Maggie’s Clock VIII: Time Out of Joint

by FreezAntix and Zero

Decker State College, Malibu, California

            Maggie Yen had arranged to meet her friend Kansas Wilkins a half-hour earlier, but had then found she had nothing to do since it was getting close to exam period and thus she really only had studying left to do in terms of her classes. Finding she needed to kill time, Maggie decided to take the phrase somewhat literally, thanks to her magic clock that let her freeze time. Stopping all of time itself wouldn't make Kansas arrive any quicker though, Maggie knew, so instead she'd wandered up near a faculty bathroom in Decker Hall and looked for some fun. Ruth Sterling, a blonde softball player Maggie knew through Kansas, had been walking just outside of the bathroom so Maggie briefly stopped time to collect Ruth and move her inside where, to the Chinese girl's delight, she found two female professors frozen as well. Maggie elected to freeze the trio individually, lock the door and unfreeze time.

            Ruth was a cute blue-eyed girl that currently posed standing at attention in front the door. The thin looking softball player was dressed in tight fitting jeans over black heels and a black short-sleeved top. A purple book bag on her back finished her look. One of the professors was named Jesse Crane; she was a curvy African-American professor of literature whom Maggie had attended one class with when she was a sophomore. Professor Crane was around forty with highlighted light brown hair framing an attractively round face. She was dressed in gray slacks over black heeled boots, a dress shirt covered a by a gray vest. The professor stood in front of one of the three sinks, her hands were under the facet and immersed in running water. She looked blankly into the mirror with a slight grin on her face. The next professor Maggie only knew by name, having seen her in the Raptor Weekly a few times. Her name was Terri Grant and she taught drama and theater, having directed a few Broadway shows before going into education. She was in her only forties, possessing red hair with blue eyes. Professor Grant was dressed in a black open neck dress with pink heels; she stood in mid-stride with one hand holding open the door to one of the room’s three stalls. Maggie looked at the two older women and rubbed her palms together.  

            “Oh, now this is how you study...” moaned Maggie five minutes later as she lay with Ruth on top of her, with the curvy Jesse Crane underneath them both. Ruth and Maggie were naked, sitting on Maggie in a cowgirl position; Ruth had her hands behind her head, her face neutral save for an open mouth. Underneath the college students was Jesse was lying with her arms above her head and a big smile plastered on her face. Maggie was using Jesse's large breasts as a pillow while she simulated sex with Ruth. Inside both Ruth and Maggie was a special dildo the latter had picked up a while back that worked on both ends, thus a female couple could use it to simultaneously stimulate each other as Maggie was doing now. Maggie climaxed and let out one last moan as she released Ruth to topple backwards, taking the dildo with her.

            “Oh my... I guess you live up to working at a Gold Standard bank in more than one way,” gasped Maggie as she stood up, flashing Ruth a smile before moving over to the sink. Perched on the edge of the counter, her legs hanging off the side with her hands on her knees and a sensual smile on her lips, was Terri Grant. Though Maggie found her chest department to be a bit lacking, she did still find the drama professor to be quite sexy.

            “Sorry you weren't used for a pillow, but you’d make a great gargoyle,” cooed Maggie, kissing Terri on the lips and then realizing Terri would technically be a grotesque as gargoyles needed to shoot water out of their mouths. Just as Maggie thought about making Terri a proper gargoyle somehow her phone chirped. The phone sat on the nearby counter.

            “That'll be Kansas,” sighed Maggie, realizing her fun was over. Picking up her phone, Maggie saw the text was indeed from Kansas but, to her surprise, she was unable to open the message.

            “The hell?” muttered Maggie, and then glancing at the Tempus Clock, which sat nearby as well, and noticed it was indicating time, was frozen. Maggie was certain her phone had just rang, but now, just as she'd thought about stopping time to clean up, she found time frozen.

            “Are you... psychic?” questioned Maggie, holding her clock aloft. The clock was apparently a bit more clever than what Maggie had been expecting, having started to appear whenever Maggie needed it even when she'd left it elsewhere, and now the clock had apparently realized she wanted to stop time and done it for her.

            “Nah, that's crazy,” laughed Maggie, then frowning, “Says the girl to the magic clock...” Letting the oddity go for the moment, Maggie fished around for her clothes and quickly pulled on her jeans and her Toradora T-shirt. Next, Maggie was going to start dressing the trio she'd frozen but decided she didn't want to and changed her plan. First Maggie lifted Terri off of the counter and placed her in a stall, and then next she moved Ruth to a second one, making sure to take back her dildo. After taking a quick break from moving her playmates to put her clock and dildo back into her messenger bag as well as put on her shoes, Maggie approached Jesse. Jesse wasn't that large, at least in Maggie's eyes, but she herself wasn't super strong so she did have to simply drag the professor on her back into the bathroom stall, ending up sitting in her lap when the work was done and breathing hard.

            “Thanks for being such a great pillow,” offered Maggie, gently touching behind Jesse's ears and giving her a big kiss before getting up. Leaving all three women's clothes in their bathroom stalls with them, Maggie considered her clean-up done and headed outside.

            Maggie had no trouble spotting Kansas's van when she arrived outside of Decker Hall, the windowless black vehicle sticking out like a sore thumb since, at least in Maggie's personal opinion, no one would be stupid enough to drive one around a college campus. Opening the passenger door, Maggie got inside and saw Kansas was frozen in the driver's seat. Maggie's friend was wearing an orange Gatsby hat on her head, but that was her main demonstration of school spirit that day as her short-sleeved blouse was white with red plaid, a black tank top underneath and white Capri pants. Maggie noted her friend, who sat with her left hand touching the side of her head while her elbow rested on the side door, her right hand sitting on the steering wheel, had a more purple shade of lipstick than she usually wore. Wanting a taste of Kansas's new lips, Maggie pulled her friend's right arm back and got in a quick kiss, then sat back down and unfroze time, making sure to then unfreeze the trio she'd left upstairs.

            “Nice, only took you a few seconds,” remarked Kansas as she turned to her right, now apparently used to seeing Maggie appear out of nowhere, or at least anticipating it this time. “So, do Eighth Wonder or do you want to grab some lunch first?”

            “Let’s go pay Tina a visit...” grinned Maggie, buckling up her seat-belt. “I'm looking to hire me some strippers!” As they pulled away from the curb, Maggie thought she heard some screaming coming from within the building. Not sure if she was hearing things or not she only smiled at the thought of the three suddenly naked women discovering what had happened in the blink of an eye.

Eighth Wonder, Los Angeles, California

            The strip mall was a product of Stone Enterprises and was located two blocks from Santa Monica Boulevard on the outskirts of Century City. The location was dominated by three large buildings, connected by three restaurants and three small specialty shops. The lot where the shops were was surrounded by palm trees, giving the location a typical west coast vibe. The large buildings sat at the ends and center of the strip with the small building surrounding the center building and linking the two other buildings. The first of the larger buildings was a sporting goods store, while the center building was small department store. The last of the big buildings used to be dance studio that once catered to the local community before moving downtown for more exposure. That building currently housed Eighth Wonder, a dance and stripper establishment that hired out exotic dancers to high paying clients and events. The expensive cars, belonging to its employees, parked in the front of building showed the kind of profits that the company was making.

            Kansas parked her old van between a dubbed out black Escalade and red Supra. Maggie looked down at the red Japanese sports car and smiled, “Tina’s in; great I can talk to the boss,” she said, unbuckling her seat belt. “You gonna come?” she then asked, looking over at her friend.

            Looking up at the sign that was mounted over the main tinted glass entrance of the building, featuring the company name in dark lettering and a silhouette of a exceptionally shapely woman, Kansas shook her head, “I think I’ll check out that sporting goods store at the other end.”

            “Alright; your loss,” Maggie shrugged and opened her door. Kansas exited from the driver’s side and locked the van up, opting to walk to her destination. Maggie made her way to the glass doors with her messenger bag slung over her shoulders.

            Behind the glass entrance was a polished hardwood floor and a red-walled room. The walls featured life size glamor posters of the dancers dressed in very skimpy and sexy outfits. Glass topped tables over dark marble bases and black cushioned loungers on stainless steel legs dotted the space. Suspended from the ceiling were four large flat screen TVs that were mounted back-to-back forming an open square that allowed anyone to watch them regardless of where they sat in the spacious room. The room was lit with soft lighting, turned down because it was daylight. At the back of the room was an oval glass-topped desk that was empty of everything but flat screen, keyboard, mouse and phone. The small computer was clearly seen under the desk. Behind the desk was a black leather executive chair and behind that was a black curtain that led to more of the building.

            Maggie looked around the room in awe, Cindy had told her that Tina’s company made a lot of money but she wasn’t expecting this. She looked up on the flat screen in time to catch an advertisement for Morning in Malibu, a lightweight chat show featuring dark haired Odelia Barsky and her blonde co-host Odette Glover. The show was generally a morning show that discusses current events in the relaxed environment of a real beach house. Aside from current events, the show featured slice of life stories and almost always had a cooking segment. The house and the strip of beach behind it were owned by the Global News Agency, which allowed the public to use the beach as long as they signed a waiver. Maggie watched the show from time to time, for the co-hosts mainly. Odelia Barsky was breaking into her fifties but still looked great and had been a host of the show since its inception in 2003. Her co-host, Odette Glover, was in her late thirties and had been on the show since 2005. Before joining the program, Odette had been a stage hypnotist and had her own show briefly before it was canceled due to lack of interest. Odelia would be hypnotized on camera sometimes and was frozen on a whim by Odette. The older host seemed to never believe it happened and was also clueless afterward. On one show, Odette had remained as a statue for nearly the length of the show but was kept in almost every shot. Maggie always thought the hypnosis was hot even though she wasn’t sure if it was faked or not. A thought came to her and she made a note that it was time for Morning in Malibu to become Morning in Maggie’s Palace… She played with the idea in her head before being brought into the back.

            “Welcome to Eighth Wonder, my name is Isobel, how can I help you?” a woman with long black hair with perfect bangs asked. She spoke with a slight accent that hinted at a Baltic or Eastern European heritage, but it was subtle enough to show that she was either born in the states or had been here for a while. Her shapely bust was covered and enhanced by a boned black corset while her lower half was coated in skin-tight leather pants. Knee high, high-heeled boots completed her openly slutty look.

            “Hi,” Maggie greeted bashfully and walked up to the desk that Isobel had moved to stand behind. “I’m here to see Tina.”

            “Do you have appointment?” Isobel asked sitting down in front of her computer and clicking around with her mouse.

            “I don’t…but I’m friend of Cindy’s.”

            “I don’t know who that is…but okay… have a seat; I’ll let Tina know you’re here,” Isobel suggested, gesturing to the waiting area as she picked up the phone.

            Maggie sat on a nearby lounger and bounced around a bit, testing its softness before looking back up at the TVs catching another advertisement for Morning in Malibu, the commercial featured Odelia dressed a purple business skirt suit, interviewing Kim Corrigan, who was dressed in a very tight black dress. Maggie made another note in her head… her palace did need more celebrities in it.

            It was another ten minutes before the black curtains behind Isobel’s desk parted and Tina Ly stepped out from behind them, “Mags?”

            “Here,” Maggie replied, hopping up from the lounger and making her way over the dyed-blonde haired woman. Today Tina wore purple contacts that made her look more exotic. Her hair hung loose as always and she was dressed in a tan wrap-around dress that was low cut and featured a really high hem showing plenty of her legs. It was professional-looking but at the same time sexy, fitting to what Tina was charge of. The Vietnamese businesswoman walked on strappy high-heeled sandals with chrome spiked heels.

            “What are you doing here? Is Cindy okay?” Tina asked when Maggie approached her.

            “Cindy is fine. I’m here to talk business with you.”

            “Business?”

            “Yup, I want to hire you and your dancers for an event.”

            “You know, we’re pretty expensive… and even though you’re my friend, I can’t give you that much of a discount.”

            “That’s fine, I have money,” Maggie replied, undeterred. Money isn’t an issue if one can manipulate time, she thought to herself.

            Tina sighed, “Fine, let’s go to the back and we can talk in private.” She led the way towards the curtains, which parted automatically as the two approached.

            “Ah cool! Automatic curtains!” Maggie remarked, looking at the curtains in awe. “You have an awesome place by the way.”

            “Thanks.”

            The area behind the curtains didn’t look as flashy; though the walls were still red and the flooring was still that nice polished hardwood. There were doors that lined the small hallway, three on each side that led to a pair of double elegant oak doors with brass handles. “Can I have a tour?” Maggie asked eagerly, looking at the double doors wondering what they hid.

            Tina let out another sigh, “I’m kind of busy… but okay. There really isn’t much to show. Through those doors,” she gestured at the double doors, “Is the dance studio and beyond that is a set of stairs that lead up to my apartment.”

            “You live here?”

            “Yeah, the rent is cheap and this business is my baby after all.”

            “How about the place you threw that party at that one time… the mansion?”

            “I rented that place. I wouldn’t ever throw a party at my actual place.”

            “Right…easier to hide the evidence when you drug people…”

            “What?  I don’t drug…”

            “Oh Tina, Tina, you don’t have to play dumb with me, I know your secret,” Maggie chided; looking around the hall for something she knew was there someplace. “How many times have you woken up naked with no memory of what had happened?” she then asked with smile while looking back at Tina.

            “You bitch…” Tina muttered, shaking her head but smiled nonetheless. “I knew it was you; Cindy doesn’t have the guts to do a trick like that.”

            “Oh Cindy could surprise you, but you’re right, it was my idea. It was only fair. Shall we continue the tour?”

            “My office,” Tina said thumbing the door behind her. “Accounting,” she said, pointing to the door across from her office. “Bathroom,” she then said, pointing to the door next to her office. “Closet,” pointing to the next door, “and the last two doors lead into the lounge… which is employees only.”

            “Ah; the express tour…” Maggie nodded.

            “In my office, tell me about this event,” Tina gestured, more of a demand than a request.

            Tina’s office was windowless and pink. Though there was black and white in the mix of colors for the office, pink was dominant. The large desk at the back of the room was white and behind it was a black throne-like seat with dragons carved into the armrests and frame. It was upholstered with pink velvet cushions. A white shag rug occupied the center of the room under a low glass table flanked by two pink leather sofas. The walls were covered in framed photographs, from events, her dancers, celebrities, as well as friends and family. There were a lot of photos.

            Lying straight on one sofa with her hands clasped over her stomach was Denise Ortega, who from what Cindy had told Maggie, had since left her family business and now was a full time assistant and part-time dancer for Tina. The girl was barefooted and dressed in a leather mini-skirt and leopard-skin low cut top. A tan-skinned Asian woman was on the other sofa. She sat boneless, with head sunken into her naked chest, hands resting on her bare thighs. The only item of clothing on her shapely body was a red pair of laced panties. The rest of her clothing was in a pile on the ground next to her.  Neither one acknowledged Maggie; they were out of it.

            “You were busy?” Maggie asked, gesturing at the other two women.

            Tina smiled, “I was…you know my secret Mags… don’t play dumb.”

            “Fair enough, where do I sit?”

            Tina moved over to the nearly-naked tan woman, “This is my accountant June Wing, she was a hell of stripper back in the day as well as a porn actress and was my mentor when I first started, stripping that is,” she explained and with a grunt dragged the lifeless woman to one side of the sofa. June’s body slumped heavily against the armrest and the woman let out a soft moan. “I mean look at that body; she still has it. She went to school though, so now she does my books,” Tina concluded and gestured Maggie to the now-open spot on the sofa.

            “When she’s not sleeping I guess?” Maggie said, sitting down where June once sat.

            “When she’s not my toy…” Tina cooed, sitting down next to Maggie. “You want a drink?”

            Maggie looked at the two tea cups on the glass table. “I think I’ll pass.”

            Tina simply shrugged. “Well, I tried. Before we start…I want to know something.”

            “Okay.”

            “How am I when I’m out?”

