The silence that followed Victoria's retreat stretched uncomfortably across the living room. Jade was the first to break it, her eyebrows raised in amused confusion.
"What was that all about?" she asked, looking between Emily and Emma.
Emily shook her head slowly. "I don't know."
"Your mom sure looked like she was having a rough time," Jade commented with characteristic bluntness. "Face went redder than a tomato."
Emily shot her a sharp glare but didn't respond. She was too busy trying to process what she'd just witnessed. Her mother's reaction had been strange. More than strange. The way Victoria had looked at Isaac, then fled like she'd seen something that terrified and thrilled her at the same time. What was that even about?
She turned back to study Isaac, searching his face for some clue. Something had definitely happened between them. Something she didn't know about. But what? And when?
The transformation he'd undergone didn't seem to affect only his appearance. There was something different about his entire presence. The way he'd spoken to her earlier. The casual confidence in his voice. Even the way he held himself. It was like a completely different person had stepped into Isaac's skin and was now claiming to be him.
On a normal day, he wouldn't even look her straight in the face. Let alone speak to her with that easy assurance.
Emma shifted uncomfortably beside the stove. Her usual quiet observation had taken on a more troubled quality. She'd noticed the changes too, but unlike Emily, she couldn't shake the feeling that something fundamental had shifted in their household dynamic. Something she couldn't quite identify. Something that made her deeply uneasy.
Isaac seemed to sense the weight of their stares. A small smile played at the corners of his mouth. Not the nervous, apologetic expression they were used to, but something far more composed. Almost knowing.
"Well," he said, stretching casually, "I think I'll head back upstairs. Let you all process whatever this is." His tone was light. Almost amused. As if their shock was entertaining rather than concerning. "I've got some things to take care of anyway."
Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked toward the stairs. There was no hesitation in his stride. No nervous energy. Just a quiet confidence that hadn't been there before.
The three girls watched him go in continued silence. His footsteps echoed through the house until they faded down the upstairs hallway, leaving behind nothing but questions and a strange tension none of them could name.
Emma was the first to move. She turned back to the stove and quietly scraping away the burnt sandwich into the trash, her face was unreadable. Emily remained frozen, still staring at the empty staircase as if expecting Isaac to reappear and explain everything.
"Okay, I'm just gonna say it," Jade announced, breaking the silence. She flopped back onto the couch with exaggerated casualness. "I don't care how much he's supposedly worked out. Boys are still gross." She wrinkled her nose. "Transformation or no transformation, they're all the same underneath. Just because he doesn't look like a scarecrow anymore doesn't change anything."
Emily turned to look at her, momentarily pulled from her troubled thoughts. "Right. I forgot you—"
"Hate boys with a passion?" Jade finished with a grin. "Yeah, well, some things never change." She stretched out on the expensive leather like she owned it. "Speaking of which, I'm staying over tonight, right? We don't have any plans until tomorrow, and I already told my parents I'd be crashing here."
Emily nodded absently. "Yeah, that's fine. I wasn't planning on going anywhere anyway."
But even as she agreed, her mind remained fixed on the mystery unfolding under her own roof. And the growing certainty that the person who had just walked upstairs wasn't quite the same Isaac Wilson who had been living there just days before.
******
It was nearly 10 PM when Victoria finally emerged from her room. She moved quietly through the hallway, peering down at the living room below. The house had settled into its familiar nighttime quiet. Exactly what she'd been waiting for. Her daughters would have gone to their rooms by now, even if they weren't asleep yet. That meant she could finally do what she needed to do without any complications.
She couldn't have come out earlier. Every time she'd tried to leave her room throughout the day, the thought of facing Emily and Emma with this chaos swirling through her mind had sent her retreating back behind her locked door. How could she look at them normally when her thoughts kept drifting to him? When her body still hummed with sensations she couldn't explain or accept?
The mess in her head had been unbearable. Fragments of memories that felt too real to be dreams but too impossible to be true. She'd needed time to get control of herself. To think clearly about what was happening. Now that she finally felt she had some semblance of composure, she knew she had to handle this before it escalated. Before her daughters somehow caught wind of whatever strange situation was unfolding under their own roof.
It had been torture, staying locked away all day. She hadn't even been able to bring herself to go downstairs for dinner, too afraid of what might happen if she saw Isaac again in front of the girls. Instead, she'd survived on the fruit she kept in her room. Apples and grapes that she'd mindlessly snacked on until she was surprisingly full. At least hunger wasn't going to be a problem.
Once she was certain the coast was clear, Victoria made her way downstairs with careful, silent steps. Her heart began to race as she approached the one room she both dreaded and desperately needed to visit. The person behind that door held the answers to the chaos consuming her thoughts. She refused to accept the memories flooding her mind without understanding what was real.
She needed to get a clear head on this. Once and for all.
Standing outside Isaac's door, Victoria glanced around the house one last time. She made absolutely sure no one was watching. Then, with her pulse hammering in her throat, she quietly turned the handle and slipped inside.
She froze immediately.
The first thing she noticed was how he was sleeping. Completely naked. His body sprawled across the bed with casual abandon. The sheets had been kicked aside, leaving nothing to the imagination.
Wasn't it too early for him to sleep? It was barely past ten. And why was he naked?
A suspicious thought crept into her mind. Did he plan for this to happen? Was that why he'd left his room door unlocked?
But even as the thought formed, she dismissed it. There was no way he could have been sure she would come to his room. Even though her thoughts had been consumed with exactly that all day.
Despite her racing mind, her eyes couldn't stop wandering over his form. When had he developed those abs? His muscles looked perfectly sculpted, as if an artist had carved each line and curve with meticulous precision. His chest rose and fell with slow, even breaths. His shoulders were broader than she remembered. Everything about him looked different. Refined. Almost too perfect.
Was this what Emily had been talking about when she'd asked if she noticed anything different?
She noticed she had been gawking at his body without even realizing it.
She shook her head sharply, trying to snap herself out of the trance. She couldn't afford to get distracted. She was here for answers. Not to do whatever this was turning into.
Steeling herself, she stepped closer to the bed. She reached out and gave him a light slap on the face. Just enough to rouse him from sleep.
"Wake up," she whispered, her voice barely audible in the quiet room. "We need to talk."