Whateley Academy September 25, Monday morning
She got the idea from two separate classes. In her first class of the morning, Costuming, Mrs. Ryan started them all on a major project.
“I want you all to create a distinctive costume,” she said. “Some of you may not end up using this costume – well, except for Halloween perhaps, but it’s good to try it. Indulge yourself, even if you never considered yourself part of the ‘spandex set.’ We’ll be tweaking your costume up through winter break, and it will constitute 60% of your grade.”
It turned out that Mrs. Ryan had a thing for capes. Not surprising, considering where she worked. But she was particularly insistent that Jinn’s costume needed a cape.
“Well, Dear, you’re really nothing but clothes, are you? So take advantage of it! One of the main problems with capes is that it’s hard to get them to billow properly. But you are the cape! You could billow properly no matter what the wind is like.” She patted Jinn on the shoulder. “Just try it out, Dear.”
“It doesn’t work that way,” Jinn tried to explain. “I can come out in two styles – I’m either the clothes, or the person. If I’m the clothes I can billow and all that, but it isn’t like I have a body inside. If I’m the person, then it’s like I have a solid body inside, but I’m just wearing the clothes. I can’t billow any more than you can.”
Mrs. Ryan thought about that. “Well, maybe that’s even better! Think of the wonderful effects you could make. A real person, suddenly going all flat and everything as you fade into the cape. Billowing and swooping about, before you suddenly re-materialize as a person. Very spooky. You know, getting the proper effect is more than half the battle.”
“But I can’t switch back and forth – I’m just one or the other.”
And that’s when Mrs. Ryan dropped her bombshell of a question. “Why not?”
Then, after lunch, Powers Lab was its usual happy chaos. Speedsters were practicing dodges and intricate start-stop maneuvers, bricks and strong types were engaging in an egg toss. Several flyers were on the “water track”. This was a walking course that periodically switched between solid panels and open water. The object was to walk “normally”, not changing gait as you switched from walking to (effectively) flying. Other students judged, trying to spot errors.
Jinn was with several other smaller students at the instrumented nautilus, while Mrs. Bohn evaluated her strength project.
“Excellent,” the older woman said. “Keep this calendar up to date as well. I see you have a measurement of 180 pounds from back in August. What was that?”
“That was when I had my preliminary evaluation, for getting into Whateley,” Jinn told her.
“Shame you don’t have any earlier data. But at least you kept good records for how long you could stay out before evaporating. We can get a pretty good curve on that one. From our previous discussions, I’m sure you can identify this type of curve?”
“Uh, logarithmic?”
“Asymptotic. Technically, a hyperbolic tangent, but why quibble? And as you can see, you’ve pretty well hit your maximum time of sixty-seven minutes and about eighteen seconds. Right now you’re asymptotically approaching a limit,” she punched it up on her calculator, “with this data, I see you approaching a maximum time limit of 67.532 minutes. Do you see?”
Jinn nodded. “And my strength is the same?”
“Yes, although I’m not going to run the calculations right now. The data’s too sparse until you get a better baseline. Keep measuring on the calendar. It should top out at about 189 pounds, more or less.”
“So those are my ultimate limits?”
Mrs. Bohn pursed her lips. “Not necessarily. Often, particularly in the younger students, this turns out to be the ‘first bloom’. You need some special challenge or trigger to ‘kick it up a notch’ as my favorite chef says. It’s hard to predict what that might be, but often some or all of your power will suddenly be pushed into a new upward power climb. That generally follows an S-curve, which is another reason to monitor these values. If something kicks you into a higher power range, we’ll want to study it carefully, to derive maximum benefit from it.”
Jinn nodded, although she wasn’t sure she really understood.
“So, are there any other values you can think to measure numerically about your condition?”
“Uh, strength, duration (although I tend to think of it as ‘lifespan’), I don’t know – quality of my vision? Some sort of eye test?”
“Good, good. How about some non-numeric elements? According to your assessment file, you should be able to perform all sorts of interesting maneuvers in your bound-to-fabric form. I don’t believe I’ve ever actually seen you that way.”
“Uh, well,” Jinn scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. She didn’t actually ever get itches, but it was an old habit.
In the background, a flyer was struggling against a gravity-inducer. She suddenly crashed down into a padded foam pit, spewing obscenities.
“Language, Miss Ware!”
“I could handle this if you’d let me use my broom!”
“The exercise is to develop your innate levitation skills.”
Mrs. Bohn turned back to her. “I believe you were explaining why I hadn’t seen your bound-to-fabric form?”
“Well,” Jinn tried, “it makes it tough getting back and forth to class. I mean, what if it was a amber flag day? I don’t look that human if I’m just a bunch of animated fabric.”
“Why don’t you just switch from one form to the other in class. Perhaps right now?”
“Uh… I can’t. When I’m cast, I’m either one way or the other. I can’t switch.”
Mrs. Bohn frowned. “That doesn’t sound right. It seems like more of a psychological limit than anything else. I don’t see why you can’t easily switch from one style to another.”
“Well, it’s just sort of like how I get cast into a set of stuff. I can’t extend my influence to cover more ‘stuff’. It’s only when I’m first cast.”
The teacher was shaking her head. “No, that’s completely different. Material focus, time of instantiation, there’s plenty of documentation on that type of phenomena. But you’re nothing more than a psychological collection of telekinetic forces. You should be able to flip yourself around, or whatever, without disrupting your bond to the original material.”
Jinn shrugged.
“Well, work on it. That will be your project for this week. And keep in mind that initially, it may be easier to go in one direction than the other. Start out both ways, then try to go to the other state.”
Later, back at Poe, Jinn thought about it. She certainly wasn’t getting anywhere (as Jinn) in martial arts. Ito Sensei wouldn’t work with her, since she had no body and no ki. He kept claiming that he had “nothing to teach her.” Tolman Sensei seemed more tolerant, but was a bit puzzled on how to craft any tricks or techniques for the non-physical girl. She kept her practicing the same maneuvers in different orientations – mid-air, upside down, etc.
If Jinn could master this, she might be able to open up a larger raft of possibilities.
Of course, this wasn’t the time to experiment. Everyone was piled into the study corner, with Jade lying on a blanket-chair in mid-air as she typed on the laptop, Toni dangling from a foot-loop tied to the ceiling, Tennyo reclining in mid-air, and Ayla poking halfway through the wall like a mounted trophy. Fey was missing, having said something about modeling practice, and Hank had offered to walk her there and back.
Jinn was taking up the slack. In addition to holding books, tables, pens, blanket-couches, drinks, and the like, she was also holding desk lamps in position to provide reading light. Fey usually handled the lighting, and she was sorely missed.
Jinn had also taken a subtle hold on Toni’s clothes. The girl had been warned to be extra-careful of her head this week, but here she was dangling upside down and hanging by one foot. She’d have to let go if Toni moved more than a few feet away, but today the hyperactive girl had been unusually subdued. Perhaps it had something to do with Ito Sensei’s brutal analysis of Toni’s fight, or whatever had happened when he kept her behind class today.
They finally met up with Hank and Fey on the way to dinner. The green flag was up, so Jade decided to practice. For Jinn, she left behind the mask and wig and used only the black hood, full-body leotard, and gloves.
“Whoa, looking a bit flat, Jinn,” Hank said, as he strolled up to them. “New look?”
Jade explained it for her. “We’re trying to learn to switch between being a person, and being the object.”
“Yeah,” Jinn added. “There’s a lot I can do in this form that I can’t do as a person.”
“Yeah, you can look a LOT more skinny,” Toni quipped. “Damn! I’ve never seen such an effective diet.”
Jinn floated up to the black girl. “Well… I can do this.” She flopped her arm out toward Toni, then wrapped the sleeve round-and-round the other girl’s arm.
“Hmmm.” Toni pulled back against the binding. “Might be a good way to tie someone up, if they aren’t strong enough to rip lycra.”
Jinn unwound the sleeve. “I’m going to roam around, while I try to figure this out.”
The rest of the team nodded at her.
“Look,” Toni began, continuing her previous crusade, “I’m just saying that we all need to have code names.”
“Is she on that again?” Fey asked, with a bored expression.
“Hey, it’s fine for you. You already have ‘Fey’, and Billie goes by ‘Tennyo’ half the time anyway. But what about the rest of us?”
Ayla spoke up. “Phase. I told you back when we were first introduced.”
“Huh?” “News to me.” “I don’t remember that.”
Ayla shrugged, unconcerned. “Maybe I only thought about it. But I definitely picked it out then. I was sure I mentioned it to someone.”
“Ooookay,” Toni said. She eyed the selections with dismay. “Anyone notice that Mondays seem to be the low point on the whole menu biorhythm? I mean, meat loaf? Cabbage rolls?”
“Hey, do we have to do a trademark search or something when we come up with a name?” Hank asked.
“They recommend it, but you can let that slide for a couple of months. It’s really only an issue when you start using it in public.”
Nikki had a thought. “Can we change our code name?”
“You getting tired of ‘Fey’?”
“No, it’s just – maybe a girl needs some variety.”
Surprisingly, it was Jade who answered. “My friend Juanita, from upstairs, is changing her name. She decided that ‘Quickie’ didn’t convey the image she wanted.”
Hank started snickering. “Oh, Lord…!”
“She’s thinking of using ‘Go Go’, but a lot of us weren’t sure that was much better.”
Hank was laughing now. “Does she have special thigh-high boots? And a miniskirt? Does she wear really bright polyester?”
“Hank! I’m serious!”
“So am I.”
So automatically that they didn’t consciously think about it, the crew entered the domed cafeteria and moved to their socially-approved seating.
