"What?" Dr. Gregory asked as she rushed over to Lana and Zatanna, who by now were edged up against the table behind them, much to the pleasure of the two male students behind them. "What do you mean its still – oh." Dr. Gregory stopped short as she took note of the butterfly hovering in front of the two brunettes. Her eyes widened in shock. "This is a first."

Zatanna stared intently at the hovering butterfly, a series of spells running through her head, none of which she could actually use without causing a witch hunt hysteria in Smallville. California was much better in dealing with things out of the ordinary than other places in the United States, she thought to herself grumpily.

Lana, for her part, just stood there, staring at the butterfly in shock. She tilted her head to one side and as she did so, she noticed the butterfly also hover over to the side that Lana had tilted her head over to. She looked at it quizzically and tilted her head to the other side, watching carefully as the butterfly shifted over to that side as well.

Weird.

Zatanna, who had taken notice of this little exchange, nudged Lana. "Hey…are you controlling this thing?"

"Does it make it less disturbing if I say no?"

"Yes."

"No."

"Funny," Zatanna said sarcastically. "How the hell are you doing it?"

"I don't know!" Lana whispered hurriedly. "It's like there's a connection between the two of us."

Zatanna gave Lana a look as though to ask her what she meant by that, but a net swooping down in front of Lana and Zatanna ended whatever conversation it was that they had begun. Dr. Gregory pulled the butterfly in closer to her, her bright eyes sparkling with anticipation.

"I'll have to study this specimen," she said a little excitedly. "I wonder how it played dead so long. I never knew butterflies did that."

"Yeah," Zatanna said, "sometimes things surprise you that way."

Lana looked away from Zatanna's pointed gaze, as confused as her friend was. She pushed her confusion aside, though, when she felt the growing dread of the butterfly. It was confused, scared, and disoriented. Not that Lana blamed it. The butterfly had just come back from the dead, just as she had a few scant days ago. Lana narrowed her eyes then, taking pity in the creature's discomfort. "Dr. Gregory," Lana said softly, "maybe we should just let it go? After all, it might just have been unconscious or something."

Dr. Gregory shook her head, "I doubt that Lana. These butterflies were put through a process to preserve them after their death so students such as you could study them." Dr. Gregory said as she headed over to her desk. She pulled out a glass jar and opened it up, setting its hole ridden lid to the side. She gently guided the butterfly into the jar and then quickly closed the lid, setting the jar carefully aside. "No, I will definitely study this specimen, and hopefully I will have something new and interesting to discuss with you all in class tomorrow," Dr. Gregory said as she walked back to the front of the lab. There was a bounce in her step now, as Zatanna figured any scientist would have on the verge of a new discovery. "Now, as to today's lesson -" she continued before she was cut off by the bell. "Well, leave your insects where they are. I'll collect them and we'll continue with our lesson plan tomorrow." Dr. Gregory finished. As she stooped to gather her notes and clean the whiteboard, Zatanna and Lana slowly made their way over to the butterfly.

"Can you free it?" Lana asked quietly. "I can feel it's pain, Zatanna. I don't think I can stand it."

Zatanna nodded. "Yeah," she said. The sorceress took a deep breath and said, "Ssalg ot ria." The jar disappeared and as it did so, the lid started to fall. Quickly catching herself, Zatanna said "Dil ot rehtaef." As the feather gently fell, Zatanna and Lana hurried out of the class so as not to raise any suspicion.

Dr. Gregory was still gathering her papers as Lana turned around once they were outside the biology lab. Lana, quickly and surely, led the butterfly out of an open window and into safety before hurrying down the hall with Zatanna.

"Okay, so that was weird," Zatanna said as soon as the two girls were inside Lana's apartment. After Dr. Gregory's class, Lana and Zatanna had wisely decided it was best to blow off classes for the rest of the day and try and figure out the sudden weirdness that was Lana.

"You're telling me," Lana scoffed as she plopped down on her bed. Zatanna sat down on the floor, leaning back against the bed, and sighed as she rested her head against the bed.

"What the hell was that?" the sorceress asked, completely dumbfounded. "What did you do? And how did you do it?"

"I don't have any answers," Lana said sadly. "I mean, I've felt weird ever since you brought me back, you know? But…I still felt like me. A lesser me than I usually was, but still somewhat me. And then this happens, and I'm still me, but I feel less like me than any of the other mes that I ever felt like. I'm a not-me me."

Zatanna sat up straight and turned around a little, facing Lana. "Wow. And you tell me my spells sound like gibberish."

"You know what I mean."

Zatanna nodded. "Yeah, yeah I do." The sorceress leaned back again and sighed heavily. "I knew bringing you back had been way too easy."

"So…research then? Figure out what you did that made me the way I am?"

"Guess so," Zatanna nodded, getting up. She grabbed her keys of the end table. "Come on lady, we're heading over to Xanadu's."

"Xanadu's?" A new voice piped up behind Zatanna. "What's Xanadu's?"

Zatanna whipped around and found Jason Teague standing behind her, shrugging off his corduroy jacket.

"It's a new salon," Lana piped up as she stood up. "In Metropolis. Zatanna wanted to go check it out. So, we decided to do a girl's night out thing," Lana lied.

Jason nodded a little uncertainly. "Okay…well, you guys go do that. I actually have some business I need to attend to."

"Thanks," Lana said as she kissed her boyfriend gently on the mouth. "We'll catch you later tonight."

"Alright. Oh, and hey, any news on your tattoo?"

"Nothing yet," Lana replied shaking her head. "But soon."

"Soon. Soon is good. Laters, then."

Jason quietly watched Lana and Zatanna leave. As soon as they were out the door, the young man waited a minute or so, and then walked over to the door and opened it to check the hallway. Lana and Zatanna were nowhere to be seen. Jason then did a quick search of the room, looking for something, anything to give him a clue as to why Lana had disappeared last week, but not finding it.

The handsome young man sighed and flopped down on the bed. He ran a hand through his dirty blond hair. He knew, he instinctively knew, that Lana had not gone to visit her aunt Nell for a few days. Lana would have contacted him somehow if she was in dire conditions. No, Lana was lying to him, and that didn't bode well for him.

In fact, it could screw everything up in the worst way possible.

Jason sighed, realizing that he would need help here. Help in figuring out why Lana had gone missing and why she had seemed so different in the past week. So, he walked over to the phone and picked it up. He punched in a phone number and then waited a moment.

After two rings, the person he had been trying to reach answered.

"Hi, Mom? We need to talk."

Writer's Note: Hey all, sorry it's taken me so long to update. I lost my net connection for a few days again.  But I'm back, so yay me! :-D Anyway, yeah, there will be more Xanadu, coz I love her too much to not let her appear every few chapters, even though I'm sure some of you will hate me coz of it. No, Lana won't be calling herself Insect Queen or anything. I wanna stay away from the freaky codenames and costumes here. Lol, and yeah Zantac, I know what you mean about the headdress, lol.

Anyway, hope you guys liked this chapter and please keep on r-and-r-ing! If I don't update before Christmas, I just wanted to wish everyone HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!