Amy looked up from her reading as Linda came into the room. Amy looked beyond her. "Where's Laney?" She had rarely seen them apart over the last two years.

"She's at the dean's office, making arrangements to see her family over the weekend. I'll be going with her. I... Well, I wanted to ask you something."

Amy frowned. She couldn't remember seeing Linda nervous like this. She noticed now that Linda was holding a file folder, almost out of sight behind her. "What is it, Lin?"

Linda's eyes were flitting around the room. "I, uhhh... asked the dean if he'd relieve me of being a dorm sister. I'll still teach classes, but I..." She fiddled with a pencil on Megan's desk. "I'd need a new roommate to go on with that, and I didn't really want one."

Amy's eyes shot wide open. She caught herself and choked back the words that were ready to spring out of her mouth, realizing she'd need to talk to Megan first. She looked across at Megan, trying to decide how to maneuver Linda out of the room so she could have some privacy with Megan, and was surprised when Megan caught her eyes and smiled, and more so when Megan looked towards Linda and said, "So stay with us, then." Megan looked back at Amy, who was now blinking in astonishment, and said, "I'm assuming that's okay with you."

Amy moved her mouth in silence before shaking her head to clear it. "Oh, definitely!" She looked back at Linda. "Room with us, hon. Okay?"

Linda half-smiled. "I knew you'd say that. We can talk to the dean about it later."

Amy craned her neck, trying to get a better look at the file folder. "That's not why you're here, though, is it? What's in the folder, Lin?" She spoke in a soft, coaxing voice. Whatever it was that Linda wanted to talk about, she couldn't, all by herself, make herself do it.

Linda finally brought the folder out into full view, looking at it herself as if she'd only just now discovered it was there. She sighed heavily, and closed her eyes, not wanting to watch herself initiate the subject. "This is a client folder. When a client wants to buy a graduate for a hanging, they fill out a form, file some letters of reference, whatever else they want to submit, and it all goes in here." She flashed the half-smile again. "You'll look at a bunch of these next year."

Amy tried to help Linda along. "So... you've got a hanging you might want to do?" She frowned. "That's good... isn't it?" She was having a harder time reading Linda than she could ever remember.

Linda finally pulled out Megan's desk chair and sat heavily on it. "I... well, I do. It is. I mean..." She looked at the folder again, and giggled unexpectedly. "If you ever wanted real proof of how weird I am... This thing..." she shook the folder, "...has been sitting in the dean's office for more than a year. It's a request for a Hanging Girl from a local woman -- Steffi Bloom. She picked out three or four girls from last year's class, one after another, and asked them if they'd be interested, and they all said no. The dean finally told her he'd keep the request on file, and have all the grads look it over and think about it.

"They all passed on it. And now our class is looking for buyers, and I think most of us, by now, have looked at this one. I thought it was nuts, like everybody else, but it's kept nagging at me since then. And I started having fantasies about doing it, and what it would be like." She gave Amy an amazed look, the amazement presumably directed at herself. "Amy, I can't stop thinking about it. I think I want to do it!"

Amy clenched her fists and rolled her eyes in exasperation, "Lin, what the hell is wrong with it?"

Linda looked inside the folder, as if making sure its contents were still there. Silently, she handed it across to Amy. Amy beckoned Megan with her finger, and Megan came over to sit beside her on the bed, as Amy opened the folder with the name "Steffi Bloom" on the tab, and they both began reading.

Amy's brow furrowed, and her jaw dropped gradually open as she read. She handed it to Megan, and picked up the photograph that accompanied the application, a smiling face shot of a very cute freckled redhead, her hair cut short and pixyish -- Zoey Hillcrest, the actress, her face familiar to anyone who had seen the most popular movies of recent years. Amy examined the picture, unconsciously shaking her head, and traded it to Megan for the application, which she read again. At last she looked up. "Lin, this is really nuts."

Linda laughed, in a pained way. "Is there an echo in here? I already said that."

"How could this lady even afford this?"

Linda blinked. "I thought you'd recognize her name. Steffi Bloom? She's..."

