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The Stone of Lao Tzu By Armond "In the opening and closing of the gates of heaven, Cannot he do so as a female bird?" -Lao Tzu As Raquel Arroyo hurriedly drove to Sarah's apartment, she struggled to make sense of what Sarah had said - about Will being in some kind of serious trouble and needing her help. When Sarah had called to ask her to come over immediately, Raquel had instantly tried Will's home and cell phone numbers, but could get nothing other than his voice message. The fact that Sarah had called her at all worried her, because she and Sarah did not particularly like each other. In fact, they only tolerated being around one another because of their mutual friendship with Will. She wasn't sure exactly where the root of the problem between them lay, for there didn't seem to be areas of their lives that were in competition. They clearly lived in different worlds: Raquel, who had just turned twenty-five last week, stood 6'1 when flat-footed (Raquel was still not sure where that part of her genes came from), her black hair, hazel eyes and olive skin showed her Latin-American heritage, and she had the muscles and body fat of a gazelle. She was lead singer in a local rock band, and to supplement her income she also was a wedding singer. Her singing style had been compared to that of blend of classical and salsa, and with her continued intensive vocal training, she seemed to be on the cusp of a break-through in the local music industry. It was through music that she had met Will several years ago. She had been in a panic because her piano accompanist for a singing engagement at a Jewish funeral had come down with the flu and she had to thrash about looking for a last-minute replacement. The guitar player of her band had recommended Will, and while she had misgivings (she had never worked with a guitar player at a funeral before) she was desperate and gave Will a call. She had a fleeting since of doom when she met him for the first time at the funeral parlor - he was big, tall, a good four inches taller than she, and together they seemed a humorous oddity - a towering Spanish-white couple surrounded by diminutive elderly Jewish grandmothers and grandfathers. But for some reason they clicked together, his direct, intense guitar style seemed to nicely complement her spicy-soulful voice. They became instant best friends, and had remained that way, even surviving the deep crush that Will had developed for her, and the gentle way that she had turned him down. Dr. Sarah O'Riagan, on the other hand, was in her early thirties, had already received a Ph.D. with distinction in archaeology and was a rising star in her profession. A true success story - young, with almost off-the-chart intelligent, she was also physically arresting: 5' 9", with lean, toned legs, and round full breasts that she (professionally and tastefully) accentuated. Sarah possessed velvety collar length dark red hair, creamy white skin, high cheekbones and thin arched brows. She typically wore deep muted, almost blood red color on her lips and nails and the total startling effect had caught the eye of many an elder professor. Rachael knew that Will was probably most captivated by Sarah's dark brown-almost-black eyes, eyes that at times held a feral, unpredictable look to them. Sarah had recently gained near movie star acclaim for her stunning discovery of the burial chamber of Emperor Qin. She had spent the better part of two years in China at the site, and it had been hailed as a find that rivaled digs in Egypt. It brought monetary rewards as well, for the major networks were intrigued with this 'female Indiana Jones'. Interviews and book offers followed and when she returned to the University, she was offered the chair of the Archaeology Department, which she accepted, and now split her time between running the department and flying to China to manage the dig. She had just returned from the dig several days ago, where some kind of explosion had shut it down for a while. Will had not had time to get the full story from Sarah yet, but from what she had told him, she had almost been killed. Apparently some kind of power struggle had arisen between Sarah and the dig co-chair, the handsome and ever impeccably dressed, Dr. Reginald Barnes; and Sarah had seemed to imply in her phone call to Will from her hospital room that Dr. Barnes was somehow intentionally responsible for the blast. To add to the mystery, Dr. Barnes had now vanished without a trace. William Conrad Armstrong was the link between these two very different women. His day job was that of freelance 'extreme adventure' writer; he was a journalist of considerable talent, and was regularly offered top positions in major newspapers and magazines. Will, however was completely uninterested in career success. He quested instead for work that won him the freedom to chase the life he craved: ice climbing, class 5 kayaking, cave scuba diving, extreme hang gliding, or just about any activity that had an element of danger in it. He always angled hard to obtain writing assignments for on-the- edge adventures such as joining the documentary crew that hiked the length of the Amazon, or becoming a team driver for the Paris-Dakar Rally that crossed North Africa and the Sahara. Raquel frequently accused Will of having a big time death wish. Will had even accompanied an Annapurna climbing expedition last year just to be able to write a National Geographic piece about the plight of the Sherpa in the 21st century. An avalanche struck during the expedition's descent, and it was only Will's quick thinking, massive strength and, more than anything, his reckless courage, that saved the lives of several trek members. Typically, Will downplayed the incident. During downtime between writing assignments, and frequently while recuperating from them, Will would fiercely attack his other passion, guitar. It almost seemed to Raquel that Will's love of the guitar was a subconscious need to counter-balance his testosterone packed exploits. His playing ability was very good, due to the fact that Will confronted the guitar with the same fiery intensity that he brought to everything. But his playing seemed to be lacking something, a depth, perhaps, that kept it from being truly great. This both frustrated Will and also meant he couldn't pay the bills through his guitar gigs. Because he physically had not fully recovered from the Annapurna trip, he was forced to seek a less demanding writing assignment than he normally liked to take. When "The Atlantic" had asked him to do a two-part piece on Sarah's China find, Will was intrigued. Then, when he began the interview with Sarah, he found himself becoming more and more attracted to this mysterious woman. Raquel strongly suspected that the air of danger about Sarah was what attracted and excited Will. 'His death wish again,' she thought and sighed. He soon was head over heels in love with Sarah and more and more he began to fantasize about the life that an adventurer and an archaeologist might forge together. Finally, Will had confided in Raquel that Sarah was "the one." As to Sarah's interest in Will, that was fairly obvious - he was tall, athletic, ruggedly handsome, remarkably intelligent and so naively and unpretentiously ...male. Raquel thought he must be fantastically virile in bed too, although she had no first hand experience for this subject. 