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The Prism of Worlds

Chapter 2: Pleased to Meet You

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Memory – The World of Dame Kagari

Two moons hung high in the sky, casting a warm golden glow over the thick forests and jagged mountains of Starhold. By their light, a young Knight Errant picked her way down a narrow, jackknifing path above a mountain pass. She was small but strongly built, and radiated confidence even in her careful descent. Freed from her helmet, long brown hair stirred in the wind with her pale red cloak. Her only other armor was a carefully polished breastplate and pair of gauntlets, and the only mark of her allegiance was a white plush ferret dangling from her belt by a hind leg, felt tongue flapping with each swing.

After a long and perilous quest, Dame Kagari had finally defeated the treacherous Sir Blackwell and recovered the Treasure of Goblin Town. She was cold, battered, and exhausted, but it was all worth it when she strode down Main Street, held the wooden chalice aloft, and called out, "Hey! I got your treasure!"

The goblins on watch blew their horns and the whole town turned out with a cheer. The celebration only briefly focused on her; when a party started in Goblin Town, it always became a general event. Children capered and played, men and women danced in various combinations, and at least three bands tried to start up at the same time. Most of the citizens didn't know about the chalice or its significance, but they caught the mood from those who did, and they'd take any excuse. Robed priests arrived at Kagari's quiet corner to accept the cup, and the mayor followed with a big pouch of gold.

"Oh, no, I could never—!" Kagari was interrupted by a sustained growl from her stomach, and sheepishly accepted the pouch. "I guess I've been on the road for a while, huh?"

"You Errants," the Goblin Mayor said, shaking his head. "You never know your limits. We posted a reward, so you're getting the reward. And we're feeding you before you leave, you understand?"

Kagari laughed weakly. "Thanks."

"You got a place to say tonight?"

"I have a friend down the mountain. It's been a while, so she'll be thrilled to see me!"

Kagari's friend down the mountain was not thrilled to see her.

"Look at you!" Luonnotar cried. "You're filthy! You're hurt!"

The hedge witch was only a few centimeters shorter than Kagari, but seemed much smaller, lost in colorful robes, flyway hair, a towering hat, and round glasses that shrank her eyes into bright, beady sapphires. She grabbed Kagari's wrist and pulled her into a cozy, fragrant hut, lit by the glimmering bodies of fairy spirits perched on every surface. They'd arrived when Luon sang her vespers, but now scurried and cowered from her scolding tone.

"I tried to send a letter ahea—" Kagari started.

"Into the sauna! Go, go!" Luon insisted, propelling her out the back and towards a small adjoining lodge with little pushes. It was like being rolled over by a dandelion seed. Before Kagari could get a word in edgewise, a gentle tornado had pulled her armor and clothes away, dashed water over her, and deposited her onto a towel on the sauna's cedar bench. Luon poured some water over the hot stones, then sat across from her with a long sigh. If she looked small with her robes, she was positively wispy without. The steam beaded on her long eyelashes and weighed her hair down.

For a time, they just sat in the heat and listened to the furnace crackling.

"This is nice," Kagari said. "Thanks."

"Let me see your shoulder," Luon replied, and crossed to carefully set her fingertips on Kagari's muscular arm. "That didn't come from a forged blade. A tusk? It can't have healed more than a week ago, and here you are, on the trail again. What happened?"

"Uhh, last week," Kagari said, eyes drifting to the ceiling. "The Great Boar of Mount Rastavan got around my breastplate; I wasn't even there to fight him, so I just ran. I used a lifeblood potion from that spooky potion-seller with the pink hair, the one who won't sell me her strongest potions? Fixed me right up. Mostly. I can still use my sword-arm, anyway, so it's no big deal!"

"I see," Luon said unhappily, and sat again.

After a few seconds, Kagari tried again. "How… have you been?"

"You've changed, Akko," Luon said. "Ever since you won the Lady Cavendish's favor."

Kagari might have blushed, but the hot air had already turned her bright red. "That's right – I'm better, now. My lady's love has steeled my heart!"

"I wonder."

"What's the matter, Luon?"

"Wasn't she supposed to give you a bit of clothing, or jewelry, or something? I've never heard of a lady making her favorite knight promise to bring a toy ferret back." Luon was almost pouting. "She's doing it wrong."

"Yeah, it's strange, but she's kind of… she's a little…" Kagari couldn't quite find an explanation that didn't sound backhanded, so she changed the subject. "That's not what you're mad about, though."

"Ever since she gave you that thing, you've been questing up and down these mountains, and you're acting like it really makes you invincible. Do you think the Lady wanted you to win her favor, then turn right around and go off adventuring again? Do you think it makes her happy that every time you hear about some dangerous thing that needs doing, you throw yourself back into the meat-grinder, and she's the reason?"

"I hope so," Kagari said. "That's the idea, remember? She makes me the knight Starhold needs."

Luon crossed her arms and frowned.

"Come on, that's classic courtly love!" Kagari cried, exasperated. "I thought you'd be happy I'm finally doing something right! What's the problem? You love all this romance stuff!"

"I love a good romantic tale, yes, but I hate tragedies. If you don't slow down… you… well, the goblins up the mountain paid you, didn't they? You should take some time and rest, at least. Eat some good food, let your body recover."

Kagari shrugged uncomfortably. "I'm resting now, aren't I?"

"I wish I could make you see what you're doing to yourself!" Luon groaned. "I'm – I'm so frustrated, I could just…!"


Luna Nova

A light slap fell across Akko's face. "Akko, wake up!"

Akko sat up in a daze, blinking. "Luon? What just…?" Akko started, then yelped as Lotte leaned in and slapped her again. There was no force behind it, but the rebuke was clear.

"You know what happened," she said sternly. "And I'm – I'm very upset with you! That was very, very stupid!"

Akko boggled at her. Her proper memories of Lotte rushed back, but none of them prepared her for this.

Lotte seemed surprised, herself. "Y-you started the ritual without knowing how to stop it? Even if we hadn't gotten dragged in, who knows what could have happened to you!"

"Could she have even stopped it?" Sucy asked nearby. "Didn't you feel all that power coming in? Something happened."

