The magi whose costume was a hazmat suit. The college student who had stolen her gem. They were all the same person. When they had transformed, the same mushrooms covered their clothes. They conjured the same polka dotted mushroom gun, which shot kool-aid colored liquid that made Lucia black out after she touched it.
Then, she'd wake up in some new place, old bruises healed and replaced by new ones, satiated when she was hungry before. During the time she'd blacked out, she would probably transform into a mushroom infested version of her own costume. She probably even conjured the same polka dotted mushroom gun.
Possession.
It was a disgusting power. Body snatcher magi transplanted herself onto Lucia's brain like a malignant tumor, and wore her body like clothes for who knew how long. What could she have done? She could have gone inside her phone with her fingerprints. Seen all of her secrets. Took– took pictures of herself. Killed someone–
Lucia stopped that train of thought. Pointless to go there.
Instinctively, Lucia reached for her phone in her pants pocket– but the fluffy pink pajamas body snatcher magi wore had no pockets. So where was her phone? Where was any of her stuff? She remembered she was at school when body snatcher magi got to her. Where was her backpack? She couldn't lose her backpack. Her notebooks, her laptop, they were all in her backpack.
It's fine. Body snatcher magi definitely knew. They'll just question her. Everything will be fine.
Lucia peered under the pajama collar and gagged; the air trapped inside the fabric stank like a rotting garbage dump. When was the last time this was washed? Not only that, this thing was about two sizes too small for her. Lucia was not fat (little too "not fat", honestly) but her stomach strained the fabric so much the buttons threatened to give. The hem of her shirt barely reached under her navel. The pants' waistband constricted against her waist like a python. But at least, underneath the crusty carapace of cotton, Lucia was wearing the same bra she wore to school the day she got possessed. And, on the back, it seemed clasped to the same hole she usually did.
Except that didn't mean anything. Maybe body snatcher magi remembered what hole Lucia had it on. Did it really matter? These rags needed to be off her yesterday. Lucia ran off to the back of the restaurant and found the girl's bathroom. She set her hand on the door to push it open–
Suddenly It was lunchtime at Pasadena High. The cafeteria had pizza. Lucia went to the school bathroom, ignored the smell of detergent and urine, and turned on the tap to wash her hands.
And the water had been red.
–and Lucia zoned in and noticed sweat pouring down her brow, soaking into her pajamas. Blood pulsed behind her ears. Her hand still held stupidly on the doorknob.
Lucia didn't want to go in there.
Well, that was fine. The restaurant was empty and she couldn't notice any cameras. Lucia cupped her soul gem in her hands and transformed.
The disgusting pink rags melted off her in an instant, replaced by a velvet tailcoat decorated with grinding gears and rows of buckles. A tool belt filled with leather pouches and ticking trinkets circled her waist.
Lucia had never complained about her costume. It was perfect. It was her, a second layer of skin that she had to substitute with clothes while she wasn't transformed. Like she'd grown her teeth back after using dentures for years. It was incomparable to the straightjacket body snatcher magi's parents bought for her when she was twelve years old.
Meanwhile, the crowd of civs outside, mostly purged of their bewitched stupor, poured inside the restaurant in droves, demanding that the equally clueless waiters divulge the hallucinogens their cheeseburgers had been laced with. They're a little shook, but they'll be okay. Lucia walked back to her seat– people stared at her, but apparently her physics defying costume wasn't preposterous enough to overwrite the human urge to not talk to strangers.
Body snatcher magi– Lucia had to remind herself that the nondescript guy she stared at was a magi– she wasn't doing too well. She slouched in her chair, stared down towards the floor, her eyes monotone.
The same unease gripped Lucia again, screaming at her to get as far from that crouched figure as possible, lest she blink and find herself in another unfamiliar liminal space two months in the future–
Air. She needed air. Not greasy, burger air, but concentrated oxygen you couldn't get under a roof.
Lucia burst out the restaurant door. The sun bore down upon the streets, but despite the layers her tailcoat appeared to give her, she felt cool.
Some random guy, probably no older than Lucia, remained before the door. Lucia recognized him as one of the many civs she hauled out of the labyrinth moments ago. He seemed to recognize her, too, greeting her with a grimace he did his best to hide. "Hey," he said.
"Uh… hey, man." Lucia managed a smile.
He didn't seem to care about the labyrinth fiasco, why he had been randomly teleported in front of a burger joint. "You still need me to go stroll around the city?"
Stroll around the city? Something body snatcher magi had him do, most likely. "No, you're good." Lucia said. "Go home."
The civ breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank you. Thank you. I'll leave. Can I take the– the poster down?"
What had body snatcher magi done, for him to be this relieved? "Yeah. Take the poster down. One last question– Did I hurt you? Threaten you? Anything like that?"
