Somebody is a tale of some strange women, captive in their own body. Well, not 'their' so much as 'her' body. It comes as no surprise to anyone that Sarah Vogel and her attendant group of spirits would arrive to a Nexus world, eventually. That world, whether it was to begin with or whether it shifted from one to another while they were gone, turned out to be Twoarth.

Known as a Nexus world already, their little portion of it was somewhat up in the hills past Talon city, north-east of Crescent by about two hundred miles, farther into the foothills than they had been before. It was a bit distressing to one of them, but only for a minute. Until she saw their 'new' lake, that is, and fell for it immediately.

The mages, Scintilla and Summoner, knew that they had moved from one universe to the next, but the others were a bit weirded out. Some of the area was familar, some not.

"Los Angeles should be there," Snowbird said, "but it's farther north. And San Diego, looks farther south... I mean, I don't even know where the border is here."

Over there, said the happier voice in her head, Scarlett's. The whole Baja peninsula is in the United States?

"But most of Texas looks like it's Mexico, so we're even." Sarah said. Their dragons chittered to one another, well, Sarah's chittered, Scarlett's tolerated the intrusion with the patience that few Pernese queens were known for. It was a good thing she wasn't full blooded.

Once they'd settled in again, in their stolen home with 'persuaded' funds keeping them in comfort, the girls - all residing within Sarah's body - took stock of their situation. They decided something needed to be done, about them all being crammed into one rather busy body.

They'd noticed that when Sarah took over, she was functional for about an hour and then slept - hard - for another ten.

We're wearing her out, Summoner said. The body will die, and we'll all have to find new ones.

I thought you were working on that, Scintilla complained.

I was, but then Shy got himself kicked out of easy-to-reach places. He's off somewhere having babies.

The others in the mind snickered and Scarlett said, Men can't have babies! Duh!

Whoever said Shy was a man? That's foul! Merely a host body, just hosting. Some animals do that.

Well he seems to have, Summoner chuckled. Lots of them. Or something like babies, anyway. ... But that's got me thinking, we still need to speak with him.

Something nagged at the woman, something that one of them had just said. Splash, Serpentina, what do you have to say about his ... erm... pregnancy?

Seahorses impregnate but the eggs remain in the male, Splash pointed out.

Some females can turn to males, when there are not enough, Serpentina added. Perhaps he has changed inside, or perhaps he was never male to begin with.

The reptilian female was more talkative with her sponsorlings near her, though in this condition they could all say they were equally distant from their dragons. Summoner aimed a thought at Scintilla.

Have you ever been pregnant, dear?

The pure disgust from the woman's mind was clear, but she still said, Once, long ago, and on what world I know not any longer. She'd be dust a thousand years ago by now.

Summoner waited a moment, and then Scintilla's mental 'eyes' grew wide. You cannot possibly suggest that we--

I'm not just suggesting it. I'm saying that it's important we cooperate here. And we've got to find Shy.

***

It was actually closer to home that they found the odd man - in Crescent city of all places. Imposing on another sort-of local man, who they knew would be able to do just as much to help them.

"So... hold on," Crazy Doc Sanger said, waving his fingers in the air and blinking. "You're seven people?"

"In one body, right now, yeah," Snowbird said, tiredly. "It's exhausting. I need my body back, now. And I'm worried that if I just take it back, it'll kill the others. And if that happens, there are a half dozen dragons that will come after me for it..."

"They wouldn't do that," Van said, but the quietly grinning shadow of a man behind him cleared his throat. "Well okay maybe a couple of them would - I saw at least one hydra..."

Shy, draping himself over Van's muscular shoulder, said, "of course they would, they would have nothing to live for anyway. That would be... unfortunate. One of them spoke to me when we were visiting a dragonry, it seems like years ago."

"It might have been years ago to you," Snowbird said. "We've traveled a lot, but I don't know how long we've even been in one world. And with the others using my body it doesn't look like I get any sleep at all. The body I mean, my mind sleeps, a lot when the others are taking their turns."

She continued to babble a little, until Sanger's room mate Gabriel waved his hand toward her and she fell into a deep healing slumber. Angels were good for that kind of thing.

"Of course that means that she cannot offer any commentary," Shy said, gazing at the pale skinned woman.

"Not necessarily," Sanger replied. "Their dragons are all outside."

"They certainly are, and they're attracting a bit of a crowd," Gabriel said, leaning against the window. He slid the glass door to the balcony open, and the other two men stepped out onto it. He recalled with a soft smile, when Sanger wouldn't even let him open the window blinds because they were on a higher floor than he liked to look down from. Now, Van stood with his hips against the metal railing, leaning out and looking down at the collection of dragons who all stood looking up at him in a semi-circle below. There were also local people gathering, as they always did when dragons sat still for any length of time.

"Gabriel, could you be an absolute dear and shoo those unwanted other people away?" Asked Shy. If only to leave his presence, the angelic man ducked outside and herded the people (kids mostly, school age - after all they were at Carramba High) away promising them a better look when the semester started up in two weeks.

Sanger picked up a conversation with one of them, the big queen, who happened to be bonded to the superheroine Scarlett. Through Umpteenth who was nestling on the roof at the moment, he questioned the dragons about their riders, who were eager to relay information about each inhabitant of SomeBody.

"I have an idea, and it's a lot like Summoner's," Sanger said. Shy was way ahead of him.

"The question of course is, can they wait fifty four months and then some to come to life?"