Grounded for a week.

It wasn't the first time Genesis had been grounded. When Genesis was Gene, he'd been grounded a few times by his father Reginald. But she'd almost forgotten how much it sucked. Her parents only let her leave the house so she could go to school, but not to meet up with any friends or extended family. She couldn't even go out to do something fun by herself.

Genesis' parents did, however, let her keep going to her magic lessons with Megan. They didn't let Jesse give her rides, of course-part of her grounding was that she couldn't see her boyfriend, either. Every day Genesis had a magic lesson with Megan, she had to depend on either her dad or her stepmom for a ride.

"I've got to get my driver's license," Genesis said to herself after her stepmom dropped her off at Megan's house on Monday. Of course, she knew that if she did have one, her parents probably would still ground her from driving the family's cars. All the same, she wouldn't be in high school for much longer. She was going to have to get her license sooner or later.

When Genesis knocked on Megan's door, Megan promptly answered it and let her inside. "Hey," she said. "How are you doing?"

"Not great," Genesis admitted. She told Megan what had happened with Ramona.

"Oh no," said Megan. "Your stepsister has lung cancer? That's horrible."

"I know," Genesis said glumly. "And now she hates me all over again."

"Well, I don't think she hates you," said Megan. "It sounds like she was mad about just this one thing."

"Megan, you don't understand," said Genesis. "Ramona and I used to really hate each other. Something like this might lead to our rivalry starting back up again."

"Just give it some time," said Megan. "Maybe, when Ramona gets better, she'll be willing to forgive you."

"Let's hope so," said Genesis. "And speaking of her getting better..."

"Yes?"

"I wanted to cast some kind of spell on her to make the lung cancer go away, but I don't know how. Could you teach me?"

Megan sucked in one cheek. "Well, healing is really advanced magic," she said. "Especially when it's for something like cancer. It's not something you can learn in just one day. But I can start teaching you how to transfigure humans."

"Transfigure humans?"

"Yes. Once you get a handle on turning a person into, say, a frog, getting rid of a tumor will be easy."

Genesis nodded. She'd already learned how to magically change the colors of objects, so she figured she could learn how to change humans. "Sounds good," she said. "Let's get started."

"We're going to start simple," said Megan. "First, I'll have you change my hair color from red to blue."

"Blue?"

"Yes. It's just like changing the color of your clothes. Just-"

Genesis waved her hand, and Megan's hair promptly shifted from red to blue. "What-did you do it?"

"Yeah," said Genesis. Looking at Megan's new hair job, she said "But I think I liked you better with the red hair."

Megan pulled out her phone and used the Camera app to look at herself. "I dunno. I kind of like this," she said.

Genesis shrugged. "It's your hair," she said.

Even so, Megan kept having Genesis change the color of her hair, her fingernails, and her clothes. She wanted to make sure she had the basics down before moving on to the more advanced stuff.

"Okay, good," Megan said when Genesis had successfully performed every task she'd asked of her. "Now for something more advanced." She raised her voice and called "Hey Tammy!"

Megan's ten-year-old sister Tammy came running into the room. "Is it time?" she asked.

"Yes, it's time," said Megan. "Genesis, I'm gonna have you turn my sister into a mermaid."

Genesis' jaw dropped. "A mermaid?"

"Yes. For transfiguring a human, it's best to start by turning them into a somewhat humanoid form."

"But why a mermaid? Why not a monkey, or a gorilla, or something like that?"

"Because I've always wanted to be a mermaid," said Tammy.

"Alright," said Genesis. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Practicing on inanimate objects was one thing, but Tammy was a real, live human. She could not afford to screw this up. Genesis waved her hands at Tammy and imagined her as a mermaid. She thought of all the movies and cartoons she'd seen over the years about mermaids, with their long fishy tails and flowing hair.

There was a thud on the floor in front of Genesis, followed by a cry of joy from Tammy. Genesis opened her eyes to see that Tammy was now lying facedown on the floor. Her clothes had completely disappeared, and her legs had fused together in a shiny, scaly mermaid tail. "You did it!" Tammy exclaimed. "I'm a mermaid!" She rolled over and sat up, then realized her A cup boobs were fully exposed.

"Maybe you need a seashell bra," Genesis chuckled.

Megan complied by snapping her fingers. A bikini top with cups shaped like seashells appeared around Tammy's chest. "There you go," she said.

Tammy tried to stand up, but without her legs she couldn't. "I think I need a swimming pool," she said.

"Here," said Megan. She waved her hand, and Tammy turned back into a human, clothes and all.

"Aw," said Tammy.

***

After that, Genesis practiced even more transformations on Tammy. She turned her into a dog, a cat, a pony, a spider, and a bear, in that order. Several times, something went wrong in the magic, but Megan was there to fix it. And as she kept trying again and again, Genesis managed to make every transformation work.

"Good job," Megan told Genesis. "I think you'll need some more practice, but you're off to a good start."

"When do you think I'll be able to learn how to get rid of Ramona's tumor?"

"Probably not for another week or two."

"Another week or two?"

"Don't worry," said Megan. "You said she was on chemotherapy, right?"

"The doctor said that's what they were going to do."

"Then you have time. In the meantime, though, transfiguring people is a useful skill."

"Oh yeah," said Genesis.

"Especially if you wish to punish someone," Megan added.

Genesis felt her stomach jump. "Punish someone?"

"Yes," said Megan. "You have a boyfriend, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, if he ever cheats on you, well..."

"Jesse would never cheat on me," said Genesis.

"Oh, you'd be surprised," said Megan. "I knew a witch whose boyfriend swore he would always be faithful to her, only to go off and sleep with another woman."

That sounded scary. "What happened to him?"

"He's not a 'him' anymore," Megan answered. "Surely you know that. Witches punish bad boys by turning them into good girls."

The gleam in Megan's eyes disturbed Genesis. Her earlier fears about Megan remembering her as Gene were starting to resurface. Was she implying that she knew about Gene's affair with Mirna?

"Oh yeah," said Genesis. "I mean...how many stories are out there about witches doing that?"

"A lot," said Megan. "Ever since knowledge of witches became public, stories about them started popping up all over the place. But you knew about that..."

"Yeah," said Genesis. "Yeah, I did..."

***

Later that night, Genesis called Jesse. Her parents might've banned her from going out to see her boyfriend, but they hadn't said anything about calling him.

"Jesse," Genesis said when her boyfriend picked up the phone. "I think Megan's on to me."

"What do you mean, she's on to you?"

"She was talking about how witches like to turn boys into girls as punishment, and the way she looked at me..."

"Whoa, calm down," said Jesse. "Just because she said that, doesn't mean she remembers that you tried to rape her."

"That's not what it sounded like!"

"Genesis, please," said Jesse. "Even if she does remember, the rape incident was years ago. Maybe she's forgiven you by now."

"You think?"

"I mean, she's had you over how many times now to train with her?"

Genesis took a deep breath. Jesse was right. She was being stupid. "I guess so," she said. "I guess...if she really did want to hurt me, she would've done it by now."

"See?" said Jesse. "It'll be okay."

"Yeah. Totally."

"And FYI, I would never cheat on you," said Jesse. "Never."

Genesis hoped those weren't famous last words.

To be continued...