Thanks lil artist (or short lil ninja…if that is your real name! 0.o) for your reviews. I like how you summarized the information I've given you, better than I might have. I hope your questions will all be answered by this chapter.

Crazy Revelations

Halloween turned out to be rather fun, in a vaguely exasperating sort of way. As Aunt Joan insisted that Jessica bring Maureen to Tyler Crowley's Halloween party, Maureen was saved from handing candy out to little cowboys and princesses dressed in polyester.

"Do you really hate stuff like fake fleece and rayon that much?" Jessica had asked.

"I'm not gonna say they're not useful." Maureen said. "Artificial fabric has saved more lives than we can count. But those kinds of fibers are synthetic, and they feel wrong to me. And while insulated plastic jackets and nylon parachutes might be vital, polyester Halloween costumes are definitely not."

Jessica dressed in the sexy angel costume Maureen had made for her, complete with a halo and wings made out of cotton strips and wire. After some thought, Maureen decided to go dressed as a traditional gypsy: lots of colorful fabric, baggy skirt and shirt, and cleavage entirely optional. The party itself was more low-key than Maureen expected. There was probably alcohol and cigarettes being passed around somewhere, but it wasn't out in the open. With good reason: Tyler's parents were walking through the house like two bouncers at a rave.

"When do we get to go to a party with drinking, Maureen?" Jess said, plopping herself down on the couch next to her cousin. "Not that I want to get plastered and go hurl in a toilet. But drinking's fun, right?"

Maureen winced at the loud objection in her head. Not only did Forks frown on casual (or possibly most) forms of sex, it wasn't in favor of drinking or smoking either.

"Legal age is twenty-one, technical age is eighteen." Maureen said to Jessica. "And the only fun thing about drinking is when you do it with people you care about. Most alcohol tastes awful."

Jess turned to look at Maureen, eyes bugged out. "You've had alcohol before?" She hissed, torn between outrage and delight.

Maureen rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like a glass of wine, or one tequila sunrise. I've never been 'plastered' as you put it."

"Who? Where?"

Maureen's eyelid twitched. "With friends I used to have, in Sacramento. We'd get tipsy and sing songs. It's really not a big deal."

"Yes it is." Jess said excitedly. "Maureen, I thought you were a total wimp!"

"Thanks, Jess." Maureen said.

She waved her empty plastic cup. "I'm gonna take my wimp ass over to the punch bowl and get a refill. That okay with you?"

"Sure." Jess said, apparently oblivious to Maureen's tone. "Hey, if you see Mike could you bring him back over here with you?"

Son of a—

Maureen forced her voice to sound casual. "And why would I do that, Jess?"

Jessica crossed and re-crossed her legs. "Well, I think he's kinda cute. And ever since he drove you around for that extra-credit assignment, you and he have been really chummy. But he says he's not dating you. So I figure you could introduce me to him, put in a good word for me—"

"Stop right there." Maureen said. "No way in hell."

"C'mon Maureen, you have to! We're blood!" Jess whined.

"I don't care if we're chocolate pudding." Maureen said. "Mike is my friend, I am not going to push you on him like a deranged salesman. If you really like him, just go up and talk to him."

"Do you think that would work?" Jess bit her lip.

"Sure. Mike's a nice guy, and except for a few careless habits, you're a nice girl. Just be yourself."

"Hm." Jess looked thoughtful. "Maybe first you could put in a good word for me with Edward Cullen? I know you talk to him a bunch in your English class."

"Jess!"

"What? Mike's your friend; Edward's not. You bitch about him too much. But you are closer to him than any girl in school who's not his sibling."

"What the hell did I just say about pimping you o—wait." Maureen said. "If you're still holding out for Edward, does that make Mike your second best?"

"Well, Edward is cuter than Mike." Jess said. "He's the hottest boy in school, hands down."

Maureen slapped her forehead. "Ugh! I hate that, Jess. It's not just cruel to Mike; it's cruel to yourself. I hate people making lists, ranking boys and settling for the best they can get. I won't settle. I'll have who I want, or nothing."

"You don't want anyone!" Jess protested.

Exactly. Maureen thought. I went with the nothing.

Maureen was still in a rotten mood about Jess' dating schemes the following Monday. She decided a good way to get rid of her irritation was a good old-fashioned venting session. Preferably with someone who wouldn't tell the whole school what she said.

She found Rosalie in the hallway. "Can we take a walk at lunch?" Maureen asked. "I feel the urge to rant."

Rosalie was surprisingly willing to listen to Maureen yell. They walked along the perimeter of the back soccer field, the blonde vampire smiling in bemusement. Maureen didn't care. She imagined she did look funny, shouting and gesticulating wildly.