Megan jerked in startlement, suddenly remembering. "Oh!! Right, that dot-com millionaire. She started that social networking site on the Net, and sold it a few years ago for this humongous amount of money."

Amy nodded her head. "Yes! I remember that now. She's one of the richest women in town! I think my dad met her at some big party. He said she was... kind of cold."

Linda nodded. "I'm getting a feeling for why that is." She reached for the photograph that Megan was now holding. "This Bloom lady must know Zoey Hillcrest personally. And Zoey pissed her off to the absolute max."

Amy snorted. "What gave that away? Was it when she said she wants to 'terrify and humiliate' Zoey before hanging her?"

Linda half-smiled. "That was a clue, yeah."

"And you want that?"

"To pretend to be terrified? Don't we do that in most of the hanging scripts?"

Amy gestured with the folder. "Have you talked to Steffi Bloom yet?

Linda shook her head. "She doesn't even know I'm thinking about doing it."

"What does Laney think about all this?"

Linda looked down at the floor. "I haven't... uhhh, exactly told her."

Amy gaped at her in astonishment. "Huh??" She couldn't imagine Linda withholding anything from Laney, especially possible plans for her own hanging.

"Amy, you know what she's going to think! The same thing you and Megan and everybody else think about it. And I couldn't find a way to tell her, but now her own hanging is coming up in a couple of weeks, and that all got suddenly so real to me sitting in that room today with those sorority girls." She clenched her fists, pounding them softly on her thigh as she spoke. "Laney's going to be dead in two weeks, and if I know what's going to happen to me, I have to tell her! She has to know what my own hanging is going to be like!" She suddenly reached for Amy's hand. "Amy, I know what you think about this now," she waved with her other hand at the folder, "But you've always been... such an understanding person. You can figure out why I want to do this. I need you to help me tell Laney. It's not enough for her to know what I'm going to do. She has to understand!"

Amy was silent for a long time. She looked at Megan, who held up her hands in a helpless gesture. She looked back at Linda, and finally said, "Okay, talk some more then. I'm still not getting it. What is it that's making you want to do this?"

Linda sighed with relief. "See, that's already different. Laney is going to start by telling me all the things that are wrong with it. I knew you'd listen first." She straightened up and spent a moment collecting her thoughts. Then she began talking.

Linda, sitting on the bed in Amy's room, spasmed at the sound of the knock on the door, so violently that the thought ran through Amy's head that Linda might bounce off the ceiling, eliciting a giggle that broke the tension somewhat. Linda took a deep breath as Megan said "Okay!" and Laney entered.

Laney grinned at Linda. "It's all set. We're going to my house Friday morning, and my dad will take off work, and my sisters will stay home from school, and Emily and her husband will be there, so I can show her the script, and then Saturday night we'll go over to your house and I can meet your dad, and then we'll come back here Sunday night..." She stopped suddenly, aware now of the look on Linda's face. "What?"

Amy waited a moment, watching Linda to see whether she was up to speaking, then spoke up. "What would you think if Linda might have a line on her own hanging?"

Laney threw her hands up to her mouth, and squealed, "That would be so cool!" She ran over to throw herself on the bed next to her roommate, wrapping her arms around her, babbling, "I was hoping so much you wouldn't have to wait long after I went! Why didn't you tell me before? Is it all set up? Which scene are you going to do?" She gradually ran down, with no responses from Linda to keep her going. Laney sat back at last, frowning at Linda, then looking at Amy and Megan. "What's going on? What's wrong?"

Still without a word, Linda handed Laney the file folder, as Amy and Megan came over to sit surrounding them on the bed, Amy next to Linda, rubbing her back to try to relax her, Megan beside Laney.

Still frowning, Laney looked at the name on the folder tab. "Isn't this that one Becky told us not to bother with?"

Managing a small smile, Linda spoke at last. "Ummm, yeah. I kind of bothered with it anyway."

Hunching over the folder, Laney began reading. Within ten seconds, she sat bolt upright. "Lin! This lady wants..."

Linda leaned against her. "Shhh. Just read all of it before you say anything, okay? Then we can get it all out in the open."

