My Cousin Julia - Part Two free porn video

My Cousin Julia part 2 by JES Continuation of the story Eric's "MY COUSIN JULIA" (rough draft version and not completed yet) Note, it is absolutely critical that the original be read first. I've included the last bit of the first part (below) before beginning part 2. _______________________________________________________________ I stare up into what had been my face. "How could you do this to me, Julia - We have loved each other all our lives? I trusted you with my life and you stole it." My old faced looked away in guilt. " I love you - I really do - but try and understand as much as I love you - I loved your life more! I hate being me, prey to every sleaze who comes along, I hate being the poor relation at work. I always wanted someone to love me the way Laura does you - now me. You'll be fine - you'll do better with my life than me - you'll find the right kind of man settle down - have the kids I always wanted, but the guys I were involved with were the babies and didn't want the competition." He hugs me gently and whispers. "Lets say my life long envy of you grew greater than my love." "Hey knock it off you two!" Laughed Laura. She looked at her watch." We better hurry - we don't want to miss our plane for our own honeymoon!" She kissed her husband hungrily. As they turned to leave 'he' spoke. "Don't worry, cousin Julia - you can still count on me as a protector." Then they are gone. I can hear their happy laughter floating up the stairs. I walk in dream like slowness to the window and watched them get in the Mercedes and drive away drive into their new life. I guess I have a new life, too. I went into the bed room and look at my cousin Julia in the mirror. I bury my head in my hands and cry. I do not know when I will stop. ____________________________________________ My Cousin Julia, part 2 by JES She stopped. Crying that is. Long enough to wonder about this...thing...that has happened. It is night now, and a full moon is rising, huge, glowing orange and hanging low upon the horizon. The same moon the she had looked at all her life. It is beautiful but deceptive, for in rising as it always does, it claims that the world and the stars above - are the same. But they are not, all has changed. It has been hours since 'Rick' and Laura drove away, and finally her brain is starting to function. Her first thought was to call 'Rick' and beg him to change her back, but this option was out - they are on their honeymoon. She felt tears well up in her eyes as she remembered how much she had longed for that honeymoon with Laura. Memory. What is it? This is really strange: there are some memories of Julia's that come naturally, and she thought upon them, scanned them, tried to draw them up. Those that come up easily are of two kinds, it seems, those that are 'routine' habits that she must have used every day, and then - for want of a better word, traumatic or very enjoyable experiences. Coffee in the morning, sleeping naked, the way she flicked her hair - these are body memories, and the new Julia found find that they came to her easily. The memory of Julia's doll being taken away, of her beatings from several of her...boyfriends... she guessed...of time spent with the old Rick, these too are there, as if the intensity of them burned itself into the brain cells where memories live. But the thousand little things that happen every day, the events that slowly, bit-by-bit, make us what, no, make us who we are, she could notfind more than scraps of these in Julia's memory. But she clearly remembered her own though. It is as if she brought them all with her in a suit case or something. But how is that physically possible? If memories are stored in the cells of our brains, then how did she bring them? She felt as if she have been uploaded and downloaded, like moving the programs of one hard drive of a computer to another, but leaving the operating system in place. Yuck! Is that all we are then? Biological machines that are interchangeable? (Apparently so, because here she was!). Maybe the soul has a memory of its own? She paused at this, because this is drifting into the metaphysical, and she had always felt uneasy about matters spiritual. She looked in the mirror for what must be the millionth time and see a young woman staring back. "This is me?" "I'm a fool!" She thought, "naive, stupid! Magic is real? I can look in the mirror and see the proof! I was like a lamb being led to slaughter! I've never bothered to try to understand anything, anything about...my soul... or beyond, ummm,secular matters, and so I guess I'm not without some blame in this. "Think. Think! She had that awful potion and she performed some sort of ritual. It's not the kind of thing that up pop into a Wal-Mart and ask for a body-swapping spell, because your boyfriend beat you. How long had she been planning this? Where did she learn this? Can it be reversed?" "Because if it could, then I have my life again, be with Laura again." Laura. She missed her with an ache so deep... "She won't even miss me, won't even know I'm gone. Because in