Young Writers Society

"Keep that promise," Queenie warned, "or I'll snap your neck."

With that, she released him and stepped back. "I see we've all returned to our bodies," she said with a certain cheery note to her voice, "May we try our introductions again, hm?" She wasn't going to go first, that was for certain, but the others seemed eager enough to share their true identities.

Stephanie's head was spinning, and she wasn't sure it was just because she suddenly found herself a good deal shorter than she had been a few moments before. It was disorientating flickering between being six feet of muscle and her actual smaller and less muscular self. Even after the flickering stopped, the disorientation didn't end. Jacob was actually James. Everyone looked different - they had to look like themselves now.

And apparently she was the only girl who had looked like a guy.

Allen - who Stephanie didn't know the true name of yet - watched the impromptu fight with a certain glint to his eyes that Stephanie recognized. The look finally clicked. She had seen that countless times before in Crime Alley. It was the anticipation of a fight. Stephanie could tell that he would have stepped in if someone else hadn't first.

But it was hard matching what he actually looked like with the two ways that Stephanie had come to view him. With his old appearance, Allen had seemed soft and shy. His personality had taken away from that. But the bigger impression she had gotten was that he was someone dangerous. His familiarity with weapons and his ease in this situation made it seem like things like this were common place.

His appearance now didn't convey the danger she sensed. Far from it. If anything, it was a more accurate depiction of his personality. He had bubblegum pink hair in a messy little ponytail, as well as bright blue eyes. Even his clothes were eccentric. He had a suave, bright purple coat on, as well as dark blue combat boots. His shirt was white; his pants were a light shade of gray. He even had a tiny silver teddy bear charm on as a necklace.

Stephanie knew her switch in appearance was less noticeable. She had gone from being vaguely intimidating as Jason to a teenage girl with plain blond hair and blue eyes. She lacked his muscle mass and his height. The only sign that she had ever been Jason was the axe that she still had in her hand and the bag she still had on her back.

"Names sound like a good idea!" he agreed, his voice much higher than before. He had a British accent that Allen hadn't shared. "My name's Oz. It's short for Oswald, but that's a horrible first name and I hate to use it. Magic's a specialty of mine, so I should hopefully be able to figure out what happened to us and find a way for us to get home~"

"I'm Stephanie," Stephanie offered. "Stephanie Brown."

What the hell was even happening right now, Kaya had no clue. One second they were gearing up, and the next second there were more random people appearing, and then there was lots of fighting and bickering, and then magic voodoo back to their normal bodies?

This was almost too much, and she felt herself losing control of the situation. While the others bickered and fought, Kaya felt invisible—which was exactly what she wanted. She slunk back undetected, hearing the others introduce themselves—their real selves—while she was back in her original plain and ugly body, heading towards the door.

Somehow not being Saya anymore made her lose all interest in whatever place she was in.

Carter was fuming, but he reined it in.

Not now. Now was not the time. Not when Queenie was here, and all of these strangers - and he still had no idea where he was, or why he looked like James in the first place.

He took a step back from everyone and assessed them all. He noticed the girl turning to slip away, and he reached out, grabbing the back of her shirt with a vice-like grip.

"Don't run off so soon," he said, words laced with a threat. "We still don't know who you are."

He looked over to James, making brief eye contact. Just long enough to know that James was tired. Tired enough to lie down and take it, if they were alone, and no one was there to interfere.

Oz was chatty. Stephanie was boring. Queenie was Queenie. James was James.

"I'm Carter," he said simply.

He watched as James released a world-wearied sigh.

"I'm James," he introduced.