Alice had only seen her aunt's house through the mirror before, and thus was quite
curious what it was like when seen from the outside world. Of course, the news that
indeed her cousins were gone sting at Alice's heart. 'So many delays, so much waiting, so
much time, and all for nothing.' Alice sat down on her knees as her mother and auntie
began to sniff out the house more to see where the unknown stranger had been in Fran's
home.
Alice was curious, it was just who she was, and from her kneeling position she noticed
under a table in the center of the living room a torn up piece of paper. Curious, Alice
reached underneath it, and pulled out the pieces. Treating it like a puzzle, Alice took the
torn up pieces of paper and began to put them together, then realized whatever was
written was on the other side and flipped over the scraps. Alice started as she put it
together, and would have actually been teary eyed if glass could cry, 'then again glass
wasn't supposed to think and move either.'
"MOMMA! AUNTIE! Come to me quickly! I have found a message from Abbey and
Samantha!"
Darla started, that was the first time Alice had used a short hand of any kind, even if it was
just to address her mother. However this was overwhelmed by the urgency of Fran, and
the twins who acted the same, felt the same, and thought the same hurried back to Alice
sitting excitedly in the living room, Alice almost hopping.
The twins closed in fast on Alice pressing against the seven and a half glass wolf cub who
excited pointed at the message. Alice for no apparently reason read the message.
"Alice. Going to Frostvile. Do not know where. Mirrors will be covered up," There was a sad
face at the end.
"How did you read that? It was just pictures." Darla said simply.
Alice pointed at a drawing of a yellow wolf girl in a blue dress, "That is a picture of me.
This picture here is Abbey and Samantha with other auntie, this is their car I think, and this
is blue icicles and a bunch of houses, and this shows my mirrors being covered."
Darla said, "Dear that could just as easily mean 'Alice, we're going to get some ice creams,
leaving a blanket on the mirror so we know you were here.' "
Alice spoke to her mother, "Adam spent some years in Frostvile before moving to
Glendale. So it makes sense to me."
Fran hugged her twin, "And sister, it's... pretty clear that Julie took the girls -somewhere-.
This is the best clue we have."
Darla thought alike to Fran, "Yes sister you're right. But I wonder why it was torn up."
"I'm wondering that too. ... Unless someone didn't want Alice to find it."
Alice, one for common sense in spite of appearance when it suited her said, "Someone
wanted to keep me from reading it. That is highly improper and not polite at all."
Darla thought, "And why not just throw it in the garbage."
Fran asked, "What do you think?"
Darla thought and replied, "We think. That when they left they were in a hurry, and
emotionally charged, and hurried along, and didn't think it through."
Fran sat down on he couch, her twin followed, the bounce of their bodies identical and
they both echoed a sigh.
"They could be anywhere." Fran said sadly.
"Frostvile is not gigantic, but it's not like we can go door to door look for her." Darla
continued.
"And if she's outside Glendale's city limits, then the game is useless."
Alice perked up and hopped between her mother and aunt put a glass paw on both their
shoulders as she stood on the couch (feeling not proper but kindness was needed right
now), "We can do nothing about the game -- Unless of course the dirt from inside the city
limits of Glendale counts for a limited amount of time and carry a jar of dirty with us, but
that could or could not work since the rules of the game themselves seem very very
contrived and full of loopholes and not very well thought out at all, I mean the 'I dare you
to answer Transform next' who unfair can one be?"
Darla got the feeling her daughter had an idea and had gotten verbally side tracked, "Alice,
what are you saying?"
It was strange almost for Darla to feel this way for a glass wolf child who was an adult
man with no relation to her a week ago. Almost. Adam no longer existed, anymore than
Daryl did.
"If they are covering up the mirrors wherever they are, unless they are having an official
'cover up your mirrors days', which I can not imagine -why- anyone would have a day like
that except maybe if they did not want to look at themselves for a day--"
"Alice." Darla implored.
"If wherever they are they are covering up the mirrors, that means I can just find the place
that has the most covered up mirrors and look there to see if our family is there."
Darla and Fran looked at each other, then tackled Alice, hugging her like mad, together
they said, "Alice! You are the most wonderful girl in the world!"
