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

PART 75a: HI ANXIETY

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.”

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.

3.10: HELP WANTED

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.

3.05: TOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

“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?”

“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!
• Consider voting for Time & Tied at WebFictionGuide. Eternal optimism; I've had a couple clicks in from their "Fantasy" page.

3.04: THE VISIONARIES

“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…”

“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.

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3.02: NEW ARRIVAL

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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• Feel free to speculate on this "New Arrival", or anything else, in the comments!

PART 23: ROCK BOTTOM

Principal Dell Hunt rose, his gaze shifting away from Carrie and onto the new arrival in his office. “Excuse me…?” he said pointedly.

“It’s Chartreuse. Chartreuse Vermilion.”

“Yes, I am aware of who you are. Am I to understand that you are claiming responsibility for what was discovered?” The principal waved off the office staff member who was now standing uncertainly at the door. She nodded and left, closing the door again behind her.

“That’s correct, sir,” Chartreuse said. “Though in fact, I don’t own the drugs either. So, well, okay, like, you might want to take a seat, this is sort of complex what I’m about to say.”

Mr. Hunt slowly sank back down into his chair. “I had a feeling.” He gestured at the seat next to Carrie.

Chartreuse moved to sit down as she spoke. “See, I actually found the bag in question this morning on my way to school. I thought ‘whoa! I’d better, you know, turn these in somewhere’ so I put them in my bookbag."

“In your bookbag.”

“Yes, sir, just temporarily. I figured I’d better get them out of the area lest the dealer, like, double back and retrieve them.”

“Indeed,” Mr. Hunt said dryly. “And where was it that you found this bag?”

Chartreuse lifted an eyebrow…

Carrie simply blinked at Chartreuse in confusion. Chartreuse lifted an eyebrow, jerking her head in the direction of the principal.

“Oh,” Carrie said at last, turning her gaze back to Mr. Hunt. “Well… sir, you of course remember how I said I had never seen that bag before? I’d forgotten that Chartreuse had given me a package to put in my locker. It contained something she said she’d found in the ravine earlier, that must have been the bag.”

“Right, I found it in the ravine,” Chartreuse confirmed. “I took a walk through the ravine before school. Part of a thigh building exercise.”

Carrie fired a glare back towards Chartreuse, who shrugged. Mr. Hunt folded his arms across his chest. “And why is it you never got around to reporting this until now?”

“Ah. Good question,” Chartreuse agreed. “In fact, I was… going to be late for class. Because of, you know, being in the ravine. I didn’t even have time to get to my locker. Which is why I, like, tossed my stuff into Carrie’s locker.”

“We both forget after that,” Carrie remarked.

“Totally,” Chartreuse affirmed.

The principal looked back and forth between the two girls. “Ms. Vermilion,” he finally stated, “I believe you missed my introductory remarks to the effect of telling the truth.” Chartreuse looked down at the floor, abashed.

“However, I can recall no troubling incidents with you of late. Thus I must ask, how DID you know why Ms. Waterson was called down? And why the outburst on her behalf?”

“I can’t explain, sir,” Chartreuse murmured. “It all, like, relates to a personal matter.”

Mr. Hunt remained quiet for a time. “Perhaps I should simply suspend the both of you while we let the authorities figure this out,” he remarked. Neither girl replied. There was more to this than met the eye - but then, he’d known that after seeing the Waterson girl’s initial reaction.

The real question was, would a suspension get them any closer to the truth? The principal steepled his fingers and turned his chair away to face the window.

“Two weeks detention for each of you,” he concluded. “Effective immediately, so you will both now report to the detention room. Don’t make me regret this decision. If, during these two weeks, I hear of any negative reports concerning either of you, there WILL be suspensions involved. Please use the opportunity to resolve your ‘personal matters’ - in the guidance office if necessary.”

In the reflection of the window glass, he saw Carrie’s look of surprise. “Understood, sir,” she said.

“Thank you, sir,” Chartreuse chimed in, looking relieved.

“Now then, one of you please tell Ms. LaMille to come in on your way out,” Mr. Hunt added, turning back towards them and opening his desk drawer.

The two girls departed his office.

Upon seeing Julie outside, Carrie immediately averted her gaze and walked out of the area. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Chartreuse jerk her thumb at the principal’s door and remark, “You’re, like, up next.” The pink haired girl then hurried to catch up.

“Carrie,” Chartreuse whispered as they walked out the main office doors. “What was that about?”

Carrie spun. “Yes, what WAS that about?”

“I asked first.”

“Why did you jump in to my rescue?” Carrie said, ignoring Chartreuse’s comment. “I never asked you to do that.”

“I know. But when I found out, I just couldn’t, like, sit back and do nothing. Besides, we ended up an okay team, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, great. What exactly were you expecting from me in return?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Nope. It’s not always about you - see, there’s these powerful forces at work,” Chartreuse explained. “Meaning you should probably, you know, just take it easy for a few weeks, as the principal indicated. It might do you some good actually, your aura looks to be unbalancing.”

“My…” Carrie pressed a hand to her forehead. “Oh God, I’ve sunk so low I’m getting advice from the school psychic,” she realized.

“So, what was the deal there?” Chartreuse pressed. “Corry?”

“Who else?” Carrie said bitterly. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m obviously at the point in my life where I need to go and crawl into a small hole and die. Give my regards to anyone who actually cares.”

“Aw, Carrie, you’re not skipping our detention, are you?” Chartreuse countered. “After Hunt was kind enough to give us that out?”

Carrie nearly said yes. Except… doing so might have repercussions for Chartreuse. Which seemed needlessly cruel. ‘So what?’ argued a small voice in her head. So - Chartreuse deserved better.

Carrie fell back against the nearest wall, rolling her eyes heavenwards as she realized which voice in her head was becoming the most dominant. “Yeah, I’m going. I can always kill myself later."

“Touchy, touchy,” Lee mumbled to himself as he ambled down the hall, hands in his pockets. It wasn’t like he’d purposely set out to trip Corry with his music stand. Hey, if the guy couldn’t look down and see what was lying right out in front of him, that was hardly Lee’s problem.

Oh well. As usual, Lee had some time to kill after school, before his job at the public library. He supposed he might as well hang out at the coffee shop again. However, he’d better check his image first.

Pulling a comb out of his worn sports jacket, Lee headed for the men’s washroom. Entering and proceeding to the basin-like object that passed for a sink, he was briefly taken aback by the sight of a bag of wet clothing sitting inside.

“Odd place to do laundry,” Lee noted with a frown. He peered into the bag and fished out a sports bra. “Totally odd,” he concluded.

“I think it’s cause for concern,” Frank insisted.

Clarke shrugged. “I’m concerned in my own way.”

Frank ran a hand back through his hair. “Well… yes, all right. But come on, don’t you know ANYTHING about why Carrie and Julie were called to the office? Like, maybe Corry has lashed out at the two of them, a revenge tactic after the dance incident,” he said, thinking aloud. “Which means when I was calling Carrie this week about, ah, studying, she was ignoring me in order to keep me out of Corry’s line of fire. What do you think?”

Clarke leaned back against his locker, frowning. “I think it’s possible that Corry’s not involved.”

Frank shot a look at Clarke. “Okay, not helping. Don’t you care about what’s happened to Julie?"

Clarke glared back at him. “More than you realize. But why are you concerned? I don’t remember you being so interested in Julie or Carrie until a few weeks ago.”

“It’s, um, personal.” Frank stopped to gather his thoughts. “Look, I happen to know that Carrie’s been under some strain lately. So I suppose I’d rather she not get in more trouble on top of that. Sorry, I, uh, didn’t mean to sound judgemental. Things have all been a bit confusing for me lately.”

The tall blonde’s expression became a wry smile. “You’re telling me.”

Frank adjusted his glasses. “Okay, Clarke, let me level with you. I have no quarrel with you, or Julie, but I’ve been kind of pulled into this situation… meaning, I just might be forced into taking firmer action. Last resort sort of thing of course, but, uh, well, look, can’t you get Julie to stop whatever’s going on before I’m forced to do something?” he pleaded.

Clarke’s frown returned. “Thing is, Julie is as much a victim here as everyone else.”

“I know she got called to the office like Carrie, but…”

“Not like that,” Clarke interrupted. “It’s… something I can’t really explain. Even to myself sometimes."

Frank blinked. “You’re not making sense.”

“Yo, guys,” Lee said as he approached. “You want things that don’t make sense? How ‘bout some of Carrie’s gym clothes and her home ec recipe cards drowning in the men’s washroom.” He tossed the wet bag at Frank, who caught it automatically. “Here, math whiz. You know her better then me, right? Give the stuff back to her, ‘k?”

“Whoa, what?” Frank protested. “Carrie and me, we’re not studying this week. We’re not even speaking.”

Lee turned away with a vague gesture. “Cool, that’ll give you something to speak about then. Sorry, can’t stay, places to be.”

Frank opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, but he was unable to find words before Lee had turned the next corner. He looked over at Clarke, who was now watching him with an eyebrow raised. He then looked down into the bag he was holding. There was a bra sitting on top of the pile. He felt himself turning red.

Upon exiting detention an hour later, Carrie was surprised to find a damp bag of her possessions tied anonymously around the lock of her locker.

It didn’t make SENSE, Chartreuse reflected as she stared up at the ceiling of her room. Something about the drug affair felt WRONG.

The thought had been bothering her right through her detention, right through her trip home, right through supper, right up until now. If only she could put her finger on what the problem was!

It related to Julie, Chartreuse knew that much. After all, while Carrie had been in trouble, Julie apparently hadn’t been… or at least they’d been seen separately. What was the connection? Why had Julie been called to the office? Carrie hadn’t seemed to know, having just wanted to get away from the brunette.

Folding her arms, Chartreuse sat up on her bed and looked over towards her dresser. Perhaps the trouble was that she was asking herself the wrong questions. After all, the discovery of that drug bag had been the central event.

Okay - who knew it had been in Carrie’s locker? The principal, the teacher who’d searched the locker, presumably Corry, Tim, herself… and Julie. Yes, Julie HAD to have known - in her vision, Chartreuse had seen Julie taking something from the locker AFTER Corry had done his fiddling. Boy, that was cold, leaving the bag of pills there when Julie could have helped Carrie out.

Yet, in that case, what had Julie taken out of the locker? Chartreuse had thought it to be whatever Corry had put in, but Julie hadn’t removed the drugs. So it had to be something else. Right?

Yet that meant that something else had to have been inside the locker too. Something that Corry would have seen, whether he realized it or not. Was there any way to find out the identity of that something? Of course there was.

Chartreuse sprang for a phone extension, only to discover that their land line was already in use. “Azure, get off the phone,” Chartreuse demanded.

“I don’t hafta, I’m asking questions about homework,” her younger sister replied.

“Azure!”

“Sorry Ben, you need to excuse my sister,” Azure said. “She had detention today, it’s unsettled her karma and made her all cranky. Hang up now Chartreuse, or I’ll tell mom!”

Sighing helplessly, Chartreuse hung up and went to grab her jacket. Her family didn’t own cell phones, as their use tended to interfere with the abilities that they had. So she’d need to drop by in person… seeing as she had to know now, one way or the other. Otherwise her sacrifice on Carrie’s behalf could amount to nothing.

“Nothing. A whole lot of nothing.”

“What’s that?” Theresa asked, leaning on the counter of the coffee shop.

Carrie lifted her head to look blearily at the red haired waitress. “Why do you care?” she shot back.

Theresa smiled disarmingly. “Part of my job is to help out the customers. There’s not too many people around right now and you look like you could use someone to talk to.”