As freshmen, the school hierarchy pushed them to get tables around the far edge of the dome room. This was just as well, since a yelling match erupted in the center of the dome at least once a week. This time, it was a bunch of the high-status Alphas yelling at someone that Jade actually recognized. She’d eaten dinner with Mindbird a week ago, before Tennyo’s big hearing.
She briefly wished that Jinn were around, so she could see the energies being gathered up. These sorts of events were usually pretty colorful to Jinn’s special vision, including both the violent emotions and the mutant energies that were generated. Instead, she turned back to the conversation.
“I swear, that Don Sebastiano makes me so sick. I wish Mindbird would just shove her boot straight down his throat!”
“Naw, nothing can penetrate his Aura of Smugness.”
Jade looked quickly around at her companions, but they were as surprised as she was. It was more of the curious acoustics of the dome. When you sat at the edge, you sometimes heard conversations from the other side of the dome. There was no telling who they were hearing.
“Well,” Toni said, speaking as much to their unseen companions as to the team at the table, “I think he’s about to be wearing her soda.”
Sure enough, Mindbird flung her drink in the direction of the large Latino that was bothering her. But the Latino’s companion, a lithe-looking Frenchman, held his hands out and immediately conjured a shield. The drink splashed harmlessly against the shield. While the Latino laughed, Mindbird stalked away in a huff.
“That makes me want to puke, every time I see it,” the voice came.
“What are you talking about?” Toni asked the voice.
“Uh… I’ve probably said too much. If you want to know, ask what happened to Cavalier and Skybolt. Just don’t ask too loudly. Get my drift?”
“No, I don’t,” Fey said. “What are you talking about?”
But the voice was gone.
After that bit of entertainment and mystery, the group returned to the perennial favorite of code names.
“Well,” Jade admitted reluctantly, “I was thinking of something like ‘Clothes Ghost’. What do you think?”
“Oh, puh-leeze!” Ayla groaned. “Clothes Ghost? Why not, ‘Haunted Laundry’ or ‘Creepy Cleaning’?”
“Well it’s a start!”
“You know,” Tennyo realized, “you’re probably going to need TWO code names. One for Jinn, and one for Jade.”
“One for…me?” Jade squeaked. “But, I don’t HAVE any powers! Not without Jinn.”
“Yeah, but you were on the field with us when we faced the ninjas,” Toni pointed out. “It’s probably going to be the same in the future. Better get used to it. Besides, haven’t you been learning anything in martial arts?”
“But… but… I’m just a normal person.”
Hank snorted. “So is Ito Sensei – in theory. He sure smacked me around.”
Fey looked over at the lone guy at the table, as he finished his third helping of meatloaf. “How about you, Big Guy?”
“Well, since I’m so tough, someone suggested ‘Dense’.” He glared at Tennyo, who seemed to be staring out the window so that she could concentrate on her whistling. “I didn’t like that one, for obvious reasons.”
“Oh, didn’t want to go with ‘Studmuffin’?” Fey slipped in.
Hank almost choked on his drink. Jade watched Fey and Tennyo exchange glares. She wasn’t entirely sure she always understood the other girls.
“How about you, Toni?” Ayla asked. “You keep bringing it up. Are you settled on ‘Chaka’?”
“Well let’s run the numbers,” the black girl said. “Whatever I pick, it’s gotta be cool. That just goes without saying. Something sleek. And it would be nice if it mixes in martial arts, somehow. And since Chaka is the Masai name for the leopard, we got,” she began to tick off points on her fingers, “we got the cool – ‘cause what’s cooler than the Masai? We got sleek. Are leopard’s sleek? Betcher ass. And last – big cats ‘n’ martial arts? Hell, I’m there. Yeah, I’m sticking with Chaka.”
“And you’ll fit in absolutely perfectly with the Tigers!” Jade suggested. “They were already pretty impressed by your match. I think they kind of want you to join them. And once they hear your code name –”
Toni scowled. “I’m not sure if that’s a plus or a minus.”
“So what’s with them?” Fey wondered. “Aren’t the tigers all black? Aren’t they, like, Afro-centric?”
“Yeah, none of you melanin-deprived types allowed. Nothing but brothers and sisters. You got a problem with that?”
“Well, aren’t tigers native to India, not Africa?”
“Hey, get off their case, okay? There’s a limited set of good martial arts names. ‘Dragons’ was already taken.”
“Uh huh.”
Dinner finished with no one (aside from Phase) coming up with a good code name. As they headed back up the walkway toward Melville and then Poe, Jade pushed things to a new topic.
“You know, we’re going to need more than code names. We’re all going to need costumes, too.”
“Where’d you hear that?”
“It’s for the yearbook pictures. You get your picture in your costume.”
“That isn’t until practically spring!”
“Well,” Jade defended, “it’s different for me. As Jinn, I mean. My name and my costume are practically the same thing.”
“Clothes ghost!” Ayla muttered to herself, snickering.
“I don’t know if I need a costume,” Tennyo said, rubbing a hand back across her hair. “After all, no one’s going to be mistaking this beautiful head.”
“Do we need to learn how to do a quick-change?” Ayla wondered, gruffly.
“Hmm, maybe I don’t need a costume,” Fey mused. “If I could just sort of glamour something up…”
“Speaking of costumes,” Hank said, “isn’t that Jinn, up on the bench? Looks like she hasn’t figured out how to switch into a girl, she’s still pretty flat looking.”
In fact, she was completely flat. The full-body leotard had been draped over the bench as if drying. The slippers and gloves were lying on the ground nearby, and the hood was quickly located on the ground.
“Weird,” Fey said. “It’s like she just dropped everything right here.” She lifted up the empty clothes, which were obviously not inhabited by Jinn. “When did she come back to you, Jade?”
There was a quiet sob, and everyone turned to look at the small Asian girl. A girl that was suddenly shaking and white.
“She didn’t!” Jade choked out. “She never came back!”
Back in the common room, the other girls were trying to comfort Jade.
“She’s just … gone,” Jade whispered, hoarsely.
Tennyo awkwardly patted her roommate’s shoulder. “Could she have gone flying off as a bit of lint or something?”
Jade sat up abruptly. “Maybe. Maybe!” She looked at her watch. “I always set this when I charge Jinn. I’ve been timing how long she can be out, and I know the maximum time is just a bit over sixty-seven minutes. That means we’ve still got ten minutes left!”
That cheered everyone up, but the tension mounted as Jade’s watch moved forward. Finally, the second hand swept toward the magic mark of sixty-seven minutes. Then it swept past.
“That’s… impossible!” Jade wailed.
“Maybe you mis-set your watch,” Fey offered.
Five minutes later, there were no such excuses, and Jade had retired to her room in tears. “I’m dead!” she kept saying over and over.
The other girls looked uncomfortably at each other, but there was nothing they could do.
EARLIER THAT DAY, things had not been going well for Tansy Walcutt. She was a junior this year, and the way she figured it, it was about time they started looking to HER for leadership. After all, wasn’t she beautiful? Wasn’t she charming? In her own mind she answered the question, “Fucking right I’m charming! I can out-charm any of you god-dammed bitches all the way to hell and back!”
The other women in question were trying their first bit of runway work, under the guidance of ‘Poise’, the nominal leader of Venus, Inc. The “nominal” part was mostly in Tansy’s mind – everyone else seemed to think that Poise had the position locked in.
Like ‘Poise’ is such a fucking great code-name. It should be ‘Poison’, which is what I’d like to do to her and all those other fuck-faces out there.
One young girl, in particular, was collecting her wrath. A freshman, of all things. This girl was one of those faerie types. She was an exotic near-human who practically glowed with beauty. Even worse, this girl seemed to have it all. Beauty, grace, an excellent figure, and a “sincere personality” (completely overrated, in Tansy’s opinion). Tansy had thrown a couple of psychic jabs at the girl, just to get her to stumble on the runway. The girl had stumbled – the first time. Then she seemed to wave her hand dismissively, and the jabs didn’t seem to get through to her again. Even worse, her impossibly wide elven eyes seemed to focus on Tansy briefly.
After that, Tansy just sat back and sulked. It wasn’t like Whateley needed that many models throughout the school year. The freshmen were supposed to be gawky and naïve, not exotic beauties. They were supposed to need her guidance. But instead of asking her to lead them, all they wanted was help and some tips.
Well, Tansy decided to herself, if I can’t run Venus, Inc. then I will god-dammed OWN the Alphas.
But that had problems of its own. Don Sebastiano’s powers were too much like her own. Although neither of them were full telepaths, they both had tricks and techniques they used to control others. A game that Don seemed to be better at than she was.
Maybe if she slept with him, distasteful as that thought was.
No. She needed an edge. She ran through the power structure in her mind. By rights, Kody should have run the alphas this year. He was the senior. He had the muscle. No one was going up against Kodiak, if they had more than half a brain. But The Don had fear on his side. Somehow, he’d pulled a major coup last Christmas with Cavalier and Skybolt, and now everyone was more likely to shit their pants than go up against “The Don.”
Abruptly, she pushed herself upright and went walking away from the stage. As an experienced member of Venus, Inc., she was supposed to be helping the new girls, providing them with critique and suggestions to help out their modeling careers. Well, to hell with that. She had plans to put under way.
She plied Kody at dinner. At 6’ 6”, the massive senior had a build that spoke of pure muscle and power. What wasn’t so obvious was the native intelligence lurking behind those yellow eyes.
“Kod-ie,” she wheedled, hanging off one of his massive arms, “the alphas would be sooo much better off if you were in charge.”
He grunted non-committally, taking another large bite of salad. “Leaving you in the number two slot, huh?”
