NET WORTH
A Virga Mystery

	Hello, James Conway, back for a second time - at least, James is the name I will continue to use for the purposes of these chronicles.  I'm a first year student at University X (no names), who should, perhaps, have been a little more suspicious as to why a piece of prime off campus housing was still available for rent in late August.  As you'll know if you read the first case, the reason for that was one Melissa 'Weird-Gal' Virga, who is running a supernatural detective agency out of the apartment.  If I don't pay her on time, she could turn me into a chicken.  I don't think that's a joke.
	Fortunately for the sake of my humanity, the two of us hit it off not too badly.  In other words, I began finding ways of dealing with Melissa's odd quirks, while she, well... she continued not paying much attention to me.  That's the thing about Melissa, she prefers to spend her time inside her own private little world - a world which, by the way, allows her to violate some of the laws of physics.  Perhaps that's why she also piques the curiosity.  Which leads into why, following the case involving Dan and Danielle, I began wondering just what other cases Melissa might be working on.
	Now, finding an answer to this question by glancing over her papers and files was futile, mainly because a filing system itself seemed to be non-existent.  When I scanned the stacks of paper on her desk one morning, a couple pages seemed to involve mathematical calculations, there were a few scrawlings in latin, some news clippings, notes containing mystical symbols, things written in unreadable shorthand, and what I gathered was a philosophy essay for one of her university classes.  There was also what I took at first to be a recipe for biscuits, until I read down to step five which stated "use mixture to lure poltergeist inside bottle".  I decided not to look inside her desk drawers.
	However, learning about Melissa's cases by asking her about them directly didn't seem prudent either.  Mainly because I didn't want Melissa to interpret that request as wanting more involvement.  After all, there were still my first year university classes to worry about, and while I felt Melissa's deeds should be credited, I was hardly going to commit myself towards her "balancing of supernatural forces on earth" crusade.  Not at this point, anyway.  In fact, twice in the evenings I saw our doorknob was fuchsia, and on those occasions, I didn't enter the apartment.
	Still... I was curious.  So when a woman came by late one afternoon looking for Melissa, I invited her in and offered to make her some tea while she was waiting.  As we drank, I asked a few questions and learned the following:  Her name was Annie Potts, she was in third year, she had consulted with Melissa last week, and someone was trying to kill her.  This last point caught me off guard.  I mean, as far as first impressions go, Annie didn't seem like the sort of woman against whom you'd ever bear that much of a grudge.
	A brief description is probably in order at this point, so I'll say that Annie was tall (about six feet while in the heeled boots she wore), had dark hair down to her shoulders, and that while she was not overly athletic looking, she certainly seemed well built.  Her choice of attire was jeans and a T-shirt.  I also got the impression from looking into her eyes that it would be very unwise to ever get on her bad side, though as far as our conversation went she was pretty soft spoken.
	"The thing is," Annie explained to me, "there's been a massive increase in the severity of the attacks.  It's gone beyond interfering in my schoolwork to downright creeping me out."
	"So why come to Melissa rather than the police?" I wondered.
	Annie hesitated, uncrossed her legs, then recrossed them again the other way.  "Well," she admitted after a moment, "it's that these attempts on my life, they've all been done... electronically."
	I frowned.  "You mean someone's writing threatening email?  Or is trying to electrocute you?"
	"Noooooo," Annie said, still somewhat uneasily.  "Not exactly.  It's more like, when I turned on my home computer this morning, an incorporeal hand came out of the monitor and tried to pull me inside.  Which sounds stupid, I know!" she went on quickly.  "But it really happened!  If I hadn't managed to kick the power bar off with my foot, I'm not sure I'd even be here talking with you right now."
	"Oh," I answered, taking a moment to turn that around in my mind.  Evil computers - not exactly the same thing as the Danielle case, so was it more typical of the things Melissa dealt with, or less so?  "Well, I... I hope my roommate can help you," I finished lamely.  Where does one go after a story like that anyway?
	An uncomfortable silence followed, during which time the two of us drank our tea.  "Look," Annie said, rising at last.  "If you can simply pass that message on to Melissa, I'll come back later and--"
	"Did someone mention my name?" Melissa said absently as she strolled into the apartment.  She was holding a broom in one hand and scanning through the pages of a book in another.  The book itself seemed normal, like something you'd read for an English class; the broom was the one Melissa normally kept in the closet.  In fact, she put it back there and traveled around to the far side of her desk before looking up from her book to stare at us inquiringly.
	"Er, we spoke last week," Annie ventured.  "Remember?"  She appeared uncomfortable, either about her situation or Melissa's demeanor, it was hard to tell.
	Melissa, barely topping five feet, squinted up at her.  "You were getting electrical shocks from all the computers on campus or something," she replied.  "Jolted you into a wall at one point."
	Annie let out a quick breath.  "Yes.  Well, you gave me that charm and said to come back if things got worse?  It has.  Gotten worse, I mean."  She outlined the experience she'd had earlier today, and added to it the fact that last night her cat had been hissing at the computer, which come to think of it had looked a little burnt around the ports at the back.
	Melissa was quickly giving Annie her undivided attention.  "Have you been near your computer since the incident?" the supernatural detective questioned, leaning forwards on the desk.
	Annie shook her head.  "I had to get to class this morning.  After that I came right here."
	My roommate nodded.  "I recommend you don't go back home then.  Give me the key to your room, I can pick you up a few things.  Stay here tonight.  With any luck I'll get the case wrapped up within twenty-four hours, you can return then."
	Annie blinked in surprise, taking half a step back.  "Oh, er... you think it's really that serious?  What about Tabby, my cat, he's at home, do you think he's in any danger??"
	Melissa shook her head.  "Doubt it.  You're obviously the target here, the problem is that your residence has been traced.  Hard to say where the entity will go from there... incidentally, I'll need a list of anyone in the area who knows you particularly well, for questioning purposes."
	"A-All right," Annie stammered out.  "Should I still keep your charm with me?  Will it help?"  She fished an oddly shaped piece of metal out of her jeans pocket.
	Melissa shrugged.  "Couldn't hurt," she said, now rummaging around in her desk drawer.  "Besides, no refunds."  After a short time, she simply glanced over in my direction and mimed writing; divining her intent, I went to grab a pencil.  "One more thing," Melissa requested, looking back up at Annie.  "Your cat, how long have you had it?"
