When strange things begin happening to Shane, he soon discovers the truth about himself and this leads to an adventure in a world of myths and legends.

This was written as a serial story and posted to my Yahoo group over a period of several months.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Morpheuscabinet2/

Part 1

It was mid-morning and the air was wet and damp, not the best time to play catch in the front yard. The fact that my shoes were both soaked through after walking through the wet grass only added emphasis to this. However, I didn't complain about this and certainly wasn't going to let it stop me from doing what I was doing.

At the moment, I was tossing a baseball back and forth with my friend Benji, something which we did at least once every weekend or two. Benji and I had first met about six years ago when we'd both been playing little league together and had quickly become friends. Even now, we were both on the school baseball team and we still enjoyed playing a game of catch while hanging out.

I stood there for a moment with the baseball firmly in hand, staring intently at Benji and silently giving him 'the look'. Of course, this had no real effect on Benji since this was hardly the first time he'd seen 'the look', but that wasn't really the point.

We both liked to practice the art of trying to look as intimidating as we could since that kind of thing could really give you a psychological edge against the other team’s players in a real game. Personally, I thought that it was just a little more fun than the trash talking that also went on during the games.

Benji just stood there and gave me his best intimidating look back. He was 5 foot 10, a full inch taller than me and a little larger overall. Where I was lean he tended to be a little bulkier, though not a lot. Still, in spite of his slight advantage in height and bulk, I was pretty sure that my intimidating look was better than his. Of course, Benji would emphatically disagree.

Finally, Benji exclaimed, "Come on Shane... Just throw the damn ball already..."

I grinned in triumph at having beaten him in our little staring contest. Of course, he would deny that this had ever been a contest, just as I would have if I'd been the one to break it off first. I didn't say anything to gloat or rub it in since there was no need. Instead, I just threw the ball to him and then caught it in my mitt when he threw it back a few seconds later.

"Come on, you can throw better than that," I called out a minute later when one of Benji's throws forced me to run for it.

Then when I threw the ball back, Benji missed it and then had to go running for it in the neighbor's yard. It was entirely his fault for missing a perfectly good throw but I knew he'd just complain that I threw it too wide. Just like with the intimidating looks, this was also an old game between us.

While I waited on Benji, I looked around the quiet cul-de-sac where I lived. There were very few people out and about at this time on a Saturday morning though Benji and I weren't completely alone. One of my neighbors was out as well, working on her garden.

Mrs. Sune was an elderly Japanese woman with white hair that was tied back in a bun and who always seemed to be dressed in a kimono. Nearly every time I went outside, I could find her in her own yard working on the garden. And though she wasn't looking in my direction, I could sort of feel her attention on me. In a way, it was sort of unnerving, especially since I couldn't remember ever actually having had a single conversation with her.

"I think I'm about done for now," Benji said once he'd recovered the ball. "My fucking feet are soaked..."

"Wimp," I teased him even though I was thinking the same thing. I was glad for the excuse to go inside and dry my feet.

A few minutes later, Benji and I were in my bedroom while I changed my shoes and socks. He was stuck wearing his wet shoes though I didn't feel much sympathy since I'd been in the same situation at his house often enough.

We had barely gotten settled in when my mom stuck her head in the door and asked, "Are you all right in here Shane?"

I rolled my eyes and responded, "Fine."

"I just wanted to make sure," my mom added, giving me a strange look. "Can I get you boys anything to snack on?"

Benji immediately asked, "Can I get a soda?"

"No, I'm fine," I responded.

Mom just nodded and told Benji, "I'll be back with that in a minute."

"Jeez," Benji told me with a chuckle once my mom had gone. "You'd almost think your mom didn't trust me in here with you..."

"It's not you," I told him with a shrug. "She's just been really weird since my birthday..."

Ever since I'd turned sixteen nearly two weeks ago, my mom had been acting strange and overprotective, barely even letting me out of her sight. And now that I thought about it, I realized that dad hadn't really been any different. Both of them had been behaving oddly.

I figured that they were probably just realizing how fast I was growing up and that before long I'd be leaving for college. I mean, I could sort of understand that, at least a little. I was sixteen, had my own car...even if it was a piece of cr1p, and I even had a job. I'd been working as a bagger at the supermarket for the last three months just so I could get insurance and gas for my car. It must have just dawned on them that I wasn't just a kid anymore.

"About time," I muttered to myself. Then at Benji's odd look, I told him, "I think she just figured out I'm growing up."

Benji nodded in understanding before going to the corner of my room where I had an easel set up with a half completed painting on it. He just stood there and looked over my recent work without saying a word, frowning slightly and then looking to several other paintings I'd done which hung on my wall.

"How's the new one going?" he asked.

"Not bad," I responded, looking over my most recent attempt.

Painting was something that I'd enjoyed doing ever since I started as a kid. There was something fascinating about being able to take all these random colors and putting them together in such a way that they had meaning. It was also relaxing and gave me an outlet for all of my otherwise wasted creative energies. I'd begun with the usual finger paints and had long since moved on up to real oil paints. Of course, just because I enjoyed painting, that didn't necessarily mean I was very good at it.

The current painting that I'd been working on was a half-finished portrait of a woman with white hair. In spite of her white hair, she wasn't an old woman but was instead sort of young and beautiful. In fact, she wasn't even anyone I knew in real life though I had been seeing her for several years now in my dreams. I've painted this same woman several times already with two of my best previous efforts hanging on the wall.

I stared at the painting for a moment, mentally going over what I still needed to add. One of the most important features that I needed to get right were her eyes. In my dreams, her eyes were always very unusual in that they always had a silver crescent moon in each.

"I think this is one of your best ones so far," Benji told me with no trace of teasing in his voice.