“Well, every king needs his queen.”
“Look, I’ll be square with you, which is a lot more than you’re doing for me.” He used his napkin to wipe his lips, apparently not even noticing that he half-lifted her from her seat as he moved his arm. “I don’t like the way The Don is handling the alphas. Not at all. When Freya ran things –” he paused “Well, let’s just say that things have changed, and NOT for the better.
“But after Cavalier and Skybolt – no one’s going to touch The Don. You remember last year, before Christmas? She slapped him. She wouldn’t even speak to him! But after we all came back in January, The Don brought a bunch of us guys together. We didn’t know what he planned to show us.
“It was Skybolt. She was looking at him like he was the son of God. He just nodded at her, that was all, and she dropped to her hands and knees and sucked him off, right there in front of us. And Cavalier, her boyfriend, watched with a big smile like it was the finest thing he’d ever seen.”
Tansy sighed in boredom. “Yada yada yada. You know how many times I’ve heard that stupid story? He probably paid her off. If so, he certainly got his money’s worth.”
Privately, she knew it was more than that, even if the telepathic probes had never turned up any evidence. Still, she was sure she could accomplish the same, given enough time to reinforce a few post-hypnotic suggestions.
“With what I know right now,” Kodiak said carefully, “there’s no way I’m going up against The Don.”
“Poor little Kody,” she said, stroking his huge arm, “so scared of The Don’s evil mind-control.”
“No,” he said. “I hold the spirit of the Bear. The Bear protects me from that. But there are others who aren’t protected. Don’t start a war, unless you’re willing to accept the casualties.”
She slapped at him flirtatiously. “Silly bear! Why should I be bothered with casualties?”
She stopped for a smoke after dinner, going over the conversation in her mind.
“The Bear protects me from that.”
Hmmm, she mused, maybe that’s the edge I need over The Don. Tansy didn’t believe in revealing the full extent of her abilities. She knew she was an avatar, but about the lowest level you can get. Back before she’d shown any of her other powers, back when she’d still been an ugly little fat girl, she’d always tried to get away from things. And Daddy’s summer cottage was about as far away as you could get.
She’d hiked out on her own, once, trying to get to the “special spot” the groundskeepers always talked about. A little waterfall and pool that were supposed to be “something special.”
It had been special, alright. She’d felt impossibly guilty at the time. With what she knew now, it was just some dumb nature spirit in its hallow. She’d stumbled into the spot and inadvertently sucked the spirit of the place into her. And had it given her any great powers or abilities? Hell no. It gave her “serenity” and an ability to gather peaceful animals around her.
As her fury had grown, she could feel the trapped spirit struggling to escape. From her point of view, it had been monstrously unfair. If she gained super powers, she was supposed to turn into some sort of beautiful mutant girl, so pretty that it hurt people to look at her. She wasn’t supposed to gain the power to charm a bunch of god-dammed game animals.
Looking back on it, she was sure that it was her anger that clashed against the spirit’s serenity. It has struggled desperately to be free. Even now, she wasn’t sure whether it had escaped and returned to its hallow, or whether she had just shredded the useless thing in her rage. She’d certainly never returned to the spot. And there’d been even less need, when she finally did develop the type of powers she was supposed to have.
But she and The Don were pretty evenly matched. What if she had an edge? What if she had her own spirit, to protect her mind from Sebastiano’s touch?
The problem was, finding spirits wasn’t that easy. It seemed like a third of the avatars around hadn’t linked to any spirits yet.
She wondered if she could buy a spirit off of someone.
While enjoying that little fantasy, who should come up toward the cafeteria but the stupid faerie model-girl that had irritated her earlier. Tansy’s eyes almost popped from their sockets, when she saw who faerie-girl was meeting. It was Trevor! What was he/she calling itself these days? Ayla, she remembered.
She suddenly realized that these were the girl from the ninja attack, a couple of weeks ago. She hadn’t recognized faerie-girl until now. In the daylight, she looked more filled out and feminine. Probably stuffs her bra, Tansy decided.
She kept back in her smoking hole, behind a screen of bushes, watching the girls talk. The floating clothing was weird, and wrapped its arm around the black girl. Then the girls headed into the cafeteria, while the clothing floated away.
That can’t possibly be a spirit, Tansy told herself. There’s no way I’m that lucky.
But fortune favors the bold, so she sauntered her way up the walk, following the floating leotard.
“Really,” Tansy drawled out, “basic black is attractive, but this carries things a bit too far, don’t you think?”
The leotard pivoted in mid-air until it was facing her. It hadn’t moved suddenly, as if startled. This was a smooth pivot, as if it was hesitant.
“I’m just… practicing.” The clothes had a girl’s voice.
“How droll. Practicing what?”
“I – I should be able to, I don’t know, come alive inside the clothes. Fill them out, as if a normal person was wearing them. I just can’t figure out how to make the switch.”
“Maybe I can help,” Tansy offered. “I’m Tansy Walcutt. You’ve probably heard of me.” She held out her hand.
And empty sleeve and glove flopped up into her hand. “Uh, sure. I’m Jinn Sinclair. I’m just a freshman.”
“Hmmm, fascinating,” Tansy said. She could get a tingle from the glove. She knew that there was something in the glove, something ticking at her avatar senses, but she couldn’t quite get a handle on it. The material of the glove prevented her from making contact with the spirit.
“Uh, can I have my hand back now?” The clothes-girl was surprisingly strong as she tugged her arm back.
“Be patient, damn you!” Tansy hissed back. “I’m trying to figure this out!”
“Oh. I guess.”
Tansy pulled the glove away from the sleeve. It stretched, like it was connected by elastic, even though there was nothing visible between the glove and the sleeve. But Tansy’s avatar senses were suddenly sensing a thin film of pure spirit that joined the glove to the rest of the garment.
“Perfect!”
“What? What are you–?”
Tansy jabbed the bright-red painted fingernails of her right hand straight into that film of spirit. Harnessing all the greed in her power, she sucked at those energies that should rightfully belong to her.
“No! What are you doing? It hurts!” The clothing girl gave a thin screech of pain, then utterly collapsed.
Tansy smiled a predator’s smile, and tossed the empty garment onto a nearby bench. She could feel the energies crackling over her skin, as they settled into place. She felt… strong! She reached over to the iron bench, which had to weigh nearly a hundred pounds. She lifted it in one hand.
Laughing madly, Tansy stretched her arms out, cruciform. Gathering the power in a way she couldn’t explain, she lifted off the ground, flying into the sky.
To hell with The Don, she exulted. I should have done this AGES ago!
Tansy was careful to let herself down quickly. So she could fly now? Not as fast as some, but it was a hell of a lot better than the spirits some people had gotten. Still, she’d always been one to keep a little reserve hidden away. It wouldn’t do to share this secret prematurely.
She wondered if she’d picked up the mental fuzzing that Kody had talked about. Her roommate should be able to answer that one.
She practically skipped her way back across campus toward Dickinson. The power didn’t have to be used to fly – she could just make herself light on her feet. That meant less effort, added grace, and for once she didn’t mind wearing high heels.
She was in such a good mood, she decided to have a little fun with the lower-tier dweebs she ran across.
And there, a bit ahead of her, were the perfect set of victims. A group of sophomores, mostly, that had pretensions of being criminal masterminds. The girl in front, the Asian one, what was her name? Hazard? She was a little too attractive for Tansy’s liking. She saw no reason to share the spotlight with anyone. The rest of them were non-entities, completely dismissible. Except of course, for Jello. She wasn’t sure why a bunch of reasonably good-looking kids would hang around with that thing. The girl – although it was hard to tell at times – seemed to be in the process of melting. It was revolting, and Tansy was under the firm impression that Jello and the rest of the freak-show crew should take separate classes and separate meals, so that they didn’t disturb their betters. In fact, it would be better for everyone if there were just a separate school. One for the normal and attractive kids, and another for the losers and freaks.
Still, they did make amusing targets.
She prepared her favorite ability, the one she called “brain zap.” It didn’t necessarily make you stumble, or stutter. It just caused a little hiccup in the thought process. And if you happened to be in the middle of speaking or taking a step… well, that was too bad, wasn’t it? Like all of life, half the trick was in the timing.
Strolling elegantly behind them, she was part of the sparse crowd that wound its way out of Crystal Hall and through campus on their way back to the cottages. The gas lights alongside the brick walk were beginning to provide more illumination as the twilight deepened. Clusters of students walked and talked. Tansy waited for the proper moment – when Jello had just raised her right foot. ZAP! And the melting girl stumbled, toppling forward flat onto her face. She was apparently so confused that she didn’t even have time to put her hands out. She hit the brick walkway face-first, and splashed. Like a water balloon that doesn’t burst, the uncontrolled shapeshifter bulged out to the side, before sucking back into roughly human shape.
Tansy howled with laughter. Around her, she felt other students joining in, some with uncomfortable chuckles, but a few bold ones echoing her own mocking howls.
“Oh, that’s rich!” she chortled. “I’ll bet that made an impression on you! Hey, I’d heard you were strong, but now you can be a real BRICK!”
Sure enough, as her friends helped her up, the Jello-girl’s face held a perfect imprint of the walkway. Tansy howled again as she strode regally past them.
You did that on purpose, didn’t you?
“What? Who said that?” The girl, whoever she was, sounded like she was right next to her.
Why would anyone be so deliberately cruel?
Tansy suddenly recognized the voice. She’d last heard it coming from a flat piece of fabric. She kept walking, until she was out of earshot. “Be quiet, little spirit. I guess I’m not done digesting you yet.”