“Well, I don’t need anyone. Never have. So take a hike,” Carrie said indignantly. Theresa nodded slowly and turned away.

Carrie gripped her glass tighter. “Wait,” she amended. “I… I’m sorry, that was rude. Maybe I do need someone. Because I don’t have anyone. Not anymore.” Her gaze dropped back down into her lemonade. “In fact I have nothing left.” She squeezed her eyes shut.

Theresa leaned back onto the counter. “I’m sure that’s an exaggeration.”

“It’s not,” Carrie said hollowly. “I don’t have my mom. I don’t have Julie. Without Julie, I don’t have friends. Not really. She’s the only one I ever…” Carrie reopened her eyes and banged her fist down on the café counter, hard enough to make dishes rattle. “How could I let this happen? Why the hell didn’t I see this coming? I should have been listening more to my instincts on Sunday. Why was I so blind?”

“Sometimes truths can be painful to see,” Theresa remarked.

“Yeah, well, I wish I could go back a few days and beat some sense into my head,” Carrie asserted.

“You think you’d be better off then?”

“Hell yes,” Carrie affirmed. But even as she said it, she found herself considering the possibility.

If she WERE to time travel back a few days, if she were to stop herself from calling Julie on Sunday for instance, would her situation now be any better? Or would Julie simply have found an even more devilish way of getting to her? Would Carrie have even BELIEVED her present day self? Probably not.

Carrie might be better off traveling back further and kicking the time machine into a really deep hole before discovering it. Except now, that would wipe out numerous events. Including any reason for her to travel back and do it in the first place! One of those damn paradoxes Frank loved to talk about.

Frank. The guy who would probably benefit the most from having the time machine removed from their past. She’d really done a number on him, hadn’t she. Two years worth of a number! God, what might he have been able to accomplish without her messing up his past for her own selfish ends? She couldn’t even begin to imagine.

Ironically enough, Carrie abruptly recalled a time before Julie’s party, when she’d thought a time machine would solve everything. Instead, it had merely caused all sorts of new problems. There really was no quick fix for anything, was there. Especially not for the thing she most wanted to fix…

Carrie flexed her fingers, then took a long draught of lemonade. Theresa was still there. “You know what?” Carrie decided at last. “Life simply sucks.”

The red haired waitress smiled. “I dare say that’s the most common problem I see around here. And while the cause is often different, talking about it usually does help people. So, anything else on your mind?”

Carrie shook her head slowly. “Nothing you’d understand. Heck, I’ve said too much already,” she sighed, pressing her forehead into the palm of her hand.

Theresa leaned in closer. “If it’s not something you can tell me, is there someone else…?”

Carrie let out a quick burst of laughter. “No way! I’ve scared everyone else off. I have nothing left, nobody, nothing…” Her voice trailed away. The more she said it, the more she realized how true it was.

Theresa pursed her lips. “That sort of statement is rarely accurate,” the waitress countered. “Don’t do anything drastic, all right? Take some time to put things into perspective. It’s probably not as bad as you think it is.”

With that, the waitress moved off to another section of the coffee shop where a customer was waving. Carrie was left sitting and staring into her drink, contemplating Theresa’s words.

Okay, so she obviously couldn’t talk to Julie - but there was only one other person who knew her the way Julie did. About her past, her present, her triggers and idiosyncrasies - and that one guy, the individual who had been subjected to more “Carrie” than anyone else in the whole high school? He was better off without her. She squeezed her eyes shut again.

She wasn’t sure how much more time passed before she heard someone addressing her. “What?” she inquired, opening her eyes and looking up.

“I said hey, track tease, have you talked to the math whiz yet?” Lee repeated.

“To Frank? Why the hell would I talk to Frank??” she snapped back, her thoughts spilling out unbidden from between her lips. “I mean, sure, he’s the only other one who knows about what’s been going on of late. And yes, so he’s someone who knows a good deal about me now. Trouble is, I’m so short sighted that our connection has become completely screwed up. To the point where I really doubt that there’s any chance of ever restoring whatever small link we might have had, assuming there was even anything there to begin with!”

Lee rubbed the back of his head. “Wow, okay, if you say so. I only ask because I found a bunch of your clothes and stuff. Gave it to him to give to you. Guess you haven’t got it from him yet?”

Carrie felt her cheeks warming and quickly turned away. “Oh. No, I…” She was reminded of the bag tied to her locker. “Actually maybe. But I haven’t seen Frank since class,” she mumbled.

“Lee?” Theresa said, approaching. “You were right, you did leave your drafting assignment here. It fell behind one of the booths.”

“Cool,” Lee remarked, taking the papers from her. He saluted. “Thanks, speedy service sweetheart.” He turned back to Carrie. “And hey, track tease, a final word of advice?”

“Why is everybody a psychologist today?” Carrie muttered under her breath.

“Just wanted to say…"

“Just wanted to say, an aluminum foil hat’ll help you block out those alien mind control rays.”

Carrie couldn’t help herself. “What does THAT mean?” she demanded.

Lee shrugged. “I figure something’s messing with your mind. Otherwise you wouldn’t have such a warped opinion of how people like the math whiz view friendship. Anyway, see ya in class tomorrow.” Carrie found she could only gape as Lee waved and headed back out of the shop.

“Interesting character, that one,” Theresa remarked idly.

Carrie nodded slowly as her fingers snared a lock of her hair. She yanked it. Hard. “Theresa, what defines a friend?”

The waitress turned back and cocked her head to the side. “That’s an unusual question. I suppose answers will vary. Why do you ask?”

Carrie bit her lip. “I’m not sure,” she murmured. Had Julie ever truly been her friend? Conversely, over the last few weeks, had she actually been becoming friends with Frank? No… now she was grasping at straws. She hadn’t been friendly to him at all.

But still. The time with Frank - it hadn’t been like the rest of her social life, that was for sure. And who else was there now, if not Frank? I mean really, who else? “What time is it?”

“Coming up on 9:30,” Theresa said.

Carrie pulled her fingers free from her hair. “There’s still time before my curfew then,” she said softly. She turned to the waitress. “I’ll settle up my bill now.”

WISH FULFILMENT, PART SIXTEEN: Alternative Reality

As soon as Chartreuse collapsed, Simon ran over to her. He felt for a pulse, relieved to find that she still had one. They’d been pretty sure that she would end up in Wanda’s vision once the field was activated, so presumably (hopefully) that was the case. Having verified that Chartreuse might have a mild burn, but was otherwise okay, Simon looked up at Ikky. She’d followed over after him. “Keep an eye on her?” he requested, before heading to where Azure and Pelinelneth were standing by Wanda.

Azure held up a necklace, with what looked like a tiny book on it. “The elf says this is the evil thing,” she remarked.

Simon nodded, noticing that her arm was shaking. “Are you okay?”

“Hell no!” Azure shot back, pulling her arm back down as her look became a glare. “I got FIRED at. Literally! What’s my hazard pay?” Simon barely had time to shrug, before she continued with, “And what about my sister??” She thrust her arm out again, pointing towards Chartreuse.

“She seemed okay - how long does a vision usually last?”

Azure snorted. “Time dilates. You might as well ask what number I’d roll on a die. So, pay?”

“Ahem. Wanda’s safety is still guaranteed, right?” Pelinelneth asked, breaking back in.

Simon turned to the elf, deciding he had a better chance with that conversation. “Yes. As long as she acts reasonably once she regains consciousness.”

Pelinelneth nodded. Her eyes tracked to the pendant. “And once you take that away… do I disappear?”

Simon found he could only shrug again. “Let me call Alice,” he decided. When in doubt, consult one’s superiors? He tapped at his watch.

Before there was any response, Wanda stirred, and from near Chartreuse, Ikky called out, “She’s awake!” Azure reflexively took several steps backwards. Simon held his ground, warily watching Wanda. The Royal Wizard didn’t make any immediately aggressive moves. She almost seemed to be… crying? Pelinelneth bent down, putting an arm around the brunette.

“No killing!” Chartreuse called out. Simon turned, in time to see Ikky help his partner off the ground. “Wanda’s gonna, you know, work with us!”

“Killing?” Simon asked. That had only been their last resort, after bargaining, physical restraint, and for that matter, somehow using a wish themselves. Chartreuse and Ikky approached, the younger girl pointedly glancing from him to the blonde woman and back.

It clicked. Ikky, formerly Iklius, had a vendetta against Wanda. They had said that Wanda might get hurt. Ikky could have been hoping for that. For that matter, if all the wishes here reverted, would Iklius revert? As a male, with a renewed spirit, would he then make good on his desire for vengeance? Chartreuse had sensed something with Ikky. She hadn’t been able to put it into words. That could have been it.

At a loss for what to say for a third time, Simon was glad to hear Alice respond. He became less glad at what she said. “If someone’s dead, don’t tell me much!” came the voice from his watch. “Better chance of me fixing it that way!”

“We’re not dead. In fact, we’ve got the artifact,” Simon reported. “It’s a book.”

There was a breath of relief. “Awesomesauce! I’ll open up a portal.”

“Wait - what happens here when we remove the artifact?” Simon asked. “Do the wish results remain?”

“Sure, why wouldn’t they?”

“Well then, that leaves their town in a bit of a state.” For that matter, even if the wishes WERE cancelled, it would be an issue.

“Not our problem!” Alice said, her tone far too chipper. “Their world, let them deal.”

“They can’t!” Simon objected. “We’ve put their Royal Wizard into withdrawal, we had a hand in turning their former Wizard into a statue, and the only local left who knows what’s going on is technically an escaped prisoner.” He glanced at Ikky out of the corner of his eye.

“Oh.” Alice paused. “Can you get your team somewhere private? I don’t feel like explaining myself multiple times.” Simon frowned.

They helped Pelinelneth bring Wanda back to the Wizard Sanctuary. The elf said she’d keep an eye on Ikky while Snowball (Wanda’s pink unicorn) monitored the Wizard’s condition - they couldn’t yet tell if Wanda’s presently withdrawn emotional state was solely due to the future vision, or if it was the onset of withdrawal after being separated from The Book.

Simon, Chartreuse and Azure then relocated to a small room next door.

“The Epsilon Project,” Alice explained, her voice coming through on Simon’s communicator watch. “Our last, best place for hope. This Hub is a self-regulating station, tracking right and wrong, located in neutral–"

“If it’s self-regulating, why do you have to stay there?” Azure demanded.

A pause. “Okay, the system’s not perfect,” Alice admitted. “It’s self-regulating in the sense that it can identify it’s own errors and tell me about them. Usually.”

“Also, where was our backup? My sister’s burned! And are we getting paid?”

“Azure,” Chartreuse said reproachfully. “I’m okay, and Alice and her crew were trying to, you know, help people!”

“Yeah, but it’s people who weren’t US,” the younger Vermilion shot back.

A sigh came over the communications link. “Fine,” Alice said. “You want me to admit that I’ve screwed up? Then yes, I’ve screwed up. Perhaps we should have pulled your team out, once it became obvious that this wasn’t a simple search and extract mission. Certainly we should have gotten better data on Chartreuse’s sister, as she asks too many questions. Though I guess she’s not as bad as the gaffe made last mission.”

“Why, what happened then?” Simon asked, speaking up to prevent Azure from doing so. Plus, he was curious. Also worried.

“Oh, one of their team was copyright of the BBC in the universe they went to. We should have screened for that better, so now on top of everything, we have to avoid getting sued. Two missions in, and it’s like Terminator 2 - I need a vacation.”

