Disclaimer:
~Big thanks to DC comics for making the fun characters, and to Lilith Langtree for making the universe to play in.
Author's Note: The fifth part of Zee's story. It's mostly a filler chapter. A very big thanks to my editor and beta readers for helping with the edits.

Chapter 5
Sunday was here before I knew it. I had spent most of the night lying awake in bed thinking about everything, since I couldn’t fall asleep due to my energy level being high after waking up and seeing the final results of the transformation. I thought about the conversation I overheard between my parents. That was really bugging me for some reason.

Why would my mother not bother to talk with me? Why was she hiding from me? What was this curse they spoke of, and why was it placed on me? Would I be able to remove it? Why did my dad not bother to tell me the truth until this chain of events started? I had so many questions that needed answering.

And then I thought about the magic training session today. If the spell circle my dad had made was supposed to contain my powers, why did they get so out of hand? The wind blew through the neighboring trees when I tried to manipulate the air, and the fire got loose and set fire to the neighboring rocks when I was experimenting with the fire. There was something else going on, since my dad said that my magic shouldn’t have affected the surrounding environment.

Also, there was the question of who that assassin was who attacked Elissa and me the other day. What was his role in this? And who was he working for? There were just so many questions that needed answering, and I didn’t know how I was going to answer them, but I was determined to do so.

I rolled over and glanced at the digital clock on my nightstand. It read half past six. It was still dark out, due to Daylight Savings Time. I rolled back onto my back and gazed up at the ceiling, lost in thought.

As daylight crept into my window, I slowly sat up on my bed and decided to check my email and other things on the internet. I felt like killing some time this morning before breakfast and I haven’t had the time to check it since Friday night.

My email was littered with Facebook messages from various friends who were impressed with the magic show that I performed during the talent show. ‘If they only knew those were just tricks,’ I snickered to myself. There were also a few “Get well soon!” messages mixed in. I thought those were nice, but again thought, ‘If they only knew….’

A rapping noise came from my door.

“Zee! Are you awake yet? You’ve been asleep for nearly sixteen hours!” I heard Elissa shout from behind my door.

I surmised that she must’ve spent the night again. However, I was now starting to wonder why her parents were letting her do that. I closed the Firefox browser and opened the door.

“I’ve been up for hours, Elissa,” I replied.

Elissa gasped when she saw what I now looked like. She then started giggling after looking me over.

“What?”

“Nice pajamas, they sure don’t leave anything to the imagination.”

I looked down and realized that my once-too large night shirt was now too short.

“Eeep!” I tried pulling down the shirt to cover my loose boxer shorts.

“Clothes today,” Elissa said assertively.

“You’re kidding, right? I hate clothes shopping.”

“Oh, yes, I’m very sure. Besides, you don’t have anything to wear now.”

“Uhh…,” I started before I closed my mouth, realizing that she was right. “Then, how am I going to get some clothes to go clothes shopping? Hmm…?”

“Simple, we’ll go to the Goodwill, or I'll go get something for you to borrow,” she slyly said, heading back to her room to change her own clothes.

“Oh, great…,” I replied, heading back to my computer.

I flipped the Internet back on again, but didn’t get very far since Elissa quickly reentered the room with a tape measure.

“What are you doing with that?” I said nervously.

“What do you think? Since you can’t go out to get clothes in your current state, I’m going to do it for you.”

Snapping the tape measure, she added, “Now, hold still.”

---------------------------------

After being measured every which way by Elissa, she jotted down my measurements on a piece of paper so we could go find some clothes that would actually fit me comfortably. Before we went out though, she dashed off to her house to take care of something. She didn’t tell me what it was, but she did say that it was important for what we were going to be doing.

I sighed, and thought, ‘Must be a girl thing. Great…, something for me to look forward to.’

I may now have a girl’s body, but my mind was still male. Although, I had a hunch that Elissa was going to do her best to work on feminizing my mind to an extent. I did know that she would least try to teach me how to act like one.