her eyes, I'm not." She realized she was crying again. But a small thought did manage to float through the self-pity; a hope,really: "If I've taken most of the memory stuff with me, then Julia in my body won't "be" me. She looks like me and the body acts the way I always did, but with my "soul memory" gone, she can only use her own in its place. And maybe, maybe Laura will know.that, that part of what she fell in love with, is gone?" A small hope, but still a hope. And this lead her to contemplate the only option available to her. She couldn't tell Laura, or anyone what had happened, because she was sure that she would be quickly locked away in an asylum. She would not think about suicide, because it had never been her nature as Rick, and she found that it was not her nature now. She also was beginning to realize that 'Rick' would never agree to change her back,so somehow, she would have to learn how 'he' did this and change back herself. That would take time, she knew, because she'd have got to try to retrace Julia's' steps, and to do that she'd have to stay alive, eat, sleep, work. She would have to be Julia. "How do you learn this...magic? Where do you go? Its not like there is a Spells R Us store at the mall or something. "Okay, 'Julia' let's be detectives here" damn! That voice is so high and feminine sounding. She had always been a bass in the choir, and had wondered what it would be like to sing some of the soprano parts. Maybe she could break a glass or something with a high pitch? "LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" she sang as high a note as she could. Pretty, but no shattered glass. Wait! How about this, she'd always wanted to say in a high voice "we represent, the lollipop guild, the lollipop guild." She digressed. "Talk normally, get used to this voice. Testing one two, testing one two..." She sighed, and realized that part of the awkwardness with her new voice was that the, uh, voice in her head still spoke with my old Rick's lower voice. Ah well, maybe this would adjust itself? "Okay let's think. Did she leave any notes, or letters or check stubs or phone messages or." For the rest of that Sunday evening, she rummaged through 'her' apartment, and around midnight, she found a receipt for some sort of 'magik' book from a bookstore called The Starlight Grove. She recognize the address: it was that goofy new age bookstore on 4th street. "Tomorrow during my lunch I would go there." "Lunch hour?" she thought, "I've got to go into work tomorrow, as her? A sick day might be in order. I know I can do her job - with my own engineering degree and several years of experience I can certainly handle the duties of an engineer's assistant, but would I be able to pull off all the other stuff, the small talk and clothes and...dammit, NO! No sick day tomorrow! I'm going to have to do this to to have a chance to get my life back, so I might as well start tomorrow! She washed her face and teeth, took off the blue silk robe she'd been wearing all-day and pulled back the sheets of the bed. This body has no hair on it! She ran her hand up one of her legs. So smooth! She slowly rubbbed her breasts and felt a tingling warmth...she looked at the clock 1:00am. This nude sleeping may be a bit distracting...I may never fall asleep at this rate...hang on! Just because Julia slept naked didn't mean she had to! She popped back out of bed and went to one of her drawers. As Rick she had slept in boxers and a T-shirt; in the drawer she found a white cotton T-shirt and some white brief-like panties. There. She hopped back into bed. And have this thought as she had as she drifted off: "I'm still me, at least as far my as sleeping style!" Monday morning. She allotted extra time to get ready and still it seems that she was way off. Everything is taking so long, even with some of Julia's rote memories to help! The office is casual, and since she worked there too she remembered what Julia used to wear. And although she could not bring herself to wear Julia's standard skirt and high heel thing "(note to self, buy some fashion magazines and learn what these clothing pieces are called!)" she somehow ended up in some slacks, a blue, "(umm blouse?)" low heeled shoes and she even managed to put on makeup in a way that didn't make her look like Bozo the Clown. She just managed to catch the 7:45 bus to the Tech Center. And somehow she was able to come up with exact change. No empty seat, so she grabbed a loop to stand. A man stood up then and offered her his seat. "Well, this is kind of awkward!" she thought. For a moment she was confused about the whole thing, but she had enough sense to finally blurt out "uh.thanks!" and take the seat. It seemed to her that everyone in the bus was staring at her, especially the fellow who just gave her his seat. She felt her cheeks turning red and with a pang she had have a fleeting image in her mind of her old Mustang, now parked at the airport, she guessed. She arrived at the office at 7:58, feeling proud that she'd managed the logistics, when she nearly bump into Robert rounding the corner to Julia's cubicle