"So you go to Mardi Gras, and come back playing that", one of the students said.

Jan laughed. "Well, not really. New Orleans is more like this." Jan started again on the low end of the piano playing a second line rhythm so authentic you could almost smell the gumbo cooking. She was interrupted though before she really got going. LaShaunta ran through the door with her roommate in hot pursuit. It wasn't fair at all, because LaShaunta Turner was one of the fastest girls in the school, or in the region for that matter. She ran the 400m for the track team and she ran in the relays. LaShaunta's roommate, Lori, was a little on the chubby side and shy, but she was running with purpose.

"Give me those back!", Lori yelled as LaShaunta ran with several sheets of paper in her hand.

"Here hold these", LaShaunta tried to slip the papers to Jan where Lori couldn't see, but the girl had been watching those few sheets of paper like a hawk.

Jan turned them over and saw at once they this was sheet music. She glanced at the first several bars before Lori came and snatched the sheets from her hand.

"LaShaunta, you should be ashamed of yourself!", Lori yelled.

"I was just having some fun with you." LaShaunta wasn't even breathing heavy, but Lori was flushed and looked like she was about to pass out.

"Hey, Lori, can I see those again?"

"What for?", Lori was embarrassed now, which was part of LaShaunta's goal in the first place.

"Just let me see it." Jan reached out and took the pages from Lori's fingers. She looked over the music before putting it on the stand. Jan concentrated before she started playing. Whoever had written this was serious, but Jan loved a challenge.

"Be careful, Jan. This isn't barrelhouse.", Lori joked before Jan started playing. When Jan did play the opening of the song, Lori's mouth hung open. Jan had naturally great musical timing, and she had such a good touch. The people in the room turned and watched. They were used to Jan playing rollicking blues and even sophisticated jazz, but only a few of them even knew Jan could play classical.

Play it she did. She executed the complex phrasing without a single problem. The piece lasted just over seven minutes. Jan had to turn the first page of music herself, but after that Lori changed it for her. As Jan played the last note she finally exhaled. She hadn't held her breath for the entire piece. It had only felt like it.

"My goodness", Lori breathed. She had been holding her breath as Jan finished. "You were sight reading that. You play it better than I do."

"Probably not, but I really like that. Whoever composed this was good. Do you know who wrote it?"

"Yeah, I did", Lori answered. She was still surprised. Lori had been studying music and playing the piano since she was 4 years old, and she was good. Sometimes Lori looked down on blues players and even jazz players thinking that they lacked discipline, but listening to Jan made her reconsider.

"Well, that was really really good. I probably didn't do it justice. I haven't played anything like that in a while."

"Didn't do it justice?!?"

"Yeah, I think I messed up in a couple of places." Jan handed the music back to Lori. "Thanks for letting me play it."

"Thanks for letting me hear you play it. I'm writing this piece for my final. You want to come and help me with it sometime?"

"Sure", Jan agreed quickly.

"See, I did you a favor", LaShaunta joked.

"Maybe, but I still don't know how you got it. I had the rehearsal room door locked."

LaShaunta smiled and walked towards the stairs. She had a quiz to study for. She'd let Lori try to figure out how she got the sheets.

There was another student trying to figure something out. Howard West was a studious young man who sacrificed a social life to the cause of graduating cum laude. Howard wasn't really overweight, but he had a really round face, and he needed to shave, but there was something else occupying his mind. He hurried up to his room. His roommate Brian sat in front of the tv playing Tekken Tag.

"Hey, did you see that friend of yours what's her name down there playing the piano?"

"Yeah, Jan. She plays the hell out of the piano. She comes over here and plays a couple times a week. I think I would break my own fingers for one night alone with her."

"Yeah, its her hands I wanted to talk about."

Brian paused the game. Howard was always getting worked up over nothing. Brian was a good listener even if sometimes Howard came up with more crap.

"She was downstairs playing a really hard song when I came in. I looked right at her hands."

"Yeah, big hands, but could you image what she could do with a guy's package with those hands?"

"Come on, Brian! I'm being serious. I was out by that little store I get my candles from day before yesterday, and I saw Jan. She was off in the grass looking for something. Anyway, she tripped in the tall bushes and weeds. When she stood up she had a big railroad spike sticking through her left hand. I saw it sticking out on both sides."

"Oh come on! Howard, that's just gross."

"I'm serious. I saw that spike sticking in her hand. Then today there she is playing the piano. There was nothing wrong with her hand."

Brian thought about what his roommate was saying for about a second before going back to playing his game. "Howard, you just need to get laid. You have too much pent up energy."

Howard didn't say anything. He just grabbed his jacket and walked out. He was going to prove that he was right.

Sara Hewitt stood in the mirror of the weight room checking out the product her hard work. Sara wore a midriff baring sports top, tight spandex shorts, ankle socks, and her favorite cross trainers . She was in the middle of the track and field season, and had never felt better. By her own estimation, she had never looked better either. Sara was pretty sure she wasn't narcissistic, but she just had to admire the changes.

Sara was pretty pleased with what she saw. She raised her arms, curled them, and flexed. Two hard round balls of teenage girl muscle rose up on her upper arms. She pumped her arms and watched a split define down the center of the rounded peak.. She pumped them again. Her biceps looked ripe for the squeezing. She kept her right arm flexed and squeezed her upper arm with her left hand. It was as hard it looked. It wasn't as hard as Jan's muscles, but then again who's were. Sara turned and straightened her arm quickly. Sara gritted her teach and flexed her triceps hard. She twisted her arm back and forth to admire the shape. Sara smiled and ran her fingers over the ridges of her own muscles. They weren't big, but they were pumped and defined. Sara then put her hands on her hips and crunched down. For the first time in her life, Sara had abs. Six separated squares of muscle appeared on Sara's stomach like magic, but it wasn't magic. It was from hard work. For most of her life, Sara had just been skinny, but in the last year and a half Sara had become fit. She had really nice legs too. Sara pulled her shorts up just a little so she could admire the way the two heads of her quad made a tear drop above her knee when she flexed. She always knew there was muscle in her legs somewhere, but she just could never see them. Sara stuck her leg out and flexed it hard with her knee bent slightly. She loved the shape and sweep of her legs. Sara pulled her leg back and pointed her toe. Her calf bunched up. Sara didn't have to bend over and feel the hardness of the muscle. She had done that many times. She just wanted to admire the shape. When she flexed a vein actually appeared running across the heads on her right leg. Sara twisted again to nearly a profile. She admired her legs, toned stomach, and now she had a butt. Sara had convinced herself over the first 17 years of her life that her butt had been perfectly fine. Now at age 19 while she admired her nice round behind in the mirror she knew that she had been kidding herself. There was nothing like have a nice backside to fill out jeans or workout shorts. Sara quickly went back to a double biceps pose snarling in the mirror trying to flex as hard as she could. Sweat rolled down her shoulder onto the peak of her bicep and then down the side as her arms shook with her flex.

