"Who had this idea, anyway, and why is it so important?" she asked and Lorcan groaned. 

"It was Karen's idea and we have been over this multiple times already. The state's government has finally gotten its grips together and decided to start a voluntary database of all class 2 and class 3 people." he explained patiently. "We'll register and as a reward we get a social security number, if we don't already have one, and, even more importantly, the government knows which beasts are where to expect and can warn all class 1's accordingly. For example, Karen's 'accident' last month may have had been prevented if the hunter would've known what else there's flying around above these woods." 

For a moment, Lorcan's eyes shrouded in darkness, and Maddie's face tightened as well. He'd said 'accident', but somehow, neither of them believed that this was all there was to that specific episode. Karen had been pretty tight-lipped regarding the incident, but both her friends had noticed that what must really had happened hadn't been quite an accident. 

"Anyway," Lorcan continued. "a social security number is a must have if we want to coexist with humans." 

Maddie nodded unwillingly. The logic of Lorcan's argument was beyond question, yet it took away this beautiful day. 

"Plus-" he grinned now. "-what do you want to do out in the cold anyway? You're half  snake. Won't you, I don't know, freeze?" 

Maddie gaped at Lorcan, who was smirking devilishly. "WHAT?" she asked huffily. "You know, I may have the tail of a snake, but I'm WARM-BLOODED. And my scales are very thick, so I won't freeze, thank you very much. Freeze!" she threw up her hands in exasperation. "You'll regret this, Lorcan!" 

She scooped up a ball of snow and threw it at the boy who dived below the frozen missile and responded in kind. Soon, both youngsters were laughing and encased in an epic snowball fight.

Five minutes later, both arrived at the meeting point, heavy panting and covered in snow from head to toe, but grinning widely. 

"Seems like you're having fun." Karen observed, who was already present. "That's nice, but you are LATE!" she ticked one of her fingers at her watch. "You're the last ones, everybody else is already here, we've been waiting for you!" she said and waved to the figures, crowding the spot in front of the hand-drawn 'Camp Ranelk' sign. 

Maddie examined the little group. There was Karen, a Gryphon in her true form and her trainee pilot Al, also a Gryphon. Then Sara, the Tengu and John and Diana, the Phoenix friends. And a little to the side, a rugged dressed figure with unkempt hair and beard stood, eyeing the youths commotion. 

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Who's that?" she asked, looking at the stranger. 

"Oh, right." Karen said. "You haven't met him before. Let me introduce you, Benjamin, Maddie, Maddie, Benjamin. He's the Hydra who saved me last month." she beamed. 

Benjamin's mouth moved, and through his big fuzz of a beard, a murmured "Pleased to meet you." could be heard. The greeting sounded disinterested, but there was a gleam in his eyes which somehow made Maddie think that behind this brush of hair a nice person was hidden. 

So she stepped closer and looked at Benjamin, inspecting him hawk-eyed. 

"Um..." Benjamin said quietly. "Excuse me, but what are you looking for?" 

"What? Oh! Nothing." Maddie replied. "Just looking for your other heads. You're a Hydra, so you're having several heads. But now there's only one. Where are the rest? And which of the Hydra's head's is currently controlling your body?" 

Benjamin looked at Maddie irritated. "What? No! I do have multiple heads, but there's only one of me." 

"Ah, okay." Maddie said, understanding flashing. Or not. "No, wait. You've many heads, but there's only one. Um, sorry, you lost me..." 

"Hydra's don't have multiple personalities." Lorcan now intervened. "There are many heads, but only one them has a brain. The rest are simple extensions of the body. Like arms or legs. Only that those arms and legs have a mouth and can see, hear and smell." he looked at Benjamin. "Is that about right?"

The man grunted. "Yep, that's about right. Maddie, was it?" Maddie nodded, and Benjamin continued. "So, I have only one mind, but many heads in my true form. So there's only one of 'me'. Not more." 

Maddie's eyes were big as saucers now. "Wow." she said. "Many heads... isn't that... I don't know... confusing?" 

"Is it confusing to have two arms and two legs instead of only one each?" Benjamin returned and, as Maddie didn't answer, laughed. "Didn't think so. There you have your answer." 

"Okay, all right!" Karen shouted, intervening in the discussion. "I invited him to accompany us as a small thank you for saving me. Going as a group is way more fun! He has a friend up at the lake, some kind of Norwegian water spirit, but somehow he didn't want to come, sadly." 

