Candi: "Miri...I don't know how to say this...I'm different!"

Miriam: "Darn straight! I know we don't plan on attending the same college; but we're becoming strangers faster than you realize!"

Candi: "I'm going to get answers from Erin...tonight if I can!"

Miriam: "I've seen you! Running around...fighting crime..."

Candi: "You follow me around?"

Miriam: "I did that one time! I...don't know where you got those ropes from; but...I just hope you aren't the one to put me behind bars some day!



Candi: (frustrated) "Okay, I confess! I...kinda have this superheroine gig thing I do on the side. I...have centipede superpowers, I guess you'd call them! Erin thinks I'm this so-called 'Gifted One' that the Meethlites talk about. I don't understand any of it either!"

Miriam: "Why do you not have a single costume that you stick to?"

Candi: "Uh...well...I'm not professional yet! I...don't know if I'd even want to be a professional!



Miriam: "If this is your gift from birth, you can't just waste it! Deep down, you know that! Candi...I feel so sorry for you! I...could never live that life no matter how much I'd enjoy the thrill of it! This may sound hypocritical coming from me; but...you must pursue it!"

Candi: "I'm not sure why I do half the things I do! I want a family, Miri! I want...a loving husband! But I also can't stand to sit idly by, while criminals run amock! I wander off to stay in shape and do what I do best! Why did God give me this curse? I don't know! Erin does! But she's not telling me!"



Miriam: "Wow...so then, the ropes?"

Candi: "Shhh!!! If this becomes widespread, we're doomed!"

Miriam: "Magic?"

Candi: "No!...let me show you!"



No sooner than Candi made this promise, she performed one of her swift moves to Miriam's astoundment. The brown protrusions the whistled out from Candi's body came as a shock to Miriam; who decided that this somehow had to make sense.



Miriam: "Even I didn't know you could move that fast!"

Candi: "The last drug operation I stopped, they were heavily armed! I can dodge crazy things like bullets though. Another mystery Erin has yet to solve for me!"

Miriam: "And the ropes?"

Candi: "Centilegs."

Miriam: "Centilegs??? Wait...centilegs...as in... Centhuen Prototype!"

Candi: "Huh?"

Miriam: "That's what you are! A Centhuen Prototype! Experimental bridge between man and centipede! I'm a hacker, Candi! Erin can't keep me completely in the dark!"



In a moment of pause, Candi's feelings of being impressed with Miriam's research skills soon turned to dread.

Candi: "Well, I'll be! I just broke a life-long promise to Erin that I'd never tell you the truth! And in the end...you know me better than I know myself!"

Miriam: "My specialty! But Candi...this means we don't have much time!"

Candi: "No...time? Miri? What are you talking about? Don't do anything crazy...Erin will suspect!"

Miriam: "You're right! But Candi...realize something...we're dead where we stand!"



Candi: "I...don't understand!"

Miriam: "Let me see your hands...holy!"

Candi: "What?"

Miriam: "You were right! You're different all right! That extra crevice on your thumb is a giveaway! Somebody experimented on our parents! Question is... why didn't I get the centipede powers?"

Candi: "I'm...not even entirely sure what you mean! Miri...I'll interrogate Erin later tonight! Honestly! This is...kinda creeping me out right now!"

Miriam: "Creeping you out? You're the one with the freaky...things coming out of you!"



Candi paused some more, as both girls' nervousness grew. They realized they had been keeping plenty of other secrets from each other. Candi had told Miriam as much as she was comfortable to tell.

She had been running vigilante missions in makeshift costumes, in an attempt to train for what she feared might end up being her life. But would she be able to keep up the pace? How would she ever be ready for the chance of a Meethlite threat? She wished she could understand what divine purpose, if any, her circumstance was governed towards. Yet, she had to confess that she was in the dark, at least at this moment, regarding exactly where her place was in life.



Miriam: "Finally, that dang warm front's hitting! I can feel it getting warmer already! About time summer actually felt like itself! I'm switching into something cooler!"

Candi: "Ah...Miri! Master of the non-sequitur!"



Candi: "Fair enough! I think I'll change too! But after that, there's something you need to tell me! Let's...try to keep this a two-way street, okay?"

Miriam: "Sure! And I promise you...if Erin asks...you told me nothing!"

Candi: "You already knew all along...even more so than myself!



As the girls got dressed, Erin struggled in her bed. The call that made Candi so uncomfortable was just the first message of its sort to be received by Candi. Erin, at both home and at work, was receiving numerous similar messages.

It was beginning to give her nightmares. However, she wasn't sure she wanted to flee Gerosha just yet. Her family had been running from Meethlite threats for so long, was it not about time that she—or someone—faced up to the threat?



The thought then entered her head: what were the girls doing? And why did she hear a phone ring in her dream? She had been through a lot.

It broke her heart when she kicked Marina out of the house for her promiscuous behavior. There were rumors that conspirators were trying to get Candi in all sorts of trouble, even that some were trying to smear her over the Internet in every imaginable way!

At the same time, there was Miriam and her obsession with discovery. Miriam herself was the survivor of a tragically-ended relationship with a boy named Phil. As far as Erin knew, Phil was just a dirty boy with bad parents who was suicidally manic-depressive.

Erin suspected he had seduced Miriam on at least one occasion, and while she knew Miriam would never be as reckless as Marina had been, fear still ruled in Erin's heart.



She knew the girls wanted to flee Gerosha, but Erin felt she needed to keep them away from college just one year longer—to teach them to stand up to evil! She felt the girls were just trying to run away from the Meethlite threat as they had always done. She knew there was simply no way to run forever! But she also knew of Candi's great secret. She'd at least need Candi for her own protection!

But could she fairly hold Candi back in life just for her own safety? After all, Erin was now in her early 40's; and Candi was soon to turn 20.

Miriam, it seemed, might want to leave simply because Erin was too hard on her. She couldn't emphasize enough to the girls how dangerous it was that any of them become too lenient with their sexuality, especially in a world where they could easily be betrayed to the Meethlites! Miriam, as far as Erin was concerned, had already crossed too many lines!

Yet, Erin still cared about her sisters; and as she awoke in the fearful darkness, she was convinced she simply had to check on them.



Candi: "Are you sure I need a haircut, Miri?"

Miriam: "Absolutely! Candi, if you're that obvious, you'll be a magnet to them! You seriously need a makeover! Besides, you look like a freakin' onyrô! You need a new look...and...a new identity!"



Candi: "Miri...I'm scared!"

Miriam: "It's just hair!"

Candi: "Not that! It's...about the whole identity thing! How do we even know if it will work?"

Miriam: "It has to work! We don't have much choice! The only other option is for us to stay here forever, as Erin's prisoners! And that won't happen!!!"

Candi: "I...guess you're right! But, I mean, how far do we have to take this?"

Miriam: "As far as it will take us to be under the radar! Now hold on a sec...there! Improvement already!"



Candi: "Well...it's definitely shorter! But...I don't see how this is helping!"

Miriam: "We can't just run away from our old looks...we have to run away from our old lives!"

Candi: "So...why am I the only one getting the haircut tonight?"

Miriam: "Because I still have a social life here, though not for long! You, however, are already an outcast; so the time to reinvent yourself is now!"



Much to her inevitable shock and curiosity, Erin stumbled in right that moment.

Erin: "GIRLS!!! What is going on here??? It's getting late! And why are you cutting each other's hair??? Candi...by Goldie!!!"