Well, Ann didn’t prepare me for this situation. This gal was ‘awake’, but probably didn’t know it. And that ignorance was killing her! Now what?

“How is she killing herself?” Laura asked.

Her voice kinda brought me back to the present and I said, “She’s been hurtin’ for a long time. She’s gotten really depressed. All that emotion combined with her strong spirit woke it up.”

“You mean her spirit awoke spontaneously?!” Veronica asked.

“Yep. I don’t think she knows it, though. Whatever she felt she probably put down to side effects of her disease, or something.” I answered.

“That doesn’t explain how she’s killing herself.” Laura pointed out.

“Well, actually it kinda does.” I replied. “Her spirit’s awake, but wild. It’s reacting to her emotions, mostly. Since she’s all depressed and waiting to die, her spirit’s trying to make it happen faster.”

“Well, this should be easy enough to take care of, then.” Veronica said. “If she’s trained, her spirit won’t react that way anymore, and she can heal herself.”

“Yeah, normally that’s all it would take. But there’s another problem.” I explained.

“What problem?” Laura asked.

“I’m pretty sure she’s some kind of journalist.” I answered. I couldn’t really read her mind, it doesn’t work that way. But I could pick up active thoughts and emotions. Her dreams were making it pretty clear she would consider us news.

Veronica sucked in a breath in surprise and said, “She can’t find out about us! We’d lose our freedom, at the very least!”

I wasn’t sure if that’s how it would really happen, but Veronica was getting really worried, so I figured maybe there was something to her fears. “Well, if we only trained her far enough to get her spirit under control, we could disappear afterwards. Then she could write all she wants and not accomplish anything.”

“But we can’t just disappear! What about Veronicas’ family, or her job? Besides, where would we go?” Laura asked frantically.

She wasn’t saying it, but I could tell Laura was worried Veronica and I would up and disappear and leave her on her own. I hurried to reassure her, “Oh, we won’t disappear. The people who train her will disappear!”

“Melanie, if you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking, I’m afraid you’re going to be on your own. I can’t hold illusions, yet.” Veronica pointed out.

Oops! “Oh. Yeah. I guess that would be a problem. And there’s no way Laura is going to be able to disguise herself any time soon. I guess we might as well go home for now.”

I could tell Laura wanted to ask questions, but was feeling pretty insecure with the whole blindness thing. Couldn’t say I blamed her, I wasn’t real thrilled with it, either. We went back towards the entrance of the hospital and found ourselves another quiet corner to become visible again in. We all sighed in relief, at that, but Laura was also getting all tense about going back outside.

“Don’t worry, Laura.” I reassured her. “Just stay with us and nobody will hurt you. You’ve seen how strong I am when I want to be. I can also move really fast. If anybody tries to give you trouble we’ll protect you.”

“Thanks, Melanie. But I’ll be glad when I don’t have to worry about that anymore.” Laura answered.

“With what you’ve seen today, you should be able to make lots of progress.” Veronica said. “From now on you should be able to stay inside until you’re comfortable with going out.”

Laura took a deep breath to settle her nerves and said, “Okay. Let’s get this over with.”

With that, we left the hospital and started the walk home. Laura was all hunched up, trying to keep attention from herself. Unfortunately, that tends to have the opposite effect. A couple of guys got the bright idea to try and say something to her, but Veronica headed them off with a glare that could melt stone.

We got home without any problems. Laura slumped down onto the couch. Looking at Veronica and me she asked, “So what was all that, anyway? How could the person who trains her disappear, without you disappearing?”

Veronica looked at me, probably because she wasn’t sure if her assumption earlier was right. “The person who trains her won’t be any of us. Or at least, they won’t look like any of us.” I explained.

I almost laughed at the perplexed look on Laura’s face. “What?” she asked.

“What Melanie meant,” Veronica answered with a weird look at me. “is that the person who trains her will be disguised. I assumed with illusion, which I am not very good at. It’s both easier and harder than invisibility. It takes less power, but more skill and concentration.”

“Illusion?!” Laura exclaimed. “You mean you can make yourself look anyway you want?”

“Not really.” Veronica explained. “Like invisibility, you’re changing how light interacts with you. But instead of redirecting light around you without touching you, you’re changing how it reflects off of you. It can be as simple as changing the apparent color of your shirt, to something as complex as changing your apparent size and shape, within limits, and also the color, texture, and style of your clothes.”

“Yeah, it’s actually pretty limited.” I said. “Like with invisibility, you have to wear form fitting clothes, or the field or whatever you want to call it, will not affect them. You can make yourself seem smaller, but not larger. Texture and color are the easiest. The hardest part is keeping track of it all, because it’s not one thing, it’s lots of different pieces all at once.”

Laura had this really funny look on her face as she tried to figure it out all. I tried not to giggle. I *really* did. Veronica gave me a dirty look and said, “Invisibility is simple, because it’s all the same. Light bends around you without touching you. With illusion you are changing the color of one article of clothing to one thing, changing the shape of another, changing the texture of yet something else, and the color of one or more other things all at the same time. It can be a real headache, and I can’t do it reliably.”

“So Melanie will have to train this woman on her own?” Laura asked.

“Well, that’s up to Veronica.” I answered.

“What are you talking about?” Veronica asked, bewildered.

I smiled as I said, “You can still disguise yourself. It’ll just take longer. But you won’t have to concentrate to keep it up.”

“Oh.” Veronica said. “You mean for me to transform myself. I don’t know about that. It would take me all day at best, and leave me exhausted.” She didn’t add, and leave Laura on her own, but I heard it (in my mind, I mean, I really need new words for this stuff).

I decided to put Veronica out of her misery. “That’s okay. She doesn’t need too much help to get things under control. I can take care of it.”

