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"We're really too dependent on Sarah, aren't we?" Mike said once they were on the road.

"What do you mean?" Tiffany asked.

"Well, look at this situation. We'd have to get Sarah calmed down some to get a portal open to get Erica here; if not for Rose and Nathaniel being there. And we'd normally have her heal you, too, but she's not with it enough for that right now. We kind of rely on her powers a lot, don't we?" he said thoughtfully.

Tiffany thought about that for a moment. "Yeah," she finally said, "I guess I can see what you mean. It's too bad none of us have any kind of healing powers. Maybe some of us should keep some healing water on us, or something?"

Mike nodded, "That's not a bad idea. It wouldn't be as easy for me, but you girls could keep some in your purses. When you carry one, that is. Jill often doesn't. I guess we'll have to talk about that later."

"Yeah." Tiffany croaked, wincing in pain when they hit the driveway for the apartment complex. Mike noticed and slowed down, driving very slowly and carefully over the speed bumps.

Once they were safely parked in Mike's spot he walked around the car and opened Tiffany's door. Carefully picking her up, he carried her to Sarah's door. He had to set Tiffany on her feet to get his key out to open the door. Once that was done he picked her back up and carried her to the couch. "I can walk, you know." she complained.

"Maybe, but you can't breath very well. You girls don't need me much anymore, let me have my moment." Mike said with a grin.

Tiffany couldn't help but grin back, "Okay, if it means that much to you." She started to laugh, but it quickly became a whimper.

"See, you're not in good shape. Just wait here a moment and we'll get you taken care of." Mike said, hurrying to the kitchen. He pulled out one of the bottles of healing water and helped Tiffany into a more upright position so she could take a drink. Instantly she was breathing better. Another sip and all her pain was gone.

"That's potent stuff!" she breathed, amazed at how good she felt.

Mike nodded, capping the bottle, "Yeah, it really is. I'm glad we have it. There's no telling when Sarah will be coherent enough to heal you and you were sounding really rough."

"Well, I feel great now. Let's get back and see if we can help any." Tiffany said, letting Mike help her up from the couch. It only took a few minutes to get back to the park. When they arrived they found that Sarah was now sitting on a park bench with Vash sitting on her lap, though they only knew this because she was petting him absently. Rose and Jill were sitting with Nathaniel on another bench.

"I wonder what he's making of all this?" Mike wondered.

"Probably totally freaked out. I know I would be." Tiffany replied. Mike nodded.

"I'm glad you're back Mike." Jill said when she noticed them. "I think we should get everyone over to Charlotte's to figure out what we're going to do from here."

"What about Sarah? Wouldn't it be better to take her home?" Mike asked.

"I'll be okay." Sarah said weakly.

Mike snorted, "Yeah, right. Why are all you girls so stubborn, anyway?"

"We should really get out of the open, though, and Charlotte's is closer. We can argue about it later." Jill said.

Rose looked oddly at Tiffany, but followed her to her car and helped Nathaniel in. Nathaniel still seemed out of it; too stunned to take in what had happened to him. Sarah and Tiffany got in Mike's car and they all drove to Charlotte's shop.

"Good thing Charlotte's shop is closed on Mondays." Rose said as they came into view. They went around to a back door and knocked. Charlotte opened the door and ushered them inside.

"What happened?" she asked once everyone was seated in the kitchen. She kept glancing at Nathaniel in confusion, "And who is this?"

"That's Nathaniel. Sarah transformed him in a panic when he attacked her. I think that's why he disappears in the vision." Jill explained. "She freaked out, though, so it took us a while to get the story out of her."

"Transformed?! Like she did Willow?" Charlotte repeated numbly.

"Kind of. She's done it in self defense a few times before." Mike explained.

"Is she alright?" Charlotte asked worriedly.

"She will be. The attack triggered a flash back of the time John attacked her at work." Jill said.

"Where are Willow and Tina?" Charlotte asked.

"We left them at work." Tiffany said.

"I'll call them and let them know what happened." Rose said, stepping out of the kitchen.

Charlotte stood and walked over to Sarah. She hugged her, "Thank you for helping Sarah. I'm sorry this mess brought up bad memories for you. If there's anything I can do for you, please don't hesitate to say."

"Uh, okay." Sarah said, looking uncomfortable with the praise as usual.

"Now, what are we going to do with you?" Charlotte said, turning to Nathaniel. He looked up in confusion when she approached him.

"What's going on?" he asked weakly, stopping in surprise at the sound of his own voice. "How did this happen?!" he added, looking down at himself.

"You should have realized that attacking members of the magical community would have consequences, Nathaniel." Charlotte replied.

"Attacking?! What are you talking about?" he squeaked in surprise.

He's not faking, he has no idea what we're talking about. Vash said.

"Uh, Charlotte?" Jill said, waiting until she had her attention, "He really doesn't know."

Charlotte frowned, "And how do you know that?"

Jill shrugged and pointed to herself, "Empath."

"Oh my. You do have an interesting group, don't you? I've never encountered an empath who could say something like that with such certainty, however." Charlotte said.

"Trust me, if she says he doesn't know, he doesn't." Mike said.

Charlotte nodded, "Alright, I'm prepared to believe that. But why wouldn't he remember...?"

"You said that doing magic makes some guys unstable. Could that cause it?" Tiffany asked.

She nodded thoughtfully, "Yes, that just might. It's hard to say since we've never had an unstable practitioner transformed into a woman before but it does make sense. What do you remember, Nathaniel?"

He looked confused and closed his eyes in thought. Finally he shook his head and opened his eyes, "It's not real clear, now that you mention it. I've got flashes of the Coven, arguments, magical experiments, and not much else. I guess the clearest memories I have are all before I joined the Coven."

"That makes sense." Charlotte nodded. "But that still doesn't answer what we're going to do with you. Perhaps a meeting is in order."

"Meeting? What kind of meeting?" Jill asked curiously.

Charlotte waved it off, "Just a meeting of various representatives of the local magical community. We didn't use to get together very often, but things have been rather busy lately."

"Will you punish Nathaniel for what he did? 'Cause it doesn't seem like that would accomplish anything if he doesn't even remember it." Mike said.

"I can't say what we'd do; we've rarely had to deal with rogues before. But I agree that punishment would be counterproductive at this point." Charlotte replied.

"Uh, can't I change back?" Nathaniel asked hopefully.

"If you really want to, and Sarah's agreeable, yes. But think about this. If you change back, you won't be allowed to practice magic anymore. Nobody will be willing to teach you anything. It's just too dangerous with how you reacted before. And even with that you still might end up going down the same path you did before. On the other hand, being female has clearly changed the situation for the better. As a woman you could continue to learn magic, if that's what you really want. At least, I'm pretty sure you could. This is a new situation." Charlotte said.

"You would keep me from doing magic?!" Nathaniel asked in shock.

Charlotte nodded, "Yes, we'd have to. You tried to kill several people, Nathaniel. None of us will be willing to take the chance that you'll do it again. It would probably take some convincing to get the others to even agree to you changing back in the first place."

"I tried to kill people?!" he said.

Charlotte nodded, "That's right. You can see why letting you do magic as a man is not an acceptable option for us."

"They'll be here soon." Rose said as she stepped back in the room, oblivious to the conversation. Then she stopped, staring at Tiffany, "Hey, weren't you hurt?"

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To Be Continued…

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« Toil & Trouble - 22 - Transformation »