'What straight woman wouldn't be attracted to that,' Raquel thought. The only person that seemed to be unaware of Will's charms was Will himself. Raquel was relieved to finally arrive at Sarah's apartment complex, and she literally bounded up the stairs to Sarah's apartment. As she entered, she saw Will's jean jacket draped over a chair in the hallway of the apartment, the same jacket he had been wearing earlier when Will had told her that tonight was 'the' night. Sarah had let her in quickly enough, but a quick scan of the room failed to show any sort of trouble; there was no sign of Will, and Raquel noticed the expression that Sarah's face bore a slightly twisted...smile? "I'm still a little fuzzy on why you called me over here in the middle of the night. You said it was an emergency and involved Will, but he doesn't seem to be here, unless he is in your bedroom," Raquel nodded towards the closed door at the end of the hallway. "William is not in the bedroom... not... exactly, anyway," Sarah answered, giving Raquel the same half smile as when Raquel had first arrived at Sarah's apartment. Raquel did not know Sarah well enough to read it though. The smile seemed at once guilty and vindictive. "Fine, Sarah, it's three a.m. and I've got a voice lesson early in the morning, so if you don't mind, I'll be going now. If Will is really in trouble and if you are ready to stop playing games, give me a call." Sarah stood from her chair, and pointed something towards Raquel that she had kept concealed. It was a handgun. "You are more to blame for this than I, and so you are going to stay here until I'm ready for you to leave." "Dios mios! Are you mad? Put that down!" "Sit down, Raquel, and I'll tell you exactly what is going on, you're in for quite a show!" "Where the hell is Will...?" Sarah pointed the revolver directly at Raquel's head and cocked the trigger; Raquel noted that Sarah's hand was very steady. "Sit DOWN! I've already killed once tonight, maybe, so doing it again won't be hard at all, especially if it means killing you." Sarah barked, and motioned the gun towards the white couch across directly across from her. As Raquel sat down, her eyes fixed to Sarah, she felt a growing horror in her stomach that Will lay dead in the bedroom and that she was next. She cursed herself for blithely walking into this mess. "Why are you doing this? What has happened to make you act like this?" she said, as calmly and softly as she could. "Oh, that's good. You know damn well what I'm talking about. I expect you waited about a minute after I left for Xi'an last month to begin to get your hooks into him. You are why he cheated on me; you bear the responsibility for the consequences. If you had left him alone, nothing would have happened to him." Raquel shook her head incredulously as it dawned on her that Sarah was seething with jealousy over her friendship with Will. And there seemed to be a madness... in her eyes? "Exactly WHAT has happened, Sarah?" Sarah continued her diatribe, both ignoring Raquel's question and seemingly rationalizing something at the same time. "Don't bother denying it, I know all about your rendezvous, your late nights out... Your oh so cute trip to the Vaghaun's Jewelry." "We are only friends, Will sometimes plays with my band, Sarah, I could never..." "You could have at least had the decency to have attempt to try to hide your affair. You made it far too easy for my private dick, Halstrom Wolfe to earn his fee." Even with the tension of the moment, Sarah couldn't suppress a smile at the mention of Hal's ridiculous name. "You paid someone to follow us? You are sick. But surely your investigator told you that Will and I were only friends, that we never..." "Pick up the envelope next to you" "What?" "The manila envelope on the stand, open it. Open it up and tell me again how you and William are 'just friends'" Raquel opened the envelope and pulled a photo out. It showed Will placing an engagement ring on her finger. "Didn't Will explain this to you when you showed it to him?" "How big a fool do you take me for? You both must have had lots of laughs about me, hmm? How were you planning to end it? Were you after money from me, or were you just trying to publicly humiliate me?" "Idiota! That ring was for you. Will didn't want to screw up the proposal and he was practicing." "Oh, he was practicing! Now that is truly excellent! And I believe you, too!" "Sarah, I don't love Will in any way other than as a friend. I...don't even like men. If...your private detective followed me around at night then he would have seen some of the bars that I..." "Ooooh, now you're a lesbian too! This gets better and better!" "I can prove this... the ring... he brought it over tonight...its in his coat pocket," Raquel nodded towards the jean jacket on the chair, "look at the engraving on the inside." Sarah paused for a moment to consider that, but then answered: "I'm not in the mood to play more games with you. Whatever you're trying pull won't work. Get up!" Sarah waved the gun, Raquel stood, fearing what might happen next. "Oh, don't worry, dear, I'm not going to shoot you unless you force me. But there is something I want you to see before you leave, and then I want you to take something with you to remember tonight by. Walk over to the television." Raquel walked across the living room to the entertainment area. Sarah followed. Sarah picked up a remote that was lying on the couch and clicked the screen on. "I've forwarded it to the good bit." Raquel tried to make sense of the scene. Will slumped over at the dining table, a glass of wine still in his hand. "What's wrong with him? Is he...?" "Dead? Noooo! Or maybe 'he' is. The wine was drugged. But quit talking and watch, this next part will really knock your socks off" Raquel and Sarah next watched the image of Sarah flash onto the screen, and walk over next to Will. She lifted his arm and let it drop. Seemingly satisfied, she removed the wine glass and moved from camera view. Several seconds later she reappeared, wearing thick rubber gloves and holding what looked like a smooth black stone. She paused, as if debating some action, and then opened Will's hand. She placed the stone in it and closed his fingers around it, and then stepped back. Raquel watched the scene for a few moments, and nothing happened. She looked questioningly at Sarah. "Give it another second, dear." As Raquel watched again, she noticed a changed, a brief rippling effect in Will, and then - he was not Will. A woman now sat in the chair where Will had been, slumped over the table and wearing his cloths. Which looked comical, because she was much smaller than Will had been, and so the clothes seemed to fit the young woman like clown clothes. Raquel saw that the woman's face was gorgeous - flawless olive brown skin, red full lips and hair that was lustrous, shiny, onyx black. Sarah paused the video. Raquel blinked, trying to make sense of it. "Is this a joke? You and Will seem to have gone to a lot of trouble for this stunt, but there's nothing funny about it. Will? You can come out now," she yelled. "No, it's no joke, at least not to him...or I should say, her. Here, let me show you that bit again. I had to run it several times myself, it was so good." Sarah rewound the tape and played it again. As Raquel watched it again, it actually seemed to her that Will changed into the girl. "What... is this all about? Why are you showing me some special effects video? Why the trick photography? " "No trick at all! You've just witnessed a miracle! Ah, they have eyes but they cannot see. Tsch tsch. Remember the stone you saw me place in his hand? It is something very special that I picked up at the Xi'an dig. I inventoried all of the artifacts we found except that one. That one I kept a secret. It is in fact the Stone of Lao Tzu. Think of it! Lao Tzu himself held that stone and infused it with its... particular power." Raquel looked at Sarah blankly. The name meant nothing to her. "Lao Tzu - the founder of Taoism? The mystical figure of ancient China, equal in stature to Christ himself? And this stone, proves he existed historically...think of it!" Sarah expounded, more to herself than to Raquel. "Tao-ism? Like, um, yin