Most guys probably would have teased the hell out of me when they found out that I keep having dreams about the same fictional woman or that I kept painting her, but when I'd finally told Benji, his response had merely been to shrug and say, "Man can't live on baseball alone." I'd always been thankful that my best friend was so understanding about my little quirk. Unfortunately, my girlfriend Heather was a little less so, though fortunately it wasn't a deal breaker.

I was still staring at the painting when there was a quick tapping on my bedroom door. My mom came in a moment later, announcing, "I've brought your soda...and some chips."

"Thanks mom," I told her as I happily grabbed the bag of chips.

Then I noticed that my mom was staring at the painting as well, frowning with a worried look that surprised me. I know that she'd never been fond of the paintings I made of this white haired woman but I'd never seen her react quite like this. After a moment though, she flashed me a smile that seemed a little forced before she hurried on out of my room.

"Weird," I muttered once my mom was gone. Then I turned to Benji and gave an exaggerated shrug. "Sometimes, I don't think I'll ever understand parents."

Benji chuckled at that, then responded, "And we probably won't...at least not until we're so old that we don't understand teenagers anymore."

"Good point," I agreed. Then I went to my dresser and pulled out a dirty magazine from the bottom drawer where it was hidden and handed it to Benji with a grin. "I just got this one yesterday... Check out the girl on page seven..."

Part 2

"Shane Jacob Whitmere," the girl in front of me exclaimed with a scowl. She stood there with her hands on her hips, giving me something of an exaggerated glare. "I asked you a question."

My girlfriend Heather was very pretty, with red hair, green eyes, and a splattering of freckles across her cheeks. She could have used a few more curves but what she did have certainly wasn't bad. At the moment, we were at one of the countless clothing stores in the mall and she was posing in front of me in the new dress she was trying on.

"Well?" Heather pressed me impatiently.

I just gulped, suddenly feeling like a trapped animal. My dad had once told me that when a woman asks you if her clothes make her look fat, that there is no right answer. He'd told me that most of the time the question wasn't as straightforward as it appeared and that she was usually either testing you or trapping you, that she was either fishing for a compliment of or setting you up for an argument that she wanted to have and making sure that she could enter it with some sort of moral high ground. Dad told me that women liked to use this tactic to fake a fight and then use that as an excuse to make you do something they wanted in order to earn their 'forgiveness'.

"Um...," I stammered as I tried thinking of a good response, wishing that dad had told me what would be a safe answer. "You look absolutely gorgeous."

"Really?" Heather exclaimed with a grin. "You really think so?" Then she gave me a quick kiss on my cheek while I let out a sigh of relief that she'd only been fishing for a compliment rather than an argument.

I remained where I was, carefully not showing my impatience as Heather went back into the dressing room to try on some other outfit. Having to wait on her while she went shopping was probably the worst part of having a girlfriend, worse even than always being completely broke. However, I reminded myself that this was much better than not having a girlfriend. In the end, it was probably a pretty small price to pay.

My mind wandered back to that morning when I'd been playing catch with Benji in the front yard. The two of us had been talking about going to the movies later on, at least until Heather showed up at my door asking me to give her a ride to the mall. Of course I couldn't turn down a request like that from my girlfriend so Benji had said goodbye and left rather than coming with and getting caught up in Heather's shopping.

When Heather was finished in the clothing store, I was surprised that after trying on all those different clothes the only thing she actually bought was a new belt. Still, she seemed to think it had been a productive shopping trip and I was just relieved that part was over.

"I need to hit the hobby store while we're here," I told Heather, gesturing down the mall in the direction we needed to go. "I'm almost out of green paint."

Heather nodded at that as we changed direction and then abruptly asked, "Will you do a painting of me?"

"Sure," I responded with a shrug. "That might be fun."

That answer seemed to please Heather though I wondered how pleased she'd be once I had her sitting still for a long period of time so I could get her face sketched out. It might be a little strange doing a portrait of a real person for a change. Most of the time I preferred either painting landscapes or fictional people like the white haired woman from my dreams. In fact, I don't think that I've tried painting a real person in at least a year so this was going to be interesting.

At the hobby store, I quickly found the dark forest green that I'd been looking for as well as a couple other colors that I thought I could use. I was especially pleased at finding a particularly nice shade of crimson that was on sale, not to mention the pearlescent white which would probably be perfect for finishing off the current painting I was working on.

"This should be a great shade for her hair," I mused to myself as we left the shop.

"I like this one," Heather told me, holding up a tube of a sparkling blue paint that she'd bought. I had no idea what she planned on doing with it though since she wasn't into painting. Her art form of voice was singing, which she did rather well. Then she abruptly asked, "So, you wanna meet up for lunch tomorrow?"

"I wish I could," I responded with a sigh. "I've have an eight hour shift at work tomorrow." I shuddered at that, wondering how my dad could stand to work that long every day. I was definitely not looking forward to the day when I had to hold a full time job.

Just as I was about to suggest that we meet up after work instead, I suddenly noticed two guys coming towards us. I recognized both of them from school, a couple of seniors who were known troublemakers. Guy and Eddie were the kind of guys who loved bragging about how tough they were and thought that being tough made them popular. However, the truth was that they were nearly social outcasts, the kind of jerks that most kids didn't want to hang around with. Of course, they just assumed that the reason everyone usually avoided them was out of fear.

"Hey babe," Guy, the taller and thinner of the two said to Heather. "I know you from school..."

"Yeah," Heather responded with a roll of her eyes. "I told you to fuck off last week."

"Yeah, I remember," Guy said, his expression turning mean. "All I did was ask you out and you had to be a bitch about it..."

Heather gasped at that and then blurted out angrily, "You asked me to give you a blow job..."

"Just leave us alone," I told Guy, looking him right in the eyes. I figured these guys were all bark with only a little bite and wasn't about to back away from them. In fact, I was pretty sure that if I did, then Monday at school they'd be telling everyone I was some kind of chicken who ran away from them. "We're not looking for trouble."

"Back off," Eddie said, getting up in my face. "This ain't none of your damn business."

