It's slightly past 1 pm, and Thompson surprised us with another visit. Mom, Rachel, Emily and I were already sitting in the living room, and he joined us.

  Emily was talking about school and said that she had way too many books to study, but quickly read the room when Thompson entered.

  He put a present on the living room table and asked me to open it, knowing that I was still invisible.I love presents, but when the government is involved, I always get mixed feelings. Just like st time, when they gave me a military uniform. And yes, I'm wearing it right now, even though nobody can see it.

  It's really difficult to open the gift wrapping, but when I finally manage...I see a ouija board. I see everyone staring at each other, excited to see what will happen next.

  "Honey, use the pnchette. It's the wooden triangur thing. Point at the letter you want to say."

  Of course! They're waiting for me to use the thing! I flew to the other side of the thing, because it was upside down for me. I move the cursor, because I hate calling it a pnchette, towards the "yes."

  "See? We have a fairy ghost now." Rachel chuckled.

  "Yes, very interesting." Thompson said. He brought a video camera along and recorded a few minutes."Go ahead, Ann."

  >"Why not print one?" I wrote.

  "Ha ha ha...good one." Mom said. "It's because I called Thompson and he said that he could pick one up on his way here." She then looked at him. "Do we want to know where you obtained it?"

  "Just an antique shop. One of my staff quickly found one. Apparently it's working as advertised. But the seller told us that a ghost was not included." He grinned, and seeing that strange smile made us all ugh.

  >"Mana ready. Should see me 3 minutes max." I wrote.

  "Alright, then show yourself." He said. He quickly grabbed the camera and started recording again. "Wow.....knowing it and seeing it are two entirely different things."

  "I like your uniform, Ann. Are you okay, honey?"

  "Thanks, mom. Yes, I'm fine. It fits nice. And yes...I really miss talking to you guys. But this weird board works just fine. So I was thinking...can we test if.."

  Thompson interrupted me. "You are invisible again, and within 2 minutes already. I think you need to practice more. It may help."

  >I move the cursor to "no."

  "No? Then what do you suggest?" He looked surprised.

  >Take me with. Use test equipment on me."

  He nods. "Yes, that's an excellent suggestion and you must have read my mind. Are you sure you're ready?"

  >"Yes. But home soon."

  "Alright..it's still early in the afternoon. We'll need some time to set up the equipment, and I'm afraid that this is going to take some time. We haven't spotted any invisible monsters yet, but now we have to know if they can pull this off too. But if we leave now, you won't be back home today. Let's say...24 hours?"

  >"No Yes No Yes Yes Yes"

  "Okay...not happy about it, okay, I understand. Do you want someone to accompany you this time?"

  >"No"

  "Okay then. Thank you for trusting me. We'll call for a helicopter right now and get you to our nearest test site."

  >"Mom company ?"

  "....you mean Oakhive?"

  >"Yes"

  "Sorry, Ann, but we need to use actual military equipment this time. We'll invite her scientists as well, and hopefully we can spot you within 24 hours. In any case you'll go home within 24 hours again. But I'm afraid that you will be transported to Florida really soon. Maybe within two weeks already. We need you, Ann. But first you need to kill some bugs nearby, so you can get used to it. Do you understand?"

  >"Yes"

  "Okay...anything you need to bring along? Your bed?"

  >"No.......this board and more crystals."

  "Yes, we sent word to all units to remove the stones and bring them here. Look forward to many of those really soon!"

  >"Yes Yes Yes"

  "Hahah, gd to see you so excited. Ready to go?"

  >"Bye everyone"

  "Goodbye, honey. Take care. Don't fly away, okay?"

  "Awwww....." Emily suddenly said.

  "What happened?" Thompson asked.

  "She....patted my cheeks....I think. Ann, I really miss you....even though I know you are here. Come back soon!"

  >"Yes"

  I joined Thompson and his minions, as mom calls them, at a nearby air base where they used all sorts of equipment on me. Nightvision sets, sers and even sonar....they tried everything on me, but nothing worked.

