Apologies for the time away. Classes have been stupid. You could say this short update serves as a 'I haven't forgotten this story' chapter and I look forward to writing the rest of it as soon as I come into some free time. Thanks for taking the time to read these. As always, any and all feedback is welcome. Enjoy

=^..^=

The sirens continue well into the night. The stars are shining in the sky and the electricity is back on but the atmosphere around the group is still as gloomy as it was hours ago when it began.
They sit on the veranda along with the three boys who showed up later. Stacy is cuddled up against her boyfriend, Will. Jenna is asleep and the three mothers sit in silence other than the occasional chat. Emma sits with Harriet, Cyrus and Perry who he'd already apologized to for 'being a bitch earlier'.
Theresa sits on the floor away from them with her legs crossed and her eyes closed. A position which she'd remained in for well over an hour.
They had decided that they weren't going to turn the vessels in almost immediately but the promise of death to the town still weighed everyone down.
"I can't even imagine what this is like for you" Cyrus speaks breaking the minute old silence.
"Huh?" Emma asks looking up pulling himself away from his thoughts of 'home'.
"I don't know what I'd do if someone told me I'm actually a woman... and a witch" He explained.
Emma doesn't reply.
"Is your dick going to disappear?" He added,
"Can you not?" Harriet says sharply.
"What? I'm just curious"
"Well go be curious somewhere else"
Emma is still quiet. Perry looks at him with a mixture of pity and worry.
Emma glances at Perry before his head drops again desperate to find solace in his memories.

The conversations is broken up by Theresa finally moving again. She's brushing sand off the back of her floral print skirt.
Jenna groggily opens her eyes as Theresa begins speaking "I can't find the seer or the darkness or even any thing remotely supernatural." The usually calm woman sounds frustrated "They must be hidden."
"Is there nothing else we can do?" Magnolia asks
Theresa shakes her head "I'm afraid not. I would need something to latch on to. If they use their magic, maybe. They must know that I'm looking"
"What about the old temple?" asks Stacy peeling herself off Will's chest.
"If they want us to come there, it's the last place we need to be" Delia says.
"Delia's right" Magnolia adds.
"Well, we all can't just stay up forever. We need to sleep. I'll keep looking" Theresa says.
"You need to sleep too" Magnolia says.
Theresa sighs then nods. "We can meet back here in the morning"
"The circle should be kept together" Hilda says "There is enough room here"
Everybody looks around at each other's faces.
"She's right. We should not be separated" Magnolia smiles at Hilda.

After deciding that it would be best if everyone stayed at the Creighton residence for now, there was a brief issue of which room Emma would be staying in - the boys or the girls. But it seemed like a no brainer that he stay with the girls who seemed eager to have him.
Emma exits the bathroom with a clean towel wrapped around his chest. His wet hair is already down to his upper back showing no signs of stopping its descent. The towel rests comfortable on his perky breasts and the very little guy offering no resistance in the panties he'd slipped on in the bathroom to prevent a scene.
Jenna who is the last one in the shower walks past him giving him a look before she closes the door behind her.
Harriet's choice of nightwear - an oversized t-shirt and panties leaves nothing below her waist to the imagination as she lays sprawled on the bed.
Stacy who is totally naked makes Emma feel even more awkward.
If she noticed Emma's discomfort, she doesn't care because she turns and walks over to him.
"Can I see them?" She asks.
Emma tightens the towel.
Stacy laughs "It's fine, we're all girls here" she says as she grabs the towel and slowly tugs it loose.
Emma offers little resistance as the piece of cloth leaves his body.
Harriet sits up in the bed as his breasts are now in full view.
Stacy turns sharply to face the bed. "Who is bigger? she asks Harriet.
"Stop embarrassing him" Harriet laughs.
"Her" Stacy says "And just sat it"
Harriet sighs "Oh come on Stacy, you know you are"