“You don’t sound bothered,” Azure grumbled.

“You don’t know me,” Alice said, her normally carefree tones immediately becoming more subdued.

“We’re straying from the point,” Simon decided. He glanced at Chartreuse. “Uh, what was the point?”

“MY point,” Alice cut back in, spirits seemingly restored. “Is that MY job is to react to dimensional anomalies. That’s the whole reason for the Epsilon Project. But at the same time, it’s the EPSILON Project! Making next to zero alterations! Not the Delta Project, which would be all about incremental change.”

“Wait, dimensional anomalies?” Chartreuse asked.

“Supernatural bleed through. Stuff that’s not where it’s supposed to be. For instance, in our first case, someone named Lissa Jous was influencing another dimension through someone’s dreams. In your case, the wishing artifact doesn’t belong in that fantasy dimension, it came from… well, I don’t know exactly. Likely one of the worlds adjacent to Death Note Central. We’ll do some resonance scans to pinpoint it.”

“Oh! So your Project is trying to, like, keep one type of Alternate Earth from affecting another,” Chartreuse decided.

“But,” Simon objected, “you can’t simply remove something like the Wish Book from here and expect that doing so will have a negligible impact. Not once it’s been around for months!”

“Contrarily, if it had been there for less time, it wouldn’t have registered with us,” Alice stated. “Sometimes, you can’t get around paradox. But now that you’ve GOT it, you all need to GO. Like I said to Simon earlier today, we have to trust that things will naturally get back on track!”

Simon looked at the Vermilion sisters. “It feels wrong,” he said, suspecting that his own expression was a mirror to theirs.

“I get that,” Alice answered. “Look, how about this. I’ll open a portal - send Azure through to me, with the artifact. You and Chartreuse can stay until midnight. In the meantime, I’ll consult with God, to see if there’s anything here I’m missing. We DO hope you’ll be willing to sign up with us on a more permanent basis, after all.”

She continued without waiting for acknowledgement. “All I ask is, please, PLEASE, don’t start any revolutions, and for goodness sakes, don’t make any promises we can’t keep!!” The connection clicked off. Just as well, because Simon wasn’t sure what more he could have said.

“Hello!” Ikky said brightly as Simon and Chartreuse walked back into the Sanctuary. “Have we met?”

Simon blinked in surprise. “Met? You don’t rem–"

“Ikli,” Pelinelneth said. “Could you alphabetize the lower bookshelf for me? Me and Snowball need to have a word with our guests.” Ikky (Ikli?) nodded, Pelinelneth guiding Simon and Chartreuse away from her, with Snowball trotting over to join them. Wanda, Simon noticed, had moved up to the bed. She now looked to be asleep.

“We’ve totally missed something,” Chartreuse observed.

“Yeah. Us, fixing things,” Snowball stated. “It seemed like you were going to leave. Or did you have some plan? Where’s the blue haired girl anyway?”

“She’s returning the artifact,” Simon said. “As to a plan…" He exchanged an uneasy glance with Chartreuse before shaking his head. “No.”

“Good. I’d be suspicious of one anyway,” Snowball admitted. “Even if you did fix the wish thing, you’re obviously not locals.”

“So what did you do?” Simon asked.

“We got Wanda to give Iklius a memory wipe,” Pelinelneth murmured. She seemed troubled, but whether it was from that spell occurring, or merely from admitting it to them, Simon couldn’t say. “Because of Ikli’s natural resistance, it knocked Wanda out completely, but it worked. We’ve told Ikli that she lost her memory due to being hit on the head.”

Chartreuse’s eyes widened. “That’s horrible!”

“No, no, it’s the same spell that I had, back when I told Wanda I wanted to be let out of the castle,” Pelinelneth added. “Harmless, really.”

“But her MEMORIES!”

“Keep your voice down,” Snowball snapped. “Look. We need Ikli’s help. She’s one of the few who can use her power to easily cancel out the more severe wishes, yet she didn’t seem inclined to help us willingly. Besides, this way she won’t remember being in prison, or the deaths of her friends. That’s good, right?”

Simon’s gaze drifted over to where the blonde woman was rearranging books. “Except won’t she simply cancel out your memory wipe?”

“That’s the sticking point,” Pelinelneth admitted. “But Wanda had already started working on the problem, while Ikky - Ikli - was in prison. She was hoping for triple redundancy, a spell, a charm and a false memory… we currently have two out of three, and it seems to be working. Besides, we told her the loss was natural causes.”

“No. I don’t like it,” Chartreuse said, biting her lip. “Are you sure you didn’t, you know, explain that–"

“Chartreuse. It’s not our call,” Simon reminded her. Though truth be told, he didn’t feel happy with this idea either. Playing with someone’s mind, without permission? Worse, Ikky wouldn’t have been subjected to this if he hadn’t taken her out of her cell! It was Qifarihm all over again! Or was it? If Wanda had already planned to do this… Simon shook his head, aware he was now rationalizing away his own involvement.

“Meanwhile,” Snowball said. “Pelinelneth has some illusion and nature magic, enough to prop Wanda up until she feels able to continue on in her role in the castle.”

“And if she doesn’t feel up to it?” Chartreuse challenged. “What if withdrawal makes her go nuts?”

“We’ll hold a Wizard trial for a replacement.” Snowball managed the horse equivalent of a shrug.

Chartreuse opened her mouth to object again, but then couldn’t seem to find any words. And Simon realized it was as Alice had said: The people of this world were picking up the pieces without their help. Had she known that would happen? Had she known HOW it would happen? He grimaced, but also said nothing as Pelinelneth turned and went back to talk with Ikli.

There were still problems here. But what could they do to solve them, aside from get out of the way? On the bright side, Simon supposed that the place was overall better off for their having been here. Wasn’t it? He glanced at Chartreuse, wondering what had been in her future vision… then wondering if she should do another one. They had changed things for the better here, right?

Right?

-END?-

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WISH FULFILMENT, PART FIFTEEN: Future Tents

The fireball flew straight for Azure’s face. And Chartreuse felt her heart jump into her throat. Perversely, the first thought that came to mind was: How exactly does one explain to one’s parents that their youngest daughter got killed on some alternate world? Worse, got killed because of a plan that you came up with?

Even though she was several metres away, hiding behind one of the statues in the castle courtyard, Chartreuse reached out her arm, as if that could pull her sister back out of harm’s way…

The fireball was deflected in Chartreuse’s direction, forcing her to pull back. It exploded on the ground, starting a small fire. The pink haired teenager quickly poked her head out around the other side of her cover.

Azure stood there, right arm outstretched and shaking. She was unhurt. Thank goodness, it had worked. They’d reasoned that the younger Vermilion might be able to deflect Wanda’s attacks using the deck of playing cards. But Azure could only do that another, what, 51 times? Did the deck have Jokers?

“I’ll see if I can get Ikky to shine the light again,” Simon murmured.

“Why did she, you know, stop?!” Chartreuse said, unable to keep the desperation out of her voice. Getting Ikky to channel her cancellation power through the flashlight beam (her focus object) had been the one thing keeping Azure safe. Granted, a fireball had been sent towards Ikky too, but couldn’t she have cancelled it out?

“Startled?” Simon suggested. “Plus, merely because she can cancel, doesn’t mean things around her are naturally immune. A lot’s been thrown at her today, literally and figuratively.”

He had a point. Moreover, Chartreuse had seen inside Ikky the potential for… well, something bad. She shouldn’t push. The teenager’s hands clenched. If only Wanda would move forwards into the field of crystals, instead of standing there, seemingly re-evaluating Azure.

Then, as Chartreuse watched, two more fireballs were produced, both of them flying towards Azure at once. The blue haired girl back-pedalled, hand moving quickly to pull cards from the deck in her left hand, throwing them out to block. One ball of flame flew to the left, the other slammed into the ground in front of her. Had Azure been singed?

And still Wanda stood there, not pressing the advantage. She had to know about the danger area! So what could they do? As Chartreuse watched, the brunette wizard eyed Azure again, then turned to the elf standing next to her. “See if she can do that against an arrow.”

It was then, as Chartreuse was a step away from charging out to stand with her sister, that she realized that she was being an idiot. Simon had given her back her two crystals, in order to do the reading on Ikky. With them, she could realign the perimeter herself.

She dashed out of hiding. She didn’t try to make herself a target, but even with the fading light after sundown, Chartreuse knew she’d be hard to miss. The light from the fires wasn’t helpful either. So, she tried to make it seem like she was running for the gates, trying to get away.

“You MISSED,” Wanda said, sounding shocked.

“I think she deflected it,” Pelinelneth said in a flat tone.

They were ignoring her. Chartreuse dropped a crystal on the ground. She now had to circle back around to Wanda’s other side. She did so, trying to keep from breathing too hard. She could do it in fifteen more steps. Ten. Five. Okay, another five.

That’s when she felt the intense, burning heat coming from her right, and she heard Azure scream, “NO!”

The light nearly blinded her. But almost immediately, she realized that it wasn’t a burning light, it was light from a flashlight - yet there was burning all around her, even if the worst of it was being cancelled out, and it was so hot, and maybe she was going to die, but it didn’t matter, she dropped the crystal and clapped her hands and spun to face their adversary.

“You showed us your past!” Chartreuse screamed out. “Time for us to, you know, show you your future!”

Her crystals lit up, a pulse of rainbow light chaining between all of them, with Wanda caught in the middle.

She could remake the world. She had the power to do it. No one would have to suffer ever again. Not like her. Never like her.

Baby steps, though. For all his misogynist posturing, Qifarihm had been right about a couple of things: Trying to take on too much, too soon, would result in disaster. Wanda had experienced that firsthand. Also, belief had to come from within. Not even facts and arguments could break through a person’s beliefs, no, the individual had to discover the truth for themselves. It had to become personal.

That’s where The Book came in.

Wanda had found it out in the woods, while searching for magical herbs. At first, she hadn’t been aware of what it could do. She’d merely wanted to keep it. She also hadn’t been sure what had compelled her to write, “I wish the King would ask MY opinion for a change, instead of Qifarihm” into it.

The King had consulted with Wanda the very next day. On something she’d had no clue about, so the advice had been terrible, but in no way was that experience mere coincidence. So, Wanda had experimented further. Small scale. On other people, so that she could remain objective.

She had quickly realized that, with The Book, she COULD change people’s beliefs. About themselves, about others - about reality itself! As a bonus, she got a nice little head rush whenever a wish was granted. Finally, she had it. A way to change their world for the better.

Sure, there had been hurdles, and glitches, but she had overcome them. She had even found a spell to miniaturize The Book and wear it as a pendant whenever it wasn’t in use, so that she could keep it safe. Because she knew that once the townspeople realized what she was capable of, and once they really understood the reasoning behind all of her efforts, it could only lead to one inevitable outcome.

A dragon, razing the city, burning it with fire.

“NO!” Wanda screamed. She tried to make a fireball, to shoot it up into the air, to fight back - but she had no cards, she had no magic, and then she realized that the fires burning around her threw off no heat.

“We’re kinda insubstantial,” came a voice. “That’s how my visions work.”

Wanda screamed again, and jumped for the pink haired girl, her hands reaching out for the teenager’s neck. She passed right through, falling onto the ground.

“Um, we’re even, like, insubstantial to each other. Sorry. I’m Chartreuse, by the way.”

Wanda scrambled back to her feet, fingers twitching, lips quivering, lost in a sea of emotion. “Why do you look like an elf? Why do you look like my Pelinelneth?!” she shouted.