  When I turned visible for a while, the military staff and scientists were eted, until they realized that I simply disabled my skill for a few minutes. "Can I have a break now?" I said.

  "Hi Ann, good to see that you didn't actually leave us. Alright, you've earned it. Any ideas before you become invisible again?" Thomspon asked.

  "As a matter of fact I do. Don't use radar on me, because I don't want to glow in the dark tonight. But instead use water. You can't detect me obviously, but you can detect raindrops. That was a major achilles heel to our F117s apparently."

  "That's an excellent idea! Simple and very likely to work. But what are F117s?"

  "Stealth aircraft, designed with radar absorbent material."

  "Oh, c'mon! You can't become invisible now! Ann, I need to know more about those, okay? Ann? Are you still here?"

  I deliberately didn't reply, since they needed to find a way to detect me. What better way than to entice him and then become invisible again?

  Moments ter I see someone approaching me with a pressure spray pump, designed for use in gardens.And sure enough, I'm completely soaked in minutes. Thankfully it's not cold here, or I would have objected to this treatment.

  Once more they use their equipment on me. "We found her! There are a few EM spikes in the ultraviolet band!" Someone shouted.

  Great....couldn't they have figured that out before spraying me with water? I use the "purification" skill to dry myself and realize that I have to wait even longer before I'll be able to talk to them again, because I used mana.

  Thompson is talking to a technician and then shouts to me. "Ann! Move a bit!"

  I waved and flew away, then nded on the same spot again."It works! We have a way to see you now!"

  And indeed I see something moving on a computer monitor, but it's nearly impossible to recognize a fairy in that mess of colors.

  "How does it work?" I replied, and of course didn't get any reply from them. "Great...now we need to work on the audio."

  "Ann! Say something. We have recalibrated our equipment to the ultra high frequency range!"

  "Hello! Can you guys hear me?"

  "Yes! We hear you Ann! It works! Well done everyone, make notes of this, we'll continue in the morning. Ann, you've earned a break!"

  I was asked to rest in one of the female officers' private rooms and almost cried when I saw the shoebox they had prepared for me. C'mon, even Rachel made a real bed in a single afternoon!

  Someone must have misunderstood and pced a few plushies nearby, probably thinking that I was a 4 year old. I guess that they don't watch much TV around here. Or.....the female officer cuddles with them? Nah.

  One of Thompson's female staff picked me up in the morning and offered me a meal, but of course she wasn't able to talk to me. When she asked if I was still in the room, I simply moved the plushie's arms and that put a smile on her face.

  Around 9 am I joined Thompson in yet another meeting room, but this time I saw lots of equipment standing on the table. A computer, monitor and lots of video cameras...all directed at a single spot on the table, marked with yellow tape to form an "X."

  I figured that's where he wanted me to stand, so I walked over there and waved at one of the cameras.But when I did that, I saw something moving on the monitor...me!

  But before I can reach the "X,"I hit my head on something. "Ouch! Who put a gss wall here???!!!!"

  Thompson closed his eyelids for a moment, trying not to ugh. "Good morning, Ann. I see you found the gss pane? Sorry about that. Fly over it and nd on the yellow 'X' please."

  I do as he asks while still rubbing my nose. I guess I now know how that pigeon felt when it flew against the window.

  The image is not clear at all, but shows a dark figure against a white background. It reminds me of an X-ray, so I quickly left the spot...afraid to die of overexposure.

  "Hey! Why did you fly away? Trust me, it's very safe. These are only night cameras which have been modified to detect ultraviolet light. Not dangerous, okay?"

  I return to the spot and wave again. "Thanks, I was worried that it was an X-ray. Can you hear me too?"

  I heard a very strange high pitched echo in the room. My voice! But I only heard the st few words. He must have activated the microphone only now.

  "Yes, we can hear you now too. Are you alright?"

  "Sure! I had a good night's sleep and I'm well fed. Coffee wasn't too bad either...no compints!"