Not even an hour after the lights go off, Stacy's left arm has found it's way over his stomach. They had convinced themselves and the older women that they could all fit in Harriet's bed. While true, Emma felt like a sardine squished between Stacy and Harriet with Jenna on the far side.
Next, she begins using his left boob as a pillow, readjusting for comfort. Finally the tiny girl moves her lap over his. He squirms a lot when he feels her crotch on his wide hip.
When her hand, formerly over his stomach moves over his other boob, he wonders if she's actually asleep.
This, along with the danger looming, it's no wonder he can't sleep. He slowly peels her off him careful not to wake anyone up as he quietly leaves the bed and eventually the room.
The old house works against him as he tries to be quiet with every floorboard threatening to give way.
He tiptoes searching for the balcony he knows exists but not it's location.
The rest of the house is dark which only makes the light emanating from one room stick out more. He walks silently and peeps through the slightly ajar door to find the boys sleeping on the bed -- well two of them.
He wonders where the last one is for a second before he is scared half to death by a voice behind him.
"Looking for something?"
He laughs as he finally catches his breath placing a hand on his chest.
"God, you scared me"
"I didn't mean to" He replies but Emma can tell that he's waiting for a answer.
"I couldn't sleep" He adds in a hushed voice. Emma knows the answer is not much of one and he knows Perry thinks so too so he is glad when the conversation moves on.
"Me neither" Perry says as he silently closes the door.
"You know where the balcony is? This house is confusing"
Perry doesn't reply but does a this-way gesture with his head.
They walk as quietly as they could through the dark corridors into what looks like a living room but smaller and more packed up. There are books everywhere and there is a sowing machine in the corner and fabrics on the chairs.
Past that room is the evasive balcony. Perry slides the glass door open and makes way for Emma to walk through.
"Thanks" Emma says as he takes a deep influx of the night air.
The howling wind blows past frequently not giving his short gown a moment's rest. He is suddenly aware of the small thin fabric that Harriet had chosen as nightwear.
"Maybe we should go back in?" Perry asks watching Emma as he tries to settle the light fabric of the gown.
"No, it's fine"
"You sure? you look cold"
He glances down at his erect nipples and blushes. He considers covering his support free breasts but doesn't. There is something erotic about all of it.
"It's not" He pauses "It's not that"
They both stand there quietly for a while before Perry says he should go in. He turns to face the glass door.
"Don't" Emma says sharply surprising himself. Perry doesn't move "Stay"
He stops and turns and nothing is said for a while.
Perry looks down at the small frame of the new witch. The depths of his cleavage illuminated by the moonlight. He finds it hard to believe that he'd even been a boy.
Emma notices the looks and begins to feel weird. Sexy. The silent world seems so far away and all he can think about is the boy that towers over him. It's not his imagination. He knows the boy is slowly walking slowly but he can't move. Or he doesn't want to"
Emma's left leg takes a step by itself and now he can feel Perry's uneven breaths on him.
It feels like a dream as he feels the boy's hand circle his waist. He has opened his mouth even before Perry advances and kisses him.
The thought of Susie reignites his inhibitions but that feels like a lifetime ago. He returns that kiss and another and another before he wraps both arms around Perry's neck pulling himself into the taller boy until he feels they might merge.
Perry pulls him even closer leaning forward and all Emma's worries fade away. He just wants to give himself away. He feels Perry's tongue on his.
When Perry's lips move over to his neck, he lets out a loud moan and he is thankful for the wind. He can't help but moan even more as his body electrifies.
His worries return when he feels Perry's searching hands raise the short dress, parting his panties. That worry is replaced by confusion when he feels the alien sensation of Perry's fingers parting a slit.
'What the fuck' Emma thinks.
Emma steps back sharply raising the dress with one hand and tugging at the panties with another. The prior hand searches between his legs for the appendage that he had gotten so used to feeling. Even with how small it had become, it still held a sense of familiarity. In it's place a hole. A vagina. He gasps.
He doesn't say anything as he looks up at Perry but his expression must have told the whole story. Perry doesn't reply but that's because he doesn't know what to say. In his mind, the girl before him has always been just that, a girl.
Emma's fingers continue their search and eventually find their way into the new hole. The alien pleasure, while different, not unwelcome. The sudden jolt of electricity up and down his body followed by the short uncontrollable jerk serves as confirmation. He's a woman.
Emma feels he might cry after the onslaught of a hundred feelings he can't process hits him at once. Confusion, disbelief, worry, anger. Pride.
He turns from Perry ashamed of what had just happened. Of what he was willing to let happen. He slides open the glass doors and with hurried steps, he runs out of sight.

Emma didn't get much sleep that night. The girls are very animated that morning talking about something or the other. Stacy is paying more attention to him than normal and he wonders if she knows. He wonders if her prying hands strayed too far in the night and discovered his newest darkest secret.
Part of him knows it's not much of a secret. Everyone knew it would happen. He knew it would happen.
The girls are looking at him expecting an answer but he's been in his head too long.
"Uhh" He begins but doesn't know where to go from there.
"What were you thinking of" Harriet asks
"Nothing" An obvious lie.
"So?" Harriet asks hurriedly "What do you think?"
"About?" His face is pleading.
They all smile. "We think we should go see the community center. Maybe help out"
"Oh, yeah sure" He replies without really thinking.

