"'Be seeing you'? What's that supposed to mean?" Harmony asked as she read aloud from the little handwritten card that had been left on the counter. She frowned, glancing around at the empty shop. Other than a few barren, forlorn-looking displays, the place had been stripped--impressive work for just a few hours' time, unless 'Ethan' had had some help.
The Enchantress stood idly tapping one long nail against her pouting lower lip as she considered the situation.
This place was definitely the center of the magical working that had taken place earlier that night; the entire building was still shining with residual energies (at least, for those with eyes to see). She had no idea why the man had done such a thing; if he'd still been here then she would have asked him.
And, obviously, she would have thanked him also. Even if most of the people affected had suffered to some degree from the event, Harmony Kendall had most definitely come out ahead.
Very, very far ahead! she thought, agreeing emphatically with herself. I head to a party in a costume, and by the end of the night I'm a Norse Goddess straight out of a comic book, with a new body and magical powers to boot!
Harmony was grinning foolishly now, knew it, and didn't much care. With one pointing finger she directed the small ball of light hovering at her shoulder to zoom around the interior of the shop. The sphere cast a clear, golden illumination as it zipped and whirled--proving, incidentally, that not all of her spells had a green glow... which was a relief, because she'd started to wonder about this 'Amora' chick's obsession with green. A few moments later she tired of the game, stopped playing with her glowy ball, and let it return to her side as she walked carefully back to examine the stockroom again.
Though she didn't know why Ethan had cast the spell, it seemed obvious that it had not ended as planned. She might be brand new to the spellcasting thing, true, but she doubted most sorcerers would smash their magical sculpted head on the floor as the preferred means of turning a spell off.
"It's chaos magic," she murmured to herself, shivering a little at the feel of the residual energies dancing along her skin. "I don't know how I know it's chaos magic, I don't know what it means that it's chaos magic... I just know."
She shook her head in irritation, glancing down at the card again.
'Be Seeing You.'
Surely he hadn't meant her; Harmony had been just one more victim among hundreds. Unless he'd somehow known that she was special, that she would retain her new persona's abilities when everyone else changed back?
She headed back to the front door, her light obediently showing her the way. There was too much she didn't know, and tonight wasn't the time to try and figure things out. She'd taken the slight detour to the costume shop when she'd sensed the mystical emanations of the place, but now it was time to get home. Since she didn't have any pockets in her costume, and her purse had been lost somewhere along the way, she moved to put the card back on the counter where she'd found it. Pausing halfway as something occurred to her, she smiled impishly, and pressed a kiss against the card, atop the handwriting there. With a perfect, lipsticked image of her lips now gracing the note, she left it there for him to find should he return.
I'll be seeing you too, mister Ethan, she promised silently. And when I do, you're going to answer some questions... though I promise to ask very nicely.
* * * * *
As luck would have it, Harmony's adventures while being submerged in Amora's personality had left her on the far side of town from her house. Without a cell phone, money, or anything else besides the (admittedly sexy) clothes on her back, she was reduced to walking. Ordinarily that would have been a near impossibility, given the height of the heels on her nifty new boots. Goddesses, however, seemed to come equipped with some seriously super strong ankles, because she'd covered something like ten blocks so far without even a twinge.
It's getting a little chilly out here too, and I'm not cold at all, she noticed while crossing yet another deserted street. Guess that makes sense; Norse gods, Norway--not exactly a tropical paradise where this woman comes from, so she must be used to it.
That begged the question: just how real was 'Amora', anyway? Given that her head was now full to bursting with the goddess' memories and knowledge, Harmony couldn't help but wonder about its source.
Okay, the spell made me think I was this person, that much I can believe. The thing is, there is just waaaay too much info here for a spell to have created it all out of nothing.
With only half her attention on her surroundings, the girl considered the strange vistas that opened up in her mind when she thought about 'her' life in the place called Asgard. It was dizzying. Not just the wonder of the scenes she saw there, but the sheer weight of those memories. Thousands of years of life, all of it as clear as her own recollections of last week here in Sunnydale. So far as she could tell there was no actual consciousness there, no independent mind that would fight her for control... there was only the entire history of a remarkable, powerful woman. Too much history for it all to have come from the comic books that had inspired her costume.
Alternate reality? she wondered, strolling down a sidewalk that was littered with shattered bits of pumpkin, careful not to get any on her boots. Maybe the spell used my costume as a template for the changes, but something else got involved, and reached into a universe where Amora is real... and copied all her memories to me. She nodded to herself excitedly, following the train of thought as it raced ahead. Sure, that would work. Especially if I already had some latent potential for magic, or even a connection, however tenuous, to the Norse pantheon--mystical symmetry! Isn't our family originally from somewhere in Scandinavia? Dad's folks are all blue-eyed blondes, and I remember a great-grandfather named Sigurd, so....