I managed to down some breakfast quickly, before sneaking back up to my room. I had no intention of letting my dad see the way I was dressed right now. I may be his offspring, but that doesn’t mean he can look at me unintentionally showing off. Besides, I’d have a hunch that he would flip out if he did see me. I heard another rap on my door, Elissa’s knock from before, and I went to go open it. She quickly rushed into the room with a large plastic bag.

“Shut the door, you don’t want to put on a show,” she ordered.

I obliged and then looked at her with wonder, “What are you doing?”

“Letting you borrow some of my loose fitting clothes so we can go out,” she said, tossing me a sports bra.

“Uhh, Elissa…,” I said examining the garment, “I’m not sure this will fit.”

“What do you mean? You look like we’re both the same size up top,” she said, with a baggy shirt and a pair of yoga pants draped over her arm.

I turned around to take my night shirt off. When Elissa saw what I was doing she giggled a lot.

“What are you afraid of, Zee? We’re both girls here.”

I managed to squeeze into the sports bra and turned around for the yoga pants. I thought, ‘Why did my breasts have to be this big?’

Elissa must’ve been thinking along similar lines when she retorted, “Whoa! I didn’t realize you were that big up top.”

I felt a lot of blood rush to my face. I didn’t know if I should feel embarrassed or proud of that.

“Looks like we’re going to have to spend a good deal of time getting you measured when we hit Victoria’s Secret,” she added, handing me the other clothes.

I flushed again, thinking how that was one place I wouldn’t have been caught dead in last week.

“And, we're also going to have to hit JCPenney and a shoe store, and probably a lot of other stores in the mall,” Elissa continued.

“A lot of stores?” I said alarmed. “Just how many are we talking about here?”

“Six or seven,” Elissa replied, shrugging.

“Oh, boy,” I replied with sarcasm, “It definitely sounds like it's going to be a fun day.”

Elissa looked at me with an evil gleam in her eye, and stated, “Oh, yes. It most certainly will be.”

-----------------------

After I was dressed somewhat decently in Elissa's clothes, we made our way downstairs to tell my dad that I needed to go get some clothes in town. He knew that we had no women's clothes in the house, and Elissa's clothes were feeling snug on me. Elissa was very excited to be going shopping, since I needed to go shopping for a whole new wardrobe.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” my dad’s said in a disapproving tone, just as we hit the bottom of the landing.

“Shopping,” Elissa replied.

“You’re not going out dressed like that!” my dad said pointedly.

“And how should I go? Last time I checked, we don’t have any women’s clothes in the house,” I calmly replied.

“Elissa, do you have anything that Zee could borrow?” my dad said, turning to her.

“Ummm…, she already is.”

My dad face palmed himself and sighed, “Oh, why isn’t your mother here to help you?”

“Yeah,” I pressed on, “where is Mom?”

“Never mind about that. Do you have your cell phone on you, since I can’t really say no to you going shopping for some decent clothes.”

“Yes, Dad,” I replied taking it out of my pocket and showing him, along with my wallet.

“Do you have enough money to buy everything?”

“Uhh…, no?” I replied.

My father sighed deeply, muttered something under his breath, and then started pacing for a bit.

“Dad? Can I borrow your credit card?” I asked a few moments later.

Before my dad could answer, there was a loud knock at the door. My dad walked over to go answer it. Elissa and I both looked to see who it was. On the front porch, just outside of the doorway were two guys dressed in suits. They looked very imposing and like these were two people you messed around with only if you had a death wish.

“Mr. Zatara,” the first one spoke.

The guy who spoke wore a fedora, a brown leather jacket, blue jeans, and was definitely pulling off an Indiana Jones type vibe. The second guy wore dark sunglasses, and a very crisp black suit. He also sported a completely shaved head.

“Yes?”

“My name is Mr. Teller, this is Mr. Penn. We work for SoM,” he stated in a government monotonic, imposing voice.

“Ah, I was wondering when you would show up. Please have a seat in the living room.”

My father showed them towards the couch, and both of them nodded in thanks.

“Zee, Elissa, please join us,” my father said, before disappearing into the room.

We cautiously walked into the room and took a seat on one of the armchairs. My father took the other chair, while the two government goons sat down on the chair.

