Team Hero Emerges

Melanie and her group had decided to head to the billiards room, not for a game (none of them even knew the rules) but because it was in a relatively remote part of the mansion which was rarely visited by any of the glitches. It seemed like it would provide the four of them with some space to discuss how they were going to proceed together, seeing as there was a roughly twenty per cent chance that Rebecca was in their team.

"It's actually rather grand in here!" Lucy seemed impressed and spoke in a mock aristocratic tone.

"I wonder if there are any snacks here. Or booze" Leilani began to raid the cupboards before stopping at one of them "Hey, what the fuck is this doing here?"

The others looked around at the Hawaiian to see what was up. She was holding a large jar in which a little cricket was hopping rather animatedly against the glass.

"That's a glitch!" Melanie realised immediately "The one Rebecca transformed to steal their identity! Pass them here!"

She studied the jar carefully for a few moments.

"Do you think you can turn them back?" Lucy asked hopefully.

"No, not yet" Melanie shook her head "I can't even get them out of the jar. Rebecca's magic is just too strong"

"If only they could talk to us. If we knew who they were we would know who Rebecca is disguised as" Leilani opined.

"Actually, we can" Melanie revealed "Humans that have been transformed into the same species can communicate with each other. Maggie and Noelle used to do it as mice"

"So basically, one of us has to become a grasshopper" Leilani summarised.

The group looked at each other. None of them really fancied that task.

"Honestly, it can't be me" Mel began "I have never cast or reversed a transformation spell on myself. Now would be a very risky time to find out whether or not I can pull it off"

"It would take an awful lot of your charge to transform me, if you even manage to at all" Leilani reminded the other rookie witch.

"Great, so it's one of us" Lucy looked at James with a sigh.

"Actually, it will be both of you" Melanie corrected "One of you could be Rebecca. You will need to corroborate each other's story"

"Look, is there no other way?" Lucy began to protest.

Rather than answer, Mel waved her hands and both James and Lucy instantly shrank down into small, green, long legged insects. After chirruping away at each other for a few moments, they hopped off together until they reached the glass jar, where the other grasshopper began chirruping as well, After a couple of minutes of cricket chat, they hopped back. Melanie waved her hands over the two bugs who morphed back into humans.

"Fuck, I hope I never have to do that again!" Lucy complained as she rose from a crouching position and adjusted her hair.

"It's Abi" James told the others.

Melanie looked at Lucy expectantly.

"Abi" Lucy confirmed with a nod.

"We need to call a meeting, tell the others!" Leilani urged excitedly.

"No, we don't" Mel countered "We keep this to ourselves for now"

"Why?" Lucy looked confused.

"Because I don't have the power to fight her yet. Noelle is weakened too. No good is going to come from calling her out before we are ready. Let's let her feel safe. The moment I am able to, I know exactly who I have to zap. It's like Chantelle always says, knowledge is everything."

"Well at least we know Rebecca isn't in our group" Leilani reasoned "But what about Sophie, Chelsea and Nari?"

"The current system completely hobbles her from doing anything to them. but now I know the witch isn't among us, it doesn't stop me from planning to take her down with you guys"

"So I guess you could call us Team Hero" Lucy suggested a little smugly.

"But what about Abi?" James wondered.

"That is the part of this that sucks" Mel admitted, before picking up the jar "I'm really sorry Abi. We can't take you with us. But it's only to make sure we get you back to your old self as soon as we can. And I promise, we will!"

"Plus we'll come and visit!" Leilani also promised "We all love you! Glitches forever!"

The cricket made a happy sounding chirping. All of a sudden, it seemed like the tide might be starting to turn against Rebecca for the final time.