But I stayed the same, all that changed was the way that you felt

Morgana was somewhat surprised by how far she’d come. In the past, she would have been pacing about frantically outside the Master’s Suite, too afraid to knock on the door and get the attention of whoever was inside. She’d come up with excuse after excuse for why she had to refrain, and not end up doing much of anything.

But today, she walked right up to the door, took a deep breath, and raised her fist to knock.

Before she could bring her hand down, though, the door swung open, throwing her off her balance.

“D-Dani?!” Morgana’s eyes widened behind her bangs and she stared at the tomboy in surprise.

“Uh, yeah? What’s up?” Dani cocked her hips to the side. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Morgana took a few moments to catch her breath. Yeah, of course Dani would be here. It was her night with Nick, after all! Why did I freak out like that? After beating herself up mentally, she recomposed herself and smiled apologetically.

“Sorry, I was just a little surprised,” she apologized. “Is Mary here?”

Stupid. Of course Mary’s here. Where would she go?

“Yeah, she is. What’s up?” Dani looked confused. “Why are you visiting Mary so early in the morning?” She questioned.

Morgana blushed. “Um, well… I was wondering, if maybe… I wanted to check to see if she was going to keep doing that… that cooking thing. You know? Teaching us girls how to cook?”

Dani brightened. “Yeah, I didn’t even think about that! It’s been forever since we had one of those classes!”

She turned to look back into the suite. “Hey! Mary! Quick question!”

“Yes?” Mary poked her head out of the kitchen, her eyes gleaming with curiosity. “Oh! Morgana! Good morning!”

“M-morning,” Morgana stammered, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. She hadn’t meant to turn this into some big thing, but Dani was dragging her into it.

“What’s up?” Mary crossed the room, looking curiously at the goth. “Something I can help you with today?”

Morgana opened her mouth to answer, but her voice died in her throat when she saw Nick also coming over to see what was up. That just made things even harder.

So much for all those changes she’d been praising herself for two minutes ago.

“I-I… I just wanted to know, um…” She swallowed, trying to get her mouth to work properly. But it just didn’t seem to want to cooperate.

Thankfully, Dani was there to come to her rescue.

“We were just wondering, are you done with giving us all cooking lessons?” Dani asked. “It’s been a while since the last one.”

Mary blinked, and then her eyes widened like saucers.

“Oh gosh! I wasn’t even thinking about that!” She wailed, clutching her cheeks with her hands. “I’m so sorry! I was just caught up in so much bliss, getting to live with Nick 24/7 that I completely forgot all my responsibilities!”

“Hey, come on, it’s not a responsibility,” Dani laughed, shaking her head. “It’s a favor you’ve been doing for the rest of us! Mary, it’d be pretty lame of us to expect you to do something like that, you know? Pretty rude.”

But her compassion fell on deaf ears.

“No, no, this is all so wrong!” Mary wailed, shaking her head. “Don’t worry, I’m going to come up with something! I’m so sorry! It’s just, getting to live with my husband was so wonderful, I was caught in a bit of a fog, and I just… oh, I’m sorry Morgana! Dani!”

“It’s not the end of the world,” Nick said, coming over to rescue her. “You just had a little bit of a mix-up, that’s all. It could happen to anyone.”

Mary looked gratefully up at him, and tried to smile, but she still felt a wave of shame crash over her.

“You… you mean that?” She murmured.

“Yeah, it’s totally fine, right, Morgana?” Dani elbowed the goth in the side, urging her to speak up as well.

“YEAH!” Morgana said, her voice a little too loud to sound natural.

Mary sighed in relief.

“Okay, then, for today’s lesson-”

“A-actually…” Morgana’s voice cracked as she cut Mary off, and her eyes shifted nervously from the redhead to her husband. Nick looked a little intrigued, and Mary stared at her in confusion, wondering why she’d been interrupted.

“Yes?” Mary asked, blinking.

“I-I was wondering…” Morgana looked down and bit her lip, trying to summon her courage. But her feelings were hard to verbalize. Thankfully, everyone there was exuding patience with her, which helped set her at ease. Even Dani.

“Instead of a big lesson… could you maybe… could I… could I have a private lesson?”

Morgana’s face burned with shame. She knew how selfish that was, asking Mary to use her precious time on a private lesson dedicated just to her. Especially when there were other girls who would want to take part! But she was so embarrassed when she compared her work to those of the other women in the harem that she knew cooking with them would just make her incredibly stressed!

Mary apparently sensed this, because she smiled, and then nodded. “I see. So you want a personal lesson, with just the two of us, is that right?”

“Uhum…” Morgana gulped, glancing at Nick for a second and then looking back to her. She nodded her head rapidly, unable to get any other words out of her mouth.

“Well… it’s not really fair to the others, but I don’t think you’re asking me purely out of selfishness,” Mary said, putting her detective skills to work to analyze Morgana’s motivation. “And that’s right… tonight’s your night with Nick, isn’t it?!”

Morgana blanched. Of course Mary would have to bring that up! Why?!