"You can make it up to me for being such a cunt," Guy smirked at Heather, apparently ignoring me entirely. "Just give me a hand job and we'll call it good."

"Listen asshole," I exclaimed, shoving Eddie aside so I could face Guy. "Leave her the fuck alone."

I gave Guy 'the look', hoping that I could intimidate him into backing off. I was just hoping I wouldn't have to really fight these two though I wouldn't hesitate if forced. My coach would kill me if I couldn't play because I hurt my hand fighting these punks.

Unfortunately, neither Eddie nor Guy seemed all that bothered by 'the look'. Eddie began pounding a fist into his open palm in a threatening manner, obviously trying his own intimidation technique.

Suddenly, Guy gave a sharp yelp of pain and grabbed at his face, staggering back and swearing a long stream of profanities. I just stared in surprise and confusion, wondering what had happened since I hadn't touched him.

"Fucking bee," Guy finally exclaimed. "Damn fucking bee stung me..." He pulled his hand away and I could see a nasty red welt forming on his upper cheek, just an inch away from his eye.

"I saw it," Eddie blurted out excitedly. "It was huge... I think it was a yellow jacket..."

At this point, Eddie and Guy were both completely distracted so I backed away, realizing that Heather had already done so. Guy was yelling about how he was going to sue the mall while I just chuckled and caught up with Heather.

"Did you see that?" Heather asked me with a laugh. "Talk about perfect timing."

"I know," I agreed with my own broad grin. "If I didn't know better, I'd almost think that bee was on our side."

After this, Heather and I decided that we'd had enough of the mall. We still laughed over the look on Guy's face as I drove her home and dropped her off. Then once I'd done that, it was time to go home myself. It was about time for dinner and mom always got a bit worried if I was late.

When I got home and parked my car in the driveway, I found that Mrs. Sune was still working on the garden in her front yard. She looked up and stared at me for a moment with a strange expression before turning her attention back to what she was doing. I couldn't help but feeling a chill go down my spine. That little old lady was definitely a strange one.

"I'm back," I called out as I went through the front door, pausing when I noticed several suitcases sitting in the middle of the floor.

"Good," mom said as she came into the room, giving me a strange smile that was obviously forced. "I was getting worried. Did you and Heather have a good time?"

"Um...yeah," I responded. Then I gestured to the suitcases and asked, "What's going on?"

Dad came into the room, holding another suitcase in his hand. He had a worried look on his face, the same look he had last year when he got the news that grandma had gone to the hospital with a heart attack. However, he quickly gave me a forced smile of his own which only made me more worried about what was going on.

"I just decided that we need to get away for a bit," dad said. "Just a little family time vacation..."

"Come on," mom urged me, "Go and get packed. We're leaving really soon..."

"But I work tomorrow," I protested, still a bit stunned by how they were acting.

Mom just frowned in annoyance. "We'll call your manager and explain it's a family emergency... Don't worry."

I just stared at her and at dad who was nodding agreement. This was the same man who'd always told me that being a man meant that you took responsibility and fulfilled your obligations, even when you'd rather be doing something else…especially when you'd rather be doing something else.

Something big was obviously going on here but I had absolutely no idea what. My parents were both acting weird. In fact, I realized that they were both afraid and were just trying to hide it. It suddenly reminded me of when I was a kid and they'd hide problems from me so that I wouldn't get worried. However, I wasn't a kid anymore and could take whatever it was.

"What's really going on?" I demanded, giving them each a suspicious look.

"Why does something have to be going on?" mom asked with an almost pained expression. "We're just going out of town for a bit is all..."

Dad stood there or a moment, scratching his well-trimmed beard, obviously trying hard to act nonchalant and casual. He was a horrible actor.

After a few seconds, I turned and went to my bedroom so I could begin packing, not bothering to press my parents anymore. My mom and dad were both afraid of something so they probably had good reason, even if I didn't know what it was. Their strange behavior and refusal to explain it was only serving to worry me as well. I didn't know what the problem was but it wouldn't hurt me to humor them for now. However, once they calmed down a bit I definitely planned on getting some answers.

Part 3

I tossed and turned in bed, having a hard time staying asleep. It was never easy sleeping in a new bed and the circumstances of how I ended up here certainly contributed.

Dad had driven us to some cabin in the middle of nowhere that was owned by one of his co-workers. He still wouldn’t tell me what was going on so I’d gone to bed with my mind still trying to make sense of it all.

I wasn’t sure how long I’d been in bed dozing off and on before I finally decided to get up and go take a piss. I climbed out of bed and stretched while simultaneously muttering a few profanities about my parents and their sudden urge for a vacation.

“If nothing else,” I muttered, “this is bound to be a good story.”

For some reason though, I felt rather strange but in a way I couldn’t quite describe. It was almost like I had goose bumps over my entire body, inside as well as out. It was a very weird feeling.

I shook my head then went to the bathroom to relieve myself, hoping that after this I’d be able to get to sleep. I also hoped that once my mom and dad had a good night sleep that they’d be willing to tell me what in the world was going on.

Once I was done draining my bladder, I went back to the small room that I’d been trying to sleep in. I stopped in front of the window and stared out at the full moon, feeling strangely drawn to it.

Then a strange chill rippled through my body, a soothing cool sensation that seemed to spread out from somewhere in my chest. I gasped in surprise at this, feeling more than a little confused.

A moment later, I suddenly noticed my hand glowing. I stared at it in shock, seeing a faint glow coming from beneath my skin. Then I stared at my palm which had a strange glowing symbol on it that looked sort of like a spiral with a line through it.

“What the hell?” I gasped, noticing that there were also strange glowing lines spreading over my body. I ran my finger over several of them but I couldn’t feel anything there. “What the fuck?”

Two more glowing symbols appeared on my skin as well, each of them giving off the same silvery white light. There was one symbol in the middle of my chest that looked a little like a crescent moon and another one on my navel that looked like some sort of Chinese writing.

