Last time the duplicate Bloom found and tried to seduce Sky. He realized that it wasn't the real Bloom and fought her off. On with the show!

Chapter 3: Deeper Trouble

Bloom, Stella, Flora, Musa, Layla and Carmen had reached the control room for the Magical Reality where Professors Palanium and Wizgiz, along with Tecna and Elise Caplin were trying to figure out what went wrong. The control panels were removed; wires and computer parts were strewn all over the floor.

"I think I've discovered the source of the malfunction," said Elise as she removed an object from one of the control modules, and object that turned out to be a portable hard drive that was labeled 'time-delayed virus.' "How long has that been there?" asked Wizgiz. "Judging on the amount of dust on it," said Palanium, "I'd say at least a year."

"Someone must have placed the virus drive in the computer while you weren't in the room, Professor," said Tecna. "I recognize that handwriting," said Elise, as she examined the label, "There are three particular witches who write the exact same way so they can cheat on each other's term papers."

"Icy, Darcy and Stormy," said Carmen through gritted teeth, "Of all the magic users favored by the gods, I hate those three the most." "Their handwriting is exactly the same?" asked Flora. "Oh yes," said Elise, "It took a while for the faculty to figure out how they were cheating. The teachers were impressed, so Icy, Darcy and Stormy got an award for originality, the little sluts."

"You know what Morgan did at the start of the school year?" asked Carmen, "She set up this huge dart board in the recreation room that had blown yearbook photos of Icy, Darcy and Stormy." "With Icy's nose as the bull's-eye," said Stella. "Exactly!" said Carmen.

Just then Sky entered the control room. "I heard you were in here, Bloom," he said with a concerned tone, "I've got something I need to ask you; what do you think about sex before marriage?" The room suddenly went very quiet as Bloom blushed three shades red before answering, "I think that if two people consent to intercourse before marriage, it's their business to do so, but personally, I would rather wait."

"That's good to know," sighed Sky, "You are not going to believe what just happened to me." But before Sky could continue Professor Griselda teleported into the control room, glared at Bloom, pointed and snapped, "You, Bloom, Faragonda's office now!" She then teleported out. "What next?" groaned Bloom.

Three minutes later Bloom stood in the office of Headmistress Faragonda, while Stella, Flora, Musa, Tecna, Layla, Sky, Elise and Carmen waited outside. "I would never have believed of such shocking behavior of you, Bloom," said Faragonda, "Shoving your fellow students out of your way, giving the finger, what has gotten into you today?"

"I didn't do any such thing, Headmistress," said Bloom, "And you can check with Stella and the others, they were with me the whole time." Faragonda then called in Stella, Flora, Musa and Layla. They each verified Bloom's story. "Despite the testimony of your friends," said Griselda, "There are several witnesses as to your behavior today."

"I think I can help shed some light on the problem," said Sky as he, Tecna, Elise and Carmen entered the office, "Not too long ago someone who looked exactly like Bloom meet me in the courtyard. She wanted to talk to me in private. This person then tried to have sex with me."

"WHAT!" exclaimed Bloom. "Scandalous," whispered Carmen gleefully to Elise. "Indeed," Elise whispered back, "Morgan is going to have a field day with this." "You didn't actually do it with this person who looked like me," said Bloom, "Did you?" "Of course not," said Sky, "I have values. But I did learn that this person wasn't you, despite how much she looked like you."

"So it is possible that there is someone who looks like Bloom," said Tecna, "And that she is responsible for all the trouble our Bloom is being accused of." "I agree that it is possible," said Faragonda. "Possible yes," said Griselda, "But not likely."

Stella then muttered something that Bloom couldn't hear fully. "What's that Miss Stella?" asked Griselda, "You have something to say?" "I said that you're being paranoid," said Stella, "Professor." Before Griselda could retort there was a knock on the door, and Professors Palanium and Wizgiz entered the office.

"Pardon the intrusion, Headmistress," said Palanium, "But we discovered the full source of the malfunction with the Magical Reality Chamber. The computers were infected with a time-delayed virus, which we think was implanted by Icy, Darcy and Stormy about a year ago."

"Told you so," said Elise." "There's more," said Wizgiz, "While the virus infected the computer, it also infected the emergency transporter. I believe the original intent of the virus was to kill whoever was in the chamber at the time, while preventing said person from escaping by the transporter."

"That last part didn't work out as planned," said Palanium, "We were able to activate the transporter and get Bloom out of the chamber in time." "Icy, Darcy and Stormy were never any good at computers," said Carmen.

"Here's the bad news," said Palanium, "It's unsafe to use the Magical Reality Chamber until we're sure the virus has been purged completely." "I'll help with that," said Tecna and Elise.

"And here's the really bad news," said Wizgiz, "I've checked the computer logs for the emergency transporter. After it was used to transport Bloom out of the chamber, it activated a second time, creating a second Bloom, one with a polar opposite personality."

"Then there's no doubt about it," said Faragonda, "We have an imposter on campus."

The end of chapter 3. Next chapter, the search for the duplicate Bloom begins. See you next time!