Another Me

Once the host left the other groups began talking, trying to figure out where to start. Rodriguez’s team, the one that won last time, headed upstairs, while another group led by a Lightning Johnson went to check the basement. His tall frame contrasting against the short pudgy girl on his team. I saw her friend, that the short girl had managed to invite, roll her eyes as he led the way without even asking their opinion.

That left three other groups other than ours. The 'Ice King' led one. He was thin and pale like an under-nourished vampire. Even his hair was white. The two teens, with him, were a boy that was around thirteen and a girl that I heard the boy call "sister" that was our age. She was the original contestant and while her looks were average, she had strong shadow magic and little bit of light magic that gave her a following online. Even in a world that respected the strong, I was surprised by how many people liked her. It was because in my world with her current appearance she'd be hard pressed to get a few thousand followers and not the hundred thousand she currently had.

The next group was led by a woman that looked stronger than my old body. She called herself Aife which was Irish and meant 'great warrior woman of myth'. Her muscles rippled as she moved and once she activated her bio and earth magic, she became a force to be reckoned with. She was paired with two teen boys. They were around seventeen but other than them being "best buds" I didn't know much about them. I heard them discussing where to start before heading off to the sitting room.

The last group was led by a bespectacled man. Known as the 'Professor' he was known for his intelligence and mind magic, but Janet told me it was mostly an act. While not stupid, he wasn't the genius the internet portrayed him as. This was the group that the director had to give hints to, and it was mostly to uphold his image. Unlike Johnson, he let the girl and boy with him discuss and only after they picked the drawing room did he say, "A very good choice, the drawing room was where the men would go to discuss business. The money at that time was controlled by the man of the house so it's a likely place for the gold to be stashed." He pushed his glasses up a little, so their gold frame gleamed in the light. The girl with him was his original partner and out of all the kids here, was the most fancily dressed. The boy was obviously trying to get with her and basically agreed to everything she said.

Both the Ice king and Professor's groups left at the same time, leaving our group alone in the foyer. Janet looked at Mary and then me and asked, "Where do you guys want to search?"

"I'll let you girls decide and lend you aid when you need it," Mary said.

I looked at the old grandfather clock that sat in a prominent spot in the adjoining room. "Well, why don't we split up. It's getting late and I don't think they're going to feed us. I can check out the kitchen and basement." I looked at Janet and the worried look that it now held. I knew she didn't want to be alone in the house so I added, "Mary can go with you. You both have exploration magic. It's something I lack so you both will be more likely to find something." I didn't add that with both of them gone, the live broadcast room would have to focus on them. I wanted Janet to have more screen time to flaunt her stuff, since she wanted to be famous. Plus, I was a little hungry.

"Are you suurr... Wait, you can cook?"

"I can make edible food. If you want fancy food, you'll need to do it yourself. And yes, I'm sure. I'll do my best to check around the kitchen just in case, but doubt it's hidden there." I didn’t know if she could cook but I did know that having more skills on these shows brought in fans. From education to dance, the more Janet knew the more popular she should be, so I made sure to say it. We had talked over the week about what we would do or what might happen. And while I didn’t ask if she could cook, I figured she could just say I liked her food if she was bad at it.

She knew I was giving her the spotlight and gave me a grateful look before replying, “Ok, we’ll do it that way.”

“I’ll call you when dinner is ready.”

She looked dubious but still said, “Ok, we’ll try to stay close to hear you.” I watched them walk away before turning and walking into the kitchen. I wondered just how bad of a cook the original Stephanie had to be to get such a shocked reaction from Janet.

The kitchen looked like it came out of an old sitcom. The old gas stove looked normal enough, but the refrigerator looked like a steel box with a big circular vent on top. Copper pans hung from a rack attached to the ceiling while pots were stuffed together like Matryoshka dolls inside the marble topped kitchen island.

I walked around opening cabinets and refrigerator. I was taking inventory of what we had on hand and where it was located. After I finished with the kitchen, I walked down the narrow steps and into the basement. Multiple light bulbs that were screwed into ceramic fixtures were blown out; making it dim. Only spots under the bulbs were lit up well but that only caused the long dark shadows to look more ominous. I shook my head at the show’s antics. It had to be on purpose.

I descended and like in the kitchen, began to take stock of everything down there. The walls were lined with narrow wooden shelves that were filled with jars. I picked up the closest and realized that while they looked old, there wasn’t any dust on the jar. The corn inside also looked fresh, so I was guessing it was put here by the show team. I placed it back and went to see what the other jars held.

