been placed right under the spell, the mirror shows somebody else (part CXVII)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part CXVI.)

Justine puttered around the library, getting it ready for the movie watch party when Lina and Veronica arrived. She introduced the two of them. "Veronica, this is Lina, our head of security. Lina, this is Veronica. You two make..." Her voice trailed off as something only half visible caught her eye. "...yourselves comfortable," she finished.

Lina and Veronica found spots on the couches, making small talk, getting to know each other, while Justine sent out announcements and made last minute preparations for the movie watch party. The nagging presence in the room became more noticeable, and at the same time, the room itself started to shimmer and fade. Lina and Veronica disappeared.

Puzzled, Justine stopped, squinting around. Lina and Veronica were gone, she'd worry about why and how later because...there was something still there. "OK. Don't panic. This is Gearhaven. Feeling like you've entered some sort of ethereal fugue state is not reason to panic, it just means it's a day ending in 'y'," she tried to reassure herself. "Aaaand, you're talking to yourself. Great." She took a breath, closed her eyes and concentrated, listening. She heard the brain in the jar pathetically wheedling for someone to touch it. The grinding of gears, arcing of electricity. And...something else.

Opening her eyes, she began searching the room. There was definitely something there, but every time she approached it, it backed away. Testing a theory she turned her back and walked away. It followed her. "[F**k]," she muttered, "where did Lina and Veronica go?"

Justine reached out on the Duchy feed. "Emilly? There's...something in the house. It's...following me. I can...see it but not see it?"

"I can be there in about seven minutes," came the Duchess's reply. "I'll check it out then."

Justine looked at the clock, then back to where her invisible stalker appeared to be. Pulling out her padd, she conducted scans of the room, paying particular attention to the crawl spaces under the house. Was something under there?

Scanners detected a very particular quantum signature. "Lina? That smells like Lina. Wait, do quantum signatures have a smell?" She filed that in the back of her mind as something else to worry about later, and reached out on the feed again.

"Lina? Lina, where did you go, and...what is this thing you left here?"

Static crackled over the line. "Having some trouble right now, sis! Eh, what thing?"

"You didn't leave a thing here? It sure looks like it's...yours."

"Don't know what you're talking about. Gotta go!"

The connection cut off.

Justine put the padd away and tried to use some of the less "technical" methods of perception the Duchess had been teaching her. She let her eyes unfocus. Hands stretched out on either side of her she began moving slowly around the room, reaching out with her mind.

There. Something there. Small, floating about two meters above the floor. Justine concentrated, tracing back lines of energy emanating to and from the object. It was hovering closer now, and an air of intent seemed to be forming around it. Closing her eyes she tried to remember one of the capture and banishment methods the Duchess had briefly gone over, that sense of knowing "only enough to be dangerous" starting to worry at the back of her mind. She should wait for the others to return. If they were going to return. What if they didn't return? What if the thing was preventing them from returning? Taking a deep breath she centered herself and focused, reaching out.

Contact. She felt it. She saw it. And...it saw her. More clearly. The tattoos on her back, belly and legs started to itch and burn and the warnings Zack and Deebs had given her flooded back into her mind. Panic welled and she started hyperventilating. She considered trying Emilly on the feed again, but didn't want to risk redirecting any concentration from the object. The lines of energy between it, her, and wherever the object had come from flared and thickened. Justine winced against it, the heat in the tattoos rising. Holding it in her attention she attempted the simple banishment Emilly had shown her, and with a push directed it at the eerie presence.

The itching in her tattoos flared and subsided. Opening her eyes, Justine was grateful to see the room had come back into focus, the shimmering haze dissipate. Grateful that she was sitting down, Justine let her hands drop, breathing heavily. Almost immediately the light in the room changed and Veronica and Lina reappeared.

"Lina! Now you get here!"

"Sorry, sis, I got held up. Hey, is something wrong?"

"No," she answered, reaching for Lina's hand to help her get up. "It’s fine. Everything is fine now." She smiled as Emilly came into view. "Everything is fine," she repeated, earning a worried look from Lina as they sat down on the loveseat. "Let's get this movie started, hmm?"

(Continued in part CXVIII.)