Chapter #104Too Clever For His Own Good by: imaj   “Sorry, I just got lost on the way back from the bathroom,” you extemporise, stalling for time.
Joe laughs. “Nice try, but I know it’s really you.”
“Yeah, how,” you growl back before realising you’ve just given the game away. “Ah fuck…” you bury your head in your hands
“Hah, I knew it,” exalts Joe, he’s practically dancing.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on Joe,” asks Rosalie.
“This is another one of my friends,” grins Joe. “Will Prescott.”
“Is that short for Willow or something? Wait, I though you said your name was Penny,” says Rosalie in confusion.
“More like William,” laughs Joe, leaving Rosalie baffled looking. “What are you doing here? No wait, I mean what are you doing here looking like this. You got a lot of explaining to do,” says Joe, waggling his eyebrows again.
“Yeah, well I’m not the only one with explaining to do by the sound of it,” you snark back. “Since it seems like you’ve found another Stellae without telling anyone. Does Frank even know?” You’ve already pared down most of Frank’s memories, but there’s nothing in what’s left that indicates he does know. “Apparently not,” you add.
Joe suddenly looks very grave. He sticks his head through the door and takes a look round before pulling you inside and closing it. He sits you on the bed beside Rosalie. “I was going to tell Dad,” he says looking crestfallen and more than a little guilty.
“I think you should,” says Rosalie very quietly, so quietly that you seem to be the only one that hears it.
“I really was going to tell Dad,” continues Joe. “I just wanted to wait a bit first.” He sighs. “I’m probably in trouble now.”
“We all make mistakes,” you say, recalling Fyodor’s words to you back in Oxford. “Learning from them is the trick.”
“When did you get so wise,” laughs Joe, his mood turning on a dime. “Full introductions then: Will is another Stellae like me and Frank”, Joe explains to Rosalie. “His ousiarchs are Sulva and… actually what?”
“Still don’t know,” you say a little sourly. “Your Dad offered to help me out sometime.”
“I’m sure you just need a really good horoscope done,” says Joe smoothly. “Did Kali try a dream journal?” You shudder at the question – you’ve been avoiding thinking about dreams since the nightmare you had in Oxford. “Rosalie is going to be another Stellae Will,” Joe continues. “We did a horoscope last week – her ousiarchs are Sulva and Glundandra.”
“I thought Sulvae were supposed to be rare,” you say.
“They are,” says Joe. “Or they were. Typical though, nothing for over a century and then three come along at once.” Joes face is suddenly serious again. “Glundandrae are rare too,” he says unhappily. “Did Kali tell you about how they work out who the leader of the Stellae is?”
“Fyodor mentioned it a couple of times while I was in Oxford,” you explain. “Something about the previous leader picking the new one?”
“Something like that,” replies Joe with a sigh. “When the leader is getting near to death he always picks his successor. And he always picks, because there’s always two to pick from.” Joe’s voice falters and he wipes away a tear from his eye. “So when there’s two new Glundandrae in the Stellae, you know the current leader’s time is getting near.”
“But there aren’t any other young Glundandrae in the Stellae right now, are there,” you ask in confusion.
“Malaika,” explains Joe. That explains it – no one told you what Malaika’s ousiarchs were back in Oxford. “She’s only nine or something like that. We all thought she was the first of the new Glundandrae because we usually find them pretty quickly. Then I met Rosalie a couple of weeks ago. She must have been hidden because of Sulva, just like you were Will. I’m scared if I introduce her to the Stellae I’m wiping ten years off Dad’s lifespan.”
“Aw Joe,” says Rosalie kindly, hugging him. You feel an odd pang of jealousy.
You regard Joe suspiciously. His story seems reasonable enough, but for some reason the innocence on his face puts you in mind with a kid that’s been caught next to an empty cookie jar. One that wipes the crumbs off his hands and tells you it was for your own good because they were marshmallow and oatmeal.
Still, you can leave sorting that out to Charles and probably Father Ed as well. You have a more pressing question. “Just how did you work out it was me?”
