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Author's Note: Here's Ch. 4. At some point I might change the picture for this chapter and the ones that follow but I'm not sure yet.

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Chapter Four:

I must have blacked out because the next thing I knew I was waking up. Talk about rude awakenings too. Have you ever woken up in a tree, let me tell you, it’s not pretty. I groaned and twisted, a nasty branch sticking into my back. It hurt like a bitch too, especially because I didn’t seem to be wearing a shirt. I groaned, looking down at my bare breasts. That’s when it hit me, everything at once. First I was naked and a girl and second I was feeling pain. Pain as in a sense of pain, something that shouldn’t be happening because I was wearing the ring. I knew I was wearing the ring because I was still a girl.
But as soon as I looked at my hand, I saw the ring was gone.

I freaked, flailing about. The branch I was on cracked loudly and before I knew what was happening I was falling. Let me tell you, I miss feeling things. I tried to put my hands out to stop my fall and I only succeeded in creating a lot more pain. Luckily, for me I wasn’t that high up or else landing like that would have broken something. As it was, the only thing broken was my pride. I laid there for a few seconds, panting and thinking. Something had clearly happened to me and not the good something. The ring was gone---that much was certain---but with it went my lack of senses. I’m not sure if I was happy about that or not. It would be good to be able to feel things again but there were some disadvantages to that as well.

I groaned again. If the ring was truly gone then why was I still a girl. It didn’t make any sense. Not that any of this did. I tried not to think about what happened. It was too painful to think that I might have killed my mother. Every time I thought about her---in my arms---it made my chest ache. It was horrible to try and forget about it but right now, I needed to figure out where I was and where I was going. I couldn’t go back home because I was sure the DEO were looking for me now. Last night when I fled, it had been in a western direction. I’m not sure why but the only other person I could think of was my aunt Marla.

It was a stupid plan but it was the only one I had at the moment. Now all I needed to do was figure out where I was and maybe get some clothes.

The figuring out where I was part was going to be a lot harder than I thought. Looking around I could tell that I was in a forest somewhere. There was snow on the ground so that at least meant I was still in the Midwest, I think. I don’t pay all that much attention to the weather in other places. The trees all looked kinda familiar at least. I say familiar because they weren’t palm trees or something like that. They were just like the trees around my house, which meant ---or I at least hoped---I was still in Illinois. But that didn’t still help resolve my other problem.

I needed clothes.

I’m not sure how I lost mine. Well, ok technically I wasn’t wearing any. All the clothes I had on before were generated from the ring and now that it was gone. I looked at my hand and sighed heavily. I’m still not sure how that happened. As much as I tried to push that little inconvenience from my thoughts it was hard not to. Looking down was enough to confirm that I had breasts and no ring. The implications of that scared the hell out of me. No ring meant no camouflage and yet the camouflage was me as a girl. But here I was as a girl and with no ring. Did that mean? I groaned, shaking my head. I can’t be a girl. I’m a guy, the Meta change just made me into a demon. This girl thing, I’m not sure what it is but it’s not the real me. It can’t be the real me. It was only supposed to be when I was in public and only for a short time. There had to be some answers. If only there was a way to contact Jade but without the ring…

There I go again, thinking about too many things at once. I had priorities and right now, that wasn’t one of them. Clothes, they were on the top of my list. I took a deep breath and turned around in a clumsy circle, trying to decide which way to go. All I could see was trees and snow. At least I wasn’t cold. So even though I looked like a girl my body appeared to have the same powers I had before. I’m not sure how that was going to work. Did that mean I was still me somewhere inside? Did that mean I could still burn things? I shook my head. I’d worry about that later. I needed to stop getting distracted and stay on target.

I decided to head north. Don’t ask me how I knew I was going north. Let’s just say I’ve always been good with those things and leave it that. So I went north, the snow crunching under my feet as I walked. I tried not to think about it but no matter how hard I tried, the events of last night came into my head. My mother was dead and the DEO was probably looking for me. I think I killed those men too, innocent guys who didn’t deserve to die. Thinking about it made me cry and no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get the image of me burning them alive out of my head. They were gone and I was responsible for it. I was responsible for everything in fact.

I killed my own mother. What kind of monster am I?

