Once everyone had piled into Lyn's car, she careened out of the house's driveway and sped down the road. Sitting in the backseat with Jo, Jen glanced back at the mansion receding from view and sighed with relief. While it meant being cut off from most of her magic, the freedom was exhilarating. "It's so good to be free of that cursed place."
"You said it," remarked Jo. "I never would've believed that place was actually haunted."
Huddled beneath the jacket Jo had been wearing, Kara shuddered. "Well, I think it's pretty clear something's in there. And as far as I'm concerned, it can stay there."
Lyn nodded, keeping her eyes on the road. "Would anyone please remind me why we went there in the first place? Or why two of us ended up dressed like boys and two of us ended up naked?"
"I really can't remember," said Jo, sharing a questioning look with Jen. "Were we dared? That seems to be the most likely reason. And the clothes thing was obviously the ghost."
"Well, I think we can agree that dares are stupid." Kara pulled the jacket tighter around her. Being a men's size, it managed to cover up her sensitive bits, but it would hardly count as publicly decent. Still, as long as she hunched forward, nobody who passed by would notice anything unusual.
Jen, on the other hand, had snagged a ratty old overcoat that draped over her like a blanket. The others had praised her quick thinking, not suspecting that she had known about it for decades. Now, though, feeling its coarse texture against her skin, she was having serious second thoughts. She had forgotten how disgusting an old moth-eaten garment could be. And the smells! Her newly acquired nose wrinkled at the assault of dust, mildew, and the sweat of four frightened bodies, exacerbated by the enclosed interior of the car. Add to that not having ridden in a moving vehicle for a long period of time, and the former ghost could detect another barely recalled sensation building up in her esophagus.
Holding a hand to her stomach, she used the other to grope around the door for a crank handle but found none. Where was that confounded thing!? In all her years of solitude, she had seen modern cars pass by on the street, but she had never actually been inside one. Thus, many of the new gadgets and controls mystified her. As her frustration built, her nausea increased at an alarming rate.
"Jen, is something wrong?" Jo asked.
"I need -gasp- I need air! Feeling -gasp- unwell." Jen began clawing at the glass, as if she could pull it down herself.
"Lyn! Stop the car! Jen's gonna hurl!" Jo lunged across her sister's lap and pushed the power-window button.
Jen nearly jumped in her seat as the window seemingly opened itself with a disturbing hum. Her wonderment at this unfamiliar device only lasted until she felt her gut clench. Plunging her head out the window, she gagged and coughed until her muscles cramped.
Oddly enough, for all her painful efforts, nothing came up. It took her a moment to realize that this girl she inhabited did not exist five minutes ago. She was a magically created clone of Jo in body and mind, the latter being suppressed, of course. More importantly, she had nothing in her stomach, never having eaten before.
"Ugh." A miserable Jen dropped back onto her seat and slumped forward, resting her cheek on the windowsill. An empty stomach, a sensitive nose, strange new technology. Adjusting to being alive was really going to be a nightmare.
