A continuation of St Doria's.
Jamie could scarcely believe it, but finally! A kindred spirit! Another person that believed and understood. A confidante, an ally and a friend! Someone willing to listen! Just, listen to what had to be said! The warnings that had to be given about the hidden menace- which in this instance was pervading the very school itself - and would gladly help in destroying them!
Which is exactly what John wanted Jamie to think. Oh no! Not tricked that easily, was Jamie Moschella! No sir! First rule of surviving an alien search and replace was this: Suspect everyone. Especially those that are helpful, smart and believe that the aliens are real. They’re the ones sent in as infiltration to guide the hero off track. They are the ones that actively look out for anyone figuring out what was going on so they can stab ‘em in the back later on.
The unfortunate problem was: It might not be anything to worry about at all. Maybe John actually was a human rather than an alien (or heaven forbid a sympathiser), and these worries were all about nothing. Maybe the aliens were sowing paranoia directly among Jamie’s thoughts. In which case it may well have just backfired - or maybe that’s what they wanted Jamie to think?
“Come on,” John said, flashing an almost casually charming smile that made Jamie simultaneously feel compelled to trust him and run screaming down the halls. “Let’s go recruit ‘em now! Sooner the better, eh?”
“Ah! That is a bold strategum! March directly into the enemy lair, put ourselves at their mercy and hope it bedazzles them long enough that we can bluff our way back out.” Jamie nodded. It was an often utilised plan, which unfortunately has the glaring flaw of not exactly working out all that well if one of them was in fact a traitor. “Come into my parlour...”
John chuckled. “I never particularly cared for that turn of phrase. It implies that flies must necessarily be gullible enough to accept such an invitation from an obvious predator. Which in turn means that spiders aren’t particularly imaginative either, if that’s the best sort of lie they could come up with.”
“I suppose you’re some expert on deception, then?”
John tilted his head slightly and stared back at Jamie as though considering the question mildly amusing. “I... Used to dabble in magic. Sleight of hand, misdirection. That sort of thing. I dropped the habit when I couldn’t build the props large enough to pull out the more impressive illusions...” he sighed in a deliberately exaggerated manner, which Jamie also caught that he was meant to catch. “If only I knew someone that was proficient in building props and sets.”
“Help me catch these aliens, and I’ll build whatever you like!”
John didn’t say another word. He simply... smiled and nodded. Like the cat that caught the canary. Ah, what was it dad always said? It’s not what you know, it’s who? Yes, obviously John had learned the same lesson. Take advantage of those you know, let them take advantage of you as well. Help each other climb the ladder to success and you get that much higher. When humans work together, there are few limits to what they could reach. When they work against each other, there’s little limit to what levels of destruction and chaos they could wreak.
No. He was not a spy. He was not an alien infiltrator. Jamie realised now that if he succumbed to paranoia, the aliens would have all but won. No. He would not let them win that way. The human spirit was at its strongest when supported by friends and allies. Work together. With their combined intelligence and assorted skills they would overcome this mysterious threat! John’s charisma! Jamie’s observational skills! The two of them would be unstoppable.
The two of them now stood outside the door to their next door neighbours. A palpable aura of... something radiated from within. Not... exactly... threatening. If anything it was inviting, which was especially worrying.
“You hear something”? Jamie whispered. “It sounds like they’re conducting some sort of otherworldly experiment in there!”
John shrugged. “I don’t hear anything. Hey! Guys!” he knocked on the door. The sounds stopped almost instantly, as though they were a guilty party caught in the act. A hand in the cookie jar, so to speak.
“Who i~is it?” a rather... happy sounding voice came from within. Jamie honestly couldn’t tell if it was Alex or Frank, or even someone else. Even John seemed taken aback by it.
“Um... It’s John and Jamie,” Jamie said. “Remember, we met earlier on?”
“O~oh, yes!” another voice said, sounding similarly happy. Warning bells were firing off now. Get out of there! Run and hide, and don’t stop for anything! “We remember! What do you want?”
John eased back into control, and straightened up his shirt. Not that he could be seen by anyone within. “We were of the mind that it might be a rather useful goal to establish a recurrent gathering centered around the investigation, debunking and cataloging of events, people and situations that are by their very nature unverifiable by the normal scientific method.”
“Huh?” three voices simultaneously responded - Jamie’s included.
“A supernatural studies club,” John explained, bouncing slightly on his heels. “We were thinking of calling it the Enigma Society. Would you like to join? We could certainly use all the help we could get!”
There was the briefest moment of silence before the answer came through the door. “Ye~es!” one of the voices said. “We would lo~ove to help you.”
Without warning, John slumped against the door. His breathing became laboured and a look came upon his face as though he had seen the very devil manifest in front of him.
“John! What’s wrong?”
“I... I don’t know. Feel... funny all of a sudden.”
Damn! There was nothing else for it. Jamie pounded on the door. Had to get him to a doctor! But first, get John somewhere to lie down, somewhere comfortable. “Hey! Come on, open up! John needs help, there’s something wrong with him!”
“Su~ure!” the voice said, much louder now. On the other side of the door. “We’ll give the two of you... all the help you need!”