My mother was on my thoughts as I walked. I tried not to think about her because it hurt so much but I couldn’t help it. Every time I had a thought, I could see her face in my head. Then I saw the fire and it took every bit of will power I had not to throw up and fall to the ground in a fit of tears. I tried as hard as I could not to think about her but it was difficult. To keep myself preoccupied, I tried to figure out how long it would take for me to get back to civilization. I’m not sure how long I’d been walking but the sun was not overhead when I started so at least a few hours. Without a watch, I couldn’t tell what time it was but it had to be almost noon now.

I sighed. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been outdoors this long. Ok, so that’s not true. The last time was a few days before my change. The coach had dragged me and a few of the others out for a midmorning running. He wanted to whip us all into shape during the off-season. I think I was one of the few players who didn’t play other sports. Connor was on the baseball team like a lot of the other guys, some were wrestlers and a few were a part of the men’s track and field team. There were only six of us who weren’t what the coach liked to call “Year Rounders”. It’s not that I didn’t like the other sports---I did---it’s just that there’s so much work to be done to keep up with all of it.

It was bad enough that coach worked us to the bone even in off-season. He wanted all of us “One Timers” to keep up with the “Rounders” so that they didn’t get better than we were. It was a load of crap as far as I was concerned. But we all humored him. We let him run us through the paces and every once and while we had fun with it. Luckily, he only did it once or twice a month; football was not the only sport he taught. The Athletic department was shorthanded so the Coach---like a lot of the other Coaches---doubled up on his sports. So besides coaching football, he also coached girls’ basketball. So when he wasn’t terrorizing us “One Timers” he was off giving the girls hell.

But I’m digressing again. That last Saturday morning run was two days before my change actually. I remember it because I started to feel a little woozy toward the end. The Coach noticed and made me stop to take a breather. When I didn’t readily return he came over to check on me and could tell I looked off. He let me go home early, which was a Godsend.

Now as I crunched through this snow I couldn’t help but wonder what the Coach would think. I had a lot more endurance now than before and like I said, the cold didn’t seem to affect me. So I could walk around like this---totally nude---and not feel a thing. Ok, once again not true. I could feel it but it didn’t feel any different than if I wasn’t in the cold. For all my body knew it was sunny and eighty-five which was cool and creepy at the same time. Especially when I looked down and saw how hard, my new nipples were getting. That freaked me out some. I tried to look elsewhere but hey I was still a guy in my head and it was a naked chick that I was looking down at. I didn’t care that that chick was currently me.

Kinda messed up huh.

After walking for another hour or two---again, I have no concept of time---I spotted something green up ahead. At first, I thought t was a bush until I got closer and saw a bit of blue with it. It wasn’t a bush, it was a tent. I let out a big sigh of relief. I pushed myself further on. There were two tents and a small fire pit in the center of them. It looked like someone was out here doing a little camping. Why they were doing it in the middle of winter was beyond me. Ok, so it’s February but it’s still too damn cold to be camping.

I approached the little camp slowly, not wanting to startle whoever was in side. Just in case, they were hunters with a gun. When I got close to the first tent, the flap opened. I stopped, frozen in place. The person who clamored out of it had their back to me but I could tell it was a guy. He was about my former height with shaggy black hair. He was kinda gangly even though he was wearing a thick winter coat.

“Hey sis, why do we have to be out here again?”

The other tent flap opened. This one was facing me. A girl’s head poked out. She had black hair too---you could tell they were siblings because they looked alike. She sighed. “I need to do some research for a class.”

The brother groaned. “Its freezing out here, can’t we do it in the mall or something.”

The sister rolled her eyes. “You’re pathetic Marvin.”

She crawled halfway out of the tent and stopped. I think it was then that she noticed me. Her eyes got real big, her mouth dropped open a little. I’m not sure how long it took her brother to notice but he turned his head. I thought he was going to drop dead right there. I know I would have. I sighed and took a step forward, waving a bit.

“Hi, you guys wouldn’t happen to have some clothes I could borrow?”

_____________________________________

“I think this might fit,” said the sister, Wendy, as she handed me one of her bras.

