I had planned on going to the gathering of mythics with aunt June acting as my escort through the gates, though Amylia’s decision to go with me had changed the plan. Now Amylia would be acting as my escort instead, meaning that there was no need for aunt June to come. Aunt June was surprised by this change of plan, but also relieved since she had other things that needed her attention back home.

When Amylia and I had talked to aunt June last night and informed her of this change, she’d been not only surprised but also confused. After all, instructors at the Academy didn’t normally get involved with student activities off campus, especially not when they were of such a personal nature. However, I didn’t dare tell aunt June the real reason that Amylia was coming.

“Erin guessed my real name,” Amylia told aunt June with a wry smile when she explained her reasons. “So I’m escorting her as a favor.” The look on aunt June’s face made me chuckle every time I thought of it.

Amylia and I went through the hall of doors and then traveled through three different gate hub locations in order to get close to where we were going. Then we had to get a rental car and drive the rest of the way. As this meeting had been set up by the Were, who didn’t use the gates to travel, holding the meeting close to one of the gate locations hadn’t even been a consideration as it would have been for the Touched.

It was strange to travel with Amylia this way, not only because she was my great plus grandma, but also because she was one of my teachers. I could tell that she was a little nervous as well, though she didn’t admit it and tried to keep it hidden. She tried covering up her nervousness by switching into teacher mode and giving me lessons for half the trip.

When we reached the destination on the invitation, it was a large farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. That wasn’t surprising though since nearly all Were gatherings happen as far away from outsiders as possible. When Were got together, they liked to show off their Were forms, and this was certainly to be even more of a concern when the gathering was mostly mythics.

There were two dozen people already present, only about half of which were actually the mythics who’d been invited. The rest of the people present consisted mostly of parents or significant others. Amylia and I barely arrived when I found myself met by Vivian.

“Erin,” she said happily, giving me a hug. “Are you doing all right?” She looked concerned. “I know things haven’t been easy for you over the last month…”

“I’ve been adjusting,” I told her self-consciously. Then I introduced her to Amylia. “This is Amylia, one of my instructors at the Academy.”

Vivian gave Amylia a suspicious look. “You’re Touched?”

“A sorceress,” Amylia agreed pleasantly. “I’m here to escort Erin and make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble.” Then she gave a wry smile and added, “After all, that would reflect badly on the Academy and myself.”

“We don’t exactly see many Touched in gatherings like this,” Vivian said carefully.

“There seems to be little real contact between most Touched and Were,” Amylia agreed. Then she abruptly said, “I was told that this was a…distant family gathering of sorts. Are you part of this family?”

Vivian blinked at that and then chuckled. “No, I’m not from this bloodline. And this is a little more complicated than a family gathering, I assure you.”

Amylia nodded. “Continue.”

I stood there in silence as Vivian explained how an attempt to track possible patterns in who became mythics revealed that many of the newer ones shared a common ancestor. Amylia nodded politely but I didn’t miss the look of sharp interest in her eyes or the way she froze when Vivian revealed that the common ancestor was Robert Dupree.

“We charted the family trees,” Vivian said, leading us to a wall which was decorated with the chart that showed Robert Dupree at the top but branched down to his three kids and their descendants. Every Were on the chart who was a mythic had a red star by their name and many of the youngest at the bottom had green stars, indicating that their Were forms were unknown or had yet to be revealed.

“Robert had three children,” Amylia whispered, her voice shaking slightly.

“And three family branches were born,” Vivian agreed, not noticing Amylia’s reactions. “We’ve invited all of those who are mythics here so that they can meet each other and we can interview them.” She gave Amylia a smile and continued, “I don’t know how familiar you are with the Were, but until now there was never any indication that being a mythic was inherited… This is a huge discovery.”

“More than you know,” Amylia said quietly, staring at the family tree with strange look in her eyes.

“Here I am,” I said, pointing to my own name with the red star beside it. My dad’s name was right above my own. I frowned, suddenly missing my parents and wishing that they were here. Dad certainly would have appreciated it, especially if he knew about Amylia.

“The strange surge of new mythics started about ten years ago,” Vivian told Amylia, seeming to be very happy to have someone so interested in the topic. “It was tracing the genealogies of these new mythics that led us to this discovery. We still haven’t found out what changed to cause this sudden surge…”

When Vivian stepped away a minute later, Amylia leaned over and quietly told me, “About ten years ago, the spell that retards my aging process was damaged in an accident and I had to rebuild it. I suspect that the powerful magics I used may have caused a blood resonance effect with those in my bloodline.”

I blinked in surprise at that. “You mean, I’m a mythic because you cast a spell?” The idea seemed ludicrous that someone else could cast a spell on themselves and somehow cause me to become a succubus.

