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Author's Note: Things are starting to move a little faster with this story now. I promise in the next chapter that things will pick up even more. I'd like to thank djkauf and Indy for the magical editing and everyone for enjoying this universe :)

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NINE:

The next few days in school were pretty slow. The day after the lunch room incident people were still talking about it. I think a lot of people liked to see the school heroes get knocked down a peg or two. No one remembered what really happened before the “incident”---like who was involved but everyone knew that Troy was completely humiliated. I was kind of glad they left me out of it actually, the less I was in the spotlight the better. The best part about it was that it suddenly drew all the attention away from the new girl slut rumors from the day before. That’s what I loved so much about high school, rumors came and went. As soon as something new came around, the latest thing was forgotten in an instant.

Not thinking about my reputation helped me think about other things. Mainly the index card and this mysterious Dud Club.

Once I got home that night, I did some of my own checking. The Drakes were almost as big a family in Ravencrest as us. Well, a family of witches that is. Meeting Cassie was interesting to say the least. It was kind of fun to finally put a face to the woman from all of Mom’s stories, even if she hadn’t painted her body green and protesting God knows what. Charlie interested me more though. On the way back from the Drake’s I was able to find out that he was just like me---that is a Dud. I guess that didn’t surprise me, after all it was next to impossible to have a male magic user in the family. Knowing that little bit of info. I was able to figure out the Dud Club fairly quickly.

The second day after the lunchroom incident---my fifth day of school---things had completely died down. School almost seemed normal, believe it or not. The lunchroom thing was all but forgotten and the new school slut was yesterday’s news. I guess it paid off to lay low and keep out of trouble. The guys in my Gym class still hassled me but I think Troy and his goons were bidding their time, waiting for the perfect time to strike. I was feeling pretty lucky though, safe in the knowledge that as long as I did nothing too stupid I was scot-free.

Sadly, nothing seems to work out that way.

Day 5 was Friday, finally the end of a very stressful week. I was in Math class when it happened. I was trying desperately to pay attention to the Algebra on the whiteboard when I felt a little lightheaded. I shook it off and it went away for a minute or so but it came back just as quickly. My vision started to blur and the kids around me started to turn into a swirl of colors. I closed my eyes, hoping that maybe whatever it was would pass. When I reopened them, I expected things to be back to normal but unfortunately, things were only worse. Everything was a swirl of colors and the room felt like it was spinning. I bit my lip, forcing back the bile I could feel rising up my throat.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt this way before.

I shook my head again but no amount of shaking seemed to get rid of anything. Added to it was this sudden gut wrenching feeling in my stomach. I groaned. I didn’t want to be sick, I couldn’t be sick. Not on my first week of school. It was bad enough people had labeled me first as a girl, then the slut girl I definitely didn’t want to be known as Betty Blow Chunks or something. I tried to talk myself out of it but there was no way that was going to happen. I could feel it, the ick rising through my body, trying desperately to take over. I couldn’t let it consume me; I wouldn’t let it consume me. I tried to soldier on, push through it. It kept getting worse, my entire body started to ach and I think I was starting to sweat. Once again, I tried to fight but it was definitely getting the better of me.

I hoped that no one would notice but that didn’t work out so well.

“Kelly you ok?” asked a voice from somewhere.

I turned and saw a blur; I think it was a person. I tried nodding but I don’t think I did a very good job.

“Miss Ross” said the voice. A girl’s voice. “I’m taking Kelly to the nurse’s office, she doesn’t look so good.”

I groaned but I was too out of it to correct her.

I didn’t hear Miss Ross’s answer. The next thing I knew the girl was helping me from my chair. I remember grabbing my stuff, making sure I had all of it before leaving. Everything was kind of hazy. We talked or rather she tried to get me to walk. My entire body felt like it was jelly except my feet, which felt like they weighed a ton. I’m not sure how long we walked but we stopped way too soon. I knew for a fact that my math class was on the other side of the building from the nurse’s office.

I heard her voice again. “You’re not going to make it.”

She tugged on my arm---at least I think she did.