Laura was still looking pretty confused. “Doesn’t training take an awfully long time?” she asked.

“Usually, sure. But we can’t afford to train somebody like this all the way. It’s better if she doesn’t know what we’re capable of. If she knew, she would try to track us down.” I explained. I felt kind of bad about it, really. She’s got a really powerful spirit; she could do lodes of things if she was fully trained. If I could trust her.

“So does that mean my training is on hold?” Laura asked fearfully.

“Oh no!” I rushed to reassure her. “You don’t need to be fed energy anymore, so Veronica can train you. And I’ll be done with the woman at the hospital before long.”

“I’m not completely useless.” Veronica grumped.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean it like that.” Laura said apologetically.

“So, do you want me to stick around for a while, or should I go ahead and take care of our little problem?” I asked to change the subject.

“Go ahead.” Laura said with a glance at Veronica. “I’m sure Veronica and I can get lots done while you’re gone.”

Veronica looked somewhat mollified and agreed.

“Okay, I’ll see you later, then.” I said. They both said goodbye and I started off back towards the hospital.

---

 
After Melanie left, and a little lunch, Veronica and I started going over what I’d seen while Melanie was healing people. I learned a lot, and didn’t get exhausted. A nice change.

It was amazing what a difference watching Melanie heal people made. I learned sooo much about the way the body works, and how it reacts to different things. It still took a lot of work to figure out what to do with that knowledge, though.

By the time we were ready for a break, Melanie still hadn’t showed. Veronica figured that Melanie was trying to get the journalist taken care of as quickly as possible so we went ahead and had dinner without her. After dinner we got back into training and lost all track of time.

“Well, I think that’s enough for tonight.” Veronica said after several hours. She looked at the clock and frowned. “Melanie should have been back by now. Maybe I should go look for her.”

“Doesn’t Melanie have a phone?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine Melanie getting into any real trouble; she was just too strong for that.

“Yes, she does. I suppose she would call if there were trouble. Maybe she’s just staying long enough to complete that woman’s training in one shot.” Veronica mused. “You look tired, why don’t you go to bed, and I’ll wait up for Melanie.”

Despite what she said, I could tell Veronica was worried. She really does think of Melanie like a little sister. I thought. “Alright if I crash on the couch?” I asked. I could keep her company, I figured.

“I don’t mind.” Veronica answered with a smile.

After grabbing a blanket and pillow I laid out on the couch and watched a movie with Veronica until I fell asleep.

I awoke suddenly when the door closed, loudly. “I can’t believe that woman!” Melanie growled. “She had me followed!”

I shook my head and blinked, trying to reboot my brain. Veronica must have fallen asleep at some point, too, as she was just sitting up from where she had slumped over. Veronica got her bearings before me and exclaimed, “Do they know where we live?”

My heart sank. If we were discovered, what would happen to us? I had just begun my training, I couldn’t protect myself the way Melanie, and probably Veronica, could.

Melanie rushed over and put her arm around me as she said, “No, they don’t know where we live. I kept up the illusion after leaving the hospital, just in case. I felt like I was being followed, so I went the wrong way. I didn’t want to reveal my ability to become invisible, so I led him away for a while until I could find a way to lose him.”

I was starting to relax until Veronica said, “Are you sure?”

Melanie must have felt me tense because she gave me another squeeze. “Yeah, I’m sure. There was nobody around who was thinking about me after I lost him. I kept going for a few blocks, listening for trackers, then dropped the illusion and made my way back here. They don’t know who or where we are.”

“Who was following you?” I asked. Obviously it wasn’t the woman at the hospital; they wouldn’t have released her that quickly.

Melanie shrugged. “I don’t know his name or anything, but he’s friends with Jean, the woman at the hospital, I think.”

“So other than being followed, how did things go with Jean?” Veronica asked.

Melanie groaned. “Lousy. She’s really skeptical. I guess I should have expected it, with her being a journalist and everything. I spent the whole time trying to convince her that I could help her. I finally had to cut myself and heal it right in front of her before she would even consider that I might be telling the truth.”

“So you’ll have to go back?” Veronica asked, clearly concerned.

Melanie nodded. “Yeah, I do. I think she might try to draw it out, in order to find out more about me. I’ll get things done as fast as I can, though. In the meantime, you two should continue without me. You don’t really need my help, anyway.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” I asked. How could she be so blasé about this?

“Don’t worry! She’ll never see the real me.” Melanie assured me.

“She’s right.” Veronica agreed. “So long as she’s careful,” she continued with emphasis and a stern look, “she won’t have any trouble.”

Melanie grimaced and laughed at the same time. I’m not sure how she managed it, but she did. “Okay, mom, I’ll be careful.” she said.

Veronica rolled her eyes. “At any rate, I think it’s time we all went to bed.” We agreed and I carried the blanket and pillow back to bed with me.

---

 
I was really tired after all that walking, so I slept like a baby. Laura woke me up when breakfast was ready.

“So when are you going to the hospital?” Laura asked after breakfast.

“No time like the present, right?” I answered. “And I’ll be careful, Veronica.” Veronica’s mouth had started to open and snapped closed when I said that. She’s so predictable!

After a quick goodbye I left. I walked over to the same area I ‘disappeared’ yesterday before changing my appearance. This way if someone asked questions to try and track me down, they’d be led to the same area, which is well away from home.

Back as ‘Lisa’, the name I used with Jean, I started off for the hospital. It wasn’t long before I felt the same mind from last night watching me. I pretended that I didn’t know he was there. He stayed back, so I went on into the hospital without any problems. He didn’t come in after me, so I figured he would wait for me to come out. If I read Jean right, he’d have one long wait!

I didn’t bother with invisibility, and made my way up to Jean’s room. She was wide awake, and I guessed that she had been warned that I was coming by her friend. “Good morning Jean.” I called as I entered her room.

