I woke up Thursday morning with a queasy feeling in my gut. I figured it was nerves: today was my first day back to school. I hoped taking a shower would help me get settled. I did my business in the bathroom and felt a little more awake. That seemed to help.

I felt the need to wear my other leather skirt and another crop top tank blouse. I managed to get my feet into sandals without feeling any pull from my pumps. I was going to have to buy more leather skirts. I got out my makeup case. I looked at my nails and they still looked good so I applied the lipstick as I had been shown. I didn’t have a mirror. I didn’t need one. I had a few snakes looking at my face. I also applied some eye shadow very faintly because it helped tie the lipstick into my the rest of my face. It took a few tries to get it just how I wanted.

Putting away the case, I went down to the kitchen.

"Good morning, Medusa," Mom said. "I'll have a plate of scrambled eggs ready in a moment."

There was a plate of bacon and some toast already on the table so I took a slice of toast and a few strips of bacon and combined them waiting for the scrambled eggs.

Mom turned around and put the plate down. "You look great, honey," she stated. "I like how the makeup looks. It's subtle."

"I was going for 'Hey, I wear makeup now but that doesn't mean I want to look like a clown.'"

"Well, it certainly meets that criteria. Now eat, your father will be here in a few minutes."

Just as I was finishing my juice, Daddy entered the kitchen. "I swear you look prettier each time I see you."

"Thanks, Dear," Mom interjected.

"I meant-- Oh, you look beautiful too, Dear." Daddy backpedaled. "I was just complimenting Medusa on her makeup."

"Thank you, Daddy," I said. Every boy wants to be their Daddy's beautiful princess. The queasiness returned.

Mom looked around the kitchen, searching for something, "Where's your purse?"

"Do I need a purse?"

"Look at the clothes you're wearing," she explained. "Where are you going to put your phone? Your wallet?" She zipped out of the room and zipped back. "I put your eye shadow and lipstick in here just in case you need to touch it up. Your phone and wallet are in here though we need to get you a wallet designed for a purse and not for a back pocket. Your house keys should be in here, too."

"Let's get going, dear," Dad announced as he got up. "You don't want to be late."

I added my house keys to the purse. It was a small, dark green leather purse – Mom called it a clutch – with a thin shoulder strap. I hung it from my shoulder and it hung down around my hip. "I feel awkward but I'm sure that's because it's just new."

"Yes, dear," Mom said kissing me on the forehead. "Have a good day on your first day of school."

"Compare it to the first day of school, that certainly makes me less nervous," I joked.

I got in the car with Daddy and he drove off. We arrived at the school shortly and I must have looked at Daddy oddly as he got out of the car. "I want to hear what he tells you," Daddy explained as we walked to the building.

I could feel every pair of eyes we passed looking at me. Whispers of who's that chick and what the boys and a couple of the girls would like to do with me reached my improved hearing. Not a single utterance of monster did I hear.

We entered the building and went directly to the front office.

A young woman working at the desk looked startled as we approached her. "Oh, hello. Are you a new student?"

"No, she isn’t. I'm Gregory Harrison and this is my recently Twisted daughter, Medusa," Dad introduced us. "We have an appointment with Mr. Jameson."

"I'll let him know you're here," she replied picking up the phone. ''He's ready for you," she said putting the phone down and pointing to his office door.

Mr. Jameson and Daddy shook hands as we entered and we were shown to a pair of chairs on this side of his desk.

He then sat down on his side of the desk before beginning, "Welcome back to school, Miss Harrison. Have you changed your name?"

"Medusa Harrison," I replied.

He raised an eyebrow at the name but just nodded, "I'll need your old student ID. We'll need a new photograph in order to issue a new ID. Ms Weathers will help you with that when we're done here.

"Since your visit to the Clinic, have you noticed and changes in mood or personality?"

"No, none," I replied.

"Yet, you are just recently a sixteen years old boy who had an abrupt change in sex yet you are already wearing makeup and a tight leather skirt?"

"I find the makeup weird at times too," I calmly explained. "Wearing it is a conscious decision on my part in order to fit in. My parents always told me a day like this could come and that I should embrace whatever changes came. So, I'm embracing being a girl to make it easier to fit in. As for the skirt, I have a compulsion again wearing fitted pants or leggings. Neither of these things are part of my mood or personality."

"Okay," he said moving on. "Any incidents with your trick I should know about? Accidental firings or anything like that?"

"I have not turned anyone to stone who did not ask me to do it first."

"Someone asked you to?"

"Yes. Curiosity is a funny thing, I suppose."

"Who?"

"I don't believe I have their permission to share that information with you."

"Fair enough," Mr. Jameson replied. "This person or persons you have used your trick on. Did the duration vary from the hour Mrs. Rhymes spent petrified?"

