~o~O~o~

 

 

Insert standard disclaimer here: The one that reminds everyone that this is a work of fiction. No one is real and any resemblance to someone who is real is just the reader's imagination. This is also a Fan Fiction set in the Whately Story Universe. No Canon characters were permanently harmed in the making of this story. I hope. :)

 

Note: Ended up adding 1k words to this one. There is a not so secret link into what I was thinking about during one of the scenes. I really struggled with that scene too. Thanks to djkauf for fixing my many mistakes!

** Chapter 24 **

 

Crap!

 

It’s only 0107 hours and I’m feeling all bright eyed and bushy tailed, which kind of makes me feel glad that I don’t really have a tail.  I don’t understand why, but I feel like I just got a perfect eight hours of sleep. I try to go back to sleep. I really do. I should need more sleep, damn it, but I just can’t get back to sleep. I wonder if that brain stuff has reduced my need for sleep.  That would suck, because without needing to sleep for eight or more hours per day, I will get bored and my mom might expect me to do more chores around the house or something. Now what am I going to do until everyone else wakes up?

 

I look over and just watch Nikki for a few minutes as she peacefully sleeps. Even with my colorless low-light vision, she looks so beautiful.  I feel something tugging at my heart and I can’t stop myself from smiling.  It really does feel like we are related.  Technically, I guess she can’t be my “cousin”, but if that is what she wants to call me, than who am I to complain?

 

I slide out of bed and slip into my new slippers before I sneak out of my room and down the stairs. I’m not used to wearing slippers, but my vision, coupled with my improved hearing and new body makes sneaking easy. Normally, my mom’s bionic hearing would catch me trying to sneak down the stairs.  Not tonight though. It’s almost like I really am Whisper.

 

I am a little hungry, so I open the fridge and try to find something to eat. I see a plastic baggy full of left-over turkey. Intellectually, I know that the turkey would make a perfect sandwich, but I just can’t dredge up the energy to fight the feeling of general disinterest. I sigh when the left-over salad grabs my attention.  That, plus some dinner rolls with butter to munch on with a tall glass of milk.  Ahh, milk, it does the body good!

 

Okay, it’s not morning yet. Now what?  I sneak into the den and grab the remote. I doubt that I would’ve had time to fix it before I left in the morning, but now, I have nothing but time to make it right before everyone else wakes up.

 

I add some smarts to the remote’s programming this time. I have it set a flag so it will remember what function the user last selected.  That way, when they want to switch from watching a DVD to just listening to the Stereo, the remote will know that it has to turn off the DVD player and TV, but leave the Stereo on and change it to CD.  I do the same kind of programming for the Cable/DVR button and when I test it out with every combination I can think of and it works.

 

I can’t help feeling good about that so I grab the DVR remote next.  As I hold the remote in my hand, I just somehow know exactly how it works and how to make it do more than it should.  I find all the secret control codes and remap the crappy thirty second skip button to use the undocumented “Commercial Skip” code.  There is even a comment in the code that makes it sound like the programmer was pissed about having to cut that feature out of the product.  I think about just reprogramming the DVR remote to work like the Universal remote.  That would cut down the number of remotes needed just to watch TV, but I’m pretty sure that if I did that, only I would be able to figure out how to use the thing.

 

Oh, what the heck.  I copy over all the programming, but tuck it behind a function layer so that if I enter 666 on the number pad, it will activate the universal remote functions and remap the buttons to work like that remote.  I use 777 to turn it back.  Maybe I will let my dad know about that little feature when I get back.

 

Well, that only took twenty minutes. Now what?  I decide to check my email and get caught up with my favorite websites on my parent’s PC.  I can easily waste an hour or more just surfing the web.

 

I sit down in front of the PC and the monitor snaps to life as soon as I move the mouse.  It is asking me for the screen saver password, but it has been ages since I last needed to use this PC for anything.  I try typing in the old password, but that doesn’t work.  What am I going to do now?  I could try rebooting it.  Maybe it will bypass the screen saver password that way.  I reach over to hit the power button and as soon as my hand touches the case, I feel that tingle again and the PC just opens itself to me.  Not physically, but somehow, I just know how it works from the BIOS, to the drivers and including the operating system.

 

It feels amazing and I feel so energized!  I can somehow ‘see’ everything like I am in some kind of virtual reality game.  It kind of makes me feel like I am in the movie “TRON”, but the programs don’t look like people at all and there are no evil tanks running around zapping innocent programs.  I tell the program controlling the screen-saver password that the correct password has been entered. I can’t help feel a little surprised when it works.

 

Wow!  This is cool. I’m just zipping along and playing with all of the programs until I notice that some of the programs aren’t working like they should.  They appear to be running other programs, bad programs.  I think that they are viruses.  Once I know what to look for, I spot a ton of virus infected programs clogging up the system and making it slow.  Why in the heck hasn’t the anti-virus program seen these?

 

Hmmm.  Okay, since my parent’s anti-virus program sucks so bad, I need to fix these infected programs. I lose track of time as I hunt down every last virus, trojan and malware app trying to hide on my parent’s PC.  Once I am done with that, I decide to look at the anti-virus program and I find out why the anti-virus program sucks so badly.  It has been infected and changed to ignore a specific named virus.  Whoever did this is one sneaky bastard.  I fix the anti-virus program too.

 

Once the cleanup is all done, I sit back to admire my handy-work.  That is when I notice that I am not alone in the office!  I panic and spin around in the chair.  Oh, it’s Nikki.  My breathing calms down, but she just stands there quietly. I kind of notice that she is only wearing her flimsy nightie, but her worried expression is making that observation less important to me.

 

That starts to make me worried. “Umm, Nikki?  Is something wrong?”

 

“Maybe.  What were you doing?” She asks, softly.

 

“Oh, I was just fixing my parent’s computer.  It had a few viruses that were slowing it down.” I say, smiling with satisfaction.

 

Nikki frowns. “I didn’t see you using the keyboard and the screen looking like it was going crazy there.  Exactly how were you fixing it?”