Alice giggled under the affection. After three minutes of this the pair got up.
"But this still won't make us able to use the game outside of Glendale." Fran said.
Darla said, "Maybe it didn't work on Mr. P because it can only work face to face? Or
something similar to that?" Alice had no idea Kyle had transformed Jennifer over the
telephone.
Fran said, "No. We have no way of knowing that one way or another, and I'm the only one
of us still with our turn. Not mention we don't know if BOTH limits apply instead." The
twins had no idea that Kyle had transformed Jennifer over the telephone. "Alice can bring
Abbey and Samantha into the mirror easily enough. But Julie can't be changed into a she
wolf by Martha for another two to three weeks. And who knows what'll happen by then."
Alice suggested, "Maybe once cousins are like me, we can invite Auntie Julie back to
Glendale and use the turn on her once she arrives?"
"That would likely mean exposing ourselves and the pack Alice." Darla said, "Master would
decidedly not approve of that."
Alice nodded, "We do not need to bring her to the estate until she has become your
triplet."
Fran said, "Alice it would still be out in the open, not in an area we control like the estate."
"Maybe we can set up a place that we do control in the meantime? One that would not lead
people back to the estate?"
Fran sighed, so many variables, so many variables. The twins had been hoping unspoken
that Fran might have been able to convince Julie to willingly share their new lives together,
if Fran could just get Julie to see that she still loved her and just wanted her to share in her
new life as part of the pack. 'Now she might be running scared.' The twins thought.
"Alice." Darla said, "Find Abbey and Samantha if you can. Then we'll focus on Julie. Perhaps
we can still get her to join the pack peacefully." 'At this point we're just a glorified nudist
commune while feeding Master's creature comforts. We're Big and we're Bad. We're not -
that- bad off.'
"Can I PLEASE bring them into the mirror? PLEASE?" Alice asked pleading.
Fran and Darla looked at each other then at Alice looking at them with (literal) puppy dog
eyes.
++++++++++
The collage graduate foreman with a degree in construction and architecture with his
horde of (relatively loyal) day workers behind stared at the sight in front of him.
"I'm up here." Said Caroline simply crossing her arms.
The foreman looked up, "Sorry about that."
"Happens a lot in my family." Replied the dark blue lady Big Bad Wolf simply.
While the day workers were all stunned and surprised at seeing a naked furry wolf woman
greet them at the Smith estate, none of them ran away screaming or wondered what
monster movie she had walked out of. They knew they were looking at a giant wolf
woman, but the fact she shouldn't logically exist seemed to fly over their heads and
instead registered her as 'sexy yet dangerous' client. The fact she was naked rang even -
less- bells in their heads.
"So miss..."
"Just Caroline will do."
"Miss Caroline, you're one of the Smiths?"
"Not precisely. I'm just here to keep an eye on you while you do your job."
"This is the big gate you guys want turned into a all prettied up version of fort Knox?"
"Yes pretty much. We also want it all done before Sunday evening."
"That's impossible." The foreman said flatly.
"Double your pay." Caroline said following Bart's instructions exactly.
"Did I say impossible? I meant very possible."
"I'm sure." Caroline replied flatly.
Some of the day workers behind the foreman mutters to themselves about the stone
female wolf-demon-things staring down at them from their perch on the wall. Of course
they were just lifeless stone. But they still scared the day workers plenty of enough, like an
odd feeling in their gut of BEING watched somehow.
Caroline was sure that the lot of the construction grunts would get the work done a LOT
faster as Big Bad She-Wolves, 'Must not be impulsive.' Caroline thought. Master had
spoken that they were only to use the game for the greater good of the pack and with the
master's permission. And Caroline in her official unofficial position as forewolf wasn't
sure about needing to keep track of five more sets of names to manage and coordinate. A
part of her still wanted to reward the foreman with she-wolf-hood for what would be his
hard work (something Caroline could appreciate), but again worried about being too
impulsive like Alpha Female.
Caroline laid down some rules, "You are not to touch the statues -at all-, your men are
not to go inside or out of your sight, you will treat any members of the house hold you
interact with with respect. If one of your men is found where he doesn't belong we'll
consider that a home invasion and defend ourselves as is our legal right."
