"Long Way Around," by the Dixie Chicks, describes how a person sometimes has to give up things to do what they need to do. And Sayen has to finish her song. Sorry in advance about Carlisle's speech. I don't really know how they talked when he was still human. I got everything from Shakespeare. I wish I were kidding.
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Chapter IV: Long Way Around
"Can we just grope in a closet?" Sayen asked. She was feeling pretty spiteful of Varda's bringing up Leaf.
Henry already had the door opened. He crawled in and extended his hand to help her. She took it without a sound.
"Hey, Swan!" the brown-eyed blond waved the girl over. "Decided to shed the good-girl image forever?"
"Not quite, Leaf," Varda removed Leaf's hands off her with a steely glance that couldn't be misinterpreted. "I missed you, and I need to see you where you put the letter you got earlier."
"Oh," Leaf was fast in getting it to her. "I didn't know what it meant. I thought it was someone threatening me," he trembled a little.
Varda softened. Under his womanizing surface, Leaf was just afraid and with a protective streak. "I'm sure it was nothing," she said kindly.
"Thanks," Leaf gave it to her. "Why would they give it to me, though?"
Varda missed a blink. "I don't know," she kicked herself for never having considered that before. But she quickly forgot it as she walked back to Belinda with the next clue. When she tried to enter Bela's room, however, she saw Henry and Sayen. There were three things wrong with that picture.
First, they were sleeping next to each other.
Second, they were in the same bed.
Third, they were completely naked.
It didn't take long for Varda to take a guess at what had happened. You can still hear the echoes of her scream if you listen closely.
"Luna, I need some advice," Sayen said sadly. "Varda thinks I'm a whore. Can you help?"
"Can you sing?"
Sayen blinked in surprise. "I have sung."
"What happens when you sing?"
"I kinda got my most pressing wish granted…oh."
"It's called a Swan Song Spell, no pun intended," Hermione looked at her uneasily. "The spell can only be activated by the subconscious, and only if no one else is singing, humming, or even thinking it along in their head. It will do whatever the singer wishes most subconsciously."
"Oh," Sayen tried to look at Hermione's book. The brunette snapped it shut, sending a ball of dust straight up the redhead's nose and making her contort her face into various positions before sneezing.
"What do you want most at this very moment?" Hermione asked.
"I want Varda to not be so mad," Sayen whimpered.
"Then sing something!" Hermione hissed.
Sayen took a deep breath. "My friends from high school married their high school boyfriends."
And then the whoosh again. Was Hermione sure about this?
Carlisle Cullen stared at the naked girl who just appeared in the middle of the road with no warning. Well, she wasn't completely naked, but by the standards of the 15th century, she would be considered a slut. Her faux-wrap flower-dotted dress went above her knees, she had sparkly lavender sandals, and the closest thing she had to a restraining corset was a velveteen ribbon with a fabric flower on it.
"Art thou a witch?" he asked.
"With the weird noses? Ew! No way! Carlisle, just be quiet," too late, Sayen jumped up, realizing her mistake.
She knew exactly who he was. That thought gave Carlisle a jolt. "Who art thou, then? Whither doth thou come?'
"Um," Sayen swallowed. "I'm just kinda not feeling that great. Can I leave?" What was the next verse to the stupid song?!
"Perhaps, but thou must wear something suitable to travel. What man would I be if I let thou contract consumption?" Carlisle said.
"Thanks?" Sayen knew that men back in those days were supposed to be all gentle because women were thought of as useless, but she still had her misgivings about going with a strange man by herself anywhere.
"Where's Sayen?" Varda demanded. She had just given Henry the screaming match of a lifetime and wasn't about to let Sayen off the hook.
"She started singing, and then she disappeared," Hermione said as nonchalantly as she could.
"She sang? Last time she sang, it was the only thing that got me out of her mind," Bela said worriedly.
And then Sayen materialized in front of them. Her long hair, usually down in all its honey-pink glory, was now twirled behind her in a sleek bun. She had ditched her floral dress, pink head band, and pink ballet flats for a white eyelet lace dress that went all the way down to her ankles and closed-toe sandals of some purple material.
Callia burst out laughing. Sayen shot her a dirty look. When she came out in sleeveless satin dress that was about mid-thigh level (I know, scandalous!), a pale pink sash around her middle (no corset, thank you very much), and a hair wreath with ribbons that tied into a bow at the back. She wasn't in the mood to get rid of her hair.
"It's hardly ever down, so why ruin it?" she asked.
"Well, I was worried when you were gone. Did you mean to leave?" Varda asked.
"No, but now that I have, I know I have to go back," Sayen looked a little regretful.
"Why?" Callia asked sharply.
"Because I haven't finished the song yet," Sayen said. "And I can't stop until the song is over."
"Then you better hurry up," Callia didn't sound happy.
"What was the clue, by the way?" Sayen changed the subject.
"It said Har, but I don't know what that's supposed to mean," Varda sighed. "I don't know anyone."
"Carla Santiago has that sound in her name. Geez, how many game members are we going to meet this week?" Varda rolled her eyes.
