The Sisterhood Of Athena: Prologue And Chapter One free porn video

The following is a story that's been bumping around in my head for the better part of two years. It's one of those where the hardest part has been how to start it, especially considering how confusing the beginning is. As with most of my other stories (yes, even the incomplete ones) it deals a lot with identity, particularly with characters that remember being one person but have the body and memories of a completely different person too. It's also a spy story because, well....who hasn't always wanted to write a great spy thriller? Anyway, I hope you like it. The Sisterhood of Athena Prologue Centuries had passed but nothing had changed since that day, the day of the blast. Darkness filled the room. It seemed like it had always been that way, but the book knew better. The book knew that one day someone would come and release it's power into the world again. Until that time, it bided its time, waiting in the darkness. Laura Enderton stood and wiped the sweat from her brow. It was late afternoon and twice as hot as she'd expected. Whoever told her summer was milder in Europe was a damn fool. With a sigh she knelt back down and began gently wiping away the dust from floor of plaza where she was currently working. Laura was an archaeology grad student working on a project in the ruins of Pompeii. Mostly she had just wanted a cheap trip to Europe but the long, hot days at the work site left her too drained to do much sightseeing in her free time. Still, she couldn't deny the excitement she felt today. There was a vibe running through the camp that she was sure probably hadn't been felt since the day the city was discovered. During a recent scan of the city, ground penetrating radar had discovered a void beneath this plaza. The centuries had turned the soot and ash of Mount Vesuvius into hardened rock, but the scientists actually heading up the dig were reluctant to use brute force to break into the void just yet. Thus it fell to Laura and her fellow grad students to scour as much of the rock away as possible and see if they could find an opening in the remaining plaza floor. She dusted slowly up her section of the floor for another half an hour. She had just about convinced herself it was time to get up and go refill her water bottle when she noticed something strange. She worked at it a little bit and discovered a symbol carved into the floor. Normally she wouldn't think this too strange, but the symbol was Greek rather than Latin. It appeared to be a corrupted version of the sigil of Athena. She shifted her weight a little as she scooted closer to the symbol. As she reached out to trace it with her fingers, she heard a subtle cracking sound. She looked up and around her just a second before the world flew upward and darkness surrounded her. "Laura? Laura? Are you down there? Are you okay?" The voices seemed to be coming from far away. Laura opened her eyes and tried to remember where she was. Quickly it came back to her. She must have fallen into the void. She took stock of herself. Her whole body ached but nothing seemed to jump out at her. She rolled onto her side and tried to push herself into a sitting position. It hurt to move, but again, she felt no restrictions. "Laura? Can you hear us?" The team, she thought. "I'm down here," she called. "I think I'm okay." "Laura, it's Collin," a new voice called down. Collin Timmons was the head of the research team that Laura and the other grad students were working for. "Are you sure you're okay?" "Apart from a splitting headache and a very sore body I think I'm okay. I don't think I'm all that far down. How long before I can get out of here?" "Laura, well, we're not sure," Collin answered. "Our light sources don't seem to impenetrate the darkness down there. We're hurrying to get a harness put together for you, but it's going to be a few more minutes. We weren't expecting to have to go down there for at least a few more days so nothing is quite ready." At Collin's statement about the darkness, Laura took her first real look at her surroundings since falling. Collin was right. It was dark down here, too dark. The hole that had opened up around her when she fell should at least be letting some light in, but it was black as pitch down here. No, that wasn't true, not exactly. She could make things out, but it's like everything was in some crazy gray scale that blended together. Had she hurt her head when she fell? A concussion maybe? "It's okay, Collin. Take your time with the harness. I'm not going anywhere so I'd rather you get it right," she called up to her boss. With that she stood up and looked around. She felt a familiar tugging at her shoulder and found that her satchel was still strapped on. She smiled as she opened the shoulder bag and dug through it until she found her flashlight. Luckily it hadn't broken in the fall. She flicked it on and played the beam around the void. The flashlight's beam seemed to work and Laura found that she was apparently