Sara felt two hands reach up over her tight little peaks and rub over them just a bit before pushing down. "Put those away", Chris Adams began, "Wouldn't want some other girl to get jealous."

"Or some other guy." Sara grinned and turned around to face him. Sara and Chris had been an item since the end of the last semester. At first Sara was reluctant, but now she didn't know what she had been reluctant for. Chris was a great guy and half the girls in the freshmen class were after him, but he had eyes for only one girl. It took him a while, but he finally gotten her.

"I think you want me a little jealous", Chris replied.

"Maybe I do", Sara agreed in her proper Mississippi accent. She grinned again and took Chris' hand in hers as they left the weight room. When they got out into the back hall, Chris tried to reach out for her, but Sara grabbed his hand and casually twisted his wrist and bent his arm behind his back. She giggled and pulled him closer. She kissed him quickly then let go of the hold.

Chris smiled and kissed her again. "Its not fair. You should teach me some of that stuff. Then maybe I wouldn't have a girlfriend who could kick my ass."

Sara frowned then laughed. "Chris you can't get your butt kicked."

"Yeah, well, I might want to kick someone else's ass."

"Not mine I hope."

Chris' grinned widened. "No, but I think of some other things I'd like to do to it." Chris looked over Sara's shoulder down to her butt. Sara feigned annoyance, but enjoyed the attention all the same.

"I thought you worked out earlier. What brought you down here anyway? Or did you come just to see me?", Sara asked as she held his hands in hers.

Chris laughed. "I came just to see you of course. I have to work later on tonight and I won't see you again until tomorrow."

"Well, I'll still look the same tomorrow."

"I don't know. You might go on one of those missions you do and get horribly disfigured."

Sara just shook her head. Her team wasn't even in the rotation. They hadn't done an official mission in nearly 6 months and Sara liked that just fine.

Two hours after he had left, Howard stormed back into his dorm room. Brian was still there and he was still playing Tekken "Here!", Howard shouted and pulled the spike from the plastic bag he had wrapped it in. Brian turned and looked just to humor his roommate. "See here. It has blood on it and little bits of skin and stuff. I told you I saw this go through her hand."

Brian just shook his head. "How the hell can you prove that the blood is hers? That could be animal blood or anything. Howard, I think you're going crazy. And get rid of that damn spike!" Brian looked at his roommate and shook his head. He was such an idiot.

Howard felt anger grow inside him. He almost wanted to stab Brian in the head with the spike. Instead he just left. He couldn't stand to be around people who didn't believe him. It had been like this is entire life. Howard always had to work harder to prove himself. He was always proving himself no matter what he did. This would be no different. He decided to go to the source and prove himself again.

Jan hated it, but it was time for laundry. She gathered up all her dirty clothes, stole Sara's detergent and dryer sheets, then headed to the laundry room. Strangely enough it was empty. Jan staked out her washers and sorted her clothes. With three washers going at once, Jan sat down, opened her laptop and continued writing one of her never ending papers, but only after she replied to Avi's latest e-mail. Jan washed her clothes alone, and when the cycles ended, she pulled the clothes out and shook them to put into the dryer. Jan had no idea why she shook them, only that her mother did it when she washed. She was almost finished when she saw a small sparkly thing fly across her face, tink as it hit the tile floor, and then bounce under the bank of dryers.

Jan rolled her eyes and groaned. She knew what it was at once. She had left her Livingston class ring in her pocket and forgot to take it out before she washed. Now it was under a double stacked bank of commercial dryers that ran the length of the wall. Jan got down on all fours and tried to reach under the machines, but there was no hope. The gap was too small. She looked around the room one more time and saw that she was still alone. Jan put her left hand flat on the floor and turned her right hand palm up and gripped the dryers under the bottom. Jan had to let her frustration morph into something a little stronger. It wasn't hard. She had been a klutz for the last week. A couple of days earlier she had let her grandmother's scarf blow off her neck. In the process of looking for it she had tripped, which was rare. Jan couldn't remember the last time she tripped, and when she landed, her hand hit on a random railroad spike. The spike had gone all the way through her hand. It was all rusty and dirty. Jan had washed the inside of her hand for almost ten minutes to get it out. Now this.

Jan started pulling up with her right arm. Her normally toned, but not overtly muscular arms swelled to near 15 inches as the bank of dryers rose smoothly from the ground. Jan's triceps and shoulders defined with the strain. The dryers rose higher. Jan was just glad they weren't bolted to the ground or to the wall. She grimaced and raised the dryers just a little higher. Her arms flexed even harder. Her right arm shook just a little from the awkward angle. Once she had it up, Jan stuck her left hand under the dryers. Just a little higher. Then she felt it. She quickly pulled her ring out and put the dryers down. Not a moment too soon. A guy came into the room just as Jan slid her class ring on her finger. She got off her knees and looked up to see Howard West coming towards her. His face was all red and he seemed upset about something. Jan thought back, but she couldn't remember doing or saying anything to piss Howard off.

"What's up, Howie?", Jan asked hoping she had his mood wrong.

"I saw what you did!", Howard yelled.

Jan's blood went cold for an instant thinking that he was talking about the dryers, but then he reached into a bag and pulled out the spike. "I saw this go through your hand the other day!" He reached out and pulled up Jan's left hand. Jan pulled her hand away. "Your hand is fine now."

"Howard, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't try to deny it. I saw it with my own two eyes. You pulled that spike out and then here you are perfectly fine. You aren't normal."

Jan was still a little off guard, but she was recovering quickly. "Howard, you're the one that's not acting normal. You come down here and start bothering me for no reason."

"You are some sort of alien or cyborg or something. I'll prove it! You aren't human!" Howard was getting more and more worked up the longer he talked about it. Jan could see it. She wasn't sure exactly what to do. Just then a group of upper class students came in with baskets full of laundry. They laughed and joked with each other as they came down. Jan knew a couple of them. They quickly saw the confrontation between Jan and Howard. Jan had hoped that would make Howard back down, but instead he got even more heated.

"You are a fucking freak! I'm going to show everybody. You aren't one of us! You are something... something else!"