“What is this?” I demanded of no one in particular, trying to make sense of these glowing lines and writing on my skin or the fact that all of my skin was now starting to glow from beneath, not just my hand. I suddenly wondered if this had something to do with why my mom and dad had freaked out.

Before I could come to any decision about whether to wake them up and demand answers, my skin began to ripple and move. I could only stare in horror as my very flesh began to pulse and write as though there was something beneath my skin. Strangely though, it didn’t actually hurt at all. It felt sort of cool and soothing instead.

Just then, my changing flesh became even stronger and I could feel my body beginning to move around from within. There was a strange pressure starting to build in my chest and a moment later, my chest started to swell outward. I stared down with my eyes wide open as my chest began to form into two lumps that looked shockingly like breasts.

My chest wasn’t the only part of my body that was changing through. The skin along my arm rippled and as the ripple passed, the skin smoothed out and became hairless. It was as though every hair on my arm just vanished.

Even my hands were changing as my fingernails glowed with the silvery light and began to stretch out, becoming longer as I watched. At the same time, my entire hand was changing along with the nails, somehow becoming more slender and delicate looking. My hands were starting to look like girl hands.

Suddenly, something happened to the way I was changing and it suddenly became painful. I gasped at the sudden agony and dropped to my knees, feeling as though everything in my body was trying to go into two different directions at once.

After several very long seconds, the changes that had occurred began to reverse. My chest began to deflate, releasing that pressure I’d been feeling. A ripple passed over my arm, leaving it a bit hairy again afterwards. Even my nails seemed to pull back in, becoming shorter as my hands returned to normal.

Once my flesh had returned to its normal appearance, the glowing lines and symbols faded quickly followed by the strange pale glow from beneath my skin. By this time, I felt extremely sore and exhausted.

I remained where I was for several minutes, taking deep breaths and trying to fight off the dizziness that had come along with my rapid change back to normal. Then I finally got to my feed, staggering a little as I did so.

“I’m normal again,” I whispered as I looked myself over, seeing no sign of the strangeness that had just hit me.

A thousand thoughts shot through my mind as I once again wondered if this was somehow related to how my mom and dad were acting. I was sure it had to be though I had absolutely no idea as to how much less what actually had happened to me.

“Maybe I imagined it,” I muttered, trying to convince myself that I’d just had a very strange and realistic dream. “That’s it… It was just a dream.”

With that, I staggered out of my small bedroom and back to the single bathroom that served the entire cabin. This time, my goal wasn’t to relieve myself but to just splash my face with cold water so I could shake this off.

“Damn that was a weird dream,” I sighed, turning off the cold water and then looking up into the small mirror that hung above the sink.

It took me just a moment before I noticed that something was wrong with my reflection. It was my eyes…they’d changed color. The irises had both turned a strange silvery color and even the pupils had changed, turning a dark color that was almost a burnt chrome rather than the usual black.

“Holy shit,” I blurted out, hardly able to believe what I was seeing.

I actually began to shake, realizing that I couldn’t deny what had happened earlier or just pass it off as a dream…not when I had this reminder. There was suddenly no doubt in my mind that whatever was going on, it was a lot stranger than I’d imagined.

“Mom and dad have some questions to answer,” I said with a grimace of determination. And this time I was NOT going to be put off.

Part 4

I sat at the breakfast table with my arms crossed, glaring past my untouched bowl of cereal at my parents. Mom and dad were making a show of drinking coffee and eating their breakfast, trying a little too hard to act as though everything was perfectly normal. So far, both of them had refused to explain why we'd run away from home, what had happened to me last night, and of course...why I now had silver eyes.

"What the hell is going on?" I demanded, not for the first or even third time since the sun had come up. It said something about the circumstances and just how upset my mom was that she didn't even correct me on my language. "I'm not a kid anymore."

"That's the problem," mom said quietly.

"Ellen," dad started to say as if to warn her.

"I can't believe it's been sixteen years," mom said, her voice shaking. "I didn't think it would pass so fast... That seemed like such a long time away..."

Dad sat there, scratching his beard and then putting a comforting hand on mom’s. He gave me a worried look that sent another chill down my spine.

"We didn't want you to know," dad told me quietly. "We just wanted to protect you."

Mom glanced at me for a moment before quickly looking away. She stared down at the table as she whispered, "We shouldn't have made that deal..."

"We didn't have a choice," dad told her with a grimace. "Sixteen years was better than nothing..."

"What deal?" I asked, gulping as I looked at them both. "What are you talking about?"

At that moment, I suddenly felt a cool sensation form in my right palm and it quickly began spreading up my arm. I gasped with a surge of fear as I recognized the feeling from last night. I held up my and saw that the glowing symbol in my palm had returned. It was the spiral with the line through it, exactly as I remembered it from last night.

"Oh shit," I exclaimed, jumping up from the table and staggering back as I saw that other glowing lines were appearing along my skin as well.

Mom jumped to her feet as well and called my name with a look of terror on her face while dad ran over to me as though he could somehow help. I had absolutely no idea of what was happening to me but I was pretty sure there was nothing he could do. After all, how could someone prevent the impossible from happening?

My flesh began to ripple and change just as it had last night. And just like last night, I felt a strange pressure building all through me, especially in my chest and groin. I let out another gasp as my chest began to swell larger, forming into two fleshy mounds. I grabbed hold of my apparent breasts and felt that they were indeed flesh and part of my body, as impossible as that was. Of course, everything about this was impossible.

At this point, my clothes no longer felt as though they fit quite right. Most of them seemed to have grown on me and to have become too large. Last night, I'd only been wearing my underwear when this happened so I hadn't really noticed any such thing so this was the only part of my changes which was actually new.

Up until now, all the changes occurring in my body had felt cool but oddly pleasant, almost even good. But now I felt my changes all freeze and begin to reverse, becoming incredibly painful as they did so. I muttered several profanities as the agony shot through my body while it was forced back to what it had been.

