"Now that you're suitably attired," Maisy said, gesturing towards the forest with a sweep of her tiny hand, "you may proceed with your quest. The Shard of True Reflection lies deep within the heart of the Shimmerwood. Be warned, the path is fraught with illusions and deception. Only those who can see past the surface, who can discern the true reflection from its counterfeits will find what they seek."

  "How did you know we were looking for the Shard?" Talyndra asked, eyes narrow with suspicion.

  "A dy has her intuition," Maisy replied, winking.

  Talyndra groaned. "That's hardly an answer."

  Maisy waved a hand dismissively. "The denizens of Shimmerwood know all there is to know about Emily Stoneshell Bearer and her wood elf companion Talyndra Moss-Whisper. How else could we have helped them construct the perfect outfit?"

  Talyndra's eyes widened. "How did you know my name?"

  But before Maisy could answer, the proceedings were interrupted by a loud rustling from the trees behind them. Everyone turned to see a figure emerge from the mist. It was a woman, with long, flowing hair. She was very visibly a woman, as her body was adorned only by an ornate mask that hid her face.

  Emily and Talyndra exchanged bewildered gnces. There was something eerily familiar about the figure's features, her gait and posture.

  Maisy let out a squeal of delight and cpped her tiny hands together. "Lady Emily!" she excimed, rushing forward to embrace the newcomer around the legs. "You're here! We were beginning to think you'd forgotten all about our little tea party!"

  The figure returned the hug, patting Maisy affectionately on the back. Then she looked straight at Emily and, in a slow, deliberate movement, reached up and removed the mask.

  Emily gasped. Staring back at her was a face identical to her own, a perfect copy, down to the smallest freckle. The only difference was the figure's expression, a cruel smile that Emily had never seen in a mirror.

  "I would never miss a Hillflower tea-party," said the strange woman who looked just like Emily, addressing Maisy while keeping her eyes fixed on Emily's. "You always host the most delightful get-togethers." Her voice, like her face, was indistinguishable from the real thing.

  Maisy blushed as she stepped back from the hug. "Oh, stop, Lady Emily, you're too kind."

  Emily, stunned and bewildered, could only stammer, "But... but... I'm Emily! Who are you?"

  The other Emily took a step towards her, her stride long, head held up, and chest puffed out. "You do look familiar, I'll grant," she said, her nose almost touching Emily's. "But the true Emily bears the Stoneshell."

  Emily blinked in confusion, then sighed with relief. "Y-yes, yes, she does," she said, pcing a hand to her chest. Her fingers brushed smooth skin and the blood in her veins ran cold.

  The other Emily took a step back, the skip in her stride making the pendant of her neckce bounce up and then down again. The pendant was gray and shaped like a seashell. Somehow, the other Emily had taken the Stoneshell without Emily's notice.

  "Give that back!" Emily yelled. She focused her attention on the pendant, willing it towards her like she had so many times in the past. But this time, she felt that something was holding it in pce—a magical force equal and opposite to her own. It remained firmly in pce.

  The other Emily's grin widened, dispying her teeth menacingly. "But it's all I've got to wear," she said in a mocking tone, absently twirling a finger around the neckce's chain. "Surely you of all people would understand that." Mockingly, she motioned towards covering herself with her arms, as Emily had so often found herself doing.

  Emily blushed. Though she was now fully dressed, the absence of the Stoneshell's familiar weight on her chest made her feel vulnerable in a way that even actual nudity no longer could.

  "For shame!" cried Maisy. "Lady Emily, please forgive me for indulging this impostor!" She scowled at Emily. "I was cruelly duped by this shapeshift, fooled into I wasting my energy and talents on dressing her while my true dy wandered through Shimmerwood, her fair skin exposed to the elements! It's simply too awful!"

  "I won't hold it against you," said the naked Emily, pacing slowly and producing flickers of fme about her fingertips. "Appearances can be deceiving, and Shimmerwood is full of illusions."

  "Yeah, like you!" Talyndra shouted, putting her head down and charging the naked Emily.

  The naked Emily raised an eyebrow, turned her head, and blew a stream of fire at the base of a tree at the edge of the clearing. As the grass below the tree caught fire, she lobbed a fireball from her palm at Emily. Finally, with a small wink, she turned her fire on herself and promptly burst into a column of fme.