            Maggie had never talked to Tina before, at least not without Cindy around. She found the woman interesting and a little crazy but interesting mainly. Tina had an obvious control and sleep fetish. Though she enjoyed putting people to sleep, mostly women and having her way with them, she enjoyed it being done to her too. From what Maggie could tell, Tina was bi-sexual though she leaned towards women over men. She currently had a boyfriend but enjoyed sexual fun with June and flirtatious fun with Denise since the Latina didn’t swing that way, but that didn’t seem to stop Tina. Tina disclosed that she had even drugged her whole company once and declared it as one the best days in her life. Maggie, getting caught up in the sexual talk, indulged Tina in her own fun. She left out the part of freezing people though and replaced it with putting people to sleep. Maggie did put people to sleep but not like Tina did, so it was a little true. By time the conversation was done thirty minutes later Maggie and Tina had new bond to one another and felt a bit closer.

            “Okay Mags, it’s decided. I like you,” Tina declared with a smile getting up from her spot and moving over to her desk.

            “You didn’t like me before?” Maggie pouted.

            Tina looked up in thought as she stood behind the desk flipping through her appointment book. “Not really,” she said after moment. “You have a nice body, and Cindy liked you but you were a little annoying and kiddy.”

            “Oh… but I’m good now?”

            “Absolutely… so good that I may steal you from Cindy… it wouldn’t be that hard since she falls for my drinks all the time…” Tina replied, looking at Maggie if she were prey.

            Maggie sucked in air and sat back stiffly. “Yikes…”

            “I kid,” Tina replied with a chuckle. “Why steal just you when I can have you both…” she said quietly, though Maggie could still hear her determination. “Now back to business; I can give you three of my best girls for your event… which I don’t know too much about, but after talking to you I can get an idea.”

            “Only three… I wanted to hire all you ladies, including yourself.”

            Tina laughed, “All? That’s not going to happen; first off I don’t regularly dance anymore unless it’s a big ticket show and I’m short a girl. June, Denise, Isobel and another one of ladies Angelina don’t dance full time anymore either. Second, I have other clients; there is no way I can pull all my girls for one show, not very smart financially.”

            “But I have money, lots of it!” Maggie whined, standing up and clutching her bag.

            “Calm down Mags, it can’t be done. I like you and take it easy… I’m giving you three of my best and they’re gullible as hell too so you could do whatever you want to them… free of charge,” Tina said with smile.

            “That’s not good enough…” Maggie muttered quietly, reaching into her bag naturally; it was becoming a habit nowadays. However she felt the effect before touching what she sought. Time had stopped before she even touched the clock. “You must be psychic,” she chucked, pulling out the clock and kissing it before replacing it. “Note to self: I have to learn more about this clock, but for now…” she grinned, looking at the now frozen Tina Ly.

            The time-stopped business owner stood behind her desk with one hand resting on the surface while the other stuck in mid-air as it turned the page of her appointment book. Her gaze was cast downward and her lips bore a slight grin. Maggie dropped her bag on the sofa, moved behind the desk, and wrapped her arms around Tina’s waist. “The way I see things, it’s settled…” Maggie grunted as she moved Tina out from behind her desk. “I’m hiring all of you; but first let’s get you naked Ms.-I-don’t-strip-anymore,” she said, raising Tina’s arms over her head.

            As Maggie expected, it didn’t take long for her get the Vietnamese woman naked as Tina as usual lacked any sort of under garments under her dress. Per common practice in getting Tina naked, Maggie had removed the woman’s jewelry and contacts as well, leaving the former stripper looking natural as she stood stiffly naked, standing with her bare arms overhead and a nice smile molded on her face. Maggie moved June to stand next to her boss; she kept the woman’s sleepy face as she stood her upright at attention to Tina’s right. Denise followed next, being placed to Tina’s left. Maggie looked over the three frozen women, Denise and June looked outstanding with their faces ‘asleep’ next to Tina’s smiling face. Tina looked almost plain in contrast to Denise, who was the only one fully dressed of the trio. June was nearly naked and Tina was right, the woman had a stunning body despite being the oldest of three and, best of all, the accountant looked to be a natural as well. Satisfied with her first three new hires, Maggie left the office to check out the other staff.

            Eighth Wonder wasn’t a big company by any means. They made good money simply because they were small and thus the employees were each paid well. According to Cindy, Tina had ten employees. Maggie had met three already so that left eight if everyone was in the building today. Since June the accountant was inside Tina’s office, Maggie didn’t bother going into the office across the hall but made a quick check in the bathroom, which was empty but included a hot tub and sauna in it. She then moved to the lounge, which took up two doors on the right side of the hall.

            The lounge was about two times the size of Tina’s office. The walls were painted black with pink scribble. The ceiling was painted red and had lamps that were shaped like orbs hanging from thick cables to illuminate the room. The floor was covered in a collage of carpeting; ranging from shag, fuzzy, coarse to woven Berber, in an assortment of colors. A row of lockers occupied one side of the room with a long padded bench running in front of it. Another side featured a kitchen that was separated from the rest of the room by a bar counter with six stools surrounding it. Next to the kitchen was a huge wall mounted TV with an entertainment center under it that included a Blu-Ray player, game and sound system along with a generous movie collection. The final wall, where the doors were located, contained racks of clothing and foot wear in a general mess. The furnishings in the room were a red leather sofa and lounger set, a couple of low glass top coffee tables, and a massage table.

            There were five women in the lounge, of which Maggie had never met before. Luckily the lockers had photos and names on them. A woman was seated on the bench; according to her locker her name was Heidi Jenkins and her stage name was ‘Foxy’ from the text that was printed on her locker photo. Heidi was dark skinned with brown highlighted chest length hair. She was currently dressed in blue hot pants with a sparkling strapless bra. She sat on the bench, leaned back, and was in the process of pulling on a blue fur trimmed knee boot on to her right foot when time stopped. Her left foot was bare with the matching boot sitting beside it. Heidi’s eyes were closed, as if frozen in mid-blink while her lips bore a slight grin.

            At the kitchen bar counter, seated on one the stools, was a dancer by the name of Nisha Mendez who had the stage name of ‘Raven’. Nisha had dyed blond shoulder-length hair and dark eyes. She was dressed in a pink t-shirt, white sweat pants and was barefooted. Nisha was seated with her elbows on the counter and her gaze aimed at an open magazine in front of her. A bowl of noodles with the steam coming from them frozen in mid-air sat to her left. Frozen in mid-stride between the kitchen and the center of the large room was Jalisa Ambrose, who had the stage name of ‘J’. Jalisa was dressed in a purple high-hemmed tube dress with matching knee-high spiked boots, a matching gym bag hug from her right shoulder, while her left hand held a purple cowboy hat. Jalisa had blond shoulder length hair and brown eyes. She was short and muscular but sexy at the same time, reminding Maggie of a fitness model. The dancer was smiling and had her head turned back around toward the two other remaining women in the room.

            The last two women in the room were posed like a pair of mannequins next to the lone massage table that sat in the corner between the kitchen and TV. One was blonde and the other an Arabian brunette. The blonde was dressed in a pair of worn fitted jeans over a pair of pink and white cross trainers, while her top half was clad in a white tank-top thin enough so her black bra was clearly visible. Her blonde tresses had dark streaks in them. The blonde stood, holding the leg of the Arabian who was seated on the table. The Arabian was only dressed in her lacy yellow panties and bra. She was frozen with her mouth open and her hands in a gesturing motion in front of her. The blonde was intently looking down at the Arabian’s leg, which she held in both hands. The Arabian was named Layla Ziane and she had the stage name of ‘Destiny’. The sleek blonde, whose locker Maggie found next to Tina’s, was Angelina Snowe with the stage name of ‘Velvet’. Her locker was also next to Denise’s and Isobel’s, which meant that Angelina was Tina’s other part-time dancer. It was shame, Maggie thought, as Angelina was probably the best looking woman in the room, though all the women were well above average.

            Maggie double-checked the count, “Well that’s five; I need three more to I have a full house,” she said with nod before leaving the room. Her next stop was through the double doors and to her delight she found three dancers there. According to their lockers, the three women in the dance studio were Keleena Ortiz, Maci Kerns and Shawna Raye. The studio was, as expected, full of mirrored walls and handrails, as the place was former ballet studio. The room retained its wooden floor and generally still looked like a ballet studio, except for the fact that three stripper poles had also been installed. There were also four big speakers mounted one each at the corners of the room that were probably linked the stereo system that sat above a small mini-fridge in the back of the room. Also at the back of the room was a door Maggie assumed led to Tina’s upstairs apartment. However there was another door off to the side that blended in with the mirrored wall around it. The only tell-tale sign that there was a door there was the chrome handle that stood out of place.

            “A secret door? This wasn’t in my tour,” Maggie chuckled to herself, walking to the door. The door was unlocked and led to another large room that was the same size of the dance studio. Judging by some the mirrored walls, this room had actually been part of the studio until a wall was put up to divide the large workspace. The new room looked to be a well-equipped photo studio, with green screen, Victorian era furniture, and expensive camera equipment along with a high-end desktop computer for photo shopping. “Not bad…” Maggie nodded, making a note to herself before ducking out the room.

            The three final ‘hires’ had been frozen while dancing. Shawna Raye, whose stage name was ‘Amazon’, was suspended in mid-air with knees bent and arms rose above her head. Her dark curly hair was splayed out above her head as if she were being electrocuted. Shawna was dark skinned and was dressed in white tiger-striped workout outfit that consisted of skin-tight Spandex pants and a sports bra; a pair of white sneakers finished her look. Her face was frozen with a wide smile and her surprised eyes, along with the look of her hair it did seem like she was getting shocked, Maggie thought circling the woman.

            Over by one of the stripper poles, hanging upside down with her sexy legs wrapped around the pole with her hands on the ground, was Keleena, also known as ‘Orbiz’ by her fans. Keleena was dressed in black unitard, nude legging with black fuzzy leg warmers and ballet Pointe shoes. Moving closer the upside down girl, Maggie noted that her hands were not actually touching the ground but were actually only few inches from it. Keleena’s dark hair was tied back into a ponytail and her face held a smiling expression with closed eyes. There was slight blush on her face due to the blood rushing to her head and Maggie wondered how she was going to get rid of that. The name Keleena also stuck with Maggie, as she remembered knowing one once, but that Keleena had been at least forty pounds heavier than the stripper in question and had been a blonde.

            A few paces from Shawna were ‘Helga’ who’s real name was Maci Kerns. Maci was frozen a few inches from the ground with her legs wide and her arms up and bent at the elbows, her hands in fists. Her head was turned with her blonde and pink streaked hair swirled around her face. The blonde was wearing a red sports bra and white short, short; black sneakers covered her feet. Like Jalisa, Maci was a compact blonde with the sexy muscular statuesque build of a fitness model. Right away the thought of the two being naked and on display somewhere the palace crossed Maggie’s mind. The idea of hiring these girls was looking better by the minute.

            It took another fifteen minutes - Maggie’s time - before she had everything ready to go find Kansas and get the show on the road. She was back in the lobby, seated in one of the loungers, a bit winded from moving the eleven gorgeous women of Eighth Wonder who now would be working for Maggie free of charge as planned. The ‘hires’ had been moved into the main lobby and left standing in single file, ready to be moved to Kansas’ van. Isobel was first in line. Maggie had returned to the main lobby after her look around and found the dark haired secretary frozen while at her desk playing solitaire with a bored look on her face. Isobel, who Maggie figured out from her locker had a stage name of ‘Olga’ - probably best looking Olga Maggie had ever met. The Russian stripper was completed naked and stood at attention ready for transport; the woman’s trim body was fit as expected for a dancer. Maggie loved the wisp of dark hair over the woman’s snatch that contrasted well with Isobel’s hairless body.

            Maggie had removed the clothing of all the other women that were part-time or retired according to Tina. So behind Isobel stood Tina, June, Denise and Angelina, all of whom were totally naked. To Maggie’s surprise, Angelina, the blond with the dark highlights, seemed to have the best looking body over all of the five, but Maggie haven’t seen others nude yet; they were still dressed and stood patiently at attention behind the statuesque blonde like a casual arrangement of display mannequins in an adult novelty store.

            “Okay!” Maggie said, getting up and slinging her bag over her shoulder and looking down the row of time-stopped women, “That’s all I think; let’s go track down Kansas and get you girls to my place.”

* * *

Belinda Frazier's House, Century City, LA

            “This is it!” exclaimed Maggie as Kansas pulled up outside her palace. After finding her friend in the sporting goods store, she'd unfrozen her and together the pair had loaded all the strippers into the van; several were piled directly on the bed, the others were placed on the floor. Maggie had given Kansas directions on where to go. There was plenty of space out front of Maggie's palace, but she'd directed Kansas to park in the driveway in front of the garage, wanting the van closer for unloading purposes.

            “Nice, whose place is it?” questioned Kansas as she stepped out of the van, following Maggie.

            “Co-worker of my sister's; she was an incredible bitch to her, so I figured some payback was in order,” explained Maggie as she led Kansas around to the front of the house. “And when I say giant bitch, I mean basically calling Madison a whore without even the decency of doing it to her face, but behind her back while she's still standing right there.”

            “I hate it when people pull that crap,” grunted Kansas as Maggie pulled out the house keys. “This place is nice... practically a mini-mansion. What's the layout like?”

            “Two bedrooms, two bathrooms plus another half-one, but there's also a decently-sized office and a great living room,” revealed Maggie as the door clicked open. “So just a heads up... Gonna see a lot of naked women. I mean more than I think you'd have expected.”

            “It's cool, still not my thing but I'm not about to go on a prudish freak out over it,” Kansas assured Maggie. With that the front door was opened and the pair stepped inside.

            Immediately the duo were bombarded with frozen women, as Maggie had turned the house's owner, Belinda, into a charming coat/key rack. Belinda stood rigid with both arms outstretched in front of her, her fingers also extended and slightly spread while a relaxed smile was on her face. Maggie casually hung up her keys in Belinda’s hand before saying anything. “This would be the bitch that owns the place,” Maggie casually stated, then noticed Kansas was more focused on the nearby couch.

            Iris Brenden, one woman Kansas had given to Maggie after she's caught her playing pranks with the Tempus Clock at a bank, was laying on her back, her legs drooping off the side of the couch while her arms were wrapped around another. The honey blonde was smiling brightly at a black-haired girl on top of her, her knees around Iris's waist, a bright smile of her own on her face. The second girl was Kelly Creek, who'd once tried to frame Kansas for a series of crimes she herself had committed. “I see you found a use for them, too,” chuckled Kansas. “You sure this is a palace and not a house of punishment for imprisoned bitches?”

            “Hey, its a mini-paradise for me,” pointed out Maggie as she led Kansas a short distance away to the half-bathroom and opened the door. Sally Richardson, the clothing store clerk that had been very rude to Maggie, was posed sitting on the toilet, her hands cupping her breasts as she looked to be almost having an orgasm. For fun, Maggie had wrapped toilet paper around Sally, making her look like a bit like a mummy as about half of her body was covered. Standing in front of the sink, her eyes closed and a smile on her face was Connie Soyer; she was frozen while holding her hands under the tap as if to wash them.

            “So what did they do?” asked Kansas, indicating the two human statues.

            “Rudest clothing clerk ever, and Belinda's partner in the fine art of being a bitch,” indicated Maggie, first pointing at Sally and then at Connie. “Sally, the clerk there, actually had a co-worker who was also pretty bad but I felt Sally instigated the discourtesy so I figured she should pay more. Connie, that's this other lawyer, and Belinda? Both equally responsible.”

            “Reasonable; you do need to set some limits otherwise you'd just grab every cute or disrespectful girl you see,” added Kansas. Maggie then closed the bathroom and led her friend to the living room, where Kansas gasped: “Holy—”

            “Isn't it awesome?!” interrupted Maggie with a grin as the pair entered the living room that was filled with living statues. Tabitha Lemier, the waitress that had turned out to be stalking Maggie, had her back to the entering pair and was standing in mid-stride, her right hand holding up a tray covered in drink glasses, her left hand on her hip. She was barely clothed by a black wisp of a maid’s costume; a frilly lace apron actually covered her front, though it was draped low enough to expose half of her nipples and barely covered her groin. Four more women were posed around the room as if having a party, two in chairs and two standing facing one another. Two more women in French Maid uniforms with lace aprons were also present, each holding a feather duster to a human lamp, there being two of them; one posed on the outside of each of the lounge chairs that were in use.