Jan was near tears. All the feelings from childhood rushed from way back in her memory. All the feelings of being an outsider went to the front of her mind. She knew that she should be mad. She should feel that rage deep inside her stirring, but it wasn't stirring at all. Howard was right. She was a freak. She was a fraud. She passed herself off as a normal person, but Jan knew that she could do things that other people wouldn't have thought possible. Jan was lost in her own memories and own emotions. She never saw Howard reach into his pocket and pull out his small pocket knife. He opened the blade and swung in an arc striking Jan in the wrist. Jan looked down as she felt the blade bite into her flesh. The cut wasn't deep at all, but she couldn't believe he had done that. Now she was getting angry.

The other students rushed around the line of washing machines. "Hey, man, what the fuck?", one of the guys in the group yelled as he pushed Howard against the dryers and took the knife from his hand.

"Are you all right?", one of the girls asked Jan as they came around. She took Jan's hand and held it up so they could see. Blood dripped from the slice. A few drops hit the white floor.

"Don't worry about it", Howard began. "There's no cut there! Its all healed up! She's a cyborg or something! Look! Just look!"

Jan was so mad, but she had to calm herself, because Howard had messed up. Jan settled down as one of the girls wiped the blood away. A neat slice about an inch long was clearly visible on the side of Jan's wrist. The cut filled with blood again as Jan worked at calming herself even more. Jan couldn't control her body's healing, but she healed more quickly when she was excited.

"You're fucking insane!", the guy holding Howard against the dryers yelled as he slammed him against the machines. "Call the campus cops!" Howard looked nervous. That would go on his record.

"No, don't worry about it", Jan said. "Just let him go. I don't even want to deal with it."

"Are you sure?", one of the girls asked. Jan just nodded. The guy holding Howard let him go. Howard ran for the door, but the guy kicked him the rear as he ran. Howard fell, but scrambled up and kept going. "Come on over here and wash this out. I have some Band-Aids in my purse." Jan was appreciative, but that cut would be healed before Jan's clothes were finished drying. There wouldn't even be a mark in 30 or 40 minutes. She was just glad everybody had seen the cut. Maybe that would make Howard back off. Jan didn't need her secret to get out and there was not really anyway to hide it. Sara could hide her powers easily and so could Alisha, but Jan was her power. There was no way she could tell her body to stop taking care of itself.

Jan had her still warm clothes folded and she toted them back to her dorm room. She saw Brian running towards her. He slowed as she got closer. "Hey, Jan, I wanted to apologize for what my dumbass roommate just did. I should have known he was going to do something stupid."

Jan chuckled. "Don't worry about it. There's no way you could have known. I hope he gets over all this stupid stuff."

Brian shook his head. "No, he still thinks you're a cyborg or an alien. He kept talking about it until I threaten him. He's obsessed. I think I might have to talk to someone if it gets any worse. For the record, you aren't a cyborg or alien are you, and did you stab yourself in the hand with a railroad spike?" Brian laughed.

"No, I am neither a cyborg nor an alien. As for the spike, I don't recall. My memory is kinda bad." Jan smiled.

"Fucking liar. You don't forget anything. You remember people's names and stuff even if you meet them in passing. You might be a cyborg or something!", Brian laughed so hard he started coughing.

Jan patted him on the back as he helped carry her clothes. She was meeting Lori to help work on her composition. Jan had played classical music from time to time just to keep her skills up, but working with Lori reminded her of why she had started playing the piano in the first place. She smiled as she thought back to the days before she had discovered her love of the blues. She remembered one time at a recital in Boston when she was 12, the director had refused to put her on last. Jan had closed shows since she was 9 years old, but Hanna Barbarick was the local piano phenom, and she got to close the show. Jan had gone out and played Chopin's Ballade No. 1 better than she had ever played it before or has played it since. When she finished, the director of the city's symphony stood up from his seat and applauded. Everybody else followed. Jan walked off the stage with a satisfied smile. Hanna had her face in her hands and she sobbed as Jan walked by. Jan remembered patting her on the shoulder and wishing her good luck. Looking back on it, it had been cruel, but oh well.

A couple days passed, but Howard had not given up on proving that he was right even though those around him were starting to think that he was crazy. Part of the problem was Jan's looks. The guys couldn't get past that. Howard smiled in his bed as he stared up at the ceiling. He knew exactly what to do to prove that she was a cyborg or alien or something. This would make sure the looks didn't fool anybody. He would eliminate the looks. Howard actually laughed. How could he be charged with a crime if no harm was done to anyone because Jan Caufield wasn't even a person. She was something else. They would thank him in the end. He would be a hero.

On Friday night LaShaunta joined Jan, Sara, and Alisha, in the room to watch Joan of Arcadia. Lori was so busy with her electric keyboard composing that LaShaunta couldn't even hear. They watched the show and talked. LaShaunta was becoming good friends with the rest of the group. It was too bad they couldn't let her in on the secrets they all shared, but Jan was giving her secret a lot of thought as she watched the episode.

"Shaunie, let me ask you a question. Do you think people would accept someone who looked normal, acted normal, was normal, except the person could do something extraordinary like a super power almost?"

"Nope", LaShaunta answered quickly and looked over at Jan. "There's no way. People like to be around people like themselves. Rich people want to be around rich people; junkies hang around other junkies. White people hang around white people, and black people around black people--"

"Hey, if that's true then what are you doing in here?"

"Infiltrating", LaShaunta retorted and grinned. The girls all laughed and went back to watching the show. Jan let the subject drop. LaShaunta was right.

There was a knock at the door a few minutes later and Beth from down the hall came in holding a tabloid newspaper. "I heard you all talking about special powers a minute ago, well get this. You remember the rapes a few months ago. Says here that those two rapists had special powers. Several of the survivors reported that the rapists could teleport from place to place, and the police have no evidence to counter the claims. One woman was raped in a cave 300 feet from the only entrance. There was no trace of how she got in there, or how the rapists got out. How weird is that?"

Jan, Sara, and Alisha all shared looks. They knew it was true, but they couldn't say anything. None of them saw the change on LaShaunta's face. It had gone from playfully cheery to something else. LaShaunta frowned and a couple beads of sweat ran down her head. She got up and left before the end of the show without saying anything. Everybody figured that she had forgotten something and would be back. They didn't know that LaShaunta wasn't coming back.

Late that night, Jan had a taste for Chinese food. It was too late for delivery, and Sara had gone to bed early so she decided to walk alone. She called in the order after she left the campus because by the time she got to the restaurant the order would be ready. It was a nice night, and Jan was enjoying the calm night air. She picked up her order and headed back to her room. She would eat it there.