	"Him," Annie corrected.  "And I've had Tabby for three years now, my parents got him for me as a going away gift."
	"And have you ever had a cat before then?"
	"Well, sure," Annie said, not sure where Melissa was going with this.  "Our family's always had a cat or two."
	"Mmmmm," was Melissa's only reply.  She plucked the pencil from my hand as I approached, grabbed a page with what looked like a grocery list on it and, flipping it over, handed it to Annie.  "Names," she reiterated.  "Include the name of any university professor you've had more than once, and phone numbers where I can reach everybody.  Oh, and jot down anything you want me to pick up for you tonight."
	Annie dutifully began writing on the sheet.  "I'm not sure this will really help," she pointed out.  "None of my friends go in for this supernatural stuff... I mean, I probably wouldn't have even come here myself if I weren't desperate.  I'm supposed to type up this assignment for next week, and I'll need to use a computer to do that!"
	"Oh, is your handwriting that illegible?" I inquired.  Annie turned and gave me a little glare; realizing I'd crossed the line with that remark, I decided to keep quiet as she exchanged final words with Melissa, handed over her house key (she lived off campus) and headed out of the apartment.  Melissa watched Annie go, then finally turned back towards me.
	"James, you have a computer yourself, don't you?"
	I blinked and nodded.  "A laptop.  I use it for assignments mostly, though I also used it to type up your last--"
	"Shut it down.  Don't use it over the next couple days.  Throw it out even, too risky to have it around here for very long."
	I opened my mouth, then closed it again.  "Er, why?" I ventured even as Melissa began stuffing some objects into her purse.  "It did cost me a lot of money, you know..."
	The petite brunette let out a quick sigh.  "Because.  Electronics, the internet, wires feeding into every home... world wide nuisance if you ask me.  Makes restoring supernatural balance just that much harder.  Though not your fault, of course, so maybe you could simply leave your device with a friend overnight?"  She finished putting things away and reached out for Annie's keys, accidentally knocking them off the front of the desk.  She moved around to pick them up, somehow managing a wiggle in the process.  "Hey, how much do you know about computers anyway?" she asked.
	I pulled my gaze away from where it had wandered to her behind.  "Oh, um, enough to get by?"
	"Then you'd better come along," Melissa concluded.  Annie's keys in hand, she opened our apartment door and finally turned to meet my gaze.  "After all, I've never been too good with the damn things, plus you should probably know why you're giving up your bed tonight to a complete stranger."
	"Well... okay, but-- wait, MY bed?  Melissa, what do you... Melissa!!"  She was already out of the apartment and I had to run in order to catch up.

	The internet, Melissa explained to me as we walked to Annie Potts' place, is a fertile breeding ground for evil.  "Not just because entities can use it to manipulate the downtrodden, the desperate and the general lowlifes of society either," the brunette insisted.  "The real problem happens when evils that normally only lurk on the fringes of our realm catch sight of it.  This whole web thing, it lights the way for them, provides them with a gateway to Earth."
	"A... gateway?  You mean, what, evil is constantly entering our world through the internet??"
	"Well, sure," Melissa said airily, gesturing vaguely at me.  "Understand that spectres and entities have been trying to hook themselves into our plane of existence through electronics for decades.  Now the internet makes it a hundred times easier for them to do that.  Fortunately for us, the evil has to turn itself into a data stream if it wants to directly affect anything, and most of the time it can't survive in that form for more than a millisecond.  Its bits get all corrupted, which kills it."  She paused in mid-step.  "Kind of an irony there, actually."
	"So... is this part of the major imbalance that you're trying to prevent??" I wondered.
	Melissa shrugged and continued walking.  "Humans create faster ways of communicating, they allow for faster ways of spreading evil.  The supernatural balance hasn't been broken, it's just the ten gram weights have been replaced with hundred kilogram ones.  Who am I to stand in the way of such stupidi-- I mean, progress?"
	I frowned.  "Okay, but then... if the electronics aren't what's causing your problem..."
	"They nevertheless make it harder to pinpoint exactly where the unbalancing is occurring," Melissa stated matter-of-factly.  "Instead of searching for a needle in a haystack, you end up searching all of Saskatchewan.  Honestly James, do try to keep up."
	"No, yes, I get that," I breathed, managing to keep pace with her mentally, if not quite as well physically.  For a short woman, Melissa can walk fast when she wants to.  "It's just... if the web itself isn't the problem... where did this thing attacking Annie come from?"
	Melissa pursed her lips.  "THAT is a good question," she admitted.  "Any random evil that the net generates for balancing purposes should have been deflected away by that little grounding charm I gave Annie.  Yet this one seems to have become specifically attached to her.  It had to have help in order to do that.  By someone who knows or knew her."
	"Ah!  Hence the list of names?" I wondered.
	"Right," Melissa affirmed.  "The person wouldn't even have to know a thing about computers, just how to do a basic summoning.  Or then again, they may know enough about computers to actually turn themselves into a malevolent digital entity.  Either way, I want to deal with this fast, before the thing hooks itself into other appliances and causes innocent people to get hurt."
	"Oh.  Uh, you figure it will do that?" I said worriedly.  I fired off a wan smile at a couple of people waiting at a bus stop as we passed.  Melissa seemed all but oblivious to anyone else in the area.
	"There's always a chance," she answered simply.  I turned that around in my head for the rest of the walk, noting with some unease the number of devices in the area that involved electricity in some way.  If someone got control of a traffic light, for example, it could cause real trouble!
	When we got to Annie's apartment, Melissa marched right in.  A cat, which I can only presume was Tabby, peered up from the couch at her.  The animal fired off a look that either said 'don't mess with anything' or 'are you here to feed me?'.  Melissa paid no attention to him, locating the computer in a corner of the living room and fishing a couple of items out of her purse.
	"James, can you look around back of that thing and disconnect any wires or cables that might be hooking it up to the net or a network or whatever the heck it is these computers hook into?" she requested as she got set up.
	"Um, sure," I replied.  I approached the machine a bit nervously, wondering if the blank monitor wasn't somehow staring at me.
	Melissa made a 'tch tch' noise.  "It's perfectly safe as long as there's no power to the thing," she pointed out upon seeing my discomfort.  "At least, I think so."
