CHAPTER TWO

Riiiiiiinnng!

"Okay, okay! I hear you!" Forgetting she was still at her desk for the moment, Musa banged her fist against the book. "That's it! I've had enough! Do-re-mi silencio!" she shouted. A ribbon of colors flowed through and around the clock, silencing it.

"At least some of my magic still works right," she sighed in relief.

Getting up, she looked at herself in the mirror. "At least it's not a bad hair day..." she mumbled, walking towards the shower. A few minutes later, she was dry (well, mostly) and dressed. Musa plopped onto her bed, and resumed reading. "Finally!" she gasped, after a collective ten minutes of skimming. Her salvation: a quick potion even a third grader could do!

"One cup of month-old mayo (that shouldn't be too hard to find); two gallons of brand-new barbecue sauce (I'm in luck!); three teaspoons of crushed red pepper, one egg yolk, and half a cup of mushrooms boiled in Sprite. Mix together, and drink two cups worth. Sounds simple enough." Musa concluded, setting the stove to 'boil'. (She figured it'd be too risky to use her magic.)

Ding-dong!

"Musa, could you get that? I'm...just get the door!"

"Waah! Only two minutes left!" The doorbell rang again, and Musa yelled in that general direction: "Be there in a minute!" She began to count down the remaining thirty seconds. Twenty-nine...twenty-eight...twenty-seven...

"Yes!" Musa cried, turning off the boiler, and racing towards the door.

"Kimmy!" Musa exclaimed, surprised.

"Morning, Su. I was wondering if I could borrow your notes...?" the visitor asked.

"Sure, they're in my room. You know where to look."

"Thanks."

Heading back to the stove, Musa glanced down at the book. Warning: Side effects may include: forgetfulness, drowsiness, the runs, and bad breath.

Forcing down the last cup, Musa headed to her room and poked her head in.

"Find 'em?"

"Uh, yeah, whoa...what is that smell?"

Musa cupped her hand around her mouth and smelt her breath. Yup. It was her. "Um...forgot to brush?" Why did I just lie to Kim?

"For how long? The past WEEK? Sheesh, at least take a mint or something." The visitor handed Musa a box of breath mints; she dumped the whole box down her throat. The side effects didn't say anything about "proneness to LIE", so why am I? There's nothing to hide, right? I only took a simple potion...she thought worriedly.

"Su?" the visitor used her childhood nickname.

"Eh, Mera?" Musa replied, using her friend's alternative nickname. "What is it?"

"You look worried, is something wrong?" the visitor looked concerned herself.

"No, it's nothing." I lied again? I meant to say, "Yeah, there is something troubling me." So why didn't I?

"Are you sure?"

Her voice said yes, but she shook her head no. Musa knew full well something was wrong with her. She hated liars, and was appalled when she found herself lying.

"Su, that isn't like you. Your voice is lying, but your heart is trying to tell me the truth, isn't it?"

Musa smiled at her friend. Leave to the queen of intuition; Kimmy always knows what's going on in my head!

"Nope," she said, nodding her head "yes".

"I thought so. What were you boiling a few seconds ago? Or you can't tell me?" She added the last bit so as to get a direct answer.

"Nothing. I was just boiling a potion to keep my powers in check." Finally, some truth out of me! Thank you, Kimmy!

"So your powers weren't out of control for no reason?" the visitor pursued.

"Absolutely." She'd found that as long as Kim asked the opposite of what she meant, she was able to tell the truth. "My powers became too much for me to handle, so I drank a potion I got out of one of our elementary texts, to keep it in check until it cooled down."

Musa inhaled deeply. It was good to get it off her chest.

"I see. Lying was one of the side effects?"

"No."

"Then you know?"

"I don't know what's going on."

"You won't be okay for the study group this afternoon, then?"

"I will. I won't THANK YOU, you know, Chimera."

"You're welcome," Chimera replied, reading the truth in her friend's response. "Wanna go swim in the lake out back?"

"Absolutely not," Musa smiled, getting into her bathing suit.

Splashing each other, it didn't seem like anything could go wrong. And then Musa felt the energy build up inside of her again, burning to be released.

"Chimera, get out!" Musa warned, but too late: a small whirl pool encircled the duo, nearly drowning them both.

"What the heck was THAT?!" Chimera looked accusingly at her friend.

Musa frowned. "That would be my out of control power. I'd thought that potion kept it in check...it's been so long that...well, I guess not."

Musa sighed. Had it not been for her wet face, someone might have noticed she was crying. Here she was, a proud Melodian, and she'd nearly drowned not only herself, but also her closest friend. What kind of monster am I? Musa asked herself. Suddenly, her eyes flared red, and she grasped Chimera's throat.

"Mus—ah?" Chimera's cry came out a gasp; tears came first slowly, then flooded out in torrents. "Musa!" Chimera forced her best attempt at shouting.

In an instant Musa's eyes returned to their regular blue, and she seized consciousness of what she was doing.

"Chimera!" she cried, dropping her (now breathless) friend into the lake. Musa dived after her with a single thought: What has come over me?