"It did not. And I have not had any incidents of breaking any mirrors since breaking a bunch of mirrors and cameras at the Clinic."

"How about the venom found in the, uh,..."

"I call them hairsnakes," I replied. "And no one has volunteered to be bitten by one. I know as much about that as is probably written in your report."

"The reason for my concerns, Miss Harrison, is the psyche profile I received from the Clinic indicates that you are essentially still mentally the same as Gordon Harrison. I know Gordon had many problems with believing the football players were always picking on him. I want to make sure you will not seek any revenge again those boys or any other students."

Daddy laughed disdainfully. He was obviously upset, "I love how you worded that. You really believe Gordon was somehow delusional about those boys picking on him?"

"I have no proof that any incidents ever happened."

"And how much effort did you put into finding out?" He continued. "There are cameras all over this campus. Did you ever use them to determine if Gordon and the other boys were in the locations at the time the incidents took place?"

"Well, no, Gordon complained so many times at first that we saw no need to continue investigating."

"Brilliant," Daddy leaned forward. "Be sure to use just as little diligence should someone report being petrified or you'll be hearing from my attorney."

"Now see here," Mr. Jameson puffed up in anger. "I won't have you threatening me."

"And I won't have my daughter threatened by anyone." Daddy reached into his jacket pocket. "Place this letter in Medusa's file. She is not to be questioned by anyone regarding any disciplinary event without me or my wife present for the ENTIRE meeting. You'll find it is signed by the Superintendent and has a file number for when it was placed on record with the Board of Education." He turned to me. "I expect you to behave yourself. But, if there's trouble say nothing until we arrive. Now, go get your student ID taken care of. I'll finish up here."

"I wasn't done," Mr. Jameson complained.

"Yes, you were," Daddy shot back as I left.

I went back to the receptionist about getting a new ID. She took me to a room with a camera hooked up to a computer. She had to adjust the height of the camera before she could take the picture. I made sure many of the hairsnakes were facing the camera when she took the picture. A few minutes later I had a laminated student ID with my new name and picture. I was also given a late note for getting to my first period class late.

I stepped into the thankfully empty hallway. I hurried to my first class and entered. Every eye in the room was locked on to me. The sounds of gasps, expletives, and prayers to God reached my keen hearing.

"What the fuck!"

"What is that?"

"Check her out."

"Snakes!"

"Those legs!"

Over the comments and a couple literal screams of terror, Mr. Hoagland's voice pierced the din. "Settle down, class. It's just Miss Harrison." He announced, "I assume that is a late note in your hand." He was talking to me, now. Curling his fingers in a come here gesture.

"That's Gordon?"

"She's hot!"

"Snakes are freaky."

"What color do you think her nipples are?"

Visions of petrifying the whole room and smashing them all with a bat conflicted with the desire to flee, or shrink to the size of a flea. I stepped toward the teacher and after an eternity handed him the note.

"Miss Harrison twisted Tuesday afternoon. Are you changing your name?"

I nodded mutely and he waited for me to reply, "Um, Medusa."

"Splendid choice. Please take your seat and let's see if we can salvage part of today's lesson."

I had not thought about how much taller I was now, nor how much of that height was located in my unusually long legs until I tried to sit down in one of the school desks. I turned sideways and backed into the seat. Since my knees would not fit under the desk with my feet flat on the ground, I ended up crossing them off to the side, kind of sitting side saddle.

"Those sure are long legs," someone whispered and suddenly I was reminded that all eyes were watching my every move.

Mr. Hoagland cleared his throat and resumed the lesson. My snakes confirmed everybody was staring at me. I knew what the boys were thinking. I knew exactly what some of them were thinking. I couldn’t understand why I was of such interest to the girls.

When class ended a few people tried to get my attention at once, but only one of them called me Medusa so I turned to face Stacy Kellor. She was a pretty brunette known to lead a group of girls known as the Fashion Police. I was suddenly very nervous about being noticed by her.

"Medusa, I've got to know," she declared leaning close to my face. "Is that lipstick?"

"Yes," I replied. "My natural lip color is orange-colored."

"Oh, that would be so wrong," she nodded. "Did you pick that color?"

"I picked the shade after the store clerk suggested I needed something."

"Well done. I approve," she said turning to go.

I wasn’t sure what to make of that conversation but I didn’t have time to ponder it.

I arrived on time to my next class and caused less of a stir, catching half the class off guard as I entered and the other half as they entered. Still, the comments I overheard were a mix of sympathy and male hormones. I managed to seat myself more gracefully this time though actually sitting side saddle still seemed awkward.

Jeff Rogan, sitting behind me, looked nervous. I turned and said, "They won't bite, unless you're poking at them."

"Th-that's good-d to know," he sputtered. "Could you k-keep them off my desk?"