Laney looked at her doubtfully, and finally nodded, resuming reading. Her frown deepened still more, as she looked behind the front sheet and found the photo, looked at it in disbelief, and read the first sheet again.

At last she put it down and sighed heavily. "Okay, I read it. Are you crazy?"

Linda giggled, high-pitched, nervous. "What, you didn't know that after three years?"

Laney goggled at her. "Lin, this lady wants to hang you alone! With no witnesses! You know she can't do that!"

"Fine, then there's nothing to worry about. Let's assume that's worked out somehow. What else?"

Laney looked exasperatedly up at the ceiling. "Where do I start?" She picked up the photo, a publicity shot of the actress. "She wants a Hanging Girl to pretend to be Zoey Hillcrest! You don't look anything like her! How are you going to pull that off?"

"You read where she says she'll pay for plastic surgery, right? My head is the same shape as Zoey's. I'm within about an inch of her height. I can be made to look like her."

"What the hell does this Bloom woman have against Zoey, anyway? Get pissed off at one of her movies?"

"It doesn't say, in there. I'd have to find that out."

Laney's hand holding the photo was shaking, and she took a deep breath to try to calm herself. "Okay, look. Suppose you could do what she wants. Suppose you changed your face so much you could fool Zoey Hillcrest's own mother. Suppose the dean will let this woman hang you alone, somehow. That's just the point, though." She turned fully towards Linda. "After all we've done, how can you be hanged for just one person? Everything we've worked towards, everything we've ever dreamed about, is to put on a big show in front of a hundred people, a thousand people! All those people watching us kick, getting themselves off, remembering us for the whole rest of their lives! We've worked so hard to become what we are, and in the end we affect so many lives! It's like you want to... throw the dream away!" Tears were seeping out of the corners of her eyes.

Amy could see Linda trying to speak, her own face streaked with tears. Amy slid closer to Linda and put her arm around her waist. "Tell her exactly what you told us, hon."

Laney suddenly jerked her head fully upright, glaring at Amy. "I knew it! She told you all about this, and Megan too. Everybody else too, probably, and I'm the last to know!"

Amy fixed her eyes on Laney's. "Of course she told us first, because the person she was most scared about was you! Because the person she cares about the most is you!"

Laney stared at Amy, her jaw working, then looked back at Linda. They stared at each other for what must, Amy judged, have been a full thirty seconds. When Linda at last reached for Laney's hand, Laney let her take it, and returned her roommate's squeeze.

Linda smiled at her shakily. "Okay, will you listen now?"

Laney sniffled and tried to wipe away some of her tears with the back of her fist. She managed a tiny smile of her own. "Can you explain it in less than two weeks?"

Linda laughed between her own sniffles, and wiped away her own tears. "I'll try." She sat upright, sighing heavily. "Okay. I understand what you're saying about the dream. We all have that." She paused. "But I've got another version of it."

As Amy rubbed her back encouragingly, she went on. "I guess I always had it in the back of my mind, but I couldn't have put it into words until I saw this." She jiggled the folder. "It called out to me, somehow. I started thinking... What if, instead of affecting a hundred people so much that they always remembered me, what if I could affect one person, so deeply, that it actually changed her life? I think that's what I was looking for all along, when I felt like I didn't really like any of the hanging scenes, and I kept rejecting all the proposals from people who wanted to do the usual stuff.

"But this one... It's exactly what I want! This lady, Steffi Bloom -- I mean, you can tell she's got this obsessive fantasy. Think how she'll feel when she really gets to play it out! Talk about affecting somebody deeply!

"And as I've been thinking about it, I realized there's also other stuff in it that is just right for me. Whenever I'd read one of the hanging scripts, I'd think, well, that's kind of cool, but it's... well, it's scripted, obviously. But this..." she shook the folder again, "This one can't go by a script. I can't fulfill her fantasy nearly as well if I'm just reciting lines she told me to say. She'll want to really get into it and imagine it's really happening, and what I'll need to do is find out more about what she knows about Zoey and what their relationship is, and improvise based on that. And since I realized that, my mind's just been spinning with all the things I'll need to ask her when we meet, so she can give me all the information I'll need, and how I'll be able to use it and how the scene will go..." Linda giggled. "I'm almost as obsessed as she is, with the whole thing!" She sat further upright, put one hand on Laney's arm and stroked Laney's other arm with her other hand. "Can you understand what I'm saying? This is what I want! I want it so much I can't think now of going out any other way. Do you see?" She looked tensely into Laney's eyes.