The next thing I knew I was on the floor, my face in the bowl of a toilet. I threw up, more than once I think. Each time I did so the pain and dizziness went away. On the third or fourth time, the world stopped being so fuzzy. By the fifth time, everything was back to normal. Well as normal as it could get. I leaned back slightly, grabbing some toilet paper to wipe my mouth. As I did so, a cascade of long hair fell in front of me. I froze at the sight of it, my hand on the toilet paper roll. My other hand reached up and grabbed some of the hair, hoping that it was my imagination. It wasn’t. I wiped my mouth and flushed then stood up. I let my hood drop and when I did, I felt the rest of my hair. Sure enough, it was much longer than before.

Then I looked down. There were two slight bumps tenting my hoodie a bit. I cursed.

I was a girl again.

There was a slight knock on the door. “You OK in there?” asked my companion.

I took a deep breath before answering. “Fine.”

Shit, even my voice was different.

Why in the hell was this happening? Did Mary dose me again? No, I made sure to watch everything I’d been eating and drinking. I’d been watching Mary, too. Ever since arguing with her that morning, the two of us barely looked at one another, let alone spoke to one another. We only stayed in the same room for seconds at a time so there was no way she had time to do this. Besides I overheard my grandmother threatening to turn her into a mouse and feed her to Nic if she did anything more to me. So if it wasn’t Mary then who was it? Not my grandmother, she was hell bent to get me back to the way I was. A cure that apparently failed miserably.

I opened the door and saw the smiling face of a girl I didn’t know. At first, I thought she was just some random person before I realized she must have been the one who brought me here. She was pretty enough I suppose with shoulder length brown hair and freckles. I smiled back before pulling my hood back up or trying to at least.

“Leave it,” she said, grabbing my hand. “You have really nice hair; you shouldn’t try to hide it.”

I smiled weakly. “I like hiding it.”

I pulled the hood up and she frowned. How do you tell someone that you’re really a boy and that she was mistaken?

I walked over to the sink and washed my hands thoroughly. I tried to avoid looking at the girl in the mirror but it was hard not to. There she was, staring back at me again. It was a face I never thought I’d see again---a face I shouldn’t be seeing again. What happened? Why didn’t the fix work? I tried to go it In my head but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t figure it out. Did they do something wrong, did Mary mess it up? I knew that she wouldn’t be stupid enough to mess it up on purpose but maybe because she was a Novice.

“You’re really pretty you know” the girl said as she walked up next to me, leaning against the sink. “You shouldn’t hide it so much.”

“Thanks” I said, hoping she’d go away.

“I’m Katie by the way but my friends call me Kat. We should hang out some time.”

“Sure whatever.”

She smiled brightly. “You going to Dominic’s party next weekend?”

I shrugged. I just wanted this girl to go. Couldn’t she see I was better now? “Who’s Dominic?”

She laughed. “He’s one of the hottest guys in school. Everyone is going to be there. You should come; it might help you meet new people.”

Katie seemed to have one of those one track minds. It was almost as if she completely forgot why the two of us were in here.

“Ummm, I think I’m going to head to the nurse’s office now,” I said, hoping it would give her a hint.

“You’re better now right?” she asked, I nodded. “Good, I was hoping you weren’t sick sick because I sit next to you and that’s the last thing I need.”

She definitely wouldn’t be winning any humanitarian awards anytime soon that’s for sure.

“I think I’m going to go to the bathroom first then head out. I’ll see you in class on Monday?”

“Sure” she said with a smile as I turned around and headed back into the stall I just vacated.

I stood in there and listened. The sound I wanted was her leaving the bathroom and I got it a minute or two later. As soon as she was gone, I left the stall. I was halfway to the door when I realized that I’d been in the girl’s bathroom the whole time---the lack of urinals was a big giveaway. It smelled a lot better though, which was a big plus. I still groaned though, hoping that this was the last time I’d ever visited one. I left the bathroom after that, disappearing into an empty hall. Katie was probably on her way back to class. I turned in the direction of the nurse’s office, carrying my pack on my shoulder as usual. I moved fast, partly because I didn’t want to get caught out in the hall and partly because if anyone could help it was Melissa.

It took me about five minutes to get there. When I walked through the door, I was relieved to find her sitting at her desk alone. She was reading a magazine but looked up when she saw me.