I blushed as I took it from her and then slowly put it on. Thankfully, she didn’t have to show me how to do it. I’ve actually seen enough girls undressing in movies and things like that to know how to put a bra on and take one off. Thank God for that. I might have looked like a real idiot and had more explaining to do. As it was, I think she and her brother were having a hard time believing the story I gave them. After getting over their initial shock of seeing naked girl in the woods, I quickly gave them a bogus story about a prank gone wrong. I’m not sure if they bought it but it was the only one I was going to give. After that, Wendy ushered me into her tent to keep me from her brother’s wandering eyes.

“So you said you’re on some kind of fact finding mission?” I asked as I finished putting on her bra. I winced at the tightness of it. Wendy was kinda flat chested but it would do for now.

She nodded. “I’m doing a research project for my thesis at Iowa State.”

Big shocker of the day for me: I was in Iowa. Don’t ask me how.

“You don’t look old enough to be in college?”

She smiled. “I’m not. I’m a brainiac. Marvin and I are twins belief it or not. Our day’s this super genius but I’m the only one who inherited his IQ. Marvin has his own talents I suppose, I’m not sure what they are but I’m sure he has them.”

We both laughed. I liked her, she reminded me of someone I could hang out with.

I finished getting dressed; Wendy sat at the other end of the tent quietly. It wasn’t all that big but it was big enough for the two of us. Her clothes were a little tight, especially around my chest area but they fit ok. I promised to give them back to her as soon as we got back to civilization. She didn’t seem to mind though. After I finished dressing, we crawled out of the tent. Marvin was sitting on a log, poking at the fire with a stick. When he saw us, he smiled. His eyes lingered on me for a few seconds longer than comfort. I shuddered a bit but masked it under the impression I was cold.

After a few seconds of silence, Wendy spoke. “Marvin we’re cutting this trip short. I want you to start packing up so we can get Ellie here to someplace where she can call for a ride.”

“You don’t have to end your trip on my account.”

“Yes we do,” said Marvin happily, as he got to his feet.

Wendy stuck her tongue out at him. Then she sighed. “It was kinda a bust anyway. I was trying to record the effects on gradual exposure to cold temperatures on the human body but my human subject was uncooperative.”

Marvin groaned as he started taking stuff out of his tent. “You wanted me to sit out here for ten minutes in my underwear.”

“It was for science.”

“Science my ass. You just wanted to see me make a fool of myself.”

“Trust me, Marv,” she said with a laugh. “You don’t need me for that.”

They bantered like that for a while. It made me wish I had a sibling. I smiled as I watched the two of them slowly take their little camp apart. It didn’t take long. I tried to help but Wendy was convinced that I was still recovering. Apparently being exposed to temperatures like this as long as I had been---if she only knew---was supposed to have adverse effects on the human body. I was surprised she didn’t whip out a notepad and start jotting notes down about me. I did help them carry their stuff back to their truck though. I wouldn’t take no for an answer. It took us three trips to walk the half mile to where they parked. When we were all finished, thankfully there was enough room for the three of us in the cab. Marvin got behind the wheel while Wendy say next to him.

It was a mistake because the two of them argued the whole time.

Ten miles and about an hour later, we found a little diner. It looked like something out of the fifties but we were certain it had to have a phone. When we pulled up it was thankfully pretty deserted. There was a big rig and a few motorcycles but that was it. When we went inside, I saw a trucker at the counter and a gruff looking group of guys in a booth. They were dressed in leather so clearly they were the bikers. Marvin nodded to them but they laughed, clearly they thought him to be as much as the doofus as he looked.

Wendy and I went to the counter, Marvin found a booth.

The woman behind the counter was in her fifties, dressed in a yellow waitress uniform. “What can I get you lovely dears?” she asked in a sweet grandmotherly tone.

Wendy smiled. “My friend here was wondering if she could use your phone.”

“Sure sweetie. All we have is pay phone though; it’s in the back next to the restroom.”

I nodded. Wendy turned and handed me some change from her pocket. I took it, promising to pay her back as soon as I got some money. It was a lie but I think it helped. I walked to where the woman pointed, finding the pay phone off to the side. In truth, I had no one to call. I suppose I could have called Cassie and tried to explain my side of things. She did work for the DEO now. But I’m not sure if they’d be able to track me or not. I groaned. I picked up the handset, about to pretend to dial when I realized there was someone I could call. I took a deep breath, inserted my quarter and called Marla.

