Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah...

After Vivian gave Nick her underwear, and after she cooled down and stopped freaking out (and put on a new pair) she went to each of the other girls’ rooms and let them know that Nick was alright. In the heat of the moment she’d almost forgotten, but she knew how worried she’d been about him, and she didn’t even love him like some of the other ladies did.

It was the right thing to do, even if she still felt a little embarrassed by the encounter. So she told everybody that Nick was fine, and that he’d come to see her that evening and went back to the Master’s Suite.

She left out the part about the panties. Because she couldn’t tell them THAT.

Once that was done, she retired to her room, and tried to get some much-needed rest. It had been a long day, and the faster she got to sleep, the faster she could stop thinking about what Nick was probably doing with her underwear right this second.

“What a day…” Carly flopped down on the Arcade Suite’s racecar bed and let out a long sigh of exhaustion. “Not only was that maze a colossal headache, but all that stuff with Nick, too… and that other Mary…”

The most fun she’d had today was after the challenge was over, when she finished her dip in the hot springs and went to go pay a visit to Emmy to let her know that everything was alright. That was enough for Carly. As for the others…

“I’m just glad he’s okay,” Marley said, biting her lip. There was hesitation in her voice, like she wasn’t entirely certain that was the case, even with Vivian’s assurance.

“You’re thinking the same thing I am, huh?” Dani said, looking at her roommate. She crossed her legs to take up as little space as possible, it was a tight fit for the three of them on the bed. “Why would Nick go to Vivian of all people to let her know he was alright? I mean, you think he’d either go to all of us individually, or choose, like, Rose or Gina or Dawn. Someone he’s really close to. Or his stepmom. But Vivian…”

“There’s gotta be more to it,” Marley agreed, feeling released to speak her mind now that Dani had echoed her concerns. “You don’t think that the other Mary… Echo… maybe she put him up to it? Told him to tell Vivian but none of us?”

“Why would she do that, though?” That’s what Dani didn’t get.

“Well, she’s got the Harem Manager transformation path, right?” Carly pointed out, sitting back up. “Maybe Echo thought that it was, like, her responsibility to tell the rest of us, so that’s why she had him do it.”

“You really think so?” Marley raised her eyebrow, unconvinced.

“No, that doesn’t make sense,” Dani said, shaking her head. “Nick would still tell us, right? He’d see it as his responsibility. There’s definitely something else here.”

Dani envied smart people like Dawn, or cunning, socially-perceptive people like Rose. Either of them probably would have been able to figure out what was going on with Nick. But she wasn’t adept at that sort of thing.

“There’s nothing we can do about it,” Carly said, lying flat on the bed. “So no sense worrying. We’ll just have to see what tomorrow holds…”

“Oh yeah… Carly, you’re going to lose your watch tomorrow, aren’t you…” Marley hugged her body pillow, determined to get at least one more day out of it.

Carly nodded glumly. “Yeah… it was fun, but… it’s starting to overshadow me. If I want to get back in the audience’s good graces… I’m going to need to be more proactive myself!”

She turned and winked at Dani. “So… what do you think? Got any energy left for christening our new bed?” She teased.

Marley looked at her sister, mortified. “PLEASE don’t,” she begged Carly. “Not while I’m right here…”

“Not tonight,” Dani said, shaking her head. “After everything that happened… it would feel weird, you know?”

She smiled at her girlfriend. “Tomorrow, though, you better watch out!”

Carly beamed from ear to ear.

Dani was sure that whatever she was trying to figure out about Nick’s behavior, that someone as smart as Dawn would definitely have gotten to the truth by now.

Maybe she would have, but Dawn wasn’t exactly in her right frame of mind at the moment, thanks to her temporary transformation.

“I’m just glad this is going to be done,” she groaned, getting a good look at her appearance in the mirror for the first time. Her messy hair looked like it had never seen a comb before.

Amelia watched Dawn fuss in the bathroom from her bed, and raised her eyebrow. Sensing the distress of the other girl, she got up and approached her.

“Is everything alright?” She asked the younger girl.