Benjamin nodded. "Yeah, sometimes, Lukas is a little removed from the here and now. He'd rather play his fiddle. But I can't see him needing a social security number anyway, therefore..." he shrugged. 

"So..." Karan said. "Now that we all are here... why don't we go?" she turned and started walking as Lorcan whistled her back. 

"Wait!" he said. "There are still two people missing." 

"What?" Karen asked. "Did you invite someone else after we talked the last time?" 

"Yeah, well, there are those two girls, I hardly know them but they sometimes appear a little bit lonely. Therefore I thought that I'll invite them when I coincidentally met one of them before." he looked at Karen. "I hope you don't mind."

Karen grinned back. "Oh, not the slightest." she said. "The more we are the funnier it is. But... you sure they'll come? I don't want to wait that long for them, not that they somehow decided against picking up the invitation." 

Yet at the same time while she was saying this, there was some kind of hoarse sound coming from John, who was looking in the opposite direction, his eyes suddenly bulging. 

"Weeell-" Lorcan replied, facing in the same direction and smiling mischievously, "-it appears as if they're here." 

The whole group turned as one and... well, everybody's reaction was somehow different, but all in all these could be categorized under "gaping". Only Lorcan and Benjamin didn't seem shocked, the latter one raising an eyebrow and looking at the disparate couple coming down the hill with obvious interest. 

First of all, there was a fairly normal looking girl. She was wearing snow boots, jeans and a thick winter coat, plus a scarf which covered all of her hair. She looked fairly oriental, with coppery skin, but besides this, there was nothing unusual about her. Because what actually had spawned the others' reaction was her not quite so usual choice of a riding creature. 

She was perched atop the body of a giant spider, its main corpus easily the size of a pony or a small horse. Eight long, spindly legs propelled the creature forward, each one extending for up to three yards to the left and right, making it nearly as wide as Karen's wingspan. The head sported eight black, unfocusing eyes and a pair of fairly wicked looking fangs the size of sickles. But despite all those nightmarish features, it had some kind of natural beauty. Its whole body was covered by silken, black fur, highlighted with brilliant golden stripes. 

Something about these stripes triggered a memory in Maddie's stunned mind, but she couldn't quite grab it... 

The spider now settled its body on the ground and, flexible like a cat, the girl on top climbed below and smiled brightly at the assembled group. As soon as she was down, the spider did something odd. It scuttled back a couple of yards, positioning herself exactly behind the girl. As if it was... hiding behind her? 

Maddie immediately discarded the thought. It was preposterous, after all. 

Lorcan smiled and walked to the girl, ignoring the frozen audience behind. "Hi, Miranda." he said. "It's great that you managed to come." then he looked at the cowering spider. 

"Although your friend does seem to be a bit scared of us." 

The girl he'd called Miranda furrowed her brows. "Yeah... what?" she whirled around, looking at her spider. "Oh, Jeez. Not again..." 

Miranda presented the audience (still frozen, of course) a sweet smile. "Um, don't mind it, it will just take a moment. She's a bit shy. It took me an hour to convince her to come..." 

"Shy?" Maddie blurted out. This spider? A giant spider? Shy? Preposterous!

"Yeah..." Miranda acknowledged, already walking towards her creature. "She had something of a bad childhood. But she's taking shyness to ridiculous heights. At least I managed to convince her to finally show herself in her true form to other mystics. So it's actually getting better. You should've seen her three months ago. Boy..." 

She rolled her eyes and then went to her knees in front of the spider, positioning her face only inches away from those mighty fangs. 

"Don't you chicken me out now, Hana!" Miranda told the spider strictly. "Eventually you WILL have to show your form to other people. And today is for this a day as good as any. So, get your grip together. I'm here with you, so if any of them only so much as blinks at your form, I'll beat the crap out of him. You hear me, Hana?" now she was actually stroking the spider's fur in a soothing motion and Maddie's jaw hit the ground. As did Karen's, John's, Diana's and Sara's. 

"Did she actually just call the spider... Hana?" Karen asked dazed and Maddie nodded numbly. So that's why her complexion was so familiar. It was the same as Hana's hair! And Miranda was right - Hana was shy. In fact, Hana's behavior didn't have a word invented for yet, but shy was far too mild a label for it. 