            “Okay so I know who Frenchy is, and hey, isn't that Celeste Green?” noted Kansas, focusing on the first girl who was facing another while standing. The naked African-American statue, who was posed holding her cup in her left hand out to her side while her right hand rested on her hip, which was swayed left, was president of the Decker State College Business Club so it wasn't a shock that Kansas recognized her, since they were both in the same program and even some of the same classes. Kansas walked up close to the motionless girl, who had a bright and tooth-filled smile on her face, frowning a bit. “Why'd you take her?” questioned Kansas.

            “Well she started bitching about how, despite all her achievements, she didn't have that many work prospects so I decided to make it easy for her,” explained Maggie, gently pushing some of Celeste's hair behind her ear. “She'll probably fail a class or two now, have to re-take them, and that should give her that extra bit of college she still wants. Or, dunno, I mean if she's scared about facing the real world, I could just keep her here...”

            “Well... if that's how she feels,” mused Kansas, then looking at who Celeste was facing. “I know this one too... A Lady Raptor, right? Soccer?” The frozen Indian woman in question had her mouth open and was gesturing towards Celeste with her left hand, her right one holding her glass close to her breasts; her black hair was done up in a conservative bun.

            “Sarala Rohit,” confirmed Maggie, taking a moment to smack the soccer player's firm rear. “Ran into her yesterday and she got all high and mighty with me about being from England and blah blah blah, so...”

            “Right, bitch needs some cool down,” nodded Kansas, examining the glasses the women were holding and in particular the red liquid within. “What's in these?”

            “Colored water, real wine had too much fragrance,” revealed Maggie, as she led Kansas over to the chairs. Sitting in one with her left arm raised up and a finger extended as if to order while her right held a glass to her lips was a very attractive blonde with purple eye shadow. “Recognize this stylish lady?” asked Maggie.

            “Super-model; can't place the name, a big international star if I remember right,” recalled Kansas, snapping her fingers as she tried to place the slim beauty’s name, or at least that's what Maggie figured she was doing. “Um... I got nothing.”

            “Michelle Foster,” answered Maggie, gently stroking the woman's still face, along those famous cheekbones. “Wasn't planning on taking her, but she was a witness when I grabbed the other one so... I guess she’s kind of a bonus.”

            “Witness to wh— Oh hey, its Chrissy!” Kansas suddenly exclaimed, looking at the pretty girl in the other chair. Chrissy Pak was sitting hunched forward, both hands holding her glass to her lips as she looked down, almost in shame. Maggie had washed the girl's hair twice since collecting her so her already faded red-dyed hair was now its more natural black. “Why'd you grab her?” questioned Kansas.

            “Remember that party at Cindy's?” Maggie prompted her friend. “She started asking lots of questions about that night, and really investigated... I heard she even called people and speculated about the drinks being spiked...”

            “Too bad; she was a nice girl,” sighed Kansas, offering Chrissy’s statue a pat on the head. Maggie did feel a bit of guilt over the young Pak’s frozen fate, since she was her friend too, but she couldn't have people investigating her clock, even if they were sniffing a long way off from the truth. “So these maids are cute,” Kansas then stated, indicating the duo that were feather-dusting the human light fixtures.

            “Nice huh?” grinned Maggie, focusing on the blonde. “This is Courtney, and that one's Talieya.” Courtney Valance had her shoulder-length hair up in a high ponytail and was, like many in the collection, smiling brightly as her right hand held a feather-duster up at the top of the nearby human lamp, her frilly apron drooping enough at the front to reveal her entire chest. Talieya, meanwhile, had her hair styled in a Dutch braid, Maggie having done that earlier that day before heading to the college, and she held her feather-duster in her left hand, the tip pressed against her human lamp's breast while the maid scowled a bit.

            “Who are the beauties under the shades?” asked Kansas, prompting Maggie to lift one cover up to reveal the face underneath.  Their makeup seemed to contain some gold or bronze powder, which gave their statue-still figures a metallic gleam under the lights.

            “Meet Amanda Burns, an uptight wanna-be model,” revealed Maggie, indicating the one Courtney was dusting. Amanda had a blank look on her face but had her hands on her hips and her legs were spread. “Likewise, Chene Francois, also a wanna-be,” continued Maggie, moving to the other human lamp and lifting up its shade. Chene had both hands on her ass and was smirking seductively, her blank gaze actually on Talieya.

            “Uptight, so more bitches, right?” clarified Kansas.

            “Yeah; a lot of them in this place,” confirmed Maggie, leading Kansas into the kitchen next. Three women were in that room, all nude with their hair down. Maggie started at the island in the middle where a brunette was bending over the counter, a pitcher of colored water in her right hand while her left held an empty glass; the woman's unblinking gaze entirely on the task at hand.

            “I know her; Dana from student registry,” observed Kansas, indicating the brunette before glancing over by the fridge. A blonde with a big grin on her face stood next to the coldbox, a bowl holding wrapped candy cupped in her hands and held rigidly out as if making an offering. Maggie happily took a piece. “And that's Friday!” exclaimed Kansas, recognizing another fellow student in the business program and holder of one of the highest grade-point-averages at DSC. “Why-”

            “Dana is friends with Belinda, and Friday was too, well; you've met her, the coatrack at the door,” shrugged Maggie, eating an unwrapped piece of cherry-flavored hard candy. “That other one's Trish, another friend of Belinda's.” Trish King was placed near the kitchen sink, posed leaning over the counter and wiping it with her breasts, a cloth underneath them and the woman's face making it look like she was moaning in ecstasy as she did it.

            “I should try that at home,” chuckled Kansas, shaking her head. “Gotta say I'm a bit worried about how many fellow students I see here though, Mags...”

            “It’s okay, some of them really don't know anything so I can return them at anytime,” Maggie assured her friend; though not entirely confident herself she'd ever want to return anyone.  Each statue was lovely and precious in its own way; she put the thought of reviving them out of her mind.  But Kansas becoming uncomfortable worried Maggie, but she knew she couldn't back out of showing her friend the entire palace now. “Let’s show you the office.”

            “Lead on,” agreed Kansas after grabbing some candy from Friday's bowl before following her friend. Exiting the kitchen and living room, the duo headed deeper into the hallway, ascending the stairs up and into the back office.  More still figures awaited, posed as if in a museum diorama.

            “I call this room Vitamin C, because their names all start with C,” explained Maggie as Kansas got a look inside the office. Seated in front of the office's desk were a blonde and a redhead, the blonde sitting very rigid as if a statue or mannequin while the light-redhead had her feet up on the desk and as leaning back, a sensual look on her face with her arms resting over the sides of the chair. Across from the pair, a smiling blonde was reclined in the executive office chair, her feet propped up just under the desk, her left hand behind her head while her right held a martini glass to her lips, though it was empty.

            “I recognize her, she goes to our college,” noted Kansas, indicating the rigid blonde. “Dunno about that brunette—”

            “...redhead, though it is kind of a dark reddish-brown shade, isn't it?” interrupted Maggie.

            “Right, redhead; anyhow, that other blonde, yeah, that's Calista isn't it?” continued Kansas, indicating the woman with the empty glass.

            “Yep; figured I should punish her for firing me, even if it worked out in my favor,” confirmed Maggie, then moving to stand between the two chairs in front of the desk. “Mannequin girl here is Cassidy-”

            “-RIVERS!” shouted Kansas, suddenly remembering apparently. “Works for the Raptor Weekly, right?!”

            “Bingo,” confirmed Maggie. “The redhead—”

            “I still say brunette,” interjected Kansas.

            “...You're wrong, but whatever,” chided Maggie before continuing, “This one is Caitlin. She's British.”

            “Classy,” smiled Kansas. “Yeah Calista totally deserves being here... She ever finish paying for her family to come over from Greece?”

            “I think she's got the money, but had a fight with her folks so not exactly anyone on this side to miss her, at least until her vacation and sick days run out at work,” chuckled Maggie, then she pointed to the hallway behind Kansas. “Come on, we've still got upstairs to check out, and after that should probably start unloading... after stopping time, of course.”

            “Of—” began Kansas, but then her voice stopped and Maggie suddenly found her friend had turned rigid. Kansas stood, glancing back at Maggie, as she held the office door open with her right hand, her mouth held open and an upward curl on her lips while her left hand was in her pocket. Frowning, Maggie glanced at her magic clock that she was wearing around her neck, and saw time was already frozen.

            “Okay, if you're going to be scary psychic, at least be good at it, I didn't even want to freeze time yet,” grumbled Maggie at the clock, then elected to simply flick a bell and unfreeze Kansas.

            “—course!” continued Kansas, oblivious that Maggie had just stopped time. Deciding not to mention it, Maggie led Kansas upstairs and started by guiding her towards the smaller bedroom.

            “Nice, cozy room,” remarked Kansas as she entered the bedroom. Lying on the bed were two of Maggie's current favorites, both nude like effectively the entire palace was. A redhead was on the left side of the large bed, her hands clasped behind a pillow she was leaning back on while her knees bent up; she had a small smile on her lips. A blonde meanwhile had her back against the bed's frame and had her arms out away from her body but bent stiffly at the elbows as if she was some kind of doll. Her gaze was blank and very plastic-y thanks to her blue eyes and glossy make-up.

            “Okay, blondie's that one cheerleader, the Amazonian-Aryan Princess,” noted Kansas, snapping her fingers before placing the woman. “Zella, that's her name. Who’s the redhead and, damn, does she have some big... personalities!”

            “Saffron Westlake, yet another friend of bitchy Belinda's,” revealed Maggie, amused that her friend would comment on the redhead's nice breasts. “Love having these two... but you probably don't need the details.”

            “Yeah it’s fine, everyone has a preference,” giggled Kansas as Maggie led her out. The main bathroom was next, with Maggie showing Kansas inside.

            “A shower wide enough for four,” chuckled Maggie as she showed Kansas the contents of the bathroom. Standing posed as if cleaning under their armpits were a black-haired woman and a fresh minted brunette, the girl originally having been a redhead, but Maggie had decided some shimmering brown hair suited her better since her eyebrows were very dark. The black-haired woman looked much younger than she was and she had her left hand under her right armpit, a small smile played on her lips as she stared off into space. The brunette meanwhile had her right hand under her left armpit and had a very big smile on her cheeks, a hint of teeth showing.

            “Wait... I recognize these two,” muttered Kansas, indicating the pair. “They work for Erika Stone!”

            “Monica Stein and Mary Hamilton,” confirmed Maggie. “Doesn't Mary have-”

            “Why the hell do you have Stone Enterprises employees?!” yelled Kansas, Maggie taken aback by how angry her friend suddenly had become.

            “What's wrong?” asked Maggie, confused at the sudden change.

            “Mags, Stone Enterprises is one of the biggest companies in the world!” exclaimed Kansas, starting to shift uncomfortably. “Bad enough you nabbed super-models and some students we know, but major executives?! How is Erika Stone not freaking out right now?!”

            “Um...” was all Maggie could manage, now worried how Kansas might react when she saw who was in the master bedroom.

            “Oh you didn't...” Kansas warned her friend, shaking her head. “Please tell me you didn't...”

            “Come on,” swallowed Maggie, quickly leading Kansas out of the bathroom and into the master bedroom. Maggie had a trio of women on the bed, each leaning over the end with their chins in their hands and a big close-lipped smile on their face. The first on the left was Erika Stone, the middle one was Kayley Wu, and the one on the right was another blonde Maggie knew Kansas would surely recognize.

            “Oh holy shit Maggie!” exclaimed Kansas, suddenly starting to shake. “You kidnapped and froze Erika freaking Stone?! Do you have any idea what kind of damage this will cause?!”

            “No one has even realized I've had her for over a week!” insisted Maggie in retaliation.

            “Over a-” began Kansas, then focused on Kayley Wu. “Oh CRIPES, Mags! You told Cindy you were returning Kayley three days ago! What the hell?!”

            “I... I wanted a bit more time...” confessed Maggie, shifting uncomfortably as she didn't like to hear Kansas yell, especially at her. “She's still on that... secret vacation...”

            “Yeah, but that was supposed to eventually END!” howled Kansas, throwing her hat on the floor and then focusing on the third woman on the bed. “Mags... is that...”

            “Your love rival, Stephanie Kinloch, yes,” confirmed Maggie, now smiling proudly. Stephanie was dating Chet Powers, the captain of the DSC swimming team and Kansas's big crush. Cindy and Kansas had snagged Stephanie back when they'd also nabbed Tabitha; Maggie had then decided to drop Stephanie off at the palace rather than her apartment, finding her too hot to give up.

            “CHET IS GOING TO FREAK THE HELL OUT!” Kansas screamed at the top of her lungs, grabbing Maggie's shoulders and looking to be practically in tears. “WHY?!”

            “I... thought... I was doing you a favor...” mumbled out Maggie, now wanting to cry herself the way Kansas was acting. Maggie was really regretting showing Kansas her palace now, and was wishing she could get her friend to stop yelling.

            “A—” began Kansas, clearly about to scream possibly even louder than before, only to suddenly freeze. Kansas's grip instantly became rock-hard against Maggie's shoulders and the girl had her mouth hanging wide open, her eyes wet and her muscles tense.

            “Kansas?” asked Maggie, snapping a finger in front of her friend's face. Time was already frozen, so it seemed Maggie's clock had now managed to sense her wish to silence Kansas and frozen her specifically.

            “Ugh... I was worried you might never shut up,” breathed Maggie, carefully pulling her friend's arms off from her shoulder and dragging Kansas over to the bed. Erika, Kayley and Stephanie all had their legs bent up at their knees so their feet were pointed at the ceiling, thus there was plenty of room at the top of the bed for Maggie to lay Kansas down.

            “You really are a pessimist, you know that?” Maggie told her frozen friend, pushing Kansas down onto her back and then casually stripping herself down, after which she started on her friend's pants. “You hurt my feelings too, yelling at me like I'm some kid... Luckily, I know how you can pay me back for your bitchiness...”

            Maggie quietly stripped her friend naked and then laid down on top of her, putting her arms above her head and changing her sad and angry facial expression into a warm smile. “There we go, all better!” giggled Maggie, giving Kansas a big kiss before starting to massage her own groin. “Yeah, a little quiet time should do you some good... Now let’s try and forget all about what just happened, huh?”

***

            Cindy finished her ice coffee and looked at her watch. It was nearly two in the afternoon. “So much for our bonding without Maggie experience…” she mumbled, getting up from her seat with her clear plastic cup that was now only filled with ice. Cindy was at Bean There, a popular coffee shop that gained famed from Hollywood A-list actress Jessica Alfa, who had been a waitress in the establishment before she made it big. Taking her purse with her, Cindy made her way to the trash can, tossing her empty cup before heading towards the door.

            Outside, the weather was a nice and sunny with a cool breeze typical of a Los Angeles spring. Cindy could feel the heat of summer quickly coming. By next month it was going to be hot. She had dressed appropriately for the day in a slim fitting dark red tube dress over matching heels. She pulled her sunglasses from her purse, which matched her outfit of day, along with her cell phone. She hung the purse off the crook of her left elbow and slipped the glasses on before scrolling through her cell phone contacts. Finding Kansas Wilkins’ number, she hit the speed dial. The call rang for a while before switching to voice mail.