	"Oh, VERY reassuring," I said sarcastically, before remembering that Melissa never seemed to recognize sarcasm.  With a sigh, I peered around the back of the tower.  The only external connection that Annie's computer seemed to have was an ethernet cable, so I disconnected that, tossing the end some distance away.  So far, so good.  I decided to unhook the webcam while I was back there too, and glanced over the rest of the cables uncertainly.  There were a series of scorch marks on the casing.  "Should I remove the printer cable or anything while I'm at it?" I wondered.
	"If you like," Melissa said easily.  "I just need the computer to be able to start up, so don't unplug the monitor or keyboard or whatever helps it do that."
	After a moment of reflection, I pulled the cable for both the printer and the speakers, then came back around to the front of the machine.  "Okay, it's... ah, done," I said, momentarily taken aback by the sight of Melissa pouring what seemed to be a ring of flour onto the floor.  Part of me wished she hadn't worn those tight jeans today.  I'm starting to think I don't help Melissa more often because of how my mind can wander while she's around.
	She stood, and turned.  "Good," the brunette stated, ignoring any expression that might have been on my face.  She moved to the computer, stuck a finger into a jar of what seemed to be face cream, traced a symbol on the monitor, and took a step back to admire her handiwork.
	"Will that banish the entity?" I asked timidly.
	"No," Melissa said absently.  "It's meant to protect me.  Truth be told, I suspect the evil has already flown the coop, but if it IS still here that makes the job easier.  Might even mean you even get to sleep in your own bed tonight."
	"Um, yes.  Actually, about that..."
	"Hm?  What about it?" Melissa wondered, looking back my way.  "Come now James, you didn't expect Annie to sleep with ME tonight, did you?"
	"Ah, no, ah, rrrgl..."  The image which that remark managed to bring to my mind was successfully trampling right over any other coherent thoughts I was having.  As a result, I found I couldn't vocalize the protest that had been on my lips moments before.  Melissa, as always, appeared to ignore any effect caused by her remarks - or perhaps she was simply being polite by not pointing out how my mouth was hanging open.  (It did close, eventually.)
	"Okay, stand back," Melissa advised, pulling a candle and a lighter from her purse.  "I'm about to do something here that's a little more daring than changing the colour of our doorknob."  She lit the candle and moved into the circle of flour (circle of power?).  I noticed that she also held Annie's key in the palm of her hand.
	I backed off towards the couch, exchanging a quick glance with Annie's cat.  Tabby seemed to have decided that we were more a source of amusement than any kind of threat, and was observing our actions with half an eye.  As I watched, Melissa closed her eyes, murmured a few words I couldn't hear, reopened her eyes and stated somewhat more loudly, "Mutatio!".  (Which is, as always, from the latin - it means a change or transformation.)
	It wasn't like what you'd see in the cartoons, with lots of flashing lights or Melissa spinning around on one foot, her long hair flying about her.  Reality just seemed to stretch a bit, as if it were an elastic, and when it snapped back into place a half second later, Annie was standing in the living room instead of Melissa.  She looked exactly as she had in Melissa's office not half an hour ago.  Without hesitation, Annie marched forwards to the computer, sat down and switched it on.
	"Whoa, wait, what?" I protested, finally finding my voice and taking a step forwards.  Without turning, Annie raised a hand to hold me back.  I paused, glancing over at Tabby.  The cat had actually gone to the effort of standing up, and was looking towards Annie in what seemed to be surprise.  However, after a moment he curled his legs back under himself and settled for peering suspiciously.
	Illusion, I realized abruptly.  That was still Melissa over there in the chair, not Annie at all.  The computer completed the boot up process, and I watched as Melissa/Annie dragged the mouse around the screen, clicking randomly in a few places, even opening a file.  Finally, my roommate shook her head and reached out to hit the power button.  However, pushing the button had no effect.
	"You have to select 'Shut Down' from the 'Start' menu," I offered helpfully.
	"Agh.  Windows!" came Melissa's exasperated voice from Annie's body.  She shut the computer down, picked up a small device I hadn't noticed next to the keyboard, then spun around in the chair, scrutinizing it.  "Well, that should have garnered some response, if there was a response to garner," my rommate stated.  "Nothing registered, so as I surmised, it must have escaped."  She pocketed her device, then sighed.  "Guess I'll have to start interviewing Annie's friends then.  Damn, I hate interviews, people never take me seriously."
	"I'll help you, if you like," I found myself saying.  I couldn't tell if I'd spoken out of a desire to help Melissa, help Annie, or simply learn more about what was really going on.
	Annie (well, Melissa) fired off a quick smile at me.  "You wouldn't know the right questions to ask, and I suspect you'd want me to explain them to you if you heard me ask them.  However, if you are keen on helping... I suspect I'll be needing a orb of hex by morning.  If I give you the address, could you pick that up for me?  The store is my regular supplier, tell the owner to put it on my tab."
	I agreed.  It didn't seem like it would be that much of a problem.

	At this point, I could go into certain details.  I could explain how much difficulty I had in finding the shop in question, half hidden as it was atop a bookstore.  I could tell you about all the very strange objects that I saw inside said shop, as if that school in 'Harry Potter' had decided to have a yard sale.  I could even remark on the odd appearance of the white haired owner, or go in detail about the little lecture she gave me about Melissa needing to pay her bills on time before handing over the orb of hex.  Which, incidentally, she said has some connection to hexadecimal numbers.  But I believe I shall postpone on saying any more than I have already.  After all, it's not immediately relevant to this case, and I suspect I'll end up back in that store at some point in the future anyway.
	Arriving back at the apartment after that trip and not finding Melissa, I left her orb on the desk and took my laptop over to Adam's place - he's another first year student like me, who was in a couple of my classes.  He didn't have a problem with me leaving the computer there.  In fact, we'd originally planned to get together to do a bit of homework, and we ended up going out for a bite to eat afterwards, so it wasn't until well after 9 o'clock that I made it back home.  There was a gentle rain falling outside.  The room itself was dark when I opened the door, so I reached out for the light switch.
	"FREEZE!" came Melissa's voice from the darkness.
	I froze.  It seemed the prudent course of action.  The front door swung shut, and all was darkness.  "No lights," came Melissa's voice yet again.  My eyes began to adjust, but I couldn't see exactly where she was.
	"What's going on?" I asked, lowering my hand from the switch.  I realized I was whispering, for no particular reason.