You don’t have the slightest idea what you’re doing, do you?
“I know more than you do, that’s for damn sure. And look!” She lifted off the ground briefly. “Guess who’s got your powers now?”
Guess who’s about to get haunted.
“Don’t make trouble for me, or you’ll regret it.”
Oh, sure. What are you going to do? Hit me in the head?
“Hmm. We’ll see.” And she hurried a bit more, going back to Dickinson.
As always, it was a relief to get back to her room. For a trendy private school, it was surprising how shabby most of Whateley was. She’d actually had to pay out of her own pocket to get her dreary little room fixed up halfway decently. Even now, she couldn’t get good maid service or plant service – her people had to contract out with indigent students to do the work for her. It was solid proof that being a mutant didn’t qualify someone as adequate domestic help. Still, dreary as this home-away-from-home was, it was a hundred times better than what most of the other students had to put up with. She always got a bit of a lift coming back into her own little kingdom of a room.
The quality of her upgraded room was probably why her creepy roommate spent so much time there. As she entered, she was unsurprised to see that her girl sitting on the bed and meditating, or whatever it was that she did. It was weird – sometimes it almost seemed like Sahar was the only girl on the floor that would put up with her. Tansy didn’t understand that at all. She was rich and beautiful – she decided that her other roommates just had a problem dealing with their jealousy. As for Sahar, she was attractive enough not to offend Tansy’s sensibilities, and seemed grateful enough (given her terrible reputation) to have some contact with Venus and the Alphas.
Tansy breezed into the room, pirouetting on her toes. “Notice anything different about me, Semi?” In her one burst of amicability, she’d bothered to memorize Semiramis Vesmarran’s actual name. Like most foreign names, it was a mouthful of gibberish, so she usually shortened it to the much more convenient “Semi.”
The olive-skinned girl was sitting in full lotus on her bed. She pulled the curly black hair away from her face and stared with her creepy eyes. The eyes with a red ring around the iris. “What, you mean like the spirit you’re carrying?”
“Not bad. I guess being a mind vampire pays off.”
Sahar merely made a quick hand gesture. Tansy assumed it was vulgar. Whenever she translated any of the girl’s Arabic phrases, they turned out to be rude enough to strip paint.
“What can you tell me about it?”
Sahar held out a hand. “One hundred dollars.”
“I should have known!” Tansy flounced over to her purse and pulled out a pair of fifties. “I want everything you can figure out. Especially whether this fuzzes my mind out, or protects me from telepaths.”
Sahar peered at her and did her creepy mental thing for a moment. “First, it’s not a spirit, it’s a human girl. I would say a human soul. And you call me a vampire? I’m not sure how it’s going to affect either you or her, if you keep holding her. For all I know, she could end up taking YOU over.”
She peered a little longer. “She does provide some shielding. Your thoughts and hers are too close together. It’s hard to pick either one apart. Maybe with practice. It’s not like a real shield, but it does confuse things. Yeah, ‘fuzzing’ the mind is pretty accurate.”
Jinn had looked to the roommate as a possible rescuer. The girl had spotted her right away!
But then she took Tansy’s money and began probing at her. It was technically interesting to watch the probes happen. Sahar had a mass of ultra-violet that covered her head like an Afro hair-do. Periodically, a laser-line of ultra-violet would snap out from her head and pierce through Jinn. After a couple of those, Jinn tried to communicate.
Hello? Can you hear me?
Slightly. You are strangely hard to hear – it’s like your frequency is interfering with Solange’s. And I can only hear what you send, not what you’re simply thinking.
Can you contact my roommate, Tennyo, or my…uh…my sister, Jade?
Perhaps. What would you offer me? One hundred dollars?
That was as much as she earned in a week! Let me think on that. They’ve over at Poe Cottage.
I’m afraid I cannot help you. I would not be welcome at Poe. And contact ceased.
Sahar sighed. She’d agreed to report everything. “She claims to have a sister, and a roommate. I presume she’ll be missed in her classes tomorrow, if not sooner.”
“Oh, right. Like I’d be so much better off if I just let her go. I don’t think so. Watch this!” And with a negligent wave of her arm, Tansy floated up to the ceiling. “Pretty impressive, huh? I’m strong, too.” She reached over and hefted their mini-fridge. “Spirit-girl is staying right where she is. And that hundred bought your silence, too. Right?”
Sahar reluctantly nodded. “That is our arrangement.”
“Maybe if I have any trouble, I’ll pay you to give my little passenger the old evil eye, and shut her up permanently.”
Sahar sighed again. Life with Tansy Walcutt continued to be educational. And Tansy was effectively immune to her powers. Sahar could learn skills from those she was extremely close to, but Tansy had nothing worth learning. And Sahar had the ability to discern hidden secrets and weaknesses. Again Tansy foiled her. Her flaws and weaknesses were so transparent that practically everyone already knew them.
But most of all, it was Tansy herself who was educational. Here was a woman with beauty, power, and more wealth than she could possibly spend. And inside, she was so vacuous and immoral that she put to shame most of the pimps and thieves Sahar had known in the streets of Beirut.
As a telepath, she was well suited to judge inner beauty.
She contemplated her own life, and felt nothing but sorrow.
Jinn discovered that she didn’t sleep. She was somehow an unwilling passenger in Tansy’s body.
This had some unusual benefits. She’d wondered what it felt like to be a real girl. She was swiftly finding out. Bound as she was to Tansy’s body, she apparently shared in all the girl’s sensory nerve endings. So she knew exactly what it felt like as the girl undressed and slipped into her negligee. Jinn might even have felt guilty at the voyeurism, if it had been anyone other than Tansy.
After the girl fell asleep, though, Jinn was in a quandary. She could feel everything the girl felt, but she couldn’t move so much as a muscle.
Plainly, she was cast in her human-body form, with her spirit-body stretched to exactly match Tansy’s physical body. If it were true that she was a body image template, what effect would it have if she continued to inhabit Tansy’s body? Would Tansy begin to look more and more Japanese? Would her blonde hair turn black? Would her 17-year-old figure slim down to match Jinn’s 14-year-old figure?
Then she realized something vital. She was in her “body” form!
When Tansy had absorbed her, she’d been in her flattened “cloth” form.
Which meant that she could change, without being re-cast. And somehow, this possession technique required her to be in spirit-body form. If she could alter herself, perhaps to flow along Tansy’s skin, perhaps she could break free!
Ignoring the sleeping and lightly snoring girl that held her captive, she got to work.
Jade’s alarm clock went off at the usual time. As she’d trained herself to do, she rolled over and slapped the gloves. It causes the usual small burst of fatigue. Suddenly, Jade sat up in bed, utterly, totally awake.
The gloves floated there in the air, in front of her. “I – I’m alive?” came the question from the speaker disk.
“No!” Jade almost squealed the word. “Come back!”
Instantly the gloves dropped.
Jade was already charging up the empty leotard. It rose, clearly displaying the contours of the girl underneath the fabric.
“Anything?” Jade asked, anxiously.
“No. Nothing. I don’t know why we expected to pick up some lingering impression.”
Tennyo rose slowly, rubbing her temple. “Jinn? You’re alive?”
“No,” Jade began, while “Yes, but –” came from the leotard.
“It’s like this,” Jade said.
“I’m not Jinn. She’s still missing. I’m –”
“Jann,” Jade and the new girl said together.
“Well you sure don’t look any different,” Fey said, around a bite of muffin. “Normally OR mystically. How do you know you aren’t Jinn?”
“I just know,” Jade explained, quietly. “There’s a place where her memories ought to be. She should have come back. But there’s nothing. And if I can be killed once –”
“I can be killed again,” Jann finished.
“It might have been the exercises,” Jade reminded.
“Yeah. Well, I’ll try those again, but only while you’re watching. That way, we’ll know for sure.”
“I don’t get it,” Toni said. “Whatever happened, you beat it. You’re back from the grave. That’s a good thing, right?”
“You’ve just been killed,” Jann suggested. “But, lucky you! There’s a clone ready. She looks like you, talks like you, and even has some of the same memories telepathically implanted. Are you happy?”
“Okay, okay, I get it.”
“I’m not going to be happy for a VERY LONG TIME,” Jann said, in case anyone had missed the point.
“So, Jinn, have you decided on that cape design?”
Jann’s mood hadn’t improved any. She’d given up trying to correct people on her name.
“Yeah, I guess. I’ll take a cloak, but only if I can get a hood, too. Something black. Blacker than black.”
“My, we aren’t in a very nice mood, are we?”
“I died yesterday, and I haven’t gotten over it yet.”
Mrs. Ryan peered at her. “Sometimes it’s so hard to tell when you kids are joking.”
Jann said nothing, she just stared woodenly forward without blinking, in the way that she was so uniquely qualified to do.
“Well, maybe you’d like this fabric. A devisor came up with it. It’s called ultra-black. See? You can’t even tell where is folds or creases. It’s like a hole across your desk there, isn’t it? It isn’t as strong as spandex or lycra or any of the Kevlar fabrics, and it needs special cleaning, but you don’t sew it, you just apply a bit of electrical current. Also on the plus side, it mends easy and it’s fireproof. Here, I’ll show you how to work with it.”
“I’ll take it.”
Tansy, on the other hand, was having a fabulous day.
“Are you still in there, little spirit?”
What do you want? Jinn replied, grumpily.
“Hmm, guess I haven’t finished digesting you. Well, don’t worry! Soon you’ll be a permanent part of this fabulous package!” Following her typical morning ritual, Tansy gave her sexiest morning stretch, then rose to admire herself in the full-length mirror on the back of her door. She ran her hands down her perfect figure, while watching herself in the mirror to make sure the effect was as stunning as possible.