yang?" Raquel asked weakly. Sarah was visibly deflated by Raquel's lack of knowledge. "That stone may be the single greatest archaeological find in history. It has power that - well, you saw yourself what it can do. I'm sitting on the greatest discovery known to..." Sarah shook her head in disgust before continuing. "I have shown the existence of the stone to two people only in the entire world - an ego bag of a professor that must be dead now, I think, and you. And you have absolutely no clue what I'm talking about. Finding this thing would be like finding the Holy Grail, or the Ark of the Covenant. The media buzz I received from the Xi'an dig would be as nothing to the fame that would be mine if I were to announce this find. But... I don't want to have this sitting in a museum gathering dust. You've seen the power it possesses! I have used it only once before, and then it happened so quickly that I didn't get a chance to see it actually work. Truly amazing! I've been dying to try it out again, but until now, I haven't had the opportunity. Ah poor William. His betrayal gave me all the reason I needed." Raquel watched as this fit of megalomania, for that was all she could categorize it as, played itself out. Finally, Sarah sighed as if suddenly tired, or spent. Then she raised the gun again and again pointed it at Raquel. "I am quite ready for you and 'she' to leave, now." "What?" "I want you two out of here. Out of my sight, out of my life. Now. William is in the bedroom, get her and get out of here." Dazed, Raquel walked down the hall to the bedroom. She didn't know what to make out of this ...insanity. At Sarah's gun enforced insistence, she opened the door, half expecting Will to be waiting to yell 'surprise' on the other side. Instead, she saw a figure lying unconscious on the bed. It was the dark-haired woman from the video. "Get her up, pick her up, drag her, get a cattle prod to get her moving for all I care...just ...get ...out." Raquel didn't believe any of this...fairytale, for a moment, but whoever this person was, she needed to be out of this madwoman's house. Raquel shook the woman to see if she would wake. The woman's eyes flicked half open - Raquel saw that they seemed to sparkle emerald green. "Ra- Raquel?" The woman slurred. "What is wrong with her?" "It seems that some liquid chloral hydrate mixed in with red wine has been quite effective. You saw, not even a twitch, even during the transformation. She has no idea she is even a she yet. Pity William couldn't have been conscious to get the full impact, but I couldn't risk it...he was such a big fellow I didn't see how I could control him if he panicked. Now though, it looks like she couldn't be more than 5' 1" or 2". Simply amazing!" "I don't know who she is, but I'm not about to leave anyone here with you." She shook the woman. "Stand up! Let's get out of here." She grabbed the woman's legs, swung them to the floor, and put her arm over the woman's shoulders and under her arm. "Up we go!" The woman was light and Raquel did not have much trouble getting her to stand. "Wher rr going?" "To my place so you can sleep this off." She started down the hallway, at first dragging more than walking the young woman. Gradually, the woman started to make more effective attempts to move her legs. "Feel so strange Raquelll... who chopped off my legggs?" Then the woman stopped abruptly. "Um, can't go...um yet...haven't asked herrr" "Asked her what?" then it dawned on Raquel what the woman was referring to, "if by some freak of nature you are Will, then I'd have to say that based on the events of tonight, the answer is a definite no." She looked once more at Sarah who had been following the two to the door. "You know, Sarah, you definitely need some mental help. I'm not sure who to call first, the police or the men in the white coats." "Who'd believe you? I'm afraid if you were to make any calls, the only person you'd end up having committed is you." "Will is missing. And the last place he visited is here. The police might find that interesting..." "Only you know that. You'll have a hard time proving it to the police. I'm a respected professor at the University; you're a nightclub singer. Good luck! Anyway, you going to have your hands full over the next few days, because you've got Miss Armstrong there with you. I'm sure she'll be needing extra TLC from you as she adjusts to her new, um, equipment? But you ought to be just peachy with that, since, revelation of revelations, you're a lesbian!" Rachael ignored this gibberish "Wherever WILL is, he'll want his ring back. He couldn't afford it to begin with, and now..." "Kindly, SHUT - THE - FUCK - UP, slut! Justice has been served, and goddamn if it wasn't goood!! Now, IF you ever hear from me again, it will be when I choose to call you. Do NOT try to call me or see me, and do NOT let that cheating bastard, or bitch now I guess, call me, or I'll get a restraining order, and sue you both until you truly do die." Sarah ushered the two out the door with a final wave of her gun. "Need ta lie down, Raq, head spinning..." "Good luck, love birds!" Sarah practically sang, as she slammed the door in Raquel's face. Raquel looked for a long moment at green-eyed woman that was in her arms. The woman was extremely intoxicated, completely bewildered, and yet, even in this condition, she was without a doubt the most exotic and stunningly beautiful creature Raquel had ever seen. What an absurd notion to think that this person could somehow be Will. At that she sighed, and as the two stumbled down the apartment complex stairs to her car, she tried to sort out how a night that had started out so normally could have turned so loco. She had just left a madwoman who was convinced she had a stone with some sort of "mojo" in it that could change people, her best friend was missing, and she was in a car with a strange drunk woman. How could things possibly get any worse? "Raq...think I'm gonna barff." 'Great, just great!' was the only response Raquel's shell-shocked brain could manage. ---- The lushness of the landscape was so beguiling that it took Will some time to consider that he might be in a dream. The path he walked followed the banks of a wide crystal-blue river that meandered through a steep canyon valley. Tall lush bamboos lined the canyon walls carved by the river. The valley greens and river blues were merged together by the mist that rose from the river in wispy swirls. In the distances ahead fantastic peaks rose straight like trees in a forest. The way was swimming in exotic sounds - as the squabble of parakeets blended with songs of crickets and tree frogs to create a calming serenade. The scent of jasmine surrounded him as he breathed, and looking down he saw that the bright yellow blossoms lining the path. The scene reminded Will of the waters and mountains of Guilin in China - one of the remote places his writing assignments had taken him - only here the power and delicacy of the colors, sounds and fragrances combined to produce a heightened feeling of clarity, serenity and...'otherworldliness' he thought. It was this thought that first caused him to question: 'this is a dream?' Will found that he was compelled to move forward along the way, and soon he spied what looked to be a temple or monastery that was built into the sheer face of a cliff. He reckoned that it would take several hours to climb to it, but, with a sound like the crashing a waves filled his ears, and a shimmering and blurring of the landscape, he found himself on a craggy path just below the temple. 