I clenched my fists tightly, feeling my long nails digging into my palm at first but then they receded back to their normal short length. My chest began deflating as well until a moment later it was almost as those bumps had never even existed.

"Fuck," I muttered when the changes had fully reversed and I was back to normal. The cooling sensation and glowing had all left my body but I felt sore and exhausted just as I had last night. "Damn that hurt..."

I started getting back to my feet but my mom rushed over to hug me, holding me tight and sobbing. Then she whispered, "Your hair..." She reached up for my hair and ran her hands through it.

"What about my hair?" I asked without comprehension.

Then I suddenly remembered my eyes, how after this had happened last night my eyes had remained changed. I had a bad feeling as I pulled away from my mom and went to find a mirror. Once I did and took one look at my reflection, I let out several profanities under my breath. As I feared, my hair had been changed.

My hair had grown and was now about three inches longer than before, though that was hardly the most noticeable thing about it. My hair had also changed color and was now silvery white. I could only stare at my reflection in surprise as I reached out and felt it.

"What's happening to me?" I whispered, staring into my eyes again.

My eyes looked the same as the last several times I'd looked at them, though as I watched, the burnt chrome color of the pupils shifted into the same silver color as my irises so that now the pupils and irises were all a single silver disk. Then I noticed that the silver disk in my eyes had a faint glow behind it which suddenly made me think it looked like a full moon. I gasped in surprise and then the pupils darkened back to the burnt chrome color, breaking the illusion of being a moon.

I took a deep breath and then forced myself away from the mirror. I needed answers and I wasn't going to take any more delays. I wanted to know what the hell was happening right now.

A minute later, we were all sitting down on the unfamiliar furniture of the cabins living room. Dad and mom both looked worried and uneasy, which wasn't really much different than how they'd been since yesterday. In fact, it wasn't too much different than how they'd been acting for the last couple weeks, just more urgent.

"I don't know why your hair or eye color changed," dad started off, shaking his head. "They never said anything about that..."

"They?" I encouraged him to continue.

"Sixteen years ago," dad said quietly, not looking at me as he continued. "You were almost two weeks old when...when you died."

I just stared at dad in surprise since that was about the last thing I expected to hear. It also made no sense since I was obviously very much alive. "What?"

"You died in your crib," mom said, crying as she did so. "It was sudden infant death syndrome... There was no warning."

Dad nodded sadly and scratched at his beard which was something he always did when nervous or worried. He looked me in the eyes and continued, "You have to understand, we had been trying to conceive for a long time before we succeeded. When you were finally born, it was almost like a miracle for us. And then...when this happened...we were devastated."

"Then they came," mom stated in nearly a whisper. "They...they weren't human but they said they could give you back to us. They said we could make a deal...that they could give you back, but..."

"We could only have you for sixteen years," dad finished for her, giving me a pained look. "They said that after sixteen years they would come to take you back...and that we'd never see you again." He shook his head and added, "We didn't have a choice... But now...now we can't let them take you."

"They took your body away," mom said quietly, still crying though she did try wiping her eyes. "They took your little body and then came back several hours later... You were alive again...just as if nothing had ever happened."

"Today," dad said quietly, gulping visibly and not looking me in the eyes. "Today is the sixteen year anniversary of when they brought you back."

All I could do was stare at my mom and dad in stunned silence, hardly able to believe that a single word of this could possibly be true. However, it was more than obvious that they were both serious...deadly serious. I didn't know what to think of that...or what to feel. What I did know was that things had suddenly gotten far weirder than I ever could have imagined.

Part 5

The scenery from the porch of the cabin was quite beautiful with a large cluster of trees on the other side of the clearing. The trees were thick enough that I couldn't see any other houses through them though I knew that there were indeed other cabins and homes nearby. There was even wildlife to observe, with a squirrel darting across the clearing in search of food while a bird circled far overhead, perhaps watching the squirrel and also thinking of food.

In spite of the impressive scenery, I could barely tear my eyes away from my own hands. They no longer looked like my hands and instead looked like the hands of some girl. They were sort of feminine and delicate looking with nails that were longer and perfectly manicured into ovals. My nails had also changed color, becoming a sort of glossy pearlescent that didn't seem to be any sort of polish. I'd scratched at them and from what I could tell, that actually seemed to be their real color.

A short time ago, right after I'd finished eating lunch, I'd been hit with another one of those strange transformation attacks. My body had begun changing again and then before it finished, I was suddenly changed back to normal. This time, I had been left with my changed hands and hair that had grown another four inches longer. I wasn't sure, but I thought that my chest also felt sort of tender and puffy.

So far I'd been hit with these strange attacks three times, and each time I seemed to change back to normal just a little less. Each time, it also seemed to feel better when the changes began and far more painful when they reversed. I shuddered to think of just how much it would hurt the next time. I was becoming sure that there would be a next time.

I felt scared and confused, and in spite of my parents telling me what they knew, I still didn't have much idea of what was going on. How could the dead be brought back to live? Who were these people who supposedly did it? And why would they want to take me? Sure, I had a few answers now but that only resulted in a lot more questions.

Then I closed my eyes, listening to my parents talking just inside the cabin. I could hear them going on about my strange attacks and the changes that were left behind after each one. Mom was the most vocal about it and she was even blaming herself, though I couldn't see why it was her fault.

"They're punishing him because we wouldn't just let them have him," mom was saying.

Dad immediately responded with, "And do you think we should have just stayed there and waited for them instead?"

"Maybe," mom started hesitantly, her voice holding a hopeful tone. "Maybe they won't come..."

The conversation had been like that since this morning when they'd told me about the deal they made. At first, I'd been part of the conversation but then realized that we were just going around in circles without actually going anywhere. That was when I'd excused myself from that and just tried to make at least some sense of things on my own.