She blinked, stopping suddenly as she realized how far and fast her musings had taken her.
"Um," she said, thinking out loud now, since that seemed somehow safer. "That was very weird." Of course her voice was strange too now, a soft, warm, vibrant thing that seemed expressly designed to mess with men's minds... and lower places, too. Even that, however, wasn't as jarring as having her slow, clunky, confused little mind suddenly upgraded to seriously 'gifted' status. Wherever she was, and regardless of how 'real' she might be, it seemed that Amora was nearly as smart as she was sexy.
And she was very, very sexy.
"Hey there, sexy!"
See? she thought, smugly. I'm not the only one who thinks so.
Harmony turned with studied elegance, one hand brushing back the long, silky-soft hair that had slipped forward past her shoulder. She had apparently been so lost in her thoughts that the sound of the battered orange van pulling up beside her hadn't registered. The man with his head sticking out was smiling broadly, and she automatically smiled back. His eyes widened as he got a better look at her; she supposed he hadn't expected her face to live up to the body displayed by her outfit.
"Nice costume," he told her, his eyes dropping to the upper curves of her breasts, neatly confirming her suspicions as to why he'd stopped. With effort he raised his eyes to hers. "Kinda late for a walk, especially with all the craziness tonight. Want a ride?"
Harmony hesitated, struggling to resolve two distinct sets of responses. Amora would have instantly said yes, climbed into the van, and proceeded to charm the man with her beauty and wit as he drove... without ever once allowing him to actually touch her. He was more than a little scruffy, and a goddess had her standards. Still, there would be no fear or uncertainty there, since, well: Goddess.
Her own, merely human instincts, would have her saying 'thanks, but no thanks', and then walking quickly away. There was a difference between 'dim' and 'completely stupid', and even at her worst Harmony wasn't completely lacking suspicion of strange guys approaching attractive young girls.
Caught between those two opposing impulses, she hesitated for a long moment. Long enough for him to grow visibly impatient, and also for her to notice that he was... drooling?
"Come on, hop in," he invited, but she took a long step back instead. He was drooling, and trying to hide it. Even though she knew she looked utterly hot now, that seemed a little odd.
"I'll walk," she told him, trying to make her voice as flat and unsexy as she could; no sense in encouraging him. "Thanks anyway."
She was prepared for him to get angry, even for him to yell at her and call her names. What she wasn't expecting was for his face to change in a quicksilver blur, becoming something hideous and cruel. With a snarl he yanked the parking brake, threw open the door, and dropped onto the sidewalk in front of her.
"Listen, babe. I scented you from three blocks away. You are not going to tell me 'no' after that kind of tease."
Harmony stood her ground; not easily, even with Amora's pride backing her resolve.
"Scented me?" she asked, forcing her voice to remain calm and detached, like she hadn't a care in the world. The man nodded.
"The most incredible thing I've ever smelled in my life. I just had to track you down and see if you looked as good as you smelled. And damned if you don't look even better." He wiped a strand of drool from his lip, and she saw the fangs. The real Enchantress would no doubt have already been smiling seductively and running admiring hands over his shoulders while telling him what big muscles he had. Harmony thought she deserved a medal for not passing out on the spot.
"What do I smell like?" she managed, trying to buy some time in which to get her brain working again. Surprisingly, the man--the manlike thing, rather--actually took a few seconds to answer, seeming like he himself was a little puzzled by her.
"Like softness," he said, finally. "Like silk, too... and sex. Candy. Heat. Perfume. Gold." A nod to the hair that swirled and shimmered and caressed her from shoulders to calves in response to even the tiniest breeze. "You smell like beauty, little lady, and I mean to drink you down like a fine wine." He smiled widely, showing his fangs again, purposely this time, seeming to enjoy her wide-eyed stare.
Vampire, she thought incredulously, her stunned mind finally kicking into gear. He's really a vampire, not another person who stayed in their costume form when the spell ended, like I did. She could see the cold, hard darkness of his aura, now that she thought to look for it; he really was what he appeared to be... which meant that Sunnydale was, incredibly, even stranger than she'd thought. The dimensional fracture under the town; it's possible that it opens sometimes, and lets things slip through... and even if it doesn't, the dark energies it radiates must draw them, even from thousands of miles away. There's probably an insane concentration of them here--no wonder there are so many deaths... neck ruptures! Her mind was racing again, just like before, leapfrogging from idea to idea in a lightning-quick chain that almost made her dizzy. Vampire attacks, it has to be, but that means that the authorities know... and are covering it up... why? Why would they do that, what reason would they have to keep people ignorant of the danger in staying here?