"Oh… no. Not at all," he said. It was a pointless question. Of course he was going to say that. "Don't, uh, don't think about that." he continued. "Just– remember your promise. You promised to leave me alone after this."
"I'll leave you alone. You'll never hear from me again."
The civ nodded and walked away. Lucia had the urge to stop him, to apologize or something for things she neither did nor remembered doing. But Lucia thought he'd probably had enough of her for a lifetime.
"Lord protect him," Lucia mumbled.
Now then. It was time to go home.
Incubator. Lucia thought. You there?
No reply.
Steph, Lucia thought. Steph. Abby. Maia. Chase. Someone.
No reply either. They were probably out of range. That was what Lucia expected, anyways. So instead, taking a deep breath, she went back and asked the first person she saw that she needed to make a call.
The girl she asked expressed her deepest sympathies and well wishes. Then: "I love your clothes! Where did you get it?"
"Thanks! I sewed it myself!" Lucia beamed.
"You're so talented! That looks– I can't describe it. It looks so real! My gran, she made me sew once– I cut myself so may times. It was so bad! Oh my apologies– you're really in a hurry right? Here!"
"Oh no problem. It's not a super big deal. Thanks a lot. You're a real one." Lucia looked down to the phone. Already her fingers dialed Steph's number.
She answered immediately, which was unlike her. "Hey it's your girl Steph here. What's the dealio,"
"Steph you have no idea how good it feels to hear your voice. I'm–"
"That's crazy. That's crazy. Anyways I'm not actually here so leave a voicemail and I'll read it. Uh– listen to it. Bye!"
Beep.
Lucia sighed, rubbed the bridge of her nose and spoke into the microphone. "Steph, it's Lucia. Calling on someone else's phone, mine is missing, so don't call me back. I don't know why I'm even leaving this– it's not like you check your voicemails, ever, God damn it–"
Lucia took a deep breath. She pressed pound and erased her blasphemous pronouncement. Made no sense to be angry. She'd see Steph soon anyways. Have a nice meal. Lucia ought to tell Steph she was committing to be vegetarian full-time like her, that witch gave her enough meat for multiple lifetimes.
Lucia dialed Abby's number instead.
"Abby. It's Lucia."
"Wha– wha?"
"Lucia Mount," Lucia said. "Pasadena. Remember me?" Lucia looked up. There was some spectacle happening out the hall. The phone lady seemed more preoccupied with that than Lucia's conversation. "You know. The magi."
Pause that lasted seconds. Then: "I'm sorry, who is this?"
"You piece of– it's Lucia. Lucia Mount. I know you can hear me–"
"Lucia?" Abby cut her off. "Damn it bestie, why didn't you just say so?"
"I literally did–"
"Where the hell did you go? You missed the meeting! Oh you missed so much drama. Though it was pretty nice that we didn't have to hear about that quota nonsense for once–"
Lucia shot a glance at the phone lady. Still distracted. She decided to whisper anyway. "I was attacked. I've fought the attacker off and taken her prisoner. We're in the middle of a crowded restaurant now."
"Oh shit."
"I'm in Apple Pan and need an extraction. Waste some magic before you get here, you're immune to the attacker's power if your gem has grief in it."
"Shitty power, that. Took you this long to beat her?"
"It's more complicated than that. Just get here."
"If you say so," Steph said, then hung up.
Lucia sighed. She tapped the phone lady's shoulder and handed her phone back.
"Oh by the way." Lucia said. "Could I trouble you with telling me the day today?"
The phone lady glanced at the phone Lucia handed back to her, which made her feel rather silly. "Saturday."
Lucia's eyes widened. "Date?"
The phone lady told her.
Only a single day had passed since the Friday which Lucia first blacked out. "Thanks," she managed. Just a single day. Her parents shouldn't be worried about her; she disappeared all the time. She shouldn't even be too behind to study on her finals!
Victory.
The forces of darkness had tried to claim her, pulled her so far into the grave that naught but her fingertips could be seen. Yet like a phoenix she rose from charred ash and burger patties and reclaimed her humanity. It was a comeback story for the ages.
She WON.
Granted, she wouldn't have won unless the body snatcher magi relinquished her control. But the Lord giveth her this opportunity and by Him did Lucia snag it with the teeth. She won back her gem. She obliterated the witch. Then she sniffed out body snatcher magi's last gambit, and left her sniveling in a chair.
Speaking of body snatcher magi– wait a minute.
There was another civ next to the body snatcher magi now, about the same age. He was grabbing her shoulders, gushing about how concerned he was, that he'd just blacked out and now his friend was delirious and on the verge of fainting–
In response, she shoved him off. "I'm not Felix," she mumbled. "Go fuck yourself."
