Author's note: Kudos to djkauf for betaing this for me.

Janie made it a point to join me for another fun filled hour or two in the hot spring. One thing she had introduced me to that I found all kinds of pleasure in was her attention to my nipples. Yeah, I know that’s a little weird for a guy to admit, but I really liked what she was doing.

The only thing that I wasn’t so fond of was having sex in the water itself. I was starting to become really sore down there. When I suggested that we try it some other way, Janie declined. There was an advantage to being in a raised temperature control environment. She was thinking way ahead of me in that aspect.

In the hot water, sperm production is lowered considerably. There wasn’t really a convenience store to jog down to and pick up a package of condoms, so doing it in what equated to a hot tub was the next best thing. She did say that she be ovulating soon and we’d have to stop for about a week or so, just to be safer.

There was no way to be absolutely safe if there was genital in genital sex involved, but she lowered the odds significantly.

“Then why risk it? You can still get pregnant.”

Janie was relaxing against me after our third time.

“Because I have to have it. Ever since the crash I’ve been so incredibly horny. The first few nights were torture. Then you came out of that jungle and fought Stuart. I knew I had to have you.”

I chuckled softly. “So this was all a plot to get me into bed.”

Her fingers brushed back and forth over my left nipple which sent shivers down my spine. “Uh-huh.”

She pulled away and looked down at my chest give me a mild wincing look. “I think I better let these alone for a while. They’re getting puffy with all the attention.”

I glanced down and saw she was right. They were both a little red and swollen.

~O~

The meat for dinner was fantastic. It was a little burned for our first time, but we’d work out the cooking kinks with practice. I really didn’t care. It was meat and my body called out for something of substance.

One thing of note: that evening, Zach sat by me.

Ever since Evelyn told me about his obsession, which I’d come to think of as hero-worship, I was more aware of his actions. Every so often he’d brush up against me or make an excuse to touch me. It didn’t freak me out or anything. Zach was the brother of one of my best friends and a good friend in his own right. If he felt the desire to wear his sister’s panties then who was I to call him on it? If he really did have a crush on me, it didn’t mean that I had to return his affection.

Friends fell for each other all the time. It was also one-sided a lot of the time. Thus, unrequited love came into being.

Though I did take another look at his scar, it looked several weeks old already. That was one thing I didn’t have an answer for.

I didn’t take into account that Zach caught me looking. He smiled a little and blushed before looking down. I’d better not do that anymore. Encouraging him would lead to nothing but badness, since I was firmly in the heterosexual category; just ask Janie.

~O~

Two nights in a row without any weird dreams; maybe I was on a roll.

When I dropped off the water, they were pleased to find that the hiking pack I had came with its own hydration system. It meant another gallon and a half of water. We hunted down anything that would hold the excess and I loaded up the pack with the empties from the day before.

Stuart wasn’t pleased to see Dane accompanying me this round, but he held his tongue while he whittled away at a growing number of spears. The big surprise was the fish we got in return.

Wallace seemed overly proud of their ability to hold up their end of the bargain. “The net’s way too heavy to throw, so we each grab a corner and hold it out until the fish come around. It took a few tries but we found a system that works.”

The general attitude of everyone looked improved, especially with the news of extra water being available.

Dane was holding an overhead compartment tray with ten fish on top. Considering how they held out the previous day, I was surprised they were being so charitable. Perhaps it was Wallace’s influence. Either way, he was happy and I was happy. Things were looking up.

The nurse practitioner made an appearance before we left. She introduced herself as Sylvia Hernandez and then gave Dane the hairy eyeball until he excused himself so we could speak privately.

“I was wondering if you could take a look at Stuart for me.”

Of all the things she could have said that was pretty much at the bottom of my imaginary list. “What?”

“He’s running a constant hundred degree temperature and his knee is swollen more than it should be for injury that he has.”

Seeing the disbelief on my face, she shed a little light on why she was asking me of all people. “I can’t help him. You might be able to. I was awake when you helped Zach.”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything for Zach.”

Her eyes narrowed a little, measuring me. “Chase, I’m a woman of faith. I’ve seen things during my time in the Lord’s service that I simply cannot explain in scientific terms. Truthfully, Zach should be dead.”

The pack I was holding dropped to the sand.

“There was little doubt in my mind that he had a severe concussion and a mounting infection that morning. By lunchtime he was awake and his wound had healed over in the time it would ordinarily take two weeks to recover from given the proper care.” She paused dramatically. “I could not give him anywhere near the proper care.”

“What makes you think that I had anything to do with it?” I asked.

