The sun had risen a short time ago, stripping me of my succubus form and abilities. I was disappointed to lose that when we still had grandpa Gregor and his people after us. At the moment, we needed every advantage we could get.

We were all gathered together in an abandoned building that looked to be a grocery store that had gone out of business and closed up some time ago. I squinted as I looked around, wishing that I had my glasses with me. Unfortunately, I’d lost those during the escape, along with my clothes. Of course, I wasn’t the only one of us to have lost their clothes after transforming. Darek was the only one who’d been smart enough to gather up his clothes and bring them with. As a result, Dr. Merchant, Jake, Kaylie, and myself were completely naked, which made leaving our temporary sanctuary rather difficult.

While the rest of us were all worrying about what we would do next, Amylia was busy at work casting spells and creating new tokens. She seemed faintly amused at the idea of using some small rocks she’d found since that was all she had at hand and I tended to use those anyway.

“These do seem to be your preferred form of token,” Amylia told me with a wry look. “I know that your vision is not at its best right now, but you should attempt to create some new tokens. I have a feeling that we’ll need them.”

“I only remember a couple spell patterns,” I admitted. “I guess those are better than nothing.”

I joined Amylia in casting spells, creating two rock cracking tokens and three to set things on fire. Then Amylia had me watch her cast a spell and mimic the pattern. It was very difficult doing it this way but after several attempts, I was able to successfully cast it.

Once Amylia and I each had some tokens to work with, she said, “I think we need supplies…and new clothes.” She gave me a wry look while I nodded emphatic agreement. “Traci, if you would come with me. I’ll get what we need and return.”

“Why do I have to stay here?” Monica asked, almost looking offended.

“No specific reason,” Amylia responded pleasantly. “I just wanted my grand-daughter to accompany me so I could get to know her better.”

“Grand-daughter?” Monica gasped in shock.

“I see,” Amylia said, giving Monica a careful look. “Gregor didn’t tell you. Not surprising since he considers this a matter of family shame.” Then she sighed and gestured around the room, “These are all my grand-children…all except for Doctor Merchant.”

“Please,” Dr. Merchant told her with a chuckle. “Call me Edward. I think we are beyond needing titles at the moment.”

Monica stared at Amylia in disbelief, then she gave me a suspicious look. “We only found out we were related a week ago,” I told Monica self-consciously.

“It’s complicated,” Amylia said, not elaborating any more. “Now Traci, let’s go take care of some errands.”

“I can’t believe she’s really our ancestor,” Trey said. “I mean…the idea that she can be that old…”

“Sorcerers can live a very long time,” I told him with a shrug. “The more powerful you are, the longer you can extend your life.”

“The most powerful ones can live over a thousand years,” Monica agreed quietly.

Dr. Merchant looked excited at that. “Yes,” he agreed. “And the opportunities to learn about history from people who were actually there…”

“It’s pretty weird,” Darek agreed.

“I think it’s awesome,” Kaylie exclaimed with a grin. “There are so many things I want to talk to her about…”

Jake sat there with a thoughtful look on his face, being unusually quiet. “I’ve never had any family,” he finally said. “At least not since I was a kid…” He shook his head and mused, “The idea of having some kind of great grandma I’ve never even met… I just don’t know what to think.”

“You know her better than any of us,” Darek said, looking at me. “Is she telling the truth.”

“Yeah,” I responded after a few seconds. “I’m pretty sure she is. You should have seen the look on her face when she found out I was descended from Robert Dupree…” I shook my head and then admitted, “I don’t think anyone is that good an actor.”

“You know her too,” Trey pointed out, looking to Monica.

Monica hesitated and admitted, “Not real well. I mean, she’s a teacher at the Academy, but I wasn’t in the sorcerers course so didn’t have many of her classes.”

We all spent the next two hours talking, with Monica and I describing what it was like being Touched, and in my case, a sorceress as well. The others were all fascinated by the idea that we had talents that we could use any time without having to wait on the sun setting. At the same time, Monica began to ask questions about the Were, hesitantly at first and then becoming more confident. By the time Amylia returned, her nervousness in our presence had vanished.

“I was able to buy some supplies,” Amylia announced, handing over bags of clothing from a thrift store while Traci began distributing food.

“How?” Trey asked in surprise. “I didn’t think you had any money…”

“I didn’t steal any of this if that is what you are suggesting,” Amylia said, giving him a flat look. “I simply went to the bank and withdrew money from my own account.”

“But, couldn’t they track any bank transactions and find out where we are?” Kaylie asked in surprise.