The men's clothing store where Brian worked closed at 9, but it took an hour and a half to set up the display for the next day so it was nearly 11pm by the time Brian started towards the campus. He really didn't like walking this late because the road was pretty narrow and there weren't many lights. He walked quickly and came around a corner and saw someone walking up ahead. He knew who it was at once. He could recognize her shape anywhere. He was going to try to catch up with her.

Kyle had been awake for nearly 77 hours when he had finally run out of meth. He and his buddies had been going at it for that long. No one would miss Kyle that much. He had quit his job, and his wife had left with the kids a year ago. At one time Kyle had wanted to kick the meth, but now he didn't give a fuck. He just didn't want to come down. Kyle had driven to his dealer in his '97 Caprice Classic. He had a pocket full of go-go's and he sped down the narrow winding street near 70 mph with his lights off trying to get back to his apartment with the goods. He never saw the teenager crossing the street to get back to her campus.

Jan couldn't hear or see the car coming. It came around a corner and just when Jan looked up, the car was there. The collision was violent. The sound of crumpling sheet metal, breaking glass, and screeching tires echoed in the trees. Jan's body wrapped around the front of the car and her head hit the hood before she was dragged under the car. The crushed front of the car rose off the ground then crash back down. Steam hissed from the busted radiator and smoke rose in wisps from the cracked engine block.

Brian froze as he saw the car strike Jan on her left side. He saw her body disappear as soon as the car hit her. He started running. He saw the driver open the car and hurry to the trees. He was limping, but Brian chose not to follow. It didn't matter. The damage had been done. Brian was already sick thinking about what he was going to see. He knew a collision like that would leave a mess, but there was a chance she was alive. Brian hurried towards the car to help. He didn't have to bother.

Jan's ears stopped ringing after a second and she realized where she was and what had happened. She also realized that all sorts of fluids were dripping down on her, but her worse problem was that the right front tire of the car was sitting on her chest. Jan's face was beet red as the weight of the car kept her from inhaling. She had just gotten run over by some idiot!

Jan pulled her right arm free and put both her hands on the axle. She didn't have much leverage, but she had more than enough strength. Jan's arms defined and swelled. Her striated triceps flexed hard as she quickly straightened her arms. Her pecs got into the action and flexed deepening her cleavage. The struts squeaked and popped as her arms lifted the front of the car. Jan took a deep breath as soon as the tire was off her chest. She felt her anger increase and so did her strength. Jan frowned and felt the unchecked rage erupt from deep within her. Her face was already red with anger, but then it went to purple. Jan's muscles ballooned and tore through the sleeves of her ruined sweater. Hard vascular ripped muscles pulsed with power as Jan held the end of the car up. Jan thought about who had done this to her. She threw her arms up and over. The front of the big Caprice flew several feet in the air and landed to Jan's right. Jan bounced to her feet. She was so mad she gritted her teeth. She saw the driver door open and the driver gone. She got even madder, and kicked the front of the car. The tires squealed as the massive vehicle slid back from the power in just one of her long legs. She frowned and spit a mouthful of blood and phlegm onto the street. She wiped her mouth with the back of a ruined sleeve then looked around. She turned behind her and saw her food spread all over the street. Then she looked further down the street. The look on Brian's face made her anger melt instantly.

Brian looked at Jan. Her clothes were torn and ripped; she was scraped, and she bled from a few wounds, but other than that she looked fine. He could see the tire print on the middle of her chest. He looked at the steaming, smoking ruin of the car and knew that everything he had seen was real. "Jan?", he asked with disbelief. "What the hell? I saw that car. Then I saw it rise up. Howard's right! You lied to me! You are some sort of cyborg! Are you an alien?!?" Brian backed away from the girl he had always wanted to be close to.

"Brian, its not what you think." Jan tried to reach out to him, but Brian jerked away.

"Bullshit! You lied to me!"

"No, I didn't. I just didn't tell the whole truth. What did you expect me to say?" Jan didn't know how to feel. Her emotions were going haywire again. The feeling of being a freak and outcast was so strong Jan had to fight back tears.

"You aren't human! I don't know what you are!"

Jan couldn't hold back anymore. The tears sprung from her eyes and her legs felt weak. "I am human! I promise. I am." Jan collapsed to the street shaking her head and letting the tears drop from her eyes. "I couldn't tell you the truth. I couldn't", Jan sobbed.

"Why! Why couldn't you tell me the truth!?!", Brian demanded.

Jan looked up at him with her tear filled azure eyes. "Because of the way you're looking at me right now. Like I'm the most grotesque thing you've ever seen."

There was a long silence as Brian looked at Jan sitting on the pavement. He didn't know what to do. Every fiber in his body told him to run as fast as he could and get away, but something made him stay. He stepped closer and reached out his hand. Jan wiped tears and looked up at him. Brian nodded and Jan reached up and took his hand. He helped her up. "You aren't grotesque, but I still don't know what you are."

Jan sighed and reached down to her pocket. Her cell phone had survived. "I'm just a girl from Baltimore who was born different." Jan walked off from him a few feet and dialed a number she had memorized. A woman answered. "This is Agent Caufield. I have a situation: code blue 4636." Jan paused and listened to the instructions. This was the first time she had ever done this. "Yes ma'am", she said as she closed the special phone.

Jan went back to Brian who was deep in thought. "Lets get away from here before another car comes." Brian nodded and walked up the road with a girl he thought had known something about, but now he realized that he didn't know anything. Not long after they left the scene of the accident, two government vehicles pulled up. Brian frowned and looked confused, but Jan wasn't. Three men jumped from the trailing car and a woman exited the lead car.

"Is this he?", the woman asked plainly. Jan just nodded. "Take him", the woman ordered. The three men grabbed Brian's arms and pulled him towards the trailing car.

"Hey, let me go!", Brian yelled. "What the fuck are you doing? Let go OF ME!" He struggled against them, but they just pulled him without slowing. "Jan! Jan! Don't let them take me! Don't let them take me! Please", Brian pleaded at the top of his lungs.

Fresh tears streamed down Jan's dingy tear stained face and she sobbed. "I'm sorry, Brian. Its the only way. This has to stop somewhere. I didn't know what else to do."

"Jan, NO!", Brian yelled as they closed the car door and sped off. Jan tried to say she was sorry, but no words came from her mouth. The guilt was making her physically ill.

"You did the right thing, Agent Caufield", the woman assured Jan.