 

In addition to feeling worried that maybe I was doing something wrong, now I am starting to feel a little confused. “Ummm, I’m not sure.  I needed to get past the screen saver password, so just touched the computer and I could somehow see inside of it.  I just knew how it worked and how it should work, so I made it work how it is supposed to work. Kind of like the remote control earlier. Oh yeah, I fixed that now too…” I say, trying to explain it to her.  I’m kind of rambling right now, so I’m not really sure myself.

 

Nikki holds up her hand to stop me. “Okay Brianna.  Turn it off please. We need to talk.”  She says in a serious tone.

 

Uh oh, she is using my full first name again instead of the ‘Bree’ nickname.  I think that I’m in trouble.  I spin back around and hit the Windows-L key combo to lock it.  I feel the hairs on the back of my neck start to tingle and when I spin back around, I see Nikki doing something that feels like magic to me.   I wonder what she is doing and my vision changes to reveal a tightly woven magical barrier springing to life around us.

 

It pulses with green and white strands that are woven together in a familiar looking geometric pattern. I suddenly realize that I have seen something like this before.  It was in GEO and it was a privacy ward that I, I mean, Whisper needed to sneak through to spy on one of the evil commanders during the big battle last year.  It was a real P.I.T.A. to get through that ward undetected. 

 

Nikki nervously bites her lip as she looks at me.  She looks so worried and serious.  My observation of her ward doesn’t seem to go undetected.

 

“What?  Is something wrong Nikki?  Did I do something bad?” I ask.  I am starting to feel like I should be feeling guilty about something.

 

Nikki sighs. “No, you didn’t do anything ‘bad’, but there are people out there who won’t like what you can do.  Very. Bad. People.”

 

“What?  All I did was sorta hack my parent’s computer and as crappy as the security on it was, anyone could have done that! Well, almost...” I say.

 

Nikki glares at me before softening her expression. “No Brianna, not anyone can do that.  I’m worried that you might be able to completely own a computer and bypass all the security in the process.”

 

I watch with concern as she goes silent and taps her lip in thought.  I don’t understand what she is so worried about.  Anyone could do the same to a PC just by sticking a bootable CD in the drive and rebooting the computer. I start to try and explain that to her.

 

Nikki holds up her hand. “Hold on.” She says as she begins to cast another spell. 

 

I try to see what she is doing with my magic vision again, but it doesn’t want to just instantly turn on.  I’m still trying when I feel a sudden pressure just before the magic feeling fades. I give up completely when Nikki points to the desk behind me.  Sitting on the desk is a laptop.  She reaches over, opens it up and hits the power button. 

 

“Now, that is a neat trick. Is that your laptop?” I ask.

 

“Yep, I didn’t feel like walking back upstairs.  I want to test something.  Can you make it go?” She asks.

 

“Are you sure?” I ask, hesitantly.  Didn’t she just get done telling me that this is a bad thing?

 

Nikki nods and smiles at me. “I’m sure, go ahead.”

 

“Oookay.” I say as I touch her laptop’s keyboard.  The feel the tingle again and I somehow just know stuff about her laptop. For a laptop, it is pretty darn powerful.  It has a very fast quad core CPU, tons of RAM, a huge hard drive and a very good 3D gaming quality video card.  I think that her laptop is actually faster than my prized gaming rig was. 

 

As soon as the BIOS testing is complete, her laptop stops booting at a password screen.  I’ve never seen this kind of password screen.  This one is not only asking for a password, but it is also asking that something called a ‘Passkey Lock Device’ be inserted.  Wow, her laptop looks like it has some pretty good security on it.  I look back at her to ask her if it is really okay and she just nods her head yes.

 

I see how this ‘lock device’ thing is supposed to pass a key of some sort. The key will complete another bigger key inside the program that is running on the hard drive’s controller board.  Oh, she has one of those hardware encrypted hard-drives.  I’ve read about those.  They do all the encryption and decryption at the hardware level instead of the operating system level to allow the data to be read almost as fast as if it wasn’t encrypted at all.  I can’t just tell the hard drive that it has the key because the data itself needs the key to be unencrypted. 

 

Hmmm,  I look at the hard-drive’s controller program and find the sub-routine that generates and decodes the encryption key.  The equation is pretty complicated, but as I think about it, everything seems to slow down as the math starts to unravel and make sense.  I understand how the equation works when it decodes and generates the keys needed for the data encryption.  I plug the key stored on the hard drive into the formula and after 0.249 seconds, a long string of characters and numbers show up.  I plug that string into the part that needs the ‘lock device’ and  I am rewarded a few seconds later when I hear the speakers sing the opening song as the operating system finishes the boot process.

 

I can’t help it; I smile with satisfaction as I look back at Nikki. “Okay, that was a little tricky, but now what?”

 

Seriously, this isn’t that hard. If I can do it, anyone should.  Okay, maybe they would have some problems with that encrypted hard-drive thing, but I’m sure that there are programs on the web that will tell someone how to bypass that thing.

 

Nikki looks surprised. “You do realize that hard drive was encrypted with a 256-bit key, right?”

I shrug my shoulders like it wasn’t a big deal. “Yeah, but I just found the equation that created the key and figured it out, why?”

 

“Okay, I think that is enough.  Can you shut it down for me again?” She asks. 

 

I tell her laptop to shut down and as I turn back to face her again, I hear the good-bye song as her laptop turns itself off.

 

Nikki grabs my hands, pulls me up from the chair and looks me in the eyes. She looks so serious. “Okay, Brianna.  I want you to promise me that you will never ever show or tell anyone what you just did with my laptop.”

 

I finally discovered that I have a cool super power and now I’m being told that I can use it? “But, it’s just a computer...” I say before she cuts me off with a glare.

“You can’t let anyone know what you can do with a computer! It’s important.  If they knew what you could do, your life and your family could be in danger!”  Nikki looks and sounds so serious.

For the first time, I start to get really scared.  How could I put my family in danger? “I don’t understand...” I tell her with an almost whiny voice.  It is right on the edge of whine and not whine.