	"It's outside," Melissa muttered.  Her voice seemed to be coming from behind her desk, so I headed in that direction.
	"What is?" I wondered.  I managed to avoid bumping into anything as I rounded the desk, which was when a brief flash of lightning outside reminded me of the events of earlier today.  "You mean the internet entity??"
	"Mmmm," Melissa said as a form of agreement.  She was sitting cross legged on the floor, staring down at a sheet of paper.  "Didn't you notice the streetlights had shorted out on our side of the street?" she added absently.
	I blinked.  "I thought that was just the storm," I said sheepishly.
	Melissa looked up and shrugged.  "Oh.  Well, it's definitely tracking Annie - she's in your room resting, by the way.  Woman had every phone within a block radius suddenly ringing at her not two hours ago.  Then a soda machine fired cans at her, a traffic light switched over while she was in the intersection, and finally there were electrical discharges from light fixtures pursuing her all the way here."
	"Oh my," I said, moving to glance nervously out the window.  At present, it looked like all the houses on our street still had power.  I wondered where the thing was lurking.  "How is Annie coping?"
	"Resting, as I said," Melissa replied distractedly, her tone suggesting to me that the mental state of our house guest had probably never entered her mind.  Shaking my head, I switched gears.
	"Okay, so is this evil thing about to destroy this building to get at her??"
	"No.  Not yet, anyway," Melissa murmured.  "See, I've isolated our apartment by unplugging every type of electrical device and setting up a ward.  In return, our entity is being patient, reasoning that eventually Annie'll have to leave here or plug in a hairdryer or something.  I figure I have a couple of hours before it decides to gain access through one of the neighbouring apartments."
	"Oh.  Great."  A thought struck me.  "Did you unplug the fridge?"
	"I unplugged everything."
	"I had ice cream in the freezer..."
	Melissa rose.  "Actually James, it's a good thing you're here.  I'm stuck on something and could use a male opinion."
	I furrowed my brow.  "Oh yes?  About what, that family tree thing you've been looking at?"  I gestured at the paper on the floor, my eyes having adjusted to the darkness by now.
	"No, about an interview from this afternoon."  Melissa began pacing back and forth.  "It was with an ex-boyfriend of Annie's.  She didn't have him on her original list but I got the name from a mutual friend."
	"An ex... then you think he's the one behind the attacks!!"
	Her head shook.  "Not exactly."
	I tried coming at the situation from the other side.  "Then could Annie be evil, like Dan, and setting this guy up?  Hoping he'll get in trouble for hurting her??"
	There was a pause, as Melissa stopped pacing two steps away, then slowly turned around.  Even in the dark, I could tell she was smiling at me.  "You know," she said, obviously amused, "it might work better if I describe to you my conversation with this gentleman, before you theorize."
	"Uhm, yeah," I agreed.  "Go for it."

	His name was Frank Granges.  He was in third year, like Annie, and Melissa had learned from this mutual friend of theirs (someone on Annie's list) that they'd met back in first year.  They'd dated for over twelve months, broken things off rather abruptly last May, and hadn't spoken much in the five months since.  Upon reflection, Melissa had elected to see this guy in person, rather than simply call him on the phone.
	"Yes?" Frank said warily, eyeing Melissa from behind his half closed door.
	"Hello!" Melissa replied.  "I've come to talk to you about Annie.  Annie Potts," she clarified, noticing his look of confusion.
	"About..."  His face clouded.  "There's not much I can tell you.  We run into each other once a week because we attend the same class, outside of that we don't speak.  Why, what's the problem?"
	"Someone's trying to kill her," Melissa said bluntly.
	She watched as expressions of shock, amusement and concern all fought for control of Frank's features.  Concern quickly won out.  "All right, come in," he decided, pulling the door open completely.  Melissa walked in.
	Frank's place itself wasn't very large - reminiscent of a suite in a hotel, minus the minibar, Melissa said in an attempt to describe it.  She also said that the bedroom door was slightly ajar, and that in the bedroom she could see a computer had been set up.  Frank himself was of average build and height, brown hair, glasses, wearing a T-shirt and dress pants.  "So," Melissa began, glancing idly around the apartment.  "You broke up with Annie last May?"
	He hesitated.  "Well, it might be more accurate to say she broke things off with me in April, then waited around until May to officially end the relationship," Frank corrected.  "But then, she's a non-confrontational type.  I don't hate her, and I wouldn't try to kill her."
	"If not you, any idea who would?" Melissa questioned.
	Frank hesitated longer, moving to look out the window.  "Not really," he said at last.  "She could be dating again for all I know... she's pretty much ignored me the couple of times I've tried to make contact outside of a social setting.  I don't even know what connection you have with her.  Unless..." He turned back.  "You're not with the police are you??"
	"No."
	"I thought not.  The blouse didn't look regulation."
	"Mmmm.  Next question then, did you know Annie was a witch?"
	Frank frowned.  "Oh, well... I guess she's had her bad days, but there were a number of good days too, which--"
	"No, no," Melissa interrupted.  "I mean Annie has inherent magical abilities."
	"Oh."  Frank thought about that for a moment.  (I also gave Melissa some curious looks at this point, but she ignored me and just kept on telling the story.)  "Well, good for her," Annie's ex said at last.  "I hope she hasn't been using her powers for evil."
	"You didn't know then," Melissa said, making it more a statement than a question.
	"Well, er, no," Frank replied, eyeing Melissa.  "Are you actually being serious here?"
	"I wish people would stop asking me that," Melissa sighed, folding her arms across her chest.  "Why would I bother making this sort of thing up?"
	"I don't know.  But cruel pranks are popular on campus these days," Frank pointed out.  "However, assuming for the moment that I believe you, is this the point when you tell me that the person who's been trying to kill Annie is an evil wizard trying to acquire her powers?"
	"Something like that," Melissa agreed.  (Have I mentionned she doesn't recognize sarcasm?)  "Do you do much computer programming?"
	Frank blinked.  "Er, occasionally... has anyone ever told you that you make odd segues?"
	"Have you ever done computer programming for Annie?" Melissa pressed.
	"No.  You're losing me here," Frank added, exasperation creeping into his tone.
	"Do you know how often Annie works on computers?"
	"Hardly ever.  Look, what do computers have to do with anything?!" he objected.  "Is this wizard hacking her school records?"