"What am I?" I whispered, feeling even more confused than before.

I'd been dead but now I was alive. Did that make me some sort of zombie or vampire? I'd never felt any sort of cravings for either brains or blood, nor had I ever shown any of the other usual symptoms. Whatever I was, it wasn't one of those things.

Then I began to wonder what Benji or Heather would say about all of this. I could imagine just imagine Benji exclaiming, "Awesome. Let's see if you can come back from the dead again..."

"They probably wouldn't believe me," I mused with a sigh. As it was, I wasn't sure I even believed me.

Just then, I suddenly felt a chill go down my spine along with a cool sensation from my right palm. "Oh no," I gasped in dread. "Not again."

To my surprise, I didn't feel any of the other symptoms of my previous attacks. The symbol on my palm was glowing again but nothing else was. My skin wasn't starting to ripple and change and I didn't even feel that cool sensation that had previously flooded through my entire body. Whatever this was, it wasn't another attack.

I was just starting to relax from my impending panic when I noticed a strange shimmer in the air about twenty yards away from me. The air was all blurred and moving, almost the same way it sometimes did on a really hot day. Then a figure stepped out of the shimmer and stood there for a moment. I just let out a gasp of surprise, immediately recognizing my neighbor Mrs. Sune who was currently dressed in a red kimono.

"DAD," I yelled out, feeling my heart beginning to race.

My parents immediately came out onto the porch and then froze as they saw our neighbor standing there as well. However, a moment later, three other figures stepped out of the shimmer and joined Mrs. Sune. One of them was a man who held a startling resemblance to Legolas from the Lord of the Rings movies and who even held a bow. The second looked almost like a teenage girl except that she had long pointed ears, dark gray skin, black hair, and bright yellow eyes. Her hands were empty but she had two wicked looking short swords strapped to her sides.

The last member of the group was the most startling in that she looked the least threatening. She was a little girl who looked about ten years old, though she was obviously no ordinary little girl. She was dressed in a long, flowing white dress that seemed nearly to glow. She had long white hair, the same shade as what I now possessed, and from where I was I could see that she had pointed ears just like her two companions. However, the last sign that she was no ordinary girl was her face which held a strangely calm and aware expression that just didn't seem to belong on someone so young.

All four of these people started walking towards us though Mrs. Sune was in front. My parents both tensed up and looked as though they couldn't decide to run or fight. I just gulped and watched, surprised and just a little afraid, but also feeling strangely calm. For some reason, these people just didn't make me as afraid as I thought they should.

"Sixteen years ago, a bargain was struck," Mrs. Sune stated, staring at my parents and then at me.

"Mrs. Sune," mom exclaimed, looking confused. "You're part of this?"

"As I always have been," my neighbor responded with a slight smile.

Mrs. Sune suddenly began to shift and change, standing up straighter and becoming younger and more beautiful right before my eyes. When her changes stopped just seconds later, she now looked as though she was only in her late twenties or early thirties, though her hair still remained the same white it had been. Then I noticed something else that surprised me. Mrs. Sune, or at least the woman who had been my neighbor a minute ago now had a long white furry tail. No, I corrected myself just a few seconds later. She had THREE long furry tails.

"Dear Lord," mom blurted out, staring at Mrs. Sune with a look of shock that echoed what I felt. "You were there..."

"Yes," Mrs. Sune responded with a bow of her head. "I was there the day the bargain was struck. We would give you the child to raise until sixteen years had passed. The time has come and the child must return with us."

"NO," mom yelled suddenly grabbing hold of me. "You can't have him... He's my son..."

Dad stepped forward and put himself between me and Mrs. Sune, obviously intending to protect me. He didn't say a word since his body language and actions spoke clearly enough.

"We had a bargain," Mrs. Sune said coldly. "The changeling must come with us."

The little girl abruptly put a hand on Mrs. Sune's arm and Mrs. Sune paused and bowed her head. "Your desire to protect the young one is admirable," the girl said in a sweet melodic voice. "However, it is misplaced. The young one is in grave danger and the only path to safety lies with us."

“What kind of danger?” I asked hesitantly.

Suddenly, the gray skinned girl and the man who looked like an extra from Lord of the Rings both froze and began turning at once. An instant later, a massive spear appeared through the man's chest, releasing a spray of blood and sending him flying backward with what appeared to be incredible force.

"We're under attack," the gray skinned girl exclaimed, both of her short swords already in her hands though I hadn't seen her reach for them.

"Holy shit," I exclaimed, quickly looking to the source of the attack.

Off to the side about fifty yards away, there was another place where the air was shimmering and this place had six men stepping out of it...if they could be called men. The shortest of them had to be over six feet tall while the tallest had to be over seven feet. All of them resembled humans but were obviously not. For one, all had brutish looking features that would have looked right at home on a neanderthal, and for another, they all had skin in various shades of brownish gray, though none of them had the same charcoal gray color as the teenage girl.

The one closes to us was tall and lanky though I could see a tightly muscled form. His clothes seemed to be a mix of patched cloth and leather armor and he wore a pair of boots that appeared to be made of metal. In his hand he clutched a long and wicked looking spear, one identical to the spear that impaled the Legolas wannabe. And on top of his head, he wore a floppy red hat that reminded me a little of the hats worn by the Smurfs. But in spite of the red hat and scraggly beard, he didn't really resemble Papa Smurf at all.

The next one was a little shorter than the first but more than twice as wide with big bulging muscles. His clothes were similar to the clothes of the first one, and in fact they all wore clothes like this though several seemed to have chain mail as well. He had a large double bladed axe in his hand and no top of his head, he too wore a dark red hat, though his was a wide brimmed type.

I noticed that along with similar clothes, they all wore red hats on their heads though they seemed to be of different types. One had a top hat, one a derby, and a couple wore odd looking hats that didn't seem to be of any particular style. And of course, all of them were armed with either spears or axes, and they were all charging straight towards us.