Sylvia laced her fingers over her belt. “I watched you kneel down and check his wound that morning. Then I watched as you set your hand over his forehead and say something. After you left, maybe an hour passed before I checked on my patients. Zach’s infection had already disappeared and he showed signs of normal sleeping patterns. What I’m getting at here, Chase, is that you healed him.”

My jaw was working, but nothing was coming out of my mouth.

“I’m now asking you to help Stuart in a way that I can’t.”

Finally my voice decided to end its vacation. “I’m not a cleric.”

Don’t ask me why I used a D&D term. It was the only thing my dumbfounded brain could dredge up to describe what she was implying.

Her brows furrowed. “I didn’t say you were. However, I do think the Lord is working his will through you. Without you, all of us here might very well have been on our way to a slow and painful death.”

Reaching out, she took my hand. “Come, at least try to help.”

I looked over to Stuart and saw his face. He was pale and sweating profusely, but focused on his whittling. “Not with that knife in his hand. He tried to kill me in case you’ve forgotten.”

Sylvia nodded and went to talk to Wallace. Dane made his way back to me. “What did she want?”

I looked to the side. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

He shrugged. “Never know.”

Before I said anything else, a couple of the guys swiped all of Stuart’s finished spears and the knife. He looked too exhausted to care. When we approached, his eyes had already gone half-lidded.

“Stuart,” she said. “I’ve asked Chase to have a look at your knee.”

That got his attention. He seemed to be fully awake, but still weak. “Like hell.”

Sylvia looked down at him disapprovingly. “Then I shall refuse you anymore pain medication.”

His eyes ticked to hers in anger then he looked away without saying anything else. When she nodded to me, I knelt beside him and withdrew the blanket that was covering his leg.

“Jesus,” I whispered.

Sylvia cleared her throat and I received the full brunt of the look that Stuart just got.

“Sorry.”

His knee was at least half the size again of what I remember it being before I’d dislocated it. Holding my hand over the worst of it, I felt the heat radiating from his skin, and in the hot sun that was saying something.

Looking up at him, I saw the pain he was in. Despite the fact that he tried to shove a homemade stake into me, I didn’t want to kill him, but if his leg was anything to go by then that was going to happen pretty soon anyway. Infections were serious business in the jungle with limited medical supplies at hand.

Setting my hand as lightly on the knee as possible, I felt him flinch a little. Then I spoke to myself, not wanting the others to hear.

“Hey, it’s me again. Thanks for your help with Zach. I appreciated it. Do you think you can do that healing thing again with Stuart? I know he’s a jerk, but he doesn’t need to go out like this.”

Nothing seemed to be happening, so I closed my eyes and tried once more. “I need his fever to go away and his leg to heal. If I tore any ligaments or damaged any blood vessels or whatever, then I need them to be fixed and healed properly. Can you do that please? I’ve really got enough to worry about than his death at my hands… or my foot rather. Uh… amen.”

I was afraid to look down again, so I lifted my head and looked into Stuart’s eyes. Or I tried to anyway. He was passed out. Turning to Sylvia, her eyes were wide. She was crossing herself, and muttering something in Spanish.”

Taking a peek downward, I moved my hand out of the way to find Stuart’s leg, not swelled and hot to the touch, but normal.

~O~

“Not one word to anyone, Dane. I mean it.”

I was lugging another staff full of seat cushions back to the cave.

He laughed. “You think you’re going to keep this a secret? Once someone bumps into one of the others, they’ll know. You’re better off telling them yourself.”

“What, that I can heal wounds by laying hands on them? Yeah, that’ll go over real well.”

He shrugged. “I was a witness, and there were four other people looking on as well. Not to mention Stuart will be back up on his feet by the time he wakes up. That’ll be a big clue that something out of the ordinary happened. Face it… you’re screwed.”

I didn’t say anything in response to that.

“Plus, you’ll have to enter the priesthood, and that means you have to stop humping Janie, celibacy and all.”

My head snapped around. “How…?”

He snorted. “You’re not serious are you? Everyone already knows. She screams like a banshee and that cave echoes like nobody’s business.”

Wonderful.

~O~

“You prayed?” said Evelyn with a moderate amount of disbelief. She knew I was an atheist, or agnostic at the very least given my actions over the last few days.

I nodded.

Everyone was looking at me like I was a freak.

“I watched the whole thing,” Dane confirmed. “One second Chase closed his eyes and the next, Stuart’s leg started deflating and then he passed out.”

Zach was touching his scar. “You did that to me. I thought it was a dream.”

“What?” I said.

He looked up at me, kind of like he was in awe. “I remember everything was crazy in my head, thoughts running through it randomly. Then I heard your voice. Except it wasn’t really yours, but I knew it was.”

After rubbing my eyes, I asked, “What do you mean it wasn’t my voice?”

