"Are you two sure you don't need anything else?" Aunt Marla asked, cracking the door to Ellie's bedroom. Truthfully, Marla wasn't so worried about her niece. Ellie had been the type to roll with the punches for several years now. It was mainly Rio who seemed shaken by the whole ordeal. None of the after-dinner activities had seemed to help. They had baked brownies, watched TV, Rio even won at Mario Party. But the usually lively girl just seemed out of it. The girls were dressed in their pajamas now, and Marla had decided to check on them one last time before bed.
"We're fine, Marla. I think we just need sleep, is all," said Ellie.
Rio nodded, and Marla left them alone. As soon as the door was sufficiently closed, Rio let herself fall onto Ellie's bed, sprawled out on her back.
"Oh my god, Rio, what you did earlier was amazing!" Ellie started fangirling, glad they finally had a moment alone. "You were so fast! And the way you tied him up with the gas hose? Hilarious touch."
"Yeah. Ha ha," Rio muttered.
"Hold on, what is it now?"
"Did you see the way your aunt was looking at me? Now she suspects something too. I'm sure of it," said Rio, sitting up just enough to make eye contact with the redhead.
"No. No, come on, that's… Marla is just, you know, thoughtful. That's all," said Ellie, sitting down next to her friend.
"The last thing I need is people thinking, Ellie," Rio sighed, sitting all the way up. "Especially people this close to me. Two close calls in two days? I need to throw off suspicion somehow."
"What you need is to relax," Ellie scolded and laughed. "Finish getting ready for bed, and then we can talk about the important stuff. Like what you're going to wear tomorrow to impress Lorena."
"Fine," Rio finally smiled as she stood back up, grabbed her toothbrush from her bag, and headed to the bathroom.
As she began to brush, Rio stared at her reflection in the mirror. She had grown up a significant amount in the year and seven months since receiving her powers, and although her two forms still looked different enough, her face resembled the adult Captain Lightning's face more and more every time she looked at herself. After studying her own features long enough, she finally finished brushing, and finished up with some mouthwash. She gargled, then looked down and spit in the sink. When she came back up, Francesca's face was in the mirror to greet her.
"Christ Jesus!" Rio sputtered, careful not to raise her voice too much. "Francesca, you scared the crap out of me, Bloody Mary-ing like that!"
"I apologize for the shock, Rio, but I believe we have something to discuss," the reflective face spoke in her wise yet soothing voice. "Your mind is at odds with itself, child. You do not hide it well. You seek a solution to your frustration, but you have avoided my counsel. Why?"
Rio sighed again. "It's my secret identity. I've been cutting it too close lately. My dad mentioned that Captain Lightning looks like me, and… I was going to talk to you about it, I swear. I thought I could put it off until after the party, but then I had another close call today, and Ellie's aunt made this comment, and… I'm just worried about how long I can keep this a secret."
"For what it is worth, the power of the wizard was not originally intended to be kept secret. That is why no effort was made to disguise your Champion form as anything other than your greatest potential self."
"That makes sense, but it doesn't help me, Francesca," Rio continued. "We're not in ancient Siberia anymore, or whatever time Shazam was from. Heroes in today's world… we have secret identities. It's just a thing. It helps protect our families. Maybe I could wear a mask, like the Flash."
"Rio, I understand your feelings," Francesca answered. "Your intention is pure, but it reveals that you have not considered any benefits to allowing your family to know the truth."
"What? Absolutely not! Francesca, my mother would kill me if she knew I flew around putting myself in danger. There has to be some way to solve this."
"If you must know, there are spells and tomes at the Rock of Eternity that could have-"
"Spells and tomes?" Rio echoed. "Hold on, I've been in the Rock of Eternity's library. I don't remember any spellbooks."
"That is because you weren't looking for any," Francesca came back matter-of-factly. "The wizard Shazam's own writings hold much knowledge. But be careful what you seek. Much of it is too powerful for you."