"…and so she said if she couldn't mack on Edward, she'd be willing to stoop to Mike!" Maureen said. "Like people are goddamn dresses—can't get the perfect one? Oh well, find the next best! Son of a bitch…"

Rosalie laughed. "Do you feel better now?"

"Yeah." Maureen said. She felt worn out, too. "Distract me from this shit. Did you like the clothes?"

Maureen had completed the final outfit for Rosalie the previous Friday, and handed them all over to her at lunch; wrapped in a dress bag from the last time the Uncle Thomas had sent his suits to the cleaners'. Rosalie nodded.

"Yes, they all fit gorgeously." She said. "And thank you for the corset, too. It was a nice surprise."

"You're very welcome." Maureen said. I've had that violet colored silk around for at least a month, there wasn't anything else I could think to use it for. Consider it on the house. I knew it would look great on you."

"It did." Rosalie looked smug. Then she frowned.

"What?" Maureen said.

"What were you thinking just then? When I said it looked good on me."

"I was imagining how the corset fit you." Maureen said. "You asking me what I was thinking…that's a very probing, Edward sort of question. Why do you ask?"

Rosalie stopped walking; she looked frustrated.

"Do you think I'm pretty?" She said.

Maureen stopped and looked at her. "That's a dumb question. Yes, you're pretty. Objectively and subjectively, you're very beautiful."

"I know. Does that make me a bad person? Does it make me more of a monster?"

"What, being beautiful?" Maureen was getting very confused.

"Knowing I'm beautiful." Rosalie twisted her fingers together. "Edward's an ass. But he's right about a lot of things, because he can read people's innermost thoughts. And he says you're very judgmental."

"…He's not wrong." Maureen said. "I do judge pretty much everything and everyone. But so does he, and I think he does it worse."

"Exactly!" Rosalie said. "You do express it a bit. But not as much as he claims. He seems worse than you. He doesn't like how vain I am."

Maureen put a hand to her head, trying to work out the riddle that Rosalie was creating with her evasive remarks.

"…are you wondering if I think you're vain?"

Rosalie looked embarrassed, and angry with herself for being so. "It shouldn't matter." She said. "I know I'm exquisite, nothing will ever change that. What you think shouldn't matter!"

Maureen grinned.

"And that, Rosalie, is why you are less of a pain in the ass then Edward." Maureen said. "Because you understand that when it comes to trivial matters, you shouldn't care what I think. Or what anyone thinks. Which is all Edward really focuses on, when it comes to people outside his family."

"For the record." Maureen continued. "I do think you're vain. You're a full-out narcissist, even considering that your beauty is an objective fact. But you also love your boyfriend—"

"Husband."

"—husband, sure. You care about your family. And unlike Edward, you are not overly critical of the people around you."

"I compare their faces to mine." Rosalie said.

"Who cares? Faces are skin fucking deep. Edward criticizes people's thoughts, their minds, only offering occasional grudging respect for their actions. But it's actions and choices that show the true color of a person, not their private thoughts."

Rosalie nodded, but she didn't look elated.

"Come on, what else?" Maureen motioned for Rosalie to keep talking. "I just used you for venting, now use me. What else is bothering you?"

"I want to ask you some more questions." Rosalie said.

Maureen hadn't anticipated that.

"Okay. Shoot."

"Where are you from?"

Maureen made a confused face. "You know I'm from Sacramento. The whole school knows. Edward reads my mind on a semi-regular basis."

"I don't mean where you were born." Rosalie said. "I mean your sort of creature. Whatever you are. I know you say there's no name. But you have to give me more information than that."

Ah. Maureen thought. This, I should have expected. Paranoid vampires and whatnot.

"Edward read your mind, saw your family." Rosalie said. "Dad and Stepmother, the Stanleys in Forks, what your life was like in California. And he says that you don't see Sacramento and Forks as being the same Sacramento and Forks. I'm sorry, he wasn't very clear about it."

Maureen took a deep breath. Edward had hit the nail on the head, even if he had no idea what he was hammering. But of course he'd discover everything eventually, if he wanted to. Forks loved him. This place thought he was the Second goddamn Coming, and treated him as such. It didn't matter if the kids at school disliked Edward Cullen, or if Maureen outright hated him…what was her hate compared to the adoration of Fate itself?

And that aside, Rosalie ought to be told. Maureen had let some of it slip to Harry Clearwater, and she barely knew him. She owed the Cullens a little more information.

"Edward was right." Maureen said. "The Sacramento where I used to live is not in the same perspective…world…as the Forks where we're standing now. There's more than one Forks."

Rosalie looked puzzled, but not skeptical. "You jump between parallel universes?"