I gave him a sly wink and turned back around. I swept my hairsnakes up in my arms and pulled them to the front leaving one of the longer ones behind and hovering off his desk, watching him.

Mrs. Garcia, a tiny slip of a woman, entered and began her lesson.

I don't know why I did it. Jeff was neither friend nor enemy. Catching glimpses of him squirming amused me during the boring class.

Without warning a bunch of my hairsnakes thrust themselves outward on my right side, intercepting a spitball fired at me.

People on that side of the room reacted in shock, a couple girls and one guy shrieked. Several guys laughed. The teacher exclaimed, "Miss Harrison, what is this outburst?"

I reached up to one of the hairsnakes and pulled the spitball from it. "Some juvenile thought it would be funny to provoke my hairsnakes with a spitball," I calmly replied. "Not realizing that the bite of my hairsnakes is poisonous, I suppose they could not understand how foolish their actions were."

Mrs. Garcia looked to left side of the room, my right side, and asked, "Who did it?" After a moment with no response she pointed out the three boys who reacted by laughing and myself and told us to stay after class.

Wonderful. I got to stay after class because of those idiots. I had my hairsnakes keep an eye on them for the rest of class.

When class ended the room emptied until it was just the five of us. "You three," Mrs. Garcia started. "Apologize to Miss Harrison for shooting a spitball at her."

Two of them mumbled something that sounded like "Sorry, Medusa." But Frank Myers said, "I didn't shoot anything at the freak."

"Fine. Instead you can apologize for calling a fellow classmate a freak."

"I call it as I see it," Frank continued. "It doesn't mean anything. My mother has horns. I call her a freak to."

Mrs. Garcia was getting mad. "Just because you can insult your mother at home does not mean you can insult people at school. Do you understand?" She was growing taller and more muscular as she seethed with anger.

"Fine, fine," Frank said backing away from Mrs. Garcia. "Medusa, I'm sorry I called you a freak."

"Get out of here," Mrs. Garcia growled at the boys.

They ran out of the room. I was going to follow them but Mrs. Garcia held up a quickly shrinking hand. "Idiots," she mumbled. "I don't like to hulk up like that but sometimes these kids need a virtual smack. It's not like we wanted to twist like this."

She wrote me a late note. "Don't think I didn't see you messing with Jeff's head, my dear. If he has a problem with snakes you of all people should cut him some slack."

I thought about denying it but instead nodded, "I will."

She also nodded and pointed at the door.

Showing up late to third period was not as shock-inducing since word of my twist had gotten through the school's grapevine. Still, hearing guys talking about me like I was a list body parts was both off-putting and enlightening. Just a few days ago I would have been one of the guys ogling this body if this had happened to someone else.

Sitting down this time was smoother than my first two attempts. I was sitting next to Jenny Wu in this class and realized I wasn’t intimidated by her. She was just another pretty face, like me. Of course, her boyfriend was that prick, Tommy Radner.

Professor Zin taught this math class. Zin was neither male nor female, though he preferred male pronouns for simplicity. He looked like one of those fabled Area 51 aliens with the long head and big triangular eyes. What made him strange was how he spoke without his face moving in any manner and the pitch of his voice varied by several octaves often after each word without rhyme or reason.

My hairsnakes were on edge, moving around like there was something they did not care for around them. It was most likely Zin's voice. Nothing I could do about that.

When class ended I went to the bathroom, the correct room, thankfully. After doing my business, I stepped out of the stall and saw Jenny brushing her hair. As I went to wash my hands, she said, "I don't know how those snakes feel, but they have to be better than brushing long hair."

"I think they are heavier than hair and drying between them is slow since a blow dryer isn't good for the skin." I explained. "They definitely have some useful traits, but that’s wiped by their shock value."

"Are they really that shocking to someone who's met Professor Zin?" She said with a laugh. "You're getting stared at because you're gorgeous."

"And I used to be a guy."

"That also contributes," she agreed looking me over. "Nice skirt. It's also surprising to see on you because of who you were. And that blouse, guys don't bare their shoulders normally."

"For some reason I feel really uncomfortable in pants or when my shoulders are covered."

"I'm not sure I should say this but I'm sorry about Tommy."

"You've got nothing to be sorry about," I replied, as the atmosphere became unwelcome with the change of topic. "I've got to get to class," I said as excuse and fled from the bathroom.

I hurried up the backstairs to get to my next class when I actually bumped into Marie.

"Oh, hello," she said. "Are you new at school?"

She had not heard about me? "No, I'm Gordon, Medusa now. I've twisted."

"Oh, now the rumors make sense," she blushed. "I heard Gordon turned into a gorgeous she-monster. I couldn't understand why they would say that. You were never a monster. Are we still on for some sculpting after school tomorrow?"