Fast as her mind worked now, in this case it had made her do something stupid: hesitate. The vampire, done with talking, took another step forward and grabbed her. Without her arms free, Harmony couldn't cast any spells, and she slipped a little bit closer to actual panic. She briefly considered kissing him, and trying Amora's signature love spell, but those fangs were entirely too close already. She tried screaming, and it only made him laugh.
"Nobody's coming back outside tonight, sweetness," he told her. "Too much weirdness out here for the nice, stupid people to face. Lucky for me that I decided to take another look around after Spike ordered everybody back to the lair." She screamed again, louder, as he leaned slowly forward, his bare fangs reaching for her neck, drool spilling from his mouth to stain her top. "You really do smell good enough to eat... think I might try that after I finish you...."
When the tip of his fang touched her skin Harmony stopped trying to think of something to do, and simply lashed out. He was holding her tightly by her upper arms... and it didn't matter. When she shoved him the grip slipped loose, and he flew backwards and smashed into the side of his van, hard enough to stave in the side. She staggered back a step herself; unprepared for that kind of result. The vampire was still on his feet, just momentarily stunned, and looking comically surprised. Deciding that the time had come for this goddess to kick a little ass, the Enchantress stepped forward, folded her graceful hand into a fist, and drove it at his face. Stunned though he might have been, the vampire still managed to duck beneath the blow, and Harmony's hand punched through the side of the van, nearly to the elbow.
"Ow," she said, a bit uncertainly, as it hadn't really hurt all that much. Wow, I'm really very strong, aren't I? was her main thought as she pulled her hand free.
At which point a very large, very angry linebacker from the Sunnydale High football team slammed into her from behind.
Or at least that's what it felt like as she was driven face-first into the van, getting an extremely close look at the chipped paint in the process. She whirled around, trying to catch her breath, and a dirty work boot planted itself deep in her belly. She grunted, and leaned forward some in reflex, though not so far that she didn't see the follow-up kick coming in time to straighten up out of the way.
"Not just a random skirt, are ya?" the man snarled at her. "Must be that Slayer girl everyone's always yammering about." He feinted with his right fist, she flinched away, and he used his left to land a solid roundhouse to the side of her skull, jolting her head to the side and sending a flash of pain through her. "You're not as fast as I thought you'd be," he continued, sounding calmer now. He feinted again, this time with the left hand, and when she flinched away he landed another roundhouse, with his right this time, to the other side of her head. Another flash of pain, though again it failed to do more than make her stagger back a step. "Actually, girl, I don't think you can fight worth shit."
I think you're right, Harmony thought to herself. Even if I don't know who this 'Slayer' person is you're talking about. She tried a wild swing of her own, aiming for his smug smile, but motion felt slow and awkward, and she didn't even get close. Worse, he laughed out loud, even as he punched her in the belly three times in rapid succession before bouncing away in time to avoid her clumsy swipe. Even though she'd endured his attack well enough, her midriff ached, and she knew that a few more hits there would cause some real damage. A quick one-two combination to her face made her eyes water and her nose start leaking blood in a single trail she could feel creeping down her upper lip.
Okay, this isn't working, she told herself, quite unnecessarily. Amora isn't any kind of fighter, and neither am I. I'm stronger than this thing, and tougher too... neither of which matters at all if I can't hit him!
The answer to that seemed straightforward, so she started casting a forcebolt spell. That had worked great earlier, after all....
Not so this time. She'd barely started gesturing, the first glimmers of wicked green had only just begun to gather around her fingers, when the vampire leapt forward, thrust her arm to the side, and hit her with a vicious jab directly in her left breast.
That hurt her, and she lost the thread of her concentration as she gasped in pain.
"Magic too, sweetheart?" he snapped at her. "I ain't never heard of a Slayer doing magic before." Not waiting for her answer, he hit her again, and yet again, all in the same breast, and each time with brutal strength and speed behind the blows. She tried to curl in on herself, tried to shield her vulnerable body from his attacks. He was having none of it. With a savage twist he brought her arm up behind her back, using the leverage to hold it trapped with one hand pinning her wrist. His other hand caught up her hair, winding around and around in those endless cascades of silken gold until his fist was tight against the back of her head, holding it motionless despite her frantic struggles.
"You're pretty tough, aren't ya?" he asked, his face pressed against her bare shoulder, his stubble scratching at her soft skin. The fact she was several inches taller than he, that the big, tough vampire had to stretch just a little to whisper in her ear might have been funny... if not for the things he proceeded to whisper.
"Don't matter how strong you are, does it? Not if you can't fight. Don't matter if you've got magic, if I don't stand there like a goon and let you wiggle your pretty little fingers." His body was pressed up against hers, and it was unfortunately very obvious that he was, um... very happy too see her.
Very.
"Does the fact that I'm incredibly hot matter in some way?" she asked softly, though the continuing pain from her abused breast kept trying to force whimpers from her instead of calm speech. "Maybe we can work out a... deal."
