Changes

Changes (Chapter Five)

Sorcha pushed the door open. She’d been listening to Remus and Romulus give her a constant stream of information as soon as they’d left her sight on the staircase. However, when the boys had screamed to warn the girl, Romulus had enough common sense to let Sorcha hear as well, and she’d thrown down the dust rag she had in her hand and ran out of the bar, leaving her most capable waitress, Mary, to watch things for the moment. Ducking into the first doorway after the pub’s own door, she’d cut through the next building over and was presently standing not two feet from where it had happened. Whatever it was.

Sorcha immediately eyeballed the girl, and she could tell that the poor thing, though physically unharmed, was completely drained from whatever had happened. Remembering earlier in the pub when she’d felt the girl’s aura grow stronger after having her meal, she decided that taking her back to the pub for the time being was the best action.

“Heavens, boys! Get that poor lass in here! She looks positively frightful. And who knows when that thing will come back- she’s not safe here! Let’s take her back in, I think she could do with seconds on that hamburger. This time, it’s on the house.”

Remus and Romulus nodded in agreement, and Sorcha watched the two of them rush forward to help the girl up, but just as they reached her, she passed out. Sorcha sighed- she didn’t blame the girl. From the way Romulus had been pacing moments ago, the incident had been a bit far from the norm. The boys stopped when they realized the girl was out, but Romulus didn’t hesitate a moment longer, instead electing to scoop her up in his arms. Sorcha led the way back to the front of the building, and sweeping the area with a wave of her arm, she diverted the attention of anyone nearby from the sight of two large boys carrying an unconscious girl into the building. A little mind trick, she smiled to herself. Not enough to distract the determined, but for the weak-minded, it was more than enough to make the nearby brick walls more interesting.

Inside the pub was a different story- any heads turning were only out of curiosity, and didn’t linger long. The pub was highly mind-your-own-business, due to Sorcha’s own insistence, and as such, nothing more came of their passage through the sea of tables to the office in the back.

Sorcha eased the door shut, then turned back to the boys. “What the hell happened out there?”

Romulus laid the girl down on Sorcha’s couch. “We followed her out, as you saw, and around the buildings into a side alley that they decided to take, just like we told you. Then the guy-“

“Pulled some knahves from his coat, and rahn ahround the corner ahfter them. We took off-“

“Running after, and got around the corner just in time to yell to her. They both whipped around, but whoever this guy was-“

“Chucked one of those knahves aht her, but her mahn pushed her out of the wahy-“

“And ended up with it in him instead. But when the guy threw the next one at her, it just bounced off of her. And he just threw the rest of them to the side-“

“’ere, ah grahbbed some of them.” Remus pulled something out of his leather trenchcoat’s deep pockets, and Sorcha could see little pieces of it falling off as he removed them. Placing them in her hand, he continued. “ahnd grahbbed her neck, but-“

“He dropped her right away, and it was like the guy’s coat was melting on him. Hell, not just on him, it was melting him! He started screaming his head off and took off the opposite way.”

Over the past year, Sorcha had gotten used to the twin’s (as she called them) speaking back and forth. Though they weren’t even related, they were so alike in every way that they seemed to be, and due in part to their relationship, and in part to their developed skill of telepathy, they tended to cut each other off and finish each other’s sentences. However, just because she was used to it didn’t mean it didn’t bug her from time to time- at the moment, it was giving her a headache along with all the other things going on.

Sorcha gave the objects in her hand a once over. Though suspiciously shaped like knives, they were nothing more than Styrofoam. Manipulating one of them with only the fingers on one hand, she broke it, confirming it’s lack of solid- or dangerous- element.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Remus pull another of his black cigarettes out and stick it in between his lips. Nervously touching the end of it, he lit the cigarette, but had to pinch it when a large flame accidentally appeared.

Sorcha paused for a moment. Coming up with a vague idea of what to do next, she strolled across the room and pulled open the door once more. She gave a shout for Mary, knowing she’d been the girl’s waitress earlier. Mary approached.