Chartreuse reached up to touch her ears, seeming surprised. “Huh. Dunno. Holdover from your spell? Magic on this world is, you know, weird. My future visions don’t tend to be this vivid.”

“This is NOT the future!!”

Chartreuse lowered her arm. “It’s the most probable one. Again, sorry.”

“Then you have to CHANGE it,” Wanda demanded. “Give me more artifacts! Once I have them in other cities, once the people there learn, as we did, that that it’s their own beliefs which hold them back and cause society’s problems, we can fix this.”

The girl sighed. “Even if I could, you know, I wouldn’t.”

“Then this, ALL of this is on YOUR conscience!” Wanda shrieked, gesturing out at the flames surrounding them.

Chartreuse didn’t speak for a moment. When she did, it was only to say quietly, “No, Wanda. You’re the only one who can, like, change this.”

Wanda made a fist, then realized she couldn’t even punch the girl in the face. Seething, the brunette wizard turned her attention back to the images around them. “Do you even know WHY this is happening?” she asked.

“Fear.” This time, the response was immediate. “Can’t you sense it? I don’t know if it’s fear over the wishing in this place, fear over your growing power, fear over women finally being regarded as equals - maybe it’s pieces of all three. But your city is scared, your WORLD is scared, and they’re all fighting back. Innocents are getting hurt.”

Wanda COULD sense it. She’d been trying to block it out. “No. This is not what I wanted. Not like this.”

“Maybe it’s what your book wanted. Wanda, part of you knows it’s evil.”

She spun back to face her companion. “NO! The Book is a thing. Things are not good or evil. The Book can’t want this any more than a slice of bread wants cheese!”

The elf-like girl pursed her lips, and Wanda sensed what she was thinking. “And I am not evil either! I’m not! I’ve made mistakes, but I’ve been working to FIX them! I’m not inhumane! I’ve been selective about the wishes I write, I’ve tried to confiscate people’s weapons, I’ve been working to give the Queen more power - I didn’t even kill Qifarihm! I only need more time! More artifacts! You have to give them to me!!”

“All I was going to say is, you know, this particular book might be more than a mere thing.”

There was a moment, a very brief moment where Wanda felt like blasting away at the scene around her with every fibre of her being, doing whatever she could to escape this hideous lie, so that she could get back to making her world a better, safer place to live in. A place that would ultimately benefit everyone, once they stopped believing that things were inherent to gender, money, magic capability, or lineage.

But she didn’t do it. Instead, she fell to her knees.

“The Book is all I have left,” she stated. “You can’t take it. I’ve killed people, innocent people, and using The Book is the only way I can atone for it.” She felt a wetness slide down her cheek. Disgusted by the show of weakness, she pounded her fist into the ground.

“Oh, like, hell,” Chartreuse shot back. Wanda jerked her gaze back up in surprise. “There’s people out there who dream of having your strength of character! The fact that this book is evil, and magic can corrupt, and yet even after all you’ve experienced, you’re still upset over what’s happening? That’s a sign that bad stuff is, you know, having a hell of a time getting it’s hooks into you!”

Wanda shook her head, awareness dawning. “Yet I’ve changed people, I’ve manipulated them, I’ve–”

“Stop.” Chartreuse crouched down. “It’s possible to do the wrong thing for the right reason.” She frowned. “Maybe that’s from, like, a fortune cookie. My point is, it’s not too late to, you know, do the right thing!” She took a deep breath. “There is still time to prevent this future. That much I know.”

Wanda cast her gaze up to the sky. A sky filled with cinders and dark smoke, smoke which was billowing out over a land that she now realized wasn’t capable of - or perhaps simply wasn’t ready for - the vision she had in her head.

Not even facts and arguments could break through a person’s beliefs, no, the individual had to discover the truth for themselves. It had to become personal.

“Take The Book away, and help me fix this,” Wanda pleaded, her tears now flowing freely.

Chartreuse snapped back into her body. When her eyes opened, she realized that she was lying on the ground. Right - she’d collapsed upon being pulled into the vision with Wanda. She tried to prop herself up on one arm, and winced. She pulled the arm up to stare at it. Her shirt sleeve had been burned away, and her skin had what looked like a sunburn. Peachy.

“She’s awake!” a female voice called out, and Chartreuse realized it was Ikky. Even as she struggled to sit up again, the blonde woman moved into her field of vision. With a tentative smile, Ikky asked, “Do we get to kill Wanda now?”

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WISH FULFILMENT, PART FOURTEEN: Into Fire

Chartreuse was in the dungeon less than ten minutes after arriving at the castle. Simon came into her cell as soon as the guard who’d brought her there had departed. “That could have gone better,” he remarked. “I was kind of hoping you’d get to talk to the King.”

“It could have, you know, gone worse,” Chartreuse countered. “They might have taken me directly to Wanda.”

Fair point. “She’ll find out soon enough. Hopefully not until after dinner.” He glanced towards the cell door. “Where’s Azure?”

“Getting things into position. She was able to walk right past me and the guards, what with her magic card and me being distracting.”

Simon shifted his gaze down to the card pinned on his front, the one reading ‘Guard’. “I trust she’s being careful. I did say these cards don’t work once a person is concentrating directly on you, right?”

“I’m surprised they work at ALL,” Chartreuse admitted. She pulled her’s back out, which said ‘Ignore’, and pinned it in place. “It’s, you know, atypical on our world. But we’re aware. We even dealt with Joey, once he, like, saw through it at Pelinelneth’s place.”

Simon nodded. Time then to talk about what they hadn’t discussed over the comms. “So. Do you know what the artifact is?”

“A book,” Chartreuse said. “I can’t be more specific. I don’t know how Wanda can always have it on her person. Or how it’s granting the wishes of others if she’s always got it.” The pink haired teenager wrung her hands a little. “I’m sorry.”

Simon scratched his chin. “No, that’s okay. I can answer one of those. After getting a sense of Wanda’s daily routine, I crept back into her Sanctuary yesterday evening and found her crystal ball. There was a page of notes next to it - people’s wishes. She must be scrying and jotting them down, or recording them magically for later use or something.”

“Yeah? I’m surprised people are still, like, wishing at all, given the consequences.”

“I don’t know how old the list was. A wish is also the sort of thing one can blurt out accidentally. Though I wonder, perhaps Wanda’s removing weapons from the city so that there aren’t fatal consequences from some wishes? She doesn’t seem completely without a conscience.”

“Wanda’s not totally stable either,” Chartreuse countered. She then filled in a few gaps based on her journal reading.

Simon ultimately cut her off. “Sorry, but we’re short on time, and there’s one more thing I need you to do before the confrontation.” He glanced towards the wall of the cell, thinking about who was on the other side. “I need you to divine Ikky’s intentions.”

Chartreuse pursed her lips. “I’d, you know, wondered if you went to her again.”

“I did more than that. I showed her how to access her magic again.”

Chartreuse’s eyes went wide. “That seems REAL stupid. Uh, no offence. But when Ikky was Iklius he had, like, a total vendetta against Wanda! And we told Pel–”

“I know!” Simon extended his arms, palms up. He lowered his voice. “I know. But I have no magic. The magic that you and your sister have is primarily passive. I thought we’d need more, and I gambled that Wanda put Ikky down here for more than mere revenge.”

Chartreuse didn’t look happy. “And?”

“And Ikky’s magic is… useful.” Simon drew his hands back, putting them into his pockets. “She thought she’d lost it by becoming female. She didn’t realize that females needed a focus object to control their first spells.”

“Ikky’s not the smartest then?”

“It wasn’t relevant to her. Him. Her, when she was a him. Look, speaking as a man, we are occasionally oblivious. Except he had even more cause not to care.”

“Why?”

“Iklius had - has - cancellation magic. The ability to negate other spells. Meaning he couldn’t be magically harmed. And when one is verging on invulnerable, who cares what others are doing?”

“Wow.” Chartreuse turned to look at the wall of the cell now too. “So that’s why he was the least hurt at the incident that, you know, killed other people.”

“Probably. I suspect he was only hurt at all because he was caught off guard. It’s also why he could be a thorn in Wanda’s side afterwards, though I’m not sure to what extent she knows of his abilities. Moreover, it explains the sense of entitlement Iklius displayed, back in our replay of Wanda’s history.” Simon hesitated. “The ego that resulted might even be the reason for his rather disgusting treatment of… Simone.” He almost said ‘of me’, but in the end, felt like he had to displace the experience.

“That doesn’t excuse it.”

“No. No, it doesn’t. But his magic upbringing could explain it.” Simon rubbed his forehead. “At any rate, I didn’t tell Ikky that a woman’s focus object could be anything. I gave her my flashlight to attune herself to. It’s not like the technology exists on this world, so if it turns out she’s been lying to me, we take it away.”

“Like, lying to you about what?”

“About reforming.” Simon couldn’t help it, he began to pace back and forth. “Ikky says she’s gained a new appreciation for the struggle of others, particularly women, after this gender switching experience.”

“You bought that line?”

Simon stopped in place. “I don’t know. But she’s been locked in the dungeon for months! Even had to deal with Qifarihm talking down to her. When I found her, she seemed completely demoralized, and she’s seemed sincere about turning over a new leaf.” He resumed his pacing. “Hence why I want you to read her aura, or whatever it is you do. Please. If she DOES have her own agenda, we’ll leave her. It’s just - cancellation magic would be nice to have against Wanda.”

Chartreuse tugged at the large bow in her hair. “Fine. But Azure has most of my, you know, crystals, and a guard took the last two away.”

Simon nodded, and instead of pacing back this time, continued to walk all the way to the door. “Then I’ll get them.”

The castle courtyard had been decided on as the battle ground. For one thing, it was a fairly public space, so there were liable to be witnesses, meaning Wanda wouldn’t be able to spin the outcome later. For another, the open space meant there would probably be less collateral damage to the castle walls themselves, while the few statues and shrubs could still allow for cover.

Of course, Wanda didn’t know it would be the battle ground. But she would know soon enough. Azure laid down the last of the crystals, then went to one of the nearby trees. She jumped up, grabbed a branch, and hauled herself up into a sitting position. Sure, no one had spotted her yet, but that was no reason to stand out in the open.

Her eyes went to the wall, and the location of the secret door. She hoped that Simon or Chartreuse would emerge. She’d have to start soon, as the sun had nearly set, and backup would be really REALLY nice. Particularly in light of how Chartreuse had a better grasp of what needed to be done.

Not for the first time, Azure wondered about Alice. Sure, sending in people with primarily defensive or investigative capabilities made sense for a low key search and recover mission - but now that they were going up against a Royal Wizard, wasn’t it time to bring in the offensive team? Surely her sister’s firsthand experience wasn’t enough to keep her in command?

Yet here they were. Azure kicked her legs back and forth. She really hoped she’d be alive later, so that she could shout at someone about how screwed up this was.

Minutes past. Dusk fell. If it got much darker, fighting could be problematic. She should set off the signal. It was as Azure jumped back down out of the tree that she saw the secret door open, and two figures emerge. Her feeling of relief was momentarily arrested, as she realized there were actually three figures. Hopefully that was part of the plan?

Anyway, it was time. At some point over the last couple days, Chartreuse (coordinating with Simon via Alice) had soaked some pages in ammonium nitrate, or this world’s equivalent, and wrapped them up. (Yeah, so much for only paying attention to her sister’s sickness!) This meant that setting them alight would, in theory, produce a lot of smoke. Time to test that theory.

Azure made sure that the papers weren’t on the grass as she took a match to them. The result was hardly the smoke screen that she’d envisioned, but from the large plumes of smoke produced, it was obvious that something was going on. The few servants in the area were turning to look.