Since he was behind her she couldn't watch his face for his reaction, though judging from the way he pressed even more firmly against her he wasn't completely opposed to the idea.
"So... what?" he asked, using his grip in her hair to yank her head back a little further, exposing the pale arch of her throat. She could feel his foul breath spilling across her skin as he pressed his face there and inhaled deeply. "You offering to bang me, before I kill you?" She felt, rather than saw his grin, from the scrape of the stubble. "'Cause believe me, babe, it isn't gonna be one or the other. Not with quality merchandise like you."
"Umm...."
For an instant, Harmony considered it. Having sex with him, in the hopes that at some point there would be an opportunity for her to turn the tables and escape.
Actually, it took somewhat less than an instant.
"On second thought, no."
A second passed, then two, then three, then--
"Huh?"
She smiled grimly; scary vampire or not, he wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. That might help.
"I said no," she told him, her voice firm now. "'Enchantress' doesn't equal 'slut'. No deal."
He shook her head, his grip on her hair tightening, and with his other hand he twisted her arm until her shoulder felt like it was going to explode.
"Well the fact is, what you want doesn't count for shit!" he shouted in her ear. "I'm gonna kill you, whore! First I'm gonna screw you, then I'm gonna drink you dry, and then I'm gonna screw you some more just for givin' me so much--!"
Calmly, and with great precision, Harmony lifted one dainty, booted foot off the ground, lined it up, gathered all the strength in her shapely leg, and then drove it downwards, spiking the vampire's foot to the concrete with the five-inch heel.
"They make good boots in Asgard, don't they?" she asked, as his hold on her arm and hair loosened. She twisted around enough to see him, just as he let out an ear-piercing scream.
Harmony didn't wait for him to finish. She'd had time enough to consider her options now, and she was pretty sure she had it figured out. Besides, she'd been getting really tired of him drooling on her like that.
With both hands clenched into fists, she punched out at him. He was in too much pain to dodge very well, and besides, he had one hand wound up in her hair, and one foot nailed to the ground... which made it pretty hard to perform any fancy fighting moves. Her fists smashed into his chest, throwing him away from her. His hand came free of her hair (though her head was yanked violently forward in the process) and the front third of his trapped foot came free from his body, tearing away as he was hurled back. He screamed again, even louder this time, as the hunk of bone and meat turned to dust beneath her boot. He hit the van again, headfirst, and it rocked from the force of the impact. Even so, he stayed on his feet, and stumbled right back at her, too quickly for her to cast a spell.
Just as she'd expected he would... and so she cast a spell.
Just not the same spell.
--Fsshtnnk--
One hand making a quick gesture, accompanied by an instant of total concentration, and the vampire stopped dead in his tracks, looking confused. The emerald flash that had for a split second engulfed his head had come and gone so fast that it was easy to miss; if he'd blinked at the wrong moment he might have missed it.
So she showed it to him again.
--Fsshtnnk--
The gesture and the flash came simultaneously, and his head rocked backwards. He definitely looked confused now, and it was his turn for a nosebleed.
"The problem," she told him, while taking a cautious step back, "is that right now I don't even know how much I know. That spell I was using earlier tonight is my basic attack; like a punch is for you."
Gesture.
Flash.
--Fsshtnnk--
"That doesn't mean it's the only attack spell I know, and I remember some other ones now. This one, for example."
--Fsshtnnk--
She gave him a wicked grin.
"Pretty fast, isn't it?"
He howled, pure rage distorting his already monstrous face, and then charged.
--Fsshtnnk--
--Fsshtnnk--
--Fsshtnnk----Fsshtnnk----Fsshtnnk----Fsshtnnk----Fsshtnnk--
Harmony had to backpedal fast, (which was no easy feat in her boots) her fingers flying as she kept her focus as sharp and clear as diamond. The vampire made it to within ten feet of her, then, his steps faltering, to within five. His fingers almost brushed her as she kept backing up, casting without pause.
--Fsshtnnk----Fsshtnnk----Fsshtnnk--
He stumbled, swayed uncertainly, and then staggered back a step.
--Fsshtnnk-- --Fsshtnnk-- --Fsshtnnk--
With careful, precise deliberation, Harmony kept hitting him.
The spell she was using didn't hit like a wrecking ball. It didn't even hit like mid-sized Toyota. It only hit like a very big man, swinging a very heavy bat... very, very hard.
Over and over.
--Fsshtnnk--
The vampire, his face now a puffy, bloody mess, finally fell back against his battered van. Harmony ceased her spellcasting, though she elected to stay where she was, well out of reach.
"Well, that felt fairly empowering," she told the semi-conscious creature. "And now it's time for the big finish. Watch closely."
