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I groaned, "I look like a girl now, don't I?"

Silently, she nodded while still staring at me wide-eyed. It was making me kind of uncomfortable.

I flopped onto the bed and buried my head in my arms, "I am so dead!"

Terrence woke with a start when I dropped onto the bed and looked up at me blearily. "What?" he said, clearly not fully awake yet.

"Seb's a girl now, it looks like." Carmen told him, much to my annoyance.

"No I'm not!" I protested, a little more shrilly than I would have liked. "I'm still a guy."

He blinked at me and said, "You don't look like a guy."

"I know!" I growled. I noticed my voice was even lighter and more feminine than it was the day before. I probably even sounded like a girl now!

Carmen finally got herself together and hugged me, "I'm sorry Seb, it just took me by surprise." She pulled back and looked at me oddly, "Why aren't you wearing a bra? You're a lot bigger than yesterday."

I groaned, "I know I am, but that doesn't mean I have to wear a bra! I'm still a guy!"

She rolled her eyes at me, "It's not about whether you're a guy or not! It's more comfortable to wear a bra, you'll see."

I just rolled my eyes right back at her. She shrugged and looked down at Terrence, "Sorry if we woke you."

He just rubbed his eyes and mumbled, "S'okay."

Carmen retreated into the shower after that and I just sat there and felt miserable. Knowing it was probably going to happen and seeing it happen were two very different things, I was discovering. I remembered that Emanuel had said I'd change back into a guy again, though, so I hoped that happened quickly! Still, I hadn't changed all the way yet so guessed that would probably happen first. Great...not!

After Carmen's shower she got Terrence to take one as well. Apparently he and John hadn't bothered very often. But then, that was pretty common. I could swear that Crusher hadn't had a shower in a year!

Avatar always got on us about keeping clean. Besides being good for injuries he said it also kept illnesses away. I'd never been sick, so figured he was right.

After our showers we all went out and grabbed some of the slop that passed as food. Supposedly it was really nutritious or something, but I did envy Prism and Stellar's ability to have better food all the time from all the Arena credits they got.

As we were leaving the cafeteria I spotted Emanuel walking out a different door. He made eye contact and made a gesture with his hand like a person walking and then another gesture that made me think he wanted us to go out the way we were going and circle around to follow him. I nodded, though he'd already turned away, and continued walking.

I nudged Carmen to go the direction Emanuel indicated and she nodded. She was confused at first, but I think she figured out what was going on pretty quickly. Terrence wasn't really paying that much attention.

After walking for a few minutes I caught a glimpse of Emanuel turning down a side corridor that ran away from the Arena. We headed that way, but just as we were about to round the corner someone grabbed my arm, hard!

"Hey Sebastian, I'm not finished with you!" I heard Crusher growl before I turned. When he saw my face he frowned. "Who are you?! Where's that creep Sebastian?"

I was about to protest that I was Sebastian, which probably wouldn't have been a very good idea, when Carmen butted in, "Get out of our face, Rod!"

Crusher's face turned red when he realized she'd used his real name. He hated it and insisted everyone call him Crusher, instead. He let go of me and grabbed Carmen instead. As his other hand started to pull back while curling into a fist I grabbed that arm. "Leave her alone, Crusher!" I yelled, wincing at the sound of my voice.

He tried to pull his arm free but I was always stronger than him. That's why he relied on those energy blasts so much. "Who the hell are you, bitch?!" he growled.

"Seb, look out!" Carmen yelled, pointing behind me. I flew straight up, pulling Crusher along with me, just in time to avoid a blast from one of his cronies. Carmen had pulled Terrence out of the way, thankfully.

I looked around and saw three of his cronies closing in, including the one who tried to blast me. I threw Crusher at them and flew back down. As soon as my feet touched the ground I started running. I grabbed onto Terrence as I passed him, with Carmen pulling him along from the other side. We didn't stop running until we saw Emanuel again, casually walking around a corner as if we'd been following him the whole time.

I had to believe that he'd heard the commotion, at least, but he didn't act like it. We glanced at each other, shrugged, and kept following him. I glanced back behind us a few times but didn't see anyone following.

We followed Emanuel for at least ten minutes before we came to another burned out section that wasn't in use anymore by the look of it. This one was even more badly damaged than the first. Emanuel walked through a few doors before stopping and motioning for us to hurry. Once inside he pulled the broken door across the doorway.