            “Hey Kansas, what happened to our meet at one for coffee?” Cindy chided in the message before disconnecting. She walked to the end of the block and climbed into her white Civic. She was about to start the engine when a thought came to her. It was unlikely for Kansas to ditch her… even though they usually never hung out without Maggie. The softball player wasn’t the type to break appointments. Sure she was late a lot, but she would always call or at least pick her phone up. Feeling a little uneasy, Cindy tried to call her again with the same results. Thinking for a little bit, she remembered that Maggie and Kansas were planning to hang out earlier in the day. Cindy hit the speed dial for her girlfriend; if anyone would know about Kansas it would be Maggie. She frowned after she tried Maggie’s cell phone twice with no luck and even their home phone. “Where are you guys?” Cindy said to herself before finally starting her car. A worrisome notion hit her and she pulled out of her curbside parking and headed to her next destination. 

            Thirty minutes later, thanks to typical Southern California traffic, Cindy found herself in a private high-middle-class Century City neighborhood. The streets were wide, the half-acre lawns manicured with neat flower beds, there were the same amount of trees on every property along with a six feet security fence. Although the houses were cookie cutter, they were large enough to be considered mini-mansions. It was a nice area of town and had actually been a choice for Cindy when she first moved to LA. She didn’t like that all the houses looking the same though. The Brentwood house that she and Maggie now shared had personality to it, as did the all the other homes in her neighborhood.

            After keeping the secret for who knows how long Cindy finally got Maggie to tell her about her secret place which she had dubbed her ‘Palace’. Though Cindy didn’t actually see the place in person Maggie did show it to her on Google Maps and that was how Cindy found her way to the secret location. As she pulled into the large driveway that looked deserted she hoped her girlfriend didn’t lie to her; boy would she be pissed she thought, parking the Civic. Getting out of her car, Cindy eyed the house suspiciously before heading up the brick path towards the front door. She rung the doorbell, and heard it ring inside. There was no other response. Next she knocked; still nothing that an empty house wouldn’t do. Taking a chance, she tried the doorknob and it turned out she was lucky; the door was unlocked.

            Cindy first opened the door a crack and peeked in. She saw two frozen naked women settled on a small sofa in the foyer and knew she was in the house Maggie had dubbed as her ‘Palace’. Entering the house, Cindy closed the door behind her. “Hello have you seen my girlfriend? She’s a little hot Chinese girl,” Cindy whispered to the two frozen women, getting nothing but stony looks in return. They were both blonde and on the average side of looks to in her opinion. One did look better than the other, only because the other one was older. “Maggie!” She called out; nothing. “Kansas!” she tried next, nothing. The Vietnamese girl stood for a moment listening intently. She felt a chill go up her back that made her little hairs stand on end. She was alone in the house but had a sick feeling that the house was not empty by any means.

            Opening the closest door to her, which was a coat closet, Cindy’s uneasy feeling was amplified as masses of women’s clothing stuffed in trash bags and purses toppled out of the small closet. “Oh no…” she mumbled. Moving down the short distance, she opened the bathroom door and found two more frozen women. “No…no…” she continued to gasp, leaving the door open and walking down the hallway toward the living room. “Maggie!” she screamed, her voice mixed with anger and fear as she eyed the numerous naked women that filled the room; two of them she had seen down at Models Inc on a few occasions along with Tabitha. The others she didn’t recognize and didn’t want to examine. She could see to a few more in the kitchen. “No… there’s too many… what have you done…” Cindy whispered, feeling as if she was going to throw up. She was feeling light-headed as she turned back down the hall. She wanted to leave but had to make sure Maggie was not hiding someplace within the house.

            Cindy staggered a little as she climbed the steps, feeling really faint. Maggie!” she screamed once she reached the top of the stairs. She peered into the first bedroom and spotted a busty redhead and a tall blond still as statues, but still no Maggie. Moving on, Cindy opened the door to the bathroom and spied two more women, both brunettes. She shook her head in disbelief as she stumbled backwards into the hallway wall. “Oh fuck Maggie…why did you take so many?” Cindy wailed, crawling along the wall to the next bedroom, where she leaned heavily against the doorframe of the last room when she reached it and looked in.

            There were four women in the room, all of them Cindy knew without even closely looking at them. There was a blonde; a cheerleader that she and Maggie had played with and that Maggie had promised to return. Cindy recalled her name was Stephanie. There was also Kayley Wu, who they had kept for a few weeks, who Maggie had also promised to return. Next there was Erika Stone, who Cindy just heard on the radio this morning had not been heard of in a couple of days. The media was not making a big deal of it yet, as Erika sometimes an eccentric recluse, but they would if Maggie kept her. “Kansas!” Cindy screamed out the last woman’s name and hurried to her. Erika, Stephanie and Kayley were on the bed, while Kansas - also in the buff - was seated at the foot of the bed with her muscular legs wide open, arms over her head and a warm smile on her lips. “Why?” Cindy whispered, sitting on her knees in front of Kansas.

            Maggie had an issue; it was more than a problem now, and Cindy could see it clear as day. The Clock had given her girlfriend too much power and Maggie was way too impulsive. Cindy was thinking what to do next when she remembered the place had a garage. Getting up and regaining her energy back, Cindy rushed back downstairs, hoping that she would find Maggie hanging out in the garage, probably with another frozen woman and had not heard her moaning. Moving down towards the hallway that lead to the garage, Cindy spotted an unchecked door and opened it. “Damn, damn!” she screamed upon seeing more motionless naked women. How was she going to fix this?  Finally at the end of the hallway she opened the door that led into the garage.

            The sight behind the door nearly made Cindy pass out on the spot. The garage was empty of any cars but had fourteen frozen women standing in two neat rows of seven. She knew all of the women. Twelve of them were the dancers and staff from Eighth Wonder, her friend Tina’s company. Tina herself was in the group, standing rigidly in the middle the second row. All the women were naked and standing at attention blank-faced with about two feet between them. Keleena Ortiz, who Cindy affectionately called by her stage name ‘Orbiz’, had an odd blush on her face, shoulder and breasts that made her really stand out from the group. Standing in the front row at the end next to June Wing, Tina’s accountant, and Arab-American dancer Layla Ziane were Morning in Malibu talk show hosts Odelia Barsky and Odette Glover.

            Odelia was in her fifties and was dark haired and fair skinned. She was busty woman and looked great for age, thanks to the trendy clothing she sported on her show. As she was standing in the buff now, however, Cindy could see the age in the woman, her sagging breasts, her little belly bump, and a back side that was getting a little too big for a woman her size. Her womanhood needed a lot of work as well. Her co-host Odette was nearly twenty years her junior. Cindy had always thought Odette should have been a model; the blonde and blue eyed woman had perky breasts tipped with pink nipples and nice set of slender athletic legs. Like her co-host, Odelia, Odette needed some work with a razor down south and definitely looked better with her clothes on, even though she looked better naked out of the two hosts. But the two hosts were standing in a group of truly dazzling women who were dancers and strippers… there was no real contest.

            Cindy spotted the pile of clothing nearby and rushed over to it. They were warm; at least she thought they were. Maggie had probably just left, she thought, but there was no way she could stop her out-of-control friend or even know where she was; the woman could control time. “Fuck, fuck!” Cindy screamed in frustration. She had to stop the love of her life but had no idea how. Suddenly a thought came into her head. There was one person who could help. With that idea in her mind, Cindy rushed towards the front door, leaving the many naked frozen women behind, staring emptily and patiently awaiting their fates.

* * *

Otaku LA, Los Angles, California

            Tucker Holmes was starting to regret to having agreed with Bianca and Lance back when they'd first bought the store that there would only be one office for management. Tucker hadn't had lunch yet and was hoping to settle down in the back office to finally do so, but was finding it hard to relax since Bianca was also there, though sitting at the second desk going over some paperwork with two new employees. The room had three desks in total, all of them cheap wooden pressboard ones they'd bought at a discount furniture store, and then a sagging shelf full of binders, log books and manuals. Each owner's desk had a computer with a flat-screen monitor as well as a few pieces of memorabilia, though Tucker's desk at the moment was pretty sparse aside from a Cyber Angels mug that held his writing tools and a Naruto forehead protector.

            The cute Bianca was dressed today in more formal attire, her somewhat curly hair up in a tight bun, her glasses on and her attire consisted of a salmon blouse, black vest and white dress pants. The first of the two new employees, both hired as a part of the expansion initiative, was Camilla Livingston. Camilla was half-Japanese and from Canada; Tucker overheard that her business degree had been from McGill, and she'd been recommended to them by Carol Wilford, their new investor. Carol apparently knew Camilla's family somehow and had suggested the woman as a supervisor for what was going to be their new location in Malibu, though there were still some issues with securing the location and building they wanted. Camilla was a brunette, a couple of years older than him and she had a decent body, her formal black business dress and white blouse really hugging her form. While Camilla's hair was up in a bun held with chopsticks, what Tucker couldn't help but notice was the mole on her left chin. Carol herself was supposed to show up at some point to help Camilla with orientation, but she was apparently running late.

            Ashlee Norman was the other new girl, born in the UK and a college friend of Bianca's. Unlike Camilla, whom Tucker suspected didn't seem to care much about anything the business sold, Ashlee seemed at the very least interested in some of the memorabilia they carried; so if not an anime fan, she seemed at the very least to be a fan of a few games that were made in Japan. Ashlee was a striking brunette with nice brown eyes, looking a bit tough while also delicate, the effect almost making Tucker want to refer to her as regal. Ashlee was also dressed the most casually of the three, wearing a purple T-shirt under a leather jacket with black jeans on her legs, her curly hair down but nicely framing her head.

            Tucker effectively tuned out the three as they talked and worked on a variety of things, from company policies to schedules. The original store that Tucker and the rest were at was more than likely going to have a migrating staff between it and the new location where Pacific Pearl Costumes had been last year, but Malibu was more than likely going to need more permanent staff. Tucker, however, tried to let his mind wander to things other than their business; such as the provolone and prosciutto sandwich he was currently working on as well as his can of pop. Tucker was wearing a black golf shirt and some formal tan pants and was longing to go home, pull on a more comfortable shirt and curl up with one of his girlfriends.

            “Sorry to interrupt,” came the voice of Kayla Eaton, another of Tucker's employees and fairly new herself. Kayla walked into the office, her black hair in a half up-do while wearing a long-sleeved blue shirt and black pants, an unknown second woman behind her. The other woman was of decent height and had dark brown hair as well as striking blue eyes, her appearance reminding Tucker enough of Kayla to make him realize they were probably siblings. She looked a few years older and seemed a bit nervous; she was dressed in a formal gray business dress with a black blouse underneath and her hair in a ponytail.

            “What's up?” asked Bianca for Tucker, who was still trying to swallow a large bite of sandwich.

            “I was hoping you'd be able to consider my sister Coleen for one of the new positions we have opening up,” revealed Kayla, indicating her sister. “If this is a bad time...”

            “I'm good, come and sit,” offered Tucker, waving the pair over. Bianca, seeming to sense that so many people in one room was a bad idea, quietly indicated for her group to exit and the trio did so, the blonde giving Tucker a small nod of approval as they departed.

            “Here's my resume,” offered Coleen, handing Tucker a manila envelope that he carefully opened after wiping his fingers so he wouldn't get crumbs everywhere. A quick scan of the documents provided showed Coleen had graduated with honors from Malibu State College, earning a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Japanese studies. Tucker saw that Coleen was currently working part-time with a local company that hired out translators.

            “With this depth of education you seem like you'd be a great asset to an embassy,” noted Tucker. “Mind if I ask why you're applying with us?”

            “I think my skills would be a real asset to you,” stated Coleen with a smile, before letting it waver a bit. “I won't lie though; part of the problem is there's no embassy, consulate or the like that currently wants me. Anything local has either had someone better apply or just flat out isn't hiring, and anything beyond that isn't looking to help someone move to take the job.”

            “Right, cutbacks,” nodded Tucker, feeling a bit for the older Eaton sister. “So I can see, if nothing else, your linguistic skills being an asset. How's your knowledge of our products?”

            “I took a couple of courses that exposed me to quite a bit of Japanese media, and not just anime,” revealed Coleen, smiling again with Kayla giving her sister a bit of a nudge.

            “Coleen's actually been helping me improve my own product knowledge after hours,” added Kayla.

            “Okay, so you can tell the difference between Radical Edward and Edward Elric, right?” questioned Tucker as a bit of a test.

            “Radical Edward was Cowboy Bebop, Elric is Full Metal Alchemist,” recalled Coleen, not even flinching. “Need me to explain what the series both are?”

            “No, that's fine,” nodded Tucker, thinking but not vocalizing that it was more than what some other employees knew when they were first hired, Kayla and Krystal leaping to mind. “No retail experience I see... but I see you did work as a clerk at a couple of hotels?”

            “Yes, so I am at least familiar with how to process payments,” confirmed Coleen. “Hotels tend not to use traditional cash registers though so that might be an issue...”

            “I was hoping to help pay back Coleen for her help in familiarizing me a bit with our products by really going over the register with her,” chimed in Kayla.

            “Okay, I do like what I see, but obviously I'd need to speak with the others before I can make any official decision,” declared Tucker, putting the resume down and standing. “Thank you for coming in though, Coleen; we've got an owner's meeting in a couple of days, we should nail down any hiring decisions then.”

            “Thank you so much!” exclaimed Coleen, standing as well. Tucker was planning to extend a hand but that's when the office door opened and Bianca returned, Tucker noticing someone familiar behind her.

            “Sorry to jump in but she said it was an emergency,” explained Bianca, promptly showing in a rattled-looking Cindy Vu. Tucker hadn't seen Cindy since Maggie had moved out of their old apartment but she looked good, wearing a red tube dress and heels. Bianca quietly left the office, the door closing behind her. Cindy was shaking a bit, her eyes looking a bit red as if she'd been crying.

            “What's going on?” Tucker asked flatly, Kayla and Coleen were now both glancing at Cindy.

            “I... need help with a...” began Cindy, then glancing at the two women that were strangers to her in the room. “There's a... clock problem. With Maggie.” Tucker quickly realized what Cindy's coded words meant and knew it was serious. Tucker may not have seen or talked to Maggie since January but he knew it wasn't the time to worry about that; it seemed clear his friend needed help.

            “Thanks for coming,” offered Tucker, extending his right hand to Coleen, who took it with her own while smiling. Tucker meanwhile fished out the Wand of Kronos from his pocket, being careful so Coleen wouldn't see it, Kayla was still looking at Cindy. Tapping the wand five times, time became frozen and Tucker found himself holding the hand of a woman who was suddenly much more statuesque than a few seconds ago. Coleen was leaning forward slightly with her right hand grasping Tucker's, a smile on her lips as she met his eyes. Kayla, who'd stood up, was looking over her left shoulder at Cindy, her hands together just below her waist. Cindy's left hand was on the back of her neck and her right was holding her purse to her side as well as grasping her sunglasses, a sad and worried look on the woman's face.

            “Okay, need to deal with that, but since time's frozen and I really wanted a chance to relax today, I'm taking a personal moment first,” declared Tucker to no one in particular, really wanting to voice his frustrations in spite of his audience being frozen in time. Pulling his hand free from Coleen's, Tucker moved around his desk and stood in front of Kayla. He put the wand aside on the desk, turned Kayla's head to face his, so her vacant eyes stared into his own; her lips were parted with teeth visible but no real expression.

            “You really do have pretty eyes,” complimented Tucker, pulling Kayla's lips in to connect with his own. Soon after, Tucker forced Kayla down into the chair she'd been sitting in earlier but he stayed standing, finally breaking the kiss to focus on opening his pants and exposing his member. Kayla sank down a bit lower into the chair at Tucker's maneuvering and her mouth was forced open by Tucker's eleventh finger, his hands then moving her head back and forth.

            After a couple of minutes of stimulation, Tucker decided to stop with Kayla, not wanting to go the full distance before he'd had a chance to mess with Coleen. Taking his manhood out of Kayla's mouth, Tucker moved over to Coleen and pushed her upper body forward while holding her hips steady, resulting in her head and chest being pressed against the top of his desk with her right hand still fully extended. Tucker then proceeded to hike up Coleen's skirt and pull down her panties as well as her pantyhose, getting himself in the perfect position to enter Coleen doggy-style, which he promptly did.