“You mean the Penn and Teller?” Elissa asked, looking at them.

The two men didn’t look like they had much of a sense of humor.

One of them said dryly, “No relation.”

I thought, ‘Well, at least it wasn’t Scully and Mulder.’

“Mr. Zatara,” said Penn, “we’ve come here due to the prearranged conditions that you laid out for us several years ago.”

“Prearranged conditions?” I asked.

Teller and Penn just ignored me and Teller continued, “We are here because you said you will need a new identity for….”

Penn pulled out a small spiral-bound notebook and finished, “One Zane Zatara, your son. Where is he since he should be included in this meeting?”

I hesitantly raised my hand and said, “Umm… that was me.”

Both Penn and Teller looked at me with interest and Teller said, “Was?”

“Yeah…,” I said embarrassedly.

Penn calmly asked, “Okay, then. Would you care to explain how this came about?”

I gave him the Cliffs Notes version of how I became Zatanna. I thought to myself, ‘If he wants the details he can get them from my father who knows all about this.’

During my explanation, Penn and Teller just silently nodded every so often during my explanation. When I was finished, Teller said, “Well, Miss Zatara, it seems that the personal account that your parents had set up for you is going to need to be activated.”

“Personal account?” I asked confused.

“Yes, in the event of one of several different scenarios taking place, your account was to become active and turned over to you. The account is to provide you with a new identity and stipend to aid you in any and all financial burdens that you may encounter.”

“What? Just like that, a new identity and money?” I asked.

“The identity is no problem to take care of, and it will make Zatanna Zatara just as real, and maybe even more than Zane Zatara was,”

Penn said. “The money, however, will be released to you gradually, to avoid a teenage spending spree.”

“Makes sense,” Elissa commented. “Will she have enough to get a new wardrobe today?”

“Yes, she will have five thousand dollars to start with, with a couple thousand dollar payments to begin in January.”

“Sweet!” Elissa cheered. “We can definitely get everything you will need to look your best for school tomorrow without too much trouble.”

“Oh, I’m so thrilled,” I replied reluctantly.

I still wasn’t looking forward to shopping, even though I now didn’t need to use my dad’s credit card to pay for everything.

“So, are there any other questions?” Penn asked, as he and Teller both took to their feet.

“Yes, I have one. Who do you work for? The government?”

“We work for the same organization that your father belongs to, the Sentinels of Magic.”

“The Sentinels of Magic?” I asked. “Who are they?”

“I think we’d best let your father tell you about that, since he was a founding member of the group.” Teller said.

Before I could ask my dad about that Penn stated, “Here are your account and new identification cards.” He reached into his suit jacket and produced a small manila envelope.

I opened it, and saw all of the legal documents that I had under Zane’s name now reflected Zatanna instead.

“Damn, no driver’s license,” I said sullenly.

“You’re not sixteen yet,” my father said. “But, we still can go get it on your birthday. I did make that promise to you, and I will honor it.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Well, I think that we had best be going,” Penn commented.

“Indeed, good luck, Miss Zatara,” Teller said, tipping his hat.

The two of them left quickly and I was left staring at my dad with even more questions.

“Well, I think you two had better go shopping before it gets too late. You go and have fun.”

My father left the living room quickly, and reentered his study. He emerged a few minutes later with the car keys in his hand.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

I was left flabbergasted as my dad, seemed to reverse his stance so quickly.

“Weren't you against this?” I asked.

“Yes, but seeing as you need clothes for school, I will take you and Elissa shopping. It also makes sense, since neither one of you can drive yet.”

“Okay...,” I pondered.

“Also, I can keep a discreet distance to let the two of you shop.”

“Hmm...,” I still mused.

For some reason, I thought my dad was up to something. He had been acting suspiciously for the past couple of days, when all of this had started.

“What are you up to, Dad?”

He sighed heavily and replied, “I just want to be close by in case something happens to you. I don't want a repeat of yesterday.”

“Thanks, Dad.” I replied.

