Suddenly, my second clone seemed to shrink in height. What the fuck? I was apparently way shorter now.

I could see my second clone from both my and SpookyErind’s perspective, and it seemed like she turned into a kid scientist version of me.

In addition to her scientist goggles, she wore a white lab coat. It was covered by a black apron. If I remember correctly from Elementary science class, we wore those to protect against splashes. She also wore black pants and boots as well. In fact, most of her body was covered, except for parts of her head and neck. Her hands were wearing black latex gloves. The fuck was this? Why did my clone turn into a scientist? And a kid one at that? I had no interest in science whatsoever.

Maybe there’s something else to it, SpookyErind suggested while still hugging me.

Hmm. Well, I checked out the pockets on my 2nd clone. The lab coat had two pockets in the usual spots pockets were, and the apron had two breast pockets. Inside the left apron pocket were a set of three syringes sticking out. I had her pull out all three. The one on the left contained a red liquid. It had a picture of a bee colored black. Next to the bee was the symbol of a timer with a label reading “1h”.

So I’m supposed to stab something with this and inject it? I took a look at the other syringes. The middle one had a blue liquid and a picture of a black spider in the middle of the syringe. It also had the timer symbol as well as a label reading “8h”. Then, there was the last syringe. It had a yellow liquid with a picture of a black ant in the middle. Unlike the other syringes, there was no timer symbol on it.

So, what do you think they do? SpookyErind asked.

“Why are you asking me?” I told her. “I don’t know - I just got these powers.”

Well, maybe you can take a guess then, she said.

Hmmm. Well if we go off the images on the syringes, then I’m pretty sure the one with the bee causes pain. And it does so for 1 hour? Then for the spider, I imagine it would work for 8 hours instead. And it hurts them more? I’m pretty sure spider bites are more deadly than bee stings, at least for some spiders. I have no idea what the ant one does.

SpookyErind giggled like I was a dumbass.

“Am I wrong?” I asked.

What would be the point of having two syringes that do the exact same thing? She asked.

“They’re interdimensional powers - why the fuck what they make sense at all?” I retorted. “The face you gave me turns into a hot model with a monster mouth. Is there supposed to be any reason for that?”

Come on, you know what it's for, she said. Rule #4 remember?

“How does this relate to my rules at all though?” I asked.

Try thinking of something else spiders do, she responded, ignoring my question for the 1000th time.

So spiders. What do they do? They’re carnivores, unlike bees, but I doubt that has anything to do with the syringes. They also spin webs that catch stuff in them. Then their prey gets stuck and can’t move in the web. Maybe that’s it? The spider syringe causes people to get paralyzed for 8 hours?

That sounds like a better reason to have two different syringes, SpookyErind said. Okay, that was right then. Otherwise, SpookyErind would have laughed at me again. That still doesn’t answer what the ant one does.

It will be a fun surprise to see what it does, she said.

“Can’t you tell me?” I asked. “You seem to know what my powers do.”

But then it wouldn’t be a fun surprise anymore, she told me.

“What if I don’t want a fun surprise?” I said.

SpookyErind simply chuckled in response. I guess I wasn’t going to be knowing how to use this power soon. Maybe I could go out into one of those sketchy areas in La Esperanza. Then, because my clone looks well off given all the stuff she is wearing, some dumbfuck will try to rob her. I could then stab him with the different syringes to see what happens. A little science experiment for a little me.

Probably best to do it at night, SpookyErind suggested. I agreed, and I wished she would start being more helpful like this rather than messing with me.

Also, is it just me, or does it feel like my second clone also got weaker?

Kids are weaker than adults, SpookyErind commented.

“First, I’m not sure that applies to superpowers,” I said. “Second, why is it that you get stronger transformation? It’s kinda unfair.”

SpookyErind leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek. It’s not unfair since we’re the same person.

I sighed in disappointment. “Anyways, should we go to the weight room and test her strength?”

I have a better idea, she said as she released me from her embrace. Huh? She got off the bed and walked toward my clone. Wow, my clone was super short now.

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She only came up to SpookyErind’s chest. And that was saying something because she was wearing boots and SpookyErind was barefoot. She probably looked like a 10-year-old. Being short was the worst. A lot of people kept thinking I was a high schooler for no reason. I was actually in law school! Even more so, when I was a kid it was way worse. My mom brought me to an amusement park when I was around 9 years old and all the other kids were tall enough to ride the fast rides. Meanwhile, here I was, little me just sitting on a chair with Mom because I couldn’t ride anything. At least I didn’t get motion sickness. Furthermore, it was kinda nice that my Mom stayed with me. Although, I really wished we never went to the amusement park.

Also, why the hell did I not inherit Mom’s tallness? She was taller than me, still making me look like a child. I bet she was even taller than Deen. Life just isn’t fair sometimes. At least I look cute.

SpookyErind then proceeded to lift my 2nd clone up in the air.

“Ahh!” I yelled through my 2nd clone, whose voice was somehow even lighter and softer than my current one. Is this what I sounded like as a kid?

“What are you doing?” I whined.

I struggled as SpookyErind walked back to the bed. Her grip felt even stronger now somehow. She plopped herself back on the bed. She looked down at my 2nd clone. It was really upsetting to be shorter than her twice. Once in my mind, and now twice here.

She crossed her legs and set my 2nd clone in her lap. She then grabbed both of her hands.

“What are you doing?” I asked her through my 2nd clone.