"I'm still looking forward to it," I replied. We said our goodbyes and I hurried to my next class.

The muttered comments at the start of class were becoming fewer and fewer and the lustful stares were increasing. This was another reminder that I had spent more time focused on my trick and not enough time on my becoming a girl. How do girls get use to getting those looks from horny guys?

Lunch was not even close to the time of day when I could relax that it use to be. The comments about me while I waited on line were deafening.

"That snake is staring at me."

"I heard she has a short thick snake between her legs."

"I want to run my hands down that green stripe on her back."

"That's sick."

"Oh, those legs..."

"I bet she's stuck up now."

"She petrified Jenny in the bathroom. Just swung the stall door open and froze her with her pants down then walked out all mad about something."

"Probably get Tommy next."

"She dresses like a slut."

"Yeah, isn't it great?"

A voice rang over the din, "Freak ain't getting me." Tommy strode past those on line and stepped in front of me. "Heard what you did to Jenny, Freak," he poked at my chest.

"I spoke with her. Whatever else you heard was a lie," as he poked at me a second time I caught his finger in my hand and twisted his arm backwards. "If you want this broken, say something else I disagree with." I stared him in the eyes, my hairsnakes staring too.

He locked eyes with me and I ended up looking away first. He smirked triumphantly and didn’t say a word as he walked away. This was far from over.

Finally, I made it to the front of the line. I bought my lunch and made my way toward my usual lunch table. Elliot, Pete, and Jim were already there. I sat down and said, "Can I not be stared at here?"

Pete, a short boy I have known since kindergarten, looked down and then back at me. "Sorry, dude, but you’re hot."

"You find 'dudes' hot now?"

"You know what I meant," Pete responded. "Calling you Medusa sounds funny. How about we call you Meg?"

"Meg?" I asked confused.

"Well, it's almost short for Medusa and it's better than Sue in place of Sa."

Jim, who had been silent up until now, added, "And I don't think you want to be known as Deuce."

"Probably not," I agreed.

"Do they bite?"

"If I let them, or I get distracted when someone messes with them." I leaned in and whispered, "Sometimes they have minds of their own."

"Your twist has to be ten times worse than mine," Jim added, holding up his hands. They were at least twice as big as they should have been. He use to wear a hoody jacket and keep those mitts in the front pockets of it before he realized no one cared about his big hands and feet. Of course, it helped when some of the girls started a rumor that a usually unseen body part had been enlarged similarly. He had ended up being the target of a dare and had enjoyed helping the girls verifying their theory. Since then he didn’t mind if people saw his hands.

"Only ten times?" Elliot asked. "He's a girl now and looks like a mythological being. That's got to be at least eleven or twelve times as bad."

I had been nodding until Elliot pulled that swerve on me. "Hey."

"Don't leave your mouth open like that," Jim warned. "Unless you want to see if you can handle me."

"If you want," I said coquettishly. "But I'd probably end up petrifying you and breaking that beast of yours off." I added making a snapping-in-half motion with my hands and saying "Oops" in a high pitched voice. "Accidentally, of course."

Elliot and Pete burst out laughing.

Recovering quickly, Jim retorted, "It might be worth it, babe."

And the rumors that he was a bit too cocky were also true. "I hope that was a joke," I demanded.

He looked like he was going to tense up, but Pete put a hand on Jim's arm. "Of course, we assume you still like girls."

I shoved a forkful of food in my mouth and looked down at my tray.

"You like guys?" Pete whispered too loudly.

"I don't know," I replied. "I haven't had a chance to even think about my sexuality."

"I think that's the polite way of telling us you are one hundred percent virgin," Jim concluded in a soft voice. "Haven't checked out the equipment yet, have you?"

"Would you mind?" I was getting upset. "There hasn't been time."

Elliot interrupted, "Let's change the subject."

"You should just slap this dweeb in the face," Stacy Kellor declared. She and two members of her clique circled the table.

Melody Richards, a tall, redhead bent over and picked up my tray saying, "You were right. She does need our help."

Stacy took my arm and I found myself being taken to another table. I muttered something about the boys being my friends but the girls ignored me. I was sat down between Melody and the third girl, Tess Anders, while Stacy sat across from me. Trays of food were waiting for the other girls.

They ate politely as they spoke. "The only intelligent thing your friends said was you need a nickname. Medusa is a great name, but it's easier to call out, 'Hey, Meg.' in a crowded room."

"How did you know that?"

"Much better than Deuce," Tess extemporized.

"My people are everywhere."

Melody laughed. "It's her trick. She can pay attention to like a dozen different conversations at a time."

"You're Twisted? I had no idea."

"And I'd prefer to keep that knowledge quiet," she glared at Melody. "Who helped you buy your clothes? You're mom?"