            After a bit more excitement, Tucker climaxed and decided to focus, zipping up his pants and standing Coleen back upright, though leaving her extended hand raised above her head rather than back in the ideal position for shaking. Tucker decided to just leave Kayla as she was and moved over to Cindy, taking his wand with him. Tucker was going to just unfreeze the model right away but, having not seen her for a while, couldn't resist stealing a quick kiss before doing so. “Okay, so Maggie's in trouble?” asked Tucker as Cindy started moving again.

            “Huh...?” gasped Cindy, looking around in confusion. “Is time... frozen?!”

            “Yeah, I figured if this was about the clock, no point in keeping my ability a secret,” shrugged Tucker, opening the door to his office and leading Cindy outside into a silent, still, world. “Come on, lead the way, we can take your car. I'll explain my own situation after you tell me what's going down with Maggie and her clock...”

* * *

            “So when I first met Maggie she had the wand with her, not her clock,” realized Cindy as she pulled her vehicle up to the so-called ‘palace’ she'd been telling Tucker about. She talked non-stop for pretty much the first half of the trip and got Tucker caught up on the situation, Maggie having gone crazy with the power of stopping time and was collecting people to keep frozen, sometimes seemingly on a whim. Tucker had always worried someone he told about the wand might go nuts like this but the last time he'd seen Maggie she wasn't abusing her clock very much and had not collected a single person permanently. The second half of the drive Tucker had briefed Cindy on the Kronos wand, including when he'd first gotten it and some of its powers; he noted she'd focused on the sleep spell in particular, as well as the fact that he'd loaned the wand to Maggie a few times.

            “Yeah, what's funny is she seemed to use it more mischievously than her clock, at least when we lived together,” recalled Tucker as Cindy parked just outside of a half-acre lot. The pair quickly exited the vehicle. “So remember, Maggie isn't immune from being frozen when I’ve stopped time, so with any luck she'll be here and we can talk to her.”

            “Right, and you're immune to being frozen yourself, right?” confirmed Cindy as she led Tucker up the driveway.

            “Yeah, as long as I have the wand, so if she tries to shut you up I've got your back,” Tucker assured Cindy, leaving out the part about where he couldn't unfreeze someone Maggie froze.

            “Hang on, that’s Kansas's van... it wasn't here earlier,” observed Cindy as they walked further up the driveway. “I think Maggie’s back... With who knows how many more statues...”

            “Well luckily not too much time has passed since she started on this collecting spree, so we should be able to return anyone she's nabbed with minimal disturbance,” shrugged Tucker as the pair headed into the garage. Twenty-three naked women, all standing at attention, greeted Tucker's eyes, causing him to quietly try and control his growing arousal since this was a very serious situation.

            “Some of them were here before, but the others were in the living room,” breathed Cindy, shaking a bit. “She must have moved them out here from inside, but why? ...Oh God Maggie, who else have you taken?!”

            “Wow,” was all Tucker could manage, seeing a few familiar faces: Odelia and Odette from Morning in Malibu, Chrissy Pak, Michelle Foster, Sarala Rohit, Celeste Green, Tabitha Lemier, Denise Ortega, plus a few others Tucker was really surprised to see. “Hey, is that girl named Keleena Ortiz?!” exclaimed Tucker as he pointed out a shorter woman in the back whose cheeks looked to be blushing.

            “Yes, she works at Eighth Wonder with my friend Tina, who is also here, turned into another of Maggie’s statues...” confirmed Cindy, her voice sounding dry.

            “Dammit... She's from San Francisco, I used to date her!” revealed Tucker, taking a moment to touch the immobilized girl's face. “My first girlfriend, actually...”

            “She's cute?” offered Cindy, clearly unsure of what to say.

            “She's lost about forty to fifty pounds since then, plus she's not dying her hair anymore,” observed Tucker, letting out a small sigh as he stepped away, only pausing to check out a woman he didn't know who looked Arabic. “After this is over, I should really look into checking out Tina's business...”

            “You get Maggie to stop this madness; I'll pay for it myself,” promised Cindy as she led Tucker deeper into the house. Emerging in the hallway, Tucker glanced over at a trio of shapely figures by the front door before Cindy quickly led him into the living room, which, it seemed, was now quite crowded.

            Tucker couldn't even begin to fathom just how many women Maggie had crammed into the living room, but he could only estimate that there were around fifty. A few familiar faces stood out here and there, as Tucker tried to let it all sink in. Standing in a triangle as if in conversation were three older women, all of whom Tucker recognized: Ingrid Stone, Merilyn Kent and Carol Wilford. Tucker knew Ingrid since he'd started following Erika Stone in the news after he'd first met her for real, so he knew what her mother looked like. Merilyn Tucker had encountered once during a visit to the Fetishist Wax Museum to meet up with Kat Vaughn and her boyfriend Chris Picket before a double date. Carol Tucker knew well as she was his new investor, and now it was clear why she hadn't shown up at Otaku LA yet. Ingrid was in a white business dress, her blouse black with white pinstripes, her hair down and a big red-lipped smile on her face as she faced the other two, her hands up and gesturing towards both. Merilyn was in all black, her hair in a low ponytail going around the left side of her neck, and she stood with her arms crossed, an interested smile on her own lips. Carol, who was in a purple dress with her hair free, was holding her right wrist up to her face, looking at the unchanging time on a leather-strap gold watch on her wrist.

            Loni Jaspers, Madison's law clerk, Tucker had met at least once, and Tiffany Cross, an attractive brunette he remembered seeing at Foster & McBride, were also amongst the frozen crowd. Loni was in jean shorts, a teal halter top and a black vest, her hair running wild and both of her hands on her breasts while she had a sleepy yet sensual look on her face. Tiffany had her right hand to her matching ear, her fingers running through her short hair, her left on her hip. Tiffany was in a pink business suit with a yellow top, which Tucker thought was an odd combination.

            Celebrity Kim Corrigan was also present, looking about as lifelike as the wax statue of her that Tucker owned. Charlene Masters, whom Tucker had heard was Maggie's new boss and hopeful to sign permanently with Models Inc, was another face Tucker saw, as well as his professor Sandra Packlin. Kim was in a strapless red dress, her legs crossed and her hands out at her sides, her face showing bewilderment, as if Maggie had somehow frozen the woman while she'd been trying to walk in a straight line. Charlene was in a black tank top and designer blue jeans, her hair in a tight bun while she held an expensive camera up to her smiling face; her figure had been placed so the camera actually pointed at Kim. Sandra was in a red business dress with a white blouse, her hair up in a sort of beehive-bun hybrid, her right hand on her hip while her left gestured with a raised index finger, her lips parted as if speaking.

            A trio of girls Tucker had seen around Decker State College stood near Sandra's part of the cluster, namely Sandy Vanholt, Michelle Gim and Pamela Flipspatrick. Sandy was in a white jogging outfit, her hair in a high ponytail while she wore a hoodie and sweat pants, a lime-green top visible underneath. Sandy was standing with a beaming smile, her right arm around Michelle Gim, whose arms were crossed and she was giving Sandy an evil look. Michelle was dressed in her DSC cheerleading uniform, as was Pamela Flipspatrick, who was next to her. Pam had her arms crossed as well and was facing Sandra, her right arm forward with her top two fingers extended, her eyes in a half-blink and her lips parted as if trying to argue with Sandra.

            Gloria Wong, Tucker and Maggie's old boss at Persephone's Books, was also included in the gathering, a fact that really bugged Tucker since he knew she had two little boys. Gloria was in a formal black business dress, her hair up in an equally-formal bun with her hands clapped together in front of her while leaning forward, her mouth was wide open and her eyes closed. Next to Gloria were two women wearing nametags, which made life easier because Tucker did not recognize them. One woman looked to be a nurse, or possibly a doctor, and was clothed in loose purple scrubs, a stethoscope held in her right hand, pressed against the empty air in front of her. The black-haired woman was named Joanna, according to her badge; she had a blank look on her face. The second badged woman was in a black waitress uniform with her hair up and was standing frozen in mid-step with an invisible tray balanced on her right hand, a big smile on her caramel-toned face. Tucker saw the waitress's name was Nadine, thanks to her nametag.

            Cindy was gravitating towards two brunettes on the right side of the room near the familiar face of Lisa Collins. “Martha, Penny!” exclaimed Cindy. “She's... she's freezing all my friends...” The one Cindy had called Martha was in a blue business dress, which oddly enough included fishnets stockings rather than pantyhose; her frosted dark hair was in a half up-do and a big smile was held on her lips, while her hands were behind her back. The other brunette, Penny, was oddly enough dressed as Wonder Woman, had been posed looking down in front of her with her arms wide and mouth open as if questioning some invisible person why she was even in the costume. Lisa Collins was wrapped in a blue towel, her damp hair hanging down around her and her arms wrapped around something invisible, her eyes closed and her lips puckered, making it clear she'd been kissing someone when she was taken.

            “Don't worry, we'll put them all back,” Tucker promised, putting a hand on Cindy's shoulder and pulling her away. “I'm thinking we should check the master bedroom?”

            “Yeah, she's got... some favorites there,” nodded Cindy, leading Tucker out of the living room. The duo quickly headed up the stairs and Cindy showed Tucker into the master bedroom, which as Tucker suspected, was where they found their missing kidnapper. Erika Stone, Kayley Wu, and a cheerleader Tucker recognized as being Stephanie Kinloch, were all at the foot of the bed with their chins resting on their elbow-propped hands, their legs bent up at the knees. Standing to the right of the bed with her hands on his hips and happy smile on her lips was Kansas, her right hip twisted slightly forward. Standing near the head of the bed was Maggie, as frozen as the others, completely naked, next to a familiar girl who was also mostly naked, namely Susie Kim. Alarm bells went off in Tucker's head when he saw Susie, standing stiffly at attention in the buff, and upon moving closer Tucker saw that while Susie's clothes were in a heap on the floor her necklace was still around her neck, though Maggie was currently standing with an ear to ear grin and both of her hands on the Royal Momju Necklace, clearly about to take it off.

            “That was cutting it close,” breathed Tucker, carefully removing Maggie's stiffened fingers from the necklace and letting Cindy drag her girlfriend away.

            “Why's that?” asked Cindy, not familiar with Susie or her magical secret.

            “Long story, let’s focus on Mags,” insisted Tucker, pointing at Maggie while pushing Susie down onto the bed, where she lay staring at the ceiling. “I’m going to unfreeze her; are you ready?”

            “Yeah,” Cindy said with nod as she adjusted her girlfriend’s body to stand straight and then moved in front of her. Working his wand, Tucker unfroze his friend.

            Maggie jumped back at the shock of seeing Cindy appear right in front of her, “What the hell!” she screamed, “How did…” she began asking, then sensing another moving presence in the room she turned around, “Tucker!”

            “Christ Maggie, what the hell were you thinking? Why’d you freeze everyone; can you imagine the trouble we will be in; we can’t—” Cindy blurted out before she was abruptly cut off and frozen. The Vietnamese girl stood with her hands up in a gesturing motion and eyes shut being caught in mid-blink while her lips contorted from being suspended in mid-sentence.

            Tucker, whose attention had been on Maggie, since his friend was only looking at him with daggers and was not paying attention to her girlfriend. Turning his focus to Cindy who was behind his friend as soon as she went silent, he saw Cindy had become a statue as well. “Shit…” he muttered.

            “Pretty cool, huh?” Maggie asked with an evil smirk before narrowing her eyes, “What are you doing here?”

            Looking around, Tucker could not see the clock anywhere, “How’d you do that, Mags?”

            “Why are you here? You’re ruining everything!” yelled Maggie, anger rising in her tone.

            “Mags, you’ve kidnapped almost everyone we know, that’s why I’m here!” Tucker shot back. “Now you’re freezing people WITHOUT the clock Mags. Think about that? How are you freezing people without the clock?”

            Maggie was taken aback by Tucker’s outburst and was silent for moment. “I don’t know, but I can… it just started happening… just like the clock began appearing when I left it someplace else… it just happens, like the clock reads my mind or wishes. I didn’t kidnap everyone…”

            “You’re pretty close to doing it Mags; look around you for a moment, then down in the living room, and then the garage… this is really bad. I know you hate me right now, but Mags you gotta see that this,” Tucker gestured around at the nearby statues and the sweep of his arm took in the ones they could not see, “Is REALLY bad. You've got well-known people frozen and collected here, as well as good people who don't deserve this kind of fate and will also be missed. You're just begging to be found out!”

            “Anyone who tries to stop me, I can just freeze them too,” shrugged Maggie, grinning. “You've seen what I can do! I don't even need the clock anymore!”

            “Mags... listen to yourself!” Tucker shot. “You’re not doing this just with your clock… You never had the ability to stop time on your own, but now you can? Do you know where these new powers stop? What if the next time you freeze someone you can't undo it? What if you can't unfreeze Cindy right now?”

            Maggie shut her eyes and turned away, “I can unfreeze her… but she’s going to be mad at me… everyone is mad at me; it’s better this way. They're not being mean and I can have fun.”

            “It is not better this way Maggie,” Tucker said softly, stepping up to his friend. “You have to stop this. You don’t want to end up alone, with Cindy and everyone else who cares about you frozen forever.”

            Turing around, Maggie looked at Tucker, frowning and shaking. “They'll be...”

            “It's okay, I've got your back,” insisted Tucker.

            “Tuck... I'm sorry.”

            “For what?”

            “For getting mad at you and acting crazy?”  She blushed, her eyes cast downward.

            “You had every right to be mad at me; I did some thoughtless things too… I’m just glad you’re talking to me again,” Tucker said, giving Maggie a hug. Being away from Maggie for so long and then suddenly hugging her in the buff made his member stir a bit, but he was able to turn his hip to not kill the moment. Moving ended up being wise as the two even shared a quick, friendly kiss; Tucker having missed those since they were something unique the friends shared. “Don’t worry about sounding crazy, you can stop time… that is crazy.”

            “About that,” Maggie said separating from Tucker, “You think you could help me figure this out?”  She glanced quickly around the room before lingering on Cindy, frozen nearby.

            “Yeah, of course, that’s why I’m here,” Tucker replied, spreading his arms wide as if presenting himself. “Though if I had to guess what’s going on, I’d say it’s still your clock and you’re not really stopping time. We don’t know much of anything about that clock; it may have some side effects from using it or something.”

            “Crap, Tuck; I used it... A LOT… Oh, crap, this is BAD!” Maggie exclaimed, realizing that was what her friend had been trying to tell her from the beginning. “It makes sense though... Someone can't just wake up one day and be able to do what I can do, can you?”

            “Hey Mags, get a grip; we’re good, we’ll figure it out,” Tucker assured, but he was a bit worried. If Maggie could now stop time on her own, it scared him to think what other gifts or curses that the little magical device might also have passed on to his friend. “We have to focus on this first,” he then said, gesturing at the living statues around them, “and then we’ll figure out how to deal with your clock.”

            Maggie looked around and bit her lower lip, “Yeah… think I kinda over-did it…”

            “You think?”

            “Well, Kansas got mad at me and then I felt bad; then she froze all on her own. So I went out and grabbed some comfort food…”

            “Why did Kansas get mad?” Tucker asked, moving towards the frozen softball player. He never paid much attention to her before but now upon seeing her naked, he was aroused to say the least.

            “For my collecting too many people… Especially the kind that would be missed...”

            “I see… and why did Cindy get mad at you just now?” Tucker then asked, moving next the frozen Vietnamese girl, who was the only clothed girl in the room.

            “Okay, okay… I get the point. Too many people; you don’t have to drill it in to me. I see your point, Tuck,” Maggie said putting her hands on her hips.

            “Just making sure you’re not crazy anymore,” Tucker simply replied. “Now, I know you Mags; this got really bad, but I’m sure it started out mostly okay. There are some frozen people here that belong here…”

            “They all belong here!”

            Tucker raised an eyebrow, “Maggie...”