The younger Vermilion removed the ‘Ignore’ card from her pocket, and ripped it in two. Whatever “card magic” might have been protecting her from Wanda’s sights, that had, well, torn it. “Wanda!” Azure called out. “We need to talk!”

The servants ran off. Then the beam of a flashlight was trained onto her. Azure raised her hand to her forehead, squinting to see why Simon was blinding her, only able to discern that it was apparently the third (female?) figure from earlier who was doing it. “I don’t need the spotlight!” she protested.

“You totally do!” her sister called back from somewhere.

Fine, whatever. Azure crossed her arms, peering through the smoke, hoping they’d get through this before the sky had gone completely dark. Wanda seemed to be taking longer to get here than they’d planned for.

Azure never heard the approach. A voice behind her simply said, “I could have thrown a fireball at you just now.”

She spun. A woman dressed all in pink stood about five metres away. Her arms were crossed, and she did not look happy. Worse, next to her was that silver haired elf, who had an arrow pulled back, ready to fly from her bow. Were they working together again?

Her heart hammering in her chest, Azure heard herself say, “You also could have told your elf friend to fire her arrow, I guess I should be happy you’re on a non-violence kick?” One of these days, she’d find a better defensive mechanism than snide remarks.

Wanda smirked. “Don’t get the wrong idea. I could still banish you. ALL of you,” she added, glancing to the side, where the flashlight beam was coming from. “But doing so means you might not be the last visitors. I’m also curious as to what cancelled out my attempts to teleport you out of here.”

Azure’s stomach started twisting in knots. This woman had tried to abduct her? Had Chartreuse managed to foresee that?? Is THAT why they were shining a flashlight at her? No, how did that even make sense?? Azure forced herself to calm down. Whatever it was, it hadn’t worked. “Come over here and ask that,” she challenged.

Which wasn’t merely bravado. She really did want Wanda to come closer, on account of the way she’d aligned Chartreuse’s crystals earlier. The “Royal Wizard” was currently slightly out of range. Unfortunately, Wanda seemed perfectly content to stay there; Azure hoped it was coincidental.

“Never mind,” Wanda said dismissively. “Of more interest to me is the fact that you first showed up when your friends were in trouble. It’s occurred to me since then that I have an entire kingdom on my side. What do you have that could possibly compete?”

She was fishing. A fishing called Wanda. Azure fought the urge to giggle hysterically, and instead shifted gears. “Look, you showed my friends your past for a reason. Right? It was so that they could understand you. Help you. Yeah?” She took a step forwards, in the hope that Wanda would do the same. Again, no such luck.

“Actually,” Wanda admitted, “in light of what I had to go through, I expected your friends to die. And death in that vision would have killed them here too.”

The more Wanda spoke in controlled, measured tones, the more Azure wanted to scream, or run away. Having the bow and arrow pointed at her didn’t help matters. “Ouch. Well, how about we shake hands and call it even?” she asked, extending her arm invitingly.

Wanda chuckled. “No.” Her smile became twisted. “At this point, I’m satisfied. Whoever you are, you are no match for me.”

Her wrists flicked, and in the time it took to blink, two fireballs had formed above the cards that she held. One was fired off towards the source of the flashlight beam. The other was thrown directly at Azure’s face.

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WISH FULFILMENT, PART THIRTEEN: Out of Frying Pan

Chartreuse exchanged a glance with her younger sister. Then she looked back across the room to Joey Frankson, the teenager who had, moments ago, burst into Pelinelneth’s home. And pointed a crossbow at the two of them.

Chartreuse supposed Joey had cause to do it. After all, Pelinelneth had told them that a “Joey” was part of her town’s underground, a group of individuals with no memory of the time before the wishes had become common knowledge. This had to be the same person, now wondering about the new people in Pelinelneth’s home. But Chartreuse knew she and Simon were juggling enough balls in the air - better to get rid of Joey. But how?

“I’m, you know, Pelinelneth!” Chartreuse called out to him. “Like, put that away!”

The dark haired boy blinked. “You’re no elf!”

“Right, I, you know, got tired of the Santa connection, and accidentally wished I could be more like the pretty new girl who came into town, and so now I look like her.”

He frowned, and his crossbow dipped a little. “Seriously? Then what’s my last name?”

Chartreuse wondered if that was a trick question. “Frankson.”

“And who brought the snacks to our last gathering?”

That question was harder. “Louie the Leprechaun,” Azure stated. Chartreuse turned to look at her sister again, and saw that Azure had grabbed the deck of cards sitting on the floor, and performed what could only be termed as a hasty reading. She seemed to have cut the deck, turned up the jack of clubs, and divined the name from that. Though her shrug implied she wasn’t sure.

Chartreuse looked back at Joey. His crossbow was now pointed at the floor. “Fine,” he said, seemingly convinced. “So is she one of us too?” He motioned at Azure. “And are you bringing her to tonight’s meeting?”

“Like, sure,” Chartreuse said, amiably. “See you there, okay?”

“Okay,” Joey concluded. He turned and walked back up the stairs. Maybe the underground wouldn’t have been too hard to infiltrate.

“Nice work,” Azure said. Then she made a face. “Except now the song ‘Louie Louie’ is stuck in my head! What do these lyrics even MEAN?”

“I don’t know, but we do gotta go,” Chartreuse said. “After I, you know, tell Alice to tell Simon that you’re doing better.”

Simon had been able to consider their next move for a couple of days now. Doing so while hiding out in the dungeon hadn’t even been as bad as he’d thought. True, it wasn’t great for comfort, particularly at night - but there was a small washroom down the hall, presumably for guards, which he’d been able to sneak into. Actually, he’d been surprised to find that, despite the fantasy setting, certain scientific style advances did exist.

For instance, along with the makings of indoor plumbing, the couple times Simon had gone through the kitchen, they’d seemed to have devices capable of mixing that ran on - magical batteries? He hadn’t really been in a position to ask. And as Chartreuse had pointed out at some point, Wanda’s journal had been pencil to paper, not ink to parchment. There had to be a magical reason for these sorts of advancements, right?

Simon had asked Alice, but she seemed to know even less about this world than they did. “You’re there to identify - and ideally recover - an evil artifact,” she had stated yesterday. “Don’t make that more complicated than it needs to be.”

Alice didn’t seem to realize that it was already complicated. If they recovered (or destroyed) the artifact, would all the wishes simply revert? What about things like Qifarihm becoming a statue? That hadn’t been a wish, that had been a spell. So if Wanda’s wish to be the Royal Wizard was undone, who would take her place, if not him? Conversely, if some wishes were not undone, might Wanda remain in a position of power - suffering from withdrawal? What orders might she give in that state?

No, it was no longer a matter of taking the artifact and leaving. Simon was pretty sure a new spell or - dare he consider it - a wish would be necessary to put the town back on track. He said as much to Alice, when she called to tell him that Azure had made a full recovery.

At first, there was only silence on the line. “Look,” Alice finally said. “You may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.”

Simon frowned. “What?”

“Oh, right. Seriously, read the book!” Alice accused. “What I mean is, you’re one guy, in one town, on one continent, on one world, in one universe, out of an entire multiverse. Nothing you do there will cause Federations to collapse or galaxies to explode. To be blunt, you’re not that important.”

“I don’t believe that,” Simon fired back. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have sent us down here in the first place!”

Another pause. “Touche. But up here,” Alice said. “THIS is where we’re making a difference. Patching up the cracks, so that one little town can flourish, and not end up getting bombed into oblivion by a neighbour state, scared by the whole wish thing.”

Simon allowed himself a moment to digest that scenario. “Is that seriously what would happen without us?”

“I don’t know. God doesn’t give me all those details.”

Simon did a double take, wondering if he’d misheard. “God?”

Alice’s tone became wistful for a moment. “Well, that’s how I think of her.” She cleared her throat. “My point being, short of staying there on a permanent basis and starting a movement, you can’t put the town on track. We have to trust that it will happen naturally, once we remove the offending element.”

Simon shook his head. “That’s a lot to accept on faith.”

“It is. Would it help if I told you that everything worked out well the last time, after we recovered Lissa Jous?”

“Not really, because I don’t know what that means.”

“Nor do you know what it means when I quote Hitchhikers at you. But on some level, it’s reassuring, right?”

“Uh. I guess?” Simon wondered when he’d lost control of the conversation.

“Awesome sauce. So, any message to send back to Chartreuse?”

Simon thought about that. All of their communications had to be routed through Alice - if there was a way to use his communicator to contact Chartreuse directly, he didn’t know of it. Which meant that their separate discoveries were being transmitted through Alice’s pop culture filter. More to the point, it meant that Alice knew everything they shared. Which is why he hadn’t shared everything. He suspected the same of Chartreuse.

It wasn’t that he felt Alice to be untrustworthy. It was that, even after this latest discussion, he still wasn’t certain about her agenda.

“Tell Chartreuse to arrive before sundown. I’ll be watching,” Simon concluded. Then, once the communication channel had been closed, he left the hiding place of his cell, crossing the dungeon in order to speak with Ikky again.

Chartreuse glanced around the corner. She was in was the same alley that she and Pelinelneth had used for a hiding place, thirty paces away from the castle archway. Now she was here with her sister. And without a frying pan. Chartreuse chewed on her lower lip for a moment.

“Time to storm the castle?” Azure asked.

She couldn’t put it off any longer. “You need to, like, know a few other things first,” Chartreuse said. “In particular, the contents of Wanda’s journal.” She took in a deep breath. “Even the parts I, like, don’t want to tell you about.”

“Finally!” Azure smiled. “Or should I act surprised? It’s just you’ve had that look ever since I woke up.”

Chartreuse frowned. “What look?”

“The one you get after you’ve visioned into the future and seen something you wish you hadn’t seen.”

“Ah. Um, maybe, but this is, like, the past…" A thought struck her. “Do you ever, you know, see something in someone’s past that you wish you hadn’t?”

The side of Azure’s mouth twitched. “Seriously, sis? Only ALL THE DAMN TIME. Why the heck do you think I avoid using my ability? Only to seem ‘normal’?” As she spoke, she did the air quotes. “That said, when I do see something, and it looks bad, I just have to think - someone who’s been through that is still alive! Focus on the positive, you know?” She crossed her arms. “Now hurry up and tell me about this Wanda, or I’ll read your history and get it that way.”

Chartreuse blinked at Azure’s abrupt manner. But then, she’d always been the more direct one, out of the two of them. So, with a nod, Chartreuse told her.

About how Wanda had gone into magic despite her mother’s protests. How constant reading had led to Wanda adopting paper as her focus point. How she’d invented an imaginary elf friend for encouragement. How she’d decided to demonstrate her potential by mastering one of the Elemental Powers - fire. How she’d come to town, to try and become the Wizard’s Apprentice, as soon as she’d heard about the opening. Perhaps too soon in her self-training.

Since that was how she’d killed two people when a bunch of boys had ganged up on her after the trials.

It hadn’t been intentional. She’d lost control. Qifarihm had then taken her in - which Wanda thought was more to keep an eye on her than for her actually winning the competition - which kept her from ending up in prison. And he’d then given her meaningless jobs to perform, to prevent further magical outbursts, while simultaneously trying to convince her that she wasn’t up to the task of doing more.

And after five years of that, Wanda had wondered if jail might have been preferable.

“Or that’s, you know, the vibe I got,” Chartreuse noted. “Her entries became less frequent, and she seemed to be trying to, like, generalize. To figure out how to make people believe in the ability of ALL females to do powerful magic.”