“Mary, my dear. Do you recognize this young woman?” Sorcha opened the door wide enough to allow Mary to view the unconscious girl on the couch.

Mary peered into the room, and smiled. “Yes, Sasha. I only just finished serving her about twenty minutes ago. Her name is Cassiopeia.” Mary took a second glance. “Although, I could have sworn her hair was streaked with green, not blue…”

Sorcha raised an eyebrow, but not in suspicion but agreement. She’d thought the same thing herself. “Mary. Please, would you ask the Michael to cook up another of whatever she had ordered?” With another glance at Cassi, she turned back to Mary. “On second thought, make it a double order.” Mary nodded and turned, heading in the direction of the kitchen.

Sorcha eased the door shut once more, turning back to the boys. “I think I’ve got a good idea of what happened. Not why, but what. So, I think it’s about time that we woke our little Cassi up.”

* * *

A sharp, unpleasant smell entered Cassi’s nostrils. Instinctively, her nose turned, and her face grimaced, and her eyes fluttered open. Kneeling over her was a dark haired woman, who retracted her arm (hand holding the package of smelling salts that Cassi realized had just encouraged her rising), and two tall men standing to the side of her. The blond, short haired one was pacing back and forth, watching her carefully, whereas the other man had shoulder length red hair, and stood to the side, smoking a black cigarette. Sniffing the air to relieve her nostrils of the obnoxious scent of the smelling salts, Cassi could sense the faint smell of smoke and cloves.

“Ah! At last. Sleeping beauty has awoken. How are you doing, hun?” The dark haired lady spoke, staring directly at Cassi.

“Uh…I’m…ok, I think…what happened?” Cassi put her hand to her head. “The last thing I remember is that man running off before everything went black.”

“Well, my dear Cassiopeia, that is actually what we want to know. What happened. Perhaps then we can figure out why, unless you are able to enlighten us on that subject, as well?” The dark haired lady raised an eyebrow, but Cassi shook her head. “Well then. In that case, we’ll tell you what happened after you blacked out.”

Dark Hair stood up from the kneeling position she had been in, and pointed at the two men. “My associates here, Remus,” At this time, the redhead finished a drag on his cigarette and winked at her. “and Romulus” (the blond one bowed his head to her) “noticed someone following you and your friend into my pub. Their gut instinct told them something was up, and as such, they watched you from the moment you set foot off the staircase. When you left, they followed that man, who had gotten up right after you. As you must have realized, when they saw he was about to attack you, they warned you, and Romulus here was kind enough to alert me as well. When you passed out afterward, I had them bring you here.”

Cassi looked around, but she couldn’t recognize her surroundings, despite the curiously familiar green shade that made up the colors of the wall. “And here is?”

“Oh! Forgive me. I was far too absorbed with the current situation, I had forgotten you did not meet me.” She stuck out her hand. “My name is Sorcha Meallán, I’m the owner of this lovely pub you chose to wander into tonight. And as for where here is, here happens to be my private office in the back of the pub.”

Cassi took the hand hesitantly, however not out of fear for this woman, but more because she realized moving was beginning to give her a headache. And all at once, her stomach growled, reminding her of her activities from not too long ago.

As if on cue, a knock came at the door, and Sorcha smiled and opened it. Cassi recognized Mary, her server from earlier, when she walked in carrying a tray of food and drinks, and came to set them down on the table in front of them.

Mary gave Cassi a wink as she looked curiously at her. “I hope you feel better, sweetie. Let me know if you need anything else.” Mary then turned on her heel and left the room.

Cassi eyed the tray and noticed it happened to have a double order of exactly what she’d ordered not an hour or so earlier.

Sorcha saw Cassi look back and forth between the food and her hosts. “Yes, hun, it’s for you. Feel free. I’ll bet that you’re craving it right about now.” Sorcha watched as Cassi’s hands flew out and snagged a burger, which she began to munch on. “Oh. Except these here drinks…” Grabbing two glasses from the tray, she turned to the men. “I’m going to presume that these are for you two, in particular, this one for you, Remus. Mary always did have an affinity for you, for some reason.”