            “Fine, fine; I don’t know. I like all of them, most are nicer as statues than in person…”

            Tucker sighed, “Okay, you need to give me tour of this museum of yours and tell me why each one is here and where you got them from.”

            Maggie groaned, “But Tuck there are so many…”

            “Hey, whose fault is that?”

            “Fine,” Maggie agreed, “Let me get dressed, I don’t want you getting any funny feelings about me. I felt junior a little when we hugged.” Tucker only looked at Maggie, shocked that she knew but he was happy that he had gotten his buddy back. Instead of dressing in her own clothes, which were in a jumbled pile next to the bed, she instead stripped Cindy’s dress off her, along with the black thong she had on underneath. Cindy was left standing naked with her hands raised above her head, next to Kansas.

            “You could have dressed in your own clothing,” Tucker said gesturing at the heap of garments.

            “Yeah, I could have, but if Cindy is going to hang out in here during the tour she should fit in with the dress code, such as it is,” Maggie explained as she adjusted her girlfriend’s dress; it was a little big, since Cindy had a bigger bust.

            “Fair enough; you’re not going to see if you can unfreeze her?”

            “I’m sure I can, but I haven’t seen you in while… feel like some Tucker and Maggie time is needed.”

            Tucker smiled, “Fine by me, shall we?”

            “We shall.”

            As expected the tour took a long time, at least two hours their time. Also as expected, they mutually agreed nearly all the women had to be unfrozen and go back to their normal lives as soon as possible. Maggie made some objections, but Tucker was able to convince her not to be evil. There were a total of ten women, though, that were going to have to stay; most were to keep Maggie’s secret safe while the others had been taken for good reason, at least somewhat good reasons. They had come back into the bedroom to unfreeze Cindy, since they were going to need more help and Cindy was really the only one who could help, since she knew their secrets. Tucker thought about unfreezing Susie too, since she was sort of in the loop but in the end decided against it. Susie was usually cool, but waking up naked after being kidnapped would piss anyone off and the girl was powerful. The last thing Tucker wanted was an army of sorority girls chasing him, so he figured he could probably introduce Maggie and Susie properly on another day.

            “I’m gonna change into my clothes, Cindy won’t be happy to be naked in front of you,” Maggie said as she stripped off the dress and tossed it aside.

            Tucker shrugged, “I’ve seen her naked before, she would have to realize that knowing everything about my wand now.”

            “She’s gonna be ticked off anyway when I unfreeze her; it’s better this way,” Maggie assured Tucker as she dug through her clothing. “Hey; the clock!” Maggie exclaimed, lifting the magical item from under her clothing.

            “I thought you said you left it in the van?” Tucker asked.

            “I did; it does this though,” Maggie explained, putting it aside as she dressed in her undergarments, then her outer clothing. “It comes to me when I need it; weird, huh? Just started to do that one day.”

            “That’s odd… I wish the wand would do that,” Tucker said, looking at the clock in awe. “Aside from bending time, it doesn't seem to get any more magical than that.”

            “Yep,” Maggie agreed picking up the clock. “But it has caused me a load of grief…” she said looking at the clock in her hands. “You know, everyone is mad at me because of it!” she then said, lifting the clock over her head.

            “Mags what are you doing?”

            “I don’t need it anymore Tuck; it will give me nothing but trouble if I keep it. I’m gonna get upset again and afraid this’ll start all over! I’m through with it!”

            “No Mags, don’t!” Tucker shouted but it was too late. Maggie had chucked her precious clock against the far wall, hard. The drywall cracked as the clock disintegrated into hundreds of pieces, looking like a brass-and-glass firework display. Oddly enough, Maggie was frozen in her throwing pose with a smile on her lips. Tucker looked at his suddenly motionless friend; “Crap…” he muttered. He worked his wand using the ‘restart individual’ spell and nothing happened. “Shit!” he screamed, waving his hands in front of Maggie’s blank eyes. He looked at the wand warily, muttering, “Maybe it’s you,” to the wooden stick as he worked the same spell over Cindy.

            “—hide all these people!” Cindy shouted but then stopped in surprise, realizing she had moved and was abruptly naked. She screamed and covered herself, first with her hands, then by pulling the mannequin-stiff figure of Kansas in front her. “What the fuck are you doing!” she almost cried out; Tucker quickly waved his wand at the same time, freezing the hysterical model in place, her eyes closed and her mouth open, her knees bent as she huddled behind Kansas with her hands on the woman's shoulders.

            “Whoops; well, at least I know it works,” muttered Tucker, grabbing Cindy's dress. Tucker's concern for Maggie was a moral reminder that he still had a lot to do kept him from really enjoying himself as he put the cast-off lingerie and tube dress back on Cindy’s gorgeous body, the closest he got to any pleasure being when he groped the model while pulling up the stretchy front of the dress to fit over her chest correctly. With Cindy fully clothed once more, Tucker unfroze her.

            “Why am....?  What the hell just happened?!” exclaimed Cindy after realizing she was clothed again and then glanced at Maggie standing statue-still nearby. “What's going on, Tucker?”

            “Basically, Maggie came to her senses, agreed to clean up her misadventure, greatly reduce this place's population, and then impulsively elected to smash the clock,” revealed Tucker, sighing a bit as he looked at his frozen friend. “She froze as soon as it shattered.”

            “The clock did seem to start to develop a mind of its own,” noted Cindy, Tucker figuring she was referring to the clock's apparent psychic connection to Maggie. “Oh God, did destroying it freeze her... FOREVER?!”

            “I hate to say it, but I don't know yet,” confessed Tucker, holding up a hand though as Cindy seemed ready to sob. “I do, however know where to look...”

            “What do you mean?” questioned Cindy, confused.

            “Maggie created the clock by using the Book of Tempus,” stated Tucker. “I've still got it. Back at my place.  That may hold the key to unfreezing her.”

            “Let’s go get it!” exclaimed Cindy, grabbing Tucker for a quick hug before looking very determined.

            “Hang on, I hate to say it, but given time's still frozen, it might be a good idea to see if we can clean this place up first,” insisted Tucker, raising his wand and pointing it at Kansas. “Anyway, we could probably use some help moving everyone and why not the owner of the van we're gonna use?” Tucker tapped the wand against Kansas twice but, surprisingly, nothing happened.

            “Isn't she supposed to unfreeze?” asked Cindy, looking confused.

            “Yeah... huh...” muttered Tucker, “That’s strange...” he wondered, shaking his head after trying the unfreeze spell again.  Moving to focus on the bed, after deciding to pick Erika Stone as his next guinea pig. Tucker didn't think having Erika know just who'd snagged her for the past... however long it had been... would be a good idea, even if she was familiar to a degree with him and Maggie, so he chose to cast a sleep spell on Erika before trying to unfreeze her. As the wand tapped Erika, she promptly slumped over, fast asleep and very much unfrozen.

            “So Kansas isn't unfreezing, but Erika is...” noted Cindy, Tucker nodding as both tried to figure out what was going on. “Kansas knew about the clock longer than I did, and used it more. You don't think...”

            “I do,” swallowed Tucker, his mouth dry at the thought. “Kansas must have somehow gotten bonded with the clock too.”

            “I guess I lucked out,” breathed Cindy, then poking the sleeping Erika Stone as Tucker froze the blonde. “So you can put people to sleep... What's the plan then? Return everyone put them to sleep? Hope they'll think they just got really drunk or something?  There’s a lot of that going around...”

            “Yeah; something like that,” confirmed Tucker with a nod. “Okay, so we need to find the keys to the van, get everyone who is naked clothed, find their addresses and drop them off... Well, nearly everyone...”

            “Nearly?” repeated Cindy, which led Tucker into explaining the talk he'd had with Maggie about who should stay.

* * *

Tucker's House, Culver City, Los Angeles

            Tucker wasn't sure how long it had been, but thankfully they were on the last group of collected people, and they were the women from Eighth Wonder. Cindy had told Tucker where the place was and, deciding they could just drop the women off on their way back to the palace to pick up Maggie, Kansas and the women that wouldn't be returned, they'd headed for the strip mall. As Tucker and Cindy climbed out of the car, the former noticed the latter was looking particularly tired. By Tucker's best estimate he'd been awake for over a day in his timeline, with Cindy probably just under one. With the final count for women from Maggie's palace at seventy-three, it had taken quite a while to clothe all the naked ones, find everyone's information and return them around town. Maggie's little guided tour Cindy had received had helped, but it had still been a daunting process.

            “Please tell the book is someplace easy to access,” mumbled Cindy wearily as Tucker reached the front door of his place, opening it for her.

            “Oh yeah, it won't be hard to find,” Tucker assured the woman. Walking into the living room, Tucker saw his girlfriend and roommate Haley Leone was standing in front of the TV, her hands on either side as she looked at the black screen intently, her lips slightly clenched. The blonde super-model was wearing a black sarong with yellow suns on it, an unusual look for her, along with a white tank top with a logo Tucker didn't recognize on it, her hair in twin ponytails.

            “Right, I forgot you were nailing a Models Inc girl,” giggled Cindy, almost as if drunk. “You know they wanna sign me? They're signing Maggie's boss too, we're all gonna be working together soon...” Tucker guided Cindy down to sit on the couch, where she looked at him in confusion.

            “What's the idea?” sputtered Cindy, looking tense. “We need the book! We gotta get back and...” Tucker quickly circled and waved the wand, the motion making Cindy's urge to sleep too overpowering to resist. The Asian model slumped backwards, her mouth open as she passed out; Tucker carefully guided her feet up and onto the couch, despite Cindy being virtually impossible to wake in her current state. Moving down by her head, Tucker placed a couch pillow behind it and closed her mouth, giving her a soft kiss as he did.

            “Don't worry, the rest of time's still frozen, no rush,” Tucker assured the sleeping beauty before glancing at the second couch. Tucker needed his sleep too, but he had the urge to cuddle as he did, and while he loved Haley, there was an opportunity he didn't want to pass up.

            Hurrying back outside, Tucker opened the back of the van and pulled out Keleena, who was clothed back in her black unitard, though they'd been unable to determine which shoes were hers. Keleena was still red in the face and had a cute smile molded on her lips, her hands behind her head and her hips swayed to the right. Tucker easily lifted the small woman up onto his right shoulder, her weight apparently now only around a hundred pounds by Tucker's estimate. Carrying his old girlfriend inside the house, Tucker laid down on the empty couch in the living room, which did give him a view of Haley's shapely rear end. Tucker posed Keleena on top of him, not wanting to unfreeze her as while he had cast a sleep spell on her, he was worried she might wake up before he did if he did that, so instead he just placed her sitting on his body with her hands moved to be on top of his chest. Yawning loudly, Tucker closed his eyes, his worries about Maggie not preventing him from quickly drifting off to sleep.

* * *

            “You jackass!” were the words Tucker awoke to, his eyes opening to reveal that, just past Keleena's smiling face, Cindy was standing over him with a pillow in her hands.

            “Look, time's frozen, and we both needed a rest,” pointed out Tucker, getting a pillow to his face for his trouble.

            “Just get the book...” fumed Cindy, pulling aside the pillow as well as Keleena, the frozen stripper clattering onto the floor.

            “Fine... but I want to stop for a bite on our way to Eighth Wonder,” insisted Tucker as he got up, scratching the back of his neck as he did.

            “Deal,” nodded Cindy, working to stand up Keleena for him as he headed down the hallway. Entering the basement, Tucker quickly headed into one corner and moved aside the wine rack to reveal his old safe from the apartment he'd had with Maggie. The safe contained some of Tucker's most precious possessions, and a major one was the Book of Tempus, given that it had allowed Maggie to create her clock in the first place and could potentially produce even more magical items. While Tucker didn't have an issue with the people he knew who had these items, he didn't want to imagine what could happen if the wrong person made one.

            The ancient tome in his hands after entering a quick combination, Tucker headed back upstairs to find Cindy was now inspecting Haley. Keleena stood over by the door and was posed at attention, though her blushing face was still smiling. “She really is something, I bet she'd look sexy even with more curves,” commented Cindy as Tucker just grinned, plopping the heavy, leather-bound, book down on the coffee table with a thump. “Holy hell, how old is that thing?” Tucker sat down cross-legged in front of the table, with Cindy kneeling down to his right.

            “No idea, but it is in insanely good condition,” shrugged Tucker, opening the book and flipping through. Images of an hourglass, a necklace and a ring were just a few images Tucker saw as he searched for the strange sundial that Maggie had based the clock on. Eventually Tucker found it, and while his Latin was a bit rusty, thanks to studying it back in first year, he quickly got the gist of the ancient language that was written there.

            “You can read this?” whistled Cindy as Tucker started muttering to himself, finding it helped with the translation.

            “Mostly... Mags and I both took some Latin courses,” confirmed Tucker. “I wanted it to help me with the whole history thing. She just wanted us to share more classes that year.”

            “So you are good for something,” teased Cindy, giving Tucker a small nudge as he just grinned and continued to read. Very soon a clear picture was formed, Tucker realizing just what Maggie had done.

            “There's two different enchantments here,” revealed Tucker, leaning back, wanting to face-palm as he started to comprehend just what was going on. “Okay, I've got some very good news... I'm certain I can fix this.”

            “Really?!” exclaimed Cindy, putting her arms around Tucker and squeezing him from the side. “That's awesome! What do you need to do?!”

            “That's the bad news,” confessed Tucker. Cindy now let go, sitting back. “Okay, to clarify, Maggie cast both enchantments, which had the upside of making the clock as powerful as it is, including the psychic link and such, but the problem is it became tied to her own... worldline? I'm going to with 'time' since its tempus something written here. With the clock destroyed, that timeline doesn't exist for Maggie anymore. Or Kansas, since this enchantment lets the clock bond with anyone who uses it over time.”

            “Right, but you said bad news about what you need to do,” noted Cindy, trying to get Tucker back on track.

            “That's just it, I'll need to do both enchantments on a new clock, using at least one piece of the old one,” explained Tucker. “Good news is I've salvaged a few pieces from the destroyed clock... but it took Maggie like a month to make hers.”

            “A month?!” gasped Cindy, Tucker seeing her eyes start to well up a bit. “I mean... Can't you just stop time and work on it then?”

            “It needs to synchronize with time's natural flow, otherwise it won't work,” Tucker informed his companion with a heavy sigh. “I mean, I can probably read this faster and can still use my wand to cut my commute time way down, but it is still an incredibly complex enchantment... Even if I had all the free time I needed, it would easily take me several days.”

            “Dammit...” sniffed Cindy, it being Tucker's turn to offer a hug, this one of comfort as Cindy let a few tears flow, though she didn't sob. “Okay, it’s not that long...”

            “My girlfriend was frozen for about the same length of time, so I can sympathize,” offered Tucker, deciding not to clarify that he meant Julie, not Haley, but he didn't think Cindy wanted his life story at that moment. “Still, after we've dropped off the last of the girls we can put Maggie and Kansas somewhere safe, I'll personally freeze the left-overs; I can also pick up a new clock to get started with today.”

            “Okay... I'll watch over Maggie and the rest until you're done,” decided Cindy, breaking off the long embrace she'd had with Tucker, smiling a bit. “The carriage house has the space... It might be fun to put a little museum in there...”

            “Right, we've got a plan then,” nodded Tucker, giving Cindy a quick pat on the shoulder. “Oh hey, before we go... You know how I said the clock was forming these psychic links?”

            “Yeah, you make it sound like somehow creating memories in the brain,” confirmed Cindy, looking puzzled. “What's up?”

            “If a person freezes another one using the item enough times, they can effectively gain the power to freeze that person at will,” announced Tucker, tapping a few Latin words in the book. “Now it can't be used against the original person who bonded with the clock, in this case Maggie... But how often have you frozen Kansas, would you say?”

            “A lot,” realized Cindy, then smiling a bit when she realized what Tucker was suggesting. “So I might be able to freeze Kansas at will after she wakes up from Maggie’s freeze?!”

            “Quite possibly, though Maggie might be able to do the same to you,” warned Tucker.