I only took two steps before I heard a scraping noise as the jar, I placed on the shelf, turned back to its original place. The “ghosts” must have been mad that I didn’t place it back the same way. I smiled. The team outside must have telekinetics and were watching to add effects to the show. I thought about warning Janet but then decided a natural reaction would work better. There wasn’t much down here and unless the owner dug up the floor to bury his treasure, it wasn’t here. I grabbed a few jars and headed back upstairs to start dinner after not spotting anything to investigate.

I had decided to cook meatloaf, with pan fried potatoes and boiled vegetables. It wasn’t hard and tasted good. More importantly we had the ingredients. I got busy and grabbed a couple of pots and a pan. It was just that I wasn’t sure what I grabbed was a baking dish. Unlike the copper pots and pans, the thing that looked like a casserole dish was made of glass. Unsure if it was supposed to be used in the oven, I decided to just make spaghetti with meat sauce instead.

I put the smaller pots back and dug out the biggest one I could find. it was so big that I ended up having to place it in front of the sink and use a smaller pot to fill it with water. Once full I placed it on top of the stove. To make sure I didn't spill it, I had to cast 'Herculean Strength' but then I ran into another problem. I was too short to see inside the pot. With a huff, I went to grab the step ladder that I had seen in the basement.

Once I had everything set up, I realized the show team was screwing with me. I wasn't sure if the stove used matches or something else but whatever it was, I lacked it. Instead, I had to reduce my palm sized ‘Fire Dart' to the size of my pinky nail to light the stove.

With a woosh, the stove ignited, and I began cooking. I put a lid on the pot to get the water to boil easier and browned the ground beef in a separate pan. Happy, I hummed along as a stirred and flipped the meat. I found the house too silent, especially when everybody was exploring elsewhere. I started with 'Moves like Jagger' and then 'Paralyzer'. By the time I was almost finished, I was singing 'She's Not There' by the Zombies. I found the song fitting considering where I was.

As the song was ending, I heard an ear-piercing scream. Startled, I wobbled on the step ladder, half-turned, and saw the thirteen-year-old boy who had been with the Ice King, right before I fell onto the floor. His voice was so high pitched I thought it was a girl at first. He was pointing at me as he yelled, as if a girl cooking was the most horrifying thing he'd ever seen. I looked at the spot he had been when I got up, but he had already run away. 'Little fucker,' I thought and rubbed my arm to soothe away the ache of where I hit it. I'd heal it later.

I cast 'Send Thoughts' and sent "Dinner is almost ready. You can let other groups know," to Janet. Then I bent down and rightened the overturned ladder.

As I did, I heard an older female's voice behind me, "Oh dear, are you ok? If you're hurt, Sir Glen is in the east wing. I can get him to attend to you."

I looked around but there wasn't anybody there. It'd be spooky in a world without magic. Now? It was just normal. "Thank you, but I'm fine," I said to nobody.

Then a breeze blew Janet's voice into my ear, "Ok, we are coming down." After hearing that, I went to wash my hands one more time. She was using a spell called ‘One Breath’, but everybody called it ‘Sweet Nothings’, because the spell caused the message to sound as if a lover was whispering in your ear. It didn’t matter how the caster said the message. Even the most desperate message would sound sexy. Because of that a few boys in school had learned it to send messages to the females they liked.

I had kept my strength spell up since it helped me to stir the noodles. So, all I had to do as grab a couple of towels to use as potholders before lifting the big pot. I slowly poured the boiling water into the sink. As the hot water hit the cold basin, a cloud of steam rushed up outlining a chubby lady that was looking on in worry. The image faded as the steam dispersed. When I saw her, my only thought was, 'that was an interesting spell.' I placed the pot on the island and added the meat and sauce to it.

I heard people coming down the servants’ stairs as I stirred the mixture together. But before the people on the stairs descended, the boy that scream came back pulling on the arm of his sister. He was still yelling excitedly, “Sister, there’s a ghost! Have the Ice King freeze it!”

Sure enough, the undernourished man mentioned walked in as her brother pulled her to confront the “ghost”. He didn’t seem concerned. On the other hand, the girls face was ashen as she was pulled into the kitchen. I could only assume that she didn’t want to make a scene since she was bigger than him and could break free. Seeing that she wasn’t looking good, I quickly said, “There’s no ghost, just me. I made spaghetti by the way.”

I grabbed a stack of plates and put them by the pot. As I did, I saw Janet and Mary coming out of the stairwell.