And Lucia watched as the civ's face morphed from anger, to confusion, to fear, all in real time.
Do not fret civilians. Lucia will drag body snatcher magi out of that Felix guy with a pair of molten tongs if they had to.
But what would have happened if Lucia wasn't here? What had happened, ever since body snatcher magi contracted? Were all her victims lucky like Lucia was, her spirit exorcized in just a single day after a lucky witch attack? Or would they be worn like clothes for months until body snatcher magi got bored of them, left them on the side of a road somewhere with clothes she'd puked all over to find out how screwed they were? Just how many lives had she ruined before this?
And now that her reign of terror upon this world had finally caught up to her, Lucia was going to save her from certain death. What was the alternative? Should Lucia murder her in cold blood? Or should she allow her to turn into a witch and risk the lives of everyone here even further?
No no, she had to stay positive. Deep breath and count to five. Pray for the strength to do the right thing. She walked up to the person next to body snatcher magi and said, "Don't worry. Your friend is fine."
"Uh… what?"
"Your friend is fine." Lucia said. "I know for certain."
"Yeah I mean– I hope so too you know? He seems confused– He doesn't remember his name anymore– this place. I mean. Did someone poison his burger?"
"No way," Lucia said. Her mind helpfully conjured the image of bewitched people dislocating their jaws to swallow witch burgers whole. "It's probably just food poisoning. Once he recovers, it'll be like nothing ever happened."
"Hopefully. I mean. I gotta dial 911 still."
"There's no need–"
"He's delirious," he said. "Gotta go to see a hospital right? The hell you want me to do?"
"No need to call 911," Lucia said. "They'll send an ambulance, and the ride will cost half a grand if your insurance is like, amazing. You came by car right?" Felix's friend nodded. "Drive him there. Hospital's a couple blocks away–"
Not a hospital.
Lucia jumped. Telepathy, from body snatcher magi. It was vaguely feminine, but hoarse like she recreationally shouted into pillows. Lucia ignored her. "Uhh— yeah. You could just drive him there. Probably save a load of money."
Let me witch out, somewhere there's no people. Body snatcher magi telepathied. Avoid casualties.
Shut up.
Body snatcher magi was taken aback. But after a pause she continued. I'm going to die. This is my, my last wish, or whatever. You owe me this.
Shut the– shut the FUCK UP. Talk about avoiding casualties, that's the biggest load of shit I've ever heard. What happened to that girl in the mansion, with the hazmat suit? Did you avoid that casualty too? You think you're absolved because you made some halfhearted attempt to not add twenty to the hundreds of lives you've already ruined?
"Hello?"
Lucia snapped out of the rant. "Oh, heh, I—" she reconfigured her brain. Laughed nervously. "Yeah I'm fine. Sorry I just zoned out for a bit– What'd you say?"
"Oh, I mean– no problem. I was just saying that you're right. We're gonna drive to the hospital."
"Good," Lucia said. Simultaneously, to body snatcher magi: If you don't want to go to the hospital, tell your friend to leave you alone. I can't do anything with this many witnesses.
But even before Lucia finished talking, body snatcher magi doubled over, clutched her hands on her skull. She was using force, her fingers sinking into her scalp, like pushing a door closed to prevent something inside from breaking out. Felix's friend gave a confused yelp, fluttered his hands like he didn't know where to put them. "What's wrong? Jesus fucking christ this isn't funny."
Body snatcher magi didn't respond.
"Hospital," Lucia said. "Go." And instantly Felix's friend hoisted body snatcher magi up and princess carried her outside. He fished his keys from his pocket and unlocked a gray minivan parked in front of the restaurant. And Lucia ran up and got in the car next to him.
"What are you–"
"I know someone at the hospital." Lucia cut him off. "I can get you seen earlier. No time to waste, come on!"
Felix's friend didn't seem to think this was odd. He climbed into the driver's seat and backed into the road. Then he drove as fast as he could, completely disregarding the unspoken 35 miles per hour speed limit imposed on all urban areas. He seemed to forget Lucia existed until she spoke. "Can I borrow your phone? I need to tell my girl friends where I am."
"Why don't you have your phone?"
Lucia gestured at her costume. "Cosplaying," she said, as if that was a perfectly valid reason for not having a phone.
Felix's friend fished up a phone from his pocket, entered a password without looking, and handed it to Lucia. She dialed Abby.
"Lucia," Abby recognized her instantly this time, even though she used a different number. "What's–"
Lucia cut her off. "Hey. I'm going to Kaiser West Medical Center with a guy I've never met. He's next to me right now. His friend is sick and I'm going to let him in with my pass. I'm going to need you to pick me up."