"We'll have a little more time to talk here, especially since the three of you running all the way out here is believable after your encounter with Crusher." he said.

"Why didn't you help us?" Terrence asked.

He shrugged, "I'm not a powerhouse like your two friends here. There's not a lot I could do directly. But I saw the encounter before it happened and knew none of you would be injured."

"Seb, you had a question for him, right?" Carmen prodded.

"Oh, yeah. Uh, why am I turning into a girl? You made it sound like my abilities will be pretty versatile, so why not grow armored plates or something?" I asked.

He shrugged again, "I don't have all the answers. You're right, though, your powers could have manifested in many other ways. I've wondered about that myself."

"Why are you helping us?" Carmen asked suspiciously.

He suddenly became deathly serious as he stared at her, "Unlike the three of you, I wasn't taken from my family as an infant. My parents managed to hide my mutation until I was ten years old. I know what the outside world is like. I know quite a lot about what is really going on in this place. It needs to stop."

His golden eyes flashed with anger as he continued, "I've seen several possible futures. Most of them involve the destruction of the Arena and every mutant in it. But you two represent an opportunity to change that."

"Us? But Seb's the Shapeshifter!" Carmen protested.

He nodded, "Yes, but so are you. Your power simply hasn't manifested yet. It shouldn't be long before it does. I would have told you sooner but I figured you needed a little time to get used to Sebastian being a Shapeshifter, first."

"Me?!" Carmen squeaked.

"Yes, you. You two can leave this place and live among normal people without them knowing you're mutants. I'm sure of it. So I'm going to do what I can to make sure you succeed in that. But it won't be easy." he replied ominously.

"What about me?" Terrence asked.

Emanuel shook his head, "I'm afraid you're stuck here with the rest of us for now. I'm not even sure what your power is yet, but I'm pretty sure it's not Shapeshifting. Only a Shifter has a chance of getting by outside the Arena. The government is extremely paranoid about mutants and tests everyone constantly."

"But, what difference would it make if we made it out of the Arena, other than for us?" I asked.

He looked uncomfortable at my question, but answered anyway, "Well, have you ever wondered why the Commission is so down on mutants having sex here?"

I think we all blushed at that question, even Emanuel. Nobody really talks about sex, it's too dangerous! "Sure, but what does that have to do with anything?" Carmen said.

"I'm just making assumptions based on some of the visions of the future I've had, but it looks like the children of mutants are more powerful than their parents. A lot more powerful! You two are pretty strong on your own; if you have children they'll be stronger than anybody in the Arena. Mutants like that might just be able to break this place open. The Commission will do anything to keep that from happening. Even nuke the whole place." he replied.

"But, aren't there normal people here, running the place? Like the squads?" I asked.

He nodded, "Sure, but they're expendable. Everyone is expendable in that scenario to the Commission. They'd blow themselves up to keep mutants that powerful from living. They're fanatics."

"We're doomed!" Carmen groaned.

Emanuel shrugged, "Not necessarily. Like I said, it'll be difficult. You two will have to let your transformations happen, and then make sure those are the only transformations that happen. You can't show any ability beyond a simple gender switch with your appearance always the same or you're both dead. At the same time, you'll have to practice in secret in places like this so that you can adopt a different appearance once you escape."

"How are we supposed to escape?! We don't even know which direction..." I protested, but got cut off by Carmen's screech.

"Gender switch?! Both of us?! You mean I'm going to change into a guy?!!" she all but screamed. I looked around fearfully but Emanuel didn't look worried about the noise.

He noticed my concern and said, "Don't worry, there aren't any working audio feeds for a while in this area. I chose it for that reason. I knew Carmen would be upset about this."

"Upset? Upset?! I'm a lot more than upset!" she growled.

"Hey! How do you think I feel?!" I said.

That seemed to calm her down a bit. "Oh, yeah, sorry Seb. I guess you've got it as bad as I do. This really sucks."

"Um, how will they escape? Is there something I can do to help?" Terrence asked.

Emanuel smiled, "I'm not entirely sure how the escape will go yet myself, but you definitely have a role to play. I don't have the details yet, but you will be instrumental."

"How?" he asked, confused.