"No kidding!" Lotte cried, then subsided, looking around awkwardly. "Sorry – I just – I don't know what came over me." She looked at her hand. "And I feel really bad for slapping you. Worse than I should."

"What, shouldn't you feel bad for hitting me?"

"I mean worse," Lotte said. "The way I'd feel if I slapped Annabel, or Constanze."

Sucy chuckled. "Ah, so like you're full of bullets."

"Sucy…" Lotte looked to the ceiling and then squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm getting really tired of your morbid jokes. Do you really think now's the time?"

"Who's joking?" Sucy sounded miffed.

"Jeez, what's gotten into you, Lotte?" Akko asked.

"It must be another me," she suggested. "The ritual was supposed to let us meet ourselves, right? Maybe this Lotte has a shorter temper."

"Oh. And so I… oh." Akko looked down at herself and blinked a few times. "That… that makes sense. I do feel a little funny inside. And like, when I saw you, I thought you were someone else. I don't even remember who, now."

Lotte offered Akko a hand up, then grunted in surprise at her weight. They staggered together in place and Lotte exclaimed, "Goodness! Akko, look at your arms!"

"Hey, wow!" Akko flexed, startled by the wiry muscle that leapt out. She bounced and sprang up on one foot and took a few experimental dance steps, bravely restraining herself from picking Lotte up. "I'm shredded! I didn't know my body would change, too! I guess this is what the other me looks like, huh? Are you guys any different?"

"Oh, no." Lotte jolted back and hugged herself. "I didn't even consider – oh no, oh please, oh no… okay." She looked herself over, patted her sides and legs, and let the breath out. "Everything's in place. I just… I just put on a little weight. It's kinda cute, actually."

Akko couldn't remember the last time she'd heard Lotte pay herself a compliment. "Your hair's longer, too. Uh, so you're good?"

"Yes, sorry. I… it's just that, before I met you, um…" Lotte gave her a brief, calculating look, then smiled ruefully and said, "I had my body the way I liked it. I don't know what I would've done if this made it wrong again. Are you—? Oh… Sucy, are you okay?"

Sucy looked more or less the same, but she hadn't moved from her corner, and had turned her face away from them. "The sun's too bright."

The sky outside was slate gray, and the room was in deep shadow. It was dark enough in Sucy's corner that details were hard to make out, but she still huddled as though under a floodlight. Akko and Lotte exchanged a look, then Lotte swung her wand and conjured a set of heavy shutters over the windows, blocking the daylight out completely. "How about—?"

Cool wind rushed through the darkness. "That's better," Sucy said at Lotte's elbow.

Lotte drew a slow, shaky gasp and straightened, frozen in an unexpected embrace. Akko reflexively kicked Lotte's broom up into her hand, whirled it into position, and stopped a centimeter short of thrusting it through Sucy's throat. Sucy spread her hands and let Lotte stagger free. Her visible eye burned steadily in the darkness, casting gentle, rosy light over the three of them.

"What were you thinking?" Akko snapped. "I could have—!" She blinked and fell back a step, wondering why her first reflex had been to go for the throat. "Don't scare us like that!"

"It came naturally," Sucy said behind her, and Akko spun. "I'm really scary, now," she added from another corner. "In the dark, I feel downright demonic! I could even be a man-eat—"

She tried to whisper that last in Akko's ear, but her friend had caught the scarlet eye arcing through the darkness and swung, connecting with a solid thwack. Cackling, Sucy snagged the broom and made a sharp move to pull it away. Akko just followed along with the pull and twisted, driving it against Sucy's shoulder and chest in what would have been a fatal stroke from a sword. The two shuffled in place, sharing a cold grin.

"Open Sesame!" Lotte screamed, and the window burst open. Sucy hissed and retreated to her corner, and Akko flailed in the sudden cold wind. "I can't believe you two! You!" She thrust her wand at Akko. "Stop being a ruffian! And you!" She rounded on Sucy. "Stop being a creep! You're not going to eat anyone – you'd never!"

"I almost sacrificed you to a cockatrice the first time we met," Sucy said blandly. She'd managed to sit up in her pool of shadow, squinting against the dim light.

"And I try very hard not to think about that," Lotte replied with a brittle smile. "Now will you please, please, take this seriously? Don't you want to be able to go out in the sun again?"

"I don't know." Sucy brushed her hair behind her shoulder. "All the best mushrooms come out at night, anyway."

Lotte let out a tortured, infuriated squeak, clutching the air.

"Okay," Sucy said, resigned. "Fiiiiine."

"I think we were having fun, though," Akko said. "Right, Sucy?"

Sucy perked back up.

"Well, p-please, at least warn me next time," Lotte said, and accepted a shoulder pat from each of them. "Thank you."

"You know, Sucy, I have an idea," Akko said. "If that body of yours can't handle the sun, then maybe… Metamorphie Faciesse!" The others flinched, but this was the spell that Akko had been practicing relentlessly for weeks. Despite her unfamiliar hands, the spell flew unerringly and poof, Sucy became alpaca. A pink alpaca with her hairstyle and a vivid red eye, anyway, which wasn't too bad. "Well? Try it out."

Sucy took an uncertain step into sunlight and swung her head to look out the window. She didn't seem to be uncomfortable.

Akko put her hands on her hips proudly. "There, see?"

Sucy swung back around, spat in her face, and poofed back into her corner. "Denied."

"You should ask before you transform people," Lotte reminded her.

"Yeah?" Akko sad, scrubbing at her face. "Next time you see Sucy jamming a funnel in my mouth, tell her that! Jeez."

The three collected themselves for a few beats.

"So," Lotte finally said. "What do we do now?"

"Panic?" Sucy suggested.

"It's the weekend," Akko said slowly, and started gaining steam. Her grin filled the room with sunbeams of confidence. "So we have a day or two to fix this, right? I remember now that the book says how you're supposed to send the other you home when the ritual is done. It'll be a little different, but the same kinda thing happened, right? I've just gotta hit the library and read up on that, and then we'll be able to figure something out."

"You're not scared at all, are you?" Lotte asked wonderingly.