  The fireball was too fast and too close to dodge. It exploded in Emily's face, but did not harm her. Instead, she found herself instantly transported to the other side of the clearing, dizzy and disoriented, head pounding. She scrambled to keep her footing, but failed and fell back with a thud. She felt a gentle warmth against her buttocks while smoke rose in front of her eyes.

  At the same time, just ahead of her, Talyndra collided head-first with a tree. Emily winced, only partially from her own pain and surprise.

  The other Emily stood by the table in the middle of the clearing, pouring herself a cup of tea. The Stoneshell pendant around her neck was now joined by an eborate dress made of flowers and leaves—the very same one that had adorned Emily only seconds earlier.

  "Restrain them," said the other Emily, her tone bored and disdainful.

  The bird-man and snake were only too happy to comply.

  By the time Emily came to her senses, she found herself strung up between two trees, both arms and legs securely tied with thick lengths of rope, suspending her in a starfish position over the tea party. Talyndra was simirly positioned on two adjacent trees, and the snake sat coiled beneath her, nibbling on the leaves of her skirt.

  Hazy and still only half-conscious, Emily slowly pieced together what had happened. This other Emily seemed to have even greater power and control over the Stoneshell than she did. She'd set a fire, and then used a second fireball to teleport Emily to its location. Even more amazingly, she'd then teleported herself into Emily's previous position, right inside of her leaf dress.

  This meant, of course, that Emily now hung starfished over the tea-party completely naked and unable to cover herself. And Talyndra would meet the same fate once the snake finished his meal.

  Suspended between the trees, Emily felt the weight of every gaze upon her, each one like a physical touch against her bare skin. The sweet, intoxicating aroma of Shimmerwood made her head spin. Her ankle itched strangely, around the Bronzeband.

  The other Emily had taken a seat with her cup of tea. She now leaned back, her eyes roaming over Emily's exposed form with disdain. "I think I wore it better," she said. "But perhaps we should let our other guests decide."

  At the other Emily's words, a human figure emerged from the mist. Someone Emily recognized.

  Emily's jaw dropped. How could it be?

  Standing before her, dressed in tight, low-rise jeans and a glittery purple tanktop, was none other than Sabrina Miller. Sabrina, her highschool tormentor. She was an adult now, but had the same straight blonde hair and haughty expression. Hands pnted on her hips, she met Emily's gaze and sneered.

  Even after all this time, just the sight of Sabrina was enough to make Emily feel like that awkward, bookish teenager all over again. That she was spread out naked in front of her tormentor made the feeling ten times worse. She tried to pull her arms and legs in to conceal herself, but was swiftly reminded of the ropes holding them firmly in pce.

  "Well, well, well," Sabrina said, her cutting tone seemingly summoned from Emily's worst memories, her eyes sparkling with malice. "Emily Corlett, in all her glory. I see you've lost some of that baby fat."

  It was definitely her. But how? How could Sabrina be here, in Thesson?

  Sabrina reached out a manicured index finger and traced the line of Emily's jaw, her touch lingering with an uncomfortable intimacy, and making its way down her neck. Emily shivered involuntarily as the finger brushed her colrbone and continued down.

  "Jumpy little Emily," Sabrina taunted. "She finally got her head out of all those books and started living. But really, Em, this is a little much. You don't need to go to these sorts of lengths to get a bit of action."

  Emily let out a squeal as Sabrina squeezed her breast, a little too roughly.

  "Or maybe you do." Sabrina shrugged. "Heaven knows what was in those books of yours that made you such a freak."

  Tears welled in Emily's eyes, prompting a satisfied smirk from Sabrina. Then there was a rustling in the leaves just beyond the clearing, and Emily heard another familiar voice. "Emily? Woah, what—what's going on here?!"

  Sabrina stepped aside to reveal a tall, well-built man with short blond hair and piercing blue eyes. It was Michael, the boy Emily had spent two years of her highschool career obsessing over, doodling in her notebooks, watching from afar, and never being able to speak to. She cast her eyes down, unable to maintain eye contact as he gasped at the sight of her body.

  After a moment of shock, he seemed to come to his senses and rushed to her side. "Who did this to you?!" he shouted.

  Sabrina chuckled. "She did it herself, Mike," she said. "All for you."

  "What?" Michael's tone wavered between disgust and intrigue.

  "Our bookish little Emily is all grown up," said Sabrina, pcing a hand on Michael's chest. "And she's making sure everyone knows it."

  Michael cast a sidelong gnce at Emily, appraising her dispassionately. "I'm fttered," he said. "And also kind of impressed. But... I've always been more into blondes."