“I don’t believe it,” Sahar said from under her pillow. “You’ve finally gotten the power you always wanted.”
“What’s that?”
“A built-in audience.”
“Ooo, is that right? Are you watching all of this, little spirit?”
After a moment, Jinn replied, I can’t really help it, can I?
“Have you ever seen such a beautiful face?”
I don’t see with light. I assume that’s a mirror, but I can’t really tell. I only see outward. I can’t look back and tell what you look like.
“Too bad you can’t feel what it’s like to be inside the nation’s classiest chassis.”
...
“What was that? You almost said something, didn’t you? Don’t tell me you really can feel this?”
Okay.
Tansy had peeled off her see-through pink negligee, and was grabbing a towel for her morning shower. She paused to laugh. “You really can, can’t you? You can feel everything I feel!”
I’m occupying your physical body. For some reason, your sensory nerves seem to be directly connected to me. At least, everything on your skin.
Tansy laughed again. “Why you lucky little minx! This little partnership of ours will probably turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to you.”
Allow me to disagree.
“So how exactly do your powers work?”
Jinn debated, but there wasn’t much she could tell that Tansy couldn’t pick up on her own. She decided that she had more to gain through any information exchange. I can lift things and move things. Your avatar powers seem to have taken my spirit and stretched it out to exactly fit in your body. My skin matches your skin. And wherever my skin is, I can lift or push or move – exactly 188.6 pounds, in any combination. So I can lift you off the ground, or help you lift something with your hands. She didn’t want to give too much away. If Tansy couldn’t figure out that this was basically a limited TK field, that was her problem.
“Really?” Tansy held an arm out and used the power to float the arm up in the air, then over her head, then she lifted herself by the arm. “Ow, it kind of hurts doing it that way.”
For Jinn the experience was much different. The TK field was her body. Someone else had short-circuited the control nerves. She could feel exactly what was being done, but she had no power to influence the outcome. It was like being paralyzed, but feeling somebody else move your arm.
“I bet I can use it to make faces!” Tansy looked in the mirror while using the power to push and prod at her face. Jinn couldn’t see the result, but it seemed to amuse her host. “Still, what’s the point? I already have the most beautiful face. I suppose when I’m older I can use this to smooth out wrinkles or something – if I ever get wrinkles, which I doubt.”
She wrapped the towel around herself when she suddenly realized, “Ooo! Instant boob job!”
There followed some of the most unusual sensations Jinn had ever felt, as Tansy used the TK to lift first her left, then her right breast.
“Hey, check this out, Sahar honey. Bet you wish you could have stolen this great ‘perky tit’ technique. Oh, but I forgot! You ‘B’ types don’t really need the support that us ‘C’ girls require, do you? But you know what? I think I’m going bra-less today.” Tucking the towel around her buoyant boobs, she flounced off to the shower.
Jinn was, once again, forced to play helpless passenger. It was interesting to see how many of the other girls moved out of Tansy’s way. The colors of their emotions made it clear that they weren’t moving from being intimidated, almost all of them seemed to harbor an active dislike of the girl, and merely wanted to be out of her way.
It was also apparent that cosmetics seemed to increase directly in proportion to age. The freshmen girls at Poe didn’t use more than a fraction of the various preparations these juniors were using. Maybe she’d have to sneak up to the fourth floor of Poe some day, and see what the girls were using there.
Then Tansy was in her shower and washing up. Jinn’s eyes metaphorically crossed. So this is what it felt like to be a girl!
Ohhh!
“Like what you feel, little voyeur?” Tansy was whispering. It seemed unlikely that anyone else would be able to hear her over the shower, but Jinn heard just fine. “I forgot – you were just a little flat-chested freshman, weren’t you?”
I was an ‘A’ cup – pretty much! Jinn defended.
Tansy chuckled to herself. “Poor little thing. Hey! I’ll bet you were still a virgin, weren’t you?”
...
“WEREN’T YOU?”
Well, what do you expect? I’m just a freshman. Of course, there was also the matter that her physical body was somewhat mis-equipped, as well.
“You probably never even kissed a boy, did you?”
I’m not going to answer any your stupid questions about my love life, okay?
“You just did, honey.” She made a hmm’ing sound to herself. “I think I’ll have to see just how badly I can blow your naïve little virgin mind.”
Jinn gulped.
Jann was working with a new mission. She’d never been big into atemi – the hard, direct strikes. She’d always preferred ukemi – flowing around your opponent and redirecting them into the ground. But right now, she really felt like hitting something.
And, working away here in costume shop, she’d suddenly figured something out. As Jinn (or rather, as Jann, now), she’d never been able to perform decent atemi. Her TK-body just didn’t deliver a sharp blow. It was fast enough and strong enough, but it was like wearing a big boxing glove. Even with all the power and strength, the blow was invariably cushioned, greatly reducing it.
For a moment, she had a fond recollection of the last time she’d held a boxing glove. It was the day she had first appeared in her spirit-girl body, and the day that her life started changing for the better.
But the boxing glove brought up another idea – the concept of cheating. Tolman Sensei was always trying to convince them to find new tricks and techniques to compensate for their weaknesses. What if she added a horseshoe or brick to her boxing glove?
Or more realistically, what if she put hard striking plates over her knuckles, and added weight to the gloves themselves? Sort of the “brass knuckles” idea, but with extra weight behind it. Five pounds in each glove ought to do it. She’d test and see if she could up it to ten. It needed to have some heft, while being light enough for her to move with full speed using her TK. It would be like punching with a sledgehammer. She’d have to wear practice gloves over her regular gloves, and maybe start off fighting some of the more durable students.
Hmmm, some sort of rigid bracers for her arms and shins would help, too. That way she could really block.
With grim satisfaction, she set to work modifying her costume.
At lunch, Tansy made an entrance to the Crystal Hall. Part of it was the sleek skintight knit dress she wore, and the fact that she was obviously wearing nothing underneath it. Part of it was the bevy of male admirers she’d picked up along the way. Part of it was the way she focused on The Don, who was just sitting down.
Across the table from The Don, Hekate was taking her seat. Her eyes locked with Tansy’s, and the air smoldered. Gauntlet thrown, challenge accepted.
Jinn had sensed, in a sort of peripheral-vision way, as Tansy had spun up an illusionary glamour about herself. She also sensed as Tansy sent tightly focused beams of mental energy at the people around her. The males escorting her received bursts of adoration. The Don was given a much more subtle treatment: greed and lust. Hekate got a diffuse transmission of doubt and uncertainty.
Tansy tossed her jacket casually to a male follower, then slinked her way up to the alpha table. Jinn had learned that Tansy was involved in the local modeling group. If she walked half as well on the runway as she walked on her way to that table, it was easy to see why she was successful. It was like she fed off the psychic emanations of those watching her. The more they adored her, the more powerful and confident she became.
Coming up to the tall Latino, she ran her finger down his arm. “Hel-lo, Sebastiano,” she cooed. “Do you mind if I… sit with you?”
Don Sebastiano has an amused sneer. “To what do I owe the coming entertainment?”
“Well,” Tansy wrapped herself halfway around him, making sure that her breast was mashed into his cheek, “it’s just that you make such a splendid king up here. I thought you deserved a queen.”
“Job filled, Solange,” Hekate hissed out.
“Isn’t that for the king to decide?” Tansy countered. “Maybe he’s tired of looking at the same scrawny sticks.”
Hekate glanced quickly at Don Sebastiano. From her vantage point, right there at the table, Jinn could see that so far Hekate was only showing mild irritation. Jinn thought that she wasn’t taking Tansy very seriously yet.
“Don –”
“I would not dream of coming between two lovely ladies, who merely want to fight over me.”
“Perhaps you forget everything I’ve done for you?” Hekate was growing much more irritated now.
The Don examined his fingers disdainfully. His aura showed him to be highly amused, and almost breathless with anticipation. “Old news. Have you done anything for me recently? Answer: no.”
For some reason, that seemed to spike Hekate into a nearly volcanic fury. The magnitude of her anger didn’t show on her face, though. She turned to Tansy. “You: begone, while I deal with this.” As she said this, Jinn saw the other girl’s eyes fill with ultra-violet energy. It launched out like twin beams, striking Tansy in the forehead.
But Jinn was in the way. She could feel some of the malevolence in that bolt. It was a compulsion, a powerful burst intended to accomplish several things at once.
First would be a total loss of bladder control. Fortunately, Jinn didn’t have a bladder, and she apparently diffused enough of that energy that Tansy could cope with the remainder.
Second was fear. Pure, unadulterated fear. That momentarily reminded Jinn of the creepy tunnel she’d worked on, just two days ago. Next to that, this fear was a pathetic second. Jinn wasn’t sure that any of that penetrated through to Tansy.
Third was an utter lack of confidence, and a need to flee. That struck through pretty solidly, but Tansy seemed to field that one on her own. So long as she had her audience, Tansy was solidly bolstered.
In short, Hekate’s attack bounced. She snapped her fingers as Tansy sat down, and suddenly the chair wasn’t there. From her 360-degree vision, Jinn saw it scoot silently backward. Tansy didn’t see that, but she didn’t fall, either. She merely sat down on the air.
“Can’t one of you boys help me with my chair?”
The chair was immediately slid in under her.
Tansy had the next move, spotting the boy who’d fetched her soup for her. Somehow, Jinn was able to perceive where Tansy’s attention was focused. Emotional bleed-through, perhaps. While trading glares with Hekate, Tansy waited for just the right moment before shooting out her favorite brain zap.