on the 6th floor. "Whoa! Intruder Alert! Call security! We have an imposter on the floor" he yelled after they collided. He busrt into laughter at the panicked look on her face: "Calm down, Jules, its just that I can't remember the last time you were on time, you usually don't come dragging in until 8:45." "I don't?" A look of concern crossed his face "Are you okay? You seem out of it today." I force a smile "It is Monday, and I don't feel much like myself, Robert. "Oh, its Robert now is it? Aren't we being formal!" "Stop it, Rob! Maybe I've turned over a new leaf and am going to be on time from now on.maybe it's the new me!" "Maybe pigs can fly! Anyway, its good to have you here early today, because I need the spreadsheet for the Mantilla project finished by lunch, okay? Both scenarios." Although it was a completely different division she vaguely knew about this project, and felt certain she could manage a simple spreadsheet in a few hours, *if* she could get into Julia's computer. She dumbly nodded as he said "Grab your morning bucket of coffee and hit it, Jules" At lunch she begged off two invitations to eat and headed towards the bookstore on 4th. She looked at her watch to make sure she would only gone 45 minutes - in her old job she could take as long as she wanted because management knew she put in the long hours at night and on the weekends, but she'd always heard Julia complain about her short lunch break, "so I'm back to 45 minutes" she sighed. She made the store in ten minutes of brisk walking and turned the brass knob on the door to the shop. The bell rang as she walked in. Immediately she was hit with the smell of incense and the sound of some environmental music tape, this one on birds, apparently. There are stacks of bookshelves to the left, a glass case full of incense burners, crystals, and other paraphernalia to the right and a cash register and stand in the center. And older grayish bearded man in a corduroy jacket peered up from his book to look at her. Through his bifocal glasses his eyes look enormous. His face brightened with recognition. "Julia!" "No" she thought internally, but "yes" she voiced aloud. She realized that Julia must have been familiar with him, but she had no idea who he was. So, she glossed over the akward moment with an enthusiastic "good book?" He held it up - Its titled "Celtic Wisdom" "What brings you in today, Julia, I didn't expect to see you until Thursday." Thursday? "Yup, well, about Thursday, could you give me a ride?" Here is where I should have said Bob or Ralph or whatever. "Hmmm. I always love to pick up a pretty woman, (She looked away at this) even if it is merely to take them to the Circle. Laura not here to give you a ride?" "Circle? Laura?" she thought. "Uh, no, she's on her honeymoon." "She finally married that fella then cousin then? Good for her! Richard is it?" "Rick." "That's right. Where'd they go." She had no idea! "It's a big secret between them. I don't think they'll be gone long." (Laura was in the middle of a large waste site remediation, and as a consultant could not take more than a few days off, she was sure). " But I'm not sure I can count on her to be back by Thursday." "Sure, Jules, pick you up at 7:00? Where do you live?" She told him the address. She'd practiced saying it mentally on the bus so that it didn't look like she was unsure of where she lived. "Thanks." "Don't mention it. So what can I do for you today." "Oh, I just wanted to browse a bit, maybe pick up a book or two." "Sheesh. After that last special order I did for you, I would have thought that would have kept you busy for several months at least if not for the rest of the year. It took me weeks just to track down that copy, and I know you told me on at least one occasion that you had had to decide between getting a car or buying that Grimore." What kind of a book did Julia buy? What book could possibly cost as much as a car? Inadvertently, she found she was twirling her finger in a strand of blond hair. "Well, its not exactly light reading!" "That its not! That its not.you remember I was the one that cautioned you against getting the book at all. It has a rather dark history, you know." No, she didn't. "So what can you recommend?" He looked surprised. "You're actually asking my advice? Do you have a fever, girl? The only other time I remember you asking me for information was when you asked where the rest rooms were." "Funny. But really, what would you recommend?" "Well, for you, darlin, I would recommend a new used book that just came in, called Songs to the Beloved, by the Sufi poet Rumi." Who is Rumi? "Why do you recommend.