"Is there something wrong with my clothes?"

"No," Tess interrupted. "That skirt is almost killer. It's just obvious the clothes were chosen by someone older."

"Can I interrupt?" Asked Melody. "I've got to know. Third day as a girl and wearing a sleeveless blouse and skirt? What's up with that?"

"I said we shouldn't grill her," Stacy complained. "Though, I am curious about this myself."

"I was raised knowing I might twist into someone very different than I once was so I'm just embracing the new me." I proclaimed, then added after a pause, "That and I have a strong compulsion against pants."

"That doesn't explain the lipstick."

"Looks hot," I said.

They laughed with me.

It was weird acting like one of girls almost. As weird as it felt being treated like one of the girls. I kept waiting for a prank to happen, ending what I couldn’t help assume was a facade at first. The prank never came. These girls seemed to be genuine in their offer of friendship.

They asked me about my trick and what happened to the nurse. Other than that the conversation was mostly about clothes. Stacy made sure talk about boys was minimal. I guess she did it for my sake.

After lunch, it was time for biology. The lab didn’t show any signs of my twist having taken place here two days ago. Even the mirror over the eye wash was replaced.

Ryan, Jared, and several others guys who had been there for my twist entered and made a point of bumping into my desk as the walked to their seats. Ryan made sure to have my attention as he glared angrily at me.

There were none of the comments about my appearance like before. People seeing me for the first time saw the way Ryan and his gang were staring at me and decided to stay out of it.

I was becoming upset and worried that I might start to cry. None of my friends, old or new, were in this class and I felt a little trapped. My hairsnakes started to hiss quietly and I had to calm myself down before they got any louder. I noticed the queasiness I had felt earlier was back as well.

Mr. Heinz entered and started the class without seeming to notice the tension in the classroom. I paid little attention to the class. I was watching Ryan and his pals instead. They were sitting all around me and dividing my attention among that many snakes made it hard to listen to Mr. Heinz. I was startled when the bell rang and Mr. Heinz hurried out of the classroom.

The boys rose from their desks as one and were stepping toward me when a voice called from the door, “Meg! Let's go, you don't want to be late for gym.” It was Elliot at the classroom door.

I packed up my books and raced out the door into the crowded hallway. Ryan's troop looked unhappy with my escape.

Going to sleep queasy must have been why I had so many nightmares. One particularly vivid one involved me devouring people, my friends and family, like a snake would. I woke rubbing my jaw wondering if it could drop low enough to swallow a human whole.

I felt wrong. The queasiness was gone. But, something was off. I opened my eyes and saw a snake tail. I reached out to touch it and saw that my arm was all scaly green and that my hand was claw-like. The tail was definitely attached to me below my waist, far below my waist.

Panic building, I tore the sheets away from me revealing a thick snake body coiled in bed attached to my waist where my hips use to flare out.

I must have been screaming because suddenly my door was open and Mom appeared. She started to ask something but a second later her body had turned to stone.

My inner eyelids were open? Why couldn't I see the psychedelic colors that I normally saw? I touched my face. It was bumpy, scaly, and felt a bit longer than normal

The urge to touch Mom was great. I could feel my coils twisting to start moving me toward her. The urge was like a hunger. I needed to feed on that delicious stuff inside the stone. I needed to drain her dry.

I needed to get away. I turned around so I could not see her but every snake on my head was staring at Mom. I opened the window. I grabbed a thick coil of my body and tossed it out the second story window.

There was an odd sense of falling while also being stable on the bed. I pushed more of my body out and was surprised when my tail touched the ground and there were still a few coiled loops in the bed. How long was my snake body? I slid out the window. The desire to grab hold of Mom and drink her vitality down almost got me to climb back in the window.

"Medusa?" Dad called out. "What did you do to..."

I let go of the window and dropped. My upper body landed upright, never touching the ground. I turned and slithered toward the woods behind the house. As I reached the wood line a bird crashed to the ground in front of me made of stone. I reached down without thinking and drank the bird's inner life force. I drained dry a couple more birds and some squirrels before I regained my wits. The squirrel statue in my hand tasted great. I had stopped before draining it dry. I put it down. My eyesight was slowly regaining the strange colors I associated with my trick.

I had little idea how far into the woods I had gone. I turned around by twisting my human torso, lifting it up and around with my snake body, and then pushing forward. My eye height was a few feet higher off the ground compared to my human form. My body trailed behind my torso at least twenty-five feet. It was as thick as my waist for a good ten to twelve feet then slowly tapered down to a few inches thick at the end of my tail. Thankfully, I did not have to think about moving. I just picked a direction and my snake body moved in that direction.