Jan's face was full of emotions, but anger was in her eyes as she looked over at the woman. "You better not hurt him", Jan warned the woman through clenched teeth.

The woman's face didn't change. "He'll be fine. The people we work with are the best. This is what they do. As for the young man, is he your friend?" Jan didn't trust her voice and just nodded. "Very nice. He can still be your friend. In a while he won't be able to recall any of the events of the last couple of hours, but hypnosis won't erase the emotions attached to those memories. If you still want that young man to be your friend, then when you see him tomorrow treat him normally. That will wipe away the lingering negative emotions, and you two should be friends again. So long as you want to be."

The woman took Jan to a place to get cleaned up before they let her walk back to the campus. Jan cried the entire way. One way or another, the Howard problem was going to end. Jan never let anything hang over her head for two long without snatching it down.

Howard wasn't a chemistry major, but he knew people with access to the chem labs. All he needed was some hydrochloric acid, and he would show everybody that he was right once again. Jan had taken to hanging out in the music rehearsal rooms. Howard had given thought to using the acid at the final performance, but that was weeks away. He wouldn't wait that long. There were enough people in the rehearsal area's to give him an audience and of course he had a camera. The music major weenies would watch him throw acid all over her. When she recovered fully, Howard knew he would get a medal for exposing her. He giggled to himself as he laid in his bed to go to sleep.

The next day was Saturday and Alisha was over early. The girls talked about what had happened the night before. Jan was completely healed by the time the sun rose, but she was still angry and she was still emotionally hurt. She knew she couldn't stand to see Brian. Not yet.

"We're going to have to do something about Howard. He's behind all this. Its just karma", Alisha paused to take a drink from her water bottle. She had jogged from Tech to Emory. "If we do something about him then I think this will all go away, and Jan can go back to her normally high strung I'm better than you at everything self. You moping is a sad fucking sight to see." Jan cracked a smile. "Why don't you just call and have Howard picked up too?"

"It won't work well on him", Sara began after taking a bite of her apple. "The idea is attached in too many places in the brain. Hypnosis would have no chance, I don't even think Rick could completely cloud this over. Howard is obsessed."

"So we need another plan?"

Jan sat crossed legged on her bed with her arms wrapped around a pillow. She suddenly smiled. "I think I have a plan. I don't think he's going to like it too much. We're going to need to do a little recon to see the best time to strike. Oh, and Sara talk to Chris. I think we're going to need your boyfriend's help. I'm going to need to sign out one of those government vans." Jan's grin broadened and she rubbed her chin. "I'm going to have to find a piano too."

Sara and Alisha shared puzzled looks, but whatever Jan had in mind they were game. Besides, Jan had the look of a mad genius from a Bond movie on her face. This should be fun.

The girls tailed Howard that morning while Jan went to Fort MacPhereson and signed out a van and some other supplies. Sometimes it paid to work for the government. After getting her hands on a black baby grand piano that was on its last legs, literally, Jan went back to Emory for a report.

"You won't believe what your friend Howard is planning", Sara began.

"So you did a little in the cranium snooping?", Jan asked with a smile.

Sara nodded. "Just a little. I mean I have to practice from time to time." Sara explained what she had picked up from her eves dropping in Howard's skull. Jan just smiled. That had given her another idea. She explained it to Alisha who rolled her eyes, and smiled at the same time. This was just getting better and better. Sunday afternoon was go time. Brian would be gone and Howard would be all alone.

Howard was in his room trying to do some work, but really he was thinking about his plan over and over again. He couldn't get it from his head. He had tried, but the thought of proving to the world that Jan Caufield was unnatural would not go away. He looked out the window on the sunny day. There were people tossing frisbees and generally lying around, but then there was a problem.

Jan and Sara waited in a borrowed government van just off campus. Alisha was in position just outside the door to Howard's room. She leaned up against the wall and pretended to be messing with her phone, but really she was changing the inside of Howard's room. Howard looked out the window and the sunlight started to darken. Everything started to darken and the room got colder. Soon he couldn't see anything, and the cold started to hurt. He had to get out! Howard tripped over his chair and hit the floor. He couldn't find his way. Howard started to panic.

Alisha smiled listening to him fall over. That let her know her illusion was working. Chris was already in place. He had phased and walked into the wall of the dorm. Chris looked out into Howard's room. He was flailing around and tripping over things. Chris had no idea what Howard was seeing, but it must suck because Howard was starting to hyperventilate. Chris smiled and emerged from the wall. Chris and Jan had a few things in common. One of the big things people like them had in common was the feeling of being freaks. There was no more lonely feeling in the world than thinking that you are different from every other person on the planet. It hadn't taken Sara much convincing to get him to do this. Howard was going to learn the hard way, that Jan was a freak, but she wasn't alone.

Chris smiled and tried not to laugh before he spoke. He had to be serious. "Stop moving or you die", Chris said in the deepest voice he could manage. He shouldn't have bothered. Alisha masked his voice. To Howard, Chris' voice boomed like through a loud speaker and was as resonant as Orson Wells or James Earl Jones. Howard was petrified. Chris reached out and took Howard by the shoulder.

"Stand", Chris ordered. Howard scrambled to his feet. Chris slipped some handcuffs on Howard's wrist. Chris had to lead him through the wall, but he didn't want to have to actually touch him. Chris put another cuff over the center of the chain of Howard's cuffs and then he put the other one on his own left wrist. That way there was no chance of poor Howard's molecules staying in the concrete wall for all time. Chris waited to hear Sara's voice in his head before he started moving. Sara told Alisha that it was time to go. Chris didn't even have to reach his hand out to test walls anymore. He slipped into the wall and a shivering Howard slipped in behind him. Chris climbed back down the wall, but kept going down into the foundation of the building and then out into the soil and rocks of the ground. It was harder for Chris to walk through the changing soil, but he kept walking at a normal pace. Howard was free of Alisha's illusion, but he felt worse now than he did in the room. He could feel the pressure bearing down on him. He could feel the rocks and even the bugs as he traveled. He started to panic again. Chris felt the area around him change again as he walked under the roadway. He could feel the asphalt. He got closer to the surface and looked off into the world above. He had missed the van by only three feet after walking 300 yards under ground. That wasn't bad by his standards. He lead his prisoner under the van and then he climbed up. Chris' body emerged from the roadway, but he phased up through the bottom of the van and into the cargo area. Once he was up, he pulled the handcuffs and Howard was soon in the van. The inside of the van was as black as the bottom of the sea and as cold. Chris had trouble, but he put the key into the lock and took off the handcuff. He quickly went through the screen to the front of the van, and out of Alisha's illusion. The sunlight and warmth was welcome. Jan started the van and they got moving. The drive would take about 40 minutes.

