Julie end up with the violin anyway, Mr. Hunt?”

The principal interlaced his fingers. “Mrs. Willis was apparently delayed in getting to the office by a matter of some importance with a colleague. The person donating the violin had to depart, and rather than leave the instrument with the secretaries, as the office was closing soon, he preferred to give it to a reliable student who would come directly to the music room. Namely Miss LaMille.”

Megan tapped her finger against her lips. “Hm. I suppose I’d assumed it was something of that sort,” she said noncommittally. “Anyway, after JULIE got there…”

Megan looked from Julie to Corry and folded her arms. “Oh, of course. The two of you together, I should have guessed.”

She watched as Julie flashed a weak smile, handed Corry’s USB drive back to him, and then leaned in to whisper something in his ear. “Hey!” Megan shouted, hoping to break up the scheming. “Whether you have the recordings or not, Kim will be disappointed if things don’t go the way I’ve indicated!”

“Betting!” Chartreuse said, again randomly tossing in nonsense. She kept on yammering more inane stuff, and being more caught off guard by the interjection than anything else, Megan couldn’t disguise her surprise as she looked back at the pink haired girl. Were people seriously at the point of wagering on her abilities?

“Well, what’s wrong with some friends making a wager?” Megan challenged, refusing to back down. Chartreuse seemed puzzled as to how to answer, which is when Julie stepped back from Corry.

“I can’t stay, it’s probably best to leave you all to your own devices,” Corry’s partner-in-crime decided. She then turned to look at Megan. “I’m not his significant other, all right?”

Megan paused, but ultimately gave Julie a slight nod of acceptance at her desire to be seen as separate from the redhead. With that, the brunette left the room, and Megan stepped forwards.

“Corry, please,” she began. “Don’t make me break out the big guns here or anything.” She paused, realizing belatedly that she didn’t really have a big gun plan, and thus glanced quickly all about the room for inspiration.

Laurie cleared her throat. “Um, Megan, maybe Corry could help you if you call the betting off, though I can’t see how he’d be of use since he doesn’t play chess even though you’re right he must know people who do and I’m a little confused here at what you want me to do even assuming I should be helping you out now…”

“Oh, we’re, you know, totally witless!” Chartreuse cut in. “And, like, completely on, you know, Corry’s side!”

Corry had spoken also, but it was hard to hear him along with everybody else. “HEY!” Megan broke back in. As everyone quieted down, she looked to Chartreuse first. “Are you saying you would even lie for him?”

That seemed to make Chartreuse stop and think, so Megan took a few steps towards Corry. “As for you," she started - but got no further as her raised heel caught on the carpet, and she stumbled.

“Uh oh!” Corry said, reflexively moving in to catch her. He smacked his arm into the podium even as Megan grabbed a music stand for stabilization. She held up a hand to keep Corry at bay, but before she could speak again, Laurie was jumping forwards and babbling about the violin.

Megan watched in surprise as Corry’s sister literally tripped into the huge music podium, grabbing at the instrument. “Is your sister… okay?” Megan muttered.

“Yeah, don’t involve me in things with my sister around!" Corry said back to her, coldly. However, as they spoke, their eyes were on Laurie’s antics.

“I’ve so totally got ya and such!” Chartreuse was shouting, jumping to catch Laurie as the girl seemed about to pull the podium down with her, violin and all. Fortunately, Chartreuse was able to grab the violin away and set it on the ground before it got tangled up in the whole mess. She even more or less stabilized Laurie’s fall.

That’s when, hoping to regain her control of the situation, Megan took the opportunity to reach out and jab Corry lightly in the chest.

“Okay, Corry, about Kim…”

“Hey, don’t shove me!” Corry exaggerated, stepping back… falling towards the ground… and grabbing for Megan, yanking her down on top of him.

“What ARE you DOING?” Megan shrieked, trying to twist out of his grip. However, both them and the podium were on the ground before she was able to pull her arm back. Megan quickly scooted to the side, out of Corry’s lap, and Corry rolled up onto one knee… and the violin the redhead had landed on let out a feeble twang as one of it’s strings popped loose.

“Oooh, NO!” Laurie gasped as both she and Chartreuse got their first good look at the damage. The body of the instrument itself seemed beyond repair - and of course, Corry had managed to put Megan into a physical position that made her seem at fault. No doubt for the benefit of Mrs. Willis, who entered moments later.

“Brilliant,” Megan said sarcastically to Corry. “What do we do now?”

“So,” Megan concluded, leaning forwards in her chair. “Since neither Chartreuse or Laurie got a good view, I’m guessing they either blamed me, or tried to act as if it was an accident. Corry’s testimony? That’s sure to blame me too, as he’ll claim I was the one who actually landed on the violin, courtesy of his ridiculous manhandling. But really, what happens now if you go with majority rules?”

Megan smiled, hooking some hair back behind her ear. “Let me present the likely scenario. I unjustly lose face to Corry in public. My many friends urge retaliation. Things escalate, school politics erupt, and you end up with a big mess on your hands! I’m also hardly in a position to be able to afford replacing the violin all by myself, so you’d be hearing from my parents too. Now, let’s compare that to putting the blame on Corry, where it belongs. He won’t DARE retaliate against me. Trust me on that one.”

The dark haired girl brought her closed hand down on the arm of the chair. “Heck, even if you don’t blame Corry, it’s his silly friends who put the violin on the floor in the first place. So I’m not the one who’s at fault here! Surely you see that now!”

Mr. Hunt remained silent for another few moments. “Are you done?” he said at last.

He wagered it was his cold expression more than the words that helped Megan realize she had overreached. She presumably had to force herself not to flinch, making a show of smoothing her dress again. “Yes, thank you."

“Then you may go, and send in Corry,” the principal concluded. “I’ll advise you of my final decision tomorrow morning. See to it that nothing ‘escalates’ in the interim.”

“So,” Mr. Hunt began, after a few moments of meeting Corry’s gaze in silence. “Who do you believe was at fault for the property damage?”

Corry frowned, then shifted in his seat to lean against the arm of the chair. “With all due respect, sir… the fact that you don’t seem sure of my answer after three prior accounts confirm for me that this situation is, ah, complicated. In light of that, I’d prefer to tell you the story from my own point of view. After that, you can decide on the answer for yourself.”

A pause, and then the principal nodded slowly. “All right, Mr. Veniti. Begin with your arrival in the music room.”

NEXT: The Mediant; Corry wraps it up. Thoughts on Megan?

PREVIOUSLY: A violin was broken, and Laurie explained what she knew… from her perspective.

PART 73b: DOMINANT NOTE

“So that’s when Mrs. Willis came in and saw the scene," Laurie finished, blowing her nose again. “Meaning the whole thing was really just an accident, but if you have to lay blame, then… then it WAS my fault. For knocking over the podium. I’m SO sorry Mr. Hunt! I promise that if you only suspend me for a week I’ll try ever so hard to never be so clumsy again!!"

Tears sprang anew to her eyes and Mr. Hunt sighed, handing over his entire box of kleenex. “Ms. Veniti… Laurie… please calm down. If things are as you say, then I won’t be assigning you a suspension. It would be a matter of making a form of financial remuneration to the music department.”

Laurie blinked. “A… a remue-what?”

Mr. Hunt shook his head. “Never mind. You’re free to go for now, Laurie. Tell your friend Chartreuse to come in next, if you would.”

Chartreuse marched in, closed the door and leaned against the back of the chair facing Mr. Hunt’s desk. She had to start strong, right? “Okay,” she began. “I’ll remind you up front that it’s totally not my style to blame people… but that said, if anyone HAS to get blamed for this, it should be, you know, Megan!”

“Please sit down, Ms. Vermilion,” the principal said, gesturing. “Try to leave the theatrics outside.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I won’t get too dramatic,” Chartreuse assured as she came around the chair to sit down. “Still, it’s important that you, like, understand the depth of what’s really going on here. Megan’s got it in for Corry, you know!”

“I am somewhat aware of their situation,” Mr. Hunt countered. “But I will not allow my opinion to be swayed by internal politics. Let us stick to the scene at hand, and begin with what Megan said when you all first arrived in the music room.”

Chartreuse bobbed her head. “Okay then. Here’s totally how it all went down…”

“Hey, Corry. Sorry, but Mrs. Willis can’t talk with you now. She had to see someone about a violin. She did mention that this was on the music podium for you though.” Megan held up the USB drive.

Corry frowned, immediately suspicious. “Oh, I see…”

“Though you know,” Megan continued, narrowing her own eyes, “since I’ve been so nice, telling you this, and letting you call the shots since the library, I was thinking it’s about time you did me a favour.”

“It depends, now give me those recordings,” Corry countered, stepping forwards to make a grab for it.

“What concern! Didn’t you make a backup?” Megan taunted, dodging out of the way. “Come now, Corry, don’t rush me. Let’s talk about Kim Carpenter!”

“Kim who?” Corry said in irritation, glaring at her.

“Carpenter. In the chess club,” Megan elaborated. “They’re having a tournament next week, and I owe her for letting slip the news of Joe to Julie. Hence I’d like Kim to win that tournament… if you catch my drift.”

“This is outrageous,” Corry protested, even as Laurie leaned in to ask Chartreuse why Megan thought her brother played chess.

Chartreuse looked back at her friend. “Well, there’s more going on here than that,” she murmured. “That is, Corry is still indebted to Megan after she helped with your picture.”

Of course, Chartreuse had suspected that it would only be a matter of time before Megan pulled something like this. Whether the girl had been giving Corry leeway merely because of how he’d helped get her unconscious body out of the library during the incident that day, or because Megan rather liked the idea of waiting for the best chance to publicly humiliate him, it was hard to say. But since this junior class girl never seemed to think ahead to the consequences of her actions, as evidenced by speaking so blatantly to Corry of these matters while his own sister was present, it was obvious to Chartreuse that Megan couldn’t be allowed to–

“Chartreuse,” Mr. Hunt interrupted with a sigh. “We are dealing with a single incident in the music room. Let’s leave the colour commentary out of this?”

“Oh, well, I’m just, you know, explaining why I chose to speak up to Megan when I did,” Chartreuse defended herself.

“Fine,” the principal stated. “You spoke. What did you say?”

“Listen Megan, now is not the time to get Corry involved in something like this,” Chartreuse objected, stepping forwards.

“Oh come now,” the dark haired girl countered. “Kim deserves a shot. And this talk is going so well, what with me holding on to Corry’s music,” Megan added, holding the device out again.

“I’ll take that then,” Julie remarked, plucking it from Megan’s hands as she walked through the music room door behind her.

Megan jumped as Julie continued past her to set a violin down on the teacher’s large central podium. “Next person to see Mrs. Willis, could they tell her the violin’s arrived?” the long haired brunette asked. “She was supposed to be picking it up from the office but I guess she got sidetracked. So I said I could bring it here.”

“Oh, of course. The two of you, working together. I should have guessed,” Megan glowered, crossing her arms over her chest.

Julie flashed Megan a quick smile, handing the USB drive over to Corry. She then leaned in close to whisper something in the redhead’s ear. Chartreuse only caught “… would want … betting … Megan …” over Megan saying something about being disappointed, but it was enough.

“Betting!” Chartreuse challenged Megan then, hands on her hips. “You’re betting money on the outcome of the game!”

Megan glanced back at Chartreuse in shock. “How did you… well, what’s wrong with some friends making a wager??”

Even as Megan spoke, Corry was muttering back to Julie, “… have this out with her…!” But Julie drew back and shook her head.

“I can’t stay,” Julie decided. “It’s best to leave you all to your own devices.” She backed away, turning to look at Chartreuse. “Don’t act like his mother, all right?”

Taking that as a hint to back off, Chartreuse fell silent again, allowing Corry and Megan to circle each other, while Julie left the room.

“Corry, please,” Megan said after a moment. “Don’t make me break out the big guns here or anything.” She paused, then glanced over towards the violin on the podium.

Laurie tried to say something helpful, but Corry already knew where Megan was about to go with this. “You wouldn’t dare,” he challenged.

“Hey, we’re total witnesses!” Chartreuse offered, to back him up. “If anything happens here, we’re on Corry’s side!”

“Hey! Does that mean you would even lie for him?" Megan challenged back. Chartreuse merely glared, watching her closely. Which was when Megan took a few steps forwards… and jumped for the violin.

“No!” Corry said, moving to block her, hitting the podium himself.

“Watch it, the violin, the violin!” Laurie gasped, charging in from out of the blue. For a moment, Chartreuse stood frozen in shock at Laurie’s heroic actions, even as her friend tripped and slammed into the podium, simultaneously grabbing for the instrument. Corry and Megan, looking as if they’d been about to come to blows, both stopped moving, looking at Laurie in surprise, one of them muttering something inaudible to the other.

“I’ve got ya!” Chartreuse shouted, preoccupied with leaping forwards and reaching out for the redhead. It looked like the podium was going to fall, and take Laurie down with it.

“Here, quick!” Laurie said, shoving the violin at Chartreuse rather than allowing herself to be caught.

“Fine, I’ve got it,” Chartreuse said, taking the handoff only to just as quickly slide the musical instrument onto the floor, in order to properly catch her friend. Now down on one knee, she managed to keep Laurie from knocking herself on the head.

Which was when Chartreuse heard Corry’s voice from over her shoulder say, “What ARE you DOING?”, followed almost immediately by Megan’s snarky voice, “Hey, don’t shove me!”

Out of the corner of her eye, Chartreuse saw the podium hit the floor near to where she’d placed the violin. Then Megan sat herself down deliberately right on top of the instrument.

As soon as Megan scooted free, the violin let out a feeble twang, with one of it’s strings popping loose. Corry let out a gasp and fell to one knee, staring in horror at the ruined violin. Chartreuse turned to better see herself, as Laurie finished moving the podium aside in order to get a better look too.

“Oooh, NO!” Laurie gasped. The body of the instrument itself seemed beyond repair.

Chartreuse fired a glare at Megan before looking over at Corry. “What do we do now?” she wondered.

“Which is when Mrs. Willis got there and so you’ll know the rest from her,” Chartreuse concluded. “Odd set of circumstances to be sure, but, you know, it’s pretty obvious Megan is guilty!”

Mr. Hunt frowned. There were obvious differences between her account, and the one provided by her friend Laurie, but one thing in particular stood out. “It sounded like you were facing the opposite direction from the violin. Did you actually see Megan fall on it so deliberately?”

The pink haired girl hesitated. “Well, okay, didn’t see that as such,” she admitted. “But Megan was sitting right next to it afterwards, and that fakey ‘shoving’ comment was, like, pretty telling!”

Mr. Hunt steepled his fingers in front of him. “Is it possible the podium itself fell on the violin?”

Chartreuse shook her head. “That, no. I wasn’t, like, being totally stupid when I put the thing down, sir. Is that what Laurie said? She must have got it wrong because I was, you know, blocking her view.”

Mr. Hunt looked a little closer at Chartreuse, gauging her sincerity.  “Very well,” he concluded. “You may go. Tell Corry and Megan that I’ll summon the next person in momentarily.”

Chartreuse nodded, bouncing up out of her seat. “Don’t go TOO too hard on Megan, yeah?” she added as she started for the door. “It might be possible for Julie or Corry to, like, reform her!” Then she was gone.

Once the office door had closed, Dell A. Hunt grimaced and looked over towards his window. He had hoped things would be a bit more clear cut after two accounts, instead they were even less so. Had it been an accident, and was Chartreuse now covering for her friend? Or was Megan really to blame?

Neither option felt likely. While Chartreuse did have a habit of making up stories, her heart was usually in the right place - so why defend Laurie by attacking Megan in this manner? And while he had recently determined that the Falls girl was trouble, it tended to be because she was pulling the strings… not deliberately sitting on them, so to speak.

Well, perhaps the up and coming Grade 11 student herself would be the best one to clear up the mystery. Yes, she had to be the next person he would talk to. Dell rose from his desk and went to summon her inside.

NEXT: Leading Tone. Megan’s account. Want to Vote at WFG?

ASIDE: Part of the reason for the various accounts is to emphasize perception, which is a theme. Partly it’s to get into the heads of some characters, especially Megan, who’s rather new. Thoughts?

PREVIOUSLY: Megan reigns supreme among the student body, having manipulated Corry and Julie. Julie spoke with Clarke’s sister about relationships.

PART 73a: FOUR PART HARMONY

Mrs. Willis heard the raised voices while still halfway down the arts hall. It helped that the hallways were empty, school having ended over half an hour ago. In fact, the music teacher was able to identify two of the voices - those of Megan Falls and Corry Veniti - yet there seemed to be other people in the music room too.

That’s when she heard the crash. Mrs. Willis began to walk faster, as there was the sound of more talking, along with the painful sound of a musical string twanging…

She rounded the corner of the music room door to see Megan, Corry, Laurie and Chartreuse grouped around the smashed remains of a violin. The violin that had been donated to their music program today.

The normally calm teacher’s eyes widened. Chartreuse opened her mouth to speak, but Mrs. Willis raised her hand, palm out. “Not - one - word. All of you. To the office. NOW!” she demanded in cold fury.

Corry patted his sister on the shoulder. When she didn’t raise her head from where it was buried in her hands, he angled his gaze towards Megan instead.

Megan, the junior student who had a habit of sowing chaos from behind the scenes, generally with her own selfish desires at heart. The girl who had also managed to get one of Laurie’s pictures published the previous month, in conjunction with a short story she had written. Thereby ensuring that Corry couldn’t go after her. Not using any of the same methods he’d once employed against Julie, at least.

Corry had known it would only be a matter of time before Megan’s demands would begin. She’d picked a hell of a day to start.

As if sensing the scrutiny, Megan turned her head, letting go of the cross on her necklace. “I’m going to tell him what you did,” she hissed. “Unless, perhaps, you agree to help Kim, as I requested?”

“I never pegged you as a woman of conscience,” the redhead said dryly. “But if it comes down to my word against yours, are you so sure they’ll believe you over me?”

Megan opened her mouth to reply, which was when the principal’s office door opened and Mr. Hunt strode out, followed by Mrs. Willis. He nodded to the music teacher, who flashed him a grateful smile and departed. Hunt turned his attention to the four students, seated in a row.

“All right,” the principal sighed, crossing his arms. “As Mrs. Willis was not present during the incident itself, I am going to give each of you a chance to explain what happened. I expect nothing less than the ugly truth. That is, unless one of you would care to come forwards and confess right now?”

Chartreuse leaned in from behind Megan to look uncertainly at the rest of them. Corry kept his gaze on Megan; he heard Laurie sniffle quietly on his other side. “Very well,” Mr. Hunt sighed. “Laurie, in my office first please.”

“Wait, Mr. Hunt!” Chartreuse protested. “She was, you know, only there because of me and Corry. She’s not involved!”

“Then perhaps she can provide me with an initial objective viewpoint,” Mr. Hunt countered. His tone allowed for no argument.

The principal waited as the redheaded girl blew her nose and took a few deep breaths. “It… it all happened so fast,” Laurie said at last. “I don’t know what to say, I don’t know where to start, I can’t… I’m just so sorry!!”

“Please stay calm,” Dell Hunt said patiently. “At the moment, you are not in any trouble. Perhaps you could start at the beginning - why were you and the others in the music room after school in the first place?”

“Oh. Well, that’s easy,” Laurie realized. She began to speak all in a rush. “Corry’s band - you know his band right? - they’d recorded some new songs and my brother wanted Mrs. Willis' opinion of the music so he gave her the files last week and she said she’d listen, then to come by today so she could speak with him about it. And Chartreuse came too because she was going to be meeting up with Lee later - he’s the drummer and Tim’s on keyboard and Glen does bass guitar y’see but I guess you knew that too, right? - so I tagged along too and when we all got there we walked in and found that instead of Mrs. Willis it was Megan Falls who was there and she had Corry’s recordings!”

“Er, right. Okay, slow down,” Mr. Hunt requested, leaning back in his chair. “Now then, what was the first thing that Megan said to all of you?”

“Hey, Corry. Sorry, but Mrs. Willis can’t talk with you now. She had to see someone about a violin. She did mention that this was on the music podium for you though.” Megan held up the USB drive.

Corry nodded. “Oh, I see.”

“Though you know,” Megan said. “I’m doing something of a favour for you by telling you this. I was wondering if you could do something for me in return?”

“Depends what it is,” Corry said, stepping forwards.

“Wait now, back up,” Megan said, shifting sideways and backing up too. “Don’t rush me. It’s about Kim Carpenter.”

“Okay, well, I know of her,” Corry said, shrugging. “She’s in the chess club, right?”

“Exactly. In fact, they’re having a tournament next week. And since I owe her one for talking to Julie, I’d like Kim to do well in that tournament. If you catch my drift.”

Laurie’s brow furrowed and she leaned closer to Chartreuse. “My brother doesn’t play much chess,” she pointed out. “Why would Megan select him to be Kim’s coach?”

“I think there’s more going on here than that,” her pink haired friend replied. “Remember, Corry is kinda, like, indebted to Megan for her help in getting your picture published.” As Megan finished saying something else, Chartreuse took a step forwards. “Listen Megan, Corry’s right not to get involved in something like this.”

“Oh come now,” Megan said, pleading. “Kim deserves better than that. Besides, I’m still holding your recordings,” she added, holding the device up again.

“Thanks, I’ll take that,” Julie said, pulling it from Megan’s hands as she walked through the music room door behind the other girl.

Megan jumped as Julie continued past her to set a violin down on the teacher’s large central podium. “Next person to see Mrs. Willis, could they tell her the violin’s arrived?” the long haired brunette asked. “She was supposed to be picking it up from the office but I guess she got sidetracked. So I said I could bring it here.”

Megan looked from Julie to Corry. “Oh, of course. The two of you together again. I should have guessed.”

Laurie watched as Julie turned back to the dark haired girl, flashing a smile and handing the USB drive over to Corry. Julie then leaned in to give Laurie’s brother a kiss on the cheek. Laurie let out a gasp of surprise, blinking several times.

“You know,” Megan continued, pouting as she looked to Julie and Corry, “recordings or not, Kim will be very disappointed if things don’t go the way I’ve said.”

“Betting! You’re betting money on the outcome of the game!” Chartreuse spoke up. “That’s not, you know, nice!”

Megan looked back at Chartreuse, surprised. “Why? What’s wrong with making a friendly wager?”

“I can’t stay. It’s best to leave you all to your own devices,” Julie broke in, now backing away. She turned to look at Laurie. “Keep an eye on your brother, all right?”

Laurie blinked and nodded wordlessly back at the brunette, who then left the room. When she looked back at Corry, she saw he was taking a few steps backwards at the advance of Megan.

“Corry, pleeeeease,” Megan was saying. “Don’t make me break out the big guns here.” She paused, then glanced over to meet Laurie’s gaze, seemingly asking her for help.

Laurie swallowed. “Um, maybe Corry could help if you just call the betting off?” she attempted.

Corry frowned as he saw where Megan was looking. “You wouldn’t dare,” he said.

“Oh, we’re total witnesses!” Chartreuse said. “If anything happens here, we’re totally on Corry’s side, you know!”

“Hey! Does that mean you would even lie for him?” Megan protested. Chartreuse then seemed uncertain. Megan took a few more steps forwards, only to stumble and fall sideways.

“Whoa!” Corry said, moving to try and catch her - but, in so doing, his arm smacked into the central podium.

“Watch it, the violin, the violin!” Laurie gasped, charging forwards to grab at the musical instrument before it could fall. She scooped it up into her hands, but becoming unbalanced herself, fell against the heavy podium. The podium rocked and began to tip.

“I’ve got ya!” Chartreuse shouted, diving forwards to help her friend.

However, Laurie quickly realized she wasn’t going to be able to regain her balance before Chartreuse arrived, so she tried to hand off the violin. “Here, quick, catch it!” Laurie offered, holding out the instrument.

“I’ve got it!” Chartreuse said. However, she immediately moved the violin down to the floor, being more concerned for the welfare of her friend. Luckily, Laurie managed to break her own fall, while Chartreuse kept her steady.

“Wha… What are you DOING??” Megan said baffled, now trying to see past Corry’s shoulder.

“Hey, don’t shove me!” Corry protested.

The podium finished it’s crash to the floor moments later. Right on top of the violin! “Oooh, NO!” Laurie gasped. In desperation, she got to her knees and pushed past Chartreuse in order to roll the podium off of the instrument. The violin let out a feeble twang as one of it’s strings popped loose; the body of the instrument itself seemed beyond repair.

Laurie wrapped her arms around herself, looking towards Corry and Megan, who had dropped to the floor as well. “What do we do now?” she murmured.

NEXT: Dominant Note. Chartreuse’s account.

PREVIOUSLY: Julie agreed to talk to Mary Clarke. Carrie had a condition for all the interactions.

PART 72b: THAT’S A WRAP

Mary sat on the couch rubbing her temples as Julie stood over her. Like Carrie, Julie had requested a closed session. And like Carrie, Julie had wasted little time in laying out the situation, backing up Clarke’s account of the time travel incident from last November. About her self-suicide.

The accounts matched perfectly – perhaps a little too perfectly? Because as much as she loved her brother, she had to allow for the possibility that discussion with his friends could have “filled in gaps”, consciously or not, in the eleven months since then.

“I’ll be frank,” Mary said at last. “If my brother hadn’t been so adamant about this talk, I would have thought it all to be a practical joke. As it is, I’m still sorely tempted to chalk everything you’ve said up to a mass hallucination. But okay - if you did truly travel in time, and DID come close to killing your parents… well, Julie, it’s a wonder that you can stand there and speak about it so calmly.”

“I don’t allow myself to dwell too much on the past,” Julie yielded. “Memory can be deceptive. Doc Golden taught me that.” She paused, then moved to sit on the couch next to Mary. “But I won’t say that my actions back then don’t haunt me. They do. That’s why I volunteered to go on more time trips with everyone. It’s also why I’m currently…" She stopped herself. “Why I allowed myself to be put into the position that I’m currently in."

“You mean with respect to your parents?”

Julie shook her head. “No way. They’ve been a non-factor for close to a year now. And with Golden’s help, I’ve been dealing with the fact that my parents don’t love me, not to mention my little self-destructive impulses. Plus Jeeves is acting more and more like a father to me, and as long as he doesn’t outright demand custody, mom and dad are content to let sleeping dogs lie. They see it as better than a huge legal scandal. No, I meant the position with respect to my isolation.”

“Okay, so like my brother, I’ve missed the direct link. Why are you pulling away from everyone?"

Julie leaned back. “How much do you know about someone named Glen Oaks?”

Mary shrugged. “He’s the guy going out with Carrie, right?”

“He’s also from the future and he has crazy mental powers that allow him to alter the will of others.”

Again Mary found herself raking her hand back through her hair. She wondered why more psychiatrists didn’t go bald. “That’s a new one on me,” she admitted.

Julie stood up again. “See, this whole thing, it’s bigger than you, bigger than me, bigger than all of us. Clar– Phil, bless his heart, he thinks there can still be a simple answer to everything. This time, there isn’t. However… and you can tell him this if you like… I know it will all work out in the end.”

“How can you be sure?” Mary protested.

Julie looked back at her. “Because I received a letter from the future.”

It was right about then that Mary decided they were all crazy… herself included. “A letter. From the future.” Mary sighed, resting her head back on a couch pillow. She fought back the impulse to laugh out loud. “And it told you, what, that closing yourself off from people who care about you, like Phil, would ensure peace and prosperity in the world??”

“Not in so many words,” Julie replied. “But it’s the reason no one can know what I’m doing. Not Phil, not Carrie, not anybody.”

“Then no one can help you,” Mary stated flatly, professional distance be damned. She glared at Julie. “And by extension no one can help my brother either, because he refuses to stop obsessing. So how about I write you a different letter? I’ll date it from the year 3000 and everything! We can use it to get you and the rest of your band off the psychotropic drugs, ensuring that you’re living in the present for a change.”

Julie looked back at Mary reflectively, drumming her fingers on the wall. “Look, if I tell you more, do you promise not to repeat the rest of it to anybody?”

Mary was pretty sure repeating any of the last five minutes to anyone would be an exercise in futility. She made a vague waving gesture in the air. “What the hell. I’m leaving tomorrow morning anyway.”

Julie continued to regard the other girl in silence for close to a minute before speaking again. “The future letter I got was in Carrie’s handwriting. So it must be legit. It directed me to watch her, and rescue certain electronic parts from her trash. Which I did. I’m now reconstructing the time machine.”

Mary stared. “Of course you are.”

“But the others cannot know that, lest word get back to Glen,” Julie insisted. “That’s also why it had to be me. Luci and Frank, they’re the ones Glen would suspect, not me.” She frowned. “However… there is one thing that bothers me.”

“ONE thing?”

“The letter was so vague. I mean, Future Carrie must have written it in a hurry, but even so…” Julie shook her head. “No specific dates. No indication of how the parts would need to be reassembled.”

“No mention of people you could talk to,” Mary added dryly.

“I’ve never been a team player,” Julie countered. “I work best in isolation, and over the long term. And this WILL take a while, surely another reason why I was selected. It’s just, something about the situation bothers me, and I can’t pinpoint it.”

“Loverly.” Mary finally pressed both hands to her temples. ‘I’d help you out, but you broke my brain,’ is what she was inclined to add. As it was, she opted for one last shot at psychoanalysis.

“Well, your situation has no easy answer,” she stated with a calm she did not feel. “What you need to do is decide what’s more important to you. Complete secrecy over some ridiculous one-woman plan that even you apparently aren’t allowed to completely know about… or being a little more forthcoming to my brother and the people who call you a friend. Hell, more than a friend.”

Julie’s face twitched. “It’s more complicated than tha–”

“Goddamn it Julie, it’s only more complicated because you’re MAKING it more complicated!” Mary fired back, patience gone. She rose out of her seat to stare Julie right in the eyes. “Not everything in your life is a damn conspiracy! Now, are you happy about closing yourself off from my brother?! Don’t think about it, just answer!”

“No.”

“Good. Then DO something about it!” Mary concluded, slapping her hand against the wall next to the brunette’s head.

Julie jumped at the action, then frowned, seemingly mulling it over. “There… may be something I can do,” she realized. “Thank you. So much.” A pause, and then, “You know, you’re a lot more ‘in your face’ than Doc Golden ever was.”

“I’m a university student,” Mary repeated, feeling the adrenaline surge leaving her. She pulled her arm back and allowed her body fall backwards onto the couch again. “As such, I think you’d better leave now, before I add anything I shouldn’t.”

Julie nodded, heading for the stairs. “I’ll get Phil to come back down and check on you.”

“I wish we didn’t have to do this,” Clarke sighed. He leaned back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling.

“You promised,” Carrie reminded him. “This was my condition. If Mary showed ANY signs that she was having trouble dealing with what we’d told her…”

“I know! I know, I’d just hoped… well, I don’t know, that she would be able to do more. Even help us going forwards. For that matter, Julie saying she’d ‘make things up to me’ is awful vague. What if she wasn’t serious? What if she changes her mind? What if…”

“Clarke,” Carrie interrupted. “You know your sister. Do you really think Mary will be able to handle the rest of her studies after what she’s been told? That she’s not going to be constantly worried about you? That she’s not going to mention the time travel to anyone else?!”

Clarke made no reply. He knew he had to grant Carrie her points. So he merely looked over towards the door to the basement. The room where he’d left his sister, minutes ago, lying on the couch.

He couldn’t see it, but at that moment she was, in fact, looking up at the redheaded boy who had walked up to her.

“Look, if you have any problems the doctor is not ‘IN’, okay?” the blonde university student groaned. “I need a rest. A lot of rest.”

“I’m not here about my problems,” Glen responded. “I’m here about yours.”

Mary sat up slightly. “I beg your pardon?”

“You are going to do something for me now,” Glen continued calmly. “Listen carefully. You are going to lie back down and forget everything you have been told about time travel over the last few days.”

“What?” Mary protested weakly even as she lay back down. “I… I don’t…”

“Your conversations with Phil, Carrie, and everyone else had nothing to do with time travel. They were simply discussions of a personal nature. Discussions about relationships and so forth.”

“They were simply personal,” Mary repeated automatically. “But…”

“Once I have left this room,” Glen persisted, “you will not remember seeing me, and the idea of time travel will seem as ludicrous to you as it did before Phil brought it up. Any apparent gaps in your memory will be filled in by your own mind. Do you understand me, Mary Clarke?”

“I… I understand,” Mary yielded, her body relaxing.

“Good,” Glen affirmed.

He took a couple of steps towards the stairway. Then, after he had confirmed that the door at the top was still shut, he looked back towards Clarke’s sister. “One last thing,” he said, unable to keep from smiling. “Before everything is completely forgotten… you will tell me what was said to you by the following people….”

NEXT: Four Part Harmony. Voted for T&T lately?

PREVIOUSLY: Luci and Frank have each talked to Mary, Clarke’s sister. Carrie is trying to convince Mary of time travel.

PART 72a: KILLER CONVERSATION

Carrie collapsed back onto the couch, breathing hard.

When she reopened her eyes, it took a few moments for the image before her to resolve itself into the concerned and slightly confused expression of Mary. “What… what just happened?” Clarke’s sister inquired softly.

“What did you see?” Carrie said testily.

Mary hesitated. “It looked like my quarter… vanished. Only to reappear a second or two later. But it could have been a trick of the light…”

“It wasn’t the light,” Carrie said, clenching her jaw. “I moved it forward in time.” Whereas if she’d moved it back, causing coexistence instead? Boom, and no more quarter. Not only more difficult, but far too dangerous.

Mary’s pause was longer this time. “And that’s the proof,” she concluded.

“That’s it,” Carrie affirmed, finding the strength to sit up and wipe her brow. “It’s the best I can do right now, without losing complete control. I’m still in training. Hence, using a quarter, not a person.”

She held Mary’s gaze until the older girl was forced to look away, back towards the coin. “I’m not sure I’m convinced,” Mary admitted. “However… I’m no longer as skeptical either.”

“Will you at least accept that time travel may be possible for the remainder of our dialogue?” Carrie pressed.

Mary re-pocketed the quarter. “I’ll accept that there is something beyond the norm that you and your friends are experiencing. We’ll call it time travel.”

“Don’t call them my frie–” Carrie cut herself off with a wave of her hand. “Never mind. On to my more ‘personal difficulties’, as you put it earlier. Okay?”

Mary nodded. “All right…”

Carrie took in a breath. Suddenly faced with the prospect of admitting it, she was no longer sure she wanted to say it any more. But if she couldn’t tell Clarke’s sister, who else was there? “I killed Frank,” she blurted. “And I had to wipe out an entire timeline to erase that misdeed.”

At first, Mary could only stare. Her voice, when it came, was uncertain. “You killed…”

“I don’t expect you to believe it,” Carrie interrupted. “Hell, I sometimes wonder if the mind that merged with mine was outright lying - the power I would have had to tap into to accomplish what I did would be immense. But the memories were too vivid. The pain too raw. So the fact remains that, by delaying my destruction of the time machine, I killed my frie– killed someone.” She slumped back into the couch, feeling exhausted. “I can’t even tell Glen that. He thinks we’re living a whole other timeline.”

“All right,” Mary said slowly. “Then you’re telling me that you are capable of altering past events?”

Carrie couldn’t help it, she laughed. She had to check herself to avoid coming across as hysterical. “That and more. Me and my powers, we’re balanced on a knife’s edge, and if I fall off… well, I don’t know, but I suspect it would be very, very unpleasant for anyone around me.”

“That’s why you’re retreating from everybody?”

Carrie tensed. “I’m not… well, okay, I am. But I have to. It’s the only way they’ll all be safe.”

Mary pursed her lips. “Seems you and Julie could have something in common then.”

“I don’t want to hear anything about Julie.”

“No?”

“NO!” Carrie said, standing up. She had to throw her arm out for balance, as the sudden motion made her dizzy after her earlier efforts. “Look, I didn’t tell you what I did merely so that you could psychoanalyze me into inviting people back into my life!!”

“Then why did you tell me?” Mary continued patiently, rising as well.

To her surprise, Carrie found she actually had to think about that one for a moment. “Because I had to tell someone,” she said at last. “It’s been gnawing at me inside. I thought… I thought maybe talking about it with someone would help.”

“And has it?”

“I don’t know,” Carrie admitted. “Does knowing about what I did change your opinion of me?”

“I suppose it explains why you’re pushing people away. But the killing you speak of, it doesn’t sound like you did it intentionally…"

“Of COURSE not!”

“So why would it change anyone’s opinion of you?”

“Because it changed my opinion of myself.”

Mary hesitated once more, so Carrie decided to save her the trouble of answering. “Look, it’s fine, I’ve said my bit, thanks for listening. It’s time you moved on to Julie. She’s someone you might actually be able to help.”

Without waiting for another response, Carrie turned and headed for the basement stairs. She heard Clarke’s sister offer up some final platitudes about friendship, but she chose to ignore them.

“Goddamn it, stop ignoring me!” Corry shouted. She heard him thump his fist into the wall of the LaMille living room.

“I’m not ignoring you,” Julie said, still refusing to meet his gaze. “I’ve heard every word.”

“Fine. Shall I drop by tomorrow to bring you to Clarke’s house, or can you make it on your own?”

“Corry…”

“Julie, you are GOING! End of story.”

Julie finally spun. “If I’d known you were going to act like such an ass today, I would never have let you in the house!” she snapped.

“If I’d known what a selfish bitch you were becoming, I never would have offered you that partnership in running the school!” Corry shot back, meeting her gaze.

The brunette pursed her lips. “Touche,” she yielded. “But my going to see Mary… it won’t change anything!”

“Changing things is not the point!”

“What? Then what IS the point?!”

“The point is, Clarke is damn worried about you,” Corry answered. “And he’s not the only one. This closing yourself off simply because of - what is it anyway? Glen and his mental powers? Whatever your reasons, it isn’t healthy! I admit, Glen worries me too, but there’s not much we can do about him right now. Besides, he plays a good bass guitar."

Julie sighed. “It’s more complicated than you make it sound.”

“I don’t doubt that!” The redhead paused. “Thing is, if you don’t go today, Clarke’s efforts will all be for naught. Efforts with my sister, with Chartreuse, hell, he’s risking being sent to the nuthouse by his own relatives for pity’s sake! He doesn’t deserve that. So you need to talk to Mary. Doesn’t matter what you say, be it the truth, some sob story about repressed issues with your parents, or what you’ll have for breakfast in the morning. Just go see the damn shrink, okay Julie?”

The two teenagers stared unflinchingly at each other across the room. “Fine!” Julie said at last. “But don’t expect miracles.”

“I never do,” Corry retorted, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Unless, that is, they’re the type of miracle which people like us manufacture, eh?” He fired off a grin, one that Julie found she could meet with a wan smile.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Frank replied, turning his head. He moved to rise from the swing he was sitting in, only to have Luci shake her head and sit herself down in the swing that was adjacent. She looked at the ground. So Frank did too. The ensuing silence was eventually broken by the sound of laughter from across the park, where a couple of kids seemed to be playing an evening game of tag. “You wanted us to talk,” Frank said at last.

“I’m not sure I love you,” Luci countered.

He jerked his gaze back up to see her looking at him, a sad, worried expression on her face. “Oh…” was all that came to mind.

“I’m sorry,” Luci continued, speaking in a rush. “It’s NOT you. It’s me. All me. Things in my history. Things that maybe, on a subconscious level, have had me pulling away ever since that logbook turned up. Leading to some conflicted feelings, and as long as I’m busy working through those, I don’t want to be in a relationship. Not with you, not with anybody.”

Frank stared. “So… we’re breaking up then?”

She winced. “I don’t… it’s… yeah,” she whispered. “We are. I’m sorry.”

“Do I get a say in this?”

She swallowed. “I… I guess? Thing is, some of my issues are about rejection.”

Frank tried to figure out where to take that. He felt strangely numb.  “Well, for the record, what I feel for Carrie isn’t the same thing I feel for you.”

“I said it’s NOT about that!” Luci retorted, frustration creeping into her tone. “It’s about something from my past. About a time when I chose to be silent, and yet probably should have spoken up!”

“And it’s something you don’t think I can help with?”

“I didn’t say that either!” Luci countered. “Maybe you can. Actually, part of me hopes you can. But part of me also feels like it would be weird, talking to you about it as a boyfriend.” She rubbed her temples. “It’s like, when these memories charged in, it was a harbinger of the end of our relationship.”

She drew a deep breath. “Ugh, which sounds STUPID, now that I say it out loud. I don’t know, am I the only one who’s been feeling weird about events lately? Have you felt ANYTHING like this too??”

She looked so insistent that Frank felt a need to think back. And a thought did occur. “Now that you feel mention it,” he said slowly. “Shortly before Carrie woke up in the hospital last week, I felt… I can’t describe it. Adrift, somehow. Like something about my relationships with people had… changed. At the time, Chartreuse gave me a funny look. But then Carrie regained consciousness, so…” He shrugged.

“But then it’s not just me.” Luci finished. She sucked her lower lip into her mouth. “Except…” She shook her head. “Somehow, I don’t feel like that changes this. Changes us breaking up. I don’t know, I hope I can explain it better once I can process it myself. For now, know that I’m truly sorry. REALLY. For hurting you this way. It’s the last thing I… I ever wanted to…” Her voice caught.

He pulled a tissue out of his pocket and handed it over. “So we’re breaking up then,” he concluded, this time not making it a question. “I suppose it would be worse to string each other along, right?”

Luci finished blowing her nose. “I guess. Though maybe I’ve been doing some of that too, recently.”

“Or maybe it’s that I wasn’t paying attention. I’m good at that.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “There really are no easy answers, huh?”

Luci choked back a laugh. “Oh no. Did you talk to Clarke’s sister?”

“Er, maybe. That is, yeah. I hope she’ll have better luck with Julie than with us.”

Luci’s different coloured eyes shimmered slightly in the fading light as he looked at her again. “She didn’t do such a bad job with us, did she? We’re talking again.”

“Yeah,” Frank admitted. “Yeah, we are.” And despite all the confused feelings he was experiencing, when he grasped Luci by the hand, he found that he could still smile.

NEXT: That’s a Wrap

PREVIOUSLY: Clarke needs Carrie to talk to his sister Mary about time travel, to help Julie. Luci spoke to Mary about her past.

PART 71b: PSYCH DOUBT

“Carrie!”

Carrie turned away from the cheerleading discussion she was having with Steve. “Clarke? What the hell are you doing out here, you’ve got a game in under ten minutes!”

“I have to know your answer,” the blonde boy insisted. “Before the game. About whether or not you’ll talk to Mary about you-know-what. Chartreuse said you’d think about it!” he reminded as Carrie opened her mouth.

The head cheerleader paused, then flashed a smile in Steve’s direction. “Go tell the others we’ll be running routine six to start. Laurie takes point, she’s been acting like a bundle of energy all week.” Carrie’s fellow cheerleader nodded at her, then as he went to join the others, the blonde returned her attention to Clarke.

“Clarke, you HAVE to realize this is neither the time nor the place.”

“Carrie, please, YOU have to know there’s no way I can concentrate on the game, not with this foremost on my mind.”

Carrie shifted her gaze to the side, tugging on a strand of hair. When she spoke, she kept her tone carefully neutral. “Okay Clarke. Because it’s you… and because of what you’ve done for me and Julie in the past… I’ll agree this ONE time, to do what I can to convince your sister. But there’s a condition!”

Clarke regarded the index finger which she was now jabbing upwards at his chin, and at the cold intensity of her gaze. “Name it.”

Mary looked down at the phone receiver in confusion before lifting it back up to her ear. “Did you just ask me if I enjoyed your school’s first basketball game of the year?” she asked, mildly amused.

The boy on the other end of the line coughed. “Um, yeah. Kind of a redundant question, I guess… we won, yay…”

Mary chuckled. “Frank - it’s Frank, right?” She waited for the murmur of assent before continuing. “Frank, something tells me you didn’t get my brother to put me on the phone merely to ask my opinion on this evening’s sports event. Though for the record, I was suitably impressed by Phil’s extra three pointer at the buzzer. Despite the team already being up by 10 points.”

“Um, yeah,” Frank repeated. “I guess you would be.” He cleared his throat. “Look, Clarke - that is, Phil - he’s not crazy about the whole time machine thing. And I don’t mean ‘crazy’ as in ‘thrilled’, I mean ‘crazy’ as in ‘nuts’. In other words, he’s not nuts. Really.”

Mary ran her free hand back through her hair, her smile fading. “Okay, well, apparently I’m due for a visit from Carrie tomorrow after school. I’m reserving judgment until then.”

“Yeah, Clarke - Phil - mentioned that to me before giving you the phone. But I figured it couldn’t hurt to have my voice back him up.”

“Noted,” Mary yielded. “Don’t worry, my current theory leads towards something in the water here rather than the need for extensive teen psych testing.” She smiled, though when Frank remained silent, finally prompted him on with, “So what did you want to say aside from that?”

“Um, well, Phil also said you can help people with their problems?”

Mary’s brow creased. “In as much as I can as a university student,” she said warily. “One who, incidentally, is starting to think she’ll need to have a little chat with a certain family member regarding her inflated status among his peer group.”

Mary could hear a slight chuckle from Frank. “Yeah, well, still,” the boy continued. “He thinks highly of you, so I was just wondering… in all those classes you take, where they probably talk about getting patients to discuss their emotions and such… uh… do they ever talk much about… love?”

“Aw… boy,” Mary said, correcting herself from the phrase ‘Aw, for crying out loud’. She moved to sit herself down in the nearest convenient chair. Even after two years of dating Doug, she still wasn’t sure about her own thoughts on the matter.

“If not, it’s cool,” Frank added hastily. “I just have this hypothetical situation, where there’s this guy who’s going out with one girl, and he likes her, but at the same time he’s very concerned about this other girl who’s been going through a lot lately. She has this shady boyfriend to boot, and so while our hypothetical guy likes HER too, it’s not exactly the same thing… yet even with that, he’s still worried about the girl he’s going out with, because now she may be avoiding him and he’s wondering if she thinks that he doesn’t care about her any more because of that other girl. Is that, er, hypothetically speaking, a thing that’s ever come up?”

Mary pondered the multitude to ways she could approach this based on what she was growing to learn about her brother’s friends. She decided to simply be straightforward. “As a matter of fact, I was asked a very similar question recently. Let me tell you the same thing I told that person. First: Your question has no easy answer.”

“I was afraid of that.”

“Thus, secondly, what you need to do,” Mary continued, “is decide what love means for you personally. Think about it. Talk to your friends about it, if that helps. And talk with Luci too, since she may have some of the same questions.”

“Err, how did you know that I was referring to…”

“I took a shot. Relationships are tricky things, Frank. But you’re only, what, seventeen? Don’t stress out over it. Give it time. Things will work themselves out one way or another, you’ll see.”

Frank sighed. “It always comes back to TIME, doesn’t it,” he said after a moment. “One other thing then, could you… well, could you also tell me what Carrie says to you, regarding your upcoming talk about, um, you know what…?”

“Depends on what she says,” Mary replied. “I’m inclined to say that you should ask her about it yourself.”

“Yeah… yeah, okay,” Frank concluded. “Thanks, uh, Mary. Sorry if I bothered you.”

“Not at all,” Mary Clarke assured. After a couple more quick pleasantries, she hung up the phone and walked out to the front hall. “Phil!” she called. “We need to talk! Phil?”

“Your brother went out shortly after handing the phone over to you,” her mother shouted back from upstairs.

Mary rolled her eyes. “Oh, loverly. Where did he go?”

“You did very well in the game,” Laurie said, staring down at the floor. “We’ll have a good shot at the trophy this year, I guess.”

“Yeah… you were great with your cheering too,” Clarke agreed. “I think you were even out-cheering Carrie!”

“Oh. You saw that?” Laurie was unable to hold back her blush. However, when she raised her head, the smile that had begun to appear fled her face. “Except you didn’t come to my house to talk with me about any of that.”

Clarke sighed. “No. You’re right. It’s Julie. I want her to talk to my sister this Saturday about whatever it is she’s going through. But while I think Mary’s finally going to be willing, Julie’s refused to see me. She won’t return my calls, and even Jeeves said he didn’t think he could do anything to help me out. However… I know Julie is still speaking with Corry.”

“So you want me to get my brother to convince Julie to see your sister,” Laurie murmured.

Clarke spread his arms out apologetically. “I’d speak to Corry myself about it, but he’s not keen on talking to me either. Not since he discovered how I’d apparently ‘let Julie close herself off again’. As if there was anything I could have done to stop her.”

Laurie bit down hard on her lower lip. “Why should I help?”

Her words were so quiet that Clarke wondered if he hadn’t misheard. “What?”

“Why should I help?” Laurie repeated, louder. “W-Why should I be the one to fix things with you and Julie?? I mean golly, Clarke, this’ll be the second time I do it, or don’t you remember how I told you stuff about Corry’s plans before Julie’s birthday last year? Which only allowed her the chance to hurt you like this now! Gods, Clarke, I don’t like seeing you hurt, I don’t like seeing what she’s doing to you when she ignores…” The redhead forced herself to stop, swallowing hard. “Julie isn’t good for you, Clarke. Why do you keep going back to her? WHY?”

“Because,” Clarke replied, now unable to meet Laurie’s gaze. “She needs me.”

“Maybe she’s not the only one.”

Silence hung in the Veniti sitting room, neither teen able to look at the other. Laurie finally spoke again. “I’ll talk to Corry.”

“Laurie…”

“I’ll talk to Corry!” Laurie repeated. “So let me know when Julie needs to show up at your house or whatever and I’ll see if we can work it out. I’m not promising anything, but I swear I’ll try because it’s you.”

Clarke reached out to take her hand. “Thank you, Laurie. I… I owe you one. Two. Big time. I’m sorry that you had to become involved in this way. Really I am.”

Laurie met Clarke’s gaze and immediately turned away, trying not to blush again as he squeezed her hand gently. The warmth in her cheeks told her the effort was futile. Just as futile as all her efforts had been to get Clarke to notice her. Perhaps, she thought to herself, this was a sign that was truly time to move on. “It’s nothing,” she murmured. “Don’t worry about it…”

Carrie sat quietly on the couch in the Clarke’s basement, staring up at Mary. Sizing her up, as she no doubt suspected Mary was doing to her. Of course, the two of them were alone, as Carrie had requested (well, demanded) that Clarke not be present while they talked.

“So,” the elder blonde girl said to her at last. “Time travel?”

“Time travel,” Carrie repeated back, her tone even. “It’s possible. I can do it. I have done it. Nevertheless, I don’t expect you to believe a word of it.”

Mary ran a hand back through her hair before taking a seat next to Carrie. “Look, I’m not calling you, or anyone else a liar,” she assured. “But a claim like that? I need to see proof.”

‘My very EXISTENCE is the proof,’ Carrie thought to herself. But of course, she couldn’t say that. “Then I’ll give you the best demonstration I can,” she stated. “After that, if you’re willing, I would like to speak with you briefly on a related matter. Then tomorrow you can speak with Julie, or not… it’s none of my business.”

Mary offered up a partial smile. “Well, time travel or no, at the very least it looks like Phil’s friends have their share of personal difficulties.”

“Whatever petty problems anyone else has, I can top them in a heartbeat,” Carrie shot back. She felt vindicated to see the smile fade from Mary’s expression, yet at the same time, she also had a tinge of regret for being so harsh. She reached up to tug lightly on a few strands of her hair. “I’ll need a coin,” she continued before she could dwell on the matter. “A quarter or loonie would be best. One of yours, so you know it’s not a trick.”

“All right,” Mary said, reaching into her pants pocket and pulling a quarter out.

“Toss it on the coffee table there,” Carrie continued. Mary did so. “Now,” the blonde sighed, “watch the quarter closely. Please try to avoid blinking… I very much doubt I’ll be able to do this more than once without resting in between.”

Mary shot her a bit of a perplexed look before shrugging and turning her attention to the coin. As did Carrie, reaching her palm out as she concentrated on the piece of metal. Her eyes closed. With effort, she pinpointed the quarter among the infinite drops of water that were flowing through the stream that was time itself.

It wasn’t easy. It would have been simpler to touch the object, but in that case, surely Mary would cry foul. Carrie’s body shook slightly as sweat broke out on her forehead. Almost… there! She had it! Doing everything she could to avoid making her next move a conscious one, Carrie kicked at the droplet with her mind.

NEXT: Killer Conversation. Consider ye olde WFG vote.

PREVIOUSLY: In Book 3, Carrie destroyed the time machine and Julie broke up with Clarke.

PART 71a: SHRINK RAP

“Okay…” The word was hesitant, unsure. “Phil, you know what you just said, right? You’re telling me that, last November, or just under a year ago, Julie stole a time machine. Which she used to travel BACK to the year when she was born – whereby she tried to prevent her own BIRTH??"

“I know, it sounds crazy,” Clarke admitted. “And since then, Julie’s used it to stop people from the future who want to mess with our timeline. But Mary, I swear to God, it’s all true! And since Julie can’t explain any of that stuff to her regular psychologist, you’re the only one who can help her! After all, you’re studying psych in University!"

Clarke’s sister stared at him for a moment before raking her hand back through her short, dark blonde hair. “Phil… it sure sounds like someone needs counselling…”

“Not ME,” Clarke protested. “Just ask Carrie. Wait, no, she’s not talking to us - ask Frank or Luci. There really IS a time machine, and I think that’s part of why Julie has been adamant about retreating from everyone. Including me!”

Mary sighed and walked over to the window of Clarke’s bedroom, staring at the streetlights outside. She remained that way for a moment before turning back to him. “All right,” she said evenly. “All right bro, if this really IS true, what PROOF do you have?”

Clarke relaxed. “Give me a day.”

“What do you mean the time machine has been destroyed?!”

Frank reached under his glasses to press his thumb and index finger to the bridge of his nose. “If you must know, Carrie did it,” he said quietly. “She junked it after she got out of the hospital last week.”

“But… but… WHY??” Clarke asked. He realized that he’d raised his voice, and a few people in the school library were turning to stare. Quickly, he slipped into a chair next to Frank at the table. “Why?” he repeated, softer.

“I don’t know,” Frank continued, after observing the other students going back about their business. “She’s not talking to me about it. Heck, the only person she spends time with any more is Glen. My best guess is it had something to do with…”

He gestured at the far section of the library. It was still undergoing some repair after the van that had crashed into the building some three weeks earlier. When Mindy had come back from the future, only to be banished from their time by Carrie.

“But… look, Frank, I wasn’t kidding. I’ve got to convince my sister that this thing exists, so that she’ll agree to help Julie! And Mary’s only in town for the next three days, until this Sunday morning, so it has to be fast! Maybe… I don’t know, maybe somehow a message can be sent into the past, like the way we convinced Corry? Or could we convince Jeeves to get us into the mansion without Julie knowing, so that we can show Linquist’s old lab to her? Or…”

Frank slammed his textbook closed, cutting off Clarke’s voice. “Look,” he began, and for the first time Clarke noticed the pain in his friend’s voice. “The time machine is gone. The group is gone. I’ve tried speaking to Carrie, and she’s not talking. So there’s nothing short of a miracle that’s going to change her mind about things.” Frank paused. “I’m sorry, Clarke. There’s nothing I can do for you.”

Clarke clenched his hands into fists, then relaxed them. “I’ll find someone else who can help then,” he decided. “I’m not going to let this drop. I can’t! Julie deserves better.”

When Frank didn’t lift his gaze to meet Clarke’s, the tall boy stood and walked out of the library.

“Carrie, are we still talking?”

The response wasn’t immediate, and when it came, it sounded reserved. Wary, even. “Yes, but not about our powers,” Carrie said to her, without turning to meet her gaze.

Chartreuse tried not to fidget with the crystal around her neck. “Okay. It’s not about those. It’s, like, about Clarke. He wants his sister to help counsel Julie, but to do that properly he needs, you know, proof of time travel. And, well, now you’re the only one left who… who can…” Her voice faltered as Carrie finally turned to face her, with an expression that was part anger, part sadness.

“That’s about POWERS, Chartreuse!”

“Only indirectly,” Chartreuse protested. “Like, I dunno, maybe you could have Glen do something mentally for Mary instead? Please Carrie, PLEASE don’t be mad…" It felt like a hand closing around her heart.

Carrie finished pulling her gym bag out of her locker, then slammed it closed and leaned her head against it. “Chartreuse, you helped me through a REALLY difficult time. You have no idea how much I appreciate that. But if you’re going to bring this up after I expressly said to NEVER–"

“Carrie, come on, it’s Julie! Our friend! She’s, you know, closed off even worse than you, and I mean, it’s gotta be because of what we, like, all got up to together! Right?”

“That’s not my–" Carrie cut herself off. Then she muttered something, and Chartreuse wasn’t certain, but it sounded like ‘Timeline Two’. The blonde girl pushed herself away from her locker. “Tell Clarke I’ll think about it.”

“Okay,” Chartreuse said, unable to hold back her relief. Though as Carrie began to walk away, it occurred to her to add, “Are we… still good?”

“I’ll think about that too,” Carrie said, again without turning. “Right now, I need to get the cheerleaders ready for the big game.”

Chartreuse bobbed her head. “R-Right, I’ll be watching!” And trying not to picture myself in your arms, she added mentally. She shuddered, wondering just how much longer she was going to torture herself with the feelings she had… feelings that Carrie didn’t seem to return.

“Hello,” Mary Clarke said as she walked into the front foyer, drying her hands on a dish towel. “Mom said you came here looking for me…?”

“Yeah,” Luci replied. The girl hesitated. “Can we talk somewhere private? Where your parents won’t walk in on us?”

Mary hesitated, then gestured down the hall. “Basement’s as good a place as any. I’m staying down on the sofa bed this weekend; never had my own room in this house.” She glanced at the clock. “Though we’ll all be leaving to get to Phil’s basketball game shortly…”

“I won’t be long," Luci said slowly. “Thing is, if I leave… I don’t think I’ll be back."

“Let’s start a conversation then," Mary decided, venturing a smile.

The young asian girl frowned, but ultimately nodded. It took at least a minute after they proceeded downstairs for her to speak again. “Clarke tells me you’re pursuing a psychology degree,” Luci began at last. “That he wants you to counsel Julie.”

Mary nodded. “Look… Luci, is it? If this is about that time travel stuff he was telling me about last night–”

“It’s not,” Luci interrupted. “It’s personal. There’s some issues that I… I need to talk to someone about. And if Clarke has confidence in you, then I do too.”

Mary tried not to wince. She was tempted to tell this young girl that all she could realistically do would be to offer a referral, but there was something in Luci’s tone… Mary gestured to the couch instead. “Have a seat. But know that I’m only fourth year university, so if this is big stuff, I might have to bring in an actual professional.”

Luci sat on the edge of the couch. “I understand. I’ve had professional counselling before,” she asserted. “But I don’t want that, not this time. Not when… when…” Her fists clenched on her jeans, and her head bowed.

“Okay, ease up,” Mary soothed. “What’s this all about?"

Luci sat unmoving for a moment, and when she lifted her gaze again, there were tears dancing in the corners of her eyes. “I was abused by the next door neighbour as a child, which is affecting me now in ways I never thought possible.”

Mary exhaled. “Oh, loverly. You don’t pull any punches, do you."

Luci leapt to her feet. “And I know what you’re about to say," she said, pacing across the floor. “That you’re not the person to take this to. But I told you, I’ve been to the pros once before, and all that’ll do here is ensure that everyone at school gets to know I’m a head case. Again. I don’t want that! Because I don’t have psychological scars, I don’t, I dealt with it back then, I… I… damn it, the issue is, I don’t know why this memory has been emerging lately!”

Mary paused. “Don’t you?” she asked quietly.

Luci opened her mouth, then closed it, and finally threw herself back onto the couch, crossing her arms. “FINE. Maybe I do. Linford, Linquist, you don’t have to be a genius to spot the name similarity… except, transference aside, I KNOW they’re different people. And the log book didn’t trigger the crumbling memory block. So the timing is WEIRD. It’s like one evening I was simply thinking about Frank and then the images just…” She stopped, closing her eyes and thunking her head back into a pillow. “I shouldn’t have come here. I’m sorry.”

“Wait,” Mary said, raising her hand to stop Luci as the young girl moved to stand. “How is Frank involved?”

Luci paused, then settled herself back on the couch. “He hasn’t done anything to hurt me, if that’s what you’re thinking,” the young girl countered. “He’s been great, when I see him. Granted, of late I hardly see him, I’ve been more obsessed with this notebook I found because… okay, you want the Reader’s Digest version of my life?”

In for a penny, in for a pound. Mary nodded. “Might help.”

Luci took in a deep breath. “I’m adopted. No idea who my real parents were. The Primroses got me out of the orphanage when I was six. I was put into school with kids a year younger than me because I’d never applied myself in learning. There was also this neighbour, Mr. Linford, who… who took a fancy to me.”

Her jaw tightened. “I didn’t know at first. No one did. I thought he was a great guy, letting me use his pool. Then once I realized, once he started making advances… well, I liked my new parents, and my school, so I didn’t want to raise a fuss for fear of getting sent back. To the orphanage, I mean. By the time I finally told my mom about what he’d done, he’d flown the coop.”

“Is that when you got the professional counselling you mentioned?” Mary inquired as Luci took an extended pause.

“Yeah,” came the eventual answer. “I said I didn’t want any, but my parents insisted I speak with someone. After those sessions, I did feel better, I’d accepted it wasn’t my fault - and I closed it off. I thought I could shoot for happier memories. But maybe it was still hard to get close to people? I’ve chalked that up to my above average intelligence - heck, I’ve skipped three grades and I’m two years younger than my peers - but I guess it’s more. It wasn’t until I got to know Frank that I thought I could finally…” She stopped again.

Mary smiled gently. “Tell me about Frank.”

“Frank.” Luci pressed two fingers to her forehead. “Well… he’s intelligent, like me. With book smarts, that is, he’s SO clueless with people at times. He’s also… how do I put this? He likes me for who I am, and not in a bad way. Before him, I was all about growing up as fast as possible. Now I’m not so sure.”

“Is he the only one who likes you for yourself?”

Luci squirmed. “I guess not. But his opinion is the most important, since we’re kinda dating.”

“Kinda?” Mary kept her tone carefully neutral.

“Okay, we’re dating,” Luci yielded. “But we drifted over the summer. He spent more time on temporal mechanics than dating mechanics. And then when school started, he was more concerned about Carrie’s boyfriend Glen than me! Which… okay, I have to accept that in retrospect, because of who he turned out to be. But at this point, me and Frank aren’t talking any more.”

“Because he’s been brushing you off?”

“Yes! Well, okay, no. Not since I called him on it last month. Actually, he even took me to a school dance.” Luci slumped down in her seat. “Look, I see where you’re going with this. You think I should have talked to Frank instead of you. That he’d be more than willing to help me out, once I’ve confessed to him the deeper issues behind why I’ve gone all notebook vendetta on Linquist.” She thunked her head back again. “Maybe you’re even right. But there’s a bigger emotional issue at stake!”

Mary stared at the girl on her couch in mild fascination. In fact, that hadn’t been where she was going with this at all; she hadn’t even had a destination in mind. The use of questioning to allow the patient to arrive at their own conclusions… it was more effective than she’d thought. She wondered what her next question should be.

“What emotional issue is that?” Mary continued.

The silence that followed stretched long enough that she thought she’d finally said the wrong thing. But then Luci spoke again.

“It’s this," the young girl whispered. “The sense of joy and happiness I got when working on bringing down Linquist… it’s like the same feeling I got when I was going out with Frank. Which doesn’t seem right. It implies that both are simply a way I’ve been tackling that abuse from when I was young. Yet if THAT’S true then, well…" Luci looked back up at Mary, searching her expression carefully. “Mary… how does someone know if they’re truly in love?”

Mary’s eyebrow began to twitch. “Whoa boy.”

TIME & TIED

TT (Time & Tied) presents…

STORY 4: RESOLUTION

You can start reading ARC 1 below, no prior knowledge necessary! Or for added context, consider:

In BOOK 1:	In BOOK 2:	In BOOK 3:
A time machine appeared in the present.	Carrie learned she was tied to time.	Timelines were irrevocably altered.

NOW: The time machine is gone, but one huge issue remains… how can Carrie and the others in her high school fight against the future, when that future is Carrie Waterson herself?

INDEX: RESOLUTION

**CAUTION: No graphic language, but some issues involving people being psychologically abusive to minors. See T&T Cast List or WFG Listing.

ARC 1: SEPARATED

4.01: Shrink Rap + Psych Doubt

4.02: Killer Conversation + That’s a Wrap

4.03: Four Part Harmony + Dominant Note

4.04: Leading Tone + The Mediant

4.05: Hi Anxiety + More Questioning

4.06: Bad Signs + New Recruit

4.07: Double Blind + Timeline Five?

ARC 2: MOTIVATED

4.08: Cheer Up + Connecting

4.09: Truth and Consequences + Cross Purposes

4.10: Vanishing Act + Not Forgotten

4.11: Mum’s the Word + Do You Mindy?

4.12: Remaking History + After Effects

4.13: Temporal Alignment + Double Trouble

4.14: Adjustments + Crossing Paths

4.15: Powering Up + Closing The Loop

4.16: Miami is Nice + M.I.A.

4.17: The Plain Truth + Trapped

4.18: Getaway + Future Imperfect (bonus: A Future Darkly)

4.19: Identity Crisis + Timeline Three

ARC 4: TERMINATED

4.20: Fight the Future + Insight the Future

4.21: Reunite the Future + Rewrite the Future

4.22: Storming the Castle + Veni Vidi Veniti

4.23: Nowhere to Run + Timeline Four Redux

4.24: Realignment + Buffy’s Return

4.25: Endgame + Carrie Versus Herself

4.26: The Ultimate Paradox, Resolution, Respite II

Thanks for reading!

“Time & Tied” PARTS 67-68

1. Original Date Of Completion: NOVEMBER 24, 2003
2. What I Was Doing: In Ottawa, looking for a teaching job
3. Changes of note: -Removed an allusion to nudity that felt wrong (given the in-narrative author)

“Time & Tied” PARTS 69-70

1. Original Date Of Completion: JULY 30, 2004
2. What I Was Doing: In Ottawa, after an EOT, looking for a teaching job
3. Changes of note: -Altered an element of Luci’s backstory (see below) -Different “split” (commercial break) location for balance with: -Added Carrie’s mental conversations with herself (“Elizabeth”) -Added references to various timelines at the end

[caption id=“attachment_1334” align=“aligncenter” width=“211”] FRANK DIJORA
Commission from krakenface[/caption]

BAD NEWS FIRST

Right before starting T&T, I wrote an “April Fools Swap” entry for Jim Z’s “Legion of Nothing” site. April 2015 saw a surge of views from about 100 per month (for Epsilon) up to 300 per month (for T&T). Except by the end of Book 1 (in Sept 2015) I was at my WORST month EVER - only 91 views. (That’s page views, not viewers.)

Right after starting T&T Book 3, I wrote a “Guest Post” entry for Jim Z’s “Legion of Nothing” site. July 2016 saw a surge of views from about 300 per month (for Epsilon) up to 900 in a month. And now, at the end of Book 3 (in Nov 2016) we are at UNDER 200* page views for the month.

Yet it’s even worse. Not only has the site again plummeted to being less hyped during the climax of an arc than the beginning, Book 3 started running twice-weekly postings in September. (Including a “Previously” to help occasional readers.) So I have LESS hits on DOUBLE the posts! In fact, when Book 1 ended there were only 85 posts garnering those 91 views in a month. Now there are 176 posts garnering 190* views this month (projected). [*Final total: 220 views.]

Here’s how stats have looked on a weekly basis; the week before Sept 12 was when I shifted to TWO posts per week (can you tell??):

Isn’t that worse? I feel like that’s worse. Hell, “Shattered Part 2” (from four weeks ago) has ONLY FOUR VIEWS. Only three days out of the last thirty have over 10 page views (across 170+ posts) and only one of those days is over 15. All this despite getting a 3rd T&T WFG review from ChrysKelly in August (and a shoutout in his serial last month!), which was actually quite good. (Bright spot! Also the blog now has 10 followers. Woo!)

Conclusion: Is the “Time & Tied” story THAT boring? Or that inaccessible? Will no one else tell their friends? I know, I know, I waffle back and forth on making peace with my stats (I’m great but I can’t market) and throwing up posts like this (I fail as a writer). I’m not sure where I am now, but hopefully YOU feel better about yourself. Moving on to story analysis.

JUMBLED ORDER

[caption id=“attachment_1335” align=“alignright” width=“300”] Old animals sketch circa 2003[/caption]

I didn’t remove it entirely, because I thought we needed the mental break before the literal Luci/Frank mental “break”. It also foreshadows Glen’s actions (admittedly right before them, with no Clarke in between). Plus, hey, I wrote it, so why not. “Woodlands” itself was an attempt to recapture the “lightning in a bottle” that was Chartreuse’s story earlier in this Book about Tope Diamond. To that end, I think it fails? But does it still work as a comedy piece? … I hope so? (Does anything work on this site?)

There’s another jumbled order coming up - the start of Book 4 will be better served by swapping the order of the next two episodes, one acting as a better recap of this book’s events. Those will mark the last set of entires completed in 2004. Yes, four years of on-and-off writing, and the T&T storyline was getting away from me. I’d started it in University, then completed a year of private school teaching, a year of getting a formal Education degree at Queens, and a year of looking for high school work in Ottawa (and scoring a semester Feb-June 2004).

Speaking of teaching… yeeeah… as originally written? Luci was abused by a teacher, not a next door neighbour. (The “backstory element” I mention above.) Yikes. When I went back and looked at that on later edits, I had a serious WTF moment. I was not only disparaging my own profession, I was possibly making people wonder about me. (Hopefully NOT, I’m also not a misogynist like Julie’s father, but still, I imagine some cannot separate a writer from their works.) Changed at the first opportunity, and that’s the last I’ll say about it.

Something NOT changed was a sneaky hard date in the Woodlands story: Security Breach 08/22/88. That was the date of Carrie’s mother’s disappearance. And thus the date of the second time travel trip (Frank’s first). I didn’t see any other way to make reference to that in Hank’s story, so I simply left the cryptic numbers there… only if you’re reading this now, will you know it’s a reminder that no, I have not forgotten about Elaine Waterson. Hey, if that’s not incentive for Book 4, I don’t know what else is.

Book 3 is now DONE, as is Timeline 3, in a sense. The picture you see above is a sketch I made during the “Woodlands” writing. Laugh at my inability to draw. Let’s now get more into the rest, with spoilers for Books 1-3 only (not the one that’s incoming).

SPOILER SECTION

Did we have character arcs this time? Carrie was, of course, coming to terms with her temporal abilities - first through interactions with Chartreuse, then everyone, then Glen, and finally on her own. Hence how I labelled the arcs. I’m not sure how much she grew as a character; in some sense, she’s regressed, closing everyone out again. I hope her motivations make sense. Did you see any growth?

Frank’s arc went from being unsure how to behave in a relationship with Luci to literally giving up his life for her. Luci’s ran in parallel, as she tried to figure out her own emotional well being, while coming to terms with how demons from her past were a hidden influence on her present. Julie’s arc was largely building her back up to the force she’d been in Book 1, following her psychological crash in Book 2. Clarke didn’t really have an arc; one could argue he needs to find himself, he’s so tied to Julie - and now she’s cut him off.

Secondary characters? Well, Chartreuse’s arc was tied to her increased romantic feelings about Carrie. It was cut off by Carrie (but will keep arcing forwards). Corry’s arc involved his hubris and overconfidence, and now that Megan’s in charge, he may need to admit he can’t handle everything he thinks he can. Laurie and Tim didn’t have much of an arc (they’ll get more later). We saw more of Lee’s family, but again not much to him. Glen hasn’t really grown as a character either, he’s largely tied to plot.

Hey, plot! Hello! Hopefully timelines make sense.

We got our first explanation of Timelines 1-4, and that WILL be helpful knowledge in Book 4 (don’t worry, no memorizing, it will be in context). They’re actually something that came out of the re-edits more than the original writing. We also got expansion on the “Future War” that Shady discussed back in Book 2. Glen (Glinephanis) and Mindy (Mindylenopia) are Temporals, in a conflict with the Mundanes. Carrie remains at the heart of it - she is tied to time.

Related, Temporals have the power to (temporarily) control people’s minds, the way Shady did. (Except Lee’s immune!) The time machine has now been destroyed, but Carrie has demonstrated an ability to time travel without it. Again related, Glen indicated that Carrie has the power to bring others along on the time trips she takes. (Alas, not Chartreuse?) There is a “temporal gun” that Linquist apparently invented for shutting down someone like Carrie.

Plot loose ends? I don’t think there are many, in that a reader potentially has enough information to extrapolate the situation however they like. Does Carrie succeed? Do the relationships come together? Does Linquist return? Well, hey, what do you want to happen? I feel like Julie and that note is the only element really dangling out there as “the author’s up to something”. (Am I wrong?)

With that said, there IS a lot we’ll be revisiting in Book 4: Julie’s note. Mindylenopia’s location. Carrie-Chartreuse as a relationship. Megan running the high school. Linquist’s language. Even Carrie’s mother, from way back in Book 1. ALL of which can be read about without prior knowledge, so PLEASE encourage some other readers to join in, maybe??

Do you think I missed anything in my analysis? Was there something you particularly enjoyed, or hated, about Book 3? Are you EXCITED for what’s to come? (Are you out there?)

Remember you can VOTE for T&T at “Top Web Fiction” on a weekly basis. I consistently seem to be hovering at 2 or 3 votes, so thanks for that.

Parts 67/68 were originally “Woodlands Detour” so, uh, “Woodlands Omen”, sure. It was a stand-alone effort, I felt like I needed a similar title. Parts 69/70 were originally “Do You Mind?” so the new title was the topical “Timeline Four”.

Coming This Tuesday: BOOK 4 Begins. Note to self, post the index tomorrow.

Previously: Luci’s consciousness became trapped inside Frank’s body with him, all because Carrie wanted to rig up the time machine. Frank took control, for a last ditch effort…

PART 3.23b: TIMELINE FOUR 2

“Carrie, I…” Frank/Luci turned to look at her, seemingly searching for the words. “I’m sorry,” he said at last. “Please don’t blame yourself here. This is my decision. I know what’s going to happen, but according to our calculations, it’s the only way.”

Carrie sighed back. “Oh, now what are you–” She stopped when she saw the look in Frank’s eyes. And saw not only the quiet intensity there, but somehow, how those same eyes were also pleading desperately with her.

Which was when it first occurred to Carrie to really question why, ever since the plan had been proposed, Luci had not been in control of the body.

“No,” Carrie breathed, the truth of the situation dawning on her. The reason why Frank was experiencing those physical pains as he tried to enact this plan. Along with the explanation for why Luci’s essence would get forced out of Frank’s body. But he wouldn’t… he COULDN’T…

Frank nodded slightly, as if he knew she’d worked it out. “Take care of Luci for me, Carrie.”

“Frank, NO!” Carrie screamed, jumping for him.

He brought Luci’s hand down. The rod slammed into the fuse box. There was a huge shower of sparks, and an explosion of light and sound. Carrie was knocked back off her feet, only dimly aware of the cloud of smoke billowing around her. Only dimly aware of the residual static left in the air, after Luci’s body and the time machine had disappeared. But all too aware of the lethal charge that had been sent through Frank’s body.

Carrie felt like her head was being peeled open like an orange.

After a couple of hours (seconds? days?) she realized Glen’s hand was on her shoulder (she still had a shoulder?). “This,” came his voice (so far away!), “was the key event. We have to leave town, Carrie. Now."

“DO… YOU…. MIND?!” Carrie shrieked, rolling over onto her back, holding her hands to the side of her head. If she moved them, surely the top of her head would pop off. “FOR GOD’S SAKE GLEN, FRANK JUST DIED. HE’S DEAD BUT IN THE OTHER TIMELINE HE WASN’T AND IT HURTS INSIDE OH GOD IT HURTS EVERYWHERE, WORSE THAN IT DID WHEN THIS ALL STARTED I CAN’T TAKE THIS IT’S TOO MUCH I WANT TO DIE TOO OH PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO SOMETHING!!!” She couldn’t tell if she was yelling, or if her head was simply adding reverb to every syllable.

“Carrie, calm down,” Glen said sternly, leaning over her. “You’re feeling some added pain because of your proximity to this event, but give it a few hours. You’ll be fine. I know, because this is the reason I was sent here. To ensure that in our timeline three, the one where your powers awaken, you will leave town when one of your classmates unexpectedly passes away. Don’t worry about the rest of them changing anything once we leave, I’m pretty sure Frank’s last act shorted out the time machine for good.”

There was a cracking noise as Carrie’s fist connected solidly with Glen’s nose. “THAT’S… NOT… HELPING!” she howled, before slapping her palm back against her head. She realized that she was hyperventilating, yet somehow, that knowledge didn’t help her to stop.

“OWW!!” Glen yelped. “You dough Carrie, gedding so emodiondal ondy maggs de payn werze. We shud work on dat.”

Carrie curled up tightly into a ball, trying hard to resume breathing regularly without inhaling too much smoke. Gradually, awareness of her surroundings returned - Frank’s parents were shouting something upstairs. Probably upset that the basement door had been jammed closed prior to their experiment.

“Carrie, we hab to go dow. You hab no altwernatib.” Glen chuckled. “As dey say in daht moobee, come wid me if dyu wand do libe.”

The pain was starting to ebb – from her head, if not from her heart. Desperately, she tried to take stock of the situation. Did she really have no alternative but to run away with Glen? Part of her thought so. Actually, most of her thought so.

Because there was no way to explain this to anyone. No way at all, and if this was how timeline three was supposed to play out, then Glen was right. Besides, she’d already burned all of her bridges in town, slapping Julie, cutting off Chartreuse… it was time to move on.

‘What sort of monster ARE you?’ Elizabeth accused.

‘I’m you,’ the majority of her mind retorted. ’The girl tied to time. The girl who should never have existed. Come on now. We can’t fight fate.’

‘Like hell we can’t! We said we’d FIX this!’

‘HOW, idiot? How can we fix this? How do we even know the first THING about fixing something of this magnitude?’

The part of her that was Elizabeth felt the fight draining out of her. ‘We’ll figure it out. Later. Then come back and tell ourselves…'

‘…changing our future, preventing us from coming back…'

‘I’m immune to paradox, damn it!’

‘And the tradeoff is, whatever we see, becomes permanent. Surely you’ve realized that by now? We saw this, and we haven’t come back yet, meaning we cannot change this. Stop fighting. This is our timeline. It’s time for us to go.’

Elizabeth/Carrie shook, her cheeks wet with tears. “No, no, no, no…!”

“Cub on, Carrie,” Glen said, pulling her to her feet. “I cad use by pawwer to ged us oud of here. Bud id hass to be dow.”

Mindylenopia! Oh God, Mindy was the key. By inserting herself into the timeline, Mindy had forced Carrie to power up faster. To learn a technique like banishing sooner. Mindy had moved her abilities along at an accelerated rate - in fact, Glen likely wouldn’t have revealed himself two weeks ago, if not for Mindy. Surely, Mindy’s involvement meant that Elizabeth/Carrie had it somewhere within her to undo this.

‘No. You remain weak.’

Moreover, she had told Luci/Frank that she would fix things, one way or another. She had meant that.

‘No, stop!’

And there WAS a way. She saw it now.

‘NO!’

“Go to hell, other me,” Elizabeth gasped. Her eyes flashed golden. She felt like she was being torn in two, but despite Glen guiding her towards the stairs, she pulled away from him, vanishing into the time streams.

Carrie pressed her palm into her forehead, then marched to the window. “Any future Carries want to come back to tell me what to do this time?” she called out into the darkness. “Send me a letter maybe? No?”

She stared down at the ground outside. “Screw it,” Carrie sighed. She turned and knelt back down in front of the time machine. Yet as she reached out to open it, another Carrie appeared. Smelling of smoke, with her hair awry, dirty smudges on her tearstreaked face, and two golden eyes that seemed to be staring right though her present - prior? - self.

Carrie had never been more terrified in her entire life.

“This… ends… HERE,” Elizabeth hissed, and before the Carrie of the past could react, her future self had popped open the time machine, yanked out a bunch of the electronics, and then slammed her free hand right into her double’s chest.

Carrie screamed.

Then she couldn’t stop screaming.

She screamed as she felt her future counterpart sinking into her, she screamed as the memories of the coming week began to overload her psyche, and she continued to scream as she relived Frank’s death. Soon her throat was raw and her own vision had become blurred with the tears of her counterpart and the only thing she knew about now was how to scream.

Which was when she finally, mercifully, fell unconscious.

“Hrrngh.”

“She’s awake,” came a voice. “Chartreuse, go get her father!”

“Hrrngh,” Carrie said again, as she heard someone running from the room. Wait, that voice… she recognized that voice! She forced her eyelids open.

“Hey there,” Frank said, smiling down at her. “Welcome back. You were really starting to worry us there, Carrie. You’ve been unconscious for over a week now.”

Carrie blinked away the tears that were reforming in her eyes. Over a week? Yes, that made sense. The only way that OTHER her had been able to keep from going temporally insane had been to merge. To merge, then induce unconsciousness for the duration of those other memories. The ones leading up to now, the moment in Frank’s basement when he had… no. He was here. Because she had pulled apart the machine…

“You’re alive. Oh, Frank, yes, you’re alive!” Carrie tried to sit up, but felt too weak. She became aware of the fact that she was lying in a hospital bed. “L-L-Luci,” she croaked, mouth dry. “Where… WHERE?”

Frank blinked. “I’m not sure. She’s been spending a lot of her time lately with Tim, working on that gun and logbook. Why, did you need us to find her? What the heck happened anyway?? Your father said you simply started screaming, and in your room I found the time machine all wrecked!”

Carrie ran a quick self-assessment. The pain in her head, it was back to manageable levels. And yet - something felt off. It took a moment, but Carrie pinpointed the problem.

When Shady had brought back his machine, destroying “timeline two” and setting in motion “timeline three”, there had been little resistance. And timeline two had been irrecoverably overwritten. But here, when Carrie had initiated what she might as well dub “timeline four”… that was not the case. That third timeline, the one where she had fled town? It wasn’t giving up quietly at all. It was still out there. But that was impossible!

“Carrie?”

She forced herself to remain calm. The trouble was, Glen wouldn’t know they were supposed to be leaving town today. Right? Because he hadn’t been waiting for a date! Rather… for an event. An event… that could still happen. Pushing this new timeline back in line with “three”? Unless she became powerful enough to not merely delay, but truly prevent a classmate’s death…

‘You CAN’T DO…'

“Shut UP!” she shrieked at the voice of resistance in her head.

Frank flinched. “I’m sorry?”

“No, not you,” Carrie said, bringing her palm to her forehead. “Sorry. As to what happened, I… I made an error in judgement. One which I’m now attempting to correct.”

“Oh! Does that mean our time group is back together?”

Carrie bit down on her lip. The best chance for her friends… surely it was to make her new timeline four as much like timeline two as possible. The one without the machine. The one where her powers hadn’t awakened. The one where Frank had also lived.

“No. The more I connect with the rest of you, the more I might cause someone’s… no. I’m sorry, Frank. Any time travel, it’ll be me and Glen now. We’re the anomalies, it has to be that way. Is the time machine destroyed?”

“I… I left the pieces under your bed, but…”

“Good. Consider it gone. Never speak of it again.” She would dispose of those pieces. Then get Glen to teach her as much as he could about what she was capable of, while staying away from the rest of them. That was the best way to keep everybody safe. The best way to preserve her destruction of timeline three.

“Carrie, I don’t understand.”

She turned to face the opposite wall, biting down hard on her lip. “I know you don’t. Please don’t try. Just… leave me be.” The pain, the sheer mental and physical agony of dealing with the time streams and the ramifications that came from her alterations of them… honestly, it was her cross to bear. Hers alone. The girl tied to time.

After all, ever since the loss of timeline one? It had been the only reason for her existence.

END OF BOOK 3: Destruction

-New Commentary this Sunday!

-A vote for T&T at “Top Web Fiction” does bring in a hit or two. (A personal recommendation or review might even get people to read past Part 1.)

-This does mark the first time I’ve ever revisited a prior scene… and changed it. Did you notice the bit with Carrie at the window is from Shattered Part 2? Related, one of my favourite “Buffy” series quotes was spoken by Oz in Season 3: “Time’s up. Rules change.”

-We now leave Carrie, on her own to deal with her new timeline, with all the other teenage relationships similarly broken around her. You can walk away and hope for the best… or stick around for Book 4: Resolution. Coming next week. Tell your friends.

Previously: An accident with the time machine placed Luci’s consciousness into Frank’s body. They can communicate while unconscious, and are looking for a way to fix things.

PART 3.23a: TIMELINE FOUR 1

Carrie frowned. “So… you’re inside Frank’s head… and he’s in there with you… but he can only surface in your dreams?”

Luci/Frank managed to suppress a sigh, poking her/his fork into her/his plate of cafeteria fries. “Repeating that back to us isn’t going to make it any less true, Carrie.”

“Right, okay.” She thought for a moment. “On the bright side, if both essences are available, we have a shot at disint… er, UNintegrating the two of you. Right?”

Luci/Frank shook her head. “I was late to school today because I wanted to keep at the equations. So far, it doesn’t look good. Did you and Glen have any luck talking about the machine itself?”

Carrie shook her head back. “I stayed on the phone with him as long as my dad would let me, but the only scenario we can think of is to have your body - that is, Luci’s - available on the other end of the wormhole when you emerge from your initial trip. You know, when you first got, uh, fused. Granted, it presumes Luci’s essence will be able to find itself - yourself - and then, for the sake of self-consistency, it will require that the resulting version of Frank travels in time, to our present. Where he pretends he’s Luci. Which would be what you’re doing here.”

Luci/Frank wrinkled her nose. “Okay, but since I know I’m NOT pretending, we know THAT plan won’t work,” she reasoned.

“Aha, but how do I know you’re not just pretending to not be pretending?” Carrie countered, waggling her finger. Luci/Frank glared. Carrie lowered her hand. “Fine. If it’s any comfort, the longer this goes on, the bigger the temporal headache I seem to be getting. I might not last until your future arrival date.”

“My own body might not last either!” Luci/Frank noted. “When I checked on myself this morning, my body’s pulse was even weaker than last night. Besides, what do we tell my parents, that I went on vacation to Florida??”

“Point,” Carrie yielded. She pressed a hand to her temples. “I suppose we might jump in time ourselves, to meet your temporal exit THAT way – except Glen’s not sure what a time trip would do to Luci’s body in it’s present state. But at this point, the only other alternative might be…”

Luci/Frank swallowed her/his forkful of fries as Carrie trailed off. “Might be what?” s/he asked.

Carrie sighed. “A time-share of my temporal self. Luci, know that I won’t let things end for the two of you this way. I promise that much.”

Her tone had become very serious. “Carrie, can you even control your temporal self yet…?” Luci/Frank pressed, trying to read into her expression.

“No. But if it’s within me to do it, I’ll find a way," Carrie said. Her grip tightened on her soda can. “Somehow, I’ll find a way to fix things.”

“Luci! LUCI!” Frank called out.

Luci blinked as she felt the palm slapping at her cheeks, and with effort, she managed to focus on the image of Frank above her. “Oooh,” she moaned. She propped herself up on one arm, realizing she was lying on the grass of their dreamscape. “It… it happened again, didn’t it…”

Frank nodded. “That’s the third time, and the second time tonight. I don’t like it. When you go transparent like that, it’s as if you’re… fading away. You’ve got to hang on, Luci! We’ll figure a way to get you back where you belong!”

Luci shifted her focus back to the blue sky. “Frank, it’s been four days, and in terms of saving both of us, we’re back to square one.” She paused. “In fact, I don’t know if you realized, but I – that is, our body – it blacked out in class today too. If Chartreuse hadn’t caught me…” She swallowed. “I don’t want to die, Frank. Not like that.”

He grabbed her by the shoulders. “No one’s said anything about dying. We’ll find something! We always do.”

“Frank, seriously? Even with Glen’s input, we still don’t know half of the science we’re dealing with!” She pounded her fist into the ground. “It’s time to face facts, we’re running out of time! I’m… I’m simply going to die, and there’s nothing we can do about it!”

“No!” Frank countered. “You are NOT! Not so long as I’m here!” He pulled her into an embrace, and Luci hugged back, hard. Then, after a moment, she worked to change her body. And before Frank had a chance to react, he was holding a twenty year old.

“Frank, don’t,” Luci said as she felt him pulling away. “Please, don’t. If this doesn’t work out… I want something to take away with me. Something good, like the time I looked like this, and I told you my feelings. In fact, since we’re only in a dream, you could even–”

“Luci, stop,” Frank protested. He ceased trying to pull away but refused to meet her gaze. She saw him biting his lip. “We both know this is more than a dream, it’s… I don’t know, a mind link. So don’t tempt me this way. It’s not right. When you’re back in your own body, then… then maybe.”

Luci remained in his arms for a moment before reverting back to her normal appearance. “Maybe?” she said quietly, as they separated their embrace. “Tell me Frank, if I do get back, will we really be able to have a healthy relationship?”

“Well… why not?”

“You know why,” Luci said quietly. “The memory you saw. The one I’ve spent years repressing.”

Frank’s face fell, and he looked down at the ground. “I wasn’t going to bring that up again.”

“You didn’t have to. The more I struggle to hold onto myself, the more that particular mental block crumbles away.” She paused, then closed her eyes. “Fine, let’s do this. How much did you see?”