Dawn jumped. “Oh! Y-yeah, no, everything’s fine,” she said, shaking her head. “Sorry, just… all the stress, thinking about Nick and worrying if he was okay… then to find out he is… it’s a relief, you know? …But my transformations, they’re making me feel a little…”

Amelia approached Dawn, ready to give her a pat on the head to comfort her.

Dawn jerked away before she could.

“W-wait!” She held up her hands, her face hot. “Don’t… you shouldn’t touch me right now!” She insisted firmly.

Amelia blinked, perplexed by Dawn’s reticence. “…I apologize,” she said awkwardly, not sure what had gone wrong here.

Dawn’s face burned with embarrassment. “No, it… it’s not anything you did,” she clarified, shaking her head. “But one of my temporary transformations, it… it makes it so that whenever somebody touches me, they get as aroused as I am. And… I’d rather you didn’t have to go through something like that… I mean…”

It took a lot of doing to get the words past her lips. Because another of Dawn’s temporary transformations, the one that had turned her hair into an unkempt, shaggy mess, was making it very difficult for her to retain her rationality. Luckily the other effects of the maze had worn off and she could force her body to behave itself, but…

“…So does that mean you are… aroused right now?” Amelia awkwardly asked. She should have just dropped the issue. After all, she was an expert at not talking to other people. But she was concerned about the fretting cat girl, and wanted to help her out if she could. Given the day Dawn had, she could tell the younger girl needed some support.

“I-! W-well, um…” Dawn looked down and tugged at her skirt, her face burning. “S-so what if I am!?” She snapped. “I haven’t gotten any real relief since… since I don’t even remember! And I’m going to have a really sexy dream tonight, so-!”

She clamped her hand over her mouth and went pale. She hadn’t meant to say that. But it had just slipped out.

This lack of self-control was really starting to get on her nerves. Hopefully she could get to bed fast and put all this stuff behind her.

As Dawn scurried back to the bed, Amelia watched her from afar, concerned. She could tell how worried Dawn was about Nick, because she had been worried as well. And now that they knew he was safe, Amelia had been able to calm down… but Dawn seemed unable to do so.

It promised to be a long night in the Romance Suite.

“So… I guess Holly isn’t sleeping over after all, then?” Gina kicked her legs out and sighed, leaning back on the soft, comfortable mattress of the Luxury Suite. She was glad to get the chance to stay here. The Candy Suite had been weird to sleep in.

“Who cares about that girl?!” Cinder demanded, pacing back and forth in irritation. She chewed on the nail of her thumb. “That’s not important!”

Gina sat up. “I mean, it’s kind of important,” she pointed out. “Nick’s safe, isn’t he? That’s something to be happy about.”

“Who cares?!” Cinder snapped. “I sure don’t!”

“What?! You were definitely worried about him,” Gina scoffed, rolling her eyes. Maybe some of the other girls were intimidated by Cinder’s hostile personality and aggression. But Gina wasn’t one of them. She’d dealt with her fair share of Cinders in the past, and those girls weren’t magically restrained from using violence on her.

“I was… I was only worried for Ella’s sake!” Cinder snapped. “If anything happened to that bastard, then she’d be sad! And I won’t let that happen!”

Gina was pretty sure Cinder wasn’t telling the full truth there. But she knew better than to press the issue, given the other girl’s temper.

“You dote on Ella a lot, huh?” She murmured thoughtfully. “Some of the girls think you’re just angry all the time, but you can actually be really sweet.”

Gina knew all about putting on a tough face for others.

Like the one Cinder was putting on right now, glaring all sourly at her.

“You take that back!” The latina snapped. “I am not… sweet! Ella’s the sweet one! I’m… I’m spicy!”

“Si, muy caliente,” Gina said sarcastically, straining her braincells to remember what little introductory Spanish she’d managed to learn back when she still went to school. (She was pretty sure Cinder wouldn’t appreciate her asking “Donde esta la Biblioteca?”)

…Not that Cinder appreciated that statement, either. She glared in frustration at Gina who just smiled back at her, lips sweet but eyes taunting.

