Still reeling from their disastrous loss at the hands of Xenos, Chris and the others race to find a clue that will help to track him down so they can thwart his plans. And for Chris and Lydia, to get him to swap their bodies back!

Identity Crisis: Adventures in Babysitting

By Jenny North

By the time we managed to get to the garage, Xenos was long gone. From the way the door had been forced, it was obvious that he'd been there, but apart from that, the place looked like it always did.

I didn't like being a step behind Xenos, but in this case it might have been a blessing in disguise. Trixie was wiped out from teleporting all five of us across the city like that, and she was in no condition to fight. In fact, she'd had to stop twice on the way here so she could catch her breath. She was apologetic, but it was obvious that she was pushing herself to her limits. Although as we reminded her, this was faster than whatever our next best option would have been.

Unfortunately, now things looked especially grim. We still had no idea where Xenos was, or any way to track him. Furthermore, since he wasn't here rummaging around, it was a good bet that he'd left with whatever it was he came for.

"What's the plan?" Hissyfit asked.

I took a long breath. Our only hope was to figure out what he took and hope that it would help us track him somehow.

"Everybody, fan out and see if you see anything unusual."

Hissyfit took one glance at all of the big storage racks with the haphazardly filled shelves and made a face. She was clearly about to say something sarcastic, but she held it back and began to wander amongst the passages and shelves. Trixie went off in another direction, while Mari took a seat and summoned up insects to scout for her.

This was hopeless.

Just then, I heard the familiar sound of my phone ringing. My stomach was tied in knots at the sound of it, but I had to know for sure. I fished the still-ringing phone out of my backpack to see that it was my Aunt Jessica calling, no doubt checking up on us and probably letting us know they were on their way home, or that they would be soon. I stared at the phone as it continued to ring, but it wasn't like I had any choice in the matter. She'd certainly want to talk to me as Chris, and that...wasn't gonna happen. I let it go to voice mail. It was an unpleasant reminder of the ticking clock, but right now in the universe of our current problems, my irate aunt didn't even rate.

I put the phone away and turned to see Lydia seated at the computer console. At first I thought she was looking at the screen when I realized that she was looking at her dim reflection in the glass as she touched her face and hair. I couldn't even begin to fathom what I'd gotten her into. Me being stuck as a little girl was nothing compared to what had been done to her. She was a middle-aged man, with 50 years of her life cruelly stolen from her by a madman. And all of it was my fault.

"Pull it together, Chris," I said to myself as I walked up to her.

She gave me a defeated look. I knew the feeling, but I couldn't afford to show that in front of her. Not yet.

"Don't worry. My friends will figure this out," I assured her.

Then, I noticed Chimera's energy rifle laying next to the computer. He'd left his weapon behind when he took off in my body, and Hissyfit had picked it up and brought it along in addition to the one that she'd been using. I hefted it and handed it to Lydia.

"You're gonna need this," I told her.

She accepted it and looked at me in bewilderment. "You're giving me a gun?"

I winced. "Yeah, let's maybe not phrase it that way," I said. Although in fairness, giving a gun to a seven-year-old probably wasn't even in the top five of my worst decisions today. "But I don't want you to use it."

"Then why are you giving it to me?"

"Because...you might need to use it," I said. "I put it on the stun setting. I think. Just think of it as laser tag. But with real lasers."

She nodded. It was bizarre seeing this man looking so confused and forlorn, but still with a glimmer of hope. Incredible.

I tried to give her a supportive grin, which she didn't quite return.

I sidled up a little closer. She peered over at me and I said, "Two cows are standing in a pasture. One turns to the other and says, 'Maya Angelou once observed that it's necessary to encounter one's defeats so you can learn who you are and what you can overcome.' Then the second cow turns to the first and says, 'Moo.'"

She looked at me in an expression of abject pity. "That's dumb."

"Yeah, you say that now, but you're gonna be telling that to your friends later," I countered.

As we were talking, a news alert popped up on the news channel that was constantly running in one window on the computer monitor. There was always some crisis or other brewing in Faraday City, but this one caught my eye.

On the screen was the scene of a large multi-alarm fire with numerous emergency vehicles around the blazing remains of a large house or mansion that had been destroyed. There were no casualties reported, but the text at the bottom read, "BEAUMONT MANSION DESTROYED. RECLUSIVE CARSON BEAUMONT MISSING." Then, in a smaller picture-in-picture window was a dated image of a gray-haired man.

The same man who was sitting right next to me.

"What does it mean?" Lydia asked.

I sighed heavily. "It means we're out of time."

Lydia followed me as I went looking for the others, but it wasn't like I had to ask how the search was going. I already knew.

I did a double take as I noticed a flash of blue and orange color on the floor next to one of the storage racks. I bent over to pick it up and saw that it was a Nerf dart, one of the ones that Lydia and I had fired when we were 'training' earlier. I had to smile in spite of myself. It wasn't lost on me that in a different situation, this probably would have been my biggest crisis...if Prodigy had found it and learned that we'd been running around his garage with Nerf guns, he would not have been pleased.

"Hey, there's a book missing," Lydia said.

I looked up at her in surprise. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. See, it's right here next to that killer Troll doll you told me not to touch. I'd remember if there'd been a book missing."

I had to get on tippy-toe to see the contents of the shelf, and sure enough, there was a series of old leather-bound tomes all in a row, but one of them was absent. Moreover, there was a scuff on the shelf where the dust had been disturbed, suggesting it had been pulled out recently. I couldn't read any of the titles on the spines since they were written in a spidery script, but they definitely had the look of magic about them.

I called for the others to come over, and I turned desperately to Trixie.

"Do you know these books?" I asked her.

She made a peculiar face. "Yeah, I think so. Gods, it's been ages since I've seen these. I haven't read these since I was little."

Hissyfit looked to me, and I gave her a shrug. "Home schooled," I explained.

She nodded.

Trixie traced her finger along the spines of the other books. "This doesn't make sense. These are incredibly rare these days, but they're almost useless. This is basic spellcasting stuff. There are much better books."

"Can you tell which one is missing?" I pressed.

She blinked once, slowly. Then she started bopping her head back and forth as she sang something under her breath.

The rest of us all looked at each other in confusion. "Uhh, Trixie...?"

"It's how they make you learn this stuff. There's kind of a nursery rhyme song," she explained. Then she went back to singing quietly to herself. "...blood rituals, astral magic, and thaumaturgy, shadow magic, demon magic, plus necrotic sorcery..."

"This is some Addams Family shit, right here," Hissyfit muttered.

Trixie stopped singing and frowned as she examined the books again, counting the number of books leading up to the missing volume. Then she did it a second time, more deliberately.

"You know which one it is?" Hissyfit asked.

"Yeah, but it doesn't make any sense. It's the Covenants of Loss."

"Well, that sounds terrible."

She gave a dismissive shrug. "They've all got names like that. But there's nothing of value in there."

"There has to be," I said.

"Peej, it's like stealing a copy of a Harry Potter book. The only thing of interest in there is the map to the Desolate Labyrinth."

"Right. That must be where he's headed."

"No, you don't get it," she said. "Look, this is hard to explain to non-magical people, but the thing isn't just a myth, everybody knows it's a myth. It'd be like one of you guys stealing a map to Santa's magical workshop at the North Pole because you want to capture a flying reindeer."

As soon as she said it, her eyes cut over to look at Lydia. "Uhh..."

"I know he's not real, I'm not a baby," Lydia huffed.

"Then what would he want with it?" I asked.

"Nothing! I'm telling you, it's junk."

"No!" I yelled. My outburst was little more than a high-pitched squeak, but this was our last hope of finding Xenos. If we gave up here, we were giving up on everything.

I tried to ignore the looks of pity they were giving me. "Listen, Trixie, he went to a lot of trouble to steal that. It had to be for a reason."

"Maybe he grabbed the wrong book?" Hissyfit offered.

Trixie sighed and looked back at the volumes all neatly lined up on the shelf. "I don't know. Maybe? I just don't see how any of these could help him. You'd have to be a complete moron to think that any of these would actually—"

She stopped short.

The room fell quiet as we looked at each other.

"I mean... Y-You don't mean...?" I said.

Trixie scrunched up her face as she tried to process that. "Vagabond and Echelon. You don't honestly think those two nitwits are—"

"They did say they were waiting for someone. Maybe it was Xenos?" I said.

Mari signed something and looked to Trixie.

"Yeah, you're right. That could explain why you guys kept running into them. Xenos must have been doing a job to retrieve this book for them."

"Why would he do that?"

"Search me. It's useless to him. I guess they must have something that he wants pretty badly, and he wants to trade for it?"

"Oh, my God, we gotta find those two idiots," I said.

"Um, you guys?" Lydia said.

"How? Chris, they could be literally anywhere by now," said Hissyfit.

