Disclaimer:
~Big thanks to Enemyoffun for making this universe to play in, and to all my beta readers for helping me hammer out some of the details in this chapter.
Author's Note: Time for the third chapter! Again, this may be a little rough around the edges, and I apologize. I'm also sorry that it's taken a while to get this one out. I was tweaking a lot of this chapter, but I think you all will enjoy some of the background that I filled in and wanted to make sure I got just right.
Please feel free to comment on this, as I always enjoy reading your comments and learning from them immensely.

Chapter 3

December 17, 2011

Johnathan stood up abruptly and spoke vehemently, “No way! There's just no way for my best friend to suddenly become a girl.”

I snickered.

“You find this funny?” he rebutted, giving me a look that told me he didn't believe any of this.

“Actually, yes,” I replied, giggling.

“Well, I don't find it funny in the slightest,” John replied, crossing his arms across his chest.

“You would if you saw it from my perspective.”

“Really? I don't think so,” John remained adamant.

Marilyn, however, just seemed to stare at me intensely. It felt like she was trying to figure out if I was lying or not. Like I was now a puzzle for her to solve. For some reason, seeing her stare at me with those piercing sapphire eyes freaked me out.

I shook my head after I was able to break away from her intense gaze. Boy, that definitely felt like a head rush.

“So, where is Michael?” John harshly demanded. “The truth this time!”

I could swear I heard a feral growl come out of him, as his impatience and frustration continued to mount.

“John! Get your head out of your ass! It's me! Michael!” I shouted at him, hoping that I could get through his thick skull.

“Yeah, sure you are...,” he scoffed. “If you are who you claim to be, then prove it. Tell me something that only Michael would know. Tell me about what happened in high school, regarding the most embarrassing thing that happened to me during our time at Calaveras High.”

I gulped. He had to bring up that particular event, didn't he? I thought for a few seconds, trying to figure out the best way to articulate the memory to the room.

“You see!” John shouted when I didn't say anything for a measly few seconds. He rose to his feet and was about to head for the door when I launched into my explanation.

“Wait a sec! I have to remember the event right, or you won't believe me anyway.”

He humphed and crossed his arms again, waiting for my answer. He stopped heading for the door, accepting the good reason I had for the slow recall. As soon as I remembered all the details, I quickly launched into my response.

“It was a challenge that started the whole thing. Robin Todd started out by saying that we'd never get a girlfriend before our respective sixteenth birthdays. You'd counter that we would be able to, or at least that you would. If you won the challenge, then Robin would have to have to be our protector throughout high school, if needed. But, if you lost, then you would have to raid the girls' locker room for a pair of panties. And not just a random pair, you had to go for the one's owned by Selena Raymond.

“As fate would have it, you lost the challenge, and consequently proving that you were no Barney Stinson. However, the consequences proved to be much more embarrassing. Selena was in on the challenge with Robin. She permitted you to lift them, only to be subsequently cursed to wear them for a day.

“Selena also added her own flare to it. You were stuck as your female self, Joanna Quinn, for that entire day as well. And, until now, only the people involved in the challenge were aware of what had happened.”

John dropped right back on to the couch, dumbstruck and with his mouth wide open. Marilyn, who had been silent this whole time, definitely didn't expect to hear that. The look of shock on her face was also priceless.

“Now do you believe me? Or do you want me to tell you about the time when you tried asking Sierra Pierce to the senior prom?”

“You asked Sierra to prom?” Marilyn replied, wondering.

John looked extremely red right about now. I knew that the Joanna incident and the Sierra failure were a couple of sore spots for him.

“Yeah, he did. But, it didn't really work since he hadn't undergone his change then.”

“Hey!” he fired back.

“What? The change definitely enhances your physical appearance. Although, the jury is still out on whether mine was an enhancement or not.”

Marilyn left her seat on the couch and walked over to me. She wrapped me in a warm embrace and said, “I believe you. And I'm sorry that this happened to you.”