in some kind of alter chamber. She still couldn't understand why a Greek sigil had been carved into the stone above her. Why would a Roman be worshipping a Greek god. Surely he would have adopted their Roman counterpart. Besides, Pompeii fell after the introduction of Christianity. None of this added up to Laura. Then she found something that seemed to bring some clarity to her surroundings. It was a body, practically mummified by the lack of air she gathered. It was dressed in a variation of the classic Centurion outfit, complete with traditional helmet. However, as walked closer to it, she discovered the hilt of a sword jutting from its abdomen. The blade's tip poked out the man's back. Laura gasped in shock and backed away. The body hadn't been coated in soot or ash like the other bodies in Pompeii. Whatever was down here had to be older than the volcano blast. The beam of the flashlight danced around as she tried to scan the room further. There were further signs of a struggle, but no other bodies. Then she found the altar. Curious, Laura walked even further away from where she had fallen. The room wasn't that large, she discovered. She had obviously fallen in on one end, presumably where the entrance had been. The altar was at the far end. When Laura reached the altar, she was surprised at it's simplicity. There were a few bowls, most likely for offerings, at each end and in the center lay a book. Laura brought her light down on the book. It was bound in rugged leather. A gold disc lay pressed into the cover. The sigil she had seen in the stone, the corrupted symbol of Athena, was etched into the disc. She knew she shouldn't, every bit of her teaching urged her against it, but Laura couldn't resist the urge. Laura reached out and touched the book, her hand wavering slightly as she did. As her flesh brushed the smooth hide of the book's cover, she felt a sharp tingle run down her spine. Then, the book glowed suddenly. Laura watched as the glow of the book seemed to flow upwards through her hand and up her arm. Within seconds, she could see her whole body was glowing. As the glowing faded, Laura understood. She was something more now. She belonged to the book and she would serve it well. She looked down at herself. Where before she had been wearing a short sleeved workshirt and khakis, she now wore a simple white sheath dress that displayed her curves prominently and seemed to glow with a faint echo of the book's brightness. She felt her hair, previously up in a ponytail, flowing free down her back. Laura breathed deep, as if it were her first breath, then bent to lift the book, a slight smile on her face as she did. "Laura? Laura, is that you?" a voice called. Laura looked up. The strange darkness that had filled the void was gone. She could see the sunlight streaming down through the hole where she had fallen. From that spot she could see Collin and one of the graduate students walking towards her. She smiled at them. It was time for the teaching to begin. This time the word of the book would not be stopped. "Laura," Collin called as he walked to the altar where his grad student was standing. He recognized her face, but was certain she'd been wearing more traditional work clothes the couple of times he'd seen her that morning. As he looked closer he realized she was holding some kind of book. "What have you got there, Laura?" She didn't answer. She just smiled at him. Her smile was dazzling. Collin couldn't remember ever seeing a brighter smile. "Laura, are you feeling okay? You sounded pretty banged up before," he said, not sure what was going on. "Before?" she said. "Before? There is nothing before now. The rest of my life begins in this moment." "What?" Collin said. "What are you talking about?" "The book called me down here, Collin. It healed me. It showed me all the possibilities of the world." Uh oh, Collin thought. There must have been some kind of fungus down here. He'd seen this kind of thing before. If he didn't get Laura topside soon, whatever it was would kill her and he'd have to deal with a curse rumor ten times worse than King Tut's. "Laura, it's okay. Let's get to the harness. Just leave the book here. We can come back for it once we're sure it's safe." Laura felt the book tingle in her hands. Of course the book was safe, she thought. Why shouldn't it be? Then she felt something. The book was telling her something. She could feel its fear. It was Collin. No, it was something more. It was fear of men. It feared men, what they could do, what they had done. In an instant the book showed her all the cruelty of men. They had to be stopped it told her. Laura agreed. "Stop, Collin. Don't come any closer," she called, her voice imperious. "What," Collin said. "Laura, come on! We need to get out of here!" "The book chose me, Collin," Laura answered. "In return, I choose you to be the first. The first man to be purified in a thousand years." Laura raised her left arm and pointed out at Collin. She could feel power surging from the book through her. A