The nightgown I had been sleeping in was in tatters as the straps had broken and it had slipped down around my upper tail. I slid it all the way off and took stock of my body. I was green and scaly all over. My breasts were flatter and nippleless. I used my headsnakes to look at my face. I was no longer pretty due to the scaliness. My nose was less pronounced. My eyes had a yellow glow around them. There were fangs in my mouth. I wondered if I had a venom in this form. Even my tongue was forked.

I wondered if this was a form at all. Was this what I was supposed to be? A monster for real? No, I had to believe I was a metamorph. Anything else would be too hard to live with.

I picked up a pair of stone squirrels. The one I had not drained fully still had lines and swirls within it. The other was a uniform off-white. Returning to the first squirrel, I tried to turn off my trick. After a moment, I could not see the colors in the stone. I looked around. I spotted a squirrel about thirty feet away. I rose up on my body and lunged at the squirrel catching it... ugh, in my mouth. I opened my mouth immediately but not before a warm fluid drained from my jawline into the squirrel. I could feel the venom run along my gum line.

I looked down and the squirrel was lying at my... where my feet should have been. It was not moving. I picked it up with a clawed hand. It was alive but unable to move. I had paralyzed it.

Fascinated, it took a moment to remember I had just lunged thirty feet with amazing accuracy. And I had not turned the squirrel to stone. I guessed it was safe for me to be around humans again. But, I didn’t want to be seen like this. I didn’t want to be seen walking out of the woods naked either.

First, I tried to sate myself on a few more critters. I wanted to be sure I was full. I didn’t drain them dry. But they would probably be statues for days. After another bird and one and a half squirrels, I just could not drink the sweet nectar any more.

I didn’t know what to do next. I looked at myself again and noticed I wasn’t a uniform green color. My skin had the strange tessellations of a snake’s skin. There were patches of light and dark green with copper colored tiles separating the patches. It was really quite striking. Though, at the time, I wasn’t happy about it. The sun was high in the sky and I realized I had no idea how so many hours had gone by. Mom and Daddy were probably worried. At least Mom should no longer be a statue by now. I slithered back to the tree line. I wondered how fast I was moving. It seemed very fast.

At the tree line I had to slither a few houses to the right to get to my backyard. From behind my house I could see that neither Mom nor Daddy had left for work. So much for sneaking in.

I was going to try transforming when I realized Mom had probably seen my snake body. Resigned, I gathered my courage and broke across the yard. I reached the house in seconds. I opened the back door to the screened-in breezeway and called out, "I'm home," as I entered the kitchen. My head was brushing up against the ceiling.

My voice was lower than normal, still feminine but with a bit of chain smoker in it.

"Medusa?" Mom cried out from the living room and an instant later she was in the kitchen. She pulled up short when saw me. "Oh, I guess I didn't dream it, did I?"

Daddy entered, "Medusa, what happened to you this morning?"

"Well, I discovered I need to feed."

Mom suddenly disappeared and reappeared holding out a pajama top "Could you put this on before you continue?"

I laughed as I took the top and put it on. "I think I also figured out why I have an aversion to pants." I rose slightly showing off my distinct lack of legs. I told them about my morning, about feeling queasy the day before, about the nearly dozen birds and squirrels permanently petrified in the woods. I also mentioned the bird I had drank from yesterday.

When I was done they scolded me for not telling them everything. But, they seemed to understand that feeling queasy the first day back to school could easily be confused with nerves.

The doorbell rang. Mom disappeared and reappeared. "It's Elliot. Should I send him away?"

"No," I replied. "Send him around back." I looked at the clock in dread. How had it gotten so late? How much time had I spent in the woods?

She disappeared again. She returned with a long robe. "In case you find yourself transformed and nude."

I waited a moment before going out into the backyard. Elliot came around the corner and stopped dead. "Medusa, what happened?"

"Let's head into the woods where fewer people can see me." I started telling him about my day. We only went a little ways into the woods before finding a small collection of stone wildlife. "I was afraid of that."

"What?"

"I told my parents I killed maybe ten little animals. There's seven or eight here and I know I stopped more than once to feed."

"Wonderful. You didn't ask me into the woods for privacy, or for freaky sex, but to find out how much you ate."

"Looking like this you still went for the sex joke?"

"Would you prefer that I run out of the woods screaming 'Monster'? Frankly, being called a monster all these years has obviously affected you deeply. What you never seemed to have learned is the monster isn't defined by its looks. It's defined by its deeds. You don't have a monstrous bone in any of your bodies. You regret killing these animals. A monster wouldn't care." He reached around my waist and hugged me.

I slid backwards and down so I could rest my head on his shoulder. And suddenly I was crying. My body was shaking. He held me tight. I don't know how long I cried. After a while I noticed he was talking.

"It'll be alright. Crying is good."

I felt comfortable. The next thing I knew I had picked my head up and kissed him on the lips.

