The next day I sat in the living room thinking about making this choice. As usual, my clones sat with me. Each clone lasted about a week, and the spell itself was half of the requirement to lichdom. The other half being the phylactery of course. I kept mine well hidden.

My third-floor walkup was the top floor above the Cajun Coffee and my own shop. It had a good look at downtown X, a town which had about four shops and where everyone was in everyone’s business. With one street light, it wasn’t the most popular destination, but I didn’t want to attract attention of any sort, especially negative attention.

Clone one, just getting off the shift at the psychic shop, watched as I paced the area in my tan khaki pants and my loose Hawaiian shirt.

“We should become a professor,” Clone one said,” We’re getting complacent in our old age. How long has it been since we have taken an apprentice on?”

“Not since the sixties at least,” Clone two said, her arms folded.

Clone two had a gorgeous afro that went both far enough and also not nearly far enough. I loved the style as she rocked it, while I kept my close-cropped hair easy and manageable. Clone one, of course, wore no no the Psychic Ada wig, designed to put people at ease and not cross over commercial image restrictions from Aunt Cleos litigious empire. A lich can’t catch a break sometimes, you know?

“Lich please,” I said, “We don’t need that kind of stress.”

Both clones regarded my statement as if I’d pronounced mango as mangoo.

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“You spend all day talking to yourself,” One said.

“That can’t be healthy in the long run,” Two said.

“Fine. We will consider this. But what do you girls think about this murder case then? It’s something we haven’t seen… well since the war, right?” I looked at both of them. As perfect copies of myself, they had all my memories.

“I think that this is a good reason to speak with Isis,” Two said.

But just because they had my memories it didn’t mean that they would do the same thing either.

“I don’t think that we should rush to do that,” I said, “In time I guess we’ll see each other soon anyway, especially if she’s just giving my name out to any of these kids.”

I winced thinking about how amateurish the Dean felt to me. I must feel the same to Isis, just a mewling baby unable to do anything. He at least was confident in how little he knew.

“So,” clone two said, “Are we going to go and check the situation out? I know that he wants our help but…”

“I think that we have a case,” clone one said.

Both turned to me, waiting for a response.

“You have a point about the whole… we’re getting set in our ways. I just don’t know if this would be helpful at all,” I said, “We don’t need any more stress.”

The other two looked at me, trying their best to appear adorable. It was a tactic I would have tried when I was a child, but now? Not so much. They both knew that I wouldn’t fall for it. It was a good try either way.

“Isis might have something we want. Something we can’t normally get,” Clone one said.

“But is that something worth leaving the house for?” Clone two said.

I smiled.

“We can give it a trial,” I said.