	"The problem is there's a computer file out there that knows a lot of personal details about Annie," Melissa stated.  "I'm tracking it's origins."
	"A computer file... oh.  I see," Frank replied, suddenly going quiet.  He also looked a little uncomfortable.
	"Would you happen to know of such a file then?" Melissa asked pointedly.
	"Oh, well... I might've known of one?" Frank said uncertainly.
	"Aha!  So, you keep computer files on all your girlfriends then," Melissa decided.
	"What??  Whoa, wait, back the pumpkin up!" Frank protested.  "First of all, I am NOT some crazy stalker person who keeps computer files on girlfriends, pretty girls, or any other kind of person!  I mean, sure, I have this nasty habit of archiving my email, but that's as far as it goes.  Second of all, Annie was only my third girlfriend!  And thirdly, well... thirdly, there wouldn't be a file on Annie at all if I'd only had a clue as to why we split up!"
	There was a brief pause.  Melissa folded her arms again.  "Oh yes?" she said at last, deciding Frank needed a little more prodding.
	He sighed and slumped back into a chair.  "This guy who's pretending to be a wizard, he somehow got the file, did he?" Frank theorized.  "Damn... I thought it had been deleted!  Basically, it bugged me for over half a year as to where I screwed up so seriously as to make Annie completely cut me out of her life.  So I coded into my computer some stuff I knew about her, the details of our relationship, and I tried to get the computer to analyze it.  I hoped it would finally give me closure."
	Melissa nodded, all the pieces now falling into place.  "So what happened to the file?" she asked.
	"Well, my program ran for the better part of a day, then crashed," Frank said, shrugging.  "The file itself had become corrupt or something.  I decided that was a sign that I'd asked the computer for too much, so I tried to trash the thing only to find it had already been deleted.  Or I THOUGHT it had been... I never gave that file much thought again until now," Frank admitted.
	"Your computer was hooked up to the internet at the time, wasn't it?" Melissa chastised.
	"Um, yes?" Annie's ex replied.  He cleared his throat, a guilty look on his face.  "Look, I honestly thought that file had been trashed.  Annie... she's not going to die on account of my program, is she?"
	"Not if I can help it," Melissa concluded.  Having learned everything from Frank that she needed, the supernatural detective spun on her heel and marched back out of his apartment.  She told me was already working out the best way to solve the problem.  Frank quietly watched her go.

	"Or at least, if he said anything, I wasn't paying attention," Melissa admitted.
	"All right," I said after a moment.  "So what you're saying is, Annie's ex-boyfriend created a computer file on her, which became evil and is now trying to kill her??"
	"More or less.  Now, what I wanted to know from you--"
	"Wait," I protested.  I rubbed my eyes, not that it helped me to process the situation any better.  "Okay," I continued after a second.  "What was that bit about Annie being a witch?"
	"Oh.  Didn't I explain that?" Melissa said.
	"NO!" I protested.  "And I'd like to know all the facts here before you start asking my opinion on anything."
	"Alright, well, Annie's a witch," Melissa repeated.  I gave her a look that said I wanted more, and even in the dark, she seemed to get the message after a half a minute or so.  She reached over for the piece of paper she'd been staring at when I entered.  "I got her permission to do a quick lineage spell before she lay down," Melissa said.  She pointed to a branch of the family tree.  "I think it's two generations back on her mother's side."
	Apparently, I was going to have to ask her the obvious question.  "Okay... and you realized this about Annie because, what, you witches can sense each other, like immortals in those TV shows?"
	"What?  Oh, don't be silly," Melissa scoffed.  "I wouldn't have even suspected it, had Annie not told me that her cat had been hissing at the computer.  After all, certain animals are often more drawn towards those with magick potential, to the point of becoming protective of them.  When Annie replied to my question about cats by saying they'd always been around her, it added credence to the theory.  But I wasn't absolutely certain until I asked further questions of a number of her friends.  The questions I figured you'd ask me questions about, incidentally."
	"Ahhh," I said as I pondered that.  Something still didn't quite add up.  "Well then, if Annie's a witch, why can't she simply cast a spell to protect herself now?" I wondered.
	"Well, why can't you make a green ball appear yellow?" Melissa fired back levelly.  "Remember I said that's simple illusion - anyone can do it."
	I opened my mouth, then closed it again.  "Okay," I yielded.  "I take it that doing spells or even simple illusion would take a lot of practice?"
	"Pretty much," Melissa agreed.  "Plus you have to be open to the possibility, and Annie doesn't seem big on the whole supernatural thing.  So it counts against her.  Of course, she's STILL going to have to participate in the final spell so that she knows how to properly protect herself in future... but that's not my major problem right now."
	I sighed.  "What's the major problem then?"
	"You mean I can finally getting around to asking what I wanted to know five minutes ago?" Melissa retorted.
	Her tone wasn't irritated exactly, but it wasn't exactly calm, it was more dry and... the realization that she was attempting to be sarcastic hit me before I could get around to replying.  As such, I didn't say anything, because my mind became busy trying to remember if Melissa had ever used that tone with anyone else while I was around.  Did she even know what sentiment the tone conveyed?
	"Right.  That's a yes then," Melissa decided, switching back to her more level tone.  She coughed (I almost thought in embaressment?) and turned to look out the window.  "James, my problem is, I can't think of a way to personally get rid of this entity in the time left to us.  The only plan I've got so far that might work involves Frank, as he's the unwitting originator of the base program.  However, I'm not sure if his relationship with Annie is sufficiently 'Odi et amo' for my idea to work."
	I blinked.  "O.D. ate what?"
	"I hate and I love," Melissa translated.  "Remind me to give you a latin phrasebook.  But basically, we'll need to get the entity inside Frank, and once it has a physical form, me and Annie can use the orb of hex to wipe it out.  However, for that plan to work, Frank can't still be in love with Annie, or the entity will reject the merging.  Yet he can't outright hate her, or the entity will take over his persona completely."
	I tried not to boggle at my roommate.  "Isn't that plan incredibly risky?"
	Melissa sighed, turning away from the window, where the rain was still tapping quietly.  "There is one other alternative."
	"Maybe we should try that first."
	"It involves luring the entity in here and then having me destroy the whole apartment building."
	"Okay, works better as a backup plan..."