-----------------------------

We hit the Sausalito mall about half an hour later. As soon as we were out of the car and into the mall, Elissa grabbed hold of my arm and started dragging me to the nearest clothing store. My dad followed behind at a good distance, but he managed to keep his eye on the two of us.

Our first stop was, no surprise, Victoria’s Secret. I groaned loudly when we entered the store. Elissa could feel my hesitation as I was trying to pull my arm back.

“Relax, Zee. You have nothing to be afraid of here. Plus, this is a necessary first stop to help make you feel a bit more comfortable and will help when get you try on some new street clothes.”

“How?” I asked, completely bewildered.

“Well, you can't feel comfortable without feeling comfortable everywhere, now can you?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I reluctantly agreed.

“Good, now let's see if I can find someone to help measure you to be fitted,” she asserted.

“Fitted?” I said shocked.

“Yup, we have to get the best fit for you.”

I groaned again as she led me to the counter. She found someone to help us out, and a short time later, I found out my measurements. Elissa and I were both surprised when we found out that I was a 36 DD in my bust! I think Elissa was also jealous of how big they were, too. My waist was only 30 inches and my butt was 36 inches, too!

We picked up a good deal of underwear from the store, with me walking out in a new pastel blue bra and panties, underneath the clothes that Elissa was letting me borrow. We made our way to the next store, JCPenney.

Elissa raced around the women’s section pulling all sort of shirts, blouses, jeans, and skirts off the racks, and handing them to me and my dad.

“Elissa? What are you doing?”

“Picking out everything that you are going to need to create all sorts of different outfits. You need to have a wide variety, wearing the same thing for more than one day just doesn’t work anymore.”

I groaned again, and my dad simply smiled, and said, “She seems to be having fun.”

“Yeah, she is.”

“Well, what’s the matter with you? Do you think I’m enjoying this anymore than you are?”

“I would laugh if you were. It’s just…, you know I was never a fan of going clothes shopping.”

“True. But, try to have some fun, maybe Elissa will let you in on the secret of having fun while going clothes shopping.”

I giggled at that. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Elissa came back with the last of the clothes that she had picked out. “There that should be good for now.”

“That’s a relief. Now, can we go buy all of these?” I said, sounding like I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could.

“No, silly. First, you have to go try them on, and anything you don’t want we can just leave off to one side. Everything else, we’ll buy.”

I groaned again, as Elissa led me to the women’s changing room. She started taking the blouses and the shorts, and began mixing and matching various things for what seemed like hours. She also mixed in the jeans and the skirts. During each of the outfit’s tryouts, she had me try to walk like a model and turn around before she either passed judgment or wanted me to change one clothing piece out for another.

Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, we settled on my wardrobe. I walked out of the department store wearing a purple spaghetti strap top with a pair of white jeans. Although, my flip-flops were really starting to kill me now.

Elissa took notice, and dragged me off to the nearest shoe store. We left there with at least two pairs of sandals, two pairs of sneakers, and two pairs of three inch heels. I ended up wearing a pair of white sneakers out of the store.

We ended up making several trips between the mall and the car, which helped to break my new shoes in. It also helped to make me feel a little more comfortable in my new clothes. I had to admit it, wearing these clothes felt good and definitely better than any of my old clothes.

Just when I thought we were all done, Elissa dragged us over to the mall’s food court. This food court I liked better than the malls in San Francisco. This food court opened up to the outside so people could enjoy a sunny day in the Bay and do their shopping at the same time.

Elissa grabbed a Caesar salad, my dad picked up a salami sub sandwich, and I was craving a good juicy burger and fries. Elissa looked at me funny when she saw what I grabbed.

“What?” I asked, sipping some of my soda.

“Zee, you have to pay more attention to what you eat. It’s a lot easier for girls to become fat than guys.”

“Oh, fun.”

I was not happy about that. If I had to eat smaller portions and take out some of my favorite foods altogether, I wouldn’t be very happy to be around.

“That may not be necessary,” my father interrupted, after swallowing some of his sandwich. “The usage of her powers requires a lot of energy. What the body doesn’t need to sustain it goes to help fueling her magical powers.”

“Really? Sweet!”