“Good morning Lisa.” she answered. “When are you going to tell me how you did that trick yesterday?”

I grinned outwardly, but knew that she didn’t believe it was a trick, or she wouldn’t have someone following me. “How about I teach you how to do it, instead?” I asked.

“And how are you going to do that?” she asked skeptically.

“I can walk you through it; it’s not really that hard. It would help if you could keep an open mind, though.” I answered. I knew she did have an open mind, but I decided to keep that knowledge to myself. The less she knew about what we can do, the better!

I worked with her for a few hours. She was getting it, but was trying to drag her feet, just like I thought she would. Then she said she was tired and needed to sleep and would I come back tomorrow? I mentally gritted my teeth and agreed.

Once outside the hospital I started out for the same area I lost my shadow yesterday. He was following again, of course. What a pain!

I was about halfway there when I felt a strong surge of pain from somewhere nearby. Just great. I thought. Now I’ve got to help someone with my faithful shadow in attendance. What else can go…waaaiit, I don’t think I want to go there!

It wasn’t hard to find the hurt guy. He was in an alley less than a block away. He was pretty busted up. Someone really did a number on him. He looked like someone took a baseball bat to him, someone on steroids! Without my help he would have died, for sure.

I knew my shadow was watching, so I tried to make my healing him look like I was doing normal first aid stuff. Once I was sure he would make it, I made my way out of the alley looking every which way like I was trying to find someone to help. I moved fast enough my shadow didn’t get himself hidden before I could ‘happen’ to spot him. “Hey, call the police. Some guys been beat up pretty bad! I think he’s going to need an ambulance, too.”

My shadow pointed to himself, like he was asking if I was talking to him. I nodded and he pulled out his cell phone and made the call. While his eyes were turned away I legged it.

A couple of blocks later I was sure he wasn’t following, so I dropped my disguise and walked towards home. I saw a police car go whizzing by going back towards where I left my shadow, so I knew the guy in the alley would be taken care of.

The sun was starting to go down by the time I got back. I hoped Veronica or Laura had something going for dinner, I was starving.

As soon as I stepped inside the apartment Veronica grabbed me and dragged me inside to watch as Laura made the first changes to her body. She was making her hair longer and nicer looking. Her brown hair was getting rather reddish, which went pretty well with her green eyes. She was keeping it short by my standards, but the curl she was giving it suited her.

When the changes stopped she opened her eyes and asked, “Did it work?”

Veronica directed her to a mirror we kept in the living room for this reason and Laura spent a while taking in her new look. Between her hair, better clothes, and greater skill with her make-up, she was starting to look pretty decent. If she could just act normal, she’d probably pass okay.

“So, you like?” I asked, grinning. It’s great seeing someone happy, and Laura was beaming!

“Wow! Did I really do that?” Laura asked in awe.

“Yes, yes you did.” Veronica said with pride. I was glad to see Veronica coming out of her shell a bit; she tends to be kind of reserved. Or shy…or something. Laura’s pretty confident, except for her looks, but Veronica isn’t usually. I was hoping training Laura would help with that.

We left Laura to gaze at her altered reflection, we both knew from experience that she’d be at it a while. “So, how did things go this time?” Veronica asked once we were seated at the kitchen table.

“Ugh! That woman is so annoying! She drags everything out and pretends to believe that it’s all some kind of trick. And all the time she’s got her friend shadowing me everywhere I go. We finally managed to get somewhere, so she decides she’s tired and asks me to come back tomorrow. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I had to deal with some poor guy that got beat to hell while her friend was watching! I managed to distract him by getting him to call 911 and split.” I ranted.

“Wait, her friend just watched this guy get beat up?” Veronica asked looking all confused.

I started giggling, and finally managed to get out, “No, he was watching me helping the guy that got beat up. Neither of us saw who did it. I’m pretty sure I managed to hide what I did and make it look like regular first aid, though. While he was making the phone call I ducked out, but I saw a police car go flying past soon after.”

“Oh, okay.” Veronica said. “So I guess you’ll have to go back again tomorrow?”

Sighing, I said, “Yeah, I guess so. If she were a cooperative student, we’d be done by now. As it is, we’ll probably need a couple more days, at least. Which means a couple more days that I’ve got to ditch her friend.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” Laura said, as she walked in. Guess she got tired of looking in the mirror.

“So do I.” Veronica agreed. What is this, pick on Melanie day?

“Relax.” I said. “It’s a pain, but that’s it. I’ll have it settled soon and we won’t have to deal with either of them ever again.”

Neither of them looked all that convinced, but they didn’t push it. Instead we cooked up some dinner and relaxed for a while in front of the tube (Kinda weird to call it that, they haven’t used vacuum tubes in ages, but whatever).

Laura made a few other minor changes after dinner, but just little cosmetic things. Mostly stuff to get a better grip on things so she could make the big changes later. She crashed early, though, tired out from all the changes she made.

I gave Veronica a more detailed account of my day. She was still worried, but I assured her I had everything under control. She finally gave up and went to bed, and I did the same.

---

 
My last thoughts before falling asleep that night were that Melanie was taking this way too casually. My thoughts took up pretty much where they left off when I woke. This reporter, Jean, could cause us some serious problems. If she managed to identify any of us, it could mean the end of our freedom forever. Maybe Melanie could break free from whatever government lab we ended up in, but I probably couldn’t, and Laura wouldn’t have a chance.

It was bad enough to think of Laura or myself locked up, but to think about Melanie being trapped in a cage was horrible. That girl had had a really hard time of it, and had just started to live her life. Despite her hardships, she was full of life and love. I would do just about anything to keep her from being locked up like that. I just hoped I wouldn’t have to.