 

She sighs and softens her expression as she lets go of my hands to gently push be back down into the chair. “Is what you just did to ‘help’ me get into my laptop a good or bad thing?”

 

“Well, good. I think. You didn’t really need my help, but why?” I ask, confused by where she is going with this.

 

“What if that wasn’t my laptop?”

 

“I’m not sure?  Maybe bad, but why wouldn’t that be your laptop?”

 

“Okay.  You’re in school and one of your friends brings you his laptop and tells you that he forgot his password, but he is desperate because he really needs you to break into it so he can get his homework.  What do you do?”

 

“Well, it sounds like he needs my help, so I help him.”

 

“Okay, good. You break into it and he’s able to get back into his laptop.  Two days later, everyone in the AP Physics class gets a perfect score on their midterm exam.  They must have cheated, but no one can figure out how because the answers were only on the teacher’s password protected laptop, and there is only one person in the school who could’ve hacked into a teacher’s laptop.”

 

“Oh, but he said it was his laptop.  How was I supposed to know?”

 

“You can’t, and that is just one example of the most basic and effective hacking techniques. It’s called ‘Social Engineering’”.

 

I’ve heard of that, but never really paid too much attention to what it really was. Nikki sounds like she knows a lot about computers and hacking. “How did you learn about all this hacking stuff?”

 

“Two ways.  First, Whateley has a class on computer security. Secondly, and this is the main reason that I am so worried about you now...A few months ago, Sara was brought in by ARC to help a patient.” She says before I interrupt her.

 

“ARC?” I ask.

 

“Arkham Research Consortium.  Anyway, Sara knows the story better than I do and I would call her, but it’s kinda late right now.  Anyway, this person, this girl was being kept isolated in a secure vault a mile underground. She tried to escape and almost did a couple of times. She was really good with computers, like you might be. Until Sara was called in, everyone there thought she was nuttier than a fruitcake and I guess in a technical sense, she was crazy.  She only had four different personalities and one of those was an AI.”

 

“An AI?” I ask. Wow, that sounds pretty bad. No wonder why this ARC place had her locked up.

 

“Yep.  Needless to say, some people, namely the government and the CIA were freaked out by her.  She could blow through any security system and read any file on any computer system that she wanted too.  Anytime and anywhere. If the computer was hooked up to a network and accessible, then she could get to it.”

 

That sounds pretty darn cool to me. “Umm, but why would the CIA be freaked out. I would think that they would love to have someone like that working for them?”

 

Nikki nods her head and smiles. “Oh, yeah. They would, but only if that person couldn’t also find their secrets.”

 

The 50,000 watt halogen light bulb finally turns on inside my head.  All the spy movies and how important secrets are in those movies race through my head.  I’m glad I’m sitting down, ‘cause if not, I might have fallen on my ass.  Suddenly, this cool power doesn’t seem so cool anymore. It’s actually kind of scary and that makes me start to wonder what else I could do with it.  ATM’s are computers.  Video game machines at the mall.  Almost everything has a computer in it these days, even the TV remote.

 

Now, I’m really starting to get scared. “What do I do?” I ask. I’d like to say my tone of voice is calm and reasonable, but it is really more of a panicked whine.  I think that it is a good thing that Nikki put up that privacy ward.

 

“The government is going to want you to get tested, but if they ask you to test your powers with a computer, pretend that you can’t do anything with it.  Play dumb and whatever you do, do not mess with any computer device when you’re in Langley.  Even if they tell you that it is some kind of emergency. That girl I was telling you about was at a CIA testing facility when she got in trouble.  I know that you’re not going to the same place, but I’m still worried about you.” Nikki says.  She actually looks a little pissed off there at the end, like she is remembering something about this hacker girl that makes her upset.

 

“What happened to her?” I ask with a whisper as I stare at the floor.

 

“The child that they feared and tortured for so long, is no more, my daughter.” Nikki says as her voice changes. 

 

She sounds so different, ancient, deeply sad, and commanding. I feel a pressure of some kind.  It feels magical and powerful. My eyes snap up to her face as I feel myself unconsciously sitting up straighter instead of slouching in the chair.  I want to address her, but I don’t know what to say.  Do I say “Her Majesty” or “Queen Aunghadhail” or what? I settle for honesty.

“I’m sorry, but how should I, umm, properly address you?” I ask, feeling like I am two inches tall for not knowing.

 

She surprises me by grabbing my hand and pulling me up from the chair with a gentle laugh. “Oh you are a treasure, Brianna.  It has been so many years since I have witnessed the birth of a new daughter.”

 

“But...” I say, before she stops me with a glance.  I was about to say that I wasn’t really a girl.

 

“Hush child, I know and I understand, but that does not make you any less in our eyes. We have high hopes for you and we will be most displeased if your potential is put into peril by the greed and fear of man.”

 

I start to feel a little more relaxed in her presence. Wait a minute! Now I’m confused again. “Daughter?  I am supposed to call you ‘Mom’ or something?”

 

Her laughter fills the space with sound.  I start to feel very embarrassed about the situation. “Oh child, I’m sorry.  I am not laughing at you.” She says as she looks at me with an earnest expression. “I just can’t help but feel protective towards you and what you might represent for our race.”

 

“Umm, okay?” I say, but I still don’t know how to address her.

 

“I’d like it if you considered me to be more like an ‘aunt’.” She says.

 

“So, I should call you Aunt Aunghadhail?”

 

She nods her acceptance. “If you wish, yes, but only when we are in private or informal settings.”

 

I can’t stop a slight grin from showing up. “How about Auntie Aung?” I ask.

 

“Don’t make me spank you.” She says with a gentle smile.

 

She is smiling so maybe I will be able to get away with it once and awhile.

 

Aunt Aunghadhail continues. “But, back to your original protocol inquiry.  In formal situations, ‘your Majesty’ would be correct. Our people have been stagnant for far too long and I can foresee a time where your ‘birth’ might help to shake up some things with our more hide-bound people.  That is why we are so concerned about your potential power over these modern devices.”