	Melissa marched over to her desk and leaned on it, staring towards my bedroom area.  "I blame myself for this," she stated, now in obvious irritation.  "I didn't realize the evil would be able to adapt to life outside the computer so quickly.  But it must have had contact with Annie this morning for long enough to snare a piece of her magical essence.  I suspect that's how it's been able to survive as an independent force for this long as well... taking in other magicks to sustain itself, in pursuit of its ultimate goal.  Gaining control over a fledgling witch."
	I moved closer to Melissa and reached up my hand, preparing to put it on her shoulder in a comforting way, though I changed my mind at the last moment and used it to rub my chin.  "Well, plan A it is then," I stated.  "That is, if you're sure this Frank person wasn't feigning ignorance about knowing what his program was doing."
	Melissa shook her head, a shaft of light from a passing car briefly reflecting through the window and illuminating her long, chestnut brown hair in an inexplicably alluring way.  "I'm not always the best at dealing with individuals," she said, clenching her jaw.  "All I can say is, I'm almost positive Frank never intended any harm.  Which even so, DOESN'T mean he'll be able to survive a connection to an evil electronic entity."  She glanced my way.  "So, returning to my original point, and speaking as a male, do YOU think he can do it?"
	I frowned and turned that question around in my head a couple of times.  The natural direction my thoughts took involved putting myself in the situation of having to do it if this were Melissa in trouble.  But at this point any 'love' I was feeling for her was probably only physical, and the 'hate' I felt at how she could do things like give up my living space without even asking permission didn't exactly balance the scale.  Of course, not knowing the details of Annie and Frank's relationship, how could I properly compare my situation to theirs?  I finally said the only thing that seemed to make sense, namely, "Why don't you let Frank make that decision himself?"
	Melissa blinked at me.  "Mmmm."  She reached past me, opening the lower drawer of her desk and pulling out a phone.  "I suppose you're right.  We'll ask him then," she decided, untwisting the cable to plug it into the wall.  "The fact that this phone's rotary should keep our evil incarnate from sneaking in on the phone lines, at least for as long as it takes to make the call."
	Outside, there was a brief flash of lightning, then thunder rumbled again.

	The four of us stood in the apartment building, aka Melissa's office, a little later.  All of us trying not to stare at each other.  Which wasn't too difficult, since it was still very dark.  "Well??" Melissa said at last, turning a glare upon Annie, then Frank.  "I explained the situation to you both individually, and you both agreed, however hesitantly, to go through with this.  So, are you going to start talking to each other or not??"
	Another brief pause, broken only by another rumble of thunder - the rain was coming down harder now, tapping against the window.  "Is talking required then?" Frank said at last.  "Because Annie's no longer keen on speaking with me."
	"I speak to you," Annie countered.
	"When there's others around," Frank retorted.  "You never called me back that one time, or replied to those few emails I sent."
	"It was one phone call, I was busy that week.  As to email, you know I'm not keen on computers."  Annie shuddered.  "Hell, I'll probably be even less thrilled with them after this nightmare is over."
	"Eh, okay, valid point," Frank conceded.  "Er, sorry about being the cause of this, by the way.  If I'd known what was going to happen, well I would never have... you know."  His voice trailed off uncertainly.  Annie didn't respond.  Again, there was silence.  Except for somewhere else in the building, I could just make out the sound of an Avril Lavigne song playing.
	Melissa let out an exasperated sigh.  "Look.  If I let this entity in and you're just staring at each other, it's simply going to go for Annie's throat.  It gains more power if it merges with you, Frank, but you've got to generate a more hospitable environment for evil inside you.  Shout at her, or something."  Frank turned to gave Melissa a dubious look.
	"Perhaps if you explained to Annie why you created your program in the first place?" I jumped in helpfully.
	Frank glanced in my direction before turning back to Annie.  "Well, ah, all right... basically, I was trying to work out why you broke up with me."
	Annie blinked back at him.  "Wasn't that obvious?" she said quietly.
	Frank frowned.  "Well, no, not really, that's the whole point... remember how you refused to talk to me about it?"
	"I said we had differences.  And I did answer your questions."
	"Well, sure, you eliminated a couple of my larger worries," Frank granted.  "But that was all on the PHONE.  And each time, I had to call YOU.  So in order to avoid simply berating you, I was left wondering to myself:  Was it our different tastes in music?  The fact that you enjoy cottage life more than I do?  Was I not spending enough time with you?  Was I that lousy in bed?  Did you wake up one morning and realize I was a jerk?  I mean what, exactly, was the thing that caused you to cast me aside so easily??"
	Annie flinched.  "Easily?  You think it was easy?!"
	"I don't KNOW!" Frank said in exasperation.  "Anyway, don't change the subject!  Which of those things was it??"
	"It... it wasn't any one thing!" she said back.  "It was all those things taken together which made me realize our relationship wasn't going to go anywhere!  Well, except the jerk thing.  I don't think you're a jerk."
	"In that case, why didn't you TALK to me about these concerns rather than avoiding the hell out of me?!" Frank said in exasperation.  "For that matter, you're still avoiding me months later!  What's up with that??"
	"Look, Frank, the concerns were pretty obvious - I figured you'd already worked them out yourself," Annie retorted.  "Distancing myself from you, that seemed the best way for the both of us to get on with our lives!"
	"Thank you, much better," Melissa muttered off to my right.  With one finger, she reached out and flipped the light switch while saying, "alea iacta est...".
	At this point, I suppose it would be fitting to say that there was a great crash of thunder, or a flash of lightning, marking the appearance of the evil net entity inside of the room.  But while it might be fitting, it would be inaccurate - all that occurred was a bright light flooding the area, the filament in the bulb popping, and all of us being cast back into darkness.  I had to rub my eyes at the afterimages, and as I did so I heard Frank speaking as if nothing had happened.
	"Get on with our lives?" he was saying incredulously.  "How could I get on with my so-called life when I wasn't sure if that life was in a relationship or not??  I mean, I spent most of last April trying to figure out how I was screwing things up!  Couldn't you have simply lowered the boom rather than continue to knock me about the head with it??"
	Annie pressed a hand to her forehead.  "Well it's not like I could simply tell you to take a hike outright, you're too nice of a guy!"
	"Oh, well, sorry I'm NOT more of a jerk then!" he fired back.  "I'm sure that would have made things easier on you!  Not that you didn't take the easy route ANYWAY, by simply IGNORING me whenever you got the chance..."