Laney looked doubtfully at her. She turned towards Megan, on the other side of her. "Megan... You're our Hanging Goddess. You've thought about hanging more in your lifetime than anybody else in the room -- anybody else in the school. What do you think about this? Hanging for just one person?"

Megan bit her lip absently, thinking, looking up at the ceiling. At last she spoke. "When I saw my Aunt Serena's hanging, it was the usual thing, that 'dream' we're always talking about -- lots of people there, watching. But I only know firsthand how I felt about it myself, and to me... it was like I was the only person there. I felt like she was hanging just for me, and showing me what it was all about." To Amy's surprise, she saw tears forming in the corners of Megan's eyes -- the first time she had cried since that night so long ago in the Hall of Honor. "I'm sure everybody who was there remembers it, like you were saying, but as far as I know, I'm the only person whose life it changed. And I think..." her voice shook slightly, "I feel pretty sure, in fact, that, out of everybody's reaction to her hanging, the one that would mean the most to Aunt Serena was mine, because it did hit me so deeply, and it did change my life. When we hang, we can't know for sure that we'll hit somebody that hard, and do that much to them. But I think it's really what we all hope for.

"When all of us hang, we'll be happy if we get the big crowd and they all remember us. But deeper inside... I think we all want to have what Linda's going to get. That one person whose life changes."

Amy suddenly jerked as if an electric shock had run through her. Miranda had that too! she thought. Her hanging completely changed one person's life.

Laney looked down at the floor, and gradually, lifted her eyes up to meet Linda's. Linda gave her a tense smile. "So do you understand now?"

Laney nodded slowly, fell towards Linda and wrapped her arms around her, laying her head on Linda's shoulder, sobbing openly now. Both of them held each other for awhile, each with their shoulders heaving, each rubbing her roommate's back.

At last Linda sat up, tried to wipe away the latest set of tears, and coughed, sniffling. "Okay," she said huskily. "I'm going to ask the dean tomorrow to get hold of Ms. Bloom, and get a meeting set up. And I want all of you," she looked around at each of them, "All of you to be there, and to help me find a way to make this happen. We know about the problems with the proposal, so we need to try to think of how to make it acceptable to the dean and still make Ms. Bloom happy. Laney?" Linda looked at her roommate. "I know you can't be there to help with the hanging, and we won't even make much progress towards it by the time you have your own. But will you help while you can?"

Laney laughed at her own efforts to smile around the tears, and nodded vigorously.

Linda looked behind her at Amy, and beyond Laney to Megan. "You guys too? I want both of you to be at the meeting, and I want both of you to be my assistants when the hanging finally gets here. Okay?"

Amy wrapped her arms around Linda's waist from behind. "I'm in."

Megan nodded. "Me too."

Laney hugged Linda again. "I'm so happy for you. Whether I look like it or not," she said, palming away still more tears.

Linda giggled and looked around the conference room. "Well, this place looks familiar." She sat, this time, at the table itself, with Laney, Amy, and Megan behind her, and the dean to her left at the table's head. She fiddled with the pages of notes in front of her, but Amy thought, to her surprise, that Linda seemed calm.

The buzzing of the intercom broke the silence that had followed Linda's remark, and Tina's voice announced the arrival of Steffi Bloom. Moments later, Ms. Bloom was shown into the room. She looked, to Amy, to be a shy, quiet, bookish type -- or, smiling internally, Amy corrected that to shy, quiet, computerish type. She'd founded her Web site and made her fortune while still in college, and was now about 25, the same age as Zoey Hillcrest -- it seemed likely now that Ms. Bloom had been in school at some point with the future actress. Her hair was brown, straight, and shoulder length, parted in the middle with no discernable styling, but with the smoothness and softness that came from expensive shampoos and conditioners. She was dressed in a long dark beige skirt, with a lighter beige, long-sleeved blouse made of what appeared to be silk. The overall impression she made was an odd combination of lack of attention to personal style and a taste for the expensive. She gave the impression of looking very intently at whatever object was the current focus of her attention. Amy suspected she was probably nearsighted -- likely wearing contacts, but not able to break the habits caused by iffy vision.