“We’re stuck together, Cinder, you realize that, right?” Gina pointed out.

“So what?” Cinder snapped, glaring at the other girl.

“So it’s in our best interest if we can all get along,” Gina said. “You, me, and Ella. Wouldn’t that be the best thing for all of us?”

Cinder didn’t say anything, which Gina took as “Yes, you’re correct, but I’m too stubborn to admit it.”

Again, she’d definitely been there before.

“You should worry about yourself, first,” Cinder snapped, glaring meanly at the other girl. “And mind your own business.”

“Oh, I am worrying about myself first,” Gina assured her. After all, she’d gotten that really risky transformation to deal with. “But… I trust Nick. He won’t abuse the transformation I got. He’s too nice for that.”

Cinder glowered at her like a struck dog.

Gina reached up and rubbed her throat thoughtfully and sighed. The itchy, scratchy feeling that had been building up for days was starting to overwhelm her. “He’s too nice to even give me what I need sometimes, without me asking for it,” she pouted. “Doesn’t he know that if I don’t suck his dick and drink his cum periodically it makes me get all itchy in my throat? Just DYING for a taste of that hard, fat cock?”

She eyed Cinder, relishing the look of sheer mortification that burned across the girl’s steaming red face.

If Cinder wanted to play tough, well, she’d been given the wrong roommate. Gina didn’t hold back. And the way Cinder looked when she got embarrassed by Gina’s overt sexuality just made it better.

“Ah, good, Daddy’s fine then!” Sylvia sighed in relief, flopping down on the bed of the Candy Suite and taking a nice, deep breath of the sweet-smelling air. “I was really worried…”

Morgana looked uneasily at her new roommate. “Were you really…?” She asked hesitantly. Sylvia had been one of the only people who hadn’t desperately run to save Nick that evening when Echo got her clutches into him.

“Well… not WORRIED,” Sylvia admitted, hopping up out of the bed. “I knew Daddy was going to be fine! Echo was probably giving him ‘the talk’.”

Morgana blinked, not sure what Sylvia meant. “You mean… like, the birds and the bees? I’m pretty sure Nick already-”

“Oh my god! Oh, that’s so adorable!” Sylvia burst out laughing and doubled over. “No, dummy! I mean the host/master talk! You know, the ol’ ‘How do you do? I’m the new host! Here are the rules of my season! You can put it in my pussy, I can suck on it, but no butt stuff’ …You know, that talk.”

Morgana blinked, a small blush flushing her cheeks. “…Oh. That talk.”

“Echo is the host of the show, she wouldn’t do anything to hurt Daddy or disrupt things,” Sylvia said, shaking her head. “She’s an echo, after all.”

“That… that’s bad?” Morgana frowned.

Sylvia shrugged. “Well, it’s sure bad for her. She’s basically like a walking paradox. The producers are usually PRETTY hesitant when it comes to giving echoes tangible form, ‘cause it can make the set get all wonky, you know? So she’s gotta be very careful. If she doesn’t do her job properly, not even the pit of fire snakes for her. Just *poof!* …Gone.”

“That’s terrible!” Morgana cried. “Isn’t there something we can do?!”

“…Aww!” Sylvia was touched by Morgana’s compassion, especially considering all the things Echo had done in her short life so far. “You’re really concerned about her?”

Morgana bit her lip. “She’s still Mary… sure, she was twisted by a transformation, but… I don’t want her to die or anything…”

Sylvia sighed. “I get that, Morgana, really, I do,” she said, walking over to her friend and patting her on the shoulder. “But it’s way more complicated than you might think. Echo… she’s an echo. And even if she’s alive… it’s not like we can do anything for her, you know?”

Morgana frowned. She understood Sylvia’s perspective… but that didn’t mean she had to like it.

“I guess,” she mumbled.

“Well, good!” Sylvia clapped her hands together. “Daddy’s probably having a lot of fun tonight, so how about we put those sad thoughts away, and have some fun ourselves? What have you got loaded for your journal tonight, Morgana? Could I have a starring role?”

