Prudence made it to the bathroom before she collapsed to the floor. The throbbing in her arm reminded her of a time nine years ago when Samantha broke Prudence's arm in a fit of rage. That time had been an accident, a case of Prudence's arm being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This time Samantha had done it intentionally. She had wanted to hurt Prudence.
The pain in her arm hurt less than those awful insults coming out of Samantha's mouth. The jokes about Prudence's weight and her name; Samantha had never said such terrible things before. Once, four years ago Samantha had embarrassed Prudence in the dining hall, but they had attributed that outburst to Samantha's period and stress about her responsibilities in Eternity. Maybe that's how Samantha had really felt all this time. Maybe this girl with the blue eyes, blonde hair, and superior attitude was the true Samantha.
Somehow that boy had unlocked this dark side to Samantha's personality. His kiss had turned Samantha into a monster. The pain in Prudence's arm reminded her she couldn't do this alone. Samantha would not go willingly and Prudence couldn't fight her. She needed help to bring Samantha back to her senses. The only people she could count on were Wendell and Mr. Pryde. Not that Wendell would be much good, the little coward who'd run away to leave Prudence alone with Samantha. Mr. Pryde could help them; he could bring Samantha back.
Wendell sat on the bed in Samantha's room, trying to figure out what had happened. Last night her eyes, skin, and hair were all brown while this morning her eyes had turned blue, her skin white, and hair blonde. It was almost as if someone else had taken Samantha's place during the night. An imposter.
No other explanation made logical sense. Having lived with the Fountain of Youth for over three hundred years, though, he knew about how sudden transformations could occur. But this couldn't be the work of the fountain. Its waters could only make someone younger; they couldn't alter a person's eye or skin color. Something else was afoot here, but what?
He looked around the room for something that might have caused this overnight transformation. A group of perfume bottles sat on a dresser. He sprayed a bit of each into the air to smell them. Each had a flowery scent that made his nose twitch. No, of course it wouldn't be right in front of him.
Wendell hurried down the hall into Joseph Pryde's bedroom. He opened desk drawers, dug through piles of clothes on the floor, and ransacked the closet, but didn't find anything suspicious. He must have taken it with him, Wendell thought.