Try to break free, she said. We’ll see how strong your transformation is. I’m pretty sure she was already stronger, but I took that as a challenge. I had my 2nd clone pull and pull away from SpookyErind. I tried increasing her strength but SpookyErind didn’t even break a sweat. She giggled as she saw my futile attempt to escape her. I could tell her body wasn’t even really trying to pull back on her because of our shared senses.

Nothing can separate love, SpookyErind grinned as she released my 2nd clone.

I simply rolled both my eyes and my 2nd clone’s eyes. Thankfully, it still felt like my 2nd clone had some superstrength, but not as much as my main body.

“I should stab you with this needle,” I had my 2nd clone say while holding up the needle with the red liquid.

I’m not an insect though, so that’s not going to do anything to me, she said.

“You sure about that?” I questioned.

Go ahead.

I took the needle and poked it into SpookErind’s thigh. I felt the tiny poke from the needle enter her skin. But other than that, nothing happened. Huh. I guess she was right. To be fair, I didn’t feel too bad about stabbing her with a needle because I could simply resummon her later if she died.

Hey! She exclaimed. You wouldn’t be upset if I died?

“Well, it’s not like you’re gone forever,” I said as I moved my main body to be closer to SpookyErind and my 2nd clone. I could see from the side that my 2nd clone had her hair tied into a ponytail by a rubber band.

That’s good, SpookyErind said. She turned her head away from my 2nd clone toward my main body.

I kinda wanted to stab myself with the needle to see if it did anything to me. Should I use the spider one or the ant one? But, as I took a closer look at the apron’s left pocket, golden liquid was coalescing. It formed another bee needle with the red liquid. Huh. So at least there’s an easy way to get more needles.

I grabbed the needle from my 2nd clone and placed it over my thigh. Pressing down on the handle, I could feel the needle pierce my skin. Huh. Bullets were barely able to break past my skin, but here, the needle was doing so effortlessly. Its tip didn’t even break. That’s superpowered needles for you.

Also, the injected liquid didn’t cause any pain. So SpookyErind was right. I was just curious still. Actually, why did I want to stab myself with a needle? I remembered that I stabbed myself with a knife trying to cut the crystals out of my hand when I first became an Adumbrae. Sadly, that didn’t work, and now I have two crystals. It was just kinda fascinating how resistant my body was to pain.

When I was younger, I used to hate getting my vaccine shots. I preferred not to be in pain. Of course, since I was the most perfect daughter ever, I simply stayed quiet while I was internally raging from the pain. I have to congratulate myself, it was impressive how quiet I was when many of the other kids were whining to their parents. This just shows that kids are brats. Thankfully, I wasn’t one. And neither was my 2nd clone.

As I got older, I understood the science a bit better. Vaccines are good to prevent infections blah blah blah. Getting vaccines didn’t seem as bad. Although, getting sore from them surely sucked. I wondered if that applied here. Maybe I was becoming more resistant to pain. Although, Ms. Mountain Lady and those helicopters definitely hurt.

“Do these syringes actually do anything?” I asked.

Yeah! she said. You just got to use them on insects. That didn’t make any sense. Even though the labels on the syringes had bugs, I highly doubted I had to use them on insects. How the fuck was I going to stab them with these needles? Their bodies would probably burst from the injections.

You’ll see, she said.

I had a feeling she was misleading me somehow. But I made a mental note to take find some insects and try injecting them later. I haven’t collected and experimented on bugs in ages. I was also going to try and stab a person as well. I will be really sad if this does nothing to people and only harms bugs. Maybe I could stab Deen with it.

I wouldn’t recommend stabbing your friends with needles, SpookyErind said. What? You should never inject your friends with unknown substances - that might be dangerous!

“I thought you said I could only inject this into insects?” I asked.

SpookyErind simply giggled in response. Okay, she was messing with me. Clearly, it had to work on other people, otherwise, that would be a pretty useless power.

Anyways, I should make a note to sneak out at night. Lots of mental notes these days. Perhaps I should use my notepad. It was going to be a long time until nighttime. Hey, that rhymed. Wait no, that was the same word used twice. Stupid morning brain. I need my chamomile tea.

Maybe you should try taking off your 2nd clone’s face first, SpookyErind suggested.

Oh right, I should do that. I don’t know what Deen thinks of kids, but she might be highly suspicious of one just appearing in her house. It’d be best to introduce her as one of my clones. That’d be my gift to her for making me breakfast. A perfectly reasonable gift. More of me.

I focused on putting my 2nd clone's left hand on her face. I had her pull, and in an instant, she grew in height. She was now taller than SpookyErind, which made my day slightly better. Sadly, she was also wearing Dolfin shorts now so her bare skin was completely touching SpookyErind’s bare skin. I had her look down at SpookyErind. This view was nice since I was taller, but I didn’t like touching SpookyErind that much, even if she didn’t feel disgusting. So, I moved my 2nd clone out of SpookyErind’s lap to her right side, leaving my main body on her left.

I remembered that SpookyErind could also turn herself into a mask. I should try doing that as well, that would be really fun. So do I just concentrate or -.

The sound of buzzing emanating from the nightstand distracted me. I had my 2nd clone grab it since she was the closest. If I originally had my phone and then summoned SpookyErind and my 2nd clone, I’d have three phones. Then what would happen if somebody called me?

I took a look at the caller on the phone. It was Mom.