Frank sighed. “He touched you. He…” His tone became harder. “Your parents should never have let you use the pool next door!”

“Were my clothes still on?” Luci continued, feeling a strange calmness come over her. She reopened her eyes.

Frank was staring, horrified. “Of course they were. You don’t mean…”

“Okay. You really did only brush the surface."

“Oh dear God, Luci!! You mean he… that is… he didn’t… DID HE?!”

The young girl shook her head. “Oh, he didn’t go THAT far, if that’s what you’re thinking. Linford touched. He had me touch back. He took a couple pictures. We never…" Her voice trailed off as she began to feel sick to her stomach.

She shoved the emotion aside, deciding instead to focus instead on the facts. The way she always did. “I was seven at the time. Barely four months out of the orphanage, and I didn’t want to cause any trouble. I didn’t want to get sent back, to be… rejected. The way I always had been, for mouthing off and being a know-it-all.”

“What–” Frank’s voice cracked. He tried again. “What happened to this pervert?!”

Luci shifted her gaze to the horizon. “I’m not sure… when Linford moved away at the end of the summer, I finally got up the nerve to tell my parents about it. Mom and Dad, they raised an uproar and got me some counselling, but the perpetrator himself, he didn’t leave any forwarding address.”

She sighed. “Ultimately, we Primroses decided to move too. It’s how we ended up in this town. And ever since coming to live here, I’ve tried my hardest to forget. I wanted to move on, and to… to overwrite those memories with some happier ones.” She slumped. “Pity I never got the hang of social interactions at school.”

“Oh, Luci…” Frank reached out to put an arm on her shoulder, but she shrugged him off, stepping away, looking at the ground.

“Wait, let me finish. Let me do a thorough analysis.” She swallowed hard. “So… this has become a case of classic displacement. Linford to Linquist. And even though I know they’re both different people, and maybe Linquist isn’t as bad, they both did things to me, without my permission. Which is why, deep down, I can’t feel truly comfortable so long I know that they’re somewhere out there. Experimenting. Hence, my obsessive vendetta with the logbook when it turned up.”

Luci spun back to face Frank, a tear running down her cheek. “But it’s worse than that. The more I find myself facing up to those truths here, the more I feel that my desire for a loving relationship with someone has been largely motivated by the desire to overwrite those bad memories. So… was ours a romance of convenience? Did I truly love you, or did I pick you because you were my best shot? Is it possible our relationship has been doomed from the start?”

Frank took a step back as if struck. “If… if that’s honestly what you believe, then… I suppose we both have some serious thinking to do.”

Luci started to turn away.

“BUT,” Frank continued, “That doesn’t change our current situation. Boyfriend, best friend - those sorts of distinctions are unimportant right now! You’ve told me what you believe, so let me tell you what I believe. Namely that someone with your strength of character wouldn’t let her life be dictated by the actions of some perverted BASTARD. That’s not the Luci I know! That’s not the Luci I fell for! And moreover, that’s NOT the Luci who is going to come out of our current situation feeling even stronger than she was before! Okay?!”

Luci couldn’t stop the tears from coming, but for the first time, she didn’t feel like they made her weak. “Thank you, Frank,” she choked out. “I only hope you’re right. And that I don’t die here. That maybe, one day, we can figure out our–” Her voice caught. Again he moved towards her, and again she waved him off. “Wait, stop, I’m about to–”

She fell to her knees and threw up all over the grass.

“Oh, Luci,” he murmured, wiping a tear away from his own eye as he reached out to gently stroke her hair. “My poor, dear Luci… don’t despair, I’ll get you through this… no matter what it takes.”

It was exactly one week after the initial incident that saw the four of them gathered together again in Frank’s basement. Carrie, Glen, and Luci/Frank. Or rather, Carrie mentally amended, Frank/Luci. Because according to Frank, Luci’s essence had grown so weak that he’d had to retake control of his own body after waking up that morning.

“It won’t work, you know,” Glen declared, folding his arms as he leaned back against the wall.

“It will,” Carrie countered. She ground her palm into her throbbing temple. “It has to.”

The trouble was, Luci’s own body wasn’t faring much better than her ‘essence’, having become cold to the touch. On top of that, the e-mails Luci had been writing for her parents, trying to explain her continuing absence from town had been less than convincing. A police investigation was already underway. So if this effort didn’t work… well, Carrie wasn’t looking forward to the temporal repercussions.

Glen shook his head. “I’m telling you, it’s a bad plan.”

“Look, if you don’t have anything useful to say, don’t say anything at all!” Carrie snapped.

“Actually, Glen is correct when he says that this is liable to kill at least one of us,” Frank/Luci rasped.

“But you said there’s a chance, right? I mean, despite having to take control, Luci’s essence is still inside you?”

Frank nodded slowly. “Ohhh, yes. She’s still in here. She just hasn’t been able to articulate since last night. I…” He winced and clutched at his stomach. “I r-refuse to let Luci give up so easily.”

“Which isn’t helping you any,” Glen observed. “You’ve been getting weak and feverish throughout the day. If I didn’t know better, I’d say your body has started fighting against her. Perhaps treating her essence like some kind of virus.”

“Oh, shut UP, Glen!” Carrie fumed. “As long as there’s still a snowball’s chance in hell of this working, we’re doing it!!” She looked around the room. “All right, it’s almost exactly one week since the incident. The machine’s set for a one hour jump, I’ve jammed the tweezers in where you said, and that metal rod is long enough for you to reach the fuse box, to access the extra power. You’ve got a coin to use, so… let’s light it up! Okay?”

Frank/Luci nodded weakly and slipped off the chair to crawl over next to Luci’s body. He slipped his arm around her, reaching out to brush some hair off her face. “I said I wasn’t going to let you die,” he murmured, smiling sadly. “So you can stop arguing with me.”

Carrie’s eyebrows knit at the oddity of that last sentence, watching as Frank placed Luci’s limp palm on the handle of the time machine. He then dropped the coin into the slot, and slowly brought the metal rod into position.

-Book 3 ends on Friday. Care to vote? Or comment? Tell me you’re not bored…

Previously: Frank’s body appeared after a time trip, while in the present, Luci is unconscious. Worried, Carrie discusses the mechanics of the time machine with Glen.

PART 3.22b: DO YOU MIND? 2

Carrie began to look ill. “You’re saying that when the time machine became active, with Luci connected to Frank through the tweezers, rather than through physical contact… no, NO, look, her whole body is still here!” She grabbed for Glen’s shirt with one hand, while pointing at Luci with the other. “So she must be okay, right?"

Glen rubbed his forehead. “Look, I’m no expert on the inner workings of the devices themselves, what I’ve said is pretty basic temporal theory. All I can say for sure is that the equations get trickier when metal is involved. Because it’s metallic coins which are flash fried in the thing as a power source. So maybe Luci… her brain… well, part of it might have been flash fried too. Through that metal conduit."

“But… but look, LOOK, she’s still breathing…” Carrie said, releasing him as her whole body began to shake. “And it w-was just tweezers…”

Glen bent down next to Luci’s body once more, again checking her eyes and her pulse. He shook his head. Maybe the time had come for them after all? “There’s no way to know for sure, but given she’s been like this for more than half an hour…”

“No! I refuse to accept that I had a hand in turning Luci into a… a vegetable!!” Carrie said, stepping forwards. “There must be some…”

She froze as the basement door opened, and there came the sound of someone rushing downstairs. But it wasn’t one of Frank’s parents. In fact, as Glen turned, he saw it was Frank himself. The latest arrival took in the scene, immediately catching sight of the body on the floor. He then dropped the time machine, running to kneel down by Luci.

“Oh my God!” Frank gasped. “What’s happened to me?!”

“We’re not sure,” Carrie admitted. “Glen thinks that some part of Luci was…" She stopped. “Wait, happened to YOU? What do you mean, Frank?"

Frank turned to look at her. “I am NOT Frank,” he retorted, blinking back a tear. “And I want back inside my body right NOW!!”

“Huh. Well, this is unprecedented," Glen mused.

Luci/Frank stared at the page of equations in her hands, trying hard not to cry. Not again. Carrie and Glen had left long ago, when Frank’s mother had insisted on her son coming up for dinner.

Dinner, of course, had been a quiet affair… it had felt awkward pretending to be someone she wasn’t. Luci knew she’d acted oddly enough for Frank’s parents to sense something was up. At least they’d interpreted it as sickness, advising him to go and lie down after the meal. And though it meant that Luci couldn’t go back down to the lab to try and work things through on the large chalkboard, maybe that was for the best. Her body was still lying on the bench down there, covered by a sheet.

Which felt unbelievably creepy.

Naturally, both she and Carrie had pressed Glen for more information, immediately following her return of Frank’s body to the present. “All right, all right!” Glen had said, after several attempts to deflect. “My best guess? What happened here is Luci’s… essence…? For lack of a better word… was caught by the event horizon of the wormhole. But instead of being lost forever, it somehow managed to connect up with Frank’s body.”

“Then where’s Frank’s ‘essence’?!” Carrie had demanded. Glen could only shrug helplessly.

And shortly thereafter, Luci/Frank had lost all self-control. “Damn it, Carrie! This is all your fault, with wanting to rig the device!” she’d screamed, kicking the other girl in the shins. Carrie had let out a loud yelp and fallen backwards, almost on top of Luci’s own body.

Seems a kick from Frank’s body packed more of a punch than what she’d intended. But it’s not like she’d had much time to get used to being inside him or anything - as soon as she’d regained consciousness after her unscheduled trip, she’d reset the machine to travel back to now! Having held out some hope that doing so would automatically fix things.

Which it hadn’t. Did this mean that Frank was somehow trapped inside HER body, unable to get out? Unable to move, unable to speak? Or was HE the one whose essence had been…

Luci looked back down at the paper she held, before crumpling it up and throwing it aside. Followed by the pencil. She drew her knees (yet not her knees) up to her chest (Frank’s chest) and finally allowed another tear to escape her/Frank’s eye.

This was so messed up. They couldn’t even duplicate this situation in reverse, like they’d done the time she’d been prematurely aged. Hell, to hear Glen speak, it was lucky she’d survived this experience at all. But of course, the worst part of this whole situation was how, deep down, Luci knew she’d been lashing out again. At people who didn’t deserve it.

This wasn’t Carrie’s fault, no more than it had been Julie’s fault when Frank had ended up in the future with Mindy. No, this was all on her. On her and her obsessive nature.

She’d allowed herself to get distracted. Again. Not by the logbook this time, but instead by the revelations about Glen’s origins and mental powers. Frank’s wild suppositions at the start of the year had apparently been correct. And she’d been thinking more about the repercussions of that, and the temporal gun, instead of the task at hand.

Why had she written off Frank’s concerns? Why had she tried to bring his focus back to her in September, and off the person with the crazy mental powers? Worse, ever since her vendetta against Linquist had ramped up, she’d simply started avoiding him. WHY? Did she not want this relationship with Frank after all?

There was a ring of truth to that which alarmed her.

Luci prided herself on her intelligence, and yet here she was, still making huge emotional errors in judgement. Errors which might have now cost the life of the boy that she… loved? Well, it was impossible to fix any of her relationship issues now.

‘Maybe not…’

Well, perhaps not, if she could work through the equations. Find a way to reverse things. But she was so very tired… Luci looked over towards her clock, checked herself, and looked to where Frank’s bedroom clock was. Already after 2am! At least her parents wouldn’t worry. Carrie had said she’d suck up her pride long enough to talk to Julie, to pretend like Luci was staying over at the mansion. Their standard fake-out. But that would only work until school resumed tomorrow…

‘Sleep, Luci… sleep…’

Luci’s eyes snapped open. She couldn’t sleep! Not until she had the answers she needed! Luci tried to shake herself awake, almost knocking Frank’s glasses off in the process. Another tear ran down her cheek at the realization, and she brushed it aside.

Focus, girl, focus! You can’t break down now… not now, not when Frank needs you the most. If only he was here though, to help her with these crazy temporal equations! They had been such a good team that way. If only he was here…

‘Luci, sleep, and I can be here…’

Luci’s eyes snapped open again - and she realized with some shock that she was back inside her own body. Except she was no longer in Frank’s room, or even under the sheet in his lab. She was sitting underneath a tree, with a field of green grass spread out around her.

“What? How?” And she reached up to her throat, recognizing it was her own voice coming from her own vocal chords.

“It’s elementary, my dear Luci,” came Frank’s voice from above. She looked up in time to see him jump down from a tree branch and land on the ground beside her. He fired off a weak smile. “You see, my body - or rather our body? - is now unconscious.”

“Then you saw and heard the whole thing,” Luci concluded. The two of them were now following a wandering pathway through the ‘field’ dreamscape, comparing notes.

Frank nodded back. “It’s a weird feeling, having my body do things without any control over what those things are. I guess you just have the more dominant personality? Or perhaps it was the only way my own mind decided it could keep your essence stable. At any rate, I couldn’t get through until your - our? - consciousness started to drift. Which it wasn’t prone to do so long as you were focussed on fixing things.”

Luci looked at the ground. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, no, nothing to apologize for. Actually felt oddly satisfying kicking Carrie in the shins…”

“No, I mean sorry for everything,” Luci corrected. “For not believing you about Glen back then. For going through the logbook again when I said I wouldn’t. For not giving it my all today, when helping you with the machine. And most of all, for avoiding you when we should have been working things out.” Her fists clenched. “I’ve been the worst girlfriend ever.”

Frank pursed his lips. “Luci, I wasn’t racing to give you a phone call either," he pointed out. “And I’m the one who tripped an activation circuit, and who shouldn’t have prematurely plugged in a coin into the device merely so things would be lit up more clearly. That’s all on me, not you."

“Still, you didn’t almost get me killed and banished to the past!” Luci reminded. “That happened to you, all because the first thing on my mind was a vendetta against Linquist! I’m so sorry, I just… God, I don’t know why, but he irritates me so much!”

Frank stopped walking. “Luci… our minds are connected here. I can’t see everything but, ah, you don’t have to hide the truth of that situation from me any more.”

Luci froze. “What do you mean?”

Frank glanced down at her, then shifted his gaze skyward. “Oh boy. See, in the beginning, right after we… well, ‘merged’… you slipped unconscious. I tried to find a way of getting through to you then, but I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing and… instead of contacting you, I ended up sifting through certain memories of yours.”

Luci blinked and involuntarily wrapped her arms about herself. “Do you mind?” she said irritably. “I have some very private stuff in my psyche!”

“I know! It wasn’t intentional,” Frank insisted. “Really it wasn’t. But at the time, you were feeling hurt and scared and confused. Which brought up a similar time you’d felt that way, namely back when you’d been aged up by Linquist. From there it was only a short leap to your childhood when…”

“NO!” Luci gasped, and almost before she knew it she had physically reached out to slap her hand over Frank’s mouth. “Don’t say it!” she whispered. “Don’t make me remember that time, please, Frank, don’t, don’t… that part of me, I blocked it off, even from myself…!”

Her body shook, her eyes pleaded. Frank slowly nodded, and she took her hand away. “I-I’m sorry," he said. “Obviously, I… I misjudged the scope.”

“Obviously,” Luci said quietly. Moving off the path, she plucked a daisy from the grass and began pulling petals off of it one by one.

“Er, how about we go through some temporal equations then?” Frank ventured. “See about getting the two of us back where we belong.” He waved his arm, and a chalkboard appeared in the field with them, already containing some rudimentary equations. He walked over and began to write.

Luci joined him a couple of minutes later. They didn’t speak of the incident again that night.

Unfortunately, despite their efforts, every calculation pointed towards one of them being dead before the week was out.

-Next Episode: Timeline Four. Ending Book 3.

-Isn’t that interesting? Any speculations? Either about their situation, or Luci’s past? One more week, and this whole book wraps up. As always, you can vote for T&T at TWF, or recommend to a friend.

Previously: Julie broke up with Clarke. Carrie hoped Frank or Luci could rig the time machine for an automatic run. Hank Waterson wrote a short story about the Chosen Bunny.

PART 3.22a: DO YOU MIND? 1

Frank’s basement lab was empty; the lights were off, and all was quiet. There was a brief explosion of light, and then all was quiet again - though now Frank’s body was lying on the ground. It sat next to a black box that resembled a cross between a computerized slot machine and a cash register.

“Ooooohh,” he groaned. “Frank, what caused that?”

The teenager struggled to sit up, moving to rub his eyes, his hands hitting his glasses. The dark haired boy paused, then reached up to pull the glasses off. He lay there for a moment, staring at them in shock.

“What the hell?”

Having spoken again, Frank reached a hand up to his throat. Then, slipping his glasses back on, he pushed himself up to his knees and took a look down at his body. “Oh my God,” Frank choked out. “Oh God, no, oh no, no, no… wh- what’s HAPPENED to me?!?”

Frank’s body swayed unsteadily for a few seconds before dropping back to the floor and falling unconscious.

“Hello,” Mrs. Dijora said pleasantly, opening the door. “How can I help–”

“He’s with me!” Carrie said, dashing down the hall behind her. The blonde teenager grabbed the arm of their visitor, tugging on it. “With us, that is,” she clarified. “We’re all still finishing our extra curricular project in the basement and we need Glen’s help! Now!"

“Oh,” Frank’s mother responded, nonplussed. “You know Carrie, if you’d all started this project earlier in the week, you wouldn’t have this sort of problem on a Thursday night. Because regardless of what Frank’s contribution is, I want to have him back upstairs in time for dinner. Which will be within the hour.”

“Um, yup, I’ll let him know that,” Carrie assured, while dragging Glen towards the basement door. “Now c’mon Glen, this is really TIME sensitive stuff!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Glen said, a hint of a frown appearing on his features. He looked back at Mrs. Dijora. “Er, I’ll keep my coat with me,” he assured her, having not had the time to pull both arms from the sleeves.

Frank’s mother watched in confusion as the two teenagers slammed the basement door shut behind them. “Teenagers. Everything’s life or death for them,” she decided, heading back into the kitchen.

“All right, what’s this about?” Glen questioned as Carrie hopped down the stairs ahead of him two at a time. “Your call sounded urgent.”

“You have NO idea,” Carrie retorted. She jabbed a finger at something just outside his field of view. “What the hell did the time machine DO to her?!?”

Glen moved down to the point when he could see where Carrie was pointing. His frown deepened, and he quickly moved to kneel down next to the unconscious body on the floor. Yes, unconscious - Luci still seemed to have a pulse. Meaning he didn’t know whether this was the event he’d been waiting for, or not.

“How long has she been like this?” Glen asked.

“Twenty minutes. Half an hour maybe,” Carrie said. “You sure took your sweet time getting here! I even debated calling an ambulance, but the tingling in my head says this is something temporal."

“I got here as quickly as I could,” Glen countered. He rolled Luci’s body slightly, stuffing his wadded up jacket under her head before lifting one of her eyelids. Her eyes didn’t seem to be focused on anything. Problematic. He needed more information.

Glen glanced around the room. “You said your time machine was involved. Where is it?”

Carrie swallowed. “It… it vanished. It took Frank along with it. Which is kind of the other reason I didn’t want to get Frank’s parents all worked up with an ambulance.”

Glen slammed his palm on the ground. “Carrie! I WARNED you about the danger of using it for more time trips, I TOLD you to destroy –”

“We WERE destroying it!” Carrie yelled back, hands clenching into fists. She bit her lip. “Kinda.”

Glen stood. “How do you KINDA destroy something?”

Carrie’s face took on a pained expression. “We… we were going to send the machine on auto-pilot a couple of months into the future. As a fail safe. So it would be available later. I even thought, hey, it’ll get Frank and Luci working together again, so that maybe I could leave the time group on a slightly better note than… than…” She threw her arms out to the sides. “Look, I made sure they were being careful, and that they weren’t arguing about their relationship or anything!”

“They were still messing with something they couldn’t hope to understand!” Glen fumed. He stared at her for another long moment. Carrie didn’t seem as distraught as he might have expected. So it probably wasn’t time yet. “Fine, what’s done is done. If we want to have a chance of fixing it, you’ll need to describe to me exactly what happened."

Carrie looked past him towards Luci’s prone form. She swallowed again, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay. The two of them were completing an analysis of some of the circuits. To see if there was any failsafe to prevent activation, should no person be touching the lever directly. Frank was reaching down inside the device - he said something looked a little funny - and he asked Luci to hand him the tweezers. She was in the process of doing so when the machine let out a whine, there was a bright flash of light, and then…" She reopened her eyes. “Then Frank and the machine were gone, and Luci was left there on the floor unconscious. After five minutes of trying to bring her around without success, I called you."

Glen pursed his lips, then moved towards the lab bench near Luci’s body. After a moment of looking around, he reached out and grabbed a set of twisted, blackened tweezers off the floor. “Are these what Luci handed to Frank?” he questioned.

Carrie shrugged. “How should I know? Probably.”

Glen frowned. “Well, they’re metallic.” He paused. “That’s bad. I’m sorry, Carrie… I’m not sure there’s anything we can do for Luci.”

“What are you talking about?” she protested. “Luci’s body is still here, she’s still breathing and everything, we simply need a way for her to wake up!”

Glen sighed again, rolling his eyes heavenwards before turning back to his future companion. “All right,” he decided. “I was hoping to avoid such direct talk of future technology but… Carrie, exactly what do you people know about how these portable time machine units work?”

Carrie crossed her arms. “Well, they require a coin to activate, and the date on the coin corresponds to the year of arrival. Meanwhile, the place of arrival is determined by who is holding onto the handle, which has some sort of DNA sensing technology integrated into it. Though it seems that a trip to the future might involve not changing location at all, if you don’t have a counterpart there. So there’s also some built in homing device to target Earth, maybe.”

“Mmm. Yes, that’s about right,” Glen said, with grudging respect. “Though since the device goes along with you, the travel to a time with no counterpart takes it’s toll. More universal calculations, more circuits engaged, more power, more chance for burnout too. That’s on top of the normal proportional recharge, all part of the reason why not many such units were made.”

“Okay, so how does any of this relate to what happened to Luci?!”

Glen tossed the mangled tweezers aside. “It has to do with how the time machine manipulates the wormholes.”

Carrie blinked. “Worm… holes? Frank’s said something about them, but I never really bothered with trying to follow the science…”

Glen made a quick circuit of the room, grabbing a pencil and a sheet of paper that someone had started making notes on. “Wormholes,” he repeated. “Even in this time I know there’s been discussion on the subject.” He drew two circles, close to the opposing long ends of the sheet.

“Earth,” he said, pointing at one circle. “Alpha Centauri,” he continued, pointing at the other circle. He folded the paper over so that the far ends of the page were touching, and the circles overlapped. “Wormhole,” he concluded. He jabbed the pencil up through the paper at the Earth circle, the tip emerging through the circle he had denoted Alpha Centauri.

Carrie rolled her eyes. “Yes, the classic demonstration of using a wormhole to get to a far away place a lot faster than running along the length of the page itself. I HAVE seen that before. But what–"

“It works with time too,” Glen cut back in. He unfolded the sheet and drew a long line connecting the two holes. “1950,” he said, now physically writing that in over the first hole. “2000,” he continued, denoting the second hole. “Same principle. You want to travel from 2000 to 1950? The machine homes in on 1950 using the metallic substance you input, refines based on the traveler’s DNA, then creates a temporary wormhole that will fold space-time appropriately to transport the individual.”

Glen folded the paper over again as he spoke. “Once space-time is sufficiently warped, the device sucks you through,” - he pushed the pencil all the way through the hole - “then allows this universe’s timeline to snap back into place,” - he released one end of the page to let it straighten out - “all accomplished in a blink, before there’s any far reaching effects. Like miniature black holes or the like.”

Carrie observed Glen quietly for a few seconds. “So??” she said at last. “Lovely demonstration, but I STILL don’t see how that relates to why Luci is–”

“Oh for goodness sakes Carrie, can’t you at least humour me and PRETEND to have the mental discipline of your future self?” Glen snapped, before he could stop himself.

Her jaw clenched as he tossed the paper aside. “Sorry. But look, this latest issue is obviously related to how those portable time machine units control what matter gets pulled through the wormhole. Everything within a certain radius can’t get yanked in, or you’d be travelling with the ground you’re standing on.” There was a brief silence. “Do you see the problem now?”

“Sure,” Carrie said tightly. “Somehow the machine makes a point of registering anyone touching the handle, or any person touching that person, but ultimately rejects other biological matter within the same radius. Clever.” Her eyes were drawn to the tweezers. “Oh, wait. Are you saying…”

She hesitated, so Glen decided to complete the thought. “Yes, if the people going through are not in direct contact with the handle - or, less safely, with each other - the time machine might start closing the wormhole on them early.” He paused. “Best case, some people don’t go on the trip. Worst case? Depending on how badly you’re linked? You could end up on the other end of a time journey with only half a person.” Glen shook his head. “So, do you finally understand what happened here?”

-Do YOU understand? Any comment? This is the first time I’ve tried to go into the actual mechanics of time travel… and it’s why I can’t market this as Hard SciFi. I’m no physicist. But hopefully I invented something plausible.

Previously: Hank Waterson writes a story about woodland creatures with magical powers who have the names of Carrie’s friends. Raccoon Glen found evidence Fox Julie was a traitor.

PART 3.21b: WOODLANDS OMEN 2

“Right, a fox got double crossed, I’m so sure,” Carrie retorted.

“Carrie, she should get the benefit of the doubt,” Clarke put in quietly. “If we persecute people based largely on their animal heritage, we’re no better than the humans.” Carrie blinked at the beaver in surprise, appeared to think about that for a moment, then with a frown, she released Julie’s tail.

“But, okay,” Laurie said, puzzled. “If this documentation IS fake, and Julie’s NOT the traitor… who else COULD it be?”

As if on cue, there was the sound of something breaking the surface of the earth less than a metre away. Everyone turned in time to see a groundhog poke his head out. “Oh, g-g-good you’re still h-here!” it said in relief, scampering out of the hole. Behind him, a squirrel peered out of the hole as well.

“Luci?” Frank said in shock. “Where have you been?”

“Covert work underground,” Luci explained. “Sorry that me and Tim are late, but he can’t conjure his flashlight any more and we took a couple wrong turns.” She jumped out of the hole and shook the dirt off of herself.

“We were able to translate a pertinent passage though,” Tim said, holding a sheaf of papers out towards Julie. “I think you’ll be p-pleased with the r-r-results!”

“Passage? Covert mission? What the devil is going on here?” Corry said.

“Something I turned up in the warehouse the other day,” Julie said, running her eyes down the top sheet. “Evidence of the fact that the humans have been planning their recent dumping activities for MONTHS, along with the ‘inside informant’ - who, ergo, is not me. The problem was, the critical passages were either in code, or a language I didn’t recognize. So I somewhat reluctantly called for Tim and Luci’s services.”

“This is a very clever smokescreen you’ve put together in case of capture Julie,” Glen said, folding his arms. “But you underestimate our ability to see through it.”

“Hold on. Let’s see what Luci and Tim turned up first, then compare,” Lee suggested.

Julie flipped to the second page, then quickly the third, before looking up at Tim in surprise. He nodded and shrugged. “Let’s get him then,” Julie declared. Throwing the sheets aside, she pounced - however, Glen was already moving.

With a speed no one had expected, Glen dove to the side, rolled a metre away and came up with one palm extended. “Freeze,” he ordered. All the other sentient animals stopped in place, with looks of surprise on their faces.

“Whoa, you’re totally more powerful than you look,” Chartreuse said, trying in vain to move her feet or her wings.

“Damn straight,” Glen said, now making no effort to hide his evil grin. “Of course, it helps that all of you have had your powers mostly leeched away by this point.”

“But… but you’ll soon be losing your powers too!” Laurie protested. “Glen, why are you doing that?”

“Because,” Glen explained patiently, “as Tim’s translation no doubt revealed, my powers aren’t tied to this forest like yours are. And once you all revert, the humans will be granting safe passage for me and one other, all the way back to my real home. Far, far away from here!”

“The translation actually wasn’t that specific,” Tim admitted. “It just said the r-raccoon wants out of here.”

“We were kinda hoping that by doing things this way, you’d give everything away,” Luci added.

“Oh. Well, whatever,” Glen said with a shrug.

“Wait, who’s the other one you’ll be with?” Clarke asked.

“Who else?” Glen said, gesturing towards Carrie.

The bunny twitched her nose. “Me?? News flash, Glen, I don’t I want to go with you if this is how you treat my friends! I mean really, Glen, how COULD you?”

Glen shrugged. “Carrie, my mission was to track you down, and use a magic charm to help you understand your own inherent powers of sentience,” he replied. “Unfortunately, at the same time as I was awakening YOUR powers, Mindy and Shady were prowling through the forest, scouting for ways to expand that human settlement. To keep my item hidden from their probing, I buried it in that clearing - not realizing that it’s aura was still active, and able to affect other animals!”

“So, what, you think we gained our intellect and magical abilities because of this magical charm you owned?” Luci scoffed. “Please. I’m more special than an ordinary, everyday squirrel!”

“Believe what you like,” Glen said airily. “All I know is, after years of travel to track down the Chosen Bunny, I had to spend even MORE time messing around here, to learn how to reverse sentience on a bunch of useless creatures!” Glen shook his head. “I had hoped that by splicing together my Linquist contract with the signature I found for Julie, you’d all be thrown all off the track… and in another day, things would no longer matter… but, no matter. You’ve become weak enough for me to gain the upper ‘paw’ regardless.”

“Glen! If this is the real you? I’m staying right here!” Carrie said. Her body tensed. “And… and I’d totally put my paws on my hips to emphasize that point if only I could move!”

“I am sorry to hear you say that. But you’re coming with me regardless,” the raccoon said, smirking. “Because if you hadn’t figured it out yet, you dumb bunny, your powers aren’t tied to this forest either. It’s not the dumping, but rather that pendant I gave you earlier in the week which is suppressing your abilities. And once you’re powerless, we’ll be going. Don’t worry, your powers will be restored when we arrive back at my home.”

“But that’s kidnapping!” Carrie shrieked. “You won’t get away with that, or with using my powers in order to start a future war!” She shuddered. “Wait, how did I even know that’s what you were involving me in?”

“As the Chosen One,” Glen said. “Deep down, you knew all along.”

“You… you spent all this time tracking me down because your faction needed more power in order to stage takeovers of neighbouring forests!” Carrie realized. “And somehow you knew I could be more powerful than any of the other animals on Earth!”

“Oh, great, Carrie’s a powerful weapon. This information would have been useful a week ago,” Corry sighed.

“Too bad there’s no such thing as time travel,” Julie agreed.

“But Carrie, if you’ve got a bunch of magical power inside you, how come you can’t use it to shatter that pendant you’re wearing?” Laurie said.

“I… I’m not sure how to even move,” Carrie said. She grimaced in an internal effort, tears springing to the corners of her eyes. “I’m sorry guys. I… I don’t think I can do anything!”

“Here, let me get that for you then,” Lee offered, moving to take the offending jewellery off Carrie’s neck. There was a beat, as all eyes shifted to the porcupine. “Yeah, hey, I could move all along, I just wanted to hear Glen reveal the plot,” Lee said, tossing the pendant aside.

“Hmmmm. A natural immunity? That’s not good,” Glen mused.

Freed of the magic draining item, the blonde bunny quickly rounded on the raccoon, her blue eyes bright. “Kidnap ME will, you? Threaten MY friends?! Well then, it’s YOUR turn to freeze, you EX-BOYFRIEND!”

Carrie bounded forward, catching Glen before he’d even taken two steps. One tap on his forehead, and he dropped like a stone, lying on the ground as if he was frozen in time. Carrie blinked down at her paw in surprise. “I can DO that?”

With Glen down, all the other animals gave a collective sigh of relief, having regained their own mobility.

“Nice work, Carrie!” Chartreuse said, gleefully clapping her wings together. “And that was a totally cool fake out, Lee!”

Lee shrugged, tugging at his jacket lapels. “I live closest to the affected clearing - I must have built up a little extra internal power or something.”

“So what do we do with Glen now?” Tim wondered.

“Humans don’t look twice at roadkill,” Julie said offhandedly, producing another nail file from her fur.

“Julie dear, that’s a little gruesome, even for you, isn’t it?” Clarke said, reaching out to touch her arm. Julie hesitated, then gave a yielding nod.

“I say give HIM that pendant,” Luci suggested. “Seal it permanently around Glen’s neck somehow. I mean, if it worked on Carrie’s powers, surely it will work on his.”

“Good thought,” Frank agreed. “In fact, now that we know who our insider is, we can threaten the humans with exposing all this dumping they’re doing. If Shady really wants to keep things quiet, they’ll have to stop their interference.”

“Ooh, but what about cleaning up the damage that’s already been done?” Laurie said worriedly. “Chartreuse, your conjurable conjuring crystals, could they purify the area?”

Chartreuse shook her head.  “Already considered it. There’s, you know, too much there for me to handle.”

“Well, from what I learned about this glop from Mindy, there is a primary ingredient,” Julie offered. “I believe all we’d need to do is figure out how to neutralize that. Then the problem will take care of itself.”

“In that case, it’s a good thing I’ve spent the last few days analyzing slime from the clearing,” Corry spoke up. “You’ll be pleased to know that we’re not up against anything radioactive. Though the strange thing is, the primary ingredient - and believe me, I triple checked this - it seems to be… well… lime jello.”

“J-J-Jello?” Tim said, surprised.

“If jello neutralizes magic, remind me not to forage for it,” Lee said.

“Hah. If THAT’S all it is, I’m sure we can come up with a counteragent,” Carrie asserted, dusting off her paws after having given Glen a kick in the ribs. “Why, by working together, there’s nothing we can’t do!”

“What’s more, Corry’s analysis also explains why these humans were able to dump so much of that stuff within a fairly limited area,” Frank remarked.

“Oh?  How do you figure?” Luci wondered.

Frank shrugged. “Isn’t it obvious? There’s always room for Jello.” He had no time whatsoever to parry before the hammer and the croquet mallet came crashing down on his head.

Hank Waterson leaned back in his chair, letting out a yawn and massaging a cramp in his wrist. How had he managed to get through all that in one sitting? A glance at the clock showed that it was after 2 am. What incredibly inspired writing!

Yet now that he was actively thinking about it, Hank realized that he had questions. For instance, where exactly had the idea for that Mindy person come from? Why had he made accusations against Carrie’s friend Julie? And why had he turned Carrie’s boyfriend into the traitor? Was his subconscious trying to tell him something? Maybe he should keep Carrie grounded, so that the two of them wouldn’t be able to spend time together…

“What am I saying?” Hank muttered aloud. “This is fiction. It has no basis in real life." Besides, Carrie was good at finding a way around rules she didn’t like, so it wouldn’t do to keep her away from Glen. Moreover, he would be changing the names of the characters anyway. He could even change the villain’s identity once he got into editing. The whole story was still in a rather indeterminate state.

Shaking his head, Hank Waterson carefully stacked the story’s character sheets, and placed them back into his ‘Woodland Creatures’ folder. He then reached out and turned off his desk light, blissfully unaware of that fact that everybody’s temporal reality had recently entered a very similar indeterminate state, courtesy of his own daughter.

-Next Episode: Do You Mind?

-I hope you enjoyed this little detour/omen. Had you figured out who the traitor was? Do you see how things might tie into the real plot? Feel free to comment or vote for T&T.

Previously: Hank Waterson writes a story about woodland creatures with magical powers who have the names of Carrie’s friends. … Roll with it.

PART 3.21a: WOODLANDS OMEN 1

Hank Waterson did a quick scan back over what he had written. His short story had thus far incorporated most of Carrie’s friends as woodland animals with human sentience. Along with them, he had now written in two actual human characters, whose mysterious conversation had implied that there was a traitor within the animal group. Who was it?

Hank rubbed his chin. He wasn’t quite sure which one of them to use, and thus he decided to simply see where the narrative took him.

Slowly, the woodland creatures came out of hiding.

“So… what do you think about that?” Frank wondered.

“Mindy’s got a nice back end, for a human?” Lee offered.

“Okay, pretty sure Frank’s referring to the fact that there’s totally a TRAITOR among us!” Chartreuse wailed.

Lee shrugged. “Trying to lighten the mood.”

“Don’t. Now is the time to get serious," Corry growled. “Because if one of us is feeding these humans lies, and telling them things that will lead to us losing our powers within a week? That’s a MAJOR problem."

“It can’t be one of us. Whoever the traitor is, they already knew about this clearing having ties to the magical effects,” Julie noted. “Remember, that Shady guy implied it was their dumping here that caused a neutralizing effect."

“Hey, any of us could know more about this clearing than what we’ve said,” Luci said, glancing about suspiciously. “The question is, why would anyone want us forest creatures to go all mundane?”

“Unless the traitor knows of a way to keep themselves immune,”

Carrie suggested. “And they’re hoping to use their sentience to rule over the rest of us.”

Everyone’s eyes shifted towards the fox and bear. “Oh great, predators being persecuted again,” Julie grumped, twitching her tail.

“Hold on, everyone. Finger pointing doesn’t do us any good," Clarke said. “We need proof to make an accusation.”

Laurie raised her paw. “Why don’t we simply ask the humans which animal is working with them?”

Her brother sighed. “Laurie, approaching humans is not wise, they - oh, wait, they keep records. Maybe we could obtain some of their files? That could tell us something."

“We’d have to go into town for that though,” Frank pointed out, beginning to pace. “And the longer we’re out of the forest, the more the magic fades too. If we’re caught, we’d lose everything.”

“Someone could do it if they already had as idea as to the specific bases of operations used by these particular humans,” Lee noted.

“So Glen could do it," Carrie realized. “He’s spent some of his evenings skulking about in town. If anyone knows the layout, it’d be him.”

“But what if he’s the traitor?”

“Frank, stop accusing Glen of things already,” Carrie sighed, turning and slamming her mallet down on his head in exasperation.

“Um, but Carrie, I, like, said that,” Chartreuse noted, waving a wing as Frank fought to keep his balance.

“Yeah, Carrie, stop hitting on my boyfriend!” Luci declared, swinging her own hammer at Carrie. Carrie managed to block with her mallet… then both objects simply disappeared. Both Carrie and Luci blinked at each other in surprise.

“The magic problem is worse here,” Clarke decided. “We need to get going. Let’s at least see what Glen turns up, it could give us a starting point. Okay?”

Everyone present exchanged glances and nods. “And as a show of good faith, maybe Glen can grab me some of that aspirin stuff while he’s in town?” Frank mumbled.

“Crazy other animals,” Glen grumbled as he scampered down the alleyway. “As if I didn’t know it’s been four days - they didn’t expect me to know where Shady and Mindy were right away, did they?"

The raccoon peered out onto the darkened street and then headed down towards the part of town where the warehouses were located. “For a small town, it’s sure trying to work towards having more industry,” Glen observed. He soon found a hole in the fencing around the complex, and squeezed through. “Now, let’s see… that paper I found in Shady’s trash yesterday, it said Linquist was using Warehouse 3… hopefully I can find something in there to appease the masses.”

As it turned out, the warehouse was locked, but a few smashes on the padlock with a large rock allowed Glen to gain access. “Hmmmm,” Glen murmured as he scanned the interior - which was not much larger than your average sized human apartment. “If I know these humans, there’ll be a… yup, right over there.”

He hurried over to the corner that held the video surveillance equipment, and after giving it a look, he wound the tape back to erase his presence. He then pulled out his magical magnet and waved it over the devices for good measure. If it was strong enough to attract a garbage can, it was probably strong enough to mess with their electronics.

“At least the town’s still small enough to have lousy security,” Glen muttered. “Shady probably installed this in here himself. Still, it’s possible that there’s a silent alarm too, so I should work fast.”

The raccoon turned to start a quick search of the bins and filing cabinets, pausing as a file out in the open caught his attention. Sitting right next to the TV monitor, it was labelled ‘Security Breach 08/22/88’.

“Yesterday?” Glen mused. He flipped open the folder and his eyebrows went up. “Oho! Well then, it would seem we’ve found our traitor…”

“It’s, like, ridiculous, having to be up this early,” Chartreuse yawned as she looked out at the lake. “The sun’s barely up. Why can’t Glen stay up later, rather than, you know, waking us earlier?”

“Time is of the essence at this point,” Corry grunted. “Hell, last night I couldn’t get my yardstick to stay around long enough to take a precise measurement!”

“He’s trying to install new drapes in our cave,” Laurie explained brightly. “The old ones are so drab, even if they do compliment the existing decor so well. Soon we may even get a window to go with them too though looking at your faces I’m probably acting too perky for the hour so I should shut up now, should I?”

“It’s not THAT early,” Carrie insisted. “I’ve been up at this hour to meet with Glen before. We’ve watched sunrises together, it was romantic.”

“Hm, speaking of romantic, has anyone seen Luci?” Frank asked. “She seemed to disappear after yesterday morning’s meeting.”

“I’m sure she’ll be along,” Julie replied, filing her claws once again. “Unless she’s the traitor, that is.” Frank frowned.

“Well, hey, let’s just hope Glen has a stronger lead today, okay?” Lee put in. “What with infighting giving me a worse headache than the ones Frank gets from not reacting in time."

A silence fell upon the group. A few minutes later, Glen hurried out of the treeline and headed towards them. “Glen!” Carrie cried out happily, her bunny ears quivering. “Have you brought us good news at last?"

“Well, I have news,” Glen said, holding up a folder of papers. “It’ll be good for some, not so good for others.”

“Meaning what?” Clarke asked.

“Meaning, I think we’ve got our traitor," Glen explained. He flipped open the folder, and tossed a picture out onto the grass. Everyone leaned in for a closer look. There was a moment of silence. Then Corry made a lunge for Julie.

“Get her!” the bear snarled as Julie rolled away, firing her nail file at him. It grazed by Corry’s ear. Coming up on all fours, Julie then made a leap towards the trees, only to have the flickering forms of a broom and a tennis racquet crisscross in front of her. She hesitated only momentarily before making a move to dodge underneath them, but that moment was enough to allow her to be brought up short by a yank from behind.

“Ow ow ow ow!” Julie shrieked, falling onto the ground. “The tail is attached, you know!”

“Consider it retribution for all the times you’ve salivated over me and my kind,” Carrie shot back. “Now it’s time for a rabbit to put YOU on a hotplate!”

“Again with the persecution,” Julie said, turning her head, eyes flashing. “You have no evidence that I’m the traitor! So I’ve been in a human warehouse, so what??”

“So,” Glen said, clearing his throat, “you know more than what you’ve been telling. I also turned up THESE files–” He paused to toss some more pages on the ground. “–which show an agreement between Linquist and an unnamed co-conspirator to do the dumping in that clearing. Unless I’m very much mistaken, that top document has your paw print on it.”

“What??” Julie shrieked.

“I always knew you were a sly fox, Julie,” Corry said, glaring at her while rubbing his ear. “But I never realized how low you’d stoop to get your own way around here.”

“I should have guessed," Carrie said, bitterly. “I know she made friends with me only to secure the bunny vote in our part of the forest, so I should have KNOWN she’d betray us.” She took firmer hold of the tail in her paw and twisted it.

“Will you CUT THAT OUT?” Julie said, baring her teeth at the rabbit. “For the moment, I’m not going anywhere! And fine, I’ll admit that I’ve started doing a little covert work with that human Mindy, but it was only to discover what was really going on!”

“Then how do you, you know, explain this contract?” Chartreuse inquired, holding it out.

“I don’t know,” Julie said, peering at it. “Mindy did make me put my paw on something after I approached her, for her own protection. But that wasn’t it.”

“And what’s the reason for the security photo?” Frank asked.

“Mindy gave me the key to their warehouse the other evening. I went looking for files relating to the dumping. But Mindy said nothing about surveillance equipment… I think I’m being set up!”

-We’ve shifted from ‘Detour’ into ‘Omen’, as there will now be elements of foreshadowing for the end of this Book, and into Book 4. Any thoughts? Any desire to vote at WFG?

Previously: Hank Waterson writes a story about woodland creatures with magical powers who have the names of Carrie’s friends. … Roll with it.

PART 3.20b: WOODLANDS DETOUR 2

“The others… are coming…” Carrie panted out as she skidded to a halt at the water’s edge. She reached out to splash a little water on her face. “Oh yes, didn’t even take the direct route, and I still win!"

“Some things never change?” Clarke said, swimming closer to the bank.

“Ooh, yes, you always seem to do it, Carrie!” Laurie said, having come closer herself. “You’re so cool, with the hopping and the bouncing and the dashing and it’s hard to say whether a bunny can tap into the magic better than we can or if you’re just naturally so athletic but either way you’re an inspiration to us all and I really wish I had some of your coordination because I can never seem to stand on my ball for very long without falling off of it though you know that stuff could be completely different from magical ability so forget I said anything about it and oooh, what’s that new thing you’ve got hanging around your neck??”

By the time Carrie had explained to Laurie about the charm Glen had given her, Frank, Luci and Chartreuse had all made their way to the lake. “I found, you know, most of the early sentients,” Chartreuse hooted at Clarke. “I figured we didn’t need Jeeves or Megan or especially Azure or…”

“This is fine,” Clarke assured. “Now, the reason for calling you all here is because of what I found while felling some saplings to the north.”

“Near the human settlement?” Corry said, arcing an eyebrow.

“Right,” Clarke answered. “See, there’s this place that’s kinda glowy and tingly which does not feel good and… well, you have to see it for yourself. I ran into Lee up there and he’s keeping an eye on things.”

“Freaky,” Luci said at last. None of the others had spoken since arriving at the outskirts of the small clearing. “So,” the squirrel continued, “any ideas on what’s causing the weird green glow? Or any of the other effects, like the dying trees?”

“Nope, but I wouldn’t suggest going in there to find out,” Lee said. “I tried shuffling closer to that tree in the clearing’s centre and nearly sank right into the bog.”

“It must have freaked you out,” Corry observed. “You’ve let your quills do a shredding job on your jacket again.”

Lee shrugged. “Life of a porcupine is never easy.”

“Well, I could totally fly out to that tree,” Chartreuse offered.  “Except, you know, I’m more of a water bird and the thing looks like it’s dying so might not support my weight…”

“You see now why I thought we should check this out though, right?” Clarke noted.

“Yes,” Julie replied, frowning. “The question is what does this mean?”

“Ooh! Ooh, wait,” Laurie broke in. “I know this clearing! I used to play around here a couple years ago - in fact didn’t we all have that big forest glade party here? It was around the same time a number of us were getting that whole self awareness thing!” She began nodding vigorously. “Yeah, yeah, we were celebrating that, and I’m pretty sure the party was here, because it was shortly thereafter that I first conjured my clothes and my ball! Am I right or am I right??”

“I think you’re right,” Frank realized. “Except this clearing didn’t look the same, not back then. It wasn’t marshy, there was more grass, less of an odour…”

“And less general eerieness,” Corry agreed. “But we stopped coming here shortly thereafter. When the human settlement expanded.”

“Bah, you’re imagining things, I haven’t been here before,” Carrie countered. She had moved to a position a little ways around the perimeter. “Now c’mere and check this out, I’ve found some partially submerged human looking barrels!”

Everyone headed over to see what Carrie was looking at. “Um, hate to tell you this Carrie, but those barrels don’t look like humans at all,” Chartreuse noted.

“Thank you Miss Literal,” Carrie countered. “Sheesh, why couldn’t we have magically learned a language that was less ambiguous than English?”

“Barrels of human origin, I understood you,” Luci said. “Moreover, that has to be the source of the ground acting like some wacky bioengineered sports drink.”

“Say, I think that’s a label out there,” Lee said, pointing. “Fell off a barrel. Anyone want to get close enough to read it?”

“Allow me,” Clarke offered, pulling out his magic lacrosse stick and extending it into the clearing. He used the mesh to snare the paper and pull it back in to the group.

“Okay, um, it says… ‘Linquist’s Dribs and Drabs’,” Frank mused, after smoothing out the sheet. He looked up. “What’s a Linquist?”

“Whatever it is, it sounds really evil,” Luci decided.

“Look, guys… I really don’t think we should hang around here any longer,” Julie decided. “And when someone as fearless as me is saying that, I’d pay attention!”

“Much as I hate to admit it, Julie has a point," Corry chimed in. “After all, what if we’re exposing ourselves to the very source of the recent magical drain? We could be getting dumber and less powerful without realizing it.”

“Hold on a minute,” Carrie said, having again moved a short distance away. Her ears twitched in the air. “I’ve found a wide path back here and… do you hear that? There’s some sort of engine approaching.”

There was a pause as everyone listened for the noise.  Then Lee’s eyes went wide. “Truck!” the porcupine announced.

“Humans?” Laurie gasped.

“Scatter!” Clarke shouted.

The 4x4 backed carefully down the trail, up to the edge of the clearing, after which both driver and passenger exited the vehicle. The red haired driver turned to regard her companion, who kept his hat pulled down low over his eyes. “Hey, Shady,” she ventured as he climbed into the rear of the truck. “You SURE we should be dumping this stuff so close to our town?”

The man in the hat gave an irritated grunt as he undid the rope that was holding two new barrels in place. “It has to be here, Mindy,” he affirmed. “It’s the only way to deal with our little sentient animal problem.”

“Right. I know. But what we’re doing, it won’t harm anyone, right?” Mindy pressed.

“You say that like we’re blowing up a hospital or something,” Shady grumbled. “Trust me, all this glop will do is shut down a crazy ecosystem that should never have existed in the first place.” He threw the rope aside. “In a couple months, this whole area will be clear for more development, more businesses, more jobs, and better living conditions.” He pulled the top off of one barrel of green slime, and then kicked it out the back hatch of the truck. It fell into the edge of the bog.

“Ah. Good points, I guess…”

“Besides. Even if what we’re doing here comes to light, and people object, I’m reworking things so that Linquist takes the fall,” Shady added, his grin visible beneath his hat. “We have a bright future ahead of us, Mindy, mark my words!”

“Yes, well, I want to believe that,” Mindy sighed. “But then there are other times when I get to thinking about the animals, and I wonder…”

Shady cut Mindy off with a growl as he rolled the second barrel out the back. “First concern for humans, now animals?” he rasped. “For gosh sakes, Mindy, pick a damn side!”

“Can’t I be on both sides?” Mindy protested.

Shady mumbled something under his breath. “Look, I can guarantee to you that what we’re doing here is perfectly fine for the animals. Okay?!”

“Oh? And how can you do that?”

“Because I’ve been in contact with one of them sentient beasts for weeks now,” Shady said with a grin. “In fact, that’s the thing that assured me any so-called magical effects around here will dry up after another week or so of dumping. So don’t cry for the animals, Mindy. Because they want to be rid of their mistakenly acquired human-like sentience as much as we want it too!”

That said, Shady closed up the back of the truck and returned to the passenger seat. He only looked back out when he realized Mindy wasn’t following him. “Aw, what is it NOW?” he sighed.

Mindy blinked and shook her head. “Oh, sorry. It was the weirdest thing… but when you spoke of the animals that way, I could have sworn I heard a collective gasp coming from all around us.”

Shaking her head, she returned to the cabin of the truck, started the ignition, and drove away.

-Shady’s back! Kind of. Not really. Are you enjoying this? Care to vote for T&T, or otherwise let me know?

-Incidentally, at less than 1500 words and only 9 kB in a text file, this marks the shortest entry in the series… ever. Even Part 47 (Respite) was over 1500, and having completed edits on Book 4 last weekend, I can say all future parts are longer than this.

Previously: The time group fractured. Mindy used mental powers to get Hank Waterson to write a letter, warning his daughter Carrie about Glen.

PART 3.20a: WOODLANDS DETOUR 1

“This isn’t working,” Hank Waterson decided, after another twenty minutes of struggling with his novel. “I need to take a step back and get away from all this angst. Maybe… yes, of course. There was that collection of short stories requesting submissions before the end of the year. I’ll have another go at that.”

Hank closed his current document and reached into his desk drawer to pull out a small folder labeled ‘Woodland Creatures’. “Now, let’s see… I was superficially basing these new characters on Carrie and some of her classmates… I must remember to change the names later.” Hank half smiled as he browsed back over his character outlines, then began to write.

It was a bright sunny day, and Carrie was hopping merrily down the woodlands path, her long bunny ears jutting out cutely behind her.

“Did you want some barley to go with your hops?" chattered a nearby voice. Carrie turned to see a chipmunk watching her from a nearby tree stump. She immediately produced a huge croquet mallet from out of nowhere, using it to bonk Frank on the head.

“No rabbit puns!" the bunny girl accused.

“And stop watching Carrie!” came another voice, a smaller hammer coming down next to the mallet. “Remember, you’re dating me, not her.” Luci adjusted her skirt and twitched her long squirrel tail, after which both her and Carrie’s magical objects were dispelled back to the nothing from whence they came.

“I… I just thought Carrie might need some cheering up…” Frank protested, his eyes spinning around in a swirly pattern. “After last night’s date with Glen…”

“Hm. How DID that go?” Luci asked, scampering closer to Carrie. “Did you learn any more about him?"

“I learned he’s very generous,” Carrie said. She reached into her tank top and pulled out a small pendant on a chain. “Seeing as he gave me this present!"

“I still don’t trust him,” Frank protested. “I mean, Glen’s always wearing that mask…”

“He’s a raccoon,” Carrie reminded. She pulled out her mallet again for an over the shoulder shot, but this time Frank managed to produce his magical tennis racquet in time to block her. “There you go, much better reflexes that time,” the bunny applauded him.

“Your pendant seems to be glowing though," Luci mused, scampering left, right, over Carrie’s head and then under her arms to try and get a better look. “Is that normal? Should we analyze it?”

“It does make me feel all tingly,” Carrie admitted. “But this is a magical forest. One expects to have such tingles.”

“Does one? Because we’ve been feeling less and less of those," Luci reminded her, whiskers twitching. “It must be that the magic is fading, and we don’t know why.”

“Right, good point," Carrie sighed. “Soon the humans in that nearby settlement are going to see through the illusions, and start wondering why we wear clothes and have opposable thumbs on our paws.”

“Actually,” Frank piped up again, “we English-speaking clothes-wearing animals are the exception in this forest, not the norm. It’s more likely that we’ll simply lose the ability for higher thought, reverting back to being much more typical forest creatures."

“Yes, thank you for that uplifting reminder, Frank,” Carrie grumbled.

“He does make a point though,” Luci chattered. “If this magic fade keeps up, we may lose the ability to conjure our items, which makes us more vulnerable to… FOX!"

Luci made a jump for a nearby tree as Carrie spun, already whipping out her mallet. It’s handle connected solidly with a long pool cue, and Carrie grimaced with the effort of holding the solid length of wood at bay. “Why don’t you give this up already?” the bunny said through gritted teeth. “You’re never going to get me, Julie.”

“Just keeping you on your toes, much like how you do with Frank,” the fox replied, flashing a smile from behind the cue. “You don’t really think I’d eat a friend, do you?”

“I’d be more convinced if you’d stop licking your lips at the sight of me,” Carrie retorted.

“Aw. You know I can’t control my biology,” Julie said innocently. “Come on Carrie, have faith. This is only a test. Because here’s the thing, it feels to me like your parrying skills are slipping, and if I really wanted to, I could probably–"

Julie stopped speaking as, with a little flash, Carrie’s croquet mallet completely vanished. With a shout of surprise, Carrie jumped to the side, even as Julie executed a quick flip over her pool cue to land on her feet instead of her face.

“Hey!” Frank shouted in surprise. “You shouldn’t be able to counter her conjured item like that! Not that I’m complaining or anything,” he added, as Julie turned her gaze upon him. “And I’d get stuck in your throat, we know I would.”

With a shake of her head and a swish of her long red tail, Julie flipped her long wooden pole back into the null space from whence it had come. “I’m so misunderstood,” she lamented. “I’ve never so much as nibbled on a fellow sentient creature. I eat berries, grasses and fruit.”

“And insects, and fish, and mice…” Luci muttered.

“None of whom talk back to me. What, a fox girl can’t vary her diet from time to time?”

“Don’t change the subject," Frank protested. “What was with your dispelling of Carrie’s mallet??”

“Julie didn’t do that,” Carrie admitted, her bunny nose twitching. “It’s weird, I just… couldn’t hold it any more. You were right, Luci. This magic fading stuff is accelerating.”

“Or you’ve been playing around with your magic abilities too much, Carrie,” Julie retorted. She produced a nail file from the fur behind her ear and began using it on her claws. “It’s like I’ve always said. Only strike when it’s to your advantage to do so.”

“Still, in the year since we got these powers, none of us have ever really questioned where the source magic came from,” Frank chattered. “That now feels like a major oversight on our part.”

“Yeah, you never know what you’ve got until you start losing it,” Luci agreed. “But at this point, where would we even start looking for the source of our sentience power?”

The four animals exchanged uncertain glances. The silence was broken by a familiar voice came from overhead. “News, news, I’ve totally got news, you know!” Chartreuse called. “Calling all sentients, I’ve totally got… oh hey, there you guys are!”

“Oh good, a visit from our resident loon,” Julie said dryly.

Chartreuse dipped down lower, circling above the others as she spoke. “There’s news over at the lake!” the loon wailed. “Clarke’s found something that could be important, we should all, you know, get together and get over there ASAP! I’ve already notified Corry and Laurie and they…”

“What?!” Julie interrupted, jerking her head up. “Nuts!”

“Hm? Nuts?” Luci said, perking her head up.

“Chartreuse! I asked you to STOP telling Corry stuff before you tell me!” the fox girl shouted. Quickly discarding her nail file, Julie dropped to all fours and dashed off in the direction of the lake.

“Well, Corry was totally closer,” the loon said to Julie’s retreating form. “Now, hey, has anyone seen Glen?”

“He’s doing his nocturnal thing,” Carrie replied. “It’s okay, I can fill him in later. Come on, I’ll race everyone to the water’s edge!”

“Race? Oh, sure,” Frank mumbled as Carrie bounded off without waiting for a reply. “Except since the rabbit is always the fastest, what’s the point…”

At the mouth of the lake, the only sound was that of the river water splashing down over the rocks. A bear sat quietly on the bank, looking into the rushing current, apparently scanning for fish. He adjusted his silk shirt, cocked his head to the side… then quickly spun, producing a reinforced yardstick. “Don’t even try it.”

“Try what?” Julie inquired, standing up from where she had been crouched the grass. She brushed off her jeans.

“You know what,” Corry grumped, still pointing the yardstick at her. “You and that pool cue, you’re always searching for some balls to smack around. There will be none of that happening here!”

“Ugh, well what ELSE am I supposed to do with my stupid cue?" the fox sniffed. “At least YOU got a handy measuring tool.”

“Hmph,” the bear grunted noncommittally. He dispelled his stick and turned back to the water. “I still can’t believe how we predatory animals were somehow reduced to conjuring up little more than makeshift clubs. I mean, who decided that any potentially useful weapon could only be generated by the prey?”

“Fate?” Julie guessed, moving closer to Corry while still keeping a respectful distance. “Or, see it as a challenge. If we don’t have an actual mallet, we’re forced to think, which keeps our minds fresh."

“Mmm. Yeah, I guess. Still, if I had a human crossbow, I could take over your part of the forest in no time.”

“And if I had a human rifle, you’d be ousted from your area so fast it would make your head spin,” Julie smirked. “But since that’s not the case, we have to make the best of our situation. Like how your sister does.” Julie pointed past Corry towards the treeline. Laurie was now visible there, amusing herself by trying to balance her beachball on her nose.

Corry’s face took on a pained look. “I say again, you and your pool cue leave my sister and her artistic interests out of this! She may be more teddy bear than brown bear right now, but eventually she’ll realize how she’s capable of so much more.”

“Right. Last I heard she was catching fish by talking them to death.”

“Julie…” Corry began dangerously, but he stopped upon hearing another animal approaching from the forest. At almost the same time, a beaver broke the surface of the water nearby.

“Hey!” Clarke called out from the lake, shaking water from his head. “Everyone assembled yet?"

-Yes, we will get a few parts of this. Are you enjoying it? Do you think it’s a colossal misstep? Does the animal mapping at least feel accurate? You can always vote or comment.

“Time & Tied” PARTS 63-64

1. Original Date Of Completion: OCTOBER 16, 2003
2. What I Was Doing: In Ottawa, looking for a teaching job
3. Changes of note: -Tried to fix constantly changing Point-Of-View perspective

“Time & Tied” PARTS 65-66

1. Original Date Of Completion: APRIL 9, 2004
2. What I Was Doing: EOT position, teaching computers at SWL
3. Changes of note: -Venitis were originally leaving for March Break, adjusted to family outing -Fixed conclusion, Carrie had reverted back to being really bitchy

[caption id=“attachment_1280” align=“aligncenter” width=“204”] PHIL CLARKE
Commission, from Storm Cup Creations[/caption]

TEXT FILE TRACKING

As I’ve mentioned, the original T&T writing used hard dates, so the file begins with 1955 (the visit to Beth) and runs through to “Mid 2013” (when Glen was sent back), the majority of the story taking place in 2001. So, yeah, we’ve passed that year. Silly hard dates.

Also, 2013 raises questions of Glen’s age… let’s just say early drafts had more to do with “aliens” and less with the final product you get here. I’m not saying aliens WON’T factor in, but if and when they do, it won’t be as initially envisioned. (One rough plan was to have a time trip land on a space ship.)

The other text file updated at around this same time was “TimeCha”, my Character file. I last referenced this file set way back in Commentary #8, when TimeCha3 first included character birthdays. This file, TimeCha4, last accessed Dec 4, 2003, incorporated a lot of plot elements to this point from “Season 1” (S1) aka Books 1 and 2. For instance, the date of Julie’s first encounter with Phil, reference to Luci’s missing day, the age of the Venitis were when they left Miami, that sort of thing. Carrie’s powers are also itemized in this file for the first time. And Chartreuse? She got promoted.

CHARACTER UPDATES

Then there’s the fact that Glen Oaks also got an entry at the bottom, including his cover story, and there was a section added for “Minor Reoccurring Characters”. That last section included Linquist, Beth Parker, Theresa the waitress, and the teachers to date (Fisk, Willis, etc). Amusingly one remark in Glen’s section is that he “may or may not remember his mission (trigger word?)”. In these rewrites, he remembers.

Not much else to discuss before spoilers; for now, I’ve made peace with my stats. October looks much like September did, with a notable difference - there were actually two different people commenting on a T&T post in the days following publication. (The discussion of banishment with Part 62.) That was a first, and it DID lead to changes, with Glen giving more information to resolve those questions in the subsequent part. Plus me realizing I may need some timeline clarifications.

That sort of pushback is how I’d always envisioned this. Yay! Two years in, and things are sporadically working as anticipated. Even if the month as a whole is down by almost 100 views (441 in Sept to somewhere around 360 this month, if I’m lucky), while daily tallies very rarely manage to claw their way above 15 hits. On a site with 165 published posts. [EDIT: October saw 345, I was massively optimistic with 360.]

Okay, I’m not looking at stats again for a while. Oh, and I don’t know why Phil has glasses in the commission; artist’s prerogative? Either way, nice background there.

SPOILER SECTION

Here’s the thing. Even though a lot of the stuff in the old “Timeline” file doesn’t factor into what happens any more - I still don’t think I can talk much about it. Because TELLING you that ‘such-and-such’ won’t be a thing might squash some reader theories who think it COULD be. (Not that many of you are theorizing out loud, but still.) I mean, maybe aliens were really high up in your theories, and after what I said above, they’re lower?

I will say that the Timeline Entry for “Mid 2002”, which read “Glen gets Carrie’s friends to start the war against the aliens”… would turn out to not be a thing. There was enough causality floating around already, and ultimately I wanted most of the paradoxes to be centred on Carrie. Also, the original writing got even more sporadic going forwards, and that would have been even more to keep track of.

Somewhat related, any thoughts on the future war? Glen was pretty blasé about it in his talking to Clarke. And we only have his word on things, now that Mindy’s gone. Ah, and we saw Mindylenopia make her grand entrance and exit! Was she right, in the note she left for Carrie? You actually won’t have to wait too long for resolution there… we’re really close to finishing Book 3 now. As far as the Temporal/Mundane front goes, please stick around for Book 4. (Which I basically finished edits for today, yaaaay!)

Sidebar, the only people who actually got a decent look at Mindy in the present were: Carrie, Julie, Corry, Laurie, and Hank (yes, she was the “plainclothes officer”, that’s when she left the note). In faded light, add Lee, Frank, and perhaps Luci and Clarke. Not Glen himself. Isn’t that interesting? Well, maybe not.

Now, let’s tackle character. After the temporal action came together, I used Clarke as the vehicle there - much like I did in Book 1. (Does it work?) He’s a bit of an “every man”, in how he gets drawn into events. Where he’s savvy enough to say the right things, but not predict all the consequences in advance. And after he’s seen everyone, I dealt the death blow – Julie’s on her own again. Was the “farewell kiss” too mean? Frank and Luci are also on the rocks. Everything’s fragmenting (“shattered”) due to Mindy!

Guess what? It can (and will!) get worse, as I aim to conclude the book “Destruction” by having it live up to it’s name. But first, in the coming weeks, something more lighthearted… an episode that was actually written BEFORE the Clarke piece. I switched the order, so that the arcs work better, and because the tonal shift is a bit jarring in retrospect. You’ll see.

Final sidebars: Did you like the return of Clarke’s sister? She did feature in his flashbacks, way back in Book 1 (parts 11 & 12). I mentioned that in my remarks at the bottom of posts, but I don’t know if people care about those. Do you have any theories about what Julie was talking about last part? Apparently something to do with Glen, and a letter, but is it temporal? And do you see Linquist and his gun figuring back into things at all?

Parts 63/64 were originally “The Conspiracy Unfolds Part 2”. In my 2014 edits, I called the chapter “Banishment”, hence the lead-up “Blame Game” was new. Parts 65/66 were originally “Making the Rounds” so “Shattered” was the new title. Remember you can VOTE for T&T at “Top Web Fiction” on a weekly basis. I do get some referrals in from the “fantasy” subpage, where 3 votes is enough to put us on the board.

Coming This Tuesday: The bizarre chronicles of Hank Waterson.

Previously: Clarke is talking to his sister Mary about conversations he had earlier that Sunday. Specifically, when Julie said the only way for her to fit in was to be alone.

PART 3.19b: SHATTERED 2

“All right,” Clarke decided. “If you’re out of the group, I’m out too. It will be like before, I’ll be your sounding board, and the two of us can–”

“NO, Clarke - it’s not like that now!” Julie interrupted. She sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead. “Look… I-I’ll give you this much. Consider, if Glen has the power to alter anyone’s will, then anything I say or show - to anyone! - is only one more avenue he can use to figure me out. And so, even if you DON’T know what I’ll be doing, the more you see, the more likely it is that you’ll be coerced into saying something. Glen might even use you to… I can’t risk that.” She shook her head. “Glen already has the upper hand, given his knowledge of the future. I refuse to give him anyone… anything else he can use against me.”

Clarke frowned. “So this is about Glen.”

“Not completely. It’s… well, no, I’ve said too much already,” Julie decided. “But Clarke - Phil - please know that whatever happens to me in the coming months… I have truly appreciated everything that you’ve done for me. In the past, I used you, abused you, and you… you responded by showing compassion, understanding, and then by crossing the boundaries of time in order to save my life. In doing so, you, more than anyone else, showed me what true caring was all about. Thank you. I… I will never forget that.”

Her voice caught then, and she reached out for him, her fingertips brushing away some of his hair from his ear. Then, almost before he realized it, she was up on her toes, pressing her lips up against his.

In all the time they’d spent together as a pseudo-couple, ever since it had become “official” that day he’d brought the eclairs to her on that October day back in Grade Ten… they had never kissed on the lips. And now…

“I’m sorry,” Julie whispered, pulling back even as his arms moved to embrace her. “I shouldn’t have… Jeeves can show you out.”

“Jewels, don’t do this… JULIE!”

But she was gone, having turned and fled the room. Clarke ran to the doorway after her, and he called out to her again, but she did not return. Had he seen a tear at the corner of her eye before she turned? Or maybe, like so much of their relationship, maybe he’d only imagined it.

Outside, a light rain began to fall.

“Ouch,” Mary said quietly.

“Ouch,” Clarke repeated. “So it’s as I said, the only issues are between me and a number of my friends.”

“But one friend in particular.”

Clarke forced his tone to remain level. “One in particular,” he admitted. “Thing is Mary, I made a real mess of everything today, and Julie was simply the icing on the cake. So I keep running through everything in my mind, trying to figure out exactly where I went wrong… like maybe if I’d gone to Julie’s house FIRST this morning… or maybe if I’d pursued her up to her room…”

“Phil, second guessing yourself does no one any good. What’s done is done, you can’t change it.”

“Oh, Mary, you have no idea how often that subject gets debated around here,” Clarke groaned.

“My point is you now have to look towards the future. I mean, maybe this was just some spur of the moment thing on Julie’s part! Do you think she’ll come around again by the end of the week?”

“Julie doesn’t do spur of the moment,” Clarke countered. “Nor does she do things in half measures, so I… I think I’m cut off for good. Yet I’m pretty sure her current state of mind is tied up in all the other events that are going on right now! So… so maybe, if I figure out how to get everyone to truly accept her and treat her decently again, that will make things all right! What do you think??”

Mary didn’t reply at first. “Phil,” she began slowly, “It sounds to me like Julie is in even worse shape than Carrie. If she has truly cut you off, and no one was closer to Julie than you, will platitudes by other classmates really have much of an effect?”

“Well she… or maybe Corry could… that is… for God sakes Mary, I can’t just sit here and do nothing, can I?!”

His sister sighed audibly. “Bro, I know you don’t want to hear this, but from what I’ve learned about Julie since the events of your school last November? She wasn’t the most stable person to be in a relationship with anyway,” Mary said. “As such, maybe a little time apart will help give you both a little perspective. You can always approach Julie again later, yeah? And in the meantime, check in with that butler she has, to make sure she’s still seeing that Doctor Golden fellow.”

“You think she’s crazy.”

“I didn’t say that, Phil. I just think that she’s having some issues right now that are beyond the scope of what you or your friends can do to help her.”

“You think she’s crazy and that she needs more psychological counselling! Well, it’s not that!” Clarke said, slamming his free hand down on his desk as he shouted at the phone. If only he could have explained the full truth to Mary about Glen’s mental powers! “The trouble is, none of us can talk about what’s at the core of all this!” he said, frustrated. “No adult would ever believe what we… would ever… wait, Mary, you said you’re coming to town, right?!”

A pause. “Yeesssss…” his sister said guardedly.

“And you’re already into fourth year university, so you know a lot about psychoanalyzing people, right?”

“Phil, I see where you’re going with this, and no.”

“But Mary, it’s perfect!” Clarke insisted. “If I can’t help Julie, I can at least provide her with a counsellor who might do her some actual good! One who can be told the whole truth and who won’t try to have us all certified insane!”

“Bro, the whole family shrink thing is just me putting on airs,” Mary countered firmly. “I’m angling for a PhD, so I still have a lot more schooling to do before I could even THINK of safely giving professional advice!”

“Mary… please,” Clarke pleaded. “Think of all the times in the past when we were moving from place to place, and you helped me out. You didn’t need a signed piece of paper to do that! Julie needs someone, and… and you’re all I’ve got. Besides, you know I’ve been dodging around things, this way I’d finally be able to tell you everything. In person.”

The silence on the other end of the phone extended for so long that Clarke wondered if they’d lost their connection. “Loverly,” his sister finally muttered. Then louder, “Phil, I will THINK about it, provided you do NOT endlessly bring this up with me between now and then.”

“Thank you,” Clarke replied, his mind already leaping ahead to her arrival. He’d explain about the time machine, and Glen, and Carrie, and then Mary would talk with Julie, learn what was bothering her, and then everything would be all right again. Yes, everything would be all right again…

Nothing would ever be all right, not any more. But, Julie wondered, did she really deserve any better? She wiped her cheeks dry with the palm of her hand and stood up, pulling the letter out of her pocket once more. The same letter that had been left in her mailbox that morning.

She scanned over the contents for what felt like the hundredth time. “She’s right,” Julie whispered, as she reached the bottom of the page. “I am the only one who can do this. But that knowledge doesn’t make it any easier.”

Julie clenched her fists, then ripped the paper in half, followed by the envelope, before crumpling them both in her hand. Letting out a long breath, she tossed the pieces into the fireplace. One match later, and they were both burned down into ash.

Julie then proceeded up to her room, removing the silver brooch she wore in the shape of a rose. She placed it into the small jewellery box on her vanity, then after a moment of hesitation, picked it back up and shoved it back into the depths of her lowermost drawer.

“All right,” Julie said calmly to herself. “Long term planning is your forte, and Carrie knew that. It’s time for a new plan.”

Carrie glowered at the black box sitting on her bedroom floor. “I WILL destroy you!” she stated. As if saying that out loud would somehow make that possible future into a reality. The trouble was, the time machine was the only failsafe she had. The only tool any of them had which could undo things if she lost control of her time powers.

She was sure that’s why Glen didn’t like it. But it was also the reason she’d insisted on keeping it with her, after regaining consciousness last night. Like a crutch.

What WAS it Glen was so worried about? Oh sure, he’d framed it as, if Carrie were always thinking about ways her friends might be able to save her from herself, she’d never properly develop into the temporal being she was supposed to be. Screwing up their wondrous timeline three. But was it only that? Did Glen think someone else could get their hands on it?

Then again, maybe they didn’t need the machine; if Carrie went golden-eyed nuts, they had that gun thing now.

“Keep quiet about that, or Glen’ll want you to destroy it too,” Carrie muttered. She pressed her palm into her forehead, then marched to the window. “Any future Carries want to come back to tell me what to do this time?” she called out into the darkness. “Send me a letter maybe? No?”

She stared down, and was reminded of the rocks Frank had been heaving up at her window from the backyard earlier that day. She’d called on her father to get rid of him. She probably shouldn’t have done that. She probably shouldn’t have done a lot of things. Like sending Chartreuse that message saying her mystical services would no longer be required. How many more bridges could she burn? Pretty soon, no one but Glen would even want to save her.

“Screw it,” Carrie sighed. She turned and knelt back down in front of the time machine. Yet as she reached out to open it, a thought occurred. Glen had been teaching her about pushing objects out of time, the foundation of banishment. She even remembered doing it with a glass that time in the hospital… somehow. “And what, you think you can push the time machine into the future, for later use?” she muttered aloud. “You can barely budge a thumbtack two seconds ahead.”

No, her mind reasoned back. But Frank or Luci might know of some way to rig the time machine for an automatic run, sending it forwards in time without a pilot. That way, if the apocalypse happened, derailing everything, the time machine would still reappear at some point in the future. Letting someone fix it. Besides, would waiting an extra few days, allowing herself to calm down, be such a bad thing?

Carrie stood back up. Okay then, she would at least explore that avenue. After all, what was the worst thing that could happen?

-Next Episode: Woodlands Detour

-How’re you doing out there? Thoughts on revelations? Still a vote button at the top of the page. New Commentary this Sunday.

Previously: Clarke is talking to his sister Mary about visiting people on Sunday. Luci blew up Tim’s bedroom mirror using the energy gun.

PART 3.19a: SHATTERED 1

“My God! Phil, were you all right?!”

Clarke pulled his gaze down from the ceiling. “Yeah, Mary, I was fine. I even reacted in time to shield Tim. Luci got nicked in the arm by a shard of glass but it was nothing serious.”

“Why in the world would Luci heave a latin dictionary at the mirror on Tim’s dresser? She had to know it would shatter!”

Clarke winced. “I didn’t exactly say it was a dictionary. I mean, that’s what we told Tim’s father but… it’s complicated.”

“You keep saying that,” Mary sighed. “Phil, sister or therapist, I can’t do you any good when you keep sidestepping the truth.”

“I know, I know, it’s just… look, I’m sorry sis. The full truth is something I don’t think you’d be able to buy into right now.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Mary responded. “But okay, putting that aside for the moment, I’m getting the distinct impression that everything to this point? Has been background events. It’s like you’re avoiding some major issue. What else happened today? Who else were you talking with?”

Clarke swallowed. “Uhm, well, actually I ran into Corry and Laurie after leaving Tim’s,” he ventured. “They were outside the Veniti household, heading off for the rest of the day with their parents. Chartreuse was there too, to see them off.”

“Hi Clarke!” Laurie said, beaming at him as she ran down the driveway. She paused when she was two steps away and tilted her head to the side. “Um… hey, I think you’ve got ice in your hair.”

Clarke blinked at Laurie and reached up to where she was peering.  “Er, thanks,” he replied, plucking the small shard off his head. “It’s glass actually.”

“Oh. So, what, did you come by to see me? Or you just taking the really long way around to Julie’s house?” Clarke flinched as he realized the accuracy of her statement.

“Glass? Like, why would you have glass in your hair, Clarke?” Chartreuse asked, coming up beside Laurie.

The tall blonde sighed. “Let’s just say that Luci and Tim still have a ways to go with Linquist’s translations. Not that they’ll be able to do any more of it today.” He could still recall Luci muttering over and over ‘That wasn’t supposed to happen’, while the two of them had been escorted out of the Whitby residence.

“Oh,” Laurie repeated. She glanced from Clarke to Chartreuse, then back. “Well… I’ve said ‘hi’, so I guess I should get back to helping my brother load bags in the car.”

“Ah, don’t bother,” Corry said, walking up to join the three of them. “Dad says he’ll take care of the last thing once Mom’s got her camera packed inside it. Which will be once they find it. Which will be once he stops berating her for not finding it last night.” He clapped a hand on Laurie’s shoulder. “Good to know your scatterbrained nature is hereditary, eh, little sis?”

Laurie flushed a bit in the cheeks, glancing at Clarke out of the corner of her eye. “I’m not THAT bad,” she protested to her brother. “I mean… at least I’m not the one who’s grounded all next week!”

Corry’s expression turned dark. “I’ll thank you not to mention that again. After all, I wouldn’t be in any trouble at all if I’d been allowed to time travel back, as planned!”

Clarke exchanged a quick glance with Chartreuse, who shrugged. “Corry, your parents didn’t buy our excuses as to your two day absence then?” the tall blonde inquired.

Corry looked over at Clarke. “Hm? Oh, well, they sort of bought it,” he yielded. “Only the idea of me staying over at Julie’s for two days is a stretch, even if you did somehow get Jeeves to vouch on my behalf. Now, for it to be after all the crazy stuff that happened at school…? Let’s just say I got the whole ‘family values’ speech, with this outing thrown in to boot. My dad in particular isn’t as easygoing as Frank’s parents are.”

“Plus Mom now thinks Julie and my brother are a romantic item,” Laurie put in. “So that’s awkward.”

“Yeah, there’s that too,” Corry sighed, rubbing his forehead.

“You get what Julie was, like, saying about why we couldn’t, you know, send you back though, right?” Chartreuse asked.

Corry waved off the pink haired girl. “Yeah, yeah, I understand the whole didn’t-happen-so-can’t-happen-and-don’t-piss-off-freaky-golden-eyed-weapon-girl reasoning. Doesn’t mean I have to LIKE it. For that matter, I’m surprised Julie was so willing to go along with placating Carrie. Reading between the lines of Laurie’s catchup story, I gather Carrie was treating Julie pretty rotten after me and Frank left.”

“They’ve both been under more strain than usual,” Clarke put in quickly. “With Mindy gone, I’m hoping we can smooth things over once again.”

“Mmmm. That’ll take effort,” Corry said slowly. “Assuming it’s even possible. But then again… I now have a gaping two day HOLE in my life, so what the hell do I know, right?!”

“Hey, one more day and you’ll be, you know, caught up from the extra few days you spent in the past last year,” Chartreuse offered up.

Corry fired Chartreuse a look. “NOT helping,” he said pointedly. “For that matter, I’m not getting suckered into any more time trips. Keep me apprised of your group’s situation, yes, inform me of any attempts by Glen to use - what was it, strange mental powers? – hell yes, but DON’T count on me for physical assistance in any further temporal shenanigans!”

Laurie pulled her gaze away from Clarke long enough to turn back towards her brother. “Shenanigans? Aren’t those like polygons?”

Corry opened his mouth to reply, then thought better of it and simply shook his head. “Nevermind. C’mon sis, let’s help the parental units get a move on.”

Laurie hesitated, then nodded. “Sure you don’t want to stick around for, uh, a glass of juice or anything, Clarke?” she asked, casting one final glance his way.

“No. Thanks though,” he replied.

“Oh, and hey, Clarke?” Corry called out over his shoulder, even as he began to walk back towards the house. “Keep an eye on Julie for me tonight, okay? She was looking kinda vulnerable and I think you’d be a better person to talk with her than me.”

“Aha! Now I know what you’re hiding!”

Clarke froze. “Hiding, Mary?”

“Julie,” his sister stated. “Our conversation is all about Julie.”

There was a moment of silence. “Why…”

“Your voice is catching every time you say her name,” Mary pointed out. “And you’ve been trying to avoid mentioning her, despite how your connection to her has been referenced in every single conversation so far.  Come on, Phil, you’re running out of other people to talk about. You must have seen Julie earlier today. So what’s the big mystery?”

Clarke rose from his bed and went to his window, staring out at the darkening sky. “No mystery,” he said at last. “Here’s how that conversation played out…”

Clarke was a little surprised to see Julie herself answer the front door. “I saw you heading up the driveway,” she began by way of explanation. “I knew you’d come today. We… we have to talk.”

“I agree,” Clarke said. He held up a small box. “And I brought some eclairs along, to try and help with the mood.”

Julie’s eyes slipped down to the box. She closed her eyes. “Damn. I wish you hadn’t done that,” she whispered. Reopening her eyes, she turned. “Come into the sitting room.”

Clarke hesitated for a moment, then shut the door behind and followed after her. “This… seems pretty serious,” Clarke observed as Julie sat down on the couch. He dropped the eclair box on the table. “But look, it’s important that you don’t think what happened last night was your fault, we never–”

“We’re through,” Julie interrupted.

Clarke nodded as he sat. “Carrie said the same thing,” he admitted. “But I don’t think–”

She spun to face him. “No, not ‘we’ as in the time group. We. Us. Whatever the two of us have. I’m sorry, but it’s over.”

Their eyes locked. He saw the determination in her gaze… and he didn’t understand it. Not at all. “Jewels,” he said softly, reaching out towards her. “You can’t mean…” His voice trailed off as she stood, slipping just beyond his reach.

“Ph– Clarke, please don’t make this harder than it has to be,” she replied, back now towards him, her hands tightening into fists.

Clarke paused, trying to figure out what he was supposed to say to that. It was like Grade Ten all over again. But why? “Jewels, I don’t understand,” he admitted. “I mean, you wanting to back out of the time traveling makes some sense to me but this…? I need an explanation!”

It took a moment for Julie to respond, and when she did, her voice sounded empty. “Where I’m going next, I can’t take you with me. If I did, at best you would slow me down, and at worst… you could be used against me. And I won’t have you hurt like that. Not like everyone else I’ve managed to harm in the past few days. Not that way.”

Clarke stood. “Jewels…”

“Julie!” the brunette snapped, her body shaking slightly. “Gods, Clarke, just… just call me Julie…! Please, Clarke… PLEASE…” Her voice nearly cracked.

He swallowed. “Julie then. You… you’re talking nonsense! What do you mean where you’re going? Are you leaving town? Or are you planning to leave this time period entirely? Because I don’t think that… wait, your parents aren’t doing something more to you, are they??”

Julie turned back to face him, her expression one of anger and disbelief - but her gaze swiftly softened and became one of quiet sadness. “Oh Clarke… simple, unaware Clarke… no, my parents aren’t a factor. And I didn’t mean going physically, or temporally. It’s about… about me fitting in. The only way I can.”

“Yes, right, we talked about that the other day,” Clarke said desperately, searching for meaning in the conversation. “And with teamwork…"

“No, Clarke.” Julie shook her head. “I don’t do teamwork, remember? If you don’t believe me, just ask Carrie, she’ll set you straight.”

“She’s sorry for slapping you. She told me. She said your idea was good.”

Julie smiled, but it was a sad smile, and her tone still sounded hollow. “That’s nice to know, but… it doesn’t matter. Not now that I know that the only way to fit in… is to cut myself off from the rest of you. Completely. The next choices I make, I must make them on my own.”

Clarke ran a hand back through his hair. “DAMN it, Julie… what you’re saying, it makes no sense!”

“I’m sorry you feel that way. But you can’t change my mind on this matter, Ph–” She swallowed. “Clarke. Please, for all our sakes, don’t try.”

It was at that moment, that Clarke knew she was lying. There was resolve in Julie’s face, but lurking behind that mask was something more. Some hope that he would see an alternative, and be able to try… something. But how could he do that when he didn’t even know what in the world she was talking about?

-BOOM. It can’t get worse than this, can it? (idle whistling) Incidentally, anyone spot the callback to Book 1, with the eclairs? Also the last time we saw Mary.

Previously: Clarke is talking to his sister Mary about visiting people on Sunday. Carrie asserted to Clarke that she’d only work now with Glen - who has a mental power of suggestion.

PART 3.18b: MAKING THE ROUNDS 2

“Yeah, sure, I’ll see about tracking down those library books on town history for you,” Lee was saying, as Clarke came within range of their conversation.

An innocent enough topic. Clarke had wondered, given how he and Julie had brought Lee up to speed on the time machine last night, whether Lee had been trying to verify any of their story. The dark haired teen stood up then, turning and coming face to face with Clarke.

“Whoa, high guy, sneaking up on us?” Lee said, lifting an eyebrow. “It’s just one accidental occurrence after another today, isn’t it?”

“I… guess so?” was all Clarke could think to answer.

“Well, unless you need me for my library skills too, I need to be on my way,” Lee continued. “Say hi to Julie for me!”

Lee made as if to continue past Clarke, but he stumbled, reaching out for the taller boy’s shoulder to regain his balance. As he did so, he muttered near Clarke’s ear, “Red Barren there doesn’t know I helped bring him to Julie’s. Please don’t let on.”

“Oh… right. Of course,” Clarke said. Lee simply flashed him a smile and a thumbs up before heading out of the cafe.

“He’s an interesting character,” Glen remarked, pulling Clarke’s attention back to him. “Not part of your little ‘group’, is he?” The redhead gestured at the recently vacated seat across from him. Clarke hesitated, then joined Glen himself.

“According to Carrie, there is no group,” he evaded.

“Ah! She’s spoken with you then? Good, good. You DO realize her decision was inevitable, yes?” Glen said apologetically. “She’s the one with the destiny, after all. The rest of you… yourself, Julie, Frank, Luci, Tim, Chartreuse… am I missing anyone?”

Glen paused invitingly, but again Clarke did not take the bait. “Well, whatever,” Glen shrugged. “You’re all aware now that I could put the ‘whammy’” - he made little quote marks in the air - “on any of you to find out. If I really wanted to. But there’s no point, as no one in your time traveling bunch has any role to play moving forwards.”

“And how would you know what role we might play?” Clarke replied, trying not to sound irritated.

Glen made a vague gesture in the air. “Didn’t Carrie say? I’m from the future, like Mindy was. I don’t mind telling you that, and I’m sure Julie’s figured it out by now - in fact I’ll have to make sure I don’t underestimate her, the way I did last night.”

“So you know the future, yet Julie was able to surprise you,” Clarke replied, shifting back to his manner of not quite asking a question.

“Mmmmm,” was Glen’s only reply as his fingers began drumming on the tabletop. “Fair point," he admitted. “The thing you have to understand about time is that, even though it resists universal change, individuals still have the free will to screw things up locally. I mean, let’s say Julie is slated to die in a month. Doesn’t mean I CAN’T save her then; time could compensate. But it wouldn’t be easy to accomplish. If we extend the analogy towards trying to prevent the outbreak of the temporal war and all the deaths that stemmed from that? It becomes downright impossible.”

Clarke clenched his jaw. “Glen, you speak of deaths as if you were talking about the weather.”

Glen paused. “You’re right, I’m sorry - that must seem incredibly callous. Forgive me, I’ve been a little… distracted these last couple days.”

“Worried about Mindy?”

“Carrie, actually,” the redhead countered. “More and more I’m discovering how she’s… different from the Carrie I expected. For instance, she actually fears the power that she has, rather than embraces it. I’m not sure how to change her attitude. Any ideas?”

“Can’t your powers change attitudes?” Clarke cut back before he could stop himself.

Glen ran a hand back through his hair. “Another point to you. But it’s not like I wander around using my mental abilities indiscriminately. Embracing one’s powers doesn’t mean abusing one’s powers.” He frowned. “As I suppose I did last night, so if an apology helps there, fine, you have it.”

Clarke nodded. “All right, I’m sorry too, for getting judgmental. But you know, cutting Carrie off from her friends isn’t going to help your cause.”

“I’m not trying to cut her off from her friends, merely your inexperienced time meddling!” Glen countered, slapping his palm on the table. “That’s the real danger here! Of course, the fact that Carrie apparently came close to banishing Frank from this time period last night probably isn’t helping her mood. I just… damn it, I just wish she was more like her future self!”

The tall blonde sat for a moment, gauging Glen’s sincerity. “You need to stop seeing her as Carrie, the girl destined to control time, and start seeing her as Carrie, the normal, everyday high school student,” he suggested at last. “Because right now, more than anything else, that’s how she wants to be seen.”

“Ridiculous! Others like Mindy may come, she can’t put her head in the sand and ignore that fact!”