(was Rumi a man or woman? she took a guess) him... for me?" "Because, it seems to me that you've thrown yourself into *the work* with a vengeance rather than a passion. Don't get mad at an old man for offering advice, but a beautiful woman like you should experience the passion of life. And you so often seem to be on some sort of.vendetta. If Rumi can't make you see the passion in the work, then nothing can." "What is the work?" she thought. "And what was eating away at Julia that made her.follow down this path? Whatever this path is...And how was Laura involved?" "Okay." she said, finally, "I'll take it, but only if you'll write an inscription in it for me." He seemed genuinely flattered. "Certainly!" And he walked from behind the counter to the stacks. She noticed then that he drug his left foot as if it were useless. He returned to the counter with the book and opened the cover, scribbled something and handed it to her. "Seek the Lover and find the love that is your due" - Batty Time to gamble. "Thanks! That's wonderful! ...I've always found 'Batty' to be so cute." He looked at her curiously "Yes, cute. But its always been Laura that said that to me, not you..." She tried not to look away "But cute or not, I much prefer it to Bartholomew." "How much do I owe you?" "After the last purchase, sweetie, this one is on me!" "Thanks again.Batty. see you on Thursday" and on impulse she leaned over an kissed him on the cheek. Then looking at her watch, she said good bye and left quickly to return to the office. A confused smile spread across his face. "Most unusual," he thought, "she actually seemed as if she cared for...someone other than herself!" ____________________________________________ She looked at him lying asleep, with a smile upon his face, and she smiled too. He had been like a kid in a candy store these past few days. Doting on her, he seemed to be unable to take his eyes off of her. Hopefully this will calm down soon! The sun was rising over the Pacific, and she could see that the beach was deserted. Maybe I should go for a walk.it would be the first chance in days to be alone, and while she loved Rick, it was getting to be just a bit smothering. Laura quietly slipped into her suit and out the hotel room door - they had a room right on the beach. She was surprised that they were able to get such a good room on short notice; the wedding had seemed so spur of the moment, and usually you had to book far in advance to get one of these. The ocean breeze fluttered through her deep brown hair as she walked towards a rock that sat above the sand. She climbed up it and stretched her legs out along its long flat top, closed her eyes, and listened, to the wind, the surf, the gulls, and even, if she strained hard enough, the sun itself. The past days were a whirl wind, and she had been swept up in the passion of it. Rick had been insatiable, and completely head over heels now with their marriage. More like the Ideal of marriage... And yet, And yet there were little things that troubled, well, troubled is too harsh...concerned her. Like a little game that the two of them had been playing these past months, where they would make up absurd scenarios and each would take turns embellishing. She remembered the first one time they'd played the game...she had started it with... "Rick, have you ever wondered what it would have been like to have been stranded on a desert island with someone? Just the two of you in this tropical paradise?" Without missing a beat he had said "but we did, dear, don't you remember? Of course! You hit your head and don't, but last month I flew you to Jamaica as a surprise two week dating anniversary, and..." Laughing I continued with "and the plane crashed and everyone was killed but us and." "No, it must be that head injury again, dear, no one was killed, but our life raft drifted away from the others in the storm." "Ah yes, its coming to me.and we washed a shore on a deserted island with nothing but the clothes we were." "No dear, remember, it was an island with a five star hotel, only everyone had been evacuated because of a hurricane that was headed towards it" 'The same one that had knocked our plane down." "Yes." "And only the two of us, on that island with a five star hotel, no clothes and." "Did I mention that it was a French hotel?" "What?" "And that the French maids had all left their uniforms?" "I trust that there were uniforms in all sizes?" "Eh?" "One for you to wear too...surely I wasn't the only one wearing some skimpy outfit?" "WHAT?! You poor dear! You just don't remember...how cute you looked carrying the tray of strawberries and whip cream to me." "Oh? I was your own personal serving wench?" "Yes...is it coming back to you now, dear?" At this point she had hit him. And yet, when we arrived here, and I had asked him if he had brought any maids uniforms along, he had only stared at me blankly. She jumped when something grabbed her arm and turned in fright. "Oh, Rick, its you.don't scare me like that." "Why did you leave me alone in the bedroom?" "You were sleeping so peacefully, I didn't want to disturb you." "Didn't you think I might want to see the sun rise with you?" "Rick, your hurting my arm." "Don't ever leave me alone, Laura" "Rick, let-go-of-my-arm!" He slowly released her arm. "Sorry, it just that I've worked so hard to get us together." She smiled at the sweetness of the thought, and yet, as she thought about it more, there was something slightly odd in the phrasing. "Lets go have breakfast, love, you do have the whip cream and strawberries don't you?" He stared