	I sidled over next to Melissa.  "So, do we need to turn on another light or plug in another--"
	She waved me off.  "It's there," she said, the hushed tone of her voice managing to creep me out more than anything.  "Look at his hair."
	I did.  Frank's hair was starting to stand on end, as if there was an excess of static electricity in the air.  Then, when the lightning outside finally flashed in a suitably atmospheric way, I saw a spot of blue energy over Frank's head.  The image was only there for a moment, less than a second really, but I somehow I knew this thing was - and I know it sounds crazy - it was baring FANGS at Annie.  I think the only reason I didn't run out of the room screaming was that I didn't want to move, for fear of attracting the thing's attention.
	Fortunately for me, the entity's attention was on Annie... while Annie was managing to focus on Frank, and not the thing sinking down into him.  "Did you think that by not saying anything, I wasn't hurting?" she challenged him.  "Damn it Frank, didn't you learn anything about me during that time we spent together?!"
	"Didn't you learn anything about ME?" Frank responded.  "I mean, I liked to *think* it wasn't easy for you, but I never... saw... grief.  You seemed perfectly FINE during the ENTIRE month of May!  I was busy wondering what went wrong, feeling distressed about how my advances towards you back in April must have been making you feel uncomfortable, and you... you were already assuming our situation was in the distant past!!"
	Annie's hands clenched into fists.  She took in a deep breath, glancing at Melissa out of the corner of her eye.  "Look, I think you've said enough," she told Frank.  "We've both moved on now, can we get to the banish--"
	"Like HELL I've moved on!" Frank interrupted, a spark of electricity appearing at his fingertips.  "The pain at being ignored, it's still gnawing at me months later!  I have a photographic memory, you know!  I can still remember the way you acted back then!  How distant you were on the phone.  Gosh, I was such a damn inconvenience to you, wasn't I?  You must have wondered why couldn't I just leave you alone!!"
	"Frank..."
	"After all, I was the last one to know it was done, wasn't I??  Everyone else we knew had it figured out, but no, not me.  I even got you a birthday gift at the end of April - couldn't you have told me if you liked the present??  'It was a good gift, Frank, and for the record I'm not breaking up with you on account of your lousy shopping abilities'."  His fingertips began to glow blue.  "You know," Annie's former boyfriend continued, his body now shaking slightly.  "You know, if you die, then at least I won't have to keep hoping that some day, somehow, you'll finally EXPLAIN yourself to me!  Finally I'll get SOME sort of closure!"  Annie took a half a step back, concern and worry on her face.
	"This isn't good," Melissa muttered, a little redundantly I thought.  Of course, her major problem now was that she couldn't act directly against the entity so long as Frank was at least partially accepting it's control.  The whole 'performing magick on the unwilling' situation.  As to me, frankly I was trying to remember why I'd stuck around for this ceremony in the first place.  (Oh, right, so I could write this story up.)  I also made a mental note to tell any future girlfriend of mine not to buy me a birthday present, if I was planning on breaking up with her.  Just to be on the safe side.
	"Look, Frank..." Annie began again, but he didn't seem to be listening anymore.  There was a scratching noise at my bedroom door.
	"All you had to do was tell me WHY!" Frank practically screamed at her.  A tear ran down his cheek, glowing electric blue.  "Not even necessarily why we split apart, because yes, I could see there were differences, I wasn't completely blind, but GODDAMNIT ANNIE, WHY DID YOU CUT ME OUT OF YOUR LIFE RATHER THAN SAYING SOMETHING TO ME?  Did I REALLY mean that little to you??  Did I have absolutely ZERO net worth as far as you were concerned?!?!"
	Annie took another step back, slipped on one of Melissa's stray papers, and fell to the ground.  Frank took a step forwards, raising one arm, a ball of energy forming within his palm.  Melissa let out what I think was a latin curse and began making mystical gestures - which I suspect involved that backup plan of destroying our entire building.  And me, well... I went to check out the scratching at my bedroom door.  Why?  Because something told me it was the right thing to do.
	As it turned out, it was.
	Tabby shot out of my room and into Annie's arms, without, it seemed to me, a paw even touching the floor.  Frank froze upon seeing the cat, caught off guard - no one had mentioned to him about Melissa bringing Tabby here, along with all the other things Annie had wanted for her overnight stay.  In retrospect, closing Tabby up in my room in order to keep him safe might have been the luckiest mistake we made that night.  At any rate, it was at this point when Annie blinked down at her pet, then back up at Frank, and it seemed to me that the presence of the animal gave her a little more inner strength.  "All right," she said quietly, staring up at her ex-boyfriend.  "You want the truth?  Then here it is."  She stumbled back to her feet, the rest of the room going deadly quiet.  There was a boom of thunder, in my opinion a little late (or perhaps, early) for proper dramatic effect.
	"The reason I didn't tell you about my feelings was because you were such a DEPRESSIVE back then," Annie fired back at him.  "Since you remember things so well you MUST remember that!  I mean, sure, you did nice things for me, but you were always so stressed out about your grades, your life situation and everything else that there was no longer any joy in the relationship for me!  But of course, if I'd told you that back then, you wouldn't have been able to cope with it.  It would have done more harm than good.  So what ELSE was I supposed to do??"
	The sparks flashing around Frank's palm died down.  Annie began to pet the cat in her arms, though her gaze remained fixed on him.  I noticed a tear running down her cheek now too.  "In fact, it was because I didn't want to depress you more that I couldn't turn you down when you wanted to spend time together," Annie continued more softly.  "So avoiding you, not telling you things, giving YOU reason to avoid ME... well, as I said, that seemed to be the best way for us both to move on.  Besides, I could tolerate you as a friend."
	There was a silence that seemed to stretch on forever, but in reality I'm sure it lasted only seconds.  "All right," Frank murmured, his voice sounding loud in the quiet room.  "I can accept that.  But in that case, after I cheered up over the summer, after I actually started trying to resume conversations with you... if you honestly wanted me as a friend, why didn't you ever speak to me outside of our Tuesday evening class?"
	Annie shrugged.  "It still felt awkward, that's all.  I mean, now that you were enjoying yourself, why should I remind you of what we'd had together?"