"We have to start looking somewhere. Trixie, is there any way you can track Vagabond from his magic?"

"You guys?" Lydia repeated.

"Not right now, Lydia. Trixie?" I pressed.

"I don't see how. Maybe if he set off some big spell or something—"

"You guys!" Lydia exclaimed.

"What?" I huffed in the petulant put-out timbre reserved for miffed little girls.

Lydia held her hands together fretfully, obviously uncomfortable with speaking up out of turn. "I think maybe I know where they're going."

"Lydia, how could you possibly—"

"Well, it's just when you guys fought them the other day, I heard about it because my friend Evie lives over by there, and she told me about it."

"That's nice, but that doesn't—"

"No, listen! You gotta listen!" she protested. "I mean, it's just, it's weird right? Because she lives over at Lone Tree Apartments. But when you and me saw them, they were over at that Lone Tree Shopping Plaza."

We all looked at each other.

"Please tell me you're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting," Trixie said.

Hissyfit nodded. "Yeah, that's gotta be a coincidence. Those two places aren't even anywhere close to each other."

The two of them glanced at each other, and they shared an odd look. Then we all got quiet again.

I started to say something, then I stopped. Then I did it a second time. Then I finally said, "You don't think...I mean, if they'd made plans in advance to meet with Xenos to make whatever trade they have planned, you don't think they're actually stupid enough to have forgotten which 'Lone Tree' place they were supposed to meet him at, do you?"

We all fell quiet again.

I turned to Lydia. "What makes you think you know where they're going?"

Lydia's face lit up a little, clearly enjoying having something useful to contribute. "Well, y'see, it's really funny. Like, me and my friend Evie joke about it sometimes, because it's so weird."

"Lydia..." I prompted.

"Right, yeah, okay. But it's just funny. Because Evie lives at that Lone Tree Apartments place, right? Which is also the name of my school."

We all looked at each other in puzzlement, but Mari tapped on her iComm and pulled up a map. A quick search later, and there was a blinking marker right on top of Lone Tree Elementary School.

Hissyfit gave me a warning look. "Chris, we only get one shot at this. If this isn't it..." She let the rest of the sentence hang. I didn't need to be reminded what was at stake.

As I thought about it, a funny feeling came over me, like a feeling of clarity. I knew what we had to do.

As we got our stuff together to head out, Trixie pulled up the location on her own iComm map.

"It's awfully far," she said to me meaningfully.

I nodded understanding. "Can you make it if you just take Mari and Lydia?"

"Just three? Sure, easy. What are you two gonna do?"

I glanced over at Hissyfit. "We'll make other arrangements."

Ten minutes later, I was buckled into the passenger seat of Prodigy's car as Hissyfit floored the gas and went tearing around another intersection. We had the siren and lights going, which helped move some of the traffic out of the way.

"Oh, my God, this is amazing!" she cried out in delight. Then she did a guilty little double take when she looked at me. "Y'know, this should really be you getting to drive this."

"My feet wouldn't even reach the pedals," I pointed out. "Besides, if Prodigy ever asks if I drove it, I guess this way I won't have to lie."

She winced. "Ugh, yeah. Do me a solid and don't mention this, okay?" However, her concerned expression turned into another expression of joy as she hit another straightaway.

I took a heavy breath. "Caleb...there's another reason I wanted to get you alone."

She furrowed her brow. "Yeah?"

"I need to be clear with you what my objectives are, here. With my body in Xenos's hands, there's no way for us to trigger a double-swap, and there's no way he'll be stupid enough to swap into a seven-year-old girl. But we might be able to coax him back into his old body."

"What about you?"

"Caleb, I want to get back to normal. But I have to get Lydia back where she belongs. That's the only thing that matters to me. If we can get Xenos to swap with Lydia back into his own body, then maybe she can use my body's shapeshifting power to make herself look like she's supposed to."

"Chris, you don't even know if that'll work. Even if it does, aren't your parents gonna wonder why you're suddenly a little girl?"

I sighed. "I'll have to tell them the truth. About Prodigious Girl, about everything. At least Lydia will be okay."

Hissyfit sighed as well. "I don't like it. I don't like it one little bit." Then she glanced over at me. "What do you need me to do?"

I looked down at the energy rifle she'd been using, now propped up alongside me in the passenger seat. "Xenos used a rifle like this when he first jumped us. On a lower setting, it nearly knocked Lydia out while she was in my body. I think higher settings could hurt my body. Maybe even kill it."

She blew out a slow breath of air. "Okay. I'll have to be careful. I'll stick with the lower settings—"

I shook my head. "No. You're not following me. Xenos wants to keep my body. He's only going to leave it if he thinks he's in mortal danger. You need to make it feel real."

"Leaving Lydia in a dying body? What sense does that make?"

"I showed Lydia how to use my shapeshifting power to heal herself, at least a little. I doubt Xenos will have figured that out this quickly," I explained. "But...it gets worse."

"Because of course it does."

"Caleb, no matter what happens, we can't let him get away with my body. Even if I can't help Lydia, he can't get away. Trixie and Mari won't understand. They'll want us to wait for Prodigy to get back, or something. But you know what my body can do. Between the shapeshifting and his body hopping, we'd never see him again. He means to use it to kill people, people like Trixie. We can't let that happen."

She looked at me, then glanced at the road, then back at me. "You're asking me to kill him. Kill him in your body. Chris, I don't think I can do that."

"I wouldn't ask if I wasn't desperate. And I really hope it won't come to that. But if it does, you might be the only one who can stop him."

"We'll find another way," she said firmly.

"But if we can't—"

"We'll find another way," she repeated emphatically.

We drove the rest of the way in silence.

By the time Hissyfit and I pulled up to Lone Tree Elementary School, Trixie and the others had already arrived. They were standing near the edge of the building and beckoned us over.

"No sign of Xenos, but the kid was right," Trixie informed us. "Vagabond and Echelon are around the corner over there, hanging out by the playground."

"Is anybody else around?" I asked.

Trixie shook her head. "Mari ran a sweep, but it looks pretty shut down." She then turned to Lydia. "Nice work, kid."

Lydia beamed. It looked funny for the middle-aged man to be so pleased with himself. Then she wrinkled her nose. "I can't believe I have to go to school on summer vacation," she said.

"All right," I said. "Assuming Xenos is even coming, he hasn't been here yet, or they'd be gone already. We don't have much time. Let's go find out what they know."

We weren't taking any chances, so Trixie teleported us all over there at once, hopefully catching the pair by surprise. I'd hoped to do this without a fight, but I wasn't about to give up a tactical advantage.

As we portaled in, we heard Vagabond talking to Echelon.

"I told you, Lolo, we're waitin' for...oh, God, not you again," he groaned as he saw me glaring up at him in my pigtails and little pink costume.

Trixie gave him a warning look. "Don't stop on our account. Who are you waiting for?"

He tipped his hat to her, a gesture that Echelon belatedly copied. "Lady Blackwood. Charmed as always. 'Fraid I'll have to ask y'all to move along, though. Lolo and me got usselves a previous social engagement."

"We'uns is quite the social butterflies," Echelon offered.

"I get that," Trixie said. "Big day for you. Meeting with Xenos. Trading with him for the Covenants of Loss. Not many copies of that out there, I imagine."

Vagabond said nothing and maintained his gaze. "Not sure what you're referrin' to, young'un."

Echelon straightened up. "Sure you do, Vee! We said we'd meet him here, and he'd bring it. Our bad for trying those other places, but this is it, for sure."

Trixie raised an eyebrow to Vagabond, who grimaced and muttered under his breath, "Now he remembers."

"What do you even want that book for?" Trixie asked. "Just because something's rare doesn't make it valuable."

"Well, I s'pose I'm just beaucoup nostalgic and sentimental that way," he said with a sly smile.

Trixie returned the smile as she slid closer to Vagabond in a familiar kind of way. "'Fess up. What are you trading him for?" she asked, putting a friendly and slightly seductive lilt to her voice. "I bet it's good."

Vagabond shook his head at her. "You are no doubt your mama's little girl," he said.

She flashed her eyebrows and he relented, reaching into the pocket of his battered trench coat. He then pulled out what looked like a small silver locket that hung from a thin chain. It wasn't much to look at, it almost looked like junk jewelry—I think I saw something like it in a Claire's at the mall one time.

But whatever it was, it immediately caught Trixie's attention.

"What is that?" she whispered.

"It's what it looks like," Vagabond said proudly.

"Where in the seven hells did you find it?"

"There's a tale there, that's a fact," Vagabond said with a smile. "Let's just say this little beauty's previous owner parted with it under duress."

"Yeah, an' he didn't want to give it up none, neither," Echelon put in.