“I was delusional, Chase. Fever, remember? I thought it was a girl’s voice.” Zach looked down, clearly embarrassed. “It’s like how Dane described it: one second my head was a mess and then the next, I was just dreaming.”

Pete finally piped up with his little fountain of wisdom. “Clearly something is going on that is out of the ordinary.”

“Your Druid,” Evelyn said. Her voice sounded sure about something, but unsure at the same time, like she was experimenting with how it sounded.

“Pardon me?” I asked.

“The character you rolled up. It answers everything that I’ve been seeing.” Evelyn lifted her hand and started ticking off her fingers along with examples. “Your hair, how comfortable you are in the jungle, how you never get lost, the freak rain storm, the panther, your staff, how we can drink water without boiling it first…”

Janie looked at her. “What are you talking about?”

“Chase is a Druid.”

The only person that seemed to think she was right on the money was Zach. Even Pete said, “I think you need to put your books away, young lady.”

A gnawing feeling in my gut started to increase.

Evelyn stood up. “I’m serious. Chase, do something. A Zero level spell should be easy enough. Create Water. You’ve already done that one, but it didn’t have anywhere to go. Try it on the bottles.”

It wasn’t that I thought Ev was crazy. I was terrified that she might be right.

“I think someone’s been out in the heat for a little too long,” said Janie.

Zach shook his head. “No, she’s right. Chase, try it. The worst thing is that we’re wrong and nothing will happen.”

I eyed him. “Then what’s the best thing?”

He looked on like a wide-eyed zealot. “Are you kidding? Wild Shape, Summon Nature’s Ally, Firestorm, Finger of Death…”

Ev interrupted him. “Finger of Death would go against his alignment, that’s evil.”

Zach blinked. “Oh…yeah. Don’t want to do that one.”

I unzipped the pack and dumped the bottles to the floor of the cave. Either I performed Druidic magic or the others were going to wrap Evelyn and Zach up in makeshift straightjackets.

Grabbing my walking stick, I pointed it at the bottles and thought, “Create Water!” but what came out of my mouth was, “Partum Unda!”

The bottles completely filled. There wasn’t even room left for a single bubble of air, and the hydration system in the pack topped off as well. Then I heard a splash on the water’s edge, like whatever was left after filling the containers dropped into the closest natural receptacle, the underground lake.

Zach punched the air. “Yes!”

I dropped to the ground, not from anything physically wrong. This was thunderbolt strike to reality for me. Fact, statistics, physics, hard incontrovertible proof, that’s what made up my world. To have all that thrown to the wayside and for someone to throw something as dubious as magic was at me was… was…

“Chase?”

Evelyn was kneeling in front of me with a concerned look on her face.

“Huh?” I thoughtfully answered.

“You okay?”

“No, I’m definitely not.”

She took my hands and tugged on them. “Come on. I need to talk to you in private.”

My shoulders fell. “There’s more?”

A pitying look appeared on her face, but she didn’t say anything else with the others watching. In due time, we made our way out of the cavern and about a hundred yards or so away. The panther followed along, keeping pace with us until we found a decent area to stop.

When I sat down, the panther came up alongside me and nudged my face with his.

“Peace, friend,” I heard in my head more than I the rumbling purr that came from the cat’s throat.”

Of course. I was a Druid. That meant I could talk to animals and they could talk to me. That was one of their more popular talents.

“Now you talk to me?” I frowned, but scratched behind both of his ears to show him I didn’t hold a grudge.

“You were not ready before. Now you are.” He looked over at Evelyn while she watched our interaction. “Speak with your female. I will guard.”

Ev looked really interested, but waited until the panther moved away and leaped up into the closest tree. “So what does he sound like? What’d he say?”

“He going to guard us, and I’m supposed to talk to you.”

She looked like she was arranging her thoughts before she started. “I think it’s happening to Zach too.”

I blinked and then looked back toward the cave, not that I saw anything through the thick jungle. “He’s turning into a Druid?”

Ev shook her head. “No, a Bard.”

I squinted at her like she was going nuts. “Are you kidding? Who cares if he starts telling stories or breaks out in song? I’m in trouble here, Ev.”

She sighed. “An Elven Bard.”

I might have just smacked myself in the head with my walking stick. I couldn’t have been more stunned. “Zach is not an Elf. He doesn’t even have the ears.”

“Yet.”

“What do you mean, yet?”

After biting on her lip for a moment she said, “I think it has something to do with your actions.” I started to say something but she cut me off. “When we first crashed, you were you. Nothing had changed, but as you did more stuff, things started happening.”