Clarke didn’t reply. Throwing up his hands, Glen turned in his seat to regard the cafe itself. “Where’s my food, anyway?” he grumbled. “It’s been almost twenty minutes.”

As if on cue, Theresa came into view, dodging around a man in an overcoat. She set a cup of hot chocolate down in front of Clarke. “Here you go,” the waitress said to him with a smile. “I know you didn’t order it, but another customer changed their mind, and you seem to need it. It’s on me.”

“Oh, uh… thanks,” Clarke replied, blinking at the redhead in surprise.

She lifted an eyebrow back at him. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m still a perfectly normal waitress.” Theresa glanced at Glen. “As for you, I’m sure your club sandwich will be out shortly. Remember, patience is a virtue.”

She moved off again, leaving Glen to fume quietly in his seat. “How is it that I always get such lousy service in this place?” the redhead grumped, glancing from Clarke to the mug in front of him. “I mean, what do I have to do?!”

Clarke shrugged. “Dunno,” he answered, taking a quick sip. “Maybe you should tip more.”

Glen frowned. “Tip?”

“Oh, loverly. I’m getting the impression that this Glen is not a people person,” Mary remarked.

Clarke rolled over to lie on his front. “Not really,” her brother agreed. “I mean, he’s friendly enough, but he’s not above playing tricks in order to achieve his goals. And he sees this big picture, rather than the individuals involved in it.”

“Sounds a bit like how Julie used to be.”

Clarke fell silent for a moment. “Glen feels more dangerous,” he said at last. “But then again… maybe you’re right. Maybe Glen needs a friend like me to help him fit in a little better.”

“Well, I’d love to be right, but you’re still being cagey about these conversations,” Mary replied. “I mean, there’s a lot of reasons why Glen might have thought this ‘burden’ Carrie has is a good thing… including psychological problems on his part. Can’t you give me more detailed information?”

“It’s… complicated,” Clarke sighed. He couldn’t very well relay the parts of his conversations that were about time travel. “Besides, aren’t you just listening to me as a sister?”

“True enough. So, you were saying that you were on your way to Tim’s place?”

“Yeah,” Clarke affirmed. “And when I got there, I discovered Luci was with him.”

“C-Clarke! You’re here!” Tim said, looking up from a desk of notes and beaming at the tall boy as Clarke walked into the bedroom.

“Hi,” Clarke said, nodding at his friend. “I didn’t realize you already had company.”

“Well, after last night I decided we’d best figure out what the heck we shot Carrie with,” Luci noted. “And Tim’s the main translation man for Linquist’s notes.” The young girl gestured from the edge of the bed, where she sat with Linquist’s temporal gun, back towards the curly haired boy.

Clarke looked from Tim to Luci and back. “How much do you know about what’s going on then, Tim?”

Tim opened his mouth to reply, but again it was Luci who spoke first.  “I told Tim all the highlights,” she stated. “Time machine, Carrie’s funky powers, his memory loss from before the hospital… seemed only fair that he know at this point.”

Clarke frowned slightly. “I see. And… Tim, you’re okay with this?”

“Oh, sure, he’s managing fine,” Luci continued blithely. “Actually, we figure all this additional background info should help with the translating.”

“Luci, I asked Tim!” Clarke said sharply, turning again to look at her. She jerked her gaze up from the gun towards him, and inwardly he cursed himself for taking that tone. He didn’t seem to be having the best of luck with people today…

“It’s all right,” Tim said quickly, standing up and moving to place a hand on Clarke’s arm. “I am f-fine, her information really will help with the translating, and it doesn’t look like I’ll be any more involved than that.” He paused. “And knowing about this t-time group also explains why I hardly see you lately.”

Clarke flinched slightly, turning to look the shorter boy in the eyes. Had he not been hanging around Tim as much? He supposed that he HAD been paying more attention to Julie ever since the time machine factor had reappeared last month… and of course he’d wanted to speak with Carrie and Frank on occasion… but he had come by Tim’s house just last Monday. Or, no, had it been the previous Monday? For that matter, when was the last time he’d made a drugstore run for Tim’s medications?

“I… I’m sorry, Tim,” Clarke said as he realized the truth of the situation. “I never made a conscious decision to avoid you.”

“ANYway,” Luci cut back in pointedly, “you’re just in time. We’ve managed to recharge the gun, and were about to take a test shot. The thing’s non-lethal, by the way, that’s what Tim realized yesterday, hence shooting Carrie with everything we had. This time, we’re sure the safety’s engaged and the gun’s set back to level one, so we shouldn’t experience such massive kickback. Observe.”

She picked up the gun again and, bracing herself back against the wall behind the bed, took aim at a pillow sitting across the room on Tim’s dresser.

Clarke frowned. “Is it safe to be firing that thing off indoors?”

Tim nodded. “Oh, sure. Well, we’re p-pretty sure,” he amended. “I mean, near as I can figure, it’s now configured to be the equivalent of a sci fi phaser on low stun.”

“But if you’re not a hundred percent certain, perhaps we should–” Clarke never got a chance to complete his sentence. Luci had already pulled the trigger, and even before the sequence of lights on the gun was done flashing, a pulse of energy shot out of the barrel. The pillow on the dresser exploded in a cloud of feathers - and the glass in the mirror behind it shattered into a hundred pieces, all of them spiralling out into Tim’s bedroom.

-Next Episode: Shattered

-What do you think… Is Glen like Julie or not? Is Luci evading issues, like Frank was? Do you want to comment, or click the voting link?

Previously: Mindy was banished by Carrie, but left a warning message about Glen, via her father. Carrie was knocked out by an energy gun… in fact, most people were knocked out by something.

PART 3.18a: MAKING THE ROUNDS 1

“Yeah, right into the library,” Clarke admitted, lying back on his bed as he held the phone receiver up to his ear. “But we’re… we’re all fine here.”

“You don’t sound sure of that,” Mary remarked. “Look, sorry I didn’t make it back for Thanksgiving – Doug wanted me to meet his family - but I’ll be making it up to everyone by coming to your first basketball game of the season in a few weeks. Okay?”

Clarke found he was unable to hold back a smile. “That’s great news, Mary! Just… just great!”

“Uh huh. Okay Phil, even if I weren’t majoring in psychology? I’d know something was wrong. Out with it.”

“What? I… uh…” Clarke shook his head. “I swear I’ll manage to bluff you one of these days! Though seriously, the family’s fine. School’s fine. The only issues are, well, between me and a number of my friends.”

“Yeah? You want to talk about it? I’m speaking as your sister here, not as the family shrink.”

Clarke passed his hand in front of his eyes. “Actually,” he sighed. “It seems like I’ve already spent this whole Sunday talking…”

It had made sense for him to visit Carrie first. She had been the last to regain consciousness the previous night, and she hadn’t spoken to anyone at Julie’s place, except to ask Glen to take her home. Yet even though she had looked normal at the time, blue eyes and all, Clarke was worried. Not only about Carrie herself, but also at the rift that was again forming between her and Julie.

Mr. Waterson answered the door when Clarke knocked. “I’m afraid Carrie is unavailable to speak with friends today,” he said immediately. “She’s been acting too irresponsibly of late.”

“Oh, well… she kinda has information I need for a group project,” Clarke hedged. “It’ll only take ten minutes.”

“She’ll be at school tomorrow,” Mr. Waterson pointed out. “This can’t wait?”

“Not really. It’s sort of extra curricular. A lot of us are involved in it,” Clarke explained. He disliked skirting the truth like this, particularly around someone like Carrie’s father, but he really did want to speak with her. Though as it turned out, while Clarke’s reasoning was enough to get him an audience, Carrie wasn’t in much of a talking mood.

“Did Julie send you?” the blonde questioned. She marched across the living room, heading for the window, arms crossed. She didn’t even look his way.

“No. But that’s just it, I am a little concerned about the friction building up in our little temporal group…”

“Then you’ll be glad to hear it’s not a group any more,” Carrie cut back in. “There will be no more use of the time machine. If you’ll take that message back to the others, I think we’re done here."

Clarke winced. “Look, Carrie… I know having your powers released again must have been rough…”

“Rough? ROUGH?!” Carrie spun away from the window to face him now, her blue eyes blazing with anger - yet there was something else there too. Fear? “You have NO idea, Clarke, NONE at ALL, all right??” Carrie shot back. “Suffice to say, there’s going to be nothing more going on that’s even remotely temporally related until Glen and I can balance these forces inside me!”

Clarke waited until some of the tension had drained out of the air. “Then you didn’t change over willingly last night,” he stated, in a tone that invited comment.

“No, I… well, yes," Carrie said. Her gaze slipped away. “It was a plan me and Glen devised to deal with Mindy. I was to give myself up to that inner demon when I heard Glen say the words ‘swan song’. I chose those words myself, because I had this crystal swan three years ago that… oh, why am I even bothering to explain this to you?!”

“Because sometimes it helps to talk about stuff?” Clarke offered.

“Yeah, that worked out SO well on Thursday, when me and Julie were at cross purposes,” Carrie shot back. Clarke winced, recalling the slap. She jabbed a finger back in his direction. “I’m done. With the group, even with Chartreuse. Glen is the only person who can help me now."

“You’re sure we can trust him, then,” Clarke said, again not quite phrasing it like a question. “Even with his apparent mental abilities.”

“Yes!” Carrie said forcefully. She drew a shaky breath. “Yes, I have to trust him. Because he’s all I’ve got. It doesn’t matter what Mindy put in that letter she left with my father, I can’t simply…” She stopped. “Scratch that. You never heard that, there is no letter.”

“Er, okay…”

“In fact, I don’t ever want to hear Mindy’s name again,” Carrie went on. “I don’t know what time I sent her to, and I’d rather not think about it. You can tell that to the others too!”

“Then you’re sure none of us can–”

“Damn it Clarke, there’s no US! No group, not any more!” Carrie interrupted. She pursed her lips. “Except… okay, maybe answer me one question? What was it that pulled me out of doomsday-Carrie mentality last night? Because somehow, I know that wasn’t Glen.”

Clarke accepted the change of subject, explaining to Carrie about the gun that had been discovered in Linquist’s safe. “Great, I was a weapons guinea pig,” the blonde moaned, pressing a hand into her temples. “You probably should have killed me outright, who knows what long term effects will plague me now.”

“Well, if it looks like you’re growing a third arm, you let somebody know, all right?” Clarke responded, venturing a smile. Carrie was hard to read, but she seemed to be calming down. “I mean, time travel or not, we want to help you. That’s all we’ve ever been trying to do.”

Carrie moved her hand to rub the bridge of her nose. “I know,” she murmured. “I know. But here’s the sad thing. None of you can help me, at least not safely.” Her gaze fell upon Clarke once more, and this time he was pretty sure that she was trying not to cry. “Look. We’re still done, but tell Julie I’m sorry for slapping her the other day, all right? Her idea was actually a good one."

Clarke began to respond that it would be better for Carrie to tell Julie that herself, but the blonde cheerleader was already brushing past him. Before he could get out half a sentence, Carrie was out of the living room and running upstairs.

“So you say Carrie has major emotional issues owing to some burden that’s been placed on her?” Mary mused. “I hate to tell you this bro, but emotional issues are typical for teenagers."

“Yeah, but this is the sort of burden no one should ever have to carry alone,” Clarke countered, switching the phone to his other ear. “So given Carrie’s pushing people away because of it, that can’t be healthy.”

“Probably not,” Mary agreed. “But even so, I wager there’s one or two people who can still get through to her. If not you, any other candidates?”

“Well, Glen. Or the next best bet would be Frank… I actually ran into him in front of the house, after talking with Carrie.”

“You might have trouble getting past Carrie’s father,” Clarke cautioned. “I think she’s sort of grounded.”

“Oh.” Frank frowned. “I really think we need to talk about that whole temporal plan I authorized though, and she isn’t answering her phone.”

“Try saying it’s an extra curricular group project,” Clarke offered. “That got me past Mr. Waterson. Getting Carrie to talk at all though… that may be the real challenge. I didn’t exactly soften her up. If anything, I did the opposite. Sorry, Frank.”

“Well, historically speaking she’s had more experience through high school using people as tools versus being their friends,” Frank observed. “A bit like Julie. So it’s a matter of us working around that, right? I mean, would she be able to ignore me indefinitely if I was heaving rocks up at her window?”

“Depends on how good your aim is.”

Frank grimaced. “Well, there’s that oak tree, I can get reasonably close if I have to.”

“Maybe you and Luci could tag team on it?” Clarke suggested.

There was a pause in the conversation then, awkward enough for Clarke to realize that he’d accidentally hit a nerve. “Julie explained to me about the log book and the gun Luci found,” Frank said at last. “While we were waiting for her to regain consciousness. I think… that is, it feels like me and Luci have issues there. We barely talked when I was walking her home after. Maybe I’m trying to avoid that situation now, by coming to see Carrie instead. I don’t know.”

“Relationships do generate issues,” Clarke agreed. “If nothing else, it’s good that you’re acknowledging one.”

“I’m not sure I am. Girls are a mystery. I don’t know how you and Julie manage to keep it all together. Say, do you think Carrie would let me travel a week into the future, to see how I handle things with Luci?”

Clarke pursed his lips. “Frank, I’d strongly recommend avoiding any talk of time travel with Carrie today. Even jokingly.”

Frank let out a long breath. “That bad, huh? Guess my work is cut out for me then.” He shook his head. “I’m starting to feel like I should have gone to see Chartreuse this morning instead. As girls go, she at least feels approachable right now.”

“Well, whatever you decide, let me know if I can be of any help," Clarke said, clapping the other teen on the shoulder.

“I will,” Frank replied, reaching up to touch the bandage on the side of his head. “Thing is, the relationship stuff? I think I’ll have to work it out by myself."

“Do you think Frank was able to help Carrie then?” Mary asked.

“I really don’t know,” Clarke sighed. “It became the least of my worries. See, I wanted to check up on Tim today too, because of how he got involved in recent events. But before I got to his house, there was this other encounter. When I passed by the local cafe, I saw Glen. He was talking with Lee. So I went in to find out what that was about.”

-Who remembers Mary Clarke from Book 1, Part 11? Some main characters do have siblings. Thoughts on character reactions so far?

Previously: When Mindy reappears, Glen and Carrie plan to banish her, while Julie and the others plan to capture her. Luci has discovered a “temporal gun” in Linquist’s safe.

PART 3.17b: BANISHMENT 2

“Well?” said the voice Glen recognized as belonging to Luci. “Does it say the gun freezes people in time or not?”

“I d-don’t know yet! I can’t t-translate under these conditions!” came the reply.

“Steady on Tim,” Clarke soothed. “Here, I’ll hold the flashlight.”

Glen moved to intercept the four individuals. “Clarke!” he called out amiably. “Luci, Julie, Tim! Fancy meeting all of you here.”

“Glen?” Julie said. “Uh, didn’t Carrie tell you that this is an incredibly unsafe place to be right now??”

“Is it?” Glen said, blinking. “You should all be on your way somewhere else then.”

“Can’t,” Luci retorted. “We have some presents for Mindy, when she arrives here.”

“They can wait,” Glen insisted. “I really, REALLY think we should convince ourselves that it would be safer somewhere else.”

The four teenagers looked at each other. “G-Good enough for me,” Tim said, turning around.

“It does make sense,” Clarke agreed. “We should head home.”

“I’m not so sure,” Luci said, frowning. “Yet I’m thinking of a lot of places where I’d rather be.”

“No. No way. There’s nowhere else I would rather be right now,” Julie murmured, her body starting to shake. “Not after what I’ve caused.”

“Julie should bring you back to her place and serve some hot chocolate,” Glen continued calmly. “It’s getting cold out here and you’re all thirsty.”

“It IS cold,” Luci agreed.

“And I am thirsty,” Clarke added.

“Aren’t you guys coming?” Tim wondered, already three steps away.

“Why… what… why…" And Julie’s gaze focused in on Glen. “My God. YOU’RE ONE OF THEM!"

Glen turned quickly to focus all of his attention onto her. “Julie, don’t–” he began, but he got no further. With a speed and agility that surprised him, she had leapt to his side, while dashing a liquid out onto a rag in her hand. He tried to push her away.

“Nap time, mind warper!” the brunette cried out, slipping under Glen’s arm and slapping the rag against his face.

“No!” Glen protested, trying to keep from breathing in. “I have to wake…” His knees buckled, his vision blurred. “…goddamit… uhn, C-Carrie, SWAN SONG!” His last cry delivered in little more than a speaking voice, Glen then fell unconscious.

Julie stared down at her unconscious adversary. “Okay,” she decided. “Weird choice of last words…”

“Uh, guys? Whatever Glen meant by that, it was loud enough to get someone’s attention,” Clarke said, raising a finger to point over Julie’s shoulder. Julie turned, in time to see the figure rising up from the ground in the vicinity of the swingset. The figure had long blonde hair flowing out behind her, and when she turned, her eyes were glowing gold in the darkness.

“You will be banished,” Carrie said, raising her finger to point at the group of them.

“Ohhh HELL!” Julie swore, eyes going wide.

Luci immediately reached into her jacket, yanking out the gun she had been concealing. Originally in multiple parts within the safe, it’s six inch long barrel had now been screwed into the base, which itself was comprised of numerous of dials and lights. The main one showing four settings. Fortunately, while it seemed to be an energy weapon, it was at least partially charged, and included a standard trigger.

“Tim?” Luci said, trying to keep her hand from shaking. “We need the stats on this sucker like NOW.”

Electricity began to spark at the end of Carrie’s fingertips as she strode forwards. Clarke grabbed Tim, and both of them backed off to the right, as Luci and Julie began to circle around slowly to the left. Carrie paused as they split up.

“Okay, Carrie,” Julie began. “Stay calm here. We’re your friends.” She saw the movement in Carrie’s elbow a split second before her hand came out, and only just managed to dive out of the way of the crackling energies the blonde fired at her.

“Tim?” Luci called out again. “I can’t simply start firing this thing at random, I may only have the one shot! Is there a setting I can use to merely knock Carrie out?”

“D-Don’t rush me!” the small boy called back. “I need a minute, Linquist’s short form never makes sense!”

“I hope you have a minute,” Luci mumbled before dodging in a little closer to Carrie. “Hey, hey, ignore Julie, look at me!” She then backpedalled furiously, even as Julie became aware of the sound of more running footsteps approaching.

However, while Carrie did begin to focus on Luci, the bright flash of light and the appearance of three more individuals about a metre in front of the blonde quickly had everyone’s attention.

“Oh, GEEZ!” Frank choked out, stumbling to his feet. Next to him, Corry and Mindy remained on the ground, unconscious.

“Frank, get DOWN!” Luci screamed out. “You’re spoiling my shot!!”

“Oh look, more people here I can banish,” Carrie said with a smile.

Julie saw a tall figure spring out of the encroaching darkness, slamming into Frank even as electricity lanced out from Carrie’s fingertips. Frank was knocked back off his feet, his head hitting a partially concealed rock as he fell… but with that, the crackling energies passed harmlessly by both him and his rescuer.

“Ohmigod,” Chartreuse breathed from the edge of the park. “Lee tackled him in time.” She then joined Frank in the land of unconsciousness, the additional weight on Laurie’s shoulders almost pulling the redhead to the ground as well.

As Chartreuse collapsed, a certain redhead sprang to her feet. “Everyone back off!” Mindy shouted, whipping a knife out of her pocket. And Julie realized that Mindy had only been faking unconsciousness, to allow Carrie to get close enough for an attack. Oh no, she had to get in there with the chloroform!

“Mindy! Stop!” Julie cried out. Not even thinking about how she’d managed to completely ignore the redhead’s implicit command to ‘back off’, while everyone else had taken a few steps back, she launched herself forwards.

But Mindy saw Julie coming out of the corner of her eye. She checked her swing at Carrie in favour of leaping out of the way, so Julie’s dive only resulted in her ending up back down on the ground.

“Good! Everyone stay down, out of my line of sight!” Luci yelled. “Tim? Setting for Carrie OR Mindy? TIM?!”

“Calm down!” came Clarke’s voice out of the encroaching darkness. “Everyone just calm…”

Mindy jumped in towards Carrie again, her knife raised. The two of them were almost face to face now, Mindy’s knife held in the air, inches away from Carrie’s chest… and Julie saw Mindy hesitate. “Dammit Carrie,” Mindy whispered. “I never wanted to hurt…”

The electrical discharge hit the redhead at point blank range. She barely even got a chance to scream before she had disappeared in a crackling of energies and the sound of a thunderclap. “One down,” the golden eyed Carrie said calmly. She turned to face Julie, who had been readying herself for another attack on Mindy, and Julie abruptly discovered what it was like to be a deer caught in a car’s headlights. Oh lord. Did chloroform work on a temporal weapon?

“Luci!” Tim called out. “Setting four, on Carrie!”

Luci cranked the indicator over and immediately pulled the trigger.  For a second it seemed like her actions would have no effect at all, but then a sequence of lights on the gun lit up and a pulse of energy flew out of the end of the barrel, striking Carrie in the side. The effect was immediate. The building energies in Carrie’s palm fizzled out, and the blonde crumpled to the ground, Julie seeing her eyes flicker back to blue as they shut.

Luci, however, was unaware of this, as Julie then realized that the recoil on the gun had propelled the shorter girl back a good ten metres, right into the trunk of a tree. She now lay slumped at its base, out cold.

At last, all was silence.

The quiet stretched on for what felt like an eternity to Julie, however it was really under a minute before there came the sound of Laurie’s tentative voice from the treeline: “Is… is it all over?”

Julie looked up from where she had crawled over to check Carrie’s pulse - the blonde had one. Which meant either Carrie was only knocked out, or her heart rate could still be read through that gun’s ‘temporal freezing’.

“I think it’s over,” Julie agreed, her voice shaking.

There was another moment of silence. “So,” Lee said, clearing his throat as he pushed himself up. “Uh, will you guys still be needing my help? For moving all of these unconscious bodies?”

Not very far away, though completely unaware of recent events, Hank Waterson sat at his writing desk. He stared at the page in front of him in irritation. “This letter has nothing whatsoever to do with my novel,” he muttered. “It doesn’t even make sense. Where did it come from?” He scanned down the words on the sheet once again:

‘Waterson.

‘If you read this, it’s been over two days since my arrival. I assume either my mission is failing, or I neglected to turn off the equivalent of a post hypnotic suggestion. Either way, no more beating about the brush:  Glen ‘Glinephanis’ Oaks may not be a time criminal, but neither is he whom he appears. He is not merely a trainer. He represents a junction point for the entire temporal war. Please, DO NOT TRUST HIM. I retroactively apologize in advance for whatever methods I may use, or may have used, to convince you of this.

‘Yours, Mindylenopia.’

“It must be some game of Carrie’s,” her father concluded. Except, if that was true, how could it be in his handwriting? He shook his head. “I guess I’ll show it to her once she gets back from the movies with Glen… and she’s NOT going to put off our little talk about responsibility any longer.”

That decision made, Hank set the sheet aside and turned his attention back to his novel. Trying to figure out what he could do to fracture his character dynamics even more.

-Next Episode: Making the Rounds (aka the fallout from this)

-We’re maxing out on character tags in this post, even Hank’s involved. Was the resolution with Frank at all what you expected? Feel like casting a vote or comment?

Previously: Luci and Tim were busy translating Linquist’s notes. Carrie threatened everyone, and went for training with Glen. There’s a plan to capture Mindy when she reappears.

PART 3.17a: BANISHMENT 1

“Jewels, I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Jeeves thought you might have already left.”

Julie didn’t reply. He waited a moment, then approached, touching her shoulder. She flinched slightly but otherwise didn’t react, continuing to lean on her arm, resting against the bars of the cage they’d set up down in Linquist’s secret basement lab. By placing the enclosure within the alcove at the base of the passage from the upstairs washroom, they’d only had to weld a grate with a door over the wall.

“We’ve got less than two hours left,” he continued softly. “When did you want to head out?”

“As soon as I hide the key to this makeshift cell,” Julie murmured after a moment. “You should leave the room first. No one but me can know where it is.”

Her tone was flat and tired, as it had been so often when none of the others were around. “Jewels, we’re doing the right thing,” Clarke insisted.

“Are we?” Julie challenged, turning her head to look at him. “Carrie doesn’t seem to agree. We haven’t seen her since that night. And she’s returned my one call with a terse ‘Leave me alone’.”

“Meaning she hasn’t objected outright,” Clarke noted.

“Or that what we do no longer matters.” Julie pushed herself back from the bars. “Phil, she summed things up pretty well with her ‘do whatever the hell you want, just hands off the time machine’ attitude on Thursday. Which we’d better take seriously. Unless you’ve got a mace and flail handy.”

“This Mindy business has been stressing her out,” Clarke soothed.  “She’s on edge, saying things she doesn’t mean…”

“Oh no! She meant every word of that tirade. In case you didn’t notice, it was made… painfully clear.” She reached up to trace a hand across her cheek. “No, trust me Phil, somewhere in her mind there were bounds, and I overstepped them. Several times in that single day, in fact.”

“You only did what you felt you had to do,” Clarke said after Julie fell silent once again. “Give it a little time, let Frank talk to Carrie once things have settled down… Carrie will realize your intentions were good.”

“Were they? WERE they? Because in case you didn’t notice, Luci was bang on during her little rant too. In my haste to act, I made a right mess of things. Not only for Corry, Frank and Carrie, but indirectly for Luci, Laurie, Lee, even Joe and Tommy… hell, it’s starting to look like the only person who’ll come out of recent events completely unscathed is me.” She kicked at the iron grate. “But hell, isn’t that the way all my plans are supposed to work? With me on top?”

“There’s no need to be sarcastic.”

Julie strode over to lean against one of the lab benches. “Well, at least there’s one good thing that’s come of this. It’s taught me that I can’t be anyone’s follower. Since trying to ‘help’ has only served to awaken in me the desire to take firmer action. And doing THAT has put me in a position where I only know how to do what’s best for myself! So what’s left after all that?”

“Teamwork?” Clarke ventured.

Although he could no longer see her face, Clarke suspected Julie was grimacing. “I’m not like you, Phil. I’m no good at passing the basketball. In grade school, I was always the girl people wanted on the other team. For years, all I had driving me were my own selfish goals. Which weren’t even mine, in a way! I didn’t care who else got hurt, as long as I emerged victorious in the end.”

“You’re different now. Besides, it’s not like you can work for Mindy’s team instead of ours.”

A pause. “I suppose not.”

Clarke frowned. He’d been trying to make a joke. But something about her tone there bothered him. He wanted to follow up, but that’s when there came the sound of someone falling down the access chute. Clarke and Julie both turned in time to see Luci land awkwardly in the caged off section of the room. She immediately jumped up and grabbed onto the metal bars.

“Great! You’re still here,” Luci panted. “Tim’s upstairs waiting for me… let me out of this cage, we have to get into that safe of Linquist’s!”

“The SAFE?” Julie crossed her arms. “Luci, I’m not sure if you’ve been keeping up, but we’re preparing to chloroform and imprison a rather dangerous girl for questioning. Now is hardly the time for safe cracking.”

“You don’t understand. It’s not safe cracking. I know the combination,” Luci said breathlessly. “We found it in the same passage that stated ‘I have placed within my safe the gun for temporal freezing'. Well, either that or ‘gun for cool tempos’, but Tim’s pretty sure it’s the former.”

“Tim? Wait, why is he here?” Clarke asked.

“Uhhh, he’s kinda been helping me translate,” Luci said. “In fact, he’s still at it now, trying to fill in some rather key details.”

“So you never gave up looking at the logbook, huh?” Julie said dryly.

Luci sighed. “No, Julie, I didn’t. And yes, it’s the reason I was unreachable two days ago. You happy now? But listen, when Linquist was… was poking at me, he discovered that my DNA was ‘in temporal flux’. Which WE know was because of the time machine, even though he interpreted it to mean I was an alien. Remember?”

“Sure, you’ve told us,” Clarke agreed. “But how does his logbook help us here?”

“Simply put, if Linquist could correctly identify my premature aging as ‘temporal flux’, I figured he might also have some technology we could use as a viable temporal weapon! And so his gun for ‘temporal freezing’ might be able to freeze Mindy before she hurts Frank or Corry! THAT’S why I doubled down, spending the last thirty six hours trying to translate this particular passage of his book! With Tim’s help. So, uh, kinda had to tell him some of the time stuff to do this. Don’t be too mad.”

“Hold on,” Julie protested. “Are you saying Linquist made a gun that actually freezes time in some way?”

“I don’t know, you haven’t let me out to have a look at it yet,” Luci said impatiently. “Plus there’s the fact that Tim’s still working on the translation. However, even if Linquist IS lying through his teeth about this thing - and I wouldn’t put it past him - it can’t hurt to check, can it? If this Mindy is half as bad as she sounds, we may need all the help we can get.”

Clarke and Julie exchanged a glance. “Fair point,” Julie admitted, pulling the key back out and approaching the iron door. “After all, if there is some weapon that keeps Mindy from getting away, I might be able to avoid more wrath from Carrie.” She half smiled. “Also, it’s not like we can keep Luci in the same cage where we’re dumping the redhead, right?”

“You’re gonna try tapping into a vision? Again? So soon?” Laurie began to fidget as Chartreuse moved into the circle of crystals on the bedroom floor. “Can’t I talk you out of this?”

“No. I have to do this,” Chartreuse sighed. “Something’s totally up surrounding the return of this Mindy girl and Carrie won’t tell me what it is. She’s blocking me off, too busy doing who knows what with Glen. However, the closer we get to Mindy’s return, the more things feel like they’re, you know, coming into focus… so I should have, like, better luck now than I did yesterday.”

“When you were sick in the bathroom for over half an hour! And that was after seeing only shadows! This Mindy stuff, it’s not good for you!”

“But it’s important. And you helped me out then,” Chartreuse said with a weak smile. “So if I see something even more unsettling this time, I’m counting on you to, you know, help me again.”

“Well, duh,” Laurie said. “Even if I don’t want you to do it, helping is the least I can do after you’ve helped me out so much the last couple days. Not to mention everyone else, running interference what with covering for my brother and for Frank… golly, if this goes on any longer my parents are gonna FREAK. And I told them Corry’s okay! S-So you DO think he’s okay right?”

“Laurie dear, please stay calm,” Chartreuse pleaded as she closed her eyes. “There’s barely an hour left and I need positive alpha waves.”

Ten minutes later, Laurie was helping a woozy Chartreuse stumble over towards her phone, where she began a frantic search for Lee’s number.

“I’m not ready for this, Glen.”

“Yes, you are,” Glen assured her. Carrie continued to pace back and forth in the middle of Willowdale Park. It was dusk now, the sun had set five minutes ago. “Remember, I was originally going to have you do this the day Mindy first arrived.”

“Which was before you found out that my time travel was occurring with the help of a time machine! Before two days of near constant training barely managed to push a thumbtack out of the present, let alone alter the flow of time or wipe out a memory! Before the only attempt to access my inner demon resulted in me knocking myself unconscious before I could fully let go!” Carrie spun to face him, placing her hands on her hips. “You REALLY think I’m ready to face Mindy?!”

Glen ran a hand back through his hair. “Well, um, the important thing is that you believe you’re ready.”

“My point exactly.”

“Look, you’re closer than you think,” Glen insisted. “And we’ll keep on with your training once we’ve gotten through this crisis.”

“If I’m still alive,” Carrie retorted. “Which reminds me, you’d better damn well kill me if it looks like I’m about to blow up all of time. If you don’t, I’ll haunt you to hell and back in the afterlife. Assuming there even IS an afterlife after I destroy our whole solar system.”

“Oh, Carrie,” Glen said, reaching out to touch her shoulder. “I am sorry it has to be you. I really am.”

She shrugged him off and stepped away. “Stop touching me. Look, we’ve got somewhere between ten and twenty minutes before Mindy reappears. I’m going into that trace thing. You know what to do to rouse me. Or rather, other me. Keep an eye out for Julie and her crew too, I’m sure they’ll be here any moment. You know what to do with them as well.”

That said, Carrie plunked herself down in the grass by the empty swing set and closed her eyes. A little over eight minutes later, Glen heard the sound of approaching voices.

-This is SURE to go well… hm, gun for cool tempos, any thoughts?

Previously: Luci and Carrie independently decided to resume contact with Julie and the others. Glen told Carrie that she would return to him, and that she should destroy the time machine.

PART 3.16b: BLAME GAME 2

Luci shifted her attention from Chartreuse to Laurie to Clarke and then back to Chartreuse. “What do you mean,” she began, “when you say that Frank is now somewhere in the FUTURE?”

The young girl listened with half an ear as Chartreuse launched into an explanation of Julie’s plan. Internally, she wondered why the wealthy brunette hadn’t returned home yet. This all made no sense. What did they mean the car crash was related to a supposed visitor from another time?

I mean, sure, car accident, lockdown, but that had only been one of a number of things which Corry and the other student factions had done to each other that day. Right? RIGHT? So… so why did the three of them look so serious?

“Ok, whatever,” Luci said as Chartreuse finished. “Julie’s theories aside, have any of YOU seen this Mindy character??”

“I have,” Laurie piped up. “I was in the library when she arrived.”

“And did she look like she was some time traveler with mental powers?” Luci challenged.

“I… I don’t know. She had a gun with her. She ran after Carrie. I was scared.”

“Well… well…” Well, why didn’t someone tell me this sooner? That was what Luci wanted to say. Unfortunately, she already knew the answer was ‘we tried’, a response which she knew would only further aggravate her.

She really had become too obsessed with that log book. To the point of putting the rest of her life not merely on vibrate, but on total silent mode. As a result, Frank - and Laurie’s brother - had become stuck two days in the future. How could she have let this happen?!

“I’m back. Oh, good, you found Luci,” came Julie’s voice from the sitting room entrance.

“She arrived on her own,” Clarke noted, which was all anyone had time to say before Luci launched herself towards the new arrival.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BOYFRIEND?!” she shrieked, grabbing onto a handful of Julie’s sweater. “How could you send him off on such a rash, inconceivable, unprepared whim of a temporal mission?!”

“They went of their own volition,” Julie replied quietly.

It was her tone that brought Luci up short. She’d expected Julie to snap back at her, perhaps engage her in a shouting match - not reply in that soft, sad tone. As such, she offered no resistance as Julie pulled her sweater free from the shorter girl’s clutches.

“Now,” the brunette continued, “I suggest we modify our plans in order to incorporate a smokescreen with respect to Frank and Corry’s location over the next forty six hours. They’ll be back on Saturday night, that much is certain.”

There was the briefest of pauses before Laurie Veniti broke down in tears. “This is all my fault, oh God I never should have suggested that stupid idea to you, I didn’t know enough, I should have kept my stupid mouth shut, why didn’t I realize this would happen, oh God I’m so stupid, stupid, stupid, oh God, oh Corry, oh Frank, oh Corry…."

“Laurie! Laurie!” Chartreuse said, hurrying over to grab the redhead in a hug. “This isn’t your fault! You hear me? It’s not anyone’s fault!” She rubbed Laurie’s back as her friend buried her face in the crook of Chartreuse’s neck. “All this means is that something totally freaky happens in a couple days that will, you know, prevent Frank and Corry from time traveling back to us. That’s it! They’re not dead or anything! They’re only, you know, potential hostages, maybe.”

“At least Mindy is out of the way for now, right?” Clarke noted, after casting a worried glance at Laurie himself.

Julie nodded. “Yeah. We learned as much from Lee, who said Mindy vanished in a flash of light. I was going to explain more to him, but he decided I’d been right. If he doesn’t know, he won’t have to lie about it later."

“Well peachy as all THAT sounds,” Luci cut back in, hoping to reassert herself, “exactly what did you mean by ‘modify the plan’, Julie? Seems to me it’s been shot all to hell. You have no more knowledge of this Mindy than you did BEFORE your unauthorized use of the time machine stranded our friends in the future!”

“Frank authorized it. And two days hardly qualifies as a stranding," Julie countered. A measure of her own assertiveness was creeping back into her tone. “And as far as capturing Mindy goes, we can still do that, as per the plan. We know that she’ll be arriving along with the machine in the vicinity of the park, we even know roughly when, we simply need a way to ensure that redhead stays knocked out once she arrives!”

“Oh, sure, piece of cake,” Luci fired back.

“Look, we’re not debating this any more!” Julie said, throwing her hands up into the air. “Okay, fine, so my track record today has been lousy. So Megan’s running the school and we don’t have the time machine. So what?? I’ve always been better at the long term game! I can do a lot in two days! At least I’ve been actively involving myself here! Where the hell have you been since lunchtime, Miss Lucille Isabella Primrose??”

For a moment, Luci wasn’t sure if she wanted to get right up into Julie’s face again, or simply break down like Laurie. Neither option felt palatable. So with the simple response of “None of your business”, Luci quickly spun on her heel to stare over at the wall. She tried to ignore the lump in her throat.

“Fine,” Julie sighed. “So I propose we do phone tag with the Dijoras and the Venitis. Say that Frank and Corry are staying here tonight for whatever reason. Laurie can stay too, to add credibility. Luci too, maybe. That buys us twelve hours.”

“Perhaps more than that,” Clarke put in. “They said school would be cancelled tomorrow. Structural reassessment. We can drop by to visit our lockers if we need something, but otherwise school is out until Monday.”

“Fine, good,” Julie repeated. “So, does anyone else want to bitch at me here?”

The only sound was that of Laurie’s quiet sniffles. Until, from down the hall, there came the loud crash of someone slamming open the mansion’s double doors. It was followed by the loud scream of “JULIE!”, in a voice easily recognizable, even from within the sitting room. Then, “Julie, why the HELL can’t I sense Frank Dijora anywhere in the present?!?”

The time travellers in the room exchanged glances. “Well, on the bright side, she’s no longer Mindy’s hostage!” Chartreuse offered up.

Carrie stomped up to her house, clenching and unclenching her fists. The last words she’d spoken at Julie’s house still ringing in her ears.

“If any of you interfere with the time streams again, I’ll banish you all to the middle ages!”

Yeah, that had quietened down the lot of them. She wondered fleetingly if it was really an idle threat. After all, maybe a day or two stuck in history would convince the others that they shouldn’t muck about with time travel until AFTER consulting with time’s “ultimate weapon”!

Carrie froze, her hand a short distance from the doorknob. Oh no, what was she even thinking?! After all, the conclusions Julie and the others had drawn had been accurate. And the idea itself had been a pretty good one. Honestly, THAT was what irked Carrie the most. If only she’d been there, working with them… but she hadn’t been. She’d been working with Glen instead.

And because of that, they had no time machine, and Carrie would HAVE to return to Glen, not only to learn about banishing Mindy, but about how to keep Frank and Corry safe, while making sure Mindy didn’t get her hands on the portable time machine permanently, and of course Laurie and Lee were ALSO back in the mix, confusing things…

Carrie looked down at her hand. She swallowed. She wasn’t sorry about slapping Julie across the face. And yet, she realized now that she’d derived no satisfaction from it.

The blonde teenager reached out again open her front door, but this time before her hand could touch the doorknob, the door was opening from the inside. “Carrie!” her father shouted. “Where have you been?? I have been worried sick!”

“I… I was out with Glen,” Carrie said truthfully. “Something came up at school, and we had to have a talk about it.”

“I’ll say something came up at school! It’s all over the news!” Hank Waterson retorted. “Your friends Frank and Julie called, not knowing where you were, and some female police officer in plainclothes came by indicating to me that you were one of the people this escaped lunatic was shouting about… Carrie, I’d started calling the hospital every fifteen minutes, asking them if any unidentified girls had been brought in!”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Dad…”

“You watch your mouth young lady!” he interrupted. “Now, I realize you want to be free to live your own life, and I’ve been trying hard to accommodate you in that respect… but on a day when the school library gets demolished by some girl who refers to you by name, you should at least give me the courtesy of a phone call!”

Carrie paused. Her father was interpreting her momentary outburst as ‘let me live my own life’ rather than ‘as if I didn’t have enough to deal with’ - which was probably for the best.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” she replied, switching gears. She tried to bring a few tears to her eyes and found they came with alarming ease. “I was scared, and I didn’t know what to do.”

“Oh, Carrie,” Hank sighed, softening his tone. He reached out to pull his daughter into an embrace. “I know we’ve had our differences, but I thought we’d reached an understanding. I want to be here for you. I want you to feel like you can tell me anything. The thought that I’ll receive another phone call like the one I had last year, it scares me to death.”

“I know,” Carrie murmured, instinctively reaching out to hug her father back. “I really am sorry. SO sorry. But honestly, there’s nothing I can tell you. I don’t know why Mi– that girl was after me today, so I just got scared and Glen happened to be nearby and I lost track of time.”

Her father led her inside the house. He pulled back slightly from the embrace, closing the door, and looking to meet her gaze. After a moment, he nodded. “All right then,” he said. “For now, I’m just happy to see that you’re okay. But we will have another talk about responsibility, mark my words. Now, take off your shoes and come into the kitchen. I’ve kept dinner warm.”

Carrie nodded, wiping her cheeks dry. It occurred to her then how much in character this was for her father of late - Glen must have been overreacting when he had said Mindy would influence her father and friends in some way. Unless this was all such a carefully engineered plot that even Carrie couldn’t see through it, in which case Mindy probably deserved to win.

However, deep down Carrie knew Glen was still dead right about one thing… in the end, she was the only one who could deal with Mindy. And so, she was going to have to sneak out tonight, and go back for training. Because she had less than two days to figure out how to release her temporal self… safely or otherwise.

-Next Episode: Banishment.

-Happy Thanksgiving Weekend to fellow Canadians! You may recall these episodes take place mid-October, in the week following that holiday. So this time next week, we’ll be temporally in synch - and caught up to Frank! Care to Vote? Or speculate in comments?

Previously: Glen told Carrie he’d show her how to banish Mindy. Luci and Tim worked on Linquist’s notes. Julie and the others sent Mindy, Frank and Corry two days into the future.

PART 3.16a: BLAME GAME 1

Chartreuse paced around the park once more before approaching Julie. “It’s been almost an hour,” she pointed out quietly. “Lee went home. It’s getting totally cold. I don’t think Frank and Corry are coming back.”

“They would want to be sure not to overlap with themselves after dropping Mindy off,” Julie responded. “We should give them a little more time.”

“But what if Mindy’s, you know, turned the tables on them in the future? Maybe she has two more people on her list of hostages!”

“Then we have forty seven hours to ensure that’s NOT what ends up happening! In the meantime, you can go home if you like, but I’m staying here a little longer!”

Chartreuse opened her mouth to reply, but then seemed to think better of it, and simply resumed her pacing. Julie folded her arms and looked up at the night sky. ‘Damn it,’ she thought. ‘Why haven’t they time traveled back? What went wrong with my plan??’

“This is perfect! Oh, Tim, you’re wonderful!” Luci exclaimed, scanning down the page of translated material. It looked a bit like she wanted to hug the sheet. Or maybe hug him. Tim edged his chair backwards. “Though I see a few corrections I can help you with… let me use your pencil?”

Tim continued to stare at her, even as the younger girl reached out her hand abstractedly. It wasn’t until she’d grabbed at thin air a few times that she finally looked up from the page and realized he was wasn’t offering her anything to write with. “Tim?”

“L-Luci… I mean, yeah, fascinating language and all, but this scientist guy is also using some kind of short form notation, and his verb tenses are insane. We’ve got a good start on this. It’s been hours. Isn’t it time for a break?”

Luci gestured airily. “I’m not tired. Though if you want, I can take what we’ve done back to my place to keep working. I’ll just need to call you if I get stuck, if that’s all right?”

She seemed surprised when he pushed himself away from the writing table in his bedroom. “No. No, it’s not all right, Luci. I see now that you’ve been obsessing way too much over this! You m-may not feel tired, but you look it. Now, why aren’t you telling m-me the whole story?”

“Story? What story?”

“The one that explains how you only recently got something from Linquist, a guy who left town three years ago. The one that explains why you think that the word which occurs so often is ‘aliens’, not ‘bacteria’. The one that explains why you selected this particular passage about some ‘safe’ as being important, despite it being halfway in!”

“Oh. That story.”

Tim nodded. “Sometimes I get short of breath, but I’m not blind, you know. Tell me, Luci, why is it so important that we keep working, not only through lunch, but after school at my place, and now into supper??”

The young girl pursed her lips. “It’s personal.”

“Maybe, but I seem to be involved now.”

Luci frowned, considering. “All right. Linquist and I have a bit of a history together, that’s all. He… did some things to me. Things that might relate to something that Frank and a few others are working on now. I also suspect the guy’s not really gone, so I want to be ready if and when he comes back.”

“Right. Well, I d-don’t think he’ll turn up tonight,” Tim countered. “So let’s both take five. More, even. Because I won’t help you any more until I know you’ve eaten something.”

A smile flickered across Luci’s face. “That’s sweet Tim, but…”

“No! No but!” Tim interrupted. “Now, my mom offered supper to the both of us. I’m going to tell her that we’re ready to eat!”

Luci seemed to size him up. “All right,” she conceded. “All right. I suppose I should check back in with my parents too, seeing as it’s… oh, wow, it’s past eight…” She went for her backpack, but paused and turned back to add, “You know Tim, that assertiveness bit works well for you. Your voice gets melodic and you hardly stutter.”

He blinked. “I d-d-d-don’t?”

Shaking her head, Luci presumably searched for her phone as Tim back-pedalled out of the room. When he returned after talking to his mom, Luci almost run into him full tilt as she exited, looking frantic.

“I can’t stay,” she apologized. “Both Frank and Julie have been trying to reach me for a while, something’s up, I have to go, I… uhm…” She hesitated. “Can I leave our translations with you? You’ll keep them safe?”

“Uh, of course, b-but what…”

“Thanks. No time to explain, even assuming I understood it myself, but I promise I’ll tell you more when I can. Okay?”

Faced with Luci’s concerned expression, Tim found he could only nod in reply. He followed her to the front door. “Is there anything I can do to help? Did something bad happen to one of them?” he wondered.

Luci slipped on her shoes. “I hope not. I really, really hope not.”

“Problem! If I do that, something bad will happen.”

“Carrie, you’re being paranoid,” Glen assured. “Nothing bad will happen.”

She shook her head. “You weren’t here when I was planning on channeling the power of a bomb through my body and into the time streams!Hell, it took me up until last month to accept that balancing my powers was even possible. Now you’re asking me to simply surrender myself to this… this ultimate weapon force I’ve got?!”

“Not surrender,” Glen explained patiently. “It’s more like a… a time share. You regain control once your temporal self has accomplished the thing that we’ll be asking of it.”

Carrie stood up and began pacing around the floor of the largely empty warehouse. A place that Glen had apparently acquired after arriving in town, for ‘training purposes’. Because he was her trainer. Not her boyfriend. Oh no, having a relationship, that was something only normal people got to do.

“I don’t like it,” she said. “I’ve stuck with your last hour of meditative hocus-focus techniques because they seemed to make some sort of sense. But switching that on… no, I can’t! It’s WAY beyond anything I’ve attempted with Chartreuse!!”

“I’m not Chartreuse,” Glen pointed out. “Carrie, if we want to deal with Mindy, this is the only way. We must send her to another year, and wipe her memories, ensuring that she can’t return. Doing that requires your temporal self.”

Carrie clenched and unclenched her fists, opening her mouth to make a retort - when she realized something. She turned towards the storage bay doors. “Something’s wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, when you said Mindy, I checked my mind, and something is… right. Which is wrong!”

“Carrie, sorry, but you’re losing me.”

The blonde teenager shook her head, feeling her long hair brushing about her shoulders. “It’s… look, for the last year, I’ve been living with this dull ache in my head. It only gets bad when people talk serious temporal paradox, or unauthorized temporal incursions occur. Hence a bit of mental strain in the school library earlier, when my brain wanted to explode out of my skull.”

“Yes, that’s your temporal sense,” Glen affirmed. “The future you never talked much about it, except to request an acetaminophen equivalent.”

“Fine. So, Mindy’s incursion was bad at first, but it eventually ebbed back to a point where I could block the pain, using something Chartreuse taught me. Yet now that extra pain is… gone. Like, I’ve been blocking nothing.” She frowned. “Maybe Mindy time traveled somewhen else?”

Glen shook his head. “You’re the only one who can initiate time travel at will. The rest of us need you, or some form of technology.”

“Yes, fine, so what if she had a time machine?”

“Impossible,” Glen asserted. “She would have had to bring along a portable version, and very few of those were ever made. Besides, if Mindy COULD jump about in time at will that way, I believe even she would have been employing a more reserved approach.”

“Well, all right… but supposing she got her hands on my time machine then,” Carrie countered.

Glen’s body tensed up. He swallowed. “You… you mean you still have a time machine? As in, a portable one?”

Carrie nodded. “Left to me by the Mundane benefactor who awakened my powers. I assumed you knew. How else could I have been travelling in time?”

“Using your own power!” Glen started to look almost scared. “Wait, you mean you haven’t accessed your temporal self at ALL? Any time trips you take are only by scrying, or using technology?!”

“Obviously! Why else would I be so sure something bad will happen if I ‘time share’?!”

“But it’s been almost a year! What on Earth have you been doing?”

“Freaking the hell out! Like any normal person would!”

“Oh, Carrie. Oh no.” He walked up to her, and grabbed her by the arm. She wished he would stop doing that. “No wonder your head’s been aching! Promise me that you will destroy your time machine at once - it’s more dangerous to this timeline than Mindy ever was!”

“Moot point if Mindy’s got it,” Carrie retorted. She pulled her arm free again. “Enough is enough. I’m calling Frank. He can check on the status of our machine.”

He made a grab for her shoulder, and she dodged. “Carrie, you must NOT contact your friends,” the redhead insisted. “With both Mindy AND a time machine loose in this era it’s even more important that we train you to handle…”

“Glen,” Carrie interrupted, opting to shift from a loud rage to a quiet one. “I care for you. I do, and I’m glad of your help. But if you don’t let me talk to my friends RIGHT FRIGGING NOW, you are going to picking your teeth up off the floor.”

Glen let his outstretched arm fall back to his side. “I could stop you. Mental abilities, you know.”

Carrie shook her head, and called his bluff. “You won’t use them on me.”

In the staring contest that followed, Glen dropped his gaze to the floor. “You’re right,” he admitted. “You’re the one person we can’t risk altering directly, Carrie. Not now that your abilities are active. Mindy knows it too, I’m sure that’s why she wasn’t more ‘persuasive’ with you when she spoke.”

He turned away. “So, fine, call your friends. Check on your machine - and ideally, destroy it. Because no one in this era can be allowed to time travel, except you. I’ll wait here. You’ll be back, once you’ve realized that I’m your only chance against Mindy. All I ask is that you don’t reveal this location to anyone. Her spies could be everywhere.”

“Obviously,” Carrie responded. She stared at Glen for another minute, trying to figure out if there was some way she could offer up a form of stern apology, but ultimately left without saying another word. Best that she not phone from the place that they didn’t want to be found.

Yes, we’re catching up to Frank the “slow” way. There was a clip of “Coming Soon” pieces featured at the end of Sunday’s commentary. Do people read those? Alternatively, any further thoughts on ‘banishment’?

“Time & Tied” PARTS 59-60

1. Original Date Of Completion: SEPTEMBER 5, 2003
2. What I Was Doing: In Ottawa, looking for a teaching job
3. Changes of note: -Hunt thinking to himself became talking to Melanie Willis -Computer teacher is now Mr. Burke, another shout-out -Added mention of Catholic religion

“Time & Tied” PARTS 61-62

1. Original Date Of Completion: SEPTEMBER 24, 2003
2. What I Was Doing: In Ottawa, looking for a teaching job
3. Changes of note: -Carrie/Glen timeline discussion altered to increase coherency

[caption id=“attachment_1210” align=“aligncenter” width=“193”] JULIE LAMILLE
Commission from Gen Ishihara[/caption]

CLASS SCHEDULES

First, to point out how Book 3 keeps the “Semester Two” schedule, importing it into “September” - I mean, why draw up a new senior year schedule? Second, because this is possibly the last time their courses are relevant to the story. Originally, it helped not merely to know where they were, but for the sort of electives they took. Fringe benefit, I then knew the classes when Mindy rammed the van into the library.

Most were in Physics. Carrie (and Laurie and Glen, identical to Carrie) were in drama. And Corry, well, you’ll see was listed in physics too, but it felt more sensible to have him meet Julie in the hall. (Maybe he was skipping class!) There’s no more focus on the school for the rest of Book 3, and when the school is revisited in Book 4, course schedules are unlikely to be a major issue. So enjoy!

JUNIOR YEAR aka SEMESTER ONE (Books 1 & 2):

STATS AND COINS

As you can see, we’ve been on a downturn since the spike to end June (when I guest posted). Everyone who joined via “Legion of Nothing” seems caught up, and… hm, I was going to say “no one new is really checking the place out” but early this past week there was a LoN hit from someone who made it to Part 17 before stopping.

I have had also some hits in from a post in the RRL forums, where kaleidofish gave me a reference (Thanks!), but those viewers don’t seem to get past Part 1. By the way, mid-September I rewrote the first paragraph of Part 1. Doesn’t seem to have helped. I think I’ll keep the new twice-weekly format though, barring complaints?

On a slightly brighter note, I took a trip to BC in September, and I got five new 2016 coins (four quarters and a dime), proving that you don’t have to live in Ontario to get coins minted in the current year. That brings the total to 21 coins (one of those from Hamilton, and five locally in the last week), now including one of every denomination (the toonie was the last).

[caption id=“attachment_1159” align=“alignright” width=“300”] This really was my school.[/caption]

Speaking of coins - OMG, my childhood. When I was home for the summer, I found the case for an old geometry set. It didn’t hold mathematical implements. It held the coin tallies from coins I’d picked up in the halls while in high school. Yeah, that used to be a thing I did, picking up coins and looking at dates. I’ve tried to refrain, now that I’m still in school as a teacher, to leave them for the next generation.

The record papers mostly occur at the end of the year, so I’m going to assume it started some time near the start of 1991. Here’s the tallies:

I graduated 6 months after that, in June 1995. When found, the geometry case held 14 pennies (one is American), unchronicled. I must have decided to stop after December, but couldn’t quite do it. My childhood, gentle readers! Since that time, Canada began the two dollar coin in 1996, American currency became par with the loonie in 2007 (didn’t last), and our bills became polymer starting in 2011.

One last note before we hit spoilers, the original Computer Science teacher was given a name by me mashing my palms on the keyboard and adjusting vowels. It generated “Mr. Orbison”. Instead, you got “Mr. Burke” because he writes the math comic (x, why?) and is a pretty cool guy on Twitter. (Not saying that just because he let me use his name.)

SPOILER SECTION

Major Plot is finally happening, thanks to Mindylenopia. The original writing didn’t have the emphasis on “Timelines”, with Glen’s idea of preserving “Timeline 3”; Future Carrie had sent Glen back more generically, due to clouded elements in her past. In retrospect, this seems a better way to explain it. My hope is the whole ‘Future Carrie in conflict with Past Carrie’ has been an element since the start of this book - and it will occur again.

The other major change in the narrative was actually Melanie Willis joining Dell Hunt in his musings about the school. As originally written, he was having a dialogue with himself, which, yeah, probably as boring as it sounds. This rewrite gives Mrs. Willis a bit more characterization, introduces Megan later in the scene (not at the start) and ideally made that part more dynamic. Musical pun somewhat unintended.

One other minor insert was due to my August work on Book 4. (I’m 20 parts ahead.) Namely religion, an element I tend to avoid (along with race, which I discussed in Commentary #4) primarily because I don’t know much about it. Yet a character convinced me to at least consider Catholicism, so okay, it’s been foreshadowed. If you were paying attention, you who know I mean. Stay tuned for Book 4.

That’s looking forwards. Looking back, other elements have been falling like dominoes - Julie is back on equal footing with Corry, we know who Glen is, what the deal is with Linquist’s logbook, Lee’s favour was called in, the time machine’s being put to use and everyone’s back in the know… hopefully the buildup was worth it. There’s been less in terms of characterization these past weeks on account of all that, but I still try, like with Carrie’s reactions to Glen. Remember you can VOTE for T&T at “Top Web Fiction” on a weekly basis. And comment, also an option (thanks John “Doc” Golden!).

Parts 59/60 were originally “Power Struggle”, so the new second title was “Under Attack”. Parts 61/62 were originally “The Conspiracy Unfolds Part 1” so “Fragmented Plans” was the addition. This means the next part would have been “The Conspiracy Unfolds Part 2” (essentially making for a four-parter), so lots of new titles next commentary. Oh, and that cliffhanger with Frank? Yeah, you’ll be waiting on that for a while. Sorry, not sorry.

Consolation prize, the original part grabbed “NEXT TIME” quotes to use after a “TO BE CONTINUED”. I present those heading out, with a side note that apparently Willowdale Park used to be called Placid Park; I had no idea I renamed it.

Coming In The Following Weeks: [at the LaMille mansion] “What do you mean,” Luci began, “when you say that Frank is now somewhere in the FUTURE?” [in Linquist’s old lab] “In my haste to act, I made a right mess of things,” Julie fired back at Clarke. [in a warehouse] “You’re right,” Glen admitted. “You’re the one person we can’t risk altering directly, Carrie.” [in Willowdale Park] Carrie spun to face Glen, placing her hands on her hips. “You REALLY think I’m ready to face Mindy?!”

Previously: Mindy visited Mr. Waterson. The temporal teenager group are plotting to capture Mindy, using the time machine. Meanwhile, Carrie tries to understand timeline theory with Glen.

PART 3.15b: FRAGMENTED PLANS 2

Glen shook his head. “Carrie, you’re forgetting your immunity to paradox. You can send me back in time to make sure your powers don’t overwhelm you or kill you now, in timeline three, and yet still have it be the same timeline where I wasn’t here - because that’s not a thing. I was always here. It’s all the same timeline.”

Carrie dropped her head down onto the table. This was really bugging her. Not because it didn’t make sense, rather because it did, and yet she felt like it shouldn’t. “Okay, fine. You also said there’s a faction within the Temporals who disagree with our - their - policies, which is the reason the Mundane we call Shady was able to get a time machine and come back to activate my powers in the first place.”

“Starting our timeline three,” Glen agreed.

“Mindy is ALSO a part of this faction, and she came here to finish the job that ‘Shady’, her future blow-up-the-hospital friend started. Which potentially starts timeline FOUR. Which is what we now need to prevent.”

“There you go, you’ve got it!” Glen agreed.

Carrie sat for a moment. “It’s LUNACY," she decided. “Can’t I give Frank a call? He’s a lot better at following this time-space junk.”

Glen reached out to grab Carrie’s arm before she could retrieve her book bag. “No phone calls. I meant that, Carrie. Not to Frank, not to your father, not to anyone. We don’t know how many people Mindy has compromised.” He smiled. “Don’t worry. No one is better at wrestling with temporal mechanics than you."

Carrie pulled her arm free of his grasp. She tugged hard on a strand of her hair. “Come on, Glen, you really think my own FATHER is going to give me up to Mindy? I mean, he’s probably so worried, after what happened at school!” Glen said nothing, merely shifting his weight back and forth uneasily in his seat. “Fine then, I’m calling.” She reached for her bag again.

“Wait,” Glen sighed. “Fine. There’s something I haven’t mentioned. Mindy has these… mental powers.”

“Oh, of course,” Carrie sighed. “Everyone who wants me dead HAS to have THOSE." But she felt too weary, too mentally drained to continue with an argument, so she gave up on her book bag in favour of looking expectantly at Glen.

“If she chooses, Mindy’s voice can make people do things they might otherwise be unwilling to do," Glen explained. “And being an actual Temporal, she’s damn good at it. Better than this Mundane you previously encountered. Granted, the power works best on adults, or on people who are emotionally vulnerable, but, given access, Mindy could eventually convince even the President of the United States that he was a rodeo clown.”

Carrie felt a chill run through her. “Glen? Your description feels very personal. Something in your tone tells me you’ve got an inside track on this mental ability too."

Glen smiled wryly. “Can’t put anything by you, hm? You’re right, Carrie. How else do you think I managed to set myself up here so quickly? Obtain all the required school documents? Deflect questions as to where my parents have been for over a month? I can do it too, if I choose.”

“Fine,” Carrie said. “Then you use your mental powers to go and deal with Mindy. I’ll be home, in my bedroom, drawing up a new cheerleading routine.” She moved to rise, only to have him reach out and take her arm again.

“I’m sorry, Carrie,” Glen said. “It doesn’t work like that. Even setting aside that I’ve only used my mental power very sparingly here in the past, me and Mindy, we’d be locked in a stalemate. The only one who can deal with the temporal threat right now is you.” His grip tightened. “Mindy needs to be banished from this time period. It’s okay, I’ll show you how to do it.”

“Why? Why ME!?” Carrie protested, banging her free hand down onto the table. “I’m just a girl! All right? A senior student trying to juggle her offbeat social life with her studies! I never asked for these temporal powers!”

“No,” Glen agreed. “You didn’t. You were born into them. But remember timeline one? Without these powers, you wouldn’t have been born at all.”

Carrie bit down hard on her lower lip. She felt like screaming. Or throwing something, hitting someone, lashing out at whatever future forces were conspiring to make her present a living hell.

But there was no one to attack. Even if fate were some sort of living entity, Carrie doubted it could be punched in the face. No, the truth was, Carrie had been born - when she never should have existed. With no powers, there was no Carrie. Simple logic.

As such, there was only one outlet currently available upon whom Carrie could vent her frustrations. The person who had smashed up their school library in an effort to start timeline four.

She sank back down into the booth. For a few moments, she remained with her elbows on the table, her blonde hair clenched in her fists, staring down at the pathetic looking strawberry chunks floating in what remained of her shake. Her decision, when she made it, was the only one that could make sense.

“What?” Glen asked. “I couldn’t hear you.”

“I said,” Carrie repeated, still barely above a whisper, “Tell me what I have to do to banish Mindy.”

She felt tired. So very, very tired.

“I must admit, I still don’t get why you two need me,” Lee said. Julie had sent Chartreuse to corner their classmate after his shift was up at the library, getting him to come to Willowdale Park. Where he was now standing, giving them a puzzled look.

“I swear, we’ll explain everything,” Julie assured. “But for right now? It might be better that you don’t understand. That way, if something goes wrong, you’ll have deniability.”

“You do understand the plan?” Chartreuse asked.

“Well, yeah. I lure this Mindy girl over to that place in the ravine where Corry and Frank are hiding. By pretending that Corry is Glen, given the similar hair. Pretty straightforward. You sure this Mindy will show?”

“Pretty sure,” Julie sighed. “I mean, I called Glen’s room at the Clayton and left a message on his answering service for her. It makes sense that she’d be monitoring. But remember, Lee… if Mindy pulls her gun on you, or does ANYTHING to make you think she’s dangerous - or even inexplicably friendly - we abort. Your safety is paramount.”

“Cut and run, yeah,” Lee agreed. “No problem there.”

Julie grimaced, starting to have second thoughts. After all, what if Mindy saw through the facade before Frank and Corry could link up with her and use the time machine? Was dusk enough to mask what was going on, or should they have waited longer? What if Mindy hurt somebody? Was using Lee even necessary, or just mere paranoia?

All objections voiced by the others, all objections Julie had countered in her drive to make sure they disposed of this Mindy girl. But, Julie wondered, was she truly acting out of concern for Glen, Carrie and everyone else? Or, as she had done earlier in the day, was she doing it more in the hopes of regaining some of her former glory? Or worse, of being the one who was in control, when faced with a person so similar to the man who had manipulated her in the past?

Julie hated when she started questioning her motivations. She no longer liked what she found. However, she had at least been up front with everyone this time. That is… almost everyone.

“Look, Lee, this really could be dangerous,” Julie said, speaking before she could think about it. “Mindy has these… okay, know what? Never mind. I’ll talk to Mindy instead of you. Sorry to bring you all the way out here for nothing. You should go.”

“Hey, if you went to the trouble of getting me involved, I’m sure you had a reason,” Lee countered. “Besides, I’m good at dodging. Plus I really do feel indebted to you and Carrie and everyone for finding Sing’s necklace. It meant a lot to her - just as this seems to mean a lot to you guys.”

“But…”

“Too late now anyway,” Lee said. “I wager that approaching shadow is your Mindy.”

Julie spun to see where Lee was looking, then with a curse, flattened herself down onto the ground and rolled under the evergreen shrub, next to where Chartreuse was already hiding.

Lee moved away from Julie’s position, towards the person that, Julie had to agree, looked like Mindy. It occurred to her now that they could be playing real havoc with the timeline - would Carrie double over in pain somewhere as soon as the time machine was activated? Why the hell wasn’t she answering their messages?!

Well, Clarke and Laurie were out looking for her. As well as looking for Luci, and even Glen. What more could they do? After all, it wasn’t Julie’s fault that time girl had gone AWOL. Or been kidnapped. Maybe tortured. Julie grit her teeth. She would fix this. She would.

She felt a hand reach out for her own, and she squeezed Chartreuse’s palm back in response. Not certain which of them was reassuring the other.

Frank resisted the urge to pop the top of the time machine open, to check the controls for the umpteenth time. He knew they had been set correctly. The coin was in, the only thing left to do was pull the handle. Which he would do as soon as Corry reached out and grabbed hold of Mindy.

Julie had made it all sound so terribly easy… as she had with her plan in the computer lab before lunch. Of course, that train of thought took him to Luci. Where HAD she disappeared to after that class? If she was upset with him, why hadn’t she at least called someone else?

“Hold tight, we’re up,” Corry muttered. Frank felt his heart rate increase as the sound of Lee’s voice reached their ears. He gripped Corry’s ankle even tighter.

“Yeah, well, as I say, Glen’s always bugged me,” their dark haired friend was saying. “So when I heard you wanted him, I decided to ambush him and tie him up in the woods for you. I’m getting decent pay for this, right?”

“I’m skeptical!” Mindy retorted. “He’s sneakier than you’re making him out to be.”

“Well, check it out, he’s gagged back there behind that tree,” Lee continued. “See the red hair?”

Frank heard Mindy take a step closer. Then another. Then… “Hey, that’s not–”

“NOW!” Corry shouted, making a dive for Mindy’s leg. Without even thinking about it, Frank yanked down on the time machine’s lever with his free hand.

He felt the usual effects of the time distortion, dimly aware of the fact that he’d kept hold of Corry’s foot. Then he was forty eight hours in the future. Back in the park. With Carrie Waterson standing no more than a metre away, her blonde hair trailing out behind her in waves, her eyes glowing a brilliant gold.

“Oh, GEEZ!” he choked out, letting go of the time machine and stumbling to his feet. Some sort of electricity sparked at Carrie’s fingertips. It helped him make out the forms of Corry and Mindy, unconscious on the ground - and that of Glen Oaks, who was also lying on the ground nearby.

“Frank, get DOWN!” Luci screamed from somewhere behind him in the dark. “You’re spoiling my shot!!”

“Oh look, more people here I can banish,” Carrie said with a smile. Electricity lanced out from her fingertips, Frank was knocked back off his feet, and everything faded to black…

Cliffhanger! Theories? New Commentary coming this Sunday, including a preview. Voting remains a weekly option.

Previously: Someone called “Mindy” appeared in the present. Carrie met with Glen, who revealed he’s also from the future. Julie called for a temporal meeting, and Laurie overheard.

PART 3.15a: FRAGMENTED PLANS 1

“All right, we can’t wait any longer,” Julie decided.

“But Carrie and Luci aren’t here…”

“Frank, for all we know they’ve fallen under the influence of this Mindy girl already.” Julie crossed her arms. “Look, we’ve sent messages, and spoken to their parents, and that’s all we can do until they decide to respond.”

After clearing out of the school, the group of temporal teenagers had sent a series of messages back and forth, to the effect of reconvening at the LaMille mansion as soon as possible.

Corry cleared his throat. “Before you start, I’d like to once AGAIN voice my objection to my sister being here."

“In which case I’ll totally overrule you again,” Chartreuse declared. “Laurie has as much right as the rest of us to know the truth! Remember, like me, she knew before. Prior to that memory wipe at the hospital affecting, you know, all non-time travellers."

“Too bad that didn’t stick on you,” Corry griped.

“Look, Corry,” Clarke offered. “Chartreuse once forgot, and now she knows, and it hasn’t traumatized her. Plus she’s Laurie’s best friend, so it must have been tough not being able to talk about it. What’s the harm?”

Laurie’s head bobbed. “Yeah, stuff makes more sense this way! I wondered why Chartreuse was doing, like, those weekly readings on Carrie. Actually, I was starting to think that maybe Chartreuse and Carrie were in some sort of roman–"

“Laurie! Ixnay!” Chartreuse gasped.

“Except,” Corry said to Clarke, ignoring the outburst, “the situation got pretty dangerous last year. And there’s no reason to believe it’ll be any less so now. THAT’S the harm. I notice no one’s called Tim or Lee to bring them back on board?”

“Corry has a point there,” Frank granted. “Maybe…”

“No! Laurie’s here, and she’s staying!” Chartreuse argued.

“Chartreuse, you’re not running things!” Corry said. “Clarke, you understand this is a safety thing, right?”

“I suppose it is a consideration.”

“Um, shouldn’t I get to decide for myself?” Laurie ventured.

“See? She, like, wants to stay!”

“Corry did make a good point though, so…”

“Chartreuse, she didn’t say THAT.”

“Guys, let’s allow Frank to complete his thought?”

“Golly, I didn’t mean for this to be a fight.”

“HEEEEEEEYYYYYYYY!!!”

It was hard to say whether it was Julie’s scream that caught everyone’s attention, or the crash that came as a result of her smashing the jade figurine against the lemonade pitcher Jeeves had brought in earlier. Regardless, all eyes were now on the brunette as she stood, fists clenched, with broken glass and lemonade flooding the silver tray beside her. She took in a deep breath and threw the figurine on the ground.

“Much as we all might enjoy a good argument with Corry, we… don’t… have… the… TIME!” she shouted. “In case you hadn’t noticed, there is a homicidal redheaded girl from the future after Glen, Carrie and who knows who else… and what’s more, that girl seems to have the power to control people’s minds! I know first hand how that makes your argument here, and even our huge problems with Megan at school today, look so damn small that they’re barely even an afterthought!"

Corry was the first to break the ensuing silence. “Um, back up. Mind control? Julie, with all due respect… maybe you need to lie down.”

“I know what it sounds like,” she replied, jaw clenched. “But I also know I’m right. Don’t you remember? About that guy from the future who was held captive in this very room back when Carrie was in the hospital? He could do mind control too.”

Frank nodded slowly. “I wasn’t here, but I gather you mean Shady, the one who gave you the gun and turned you against Carrie. Who then told Luci that Carrie was a temporal weapon who would destroy the world. Who ultimately tried to kill everyone by blowing up the hospital.”

“No, the OTHER guy from the future,” Julie said, unable to hold back her sarcasm. “Obviously him!”

Chartreuse frowned. “Ooh, that does SOUND familiar… but I’m, like, a little sketchy, probably because of the memory wipe…"

Corry folded his arms. “Oh, please. You’re forgetting I saw this ‘Shady’ guy too, in the basement of the hospital. And while he did have some sort of power over us, if it was mind control, wouldn’t he have used that same power to talk his way out of jail?”

“Carrie might have done something to prevent that,” Frank put in.

“Okay guys, stop. Jewels, we’re all on board with the redheaded girl being our priority here,” Clarke said, moving to touch her arm. “What have you turned up so far?”

Julie flashed the tall blonde a grateful smile. “Right. So, after talking with the van driver and then going to visit the Clayton Hotel after school, I know this much about Mindy, our newest arrival.” She pulled out her small black book, to thumb through her notes.

“This Mindy was picked up somewhere out of town by Lars. According to the hotel desk clerk, Mindy stormed in this afternoon, asking about any long term guests, claiming shortly thereafter to be a relative of Glen Oaks and asking for his whereabouts. She was sent back to talk with the manager. Despite being seen entering his office, said manager told me he didn’t remember seeing anyone of Mindy’s description. I don’t think he was lying.”

Julie drew in a breath. “Mindy then went back out to Lars' van, and got him to drive not only TO the school, but INTO the library, with nary a second thought. Mindy proceeded to get the principal to talk about Glen, and give up the location of a student, namely Carrie, without even a single wave of her gun. That’s VERY unlike Hunt.” She looked up. “So call me crazy if you like, but this all implies mental powers. Worse, as Carrie ran out, she looked to be in some sort of temporal pain.”

“Plus Carrie knew this girl,” Corry admitted. “As Mindy arrived, Carrie said ‘It’s HER’. You think she was able to see this coming?"

“We could ask Carrie, if she were here,” Chartreuse murmured. She began to fidget. “I’m starting to think this Mindy has, like, taken her hostage and is even now writing up a ransom demand!”

“No, Carrie can defend herself,” Frank asserted. “I’m sure she put Mindy in her place.” Nevertheless, his fingers drummed nervously on the couch. Another silence settled on the group.

“Okay, Julie’s onto something,” Corry admitted. “New question, how do we corner this Mindy person and find out what her true intentions are with respect to our resident temporal weapon?”

“Yeah, uh, I was just trying to figure out how you corner someone who can control your mind,” Clarke said.

“Lee,” Chartreuse concluded. “Julie, the other day you said Lee never, like, seemed to be influenced by any attempts to control him?”

“Yes, that’s true,” Julie sighed. “And I guess Lee owes us one for finding Sing’s necklace. But even if he has some type of mental immunity, would he really be able to catch this Mindy? She seems to be a lot more in-your-face than Shady ever was.” She paused. “To be fair, we’d have to give Lee all the background information too. Tell him what he’s getting into.”

“I don’t think Carrie would go for that,” Frank said.

“Carrie’s not HERE,” Corry pointed out. “Damn it Dijora, you can’t play favourites, bringing Laurie in while hesitating on Lee!”

“Um, hello?”

Everyone turned, blinking at the person whose presence they’d all but forgotten. Laurie sat there, her hand raised in the air.

“Sorry, Laurie. Go ahead,” Clarke encouraged her.

She brought her hand down. “See, um, I was thinking that if you can do all this time travel stuff - which sounds totally cool and all by the way, despite the additional freakiness that seems to come with it - er, but anyway, if you can do it then why don’t you simply transport this Mindy girl to another time? Like days in the future? That would give us all longer to plan, maybe get a jail cell set up for her that traps her powers. Or something like that?”

“If Mindy’s a time traveler, she’d only time jump her way back out," Corry countered.

“No… no, no, hold on, Laurie’s onto something there,” Frank realized, leaning forward in his seat. “If Mindy really could time travel freely, wouldn’t she be acting with more finesse? She’s been as subtle as a brick - as if she’s on some sort of deadline. Maybe she’s due for a temporal pickup. And if our time machine yanks her out of time, maybe it thwarts that. After all, we now know she doesn’t have to be touching the handle of the time machine to be transported, only one of us does. Heck, if whatever her story is checks out later, we can return Mindy moments after she was taken.”

“Nice thought, but how would we manage Mindy reappearing in a cell?” Clarke asked.

“It would take some doing,” Julie said, frowning. “But, as was the case with us, an initial time trip might knock Mindy out. And assembling a cage in a day or two isn’t impossible, not with my resources. Meaning as long as Lee’s the one to guard her, we’re in the clear.”

“In that case, we should, you know, displace Mindy from time as soon as possible, right?” Chartreuse asserted. “Given how, the longer this Mindy’s in town, the more people’s lives are in danger. Notably Carrie’s and Glen’s.”

Julie thought back to the expression on Mindy’s face, when she had scanned the library and then squared off with principal Hunt. “Agreed,” Julie said. “We’ll act now. Tonight. I think I’ve got a plan…”

Carrie swirled her straw unenthusiastically in her strawberry shake as she contemplated what Glen had told her. She finally looked up, and after verifying that no one else was paying attention to them in the corner booth of the cafe, spoke to her companion once more.

“All right,” Carrie said quietly. “Let me try to work through this. Please help me out if I ask?” When Glen nodded back, she took in a deep breath. “You’re saying we both exist in timeline three. The first timeline being the one where I didn’t exist.”

“Right. A poor timeline, if you ask me.”

“Shut up, I didn’t ask for help there.” She couldn’t handle his efforts to be charming, not now. “That initial timeline was overwritten with timeline two, the one wherein someone brought my mother back in time, and then she met my father, creating me. But within that second timeline, my powers only awakened in the far future, for me to fight in a war. A war between us - the Temporals, for lack of a better word - and some others, which you call the Mundanes.” She rubbed her forehead. “You seriously use that term? It’s so cliche.”

“If the shoe fits.”

“Fine. Enter timeline three. Which is this one, the one where my powers have awakened as a teenager, due to that war spilling even more into the past. As such…” She paused to regroup her thoughts, taking the opportunity to sip at her shake again. “As such, I’ve kind of expected Carrie from timeline two to intercede at some point, steering me back on whatever path she originally took. Steering me back into alignment with the unpowered timeline. Why are you not from that one?”

“Versus me also being from timeline three, where you’ve had your powers for decades? Yeah, I see your issue,” Glen yielded. “Thing is, timeline two Carrie, what little I can gather about her, would have been little more than a pawn, being used by others. You, by contrast, with years to perfect your abilities, are a force of nature. Why would you force yourself back onto lousy timeline number two?”

His argument did make some sense. After all, if the present were to morph around a person, turning them into a millionaire, why would they fight it? “I guess I follow that,” she said. “But in that case, why would I send you back at all? It’s simply creating timeline four, where I’m getting early training. I’m sabotaging my own past… aren’t I?”

What do you think? Hurrah for timeline theory! You can comment, or click the vote above, or tell others about the serial, or know what, thanks for simply being here.

Previously: Luci discovered Linquist’s logbook was in another language. Someone named “Mindy” crashed a van into the school library and chased after Carrie, claiming Glen was a temporal fugitive.

PART 3.14b: THE CONSPIRACY UNFOLDS 2

At the warning, Julie spun to face Clarke. “But…”

“Frank ran to the office to keep tabs on things there,” Clarke continued doggedly, “And there was an announcement that all students are get into a classroom and remain there until further notice. We need to comply, to avoid calling attention to ourselves.”

Julie clenched her jaw, but based on the van driver’s expression, she realized that she had probably obtained as much information as she could from him. “Okay. But listen, we’ll need to convene a meeting of all time travellers ASAP,” she asserted, moving around the van. And coming face to face with Corry.

“A meeting which will include me, I presume?" the redhead said.

“Not today," Julie said, trying to dodge past him.

“Hold on!” Corry countered, moving to block her. “With something of this magnitude? I could cause even more damage by being out of the loop. Besides, if I’m not aware of whatever time travel stuff you and your friends have been unleashing, how can we be expected to effectively run the school together, partner?”

Invoking the partnership caught Julie off guard. She was tempted to point out how Megan was really the one in charge now, only to have a small voice interject, “T-Time travel?” from behind the adjacent reference shelving unit. Everyone spun as Laurie Veniti poked her head out.

“Laurie!” Julie said. “I told you to stay back, out of sight!”

Corry’s twin made a little shrugging motion. “Yeah, but that announcement said to go into the nearest classroom, and since I saw my brother creeping up on you I figured we could all go somewhere together… with Clarke too! S-So what are you saying? Because there’s something about time travel… something I can’t quite put my finger on…”

“Hold on,” Clarke interrupted, raising his hand. He’d noticed the school librarian hang up his phone, and Mr. Price was now heading towards them. “We really need to table this discussion for later.”

The halls were deserted. Hunt had apparently managed to evacuate the school during the hour Carrie had spent in the auditorium. Good. At least, Carrie assumed the building had been evacuated – she supposed some people might still be managing a silent lockdown inside the classrooms. But there were no police officers roaming the halls like she might have otherwise expected, and the level of ache in her head implied the massive changes were done with - for now. She decided to risk visiting her locker.

She found the note inside. It was unsigned, but Carrie knew who it had come from, given the handwriting. ‘Suggest you don’t go home.’ it read. ‘Meet behind park, at ravine. Will explain.’

“Yes, I think you’d better explain,” Carrie murmured. “Who is this sister of yours, this Mindy-onomatopoeia? Are you really some fugitive from the future? Or are you merely from a time traveling family that you elected not to tell me about, GLEN??”

She crumpled the note in her hand before grabbing her coat and bookbag and slamming her locker door shut. She felt confused, frustrated, and even a little scared. “Goddamn time travel,” the blonde cheerleader concluded, striding to the nearest hallway door and kicking at the crash bar with her heel to open it. “Why can’t I have a normal life?”

Moments after Carrie’s departure, a nearby door clicked open and a young asian girl poked her head out. She glanced up and down the vacant hallway before closing the door again. “I think we’re in the clear, Tim,” Luci whispered. “That noise had to be the last people evacuating. My guess is that no one expected people to duck into the yearbook room. That’s why no one came to get us.”

The blonde boy shifted uncertainly from his position under the table. “You think?” he asked. “I mean, that lockdown can’t have been a drill, not with people sending messages about a car crash and a gun. Maybe we should stay a bit longer? After all, we’ve sent something to our parents to tell them we’re okay, and it’s not like we’ve got nothing to do…” He gestured at the notebook open on the floor.

Luci grinned. “I’m glad you find Linquist’s language as fascinating as I do. But you said you had some reference books at home - so if the coast IS clear? We could make better headway there. It would probably put your parents more at ease too.”

Tim considered, then nodded, gathering up the pages of notes he and Luci had been making since lunchtime that day. Shortly after, Linquist’s logbook in hand, the young girl followed Tim out of the room.

Carrie paced back and forth at the tree line of the park, glancing in mounting annoyance at her watch. “An hour,” she muttered. “On top of the time it took to get to the note, so where the hell…” She paused as she caught sight of someone motioning to her down in the ravine. Stomping a little closer, she was able to recognize Glen’s coat, so she hurried down to meet him. Finally.

“Don’t you shush me!” Carrie said, noticing that Glen had a finger pressed up to his lips. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, buddy!” Nevertheless, she did keep her voice down.

Glen simply sighed, leading Carrie back deeper amid the tree trunks before speaking. “Is it true then?” he asked. “Was the person who crashed the van into the school looking for me?”

“She wasn’t only looking for you,” Carrie shot back, “this ‘Mindy’ girl waved a gun around and went out of her way to tell me you were a fugitive from the future. What the hell is that supposed to mean?!”

Glen looked genuinely shocked. “Mindy? It was Mindylenopia? Oh, I’m so sorry, Carrie. I had hoped to have a little more time before explaining the nature of my mission, but if she’s forcing my hand…”

“Mission?!” Carrie felt a cold hand grabbing at her heart. Somehow, she’d still held out hope that this was all some sort of cosmic misunderstanding. That Glen would be as confused as her about the situation. No such luck. “You mean you really ARE from the future?”

“If you are indeed the ultimate temporal weapon.”

Carrie took a step back, stumbled on a root, and fell to the ground. “Oh God. Oh God, y-you knew about… the whole time?! B-But… does this mean you’ve never cared about me as a p-person?!?” Insanely, that felt like the thing which mattered the most. “I mean, on that first date, when you said you’d be honest with me, and that you merely sensed some extraordinary ability - was it all lies to get close to this weapon that I’m supposed to become?!”

“Oh, Carrie, no,” Glen said, kneeling down beside her. “I do care about you. And that is how I felt about you at first… about future you. The reason I never said anything to you about your destiny was because, well, your friend Chartreuse seemed to be providing you with something of a power basis. And there was no reason for me to start your training right away.”

“You were… sent back to train me?” Within her spinning thoughts, something clicked. “Of course. The reason you didn’t trip my headache that day in the drama room, out of time - is because you were somehow already a time anomaly. That’s also why, whenever I centred on you in a vision, my senses inevitably pulled me forwards into the future… because that’s where you originated.”

Which was what had also led her to see Mindy, that time at the dance. Her jaw clenched at the memory. “But if you’ve come back for me, who’s this Mindy? Is your sister an agent for the other side??”

“Actually, if this is the Mindylenopia I know, she’s an agent from our side gone bad,” Glen explained ruefully. “And she’s not my sister. For the record, Temporals don’t use ‘last names’ - those imply a certain ancestry. I’m more properly known as Glinephanis. I selected the name Glen Oaks shortly after my arrival in your time. It was the name of some memorial gardens in a nearby town. She must have learned of my name at the hotel here, then given herself a similar last name, to play with your mind.”

Carrie wished the pounding in her temples would cease. It wasn’t a temporal headache any more, but it was almost as bad. “So… the Chronologic Patrol?”

Glen frowned. “Chrono what? Carrie, there is no such thing.”

“Oh gawwwwwwwwwd,” Carrie moaned, lowering her head down to between her legs. “I can’t take this. Not now. I was all set to have a nice, relaxing evening… instead, I’ve got a girl from the future trying to kill a trainer I didn’t even know I had, and possibly me as well! Assuming you’re not lying, being some fugitive yourself, out to kill me in my sleep!”

“I assure you, I’m here to help,” Glen said. “Is there anything you’d like me to do to prove my sincerity?”

“Yes! No… I don’t know!” Carrie said, grabbing two fistfuls of her hair. “How could you even… wait, yes! If you really came from the future, you must have a time machine! Tell me, where is it?”

Glen stood back up. “I didn’t come here via a time machine, Carrie.”

“No? If not, how in hell could you end up in my present?!”

He smiled. “Carrie… you sent me here. Your future self did. Using your abilities.”

Mindylenopia forced herself to stop and take in a few deep breaths before approaching the house. She had to stop rushing things - she’d made it back. The hard part was over. There was more time now, time to work carefully, time to be cunning. Time to control the people she was talking to with more finesse.

Time to come up with a better cover story.

She wasn’t used to having that time. In retrospect, her improvised crashing of the van had done little aside from paint a target on her back. But for all she’d known, “Glen Oaks” had already recruited past-Carrie as his personal temporal guardian! She’d had to gamble that while at school, they wouldn’t be together. Hadn’t she?

Well, they were probably together by now.

Mindy continued her advance towards the house. Having time or not, after a half hour of observation here, with no sign of either Glen or Carrie, she had to DO something. “This world better appreciate what I’m going through for them,” Mindy muttered as she adjusted the zipper on the jacket she’d ‘borrowed’.

She rang the bell. An older man answered the door and looked down at her. “Yes?” Hank Waterson said tentatively. Mindy simply smiled.

Hopefully you’re enjoying this. Maybe even enough for the weekly vote? Or better yet, some sort of remark? Views are actually down since publishing twice per week. Bad form?

Previously: Last year, Julie was mentally influenced to shoot Carrie. Carrie recently had a future vision at the dance. Megan beat Corry for leadership at school, right before a van crashed into their library.

3.14a: THE CONSPIRACY UNFOLDS 1

Chartreuse had just finished the table of observations for the physics experiment she and Lee were conducting when the sound of screeching tires and a loud crash from outside caused her pencil to slip from her fingers.

Lee, along with a few other students, quickly moved to positions where they could look out the second floor window. “Holy geez,” Lee said after a moment. “It’s kinda hard to tell from this angle, but it looks like some crazy driver crashed right into the school library!”

“Whoa,” Chartreuse gasped. “That must be, like, why I got bad vibes from the place this morning.” A number of other students in the classroom exchanged glances. Frank and Clarke immediately registered Julie’s absence, and before the teacher could stop them, they dashed out of the room.

“Julie, get my sister to safety!” Corry called out.

Julie noticed that Corry had elected to pull Megan away, as the younger girl had apparently passed out from shock. Did Corry think keeping their new rival safe might reverse the junior’s coup? Julie shook her head - she could think about it later, right now they had more immediate concerns.

“On it,” Julie responded, taking hold of the arm of Corry’s wide-eyed sister. She deftly maneuvered the two of them back, further away from the crazy redhead with the gun.

Even as she did, the crazy redhead’s attention was drawn to the man who was now slowly advancing upon her. The school principal raised his hands and froze at her attention. “Stay calm,” Hunt said. “Put the gun down. We don’t want any trouble.”

“Then you’ll hand over Glen Oaks,” the girl retorted. Her gaze was fully upon him now as she spoke very deliberately. “Tell me, where can I find Glen?”

“He… he’s a student here. He would be in class now,” the principal responded.

“What class? Where?” she pressed.

“I… I’m not sure…” Julie noticed that the principal’s eyes seemed to be glazing over, as they locked with those of the redheaded intruder. Julie’s own eyes narrowed. Something about this struck a chord inside her. An unpleasant chord.

But it was hard to get a bead on things, as she was still leading Laurie back into the book stacks, with other students shouting around them, either trying to hide, or run for the exit.

“WHERE?” the gun toting girl repeated.

“I… really… don’t… know,” Mr. Hunt replied, his voice shifting into a rather eerie monotone. “I can… look it up…”

The redhead let out a sigh of frustration. “Never mind. How about Carrie Waterson, where is she?”

“Right there.” Mr. Hunt lifted his finger to point. Julie snapped her gaze over in the direction the principal was indicating, in time to see her blonde classmate dashing out of the library doors, one hand pushing hard into her temple.

“Stop! Carrie!” the girl with the gun cried out. She began sprinting after her. “I have to warn you about Glen!”

Corry, who had been hauling Megan towards the same door, froze as the armed redhead ran right past. Julie registered that fact even as her gaze shifted back towards the principal. He seemed to be blinking in confusion at the latest development, only now turning to look towards the main library doors.