The boy stumbled, and the soup went flying – half missing Hekate, but half hitting her as well.
“You – clumsy – WORM!” The hapless boy collapsed immediately to the ground, before scrambling away on all fours, not even rising in his haste to escape Hekate. Jinn thought she was the only one who saw the torrent of energy that had blasted out of Hekate’s eyes to drill through the boy’s skull.
“Well, I can’t eat that now,” Tansy commented. “It’s all filthy.”
Hekate stood, glowing with a pulsating crimson aura. There was a sickly silver sheen outlining her as well. Without a word, she turned and stalked off, still dripping soup.
“Entertaining,” Don Sebastiano said. “This seems to be the week for flying food. But I’m afraid it wouldn’t be fair for you to continue without Hekate here. We’ll resume this at dinner.” He made a shoo’ing gesture toward Tansy. “You may go now.”
Tansy stood, suddenly angry herself. “You’re just … dismissing … me?”
“Yes. You may go.”
Angry and confused, Tansy turned and walked away. Behind them, Jinn saw an almost delicate-looking girl holding a fork up to feed The Don. The look he gave her was covetous, and his face glowed with – Jinn would have described the emotion as “pride of ownership.”
After every class, when they saw each other, Jann completely released, flowing completely back into Jade. They were both shuffling through classes, wondering when she would die. It seemed like every time she re-merged with Jade, that was one more hour that she’d cheated death.
The most satisfying time had been designing the costume and the new “punch gloves”.
They didn’t actually have the slightest idea what had happened to Jinn. The most likely theory was that she’d somehow obliterated herself while practicing changing her casting form. That certainly made the most sense, given what they knew. It was also hardest to accept emotionally. Jade, and particularly Jann, needed to believe that it had been some kind of attack – something they could learn to defend against.
Psychologically, it was impossible to just sit around waiting for an unknown death to strike. Jann needed to do something – anything – to fight back. It made things harder, since she had no idea who or what the threat was. Under circumstances like that, it was hardly surprising that she went with what she knew. And what she knew was Aikido. As Jinn, she’d been singularly ineffective in class. It was time to change that.
The whole “defend by hitting it” concept was trickling over to Jade, as well. Particularly since they re-merged after every class. And there’d been Tennyo’s comment about Jade needing a costume and code-name. So it happened that Jade began fiddling with ideas, too.
All through bio class she found it nearly impossible to listen to the teacher. Instead she kept doodling strange costumes for herself. Should she go with armor? For someone of her size, armor seemed more hindrance than help. If the bad guys put out enough effort to penetrate the armor, they’d blow her to smithereens. It almost seemed better to emphasize her vulnerability, with a costume that was armless and legless. That way, if she got hit, they might not waste the extra effort and she had a chance of recovery. Besides, that kind of costume would enhance her movement and dodging.
The other thing to think about was a weapon. Her fascination with all things Japanese caused her to think of a sword first – specifically a Japanese katana. But although she might have a good time practicing with it, she wasn’t sure she’d actually be able to use it against someone. It was a pretty deadly weapon, and cutting someone open was serious business. It was only the disaster of Jinn’s death that even allowed her to consider it. Even so, she finally decided that her hesitation would kill her. If she ever was in a situation where she really needed the sword, she’d hesitate before making the killing stroke. That sort of hesitation would make her lose every time.
A staff or bo stick might be good. The question was: how many hand-to-hand fights was she going to get in? Even if she had excellent training, her size worked against her. By the time the fight came to her, she was probably in big trouble. It might be better to rely on standard Aikido.
Which brought her around to a point that she hadn’t wanted to consider: guns. In a way, this was even worse than a sword. It there was one thing that spelled cheap, ugly violence, it was the gun. But … she was already a victim. Jinn was gone. And while Jinn obviously hadn’t been attacked with a gun, Jade was supremely vulnerable. In one sense, the smaller and weaker she was, the more she needed an equalizer.
She finished sketching out various fanciful guns on her notebook, while trying to listen to the biology lecture.
As usual, Jann met up with Morrie and Stan, for the noon shift. Today was cleaning out the air-conditioning filters at the top of Shuster Hall. She didn’t try to explain to them that she was “Jann” not “Jinn”.
“No, you numb-nuts!” Morrie was yelling at Stan. “That’s the old stack! We just took those off. We supposed to put on the new filters!”
“Geez, you make one little mistake…”
“Hey, Morrie,” Jann finally asked. “You know a lot about guns, don’t you?”
Morrie adopted an overly modest pose as he scratched his chin. “Yeah, well, I’ve been around the block a few times, if that’s what you mean.”
“Well I, I mean, Jade, we’ve had some trouble recently. And she was thinking that she needed a – an equalizer, I guess you’d say.”
“Yep. That would be a gun, alright. You know, in any normal spot I’d be advising her to take the problem to someone older. But knowing how this school goes…” He shrugged.
“Well, are there any options for – I know this is going to sound stupid – non-lethal guns?”
Morrie scratched his chin again. “You know, if this were any normal town, I’d say you were out of your mind. You get into a gun fight and you want one thing: stopping power. However…”
Jann leaned forward eagerly.
“Fact is, you’re sitting smack dab in the middle of the biggest group of tinkerers and gadgeteers in the world. I’ve heard tell of at least a couple dozen designs over the years. I’m not sure what’s out there right now, though.”
Jann drooped in disappointment.
“But I can tell you who would! Go look up Lieutenant Forsyth. He’s part of security. He’s always pretty gung-ho about the equipment. I know he sure takes his time looking over any new shipment we get for the maintenance locker.”
Tansy spent the rest of the afternoon restoring her ego. Everywhere she went, she strutted, as if ethereally light on her feet in a way that lesser mortals could only aspire too. Her psychic projections were out full force, so that everyone who saw her knew that she was absolutely, positively, the most beautiful woman in the cosmos.
Jinn noticed that the whole shtick wasn’t as effective as Tansy seemed to think it was. Nearly half the girls she passed rolled their eyes or made some other indication of disgust. Of course, Tansy has been going to class with these girls for weeks. Jinn wondered how often she turned on the “I am so beautiful” vibes.
There was a minor percentage of guys who also seemed less than enthralled. And of those who watched her, a minority seemed to have somewhat predatory emotions.
Of course, no one expressed their emotions openly, where Tansy could see. Jinn had the advantage of having eyes in the back of her head. It also helped that she could see emotions directly. And to be fair, there were plenty of admirers, among both sexes.
She wondered why the teachers allowed it. Why did they let Tansy walk broadcasting telepathic compulsions? Was it deliberate – an exercise to build up Tansy’s generating power, while simultaneously building up the telepathic resistance of the rest of the students? Or was it just a matter of, “if it isn’t causing problems, ignore it”?
Jann was brutal against the bag. Her new gloves really were like punching with sledgehammers. She’d finally ended up with seven pounds in each fist, and when she hit, that momentum was concentrated on a solid metal ridge over her first two knuckles.
“Not bad,” Tolman-sensei said from behind her. “You’re suddenly looking mean. What happened?”
Jann explained, briefly.
“Well, the gloves are a good first step. Tell me what you come up with, so I can adjust training. I’d advise more of a hard style, considering how you’re going. How’s your movement? Have you compensated for the change?”
Jann nodded.
“Let’s try you sparring against a brick. You’ve sparred with Punch before, haven’t you?”
Jann nodded at the somewhat chunky girl. “Hi, Evvie!”
“Hi, Jinn!”
Jann didn’t bother correcting her. She noticed Evvie cringing slightly, and explained, “Not your fault. I’ll explain later, back at home.” Evvie was an empath, which was pretty strange considering that she was turning into a pretty powerful brick. She lived in Poe, just three rooms down. “Something happened and I kind of decided it was time to get serious.” She slammed her knuckles together. “Metal fists, you know?”
Evvie smiled. “Cool. Let’s see what you’ve got!”
The two of them often sparred together. Evvie sometimes had trouble controlling her own strength, and she could accidentally do a lot of damage to normal opponents. Fortunately, they both knew that even if she accidentally obliterated Jann, she wouldn’t actually hurt her.
Jann moved in, raising her hands into position. Evvie was strong but not fast. It gave Jann a perfect live punching back, and within moments she had the chance to duck down, slamming one shot into Evvie’s gut, with a follow-up to the jaw.
The results surprised her. She knocked the other girl over onto her back.
Evvie rose, shaking her head. “Hey, not bad! I almost felt that!” She wiped a hand across her mouth. “My turn.”
“Uh oh.”
“You seem to be practicing more seriously than I have seen from you before,” Ito Sensei told her.
Jade paused, and bowed to her opponent, signaling for a break. “Yes, Sensei. I’ve had trouble.”
He nodded, saying nothing.
“Sensei, I was considering learning about guns.”
The old man nodded again, then, seeing that Jade would say no more, he said. “It is something to consider. It would certainly make you more of a threat than you are at present. However, that is a problem, as well. Are you certain this conflict must be escalated to lethal levels?”
“I was thinking that there are non-lethal guns.”
He nodded again. “So there are. Investigate. Find what you are comfortable with. When you have mastered this gun, not as an expert but a comfortable mastery, come to me. We will see then about joining your separate arts.”
Tansy had finally decided on a strategy. She dismissed her flock, and took off on her own. She didn’t need any witnesses for what was to come.
First, she stepped into an empty office. She knew from experience that the teachers usually lingered more than a few minutes after class. Closing the door, she pulled out her cell phone and made a quick call.
“Yes?” a male voice answered over the phone.
“This is Solange,” she said. “I have work. Usual place, 4 o’clock?”
“I’ll be there.”
