Within a minute, a campus security cart arrived outside the girls' dorm to escort Marci to Kahror's office.
"Well?" Kahror said, once Marci was there and they were alone.
"You're familiar with the concept of mind over matter?" Marci said. "I think that's what's happening here."
Kahror's lips pressed together to form a thin line. "Explain."
"It's like, whenever I see Future Girl, I just shut down. Every time she shows up, all I can do is sit there and watch."
"She can fly," Kahror said. "Most people are fascinated with that."
"Yeah, I know. But I'm telling you, I just shut down."
"Marci..."
"Hear me out. It's like my consciousness leaves my body and just... becomes Future Girl. I'm not sure of the specifics, but somehow I know I just turn into her, without controlling it, or even realizing it."
"Are you wasting my time, Marci?"
"Think about it. No one ever heard of Future Girl before two semesters ago. That's about the same time I transferred here. She started showing up out of nowhere, whenever an experiment went wrong. Now she's become, like, a regular part of life here."
"Coincidence."
"But what if it isn't? I want to help people. I came to this crazy school thinking I could. Then, when there's danger, some part of me, my subconscious perhaps, leaves my body, turns into Future Girl, and helps out."
Kahror folded her arms. "Let's say I choose to believe this. Why you?"
"I don't know. I must have had some reason for hiding my alternate identity from myself. I must have, like, messed with my own memory, so I wouldn't know. Maybe I have some reason for protecting myself."
"Why?"
"I'm not sure. But, the other day, when Future Girl said she knew me, she wasn't just being friendly. She really does know me from somewhere. Even though I've seen her flying around from time to time, I'd never talked to her before that. And yet, of all the hundreds of kids that go here, she knows who I am."
Kahror's expression was unreadable.
"Don't you know who Future Girl is?" Marci said. "Where does she go when it's not a crisis? Before this, I assumed she works for the school, or that you have some sort of arrangement with her, so that she helps out whenever there's a problem. You don't have anything to do with that?"
Kahror remained silent.
"I want to know how it happened," Marci said. "I want to know how I became Future Girl, how I first contacted you, how I became the school's protector, and why I don't remember any of this. I'm ready to drop the whole secret identity thing and become Future Girl full-time."
"Is that so?" Kahror unfolded her arms and placed them below her desk, where Marci couldn't see them.
"I don't know how or why, or where her perky blonde cheerleader look comes from, but I know that, somehow, impossibly, I am Future Girl."
Woot-woot-woot
The familiar campus security siren filled the air, worrying Marci.
"What's happening?" she asked. Kahror just glared at her. Marci got up and hurried toward the door. Campus security, dressed as always in their hazmat suits, burst into Kahror's office before Marci could reach the door. As two rubber-gloved pairs of hands grabbed Marci by each arm, she closed her eyes and concentrated.
Future Girl did not appear, and Marci remained Marci.
One security guard pulled out a black hood and placed it over Marci'shead. She felt a needle jab her arm, making her drowsy. Before blacking out,Marci thought this type of behavior was pretty extreme for security at a poshprivate school.
# # # #
Next: In a flash of light.