'This IS a dream...right?' he barely thought, and accepted as dreamers do, the occurrence of the impossible as matter of fact in a dream. The temple had been built into overhanging the rocky cliff face using the natural hollows and outcrops for support. The seemingly countless buildings of the temple were square shaped pagodas with upward-curving blood red-tiled roofs and faced with slabs of pure white colored glazed tile. Will heard a flapping noise as he entered the temple, which he quickly realized were a multitude of rainbow-hued prayer flags, fluttering in the wind. He also now heard the soft tinkling and clanging of hundreds, no thousands, of wind chimes waving in the same breeze. Will wandered among many halls and pavilions, and finally found himself standing in front of the largest of the buildings. The ceiling and walls of the hall were splashed in bright sunny yellow polka dots, and in the center was a massive gray stone dais. Facing him now was an ancient looking man seated cross-legged style, with eyes closed in meditation. Will realized that the man was the first person he had seen since he had come to this place, although he thought he could now faintly hear a low droning of chants - Tibetan like - but could not make out their origin. The man was ancient, with hair tufts, thick wiry eyebrows and a long flowing beard of snowy white. He wore a dingy white robe with a hood that framed a twinkling animated face. Will took a tentative step towards the man, and as he did, a massive school of yellow butterflies, which had been resting on the walls and ceiling, swirled around the room and then out of the temple entrance. At this, the man's eyes slowly opened, mesmerizing Will with their deep sparkling emerald green. The man spoke it seemed, although Will was unsure that he saw the man's lips move: "Understanding and being open to all things, are you able to do nothing? Opening and closing the gates of heaven, can you play the role of woman?" Will had no idea what that meant, but figured that, at the least it was an opportunity to ask where the hell this place was: "I'm sorry to disturb you...um, sir...but I think I'm lost...could you tell me where I am?" The man chuckled and answered "You awake to find yourself in a dark wood, where the right road is rost and gone, eh?" 'Great a riddle dream!' he thought. Will decided to be more direct: "Excuse me...sir! Would you tell me who are you, where I am, and why, in God's name I'm here?" "I will answer your rast question first, your first question rast, and your middle question in the middle." The man said, with a mischievous grin. Will struggled with that answer, trying to work it through in his mind. 'Dream thinking was so hard,' was all he managed to think. "First, though, kindly sit on mat. Must practice breathing. Heard you pathetically stomping though the valley like a pregnant yak. To be able to move correctly in world, must know how to breathe correctly." "...um...okay, I guess" Will stammered, and sat cross legged in front of the old man. "Breathe. B-r-e-a-t-h-e. Relax. Slow inhale. Slow exhale..."After several minutes Will DID feel more relaxed and clear headed. "Okay, you ready?" Will nodded yes. "Here goes: you have touched the stone, or rather, it has touched you, either way, means big changes for you, hehe! I am called old fellow or old baby, you preference, and you are in a place that is more real than any you have ever been, though you think it to be a dream." Will sighed in exasperation, and but valiantly tried again: "Okay...old fellow...what..." Will groped vainly to martial rational thought..."I don't remember touching any sort of special rock or stone lately. Or any wild mushrooms or Cheshire cats for that matter - certainly nothing that would have brought me here. So what..." another exasperated confused sigh "what ARE you talking about? What is this 'touched the stone' business?" The old man clapped his hands in glee. "It was one of my best pranks! One of my top pupils had come so close to knowing the Way, yet couldn't take the final step. For perhaps the millionth time I had told Lo Y'ang to join the black with the white to embrace the one - to marry the male with the female to return to his true primal Self - but here was Lo Y'ang whining again, that he could never know black because he was white, nor know death from life, because he was alive, nor know the female because he was male. The fellow was insufferable and I had had enough - I mean, joy and briss of the Way was riterally staring him in face and he was so thick headed that he couldn't grasp it." "I threw up my hands and told him I could better teach a rock than he. Lo Y'ang was most frustrated and insulted by this, so he grabbed a black rock that was at his feet and tossed it to me, or rather at me, rather forcefully, I might add, saying 'then teach this rock the Tao, Old Man, so that I may be instructed by it, because I have had enough of you.'" "An enormously funny thought hit me then, and I took the rock and imparted to it a particular ability that would instantly and completely change his perspective. If I may humbry engage in shameless immodesty, it was stroke of brilliance! Hehe! And I say, 'See Lo Y'ang, the rock already know reason you have not mastered Tao for years and is ready to instruct you. Kindly pick it up to begin your instruction' and I set stone down in front of him. It was so great!" The old man was literally hopping about with excitement. "He most angry and his pride was hurt, and so he didn't pick it up for longest while. He circled and circled, but I knew that his curiosity and thirst to know the Way would get the better of him. Finally, he reach down and pick up stone. Hehehehe!" The old man was twirling about like a whirling dervish. He stopped for a moment to continue the story: "Expression on Lo Y'ang's was priceless as stone imparted its 'teaching'. Now, Lo Y'ang was of course exceedingly angry at first, but once the changes were accepted and the new perspective fully appreciated, Li Yin found the Way easily and lived in briss and harmony." Will had found the tale interesting enough and had been swept up in the man's infectious exuberance, but was completely perplexed by its message. "But how did the stone change his perspective so much that it helped Lo Y'ang to find enlightenment? What kind of a change would do that? So quickly? And... I don't understand...didn't you say 'she' instead of 'he' just then?" "Ah, but you will understand, for you have touched it also." "Look, what specifically does that mean, old man, for me? What are you saying?" Will nearly shouted, frustrated at the obliqueness of the man's - and the dream's - message. "Calm down. Breathe. B-r-e-a-t-h-e. Angry man shout like baboon, wise man stay focused... It means you have same opportunity as Lo Y'ang to find irrumination, and that I may have another thick-headed pupil. Be at ease, my daughter, you will come here again, and we will visit more then..." "What? Wait..." Will said, as the temple scene began to fade out swiftly, and the waking world reasserted itself "Daughter, what...?" ...Will's first thought upon awaking was how strange the dream was, even as it fragmented and the memory of it completely dropped away from conscious thought... Thought number two involved the urgency of taking a long long piss... ...and number three was trying to figure out the origin of the long silky black hair that dangled in front of Will's eyes... ---- "And so the morning begins just where last night ended... horribly," Raquel thought groggily as she stumbled out of bed, still dressed from the night before. A scream had caused her eyes to spring open, and then an enormous crash had sent her springing from her bed to see what had happened. Her eccentric Aunt Esmarelda had warned that her future held interesting and magical times, but since she held no religious or spiritual beliefs, and considered her fortune-teller Aunt to be only a loveable quack, she had never given the warnings a second thought. 