The foreman look at those claws sticking out of those dark blue paws, "R-right."
++++++++++++
"We have one major problem you know." Said Hope as Kalyee stretched out on her and the
others before her copies would head back to Zackery.
"Yes?" Kaylee asked only mildly interested in what a piece of her 'chair' had to say.
"If the other half of the transform doesn't apply to Zack. Doesn't that mean his parents will
still remember him? They'll be back early next week. And they might cause us trouble...."
"Pst." Kaylee said not sounding all that worried, "And when they return Zack and you will
be waiting for them. After the game they'll be either pups, anime colored she wolves, or
part of the estate's fountains."
"You aren't worried?" 'Belle asked.
"Does Zack know when they'll be back?"
Hope answered, "Yes I think so."
"Any chance of them coming back early or late?"
"Not a chance in -hades.-" Grace replied intensely. "They're way too methodical even with
vacation time. They also make sure any messages from Glendale get bounced back during
that time, their house could burn down and they wouldn't find out until they got back.
That includes Zylphia skipping a few days of school. And they also don't bother to call
Zylphia at all. They trust her utterly home alone."
Kaylee asked, "How do you know all this?"
"We've spent sleep overs at Zylphia's before Alpha Female." Hope answered with Kaylee on
her backside with 'Belle and Grace propping up Kaylee's sides. "They're as straight as rods
and stiff as boards. Zylphia never really acted much like them at all."
Kaylee was glade she had had a loving family, who were now her loving children. "I'll
inform Master, and they were will be nothing to worry. You'll be there to make sure
Zackery doesn't try anything funny with them. We'll decide if they should be added to the
art collection, the pups, or to the anime color brigade in the mean time."
"Yes Alpha Female." They all replied.
'Belle asked, "But won't this mean tipping our paw that we know that Zackery wasn't fully
effected by the Transform?"
"By then I hope you'll have figured out if he's worth wasting a turn to fix him."
"So he can't have kittens?" Hope laughed. The others giggled as well.
Kaylee replied leaning back against Grace who held the position perfectly, "No. Stick with
what Master has told you to use the turn for if it becomes need be. Zackery is -still- the
perfect male for the lower she wolves so they don't come between me and Master. Now
that Roger and Lawrence had been made akin to him, and with Nick already a perfectly
good male already, the four of them should have no trouble keeping the females or any
new ladies added to the pack in line and content."
"People do not wish to be free, they wish to be comfortable." Hope said quoting from
somewhere to her clink leader.
"Just about, yes." Kaylee nodded.
This attitude left the Kaylee's three body molded underlings with only more respect and
admiration for her. Kaylee had decidedly become one of the girls, a very large upgrade
from the dork Kyle had been.
++++++++
After the defense class had ended, Nicole circled Martha, who stood perfectly still, Martha
was Omega after all, the lowest of the low.
"This is interesting."
"Yes Mistress Nicole?" The silver wolf monster's two heads asked the gray she wolf.
"I think I'm going to have to invent a totally different routine for you Martha. Not only do
you have two extra arms, but you also have two extra weak points." She pointed at
Martha's two extra breasts. "Not to mention your two heads and two tails. Traditional
katas and routine I think are simply not suited for your design. I fact I think I'm going to
have to consider how to teach and what to teach with considering our tails as a factor.
They help keep balance but they're also something an opponent can grab.... I might have
to give you some private lessons."
"I am not worth the time." The two heads bowed closing their three solid red eyes.
"You guard and look after the pups, if trouble finds it's way inside the manor, you and Mr.
P are going to be their only immediate line of defense. That makes you very much worth
the time."
"Yes Mistress Nicole."
Nicole had to admit, even using the routine saved for ordinary humans, Martha had been
melodic in her use of the kata. Nicole wondered how well she danced.
++++++++++
"WHAT happened-?!" Jensen asked not liking the answer he had just heard at all. In the tea
room, causing the relatively small room to shake. The twins were on their hands and
knees their tails and noses low before Master.
"Master," Darla began, "Be careful, your bandages come off today, and you don't want to
dislocate your new tooth before it-"
"Never mind that! Are you saying your family is gone?"