 

“Okay Aunt Aunghadhail, I will do everything I can to not let anyone know about it.” I say.  It still feels weird calling her that, but I guess it is better than feeling weirder for not knowing how to address her.

 

Aunt Aunghadhail smiles at me with genuine warmth. “Thank you, child, that is all that we can ask and we are certain that now that you are aware of the danger, you will be more likely to make the appropriate decisions when action is required.” 

 

Oh yeah, her name is a real mouthful. Maybe I should work on her about using a shorter version?  Aunt Aung?  I wonder if she would go for that and what is it with the “we” stuff?  Is she talking about her and Nikki?  That must be it.

 

Aunt Aung seems to fade as the power that I felt is drawn inside of Nikki’s body.  Her face relaxes into the Nikki that I know.

 

“Phew, she really likes ya Bree.” Nikki says as she stifles a yawn. “But I’m still tired.  We should both go back to bed and get some sleep.”

 

“Umm, I would, but I’m not tired.  At all.” I say.

 

“Really?” She asks, inquisitively tilting her head to the side.

 

“Yeah.  I woke up after only 2 hours and I felt like I had a full night’s sleep.  I’m wide awake.” I shrug trying to explain while feeling just as mystified as she looks.

 

“Oh, well.” Nikki says as she fights back a second yawn. “I’m going to go back to bed.  You be good now.”  She finishes by doing something that causes the ward to fade away and disappear.

 

It is only 0200 hours now...okay, 2am.  Geez.  It will be at least three hours before anyone starts to wake up.  I could take a shower before everyone else, but I don’t want to wake my parents with the shower sounds.

 

“Umm, Nikki?” I ask.

 

“Yeah?” She asks sleepily as she turns back around at the doorway. 

 

Due to the light coming in from the doorway, I notice her skimpy nightie thing as it reveals her body underneath. “Ummm, do you think that you could cast that privacy thing you did down here and put it in the bathroom?  I wanna take a shower before the big rush, but don’t want to wake up my mom and dad with the noise.” I say.

 

“Oh, that’s a good idea.  I kinda forgot about how fast the hot water goes away in a house. I’m used to the dorm’s unlimited supply.” Nikki says with a thoughtful expression.  “How did you know that I cast a privacy ward?”

 

“Oh, well. I’m not sure, exactly, but I felt something and I could see the magic that surrounded the office.  I wasn’t sure what it was until I recognized the pattern from a similar looking ward that I had to sneak past in GEO.” I say.

 

“Oh, now that is somehow disturbing, but not something I wanna think about right now.”  She says with a frown before smiling at me. “No problem with the ward.  I will cast it as soon as I get back upstairs.”

 

“Thanks!” I say, smiling back at her as I force myself to ignore her body by reminding myself that she is my cousin. Umm, that sort of works.  Maybe I should take a cold shower, but how would that work for me now?  Do girls work the same way?  I never really had to take a cold shower as a guy either, so maybe that saying is just a myth. Hmmm, in that case, it might be nice to have a good and long hot shower without worrying about anyone else needing the hot water or waiting on me.  Based on my sister, I’m sure that it will take me ten times longer just to wash up now.

 

I wait until Nikki is completely up the stairs before I decide to sneak back into my room.  While I start rooting through my drawers for some clean panties, err, I mean underwear, Nikki walks out of the bathroom and back into my room.

 

“Done.” She whispers as she lies back down on her air mattress.

 

I look over to her and whisper. “Thanks.”  As I turn back to rooting through my drawers for clothes, I feel her casting something again.  I look back and see that she has made a small privacy bubble around herself.  She smiles at me as she snuggles back under her covers and closes her eyes.

 

Even though I can only see colors grey-scale when I use my low-light vision, it is really helping with the stealth stuff.  The noise from creaking floors is one thing, but not needing to turn the lights on to see stuff is the cat’s meow.  I can probably just light a candle in the bathroom when I take my shower.  That, plus the privacy ward should make it easier to not accidentally wake everyone up.

 

I end up finding my underwear right where I should have, except it is neatly folded up and put away in my old underwear drawer.  How weird is that?  The silk panties are in there too.  I can’t resist.  I have to look and I’m not being a perv if they are mine, right?  Oh, they are soft and, umm, silky.  OMG, they are so tiny.  They have maybe half of the fabric of my cotton underwear.  I wonder what they would feel like if I wore them?   With that thought, I drop them back in the drawer like they are on fire.

 

There are a couple more bras in there, too.  I wonder where my mom put my socks now.  I used to have them in the same drawer as my underwear.  I open up the next drawer down and find four times more socks than I ever had.  Instead of just a dozen white tube socks, there are a large assortment of different color and types of socks.  There are those ankle socks and some regular looking socks, but even those socks look somehow girlie.  I don’t think that they are pink, but they just look more delicate and shorter than my old boy socks. There is also a pair of funny looking sweat pants and leggings of some kind neatly folded next to my jeans.  I check the last dresser drawer and find it empty now.  My old t-shirts were in here before dinner.  Where did they go?  Could they be in the closet?  Why would you need to hang up t-shirts?

 

Sure enough, I check my closet and find a couple of my older and smaller t-shirts, plus the new girl shirts are hanging up all neatly in my closet now.  There are also a couple of dresses hanging up.  Those will be in there for a long time. I hope they kept the receipts.  I also find five pairs of shoes in there too.  I see one dark-colored and one light-colored pair of tennis shoes, a pair of dark colored boots with a small heel, a pair of sandals and a pair of dark colored pointy toe shoes with a small heel.  What in the heck am I going to do with so many shoes?  The tennis shoes I wore today should last me a year before I maybe grow out of them or wear them out. I can see why a spare pair of those would be good to have, but why do I need all the other shoes when tennis shoes go with everything that I would wear?

 

Something else hanging in the closet catches my eye.  It’s a small dark-colored leather purse.  I’m afraid to even touch it, but I am betting that I will need to use it tomorrow.  The pockets in my jeans are pretty much just there for decoration.  Stupid girl clothes designers!