            “I guarantee it,” nodded Cindy, smiling in bemused acceptance. “Kansas too... Madison probably. Tina... Denise... Martha... Alana?”

            “Well that should perk her right up when we can finally talk to her again,” chuckled Tucker slightly as he stood up, deciding to leave the book out since he'd need it later. “Okay, shall we go get a bite?”

            “How do you feel about subs?” asked Cindy as the pair began to exit the house, two people who'd never really been friends starting to bond now in the face of tragedy.

* * *

Stone Enterprises Corporate Headquarters, Los Angeles

            Erika Stone awoke with a start, feeling disoriented and confused. Erika's neck hurt and as she glanced down she realized she'd fallen asleep in her office chair, reclined while looking out at her view of Echo Lake. The blonde noted she was looking a bit casual to be at the office, even for her, sporting a hot pink tube top and white hot pants, her hair down and wearing the gold-highlight sneakers she'd had custom-made. Glancing at her clock, Erika saw it was nearly six in the evening, but what was more startling was looking at the calendar and realizing that she couldn't remember the last several days.

            “Miss Stone?” came a voice, shaking Erika from her thoughts as she glanced around her office, noting that the fine desk and many wall decorations that celebrated the company and the past CEOs were all in place. Just to get a sense of control Erika started clicking her Newton's Cradle before focusing on the person speaking, who was leaning in through her office door.

            “Adora, come in,” nodded Erika, waving in her personal assistant. Back when she'd first taken over the company Erika had made Monica her personal assistant and travel agent, as well as giving her a major position with Stone Travel, but since late in 2008 Erika had found Monica's time more needed elsewhere and decided to actually give some real duties to the secretary she'd had since becoming CEO. Adora Morales, a woman only a year older than Erika and a Mexican immigrant, came walking into the room, reminding Erika why she was happy to have her. Adora was gorgeous, possessing curly brown hair that went to the center of her back, stunning green eyes masked by a pair of black-rimmed glasses and had a very toned body, Erika only having an inch or two on her in terms of height. Adora's hair was hanging loose and she was in a sleeveless white blouse with a yellow pencil skirt, her lips a powerful red and her black heels clicking in a hushed tone as the woman approached the desk.

            “How was your vacation?” asked Adora, placing a few documents on the desk. “I must admit I'm a bit surprised you came in today, not often you come in late if you're coming in at all.”

            “Vacation?” questioned Erika, unable to remember what Adora was referring to. Erika remembered playing around with a new neighbor and the woman who handled her building's real estate, but after that there was nothing. Erika wasn't wearing the same clothes she'd been in that she remembered, but it seemed like quite a bit of time was missing.

            “London, I think it was?” emphasized Adora, frowning a bit before smiling knowingly. “Ah... you took a personal week, didn't you?”

            “Something like that,” shrugged Erika. A personal week was Erika's own code for just taking time off to fool around with Mary, Monica and Caitlin, either at home or on a short vacation, and usually they froze each other a lot. Erika now wondered if the alcohol and Type-7 that were no doubt involved in her lost time were somehow responsible for the gap in her memory.

            “Hey, you're the boss, and the company's doing fine, so all's well!” offered Adora, grinning a bit and Erika smiling back. Adora wasn't into women, Erika had been sad to find out, but since starting to use her more as a proper assistant instead of just a secretary Erika had none the less gotten very fond of her.

            “Doesn't look like much paperwork has piled up,” noted Erika, quickly pulling out her special pen, which she'd had hand-carved out of Acacia Koa wood from Hawaii, and signing the documents Adora had placed on her desk. “Big plans tonight?”

            “My sister called yesterday to tell me she's got another news story coming up, but wouldn't say when, so I think I'll just watch some GNA when I get home, do some yoga,” confessed Adora with a shrug. Adora was offering a wry smile as she stood with her left hand on her hip, her right at her side holding a blue folder. Erika didn't hesitate to freeze that image in her mind, time slowing to a halt as she did.

            “Well that still works,” chuckled Erika as she saw that her Newton's Cradle was also frozen, one ball poised to nearly strike another. The documents on the desk signed, Erika got up and walked over to Adora, removing the folder from her hand. The glasses were next to be pulled away, Erika plopping them and the folder on a chair in front of her desk, promptly getting to work feeling off her secretary's clothes. The blouse and skirt revealed indigo underwear, both covering a decent amount but with a touch of see-through material, thus while a bit traditional there was still a sort of kinky aspect to it. Once Adora was down to her underwear and shoes Erika lifted her up out of the latter and put her down flat on her desk, then climbed nipples were a nice brown against her naturally-tan breasts. Erika's hands went south and discovered Adora did believe in going Brazilian.

            “Oh we are going to have fun,” cooed Erika, grinning as she started kissing between Adora's breasts, then realizing she should probably slip the woman some Type-7 in case she lost focus and unfroze time. Getting off of her desk, Erika circled around and pulled a water bottle full of Type-7 from a desk drawer, promptly pouring some into Adora's mouth after parting her lips. Erika then realized she should probably at least check and see if Mary was around before going too far with Adora, her girlfriend quite possibly being up for a threesome since she usually was.

            Mary had an office adjoining to Erika's, though traditionally it had belonged to other executives Erika had manipulated the system a bit so that would be where she was. Mary did also spent a lot of time at Stone Drug Labs in Malibu but Erika figured if she was at the officer so would her girlfriend, thus she opened the connecting door and peeked inside. Sure enough someone was slumped in Mary's chair facing the window, so Erika moved in, smiling and guessing that like herself Mary had zonked out. A surprise, however, greeted Erika when she spun the chair around.

            “The hell?!” exclaimed Erika, discovering that Mary's dark-red hair was now a shimmering brown, it having apparently been dyed. Mary was clearly asleep, her head slightly forward and her mouth hanging open, her hair hanging over her face. Erika's girlfriend was clad in a black long-sleeved blouse with matching pants, her feet bare but a pair of black heels not two feet away from the chair.

            “Huh...” muttered Erika, moving Mary's hair up and getting a good look at it. “You know what, this suits you...”

* * *

Tucker's House

            Tucker was once again tired, and it was understandable why. After returning the strippers to the studio, he'd helped Cindy move Maggie and her remaining collection to her place and even synched her back up with time. Tucker had then just decided to steal a cheap clock that matched Maggie's model from a nearby Super Senter before turning to work and finally unfreezing time. Carol had naturally finally shown up since Tucker had liberated her from Maggie's collection and it was effectively decided they would hire Coleen, most likely grooming her for a supervisor position at the original location while Krystal would handle the old Pacific Pearl Costumes one and Camilla would get the new one in Malibu, whenever they finalized a property. Tucker, Bianca and James would rotate between each of them and Carol would remain an investor, though her input would still add weight to anything the store did. Tucker had essentially cruised through the rest of his workday, just wanting to get home and get started on the clock.

            “Hey!” called Haley as Tucker entered the house. Kicking off his shoes Tucker glanced inside the living room and saw Haley sitting on one of the couches, still dressed as she'd been earlier, and she wasn't alone. On the couch with Haley was her friend Ginger Cladwell, and on the other one by herself was Chi Ross. Ginger was in a dark green dress that reached her knees and was snug but still covered plenty, her hair loose and given a bit of curl. Chi was in what looked like a white tube top with a single lasagna-sized strap on the right side, what looked like a winter camouflage spandex pair of pants on her legs and a long black-beaded necklace around her neck, pink retro tennis shoes on her feet. Chi's hair was currently in a coiled ponytail on top of her head, and Tucker wondered if the attire was the influence of her hipster husband. All three women were drinking white wine.

            “What's up?” offered Tucker, his eyes a bit blurry since the light change from outside to inside was taking a moment.

            “Remember how I said I was working on getting a dance school?” mentioned Ginger. Tucker paused, then remembering that Haley had mentioned it a couple of times, but he himself wasn't really close to Ginger so he wasn't sure if she'd ever told him directly.

            “You get it?” asked Tucker, offering a smile.

            “Big time!” exclaimed Ginger, all three women letting out a cheer. “Ginger's School of Dance! Got a nice place not far from Century City!”

            “Congrats!” offered Tucker moving to sit in between Ginger and Haley, giving his girlfriend a quick hug and kiss.

            “Kayla's busy with some acting job otherwise she'd be here too,” mused Haley, grabbing a fourth glass. “Drink?”

            “Sure, been a long one,” nodded Tucker, not actually wanting to stay long but suddenly had the sinking feeling the women would be sucking him in.

            “Haley was saying you're expanding, that sounds awesome!” chimed in Chi. “Oh, everyone's doing so well...”

            “You know what this wine needs?” asked Ginger, grinning. “A good vampire movie!” Tucker heard those words and knew he was going to be in trouble, since the last time Ginger had said them she'd stayed overnight, watching romantic vampire films with Haley the entire time and not let Tucker go upstairs until after two in the morning.

            “Sounds great,” lied Tucker, quickly reaching into the shopping bag he'd carried in with him, which contained the clock he'd stolen, and finding his wand. Without hesitation Tucker stopped time, freezing the moment. Haley was looking at Tucker with a face that showed she was holding in a laugh a wine glass in her right hand while her left was simply raised as if to start a gesture but not getting anywhere. Ginger was leaning forward and looking at the others with a big grin on her face, her green eyes sparkling while her hands were clapped together. Chi had her left arm on the armrest while her right held a glass to her lips, one eyebrow raised and her legs crossed on the couch.

            “Ugh... Sorry about this,” offered Tucker, getting up and collecting the wine glasses, putting them on the end table between Chi and Haley. Tucker then circled and waved his wand three times, casting a sleep spell on each woman. Placing himself in front of Ginger, Tucker unfroze time. Chi slumped back against the couch, Haley fell sideways to end up in the middle and Ginger rolled right on top of Tucker.

            “We can blame the wine,” suggested Tucker, fixing Ginger so she was leaning against the bottom of the couch, deciding to let her mouth hang open as the possibility of drool would make her more likely to believe she passed out. Haley and Chi seemed fine for the moment, so Tucker grabbed his bag and pulled out the new clock and the old pieces he'd salvaged from the broken one.

            “Okay, time to get to work... Better grab the book,” declared Tucker, also making a note to leave a movie in the DVD player later that would help sell his cover story, as well as flushing the last of the wine.

***

            It had been a few days since Maggie was frozen more or less permanently by destroying her beloved clock that had magically linked itself to her time-line. This was due to an overlooked creation flaw committed by Maggie herself when she enchanted the clock. At first Cindy had been very depressed over the matter, even though Tucker had explained and assured that he would fix the problem. Cindy found herself reminding herself that Maggie’s best friend could surely do it, but there were always a doubt. She spent her first day without Maggie, sulking and worrying about the love of her life never coming back. She had a lot of trouble sleeping that night, with a frozen Maggie next to her and realized that she could not live her life in this funk and having doubt, little as it might be, bothered her. She awoke the next afternoon determine to get back to a somewhat normal life. Tucker was going to fix everything; she just had to be patient. To get her mind off of the big picture, Cindy started to tend to the frozen people who now surrounded her, and surprisingly she found the job was a great stress reliever.

            She had woken up extra early that morning, her sleep schedule finally improving as the time-stop lag faded from her system. Cindy was currently upstairs in her carriage house, which she now dubbed as ‘The Palace’ to continue her girlfriend’s dream. The women that they had decided to keep frozen had been stored in the main room of the house at first; having some time now Cindy decided to arrange them a bit, changing their poses and clothing, making them feel more at home, not that any of them would ever be able to notice. She wanted something appealing ready for Maggie when she returned. Everything that was Maggie’s was now moved into the main house, which left the carriage house in the ownership of its eternally frozen residents. There were ten women that were remaining from the original horde that Maggie had collected. Tucker had explained the reasoning for each one staying, and although Cindy did feel wrong about a few of them, she agreed for the most part.  She found it also helped if she kept up a conversation with the frozen person while she worked on them. “You have great hair and an awesome body…I wonder what you were before this…” Cindy said as she brushed Emma Vargas’ lush, long, dark, wavy hair. The latina woman had a fair complexion despite being from Texas and possessed bluish gray eyes. She had been a gift from an ex-lover of Maggie’s, so from the start Cindy knew Emma Vargas wasn’t going anywhere.

            The Texan was dressed in a transparent sky blue teddy that only lightly screened her naked body underneath. She was posed leaning her back against the headboard of the queen-sized bed, with her left hand reaching back and clutching the edge of the headboard. Her head was slightly thrown back and look of ecstasy was plastered on her face. That look had taken Cindy nearly an hour to mold. Emma’s right hand held up the hem of her teddy, exposing the dark curly mass that covered her sex. Her legs were parted wide and bent at the knees with her bare feet flat on the mattress.

            Sitting on her knees between Emma’s spread legs was former Models Inc model Amanda Burns. Amanda was one of the few women that Cindy felt kind of bad for keeping as she had met and talked with the girl a few times before things went downhill. She was generally cute, with a round face, blonde hair and blue eyes. From what Tucker had told Cindy after hearing things from his girlfriend Haley, Amanda was a failing model on the verge of being fired. Apparently the girl had trouble getting to work on time and seemed to party way too much, giving the agency a bad image. She had been warned about her actions and the consequences but seemed to not care. When she didn’t show up for two booked shoots and an event thanks to her being kidnapped and frozen by Maggie, the firm fired her. At first she and Tucker had tried to return Amanda to her apartment, only to find that she had been evicted and her possessions sat outside the unit. Thus she ended up a statuesque permanent resident of the new palace. Amanda was dressed in nothing but a black thong, recovered from her discarded things. She bore a smile and wink on face. Her left hand rested on Emma’s right knee while her right hand had two outstretched fingers inserted into the Latina’s sex.

            Cindy finished brushing Emma’s hair and moved over to brush Amanda’s, eying the girl’s brown nipple-tipped breasts as she did so. “I think you two would have made great lovers…” Cindy started say but then chuckled and declared, “You two are lovers!” Finishing with the brush, she gave a peck on the cheek of both unmoving women and replaced the brush on the nightstand before leaving the room.

            Halfway up the stairs that connected the upstairs with the main level stood Kelly Creek. She was a former cell phone store employee that, according to Tucker, was a con-woman of sorts and had the bad luck of conning Kansas when she was in possession of the clock and ended up a statue. Like Emma, she was an easy choice of whether go back or not. Kelly had dark hair and bright blue eyes. She was currently posed in mid-step; with one foot each occupying a step. She was facing in an up-wards direction, looking towards the second floor with one hand on the handrail and the other holding a large purple dildo. The former cell phone store clerk bore a smiling face with her blank blue eyes staring up toward the top step. She was dressed in a sheer pink teddy; much like Emma’s blue one, but Kelly had a lacy pair of white panties covering her sex. Her dark hair was pulled up in a loose bun and held in place by two chopsticks.

            “You better hurry you’re missing the party!” Cindy urged the stiff and silent girl, patting her on the shoulder. Kelly only wobbled slightly in response as Cindy continued down the steps.

            The bulk of the retained collection was posed in the living room, since most the women kept the same clothes that were wearing when they were captured. Cindy figured she’d leave them this way for now until she got another idea what to do. The four women that were on display in the living room had all been taken by Maggie when she took over Belinda’s house that she used for her first palace. There were actually five women in the group before, but Tucker said only one of them had to go back since she was a big shot at Stone Enterprises. The others couldn’t go back in order to avoid bringing up any suspicions about what had happened. Cindy was a little confused on this and generally felt bad for the group at first until Tucker explained it. It was simple: with only one person freed from the group, it would be harder for her to believe that something fishy had happened, but if they were all free, they could collaborate, compare experiences and maybe figure out the mystery of their missing time. Cindy doubted that glib explanation, but it made sense and she didn’t want anything coming back to Maggie. The group of four women to Cindy also served as reminder that Maggie had messed up.