Emanuel shrugged, "I don't know. It must involve your powers, though, so I'd suggest you three try to find out what it is. Unfortunately you'll have to do so in secret. That means using these places I lead you to, but don't stay in them for longer than an hour at a time and only once a day each. Any longer and you're liable to get a visit from a squad. And they won't bother asking what you were doing."

I groaned, "I have to agree with Carmen, this really sucks!" I couldn't believe how complicated my life had suddenly become. Not only would I have to deal with turning into a girl, but Carmen was going to turn into a guy! And we'd have to do all this secret practicing while worrying about a squad showing up at any time?

"I know it seems that way now, but I think you'll be glad for this later, if you pull it off. I have one more thing to say, and then we'll have to leave. Do what I say! Pentacle ignored my advice and revealed his ritual magic in the Arena. If not for that he would be alive right now. If I tell you to do something, it's because my visions told me you need to do it! If you ignore my advice we could all end up dead." Emanuel said, looking us each in the eye to make sure we understood. We all nodded fearfully.

He seemed satisfied that we were taking him seriously and nodded back, "Okay. It's time to go now. I'll go first and don't try to follow me. When you leave, wander around a bit so it's not obvious you came to this area intentionally. I may not be able to talk to you again for a few days, so don't approach me unless I signal you. And remember not to talk about any of this outside of these areas!"

With that, Emanuel turned and unblocked the door. With one last glance at us he left. We waited a couple of minutes and then left as well. We didn't talk for a while. I guess we were all too busy thinking about everything he'd said. I know I was!

We found ourselves in a deserted-looking area and realized we might get jumped again, so we headed back towards more familiar territory. Thankfully nobody tried to attack us this time. We went straight to a game room once we knew where we were again.

Terrence seemed confused that we were so keen to play a game after everything we'd heard, but went along with it. Once the game was going again we started typing.

"How do we figure out what Terrence's powers are? My first thought was to ask Avatar, but he doesn't want anything to do with us anymore." Carmen typed.

"Yeah, I guess he figured out I'm a Shifter and didn't want to get killed with us when the Commission came after me." I replied.

I heard Carmen start to type, but she stopped suddenly as text started scrolling across the screen. At first it seemed totally random. Then there were a series of symbols and numbers that finally resolved into a series of ones and zeros in groups of eight. That continued to scroll across the screen for a few seconds before clearing. Then a new message popped up, "So this is what you've been doing."

I looked over at Carmen but she looked as confused as me. Then we both glanced at Terrence and saw he was just staring at the screen without moving. Carmen and I exchanged confused looks before looking back at our screens. A new message was waiting, "Yes, it's me."

"Terrence?" Carmen typed.

"Yes. I don't know how I'm doing it, but it's me." he replied; without touching the keyboard I noticed.

Carmen must have seen, too, "Are you using your powers, then?"

"I guess." he sent.

"I didn't know you could read or write." I typed.

"I can't, normally. But somehow it all makes sense, in here." he replied.

"In here? In where?" Carmen typed.

"In the computer? I'm not sure. It's different. Everything is strange, but if I really look at it it makes sense. What kind of power is this?" he said.

I shrugged and typed, "I don't know. I've never heard of anything like this. You might be the first. I wonder what you can do with it?"

We made all sorts of silly suggestions of what he might do with it, or what it might be called, but really we were clueless. Carmen suggested it was something else to ask Emanuel about. He hadn't know what Terrence's power was, but maybe he'd be able to figure it out now that we'd seen it in action.

We ran out of ideas after a while and just played the game. The weird part was Terrence never touched the keys again. And he was able to send messages to us while playing, where we'd have to stop and type them in. He also moved more quickly and surely than we could. So much so that Carmen and I were glad we weren't playing against each other because we wouldn't stand a chance against him!

The game continued until our stomachs' complaints became too loud to ignore. I was kind of getting bored because the game became a little too easy with Terrence using his powers, but he was so engrossed we practically had to drag him away from the computer.

After eating Terrence was eager to get back on the computer, but I suggested we go to the place where Emanuel first talked to us instead.

Carmen must have been getting bored with the game, too, because she helped me convince Terrence. It took us a few tries to find the place, but we finally did. Once away from the cameras Terrence whined, "Why can't we just talk on the computers?"