Leaning back on a tree, I tried to compose myself thoughtfully. “Ev, what the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m saying you practiced your craft, Druid stuff. Running through the jungle, helping others, encountering wildlife, using your magic, even if you didn’t know it, you’ve been doing it. Like you were starting off at a Level One and working your way up.”

Movement from above caught my attention. Looking up, I saw the panther settling itself on a lower branch, looking at me.

“Listen, friend.”

“Zach is sitting in the cave or just hanging around here not doing much but foraging. His face has already changed a little, just from doing that. Can you imagine what would happen if he started making a bow and doing Elven crap?”

Evelyn was already stressed, but I couldn’t see ignoring the obvious questions. “How do you know he’s going to be a Bard?”

Her eyed snapped up at me. “That was the character he rolled before the crash.”

I laughed sardonically. “Let me get this straight. Zach is an Elf Bard, and I’m a Human Druid because that’s what character we created. Going by that mode of thought, since you were the DM, you should be turning into God.”

That seemed to make her mad. Evelyn’s teeth clenched and she stood up abruptly. “You think I’m wrong? Fine, then explain to me why you’re growing breasts, Chase.”

With that, she stormed off back in the direction of the cave.

“What? I’m not…” I looked down at the tight tank I was wearing. Two little nubs were poking out right where my nipples were. Grabbing a hold of the neck, I pulled it out and got a better look. “Oh fuck.”

My Druid was a Human female.

~O~

I hadn’t gone back to the cave. In fact, I went in the opposite direction. Far in the opposite direction.

The panther showed up with my regular pack in its teeth. I grimaced briefly and thanked him. My two bottles of water were inside which I made use of briefly before shouldering the pack and moving on.

Eventually, I started running, and then before I realized it, I started Longstriding. It’s another Druid gift. A regular person can only move so fast in the forest or in my case, the jungle. Longstriding gave me the ability to move twice as fast as a normal person as if there wasn’t anything in their way at all. Plants, trees, underbrush had no effect on me, because I instinctively moved through the thinnest portion available. That and the plant-life seemed to be bending out of the way all on its own.

The panther kept pace with me the entire way.

I don’t know how long I ran, an hour maybe two, before I realized what I was doing. A thin sheen of sweat covered my body, and the weird part, I wasn’t even breathing hard.

Looking around, I saw the mountain in the distance, but it was pretty far away. “Where are we?”

“Listen, friend.”

Calming the beating of my heart, I took a breath and then closed my eyes. The sound of waves crashing told me the beach wasn’t that far away, toward the northeast.

We made our way at regular speed through the last of the jungle until sand crunched underfoot. The panther held back and a low growl came from its throat. That’s when I saw what he’d spotted.

A yacht anchored no more than fifty yards off the beach. I immediately scanned the area and saw a tent set up to the left, quite a way down.

Looking down at the panther, I said. “Pace me through the trees, boy. We don’t want to scare them before I get a chance to talk.”

Making my way to the surf, I headed in the direction of a foursome. Two were sitting under the tent while the other two were playing around in the waves. It wasn’t long before they spotted me. One of the sitters stood and called out to his friends then the two men started walking my way.

They were dressed in moderately rich beachwear; seeing as how they were being transported by a yacht, that didn’t surprise me. Once we’d closed the distance, the older of the two, probably in his fifties called out.

“I thought this was an uninhabited island.”

I chuckled to myself. “It is.”

He glanced to the younger guy who I noticed bore a passing resemblance. They must have been related. Considering their age, it was probably Grandfather and grandson.

“My name is Chase Moynihan and I’d like the use of the radio on your boat, if you would be so kind.”

The older guy frowned. “You don’t have your own?

I shook my head. “No. On the other side of this island are the survivors of flight 372 out of Los Angeles. They’ve been here for a little less than a week and they’d very much like to go home.”

~O~

The taste of Coke was something that I’d missed and the Browns were more than accommodating once they’d gotten my story. We boarded their yacht. The panther didn’t want to come along and said that he would meet me back at the cave when I came to tell the others.

That saved me from explaining to the Browns about my befriending a black panther in the middle of an uncharted island.

The homecoming on the opposite side of the island, as you can imagine, was greeted with great revelry. Even as the yacht was being anchored less than a hundred yards from the beach, some idiot was running over to the SOS HELP pile of branches and leaves trying to light them on fire, like we hadn’t seen them already.

The others cheered, but kept their distance from me. Sylvia however approached with reverence.

“Did I or did I not say you were a gift from God?” she said as she crossed herself.

I shrugged. “Sylvia, I found out I’m a Druid. It’s not exactly the kind of thing your god smiles upon, being pagan and all.”

She smiled wistfully at me. “No matter what you call yourself, Chase, you are gifted and all of those kinds of gifts come from only one place.”