I could feel my eyes begin to water up. I tried my best not to cry, but the tears were inevitable. “Thanks, Marilyn,” I said, “you don't know how much this means to me.”

She pulled back from the hug, but kept her hands on my shoulders. She looked me straight in the eye and said, “I'm sorry if I doubted your story.”

“It's alright,” I replied.

She smiled, and added with a giggle, “Well, now we get to go shopping together!”

I giggled a little bit, as she tried to cheer me up. Although, I still didn’t enjoy shopping as much as some of the other women in my life. John walked over to me and apologized, “I'm sorry I doubted you, bro. Or should I say, 'sis,' now?”

“Mikaela, is just fine. 'Sis' just doesn't have the same effect as 'bro' does.”

“You got it, Mike—err, Mikaela.”

“Well, now that that's settled,” Grandmother started, “why don't you three go off and do something? Huh?”

The three of us looked at Grandmother, like she had something funny growing out of her head.

“And what do we say to people who ask us who she is?” John wisely asked.

“You know, he does bring up a very good point, Mom,” Mom said.

“Simple. Mikaela is distant family member of Michael's.”

“Even though I look like I would be had I been born a girl?” I countered.

“It should work well enough; the norms shouldn't think too much about it anyway.”

“And what about the other Unseen in the town?” Marilyn pointed out.

“Then, we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it. Some of the Unseen, I think, wouldn't care to much, given any past interactions. Only some of the Weres won't be so easily fooled by it. Now, go and have some fun.”

I sighed in defeat. “C'mon. You guys can show me what's changed since I've been gone. And tell me what Unseen are you two. Although, John, I'm betting you're a Were, with how you were acting at the coffee house earlier.”

“Guilty as charged,” John answered. “A Coyote.”

“Oh, really? Any relations to the Harpers, back in New York?”

“Yup, they're distant cousins.”

I smiled at that. That little piece of information might come in handy one day.

Leaving the house, we piled into John's car in the driveway, and shortly afterward, sped off towards town.

---------------------------------------------------

When we got to town, John drove around and showed me the couple of changes that happened while I was away at school—the addition of a second pizza house, Pizza Works. I raised an eyebrow and wondered if there was a full coven in the area now, rather than just one or two witch families. Something that I would have to ask later. Also, there was the elephant in the room, or car in this case. What kind of Unseen was Marilyn?

We exited the vehicle and entered the pizza place. It reminded me of several other pizzerias that I have been to. While Marilyn and I went to go find a secluded booth so we could talk about things that the Norms had no business of knowing. The booth we found was in the corner, with a window that looked out towards the road to one of the lakes, Lake Olette, in this case. Marilyn and I took seats on opposite sides of the table.

“So,” Marilyn started, “what's it like now, playing for the other team?”

I rolled my eyes and replied, “You had to start with that one, didn't you?”

She smiled mischievously. “Can you blame me?”

“No,” I replied, “but, what kind of Unseen are you?”

“What makes you think I'm Unseen?” she countered.

“Well, aside from the fact that you were present during the whole conversation about what happened to me, you seem to be taking this in stride way too easily.”

She smiled, “You got me. Although I don't seem to remember you this observant in the past. Maybe turning you into a girl got you to notice things more.”

I shrugged. I didn't think that statement had any merit. But, for all I knew, she was right. She always seemed to have a knack of seeing things that other people didn't really see. Even when they were looking straight at it.

“So, what kind of Unseen are you? Are you a Were? A witch?”

“Not exactly a witch,” she started, her voice trailing off as if she didn't want to come out and say it. Unfortunately, it was at that time that John came back with the pizza.

“One large pizza with our favorite combination on top,” he announced, presenting it on the table. John quickly assumed the seat next to Marilyn.

“Yummy!” Marilyn eagerly said, licking her lips.

I wholeheartedly agreed with that sentiment. The pepperoni, Italian sausage, and bacon on the pizza definitely looked scrumptious, among the other toppings. One of the part-time employees, looking like they were still in high school, brought over the pitcher of soda about a minute after John arrived with the pizza.