“Kelly is there something wrong?” she asked with concern.

I scoffed. “You could say that” I said, dropping my hood and shaking my long hair.

The look on Melissa’s face said it all.

She was just as shocked as I was.

“You can put your shirt back on,” said Melissa as she removed the stethoscope from my bare chest.

She didn’t have to tell me twice. I grabbed my shirt and quickly pulled it over my head, trying desperately not to look at the two foreign bodies. I did get a quick glimpse and was shocked at what I saw. They were bigger than I thought, bigger than I wanted. I suppose any girl would be proud to have breasts that size but I wasn’t any girl. I didn’t want to be any girl either. I wanted to be me again.

“So what’s wrong with me?” I asked, grabbing my hoodie.

Melissa shrugged. “You’re a perfectly healthy teenage girl.”

I think she realized what she said because she laughed a few seconds later.

“There’s nothing healthy about me.”

She sighed. “I thought something like this might happen.”

“Something like what?” I asked, my voice raising an octave.

“Well after your incident I did some reading. I wanted to see if something like this has happened before and I was actually surprised to find that there have been a few cases over the years. The last one was in the sixties actually. That one turned out OK though, the recipient returned to their natural gender without a problem but there was a case in 1932 that wasn’t so lucky. Just like you, the victim was a young male and just like you, he was turned into a woman by a similar spell. The caster was caught, punished and forced to turn the man back. Everything seemed to go according to plan but a few days later, he turned back into a woman.”

I groaned. “How did they fix it?”

She shook her head. “They didn’t, at least not as far as I know anyway. The man kept turning back and forth until eventually; he got stuck as a woman. Each time he changed he lost a little bit of himself until there was nothing left of his maleness.”

I felt like I was going to cry. “So I’m going to be stuck like this, until I’m stuck like this?”

I waved my hands over my chest angrily.

Melissa sighed. “I wish I knew. The reversal spell your grandmother used should have fixed your change.” She bit her lip. “I’m going to have to contact the Coven.”

A cold chill ran down my spine. “Why?”

“Malicious intent or not, this needs to be reported. The first time was a prank gone wrong but the fact that it happened again is magic unchecked. You might not be now but you could become a danger to yourself or others. I need to inform them about it and see what they want me to do.”

“You can’t” I whined. “They’ll lock me up, dissect me.”

She laughed. “I think you’ve been watching too much TV.”

Melissa left me sitting on the cot while she walked over to her desk. She turned her back to me as she picked up the phone. While she was dialing, I pulled my hoodie over my head. I looked around the room, finding my pack near the door where I left it. As much as I knew she was trying to do the right thing, I was terrified by what that meant. I bit my lip, trying to decide if it was really the right thing, though. There was so much about witchcraft I didn’t know or trust. I understood some of it from what Mom told me but because I was a Dud, they kept me in the dark about a lot of it. I used to hear stories about the Coven growing up and they used to scare the hell out of me. The idea of seven masked figures, sitting there, staring and judging, kind of freaked me out. I’m not sure I wanted anything to do with something like that. I knew it was the right thing to do---going to them but at the same time I had this sinking feeling that if I did that then I’d never get to see the light of day for a long time.

I took a deep breath and made my decision.

While Melissa was on the phone talking---I’m not sure who it was---I made a mad dash for the door. I managed to grab my pack and pull it open before she shouted. I was out it before she reacted. I’m not sure if she followed me or not, I just took off down the hall as fast as I could. I heard someone shout my name, I’m not sure if it was Melissa or not. I just continued to run. It was stupid I know but I definitely didn’t want to go the Coven.

At end of the hall, I saw a teacher. He saw me too, running toward him.

“Hold it right there young lady” he said in a stern voice.

Class was still going so he probably thought I was roaming the halls. I’m not sure why I didn’t stop. Instead, I put on more speed and charged. He tried to stop me by throwing himself in my path but it didn’t work out so well. I’m not sure how I got past him. I just barreled right into him, shoving my elbow into his chest as I did so. Maybe it was how hard I was running or the way I hit him but he went down like a ton of bricks. Me, I kept on going, not even winded. I whipped around the corner after that and made another dash toward the front entrance.