Whatever this thing was, it seemed to have gotten a reaction out of Trixie. I needed to remind her that we were very much on the clock.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The Eidetic Charm," Trixie said, almost reverently. She blinked and threw off her distracted air. "It's...a memory charm. With this, you could erase or alter memories. Or even...transfer them."

Suddenly, Trixie got an alarmed look on her face and shot an accusatory look at Vagabond. "Wait a minute. You're giving this to Xenos? Xenos the body swapper? Xenos, the mage killer? Do you have any idea what he could do with something like this? He could swap bodies with someone and read or steal their memories! He could change their memories afterwards to whatever he wanted! He could even fool telepaths! He could become anybody, anywhere! He'd be unstoppable!"

I quietly turned to look at Hissyfit and saw that she was giving a nervous glance back at me.

"He's out killing magic users! Don't you think you're on that list, too?" Trixie accused.

Vagabond made an easy smile. "Oh, I rightly do, Ms. Blackwood. Though I reckon I'm a good deal further down his list. Further down than, say, you are. Or more to the point, your esteemed materfamilias."

Trixie's manner darkened. "Give it to me. Now."

"The apple, it don't fall far, do it?"

"I'm not joking," Trixie warned.

"Neither am I," said a familiar voice from behind us.

I spun around to see Xenos standing there in my body, looking very self-satisfied. I had to admit that it was rather ironic. As Prodigious Girl, since I was usually tougher and more indestructible than my teammates, I made a point of being extra irritating and exasperating to our enemies, annoying them them with put-downs and jibes to keep their attention focused on me. I won't say I didn't enjoy it. Although right until this moment, I don't think I fully appreciated how desperately I wanted to smack that overconfident smirk off of that smug face.

"Hey, it's the potty mouth," Echelon said, turning to look at Xenos.

Vagabond was cagier in his manner as he eyed the newcomer. "Y'all's lucky, Xenos. We almost killed that there young'un earlier."

"I expect you'd have found that more difficult than you imagined," Xenos offered. "Even more so, now. However, I come bearing gifts." He held up the leather-bound volume.

"You're a killer," I snapped at him, hating how ineffectual my little voice sounded. "You honestly think you're going to just walk away from this with my body and continue murdering people?"

Xenos seemed puzzled by the question. "Yes, actually. Though you have no idea how many times people have said that to me over the years. They found the outcome...unsatisfying. If it gives you any comfort, I'll use your body more effectively than you ever did. It's nothing personal."

"It couldn't be more personal!"

"Right, enough of this," Trixie said. She took a few steps back, and then opened a pair of saucer-sized portals in front of her. Before anyone realized what she was doing, she reached into them, and we saw that the two companion portals were immediately next to Vagabond and Xenos. She yanked her hands back to reveal that she was holding both the book and the memory charm as the portals closed. I wasn't sure what she had in mind, but there was no way she could outrun all three villains, and she'd just painted a huge target on her back.

Now it was her turn to have a cocky smirk. "If we're going to have a fight on a playground, who's up for a game of Piggy in the Middle?" she taunted.

We all stared at her blankly.

"Keep Away!" she huffed.

That time, even Lydia understood the meaning. Quickly, the other four of us scattered even as she opened up almost a dozen saucer-sized portals in front of her, and tossed the items in, seemingly at random. Seemingly.

A portal opened up in front of me, dropping the Eidetic Charm into my waiting hands as I took off running. I didn't pause to look, but from the way that Vagabond had taken a sudden interest in Bhramari, I assumed she had the book. I heard him fire one of his darkforce blasts, but I also heard him swear as a swarm of stinging insects bore down on him.

Xenos took off flying and was on me almost immediately. At first I thought he was going to try to grab me, but instead he was winding up for a punch! He wasn't fooling around!

"Trixie, telegraph!" I yelled, praying that she wasn't otherwise occupied.

Luckily, my teammate was quick to the task, as always. Normally when we "telegraphed a punch" it meant something different, but she obviously understood my meaning. A small portal opened up directly in front of my face, causing Xenos's swinging fist to enter it before it could make contact with me. From the loud clanging sound I heard behind me, I gathered that the punch clobbered Echelon, instead.

However, Xenos was still right in front of me, and he wasn't likely to make the same mistake twice. But as he went in to grab me, there was a sudden zannng of a brilliant high-powered energy blast that came sizzling over my head, catching him right in the face! It knocked him for a loop and sent him flying back.

I spun around, thinking I had Hissyfit to thank for that, but to my surprise, it had been Lydia in Chimera's body holding the energy rifle that had just discharged.

"Sorry!" she yelled.

"Don't be!" I cried out as I raced over towards Trixie, hoping for more cover. "Keep doing that!"

"I'm actually pretty good at laser tag," she explained as she laid down a fairly righteous amount of covering fire.

The others seemed to have their hands full dealing with Vagabond and Echelon, I noted. And Trixie had apparently taken possession of the leatherbound book at some point, which was inhibiting her ability to both attack and open defensive teleportals at the same time.

"Kid! Incoming!" Trixie yelled as she tossed the book into a portal, and it fell into Lydia's surprised hands, who fumbled with it. Though fortunately for Lydia—and rather unfortunately for me—Xenos's attention remained riveted on me since I still had the Charm.

Xenos came flying directly at me at terrifying velocity. I wasn't sure if his intent was to grab me or just slam right into me, but I doubted I was going to survive either way.

Though now with both of her hands free, Trixie was able to temporarily fight a battle on two fronts and caught one of Vagabond's darkforce attacks which she redirected into Xenos, blasting him and catching him off guard. Then she opened another bigger portal right in front of me. The disoriented Xenos sailed right on through and came out the other side vertically, straight down. He slammed into the ground with a ferocious impact, straight through a geodesic climbing dome, and got tangled up in the bent metal struts.

"You don't have to look so happy about that," I said reprovingly as Trixie smiled at having given my body such a pounding.

"Sorry," she said, her tone a bit more mischievous than I would have preferred. She then glanced at the Eidetic Charm in my hand. "You should give me that and go find cover."

I trusted Trixie implicitly, but there was something on her face that gave me a moment's pause. But before I could say anything, I dove for cover as one of Vagabond's three eerie darkforce ghost creatures took a swipe at me. Trixie blasted it, but I could see the other two were hassling Lydia, obviously going for the book. Luckily, Hissyfit was on the case and laying into the creatures, who didn't seem to appreciate the brilliant white energy blasts from her rifle.

I spun around to see Bhramari squared off against Echelon, and somewhat surprisingly, she seemed to be doing okay against the mammoth villain. She wasn't likely to take him down, but her insects were blinding his vision and bothering him enough that she was able to duck and pivot to avoid his wild swings. Then I noticed she was trying to sign a message to Hissyfit, who clearly wasn't following her meaning.

I looked at what she was messaging. Her insects had found a weak spot! I shouted, "Hissy! His ankle! His left ankle!"

Unfortunately, Hissyfit's aim wasn't the greatest since she still wasn't entirely used to her rifle, but it seemed that she'd discovered some other settings. She switched it over to a short-range but high-powered cutting beam and then swept it in an arc back and forth. Her first pass caught Echelon across the chest and did a bit of damage, but on her swing back the other way, she was able to hit her target and caught him on the left ankle.

"Ah! Me boot!" Echelon cried out as he stumbled and slammed face-first into the ground.

Just then, I felt myself getting yanked off my feet! Xenos had apparently extracted himself from the playground equipment and grabbed me by my backpack and took off into the air!

Thinking quickly, I wriggled my way out of my backpack and fell to the ground before he could get very far with me. However, I was still really high up, and I would have been badly injured if Lydia hadn't managed to grab me in an awkward diving catch that caused us both to tumble to the ground.

Not far away, Xenos floated above the ground, looking right at us.

"I was prepared to leave you in those bodies, but you seem fixated on dying in them. Hand over the Eidetic Charm, and I'll allow you to live."

"Not so fun when someone takes your stuff, is it?" I taunted. "How many more lives are you going to kill and destroy in this insane crusade you're on?"

"Always just one more."

In fairness, it was easy to underestimate a teenage girl in a miniskirt. God knew I was quick to take advantage of that with my opponents. As a result, sometimes it could be a bit of a shock to witness the raw power of a superhero. In astonishment, Lydia and I witnessed as Xenos reached down next to him to grab a massive boulder and wrenched it out of the ground. It was eight feet wide and had to weigh at least a few tons, and he picked it up and heaved it right at us!

I was hoping for another last-second save from Trixie, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw that she had her back to us and was fully fixated on Vagabond and his darkforce ghosts. Lydia and I both shrank down as we waited for Xenos's improvised missile to finish us.

SCREEE! came a sound from immediately behind us, and a lance of pure energy sliced the boulder in half, causing it to split and slam to the ground on either side of us. We looked up to see Hissyfit standing there with her rifle.