"Kaiser West Medical Center," Abby repeated.
"Yes yes yes. Exactly. You got it."
"Cool," Abby said. And she hung up on her.
Lucia tried to be subtle about magi stuff, but it didn't look like she needed to. Felix's friend (whose name was Quentin, if the notification that popped up on his phone was to be believed) seemed unaware of anything except body snatcher magi behind him. Her occasional groans contributed to an environment not generally conducive to Quentin's driving or mental health. He turned to stare in concern whenever he thought he could get away with it.
"WHOA," Lucia said. The light turned red while Quentin wasn't looking, and the brake lights of the Silverado in front were lit. And Quentin braked so hard it almost broke her seat belt.
"Fucking red light," Quentin muttered. " Felix's fucking dying and there's a fucking red light. Should've called an ambulance."
Lucia was the one who suggested against calling an ambulance, which made for an awkward moment. She changed the subject. "Felix… your friend's name is Felix right?"
"Brother. And yes."
"Well, either way, he'll be fine. Exact thing happened to me once. I ate some oysters, and it was like my head exploded, and I couldn't get up from my bed for a day. There any seafood in his burger?"
"He had fish sticks, if there's even any fish in that fried garbage," Quentin muttered. "I feel like this is serious. I mean, it can't be a coincidence. Everyone all– blacked out or something, and now Felix is, ah–"
"It's not anything out of the ordinary for food poisoning yet," Lucia said. "Don't worry too much. I'm Lucia, by the way. I'd shake your hand, but you're like, driving."
"There's a red light," said Quentin.
"I know, but you're not supposed to take your hands off the steering wheel–"
From outside the driver's side window Lucia noticed a tall Asian girl in a gray shirt walking in the middle of the road, weaving through parked cars.
"Fucking damn it," Quentin muttered, not noticing. "How long this light going to last–"
Lucia kept staring outside the window. The girl in gray, Lucia recognized her. Never saw her much, but it was definitely her.
Pasadena magical girl Chase Sima bent down and knocked on the driver side window. Instinctively Quentin rolled it down. And before he could speak, Chase reached inside it and smashed his head onto the steering wheel. He went unconscious.
"Jesus man." Lucia said. "Didn't need to give him a concussion."
Chase shrugged. "Get him in the back. I'll drive."
Lucia crawled into the backseats. She threw body snatcher magi into the trunk. Then, dragging Quentin by his shirt collar, she set him where body snatcher magi had sat. Chase got into the driver's seat.
"Abby's… in you?"
"Yeah," Chase said. And with that, she started to glow a bright, radioactive green that diffused into particles until it streamed out her fingertips as green dust. The vapor solidified in the air, forming sunken features and baggy clothes until it became a green outline of Pasadena magical girl Abigail Doherty.
Radioactive Abby arranged herself to sit in the passenger seat. Slowly, the green glow dissipated until her skin became pale and brittle red hair fell over her shoulders.
"Hey bestie!" Abby looked around. She raised her eyebrows at Lucia. "Why the hell're you in costume? Actually, where's the magi that ambushed you? You didn't lose her did you?"
"Trunk," Lucia said.
The light turned green.
Abby readjusted her glasses and turned green as well. She phased through the seats, regarded the unconscious body sprawling in the trunk and raised her incorporeal eyebrows.
Um, bestie, you sure–
"Pretty sure."
Damn. What we got, a shapeshifter?
"She possesses people."
Huh.
Abby began to dissolve into green vapor. Lucia's eyes widened. "Oh, uh, wait," she said before she could stop herself.
Abby reformed. She tilted her head, confused.
"I don't want to talk to her. I'll just take today off. Can you just– hold her in your house? In one of your spare rooms?"
Really? I mean– that, that magi– uh– they attacked you and no one else. You could put yourself in danger if you don't hear them out.
"No– I'm good. Just drop me off."
Abby remained still.
"I'll owe you one," Lucia said.
They really did a number on you, huh? Abby telepathied, floated back to her seat, and solidified. "Guess I can relate. Chase?"
Chase grunted a disinterested grunt with no real binary connotation, but Lucia understood to mean yes anyway, because Chase.
The car went onward in an awkward silence.
Not entirely an awkward silence. Lucia told them everything she knew about body snatcher magi's ability before leaving, of course. But after that no one spoke.
As the car stepped off the highway, Lucia began to recognize landmarks. The elementary school she grew up in. The church she'd been to all her life. The omnipresent mountains in the distance. But the nostalgic memories they usually brought reached her brain and fizzled out like flat soda. The tumor of unease still throbbed in her chest.
But then she was home.