There was no one there to stop me.

I pulled open the front doors and ran down the steps to the bike rack. When I got there, I got the biggest shock of my life. Melissa was standing there, her arms folded in front of her. She frowned and shook her head.

“You can run, I’ll give you that.”

“How in the hell?”

She smirked. “You didn’t honestly think that you could outrun me did you?”

I sighed. “I’m not going to the Coven.”

“I was never going to send you to them. I just had to inform them about what has transpired. They may want to meet with you in the future but you’re free right now.”

I nodded but I still wasn’t sure if I believed her or not.
“So what happens now?”

She shrugged. “That’s up to you I suppose. I could march you back into the school and you could finish out the rest of the day.”

“I’m not going to class like this” I whined.

“Or” she continued. “You and I could hang out for the rest of the day. I’ve already told Mr. McC that I have a family emergency to attend to and he’s given me the rest of the day off. You want to go into town with me?”

I found myself nodding, to which she smiled.

“Stop fidgeting” said Melissa as she stopped the car.

I couldn’t help it. No matter how hard I tried, there was just no way the sports bra was comfortable on me. “I think it’s too small.”

She frowned at that. “Well it will do for now.”

After she stopped me from running, the two of us got into her car. It was a Ford Focus, a nice little car, I suppose. She drove us a few blocks away before stopping and getting a gym bag out of the trunk. She made sure that we were some place where no one was around then made me put on the sports bra she had in the duffel. I tried to refuse but she threatened to drive me home if I didn’t put the bra on so I had no choice. I climbed over the seat and managed as best as I could. I was overly embarrassed when she checked.

Now the two of us were stopped again, outside of a little bistro. I’d seen it a few times when riding to school. It was a quaint little place, kind of quiet too. It definitely didn’t look like the spot that many teenagers would go to eat at though. Maybe that’s why Melissa chose it---after working all day with kids I wouldn’t want to be surrounded by them either. Not that any of that mattered now because everyone was still in school. I felt a little naughty about that, like I was breaking some huge rule.

Melissa gave me a once over. “Before we go in, can you do me a favor?”

“That depends?”

“I want you to lose the hoodie.”

“No way!”

She sighed. “Kelly, until we figure things out, you might be stuck like this for some time. If not this, you’re going to be turning back and forth a lot more frequently. I understand you’re scared but hiding away isn’t going to stop that. You need to embrace this and learn to live with it.”

I bit my lip. “Everyone will think I’m a girl.”

She laughed. “News flash honey, right now you are a girl.”

“That’s not what I meant” I sighed. “This hoodie is baggy enough for me to hide, so that people don’t guess. They see it and me and they wonder but they don’t pry. Its comfortable, it keeps me safe.”

“It’s a crutch,” she said with a heavy sigh. “I think you hide behind it because you’re a lot more scared than you think. You’re afraid of who you are, that’s why you let people guess. I look at you now and I see girl, albeit one in a baggy purple hoodie, but I saw the same thing before, too. You’re too ambiguous in that thing. If you really want people to see you for who you truly are, you need to lose the crutch and let them see.”

I bit my lip. I suppose she was half right but I’m not sure if I was ready.

“Ok tell you what, you take off the hoodie and I won’t tell your grandmother about you skipping school.”

“You were going to tell her?”

She shrugged. “I guess you’ll never know now.”

She gave me an evil smile. I knew that smile, Mary had that smile. I had to wonder if Melissa was the one who taught it to her.
“You have to give me more than that.”

“What do you want?”

“I want you to promise that you won’t tell anyone about this, any of this. The changing back and forth thing, the possibility of being stuck. I want to wrap my mind around it before I tell anyone.”

Melissa sighed. “Kelly, people are going to find out.”

“Eventually” I said “but I want to keep it a secret as long as I can.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“I haven’t figured that part out yet.”