“But, not all of the magical energy comes from what you eat.”

“Oh.”

“Still, you should be alright as long as you don’t overdo it.”

“Okay, dad.”

Elissa stared daggers at me. Clearly, she didn’t like the idea of me being able to eat what I want and not have to worry about it too much. As we enjoyed our meal, I noticed something odd. From the direction of San Francisco, a couple of horses and pigs came running through the streets.

“Now, there’s something you don’t see every day,” Elissa commented.

I saw a couple of people from Animal Control in their van race by to try to get a handle on the situation. ‘Probably just a few animals getting loose from a nearby ranch,’ I thought, returning to my meal.

-----------------------

After lunch, Elissa dragged me to some more stores. We ended up buying a couple of purses, a few accessories, makeup, and some jewelry. Then, she dragged me over and made me get my ears pierced for the earrings. Although, I did like the gold studs they put in my ears until I could take them out for another pair of earrings. We also stopped by a got me some of the unmentionables, Elissa assured me that she would be there to help me out when my monthly visitor came a knocking on my door. I was not looking forward to that.

It was five o’clock in the evening when we managed to get back home, and nearly six once we swapped everything out of my room. Also, I discovered that my dad made a few calls on his cell to get me a few pieces of furniture for my room that girls use, most notably a vanity where I could put on my makeup.

Eventually, we managed to reorganize my room to my liking so everything fit and I didn’t lose too much. I still had a bunch of my guy posters and interests around the room, and I wondered if they were next to be phased out. Elissa went home at around seven, since her parents didn’t want her to spend the night for the third straight night, and it was a school night to boot.

Dad had ordered pizza while Elissa and I were working on my room, and he called up for me to come down when it got here. We ended up eating it, while watching the news.

“In local news today,” Brett Cannon, the NBC Bay Area news anchor reported, “the de Young Museum has announced the opening of its new Greek exhibit this December. They will be showcasing artifacts from the era of Greek colonization in Sicily, along with an artifact that suggests a part of Greek mythology was actually true.”

The reporter continued as various images of the Greeks splashed on the screen. “That would be something, wouldn’t it, Dad?” I asked, after swallowing some of my pepperoni pizza.

“Uhm-hmm,” he replied, through his pizza.

“Also,” Brett Cannon continued, “a cargo ship that was bound for Sausalito was reported stolen from its dock. Port authorities have no idea on how this was accomplished, as there were no reports of anyone aboard the ship after she put into port. However, authorities in Alameda recovered the vessel later today, when the ship entered the port over there, and collided with the dock. No one was hurt in the incident. Bay Area authorities are currently investigating these strange turn of events.”

“Now, that’s unusual,” my dad commented, thinking about it for a while later.

“Yeah, who would steal a ship out of one harbor, only to put it in another across the bay?”

“Who indeed?” he said, mysteriously.

We continued watching the news and the weather report for tomorrow was supposed to be a chilly start, but should warm up into the lower 60s. Elissa said something about wearing a hoodie and jeans to school, under those kinds of weather conditions. It was fine by me, since I probably would be wearing that if I were still a guy.

Before we changed the channel to watch one of our Sunday shows, there was a strange report about the animals that were running amok through Sausalito. The authorities spent the better part of the afternoon rounding them up, but they didn’t say where the animals came from.

We watched television for a couple of hours afterward before he told me to get some sleep, due to it being a school day tomorrow. I pointed out that Zee was registered as a student there, not Zatanna.

However, my father gave me a sly look and said, “Don’t you worry about that. Now get to bed.”

I nodded and went to go get cleaned up. Elissa had laid out a nice purple nightie for me to wear to bed tonight. I humored her and said that I would wear it. After I had put it on, I found that it was quite comfortable to wear, and I did enjoy the feeling of it against my skin.

I did one last check of my email, found nothing of interest, and went to bed. I went to bed hoping that I wasn’t going to be made fun of yesterday by some of the jerks that loved to torment those who were different. After all, my classmates had seen me as Zane and not Zatanna. Tomorrow was definitely going to be an interesting day to say the least, as I drifted off to dreamland.