(urth) An Evil Guest: is

[Roy C. Lackey]

Gwern wrote:
> As I re-read AEG with an eye to Margaret, I'm just not convinced that
> Margaret is either a werewolf or a time-traveling Cassie.

FWIW, I am largely in agreement with you, given that I raised many of the
same objections. The only point I would quibble over is this one:

[snip]
> I think we may have over-played
> her fall; Cassie hasn't fallen below her old self, she's fallen *back*
> to her old self, just with bleached hair.

I don't think Cassie reverted to quite her old self after her long ordeal on
that island. It seems to be a rule of "magic" that a price must be paid for
its use, and she is the one who paid it. She didn't just lose her "mojo";
she seems to have suffered a blow to her general health that "aged" her more
than she would have naturally in that span of time, so much so that she
would never again be the pretty but ordinary young woman that Gideon first
saw on the stage. Margaret had also known pre-mojo Cassie, but failed to
recognize the haggard woman who passed her by on the street near the bank.

-Roy