 

I tip-toe back to my dresser and grab a clean pair of underwear.  Yeah, I know that they are panties, but if I don’t call them that, I can ignore that fact.  Besides, I wore briefs as a boy and never called them by that term.  I called them underwear, so it’s not like I’m doing anything different now. 

 

It’s now 0220 or 2:20 AM in normal people time.  It will be at least another two and a half hours before anyone else starts to get up.  I can take a nice and long hot shower without worrying about taking all the hot water.  After that, I guess I can try reading all the books in my library that I haven’t had a chance to read yet.   If that isn’t enough, I can try the books in my parent’s office too.  Most of them are pretty dull, but who knows, maybe I will learn something new.

 

I tip-toe into the bathroom and gently close the door.  The night light in there is providing more than enough light for me to see by, so I decide to not even bother with the candle.  I take off my pajamas and underwear. Then, I stand back a little so that I can see more of myself in the mirror.  The cold air hitting my nipples surprises and distracts me.  I’m not used to having such a strong reaction from those parts of my anatomy. My, umm, old nipples reacted to the cold, but the sensation was completely different and barely even noticeable.  Heck, just thinking of my male nipples as nipples seems wrong somehow.

 

With the low-light vision only showing me black and white, I find the sight of my naked-self extremely alluring.  Judging my appearance, I decide that I’m not as curvy as Nikki.  Instead, I think that I have more of a gymnast's body.  I can’t help it, I just find myself so damn hot. I wonder if that makes me stuck up or if it is just normal for someone who just woke up in the body of a hot girl?  I am guessing that isn’t a question that very many psychologists ever have to think about answering, but whatever it is, I hope this fascination wears off fast. 

 

As I admire the girl, I mean myself, in the mirror, I feel my, ummm, girl parts start to feel a little warm down there and I feel an overall sense of warmth.  Is that what girl arousal feels like?  As a guy, I knew without a shadow of a doubt when I was aroused.  There was no hiding the fact that my penis was at attention.

 

I reach up and absently touch my breast, not really expecting anything, but I’ve heard stories about how girls are more sensitive up there.  I never had the chance to feel a girl’s breast before.  I almost got to that stage with Mary Anderson in the seventh grade, but she decided I was too much of a dork and went out with Joe Miller.

 

The thought of touching my own breasts is confusing to say the least.  On one hand, he he, they look so perfect and desirable, everything I ever wanted to touch and feel on a girl. On the other hand, they are mine and not some tantalizing object of desire. Well, I still think they are desirable, but, geez, I’m so confused. I don’t know what to think. I involuntarily jump a little as I feel my fingers touching my breast. It feels so soft and different. I feel a tingle as my hand brushes against my erect nipple. Curious, I decide to try squeezing it.

 

Yikes!

 

I don’t know how else to describe it, but a warm, almost electric, surge tingles through my entire body. That felt good and it reminds me that the girl in the mirror is really me. She’s not just some wet-dream fantasy of mine. I better get in the shower before I embarrass myself and really need to try out that cold shower thing. Flush with confusion and embarrassment, I grab a fresh towel out of the bathroom closet; I spot my special soap and shampoo in there too.  My mom was such a busy beaver tonight.  I wonder why she un-packed all my stuff.  We are just going to have to repack it in the morning.

 

I start the water and get it up to temp.  As I reach to turn the shower on, I remember that I need a wash cloth now too.  Grrrr.  I’m really missing the simple boy life.  Girl clothes are complicated.  Girl movies are complicated and now even something as simple as a shower is complicated too. If someone tells me that I need to shave my legs and armpits now too, I think I will scream.  That makes me check my armpits and I am pleased to discover that I only have some very fine and practically microscopic hairs there.  Same deal for my legs.  Maybe I won’t have to worry about that female ritual?

 

Oh my, the hot spray on my skin feels so good and relaxing.  The hot water causes my nipples to relax, which is kind of a relief. If cold air makes my nipples sensitive, then a cold shower probably wouldn’t help if I needed to calm down.  That means that girls should have a hot shower, which almost sounds like a positive in the girl column.  Without my mom standing in the bathroom and talking to me, I waste five minutes just standing under the water as it massages my back, neck and shoulders. 

 

I start to feel guilty about wasting the hot water, so I decide that I should start washing myself.  I begin with the easy stuff, my arms and that goes pretty fast, but the sight of my breasts and the sensation of the washcloth against my nipples start to get me tingling again. 

 

Focus Bree, Focus!

 

I force my hands further south and the sight of my narrow waist added to my new rounded hips covered with soap bubbles cause me even more confusion. I feel so smooth and I unconsciously slow down as I wash my legs.  The open sensation between my legs added to the visual stimulation caused by my wonderfully smooth and definitely all girl legs makes my insides start to feel warm and tingle, a lot.  Is this what female arousal feels like?  Because, if this is what it is going to feel like every time I take a shower, our hot water bill is going to go way up.

 

I save my va, umm, va-girl parts for last.  I’m not sure how to tackle that mystery part.  Okay, it’s not a total mystery.  I did take sex education in school, so I know the parts.  I just never really paid too much attention and they never covered hygiene with the boys there.  It was much more clinical and well, embarrassing.  All the guys who claimed to be experts just said, “It’s like this for you virgin wimps. Clit.  That’s it.  Find a girl’s clit and you can make any girl happy!” The so-called-experts said with smug authority.

 

Needless to say, I am pretty hesitant to touch myself down there, especially now that it’s feeling all warm and tingly.  It didn’t feel that way when I took my first shower, but then again, my mom was sitting right there with me and I didn’t really have the time to think about those things.

 

Okay. Enough with being such a wimp, I have to wash, ummm, it.  I get my wash cloth freshly soaped up and hesitantly begin to wash myself.  Okay, without my boy parts, I look so different and alien down there.  I’m so smooth and streamlined, but I’m also nervous that I’m going to do something wrong.  I catch myself biting my lip as I gingerly clean around and just inside of my new opening.  My hand enclosed wash cloth dips just inside.