"How could I be scared?" Akko considered flexing, but it didn't seem like Lotte would appreciate the joke at the moment. "Well, yeah, I guess so. This is really scary, sure. But I get us into messes like this all the time, and we always get out of it, right? So, don't you two worry – I'll take care of this!"

Akko gave them a salute and then sprinted off.

"Okay, that was more like the normal Akko," Sucy said. "The stupid confidence, at least."

Lotte looked after her, clasping her hands over her chest. "Y-yeah."

"So, how long do you think she'll be able stay on task?" Sucy asked. "She's got charisma, but it looks like our Akko's still in there."

Lotte gasped. "Wait for me!" she called.


Diana snapped awake. She was sprawled on the stone floor, but it wasn't uncomfortable at all. Her awareness spread without motion or effort, filling her mind with a distant, watery image of the chapel. There'd been no physical damage from the ritual, though the shreds of their failed lens still hung in the air. No damage to her body, either. And her friends…

Friends…?

The idea felt unfamiliar, somehow, but it was a simple fact. She'd come to this chapel with two friends: Hannah and Barbara. The most important thing to do, then, was to make sure that they were alright. She rose smoothly, turned to the nearest source of warmth, and saw Hanna sitting against the wall, staring into space. Barbara was curled up alongside her, head in her lap.

"Oh," Hannah said listlessly. "You're up."

Diana knelt and looked them over. Physically, they seemed alright, though Hannah's heart rate was a little high, and Barbara's body temperature was worryingly low. How am I getting that information? Diana wondered fleetingly, then discarded the question. She could worry about that when she'd seen to them. "How do you feel?" she asked.

"I'm a mess!" Hannah said with a bitter laugh.

"More so than usual," Barbara added lightly, then snickered when Hannah swatted her arm.

"What the hell was that?" Hannah asked. "Was any of this part of your plan, Diana?"

"No. We were only supposed to see a faint sparkle."

"Well, then you've outdone yourself! Typical, I guess. Do you have even the faintest idea of what happened or are we just…?"

"Why are you so pissed off?" Barbara asked.

"Why are you not?" Hannah shot back.

They fell quiet.

"Sorry, I…" Hannah said. "This isn't right, is it? I – I'm so mad, but it doesn't feel like it's coming from me! It's like it was poured into me, or someone's screaming in my ear – or I'm getting frustrated because someone doesn't get it? Does that make any sense?"

Diana cocked her head. "You don't seem to be concussed."

"You can just tell?"

"Somehow, yes. Also, Barbara, do you feel c…?" Diana broke off as Hannah waved a hand slowly in her face. "Yes?"

"You're not yourself either, are you?" Hannah said. "Your expression is so… I'm not sure if you're even blinking. Are you sick, or something? How do you feel?"

Diana considered for a long moment, then admitted, "I don't feel anything."

Hannah glowered. "Lucky you."

"I can't account for it," Diana said. "Just as you have every right to be angry with me, I should at least feel confused. In fact, I should be very upset right now. I would say that it's alarming, but clearly, it isn't."

Barbara giggled.

"This… clarity is also allowing me to see how my emotions were clouding our last conversation. You were right to be worried, and I pressured you both into doing something foolish. I'm sorry."

"You don't sound like it."

"Oh, don't be mean," Barbara said airily.

"Barbara's acting weird, too, but all she'll say is she's fine," Hannah said, turning red. "She won't stop joking around."

"That sounds distressing," Diana observed.

"Of course, it is!" Hannah snapped, then glanced down to Barbara. Her tone softened. "When I—when I saw her, right after, I felt like I hadn't seen her in a long time, and it was impossible? It was like being stabbed!"

"You charmer, you," Barbara said.

"Shut up," Hannah replied, without venom.

Diana looked between them, thinking carefully. She used to find her coven-mates a bit mysterious, but they were almost alarmingly easy to read with her new senses. If only their emotions made any sense. Between that and her own lack of affect, she wasn't sure how to continue. Best to stay practical. "You may need more rest. Shall I help you get Barbara to our room?"

"No, you've done enough." Hannah hissed through her teeth. "Man, it keeps flaring back up! And Barbara's just… here, and it's weird to me! Nice, but weird. Everything's weird!"

"I have no idea how our experiment could have done this. However, I remember a book in the school library that may offer insight into what's happened. I'll start with it, and report back if I find out anything useful. For now, we should not say anything to the teachers, unless our conditions worsen."

"What? Why not?"

"I wasn't wholly truthful with Headmistress Holbrooke – she had an inaccurate idea of the risks involved in this experiment, and I didn't correct her. Also, none of them knew that you two would help me. If details of our mishap come to light, our positions at Luna Nova might be threatened."

"You…!" Hannah had to pause and take a deep breath. "You just admitted to lying to the headmistress! And with that stupid blank face! It's like you're some kind of—!" She gave Diana a shove, but her open palm impacted with a sold thump and Diana didn't budge. "Some kind of – of –"

Another awkward pause.

"Robot?" Diana supplied. "It's possible. I saw myself in many different forms when the lens broke. Maybe that was one." She looked down at her hand and flexed it.

"You turned into a robot?" Hannah gasped, wide-eyed.

"Or something similar." A quick search of her memory suggested that Diana should offer reassurance in this situation. "Hannah – I am still the Diana you know, even if I can't express it properly at the moment. My first priority is to make sure that you and Barbara recover. We can, and will, fix this."

Hannah growled under her breath. "This is so ridiculous. You caused this mess! How can you—?"

"She caused this mess?" Barbara asked, finally sitting up. She seemed to float into place, dark hair slowly lofting and settling like smoke. "I'm annoyed, too, but we were all in, weren't we? She warned us that this could be dangerous, didn't she? You volunteered us, and now you're talking like she drove us in here with a whip!"

"I will give you some space," Diana said decisively. "Also, while we should not go out of our way to notify the teachers, if any ask about our experiment, you should throw me under the bus. This accident was entirely my—"

"Oh, get over yourself," Barbara said, smiling. "Didn't you hear what I just said? We talked it over beforehand, Hannah and me. We knew you had us doing something risky, and we came anyway."