"I feel like he's starting to take this personally," I said, panting as I turned to Hissyfit. "You're getting pretty good with that thing."

But as I dusted myself off, suddenly I looked down and realized that I no longer had the Charm! I looked around on the ground in a panic when I realized that I must have dropped it when Lydia caught me and we tumbled into the dirt.

Wait. Lydia had caught me, I realized. She'd needed both hands to do that, so she'd dropped her rifle to do so. But wasn't she also the last one carrying the—?

I spun around to see one of Vagabond's energy ghosts carrying the leather-bound book back to its master.

And there, much closer, Xenos was reaching down to pick up the Eidetic Charm.

Oh, God.

I turned to look at Hissyfit in horror. I didn't say anything. I didn't have to. This was exactly the moment I'd warned her about. Xenos was about to get away, and there was nothing we could do to stop him.

Nothing most of us could do.

A look of dismay crossed her face as she raised her rifle. She touched a control on the side, and I heard the high-pitched whine reach an ear-piercing crescendo as she took careful aim. By this time, Xenos had retrieved the Charm, but he'd obviously heard the sound, and he turned to look at Hissyfit. It was a clean shot.

I had to wonder what was running through Xenos's mind in that instant. How many lifetimes had he lived? How many lives had he stolen to make it happen? Did he have a sense of his own mortality in that moment? Would he try to swap with one of us to avoid that fate? If he did, was Lydia or I the one who was about to die?

Then, the expression on Xenos's face changed. I didn't understand it at first, but then when I heard the sound of Hissyfit's rifle powering down, I knew. It was the expression of someone who knew that he'd won.

Not far away, I could hear Vagabond taunting Enchantrix as he took possession of the book. Whatever he'd hit Trixie with had sent her reeling, and she clearly wasn't in a position to stop him.

"Well, Lady Blackwood, this has been a pleasure and three-quarters, but I reckon it is time we vamoosed. Give my best to your mum."

I watched as a field of impenetrable darkness formed and began to close in around both him and Echelon. It began to envelop them, and I realized that I'd seen him do this before, the first time we'd fought them. He was teleporting away.

"You can tell her in hell," Trixie spat as she cast a spell of her own. It was a another teleportal, but it had a very different look and energy signature than I'd seen her use before. She launched it sideways towards the two villains, heaving it at them as a deadly disc of force. It sailed past Vagabond, and at first I thought she'd missed, and it took me a moment to realize that she hit what she'd been aiming at—the darkness field itself. As her teleportal disc made contact with it, there was a violent explosion of magical energy!

A storm of magic erupted, and even from a distance, it knocked me solidly to the ground. Then, after the sound and light show passed, I looked up to see that there were portals everywhere. The entire area—around us and above us—had been covered with portals of various shapes and sizes. They would disappear and others would form in their place. Some of the portals looked like they traveled only a few feet away, others looked like they looked like they went to other places in Faraday City. Many others looked like they went to other dimensions entirely, many of them looking quite inhospitable.

"ARE YOU COMPLETELY MENTAL?" Vagabond bellowed, looking at the scene. "You could have killed us!"

"Now you're getting the picture," Trixie snarled as she wiped a trickle of blood from her mouth.

Xenos, meanwhile, was obviously uncertain what to do. He was still hovering there a few feet off the ground and clearly fully ready to make a run for it, but we were fully fenced in with portals, and I imagined that the notion of ending up anywhere in the infinite cosmos wasn't entirely to his liking. His gaze flitted from one portal to the next, seeing them open and close, trying to discern a pattern in the chaos.

I saw it first. The portals were opening and closing seemingly at random, but they were also getting smaller. Whatever Trixie had done, it was wearing off. And I saw that the "dome" didn't quite go all the way to the top, either. There was a vacant space without any portals right at the apex of the dome, just big enough to escape through.

Trixie and Mari had squared off against Vagabond and Echelon, but Hissyfit had gotten knocked for a loop by the magical explosion. I had an idea, but I was going to need help. Because there was absolutely no way I was letting Xenos walk away with his prize.

"Hey, get your rifle," I said to Lydia quietly, tossing a glance over to where it had fallen.

"Give it up, Xenos!" I said sharply, getting his attention. "Hand over the locket and switch us back, and we'll let you leave here alive. That's the best deal you're going to get today."

He laughed. "Arrogance in the face of utter destruction. I'd expect nothing less from one of the Kindred. You're exactly like all those mages I've killed. You think your power gives you authority. You're nothing."

"You're one to talk. You steal lives and years of life so that you can put off death. But you're not alive. You're connected to nobody. You kill from the shadows, and only for yourself." I gestured to Lydia. "She did more good with my body in one day than you'd do in a lifetime."

Xenos nodded. "You're just like them. I see that, now. You're going to die here, little one. And at your own hand, no less," he said as he made a fist. "Any final words?"

"Only this. ECHO-SIERRA-DELTA-BRAVO-TWO-SEVEN! TIMER-ZERO-ZERO-ZERO!"

I clearly remember the day that Prodigy introduced me to this. At the time, I admit I thought it was pretty stupid. After all, what possible reason could there be to want a voice command that simultaneously set off all of the grenades on my utility belt at once? Prodigy had explained that sometimes it was useful to be able to set it as a bomb and leave it somewhere. Of course, this was one area where my mentor and I had different philosophies. He tended to be more keen to include explosive and fragmentation grenades in his arsenal, whereas I (much to his chagrin) insisted on carrying only non-lethal equipment.

However, having a dozen or so stun, flashbang, and taserweb grenades all going off simultaneously was still a pretty satisfying show.

"AHHHH!!!" Xenos cried out in shock and alarm, covering his eyes from the unexpected explosion.

As he reeled backwards, I saw the glittering Charm fall to the ground. He was startled and temporarily blinded, but I knew I had precious seconds at best. I raced over and scooped it up, and in one continuous motion, I threw it over so that it landed right at Lydia's feet.

"Shoot it!" I yelled to her.

"Wait, no!" I heard Trixie yell, but she was cut short as she got tagged from behind by one of Vagabond mystic energy bolts.

Meanwhile, Xenos's vision cleared just in time for him to see Lydia take careful aim and blast the Charm. I half expected there to be another big magical explosion or something, but whatever last flash of magic it gave up was subsumed in the dramatic energy discharge from Lydia's point-blank shot.

"NO!" Xenos roared as he flew over to behold the twisted lump of metal.

I cast a glance over to the others. Trixie was busy with Vagabond, and Bhramari had squared off against Echelon again. The hulking villain rushed directly at her, but her insects had apparently obscured his vision, and his disabled foot turned his charge into an uneven and lumbering attack, at best. Mari, meanwhile, gracefully dodged his charge like a matador, and he stumbled past her through one of the portals. As he turned around in shock, she gave him a friendly wave goodbye as the portal closed behind him.

From behind me, I heard the high-pitched energy blasts from Hissyfit's gun, obviously back in the heavy stun configuration, splashing against Xenos. Then I heard them abruptly stop, and as I turned around, I swiftly realized why. Xenos was standing immediately in front of me with murder in his eyes. He already had Lydia by the scruff of the neck in one hand, and very quickly grabbed me by the bicep in the other. I looked over to Hissyfit for help, but she could only watch paralyzed since she couldn't risk a shot without hitting Lydia or myself.

I barely had time to process that before Xenos rocketed us up into the sky. By now he'd also spotted the opening at the top of the dome of portals, and he sped through it so quickly that it felt like the wind was being torn from my lungs. The next thing I knew, we were at least a hundred feet up in the air.

Easily high enough to kill us.

"Wait!" I cried out, but he wasn't listening. No more gloating, no more last words.

My mind raced as I tried to think of something to say, something that would matter to him, but my mind was a blank. Then suddenly, it was like the words came tumbling out of my mouth. They came so quickly, I didn't even know what I was saying.

"This isn't the end, Xenos! I'll never stop hunting you! You'll die alone and unremembered!"

Xenos briefly hesitated but said nothing. He then began to spin in a quick but graceful pirouette, and I realized he was going to use the momentum to launch Lydia and me in different directions. He wasn't taking the chance that Trixie might save us if he dropped us straight down.

"You think you have my power? You don't!" I cried.

I felt as the centrifugal force began to pull me away from his grip, knowing beyond doubt that he was going to let me loose at any second. Once he did that, I'd have a few seconds flying through the air, and that would be the end of me. The end of both of us.

I squirmed uselessly in Xenos's grip, reaching backwards to grab onto his hand. Trying to get purchase on something, anything. I was not giving up. I craned my neck back to look at him, and for a fleeting second we made eye contact. My little face was a picture of grim determination, and for a moment he seemed taken aback. There was a flicker of concern on his features.

Then I yelled something. At first I thought my words had been torn away by the wind, but then I watched as the concern on his face turned to genuine fear.