With both her hands weaving through intricate patterns, she threw the full force of her mind into actualizing one of her most powerful attack spells. It took long seconds to complete, enough time for her foe to drag himself up and regain his feet. It didn't matter; long before he could think about coming at her again, she finished the final flourish, performed the last exercise of will, and thrust her hands out at him.
Both of them watched as a feeble, nearly invisible wisp of green flickered across the distance between them, dying out a few inches short of where he stood. Harmony frowned, studying her hands in consternation.
"Okay, that wasn't supposed to happen." She looked back up at him. "Let me try that again. Hold still." Electing to perform the spell out loud this time, just to make sure she wasn't screwing it up somehow, she began to chant.
"By
Ymir the frost king, grim and cold, By Surtur, lord of demon
fire...."
The vampire gaped at her for a second or two, and then turned and ran as if hell itself were chasing him.
Which was pretty much about to be the case, assuming she didn't mess it up this time.
"I
call upon the power you hold, To slay he who hath roused my
ire."
Her voice really did sound amazing now. She wondered what it would sound like if she tried to sing. Not that she allowed those musings to interfere with what she was doing; it wasn't easy to send a call across dimensions, after all.
"Of
all who live I am most fair, And in times past have aided
thee. Destroy now this fool who would dare To raise his
angry hand 'gainst me!"
She finished, ending with a grand gesture that should have sent a wave of frost and fire crashing across the ground to destroy everything in its path, out to several hundred yards. The fleeing vampire hadn't gotten anything like that far away, which should have meant he was toast, both charred and freeze-dried.
It didn't. The spell fizzled again, accomplishing exactly nothing. Harmony had a powerful urge to scream and stamp her foot angrily... or at least whine loudly about how unfair it all was. She did neither. The bad guy had gotten away, but at least she was alive, and basically unhurt. At least, she thought she was basically unhurt.
She hastily stepped to the van, found a section of its side that wasn't dented in, and scratched a short line of runes across it with the tip of one nail. Immediately the surface seemed to ripple and flow, the run with silver, and a moment later it had become a mirror. She checked her reflection anxiously, nearly shrieking in dismay at the faint bruising under her eyes, and the tiny trail of blood under her slightly swollen nose.
A frown crossed her barely-marked face, and she forced herself to take a mental step back.
Whoa there, hold on, just what the heck is that all about? I just got pounded on by a super strong monster, a freaking Vampire! I beat him, all by myself, and now I'm going to have a breakdown because he almost sorta-kinda gave me a black eye and a bloody nose? I don't think so!
She stood there for a minute, resisting the powerful compulsion to chase the vampire down and make him pay for daring to touch her, much less damage her face.... A slow, shuddering breath, and then another, and the incandescent rage began to cool.
"Just chill, Harm," she told herself. "Yes, he messed you up a little. You gave it back, with interest, so just chill." Another breath, this one coming easier as her calm returned. "Okay, now I'll just fix this, and everything will be fine."
She smiled at a reflection that was by any measure still absolutely stunning, and began her casting. Minor healing spells quickly stopped the slow drip of blood from her nose, and the bruising and swelling vanished swiftly as well. Her hair seemed to be as tough as the rest of her, having endured the rough treatment without damage, though she couldn't help running her fingers through it over and over again, stroking the silken-soft tresses lovingly as she cast a restorative spell that would repair any harm the golden strands had suffered.
God, Amora really is worse than Cordy ever was, she thought ruefully when her appearance was once again perfect. Maybe if I had learned... I mean, maybe if she had learned more stuff that worked in a fight, and a few less 'fix my dress' and 'unsmear my lipstick' and 'heal that single split-end I just found in my hair' spells, then I wouldn't have gotten beat up in the first place!
She huffed once in mild exasperation, then cocked her head to study her reflection again.
I have to admit, though, she is one seriously hot babe... and now I am, too. I wonder if all that stuff about her being the most beautiful woman in the universe is true? She sure thinks it is, that's for sure.
A dull, throbbing ache had been building behind her eyes for the last several minutes, unnoticed until now. She winced, pinched the bridge of her nose, and nearly put the sharp tips of her long nails through a cornea for her trouble.
"Lots to get used to, here." She dispelled the mirror magic, then leaned inside the van for a moment, briefly considering driving it home. The inside stank, however, of blood and various other unsavory things. With a last look around to make sure the vampire hadn't decided to come back for more, she turned and started off walking once more.
* * * * *
Ten minutes later and her feet were still doing fine. Her head, on the other hand, was killing her. She knew why, too, now that she'd had time to think about it.
There were three different kinds of energy she used in her spells. The first was Personal energy, which came entirely from inside her; her own 'life force', if you wanted to look at it that way. That kind was quick and easy to use, because it was a part of her, though it was also the most limited. The second kind was Universal energy; literally the energy of the universe all around her. That kind was a little more difficult to work with, because it existed at a remove from her, though it was very powerful.