Remus took the drink, and with a sniff, he smiled as he realized exactly what it was. Romulus accepted his, however did not drink from it quite yet.

Sorcha turned back to Cassi, and pulled up a chair to sit in front of her. “Now, dear, while you eat, I’ll try to take a stab at what happened, and you just correct me where I stray.” When Cassi nodded, Sorcha began. “You heard my boys’ warning, and turned around to see this guy coming at you with some knives. He throws one, but your friend pushes you out of the way and takes your place.” Cassi nodded, but slowly, and sadly. “Knife number two comes out, you put up your hand and turn it into this here squishy soft Styrofoam, as well as the ones in his hand.” Another nod, after a second of hesitation. “Then he comes over and grabs your neck, and you reach out, clutch onto his coat, and melt it.”

Cassi put up her hand. “No, I…turned it into acid.”

Sorcha nodded, as this piece of information fit just perfectly. “Allright then, that takes us up to where you found yourself drifting off to Never Never land.” Sorcha took her seat, and leaned back. “So, you’re a morpher, then.”

Cassi looked confused. “A…a morpher?”

“Your little gift of change. That’s what we’d call a morpher.” Leaning forward in her chair, Sorcha looked Cassi in the eye. “A morpher is a being with the power to change things around them, anywhere from the mere appearance of objects, to the complete molecular structure of the object in question.” Sorcha leaned back again. “Of course, that really depends on how powerful the morpher is, of course. A truly powerful morpher is capable of nearly anything. Many end up merely becoming alchemists of sorts, however. Too obsessed with making themselves money, and lots of it.”

Cassi protested. “But I make my money all the time, make the bills worth more-“

Sorcha raised her hand, cutting her off. “That’s not much, doesn’t cause much of a stir. The problem with that lies in changing large quantities of money, eventually somebody realizes that there’s a problem. You can’t have that…if the government figured out that somebody was out there causing problems to their economy, they’d be pretty mad. Not to mention, pretty likely to throw you in a cage and examine you.” She smiled. “No, the ones that decide to just make themselves money just go out to some lesser explored region of the earth and turn half a mountain into a nice stockpile of diamonds, or gold, or some other such items. Then, they conveniently ‘find’ the site while digging.”

“Wait…” Cassi started, then looked around, bewildered. “You mean, there are other people out there like me?”

Remus walked over to Cassi, and held out his hand. Enclosed in it was a picture, a page of a Time magazine ripped out. Thinking he was offering it to her, she reached out to take it, but before her fingers even got close, it began to smoke, and erupted into flame. Shocked, Cassi withdrew her hand, and looked up in confusion at Remus.

Romulus stepped over soon after Remus, and handed her his drink. She looked down at it, worried what was about to happen, but saw nothing but an ice cube or two sloshing around in the carbonated beverage. She looked back at Romulus. Her eyes saw the corners of his mouth turn up in a smile, then he reached out toward the glass. Assuming he was taking it back, but not understanding what was going on, she released it as his hand touched the glass, causing it to tip and fall to the ground.

But the glass itself never made it. Instead, the liquid contents of the glass poured out, and freezing entirely in place upon splashing on the surface of the office floor. The cup itself was suspended approximately two feet off the ground, and Cassi could even see where the ice cubes were in the now solidified liquid.

She couldn’t help but stare at the vaguely artistic mess essentially floating in front of her. A hand appeared in the side of her vision, and she realized she was half crouched, a result of attempting to catch the tumbling glass before it landed. She took the hand, and as she straightened herself out, she took note that it was attached to Romulus. She looked directly into his blue eyes, and decided to close her gaping jaw.

And then, from nowhere, a voice appeared in her thoughts.

<<Not just like you.>>

Not sound, but words. However, the voice seemed very familiar, but she couldn’t place it. But as her expression turned from confusion to questioning, she saw Romulus smile once more, and she realized it was his voice.

<<I think you’re about to wake up all over again.>>