Saying nothing more, she hung up. Another call, to another memorized number. This one was answered by a rough voice that she didn’t recognize. “What is it?”
“I want a meeting with Thuban.”
“He’s busy.”
She fumed. Who was this jerk to talk to her like that? “I can meet with him at five. It will be worth his while.”
“Who is this?”
“An old client,” she told the voice, smugly.
“You know his place?”
“Of course I know it! And tell him to clear away anyone unpleasant.”
There was actual growling from the other end.
“Oh, yes. I’ll be coming in through the back door. I expect you to make sure that I don’t run into that carpet Montana. There might be trouble with that.”
“Ah. You’d be Solange.”
She was half irritated and half pleased at her notoriety. “It shouldn’t matter to you. Just do what you’re told.”
There was more growling, then, “Thuban will see you.”
“I thought he would.”
Jade discovered that security was located inside Kane Hall. It seemed to be a public entrance, so she and Jann let themselves in. Inside, there were old walls with posters (she’d never before seen supervillain wanted posters) and FBI-style sheets on “Secret Organizations”. She wondered if it was some kind of joke. There was a small waiting room and a glassed-in receptionist.
“Do you have an appointment?”
“Uh, no. I was advised to see Lieutenant Forsyth? I want to find out about getting a gun.”
“I see.” The woman paused to light a cigarette. “And the purpose for obtaining the weapon?”
“Well…” How much detail to go into? “I was killed recently. I think.”
The receptionist raised an eyebrow, and drawled out. “That’s a pretty good one, even for here. It seems to me that death is the sort of thing you can be fairly certain about. You’re either dead or you aren’t, right?”
“Well, I…”
Jann pushed in, in front of her. She wasn’t wearing the Madonna-face, she was wearing an all-black skintight outfit. “We can make duplicates of ourself, like me. An earlier duplicate is missing, and we think she’s dead.”
The receptionist nodded slowly, while taking a drag on her cigarette. “You’re lucky it’s a slow day. Yeah, I’ll see if the lieutenant has time for this one.”
While they waited, they looked over the posters. Jade revised her earlier opinion. Half the wanted posters were for super-heroes, who’d skipped out on damage bonds, or were wanted for other reasons (paternity suits being common).
Shortly, a door opened and a dark-haired man in a dark blue jumpsuit and padded SWAT vest walked out to see her. “Hello? You’re the one who asked about the gun?”
Jade and Jann nodded together.
“Why don’t you step into my office, and we can talk about it.”
She followed him through the door, and was surprised to see an unusual blend in the cubicles beyond. The central area had open desks, currently mostly empty. There were glassed-in cubicles along two walls, while the far wall was taken up with a huge bank of monitors. The largest, central screen displayed a schematic of the campus and outlying areas, with complex codes and tags that made the display look like an air-traffic control screen. Strips of smaller monitors bordered that, with lines of displays to the left and right. These images were displaying scrolling pages of data, or cycling between camera views.
Jann suddenly recognized part of the schematic. “Hey, that’s the sewer system, isn’t it? And those are the tunnels for the underground class areas.”
The lieutenant peered at her. “You know the sewer system?”
“Yeah. I’m Jann Sinclair. This is Jade. We work with Morrie and Stan.”
He got back to his glass-in office and sat down. He quickly punched something in to his computer, while Jade took a seat and Jann floated. Jade noticed that he had his back to the wall, and had a perfect view not only of his guests, but also of the main display, and everything that happened in the common room.
“Right. Jade Sinclair. Although your other half is listed as ‘Jinn’, not ‘Jann.’” He read a bit more. “Part of ‘Team Kimba.’ Huh. I had you figured for the quiet one. But I can see where you’d have more than your share of physical danger, considering your roommate –”
“She’s not that bad! It’s just that things happen…”
“Uh huh. But when the tornado comes through, it doesn’t matter who’s to blame. The point is, get out of the way of the tornado.”
“She’s not like that!” Jade was getting really tired of the way people picked on poor Tennyo.
“You familiar with the concept of the lightning rod?”
“Yeah, well, but –”
The lieutenant smiled. “That girl’s a lightning rod if I ever saw one. That doesn’t mean I blame her. And in a lot of ways, she makes my job easier. I’m still smart enough to be careful when I see a thunderstorm coming.” He leaned forward. “Is that why you want a gun?”
“No! It doesn’t have anything to do with her at all! And I don’t want a gun, exactly. I mean, I can’t really imagine shooting someone. But I was talking to Morrie, and asking about non-lethal guns. He said I should talk to you.”
The lieutenant turned back to his computer. “Yes. You cleaned the Class X site at the end of the tunnel this past weekend, didn’t you?” He seemed to be speaking to himself for a moment. “Morris’s report said you held up pretty well. Says he issued you a laser rifle, and gave ‘Jinn’ a Mark 3 variable-dispersion flame thrower.”
“Yeah, and some machetes and stuff.”
“Uh huh. Laser rifle checked in with no shots fired.”
“Uh, well, there was nothing to shoot at. Not like the flame thrower.”
“Good, good.” He paused, turning his attention to the display board outside for a moment, before settling back. “Okay, let’s hear why it is that you think you need a gun.”
“Well…” Jade launched into the story of how Jinn had vanished, and her discovery that she could still conjure Jann, but that Jinn was still gone. “And, I know she wasn’t taken out with gunfire – that’s stupid, it’s not like guns could hurt her – but all of a sudden I’m realizing how vulnerable I am. I mean, we’ve seen those crystal chanting guys, and ninjas attacked, and Tennyo seems to be getting in trouble all the time. And, hey, she had assassins after her before she came here!”
Lieutenant Forsyth looked up at that. “That wasn’t in her file.”
Jann reached over to swat her physical self in the head.
“Uh, maybe she didn’t want to talk about that. Can you forget that I said anything?”
The lieutenant made a “hmmm” sound while scribbling a note.
“Well, considering the fundamental purpose of this school, and your roommate, and incidents we’ve seen so far, AND the reports I’ve gotten from Morris, a non-lethal firearm is a reasonable request. Of course, you’ll have to purchase both the equipment and ammunition on your own.”
Jade winced. “Can you deduct it from my paycheck?”
“Uh huh. And you’ll have to be extra-careful when you’re off campus. We won’t restrict you from using it off-campus, that would destroy the whole point behind this exercise, but other law enforcement agencies are bound to see things a bit more suspiciously. I’ll get you permits for regular and concealed carrying.”
He stood up.
“Come downstairs with me, and we’ll check you out on something you might be able to use. Oh, and you’ll need to get scheduled for the practice range. You’ll want to start taking some afternoon or evening classes.”
Jade gulped and followed him.
Tansy browsed through the books in the “obscure wing”, as she liked to think of it. Personally, she would have been bored to tears by the technical areas of the library. But some of the students practically seemed to live there.
Speaking of “living there,” as she moved through the main room of the library she almost collided with the spiky-haired girl.
Tennyo! Over here!
“Shut up,” she muttered under her breath. Glancing covertly sideways, she recognized the spiky-haired girl as one of the ones who’d been talking to the annoying fairy-girl. Fey, that was the fairy-girl’s name. Something like that. And the spiky-haired girl was… obviously Tennyo, from the way her internal spirit was carrying on. Tansy turned away, and hurried down a side corridor.
Although Whateley had barely 600 students, it had a library that was suitable for a large college or university. There were also many locked sections, containing collector’s items, historical works, and other controversial reference material. She’d sneered at the stories that claimed there were black magic grimoires. Or rather, Tansy believe that there were volumes written by people who believed that junk, but she suspected they were all just ancient deluded psychics.
Finally, she came to the section that was least-used of the entire library. Classical literature.
She crossed her arms and waited, while listening to her inner spirit rail against her.
Oh, you’re just LUCKY that my roommate can’t hear me! She’s got quite a temper when she’s defending her friends. And an energy sword that lets her cut through two feet of solid steel! If she found out about me, she’d dice you into pieces that would fit through the shower drain! Of course, she’d probably regret it – afterward. She’s like that, a real decent person. Not like SOME PEOPLE.
“Oh, shut up. Nobody cares what you think.”
“I haven’t said anything yet.”
Despite herself, Tansy couldn’t help jumping. She immediately tried to regain control. “Nex, how good to see you! You’re late.”
He just silently shook his head. “How is my woman?”
Tansy shrugged. “Eh, Sahar’s okay. She should be, considering how much she extorts from me. I mean, who can tell with her? She just sits there and mopes.”
The boy’s bowl-cut hair wasn’t flattering, considering his thin face. Still, his eyes narrowed as he heard of Sahar moping. “She’ll be happier, once I reclaim her.”
“Yes, yes. And you can do that so much better with a little spending money.”
“I want more than money, this time. I want a favor, as well. Your influence with Sahar. Another date.”
Tansy waved him off. “Like she’d be willing to listen to me. I swear, that girl doesn’t appreciate ANY of the things I do for her.”
“Your promise. You will arrange the date.”
Tansy had had enough of this. “Alright! If I’d known you were going to be so tedious, I would have used another source.”
“There are no sources as good as me.”
She smirked. “For the right price, there’s always another source.”
“What do you want?” His voice was flat.
“Hekate. Everything about her. Her flunkies and friends, especially her powers – how she attacks and what her typical strategy is. Who’s gone up against her, whether they won or lost, why and how.”
He seemed suddenly leery. “Hekate is head of the Alphas.”
“No,” Tansy hissed, “Don Sebastiano is head of the Alphas. Hekate is just his current arm candy. Which is all about to change.”
“She’s a pretty big target.”
“You’ll do it for five thousand.”
“And the date,” he insisted.