I put my dark thoughts aside and got up and made breakfast. Laura was slow moving this morning, no surprise there after a day of training. Melanie wasn’t exactly in a rush, either, but I had a feeling this had more to do with her reluctance to go see Jean again.

After breakfast Melanie took off again, so I helped Laura work on her transformation. She had already taken care of her hair (including body hair) and eyes. She had also cleared up a few imperfections in her skin. I decided she was ready to do more for her skin today.

Laura was really taking to these physical changes easily. She had cleared up all the blemishes, visible veins, acne, old scars, etc. by lunchtime. By the time Melanie returned her skin was fair, soft, smooth, and freckly. Apparently she decided to go with an Irish look. Whether she actually had Irish ancestors or not I wasn’t sure, but whatever makes you happy.

Melanie was a lot less energetic than usual when she returned. If I didn’t know better, I would think she was worried! “What happened, Mel?” I asked.

She glared at me, she hates being called Mel, and said, “We’ve got another complication.” Then she flopped down onto the love seat with her feet over one arm and her head on the other.

Laura looked over at her worriedly, and I asked, “What do you mean? What kind of complication? They haven’t figured out who you are, have they?” Laura was tensing up with every word. Damn! There I go worrying Laura again. I really need to learn to keep my gob shut!

Melanie smiled weakly, “Nah, they haven’t got a clue. Other than playing hide and seek with my shadow, and Jean stretching things out as usual, things went fine there. No, the complication is the guy that beat up that guy in the alley yesterday.”

I frowned, remembering her description of the man nearly beaten to death. “How is he a problem? We don’t even know who he is.”

“We do now.” she explained. “His name is Karl, don’t know his last name, and he didn’t appreciate me saving that guy he beat up. Seems he thinks that guy is a drug dealer, and he’s doing the world a favor by trying to kill the guy. Karl said if I interfere again he’d kill me.”

“Wow, he sure doesn’t know what he’s dealing with!” Laura cackled.

“No, he doesn’t, but I do.” Melanie said soberly. Considering how upbeat, some might even say manic, she usually is, I find this attitude worrying.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“His spirit is awake, and he knows it.” Melanie explained.

“Is he like Ann, then?” Laura asked. I shuddered at the thought. If there was someone out there as powerful as Ann who acted like that, we’d be in really big trouble.

“Oh no!” Melanie exclaimed. “He’s not like that. I think Ann gave him some limited training, probably so he could heal himself. I think he’s homeless, so Ann probably met up with him when she was traveling. She wouldn’t train him fully, I’m sure, since he’s pretty messed up in the head.”

“Oh, great!” Laura groused. “Just what we need! A user who’s mentally unstable.”

“User? What are you on about?” I asked.

“Spirit energy user. I don’t know what else you’d call it, and that’s how I’ve been thinking about it.” Laura explained.

Melanie shrugged. “I guess that’s as good a term as any. I hadn’t really given it any thought. And yeah, him being mentally unstable isn’t a good thing.”

“So what do we do about our mentally unstable rogue user?” I asked.

Melanie shrugged again. “Not much we can do. I haven’t seen him, only heard his voice, and thoughts. I know his name is Karl, but not much else. I can keep a mental ear out, but that’s it. One thing we can do, though, is to not leave here without me. I got a general feeling of his abilities. He’s stronger than you, Veronica, but weaker than Laura. Since Laura’s untrained we have to assume he could take her in a fight. I should be able to handle him, though.”

“What if he knows some kind of martial arts or something?” Laura asked. I had been thinking along the same lines.

“I should be able to boost a whole lot better than him. That should make up for any skill he may have.” Melanie said. She didn’t sound too worried, which just made me worry more.

“Boost? What’s that?” Laura asked.

“It’s a fairly simple technique that increases your strength, endurance, and speed for a while. Melanie’s really good at it, which is why she can move so fast and be so strong. She’s normally no faster or stronger than anyone else.” I explained.

Laura looked bewildered as she asked, “So you didn’t make permanent changes to your body to make yourself stronger? I just assumed that’s what you did.”

“Nope!” Melanie answered. “I’m just a normal human most of the time. I only boost up my strength and speed when I need to. I can keep it up for quite a while, but I’ve never seen the need.”

“Are you sure you’d be able to handle him?” Laura asked fearfully. That’s one thing I was really getting to like about Laura, she really cared about other people.

“Don’t worry!” Melanie admonished. “I’ve got lots of cool tricks up my sleeves. I’ve even got one I came up with myself that I don’t think Ann has tried yet. Even if he’s fully trained, which I doubt, I can handle him. My biggest concern is that I may have to kill him.”

“Kill him!” I exclaimed. “Why would you have to kill him?!” I couldn’t even imagine Melanie killing anyone. Sure she’s strong and fast, and has the ability. But I just couldn’t see her actually doing it.

“I think I understand.” Laura surprised me by saying. “If he’s skilled enough, the police could never handle him. Even if they shot him, he could heal himself pretty fast and be right back in the fight. Or he could play dead and escape later. If he’s too dangerous, our only real choice may be to kill him. Otherwise he would keep hurting, and maybe killing, other people.”

“But…there has to be another way!” I spluttered.

Melanie sighed and said, “If he’s not too strong, the police can handle him. I hope that’s the way it turns out, assuming I ever encounter this guy again. But if he keeps hurting people and he’s too skilled for the police, I’ll have to. I don’t like it anymore than you do, but we can’t leave him loose either.”

I slumped back onto the couch with my chin resting on my chest. “I guess you’re right. I don’t like it, though.”

“Well, hopefully it won’t be an issue?” Laura suggested hopefully.

“Hopefully.” Melanie agreed. “Hey, have you guys eaten yet?”

We agreed we hadn’t, so Melanie popped out to get some take-out. I offered to go, but she didn’t want me out alone. Just in case. That didn’t exactly reassure me.

