In which JT tells a little more of his story....

"This is a really nice place you have here," JT was saying.

"Thanks. Maddy and I did a lot of work on it," I said. "My friend Miranda gave me this idea for how to put up the lights."

"The original Hitty had a bookcase apartment once upon a time, so that's why so many modern Hittys live in bookcases," John added. "Plus, they're the perfect size."



 "I'll get you set up in something soon, JT. Don't worry," Maddy said, coming in.

"I'm fine," he said with a smile. He and John have been roommates the past few days. It's a little bit strange, because, unlike us, he wasn't born a doll, so to speak. But he's adjusting very well so far.

"So what's it like being a doll?" Maddy said after a moment.

"Not too different from being human, I guess. Except I haven't been in a body since 1991," he admitted. "So I guess I only partially remember what it was like." He paused a moment, then said. "You see, if I did this, then nobody would be able to trap me in a bottle again like that. Not so long as I freely chose to bind myself to a new form."

"What did you do as a human?" I said. Unlike dolls, I don't think humans can get away with just being awesome for a living. I don't think that pays very well.

"I was a musician. In a band, you know?" He shrugged.

"Someone we'd know?" I said.

"Probably..." He left it at that. Maddy and I kind of looked at each other, but decided not to pry. Maddy's take on these kind of situations is that the person - or doll - in question will tell you when they're ready.

"So what exactly happened?" John said after a moment. He's been trying to figure this whole thing out. "In New Orleans, I mean."

"I got into town the afternoon before the show, so I had a free night. I met up with a couple of old friends and we went out for dinner. No big deal. There were these two other guys who came up to us at one point - they recognized me - and talked for a few minutes. I didn't think anything of it at the time. But they must have thought I had a lot of money or drugs or something on me, which I didn't - all I can think is that they followed me back to the motel. I don't remember anything after they broke in until I woke up and there was this huge commotion with all these people in the room. Except that I was on the bed and my body was under the dresser and I couldn't get anyone's attention to tell them I was there. I had no idea what was going on. It was a couple of days before I really figured out that I was technically dead. Good thing there are a lot of unquiet spirits in New Orleans. If I hadn't met a couple of them I'd probably still be trying to figure it out." He rolled his eyes with a wry laugh. "Honestly, it wasn't too bad until that West guy showed up. I was stuck on this plane, but it was okay. At least it's what I'm used to."

"What was he trying to do?' John said. "I know what he told me, but..."

"Pretty much what you said. His idea for reanimating the dead went nowhere in a hurry, so he was going to try to stick a bunch of us unquiet spirits into those half-finished doll bodies he got from that Bishop chick. You would have thought he'd have learned his lesson the first time."

"The first time?" Maddy said.

JT nodded. "That is you're going to reanimate someone, have the common decency to sew any missing parts back on first."

"Wait. Are you saying....?" John's eyes were wider than usual.

JT nodded again. "Reanimator wasn't fiction. HP Lovecraft was merely recounting the facts of the story as he heard them. However, Dr. West couldn't reanimate himself. So he had to make do with coming back as an old Ken doll."

Barbie's not going to like that, I thought.

"I thought he looked familiar," John said. "So who were the others in the bottles?"

"Anyone he could find. Of course, when you make an open call to the unquiet spirits like he did, you're going to end up with some who are more unquiet than others. I don't think any of them are specifically after me or anyone else - at least, nobody we know. But they're not exactly the kind of people you want to have around."

"I need to update Dr. Armitage on this...." John went to find his laptop.

"That sounds serious," Val said, coming over.

JT smiled at her. "Don't worry. I've dealt with their kind in this world before. And now that they're spirits, they're even more vulnerable."

I hope we're not going to have to find out just how powerful that athame really is....