at her blankly again. Not good! Not good at all! ____________________________________________ For three days she had torn Julia's apartment apart to find the book that she had bought. And nothing! Work had been manageable, with only a few slip ups.actually, part of her problem was that she was doing her job too well.although Julia was very intelligent herself, she did not have Rick's training and education, and Rob and others had immediately noticed the improvement in quality. She had also managed the other aspects as well, food, bills clothing, (but she had decided that she may have to break down and wear skirts.or buy more slacks, because she couldn't keep wearing the same two over and over again.) She was worried about the other aspects of her new body---when for instance, would she have a period? And what would she do? A trip to the sex education section of the young adult area of the library had answered a lot of the questions, and she made some of the appropriate purchases at the store (Boy Scout motto---Be Prepared---except I'm certainly no Boy Scout in this body!) but still she was apprehensive. But all in all she was coping in the short term while she struggled to determine how this had happened. Then, she found a key in an absurdly easy hiding place: A safety deposit key in the cookie jar! That was Thursday morning. At lunch she had gone to the bank Julia used and presented the key to open the safety deposit box. When the attendant had handed her the heavy box and left her alone in the booth, she popped open the lid. She saw them immediately - two ancient bound books with note paper stuck in their pages. One was entitled Grimore de Albertus Magus, and the other Atalanta fugiens. She took the books with her back to the office, and could barely contain her desire to open then up and see what she might about soul exchanges or body swaps, or whatever this was that had been done to her. She resisted the urge to pull them from her tote bag on the bus ride home, but once she left the bus at her stop she practically sprinted to the apartment. The door to her apartment was unlocked, but in her haste, she failed to remember that she had locked it when she had left in the morning. Too late she realized that someone was waiting for her. "Hey babe, Did you miss me?" She froze. Joe? She whirled around to find him standing between her and the door. His eye was still black and his nose had swollen to twice its normal size, and his arm was in a cast. "What are you doing here?" she stammered out. "Waiting for some tender lovin care from my girl friend.as you can see, I need some bad." "I thought we had broken up after you.hit me." She remembered this image from Julia's memory - it was another one of those that had been burned into her brain. Without warning he grabbed a vase from the entry stand and smashed it to the ground. "I decide when it is over, bitch." Oh shit! She dove for the phone on a nearby coffee table and began dialing 911, but before she could make contact he had grabbed the phone from her, while knocking her to the ground with a forearm to her head with his cast. She lay stunned on the floor. "You put him up to it, didn't you, bitch!" "No, I didn't" she truthfully answered. Then he smiled oddly... "I know.you see *Rick* Julia and I have this all worked out." He let that statement sink in. "And the only loose end now...is you." She froze. "What do you mean Julia.did this?" Her mind struggled with the implications. "But she beat you up.your arm." "Looks are deceiving, you of all people should know that now. My arm is fine, and this thing" his eyes looked at his cast "is not without its uses." He slapped her again with the cast. Her vision blurred with stars of pain and she felt something warm trickling down her face. "But...why? I don't have any real money to speak of? Why all this?" "Oh, there is some money all right, We took out a big fat insurance policy on Julia but in the end, she wanted to be ---you!" He looked at her now, contemplating... "Julia told me to make it fast, but I think that you should have some fun before you go. He reached down and literally ripped her shirt off. "Take em all off!" The horror of what the man intended began to sink in as everything began crashing down on her! She could say nothing, could barely shake her head no. He moved in to hit her again. Rick had never been one to give up, though, and she managed to regain enough presence of mind to dodge this one - she rolled to the left - and kicked as hard as she could at his feet. He howled in pain, and she made another kick toward his groin. She missed though - she was still not used to the smaller size of her new arms and legs - and she felts the wind go out of her lungs from a brutal kick to her stomach. Pain shot through her chest. Then he literally dragged her across the room by her hair towards the bedroom. Helpme!! He was ripping off the rest of her clothes and she still could not breath from his kick. But finally, air came in and she screamed as loudly as she could - Help! Someonehelpme! He forearmed her again and tried to cover her mouth. "Shut