Without warning, I felt a sense of intense dizziness as a sense of staggering disorientation threatened to overwhelm me, and my senses went bananas, culminating with a strangely familiar sense of cold fire that coursed painfully through me. But...not my body. I realized that my spirit had somehow come untethered from my physical form. The pain of that disconnect was intense, and getting worse...I knew I couldn't stay like this for long.

And as I attempted to orient myself on this "spirit plane," I could plainly sense that Xenos was there, as well. Blocking me.

You reek of fear, I sensed him taunt wordlessly. You're weak. Powerless. Helpless.

The worst part was, he was right. I was terrified. Trapped in Lydia's body, I couldn't protect myself, much less anyone else. I was no good to anyone.

Meanwhile, my pain was getting even more excruciating. I knew I couldn't stay in this formless state much longer.

You fear death, he jeered.

That...gave me pause. It was true, but even more than my own, I was terrified for Lydia. And for my friends. It was my fault they were here. I'd gotten them into this mess. They'd—

They'd followed me. Selflessly.

Trixie and Mari were fighting for us. Caleb jumped in to risk his own life without hesitation. Even Lydia had risked her life to save dozens of people today, and she'd even joined this fight when we needed her. When I needed her. We'd saved each other's lives and the lives of others over and over.

When I was helpless, they jumped in to help. When I was afraid, they gave me courage. Just as they knew I'd do for them. That wasn't weakness, I realized. That was strength.

I suddenly realized that Xenos was projecting his own fears onto me. He feared his own death. He feared being powerless. He'd isolated himself, and he was filled with fear and hate. He was alone.

I launched myself at this spirit projection of him with that conviction burning in my heart. I was in pain, but I didn't let it consume me. I was afraid, but I didn't let it define me. This battle was mine to fight, but I was never alone.

Which is why I knew he would never win.

Our two spirit forms grappled with each other, but I could sense his rising panic as he realized that the outcome of our conflict was no longer in doubt.

Abruptly, my disorientation returned, but I breathed a sigh of relief as the pain disappeared, swiftly replaced with the familiar sensations of a physical body.

And then I suddenly felt something slip from the fingers of both hands.

It took me a second to realize that I was back in my body! I wasn't sure why Xenos had chosen to battle me like that, but it took me only a moment to realize that the other two bodies—Chimera's and Lydia's—were flinging away from me and both plummeting to their deaths! My mind raced, trying to think about single jumps and double jumps. If I'd somehow triggered a double-jump, we were all back. Though if it had been a straight swap, Xenos would be in Lydia's body, and Lydia would still be stuck in Chimera's old body. But Xenos was smart—he'd have to know that he'd stand a better chance of survival in Chimera's body. Had he swapped with Lydia to make that happen?

I was out of time. I could only save one of them, but I didn't know which one was—

"Mrs. Tiggy-Wiiiiinkle!!!" I heard Lydia's shrill voice cry.

I could just make out the little girl in her bright pink costume as she plummeted towards the ground, and I rocketed off in her direction so quickly that I feared I might overshoot, knowing that I wouldn't get another attempt. But I raced down to meet her and quickly leveled off so as not to break her bones as I snagged her in a full-body catch less than twenty feet from the ground.

"Oh, God. Oh, God. Lydia?" I asked, touching her face.

"Yeah, it's me."

"That was really smart. The chinchilla name."

"Thanks. Ow, Chris, you're squeezing me."

"I know," I said, holding her tight.

"No, you're squeezing me!"

"Oh, sorry," I said, loosening my grip on her, but only slightly.

She got a pensive look on her face, and her brow furrowed. "I'm not allowed to tell Mom and Dad about any of this, am I?"

I laughed and hugged her again.

I flew Lydia back just in time to see the fractured reality portals all starting to shrink and fade. Unfortunately, Vagabond wasn't there either, and from the sour look on Trixie's face, apparently he'd managed to get away.

"He got the book," Trixie informed me. "Not exactly our finest hour. But you two...?"

"Back to normal. I'm definitely calling this one a win."

"Not that I'm complaining, but how?" Trixie asked.

"I'm...not sure. I have some theories, but now's not the time. We need to find Xenos."

"I tried to track him as he fell, but I lost him over there," Hissyfit said, pointing. "But there's no sign of an impact."

We searched, but unfortunately, there was no sign of him.

I looked at Trixie. "Could he have fallen into one of those portals? By the way, what even was that? That was new."

"A trick I haven't done in a while," she said cryptically. "But yeah, he may have hit a portal on the way down. Chaos magic is...chaotic."

Mari signed a message to me.

"I don't know if he could have survived a fall from that height. He sure didn't think it was possible when it was Lydia in that body. Though between his armor and enhanced athleticism..."

"He's dead," Trixie said definitively. I wasn't sure if that was merely wishful thinking on her part or if she had some special insight. "You said it yourself, it was how he was going to kill him."

Before any of us could say anything, she spun and walked away, her long cloak trailing behind her. I wasn't sure what was eating her, but I wasn't about to question our good fortune. It was good to be home.

Oh, hell. Home. I checked the time on my iComm. We had to hustle.

We all raced back to Prodigy's garage to put everything back where it belonged. I gave Hissyfit the honor of driving the car back. She'd earned it, and I figured that if Prodigy asked if I'd driven it, I could deny it.

As we got out of the car and it spun back around on the turntable, Hissyfit gave me a concerned look.

"This isn't gonna be like a Ferris Bueller kinda situation where he checks the odometer and knows someone drove the car, is it?" she asked me.

"Literally the least of my concerns right now," I told her.

I took her energy rifle and energy deflector shield belt and put them back on Prodigy's shelves, with Lydia close in tow. As I did so, I paused and saw the series of leather-bound tomes, with one of the series prominently absent, the gap looking like a missing tooth. I turned to Trixie.

"Not sure what to do about that," I said.

Lydia got up on her tiptoes and reached over to the rightmost book and shoved it to the left so there was no longer a visible gap. She then looked up at us.

"Works for me," Trixie said.

"No argument here," I agreed as I gave Lydia a smile.

We returned to the main room to see Hissyfit holding the second newer rifle of Chimera's, which she'd picked up after Lydia dropped it. I sighed heavily and looked around, not sure where to hide such a thing. To me, Prodigy's garage was all a huge mess, but Prodigy had a knack for knowing when things were out of place. I wasn't in a hurry to let him know about this escapade.

Hissyfit hefted the gun and gave me a coy look. "Kinda thought I might keep it. Souvenir?"

"Caleb, that's a multiplex energy beam rifle that has a literal disintegration ray."

She shifted in an awkward way and raised her eyebrows hopefully.

I sighed and turned to Trixie.

"Pfft. Don't look at me, we're already sharing a bedroom. We don't have a place to put something like that." Then she snapped her fingers. "Though that reminds me."

Trixie walked over to Hissyfit and reached around her pretty black lace collar that adorned her neck. However, when Trixie pulled her hands back, she was holding the glittering Morphex crystal pendant. In a flash, Hissyfit transformed back into Caleb.

Well, mostly. It was Caleb, but wearing Hissyfit's pretty pink-and-black costume with the short skirt.

He gaped at Trixie in open-mouth disgust, now realizing she could have done that at any time. Trixie, meanwhile, had a playful smirk, although she gave him a warning look when it seemed he was about to say something. Caleb, however, wisely kept his mouth shut.

"I gotta get Lydia home double-quick," I said to Trixie. "Can you get them home?"

"Sure, no problem. C'mon, kids."

As the three of them headed towards the exit, Caleb cleared his throat loudly and plucked at his skirt as he looked at Trixie.

"I dunno, Shapiro, it's a good look on you," she said. "You've absolutely got the legs to pull that off..."

I then turned to Lydia.

"I gotta get you home, and we don't have a whole lot of time, so we can't take the bus. How do you feel about riding on the back of a motorcycle?"

She gave a shy little shrug. "It'd be okay if you want to fly," she said. "Y'know, whatever."

I held my gaze a moment longer as I read her face to make sure she was saying what I thought she was saying.

I picked her up and we flew outside as I took off into the sky and made directly for her neighborhood.

She kept her eyes wide open the entire time.

We arrived at my aunt and uncle's house with barely minutes to spare. I grabbed my CosFit device and shapeshifted back into Chris as my costume changed back into the t-shirt and skirt I'd been wearing. I paused to check my reflection in a hallway mirror as I ran my fingers through my wig and fussed at the falsies in my brassiere.

"I never thought I'd be so happy to see this view again," I said as I looked down at my jutting chest.

I breezed through the house to look for problems, but we'd only been gone a little over a day, and we'd only been there about an hour before we'd left. Heck, the beds were still perfectly made. I belatedly realized I shouldn't be seen wearing the same outfit as the day before and rushed to change clothes. I then hurried upstairs to Lydia's room to tell her to do the same. But as I entered her bedroom, I saw she'd already changed, and she was feeding her chinchilla.

