Chapter 20
Costume Change
Why am I doing this? Yu thought, as they stood in the dank, cold dark, wearing clothes far too big for them.
“Have I told you that I hate this plan?” Yu said, glaring at the others, who were moving things in and out of the trunk of the car.
“I think you’ve mentioned it,” Mal said, smiling through the dark as rain rolled down his face.
“Then why are we doing it?” Yu flailed their arms in annoyance and sent two oversized sleeves in different directions.
“Because no one could think of a better idea …” Des said.
“And I still have to be bait?” Yu said, pleadingly.
“Well, no one else can pretend to be Walters …” Hala said, in a tone that tried to be encouraging.
“Walters could be Walters …” Yu said.
“No he can’t,” Des said, “and you know why.”
“Well, tell me again so I feel better about it.”
“Because,” Des said, “Walters can’t exactly show up and say ‘Hi, I survived your murder plot’ when the other guy can tell he’s already dead.”
“You don’t bring a dead guy to a necromancer fight,” Walters said. “First thing the Order teaches you.”
“Okay …” Yu said. “But I still don’t like it.”
“Do you wanna test out the look?” Mal said, gesturing to Walters.
“Give me a sec …” Yu looked to Walters and began sizing him up.
Transformations for Yu were always more about necessity than want.
To get into the moth library Yu had to look like an old woman—specifically, the old woman whose ID they’d stolen.
When Yu wanted to travel abroad, they would “borrow” the face of some poor tourist who just happened to lose their passport as they got to the baggage check-in.
But once they were safe, and in private, Yu would revert back to the form that felt most comfortable to them.
Having spent their youth “training” to be anyone, being themselves was something that Yu held most dear.
This was made only slighter harder by their constant brain swapping.
Their knack for remembering everything wasn’t an innate gift of genius, as Yu would have others believe, but a talent more akin to being the master of a library of brains.
One part of their brain was them, their wants and their memories; this part Yu had learned the hard way not to mess with.
The other parts, however, just held facts, and they could be swapped or wiped and rewritten.
So as long as you knew where all your brains where, you could hold more facts than any one brain could manage.
You just had to keep track of them all. Yu had lost track of how many brains they’d lost track of.
Which is why another part of their brain that never changed was their filing system.
Their transformation catalogue. They’d gotten so good at brain swapping that half the time Yu didn’t even realize they were doing it.
Only when trying to remember very specific things, like the migratory patterns of blue whales, or why mathematical derivatives were useful, would Yu need a few minutes to rustle around in their mental Dewey decimal system.
This transformation required only a surface-level change and some adjustments in height and girth.
Yu often lamented the first law of thermodynamics—that of the conservation of energy in closed systems—as it made being taller and wider much more faff than it needed to be.
Being long and gangly was awkward enough, but add to that lower density bones and minimal body fat, and tall people felt like walking on anemic stilts all day.
It was not a pleasant experience or, as it happens, a very relatable one, so Yu rarely whinged about it.
Yu searched their body, extending their thoughts from the tip of their toes to the top of their head.
Once they’d encompassed their whole, Yu felt another presence, the presence of something that did not belong to them.
They focused on the shape of Walters and on their own body, and felt the strange shift as their skin melded and moved.
Their bones lengthened and Yu felt the almost toppling shift that came with being at a slightly different height.
Yu remembered how terrifying this all once felt, and how quickly it had begun to feel normal.
Training day in and day out with others just like them.
Thankfully, that was far behind them and wasn’t coming back anytime soon, as long as they kept their head down.
This wasn’t exactly keeping their head down, but Yu had to admit doing something other than hiding was a nice change of pace, even—
“How does it feel? Yu? You in there?”
“What?”
“You okay?” Mal said, waving his hand in front of Yu’s face—well, Walters’s face.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m all good,” Yu said, planting their feet in the sodden earth. “Just getting my bearings.”
“You do seem a bit wobbly. You sure you’re alright?”
“Don’t worry about me. It just takes a second,” Yu said.
Why does he seem to care so much? Yu thought.
They’d only known each other a few days and now here he was making a fuss.