“Fair enough” she said with a smile. “You take off the hoodie; I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

I took a deep breath and quickly pulled it over my head like ripping off a band-aid. AS soon as it was off, I felt kind of naked. I was wearing a peach colored t-shirt, one that we actually got from the little kid’s department. It fit perfectly fine before but now with my new assets and changed frame, the shirt was kind of snug. My breasts also pulled it up a little more, showing a bit of my bellybutton. I gasped and tried to tug it down but there was no use. Melissa laughed; I think she was enjoying it. After a minute or two, she got me out of the car. In the street, it felt like everyone was staring at me. I wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere. I rushed quickly into the little restaurant. When I got inside it was worse because people did stare. There was only a handful of patrons but it felt like all of their eyes were burning into me. I turned to run but Melissa was behind me and stopped me, pushing me into the place.

“Take a deep breath,” she whispered gently. “You’re going to be fine.”

I did as I was told as the two of us found a table in the corner as far away from the prying eyes as we could.

A minute or two later, a pretty young blonde waitress came to the table. She looked to be about the same age as Melissa.

“Karen, it’s been awhile,” said Melissa, greeting the girl. “How’ve you been?”

“Alive” she said with a laugh.

Melissa laughed too. “Hey, how did that Harper thing go?”

“Better than expected.”

They talked for a minute or so more before Karen took our orders. I couldn’t help but wonder what the Harper thing was. There were a few Harpers in my grade. I had English with a Chris Harper and his cousin was on the cheerleading squad I think. Maggie was talking about her during lunch yesterday. I didn’t really know much about the Harpers, much like the rest of the elite in town. I did know they were pretty well off though, I think they owned the newspaper or something.
When she was finished with the orders, Karen looked at me oddly. “Who’s your friend?” she asked Melissa.

“This is Agatha’s granddaughter Kelly.”

I couldn’t help but wince at that. However at the same time I found myself pushing some of my hair behind my left ear. I smiled at Karen, trying to show her that I was as normal as normal came. Inside I felt like I was going to puke, my insides jumping up and down.

“You must be Becky’s daughter?”

I nodded.

“I didn’t realize Jess had a younger sister,” Karen continued.

“Kelly’s a bit of shut in, spends most of her time hiding away. When I found out, she was staying with Aggie I knew I had to try dragging her out of her shell. That’s why we’re taking this little school break.”

Karen smiled. “You want some coffee girls?”

I shook my head but Melissa nodded. Karen left for a minute and came back with the pot. As she was pouring, I noticed something different about her. I’m not sure why I didn’t see it before but it was as if she was glowing. It wasn’t very prominent or anything but she definitely had a slight glow about her. I couldn’t make out the full color but it was there. It was just like the sorority house the other day but not as bright and this one didn’t go away when I blinked. I looked around the room, wondering if anyone else glowed. Sure enough, other people were glowing as well but none of them shined quite like Karen. When my eyes fell on Melissa, I realized she was glowing as well.

What the hell was going on?

Melissa gave me an odd look. “Everything ok?”

I blinked and the glow vanished. Weird. “I’m good, just a little tired.”

“It’s called too much work honey,” said Karen with a laugh. “I get like that all the time.”

Karen left a moment later, leaving the two of us alone.

“See that wasn’t so bad” said Melissa a few seconds later. “In fact, I think you’re a natural. The way you blushed like that then tucked your hair behind your ear.”

I blushed some more, which Melissa laughed at.

We spent the next several minutes talking. She wanted to know about the work Mom and Dad did. I was just thrilled to be able to talk about it without having to lie all the time. It was kind of refreshing to talk to someone and tell them the truth. I was on our trip to the Himalayas when Karen arrived with our food. I shut up quickly, switching topics.

“Don’t stop on my account,” she said with a wink. “My mother used to regal me with her adventures when I was younger. Did you know she actually apart of the team that went and protected Nessie?”

“Wait, what?”

Melissa and Karen laughed aloud.

“Kelly, Karen is a Holden.”

I felt like kicking myself in the ass over that one. There were seven major witch families in Ravencrest, the Holden’s being one of them.

Mom made me memorize things like that, just in case it ever came up. She said it was good to know who your friends were. There were a total of one hundred and sixteen witch clans out there, and the seven at Ravencrest were pretty damn important. The Crawfords were at the top of the list. It was said that our family could trace their origins all the way back to the Middle Ages----we weren’t the oldest family but there were very few who could go back that far. I didn’t really know how far back the Holden’s or even the Williams could go. I didn’t really know much about them at all actually. The families weren’t enemies but they weren’t always forthcoming either. It always amazed me that such a diverse group lived so close together and that a member of each family sat on the Coven. It must have sucked not knowing which one of your colleagues harbored a nasty grudge on you because they hid under those cloaks of theirs.