"What?" Lorcan asked amused. "You had been so interested in what she was. Now you know. Satisfied?" 

"Um..." Karen said, apparently unsure what to reply. Maddie could sympathize. She'd been interested as well. But to know that such a shy girl was actually some kind of giant spider - well, talk about revelations. That was totally unexpected. And suddenly, she felt a pang of sympathy for Hana. When she'd started school she had been tremendously afraid of revealing her body to normal humans. But she was 'only' a Naga, still a half human. How much worse would this feeling have been if she'd been a giant spider? 

Meanwhile, Miranda's efforts seemed to bear fruits, because now she was opening a backpack which had been strapped on her back and removed clothes. 

"Okay, so Hana will turn back now." she said and looked at the group which simply waited. "I said-" Miranda repeated "-that Hana will transform back now." still no reaction. Miranda sighed. "Folks, what I'm saying is that you should turn around NOW!" she commanded, and everybody obeyed immediately. 

It took a minute, and then Miranda gave the all-clear. The spider's footprints where still there, but where she'd been, a petite, dressed Asian-looking girl stood, clutching Miranda's arm. 

"Oh, hush." she said and pushed Hana in front of the group. "They won't eat you. Just say hello." 

"Um... not necessary." Karen muttered a little impishly. "We already know each other. We're her classmates. Hello, Hana!" 

The others murmured a greeting as well and Miranda grinned. "Well, that's perfect. Then she's already comfortable with you." Miranda shed a sideglance at the unsteady figure next to her "Well, let's say comfortable for Hana's standards." 

Maddie was the first one besides Karen who found her voice again. "So... you're a giant spider?" she asked softly and Hana nodded, her eyes focused on the ground. 

"I've never seen or heard of your kind... what do you call yourself?" 

Hana rubbed her hands together insecurely. "Um... I'm a Jorogumo. That's a Japanese spider-demon. My father was a Japanese, and my grandmother was a Jorogumo, that's where I got this body..." 

"Okay..." Maddie said and thought about ways to keep the conversation alive. Awh, to hell. Just say the first thing which comes to your head. "You know, your spider-form was actually kind of beautiful!" she blurted out and startled, Hana looked up, for the first time looking into Maddies' eyes. She could see the sincerity of the other girl and started to blush. 

"Thank you..." she said shyly. And behind her, Miranda grinned over her whole face. This seemed to be the breaking point, because now the rest of the group started to chime in, and soon, Hana was involved in a nice conversation. 

Maddie mainly watched, as suddenly Miranda positioned herself behind her. "Nicely done..." she said silently. "Me and her mother keep telling that girl that her real form is actually beautiful, but she doesn't believe, actually doesn't want to believe. The more people tell her the truth, the sooner she can start accepting who and what she is. Thank you... for that." 

Maddie turned and saw complete and utter sincerity in Miranda's face. She nodded. "Well... no problem." 

"Of course if you'd told her that she's hideous I'd have skinned you alive and grilled your body on slow burn, you know." Miranda added cheerfully and this, Maddie realized, was also a complete and utter sincere statement from her. 

She was still thinking about what to respond to this, when Karen turned towards Miranda. "Um... Miranda is it?" 

"Yep. The one and only. What's up?" 

"If I may ask..." Karen continued. "What kind of mystic are you?" 

"Hm..." Miranda started to grin. "This I best have to demonstrate. Hana?" 

Hana looked up. "Um... Yes?" 

"Could I please use you for a demonstration?" 

Immediately, Hana grinned, something Maddie hadn't seen her doing ever. "Yeah, but with full awareness, okay?" 

"Okay..." Miranda grinned back and motioned to a spot in the snow. "Please seat yourself. The ground is not the best, I don't want to risk you toppling. Any wishes as to what material it should be? Marble? Bronze? Gold? Silver?" 

Hana obeyed. "Hm... how about Crystal?" 

"That's nice, too. Okay..." 

All (except for Lorcan and Benjamin) looked at Hana incomprehensively, who was sitting in the snow now, Miranda standing in front of her, facing away from the group. 

Then she put her hands to her scarf and opened it, but so that only Hana could see what was lying below. And then it happened. One moment, Hana was of flesh and blood. And then the next, a stiffness had embraced her body, her skin becoming translucent - and suddenly, she was crystal. 

