The silence stretched out into awkwardness as Adam tried to decide what to do. He didn't want to lie, and anyway he wasn't very good at it, but what else was he supposed to do? He'd heard his share of crackpot conspiracy theories about government operatives hoarding weird artifacts and UFO coverups and everything; he'd never given them any credence, but if even one of them was anywhere close to right...gah! What should he do?
Cecilia was fortunate in that she possessed perfect control over her face, because otherwise she would've been smirking from ear-antenna to ear-antenna. She had already detected high stress levels in his voice, and now he had clammed up and was gripping the edge of his chair so hard that his knuckles were white. They seemed to have entered into a completely unintentional perp-sweat. Which, she figured, probably meant he did know something - but she didn't think he needed any more pressure at the moment.
"It's okay, kid," she said. "We're not going to 'disappear' you to an undisclosed location or anything. We're just trying to see what we can find out about the incident."
He exhaled sharply, utterly relieved to hear that...and then realized that that, along with the entire rest of his reaction, had pretty much given him away. Damn! He wasn't going to get anywhere with lying now. But...he didn't have to tell them everything, not yet at any rate.
"Okay, look," he said. "There was this thing my grandmother left me, I dunno where she got it. It has the ability to change things. So I tried to use it to help people, to bring back the old sun so this mess could get fixed. That's when the town disappeared. And...I tried to fix that, but it only brought this house back. I...I got some help, someone else was able to get things back as close to how they were as this is, And we found out...the item I have works by moving people or places to worlds where...where the criteria are satisfied, or something like that."
He waited to see what their reaction be - it would've been futile to run, probably, and he didn't want to make a wish to escape and wind up teleported to some lava dimension or something. The robot-woman looked curious, but the shadowy figure in the trenchcoat was difficult to read...what was going to happen now?
Hawkins pondered the situation. If Adam was telling the truth, he was in possession of a very powerful artifact that he apparently didn't really understand. That was likely to be a powder-keg of a situation if he was the impulsive type...but there wasn't a whole lot they could do about that. Their little agency didn't have any authority to seize property, nor the clout to do it anyway and get away with it, and even if they did, he wasn't the kind of man to want to take that route. But if nothing else, they could keep an eye on him...along with all the other things they were trying to keep abreast of around here. In any case, it was an encouraging sign that he told them, at least.
"Mr...Avery?" he asked. Adam nodded. "It sounds like you're in a bit of a unique position, with some important practical and ethical implications. Rest assured that we mean you no harm...but I'm sure you can understand our interest in this subject. I'd be interested in learning more details, as you're comfortable divulging them."
Adam hesitated. "I...don't think I want to do that...yet."
Hawkins nodded. "I see. Could you at least tell us who it was that helped put things back to normal? I'd like to speak with them as well."
"I'd like to call them and get their okay before I go sharing that," the young man said.
"Of course." Hawkins scribbled the phone number of their motel room on a scrap of paper and handed it to the young man. "Thank you for being truthful with us," he said, "if...reticent. That object you have, you may want to hold off on using it until..."
"Until I understand it, yeah," Adam said, a little bitterly. "That was the plan." He watched as the two agents turned to go. "H-hey," he said, "can I ask...do you like your changes?" It was a weird thing to be asking, but he still didn't know what to do, and he wanted to get as much information as possible...
They regarded him curiously for a moment, then Cecilia smiled. "I do," she said. "No question."
Hawkins shrugged, smiling slightly. "It has its advantages," he said. "Understand, though...that's no guarantee of anything."
They left, and Adam was alone in the house, staring at the front door and wondering what he should do.
She never did get the clothes, but they'd only have gotten in the way anyway. Kei the fairy spent well more than another hour making love to her mate, playful even in her passion. Keith could hardly comprehend all of this - even more than remembering these feelings, she was now experiencing them directly...she was doing this. With both instinct and intellect, she wasn't controlled by her urges like this body had been before; she was responsible, an actor, not an actee. That couldn't be true! ...and yet it was. She wasn't controlled by her urges, but she was fueled, driven by them, hardly able to resist them any more than she had been as a man.
And no more able to disown them than she was to resist them. She didn't just need this, she wanted it - she wanted him, wanted to experience this with him, wanted to...to...she wanted to have children. She was going to have children, to carry them within her, to give birth, to nurse and to raise them...if she stayed in this body, if she kept finding herself back here when she slept, there would be no way to avoid it. And though she knew how wrong that was, she couldn't not want it. Every instinct and desire within her was all for it...
Eventually they found themselves in Farin's nest...in their nest, she and her mate. It was a hole in a tree that he had hollowed out, lining it with scraps of newspaper and cloth for insulation. She was exhausted now, all of her appetites sated for the time being. She had eaten, she had played, she had mated...now it was time to sleep. She stretched and yawned, then laid down on the soft floor of the nest. Farin kissed her again. "Good night, Kei," he said, smiling. She smiled back - how could she not? He was her mate, her lover. "Good night," she said.
She drifted off to sleep, mentally praying that she wouldn't remember any of this as Keith.
Erica sighed as she looked across the fire at Sam standing watch. She didn't mean to keep secrets from him, but she just didn't know if she was ready to share. But...she trusted him, didn't she? She should tell him the truth...she owed him that much.
The skunk-girl got up, stepping over and sitting down next to him. "I'll...I'll tell you what I am," she said.
"You don't have to if you don't feel like it," the young man said. "Isn't none of my business, if you don't feel like sharing."
She shook her head. "No, I think you oughta know...I'm not a spirit or anything. Sam, I...I was human, until about a month ago."
He stared at her, surprised. "I-is that so?" That would explain things like the dress and being embarrassed by her own scent, but he never would've guessed...she moved so naturally in this form...
She nodded. "Where...when I come from, the sun's changed. It's all different colors now, and it...transforms people...into different things. This...this was what I became. I thought you should know, in case...in case you decided to come with us."
"Mm," he said. Interesting how she'd slipped that proposition in there...but there would be time to discuss that later. "I s'pose that explains why you were so shy about it."
She nodded. "Guess you think I'm a monster, probably..."
Samuel smiled and shook his head. "Never thought you were anything but a lady, Erica. A strange one, maybe, but not in anything like a bad way, I think."
She gulped hard at that. Without meaning to, he'd touched on the crux of the issue...she didn't want to say this, but she knew she should, she knew she owed him this...
"S-Sam," she said, "how would...how would you feel if you knew that I used to be a man?"