"The four of you shouldn't be on your own" Magnolia says.
"Now, now, Maggie. It's day time. And I think they might be able to help around" Delia replies.
"We should be thinking of ways to track down the order" Magnolia says from her spot on the dining table
"It's not like they can do anything about that. Besides, the center far at all if we need them"
Magnolia thinks for a second "Will you go with them?" She says to the boys who are outside the conversation listening in.
"Sure thing, Mrs. M"
Except short glances, Emma hadn't been able to look at Perry. Neither of them had said anything about what happened last night. Not about the kiss. Not about Emma's sudden realization that he had lost his one anchor to boyhood.

When they finally arrive at the community center, the sun is high in the sky. But the discomfort of its heat is easily overshadowed by the black walls of the former multi-purpose building.
It must have been half a day since the fire but the people are still panicking. The ground, black with soot.
“Oh my God” Harriet says wide eyed.
Stacy buried herself in her boyfriend and Jenna took Harriet’s hand in hers.
Emma didn’t know this place. It didn’t hold memories like it did for all these people in various states of unrest but he feels a knot tighten in his stomach.
The stone exterior of the center still stands for the most part but the rest of it is gone.
“How could they?” Jenna asks rhetorically.
“A show of force probably” Will replies anyway. He has a hand placed gently on Stacy’s head which rests on his chest.
The group's discussion is suddenly indistinct when Emma sees him. A man covered head to toe in a black cloak.
“Guys?” Emma begins to call but when the man turns to leave, “Hey!” He yells as he starts chasing the mysterious man.
The man seems to phase through the crowd and isn’t going through the same uphill battle of maneuvering the groups of people that Emma is.
“Hey!” Emma yells again this time aware of unique mezzo sound that escapes his mouth. His attention is quickly diverted to the jumble of voices behind him urging him back but he can see the man at the edge of the crowd.
He is out of the crowd just in time to see the cloaked man duck into an alleyway.
There is no time to think as he is hot on the trail of the odd fellow.
"Stop!" He shouts as he follows and notices the alley bends left not too far off, he hurries so as to not lose the man.
As he turns the corner, he feels the wind knocked out of him as he is pushed hard against the wall of the other building.

His head is ringing as he begins to come to. He feels the ground below him and the wall that abruptly stopped his motion behind him.
He notices the dead end after the left turn he made and he notices the cloaked man standing there. He is not moving. Emma feels he has the man trapped but it doesn’t feel that way.
He turns to his left and sees the exit to the alley. He takes a breath before walking forward, towards the mysterious man. The two buildings that Emma assumes are apartment buildings are tall enough to block the sun’s rays keeping the space cool and dark.
“Who are you?” Emma asks trying to get a view of his well shaded face. His head still buzzing slightly. The closer he got, the more easily he could pick up the man’s labored breathing.
“Why-“ Emma begins but he is cut off.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, princess” The man speaks with an aching voice. It sounds tortured but young. But also cold somehow.
“Princess?” Emma asks as he stops a few feet from the man.
“But of course. You are princess Emmanuella Crowe” The man replies. He hasn’t moved a muscle since Emma recovered.
“I am not-“
“That is who you would have been although not much has changed from the timeline we destroyed. You are still here, the water vessel, defying me”
Something in the way he spoke intimidated him but he needed answers.
“I don’t understand”
“There are many things you don’t understand. You know nothing about your power. Of what you are capable of”
Emma takes a step forward “You said something about a destroyed timeline”
“Oh yes. You were happy” The mysterious man pauses “You were powerful. More than any other vessel has ever been. Your mother taught you well but you were always gifted. But it is better this way, you will be easier to kill this time”
“I don’t understand. What are you talking about?”
“It doesn’t matter now” The man turns away from a confused Emma.
Emma wonders if it was always this dark. The sky seems greyer and the world dimmer.
“Stop!” He shouts “Don’t move!”
The man turns sharply and his hood drops leaving his face visible. A scorched mess on the entire left side, his hair (or what was left of it) seared on that side. A disfigured lip curled into a smile.
“What’s wrong?” The man’s smile widens “Cat got your tongue?”
Emma feels his throat closing and eventually his vision is failing as he can’t breathe. His body wants to fall but it’s not granted that comfort. It is held upright as the life leaves his body.
“Nicholas will not be pleased that I engaged you but perhaps he will forgive if I bring him a gift” The man suddenly begins laughing between coughs. A horrid sound that rivaled the feeling of being suffocated. “Don’t be afraid, princess. It is your destiny to die”
Those are the last words Emma hears as he loses the ability to keep his eyes open.