But what did she tell Madison?

Ross inhaled sharply and looked around. The daylight filtering through the window was long extinguished. He was sitting on a couch between Madison and Marissa, both of whom were idly staring at the wall. He turned to see Sarah and Jane behind him.

The memories of the last four hours suddenly came rushing back to him, along with a severe need to urinate. "Bathroom!" he croaked, and Marissa absentmindedly gestured to the door.

"It's that way," she said dreamily. He darted to the door and opened it, where a tall golem with sculpted, imperious cheekbones and prominent breasts was waiting. Before she could speak, he repeated his urgent request.

"Right this way," she said, and led him down the hall before gesturing to a door on his right. He entered and barely registered the lavish decor before he had his fly open and was shivering with relief as he emptied his bladder.

What happened? The whole afternoon and evening were a bizarre blur. Ross closed his eyes and thought. They led him into the room and Mrs. Hill spoke to him... she said she was insane? It didn't feel real, for some reason. It was like he'd seen it in a movie or heard it described by someone else. He tried to concentrate and figure out whether what he witnessed actually happened.

Ross zipped up his fly and furrowed his brow. Washing his hands, he kept thinking about the events of the afternoon. They had happened, of course... hadn't they? He remembered Mrs. Hill giving him that whole story, but it just didn't feel the same as all the other encounters he'd had.

He opened the door and the tall golem was waiting with a smile. She gestured to the group of slack-jawed golems standing behind her. "I gathered your comrades for you, sir."

"Thanks," he said uncertainly. "Um, can you tell me, uh... can you-"

"Everything you experienced this afternoon was real," she said gently. "I know it doesn't feel like it. That's because of the ****."

"So Mrs. Hill really went insane? And this place is haunted by sanity?"

"Among other things," the golem confirmed. "Mrs. Hill has chosen to retire to her private chambers for the rest of your stay. Please feel free to stay as long as you'd like, and of course our staff is always here for you."

"Even us," Jane laughed. "With the modifier and everything!"

Ross suddenly remembered something and wheeled to face Madison. She smiled blandly at him.

"Mads, what did she do to your script? She said she tweaked it. What does that mean?"

Madison grinned idiotically. "I dunno, babe. You might wanna take off the modification, because I'm not-"

She stopped midsentence as he took his fingers away from her forehead. She looked around in shock for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Oh man, that was intense! Dude, it was like we met me from the past or something!"

Ross found himself empathizing with her inability to register her memories as real, but he had more urgent matters to discuss. "What did your mom tweak? Why did she leave us?"

"Oh," Madison said. Her eyelids fluttered then went wide. "Oh! Oh, ok, yeah, she... she took out some restrictions. Wow, I remember a lot more than I did."

"Before you begin," the tall golem suggested, "why don't we unmodify Mr. Condon's companions and find a comfortable place where you can talk?"