            The living room was furnished with a small sofa that could fit three people, as well as two matching loungers that surrounded a coffee table. Cindy felt under-dressed as she looked at the posh group, as she was only clothed in a pair of pink booty shorts and a white tank top over her pink flip-flops. The closest lounger to where she stood was occupied by Trish King, a former aspiring actress and now a non-aspiring mannequin. The woman had shoulder-length brown hair and matching eyes. She had a rather pale complexion and was dressed in sleeveless sky blue blouse tucked into a simple knee-length black skirt over slate-hued pantyhose and matching black heels. She was posed sitting with her legs crossed at the knees, slightly leaning forward. One hand rested on her knee while the other was held up, with index finger extended as if to make a point. Her gaze was fixed on the couple that was seated on the sofa, while her expression bore an open-lipped grin.

            On the sofa were two former lawyers; though Cindy did feel bad in general for the frozen group of four, the two lawyers she didn’t feel that bad for just on general principles. According to Tucker, who got the information from Maggie, Connie Soyer and Belinda Frazier had been particularly nasty to Madison. So in one sense their being part of the collection was slightly deserving. Closest to Trish was Belinda, who was blonde and blue eyed; she was in her late thirties and for the most part was decently attractive. Though it had been her house that Maggie used for the palace and Tucker and Cindy had access to her complete wardrobe, the couple decided to just keep her wearing what she was wearing when Maggie invaded her place. After dressing so many women up, they didn’t feel liking looking for an additional outfit. Thus Belinda was clad in a burgundy v-neck, jeans and pair of black flats they had found in her bedroom. She sat leaned back and turned towards Trish, with her mouth agape as if she were saying something.

            Connie Soyer, a brown-haired, brown eyed woman that was a few years junior to Belinda, was posed lying down, her body running the length of the sofa, with her feet propped up on Belinda’s lap. The blonde’s hands were wrapped around Connie’s pantyhose-clad feet. She was dressed in a black short-sleeved dress, over tanned pantyhose. Her black heels were on the floor next to the sofa, while her purple business coat that went along with her look was draped over the top of the sofa. One hand was folded under her head while the other one was draped over her torso. Cindy had given Connie a sleepy expression on her face though her lips bore a drunken close-lipped smile, which made the woman look like she was faking.

            Finally, on the last lounger was Dana Callahan, a cute brunette with blue eyes. She had been an administrator at Maggie’s school who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, having come to Belinda’s house after Maggie took it over. Dana looked innocent enough, but Tucker had told Cindy that the woman was in trouble with the law for selling student information to third parties. At the time of her abduction she was on the verge of being fired and possibly arrested. In the end she might have been in the right place at the right time.

            Dana was dressed in blue jacket over a green t-shirt, jeans and black-heeled ankle boots. Cindy had her sitting with both her legs crossed at the ankles, propped on the coffee table. She held an empty beer can inches from her smiling lips as her eyes were looked on Belinda. Cindy moved around the living room, making small adjustments, straightening out Connie’s dress, fixing Belinda’s hair, tilting Trish’s head a little more and then moving Dana’s free hand so that she was pointing at Trish. “Looking good, ladies,” she breathed, checking out the stationary scene once more before heading into the kitchen for her last stop.

            The kitchen of the carriage house was small and was generally only for eating in since it had a small table that sat two mounted on a wall opposite to the stove, sink and fridge. “Working hard or hardly working?” Cindy asked, laughing as she entered the small space that was the kitchen. Standing between the table and the stove was Tabitha; the former French waitress was in the same boat as Emma. She couldn’t go back because she had seen too much; only in her case Cindy didn’t want her to go back. Maggie had told Tucker that Tabitha had been gift from Cindy since she was preparing to leave the country. The reason was that the lady was an obsessive stalker that her eyes locked on Maggie. Cindy had no intentions in ever letting Tabitha unfreeze again.

            The former waitress was posed in mid-step as she held a tray carrying a bottle of wine and two empty glasses in her hands. Her brown hair was tied into pigtails and her face bore a big toothy smile that Cindy had seen the waitress sport in life to garner a nice tip from her customers. Cindy couldn’t resist the urge; Tabitha was a real French woman, after all. She had found a skimpy French maid’s outfit in Maggie’s things and decided to dress her French doll up in it. The dress was tight and black with white trimming. The hem was extremely short, exposing Tabitha’s womanhood and the bottom of her butt cheeks under it. The top of the dress was mainly supported by Tabitha’s shoulders via the puffy, short, sleeves. Her breasts were barely covered while her bellybutton and most of her midriff was exposed as well as most her back. Cindy never had seen a French maid costume like it before, as this one was a little too revealing to say the least. The outfit was finished off with a pair of white lace gloves and a matching white lace ruffle cap. Tabitha stood in white thigh-high stockings and black spiked heels that were a bit small for her, but from her smiling face she didn’t mind.

            Sitting at the small table was Sally Richardson, who had been kept in the collection for being rude to Maggie; luckily she was planning to go on vacation before her abduction. Tucker just thought it was easier if they didn’t return her, as people weren’t really looking for her. Across from Sally posed Iris Brendon, the oldest women in the collection at thirty-eight years old. She was also the most average looking woman as well, though she possessed nearly platinum blond hair and pure blue eyes. Iris was a bank manager who, thanks to Kansas’ reckless use of the clock, had observed the young woman freezing someone else. For that obvious reason, she had to stay. She sat with her legs crossed and elbows resting on the tables; her chin rested in her hands while her head was slightly tilted to left. A wide smile that looked unnatural was molded on her face. Sally had one hand in her lush blonde hair while the other hand had its index finger touching her chin, a thoughtful look was on her face as her empty eyes gazed unblinkingly at Iris.

            Funnily enough, Sally’s clothing could not be found anywhere at Belinda’s so she was delivered to the new palace and posed in the buff. Thanks to the sexy outfit for Tabitha, the former waitress’ old uniform was available. Sally was the exact same height was the French woman so the purple blouse, black mid-thigh-high skirt and pantyhose fit for the most part. Sally was however a little bigger; Tabitha’s heels had trouble fitting and her blouse could be not buttoned all the way; the skirt could not be completely zipped up as will. Since Tabitha had no undergarments the Sally had none either, her nipples were clearly visible through the blouse as well as a lot of mounded cleavage. Iris had been dressed in a grey skirt suit, pink blouse, nude pantyhose and simple black heels; the clothing that she was frozen in was sans the name badge, which had been lost.

            “Well this is an odd looking first date…” Cindy said looking at both women. “I ran out of poses but…I think you two will be good. My second pair of lovers for sure!” she remarked and then got an idea for a new pose. She first unbuttoned a few top buttons on Iris’ blouse and then ducked under the table to plop a heel off, then she extended Iris’ leg across so that it was between Sally’s knees. Moving over to Sally, she opened the former saleswoman’s blouse all the way to reveal her naked breasts and then cupped the older woman’s hands around them. She then molded the younger blonde’s face to have a surprised look with eyes wide and mouth agape. “That should do it; next time I come back, you two will be naked and on the table,” she said, patting both non-moving women on the shoulders, knowing the only way they could ever budge from their sensuous pose is if she moved them. Looking back at Tabitha she giggled, “Now don’t you join them, they’re a couple!” Cindy warned the silent frozen waitress before heading back to the kitchen.

            After making sure the carriage house was locked up, Cindy crossed her back yard and entered the main house. Looking at the clock, she realized that she had nearly spent two hours in the new palace moving the mannequin-like women about and posing them. Time had flown by quickly she thought as she padded into her living room. Playing with frozen people was defiantly getting to be lots more fun. “Hello ladies I’m back!” she greeted. Sitting on Cindy’s couch in front of the large TV were Kansas and Maggie. Kansas, sitting on the far left cushion, was completely naked save for an orange headband holding back her newly dyed blonde hair. Cindy had given the softball player a full make-over the day before, waxing her sex, doing her nails and dying her hair, which she also straightened too. The dark skinned girl sat with both naked feet propped up on the coffee table with legs spread wide. Both hands were behind her head as her body was leaned back against the sofa. A lazy smile was on her lips while her glassy eyes looked blankly ahead at the TV. Maggie, on the right side of the sofa was dressed in a blue baby-t with a matching pair of panties. Her hair was tied up in a loose bun and she had her thick-framed fashion glasses over her eyes. She sat cross-legged with one hand under her chin while the other held a remote aimed that TV.

            Cindy plopped between the two frozen women, who wobbled for a moment but otherwise did not move. Nestling closer to Maggie, she looked over at Kansas and smiled. “You’re all hot and stuff…we gotta get you some new clothes now…”  Looking back at Maggie, her smile faded as she sighed. “Don’t worry Mags we’ll get you back,” she assured, caressing one side of Maggie’s face with the back of her hand. “I told you family that you left to find yourself, needed some ‘quiet time’ heh; not sure if they believe me or not but it’s the only thing I could come up with. Apparently Kansas has gone with you too, but I don’t know where to hide her van…” Cindy explained to her silent girlfriend with another sigh. “I have to go to work soon, but we can watch some TV,” she said as she looked back at Kansas and added, “All of us.” She then reached over and hit the power button on the remote in Maggie’s hand before sitting back. “Hey look, it’s Morning in Malibu Mags…”

***

            The sound stage was not really sound stage, it was half of a living room decorated with wicker furnishings placed in front of a large glass window looking out onto the beach. Beach patrons moved about in the background, some jogging or beachcombing, with a few looking into the live filming of GNA’s Morning in Malibu. Currently the two hosts, Odelia Barsky and Odette Glover, were seated around a wicker coffee table along with their guest, Kim Corrigan. Odette sat in one of the two loungers while Odelia and Kim was on the small sofa. All three women sat with their legs crossed as they faced one another. Kim was dressed in a blue form-fitting dress that was low cut with a high hem to show off her legs; matching heeled sandals completed her look. Her lush dark hair hung loose past her shoulders. Odelia was clad in a tailor-fitted white skirt suit with pink heels; her dark hair had been left loose as well. Odette was dressed in short-sleeved dark blouse tucked into her grey pencil skirt, her legs were sheathed in dark hosiery and knee-high heeled boots finished her outfit. The only blonde in the group wore her hair in a ponytail.

            “So yeah… I had the weirdest day a few days ago. The last thing I remember was talking on my phone at work and then I was in bed and a day had passed! I mean what the hell, right?” Kim asked after answering a question from Odelia.

            “Oh my goodness! You know me and Odette had a similar thing happen to us too!” Odelia exclaimed, gesturing to herself and her co-host.

            “No, no, Delia; no one wants to hear about that…” Odette remarked reaching over to stop her co-host. Changing the subject, she turned to their guest, asking “Kim, what do you hear about Erika Stone? Reports are coming back that she vanished for a few days.”

            “Well Erika…” Kim started to reply before being stopped by Odelia.

            “Odette and I woke up together in my dressing room with no memory of what happened either! I mean we were both doing other things earlier and the weird thing is…”

            “Delia: time-out!” Odette shouted. Odelia abruptly stopped, her body going rigid and unmoving. The dark haired host sat still as a statue with her hands frozen in a gesturing motion, her smiling mouth wide open, while her eyes were closed into slits.

            “Right when it was getting good too…” Kim chuckled waving her hand in front of Odelia’s motionless face. She then looked at the camera, “For you folks who think this kind of hypnotic trigger is faked, I can tell you it’s real. Delia is stiff as a mannequin,” she said poking, the non-moving co-host in the cheek. “Is she still a skeptic?” Kim asked as she grabbed one of Odelia’s hands and raised it over the frozen woman’s head, where it stayed stiffly posed once she let go.

            Odette chuckled and replied, “After all these years and even watching the playback, she’s still not convinced.”

            Kim shook her head with a laugh, “Could you do this to anyone?” Kim asked as she played with Odelia’s mouth, opening and closing it.

            “No, I can’t. You have to be willing and have an open mind. If you’re not…well I’d be out of luck. Good thing Delia is both,” Odette replied, reaching over and opening one of her co-host’s eyes wide. “Now let’s get to Erika…”

            “Actually I want to hear why you were in Odelia’s dressing room… my audience at P! News would love to know that juicy morsel for tonight.”

            Odette beamed a friendly smile at the camera before turning her attention back to Kim. “You remember that before I came here I had that cable show where I basically hypnotized people?”

            Kim was focused on playing with Odelia like the unmoving co-host was a life-sized doll; she had moved the woman’s hands so they were both on top of her head and was now giving the older woman a smile and a wink, “I do… I think I was guest there too once…” she said before her eyes went wide in comprehension, “Odette no!”

            Odette simply snapped her fingers in Kim’s face and she went limp, slumping forward over her knees with her arms as loose as wet noodles. The microphone that was attached to the top of her dress picked up a light snoring coming from the instantly dozing TV personality. Odette looked back at the camera but the camera was framing a wide shot of the frozen host and now sleepy guest. “The audience should know that I induced Kim a while back but have never given her the complete freeze command… until today.  Let’s go to commercial and when we come back, we can talk about Erika Stone with two lovely living mannequins in the background.” With that picture faded.

The End?

            CAST

Maggie Yen – Yin Chang

Ruth Sterling – Jessy Schram

Jesse Crane – Queen Latifah

Terri Grant – Deborah Messing

Kansas Wilkins – Ciara Harris

Tina Ly – Kim Loan

June Wing – Nicole Oring

Isobel Kozlov - Zivile Raudoniene

Denise Ortega – Alexa Vega

Angelina Snowe – Jamie Szantyr

Keleena Ortiz – April Mendez

Heidi Jenkins – Victoria Crawford

Jalisa Ambrose – Celeste Bonin

Maci Kerns – Natalie Neidhart

Nisha Mendez – Milena Roucka

Shawna Raye – Sarona Reiher

Layla Ziane – Layla El

Odelia Barsky – Fran Drescher

Odette Glover – Heather Graham

Belinda Frazier – Kristen Wiig

Iris Brenden – Amy Phoeler

Kelly Creek – Katy Perry

Sally Richardson – Leah Renee Cudmore

Connie Soyer – Amber Tamblyn

Tabitha Lemier – Lauren Mayhew

Celeste Green – Amerie Rogers

Sarala Rohit – Karthika Nair

Michelle Foster – Holly Valance

Chrissy Pak – Jenna Ushkowitz

Courtney Valance – Emily Rose

Talieya Antzas – Evelina Papantoniou

Amanda Burns – Amanda Bynes

Chene Francois – Kate Ryan

Trish King – Ellie Kemper

Friday – Amanda Seyfried

Dana Callahan – Michelle Moynahan

Cassidy Rivers – Jennifer Lawrence

Caitlin Trafford – Jewel Staite

Calista Suvari – Brooklyn Decker

Saffron Westlake – Christina Hendricks

Zella Krueger – Taylor Swift

Mary Hamilton – Sarah Lancaster

Monica Stein – Shiri Appleby

Erika Stone – Blake Lively

Kayley Wu – Kelly Hu

Stephanie Kinloch – Cassie Scerbo

Cindy Vu – Jenny Chu

Tucker Holmes – Drake Bell

Bianca Whitman – Brittney Irvin

Camilla Livingston – Jeannane Goossen

Ashlee Norman – Camille Luddington

Kayla Eaton – Anna Kendrick

Coleen Eaton – Cobie Smulders

Ingrid Stone – Kim Cattrall

Merilyn Kent – Julianne Moore

Carol Wilford – Melinda Clarke

Loni Jaspers – Madison Welch

Tiffany Cross – Cassidy Freeman

Kim Corrigan – Kim Kardashian

Charlene Masters – Marion Cotillard

Sandra Packlin – Sarah Palin

Sandy Vanholt – Jessica Simpson

Michelle Gim – Park Gyuri

Pamela Flipspatrick – Rachel Hurd-Wood

Gloria Wong – Ming Na

Joanna Hathaway – Julianna Margulies

Nadine Sims – Hannah Simone

Martha Cassidy – Pippa Middleton

Penny Gingrich – Erica Durance

Lisa Collins – Katie Cassidy

Susie Kim – Hyuna Kim

Haley Leone – Kayley Cuoco

Adora Morales – Eve Torres

Ginger Cladwell – Anna Trebunskaya

Chi Ross – Lynhthy Nguyen