 

Miranda covered her head again and stepped back from her creation, apparently pleased. Maddie gasped and the others ogled as well. Since Hana had been wearing clothes, most of her body was covered, but the parts which could be seen, her hands and head, now appeared to be carved out of perfect crystal. 

"You're a Gorgon!" Sara blurted out now, apparently awestruck. "You really transformed her into a crystal statue! That's... awesome." 

Fascinated she went to Hana, putting a hand on her now rigid face. "That's incredible. She feels just like crystal, hard and cold..." Sara faced Miranda now. "Can she... feel? See?" 

Miranda giggled. "Oh, yes. She's fully aware. She can't see and she can't feel the way humans do, but she can perceive - which's about similar." 

"How does it feel?" Diana asked now curiously. Miranda shrugged her shoulders. "Can't describe. Gorgon's can't be petrified or petrify themselves, but according to humans we transform, it's very pleasant, and peaceful. If you want, I can petrify you as well." 

Diana seemed taken aback by this proposition, but then interest spawned in her eyes. As well as in Maddie's. How would it feel to be such a statue, the whole body of only one, pure material, unmoving and stiff? 

But Karen, apparently, had other plans. "Wait, you can try finding this out later. We wanted to get ourselves registered, remember? So we should go now, before they're closing." She looked at the group and Diana nodded, even though a little disappointed. 

"Alright." Miranda acknowledged, walking to Hana again. "I guess I'll turn her back then..."

She knelt in front of frozen Hana and then gave her a little peck on the cheek, and immediately, Hana became flesh and blood again. Cautiously grinning, she stood up, looking at Diana. "Being petrified really is quite awesome. So... just ask Miranda later on for your own experience." 

Diana nodded, a little amazed by Hana's confirmation that, as a statue, she'd indeed been aware of her surroundings, including Diana's question. 

"Great, let's go!" Karen said now and the group started walking. She moved up to Miranda, who was talking with Hana, Maddie trailing alongside. "Miranda, I've one question - there was this little incident with a Gorgon petrifying several students at school a few weeks ago. Was that you?" 

"Nah..." Miranda denied, grinning broadly. "That was one of my little sisters. The dipshits had it coming, though. Bullying a Gorgon by taking away her scarf, what the hell were they using for brains? Peanuts?" she then looked at Karen. "I've seen most of you at school, by the way. I'm a class over you, so you probably don't know me, but you're the Gryphon who changed in the middle of the building, aren't you?" 

Karen winced. "Well... yes, I am." 

Miranda laughed. "Great deed, really. I know that it must have been accidental, but still... I wasn't present, sadly, but I'd loved to see the look on all those faces! Priceless!" 

"It isn't nice to scare people with our forms, you know?" Hana now put in faintly, looking at Miranda reproachfully, but the remark didn't even leave a scratch on Miranda. 

"Most of them are constantly bullying mystics. In my opinion, they damn well DESERVE to get scared. Anyway... who's the bearded guy walking behind? He didn't introduce himself when we were chatting before." 

"Oh, him?" Karen asked. "That's Benjamin, a Hydra. I, um, owe him, so I figured I'd invite him to come with us." 

Miranda beamed gleefully, clapping her hands together. "A Hydra? Splendid! I shall greet him!" 

And happily humming, she bounced away, leaving Karen, Maddie and Hana walking alone, with John, Diana and Sara forming a second subgroup a few yards behind. Karen raised an eyebrow. "Why's she so happy seeing a Hydra?" she asked and Hana shrugged. 

"Well, let's call it family issues." she murmured shyly. "One of her ancestors had some trouble with a human once, Point in fact, she somehow lost her head over the issue. And apparently, a Hydra met the same guy, suffering the same fate. Although-" she furrowed her brows. "-I think in the Hydra's case, there were more heads coming loose. Anyway, since then Hydras and Gorgons stick together, common enemies and such..." 

Hana kept talking and Karen listened, putting in a question or two from time to time. When they finally arrived near the gym, Hana's shy facade had been crumbling steadily and Maddie felt her heart warming to the beautiful girl.

"So where is the registration located?" Maddie asked now and Karen looked at the building. 

"Inside the gym, as I said. We simply have to walk to the main entrance, that's where the process starts..." her voice trailed off as she spotted something unusual.