“I hope you like pizza.” I said to Laura after the door closed.

“That her favorite or something?” Laura asked.

“Yes. She would eat pizza morning, noon, and night if you let her.” I answered.

I was proven right about half an hour later, when Melanie returned with a large pepperoni.

After dinner Laura showed off her new skin, and suggested she might try to make permanent enhancements to her musculature and skeletal structure once she had them shaped right. That way she would be better able to protect herself. I don’t think Melanie saw the appeal, but I could see why Laura would want that. She would never be able to match Melanie’s ability to boost herself, but those enhancements would make up for some of that.

For myself I considered it, but decided to wait and see how things turned out for Laura. She showed a real aptitude for that kind of thing, so I figured that she would be a better pioneer in that area than I.

We talked for a while about different changes we could make and the pros and cons of each. Laura had some really good ideas. Melanie was largely indifferent, content in her ability to boost her abilities as needed. I wasn’t really interested in turning myself into a fighting machine, but I could see some use for some of what Laura suggested.

We finished off the day with a movie and went to bed.

---

 
Melanie’s revelation about Karl really worried me, which must have been the reason for those weird dreams. Anyway, when I woke up I was still worried for Melanie, but also looking forward to getting farther with my transformation. I already looked a lot better; I couldn’t wait to see what we could accomplish today!

After breakfast Veronica and I said goodbye to Melanie. We were both a little subdued after that, worrying about Karl. Hopefully Melanie wouldn’t run into him again.

I’d had some interesting ideas yesterday, so I decided to put some of them into practice. The first was about muscles. I knew that becoming female would result in a significant loss of muscle mass. It occurred to me that with our control over our bodies, we didn’t have to be satisfied with normal human physiology. Why not have denser, stronger muscles? They wouldn’t have to be obvious, either.

Veronica was a little worried that I wanted to jump into muscle work so soon, but finally gave in. I changed my muscle shape to resemble a normal females of my size, then made them denser. Basically I was using about three times the muscle mass I would otherwise have (I decided to keep my 5'll" height), but packed into the same size that would be normal for my size. My muscles ended up being a little more defined than they otherwise would be, but it worked!

This took several hours and was very tiring. We took a break for lunch and discussed my progress.

“I’m really impressed with how much you’ve accomplished.” Veronica said. “What you’ve done so far took me much longer. Even Melanie took longer than you are. You have a real knack for this kind of thing.”

“But isn’t training time linked to power?” I asked, referring to the fact that Melanie tended to make quicker progress than Veronica because she has a lot more power to work with.

“Yes and no.” Veronica answered. “There’s definitely a link, but there are other factors, too. For instance, Melanie is really good at boosting. Ann said that she learned it even faster than Ann herself. And Ann is a lot stronger than Melanie. So maybe there’s a specialization issue. If so, then Melanie’s specialization is boosting, and yours would probably be transformations.”

Hmm, interesting idea. “So what’s your specialty?” I asked.

Veronica shrugged. “I don’t think I really have one. I don’t have enough power to do much. It may only really become an issue with spirits as powerful as yours.”

I couldn’t see why Veronica wouldn’t have a specialty as well, but I had to admit I hadn’t seen any sign of one. Not that I had a lot of experience to draw on.

“So how is the new musculature working out for you?” Veronica asked after lunch.

I stretched and felt the pull of my new muscles. “Not quite right. I think I need to fix my skeletal structure next, so they can work together better.”

Veronica nodded and asked, “So are you going to make your bones extra strong as well?”

“Yes, I think I need to. Otherwise I might break my own bones if I exert myself too much.” I answered.

So we spent several more hours working on that. This was made a little more difficult because I had already done the muscles. Seems it works better in the opposite order.

By the time Melanie returned home, once again irritated at Jean, my skeleton was properly female in shape and tough enough to take the kind of stress my new muscles could put on them. My muscles and bones were also working together nicely, now. I felt like I could bench press a car, though I hadn’t made myself that strong.

Melanie was muttering about Jean for several minutes after she got home, so Veronica started talking about my changes to distract her. It took a while, but Melanie was finally sidetracked and started to take an interest. So much so, in fact, that she decided we needed to have an arm wrestling match to see how strong I am now.

“I’ll start off at normal strength, and slowly increase it to see how much power I have to expend to beat you.” Melanie said as we got set up. I was a little worried about hurting her, but she assured me she could handle it. We started and I was easily winning at first. I had her almost down to the table when she started to reverse it. I hadn’t really noticed the increase in strength until the last, when I found I couldn’t move her arm anymore.

“Wow, I had to put some serious energy into that!” Melanie said after slamming my hand down onto the table. Somehow she managed not to break the table in the process. My arm was aching afterwards. “Remember Laura, you can heal yourself.” Melanie reminded me. Oh yeah!

My pain went away very quickly. “So how much did you have to exert yourself, Melanie?” Veronica asked.

“A fair amount.” Melanie answered. “I didn’t think she’d be that strong. Once she learns to boost, the combination of the two will make her really strong.”

I was happy with my new muscles. I looked a little Amazonian with my height and slightly bulkier muscles, but I was actually a lot stronger than I looked. I also learned that I could move faster, as my new muscles acted like tightly coiled springs. I could do some real damage with this!

Now that Melanie was relaxed and we had related my progress for the day (which Melanie said was awesome) I asked, “How did things go with Jean and your shadow today, Melanie?”

Melanie sighed, “Frustrating. She’d probably be done by now if she weren’t spending so much time giving me the third degree. We might be able to finish tomorrow. Her shadow is getting tired of losing me, though.” she finished with a smile.

“So, Laura, do you feel confident enough to leave the apartment yet?” Melanie asked. The quick change of subject left me confused for a moment.