Diana paused. Barbara had never talked to her like this before, though she'd come close after the cupid bee incident. Neither had Hannah, come to think of it. Without her own past responses as a guide, her next move was hard to calculate. "Then I will trust—"

"Look! Up above!" Barbara leapt to her feet, hair billowing wide in an invisible wind – then she relaxed. "Oh! I thought I smelled freshly-turned earth – hey, there, Ghoulsy!"

A thin silhouette sat in the alcove above the entrance, lost in shadow before the walled-over frame for a stained-glass window. All that was visible of her was a long, pale leg dangling into the light and a softly glowing red eye. Despite her 360-degree view of the chapel, Diana hadn't sensed her at all – and still couldn't, except by direct sight. "Not bad," she said. "I thought you'd go with 'Even Creepier Sucy.'"

"I'm thinking about working up some better material," Barbara said modestly.

"I give it 6/10."

"Ugh, I should have known," Hannah sighed. "What did you knuckleheads do this time?"

Sucy shrugged. "Seems like you were doing something you shouldn't have been, too."

"We got permission from the headmistress," Diana said.

"That doesn't mean you should've been doing it." Sucy drew her leg up into the dark to sit lotus style. "We were doing a ritual upstairs; Akko was trying to contact herself from another world. Seems like we all got caught up in it, though. It's been an interesting morning, up here."

"How the hell did Akko manage something like that?" Hannah cried.

"Does that mean I'm not the real Barbara?"

A bright grin split the shadows. "That's the question, isn't it?"

Diana ignored her eerie tone. "Do you think anyone else was affected?"

"There were ten lights, so four others, maybe? Unless that was the spell just cooking off at random. You never know with Akko."

Barbara laughed. "So anywhere between zero and a hundred!"

"Sounds like another trio and a straggler," Hannah suggested.

"There were more beams cutting through the chapel from above," Diana said. Without a haze of shock or dismay to get in the way, her memory of the incident was clear. "The remaining four were likely below us, in the forbidden storage area."

Everyone else turned towards the bricked-up stairway, but she didn't feel the urge.

"Well, that makes it obvious," Sucy said. "Who else would be sneaking around down there?"

"O'Neil," Hannah hissed. "Of course."

"Hannah, Barbara, I'll need you to find out if she was involved in our mishap. Sucy, you—"

"I can't go in the sun," Sucy said.

"So, like normal?" Barbara asked. "Eh? Eh?"

Sucy cracked her neck and sat back without replying.

"Then can you keep watch over the ritual site and let us know if anything untoward happens, or anyone comes to see it, please? This seems to be a result of our own foolishness, but we shouldn't rule interference out."

"I can do that," Sucy said. "I could probably work out a shade spell to leave, but it seems like such a pain."

Diana nodded. "And, as planned, I will go to the library to learn more about what went wrong and work out a counter-ritual."

"If you see Akko there, be sure to wake her up," Sucy said.

"Acknowledged," Diana said, and turned on her heel.

"That one still takes charge, huh?" Sucy asked as she left.

"If you have any better ideas…!" Hannah replied.

The chapel's doors closed behind Diana and the conversation fell from her mind. Without the disruption of her friends' emotions, her thoughts clicked neatly into order. Making decisions without a command structure to fall back on was uncomfortable, but she used her memories of doing so as a guide and set herself directives based on what she judged Diana should want to do. They were all complex tasks that she would need to pursue concurrently, so she ranked them by priority.

Priority 1: Determine how the spells interacted, and why they had such unexpected effects on our personalities and emotions. Undo the ritual, or secure aid for Hannah and Barbara in coping with its effects if this is beyond our abilities.

Priority 2: Correct the astral lens spell and test the new iteration alone, in a different setting. Make arrangements to visit the Cavendish Estate well in advance of the Venusian Eclipse.

Priority 3: Find out why I'm not feeling anything. Determine the shape of my new mind and how I'll need to relate to the world, if the ritual cannot be undone.

Simple.

The internal obstacles that would have crowded before her past self didn't appear. No anxiety, no anger, and, most of all, no fatigue. All the same, she hadn't lied to Hannah; she was still moving to Diana's will, imperfect as it may have been, and as difficult as it might be to grasp now. If her objectives were skewed in some way, there would surely be time to correct them.


Amanda woke flat on her back, fully dressed and tucked into her bed. The last time she woke up like this, Jasminka had carried her home after her first experience with brandy. Maybe something like that had happened?

She didn't feel hung over.

Someone was snoring like a sawmill. Amanda rolled out of bed and stood to see Wangari in Jasminka's bunk, wound up in the covers, energetically thrashing and mumbling in her sleep. She dodged an aimless kick and tried to piece together what the star reporter would be doing here, and where Jasminka might be.

Leaving that mystery for later, Amanda grabbed her toothbrush and wandered over to the restroom. Everyone had scattered to the winds for the weekend, though she could hear Mary singing in one of the shower stalls. As Amanda entered, Conz was standing at one of the sinks, letting it run and staring at the water.

After a few seconds, Amanda asked, "You alright?"

Constanze gave her a perplexed look, blinked a few times, then turned back to the water.

Amanda didn't know what to make of that. "Well, uh, have fun, I guess."

As she started away, though, a soft, raspy voice called, "A—Amanda?"

Amanda's heart leapt into her throat and she rushed back. "What's wrong, Conz? Talk t—I mean, tell me."

Constanze slapped a double handful of water into her face and tousled her hair, then finally turned the tap off. After an attempt to keep talking, she grunted in frustration and signed, "Do you know me?"

Amanda blinked. For some reason, she didn't expect to understand, even though she clearly remembered Jasminka presenting her with a sign language book and gently twisting her arm into taking it up. "What kind of question is that?" she asked out loud.

Conz's eyebrows shifted, but she was as hard to read as ever. "You feel new." Her motions were uneven, without cadence, as though her muscle memory weren't all there.

"But we've been roommates all year, so why…?" Amanda shook her head as they started back. "Yeah, why was I surprised to see you? Something's off."