“Damn it,” Hunt cursed, moving back for the library office. “Did I just tell her…? Mr. Price!” he called out. “Tell the main office to announce that students are to remain in their classes when–”

The bell rang signifying the end of the school day. Frowning, Julie watched as Hunt disappeared into the small office with the librarian. She then swept her gaze back across the scene, ending at the shattered picture windows, which were now letting the wind blow in among the book stacks. Most of the students were gone. The van was simply sitting there with the driver behind the wheel. The driver.

Julie took a step forwards, only to have a hand clutch at her shoulder from behind. She twisted her neck around, seeing Laurie’s frightened face. “G-G-Golly, Julie,” Corry’s sister stammered. “W-What’s going on??”

“I don’t know,” Julie replied, clenching her jaw. “But I’m going to find out, okay?” She clasped Laurie’s hand. “Duck down, and stay quiet. Wait for me or Corry to come back here for you.”

She was going to get some answers.

‘Why is it time travellers enjoy pointing guns at me?’ Carrie wondered as she charged down the hallway. ‘I mean, don’t they have some better technology available to them yet? Something less lethal, maybe? That’d be nice…’

She heard the library doors get bashed open behind her. “Carrie, stop! Listen to me!”

“Pass,” Carrie mumbled under her breath.

It didn’t help that it was getting hard to think at all, what with the temporal pressure hammering at her temples. That van should not have crashed into the library. More to the point, this redheaded girl was not supposed to be in their time. Of that, Carrie was certain. Yet at the same time, she recognized her pursuer as the one who had been in her vision at the dance last month.

Carrie swallowed. That’s right. In her vision, this same girl had been standing in front of her, and the redhead with the hazel eyes had raised a hand, holding that knife… oh, hold on. Knife, not gun. So why the gun now? And what was her connection to Glen?

Before those thoughts could manage a foothold, the bell rang, signifying the end of classes. Students began to pour out of the classrooms. “Perfect,” Carrie moaned, feeling the vice around her temples tightening. She closed her eyes, squeezing out tears of pain.

No way could she think about whys. Not now. She had to lead that crazy girl in the red dress somewhere NOT IN THE HALLS, somewhere SAFE, somewhere she’d STOP damaging their timeline. And that place wasn’t out into the parking lot, with all the parents, no, that was liable to make things even worse. So where?

‘All right, track star,’ Carrie thought. ‘Time for some fancy action.’ With a quick look over her shoulder to make sure the gun toting maniac was still in pursuit, she summoned up a burst of speed, sprinting into the (thankfully) deserted school auditorium, down near the stage podium.

In one fluid movement, Carrie yanked open the loose door she knew about down on the lower right corner of the stage. She boosted herself through it feet first, landing between the rows of extra chairs stored there. She immediately reached up to slide the door shut behind her, then lay quietly, trying to keep herself from breathing too hard. The chair leg poking against her bottom really didn’t help matters.

The sound of running footsteps in the auditorium turned into walking footsteps, then there was nothing. “Carrie?” came the redhead’s voice.

A pause, and then Carrie heard her pursuer ascend the steps onto the stage itself. “Carrie, I’m fairly certain that you didn’t time jump, and thus are simply hiding in here. It’s not my intention to harm you. Come on out so that we can talk.”

Carrie remained where she was. She heard the sound of a brief search, interrupted only by some sort of muffled announcement over the public address system. Then more silence. Her headache was ebbing. That felt like a good sign.

Right when Carrie thought it might be safe to move though, she heard the girl’s voice again. “All right, Carrie, have it your way,” the redhead declared. “But in case you can hear me – I, Mindylenopia Oaks, member of the Chronologic Patrol, am here for Glen Oaks. My brother is a dangerous fugitive from the future. You must not trust him! I will be in touch.”

A pause, then running footsteps, then the auditorium door, and then silence. Still, Carrie waited twice as long as she had the last time before finally edging the stage door aside. When nothing happened, she pulled herself back into the auditorium.

There was no one there. What’s more, the throbbing in her head had regressed to a point where it was almost bearable. Letting out a sigh of relief, Carrie headed cautiously for the hallway, rubbing absently at the sore spot where the chair had been jabbing her. Wishing she had any idea as to her next move.

The van driver still seemed partially dazed as Julie pulled open his door. She noticed that while he had a bump on his head, his seat belt had managed to protect him from serious harm. “Vat’s goin’ on?” the driver murmured, turning his head to regard the brown haired student. “Vere am I?”

“I’ll ask the questions here,” Julie asserted. “Who are you, who was the redhead, and why is she after my friends?!”

“I… I be Lars,” the driver stated blearily. “Vat redhead you mean?”

“Your passenger,” Julie said, peering a little more closely at him. Did he have a concussion or something? “You know, the one with the gun.”

“Gun?!” Lars said. He turned to regard the empty seat next to him, then finally made an effort to sit up. “She’s gone! Mindy’s gone!”

“Mindy?” Julie said, jumping on the name. “Is that the person you were driving here?”

Lars reached up to press a hand to the bump on his head as he replied. “I tink… yes, she tell me to drive her into this town, and her name, it sounded like Mindy.”

“Sounded like? You’re not sure? You’d never met her before today?”

“No, I… oh my goodness! My van is in library?!?”

“Focus please, just a couple more questions,” Julie said, snapping her fingers to retain his attention. “Did Mindy say anything to you when you were driving? About what she was doing or why she came here?”

“No, I… we came to town, we stopped first at hotel, she go in, then come out and say Glen is at school. So we come to school. I mention school probably over soon, so she tell me to keep on driving towards window.”

Julie blinked. “So you did?”

“I… I did. Somehow it make sense at the time…”

Julie felt a chill run up her spine. It made sense at the time. She remembered thinking the exact same thing before shooting Carrie last year. After that man had spent time talking to her on the phone. Influencing her with his voice. There had to be a connection.

“Who introduced Mindy to you?" Julie pressed. “And did Mindy mention anyone else she was working with??”

“We meet by bridge… I… I don’t think she say,” Lars replied, throwing up his hands. “Who you be anyway? Student?” He only now seemed to realize Julie’s age.

“Irrelevant,” Julie said, trying to sound as authoritative as possible. “Tell me, was it Mindy herself who convinced you to listen to her? How did she do it?!” Lars simply opened and closed his mouth, a baffled expression on his face.

“Jewels,” came a quiet voice from behind her. “The police are on their way and teachers are trying to get everyone into lockdown. We need to get out of here.”

-Some of this makes sense, right? If not, please let me know.

-Hello to new blog follower professorumbraum! If you were also the person reading the entire archive on the weekend, you made last week’s views look normal instead of rather sad, thank you.

Previously: A mystery girl appeared in front of a jogger. Julie got her friends to pit Joe and Tommy against each other, in order to focus on Megan’s plans.

PART 3.13b: UNDER ATTACK 2

Julie nodded back at Carrie. “Thank you. See, as soon as Chartreuse said that Megan Falls was involved, I knew that this school was in trouble. Deep trouble. That girl not only works in the shadows, she tries to make people believe her opinions without a plan in mind. Without consideration of immediate consequences.”

She straightened her posture. “Ironically, Megan’s unpredictability means she probably has the best shot at Corry. So our first step HAD to be clearing the board of Joe and Tommy. To better get a bead on her. THAT’S why I sent you both on your missions this morning.”

Julie looked towards Frank. “It only occurs to me now that you were pretty reluctant about messing with Joe’s head. I guess all I can do at this point is ask for your forgiveness.”

“Yeah, well… in retrospect, the guy WAS taking things a bit far,” Frank admitted, thinking back to the image he’d seen. “So as long as you’re more forthcoming with us next time, sure, I can forgive you."

Julie then turned to Carrie, but the blonde was already waving her off. “Don’t sweat it. I was only miffed at your attitude. I rather enjoyed playing off Tommy’s paranoia, he’s kind of a jerk.”

“All right,” Julie said, letting out a sigh of relief. “Thing is, Megan’s too canny to be fooled like those two. In fact, I discovered that she’s been recorded as absent from school today. Given that, I asked Phil to scout around a bit at lunch, to see if he could find out where she really is.” She eyed the drama room door. “Since he hasn’t joined us yet, I can only assume that he’s had no luck so far.”

She looked at each of them in turn. “And while I grant that this may be partly my ego, if Megan takes charge of the balance of power in this school? Chaos is sure to follow! Do you understand now? And will you help me help Corry?”

“Okay Julie,” Chartreuse chirped. “Except, what exactly should we do, aside from look around too? I mean, like, what is it you’ve, you know, learned about Megan’s plans so far?”

Julie brushed some of her long hair off her shoulder as she moved to lean back against a nearby wall. “As a matter of fact,” she said, letting out a frustrated sigh, “as of this point in time, I’ve learned nothing at all about her plans.”

Lunch period ended. The image of Tommy, serving tea to the chess club while clad in a full length green dress, only appeared in printouts - given how the school’s server mysteriously went down. But, true or not, seeing how he could be manipulated was enough to discredit the boy in the eyes of many of his supporters.

Similarly, the sight of Joe walking through the halls with a bloody nose, wearing nothing but his boxers, was not seen by many either - he was quickly taken to the main office. However, as with the dress picture, word soon spread, and it became apparent that Joe had also lost leadership credibility in the eyes of the school.

The quick interventions of the faculty aside, Tommy and Joe had cancelled each other out - as Julie had engineered. She tapped her fingers against her desk. Yet here it was, last period, and she STILL wasn’t sure what Megan was up to!

Carrie, Frank, Chartreuse and Phil had all come up empty. Granted, they hadn’t actually tried to invoke Carrie’s powers again - but Julie was coming to understand Carrie’s argument for why it might not be in their best interests to do that. Not if it fixed the outcome, and it was one in Megan’s favour.

Julie left the mechanics of her physics lab in the hands of her partner, busy racking her brains for what it was she could have missed. It wasn’t until Laurie Veniti was paged to the library fifteen minutes before the end of the school day that Julie realized what a blind idiot she’d been. Whispering to her lab partner that she’d handle the writeup for them, and to please cover for her, Julie slipped out of the room. Only to bump into Corry, who was doing the exact same thing down the hallway.

“Fancy running into you like this,” Julie said as the two of them headed for the stairwell. “Is my ‘rampant paranoia’ catching?”

Corry opened his mouth to fire off some response, then simply grimaced. “Okay, I deserved that,” he admitted. “The more I’ve thought about what you said this morning, the more I’ve realized how good the timing was for a major attack. You were right. I was wrong. I have been overconfident. Were you the one who rerouted Joe and Tommy?”

“Damn right,” Julie responded. “Though… I had some help.”

“I see,” the redhead replied as they reached the stairs. “And I can only assume this last plan is the work of Megan Falls. Do you know what she’s been getting my sister mixed up with?”

“Afraid not,” Julie sighed. “I SHOULD have been tailing Laurie all day. I’m out of practice.”

“No more so than me,” Corry grumped. “You know, if we get through this intact, maybe I should start treating you as more of a equal again. You know my blind spots, and can help to keep me on my toes.” Julie blinked over at him in surprise, but said nothing.

The two teenagers arrived on the ground floor and approached the library. They quickly spotted Carrie, who was trying to peer covertly through the glass doors of the main entrance. She looked over at them as they approached.

“Oh! Uh. I… I was in drama class with Laurie when she was paged away,” Carrie explained. “It wasn’t until right after she left that I remembered what Chartreuse said this morning about evil library vibes, and given Julie’s talk at lunch, I… I thought Laurie might have been walking into a trap.” She gestured vaguely. “But, hey, maybe not? It doesn’t look like there’s anything nefarious going on in there.”

“Knowing Megan, it’s probably too devious to look nefarious,” Corry asserted. “Thanks, I’ll take it from here."

Corry marched past his two classmates, shoving the library doors open and striding inside. He was able to pick out his twin sister almost immediately, standing over by the bookshelves. Next to Laurie was a shorter girl with shoulder length jet black hair. Megan.

“Okay, stop right there!” Corry said as he ran up to them. His run was brought up short as he noticed Principal Hunt, formerly hidden from view, standing amongst the bookshelves beside the two teenage girls. “Or, ah, not,” Corry amended, stumbling.

A trace of a smile flickered over Mr. Hunt’s face, as if some suspicion of his had been verified, before he turned back to regard Megan. “So see to it that there is no more of this unauthorized use of the public address system,” he concluded. “Whatever you had to tell Laurie, it could have waited until the end of the school day.”

“Yes, sir,” the junior girl replied meekly. “Never again.”

“Very well then,” the principal concluded. “One detention for you. As well as for Mr. Veniti, Ms. LaMille and Ms. Waterson for cutting class.” Corry flinched at the news, then glanced over his shoulder. He hadn’t even heard Julie and Carrie follow him in.

The smile tugged at the corner of the principal’s lips again as he turned to regard them all. “And, ladies and gentlemen? Let’s have no more of this tomfoolery for at LEAST the rest of the month, hmmm?” With that, Mr. Hunt walked off, apparently to talk with the head librarian.

“Well, that sucked,” Carrie mumbled. “Is it me, or is Hunt himself getting more devious lately too?”

Corry barely heard her, more concerned with whatever Megan had been up to with his sister. “Laurie?” he inquired, turning to meet her gaze for the first time. He braced himself, not certain what sort of expression he would see on her face.

The pure rapture that Laurie had on display still managed to catch him completely off guard.

“Corry?” his sister breathed. “Corry, I… I’ve been published! Megan got me published, isn’t that the most WONDERFUL news you’ve ever heard in your whole LIFE?”

Corry felt his throat seize up.

“H-How?” came Julie’s voice.

Laurie held up a small bound paperback. “A drawing I made for art class last year! Megan got a copy and wrote a short story based on it and submitted it to a regional contest put on by this short story publisher looking for best illustrated work and he liked it and all winners were basically being printed in this little book and oh golly it actually WON so I’ve had a picture published and my name is actually in print here right next to Megan’s!” She clasped the book back against her body.

“Yes, it’s thrilling isn’t it?” Megan put in, firing off a sweet smile in Corry’s direction. She brought her fist up to her heart. “Kind of gets you. Right. Here.”

Corry’s eyes linked with Megan’s. Her eyes narrowed, her smile widening. And she had him, and they both knew it. Owing to what Megan had done for Laurie here, Corry was not only indebted to her, but any move that he now made against the girl might well end up hurting Laurie emotionally. He had been outflanked by an act of pure generosity.

“Risky move, Megan," Julie piped up, her voice providing Corry with the excuse to look away. “After all, what if Corry had been dethroned earlier today? He’d have no social strings for you to pull on.”

Megan shrugged, her hand moving to idly finger the cross she wore on her necklace. “Well, no fun playing the game if you’re sure of the outcome each time,” she said. “But I had faith in you, Julie. After all, who do you think got Kim to tip you off in the first place?”

The brunette took a physical step back. “You– Damn you.”

“Okay, well, not to break up the happy fun times here,” Carrie broke in. “But maybe we should let the tension bleed out by heading back to class? I’d say the school’s had as much excitement as it can handle for today.”

Carrie was immediately proven wrong, as someone nearby let out a scream. The five students all turned, barely in time to see the van with the license plate reading ‘LARS 02’ jump the curb outside and crash through the library’s large picture windows, the vehicle coming to rest in the reference section. A girl with short red hair swiftly kicked open the passenger door, held up a gun, and hollered, “All right, where the hell is ‘Glen Oaks’ at?!?”

Owing to all the screaming and shouting that followed, only Corry heard Carrie’s horrified reaction: “Oh my God. That’s HER.”

The first domino falls… do you see how the rest of them have been set up yet? A reminder, you can Vote for T&T.

Previously: Julie got Carrie and Chartreuse to identify threats against Corry. Luci discovered that Linquist’s book wasn’t coded, it was in another language.

PART 3.13a: UNDER ATTACK 1

“Frank, something’s come up I’m gonna be busy all this lunch but we can still meet after school okay?”

Frank shifted his attention from his computer monitor over towards his girlfriend, trying to parse Luci’s rushed dialogue. The bell had only just rung, signifying the end of the seventy five minute period, along with morning classes. “Uhhhh, sure,” he agreed. Luci flashed him a smile, then grabbed her things and hurried out of the room.

Actually, he had noticed Luci becoming increasingly jittery as the period had dragged on. He would have followed up on it, were it not for the text messages Julie had been sporadically sending him. Completing the log off of his computer, Frank looked over in Julie’s direction. She met his gaze with a little shrug, as if to say ‘You know what’s needed now, it’s up to you whether you act.’

In other words, putting the ball in his court. He turned away from her, so she couldn’t read his expression. He didn’t want this ball. He’d rather not have become involved in the game. However, he had apparently been drafted, and if what Julie had said was true, backing out now would not only be hurtful to her, it could have repercussions throughout the school.

Fine. So he’d at least try. For the sake of the school. Stifling a sigh, Frank made his way over to Joe’s computer, even as all the other students filed out of the room. “So, you told Mr. Burke you’d be, um, doing some extra coding over lunch?” Frank asked his business club associate. He tried to keep his tone nonchalant.

“Yeah,” Joe replied. “Still have one whole module to code.”

“Right." Frank glanced towards Mr. Burke, but the teacher wasn’t paying any attention to them. Even so, he lowered his voice. “So this, uh, doesn’t have anything to do with striking out at Corry then?”

Joe’s head snapped over to meet Frank’s gaze. “Why?” he demanded. “What have you heard?”

“Oh! Nothing… nothing really. That is, I heard that Tommy was planning a strike against Corry, so given what you were saying back at the dance, I was wondering if you were as well.” Inwardly, Frank cursed himself. Get a grip, Dijora, or he’s going to catch on. Channel your inner improv geek.

Fortunately, Joe didn’t seem to notice any lack of finesse, more concerned with the message itself. “Tommy is, eh?” he said, frowning. “Interesting. But I doubt his plan has any intelligence, not like–"

“Not like yours?” Frank pressed as Joe stopped short. “Come on, Joe, we’ve known each other for how long now? Coat check, business club, occasional chess games? If you really are going to do something, don’t I rate a little advanced preview of your infinite wisdom?”

Joe paused for an indeterminate amount of time before turning away and clicking through directories with his mouse. Frank thought he had been given the brush off, until Joe pulled up an image on the screen and looked back at him. “What do you think?” his friend inquired, watching closely for Frank’s reaction.

Frank had to do a double take. The picture showed Julie and Corry, in a hallway of their school… not only locked in an embrace, but kissing passionately. “Holy geez,” Frank choked out. “When did they ever…???”

“Make out? Beats me,” Joe retorted with a satisfied smirk. “Maybe never. I got into the school yearbook archives and stole some candid photo shots. Damn fine photo editing work, if I do say so myself. And once I broadcast Corry’s love for Julie across our whole school network, he’ll lose all respect among his peers! Her remaining support will likely blow up at them as well. Leaving me in a position to step in.”

Frank shook his head. “But if you faked that photo…“

“Fake, real, people don’t care about that,” Joe said dismissively. “They care about the sensation. All I need to do is send this out precisely at noon, claiming I got it from an anonymous source.”

“Huh. That’s brilliant," Frank yielded, only belatedly remembering Julie’s instructions. “You’re forgetting Tommy though,” he continued. “With both of you making moves to take out Corry today, you’ll end up in Tommy’s crosshairs. He won’t see you as an ally either, not with how you’ve included Julie in your vendetta. Going after the two most well known seniors at once? Tommy will see you as a potential threat to his own supremacy.”

There was an extended silence. “Cripes, you may be right,” Joe granted. “That said, I figured he might try something some day. I already have a doctored image that can be used to take Tommy down a peg as well!”

Frank shook his head. “Fool me twice, shame on you. You can’t use an image trick for Tommy if you once used it on Corry. People will become suspicious. All you’re doing here by going after Corry first is handing the school over to his main henchman.”

Joe looked from Frank to his computer and back. “You’re right. Damn it, you’re right!” He slammed his hand down on the computer table. Mr. Burke looked up from his desk in surprise.

“Frustrating bug,” Frank said, smiling apologetically at the teacher. Mr. Burke raised an eyebrow before returning to his grading.

“Okay, wait a minute,” Joe muttered. “If Tommy’s already in the process of taking out Corry - then all I need to do is to take out Tommy! Right? I’ll have one-upped the guy who one-upped Corry! That should give me enough support to do whatever I want! Except… damn, the image I have for him won’t let me get at Julie…”

“Well, you can deal with her any way you like once you’re on top of the social ladder,” Frank offered. Inwardly, he was relieved beyond belief that the very plan he’d been asked to feed to Joe had basically been proposed by Joe himself.

“Good point,” Joe responded grudgingly. “Yeah, I’m sure I can come up with something else there. All right, thanks buddy. I owe you one.”

“Uh, well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Frank said, smiling weakly. However Joe barely noticed, having already resumed typing on his keyboard. So, murmuring a good luck and a goodbye, Frank beat a hasty retreat out of the computer lab - and down to the drama room. Where he hoped Julie would be able to explain herself a little better.

“So he’s not going to broadcast that doctored image?"

“I don’t think so. Not yours, at least. He was focused on Tommy when I left,” Frank replied. So much for explanations, he thought ruefully. He’d been subjected to the third degree from Julie about Joe’s plans ever since his arrival.

“Okay then,” Julie said, rubbing her hands together. She finally turned away from him, to face Carrie again. “And you’re sure Tommy’s goons are going after Joe, not Corry?”

“Right,” the blonde said, frowning. “In fact, you seem to have done a damn good job of setting those two against each other. Since when was THAT the plan?”

“Irrelevant," the brunette asserted. “The point is, with them off the board, we can finally focus on the real threat.”

“Okay, no, stop, back up,” Frank protested. “What goons? What threat? Julie, what have you been doing here?”

“I think she’s been, like, working to save Corry’s butt from people plotting against him,” volunteered Chartreuse.

Frank glanced over at the fourth occupant of the room. Chartreuse had been silent since his arrival. “Julie’s been what?” he asked. “Why?”

Chartreuse simply shrugged. It was Julie who spoke up. “Because I’m concerned about Corry,” she asserted, crossing her arms. “Moreover, I bet that he will appreciate that I’m becoming able to handle myself again, without him always needing to butt in on my behalf.”

“Enough Julie. That is an outright lie," Carrie said, jabbing out her index finger.

Julie bristled. “I beg your pardon?!”

“Don’t give me that look!” Carrie countered. “Any fool can see you’re not concerned. You’re enjoying the hell out of this! I haven’t seen you this animated at school in months! If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were hoping that, by acting on Corry’s behalf, people will start to see you more as his equal again!”

The brunette flinched. “Carrie, stop, can’t you see? I’m trying to do the right thing here! Not for me, but for the school! How can you possibly have a problem with that??”

“Julie, I know you,” Carrie retorted. “Let’s review. Strike one was you making me tap into my abilities. Granted, when I saw Tommy down the hall from Corry, discussing a plan to sic some of his more disreputable friends on the guy at lunch, I was with you on stopping that. Acceding to your second request, going to Tommy before lunch to shift his attention away from Corry and onto Joe. Since he was not only going after Corry, but apparently you too.

“Now, in my mind, that closes the books on the entire situation. Instead, I discover that you’ve been talking to Frank! And have got this whole pit those people against each other plan! Being silent about that was strike two. And now, strike three - you’re not telling us everything about your real motivations!”

“No, Carrie, think! Chartreuse got an impression too,” Julie reminded them. “It’s Megan Falls who’s the REAL problem here!”

“But YOU never TOLD us that!" Carrie said, now almost shouting. “Besides, Chartreuse said that Megan was going after Corry. Corry, not you! You’re in the clear, Julie. Why does it matter if the cocky redhead gets knocked off his pedestal, by Megan or anyone else?”

“Uhm, yeah, hi again,” Frank interrupted, reaching out to wave his hand in between the two glaring females. “Still not totally following here… Megan who?”

“Megan Falls,” Chartreuse chirped. “Junior student, one grade back. Very musical, she, like, helped to do a lot of fundraising in the band last year. She’s the one I got a weird impression of, while trying to tap into Corry’s location via Carrie this morning.”

“Oh. That Megan,” Frank replied blankly.

Julie turned away from everybody and took in a deep breath. “Fine. Okay. Maybe I should have been more up front with you. But mark my words, we cannot underestimate Megan. While she began as simply one of my many followers, and a way to get the Catholics on my side within the school, her file in my archives kept growing. That girl is not only devious, she’s random and hard to predict! Win, lose, doesn’t seem to matter to her, she prefers to play the odds. Trust me, we cannot let her take Corry down!”

“But WHY, Julie?” Carrie asked, slamming her palm into the wall. “Why the hell not?!?”

“Because!” Julie said, turning back and slamming her own palm against the teacher’s desk. “Because in the battle between the devil we know and the devil we don’t, I choose the side of the devil we know! Because despite all his faults, Corry is at least orderly, and not really that bad of a guy in a pinch! And finally - you’re right! Okay? It DOES pain me to think that some young upstart might pull off the victory against Corry that everyone thinks I never managed to achieve! That’s why, Carrie! Are you happy now?!”

For a moment, no one spoke. “No,” Carrie said at last, in a more calm tone of voice. “I’m not happy. But I am a little more understanding, now that you’re acknowledging the truth."

Julie stared at the blonde. And then her other hand joined her first, the brunette leaning on the desk. “Oh my God,” she realized. “I’ve been manipulating you. All of you. For my own ends. Doc Golden told me to be careful of reverting to old habits.” She bit down hard on her lower lip. “I’m sorry. Truly. I knew I was being impulsive… but it… it felt so RIGHT!"

“Julie, we’re not simply your followers here,” Carrie said, her tone becoming more sympathetic. “We’re your friends. But we won’t be for long, not unless you give us the whole story and let us decide for ourselves whether your ideas are worth pursuing.”

“But I… she…” Julie stopped and reached up to press a hand against her temples. “All right,” she decided. “All right. So let me explain the rest of my thinking. Please?”

Frank exchanged a quick glance with the others. He shrugged along with Chartreuse, and Carrie gestured at Julie. “Go ahead,” the blonde yielded.

Previously: Chartreuse has a thing for Carrie since the school dance. Luci couldn’t crack Linquist’s code. The principal is worried about the school factions.

PART 3.12b: POWER STRUGGLE 2

Carrie waited for Mrs. Haye to turn back towards the blackboard before glancing down at the piece of paper she and Julie had been passing back and forth for the last twenty minutes. It was funny - their English teacher was always on the alert for phones, but apparently not for the low tech alternatives.

Pursing her lips, Carrie reviewed what had been written so far.

‘C, think there is trouble. Can we use powers to help? J.’

To which she had scribbled, ‘Am not a magic wand! Define trouble. C.’

Response, ‘Person plotting. Need info on future. Please? J.’

‘Reservations. Anything I see seems unchangeable. C.’

‘Exception this once, maybe? J.’

‘DOES. NOT. WORK. THAT. WAY.’

‘Sorry, C. Maybe use machine instead? J.’

‘Discussion over.’

And then the last line: ‘PLEASE, C? Need a friend here. J.’

Carrie shifted her attention over towards Julie’s desk. To the casual observer, Julie appeared to be engrossed in her note taking - but Carrie noticed a certain rigidity in her posture. Then, even as she watched, Julie glanced her way and fired off a quick look of desperation. Carrie immediately turned away, back to her own english notes.

‘Need a friend here'. A friend. The words floated through her head, causing Carrie to hold her pencil a little tighter. WAS this a friendly request? Or was Julie trying to use Carrie for her abilities?

Julie should get the benefit of the doubt. Yes, once again, Julie wasn’t the issue. Carrie’s own temporal powers were the real hang up here, like always. She HAD to get over that.

Mrs. Haye started into the last set of examples. Carrie knew that if she was going to send a reply, she had to do it now, before the class started back into a discussion of that boring Shakespearean play. Letting out a quick breath of air, she dashed off one final line: ‘Help me corner Pinkie after class. We’ll talk. C.’ This way, if Julie couldn’t figure out that Pinkie referred to Chartreuse, well, that was her own damn fault.

Julie hustled both Chartreuse and Carrie into the nearby custodial supply closet right after English class. “Okay, uh, what’s this, like, about?" Chartreuse wondered.

“I’m not positive myself,” Carrie admitted. “But Julie seems to think she’s in some sort of trouble today.”

“No, not think, now I’m sure I am,” Julie told them. “Because the more I’ve considered it, the more the timing fits. Particularly given Corry’s overly complacent attitude since the dance. He’s become a target, and while I’m indirectly involved, I haven’t been keeping myself in the loop at school. So I need more information.”

“You know, I did sense some kind of destructive force when I was walking by the library this morning,” Chartreuse agreed. “But I thought it was, like, aftereffects of the bran muffin I ate this morning.”

“Look, Julie, if you’re hoping to stop the future - you don’t want my help,” Carrie said, placing her hands on her hips. “We haven’t done much experimenting that way yet, but thus far, anything I’ve seen? It’s happened. Cafe fire, Tim at the dance, and at a recent session, the grade on my history report. In fact, if we try to change things? We could end up causing the event ourselves."

Julie couldn’t hold back an exasperated sigh. “But Carrie, I can’t simply sit back and allow Corry–”

“Which is why I suggested Chartreuse here,” the blonde interrupted. “Her more ambiguous impressions would be of greater use.”

The pink haired girl blinked back at Carrie. “What? But those need meditation, or direct contact. Besides, you don’t need to look into the future here, you’ve been getting wicked accurate at, you know, pegging what people are doing in the present! You could simply centre yourself in the school and, like, see if anything looks out of whack.”

“Well gee Chartreuse, I could, but I neglected to memorize where every molecule of the building is supposed to be in the river of time.”

“You don’t need to be so specific. If we–”

“Okay, know what?” Julie broke in again. “We don’t have time for this. Classes resume soon. Carrie, Corry’s probably still at his locker - couldn’t you take ten seconds to see if there’s anything obvious around power trip boy that he’s missing? And Chartreuse, when she does that, is there some way you could interface to pick up your impressions second hand?”

The two girls exchanged a glance. “I have kinda wondered about interfacing with you,” Chartreuse whispered. “We came close to something back at the dance! It’s just, since then there never seemed to, you know, be a real good way to, um, suggest it?” She swallowed.

Carrie ran her fingers back through her hair. “Yeah, look, I don’t think a janitor’s closet is the best place for our first interface.”

Chartreuse’s hopeful look crashed into sadness. And there it was again, the same thing Julie had noticed on their time trip into the past. Something about Chartreuse’s reactions to Carrie’s indifference seemed… personal. Almost like unrequited… no, seriously? Julie made a mental note to see if anyone else had noticed.

“Carrie, please,” Julie insisted. “If… if my suspicions aren’t verified here and now, I swear I won’t bother either of you for the rest of the day! At least try, okay? For me, if not for Corry?”

Chartreuse canted her head to the side. “Wow Julie! Are you begging us to do this for you?”

Julie cast her a withering glance. “I’m requesting. Don’t exaggerate my case, Pinkie Pie.” She assumed Carrie’s nickname had been a reference to that show.

“All right,” Carrie cut in quickly. “All right, Julie. We’ll try. But whether it works or not, no more about this today! That’s the deal.”

Julie nodded. “You have my word.”

Chartreuse extended her hands, and after a nod, Carrie took them. Julie watched as both girls closed their eyes. She shifted her weight back and forth uneasily as ten seconds passed, then twenty, then forty. Finally, after just over a minute, Chartreuse snatched one hand away from Carrie’s with a gasp and looked down at it. A couple of seconds later, Carrie reopened her eyes.

“Wow,” Carrie murmured, frowning. “Julie, my apologies. You were right. Someone’s after Corry today.”

“What is it then?” Julie pressed. “What did you see Joe Drew doing?”

“I… wait, Joe?” Carrie protested. “The guy I got a bead on was Tommy Kvish.”

“No, no, the impressions I had were of Megan Falls!” Chartreuse protested, looking back up from her palm. The three girls stared at each other for another long moment in the supply closet, blinking in confusion.

“Well, damn,” Julie said to break the silence.

“M-M-Mr. Burke?” Tim stammered. “My computer won’t boot.”

The computer science teacher approached the blonde boy’s workstation and flipped the power switch himself a couple of times. “Yup, you’re right,” he affirmed. “I’ll notify the school tech. Paul’s away today, so use his computer, over by Luci.”

Luci glanced up briefly as her name was mentioned before returning her attention to the notebook in front of her. Her notebook, filled with the strings of Linquist’s letters that refused to make sense, no matter how she played with them. If only she could let go… but she couldn’t. At least she’d been able to reign her emotions back in last weekend, before everyone had returned from their time trip. Otherwise it would have been pretty embarrassing.

“Hey Luci, what’re you up to?” Frank asked.

As he sat down on her right, the young girl quickly slipped her notebook out of her lap and around to the far side of the computer. She couldn’t admit to her boyfriend that she had become as obsessed with Linquist’s book as he seemed to have become with Glen. “Nothing much,” she said, smiling. “Random coding thought.” It wasn’t a total lie.

The bell rang for class to begin. “Now remember,” Mr. Burke stated, “today is another work period, but the printouts of your assignments are due on my desk by end of day tomorrow. If you finish early, try the bonus question. I’ll continue to circulate for help as needed.”

Luci listened to the teacher with half an ear as she pulled up her coding folder on the desktop. She started doing a bit of debugging, but her heart wasn’t in it, and soon her eyes had wandered back to the open notebook on her left. As focused as she was on the contents, it took a minute or so before she realized that Tim was staring over at the notebook too. “What??” she demanded.

Tim flushed red and turned back to his computer. “N-N-Nothing,” he stammered in reply. “D-Didn’t know you were studying some derivative of l-latin."

“I’m not," Luci snapped back. “It’s… wait, this looks like latin?!”

Tim looked back up at her, then again down at the notebook. He frowned, then shrugged. “Okay, no… it did at first, a bit… but this is a language I don’t recognize.”

Luci barely heard him, eyes riveted back on the page. The characters began to swim before her eyes. A language. A language. It wasn’t shorthand. It wasn’t a cipher to be decoded. No, Linquist had gone and developed his own damn LANGUAGE! She didn’t need a better code breaker. She needed a linguistics expert.

“Tim,” Luci croaked, her mouth dry. “You’re taking a latin course, right?”

“Y-Yeah," he admitted. “Why?"

Luci tore her eyes away from her notebook long enough to meet his gaze. “Are you busy today at lunch?" she breathed. In fact, Luci was so shocked by this latest development that she didn’t even notice Julie’s messages to Frank on his computer.

This is the conclusion of the part from last Tuesday! Click PREVIOUS if you missed it. Click VOTE FOR T&T if you’re willing to, er, vote.

Previously: Sue attacked Corry at September’s dance, claiming she did it for Julie. A time trip to help Lee’s sister led to questions about what triggers Carrie’s temporal headaches.

3.12a: POWER STRUGGLE 1

The morning jogger stopped and turned at the sound of crackling energy. He frowned as it ceased. There were no power lines near that bridge, were there? So what was that all about? “Hallo?” Lars called out. He began to jog back. “Is anyvun…”

Lars stopped as the girl stepped out from the shadows. She hadn’t been there a moment ago, surely. The red dress the teenager wore looked to be a pretty good match for her short red hair, so she would have been pretty hard to miss. But then where had she come from? The energy? He watched in confusion as the girl looked around, before affixing her gaze upon him. She approached.

“I require transportation,” the redhead stated, a hard edge to her voice. “You will drive me.” And somehow, there was more to her voice than an edge, the girl’s tone seemed so compelling that it removed any trace of resistance Lars felt to her request.

“Ah, vhere you vant to go?” the jogger replied. She merely smiled.

On that same Thursday morning, Principal Hunt arrived at his high school a full hour before classes started. He proceeded directly to his office, where he sat down, opened his lower drawer, and pulled out four files. His eyes scanned down the tabs as he set them on his desk: Corry Veniti. Julie LaMille. Tommy Kvish. Joseph Drew. All of them seniors, all of them polarizing forces within the school, directly or indirectly. Hence the reason for keeping his own separate records.

“Pity I can’t suspend the lot of them for the next two days," the principal mused, turning his chair to look out the window. “But of course, we have no evidence of their wrongdoing.” He rubbed his forehead. There was also the fact that, even if he COULD suspend them, he likely wouldn’t. As a general rule, he disliked the idea of sending students away from the education they often so desperately needed. Not that he’d ever tip his hand by saying so.

There was a knock on the open door. Hunt glanced at his clock. Right on time. “Come in and close the door behind you,” he said, turning back around.

Melanie Willis did so. “You wanted my opinion on something?”

Hunt gestured for the school’s music teacher to sit, then folded his hands on his desk. “Indeed. As you have expressed some interest in a more administrative position in the future, I’m curious to get your read on the school atmosphere over the past two weeks.”

“You mean ever since Sue Simmons’ outburst at the dance?” Melanie inquired, smoothing her dress. Hunt nodded. She seemed to consider before responding. “It’s made a target of Corry Veniti. Other senior students are realizing that he’s not untouchable. They’re thinking they have a shot at dethroning him in the social order, claiming his status, maybe even becoming valedictorian themselves.”

She was good. But then, he wouldn’t have brought her in here if he hadn’t already believed they were on similar wavelengths. “And when do you think the hammer will fall?”

“Hard to say, but I’m going to guess soon. Otherwise why would you talk to me now?”

Hunt smiled. “In fact, I think it will be today. Or perhaps tomorrow. Certainly this week, a week which was already shortened due to Thanksgiving Monday. People’s guards are down, and acting shortly before a weekend will prevent immediate retaliation.”

Melanie sat back in her chair. “Whereas the longer they wait, the greater the risk that a rival gains the coup first,” she mused. “All right. So what can I do to help?”

“Be a sounding board as I run through the likely suspects. Let me know if you’ve seen anything going on that I might have missed.”

The music teacher nodded. She then reached out to tap the folder belonging to Tommy Kvish. “I can tell you right away that he’s trouble. Corry always kept him honest, but the falling out over Sue getting into that band? It’s had Tommy pushing at the envelope for months, with students and faculty alike. I could see things getting physical with him.”

Hunt nodded. “What do you think has been holding him back?”

Melanie shrugged. “Educated guess, he’s not sure how much support he’ll be able to pull from within Corry’s ranks. I think he has more than he realizes.” She eyed the other folders. “I don’t know Joseph.”

Dell Hunt picked the folder up. “Never a problem until that flyer about Julie appeared last November. Since then, he’s been trying to amass support towards drumming Julie and/or Corry out of school. Most of his initial support was from Julie’s supporters in the school, likely people who were blackmailed in the same way he claims he was. His attempts stalled early on, but he’s recently gained more support from junior students in his clubs this term.” He set the folder back down. “Corry, I think we both have a handle on.”

Melanie nodded. She seemed to want to say something else, so Hunt gestured at her. “Please, speak your mind.”

“I can’t help but wonder - why did you allow the Corry and Julie feud to go on for as long as it did? I mean, if the flyer Corry engineered was true, and over the years Julie was scheming she got to the point of blackmail…" Her voice trailed off.

Hunt sighed. “I didn’t know the LaMille girl had sunk to that. I did know it was in my best interests to give those two certain latitude in their shenanigans. Consider, they were never violent, and they rarely disrupted daily school business. What’s more, as neither of them were smokers or drug users, they rarely tolerated such behaviour from the people who wanted to associate with them. In fact, the more the student body became polarized towards them, the more rule breaking incidents actually went DOWN.”

“Hm,” Melanie Willis mused. “Never thought about it that way.”

“That said, I may have erred in my analysis back then. Julie LaMille did suffer for it. I cannot afford to do make that mistake this time.” Dell looked down at Julie’s folder.

At least she was in counselling now. He could still remember how she had looked in this very office, nearly a year ago, practically begging him to sign the school over to her. All because of some internal struggle Julie had been having with her parents. Could he have anticipated that? Should the family domestic being the only point of contact have been a red flag to him?

“Do you think Julie’s still a threat then?” Melanie asked, breaking into his thoughts. “I mean, the other three make sense to me now, but why also have her folder out?”

Hunt looked back up. “It’s more due to people who might act on her behalf. As Susan Simmons did. For instance, there’s Philip Clarke, perhaps even Carrie Waterson who would advocate for her.” He separated out the folders. “Thus we have four factions… and at least one of them will act against Corry, or each other. Likely today. But who will act first, and what will they do?”

“What about Megan Falls?”

The principal kept his face neutral. “Who?”

“Megan Falls. Not a senior, a year behind them. But lots of the younger students who were once backing Julie have gravitated her way. As well as the new freshmen this year. After all, Megan is rather pretty, and personable. But she’s also devious, in that she’s good at deflecting attention and playing innocent. In fact…" Melanie paused.

“Go on,” Hunt insisted.

The music teacher sighed. “Far be it from me to spread rumours. But there has been some talk that Megan is the one who initially encouraged Sue to remove Corry from the social hierarchy. Claiming to Sue that it would be in Julie’s best interests.”

Dell Hunt raised an eyebrow. “Oh my.”

“Exactly. So our school doesn’t have four factions. By including Megan, it has five.”

Hunt steepled his fingers. “Very well then. I’ll open a new file on Megan. Meaning five groups of teenagers, all vying for final control. What do you think that I, a mere principal, can do to stabilize such a situation?”

She had to tap Corry on the shoulder a second time before he turned towards her. “Yes?” he sighed.

“We need to talk. Now. Before class starts,” Julie stated.

“I think not.” Corry looked back down at his homework.

Julie clenched her jaw. “Corry, we really have to speak. Away from everybody else in here. Right NOW,” she insisted.

His look this time was visibly irritated. “Julie, I don’t think–”

“Dammit Corry I saved your life at the last dance so you will listen to me now!” the brunette hissed. “We… need… to… talk!”

Corry froze, and for a moment Julie wondered if she hadn’t pushed him too far. But then he rose and headed back for the busy hallway, motioning to her over his shoulder. She hurried after him, glancing at the clock as she passed - still three minutes before the final bell. Once outside of the room Julie opened her mouth to speak, but this time Corry beat her to it.

“Don’t you ever, EVER speak to me like that again!” he said in cold fury. “Because in case you forgot, I spent four days in the past, trudging around Illinois for you. And I’ve been keeping a lot of nasty people off your case ever since you returned to school! Anything you’ve done for me since doesn’t even come CLOSE to settling the score!!”

With effort, Julie bit back the first response that came to her mind. Along with the second, and the third. “I’m sorry,” she yielded. “But PLEASE listen. Joe Drew is coming after you today, and according to a reliable source, he’s going to do it by implicating me too. We have to stop him.”

Corry snorted. “Please. Joe Drew, the business and chess club guy? He’s a dreamer, and the axe he grinds is rarely levelled anywhere specific. What ‘reliable sources’ are you yammering about?”

“Kim Carpenter.”

This time Corry outright laughed. “Kim? The chess nerd with the huge glasses?”

“Yes. She used to be a follower of mine,” Julie continued doggedly. “Apparently she’s since hooked up with Joe. But she had some qualms about what he was planning to do today, thus talked to me after I arrived at school.”

“Oh dearie me. What, is Joe going to make it look like you helped me cheat on a test or something?” Corry said.

Julie wasn’t sure if that was a jab at what she’d done to his sister Laurie or not. She decided it didn’t matter. “I don’t know exactly!” she admitted. “Kim was upset enough to speak to me, but she wouldn’t go into detail. I mean, monitoring threats is supposed to be your department. It’s not like I have the power to do that any more!”

“As it should be,” Corry countered. “Especially given these rampant attacks of paranoia you’re having! I’m going back into class now. Please don’t bother me again today.”

Julie clenched her fists as Corry turned his back on her. “Your overconfidence will be your downfall!” she called after him. Corry paused briefly, yet did not bother to turn as he passed back through the classroom doors.

“Jerk,” Julie whispered after him. The anger she felt towards Corry was quickly burning itself out though - because despite his current attitude, he had been right. He’d done SO much for her the past few months. More than she could have ever imagined from the guy a year ago.

So, the onus was on her now. To return the favour. To get Corry out of trouble. She couldn’t do that alone though, not if she’d correctly read Kim’s state of mind. So, who could she turn to for help?

If you missed Sunday’s Commentary, yes, we’ve gone Semi-Weekly.

“Time & Tied” PARTS 55-56

1. Original Date Of Completion: DECEMBER 28, 2002
2. What I Was Doing: Teachers’ College in Kingston
3. Changes of note: -Valentine’s day dance became generic formal dance -Chartreuse falling for Carrie scene has seen adjustments

“Time & Tied” PARTS 57-58

1. Original Date Of Completion: JULY 24, 2003
2. What I Was Doing: Teachers’ College (Kingston) then Ottawa
3. Changes of note: -Azure and Faye now in high school too, not middle school, causing name adjustments -Actually having cell phones, plus a reason not to use them -Lost in the snow became lost in the mud

[caption id=“attachment_1147” align=“aligncenter” width=“189”] LUCILLE PRIMROSE
Commission from Linda Ng[/caption]

BIGGER CHANGES

Also, in theory, it’ll double the view count. Because the negativity is setting back in. Three days after Part 57 went up, it had 5 “ReTweets”, 1 FaceBook share… and 3 actual views. (It now has 7.) More, the only comment on either of my fiction sites in the past 3+ weeks has been “Get off the internet”. How eloquent. Sun August 20th is the last time the site achieved over 30 views & 10+ visitors in one day.

One tries to focus on the positives. Late July’s “Silent Statistics” garnered the most comments ever, ChrysKelly wrote a 4-Star Review at WebFictionGuide on August 12 (yay), Scott Delahunt gave me a shoutout in this post last week, and I got a new subscriber last week too. But having dedicated the majority of August to new T&T writing and edits, I need motivational feedback somehow. Is this change a good idea? Bad idea? Let me know; I’ve got the next 6-week arc cued up this way. That said, there were “Bigger Changes” needed to old 2002 rewrites in the prior published parts too.

Last commentary (#18), I said shifting the storyline from February/March to September/October had necessitated only “minor tweaks”. There was more to adjust now! Some things likely work better, like Corry’s band performance occurring after more than a couple months, and some things perhaps less so, like how Corry’s been able to prevent an act like Sue’s for over half a year. (I did offer a reason.) The dance also couldn’t have a post-Valentine theme, that would be silly, so I took advantage to play around with the theme choice in the writing.

Slightly bigger scale was Azure and Faye now being in Grade 9, instead of Grade 8. While I could have simply widened the age gap between them and their siblings (Chartreuse and Lee) from 3 years to 4, I disliked modifying those character designs without good reason. The fix of Faye leaving school at the bell didn’t feel too out of line, and there was an even younger sister (Soh) to use for confusion purposes.

MOBILE HOLIDAYS

In the original writing, a few parts back, I’d ALSO mashed together Carrie feeling better on Saturday (end arc 3.1) with meeting Julie on Sunday (start arc 3.2). Which wasn’t feasible now that Carrie had an extra time trip to take (to Part 48) in there. Consider September: It’s initial week, then one leading up to Carrie and Glen going out, NOW one leading up to meeting with Julie and the lab, then the last (4th) full week leading up to the dance. The Sept/Oct weekend immediately after would be too soon for the King Affair (Part 57), but could I fit in another weekend before the extended one of Thanksgiving?

In 2016, the Friday dance would be Sep 30th, and no, no I couldn’t. Ditto 2017 (Sep 29th), and looking back at 2015 it’s worse, the “late September dance” would be Oct 2nd. It works for earlier years, 2014 (Sep 26th) and 2013 (Sep 27th) giving a full weekend in September before one more in October prior to the holiday, but that’s because Labour Day was early and Thanksgiving was late.

I decided the best plan was to have the group travelling back to Lee on the Saturday of Thanksgiving, which fit the model of 2016 (this year), and could be written off other years as an extra time skip of a week. Making the alignment different from the 2002 original (when this would have happened the weekend BEFORE March Break, not during).

I guess what I’m saying is, mobile holidays like Thanksgiving and Easter are a pain. But if I did my job right in the story itself, you wouldn’t have had to think about any of that.

OLD TEXT FILE

I do not know exactly what I meant by that last one. My suspicion is that originally, stuff wasn’t going to happen at the middle school itself. I probably shifted things there because otherwise the episode would have run long. Also, the original title in the file for Episode 27 was “Lost and Found”. I prefer the updated “Help Wanted” (from that July), and then of course my late addition “See Kings” (this year). See below for more about the King family name.

What’s particularly curious is I don’t know why I exported things out of WordPerfect 5.1 to that text file at all. It’s the only time I have anything like this. It would have been right around when I was getting my Bachelor of Education degree from Queen’s University (May 29th 2003). Maybe I was moving? I’d done that before, so why nothing before or since? Had I wanted to show it to someone?

I do remember showing part of T&T (then “Time Trippers”) to someone, but I feel it had been a month or so earlier. I had participated in a voluntary creative writing group “Writing From Our Hearts” at the Faculty of Education. (I have a certificate signed by Rebecca Luce-Kapler and Sheila Pinchin, everything warranted certificates back then.) I even remember we had special paper we used to write on. At the end of the group, I showed the instructor a printout of some of my “Time Pilot” (the bit with Luci that now begins Book 2). After looking over a page, she recommended I describe less, and show/demonstrate more.

Had that been my text file motivation? Yet I showed the Pilot only? It’s weird, the things we remember, and the things we forget. Remember to leave a comment if you agree (or don’t?).

SPOILER SECTION

Let’s again start by hitting character. The last month has been devoted more to the people outside of the core time travel group - Lee and Glen, with Tim and Laurie to a lesser extent. They’re all linked to Corry’s band! How convenient!

We should touch on Chartreuse first though - her budding romantic interest in Carrie WAS in the original 2002 version, but it came a bit more out of nowhere, then vanished and returned sporadically, whereas I’ve tried to have a bit more throughput here in terms of her reactions to Carrie post-dance. Hopefully it’s working. I’ve also retroactively added some “Spoiler Warnings” into Epsilon Project’s “Wish Fulfilment” index, which does touch on the destination after Book 4. Even if you HAVE read that, this journey may not be what you expect. (When I first started the “Wish” story, I hadn’t intended to put T&T online at all - oops on foresight.)

Exploring Lee’s family again was fun. Faye’s attitude towards their single mother was referenced back in Part 39, and now we meet Lee’s sister in person. I am curious as to whether you picked up on her line to Azure about their parents “sharing a bizarre sense of humour when it comes to naming their children”. Chartreuse Vermilion and Azure Vermilion are rather obvious. So did you notice…? At the risk of explaining the joke, here’s the only time you’ll see me link Lee’s family name onto their given names: Lee King. Faye King. Sing King. Soh King.

Tim and Laurie were seen more in passing, as reminders they exist, they’ll have larger roles later on. If you’re wondering about the additional focus on Joe and Tommy, part of it was red herrings against Corry, but we will see them again too. As to Glen Oaks, you won’t have to wait very much longer to find out what his deal is. Feel free to keep theorizing in the comments. It’s (unsurprisingly) tied in with plot. Ah, plot.

Slow plot is slow! They have started time travelling again. Carrie’s powers continue to trouble her. She’s progressing on having some mental shields, and being able to project herself along the timeline, astrally or otherwise, but not for great distances, and she tends to need anchors to grab onto. So what’s the deal with her random precognition, and what time did she end up slipping to with that vision at the dance?

We’ve also got Linquist’s cipher, his hidden lab, unrest within Corry’s ranks at school, Lee owing the group a favour, and various stages of romantic relations between main characters. The pieces are coming into alignment. Before the end of this month, the pin WILL be pulled, and all hell will break loose.

To conclude, some random anime references: “Fly Me To The Moon”, played by Corry’s band to start Part 55, was a reference (via Laurie) to the original “Evangelion” ending theme. (Chartreuse had made a similar “Laurie likes anime” reference earlier this book, with her “Card Captor Sakura” mixup.) The joke that followed it, with the “theme song”, would have been funnier with a cut to an actual Season Two theme song (very possibly from the anime visual novel “Shuffle”, if you saw commentary #18). And the art teacher’s name in Part 57, “Readman” comes from “Yomiko Readman”, the substitute teacher in the anime OAV “Read Or Die” from 2001.

Remember you can VOTE for T&T at “Top Web Fiction” on a weekly basis. I actually had 7 votes back at the start of August, and made it onto the main page (#42 of 45). These days, we’re lucky to get about 3. Maybe we can relive those days.

Parts 55/56 were originally “Tune Up”, thus “Tone Down” continued the musical play on words. Parts 57/58 were originally “Help Wanted”, so “See Kings” is a play on words for “seekings” given the charm search, as well as the King family name. I suppose you could also interpret it as “Sea Kings”, the old helicopters of the Royal Canadian Navy, but I’m not sure how you’d link the 30-year-long attempt to replace those into this narrative.

Coming This TUESDAY: Julie resumes asserting herself at school.

3.11: SEE KINGS

“We’re practicing for a play,” Carrie said, quickly repeating her earlier explanation in the face of Glen’s bemused expression.

The redhead raised an eyebrow at her. “Pretty fast rehearsal, given how you and Frank were in the cafeteria with Luci not five minutes ago. Besides Carrie, aren’t you the only other one here taking drama? And wasn’t Chartreuse absent this morning?”

“Yes, she’s quite ill,” Carrie agreed, swiftly changing tactics. “Yet apparently she still wanted to come in to try out this extra credit play for English class. We saw her in the room unconscious, so we’re leaving now to bring her to the nurse’s office.”

“I see,” Glen said. “Well, don’t let me hold you up then. Though moving through the hallway after the bell is liable to, well, be a major headache. Might I suggest you pop through the back door access to the stage? Where there’s less congestion?"

Carrie exchanged a quick glance with her time traveling classmates. “Makes sense,” Frank admitted grudgingly. He moved to grab the time machine, which he had fortunately decided to conceal under a blanket. He made sure Glen didn’t spot it.

“What major headache are you referring to there?” Julie demanded.

Glen shrugged. “Lots of people shouting and moving about as they get to class?”

Carrie saw Julie peer closer at the redhead, but his expression remained neutral. As Clarke had already retrieved Chartreuse and was heading for the back door access, along with Frank and the blanket, Julie fell into step behind them.

“Right then, thanks Glen!” Carrie called out as she brought up the rear. “And we’re still on for, ah, this Friday, right?”

“I don’t get it,” Frank said. “We’ve been sitting in this pizza parlour for almost an hour now, yet you haven’t sensed us being here as causing any sort of temporal change. Not even when other customers came in. Why in the school hallway, but not here?”

“Yeah, I’ve been wondering about that myself,” Carrie admitted as she toyed with her pop can. The two of them had taken up positions on the stools by the window of the establishment. It was only a block away from the middle school they’d once attended. A very light rain was falling; they both knew it wouldn’t last.

“I think it has to do with the fact that we’re now playing a very passive role in our own history,” she decided. “Not crossing our paths as we did at school, or planning to blow up buildings that we know still exist in our present, or anything like that. Of course, if my father chances to stop by here, that could all change. So don’t let your guard down.”

“I won’t,” Frank retorted. “Though I will remind you that it was your idea to be out in public this way.”

Carrie gestured vaguely. “I was thirsty. Besides, we’d likely attract more unwanted attention by hiding out in the bushes - in here, we blend in.” She took a sip of her drink. “We can head out when the rain stops. Supposedly Soh’s necklace was lost after school.”

“Thing is, had me and Clarke proposed coming in here to buy something, you would have shot down that plan,” Frank pointed out.

Carrie glared. “You making any kind of point there?”

“Merely that we should probably get a better idea of what sets off your headaches, and what doesn’t.”

With effort, Carrie quashed the snarky response that came to her head. Because he had a point, damn it. “Yeah, but no,” she said, looking back out the window. “We will not be playing guess and check with my head. Me staying sane, it’s kind of in all our best interests.”

“I didn’t mean provoking a headache. Not really,” he clarified. “Thing is, not every trip into the past has resulted in changes to time. Remember Luci’s trip last year, going back to when she started high school? That fulfilled a destiny instead. So is it equally possible that we were always destined to come back to this pizza place and order something?”

She reflected on that. “It’s possible,” Carrie granted. “It’s also possible that we weren’t always destined to do it, but that once we arrived in the past, and once I’d dealt with the initial headache… that’s when this event became inevitable. There’s really no way to know. All I can say for sure is that the me in this time frame never experienced a problem.”

“Which is it’s own issue,” Frank continued. “Since you carried on a conversation with Glen that you hadn’t been previously aware of. Why didn’t HE give either of you a headache?”

Carrie’s grip tightened on her soda can. “Glen was one person. Unlike the four students in the hall.”

“But he’s closer to you than those freshmen were.”

“Not really.”

“No? You even said you were going out with him again on Friday.”

She smacked the can on the counter, then turned back to face him. “Fine, yeah, on Friday we DID see each other. It’s when Glen told me about Lee’s focus problem. What, is the issue of me dating Glen the real point you’re making here?!”

Frank raised his palms up. “Whoa, what? No. Defensive much?”

“No! Yes. Shut up,” Carrie said, warring with her emotions. He’d touched a nerve there, and they both knew it.

Frank hesitated at her gaze, but pressed on. “Listen Carrie, people from the future are after you. And after a month, Glen is still living all alone in a hotel. We’ve seen no sign of his parents, we know so little about his past, and sometimes he makes those cryptic remarks, like about the headache. It seems at least plausible that he’s trying to–”

“Frank, if Glen were from the future, acting to change our present around us, I’d feel it,” Carrie fired back, pointing at her temples.

“Would you?”

Her hand fell back to her side. Her gaze drifted back towards the window. “I… I want to believe I would. But fine. You could be right. Maybe I have the blinders on because I want to experience a normal relationship. But worrying that I can potentially wipe us all out of existence, it takes a toll, okay?” She took in a deep breath. “Glen makes me happy. And I think I’m allowed to feel that way! Or was I absent the day you and Luci bought the monopoly on touchy feely goodness?”

From the corner of her eye, she saw Frank flinch. Then he turned away too. “No, you really weren’t,” he said. “Seeing as she’s spent more time in the past two weeks with that book of Linquist’s than she has with me. I’ve tried what I can to break through, which works for a time, but she always ends up back in her room, trying to break that infernal code. I think maybe I was too inattentive towards her over the summer. We’ve been drifting apart, and now I’m not sure what to do.”

“Oh. Uh, that’s… too bad.” Great, now she felt bad for bringing up relationships at all. Carrie downed the rest of her pop, to avoid having to speak. Outside, the rain stopped falling.

“Headaches aside,” she said at last. “Corry has the right idea. If Glen has a secret, I won’t learn it by distancing myself. Besides, if it’s my destiny to make my own past life miserable, so be it.” Before Frank could say anything back, Carrie jumped off her stool. “Come on then, let’s find a good place to scout out the school grounds before their classes get out.”

Clarke looked up as Julie entered the secret room beneath the LaMille mansion. “Anything happening upstairs?” he inquired.

“Random dusting. Neither Jeeves nor Mimi will notice the smelling salts are missing.” The brunette knelt down next to Clarke and the unconscious pink-haired girl on the floor. “Any change with her?”

“Nope,” the tall blonde admitted. “So let’s hope this will wake her up.” Taking the vial from Julie, he opened it and began to wave it back and forth in front of Chartreuse’s face. “Still nothing,” he murmured after a moment. “Baffling! She really doesn’t seem hurt. There’s nothing stronger than this around your place, is there Jewels?”

Clarke turned to look back at Julie, only to find that her attention had been diverted. “Jewels!” he repeated, clearing his throat purposefully for good measure.

The brunette slowly turned away from the black box on the floor. The one Frank had handed over to them when they’d parted ways. “I… I wasn’t going to do anything to it,” she said quietly. “I don’t even know how to program it yet, not really.”

“That’s good,” Clarke remarked. “Since that sort of betrayal would likely cut you off from the few friends you have left.”

Julie frowned. “You say friends, yet I got the sense that Carrie wouldn’t have left that thing with us today if you hadn’t been here to keep an eye on it.”

Clarke reached out to touch Julie’s shoulder. “Can you really blame her?” he responded softly.

Julie clenched her hands into fists for a moment. “No,” she granted. “I meant what I said to everyone though. I want to start helping, to try and get past my first memories of time travel.”

“And I’m sure the others will see that. You’re on this trip already, right?”

Julie nodded - even as her gaze drifted back towards the time machine. “Still… to think that we have the means right there to affect our own pasts… it’s incredible, isn’t it Phil? I mean, it would be so easy to just drop back a week or two… to stop Sue from acting the way she did at the dance…”

“Jewels!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t,” Julie said quickly. “Really I wouldn’t, not without consulting with Carrie. But I can’t help thinking it, can I? That’s the way my mind works! Devious as ever, right?” She finally turned her back on the machine, firing off a weak smile. “At least now, I’m trying to use my powers for good?”

Clarke frowned, about make a reply when there came a groan from the floor. Both teenagers turned quickly to regard their pink haired companion. She had apparently come to her senses enough to bring a hand to her forehead and begin mumbling to herself. Being the closer of the two, Clarke leaned in to try and hear what she was saying.

“What? What is it?” Julie inquired after a moment.

Clarke looked up at her in confusion. “Something about Carrie tracking ‘like, the wrong sister’.”

Faye grabbed her things and hurried out of the high school as fast as she could. It was partly to ensure that she wouldn’t have to talk to anyone, seeing as she’d only screw up any conversation she was in. But also because today, she was supposed to see that her younger sisters got home safely. A task which had been a lot easier last year, when their schools were closer together.

She HAD pointed this out to their mother. For all the good it did – mom never listened to her. Faye considered dragging her feet to prove the point, but she cared too much about her siblings. Plus Lee had offered to do it in her stead, and her brother had enough on his plate already. She had said she would do it, so she would do it right.

Faye headed for the middle school to get Sing first. After all, Soh would have better adult supervision until she got there, not to mention more awareness of her surroundings. “If Sing’s reading in the library again instead of waiting outside, I’m gonna smack her upside the head,” Faye muttered.

However, as she approached, Faye saw her sister waiting in the proper place. Still reading, mind. Then to her chagrin, she saw a boy come out of the school and grab Sing’s book away from her. Faye broke into a run.

“G-Gary? Give that back!” Sing cried out in protest.

“Nyah, make me,” Gary taunted. Sing made a grab for her book, but he held it just out of her reach and laughed. “Poor Singsong, can’t read no more now! Whatcha gonna do?”

Sing glared, then bent her knees slightly and jumped, managing to grab hold of her book with both hands. She yanked it back down towards herself.

Caught off guard, Gary wasn’t able to pull the volume away from Sing again until she had almost managed to clasp it to her chest. As a result, his subsequent jerk refused to dislodge the tome, and instead completely pulled her off balance. The two of them stumbled back, falling into the dirt, which was wet from the recent rain. They began to roll around, wrestling for control of Sing’s precious book. A teacher standing in the area hurried to break things up; Faye got there first.

“All right dumbass, what the hell are you doing to my sister?!” Faye shouted, grabbing Gary by the scruff of his jacket and yanking him up.

The grade schooler’s eyes opened wide at the sight of Faye’s angry gaze. “N-N-Nothin',” he stammered. “J-J-Jes playin'.” He realized belatedly that he was still holding Sing’s book, and he quickly tossed it back into the lap of the long haired girl, who was now lying in the mud. Sing didn’t even notice at first; she was trying to wipe off her glasses.

Faye’s eyes narrowed. “If I hear my sister complaining about you again, the only game you’ll be playing will be find the missing teeth, capiche?”

Gary nodded wordlessly, beating a hasty retreat as soon as Faye released her hold on him. The older sibling then turned to look at her sister. “You okay, Sing?”

“I think so. I… ohhh, my book’s all dirty now!” Sing said sadly, holding it up by one corner.

Faye rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you’re fine. And I got that detective story you wanted from Azure today, you can read that instead.” She reached down to help her sister back to her feet.

“Ooh, really? The one Lee couldn’t find in the library??”

“The same. Now come on, let’s report this incident to Mr. Inactivity over there.” With Sing on her feet, Faye motioned at the teacher who had stopped his approach in favour of eyeing the situation warily.

“Walkie-talkies, we should equip ourselves with walkie-talkies,” Julie muttered. She peered out her bedroom window - it was nearing the time when Carrie and Frank were due to return. “It worked in ‘Back to the Future’, and that way we won’t have this whole don’t-call-me-we’ll-call-you mess with cell phone duplicates on the communication grid.”

Chartreuse had finally come completely to her senses about fifteen minutes ago. Yet by the time she’d explained to Julie and Clarke about how she’d been experiencing a vision of Lee comforting a brunette called ‘Sing’ not a blonde called ‘Soh’, it had really been too late to do anything about Carrie’s mistake. On the bright side, Chartreuse had been able to provide them with the reason she’d been knocked out for so long.

“It was, like, my brain couldn’t quite cope with the time strain,” Chartreuse had explained. “It’s normally attuned to the future, so when our past became this future instead, my mind had to, you know, completely reorient myself. It was real weird! I was kind of aware of you guys, but couldn’t physically do anything. But hey, at least I’ve been able to, like, independently verify Glen’s story about Lee’s inattentiveness?”

Julie wondered whether Carrie would want to time jump again, to earlier in the day, to track the proper King sister. Part of her hoped that would be the case, yet Julie wasn’t sure if that desire was due to humanitarian reasons, merely to make another time jump, or if there was some thirst for information gathering reasserting itself.

A hand waved up at her from the sidewalk. Julie recognized it as belonging to Carrie and waved back. She then crept back downstairs and to the back door, quietly letting both Carrie and Frank into the mansion. “Jeeves is still reading in the sitting room,” she whispered. “And Mimi left. We can use the pantry access rather than the bathroom chute.”

The others nodded, and Julie led them back through the kitchen, towards the third access point for Linquist’s hidden laboratory. She’d discovered it while exploring the opposite end of the darkened passage, the direction that didn’t lead to the china cabinet.

Kneeling down on the floor of the pantry, Julie reached around behind the cans of tuna to press the knothole that opened the piece of wall paneling. It swung out, and the three teenagers crawled down into the corridor, following the sloped passage down until they reached the secret room where Clarke and Chartreuse were waiting for them.

“So?” Clarke asked, standing up as they entered.

“So, success,” Frank said, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a small necklace with a couple of charms dangling off of it.

“Wait, what?” Julie asked.

“But, that’s, like, totally impossible!” Chartreuse gasped. “I mean, I was sure that from what I half heard you say in the school, you’d be following the wrong person!”

“Wrong person, right school,” Carrie affirmed. “Hey, glad to see that you’re up and about again!”

Chartreuse smiled sadly. “Yeah, but I doubt I’ll be able to time travel with you any more. It seems to mess with my head.”

“Oh?” Carrie frowned. “That’s a problem. Unless I can interrupt your present self while I’m out of my time - which, no, is it’s own problem. Why, how long until you regained consciousness?”

“Less than an hour ago,” Clarke offered. “And even then only with smelling salts.” Carrie’s frown became a grimace.

“But seriously, how did you two manage to get the necklace if it wasn’t Soh’s?" Julie demanded, looking to Frank.

“Lucky break,” he answered, placing the piece of jewellery onto the lab table. “Even though we were looking for a blonde at the school, our attention was drawn to a fight – broken up by Faye. It clicked for me that she was Lee’s oldest sister, and we put the pieces together that she had been defending another sibling. It then occurred to Carrie that the fight could have caused the brunette girl’s necklace to fall apart.”

“So me and Frank did a quick search, and managed to turn it up in the mud before it could get buried or cut down by a lawnmower or anything,” Carrie concluded. She pointed at the object. “Looks like the catch is loose and it simply slipped off. Bad luck and poor workmanship more than anything deliberate.”

“Well, good! I’m glad we could do something for Lee,” Clarke said. “We should return it to him and his family as soon as we’re back in the present - does anyone have his address?”

Everyone exchanged glances. Then shrugs. “This is embarrassing for me,” Julie admitted. “Former Information Queen of the school, and yet I don’t know the address of someone on student council.”

“Wait, Lee’s on the council?!” Frank asked.

Julie nodded. “Yeah. Heading the committees who do publicity stuff for assemblies and dances. They also put up the posters to keep people recycling. Not a high profile job, but he prefers it that way. We can phone him though, I’ve got his number.”

“The more I think about it, the more I’m realizing how much Lee distances himself from people, even while staying in plain sight,” Clarke observed. “He has nicknames for everybody, doesn’t he?”

“Truth,” Julie affirmed, folding her arms across her chest. “Maybe we should reach out to him? Pull him into our group? He was immune to future guy’s mental control, after all. Could be useful.”

“No!” Everyone turned to look at Carrie. She swallowed. “That is, he obviously has other things to worry about, like his family and Corry’s band. And we don’t him to think we’re using him, on account of that mental thing. For now, let’s keep our group the size it is, okay?” She attempted a smile, before picking up the necklace and pocketing it.

Julie saw Chartreuse reach out to touch Carrie, then think better of it, and simply lean in instead. “Carrie, it’s not like Lee’s gonna hate you for what happened last year, you know,” the pink haired girl murmured. “I mean, you told me about it, and I don’t hate you. In fact, I… I think maybe I REALLY don’t hate you? If you know what I mean?”

Carrie barely looked at the other girl. “Not now Chartreuse, please.”

Chartreuse shrank back. “Right.” And Julie found her gaze flicking back and forth between Chartreuse and Carrie, spotting the signs of an issue there. An issue of… no. She had to be misinterpreting that.

“Carrie, want to help me reset this thing for the trip back?” Frank offered, having popped open the time machine. The blonde nodded, crouching down next to him.

Chartreuse turned to face Julie instead, and managing to sound as chipper as ever, remarked, “Well, go figure on how something as simple as a necklace can, you know, affect an entire family’s emotional well being so drastically, huh?”

Julie smiled back wryly. “Yeah. But know what? You’d be surprised what the simple tearing of a piece of paper can do to a family under the right circumstances.”

“Let’s not think about such things,” Clarke said quickly. “After all, it’s not like anyone in our group is facing that sort of tenuous situation right now. Okay?”

Their trip back to the present was uneventful, although once again, Chartreuse ended up unconscious for a couple of hours afterwards. Yet there was one event that the time travellers never became aware of.

Ten minutes before their arrival, the young asian girl down in the basement of the LaMille mansion had realized her coding plans were coming up empty. Prompting the teenager to let out a scream of frustration, hurl the red book she was holding into a corner of the room, and collapse onto the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.

• The site is now 2 years old! And starting next week, posts will be half as long and twice as frequent. See the Commentary this Sunday for the reasoning.
• That was the end of ARC 2 in Book 3. Unrelated, I got another 2016 nickel today. Coin total is now 8.
• Consider the usual Vote for T&T; four votes usually keeps us on the bottom of the TWF Fantasy Page, and I still get the occasional referral from there.

3.10: HELP WANTED

“Lee, I’m talking to you.”

Lee jerked his gaze over towards Ms. Readman. “And I heard every word,” he assured her. “Unfortunately, my brain interpreted it as Spanish. Could you run it by me again?” A student sitting nearby let out a quiet laugh.

“Perspective drawing, Lee,” the art teacher said patiently, moving closer and indicating his empty page. “Are you having trouble understanding the assignment?”

“No, no, not at all,” Lee replied quickly. “Just spaced out for a moment, some things on my mind. I’ll get right to this.”

“Thank you, Lee, that would be appreciated,” Ms. Readman said wryly.  “Though do let me know if you’re having problems with your perspective?”

Lee nodded and watched his teacher continue her walk around the room. Letting out an almost inaudible sigh, he retrieved his ruler and began to mark down the requisite lines. A short distance away, Glen Oaks observed his classmate, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Like, ohmigod!” Chartreuse breathed. “This is, you know, so totally cool! And Jeeves doesn’t even know about this place??”

“Obviously not,” Carrie said.

“Chartreuse, could you keep moving? We’re stuck in the passage,” Frank remarked.

“I’m still trying to tidy up and catalog the last of the stuff left in here," Julie remarked. “But I haven’t been able to open that safe.”

“Maybe we should blast the thing open,” Luci suggested. She dropped her bag onto the lab table and then attempted to boost herself up as well, succeeding with a hand from Frank. “After all,” she continued, “it could contain information about this infernal code Linquist’s set up.”

Frank watched as Luci pulled out the scientist’s red logbook, along with her laptop and a number of notes she’d been accumulating. “I really wish you hadn’t brought that,” he admitted. “You’re becoming more than obsessed. Even your cat is starting to give you weird looks.”

“It’s all right, I know I’m close to a breakthrough now,” Luci assured him. “I’ve coded up a program to run an entire substitution cipher on what seem to be the key passages. In fact, by the time you return from your time trip, I bet I’ll have it all worked out.”

“That could be in as little as five minutes,” Frank objected.

“Or as much as an hour if we don’t get going soon,” Carrie countered. “Now, shall we go back over the plan?” She looked around the room expectantly.

“Seemed pretty clear to me,” Julie spoke up. “We go back into last week, watch for where Lee’s younger sister lost her necklace, and retrieve it for her. Thereby fixing up the King family situation in time for Thanksgiving dinner tonight, which will help restore Lee’s focus in class next week.”

“Oh, and I know Lee will appreciate it!” Chartreuse chimed in, clasping her hands together. “After all, if we don’t fix it soon, I think he’ll be spacing out for WEEKS, right through until American Thanksgiving!”

“How did you figure out that his sister’s necklace was the problem anyway, Carrie?” Clarke wondered.

“Glen told me,” the blonde admitted. “Apparently he overheard Lee telling Tim about it after one of Corry’s band rehearsals.”

Frank crossed his arms. “Yeah, hey, anyone else suspicious about how fast Corry let Glen take over as Sue’s replacement there?” he wondered.

Julie shook her head. “Not really. Corry’s been looking for an angle on the guy for a while,” she reminded. “By keeping Glen close, he can start to observe that much better.”

“Back to the plan, please,” Carrie objected. “I’m already concerned about multiple people time tripping with me, so I’d appreciate our heading out before I lose my nerve.”

“Carrie, it isn’t too late to change your mind,” Frank offered. “You could try doing one of your – what do you call them? – mental time searches into the past instead.”

Carrie waved him off. “No, I really can’t. Even setting aside the fact that I haven’t had time to get comfortable with that aspect of my power, I’ve never met Lee’s younger sisters. So I wouldn’t know how to centre on them in the first place.”

“Even so, you don’t have to actually participate in the trip. You could leave it up to the rest of us,” Clarke offered.

Again Carrie shook her head. “If we’re dedicated to the trip, I’m coming along. That way, if anything goes wrong, any headaches will hopefully centre first on the me who is out of time synch.”

“It’s all right Carrie, I’ll, you know, be there to monitor your condition,” Chartreuse assured her. She reached out towards Carrie’s hand, second guessed her own intentions, then entwined the fingers of both hands together instead.

“Meanwhile, I’ll stay cooped up here at the mansion with you both, coordinating things and keeping Jeeves from seeing us,” Julie said, a mite wistfully.

“As I assist Frank with the locket search,” Clarke agreed.

“Meanwhile, I keep the home fires burning in the present,” Luci muttered quietly as she started scrawling a new set of notes. “Are you going or not?"

“Yes," Frank said. He bent down next to the time machine - which Carrie had placed on the floor - in order to complete final adjustments.  “Someone suggest to me the best time of day for arrival?”

“Lunch. Say noon," Carrie stated. “Since while it’s true that Chartreuse was sick last Tuesday, which should displace us away from the school, Julie had also left the school grounds to eat that day. And I’d prefer having that extra insurance.” She looked around. “Remember, once we appear somewhere south of the school, we make for the ravine. Don’t talk to anyone!"

“Right.” Frank finished up, then closed the lid of the machine. “Is everyone ready?”

“We don’t all have to grab that thing’s handle, do we?” Chartreuse asked, stopping herself before leaning in next to Carrie. “It’ll be, like, awkward. Can’t I hold someone else’s hand instead?”

“Chartreuse, we’ve always made sure everyone traveling was in contact with the handle,” Frank countered. “Even when we had bicycles and all our gear coming back from Illinois last November. After all, you may not get transported otherwise.”

“May not? Meaning I might. You’ve never, you know, tried it?”

“Why screw up a perfectly good system?”

“Because some day you may need to transport, like, twenty people or something?” Chartreuse hypothesized. “I mean, we’re already up to five.  Six if Luci needs to come along some day.”

There was a pause. “Chartreuse has a point,” Clarke admitted. “The previous maximum was four, and it WAS kinda awkward with the bikes and everything.”

“But in the end, all the inanimate items got transported, right?” Julie mused. Clarke nodded in reply.

“Physical items, such as the clothes on our backs, may be treated differently from actual organic matter,” Frank protested.

“Well, I offer to be your guinea pig then,” Chartreuse decided. “I mean, the worst that can happen is I won’t be, you know, transported, right?”

“Unless you get lost somewhere in history,” Luci said idly, continuing her work atop the lab table.

Another glance was exchanged between the students sitting on the floor. “Look, this is ridiculous,” Frank decided. “We’ll test next time. Maybe with a small animal, or insects or something. For now, everyone make sure to hold onto the handle. Right Carrie?” He turned to look at the blonde, who had been silent ever since her initial objection.

“No,” Carrie replied. Then she looked up, and blinked as she realized everyone was staring at her. “Sorry, I mean no, I don’t think that Chartreuse would be lost in time," she clarified. “Don’t ask me why I think that but I do. Though as to her ‘piggybacking’ on one of us… that, I don’t know. And she’s right, it would be helpful to know if that’s possible.”

Frank pressed a hand to his forehead. “Yes, but not NOW, correct?”

Carrie pursed her lips. “Perhaps not,” she conceded.

“But what if, on our return trip, I end up being chased by a horde of guys?” Chartreuse objected. “And I end up trapped in a dead end in front of a wooden barrier, and the only way for me to get away is to, like, reach through a knothole and grab Carr– touch one of you as you pull this handle??” Everyone turned to stare at her.

“I don’t think that’s likely,” Julie observed.

“It’s not impossible,” Chartreuse retorted defiantly.

Frank sighed. “Fine Chartreuse, if Carrie thinks it’s safe enough, and it will make you happy, you don’t have to touch the handle. But don’t complain if you get left behind!”

“Check,” Chartreuse said, giving Frank a thumbs up. Everyone reached out for the handle of the time machine, Chartreuse grasping Carrie by the shoulder instead. Frank dropped in a coin for their current year.

“We pull on three,” Frank said. “All right? One…. two…. three!”

Despite the fact that it had been almost a year since he had last used the device, the feeling of being sucked into a void still felt familiar to Frank. In the wink of an eye, the basement lab was gone, replaced by a new scene… that of a hallway in the high school. “Damn!” Frank cursed, as he shook off the aftereffects of the time displacement. “How did we end up here?!”

“Someone screwed up the geometry?” Carrie replied. As the only other seasoned time traveler of the five, she was the only other person still conscious - Julie, Clarke and Chartreuse lay on the floor, out cold.

“Impossible!” Frank countered. “According to everything we know, the device should have brought us to a point an equal distance away from the positions of our past selves! And as two of us were a fair distance from the school, there’s no way–”

“There is, if it–” Carrie began, before freezing and raising a hand to her temples, wincing in pain. “Oh no,” she muttered. “Oh no, no, not good…”

“Temporal change?” Frank questioned.

“What do you think?” Carrie snapped.

“Quick,” Frank said. “Let’s get everyone into that classroom!” They had apparently lucked out in terms of their arrival - the art wing didn’t see much traffic during lunch. But it wasn’t always deserted, the four students who turned the nearby corner testifying to that.

“We’re practicing for a play,” Carrie called out to them as the freshmen arrivals exchanged a confused glance. “Death of three salesmen.” The head cheerleader quickly dragged Chartreuse back into the drama room, Frank doing the same with Clarke, and both of them returning for Julie and the time machine respectively.

“Hey, Faye! I have that book you wanted!” came the voice of Azure Vermilion. Faye turned from where she was leaning back against the tree by the football field.

“And you bring it to me now, when I’m nowhere near my locker?”

“Oh. I wasn’t really thinking about that,” Azure admitted. “Should I bring it back later?”

“No, I’ll take it,” Faye sighed. “Lunch is close to being over, and once I have it, my sister will get off my back.”

“Okay. Hey, which of your younger sisters wanted this again?” Azure continued as she handed over the book.

Faye stared. “Sing,” she said, accepting the tome. “Soh’s barely in grade school, you really think she’s old enough to get into a detective story like this?”

“I guess not,” Azure admitted. She grinned. “Not that I’ve met either of them in person, Lee’s your only sibling I’ve seen. Heck, I’m not even sure where you all live, considering how you didn’t want me to bring the book around directly, but maybe some time later this month we could–”

“Are you trying to indulge me in conversation for a reason?” Faye snapped.

“Um, not really,” the blue haired girl admitted. “I only thought–”

“Don’t think so much,” Faye interrupted again. “I admit, I feel a bit of a bond between the two of us, because our parents share a bizarre sense of humour when it comes to naming their children. So hanging with you is more tolerable than it would be with any other Grade Nine student. But right now, I want to be alone. Understand?”

Azure opened her mouth to respond, but seeing the look on Faye’s face, apparently decided instead to nod and head back towards the school instead. It wasn’t until Azure was out of sight that the tall girl let out a sigh, and smacked the book soundly against her forehead a couple of times. ‘Way to make friends and influence people, genius,’ she reflected.

“It’s because Chartreuse wasn’t touching the handle!” Frank asserted. “We never should have let her experiment!”

Frank, Carrie, Julie and Clarke now stood staring down at the prone form of the pink haired girl, who was laid out on the floor of the otherwise empty drama classroom. Unlike Clarke and Julie, who had regained consciousness fairly rapidly, their resident mystic was still out cold.

Julie raised her hand. “I don’t think Chartreuse is still unconscious because of that.”

“Oh? Why not?” Carrie asked. Frank noticed that her mood had improved slightly. Getting away from the other students had seemingly eliminated her headache.

“Because I wasn’t touching that handle for the trip either,” Julie admitted. “When everyone else was pulling at once, I hesitated, and lost my grip. But I’d been holding Phil’s other hand. And I’m here, and I’m awake.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Frank protested, throwing his hands up in the air. “Is it because Chartreuse was sick on this day in the… wait a moment. Julie, neither you nor her were touching the handle?”

“Seems so,” Phil affirmed.

Frank leaned back against the teacher’s desk. “Huh. That could at least explain why we’re at the school. If neither girl was in direct contact with the time machine, perhaps they weren’t factored into the device’s spatial algorithm? We’d need to do more testing to be sure, but…”

“But maybe you have to be physically touching the handle in order to be used in the geographic triangulation!” Carrie finished. She smiled. “If it’s true, it will certainly solve a lot of mathematical mapping headaches! We’ll simply have to figure out where ONE person was, and then get everyone else to latch onto them.”

“Still doesn’t explain Chartreuse’s condition though,” Clarke reminded them.

“Well, she doesn’t have a fever,” Carrie observed, having bent down to feel the forehead of the other girl. “And she’s breathing fine, she’s just… out.”

“Change of plan then,” Frank decided. “We obviously can’t leave Chartreuse in the school, in case she’s discovered. But Clarke, you may be the only one strong enough to carry her. Can you and Julie get her back to the mansion, while me and Carrie get a bead on Lee’s sister instead?”

“I can do a piggyback,” Clarke agreed. “And Julie can get us in without tipping off Jeeves. But what about the two of you?”

“Yeah, I’m not thrilled with the idea of strolling the streets of the past with you, Frank,” Carrie said. “No offence, but if I end up doubled over in temporal pain, you’ll be less useful to me than Chartreuse.”

“Then I could go it alone," Frank allowed. “But didn’t we figure it was better NOT to have anyone by themselves?”

Carrie sighed. She slapped lightly at Chartreuse’s cheeks. There was no reaction. “Fine, fine, okay. Clarke, give me that burner phone that you were going to use to communicate with us. I’ll go with Frank instead.”

Clarke fished in his pocket and handed it over. “Should we phone you if Chartreuse’s condition improves?”

Carrie grimaced. “No. We stick to the original plan of minimal communication. These phones are essentially double versions of themselves in this past timeline, even if the originals ARE stowed away in the lab and turned off. That worries me. Emergencies only.”

“Right,” Clarke agreed.

“New problem,” Julie observed. “Chartreuse is the one who was going to elaborate on what Lee’s sister looked like. Given how it was her own sister Azure who knew Faye, and thus the rest of Lee’s family.”

Their eyes drifted back to the unconscious girl. “Well, damn. Uh, I don’t suppose you’d have any information, Julie?” Frank said hopefully. “Rumour was, last year you had a file folder for everyone in the school.”

Julie shook her head. “Honestly? I never paid close attention to Lee, since he never ended up being a direct factor in any of my plans. Nor did I ever feel a need to blackmail him. He has more than one younger sister, of that I’m sure, but beyond that…” She shrugged.

“Lee does tend to keep to himself,” Clarke agreed. “Sometimes I’ve wondered why.”

“Well, his sister was ‘Soh’, right?” Carrie asked. “How many blonde girls who go to the middle school down the road would answer to a name like that?”

Frank winced. “Setting aside how walking up and asking young girls for their names could be misinterpreted,” he countered, “Don’t you think Lee would have spoken to our past selves already if he heard we were poking around? Which didn’t originally happen in our timeline. This was meant to be spy and retrieve, not some sort of inquisition.”

“Well, what DO you suggest?” Carrie said in exasperation.

“And was Lee’s sister with the necklace even named Soh?” Julie protested. “I thought Chartreuse had said something about Soh being in grade school, not middle school.”

“Grade school? The sister who lost the necklace was definitely in middle school,” Carrie countered.

“Looks like our plan has fallen apart,” Clarke decided. “Maybe we should simply abort, return to the present, and try this again, going to some other time.”

Frank made a face. “But that’s a waste of two coins!”

“Plus I’m not sure we want to leave now, pulling Chartreuse through time again until we learn what’s wrong with her,” Carrie said. She ran her fingers back through her hair. “Damn it! Okay, look. Me and Frank can still stake out the middle school. If we spot Soh, awesome, if not… we’ll re-evaluate at that point. We did build in a time buffer here. Chartreuse has around three hours to come to her senses. Still, don’t call us, we’ll call you.”

“That works,” Frank agreed. “Right now, it’s only…” His eyes widened, and he pointed over at the clock on the wall. “Oh no, look at the time, it’s–"

The school bell rang, signifying the end of lunch. And almost immediately, the door to the drama room opened and Glen Oaks walked into the room.

“Hey, Singsong, whatcha doin'?”

Lee’s second youngest sister jumped at the sound of the voice, accidentally tugging on a strand of her own hair. “Ow! Oh, um, not much, Gary,” Sing said, untangling her fingers from her long brown hair while simultaneously trying to hide the book she held in her other hand.

Her grade six classmate smirked at her. “Readin' again, huh?  Didn’t hear the bell go?”

“Oh n-no, of course I heard it,” Sing lied. When HAD all these people started entering the school? She cast a glance towards the clock in the hallway.

Gary snorted. “Yeah, right,” he said, continuing past her down the hall. “Bet a bookworm like you don’t care about nothing ‘cept your books.”

Sing watched him go, the hand that had been twirling her hair now reaching up to finger the charm dangling off of her necklace. The one she’d received from her father for her birthday. “You’re wrong there,” the member of the King family murmured quietly. “You’re so wrong.”

The brunette girl put her book away and followed Gary towards their classroom, squeezing the charm between her fingers. Not knowing that before the day was done, she would be devastated by it’s loss.

Yes, time travel resumes in a time travel serial! Shocked? … No? … I know you’re out there, I can hear you breathing. Well okay, I can’t, but I might notice your click if you were to Vote for T&T on TWF.

3.09: TONE DOWN

“Carrie! Carrie!!”

She began to turn at the sound of her name, yet was not fast enough to avoid being blindsided by the fast moving splash of colour that was Chartreuse.

“Carrie!” the pink haired girl repeated desperately, grabbing onto Carrie’s arm to keep her from falling over. “Thank goodness I spotted you! Listen, Corry doesn’t, like, believe me when I say someone’s out to kill him. We’ve got to use your powers so we can, you know, stop this terrible thing from happening.”

Carrie coughed. “Ahem. My what? What are you saying, Chartreuse?” she asked, inclining her head towards the person standing next to her.

Chartreuse turned to look at Carrie’s red-headed companion. “Oh, hi Glen. Uhmmmm, I need to use Carrie’s powers of persuasion. Mind if I borrow your date for a little while?”

“Chartreuuuuuuse…”

Glen laughed. “It’s okay Carrie, I don’t mind. I could use a dance break, and was planning on watching Corry’s performance anyway. You go tend to the serious matters your friend is referring to.”

“I’m sure they’re not that serious,” Carrie protested. It didn’t matter - Chartreuse had already muttered a quick thanks and was pushing her towards the hallway.

Sighing, Carrie allowed herself to be led into the nearest unlocked classroom before confronting the pink haired girl.

“REALLY, Chartreuse?” Carrie said irritably. “What is so important that you felt it necessary to pull me away from the first truly enjoyable date I’ve had in months?”

“It’s like I said. I sensed something when I was with Laurie earlier, but it didn’t, like, hit me until I touched Corry’s hand,” Chartreuse explained in a rush. “It was one of my, you know, wham bang powerful impressions that told me he’d be dead before the night was out. And I bet it’s somehow related to the musical sets he’s gonna do!”

She leaned in. “But I can’t see more than that without meditating, and I never know how long it’ll take to pick up something, whereas Corry’s starting in less than five minutes. So since you’re so much more powerful than me, you could look ahead–”

“Whoa, STOP,” Carrie interrupted. “Dial that back. I’m at a dance here. With Glen. This is NOT temporal session time. And even if it WERE, we’d started to work on mental shielding, not running up and down my timeline. Think about it, I still have no idea whether something from the future will become fixed as soon as I see it. What if I see something horrible, and then we can’t change it?”