He jerked his head back and put a finger to my lips. "Not like this," he chastised me.

"I'm sorry," I sniffled. "I forgot how ugly I look."

"You moron," he declared. "I don't mean like this in reference to how you look. I mean how vulnerable you are like this. How would I ever forgive myself if I took advantage of you?"

I cried again. I did not deserve such a friend. After a while I stopped crying. He picked up my head. "Do you want to go home or shall we resume our tour of the small animal statuary annex?"

I laughed. "I need to know how much I ate." We found four more small clearings with six to ten statues of bird, squirrels, and the occasional opossum, skunk, or porcupine. In the last clearing we found the remains of the squirrel I had paralyzed.

Elliot asked me how I caught the squirrel. I demonstrated by snatching a bird in flight with a powerful lunge. I ended up paralyzing the bird in the same way. "Feathers do not taste good."

"I would assume not," Elliot agreed. "We should head back. It's already after five. Are you bringing the bird back to time your venom? "

"I suppose,” I said. “These three I didn’t drain dry. I was in control when I drank just a little from each of them.”

“They’re probably safe here. You don’t know when you drained them so we can’t really learn anything from them.”

“Probably.”

We walked in silence to the edge of the woods. When I hesitated to leave the woods he asked what was wrong.

"I think I should walk the rest of the way."

"Okay," he said expectantly. After a pause, he added, "Should I look away?"

I nodded and said, "I don't know if I can switch back. I'm also worried about losing control of my trick as I change since I couldn't control it this morning."

"That was probably caused by your need to eat. I'll wait twenty feet away looking the other way so you'll be private, but not alone." He turned to walk away.

I said, "Wait, don't turn around."

"If this is when you devour me, I will be sorely disappointed. The clearing with the animal statues was where it was supposed to happen."

I tossed the robe over his head, "Just hold my robe so transforming doesn't damage it." As he continued away from me I added, "And if I ever need to kill you, I'll be sure to give you a genre appropriate death." I watched him walk away and sit down facing away. It was all up to me now.

I imagined myself as I was. I imagined transforming. I imagined I could be here all night though this body would not get cold. I tried imagining harder. I felt silly. I activated my trick. I tried visualizing how I looked now. I tried visualizing my human form. I still felt silly.

I tried visualizing me without form. I concentrated and it was like the world shifted. I immediately imagined standing here in the woods. I felt locked in place as my tail shrank, split, and turned into legs. My arms shortened and the hands lost their claws. I could feel my breasts fill out. My face itched.

When I could move, I called out, "It worked! I'll be right there. Don't you dare turn around."

"I won't," he called back holding up the robe awkwardly behind him.

I closed the distance between us and took the robe. I turned around as I put my arms in the sleeves. I pulled the trim tight around my middle and tied the belt. "Okay, I'm at least decent now."

He turned around. "After all this running around, I bet you would like a nice hot bath. I'll run interference with your folks while you rush upstairs," he suggested.

"A quick shower will do if you want to wait for me," I countered as we headed for the breezeway back door.

"Okay," he said. He entered the kitchen first and began, "What we found in the woods was interesting and I'm going to tell you all about it while Medusa goes and gets washed up."

I entered and spoke as I walked through the room, "I'll be down as soon as I get the smell of the woods off me."

Elliot continued, "We found twenty-seven statues of small animals in the woods. She will need to find a better source..."

I couldn’t hear the rest of what was said. I didn’t want to hear it at all. I quickly entered the bathroom and closed the door. I reeked of dirt and moss. I turned the shower on and hurried inside. The water was cool and dirt was already puddling in the shower. I pulled a few twigs and leaves from between my hairsnakes. I tried to figure out how freaked out I should be over being a thirty-foot long snake-woman most of the day.

The soap was done clearing away the visible dirt. It did little to clean the guilt away. Twenty-seven dead forest animals. When will I need to do that again? Will I start looking for larger prey? There are a few dogs in the neighborhood. Would their nectar taste better?

Reluctantly, I turned the water off and dried off. Wrapping the towel around me, I crossed the hallway to my room and put on a new set of pajamas. I retrieved the robe from the bathroom and brought it down to the laundry room before returning to the kitchen.

Daddy was talking, "... can find a better supply of animals." He looked up as I entered. "How are you feeling, Honey?"

"Great physically," I admitted. "Morally a wreck and emotionally taxed."

"One out of three is a good batting average," Elliot quipped.

Daddy ignored him, saying, "I understand the last one and I suppose the first one makes sense. We need to discuss that middle one. What have you done that's amoral?"

"Killing indiscriminately," I pointed out, pacing around the room.

"That's not what you did."

"You weren't there," I cried. "I don't remember most of it. I just killed and ate and if you had been there you'd be dead. All of you!"