It wasn't hard for Alisha to maintain the illusion for the entire 40 minutes, but she didn't have to. Howard passed out after about fifteen minutes. He probably thought he was going to die from frost bite. He had goose bumps on his skin, but in reality it was about 60 degrees outside. Alisha rested over the smooth roads, but soon they were on a gravel road. Alisha closed her eyes and let the illusion fill the back of van again. Howard had no idea what was going on. Jan drove the van into the soon to be demolished steel mill. Jan drove up to the gate and then opened the door. It was time for her to get herself ready. Sara slid behind the wheel and continued around the back. By the time they got inside, Jan would be ready.

Howard thought he felt something cover his eyes, but he wasn't sure of anything. He couldn't tell up or down left from right. It was like the world around him had ceased to exist. The only thing that remained was him. He had to concentrate to keep from going into another panic he tried to slow his breathing and he balled his hands into tight fists just to feel the sensation of pain. That pain let him know that he was a live and gave him hope. If he had a chance he wanted to escape where ever he was with his life. He was moving. He could feel his legs move, but he had no sense of direction. Slowly he felt the cold go away and he could feel the sun on his skin and he could actually feel gravity pulling on his body again. He had never been so happy to just feel his feet on the ground. He opened his eyes a little, but the blindfold was thick. He could barely make out anything. He could feel the metal handcuffs on his wrists. He had to fight off a smile. He didn't know who was looking at him. He had to bide his time.

He felt hands push him down into a chair after stepping up a step. Soon thereafter he felt himself start to rise off the ground. That was more than he could take. Howard rubbed the blindfold against his shoulder until it was down. He squinted even though the sun was only an hour from setting. It cast red rays of light into the vast space.

Howard looked down quickly and saw that he was sitting in a chair that was strapped to a 15 foot long steel girder and the girder was tied at each end with steel cables. The girder was already ten feet off the ground and rising steadily. He looked up. There was a platform about 30 feet above the ground floor and he could see the pulley turning. At least he knew where he was going. He pulled against the handcuffs a little, but they had laced them through the back of the chair. Howard tried to get ready, but he wasn't ready for what he was going to see.

Howard took a deep breath and his face was intense as the steel girder neared the floor of the platform. He could hear the squeaking of the pulley, but he couldn't hear a machine pulling the 2000 pounds of steel up, no diesel or electric motor, just the squeaking of the pulley. He saw what was pulling him up as his eyes cleared the platform floor.

Jan's body was covered in sweat as she pulled the chain down hand over hand. Her feet were shoved under the first level of the double floor and her body glistened in the dying sunlight. She wore nothing but the remnants of a cutoff sleeveless shirt that barely covered her chest, and exposed her perfect abs. Jan's stomach was always hard, but right now as she worked, it was breathtaking. She crunched each time she brought her arms down. Rivulets of sweat ran down her chest and between the eight blocks of muscle as she continued to pull with no sigh of slowing. Her legs too were almost bare. Her tight track shorts covered little and only enhanced her shape as her perfect body pulled the massive girder and Howard up smoothly. Howard hadn't heard a machine because Jan was better than a machine. Every muscle moved in harmony with the other as she pulled him up higher and higher, higher than the platform floor.

Howard's eyes were wide with wonder and with fright as he watched Jan pull the chain hand over hand slowly almost sensually. Her chest rose and fell in a slow rhythm as he rose higher and higher. He looked up when he heard a click. The hook clamp holding the four cables together touched the pulley. He had gone as high as he could go, or had he. Howard wanted to yell for her to put him down, but he was so high up that he was afraid that she might drop him. He kept his mouth shut and stared in awe.

Jan's face went from blank to a stare of intense concentration as she leaned forward and held more than a ton of dead weight suspended 45 feet in the air. Howard watched as her already hard muscles seemed to flex even harder and her hands shook as she squeezed the chain even tighter. The muscles in her shoulders fired and flexed in succession to keep the chain stable. Her quads thickened and her calves slowly flexed to a split diamond as she went up onto her toes. She took a deep breath and then leaned back. The entire building vibrated. Dust and rust shook from the rafters and panes fell from the windows as Jan leaned further back. Her arms were already bulging and surging with power, but now it was her legs' turn. Her long shapely legs were fully flexed. The muscles shook from the strain as Jan pulled the old gantry down its track. The crane hadn't moved in more than 35 years. The old wheels didn't want to turn, and the rusted and warped tracks didn't want to let them, but Jan was too strong. The gantry ran the width of the building and in the old days had carried girders and buckets of molten steel. Its motors and engines were long gone, but Jan was more than enough.

Swelling bursting muscles flexed under Jan's skin as she bit her lip and bore down moving the entire crane down the old tracks. Jan let out a long final grunt when it had moved enough. She let the chain down the fifteen feet back to the floor of the platform she was standing on. The girder touched down with a loud boom as air was compressed and forced from under it.

Howard looked at Jan still standing by the chain, her chest heaving as she took in deep breaths. He could see her nipples poking out through the sweat soaked shirt. Finally she looked up, but not at him. She turned and walked to a piano that was behind her. She wiped her hands as she walked to the baby grand piano and sat down. The tight shorts were riding between her ass cheeks and he felt himself getting aroused despite his fear. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't find his voice.

Jan cracked her fingers and put her hands over the keys and started playing Liebesträume No. 3, by Franz Liszt. She didn't once look in Howard's direction as she played. He saw her eyes close and her body begin to sway to music as her hands glided over the keys effortlessly.

"Hey! What are you doing!?!", Howard finally yelled. Jan didn't answer as the song came to a climax before a cascade of notes sent it back down. "Hey! I'm talking to you! Where am I and what I am doing here?"

Howard couldn't see Chris' hand reach up from the platform floor. He put the key directly into the handcuffs and unlocked them. His arm slipped back down into the floor and then he slowly raised the jar of acid from Howard's room until it was sitting on the floor to Howard's right.

Howard yelled again, but Jan just started into another song. This one Sonata No. 8 by Mozart. She actually smiled as she played despite Howard's yelling. Jan finally turned her head to the left and looked over her shoulder without stopping.

"You're here to throw acid on me aren't you? Isn't that what you want to do?", Jan asked Howard almost dreamily. She turned her head and continued playing.