"What are we waiting for?" Sayen jumped up, not noticing Varda check her beeping computer. "Universe Number 4, here we come!"
"You've got mail!" Varda's computer beeped cheerfully.
A woman with shoulder-length blonde hair and dark brown eyes visibly relaxed when she saw who it was. "I felt a bit-"
"You, Cat, and Leaf all feel uneasy. Don't worry, this isn't gang-related," Mara interrupted with words of reassurance.
"Mara," Sayen put her hands on her hips before changing her mind and pulling the girl aside. "If you want people to like you," she said in a sibilant whisper, "you need to stop cutting their feelings off mid-sentence! And it wouldn't help to look them in the eye while they're talking either!"
Confused, Mara only nodded. Carla took advantage of the distraction to whip out her letter. "It's says Lu."
"YES!" Varda smiled, jumping up and down. She looked around in surprise when nobody told her to shut her face or they would break it and found that she was alone in the room. In fact, she was alone in the entire Tardis. Shrugging, she focused on her computer again. She had always wanted a Red Datsun 240Z.
"Why so low on price?" she typed in her IM to the owner. The reply was immediate.
"Moving. Must sell ASAP. Wanna take test drive?"
Varda slid to the floor in shock. Tomorrow was her sweet sixteenth, and damn if she wasn't going to break her squeaky-clean lawful citizen habit and take a totally illegal test drive on the car of her dreams!
"When?" she typed.
"I thought it was spelled L-O-U," Sayen said. "Who'd spell it L-U?" she fingered her silver necklace nervously.
"I have one," Callia said. "His name is Lu Burning, and he works at this expose show called Predators Among Us."
"I think I should tune into that channel," Sayen smiled. "Where does he live?"
"You're not gonna believe this," Callia smiled, "but he lives in Miami."
"Where we enter our codes?" asked Henry.
"I know!" Bela went to Belinda's computer. "Ladies and gentlemen, sluts and playboys, allow me to introduce you to the Skasis Paradigm."
"What does Sara's dime do?" Sayen asked dubiously.
"It knows everything there is to know in the Multiverse, which is usually reserved for Morphers," Bela said.
"What's a Morpher?" Sayen asked Callia. "You mentioned it, but I don't think you defined it."
"A Morpher is a god/goddess sort of being. They can morph into any creature known to their planet, mythological or actual," Callia responded.
"Like Varda, except that she gave her omniscience to me, and then I gave it to Belinda!" Sayen exclaimed.
"She didn't fully give it to you. Knowledge is like water. If I were to dump a bucketful of water into another bucket, there would still be drops of water clinging to the first bucket. Likewise, if I dumped the second bucketful of water into yet a third bucket of water, I would have droplets then hanging on to the second bucket," Callia said.
"So Varda could still help us. Where is she?" Lauren asked.
"The Master," Bela looked up. "I'm sure of it."
"What?" Lauren, Emily, Yadid, Callia, and Andres said at the same time. "The Master what?"
"He has her."
"What does he want from her?" Henry asked fearfully.
"She's a Morpher. He wants to use her soul to take over the universe."
"Again?" Emily and Lauren sounded almost bored.
"Well, an evil Time Lord has to get his kicks in somewhere," Bela shrugged like evil Time Lords trying to destroy the world were an everyday occurrence.
"Then what do we do?" Andres asked.
"I'm about to ask the Paradigm." There was a series of beeps and some circular squiggles appeared. No one but Bela appeared to understand them. "It says we need to find the vampires, because only they are capable of tearing apart the plan the Master has," he said finally. "We're going to need to take the long way around."
"Vampires? Where's Anne Rice when you need her?" Ben whined.
"Why Anne Rice? Why can't it be Twilight?" Sayen piped up.
Ben whined even louder. Callia ignored him. "Can you get to the Twilight world?"
"I don't know if I can bring them here, but I can definitely go there," Sayen said thoughtfully.
"Then what are you waiting for?! Go!" Callia pointed to the door.
Sayen smiled and stood where she was, singing.
Carlisle, Edward, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice were inside their homes when the doorbell rang. Every one of them froze. They had never had anyone call on them this late, and only Carlisle could think of a human who would dare contact a vampire. His guess was proven correct when he opened the door and gathered the girl into a hug. She gave a few squeaks of protest when he squeezed too hard, but she didn't sound frightened at all. Nor did she look scared as she surveyed the room.
"Hey," Varda greeted, offering her hand as the extremely hot stranger held his umbrella over her. "I'm Varda," she said as they walked to the car together. She could smell his cologne. A man who actually cared about hygiene? She had to scoop this one up!
"Nice to meet you," said the stranger. "I'm Timothy Vogel."
"Varda Swan," Varda's hand was completely enveloped.
Oh, having a guy completely swallow you up is never good.
In the next chapter, more will be revealed about Vogel. And if you're too used to Varda being a goody-two-shoes virgin, you might want to stop reading right here. But do review.
Sayen closed her eyes and mouthed something. The look on her face suggested great pain, or great constipation.