She couldn’t help but look at her lover in embarrassment, confirming what Mary already knew to be true. Unable to hide it any longer, Morgana reluctantly nodded.

Mary was all smiles, thankfully.

“That’s okay,” she said, patting the goth on the shoulder. “I think I understand. Yes! Absolutely we can have a private lesson! …But that’s just for today. Starting tomorrow, things are going to go back to normal, and I’ll be doing lessons with everyone, sound good?”

Morgana’s eyes widened in surprise. She couldn’t believe Mary would actually agree to that!

“Yes, of course that’s fine!” She said, nodding her head rapidly. “Absolutely!”

“Well, perfect then!” Mary beamed. “And there’s no time like the present! Of course, that means the rest of you have to get out.”

Her bright smile turned into an expression that would normally look fierce, but the fact that she couldn’t help but melt into an adoring housewife whenever she gazed at Nick kind of took some of the bite out of it.

She still pushed him out of the suite and slammed the door on him and Dani after dragging Morgana inside, though.

“…Well, I’ve been kicked out of my own room,” Nick said, staring in exasperation at the door to the Master’s Suite.

“You married her, remember,” Dani pointed out, unable to hide the amusement on her face. “That means it’s her room now. The wife owns the home, Nick.”

Nick sighed and rolled his eyes. He was about to say something snarky when the door opened up a crack, just big enough for Holly to squeeze through.

“But I can help! Come on!” She whined. “No fair!”

A slammed door was all the response Mary gave her as the maid was similarly relegated to exile in the entry hall.

Holly sighed and turned to Nick with a begrudging smile on her face.

“Sorry, master,” she apologized. “I was trying to spy on them to see what they were cooking, but Mary got the drop on me.”

“Hah! Serves you right!” Dani chortled.

“Well, it looks like I’ve got a lot of time to kill between now and when Mary will finally let me back into the room,” Nick said, glancing at the door. “Gotta find something to do to fill it.”

Yesterday, he’d been dragged on a date with Rose and Marley. That had been a nice change of pace.

“We could always go down to the Banquet Hall,” Dani suggested. “That was where I was planning to go after I got changed.”

“You’re still hungry?!” Holly asked, amazed. “But I prepared so much food for you!”

“Not to eat!” Dani protested. “Just to hang out and catch up with everyone.”

Nick nodded. “That sounds like a good idea. I think I’ve spent enough time hiding out in my room- I should try to get to know the new girls.”

Even if one of them was an assassin and the other didn’t know if she wanted to kiss him or punch him.

The light around Cinder faded and she looked down at herself. Nothing had changed physically for her, the only real difference had been a change to her wardrobe. The clothes fit nice, even if they were more revealing than she would have liked. On the whole though, everything seemed fine.

Cinder: 1500 BP + 2500 BP = 4000 BP

Even Ella would be fine with this, she thought, glancing at her reflection again. Now that the mirror had worked whatever magic it had worked, it was just a regular mirror again, and she could look at herself in it as she posed her body.

The only problem she noticed was that she was smiling. Ugh, that lame, placid smile pissed her off, it made her look so weak and helpless. It reminded her of the fake smiles she was **** to wear while serving those horrid people.

Just the thought of them should be enough to bring a scowl to her face!

…But it didn’t.

“…Huh?” She stuttered out. She narrowed her eyes and tried to scowl, but it was like the muscles in her face refused to listen to her. Her lips remained locked in that emotionless grin, and her eyes retained that glassy look that sent a chill down her spine.

“What the-!” She tried to scream, but her words died in her throat. She tried again, forcing herself to say the word “fuck” or even several of the curses in Spanish she knew. But none of them were able to leave her lips.

It was as if someone had slapped a magic muzzle on her mouth. And the thought of that enraged her even more.

Okay this is messed up! She screamed internally. “Dakota, where the fuck are you?! What did you do to me!?”

That’s what she tried to shout.

“Dearest host, might I inquire about your location? And if possible, would you please tell me what changes you have inflicted upon my person?” Were the words that left her mouth instead.

Cinder’s blood froze in her veins as she processed what was happening.

The host didn’t even respond. Not that she would have stuck around to hear it. Cinder tore her way back through the Hall of Mirrors, nearly crashing through several of them in her haste to escape the labyrinth. When she finally reached the outside, she threw herself past the threshold and screamed.

Only, she didn’t scream.

“Greetings!”

Her head snapped around to see a flash of pink and green.

“Welcome to the Amusement Park! My name is Nola! It’s nice to have another guest here!” Nola introduced herself with a bright smile and a wave. “I am assisting Dakota on this season! You’re one of the new girls, correct? We met briefly, but that’s hardly enough time to get to know each other for real! But like I said, I’m Nola. My name, that’s it. What’s your name? You do have one, don’t you? Oh, that’s silly, of course you have a name! Everybody has a name! Well, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin doesn’t have a name, but she’s an exception. Unless you are Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin? Oh gosh! Am I misremembering?! That’s so rude! I didn’t mean to mistake you with someone else, I hope you understand that! I just wanted to say hello! So, hello! And if you’re not Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, would you please tell me your name?”