Home was on the second floor of a giant apartment building. She didn't have her key card, but that shouldn't be a problem until the end of the month. Lucia circled to the side of the building. There were several open windows, but only one had a huge lemon sticker on it.
Lucia conjured a pearl and threw it through. With a tug in her collar she was in her room.
Immediately the smell of something creamy inched into her nostrils. Steph was cooking something. Despite everything, it felt good. Lucia had forgotten what things that aren't burger patties smelled like.
Home. Her home.
Strictly speaking, the house belonged to Housing, and Steph was the one paying rent. They hadn't bothered to furnish every room. Lucia made the best of it though. She slept on a mattress strewn across the floor. Her fresh clothes were folded into neat little piles on the corner. Her school notebooks piled above the table– and, to her joy, her backpack sat in her chair.
Lucia's heart jumped. She rushed to check its contents and found her binder and notebooks and wallet and laptop all inside. Steph must've carried it home for her from school. Oh thank God for Steph right now.
"Well well well," said a voice next to her ear. "Lucia."
Lucia looked. But instead of a person, there was a hand. A hand attached to an arm so much longer than a normal arm should be. It stretched through Lucia's room from her desk to the door, where it turned rightwards and ran off to infinity. And in the palm of that hand there was a fully human mouth, with lips and everything. Just above that was a single eye, pupils darting around, lashes batting.
"Steph!" Lucia said. "I was just think about you–"
"Uh I can't hear you," And the skin on the wrist curled and grew wrinkles until it became an ear. "There we go. Where'd you go? You ditched class and I had to carry your backpack home, and then you missed the quota meeting. I had Maia all the way up my ass yesterday, like all the way up there, she's convinced that I'm covering for you–" Steph's hand-mouth grinned. "And It took Hazel like five minutes to calm her down, it was the funniest thing."
"Oh yeah. Sorry about that."
"Yeah she says to show seeds to her as soon as you get back. You got back right on time though– you gotta come to the kitchen. I'm making a vegetarian casserole. I found this small Youtuber yesterday, she's so underrated and her recipes are absolute perfection, like chef's kiss, I'm gonna make all her stuff–"
"Yeah yeah yeah. You know if you were curious about where I was, you would have known much earlier if you actually answered your phone."
"What? You didn't call me."
"Yes I did. I used a different number because I lost my phone. And then you hung up on me and I had to call Abby!"
"That was you?"
Lucia realized Steph had no idea what happened. While she was fighting to the death with body snatcher magi, Steph was busy making a casserole. "Yeah that was me," Lucia snapped. "Don't you think it's a bit odd? That I disappear and you get a mysterious phone call right after? Don't you think you should answer it on principle?"
"You have a phone though. I didn't– think that you would lose it somehow– "
"I was kidnapped, Steph! Some random magi I've never seen in my life possessed me, literally possessed me, and then walked me off who knew where at the school right under your nose. I almost died!"
"What? Where the hell did you go? If you were going somewhere that dangerous, why didn't you tell me to go with you?"
"What the– what are you talking about?"
"Don't you remember? You– you– you told me that you were leaving for like a day– and that I shouldn't follow you–"
Lucia sure as hell didn't say that. So body snatcher magi did. And body snatcher magi was the worst liar on the face of the planet.
"And you didn't find that suspicious in the slightest?" Lucia said. "That I would just randomly go somewhere for no reason?"
"So when you said that you were– being possessed?"
Lucia wanted to call her stupid. Obviously she would never say something like that. Obviously she should've picked up that phone call. But Steph wasn't stupid, she was just Steph.
It was body snatcher magi.
Possession. Who would've seen something like that coming? If Steph had suddenly been replaced by some stranger, even a terribly bad actor like body snatcher magi, would Lucia be able to tell?
"Forget it," Lucia muttered. "It's not your fault. I'm serious, there was nothing you could have done."
"I'm– I'm so sorry–"
"It's all good. Gonna take a shower."
"You can get some casserole afterwards– I'm– yeah–"
The various orifices Steph grew on her hand disappeared, sunk into skin and obscured by normal looking flesh. The long arm flailed and retracted like a tape measure.
Well.
Lucia got out her laptop and opened Magicord.
A burst of notifications clouded her screen, as usual. She had no new posts since yesterday, which meant Body Snatcher magi never touched her account. Instead, she got several private messages, all from Maia, being passive aggressive about grief seeds as usual. These messages weren't worth reading, Lucia will go see her later. Instead she scrolled through the new posts in her feed, hoping she wouldn't find it.
But she did.
OBITUARY (Orange-Los Angeles)
Posted by ObitBot {BOT} {VERIFIED} Last Year (edited 2 hours ago)
Lucia's heart sank. She clicked on the post. Text filled her screen.