"Is she supposed to be here?" Conz asked, and pointed towards their snoring guest.

"No, she's Yellow Team, remember? I guess Jasna brought her back, though. Where is she, anyway?"

Conz spread her hands. Her face was stone, but Amanda could read the worry in her stance.

Wangari thrashed her way out of bed and flopped onto the floor. "-the Oncoming—!" she exclaimed, then looked around with wide eyes. "IIIII'm not supposed to be here," she said. "Oh, dear."

"We're not gonna eat you," Amanda said. "Take your time and get yourself together." Wangari looked up at her and she felt a flash of – not fear, exactly, but wariness. That was annoying. Why should she find Wangari, of all people, threatening? It was like what she thought of everyone was scrambled up at random. Hopefully, she wouldn't fall in love with Akko or something. "You feeling off, too?"

"Yeah." Wangari looked down at herself and hopped to her feet. "Yeah, everything's off. Man, if I find out the ghost took our souls, I'm going to be so mad at you." Her tone was still cheerful, so that much was the same, at least.

"You said whatever I did would be on you," Amanda said with a shrug. "Well, that's what I did."

Wangari laughed. "You're terrible!"

"You know it," Amanda agreed, grinning.

"And that kinda helped, talking about what we just did. Makes it feel less like a dream."

"Huh, yeah. We don't have too many memories together, though."

"Maybe I'll go find Jo and Kim," Wangari said, starting for the door, but then stopped in her tracks. "Or maybe I won't."

"Huh?"

"I don't know," Wangari said. "I-I just got the feeling they wouldn't want to see me. Did I do something wrong?"

"Oh, come on! That was all in your head, just now!"

Wangari nodded. "Sure, but – I just feel like – if I go there, they'll know I'm not me. Like I have to say Wangari's lines, and there's no teleprompter. And like I've never met any of you in my life, even though I know I've known you all year. Oh no, it happened, didn't it? We're the new souls, aren't we?"

Conz marched over and lightly punched her arm.

"What? I'm – I'm sorry, I don't know sign – ahh, don't hit me again! That doesn't help!"

"I think she's trying to be reassuring," Amanda said. "Look, we should find Jasna. If she's all messed up like us, maybe she shouldn't be wandering around alone? And if she was awake, maybe she knows what happened. If you wanna help us, you can stick around."

"Yeah, that'd be… thanks."

Constanze held up a finger, then opened the trap door under her bed and hopped down.

"What's down there, anyway?" Wangari asked.

"She's got a whole workshop – bartered with the fairies for the space, I guess. I've never been down, though. It's easier on all of us when she has a place to decompress without anyone bugging her." Amanda thrust a thumb at her chest proudly. "After all, just imagine sharing a room with me all semester!"

"Terrible!" Wangari agreed, snickering.

"Talking about memories is makin' me feel more solid," Amanda said. "I think you're on to something. I wonder if you—?"

Constanze popped back up out of the chute, but gave a panicked cry at the top of her arc and pitched into an awkward angle. Amanda took a quick step and caught her like a football.

"What was that?" Wangari squawked. "You're fast, but – I've never seen that spell before!"

"What was what?" Amanda replied, then finally realized that her quick step had covered about five feet. "Hang on, did I just…?" She flashed to the top bunk, and then back to the entryway. At that point, Conz punched her in the short ribs to signal that she wanted to be put down. "It doesn't feel like I'm casting anything," she said, dropping Conz onto her feet. "Looks like I can just do it. Did you guys get any nifty powers?"

Constanze and Wangari looked at each other and shrugged.

"Anyway, like I said, let's make sure Jasna's okay."

"I'm not going out there," Conz signed. She handed Amanda a pair of nylon straps strung with six small magitronic radios each. Hands freed, her motions became a little easier. "School was bright and loud and painful already. And now in here is almost too much." She glanced to Wangari, and added, "Tell her no offense. And for you," she ended the statement with a middle finger, which got a laugh.

"Maybe you got it worse than the rest of us," Amanda suggested, then explained to Wangari, "She was acting like she'd never seen a tap before. And she says she can't deal with the campus now, but you're not too bad. And also, fuck me!"

Conz coughed to get their attention back. "I'm going to my workshop. Keep the radios tuned to 78.5."

"78.5," Amanda repeated for Wangari's benefit. "See you soon! And don't wipe out on your back way up!"

Conz flipped her off again, then disappeared into her lair.

"Hey, why'd she give us so many?" Amanda asked, lifting the clattering loops of radios.

"We might not be the only ones this happened to," Wangari suggested. "Raw power couldn't do this to us without a spell to guide it, right? Let's see if we can find anyone else who got messed up like us." Now that they were in motion, she'd brightened even further. "So, give me one of those, and let's go!"


Amanda made a circuit of the places where Jasminka went for solitude, mostly remote corners of the upper floors where she'd hidden stashes of chips and candy. She rushed from hideout to hideout, encountering only a goblin janitor who smirked and zipped his lips when he saw her running in the halls. Her irritation was giving way to worry as she descended onto the main floor, but didn't really get a grip on her before she noticed a strange scene at the far end of the hall, lined in pale overcast light from the windows.

It started innocently enough – Wangari was talking animatedly with Akko and Lotte, miming relief so eloquently that Amanda could read it from here, too far off to make out their words. Wangari noticed her and waved the loop of radios triumphantly, showing that some were gone.

"Figures that it'd be Akko," Amanda muttered, and started over – then stopped when Hannah and Barbara entered the scene from stage right, with a dramatic (and unexpectedly playful) point and cry of "Yooou!" from Barbara. Wangari ignored the theatrics and cheerfully offered a radio, but Hannah stalked right past her and started yelling at Akko.

That was normal enough, but their body language was all wrong. Hannah's stance wasn't just aggressive, but dangerous, leaning in with her shoulder forward and her hand on her wand like a gunfighter. Akko had drawn herself up and raised her chin, facing her with steely calm, responding in short, sharp bursts. Barbara was completely out of synch with Hannah, swaying happily and enjoying the scene with a nasty smile. And then Lotte, quiet little fluffball Lotte, pushed Akko aside, pointed in Hannah's face, and drove her back with a high-pitched tirade that Amanda could almost make out. The whole scene felt like a dream, or maybe a nightmare.