Most of her spells used Universal energy. They took some time to cast, and a lot of concentration to use, and produced spectacular effects. When Harmony had seen that her usual attack spell was just too slow to use while a vampire was trying to rearrange her face, she'd latched on to the much quicker 'baseball bat' spell as an alternative. It used Personal energy, which let her cast it nearly as fast as someone could throw a punch, and weak though it was it still served well enough to deal with a single lesser demon.
The problem was, even though it was weak, relatively speaking, it was still drawing directly on her own living energy. A 'normal' spellcaster might have been able to cast it once or twice in quick succession without suffering any effects worse than she was feeling now. Casting it four or five times, however, would have put any human being into a coma. If they managed to cast it seven or eight times before they collapsed, they would likely end up dead.
Harmony had performed more than seven or eight castings... which kind of put the 'headache' thing into perspective.
I could have killed myself. Seriously. She looked around, noticing that she'd left the business and factory districts behind her now, and was finally entering the suburbs. She was most of the way home, now, and glad of it. Even leaving the headache aside, she was very, very tired. Tired, but not dead, so I suppose that's some fairly clear proof that this isn't just a cosmetic change I've gone through. A human being wouldn't have survived that much spellcasting, certainly not with just a migraine. I must really have been turned into an Asgardian woman, in addition to having the memories of one.
That would have all sorts of ramifications, of course... and she had to take a moment, even with her head splitting, to grin at the novelty of knowing words like 'ramification'.
I have vocabulary! she exulted. See? Like that! I can use words like 'exulted' now! Hurray!
Shaking her head (gingerly) at her own silliness, she walked on.
For right now, though, what I really need to figure out is why that last attack spell didn't work. That one should have killed the vampire a few times over, and sent the van cartwheeling off down the street for good measure. Instead I got nothing. Her pounding head made it difficult to concentrate, and she had to force herself to think it through. That one is a Dimensional spell; it calls on beings and energies from another plane to do the heavy lifting, which is what lets me cast really mega-powerful effects. I know I did the casting properly, so it stands to reason that the problem is somewhere--
"--ould you please help me? Miss? Hello?"
Harmony glanced up, and saw that the person speaking was an older woman, standing uncertainly by the open door of her car. The vehicle looked to have veered off the street, and was now slightly nose-down in a grassy ditch. Other than being stuck there it didn't seem to be damaged, and the old lady seemed no worse for the experience. Turning her attention back to the sidewalk, Harmony kept walking, and returned to her musings.
Like I was saying, Dimensional spells are the most powerful, and the most difficult to cast. A lot of Amora's best stuff is Dimensional; so if there's something wrong there then I need to figure it out and then fix it. If it isn't me screwing something up, then it stands to reason that--
"Hello, Miss? Miss!"
Her head snapped around, long gold hair flying.
"What?" Seeing the old woman flinch back at her angry tone, she stopped walking, carefully pinched the bridge of her nose again, and tried to smile past the headache. "I'm sorry, ma'am," she said, more gently. "I'm not feeling well. What did you need?"
Peering at her uncertainly, the woman cleared her throat in an offended, somewhat fussy sort of way.
"Well! I hate to bother you, but I was hoping I might borrow your cell phone?"
Harmony regarded her with impatience.
"Sure thing, lady. I've got my phone right here in my pocket... of which I have none." Her graceful gesture trailed along the snug corset, extremely short skirt, and skintight gloves and boots. "Oh, wait a second," she told the woman brightly. "It's here in my purse... which I also don't have."
The woman shifted uncomfortably under her glare, muttering to herself.
"Pardon me, miss smarty-pants! Serves me right for expecting any help from a young person, not in this day and age." She scowled at Harmony, then got back into her car, leaving the door open as she folded her arms across her middle and glared at the steering wheel. "First I get run off the road by those little Halloween hoodlums, them in their sinful devil outfits and such. Then I sit for hours, waiting for someone to come along and help me, and all I get for my trouble is a selfish little brat of a girl dressed up like some kind of, of... of hussy!"
Harmony regarded the old woman, looked longingly along the road towards her own subdivision, and then back.
"All right," she said, surrendering with ill grace. "Here, hold on a second and I'll help you." The woman looked up hopefully.
"You'll go find a phone and call the auto club?"
The goddess shook her head (still hurting!) and stepped up to examine the front of the car.
"No, not the auto club. Let me just see what we have, here...."
The ditch was shallow, and the bottom was grassy, not muddy, so she stepped carefully down to take a look. Crouching down to peer underneath the car showed her that the vehicle was resting on the frame, with both front wheels suspended a few inches off the ground. Straightening up, she combed her fingers through her hair, removing a few loose blades of grass it had picked up when pooled on the ground. Despite herself she grimaced in distaste; every moment that passed without the casting of a spell to brush it clean was going to seem like an eternity.