“But we have to do something,” Chartreuse insisted. “Please, Carrie, can’t you at least help me work out the cause? Or get a list of suspects? Or a time frame? Something?? I swear, I’m not overdramatizing here. Well, okay, so Corry may not DIE, but I know Laurie’s brother will get badly hurt - unless we do something.”

Carrie groaned and pressed a couple fingers to her forehead. She contemplated Chartreuse’s request, the pleading look on her friend’s face, and in particular, how the two of them would feel should something disastrous actually happen to Corry now.

“Okay. Okay! I’ll try a few tiny image jumps forward,” Carrie yielded. “But you leave me and Glen alone for the rest of the night after this, understood?”

“Of course. Unless your help is needed again,” Chartreuse said brightly. Carrie opened her mouth to protest, but then decided it probably wouldn’t do any good. She simply sighed as she sat, cross legged on the floor of the classroom, and closed her eyes.

‘Thank goodness,’ Chartreuse thought, going down on her knees in front of the seated blonde. ‘We can fix this, I know we can! Still, I gotta take it easy on her…’

“All right, Carrie,” Chartreuse began, grasping the blonde by the hands. “I realize we’re not at my place with the crystals, but try to relax and–”

“I’m there,” Carrie murmured, eyes closed. “In the time stream.”

Chartreuse resisted the urge to flinch. ‘Damn, that was fast. I can see why it worries her.' “Er, okay,” she continued. “See if you can centre in on Corry? Visualize that he’s standing there in front of you.”

Carrie nodded. “It’s not difficult, I’ve mentioned former time travellers are always a bit out of synch. He’s… yes, I’ve got it. He’s out in the cafeteria. They’re making preparations for their first number.”

“Do you sense any danger?”

“I don’t think so?” Carrie muttered. “The crowd is chattering, talking about his chances. I don’t know if I want to wade into it, my astral self has ended up back by the coat check. Oh, wait, Joe Drew is scowling at me! No, wait, it’s through me - towards the stage. Towards Corry.”

“Don’t forget, spirit body. Totally insubstantial, no one can see or do anything to you.”

“I know, I know. It troubles me, that’s all. Do you think I ended up back here because Joe’s planned something?”

“Maybe. Or maybe it was a subconscious attempt to avoid the crowd.” Chartreuse tightened her grip slightly. She had rather hoped to be able to sense something through Carrie, but so far, there was nothing.

Was that because there was nothing to sense? Or because it didn’t work that way? How else could they interface? Her gaze started to wander, and she pulled it back to Carrie’s face.

“Okay, Corry’s announcing the first song. Now what?”

Chartreuse sighed. They needed more. “Are you up to trying a skip into the future? To establish a time frame? Please be honest. My prior attitude aside, I don’t want to push you beyond what you can, you know, handle.”

Carrie bit down on her lower lip. “I don’t know,” she admitted after a moment’s thought. “After all, I don’t want to physically time travel. Only project. But maybe if I simply imagine that I’m stretching forwards, moving faster than the water currents?”

Julie allowed Clarke to lead her towards the cafeteria. “No deafening, pulsating beat,” the tall boy said to her, as he tugged at his necktie. “My guess is we’ve arrived just in time for Corry’s bit.”

“Um,” was all Julie could think to reply. After numerous wardrobe changes, she had finally selected a low key shirt and sweater ensemble with a long skirt. As they entered the cafeteria, only a couple of people picked up on her presence; Corry’s imminent performance was helping to divert attention.

‘Interesting,’ Julie mused. ‘A year ago, this sort of neglect would have infuriated me. Now I’m simply relieved.’

As the quartet of students started to play up by the stage, Clarke guided her back against the wall. “They’re quite good,” he reflected. “Tim’s looking a little out of sorts though. I hope Corry’s been treating him decently.”

“Clarke!” came a hushed cry. Both Clarke and Julie turned as the younger Veniti twin ran up, dressed like a red candle. “Clarke, we need your help! Chartreuse thinks Corry’s life is in danger!”

Clarke blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“Chartreuse got this feeling that Corry was going to die or get hurt,” Laurie explained. “And she thought Carrie could help and so went to find her but now they’ve both disappeared and so you’re tall maybe you can see them since I’m not sure what’s going to happen any more and I’m so worried for my brother and by the way that’s a lovely tie you’re wearing and golly it’s such a pity that I’m not seeing it under better circumstances…”

The redhead was obviously distressed, Julie realized. She normally did a better job of controlling her run-on sentences these days, particularly in front of Clarke. The guy she’d once liked. Or still liked? Julie didn’t like to reflect on that too much.

“Whoa, okay Laurie, calm down,” Clarke was saying. “You’re saying you need to find Chartreuse and Carrie?” Laurie nodded wordlessly, eyes wide and full of concern. Clarke turned his attention to Julie. “Jewels, will you be okay here for a couple minutes while I try to track down Laurie’s companions?”

Julie nodded. “It’s fine, Phil, no one’s paying attention to me. And if someone tries to start something, I’ll simply go back outside.”

Clarke looked at her for another moment before returning her nod.  “Okay. Now, Laurie, given Chartreuse’s preference for coloured outfits, I’m pretty sure I could spot her if she were in here,” he said. “Maybe she went to the washroom, or out for a breath of air? What was she wearing?”

Julie watched the two of them depart the cafeteria, then shrank back against the wall.

“Breathe, Carrie, breathe!” Chartreuse shouted desperately. “You’re not really drowning! Focus back in on Corry! Focus!!”

Carrie sucked in a great, heaving breath, her fingernails digging into Chartreuse’s palms. The pink haired girl ignored the pain, all of her attention on the blonde cheerleader who was now twitching in front of her.

“Okay Carrie, never mind Corry,” Chartreuse decided. “Come back to me, all right? Focus on me. On the present.” The fear that she was losing her friend was starting to tug at her heart.

Carrie didn’t reply, the twitching ceasing as her eyes snapped wide open. At least those eyes were blue, Chartreuse noted, and not golden. But they were focussed on nothing.

“Okay, bad idea, I’m sorry for pushing you into it,” the mystic continued, trying to suppress her rising panic. “I wasn’t, like, thinking straight. We can simply look into the usual suspects here, yeah? So come on, come back to me now, PLEASE Carrie…!”

“Char… treuse…?”

Chartreuse felt the tightness in her chest release. “Carrie! Carrie, are you all right?”

“Am… fine,” Carrie murmured. “It’s… whoa, headrush.”

Carrie’s grip relaxed enough to allow Chartreuse to pull one of her hands away. She waved it in front of Carrie’s eyes. There was no reaction. “Carrie, what’s going on? Where are you?”

“Am… in future,” Carrie murmured. “Astral me. About ten… no, five minutes. Had to resist the pull to bring all of me. Th-Thank you for anchoring me in the present, Chartreuse.”

“No prob - are you SURE you’re okay?” Chartreuse knew her own heartbeat was still racing.

“Well, I’m… reorienting.” Carrie’s vacant eyes drifted closed once more. “Okay, Corry’s still performing. New song. I’m closer to him this time, near the front. Tommy is elbowing his way up here through the crowd, he’s… he’s going to throw something! But… it’s a tomato. That’s not life threatening… maybe there’s… something else. Oh, Joe!”

Carrie’s head whipped to the side. “Yes, Joe has left the coat check and he’s heading towards Corry! Or, no… it’s towards Julie. She’s edging away from him, so they’re both headed towards Corry. Damn!” Carrie mouth twitched. “Too many people. Too many, I don’t know so many of them, I’m not in the present, everything’s a jumble…”

“Stay calm,” Chartreuse soothed. Should they abort? “You’re only there for Corry. What’s, like, happening to him?”

“Corry,” Carrie murmured. “He’s singing. He’s… wait, Tim’s jumping up. He’s shoved his keyboard at Corry! Ow, audio feedback… something sparked… the crowd is reacting… Corry’s on the floor? Someone’s on top of him, everyone’s staring… now Glen is up here too.” Carrie shivered. “It’s like that time I saw him in the cafe, he’s staring at me. Are we sure I’m– OH!!!”

“What?” Chartreuse asked, gripping both of Carrie’s hands again as the blonde cried out.

“Where the hell am I? Who’s this girl in red?!” Carrie choked out. “Chartreuse, I’m… I’m in the wrong time again!!”

“Okay, Carrie, come back, time to come back,” Chartreuse declared. “Session over, we know enough, you have to return to the present!”

“Such piercing hazel eyes… she’s raising her hand… she’s…”

“Carrie, ohmigod, don’t let the forces take you. CARRIE!”

“I’m out!” Carrie screamed, flinching backwards.

However, as Chartreuse was still grasping onto the blonde’s hands, the sudden movement served only to jerk her off balance. With a little yelp of astonishment, she fell forwards into Carrie, both girls collapsing back onto the floor of the classroom. Chartreuse faceplanting into the blonde cheerleader’s body.

And Chartreuse found that her first instinct wasn’t to roll away. Rather, it was to grab harder for Carrie, to press her ear against Carrie’s front, to better hear her friend’s heartbeat. Still there. So fast. Mirroring her own, beating away, racing, because of this shared experience. Between the two girls with powers.

She had only felt this sort of close connection with someone once before.

Last time, the feeling had been instantaneous. This time, it had crept up on her. Because the blonde did look so pretty, in that dress with it’s plunging neckline. More to the point, Carrie wasn’t as shallow as Tope had been, the cheerleader did care about people. In fact, even after learning about Chartreuse being bisexual, Carrie had kept it quiet, and hadn’t called off any of their sessions.

Both of their hearts were racing now. Almost in synch. So maybe it was time to accept what that meant, it was time to take their relationship to the next level…

“Unhh,” Carrie groaned.

Chartreuse knew she couldn’t have pushed herself up and away any faster, not even if she’d been lying on a bed of hot coals.

“C-Carrie?” she choked out. What the hell was she thinking? She’d almost nuzzled in against Carrie’s neck. Carrie was her friend. That was it. Only her very close friend…

“Chartreuse?”

“C-Carrie?” Chartreuse repeated. She swallowed, trying to bury the flood of emotions welling up inside. “Ah, so, are you, like, you know, okay?”

“I’ll manage,” Carrie said. Her chest was heaving - don’t look there, idiot! - as she sat back up. Thankfully, as their eyes met again, Carrie didn’t seem to notice Chartreuse’s discomfort.

“I just saw…” Carrie looped some hair around her finger and tugged. “I don’t know what I saw. Either way, I’ve had enough of this for tonight, okay?”

Chartreuse nodded vigorously. “Yes, um, we’ve certainly discovered enough here.”

“Hello? Someone in here?” came a new voice.

The two girls on the floor turned as the classroom door opened and Clarke poked his head inside. “Ah! I thought I heard voices. Laurie thought she’d lost you.” Clarke turned to look back into the hallway. “They’re in here.”

There was the sound of running feet, and then the freckled girl poked her head in next to Clarke. “Chartreuse, thank goodness,” Laurie said, not trying to disguise her relief. “Are you two okay? What happened? Have you figured out what’s wrong with my brother?”

“With your bro… right!” Chartreuse jumped to her feet. “It’s Tim. Tim’s going to snap and throw his keyboard at the guy, that starts a chain reaction in their equipment. We’ve got to get in there, fast!”

“Tim?” Clarke said, shocked. “What are you talking about?”

“No time, hurry,” Chartreuse said, charging past the two of them and out into the hall. As much to get away from Carrie’s perfume as to get back to the cafeteria.

Julie took another step closer to the student quartet. Since they really were quite good, and she wanted to hear them better – okay, no. She knew the primary reason for her approach was to distance herself from Joe Drew. He’d been giving her irritated looks ever since Clarke had moved off with Laurie. Hoping to ignore the scrutiny, Julie soon found that more difficult once Joe left the vicinity of the coat check in order to move closer to her position. Causing her to move further away.

So why was she moving towards the band? Why not outside? Heck, why react at all? Was it because Corry Veniti was one of the few people (aside from Clarke) who bothered to stand up for her on those occasions when she was being mistreated? If so, Julie knew this was a poor decision - Corry was busy right now. Besides, Joe wasn’t much of a threat on his own.

She made the decision to stand her ground. It was at that moment that Julie happened to glance beyond Corry - catching sight of the look in Sue’s eye.

And Julie knew Sue from when they had been allies. She knew that look, knew it meant trouble. Her suspicions were confirmed a moment later, during a drum solo, when Sue used the opportunity to let go of her guitar and reach for something back in the shadows, next to the stage.

Tim apparently noticed her action as well, and when he saw what she was grabbing, he stood up, reaching out towards her. But his leg buckled, sending him crashing into his own keyboard, palms first. The keyboard stand gave out, pitching forwards, sending the equipment towards Corry.

That’s when Chartreuse charged through Julie’s field of vision, reaching out in vain for the toppling instrument. Feedback erupted from the nearby speakers as it hit the floor at Corry’s feet. Then Clarke was there, catching Tim, and everyone’s attention was on what was happening with them - so it seemed like no one but Julie saw what Sue was about to do.

“Watch out!” Julie shouted, sprinting forwards. She threw herself at Corry, catching him around the waist, using her momentum to jerk him off his feet. The microphone Corry had been holding in his hands jarred loose and fell to the floor. An exposed wire created a small spark in the fresh pool of water. Water that had been thrown by Sue, who had not been able to check her swing. A few more sparks were seen, but Lee quickly reached his foot out to kick the power bar near the drums, killing all the electronics.

Julie breathed a sigh of relief. The brunette then discovered that, somehow, she had managed to land largely on top of Corry. One arm was caught underneath him, the other encircling his waist, and her sweater was pressed up tightly against his silk shirt. She quickly pulled back with an apology on her lips, but her voice got caught in her throat when she saw the bemused look on the redhead’s face.

“Julie… what the hell?” he questioned.

“Noooo!” came a cry of frustration from above them. Freeing her arm, Julie rolled away from Corry, looking up to see the brown haired guitarist. Sue was now being restrained by both Lee and Clarke. Carrie and Chartreuse had replaced Clarke at Tim’s side. Glen was there too.

“No, no, don’t you see?” Sue wailed. “I attacked him for you, Julie! Corry’s never been as good as you were. He never should have beaten you out the way he did! So I pretended to go along with him until I had this chance, this opportunity to shake him up a bit, to let him feel once again the wrath of Julie LaMille! So… so why did you save him, Julie? Aren’t you proud of me?!”

Julie blinked up at her former ally. “I… am going to be sick,” she realized, lurching to her feet and clapping a hand against her mouth. With a burning sensation at the back of her throat, she dashed for the nearest exit.

By departing, Julie didn’t hear the increasing chatter of the student body. Or how it was soon dispelled by the sound of an irate chemistry teacher, clearing his throat at the DJ’s independent electronics setup. “This dance,” Larry Fisk stated authoritatively, “is…”

“Going to continue shortly with more great songs from DJ Tuneup,” Mrs. Willis, the music teacher interrupted, grabbing the mike away from her colleague. “So please calm down and return to enjoying yourselves! I’m sure we all agree that it would be a shame to see this event come to an early end.”

Frank let out a low whistle. “I can’t believe it. Sue, out to get Corry. Who could have guessed?”

He and Luci had pulled back from the crowd of teenagers, to stand by the wall. With the DJ back in control, the dance was gradually getting back up to full swing. Carrie and Clarke had run out of the room after Julie, Chartreuse had gone over to talk with Laurie, and all the members of Corry’s band had been taken to the office to talk with Principal Hunt.

“I could have worked it out,” Luci decided, looking towards the stage. “If my mind hadn’t been wandering so much this week. After all, Sue’s looked distracted lately. Possible family troubles. And she lost her grandmother back around the same time as she ‘lost’ Julie… so it could be a case of displaced emotion? Not to excuse her actions, but that might be why she went a bit nuts.”

“Your whole school’s a bit nuts,” Glen remarked, approaching the both of them. “From what I’ve heard, some people are siding with Sue and her assault on your friend!”

“For real?” Frank raised his eyebrow. “I guess Corry doesn’t have the same support in his ranks that he once did.”

“On the bright side though,” Glen continued, “If Sue is out, there will be a vacancy in my fellow redhead’s band. So I can offer up my own guitar playing skills instead.”

Frank’s eyebrow twitched. “Uh, Glen? That’s not exactly a bright side.”

“No?” Glen shrugged. “It’s just, I’d hate to see Corry’s band dissolve on account of this. Wouldn’t you?”

“Hey, Carrie!” Luci shouted, waving. Frank turned, seeing that Carrie had entered the cafeteria again. Luci lowered her voice again once the blonde girl had paced over to join them. “How’s Julie faring?”

“She’ll be all right,” Carrie sighed. “Her stomach’s settled anyway. Clarke’s gone with her to the office, to give a statement to Mr. Hunt along with the band, though I think that’s mostly a formality. It’s pretty clear that she had no direct involvement in tonight’s activities.”

Carrie linked arms with Glen, leaning some of her weight onto him. “Still,” she admitted. “Now I feel guilty for insisting to Julie that she come. It’s not like she’ll have had a very good time.”

“It is a good thing she was here though,” Frank pointed out. “Or Corry could have been hurt.”

“That’s right,” Glen agreed. “Of course, one must still take care when using one’s powers of… persuasion. I imagine the results can be misleading, until the user has sufficient experience.”

Carrie turned to look into Glen’s face, and Frank wasn’t sure if it was her expression, or something in Glen’s tone that he found troubling. The redhead simply looked back at his date with a quiet smile. “Oh, whatever,” Carrie said aloud. “Come on, Glen. Let’s dance again?”

“I would be honoured,” he replied.

Frank and Luci exchanged a quick glance themselves as the new transfer student took the head cheerleader out for a spin around the dance floor. Meanwhile, a short distance away, Chartreuse turned away from Laurie, watching the pair herself while biting down on her lower lip.

(So, how much of that did you anticipate? If any? I suppose you’d at least anticipate another click request to vote for T&T at ‘Top Web Fiction’…)

3.08: TUNE UP

The band hit the final chord as Corry finished singing. He turned to smile at them. “Great work, guys. Thanks for agreeing to the extra practice. We’ll knock ‘em dead tomorrow night.”

Tim smiled back from where he sat behind the keyboard. Lee hit the cymbals and gave Corry a thumbs up. Sue adjusted the strap of her bass guitar.

“What was the significance of that song anyway?” Sue inquired. “Flying to the moon, it’s a little sappier than our normal fare."

“Request from my sister,” Corry shrugged. “Reminds her of some animated TV show she likes. Actually, maybe we should wrap up today with something different?”

“Which one?" Lee inquired, spinning a drumstick in his hand.

“That one which is also a popular theme song," Corry said. “Remember? It goes like this…”

Glen smiled as Carrie’s father opened the door. “Hello, Mr. Waterson. I’m here to pick up Carrie.”

Hank Waterson stepped aside. “She’s still getting ready, but do come in. I’ve been hoping to get the chance to meet you.”

“I figured.” Glen entered the house, knotting his tie a little tighter. Inwardly, he cursed whatever human had invented the things, and wondered who had made this school dance a semi-formal affair. At least a nice shirt sufficed, no need for him to have a jacket. “I hope to make a favourable impression,” the redhead continued. “As my intentions are completely honourable, and I’ll try to have your daughter home by whatever time you specify."

“I’m glad to hear it.” Carrie’s father closed the front door again. “I gathered as much from her, but there were a few things that she was unable to tell me. For instance, you seem to have no family in town. What is the story with your parents?”

“Oh, they’ve now purchased a house over in that new development to the north,” Glen replied, gesturing vaguely. “But mom’s still wrapping up with business out east, and as such they’ve arranged to have me stay at the Clayton Hotel for a few more weeks.”

Hank Waterson’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re staying at the hotel?”

“Ah, yes.” Glen supposed that Carrie hadn’t mentioned that detail. Made sense, in retrospect. “It’s not a big deal, really. The room has a small fridge and hotplate, and the maid service tidies daily. My parents wanted me to be here for the full semester, you see, and this was the best way to do that.”

“I see,” Mr. Waterson said slowly. “And what business is it that your parents are involved in?”

“My mother is a scientist - that’s what’s keeping her out of town, at the lab - while my father is a pilot, so he’s all over the place,” Glen said easily. “I’m hoping to go into the field of sciences myself someday. It certainly seems profitable enough.”

Mr. Waterson seemed to size him up. “Yet Carrie tells me you’re a long distance runner.”

“Yeah, well, I run, I act, I skate, I paint… everyone needs hobbies,” Glen said. Time to spin a question back, perhaps. “A person should be well rounded, don’t you think?”

Before Hank Waterson could answer, Carrie’s voice came from upstairs. “Is that Glen down there? Don’t you dare give him the third degree, Dad! Tell him I’ll be down in another few seconds!"

Glen half smiled. “You heard her - so, any final rules I should know about, before your daughter comes charging down and admonishes you for giving them to me?"

Hank eyed Glen again, then shook his head. “Nothing that isn’t common sense,” he decided. “And you seem to be the sort of boy who knows what I mean by that. In fact, I’ll level with you, a part of me is glad to see Carrie making new friends like this. She’s seemed a bit more withdrawn from her peers ever since she was hospitalized last year.”

“Ah, when she was shot?” Glen said. “I heard about that. Nasty business.”

“It was,” Mr. Waterson affirmed. He then leaned in closer to Glen’s face to speak more quietly. “An incident which has helped me to realize that, should you or anyone else lay an inappropriate finger on my daughter’s body, I will be forced into drastic action. Understood?”

“Naturally,” Glen affirmed, maintaining his composure. “Indeed, I would have been disappointed not to hear such concern from her only surviving parent.”

A frown tugged at Hank Waterson’s features, but before he could say anything more, Carrie appeared at the top of the stairs. “Glen! Glad to see you.” She lifted the skirt of her long purple dress slightly in order to avoid tripping during her descent. “I trust my father hasn’t been bothering you?”

“Oh, no, not at all,” Glen said, turning to face her. “And may I say, you look radiant in that outfit.”

“Why thank you,” Carrie said, pinkening mildly in the cheeks.

Her father cleared his throat. “Carrie, remember our deal. You’re home by eleven thirty.”

The blonde rolled her eyes. “Yes, Dad.” She grabbed her jacket out of the closet. “Come on, Glen, we don’t want to arrive at the dance TOO fashionably late.”

Glen nodded in reply and the two teenagers left the house, Carrie’s father watching them from the front door until they reached the sidewalk. Glen glanced back as the front door closed. “So, you made a deal with your Dad?”

“Yeah, he’s letting me wear the dress with the plunging neckline on condition that I come home right after the dance ends at eleven,” Carrie admitted. “Probably realized that I was going to wear this thing no matter what, and tricked me into that compromise.”

“Ah. Clever man. Something that runs in the family, I see.”

“Ha! He wasn’t so devious back before my brush with death. I swear, last year, he didn’t care at all! It’s only been during the last several months that he’s taken an interest.”

“Must be a real pain then, huh?”

Carrie pursed her lips. “No,” she murmured. “It’s nice. We need to be home on time.” She reached out to take Glen’s arm. “But never mind about my Dad, let’s get to this dance! I want to make sure Julie has someone to talk to when she turns up.”

“Uh oh.” Chartreuse looked down. “It’s, like, that bad, huh?”

“Oh, I didn’t say anything!” Laurie protested.

“That’s the thing, normally you have so much to say,” Chartreuse pointed out. She fanned out her skirt, staring down at the multiple splashes of colour that adorned it. “I, you know, thought it would compliment the sparkly sequins I added to my blouse. No such luck?”

“It… kinda works? It must be the lighting in the room. Don’t worry Chartreuse, I’m sure lots of people will ask you to dance!” Laurie Veniti adjusted the big, puffy shoulders of her own long, red dress. “Now me, I probably shouldn’t have gone with this choice of colour which is so similar to my hair because I probably look exactly like a tomato or a big red candle or something and the dress is too formal anyway plus so many people here are already in couples so I doubt I’ll be asked to dance by anyone!” She sighed.

“Laurie, stay calm. You look fine,” Chartreuse countered. “Anyway, worst comes to worst, we can always dance with each other.” Which didn’t mean she fancied her friend in that way, but Laurie was probably the only girl she could dance with and not spark gossip.

Chartreuse looked out across the dance floor. The music had started under half an hour ago, yet there were only a few people out there. Semi-formal dances seemed to be less popular these days - student council should have picked her suggestion of a Hawaiian theme. “So, when is your brother’s band going to be, you know, performing?”

Laurie’s brow furrowed in thought. “Golly, it’ll be at least another half hour, because I remember Corry saying something about Lee not being able to make it until after eight. But I know they’re doing two sets, whenever the DJ wants a break!”

Chartreuse’s gaze settled on where Corry and his group had set up their equipment, near the stage. It looked like Sue was double checking the electronics. Which is when Chartreuse realized she was getting a vibe. Why was she getting a vibe? “Remind me how the four of them, like, hooked up? It was second semester of last year, right?”

“Yeah. Partly on account of me,” Laurie agreed. “See, Corry had practically given up on the band idea after the mess with Julie. But last March I pushed for him to give it another go, particularly after Clarke talked to me, saying that Tim was trying to come out of his shell, and that he was a pianist. Knowing how hard it can be to put yourself out there, I had my brother hear Tim play, then Corry finally held guitarist auditions. Sue had the best one. And Lee got personally invited in, after Corry heard him drumming after school at around the same time.”

“Sweet. Nice that they’ve come such a long way in, like, a relatively short amount of time.”

“Corry really wanted to do this performance too,” Laurie continued. “In fact, he’s pushed for more and more rehearsals since school resumed… to the point where it kinda worries me that the other members resent him for that.” She followed Chartreuse’s gaze over to the band setup, then back again. “You’ve got that look. Why?”

“A feeling.” Chartreuse shook her head. No point causing her friend to worry. “Probably nothing. Yeah, it’s nothing Laurie, never mind. Come on, let’s head closer to the door. I think the guy there is, you know, trying to get your attention!”

It wasn’t a standard code, since rearranging the words - if you called them words - hadn’t helped. Luci hadn’t had any success reading the first letter of every word either. Or with ROT13. But perhaps if she… the young girl’s thoughts were interrupted by a pinch in her side. “Yipe! Hey, what was that for?”

“Well, I only asked you twice if I could take your jacket for you,” Frank pointed out with a grin.

“Oh. Sorry.” Luci felt her cheeks warm as she shrugged it off. “Guess I got lost in thought.” She looked down at her outfit. “Gods, I hate that this is a semi-formal affair! I don’t have any clothes like that, and even though Carrie offered to help me shop, I didn’t want to do that either.”

“Luci, don’t worry, those are nice pants and you look just fine in that blouse. It’s a nice shade of blue. Anyway, it’s not like I’m wearing a tie.”

“But you have a proper jacket. Which you can simply toss on a chair. Why can men can get away with that stuff, while we’re supposed to be all dressy?” Luci grumbled. “High heels should be against the law.”

Frank adjusted his glasses. “Well, I see some other girls around who aren’t in heels either. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Luci sighed. “Says the guy who won’t get laughed at behind his back for his outfit. Girls are the worst.”

Frank stared, then reached out to take Luci’s hand, gently squeezing it. “Okay, what’s bothering you? It’s not simply the dress code here, you’ve been in a bit of a mood all week. Are you still upset with me? Is this a test to see if I’m actually paying enough attention to you?”

“What? Oh, no, it’s not that,” Luci assured.

“Then what’s the problem?”

Luci shifted her weight back and forth. “It’s that logbook of Linquist’s,” she admitted. “The one Julie found. I’ve been working on cracking the code, to figure out exactly what sort of stuff that nutcase was doing, but I’ve had no luck! It vexes me. And because I was working on that, I didn’t go shopping, and so now I’m going to look like an social idiot, and it’s all that Linquist’s fault again!”

“Ah. Um, that last is a bit of a stretch - are you sure you’re not simply looking for more reasons to hate the guy?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know. I wish they’d picked Chartreuse’s suggestion of a Hawaiian theme,” Luci groused.

Frank lifted an eyebrow. “Oh, so you’d prefer to be wearing a grass skirt? I mean, not that I’d be complaining, but…”

“But, ugh, point made,” Luci realized, looking back down at her legs. “Fine, point to you, it could be worse, let’s enjoy what we have.” She attempted a smile.

Frank grinned back. “Okay then. I’ll just check our coats, be right back.” He moved off towards the coat check area.

Luci spent a couple of seconds admiring the decorations, but she couldn’t help it, her mind was soon spinning with more ideas, more possibilities for that book. Perhaps a Caesar cipher…

“How’s business, Joe?” Frank inquired as he set the jackets down on the table. The late September dance was usually better for snacks, as compared to the coat check part, which was better in February. Regardless, their booth was a way for the business club to make a bit of money, splitting the proceeds with Students’ Council.

“Slow but steady,” Joe Drew replied. “Actually, we haven’t missed your expertise back here at all. I’d be worried for your job.”

“I’ll bear that in mind,” Frank said dryly. His fellow senior tore off a couple of numbered ticket stubs, exchanging them for his quarters. “But I have to say, I prefer Luci’s company to yours.”

“I can understand that,” Joe granted. The blonde boy leaned in a little closer. “By the way, I’ve heard Julie might turn up later tonight. Can you believe that girl? I bet a brawl will break out, and Mr. Fisk will cancel all future dances forever!”

“Oh, come on Joe… I think she’s learned how to behave herself,” Frank said, hoping he sounded reassuring.

“Hrmph,” Joe retorted, drawing back. His eyes shifted to the stage. “I suppose that, deep down, it’s all that idiot Corry’s fault. Guy should have dealt with her last year. I mean, he exposed what Julie did! How she manipulated folks like me! So why did he turn around and start acting all nicey nice to her?!”

“Yeah, uh, I suppose there’s stuff we don’t know about the situation,” Frank offered. He began to wonder how to best extract himself from the conversation.

Joe shook his head. “I know as much as I need to. Julie probably paid him off, so Corry’s even worse than she is!”

Before Frank could think of a good reply, a couple came up behind him to place a coat on the table. “Service, please,” the boy stated.

“Coming right up,” Joe said, finally handing off Frank and Luci’s coats to his co-worker before moving to deal with the newcomers. Frank took the opportunity to escape back to Luci’s side.

Carrie tried to decipher the noise Glen made upon their arrival. Failing that, she spoke up. “What? Is this so different from dances at your last school?”

Glen shook his head, still eyeing the decorations. “The faculty there didn’t believe in dances. So you’ll have to forgive me if I tread on your toes, dancing’s a skill I never really developed.”

“Ooh, amazing, something you’re not good at,” Carrie teased. She smiled. “We’ll manage, just don’t make a habit of toe crunching.”

“Scuze me, comin’ through!”

Carrie recognized Lee’s voice, and she turned to see him dashing though the front doors, dodging nimbly around the nearest couple. “Whoop, sorry ‘bout that, gotta hook up with the power cad, pardon me, scuze me…”

“Glory be, now his gang’s all here.”

This time, it was the sheer bitterness in the tone that made Carrie look for the source. Which turned out to be a light haired boy leaning against the wall. He was glowering at the crowd in general, but when he saw that Carrie was observing him in particular, he turned and shuffled towards the cafeteria/dance floor.

“Wonder what that guy’s problem is,” Glen mused aloud.

“That’s Tommy,” Carrie explained. “Looks like he’s still upset that Corry picked Sue to play bass guitar in the band, over him.” She tugged idly on a strand of her hair. “See, Sue was a side switcher - with Corry in Grade Nine, but then she joined me and Julie. Only to return to Corry last November, after Julie’s secrets got exposed. Meanwhile, Tommy’s been on Corry’s side since grade school.”

Glen grimaced. “So this is some kinda loyalty thing?”

Carrie nodded. “Yeah. I mean, Corry wasn’t wrong to choose Sue for his band, in that she IS the better guitarist. But it might have been the last straw for Tommy. It was the people who were closest to Corry who were blindsided the most, you see. When he cracked down on any attacks against Julie. Speaking of, you WILL look out for her here, right?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Glen rolled his eyes. “School politics. How irritating. Stop me if I ask again.”

“Why? Is that another thing that you didn’t see much of at your last school?”

“Not over such petty issues,” Glen countered, shaking his head. “Where I come from, it’s all about world domination.”

Carrie blinked. “Pardon me?”

He winked at her. “Kidding. So, shall we go and have a dance or two?”

Kidding? Or were they back to him keeping her off balance? Carrie pursed her lips. Every so often, he said something to make her wonder if she should be more suspicious. Except, she’d recently realized that Glen didn’t trigger any temporal headaches. Implying that no changes were occurring to her timeline. No, this was on her, not him - she had to stop overthinking this.

“Yes, dancing. Watch the feet,” she warned, hooking her arm around his as they headed for the doorway.

“I d-d-don’t know if I can d-do this,” Tim said, peering around the door frame at all the people out on the dance floor. “I d-d-didn’t think there would be so many p-people here. N-Not given the theme, and what happened last year!”

“Tim, first of all, breathe. Second, you can’t cut out on me now!” Corry crossed his arms. “Not after all the hard work we’ve put in.”

“W-W-W-Well…”

“Yo, dudes and dudette,” Lee said, breezing past Tim at the door to emerge into the far hallway. For once, his worn suit jacket was actually appropriate to the occasion, even if the T-Shirt he wore underneath it was not. “Have I missed anything?”

“No, but you are five minutes late,” Corry said, irritably. “What’s more, that’s becoming a habit for you this month.”

“Hey, cut me some slack, jack,” Lee protested. “I told you when I came on board that family matters and schoolwork would have to take precedence over this band.”

“All right, come on, everybody calm down,” Sue put in. “There’s still plenty of time to tune up and decide on the songs for our first set. We’ll knock ‘em dead, no worries.”

“Right, good, I like that philosophy,” Corry said, pointing at her. “Now, I’ve already seen to the drums, the keyboard and the electronics… so Sue, let’s go get the guitars and do one final check. The DJ told me we’re on after another couple songs.” The two of them hurried off to the music room, leaving Tim and Lee behind.

“I’m n-not so sure about this,” Tim murmured to Lee, after checking to see that Corry was out of earshot. “What if I mess up notes? What if we g-get heckled off the stage?”

“Don’t even think about it, tiny T,” Lee soothed. “Mrs. Willis said we sounded great, and the school crowd ain’t that hostile.” He glanced towards the cafeteria. “Well, okay, some of ‘em are, but it’s only towards the power cad. We’re clear.”

“I g-guess,” Tim said uncertainly. He took a few slow breaths. “I’ll feel SO much better after tonight. When Corry isn’t so obsessive.”

Lee rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, uh, I wouldn’t totally count on that though?” he warned. “I figure the better this goes, the more the guy will want to perform. If you can’t handle his scheduling, you’re gonna have to learn to stand up to him. Like I do sometimes.”

“Oh,” Tim said sullenly. He shuffled his feet. “How about you stand up for me too?”

Lee shook his head. “Sorry, T. I would, but I don’t really want the guy on my case any more than he is already. Besides, you’ll eventually have to learn to do it yourself.”

“I g-guess.” Tim sighed. “Know what? It’s gotten to the point where I wish Corry would disappear. Only for a little while.”

Lee frowned. It looked to Tim as if he wanted to say something further, but before he could, Laurie Veniti peered out of the cafeteria. “Corry?” she said, timidly.

“Hey, double V. He’s on his way,” Lee offered, turning towards Corry’s twin. As if on cue, Corry and Sue appeared at the far end of the hallway with their guitars, walking towards them.

“Great!” Chartreuse said brightly, stepping out from behind Laurie. “Because the two of us wanted to, like, wish the whole group the best of luck on your little, you know, debut.” She offered an encouraging smile to all the members, before reaching out a hand towards Corry as he strode up.

“Sure, thanks,” Corry said absentmindedly, reaching out to shake Chartreuse’s outstretched palm as he passed. He was brought up short, however, when Chartreuse didn’t release him. Instead, she grabbed hold with both of her hands. He turned to fire an irritated look at her, only to flinch back upon seeing Chartreuse’s horrified gaze.

“Ohmigod,” the pink haired mystic gasped out. She shifted her attention from Corry’s hand up to his face. “You, like, totally can’t go out there!” Chartreuse declared. “If you do… you’ll die!”

(Return for Corry’s fate next week. A reminder that a vote at TWF is appreciated.)

“Time & Tied” PARTS 51-52

1. Original Date Of Completion: JULY 14, 2002
2. What I Was Doing: Summer before Teachers’ College
3. Changes of note: -Jean Chretien changed to being a communications filter instead of BEING PM. Originally Azure commented on past politics, Chartreuse the future, and Amber the present. -Carrie’s thoughts at the end, including taking the trip back into Part 48.

“Time & Tied” PARTS 53-54

1. Original Date Of Completion: AUGUST 24, 2002
2. What I Was Doing: Summer before Teachers’ College
3. Changes of note: -Placeholder psychologist name Sara Bellum (Darkwing Duck ref) changed; see below -Producing more coins was a bigger issue, because February instead of September. -Checking for Julie’s tracks in the snow became checking security footage.

[caption id=“attachment_1093” align=“aligncenter” width=“222”] CHARTREUSE VERMILION
SD Commission from Neil Buday[/caption]

MINOR TWEAKS

Part of the reason for having a commentary now is because this is the last of “Season Two” that I was able to complete in the summer of 2002 - as of September, I was in Teachers College, and had to cut back on my writing time for this story yet again. But another thing I completed that summer was a new “Opening Sequence” for “Season Two”… in fact I finished it on July 3, 2002, before the first episode itself had been finalized.

That’s below - first some quick notes about Chartreuse and Julie. I think whenever one creates characters, there’s a piece of them in the writer themselves. For Chartreuse, I feel the link to me is the weird and random thought processes. Which is not that hard to write. For Julie, it’s more the self questioning, and her becoming withdrawn.

While I don’t have first hand knowledge of Julie’s situation in terms of her family (mine is very supportive), I did go through a stage in university when I cut myself and sought psychological counselling. I’m also very hesitant about making friends. That’s what I’m drawing on for her scenes; I hope it’s realistic enough without hitting any triggers or massive implausibilities.

The name of Julie’s psychiatrist, “Doc Golden” is a shoutout to John Golden, once the only person to have commented on the 50+ individual T&T story posts thus far. (To my delight, there have been two others in the last 8 days.) I okayed it with him; he’s also been supportive with my personified math, we did a comic co-venture recently. Originally, I had a placeholder name (Sara Bellum) but I wanted to honour John here in the same way principal “Dell Hunt” comes from Scott Delahunt, my main beta reader.

I suppose the other link we could make between the characters and me is how both Chartreuse and Julie have a desire to please others, going about it in different ways. As does most of the cast, for that matter. Or so I think - feel free to correct my perceptions in the comments.

OPENING SEQUENCE NO. 2

Guess what? There was a spinoff sequel, “Tick! Tack!” in 2005. Guess what? THAT audio and video works surprisingly well with this “Season Two” opening. (“The sequel, but diverged from the destiny.") It’s like someone’s pranking me, given how I wrote these first. Here’s a link, if you want to watch it with/before reading below. Which is again a direct cut-and-paste from 2002, apologies in advance for any typos or terminology. (Realism!)

<OP2: Fade in on a close up of Carrie Waterson’s face. Pull back to reveal she is sitting in the frozen homeroom picture from OP1, with the caption “Homeroom 3; Class of 2001”. As we pull back, we hear Carrie’s voiceover, over music:

“What if you had the power within you to control time? To see all of history laid out before your eyes… to know what’s happening anywhere in the world at this very moment… to foretell future events with alarming accuracy. Well, I have this power. But it has come with a price."

The caption suddenly ticks over to read “Class of 2002”. The image comes to life, with Carrie jumping up and running forward. Screen pauses on a waist-up shot as the caption CARRIE WATERSON flashes across the screen. Screen unpauses, and she moves offscreen to the right, revealing a guy with short brown hair, wearing glasses, who is trailing after her while looking down at a handful of notes. He looks up as the screen pauses, caption: FRANK DIJORA.

Frank continues offscreen to the right as two more people move in behind him, heading left. They are a girl with medium length brown hair and a tall blonde male who appears fairly athletic. He is smiling down at her, her expression is somewhat distant. A pocketwatch drops down between them to split the screen as the scene pauses, caption: JULIE LAMILLE. PHIL CLARKE.

Pocketwatch rises back up and Phil guides Juile off to the left as a boy with shoulder-length red hair runs in after them from the right, shouting at them. He is followed by his fraternal sister who has identically styled hair. Pocketwatch split screen with caption: CORRY VENITI. LAURIE VENITI.

They continue out as a girl with pink hair containing colourful bows enters, also following the others. A male with short red hair comes in too, going in the opposite direction (the same direction as Carrie and Frank did). He attracts the attention of the girl as they pass. She turns to look at him just before the pocketwatch splits the screen with caption: CHARTREUSE VERMILION. GLEN OAKS.

Chartreuse frowns slightly as both of them proceed out of the picture. Camera shot now moves in slightly to show two people still standing where the original homeroom shot was taken, one is a shorter, depressed looking boy, the other a guy who his combing his somewhat unruly hair. Pocketwatch split screen with caption: TIM WHITBY. LEE KING.

Pocketwatch withdraws and camera turns to reveal that someone has actually been holding the pocketwatch. It’s a fairly short oriental girl with dark hair brought back into two small ponytails. She half smiles as she tucks the pocketwatch away in her jeans. Screen pauses with the caption: LUCI PRIMROSE.

Luci turns and walks away as a small square appears in the middle of the screen, flashing a montage of images. The square continuously grows in size as the pictures continue, the sequence including: -A black box with a lever on its side, sitting in a ravine. -Carrie propped back up against the trunk of a tree, looking up at another girl with long, blonde hair. -A 21 year old oriental girl writing in a diary. -Frank peering out of the bushes at Glen, who is walking down the street. -Corry standing at a microphone during a school dance. -An older man with a concerned look watching Carrie, who is lying on a hospital bed. -A waitress in a cafe handing some papers over to Lee. -Julie sitting on a couch with Phil, her head on his shoulder. -Laurie and Carrie next to each other in cheerleading outfits, shaking pompoms. -Luci holding a candle and reaching for a file folder. -Tim and Chartreuse waiting in the sitting room of someone’s house. -Frank in a basement lab, peering down into the black box with the lever.

The last picture fills the screen, it’s Carrie staring out at you with golden eyes, her hair flowing out in waves behind her. She does not look pleased. Final chord for music. >

A number of those pictures were illustrations I drew for previous parts. There was a “commercial bumper” for this series too - you may recall the first (in season one) was Carrie and Frank on a clock. This time: “Carrie and Frank attempt to raft down a swiftly flowing river.” I never tried to draw it.

SPOILER SECTION

Let’s start with character. I don’t think I’ve ever matched the comedy stylings of Chartreuse’s story in my later writing. (I do try later in this very book; you can decide then if I in any way succeed.) In a sense, Chartreuse has presented the most bizarre backstory for a valley girl accent ever.

One of the things I had to be careful of was to not have any “like” or “you know” remarks in Chartreuse’s past dialogue. Did you notice the foreshadowing? The slight paradox is, if she’s telling the story, wouldn’t they be there? Well, it’s kind of through Carrie’s eyes, so if you squint, it works. And we now have an explanation for why Chartreuse speaks that way when her sister doesn’t, not to mention having that inflection in a small Canadian town. Assuming you believe the tale!

In the midst of that, Chartreuse surprised me with her bisexual nature. Theoretically, Tope could have been a guy, and while I admit I seem to have a thing for girl-girl love, that added complication between Chartreuse and Carrie felt somehow realistic. (Perhaps the interest is a fault of anime; in my personified math, ParaB and QT - the parabola and quartic - are in the same romance boat.) I don’t know if it puts a different spin on Chartreuse coming to Carrie’s aid back in Book 1. I do know it will influence things coming up.

On the Julie side of things, the main reason I made her rich way back in character design was so that there wouldn’t be a shortage of coins, what with the “date checking idea” presented in the recent part. Of course, with Julie being the antagonist (somewhat) in the first two books, I also knew that wouldn’t come into play until this point. Side bonus, it was handy having a teenager who could fund research or the like, if that was a route I wanted.

The other main character piece of late was the discussion between Frank and Luci, which I’d been somewhat foreshadowing in prior parts. No relationship is perfect, and there are some personality differences there. Recall also that neither of them are great about talking, between Luci dropping the romance bombshell only after she got aged up, and Frank’s need to wait before responding.

I’m hoping their conversation, sparked by the movie “Carrie”, worked well. (No idea if said movie was the original or the remake.) The dialogue gives me some feels, at the least, and tends to be tweaked less whenever I go back over it now. It also implies conversations between characters (like Luci and Chartreuse) outside of the main narrative, because you might have noticed, I’m doing weekly time skips. Which brings us to plot.

Yes, the time group is back together, but no, they’re not time travelling right away, and the characters will be into October before you know it. As I said in the last commentary, I go for the slow burn. The pieces are still being set up for a larger altercation - pieces including Linquist’s old lab - and all I can say is, I hope you agree that the eventual payoff will be worth it.

Coming up next, we’ll get to see a bit more of Glen, who got shunted to the side this past month, along with the trio who played much larger roles in the prior books: Lee, Tim and Laurie. Remember you can VOTE for T&T at “Top Web Fiction” - and much like the former TV show starring Frank Parker, the votes expire after seven days. (Here, have a link to my 7 Days AMV.)

Parts 51/52 were originally “The Visionaries”, thus the addition of “Tope Springs Eternal”, a play on how Tope’s accent is now “eternally” with Chartreuse. Parts 53/54 were originally “The Mansion”, so “Mental Strain” was the new title to harken at both Julie and Carrie’s mental issues.

Coming This Friday: Things go awry at another School Dance.

3.07: THE MANSION

“She’s not in the bathroom,” Carrie said as she emerged. “However, this was on the floor.” She held up a bottle of aspirin.

“Where could she be then?” Clarke said, a tinge of panic creeping into his voice. He cupped his hand to his mouth. “Julie? JULIE??”

“Calm down,” Luci soothed. “We’ll find her. Whatever happened, she can’t have gone far.”

“Maybe Jeeves or Mimi saw something?” Frank hypothesized.

Clarke shook his head. “They’re not here. Jeeves is out servicing the car, and Mimi doesn’t spend much time around the house any more, outside of meal times. She’s not keen on the whole fractured family situation.”

“Then let’s check the external security system,” Luci reasoned. “That will tell us whether Julie left, and whether anyone else came.”

Clarke brought them to the security room, where a quick verification confirmed that there had been no activity outside of the mansion. “So where could Julie be?” Clarke said desperately. “And why did we hear her scream?!”

“Is she afraid of spiders, maybe?” Carrie mused.

“Unless…”

“Unless?” Frank said, turning to Luci.

The small girl pursed her lips. “Unless it’s not a matter of where she is, so much as WHEN she is."

“You think she was timenapped?” Clarke asked, eyes widening.

“We were here to set a fixed date for starting travel,” Frank agreed. “Yet for someone to take Julie, the time machine would need at least a few minutes to recharge, right?”

“Okay, so it stands to reason that if someone’s trying that, Julie’s still around, but maybe knocked out,” Carrie decided. “We need to split up and search the house, fast.”

“Whoa! Split up?” Frank protested. “But what if someone’s trying to pick us off one by one?”

Carrie rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll check upstairs with Clarke while you two horror movie maniacs scour the basement. Good enough?”

Frank seemed about to reply to her when Luci broke in. “Sounds good,” she agreed, grabbing Frank’s arm. “Let’s do that.”

Carrie nodded and headed for the back stairs with Clarke, even as Frank turned to look at Luci in surprise. “We’re going to take orders from her?”

“Come on, Frank,” Luci said. “Let’s have a talk in the basement.”

Luci tried to figure out exactly how to say what she wanted to say as they descended the stairs. She finally decided to go the direct route, as usual. “Frank,” she began as they reached the lower landing. “Why are you still freaking out about Carrie’s powers?”

He blinked. “Pardon?”

“The earlier comment about things flying through the air?” Luci said pointedly, even as she walked down the hall, opening the nearest door. “The flinching when Carrie talked about losing her mind? I thought we’d agreed that the remark to her father last weekend would be the last reference you’d make to Stephen King’s character.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” Frank apologized. “Still, the fact that we discovered that the fire at the cafe occurred when Carrie was there… well, it’s kind of a freaky coincidence, don’t you think? Like, maybe, subconsciously–”

“No!” Luci countered. “Don’t go there! Our Carrie is not some fictional character with mental issues and telekinesis, Frank. She’s our friend.”

“I know.” Frank peered inside a room where a file cabinet had been tipped over. “But we all saw what Carrie was capable of last year. And you know I’m not keen on the horror genre. So if you didn’t want me to act this way around her, why did you show me that movie in the first place?”

For a moment, Luci found herself at loss for words. Because she realized that Frank wasn’t wrong - some part of her had wanted him to act this way. What she ultimately said was, “Well, geez, Frank, why do you think I showed it to you?!”

“Luci, I’m not a mind reader.”

“Who says you have to be a mind reader??”

He gave her a look of confusion. So Luci clasped her hands in front of her chest and fluttered her eyelashes. “Oh, Carrie,” the young girl swooned. “Don’t go out with Glen, he might be bad news! Don’t worry, I’ll tail him for you, I’ll keep an eye on him, I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything inappropriate!”

Frank’s eyebrows rose. “This is about me shadowing Glen?”

“Oh for goodness sakes, Frank, don’t you remember ANYTHING about our previous conversations?” Luci said in exasperation. Honestly, Frank was a wonderful guy, but how could anyone that smart also be so dense and unaware?!

Their basement searching ceased completely as Luci’s boyfriend peered more closely at her. “You mean… you really are jealous?”

“Oh, then you were listening. Amazing.”

“And so… you showed me the movie so that I’d be scared of Carrie, and run to you for support?”

So he’d been listening, but not understanding. “I showed you the movie so that you’d remember that someone like Carrie is capable of taking care of herself! So that you’d come to me, not for support, but because… because I’m important too. Even if I’m not the one with powers or a destiny.”

“What? But, of course you’re important, Luci! Why would you think otherwise?”

“Because, I don’t know, it’s like our relationship was stuck in second gear all summer,” Luci said. She found she couldn’t look at Frank directly any more. Was she perhaps in the wrong? “I thought coming back to school would reignite things, but instead you’re more interested in Carrie’s life than you are in mine.”

There was a pause. “I’m sorry, Luci, I never meant to give you that impression,” he said softly. “If you thought I was ignoring you, why didn’t you say something?”

“Oh, what the hell was I supposed to say?” Luci felt tears shimmering behind her eyelids. “A girl can’t simply tell a guy to dote on her, otherwise she’ll know he’s doing it because she told him to, not because she’s actually worth it.”

“You are worth it.”

“See? Now you’re only saying it because I told you to.”

“I’m not.” Frank reached out to tilt Luci’s head back in his direction. “I’m really not. I’m sorry, Luci. I guess it’s just, you’ve always seemed so independent. Heck, ever since you stopped holding back at school, your marks have been in the top five percent for our grade level, even above mine. So it never occurred to me that you might be feeling insecure.”

“Don’t say that! I’m not insecure!” Luci swallowed. “But okay, I guess for your birthday at the start of the month, I still had to go up on tiptoe in order to kiss you, and I… I’m two years too young for our grade, and wonder if maybe you’re getting tired of that age difference. I know I am."

“Oh Luci, Luci, dear sweet Luci, no!”

“No? You’ve never found yourself holding back because of my age? Hell, would you even still be going out with me, if you hadn’t seen how good I’d look at twenty one?” She knew he couldn’t have forgotten about the time when she had been artificially aged, prompting Professor Linquist to grab her off the street for experimentation. After all, it had been that Luci who had first made her feelings clear to Frank.

“Oh, Luci," Frank said, brushing a tear from her cheek. “I would still go out with you even if you broke out with a terrible case of acne. This isn’t about physical appearance. It’s not even about intellect. I love you, Luci, because of who you are. You know I do.”

Luci looked up into his eyes, and she saw the sincerity in them, and she felt like a total idiot. She leaned in towards him, her arms moving around him and her cheek resting on his chest as she let out a small sigh. “I… I know,” she admitted. “So maybe I need to hear it more often? Is that okay?”

His arms encircled her back. “Of course it is,” he said softly, hugging her close. “Of course it is, my lovely Luci. I’m sorry if I’ve made you feel at all neglected. I’ll make it up to you somehow… in fact, guess what! I got Joe to handle the business club’s snack table for the upcoming school dance. And rather than simply assume, I should ask - Luci, will you be my date for the evening?”

“Oh, Frank!” Luci said happily, looking up, then hugging him tightly. “Of course! Thank you!” They remained that way for a short time, before she finally pulled back.

“Actually Frank, you know what else didn’t help with this whole mess?” Luci admitted. “Carrie complaining to me at the start of the school year about how much her chest was interfering with her cheerleading, and her other athletic pursuits. I mean, really? All I could think about during her WHOLE rant was ‘So when am I due for a boost in MY cup size?’. Damn it, I’ve seen Grade Nines who are more developed than me!”

Frank swallowed. “Oh. Um. Well, you know, I’ve never meant to imply you were devoid of physical attributes…?"

Luci eyed his expression. “Never mind. Maybe that’s a topic I should be discussing with Chartreuse instead. We should get back to looking for Julie.”

“Yes, please,” Frank said, visibly relieved. “Lead the way."

Julie moaned as consciousness returned. She blinked her eyes open, saw nothing but darkness, and felt a jolt of panic. It subsided as her eyes began to adjust, identifying a partially furnished, albeit windowless room. She sat up, reaching her hands out to confirm that she was in a small alcove in the wall.

She suppressed the urge to sneeze at the dust tickling at her nose. “Mimi’s really let this room go,” Julie murmured. Was she even still in the mansion?

She thought back. She had been in the washroom, getting the aspirin bottle from the cabinet behind the mirror - and had slipped on a wet patch on the floor. Left behind when she’d splashed water onto her face after bandaging her hand.

Julie held her palm up to her face, peering at the bandage. Her hand still hurt. Right. Because to try and stay upright, she had seized the metal ring on the wall where they hung hand towels. And twisted it. And then, inexplicably, the floor had given out, and she’d fallen… which meant she was… where?

Julie struggled to her feet, trying to peer through the darkness. She stepped outside of the wall alcove. A cobweb or string dangled against her face, and she pulled at it, to get it out of the way. An overhead bulb clicked on. Julie blinked the spots out of her eyes, then let out a low whistle as her location became more clear.

This was a laboratory. Abandoned, to be sure, but it contained cabinets, counters, a sink - and fluorescent lighting overhead, which was still switched off. Julie fumbled her way across the room, towards the only door, where she found the main light switch.

“Where in heck did all this come from?" Julie murmured, once she was in a position to do a full scan of the room. “How is this room inside my house?" She had thoroughly explored the mansion after moving in. True, the basement floor plan allowed for a room of this size, but the only place it could have been was behind a completely walled off area. Walled off…

Julie walked back over to the alcove, and looked up. It seemed that she had landed at the bottom of some sort of overhead chute. Pursing her lips, Julie did some mental calculations, and realized this laboratory could indeed be part of her basement. With access from above.

She made a quick circuit of the room, noting that there were still a handful of instruments in the drawers as well as chemicals in the cabinets. If it weren’t for the dust, implying the room hadn’t been used in years, she might have thought that someone was in the mansion spying on her.

A flash of red caught her attention as she looked more closely at a large safe. Something had been shoved into the narrow space in between said safe, and the adjoining counter. Grabbing a nearby metre stick and fishing in the opening produced a spiral notebook. Julie blew the dust off of it, scanning over the cover.

“Observations and experiments,” she read. “As recorded by Professor Linquist… Professor Linquist?!” Julie looked up. “Of course. He owned this place before we moved in! This lab must have been some secret work area of his!"

The brunette began to riffle through the book, but it seemed to be written in some sort of scientific code. “The others need to see this,” Julie decided. “Heck, they’re probably wondering what’s happened to me. So how do I get out of here?”

She tried the door, finding it to be unlocked. It opened inwards, revealing a wall of concrete blocks - except there was a narrow passage there, which could fit a single person. The passage extended in both directions. “Left or right?” Julie whispered. She peered into the darkness. No way to know. “Right. Let’s see where this goes."

“Okay, well, I don’t think she’s up here,” Carrie concluded. “Unless she’s in that locked records room, or Jeeves’ room, or is actively being moved to avoid us or something.”

“We can still try those rooms before giving up,” Clarke insisted.

Carrie shook her head. “At this point, if people were stealing Julie through time, I think they’d be gone. There has to be another reason for…“ She froze. “Damn. Oh, DAMN!”

“What?”

Carrie took off towards the stairway. “We’re up here. Frank and Luci are in the basement. I left the time machine on the main level, UNGUARDED. What if that was the plan? What if it was JULIE’S plan? To hide, and throw us off long enough to take a time trip!”

Clarke frowned. “Carrie, she’s not that reckless, and surely Frank still has the coins…”

However, the blonde girl was already out of earshot. So, with a resigned sigh, Clarke followed her down. He reentered the sitting room to see her staring down at the time machine, on the floor, exactly where they had left it. “See? You need to give Julie more credit.”

“Okay. But it’s SO stupid of me to keep leaving the damn thing where others can get it,” she said, grimacing. “I mean, this is twice in two days. Um, kinda. Look, I think I’d better take it back to my place. I’ll sleep better knowing that it’s still under my bed."

“Fine,” Clarke granted. “Now can we get back to searching? Because I swear, Julie wouldn’t have run off like this voluntarily!"

“Scratch the basement," Frank offered, as he and Luci reentered the room behind him. “But there were a couple of locked areas. Storage, maybe?”

“I also wonder if we missed a section - there seemed to be less floor space than I would have expected,” Luci observed.

“No, it’s fine, there’s a section around the back of the stairs which is all foundation,” Clarke assured. “There’s no rooms in that area.”

As he spoke, there came a click and a series of creaks. Then the tall china cabinet against one wall of the room began to rattle as it slid sideways across the carpet. Clarke lifted his eyebrows, as Carrie grabbed for the time machine and Frank stepped slightly in front of Luci.

Everyone watched as Julie emerged from a dark passage, her clothes dusty, with cobwebs caught in her hair. “Actually,” Julie said, letting out a cough. “It would seem that there is a room down there after all.”

“Jewels!” Clarke gasped, running towards her, stopping short from actually grasping her by the shoulders. “What happened to you??”

Julie turned to look at the tunnel behind her. “My best guess,” she ventured, “is that I triggered something by twisting the towel ring in the bathroom while the medicine cabinet was open. It sent me down to this lab where… well, Phil, why don’t you go grab a flashlight so that we can all see for ourselves?”

“Careful, there’s some stairs here,” Julie warned. There was only enough space for them to move single file, so she led the way. Clarke brought up the rear, shining his light forwards.

“I’ll be damned,” Carrie muttered, inching along behind Julie. It was extra awkward, because she hadn’t wanted to leave the time machine behind again - but now she had to walk sideways, with it at her hip. “Like everyone else, I’d heard the rumours about there being secret passages in this place. But I thought you’d discounted that possibility.”

“Seems I wasn’t thorough enough,” Julie admitted. “In the end, most of my searching was done downstairs, around that closed off section. So while I’m sure that there’s no way into it from down there, it didn’t occur to me to check for access from places on the main landing.”

“A china cabinet isn’t the most obvious choice for a passage anyway,” Frank commented. “I’d have gone for a bookshelf.”

“Well, we keep china in it, I’m not sure what Linquist used it for.”

“Linquist?!” came Luci’s voice. “You think that quack was doing illegal experiments down here??”

“I don’t know… maybe you can tell me. He left some logbook of experiments behind.” Less than a minute later, they had all filed into the hidden basement room.

“You know what?” Carrie said, looking around. “This would be an excellent place for us to use for storage, time travel meetings, that kind of thing. It’s in the mansion, out of the way - even Jeeves doesn’t know about it, right?”

“Right,” Julie confirmed. “And I can tidy it up a little for us, and catalog the stuff Linquist left behind.”

“Hold it!” Luci objected. “Have you forgotten how crazy that guy was?! What if he left booby traps behind?”

“He wasn’t always crazy,” Carrie countered. “And I doubt he would have sold this place to a wealthy family like the LaMilles if he’d left anything in here that would take their heads off. That would mean a major lawsuit.”

“Even when he wasn’t crazy, he still wasn’t normal,” Luci shot back. “Remember, Linquist believed that aliens left their children at orphanages in the hopes that they would some day be brought inconspicuously into society. A familiar story for you, right Carrie?"

“My mother was an unwitting time traveler, not an alien,” Carrie said dismissively. “And Linquist had nothing to do with her appearance or disappearance, they happened years before he went off on this tangent.”

“Yet people in the future must have associated with Linquist at SOME point,” Luci countered. “Remember, this guy also also owned equipment for sensing the temporal flux in my DNA. He couldn’t have picked that up at the corner drugstore!"

“Ugh. Point,” Carrie finally yielded. “We should be careful.”

“On the topic of using this place though,” Frank broke in. “It’s not a bad idea."

“And I’ve decided to clean the lab up no matter what," Julie put in.

“In which case, I can make sure to be around whenever Julie’s investigating," Clarke offered.

Luci let out a sigh. “Oh, very well. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She held up Linquist’s red notebook. “Can I keep this, at least? To see if I can figure out what this guy spent his time experimenting on down here? I’m sure there’s some connection between that guy and time travel that we’ve missed.”

“No problem,” Julie agreed. “It’s in code though.”

“I can help you work on it, if you want,” Frank offered. Luci smiled back at him.

“Then it’s settled,” Clarke concluded. “Me and Julie will fix this place up over the week, so you could bring coins and technical drawings or whatever down here by, say, this Friday evening.”

“Except that’s the night of the school dance,” Frank reminded the taller boy. “Aren’t you going to be there with Julie?”

Clarke looked sidelong at the brunette. “Well, no. Unless she changes her mind…”

“Oh, Julie, you should come!” Carrie said. “The first dance of the school year? It’s a good opportunity to get you back into social circles!”

Julie shook her head. “On the contrary, my presence would only serve to remind people of what happened between me and Corry at the first dance LAST year. When I not only screwed you and him over, but Laurie Veniti too.”

“No way - or if it does remind them, it’ll only serve to show them how much better of a person you are now,” Carrie insisted. “Come on, you really have been keeping a lot to yourself lately. A dance will do you good. The four of us will stand up for you. I’ll make sure Glen does as well!”

“Glen? You think he’ll be there?” Frank asked.

Carrie pursed her lips. “Yeah. Since he, uh, kinda asked me out - more specifically, to honour him by being his date - and after our cafe meeting became something of a fiasco the other week, I didn’t really want to say no, sooo…” She shrugged.

“Carrie’s right, Julie, you might as well come along,” Luci chimed in. “If you feel uncomfortable, you can always leave early.”

Julie looked around at them. “But…” Her eyes landed on Clarke. “Oh, all right. Phil, we’ll go. If nothing else, we can see Corry’s music group in their first major performance. They’re supposed to be performing when the DJ goes on break.”

“That’s great!” Clarke said, smiling back. “See Jewels? I told you that some people would want you there! You’re simply blowing things out of proportion. After all, since you and Corry aren’t actively fighting any more, what’s the worst thing that could possibly happen?"

As it turned out, Clarke was surprised.

• Another Commentary Post is coming this Sunday.
• Again a vote for T&T at TWF is always appreciated, the votes expire weekly.

3.06: MENTAL STRAIN

Julie stared in silence at the shadows on her bedroom ceiling. For some reason, she was reminded of those Rorschach inkblot tests, the ones psychologists used to help check a person’s sanity.

How sane was she?

The regular counselling sessions with Dr. Golden had helped her to deal with emotional issues like love and trust, it was true. But she couldn’t explain to a regular psychologist about the attempt to kill their unborn self, by time traveling back to the week of their birth. Speaking of that to anyone, aside from the other time travellers, was liable to get her locked up. Or worse, put Carrie in additional danger. No, Julie would have to keep it to herself.

Maybe forever.

“They’re all here now,” Clarke said from the doorway.

Julie sat up. “All right then. Let’s talk time trips.” She swung her legs off the bed, stood, and headed past him, out the door.

“Jewels, are you sure you’re up for it?” Clarke asked, falling into step behind her. “They only called us this morning about the meeting. If it’s too fast–”

“Don’t worry,” Julie said, cutting him off. “I’m not about to wrestle the machine away from Carrie in order to finish what I started last year.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Catching Clarke’s tone, Julie paused on the stairwell to look back up at him. “Right.” She smiled, trying to project a confidence she didn’t feel. “Look, Phil, it’s fine. Really. If Carrie, Frank and Luci want to discuss resuming time travel, I’m good with that! Sure, it might bring up memories, but me and Doc Golden, we did talk about suicide. I’m more grounded now. What I do, it’s for me, not to please people like my parents, yeah?”

“Yeah. Still…”

“More to the point - I need this,” Julie continued. “It’s been ten months since those events, and a part of me is starting to doubt whether it all truly happened.” Her lips pursed. “And I… well, I’d rather not simply dismiss the sacrifices you all made to save me.”

Clarke looked at her for a long moment before smiling back. “Okay then,” he replied. “Let’s see what’s up.”

Her visitors, Carrie, Frank and Luci, all rose from their chairs as she entered the LaMille sitting room. “Julie,” Carrie began. “Hi… look, I want you to know right up front that if you feel at all uncomfortable with what we’re talking about, you have only to tell us and we’ll head out of here with no bad feelings.”

“Noted. Let’s get to it,” she countered.

Carrie nodded, glancing over to Frank and Luci. Frank shrugged. Even Luci looked hesitant. Julie set her jaw. “Look, guys, I may be a little frayed around the edges, but I’m still Julie LaMille. If you’re going to walk on eggshells around me, I’m going to damn well throw you out. Did you interrupt my Sunday morning to talk time travel, or didn’t you?”

“We’re thinking of using your house here as a base of operations,” Luci spoke up. “For storing the coins, and as a jumping off point for time trips, rather than Frank’s home. Or Carrie’s.”

“My parents and Carrie’s father already think something’s up after last year,” Frank added. “So that’s not ideal, particularly if I reappear in my kitchen. But your place isn’t that far from Willowdale Park, and so with either that park or the point of departure being some sort of geographic failsafe, your home is pretty convenient.”

“The mansion is big, mostly empty, and me accidentally turning up in here at any point in the last couple years wouldn’t really be remarked on,” Carrie added.

Julie shifted her gaze to the small black box, currently lying on the floor beside a chair. “You ARE thinking of making more trips then.”

“We have a few present day coins,” Frank admitted. “And if we don’t start soon, that is before January, we’ll be stuck in the present again. So yeah.”

“Carrie thinks that actually doing some time travel might help her to understand more about what she is and isn’t capable of doing on her own too,” Luci added.

“In fact, I took my first trip of the year yesterday,” Carrie stated. “Back to my birthday.” She rubbed her temples. “It was… educational. I think the time has finally come for me to put up or shut up as far as these temporal powers go.”

“Your powers,” Julie remarked, leaning back against the wall. “Then you’re thinking of invoking them too?”

Carrie began to pace. “I have to,” she sighed. “Chartreuse has convinced me that the only real way to ensure that what happened last year at the hospital never happens again, is to achieve some sort of balance with whatever’s inside me. To get a sense of what that even looks like, I’m gonna need to take more time trips. With and without the machine.”

“Incidentally, Carrie’s powers are another reason to bring the two of you in on this now,” Luci said, nodding towards Clarke, who had thus far remained silent. “We’re the five originals. The only ones - aside from Corry - who remember what Carrie is capable of. Thus the only ones who might notice, should things start to run off the rails.”

“Chartreuse would notice too,” Carrie murmured.

“Except she doesn’t REALLY remember last November,” Frank countered. “You had to tell her.”

“She would notice.”

“Look, my point was that Lee, Tim and Laurie wouldn’t, despite also once knowing about the machine,” Luci said.

“I think you’re straying from the point,” Clarke broke in at last. “You’re saying you want to use Julie’s house as a base of operations? What about the surveillance cameras on the property? What about Jeeves, who lives here too?”

“As Carrie said, the place is big, we should be able to avoid Jeeves,” Frank countered. “And the surveillance on the property will work in our favour. We merely need to learn enough to circumvent it, after which it will pick up on any outsider who’s trying to get at the time machine.”

“Like I did, when it was unguarded at your place,” Julie observed.

Frank winced. “Um. Kinda, sorta.”

Julie crossed her arms over her chest. “So, does this mean I’ll get to do more time travel?”

“Not at all,” Frank assured. “We’ll only need your permission to come and go from the house, from this point going forwards. Along with information about the surveillance and such, in case we arrive in some room with an active camera.”

“Because the time machine centres on the DNA of those taking the trip, remember?” Carrie agreed. “So, if we happen to arrive before we leave, we could potentially be here without coming through the front door. Don’t be freaked out by our comings and goings, that’s all.”

“Well, what about your point of arrival in another time period?” Julie challenged. “I’ve spent so much time in the mansion these last three years that any time trip I take is likely to keep me here. I could be an asset to you that way.”

Carrie exchanged a glance with Frank and Luci. “Julie… are you saying you WANT to go on another time trip?”

“I do,” Julie said, without hesitation. “I won’t make it a condition of using the place, but what’s wrong with me coming along?”

Julie surveyed the expressions of the others. Carrie looked surprised, Frank confused, Luci remained inscrutable and Clarke… he simply looked worried. “Jewels… I’m not sure you realize what you’re asking.”

“Oh, come on Phil,” Julie countered, giving him a playful punch in the arm. “All summer you were telling me I needed to get out more. A trip in space, a trip in time, what’s the difference?” She looked at the others. “Besides, I swear, I’m not going to use the opportunity to try anything self-destructive!”

“I don’t know, Julie,” Carrie said, her expression starting to mirror Clarke’s. “Time travel can be dangerous. And we might not limit ourselves to the past, we could also travel as far forwards as December.”

“Though last time we tried a future trip, we almost got run over,” Luci recalled.

“I don’t care,” Julie asserted. “I want to time travel.”

“But why?” Frank protested. “What’s your motivation?”

Julie clenched and unclenched her hands. “Seriously? Don’t you guys get it? I’ve only been on two time trips. And the second one doesn’t count, since it was only Clarke taking me into the cafe to establish an alibi for the shooting. No, whenever I think of time travel, it always brings to mind that first trip, with the gun, and the h-homeless woman and… and m-my p-parents…”

Damn it. Julie forced herself to draw in a long breath, digging her fingernails into her palms. She had to keep control here, or they’d never let her go anywhere. “So, yeah. I hate that. I hate it, I hate it, and yet I can’t stop thinking about it! What’s more, something which has really been starting to eat away at me through my counselling sessions is the realization that, had our situations been reversed, I… I probably wouldn’t have lifted a finger to help any of you!”

She stood straighter, shifting her gaze around the room, to each of them in turn. “So, know what? I vowed that if the opportunity presented itself where I could help you time trippers in return for what you did, I’d take it! More, that I’d go on another trip through time, one I could potentially look back on with pride, not distaste or horror! So, yes, obviously you can use the mansion, but I want - I’d LIKE more than that. Everybody, I want to time travel again!”

“Jewels, careful!” Clarke shouted out, reaching out to grab her arm. She looked down. One of her nails had broken through the skin of her palm, releasing a small trickle of blood. She swallowed.

“Whoopsie. Ah, I’ll just get a bandaid. Talk amongst yourselves,” Julie said, before hurrying out of the room.

Clarke watched her go before turning back to look at the others.  “You know, I wish you’d talked this over with me first,” he sighed.

“I guess we should have,” Carrie admitted, her eyes still on the doorway. “Julie’s never quite seemed that… passionate about anything though. Not recently anyway. She’s been quite subdued at school.”

“Her former followers, which is to say half the school, are out to get her when Corry’s back is turned,” Clarke countered. “The other half, Corry’s original camp, give her the silent treatment - wouldn’t you be subdued? Don’t forget, her family situation has been kept out of the public eye. Heck, even though WE have the information, well… have you ever truly forgiven Julie yourself, Carrie?”

“Of course! She pulled that trigger only because she was being influenced by a crazy man from the future.”

“Not merely the shooting. Julie did some other cruel things to you.”

He saw Carrie shift her weight back and forth uncomfortably. She had to be recalling the betrayal which had involved drugs in her locker and two weeks of detention. “Yeah. I know she was under some personal pressures then too,” Carrie yielded. “I do TRY not to hold such things against her.”

“So, if you’ve forgiven her, why don’t you spend more time with her?" Clarke asked pointedly.

Carrie shrugged. “I… I guess I never thought about it. I’ve had more than a few issues of my own to deal with these last few months, you know!”

“Okay Clarke, let’s get your input now,” Luci broke in. Having resumed her seat, she leaned forwards in her chair. “Quickly, before Julie returns. Do you think she can handle a time trip?”

“I… maybe?” Clarke said. “I must admit, I didn’t know she felt this strongly about the subject myself. But I see where she’s coming from - a part of her wants to forget about that trip. However, if she does that, she’ll lose this connection she has to all of you. And I don’t think Julie wants to do that, not now that she’s finally beginning to understand concepts like love, friendship and self sacrifice.”

“We’ve made a bit of a mess of things today then,” Frank realized, also resuming his seat. “Perhaps we should call the whole thing off.”

Clarke reached back to rub the back of his neck. “Perhaps? But you don’t want to do that permanently, or you could break Julie’s heart. Outward appearances aside, she is in a fragile state. You can’t set her up this way, and then drop her. Her feelings, when she expresses them these days, they tend to go all out.”

“What would you suggest then?” Carrie asked.

“Continue to involve her,” Clarke decided, after a moment’s thought. “In that respect, using this place as a base isn’t a bad idea. Even a time trip has possibilities. But not solo. And not now. You have to make sure not to bring her along too fast, and don’t take her condition for granted. Julie isn’t the same person she was last year.”

“Who am I supposed to be then?” Julie asked as she reentered the room.

Clarke flinched, not having heard her approach. “I was telling them how far you’ve come in terms of your therapy,” he said quickly. “Since the last time you time traveled.”

“Oh!” Julie nodded. “Is it okay for me to go on the next trip then?”

“Actually,” Luci said. “We’ll need to hold off on trips for a while yet. We don’t have that many present day coins. The issue today was more having a fixed point in time when we all knew what was going on. Right?”

“Right,” Frank agreed. “We’ll need to keep an eye out for more coins minted in our current year before taking any trips.”

Clarke took a half step back, firing off a quick smile to them from behind Julie.

Julie pursed her lips. “Why wait? If this is now a fixed point in time, someone could simply time travel back TO now, from some point later, once there are already more coins in our possession. At which point our future selves can simply hand the money over to our present day selves.”

“Huh,” Frank mused. He glanced to Carrie.

The blonde shook her head. “Sorry, we can’t, because we won’t,” she rejected. “It’s not that it’s a bad idea, and it’s hard for me to explain exactly, but since we apparently haven’t done that, we’re not going to. It’s like… our present is their past. Puts the onus on us. Who knows what will happen in two months time? Maybe we’ll forget, maybe the machine will break down…”

“Couldn’t you foresee those sorts of events though?” Clarke wondered.

Carrie began to look uneasy. “Maybe. Chartreuse thinks so. But I’m reluctant to test it.”

“You know what though? We might be able to generate more coins via causal loops,” Frank realized. “Carrie has done it before with information. Telling herself something, then going back in time and saying it again, when she was the only source. She even generated an apple out of nowhere last September. Couldn’t we do the same thing with coins?”

Carrie began to rub her temples again. “Yeah, that’s… not the best plan. For one, I’m still not clear about how I managed the apple. For another, the very act of using the machine would burn up the coin we get, meaning it can’t be used elsewhere anyway.”

“So use two coins,” Luci countered. “We’ll put them onto a table in the morning. That evening, someone can use one one coin to travel back in time five minutes, picking up both coins. Then use one of THOSE to travel back a further five minutes, again picking up both coins. We keep repeating the process, getting an extra coin each time until finally–”

“My head explodes,” Carrie interrupted, shifting from having her fingers on her temples to pressing her palms there. “Gods, entertaining that thought physically HURTS! Much more than the usual background static! Damn it Luci, that’s not how time travel works… if it’s my destiny to pick up the coins thirty minutes ago, I won’t be able to pick them up five minutes ago. They’ll be gone! Besides, I think temporal random variance would have a thing or two to say about the attempt.”

“It IS an interesting new paradox though,” Frank reflected. “If we use a coin to time travel, and then on that trip we take the coin away before it’s used, could we actually go on the trip?”

“Frank… not helping with the headache,” Carrie said, gritting her teeth.

Frank frowned. “You’re not about to make things fly through the air, are you?"

“Shall I get an aspirin?” Julie asked.

“I doubt aspirin would do much,” Carrie sighed, after shooting Frank a look. “I have had pains like this before. I think when my powers awoke, they imbued me with some sort of temporal conscience. That’s part of the reason I’ve avoided discussing time travel philosophy with people this year.”

“Really?” Luci asked. “I thought the issue was that you had trouble making sense out of it.”

“That too,” Carrie yielded. “Though I have tried to do more research. Being tied to a destiny and all.”

“Well, if time trickery is out, you could simply get more money,” Julie decided. “Given that some percentage of all money out there has current year coins, more money leads to more useful coins. In fact, by knowing the future, you can win money at anything from lottery numbers to betting on sporting events.”

Carrie began to rock back and forth. “Wait.”

Frank snapped his fingers. “Or there’s the stock market! With the time machine we could invest today in something that we know will rise substantially over the next week and–”

“SHUT UP!” Carrie shrieked, collapsing back onto the couch.

Everyone turned to stare. The blonde took a few slow breaths, her eyes closed and her palms against her head. It took at least ten seconds, but finally one blue eye reopened. “For crying out loud people, were you SERIOUSLY trying to make my head explode there?!?”

“Carrie, a lottery wouldn’t need to involve you at all,” Luci pointed out. “We’d make the trip ourselv–”

“STOP!” Carrie drew in her next breath through clenched teeth. “Look. News flash. Apparently it doesn’t matter whether you do it, whether I do it, or whether the neighbour’s cat does it. Playing with the normal flow of time that way? It’s like an ice pick right here!” She jabbed her finger at the side of her head. “Though, Gods, TALK has never done this to me before… why now, all of a sudden?!"

“We’ve never talked about it seriously before,” Frank speculated. “This is the first time we’ve brought it up with an intent to actually follow through.”

“Lovely,” Carrie said, dropping her head between her knees. “You know what? I’d better have some damn good mental shields in place before these time machine devices actually get invented! If not, idle chatter like that is liable to make me lose my friggin’ mind and go on a homicidal rampage as a preemptive strike.”

Frank visibly flinched, but only Clarke and Luci noticed.

“You know,” Clarke offered. “You’re all missing the obvious. If it’s merely more money you need… Julie already has money. Quite a bit. She can withdraw a bunch of rolled coins and search for more of the type you need.”

Luci frowned. “Seriously? I figured Julie’s parents would have cut her off.”

Julie nodded slowly. “True, they did, but I have my own account,” she admitted. “I’m not stupid, I made sure there was one they couldn’t touch. Plus there’s still a few electronic tidbits lying around, which I bought to help with taking over the school, and they have value. Even without access to my parents' funds, I’m probably better off than ninety percent of this town’s population.”

“Plus you could always travel back a year or two and sneak out extra funds then,” Frank mused. His gaze jerked back to Carrie. “Or would that be another temporal violation?”

“It’s hard to tell, I’m still throbbing from the lottery remarks,” Carrie grumbled without looking up.

“There may have been a couple of times when funds went missing,” Julie granted. “Though I’d have to think about it. In the meantime, I can withdraw $100 in coins… but sifting through them will take time.”

“We are in no rush,” Clarke assured.

“That’s actually a really good plan,” Frank agreed. “It wouldn’t involve wasting what few coins we have now on any attempts to get more.”

“Great,” Carrie said. “Because I think my head has had more than enough of talking about time travel for today.”

“You sure you don’t want some aspirin?” Julie asked. Carrie gestured vaguely in response. “I’ll get some,” the brunette decided, hurrying from the room.

Clarke watched her go before turning back to the others. “Thanks guys,” he said sincerely. “Helping this way, it will mean a lot to Julie. While keeping her safely in the present.”

“Least we can do, after neglecting her this long,” Frank reflected. “Somehow I never thought we’d be of much help during Julie’s therapy.”

“A person always needs friends,” Clarke countered. “And it’s not like she can spill our whole story to her psychologist.”

“Here’s the last big question then,” Luci stated. “Is it truly safe for us to leave the time machine here? Where Julie can access it?”

Clarke furrowed his brow. “Um. That is a good question,” he acknowledged. He thought about it. “Maybe not, but if we–”

He was interrupted by the sound of a loud scream from down the hall. Julie’s scream.

• In case you missed it, I posted up some statistics for the month last Sunday. It got more response than anticipated.
• Consider voting for Time & Tied again at WebFictionGuide! Votes expire after 7 days, so... yeah, visibility helps.

The last month has been a little crazy. On Sunday, June 26th, I wrote a “Time & Tied” guest post at Jim’s serial site, “Legion of Nothing”. Then on Saturday, July 9th, my third Epsilon story appeared at the top of “Web Fiction Guide”’s main page (it’s still there, towards the bottom). I’ve also had a few votes giving me pings from the “Top Web Fiction” fantasy page (feel free to vote in the above menu).

Having been curious in advance about any possible effect, I’ve been grabbing daily stats screen captures, in the name of research. At this point, we seem to be back to “normal”: less than 15 views per day here, since Monday. So here’s the month (June 25-July 24) in a nutshell.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. Zero comments. Nothing, nada, zero, zip. Arc 3.1 done, and nothing on the blog in the last 30 days. Unless you count the spam remark that got through, which I deleted. Maybe people need to sign up for a WordPress account, and don’t want to? Though no emails either. No idea why people are staying, or aren’t staying. All I have is my statistics captures.

Okay, there has been some external feedback, which I will get to, but if people aren’t saying anything here, what HAVE they been doing on this site? Let’s get into it.

INTERPRETING THE HITS

It looks like I might have FOUR readers who archive binged. Hello! Feel free to introduce yourselves. One person caught up on June 28th, the next on July 4th (though they may have only read Books 1&2 and not continued), the next on July 7th, and the latest on July 16th. In all cases it seemed to take only two days. June 28th is a curious one - someone might have read the entire T&T archive then, or they might have read to Part 27 even as the person who got that far on the 26th continued reading.

This brings up the question of where people are cutting OUT, and not reading any more. Someone cut out around Part 27, implying they read Book 1, peeked into Book 2, and decided this wasn’t for them. (The June 26/28 case above.) Someone who started on June 30th got as far as Part 34 a few days later, and dropped it. I can’t figure that one out, it’s not a natural stopping point, maybe the Julie family thing was a trigger?

Two people dropped the story at Part 10. One person at Part 8, another at Part 7, four people at Part 4, and everybody else gave up after 1 or 2 parts. “Everybody else” being the 77 other hits that Part 1 received since June 26th.

It’s a bit tricky to tell if anyone simply picked up at “Book 3” (Part 48) with no backstory, but “The Visionaries”, Part 51 from over a week ago, has only 9 views. So between the 4 new readers (above), the 4-5 I think I already had, and past experience, I’m going with “no”.

As far as my “Epsilon” interactive fiction is concerned, forget about it. Out of 55 views this month, only ONE person read past Part 1, and they only went to Part 4. Granted, they’re the ones coming from “WebFictionGuide”, who haven’t seen a prior sample of my writing like Jim’s group did. Before I get deep into referrals, here’s an amusing screen capture from late in the afternoon on Sat. July 9th, where you can see exactly who came from where.

INTERPRETING THE REFERRALS

At noon on June 26th, when my post went live on Jim’s site, I had zero views for the prior 12 hours, and my June 2016 total was clawing its way to 200, which would have made it the second worst month of the year. Instead, June would finish with 486 views, my best month ever, and July has already pushed past 600.

Note I’m talking views there, not visitors. My June visitors was 149, thirty better than my previous record (119 in April). July is at roughly the same number right now. The surge from Jim’s site in late June was likely duplicated by the WFG entry earlier this month. The highest visitor counts were: 21 on Mon June 27, then 20 on Tue June 28, then 18 on July 10th (after I went up on WFG). All other daily visitor counts are below 15.

Jim’s site, “Legion of Nothing”, gave me 47 referrals in just the first week. The second week had 9 referrals, and by July 13th I was starting to see consecutive days with no arrivals from his site. At present, we’re looking at a total of 68 people (possibly double counting any who clicked in twice). At least two of the new readers must be from his site.

“Web Fiction Guide” listings gave me a total of 57 referrals over the month, four of them “Time & Tied”, the rest “Full Scale Invasion” links (that, as said, no one continued with beyond Part 4). So nothing stuck there, nor with the 10 referrals from various “WFG” forum posts.

I also got 9 referrals from “Top Web Fiction: Fantasy” which is kind of exciting. At one point “Time & Tied” had 4 votes there (well, 3 + 1 was mine) which allowed it to be visible (near the bottom). It’s theoretically possible that the complete archive readers July 3rd and July 15th came from TWP and not Jim’s site, but I have no way of knowing.

In the “Miscellaneous” category, I got 3 referrals from Graves’ serial; I hadn’t realized L.E. Erickson had linked me, so go check that serial out. Also 1 referral from RedWood Crossing, and 1 from one of my other blogs. Then 12 from Twitter, 9 from Facebook (T&T has a page with 9 likes), 6 referrals from random Google Searches (most unknown, one was “principal tt2”), 4 from WordPress dashboards/readers, 1 from “mail” (the link is in my .sig) and 1 from “feedreader”.

Here’s a screen capture of views over the last month:

INTERPRETING THE FEEDBACK

While there’s nothing “on site”, I have heard things. Like a friend at the math camp I went to last week said that if someone is subscribed in a reader (like feedly), I’ll get no notifications here at all. I also have 7 WordPress followers (wait, 8 - hello chryskelly!), two of which joined in the last 30 days (plus one in the last 24 hours). I admit I have no idea how any of that factors into anything.

Of interest, I also discovered at that math camp that Hedge had been reading my interactive fiction, and doing her own personal vote considerations, which blew me away. Also Justin Aion said that my T&T story was interesting, another a pleasant surprise. And I had a conversation with John Golden, who has been with me for a while. He’s fond of Chartreuse, like me, also likes Frank (though noted he wasn’t around as much later), and as to Carrie he’s warming up to her though didn’t like her initially. Which John feels was part of the point, and yes. I’m big on redemption arcs.

Outside of those 3 “in person” talks, ChrysKelly made a comment over on Jim’s site at my guest post. Seemingly another Chartreuse-style fan, she noted the entry was confusing until you really get that it’s a time travel story. Valid. Elsewhere, on the WFG forums in the thread “Clever/Funny Lines?” I posted an excerpt from “The Visionaries” (the Queue & Eh session), to which Walter said “That’s hilarious”. So that’s good. And Scott Delahunt (my beta) has continued to campaign for me, sharing my FB posts and RTing my updates.

That’s it. To date, of 52 entries, the only T&T posts with actual comments (not counting Commentaries like this one) are Part 21, Part 36 and Part 37, all by John Golden last year. Which makes this serial a massive failure as compared to “Full Scale Invasion” where TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE actually commented on ONE post (I know, right?!) within the first month. On the other hand, no one who started “FSI” this month actually continued with it, whereas four who started “T&T” caught up.

A good question that Sonal raised with me on my personal blog is why “feedback” on something already published in a post is of any use. Just to give a sense of that, there’s two relatively major changes I’ve made thanks to two reviews I got at WFG. The first review was by Billy Higgins Peery VERY early on, mentioning the main character was a horrible, selfish person. So, despite me already losing him, going forwards I muted some of Carrie’s edges and bumped her ‘redemption’ arc back from Part 23 (end of Book 1) into Part 21. The other review was by MaddiRose, which indirectly convinced me to put better ‘breaks’ into earlier chapters, so it’s more clear when I’m changing Point Of View.

I… don’t know what else to do. I mean, the majority of this thing is written, so it’s mostly editorial tweaks like that which are at stake, but even Mark Dittmer’s tweet from reading Part 42 stand-alone and wondering about there being a “Carrie” and a “Corry” was illuminating. Are the names too similar? ARE THEY? Or if you’ve read from the start, is it okay? Does any of it matter??

Maybe I just need to stop going to other serial sites where there are occasional comments, it’s depressing.

WRAPUP

In summary, Jim said LoN gets 2000-4000 page views and 300-600 users most days. So at best, I pulled in maybe 5% of his viewers, and maybe 5% of those I got stuck around. (5% of 5% being 0.3%, or about 2 people. It presumes the same 600 users each day, but then again maybe all 4 readers came from Jim over two days.) In the past, I’ve picked up a single reader from Maddirose’s review (my previous best day before June 27/28), and that’s about it.

I guess, all I can think is, if you have been enjoying this thing, maybe tell someone?? I suspect comments beget more comments, but that’s supposition. It’s also possible I’m being too self conscious, or have self esteem issues. I’m still KINDA planning to write a T&T Book 5 with a bunch of new characters, but maybe I should write something else instead? Time travel doesn’t seem to fly. That said, we’re stuck with it for at least the rest of this year, I’m no quitter. Plus I need to keep 9 people entertained.