"Were you always this responsible, or was I always just this oblivious?" I wondered.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Listen, I need to talk to you for a minute."

I sat down on the edge of her bed and Lydia sat next to me, but she cut me off before I could say anything.

"Yeah, I know. I can't tell anybody what happened. Not Mom or Dad or Tommy, or even my friends," she said. Which, y'know, she nailed it in one, but I wasn't wild about the somewhat snarky tone with which she delivered it. Even though I had a pretty good idea where she'd picked that up.

"It's serious, Lydia. I need you to understand how serious."

"Uh huh. Like, a bad guy might show up out of nowhere and maybe kidnap them and then steal their bodies and try to get them killed a bunch of times."

"Yeeeees," I stretched out with a wince. "Hypothetically, that is indeed the kind of thing that could happen. Sorry."

"S'okay," she said.

"Y'know, I learned something about being a hero from you today," I said to her. She looked at me in surprise, and I nodded. "It's true. You see, I love helping people, but I've always wanted to be the kind of hero who people look up to. Because then I can help people without even being there, giving them hope and inspiration. I still want to be like that. But I thought I had to be famous to make that happen. Then when you saved all those people—which was amazing, by the way—and I got to see it from the outside. And it was incredible, what you did. All those people felt the same way."

"It was scary. I didn't even know what I was doing. I just tried to do what I thought you'd do."

I smiled. "I could see how scared you were. And how brave you were! You're an amazing little kid, you know that?"

Lydia seemed to consider that for a moment. Then she added, "Plus, then all those grown-ups wanted my opinion on stuff!"

"I know! What's up with that?"

She held her hands out in front of her in disbelief. "I wanted to be like, 'Lady, I'm just a kid, what do I know?'"

The two of us laughed. I pulled her in for a hug and kissed the top of her head.

We separated, and she looked up at me with a puzzled expression. "What did you mean, it was the wrong place?"

I shook my head. "Sorry, what?"

"Before the bad guy dropped us, you were yelling at him. You said something about him wanting your powers, and then you said he went looking in the wrong place."

I furrowed my brow as I tried to remember the moment. It was all a blur. "I dunno. I was just saying stuff, trying to play for time. I don't even know what I was saying. I guess I got lucky that I managed to say something that seemed to throw him off like it did."

She nodded. Then she gave me an appraising look. "You're still my favorite babysitter," she said.

I laughed. "Thanks."

"But that's just 'cause the other ones are really bad."

"They'd have to be."

She wrinkled her nose, and her little finger reached out and poked me in one of my protruding falsies.

"Those are still dumb," she declared.

"Yeah, you get used to 'em," I sighed.

My aunt and uncle and cousin Tommy returned shortly, and I naturally got chewed out for not having answered her phone calls. However, I'd had the presence of mind to text her back, so instead of direct anger at me, I instead got a meandering diatribe about my generation's dependence on text messaging and how it prevented connection, and how we'd never really learn what it was like to walk in another person's shoes. I simply smiled and nodded.

I then got a text from my mom saying they were 30 minutes out with an implied suggestion that I be ready to cut and run. I went upstairs to check on Lydia one last time, and I found Tommy in his room, getting unpacked.

I leaned against the door frame and watched as he threw some clothes in the hamper. "I didn't have a chance to ask. How was the tournament? You have fun?"

Tommy sniffed. "Hardly."

"Ouch. That bad, huh?"

"I dunno. Parts of it were okay. I got to meet some guys I knew from online. And I guess getting to see the top-tier fighters was pretty cool."

"But...?"

He made a slight upward nod towards his open duffel bag, and I took that as an invitation to look inside.

"Dude, you took Sixth Place? Congratulations!" I said, holding up the little trophy.

"It's practically a participation trophy," Tommy declared. "Mom and Dad weren't impressed. They kept looking at their phones."

"Yeah, well, I'm impressed," I said in a tone that sounded almost sisterly. "You're number six in the entire state! I should be that good at something. Plus, you got to meet some friends and saw some cool stuff. I think that's worth a few inches on the trophy shelf, but that's just me."

Soon after, my parents picked me up. We left almost as soon as they arrived, but nobody seemed to mind. We said our goodbyes, and I climbed into the back seat.

"How was the conference?" I asked.

"Ugh," my dad groaned.

"Nightmare," my mom agreed. "Longest weekend ever." Then she turned and gave me a look. "How'd your weekend go?"

I shrugged. "Nothing to report."

"Yeah, well, we owe you one, kiddo. Thanks for covering."

My mind wandered as we drove home...

The irony wasn't lost on me that while I really wanted to inspire people as Prodigious Girl, I'd hardly even stopped to appreciate the effect that I'd been having on Lydia, both good and bad. I smiled as I thought back on my weekend with her and all of our adventures and escapes. I'd been so dismissive of her when I'd first arrived, but right from the get-go she'd been my biggest fan. I just didn't want to see it. I'd kept wanting to make a big splash and get noticed, but I forgot that sometimes all it takes is a kind word at the right moment to make a positive impact on someone's life...

Tommy finished unpacking the last of his stuff from his duffel bag and gave a heavy sigh. Then, as he reached down and picked up the bag, he felt something moving around inside. He reached inside and pulled out the little trophy. It wasn't much to look at, certainly nothing as fancy as some of the other trophies and awards that adorned his shelf.

He held the trophy and looked at it for a long moment. Then, with a small smile, he put it on the shelf in front of the other awards.

As we drove, I watched as the gleaming skyline of Faraday City came into view. I could even see a glimpse of The Spire, its silver metal glimmering in the sunlight. It made me wonder what being a hero even meant. I've heard some people say that anybody can be a hero. Others say that you're not a hero unless you're tested. I don't know. But one thing I was sure of is that heroes come in all shapes and sizes. And some of them are standing right next to you...

Caleb paused for a moment to admire Chimera's rifle. He wasn't so sure about the hiding place he'd chosen, but he knew that he needed to keep it someplace where it wouldn't draw attention from his parents. To say nothing of—

All of a sudden, his bedroom door flung open, and his sister Lori was standing there.

"Hey, privacy!" Caleb protested.

"You owe me big time for covering for you, dweeb," Lori hissed. "Mom and Dad knew your friend's folks were out of town, so they knew you weren't over there like you said. So, I told them you were out doing some all-night gamer geek sleepover with your friends. They think you're pathetic, but they believed me."

Caleb blinked. "Why'd you do that?"

"A few reasons. First, not to brag, but I'm a gifted liar. It's good to stay in practice, though. It keeps me loose. Second, you won't be able to cover for me if your rep is in the trash. And third, as I think I mentioned, you owe me."

"Fair," Caleb said with a tilt of his head. He had to admit, that was some pretty quality deceit. It was a plausible story, with details weird enough that it had to be true. "Thanks."

She flashed her eyebrows and smiled. "You can thank me by dishing. What were you doing? Oh, God, please don't tell me you were with that trans girl again."

"It's not like that! Chris and I are just...friends," Caleb said.

Lori rolled her eyes. "Uh huh."

Then, Lori turned and looked at the bedroom wall right above Caleb's bed. He had a couple sci-fi movie posters hanging there, and hanging very prominently on the wall right underneath them was Chimera's energy rifle.

Lori looked at the weapon and then shot Caleb a look of disdain. "If you're going to buy toys like a little kid, can't you at least hide them under the bed in shame like a normal person?"

Caleb breathed a small sigh of relief. Apparently hiding in plain sight was a good idea, after all.

"Hey, that right there is a movie-accurate replica of—"

Lori held up her hand. "Nice try. Don't change the subject."

"There was...a girl," Caleb said.

Lori's eyes lit up, and she flung herself playfully onto his bed. Caleb stiffened up, suddenly aware that she was scant inches away from a lethal energy weapon. He might need to secure that a little better.

"Go on," Lori said breathlessly. "Who is she? Do I know her?"

"She was visiting from out of town. For an...anime convention. She had this pink-and-black outfit, with her hair up in pigtails—"

"Ugh," Lori groaned. "What is it with boys being suckers for the pigtails? I wish you could see how ridiculous you all look to us girls."

"Mmm," Caleb intoned in tight-lipped agreement.

"You gonna see her again?"

"Kinda doubt it," Caleb said thoughtfully. "But you never know."

In my time as Prodigious Girl, I've come to appreciate that heroism can very often be subjective. One person's hero might be another person's villain. Sometimes even a momentary misstep could signal a hero's fall from grace. Redemption is often much more difficult, especially when temptation comes along...

Across town, Aparna and Ren were both situated in their bedroom, both working on their laptops with their headphones on. Or more accurately in Aparna's case, with the music being pumped into the terrarium, where the insects she controlled buzzed along to the thumping house music beat.