"What the hell is THAT?" Karen asked, arm pointing at a small group of people being located on a patch of snow-covered grass, on the opposite side of the street bypassing the gym. There was a police cruiser parked in front of them and two officers holding watch. The strangers in question were holding up self-made cardboard signs. Maddie concentrated on reading them. 

"'God hates fags!' 'Mystics are fags!' 'Mystics are the devil's spawn!'" Maddie recited the strange slogans. "What in...?" she asked, appalled. 

"Westboro Baptist Church." Lorcan put in from behind and Maddie turned to look at him questioningly. 

"They are religious fundamentalists." Diana added. "They're considered a hate-group. Until recently, they'd just targeted gay people, but since the Emergence, they've apparently found another group to hate. Us." 

Disgusted she faced Miranda. "Can't you petrify those retards?" she asked and Miranda shook her head sadly. "Wished I could, but I can't. That would be criminal assault." 

"What?" John asked, interested. "Why? You're not hurting them, are you? Therefore it isn't assault, is it?" 

"Ha, you need to study the law closer!" Miranda responded. "Changing one's 'bodily integrity' is considered assault. And changing every molecule in one's body certainly fits the description of 'changing ones bodily integrity." she snorted. "Trust me. We Gorgons checked it." 

"Hm, okay... and who are those?" Al now asked, pointing at a second group holding up signs. "I can't read any anti-mystic sentiments on their signs." 

"Oh, those guys are quite okay." Lorcan said now. "They are protesting against the registration process, not us mystics. They believe that such an act is the first step towards a totalitarian government." 

He shrugged. "Personally, I think that's a bit far fetched, but it's their right to protest." 

And indeed, as the friends entered the gym, the second group of protesters apparently didn't pay attention to them. Of course, they didn't have that much luck with Westboro Baptist Church, and Maddie winced as the furious protesters' insults hailed down on them while they made for the entrance. Thankfully they were far enough away so that, with a little concentration, the uproar could be blended out, but it wasn't pleasant. 

Suddenly, Maddie was thankful for Karen's idea to go together, and she saw her own sentiments being repeated in her friends' faces. Alone she probably would've turned around, unwilling to face those protesters. 

Finally inside the gym she exhaled relieved. The thick door blocked every noise from the street and the sudden silence was heavenly. Only to be interrupted by a startled voice. 

"Oh." the middle-aged woman said, seated behind what normally was a ticket counter said, looking at them. "You... all want to register?" she asked hesitantly and Karen cocked an eyebrow. 

"Yes. Is that a problem? Are we too late?" 

The woman shook her head. "Oh, heaven's no. It's just... well, this registration process isn't that popular, you know. We don't get much 'customers', to say so. Today we had only three. And now there are, what, nine at once? We're not used to that many mystics at once, but don't worry, we'll manage. Simply fill out these forms first." 

She waived a small stack of papers which Karen took and distributed to her friends. Together they went to a round table, filling out the sheets. 

Maddie looked at it. It was pretty straight forward. Name, address, class, species. Then a question if you already had a social security number. And below... 

"Special Skills?" she asked loud. "What are you putting in here?" 

"Hm, flying in my case, I think." Al responded, adding a "soon" as he noticed Karen's amused stare, but Lorcan shook his head.

"No, I think that question is wrongly stated. They probably mean magic skills. Like Miranda's petrification. Look, below there's another paragraph asking for 'special physical traits'. There you'll have to put in 'flying' in your case." 

Al and Maddie nodded. Therefore she would simply leave the 'skills' part empty. No magic skills for a Naga. For physical traits on the other hand... being able to breath underwater counts, doesn't it? 

Finally, everyone had finished his paper and they handed the stack over to the receptionist again. She took it, removed a bar-code sticker from every sheet and put it on another card, handing these over to everybody. 

"Those are your codes." she explained. "The photographer will scan it and then take your pictures. Those'll be assigned to your records automatically later on. Since you have to change into your mystic forms for the session, you can use the changing room. There are paper dresses available, you should put one on and take another with you for after you change back. The photographer has counter-veil available to trigger the transformation, so you don't have to wait until your veil is running out. And take your own veil with you for afterwards." 

She looked at the group again. 

"Any questions so far?" 