The cynic in Yu caught themselves judging Mal, wondering what his game was, but the mildly blank expression on his face didn’t seem to be hiding anything.
He didn’t seem to care; he did care. It was nice, in a weird way.
Having people in your life with no ulterior motives.
Having people in your life, period. “Thank you, though.”
“You know you don’t actually have to do this?” Mal said, lowering his voice so that the others didn’t hear.
“I know,” Yu said. “Why are you being so nice?”
“Do I need a reason?” Mal said.
“Yes, I’d like one,” Yu found themselves saying.
“Well,” Mal said, “because you’re risking your life for a plan we hodgepodged together in the car. And because if it was me I’d be shitting my pants.”
“Ohh, that makes sense I guess,” Yu said. The pair shared a small chuckle, and then Mal said:
“It’s weird isn’t it, letting people in …”
“Who says I’ve let you in?” Yu said, a small smirk creeping onto their face.
“You’re still here. for one,” Mal said. “A sane person would have run away by now.”
“Maybe it’s all research …”
“Then you’re an incredibly committed scientist, if that’s the case,” Mal said. “Maybe you could research some more cases with us after this one’s done.”
“Maybe, if it’s an interesting enough case.”
“I sound nothing like that …” Walters said, walking past.
“I haven’t changed my voice yet,” Yu said. “I need you to repeat something a few times so I can get in sync.”
After several minutes of various tongue-twisters and voice exercises—throughout which Mal and the others watched with suppressed glee—Yu sounded less like Yu and exactly like Walters.
“How’s that?” Yu said, looking to Walters.
“Is that really what I sound like?” Walters looked to the others, who replied with only nods and vaguely assuring shrugs. “I’m going to do another once-over of the gear.”
“I’m going to do another once-over of the gear,” Yu repeated.
“Spot on,” Mal said, once Walters was mostly out of earshot.
Hearing another person’s voice come out their mouth was something that Yu would never get used to.
The words clashed with their internal monologue.
Thinking in one voice and speaking with another felt like the start of madness and caused a strange discomfort that seemed to get worse the more they changed themselves.
They knew the discomfort would be temporary, but it never got any easier.
Yu and Mal joined the others as they formed a small huddle under the branches of a nearby tree.
“What’s the ETA on Elaine and Taran?” Des said.
“I’ve texted them our coordinates,” Hala said. “They should be here momentarily.”
“And you’ve got the anti-jump cuff for Taran?”
“Yeah, I’m thinking I give that to Elaine and she can put it on him. Probably better that way.”
It had been Yu’s suggestion to bring them along.
Warping sickness was affected by distance, so keeping Taran close should mitigate the worst of it if Kosh summoned him again.
Also, if Mazino got out, having a hideously powerful wizard close by would be more than useful.
They just had to hope he was feeling up to it.
“Good call,” Des said, looking around at their gear. “You got the dampening jar, Mal?”
“Yeap,” Mal said, holding a screw-topped mason jar aloft.
“Excellent, now let’s get geared up.” Des opened one of the crates they’d been hauling and revealed several suits of tactical armor.
All bulletproof, and none of it for Yu. As Yu’s job was to distract, they agreed showing up covered in tac-gear would kind of give the game away.
It’s easier to believe someone’s there to talk if they don’t show up armored to the teeth in bulletproof pads—regardless of how much Yu wanted it.
As the team slowly got into their gear, Elaine and Taran blinked in from nowhere.
Yu didn’t need Hala’s power to feel how tense everyone became upon their arrival.
Unsurprisingly, Des and Walters stayed off to the side together while Hala greeted the pair and gave them the rundown of their plan.
Their role here was mostly backup and staying close so Kosh couldn’t repeat his murderous antics.
Taran was in high spirits and introduced himself to everyone in turn, seemingly unaware of who any of them were.
Elaine, however, was all too aware, and every word between her and the group was rife with awkwardness.
Once everyone was ready, and Des had done a more thorough rundown and inspection of their gear—which included a beanbag gun with magical aim assistance that Mal, reluctantly, handed to Hala—the team were finally ready to put their hastily drawn up plan into action.