Ren had her laptop open to a Hexes and Horrors story she'd been working on, but then she slyly looked over her shoulder towards Aparna, masquerading it as a stretch. Then, once she was confident that her roommate was sufficiently distracted working on her music mix, Ren minimized the window on her computer and opened an old news report from a couple years earlier. It had shaky amateur video captured by a witness during a supervillain attack, and the title of the video was, "ANARCHY IN AMSTERDAM!" It showed a young woman dressed in black with long auburn hair gleefully loosing magical spells and attacks.

The low quality of the video and the survivors' inability to get a good look at the attacker had led many to speculate this was the archvillainess Rhiannon Blackwood, Ren's mother. It was more chaotic than Rhiannon's usual schemes, but it was a logical assumption.

But Ren knew better. As much as she wanted to blame her mother, it was Ren herself who'd gleefully rained down havoc on the city that day.

Ren beheld the old video of the villainess—of her younger self—in visible distress, and she fretted at her creased brow with her fingers. As the screams on the video intensified in her headphones, she glanced again at Aparna to make sure her roommate was still oblivious. She then paused the video and retrieved the remains of the Eidetic Charm from her desk drawer and ran her fingers along the twisted surface of the metal as she stared at the blurry image of her former self frozen on the screen.

Peej and the others didn't know it, but the spell she'd used during the fight to interfere with the portals had been a spell of annihilation. Dark chaos magic that she'd sworn never to use because it could easily have killed people. And she'd used it without thinking, without hesitation.

She then thought back to her earlier teasing of Caleb that day. How what had started off as good-natured fun had quickly taken a cruel edge to it. And...she'd liked it.

Ren's mind wasn't her own. She knew that. Demetria had brainwashed her into becoming a hero, and Ren hadn't been given a choice in the matter. But now, she did have a choice, and she didn't want to go back to the person that she used to be. Was Demetria's brainwashing wearing off? The Eidetic Charm might have told her. It might even have fixed her.

Her eyes were once again drawn to the frozen video of her younger self gleefully spreading chaos and destruction and tormenting innocent people. And her finger slowly traced along the twisted metal of the shattered charm...

I knew full well that superheroes fought the big fights, but I'd come to appreciate that it's still important to stop and remind ourselves that sometimes even the small wins can feel big. That events that might seem trivial in the grand scheme of things can buoy our spirits in ways we don't expect. Especially when we're with people close to us who can appreciate our little victories...

The room was dim and mostly lit by candles, and the flickering light didn't even reach the dimmest recesses of the abode. Heavy sounds of footsteps echoed in the space, particularly the off-kilter clangs of stumbling metal feet.

A pair of individuals entered the cozy space. Echelon led the way as he limped inside, with Vagabond doing his best to provide a supportive shoulder for his unsteady companion.

At first Vee tried to direct Lolo over to the waiting couch, but the larger man quietly shook his head and nodded to the other. Vee then headed over to the hearth with Lolo limping close behind, and he pulled out the leather-bound book they'd acquired. Then, with only a moment's hesitation, he lifted it up and slid it right into the waiting slot, a perfect companion to all of the other leather-bound books in the series. A complete, matching set.

Vee admired the collection for a moment. There were much better books for learning magic, but these were the ones from his youth. He thought back to all the times he sat by his momma's knee, listening to her tell the stories of rampant demons and fell beasts as he learned shadow magic. And he smiled.

Behind him, Lolo put a big supportive hand on Vee's shoulder as Vee leaned back against him.

Sometimes our victories are just for ourselves. Private moments that we keep hidden from the world, when we're able to take a well-earned respite from our unrelenting struggles and take a moment to nurture our inner selves...

Prodigy groaned as he entered the garage, rotating his arm slightly to work out the aches that he knew he'd be feeling for a while.

But the moment he entered the space, he knew something was off.

"God dammit," he grumbled, wondering what the kid had gotten into this time. Over the years, he'd learned to trust his intuition in such matters, so his eyes darted around the place, looking for anything that might be out of place.

Car, check.

Computer, check.

Prodigy shook his head as he rubbed his aching muscles. Something was off.

He made his way down towards one of the crowded storage shelves, pausing for a moment as his eyes settled on a set of leather-bound books. But before he could take a better look, an unexpected bit of color caught his eye. He turned to investigate it, and he looked down to see the little Troll doll with the big plume of bright red hair.

Prodigy glowered at the little doll, then raised his eyebrows. Surreptitiously, he glanced left and right to make sure nobody else was around, and then he tentatively reached over and plucked the doll off the shelf. As he held it, Prodigy took another furtive glance around, and then he gave the doll's hair a satisfying fluff with his fingers. He then left to change into some more comfortable civilian clothes, still absently fluffing the little doll's hair.

Of course, I couldn't stop thinking about Xenos. Trixie's confident assertions aside, he clearly wasn't the type to give up easily, and I knew that I'd made a powerful enemy that day. That evening, I saw a news alert saying that Carson Beaumont—Xenos's last "host"—had been found dead somewhere in downtown Faraday City under less than savory circumstances. I wondered if that was Xenos. Or if it was simply his latest victim, and he was now running around in some other guy's body, planning his next move. But in Faraday City, what goes around, comes around. He'd made enemies too, and it wouldn't be long before one of them caught up to him. Something told me that Xenos's days were numbered, and a time was fast approaching when his life would ultimately be revealed to be nothing more than a meaningless charade...

It was nighttime, and rain began to fall as Xenos stumbled forward, the neon lights of the city casting long dark shadows. He'd ditched the Chimera armor that had helped to save his life in the fall, but he knew that this mount wasn't long for this world. He'd skirted the edge of death countless times over the centuries, enough to know all of its moods, its flavors.

Xenos grit his teeth as he made his way down the darkened streets of the city. It was too dark. Too late. These were the mean streets of the otherwise gleaming city, and nobody was going to be out here if they could help it. And the rain would keep people indoors.

This was not where his story would end, he decided. Although as he winced in pain, he realized his body had other ideas.

But he was close. Perhaps just close enough.

Xenos collapsed face-first into a garbage-strewn alleyway behind a building. Up ahead, a metal door opened and closed, just enough for the heavy thumping music inside to sound briefly in the narrow alley. Xenos peered in that direction and saw that a man and a woman had emerged, and the two of them had gotten into a car there in the parking lot. At first he thought they might drive off together, but evidently they had more amorous plans in mind. Then, as he struggled to his feet and slowly approached the intimate couple, he made out the man’s face and smiled.

Xenos grimaced from the pain as he cautiously moved forward, like a lion on the hunt for its unsuspecting prey. But this predator scarcely seemed to be aware of the fact that he himself was being stalked by another...

Sometimes I thought that Prodigy's cynicism was getting to me. My mentor saw enemies around every corner, but I had to remind myself that sometimes allies came from the most unexpected places, as well. And when I say 'unexpected,' I mean crazy. This city could be downright bananas...

(One day earlier, in Lydia's bedroom)

"C'mon, Lydia, shake a leg," Prodigious Girl said to her little cousin as she again checked the time.

Lydia, meanwhile, after debuting her pink 'superhero costume,' had taken the time to put on a set of clothes on top of her costume to hide it. She then gathered up her backpack and put her plastic mask inside, as well as a hand-held electronic game and her airpods.

"Do you want to take a stuffed animal?" Prodigious Girl asked, reaching for a plush white rabbit with a top hat.

Not that one, idiot.

"No," Lydia said, aghast. "Besides, I'm not allowed to play with that one."

Prodigious Girl shook her head. "Good grief, you have stupid rules in this house," she muttered to herself. "C'mon, let's go."

The two of them left, but even from inside Lydia's bedroom could be heard the little girl's startled shriek as Prodigious Girl tried to take off outside with Lydia in her arms.

"Nooooo! Too high! Too high, too high, too high..."

From inside the cage by the window, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle stirred. She was looking particularly adorable in her precious little wedding dress with the lace and sparkly stars and her elegant tiara. She then stood up on her haunches and placed an eye patch over her bad eye.

There was a pile of shredded paper in the corner, and she rustled through it for a moment before emerging with a video communicator.

"League of Chinchillas, come in. Come in, League of Chinchillas. Nick Furry reporting in."

The video screen turned on to reveal a cute little russet-furred chinchilla with a gold waist sash.

"Chilla! This is Nick. I need you to—"

"BWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA!" Chilla cried out at seeing him in his outfit.

"Laugh if you want—"

"HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"

"Laugh if you want," Nick growled, "But this is what deep cover work entails."

"If you say so, 'Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle,'" Chilla giggled. "Oh, God, is there a record button on this thing? Cap's gonna be sorry he missed this."

Nick was all business. "I need a location track on Prodigious Girl. I have to break cover here, but I need to make sure she doesn't double back and catch me."