Amylia hesitated a moment before answering, “I don’t know. But it was a very powerful spell and if there was a blood resonance, then the magical influence may have triggered a higher chance for my descendants to become mythics.” She paused for a second and then added, “Or at least those who were alive at that time and had yet to awaken.”

“Holy hand grenade,” I muttered, feeling a little shaken by that. “I didn’t know that kind of thing was possible…”

Before I could ask Amylia more about this, Vivian returned with a middle-aged man. He had reddish-brown hair and a beard that was sprinkled with a little gray. “This is Doctor Merchant,” Vivian introduced him to us. “He’s the one who started the mythic genome mapping project.”

“I’m pleased to meet you,” Dr. Merchant said, looking at Amylia curiously. “Vivian says that you’re a…sorceress.”

“Yes,” she responded with a smile. “I’m an instructor at the Academy…the school for Touched. I’m here escorting Erin.”

Dr. Merchant turned his attention to me and said, “And you must be Erin. Vivian told me about you. She said that you’re not only a mythic but Touched as well.”

“I’m learning to be a sorceress,” I responded proudly.

“Impressive,” Dr. Merchant said, looking sincere. “I’m afraid I don’t know much about that type of magic though.”

Amylia gave Dr. Merchant a curious look. “If I may ask,” she said carefully, “what type of Were are you?”

“I’m a sabertooth,” Dr. Merchant replied with a proud smile. “Technically, being a sabertooth tiger doesn’t make me a mythic, but it is fun to show off.” He chuckled lightly at that. “It also made me interested in unusual Were forms…and lead to my research into mythic genealogies.”

While Amylia continued talking with Vivian and Dr. Merchant, both of whom seemed interested in her being a sorceress, I wandered off to look around on my own. One thing that I quickly noticed was that I was the youngest mythic present, which wasn’t a surprise since I’d only awoken a little over a month ago. However, since it was only in the last ten years that our bloodline was producing so many mythics, most of the others weren’t too much older than myself.

“Hey, I’m Traci,” one girl introduced herself to me. She had dark blond hair and appeared to be my age, much to my relief. I didn’t like the idea of being the youngest person here.

“Erin,” I responded with a grin. “Nice to meet you…”

“So, who are you descended from?” Traci asked me with a grin. At my blank look, she pointed to the family tree.

“I’m here,” I pointed out my own name.

Traci nodded, “Cool. This one is me.” She pointed to a spot on the chart that showed she was descended from a different one of Robert’s children than I was. Then she asked, “So, what do you turn into?”

I hesitated a moment before answering, “Well, it’s pretty embarrassing…”

“Trust me,” Traci told me with a wry grin. “Whatever it is, it isn’t nearly as embarrassing as mine. I mean, I turn into a satyr.”

“That’s you?” I blurted out, remembering Vivian mentioning a girl my age who’d recently become a Were satyr.

“Um…yeah,” Traci said, blushing a bit. “I turn into a guy and everything… You have no idea how weird that is.”

I stared at her for a moment and then burst out laughing. “I’ve still got you beat.”

Traci snorted. “I seriously doubt that.”

“I’m a succubus,” I told her with a shrug.

“Really?” Traci asked, staring at me in surprise. “At least you don’t get a sex change when you change.”

I burst out laughing again. “I’ve got you beat there too.” Then I leaned forward and quietly told her, “Before my Changing Day…I was a guy.”

Traci gave me a look of clear disbelief. “Yeah,right.”

“I’m a hybrid,” I explained with a sigh, feeling self-conscious. “I’m both Were and Touched. So after my first full moon, I didn’t change all the way back to normal. I remained…female.” I gestured down at myself. “I guess I’ve kind of gotten used to it.”

Traci and I just stood there staring at each other and I could already feel a bond to this girl. Gayle might know what it’s like going through a sex change and Amylia might understand the challenges of being a hybrid, but Tina was the only one who had a Were form like my own…one that was not only the opposite gender of what she started as, but one that was a bit extreme and embarrassing as well.

Just then, someone tapped me on the shoulder, and when I turned around, I saw a guy standing there. He had to be about nineteen or twenty and he was giving me a curious look.

“Excuse me,” the boy said, looking apologetic, “but I thought I overheard you saying something about turning into a girl…”

“Yeah,” I responded a little defensively. “My Were form gave me a sex change and being Touched made it stick.”

I grimaced, hardly able to believe that I was telling this to complete strangers. Then again, it wasn’t the first time and everything had worked out when I’d told Sylvie and the others at the Academy.

“Then maybe we should talk,” the boy said, holding out his hand and grinning. “I’m Darek.”