Volume 1: Part 2

I yanked at my old pair of baggy jeans, pulling them up for the eleventh time. Tory and Leann hadn't slowed down for a second since we left my house. After a short drive, with Tory behind the wheel, we parked on the outskirts of downtown Greater West Allis. Now we had walked several blocks, with me fighting my clothes every step of the way.

It probably would've been easier had I been a girl to start with. At least I would have had some female attire for my new female body. Still, had I been granted the same male mind I possessed right now, I probably would've burned that female attire. Everything felt so weird; walking, talking, having the girls refer to me in female pronouns. Despite all of that, I had kept the very tights that had caused all of this misfortune.

Perhaps I still had doubts about what Tory and Leann had said. Maybe I could put the tights on again, some time later, and change back. It could be like one of those movies, where I learn a lesson, and then go back to normal. Although the two girls seemed to know what they were talking about, there could be a slight chance that they were wrong. So I had shoved the tights in the front pocket of my hoodie, which now hung down to my knees. The bagginess of my clothes simply reinforced the likelihood that I was stuck as a girl.

"Would you hurry up?" Leann asked. She had turned to walk somewhat backwards so she could see me.

"You try walking in clothes that are five sizes too big," I said, with gritted teeth.

"I offered to buy you a new outfit on the way," Tory said. She had stayed beside me most of the way; perhaps thinking I might run off.

"That offer died immediately when you said bra and panties," I said, recalling the conversation in the car. "I'm not a girl, and I'm not going to dress like one."

Leann stopped her stride, causing us to catch up to her after a few steps. She reached out and clamped her hand around my upper arm. "I'm not going to say this again," she said. Her voice had become hushed, but with a harsh, scolding tone to it. "You are a girl now. You might not like it, but it is what it is." She glanced around. "When you say stupid crap like that, you draw attention to yourself. Get it?"

I tried to pull away from her grip. "You're the one causing a scene right now," I said, angrily. "All I said is I'm not going to dress --"

"Yeah!" Leann exclaimed. "You're not going to play along and dress like a girl. I get it." She sighed heavily. "Honestly, I don't care how the hell you dress. I really don't. But stop with the 'I'm not a girl' bullshit. Because you are a girl now."

"Fine," I said, yanking my arm from her grasp. "You don't have to be a bitch about it."

Tory chuckled at my remark.

"You think this is funny?" Leann asked, looking at Tory.

"I'd be lying if I said no," Tory said, still smiling.

"Besides," I said, drawing Leann's attention. "Haven't you ever heard of gender rights, or whatever? I can be whatever gender I feel I am."

Leann looked as if her head was about to explode. She let out a rather low, but primal grunt. Then she turned in a huff, and began walking away from us. I stood and watched her, smiling as if I'd won some great battle. When I turned to look at Tory, I found her simply shaking her head.

"What?!" I shrugged. "She started it."

"Come on," Tory said. "We better catch up."

We walked about another five blocks. By this point I didn't care if I left my jeans behind. They were just too big. Everything was big. My shoes felt like my feet were swimming in them. I had nearly stepped out of them quite a few times. Even my socks had fallen down into a bunch around my ankles. Several times I had contemplated putting those damn tights back on. At least they fit.

"And we're here," Leann said, stopping abruptly.

"We are?" I asked, struggling to finish our walk.

"Home," Leann said.

With a melancholy smile, she extended her arms toward an old run-down theater. I strolled up beside her, and simply stared at the building. It looked as if it had been built in the late 1800's. The large wooden marquee outside had seen better days, but you could still manage to make out "The Regale" upon its faded surface. The two modern buildings, sandwiching the theater, made it stand out like a giant eyesore. I peeled my eyes away from it to take in my surroundings.

"This doesn't make any sense," I said.

"What's that?" Tory asked.

"I've walked by this area at least fifty times before, and have never seen this building," I said. "It doesn't even fit!" I stepped closer to the building. "Looks like it should've been torn down years ago."

Leann scoffed at my remark. "This theater is an historical landmark!"

"Wait…" I glanced back and forth at the two girls. "Did you say you lived here?"

"Sort of…" Leann's eyes fell upon the ground, and she shuffled her feet.

I stared at Leann for a moment. "Like a figure of speech?" I asked. "Like you love the theater so much that it's your second home?"

"No," Tory said. "As in we live here." She walked over to the door and pulled it open. "For now…"

"I'm not going in there," I said, taking another gander at the building. "This place should be condemned."

"Stop being such a baby," Leann said. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

"Seriously," Tory said. "Haven't you ever taken a risk before?"

"As a matter of fact," I said, straightening up, "I've been known as a bit of a daredevil."

"Well…" Tory held her hand out in front of her, angled toward the door. "After you, daredevil."