"You didn't drain me," Mom said simply. "You fled. You saved me from your so-called rampage."

"I almost didn't," I whimpered.

"Almost doesn't matter. Doing matters."

"We just need to make sure it doesn't get to the point of desperation like it apparently did this time," Daddy added.

"You said you were queasy yesterday morning," Mom began. "We need to see how long it is until you feel queasy again to determine how often you must consume this whatever it is."

"Fine," I said. "I don't want to think about it any more." I walked out the door to the breezeway. I entered the garage and plopped myself down at my work bench.

Elliot followed a moment later. He picked up the tape and handed it to me as he pulled the tape out and walked to the far side of the room.

"I don't want to do this," I declared.

"You don't know the plan yet," he replied, handing me the tape measure. "We, including the valley girl doctor at the Clinic, have been measuring your maximum range. That's the mistake. You need to see that you are only as monstrous as you allow yourself to be. We are going to work on your minimums. I believe that if you practice you can learn to use your trick selectively. In fact, I'm willing to spend a lot of time standing around like a statue so that someday you will be able to petrify a bird I am holding without affecting me."

"Seriously?" I asked. "You have a lot of unfounded faith in my abilities."

"That's what friends are for," he replied. "Now stand twenty feet away, kick on your trick and head toward me. Concentrate on not petrifying anyone, especially me. Visualize me remaining flesh and blood as you continue forward. You control the trick. It doesn't control you."

I waited a moment before submitting to the task at hand. I concentrated on believing my trick obeyed me and would not affect Elliot.

He continued the pep talk until he was cut off mid-sentence, petrifying in an instant. I clicked the lock on the tape measure and read the distance aloud, "Thirteen feet, four inches." I was flabbergasted. "You were right, Elliot!" I exclaimed.

I walked up to Elliot. I looked at his mouth head-on and from the side. I giggled. "Petrifying talking people leaves them with funny shaped mouths."

"It's good to hear you laugh," Daddy said, entering unexpectedly.

"I suppose it's just good to be laughing," I agreed.

"So what was this experiment?"

I explained the premise and initial success of the experiment.

"That's great," Daddy said. He waved his arm toward himself. "Let's take a little walk. Elliot will probably prefer that time passes quickly."

I followed Daddy out through the breezeway to the front yard and we sat down on the porch steps.

"I know Elliot is enthusiastic and willing to help. But, I hope that's all he wants."

I stopped Daddy right there, "Please don't. Elliot is well aware that I think of him as a brother."

"Good, good," he responded. "How about what I asked that first night. Anything to report?"

I thought about it for a moment. "It's funny," I began. "When you asked me to gather data on the other team, I didn't think it would be difficult to tell of my discoveries. Spending this morning as a half-snake hybrid makes how I feel now not only more palatable but also more natural. Being a guy now feels like the other team. I knew someday I might come to feel that way. But, I feel that way now. And while I could tell you what things are like, it feels awkward telling my Daddy about my body."

"I was afraid of that."

"You've spent the last few years drilling it into my head that the person I was may not be the person I become. Aren't you glad I've taken one of your life lessons to heart?" As he stared at me I could not help but giggle girlishly.

“It's every parent's dream come true. But, apparently, I should have also drilled in that being comfortable talking about the changes would also be good.”

I laughed. We talked some more. I found out we had an appointment at the Clinic tomorrow. Once Elliot was back. Daddy suggested we verify our findings by having him and Elliot standing in front of me while I tried not to affect one of them. I had decided to protect Elliot. Daddy was petrified at sixteen feet. When Elliot reached ten feet I closed my eyes and turned off my trick.

"I'm starting to feel a strain. I don't see the point of petrifying you twice tonight. Why don't you head home so I can get some rest?" I pleaded.

Elliot asked if I was sure I would be alright before leaving.

I went back into the house and found Mom in the kitchen wolfing down her bedtime snack.

I turned one of the kitchen chairs away from her and sat down facing away from her. I commented, "I wonder if how you feel about eating these extra meals is similar to how I should feel about devouring all those animals."

"How do you think I feel about eating so much?" She asked between bites.

"You always do it when no one is around. I've always assumed you would be embarrassed if someone watched."

"Is that why you're facing away from me? Even though I know you can see through your hairsnakes?" She laughed. "Turn around, Dear. I would prefer company to eating alone."

"But..." I started helplessly.

"I eat alone so that you and your father don't feel obligated to join me. My sister quickly gained like thirty pounds in the first month after my twist because she thought I felt funny having to eat so much."

"I didn't know," I said, turning my chair around.

"Well, she swore us to secrecy when I had you. There are no pictures of her from that time any more." She got up and added more cereal to her bowl.

I learned more about how Mom's twist affected her life that evening than I had ever known. And I had thought I understood her completely beforehand.

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