Thanks for reading! Oh, I now have two 2016 dimes to go with my loonie and quarter, and hey, the fact that such an event still makes me grin means something.

3.05: TOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

“Okay, wait, stop, hold the phone!” Carrie shouted, clawing herself back up using the bedsheets. “First things first. You’re telling me this Tope Diamond wasn’t some jewellery, but rather a person?!”

“Yeah, who knew?” Chartreuse replied. “She was heir to the Diamond diamond fortune. Of course, her mother Mother Diamond’s diamonds weren’t from the Dullsville Diamond Mine. They were mining coal instead.”

Carrie stared blankly at her house guest.

“Never mind,” Chartreuse decided. “Here’s the thing. Some people wanted to kidnap Tope and ransom her back for Diamond diamonds. Hence we Vermilions were, you know, asked to help in taking Tope someplace safe.”

“All right,” Carrie said slowly. “Assuming I followed that, when did this turn into a love story?”

Chartreuse blushed. “Right after my eyes locked with Tope’s.”

“Right after your eyes locked with Tope’s,” Carrie repeated back. “Chartreuse, this IS a girl we’re talking about here, right?”

“Yes. But when I was fourteen, I was, like, bisexual. In fact, I’m pretty sure I still am.” Chartreuse swallowed. “I guess that’s never come up. I don’t advertise. Does it bother you? Do you want me to go?”

Carrie thought about it for a moment. “No, you can date whoever you like. Though I can’t help but notice that this Tope Diamond does bear some resemblance to me.”

“Yeah. My sister’s remarked on that,” Chartreuse admitted. “Which is partly why she’s teasing me lately, what with you coming over. But of course, Tope’s hair was, like, longer, her skin was paler and she, you know, smiled more.”

“Ah,” Carrie said. “Just so long as this Tope doesn’t have odd temporal powers too. Because if you were writing me in, I’d have to stop listening.”

“No, no, Tope only had power over my heart,” the pink haired girl said, following the comment with another dreamy sigh.

Carrie’s eyebrow twitched. “Chartreuse, is this Tope about to convince you to use your powers and save the day?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Chartreuse accused. “I’ll have you know that I did NOT, like, use my powers during the trip. What happened next was Mom rode with the agents up front, Dad and Azure followed in our car, and I, you know, went with Tope in the camper unit itself.”

"So you can, like, see the future, and stuff?" Tope said, wide eyed.  “Ohmigod, that is so cool, you know?”

Chartreuse shrugged as she finished dying the last few locks of her hair. "I can, but I'm not doing it any more," she said. “It's what I said, and I'm sticking by it. My Mom can consult her spiritual advisors to help in choosing a route for us instead." She put her bottle of 'Quik-Dye' back in her backpack. "Now, I have to ask... has anyone ever told you that you have the most beautiful blue eyes in the world?"

Tope blushed. "Usually just, like, guys who, you know, want my money or my virginity or stuff. So I just tell them, 'yeah, right, as if!' and they, you know, totally get the picture." She paused. "When you say it though, it feels different. Did you totally, like, mean that?"

“Of course I did," the taupe haired girl said softly. "There's something about you, your look, your voice, your perfume - it's making my senses go crazy! I... I can't believe I'm about to say this, Tope, but I've wanted to be close to you ever since the moment I saw you. Would you allow me to kiss you?"

“What? Me, kissed by a girl??” Tope squeaked. "Ewww! That's like... like... well, okay, I guess I don't know what that's like. Hmmm. Gee, now you've got me totally curious. Very well, Chartreuse. You may kiss me!"

Chartreuse could feel her heart hammering in her chest as she moved in closer to that long flowing hair, those blue eyes, those luscious red lips... instinctively, she moved her arms out to encircle Tope's waist. Tope Diamond looked up at her then with another shy smile, draping her own arms over Chartreuse's shoulders, her perfume intoxicating her lover's senses as their eyes closed and...

“Um, but you, like, totally don’t need to hear that part of the story,” Chartreuse realized, cutting herself off with a cough.

“Chartreuse, were you two about to make out??” Carrie said, wide-eyed.

“We just, like, became distracted. Now, outside…”

“Oh my God, you did! You made out!”

“We got distracted!”

“When you were fourteen, you made out with a girl you’d just met? That’s… that’s… what the hell is that about?!”

The pink haired girl flushed. “Carrie, don’t fixate. Youth is for experimentation. Besides, must I, like, get into some the guys you’ve, you know, made out with? On a first date, no less?”

The blonde paused. She supposed she had gone to some questionable lengths in her first few years of high school, to get favours done for herself or for Julie. “Ugh. Fine.”

“So we got distracted,” Chartreuse repeated stubbornly. “As such we, you know, totally didn’t realize the battle was going on until the door kinda blew in.”

"Ohmigod! What was that?" Chartreuse gasped, poking her head out from around the drapes surrounding the camper bed.

"Oh, that was, like, sooooo good...! Do it again...!"

"No, shhhhhh, something's happened! The camper’s not moving and the door is gone!" hissed the taupe haired girl.

Tope's head appeared next to Chartreuse's, a hand raking her long blonde hair back out of her eyes. "Whoa," she murmured. "The Peeping Toms in this area totally don't fool around, yeah?”

"Stay here.” Chartreuse ducked back behind the drapes for a couple of seconds, then jumped out, finishing buttoning up her blouse. "I'll check it out." She reached back into her backpack, pulling out a medium sized relaxation crystal.

The taupe haired mystic crept cautiously towards the door. Moments before reaching it, a man in a grey pinstripe suit stepped in, wielding a tommy gun and smoking a cigar. "All right, me and my boys, we're taking over now, see?" the man said with a thick Brooklyn accent. "So if youse want to just toss that crystal aside and get your hands up, we can be through here nice and peaceful-like."

Chartreuse blinked at the man, glanced down at the crystal in her hand, then proceeded to toss it at him with all the strength she could muster. Caught by surprise, it smacked him in the middle of his forehead and he went down like a sack of wet rocks. The taupe haired girl quickly grabbed the gangster's gun and scrambled past him to glance out the camper's doorway.

The stretch of road they were on was currently deserted - with some notable exceptions. To the right, Chartreuse saw an attack squad of ninjas surrounding her father. Straight ahead, a number of old west gunslingers were facing off against her mother. And to the left, a bunch of Scotsmen with bagpipes were advancing on her sister. Agents Queue and Eh were on the ground unconscious.

"Are you ready to die?" one of the ninjas was saying, his words not quite syncing up with his lips.

"I'm sorry to say that I'm not ready just yet," Hugh Vermilion replied. Then with a yell of 'Aiiiiiiieeeee!' he leapt up into the air and took out a handful of his assailants with a seemingly impossible horizontal spin kick.

"Draw!" one of the cowboys shouted out.

"No!" Amber Vermilion retorted defiantly.

"Fine," the gunslinger said, whipping out his own gun.  Yet even as he did so, a beam of light rose from the small hilt Amber had in her hand. The amber beam neatly deflected the incoming bullet away, and she continued to deftly manipulate her light sword in order to avoid the other bullets which followed.

"About time you decided to help!" Azure shouted accusingly at her sister, drawing Chartreuse's attention to her.

"Ach, there be none who can help ye now, young 'un!" said one of the kilted men. "We'll deafen ye an' take our prize!"

"Oh brother," Azure sighed. She pulled out the small pendant she wore around her neck and shouted out, "Release!" The small key expanded to form a long staff, which Azure then spun about in her hands while she simultaneously withdrew a card from her pocket, tossing it in front of her. "Fight Card!" Azure called out. The magic circle of Clow Reed appeared around her as she tapped the staff on the card. "Release and--"

“Oh, no, wait a minute,” Chartreuse said, furrowing her brow. “I’m getting Azure’s card powers mixed up with one of those classic Japanese anime shows Laurie likes to watch.”

“Chartreuse, I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of other wires crossing here too.”

“Maybe I should, you know, skip the fight scene, it was all a little hazy,” Chartreuse decided. “Is that okay, Carrie?”

“Fine by me,” the blonde said, rolling her eyes. “In fact, I never thought I’d say this, but I preferred the love story.”

“Yeah… Tope totally catches one’s eye, doesn’t she?” Chartreuse sighed, clasping her hands.

“That’s not what I… look, never mind. Are we nearly done here?” Carrie inquired. “Because I feel another massive headache coming on.”

“Actually, yes, almost,” Chartreuse said. “Because, see, this is where things get particularly poignant. For it was while we were defeating our many enemies on the one side of the camper, that a group of midgets in trenchcoats broke in through the other side and successfully kidnapped Tope Diamond! My one true love had been taken from me! So I resolved to use my powers again, in order to locate Tope and get her back.”

"Are you sure you can do this? After all, an accurate read of her near future will require particular knowledge of Tope," Hugh Vermilion reminded his daughter. "Did you get some in the time you were together?"

“Yeah. More than you think," Chartreuse muttered, trying to dispel the afterimages of Tope's gentle caresses. She set the last stone in front of her and closed her eyes.

“Remember not to push yourself too hard dear,” Amber reminded. "The forces have a way of drawing you in, if you let your guard down."

"Yes, mom," Chartreuse sighed, already sinking into the deep meditative state required as she focused on Tope and where the beautiful blonde was going to be taken. "Ohm, ohm, oh my... spirits from beyond, show me what is to come!"

Almost immediately her eyes snapped open, unseeing, as her spirit form left her and centred in on Tope's immediate future. She saw a warehouse. Chartreuse flickered through the wall to verify, and sure enough, there was Tope, being tied up to a chair.

"You total idiots!" Tope was saying, her voice somewhat distorted due to the vision. "You were, like, only supposed to threaten to take me, not, you know, actually do it! I mean, do you have any clue what you interrupted?! There was, like, this really hot girl and we were totally working our way towards a..."

Sixty-nine, that was the number listed on the warehouse. Dullsville Warehouse No. 69. Chartreuse had the information she needed, and a part of her warned that it was time to return to the present. Yet what was Tope saying, had she been a part of the original conspiracy? Surely not! Still, the idea made Chartreuse hesitate long enough for the vision to pull her onwards, further into the future.

"Okay, I, like, admit it, I totally screwed up," Tope said, her head bowed. "I'm sorry, Mom. I just wanted, well, a little adventure in my life. It was so totally dull here in Dullsville! I never, like, thought things would go so, you know, wacky."

'No, Tope, say it isn't so!' Chartreuse thought. 'You set this whole life threatening affair in motion?!' She tried to get a clearer read on where she was now, but the light reflections from the diamonds Mother Diamond was wearing were interfering with her sight. She couldn't tune into the conversation properly while trying to orient herself either, so she strained her ears to hear what was being said instead.

"...totally learned my lesson," came Tope's voice again. "I won't, you know, bother the government any more. Anyway, people out in the world are so, like, weird! It's a good thing I didn't, you know, get attached to any of them. Well, except the one."

Chartreuse felt her heart jump. 'Which one? Me?' she wondered. The vision began to melt away. 'No, no, I have to know more!' Chartreuse thought desperately. And there was more. The lure was there, the path to the final outcome of this sequence of events... and since Tope was apparently going to be rescued, what was the harm in looking?

She was in a church. Chartreuse's breath caught in her throat. A twentysomething Tope Diamond stood before her, absolutely radiant in her white wedding dress. "I, like, do," Tope said quietly before turning to smile happily at the person standing beside her. Chartreuse shifted her gaze in that direction as well. Knowing full well that this information would be too much for her, yet she was unable to stop herself.

The man wearing the black tuxedo and dark sunglasses looked back at Tope. "Eh?" he said.

Chartreuse fell over the cliff.

 

"SNAP OUT OF IT ALREADY!" Azure's voice screamed.

Chartreuse felt like she'd been pulled back into her body by an elastic band. She blinked her eyes a few times, only to realize she couldn't see. "Ohmigod, I'm, like, blind!" Chartreuse gasped out.

"Chartreuse?!?" Azure yanked the two jokers off of her sister's eyes.

"Ow! Oh, that's, you know, totally better," Chartreuse said. She glanced around only to find that she was seated in the middle of the coffee table back at their home, surrounded by several houses made of cards, arranged in a pentagram shape.

A lock of her hair was swinging in front of her face. Chartreuse reached out to grab it. "Say, when did I, like, dye my hair orange-violet-silver-fushia-green-taupe-candycane-cyan?"

"I did it! Oh thank goodness, I did it and it worked!" Azure said, reaching out to grab Chartreuse in a bear hug.

Chartreuse patted her sister uncertainly. "Um, yeah!" she agreed. "Though I think, I've, you know, missed something. What happened with, like, Tope Diamond?"

Azure pulled back. “Oh, that? I was able to get a reading of the past from the fedora that one gangster was wearing," she explained. "It was left behind in the camper. Seems he'd been recruited for the mission exactly one week ago by this con, Venient Plotwist. Mom got the location of Venient's warehouse from one of his recent victims, then Dad organized a strike force to retrieve Tope."

"Oh," Chartreuse said, nonplussed. "Then I was, like, no help at all. I totally messed up."

"Ayup," Azure affirmed. "That's what you get for mixing business with pleasure."

Chartreuse coughed. "Um, pleasure? Like, what pleasure?"

Azure rolled her eyes. "Sis, please. It’s taken me five days to restore your consciousness to the state it was in back in the past, before you zonked out. And the vibes between you and Tope were so strong that at first, I couldn't even isolate the two of you! Even now, I think there’s been some leakage... I mean, have you noticed you're talking like some valley girl here?”

"Like, what?" Chartreuse said in surprise. "Oh, that's, you know, totally ridiculous." She paused, reaching up to hold her throat. "Like, no way. I mean, like, no way. No, I said, like... ohmigod, I totally can't stop!"

"I am genuinely sorry," Azure said sadly. "But it was either that, or have my sister become a table centrepiece for the rest of her life."

Chartreuse tapped her throat again gently before letting out a sigh. "It's, like, okay. It wasn't, you know, your fault," she murmured. "Though, wait, did you say it's been five days?!"

Azure nodded. "We've explained your disappearance by saying you're off with Mom at Aunt Fluffy's funeral. It's kinda tragic, she died saving this kid. Seems a tree was going to fall on him, but she pushed him out of the way."

"My vision," Chartreuse realized. "Oh, wow. You mean, if I'd tried to stop it, some innocent child would be, you know, dead instead? I never saw that part!"

"I guess. All I care about is that you're back!” Azure said, giving Chartreuse another quick hug before moving to retrieve some of the playing cards on the table. "I mean, without you, who would I have to annoy?"

"I'm, like, touched," the orange-violet-silver-fushia-green-taupe-candycane-cyan haired girl said. She paused to pull at a lock of her hair again. "Though seriously, what is it with all these shades??"

"Oh, I wasn't sure if your frequent hair colour changes would impair my abilities to home in on your past self," Azure said. “So I redyed it. I mean, if you WERE going to be a centrepiece, this way we'd at least have a colourful one."

Chartreuse frowned. "You know, I'd totally have a good retort for that, if it weren't for one thing."

“Oh? What?"

“The fact that this experience has, you know, turned my stomach inside out," Chartreuse said, lurching off the coffee table and sprinting for the nearest bathroom.

Carrie stared at her companion in silence for a short while.

“So, that’s it?” Carrie said at last.

“Yup,” Chartreuse confirmed back. “Understand now?”

Carrie passed a hand in front of her eyes. “Chartreuse,” she began. “Couldn’t you have summed up that WHOLE STORY by simply telling me, ‘I once had a vision of my aunt’s death, but it turned out that she was saving someone else in the process, so it’s good that I didn’t try to prevent it’??”

“Of course not! You, like, miss all the nuances that way!”

Carrie threw herself back onto her bed with a groan. “Chartreuse,” she repeated with exaggerated patience. “I have been lying here all weekend, unable to keep down any food, with my insides feeling like they’re stuck in a vice, all because there is some part of me that now feels like it can twist free and display home movies of death and destruction in my mind. Movies that I can’t control, and that I can’t shut off.

“The ONE HOPE I’ve been trying to hold onto, is that if I experience another vision, I can FORCE myself into doing something to change the outcome. And yet now you’re telling me that, by making such a change, I could cause events to be even worse than they otherwise would be?!”

There was another protracted silence.

“You didn’t understand then,” Chartreuse concluded.

“I understand that you have a weird family.”

“No, listen,” Chartreuse insisted. “You experienced an unsettling vision of the future. I get that. But now that you’ve, you know, worked through any physical discomfort, it’s time for us to deal with the mental side of things. Because even though you can’t always control your powers, you can’t let them control you either. If you do, you won’t see something you could have seen, like me with Tope’s kidnappers. Or you’ll, like, push yourself until you see something you’re not meant to see, as I did with Tope’s wedding.”

“Gee, thanks Chartreuse. What other option IS there, aside from me being in control, or my powers being in control?!”

“Isn’t that obvious?” the mystic replied. “Find the balance. Life goes on, Carrie. You can’t obsess over everything these weird forces throw at you, or you’ll never be able to enjoy yourself. Trust me, I know. All too well.”

The pink haired girl smiled sadly, then began to back away, towards the bedroom door. “Anyway, I’ve probably overstayed my welcome. So I’m gonna, you know, head back home. But I hope you feel a bit better? I am looking forward to our next session! See you in school tomorrow, okay?”

With that, Chartreuse slipped back out of Carrie’s bedroom.

Carrie listened as her guest headed downstairs, said goodbye to her father, and then left the house. She continued to lie quietly on her bed for several long minutes before finally standing and moving to look at herself in the mirror.

“Find the balance?”

Carrie dragged her hair back off her forehead and pursed her lips. “Because I have been letting my fears of the future get the best of me,” she realized. “Worse, I’ve been doing it for months. No wonder it feels like my head is trapped in a washing machine stuck on spin. Thank you, Chartreuse.”

She turned away from her reflection. It was very clear what she had to do now. Namely get Frank to explain to her about setting the time machine, so that she could travel back to her last birthday. To have that talk with herself about Chartreuse. If nothing else, it would be one less future event for her to be concerned about.

Wait, hadn’t Frank already been by this weekend? Carrie marched out onto the upstairs landing. “Hey, Dad?” she called out.

“Yes, Carrie?” she heard him call from the bottom of the stairs. “Are you feeling better?”

“I think so. What’s been happening this weekend, anyone leaving messages for me?”

“Someone named Glen called for you twice,” her father said. “And Frank and Luci dropped by. Actually, Frank seemed more nervous than usual, and when he heard you were ill, he asked me if any knives had been flying through the air. I’m not sure what he meant by that.”

Carrie’s eyebrow twitched. “It means my first call today will be to Luci instead,” she decided, before spinning on her heel and heading back into her room. It was time to get their time travel group back together.

• End Arc 3.1 - next Arc begins next week!
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3.04: THE VISIONARIES

“Luci! Guess what I got today!” Frank said as he opened the door for his girlfriend.

“The popcorn?” the young asian guessed, entering the Dijora house and looking at him in amusement. “I mean, that was our arrangement, you get the popcorn, I get the movie…”

“Yes, yes, but look what I received in the way of change,” Frank said, fumbling in his pocket for the money. He held six coins out for inspection.

Luci stared. “They… overcharged you?”

“The dates,” Frank said patiently. “Look at the dates.”

Comprehension dawned. “Oh! Two more from the current year."

“Yup,” Frank affirmed as he pocketed them. “It’s weird, for whatever reason, we haven’t had as many recently minted coins in circulation this year. I don’t know why, but it could be a problem for when we resume time trips.”

“When? Not if? But Carrie hasn’t authorized more time trips.”

“Well, no,” Frank admitted. “But she can’t hold out indefinitely, can she? In particular, now that she’s gone out with Glen, we may want to use the time machine to investigate…”

“OKAY, stopping that train of thought before it leaves the station,” Luci interrupted. “No Glen tonight. Movie tonight. Yes?”

“Yes, right,” Frank agreed. “What did you find?” Luci smirked as she held up the casing. Frank’s eyebrow went up as he read it. “Stephen King’s ‘Carrie’?,” he questioned. Luci nodded.

Sunday afternoon found Chartreuse ringing the doorbell at the Waterson residence. Carrie’s father answered it for her moments later. “Um, hi!” she began. “Is Carrie in? I think we, like, have something that we need to talk about.”

Hank Waterson shook his head. “She is here, but she’s not feeling very well. Could you come back another day?”

Chartreuse pursed her lips. “I could. Except I think I know what her problem is, why she’s been so, you know, withdrawn all weekend. And I think I can help.”

“Really?” Hank said. “What’s wrong? I know she doesn’t have a fever, but it seems to be more than an upset stomach…”

“It’s related to our weekly sessions,” Chartreuse hedged. “Can I please talk to her?”

“She refuses to speak with anyone. Insisting only aggravates her - I had to turn away both Frank and Luci when they came by. In fact, it’s all I can do to get her to say anything to me.”

“Carrie doesn’t have to speak to me, only listen,” Chartreuse pleaded. “Please, Mr. Waterson? I know what I’m talking about.”

“Well… all right. Come in,” Hank Waterson decided, moving aside. “I do hate to see my daughter like this and I’m at a bit of a loss as to a solution. You sure she won’t mind seeing you?”

“Go away!” Carrie shouted through her bedroom door.

“Carrie, hear me out!” Chartreuse protested. “You’re upset because of the fire at the cafe, right?”

No reply. Chartreuse knew she was right. The pink haired girl motioned with her hands for Carrie’s father to depart.

He looked at his daughter’s door, then back at her. “Call me if she starts throwing things,” Mr. Waterson said at last, before heading back downstairs.

“Look, I understand some of what you’re going through,” Chartreuse continued, once she was alone. “I’d like to tell you a story about the time my abilities caused trouble in my life too. Can’t I, like, say it to your face?”

Nothing.

“Fine, I’ll talk through the door,” Chartreuse continued stubbornly. “It all started three years ago, when I was fourteen. I’d received a disturbing vision. It was a vision of death…”

"There has to be something we can do!" Chartreuse said desperately, nibbling on a lock of her violet coloured hair. "I don't want Fluffy to die! Not like that!!"

Her mother sat down on the bed next to her. "I'm sorry, Chartreuse," she said softly. "We can warn her, but I'm not sure she'd understand us. Fluffy's always enjoyed playing in traffic, it was just a matter of time."

"But... but it's not right!" Chartreuse objected. "Can't she be kept in her house? Can't we prevent things that way?"

"She'd find a way out," Mrs. Vermilion sighed. "You know her, she's sneaky that way. There are some things you can stop, Chartreuse, and other things that are inevitable. You have to let this one go, dear. Fluffy's death is meant to happen."

"But Mom, she's your own sister-in-law!" the violet haired girl sobbed. "If this is what it means to see the future, I don't want to see it any more!"

"Chartreuse, she may have married your uncle, but me and Fluffy weren't that close," her mother insisted. "Now, please, try to work through this. You can take all the time you need."

“Hold it!” Carrie interrupted. The lock clicked, and the door of her bedroom opened a crack. “Are you telling me Fluffy was your aunt?!”

“Yes,” Chartreuse sighed. “It was so horrible. She died when a tree fell on her.”

Carrie glared at Chartreuse with one eye. “You’re making this up.”

“I am not!” Chartreuse said indignantly. “Our other aunt, Emerald, was quite broken up about it! I think maybe my Mom was too, but of course since she can see, like, astral projections, she could still talk to Fluffy after her sister-in-law’s death.”

“But… if a tree fell on Fluffy, what did playing in traffic have to do with anything?”

“If Fluffy hadn’t been in the road, the tree would have, you know, missed her,” Chartreuse said patiently. “Now, are you going to keep asking questions, or can I continue my story?”

Carrie hesitated, which Chartreuse took to be a yes.

"All right, Chartreuse," Mr. Vermilion said, entering the room. "I'm sorry, but we can't afford to give you any more time to grieve."

"But Dad, it's been less than an hour!” the orange haired girl wailed. "Can't I at least--"

“Stop! You said your hair was violet a minute ago,” Carrie interrupted again.

“Did I?”

“You did! How can it be orange less than an hour later?”

“Maybe you, like, misheard me through the door. Can I come into your bedroom already?”

Carrie glared at Chartreuse again before finally opening the door wide enough to allow the other girl inside. “Thank you,” Chartreuse said. “Ooh, you have a nice room here, Carrie. Nice pyjamas too.”

“Don’t try and change the subject,” Carrie said, closing the door and moving to lie back down on her bed. “Now, skip to the part where your story has something to do with the fire I was in.”

“Oh… were you actually in the cafe when your vision occurred?” Chartreuse said. “I didn’t realize. Maybe this isn’t the most appropriate story after all.”

Carrie sat back up. “I knew it! You’ve been making it up.”

“No way!!” Chartreuse objected. “You want to know what, like, happened next?”

“Okay,” Carrie retorted. “What happened next?”

"Honey, I'm sorry," Mr. Vermilion said. "But we may need you to use your abilities--"

"I'm not ever using them again!" Chartreuse countered. "I'm renouncing my powers! I don't wanna know anything more about what might be happening around me!"

"But the Prime Minister of Canada has a very important job for us to do," her father insisted. "Won't you at least listen to what he has to say?"

The orange haired girl eyed him. “Well... all right, I'll listen. But I won't do anything I don’t want to!”

"That's my girl," Mr. Vermilion said with a smile. He reached out to twist the bedknob on his daughter's bed, which caused the mirror on the vanity to rotate 90 degrees. The two of them jumped into the tunnel now visible behind the mirror, sliding down a chute and falling into the couch at the bottom. Mrs. Vermilion looked over and smiled at them as she reached out and clicked on a small remote. A large wall screen lit up with an image of Jean Chretien.

"'Allos!" the Prime Minister said. "As I was saying, I am having a very important jobs for you Vermoothians!"

“CHARTREUSE!!!”

“Oh, what now?”

Carrie pressed a hand to her forehead. “You expect me to believe ANY of that actually took place?!?”

Chartreuse sighed. “Fine, I didn’t give in quite that easily, but I’m, like, embellishing a bit in the interests of time. Do you really want me to go into every little detail?”

“That’s… not my problem! What about all that other stuff? With the bedknob, the chute and Chretien?!”

“Oh, that! See, I was going through this secret agent phase, which is partly why I kept re-dying my hair. My parents were nice enough to humour me by doing some, you know, remodelling. As to Chretien, we, like, have a filter set up so that all communications coming in from the Houses of Parliament look and sound like Chretien, no matter who the Prime Minister actually is. Jean was my dad’s favourite prime minister, you know, even if the guy could never pronounce our family name properly.”

Carrie stared. “Chartreuse. This is a stretch. Even for you.”

“Well, whether you believe it or not, that doesn’t change what, like, happened!” Chartreuse said petulantly. “Now, are you going to listen to me, or are you going to interrupt every five seconds?”

“Fine, fine.  Continue the story,” Carrie sighed.

The image of Jean Chretien cleared his throat. "So's if you Verminions could handles dat little problem for me, da government would be grateful. Until da next times!" His image clicked off the monitor.

"I can't believe that guy won even one election," eleven year old Azure muttered from her own seat on the couch. Her father shot her a look of annoyance.

“That's beside the point,” Mrs. Vermilion stated. “Now then Hugh, how do you figure we should handle things?"

Mr. Vermilion stood. "Well Amber, the best way to protect this Tope Diamond while it's en route would be to choose what seems to be the safest path, and then have Chartreuse tell us if she foresees any impending danger. If she does, we can change our plans and try another reading."

"Good!" Azure said, standing up. "Then you don't need MY ability!"

"Wait, I'm not helping out here!" Chartreuse protested, also rising. "Have you forgotten that I was only here to listen? My powers are still renounced!"

Azure blinked over at her sister. "Really? You finally came to your senses? What caused the sudden turnaround?"

"It's personal," Chartreuse said, crossing her arms.

“Don't be an idiot," Azure countered. "If you don't tell me, I'll simply go scrying into your past and find out for myself!"

Chartreuse turned her back on the blue haired girl.

Rolling her eyes, Azure pulled a deck of cards out of a pocket of her jeans. She closed her eyes, murmuring a quick incantation as she shuffled, before dealing eight cards out onto the coffee table. She then flipped over the next card, the ace of spades. "A vision and a death," Azure mumbled, after a cursory examination.

She proceeded to cut the deck and turn over the top card, which listed upon it the rules for playing draw poker. Her eyes went wide. "Oh no, Auntie Em! Uncle Henry! And their little dog too!"

"Emerald and her family will be fine, Azure," her mother soothed. "The imminent death Chartreuse foresaw was Aunt Fluffy's."

"Oh, right. I knew that," Azure said, gathering her cards back up.

Chartreuse stamped her foot on the floor. "How can you all take that news so casually?!" she said angrily. "This is a human life we're talking about! And you haven't even given me an hour to deal with that yet!"

"Chartreuse, people die every day," her mother soothed. "I know, because I've seen a lot of them after it happened. We're not being cruel, dear, it's simply that we accept death as being a part of life."

"Besides," her father chimed in. "Even if you don't actively use your abilities, you'll still get flashes and pick up random impressions from people. Isn't that right, dear?"

"It is," Amber Vermilion confirmed.

"I don't care!" the orange haired girl said. “I’ll be a hermit if I have to! I don't care about my powers, I don't care about this Tope Diamond, and I will not be bribed with a peach sundae, so Mom, put that money back in your purse!"

Amber replaced the bills, abashed.

"You go, girl!" Azure said. "Don't be fooled by the old 'just this one time, it's so important to the general population' trick either. I cannot BELIEVE we keep falling for that..."

"This IS important to the general population though," Hugh Vermilion pointed out. "After all, most people have never heard of the Tope Diamond's existence. But they will, unless we can get it safely to the required destination!"

"Would it be so bad if they did find out?" Chartreuse challenged.

"We can't know that until we see this Diamond for ourselves," her father replied. "There's no school tomorrow, so how about we all travel to Dullsville to check it out? A day trip. A family outing!"

"Oh no, this is how it starts," Azure moaned.

"It will also give you more time to come to grips with what you've seen, dear," Chartreuse's mother added. "I mean, you don't want to make any hasty decisions tonight.”

"Don't listen to them, sis, don't listen!"

"We can always have peach sundaes for dinner tonight too," Hugh finished. "Though if we spend much more time arguing, I won't have a chance to get to the stores before they close."

The orange haired girl shifted her weight back and forth uncertainly. "Well... all right, I'll go, but I still won't use my powers," she decided.

"You traitor!" Azure shouted. "You know I can't stay here all by myself!"

"Oh come on, sweetie, it'll be fun," Amber said, reaching out to hug her youngest daughter. "We'll have some blueberry ice cream tonight as well, how about that?"

Azure made a face. “FINE,” she decided. "I'll be bribed, but I won't like it."

“I can skip ahead now, right? I mean, you’re not, like, interested in the dinner itself are you?”

“Chartreuse, I’m not really interested in any of this,” Carrie mumbled. “You’ve gone from the ludicrous to the bizarre, and none of it has any bearing on what’s happened to me.”

“Not that you can see, but wait for it. There is totally a point here,” Chartreuse insisted.

“What, that peach ice cream heals all wounds?”

Chartreuse winced. “Peach sundaes, and can I help that I like them so much? Anyway, they’re, like, not important to the story. Let’s pick up again as we were waiting outside the Diamond Mine in Dullsville the following afternoon. Or that’s what I’m calling the town, anyway. National security, you know how it is.”

Chartreuse fidgeted absently with the ribbons in her fushia hair as she looked around. "Maybe no one'll show," she said.

"We should be so lucky," Azure mumbled.

"Oh, look, here comes someone now!" Amber said brightly.

The Vermilions watched as a camper pulled into the mine site and parked in front of them. Two men wearing dark sunglasses got out, trying to look inconspicuous despite the overcast day. One of them glanced casually about the area as the other stepped forwards. "The strawberries are not yet in season," he remarked.

"Oh, was there a recognition code?" Hugh said, looking troubled.

"No, but this is a good place to pick them in July. My name is Agent Queue."

"Cue as in pool?"

"I don't swim. Queue, for Vowels."

“Ah, four vowels,” Hugh realized.

"Yes, Vowels couldn't make it. Here's my associate Eh, part of the vowel movement."

“Then it's a Queue & Eh session?" Hugh verified.

"How's it going, Eh?" Amber inquired.

"Eh?" the second agent said, turning to them.

"Hearing problem, he takes my cues," Queue noted.

"I thank Queue," Eh said.

"Now, you?" asked Queue.

"Me? Hugh."

"Hugh, with who?"

"My wife Amber."

"Amber's a nice hue," Queue remarked.

“Say what? Amber is Hugh?"

"We are not Hugh, Eh," Amber assured him. "He is Hugh, and these are my daughters Chartreuse and Azure."

"Missed Queue's cue, eh, Eh?" Hugh said.

"Eh," Eh shrugged.

Queue pulled out a sheet. "I'll denote your party the Hue Continuum," he decided. "For simplicity."

"What??"

"Azure, as you're aware, we receive code names," Amber reminded her daughter.

"But why Queue's Hue, I like when you and Hugh pick too!"

"Two won't do, blue," Queue remarked. "Too bad for you."

“Well, sofa Queue!” the blue haired girl retorted.

"Eh?”

"Never mind,” Queue said, waving off his partner. "That language was too colourful. Chartreuse, do you have anything to add?"

"She's beautiful," the fushia haired girl breathed.

Everyone turned to see who it was Chartreuse was referring to. By the door of the camper, there now stood a girl of about fifteen years of age. She wore a small frilly pink dress, white stockings, white shoes, and in her blonde hair there was a violet hairband. Chartreuse's breath caught in her throat as she pictured how that long hair might shimmer in the sun, were there any sun around. However, Chartreuse’s eyes were soon drawn to the enigmatic blonde's blue eyes and shy smile.

"Hello," the strange girl said with a little wave. "I'm, like, Tope Diamond."

Chartreuse sighed happily at the memory.  “And, you know what? It was right then that I knew I wanted this girl to be my wife,” she said dreamily.

Carrie fell off her bed.

• I did a Commentary Post last Sunday, if you missed it. Story continues next week!
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“Time & Tied” PART 48

1. Original Date Of Completion: AUGUST 24, 2015
2. What I Was Doing: Trying to make this serial a thing
3. Changes of note: -Some rephrasing of Elizabeth’s explanation -Added last sentence about time machine use, to lead into 49

“Time & Tied: Power Play” (PART 48.5)

1. Original Date Of Completion: JUNE 20, 2016
2. What I Was Doing: Guest post at “Legion of Nothing”
3. Changes of note: -No time for any; probably should have set the scene better

“Time & Tied” PARTS 49 & 50

1. Original Date Of Completion: JULY 7, 2002
2. What I Was Doing: Summer before Teachers’ College
3. Changes of note: -HUGE change to timeframe: See below -More backstory at the start, for first time readers -Changed end, which originally went briefly to Glen’s POV

CARRIE WATERSON
Commissioned from sabrnyan

THE EARLIER REWRITES

For those who don’t know, I initially started this story in 2000. It’s undergone a lot of edits since then, some larger than others. Here’s the section for non-spoiler stuff.

When I first wrote this part of the story (“Season Two”), it followed right on the heels of Books 1 and 2 (“Season One”). Both in terms of when it was written (July 2002), and in terms of the plot - it began with Semester Two, in February of 2002. Except not 2002? Any year? Basically, my future story now being a few months the past, I stopped putting the date in the header for all Season Two episodes.

A much bigger change, however, is that for the above parts, we’ve jumped to Carrie’s senior year (Grade 12). In September. There are a LOT of reasons for my making that extra seven months time change, among them: -Finding coins for powering the device in February strained credulity -Julie’s situation wrapping up within a couple months strained credulity -Carrie’s birthday in March turned out to be somewhat inconvenient -Building towards an ending involving high school graduation made more sense

That major temporal revision was edited into place in 2014 (after the majority of 2012 and 2013 was spent reviving Season One of this story). Now, doing so didn’t directly impact on Episode 23 (now Parts 49-50), largely because classes would be resuming either way. A byproduct though, is how it opened up a number of prior months where other events could have taken place.

THE NEW EPISODES

Part 48 and 48.5 are very recent. August of 2015 is when I was publishing the climax of “Book 1” onto this site. And wow, was I NOT getting any readers. I’d spent the first part of that summer playing around with “Book 5” - but what was the point in number FIVE if no one was reading number ONE?? I also felt like I needed a stronger entry into Book 2 and Book 3. For Book 2, that became a retooling of the old Pilot Episode. For Book 3, I wrote Part 48.

In the original 2002 version, Carrie had revealed the truth to Chartreuse “over the Christmas break”. In the rewrite, she had talked to Chartreuse “over the summer”. Now, I had a chance to show that decision, rather than tell. Yet I also needed to showcase the time machine. The final piece to click in place for Part 48 was something I continually kick myself over about Part 1… it’s all Carrie, no other main characters. Worse, her actions aren’t enough of a draw.

Hence, we now have a better written part which is all Carrie (and Elizabeth, and Buffy), to set up the situation both with her own powers, and with Chartreuse. I even managed to write it with roughly the same number of words as a regular half episode. I am kind of impressed with myself when I do stuff like that. I hoped that part would finally be something of a draw, which is why I labelled it “3.01” rather than “Part 48”. Based on non-response, I fear it’s not?

“Power Play” (Part 48.5), the guest post at “Legion of Nothing” came about last month. Jim Z was headed camping with his family at the end of June 2016, and he offered to showcase some stories from other authors on his site. Once it occurred to me that I could build on the Chartreuse connection, I plotted, wrote, and sent that episode off to him within a span of 24 hours. I hope it holds up. I think it does?

Jim’s audience broke through the ceiling of 100 views in a single day (from 20 visitors), which had seemed impossible prior to June 27th. Things quickly calmed back down starting off July, then started to seesaw a bit; I may do a stats post later.

One final non-spoilery remark! Parts 49-50 I wrote in MS Word, rather than WordPerfect 5.1 - but I hated Word for flow. There was also the fact that every time I said “cafe”, it would correct the “e” to have an accent - which back in text format became caf?. So I stopped using Word. See this prior commentary for more on my use of WP 5.1

SPOILER SECTION

Spoilers for Books 1 & 2 may now creep in, as some elements are unavoidable.

I feel like everything was tied up well to end Book 2 (Part 47) and at least one reader agreed. Of course, that whole “future war” WAS a dangling thread, hence it’s the focus going forwards - as indicated in the new Part 48. The multiple arrows on the chapter image (see the index page) have been reversed to come from the future, rather than from the past.

We have as a returning cast everyone who knows about the time machine. Laurie, Lee and Tim will eventually feature back in, but for the sake of any first time viewers, I didn’t want to throw too much out there at once. Azure got thrown into the mix too, partly as a lead in to Chartreuse talking about her family soon.

Along with them, we have a new character, Glen Oaks. Obviously, he has to be tied into the time travel somehow, but you’re going to have to wait a bit to see that. Back in 2002, I probably should have done more with that thread sooner, but it is what it is. I’ve removed a few excess (pointless at this stage) hints, like at the end of the initial Part 50, and welcome any speculations you might offer.

In terms of Carrie’s temporal powers, the new “Power Play” part (48.5) has her slip through time, possibly speed up her own time, and then in Part 50 we also had her ability to “see” future events in a different way from Chartreuse. She’s surprised me a bit in her scope, but her worry over letting herself go is keeping things from escalating. Which is good since I tend to go for more of a slow burn. Once the pieces are in place, plot will escalate.

Some final remarks: This week, I got my first 2016 coins, the quarter on Friday and the loonie yesterday. It claims to be a “lucky loonie”? I guess we’ll see - does it net me any new readers? Also, the English teacher name of “Mrs. Haye” is unchanged from 2002, and came from Sharron Lahaye. She hired me for my first teaching assignment back in 2001. Like principal “Dell Hunt” though, it’s meant in name only, don’t read into the character.

Parts 49/50 were originally called “New Arrival”, so added “Carrie On” as the follow up entry title. It was meant to play with her powers being “on”, as well as whether she can carry on.

Coming This Friday: More Chartreuse, in some of the most comedic writing I’ve ever done.

3.03: CARRIE ON

“I called the cafe," Chartreuse said, re-entering her bedroom. “And there’s, like, nothing out of the ordinary happening there. Certainly no fires.”

“I don’t care. I know what I saw, Chartreuse!” Carrie finished off her glass of water. “There was smoke billowing out of the back and flames spreading into the dining area. I didn’t simply imagine it!”

“I’m not suggesting you did,” Chartreuse assured. “But is it possible you were no longer seeing the present, but some other time period?”

Carrie shook her head. “I don’t see how. It’s not like I made an effort to leave the present.” She frowned. “Though now that you mention it, I didn’t notice Frank and Luci any more…”

“Cosmic forces can be kinda unpredictable," Chartreuse admitted. “I mean, I know your abilities are fundamentally different from mine, but there’s probably similar rules that apply. I remember one time I wanted to learn the outcome of a football game at school, but when I tried to do a vision quest forwards I saw–”

“Chartreuse, I’m here so that I can gain control over my powers,” Carrie snapped, cutting her off. “I’d rather not have you tell me they can’t be controlled, all right?!”

Chartreuse stopped. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I’m just telling you what I, you know, have discovered though my own experiences.”

Carrie pressed a hand to her forehead. “I know. I know, I… I’m the one who should be sorry, it’s… look, maybe we should call it a day. All right? We’ll pick things up again some time next week.”

“If you think that’s best?”

“I’m not sure what I think. All I know is I’m no longer in the mood to deal with this right now!” Carrie rose and marched for the bedroom door, only to stop and turn back. “Chartreuse, you were watching me the whole time I was in that vision, right? My eyes, they… they didn’t turn golden at any point, did they?”

“Not that I saw, no.”

The blonde let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Good. Good, okay. So, see you in school tomorrow then?”

Chartreuse nodded. “Of course. Here, let me at least come with you to the front door.”

The next few days passed without incident – unless you counted Glen’s continuing attempts at getting closer to Carrie. She discovered that even Phil Clarke had started taking notice of it, when he asked her about it over lunch that Friday. Carrie had decided to spend the time with him and Julie, to give Frank and Luci some time for themselves.

“Then you’re sure it was Glen who left those flowers on your desk this morning?” the tall blonde inquired.

“Only origami flowers," Carrie clarified. “But yes, who else?”

“The origami looked pretty,” Julie acknowledged, fingering the flower brooch she was wearing. “And it takes time to do something like that. Glen must really like you."

“I’ve been getting those vibes, believe me,” Carrie sighed.

“But you don’t like him?” Clarke wondered.

Carrie paused. “It’s not that,” she admitted. “I mean, I don’t dislike him, he’s courteous and everything. There’s just something about him…"

“I bet he’s trying too hard," Julie offered. “You never did like guys who came on too strong.”

“Maybe,” Carrie acknowledged. “But then, he backs off on request, and it’s not like he’s ever invaded my personal space or anything. More to the point, it’s not like I’m seeing anyone else."

“So you don’t want to reject him, but you don’t want to go out with him either?” Clarke said, looking confused.

Carrie grimaced. “I guess? Sounds stupid, doesn’t it. Glen’s been pretty quiet about his past and about his family though, I think that’s part of the problem. I’ll be talking with Corry later today, hopefully he’ll have come up with some data.”

“Maybe Glen simply has family issues,” Julie murmured, looking back down at her salad.

Carrie flinched. “Oh, gods! I’m sorry Julie, I was speaking without thinking. H-How has your family situation been?”

Julie offered up a wan smile. “No worries, Carrie. Jeeves has been like a father, and he’s great at handling all the legal stuff. My parents have backed off, and my counselling sessions are down to once a month now.” She sighed. “And while it’s hard, reinventing my very understanding of myself and my goals, let’s face it, life’s never been easy for me.”

She continued on before Carrie could speak. “I’d rather talk about something else, okay? For instance, aside from Glen, what else have you been up to? We didn’t get to speak much over the summer, I was trying to make up those couple credits I lost due to - you know.”

Talk then shifted to a trip which Carrie’s father had arranged for both Watersons during the previous month.

Carrie tried not to give Glen any more thought until she encountered Corry at the end of the school day. “So?” Carrie said pointedly, when he didn’t look up. “What’s the story, do I rate a few facts?”

“You mean with respect to Glen Oaks?” Corry inquired, finally turning away from his locker.

“No, the Easter Bunny. Of course Glen!”

Corry made a face. “Funny you should ask that," he said. “Because as much as it pains me to admit this, you may well know more about the guy than I do.”

That brought Carrie up short. “What?”

“The information I get is all conflicting," Corry explained. “He’s from Calgary, or Halifax. His parents are both doctors, or they’re artists. He’s allergic to strawberries, or they’re his favourite food. About the only thing my sources can agree on is that Glen has the hots for you. He hasn’t even tried to hit on anyone else. Which indicates to me that this is one seriously disturbed individual!”

“I see. That’s it?” Carrie said dryly, allowing Corry’s last remark to slide for the moment.

“Aside from the standard stuff, yeah. He’s seventeen, a good runner, he’s got a permanent room in the Clayton Hotel until such a time as his parents finalize their house deal and get here – though again goodness knows exactly when or where that is – am I telling you anything you don’t already know?”

“No, you’re being utterly useless, thank you.”

“Anytime for you, Carrie. Though hey, if you ever do take this guy up on an offer and learn something useful, I might reward you for it. Okay?”

“Right. Whatever,” Carrie said, waving at Corry over her shoulder as she continued on her way down the hall. She wasn’t about to start dating the guy simply to get some future favour from Corry! Hell, she’d never entertained thoughts of being in a serious relationship in her life!

Carrie froze mid-step. That wasn’t the problem here… was it? ‘Oh no. Is my problem with Glen?’ she wondered. ‘Or is it with… me?'

“Okay Frank, this is the point when I start getting jealous.”

“Shhhhh, Luci, he’ll hear you!” Frank whispered. He poked his head out from behind the bushes to glance down the sidewalk.

“Frank, this is the third day in a row that you’ve followed Glen home from school,” Luci continued in a quieter tone, toying with her phone, not bothering to look herself. “Do you really think you’ll learn anything about him that Corry Veniti can’t?”

“I don’t know. But you’ve seen how interested he is in Carrie! We can’t simply ignore that!”

“Can’t we?” Luci muttered.

“No, think about it, Luci!” Frank insisted. He moved ahead a few paces to another hiding spot before continuing. “We have here a transfer student with a clouded past who shows up out of nowhere and starts hitting on a girl who holds within her the temporal power to destroy a solar system. Why, they even have the same course schedules! How is that mere coincidence?? The whole world could be in danger again!”

“Or, how about this? The guy is a normal teenage male with an eye for female beauty who appreciates Carrie’s various ‘assets’,” Luci quipped, adding air quotes. “I mean, it’s not like Glen’s done anything shifty. We should be cautious, sure, but we can’t make a preemptive strike against everyone new in town."

“But…”

“Plus schedules are schedules. Laurie’s classes are identical to Carrie’s too. And she also admires Carrie,” Luci continued. “Do you think Laurie Veniti poses a threat?”

“Well, no, but…”

“No, because we’ve had time to get to know her. AND Carrie told me over the weekend that her hesitation might not be about Glen. It might be a mix of fear over who she really is, coupled with an inability to put old commitment issues behind her. You DO remember why Lee refers to Carrie as the ‘track tease’, yes? It’s not merely for the running.”

“Okay, valid points, all of them,” Frank yielded. “Still, if Carrie eventually DOES go out with Glen, we should know more about him, right?”

“IF. This gets back to my jealousy. You’re not Carrie’s father, Frank. Not unless there’s been some severe temporal warping going on! So until Carrie asks for help, let’s let the girl live her life.”

Frank sighed, then glanced out towards the redhead once more. “Okay, look, he’s going into the cafe today. Nowhere near his hotel. Let’s at least see what he’s up to there! Okay?”

“Fine,” Luci said, rolling her eyes. “But this weekend, I’ll pick the movie. No more James Bond for you.”

“So. I heard you’re finally going out with him,” Frank said. “Carrie, is that wise?”

“We’re going to the central cafe after school today,” Carrie answered, twirling the cafeteria’s spaghetti around her fork. “Barely a date. Why? It’s not like you’ve seen him do anything suspicious during your little investigations this past week, have you?”

“Well, not as such…”

“Fine. Then this encounter will give me the chance to finally make up my mind about him,” Carrie concluded. She brought the noodles to her mouth.

“But what’s the rush? If he really likes you, he can wait,” Frank insisted.

At first, Carrie could only lift an eyebrow, her mouth full of pasta. “The RUSH?” she said after swallowing. “Frank, it’s the cafe. We’re not making out behind the bleachers.”

“Frank, sweetie, I love you to pieces, but give it a rest already,” Luci sighed, having swallowed her own bite of sandwich. “There is NO evidence that Glen is anything more than what he claims to be, yeah?” She turned to Carrie. “So go. Enjoy yourself. And if Glen does anything uncomfortable, walk away!”

The young girl smiled, then pursed her lips. “Though, okay, maybe fish for more information from him too. Because… yeah. Just in case?”

“Um, okay,” Carrie agreed. “Will do.”

Glen swung the door of the cafe open and held it there for Carrie as she entered. “We can sit at the counter, if you like,” he offered. “This is meant to be informal, after all.”

“Right,” Carrie agreed, moving to take a seat on one of the stools. Glen sat next to her as a waitress approached. Her nametag read ‘Lita’; Carrie supposed Theresa had the day off.

“Can I take your orders?” the server asked brightly.

“Um, strawberry shake for me,” Carrie replied.

“That’s it? Whatever you want, it’s on me,” Glen assured her.

“Yeah, a shake’s fine. I’m not really hungry yet.”

“Make it two then,” Glen concluded. Lita nodded and headed off.

There was a momentary silence. “So, a strawberry shake. You’re not allergic to strawberries?”

Glen fired off a smile. “Of course not. Where did you hear that?”

“Oh, well, you know, around,” Carrie said, reaching up to twist a few strands of hair about her finger.

“You shouldn’t listen to rumours,” Glen admonished. “Particularly with respect to me, since I’ve been spreading disinformation around the school.”

Carrie blinked. “What? Why?”

Glen leaned his elbow on the counter. “Because I figure to really know a person, you should come out and speak with them, one on one. Word of mouth is not to be trusted! Heck, if I went by the rumours, I would have to believe that you’re a self-centred individual who enjoys using guys and tossing them aside like last week’s laundry. But that’s not the case, is it?”

Carrie felt her cheeks growing warm. “No!” She turned her interest to the nearby napkin holder. “Not lately, anyway.”

“There you are then. Too often, rumours get way out of hand - for instance, I find it hard to believe that ANY girl could have slept with the entire football team.”

“WHAT?! I’ve never even… who said THAT?!”

“Nobody. I didn’t say that was a rumour about you. Could you please let go of my shirt?”

“Oh, uh… yeah, sorry,” Carrie said, releasing her grip on Glen and sinking back into her stool. He was doing this deliberately, right? Was he trying to be funny, or was it to keep her off balance? She studied the countertop.

Glen smoothed out the wrinkles in his shirt. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re beautiful when you’re indignant?”

Having no idea how to reply to that at ALL, Carrie was thankful that Lita chose that moment to deliver their shakes. After thanking the waitress, she sipped in silence, trying to figure out how to turn the conversation around. “I think I see a problem with your philosophy.”

“Oh? What might that be?”

“If you assume that everyone you speak to is merely passing on rumours, you’ll never tell anyone the truth. Which means you get a legit reputation for being a liar.”

“Aha, but one can be honest about certain things, and it’s the people who’d trust the liar reputation that I’d want to keep off balance,” Glen countered. “Still, I see your point. So how about this? I’ll answer any ONE question you have completely, utterly, one hundred percent honestly. Fire away.”

Carrie blinked at Glen in surprise before regarding her shake again. Only one question? Okay – then should she ask about where he came from? About his relatives? His most important memory? “All right,” she said, turning back. “Why me? Why have you set your sights on me?”

“Oh.” For the first time since Carrie had met him, Glen finally seemed unsettled. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to know about my favourite sports celebrity or something instead?”

“No,” Carrie said. “Me. Why me, Glen? The truth!”

Glen shifted his attention to behind the counter. “Fine. Here it is. The first time I saw you, I sensed something. Not love at first sight or anything so trite, but I sensed that you possessed some sort of… extraordinary ability. That was enough to get my attention.”

He turned to regard her again, leaning his cheek against his palm. “From there, I realized you’re a bit of a… paradox. Athletic but still studious. Reserved yet outspoken. Atypical, yet not someone who stands out. Rumours and history aside, I can’t believe you don’t have a steady boyfriend here. So I thought, what the heck, I’ll try my luck.” He raised an eyebrow. “Plus, I can’t deny it, you have a sizeable chest. Which also counts in your favour.”

“You were doing so well.”

“Hey, I said I’d be one hundred percent honest. Feel free to smack me for– okay then. Feel better now?”

“Much,” Carrie said, shaking out her hand. He was still trying to keep her off balance. She took another sip from her shake, contemplating the first part of his answer. “You say you sensed an ability in me,” she said. “What ability, exactly?”

“Aha, well, that’s a second question, isn’t it?” Glen remarked.  “Though I must confess, I’m still trying to figure things out here. And it’ll probably take me more than one date to do it accurately.”

“So you’re hoping that I let you…” Carrie’s voice trailed off. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Something wasn’t right here. It was like deja vu. Something was… Carrie leapt out of her seat. “Out! Everyone, get out of here!!” she shouted.

As heads turned towards her, there was an explosion in the kitchen. Smoke began billowing out from the back room, along with a few licks of flame. People screamed as customers began to run for the doors.

“Okay, everyone stay calm, let’s exit in an orderly fashion!” Glen called out, standing up next to Carrie. A cook stumbled out of the back, coughing, his face streaked with soot.

It was in the middle of the chaos that Carrie went numb. As she looked around her, all she could think was how she’d seen this before. In that vision she’d had with Chartreuse over a week ago. Except now, it was actually happening. What she’d seen was actually coming true! No, no, how could it possibly be so REAL?!

“Carrie, come on!” Glen called out. The curtains near the kitchen had caught fire. Yet still, Carrie couldn’t move. Was she going to start seeing these sorts of things regularly? How could she possibly deal with that?!

Glen marched back toward her. “Carrie, if you don’t move right now, I’m going to carry your ass out myself!” he shouted.

His words finally broke through. Carrie began to run for the door. She and Glen were the last two to exit, the sound of approaching fire engines reaching their ears as they collapsed onto the ground outside. Carrie knew she hadn’t inhaled that much smoke, yet she felt sick to her stomach. Because she’d had a vision of the future. A terrible vision - that had come true.

“Well, ten out of ten for foresight, minus a few points on reflexes,” Glen said, coughing next to her. “Are you all right, Carrie?”

“I need to go home now.”

Glen blinked. “Hey, I know this hasn’t been the best way to end our first informal date, but…”

“It’s not you,” Carrie interrupted, fighting to keep the sensations of nausea and panic in check. “But I have to go home now! I’m sorry. I’m sorry!” She stumbled to her feet and began to run away, back to the safety of her house, as fast as she could go.

“Can we take another stab at this sometime in the future??” she heard Glen call out after her. Carrie didn’t reply.

She managed to make it home before she threw up. She told her father she didn’t want dinner, and went to bed early.

She then stayed in her room all day Saturday. Ignoring attempts at communication. Fearing that another vision would happen. And worrying about what to do if it did.

On Sunday, she had a more persistent visitor.

• GOLLY - got my first 2016 coin today, a quarter as change at a Canadian Tire. The time frame is about right.
• Consider voting for Time & Tied at WebFictionGuide. I tend not to bother when it's only me.
• More next week, with some of my favourite bits of writing ever, featuring said "persistent visitor"!

3.02: NEW ARRIVAL

“Welcome back to school!” the teacher announced. “I am Mrs. Haye, and this is senior English.” She came around her desk. “Now, many of you already know each other, seeing as our scheduling algorithm tries to synch you up based on your homeroom from last year. But it’s been a whole summer, and I don’t know all of you! So, as I call out your names, please tell me about something that interests you.”

Carrie Waterson tuned out the glorified roll call, choosing instead to look around the room. She noted that everybody who knew of the existence of the time machine remained in her homeroom, which was kind of nice. Though none of them had made any time trips since last year. Well, as long as Carrie ignored whatever the hell had happened - would be happening? - back on her birthday.

When the first present day minted coins had started to appear in late June, allowing for a round trip return to their present, Carrie had shut down the idea of time travel. She’d been keeping the machine under her bed since last December, wanting to be able to escape with it, if anyone came after her. Like, someone from the future, wanting to tap into her lurking demonic temporal powers.

The very thought of those powers caused Carrie to shudder involuntarily. This despite her mounting familiarity, due to the sessions she’d ended up doing with Chartreuse over the summer.

Mrs. Haye finally reached ‘W’, so Carrie gave her name, remarking on her athletic skills. She started to zone out again, only to have a knock at the classroom door pull her back. “Oh yes!” Mrs. Haye said. “And I would like you all to welcome Glen Oaks. He is a new student from out of town who will be joining our homeroom.” She gestured for the boy with the short red hair to enter. He did, smiling amiably at everyone in the room, though Carrie fancied his gaze rested a little longer on her.

“Glen, there are still a few desks free, so if you’ll take a seat I can pass around the course syllabus,” Mrs. Haye said.

Glen nodded, then headed straight for the empty desk next to Carrie. He turned and smiled at her again as he sat. She offered him a quick smile back, even as something about him struck her as being a bit unsettling. Why? What was it? She resisted the temptation to stare, lest he get the wrong idea.

‘I’m overreacting. Can’t blame him for taking an interest in me, after all. Merely shows I’ve still got it,’ Carrie mused to herself. Mrs. Haye began to talk about senior level English.

“You know Luci, it’s not too late for you to switch into Physics,” Frank Dijora remarked, as he joined both Carrie and Luci at the lunch table. “That would give us an afternoon class together.”

“Hey, I like Drama,” Luci Primrose protested. “Besides, you could always switch out of Business and into Biology with me.”

“Touche,” Frank observed. “I guess we’ll have to live with mornings.”

“If you ask me, the both of you could stand to have some time apart at school,” Carrie Waterson interjected, resting her chin on her hand. “After all, didn’t Frank’s marks slip last year, after you two started going out?”

“They did not!” Frank objected. “That is… I should have studied a little harder for June exams, I misjudged the difficulty level.”

“Uh huh, suuuure. And what were you two doing instead of studying? I bet I can guess…”

“Carrie!” Luci hissed, glancing to see if they were being overheard.

“You were inventing some new thingamajig, right? What did you think I was going to say?” Carrie finished innocently.

“Carrie, enough,” Frank sighed.

“All right, all right,” the blonde laughed, raising her hands in surrender. “Apologies. But you’ve been dating since, what, last December? It’s not like your relationship is some big secret here.”

“That’s still no reason to turn it into a newspaper headline,” Luci grumbled.

Frank leaned in a little closer to the young girl. “Carrie can’t help it, she’s jealous I picked you over her,” he whispered. At that, Luci smothered a laugh.

Carrie reached out to flick her fingers at the back of Frank’s head. “My hearing is still excellent, you know. So let’s not pretend that I ever asked for our friendship to turn into anything more, okay?”

“Fine, fine,” Frank remarked, still grinning.

“Anyway, I’m happy for the two of you,” Carrie finished, reaching out to pick up the apple from her cafeteria tray. “Plus, I could still get any guy I wanted. Were I to actually try.” She took a bite.

“Like that new guy in our English class, for example,” Luci noted. “Glen. He seemed to be taking an interest in you.”

Carrie nearly choked before managing to swallow. “So that wasn’t my imagination?”

“He tried to hide it, but I noticed,” Luci remarked.

Carrie frowned. “You would, you see everything. He’s in my history class too… I’m not quite sure what to make of him.”

“Well, here’s your chance to find out,” Frank said. “He’s coming this way.”

Carrie turned as Glen approached. The redhead waved in greeting. “Hello! Is this seat taken?” he inquired, indicating the one next to Luci and opposite Carrie. When Carrie shook her head no, he sat down.

“I hope I’m not intruding,” Glen continued. “Still trying to find my way around. You’re all in my homeroom, right?”

“Right,” Frank confirmed. “I’m Frank, that’s Luci and that’s Carrie.”

Glen smiled. “Of course. Actually, I’m a little surprised to find Carrie here with the two of you."

Luci arced an eyebrow. “Oh? Why?”

“Because - forgive me for being blunt - Carrie, you strike me as being more a athletic type. Less intellectually inclined.”

“Are you saying I’m a dumb blonde?!” Carrie said, narrowing her eyes.

“And I’m not athletic?” Luci chimed in, equally annoyed.

“Oh, no, I don’t mean that!” Glen corrected. “Just that Carrie’s athletic talents appeared superior, compared to Luci’s. Was that incorrect?”

“Well, no,” the blonde admitted guardedly. “But that doesn’t mean I can only hang around with jocks, does it?”

“Certainly not. I’m sorry, I’m getting off on the wrong foot here, aren’t I,” Glen sighed. “I fear my higher reasoning has left me, it does that on occasion when I am confronted with such overwhelming feminine beauty.”

“Oh brother,” Luci mumbled under her breath.

“I’m not excluding you from that remark, Luci," Glen assured. “For while you seem to have skipped a grade or two, and present as more cute than beautiful, you also strike me as a most captivating young woman. You are bound to make someone very happy some day.”

Luci opened her mouth to respond, only to look over towards Frank, seeming flustered. “Ahem,” Frank offered. “Not to be rude myself here, Glen, but is it your intention to hit on every girl in the cafeteria?”

“No, merely the most beautiful and intellectually stimulating ones,” Glen assured him with a grin. “Which is why I chose to sit with Carrie, who I now realize is the best of both worlds. But if I am intruding on your group, you have only to say the word, and I will go.”

“You’re not intruding,” Carrie said quickly, before Frank could speak up. “But when we know so little about you, can you blame us for being skeptical as to your motives?”

“Understood,” Glen said. “I shall more formally introduce myself. My name is Glen Oaks, I’m seventeen, and I’m here now because my parents are planning on taking up residence in the area. I enjoy skating, acting and I am an excellent long distance runner.”

“You run?" Carrie asked.

“Indeed. Perhaps we should have a race sometime.”

“Perhaps,” Carrie agreed, her curiosity spiking again. “You say you like acting too, are you taking Drama?”

“Last period,” Glen confirmed. “Right after Art.”

Carrie blinked. “We have identical schedules then."

“Is that so? Well, what a happy coincidence. I suppose we’ll be seeing a lot of each other this term.”

“Yes, it does seem that way,” Carrie agreed, not quite sure how she felt about that.

She still wasn’t sure at the end of the lunch period forty five minutes later. Glen had managed to sidestep a lot of the questions asked of him, while learning more about the rest of them in the process. It reminded Carrie a lot of the way Julie LaMille and Corry Veniti interacted with people.

Which gave her an idea.

“Corry! Hey, Corry!”

The redhead turned towards Carrie, arcing an eyebrow. “Something I can do for you, Waterson?” he asked.

“Actually, yes,” Carrie said, as she reached his locker. “I’d like information on the new student in our homeroom, Glen Oaks.”

“Okay then. He’s a new student in our homeroom,” Corry said. “Oh, and he also has red hair. You really should pay better attention.”

“Corry, come on. You know what I mean.”

Corry crossed his arms. “Sure I do. Just like YOU know I’m not inclined to help out all of Julie’s old associates, simply because she’s no longer the active force around the school.”

“Hah! I’m a little more than THAT to you,” Carrie countered. “Not to mention how you’ve spent months helping out Julie herself!"

“Julie actually NEEDS the help,” Corry said pointedly. “Heck, it’s partly my fault she does, after I turned so many against her.” His gaze turned wistful. “There’s a part of me that misses the rivalry too… but that’s neither here nor there.”

He lowered his voice. “You know how I feel about you, Waterson. That doesn’t change simply because of what you may or may not become in the future. So why should I do anything for you? For that matter, what help can I possibly be to someone who has the power within her to destroy the world?”

Carrie winced. “Corry, please. I’m trying to put that behind me. Moreover, I haven’t asked you for any special treatment since those events – and all I want here is a bit of information! Is that so hard?”

Corry paused, sizing her up. “I’ll think about it,” he yielded. “After all, I was going to look into Glen myself. Come back in a few days, and I’ll decide then whether what I have will cost you."

Carrie nodded, deciding that was probably the best she was going to get from the male Veniti twin. She proceeded down the hall towards her own locker.

That evening found Carrie Waterson knocking on the door of the Vermilion residence. She and Chartreuse had decided to continue their temporal sessions despite the end of the summer. After all, despite how much Carrie wanted to simply banish the strange forces raging inside her, she knew they weren’t going anywhere. And keeping those powers in check was the only way to avoid another incident like the one last November, which had nearly cost the lives of… well, everyone on the planet.

Actually, Chartreuse had accepted Carrie’s explanation of those events with remarkable poise, despite the later memory wipe. Maybe the pink haired mystic would have put the pieces together herself, given enough time? Carrie sighed. It was more likely she wanted to rationalize getting Chartreuse involved, after that conversation with herself last March.

Carrie reached up to knock again, but before she could, a young girl with short blue hair opened the door. Carrie offered up a tentative smile. “Hello Azure, is your sister here?” she inquired.

Azure peered at Carrie, then turned and shouted, “Chartreuse, your girlfriend is here to see you!” She stepped back, allowing Carrie to enter the house. “Go easy on her tonight, okay? She was all dizzy the morning after you two bunnies had your session last week.”

Carrie frowned. “I beg your pardon?”

“Oh, like I don’t know what you two do in my sister’s bedroom for hours at a time. I’m fourteen, I read about these things.”

“Azure, I know it’s a strain for you, but pull your head out of the gutter when you’re, you know, talking with my friends, okay?” Chartreuse sighed, coming down the stairs. “Sorry Carrie, I was just in the washroom.”

“She’s all pretty for you now,” Azure noted. “Be sure to compliment her new perfume.”

“Azure…”

“I’m going, I’m going,” the blue haired girl said. “Just don’t be too loud, I have homework to complete. On the first day! Seriously, what’s the deal with high school anyway?!”

Chartreuse sighed and shook her head as her sister went upstairs. “Really sorry about that,” she said, closing the front door. “Honestly, just when I think she can’t get any more annoying, her hormones explode all over the place.”

“Sounds messy,” Carrie remarked.

“I’m hoping it’s just a phase,” Chartreuse said. “Anyway, my sister’s not the reason you, like, came here. Let’s get upstairs. I have everything we’ll need laid out on my bed.” She paused. “Which, come to think, is not at all as dirty as it sounds.”

Carrie seated herself across from Chartreuse. “Okay,” the pink haired girl said, passing a cleansing crystal around Carrie’s head. “Remember what we’ve been talking about. Relax, and let the sensations, like, come to you.”

“They already have,” Carrie murmured, as all of time coalesced around her. The best description Carrie could give for the phenomenon was that it was like she was standing in the middle of a swiftly flowing river, being gradually pulled along by the current as the seconds ticked by. The separate drops of water, they represented the millions of people and other objects moving through time. By looking upstream, Carrie could see the events of the past. By looking downstream, Carrie could see different branching paths of the future. The metaphor wasn’t perfect, but it was serviceable.

Carrie now knew that she had the ability within her to travel this time stream under her own power, not to mention affect it in other ways, but usually she was more than content to simply let the current pull her along.

“Oh,” came Chartreuse’s voice, reminding Carrie of where she really was. “You know, it never ceases to amaze me how easily you do that lately.”

“Yeah, I find it quite unsettling myself,” Carrie murmured. “What now, Chartreuse?”

“Well, as I recall, we were working on finding individuals who aren’t in physical proximity to you. Want to, like, try for anything in the past or the future yet?”

“No, let’s stick with the present for now. I’m going to see if I can locate Frank again. It’s easier to pick up former time travellers, they feel a little out of synch with the rest of the world.”

“All right,” Chartreuse agreed. She reached out to take Carrie’s hands. “Visualize him then. Imagine that he’s standing right in front of you. Then, once you have that image, see where it takes you.”

Carrie nodded, taking in a deep breath, concentrating on Frank and on where he might be in the torrent of water rushing around her. “He’s… he’s with Luci,” Carrie realized as a picture of the girl swam up before her eyes. “That will make it easier. They’re not at his house though… or her’s… it’s… the cafe. They’re at the central cafe.”

The scene practically leapt out of the water at her then, and it was like she was standing in the cafe herself - except her body had no substance. A spirit body, as Chartreuse called it. Able to see things, but invisible to them, and incapable of interaction.

“Carrie, what’s happening?” Chartreuse’s voice inquired, sounding like it was coming from the bottom of a well.

“I’m now here too,” Carrie replied, forcing down a feeling of panic. “In the cafe. There’s a lot of people around. It’s so much more chaotic than any of my previous experiences!”

“Stay calm,” Chartreuse said. “Just centre in on Frank and Luci, you’re not there for anyone else.”

“Right… right, okay,” Carrie said, taking in a few deep breaths. “They’re in a corner booth together. They’re… aw, they’re sharing a basket of fries. That’s so sweet.” She paused. “Luci would kill me if she knew I was eavesdropping like this.”

“You’re not really eavesdropping, it’s a public place.”

“I guess. But they can’t see me. And last week when I centred on Frank, he was inventing stuff in his basement.”

“Look, Carrie, if you’re this concerned about spying on them, just don’t, like, centre in on them in future.”

“Well how the heck am I supposed to know when they’re together?” Carrie grumbled. “But whatever. Now that I’m here, do you have any recommendations?”

“How about this – pick out someone else there that you could, you know, shift your attention to instead,” Chartreuse proposed. “You don’t have to take it in all at once, just scan the room.”

“Okay,” Carrie called back, turning her spirit form to do a slow pan.  “It’s mostly kids from school. Looks like Theresa’s the one waiting tables, like usual. Oh, wait a minute…” She hesitated.

“What?” Chartreuse asked.

“It’s him,” Carrie said at last. “Glen Oaks, that new boy in our homeroom. It… it’s weird, it feels like he’s looking directly at me. He can’t see me, can he?”

“I doubt it, my mom’s the only one I know of who can see spirit forms,” Chartreuse replied. “Maybe he’s looking at something behind you.”

“There’s a wall behind me. I don’t think that… OH!!!” Carrie shrieked. “NO, NO, GET ME OUT, GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!”

All at once, Chartreuse was kneeling in front of her, shaking her shoulders. She was back in the bedroom. “Carrie! Carrie, calm down, it’s all right!!” the pink haired girl was saying. “You’re all right, you’re safe now, you understand?” Carrie nodded wordlessly, struggling to regain her breath. “Thank goodness,” Chartreuse breathed. “What, like, happened?”

Carrie felt a shiver run down her spine. “I… I saw… oh god, I was in the cafe, and suddenly I saw… fire. The place has caught on fire, Chartreuse!”

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3.01: TALKING TO HERSELF

As soon as Carrie Waterson saw herself standing at the entrance to the restaurant, all thoughts of her trip to the washroom vanished. She now wanted to run over and smack herself in the face. Or run, and run, and keep on running. Instead, she stood there, heart racing. Fight, flight, or freeze… and Carrie’s hands clenched into fists, as she realized that she had picked the stupidest of those three stress options.

Here she was, a high school teenager, being hunted by people from the future. Yielding them the initiative? Not a good idea! On the bright side, the other Carrie over there - no, Elizabeth, Carrie quickly corrected herself, I’m the right one, I’m in my proper time, I get to be Carrie, she gets our middle name - looked to be about the same age as she was. But was that a trick?

Even as Carrie stared, Elizabeth beckoned her over. Present day Carrie took a step, then another - and by the time she reached the front door, she was almost charging through after her blonde double.

“Hey.”

That was all Elizabeth had time to say, before Carrie had pulled back her fist and punched herself in the gut. “I’m not going to be you!” she asserted, as Elizabeth doubled over. She brought her hands up to slam down on Elizabeth’s back, but Elizabeth rammed forwards into her before Carrie could complete the manoeuvre, knocking them both down onto the pavement in front of the restaurant.

Carrie now wished she hadn’t worn a dress to her party, but she hadn’t exactly expected to be fighting anyone today. Least of all herself. Elizabeth, by contrast, was in a more practical T-shirt and jeans. She was also now on top, so Carrie tried to grab her and roll, to flip them both over. Except Elizabeth threw her weight back onto Carrie’s legs, pinning her down instead. Which did allow Carrie to sit up - and she still had her arms free. She tried to clap both hands together on either side of Elizabeth’s head.

Elizabeth also raised her arms, managing to block one palm, so Carrie only had the satisfaction of smacking her other self, an act which slightly dislodged her adversary’s hairband. And now Elizabeth was holding onto the arm that she had blocked, and so Carrie was left pounding her lone fist into Elizabeth’s shoulder.

“I’m not going to be you!” she repeated, a tear stinging at her eye.

“That might be for the best,” Elizabeth wheezed, as she caught her breath. “I’m getting a little beat up.”

“Don’t you even joke about it!”

Elizabeth finally managed to catch hold of Carrie’s other arm. “I know. I shouldn’t. I’m sorry.”

“My birthday,” Carrie said, feeling the fight go out of her as all her limbs were restrained. “You had to come back to ruin my BIRTHDAY?”

“Not ruin. I hope not ruin. I only wanted to point something out.”

“You couldn’t have left a NOTE?”

“No,” Elizabeth said, having the decency to look apologetic. “I couldn’t. We would ignore a note. Or second guess it. I had to tell myself - you - this thing in person.”

Carrie blinked her tear away. “Fine. What?”

“You mind if we discuss this somewhere other than laid out on the ground in front of a public restaurant? All it takes is one guy with a camera phone, and next thing we know, our picture is up on some selfcest website.”

Carrie flinched. “Self WHAT?”

Elizabeth released her arms, and when no attack was immediately forthcoming, pushed herself back off Carrie’s legs too. “I’d say be careful about the time travel research you’ll do this summer,” she sighed. “But sometimes I’m way too curious for my own good.”

The air on this particular evening in late March was cool and crisp, more so than usual. Though most of the snow had already melted, there was still a pile of it off in the corner of the parking lot, where it had been shoved by snowplows throughout the winter. The two Carries walked in that direction, moving far enough so as to be in the shadows. They didn’t need to go too far, as the only light in the area came from the street lamps and the restaurant windows.

Carrie rubbed her arms with her palms. Not only was she in a dress, she didn’t have her jacket. She also still needed to use the washroom. “So?”

“So,” Elizabeth repeated back. “Low key affair this year, no big party at Julie’s - instead, who’s in there, celebrating your seventeenth birthday with you?”

Carrie looked back towards the building. “Frank and Luci. Julie and Clarke. And Chartreuse.”

“And Chartreuse.”

Carrie turned to her double. “Is this meant to be an echo fest?!”

“Chartreuse is the only friend in there who doesn’t know about the time machine,” Elizabeth pointed out.

“Yeah? So?” Carrie countered. “Are you telling me I should be swapping Chartreuse out for Corry, who does know? Because even though he helped me out with what happened last semester, and continues to stand up for Julie, he’s still a jerk.”

“No. I’m telling you maybe you should talk to Chartreuse.”

Carrie rubbed her arms again. “I can’t bring her back into this,” she murmured. “Not her, not anyone. You know that.”

“All I know is that Chartreuse, Laurie, Tim and Lee had never been temporally displaced, unlike the others currently eating with you in there,” Elizabeth countered. “But you - we - shouldn’t feel guilty about our time travel memory wipe having messed with those memories. We weren’t exactly in our right mind at the time.”

“It’s not only guilt!” Carrie countered. “If you’re really me, you MUST know that!”

Elizabeth slumped a little. “I guess I do. But are Chartreuse and the others really better off this way? Thinking that all those meetings were merely for helping Frank with a science project, researching the LaMilles, or taking down the man with funny mental powers who wanted to kill us?”

“Am I even having this conversation?! Elizabeth, if - no WHEN more people come back from the future, everyone who knows about my hidden powers is going to be in danger! I can’t help that for Frank and the rest, but those four you named? They’re free and clear. Why do I even have to explain this to you??”

Elizabeth pursed her lips. “Okay, yeah. But Chartreuse is different.”

“Because she wanted to come to my little party, after finding out about it from Luci? We’re not that close!”

“Maybe you should be.”

“Seriously?! You still haven’t told me WHY!”

“Think, Carrie! Chartreuse has powers too!”

Carrie found she was forced to think about that. Her toes curled inside her shoes, and she blew on her hands to warm them up. “What, you think Chartreuse already suspects?”

“I think you should to talk to her.”

“WHY? Her powers aren’t like my powers. Chartreuse gets impressions from people, and sees the future. I destroy solar systems.”

“We don’t destroy–"

“I destroy solar systems!” Carrie interrupted, louder. “You know this!”

“Fine, if we’re not trained properly, yeah we do!” Elizabeth retorted, raising her voice to match. “All the more reason to get our head out of the sand in the coming year, and start doing something about it!”

“And do WHAT about it?!”

“Talk to Chartreuse!”

“Why, because you did and it’s worked out OH so well for you??”

“Or maybe because I didn’t, and I regret it, since talking to her might have set me on a much better path!”

The two girls were nearly nose to nose at this point, glaring at each other, postures rigid and fists clenched. Neither version of Carrie was willing to give ground. Meaning it was perhaps fortunate that their argument was interrupted by a scream from behind the restaurant.

Both Carries turned their heads. “Oh hell,” Elizabeth said, wincing. “I forgot about this part.”

“Part? What part??” Carrie demanded.

“Someone just tried to run off with my time machine.”

“You left our time machine out in the open?” Carrie accused her.

Elizabeth shook her head, cursing her own stupidity. “No. I shoved it behind some cardboard boxes out back of the restaurant. Dealing with you while having that damn black box shoved under my arm felt stupid.”

“Yeah, this has really demonstrated your intelligence.”

“Oh, shut up.” Elizabeth hated that her past self had a point, when she was supposed to be the (marginally) older, more mature one. It’s not like the time machine would have screamed ‘time machine’ at anyone either, it looked more like a portable slot machine.

She met Carrie’s expectant gaze with silence. Carrie put her hands on her hips. “So, are you going to STOP this theft?”

“I already have.” The scream had reminded Elizabeth of how the next few minutes would play out. Sure enough, she’d barely finished speaking when her other self came around the corner of the building. One time machine under each arm.

Carrie didn’t look too pleased by this development.

“Hi Carrie. Elizabeth,” their third incarnation said with a hesitant smile, nodding at each of them as she reached their position. She was dressed identically to Elizabeth, which only made sense.

“Hi Buffy,” Carrie said dryly.

Buffy’s nose crinkled. She eyed Elizabeth. “I think I’m funny, but really, I’m not.”

“Would you prefer Betty?” Carrie snarked.

“Hell no,” Buffy and Elizabeth retorted as one. Elizabeth hadn’t read much in the way of the Archie comics, but she knew enough to not want to be linked to a nice blonde girl-next-door persona by name. Besides, if they were going to pick another name derived from “Elizabeth”, Buffy had better pop culture connections.

Carrie’s smirk became a frown. She pointed at what Buffy was carrying. “I take it one of those is mine, the other is Elizabeth’s?”

“Logical, yeah?” Buffy remarked, looking thoughtful. She thrust her hip out to the side, motioning for Elizabeth to retrieve that particular time machine. Elizabeth obliged her future self.

“So,” Elizabeth sighed. “Now I have to take this machine, Carrie’s, back to our home, leaving it under the bed. After which I take the older device which is there now, back in time to about three minutes ago. Whereby I can retrieve my own machine - that being the one Buffy has here - becoming Buffy and returning this present day machine back to Carrie’s room, using myself, now.”

“That’s making my head hurt,” Carrie groused. “Literally.”

She wasn’t kidding. The permanent dull ache in Elizabeth’s own head, the one which had become a sort of ‘background noise’ ever since the awakening of her temporal powers? It had increased over the last few moments to a level that was… not more painful exactly, but impossible for her to ignore. But then, hadn’t that been part of the point behind this trip? Seeing what she could accomplish with time travel?

“Just go,” Buffy suggested. “Close out the loop.”

“Yeah,” Elizabeth agreed, after pressing the heel of her hand briefly to her temples. “You two keep talking here.”

She began to jog off, her athletic strides quickly taking her away from her doubles. She only heard Buffy ask, “So where were we in our talk?” and Carrie’s retort of “I was wondering if you were here trying to change my past” before she was out of earshot.

It occurred to Elizabeth after a few minutes of running that getting home in five minutes versus forty-five minutes really wouldn’t make much of a difference in terms of the eventual outcome. Except in terms of how tired and sweaty she’d be. So she slowed to a walk, muttering “Where’s a convenient skateboard and automobile tow when you need one?”

Elizabeth hefted the time machine at her side. Hopefully she’d be able to set Carrie’s version of the thing properly. Frank had been more focussed on demonstrating how the machine could be set to return back to their present, versus a second trip here to her birthday. Actually, it was a pity she had to use Carrie’s machine at all; the one she currently held had to be set for the right day and time already!

Her walk stopped altogether.

Why couldn’t she simply take this machine?

Her headache flared up larger, making her grimace. “ASIDE from you,” she addressed it, bringing her hand back to her head. “I mean, come on, it wouldn’t be my first paradox.”

Way back before her power “awakening”, she had dropped off an apple at Frank’s place, then later picked it up, only to time travel back, and then drop it off. Bootstrap paradox. And this was no different. She had now given herself a time machine - which she could use to time travel back, and then hand it off to herself.

In fact, this sequence was actually more sensible than the apple had been, seeing as it had the potential to be perfectly temporally consistent - an identical time machine existed in this present, under Carrie’s bed.

So what if she didn’t swap them?

Her headache was becoming an incessant pounding, but now that she had this idea, her curiosity wouldn’t let her drop it. The point behind this trip hadn’t really been to talk about Chartreuse - it had been more to see what she could do with time travel. And she remembered the conversation on her birthday, more or less, so that wasn’t changing anything - it had to be this subtle paradox which had been poking at her subconscious through the summer. Right?

So could she do it?

Elizabeth fished her spare coin out of her pocket. When time travelling, you always carried a spare coin from the present - there was random variance to the time machine, meaning that you could land a day, or even a month off of your intended target. It was rare, but annoying.

She looked up and down the street, then retreated back into the shadows of a nearby house that had no lights on. Once there, she fell to her knees, set the time machine down onto the ground in front of her… and dropped the coin in.

NOW she had a migraine.

But at this point, it would either work, or it wouldn’t, right? Before she could stop herself, she’d reached out and yanked down on the lever.

The sensation of the temporal void sucking at her was familiar.

The sensation of the ice pick sliding into the side of her head was new, and hurt like nothing she’d ever felt before. It was even worse than the time she’d been shot.

She screamed. Loudly.

But then the headache was gone, reduced to the normal dull ache, and as her scream died out, Elizabeth realized that she was no longer where she had been. She was still kneeling, but out in back of the restaurant. There was a man a very short distance away, holding onto her own time machine, the one she hadn’t just used. He was looking in her direction, his eyes wide. A cigarette fell from between his lips.

As soon as he realized that she was looking back at him, he dropped the device back down onto the cardboard boxes where she’d formerly concealed it, and sprinted for the back door of the restaurant. Obviously eager to get away from the screaming blonde girl who had appeared from out of nowhere. Had he been rooting through the trash while on a smoke break? Elizabeth (Buffy?) supposed it didn’t matter.

She shakily pushed herself back to her feet, then picked up the now ‘impossible’ time machine sitting before her. With it braced at one hip, she went to get her own machine back, managing to pick it up too. Once she had them both in hand, she marched back around the corner of the building, heading towards the shadowy figures of her prior selves.

Carrie didn’t look too pleased by this development.

“Hi Carrie. Elizabeth,” their third incarnation said with a hesitant smile, nodding at each of them as she reached their position. She was able to distinguish them because she was dressed the same as Elizabeth.

“Hi Buffy,” Carrie said dryly.

She crinkled her nose, and eyed Elizabeth. “I think I’m funny, but really, I’m not.”

“I was wondering if you were here trying to change my past,” Carrie retorted.

Buffy didn’t immediately respond to her. In fact, Carrie briefly wondered if “Buffy” was back to being “Elizabeth” now, but decided that way madness lay. Her body double ultimately sighed. “You know I can’t answer that. If I say I did talk to Chartreuse, you won’t. If I say I didn’t talk to Chartreuse, you will.”

“Who says?”

“The whole ‘I’m not going to be you’ rant as you beat me up earlier?”

“Oh.” Carrie rubbed her arms again, trying to stay warm. “Meaning you’re going to leave me with the illusion of free will, even as I do what is presumably written in stone for you?”

“Effectively,” Buffy admitted. “Sorry about that.” She glanced down at the time machine she was holding. “Though, here’s the thing. Some stuff that SEEMS to be written in stone? Can be reinterpreted.”

“How in hell do you reinterpret being a temporal weapon?” Carrie shot back.

A pained look settled on Buffy’s face. “Yeah. That is our question, isn’t it?”

Carrie slumped. “Yeah,” she agreed. “More to the point, I guess we both know that there’s a future ‘us’ out there, who is part of some upcoming war… and who is not liking that, from her perspective, we’re the ones disrupting her past. Possibly her very reason for existing.”

“And she’s gonna come for us,” Buffy continued, voicing the thoughts they’d been having for months. “She has to. The question is, will we be ready for her?”

“HOW? How does one even prepare for a battle with oneself?!”

“I don’t know,” Buffy admitted. “Just… talk to Chartreuse.”

Carrie stared. “You really think she can help? Or could have helped?”

“I think… we need all the friends you can get.”

Carrie sighed. “This is so messed up.” She let out a long breath, then bowed her legs in a bit. “Worse, I still REALLY need to use the washroom.”

Buffy smiled, gesturing back at the restaurant. “Go then.”

Carrie frowned. “For serious?”

“I’ve said my bit, we’re done here.”

Carrie hesitated, feeling like there was something more she should say - but nothing came to mind. “Fine. Time travel safely,” she concluded, before running back to the warmth and relief of the nearby building.

The time travelling Carrie, aka Elizabeth, aka Buffy, walked around the side of the building and sat down. She knew she couldn’t leave yet. Because Carrie now knew why she’d had those residual effects after talking to herself on this day. And while she had no idea if remaining in this time period would help to spread the effect out a little more, she had decided that leaving too fast would be irresponsible.

Her headache flared up a couple minutes later. She swallowed. She tried to remember what had happened back then, on her birthday. Her birthday. Yeah, she couldn’t have picked the day after? It had to have been the day itself, the night she’d been out with friends? “I can be such a jerk,” Carrie whispered. Hell, she might very well be her own worst enemy - literally.

The headache became an incessant pounding.

One of the problems with time was how it tended to mute one’s memories. On her birthday, she hadn’t remembered it getting any worse than this. She now recalled collapsing to the floor at the sink in the restaurant bathroom. She also recalled twisting her palms into her temples, choking back sobs until the feeling subsided. But it had only been a severe headache.

Except it hadn’t been - she knew now it would get worse. Ice pick worse.

NOW she had a migraine. Carrie braced herself.

Yet whether it was the knowing that it would happen, or the fact that she was spatially removed from the trigger event… for whatever reason, it didn’t feel like an ice pick to the skull, and so she managed to keep from screaming. Still hurt like the devil though.

Then, nothing. Background noise. Life as normal.

With a shaky hand, Carrie reached into the pocket of her jacket for the tools that would allow her to reset the time machine. “Shielding,” she murmured aloud. “My next session with Chartreuse, we’ve gotta talk mental shielding.”

Less than five minutes later, only one Carrie remained in the present. She would not use the time machine again for several months, not until her senior year of high school.

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TIME & TIED

TT (Time & Tied) presents…

STORY 3: DESTRUCTION

Carrie Waterson’s temporal abilities have awakened. What does this mean for her and her friends during their senior year of high school? More to the point, what happens when your present is someone else’s past?

**CAUTION: No graphic language or violence per se, but some issues involving people being psychologically abusive to minors.

(Listed in Web Fiction Guide. Check out more serials there.)

(For main characters: See T&T CAST LIST.)

(Option: Return to Book 2 or to Book 1.)

INDEX: DESTRUCTION

ARC 1: WITH CHARTREUSE

3.01: Talking to Herself

3.02: New Arrival

3.03: Carrie On

3.04: The Visionaries

3.05: Tope Springs Eternal

ARC 2: WITH THE GROUP

3.06: Mental Strain

3.07: The Mansion

3.08: Tune Up

3.09: Tone Down

3.10: Help Wanted

3.11: See Kings

ARC 3: WITH GLEN

3.12a: Power Struggle 1 3.12b: Power Struggle 2

3.13a: Under Attack 1 3.13b: Under Attack 2

3.14a: The Conspiracy Unfolds 1 3.14b: The Conspiracy Unfolds 2

3.15a: Fragmented Plans 1           3.15b: Fragmented Plans 2

3.16a: Blame Game 1  3.16b: Blame Game 2

3.17a: Banishment 1 3.17b: Banishment 2

ARC 4: WITHOUT

3.18a: Making the Rounds 1 3.18b: Making the Rounds 2

3.19a: Shattered 1 3.19b: Shattered 2

3.20a: Woodlands Detour 1 3.20b: Woodlands Detour 2

3.21a: Woodlands Omen 1 3.21b: Woodlands Omen 2

3.22a: Do You Mind? 1 3.22b: Do You Mind? 2

3.23a: Timeline Four 1 3.23b: Timeline Four 2

(BOOK 4 Online - December 2016)

A brief reminder that I started this style of post with the second Epsilon story; it’s a look at the choices NOT taken by you, the audience. The arcs that never were. To see how “Full Scale Invasion” Parts 1-9 might have unfolded, see this prior post. Spoilers follow for the rest of the story, naturally.

