James had no choice but to listen to Paul, especially now that Vanessa was refusing to do everything that he wrote for her. The men were picketing outside his fence, sending him emails, some of them with very frightening personal information and pictures that he certainly had not consented to be taken.

The one company, one who produced razor blades for men to use to shave their beards had already withdrawn its sponsorship because they said that the type of person who now watched Terror of Zilby was unlikely to be the type of person who shaved every day.

He had no other choice but to rewrite the script. Annabelle would need to be disposed of, possibly killed. On the other hand, killing was so final. There had been times that he wished that he could bring back the Lesser Lord George. But he was not about to turn this show into a ghost story or worst, some sort of memory palace.

Who would replace her? There was Ferne'. Paul was very keen to have more scenes, he always hung around the studio and wanted to stay around late so that he could shot more. That made him an obvious choice. From the very beginning, Ferne' was meant to be a more intellectual version of Phoenix. James connected with the character of Ferne' on a spiritual level in a way that he did not connect with any of the other characters. He was told that everybody loved the chemistry that was developing between him and the character of Veronique. He was sure that was needed to keep the teenage girls interested.

He felt bullied to be sure, but what had to be done, had to be done.

He started writing, first he betrayed Annabelle in every way possible. She did not seem cool calm and collected. He stole her strength and took away her trust. He then started plotting out a whole bunch of things that Ferne' could do instead. He had learnt from his past mistakes; he couldn't simply put Ferne in all the scenes that Annabelle had been in previously. He couldn't just give Annabelle's lines to him. He had to think about who Ferne' is and make sure that he always acted in line with the character he had given him. He wrote Ferne lines that included a lot of quotes, both literature in his own world and literature in our world. He needed the audience to be on Ferne's side.

The streets were quiet because it was after curfew. It was the night of Annabelle's birthday and Madame Green had invited her over to celebrate.

"Ferne' has come to visit me too." Said Madame Green in welcome after Annabelle had opened the front door "But I see that you have not been sleeping enough. Rest is important especially if we are to co-ordinate an attack."

"There is important work to do", said Annabelle." We will have time later to catch up, for now, we should focus and work"

"You see Annabelle your great weakness is that you do not read enough studies explaining the world around you." Said Madame Green "Hundreds of accidents happen every year because machine operators and other people have not gotten enough sleep. The entire island's future depends on this plan going smoothly. Do not fool yourself in thinking that an extra hour of work will make a big difference. It is better that, the hours of work that you do put in are meaningful than to have many hours. It's your birthday and instead of celebrating and having a good time, you work!"

"I slept all afternoon, so you don't need to worry about me," said Annabelle.

"No that is bad too," said Madame Green. "Because you need to get sleep at the right time, otherwise your rhythms will go completely out of wack and you will be unable to sleep at the right time. You are supposed to be asleep at night and awake during the day. The body needs sunlight"

"But Zilby is constantly covered in smog so there is seldom any sunlight" countered Annabelle.

"All the more important to be up when you might encounter sunlight then," said Madame Green. "You can't take any risks and miss it"

"Why are you telling me this" asked Annabelle suspiciously.

"I am just concerned about your wellbeing Annabelle" soothed Madame Green. "Here drink this, it will calm you, at least let us plan together when you are calm even if you are unwilling to plan when you are awake"

The drink did calm Annabelle, it calmed her a lot, she had never felt so peaceful, she didn't want to fight or cause trouble – life was great.

There was a knock on her door. Madame Green went to go to it.

"Annabelle, it is the personal convoy of the Lesser Lady. She asked if you would be willing to go and speak to the Lesser Lady" said Madame Green.

"No, I would rather not" answered Annabelle calmly. "The Lesser Lady never listens to what I have to say"

"That's because you are always threatening violence against her." Explained Madame Green "Annabelle you don't actually use that many words when you are with the Mamlish"

"I have never thought about it that way," said Annabelle with a giggle "I guess a little chat with no harm threatened wouldn't hurt. Send the Lesser Lady in"

'The Lesser Lady doesn't come to this part of town Annabelle. Too many people hate her here and would attack her. She asks that you go to her compound and speak to her there."

"But that will put me into danger," said Annabelle.

"I made you super strong and super-fast Annabelle. Nobody will hurt you" said Madame Green.

"I guess you have a point. Okay, so there is no danger to me then" Annabelle left with the guard. Alone.

She walked down the street.

"Are you still coming?" asked the guard

'Yes" said Annabelle with a girlish giggle "I would have told you if I had changed my mind"

"Do you mind if I put something on you?" asked the guard very politely.

"Depends on what it is," said Annabelle "My mother always wanted me to wear twin plaits down my shoulders, but I hated them. I have such lovely curls. Don't you like my curls?"

The guard stared blankly.

"So, you don't like my curls," said Annabelle suddenly with a scowl

"Nobody has ever asked me my opinions on curls before." said the guard.