Looking back at the Browns and the welcome they were receiving, I saw Stuart. He was back on his feet again and looking healthy. A calm look came over his face and he nodded a single time to me.

“I need to go tell the others. Make sure you don’t leave without them.”

Sylvia looked at me strangely, but nodded. “We’ll wait.”

I have no idea how the panther made it back before me. Maybe I was just slowing him down all this time. The sun was just setting when I arrived.

Evelyn looked relieved. “Thank god! When he came back without you I got scared.”

Pete smiled at me. “We were just about to sit down for dinner, Chase. Join us.”

I shook my head. “Then you guys would miss the boat.”

Pete froze and then dropped the fish-on-stick that he was carrying.

“Pack your stuff. It’s time to go. Coast Guard will be here within the hour.”

~O~

I didn’t have any problem walking through the jungle in the dark, but the others were tripping over every errant branch and bump in the dirt. We stopped and I looked at the top of my staff.

“Lumen!”

A ball of golden light ignited pushing the darkness back.

“Can everyone see?” I asked.

I got nods from the others. Zach moved forward with a great smile on his face. “I knew what would happen right when you did it. I understood what you said. Do you think I could do it too?”

I reached out my hand and grabbed his wrist. “Zach, no, please.”

He squinted his eyes, looking at me. “Weird, maybe it’s the light, but you look different.”

Turning away, I started walking. “It’s just the light. Let’s go. I don’t know how long I can make this last.”

He was right behind me. “It depends on your level. It’s ten minutes for every level. I played a Druid once. But if it goes out, you can always do a Produce Flame, or a Flaming Sphere, or even a Flame Sword.”

As soon as he said the names of the different Druidic spells, I pictured them in my head and knew I could do perform each one. “What about others, higher levels?”

“Daylight’s a third level spell, and uh… I don’t think there’s a fourth level light spell.”

“It doesn’t matter, name one.” Asking him about the magic served a dual purpose. One, it kept him busy thinking about the game and not on trying out his Bard magic, which prevented him from advancing the change to an elf, and two, it let me have an educated guess about what level of Druid I was.

“Oh, um… Reincarnate would be a fourth level. He grabbed my arm. Chase…holy shit. My sister! The others!”

I stopped and looked halfway back. “Would not want to come back in a random body, Zach. They could wind up in a raccoon. Would you want that?”

He deflated. “No.”

By the way, I knew the spell. “What else?”

He shook his head. “Fifth level, Call Lightning Storm. Sixth level, Spellstaff.”

We continued on.

“Seventh level, Windwalk. Eighth level, Earthquake.”

My stride slowed. “Hold on what was the last one?”

“Earthquake?”

I didn’t know that one, well I knew it from the game once he reminded me, but I didn’t know the incantation. “What’s another eighth level spell?”

“Animal Shapes, Finger of Death, Reverse Gravity.”

I didn’t know any of them. If I remembered the spell knowledge to character level numbers properly that would put me at a thirteenth or fourteenth level Druid. How had I become so powerful in such a short span of time? I hadn’t even been adventuring. I’d earned maybe a few hundred experience points, maybe a thousand, barely enough to get me to second level.

As we neared the beach I could hear the surf. “We’re nearly there.” I stopped abruptly. My voice had cracked, sounding like it did when I was thirteen. Pain lanced through my midsection and I doubled over with a grunt. Zach grabbed me and stopped me from faceplanting to the ground.

“Come on, sit down, man. You’re overexerting yourse…”

As soon as my butt hit the ground he got his first good look at me.

“Holy shit!”

The others gathered. Pete kneeled down and held my forehead up so he could get a decent look. “Chase, what’s happening? You look…”

Evelyn was beside him. “Like a girl. It’s the magic. It’s transforming him. It’s why he didn’t want Zach to do any. He knew this would happen if he did anymore magic, but he also knew at least one of us would hurt ourselves in the dark.”

“Ev,” I grunted again in my new feminine voice. “You suck.” Leaning my head against the tree, I gasped at a sharp pain between my legs. “Always have to be right about everything.”

I looked at her and the tears that were falling from her eyes. “Chase, you have to end it here, on the island. Once you leave you can’t change anymore. You can’t be caught in between.”

It was useless to ask how she knew this. She was the DM. It was her job to be all knowing.

Knowing she was right… again, I said a silent prayer to my lost masculinity. “How?”

She looked at the others. Janie was covering her mouth. Sara was gaping at me. Dane looked really troubled, and Brett looked scared. Zach held my hand and I could see he was holding something back.

“You have to do something big. Something powerful to push you over the edge,” she answered. “Zach, what’s the wildest spell, something high level?”