I thought about it, and realized that the change of bone and muscle shape had done me a lot of good. My clothes fit rather loosely now (the extra mass for my muscles and bones had largely come from body fat). On the other hand, having a female bone structure meant that my face needed a lot less work to be passable. Hardly any at all, really.

There was still one problem, though. “Not yet.” I answered. “I still need to fix my voice.”

Melanie nodded. “I thought you might say that. Maybe you can get that sorted in time to go out for dinner tomorrow?” she asked hopefully.

“Let me guess, pizza?” I asked. Veronica giggled and Melanie scowled.

“I’m not that bad!” she protested.

“Yes, you are.” Veronica countered.

“Okay, maybe I am.” Melanie agreed sheepishly. “So, what do you say?”

Veronica and I nodded. “Sure, why not?” Veronica said.

“Good! Pizza is so much better when you don’t get it to go!” Melanie beamed.

“Well, if we’re going to do that, I guess we’d better get to work on your Larynx.” Veronica said to me. I agreed and we got to work while Melanie made dinner. I think she was more interested in not having to cook dinner again than she was in going out. Or maybe I was underestimating how much of a pizza connoisseur she is.

I hadn’t worked on cartilage yet, so this was a new area. The vocal chords are muscles, but I hadn’t gotten to them yet, either. We decided to get the cartilage out of the way first, so I wouldn’t have an Adams apple anymore. It also got me a much cuter nose!

After taking care of the rest, I got down to the vocal chords. This was more a matter of making a change, talking to see how it sounded, rinse and repeat. Veronica recorded my voice each time so I could hear how it sounded to them, as well as what it sounds like to me. It’s amazing how much difference it makes hearing it from a recording.

I still wasn’t entirely satisfied by the time we decided to call it a night. That was okay, since I’d have most of the day to perfect it. Maybe I would even have some time to get some other things done, too?

---

 
I was amazed at how much progress Laura had made in just one day. Not only had she changed two major parts of her body (which took me a lot longer), but she had managed to improve on the original while she was at it! I had to agree with Veronica that she had a knack for it. Just imagine what she could do once she had really explored her abilities!

Once again I was out the door after breakfast, making my circuitous route towards the hospital and taking on the guise of Lisa on the way. Much to my surprise, my shadow wasn’t where I was expecting him. In fact, I didn’t encounter him the whole way. Weird! Maybe they had given up? Nah!

Jean was looking a bit better when I arrived, which just reinforced my thoughts that she was trying to hide how much progress she was really making. Not that she had much hope of hiding anything from a mind reader, but she didn’t need to know that!

“Good morning Jean! How are you feeling today?” I asked.

“Better, Lisa. Maybe this weird training of yours is actually working.” Right, like she doesn’t already know that!

To my surprise, Jean only made token efforts to get information out of me. This was even more surprising, since her thoughts told me that she was even more determined to find out more about me. Apparently she was trying to lull me into a false sense of security. Good thing I can read minds, right?

I took advantage of this to get more training done then we had been. We took a break at lunch time, but she didn’t even try to say I should go home for the day, so I came back after lunch. We trained for a few more hours before I declared her done. “You’ve got it, Jean! If you’re not completely cured by the end of the day, it’ll only because you got lazy!”

Jean laughed and assured me she would be getting out of that hospital as soon as she could convince her doctors that she was ready. “Thanks Lisa.” Jean said. “I know I’ve been a pain. You’ve saved my life, and given me the tools to heal myself of any future injuries or illnesses. How can I ever thank you?”

I might have been moved by her sincere sounding words, if I couldn’t hear her plotting in her head. “Just stop trying to find out more about me, and we’re even!” I answered.

Jean laughed and agreed. We talked a bit more and then I said goodbye for the last time.

I kept up my usual precautions on the way home. It was shortly after gratefully dropping the illusion that I once again sensed someone in a lot of pain. It turned out to be another man who had been beaten near death. I stabilized him, noticing as I did that his injuries were a lot like the other man’s. Hopefully Karl wouldn’t be putting in an appearance!

After doing what I could for him, I found someone to call the police for me. I didn’t want to do it myself, because then they’d want to know who I am and I don’t officially exist! After that I high-tailed it home.

As I walked in the apartment I was greeted by two beautiful voices singing Sarah Mclachlan songs. I didn’t recognize either one, so I was a little worried until I got into the room and saw Veronica and Laura. Laura’s voice was now a really nice soprano. It somehow managed to sound like her old voice, without being the least bit masculine. What was really surprising was Veronica’s voice. I didn’t expect her to change it again!

When they were done singing they noticed me watching, or listening I guess. “Sounds great, Laura! I don’t know how you managed to make it sound so good while still sounding like your old voice, but you did great!”

Laura smiled and said, “Thanks! What about Veronica? Doesn’t she sound great, too? She was complaining that she couldn’t sing, so we fixed it!”

I tried to look shocked as I exclaimed, “What, you mean we won’t have to keep replacing the mirror in the bathroom every time she sings in the shower anymore?!” I ducked just in time to avoid the flying pillow. Hey, if you can’t annoy your big sister, who can you?

Veronica and Laura told me all about their day, and I noticed that Laura was looking really good. She’s probably about ready to go all the way I thought.

“So how was your day?” Laura asked.

“Well,” I answered, “my shadow didn’t turn up. Jean hardly gave me any trouble at all, and even apologized for being a pain. If she wasn’t plotting the whole time to find out who I am I might have been impressed.”

“So she was trying to get you to let your guard down?” Veronica asked.

“Yep. Didn’t work, of course, but I didn’t let her know that. I figured she called her shadow off so I would be even more apt to relax.” I answered. I hesitated, knowing they would freak about the guy I healed.