beam of light splayed out from Laura's pointed finger penetrating Collin and wrapping him in a glow not unlike that which had enveloped Laura only moments earlier. When it faded, Collin was nowhere to be seen. In his place stood a tall, blonde woman, her long hair flowing all the way down her back, clad in a white dress as Laura was. She looked up at Laura. "What have you done to me?" she whispered. Then her eyes glazed over and her body slackened. The flashlight she carried fell from her hand. " I name you Callie," Laura said as she looked at the newly made woman. "Callie Timmons is the only person the world will remember. All will forget the life of the man, Collin. As it is spoken, so shall it be. Now, we can't go back topside looking as we are now, can we acolyte?" Laura waved her arms and her original clothing was restored. Female variations of the outfit Collin had been wearing appeared on the newly dubbed Callie. Laura smiled. Soon, every man in the world would face a similar cleansing, but for now this was a good start. She waved her hand once more and watched as Callie stirred. Callie looked around the room. She had the vaguest feeling that something strange had just happened, but couldn't remember for the life of her what it had been. Then she looked up at Laura and smiled. Her priestess was safe, she thought to herself. That was all that mattered. "My mistress," Callie called, "we need to get back topside." Laura walked down to her new acolyte. "I know, my child," she said. She reached out and touched Callie's forehead. Callie's eyes glazed again. "Until I call you, you will behave as if nothing unusual happened here. You are Callie Timmons, the head of this team and nothing else. You will not speak of the book to anyone, forget it ever existed. As for me, until I call to you I am nothing more than another grad student working on this project for you. You will treat me no differently than any of the other students here. Do you understand?" "Yes, my lady," Callie whispered. Laura removed her hand from Callie's forehead and smiled as she came back out of the trance. "Yes, let's hurry topside, Callie," Laura said. She slipped the book into her satchel and smiled. "There is much work to be done." Chapter One Robert Jackson stood in the elevator wondering what to do next. He'd been working at his desk not five minutes earlier, but the strangest call he'd ever thought he could receive had come. If it had been anyone but James Stephens he would have blown it off as a prank. He was almost tempted to do just that now. Only the fact that Stephens was the deputy director of the FBI was stopping him. So, here he was...standing in an elevator with the emergency stop button pushed, waiting for further instructions. Just as he was about to give in anyway, the trill of his cell phone snapped him to attention. Robert pulled it from the inside pocket of his suit and held it to his ear. "Jackson," he said. "Most folks would have given up long ago, Robert," James Stephens said. "It's good that you didn't." "With all due respect, sir," Robert said tersely, "is this some kind of test?" "In a manner of speaking, Robert, yes," Stephens answered. "Though not exactly the kind you're thinking of. If you're ready to proceed, then do exactly as I say." Robert shook his head. "What do you want me to do?" "Open up the emergency phone panel. Pick up the phone receiver and press the call button under it." Robert followed the instructions. "Okay, done. What exactly does that do?" "Normally, it'd call the elevator company's emergency alert team. Right now, not really anything. Well, not yet, anyway. Now, push the following numbers in this sequence: 3, 1, 6, 6, 9, 3, 2. Once you've done that, press the call button on the emergency phone again. Oh, and Robert, you might want to close your eyes before you do." The phone went dead before Robert could ask what the heck was going on. He couldn't help but feel like he was on the wrong end of some kind of FBI punked stunt or something. Still, he couldn't really ignore the deputy director. The man was practically his boss's boss's boss. So, with a sigh, Robert punched the numbers into the elevator. When he had finished keying the sequence of floor numbers, he took a deep breath and pressed the call button on the emergency phone again. At first, nothing seemed to happen. Robert was vaguely relieved that the elevator doors didn't open to expose him to a mob of coworkers all pointing and laughing at him. As expected, though, it appeared to have been a bust. He was about to disengage the emergency stop when a loud whirring noise made him pause. It definitely sounded like machinery but nothing like the workings of an elevator. Before he could give it much more thought, a blinding white light filled the elevator cabin. The light was the most intense thing Robert had ever seen in his life. Even shutting his eyes didn't block it out completely. Robert fell to his knees, his hands covering his face. The whirring became faster and louder, drowning out