“I wanted to be a Magister when I was younger but I didn’t have the stomach for it,” continued Karen with a sigh. “Instead I’m stuck here, bussing tables and making my way through college.”

I often forget that Mom and Dad had an official title like that. Their organization was spread so thin these days that most people didn’t even remember names. At one time the Magisters were big, there used to be one in every town. The world was changing though; more and more Unseen were either going into deep hiding or extinct. There was less demand for Magisters now. There were probably no more than thirty of them left now. It was kind of sad really. Like Karen, I used to dream of being one too. I knew it was impossible though unless I became a Warden.

Duds weren’t allowed to become Magisters.

Karen left us to our food. We ate quietly. Melissa kept smiling at me every now and then though. It was kind of freaky. Me, I tried desperately to see if I could see more glowing. Sadly whatever it was had all but faded now. It was kind of strange though, it just appearing like that. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was another one of those strange Ravencrest things. I tried not to dwell on it too much though, hoping that if I waited long enough it might come back.

“I think you’re a natural,” said Melissa as we were finishing up.

“A natural what?”

She laughed. “A natural girl, silly.”

I’m not sure I liked that.

“I didn’t mean to offend you,” she said quickly. “It’s just that looking at you, sitting across from me. It’s hard to imagine that only a short while ago you were in fact a boy.”

“I’m still a boy,” I added defensively. “And will be again as soon as we fix whatever is wrong with me.”

Neither one of us had anything more to say for a while.

We finished our meal and headed back to the car. I retrieved my hoodie as Melissa drove us back to the school. We got there just as the final bell was ringing which was amazing timing on our part. I pulled the hoodie over my head, hoping to avoid any more talk as I got out of the car. Melissa didn’t seem to be done though because she got out with me. She followed me to the bike rack, dogging my heels the whole way.

“You can’t just ignore this you know,” she said, trying to keep her voice down.

“I’m not going to ignore it,” I said quickly. “I’m going to pretend it never happened.”

She frowned. “I thought we were making progress. What happened?”

“I’m not some kind of experiment. You think I want to be like this” I could feel tears burning my cheeks. I snapped around to face her. “I want to be normal; I want to be a regular guy. It was nice to pretend earlier but I’m not a girl, I’m never going to be one. I might look like one and currently am one but I’m not nor am I ever going to actually be one.”

“Kelly I never…”

“Leave me alone ok,” I snapped.

As soon as I did, I heard several loud pops. I snapped around and watched in awe as every bike tire on the rack popped one by one, like a domino effect. It was the freakiest thing I’d ever seen but there was more to it. There was no way all of them could have gone like that, not unless….I shook my head, that wasn’t possible. Melissa on the other hand was looking right at me, with the strangest look. The look lingered for longer than I would have liked, followed a few seconds later by a slight smile.

“I think you and I need to talk about things some more” she said after a moment or two.

“I’m done talking,” I snapped, my anger rising again.

Melissa held up her hands. “Ok not right now. How about Monday. You come by my office first thing Monday morning and we can figure this out. By then I might be able to find some way to reverse whatever it is that’s happening.”

“Fine” I snapped.

I climbed onto my bike and groaned because like the rest, its tires were now flat.

“Let’s put it in my trunk and I’ll give you a ride.”

All I could do was nod. I helped her secure the bike then got back into the car. There was something wrong with me; my emotions were all over the place. I was fine earlier and now I felt like I could bite someone’s head off. What the hell was wrong with me? Was it an influx of emotions or something else? As Melissa got into the car, I tried to concentrate on other things but my mind was all over the place. I found myself looking at the rear-view mirror as we drove away. I watched all the cars behind me, wondering if their drivers had as many problems as I did right now. Melissa was talking but I didn’t notice, I was lost in my thoughts.

So lost I didn’t even notice the black car that was a few cars behind us.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF