Angela Ratburn told her manager at the electronics store that she wasn't feeling well, so she left the job two hours early. By the time Muffy arrived at her apartment, she had already packed two medium-sized suitcases.
"Let's get out of here as quickly as we can," said the woman as she opened the door to greet Muffy. "Jean will be back before long."
The two exchanged few words as they left the apartment building and walked toward the parked limo. Angela found that toting her suitcases was somewhat more difficult than usual, most likely as a result of her advancing pregnancy.
Once they were seated across from each other in the back of Muffy's limousine, the girl pulled a train token from her pocket and handed it to Angela. She then gave an order to the chauffeur. "To the train station at the end of town, Bailey."
"Yes, Miss Muffy," said the chauffeur compliantly.
They exchanged glib pleasantries as they drove through the city. Neither dared to speak what was on her mind, lest Bailey should become suspicious.
After about half an hour, they arrived in the parking lot in front of the train station. "Wait here, Bailey," Muffy ordered. Angela grabbed her suitcases and climbed out of the limo, with Muffy following.
"Can I follow you into the station?" Muffy asked Angela.
"I don't see why not," Angela replied.
The train station was filled with crowds of commuters, making it hard for Angela to maneuver through them with her suitcases, and even harder for Muffy to keep up with her without being separated. Muffy had never seen the inside of a train station before; the closest she had come was a visit to the Crown City subway.
They finally arrived at the platform where the outbound train would soon pick up its passengers.
"I'm really gonna miss you, Angela," said Muffy wistfully as she and the rat woman seated themselves on a bench. "When I first met you, I thought you were a bad person and that I shouldn't have anything to do with you. But now I see that it's people like Nigel, who only care about punishing you and making you suffer...those are the people I shouldn't have anything to do with."
"I'll miss you too, Muffy," said Angela emotionally.
A long silence fell between them as they watched for the train to appear.
"So," Muffy said to Angela, "what do you think you'll do now?"
"I don't know for sure," Angela replied. "I'll come up with something. I'll find a way to survive, like I always have before."
An aardvark man smoking a cigarette took a seat next to Muffy and Angela. Several minutes later they heard a roaring sound in the distance, and the outbound train rolled down the tracks in their direction.
As the train screeched to a stop, Muffy, Angela, the aardvark man, and dozens of other passengers stood and formed a mob in front of the train's sliding door. Angela bent her knees, put her arms around Muffy, and began to sniffle. "Thanks for everything," she half-whispered.
"If you ever need help, just call me," Muffy told her.
Within moments, Angela had entered the train and inserted her token into the receptacle. The conductor waved his hand, allowing her to pass. She carefully maneuvered through the throng of seated and standing passengers, feeling slightly insecure because of the many unshaven, beastly-looking men surrounding her.
All the seats were filled, so she rested her suitcases at her feet, wrapped her hand around a railing, and held tightly as the train began to move. Within seconds she was speeding down the tracks, headed for an uncertain destination.
Then she heard a familiar voice from behind her back. "Excuse me, everyone, but can my mom have a seat? She's pregnant."
As a sitting man quickly rose to his feet to allow Angela to occupy his seat, the woman turned around...and gasped in shock.
Muffy Crosswire was standing before her, smiling as if nothing were wrong.
"Aren't you going to sit down?" she asked Angela.
After several seconds of confused hesitation, Angela quickly placed herself in the seat that the man had vacated. She then grabbed Muffy by the arm and pulled the girl into her lap. "What are you doing here?" she whispered hoarsely into Muffy's ear.
"Figure it out," Muffy whispered back.
It only took Angela a second to do so. "You're running away!"
"So are you," said Muffy quietly and nonchalantly.
Angela sputtered and struggled for words. "You're crazy!" she whispered in outrage. "You may be rich, but you can't survive on your own!"
"Which is why I'm coming with you."
"You arenot coming with me!" The livid Angela struggled to keep her voice low so that the other passengers wouldn't understand her words. "By this time tomorrow, the whole country will be looking for you! And when they find you, they'll find me!"
"But I don't want to be found," said Muffy. "And it's only for three months anyway. By that time you'll be safe from the law, and hopefully my dad will wise up."
"Listen to me, Muffy. When we get to the next station, you are going to get off the train, take the inbound train back into town, hop in your limo, and go home. Unless you do that, I'm not responsible for what happens to you. Do you understand that?"
"No, you listen to me," Muffy retorted. "If I can't go with you, then I'll tell everybody who you are, and the police will arrest you, and you'll go to prison, and your baby will be born in prison."
Angela strained her mind to think of a rejoinder as the train came to a stop at another station.
----
In the aftermath of the bizarre attack on George, the moose boy was sent to a doctor so that his bumps and bruises could be attended to. Fern, scared half out of her wits by the occurrence, was excused from school for the remainder of the day. The befuddled kids in Mr. Wald's class could think of no other way to deal with such a paranormal event, so they gathered in Prunella's attic after school.
Arthur, Francine, Sue Ellen, George, Marina, Alan, Binky, and Beat were present (Van didn't come because there was no ramp leading into the attic) with Prunella and her teenage sister Rubella, when Fern hesitantly climbed the stairs into the dimly lit room. She looked at the crystal ball table at which the two Prufrock girls were seated, the occultic symbols hanging on the walls, and the anxious looks of the other kids. She had never imagined that something like this--a supernatural disorder--would befall her.
"Is that her?" asked Marina.
"It's her," replied the one-antlered George, whose head was bandaged in various locations.
"She looks normal to me," Francine remarked.
"Welcome, Fern," Rubella called to her. She gestured toward an empty wooden chair on the other side of the crystal ball table.
Still nervous about the procedure she was about to endure, Fern slowly walked to the table and seated herself. She noted that no electric lights had been turned on; the only light in the room was provided by a few strangely shaped candles in the corners.
"Do not be afraid," said Rubella in a calming, mystical tone. "You will leave this room with a great burden lifted from your soul." Fern found the older girl's pretentious avoidance of verbal contractions to be off-putting.
Alan raised his hand. "Hey, Rubella, before you start, can I ask Fern a question?"
"Of course," Rubella answered. "Questions are encouraged."
Alan spoke haltingly. "Fern, did you...did you really fantasize about jumping into the ocean and drowning yourself because I didn't return your love?"
Fern looked at Alan quietly for a few seconds. "Yes," she finally admitted. Then she took a deep breath and continued. "Sue Ellen's not the only one who keeps a diary. I keep one too, but I don't carry it around with me, and I don't show it to anyone. Just a week ago, I wrote a story in my diary that was exactly like the dream you had. The fields of flowers, the picnics on the beach...everything was the same, including the part where I threw myself off a cliff into the ocean."
The kids gazed at Fern in speechless wonder.
Fern's voice started to break. "But I would never do that in real life. Please believe me. I would never hurt anyone."
"We believe you," said Rubella. "Now, if there are no more questions, we will proceed. Fern, I want you to look directly into my eyes."
Fern did so. The flickering light of a candle reflected in the young psychic's pupils.
"Fern, I want you to look into my eyes, and I want you to think about the most relaxing thing in the world. Think about listening to a beautiful piece of music, or reading a lovely poem about walking through the countryside and smelling the fragrant flowers. Are you thinking about that?"
"Yes," replied Fern.
"Good. Now keep thinking about it. Think about how relaxing it is. Think about how much you'd rather be doing that than sitting here being hypnotized. Because it's so relaxing. It's the most relaxing thing in the world. You want to do it forever. It relaxes every part of your body. It relaxes your feet, it relaxes your legs, it relaxes your arms..."
Fern felt herself becoming drowsy. She didn't understand all of the words that Rubella was speaking.
"...it relaxes your neck, it relaxes your head, it relaxes your eyes..."
As the kids watched breathlessly, Fern's eyelids drooped and closed. She appeared to be asleep, but was still holding her head upright.
"Are you relaxed, Fern?" asked Rubella in a hushed voice.
"Yes," responded Fern in a monotonic voice.
"Good. Now open your eyes. I want to ask you a few relaxing questions."
Fern's eyelids popped open.
Rubella held up the copy of the mysterious note, which George had given her. "Question number one. Did you leave this note in Trixie Tibble's hotel room?"
"Yes," replied Fern. The kids gasped with surprise.
"Question number two. Did you make Wynton Marsalis and his quintet late for the concert last week?"
"Yes," Fern answered. The kids looked at each other unbelievingly.
"Question number three. Did you influence Alan's dreams, causing him to act out your fantasy of drowning yourself because he didn't return your love?"
"Yes."
"Question number four. Did you use a sledgehammer to wreck the cars in the Crosswire used car lots?"
"Yes."
The kids murmured to each other. "She couldn't have done those things," Beat whispered to Francine. "I think Rubella's manipulating her."
"Now, Fern," Rubella went on, "I have one last question for you. How did you do all those things? How did you know which hotel room Trixie Tibble would go to? How did you get there before she did?"
Fern became nervous and confused. "Uh...I don't know..."
"How did you make Wynton Marsalis late for the concert? You were at the music hall the whole time. Everybody saw you."
"Um...uh...I'm not sure..." Fern stammered.
"How did you go into Alan's dreams? How did you turn invisible and smash the cars in the Crosswire lots? The security guard shot at you. Why werent' you wounded?"
Fern glanced around nervously and didn't answer.
Then a shining yellow mist began to rise from her body. The observing kids gasped at the sight...it seemed as if Fern was boiling, or undergoing some sort of chemical reaction.
The swirling mist rose until it came near the ceiling, then started to coalesce into a shape that gradually became more defined.
The kids blinked in disbelief. Hovering in the air several feet above Fern was a girl who looked exactly like her in every way, except for the ectoplasmic aura surrounding her body.
Rubella smiled in triumph. "Just as I thought. A grimmel."
(To be continued...)
