Okay, okay, this is a major part. And yet I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with Cody! Well, I guess you'll know what I decided on by the end of this chapter.

Thanks for reviewing, Bloodylilcorpse, EmEm811 and the guest reviewer.

Alejandro seemed to have completely disappeared for the moment, but Cody managed to find Heather.

"Mistake..." he said breathlessly, "Imposter...disguise...voodoo..." Eventually, he just thrust the talisman into Heather's webbed hands. "Here. Smash it – it's the voodoo master's power, but he's following me, so I better-" He zipped away before finishing his sentence, soaring away before Heather could even collect her thoughts.

But despite Cody's babble, she started to understand what she'd seen. "So this necklace thing was a voodoo disguise?" she mused out loud. "Then that must mean..." If a shadow hadn't fallen over her at that very moment, she would have let her romantic side take over.

But she wasn't so lucky as to have a few minutes to herself. Mal may have lost the firefly messing up his plans, but he'd found the second frog.

Heather had never seen Mal before, but she would have known him just from the shadows that followed in his wake. She held up the talisman threateningly. "Stay back!" she said. "I'll break this thing in two seconds if you don't!"

But Mal still had a few voodoo tricks. The shadow spirits, now that they saw Heather, knew a lot of information. They whispered to Mal her name, her dream, her past...and with a puff of pink smoke, a girl with long dark hair stood in place of the frog.

The alley was replaced, too, by a warm, golden, luxurious place. A place that Heather recognized, despite never seeing it. It was a mansion – the one she'd seen in every daydream she'd had. She recognized every part of her dream – queen of Europe, respected and powerful. Even her clothes, though a casual crop halter and skirt, were designer. She even had a tiara, twinkling with rubies.

But as Heather looked at her surroundings in wonder, she felt as if something was off. Something was missing. She wasn't sure what it was.

"Now...isn't this better than stuck living in a bayou dodging alligators and almost dying every day?" The demonic voice came out of nowhere. Heather jumped as Mal appeared seemingly out of thin air. He'd disappeared with her old surroundings, but now he was standing right next to her.

"You." Heather's grey eyes narrowed.

"Just look at this place," the voodoo master continued, a mocking tone to his voice, "It's pretty amazing. Your dreams reach further than anyone else's, Heather. And you know what? I could make this a reality for you. All you have to do, is hand over that talisman."

Heather didn't relent. "No way. How do I know you're not going to screw me over when I give it back?"

"Oh, you don't." Mal said. "But I can be very persuasive. Just think of all those people who doubted you. Everyone trying to knock you down, every time a window opened, another door slammed shut. Too bad nothing ever came of your hard work. But now, something could."

It was true. Every second, handing over the talisman sounded better and better to Heather. Mal could tell she was weakening. "Come on, Heather." he whispered. "Isn't this what you want?"

"I would never manage to get what I wanted on my own." Heather murmured. But a thought came to her. "But it's not what I need. I didn't understand it before."

In a flash, she understood what Leshawna and Dawn had tried to tell her. She knew what she wanted...and now she realized what she needed.

"I needed someone to genuinely want me." she said out loud. "That's what's important. I'm not going to lose sight of that ever again!"

She went to smash the talisman, but luck still wasn't on her side. The second she let go, his shadow got it and gave it back to Mal. The mansion melted away, and Heather was back in her frog skin.

"You should have taken what you wanted while you had the chance." Mal said mockingly. "Now you're going to spend your whole life just the way I described." He was leaning close to her. Too close.

At least, in the frog's opinion. "You forgot one little thing." she said softly. Her long tongue shot out, stuck to the talisman chain, and it was back in her possession. And this time, she was so close to the ground that the shadow didn't have a chance. She smashed it.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" An almost inhuman wail came from Mal. The shadows were turning on him. Something had happened, and the shadows took hold of the creature. Something was being pulled out of Mal, as if he'd had something in him that the talisman had been holding.

The alleyway was glowing purple as the shadows pulled an apparition out of the voodoo master. A screaming apparition, who begged "Just one more chance!" But the shadows took no notice.

"No! NO!" the apparition shrieked. "It's MY time!" But as the shadows disappeared, pulling the apparition with them, Heather looked back at the figure left there, still standing.

Slowly, the man raised his head. "Uggghhh...I feel like I just killed something." groaned the person. He was talking in a different voice. Suddenly, he jumped, his eyes wide. The dark circles around his eyes were gone. "Mal!" he exclaimed. "He left!"

"Well, to be fair, the shadows dragged him away." Heather couldn't resist quipping. "So what are you really?"

The young man shrugged. "Just an average person, I suppose. My name's Mike. I know what you just saw – I saw everything that happened. And I'm sorry. But I don't have the voodoo powers to turn you back. Those all belonged to Mal."

At that moment, Heather remembered what was going on. "Alejandro! I have to find Lindsay and get her to listen to me, and then I need to find him!"

She almost flew out of there, going as fast as her webbed feet could carry her. Mike looked after her for a moment, as if he was making sure she was really gone. Then he let himself cry.

Yes, Mal was Mike the whole time! He just had no control. The reason he starts crying here is because he's thinking of the many people Mal made him scam, and the time that he's lost since he took control. Mal isn't an alternate personality here – he's just an evil spirit that somehow possessed Mike. What do you think?