"That's not all of it, even." Maureen said. "Yes, I can walk to places no one else can reach. But it's only a side part."

Maureen rubbed her chin, trying to phrase her words in the best way possible.

My proper name is Spinner." Maureen said. "That's really it. Everything I am is tied up in the idea of turning natural fibers into cloth. That's why I can use fiber for things like divination, or protection. I'm connected to cloth, and its construction. I suppose you could say I'm part human, part concept. And I can go anywhere my concept exists. Since the premise that fibers become cloth exists in Forks and the world around it, I was able to travel here."

Rosalie looked like she was actually following along. "If you're part human, where does the concept part come from?"

"My mother." Maureen said. "My biological mother. She's part of a concept too. She's the…the predatory nature of arachnids. More or less."

Maureen shrugged awkwardly. "It sounds stupid when I say it. But what I am is passed down genetically. It's not too large of a leap…spiders spin and weave too."

"Where's your mother now? Edward couldn't see her in your mind."

"I don't think about her much." Maureen scrubbed a hand across her eyes. "She left when I was old enough to mind myself. She went adventuring."

"Adventuring?"

"In the parallel universes. Except we don't call them that. We say 'place' or 'perspective', because they're not parallel or separate to us. They're just places other people can't see. But my kind, we can go lots of places. Places you couldn't imagine, except as stories or dreams. It's an inherent ability. I'm not actually very good at doing it by myself. But I've been all sorts of places, with others of my kind."

Maureen's eyes lit up. "It was so much fun, just visiting all those places. A city made of green glass. A place where objects have souls, and toys come to life when you're not looking. A vast kingdom of ash and fire, populated by hideous goblins, and ghosts who ride winged beasts. A wild forest, with six-legged horses and orange dragon lizards, and plants that sing to you…"

Sensing a silence, Maureen trailed off. She looked at the blonde vampire. Rosalie was standing absolutely still, not even breathing. She looked utterly shocked, gold eyes fixed on Maureen's face, unblinking.

"They're real." Maureen said. "They're as real as you are, Rosalie. But I'm the only one in Forks who can perceive them. That's why I call myself crazy. Being insane just means not having the same perspective as the people around you. And I don't see things how everyone else does."

"The way you talk…" Rosalie blinked, and shook her head. "Edward says your mind looks like a tapestry. It's more than that. You talk strange too. And those impossible places…I can't understand you. Edward must have hell, looking into your mind. He says beyond your surface thoughts, it's hard to get a grip."

"Does it bug him?" Maureen asked.

Rosalie laughed, softly. "Not much. He dismisses it as your 'unhuman' way of looking at things. The werewolves' thoughts are a bit odd to him too."

Maureen shoved her hands in her pockets.

"I don't like talking about this stuff, you know." She said. "This is the most private part of me. I can't believe I'm trusting you, your family, with even some of it."

"You can trust us." Rosalie said stubbornly. "We won't tell anyone."

Maureen nodded. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Rosalie smiled, the stubborn look still on her face. "You know, Maureen-or-Spinner…you interest me. You don't care that I like myself so much. And you look so strangely at things, judge them so strangely. You're not human. But you're worth knowing."

Maureen laughed. "Nice compliment."

"You know what I mean." Rosalie said.

"Yeah, I do."

The two began walking again.

Because the next chapter is the last, (in this story, anyway) I'm going to lay all my cards on the table. Maureen Stanley isn't a specific creature from mythology. I didn't give her species a name because I didn't want to saddle what she is with some stupid, mystical title. Besides, Maureen's kind of creature is far-ranging, and like people who live far away from each other, they would all have different ways of defining themselves.

While the 'concept of turning fiber into cloth' part of Maureen's species is strictly something of my own invention, essentially she's what I've been saying all along…a Mary-Sue.

By definition, Mary-Sues can be written into any story…nothing is sacrosanct to a fanfic author, Mary-Sues are everywhere. So Maureen can go to any world she can conceive of.

Also, Mary-Sues almost always have powers, or are special in some way. I decided that Maureen's species would all have unique but limited powers, based on an individual arbitrary concept. That makes each one of them 'magical and special in some way'.

Lastly, Mary-Sues are more or less always inserted into the 'important' storyline in a given world. They have the ability to meet the main characters, and get involved in the main plot. But how would the Mary-Sue know what was 'important' unless the universe itself told them? A visitor to the world of Harry Potter might think that Dumbledore was the main character and Harry was just one of many good guys working for him…but Rowling tells us otherwise. So that universe would whisper to Maureen 'Harry Potter is the center of it all'.

Once again, please Read & Review!

Also, a Little Quiz…Maureen mentioned visiting four places, when she was describing her travels to Rosalie. They reference popular stories. Try and guess which ones they are. :D