Welcome to Strangely

At the Chambers, two Changeless are standing in the doorway and their large, imposing wings block most of the entrance.

"Sorry, I need to get through," Jenny says as she squeezes past them. She feels tired. Her eyes even feel grainy, and she has a dull, painful throbbing just above her eyebrows. She hardly slept the night before, the pair of wings on her back made sleeping awkward, and she did not know how to sleep without laying on them, which is not an option.

Surely, she has slept before. In all of her eighteen years, it is not as if she never, ever slept a wink. She knows this must have always been a problem, even if last night it felt to her as if it was a new thing.

As she pushes past them, one of the Changeless looks down at her, and asks, "Are you, Jenny?"

She has lived here, in Strangely, since she can remember, and still the arrogant being has deigned himself too important to remember her name for even a minute. She makes eye contact with him, remembering not to stare him down, and nods her head.

He informs her, "Agatha is waiting for you, in Room 101."

"Thank you," Jenny mumbles.

As she walks away, she overhears the other Changeless speak in a loud, condescending whisper, "Does Agatha know what she's doing?"

The one who thought himself too important to remember her name, replies with a derisive tone in his voice, "Agatha, always knows best, didn't you know?"

"But is it wise to have the four of them in one place, all at the same time?"

"She is courting trouble."

Their voices fade as Jenny walks further down the long passage of white walls, white ceiling, and white carpet at her feet. The word, trouble, tumbles through the fog of tiredness in her head. She is too exhausted at the moment to consider their conversation. The only thing she wants is to do her boring, monotonous job and get home to go back to sleep.

When she reaches Room 101, she knocks softly on the door which has been left slightly ajar.

"Come," Agatha instructs.

Then, without warning, images flash through Jenny's mind. They push through the fog of tiredness, making it roll away and disperse into further corners of her brain. The images are vivid and bright. Agatha is leaning against her desk, facing the door. Her long, slender legs are crossed at the ankles, and she leans back on the palms of her hands which are flat on top of the surface of the table.

Shaking her head, just a little, Jenny pushes through the door.

When she sees Agatha in the exact same position she just saw in her mind, she tries hard not to allow her face to give away the shock she is feeling in every inch of her body. Did she just have a premonition?

Just glance, don't be obvious. She tells herself.

"Good morning, Jenny," Agatha says in a soothing voice. In one smooth action, Agatha moves away from the table and walks around to sit in a high-backed chair on the opposite side. Her pale, platinum blonde hair is almost the exact same colour as her pallid skin.

She gestures with her hand, in a sweeping motion, for Jenny to take one of the unoccupied chairs. "Sit, Jenny, we have much to discuss."

Already reeling from her strange visions just moments before, Jenny carefully lowers herself into the seat whilst giving Agatha what she hopes is a warm smile.

"Sleep well?" Agatha asks.

"It was okay," Jenny lies.

"You had a premonition, didn't you?" Agatha fixes her with a stare, leaning her slender torso over the desk toward her.

At a loss for words, Jenny simply looks back into her pale blue eyes.

"You're not supposed to use your powers. Not yet," Agatha says in a stern voice.

"It's not like I can control it. It just popped into my head."

Agatha places her elbows on the desktop and steeples her fingers in front of her face, carefully evaluating Jenny. "That's the whole point. You have to try harder to maintain control."

"I don't think we can control our powers, and that really scares me."

"Do the other three girls feel the same way?"

"I don't know. This morning it was as if we pretended last night never happened."

With a look of apprehension etched on her face, Agatha sits back in her chair. "What happened last night?"

"After we read the Book of Eudemon, it was as if we all knew we had to be the girls Gorgon prophesied about."

"You read the Book of Eudemon?" Agatha gasps, unable to keep the sound of shock from her voice.

"Chris sent it to Abby, and when we got back from Meet and Greet, she was reading it."

"He did?"

"Then Stephen was at the door, and he wanted to come in, saying he had waited a long time for the four of us to be together."

"Stephen?" Agatha exclaims.

"We couldn't believe it either. A demon living as one of us."

"Where is he now?" Agatha moves to stand up.

"We banished him to The OtherWorld."

"You did?" Agatha looks at Jenny in surprise.

"Zara found an incantation in the Book of Eudemon, and we chanted it together. There was this sound... As if the sky was opening and then we heard him scream, but then just as quickly as it started it became silent again."

"Chris should never have given the Book of Eudemon to Abby. It was too early," Agatha mumbles.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, Jenny. What is it?"

"Zara was talking about a place called New York. Is that a real place?"