ENTER THE GOVERNMENT

10. DELIVERY. Marginal influence? Hard to say with this one. Queeny was due to come in anyway - the third incursion of a large artifact would have involved the government somehow - but the unanimous decision here to have Queeny in possession of Alice’s package meant three things.

First, Queeny arrived before the artifact, instead of after. Not that big a deal. Second, Chris not having the package meant Alijda’s healing would be delayed. But with magic about to get torpedoed, a delay was inevitable anyway. Finally, indirectly, this kept Bonnie from returning to the story. Is that marginal?

I point out that Queeny’s meeting with Bonnie was always going to happen at or near the site of the incursion. (You may recall in vote #7, Bonnie not being able to return to the DEO? The object arriving would have factored in.) Except now, for Queeny to be there early, and to bring Andi back in, it made more sense to NOT have Queeny and Bonnie in a motel room.

So, no Bonnie here - marginal? Maybe. It meant she was keeping informed another way. This part also gave Queeny a spy in the DEO, but that was liable to be the case anyway.

11. THIMBLE. Major influence. If technology had stopped working, Bonnie would have needed the help of the magic users to create a “technology capable field”. If magic had stopped working, the magic users would have needed access to that hidden room in the DEO, so heavily shielded that magic was accessible again.

I threw in “techno-magic fusion” on a whim. Whelp. The fact that it was selected kept Bonnie from returning for quite a while. Also, only three votes for such a pivotal decision, during a time when I was struggling to write, was problematic - see this “Behind the Scenes” post for why, post-vote, I subsequently only put in half the effort on part 12.

Notably, for someone who is a big fan of the anime “Magical Lyrical Nanoha”, I ended up thinking about how to fusion for far too long. When the anime link clicked in my head, Kat having taken an “unnamed item to be identified later” became “Minerva the USB”, and Chris’ new identity as Axiom became inevitable - although such details wouldn’t fully form until Part 13.

12. TPORTING. Marginal influence. Alijda teleporting being unaffected by scale would have had her teleporting being a major piece of rescuing Clyde. Her teleporting with assistance would have had her interfacing in some way with Minerva/Axiom. With the choice of her teleporting being limited, having her along became optional… but she was ultimately chosen anyway. So no big deal.

HIDDEN VOTE DECISIONS

One of the objections to a “vote for plot” story raised at CanCon (a convention I attended last October) was that readers don’t necessarily know what they truly want. Or they may lack necessary context to choose. How things play out from here took that into account.

13. CLYDE. Major influence. This was “Bonnie’s revelation”, which I alluded to as far back as #6… namely Clyde is still alive, on TechWorld, and his use of the portal is what triggered everything. Back then, I’d decided Bonnie knew about it - but did she? She didn’t have to. Hmm. Readers didn’t have this information, so I presented it in the following way:

If the vote was Bonnie hated Clyde, she knew. But she’d had to keep it secret, and was continuing the experiment either to capitalize on his earlier work, or out of a delayed sense of guilt. If the vote was Bonnie loved Clyde, she did NOT know, and was continuing his work to give the man she loved a better legacy. The third option was that someone else loved Clyde.

Maybe I should stop dreaming up these third options?

That choice was always going to be homosexual. I debated Queeny having a brother, Kingy, who was in love with Clyde, but decided that a new character this late in the game was unnecessary. Larry picked up the love interest. Meanwhile, since Bonnie’s love emotion was the runner-up (2-1), I deemed that Bonnie did NOT know Clyde’s fate either. Which retroactively puts a new spin on her scenes, maybe.

See? The runner up vote can be important too.

14. COMPANION. Major influence? Also a tough call. First, wow, this was close: 3-2-2. Also the first time I’ve ever had a 7-vote poll; the 7 votes back in #12 were spread over two weeks (6 then 1, which I’m pretty sure was a repeat, as I’d encouraged people to go back and keep voting). Granted, I kept #14 here open an extra 24 hours too, which changed it from a 3-2-1 vote.

Like last time, this actually WASN’T a poll on the characters, even though it seemed that way. It was a poll on the plot. Namely the scenario Axiom would find on TechWorld. Had Kat been chosen, there would have been a hardware issue to deal with; swapping chips or something to free Clyde and/or blow out the portal. Had Para been chosen, there would have been a design issue; modifying portal plans or something. Instead, it was Alijda, so we got a dimensional portal that kept her at Clyde’s size, and drones that she could hack.

Except she didn’t hack. So… still a major influence? Maybe not?

15. ESCAPE. Major influence. The “worst” option was chosen!

Okay, good and bad is relative, but I think the best end would have been Alijda figuring out how to shrink Axiom (which she ultimately alluded to in part #17). Think about it - having all the characters the same size would have made the density shield more manageable, and they would then all be the same size upon returning. Next best was the distraction idea, with hacking the drones.

Instead, their fate was put into the hands of the guy who’d been held prisoner, now possibly suffering from post traumatic stress, or Stockholm syndrome, or who knows what. It also meant they were no longer masters of their own fate. Now, I was fine with this, and I suppose there’s something to be said for the people of that world solving their own problems instead of Alijda - but is Clyde really the best plan if you think a bit harder about it? Am I out of line here?

Anyway, Clyde was originally going to do some sort of massive self-destruct. When I started writing, it became taking control of the sleep ray instead. I’d needed a non-lethal way to knock Mook out, and saw a way to repurpose that tech on a bigger scale. In the end, this choice may have helped Alijda rethink whether she should have become involved? I don’t think she was happy with how it turned out. Were the readers?

POOR ALICE

16. OBSERVING. Marginal influence. More sadness!

Obviously saying “do you want a sad end?” isn’t valid, as most people will say “no”. But Kat’s closing remark in #16 about Alice and trouble, plus the “Alice has been good” in the choice was meant to be a big red flag, particularly after the last decision. To be clear, I’m not against the choice that was made, but I WAS trying to alert readers as to what Alice “helping” would entail - the end should not have been a complete surprise.

Had Alice been good, she might have been a little frayed at the edges mentally (like me) and needed a vacation. Had she only looked, she would have been given a partner to work with on the Station. As it is, yup, she is FIRED. If and when Epsilon ever resumes, someone else will be running things, and that’s on your heads (okay, and mine, for putting the choice out there).

Alice leaving with Alijda wasn’t planned, but I wanted SOME happy feels in the end, which is also why the part ran a bit longer than usual. Some other things that weren’t planned in there were Kat’s callback to Tara with Bonnie (although Bonnie doing something with techno-magic was intended), and the dragon itself.

Yeah, I figured if Alice was going out, she was going to do it with style, plus the dragon allowed for a call back to MagicWorld. I’m not sure how Kat and the rest would have generated the fire otherwise. Fireworks, or blowing something up, maybe? Also, prior to the dragon, I was pondering Alice’s interference as saving one of them from a possible death by laser.

17. CHARACTER. I’ve done one of these each story. After Story1, it was Alijda unanimously, 4-0. Story2 was Chartreuse unanimously, 2-0. (Those polls are still open by the way.) A couple things surprised me this time, as of the time this is posted (six votes registered).

First, the strong showing by Kat, a MALE character, with thanks to Kayla for telling me that he was relatable. Early on, I worried he was coming across as objectifying women more than being a flirt, so I tried to redirect him a bit (you notice he didn’t hit on Chris). Second, the props for Alice along with Alijda; maybe that was due to Alice getting her own part this time? Who knows. I’ll keep that last poll open for a while yet.

This website will now be returning to “Time & Tied” for another 44 episodes/weeks, meaning about ten months. In brief, it’s a time travel story about a war in the future, which has spilled into the past, and is affecting one teenage girl in particular. But like “Epsilon”, you can start reading with the next post, no prior knowledge of the serial needed!

I hope you stick around for it; Chartreuse, the most popular character from the second “Epsilon” story, features more prominently this time. (That said, her appearance in “Epsilon” is AFTER the coming parts of T&T, so hold off on “Story2” if you want to avoid minor spoilers. At the time, I hadn’t been sure I’d put up T&T at all.)

I do hope you enjoyed reading this look behind the scenes! As always, thanks for voting/reading, and feel free to comment below about that which was unexpected, or anything else that jumps out at you. Have a great day!

FULL SCALE INVASION, PART SEVENTEEN: FIRING LINE

“What’s your suggestion?” Michaela asked.

Kat gestured at Bonnie. “As she said, a firewall. Literally. To push back the invasion. Does anyone have magical experience controlling fire?”

Michaela shook her head. “We tend to steer clear of the elemental magic. I might be able to craft an illusion of fire?”

“That won’t convince them,” Kat sighed. “It’s fine, I can do it. I just hope it doesn’t get me fired, pun not entirely unintended.”

“How can you make a real fire which is not only big enough, but created fast enough so that the invaders don’t have time to stop you?” Bonnie challenged.

“Erm. With help,” Kat said. “Like, if Andi can run fast and drop some matches…"

The thunderclap in the air made everyone turn their heads. A second dimensional rip was appearing, roughly 100 yards away from the first one. “Oh, that can’t be good,” Para sighed.

Kat wasn’t sure if the bunny mathematician was referring to the tear itself, or the red dragon that flew through as it opened.

On the bright side, either the dragon was small, or a larger one had been reduced in size by the transition - the winged animal wasn’t much larger than the size of a house. On the down side, the dragon didn’t look happy.

It seemed even less pleased when one of the invaders let out a shriek and fired a projectile weapon at it. The dragon responded by breathing fire, setting a wide band of the grassy field by the train station alight.

“We never know if it’s TechWorld or MagicWorld who will drop stuff,” Michaela said, rubbing her chin. “Has it ever been both?”

“Alijda and Axiom are back!” Para cried out. She pointed above the fire, to where the flying carpet had reappeared. Originally aiming for the sky, it made a quick course correction back into the smoke upon spotting the dragon.

“I’ll try an illusion, to get the dragon to go back into its rift,” Michaela decided. She held up a weed whacker, previously selected as her focus. “Can you guys handle the fire?”

“I…" Kat glanced at Para, who was already activating her Epsilon communicator. “Para! Wait, give me… thirty seconds?”

Without waiting for a response, he ran off towards the fire, barely aware of Bonnie running after him.

“When you sang about going down in flames, I didn’t think that’d be literal!” Alijda protested.

Their carpet had clipped the edge of the fire, in trying to avoid both the tech invaders below, and the dragon above. Clyde stamping out the smouldering material wasn’t very effective, seeing as both he and Alijda remained doll sized as compared to their surroundings.

“Hold on. I see an open door,” Axiom panted, evidently deciding that some sort of refuge was the best option.

They smashed through a flimsy screen covering, tumbling from the flying carpet onto the floor of a kitchen. Alijda automatically adjusted her fall with a teleport, and as such was the first to spot Queeny and Larry approaching.

“You’re back! You made it!” Larry said, clasping his hands. “And you have Clyde, and he’s… he’s, um, wow, very… tiny…"

“Yeah, that was not a typical rift,” Clyde said, staring up at Larry. “A reunion hug will have to wait.”

“Actually,” Alijda spoke up. “The spell that Chris - er, Axiom - used to stabilize me? And keep Kat and Para from shrinking? I was thinking it could be used to vary your density the other way.”

“Fine, talk later. Please,” Queeny said. “For now, help us search this house for anything to drive away those invaders!” She gestured outside, then did a double take. “And what the hell is breathing fire on my city?!”

Axiom let out a breath. “I’d better seal off our dimension, before anything else appears.”

“In that case, I’m off to link up with my friends,” Alijda noted. She eyed the smouldering carpet. “By teleporting, I guess. Thanks for everything!”

With a final wave and a smile, Alijda disappeared in a small cloud of purple smoke.

Kat was worried. He had never previously attempted to manipulate any fire larger than what you might find in a fireplace. And as he exerted his will, he realized he wasn’t going to be able to handle all of it; only enough of it to move the flames towards the invaders, pushing them back towards their dimensional rift.

“I’m sorry,” he said to Bonnie, halting his advance. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to snuff this thing out. You’ll want to call a fire brigade.”

“Explain to me how you’re controlling it.”

Kat shook his head. “This isn’t something you can learn to do in the time–"

“If the spell casters can channel their spells by using technology, it’s high time someone tried to activate the technology properly, by using a spell!” Bonnie shot back. Kat watched as the older woman pulled a crystalline object out of her pocket. “This is supposed to manipulate the weather. Tell me how you’re manipulating the fire.”

For a moment, Kat was reminded of Tara, the woman he’d encountered right before this whole “Epsilon” escapade began. Except instead of him looking for occult information from an asian, Bonnie was now looking to him for the information. The information which he had first learned about from Fate, way back in high school.

It made him want to get back to his Earth, to continue his search.

“Clear your mind,” Kat suggested. “Focus on the flame, or rather, your device there. Making any physical motions can actually help, as you’re learning. Say whatever comes to mind.”

As he spoke, he pushed his own arms out, making the grass fire leap forwards. Although he couldn’t see all of the invaders due to the smoke and flame, the fire was in some sense an extension of himself, and he sensed that they were back-pedalling. Back towards the dimensional rift.

Bonnie said something that he didn’t catch. That’s when the griffin appeared in the sky.

“It’s an eagle-lion?” Para wondered.

Michaela swung her weed whacker in a wide arc. “Griffin,” she explained. “Enemy of dragons, if the fantasy stories I read as a child are to be believed. I hope I made it look convincing.”

“That will scare the dragon away?”

The redheaded woman cut through the air with her garden implement again, making the griffin move. “Maybe? I’ve never made such a massive illusion before, and dragons are smart. Still, he may decide our world is too crazy to be worth investigating.”

“Right.” Para finished counting down the rest of Kat’s thirty seconds, then initiated communication with Alice.

“You’re all alive, right?” was the first thing Alice said. “Please?”

“Uhm, yeah!” Para assured. “But we need extraction, is there a doorway somewhere we should use?”

“This isn’t ‘The Librarians’! No matter what it looks like down there,” Alice countered. “Tell me when you’re within two metres of each other, with nobody else around. Oh, and make that happen fast?”

Para nodded eagerly. “Will do!”

A small cloud of purple smoke puffed into existence on the ground. Para crouched down. “Alijda! Great timing - we need to get to Kat, fast!”

“Riiight. I’m teleported out, give me a ride?”

As Para offered her hand to Alijda, a gust of wind blew through the area, resolving into the form of Andi. The older woman was breathing hard. “Invaders are… are leaving…" She rested her hands on her knees. “Oof. I’m spent. Does Bonnie have any extra PROM?”

“The dragon’s leaving too!” Michaela added, narrowly missing Andi with the weed whacker as she continued gesturing. “Though I’m a little worried about the storm clouds forming…"

Para glanced into the sky, but only briefly, as that’s when Alijda grabbed onto a fistful of her hair. “Sorry, nearly slipped. Just go, get to Kat,” the brunette suggested. Para nodded, and began to run, Alijda perching on her shoulder.

Kat knew better than to ask Bonnie if she was the one affecting the clouds. Since if she was, any disruption in her concentration could cause things to go haywire. Instead, he did his best to try and dampen down the grass fire, to keep it from spreading. He hoped the last of the invaders had departed.

“Kaaaaat!” came Para’s familiar voice.

Thunder rumbled overhead as Kat turned to see Para approaching. It had probably been longer than thirty seconds, hadn’t it. Before he could shout an apology, he noticed that Para seemed to be gesturing vigorously off to his left. He turned.

“SEALING MODE,” came a voice that Kat identified as Minerva, the consciousness which had been born of Chris’ transformation into Axiom. Then he saw the magical girl (woman?) herself, standing in front of a nearby house, her arms outstretched.

Which was when Axiom’s USB staff grew in length. It seemed to be mechanically transforming as it did, getting larger and larger… Kat turned away and started to run to meet Para.

“I think you’ve got the hang of it, good job!” he tossed over his shoulder back at Bonnie.

They were done here. The invasion was no more. The fire wasn’t exactly under control, but a few drops of rain had started to fall. Between that, and the static charge that seemed to be building in the air, a swift departure seemed to be in order.

Para obviously concurred, because as Kat reached her, she shouted into her communicator, “Alice, we’re good to go!”

The last thing Kat heard as a blue portal opened up in the ground under them was Minerva’s voice intoning, “ANGELIC BARRIER.”

The trip through the whirlpool was becoming standard fare for Alijda. What was different was being spit out into zero gravity, with her momentum sending her up towards the ceiling.

Flipping her body around, Alijda spotted Alice holding onto a console with one hand as she typed with the other. They were back in the main control room of the Hub. As Alice finished typing, the whirlpool below them was covered by the familiar iris, and then Alijda felt the tug of gravity gradually reasserting itself.

“Okay!” Alice said, turning to look up at them. “There should be just enough time left for us to get Alijda back to her normal size before we all have to evacuate! In fact, Kat, Para, I can return you to your worlds right away if you want. Well, once you remove the density suits.”

“Evacuate?” Alijda asked. She blinked as her descent pulled her past a console display. “Wait, what the hell is that about?”

Alice looked at where Alijda was pointing, namely the screen which read in big letters, ‘YOU’RE FIRED’. There was a timer underneath, counting down past three hours.

“That? Oh, well, I’m fired. Fired like Future Marty McFly.” Alice swallowed. “See, I told myself, hey, I’ll simply look in on Smallville, to see if we’ll need to send another team. To replace you guys. But after I looked, I had Mr. Smith run some extra calculations, and it all led to, well…"

Her voice trailed off. Kat’s feet reached the floor first, and he walked towards her. “The convenient dragon - was that you?”

Alice smiled sadly. “Bingo. And a dragon is about as far from a tiny alteration as you can get! Of course, I’d already bent protocol, sending you off with knowledge of the third incursion, so maybe my getting kicked off the station was a foregone conclusion?”

“But if you leave, who will run the ‘Epsilon Project’?” Para protested.

Alice shrugged. “Don’t know. Maybe no one? I do hope Ziggy and Mr. Smith will be okay, not that they even have emotions b-but…" The brunette technician let out a choking sound, then quickly ran her arm over her eyes. “N-Nevermind. Let’s get you home.”

“No, stop, this is ridiculous!” Alijda shouted. Her feet finally touched down, allowing her to stamp her foot. “I’m not turning over any dimensional information from these tech glasses unless you’re reinstated!”

Alice shook her head. “Oh, Alijda, don’t insist. Please, no. God has spoken. Besides, I deserve this!” She again tried to smile, spreading her arms out. “Look at this this way, you got what you wanted - we’ve been shut down.”

Alijda swallowed. The worst of it was, Alice was right. And yet… “It shouldn’t be happening like this. Not like this. I mean, where will you go?”

“Oh, not back to my hell dimension, so that’s good. I’ll find some quiet world somewhere, I guess. It’s fine.” Alice sniffled.

“It’s not fine!” Alijda objected. Then, without even thinking about it, she added, “How about you come to my world.”

Alice’s eyes widened. “I… I’d love to. Except you hate me.”

“Actually, Alijda hates herself more than other people,” Kat put in. “Meaning I might feel better knowing she had someone else around.”

“Alijda also pushes away the people she likes the most!” Para agreed. “So she might like you even more than me.”

Alijda glared at her companions. “Stop helping. I’m not asking Alice to move in with me, I’m thinking I can hack up an identity for her, and give her someone she knows on an otherwise foreign world. Which seems to be more than this Project is doing for her.”

“Oh, no. No, I’m not going to be a charity case!” Alice asserted. “If I go with you, it’s going to be as your friend, or not at all!”

“Hah! Kat, Para, tell her how I’m a terrible friend.”

Kat shook his head. “You said to stop helping.”

“Oh Alijda, no matter how small you shrink, your heart stays huge!” Para declared, clasping her hands.

Alijda rolled her eyes. “Look, Alice, I’ll give you the lowdown on my world as you unshrink me. That itself may be reason to change your mind.”

Alice simply nodded, though the genuine smile spreading across her features implied that she wouldn’t be so easily dissuaded. Alijda sighed. So, hopefully having a friend wouldn’t be so bad? As long as Alice could tone down on the pop culture references.

--END OF STORY 3--

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FULL SCALE INVASION, PART SIXTEEN: Perchance to Dream

Kat watched as Alijda and Chris - or rather, Axiom - flew through the dimensional rift on what appeared to be a throw rug. He didn’t question it. Partly because he didn’t know the specifics behind the current magic-technology blend, but more because he didn’t have the time to think about it.

Four masked men (women?) had emerged from the rip between Earths, carrying some sort of ray guns.

For a moment, the arrivals seemed disoriented. Possibly an effect of being shrunk down, Kat reasoned, given the difference in scale between TechWorld, and the world they were on now. Either way, that moment gave Tom the time he needed to act. He sat up from the ground and took aim with his walkman.

“Click,” the young man with the bright red hair intoned, pressing the eject button.

Instead of spitting out a cassette, when the walkman popped open, a pulse of energy shot out. It travelled the 50 metres necessary to strike the first of the masked men. In the process of reaching for his head, the guy seemed to freeze in place.

Tom slapped the walkman closed and took aim again. He managed to get off two more paralysis spells before the last of the individuals realized what was happening, ducking behind one of his companions, out of Tom’s line of sight.

“How many shots do you have with that?” Kat asked, on the ground next to him.

Kat scanned back over the area of the train station. The Magic User’s Club, along with Queeny (of the government), plus Bonnie and Larry (of the DEO), had constantly gathered there, at both sunrise and sunset every day. That being the time of day when the invasion was supposed to occur. This morning, they had finally been proven right.

The lone non-paralyzed Invader poked his head out from behind his friend, seemingly firing his ray gun off in Tom’s general direction - but nothing happened. No beam of energy, no explosions, nothing.

That’s when Mook, one of Queeny’s faithful guards, charged in. The remaining invader spun ninety degrees, pointed his ray gun at the man, and seconds later, Mook face planted down into the dirt. Seemingly unconscious. Kat heard Queeny let out a shriek.

“I guess their own TechWorld tech still works fine, assuming the gun was designed to do that?” Tom mused.

Keeping low to the ground, Kat circled away from Tom, over towards where Mook had come from. He saw Queeny and Larry, flattened back against a nearby building.

Kat and Para had agreed to hang back, acting as backup more than anything else. And while Kat was stretching the definition of “hanging back”, if Queeny was getting reckless, it could impact Alijda’s safe return.

“How could I know?!” Queeny was saying as Kat got within earshot. “That gun hadn’t worked, and his friends got zapped easily!”

“Your habit of issuing orders to people based on superficial information is why people like Bonnie and Shemp don’t tend to tell you things,” Larry sighed.

Queeny did a double take. “Why bring up Shemp?”

“Please. I know he was reporting to you. How else could the guy afford new business cards?”

Queeny fumed. “Well, maybe if people told me things, I wouldn’t have to issue orders using only superficial information!”

“People shouldn’t have to state the obvious, Queeny. As Tom said, listen, and become a better observer,” Larry suggested. He peered back around the corner, raising a pair of binoculars. As the rift wasn’t that far away, it seemed to Kat like this was a signal he wanted to end the conversation.

To her credit, all Queeny said was, “I hope he’s okay.” She looked towards her fallen bodyguard again before lapsing back into silence.

As the stalemate continued to play out, Kat retreated.

“PROM away!” came a new yell. Kat looked back up, in time to see a fast moving woman in a dress approaching the last Invader from behind. Andi, moving faster than human limitations really allowed, completed a right hook to the guy’s jaw before he could turn and bring his ray gun into position.

The last invader crumpled to the ground. Then Andi started hopping around in a circle, still moving at triple speed, shaking out her punching hand while yelping, “Ow! Bad idea! Ow! Ow! Bad idea!”

“Andi! Grab the ray guns!” came Kendall’s voice.

Kat glanced at his watch; it had been barely a minute since Alijda and Axiom’s departure. As if on cue, at least a dozen more people emerged from the rift.

The carpet streaked through the sky, weaving around flying drones. Alijda was pretty sure she had the capability to hack into those helicopter-like devices, what with the magic infused tech glasses she was wearing. More to the point, doing so might provide the TechWorld people with something of a distraction.

She didn’t do it though. After all, she was meant to be taking readings and providing support, not actively sabotaging anything… though she was also rather preoccupied too. Giving Axiom a better bead on Clyde.

“Veer left!” Alijda called out. They had, what, ninety seconds left? Before their density shield failed? “Great, Clyde will be almost right below us,” Alijda noted. “I think it’s best if I teleport down to grab him.”

“But I was going to be the one who–"

“Rescued him, I know,” Alijda finished. “Except you can’t cast spells on account of maintaining the shield. It’s fine, life and death situation, I’m the same size as Clyde, and I’ve got the density suit. Just, you know, catch us when I teleport up?”

“Okay,” Axiom yielded, simultaneous to her USB staff Minerva stating “Affirmative.”

If Alijda had to guess, she’d say they were flying over an abandoned military air field. Or formerly abandoned - the largely open space was currently home to maybe a hundred individuals, and some large equipment. Nearest to the rift, the front line seemed equipped for an assault. At the back, where they were now, there was more equipment, technicians, and possibly the higher ranked officers. And androids.

“Wait, what?” Alijda muttered. There was no time to consider it - they were almost directly overhead.

In a cloud of purple smoke, Alijda vanished, reappearing in an open space on the ground, near to where Clyde was being guarded by the pale android-looking bodies. She got her bearings, and then teleported next to their prisoner. He was easy to identify, not merely due to his size, but from being in a cage. Handcuffed to the bars.

Alijda reached out to grab Clyde’s arm, then willed for the both of them to be teleported back up into the air, picking a place that would avoid possible rematerialization inside an airborne drone.

They began falling. Seconds later, they landed on Axiom’s magic carpet. It immediately shot back up, high into the air again. Alijda felt out of breath, but they seemed none the worse for wear.

“What is going ON?” Clyde said, nearly back-pedalling off their improvised vehicle, but grabbing at the rug fibres instead.

“Magical rescue mission,” Axiom said. “Hold tight, we’re headed back for the rift.”

“About that rift,” Alijda began. Then she stopped herself. Was her thought of shrinking Axiom down even feasible?

Clyde quickly came to his senses. “If we’re out of here, I’ve got a script to execute. Is that a VR keyboard chip in those glasses? Give me those.”

“Hey!” Alijda bristled as Clyde plucked the glasses off her nose, severing her link with the portable keyboard and technological surroundings. “I need those readings!”

“Sorry. I’ll give these back, but I’ve had a parting shot planned ever since these goons forced me to help them assemble the damned portal generator.” Glasses on, Clyde began to run his fingers over what Alijda assumed was the virtual keyboard. “Move in close to me, I’m not sure if my exclusion field will cover everyone.”

“Exclusion field?” Axiom said, crouching down.

“Yeah. Don’t want you to be caught in the sleep ray.”

“Sleep ray?” Axiom parroted again.

“It’s some ray these guys can fire to stimulate alpha waves and induce unconsciousness,” Clyde explained as he typed. “Only reason I never attacked them this way before is because the ray doesn’t affect those damn droids.”

Axiom shook her head. “But why wouldn’t the rest of them be protected against their own weapon?”

“Oh, they are. But not at the force I’m invoking. This program will set off all the possible sleep ray pulses for miles around, simultaneously. And they’ve got a bunch here, what with the invasion. Even us, this far up in the air, and within an exclusion field, we’ll probably still feel tired.”

“Miles?” Alijda broke in. She glanced back out at the landscape, noting what looked like houses in the distance. “But what if there are people within your zone who aren’t part of this invasion force? Could they end up in trouble, like if they’re driving past or something?”

“Do I look like I care?” Clyde countered. “Damn place has been keeping me prisoner for over a year! And they want to mine MY world for oil and other natural resources! Screw them. I gather most of their vehicles are self driving anyway.”

Alijda felt like she should continue protesting, but that was when a laser sliced a hole in their carpet. Axiom executed a sudden stop, then flew higher, beginning evasive maneuvers.

So the brunette hacker held her tongue. Again, she was meant to be primarily an observer, right? She didn’t know the people of TechWorld like Clyde. This wasn’t her call. Never mind that she’d executed the jailbreak, making this possible…

To avoid thinking too hard about it, Alijda instead wondered whether she’d looked as bizarre as Clyde now did, waving his hands over on an interface that was invisible to everyone else. It did look a bit like he was trying to invoke some form of magical spell.

“Boom. Good night,” Clyde said, punching his finger into the air.

A brief humming noise surrounded them. Axiom yawned. Then, on the ground, everyone began to keel over. Some of the drones also dropped out of the sky, as others began to spin in circles.

“Ten seconds to density shield failure,” Minerva noted. “Accelerating our departure.” The carpet went into a dive, as Axiom yawned again.

Clyde pulled off the glasses, handing them back to Alijda. “Thanks.”

Alijda accepted them, unable to turn away from the sight of an uncontrolled drone landing on top of a military man who was lying unconscious below them. “You’re welcome,” she murmured.

Para’s job was simple. As soon as she saw Alijda and Axiom return, she was to use her (recently returned) Epsilon communicator, and call Alice. That way, their group of three could still get picked up, before the spell could be cast to seal all dimensional breaches.

Granted, there was no guarantee that such a spell meant the Epsilon Station itself would become inaccessible. But there were a lot of unknowns at present, including whether Alice would even be able to make a portal for them as quickly as they hoped.

Not to mention whether Para would be the only one left conscious by the time Alijda reappeared.

“They knocked Tom out. We’re not going to be able to contain this force much longer,” Michaela decided. The magic user had been keeping herself out of the thick of things, along with Para and Bonnie.

“You may not have to,” Kat said, crawling back to reach their position. “Looks more like those ten are trying to establish a foothold. Meaning the real problem is convincing them to retreat, now that they’re wise to ranged attacks and Andi’s speed.”

“Hrmph. We need some real life version of those blasted tech security systems those people run,” Bonnie declared. “Firewalls, I think they’re called.”

Para felt her ears drooping. “Should I simply call Alice now? I mean, she’s like the inter-dimensional police… so maybe she can help?”

“No, don’t,” Kat asserted. “If Alice interferes, she’ll probably end up in even more trouble than us.” He grimaced. “I’ve got a suggestion.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

OPTIONS:

[polldaddy poll=9443263]

VOTING WILL CLOSE LATE ON WEDNESDAY JUNE 15th EDT.

FULL SCALE INVASION, PART FIFTEEN: RESCUE STRANGERS

Some people were good at waiting. Alijda really didn’t understand those people. After all, it was during the waiting that the demons would creep in, telling you that you were worthless and alone, making you second guess all of your decisions. In this case, the key decision burning at Alijda was the one that had her accompanying Chris on the mission to retrieve Clyde. Why had she insisted on that?

Alijda burst into tears about 36 hours after telling Kat and Para that she was going, bar none, so that any consequences would all be on her. Alijda’s sobs attracted the attention of Chris herself, who was sitting on the other side of the room. After a good couple of minutes of crying, the brunette drew in a long breath, and strode up to the Magic User.

“I’m sorry,” Alijda sniffled. “This was a bad idea.”

Chris dropped the magazine that she’d been busy ignoring. “What was?”

“Having me here.”

“Oh? Why?”

“Because I’m a damn DOLL!” Alijda said, rage surging up through the sadness. “It takes forever to cross a room, I can’t handle doors, I’m bathing in a sink and drinking from a thimble - what use am I going to be on your rescue mission?? If I were a character in my own fiction stories, I bet a majority of readers wouldn’t even want me to be the one doing this. You better go find Para instead.”

Chris half smiled. “Bit late for that,” she noted. “The tech glasses were fitted for someone of your size. Besides, didn’t you insist to me that you’d be the best person to deal with a technological world?”

“I have an exaggerated sense of my own importance,” Alijda concluded. She pulled the glasses off her face, wiping tears from her cheeks. The spectacles had been fitted with a microchip and imbued with magic, to allow the wearer to take readings of things like the dimensional tear.

“Para can re-fit these. She’s great at that square-cubed stuff. Here.” Alijda tossed the glasses onto the floor, then turned away. “Go find her, I’ll be hiding in a cabinet somewhere until this is all over.”

Alijda hesitated, but turned around again. Chris had leaned forwards. Despite the purple haired woman sitting on the floor - or rather, on a sleeping bag - she still towered over the brunette hacker. Or that’s what it felt like, being around eight inches tall.

“Would you like us to find you some medication?” Chris offered. “Kat mentioned that you were a depressive, and that cutting off your communications with Alice might pose a probl–"

“NO! I would NOT like that, I’d like you to LISTEN to me and do as I SAY! Understand?!” She stamped her foot for emphasis.

It was a bit hard to interpret Chris’ reaction to that. While there was a bit of shock in her expression, the best word Alijda could find to fit that expression was bemused. Perhaps bewildered. “WHAT?” Alijda fired off, before she could stop herself.

“Well,” Chris began, “first, you say you’re upset that you’re too small, and then you start issuing orders. You’re torpedoing your own argument, by making it clear size doesn’t matter, only strength of character. And second… second, Gods, Alijda, you look super adorbs! I guess I don’t know how to take seeing you cry. Sorry.”

“I look super–" Alijda wiped at her cheeks again, then crossed her arms. “Exactly WHAT ELSE has Kat been mentioning to you?!”

“Nothing! I swear, only the meds thing, because he was worried about you. And while I grant some of the ‘adorbs' factor is your size - I used to play with dolls growing up - you’re obviously the sort of woman who doesn’t have to do things like dye her hair lavender in order to get noticed. Kinda envy that about you.”

“Well, don’t. I’m dateless in my mid-thirties, on track to being forever alone. Which is just as well, I’d hate to inflict my kind of misery on a parter. Or worse, a daughter.” She laughed. “Can you imagine how awful THAT would be?”

Chris continued to stare. “You don’t have to lie to me, Alijda,” she said. “I mean, when this is all over, you’ll probably never see me again. So why not be honest?”

“I am being honest!”

“Really? Then how did daughters even enter this conversation? Is it because you’re lying to yourself too?”

Alijda found herself doing a mental double take. She didn’t enjoy it. “Shut up. Para’s on my mind, and she’s a bit like a daughter to me, that’s all. What with needing an adult to explain to her about human interactions and all that nonsense. Don’t change the subject!”

Chris tilted her head. “Okay. And what was the subject? You, deciding to send your surrogate daughter on this dangerous mission with me, rather than going yourself? Because you somehow think she’s more qualified? Explain to me how that makes sense.”

It felt like Chris was twisting her words, yet at the same time, she wasn’t. “K-Kat then,” Alijda said. She winced at her much less assertive tone.

Chris pushed herself up onto her feet. “Or how about this idea. I see about getting you some medication, and then we chat for a bit about how life kinda sucks no matter what Earth you come from.”

“That sounds like a terrible plan!” Alijda said, kicking her toe at the floor as she eyed Chris’ giant shoe.

“Even so, let’s try it. I’ll be right back. Please don’t go anywhere?”

For at least a minute after Chris’ departure, Alijda continued to stare at the rumpled sleeping bag on the floor. Eventually, she walked over, picked the glasses back up, and replaced them on the bridge of her nose. “I bet these make me look stupid,” she declared to the empty room.

They knew where the invasion would come through - the fairy mirror had identified the new weakest dimensional spot as being near the train station. They also knew the approximate time of day - a vision potion some weeks back had shown Kendall a bunch of masked men charging through a fissure at either dusk or dawn.

But the day itself was a mystery. Which was why Chris and Alijda were effectively camping out in an abandoned house, with everyone continuing to prepare the best defence possible in whatever time they had left. They needed something that wouldn’t make the invaders turn around completely, at least not right away, but rather something that could contain them long enough to allow for the rescue of Clyde.

“The most impressive thing,” Kat remarked to Alijda, when he stopped by one afternoon, “is how this whole ‘being united against a common enemy’ thing is working out. Bonnie even gave Andi back her PROM.”

“Oh yes?” Alijda smirked. “I’m thinking the fact that said PROM is now useless, without having some sort of magic to blend with it, might have been a factor.”

Kat chuckled. “Cynical, yet probably not wrong. Still, I wonder if Queeny, Bonnie and Kendall will continue to work together like this in the future. And if the techno-magic limitation will even hold once the dimensions are sealed.”

“We’ll never know,” Alijda shrugged. “We’re already overdue with Alice. I’m actually starting to feel bad, what with keeping her in the dark for this long.”

Kat’s eyebrow went up. “Wait. You’re feeling bad for the woman who you claim watches our every move? Who can abduct us without warning, and who puts us into these life or death situations in the first place?” He leaned in closer. “Is your new medication working out?”

“Ha ha, you can shut up,” Alijda suggested.

“Not before I tell you how sexy you look in those glasses.”

“And now you can leave,” Alijda concluded with an eye roll.

“All normal then. Excellent,” Kat said, giving her a thumbs up before departing.

The invasion began the next morning. As soon as the loud thunderclap sounded, Chris was grabbing for her USB. “Pretty Phlebotinum, Henshin Go!” she blurted.

A glowing circle formed on the floor, and Alijda heard music playing as she ran for the window. As the song faded out, she heard Chris’ voice declare, “Technical problems? I’m the cure. Cure Axiom! So it’s gonna be forever, or it’s gonna go down in flames.”

Alijda glanced over her shoulder. Axiom was dressed as Kat had described, wearing a dress of purples and blues which was covered in bows. Her hair was held back by a hairband with a small blue witches’ hat stuck onto it. “New catchphrase?” Alijda mused.

“I guess?” Axiom sighed. “These songs are stored on Minerva’s drive, I’ve never heard them before. Am I really a nightmare dressed like a daydream?”

Alijda shrugged. “Talk about it later?”

“Right.” Axiom stepped forwards, next to Alijda. She tapped the end of her staff, which remained in the form of a USB cable wand, onto the throw rug beneath them. The rug lifted off into the air.

As their magic carpet shot out of the window, Alijda tapped at her glasses, chanting “I spy with my little eye…" Scrolling text lit up on her lenses, and a glowing keyboard appeared in the air in front of her.

“Rift bearing at 50 degrees left of straight ahead, right above the train tracks,” Alijda noted. “It’s expanding.” She began typing, to take more in depth readings.

“I see it,” Axiom noted. “Looks like everyone else is getting into position too.”

Alijda risked a quick glance down at the ground. She immediately regretted it, as her flight through the air, coupled with her size, made her feel like she was falling from a great height. On the bright side, she had been able to spot Para’s bunny ears, registering that the blonde was waving at them.

“They’re coming through,” Alijda noted, as the numbers started to surge up.

“That won’t stop us,” Axiom countered. The rug went into a dive, and Alijda barely had a chance to register the masked people appearing amid a crackle of energy before they were over their heads - and into the dimensional rip.

Naturally, this was the cue for things to go very wrong.

Axiom let out a shriek of pain, the rug spinning in a circle as it blasted out into it’s new environment. Alijda herself felt a bit like throwing up. “Mass error! Emergency density shield activated!” came a female voice from the USB staff.

‘Oh, hell,’ Alijda realized, as the scene coalesced around them. ‘The size conversion - it’s not attached to the stuff and people that TechWorld is sending. They’ve somehow baked the scale differential into this rift itself. Meaning we’ve been enlarged, and are now the same size, relative to them. Complete sitting ducks.’

“Axiom! Go up, up, UP!” Alijda shrieked. She had registered enough to know that they were outside, rather than confined to a building. Thank goodness for small mercies.

The light on the cable wand flashed. “Up, up, up, can only go up from here…"

The rug stopped it’s spin, and immediately blasted towards the sky, on a path perpendicular to the ground. Alijda was pretty sure that the only thing that kept them from being shot at by the dozens of military-looking men on the ground was the element of surprise.

The sky itself wasn’t devoid of hazards though. A number of flying drones were zipping back and forth, and there was no way of knowing if any of them were armed or not. It was all happening too fast.

“Density shield will fail in under two minutes,” Minerva’s voice warned.

“Of course it will,” Alijda groused, typing furiously.

“And it’s taking all we have to maintain the carpet and the shield,” Axiom croaked. “We can’t handle any more spells.”

“Of course you can’t,” Alijda reiterated. She tapped at her glasses. Finally, some good news - she had a bead on Clyde. Meaning he was not only in the vicinity, but in order to appear on her scan, he had to still be shrunk down relative to TechWorld. Alijda supposed that meant he was about her size. Well, that was potentially convenient.

But with Chris, aka Axiom, being a big, obvious target - how were they going to get everyone safely back through the rift?

WHAT’S NEXT?

OPTIONS:

[polldaddy poll=9437478]

VOTING WILL CLOSE LATE ON TUESDAY JUNE 7th EDT.

FULL SCALE INVASION, PART FOURTEEN: BAD PLAN

Para wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. She wasn’t upset by that though, as the only person in the room with access to the entire story was Chris - the member of the Magic User’s Club who had interfaced with the USB drive taken out of the Department of Extra-Dimensional Objects.

Granted, Kat and Queeny seemed to know at least part of the story as well. Para wondered whether Tom, also sitting at the conference table, was as confused as she was. At the least, she knew that Larry, the DEO agent and most recent arrival, was completely in the dark.

“What do you MEAN the truth about what happened to Clyde?” Larry sputtered. “He died, because of our premature use of portal technology. We shouldn’t have been so arrogant as to try and generate our own method to traverse dimensions without proper testing.”

“Oh, drop the front!” Queeny shouted. Fortunately, the head of government hadn’t shouted it into her megaphone. “We know Clyde’s really alive.”

Larry gripped the door frame. “How DARE you! Bonnie has been doing her best this past year, there’s no way Clyde is pulling the strings!”

“That’s NOT what we mean,” Queeny declared. “If you keep playing dumb…" She waggled her finger.

“Queeny, isn’t it possible he truly doesn’t know?” Para ventured. “I mean, I don’t really know what this is about Clyde, and I’ve been in the room longer than Larry.”

“You mean Bonnie could have been keeping the truth a secret?” Kat mused.

“Transported?” Larry choked. Para noticed that the DEO agent was now holding onto the side of the doorway, seemingly to keep himself from falling down.

Chris nodded. “I’m certain that Clyde was sent to an adjoining world. The very one this USB drive originated on, in fact. That’s why Minerva recognized it.”

At last, it all started making sense for Para. “Oh, okay! So Clyde’s arrival on TechWorld alerted them to the dimensional weaknesses. Which led to that world’s subsequent tests. Meaning sending those large scale objects to this world.”

“Which also led to Alice and the Epsilon Project noticing the problem,” Kat added.

“Which will eventually lead to an invasion,” Chris concluded. “As TechWorld plunders us for who knows what reason. The good news is that I can now prevent it. The bad news is, that would strand Clyde on the other side.”

Larry swallowed. “H-How do you even know that Clyde is still alive over there?”

“The fact that all the huge incursions were in our town, and nowhere else in the world, is a hint that he’s got a hand in things,” Chris explained. “But even if we assume that’s related to the original breach, Clyde stored some personal data on Minerva too. When we correlate it with the objects that arrived, namely a hat, an iron, and a thimble, well…"

“Oh my God.” Larry sank down to his knees. “Me and Clyde used to love playing that ‘Monopolize’ board game together. How did I miss that?”

“Good thing they didn’t send through a racecar,” Kat observed.

Para pushed her chair back to keep the DEO agent in view. “Um, Larry, you okay? You want a glass of water or something?”

Tom leaned forwards. “Just a vibe I get, but, dude, did you have a thing for Clyde?”

“What?! I… no… I… I’m fine, that is…" Larry pulled himself back up to his feet with the help of the wall, stammering incoherently.

Tom smirked. “Okay, yup, you totally did,” he concluded, before lapsing back into silence. Larry looked like he wanted to run.

Kat frowned. “Wait. Larry, Clyde was your BOSS, right? And yet Tom is saying you two–”

“Being his BOSS is your issue? Clyde’s also another GUY!” Queeny cut in. “What freaky stuff was going ON in that department?!”

Para stood, moving for Larry even as she spoke to Queeny. “Isn’t it true that, when two people love each other, it doesn’t matter what–"

“Shut it, or I’ll throw you in jail!”

“We’re kinda losing the thread here,” Chris said, raising her hand. “Invasion?”

“Yes!” Queeny said, grabbing her megaphone to yell into. “Which you can prevent. So go do that. Never mind about Clyde, the good of the many and all that.”

“Hold on! Didn’t you say the DEO ran less shady with him in charge?” Kat wondered. “We’d agreed–"

“Changed my mind! Now you can shut it too!”

Para reached Larry’s side, gingerly taking him by the hand. “Do you really think Bonnie didn’t know?” she murmured.

Larry shook his head. “I don’t think she would have kept something like that from me. Besides, when Clyde died, the whole project got a rebuild from the ground up. If she’d known he had been successful, why she would have done that?”

“You can’t blame yourself then,” Para stated. “There’s no way you could have known.”

Larry sniffled. “Oh, Clyde… you were the only one who liked my poetry…”

“Look, Queeny,” Chris said, rising to her feet. “It’s very possible that Clyde is being tortured over there for information about our world. The fact that all TechWorld technology in this city went offline after that thimble came through can’t be coincidence. So retrieving him isn’t merely the humanitarian thing to do, it’s also the best thing strategically.”

Queeny narrowed her eyes. “Killing Clyde would also fix that problem.”

Kat whistled. “That escalated quickly.”

“Either way, we would need a mission to find him,” Chris countered.

“What’s your proposal?” Larry asked, squeezing Para’s hand as he straightened out his posture. “I gather that’s why you wanted Bonnie here? To discuss bringing Clyde back?”

Chris didn’t speak, still staring at Queeny, so Kat cleared his throat. “Two rescue options are available. The first, which I’m pretty sure is a no-go, would be us getting our communicators back. With those, we contact Alice, and she sends us, or some other rescue party to TechWorld.”

“Actually, that’s feasible,” Larry said. “I can spin it as you getting your gear and leaving, which was frankly our preference from the beginning.”

Kat shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. Doing that would mean we’re actively helping you, and I don’t think that’s the point behind ‘Epsilon’. It’s more likely that you’ll need to do it without our help.”

“So what’s plan B? Try to reconstruct Clyde’s original portal designs?”

Queeny finally blinked first, meaning Chris shifted her gaze over to Larry. “No, there’s no time,” she sighed. “We’ll need to piggyback a rescue on TechWorld’s invasion itself.”

Larry stared. “That’s a bad plan.”

“You’re damn right it is!” Queeny asserted, sounding increasingly desperate. “We need to seal ourselves off now, and–"

Tom reached out, grabbed the megaphone out of Queeny’s hand, and walked over to hurl it out the nearest window. “Loosen up, el Presidente!” he snapped. “Did you ever think that maybe the problem isn’t that people can’t hear you, but rather, they don’t like what you’re saying? Try listening for a change.”

Queeny stared, open mouthed, her fingers twitching.

Chris flashed Tom a quick smile, then nodded at Larry. “The plan isn’t perfect,” she admitted. “But if we’re in and out fast enough? TechWorld won’t gain a foothold here before we block them off for good.”

Para saw a problem with that. “Um, but Clyde is the same size as the rest of us. No bigger than a small bird on TechWorld,” she pointed out. “How are you going to find him?”

“We’re hoping we can adapt the DEO’s density sensors,” Chris admitted. “Another reason we need Bonnie’s co-operation.”

“And what if Clyde’s in a jail or something over there?” Larry asked.

“Well…" Chris pulled out the USB drive from her pocket, turning it around in her fingers before turning to look at Kat. “Would borrowing your friend Alijda’s teleportation ability be allowed, as a method of non-active assistance?”

Para walked over to turn off the sound of the oboe coming from the phonograph in the corner. “Is that better?” she asked.

“Yes,” Alijda responded. “Also no.”

Para blinked. “No?”

“No, I can’t teleport someone of your size,” Alijda sighed. “I just tried to teleport along with this lovely silky pillow here, and I nearly passed out. I think I’m stuck teleporting doll sized items until my scale problem gets fixed.”

“Oh.”

“Guess that’s what happens when you’re shrunk. I take it that’s a problem?”

“Possibly?” Para said, wringing her hands. “Again, not sure I’m the best person to explain…" Which was when Kat walked into the room. Para let out a breath of relief - it didn’t take long for the military man to bring Alijda up to speed.

“Okay,” Alijda said, once Kat was finished. “So, the hope was to be able to teleport Clyde, because Chris’ communication spells allow her to bleed spell effects off of fellow Magic Users?”

“Assuming they give consent, yeah,” Kat affirmed. “Of course, no idea if it would work with us, since we have abilities, not spells, but then, Chris is already interfacing with otherworldly tech so…" He shrugged.

“Except it’s all moot, since I can barely teleport a banana,” Alijda concluded.

“Apparently,” Kat agreed.

Para glanced back and forth between her two companions. She hesitated to bring it up AGAIN, since they never seemed to like the option, but wasn’t it the right thing to do?

“So shouldn’t we leave?” Para asked. “I mean, I’m not saying I’d be happy doing that, but Alice said to warn these inhabitants. We’ve warned them. They now believe us, and seem to have a plan going forwards.”

“Valid point,” Kat acknowledged. “Plus here’s an extra conundrum - when Chris seals off dimensional access, will that seal off our way home too? I’m not keen on wearing this pink under-suit for the rest of my life.”

Para had to do a double take. She hadn’t expected Kat to support her. Alijda seemed less sure though, crossing her arms and glaring at the floor.

“Know what though?” the brunette woman said, after a moment. “We should get some up close readings on these dimensional weaknesses. Could be really valuable information for future “Epsilon” missions, since the project itself doesn’t seem to be as good at monitoring us as I thought.”

Para should have known. Her human companions never did the rational thing. She wasn’t upset, of course - merely confused. “I thought you wanted the project shut down!” she reminded Alijda. “Why do you want to HELP Alice now??”

“I think Alijda has thought of a convenient excuse to stick around,” Kat said, smiling. “Because on the inside, she’s much prettier than she believes herself to be.”

Alijda rolled her eyes. “Hey Kat! Speaking of ‘Monopoly’, you are sorely tempting me to access your world’s computers and program a bank error very much NOT in your favour after all this.”

Kat winked. “At least I’ll know you’re thinking of me.”

Gesturing dismissively at him, Alijda turned her attention back to Para. “Here’s the thing, Para - Chris apparently saved my tiny little life. So I’m not comfortable simply running away if she still needs us. Besides, can you tell me the data WOULDN’T be useful?”

Para half smiled herself, as she realized more fully what Kat had been saying. “I can’t. Okay, I’m still with you both then - but if we all join Chris, we’ll just be in the way. Right? So which one of us should go with her?”

“The person who can fare the best on a technological world,” Alijda concluded. “Me.”

“We all have different strengths though,” Kat countered. “You’re good with programming, but Para’s good at technical designs, and I’m decent at actual hardware configuration. Moreover, none of that might be even relevant to a rescue operation.”

“So who?” Para reiterated, her bunny ears twitching.

WHAT’S NEXT?

OPTIONS:

[polldaddy poll=9430691]

VOTING WILL CLOSE LATE ON TUESDAY MAY 31st EDT.

FULL SCALE INVASION, PART THIRTEEN: Transformation

It’s strange, the common bonds that can bring people together. Kat was reminded of that fact after their retreat to City Hall. With the shrinking Alijda having been brought to a convenient break room with Para, Kat had set his goal as having both Queeny and the Magic User’s Club on board with helping him to save his companion… his friend.

“We can argue later about who was in the wrong here,” Kat began. “Right now, our focus HAS to be on keeping that woman from shrinking away to nothing!”

“Wrong!” Queeny shouted into her megaphone, making Kat smack his hand against his ear. “You’re not even from this world. You can’t waltz in and tell us, the local government, what our priorities should be!”

“She’s right!” Chris asserted. “Society has to have rules. We can’t break them without considering the consequences!”

“Are you two willing to let someone die because you delayed?” Kat protested.

“Magic and technology seem to be going haywire,” Chris noted. “Unless we know more about what’s happening, we could make your friend’s problem worse.”

“Exactly!” Queeny agreed. “Maybe this mystery spell I have will go wrong, and make that woman grow to be the size of that thimble, destroying this whole building. We don’t know!”

Chris eyed Queeny. “You know, for being a government person, you’re making more sense than usual.”

Queeny lowered her megaphone. “And you seem a lot more practical to me than I’d expect of someone who believes in magical abilities.”

“Awesome lesson, individuals aren’t necessarily the same thing as their collectives, blah blah, can we leave yet?” Tom asked, stifling a yawn.

Kat saw the opening. Despite having some reservations, he decided to take it. “Enough! You have to listen to me - and not waste your time trying to form an alliance against that shady Department of Extra-Dimensional Objects!”

“Who still have my PROM,” Andi huffed.

“Speaking of, why DID you want Bonnie to see us at the motel?” Kendall asked Queeny. “You seemed to think the real one would show up instead of Andi.”

“Bonnie DuChessy always knows more about what’s going on than I do,” Queeny complained. “She certainly figured out my doubles plan faster than anticipated. So, I wanted to know if she’d be as surprised by your attempted murder of a gov… by whatever you were doing,” she amended, off Kendall’s look.

“Is Bonnie also the reason you were tracking us, trying to find the weak dimensional locations?” Michaela asked.

“Yes, since you weren’t always subtle about your activities,” Queeny admitted. “So, after seeing your interest in that motel five or six days ago, I paid off the owner to advise me of anything unusual. Either with respect to Bonnie herself, or arrivals like this guy’s package,” she said, jerking a thumb at Kat. “Or the rest of you trying to jam an oboe into an unusual location.”

“That’s why you moved our meeting,” Andi concluded. “You were told about the rest of them setting up for the spell.”

“Right. Thought I’d have one up on Bonnie, but SOMEHOW, she knew to stay out of danger.” Queeny adjusted the straps of her red silk dress. “That department was much less shady under Clyde’s direction.”

Tom slapped Kat on the back. “Okay guy, good job in getting us to unite against the DEO rather than against you. What’s your next play?”

Kat winced. “Okay. I admit that was my goal there. But it’s because I have intelligence for you, that I took from the DEO base.” He reached into his pocket, pulling out the USB drive that he’d grabbed, back before Alijda had teleported them away. “This was in a hidden back room, where the DEO seemed to be trying to build their own portal technology. It could explain a few things.”

Queeny’s eyes narrowed. “What?! You mean they’re continuing that project? That’s crazy, that’s what got Clyde killed!”

Kendall let out a low whistle. “Okay Kat, what’s this thing you’ve got? Does it project a hologram or something?”

“No, it needs to interface with a computer. Queeny, can you get us access to one?”

The head of government hesitated, then finally grimaced. “Oh, you’d likely figure it out - no, no, I can’t, not without Bonnie knowing. Her department regulates all the useful stuff. All we have on hand is confiscated odds and ends that haven’t been classified yet.”

Kat rubbed his forehead, considering alternatives. “Would any of those items include a USB on-the-go cable? Plugging the drive into something like that might at least activate it. Like the trigger on those laser cutters. Then one of the magic users could channel a spell to read the data.”

“Oh, I’m all about communications, spells or otherwise,” Chris affirmed.

Queeny snapped her fingers, and the security mook in a suit, who had been silent for as long as Kat had seen him, stepped forwards. “Go look into that,” she ordered. “Bring all the tech odds and ends to my office.”

“And could we maybe hurry?” Kat requested. “I am providing this information in the hopes that–"

“You get help for your companion in exchange, yes, I haven’t forgotten,” Queeny said. “We’re under a bit of a deadline here too, you know! I’m sure the press will want a statement about the thimble incident within the hour.”

“Some of us can run interference in the public for you,” Kendall offered. “Assuming you drop this sudden vendetta you’ve acquired, painting us as assassins…"

Queeny let out a noise of exasperation. “Yes, fine. But I reserve my right to change my mind about ALL of this when we learn about whatever’s on the DEO’s Sub drive thing!”

“Good to see that, underneath it all, she’s still the same old Queeny,” Michaela muttered to Andi.

They were ready to attempt data retrieval less than half an hour later. Para was still with Alijda, while the others were dealing with the fallout from the third major incursion, so only Kat, Chris, Tom, Queeny and her security man stood in the office.

Chris eyed the USB drive she had in one hand, and the USB OTG cable she held in the other. “You’re saying I plug these together, then channel a spell?”

“Best plan I’ve got,” Kat said.

“Rock on,” Tom said, giving a thumbs up.

“Hurry up,” Queeny sighed.

Chris murmured a few words that Kat didn’t catch, then carefully fit the two pieces of technology together. For a second, there was nothing. Then the magic technician jerked her gaze forwards. “OH.”

Five glowing purple lines traced themselves out sequentially on the floor. They formed a five pointed star with Chris in the centre. She rotated her arms ninety degrees. There was a flash of light from the USB. Then the jumpsuited technician smiled. “Pretty Phlebotinum, Henshin Go!”

Incredibly, Kat heard music playing as a glowing circle formed around the star on the floor. The last thing he saw of Chris before she was enveloped by a column of purple light was her hair magically undoing itself from her usual ponytail.

When the purple light burst away, Chris was gone. There had been barely enough time for Queeny to stammer and for Tom to curse. Which was weird, because the musical interlude had felt like it had gone on for much longer.

Where Chris had once stood there was now a slightly younger woman, wearing a pretty dress of purples and blues, covered in multiple bows. Her hair was even longer, now held back from her face with a hairband that had a small blue witches’ hat stuck onto it. And in one hand, the woman held a very long USB cable wand. She spun it in her hands a few times like a quarterstaff before tapping it’s base against the ground.

“Technical problems? I’m the cure. Cure Axiom!” the woman announced. “If you can’t do the math, then get out of the equation.”

The stunned silence that ensued was finally broken by Kat. “Chris?”

The purple haired woman rolled her eyes. “Did I, or did I not introduce myself?”

The light on her USB cable wand flashed, and a feminine voice that Kat didn’t recognize intoned, “Interface confirmed. Introduction verified. Auditory assessment required.”

Kat exchanged an uncertain glance with the others present. Honestly, his first instinct had been to compliment the technician on her makeover, kiss her hand, and ask whether she was doing anything that evening. But it hardly seemed the right approach. Besides, what if it wasn’t Chris? First impressions, as Alijda had said.

“Yeah, okay,” Tom said at last. “Look, Chris–"

“Cure Axiom!”

“–you’re 28, isn’t that a bit old to be playing dress up?”

“I didn’t authorize any of this!” Queeny asserted, finding her voice. “Give me a good reason not to throw all of you in jail!”

Axiom adjusted her hairband. “Fine, it’s me - yet somehow more, so it helps if I don’t think of myself as Chris. In fact, the two of us realized very quickly that communicating through that spell was liable to give Chris a brain aneurysm, so the form of a techno-mage was adopted as a safer way of interfacing. Isn’t that right, Minerva?”

The USB wand flashed. “Affirmative.”

Queeny snapped her fingers. “Mook, go find us a psychologist. Fast.”

“Hold on,” Kat protested, prompting Queeny to motion for Mook to wait. “Chr– Axiom might not be crazy. In fact it sounds like she can access the data, so we should hear what she has to say! That way we’ll have something we can act on while she’s being assessed, and maybe we can also finally–"

“Save your friend Alijda?” Axiom finished, making Kat wonder if his requests were becoming something of a broken record. She smiled, and it was a brilliant smile. “I can do that.”

The purple haired woman then looked to Queeny. “In fact, with Minerva’s help, I can resume channelling magic safely. Meaning I can not only save the teleporter, but also use the necessarily wavelengths to seal the dimensional rifts.” She grimaced. “Yet based on this data, which is related to why Bonnie has been acting the way she has, that spell might be a bad idea. It will take some time to explain.”

“Time we don’t have,” Tom objected. “Chris herself was the one who called today’s meeting, saying the dimensional alien attack was imminent. If she’s in there, you must know that!”

“I remember. Worse, I am not sure how much longer I can maintain this form. But we need to take the time to do this right,” the magical woman asserted. “For the sake of our world.”

“Okay, whatever, Mook go find that psychologist NOW,” Queeny demanded. “For ME,” she added, before Kat could speak up.

It was night before another formal gathering could occur. By then, things had calmed down. The government had released a statement about how they were looking into the thimble incident. The older members of the Magic Users’ Club had left to take some readings, leaving Tom and Chris - who had been forced to temporarily dispel her Axiom form - at City Hall. Alijda, while cured, remained unconscious.

Queeny had made the main conference room available to them. She had already sent a message to the DEO, telling Bonnie that the jig was up, and to come and discuss their next move. Instead, at the allotted time, it was Larry who appeared in the doorway.

“Huh. Is he your DEO spy?” Kat wondered.

“No,” Queeny sputtered. “And shut up about that.” She rose from her position at the head of the table. “Where is Bonnie?!”

“She’s pretty sure the entire government has been corrupted by this point,” Larry said, nonchalantly shoving his hands into his trenchcoat as he leaned against the door frame. “I can’t say I blame her. I see you’ve met the offworlders, and haven’t thrown them in jail?”

“Hi Larry Appleson!” Para said, waving energetically. “Did you miss us?”

“Bonnie thinks WE’RE corrupt?! Why that–” Queeny reached for her megaphone. “You tell that power crazed department head that I–"

“We know, Larry,” Chris interrupted. She was as loud as Queeny, yet her tone was gentle where Queeny’s was abrasive. “We know the truth about what happened with Clyde. About what happened to the former head of the DEO. We know.”

Kat wondered if that would be enough.

WHAT’S NEXT?

OPTIONS:

[polldaddy poll=9424687]

VOTING WILL CLOSE LATE ON TUESDAY MAY 23rd EDT. ALSO, LAST WEEK’S VOTE REMAINS OPEN! VOTE AGAIN, OR FOR THE FIRST TIME!

My first two “behind the scenes” posts were for my first serial on this site, in 2014. I’ve decided to do another now, since:

a) I want to talk about my frustration last week, for possible solidarity with other writers, if nothing else.

b) There will be stats, for people who like that sort of thing.

CONTEXT

Note: There is a good chance I am not quite right in the head. In April 2015, I transitioned this serial site from “Epsilon Project” to “Time & Tied”, in large part because the latter is me editing a work from 15 years ago, versus writing 2,000 words weekly. I’m not saying editing is easier (particularly when deciding to add illustrations), but with edits, a backlog/buffer is at least possible. That’s handy in April. Since April is one of the worst months of the year, in terms of writing.

See, I’m a math teacher. And April is a report card month. So along with November (not too bad, but NaNoWriMo’s out), June (exams on top of the reports) and January (the worst, exams plus organizing second semester in 24 hours or less), April ranks up there as “a month where only schoolwork is occurring”. Add to it my tendency to help with the school play, meaning I don’t necessarily take weekends off that month, and in 2015 I figured I’d lose my mind maintaining “Epsilon”.

So what did I do in 2016? I shifted back to “Epsilon” at the end of February. At the same time as I was writing, illustrating and publishing a weekly math webcomic too. I did this KNOWING April was coming. As I said, not quite right in the head.

Yet you might have noticed that I didn’t miss an update.

WEEK 9

Let me set the scene for Story 3: Week 9. Sunday, April 17th, and I had just published “Half the Battle”, where the cast breaks out of the DEO. That was my 20th straight day at work (since Easter). In fact, it was tech weekend. I ran rehearsal of the play to start the morning (9am) because the director was also organizing a student trip to Spain. (She’s even more ambitious than me.)

I don’t remember exactly when I left the school on Sunday. Definitely after 4pm. Then I still had to finalize report cards and generate comments. I didn’t get to bed until after 2am. On the bright side, my math webcomic was self-updating on Monday, because I’d queued up four comics at the end of March.

Monday, April 18th was my 21st straight day at work, on less than five hours sleep. That night was dress rehearsal, so I left school after 9pm. Tuesday I did NOT work 12 hours. It was a unique day. Wednesday was opening night, Thursday was Cappies night (I’m the school’s advisor, I left work after 11pm), and Friday was a matinee show in the afternoon followed by closing night.

It was before the matinee on Friday afternoon, my 25th straight day at work, after working for over 60 hours since my prior serial update (at least 30 of them paid), that I closed the poll. It had 5 votes. I’d need another update in less than 48 hours.

I started writing “PROM, Committee” about 4pm Friday. The new characters were names from the play, with personalities as amalgamated with an anime about magic that I remembered from years ago. About 25% of the dialogue was repurposed (humorously) from the play. I made it through less than 500 words at the time. The rest of Part 9 was written on Saturday.

Oh, not Saturday morning. I went to a mathematics professional development session (voluntarily) that morning! Good speaker. No, I wrote the rest Saturday afternoon, then published on Sunday as per usual. I’m betting you didn’t know that, because I don’t think anyone who did know actually reads my fiction.

WEEK 11

Now, writing-wise, what did I have to show for Week 9? Well, “PROM, Committee” actually had 30 views by my birthday three days later (oh, I turned 40, woot), largely because I posted it to the FB group for the play, and the director said she loved it. It also got a comment from kaleidofish. Meaning the self torture felt kind of worth it. Contrast Week 11.

The first week of May, I was going to a math conference (Thursday to Saturday), a 5 hour drive away. Tuesday I was still pulling together lessons for the substitute teacher, packing, etc, so I kept the “Epsilon” poll open. Wednesday was the day Cappies nominations were announced… er, long story short, I made it to the conference at 11pm. Found wifi, and closed the poll.

Similar to Week 9, I didn’t get a chance to start writing until late on Friday - actually not so unusual - except now I knew I had limited time on Saturday. Could I do it? Well, a 70 hour work week on the tail end of 25 days' work didn’t break my streak. I was damned if this would do it.

I wrote Friday night. I wrote for an hour Saturday afternoon, after the conference. I wrote in a diner and edited at a rest stop during my 5 hour drive home. And I published on time the next Sunday morning. Not quite the effort of Week 9, but more so than Week 10.

What did I have to show for it this time? In 48 hours, I got five views. Two votes, the lowest yet. And it was a damned tie. And all I could think is Why am I killing myself here? Would anyone have noticed a missed update? I tweeted out twice that I had a tie, looking for people - and I got a response from Curtis, saying he was already one of the two existing votes. That’s it.

Except that message is very possibly what kept me sane. Because I hadn’t actually known Curtis was reading, let alone voting.

Before going to bed, I posted an addendum to the poll saying I’d keep it open until the damn tie was broken, and when I woke up, it had been, so poll closed. Except the silence had done what 25 straight days of work could not - I no longer felt like writing to the deadline.

And YET - it hadn’t been silence. Curtis had called it a “great story”. And one of my FB friends tossed a “Like” onto the WP post after me mumbling there, which was the first time that’s happened all year. And Scott was still sharing my entries too, and he’d commented previously. So… fine.

The serial got my half-hearted attempt last Sunday, on Week 12, less than the usual 2,000 words (though not by a lot). This week? I’m feeling more grounded. So onwards we go.

Now, why does ANY of that matter?

Because sometimes it’s nice to have one’s efforts appreciated - but readers aren’t psychic. They don’t know when you need it. And there’s probably other writers out there who have felt depressed in the way I did, at times. Who knows? (Comment below?) There’s so much we struggle with that other people don’t even know about, and yet despite those problems, those blocks, as a writer we make the effort and put it out there - and get nothing?

But not nothing. A lot of that is mindset. Things are rarely as bad as you think. Which brings us to…

STATISTICS

I seriously wonder if I post up my statistics merely so that other writers can look at them and go, “Well, at least I’m not THAT guy”. (It certainly feels like it’s my primary function at “Web Fiction Guide”.) As long as this data is serving a purpose, I guess? My plan here though isn’t to be “THAT guy” but more to compare against myself, to see that things aren’t so bad. Let’s rewind over a year and a half.

Those are my statistics from “Behind the Scenes 1”, showing the first five weeks of serial episodes on this site. The anomaly on October 5th was due to a couple extra Facebook shares. Now, compare that to my statistics below, as grabbed in Week 11, when I had that two-votes-tied thing happening on Monday night.

That’s a difference of 18 months. And… the only reason my maximum view count jumped from 30 to 40 is because of Week 9’s recent Facebook share (on the 24th). But let’s look deeper. That means Week 9’s effort was worth it. Moreover, Week 11 didn’t start too bad, compared to Week 10. And hey, I’ve gone from 10 zero view days to only 1 zero view day. These are little things that have meaning.

Now here’s a breakdown of how the individual parts themselves have fared. The “within 3 days” mean Sun, Mon, Tues – how long the polls are open.

EPSILON THE FIRST Ep 1: 21 views within 3 days; 5 votes. (Views to date: 233) Ep 12: 5 views within 3 days. Poll kept open, 4 votes of 13 views to date.

EPSILON THE SECOND Ep 1: 9 views within 3 days; 3 votes. (Views to date: 80) Ep 12: 7 views within 3 days; 4 votes (Views to date: 31)

EPSILON THE THIRD (CURRENT STORY) Ep 1: 12 views within 3 days; 4 votes. (Views to date: 30) Ep 12: 14 views within 3 days. Poll still open, 6 votes of 17 views.

So… that’s a progression? Certainly Story 3’s episode 12 has more votes this week than any prior #12. And, as much as it pains me to admit it, I’m MILES ahead of my time travel story…

T&T THE FIRST Ep 1: 26 views all April 2014 (Views to date: 282) Ep 12: 4 views all June 2014 (Views to date: 10)

Yeeeeah. You may see why I felt I had to switch my serial up, despite April being one of the worst months. T&T was depressing me. I simply cannot find an audience for the majority of my writing. In part because I have little time to market. Which, honestly, makes it all the MORE impressive that some people have latched onto the current story. So - look for more this Sunday.

If you’re one of my current readers - thanks! If you’re not - maybe give it a try? I also webcomic personified math, which is heading into an election. Or here’s some other places you might look into: *Curtis makes a bunch of videos over at Basement Electronics. *Scott blogs about his writing at The Chaos Beast. *And kaleidofish has an interactive serial at Redwood Crossing.

I appreciate you reading to the end. Here’s hoping that June, with more report cards, is better for my writing than April. (Prediction: Hell no, it won’t be.)

FULL SCALE INVASION, PART TWELVE: Thimbolism

When you’re under three feet tall, objects sized for a more typical person will appear to be much larger. Thus any object which is truly out of scale, such as the house-sized thimble Alijda saw hovering in the air, seemed gigantic - more like a spaceship.

It was hard for Alijda to judge how the others around her were reacting to the object’s arrival. Largely because she couldn’t hear anything over Queeny, the city’s head of government, shouting “Go away! Go away!” into the megaphone she was holding. Yet the thimble maintained it’s existence.

Alijda’s companions, Kat and Para, drew closer to her. It seemed like Kat was doing so protectively, Para more seeking reassurance, but Alijda figured it was equally possible that she was merely seeing what she expected of them.

Honestly, the most pressing concern seemed to be one of gravity.

“We can’t hold it!” Tom yelled. He had joined hands with Michaela and Andi, the three of them standing in a line, both women with their arms in the air.

“Wait, I’ve got this!” Chris hollered back, trying to drown out Queeny. The hand she didn’t have interlinked with Kendall was tracing shapes or symbols into the air. “The rift, I can–"

The thimble smashed down, covering them, the lawn and wiping out the edge of the motel building too. Bricks and mortar rained down. Thankfully, the thimble’s opening was at the bottom, meaning everyone was simply engulfed by it, rather than flattened outright, and no one was seriously injured by debris.

There was a brief silence. The blue glow from the magic five pointed star on the ground made for an eerie light, coupled with the sun being filtered in from above, through the thimble holes. Then the magic went out.

“I can’t channel the magic,” Kendall said, sounding surprised.

“Whaaat is even the hell?” Tom chimed in, releasing Michaela and Andi to look down at his own hands in surprise.

Queeny cleared her throat. “I’ve changed my mind. Everyone is under arrest for attempted murder. Mook, cut us out of this thimble with your laser thingie.”

One of the guards reached into his suit jacket, producing an object that looked vaguely like a screwdriver. He walked over to the perimeter of their temporary prison, pointed it at the thimble, and thumbed a button.

The thimble shuddered and rose maybe a foot into the air before smashing back down again. Mook blinked and looked down at his device in surprise.

Michalea cleared her throat. “Hey, um, did that thing just fire off the anti-gravity spell we’ve been attempting to use?”

“It sure wasn’t acting like a ‘laser thingie’,” Tom agreed.

The thimble shuddered again - and shrank in size, constricting around them.

“Quick, fire the laser again! Again!” Queeny shouted into her megaphone.

“No, STOP, you’ll kill us!” Alijda countered. Actually, she was pretty sure they’d be fine. If the thimble was acclimating, it would become light enough to lift before it smashed them all in together. But the hyperbole didn’t hurt, and self-preservation seemed the best tack to take to get Queeny on board.

Sure enough, “Stop, wait!” were the next words out of Queeny’s mouth. She eyed Alijda suspiciously.

“Give the laser screwdriver to one of THEM,” Alijda said, pointing at the Magic Users. “They know the spell it’s apparently channeling.”

Queeny’s expression implied she was not fond of the suggestion, but when the thimble shrank in a second time, forcing Chris and Kendall to step in closer, she relented. “Yes, fine, do that. You’re all still under arrest.”

“Really?” Kendall remarked. “Because if you arrest us, word might get out to the public that the government is trying to hide something by silencing us.”

“Hide WHAT?” Queeny sputtered. “You’re the ones who tricked me into coming here by leaving me that package! And then you tried to kill me by dropping an oversized object onto my head!”

“We’re under here too,” Andi pointed out.

“Plus that package was actually ours,” Kat interjected. “Don’t be upset with them.”

“And we weren’t trying to kill anyone!” Para protested.

The thimble shrunk once more, down to about half the size it had been on arrival.

“Let’s discuss this outside, maybe?” Michaela said. She held up Mook’s device. “If I hold down the button, will that sustain the spell?”

“Holding it sustains the laser, but it’ll shut down automatically after a few seconds,” Queeny said, before Mook could speak up.

Michaela pointed the device at the thimble. “In that case, we run for it in five… four… three…”

Alijda started running at ‘one’, knowing she was at a disadvantage in terms of her shorter legs. She charged out as the thimble levitated up, aware of Kat pacing her without overtaking - even though he was capable. Still being protective? The military man was bothering her more than she’d expected him to, though not in the way she’d originally expected.

The thimble now hovered about ten feet in the air, confirming Alijda’s suspicions that, for whatever reason, local technology was doing better in the hands of magic users. Michaela inched toward the perimeter as everyone else got clear, her arms thrust up, holding the laser device… and then the thimble shuddered and shrunk down again.

Whether it was that change, or the laser device powering down, Alijda didn’t know. But the thimble was falling again, and tilting, and there was no way Michaela would get out from underneath in time.

Alijda didn’t even think about it. She teleported over, grabbed for the older woman, and teleported them back to her prior location. Which at least signified that her own brand of “magic” was unaffected.

The thimble crashed down onto the ground for the last time, having shrunk to be about the size of a small shed. And this time, it kept shrinking, while above them, the rift, or rip, or whatever it had been, closed up.

A crowd of onlookers was gathering. The crazy splash of colour caused by their outfits made Alijda wonder if the townsfolk ever tried to coordinate better, for meetings at City Hall, or the like. Wait, the dizzy sensation wasn’t merely due to their bright outfits…

Alijda fell to the ground. Everything around her wasn’t quite in focus. It had been the teleporting - she shouldn’t have done that. But the jolt of fear was quickly replaced with a feeling of resignation. Fine. If she was going to die, at least it had been for a purpose.

She wondered fleetingly whether she’d get buried on this world, or whether Alice would transport her body home.

“Okay Queeny, good idea,” Kat announced loudly. “You should bring all of us somewhere to get statements, while filling Chris in on the information from our package. Because that information is the only way we can save this woman, who has valuable intelligence!” He gestured towards Alijda.

Alijda half smiled. It was nice of him to try. But Queeny didn’t seem too pleased by having words put into her mouth. Then again, the head of government had yet to seem pleased by anything.

Alijda closed her eyes. The last thing she heard before falling unconscious was Queeny’s megaphoned voice saying, “Let us through, nothing to see here, merely a shrinking thimble, move along…"

As had happened after being knocked out by the fairy dust, it was the sounds which came to her first. Again, Alijda gave no hint of movement. It wasn’t voices she heard this time though, the noises were resolving themselves into some sort of classical music. And the fabric beneath her was silky.

She risked cracking an eye open. The light around her was bright, making her wonder first whether there was an afterlife, and second whether it was run by Alice’s God. The huge head belonging to Para that swung into view chased those thoughts from her mind.

“Are you awake? Are you okay?!”

Alijda brought one hand up to block her ear, the other to her forehead, to shade her eyes. “Hi! Can not shouting be a thing?”

“Oh, sorry - but I’m SO glad you’re back! I’d hug you, except, um…"

“Yeah,” Alijda sighed. “Incredible shrinking girl is still a thing.”

“No, you’re okay now!” Para assured. “I mean, yes, you’re under a foot tall, but you won’t shrink any more. Chris was able to cast the spell in time, and I’m hoping I can rework my density calculations to restore you to your proper size. Makes hugs difficult, that’s all.” She tapped her index fingers together.

“Mmm hmm. I suppose it makes clothes shopping easier, I can wear doll outfits.” With effort, Alijda pushed herself up to take in the room.

She was lying on a pillow, on a couch, in a room that seemed to only have a lamp, a chair and a small table as other furnishings. The classical music was coming from a phonograph in the corner. “Where are we?”

“Government offices.”

“Not jail?”

“Not yet. We’re still running on Queeny’s goodwill. Thanks to the intelligence you gave to her.”

Alijda squinted. “Intelligence I gave… while unconscious? Do I talk in my sleep?”

“No. Well, I don’t think so,” Para amended. “See, it’s like this. Chris wouldn’t have stumbled on the information if it weren’t for her needing to interface with technology in order to use her magic to heal you. So in that sense the intelligence is from you.”

Alijda pushed herself off the cushion, onto the couch. “Wait, you mean that magic-technology blending thing is still an issue? Then what’s with the functional phonograph?”

Para turned to look at it, then turned back. “The technology of this world is okay. But anything that came through dimensional rifts now seems to need magic to work in any way. Magic which can’t be channelled in the usual way. It’s all a bit confusing.”

“Prelude to the invasion?” Alijda hypothesized. “So how did Chris fire off her spell on me?”

“Oh, Chris interfaced with the USB drive that Kat took out of that secret room in the DEO. Hence, information.”

Alijda lifted her eyebrow. “The…” Right, when she’d teleported over to grab him, he’d said ‘It’s been thirty seconds, all I’ve found is this–' USB drive? Okay then. “What exactly did Chris find out?”

Para bit down on her lip. “I’m not sure I’m the best person to explain about Clyde. Kat should be back any minute though. We’re under a bit of a deadline now too - you were actually out for a whole day. Do you feel… normal?”

“Doll sized normal. What are you getting at?”

Para sat back, her bunny ears twitching. “We kinda need to know - are you currently able to teleport someone of my size? Or are you limited by the scale of your own body?”

“Beats me. One request before we try anything though?”

“Of course!”

Alijda pointed. “Turn off that music. The last thing I want right now is to be reminded of Chris’s oboe.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

OPTIONS:

[polldaddy poll=9417792]

VOTING WILL CLOSE LATE ON TUESDAY MAY 17th EDT

FULL SCALE INVASION, PART ELEVEN: FIT FOR A QUEENY

“Go on without me.”

“Not happening,” Kat answered.

“My shrinking legs are too goddamn short to keep up!” Alijda said. “I’m going full tilt, and you’re practically walking!”

Part of Kat’s brain suggested he say ‘Would you like me to carry you?’. But the rest of him knew that was less than funny, so instead he countered with, “Being a couple minutes later than Chris and Para won’t make any difference.”

“You don’t know that. At this point, I’m a liability. I can’t even teleport without potentially making it worse!”

“Well, I’m keeping my eye out for a skateboard.” Kat wondered belatedly if he should have filtered that thought too.

“Fine,” Alijda said, stopping to put her hands on her knees. She took in a deep breath. “Forcing your hand. Gotta catch my breath. You keep going.”

Kat stopped too. “Sorry, not letting you out of my sight. We need you on this mission. No matter how much you might wish we didn’t.”

Her hands curled into fists. “Right, because I’m doing a HELL of a job with non-interference. What with allowing Para to tell the Magic User’s Club about the third big breach, leading us to this!”

“I see our actions with the magic club as levelling the playing field against the DEO. Besides, it was me and Para who convinced Chris to do the spell to reach Alice. You kept quiet about it.”

“I could have overruled you. SHOULD have overruled you. My shrinking doesn’t really matter.”

“Alijda, stop.”

The brunette shot him a look. “Stop WHAT? Being a depressive bitch?”

“Oh, because it’s just that easy. Thanks for that life tip.” She resumed running, perhaps hoping to end the conversation.

Kat wasn’t willing to let the topic simply drop. Not now that he’d managed to articulate what had been bothering him. Hell, it had been bugging him long enough that he hadn’t even considered hitting on Chris.

“You’re harder on yourself than you are on us,” Kat said, matching her pace again. “Why? I want to get you, but I don’t.”

“Yeah, sure, I know how you ‘want to get’ me. Is it more of a turn on for you now that I’m the size of a midget? Or does that kill the mood?”

Kat clenched his jaw. “That’s not fair. To either of us.”

Alijda glanced at him, then away. “Sorry. Still, maybe don’t bribe women to eat with you right off an introduction next time, it sets a certain tone.”

“While abduction doesn’t? But okay, okay,” Kat said, as Alijda drew in another deep breath. “Sometimes I have a one track mind, and that was a bad track to start out on. But don’t change the subject. I do want to understand you.”

“What’s the point? We’ll be going our separate ways soon enough.”

“If I can understand you better, I might be in a better position to help like minded people on my Earth. Or maybe I’ll learn something more about myself. Alijda, don’t dismiss this. Please.”

Alijda ran her fingers back through her hair, sweat beading on her forehead as she continued to run down the city street. “Look, there’s nothing to understand. For whatever reason, you seem to think I’m pretty on the outside - except on the inside, I’m really frigging ugly.”

“Prove it.”

“I steal. I hack technology. I cut corners when I don’t want the rules to apply to me. I have a bunch of enemies, and no friends to speak of. Moreover, whenever I think maybe, just MAYBE life’s getting better, reality beats me down with nonsense like my shrinking away to nothing. The multiverse is trying to tell me something.”

“That you have the determination and drive to succeed against overwhelming odds?”

“Ha! If this is success, I’d hate to see failure.”

“Alijda, I think failure is when you give up. I hope you don’t. Your moral compass doesn’t seem completely out of whack, and I’m starting to believe that meeting you is the only bright spot for me in this whole crazy mission.”

Alijda glared. “You seem to have forgotten to shut the hell up when it comes to concern for my welfare.”

“I didn’t say I was concerned about you. I said I hope you don’t give up. Also, news flash, you don’t get to control what I tell you.”

“Mmm. Hmph. We’re nearly there.”

Again she was deflecting, but it seemed like he’d given her something to think about. As she had with him - namely, his first impressions needed work. Kat decided not to push the point further.

They rounded the last corner, on their jog towards the outskirts of town. The motel sat there, in the middle of the block, with members of the Magic User’s Club standing around on the front lawn. Chris seemed to be arguing with Tom. Not a good sign.

Kat figured asking Para for an update was a better plan than interrupting the spell casters. “What did we miss?”

Para frowned. “Um, Chris is upset the others didn’t do a magic sweep during the setup. She told Tom to do one now, to find Alice’s package. Tom said that’ll interfere with said setup. Chris said no, that’s an excuse for it not being set up properly in the first place. We’ve reached the point where Tom is saying Chris can take her oboe and jam it up her–”

“Is there anything we can do to help them?” Alijda interrupted.

“I don’t see how,” Para said, wringing her hands. “Chris said that Alice said that the stuff would be found with magic fu, yeah?”

Alijda grimaced. “We are lacking in that. But we know about the dimensional issues.”

“Right, Alice would have to shrink a package down,” Kat offered. “Granted, by now it’s ‘acclimated’, to use Larry’s term - might be why Alice had to send it back in time in the first place - but maybe it can be identified in some other way.”

Para tilted her head. “Except, what if the DEO got to it before it acclimated. Maybe THEY have the package right now!”

Alijda shook her head. “If they had it, I think Bonnie would have asked us about it.”

“But what if it didn’t exist back then? Not until we contacted Alice! And so Bonnie DID ask us, but it’s in this new timeline, rather than the old timeline we remember?”

Alijda stared, then struggled to speak, settling on, “Stop that.”

“The magic users said they use a fairy mirror to track these things, right?” Kat noted, feeling the need to escape from the causality conversation as well.

Para nodded. “So could THEY have the package, without realizing?”

“Let me check.” Kat headed for Michaela, deciding not to get between the increasingly rude gestures that Tom and Chris were making at each other. “Hey, question for you - when did this motel register as your weakest dimensional spot in town?”

The redhead rubbed her chin. “About five days ago, I guess? But these spots can register for months before anything actually comes through. We try to wander by whenever we can, so that we can be the first ones to get any objects. Or, you know, to actually see a breach.”

“So you haven’t picked anything up in the last five days?”

“Nah. Besides, the mirror usually shifts to a new weakest area after an incursion. That’s our key to really comb through a location - after it changes.”

Kat blinked, as a thought occurred. Namely, if someone wanted to track dimensional portals, and didn’t have the means to do it themselves… the next best thing would be to track those who DID have the necessary technology. Or magic. Right?

He wondered if Alijda’s paranoia about the government was rubbing off, but considering it from a military point of view, it also made sense.

“Your club - it’s hardly a secret, is it? I mean, Chris was doing spells for hire.”

Michaela gestured vaguely. “We don’t advertise the club. But people know we’re among the few who have magical abilities, sure.”

Kat motioned for Alijda to join them. “Could the government be tracking you, and through you, these breaches?”

“Why bother? The DEO has their own technology to do it.”

“I didn’t say the DEO. I said the government.”

Michaela blinked. “What - you think Queeny’s monitoring us separately? But then why call attention to it by hiring Andi? Unless she hoped to learn more about the glamour we used, to help with the resemblance to Bonnie.”

“You used a…” Alijda cut herself off. “Kat, government involvement makes total sense. Do you think Queeny has been tracking artifacts too?”

“Maybe QUEENY has the package,” Para said, having approached along with Alijda.

“It’s a setup!” came a shout from across the street.

Kat turned, and was as surprised as Michaela to see Andi running towards them. She was still recognizable, despite having changed out of Bonnie’s business suit into a flowery dress.

“My meeting with Queeny,” the older asian gasped. “It was moved here, why here, cuz they’re gonna take your stuff, so get outta here, run…!”

“Excellent! You’ve arrived!” came yet another voice, this one substantially louder.

Kat spun again, this time seeing a woman dressed in a red silk dress marching out of one of the motel rooms, holding a cone up to her face. She was flanked by two men in dark suits, presumably some sort of security detail. As if that wasn’t enough to give away the new woman’s identity, the amethyst crystal she wore on her head like a crown clinched it.

Behind them, Chris leaned towards Tom, their earlier disagreement apparently forgotten as she muttered at him, “Why does she always have a megaphone?”

“We can hear you just fine, Queeny,” Michaela pointed out.

“Shut up,” Queeny said, not putting the cone down despite being a mere two metres away from the redhead. “Now don’t worry, I don’t want your trinkets today. What I want is Bonnie’s reaction to…” She paused. “You’re not real Bonnie. You’re my Bonnie. Did you escape using magic?”

“I’m not telling,” Andi said. “Unless you pay me, or give me back my PROM.”

“Hold the phone,” Kat protested. “How does Queeny even know about Andi having been captured?”

“Queeny must have a spy in the DEO,” Alijda said, rubbing her forehead. “Meaning the government didn’t need the Bonnie double. It was a ruse to lure out someone with magic.”

“Shows what you know!” Queeny sputtered. “I needed the double, my spy isn’t competent. Also, if you three are you’re who I THINK you are, you’re going to jail!” She snapped her fingers and motioned to the two men in suits.

“Oh, you do NOT want to start that now,” Alijda said. Kat recognized the same look and tone that Alijda had used in her staring match with Bonnie2. And while it lost some power from the brunette being under three feet tall, it still seemed to make Queeny hesitate.

“Correction, you’re going to jail AFTER I get my information.” Queeny snapped her fingers again, and the two men resumed their original positions. “In fact, no one’s leaving here until I find out why you magic people left a package for me, talking about a thimble appearing here today!”

“Thimble,” Chris breathed. “That’s–" There was a thunderclap, and a great rip seemed to appear above them in the sky. “Noooo, not yet!” she shrieked. “I don’t have time to adjust the spell for–"

“Chris,” came Kendall’s calm voice. He raised his palm, and only now did Kat realize that the blonde man had been quietly chanting off to the side the whole time.

Chris sprang over next to him, slapping her palm against his. A five pointed star, albeit somewhat skewed, began to glow on the ground beneath all of them. Queeny swore in a language Kat didn’t recognize.

And then things got a little crazy.

WHAT’S NEXT?

OPTIONS:

[polldaddy poll=9410743]

VOTING WILL CLOSE LATE ON TUESDAY MAY 10th EDT

FULL SCALE INVASION, PART TEN: STATION AIRY

“What does it feel like… when a person is losing their mind?”