She seemed taken aback at seeing four girls facing her from the other side of the table, all of them having stood for her arrival. As the dean introduced himself and shook her hand, she looked again at the girls, puzzled. "Which one is Linda?"

Linda raised her hand slightly and let it drop, smiling. "That would be me, ma'am. This is Laney, my roommate," she gestured towards her, "And this is Amy, and Megan."

If Ms. Bloom had looked intently at things before, that was nothing in comparison to her examination of Linda. "How tall are you?"

"Five-four, ma'am. I was five-three when I came here, but our necks and spines all get a little longer. Miss Hillcrest has kind of a long neck herself, though. She's five-three, I've read."

Ms. Bloom looked at her several seconds longer, seeming to concentrate on her face. She nodded at last, and turned back to the dean. "Can I have a face shot of her to take with me when I leave? I'll need to show it to the plastic surgeon, so she can give me a preliminary judgment about whether she can change the girl's appearance appropriately. She'll need to examine Linda in person before she finally decides, of course."

The dean had been looking for a polite way to interrupt. "Before we get into that, there are some other issues we would need to discuss. Won't you sit down?" He gestured towards the chairs on her side of the table.

Seemingly reluctantly, she sat, and the girls across from her, as well as the dean, sat afterwards. "Why are these other girls here? I requested that the knowledge of this arrangement be kept to as small a group as possible."

The dean smiled. "Well, that actually brings me to one of those issues I was referring to. I'm afraid we would not be able to honor your request for an unwitnessed hanging."

She blinked and glared at him. "Then why am I here?"

He started to reply, but before he could, Linda said, "Sir, if I may, please?"

He gave her a startled look, but nodded. Linda turned to look across at Ms. Bloom. "Ma'am, I don't know yet what the background is, but I do understand this is really important to you. The dean was about to explain the reasons for the Academy's conditions of sale, but before he does that, I wanted you to know that I think we can work within them in a way that will satisfy you. I'd need to ask you some questions about the setup first. Would that be okay?"

Ms. Bloom seemed mollified by Linda's manner and her apparent concern for a project that was obviously very near and dear to the client. She gave Linda a tiny nod. "Go ahead."

"Ma'am, where will the hanging take place?"

"There would be an underground dungeon constructed at my house. I suppose I could simply furnish a ground-floor room appropriately, but I like the idea of going down into it."

Linda smiled. "A dungeon. I should have realized that." She frowned thoughtfully. "The way you said that, it sounds as if the dungeon doesn't exist yet. Is that correct?"

"It is correct. I'm planning to have the dungeon built for this purpose. Obviously I had to wait until I knew there would be a need for it."

Linda looked pleased. "So it's really just in the blueprint stages?"

Ms. Bloom shook her head. "Not even that far. But I can begin the process as soon as I leave here, assuming this meeting ends satisfactorily."

Linda nodded eagerly. "I hope it does, ma'am. I think it will. The big question is, would you object to having witnesses who had physical access to the scene of the hanging, if they were completely invisible? As long as, as far as you could tell, you were alone with me?"

"I still don't understand why there need to be witnesses at all."

The dean spoke up. "If I may address that -- at last," he gave Linda a tiny smile, "We do have some requirements which apply to all hangings of our girls, to protect our own interests. I can go into greater detail later, but for the moment I will just say that these are requirements to which any purchaser must adhere. However, it sounds as though Linda has already been doing some thinking on the subject."

Ms. Bloom sighed and turned back to Linda. Amy suspected it was a measure of how much she wanted this fantasy fulfilled, that she hadn't ended the meeting yet. "All right. How do you mean they'd be 'invisible.'?"