Hello magical girls! I am a bot that shows deceased magi in your area (Orange County, Los Angeles County). These deaths are documented in the list below, which, via black magic, is updated live as magi die.
Note: The parenthetical next to a magi's name denotes the city where they died, which may not reflect their city of origin.
This post is in your feed as you have followed my account. If you find me too depressing, feel free to unfollow or block me.
Jump to Bottom
Caitlin Woodard (Santa Clarita)
Mary Dodds (Burbank)
Hyo Won Lee (Santa Monica)
The list went on and on. Girls whose name Lucia didn't recognize, perhaps no one recognized anymore.
Chris Ma (Huntington Beach)
Charlie Bucklin (Anaheim)
Marie Vizcarra (Los Angeles)
The linked names led to a text editor, for people to give their eulogies. People usually signed their names next to their messages. Those names could usually be found later down the list, if you tried.
Priya Singh (Irvine)
Juana Fe (Malibu)
Mimi Shizuki (Los Angeles)
Lucia stared at the last name. White words on black backdrop. She parsed those words and heard Mimi's annoying voice echo in her ears. If anything, it made her less sure that Mimi could be dead.
But she was.
Lucia's mental image of Mimi had changed. she saw her kneeling down, head bowed, tears and snot dribbling down her face. The annoying voice became choked with mucus. Inside the gem studded on her thighs, a tornado of technicolor despair swirled. She was begging Pasadena to let her in. She offered to do whatever they wanted. She had money. Labor. She offered to murder and steal. She heard Magicord's rumors of Pasadena planning to invade other cities and volunteered as a foot soldier.
Abby said no. Those rumors were fake, and they didn't need a murderer. If Los Angeles didn't have the witches she could always find another city.
Psalm 82:3: "Defend the lowly and fatherless; render justice to the afflicted and destitute". That line echoed in Lucia's head on repeat as Hazel dragged Mimi outside and shoved her out the door. Yet Lucia held herself and did nothing. Why?
Might as well take that shower now.
Lucia grabbed a change of clothes from her pile and headed to the bathroom. The door was closed. Lucia circled her palms around the doorknob and pushed it open.
This time, the door opened. It revealed Lucia's bathroom. Nothing had been touched in her absence, though it seemed Steph hadn't bothered to dry the sink counter after washing up. The fragrance of Steph's shampoo lingered in the air.
Lucia walked inside, closed the door, and untransformed.
Lucia's tailcoats and gadgets dissolved into the ether, replaced by body snatcher magi's straightjacket. It clung to the grime on her skin like linen wrapped around a mummy. The sour stench of sweat and vomit overpowered the smell of shampoo.
A cage of panic clamped onto Lucia's heart, clogging her arteries and filling her lungs with tar. The rags she wore came alive, constricting against her body like a python–
Lucia grabbed the collar and tore the pajamas off of her. Buttons popped, fabric split apart with a nasty rip. She crumpled the crusty rags inside her hands and threw it, hard as she could.
Lucia's heart thumped behind her ears. Droplets of sweat poured down her forehead. Her right arm throbbed from overexertion. Yet the putrid smell still suffused through the air.
Pasadena. A fortress. A conglomeration of the righteous magical girls throughout the world. An impregnable fortress of virtue, living proof that magical girls can exist in harmony and safety. Only the good, the worthy, could be allowed in. There was no room for outsiders like Mimi, who was willing to violate basic human decency for things that she didn't deserve.
Yet a mole had slipped in. A mole who– in broad daylight, amidst a crowd, and right under Steph's nose– defeated Lucia utterly. There was no time to react, nothing Lucia could have done differently. She'd simply lost. If body snatcher magi hadn't been attacked by the girl in the hazmat suit, or ran into Mimi's witch at Apple Pan, what would have happened? How long would she have been body snatcher magi's puppet? Weeks? Months? And what would she do with Lucia after she got tired of her?
Lucia got into the shower and turned the knob to her favorite temperature. Water washed over her, scrubbing the dirt and grime from her skin. She grabbed the shampoo bottle, squeezed out a big handful, and rubbed the foam into her hair.
If she could be attacked in a public school bathroom– why couldn't some magi attack her in her house, right now? She was alone. Unguarded, like she had been yesterday. She couldn't sense a presence, but senses could be fooled easily by the right kind of magic. Wasn't like magi even needed to be in the same room to kill you. Imagine any long ranged weapon, laced with any ability that instantly neutralized targets, like Lucia's paralysis. A shot could come from half a mile away and reach her in less than a second. There would be no time to react.
Lucia's lungs closed up, and she suffocated. The beige shower tiles spun in front of her. She closed her eyes.