"Take the changeling alive," the monster with the wide brimmed red hat yelled out.

The gray skinned girl took a defensive position between the ones she'd come with and the approaching attackers, looking grim and determined. Mrs. Sune scowled and stepped back, holding out her hand where a ball of fire appeared in the palm.

"What the hell is going on?" dad demanded angrily, backing up with a look of terror on his face. However, no one answered him.

"No," the little girl exclaimed and suddenly began to shimmer and grow.

It took me several seconds to realize that she wasn't just growing taller, she was becoming older. She aged right before my eyes, filling out until she was an extremely beautiful and graceful adult woman. Her hair had grown longer and now hung in long waves of silvery white to her waist.

Once the girl had finished aging, she turned so stare at me for just a moment so that my eyes met hers. Her eyes were an almost glowing silver, exactly the same color that mine now were. However, her irises somehow formed around her pupils into the shape of crescent moons.

I gasped in shock, suddenly realizing that this girl...this woman was the same woman from my paintings...from my dreams. She stared at me with a strange expression and I could feel something pass between us. The symbol on my palm seemed to radiate a cool tingle even more strongly.

"YOU," mom exclaimed, staring at the moon eyed woman with a look of fear and surprise.

"You shall be safe," the woman told me, her voice sounding beautiful and melodic.

Then the woman abruptly turned around and a wave of white light burst out of her hand, hitting a spear that had been flung at her and knocking it out of the air. She muttered something strange and another wave of light shot out at one of the large attackers, sending him flying backwards.

The gray skinned woman was jumping around with her blades slashing at unbelievable speed, blocking a thrust from a spear and then dodging aside to slash at her opponent. The entire time, she was obviously trying to keep herself between the much larger attackers and the moon eyed woman.

"Come on," dad yelled, grabbing me and mom and pulling us back into the cabin.

We all ran into the cabin to get to safety but I couldn't help but looking back at the moon eyed woman. We had barely gone through the living room when one of the gray skinned men burst through a window and then stood there with an axe in hand, grinning at us in a way that suddenly made me want to piss my pants and then run away screaming like a little girl.

Mom was screaming hysterically while dad and I both looked around for something we could use to fight with. Dad grabbed a lamp that was still plugged in while I grabbed a decorative figurine and threw it at the creature. He just took several more steps towards us, grinning evilly.

"We need you alive," the thing said as he looked right at me. It looked just a little disappointed at that too. "But the other mortals I can kill..."

"Out the other door," dad yelled, gesturing for mom and me to leave while he looked as though he was planning to stay behind.

Suddenly, I saw a tiny flash of yellow and a little bee landed on the creature’s nose and stung it. My eyes blurred and I realized it wasn't a little bee... It was a fucking HUGE bee...the biggest I'd ever seen in my life. But then my eyes blurred again and I gasped in surprise, seeing that it wasn't a bee at all bit a tiny woman with wings who couldn't have been much more than four inches tall. She had a tiny spear in her hand which she was using to poke at the monster.

"What the fuck is going on?" I screamed in frustration, feeling even more confused than before.

We ran out the other door of the cabin while the creature came after us, swatting at the bee woman the entire time. Once we were out the other door, we found that two of the monsters were already there waiting for us. One of them lunged and grabbed me by the arm while the other one swung his axe at dad.

"Shane," mom screamed, looking as though she couldn't decide between running and throwing herself at the monsters. "Carl!"

"Let me go you fucking bastard," I yelled at the one holding me while I struggled in desperation to get away.

I noticed a flash of white from the corner of my eye right before something slammed into me and knocked me right out of the monster's hand. I hit the ground hard but was immediately rolling and back to my feet, ready to run as fast as I could.

But then I noticed what had hit me and knocked me free. It was a fox...a big white furry fox with three bushy tails, and at the moment, it was snarling at the creature until it kicked the fox and sent it flying.

"Stupid kitsune," the creature snarled. "You're weak."

I stared at the white fox in surprise and confusion which only grew stronger as the fox shimmered and changed, transforming back into Mrs. Sune...or at least the young and pretty version of her that had three tails. She stood up, obviously a bit shaky and then she threw a ball of fire at the monster that had kicked her.

"Come," she yelled, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the monster while he was swatting flames out of his scraggly beard.

A moment later, there was a flash of golden light and suddenly the tiny bee woman was now human sized. She was lean and athletic, built almost like a marathon runner with few feminine curves. Her hair was shoulder length and a bright yellow color that would have been a great shade for a sports car, just not human hair, though several streaks of black shot through that shockingly yellow hair. Black marks in the form of stripes decorated her skin, though whether it was natural, tattoo, or body paint, I had no idea. There was a knee length skirt hanging from around her waist which was a dark yellow color with black trim. The only other clothing she wore was a yellow and black halter top of some sort. And of course, she held a spear in her hand, a nasty thing that looked like a harpoon made out of a single piece of golden metal.

The no longer tiny bee woman immediately impaled the distracted monster with her spear and then pulled her spear out just in time to use it to block an attack from another one. She lashed out in a flurry of strikes with her spear, though I was a little too distracted with running to just stand there and watch as I was half tempted to.

Mrs. Sune led me around the cabin back towards the other side where the air was still shimmering. My mom and dad followed a short distance behind with one of the monsters right behind them. Once I saw where Mrs. Sune was leading us, I realized that she intended to escape the same way she had her friends had arrived. I wasn't sure which was more dangerous, going with her or staying with these monsters. Neither seemed a good option to me.

Without warning, one of the monsters jumped out from the porch where he'd been crouched down in hiding. It was the biggest one, the bulky one with the wide brimmed red hat who'd seemed to be their leader. In one swift leap, he caught up with my mom and dad and grabbed them both, one in each hand. They were both screaming in panic and frantically trying to get loose.

"Give me the changeling," the monster snarled.

