Chapter 3: Anomaly

"Melanie? Melanie Stryder?" –Nina's voice is still raised, still incredulous.

Melanie hesitates, glances at Jared, then answers, "Actually, it's Melanie Howe now. We… were married last week." And she slowly joins hands with Jared.

"Married? Married? How- I thought you… " Suddenly Nina lunges at the angelic woman, grabs the flashlight and shines it into Melanie's eyes. Her frank, hazel eyes, without a hint of silver, gaze back at her.

But even as Nina makes her sudden lunge, both the men raise guns- real, actual guns- and point them at her.

"No!"-both Melanie and the other girl exclaim.

"You're human…"- Nina wheezes, not taking her eyes off Mel. "You're human, and you're married, but you're with her…"

"Nina, relax," Melanie says slowly. "She's alright. She's with us."

"Damn right, she is," Jared interjects suddenly. For all his animosity towards the Soul, he seems staunchly loyal to her.

"We need to wrap up," another voice sounds from inside the house. Another one?

"For crying out loud, how many of you are there?"- I exclaim.

Melanie and the other girl exchange a glance I don't understand and stare back at me.

Nina understands, and exclaims, "You're leaving?" Melanie nods slowly.

"Take me with you! Please! I can't bear it-"

"Nina!"-I interrupt her. "You can't leave, and you know that very well-"

"Yo! We need to leave. Now."- an adolescent boy, whose voice I had just heard, appears into our little circle. I am horrified to see that even he has a gun in his hand. Humans are indeed a violent race.

The handsome man steps forward. "We don't have time for this. You," he turns to me, "are going to be abducted."

I drown Nina's obvious cheer, and begin hotly- "What do you mean, abduct me? How-"

I just notice the nod both men exchange out of the corner of my eyes, and don't notice the shadow looming from behind me as I continue to rant against the humans and the rebel Soul. Just as I realize the shadow is distinctly Jared-shaped, a sharp pain erupts in my head, and everything turns black.

"You weren't gone long this time," Doc said, cleaning a scalpel with a cloth.

"I know."-Wanda answered quietly. She glanced at Melanie, who stood a step behind her in the dark entryway of the cave.

Doc glanced up at the note of uncertainty in Wanda's voice. "Everything went well, I hope?"- he asked tentatively.

"Everything went perfectly well… But-"

"We have a prisoner."- Melanie cut in sharply.

"Oh." Doc relaxed, and turned back to his small table of instruments. "One more to operate on, then. But don't forget, we're running out of canisters. You'd better get more the next time"

The two girls exchanged glances again.

"This one's… different."

Doc looked up again. "How so?"

There was a pause. "To begin with… I know her. Knew her, I mean."- Melanie said slowly. "Her name is Nina Charpentier."

Doc scrutinized both of them carefully. "And what's so different about this Nina Charpentier?"

Wanda answered this time. "She is… a lot like me and Mel were. They're fighting."

Melanie cut in- "And you can tell they're fighting. Doc, they switch control."

"What?"

"When Nina saw me, she responded as herself, not as her Soul." Melanie said quietly. "I saw her eyes. There was no silver ring."

Another pause. A profound one.

"But this is… monumental!"-Doc said sharply. "The host girl's personality can override the Soul?"

"Apparently."- Melanie said dryly.

"And this isn't common amongst other souls…"

Wanda shook her head. "It's never happened, ever, in our history. She's unique… an anomaly."

"Then… we must talk to her! We must find out…"- Doc couldn't keep the excitement out of his voice.

"We are planning to do that."- Wanda said, glancing at Melanie again. "I thought maybe Mel and I could take turns- she'd talk to Nina, and then I'd talk to the Soul. We can't be too careful. For all we know, the Soul might… commit suicide."

"Ah, yes. We wouldn't want to lose her."

"May we do it here?"

"Of course. There's nothing here to upset either of them for now."

"Good. It's decided then."

At that moment, Jared and Ian entered the cave, both carrying Nina's senseless body. Gently, they placed her on a bed, then stood back to survey her with the others.

"She's not bad looking."

Melanie grinned. "Nina always was the pretty one."

Doc grasped Nina's hand to check her pulse. "Hmm. How hard did you hit her, Jared?"

"Hard enough."- Jared responded gruffly. "She was raving mad. Not the first time I'd seen a Soul like that, though." He glanced at Wanda and smirked.

Wanda blushed, and said, "No surprise, considering your varied experience in the field."

"Of course."

Everyone joined in the laughter, and Ian stroked Wanda's hair fondly. At that moment, Nina stirred, and groaned. The laughter stopped immediately. "We'll leave now," Ian said immediately, then looked inquiringly at both the girls.

"I'm coming," Wanda said, understanding, then turned to Melanie. "Mel? A word."

Everyone filed out of the hospital, Doc a little reluctantly, glancing at the inanimate Nina over his shoulder. "I'll be with Candy in the kitchen."- he said eyeing them sternly. "Call either of us if anything happens."

Melanie nodded. "Of course." A few yards down the passageway, she and Wanda stopped. Jared and Ian waited, too, but a little farther away, respecting the unbreakable bond the two girls had between them.

Wanda turned to Melanie, and took a deep breath. "Tell me all that you know about her. I need to know her… objectively. Before I meet her."

Melanie hesitated for a moment. "We were friends. Really good friends. We lived on the same street, but we went to different schools, so we weren't as close as we could have been. She was… fun. In a way." Melanie smiled, remembering. "We'd try and do the most outrageous things together. I remember we dug holes all over someone's backyard looking for 'buried treasure'… Boy, were we in big trouble." Melanie chuckled. "We also did other 'grown-up' things… Silly things that made us feel all mature and adult. It was that awkward age, you know. Teenage… such a tumultuous time. I was still much of a tomboy, but it was breaking apart. But Nina wasn't like that. An opposite of me in many ways. No lanky, bony, awkward growth spurts for her. She was always utterly confident, always beautifully turned out. She was popular… a diva." Melanie ended with a sigh, shaking her head.

Wanda said meekly, "That was when- you started running?"

Melanie nodded. "Sometime about then. Nina and I had fought. It was over a boy." A sudden quick smile brightened Melanie's face, and she half-glanced at Jared, who was busy in conversation with Ian. "Of course, then it seemed like the biggest thing in the world. Turning traitor for a boy. It was something like that, I think… I don't remember at all. Had more important things on my mind after that."

Wanda nodded, understanding. Melanie watched her curiously. "Why are you… so interested in all of this? It's so- trivial."

Wanda grimaced. "Isn't it obvious? I'm curious. There's you- you can turn a Soul against her own Race and throw in a sprinkling of overwhelming love and sense of belonging in the bargain." Melanie smiled. "And then there's Nina- your close friend, who can actually push away physically the Soul in her body through sheer mental force… what is it about you girls?"

Melanie grinned. "Must have been the water."

"Must have been buried treasure."- Wanda countered back.

Both of them laughed, which effectively broke up Ian and Jared's conversation.

"What's funny?"- Jared asked.

"My teenage pursuits."-Melanie answered, grinning. "I'd better go back to Nina. She'll definitely be completely awake by now." Wanda gave her a small nod. Clutching both Jared's and Wanda's hands, and giving them a little squeeze, Melanie squared her shoulders and retraced her steps to the hospital.