“Seventh level,” I squeezed out.

“Fire Storm.”

I shook my head. “I’m not burning down the jungle. I’m a Druid.”

He smacked his own face for me. “Sorry.” If I didn’t’ know any better, I’d swear he was constipated, he was trying so hard to be useful. “The only thing I can think of that’s not destructive is Greater Scrying.”

With a nod, I held my tugged on the hand he was holding. “Help me up.”

My clothes felt loose on me, everything but the really tight tank. My breasts had grown considerably. A squeak of sound came from my mouth at being hauled up by Pete and Zach.

Before I had a chance to chicken out I gripped my walking stick. “Agnitio!”

The island exploded into my mind. I knew every square inch of land, every creature that walked, stalked, and flew, I knew that the Coast Guard had already arrived and had several spotlights pointed at the jungle where I normally come out. I also felt it, the thing that did this to me, to us. The thing that created the lightning that blew out the engines on the plane and killed my friends.

Everything, I knew everything.

~O~

My breath was coming in rapid gasps. The guys were holding me down and the pain was subsiding.

“It’s over,” I said. My voice was pitched even higher. I lay there waiting for my breathing to calm down and the residual pain to fade before I felt good enough to stand. “Help me up.”

It was much easier this time around for them to lift me. When I was on my feet, I grabbed my jeans to keep them from falling off. Long hair flew in my face and Ev brushed it away.

“Jesus, Chase.”

It felt like I’d been through the wringer. Using magic drains you. Top that off with spontaneously changing sexes and I felt like I could sleep for a week.

“You can’t go out there looking like this,” Ev pointed out. “There’ll be too many questions.” She looked to the other girls. “Sara, she needs one of your bras and a top. Janie, a pair of shorts. I’ve got the shoes. Guys go away. Hold it… take Chase’s luggage. And if I catch even one of you looking I’ll…”

Dane held up his hands in surrender. “We got it. Nobody’s looking.”

The girls went to work. I barely had a chance to see what I looked like before they had me dressed. Janie looked at me painfully as she tied my hair back so I didn’t have to deal with it.

She leaned in. “I’m, so sorry, Chase.”

With a hug she backed away. Well so much for any new girlfriends.

Everything fit fairly well. The bra was a little tight. I could see why Evelyn picked certain clothes from each of them. Sara had the biggest breasts, well she used to anyway. Janie had a really thin waist and a butt that would stop traffic. Ev had the closest shoe size to me. It was still a little big, but maybe by half a size.

“You feel okay?” she asked.

I nodded. “Let’s go home.”

~O~

When we reached the beach, the others were waiting for us. Everyone got a gander at the new me. Needless to say, there were some shocked people.

Dane stepped up since one of the rescue people was on his way over. “This happened to Chase because of us. Everything he did was to save our butts, so if one of you squeals then just remember there are some of us here that will find you and kick your rat ass.”

Pete backed him up with Zach and Brett right alongside.

“Nothing happened here on this island. Nothing at all, just some people helping each other survive.”

That’s when we were interrupted by the rescue guy. “You guys ready to head back to civilization?”

Halfway to one of the launch boats, I stumbled in the sandals, and guess who caught me before hauling me up in his arms like I was a feather pillow.

“I’ve got her,” said Stuart. He looked down at me with a mix of sorrow and amazement. “You’ve done enough for us. Let me do this.”

Honestly I was too tired to care. Evelyn took my staff and I passed out in his arms.

~O~

A news crew was there, but thank god that no cameras were allowed. Representatives from the airlines were kissing our butts from the boat to the transportation that was arranged for us. The entire way, Stuart was never more than a few inches from me. He’d even pushed a reporter away when they tried to get a little too up close and personal.

Who would have thought: all I had to do to earn some respect from him was to almost kill him, save his life, and then turn into a defenseless girl. Easy, right?

Everyone exchanged numbers and/or email addresses to keep in touch. Something about surviving the worst experience in your life makes you actually care about people you barely know.

After the doctors checked us out, we were offered fancy rooms to relax in, but Zach, Evelyn, and I just wanted to go home. A limo dropped us off and made sure we were inside before leaving.

Air conditioning was a blessing. The hot bath with soap and shampoo was a godsend. The new body, I hadn’t a clue.

Fumbling through the mechanics of washing myself, I explored a little and found out that, yes, I was a girl. Shorter, busty, a butt so thick I could probably jump out of a second story window and as long as I landed on it then I’d be fine, all of that and no dick.

You know the messed up part? I wasn’t even groomed in the slightest. My legs were just as hairy as before, well, thinner hair but still. Pits, yep.

I just didn’t have the heart to start living like a girl was supposed to so I dried off and slid under the covers.