"Mom," I screamed out. "Dad..." I started to go to them but Mrs. Sune grabbed hold of me and pulled me back, proving that she was stronger than she looked.

"Quiet child," Mrs. Sune snapped at me, gesturing to the hat wearing monsters who'd regrouped and were now all charging towards us.

Just a second later, the bee woman suddenly appeared beside me, apparently having dropped right out of the sky. She grabbed hold of my shoulder and firmly told me, "Come with me if you want to live." Then before I could even respond, she threw me into the shimmering air and everything changed.

Part 6

I found myself lying on the hard ground, feeling very dizzy and confused about how I got here...wherever 'here' was. Then I slowly sat up, trying to organize the swirling mass of memories in my head so I could make sense of this. Then I remembered the creatures that I'd been running from.

"What were those things?" I muttered.

"Red caps," answered a voice from behind me. I jumped in surprise and then turned to see the bee woman standing there, leaning against her spear. "Vicious killers who value physical strength over nearly anything else. They're dangerous but little more than thugs."

I just stared at the bee woman for a moment and then at Mrs. Sune who stood a few feet away from her. "And what about you? What the hell are you?"

"I am kitsune," Mrs. Sune said with a note of pride.

"We are faerie," the bee woman stated simply. "As are you."

"What?" I blinked in surprise.

"Silly child," Mrs. Sune said, giving me a disapproving look. "Have you not realized what you are? You are a changeling."

All I could do was stare at her in blank confusion, remembering that one of those things...one of the red caps had called me a changeling too. I'd heard that term before but couldn't quite place what it meant.

Mrs. Sune let out an exasperated sigh and announced, "Had I been allowed, I would have begun your instruction years ago. This day would not have come with you so unprepared."

I was about to ask her what she meant about my being a changeling and being instructed when I suddenly remembered my parents. "Mom," I blurted out in horror. "Dad. We left them..."

I quickly looked around for any sign of my parents but saw that we were in a small clearing in the woods. There were thick trees around us and a very obvious path through them. I could see nothing through the trees but more trees and darkness and there was absolutely no sign of the cabin or any other house.

A moment later, it suddenly dawned on me that absolutely everything about this place felt wrong. The trees didn't look quite right, certainly not like the kind of trees that had been behind the cabin. There was no wind at all and no movement of the branches. I couldn't even hear anything, not even a single bird. Even the light somehow seemed wrong. However, I had more important things to worry about.

"We have to go back," I exclaimed, frantically looking for how I could get back to help mom and dad.

"The red caps are probably soaking their hats in the human’s blood by now," Mrs. Sune said grimly.

"What?" I demanded, staring at her in horror.

"They soak their hats in the blood of their victims," the bee woman told me with a dark look. "It acts as a souvenir of their kill." She spat out bitterly and added, "And they can draw on the strength of their victims for a short while."

All I could do was stare at the bee woman, feeling even more horrified and worried. "No..."

"It's too late to go back," the bee woman told me sympathetically. "We couldn't help them once they were captured and our duty was to get you to safety. It still is."

"No," I whispered, backing away from these two creatures and whatever nonsense they were spouting

I wanted answers but all I was getting was more questions and a lot of worry. I couldn't deal with these two anymore. I had to get back to my mom and dad, and if these two wouldn't help me, I'd have to do it on my own. However, as I looked around I saw absolutely no sign of them and the only way I could really run was down the path through the forest. Somehow, I didn't think that was where I needed to go.

"I have to get back to my mom and dad," I insisted. "How do I go back?"

"You can't," the bee woman stated. "This way does not allow us to go back and I couldn't let you even if it was possible."

The bee woman at least looked sympathetic while Mrs. Sune looked annoyed. She gave me a cold look and said, "I've already told you...you're a changeling. Those were not your parents."

I just froze at that, staring at her and gulping. "What the hell do you mean?"

"I was present for your birth," Mrs. Sune stated. "Sixteen years ago today."

"My birthday was a couple weeks ago," I protested.

Mrs. Sune continued as though I hadn't spoken at all. "Mere hours after your birth, you were bound by magic into the form of a dead mortal infant. You were then presented to his parents to raise as their own."

Those words sunk right to my gut like a lump of lead. I just stood there, gasping in disbelief and feeling as though my entire world was crumbling down around me. Not only had I been attacked by monsters from sold old faerie tale, and not only were my mom and dad probably dead, but now it looked like absolutely everything I knew about the world and myself was a lie.

Mom and dad had told me that I'd died as a baby and that I'd then been brought back to life in some sort of miracle. But what if I hadn't been brought back to life? What if I'd never even been the one who'd died? Shane Whitmere had died as a baby and had never come back. An icy cold dread shot down my spine as I absorbed what this meant. I wasn't who I thought I was. I wasn't the real Shane. I was just some sort of impostor who'd been living his life without even having a clue that I was doing so.

"Oh shit," I whispered, collapsing to my knees in a dazed stupor.

"Watch your language," Mrs. Sune snapped at me. "Such language is inappropriate.”

"Very abrupt," the bee woman told Mrs. Sune in a disapproving tone.

"We don't have time to coddle the child," Mrs. Sune responded. "We don't have time to stay here either. If we do, the red caps may be able to find us. We need to be on our way immediately."

The bee woman gave me another sympathetic look before nodding. "You are correct. We can't remain..." Then she frowned for a moment before adding, "I can't stay at this size any longer... You know I can only remain this size for one hour out of twenty-four. I'll have to save my remaining time in case we need it."

A moment later, there was a flash of golden light and the bee woman was gone, or at least that was my first impression. It took me a second to realize that she was indeed still there but shrunk back to her previous height of four inches tall. She was also hovering in the air, using her insect wings to fly.

"Now come," Mrs. Sune said, this time more gently as she helped me back to my feet. "We must be going."

Mrs. Sune and the bee woman started down the path into the forest and I followed behind in a dazed stupor. I didn't really tr