The door fell open, and before Jamie’s very eyes there was the vision of a goddess. The most beautiful woman Jamie could remember seeing... No... This was a trap. An illusion designed to draw in the unwary.
And yet Jamie’s traitorous feet carried the boy turned girl inside. Neither John or Jamie even noticed as their hands intertwined when they stepped over the boundary into their neighbour’s dorm, nor did either of them pay any attention as the door swung shut behind them.
“Come into my parlour,” Alex beckoned to her bleary eyed guests. “Let Francis and I... help you out of your clothes.”
Just as Simone was unpacking away the contents of the last of her boxes, she froze in place with her ears and nose twitching. She knew this feeling. But the last time she'd felt anything like this had been that one time she'd gotten lost on that studio she was visiting, and wandered too close to the -
"Are you alright?" Oliver asked, and bless him he was worried but still keeping his distance. How adorable! He would be so much fun to break in.
"I am quite alright. I just thought I heard something. I suppose it must have been the beating of my own heart to be in the presence of such a tasty morsel."
Oliver winced a little, and Simone sniffed the air. Yep. Just like that time outside the porn set. There was action going on around here, probably somewhere in the dorms. Two roomies with a mutual lust at first sight? Or perhaps one of them had smuggled in a girlfriend... No, that was a little too unlikely. What were the chances security would have missed two girls slipping into the school grounds on the first day?
Besides which the notion of boy on boy action happening somewhere close by was far too tantalising a notion to ignore. So forbidden! So secretive and romantic, and so very, very hot! Simone stalked over towards Oliver, silent as a passing breeze and yanked him to his feet.
"Come on," Simone said. "I want to take a look around."
Oliver managed to free his hand. "And you're dragging me along because?" he asked, a slight tremble in his voice.
"How better to get to know the area?" Simone chuckled. "Besides which, it's the perfect opportunity to scope out the hunks. I am looking for a little fun later, you see? With you by my side they'll surely drop their guard and then - oh! But a gentleman never tells!"
Oliver looked like he was about to faint, poor thing. Simone had to bundle him out of the room - taking a brief moment to discretely check out her roomie's rather firm rear end as they went. Oh my, he must take great care of himself! But not nearly as good care as she would take of him by the end of the year...
Kevin stared at the statue feeling a little bit silly. A transforming statue, eh? Quite the story, if he could figure out how it worked. Which was part of the problem really. The most obvious explanation was a magic trick or a con of some sort, but... That didn't make a lick of sense. Magicians only operated in front of an audience, or practised somewhere in private so that nobody would see the secrets to their latest trick if they fouled it up. And conmen would only pull something like this if they got something out of it. Hell, if anyone had been making the statue transform somehow there had to be a reason for it, and the only real effect it had was to confuse her and -
And bring her out here. Bit of a chilling thought, all truth told.
Kevin withdrew her phone and snapped a photograph of the statue, and considered her next move. Perhaps set up a camera on a timer pointing at it from the window? Or maybe simply record the statue for a few hours to see if it changed? She stepped around the statue and took pictures from a variety of angles. Nothing particularly struck her as... odd, per se. It was a simple statue, and nothing more.
"Well, this is a surprise!" a voice said from behind Kevin. It was a soft voice, hard to tell if it was male or female, and it spoke with a crisp English accent that bordered on stereotyping Kevin spun around. Nobody there. "It's rare to see such a genuinely inquisitive mind. Pure curiousity for its own sake," the voice continued.
"Who is that?" Kevin said, attempting to adopt a much more confidence posture than she felt capable of displaying right now. "Why don't you show yourself?"
"Because my visage may drive you mad," the voice answered. Kevin's vision became rather blurry all of a sudden and she shook her head - "Ah! Another surprise. A girl, attending a boy's school. How very novel. And brave! Very brave of you to come here like that even though you didn't have to!"
"Who's a girl?" Kevin scowled at the air around her. False bravado was better than none. Besides which, it might get whoever this was to properly introduce -
"As you wish, Kelly. I will keep your secret, but only if you promise to keep mine! But be warned that a promise with a being such as myself... Oh, but breaking those promises has such dire consequences."
Kevin rolled her eyes at that. "Oh, sure. I suppose you want me to believe you're some sort of bogeyman... A practical joker of some sort, are we? Talking through a microphone?"
"Your attempt to bluff your way out of the situation is rather admirable. Why, if I were not telepathic I would have certainly fallen for it! Probably. My point is, I rather like you. For that reason alone, I shall offer you a boon... If you promise to come and talk with me once a day. And of course, agree to my previous contract."
"And if I don't agree?"
Kevin suddenly felt herself being lifted off the ground and forcibly turned around to face the statue. She flailed around, searching for the force that had picked her up - by the collar? No! Wires attached to her clothes without her noticing? No! But, how -
The statue turned to look up at her and grinned. "Then tomorrow's front page story would probably read 'tragedy at St. Doria's'. Just because I like you, doesn't mean I cast aside practicality."
"Put me down! What- what sort of boon did you have in mind?!"
"Much better. Now, I think you're rather going to like this..."
No comments:
Post a Comment