Amylia gave her a faintly annoyed look before responding, “They’re sorcerers…not government agents or hackers.”

I got dressed as quickly as I could, thankful to have clothes again. The ones Amylia found for me were a little loose for my normal form but not loose enough for me to change to my enhanced one. Still, at least I was no longer naked.

“The fastest way to get to safety would be to find the nearest set of portals,” Amylia told us all. “However, Gregor is likely to be having that hub station watched. They don’t seem to have very many members so we should be able to get away through ordinary means. Once we’re far enough, we can use another set of gates.”

“I have an uncle who lives only a few hours from here,” Trey mused. “He’ll be able to help us out and get us home.”

Traci grinned and said, “We bought a prepaid cell phone…” She held out the phone and added, “We can call home and get help.”

Everyone immediately began arguing over who got to use the phone first, but once it was settled, we took turns calling home and assuring everyone that we were all right. Dr. Merchant called Vivian, telling her, “I have some big news about the Dupree bloodline…” He glanced to Amylia who let out a sigh.

When it was my turn, I called Dad and filled him in what had happened, though I left out a few important details for the moment. I didn’t want to tell him about Amylia and our bloodline over the phone. However, I did say, “There’s something we need to talk about… We may need to invite a new family member to Thanksgiving dinner…” A moment later, I had to protest, “NO, I am NOT pregnant… Jeez dad, what kind of girl do you think I am?”

“Maybe he thinks you’re a succubus,” Traci pointed out with a smirk, earning my glare of wrath.

“It looks like aunt June couldn’t keep her mouth shut,” I muttered, wondering how long she’d waited before telling my parents that I was now into guys.

Once everyone had made their calls, we sat down and discussed our plans. Eventually, we decided that it was safe to split up and go our separate ways. Darek, Trey, Jake, and Kaylie would all catch a bus and go to Trey’s uncle’s house. Trey was certain that they’d be safe there and that his uncle would be able to help get them home. Dr. Merchant would escort Traci back home to her family since that was on the way back to his own home. Amylia, Monica, and myself would continue heading back to the Academy.

A couple hours later, we said goodbye. “I promise that I will be in contact,” Amylia told the people who were leaving. “I think I have much to discuss with your families.”

“You’d better call,” Traci told me as she gave me her phone number and e-mail address. Then she blushed brightly and suggested, “Maybe we can meet up again on some full moon…”

“Maybe,” I responded with a bright blush of my own.

Though I knew I could have no romantic relationship with Traci and that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to spend much time together in our Were forms, it was still pretty tempting. I got wet and excited when I thought about what we’d done, and a large part of me was eager to do it again. I wish I could say that it was entirely my succubus side meeting an equally insatiable male counterpart and being able to feed to her fill, but I knew that it was more than that. My human side might not have been in control, but it had enjoyed it nearly as much.

“What is Todd going to say?” I muttered to myself before giving Traci a hug and saying goodbye.

A short time later, nearly everyone had gone leaving only Amylia, Monica, and myself behind. Since we were the ones who had to use the gates to get back to the Academy, we were the only ones who were still in any real danger. Gregor and his people only had to watch the gate hubs and wait for us to arrive.

“We’ll go to the next hub over,” Amylia told us the plan. “But first, I want to make a few more preparations.”

When Amylia said that she wanted to make preparations, she meant that she wanted a few more tokens available in case we ran into trouble. We went to a nearby store and bought some materials and then we found an out of the way place where we could work for a few hours. Amylia even drew me a few spell diagrams so that I could cast a few spells that I didn’t have memorized.

Monica watched as we cast the spells, obviously a little jealous that we could do this and she couldn’t. However, she didn’t say anything about it. I remembered that her older brother was a sorcerer and wondered what it had been like to grow up with someone like that, knowing that you could never match their magical abilities. At the Academy, she’d always hung around with sorcerers and had seemed to be a bit of a wannabe. I couldn’t help but feeling just a little sorry for her.

I had just finished one of my spells and was about to start another when I noticed the spell that Aylia was casting. I shifted my vision a little and watched the pattern as she formed it, finding it rather familiar.

“That’s a transformation spell,” I said, earning a look of surprise from Amylia, though she still managed to remain focused on her task.

“How did you know that?” Amylia asked me curiously.

I just smiled, remembering that aunt June had reacted much the same way when she’d found that I could read the patterns already. “I can read the patterns a bit,” I told her, watching the spell build even further. Then I exclaimed, “I know this spell. This is the sex change spell that aunt June taught me.”

“You can read it that much?” Amylia asked, turning to give me a look that indicated she was impressed. “Very good.” Then as she finished the spell and locked it into a token, she said, “This could be useful should we need to disguise ourselves.”

I nodded at that and then let out a sigh. “It won’t do me much good.”

“Why not?” Monica asked with a snort. “Are you afraid of being a boy?”

“Hardly,” I responded wryly. “I’ve got a token with that same spell in my room.” Then I looked to Amylia and said. “It only works on me for about ten minutes.”

Of course, I’d only cast the spell once and had yet to actually test it out. I wanted to try it on myself, but I kept hesitating. Maybe it was because of how disappointed I was when it had worn off so quickly after aunt June had cast it.

“Of course,” Amylia responded, giving me a sympathetic look. “Your sorcerers mark. I’d almost forgotten about it.”

Monica gave me a look of surprise. “What sorcerers mark?”

I hesitated, not sure that I wanted her to know. Then I sighed, realizing that she already had more than enough reasons to make fun of me. One more wouldn’t hurt. “Two months ago, I was a guy,” I answered, refusing to look at Monica as I said it. “My sorcerers mark turned me into a girl.”

Monica let out a loud gasp and stared at me in disbelief. “No way… I mean, you and Todd…” Then she paused, giving me a suspicious look and asking, “Were you gay?”

“No,” I responded defensively. “I used to like girls.” I turned bright red as I continued, “I wasn’t interested in Todd at first. That kind of came later…”

For a moment, Monica just stared at me, then she burst out laughing. “You mean, Teressa was jealous and you weren’t even interested in him?”

“Not at first,” I agreed self-consciously. “Like I said, that came later.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Monica asked.

“I told Teressa I wasn’t interested in him,” I pointed out. “But she didn’t believe me.” Then I shrugged and I turned a little sarcastic as I added, “And as for the rest… After everyone was so accepting of my being a Were, it’s not like I wanted to tell everyone I used to be a guy and give another to treat me like crap.”

Monica was silent for a moment, suddenly looking guilty. Then she quietly said, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s time to go,” Amylia told us, putting her new tokens into a pouch she’d bought earlier. “It should take us a couple hours to get to the next gate hub.”

A short time later, the three of us were riding a bus. None of us spoke much during the trip though I kept looking out my window, half afraid that I’d see Gregor or one of his sorcerers coming after us. Vera was filled with a new spell and I kept my other new tokens close at hand too…just in case. Fortunately, we reached our destination without any problems.

We stood in front of a public library and Amylia looked at a piece of paper where she’d written down the address and directions. Then she stated, “This is it.”

A moment later, we started for the front entrance but then Amylia abruptly stopped us and gestured ahead. It took me a moment to see what she meant. When someone else had opened the door, I got a look inside and saw Rebecca standing there near the entrance.

“They’re waiting for us,” Amylia said with a faint smile, not seeming worried at all.

“I saw Marcus there too,” Monica said, looking worried. She gave Amylia a pleading look. “Please don’t hurt him. He’s my brother.”

“I won’t dear,” Amylia assured her.

“Maybe a little public nudity would distract them,” I said with a chuckle, looking to Monica. I’d been declothed so many times that it only seem fair that someone else suffer that fate.

Amylia gave a faint smile of amusement before responding, “That won’t be necessary. We have the element of surprise and I was expecting something of this nature.”

With that, Amylia pulled out one of her tokens and continued walking straight to the entrance. When she was close enough, she opened the door and activated her token, before either Marcus or Rebecca realized that she was there. Both of them collapsed to the ground before being able to do a single thing. I would have feared them dead except for the snore that came from Marcus.

“Now,” Amylia stated calmly. “My instructions note that the gate hub is hidden in the back room. Let’s be off before anyone wonders why two people are sleeping on the floor and attempt to wake them.”

“Yes ma’am,” I responded stepping over Marcus and wondering if I could get a copy of that sleeping spell from Amylia. After all, that could be pretty useful in my duel with Kaellie.

“Um…Amylia,” Monica asked hesitantly. “You know that sex change spell?” When Amylia nodded, Monica asked, “Do you think we can use it on my brother?”

I stared at Monica in surprise and then burst out laughing. “I like the way you think.”

“As do I,” Amylia agreed pulling out the token and invoking it.

The three of us stood and watched as Marcus changed, his male features becoming female ones. In half a minute, he looked a great deal more like Monica. The three of us chuckled at the thought of his reaction when he woke like that, then we continued on our way.