That happened to be all the prodding I needed. I yanked up my jeans, and pushed onward. My shoes slid around my feet with each step. For a brief moment my head was filled with the thought that I was still shrinking. Then those thoughts flittered away as I stepped across the threshold of the theater. What I saw before me was simply magnificent.

Inside, the lobby looked immaculate. I expected cobwebs, and broken furniture. Instead what I saw could very well be described as a functioning theater. Or at least it would have been, had the place still been open. The floors were clean, the counters dusted. Even the area for the coat check seemed in proper working order. The entire lobby looked as if it would at the time of its prime.

"This place is amazing," I said.

"It was an absolute wreck when we got here," Leann said, walking in behind me. "But it's amazing what you can do when all you've got is time."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

Tory came up beside me. She slipped her arm around mine. "Wait until you see the auditorium," she said, as she started to pull me away.

"Hold on you two," Leann said. "I think we need to talk first."

"Oh come on!" Tory exclaimed. "She has time for a tour."

"I think it best if we explain what's going on first," Leann said; her voice growing stern.

Tory dropped my arm reluctantly. "Yeah… okay," she said with a sigh.

I followed Leann across the lobby. We passed a rather clean concession area, and the box office. Walking further in, we passed a few offices, and finally arrived at the end of a hallway. Leann reached out and opened the door at the end. I peered around the doorframe, and noticed steps leading downstairs.

"This isn't some weird cult is it?" I asked, stepping away from the door.

Leann looked surprised.

"What?" Tory asked.

"I'm not gonna be locked in a cage down there or something," I said. "Scratching the number of days into a wall, while I wait for you guys to eat my heart."

"What the hell are you…" Leann shook her head. "No!"

"That's just all kinds of wrong," Tory said, pushing past me and heading downstairs. "Although the cage part does sound fun," she said over her shoulder.

"Look," Leann said. "Please, just give us like ten minutes. If you don't like what you hear, I will gladly take you back home."

"You'll return me to my normal life?" I asked.

"Of course," Leann said. "I don't want you to feel forced to be here."

I glanced down the stairs again. "Ten minutes?" I asked, looking back at Leann.

Leann nodded quietly.

I sighed, and shrugged my shoulders. "What the hell…"

I cautiously followed Leann down the old wooden stairs. They sounded rickety, but felt solid as a rock. As we neared the bottom, I could see where we were headed. The theater had a rather large underground area beneath the main stage. It had a few large pulley systems to carry people and props up. The rest of the downstairs appeared to be a changing area for the performers. Only now it had partitions set up, and seemed to be converted into a communal sleeping area for several more girls.

A few of those girls stared at me as I descended the last few steps. Tory strolled out into the middle of the large room. I could hear her yelling, "new arrival," as she disappeared into the distance. Leann casually reached out and took my hand. It surprised me, as the gesture had been the first congenial thing she had done since we first met.

"Right through here," Leann said.

She gently pulled me along the side of the underground area. A few girls poked their heads out of their makeshift bedrooms. Leann and I weaved our way back to what felt like the corner of the basement. It broke out into a larger communal area, with several tables and chairs. There were a few couches and even a large recliner near the back of the room.

Leann walked me over to one of the couches, and had me sit down. Then she gracefully sat down next to me. For a few seconds I saw some of the resident girls take cautious looks at me, but then they retreated back into the sleeping areas. Across the way, I could spot a large area filled with bookshelves. They nearly had their own library down here, from the size of it. I couldn't even take it all in, before Leann drew my attention.

"It's a little underwhelming," she said, but we do our best to make it home.

"Are you kidding me?" I said. "This setup is pretty impressive." I glanced back out at the sleeping areas. "Are you sure you're not a cult?"

Leann chuckled. "Technically… I guess you could say we're a cult," she said. "But it's not like a religion, or anything like that. More like…"

"A halfway house?"

"Well that's closer to it, I guess," Leann said. "But the girls aren't abused, or anything."

"So it's all girls?" I asked.

Leann nodded. "Everyone here is a teenage girl," she said. Then she gave me a sober look. "Even you…"

"But not forever, right?"

Leann sighed. "I should probably start at the beginning," she said. "But it's a little weird."

"A few hours ago, I was a boy," I said. "I put on a pair of magic tights, and turned into a girl. Weird got tossed out the window quite a ways back."

Leann nodded thoughtfully. "I'm afraid it gets stranger than that." Leann turned her body toward me, lifting her legs up on the couch and sitting sideways facing me. She reached up and removed her glasses. "First of all," she said. "These aren't real."

"The glasses?"

"Correct," Leann said. She sighed. "My sister was so much better at explaining this…"

"Just hit me with it," I said, turning to sit the same as Leann. For some reason I reached out to touch her knee, as if I needed to comfort her for this conversation.

"Okay," Leann said. "You know how the tights changed you?"

I nodded.