Wangari gritted her teeth and bobbed her head at Amanda in a get over here gesture. Right. That probably wasn't fun to be in the middle of.

"Ms. O'Neil," a sharp voice said behind her. Amanda wheeled about to face a tall, middle-aged witch with iron-gray eyes and an iron-hard face. Apparently, she was in trouble. Again.

"Professor Finneran," Amanda said blankly. Normally, a situation like this would make her tense, or angry, or ready to style on an authority figure, or anything, but it just wouldn't come for some reason. She was… unimpressed. A hardass teacher from a private school wasn't worth the defiance. "Uh, what can I do for you?"

If Finneran was surprised by the lack of sass, she didn't show it. "Come with me, please. I have some questions for you."

Amanda glanced to Wangari, who was drawing a hand across her throat and shaking her head frantically, then back to Finneran. Since it wasn't just her who could get in trouble, she decided to cooperate. "Sure. Lead the way."

They walked in silence, bypassing the faculty office and descending a flight of stairs to the main entrance. Before they stepped out into the gray afternoon, Finneran held out a cloak and Amanda accepted it with a grunt. It was a miserable day outside, just barely warm enough to stay wet and clammy.

"Summon your broom," Finneran said. When Amanda opened her mouth to object, she added, "I know you've been studying spells you're not supposed to know yet – it seems forbidding them is the only way we can get you to take an interest! I don't care about that right now."

"Sounds like something big is happening," Amanda remarked, snatching her broom from the air.

"You'll see," Finneran replied, and caught her own.

Amanda's stomach sank as they set out over the woods towards the mouth of the forbidden tunnel, but her expression stayed level. She'd play this one by ear. How am I so calm, anyway? I'm even keeping my cool with Finneran! It started to rain and Finneran swept her wand with a muttered incantation, conjuring a green kite that kept pace with them and shielded them from the worst of it. Oddly, Amanda felt a tiny spike of envy at the ease and carelessness of the spell. She'd never worried about stuff like that before.

What if Wangari was right about the ghost? If so, Amanda didn't like her new soul very much.

"There," Finneran called, pointing ahead. They were approaching a column of smoke, stark and powdery in the cold air. "Do you know what that is?"

"I don't know, a cookout?" Amanda asked flippantly. "Maybe…" As they got closer, her next joke died on her lips. "The hell?"

A trio of security ogres stood in the rain around the tunnel entrance – or rather, the crater where it once stood. The tunnel itself was a smoldering, fanged hellmouth lined with jagged teeth of purple crystal. Green Team had slipped delicately in, but apparently someone had simply walked out, pulverizing each layer of defenses as it activated. Barrier spells had been blasted from their moorings, mithril bars had been warped and smashed aside, and each deadly circle was skewered by a glittering spear. It would only have taken Luna Nova's security minutes to respond, so whoever it was had worked fast.

Did Jasna do this? It seemed impossible. "Professor, what hap—?" Amanda started, realized how pathetic she sounded, then realized she didn't care. "What happened?"

Finneran's expression softened a little. "I'd thought that you might have an idea. Of all the students prone to mischief, you're one of the few who could have slipped through our security here. I was rather hoping you'd take the opportunity to brag." She turned back to watch as a pair of ogres in hazmat suits trudged out of the tunnel, carrying an ark between them. "It seems that you know as little as the rest of us, however. I'm sorry for troubling you."

Genuine horror was doing wonders for Amanda's acting skills. "No, I – was there something down there?"

"Down there?" Finneran asked without turning. "Many things. If this trip has accomplished anything, it's to show you how dangerous your hobby can be. It's easy to forget by day, but our school has become a repository of horrors over the centuries – artifacts and monsters that couldn't be contained anywhere else, tomes with knowledge that nobody should have, or with minds of their own… do you think we're being vindictive when we forbid the forest and the cellars?"

Amanda wanted to scoff, but she could see that Finneran was dead serious. It wasn't a ghost story intended to scare her straight. Something to think about, maybe, after she found Jasna and everyone was themselves again. "Can I go?"

"I don't see why not. Would you like me to come with you?"

"No! I – I'm fine."

Finneran looked back at her for a long, unreadable moment, perhaps suspicious, perhaps concerned, then strode over to yell orders at the ogres. Amanda stayed to watch them ignore her for a little while, then set out for the school, gripping her broom with white knuckles. She'd been tense before, but now she was afraid.


Memory – The World of Fairy Smoke

The city of Tor's Shade hunkered beneath its mirrored blister, sheltered from the Sun's fury. A brown and gold forest crackled and baked around it, waiting to bloom in the precious twilight hours before night. Its citizens, likewise, lay in wait. Deep below its cramped streets and towering vaults stood a cathedral in a vast cavern, resplendent against a night sky of blue-green phosphorescent fungi. Stained-glass windows depicted forgotten gods in torment, fed to lions, cast into furnaces, crucified… this was no longer a place for humans, but with such ghoulish décor, it was hard to imagine it ever had been.

Within, girl lay in state. She was stretched out on the altar in a black dress, long, pale hands crossed over her chest, strewn with red petals. It had been weeks. Her friends and family had grieved, and even the cathedral's masters would soon give up and return her to the Earth. But then, as the hated sun slipped away far overhead, she gasped and shuddered. Her eyes cracked open, a dim red glimmer, and she torturously raised a hand to squint at it in the dim light.

She didn't feel dead.

Suddenly, she wasn't alone. A deep shadow fell over her like a bat's wings, and condensed into a hunched figure alongside her altar, an elderly woman with long silver hair and broad, strong shoulders. Her eyes blazed like scarlet lanterns from a face that seem sculpted from planes of harsh light and utter darkness. And yet, there was no menace to her – it was still the Witch, the Night Spirit, the woman who'd taken her in and shown her the vast world beneath Tor's Shade. Her dear friend, Ramzan. "Ah… it's such a relief to see you, child. But then, I knew you'd make it."