Linda shuffled the pages of notes in front of her and, not finding any blank sheets, turned one of them over to write on the back. She made a quick sketch, then turned it and slid it towards Ms. Bloom. She pointed with the pen at various features. "This is the dungeon itself. Here's me," she smiled, pointing to a stick figure. "On either side, these are additional rooms, one for an official representative of the Academy who, as the dean will tell you, is there to make sure everything is done according to Academy rules, and the other for my two assistants. Here's the important point. Each of these rooms has a door into the dungeon. The doors are smoked glass, very dark, and each room is blacked out while you are in the dungeon. In the dungeon itself, there's a spotlight on me, constantly. I think the spotlight in the otherwise dark dungeon will add to the atmosphere in a way you'll really be pleased with, but the important thing is, you can't see beyond the doors because of the darkness behind the smoked glass. In fact, in the dim light outside the spotlight, you wouldn't even be able to see the doors themselves. But the representative and the assistants can look out through the glass and see me, because of the spotlight."

Ms. Bloom frowned. "It sounds as though the representative might decide to interfere in some situations. Otherwise there'd be no need for him."

Linda nodded. "That's true, but of course all of the rules will be spelled out beforehand, so you'll know how to avoid intervention. And I really don't think they will stop you from doing what you want to do." She stopped, and backtracked. "Well, that does depend on exactly what you want to do. But we can find out what that is beforehand."

Ms. Bloom's frown deepened. "I'm really starting to think this doesn't seem to be what I want."

Linda leaned forward. "Ma'am -- we will work very hard to make it what you want." She put all the sincerity she had into her voice. "I promise that."

Amy spoke up. "Ma'am -- if I may?"

Ms. Bloom looked at her. "You are...?"

"Amy, ma'am. I'd be one of Linda's assistants. And I was just thinking, her assistants can probably be useful to you in ways you might not have considered."

Ms. Bloom twitched her jaw, looking thoughtful. "Go on."

"Ma'am, as you visualize this scene, I assume it starts with Miss Hillcrest somehow being kidnapped?"

Ms. Bloom nodded. "Basically, yes."

"Well, ma'am, I hope this doesn't give offense, but if this were happening in real life, I'm thinking you're not the sort of person who would do that yourself. You'd hire it done by someone you trusted." Amy suddenly realized that thoughts of Andrew had led her in this direction, but she brushed them aside.

Ms. Bloom nodded again. "Probably."

"In that case, we, Megan and myself -- Megan will be the other assistant -- we could fill that role. We'd prepare Linda for your arrival -- dressed or undressed, as you prefer, and... well, you'd probably want her tied up or in chains, restrained in some way, so she can't fight you when you first show up. All of that's up to you, but we can set it up for you. That's exactly what your hired kidnappers would do."

Amy saw Ms. Bloom's nostrils suddenly flare, and saw she was breathing a little faster than before. Great! thought Amy. I hit on something she likes!

"And you can do everything you need to do out of sight? I'd never see a sign you were there?"

"Exactly, ma'am. At least that's what we're trying to work out."

Ms. Bloom finally smiled. "You'd need to be prepared to wait awhile."

Amy looked at her questioningly. "Ma'am?"

"I was visualizing playing this out over a period of about forty-eight hours."

All of the girls blinked in astonishment. Ms. Bloom suddenly looked at the dean, frowning again. "Would that be within the rules?"

He nodded. "A little unusual, but yes."

She looked back at Linda. "How do you feel about that?"

Linda grinned. "I feel like you're going to get your money's worth." She was pleased to see Ms. Bloom laugh for the first time. A thought occurred to her. "Ma'am, I hope you understand, one of the rules is that you can't hurt me in a way that would affect my hanging performance. But you wouldn't want to, right?"

Ms. Bloom gave her the thoughtful look again. "You've probably understood that a little pain would be of some interest to me, but you're right. The hanging has to take precedence over that." She looked more closely at Linda. "But some pain is okay? If it doesn't affect your performance?"

Linda smiled. "I think all of us Hanging Girls are probably a bit masochistic in some degree. But I had another thought to go with that. I'm going to want to find out as much as I can about your relationship with Zoey Hillcrest. And..."

Ms. Bloom interrupted. "Is that really necessary?"

"Oh, absolutely, ma'am. I need to react to anything you say exactly the way Zoey would, and for that I need to know who you are in her life. I can talk to you the way she would, based on your relationship, if I know enough. And when you speak about pain -- you'll be in a position to inflict any amount of psychological pain, but that will only work effectively if I can react as Zoey. I need to know things she's afraid of, what she likes and dislikes, and so on. Anyway..." She finally pushed the rest of her notes across the table to Ms. Bloom. "I've thought of some specific questions I have, and I've written them down here. And if you could, would you add a general... I guess I'd call it a diary, of your relationship with her. Obviously I need to know why you'd want to do this to her, but please don't stop with that. I need you to tell me everything you can think of that relates to her, and to her relationship with you."

The corners of Ms. Bloom's mouth twitched upward. "You mean you're giving me homework?"

Linda grinned and looked towards the dean. "Are you kidding? That's all you ever get in this place!"

The girls looked on in astonishment as the dean broke into laughter. None of them could remember seeing him laugh before.

Ms. Bloom laughed as well, then grew serious again. "There's one thing I'm getting worried about."

Linda looked at her. "Yes, ma'am?"

Ms. Bloom bit her lip. "All this preparation beforehand... I think it will take away something of the spontaneity, and the... reality, of the process. I do want it to feel real. All this time talking to you before the scene takes place..."

Linda nodded. "I understand what you mean, ma'am, but I think you'll be surprised at how real it is. Remember you're not going to see me in there. I won't look like this. You'll see Zoey Hillcrest. In fact... we may all meet here again, maybe several times. But once I have the surgery, I won't see you in person until you meet me in your dungeon. Amy and Megan, my... that is, your accomplices..." she smiled, "...can be our go-betweens, once I look like Zoey. As I said, we're going to do everything we can to make this work for you. Oh! That reminds me."

"Yes?"

"I can look like Zoey, but I don't sound like her. Her voice is higher, for one thing. I think that could probably be fixed. Would you be able to hire a good voice coach?"

Ms. Bloom blinked. "I see what you mean. I hadn't thought. Yes, I can do that."

The dean cleared his throat. "If I may..." He handed copies of the contract to Ms. Bloom. "Please look these over at you leisure, and we can schedule a time for you to return and sign them if everything is in order. In the end we have actually covered most of the basic rules today, so there are no substantial surprises remaining, I believe. Tina, in the outer office, can print out an enlarged copy of our photo of Linda, and make the appointment for your return. Will that be acceptable?" He stood to signal the end of the meeting.

Ms. Bloom stood and shook his hand. "Yes, completely. And Linda?" Linda and the other girls were standing as well, now. "I truly do appreciate your... eagerness. It goes beyond what I expected. You've managed to convince me that this all may happen. After all this time." She beamed at Linda, and held out her hand.

Linda shook hands with her. "Speaking of being eager -- would you be able to schedule a time for the surgery... let's see... as soon as possible after three weeks from today?" Amy goggled at her as she went on. "It's possible that might need to be postponed, but I'm sure doing it as soon as possible would be best. I know it's going to take some recovery time. Oh, and I'd like to start seeing the voice coach even sooner. That will be more of a learning-type thing, and to really do it right, it may take even longer than making me resemble Zoey physically."

Ms. Bloom smiled again. "I'll set all that up as soon as I leave here."

Amy suddenly spoke, as an association in her head bubbled to the surface. "Ma'am? I could give you the name of a contractor who could build that dungeon for you." Amy almost laughed at the realization that that experience with Andrew might end up having positive consequences. Ms. Bloom nodded her appreciation and waited patiently as Amy wrote down some information for her. Another thought occurred to Amy. "Oh! If it's two days, those outer rooms next to the dungeon will need something to sleep on, toilet facilities, and food. Preferably with something to cook it on."

Ms. Bloom nodded. "I'll have the architect include the appropriate plumbing. And electrical outlets."

The dean buzzed for Tina, who ushered a happy Steffi Bloom out of the room. He immediately turned to Linda. "Well, I have to say, I'm impressed."

Linda grinned. "Just shows you knew what you were doing when you admitted us."

He looked at the girls thoughtfully. "Yes, I'd have to say so. About all of you."