 

“Ah!” I involuntarily inhale with surprise. That felt, umm, disturbingly good. I must have brushed up against something in there. Maybe it is that clit thing the guys told me about?  That thought makes me freeze with panic and I force myself to stop before I do something wrong.  I really need to talk to my mom about this the first chance I get.  I have the feeling that is going to be one super embarrassing conversation.

 

Still, I am kind of curious.  What would it feel like?  I think that I still have a few, umm, masturbation sessions left on the “more than ninety-nine and it will fall off” counter.  Oh crap!  Maybe that is why I turned into a girl?  How many times did I masturbate?

 

>Searching...

>47

 

That many?  I didn’t think that I was that bad, but I think that I can consider that counter as reset now that I’m a girl. It’s not like that old wife’s tale is true anyway.  I never did grow hair on my palms like they said I would, so why would that ninety-nine times punishment be true either?  I wonder what horrible afflictions the old-wives have about girls?  Blindness?  Oh, I guess “hair on your chest” instead of your palms could be a bad one to fear as a girl.

 

I want to explore myself, but I force myself to quickly rinse the soap off instead.  I direct some water down there with my hand before I start my new beauty routine by scrubbing my face raw. Oh sorry, I guess the correct term is exfoliating. I can no longer just wash myself with a simple bar of soap. Instead, I must exfoliate. Additionally, I can no longer just wash my hair with whatever shampoo happens to be the least smelly. I must now use some all natural herbal flower smelly stuff followed by a generous application of some matching all natural herbal flower smelly conditioner goop.

 

Once that is done, I nudge the water temp up a bit and just stand under the water with my eyes closed and relax.  After another five minutes, the water begins to cool down, so I decide that I should get out.  Wow, I just took a thirty minute shower.  Okay, thirty-one minutes and twenty-five point five six seconds, but does that extra minute and seconds really matter?

 

I gently pat my skin dry and follow that by patting my hair with my towel to get the worst of the moisture out of my hair.  I should just get my hair cut back into a boy style.  All this patting and squeegeeing and brushing and blow drying and hair goop is a royal P.I.T.A! Yeah, that is a lot of “ands”, but it is a lot of stuff just for some hair.

 

This is so damn frustrating! “Ahhhhh!” I softly scream at my new reflection in the mirror. I’m glad the privacy ward is up.  I wasn’t that loud, but I’m sure that even my soft scream or more of a loud exclamation would have for sure awakened my mom. On the plus-side, now that I got that out, I do feel a little better now.

 

I take a deep breath and tentatively run my fingers through my hair to brush it back from my face.  I know my hair is still mostly wet, but it feels so soft and silky.  I play back my mom’s hair drying and styling instructions from yesterday while I pull out Lindsay’s hair dryer and get to work on trying to duplicate the feat.  I am concentrating so hard on styling my hair that I completely lose sight of the fact that I forgot to put on my underwear when Lindsay sleepily walks into the bathroom a minute later.  It’s only 0313 in the morning, what is she even doing up?

 

Lindsay’s eyes snap open with surprise as she steps through the privacy ward and the sound of the hairdryer hits her.  “Eeek!” She jumps back with shock and reflexively hits the light switch.

 

That causes my vision to instantly switch back to normal.  With the low-light vision, I kind of expected to be blinded, but I guess that flare compensation thing is working.  “Lindsay!  Close the door!” I hiss at her after turning off the dryer.  I probably should be worried about the fact that she’s in there while I am still naked, but right now, I’m more worried about the light waking up Mom and Dad. 

 

Startled, Lindsay responds to my command and closes the door without slamming it.  It looks like Nikki’s privacy ward extends just a little bit outside the door, so maybe it will keep the sound of the door closing from escaping too. 

 

She leans against the door and looks at me with wonder until I get her attention. “Hello?!  You can stop staring at me now.” I snap at her with a fierce whisper. I’m not sure why I am whispering at all.  If the sound of the hairdryer can’t escape, than my voice shouldn’t either, but I’m trying to be sneaky and you just don’t talk with a normal tone of voice when you are sneaking.  It’s against the rules.

 

Lindsay surprises me by actually looking contrite. “I’m sorry Brianna.  I woke up and had to go to the bathroom. I didn’t see you and the sound of the dryer scared me.”

 

That takes the wind out of my sails.  It’s hard to be mad at someone when they are being so reasonable. “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.” I say with an apologetic smile. “Umm, this is so weird.”

 

Lindsay nods in agreement and grins at me. “Yeah it is Brianna. I can’t believe that we both just apologized to each other and that you are standing there completely naked and you’re not having a cow about it.”

 

Oh yeah, I’m naked.  That realization causes me to blush from head to toe while Lindsay giggles at me.  I sniff with mild annoyance, I decide to grab my underwear and put them on. This is only the second time in my entire life that I have put on my pa-, umm, underwear. Even though I am under surveillance by my sister, I can’t help but notice how different it feels to have my underwear just slide up my smooth legs and hug my new curves.

 

“Well, you are doing a good job with your hair.” Lindsay says with a gentle smile after she controls her giggles from watching me scramble to put on my underwear.

 

“Umm, thanks?” I say, feeling confused by her compliment.

 

“But, I really need to go pee right now.  Do you mind if I go while you finish drying your hair?” Lindsay asks with a grimace as she performs the pee-pee dance.

 

“Oh, sure?  I guess I don’t mind if you don’t mind, but it’s still weird somehow.” I say while I struggle to not giggle at the absurdity of the situation as she races past me and sits herself on the toilet.

 

“Yeah, I know. Isn’t it?” Lindsay asks, bemused as she looks at me still standing there looking confused.

 

I’m not sure what to do now that she’s distracting me with her presence. This new dynamic is confusing me.  My sister is not supposed to go to the bathroom with me in the room with her and she is treating it like it is no big deal, when just a few days ago, it would’ve been the start of World War Three if I had dared to walk into the bathroom while she was using it.

 

Lindsay snaps me out of my confusion.  “Umm, Brianna?  Why didn’t I hear the hair dryer until I walked into the bathroom?” She asks.

 

“Oh, I got Nikki to cast a privacy ward around the bathroom so that I could take a shower without waking everyone up.” I say, trying to explain, but I can see that she doesn’t understand something.   