“Something else happen?” Laura asked. Damn! That girl is getting entirely too perceptive.

“Yeah, it did. I found another victim of Karl, I think.” I said.

Veronica groaned and Laura looked alarmed. “I didn’t actually encounter Karl.” I hastened to assure them. “It’s just that his injuries were very similar. It might have been a random mugging, or something.”

“But you don’t think so, do you?” Veronica asked.

“No, not really, but what can we do?” I said.

Veronica answered, “Nothing. I don’t like this. From what you said this victim was a lot closer to home. If Karl finds out where we live we could be in for some real trouble.”

I looked over at Laura and considered her enhancements. “Laura, you still can’t handle this guy, but at least you have a better chance of surviving an encounter. But you,” I turned to Veronica, “are way too vulnerable. You can’t boost well enough to make much of a difference if this guy is as dangerous as I think he is. Maybe you should consider making some of the same changes as Laura.”

“I’ve been thinking the same thing.” Laura said. “And if you do, you’ll be a lot more dangerous when you do boost. Maybe even dangerous enough to give this guy a good fight. But what about mass? You don’t have any to spare.” Laura asked, looking at Veronica’s thin 5’6” frame.

I laughed, “You’ve still got a lot to learn! Mass isn’t as much of a barrier for us as you might think. We can convert energy to mass, to some extent. Besides, she can just eat lots of filling foods and use that for the extra mass.”

Veronica looked back and forth between us in deep thought before saying, “I think I will. I don’t want to fight, but I might not get a choice. What about you Melanie?”

I frowned. I really didn’t want to change my look. I could do some stuff, but then I’d be heavier. Or my skin would be rougher. “Nah! I don’t want to change, and I don’t really need to.”

Laura frowned before saying, “I guess I can understand your reluctance, especially since you can compensate by boosting. But there is one change you might want to consider. I haven’t done it myself yet, but I think I know how to do it. You could increase your metabolism and healing rate, so you would heal quickly.”

“Hmm.” I mused. “Yeah, that could be useful. If I were to get hit by surprise and knocked out, I wouldn’t be able to heal myself to get back in the fight quickly. If I naturally heal fast, though, I won’t have to. That sounds promising.”

Veronica agreed, but grumbling stomachs interrupted the conversation. “Maybe we’d better go get that pizza before we continue this conversation.” she suggested.

We agreed and started walking towards my favorite pizza place. To my surprise, they both went along with my pepperoni fetish. What can I say, it’s good!

We kept our conversation on mundane subjects while in public, so it was mostly about the new wardrobe Laura was going to need and what kind of clothes she wanted. With her Amazonian looks I thought she should go with sporty clothes. Veronica suggested, gasp!, corset tops and short skirts! At least my suggestion wasn’t what I wear everyday! (I prefer lightweight long layered skirts, they’re much more fun!)

Laura was undecided and wanted to look at lots of different styles, but only after her changes were complete. She mentioned this as we were leaving. I was so involved in the conversation I almost didn’t notice a familiar mind, Karl!

---

 
I stopped suddenly and looked around trying to spot him. It’s usually pretty easy to spot someone when you can hear their thoughts, but this guy was weirdly hard to pin down. Must be something to do with his unhinged mind!

“What’s up Melanie?” Laura asked as she noticed I wasn’t walking with them anymore.

“He’s here.” I answered.

Veronica frowned. “Karl?” she asked.

I nodded. I finally found him, crouched down on the roof of an adjacent building. “There.” I said, pointing him out.

Laura stepped in front of Veronica. “What should we do?” she asked tensely.

I grinned, “Stop trying to play hero, for one. You can’t handle this guy. You two should fade back; find some cover to hide behind. If we separate he might come after you, so don’t go too far.” Just as they started to do as I said I cursed under my breath and said, “Wait! You need to get out of here, now!”

My eyes were glued to Karl, but I could almost see the frown on Veronica’s face as she said, “You just said he might come after us, now you want us to run?”

“He’s not the only one here.” I explained. “My shadow’s back.” I doubted he was watching me specifically, but he was about to see me if he stayed in the area. “He’s probably going to see whatever happens here. You two have identities you don’t want to abandon. I don’t. If I have to disappear I can do it a lot easier than you can. Get out of here.”

I didn’t dare to take my eyes off of Karl, so I had to rely on my senses to know that they were moving away. They weren’t too happy about it, but they were doing as I asked.

Just then Karl jumped off of the roof and landed just ten feet from me. “Well, you look a little different now, don’t you girly?” he said menacingly.

“What do you want, Karl?” I asked.

“So you know my name, too?” he sneered. “You’re just full of surprises. I knew Ann was holding out on me. She probably taught you all sorts of interesting tricks, all the stuff she denied being able to do at all! Tell you what, you teach me how to do all that stuff and I won’t kill you.”

Well, that confirmed that. Couldn’t blame Ann for holding out on this guy. “Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. I teach you to be a more dangerous crazy person. Right. Not! There’s no way I’m going to help you to hurt people. In fact, I’m not going to let you hurt people anymore at all.” I answered.

He laughed weirdly as he advanced on me. “You won’t *let* me?! What makes you think you can stop me?” he demanded.

“Oh, gee, I don’t know. Maybe because I’m like, way more powerful than you? Or maybe because I’m fully trained? Or maybe it’s because I’m sane?” I replied.

“Oh I’m perfectly sane.” He laughed. “I’m going to clean up this town. Get rid of all the drug dealers and muggers. And you’re going to help me, or you’re going to die.”

“Dude, listen to yourself! You think you’re some super hero or something? You’re just a loony who’s better than most at beating people to death!” I answered.

“So you’re not going to help me?” He asked all weirdly calm.

“No. You have to stop this.” I answered.