Howard didn't know what to think. He must be dreaming he told himself. This couldn't be real!

"There's your acid on the floor."

Howard looked and sure enough the clear glass jar with the lid was within arm's reach. He could have sworn that it had not been there a minute ago.

"Your hands are free too", Jan informed him without looking at him. "Oh, and don't worry. My back is turned. Don't be afraid." The music was so beautiful and surreal as Jan played the piece beautifully and sweetly. "Go ahead. I won't try to stop you. You wanted to pour acid on me while I played the piano. Isn't that what you wanted, Howard. Here's your chance. Don't blow it. You might not get it again."

Howard looked at Jan's nearly naked back and how the subtle movements made muscles define and then disappear. Her body was amazing and it hid so many secrets. Howard had to know. He had to know once and for all. He stood up from the chair and quickly reached out to the jar. He opened the lid. He brought his face close, but pulled away. It was still undiluted acid. He crept towards Jan as she seemed once again lost in the song. He stepped closer and closer... twenty feet, fifteen, ten, five. He pulled the jar back and careful not to get any one himself, Howard brought his arms forward. The acid sloshed in the jar and left the opening and in an chaotic stream headed straight for Jan's exposed back. The acid moved in slow motion as Howard saw it travel. Jan never stopped playing Mozart as the acid got closer and closer to her. Just as the first drops were about to touch her flawless skin, the entire stream of acid stopped in midair. Howard dropped the jar and fell down to his knees. The acid hung in the air as Jan continued to play. As the end neared, the acid began moving in reverse. Howard backed away from the acid. Finally Jan played the last note. It hung in the air as her bare feet pressed down on the pedal. She bowed her head as the last notes faded to nothing. Only the sounds of her breathing and his could be heard inside the old steel mill.

Howard heard Jan take a deep breath and raise her head. She turned quickly and their eyes met. Howard went pale with dread. Never before in his life had been in fear for his life, but something deep in his soul told him that he was looking at the face of danger itself. Without taking her piercing blue eyes off of him, she leaned forward and set the empty glass jar upright. The acid changed shape and funneled back into the jar. Once the last drop was in the jar, Jan picked it up, stood up and strode towards Howard.

"Oh, my God no!", he yelled and scrambled away from her.

"Where you gonna go, Howie?", Jan taunted without the slightest bit of humor in her voice. "You gonna jump? Its a very long way down. There were some steel stairs leading down, but I tore them off with my bare hands, Howie. I just ripped them off and tossed them down to the floor. There they are." Jan slowly walked towards Howard who looked down and saw the staircase laying in a heap 3 stories below. He was trapped. Jan saw the look on his face when he realized it. She smiled, but too, there was no humor in it, just danger.

"Stay away from me you fucking freak!", he yelled

Jan stopped walking and looked at the jar of acid in her hand. "Are you afraid of this?", she asked with mock innocence. She threw it off the platform. They both heard the glass shatter against the ground. "Feel better?" She started getting closer again.

It was then that Howard realized that he hadn't been afraid of the acid. It was her. She exuded fear with each carefully placed step. Howard was terrified and aroused at once. Her body was beyond description as she came closer to him. She seemed to glide towards him. For a moment he was in a trance. He couldn't move. He felt that he didn't have to. Her breast, her legs, the sway of her hips as she came closer, it was more than Howard could take in. But then he looked up from the movement of her barely covered body to her face, at her eyes. They burned with anger. Howard ran. He ran and screamed begging for his life. He ran as fast as he could. He didn't stop until he was on the far side of the piano. He turned quickly expecting to see Jan on the other side of the platform. He screamed as he turned. She was right across the piano from him. Jan's face still bore the humorless smile. Her eyes narrowed and she started to push. The piano made all sorts of noises as Jan pushed it against the hard floor towards the wall of the building. Howard wanted to move, but he couldn't. He looked back and saw the wall right behind him. He slammed against it. The side of the piano pressed against his hips and legs. Jan pressed it harder. He grunted as the pressure increased. Jan's biceps rose up into tight peaks of muscle as she pushed the piano against Howard.

"Please stop! Don't kill me!"

"Why shouldn't I?", Jan asked, her voice not showing the slightest amount of strain. "You wanted to kill me didn't you?"

"No!", Howard yelled as he put his hands on the piano and pushed against Jan with all he had. It wasn't enough for her to even notice. "You can't die! You aren't human!"

Jan laughed, but still there was no humor in it. "Are you sure, Howard? Are you sure I'm not human?"

"Yes! I'm sure!"

"Are you sure you're human?" Jan's grin turned even more sinister. "Look at your hands."

Howard looked down and saw his hands getting fuzzy. His fingers disappeared and his hands changed colors. He could feel his body changing. He could see the thick hairs growing. His arm had turned into a the leg of a roach. He quickly turned and saw that his left arm was gone, replaced with the leg of a roach. His legs too were replaced. He could feel two more growing from his sides.

"Who's not human now?" He heard Jan's voice, but it sounded so far off. He tried to yell, but nothing came out. His heart raced in his chest and he felt faint. His whole body was changing. His clothes were gone, replaced with the thorax and body of a roach. The room was getting dark and murky. Then there was a flash of light and everything cleared. He heard his own voice screaming. He stopped and looked at himself. His hands were back. Despite the pressure from the piano, he felt his hands down his body. He pulled up his shirt and ran his hands on his sides. There was no evidence of extra limbs.

"What are you doing to me?", Howard cried. "What are you? What are you!!!" Howard broke down in tears, but Jan had no pity. He thought back to how she had felt as her Agency had driven off with Brian. All that anger she had felt came back. All that anger was directed at Howard.

Jan put her hands under the baby grand piano and her muscles transformed again. From unflexed to fully flexed behemoths. The piano rose off the ground and off of Howard who fell forward to his knees. He stared up at Jan and up even higher to the piano she was holding over her head. The instrument seemed poised to drop directly on him, but Jan tossed it backwards over her head and off the platform. It landed on the ground 30 feet below with a single chordal boom.

"Time to die, Howard." Jan reached out and grabbed him. She easily lifted his 185 pounds over her head. She slowly walked towards the edge of the platform. Howard kicked and fought. He yelled and he begged.

"No, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!", he yelled over and over again, but Jan didn't slow. She marched towards he edge. Then he began scratching and clawing at her hands and arms. He felt his nails bite into her flesh, but it felt weird. His nail cut deeply into her skin and large pieces of skin began to tear away from her body like movie make-up. Howard pulled and pulled. She kept getting closer to the edge. More and more of her skin tore off in his hand, but there was no blood this time, not like in the laundry. The skin was dry and dead. He could see the wires and red blinking lights coming from beneath her skin as he pulled off more and more. He yelled and begged.