"Looks like you're in the clear," Chilla said, checking the computer as she wiped a tear from her eye. "Wow, she's moving slow."

"Give me a shout if that changes," Nick said.

"Will do," Chilla responded. "Call anytime. Seriously. Oh, wow, I needed that..." she said, still giggling as the video screen winked out.

Nick escaped from the cage easily enough and jumped down to cross the room, pausing only to take time to lift the long skirts of his dress. They also made it difficult to climb up to the toy shelf, but he managed.

He then moved behind the plush white rabbit with the top hat, lifting a fold of fabric in its back. As he did so, it revealed a small video screen that was connected to the Nanny Cam hidden inside the stuffed animal.

Nick played back the footage, rewinding it to reveal that it had captured everything going on in Lydia's bedroom, starting from when her mother had turned it on a few minutes prior to Chris's arrival, right through Chris's transformation into Prodigious Girl in front of Lydia, and ending when the two of them left together.

"See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues," Nick deadpanned as he adjusted his little tiara.

He then skillfully wiped the video file. Then he damaged one of the wires to explain the device's failure when Lydia's suspicious parents checked it after they returned.

"You want something done right, you need a chinchilla," Nick declared.

A few days later, I was sitting in a booth at HeroBurger by myself. Marty had come back from his "business trip" crankier than usual, and I wasn't in the mood to deal with it, so I decided to take a long lunch to sort some stuff out.

In front of me, I had six small napkins that I had labeled, and for the last half hour I'd been moving them around. At first I think the people at the tables next to me assumed I was a germophobe repeatedly wiping down the table, but then started to look at me like I was a crazy person. I wish I could say they were wrong.

"Madame?"

I looked up to see Caleb standing there holding a plastic tray. Before I could say anything, he took a paper plate off of the tray and placed it in front of me like he was a waiter in a fancy restaurant.

"May I present to you 'The Prodigious Grill,'" he said solemnly. "A triple-decker sandwich featuring two plump grilled chicken breasts—"

"Nice."

"—amply complemented with generous amounts of both ham and cheese."

"Guilty as charged," I admitted with the hint of a smile. I then noticed that the pickle garnish had been cut into four equal spears, all arranged in a diamond around the sandwich. I looked at Caleb questioningly.

"Every time I see you, you're always in a pickle."

I nodded gamely as he sat down across from me in the booth. "Thanks," I said with a smile.

"It's not officially on the menu yet, but I thought you'd appreciate it. If you can somehow work onion rings into your costume, I feel like they'll go for it."

"Well, I'm pleased to be the first to have one," I said.

"Third, actually," Caleb corrected. He chucked a thumb over at a nearby booth. "Those two women over there are visiting from Texas and they saw me making it, so they ordered it off the menu."

I turned to see the two women, a brunette and a blonde, both give Caleb a friendly wave and a thumbs-up.

I was flabbergasted. "I'm...third? How did two people get ahead of me on this? I invented Prodigious Girl."

"You gotta move fast. People know a good thing when they see it."

Caleb then took a breath and gave me a serious look.

"Chris...I know we haven't had a chance to talk since...the other day. I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I know what we'd talked about in the car, but when the chips were down and Xenos was going to get away, I choked. I just couldn't take the shot. I'm not a hero like you. I don't have it in me to make those big life-or-death decisions."

"Caleb, you did make a big life-or-death decision. You chose life. Don't ever apologize for that. And you risked your life to help me. I was wrong to ask what I did. I gave in to fear and despair, but you chose hope. Trust me, today, you get to be my hero. I don't know if I can ever repay you for that."

He nodded soberly. Then he said, "I mean...I won't kid you, the Prodigious Grill is like fifteen bucks, and I'm making minimum wage..."

"Oh, yeah, sure," I said as I dug around in my purse for my wallet.

Caleb examined the arrangement of napkins on the table. "What's all this?"

"I've been trying to work out what happened with the body swapping."

"Gift horse, Chris?"

"Okay, fair," I conceded. "But...dude, this is really weird. The only way for us to have gotten back to our normal bodies was if there was a double-swap."

"Sure. The same kind of thing happened when Xenos tried to grab your body the first time, and you and Lydia got swapped. So?"

"So, it doesn't make sense," I said. "Xenos had all of the cards. He had his power to swap bodies, plus he had my body, which meant he had my power mimicry ability."

Caleb scratched behind his ear. "Maybe something in your body didn't agree with him. Like maybe he swapped, but then he accidentally triggered a double-swap because of your power."

"I thought of that. That's why I've been fooling with these," I said, pointing at the napkins. "See, there's two kinds of double swaps, because the outcomes are different depending on whether he swapped with me first, or Lydia first. But the only way we ended up the way we did is if he swapped with me first, in Lydia's body, which doesn't make any sense. First of all, why would he swap at all when he had everything he wanted? And second, even if he did have to vacate my body for some reason, why jump into a seven-year-old girl? He wouldn't. He'd have chosen his old body."

"This is making my head spin," Caleb said. "Still, that's what must have happened, because here you are."

I took a breath. "There's one other possibility. I triggered the swap."

"From Lydia's body? That's not possible."

"It's the only answer that makes any sense. My mimicry only seems to kick in when I'm in life-threatening danger, right? So, maybe while I was in Lydia's body, I mimicked his swapping ability, and then I jumped into him. Then, rather than being a little girl falling to her death, Xenos decides to trade up into his old body, and he swapped with Lydia."

A slow smile spread across Caleb's face. "Chris, I told you before, that's not how metahuman powers work. Metahuman as in metagene, as in physical body, remember? Besides, your other powers didn't jump with you. Your strength, flight, invulnerability, those all stayed with your body. Like they should."

"He went looking in the wrong place," I said quietly to myself. Those were the cryptic words I'd said to Xenos that freaked him out. Then I looked to Caleb again and pressed, "What if it did work like that? What if...a person could have powers tied to their body and powers tied to their, I dunno, spirit, or whatever?"

Caleb shook his head. "I don't think there's a name for something like that."

"I think maybe there is," I countered. "Have you ever heard of something called the Kindred?"

He shook his head again.

"There's one other thing that's been bothering me," I told him. "If some of my powers really are somehow tied to my spirit, I spent a lot of time in Lydia's body. You don't think maybe I could have, I dunno, infected her or something?"

Caleb laughed. "Chris, now you're just talking crazy. Lydia's fine. You two got lucky. Take the win and be satisfied for once, will you?"

I smiled and shook my head. "Yeah, sorry, I'm just being...me." Then I looked down at the sandwich in front of me. "Caleb, this thing is huge. Can I at least get a fork and knife for this?"

He looked offended. "Not on your life. The Prodigious Grill is meant to be both stupendous and formidable."

I gave him a sly smile. "Yeah, well, at least get me a knife to cut this thing in half. Because as far as I'm concerned, it's also meant to be shared with friends."

THE END

I hope you enjoyed the story! While you enjoy the closing credits, may I recommend:

Tiiiiiiing! Tap.

Tiiiiiiing! Tap.

Tiiiiiiing! Tap.

Tiiiiiiing! Tap.

Tommy was walking down the hallway to his bedroom when he heard the sound. Over and over. It was coming from his little sister's room. Her door was cracked partway open, so he knocked as he opened it the rest of the way, and he peered inside. As he did so, he saw Lydia sitting on the floor, flipping a coin in the air and catching it.

Tiiiiiiing! Tap.

He laughed at the picture. Only a little kid could possibly find that interesting. "What are you doing, Squirt?"

"Nothing," she said hurriedly. She couldn't have looked more guilty if she tried.

Tommy, suspicious, leaned over and plucked the coin out of her hand. "Let me see that." He then turned it over in his hand to reveal it was just a common quarter.

An easy smile came to his face. "Hey. Call it in the air."

Tiiiiiiing!

"Tails," Lydia said flatly.

Tap went the coin as it landed in Tommy's hand. He then revealed the result. Tails.

"Lucky you," Tommy said as he tossed the coin back to Lydia and headed out the door.

Lydia put the coin down and then retrieved a different one from the little pile of assorted coins that she'd dumped on the floor. The room was quiet apart from the sound of her chinchilla rustling around in its cage.

Tiiiiiiing! Tap. Heads.

Tiiiiiiing! Tap. Heads.

Tiiiiiiing! Tap. Heads.

Tiiiiiiing! Tap. Heads.

Lydia then switched the coin to her other hand and flipped it again.

Tiiiiiiing! Tap. Tails.

Tiiiiiiing! Tap. Tails.

Tiiiiiiing! Tap. Tails.

Tiiiiiiing! Tap. Tails...

Haha, sorry, I couldn't resist one last Marvel-style "post credits" scene. However, after having created the trading card images, it was too good an opportunity to pass up. So, just for fun, here's a combined image of all our stars: