"Hold on," said Sophia, one of the paramedics, a dark-skinned, dark-haired woman. "So you're saying you can basically...possess anything at all...and control it?" She sounded particularly interested.

"Yep, she showed me how," said Alyssa, gesturing to Kat, who smiled at the medics. "I think anyone can if they learn how."

"I'm finding that a little hard to believe, no offense," said the other medic, a black-haired woman named Sandra.

"Considering what you just saw, I wouldn't be so skeptical," said Sophia, her voice surprisingly calm and accepting.

"I know, I know," said Sandra. "It's still so hard to believe. Everything I know about the human body tells me what I saw is impossible. I still think this is some kind of elaborate magic trick." She turned to Tara. "...in which case your fake emergency call is really not appreciated."

Tara was about to speak up in her defense, when Sophia started talking. "Oh, I know what I saw. There's no way that's a trick."

"Seriously?" said Sandra, annoyed. "What's more likely? That all this established scientific fact is wrong...or that we have two very talented magicians here"—she held out her hand in Kat and Alyssa's direction for emphasis—"who just don't know the right way to get an audience?"

Perhaps this was the answer they were looking for, thought Alyssa. Tell a white lie, tell them it was a trick, and there won't be anything to worry about. Well, except the fine for the "fake" emergency call—she'd want to reimburse Tara for that, and hopefully Kat would split it with her, since she was really only doing the right thing by calling.

I'll pay the whole thing. It was my fault for not paying attention. Alyssa was startled to suddenly hear Kat's voice in her head. Instinctively she looked toward her, who was already looking in her direction, and smiling as if to say "yep, that was me." Oh, right, Alyssa remembered. She did say she'd leave their minds linked somehow. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to keep it like that permanently, but it would be a good idea in case Kat spontaneously went back to her own dimension. She definitely didn't want to lose her.

Satisfied with the solution she thought of, Alyssa was about to speak up and falsely admit it was a trick, when Sophia said something that gave her second thoughts.

"Well...I've seen someone do that before."

"What?!?" "You did??" "Really???" "When??" Everyone in the room was understandably very surprised.

"Once, when I was very young," began Sophia. "My parents were away, so my grandpa was babysitting."

Everyone listened, deeply interested in hearing Sophia's story.

"I had a nightmare, and I woke up crying in the middle of the night. Grandpa came into my room to see what was wrong, but he couldn't get me to stop crying."

"Awww..." "That's not good!" "Were you okay?"

Sophia continued. "Suddenly I noticed he was gone. I got worried, but then...I saw one of my toys climb onto my bed."

"Whoa!" "No way!" "Cool!"

A tear came to Sophia's eye as she continued telling the story. "It was like some kind of doll, not very realistic or anything, like a toy for toddlers. But right then, it looked distinctly like Grandpa."

"Awwwww!" "How sweet!" "That's wonderful!"

"He played with me for a while like that, and that really cheered me up. Then, suddenly, there he was sitting on my bed again, and he asked me if I was okay. I said yes, then he sort of...fell through my blankets or something, and my bed seemed to tucked me in by itself. Then he was on the floor, and last thing I remember, he picked up a toy car, somehow...disappeared into it, and rolled out my door."

"That's awesome!" "Did you ask him how he did it?"

"I was only 2 or 3," said Sophia. "I wasn't smart enough to do that." She kind of laughed through tears. "And I was just preoccupied with the fun, special thing that was happening. I did ask my parents about it when I was older, but they had no idea what I was talking about and said I just had an active imagination."

Sandra, who had been silent throughout the whole story, suddenly spoke up. "I'm sure they were right."

"Yeah, I sort of latched onto that as an explanation," said Sophia. "I thought I must have still been dreaming or something. But that toy car was always on a table in my room; I never played with it. Then the next morning, I saw it on the floor outside my room. I've always thought about that, thinking maybe it was real. The mystery had always bothered me."

"Didn't you ever bring it up to him?" asked Kat.

"Oh, I wish. He died when I was real young."

"That's sad," remarked Alyssa.

Of course, after hearing that story, Alyssa couldn't possibly continue with her plan to say it was a trick. She undoubtedly had exactly the knowledge Sophia was longing for all her life. It would be terrible to keep her in suspense! She looked at Kat, who nodded to her.