"Is any of it, like, forbidden knowledge?"
"What was the wizard's is now yours," said the guide. "As was his wish. Nothing is forbidden, but I must warn again: be careful, Rio Mgomo."
"I promise I will be," Rio said sincerely, taking her toothbrush and heading back to Ellie's room.
"Hey. You were in there a little long," Ellie noted. "Everything okay?"
"Ellie, this house has a basement, right?"
"Of course," said Ellie, "but… why?"
"Show me."
"Rio, what are we doing?" Ellie asked, standing up and putting on some slippers.
"You'll see. Come on, let's go."
Suspicious but excited, Ellie walked Rio down the hallway to the basement door, grabbing the key from on top of the doorframe and opening it up.
"Alright! Let's head down," said Rio, heading into the basement without any hesitation.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Ellie asked again.
"Nope. I'm going to show you. Stand next to me."
Nervous, but still trusting her best friend, Ellie did as Rio said.
"Ready?"
"I guess so."
"Okay. Shazam!"
Ellie watched with wonder as the Living Lightning engulfed the underground room around her. Storage containers and cobwebs faded away as the basement was replaced by a cavernous room, decorated only with a series of stone chars and a row of unpleasant statues.
"Ellie Bloomberg, welcome to the Rock of Eternity," Rio announced.
"Woah. So this is, like, your secret lair?"
Ellie followed as Rio, now back in her hero form again, walked past the furthest chair and pushed a cobblestone into the wall. The other cobblestones lit up as they moved around, forming a doorway, like something out of a Harry Potter story. Walking through the doorway, the girls were greeted with rows and rows of ancient books and scrolls, with tables lining the center path.
"This library was put together by Shazam, the guy who gave me his powers," Rio explained.
"The wizard? I'll be honest, I thought some of that was made up."
"It's all real," Rio assured, "and Francesca says there are spellbooks in here. She said that I've never seen them before because I wasn't looking for them."
"So, if she hadn't told you about it, you would have never found them?" Ellie postulated, scanning up and down the shelves.
"I guess so," said Rio, seeming to know where she was going. "But, now that I know, it feels like… I'm being drawn to the right place."
Sure enough, when Rio reached for a book, the Lightning crackled again, and the book changed into something more… mystical. Excited, Rio opened it up and began skimming through it.
"What language is this?" Ellie asked, peeking at the runes on the pages from behind Rio's muscular frame. "Viking or Greek or something?"
"You can't read this?" Rio responded. "I guess I… didn't even notice it wasn't English."
"So, what spell are we looking for?"
"I don't know. Something to help protect my identity."
With those words, the tome began to crackle again as the pages turned themselves, settling on a page with a diagram of two human figures holding hands, one of them with two faces.
"I guess that's the one," remarked Ellie.
"Hey. Hey, this could work!" said Rio, reading from the page. "'The Identity Storm… Ancient Gods, blah blah… transfer the Champion form from one body to another.' Ellie, let's try it!"
"Woah, hold on there. Transfer? Like, switch our bodies?"
"Not all the way, just this body. Like, I can temporarily give you my powers, and my adult body to go with it," Rio explained. "At least, I think."
"You think?"
"Ellie, think about it. You would get to try out all of my powers, and nobody would know it's you," the Champion persuaded her friend. "Plus, you could make an appearance tomorrow in front of everybody, so they all see the two of us in the same place. Then no one will suspect it's really me, and I can stop worrying and focus on Lorena and the party."
"Rio, that sounds amazing," said Ellie. "But how can you be sure it will work?"
"Ellie, would Francesca have directed me to something unsafe?" Rio inquired, conveniently leaving out the part where Francesca had warned her about dangerous spells.
"Okay. Fine. Let's try it."
Smiling, Rio read the instructions, then grabbed both of Ellie's hands. "Okay, here we go. Batal... Sura... Tahwil… SHAZAM!"