Nicole, Melissa, Chris, Amber, Kyla, and Biff all watched in surprise as Nadine accidentally fired the Prude Gun at the girl who had been Steve Farber.
Almost instantly, Steve's clothing changed, becoming a button-down blouse and long knee-length skirt. She looked very conservatively dressed. She staggered back a bit. "Excuse me..." she said.
"Are you all right?" Amber asked.
"I'm fine. But please, try not to show so much skin. You'll get sunburned." the girl said.
Everyone winced. This was a statement the Steve Farber they knew would never, ever say.
Nadine broke down, sobbing, dropping the Transformation Guns she was carrying. "Oh God!" she cried. "Forgive me, God, for I have sinned."
She began repeating it over and over.
Chris Morgan (the girl sitting next to Nicole that Nadine had not recognized) approached Nadine. "It's okay." she said.
Nadine ignored her. She just knelt down on the floor, reciting a prayer.
At this point, Ms. Davison emerged from the Principal's office. "What happened out here?" she asked.
"It's Nadine. She came here to turn in some Transformation Guns." Kyla began.
"But then Steve woke up and said a cheesy pickup line, and she zapped him." Nicole continued.
"And now she's feeling all guilty over it." Melissa added.
"It's her religious upbringing. She's not Catholic, but her church is still big on the guilt." Kyla said.
Kyla and the others had a good view of the Transformation Guns that Nadine had dropped.
"Prude Gun. That's the one she zapped Steve with." Kyla said out loud.
"Must be the one that got Tiffany." Chris said. She recalled the earlier meeting with the transformed Tiffany Sanders, who was acting and dressing uncharacteristically prudish. Chris had no doubt now that the Prude Gun was the cause of Tiffany's change.
"I'll take these and lock them up with the others." Principal Davison said. She picked up the Prude Gun and the Bimbo Gun, and was about to head back into her office when Nadine looked up and spoke.
"Wait. Who are you?" Nadine asked.
"I'm the Principal." Ms. Davison replied. She then noted the shocked and horrified look on Nadine's face.
Nadine looked at the woman claiming to be the Principal. Was this ... Principal Davison? And did they just call that girl ... Steve?
"Devil's work!" Nadine cried. "You've been bewitched, all of you!" She broke down, sobbing again. "God, deliver me from this Hell!"
Principal Davison headed back into her office, to lock the Prude Gun and the Bimbo Gun in the safe with the others. In truth, the safe didn't have a combination lock. Davison's predecessor Mrs. Levinson had the lock replaced with a standard key lock, because it was easier to open that way. Within a minute, the two Transformation Guns were under lock and key alongside all the others that had been turned in so far.
Ms. Davison then returned to the Lobby. The rest of the group just sat in silence as Nadine knelt down on the floor and recited prayers several times. No one knew just what to say.
"Miss Ferguson." Principal Davison said after a moment of silence. "If you'd like to talk, I'm here to listen. I'll try to answer any questions you have as best as I can."
"What is happening around here?" Nadine asked. "Is this Athena's doing?"
"Athena?" Kyla blurted. "She's got nothing to do with it. She's helping Jay find more of the Transformation Guns."
"We don't know all the details." Ms. Davison replied. "But we do know that Miss DeVries likely is innocent of these events."
"The Transformation Guns came from McMillan Tech Industries." Kyla said. "I don't know how they were created, but someone over there went crazy and sent them to the school."
Kyla knew that they would have a lot of things to explain to Nadine. She hoped Nadine would actually listen, and not interrupt with some rant. This latest statement from Kyla seemed to do the trick, as Nadine now was silent.
"I knew it." Nadine said after a silence. "I never liked McMillan Tech Industries. If they made a pact with the devil, it would not surprise me."
"I'm sure they didn't. Most of them don't even know what's going on." Kyla said.
But even as she said this, Kyla knew she could only speak for the people she knew who worked at MTI. Her cousin Ryan Leeson, Jay's mother Samantha Duncan, and Gladys' father Mycroft Brewer.
She didn't really know Sarah's father Richard McMillan or any of the other executives, and didn't really know the others in tech and Research that her cousin worked with either. She had met Ryan's friend Randall Jeffries, but only once, and that wasn't really long enough for her to truly say she knew him.
All she knew about what was going on at McMillan Tech Industries was what Ryan had told her. And it seemed like Ryan himself didn't have all the answers.
There were still a lot of unanswered questions. And Kyla was sure there were plenty of crazy events going on elsewhere.