Fran said, "Yes Master it is." Jensen didn't admit he had gotten the twins mixed up, then
again, they were mirror images of each other down to the last detail. "Alice thinks my
daughters left her a message they'd be in Frostvile."
Jensen thought, oh yes, that was where Great-Grandpa had had his business.
Alice behind the twins merely nodded.
"Well... easy come... easy go..." Jensen laid back down.
"Master?"
"We'll create a doctor for the pack another way... maybe one of Zack's parents ... "
"wait-wait-wait-wait!" Fran began, "Master you can't just mean?! To let her go?! To let
them go?!"
Darla looked equally distress.
"Outside of Glendale the game is useless. From what you described you've got an unknown
factor involved with your wife who could be anything from a tax collector to a witch. I am
not risking the pack like that: If I wanted to, I'd go with Bart's grandiose fantasy of
'Wolfdale.'"
"PLEASE Master." Fran implored.
"They're our family." Darla added.
"The -pack- is your family." Master corrected them.
The twins blinked tears, "Master... please... we love you, but we also love Julie. We want
her to join us in loving you."
Jensen looked stern, "And if this gets the attention of some all powerful cursed item shop
owner who only doesn't blow up the world cause that would be 'no fun?'"
".... " The twins were silent.
"Father." Alice took a step foreword, "If Julie has indeed become involved in such things...
would not leaving her out there be more dangerous? The best way to learn what she had
told others is to make her mother and Auntie's triplet. Right now the police have no clues
on the vanishing of mother and auntie. And also, because she is in Frostvile right now, if
Abbey and Samantha become your daughters while there, it'll cause less commotion within
Glendale, and people in Frostvile are a thousand times less likely to think it has anything
to do with a curse placed on five witch hunters centuries ago."
"The game is still worthless outside of Glendale. And the idea was to make Julie the pack's
doctor."
"..." Alice was silent for a bit, "Auntie could still appeal to Julie, and once Abbey and
Samantha are your daughters they will be more than willing to help us bring Aunt Julie into
the pack."
"There's still the very real chance she'll see through that her husband is not supposed to
be a female blond she wolf twin. Not to mention your transformation of Abbey and
Samantha will have nothing to do with the game directly."
"I might be able to convince Julie to accept the game if I can prove to her that I still love
her." Fran said.
"If she even accepts that it's you." Jensen said.
"I know." The twin said together.
"And none of you have even addressed the fact that the game is STILL no good outside the
city limits and thus Julie would have to come back here for the question to be asked of
her."
Alice said, "Once Abbey and Samantha are like me, we could help bring Auntie Julie back."
"And if the unknown witch or whatever is there?"
"I'll be sure to look through the mirrors first father." Alice left out how the mirror would all
be covered where Alice was going. She didn't want to worry her father/Master.
"If Abbey and Samantha lead Julie back to Glendale, she'll follow without hesitation." Fran
said.
"It's what a loving mother would do." Darla added thinking of Alice had been caught by the
police she'd have stormed the building herself single handed to take her back.
Jesen couldn't argue against that logic. "Very well."
Jensen sighed, ".... Fran, Darla."
"Yes Master?"
"If anything happens to me, Kaylee is in charge until Bart comes of age in nine years. If
something happens to both of us, the two of you or three of you that it happened to be at
the time are to act is regent for the pack until Bart and Jenny are adults. This is my will
and command. You're also to pick successors if you find yourselves in charge but not
before understand?"
Fran and Darla practically slammed their heads into the wooden floor, "NOTHING WILL
HAPPEN TO YOU MASTER! EVER! WE'LL DEFEND YOU WITH OUR LOVE AND LIVES!!!" The
twins swore.
Jensen sighed, "Do you understand?"
"... yes master..."
Jensen wasn't sure WHY he said that, or what had precisely inspired him to say that. But ...
there was a deep sick feeling at the pit of his stomach, like something awful was going to
happen. It wasn't something he could precisely describe, maybe he was just being
paranoid, maybe having their plans backfire at them after everything had been going so
relatively smoothy had left him depressed. Whatever this feeling was, Jensen just hoped it
was wrong.
+++++++++
Earlier that day, before leaving the Perkins household Trevor had had an encounter with
the last 'person' he had ever hoped to meet.