  "Hahaha, good to hear. And this experiment is a great success too! We'll be calibrating the equipment now, so you only have to stand there for a while and also keep talking. Once we've finished this, we'll send you home early, okay?"

  "Yes, sir!"

  "As a little reward we have a new batch of crystals waiting for you. You can start absorbing them while we do the calibration tests. We're hoping to deploy a prototype of this equipment over Florida and see if we missed any bugs."

  "Sounds like progress to me!"

  "It sure is, Ann. Do you want to call your mom?"

  "No, we'll surprise her when I return home early!"

  "Hahaha, well said. And to be honest, the uniform suits you really well."

  "Thanks, but I'm not actually in the military, or am I?"

  "No, but you're part of this project, so a uniform is appropriate. Is it comfortable?"

  "Yup, no compints."

  "Very well."

  They started their calibrations and asked me all sorts of questions, but mainly to keep me talking. In the meanwhile I absorbed lots of crystals and saw a few more "level up" messages.

  "Heeey!"

  "What happened, Ann?" Thompson asked.

  "I got a weird message after absorbing the bigger stone. What monster did you sy to get that one?"

  "It's from one of the flying monsters, I believe. We call them Wyverns, as they resemble the ones from popur animation."

  "Yeah, I watched those too. Did you perchance see any dragons?"

  "Hahaha, not yet. I hope it stays that way. But what was the message you saw?"

  "Oh, right. It said an evolutionary milestone has been reached. 'Css upgraded.' But it didn't mention anything else."

  "Interesting. Maybe you've become stronger now? Can you show us your combat mode again?"

  "Alright....here we go. Combat mode!"

  Once more I feel myself changing into something more powerful. But this time I don't feel my stinger anymore....it's gone!

  "Em...Thompson?"

  "What's wrong?"

  "My stinger is gone."

  "Oh...that's not so great. Are you sure?"

  "Yeah......well...I do see it in my skill list, so maybe it's hidden?"

  "We'll clear the room, try it out, okay?"

  "Yes, sir!"

  A few minutes ter they left the room and I heard his voice on the PA system."Proceed when ready, the room is secure."

  "Copy that!"

  I focus on my stinger....and feel something....but it feels different. Suddenly I feel my tail moving forward over my left shoulder. I was afraid that it was about to fall off."Nooooo, not my fluffy tail!!!"

  "Rex, Ann, just let it happen."

  "That's easy for you to say! I love that tail!"

  "I'll buy you all the fluff you want, just make sure that you are still able to kill monsters."

  "Alriiiight."

  My tail slowly extends until I can see it in front of me. The hairs are compacted, almost retracted, to form an aerodynamic scorpion's tail. But this thing can also move in all directions. Back to the initial position, back to the front...and now it's making attacking gestures while hitting the gss panes. It looks like a snake, with a will of its own, trying to bite.

  Maybe this is some kind of automatic defense? I didn't select a target...so...what if....I want to attack the gss pane behind me? I feel a sharp object exiting the tip of my tail and my tail extends to pierce the gss, shattering it completely.

  "Wow....are you injured, Ann?"

  "Not at all...only scared that my tail will hit me next. How do I.....stop it! Stop...shoo shoo! Go back! Nice snake!"

  And sure enough my tail calms down and retracts to a normal fluffy state."Cool....my tail is in standby mode now. At least we know where the stinger went. You guys can return now, I'm calming down."

  "Understood!"

  I focused on my breath and tried to calm down. By the time Thompson had returned, I was already hugging my fluffy tail.

  "Alright, let's get you back home."

  ===========================================Name: Ann FinleyAge: 17Gender: female

  Family: nature spirits Race: fairyCss: Cn Defender (level 2)

  Mana capacity: 3000 / 3000 (current / max)Venom charge: 2320 / 3000 (current / max)

  Racial skills:-purification-outfit-transtion-concealment-fairy dust

  Css skills:-attack mode (speed/agility)-shock-stinger-burrow

  Titles/achievements:-crosser of worlds===========================================