“She didn’t want anyone else to have to go through a history like hers.”

“Essentially.” And then one day, out in the woods, she’d found the artifact. A book. A book that made wishes come true.

“What, you write something in this book and it becomes reality?” Azure asked.

“Probably?” Chartreuse mused. “Except you can’t, like, erase the wish after it’s written. It wasn’t really clear. Maybe Wanda was, you know, losing her grip on reality too. She wrote hardly anything in the journal after that discovery. The last entry was about her becoming, like, Royal Wizard.”

“Huh.” Azure looked towards the castle. “So that’s who I’m up against.”

“Who WE’RE up against.”

“Your magic plan has me in a starring role.”

“I wish it didn’t.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence!”

“You know what I mean,” Chartreuse snapped. She winced at her tone. “Sorry. I’m just worried. Though, I got the vibe that Simon has, like, another possibility, but he didn’t want to say it through Alice. So the first thing we have to do is reunite with him.”

“Meaning NOW we storm the castle?”

“Yeah. Kinda. Put on your cowl and, you know, follow me.” They hadn’t wanted to waste Alice’s power reserves sending in new clothing for Azure; the robe Chartreuse had found in Pelinelneth’s closet helped to hide not only Azure’s outfit, but also her outward appearance.

Chartreuse stepped out of the alleyway. She walked purposefully up to the guards on duty, not attempting to disguise her approach, and only glancing back once to make sure Azure was still following. One of the guards levelled a sword at her as she approached, the other one stepping back, presumably so that he might call for backup.

“Hi!” Chartreuse said brightly. “I’m a mystical girl from a foreign land, come to fix your wishing problem. Can I please speak with your, you know, King?”

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WISH FULFILMENT, PART TWELVE: Reversal

“Splitting the party has to be one of the stupidest ideas you’ve ever had.”

“Glad you’re, you know, feeling better.”

Chartreuse sounded tired. Azure frowned. She didn’t sit up again though - that had hurt. Instead, the blue haired girl decided to stop ragging on her sister and actually take stock of what had been happening around them lately. This was surprisingly harder to do than she’d initially anticipated, so she decided to return to her first really solid memories.

She had survived her first year of high school. Yay. It was now - or had been - summer vacation. The Vermilion family hadn’t been called upon to do any summer missions, and to her delight, her parents hadn’t insisted on doing any family bonding exercises in July either. Well, they hadn’t yet.

Then, that afternoon, Chartreuse had phoned for advice about seeing the past. Then, someone named Alice had phoned, saying that Chartreuse was in trouble. Although she’d wondered if it was a prank call, Azure had answered truthfully - she would help her sister, if she was seriously the only one who could.

She’d then found herself in a cylindrical room, feeling dizzy.

“You’ll need to break her out of a spell,” came a woman’s voice. Azure recognized the sound as being ‘Alice’ from the phone, and tracked the noise to a pair of legs sticking out from an open computer panel against the side wall. Alice was wearing jeans and running shoes.

“Who?” Azure wondered, dazedly. She took a step, but nearly fell over, so decided to just stand there and regain her equilibrium.

“Chartreuse. And Simon,” the legs explained. “I’m modifying this up to ‘port you in next to them. I think. Yeah, this should work. But! It means I won’t have the power to do much afterwards. So don’t expect any more backup for a while.”

“Backup?”

“Can’t back up, only moving forwards,” Alice countered, finally shoving herself out from underneath the bank of computers. She was a brunette. She stood and hit enter on a keyboard. There was a rumble, the room began to vibrate somehow, and moments later a chevron lit up on the floor. There was a huge ring device there, which Azure hadn’t noticed.

“Wait, what spell?”

“Beats me,” Alice said. “Tenuous mental connection. But breaking it should be obvious. Just be FAST, I don’t know how much time you’ll have.” She walked over and held out some sort of watch device.

A second chevron lit up, then a third. Azure narrowed her eyes. “Did our mom put you up to this?”

Alice’s smile was quirky. “No, Luke. I am not your mother.”

Things got much more jumbled after that. Azure remembered going through the portal, seeing a surprised elf girl, saving her sister and some older guy, seeing a magical pony, learning about a dangerous witch, activating her magic, and nearly throwing up in a corridor. Her stomach gurgled a bit at that last memory.

Except she wasn’t in a corridor now, she was in a bed.

A bed in what had looked like a kitchen. Though Azure granted that she might have misinterpreted the scene when she’d decided to sit up. In fact the only thing about the room that she’d been sure of, is that Chartreuse had been the only other person there. Yet when she’d asked about the other guy, Simon, her sister had said they’d left him behind in the castle.

Seriously, when you’re up against a hostile witch, why would you split the party?

Having decided that this was as much as she’d get from her memories, Azure spoke up again. “How long have I NOT been feeling better?”

“Three days.”

Azure sat bolt upright at that, ignoring the pangs in her temples. “Three DAYS?”

“It’s my fault,” Chartreuse said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

Azure squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again. Okay, they weren’t quite in a kitchen, it was more like an all purpose room of some sort. In, seemingly, a basement. “Don’t be sorry, be… explainy,” Azure requested.

Chartreuse let out a breath, standing up from her chair. “When I first came to this world, it, like, took me a full day to align my aura to… you know, wherever this is. I didn’t try major crystal divinations in that time.” She began to pace, not meeting her sister’s gaze. “Yet within moments of arriving, you had to, like, disrupt powerful magic, then create an image to allow us to hide from Wanda. Your body couldn’t take it.” She sniffled. “I should have realized. I’m–”

“If you say sorry, I WILL slap you,” Azure cut in. She hated when Chartreuse got upset. Not only was it out of character for the older girl, it meant that Azure couldn’t simply snipe at her without feeling guilty. “You’re not psychic, only semi-clairvoyant.”

“Which wasn’t good enough. It’s, you know, why you had to be brought here.”

Azure grabbed her pillow and heaved it at her sister. She smiled as it scored a direct hit on the back of Chartreuse’s head, forcing the other girl to look at her. “Stop it! Explainy. Here is where?”

“I don’t really know. Like, an alternate Earth?”

Azure rolled her eyes. She’d presumed as much. “Here this ROOM is where?”

“Oh. Pelinelneth’s place in town. Didn’t seem like she’d be, you know, using it.”

“P-line-L-nith?”

“Elf girl. Wanda’s imaginary friend, made real by a wish. Shot at Simon with an arrow.”

“Right.” Azure thought back over the last few remarks. It helped that her headache was disappearing. “You said you were on this Earth for a full day to align your aura? But I saw you this morning. That is, the same morning you and Alice phoned me.”

Chartreuse picked up the pillow from the floor and came back to sit in the chair. “Possibly time passes here at a different, you know, rate? All I know is Alice initially told me that I could be back home in time for, like, supper.”

Azure mused again. She decided to be blunt. “If Alice knew you’d need time to adjust, she’d have known it for me. In fact, she told me I’d have to be fast, and in retrospect, I don’t think she said it because of Peleline– Pelnino– the elf’s immobilization field.” She crossed her arms. “I don’t trust this Alice. How long have you known her?”

“Not long. Only since I was, you know, first brought here.”

“THAT’S reassuring.”

“She needed help! Our family provides help! Besides, Alice’s, you know, aura seemed a lot better than some of the guys from the Canadian government we’ve dealt with in the past.” She sighed. “Anyway, moot point. We’re here now, and we need Alice’s help to communicate back with Simon.”

“Oh yeah. Remind me why leaving him behind was a good idea?”

“You needed to be cared for. I didn’t, like, think that would be possible in the castle. But we, you know, needed to keep someone on the inside, since we’ll have to get back in. To get the evil artifact away from Wanda.”

“Evil artifact. Check. Did we get an artifact too? Is this like high stakes ‘Capture the Flag’?”

To Azure’s relief, Chartreuse half smiled. “No.”

“Too bad.” The younger Vermilion swung her legs over the edge of the bed. “So what’s happened the last three days?”

“I’ve, like, read through Wanda’s journal.”

“And?”

“Been very, um, unsettled.”

“You’ve done nothing else??”

“I’ve cared for you. I’ve cooked badly.”

Azure made a dismissive gesture. “No news there. What about from this Simon, what have you heard?”

Chartreuse hesitated. “That’s where things get a bit more, you know, interesting.”

In fleeing from the Wizard’s Sanctuary, Simon recalled that, in the dungeon, three cell doors had been closed - and he’d only investigated the cell with Chartreuse. Whatever the other two cells were being used for, they’d probably make for a good hiding place. After all, he still had the keys to get into them, and it was probably the last place Wanda would look.

Once he’d found his way to the dungeon through conventional corridors, he’d discovered that the first locked room was a storage area of some sort. There were some sacks of flour and other foods - as well as a few bladed weapons. He wondered whether it was smart keeping a small armoury so close to actual prisoners. Then he remembered that Wanda had been removing weapons from the town, so maybe some guards were concealing the items down here. It made him feel better about his choice of hiding places.

The second room contained a person.

It caught Simon by surprise, as with all the noise they’d made in their earlier jailbreak, he’d have thought any other prisoners would have spoken up. But when he swung open the door, there she was, curled up in the corner. Her head rested against the wall, knees drawn in to her chest. Her long, dirty blonde hair was tangled about her shoulders, and she was wearing a faded dress. She seemed to be about his age, maybe older.

She looked up at him with blue eyes. For some reason, she seemed vaguely familiar. “You’re not the usual guard,” she murmured.

“I’m… not a guard,” was all Simon could think to say.

“You look like a guard.”

Simon looked down at his outfit, which definitely did not look like an official uniform - allowing him to spot the card that Azure had pinned onto his chest. The one that had the word ‘Guard’ scribbled onto it.

“Wait, no you don’t. Who are you?” She slightly uncurled. Simon made a mental note to not allow anyone to get more than a brief look at him.

“I’m the nephew of a guard,” Simon hedged, trying to figure out why she seemed familiar. “Who are you?”

She blinked back at him. “Iklius,” she answered. She curled back up. “Or call me Ikky, like the others. I don’t care any more.”

Simon felt like a hand was simultaneously squeezing at his heart while punching him in the gut. For a moment, he couldn’t move. Because her features were JUST similar enough for it to be true. For this to be the same boy who had tried to tear at his clothing, and later punch him in the face. When he’d been in Wanda’s spell. When he’d been a girl. Now Iklius was the girl - woman - while he was the man. Simon frowned. Gender was confusing.

“I… I’ve heard of you,” Simon managed. “Wanda turned you into a woman?”

“I turned MYSELF into one,” Ikky said bitterly. “A few months ago, when I wished I could understand Wanda better. It was supposed to show me how I could come after her, to avenge my friends! Not turn me into this!”

“Oh,” Simon said. His lips pursed. He couldn’t resist asking, “Do you at least understand Wanda better?”

“I’m just glad I can’t be put in the same cell as that Qifarihm any more! And if you’re here asking about his escape, I don’t know anything!”

“I’m not here about his escape. He’s a statue now anyway.”

“Oh. Well good,” Ikky said. There was a pause. “So why ARE you here? You do sound kind of familiar.”

“Just checking on you,” Simon said. And he’d closed the cell door again.

“He left her in JAIL?” Azure said, aghast. “Okay, I don’t think I trust your Simon either.”

“First, he’s not my Simon,” Chartreuse said in mild irritation. “Second, it’s not that simple. You don’t, like, know what this woman did when she was a man - I do. I’ve read the journal. And we promised Pelinelneth that we’d minimize Wanda’s suffering, so, like, releasing someone who’s got a vendetta against her didn’t seem wise.” She paused. “Particularly given how badly that went the first time.”