 

 “Ummm, what is a privacy ward and why did you need to take a shower so early for?” Lindsay asks as she finishes up, flushes the toilet and motions for me to move so that she can reach the sink.

 

“Well, a privacy ward is how wizards keep people from hearing their secret meetings. I woke up at one AM and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I decided that I should take a shower before the morning rush.” I say while she washes her hands. 

 

Once she is done, Lindsay decides to make herself comfortable in the bathroom by sitting on the closed toilet lid. “Oh, so no one can hear us outside of the bathroom right now?”

 

“Yep.” I say.

 

“Cool!  How long does it last?” She asks, visibly excited.

 

“I’m not sure, but I kind of need to finish my hair before it completely dries, I think.” I say in an attempt to remind her that she’s in the bathroom with me. 

 

“Okay.” Lindsay says, simply and without making any sign that she’s going to leave.

 

“Aren’t you going to go back to bed?” I ask feeling confused as to why it looks like she’s here to stay and wondering if I should put my pajamas on now too. I’m not sure if it matters anymore though.

 

“No.  I think that I will just watch you and see if you need any help.” Lindsay says with a smile.

 

“Okay.  Who are you and what have you done with my sister?” I ask with a serious expression. Really, Lindsay would have never done this before I accidentally turned myself into a girl. 

 

I turn the dryer back on and as I glance back to Lindsay, I am a little shocked when I see her eyes well up with tears as she pulls her knees up and hugs them to her chest. I quickly turn the dryer off and wonder what I should do.  Did my joke hurt her feelings somehow?

 

Lindsay’s eyes begin to well up with emotion. “Oh, Brian...The night that you were in that suit thing. I sat in your room with Mom and Dad, and all I could think about was what I would do without you. I remembered how I got you beat up when I wore that short skirt to school last year and how much I hated you for ratting me out to Mom.” She begins to rock slowly back and forth as she cries into her arms.

 

I want to go over and hug her and tell her that it’s okay, but I realize that my boobs, I mean, my girls are exposed and girls aren’t supposed to do that. At the same time, I kind of have an excuse so I’m not sure what to do. I decide to quickly toss on my pajama top, but don’t bother buttoning it and wrap her up in my arms. “I’m sorry that I scared you, but I’m sure that we will be both back to normal and hating each other in a week or two.”

 

“No we won’t.” Lindsay says with conviction as she tries to stifle her sniffles as she keeps her head down and talks into her arms.

 

“Oh yeah we will.  Just think, I can wear your clothes now.” I say with a grin that gets her to look up at me.  That causes her to break into a weak smile.  I peel off some toilet paper for her eyes and hand it to her. 

 

“Well then, I will just have to make sure all my clothes are spandex and lycra!” Lindsay says with the start of her normal mischievous grin as she dabs the tears from her eyes.

 

“See?  Back to normal already!” I say with mock authority. I begin to feel a bit apprehensive her face takes on “the look” that precedes any truly evil plan of hers. 

 

“Oh yeah, and don’t even think about stealing my boyfriends you green-eyed hussy!” Lindsay says with a finger wag and stern expression.

 

I think that my shocked and panicked expression snaps her completely out of her funk. I am speechless at the idea and now I know that she’s just as evil as Nikki and Sara.  I am in so much trouble.  Wait a minute.  Where did she learn to use the word “hussy”?

 

Lindsay just giggles and gives me a quick hug.  “You should get back to work on your hair, sis.”

 

“Yeah, sure…” I say in a daze before walk back over to the sink and get back to work on my hair with the dryer. 

 

It only takes another 15 seconds before she gets up and stops me. “Here, you’re doing pretty well, but lemme help you. I can show you some more tricks.” She holds out her hands expectantly. 

 

I’m still off balance from her boyfriend joke.  It was a joke, right? I don’t know what to do, so I decide that it might be easier to just go with the flow as I hand her the hair weapons.

 

Lindsay happily smiles at me as she gets to work.  She stops after a minute, grabs some hair gunk and begins to expertly apply it to my hair as she shapes and molds my hair with the dryer.  After just another minute, she turns off the dryer and runs her fingers through my hair to make some final adjustments. “Wow, your hair is so soft and silky! I wish I had hair like yours.” She says, sounding a little jealous.

 

“Umm, thanks.  Are we done now?” I ask.

 

Lindsay gives me a quick nod and a happy grin. “Yep! All done and you’re looking awesome if I do say so myself.”

 

“Oh great, because I’m starting to feel weird about you catching me naked.” I say as a nervous giggle escapes me.

 

“Oh. Just now?  I kind of expected you to scream at me and scramble to put on all of your clothes as soon as I walked in on you. I know I would’ve.” Lindsay says with confused expression on her face. “So, why do you seem so comfortable in the nude?”

 

“I don’t know if I’m comfortable. I think it is more that when I see myself, it takes me a few seconds to remember that the girl I see is me. I mean, I feel like I’m just wearing some really good Halloween costume.” I say.

 

Lindsay takes a second to digest my answer.  “Hmmm, I guess that kind of make sense, but I’m actually a little jealous of you sis.”

 

“Jealous!?  Why would you be jealous of me?  You’re beautiful.” I say, shocked that she could be jealous of me. I really do think she is pretty and judging by the number of questions about her that I got last year when we were still in the same school, so do a lot of other boys.

 

“Are you sure no one can hear us in here?” Lindsay asks. 

 

Uh oh, this is beginning to sound like it could turn into a serious conversation. I decide that now might be a good time to put on my pajama bottoms. “Well, did you hear the dryer before you walked in here and is Mom still asleep?” I ask as I quickly step into my pajama bottoms.

 

“Good point.  Okay, well, for starters, you have some cool super powers.” She begins by counting points off using her fingers while I finish dressing by buttoning up my pajama top. “Two, you’re friends with someone cool like Nikki.  Three, your eyes and hair are absolutely gorgeous and four, you’re just so pretty. I’d kill to have a figure like yours!”