My dreams were of the jungle.

The next morning I didn’t have anything clean to wear, so I just donned my robe and went to the kitchen to start the coffee. Yes, the kitchen was stocked. My parents are loaded and it’s a summer beach house. We had people that do that for us.

I stopped with my finger on the power button. My parents. How was I supposed to explain that their son was dead, but he really wasn’t? Instead, they got this different model of child, who was magically powered. That was one of the first things I did when we got home, tested my magic. The Light spell just about blinded me.

“Morning,” Evelyn said as she entered the kitchen. “Oh my god, what did you do to your hair?”

I reached up. “Nothing. I washed it. I even used conditioner.”

She sighed. “And you obviously slept on it without bothering to dry it.”

The bagels didn’t look very fresh so I opted for an omelet. “Pardon me for not knowing every chapter in the guide to being transformed into a girl handbook that someone failed to give me last night.”

Okay, so I was a little snippy, and I hated the sound of my voice. It was all smoky and seductive.

“Sorry,” she said. Then her eyes dropped to my legs and then closed. She turned around and went over to sit at the breakfast table.

“Can the girlification wait until after breakfast?”

“I didn’t say anything,” she said in her defense. “You’re right. There’s no need to push. Oh, by the way, your parents will be here in about six hours.”

The omelet pan clanged on the stove as I whipped my head around.

“I called them last night,” she said. “All of our parents are coming over. They saw the rescue on the news last night and booked the first flight out before I’d even called, so don’t give me that look.”

Busying myself with the food was the only distraction I had.

“So, do you want to look like junglezilla for your unveiling or would you like to look somewhat normal?”

There was no way in hell I was letting her take me to the salon. I’d muddle through on my own. How hard can it be to shave legs?

Evelyn took my measurements and we talked about what kind of clothes I’d wear which wound up being jeans, shorts, boots, and shoes with no heel. She could pick out the shirts I’d wear. I didn’t have a problem with that and truthfully, I had no fashion sense. I knew enough to not look like an idiot when I was a guy. It’s fairly easy as long as you know how to color coordinate which I did.

Another bath and I worked on cleaning myself up properly. I went through three razors. It was ridiculous. To this day I still don’t know how women do it.

Because it was so bushy, I did work on my… ahem, area down there. I didn’t remember it being so thick before. It took me an hour and half to do that. Having to go back so many times because I’d missed a small patch was more than I was used to. When that was done I washed my hair again. I just wet it and reconditioned it.

When I made it back out to the living room, Zach was staring out the patio window.

“Whatcha doing?” I asked.

He jumped and turned around. When he saw me in nothing but a bathrobe, trying to comb my hair out, his eyes bugged and he looked away.

“Sorry.”

I shook my head. “Zach, it’s okay to look. I’m not flashing anything… at least I don’t think I am.”

Testing the waters, he half-turned and just watched me out the corner of his eyes. “You look so different.”

I shrugged. “I knew what I was doing. Don’t feel bad over this, Zach.”

“You wanted to be a girl?”

“No, definitely not, but if it meant that I could protect you and the others then it was a good trade off. Odds are we’d still be on the island and near to being dead if I wasn’t…” I waved a hand around looking for the right words. “All Druidy.”

Frustration was mounting as I struggled with my hair. I was definitely getting it cut off.

“I used to help Carrie sometimes. I could do that for you if you want?”

My shoulders dropped in relief. “You don’t mind?”

He shook his head. “I’ll be right back, sit on the floor in front of the couch.”

Reaching for a pillow to set on the floor I just laughed. I already had a pillow built in my ass. I did grab an afghan. There was no need in scaring the boy to death looking up my robe.

Zach returned with two brushes then made himself comfortable. The nirvana kicked in. I never knew how good it could feel for someone that knows what they’re doing to brush your hair.

He took it slow at first until all the tangles were out and then it was just long, slow, sure strokes. I don’t know how long it took him, because I was seriously in the zone, but by the time Evelyn had returned, it was dry.

She made herself comfortable in my room clipping tags for the stuff she was sure about. I had to try on other things that she was iffy on. Apparently a butt like mine is difficult to fit properly in jeans. They really had to be tried on in the store.

Two pair out of six fit me right. The others made it feel like I was stuffing a basketball into a sock. The bras were perfect -- 34-D in case you’re wondering. She said I could wear certain C-cups, that I was right on the edge between the two. Panties were pretty much generic. If I wanted frilly then I’d have to buy them myself -- which I didn’t.

She got one pair each: sandals, tennis shoes, boots, and flats. No heels in the lot, except for the boots and those were normal boot heels.

“Ev, thanks. You did great and nothing was over the top. I appreciate it.”