'Until last night' she thought, as she stumbled down the hallway towards her bathroom door to see if that was where the noises had come from. "Murrda! Hijo de puta! What are you doing?" Raquel roared as she surveyed the damage - her large bathroom mirror lay in thousands of shards on the tiled floor; her make-up table chair also lay broken on the floor, apparently where it landed after hitting the mirror. Huddled in the corner of the room was the strange dazzling young woman from last night, dressed only in an oversized white tee shirt, legs pulled closely to her chest. Raquel made herself take a deep breath to calm down; if she didn't she feared she might strangle her then and there, regardless of how tasty she looked. "Vivito y coleando, I see, or rather, alive and throwing. Did we want to do some redecorating this morning?" The girl blinked, her glazed expression softening. "Look, I... I know you must be pissed, Raq ...I'll pay for the mirror...I'm sorry. It's just that...the mirror was lying to me...I couldn't believe what I thought I saw, and I kind of went crazy." "Oh? The mirror was lying? You think it was showing you too fat or something, mi pich?n?" The girl blinked in confusion "What? No... stop pulling my chain, Raq. I... things are all screwed or I'm messed up or something..." Her voice trailed off, then picked up suddenly and a little too brightly: "But I think I figured it out. We must have gone to a hypnotist last night, right? And I guess I volunteered or something and it was like, 'when you wake up, you will think that you are in the body of a woman,' and there is a word or something that you will say and then I will see my real self," she said, looking hopefully to Raquel. "... or something like that." The girl extended her right hand before her face. "Its so weird! My brain thinks, 'hand move' and this strange tiny hand moves! Isn't that creepy, Raq? The funny thing is, I don't remember going to any nightclub or anything. All I can remember is going to Sarah's last night and then...nothing. So go ahead, Raq, say the trigger word or whatever it is!" "First, stop calling me Raq - I allow only my close friends to call me so. I certainly don't know you, although getting to know you might be fun. Second, I know nothing of any ridiculous hypnotist or club, dear. I did 'rescue' you from Sarah's last night. She concocted some bizarre joke about changing a friend of mine into a woman, and I see that you are persisting in keeping up this farce. So why don't you get dressed and get your pretty little nalgas out of here before I call the police?" A frantic look passed over the woman's face. "Raq! Why are you acting like this? Please help me!" A manic look had crept into the woman's face as she struggled to her feet. "I'm not thinking... right in the head... am I on drugs or something?" Raquel gawked openly as she saw that the woman was naked below the oversized tee shirt, could not help but admire the smooth shapely dark olive colored legs, and felt slightly cheated that the shirt covered as much as it did. The woman became aware of where Raquel's gaze rested; she stared down at herself briefly, and then slumped against the wall with a stricken look on her face. "You see this too," she fiddled in front of her crotch with a hand, as if she were holding an invisible cock, "you see what is missing? And these?" She cupped her full breasts with her hands and looked down at them. Raquel obligingly directed her gaze there - she guessed the girl must be a 32 C or D size; it was hard to tell through the oversized shirt. The girl pawed her breasts roughly. "These actually feel real! This all seems real! And I feel so small!" She shook her head, "I need a doctor, Raq, fast." She paused a moment as she feverishly tried to make sense of it. "Maybe... maybe you're on drugs too? Maybe it's some kind of mass hypnosis or something? We gotta get to a hospital or psycho ward ...please Raq, don't just stand there staring at me like I was some kind of a freak, DO SOMETHING..." Raquel was at a loss - she in no way believed the girl's story, she couldn't! It was just plain not possible! But the girl didn't seem to be acting either; she genuinely appeared to believe that she was Will. Maybe something had been done by Sarah to mess this girl up. She certainly looked disorientated. What a sick woman Sarah was! She couldn't believe that Will was going to marry that bitch! 'Will! Mustn't forget him!' Raquel realized that she still hadn't heard from him! She would phone his place to see if he had turned up, and if he hadn't, she would call the police to report him missing. But this whole thing was so nutso! "What is Will's number again?" she said to herself more than to anyone. The girl automatically rattled off a series of numbers and then said "But I'm telling you, no one will be home because I'm here!" Fury flashed in Raquel's eyes: she had had enough of this charade. "You persist in telling me you are Will? Fine, fine, that fiction is easily exposed, mi pich?n. You will have to do more than telling me Will's phone number." She paused, thinking of a test. "AH! That's it! I have it! Will once thought he was in love with me, and I let him know that we could never be more than friends, because I had... ninguna pasi?n para los hombres... no passion for the men." Raquel watched the girl closely to see her reaction to this, often women became uneasy at this admission. The girl simply nodded as if she already knew this, so Raquel continued: "Only he would remember what I said. So tell me, dear, if you are Will," she could barely say this seriously, "what did I say to... uh, you? Word for word, how did I phrase it?" The girl was silent for a moment, and Raquel assumed and hoped that this meant she must finally drop the pretense, but instead the girl answered: "That was over three years ago, Raq... I can't remember exactly... word for word..." Raquel was startled that the girl knew as much, but decided it was simply a lucky guess, and continued: "Will would know, and so you are not he. I think you are just a girl that is m?s loco que una cabra." She twirled her finger in a circle next to her head. "You do need lots of help." The girl ignored her, closing her eyes tightly in concentration. "I remember it some, it was an oddball sort of saying. You said... cada something, cada berico, berica or something...a ... su...a su...what was it..." the girl finally shook her head in defeat when she could summon up no further words. "It was three years ago, Raquel!" Raquel's chest constricted - impossibly, the girl had gotten close enough; "cada perico a su estaca, cada changa a su mecate" she mumbled as she was struggled to catch her breathe. She barely managed the follow-up: "And I said it meant...?" The girl's face brightened at this, her recollection of it much clearer: "You said that it meant 'each parrot on its perch, and each monkey on its rope'. I remember thinking what a funny thing to hear when you are in love with someone and they are telling you that they don't have any attraction for you. But you said that what it really meant was 'each to our own' - though you loved me greatly as a friend, we could never be lovers." Raquel felt suddenly nauseous, lightheaded. That was exactly what she had said to Will, and she had spoken of it to no other. But surely this was impossible, IMPOSSIBLE! This thing, this magic, just could not have happened. Could not Will have even spoken of this to the girl? But THAT seemed most unlikely... ...so was she actually to believe this? ...this girl standing before her did look so sincere, so vulnerable... ...but - THIS - IS - CRAZY! How could she prove this for certain, indisputably, without question? "Ah-ha!" Inspiration struck again! "Wait right here, mi pichon," Raquel said excitedly, quickly walking down the hallway and returning moments later carrying her acoustic guitar. She thrust it to the