“ONE thousand and a date,” she countered.
“Done.”
Tansy was surprised. Was he THAT hung up on her creepy roommate? Who knew? Well, maybe she’d finally get something useful out of the girl.
Tennyo finally finished her shift at the library, and dragged herself over to Crystal Hall to join the crew for dinner. When she finally spotted them, they seemed to be clustered around Jade and –
“Is that a GUN?”
Ayla answered. “Could you speak up? I don’t think they heard you over in New Zealand.”
“Who’d a thunk it?” Toni said. “Our little girl is all grown up and carrying her own piece. Next thing you know, she’s going to be running drugs and capping rival dealers, just like home.”
Nikki glared at her roommate. “You said you lived in an upscale suburb.”
“Oh, yeah. Would you believe I was having a flashback to my brother?” She shuddered. “Who’d have thought that I’d occasionally miss the dumb jerk?”
“It’s not really a gun,” Jade explained. “It’s non-lethal. The Cobra 400, linear-induction projector. It’s got a nine-shot magazine, and I can prep it with all sorts of different loads.”
“Uh huh,” Tennyo said, nodding. “Can you hit anything with it? And what happens when you DO hit?”
“Well, it’s got a pretty good kick. I had my first session at the practice range today and I’m pretty good.” In a much quieter voice she added, “Unless it’s more than twenty yards away.”
Everyone else at the table snickered at that.
“But I’ve got all sorts of cool loads! You should SEE what some of the devisors can mount in one of these capsules.” She held up a small ball that was a little over two centimeters in diameter. “I’ve got smoke loads – they’ll make a cloud about ten feet wide. And there’s the webbing load – it explodes into a bunch of fibers that tangle around you and stick together. And the shock load – it’s like a taser gun. I can switch between three different magazines of three each. There were others that I didn’t get, like the incendiary and high explosive. Oh, I did get two knockout gas. I’m not sure if I’ll ever use them, but they sounded interesting.”
Tennyo was half pleased. She liked the idea of Jade being able to defend herself better. But she was half disturbed. She realized there was only one explanation for this behavior from the smaller girl – Jinn’s disappearance had really hit her hard.
“What if someone takes it from you, and shoves it up your nose,” Toni asked. “That’s the problem with carrying a gun.”
“No way! It’s a devisor special. Well, a ‘gadgeteer special’, I guess. I have to be wearing this ring to fire it, see?”
“I don’t know, doesn’t it seem wrong for a mutant to use a gun? Sort of like cheating?”
“You can have my gun when you pry it from my cold dead fingers!”
Nikki looked at her in horror. “You didn’t join the NRA, did you?”
Jade gulped.
Jinn was still in a bit of shock at how much Tansy had been willing to spend for information on Hekate. There were currents on this campus that she’d had no clue on. Not until now.
Right now, Tansy seemed to be having a serious anxiety attack. Jinn didn’t know why. She recognized the dorm they were approaching – it was Twain. This was where that sasquatch Monty lived, who’d given so much grief to Tennyo and Toni.
Tansy slipped around to the back of the cottage and knocked on the door. Some boy with slightly scaly skin was there.
“You’d better hustle downstairs,” he said quickly. “Monty’s upstairs, but he’s in a bad way. Mood he’s in, if he saw you now, he’d probably just say ‘hell with it’ and tear you limb from limb. And that’d be a real shame, ‘cause Monty don’t deserve that. Even if he is the world’s biggest idiot.”
Tansy opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. Instead, she just hurried down the stairs. At the bottom, there was a boy with a kind of scaled helmet. He looked like he had a somewhat bloated body under his clothes. He led her down the hallway.
“Look, I know the drill. Third door on the left.”
“No. This time it’s the fourth door.”
Tansy gave a theatrical sigh. “I don’t know why I bother to put up with this theatrical shit. It’s not like it impresses me.”
The helmet-headed boy opened the door, then stood outside, letting Tansy go in alone.
Jinn was surprised. There was a hallway that led to a thick, bronze door. As Tansy approached, the door rolled aside, as if it were a gigantic disk. Jinn estimated the disk must have been at least six inches thick, and it was carved with what looked to be ancient Chinese illustrations.
The hallway had been long enough that they must have passed beyond the basement of Twain Cottage. And beyond the bronze door, a cavern opened up. The bulk of the cavern was below them. The ceiling held stalactites, and Jinn saw a pools of water below them, forming grottos. Some were lit with deep blue lights. In the center of the grotto, a tent was set up. It glowed as if there were fires within.
A man that seemed to be made out of stone held a rope, which looped through a pulley in the ceiling and lowered a small chair.
Tansy paused, then climbed into the chair. The stone man slowly lowered her down to the floor of the cavern below.
“Stay on the path,” he called down. “It’s not safe, otherwise.”
Muttering to herself, Tansy got out of the chair. “I’ve seen the Wizard of Oz, too, you know!” As she stood, a pair of torches came alight, and a pair beyond that. She followed the torches through a winding passage until she finally arrived at the tent-like silk pavilion. From inside, a low voice rumbled.
“Come in. You may wish to restrict yourself to the outer chamber.”
Tansy walked boldly in. The first chamber of the tent held piles of pillows, braziers, and comfortable-looking camp chairs. Tansy pushed past the curtain at the back of that chamber and entered a larger one. Inside, there was a scaled man – half man, half reptile. His face grew out in a pointed, reptilian muzzle, and he had sharply pointed teeth. He had spines instead of hair, and his fingers and toes were actually wicked-looking claws.
“Welcome, Tansy Walcutt. Please excuse the sssetting. These little … illusions … entertain me.” Jinn’s senses operated differently from any normal person’s. While there had been a diffuse glow of power around the entire underground complex, she hadn’t seen anything that indicated that this was an illusion. As for the lizard-man, she initially thought he wasn’t displaying any emotions, but then she realized that he had the sickly silver sheen that she was coming to associate with hatred.
“Cut the mumbo-jumbo, Thuban. I’m offering a contract.”
The lizard-man shifted, and Jinn saw that he appeared to be sitting on a pile of coins, shaped into the form of a chair.
“Why should I care about your money?” the other asked, in a hiss.
“What are you talking about? Everyone cares about money!”
“There are thingsss which are more valuable, and lessss replaceable.”
“What will it take to get rid of Hekate?”
The lizard-man gave a hiss of surprise, and Jinn saw that his tongue was more like an animal’s tongue than a man’s. “You ssset your sssights high. Even as Queen of the Alphasss, she has power and influence beyond what is obviousss. She is also very … high profile. Besidesss, I do not do assassinationsss.”
Tansy ran a hand through her long hair, tossing it back over her shoulder. “Okay then, a week. I want her utterly missing for a week.”
“Possible. What price?”
“Ten thousand.”
The creature gave a dry laugh on its throne of coins. “You waste my time. I want money, and more.”
Jinn thought she felt a spark of fear from her host and captor.
“What? I made a good offer. Do you have a counter offer?”
“You. I am free to use you and your body, however I will, for that sssame week.”
“Get real! I need that week. And I’ve never heard such a stupid offer in my life. Given a deal like that, you could kill me. No chance.” She paused, and when she spoke again, she had a too-clever tone in her voice. “One hour, I never appear in public, no pictures or recordings, and I get to veto anything.”
“One day, after the week is over, during which your body will be under the complete mental control of an …acquaintance… of mine. No permanent harm shall come to you, and your handler would feel any pain you felt, so you would obviously gain an amount of protection from that. I agree to nothing public and no records.”
“But if your little telepath-girl or whatever messes up and can’t handle me, then tough luck. And Hekate’s gone tomorrow.”
“Acceptable. After the twenty-four hours have elapsed, you are free from the contract. AND, the price will be thirty thousand.”
“Twenty-five.”
“Agreed.”
And if Jinn had still had a stomach, she would have had a very cold feeling in the pit of it.
Jinn spent another fruitless night trying to somehow manipulate the sleeping lump of flesh she was trapped inside. True, she was getting lots of experience as a real girl – but she hadn’t expected to get it as a helpless passenger! Besides, Tansy was hardly a model for women everywhere. Clearly, Tansy was hardly a model for anything. Jinn had to laugh at the irony, since the girl was also the school’s lead model. It sounded like a bad joke. “When is a model not a model? When she’s Tansy Walcutt!” Or perhaps, “Tansy Walcutt: she sure isn’t a role model!”
That brought up another thought. Hadn’t Fey just started doing modeling? If Tansy did any modeling work, would they run into Fey? Perhaps Fey would sense what was going on.
By this time of the early morning she usually gave up her various efforts at changing her state or slipping free. As the early morning arrived, Tansy grew more restless and rolled around more in bed, so the sensations were a bit more interesting. Jinn tried to relax, and fantasized that this was her body, and that she was now fully female, lying in bed in her see-through negligee. Occasionally she’d roll over or shift to keep from squashing her large breasts.
She studied the way she slept as a girl – on her side, or on her back. The closest she got to sleeping on her stomach was a sort of three-quarters turned over, with an arm and leg thrown over an oversized pillow. Jinn imagined that they were next to her lover, draped around the person. She tried to picture what her lover was like – man or woman? Living in Poe, she’d been slowly abandoning her preconceptions about herself.
Rolling over to sleep on her back was most comfortable position, but each time she took a breath she couldn’t help seeing her breasts rise and fall, gently straining at her negligee and the sheets covering her.
Equally interesting were the sensations that were missing. No matter how her legs shifted, she never felt the pinch or pressure on those annoying boy parts. She never felt the slightest urge to reach down and pull herself out from being trapped between her legs. Instead, everything always felt just perfect dow