"You know what, Sophia?" said Alyssa, putting her hand on Sophia's shoulder. "I don't doubt it actually happened. That sounds exactly like what I've been doing."

"Can you show me?" begged Sophia, ecstatic to finally know what happened.

"It's been a long day and I'm awfully tired, but I'll try."

"I'll show her for you," said Kat, as she looked around for something to demonstrate with. Settling on a small stereo on an end table, she placed her hand on it, and imprinted as she did countless times before. Before the paramedics' eyes, her entire body was sucked into the rippling device, which became changed by her presence. The clock on the display changed from bright blue to fluorescent pink, and the white casing turned black with zig-zagged pink stripes on the sides. The radio antenna, previously just a long, thin black wire discreetly hanging behind it, became rigid and coiled and pointed upwards, a large, glowing pink star decoration appearing on the top.

Sophia gasped and stood up in excitement. "Oh my god!!! No way!!!!!"

Suddenly the stereo turned on by itself, the screen getting brighter and displaying "AUX", as Kat's voice came over the speakers. "Is this what you saw him do?"

"Yes!!!! That's it!!!!! Exactly!!!!!! It even changed color and stuff when he did it, I forgot about that!!!! Oh my god, I never thought I'd ever see that again, thank you so much!"

This whole time, Sandra was speechless. Try as she might, she couldn't think of any way that what she saw could possibly have been faked. She picked up the stereo, with Kat in it, and examined it for any hidden openings, only to find none at all.

"What, are you still not convinced?" said the stereo in Kat's voice, while Sandra was holding it. Suddenly, Sandra felt it shake somewhat. At that moment, there was a rippling in the top, where Kat emerged in a triumphant pose before sitting back down on the couch, eliciting a sudden gasp from Sandra. As that happened, the stereo returned to its original appearance.

Kat could not have possibly fit in there without hiding in the table or something, and Sandra knew it. This couldn't possibly be a trick. Sandra had no choice but to accept, difficult as it was, that much of her knowledge about how basic physics worked was incorrect. "......No way......." was all she said, before putting the stereo back down on the table.

"My turn!" said Tara cheerily as she looked around, excited to have some more fun with her new ability.

"Wait, Tara," said Sophia, reaching into her purse. "Can you possess...this?" She pulled out something resembling one of the miniature dummies artists use to draw poses, only thicker and with fewer joints, and no stand at the bottom. There was a smiley face printed on its head, and it looked very worn from age.

"What is that?" asked Tara quizzically.

"That's that doll my grandpa went inside of," said Sophia, another tear in her eye. "Since he passed away I always kept it close to me, as if he was still in it."

"Aww, that's sweet," said Alyssa. "But if she imprints on it, won't you associate it with her instead? Wouldn't it kind of ruin the meaning it has to you?"

"No, that's fine. I'll associate it with both of you!" answered Sophia as she handed it to Tara.

"Okay, hold out your hands," said Tara. Sophia did as prompted, and Tara held the toy above her hands. Her body shrank as it entered the toy, and it took on Tara's appearance before falling into Sophia's hands.

Sophia gasped in delight. "Oh my god! It's just like when Grandpa did it!"

"Oh, this is fun," said Tara. "It's like I'm still a human, but I'm just smaller and made of wood." She walked around in Sophia's hands, and jumped onto the couch. "Whoooo!" said Tara as she made what felt to her like a long fall. "I'll have to buy one of these; it's fun being small!"

"Okay...is this something I can learn to do?" asked Sandra in awe, as Tara walked around the room in her miniature wooden body.

"Oh, me too!" said Sophia excitedly, not having thought of that possibility but very excited about it.

"Probably," said Tara. "I learned it in less than 10 minutes. It's really not that hard, and it's so much fun." Walking back over to Sophia, she climbed into Sophia's purse, and emerged sitting next to it.

"10 minutes, really?" asked Alyssa. "Great job!"

"I can't wait to show it to the head doctors at work," said Sandra. "It's a discovery like nothing they've ever seen before, and I can already think of ways this can be used to save lives and help the injured."

Kat's voice came from the stereo again, as if she was on the radio. "Oh my, definitely! Yeah, you're right, injuries must be terrible without it!"

Tara sighed. She knew this would come up. "Sandra, I'm not sure that's the best idea."

Sandra was confused too. "...Why not?"