I now have some serious issues; I really, really do. There's still the hotness, though. Remember the hotness... and magic. Not such a bad trade, is it?
She considered the car's situation, wondering if she could conjure an elemental to fill in the ditch and get the vehicle back on the road. Or possibly just a telekinesis spell, to raise it into the air and set it back in the proper lane. Her head was still pounding, she wasn't getting any closer to home doing this, and then the old lady had the nerve to beep the horn at her.
"Hello? I thought you were going to go get help!"
Harmony gritted her teeth, glaring at the woman through the windshield. With her headache redoubled in intensity now, she forgot all about magical solutions. Bending at the knees, she dropped down and reached under the front bumper. It was icky under there; she could feel dirt and grease and grime smearing across her hands. Ignoring it, she found something that felt secure, clamped her fingers around it, and stood back up. The front end of the car lifted, first just a couple of feet, then higher as she raised her hands up to waist level so that the wheels cleared the rim of the ditch. Pushing forward, stepping carefully as her feet sank several inches into the grassy slope, she maneuvered the car backwards.
It wasn't incredibly difficult, though it wasn't easy, either. In her old body, Harmony might have worked about as hard while lifting an economy-sized bag of dog food. Now, tonight, it was a '98 Acura sedan... which would have impressed her a little if she hadn't been so angry. Step by step she walked it back, trying to ignore the face of the woman behind the windshield, her mouth frozen in a 'O' of surprise. Once it was well clear of the ditch she let go, dropping the front end of the car instead of lowering it to the ground. It bounced up and down a couple of times before stopping, and Harmony eyed her hands in disgust as she walked towards the driver's side door.
"There you go, ma'am. Now, can you please do me a favor too and give me a ride back to my--"
She didn't get to finish. The woman started the car, dropped it into gear, and pulled away in a rush, spraying a few bits of roadside gravel up at the Enchantress along the way. Harmony couldn't believe it for a long moment, which was the only reason why the 'Baseball bat' spell she belatedly cast only shattered the vehicle's rear glass... instead of the old woman's head.
"Ugly old hag!" she shouted, glaring at the swiftly receding tail lights. The pain in her head, which had been starting to fade a bit, returned full-force, thanks to her hasty spell. Even so, she knew she wasn't going to be able to stand leaving the black grime all over her hands, especially under her nails. And then there was her hair, which doubtless still had bits of grass in it from earlier. There might even be bugs--!
She started walking again, more slowly now, and she tried to cast the spells as carefully as she could, to minimize the aftereffects on her poor, tired head.
* * * * *
"Hey there, need a ride?"
Harmony looked up, and groaned at what she saw.
Yet another loser, in yet another van. This one was younger-looking than the vampire, and she didn't see any dark energies shining from his aura, but she wasn't really in the mood to take chances.
"No. Go away."
The small, red-haired guy gave her a puzzled frown, easing the van forward in a crawl to keep pace with her weary steps.
"Something wrong?" he asked, as if he had every right to know. She considered putting her fist through the door panel, and then pulling him back out through the hole. That seemed like too much work, given how tired she was, so she growled an answer back at him instead.
"It's just that, for some reason, getting from point A to point B is turning out to be a long, involved process for me tonight. Now leave me alone." She was very nearly home; just two more streets and there she would be, at her own house, in her own bed. The guy in the van didn't say anything for a moment, content to stare at her in a fairly creepy way that started her temper rising once more.
"Okay then, I'll leave you alone." She nodded, relieved, and forced the irritation down.... "One thing, though," he added, speeding up a little to get ahead of her, and then slowing down again while regarding her outfit from the front. "I saw a girl earlier, dressed sort of like you. Kind of... revealing, and strange-looking? I was wondering if you know who she is. She's got red hair, a little taller than me, with--"
"Leave me alone I just want to sleep!"
She was exhausted, and distracted by her headache, so her control wasn't exactly at a hundred percent. This was proven when the guy's head instantly dropped forward against the steering wheel, soft snores issuing from his slack mouth. She watched as the van continued forward at that same slow crawl, slowly veering left until it crossed the street, entered a yard, and came to rest in a lovely bed of roses. Harmony groaned, pushing one fist against her forehead. That had been another Personal energy spell; the headache ratcheted up another notch. At this rate her brain would leak out of her ears before sunup. Which was only a few hours away now.
Ignoring the idling van and the snores from within, she kept on walking. A few minutes later she finally spotted her house.
* * * * *
She got all the way to the door before she remembered she didn't have her keys. There was a spare set hidden under a nearby rock... which weren't there, because she'd taken them the week before, when she lost her other set of keys. Staring at the back door, she tried to decide what to do.
(It was the back door because the front door of the house opened into the foyer, which opened into the living room. That was her mother's personal domain, and no one else was allowed entry there except when there was company.)