girl, who looked at her questioningly as she took it. "Play 'Como el p?jaro que bola.' Play it NOW, please!" Raquel commanded. The song she had demanded was a ladino, or old Judeo-Spanish song that Raquel and Will had been noodling around with off and on over the years as a hobby. The song of a lover lamenting the loss of his beloved, who has flown to another lover, like a hummingbird who flies from flower to flower. "But Raq, this is your bathroom, I really don't think..." "The guitar will play as well in here as anywhere. Please, I must know if you could be... if you are... just play the song if you can." The girl tested the strings. "Its out of tune," she said, looking at Raquel blankly. "So tune it!" The girl shrugged and began tuning. After a few moments she strummed the strings and seemed satisfied. "I need a chair to sit on." "Lower the toilet lid and sit on it." "Seriously?" "Now, please!" The girl lowered the lid and sat upon it, squirming in discomfort as she did. "I... don't have any um, underwear on and its, uh, cold... and... uh... really weird..." "It'll warm up. Play please." "This is really strange; my hands feel so small. I don't know how this will go." "Try it anyway, sweetie. Play." "Do you have a foot stool?" "Quit making excuses and play, girl," Raquel growled. The girl sighed, took a deep breath and began to touch the strings. Raquel's heartbeat quickened - it was indeed the very song! Raquel closed her eyes to remove the images of craziness, impossibility and beauty that were before her. Music cannot lie, it comes from straight the soul, and Raquel wanted no visual distractions as she listened for Will's soul. The song unfolded slowly, like a rose gently opening; plaintively, as a nightingale singing alone in the dark before the dawn... ...then Raquel's heart stopped almost completely, because the girl had slightly fumbled a measure and had restarted it. It was the very measure that Will had never quite worked out... As the girl played on, Raquel gathered her dazed thoughts as best she could and quickly replayed the entire scene from Sarah's place, no longer dismissing it as some sick special effects trick. For the first time, she considered it as possible, true. And now it was she that needed to lean against the wall for support, her eyes wide with shock. "That's ...that's enough, thanks ...thanks, Will." "So, so now you believe that it's me? You've just GOT to, Raq, and get me to someone that can help... undo this," Will motioned to her body with the sweep of a hand. "I... I believe you..." She paused, "And I believe that something more, MUCH more, is going on here than I originally thought. Some kind of... and I can't believe I am even going to say this... I'm an atheist for Christ's sake... some kind of magic actually seems to have happened?! I'm out of my element here... I... I really think that I need to call Esmarelda and... speak to her. She knows about such things..." "Your crazy aunt? The one that smokes cigars and then looks into the smoke to see the future? Are you serious? You told me that she thinks she talks to dead people!" Will blurted. She stood up from the toilet and angrily pushed the guitar back to Raquel. "Look at me! LOOK AT WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME! I need real help, right now, Raq, from packs of real medical doctors and... and... herds of clinical psychologists or psychiatrists or something. Not some gypsy fortune-teller!" Raquel had always been especially fond of her 'crazy' Aunt Esmarelda, because, unlike the rest of her family, her Aunt had accepted Raquel's sexual orientation completely, without judgment. But though she recognized her own hypocrisy, Raquel had always been somewhat embarrassed to be with her Aunt in public because of her Aunt's 'magical quirks.' Now, though, she needed her Aunt specifically for those peculiar ways. "Let us see what Esmarelda can do. Yes, this is all loco and you are loco and I must be loco too, but she deals in craziness such as this, supernatural craziness, so maybe she will have a bead on it." "No, Raq, NO! Call 911! Get an ambulance over here! HELP ME!" "Calm down, mi pichon, you look very healthy to me; you do not look like you're in danger of dropping dead or anything..." 'Though you do look drop dead beautiful,' she thought as she paused to take another long admiring look at the young woman. It was very hard for her to not just stare open-mouthed: a lean, smooth sensuous deeply Mediterranean colored body that was flawless, hair black as a moonless night, framing a face that reminded her of Angelina Jolie - full pouted red lips, black long eye-lashes and small perfect rounded nose. And those eyes, those big emerald green eyes! They actually seemed to sparkle. And this angel was Will? If so, then this creature had all of the qualities of her best friend combined with a body that she wanted to eat right now! She could quickly come to love such a creature... "Sooooo" she said, letting her breath slowly out, "let's try to sort this out a little first before we charge off to the hospital with a story like this. I'm not really up for spending time in a padded cell right now. Let's go sit in the living room and sensibly think this through... unless you need to use the bathroom first? I assume you originally came in here for a purpose other than smashing my mirror? And I could use a moment in here after you finish..." The girl calmed. "Okay. You're right. That makes sense; there HAS to be some logical explanation... let's do that." Will paused then, struggling with something internally difficulty: "And I do need to... go... pretty bad, but I'm not sure...I seem to be missing what I normally would use... and I'm not sure how to... I... don't know how to..." the girl pointed at the toilet and then looked helplessly to Raquel for advice. Raquel tried to work through what the woman was stammering about now. "You don't know how to what?" she said impatiently. It dawned on her - "to piss? Dios mios! It is not something that is hard to do or that I can teach you. Ahora que hay modo, mi pich?n. You'll figure it out, just sit and pee!" "Fine, whatever it was that you just said. Get out and I will. And why do you keep calling me pich?n? What does that mean?" "It means pigeon, but the way I'm using it means, um, hot babe." Raquel said, quickly backing out the bathroom door when she realized the girl was frantically looking for something to throw at her. Just before she closed the door, Raquel asked sweetly "You'll be okay if I leave you alone for a moment, Will? You won't break something else?" "Only your nose or..." Raquel shut the door quickly. ---- Sarah started as a bullet shattered her driver's side view mirror. She looked in her rear-view mirror again to see the hideous figure driving the car behind her aim a pistol at her out of the car window. She could barely make out the second figure in the passenger seat, it looked - somehow - shrouded in darkness. She groaned. If a 'worst day in the history of the world' contest was held, Sarah reckoned her day today would be in the running, and it wasn't even noon! Being chased and shot at by a monster that used to be an accredited archeologist and his evil Chinese shaman sidekick was not perhaps the way she would have chosen to see the day go if she had been asked. Sarah tried to piece together just she had come to this crisis. As best it could while driving at dangerously accelerated speeds, Sarah's archeologist mind replayed the events of her morning: Curiosity had finally gotten the better of her when she had awakened and she had finally looked in William's jacket for the engagement ring. It was a simple but elegant gold engagement ring with a beautiful one and a half carat diamond. She read the inscription: "to Sarah my love, always" Sarah had brooded over that for sometime, spinning the ring around and around on her little finger. 