"But secretively you've always wanted to say your bit," said Annabelle suddenly brightly "I am not in my right mind right now, so you can call them ugly and I will cheerfully agree with you"

"I do not think your curls are you ugly and it has never occurred to me to try and plait your hair, so you needn't worry."

"What is it that you want to put on me?" said Annabelle

"You see Annabelle, the Lowly Lady is very scared of you."

"I supposed she did watch me kill her boss" agreed Annabelle "I'd be scared of me too if I was her. I have been wanting to kill her for months now. I still want to kill her, despite her being so nice as to send a guard to come and fetch me"

"Yes, she asked me to ask you to put on handcuffs, so that she knows you won't punch her or break a glass and stab her in the neck" explained the guard.

"She is really scared of me. Wow, I never knew that" Annabelle did a gleeful hop. "Yeah, I suppose there is no harm." She held out her wrists to the guard "Handcuff me"

"We actually want to put the cuffs behind your back. See most people struggle to bring their hands above their heads when handcuffed, and it's harder to use your hands when you can't see them."

"Oh, this is exciting, like a challenge," said Annabelle "Let's do this thing" she put her hands behind her back and the guard handcuffed her.

"Are you sure you are alright, It doesn't hurt or anything, does it?" said the guard "Because it will be a human rights abuse if I hurt you and then they will have to record it in their black book"

"No, I am fine, just feel a little bit whimsical since Madame Green gave me that drink, like going alone to a prison complex with a guard handcuffed would be the funniest of jokes. Don't you think it is hilarious? Do you think that Madame Green has betrayed me somehow? I am sure that she has, but I can't figure out how"

"Maybe she has drugged you?" said the guard.

"Nah," said Annabelle "The potions lady witch thing wouldn't know a thing about drugs. Out of her scope of expertise"

"This is me; the Lesser Lady will meet with you now," said the guard. He went off. As he left, he started to look more and more burly and less and less friendly.

The Lowly Lady came out of the doorway. She wore thick eyeliner and had a golden coronet on her head. The workmanship was incredibly delicate and fine. She had a flowing gown that floated around her. Immediately Annabelle was reminded of how the Lesser Lord George had looked just before his death.

A surge came through Annabelle's body and she thought that she should seize the opportunity and kill the Lowly Lady Leda.

"I can see that the effects of your tea are already beginning to wear off, so I will make this quick. I went to see Madame Green and asked her to arrange a meeting between us, but I was worried about your violent tendencies. She told me that she will arrange a way for you to be more agreeable. She has done well, I see"

"Madame Green is very talented. She knows everything"

"She doesn't know everything," said the Lowly Lady contemptuously "But I will concede that she knows more than most people. "

"I have been researching and I believe that I have found an anti-dote for the super-strength potion that she gave you. I think that we can agree that there have been no longitudinal studies on what the long-term effects of the strength potion will be on your health. Phoenix died suddenly and perhaps that was related to his super strength, therefore I would advise you to take the antidote."

"I never knew you are so good at speeches" she Annabelle in reply- "I always thought that the Lesser Lord George lied about the ultimate cause of Phoenix's death and that he was somehow poisoned. I guess that is related to the super strength potion, because the Lesser Lord George would have never had wanted Phoenix dead if it had not been for his super strength"

"Good, you are seeing reason," said the Lowly Lady. "Now if you can only sign this then I can administer the anti-dote.

"Madame Green told me to never sign anything that the Mamlish give me to sign. Even if I do read all the small print"

"But this could save your life," said the Lowly Lady.

"Oh well in that case," said Annabelle. "I can't sign because I'm still cuffed up. The guard thought I might try and punch you and I must admit that when I saw you walk through the doorway I would have, but I couldn't lift my hand over my head"

"Try sign with the pen in your mouth, if we can't read the signature, we don't care. The Mamlish would never forge a signature" said the Lowly Lady.

Annabelle opened her mouth and the Lowly Lady put a pen there. She then held up the paper and Annabelle attempted to write her name. It went over the printed writing.

"Excellent," said the Lowly Lady 'Guards!" she called out. "Do the deed"

Two guards came out, each one held a large vial, "Open up nicely" said the Lowly Lady.

"No," said Annabelle "I don't want to"

"But you agreed - you even signed to it."

"I've changed my mind – I like my super strength, even if it means that I am more likely to get the flu"

"Open her mouth, Alpha, open her mouth. The one guard came behind her and grabbed her jaw and forced it open"

Annabelle tried to struggle, but she was quite tied up and her judgement was impaired.

The Lowly Lady took the vial from the other glass and came up to Annabelle. She poured it down Annabelle's throat.

'That's surprising, I thought we'd need the spare"

Immediately Annabelle felt her clothes loosen, her jaw started to hurt under the pressure of the guard's hand.

"Stop it, stop it" Annabelle tried to say, but she couldn't form the words. She collapsed, she felt tired, there were so many negative sensations in her body that she couldn't keep track of them all. The last thing she heard was the Lowly Lady saying.

"It seems that the anti-dote has worked. She may even have been injured in the past three days, she might not survive her injuries – we can only hope, I guess"