Surprisingly, Benjamin who'd been really quiet until now, had one. "How big is the hall where we'll change?" he asked and the woman looked back incomprehensibly. 

"Um... I don't know. It's the basketball court, but the stands are not extracted, therefore it's much larger, why?" 

"Basketball court... no stands... hm... that should be possible." he said. "Thank you." and without another word he appeared into one of the stands. 

The receptionist looked after him, then dig in her sheaths and pulled Benjamin's out, eyes darting to the word he'd put into the space behind "species". 

"Wow..." she said, her eyes becoming big. "A Hydra. First one we got, actually. I've heard of other cities who have more of those, though." she scanned the rest which hadn't yet departed with an ironic smile. "I hope you're not as big as he is, or we'll get space problems." 

"No, not quite as big." Maddie grinned. Not adding but also not quite small, either.

Ten minutes later, everybody stood in the gym, wearing paper gowns. Well, not everybody. Lorcan and Miranda didn't need one. Lorcan because he had no bestial form and Miranda because she was already in her true form. 

But now they had their first surprise. The 'photographer' turned out to be a young boy of 17 years, member of the school's photo club, who was working part time for Ranelk's city council. His name was Thomas and he was apparently one of the few humans who took the Emergence not with mistrust but rather with enthusiasm. So many new species, each of them more fascinating than the other. And all of them sentient, which meant that they could actually pose for him, contrary to animals who somehow didn't want to assist in being photogenic. 

Now, with so many mystics at once, and most of them in an age similar to his, he was practically delirious. Well, that was until he'd cast a glance at Hana. From thereon, the others could well have disappeared. 

Miranda, Karen and Maddie watched amused as Thomas was making advances on helpless Hana who was unsure on how to handle this unexpected situation.

"He seems like a nice boy, doesn't he?" Miranda grinned and Maddie nodded. "Sure... but why's Hana so... defensive? I know, she's shy as hell, but this isn't shyness. It's rather... insecurity. Surely she does know how to handle boys, doesn't she?" 

A dark shadow crowded Miranda's face. "Actually... not. Nobody ever proposed to her, as far as I know. Or even advanced on her. She was always the 'beautiful arrogant' girl, so everyone kept her at a distance." 

"But he is advancing on her, isn't he?" Karen commented and Miranda chuckled. "Well, he is... but he's a nerd, too, isn't he?" 

Karen cocked an eyebrow questioningly, and Miranda chuckled again. "I've seen a fair share of nerds, you could even say that I'm somehow a nerd, too. Anyway, nerds are, if they are not shy, the most straightforward people you'll ever see. They don't care for social dynamics. But I think-" she looked at Hana and Thomas again. "-we need to rescue poor Hana now." 

"Ahem." she made and Thomas looked at her. "Shouldn't you be, I don't know, taking pictures of us?" she asked, grinning, and embarrassed the boy went back to his camera, not without glancing at Hana all the while. 

"Well... you're right, of course. So... who of you wants to begin? I'll first need a front and a side shot of your human form, then I'll need you to transform and will do the same with your true form." 

The first to begin was Diana, who went in front of the camera. Thomas took a couple of shots and then handed her the counter-veil. 

"Um, before you take it - just what exactly are you becoming? We had a dragon last week who changed to close to the camera, knocking it to the ground. I don't want this to happen again. That time the camera survived, but who knows if we'll be lucky again." 

"Oh, okay." Diana said. "I'm a Phoenix." 

Now Thomas raised his brows. "Um... Phoenix?" he asked alarmed. "Wait... are you on fire? Will you set off our smoke detectors?" 

The group laughed, Diana falling in. "Don't worry, I won't burn. No danger here." 

Thomas watched fascinated, as the girl in front of him transformed into a regal bird. While he happily shot pictures (he was even taking out a second camera and asked for a couple of shots for his private collection!) Miranda moved to Hana who had been watching Thomas. 

"He seems nice, doesn't he?" she asked innocently and Hana blushed, immediately looking at her toes. Miranda laughed, clapping on Hana's shoulder. 

"Oh, hush. Don't be that way. Come on, be honest. You like him, don't you?" 

Hana nodded. "Well... yes... as you said, he seems nice. And... he's kind of cute." she said, blushing even further and Miranda grinned. 

"That sounds great. Why don't you go to him, then? He seemed to like you, too, didn't he?" 