 

That last point kind of makes me nervous.  I can’t believe that Lindsay thinks that I have a better body than she does.  Actually, I just find the idea that she would compare her body to mine a little unsettling.   “Umm, I really don’t know what to think.  I’m a little new to this girl stuff and I don’t know how to handle a compliment like that from anyone, let alone another girl, especially, when that girl is my sister.” I say as I feel myself starting to blush.

 

Lindsay giggles at me. “Oh, that’s easy.  You just say thanks, deny it and tell me that you think I’m way better looking than you are.”

 

“Oh.  Well, thanks, not true, you’re so much better looking than I am and that’s so not what I, ever in a million years, would have ever expected to tell anyone.” I say, finishing with a nervous laugh.

 

“Why?” Lindsay asks, tilting her head to the side, confused.

 

I don’t understand why she would be surprised or confused about that. “Well, because if I had ever said something like that to another guy; they would’ve thought that I was gay and kicked my ass.”

 

“What?!? No way. That’s crazy.  You mean guys never compliment their friends on how they look?” Lindsay asks, incredulously.

 

“Ummm, not really, no.  We, I mean, they...” I find myself blushing at the mix-up. “…might sometimes say that they like their cool t-shirt, or that they are ‘looking good’ just before a hot date, but another guy would never say that their friend’s eyes or any other part of their body are ‘gorgeous’ or ‘pretty’.  It’s just not done!”

 

Lindsay shakes her head slow back forth looking both confused and amazed at the same time. “Well, that’s just weeiiaard.” Lindsay says while attempting to stop a yawn.

 

“Lindsay, It’s 3:30 in the morning.” I say, automatically translating the time for her. “You should get back to bed.”

 

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Lindsay pauses as another yawn escapes. “I am still pretty tired, but I’m glad that I had to go to the bathroom.  It was nice to have some time to just chat with you and help you with your hair.”  She smiles at me fondly and touches my hair.

 

I reach over and turn off the light before I open the door. My low-light vision snaps on and I look back and spot Lindsay trying to find her way without bumping into anything.  I reach for her hand. “Lemme help you.” I say.

 

“You can see in the dark?” Lindsay whispers.

 

“Yep.  It’s all black and white, but I can see everything perfectly.” I whisper even though we are still inside the privacy ward, but I guess it is a natural reaction when someone else is whispering.

“Oh cool. One more reason to be jealous of my older little sister.” She whispers with a smirk.

 

“Hey, watch it there.  I might accidentally lead you off the end of the stairs.” I whisper as I start to guide her out of the bathroom. Lindsay just puts her other hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing at me. I get her safely into her room and even tuck her back into her bed.

 

As I finish getting her tucked in, Lindsay looks up at me. “Bree?” She softly asks.

 

Now she’s calling me that too.  What is up with that?  Is that what Nikki and she talked about while I was downstairs? “Yeah?” I ask.

 

“Can you stay with me until I fall back asleep?” Lindsay asks with another yawn.

 

“Umm, sure.” I say, hesitantly.  This clingy side of my sister is a little hard to get used to, but I guess I scared her a little. I must admit that it makes me feel good to have my pain in the butt sister back instead of the bratty know-it-all that she had turned into at the start of the 7th grade.

 

Lindsay smiles as she closes her eyes. “Thanks sis.  Love ya.” She says through another yawn.

 

“I love ya too, Liddy.” I say as I am overcome by the moment.  I brush her hair off her face, lean over and give her impulsive kiss on her forehead.  Her contented smile slowly fades as she begins to fall back asleep.  Three minutes and some change later, her breathing evens out and she begins to gently snore.  Well, not really snore, but I will tell her that she snores later.  That should be good for a laugh or two.

 

I give her covers one last tuck before I sneak out of her room and back into my room.  Nikki is still asleep so I carefully tip-toe over to my book shelf before I remember that she put a privacy ward around herself.  I guess that I don’t need to worry about accidentally waking her up.  Unfortunately, I’ve already read almost all of the books here.  I grab the few that I haven’t read, walk back and sit down on my bed.  10 minutes and 37 seconds later, I’ve read all three of the books.  I would’ve read them faster, but I had to turn the pages.  I sigh.  Somehow, this new reading power just isn’t as enjoyable.  It’s just data.  The plot and characters are just there and don’t really mean anything to me.

 

Hmmm, I wonder?

 

I re-read some books while I was doing that fsck thing.  That seemed to take the same amount of time to read a book as before and it felt relaxing.  With that thought, I sit on my bed, lean my back against the headboard and pull my cloud up to cover my legs. After I finish making myself comfortable, I concentrate on finding my virtual living room again and my real bed and room fades to black.  As soon as that happens, a room begins to materialize around me and once again, I find myself standing in the middle of my virtual living room.

 

Okay, but how will I know what is going on outside my virtual room and in the real world? I would hate to be stuck in here again.  I imagine the TV displaying the outside world and a 3D picture of what my real eyes are viewing shows up on the screen.  Well, since I don’t need those blue and red glasses, it’s really more like looking out of a window.  Now, that is pretty cool, but how do I know that it’s really my real room that I am seeing? 

 

I need to be able to look around or change my viewpoint to look at the door so I can see when my mom comes in to wake Nikki and me up in the morning.  I walk over to the TV and concentrate on changing my view.  Maybe I can move my head and look at something else from inside here.  Kind of like a TV camera. 

 

It works!  I watch as my field of vision slowly changes as my real head looks around my real bed room from inside my virtual living room.  That’s actually a little disturbing when I think about it. I see Nikki and I once again find myself sighing with contentment as I watch her sleeping. 

 

“Sweet dreams cuz,” I whisper before I turn my real head a bit more until I can see both Nikki and the door to my room.  Satisfied with my adjustments, I sit down on the couch and get myself comfortable as I open one of the new books and begin reading it. 

 

I stop after a minute. Something is missing. Ah, yes. I need my new cloud blanket to snuggle under while I read my book.  I summon my blanket and open my book again; I barely even register the fact that I felt the need to “snuggle”. 

 

Should I be worried?