"Too late, Howie", Jan's voice was different. It sounded like a machine. "You should have minded your own business. Now you will never tell anyone."

"I'll never tell a soul! I swear! I SWEAR!!!"

Jan raised Howard up and casually threw him over the side. Howard's scream was the yell of a dying man as he saw the jagged jumbled mess of the stairs getting closer and closer. His brain registered the terrible impact before he fainted.

Jan looked down from the top of the platform at Howard's body hovering about a foot above the ground. Alisha walked up close to him and slowly stuck the tranquilizer syringe into Howard's neck to make sure he wouldn't wake up for a while.

"Good job, Sara! Waited till the last minute didn't you!", Jan yelled down.

"I didn't want Alisha to have to work too hard!", Sara yelled back.

"Good job everybody! If that doesn't scare the shit out of Howard nothing will!"

Alisha turned her head quickly. "No, you literally scared the shit out of him. Do we have to ride back all the way with him smelling like this?"

"You can make an illusion and block the smell. We won't even notice!", Jan yelled.

"You know my illusions don't work on me. I'd smell it even if the rest of you didn't."

"Oh right... And speaking of illusions... a cockroach?"

Alisha laughed. "Yeah, I just finished reading Kafka for class. It was the first thing I thought of. I think it worked out."

"Yeah me too."

"I've got your clothes down here!", Chris yelled up to Jan. "Although you don't have to put them on if you don't want!" Sara slapped his shoulder. "Ouch!" He looked over at Sara and took a step away. "Hey you want me to come up there and bring you down?" Sara slapped him again, this time harder. "What?", Chris asked shrugging his shoulders.

"No thanks. I think I like staying on the outside of the world!" Jan ran towards the other side of the platform. She hopped over the girder and then hopped again. This time she landed 30 feet below. She walked around the corner as if she hadn't jumped at all. Chris tossed her clothes not wanting to get too close for fear of another slap from his girlfriend. They let Jan get dressed and then loaded Howard back into the van. Alisha provided the illusion as Jan carried Howard back up to his room. She laid him on his bed. Sara pulled the covers over him. She thought that was a nice touch. Alisha set the unbroken jar of acid back where it had been.

Jan saw Brian as she was leaving the dorm. Sara, Chris, and Alisha hurried away. They knew this had to happen without them around.

"Hey, Brian", Jan shouted with as much cheer as she could muster, but her insides were in knots as he turned towards her. She saw a deep frown on his face as he looked at her for the first time. "What? Cat got your tongue?", Jan joked as she came closer. Brian looked confused. "Hey, you all right? I am speaking English aren't I?"

A smile slowly appeared on Brian's face. "Yeah, I heard you. I just had a brain fart there."

There was more than a little relief in Jan's voice. "Good I was thinking that I might have to shake you back to reality. You were in your own little world."

"I'm better now. So what have you been doing? Your face is all dirty?"

"Oh, I was doing some role playing."

Brian's turned his head to both sides and leaned closer. "Anything kinky?"

"Maybe"

"Aw man! How come I wasn't invited!"

"Maybe next time. I have to go work on Lori's piece. She has a demonstration for her professor on Monday."

"Cool. When's the performance? I want to see it."

Jan's smile broadened. "Its not until April. I'll remind you."

Brian and Jan talked for a few more minutes and then he headed back up to his room. He frowned as soon as he opened the door. He walked inside and flipped on the lights.

"Howard! What the fuck is that smell!"

Howard shot up in his bed soaked to the bone in his own sweat. The covers fell down revealing that he was in bed fully clothed. It didn't take long to realize that the smell was him. He was muttering something over and over again so fast that Brian couldn't make it out.

"Man, I don't know what's wrong with you, but I'm calling the RD."

The resident director called the campus health department who took Howard to the hospital. He was having cold sweats and shook uncontrollably. Brian was actually worried, and for good reason. When the cops showed up, they found the jar of acid. Howard explained it away and ended up only missing a month of classes, but when he returned, he kept well clear of Jan Caufield.

....Two months later....

Jan stood at the side of the stage as Lori went and introduced her piece. No one thought it would be, but the auditorium was packed. Parents, students, professors, and other people sat in the audience on a lazy Sunday evening in April. So far none of the performers had disappointed. Jan's hands were sweating as Lori explained why she wasn't performing her own piece. Jan listened as Lori listed Jan's musical accomplishments. She looked around backstage at the other musicians and felt out of place. Jan knew she wasn't the best jazz pianist on the campus, that was Maurice Bennet. She and Maurice had jammed and for a while she had almost been content to listen and learn. Jan also knew that she wasn't the best classical pianist on campus. That was Michael Hu. He was standing right behind her. She could almost feel him sizing her up as she waited to go on-stage. Jan heard the audience start to applaud and Lori held out her arm, Jan's cue. Jan hesitated, but after taking a deep breath walked out onto the stage. She wore a long slightly reflective tan and blue gown. Alisha had picked it out. Jan just hoped she didn't trip. She made it to the piano, and cracked her knuckles underneath where no one could see, just like she had done in the old days. Then she started playing.

Seven minutes later, she knew that she had done it. Cheers and applauds echoed in the auditorium. Jan stood up and curtsied before turning and leaving the stage. She wore the same self-satisfied smile she had worn after making Hanna Barbarick cry all those years ago. The show closer was standing there waiting for Jan again as she came off. This time though the show closer smiled and clapped along with everyone else.

"Excellent job, Jan", Michael congratulated her.

"Thanks, Michael. That means a lot coming from you!"

"My pleasure", he said as he shook her hand. "We must play together sometime. You have touch that I would strangle my cat to get."

Jan laughed. "No, don't kill your cat, but I'd love to play together."

Michael looked to his left to make sure the professor wasn't close. "Maybe you could teach me to play the blues", he whispered.

Blues, now she was the best at that. "Anytime", she replied.

Michael nodded grinned and then walked on stage. Jan's performance had been very good almost great, but Michael's performance couldn't have been better. Jan was satisfied with that, and satisfied that her secret was safe. She did wonder though, whatever happened to LaShaunta?

This is a chapter in the ongoing story "Power and Fury"!  Check out the earlier chapters here:

Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 3 -- Chapter 4 -- Chapter 5 -- Chapter 6 -- Chapter 7 -- Chapter  8 -- Chapter 9

More on the way soon!!!