As we sat and enjoyed our afternoon meal, the conversation turned back towards normal things, such as how we were doing with school, how do you like the area, and things like that. However, I decided to get back to the question that Marilyn managed to dodge at first.

“Not exactly a witch, Marilyn? What's that supposed to mean?”

Marilyn suddenly was taken off guard, and nearly dropped her slice of pizza in the process.

“You haven't told him yet?” John asked.

I instinctively growled. “Sorry, her,” he quickly amended.

I smiled a little bit at that. Wait, smiled? It definitely seemed like Michael was gone now, if I was defending being a girl over missing being a man. It seems like most of me accepted being Mikaela now.

“I was about to, and then you showed up with the food,” she fought back, looking for the easy excuse.

“And why didn't you tell her during the meal earlier then?” he countered.

“Because we were talking about other things! That's why.”

John and I rolled our eyes, while Marilyn admitted defeat with a “Ugh.”

I looked at her with particular interest. Finally, I'll get her to come clean about what she is, like she got me to come clean about being who I was.
She gently set her hands down on to the table, carefully avoiding knocking over anything that could cause a mess, and deeply sighed. “Well, like a witch, I have the ability to use magic.”

“Okay...,” I said, prompting her to continue.

“Unlike them, I communicate with the spirits of the world. I'm..., I'm a shaman.”

“Shaman? Like a medicine man?” I asked, inquisitively. I knew that I heard of Native American tribes having shamans in their cultures, and that they were referred to as medicine men.

I tried racking my brains to think of where else I would have heard or read something along those lines when it concerns the Unseen. I could have sworn I did read it somewhere.

“Kind of,” she tried to explain. “We communicate with the spirits and ask them for advice, or their help in worldly matters. We also do receive extensive training in the knowledge of plants. Those are among other things that we can do.”

I nodded in some kind of understanding. This was something I definitely wanted to look into more now.

“Was that why you were staring intently at me earlier, when I was explaining who I was to the two of you?”

She nodded. “I was reading your spirit and compared it to what I remembered seeing before you went away to school.”

“Did you notice anything different?”

“Not really, no.”

What exactly did she mean by that? Did my transformation into Mikaela affect my spirit in some way? Maybe I'll ask her that question later.

I looked over at John and asked, “Did you know about this?”

He nodded, ashamed.

“For how long?”

“Since high school, when she and I both came into our own.”

“And the both of you didn't tell me! C’mon! I mean we were best friends growing up and told each other everything!”

“Dude, you we thought that you were a Norm! You didn't change at sixteen like other Weres do!”

I flumped back into my seat and crossed my arms. “Yeah,” I said with sarcasm dripping from my voice, “tell me about it.”

“Look, we would've have told you everything had we known that you definitely were an Unseen like us,” he said, trying to make amends. “But, look at it from our perspective, you didn't show any signs of being a Were or some kind of Unssen, and it's generally not a good idea to tell a Norm that you're an Unseen, unless you marry them or something along those lines. You don't know who could potentially be a Hunter and want to come and kill you.”

“True,” I said, conceding him that point.

“So, now that we know what you are, we can fill you in on all the other stuff that you may not have known about here. And why so many people are still around, when all they want to do is get out of the county the first chance they get.”

“Well, that's good to know. So, what's the deal with everyone around here? Is this a town for Unseen, or is it something more?”

“It was a regular town in the beginning,” John explained, “but now, it's a lot more mixed. A lot of various Unseen call this area home, as it is out of the way for the most part, and in the country.”

“What Unseen live here? I already know about a bunch of major Were clans, but Coyotes weren't on that list.”

“Indeed, weren't not. My family is just a small branch of the larger clan that you've interacted with back in New York. The clan is considering building a larger presence out west, so we're the advanced scouts as it were. Although it helps that the Were politics of the area aren't as bad as they are in other areas, as I'm sure you know.”

“I know about Were politics, but not the climate out here. Considering how out of the loop I’ve been.”