She picked up on the second ring. “Hello?”

“Aunt Marla” I said, sighing. “It’s me, Eddie.”

She didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Then she sighed heavily. “I didn’t recognize you at first. Your mother told me what happened but I find that hard to believe.”

“Its true” I said, nearly choking up. I needed to tell her everything else too.

But she beat me to it. “They have a picture of you all over the news. An Agent Faraday called me an hour ago, wanted me to report you if you called.” She sighed heavily. “Tell me you didn’t do what I they think you did.”

I shook my head, tears in my eyes. “I can’t because I don’t know.”

I quickly gave her a rundown on what happened. The voice of the phone asked for more money so I put in another quarter.

“Where are you now?”

“I can’t tell you that. Just know that I’m safe for the moment.”

There was another few seconds of silence on her end. “I want you to come here. I’m not sure how but I want to help you. The government thinks you’re a dangerous murderer but I know my nephew…ahhh….niece or whatever you are now.” She laughed. “If you tell me where you are I can wire you some cash of something, help you buy a bus ticket.”

I bit my lip. Did I want to put her in this position? Well I had no one else to turn too so I told her my approximate location. She said she’d make some calls and wire the cash to the nearest bank. I told her to put it under the name Wendy White and asked her not to ask any questions. We talked for a few minutes more then I told her I’d hopefully see her in a few days. When I hung up, I felt pretty bad. I hated getting her involved in all of this but what choice did I have. I was scared to death. I killed my mother and several other people and now I was apparently a fugitive. I needed help and right now, she was the only one I had.

I hung up the phone and turned around, sighing. Life couldn’t suck more. Then I saw the TV mounted on the wall and the newscast.

The volume was already up. “Government authorities are looking for this girl,” said the news caster, an Artist’s rendering of me appeared on the screen. “She’s wanted in connection to a dangerous act of arson and questioning for the deaths of three Chicago police officers. If anyone has any information they’re asked to call…”

I tuned out after that, cursing. So they already had a picture of me. I looked around, hoping that no one here would make that connection. When I looked back into the diner, no one was looking at me. I’m not sure, if they didn’t notice or if they were being extra suspicious. I took a deep breath and slowly walked over to the booth where Marvin and Wendy were sitting. Wendy smiled at me when I sat down, Marvin gave me a look. I knew from that look that he put two and two together. I looked from them to the door, wondering if I could run before he ratted me out.

“It’s not what you think,” I said softly.

He didn’t seem so convinced. “Did you or didn’t you?”

I sighed. “I did but it was not in my control.”

Wendy butted in. “I believe her,” she said quickly though even she didn’t look so convinced.

“I can’t explain it, at least not here. But I swear I’m not a bad person.”

Marvin nodded. “You might be able to convince us but not them.”

He gestured his head over at the bikers. They were murmuring to themselves, one of them caught me looking and quickly glanced away. I cursed. So they did notice it was me. The worst part was that they were between me and the door. If I tried to run, they’d definitely try to stop me. I tried to weigh my options but running was the best one I had.

“We have to go now.”

“Who’s this we stuff?” said Marvin.

“We walked in with her idiot,” said Wendy sternly. “There’s no way they’re not going to believe we aren’t involved.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

Wendy smiled. “Don’t worry about it. You can make it up to us but telling us what’s going on.”

I nodded. Then I slowly got to my feet, pretending to stretch. Wendy did the same but Marvin was too clumsy about it, banging his knee on the table and cursing loudly. I drew the attention of everyone, including the bikers. They looked at me then at the door. It didn’t take them long to realize what we were doing. They got up too, I groaned. This was all I needed. There were three of them; they were burly, far too much for the three of us kids to get around. If there was trouble---no doubt now---then they’d definitely come out on top.

“Just let us go and things won’t get complicated,” said Wendy.

The lead biker smirked. “You and zit face can leave but the pretty red head stays here.”

Wendy puffed up her chest. “Not going to happen.”

I sighed. “Wendy, Marvin and you aren’t involved with this. Take the guy’s advice and leave.”

She shook her head. “I’m not leaving you to these guys.”