The vote of confidence was nice, as late as it came. "G'morning," the girl said, sitting up. The room spun for just a moment, but she was already feeling stronger.

"Yes, good morning!" Ramzan said. "Now that you've joined us, you'll be needing a new name. Any preferences?"

The new girl started object that she had a name already, but stopped herself. That wasn't the point, was it? She shrugged.

"I once saw a funny little plant in my travels, before the Sun fell," Ramzan mused. "They were pale flowers with big nodding heads, ghostly white, stem and all. They didn't need sunlight, because they drank from mushrooms living on the forest floor. Now, what were they called?"

The girl stood slowly, finding to her surprise that nothing ached or protested. The chapel's windows surrounded her with scattered reflections of a slender, stooped figure, hair falling in a heavy pink tide over her pallid face. She'd almost objected to the idea of being named for a flower, but she did look a bit like a scrawny plant bending under the weight of its own blossom.

"Corpse plants? That's a terrible name, that can't be what I… oh, yes! Fairy smoke! We could call you Fairy Smoke."

Smoke looked slowly up to Ramzan and blinked drowsily.

"Do you like it?" she asked.

"It'll do," Smoke said carelessly. Her voice sounded strange to her own ears. "I guess people can't keep calling me Su—" She recoiled from the Witch's finger on her lips, spitting dryly.

"You came to me because you were done being that girl," Ramzan reminded her, wagging the finger. "You're brand new, Fairy Smoke – so don't go invoking her name. You might start to have regrets!"

Something reached through the haze and pricked at Smoke's heart. Excitement? Fear? She didn't try to name it. "Okay," she said.

"Okay? That's all?" Ramzan seemed amused. "You're being so dour on your first birthday!"

"I never cared much about birth—my first?" Smoke's heart pricked again and her eyes widened, but her voice stayed as flat as ever. "Oh, yeah. That's right."

"Yes, this one is special!" Ramzan said. "You're making feelings that you'll carry into a new life. And right now, I'll bet you're feeling hungry."

"I don't know," Smoke admitted. "It's just… different."

"I remember it well; I was ravenous when I was first reborn. You'll feel better after you've fed." Ramzan stepped around behind her and rested gentle, heavy hands on her shoulders. "Look up and let your eyes relax. Focus on that feeling. You'll see what you need to."

Smoke looked to the cathedral's ceiling and her hair fell back, freeing both glowing eyes; she flinched as cool air fell on the left side of her face, but she didn't brush it back into place. Instead, she drew a deep, meditative breath, and let her eyes unfocus. The cathedral seemed to grow brighter for a moment, but then its light fell away, and the ceiling vanished from her sight. Something was glittering beyond the solid earth overhead, a soft red light that matched her eyes. No, it was pulsing. Her mouth fell open in wonder, revealing sharp teeth. "A heart…"

"Not just one," Ramzan replied. "Keep looking."

Smoke's gaze deepened, somehow, and she saw more of them. Dozens. Hundreds! The hearts of every human in Tor's Shade wheeled slowly overhead like a sky full of stars. As she got used to this new vision, she could see tethers of light between them, spinning an enormous web – a great bloody net that could fall on her at any moment. She tensed, but Ramzan's hands were reassuring on her shoulders. "It's huge! It could – eat me."

Ramzan chuckled. "That's the opposite of what we're hoping for, I think."

"Heh." The joke helped, but Smoke was still afraid. Annoyingly, she couldn't shake the feeling of a titanic monster looming over her. "They look like veins. Like it's one big thing."

"You could call the city a creature, yes, but you're not looking at flows of blood. Humans are connected in ways they can't see or understand, and their blood is only the medium for what we drink." Ramzan squeezed her shoulders. "Do any of them catch your eye?"

Smoke opened her mouth to ask how she was supposed to tell them apart, but, to her surprise, a few did seem to stand out. One in particular was captivating, though she couldn't say what it was that drew her. "Yeah. I think so."

"Remember," Ramzan said softly, with the cadence of reciting from memory. "The human you find won't be prey for you to steal from. You're looking for a person who will give of themselves to you. If you accept, you will be giving of yourself, in turn. Do you understand? We're not parasites. We must always give more than we take."

Smoke nodded slowly.

"Then go forth, Fairy Smoke, and don't let the Sun see you. As of today, He knows your name, and He hates you."

Smoke took a step forward, but then turned back. A grin full of terrible fangs stretched her face, and the warmth that had been struggling to find a way out finally appeared in her voice. "Thanks, Ramzan." The cathedral was already empty, but she knew Ramzan had heard her. With that, Fairy Smoke jumped. Her shadow spread like wings and flung her into the cool darkness of the solid Earth above, then rippled like a manta ray to carry her towards the surface. The web of hearts grew brighter and clearer, and her fear faded; as she drew near, it started to feel like home.

Or at least one of those scarlet stars did…


Luna Nova

Lotte's pretext for running back to Red Team's room was to fetch the Shiny Rod, just in case they needed it, but she also needed to squeeze a quick cry in. She checked around the room, locked the door, curled up on her top bunk, and wept. It felt a little embarrassing this time, as though the visiting Lotte were objecting, but it still helped.

Lotte always felt brand new after crying, even if her situation hadn't changed. It was like the sun coming out after a rainstorm. Whatever had driven her to desperation would always seem small and strange, easier to approach. Now, though, as she blew her nose and came back down to Earth, everything looked strange.

Akko was her roommate, a scary warrior, and a delicate baby bird she had to protect. Barbara was an annoying bully, an uncanny wraithlike weirdo, and someone her heart leapt to see. (What was that about?) Everyone in this mess had been fractured into three, in her heart – the one she'd always known, the one they'd joined with, and the one that the other Lotte expected to see. No wonder she felt like she'd crack apart herself!

She hummed a few shaky notes, and a fairy spirit came by to check on her, oozing up through the bedspread. It trilled as she stroked it with a finger. Why don't I do this more often? Her ability to talk to fairies had been a normal part of life for so long that she often forgot how amazing it was. To think – her voice could ring across dimensions, and her songs were so beautiful that spirits flocked to hear! Pride rose in her throat, and she didn't know what to do with it.