He shrugged carelessly. “Oh well, I don’t really need your help, anyway.” With that he took a swing at me, but I was ready for that.

I caught his fist in my hand, but I barely managed to stop it. How was he so strong? He yanked his arm back and tried again. I caught it again, easier this time since I was ready for his strength. “I can keep this up all day, you know.” I said.

“You think so?” he sneered, and spun around, heel leading right for my head.

“Ouch!” I complained, as I picked myself back up off the ground. As I did I realized I was about ten feet away from where I had been. Did he really hit me that far? I realized he’d been holding back, maybe to see what I was capable of. Well, two can play at that game…

“You bitch!” he yelled, as he picked himself up off the ground, after bouncing off the wall. “How did you do that?”

“What, this?” I asked, and blurring forward struck him in the chest with both hands. Once again he flew through the air and crashed into the wall of the building he had been on the roof of. The wall looked like it had been hit by a mortar shell or something.

To my surprise, he got up and brushed himself off as if it was nothing. “Not bad, girlie, but you’ll have to do a lot more than that to get rid of me.” he said as he advanced on me menacingly. He went to punch me again, but when I tried to block I realized too late he was faking and took a heavy blow to the chest. Now it was my turn to go flying again.

I crashed into the wall of the pizza place, but not so hard that the wall took any real damage. I picked myself back up and decided that I was going to have to go all out on my boosting to deal with him. These short bursts of speed and strength weren’t enough. I came at him again, probably faster than his eyes could follow, but he anticipated me with a boot to the stomach.

I crashed right into it and sent us both sprawling. He wasn’t hurt, just knocked down, but my stomach was really hurting. A quick bit of healing took care of that, and I decided that shielding sounded like a really good idea.

While I was distracted he charged me and tried to jump kick me in the head. I used my speed to slide to the side and trip him up. He rolled with the fall and was back on his feet. He came at me and faked a kick, followed up by a real punch. I probably would have been fooled, if I’d bothered to stick around. By the time he realized I’d avoided his attack I was spinning around behind him and slamming the heel of my foot into the back of his head.

We were pretty close to another wall at this point, and my kick drove his head into the wall. I stared in horror, fearing I had killed him. He hung there with his head implanted in the wall, then pulled himself out. “Shit, girlie! That really hurt! I’ll have to pay you back for that one!” he yelled after spitting out a tooth. He grinned then, showing the gap in his teeth which slowly filled in as he re-grew his tooth.

Damn, he’s just going to keep healing all the damage I do to him. I tried to think of a way around this, but I wasn’t having much luck. While I was ruminating he came at me again and caught me by surprise with a flying kick to the chest. It didn’t accomplish much.

“What the hell?!” he exclaimed as he stared in shock at his foot where it had stopped a millimeter from my skin. Ah, shielding, you gotta love it!

“I told you I’m way more powerful than you. You can’t win. Sooner or later I’ll wear you out, and then I’ll call the police and they’ll arrest you.” I said.

He laughed. “Go ahead, girlie!” he said. “I’ll just break out later. Or get shot up and then escape from the hospital like I did before. You can’t stop me!”

“Oh come on!” I exclaimed. “You’re making the case for something I don’t want to do. If the police can’t handle you, and you’re dead set on killing people, you’ll leave me no choice but to kill you!”

He snorted and said, “Yeah, right, like a little girl like you could kill me! I’m invincible! I’ll heal anything you do to me and keep coming. Sooner or later I’ll take you out and then nothing can stop me from cleaning up this town.”

He’s like a demented cross between a comic book super villain and super hero! “Please,” I begged, “give up! I don’t want to kill you!”

“I don’t want to kill you!” he mocked in falsetto. He charged me again and I stopped him with a foot to the groin. He was lifted a couple of feet off the ground by the force of the blow, and didn’t land well.

I didn’t like where this was going. He’s strong, tough, relentless, and can heal himself! He’s no match for me, but he’s more than a match for anyone else but Ann. How do you deal with someone who could probably rip the bars right out of the wall of any jail cell he’s put in? Not to mention being able to take a few bullets and get right back up!

He recovered quickly despite his poor landing and came at me. He never landed another blow on me, but my blows weren’t accomplishing much. He was insanely tough, and healed what little damage I did. He must have figured out how to boost, but concentrated all his efforts on making himself stronger and tougher, without increasing his speed.

This went on for a few minutes before there was a pause as he caught his breath. “This is getting boring.” he finally said with a sneer. “Maybe one of your girlfriends will be more fun to play with.” With that he turned and started running off in the direction that Veronica and Laura went.

I think I actually saw red when he said that, and sped off in pursuit. It only took me a moment to catch up with him, grab his arm, and throw him bodily backwards into that same shell-shocked wall. I calmed down pretty quickly as I realized that he didn’t have a chance of getting past me to get at them. But if I let him go he would probably try to kill them later, when I wasn’t around to protect them.

In that moment I realized that there never really was a choice. If he had been a normal crazy person, I could have handed him over to the cops and they would have taken him to the loony bin and maybe they even would have been able to help him. But with his powers he couldn’t be held in any prison or hospital. The only way to deal with him was to kill him. It was exactly as I’d feared.

“I’m really sorry about this, but you’ve left me no choice.” I said mournfully as he picked himself back up again. His eyes narrowed as he stared at me hatefully just before opening widely as my hand punched right through his chest and out his back. I’d hit him so hard I was up to my elbow before I stopped. I’d hit him right in the heart, which was now all but destroyed.

He gasped in pain and gurgled, “Kill you!” He struggled feebly, but I didn’t pull my arm out. I knew if I did, he might be able to repair his heart and this fight would continue forever. So I held my arm there to prevent him from healing himself. His struggles weakened and finally stopped. I watched in horror as his aura faded, flickered, and was gone.

---

 To Be Continued...