The babbling woman just made Cinder’s blood boil even more. Or at least it would have. She could feel her anger rising, but it was all internal. No matter how much she wanted to get mad, she couldn’t actually bring those emotions to the surface.

Which made her even more mad.

She opened he mouth to tell the lousy leprechaun where to shove it, but that’s not what she ended up doing.

“Thank you for asking!” Cinder found her mouth saying. “My name is Cinder. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Nola!”

“Oh!” Nola’s face lit up and she pressed her fingers together joyfully. “So polite! I’m so glad we finally have a contestant who will talk to me like a person! Most of the time, people are just yelling at me, like Dakota…”

“I would never yell at you like that!” Cinder’s mouth said, defying the yells that Cinder herself wished would come out.

“What is happening to me!?” The enraged woman wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. But her body simply refused to comply.

“I would very much like to know what has happened to me,” she said instead, far more politely than she ever would have verbalized.

“Oh, what happened to you?” Nola tapped her chin and tilted her head to the side. Cinder wanted to punch that stupid hat right off her head. “Well, there’s a long version and a short version. Would you like the long version? Oh, how silly, of course you would! It’s far more thorough. You see, you’ve been transformed! Because you touched a mirror in the Hall of Mirrors. Anyone who touches one of those mirrors will find themselves transformed, just as you were! Isn’t that fun? Well, most of the time it’s fun. For us, anyway. The hosts. Maybe not so fun for you. But you’re smiling about it, so maybe you think it’s fun, too!” She added with a laugh.

Cinder felt her eye twitching. Whatever magic had locked her face in this fucking placid smile, it wasn’t foolproof at least. Some of her rage leaked out.

“Nola…” She wanted to say the girl’s name in a hiss, but it came out far more sanguine than that, much to her chagrin.

“Hush, no interruptions! That’s not polite!” Nola scolded. “Now, the transformation this time around is very simple! You’re being all disruptive and rude to everyone, and that’s no fun! But it’s a little tricky, balancing you and Ella around, and Dakota doesn’t want to use her magic to just suppress you all the time, because the audience doesn’t like that. But you know what the audience does like? When the bold and brash and rude girl is brought to heel! So that’s why she set up this little transformation for you. You’re going to be nice and polite and sweet and cordial to everyone you meet! …And of course, we could have transformed your mind to make you WANT to do that, but given how messed up you are upstairs already?” Nola held her finger up to her head and swirled it around in a “cuckoo” symbol, before giggling. “…Yeah. Not exactly the best thing to do! But this way, you get to be conscious for the whole ride! Ella’s taking a nap right now, so it’s up to you, you’re the one in the driver’s seat! Only, you won’t be able to stop yourself from being a nice girl. Don’t worry though! Everyone in Nick’s harem is super-duper-pooper nicey-nice! They won’t order you to do anything too meanie okay?”

Cinder wanted to die. But she couldn’t die. If she died, then Ella would die, and she wouldn’t allow that.

So she settled for screaming in impotent rage, instead. Only, she couldn’t do that, either.

What a fucking mess.

“Oh, also, before you panic, this is only temporary! Just think of it as a little time-out, okay?” Nola added.

That should have made Cinder feel a little better. But nothing ever made Cinder feel better.

She just tried to glare as hard as she could.

“Please inform me of when I can expect this transformation to have run its course?” Cinder asked far more politely than she’d intended.

“Don’t worry! The transformations from the Hall of Mirrors only last for half a day,” Nola assured her. “You’ll be nice and fine before dinnertime!”

Not a comfort.

“Thank you for informing me, Nola,” Cinder politely thanked the woman she wanted to maim violently. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I shall retire to my room for the day, if you don’t mind.”

“Uuuummm… weeeellll… about that…” Nola looked apologetically at the dark-skinned girl and shook her head. “I have veeeeerry specific instructions from the boss, sooooo…”

She cleared her throat and flounced over to Cinder, jumping in front of her to cut her off her path.

“Breakfast is one of the crucial meals of the day!” Nola reminded the other girl. “You can’t miss it and pig out on candy! You need to go make sure you’re getting all the proper nutrients, wouldn’t you agree with that?”

Cinder had no idea what she was talking about. “What do you mean?” She asked.

“Weeeeeeelll… I meeaaann…”

Nola cleared her throat again.

“What I’m saying is that I think it would be a really good idea if you went to the Banquet Hall and ate breakfast with everybody else,” Nola advised. “A really, really good idea.”

Cinder opened her mouth to inform the leprechaun that she had no intention of showing her face in front of anyone while her body wasn’t her own to control.

Only… her body wasn’t her own to control.

“That sounds like a lovely idea!” She found herself saying instead, feeling her lips stretch themselves up in an even wider smile. “I think I shall take you up on that suggestion!”

“Alright! Boss!” Nola cheered, pumping her fist into the air in triumph. “Have fun! I’m sure the other girls will just L-O-V-E the new you!”

Cinder screamed internally as she found her legs walking her to the exit, heading to go eat breakfast with a bunch of people she despised.

This isn’t happening! This isn’t happening to meeeeeeee!