Well, Azure thought, the final remark saved her from bringing up whatever had happened with Qifarihm. So she decided to drop it. For now. “Has Simon passed on any other info through Alice?”

“He’s mapped out the castle a little better,” Chartreuse said. “And he has a sense of when Wanda’s got, you know, duties and stuff. We think our next step is–"

She didn’t get a chance to complete her thought, because there was the sound of a door being smashed open. Almost immediately there were footsteps, and a boy came into view, running down the stairs. He was a dark haired teenager, and as he saw Azure and her sister, he levelled a crossbow across the room at them. “All right!” he shouted. “You’re going to tell me what you’ve done to Pelinelneth, or my name’s not Joey Frankson!”

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WISH FULFILMENT, PART ELEVEN: Hard Truths

“Azure?!” Chartreuse gasped.

“No duh!” the blue haired girl fired back at her sister.

Simon registered what they were saying, but he was rather more preoccupied with patting himself down to verify that yes, he was again back in his more familiar male body. As opposed to the female one he’d inhabited for the duration of Wanda’s spell. Unfortunately, this meant he only registered the presence of the fourth person in the room after the immobilization field hit.

It then took a moment for Simon to realize it wasn’t complete immobilization. While it felt like he couldn’t move in the wash of deep pink (even more pink than the room had been previously), it was possible to counter the effect. But it was slow, and hurt. A lot. Still, he grit his teeth and turned his head to get a better sense of what they were up against.

He was kneeling less than an arm’s length away from Chartreuse, her sister Azure crouched in front of them. Azure was holding two index cards in her hands. All of them were closer to Qifarihm’s statue than Simon remembered - allowing him to realize that the wash of pink came from the magic circle that they were currently inside, the circumference glowing red. Peering out, he recognized the fourth individual. And he realized they had a chance.

“Pelinelneth,” he rasped. “Help us.”

“Help?! She’s doing this!” Azure countered, grimacing with the effort of speaking. “If you two weren’t so slow…"

“How are you here?” Chartreuse demanded.

“Double duh. Your friend Alice,” Azure stated.

“But this circle, it isn’t elf magic,” Simon protested.

“You’re right,” came a voice from somewhere behind him. It took a moment for Simon to place the speaker as Snowball, Qifarihm’s former cat - who had been turned into a small pink unicorn. “But Wanda left Pel with the ability to switch the field on, should anything happen,” the female voice continued. “Which it has. In the form of a young girl appearing out of a blue whirlpool. That was new.”

“Meaning Wanda was right,” Pelinelneth remarked. “Other world people are coming to take the artifact away from her.”

“So maybe they should.”

Simon saw Pelinelneth turn an accusing gaze towards the unicorn’s position. “So you ARE a traitor!”

“This from the elf who left us for town.”

“Azure! You’ve, like, gotta get out of here!” Chartreuse said, aghast.

“Gee, I would, but I’m kind of immobile after SAVING YOUR LIFE,” Azure shot back.

“WHOA!” Simon shouted out, realizing from the cacophony of voices that he was now the only male in the room. An odd reversal. “Let’s all talk for a moment. Maybe without this pain field?”

“I have nothing to say to you,” Pelinelneth shot back.

“Not even about being Wanda’s imaginary friend?” he countered. The elf flinched at the reference, but pursed her lips closed.

“Who is Wanda anyway?” Azure asked.

“Alice didn’t even, you know, EXPLAIN her?!” Chartreuse shrieked.

“Explanations actually sound like a good plan,” Snowball stated. Abruptly Simon felt the ability to move without pain once again - but the blood red circle still surrounded them, glowing menacingly. He cautiously rose to his feet, as Snowball continued with, “So I’m lessening the field. Meaning I get to dictate the rules.”

“Who IS saying th– O. M. G, UNICORN,” Azure gasped, as she also stood up and apparently got her first good look at Snowball.

Chartreuse reached for Azure’s arm, where Simon noticed a communicator watch. “No! It’s not safe! Call Alice back, you’re, like, leaving!”

“Since when has life been SAFE?” Azure retorted. “Also, Alice doesn’t have the power! Also, how dare you run off to Equestria without telling me! I’m the reason you know about the show in the first place!” Chartreuse face palmed.

Pelinelneth crossed her arms, her eyes practically shooting daggers at Snowball. “If they escape, it’s on your head.”

Escape didn’t seem that likely - when Simon edged further from the centre of the circle, he was met with both a force of active resistance, and a burning sensation on his skin. He edged back.

“Here’s the rules,” Snowball continued doggedly, ignoring the outbursts. “Any one of us can ask a question of any of the others. That person then gets to ask something of someone else, which continues in a chain. The chain will break as soon as someone lies, or refuses to answer, meaning they don’t get to ask anything. I’m gambling that we’re all reasonably honourable individuals - with questions. Satisfactory?”

It sounded quite sensible, actually. Simon nodded back towards the small animal. After a momentary hesitation, the Vermilion sisters also nodded. Pelinelneth merely flicked at the bangs of her hair, which Snowball seemed to take as an assent. The unicorn turned to look at Azure. “You, in the weird clothes,” she began, causing Simon to realize that the blue haired girl’s orange T-shirt and pants were rather out of place, “Are people from your world going to keep coming here, no matter what, until you retrieve the artifact?”

Azure glanced sidelong at her sister before raising her shoulders in a shrug. “Probably not?” she answered. “I mean, I wouldn’t have come, except for my sister Clueless being in trouble. Also, the person running the station out there is having power issues, and told me not to expect further backup for a while.”

“Oh, great!” Chartreuse sighed. “THAT knowledge will intimidate our enemies.”

“The unicorn said not to lie!” Azure shot back. “And if there was a cover story, someone shoulda told me!”

“Interesting. I appreciate the candour,” Snowball acknowledged. “Your question next.”

Azure frowned, Simon noticing how her eyes flickered around to everyone else in the room. In the end, they alighted on Chartreuse, and when Azure spoke, her tone was less brash, and more muted. “Why do you say it’s not safe for me here?”

“Because there’s a Royal Wizard out there named Wanda, who, you know, has an evil artifact that can rewrite reality by granting wishes,” Chartreuse explained, now also sounding more subdued. “She’s fighting for women’s rights, which is good, but in her past she killed and injured people, which is not so good. Plus, even without wishing, she, you know, put me and Simon under a spell. After turning the former Royal Wizard into, like, that.” She jerked her thumb over towards the Qifarihm statue.

Azure’s eyes widened. “Holy…" She didn’t complete the statement. She did start to look uncomfortable as she stared at the statue.

Chartreuse looked away from her sister, and back to Simon. He inclined his head slightly towards Pelinelneth, hoping that she would speak to the elf - he doubted that he would have much luck asking the woman a question himself. Chartreuse took the hint.

“Pelinelneth,” she began. “I must say, you’re looking as pretty as I remember. Which makes some sense, if you were originally wished up or transformed by Wanda in some way. And that stands to reason, since then the wish, you know, could turn against her in the form of your desire to go off on your own. To, like, explore the world, learn about romance, and technology, and all that. Leaving her alone.” Chartreuse nodded slowly, as if piecing it all together in her mind. “Then, to twist the knife, as a condition of going, the artifact took away your own past. Which served to bring you back. But not quite as the same person who left. Still, you’re now trapped here once again with Wanda, the only person you inherently trust, even though you’re afraid that–"

“Is there a question in all this?” Pelinelneth snapped.

Chartreuse nodded. “Same question I asked you last night. In the end, do you want Wanda’s artifact to undo everything, or to lock your existence in place?”

Pelinelneth visibly flinched, and turned away from the group, staring towards the bookshelves. Simon slumped at that, figuring they’d lost their chance to learn anything. Until he saw Chartreuse raise her index finger, shaking her head slightly and giving him an expectant look. Simon turned back towards the elf.

When she spoke, her voice was shaky. “I don’t know any more,” the silver haired woman admitted. “My sense of self preservation is now at war with my… my love for Wanda. Seeing her again… this has all been so hard on the poor woman! I want her to finally be at peace, whatever the cost…" She spun back towards them, tears glistening in the corners of her eyes. Her gaze went right to Simon. “Can you guarantee Wanda’s safety, after removing the artifact from her possession??”

Simon felt a lump grow in his throat. He wanted to give her the answer she desired. But he had his own question to consider, and Snowball had called for the truth. “No,” he responded. “In fact, the wishing might be like an addiction, and as such we have no idea how removing the artifact will affect… your friend. But,” he put in, “we WILL do our best to minimize any suffering. I’ll guarantee that much.”

Pelinelneth held his gaze for another moment before turning away again. “Damn,” she whispered. “You should have lied.”

“Okay then. I’m guessing you’re asking me next,” Snowball concluded, flicking her tail back and forth.

Simon nodded. And frowned. It was tempting to ask why the unicorn had thought that people from another world would eventually be coming here. It held the implication that the ‘artifact’, whatever it was, wasn’t native to this place. There was also the fact that Snowball had claimed to be isolated from any changes by wishes, and thus might have some insight into how things could be reset. But none of that knowledge would necessarily help them now.

He cleared his throat. “How can we get out of here, and to someplace that Wanda can’t immediately find us?”

The pony nickered, and Simon had the impression that Snowball was laughing. “I could refuse to answer that,” she said after a moment. “Thus ending the chain. But I won’t. In part because the only way for you to get out, short of us allowing it, is for you to invoke card magic. The thing that trapped you in there originally. It’s also the only way you could remain undetected, since Wanda would be looking for foreign magic, not something of her own type.”

“Oh,” Simon said. Recalling Chartreuse’s efforts in the dungeon, he turned to look at her. Her gaze went to Azure. Azure’s gaze went down to the card stock she was holding in her hands. The same two cards that Wanda had placed on his and Chartreuse’s foreheads, to trap them in the history spell.

“Dispellere!” Azure shouted, whipping one card, edge first, towards the edge of the circle. It embedded itself into empty space, the magical symbols around the circumference briefly flared red - and then the magic light shut off, and the card floated down to the ground. Simon quickly stepped towards where the circle’s glow had been. This time, he felt no resistance or burning sensation… and then he was out.

The unicorn let out a noise that Simon couldn’t identify. “I revise my earlier opinion,” Snowball said. “Maybe you do have a chance of winning.”

“I totes did not think that would work,” Azure gasped, so dumbfounded that Chartreuse had to practically drag her sister out of the danger zone, lest the field re-establish itself.

“Stop!” Pelinelneth shouted. She ran for the weapons chest, pulling out the bow and arrow on top before Simon could move to stop her. With practiced ease, she nocked an arrow, and Simon froze, his arm outstretched towards her.

“Pelinelneth,” Chartreuse murmured. “We might be Wanda’s best chance.”

The bow and arrow shook slightly, making Simon uncomfortable. “Wanda put me in charge of monitoring you,” the elf said, her voice catching. “While she’s off explaining about Qifarihm’s escape. I cannot simply let you walk out.”

The bow string was released, and the arrow flew through the air. Simon felt his breath catch as the weapon whistled past his side, and as he turned his head, he saw the arrow had embedded itself deeply into the pink-purple couch behind him. “I have to at least put up token resistance,” she finished.

“Yeah, well, giving me a heart attack would serve to keep me here,” Simon wheezed.

Another arrow was nocked. “I rarely miss twice.”

“We’re out,” Chartreuse assured, heading for the door. Azure shook free from her sister’s grip to travel under her own power.