As the fairy left, her gaze drifted out to the row of Night Fall books above her desk. The most recent arc was lined up there, of course, along with a few of her favorite volumes from the older runs. She used to prefer the early stories, but now that she knew the current author, she'd convinced herself that it was better than ever. By Annabel Crème was an electric phrase when she had a friend to attach it to.

Why do I love those books so much, anyway? she wondered. It wasn't doubt so much as curiosity – now she was looking at them with the eyes of a Lotte who thought all this bloodsucking stuff was a little kinky and weird. (Not lately, though. The latest Annabel had dropped most of that in favor of dinosaur taming and fistfights on nuclear missiles.)

"Maybe vampires are just cool," she mused aloud.

She almost wasn't surprised when long, delicate fingers brushed her hair back. "Do you think that's what I am?" Sucy asked. No apology for appearing out of thin air deep in her personal space, but that was typical.

"Maybe?" Lotte glanced over her shoulder. There wasn't a lot of room between her and the wall, so Sucy was really wedged in there. "How did you get in?"

"This is my room, too," Sucy said mockingly, then added, "I have no idea."

"Can you… teleport between shadows?"

"Do vampires do that?"

"Sometimes." Lotte gestured to her shelf of vampire fiction. It wasn't just Night Fall, though they had the place of honor. "They're all different. I think you'll have to feel it out."

"I wish I'd tried that series, now." Sucy shifted and made an annoyed noise. "Can you move?"

Lotte started to, but then reminded her, "This is my bed, you know. Why did you even…?"

"I guess you don't scare that easily," Sucy remarked from her own bed. A swipe of her wand dropped the curtains, though she thoughtfully left Lotte's side open.

Lotte glanced back again. Nothing but the wall. "How—?"

"Don't know," Sucy said flatly. After a moment, she continued in a more thoughtful tone. "It feels like I'm swimming with big fins. Or gliding, more like. I guess the sun won't be a problem after all."

Dozens of questions fluttered around Lotte's head, but she couldn't begin to choose which to ask. Somehow, despite the fact that that she was talking to a red eye glowing out of unnaturally deep shadows, she wasn't afraid. In fact, her friend looked oddly vulnerable. "Ah, Sucy…?"

"It doesn't feel right when people call me that," Sucy said. "Maybe the other me has a different name."

Lotte shot bolt upright and covered her mouth with both hands. "Oh! Is there – is there something else we should call you?"

Sucy gave her a faintly surprised look. "I'll let you know if I think of anything."

"Oh. Oh! Okay, thank you."

"Why are you thanking me?" Sucy asked. "I thought the other you was less of a pushover."

"Th-this isn't me being a pushover!" Lotte said, then sat against the wall, crossing her arms. "Names are important. Even if your body's strange and wrong, people should know who you are and respect it! I just want to… it's such a basic thing, I don't want to mess it up."

Sucy stared up at her, teetering on the edge of a question, then reclined back without asking it. Lotte sighed, letting the tension of the moment out. She wasn't sure if she was ready to explain.

"I was here to ask you about vampire stuff, since you're the expert," Sucy finally said. "It was you or Barbara, and she's even creepier than me, now."

"She is?"

"She's got no blood."

Lotte shuddered.

"Diana doesn't either, but we know why, with her." Sucy mirrored Lotte's pose. "But it's the first thing I'm noticing about everyone, the blood. Or the warmth, anyway. I think I'm hungry."

"Well… if you really are a vampire…"

"I don't know what to do," Sucy admitted. "But I was bluffing Akko when I said I was a man-eater. I don't kill people to eat. Probably."

"Oh, uh, good." Lotte blinked a few times. It hadn't even occurred to her that Sucy might actually be a killer. Funny, considering how they'd met. "I'm sorry, but I don't know if I can help. All the books are different – even the Night Fall books don't all agree. They don't all have the same way of feeding. Do you… are your teeth… oh, wow."

Sucy shut her mouth. "I'm pretty sure I use them."

"S-so you bite people. That's progress!"

"That much was obvious," Sucy said. "But I could really hurt someone with these, and then they'd be bleeding on me. What does the vampire boy do, in those books of yours?"

"You mean Edgar?" Lotte asked.

Sucy shrugged. "Sure."

Lotte swallowed dryly. She felt caught between her two selves again, but this time they were squeezing in to push her in the same direction. Meeting her friend as a real-life vampire had the Lotte of Luna Nova dying of curiosity, but she'd never have been brave enough to act on it. The visitor wouldn't have understood the appeal, but now that she did… a warm feeling rushed through Lotte's face and chest, down to her fingertips; it was new to her, but somehow also pleasant and familiar.

"Well, first he makes sure Belle is comfortable. Usually, they… hm… come over here, again." Lotte beckoned. "They're usually already touching. He gives her time to ease into it."

Sucy blinked at her, then smoothly scooted from her perch to Lotte's side, as though it were the same bed. Lotte guided Sucy's hands, turned away, and leaned back into her, placing them in a light embrace. Sucy squirmed a bit, then steadied. "Like this?" she asked studiously. "What next?"

"They talk some, about their days, or important things on their minds, which we've been doing. They're always winding down, letting go of their stress and worries…" Lotte gave her a quick look. "And after a few minutes of that, Belle's ready."

"And then he just bites her?"

"Yes. It's okay because Belle trusts him."

"That's… simpler than I thought," Sucy said, fidgeting. She started to lean in, hesitated, and sat back awkwardly. Her face was deadpan, but Lotte had never seen her so nervous.

"I think you know what to do," Lotte said softly. "I think what you're asking for is permission."

Sucy started to pull away, but Lotte squeezed her wrists.

"You're not rolling over me," Lotte whispered, hardly believing it herself. "I want you to."

Sucy rested her forehead against Lotte's shoulder. Outside of their half-covered window, one of the last flights of geese honked their way over Luna Nova. As the silence stretched, a whole school full of footsteps, distant voices, and sporadic bursts of magic seemed to press in on their dark little sanctum. Finally, Sucy drew herself up and cool breath fell on Lotte's neck.

Lotte smiled and drifted away.