'It meant nothing. Less than nothing. Part of their plan.' She thought in disgust. Still, she could at least call her investigator and ask him to confirm a couple of questions. What would that hurt? The number was programmed in her speed dial. She hesitated, then pressed the button. "Five Star Detective Agency" "Halstrom Wolfe, please" She rolled her eyes every time she said his name - where did detectives come up with these names, was it a class or something, private dick names 101? "Just a moment, please" Then, "Halstrom Wolfe here, what can I do for you?" "Hi Halstrom, this is Sarah O'Riagan. I'm glad I caught you in the office so early. Have a moment?" "Yeah, sure. How did it go last night? Did your surprise for Will and Raquel work out as you planned?" "Yup. But William was more surprised this morning, I'm sure." "Sorry, I don't follow..." "Never mind, long story." 'If he only knew the half of it,' she thought. "But listen, I have a couple of follow-up questions for you." "Fire away." "Excellent. First: Raquel said that the pictures with the engagement ring were taken after they had gone to the jeweler. Did you happen to ask the jeweler for whom William intended the ring? Did you ask if William had requested an inscription? I'm told it is rather common. I would have thought that that would have been interesting information for a private detective to determine. I'm just curious. It's something I would surely ask if I were in your position, but you are the expert investigator here." Another pause. "Uh, no. I thought it was pretty clear who the ring was for, they was plan'in to get married, I figured." "I see. That's what you figured. Interesting." Shit! "Second question. Yesterday, Raquel denied having an affair with William. She said that if you had really been following her you would have found that she was, uh, how should I say this, not sexually oriented towards him. I don't expect there was any truth to that, was there?" After a long pause, "Just cause the babe likes women don't mean she don't like men too." Double shit! "I see. Did you see her with other women? Hal? You don't mind if I call you Hal, do you?" "No, Hal is fine. I followed her a couple of times after her band had played, an she went to some bars that dykes go yeah, but I figured you weren't interested in that, so I stopped following her when she wasn't with Will." "Hmmm. Interesting. I paid you, what, well in excess of five thousand dollars to determine if my fianc? is cheating on me with another woman and you can't be bothered to tell me that the woman is gay? Is that about right, Hal?" "Well, uh, you saw the pictures of them together, they looked pretty cozy ya know, and you weren't just hav'in me tail um for my fee. There was the other thing too." "Yes. The other matter. We'll get to that in a moment..." Shitshitshit! Raquel had been telling the truth! William not only was not cheating on her, but had been going to ask her to marry him! How could she have been so stupid! And how had she relied on this complete idiot for information that she had used to justify destroying Will's life. Sarah had to admit now that she had must never had really loved Will - that was pretty obvious... nobody transforms the man they love into a woman if they truly loved him... well, actually, nobody did that because nobody could do that, except her - she didn't suppose that there were many of these special stones laying about - But the point was that if everyone had the power to transform people's gender, they probably wouldn't do it to the people they love... but still, it had been so fascinating to watch William change... so amazing..." 'WHAT AM I SAYING?,' Sarah's mind screamed, 'This is completely insane! Raquel was right, I have gone 'round the bin...' 'Okay. Deep breath. I'll make it right with William somehow. Let me at least see if this moron has done any better in finding more out about Reg, before I arrange to have him slowly killed, or perhaps...' "Now. The other matter, Halle. You don't mind if I call you Halle do you?" "Well, yeah I do mind, it's kind of feminine sounding. Let's just stick to Hal." "Okay, Hal it is," she paused, then added "for now. So tell me about the other job. Any news to convey, I really would like to know if you've found out anything about Professor Barnes' whereabouts." "Yeah, I know it's been a while since you asked me to look into that - and I've been mean'in to call you. It took some time, but I was finally able to talk to the that man - uh..., Zif," "Zhifu Sima, the man my contact at the Chinese Consulate's office recommended. I was told off the record that he is quite good at finding missing persons, and that his English was passable too." "Yeah, That's him. I can never say that first name right. Anyway, I made contact with him. He was kind of evasive at first about doing what you told me to tell him..." "That's because the occupation of 'private detective' is not really permitted in China. I'm told that if you worked there you would have to call yourself something like Information Consultation, and you would have to be very careful about the way you gathered information - privacy is very important in China." "Really? I couldn't be a private detective there? That's unconstitutional!" "I'm quite impressed Hal, you're a scholar of the constitution of the People's Republic of China?" "No, I meant..." "Never mind. Did Mr. Sima agree to help?" "Yeah, and he works fast; I heard back from him pretty quick." 'Unlike you,' she thought. "And...?" "And he did find out something very interesting. He said me that local police had arrested a woman that was trying to purchase an airline ticket on a falsified passport. The name had been altered to read Regina Barnes, and her picture had been pasted over Professor Barnes'. The officials had no reason to believe that the woman posed any sort of violent threat, but she somehow managed to escape, and several guards was killed in the breakout. Mr. Sima said that the police suspected she was aided by a wokkie or a wu or something." Sarah's heartbeat quickened - could it be Reg? And who was this sorcerer that had helped him? "Which is it, Hal? A wokkie is a character from the movie Star Wars, and 'Wu' is Chinese term meaning shaman or sorcerer. It would be useful to know which was involved." "A Wu, a guess. I was being funny. Wu wuu-whoo" "Top notch humor, Hal. Now back to Mr. Sima's report, please? How were the guards killed?" "It gets a little screwy here, because the report lists the cause of their death as 'induced frightful hallucinations'. "They were scared to death?" "I guess. Mr. Sima quoted the report as saying that the one guard that managed to live for a time was not very useful in the investigation, because all he could do was scream one word, over and over again. Something like yin-zan- shear-ren?" Hal had mangled that pretty bad, but it could be the word for ...snakes? "He was seeing snakes? Did the report attribute this to the... Wu? Did he cast some sort of an illusion on them?" "Oh please, you can't seriously think that wokkie thing could really do something like that, do you? I mean please, lets try to stick to reality here!" "That's Wu, not wokkie, Hal and yes, I do take the report seriously. Chinese shamen have been rumored to possess these and other powers for thousands of years." "Pure fair-tale stuff Sarah... I" "I've told you before - that's Ms. O'Riagan to you." "S-sorry Ms. Regan." "That's O'Riagan." "Whatever, anyway..." Hal was really becoming quite annoying. "By the way, Hal, I was wondering if you could get together with me sometime soon? I've found a rather unique object, and I know in your line of work you deal with lost things all the time. I was wondering ever so much if you could take a look at it for me, and get your opinion on whether it is worth anything... Halle? Maybe we could have a drink at my place?" "Yeah sure, normally I make it a rule not to see my client socially, but you're so fine that I definitely will make an exception." "You'll have the time of your life Halle!" "Um... that's Hal." "Of course. Now, did Mr. Sima find out anything else about this woman and her companion or the missing Professor Barnes?" "Yeah, Mr. Sima, figured that the woman might know where the Professor was or had been, so he tried to figure out where she was. He also figured she might try to get another airline ticket, maybe directly from the Xi'an airport, so he did some fishing around out there. Sima's a pretty smart guy, seems like." 