any ability at coherent thought. Then Robert felt a hand on his shoulder. He tried to open his eyes and look to see who was with him, but the light was just too bright. "You can stop screaming," a voice said. "It's over." Robert felt the hand on his shoulder squeeze him for a second. He shook as he realized that the sounds he was still hearing weren't the noises from the elevator. He really was screaming. He stopped immediately and tried once again to open his eyes. This time he could, but his vision was blurred. From what he could see, though, the room seemed to glow with an ethereal white light. "Where am I?" he asked. "What was that light? Why can't I see?" He felt the hand on his shoulder disappear only to feel a hand grip his upper arm and start to pull him up. "So many questions," the voice he'd heard a second ago said. Now that he wasn't screaming, Robert could recognize the voice as Deputy Director Stephens's. "Allow me to start with your last one and work back to the first," he said as he lead Robert to a chair. "The reason you can't see is because you didn't take my advice and close your eyes. It's understandable, I didn't really give you much of a warning. Call it something of a trial by fire. All of us who have ever visited here went through it. The light flash-burned your retinas. It's a temporary effect and should be starting to wear off as we speak." Robert looked up at Stephens and, sure enough, he was starting to come into focus. The startling glow of the room didn't seem to be fading as his vision returned, Robert noted though. "So what was the light?" "Well, plain and simple, it's energy," the deputy director said with a smirk. "I'm serious, sir. Please don't give me some oversimplified scientific answer." "I'm serious, too, son. The light you saw was the energy expended to bring you from that elevator all the way to here." Robert shook his head. "That still doesn't really answer my question, sir. Just where is here? I've never seen a room in Quantico like this." "That's because technically, we're not in Quantico anymore. Robert, welcome to the White Room." "The, uh, what, sir?" Robert said. Now it was Stephens turn to shake his head. "The White Room. Robert, please just bear with me and I'll explain. I'm sure you're probably not familiar with string theory and any of that other fancy physics malarky. I've got a feeling you know what alternate realities are, though. Am I right?" "Uh, well," Robert said, scratching his head, "I guess so. They're realities where things happened differently than in this reality. Like a world where the South one the Civil War or Great Britain beat us in the Revolutionary War, right?" Stephens touched his finger to his nose. "Extreme examples, but yeah, you've got the gist. Well, about ten years ago, we discovered the White Room. It's a kind of monitoring station that exists outside of reality. It doesn't let us see into other realities, but it does let us monitor changes to our own reality. And before you ask, no, I don't know how it's possible. I could give a crap how the technology works, only that it does work." "Uh, sure, sir. So I'm supposed to believe that I'm in a room somewhere outside of reality," Robert said. Director Stephens sighed. "Robert, look down and tell me what you're sitting on." A puzzled look flashed on Robert's face. He looked down and saw that there was nothing supporting him. For a second he hung there in mid-air. Then gravity won and he collapsed to the ground in a heap. "What? There was a chair there. I could feel it," he said as he picked himself up again. "No, Robert," Stephens said. "You assumed there was a chair there. This place has a way of making thoughts seem real, but there was never anything there when you sat down. I know you still don't believe me entirely, but we don't have time for a better show. Follow me." Robert followed the director as they walked the room. The room seemed to stretch on into infinity in all directions. Robert had a feeling it probably did and made extra sure to stick close to the director as they walked. He wasn't sure how long they'd been walking when a desk seemed shimmer into existence next to them. A man sat behind it, apparently pecking at a keyboard. He looked up and smiled as Robert and Director Stephens approached. "Ah, Deputy Director, so good to see you again. And this must be Robert Jackson," he said, his voice practically beaming. "It's so nice to see a new face. It gets a bit lonely here sometimes." "Robert, this Arthur. We call him the Watcher." "The watcher?" Robert said as he shook the man behind the desk's hand. "He was here when we found the room," Stephens said. "According to him, it's his job to monitor our reality and make sure that nothing interferes with it." "Yes," the man called Arthur intoned. "Normally that requires virtually no impact on the world at large. Technically speaking it's just the occasional pieces of flotsam and jetsam from other realities that drop into your world. Ten years ago, though, something caused a warp in reality like I haven't seen in a thousand years only to disappear almost immediately afterward." "Okay, so what was it?" Robert asked. "We don't know," Stephens said. "Yes, that's true. But the pattern fit an ancient calamity that almost befell this reality and, as a result, I was required to open up certain protocols, which included divulging the existence and nature of the White Room to those in your reality best equipped to stop a major shift in Earth Prime reality. That's why you're here." "Okay, I give. How do I figure into all of this?" Robert asked. He decided to test out the reality of the White Room for himself while he listened. He imagined that he was sitting in a very comfortable leather recliner. On a whim, he fell back only to be stop before he hit the ground. He smiled as he felt the cool leather against his body, but when he looked down there was nothing there. Arthur couldn't hold back a smile. "In short, Mr. Jackson, that is exactly why you are here," he said, motioning as if to suggest that Robert's apparent ability to float in the air were something special. "I thought anyone could do stuff like this here," Robert said as he turned to look at Director Stephens. "Well, not exactly, Robert," Stephens said. "The White Room works off of the power of suggestion. The first time you sat down here it was because I led you through the motions of getting into a chair. I can't just make a chair up for myself, but I could make you think there was one there. You, on the other hand, can directly affect both your reality and the reality of others in this room." "In short," Arthur said, "you have a minute ability to alter the reality of the world around you. Only those with that ability can do such things in the White Room. Of course, it doesn't amount to much. Outside of this room you would probably call it luck more than anything else." "Okay, so I can manipulate reality. I still don't get why I'm here. I'm just an analyst," Robert said as he leaned back in his imaginary chair. "You mean you haven't shown him the file yet?" a new voice interrupted. Robert opened his eyes to see a striking blonde woman staring down at him from beside Arthur at the desk. "Patience, Agent Silvers, we were working up to it," Stephens said. "There are certain things that have to be explained. Or do I have to remind you of your first visit to the White Room?" Robert swore that for half a second he could see this Agent Silvers' face flare up in a blush. Then she was staring at him, her eyes ice cold again. He stood up from his chair and looked at the others. "Just what is going on here?" Agent Silvers sighed. "About six months ago you were working on a file about a missing state representative from Iowa, Calvin Davis. He was proving to be a major committee player, moving up the ranks faster than anyone had in years. He was tagged to be next in line for Speaker of the House before he disappeared." Robert shook his head. "I don't remember any case file. You must be confused anyway. The only Davis that's repping from Iowa is Christina Davis and she's definitely not a committee player. She's been tagged as too aggressive, though I have to admit her politics seem to be drawing a lot of fans to her rallies these days." "Here's the file, Robert," Director Stephens said and handed him a manilla folder. Robert took it and flipped it open. There were notes everywhere, all in his handwriting. Try as he might, though, Robert couldn't remember ever working on this case. Or did he. As he read his own notes, Robert had a strange feeling of d?j? vu. There was something familiar about all of this. Then he read his last page of notes. The last sentence chilled him to the bone. 'Why does everyone in the world suddenly remember Christina Davis as if she's always been the state rep from Iowa when I've never heard of her?' "I remember," Robert said, the color draining from his face. "But why did I forget?" "Reality has a way of correcting things," Arthur said, "but it takes the path of least resistance. For a brief moment you were the only one who could remember that Calvin Davis existed so it erased your memory instead of putting him back in everyone else's" "But what happened? How come this Christina Davis person didn't apparently exist until a week after Calvin's disappearance?" Robert asked as he read over the file again. "We think it has something to do with the disturbance Arthur felt ten years ago," Stephens said. "Yes, if it's the same thing as what befell the Earth a thousand years ago, this is right up it's alley, though it does seem to have learned the game of patience better than the last time." "Would you quit sidestepping the question and tell me what the hell's going on?" Robert demanded. Agent Silvers stepped to him. "Apparently, a thousand years ago a cult developed around a very charismatic woman who called herself Athena. She claimed to be the actual goddess that had sprung full grown from the head of Zeus. She preached that men were the weaker sex and that women were rightful leaders of the world. It was under her that the warrior women, the Amazons, first arose. Eventually she was driven into hiding and supposedly killed somewhere in modern day Italy. However, all during her rule over the cult, there were numerous reports of the disappearance of males only to have them replaced by similarly named females. Only people like us were initially sensitive to it, but as the balance of men to women weakened, it caused the White Room to become active." "Yes," Arthur said, "that was the first time I ever called anyone from your reality into the room. It seemed that this Athena was using some sort of device to warp reality so that men became women. She deemed it her destiny to rid the world of all mankind and replace it with womankind." "So you're saying that Calvin Davis and Christina Davis are the same person?" Robert asked. "That somehow this cult has become active again and is replacing the world's men with their female counterparts?" "Yes," Arthur said. "And it's up to you to stop them." "Why me?" "Because no one is more powerful than you are at manipulating reality, Robert," Arthur said. No, Robert thought. This is crazy. It's too much. I don't have the kind of power they're talking about. I... "Stop it Robert," Arthur said firmly. "You are much stronger than you think you are." "You can read my thoughts?" Robert asked. "In so much as they make up the reality of this place, yes," Arthur said. "And rest assured, you are the only one who can stop the new sisterhood from rising up to take over the world." "The new sisterhood?" "That was what the original cult called themselves," Director Stephens said. "The Sisterhood of Athena. Our records indicate that Representative Davis and his wife attended a rally on women's rights the day he disappeared. We think it's likely that they caught him there." Robert sighed as he realized that he was apparently not going to be given a choice on this matter. "I have a feeling I know what's coming, sir, and I'd just like to go on the record as saying I'm not a field agent." "With what we're going to do to you, you won't need to be," Stephens said. "We think that the prime suspects are a group calling themselves the Sisters of the Arts. They're a relatively new women's lib group with a foundation in supporting liberal arts educations. They sprang up seemingly out of nowhere about ten years ago. You and Agent Silvers here will be going undercover and trying to infiltrate their ranks." "I guess we're going to be working together," Silvers said. "It won't matter in a few minutes, but I'm True Silvers. Nice to meet you." Robert shook her hand and smiled. Maybe when this was all over he could talk her into going to get a drink. She was definitely the best looking woman he'd met since his divorce two years ago. There were more important matters at stake now, though. He turned back to Stephens. "I don't get it, sir. If this sisterhood group is all women, how am I supposed to join them?" "That's my job," Arthur said. When Robert turned to face him he went on. "You need to be a woman to join the sisterhood," he said. Suddenly Robert felt strange, almost like the circulation to his entire body had been cut off for a moment. Every inch of his skin throbbed with a pins and needles sensation, but it wasn't done. "You need to be younger, let's say seventeen. The sisterhood wants younger members, the better to target younger potential members with. And you need to be famous with the young people of the world, yet popular enough within the adult world for the world to listen when you speak." With every new sentence the sensation intensified throughout Robert's body. Even his mind seemed to grow hazy with the tingling. Then Arthur said one last thing that chilled him to the bone. "You are Emily Lockhart, star of the popular teen show Anna Santanna and the world's most famous teen pop star." There was a flash of light as Arthur finished speaking, not unlike the one she had seen when she first came to the White Room, but not nearly as bright. Emily felt the tingling in her body subside as she looked around. For a brief second she had the strangest feeling she'd been someone else not a few seconds earlier. Then she smiled and looked over at Arthur. "Like, OMG, Artie, that was totally amazing," she cooed. "When can I do THAT again?" "Hopefully, soon, Emily," Arthur said. "Now, please answer a few questions for me, okay?" Emily was looking down at her outfit. She was wearing a sequined hater top and tight fitting fringed jeans with four-inch wedge heeled Ugg boots. She could feel her trademark dangly earrings hanging from her ears as well as the cold studs piercing her tongue and left nostril, not to mention a couple of places she knew fans would die to know she had pierced. She could feel the hair clip as well as her long, wavy black hair draping across her shoulders. She could even feel the icy pink lipgloss and the rest of her stage make up weighing down her face. She was worried by the fact that she couldn't remember what her face looked like, though. "Emily," she heard the man beside Arthur say. She could have sworn she knew who he was a second ago, but now it was like he was a complete stranger. She started to try to puzzle it out when she remembered Arthur had asked her a question. "Oh right, sorry, Artie," she said. "Ask away." "What is your name?" "Emily Lockhart, duh," she said. "What is your occupation?" "I'm like the total package, Artie," she said. "What do you want me to be?" "And who is your hero, your inspiration?" "I'd have to say Madonna and Christina Aguilera," Emily said. "Both of them can dance and sing and Madonna's not a half bad actress." "Give her the bracelet, James," Arthur said. Stephens stepped over to where Emily was standing and held out a strange looking bracelet. "Put this on," he said. Emily took it and flipped it over a couple of times, as if to make sure it wasn't going to bite. "Uhmm, okay." She slipped over her left wrist and a sudden shiver went down her spine. She looked up at Arthur. "What did you do to me?" "Robert?" "I want to say I am," Emily said. "I mean I remember being him and all, but I also know that I'm Emily Lockhart and that I have a show in about two hours and if I'm late I'm going to make a lot of little girls very angry at me." "It's a little disorienting at first, isn't it?" True Silvers said. "You'll get the hang of it fairly quickly. Once we're out of the White Room just let Emily take over and you'll do just fine." "You've been through this before?" Emily asked. "Twice, though never with as drastic a change as what you've just been through." "But why? How?" Emily asked. "The how is easy," Arthur said. "It's the same principle as when you made your imaginary chair a moment ago, only magnified a few hundred times. The why, well, weren't you listening when I changed you?" "You think that this is what the sisterhood is looking for? Some teenage starlet to take control of so that they can bring the young girls of the world to their cause? But I don't get it, the part of me that's still Robert doesn't even know who Emily Lockhart is. She doesn't exist outside of this room." "Emily, Emily, Emily," Stephens said. "Haven't you learned anything? As soon as you leave the White Room Emily Lockhart will exist and she'll be bigger than Hilary Duff ever was with teen girls. Now, we gotta hurry because we can't keep you here too much longer. Here's the plan. "Emily has been booked to appear at a concert venue near a rally point of the Sisterhood of the Art. We think if you make an appearance at their rally and throw your support to their cause you'll get your in with them. Agent Silvers here is going to be accompanying you as your 'stage mom' so to speak since you're still technically underage as you are now. Truthfully, she's just another pair of eyes and ears so both of you make sure to share information as much as possible. You never know what kind of leads you'll develop." "And make sure to never take your bracelet off," Arthur said as Emily looked down at the one Stephens had given her. "It's your link to the White Room. If you take it off all knowledge of your original life will be gone. Also, once you're outside of the room only Director Stephens and Agent Silvers will remember your original identity. As far as the rest of the world is concerned Robert Jackson will have never existed. And now for you, Agent Silvers." Emily watched as Arthur made True regress to the age of 25 and redressed her in a tight white tank top and pink leather jacket with a short black flared skirt and sneakers with no socks. Her hair pulled back into a tight, shiny blonde ponytail. He renamed her Stacey Lockhart. Suddenly Emily could remember that this was her older sister, Stacey. She smiled as Stacey came out of the daze of the transformation. "We don't have anymore time, Director Stephens," Arthur said. For the first time Emily detected something in his voice other than the candid joviality she had become accustomed to. She watched as Stephens ran over to Stacey and tried to put a bracelet on her wrist forcibly, but then everything went dark. Emily wasn't sure how long she'd stayed in the dark. She reached around her and could tell she was in a tube of some kind. Then she heard a whirring beneath her. Instinctively she closed her eyes. She felt the distinct upward motion of a slow moving lift and was briefly puzzled. She started to open her eyes, but a bright shining light all around her caused her to close them again. Then she heard the voice. "Ladies and gentleman, presenting the queen of the teen scene, Anna Santanna herself, the one, the only....EMILY LOCKHART!!!!!" Before Emily knew what she was doing she belting out the lyrics to her number one hit single, "The Best of Two Worlds" and dancing across the stage. She smiled as she reached out and touched the hand of one of her fans who'd pulled close to the stage. This was going to be the best show she'd put on all week, Emily thought to herself, but she had the vaguest feeling she was forgetting something.