up or I'll rip out your tongue, I swear!" But she bit his hand and screamed at the top of her lungs. He continued hitting her again, as hard as he could, trying to beat her into silence. Then she heard a cracking sound, and felt his body collapse on hers. She struggled to get out from under him...and a hand had grabbed his collar and yanked him off of her. A figure was standing over her now, but her vision was too blurred to make out who it was. "Julia, are you okay?" "I don't know.My chest hurts really bad.I'm having trouble breathing." "You face looks like hell too. I'm calling the police and an ambulance now, and then I'll try to help you." She struggled to say thank you, but the darkness overwhelming her now was too much to fight off. ____________________________________________ The woman watched the younger woman as she slept, her brow furrowed in concentration. She would be all right, physically. Her head and face had been badly bruised and cut, she had several broken ribs and she had been nearly raped, but Batty had arrived in time, cracking the rapist's skull with his cane. Rose stared down with her sparkling gray eyes, gasping at what she saw. This mystery gets deeper and deeper.her aura.has changed almost entirely! For weeks now Julia had troubled her. She had brought her into their order against the judgment of many of the other elders, because she had dreamt a vision of Julia and Laura rising to great power together. It had been an unusual vision, even for her - at first, she saw a sun and a moon, circling each other, on a single path through the night sky. The stars brightened until she had to close her eyes, and when she opened them she saw the scene had changed completely: in a forest glen two babes were suckling milk from a wolf, and after what seemed a time the babes magically grew as the wolf faded, grew to become one figure robed in white and the other in black, dissolving finally into the roman numeral II. Julia and Laura were twinned, she thought, and combined they would rise to abilities that far exceeded the sum of their separate identities. The council had acceded to her desires in this because she had been there for many years leader, but there was real concern - stain existed in Julia's aura that had screamed of trouble, a potential sickness that, despite all the older woman's efforts, had spread over the months that the girl (for even though Julia was 25, Rose's own age was so much more than that that she could only think of Julia and Laura as girls). The situation had perplexed her and caused Rose to even doubt her own abilities, for to her all the signs pointed to Julia, her birth date, the vision, and her natural aptitude for their work. But she could no longer ignore the disorder that was overtaking Julia, and, if she was allowed to remain in their community, would endanger them all. Further perplexing was the love that Laura had developed for a man she was seeing - Julia's cousin. She initially was untroubled by the affair, because, she well knew loves came and went, and that it did not necessarily interfere with the work that Laura would be undertaking within the order. But as the affair progressed, it became clear that Laura was deeply in love with this man, and Rose instinctively recognized that it was a love that only came along once in many a lifetime. She began to fear that inevitably it would draw Laura away from their company. When she learned several days ago from Batty that Laura had eloped, it seemed further disproof of her vision and again she began to doubt and question. The vision had been so clear, and yet nothing, it seemed, had work towards its actualization. But she wondered now - looking down upon Julia, the stain, the cancerous hole - was completely gone! Sorrow, confusion, fear were there in massive amount, but otherwise she showed a wholeness and balance that was missing before. And she knew of no treatment that could work such a healing so quickly. The girl stirred, her eyes slowly opening. "Welcome back to the living, Julia!" She was confused and Rose saw the complete confusion in her eyes. "Don't you recognize me, dear?" She managed to shake her head no. "Its me, Rose." The girl could only stare at her with frightened bleak eyes. "Don't worry, Julia, rest for now. You're safe He can't hurt you again, he is in jail." With that Rose leaned forward and hugged her gently. She saw the girl's pain, but she felt much more from her touch. She seems like a completely changed person, newly born.or A fantastic thought entered Rose's mind. It couldn't be! She tried to dismiss it. Batty had mentioned that he had picked up Julia's tote bag from her apartment, with the Grimore all of them had told Julia not to buy, (but had allowed with the hope of using the work of the manuscript to teach responsibility) but also another that Batty insisted Rose look at. The fantastic thought took shape: An alchemical book, a book of transmutations. Had Julia found a way to.then.then.my vision might not wrong at all! I've just completely misinterpreted it? Rose soothed the girl with an energy that, had it