So, the back door... which had a very good lock. Harmony spent several long minutes wearily searching through Amora's magical repertoire, searching for the 'open locks' spell... only to snort in disgust when she found that there wasn't any such spell to be found. The Enchantress had never had any need to magically pick a lock. Any door she wanted opened was opened to her willingly; that was the whole point of being The Enchantress.
"So basically," she told back porch aloud, "I can tear a hole in this wall with my bare hands, or level the whole stupid house with a few spells, but I can't magick one stupid lock? Argh!"
Simply snapping the handle wasn't an option either; the house had a very good burglar alarm, and it would definitely notice something like that. Besides which, her mother would freak when she found it... the same reason she couldn't just knock and have someone open it up for her. This was way, way past her midnight curfew, and although she was usually able to slip in unnoticed at any hour of the night, pounding on the door would blow any attempt at stealth.
Sitting on the steps, her trailing hair carefully draped over one arm and cradled against her stomach, she tried to sort through her magical options.
I could 'shape' a hole through the wall easily enough... except that would also tear apart any pipes or wiring in there, and I don't know where any of that is... or how to fix what I break. All right then, how about shrinking myself small enough to get down a chimney, or even walk underneath the door? A moment's consideration showed her far too many things that could go wrong with that scenario, starting with being eaten by spiders. Her pounding head was a relentless, constant misery, and when the next thought came she latched onto it quickly.
Teleportation! She leapt to her feet, overbalanced, and nearly fell backwards off the steps.
She really was extremely tired.
I'll teleport in, straight into my bedroom! All she needed was a clear image of the destination, and obviously there weren't too many places more familiar to her than her own room. Without hesitation she gathered herself, forced her aching mind to focus on the spell, and on her room. Just there, at the foot of her bed, next to the dresser with the dozens of tiny unicorn figurines arranged so carefully....
A blaze of emerald light marked her departure, though she wasn't there to see it. Another flare erupted as she arrived an instant later... only to fall to her knees, struggling to keep from vomiting all over her carpet. Her little calico cat, Josie, had been sleeping on her bed as usual. At Harmony's sudden appearance, Josie leapt up squalling and vanished through the open door into her bathroom. As for herself, she didn't even try to make it that far. The waste basket was as far as she got before anything happened, though luckily it turned out to be only a few dry heaves--she hadn't had anything to eat or drink all night long... which turned out to be a good thing.
When the sudden nausea had eased a bit, she sat up and wiped her lips with a discarded skirt that had been lying by her bed.
"What in Odin's name was that?" She blinked when she realized what she'd said, then dismissed it. The phrasing wasn't important, it was the stomach-wrenching trip that had nearly made her barf... that would have, if she'd had anything to bring up. Short as the teleport had been, she'd still had time to feel a sort of turbulence; a massive disruption of the energies that should have carried her easily and instantly along the edges of the dimensional boundary.... She nodded slowly as she pulled herself up onto the bed. Even when she was dead tired, her mind insisted on following the puzzling threads to their conclusion.
"The anomaly; a dimensional fracture, bleeding energy into this universe." Whatever it was that seethed and pulsed beneath the town, it must disrupt certain types of mystical energy. Although she couldn't see how it might have affected her earlier spell against the vampire, it was obviously what had interfered with her teleport. It would doubtless grow quickly worse as the range of the jump increased too, at least within the anomaly's zone of influence. Inconvenient, that, given how Amora was used to blipping anywhere on earth at a moment's notice.
"Enough," she groaned at herself, falling back into the softness of her bed with a sigh. "Worry about that tomorrow. Sleep now."
She was too tired to undress. Removing her boots seemed almost worthwhile, until she tried to muster the strength to actually do it, and then she realized that she simply didn't care. They were comfortable boots, and the rest of her outfit was comfy too, so everything could just stay as it was until morning....
Wait. Her eyes snapped open as a truly horrifying thought occurred to her. What if she only retained her new appearance and abilities while she wore the costume? What if she took off the corset and boots and the rest, only to find herself once more as poor, helpless, stupid Harmony?
Several minutes of furious thought passed, while she stared at the darkened ceiling overhead, her mind busy considering the various mystical possibilities.
No, she decided finally, not without a small sigh of relief. No, it can't work that way. The costumes were tagged, marked so that Ethan's spell could find them, and transform the wearer. After that, though, it was the spell that maintained the effect, and when it ended the transformations reversed themselves. All except mine... for whatever reason. She smiled, and snuggled herself down a little further into the marvelous softness.
Good thing, too. Tomorrow at school is going to be interesting enough, without me trying to pass this outfit off as the latest in cheerleading uniforms.
By the time Josie the cat had gathered sufficient courage to poke her head back into the bedroom, the goddess was fast asleep.
* * * * *