Pasadena didn't keep anyone safe. There was nothing stopping another body snatcher magi from breaching its borders and murdering whomever they liked. Her. Steph. Abby. Chase. Hazel. Maia. The impregnable wall she had once pictured did not exist.
The water kept running, but Lucia gave up trying to wash herself. Any moment now, the stream of hot water will disappear, and when she opened her eyes she wasn't going to be in her bathroom anymore.
Lucia was snapped from her trance by a deafening crash. The bathroom door! The bathroom door was broken – Lucia transformed, kicked the shower door open, and saw–
Steph.
Why would Steph break in the door– Body snatcher magi. Did she get to Steph? But how–
"Lucia? Oh thank– what the fuck is wrong with you?" Steph said. "Why weren't you responding?"
Lucia stared numbly. Her shield was still raised in front of her, plates extruding outwards, her tailcoat soaking in the shower–
"Lucia? You okay? Jesus Christ. Say something!"
Lucia snapped out of her trance. "No, I'm okay. I'm okay. I– I–" the broken door spun slowly around its axis. "Why'd you just break the door? You know I was in there! Couldn't you hear the shower working?"
"For the past twenty minutes?"
"Twenty– what are you talking about?"
"You never spent that long in the shower. Aren't you all about conserving water and all that? I slammed on the door, hard as I could. I was telepathing you for christ sake. Fuck, I thought something happened to you!"
"I–" Lucia thought back. She'd gone inside the shower– and then she'd stayed there. For how long? Her memories were too hazy to gauge an exact time, but for twenty minutes to have passed?
"Fuck. Fuck. And now I broke the door for no reason. Damn it Lucia. That Housing girl will have my soul for this–"
Sofia woke up in a blank unfurnished room, sitting on a chair. No, bound to it. Her wrists were stretched to her back, bound by duct tape. More duct tape, layers upon layers of it, formed a cage that bound her hands into fists, so tight that she couldn't open them.
To her right a door creaked open, revealing some magical girl whom Sofia had never seen. She was Asian, tall and willowy, like at least six feet. Doubtlessly she's one of Lucia's goons, and this was their torture chamber. The empty room must have been an intentional decision. Blood on furniture was a lot harder to clean than blood on concrete, right?
She has to fucking get out of here right FUCKING NOW.
Sofia struggled against the binds as hard as she could. It should have been easy– they felt like normal tape you could get at any Home Depot. Any magical girl would have been able to break them apart with ease, but the guy who she had possessed was not a magical girl.
"Are you actually trying to break out?" Tall girl said. "I'm, like, literally right here."
That was an excellent point. But how was she thinking so clearly right now? Sofia checked her soul gem-o-meter. Ninety seven percent grief. Normally, your brain stopped working long before then. Yet here Sofia was, perfectly lucid, not an ounce of uncharacteristically suicidal thoughts in her head.
"To be clear, this is an interrogation. The wanton murder of magical girls doth displease our great and powerful incubator. We're just going to ask you a coupla questions before we decide what to do with you."
It's what Sofia expected. They'll want to know why she attacked their kingpin before getting to the human experimentation.
Torturing magical girls– from what Sofia knew from killing people who did it for a living– difficult business. Do it wrong, and you get a witch, and good luck torturing that. And Sofia's gem was so black that she started hallucinating already, before whatever voodoo Chase did brought her back to life. Any unexpected trauma and she'll witch out the spot. Sofia was going to need to hurry up and think of something–
"I suppose I'm Chase," said Tall girl, who was Chase. "What's your name? First middle last, please. Chop chop."
"Sofia Marie Robinson."
Think. Think. Think. There's gotta be a way out. Sofia had a human body, so she can't make herself throw up again. She can't move her hands, so she can't conjure her gun. What can she even do?
Chase spoke again, interrupting her train of thought. "Now, I'm going to type that name into Magicord, and that's going to give me someone's account, right?"
"No," Sofia said. "I don't have Magicord."
"Oh ho ho."
To Sofia's horror, Chase began walking towards her. But she told the truth! She didn't even know about Magicord before today. Was Chase going to hurt her? Her bones was fragile and human and composed mostly of calcium. One punch from a magical girl and–
She ought to say something. Explain. But instead, she squeezed her eyes shut. Like the complete fucking coward she was.
Sofia felt a force tug on her hair. Involuntarily she opened her eyes, only to see Chase pull her head down and slam it on her knees.
There was a crack and Sofia felt something hard dig inside he eyes. And then excruciating pain struck her face like someone pouring glass shards directly into her sockets.
Sofia screamed in agony.
"Oh god," Chase, amused. "I really underestimated how fragile humans are. Did you not enchant your glasses? That's like the first thing everyone does!"
The pain dulled, and ounces of consciousness began to slip in. Sofia realized that the bottom of her face was covered with snot, which was dribbling into her mouth.