been visible, would have confounded the scientific methods of the hospital staff. As soon as the girl had fallen back into a gentle sleep again Rose quietly left the room to find Batty and the tote bag. Rick and Laura arrived at the airport at Friday morning, looking tanned, and, to all outward accounts, the ideal picture of newlyweds. Tanned and glowing, they arrived at his apartment at around 10:30am and began to sort through mail and check phone messages. "We'll need to go to my place sometime soon so I can pick up some clean clothes and other things, Rick." "Clothes? Why do you need clothes dear?" She laughed, because it was expected, but what was really annoying, was he seemed to only have one thing on his now.and she needed a break! Enough already! Not once on the honeymoon had they had the kind of talks that she had cherished during the months before. Rick's machine played oldest to newest messages, and there were many, starting with a message from Julia: "Please call me - I'm home. Is everything all right?" Laura instantly felt the fear in Julia's voice. "Rick? Is something wrong with Julia?" Rick laughed lightly "No, I'm sure she's fine. That was before we left, remember?" Yes, that was right, she had seen Julia after the date of this message, but.why had Rick's eyes been so evasive? There were many other messages from well wishers who had gotten wind of the wedding, and finally another, from Robert Farns, from Rick's office. "Rick, sorry to have to tell you this way, but we didn't know how else to reach you. Julia's in the hospital. Some bastard tried to rape her last night.ummm.its Friday morning now. The creep is in jail now, but Julia was beaten pretty badly. She's in room 504 at Porter. Call me when you get in. Umm.sorry again it had to be by a telephone message.bye" "Rick! Let's go see her now!" This was a bad spot - that idiot Joe somehow botched this.still.the truth would be so unbelievable that he was too concerned about what 'Julia' might be saying.and if he could get rid of this.other loose end now.then he could deal with her in the future.anger.show anger. "I'll kill him! I'll kill him! You go see her now, Laura - I've got to pay a visit to Joe." And he stormed out the door looking very much as if he had murder on his mind. Her mind was in turmoil and she tried to calm herself while she waited for the cab she had called to pick her up- that he was angry was natural, she knew how much he loved Julia, but to race out to try to deal with the rapist (however stupid she found that male reaction) before he saw that Julia was okay, troubled Laura deeply. And how had he known it was Joe? "How was your honeymoon, dear?" "Oh, Rose, I'm so glad you are here! How is she?" Laura had found Rose reading some notes in the waiting room of Porter Hospital. She sat down next to the older woman. "She is resting now, dear. She's been through an attempted rape and a horrible beating, but she should be okay, eventually" She's been through a whole lot more, if what I think may have happened did. Laura was visibly relieved. She shook her head. "You know, I sensed something was wrong with her when I heard her voice on Rick's answering machine, but Rick shrugged it off." Rose noted the concern, "So how was the honeymoon?" "It was fine." Rose heard the hesitancy: "except?" "Except it seemed as if." Laura tried to verbalize the little doubts that had been bothering her for the last few days. Rose interjected "As if Rick weren't himself?" "Yes.I guess so." Laura was not troubled about discussing this with Rose, because Rose was her mentor, and even her surrogate mother. "Yes, in several ways.several important ways.he didn't seem himself at all. He was passionate.to a fault almost.but he acted differently. Why? How did you guess that?" It was a guess, but from the notes that she had found in Julia's books, it was clear that she was attempting some kind of transformational act that - literally, and this was incredible that anyone would play with these kinds of forces, but that literally would separate soul from body. Rose surmised that Julia had cobbled two kinds of acts, one magical and one alchemical, into one ritual. One was a kind of astral bonding in which the minds of two adepts were linked. It involved the use of a charge ritual knife called an athame and the exchange of blood. The ritual worked best in adepts that were close in age or in blood. Their order practiced something similar and while Julia had not been instructed in such a higher act of magik, she would have known some of the basics involved. The second part, as near as Rose could figure, involved an alchemical process called *Rebis*, which as in theory an hermaphrodite principle, and as best she could decipher, transmuted silver into gold and also would transformed one's essence. Rose had guessed that if two people, having consumed a Rebis solution, were then to ritually link, their essence would reverse polarity, and each would be drawn through the link to the body that most fit their new polarity. It was so astonishing that she could only shake her head at the wonder and