The biker stepped forward. “You should have listened to your pretty friend.”

He grabbed Wendy by the arms, squeezing hard. She screamed out. Marvin rushed forward to help her but one of the other bikers punched him in the gut then gave him a violent shove. He crashed into a bunch of tables, getting tangled up in a few chairs. The bikers laughed. Wendy screamed louder as the one holding her spun her around, her back to his chest. He put his hand on her throat, glaring at me. My anger flared, I couldn’t help it. Wendy and Marvin were innocents, two people who helped out a stranger in trouble. There was no way I could let them both get hurt for me.

I’m not sure what happened but I could feel it rising.

My voice took on a dangerous, rumbling tone when I spoke. “Let her go now.”

The biker’s eyes widened a bit. I reached out toward him, my dainty girly hand transforming into a red talon. I gripped his forearm, sending red-hot pain into it. He screamed at the top of his lungs, loosening his grip on Wendy. She pulled away from him quickly, rubbing her throat. She ran and stood behind me. I continued to hold the biker’s arm as he screamed. The others stared on in horror. His two biker buddies came at me, one with a chair. He slammed the chair onto my back. It shattered but I felt no pain. I snapped around, my other hand turning into a talon. I grabbed his leather shirtfront and threw him backwards. He sailed into the far wall, cracking the surface with his body.

The third biker stopped his assault. “Demon” he whispered, making the sign of the cross on his chest.

I turned to Wendy, still holding the screaming biker by the arm. “Get your brother quickly” I said, my voice back to normal.

She nodded numbly.

I let go of the screaming biker, throwing him to the floor. I turned to the stunned waitress and trucker, smiling sadly. “All they had to do was let me go and this could have been avoided.”

The waitress nodded. Wendy helped Marvin to his feet; my hands went back to normal. I looked at them, shocked at what I did. I’m not sure what it was but I didn’t like it. I wanted to crumple into a ball and cry. Instead, I sucked it up and slowly followed Wendy as she half dragged, half-carried Marvin out the door. Once we got outside, I looked over at the motorcycles. I glared at them, fearing that the bastards might follow in retaliation. I opened my mouth and a stream of fire emitted from it, engulfing the bikes in flame.

“Holy shit” gasped Marvin as I turned to him and his sister.

“We have to go now,” I said, pointing to the truck.

Wendy nodded but Marvin wasn’t done.

“What the hell are you?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I have no idea.”

_______________________________

We made a couple of stops when we got into the nearest town. The first was at the nearest bank. I hoped that Marla had been true to her word and wired me the cash she said she would. I went inside with Wendy while Marvin stayed in the truck nursing his wounds. On the ride from the diner, I explained everything as best as I could. I told them my whole story, afraid that if I left anything out they’d hate me. Marvin thought it was pretty cool but I don’t think he like the “MIB” after us part. His words not mine though it did make sense. I’m not sure they believed me about the whole being a guy thing though. I told them about Cassie and they believed me a little more after that.

“You’re one of those Metas then?” asked Wendy as we walked into the bank.

I nodded. “Something like that I think.”

“Are your power is fire?”

I nodded. “I think so.”

She must have noticed I was scared because she reached over and gave my arm a squeeze. “I might not understand everything but I’m going to help.”

“Its not like you have much of a choice now” I said, sighing. “I’m really sorry about getting you and Marvin involved.”

She shook her head. “We chose to stay. Our parents taught us never to abandon someone who was in trouble.”

I nodded. “I’ll make this up to you I swear.”

At the teller, we told her what we hoped would work. She typed up on the computer and nodded at us. Aunt Marla came through big time, wiring me about two thousand bucks. I’m not sure how she knew Wendy’s bank account information but I didn’t care. Marla was a big time Hollywood Producer with a lot of connections. She did a lot of things that most people tried not to ask explanations for. When we got the money, Wendy’s mouth dropped open. Mine kinda hit the floor too. The teller smiled and we left.

“So we good?” asked Marvin when we got into the truck.

“Oh yeah” Wendy and I said at the same time.