"I'm not lying. I'm– not lying." Sofia said. She was crying, a stream of tears overflowing from her swollen eyelids. But The water only made it sting more. "I didn't even fucking– know what Magicord was before today– I–"
Somehow, the pain spiked back up. Sofia howled. Her hands struggled uselessly against her restraints–
-only for it to disappear completely. Not only that– she was completely numb. The restraints no longer pressed against her wrist. The chair no longer dug into her back. She felt nothing.
"Tell me— uh, Sofia. You expect your gem to put you out of your misery, aren't you? That's why you lie. Because you've swallowed the cyanide pill already. You're just waiting for it to work." Chase shrugged. "But you might be wondering why it's taking so long. It didn't make sense, right? How did we even manage to wake you from your grief induced hallucinations?"
They couldn't have done something with her gem. From when she checked it was still safe in her gun.
"Well, my associate, Abby, is– ah– possessing you. You are familiar with the concept. And she wards off bad vibes, like a cold. Or severe pain. Or grief induced panic attacks."
Oh.
That should have been good news. It bought her time to think of a way out. But was that going to happen? This was hopeless. Her magic was completely incapacitated, her enhancements were offline. She might as well be a normal fucking human.
And what if they break her? It's been a minute and Sofia was already screaming her lungs out and crying blood. Another thirty minutes and they could probably make Sofia hand her gem over. Hey– at least people needed to torture her to make her hand gems over now. Unlike what happened in the labyrinth!
"I don't have a Magicord account," Sofia said, her voice phlegmatic and hoarse. "I can't– I can't–"
Again the searing pain returned. Again all coherent thoughts were purged as molten blender blades spun in her eye sockets and crushed her flesh into juice. Again Sofia screamed. In her ear her voice turned grainy, like a bad radio giving out–
"I'LL TELL YOU," Sofia said.
Abruptly it stopped. Her body was again purged of all feeling, like she was plunged into space. Her nose was filled with the acrid smell of blood. Her eyes barely made out Chase's figure, sitting on a chair a couple feet away from her. She felt her lungs devoid of air and realized she hadn't breathed for the past– how long?
"Knew you'd come around," Chase said.
Sofia breathed hard and deep yet couldn't catch her breath. Her lungs wouldn't fill up anymore. But that was fine.
Sofia transformed. Magic burst from the depth of her corrupted soul gem and enveloped her.
"Hey whoa there–"
The whole reason why she couldn't escape was the tape which bound around her hands. That made her unable to conjure a gun. But, now that she thought about it, that tape was simply just a part of her costume. Had always just been part of her costume.
The world around her existed again. The glass shrapnels squirmed deeper into her eyes, leaving pure unadulterated pain in their wake. That was fine. Fine. Sofia was so close. So close. Just a little longer. Sofia untransformed– her costume disappeared. And, since the tape binding her hands was a part of her costume, that disappeared too.
Sofia was free. If she could possess Chase– if Chase had a completely pure gem– if Chase, magical girl she was, had grief seeds stashed throughout her house–
Sofia conjured her gun, pointed it at Chase was going to be five milliseconds from then according to her current velocity–
With a flex of her index finger she pulled the trigger.
But nothing happened.
Her finger refused to move.
Sofia pressed it again. But instead of moving, her raised right arm drooped down, a puppet with the strings cut, and fell by her side. Her fingers slackened and the gun slipped away.
Sofia tried to scream but nothing came out.
And pain, indescribable pain, bloomed from the inside of her skull, pushing outwards against her cranium. The dam burst. In her nose, the smell of blood intensified until she could hear it too, the sound of viscous blood waterfalls pouring into a pool of boiling gore. Her vision changed, every surface swirling in great bloody whirlpools that pulled Sofia, Chase, everything around it, into an abyss–
The last thing she saw was some curious green powder ejecting itself from her fingertips.
With great concentration, Abby moved every part of herself into the correct place and merged back together.
"Fucking god damn Lucia." she said. "Forgot to mention that bitch could fucking disappear things did she?"
Chase nodded.
"God." Abby found her phone in her pocket. She began dialing Lucia's number– but no. Bestie called her twice with random phones today so she definitely didn't have it anymore. But she should be with Steph right now. Steph, who never answered her phone. Fuck!
Abby called her anyway. And, to her surprise, Steph actually answered immediately. "Hey it's your girl Steph here. What's the dealio,"
"Hey Steph how're you doing. Be a dear and give the phone to Lucia so I fucking lose it at her instead of you–"
"That's crazy. That's crazy." Steph cut her off. "Anyways I'm not actually here so leave a voicemail and I'll read it. Uh– listen to it. Bye!"