The response came instantaneously. “Ms. Vunderlande, your inflection would imply that you are not asking seriously, but rather quoting Lieutenant Commander Data from the ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ episode ‘Masks’. Is that the case?”

Alice smiled. “Mostly. But maybe not? I don’t know.”

“I have registered no signs of delirium since you woke up,” the female voice continued, echoing around the fitness room. “You do seem a bit distracted, but that is understandable given the peculiarities inherent to Epsilon’s current mission. Shall I give you a test of mental acuity today?”

Alice stood back up and wiped at the sweat on her forehead, before walking over and tossing her towel into the room’s laundry chute. She idly wondered when she’d taken to running on a treadmill early in the morning. It had to be after her recruitment to the Project. Meaning less than a year ago. Whatever a ‘year’ really meant now. She needed the exercise though, as she didn’t see a lot of activity up here.

Up here. On the Epsilon Station. Well, it beat living in a Hell dimension.

“No, it’s fine,” Alice answered. “But I wish I had someone else around, you know? I wait so long for my love vibration, and I’m dancing with myself…”

“Billy Idol, a song with an initial release of 1980 on most Earths where it exists.” The tune began to play through the overhead speakers.

Alice sighed. The station’s computer had a near 100 percent track record on her references, yet still failed to understand her at times. “Ziggy, that wasn’t a cue. I’m done working out.” She began to strip off her workout clothes.

Alice shook her head. “Don’t get like that. That’s not what I meant either. I probably got too used to Para being around those last couple days, that’s all.”

“Perhaps you would like a video link to another world today? Or if your preference is to reach out and touch someone, a visit to the holography deck?”

“No, no, I’m not going to start goofing off during an active mission.” The brunette technician kicked her pants aside. “You’re sure there’s been no word from Alijda or the rest since that one communication device self destructed last night?”

“I would have told you.” The computer’s voice sounded petulant.

“Right. I know. Sorry.”

“Should I override protocol and do a scan?”

Alice threw her clothing into the laundry chute after the towel, then stepped towards the showers. “Ohh, that’s so funny, I forgot to laugh!”

Ziggy didn’t respond that time. Alice passed into the adjacent room, twisting the nearest available knob before leaning both palms against the wall. The water sprayed down on her, making her shudder at first, before it warmed up. A hazard of not using the sonic facility, but for whatever reason, real water felt better after a workout.

Slowly, her hands curled into fists. “Gorram, frakking, frelling Shroedinger!” Alice shrieked, using up her quota of scifi swears for the day.

The problem with a scan was in how the station existed outside of regular space-time. Or simultaneously in all space-times? Either way, as soon as the Epsilon Project registered something actively, rather than passively, the probability waveforms surrounding that Earth would collapse, making the event all but inevitable. Whereas parallel time tracks remained an option until that moment.

Put another way, so long as Alice didn’t know her team’s fate, they had every chance of succeeding. But if she looked, and saw that one or more of them were dead, she likely wouldn’t be able to prevent it.

Alice drew in a sharp breath, then put the usual smile back onto her face. “Fake it ’til you make it.” She reached for the soap. “Sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows, that’s how this refrain goes…"

Alice jogged for the central control room with toast in her mouth. Not because she hadn’t had time to eat it. It was more a form of research into how things worked on an anime style Earth. One never knew when such things would come in handy.

As such, Alice almost choked when the internal alarm went off, simultaneous to the woman in her late twenties wearing a blue jumpsuit appearing in the corridor.

“Alison Vunderlande?” the woman asked.

Alice grabbed for her toast as it fell from her mouth, flinging it at the apparition. The food passed right through the woman’s body. Which told Alice two things. First, Purple Hair Woman was some sort of hologram, or magical projection. And second, given how the intruder failed to react, there was a lack of visual acuity on her side.

“Silence alarm!” Alice called out, after swallowing. The noise stopped. “What is your name? What is your quest? What is your favourite colour?”

The projection blinked. “Uh, I’m Chris. I’ve been hired by your friends to tell you that they’re shrinking down to nothing. And lavender, I guess?”

Alice felt her pulse quicken. “What’s the deal with their communicators? Why send you?”

“Their stuff was taken by the DEO. The DEO loves new technology.”

“I’ll need proof you’re speaking for them. Tell me what reference I made to Alijda when she first arrived on your world.”

Chris turned her head. “Your Alison wants to know the first reference she made when you got here. … Attack of the 50 Foot Woman? Is that seriously what this invasion is going to be?”

“Enough,” Alice said. She began to sift through the new data that had been provided.

Fact 1: This world was at a higher level of technology and/or magic than initial scans had implied. She had suspected as much, but for Chris to communicate this way, there had to be a greater awareness of the dimensional weaknesses. Perhaps other trips had occurred, either into, or out of, that world? She would get Ziggy to boost the sensors to verify.

Fact 2: According to her watch - Alice had aligned the Station to the time frame of that smaller Earth - they were now too close to the third incursion event for her to recall the group by any conventional means, or even to open a portal to send them supplies. Not without interfering on a greater scale than regulations allowed. But there was a way around that.

Fact 3: The shrinking circuits had misfired, been somehow incompatible with the density suits Para had designed, or… something else had set them off. Insufficient data. How could she get more information there, without completely collapsing any probability waveforms?

“Is the shrinking problem affecting all of them equally?”

Chris shook her head. “Just Alijda, she’s now about as big as–"

“No superfluous information,” Alice snapped. “Please. Just answer my questions.”

“Wow, calm down. Okay, and Para now says it’s affected all of them, but it’s less noticeable for her and Kat. So far.”

“Do their clothes still fit?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Did I stutter? Do. Their. Clothes. Still. Fit.”

“Well, sure…"

It had to be the teleportation. Alijda must have teleported almost immediately upon arrival, before final calibration. Now the density suit was constantly changing it’s baseline, whenever Alijda transported herself - and the suit - through space. Which could also affect Kat and Para, if she teleported with them, due to the field extending out past their clothes.

The chances of this happening had been very remote. But now that it was occurring, the error could accelerate exponentially with subsequent teleportations, perhaps to the point where it would be a problem every time the suit did a systems check. Worse, Alice didn’t know how to fix something like that.

But she knew where she could find relevant information.

Now Chris was saying something else. Something nonsensical. “Alijda and the others already told you everything,” Alice answered.

Chris shook her head. “No, they said only YOU might know what this third incursion item would be.”

Oh, that. Alice shook her head. “Even assuming I knew, I couldn’t tell you.”

“Then we have a problem,” Chris said, crossing her arms. “Because that information was my payment. This isn’t a free spell. Rules are rules.”

Alice matched Chris’ posture and tone. “Having information about the future could be extremely dangerous. Even if your intentions are good, they could backfire drastically! You’ll find out through the natural course of time.”

“Not good enough. After all, you’re willing to tell us about this ‘invasion’, and that’s in our future.”

“That’s an issue external to your world, with unresolved probability waveforms.”

“And this new huge thing landing on our planet is different how?!”

Alice grudgingly yielded the point to Chris. “Fine. That information will be included in the package I will have sent to your world to deal with all these issues.”

“Fine. When are you sending it?”

“Have sent. Space is warped and time is bendable. Thank you for choosing the Epsilon Project for all your household needs. Please proceed to the site of the third incursion, and use your magic fu to obtain the package.”

Without waiting to see Chris’ reaction, Alice spun on her heel and dashed back towards the auxiliary control area. “Unsilence alarm!” she shouted as she ran. The klaxons didn’t start up again. “I said unsilence–"

“The apparition has departed, so there is no need for the alarm,” the computer’s female voice assured her.

“Awesomesauce. Ziggy, prepare for a rollback in time of approximately five days.”

“Warning! Loss of space-time synchronicity may result in–"

“Override. Authorization code Picard-Four-Seven-Alpha-Tango.” Yes, this was why she ran the treadmill every morning. So that she could still talk through these sorts of emergencies without getting too short of breath. “Also, increase sensor gain by 500% and re-scan for dimensional incursions in Smallville over the last, let’s say, two years. We’ll also want the identity of the next major item, the one Chris referred to.”

“Affirmative.”

Alice burst into the station’s auxiliary control room and skidded to a stop. “Mr Smith! I need you.”

A musical fanfare began to play. With a whoosh of air, one wall panel lifted up, two more panels swinging out into the room, revealing a large alien computer behind them. “Good morning, Alice. What seems to be the problem?” came a male voice.

For obvious reasons, Mr. Smith ran independent of the station’s main computer. So he wouldn’t know the situation. Fortunately, it wasn’t necessary to tell him everything. “Scan all known databases for problems with miniaturization feedback, and solutions involving a baseline density reset that can be achieved through technological injection or mystical spell casting,” Alice ordered.

“By your command.”

Alice turned her attention to the main computer console in the room, setting up the sequence that would phase shift them through time. The greatest headaches would come from activating the dimensional bridge upon arrival in the past. It was a huge power drain. So if there were other incursions going through on that world, and she could piggyback…

Alice froze in place. Her eyebrow twitched. “Ziggy,” she rasped. “Please confirm. Over a HUNDRED dimensional breaches in the last two years?”

“Affirmative.”

“Holy Hannah. How did we miss that?!”

“We weren’t scanning for events on a scale proportionate to the size of their Earth. It required your increase in sensor settings to spot them.”

“Son of a motherless goat. When this is over, remind me to put some fractal protocols in place to fix that!” She resumed typing. “Okay. First, we turn the time circuits on…"

“Scan complete,” came the voice of Mr. Smith. “No solutions found with a hundred percent effectiveness. However, there is a ritual spell that is statistically viable, with an error margin of only 3%, 19 times out of 20.”

“Can we synthesize the components for that spell on this station?”

“We can indeed.”

Alice smiled. “Perfect. And Ziggy, the third incursion artifact was?”

“A thimble.”

“Okay, I got this!” Alice hit the enter key, then made a swooping motion with her arm, as if she were wearing a cape. “Let’s get dangerous.” With a maniacal grin, the brunette woman fled the room.

For a moment, there was silence. Then, “Ziggy, has Alice had any caffeine today?”

“She has not, Mr. Smith.”

“I recommend you keep it that way.” His advice dispensed, the computer system retreated back behind the wall of the auxiliary control room.

WHAT’S NEXT?

OPTIONS:

[polldaddy poll=9403749]

VOTING WILL CLOSE LATE ON WEDNESDAY MAY 4th EDT

I started this style of post with the second Epsilon story, and have decided to continue it here. It’s a look at the choices NOT taken by you, the audience. Because every time I offer a choice, I do have an arc in my head - and if that choice isn’t taken, it’s either temporarily set aside, or disposed of. What were these aborted arcs? SPOILERS follow, in case you haven’t been reading up to Part 9, and want to be surprised.

GETTING STARTED

0. STORY CHOICE itself. The high school story was probably the most set up in my mind - I would have used some old teacher characters of mine (and likely Expona instead of Para), with Alison working in the office. Granted, the supernatural element I was less sure of. The story on the station, with Alice, was the least set in my mind; that’s about all I had.

We got: “Scale factors”, which I had intended to base on the “April Fool” written for me back in 2015. It won by a comfortable margin. I had no characters (aside from probably someone wearing a crown called “Queeny”), or plot (aside from some “invasion”), but I had a basic setting and starting point.

1. KAT. Marginal influence. This vote set the tone for Kat’s future interactions. Would he be more pleased, indifferent, or displeased to be included? We got: Displeased. Ever since then, I’ve tried to portray him as more keen to get the mission over with. His interest in Alijda had always been planned.

2. SCALE CIRCUITS. Major influence. With no problem, Alijda would have attracted someone’s attention upon arrival; with circuit problems, she would have been too large or too small. We got: Effectively, a delay. Without this vote, Alijda wouldn’t have ended up shrinking. We might have still had the DEO, but I’m not sure. We got stealth, but at a price.

3. THE WAY. Major influence. If they hadn’t gone with Larry, they’d have ended up with the government. If they’d gone willingly, they would have met Bonnie early and discussed the situation. We got: The hard way. And I didn’t know what that would be - how do you knock out a teleporter? Without this vote, no fairy dust, possibly no magical items on the world.

4. GET OUT. Negligible influence. We got Larry listening in, which did set the tone of mistrust between Alijda’s group and the DEO (versus a more amicable working relationship). But there would be later opportunities to change that, for better or worse… not that a better relationship ever materialized.

AROUND THE DEO

5. OFF TO… Major influence. Had they gone back to the Epsilon Station, they would have found themselves unable to return by any conventional means. Possibly they’d have had to arrive again before their first arrival, or simultaneous to the “third incursion”. Had Alijda gone to City Hall, I would have had to think about the government’s part in this.

We got: The Department of Extradimensional Objects. I didn’t have a set plan. I vaguely based it on what I’d seen in “Supergirl” and “Agents of SHIELD”.

6a. FOOLED. Negligible influence. First tied vote. Thus two of the results for this latest “April Fool” were seen in Part 6b. Had “someone’s dream” won, Bonnie’s arrival in 6b would have been punctuated with comments about a nightmare.

6b. REACTION. Major influence. First unanimous vote too. Had Bonnie locked them up, they would have attempted a jailbreak (not unlike what ended up happening later). Conversely, had Bonnie confessed, we would have had a revelation - that may still happen, so I cannot tell you what it would have been.

We got: Distraction, in the form of Bonnie2. I hadn’t thought about it beyond the doppelgänger concept. Honestly, the vote blindsided me a bit. I decided I didn’t want to drag the concept out, thus Para’s revelation.

7. POLITICS. Major influence. Had they not interfered, the incursion would have happened, likely preventing Bonnie from returning to HQ, prompting Larry to ask them for advice. Had they tried to warn Queeny, I’d have thought about the government, something I have yet to really do. Instead, we got trouble.

You chose the danger! Again, I had not expected the vote to be so high for that, given Alison’s remarks. I suppose it’s good that things wouldn’t be boring?

WHERE TO NEXT

8. NEXT STEP. Marginal influence. Talking to the government and lying low would have routed back to the prior poll, merely with Alijda much shorter and on worse terms with the DEO. I wonder if it’s the same person who wanted to wait it out both times? Instead, we got more with Bonnie2.

I initially envisioned Bonnie2’s acquaintances as being actors, but once the choice was selected, I thought maybe they should have magic to offset the DEOs tech. And then I was working 12 hour days on the school play, with not really any time to write (I even kept the poll open, not that it did anything). So the new characters became amalgams of those in the play and in an anime I used to know.

9. ABOUT CHRIS. Major influence. I didn’t really expect anyone to pick Andi and the government, but hey, maybe third time was the charm? It would have revealed Bonnie’s confession (see #6b above), while simultaneously putting Alijda in a position of needing to find Chris again before time ran out. Having Chris do the setup was the safe bet - with the downside of possibly getting her arrested after the readings were taken, leaving Alijda in peril again.

Instead, here we are, able to contact Alice, to deal with the shrinking thing - but does Michaela REALLY know where that oboe goes? Oh dear.

I’m curious now whether you saw my hints for any of those alternate paths as you were reading. (For instance, Alijda noticing how she could have arrived out in the open, back in Part 3.) Either way, as always, thanks for voting/reading, and feel free to comment below about that which was unexpected, or anything else that jumps out at you!

FULL SCALE INVASION, PART NINE: PROM, Committee

Para hesitated to speak as she walked up, wondering if it was proper to interrupt the silence between Alijda and Kat. Fortunately, Alijda spoke first. “So, Para, who’s your new friend in red?”

The blonde cleared her throat to answer. “Well, while me and Andi - er, she’s the one you’ve been calling Bonnie2 - while the two of us were out learning where the DEO’s secret exit had left us, we encountered someone she knows.”

“My name’s Michaela,” the redheaded woman announced. “I’m part of the Magic User’s Club.”

Kat blinked. “This city has a magic users club?”

“Ooh, visitors from another dimension not knowing about our magical abilities. Shocker,” Andi observed. “Of course, I’m of the opinion that such fantasy stuff’s overrated. I think we should have PROM!”

Alijda rubbed her forehead. “I’ll probably regret asking this, but… PROM?”

“Programmable Read Only Memory,” Bonnie’s double clarified. “I was starting to figure it out, when the government took it away from me. Proving once and for all that dimensional technology like PROM is more useful than dimensional magic. Otherwise, why would they regulate it so strictly?”

“Hey, magic is regulated too,” Michaela protested.

“Except the Department of Extradimensional Objects doesn’t have the authority to permanently confiscate your magical items, like they did with my PROM!” Andi countered.

Para tilted her head. “So, is it the police that are out of control? Or is it the criminals?”

“Hey, guys?” Kat broke in. “Let’s not talk about this stuff in the middle of a park. Did you happen to come across a building where we can lay low for a while?”

“Oh, sure. We’re in my neighbourhood, so you can come see our magic club,” Michaela offered. “If anyone’s there, they’ll jump at the chance to meet actual dimensional travellers.”

Andi nodded. “We might as well, my meeting with Queeny isn’t for a couple hours yet.”

“Okay. Whatever,” Alijda agreed, hopping off the bench.

Para bit her lip as she looked down at her now much shorter friend. Alijda seemed to have shrunk even more since their jailbreak. Was that a delayed reaction from the earlier teleportations? Or was Alijda now in the process of shrinking away to nothing? Para wondered if she should say something.

“Don’t even,” Alijda said, as if reading Para’s thoughts. “Just lead the way.”

The house Michaela led them to was pretty nondescript. But then the club member brought them around to a large shed out back, and the people they were introduced to there seemed quite the opposite.

Of everyone in the room, Para reasoned that dark haired Andi was the oldest. Given how she was doubling for Bonnie, head of the DEO, who was in her early fifties. Michaela, with her short red hair, was perhaps fifteen years younger, and had been hard to miss, what with her bright red vest matching her pants.

Kendall seemed younger still, around the same age as Alijda and Kat. The man had flowing blonde hair and sported a practical button up shirt and slacks. Meanwhile Chris, or presumably Christine, Para judged to be in her late twenties. She had the longest hair, tinged purple and tied into a ponytail. Her blue jumpsuit and the goggles she wore implied she was a technician of sorts.

Finally, there was Tom, a twenty-something with green hair, who wore a casual shirt underneath a black leather jacket. As Michaela was finishing the introductions, he jumped up from behind a stack of tires, swinging a flail. Andi hit the ground just in time.

“Tom, stop, it’s ME!” Andi shrieked.

“Oh yeah? How do we know you’re not the REAL Bonnie, here to shut down our club?!”

“Ask the blonde bunny girl! She saw that Queeny had tailored my suit too well, and got me locked up. Though, to be fair, Para and the others also helped me to break out of the DEO earlier this morning.”

“It’s really Andi,” Michaela added. “Unless Bonnie DuChessy has intel about how much our techno-loving actress friend misses having her PROM.”

“Hmm. Okay, but I’ve still got my eye on you,” Tom said, pointing.

“Where did you even get a flail?” Andi asked, standing up and brushing herself off.

“My dad bought one. He’s a renaissance enthusiast.”

Kendall chuckled. “Tom, you told me yesterday that it was because your dad LARPs.”

Tom glared. “Shut up, spider farmer.”

Kendall simply rolled his eyes and resumed leafing through the file folder he was holding.

Para leaned in closer to Kat. “Um, wait, is that an… insult? An actual job…?" she whispered. Kat merely shrugged, making Para glad she wasn’t the only one who was unsure.

“So, you’re dimensional travellers, huh?” Chris mused, placing a cane she’d been examining onto a nearby table; the object seemed to have the image of a duck on one end. The brunette pulled her goggles up off her eyes. “I knew it was only a matter of time. How long have you been observing our society? Do you know the rules? Define ‘anarchy’.”

“Calm down, Chris,” Michaela said. “Give our guests a moment to process… I didn’t actually expect the whole Cabinet to be here, not this early in the morning.”

“Seriously?” Chris sighed. “Then did you not get my message either? Committee meeting, here.” She glanced at her watch. “In one hour.”

“She’s doing her covert ops thing again,” Tom explained, off Michaela’s look. “Publishing in the local newspaper, using code, instead of simply talking to people. Good thing I met up with Kendall last night. Chris, can you please just be normal for once?”

Chris shot him a look. “Noted.”

“I saw the message, Chris,” Kendall soothed.

Tom shook his head. “Kendall, you’re the only one who reads the paper. And you only do it so that you can get annoyed at the articles.”

“Tom, you used to read the newspaper too,” Chris protested. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have seen the ad that brought us together in the first place.”

“Ha ha ha, false. My ex used to read the paper.”

“Guys, me and Michaela are here now, that’s what matters,” Andi offered. “So, what’s the magic club meeting about? Here to debate pizza versus poutine?”

“No,” Tom said. “Chris is worried about the imminent zombie uprising.”

“Alien attack!” Chris corrected, visibly exasperated. “Tom, you know the Magic User’s Club is Earth’s only defence against the aliens.”

“Whoa!” Para gasped. “You have space aliens attacking this world too?”

“No.” Kendall closed the file folder, tossing it onto the desk next to the duck cane. “Aliens, as in anyone who arrives on our Earth illegally. As in, you three qualify. Unless you’ve got government papers explaining your presence?”

“So not happening. Our decisions on this mission never seem to involve the government,” Alijda admitted.

“But as aliens go, we’re mostly harmless,” Kat added. “Granted, we’re now kind of stuck here. The DEO took away our communicators.”

“Oh?” Chris smiled. “Did you want a spell caster who can communicate with another dimension? For a very reasonable price? Granted, you wouldn’t be able to talk directly, only through me. And there’s a waiver you’ll have to sign, signifying you’re not trying to call Cthulhu, while exonerating me from any side effects you might experience.”

“Yeah, hey, make sure you stand completely inside her magical symbol,” Tom noted. “My hair hasn’t been the same since I accidentally bent over during her last spell.”

Para had to do a double take, as she realized that at some point, the young man’s green hair had shifted to being a very vibrant red.

“That sounds really great,” Alijda admitted. “But first, about the dimensional invasion - why exactly does your club think it’s imminent?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Kendall fired back. “Aren’t you the aliens’ advanced scouting force?” He was seeming more and more like the leader to Para, though she saw no signs the group was that structured.

“No. Granted, we can’t prove we aren’t,” Alijda admitted, anticipating the next question. “Though if we were, we’re doing a pretty lousy job of it. What with telling people the invasion is coming, losing our communicators, and me shrinking down to two thirds of my usual size due to faulty density circuits.”

“For real?” Tom asked. Alijda nodded. “Man, that sucks out loud.”

Inwardly, Para winced. She wished she knew what had gone wrong between her mathematical theory, and it’s practical application. Alijda’s teleportation ability had to be a factor.

“Either way,” Alijda continued, “You obviously scheduled this meeting before knowing we were coming.”

“Touché,” Kendall conceded. “Very well then, we believe it’s imminent because of a potion which gives whoever drinks it a hint of the future. Other signs point to the invasion event being less than a week away. We met this morning in large part to give the information to Michaela to do the math.”

Para perked back up again. “Oh, math? Maybe I can help with that.”

“Be my guest,” Michaela said. “Trouble is, while we are really close to a magical method for temporarily blocking off dimensional travel, we can’t get the readings we need. I mean, sure, there’s a fairy mirror that shows us where the weakest spot is in town with respect to the next incursion… but we never know when the next event is going to take place. So we never know when to cast our spells.”

Para found she was getting better at looking to Alijda before blurting things out. “It’s happening mid-morning today,” Para said, off Alijda’s shrug. “Roughly 24 hours after our arrival yesterday.”

Chris gasped. “This morning?”

Para nodded. Then Tom yelped, as Chris stepped on his foot in her hurry to get to a box of assorted items sitting in a corner of the shed. “Great!” the purple haired technician declared. “I can set up my monitoring equipment with no danger of it being confiscated! That way we’ll know exactly when to cast!”

“Confiscated? Oooh, Chris, are you breaking the rules?” Andi teased.

“Hey, I have permits for all this stuff,” Chris protested, hauling the box back to the main table. “Thing is, my documentation doesn’t stop the authorities from impounding it for days at a time, citing ‘verification purposes’.”

“Well, at least you always get it BACK, unlike my–"

“Don’t say PROM,” Tom groaned.

”Is that a clarinet?” Kat asked, pointing to an object inside Chris’ box.

Chris looked down. “That? Is an oboe,” she corrected. “With a special mouthpiece sent in from Orleans.”

Para tilted her head. “Wait. You play French reeds?”

“We’re getting off track here,” Kendall interjected. “Focus - this is the first and possibly only time we’ll know both the location and timing of a dimensional incursion. With luck, we can get the necessary data to block off any future invading force.” He turned to Alijda. “What do you recommend we do? What’s landing on our world this time?”

Alijda leaned against the table. “Pray. And we don’t know. The person running the Epsilon Project doesn’t give details. Now, we could try the spell Chris mentioned to contact her - in fact, we kind of need to, and soon, to fix my whole shrinking thing - but no guarantees.”

“No way! I’m the only one who can perform that spell,” Chris objected. “And I’d have to do it here, and I can’t, not if I’ll be busy setting up my equipment!”

“The rest of us could set up your equipment for you,” Michaela offered.

“Oh my God. Do you even know how to position the oboe??”

“On the other hand, Chris, if you know what’s coming through in advance, the data you’ll obtain will be more useful,” Tom pointed out. Chris frowned.

“Tom’s right,” Kendall agreed. “But at the same time, we don’t want to lose our one shot at getting any data at all, by someone positioning the equipment incorrectly.” He looked to Alijda. “Any thoughts on that?”

Alijda looked down at her smaller body. “No, but I think we’re sticking with Chris either way.”

“What? Hello!” Andi gasped. “I’d like to revisit my Queeny meeting. Just because you’re all keen about dimensional magic, doesn’t mean we can ignore the country’s politics! What if the DEO turns out to have technology, like the PROM, which renders all of your efforts completely moot? Alijda and her friends need to come with me, to learn more about what Queeny and Bonnie are up to!”

WHAT’S NEXT?

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VOTING WILL CLOSE LATE ON TUESDAY APRIL 26th EDT

FULL SCALE INVASION, PART EIGHT: HALF THE BATTLE

“You can say ‘I told you so’.”

Alijda stared out at the sunrise, swinging her legs back and forth off the park bench. She’d needed help to reach the seat. As she was under four feet tall relative to their surroundings. “Why?” she asked Kat. “What would that accomplish?”

“Might make you feel better?”

Alijda shook her head. “I’m a depressive. I always feel lousy. Sure, sometimes I hide it better, but now that we’re trapped on this Earth, just wait. Without my meds, I’ll be throwing myself off a building pretty soon. Assuming I’m still tall enough to climb one.”

“We won’t be stuck here forever,” Kat assured her. “Alice is sure to realize there’s a problem when she can’t contact us. At that point, she can scoop us off this Earth the same way I was teleported off of mine. By walking through a door or the like.”

“Hah. First, you’re assuming that the scale factor thing won’t be a problem for retrieval. And second, you’re assuming that Alice is paying more attention to us than to the latest movie out of the Marvel universe. Which, come to think, is probably an actual universe out there. I wonder if she visits.”

“Alijda, don’t be like this.”

She snapped her gaze over to him. “Oh, I’m sorry. Am I acting too much like myself here? Because if you wanted happy chipper perky, you should have gone with Para to map out the neighbourhood.”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m… worried about you.”

“Well DON’T be! Okay?” With effort, Alijda managed to not grab fistfuls of her hair and yank, simply to feel the physical pain. “You didn’t even KNOW me a day ago! So don’t pretend like you really care. Or if you’re a lunatic who always cares, do me the courtesy of not saying so. I’m tired of mattering to people. It’s exhausting. Let me shrink away to nothing in peace.”

Alijda closed her eyes, resting her palms on her face. Seconds ticked by into minutes. Only when the silence started getting to her did she look back up at him. He hadn’t changed position. “Look, thank you for worrying. But don’t. It’s easier that way.”

“Easier on who?”

“On everybody.”

Kat turned to face her once more. Whatever he was about to say though, he seemed to change his mind based on her expression. “Look, there’s no question that we’ve suffered a setback. So why don’t we review how we got here. To keep it from happening again.”

“Right. Because we’re so likely to be breaking more people out of fortified government installations.”

“Maybe not. But we might end up selecting another idiotic suggestion of mine, which is at the heart of all this.”

Alijda sighed. “Oh, don’t even. It wasn’t an idiotic suggestion.”

“You did point out that we’d never pull it off without the DEO knowing.”

“I did. And then you pointed out how we might want to get out anyway.”

With that, the whole sequence of events began to replay itself in her mind.

“The longer we stay here,” Kat argued, “the more we’ll end up accidentally influencing things. So, if we’re caught breaking Bonnie2 out? We merely make a run for it ourselves.”

Alijda shook her head. “Again, communicators…"

“If things go south, we have a look for them before leaving,” Kat assured. “I know where they’re keeping their technology.” He glanced over towards the radio, as if to check that it was still broadcasting static. “In fact, here’s the thing. In a hidden room at the back, the DEO are building a dimensional doorway of their own.”

Alijda, who had just thrown herself back onto the bed, sat back up. “What? Are you sure?”

Kat nodded. “On my world, I’m part of a secret interstellar program. I also remember what Alice’s setup looked like on the Epsilon station. The setup here is much cruder, to the point where I don’t know if it’s operational, but it’s portal technology. I think it was constructed using the tech that landed here from the adjacent dimensions.”

Alijda frowned. “Well, damn. Could Alice have royally screwed up? Is it possible that THESE people are the invaders?”

“Or the adjacent world is invading them, to take their technology back,” Kat suggested. “The hat and the iron could have been test items, as opposed to objects that slipped through naturally.”

“Which would be why they weren’t accompanied by a density shift and change in size!” Para offered.

“Maybe,” Kat agreed.

“Well, that changes things.” Alijda crossed her arms. “Explains why it felt like the DEO was only holding onto us until they found a reason to have us exiled or locked up for good. They probably think we’re here to shut down their portal technology.”

“Do you think that’s what the government is trying to do too?” Kat mused.

Alijda shook her head. “No way of knowing. All we know is that Queeny’s suspicious of their reports - which could be timelines for when their portal is complete.”

“How about we ask Larry?”

Alijda winced. “Para, no. Telling them we know will freak them out. Hell, maybe there is something to their fears. They’re using technology that isn’t supposed to be here. Can we really allow that?”

“Alijda, non interference!” Para reminded.

“We’d be removing an interference that’s already here!” Alijda countered.

“I don’t think that’s our call,” Kat interjected. “But I do think that, to let things play out normally, we’ll need to get Bonnie2 out of the DEO.”

“Ugh, that again. But okay, I do see the logic now.” Alijda rubbed her forehead. “Look, let’s try to get some sleep first. Partly so we’re fresh, partly because I see our best bet as occurring a little before sunrise. That’s when they’re liable to have a shift change.”

They briefly discussed a plan, then Alijda and Kat went to bed - the latter having been hit in the face with a pillow. Given his quip about the two of them sleeping together.

Fortunately, the room they had all been left in was equipped with a clock, a bowl of fruit, and an adjacent bathroom. So they were up, fed, and ready to go at 5am the following morning.

Kat started by sabotaging the toilet, then asking the guard at the door to use another bathroom. “Plan A” continued to work, as the guard was subsequently convinced to take Kat somewhere else, saving the trouble of knocking the man out.

The guard did lock the door after he left. But since Alijda could see through its window, she was able to teleport to the other side. Then to the end of the corridor. Then, somewhat trickier, across the DEO’s central hub, towards where the holding cells were. Alijda found she also had to teleport past the cafeteria, as someone was eating breakfast by the large picture window.

By the time she reached the cell block, teleporting past the lone guard at his desk, her equilibrium felt off. She ignored it.

“Hey, Actressy,” Alijda hissed. What was Bonnie2’s name anyway? In another cloud of purple smoke, she teleported into the cell to shake the Bonnie lookalike awake.

“Don’t make me read Shakespeare,” moaned the semi-conscious actress. “I don’t like the bard, I prefer playing a cleric…”

Alijda shook harder. “Hey! Wake up. We’re trying to get you out of here.”

“What?” The asian woman opened her eyes. “You? You got me in here.”

“Things change. Stand up, I’m going to teleport us out, then towards the exit.”

Bonnie2 shook off the remnants of sleep. “Great. Can I do my reconnaissance first? I need to get paid for this gig.”

Grasping Bonnie2 around the shoulders, Alijda teleported them both out of the cell, back into the corridor. “No,” she answered. “But we had a tour, we’ll give you the gist of things - if you can give us the info about today’s meeting.”

“Queeny already told me the layout of this place.”

“Even the location of the secret room?”

Bonnie2 raised an eyebrow. “That was on your tour?”

“Hold onto me.” Alijda teleported them again, out past the guard, then again past the cafeteria. Back at the central hub, they hit a snag.

“What are we waiting for?” Bonnie2 asked.

“There’s a couple agents talking where we’ll need to teleport next. They’ll see us.” Alijda scanned the area for an alternative route. It didn’t help that her head was starting to hurt. Naturally, that’s when their luck ran out.

“Hey, what the hell are you two doing there?”

Alijda spun - the agent in the cafeteria had come out, and seen them. She tried to think of a way to talk them out of the situation. After all, Bonnie2 looked like the head of the DEO…

“We’re escaping, what does it look like, idiot?”

Dammit, Bonnie2. “Plan B,” Alijda sighed, grasping the asian woman by the shoulders again. She teleported them out to the next corridor, right by the two agents she’d seen. Without even watching for their reaction, she continued on her way to the break room, throwing the door open upon arrival.

Para turned, then gasped. “Alijda? Y-You look…"

“I don’t want to know! Plan B, get Actressy out front, I’m going for Kat.”

“But if your teleporting is messing with the sizing circuits, you can’t–"

Alijda teleported away. They were committed to Plan B now. She was going to see it through. They’d reasoned that the nearest other bathroom would be over by the medical bay - and indeed, Kat was now being escorted back from that vicinity by their guard.

Alijda teleported over, grabbed Kat, and teleported him over towards the hidden room he’d investigated before. She then teleported randomly, to draw everyone’s attention to the purple smoke, then teleported up to the second level. Where the railing seemed too high. Her head was now pounding from the frequent teleports. And because of something else?

“I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know.” It was fast becoming her mantra.

As soon as someone spotted her, she ran. And stumbled. And teleported again, down next to the guard taking aim. He was taller than she’d expected. Alijda grabbed his gun on her second attempt. But now agents were mobilizing for the weapons lockers. Why had she signed off on this plan again?

Alijda teleported back to where she’d left Kat. A doorway now stood ajar. “Kat! Time’s up!”

“It’s been, like, thirty seconds! All I’ve found is this–"

As soon as she saw Kat poke his head out of the opening, she grabbed his shoulder, and teleported back across the central hub. Startled, he dropped a flaming chair leg that he’d been holding. It fell right in the passage, which would buy them a bit more time, so Alijda decided to try running instead. But again she stumbled. Then was horrified to see how much bigger Kat’s strides were…

On her third step, she fell to the ground. Kat spun. “Alijda! Are you okay? You look–"

“I DON’T WANT TO KNOW!”

She hadn’t meant to scream. She bit down on her lower lip. Hell with it.

Alijda pushed herself back up and slapped her hand against Kat’s back. She teleported the two of them further down the corridor. Kat quickly took out the guard questioning Para and the DuChessy Double at the entrance.

They ran most of the way after that, Kat helping Alijda along. But five more teleports were required, because the final doorway had been locked down, and Alijda could only bring one person through at a time.

“What I SHOULD have done,” Alijda decided, resting her head against the back of the park bench, “was tell Bonnie2 to impersonate the real Bonnie from the start. Instead of telling her it was a jailbreak. I’m the idiot. So I’m paying the price.”

“Still might not have worked,” Kat asserted. “Hindsight is 20/20.”

“Fine. Apply the same hindsight to your suggestion.”

“Well, fine.” Something in his tone made Alijda think he wanted to say more, but again, he didn’t. In fact, the two of them said nothing more until Para returned.

WHAT’S NEXT?

OPTIONS:

[polldaddy poll=9387809]

UPDATE: VOTING WILL CLOSE NOON ON FRIDAY APRIL 22nd EDT.

FULL SCALE INVASION, PART SEVEN: DOUBLE DOWNER

Para felt nauseous, to the point where her bunny ears drooped. So while she wasn’t “tripping” on the hallucinogenic gas like Alijda, Larry and Bonnie, she still followed them as they stumbled out of the passageway, back into the central hub of the DEO - the Department of Extradimensional Objects.

Para spotted Kat right away. He was running towards the wall furthest from their original entry. But that’s when the lighting in the room gained a red tinge, and an alarm blared briefly.

“Whoa! Call off your goons,” Alijda said, rubbing her eyes. “I’ll figure out why Kat freaked.”

“Didn’t turn that on,” Bonnie said curtly, the older asian woman’s attention going towards the main entrance tunnel. She pointed at Larry. “You deal with these three!”

Bonnie strode off, looking a bit unsteady on her feet. She seemed to be in better shape than Larry though, who had both hands on his head and appeared ready to fall over at any moment. “Candle? Collections? What?” he gasped.

“Let me help you sit down,” Alijda offered. She grasped Larry by the arm and steered him for a desk chair. Then she made a head motion at Para. One which Para was pretty sure meant, go for Kat. So she did. No one stopped her.

Para reached Kat as he was feeling around the wall. “What are you doing?”

“Technology,” Kat said. “Larry mentioned magic style items, but also a Macbook, implying at least two worlds feeding artifacts into this one. Yet most of their tech items? Which they seemed to colour code blue? Weren’t in storage. Plus you said they might have a perimeter network.” He pointed to the floor. “And there’s cables feeding into this part of the wall.”

“Oh! So they’re using the technology artifacts? Maybe with a power source back there?”

“Maybe. There must be something.” As Kat’s hand hit a knothole, there was a click, and a door swung out towards them. Kat grasped it and pulled it open.

The region behind was shrouded in darkness. Kat pointed to a nearby desk chair. “Bring that over?”

Para hurried to retrieve it. As she handed the chair off to him, he snapped a leg off, then struck a match he must have had in his pocket. He held the flame up to the wood. Para shook her head. “You can’t light that…" With a whoosh of flame, Kat was holding a torch. “…so easily?”

Kat ducked into the darkness, pulling the door mostly shut behind him. “Keep an eye out, I’ll be right back.”

Para turned to scan the central hub again. Some armed agents were taking up a position near the main corridor, while others were heading into it. Alijda was gesturing at her, in a manner that either meant “hurry up” or “spin in circles” - likely the former.

Para leaned in towards the crack in the wall. “Kat, hurry?”

There was a low whistling noise. Moments later, the door swung back open and Kat stepped out. “Okay, close it,” he said.

Para threw her weight against the door, and it clicked back into place against the wall. When she turned back around, Kat had somehow managed to snuff out his torch. He tossed the burnt chair leg back on the floor, looking troubled. But Para decided there would be time to ask why later.

“Back to Alijda,” the blonde said, grabbing his arm.

Kat nodded, and they both hurried back. Para let out a breath of relief - with the excitement over, her bunny ears were returning to their state of minimized depression. They reached Alijda as Larry pushed himself back to his feet.

“What the hell was that about?!” Larry shouted at Kat.

“Sorry,” Kat apologized. “Had a flashback. A gas canister once attacked my father.”

“Oh. In that case– wait, what?" Larry glared. “Walk. All of you. In front of me. That way.” He pointed.

Once Alijda and Kat were facing away from Larry, Para saw them exchange a glance. Alijda looking… frustrated? Expectant? Kat simply shrugged. Para followed along, their trajectory taking them towards one of the other agents, a woman who hung up her phone as they arrived.

“Mary, have someone get a gas mask and do a quick cleanup outside the medical bay,” Larry ordered. The woman nodded back, reaching again for her phone. “As for the rest of you, keep moving, you’re off this Earth as of–"

“Larry!” an agent cried out, running back into the room. “You’ve gotta come see this.” He hurried up to them.

“Ahem. Joe, I’m dealing with these three. Ms. DuChessy’s orders.”

“Which Ms. DuChessy?”

Larry blinked. “What do you mean which Ms. DuChessy?”

“Come see for yourself. In the break room.”

For a moment, Larry seemed torn between his orders, and going to see what Joe was talking about. Then he decided he could accomplish both things. “I’m not leaving you three here,” Larry asserted. “You’re still off this Earth as of very soon! Joe, follow behind us, and if any of the offworlders step out of line, make sure they regret it.”

“Can do,” Joe affirmed. He eyed them. “No false moves guys, or I’ll read you some of Larry’s poetry.”

Larry, who had seemed about to say something else, palmed his face instead. Para missed whatever he mumbled as he spun away.

The whole group of them backtracked to the room they had been shown earlier, the one containing the pool table and the couch. There were now a few agents with guns there, along with Bonnie DuChessy. Or rather, two Bonnie DuChessys. Larry froze in place, his eyes darting back and forth between them.

“Oh. A shapeshifter?” Kat mused. “Seems like your DEO has a J’onn J’onzz problem.”

Alijda frowned. “Kat, was that a reference? We do NOT do references.”

Larry ignored Para’s friends, instead turning to Joe. “Is one a double? From another dimension, another Earth?”

Joe shook his head. “Doubtful. If so, she didn’t come through recently. We’ve seen no activity today, aside from the arrival of those three. So, are you sure the Bonnie you were with was the real deal?”

Larry turned back to the two Bonnies, who were currently standing and glowering at each other. “I WAS a little surprised she agreed to the tour.”

“What?!” one of the asian women snapped. “It was to deal with these visitors. Something you don’t seem capable of doing alone!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the second Bonnie cut in. “I’ve been tied up in my house all day. Who knows what my double has been doing to our organization??”

Joe rolled his eyes. “The guard on duty out front registered Bonnie Two’s arrival. He sounded the alarm, knowing she was already inside. The doubles encountered each other in the hall and have been sniping ever since.”

“Huh. Is one of them in a wig?” Larry said hopefully.

“Natural hair,” Joe countered. “Similar features. Same outfit.”

Para nearly laughed. “Same outfit?” she blurted. Only to feel embarrassed as most of the eyes in the room turned to her.

“Grey business suit, cut the same way,” Joe said, pointing. “DuChessy has a closet full of them.”

“But…" Para caught herself. No. No, she was NOT going to finish her thought out loud. Not this time.

“But what?” Larry pressed.

Para swallowed, looking towards Alijda. A hint of a smile formed on the face of her first human friend. Then Alijda turned to Larry and the Bonnies. “Oh, look! We know something you don’t know. But we have no incentive to say anything, not when you’re kicking us off your planet before our investigation is concluded. Perhaps you should reconsider that plan?”

“Oh, seriously?” Larry said, frustrated. “I thought you were worried about shrinking away to nothing if you didn’t leave soon.”

“At present? I’m worried about a lot of things. Including your poetry.”

“Larry, let them speak,” Bonnie1 put in. “Maybe they can break this stalemate.”

“Yes, or at least give us more reasons to get rid of them,” Bonnie2 agreed.

Larry clenched his jaw. “Fine. Talk, and we’ll reset our relationship back to how it was before that stunt Kat pulled.”

Para waited. Alijda considered, and then gestured for Para to continue. “Okay,” Para said, smiling. “Second Bonnie’s outfit? It’s more expensive. Same cut, sure, but fits her better, nicer material, and a bit less worn. See, at the sleeves?”

Joe grunted. “I can’t believe we’re being lectured about clothing by a blonde wearing a hot pink dress overtop of a neon pink bodysuit.”

“I know suit jackets, I wear one when I’m in factored form,” Para protested. “And our jumpsuits are density adjustors.”

“More to the point, she’s right,” Larry realized. “No way can Bonnie afford new suits, not on our department’s budget. Someone grab the one on the left!”

“What?! This suit was a gift! I got it last month from my, um, er… aw, hell with it,” Bonnie2 sighed. Two armed men had grasped her by the arms. “Queeny didn’t pay me enough to do such extensive role-play.”

Para was unable to hold back her gasp at hearing Queeny’s name. She felt her cheeks darkening further, to match her outfit. So much for self control. Though it was reassuring to feel Kat patting her shoulder and murmuring, “Good job.”

“Interesting. Seems our head of government disbelieves my reports SO much that she’s stooped to sending in a spy,” the true Bonnie said, pacing slowly around her doppelgänger. “How fortunate that I ended up cancelling my evening plans, and coming down here instead.”

“Score another one for us there,” Kat pointed out. Alijda frowned again.

“Rather remarkable resemblance,” Larry agreed. “Queeny couldn’t find someone like that overnight. She had to be planning this for a while.”

“No doubt,” Bonnie agreed. She completed her circuit, coming eye to eye with her double. “How long has this been in the works?”

Fake-Bonnie rolled her eyes. “I don’t know nearly as much as you think. I’m an actress, I was hired a couple weeks ago to come and do reconnaissance.”

“When are you reporting back?”

“Midday tomorrow.”

Bonnie nodded. “Then you will give me all the details, so I can report in your place. Oh, and we will, of course, hold you here until then.”

“Meaning we throw Actressy in a cell with these three?” Larry asked, jerking his thumb at Para and her friends.

“No, they can stay in this room until the meeting. The couch has a roll out bed.”

“And we get back one communicator,” Kat reminded.

“Oh no.” Bonnie shook her head. “No, you could still have planned this whole charade. We’re not letting you talk with your project, not unless you’re going to leave immediately afterwards.”

Alijda seemed troubled. She eyed Kat and Para before saying, “You’re not getting rid of us that easily. Someone bring us bed linens.”

Less than an hour later, Alijda, Kat and Para were alone in the DEO break room.

Peering through the window in the door confirmed that they were being guarded. “I can keep an eye out, while you two sleep,” Para offered. “I don’t rest quite the same way as you. I mean, they already drew blood, but you never know.”

“I’m not that tired,” Alijda said, after switching on a radio in the corner of the room and tuning it to static. “Here’s the thing. We were supposed to warn them, and go. Instead, it got complicated. And now, we’ve interfered significantly.”

“Have we?” Kat asked.

“Yes! Without us, that spy might not have been caught,” Alijda said. “We’ve affected the whole political landscape. And Alice had us arrive before an incursion - what if our actions here have messed that up?”

“Should I not have said anything?” Para worried.

“No, you did fine,” Kat said. “Alijda, we didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.”

“Maybe we didn’t. But we have a choice now. Namely, should we simply let things play out? Or should I teleport out of here and go warn Queeny about Bonnie?”

Kat’s eyebrows went up. “Whoa! That’s kind of drastic. We could simply help Bonnie2 escape.”

The brunette shook her head. “Please. There’s no WAY we pull that off without the DEO knowing. Then we’d never get our communicators back.”

Para cleared her throat. “Ah, the more we do, the more we might mess stuff up,” she noted. “If Epsilon is about non-interference, doesn’t it make more sense to wait?”

WHAT’S NEXT?

OPTIONS:

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FULL SCALE INVASION, PART SIX: FOOL ME TWICE

“We can’t go back to the station so soon, Para,” Alijda asserted. “If we leave this world now, we could end up causing more issues upon our return.” The personified parabola bit her lip, but didn’t protest again.

“That said, why not tour this place before risking your life, Alijda?” Kat insisted. “For all we know, your teleporting is causing the glitches in your size. We should stick together until we figure it out.”

Kat saw the brunette woman considering his words. While she had claimed to have suicidal tendencies, hopefully she would see the logic in his statement.

Larry cleared his throat. “You keep talking tour, yet I have not authorized anyone to wander around our facilities, LEAST of all you three.”

That statement seemed to make up Alijda’s mind. “So authorize it now. Convince us that you’re ready for the inter-dimensional invasion.”

He shook his head. “From my perspective, you might BE the invasion! Or at least the advance scouts! What possible motive would I have to show you our defences??”

“Consider that we obviously didn’t want to be here,” Kat suggested, off Alijda’s hesitation. “You had to bring us in the hard way. Plus she can teleport, and she’s immune to your dust,” Kat added, gesturing to both his female companions. “I may have abilities too. Given that, why would we invade the slow way? We’re even under a shrinkage deadline ourselves.”

Larry’s frown deepened. “Look. I’d have to make some calls.”

Kat couldn’t resist. “What, all out of minutes on your phone plan?”

Larry went back to his desk. Alijda’s no-nonsense face morphed into a quick smile, flashed in Kat’s direction. He couldn’t help but smile back. She really was quite attractive - despite wearing a black dress over a pink bodysuit. And Kat couldn’t think of anyone he knew who could even partially pull off that look.

Well, okay, maybe Alijda wasn’t pulling it off. But her attitude implied she was.

“Okay, here’s another–" Para cut herself off, as Alijda held her palms out, motioning for a quieter tone. Larry was now on the phone, speaking in hushed tones himself; Kat tried to catch what few words he could.

“Okay, here’s another thing,” Para resumed in a murmur, once she’d figured out Alijda’s gestures. “These guys aren’t high tech, right? Yet they can detect density fluctuations in the city. That implies they HAVE to employ some kind of - perimeter network? At minimum? Meaning they might have some equipment to diagnose our shrinking issue here too.”

“Good point,” Alijda muttered. “And I can probably get past whatever ancient electronic firewalls they might have.”

“What about a magic firewall?” Kat asked. As he said it, he wondered if that’s where his pyrokinesis would come into play. Alijda simply crossed her arms in thought.

Meanwhile, Larry was now on his second call. From what Kat had been able to overhear so far, this call was an escalation of the first one, where he had mostly been dealing with arguments or excuses. Of particular interest was the phrase “night shift”. How long HAD they been unconscious? Para hadn’t said.

“Uhmm, this is weird,” Para said. She’d grabbed a book from off the filing cabinet, and was flipping through it. “Seems to be about us. Going to a ‘Collections’ room.”

“What?!” Alijda said, peering at it.

Larry finally hung up the phone. “That book’s an artifact. Generates stories about the reader. Put it down.” As Para did so, Larry leaned on the desk. “Also, be impressed. You’ll not only have your tour, my boss will be leading it.”

“Okay… and who’s that?” Alijda asked.

“Bonnie DuChessy.”

Kat decided that it was impossible not to be impressed by Bonnie. Sure, the asian woman wasn’t that tall, and she looked to be in her mid forties to early fifties. But her posture, her practical attire and her severe expression spoke volumes before she even uttered a word. She carried herself as if she owned the place. Then again, Kat supposed that she did.

“Here’s the deal,” Bonnie said, following a period of scrutiny from the door of Larry’s office. “We let you look around. We give you one of your devices back. You leave our world.”

Para gasped, even as Alijda’s shoulders shifted back to match Bonnie’s posture. “No deal. If you’re doing something illegal, we’re not going anywhere.”

“Like hell,” Bonnie snapped. “You have no authority here. For all we know, the colour plaid is illegal on your worlds. What gives you the right to waltz in and claim the high moral ground here? How would you feel if we did that, visiting whatever land you came from?”

Alijda took a physical step back. “Look… some things are just wrong no matter where they occur,” she said, with much less conviction. Kat grimaced.

Based on Alijda’s expression, and what he knew of her, he imagined that the brunette’s thoughts were along the lines of ‘How did this even become an argument? I don’t support Epsilon being in charge of the multiverse any more than Bonnie does.’

“Only ONE device? We had three,” Kat put in, hoping to deflect the conversation.

Bonnie’s gaze fell upon him. “Our techs tried to open the others. They self destructed. Very nice failsafes you have.”

The communicator devices had a self destruct? Kat supposed it made sense. Alice hadn’t said they did, but there seemed to be a lot Alice hadn’t said. Of course, even if there was a self destruct, that didn’t mean the DEO techs hadn’t circumvented it somehow.

Bonnie’s gaze tracked back to Alijda. “Rest assured, we’re not killing and eating anybody. So, deal?”

“That’s not…" Alijda let out a breath through her nose. She resumed her earlier posture. “Deal. Under one condition.”

Bonnie, in the process of turning away, turned back. “Oh yes?”

“Oh no,” Larry muttered, barely audibly. Kat didn’t even look at him - the guy had been pretending to do paperwork at his desk since before his boss’s arrival.

Alijda set her jaw. “If there IS anything sketchy going on? We’re not leaving alone.”

Para’s ears twitched. “Alijda, the field put out by the suits won’t–"

“Hush,” Alijda said, raising her palm in Para’s direction. “Understood, Ms. DuChessy?”

The women now seemed determined to stare each other down. Bonnie blinked first. The only evidence Kat saw that the older woman was displeased by that was in how the side of her mouth twitched. “Understood, Ms… what IS your last name?”

“Van Vliet. Here with Kat Conway and Para, um, Bola.” Alijda quickly recovered from the stumbling uncertainty of whether Para had a last name. “Hoping that you’ll return our honesty with more of your own.”

Bonnie resumed her earlier scrutiny. “Mmm.”

A throat cleared. “Well, hey, my full name’s Larry Appleson…”

“They don’t care, Larry.” Bonnie spun on her heel. “All of you, follow me.”

Kat let Alijda and Para leave the room first. Though when it became apparent that Larry wasn’t about to let Kat depart last, he fell into step behind the blonde. Larry locked up behind them.

“I’ve heard Bonnie’s voice before,” Para whispered at him as they walked. “She’s the one who said to throw our unconscious bodies in a closet.”

“I gathered, based on your gasp when she spoke,” Kat admitted.

“Oh.” Para’s bunny ears twitched. “I’m the worst Epsilon agent ever, aren’t I.”

“I wouldn’t say that. You’re our best math tech.”

She perked at that. Kat was glad - in the brief time they’d had to talk before Alijda came to, he’d decided that Para was a decent sort of person. Or, well, being. Granted, not really the sort of woman he would date, even assuming math was date-able, her ingenue vibe was too strong. Just as Bonnie’s attitude leaned too far in the other direction to be appealing. No, Alijda was the only one here whom Kat felt was worthy of taking out to dinner.

He rubbed his forehead. Okay, he really had to stop going off on such mental tangents. Particularly such female centric ones, it was kind of sexist. As if to atone, Kat glanced over his shoulder and tried to picture a dinner date with Larry.

Their trip took them all the way down the hall, towards a reception area. They bypassed the guy in the fedora at the desk, proceeding directly to the elevator. “Oh, hey Larry,” the secretary said, waving as the other man passed. “Want to see my new business cards?”

“Not now, Shemp,” Larry said curtly.

Bonnie produced a key from her business suit. Once everyone was in the elevator, she inserted it into the main panel and turned it before pressing and holding the button for the lowest floor.

“So. In the vein of honesty, how about you tell us more about Simon?” Bonnie asked, as the elevator lurched down. “The guy who showed up here last April 1st.”

“We don’t know anything about that,” Alijda said. “Our boss doesn’t give us any particularly useful information.”

“Hmph. Smart woman.”

“Hah. Matter of opinion,” Alijda muttered.

The elevator doors opened on another reception area. A bored looking military man stood there. Granted, he was in regular clothes, but Kat recognized the signs. “Passwhoa, Ms. DuChessy, I… I didn’t expect…"

“As you were.”

There were two passages out. Bonnie led them down to the right. “The other way is an emergency exit,” she stated. “I’ll show you the main rooms, if you promise not to bother anyone.”

They passed through a vault-like doorway, where there was another man sitting, doing a crossword. Bonnie pointed to the placards next to the doors in the wall as they approached. “Research and development. Figuring out what the stuff that falls onto our Earth does. Also how we can use it to boost our tech - and repel an invasion.”

There was a window in the door, but Bonnie opened it anyway. Kat let the women look in first before giving the room a glance himself. It seemed to be set up like a laboratory. There were two techs on duty, one of them glancing up from a microscope. Kat barely had time to wave before Bonnie was moving on.

“Filing and records,” Bonnie stated at the next room. It did seem to be mostly filing cabinets. Next came “Storage”, which contained windowed cabinets and a ladder on wheels. Kat found himself wondering as to their databasing. Something about it bothered him. The crudity of it, maybe?

Then there was some sort of break room, containing a pool table, a couch, and a few individuals. Then a larger open area that stretched at least two stories up - some people were on catwalks above. No windows; Kat was now pretty sure they were underground. The larger area did contain a number of tables, desks, cables for phones, wardrobes… and weapon lockers.

“Central hub,” Bonnie said airily. There were a couple of additional passages out of the large room. She strode briskly towards one. “Down here, cafeteria, weight room, holding cells… we might have left you in one, were it not for the teleportation.”

The rooms weren’t anything out of the ordinary. It wasn’t until they were headed back to the central area that Kat realized what had been bothering him about the storage room. The colour coding. Green and blue. Green cabinets had held vials, bags, and crystals… while a lot of the blue ones had been empty. What had they held?

Kat scanned the central hub area - and saw what he’d expected. But would they simply let him wander over there? Larry in particular was keeping a close eye on them. It seemed unlikely. And then, they’d passed into the opposite passage.

“Medical bay,” Bonnie said, pointing out the first room.

But there was his best chance. Kat decided he had to do this - if he was wrong, he could always claim he’d gone rogue. He grabbed the canister by the medical room door, the one labelled as containing hallucinogenic gas, and bashed it against the doorframe, fracturing the seal.

“What the hell?!” Bonnie said, spinning.

Holding his breath, Kat dropped the canister and ran.

“Kat, what– whoa!” Alijda said, stumbling. “Okay, trippy… I-I’m now seeing that story Para had before? Collections! Black market?”

“A candle?” Larry said, tilting his head.

Kat didn’t slow down. The hallucinations wouldn’t fool them for long.

WHAT’S NEXT?

OPTIONS:

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VOTING WILL CLOSE LATE ON TUESDAY APRIL 5th EDT

FULL SCALE INVASION, PART SIX: Tour Ism

Alijda pondered over their options. As much as she wanted to investigate City Hall, she knew that leaving Para and Kat alone presented too many risks to be worth it. Her life was one thing to gamble, but theirs was another matter entirely.

Going back to the station would give the Lilliputians ample time to cover up whatever it was that they were hiding. Although Larry’d been tight-lipped, he’d said just enough to ping as suspicious on her radar.

“We’ll go with the tour idea,” she decided. “We can eke out more information from Larry and the rest of his cohorts that way.”

“I’m more interested in what the DEO could be housing,” Kat said. They were bound to be storing worse things than fairy dust there. The items Larry had mentioned may have only been the tip of the iceberg.

“But, the shrinking—” Para tried.

Alijda cut her off. “We’re not leaving. Even if we wanted to, we can’t. They’re holding our communication devices hostage.”

“I’m still standing here. My ears work,” Larry reminded them. “Hostage is a poor choice of words, by the way. I’d call it collateral. We’re keeping your things until we’ve determined you’re trustworthy.”

“I’ve been more than gracious to you, especially after your little stunt with our coats.”

“Blowing fairy dust in our faces counts as gracious? Sorry, I couldn’t tell.”

“It does?” That was news to Para. She’d have to update her definitions.

“Do you mind showing us around the DEO?” Kat jumped in. He gave Larry a friendly smile. With Para being off in la la land and Alijda being… well, herself, he figured he was in the best position to charm him.

Larry’s mouth stayed flat. “Alright. I suppose I can do that.” He strode past them, to the door. “Follow me this way. I’ll take you to the archives. Perhaps this will make you lighten up.” He shot Alijda a pointed look.

“Lightening? I can explain the Boolean arithmetic for that!” Para exclaimed. “There’s an even simpler expression for lightening, though, but either works.”

“That’s not what he meant,” Kat clarified.

“Glad you think this situation is appropriate for a math lesson,” Alijda said, her bitter sarcasm continuing.

“Thank you!” Para missed it.

Larry cleared his throat for attention. “Can you step out of my office already? I need to lock it up.”

Kat, Para, and Alijda stepped out and off to the side. Larry took care of the door—another sign that he had something to hide, Alijda noted—and led them through the building. People were hunched over at their desks, clacking furiously on their typewriters. They looked up briefly to say Larry’s name as they passed. He grunted in acknowledgement. Kat overheard someone shouting for Johnson to get the McDougal files and a blacker than black pen.

“They’re serious about ink here, aren’t they?” Kat remarked.

“Signatures aren’t the same when they’re not in blacker than black ink,” Larry explained.

They reached a desk occupied by a familiar face: Shemp, one of the trench coats from earlier. He was missing said trench coat, his fedora propped next to his typewriter. “Larry, you sly dog. What are you doing with these three?”

Para whispered to Alijda, “why is his foot bouncing if he’s sitting down?” Shemp was the trench coat that had gotten hit with the friendly fire. Para wondered if the foot thumping was aftereffect of the fairy dust. If it was, then that was strange… Alijda and Kat didn’t seem any more fidgety than usual.

“They’re covering something up,” Alijda whispered back to her. Why were they making it so obvious, though? There had to be something more to all of this.

“Or he has Restless Leg Syndrome,” Kat joined in. Alijda’s paranoia wasn’t warranted. Plenty of people suffered from RLS. Even if this was a different dimension from where they were from, it was likely the Lilliputs had RLS sufferers in their midst, too.

“I’m giving them a brief glimpse of the archives,” Larry explained to Shemp, “but not of any of the areas someone would need level 2 clearance to see.”

“Ah, alright. Hey, you wouldn’t be able to tell me which color I should use for my business card, would you?” Shemp held up three color swatches. “Bone, egg shell, or pale nimbus?”

“They’re all white. Am I missing something?” Kat scratched his head. Larry and Shemp glared at him. Great, he probably lost a few points for that comment.

“I prefer the subtlety of ivory.” Larry flashed him his card. He stuffed it into his shirt pocket before Alijda could read it.

Shemp’s eyes widened. “Oh, I see.” He laid his color cards down. His foot quickened. “I have to get back to work. Remind Joe to drop my trench coat off at the cleaners if you see him.”

“Will do. See you later, Shemp.” Larry reached up to tip his fedora at him, but realized he wasn’t wearing it and lowered his hand awkwardly. He turned to Alijda, Kat, and Para. “C’mon, the archives are this way.”

He took them down a hallway, far removed from the office noise. Alijda made sure to memorize the path they took, in case things got hairy. They stopped in front of a door marked COLLECTIONS. Larry fished for his key ring.

“Why is it called that?” Para asked.

Alijda sighed. “Archives. Collections. It’s all the same. Will you stop asking so many questions?”

Having found the ring, Larry jingled it around to find the right key. Once he did, he pushed it into the lock. The door opened with a click. He held it open for them. “After you.”

They shuffled in. Larry closed the door behind them and made sure to lock it. When he caught Alijda looking at him funny, he said, “it’s DEO policy.”

“Locked doors and general shiftiness, yeah, I figured that,” she said.

Tall cabinets loomed before them, going from floor to ceiling. A ladder on wheels leaned against the wall. Labels and signs kept the maze of cabinets organized. The place reminded Kat of a library. It made him cringe to think that they were databasing their collections manually. Perhaps they should boot up that Macbook Pro and start an analog-to-digital conversion.

“You can stop glaring at me now,” Larry said to Alijda. “I don’t appreciate it.”

“Show me something from your collection. For all I know, you could be collecting beige cabinets.”

“They’re cream cabinets,” he corrected. He leaned down and pulled open one of the shelves. The trio peeked inside to see a folded basketball jersey. Larry held it up for them. “It’s from The Ulrich F. Gephardt Academy for Unruly Girls. Our planet doesn’t have a school called that.”

“Yeah, that’s a rather specific name,” Kat said. “I believe him.”

“I don’t.” Alijda shook her head. “Show us something else.”

“You’d think the fairy dust would’ve been enough. Fine,” Larry said. He re-folded the jersey and slid the drawer shut. “Take a look at this extradimensional object.” He walked them over to one labeled BELT, and pulled it open. “This is an artifact. It’s called a belt ornament. Whoever owned it kept it in impeccable condition.”

“Larry. You brought guests.” A woman came out from around the corner. Her glasses were pink crystal-studded. She wore an elaborate, high-collared Victorian dress that clashed with the true ’90s kid light-up shoes on her feet.

“Dutchessy, I didn’t know you’d be in the archives,” Larry said.

Dutchessy? She had to be one of Queeny’s people, Alijda thought to herself. She should’ve been someone that the DEO was trying to hide its operations from, if the royal naming trend was anything to go by.

Kat held out his hand. “Nice to meet you. Your shoes bring out your eyes.” Alijda rolled her eyes. Kat never passed up a moment.

Obviously, there was something strange about this woman, too. Judging by her outfit, her sitcky fingers were dipping into the archives like it was going out of style.

She might as well cut to the chase. “Are you one of Queeny’s people?” Alijda asked the woman.

Dutchessy stiffened. “I wouldn’t say that. We don’t see eye-to-eye on many things. How do you know Queeny?”

“Wait, I know this woman!” Para blurted out. “I know her voice. She was with them earlier when we were getting dumped off in this place, back when they took our blood.”

“They took our blood?” Kat clapped his hand over his arm. “Why would they do that?” He looked over at Larry and Dutchessy, and amended his words. “Why would you do that?”

“Para, why would you say that in front of everyone?!” Alijda screamed.

“I’m sorry!” Her bunny ears fell.

“We need your blood to know what price you’ll fetch for on the market. Certain materials sell for more. We do that for all the extradimensional objects that make it through here,” Dutchessy told them, as if all of that was common knowledge. She lifted her glasses. “Sweethearts, we’re black market traders. You’re standing in our trading hub.”

“Did she really just say that?” Kat took a step back. His eyes roamed the area, looking for something he could use to his advantage. A convenient candle happened to be in the corner.

“We’ve got a surveillance team monitoring this whole building. There’s no way for all three of you to escape,” Larry announced.

Dutchessy added, “and we’ve got things worse than fairy dust stored here. You haven’t seen half of what we’ve got in storage all over the DEO.”

“And I can teleport. I’ll stop you before you can try anything,” Alijda said. She wasn’t going to fall for the same trick twice.

“You’ll abandon your friends?” Dutchessy turned away to laugh. “You care too much about them to do that, otherwise you would’ve gotten yourself out of here a long time ago.”

Para’s bunny ears perked all the way up. “Wow, I thought you didn’t like me. Thanks, Alijda.”

“Yeah,” Alijda muttered. “This is not the time, but, yeah, I do like you.”

Kat glanced at the burning candle. Larry and Dutchessy were distracted. Their attentions were too focused on Alijda to notice what he was doing. If Kat timed this right, Alijda would be able to teleport out of there, get through the building, find their devices, and get in touch with Alice. What would happen to him and Para because of this, he wasn’t looking forward to finding out but he’d have to deal with that later. As long as Alijda made it out, things would be alright… mostly.

He focused in on the flame.

The room flashed. Larry and Dutchessy threw up their arms to shield themselves from the sudden heat.

It faded just in time for Kat to catch sight of a cloud of purple smoke. He grinned.

“Whoa!” Para rubbed her eyes because everyone else was, not because she needed to.

“What was that?” Larry’s head whipped back and forth. “What happened to my mother’s candle? I’ve had that lit for years!”

“Alijda’s gone, that’s what that was,” Kat said. He crossed his arms. “It’s only a matter of time before she contacts our headquarters and gets us out of here.”

“No, that’s not happening. I’m stuck in the wall,” Alijda called out. Her voice was understandably muffled.

Para held her hand over her mouth. “Her voice! It’s sounding smaller and smaller. She’s shrinking exponentially.”

Dutchessy, now recovered from the flashbang moment, clapped for them. “Good show, everyone. You made this too easy for us. Larry, tag ‘em and price ‘em.”

APRIL FOOLS!

Gregory Taylor (aka mathtans), who normally writes this story, has today created their own piece of tomfoolery for J.A. Waters who writes SyncPoint. (Find Gregory’s entry at this link.)

For a full list of all April Fool’s Swappers and their stories, as well as dozens of other serial novels that will tickle your fancy, check out The Web Fiction Guide Forums.

Thanks for reading and remember, the best way to support your favourite serial novelist is to tell all your friends about them.

***BONUS VOTE (CLOSES midnight, Sat Apr 2):

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FULL SCALE INVASION, PART FIVE: Info Swap

A voice came from the other side of the door; Alijda recognized it as Larry. “If we let you out, are you going to start teleporting around the base? Or teleporting our clothes away?”

Alijda took a step back, crossing her arms. “No,” she called back. Given the danger that their group might still be shrinking, she figured they needed to cooperate in order to get their communicators back. Besides, playing along now seemed like their best chance of escape.

The door opened, and Larry poked his head in, sweeping his gaze across Alijda, then Kat and Para. He was still in his trench coat, but he no longer had the fedora. “Follow me,” he said, backing up.

Alijda did so, finding herself in an ordinary looking hallway. “So, going to give us our stuff back?”

“No,” Larry said. “But we’ve decided your intentions aren’t malicious.”

“Then you WERE listening,” Para said, wringing her hands.

“We were. More or less.”

“I didn’t see a receiver,” Kat remarked. “So your technology must be at a higher level than what’s implied by the rest of society out there.”

Larry chuckled as he led them next door. “Honestly? A glass held up to a thin wall is surprisingly effective. It’s YOUR technology that I want to know more about.”

As they entered, one of the other trench coat people from before exited, lifting an empty glass in a “cheers” motion. Larry went around to sit behind the desk, motioning to three wooden chairs. Para took a seat. Kat went over to scrutinize one of the maps on the wall. Alijda leaned in against the desk, eyeing the man who was essentially their warden.

“If you heard us, you know we’ve got a shrinking problem,” she stated. “Given that, withholding our devices isn’t in anyone’s best interests.”

“At this point, all I know is that trusting you outright isn’t in OUR best interests. But we are willing to hear you out - so where are you from?”

“We’re from other worlds,” Para offered. “Ones which are much larger than your own. Well, their worlds are, my world is a bit two dimensional, so I suppose I could be any size relative to–"

“Para!” Alijda interrupted, turning her head. “Let me handle this?”

The parabola clamped her lips shut, looking apologetic. Not for the first time, Alijda considered how Para’s innocence and naiveté were such enviable, and yet simultaneously infuriating qualities.

“We did know as much before listening to you,” Larry offered. “It’s why we didn’t want you talking to Queeny.”

Alijda looked back at him. “Explain.”

He shook his head. “This is my office. You first. Other larger worlds?”

Alijda pushed herself back from the desk. Great. He didn’t seem too flexible there. So how much should she say? Information might be their only bargaining chip.

Rather belatedly, Alijda realized that Kat was a resource she was leaving untapped. Hell, perhaps she should have let him weigh in before their abduction too. She really preferred the predictability of technology over people. She turned his way. “Kat, what do you figure?”

He didn’t turn, still looking at the map. “We’re supposed to warn this world,” Kat noted. “Our mission didn’t specify who to talk to. So, a warning, with as much context as is necessary, would seem like the best way to get us out of here.”

Kat had a point. Alijda took a deep breath, quashing her fears of soon fitting into a size 4 dress in the worst way possible. After all, she hadn’t even noticed the shrinkage until Para had mentioned it. Besides, so what if she died? In the end, the multiverse would probably be the better for it.

“Okay. We explain, then you give us back our tech,” Alijda said.

Larry shook his head. “You explain, then I tell you about Queeny.”

Alijda grimaced. “And about your organization here,” she countered.

Larry considered it. “Fine, as long as you tell me if you’re from an organization too.”

“Okay then.” She wasn’t married to the damn Project anyway. Alijda thought back to what she’d read earlier in that ‘Mission Statement’ document. “What if you could find brand new worlds, right here on Earth?” she began. “Same planet, different dimension. Well, there is a gateway - but it’s not always stable.

“Enter the Epsilon Project, someone’s last, best place for hope. A self-regulating station, tracking right and wrong, located in neutral territory. It targets people and objects that aren’t in the dimensions where they’re supposed to be, then strives to put right what might otherwise be going wrong.”

Alijda gestured at the window blinds. “And your large iron problem out there? That qualifies,” she concluded. “In particular because there will be an invasion, following enough such incursions. Unless you all get your act together and do something.”

“And do what?”

“Beats me, likely depends on what you’re already aware of. For instance, how were you able to target us so soon after our arrival?”

“The dimensional gateway problem has been going on for a while.” It wasn’t Larry who spoke then, but Kat. He tapped at the map on the wall. “If I’m interpreting this correctly, you’ve had two major incursions of scale - but they were hardly the first ones, were they?”

“What?” Para gasped, rising to her feet.

Alijda walked over to have a closer look at where Kat was indicating. She saw now that there were a number of ‘X’s drawn on the map, in various locations all over the city. Two of them were large, but there were over a dozen smaller ones as well.

Alijda spun back to face Larry, who had leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers. “Your turn,” she said, hands on hips. “Talk.”

He regarded them for another few seconds before sighing, and rising to his feet as well. “Very well. I am part of the DEO.”

“The Department of Extranormal Operations?” Kat hypothesized.

“Department of Extradimensional Objects,” Larry corrected. “Fairy dust. Mystical potions. A device called a ‘Macbook Pro’. All items which have found their way onto our world over the past decade or more. And I do mean world - we have branches in other towns across the globe. That map only shows the local appearances.”

“And these items, they were normal size for you?” Para asked. Larry nodded, prompting the parabola woman to turn to Alijda. “Okay, so, being that small, Alice’s equipment might not have registered them.”

“Peachy,” Alijda said, feeling a headache coming on. “So, this DEO has started tracking the dimensional breaches.”

“Not so much the breaches as what comes through them,” Larry said. “There is a window of a couple hours that allows us to pinpoint anomalous objects before they… ‘acclimate’, for lack of a better word. That’s how we found you.”

“Are you spotting fluctuations in density, perhaps?” Para wondered.

Larry shrugged. “I’m not a technician. Thing is, the breaches were all very hush hush. Until a year ago.” He walked around to the front of the desk. “A giant person appeared. He mentioned someone called ‘Alice’, did some card tricks, mumbled about an invasion, then vanished.”

Alijda’s eyes widened at Alice’s name. Then she rubbed both her hands against her temples. “He’s the someone she sent to this world already. Damn it, Alice…"

Para walked over to place a hand on Alijda’s shoulder. “Alice isn’t trying to cause you problems, you know. It makes sense that she only realized the scale problem after he arrived, which is why she pulled him back. Then had me work on the situation, leading to us…”

“She could have SAID something.”

“You don’t seem to like it when people tell you things.”

“Government oversight things, Para! Not what would ultimately be blindingly obvious. Not mission relevant information. I mean, was Alice embarrassed or something?!”

Kat spoke up again, from where he now leaned against the filing cabinet. “Just a vibe I get, Alijda… but maybe Alice thought you’d use her blunder as ammunition for why the whole project should be shut down?”

“Yeah, well, maybe she’d be right!” Alijda fumed. Para drew her hand back. Which made Alijda realize the extent to which she’d tensed up. She forced herself to close her eyes and count down from five. “Fine. It’s in the past. Larry, you were saying? Not hush hush now?”

“No,” Larry said, after a moment’s pause. “Not hush hush. A week after that incident, a huge top hat fell into the middle of the town, big enough to cover a building. It provided the ruling council with just the excuse they needed to clamp down on the population. Claiming other dimensions were coming after us, that there were spies among us, and that anyone with ‘Extradimensional Objects’ would be considered a traitor.”

“Meaning, if we’d actually gone to city hall?” Kat mused.

“Jail,” Larry confirmed. “Or some sort of detention. Even now, Queeny and the rest don’t know half of the things this department is doing. We were nearly shut down, back then.”

“So YOU say,” Alijda felt compelled to point out. Maybe she was still being paranoid, but she didn’t like how all of this was being filtered through one individual.

“True,” Larry said. “Of course, if we assume that what I say is true, I’m in danger of being called a traitor right now. For simply talking to you. A little gratitude would be nice.”

“Right, yes, thank you,” Kat said, speaking before Alijda could. “I suppose we should also assume the rest of the planet is just as concerned? As you pointed out earlier, this is only one town.”

Larry hesitated. “The few countries we’re in regular contact with feel similarly,” he admitted. “Though they haven’t all enacted laws against anomaly objects. And some countries keep to themselves, and others deny the truth, so I can’t speak for everyone. But we’re a pretty typical snapshot of the world here.”

“Wait. This doesn’t make sense,” Para protested.

Alijda sucked in a breath through her teeth. “Para…”

“No, listen, it sounds like we’re here to warn a world about an invasion - that they already know is coming! How does that make any sense?”

They had to make a filter for the cute bunny woman. They HAD to, somehow. Biting back her first instinct to chide Para yet AGAIN, and her second instinct to knock her own head into Larry’s desk, Alijda managed to simply roll her eyes. “Para makes a good point,” she said to Larry in resignation.

Larry’s response was to shrug. “Maybe your ‘Epsilon Project’ got it wrong. If giving us a warning was the only reason you showed up, we can send you on your way.”

“Yeah?” Kat said, sounding hopeful.

Now Larry was lying. Or at the least, not telling them something. Alijda could see him trying too hard to look relaxed. Damn it. “Hold on,” Alijda said. “We can’t simply leave, not without corroborating any of this.”

“But Alijda!” Para gasped. “Our shrinking problem - we can fix that, back on the station!”

“No, Alijda’s right,” Kat granted. “We should at least get a tour of the DEO first. To be sure.”

“I was more thinking I should go visit this Queeny,” Alijda said, clenching her jaw. “Because if they try to arrest me or anything, I can teleport away.”

Kat shook his head. “Your ability has limits. There’s no need to risk yourself yet.”

“There’s no need to risk any of us,” Para said, wringing her hands. “What use will we be, if all of a sudden we’re three feet tall? Relative to our surroundings, I mean. Why can’t we go back to Alice, at least for now?”

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FULL SCALE INVASION, PART FOUR: Small Problem

“Or we can not do ‘this’ at all,” Alijda countered.

Inwardly, Kat sighed. He wondered, would it really be so bad, to simply go along with the strange man in the trench coat and the fedora? Maybe the guy had come to tell them that, guess what! Everything had been solved, and they could get back to their normal lives!

But Kat wasn’t in charge. Thus, outwardly, unless there was any obvious benefit to disobeying, he resolved to follow Alijda’s lead. And not merely because he believed there might still be some sort of compatibility between them.

“You’re crazy,” the short man was saying. “No one, seeing the position you’re in, would have picked THAT option.”

“Not crazy. Occasionally suicidal, that’s all,” Alijda countered. She moved to walk around him.

Kat decided to dub their aggressor Shorty. Granted, Shorty didn’t look to be much under five feet, but this whole world was small, so height was relative.

Shorty moved to block Alijda, slipping the device he held into a pocket of his trench coat. “Last chance,” he remarked. And Shorty snapped his fingers in the air. The action prompted four other men to amble out of the alley, dressed identically to him. They began to circle around the group.

“Huh. Store must have had a great ‘buy one fedora, get four more for free’ deal,” Kat remarked. He said it not only to lighten the mood, but also to draw Alijda’s attention to the number, as she seemed focussed on Shorty.

“Really?” Alijda sighed.

“So,” Shorty stated. “The easy way, or–"

Alijda reached out to grasp the sleeve of Shorty’s trench coat. And before he could even flinch back, in a puff of purple and black smoke, the brunette was no longer there. Nor was Shorty’s coat. The guy now stood in a black button up shirt and pants.

Kat immediately shifted his attention to who would be the fifth, and final man in the circle. Sure enough, he was looking at the guy next to him, and raising his arm to execute a punch - not at Alijda, but at where she was going to appear next. Beside him.

These guys weren’t idiots. They’d been trained. Well, either that, or they were accustomed to seeing teleporting people. That said, Kat was no idiot either. To punch, you needed to draw your arm back. So Kat stepped forward, grasping the man’s arm and continuing the movement back, throwing the guy off balance, and preventing the punch.

And then Shorty’s last friend was also without his coat, and Alijda was standing in front of her original quarry. Kat wasn’t sure if she’d even noticed his maneuver - the whole area around them was now cloaked in a purple haze, due to Alijda’s rapid teleportations. Kat wrinkled his nose. It also smelled vaguely of sulphur.

“So, as I’ve likely disarmed you now,” Alijda remarked. “Do we leave, or do I pull the same trick with your pants?”

“Hard way it is,” Shorty declared. He grabbed a bag hooked onto his belt, and swung it out in a wide arc. Sand spilled out, except it was multicoloured sand, glittering as it flew through the air… and even as Kat flinched back, he felt his legs cease to properly support his weight.

“Well, damn,” Alijda commented.

As Kat fell forwards, he saw their brunette teleporter crashing to the ground too, on top of her collection of trench coats. His landing wasn’t as soft. The last thing he registered before losing consciousness was Para’s knees giving out next to him.

The arguing, the teleporting, the throwing of the dust - it had all happened too fast for Para. As personified math, she could calculate the foci of a conic in the blink of an eye. Yet by the time she’d decided that ‘the hard way’ meant a threat, versus - for example - taking a derivative from first principles, the whole spectacle was already over.

She wondered briefly why her companions were keeling over. Then the man next to her also dropped to the ground. So, suspecting that the dust was causing it, Para mimicked their actions, letting her knees give out, and closing her eyes as she sank down.

“Oh, nice throw, Larry!” came a sarcastic voice from her left. “You knocked out Shemp too!”

“Shut it, Joe,” Para heard the short man called Larry sigh. “If I hadn’t had the fairy dust on me, we’d all be in trouble. What in hell is that woman capable of??”

“Teleporting these huge objects away from our town?” posited a third voice.

“Or INTO the town,” Joe said.

“We’ll know soon enough. Hurry up and get them out of here,” Larry ordered. “We’re calling attention to ourselves. And here, put your coat back on.” Para felt a rush of air and heard a ‘thwacking’ noise as the object was thrown over her head.

“This isn’t mine. It’s Shemp’s.”

“I don’t care! Hurry up!”

There were a few seconds of shuffling about, after which Para felt one of the men grasp her under the shoulders. He hauled her body up, then pulled her back towards the alleyway, her feet dragging on the ground.

She decided to focus more on where they were going, versus what the men were saying. Since their talk was only general complaining. As such, Para registered being brought back into the nearest building - but at some point, after standing in a room for a while, they went back out the same way.

An elevator? Then there were echoes, so it was possible that they were underground. And then she was being laid onto some sort of cart. And then Alijda was being laid directly on top of her.

That proved to be distracting. Para couldn’t help but become aware of the ways her own curves differed from Alijda’s human ones, not to mention the properties of friction that came into play as the cart began to bump it’s way down what was likely a tunnel. Something about Alijda sliding against her felt strange.

Para managed to keep her eyes shut. She strained to hear - her bunny ears were chiefly cosmetic. It did sound like Kat and Shemp were enjoying a similar ride behind them.

More than five minutes later, but less than fifteen, they were unloaded from their carts, and the “elevator” process was repeated. This time, as they emerged (even lower down? higher up?) someone said “Password?”. The response was either mumbled, or non-verbal… either way, Para didn’t catch it.

More dragging. Then a female voice: “They’re UNCONSCIOUS?”

“They resisted,” Larry’s voice retorted. “And the brunette female can magically relocate. It was fairy dust or nothing.”

“What a waste of several hours. But very well. Confirm your readings, grab any devices they might have, then throw them all in a closet somewhere until they wake up.”

“Shemp too?”

The woman didn’t seem to want to dignify that with a reply. And ten minutes later, after nearly giving herself up with a yelp when a needle jabbed her arm (seemingly drawing blood), Para found herself dumped into a tiny room. Alijda ended up on top of her again.

Consciousness returned quickly, once Alijda realized there were people around her. But she resolved to make no movements or noises until she had more information. After a minute or so of stillness, the voices resolved in her head, and she realized it was only Kat and Para talking.

“You’re right,” Kat was saying. “Katherine isn’t a typical boy’s name. But my parents thought I’d be a girl, and then my mom died giving birth to me. Complications, no hospital, you know how… actually I guess you wouldn’t know how it is.”

“True,” Para admitted. “I was named by Apollonius, long after my discovery. Of course, I didn’t gain sentience until this author saw ‘Hetalia’ and wondered - oh! Alijda, you awake?”

Alijda had decided to open her eyes to learn more about their situation. They seemed to be in a small, white room, around seven feet in every dimension. There was a light in the ceiling, which was on, and a door, which was closed. Nothing else.

She reached for her wrist. Their communicator watches were gone. “Yes, I’ve been awake for a minute or so,” Alijda said. “Figured I’d fake unconsciousness, in hopes of learning something.”

“Great idea!” Para said. “I faked being out myself, ever since that Larry guy first threw the fairy dust on you.” She smiled.

Alijda sat up fast, a bit too fast. She smacked her palm into her forehead. “PARA. You did NOT just say that.”

“Um, yes? Why, should I have tried to escape? I’m sorry, I didn’t want to leave you…”

“No, it’s not that,” Alijda sighed. “It’s more that our captors are probably monitoring this room, and so now they know that too.” She stumbled to her feet, leaning against the wall.

Para’s ears twitched. “Oh. I… I never considered…"

“To be fair to Para,” Kat broke in, “You weren’t exactly hiding your teleportation power. Is that ability commonplace out in the multiverse?”

“What? No,” Alijda said. She tried the door. Naturally, it was locked. “Where I’m from, I’m it. And people want to catch me and dissect me to replicate the accident that made me this way. But hey, I’m not there now, so I figured…" Her voice trailed off.

“You figured different people could catch us and dissect us?” Kat mused.

“I guess. Shut up.” Alijda rattled the door handle a bit harder, then banged on the door with her fist.

“Sorry,” Kat apologized. “That wasn’t funny. Here, look on the bright side! If they wanted to dissect us, they’d probably have done that while we were knocked out.”

“I think they believe we have information they can use,” Para ventured.

Alijda looked back over her shoulder. “What information?”

Para shrugged. “I don’t know? I didn’t hear as much as they think I did.” She cupped her hand to her mouth and called out at the ceiling, “You hear that? I really didn’t!”

“If we’d simply gone with this Larry, we might know their motives,” Kat pointed out. “Maybe we can try that next time?”

“Oh, well, pardon my paranoia,” Alijda said. “I figured we were safer dealing with things out in public versus wherever this is.”

“Alijda, there’s… something else you might want to know,” Para ventured, her bunny ears twitching. “Something strange. But I don’t know if I should say, if they’re listening.”

Alijda sighed. “Come here and whisper it then.”

Para nodded, and did so. Alijda’s eyes widened. She felt her mouth go dry. She grabbed Para by the shoulders, looking her in the eye. “No. No way. Are you SURE?!”

Para nodded. “I felt you, when you landed on top of me. Definitely smaller now.”

Alijda took a step back, staring down at herself. From the corner of her eye, she became aware of Kat’s eyes also tracking down over her body. “Um, what’s smaller?” he wondered.

Alijda swallowed. “All of me. Para says I’m still shrinking.” She pressed her hands against her belly. “Merely slower than what happened through the whirlpool.” She looked back up. “What about you two? Is this some delayed problem with the circuitry?”

“I don’t have a good frame of reference for myself,” Para said, wringing her hands. “If we contact Alice, she could check.”

“Which we can’t do while trapped in here,” Alijda said, fighting down a rising panic. “More to the point, if I’m going to die, I’d rather it NOT be by getting stepped on!”

She resumed pounding her fist against the door. “Hey! Trenchcoat boys! You hearing this? Let us out before we shrink away into nothing!”

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FULL SCALE INVASION, PART THREE: Whirlpool

“You hate the suit?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Para frowned, trying to read Alijda’s expression. “Then you like the suit?”

“I didn’t say THAT either.”

“How about we agree that it’s good our normal clothes can be worn overtop,” Kat broke in. “Since pink’s not really my colour.”

The group had assembled in the station’s control room, prior to heading out on the mission. Part of their preparations had involved each of them putting on a specialized jumpsuit, so that the shrinking process would be non-lethal. Para had helped design it, but it had been Alice who had actually had the clothing synthesized. And who had used pink material.

Para wondered if she should say as much. Being math personified, she tended to second guess her human interactions. Would they take the information as a statement of fact? Or as an accusation on Alice? Kat in particular was hard to read. The women had suggested to Para that she be out of the room for his initial arrival, so she didn’t really have a baseline.

Para settled for, “I think pink could be anybody’s colour!”

“It does the job, that’s what’s important,” Alijda said, running her hands over her waist once more before gesturing dismissively.

It occurred to Para then that the pink showed through on Alijda’s legs and arms, while the brunette wore a black dress overtop. Was that bad? At least Para’s dress was a similar colour. But the suit could be mistaken for leggings. Should she say as much?

Before she could, Alijda continued. “We CAN remove the body suit for short periods of time though, right? Like call of nature?”

Para bobbed her head. “Oh yes. The main issue here is density. After all, if you remain the same mass once you’ve shrunk down, your density’s going to increase.”

“Right. More density, making us stupider,” Kat stated.

“He knows, Para,” Alijda sighed. “He’s trying to hit on you or something.”

“Trying to lighten the mood, actually,” Kat countered. “To hide the fact that I’m getting unnerved by all this.”

“Oh. S-Should I stop talking?”

“No, please, finish your thought,” Alijda said, smiling.

Para ventured a smile back. It was hard to stay mad at Alijda. Even after effectively betraying Para’s faith in her, in hacking the station’s computers, Para couldn’t help but feel like the woman meant well. She hoped that they were moving on from that new low point in their friendship.

“Right, so, increased density would be a problem,” Para continued. “Not neutron star levels of problem, but problem. Yeah? Thus, as you lose volume, you need to lose mass too, in order to maintain your density. This suit helps your body deal with that process, preventing you from losing any vital organs. That said, after the initial transference to their world, it’s mostly doing a checks and balances thing. So you can remove the bodysuit temporarily.”