"Well..." Hana's voice trailed off. "He liked me as a human. But soon he'll see me as a spider. That'll scare him away for sure!" and this time, Miranda could see tears welling behind. The Gorgon rolled her eyes.

"Oh, girl, you're hopeless. Okay, look at that boy. What do you see?" she pointed at Thomas who, by now, had started taking pictures of John in his Phoenix form, exuberantly shooting away (with his private camera), even asking Diana, who was still in her Phoenix form, to pose with him. 

"Um... I don't know... he seems... cheerful?" 

"No, wrong." Miranda said forcefully. "You're seeing a boy who's totally fascinated by the beauty of mystics. And what did Maddie tell you before? What your mother and I have been telling you all along?" 

"That my spider-form is beautiful?" Hana answered doubtfully and Miranda nodded. 

"Exactly. So when you're changing into your true form, he'll be fuzzing around you even more than before. Therefore, don't worry. There's nothing to be afraid of. He-" she jabbed a finger at Thomas, now photographing Lorcan, although apparently a bit disappointed that he didn't have a bestial form, "-won't be afraid, that I promise you. So what you're doing now is that you're going to him and keep him company. Maybe ask him about the weather or how the camera works, but talk to him. You read me?" 

"Yes, Ma'am." Hana replied meekly and walked away, in Thomas direction. 

Miranda beamed. "Attagirl!" 

Conspicuously, Maddie whispered in Miranda's ear. "Playing cupid, are we?" 

"Some people need one kick in the ass or two to discover happiness in their life." Miranda whispered back. "Hana's the sweetest girl on this planet, but she's spent years immuring herself in a thick concrete wall. You've now idea how difficult it is to tear the damn thing down. Especially since she's holding on it for dear life." 

Maddie nodded. "But what if he doesn't react as you predicted? If he's scared." 

"Then-" Miranda said with a sweet smile, "-I'll petrify him into brimstone, break him down with the hardest hammer I can find and flush his remains bit by bit through as much toilets as possible, that they'll go down the drain and roam the oceans forever." 

That had to be a joke of course, but after careful scrutiny of Miranda's face, Maddie couldn't discard the thought that Miranda was, indeed, serious. In this case, silence is gold, she decided therefore. 

By now, it was Karen's turn and soon she was standing there in her Gryphon form, nursing her feathers with her beak to make herself acceptable. 

"Wow... you're one MAGNIFICIENT creature!" Thomas said appraisingly while showing Hana how to work his camera. "But please be careful with your talons! Don't scratch the floor, okay?" 

Taking photos of Al, Sara and Maddie afterwards went smooth, but then, Benjamin took his turn. 

"Um..." Thomas asked as Benjamin began stepping back from the camera after his human pictures had been taken. Where are you going...?" In fact, he was by now on the other side of the hall, at least 20 yards away from the camera. 

"He's a bit large, a Hydra!" Karen shouted, back in her human form, and grinned at Maddie and Miranda. "Boy, he's in for a surprise..." she whispered evilly and Miranda nodded. Both of them had already seen Benjamin in his Hydra-form. Maddie, on the other hand, had not. 

Therefore she gaped at Benjamin, exactly like Thomas, Sara, John, Diana and Hana, as his body expanded, becoming bigger, larger, scalier... a large coil of moving, smooth muscles. And then, a snake's head emerged. And another. It was eerie to see the Hydra, all six heads moving around apparently erratically. Yet to know that there was only one mind behind those six faces...

"Um... okaaaaay..." Thomas muttered, fascinated. "That is awesome. But... could you please look with ALL of your heads in the camera?" 

Miranda giggled as all of Benjamin's heads, all six of them, stopped their behavior and then looked straight at the lens. 

"Okay... seems like I need the wide-angle-lens for you..." Thomas concluded awestruck and Maddie watched fascinated. She herself was part snake, but having six heads? She couldn't even imagine how that would feel!

But then, a few minutes later, Benjamin's session was over as well and Miranda and Hana were the only ones not already photographed. 

"Guess it's my turn now." Miranda said and walked in front of the camera. "Okay, Thomas. First, I'm a Gorgon. And this is my true form. And second - you're having a problem. You should better take those." she handed him a pair of dark sunglasses.

"Sunglasses?" he asked. "Why? We're inside." 