  Sabrina stepped forward into his embrace, and his eyes turned to her. He seemed to entirely forget the naked girl beside him as he and Sabrina shared a long and intimate kiss. Their passion rose as they pushed themselves into each other, squirming and groping, and their skin began to glow with bright green light.

  Emily's eye widened.

  "Spirits!" shouted Talyndra, whose leaf dress had now been consumed up to her sternum.

  The other Emily, who had been watching the scene dispassionately from her seat at the tea table, strode forward now, her skin glowing the same faint green. Standing almost in between Michael and Sabrina, she cleared her throat loudly.

  The lovers separated, Michael taking a few steps back before looking at the other Emily with a dazed expression. "Emily? But... weren't you just...?" He gnced back at the trees, and then at the other Emily. "How are there two of you?"

  "There's only one, really," said the other Emily, pcing a hand on his chest. "Only one you need to pay attention to, anyway."

  Behind her, Sabrina made a disgusted expression. "Come on Mike, let's get out of here. Two Emily Corletts is two too many."

  But Michael's attention was completely fixed on the other Emily, to the exclusion of everyone around him. She smiled sweetly before reaching forward and pnting a light kiss on his lips. "Do you still prefer blondes?" she purred.

  "You're... beautiful," he stammered, his normally smooth demeanor completely lost.

  "Michael!" Sabrina shouted, visibly furious, and Emily had to admit to herself that she was enjoying how angry her double was making her enemy.

  The other Emily pced one hand on Michael's cheek, and reached her other arm behind her back. Keeping her eyes locked with Michael's, she summoned a fireball in her hand and flicked it at Sabrina.

  Sabrina cried out as the fme struck her, but her screams were cut short as her whole body exploded in a bright fsh of green light, leaving only a crumpled pair of jeans in the spot where she had stood.

  The other Emily then took Michael's hand and led him away. He took no notice of what had happened to Sabrina. For her part, Emily's double gnced back over her shoulder and winked at Emily before disappearing into the forest.

  Emily exchanged a quizzical gnce with Talyndra, who by now had approximately three leaves left on her entire body. The snake had disappeared.

  As Michael and the other Emily departed from view, other figures emerged from behind the trees. Some were human, dressed in modern clothing, and others were green-skinned wood elves, dressed in leaves. Male and female alike gasped and shouted at the sight of Emily and Talyndra strung up in their trees. They all appeared to be glowing with a faint green light.

  Rather than rushing to the aid of the obviously distressed women, the figures whispered and giggled to each other, casting disdainful looks at the trees. A wood elf whispered something in Maisy's ear, and a human figure exchanged a disapproving gnce with the bird-man.

  A few of the humans stepped closer to where Emily hung. She recognised Ms. Katsuragi, her highschool mathematics teacher, whose face was contorted in disgust. "I expected so much better of you, Emily," she said, somehow managing to peer down her spectacles at a girl hanging slightly above her. "What a waste of a good mind."

  "I didn't—aiie!" Emily's protestations were cut short by sudden fsh of pain across her buttocks. Fighting tears, she looked down to see the loathsome grin of Dudley Newsom, a former cssmate in Katsuragi's css. He had grown a scraggly goatee since she'd st seen him, but his expression was unmistakeable.

  Katsuragi shook her head. "I suppose you've decided that's all you're good for now, putting yourself on dispy like this. Why use your brain when you can far more easily use your body? Feminism weeps for women like you. Give her another one, Dudley."

  "Right away, ma'am," said Dudley, obeying an authority figure for the first time in his life and pulling his arm back. "But, wait, what's the stuff on her leg?"

  The second blow never came. The itchy feeling on Emily's ankle had slowly been spreading up her calf, but she had been only dimly aware of it due to the many other more powerful feelings occupying her consciousness. It now became the only thing she felt, a tingle, then a numbness, then a powerful shaking. It spread up her left leg and overtook her entire body.

  A thick bck sludge exploded before her, blotting out the whole world in its immensity. The people—spirits?—before her screamed in agony but were quickly silenced. Everything around Emily became dark and obscured, but she felt a great comfort and warmth.

  Then the darkness erupted with orange and purple spots, which formed into intricate patterns. Emily watched, dazzled by the shifting lines and colors, feeling a sense of wonder and then one of calm. Millions of tiny hairs gently tickled her all over, making her squirm with pleasure. She was safe, warm and protected.

  The nightmoss had kept its promise to remain with her and protect her always.