Simon grabbed their gear and hurried to catch up. “One last question,” Snowball called out. “What exactly is your motivation for doing this?”

Simon looked back over his shoulder. It occurred to him that there were two answers for that question, so he gave both. “On the small scale, because we’re good people,” he stated. “On a larger scale, you’d have to ask our boss, Alice.”

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Next ->

WISH FULFILMENT, PART SIX: Passed Tents

Simon reached out to touch Pelinelneth on the shoulder as they reached a dead end. She flinched, shrugging him off. “Don’t panic," she said. “There’s a hidden door here.”

“I figured,” Simon answered. “I thought maybe we should have a plan before striding into the dungeon.”

The elf girl briefly pinched the bridge of her nose. “Nothing to plan. On the other side is the end of the corridor housing the cells. There shouldn’t be any guards there. We creep in, get Chartreuse, and creep back out.”

Simon frowned. “How do you know that’s the setup?”

“I DON’T KN–” Pelinelneth caught herself. “I don’t know. Ever since I got inside the castle, I just know things, okay?” She looked back at the blank wall. “Though I guess it’s possible the dungeon’s more heavily guarded right now. Or that some guard is holding the keys.”

Simon wondered if there was a delicate way to ask whether Pelinelneth was starting to remember things that she, herself, had wished forgotten. Because perhaps she had been at the heart of this wish situation since the beginning? But he was pretty sure ANY way of saying that might get him trapped in this corridor. So instead, he said, “Do you know any illusion magic?”

“Nothing convincing, or I’d have been able to get into this castle without your help!”

“It doesn’t need to be convincing, only distracting,” Simon pointed out. “Giving me time to steal the keys or blind a guard with my flashlight.”

“There’s that,” Pelinelneth yielded. “Okay. Give me a moment to rally my mental forces, then we’ll head in.”

As it turned out, she didn’t need to do anything - there wasn’t a visible guard. But there wasn’t a visible keyring hanging on a peg either. “There may be a guard with keys at the main entrance,” Simon reasoned quietly. He looked around. Three cell doors were closed, but there were little windows allowing him to peer into the darkness.

He determined which cell held Chartreuse almost immediately, and not merely because it was the only one where he heard noises. He knew of no one else who spoke that way. “Chartreuse!” he hissed just outside her cell. The voice stopped - he hadn’t been quite sure what she was saying, only hearing the word “like” clearly - and he heard footsteps approach from inside.

“Simon?” the girl responded.

“Yeah, we’re both here.” Simon grinned at Pelinelneth, who simply shrugged and motioned back towards the passage. He double checked that the door was locked. “Ah, any idea where they put the key?”

“Not in here!” the pink haired girl retorted. Simon rolled his yes. “Though what IS in here is, like, a Royal Wizard. So if you, you know, can get us a metal cutter, we can magic our way out.”

“What did she say?” Pelinelneth asked, taking a step back. Simon saw that her entire posture had changed. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she was afraid.

Chartreuse had apparently heard the question. “Well, this guy thinks he’s the Wizard’s apprentice,” she added. “But I, like, caught a flash of his past - unless it was, you know, his future - and he’s actually the top guy.”

“Wait - HE?” Pelinelneth said, as if to clarify the gender. She now didn’t look afraid. She looked annoyed.

“Qifarihm,” Chartreuse clarified.

“Bless you,” Simon said.

“I’m leaving,” Pelinelneth concluded.

“What?” Simon said, turning as Pelinelneth strode away, back towards the secret door. It occurred to Simon that he didn’t yet know how to open it from this direction. “But we agreed that we have to get Char–"

The silver haired elf stopped and pointed back at the cell door. “Qifarihm has to stay locked up. If getting her means getting him out too, no! Now, are you coming with me or not?”

“Go with her!” Chartreuse gasped.

“I can’t keep leaving you!” Simon objected.

Things fell silent after that, leaving Chartreuse to anxiously dance back and forth from one foot to the other. Had Simon left? On the one hand, she was still worried about the elf girl being without some sort of moral conscience. On the other, she really didn’t want to be locked up here for several more months. “Did… did you, like, leave?” she finally called out, feeling torn.

Still silence. Then, “No,” came Simon’s voice. “But I haven’t found anything I can use to force the door. Sounds like there’s only one guard out front though, he’s grumbling about the others being called away to help search. He should have the keys. I think I can blind him with my flashlight, then knock him out. Hold on.”

“Use my, you know, frying pan!” Chartreuse suggested brightly. “That is, if my stuff is still out there!”

“Uh huh.”

There was another extended silence. Finally, the sound of a keyring, and a key being tried in the lock. Chartreuse breathed a sigh of relief, and looked over at Qifarihm, who had resumed his earlier position in the corner, drawing little shapes in the air. “We’re getting out!” she said, smiling at him.

“That’s probably the guard throwing your friend in,” Qifarihm said.

“Have faith!” she countered. More jangling of keys, as a second, and then a third was tried. At which point the door swung open, and Chartreuse saw her companion, standing in the doorway with a partial smile on his own face. Without a second thought, she rushed out and gave him a hug, almost knocking him over as for some reason he hadn’t been expecting it.

“Thanks!” she added. She then looked around the dungeon area, which was pretty much as it had been when they’d tossed her in - except now with an unconscious guard in the entryway. With a familiar kitchen implement sitting on his chest. “Frying pan?” she said, her smile getting wider.

Simon didn’t meet her gaze, shifting it off to the side. “My punches may need work,” was his only remark.

Chartreuse decided not to push the point - she had bigger fish to fry. Not in the frying pan, granted, but since it was there… sure enough, hurrying over to the guard, she found a pouch containing the rest of her crystals, and the WristWatch device for contacting Alice. She immediately switched the device on.

“What are you doing?” Simon asked, following after her. “Shouldn’t we track down Pelinelneth now?”

“Heck yeah,” she agreed. “But first I need a, like, deeper scan of Qifarihm. As I said before, I saw stuff when I read him. But my specialty is, you know, the future, so I need the Epsilon Project to, like, hook me up with an expert on the past.”

Simon blinked. “Who?”

Chartreuse let out a breath. “My sister.”

Azure absently reached out to pick up the phone when it rang, since it was on the table next to her in the living room. But she continued to focus most of her attention on reading her book. “Vermilion residence.”

“Azure! Thank goodness. I, like, need your help.”

“Sure,” the blue haired girl fired back, without missing a beat. “Then I ‘like’ need twenty bucks.”

“Azure, I’m on another planet in another dimension or something and this call is being routed through, I dunno, subspace. I need to, like, do a historical reading on someone! Can you give me some tips here? Please??”

Chartreuse’s younger sister looked up from her book, then over at the phone in her hand. She pulled it back to her ear. “Is Carrie giving you drugs?” she demanded. “Because if so, that’s not a healthy relationship! We covered that kinda thing in PE class.” She smirked.

“Azure, I am being totally serious here! Stop grinning like that!”

Azure’s smile faded, and she set her book aside, switching the phone to her other ear. “Chartreuse, even assuming this isn’t some stupid prank - you read the future, I read the past. That’s how it IS. Have I ever tried to horn in on YOUR territory? No! Besides, you use crystals, I use cards. Incompatible. You’ll simply have to deal.” She frowned, realizing the inadvertent pun. “So to speak.”

“Cards is fine, Simon, like, has some of those! Also, different world, so I think different rules, in that I already picked up on something. So please, at least, you know, tell me what shape would be best for penetrating into a past that’s been, like, walled off by some magical wish granting artifact! Okay?”

Azure resisted the urge to simply hang up the phone, mainly because the question did pose an interesting challenge. Plus hanging up would give her sister the last word. So she mulled it over for a few seconds instead, wondering what sort of geometry could be used to twist over and around a mental block like that. The answer, when it occurred to her, was ridiculously simple. “Phi,” Azure said at last.

She then hung up immediately and reached back for her book. After all, if this was seriously serious, her sister would redial.

Chartreuse sat on the floor of the corridor, in her circle of crystals, with Simon’s cards making a spiral pattern out towards Qifarihm. The spiral probably wasn’t exactly golden, but she’d made a point of dealing an ace, a six, an ace and an eight out first… though she hadn’t been sure what face card to use for zero. For his part, the supposed Wizard merely sat across from her with a bemused look on his face.

“This is highly unconventional,” Qifarihm remarked, and Simon got the impression that he wasn’t entirely convinced he was even free yet. Which, in a sense, he wasn’t, as he still had on a pair of shackles.

“That’s why it will work,” Simon said, with a confidence he didn’t entirely feel.

“I love you both, but please, you know, hush,” Chartreuse interjected, before going back to quiet murmurings of “Ohm, ohm”.

Seconds stretched into minutes, and right when Simon thought maybe he should speak up again, Chartreuse gasped and looked up towards the ceiling, blinking rapidly. Then she began to speak. “Wand, a wand, a wand, ahhhh!”

“A wand?” Simon repeated.

“No, Wanda,” Qifarihm realized, sitting up straighter. “I know a Wanda. I’m her apprentice.” He frowned. “Now wait a second…"

“Wiz… you… she… wish…” Chartreuse babbled.

Simon caught on. “You said Qifarihm is the Palace Wizard. Was Wanda HIS apprentice?” he asked. “Until she wished for their roles to be reversed?” Chartreuse bobbed her head, though it was difficult to tell if she was actually nodding. “Did she create this wishing artifact then?” Simon pressed. “Or did Qifarihm?”

Simon glanced back towards the Wizard, but he seemed to be getting lost in his own recollections. So Simon returned his gaze to Chartreuse, who was now swaying her head around in what looked like a figure eight. “Artifact… unknown… found… pasta… round pasta…"

Simon adjusted her inflection, as the mage had before. “Passed around?”

More head bobbing. “Wanda… no… weevil…"

“She knows evil? Or she’s now evil?”

“She… Pel in hell in elinelinel…"

“Pelinelneth? Is she evil?”

Chartreuse started to get an annoyed look on her face, her breathing coming more rapidly. “Elinelinelinel…"

“Is she Wanda?”

“EL-IN-EL…" Chartreuse coughed, the noise sounding strangled. “First… wish… corrupt… add diction… oaf… ukkk…" And she keeled over.

Simon quickly ran to her side and felt for a pulse - it was present, and she was breathing regularly, though she had fallen unconscious. That determined, he looked back over at Qifarihm. “Could you make sense of that?” Simon demanded.

Qifarihm seemed to be gathering his thoughts before speaking. For the first time, Simon found the torchlight around them was enough to take in the Wizard’s features. Nothing really stood out - the guy was older, but taller, his shoulder length dark hair seeming white in places. He was also thin, probably due to malnourishment, his clothing little more than rags. “I was the Wizard, and Wanda my apprentice,” Qifarihm said then, attempting to rub his chin despite his metal bracelets. “Yes, I’d somehow forgotten that. Not sure why the memory was blocked, when so many other wishes are known.”

“That wish might have been one of the first,” Simon suggested. “It sounds like maybe whatever artifact is causing this, it corrupted your apprentice.” He frowned. “And Pelinelneth is somehow involved. Based on her reactions, she must be afraid of Wanda, yet also dislike you… so she has something against magic? And she’s been in the castle before, so finding her will be difficult.”

“Well, if you break me out of these,” Qifarihm said, holding up his wrists. “With a key off that keyring, I might be able to locate her for you. Of course, my use of magic will alert others who are sensitive to it.” He shrugged.

Simon nodded, glancing around. It had been at least half an hour, probably more, that they’d been down here undisturbed. It wouldn’t last. “We need to get out of here either way.”

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