She shrugged. “I’m giving you one month to get in the swing of things, Chase. Then I’m going to bug you just like I do all of my other girlfriends.”

“I can live with that.”

After changing into a pair of jeans and a scoop-neck top, which she assured me matched, I stood in front of her. “How do I look?”

She grabbed my hand and dragged me across the hall to her room. “Okay, look in the mirror and tell me what you think you could improve on.”

I grimaced a little knowing what she was going to suggest. “I don’t quite have a unibrow, but it needs work.”

She nodded and pulled out a pair of funky looking tweezers with little finger hole things, like scissors without the sharp parts and grabby parts put in their place. “Here, you see where the inside point where your eyes begin? Pluck everything in-between, nothing else, okay? I don’t want to draw eyebrows on you because you went crazy.”

I looked at her, lost. “You want me to do this?”

Ev smiled. “Honey, I’m not your beautician. I’ll help you, but you’re doing the work. Besides, I’ve been going full force since this morning. You’ve been in the bathtub and flirting with Zach.”

My mouth worked a couple of times before something came out. “I was not flirting. He was helping me with my hair.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Chase, I want you to think about something for me, okay?”

I nodded.

“You saved Zach’s life. You watched over him and became his hero while you were a guy. Then you up and sacrificed your gender so that he wouldn’t turn into an Elf. Then here you are, a sixteen year old boy’s wet dream, sitting between his legs and letting him play with your hair.”

I moaned and leaned forward covering my face with my hands.

“You have to be very careful with him, Chase. His hero-worship has turned into a full blown crush of epic proportions, and he’s still a minor.”

That jolted me out of my agony. Sitting up I looked at her very seriously. “I don’t like him in that way.”

She nodded. “Just watch yourself, Chase. He lost his sister and a really good friend. Zach is very fragile right now.”

“What should I do?”

Evelyn looked thoughtful for a few moments. “Be aware of the distance between you two. Don’t sit too close. Don’t touch him if you can help it. Anything casual can be seen as flirting. Don’t stare at him too much. Treat him like I treated you when you had a crush on me.”

If I could have fallen over, I would have. She smiled, “Now get to work on those brows. They won’t pluck themselves.”

~O~

Once I’d pulled out half the hair on my face, Ev showed me how to arch them properly. Eventually she suggested makeup, but I nixed that idea. I wasn’t quite ready to take that step. Mom and Dad would just have to deal with me the way I was.

When I emerged from the bedroom after slipping on the sandals, Zach was there again, except this time he was watching a news clip about the rescue. It was the weekend and evidently the twenty-four hour news channels didn’t have anything better to do than run specials about the heroes of flight 372.

There were a few interviews with some of the survivors. As agreed, they kept everything low-key. It was a community effort, everyone helped as they could. We purposely split up because of the water situation. Some of them had to stay on the beach while the others stayed with the water.

All in all it was very generic.

Then they started flashing pictures of the people that were lost.

Keeping my eyes on the screen, I sat beside Zach on the couch as passengers that we didn’t recognize and some that we did, flickered to and then away. By the time Derrick and Carrie’s faces were shown, I realized that I was crying. There was even a sniff or two from beside me.

Before I knew it, Zach passed me a tissue and I tried to joke my way out of the situation. “It’s a good thing I didn’t let Ev put makeup on me.”

He didn’t agree. “You’re beautiful even without it.”

My hand froze at my eyes. I pulled the tissue away. “Zach…”

I didn’t know what to say, but that didn’t stop him. “I know. I’m sixteen and you were a guy up until yesterday.” He shook his head. I knew the look of futility in trying to say the right thing. “I’m just saying you’re beautiful. Can’t it just be simple like that?”

With a silent nod, I looked down at the tissue I was holding. “You’re a good man, Zach. I wish you didn’t have to go through all of this crap.”

He edged up on the couch, a little away from me, like he was going to get up. “Evelyn told me everything, about the Elf thing and why you did what you did. I just wanted to say thanks. I like gaming, but I don’t think actually being an Elf is something that I’d enjoy.”

“It’s not a problem.”

He reached out and took my hand. “It is a problem. You could have let us walk in the dark. You could have not done any magic since you found out what it did to you. You could have let me do some to save this from happening. The news reports are a big lie and we both know it. Well I’m here to say that I know what you did, Chase. Whether or not you want to admit it to yourself, you’re a hero, the only hero that was on that island. I appreciate it is all. So thank you for what you did. Maybe one day I can do something half as important.”

Zach stood and left the room. That’s when I saw Ev standing in the hall fanning her face. “Damn, that boy is going to make one hell of a man in a couple of years.”

“Too late. He already is.”

TBC...