'Yes, too bad I couldn't have used him to check into William and Raquel, instead of using this dolt!' she thought. "Bad luck, there though, cause he must have just missed the woman. He said a ticket agent told him that a woman fitting the description of the one arrested and the wok... the Wu... managed to buy some tickets and flew out a couple of days ago. But from what the ticket counter guy said, Professor Barnes wasn't with them." "Was the ticket agent certain it was the same woman?" "Mr. Sima was - he had the police report with him and he thought the description was a match. The ticket guy told Sima that the woman looked like she had come straight from the hell of ten thousand ugly women. And Sima said the police report described the woman as having striking green eyes and as being butt-ugly." "Butt-ugly? That description was used in the report?" "No, that was my translation. Mr. Sima said the term 'exceedingly grotesque features' was used to describe the woman in the police report." 'Hmmm. Interesting. If the woman was Reg, I wonder why he had turned out so ugly and William so beautiful. That would be fascinating to research. Does the transformation condition deteriorate over time, or does it simply affect people differently? If a transformed person touched the stone again, would she be returned to her original state? Or to something else?' "Did Mr. Sima say where they were believed to be going?" "Yeah. Quite a coincidence there! He said their final destination was right here!" Sonofabitch!! So they flew out two days ago? With the time change that would put them here... any time now. She had to move fast. "Good-bye Hal' she said quickly, not having any more time to waste with the turd. "Hey wait! When are we gonna get together..." "As soon as I can, Halle. I really mean to reward you for the quality of your work." She added, and hung up. The cretin! How could she have relied on such a fuck-up? She would settle up with him one day for his incompetence, but now she sprang into action, grabbing first her pistol, and a box of bullets, second the small puzzle box that she kept the stone in, and third, some clothes that she hastily threw into a small suitcase. She had to get somewhere safe fast, because without question she would be having some very violent visitors soon who would be looking for the stone. 'But to where?' She snatched her keys from her kitchen counter and sprinted for her car. She hadn't formulated any destination yet but had simply driven, and somewhere along the way she noticed that she was being followed... The dinging sound of another bullet smacking the back of her car brought her out of her musings to the present. She leaned out of the window to return fire and caught a glimpse of the driver. 'Wow, I'll have to give Halle credit for one thing he said, that thing IS butt- ugly!' The 'thing,' she felt certain, was Professor Reginald "Reg" Barnes, or what he had become after he had touched the stone. "Damn! Is she pissed off or what!" Sarah snickered, "She's still smarting from the way I tricked ol' Reg into touching the stone in my hospital recovery room in Xi'an.' Sarah recalled how Reg had come late at night to her recovery room when he was certain the place would be deserted, to try to kill her again, she was sure. She still marveled that even in that situation, where he had planned to kill her, he had arrived looking perfectly groomed as always and wearing a white dinner jacket; not a hair out of place. If Doctor Barnes had spent half the time he spent in front of his mirror reading texts, he would have been the premier authority on ancient Chinese architecture. His colossal ego and arrogance had made it almost too easy to dupe him into opening the puzzle box that held the stone: "Oh, Reg," she had said sweetly, playing the lover that had no idea he was behind the chamber explosion, "I can't make heads or tails of this, but I think it may be important. It was buried next too the Emperor himself, I think. You're so much better at these things than I am - could you look at it?" Reg had managed to open it after a struggle - she was afraid that she was going to have to hint to him how to work the simple thing - and after seeing that the contents were only a plain smooth black stone, he had naturally and quite unthinkingly grabbed it to give it a closer look. He let out a howling shriek that became high-pitched at its end and, dropping the stone, he bolted from the room. She was as shocked at the result as he. She knew generally what the stone was supposed to do from her translation of the ancient Chinese symbols on the box - and she been very careful not to touch it - but when Reg grabbed the stone it had all happened in the blink of an eye. She had not quite allowed herself to believe that the figure of the woman screaming down the hospital hallway was Reg. Her mind paused to consider a paradox: Reg had truly been guilty of betraying her and indeed had tried to murder her; he had been transformed into a hideous thing. William, poor thing, as it turned out had only been guilty of falling in love with a psychotic woman, and he had been changed into a wondrous beauty. Was the stone a kind of metaphysical polygraph test? God she wanted to test the stone out some more! Another bullet ripped through the car, this one hitting the passenger seat headrest. 'Shit that was close! She's just not a happy little girl' Sarah knew that unless she caught a break soon, things would be getting far far worse. Then her luck turned good for the first time in the day - maybe. In the distance ahead she spied a train approaching a road crossing; the train warning lights had begun to flash. She figured that if she floored it, she might just be able to the crossing before the train did, but if she guessed wrong then - splat! She briefly debated the issue, but an image in her rear view mirror decided it for her. She blinked several times when she saw - snakes - large python like snakes - floating in air, coming out of the car behind her and swimming towards her. She stomped on the gas pedal as hard as she could. A warning whistle sounded from the train as the speeding cars raced towards the crossing. The wooden gates had already closed, but with a sharp CRACK, Sarah's car broke through and crossed the track, just in front of the fast moving locomotive engine. The pursuing car screeched to a halt in a haze of smoke from burnt rubber. Sarah was fully aware that if her car had been just one or two seconds slower, then... With shaking hands, she sped on. The train stretched far back along the track, and Sarah could no longer see her pursuers or any wriggling apparitions floating towards her. At that moment she determined her destination: she would drive to the remote countryside cabin of a friend to evade her followers, but first she would drive to Raquel's apartment to see William. Perhaps the stone could reverse the transformation process? She owed it to William to try - the poor dear - and in any event she was just dying to know what would happen if a transformed person touched the stone a second time. Or if a woma