“Hold on a minute!” Josephine yelled, lifting her hands and reflexively spreading her wings. The others immediately stopped and gaped at her. After all, she made an impressive sight. Her new wings shimmered in the light, their feathers almost blinding white. Above, an equally radiant mane of hair surrounded her head like a halo. Most notably, she had let go of the jacket one of the other girls had covered her with, allowing it to crumple to the floor and leave her unclothed body in full view. Needless to say, her figure, not to mention her female assets, were just as flawless as the rest of her. Oddly, she felt unfazed by her nudity, simply propping her fists on her hips and demanding, “I just got turned into a female mythic, and now you’re going to leave me stuck like this!?”
Tanya hesitated. “Um, basically, yeah. But it’s not just you. We all need to make this sacrifice if we want to prevent more victims. Do you really want this happening to more people?”
Josephine trembled, obviously torn. “Well, no. But…But I…”
Willow quickly went over to hug the angel close. “It’s alright. We’ll get through this, s-uh, brother. Sister.” She winced a bit despite her comforting words. They had chosen to leave out her change in family relationship to spare Josephine the trauma. Better that she think of her as a younger sister for now than as a father he now never knew.
Nobody noticed one of the others slipping out of the room.
--------------------
Rachael paced the empty hall. Having transitioned back to her human form, she had donned her change of clothes from her backpack, a simple short skirt and flip-flops, and taken her leave. She just had to have a moment to get her feelings under control. Seeing Willow and Josephine together had reminded her that most of her family had already been affected. First, her father had become a dryad as well as her twin sister. Now, her older brother had become some kind of angel girl. This meant her mother now had to support three mythic daughters on her own.
The thought caused a lump in the mermaid’s throat. Her own form she could handle, but she didn’t want the rest of her family to have to deal with new lives, too. Worse yet, her previous musings continued to bug her. What if their alternate selves were actually trapped in the book? Would destroying the book kill those inside or set them free?
Suddenly, the feeling of something hitting her toes distracted Rachael from her thoughts. Glancing down, she froze. There sat the book in the middle of the hall floor. At first, she flinched, expecting that familiar glow or some other kind of magical phenomenon. Instead, it just lay inert like any other book. Curiously, she bent down to pick it up but stopped with her hand an inch away. Was this a good idea? Maybe, the others…
Straightening up again, she turned to call out for the others only to feel an odd weight in her grip. A shiver ran through her as she slowly inspected her hand which now held the book.
“Are you doing this? Trying to tell me something?” Rachael mumbled half to herself. No answer came, but she figured it had to be true. Did this mean the book had an intelligence? Or was some yet unseen intelligence pulling the strings? More importantly, why her of all people?
A suspicion rose up inside her, and she whispered to the book, “You know I don’t really want to destroy you, huh. Well, if you’re trying to manipulate me, think again. I’m not entirely against the idea, and you’ve done more to me than to any of the others. I have every reason to destroy you. So, how about that?”
Even as she spoke, Rachael doubted her conviction. Could she do it if the time came?
As if in reply, the book shuddered in her hand. Trying to drop it, Rachael instead found herself lifting the book and holding it flat on her palm. The cover whipped open, letting her see a new illustration. Then, it vanished.
For a few seconds, Rachael gaped at her empty hand before she let out a scream.
Dawn and the others burst from the nurse’s station. “Rachael! What’s wrong?”
“The book was here!” The mermaid whimpered. “I-I think it was trying to tell me something. It showed me another illustration and disappeared!”
“What was the illustration?” Tania asked.
“It was…”