"Well... I'm a Gorgon. And under this scarf-" she pointed to her head "-are the snakes my kind has for hairs. When you look at them directly, you'll petrify. Therefore the sunglasses. Although I have only one pair. Therefore... the rest of you should look away if you want to stay mobile." 

Dutifully, the rest turned around, but suddenly, Maddie's heart pounded. That would be the opportunity to experience what she'd wondered about...

"Miranda?" she asked, a little breathless. "I'd like to try out being petrified, you know. So, could you please... petrify me? Until you and Hana have been photographed?" 

Miranda looked at her, smiling. "Sure. I guess you want to stay fully aware, do you? You're still in your Naga-form, therefore toppling won't be a problem. So... what do you want to be? Granite? That's kind of default. But I also have marble, crystal and glass available. Metals as well, but I don't think that the floor will be able to hold you in gold or silver then." 

"Hm..." Maddie considered. "I'd like to be a crystal statue, just like Hana before." 

"All right. Then... stay where you are, strike a good pose and the rest should look away." 

Maddie settled for putting her hands on her hips and waited eagerly, looking at Miranda. And then, the girl put the hand to her scarf smilingly and raised it a little, revealing scaly bodies with many heads below it. 

Immediately, Maddie felt a cold warmness, this should have been paradox, but it was the only description which fit, flowing through her veins and suddenly, her whole body was stiff. She tried moving a muscle, but nothing had happened. She tried opening her mouth, but there was nothing to react. 

She could see her body, now a Naga statue, carved out of pure crystal. But it wasn't "seeing" in the sense of seeing through her eyes. She was somehow perceiving, images and sounds, she was totally aware of her surroundings, of every direction. So she could 'see' now her friends moving closer, Karen laying a hand on her hard smooth surface. The touch was somehow pleasant. Everything was somehow pleasant. She couldn't move, was frozen stiff, but it felt... good. And therefore she simply waited, bathing in her strange feelings, not putting much attention on what was going on around her. 

Thomas, fascinated as well, took several photos of Maddie's crystal form. I've to ask him later for those, she decided.

That was, until it was Hana's turn. This, Maddie decided, she wanted to see how it turned out. So she focused her perception on Hana, who was walking in front of the camera now, anxiously. 

Thomas took the couple of required human photos and then asked her to transform. 

"Okay, Hana!" he said. "Could you please transform now? I'd really like to see what your true form is!" 

Next to Maddie the statue, Karen bend over to Miranda. "He doesn't know of her true form? After all that talking they did?" 

Miranda shook her head. "I made sure to listen in on their chat. Thomas didn't ask. I don't know why, perhaps he thought of it to be inappropriate. And she, obviously, didn't tell." 

Like a convicted criminal, Hana watched over to Miranda who gave her an encouraging thumbs-up. Hana sighed, still looking gloomily, then started her change. 

It was strange to see the beautiful girl suddenly becoming bigger, sprouting additional legs, her human head transforming into something entirely else and then, there was her large Jorogumo self standing in front of the camera.

Thomas looked dumbstruck. And dazed. And had Maddie still have to breathe, she'd have hold it now. Even Miranda seemed to be nervous, waiting for Thomas reaction. 

And then, he said a single word. "Wow." 

Slowly, he walked in front of the camera, mustering the big spider. "Wow." he said again. "Hana, I hadn't anticipated this... but I've to say, you're looking beautiful. Let's get on with this!" 

Grinning, he took his camera and Maddie, who couldn't stop breathing, therefore couldn't restart her breath either. Not so Miranda. She heard the girl emitting a relieved breath and most of the rest was smiling as well while Thomas was busy taking pictures. 

As the group left the gym half an hour later, everybody in his veiled or human form again and Maddie restored to flesh and blood, Miranda was whistling cheerfully. Hana, albeit, was still inside, talking to Thomas. She was darting out of the building after a couple of minutes, rejoining the group who'd waited for her on the courtyard. 

"Thanks for waiting!" Hana said a little embarrassed, but there was another embarrassment - and bliss - lying below. 

"Did he ask you out?" Maddie asked, grinning broadly, and Hana nodded. 

"Sort of... he invited me on a coffee for tomorrow." 

"And, did you accept?" Karen chimed in, grinning as well. 

Hana nodded again and Miranda looked pleased. "Attagirl." she said appraisingly. "That's the spirit."