"Well everyone here," she said, "along with many who aren't here… All of us received, or came into contact with, a particular item that changed us." She held up the glasses. "Mine happened to be these. Well…" She eyed the glasses. "Not these specifically, but my item was glasses." She laughed slightly. "I thought they'd make me look smarter. Fact is, I didn't even need them. I have perfect vision."

"So basically, everyone here has been changed like me?"

"Well not… like you," Leann said, looking at me thoughtfully. "You're the first… you know…"

"Boy to girl?" I asked, now oddly smiling about it.

"Right," Leann said. "At least out of the ones here, or that we know about."

"There's others?"

Leann sighed dejectedly. "I'm so bad at this," she said. "I always get flustered, and… and go off topic…" She hung her head down. "I wish my sister was here."

"What happened to her?"

"Long story," Leann said. "But that's for another time." Her head rose to where I could see her eyes. "We only have ten minutes."

For a moment I sat puzzled at her remark, but then I remembered our agreement upstairs. "Oh… right," I said, straightening my poster. "Well it's more like eight minutes now."

Leann blinked a few times. "I'll get right to the point then," she said. "A long time ago, in ancient Greece, there was a young girl named Amara."

"Hold on," I said. "We're starting back in ancient Greece?"

"Can you let me tell the story please?"

"Okay, okay," I said, sitting back against the arm of the couch. "Greece then."

Leann collected herself for a moment, then continued her story. "Amara grew to be a beautiful young lady, and was soon after given the honor of being a priestess in the service of Artemis. She loved her position, and wanted to remain in it forever. Unfortunately, the position was reserved solely for young virgins, and Amara knew she couldn't remain young. So she tried her best to serve in the time she had.

One night, while Amara was attending to her duties, she heard a scuffle between another priestess and a man. The man had seemingly hidden himself in the temple, and waited until nightfall to try to rape one of the priestesses. Only the attempt was cut short when Amara intervened.

Amara struck the man in the back of the head with a statue of Artemis. The tip of Artemis' arrow pierced the man's skull, and he bled to death upon the temple floor. Despite the fact that Amara committed the act to aid her fellow priestess, the act itself was considered reprehensible within the temple. Amara was cast from the temple, and ostracized by the community.

She fled her village, made her way through the countryside, and eventually wound up on the cliffs overlooking the Aegean Sea. Overcome with grief, and the fact that she couldn't do the duty she loved, she attempted to take her own life. She prayed to Artemis, that she might serve her in Elysium, and then cast herself into the sea."

"So wait," I said. "She died?"

Leann shook her head. "No," she said. "She survived the incident. She took it as a sign, that Artemis was watching over her. From that day on she devoted her entire life to finding a way to become immortal. To remain in an ever-youthful state, so that she might continue to serve Artemis."

"And she succeeded?" I asked, looking at Leann confused.

"To a degree," Leann said. "Unfortunately for us. For thousands of years, we've had to live with the result of her discovery."

"Why is that unfortunate?" I asked, jumping up from the couch. "You basically just said you… we're… immortal!"

"No," Leann said, rising from the couch. "I said she sought a way to become immortal. I never said she achieved it. She only managed to attain her youthfulness."

My head tilted to the side, as I stared at Leann.

"We can still die," Leann said. "Gunshot wounds, being stabbed, hit by a truck… We just can't die of old age, or get sick."

"I don't understand."

"Well, I wasn't done explaining it all," Leann said.

"So there's more?" I asked.

"A lot more," Tory said, coming into the room behind me. "But maybe we should take a break? Let you at least get your head around that bit of it?"

Leann looked at me anxiously. "Can we at least offer you a bed for the night?"

"I don't know," I said. "My dad's probably worried about me. I should really change back and go home."

"Change back?" Leann asked, a little off guard.

"Yeah," I said, chuckling. "Like change me back to a boy, and take me home. Like you said you would."

"I only said I'd take you home," Leann said. "I can't… We don't have a way to change you back."

"Are you fucking serious?!" I threw my hands in the air, but then quickly reached for my jeans as they started to slide down. "Are you telling me I'm stuck like this?"

"Well, that's the thing," Leann said. "We've been trying… This whole organization down here…"

"What she's trying to say," Tory said, coming up and putting her arm around my shoulders. "Is that we've been trying to find a way to fix the curse that Amara started."

Leann nodded.

"So in the meantime, I'm stuck like this?" I asked.

"Yeah," Tory said. "But it's not all bad. And we're really close to finding a way to reverse it."

"Well I guess that's something," I said.

Tory turned me toward the sleeping area. "Why don't you get some sleep?" she asked. "We'll talk more in the morning."

"Yeah…" I said, yawning. "I am a little tired."

"Tomorrow we'll find you some clothes that fit," Tory said.

"No panties!" I exclaimed.

Tory smiled at me. "Sure. Whatever."

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To Be Continued...