Seeing Sylvia’s cheery smile, Morgana realized what she was doing.

She’s trying not to think about this stuff. Because if she does, then she’ll have to think about Dakota, and she doesn’t want to do that.

Morgana was getting better and better at understanding people. She’d come a long way from that self-absorbed brat of months prior.

I guess I could help her with a distraction or two, she thought.

“Rose, stop pacing,” Kim grumbled from the bed.

“I’m not pacing!” Rose snapped at her.

“I can literally SEE you making a trail in the grass,” Kim said, sitting up and pointing at the ring of flattened grass in the middle of the room.

Rose looked down. Then she looked back up at Kim.

“…Nuh-uh.”

Kim’s eye twitched. But she was too tired to even argue at this point.

“Look, Nick’s alright,” she said gently. “You don’t need to worry about him.”

Kim understood Rose’s feelings all too well. While her own feelings for Nick were strong, she had enough sense to recognize that Rose loved him a lot more than she did. So she sympathized with how much the other girl was fretting about him.

But now that she knew he was safe, what was there to worry about? Kim didn’t understand why she was acting so-

“It’s not him I’m worried about!” Rose groaned, pacing again. “Don’t you get it?! He’s up there with TWO of Mary! TWO!”

Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me.

“Are you serious?!” Kim groaned. “THAT’S what this is about!? You’re keeping me up after the day I’ve had because you’re upset Nick’s maybe having a threesome with his wife and her evil clone?!”

Rose had done a lot of questionable things, but Kim was pretty sure that this was a new low for her.

“You don’t get it, Kim!” Rose looked at the other girl with sharp eyes. Her fluffy tail stood up behind her. “Nick… he’s got a weakness for people he thinks he can save. And he’s got a massive blind spot where Mary is concerned.”

Kim perked up. Wait, so Rose isn’t just being her usual jealous, bitchy self?

The fox girl bit her lip. “That Echo… she was stringing him along all afternoon on our date. She even fooled me. She’s gonna play him like a fiddle, and he’s going to fall for it because he’ll try to see his Mary in her. And as for Mary herself… I know she’ll be upset with her duplicate at first, but given time, she’ll come around too, don’t you get it? She won’t want to accept that she could do those bad things that Echo is definitely going to be doing, so she’s going to start making excuses for her! That wicked bitch is going to play both of them and wrap them around her fingers if I’m not there!”

She looked at the door in frustration, wishing she could be there to set the both of them straight about this.

Echo was the enemy! They couldn’t trust her!

Without Rose’s guile, she was afraid of what might happen.

Kim was stunned. She’d thought that Rose was just making a fuss, but the other girl had actually thought this through using a part of her brain that wasn’t motivated purely by jealousy.

Nah, no way. She’s gonna say something like “And then they’re going to have a threesome together and I won’t be invited!” or something. This is Rose we’re talking about here.

Kim waited and waited for the comedic punchline, for the other shoe to drop.

It never did. Rose kept fretting right up until they fell asleep.

Rose wasn’t the only one who spent her night fretting with worry.

Vivian lay away in her bed, staring up at the ceiling, trying to fall asleep but unable to get comfortable. Even when she asked Octavia to get into bed with her and hug her, she still couldn’t bring herself to relax.

Her brain kept playing things out over and over again, working to its heart’s content against the desperate wishes of her body.

Is he doing it now? Is he touching himself to my underwear now? Oh my gosh… this is the most embarrassing thing ever! Is-is he thinking about ME when he does it, too!? Does-does he actually see me that way? I know we did some stuff together, but, like… this is… this is so totally not the kind of relationship we have! I know it’s to help Dakota, but… maybe he really is considering getting intimate with me now, because of this? I’m not ready for that! We haven’t even settled any of the issues we had, and I’m not worth it! But… but if he’s attracted enough to me to masturbate, then doesn’t that mean he wouldn’t even care? What about that?!

Those thoughts and so many others plagued her all throughout the night, while Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin slumbered beside her like a baby.