	"So that I could finally put aside the guessing," Frank sighed.  "Stop asking myself the same damn questions at the start of every month.  I mean, it seemed obvious to me that you'd moved on, so I didn't want to dredge up the past, but at the same time... I needed to understand.  I had to know why.  Because... because truth brings closure."  He paused.  "Okay, so that last line is a lame CSI quote, but it seemed appropriate somehow."
	Frank suddenly gasped and fell to his knees, slamming his hands up against his temples.  "Agh!  It's... still trying to control... quick, kill it already!!"
	"About time," Melissa remarked, quickly stepping forwards while holding the orb of hex out in the palm of her hand.  "Annie?"
	The dark haired woman turned to glance at Melissa, blinked then nodded.  Dropping Tabby back to the floor she reached out to place her palm overtop of the orb as well.  The two witches then turned their attention to Frank, who returned their gaze, his panicked look somehow at odds with his eye colour - which was now that same electric blue from before.  "F," Melissa began.  "E... D... C... B... A... 9..."
	"Yaaaaggghhh!" Frank shouted, coiling up from the floor and jumping at Annie.  "You're MINE, witch!!"
	"8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, ANNULLARE!" Annie finished rapidly in place of Melissa, her eyes going wide.  I caught my roommate smiling at the other girl as a wave of red light pulsed out from the orb of hex, rippling through the room, freezing Frank in mid-jump.  (By the way, annullare here means destroy.  Which leaves Melissa's earlier latin remark at the light switch as the one for you to look up!  After all, it's important to be well educated.)
	The air crackled at that point, everyone catching a bad case of electrostatic (including Tabby, poor thing), and from Frank's throat there came the death scream of an evil internet entity.  The creepy part was how Frank's mouth wasn't even open.  It was all rather hideous at the time, though the only way I can think to describe that sound now is to say it was like a 1200 baud modem connecting to a phone line.  Assuming you've ever heard that.  Either way, the scream died out, blue sparks showered the area then dispersed without a trace, and I was left with something of a tinny feeling in my mouth.  Frank dropped to the floor, unconscious.  I found out later that the power had cut out over our entire block.
	"Good," Melissa concluded, letting out a sigh of relief.  She raked her free hand back through her hair which, by the way, did not help to unfrizz it at all.  "You handled that perfectly, Annie.  Carry a small magical artifact with you at all times, and use that latin phrase if you ever get attacked again," she concluded.
	Annie's knuckles were white as she maintained a death grip on the orb (little more than a small crystal ball, really).  "Do you... do you think this sort of thing is LIKELY to happen again?" she inquired weakly.
	"If you're serious about not practicing magick, probably not," Melissa admitted.  "Particularly now that you have a way of defending yourself.  After all, while fledgling witches are prime targets, they're damn hard to pinpoint without help.  Of course, to be on the safe side, if you're ever running sensitive information though a computer, don't have it hooked into anything else, hmmm?"  She took a step towards her desk, partially pulling Annie with her.  She stopped.  "You can let go of the orb now," the experienced witch added, glancing down at where their palms were joined.
	"Oh..."  With some effort, Annie lifted her hand away from the crystal.  She looked down at Frank, whose head was being pawed at gently by Tabby.  "Will... will he be all right?"
	"Oh, sure," Melissa said easily, moving to put her orb of hex away in a file cabinet.  "He'll probably have a bad headache, but that's all.  Almost lost him, of course... really would have helped had he told us the full extent of his issues with you beforehand..."
	Annie flushed a bit in the cheeks.  "It was hardly your business.  Though the things he was saying there... that was all the entity's doing, right?"
	Melissa made a vague gesture in the air.  "Not entirely.  The dialogue was him, though I doubt he would have spoken any of it aloud if it weren't for the merging."
	"Oh," Annie murmured.  She frowned.  "Well... at least the whole thing is behind us for good now."
	"Excepting the fact that you'll receive my bill for the orb in the mail," Melissa noted.  "Though I'll grant you a discount since I might have occasion to use it again.  And on the bright side, the rain seems to be easing up, so you can head home now if you like!"  A distant rumble added credence to the fact that the storm had begun moving off.  I'd barely noticed the status of the storm what with the excitement inside the apartment.
	"I... home?" Annie said dubiously, turning to look out the window.
	"No, no, it's fine, you can stick around here," I broke in quickly, reasoning Annie might not want to be alone just yet.  "I don't mind you using my room, and after all, according to my watch it's already..."  I paused, shaking my wrist.  My watch had stopped working at 11:45.  I suppose it was a good thing that my computer hadn't been around.  "Well, I suppose it's at least midnight," I ventured.
	"Midnight?" Melissa said in surprise.  "It can't be that late, can it?"  She paused to check her own wrist, then the desk and the wall.  She still hadn't put clocks in any of those places.  "Though you could be right," she yielded.  "Hey, it's awful dark in here too, anyone have a flashlight?"
	Annie looked from Melissa to me and back.  "You two are very weird," she decided.
	Well, I could hardly argue with her there.

	Again, there's not a lot more to say in the epilogue.  Frank came to reasonably quickly and bowed out of the apartment looking embarrassed.  Annie slept in my room, I slept in some sheets on the floor, and Melissa stayed up doing paperwork or something at her desk.  She actually did have the courtesy to offer me the use of her bed, but upon reflection I decided I wasn't ready for a look inside Melissa's bedroom just yet.  For that matter, remember my earlier descriptions, or the stuff I was saying in our last case about me having a bit of a crush on Melissa?  Well, given this look at how a relationship with a witch can turn out, I've decided to curb my youthful enthusiasm as much as possible.  Still... I couldn't help but grin like an idiot when Melissa belatedly thanked me the next morning for letting Tabby out, salvaging the whole situation and all.  Knowing her, it was nice that she not only noticed that fact, but took the further step of acknowledging me.
	Of course, the electrical activity in our area that night was attributed to the storm, and barely made the news.  I got my laptop back from Adam, and have since taken to making sure I'm not on the net 24/7, as well as ensuring that the little trash bin icon is emptied regularly.  As to Frank and Annie, well... that wasn't exactly a relationship I wanted to follow up on.  However, I will say Frank got in touch with us a couple of days after the incident, thanking us for inadvertently providing him with closure.  I suppose one can hope that those two people at least kept talking with each other on occasion... after all, to believe such a thing gives a measure of hope to the messed up interpersonal relationships the rest of us manage to get ourselves involved in.  Wouldn't you say?

END 2