Marilyn then added, “It's not just Weres, witches, and my family, you know.”

“Oh?” I replied.

She nodded, “Mhm-hmm. We do have a handful of limnads and dryads in town as well. I think there might be a few fae around, too. But, don't hold me to that one.”

“That's definitely a bunch of different kinds in one area. And the remoteness draws them here?”

“Not entirely sure about that. But, I would say it's a definite factor for living in the area.”

“Hmm..., interesting.”

This was definitely something to think about. I knew that back in Ravencrest there were vampires, witches, and weres. Even nereids, fae, and kitsune, if you knew where to look. Now, with what Marilyn had just told me, my boring hometown just became a whole lot more interesting.
“So, are you going to introduce me to any of these Unseen that I don't know about?” I asked, my curiosity now going on overdrive with my eagerness to learn more matching it.

“Well...,” John and Marilyn both paused on.

“Well what?”

“Well, are you content on playing the part of being your cousin? I mean, you do have inside information on some of these people you are going to 'meet' already. It might look suspicious.”

“I guess then I'll have to try to play a little dumber about some of the things then. I mean, Michael would tell his cousins something about where he lives, but not a whole lot of information.”

They both shrugged and realized that I did have a good point there.

“So, where do we get started? Is there a Were Council that I could talk to, to meet all the representative clans here? Like back in Ravencrest?”

“Were Council?” John asked, looking confused.

“Yeah,” I replied, “they pretty much keep order amongst the various clans so that they don’t tear into each other’s throats and attracting unwanted attention.”

“Well...,” he started. “every once and a while the heads of our families would get together, sit around, and play cards. The only conversations that I've heard them talk about would be similar to the one we're having right now. Just your everyday conversations. I don't think they deliberate like a council does, like the one you are describing.”

“Hmmm...,” I replied.

“But, maybe they do. I just don't know.”

“I guess it'll be something that I'm going to look into while I'm here then. There seems to be a great deal around here that I can learn.”

John just shook his head at me, and told me, “Be careful. Some of the other Weres respect their privacy a great deal.”

“Oh?”

“They prefer that you ask before just showing up on their doorstep,” John explained. “Ever since the fire that claimed the estate belonging to the Gibbs family.”

“The Gibbs family fire?” I scratched my head in confusion. “Wasn't the cause of fire chalked up to a gas leak?”

“So the story goes. However, the Unseen around here are a little more suspicious about the exact cause of the blaze. They used the gas leak story as a cover, while they conducted their own investigation. The Gibbs family were a clan of Werehawks. They are believed to have all been killed in the raging inferno that destroyed their estate.”

I gulped at that. “What do you know of the more 'official' results of the arson investigation?”

“Not much, actually. The Bears and the Mountain Lions have been very tight-lipped about it. Even after nearly 20 years.”

“And who are the Bears and the Mountain Lions?”

“The Blys are the mountain lions and the Todds are the bears.”

“Wait, Robin Todd is a bear?”

John nodded, and Marilyn added, “Now you know why he was the high school football team's star linebacker.”

“Wow.”

“Also, when John did his little panty raid, he was dating Selena Raymond, who is a witch as you might have guessed from the story you told.”

“Are there any other Witch families that I should know about?”

“Just the Allens and the Edwards’. Those three families form our little coven. They often ask my parents for help every now and again when they have questions regarding nature and some other branches of magic.”

“Why not ask a fae?”

“Like I said earlier, I'm not sure if there are any fae living in the area. So, our family is the next best thing.”

The pizza shop employee chose that moment to return and asking if we were finished with everything. We did finish with our meal, so she began clearing the table. We left the table and headed back to John's car in the parking lot.

“Where we headed?” I asked.

“I figure if you want to learn about the other Were clans in your hometown, why not start with mine?”

“I wonder how your family will react when they get a good smell of me.”

He cocked his head and answered, “We'll have to wait and see.”

I rolled my eyes and climbed into the car. Soon, we were speeding off down the hilly, back roads towards his family house. All the while, I wondered if his family would recognize me.