Julie of course had been wondering what Trevor had been doing meowing to a cat that
meowed back, in particular one he didn't seem comfortable around but who seemed very
comfy around him.
"What are you?! Some kind of stalker?!"
"I'm a cat. Does that answer your question?"
"What are you doing here?"
"I was making my rounds looking for some human to mooch off of when I caught you
scent nothing more." Said Queen, the stray looking pleased with herself as always.
"Look I don't have time for your GAMES Queen! My human and I are busy gather
information for something very important and that doesn't include you."
"... is that so... what if I happen to have information you need?"
"You don't even know what we're doing here or what we're looking for!"
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't, I hear a lot of things among the mollies I hang out with. ... I'm
sure they'd like to meet you too... "
"Get spaded."
Queen turned red under her fur and hissed like a stream pipe. "You did NOT say that to
ME!"
"Oh you bet I did!" He considered calling her a female dog, but he didn't want to possibly
ruin the crime scene with a fight to the death.
"You -little-.... " Queen continued to just hiss and snarls as she mentally doubled back on
herself, her peach sized brain contorting over what it just heard.
"Little what?"
".... " Queen gather herself. Ever so slowly. The humans present merely watched in awe at
the alien exchange. ".... You really are something else you know?... I'm starting to think
you need to mount a cat just to get your mind in the proper working order. Maybe mating
is what you need to get your head on straight."
Trevor didn't want to think about what Queen would consider 'head on straight' with her
species-centric logic. At least with Serenity and Julie present he was able to ignore her
scent for the most part.
"... Go ahead... Trevor... go ahead and play detective with your human... but when her
inferior brain fails you and you need some actual help... I and the mollies will be waiting
for you. And the rest of the community... you can't keep pretending you're one of these
inferior monkeys forever."
Queen then came up to him, brushed herself against him, and left the same way she had
come in (the way Trevor had of course).
"What was that about?" Julie asked.
"NOTHING!" Trevor snarled.
Serenity sighed, Trevor's universe was a very lonely place....
Now here was Trevor, scared out of his wits that he'd somehow lose his soul or at least
the surviving aspects of his humanity. How much of himself was even left in this peach
sized skull of his anyway? He followed the scents of cats to where they congealed the
greatest san the animal shelter (the idea of being neutered gave Trevor nightmares and
had given him even more nightmares when he had been in the pet shop fearing the store
owner would decide to go 'snip-snip' with him). He followed he scent away from
Serenity's house, it's safety, his own place he wouldn't end up ... he didn't know what.
Madam Serenity had insisted on the collar, least Trevor ended up being caught by the dog
catcher. It reminded Trevor way way way too much of the muzzle that had been around
his jaw for who knows how long, but the idea of ending up in a tiny storage cage waiting
to be rescued or put to sleep scared him even more. And he didn't even have the GAME
anywhere! He was just a talking cat like some magical family comedy. What a walking joke
he was...
He passed by a tween age red haired girl who was sitting at a sidewalk bench with a
slightly confused look on her face as she read the book in her lap. Trevor wondered what
her story was but shrugged it off, he had his own problems to worry about. He didn't
want to think about what back alley, junk yard, scrap yard, used tire yard, or backyard of a
senile old woman that the cats of Glendale joined up...
+++++++++
Pearl still with a slamming head ache had been the one to borrow Maxine's card and had
the idea of a friendly game of cards between herself, Beatrice and June. Neither had
objected. Both knew the other knew more than they were letting on. However: June hadn't
told Zackery about Pearl's slip up (which Pearl had confessed to June (stupid she wolf)) and
Beatrice hadn't reported to Nicole and Master. As it was, the three of them played with
unspoken tension.
++++++++++
"There's more than just Jack and Marcine now." Ulysses pointed out to the growing herd of
deer. The two new does Ulysses had no way of knowing, were named Paltith and Caina.
'Hmmm. Well, seems like someone is going to get lucky soon.' Sarah thought of Jack.
"Okay you holding on?"
"Yes."
"Okay, then, don't get go, and here we go!" And Sarah ran wild in the back yard with
Ulysses on her shoulders.