We did some shopping after that. All three of us decided it might be a good idea to get me some kind of disguise. So the first place we went was a clothing store. We spent about a hundred in there, getting me a lot of clothes I might need. I wore a brand new hoodie out of the store, the hood up and covering my head. In the next store, we bought me a pair of sunglasses. It wasn’t much but it went a long way to hide my face at least. It took us about an hour to do all the shopping we needed to do. At the end of it we stopped at a fast-food restaurant, all three of us were starving.

“So what’s the plan?” asked Marvin as he munched on his sister’s fries.

I looked at my new watch. It was too early to strike out anywhere extensive tonight. “We should probably find some place to crash.”

“We could always go home,” said Marvin “our house is only a couple of miles from here.”

Wendy smacked him in the back of the head. “And drag Mom into this mess?”

He rubbed his head. “Bad idea, sorry.”

She glared at him. I smiled. “We can get a motel and then in the morning you two can take me to the bus depot or whatever.”

“Just you?” asked Wendy, I nodded.

“I’ve put the two of you through enough already. I need to get to California and I can’t let you guys make that trip with me.”

Marvin tried to argue but in the end, Wendy was the voice of reason as usual. He grumbled a lot through the rest of the meal. Wendy asked me all sorts of questions, in a hushed tone of course. She wanted to know all about my powers. I told her as much as I could, leaving out the part about my strange dreams of course. Then I told her more about what happened at the spa, about Cassie and Amy. Even Marvin was impressed by that. I think he got little hearts in his eyes when I talked extensively about Cassie. He frowned a bit when I told him she was dating my best bud.

We left the restaurant and drove until it was dark. We put the town behind us, trying to put as much distance from us and the little diner back there as we could. On Marvin’s road map, we found a bus depot in a town three towns over. We all decided it might be the best bet. So with exhaustion looming, we found a roadside motel. Marvin took some cash and got a room for the night. WE could only get one with a single bed, which meant he was sleeping in the chair. On the news that night, we saw the diner. I suppose it was inevitable. The newscaster talked to witnesses, including the lone Biker I left unharmed.

“It was some kind of demon” he said angrily then pointed behind him. “I mean look at what she did to my bike.”

I smiled at the charred remains.

“Who is this Red Devil?” asked the newscaster.

Marvin muted it. “That is a cool name, you should copyright it.”

Wendy hit him with a pillow and we laughed. It felt good to laugh again.

After watching some more TV, we went to bed. I didn’t feel the least bit uncomfortable getting into bed with Wendy. I thought maybe turning into a chick would make me instantly like guys like it did with Cassie. But thankfully, I was still into chicks. Wendy was really cute but she wasn’t really my type. Besides, I think I was still kinda hung up on Cissie. I thought about her as I lay there, trying my hardest to get to sleep. I thought about Wendy and Marvin too. They were complete strangers, I’d only met them hours ago and yet they were already knee deep in this.

I sighed, promising myself to make it up to them.

That night---after falling asleep---I had another dream. This one was all about fire again. I was back in my house and everything was burning. I was in my room but I wasn’t alone. Wendy and Marvin were there too. They were tied up, back to back, coughing and struggling. I tried to get to them but the flames were too high. I called out to them but they couldn’t hear me. Then I heard laughing, maniacal laughing that I knew belonged to the demon. I lunged off my bed toward them and then hit the floor hard. It snapped me awake and I found myself on the floor of the motel room. I jumped up, half expecting the room to be on fire.

It wasn’t thank God.

I sighed and walked over to the bed. I sat on the edge and looked down at the sleeping Wendy. She and her brother were good people but the dream had disturbed me too much. I couldn’t let them continue any further with me. I sighed heavily, realizing what I had to do. I know I promised them that I’d wait until morning but there was just no way I could. I had to get out of here and now. I got on my shoes, grabbed the pack with my new clothes and paused at the nightstand. I bit my lip, looking at Marvin’s keys. I sighed heavily again, debating what to do.

“Shit, I’m sorry guys,” I said, snatching up the keys.

I wrote a quick note and left them four hundred bucks. I know it wasn’t much but I promised to send them more as soon as I got to where I was going. I glanced back from the doorway before I left, hating my decision but I had no choice. There was no way I could drag them into this any further. I took a deep breath and left the motel room.

I got into Marvin’s truck; made sure no one saw me leave and drove west.