AN: This episode of Oblivion picks up the story where Episode 1 ("The New Kid") left off. For this reason, I strongly advise you to read that story first, because otherwise you will probably be completely lost. (Reading Episode 2, "Both Sides of the Story," is not as necessary, although it is still recommended.)

Episode 3 - "Everybody Hates Windmills"

Chapter 1

Saturday afternoon, 1:30pm. Tim had just finished lunch, and so he grabbed his guitar case and walked up Carver Boulevard to Bobby's house. The garage door was open and Bobby and Ashley were already there, their instruments at the ready.

Tim took a few seconds to admire Bobby's black-and-white Gibson bass guitar. "Nice one," said Tim.

"Yours ain't half-bad, either," said Bobby, nodding towards Tim's blue Yamaha. "I'd ask you to show us how it's done now, but that'd be unfair to Tara."

"Yeah, where is she?" asked Tim.

Ashley rolled her eyes. "She's the fashionable one of us, so she's always late. Bless her little heart," she added, dripping sarcasm the way Roman candles drip sparks as she twirled her ebony drumstick between her fingers.

"So, does this band have a name or what?" asked Tim.

"Lethal Tomatoes!" crowed Tara, who had just arrived and taken her place behind the keyboard.

"Yeah, and we desperately need a new guitarist - and a singer, because we just got our first real gig, if you can call it that," added Bobby. "It's Rush Week this week. No, not Rush the band, which is just too bad. All the clubs are, uh, recruiting. The Green Club has a nice little gimmicky thing they're doing at the front of the school, they want us to be there to play every day this week."

"We don't actually need a singer, really," said Ashley, but it would be very nice if we did. So, sorry to really put you on the spot there, but you're kinda doing a double audition today."

"Anything in particular you want?" asked Tim.

"Anything goes," said Bobby. "We're a cover band, and we specialize in pretty much everything. So, go for it. The crazier the better."

Tim took a breath, and after a second started launching into the refrain of his new favorite song, which he had just heard for the first time on Saturday Night Live a week earlier. It would have been better to play it on bass, but it was still impressive enough on the regular guitar, and the vocals, loud, high, and theatrical, were a challenge Tim rose to easily. He didn't get to sing often, especially not in front of others, so he had lots of fun singing the chorus to "Panic Station."

Bobby, Tara, and Ashley all looked at each other. "Well? How'd I do?" asked Tim.

"Well," drawled Bobby, "maybe if we Auto-Tune your mike..."

Ashley laughed. "He's just kidding! You know, we should have filmed this and put it on YouTube. Maybe Matt Bellamy and the guys from Muse would see it and take notice."

"Yeah!" chimed in Tara. "At least you don't have a speech impediment."

"Matt Bellamy has a speech impediment?" Tim asked. "I never noticed."

"Yeah, he tends to do the Elmer Fudd thing sometimes, said Bobby. "Like on 'Time Is Running Out,' sometimes he says 'fweedom,' stuff like that. You do just the opposite. Kinda overenunciate a bit, but then again it's perfect for theatrical-type singing. It's just what we need."

"So I do have a speech impediment, sort of," said Tim. "But hey, if Muse doesn't care about the singer not pronouncing things exactly right, neither should we!"

"Right on," said Ashley. "Let's practice a few more songs for Monday. You think you can join in with us, Tim?"

"Depends," said Tim. "I'm a little more reliable with vocals than the guitar. Like, I've memorized more lyrics than chord progressions, you know what I mean?"

"We understand," said Tara. "Just do your best and you should be fine. Hasn't failed me yet."

After two hours of practice, the Lethal Tomatoes packed up and went home. Tim went upstairs to his room, and with another insistent rhythm stuck in his head, he started playing another recent Muse hit - "Madness." But just as he finished replicating the opening synth riff, his guitar strings vibrated hard, and the guitar rippled in his hands. Suddenly, the neck and strings elongated, until it made itself into a bass. He looked at it with shock, then played the exact same riff over again. This time, the instrument mutated into a cello. He soon discovered that he could change his guitar into any stringed instrument he could think of just by playing the "Madness" synth riff. It even assumed the form of some instruments he'd never heard of before, like a Chinese erhu. And yet, thanks to his synesthesia, all he had to do was experiment a bit with the strings (he already had a bow, since he'd dabbled in violin playing for a while during his freshman year and had kept it with him so he could try out bowed guitar playing) until the notes assembled in the right order and color in his vision field, so he could change the instrument's shape again.

As he regained the shape of his original guitar, Axel and Rocky walked in. They were just in time to see the guitar resume its form from its previous shape, that of a violin. Rocky gaped at him, and Tim saw that his little brother's hands were glowing white. He frowned. "The surprises just keep on coming, don't they?"