Joe grins, delighted at the opportunity to show off. “Remember what Rick said when Kali went missing? ‘Keep an eye out for a pretty Arab girl with striking green eyes’?” You’d forgotten about that. Though it’s only been a few short weeks, Kali’s disappearance feels like a lifetime ago, such is the progress you’ve made since then. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but pretty Arab girls with green eyes aren’t that common round here,” he adds puckishly. “So you must be Hélène right now.” His lip curls. “That isn’t her… her…”
He doesn’t want to say ‘skin’ or ‘remains’, so you answer his unfinished question for him. “No Fyodor has them…” you explain.
“He’ll want to study them and figure out what makes them work I guess,” interrupts Joe. “At least he’ll dispose of them afterwards.”
“Yeah,” you agree. “I just picked up her imago by touching them while they were still hidden in Kali’s apartment. I didn’t get her memories though, just a few fragments of instincts.”
“Probably just as well,” says Joe gravely. He’s read Kali’s story as well, you remember. You glance at Rosalie for a second. There’s a hint of fear in her kindly eyes. She must realise she doesn’t want to know who Hélène is.
“Her instincts helped me with Frank, although I guess I should have gone with this one,” you say, waving your hands about your face and summoning Arabella’s imago – one of the bedroom faces you got for Rick.
Rosalie gives out a muffled squeak and practically jumps out her skin. “Prescott’s a bit of a shapeshifter,” explains Joe. “She’d be too old for Frank though.” He grins wickedly. “Did you go all the way with Frank?” You blush reflexively and Joe bursts out laughing. “Oh my god you did, that’s hilarious. Wait until he finds out who popped his cherry,” he sniggers, ignoring Rosalie’s displeased look. She presumably doesn’t like the way he’s talking. “I should go tell him just now!”
“He’s sleeping,” you explain. “And will be till mid morning. I can kind of adjust how long I knock people out for now.”
“That is awesome dude,” replies Joe enthusiastically. “You could like knock someone out for a day and pretend to be them. They’d put the missing day down to amnesia or something. One question though: Frank? Seriously, why Frank?”
You blush again. “Rick set me a challenge, get both yours and his faces without you knowing, which I guess I’ve failed now.” You pause for a second before continuing. “I’d really like it if you didn’t tell Frank about this,” you add quietly.
“You can rely on me, soul of discretion,” grins Joe in a way that suggests it likely to be all over advertising billboards about town before the week is out.
“I mean it,” you hiss.
“Could you become me,” asks Rosalie quietly. You and Joe both pause at the interruption.
“I’d need to capture your imago first,” you explain. “I’d need to touch you and put you to sleep for a few minutes to do that. Then I’d be able to look like you and act like you. Although I’ve kind of promised not to take imago I don’t need.”
“Oh,” says Rosalie quietly
“So why do you need me and Frank,” asks Joe.
“Well being Frank could be useful in a fight,” you explain. “As for you…” you tail off. You don’t think you could stand Joe’s ego if you told him he was a bedroom face.
However, the look on your face must have betrayed you. Joes laughs loudly again. “I get it,” he smiles.
“Yeah, yeah,” you mutter. “Laugh it up. You’ll not be laughing when you have to call your Dad tomorrow and tell him about Rosalie.”
Joe looks more serious again. “Do I have to?”
“Yes,” both you and Rosalie say in unison. You stare at her in surprise. She stares right back. “If it makes you feel better,” you add. “I have to phone Rick and tell him how I slept with your brother. Ugh.” Joe perks up a little at that. You flip back to being Hélène. “I need to get some sleep.”
“In Frank’s bed,” asks Joe, laughing again.
“Fuck off,” you say as you walk out the door and head downstairs to the living room couch. It’ll be easy to get out of the house before Frank wakes up tomorrow morning. Then you can phone Rick and put this whole thing behind you. At least you passed the main part of his test.
*****
Someone shakes you awake the following morning. You try to roll the crick in your neck that sleeping on the couch has given you and rub at your bleary eyes. Your eyes focus onto Rosalie, who is wearingly a long tee with the legend ‘Princess’ emblazoned on it. She isn’t wearing her glasses, but that means her eyes are screwed up looking as she tries to see straight without them.
“Hey Penny, er… Hélène, Will, whatever,” she says nervously. “Have you got a minute to talk, just us girls?”
You smile wryly at that. “I’m not really a girl,” you say.
“Oh,” she says, looking at the floor briefly. “I mean you look like one just now, so I suppose you are one, aren’t you?”
That’s a point that would take a while to debate. More pressingly, do you listen to what she has to say or not?
 indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author