folly of it. "Are Rick and Julia close, Laura?" "Very. The are cousins from sisters who were identical twins, they are the same age, and were born on the same day." "Does Rick know anything about our group?" "No. As much as we share our feelings for each other, that is the one part of my life that Rick know nothing about. He is a complete skeptic as far as magik.he hates it when I spell the word with a "k".and so I have chosen not to tell him about my participation in The Circle." "Hmmm. Is it your experience that he would do anything for Julia?" "Oh yes! He's a complete lug there...he's always rushing off to try to protect her at the first sign that she is in trouble. He'd do just about anything for her.it almost makes me jealous! That's why I was surprised when he did not come with me to see if Julia was all right. He just huffed off doing some macho act, and drove, I guess, to the jail to do whatever thing he is going to do to Joe, which will be very little, since the police would intervene quickly if he attacked the rapist. Why do you ask, Rose?" "I'll show you in a minute. Can you think of one thing that occurred on your honeymoon that surprised you - by that I mean.you said he didn't act himself.was there something specifically that you noticed that he had.forgotten?" Laura blushed. "Well.yes.there was this. one fantasy.about strawberries.and." Rose rolled her eyes, "well, he doesn't get high marks for originality, but...never mind...but he didn't ask for this on your honeymoon?" "Well, no, that was just it, he arranged this wonderful trip to Hawaii right down to the last detail, but when I mentioned this he just stared blankly at me." "Would he have talked to Julia about any of this?" "Absolutely not! That was one thing he was very sheepish about.I had to get him completely sloshed just to get that little tidbit. And he treated Julia as if she could do no wrong.the very last thing that would talk with her about was sex! But what has this got to do with anything, especially Julia's attack?" "Bear with me.let's go inside Julia's room and try a little experiment.and if I am right Julia's going to need both of our complete support for a long time." Laura had no idea what Rose was referring to, but she knew the woman well enough to accept and respect what she said. As they entered the room Laura was shocked at of badly Julia's face looked - bruised and stitched, she looked as if she had been used as a boxer's punching bag. Laura had to look away, but Rose touched her gently on the arm - "its okay, love, she looks bad, but these are for the most part superficial. She'll recover with no permanent physical damage." Rose and Laura sat beside the bed and Rose touched the sleeping girl lightly on the hand. After a moment she stirred and then opened her eyes. She looked again unrecognizingly at Rose, but her face lit up when she saw Laura. Laura gently hugged the girl. After a moment Rose gently pulled Laura away: "You don't know me, Julia, but my name is Rose and I am a friend of Laura's. Please be at peace, child, I am here to help you" This statement perplexed Laura, for Julia knew Rose as well as she, they had both studied the arts under this wise woman for the past six months. She was even more perplexed when Julia simply nodded her head. Rose continued, "Your name is Julia?" The girl slowly nodded her head yes after a moment. A look of agitation crossed Laura's face: This is bordering on absurd! Where is Rose going with this? "But its not, is it? You are not Julia. Tell me who you really are." The girl looked uncertain as if debating something; Laura began to become angry "Are you crazy, Rose? This is not funny!" Rose motioned for Laura to be silent. Softly, the girl whispered: "I.I don't know who I am. now." She's obviously suffering from injury, Rose, please leave." "Silence, please, Laura. You need to hear what she has to say even more than I." Rose turned back to the girl. "Please tell me who you were, then." After a silence that seemed to go on for hours, the girl whispered again. "Rick Walters" she whispered. "This is crazy, Rose! This is." Again Rose silenced Laura. "Please be patient," she said sternly, but not unkindly. Something horrific has happened to this person. We need to understand and .help if we can." "You don't actually believe that this.could be true, do you?" "Test her. We've just discussed how." Laura was incensed at what Rose was suggesting, and only out of her utmost regard for her teacher did she continue with this charade. "Okay, Rick, tell me what fantasy you had for our honeymoon." The girl looked pleading to Rose: must I? Rose tried to contain a laugh. "After all you have been through you are embarrassed by this?" The girl sighed, and, in obvious discomfort motioned for Laura to come close. She whispered something in her ear. Laura sat back down stunned, dizzy. "Strawberries?" Rose asked. Laura slowly nodded yes, and then, "But." she looked at Rose. "but. I was just with Rick on our honeymoon! If that wasn't Rick, then.?" "Julia" Rose and the girl said simultaneously. Laura felt sick. (to be concluded later)