"It's not as easy for us, for one." I replied. "But I had a thought, too. There's bound to be a camera in that room. If someone notices you using the computer without touching it they'll figure out what your power is. I got the impression we don't want that."

Terrence paled, "Do you... think they'd come after me, too?"

Carmen nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah, I think they might. What if you could get into other computers, like theirs? You might be able to open the doors and walk right out. Maybe that's what we're going to do, even!"

"You think?" Terrence said hopefully.

"Maybe, but remember you'd be found easy once we got out. You can't conceal your identity like we're supposed to be able to." I cautioned.

Terrence looked down sadly and nodded, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I was hoping I could go with you, though. I hate it here!"

Carmen snorted, "Who doesn't? I'm sure Emanuel would love to go with us if he could. He seemed pretty serious about trying to change things."

"Do you think you could do your thing with the computer while using the keyboard to play the game? That way nobody would realize what you were doing?" I asked.

He shrugged, "I could try, I guess."

Not wanting to screw up our transformations, we decided we'd better not try to do anything on purpose until our changes had finished. Which probably wouldn't be long for me, but Carmen hadn't started yet. So we walked back to the Arena and watched a match.

"Is it just me, or are people dying more often in the Arena now?" Carmen wondered aloud as we saw two more people die in the Arena.

I shrugged, "Could be. I've heard some people saying that some of the psychos sometimes get messages telling them to take out certain people."

Carmen nodded, "Yeah, I've even heard that some people get forced to go into the Arena and that they almost always die when that happens."

"How do they get forced?" Terrence asked.

Carmen shrugged, "No idea. It's just a rumor, anyway."

She gave me a look when she said that that made me think she didn't think it was 'just a rumor' at all. I was inclined to agree. Ever since this started I'd been noticing that there was a lot more going on in this place than I had ever thought.

After the fight we went back to a game room so Terrence could try out his powers some more. He just put his hands on the keyboard while doing his thing at first, but eventually he got the hang of playing the game normally while still getting inside the computer with his powers.

"This is so cool!" he said, through the computer, at one point. He was still playing the game normally without typing the words in.

"That's great! Now you can practice without anyone knowing." Carmen typed.

"Yeah, but there's not much I can do in here. These computers are only connected to each other." Terrence sent.

"Maybe you can figure out how to access the computer that controls the door in Carmen's room later?" I typed.

"Yeah, that might work." he agreed.

We played for a while without saying much. Eventually our stomachs told us it was time to stop. Carmen was especially hungry and looked worriedly at me. We both guessed it might have to do with her changing, since she'd probably get bigger where I seemed to be getting a little smaller.

Carmen ended up eating twice as much as usual. She looked worried as we walked back to the game room.

"It's starting, isn't it?" she typed once the game was going.

"I think so. I wonder if it's better to know it's coming or to have it dropped on you by surprise?" I typed.

"I think it sucks either way." she replied.

We played for about an hour before we all got bored. Even Terrence, since the computers didn't really have much on them. He was eager to try his powers out on other computers but we made sure to remind him to be careful. We didn't know a lot about computers but were worried that his digging around could be detected somehow.

On the way out of the game room I found myself suddenly feeling really bad. And my stomach was really roiling and it felt like my last five meals were trying to come back out! I'd never been sick before, so this was a new experience for me. I hurried towards the restrooms but Carmen pulled me into the girls when she figured out where I was headed. Terrence was going to stay outside but she pulled him in, too.

He protested and she stopped to say something to him, but I was too busy puking my guts out to notice. It seemed like forever that I sat there. Just when I thought it was over it started all over again. I didn't think I'd eaten that much in the last three days!

"Are you okay Seb?" Carmen asked worriedly. I realized she was holding my hair out of the way, which had grown really long in the last few days.

"I don't know." I replied, waiting to see if I'd vomit anymore or not. I decided I really didn't like being sick.

We sat there for an hour before I felt safe enough to get up. I was feeling light headed and really weak. Carmen helped me over to the sink to wash my face and rinse my mouth out. Once that was done she half-carried me back to her room.

"I think we should call it a night." she said once we were inside.

"No argument here." I said. I noticed Terrence looking intently at the hand plate on the wall, but didn't think much of it as I fell asleep quickly.

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To Be Continued…