The hot water felt good against my skin, which made it difficult to ignore the strange signals coming from my body, though I certainly tried. This was the second shower that I’d had in this body, and I was going a little slower than the first time and ignoring my new body a little less. I still had a hard time believing that this was my body, and had been doing the best I could to simply ignore it and pretend that everything was normal.

Yesterday, after I’d convinced Matt and Teri of who I was, it hadn’t taken long before they’d both insisted that I take a shower and get clean. I’d done so almost reluctantly, and I’d rushed through it as fast as I could, not wanting to face this nearly alien body. And in the short time it had taken me to get clean, Teri had somehow found me some clean clothes to wear. They hadn’t been a perfect fit, but they’d fit close enough to work.

Matt had also convinced his parents to let me stay there for awhile. I wasn’t sure of the details, but apparently he’d told them that we were friends, that we we’d been in a couple of the same college classes, and that when I’d just come out as a lesbian, my family had completely disowned me, and had thrown me out. After his made-up sob story, they’d agreed to let me stay in their spare bedroom for a couple days.

“I have a couple days to figure out where to go next,” I mused as I climbed out of the shower.

I had enough money, that I could rent a small room or apartment somewhere, if I actually had some identification. Since I didn’t have any identification, that wasn’t too likely at the moment, nor was finding a new job. I’d probably have to see if I could find where Heather lived, and if I could find a copy of her driver’s license…assuming she had one.

“One problem at a time,” I reminded myself, as I began drying off.

My new skin seemed a lot more sensitive than what I was used to, so I had to be a bit more gentle about drying off. Again, I tried not to think too much about my new body as I did so. It was all too weird. My chest was NOT supposed to push out this much, and it certainly wasn’t supposed to be soft and squish, or to feel so good when I touched it.

When I came out of the bathroom a short time later, wearing the clean clothes Teri had provided, I was still busy trying to dry my hair. It was long, wet, and heavy, and was holding water like a sponge. No matter how much I twisted, squeezed, and ran a towel through it, it remained a wet mess.

“What are you doing?” Teri asked, staring at me with a look of surprise.

“I’m drying my hair,” I grumbled.

“Not like that you aren’t,” she exclaimed.

“It’s not like I have a lot of experience with long hair,” I reminded her with a scowl. “I’ll probably get it cut short so it’ll be easier to deal with.”

Teri just grinned. “I bet you’d look super cute with a pixie cut…”

I glared at Teri, but it didn’t have the impact that I was used to. Instead of even being the slightest bit intimidated, Teri giggled. That was yet another blow to my masculine ego, and I wasn’t sure how many more it could take.

“Sit down, and I’ll help you with your hair,” Teri told me. A minute later, she was going to work on my hair with a hairdryer and brush, explaining, “With long hair, you really have to take care of it, or it will knot up and look sloppy…”

I wasn’t sure how long I was stuck there, while Teri lectured me on proper care and maintenance of hair. I wanted to tune it all out, but knew that it might be useful, so forced myself to pay attention. It was like sitting through a math class, when I wanted to be just about anywhere else, but knew that the material would be important for the test.

By the time Teri was done, I had to admit that my hair looked and felt much better. In fact, this was definitely the best my hair had been, since I’d woken up with this body. I still wasn’t convinced that it was worth all the time and effort of taking care of it, but I had bigger things to worry about at the moment.

Matt came into the room just a minute after this, though he paused at the doorway and stared at me. It was obvious that he found me attractive, which was extremely awkward and uncomfortable for both of us. However, he shook it off after a couple seconds, then tried to act as though nothing had happened, much to my relief.

“I was looking at the local news sites,” Matt announced, “and I couldn’t find anything at all about that fight you told us about, or about anyone finding the bodies…”

“I couldn’t find anything yesterday, either,” I said.

“Well,” Matt continued with a scowl. “I drove past that area last night, and again this morning, and there isn’t any crime scene tape. And when I stopped this morning to actually go look…I didn’t see anything. No bodies…”

“What?” Teri exclaimed in surprise. “Did someone steal them?”

I groaned at that, and when Matt and Teri both looked at me, I had to ask, “Do you know how weird it is, that I have to worry that someone stole my body?”

“No offense,” Matt responded. “But everything about this is weird.” He was clearly trying not to stare at me.

“Good point,” I agreed.

“What are you going to do now?” Teri asked.

I considered that for a moment before admitting, “I don’t know…”

“Maybe you should make a list,” Matt suggested. “First, a list of your current problems, and then we can talk about how to solve them…”

“Well, you’ve kind of got the wrong body,” Teri pointed out wryly. “But I don’t know if you can fix that.”

Matt nodded. “Other than without a LOT of surgery, and then, there’s only so much you can do with that.”

“This is pretty freaky,” I said, gesturing down at myself. “But I don’t think there’s much I can do about it. I mean, it is better than being dead… A LOT better…”

“You don’t have any job, home, or identification at the moment,” Matt continued. “But you know the name of the person who used to have that body, so we might be able to find where she lived and worked…”

“And you can’t forget about the game,” Teri offered.

I rolled my eyes at that. “Trust me, I haven’t forgotten.” I scowled at that, then said, “It’s only a matter of time before I have to play, and I don’t know much about these new abilities I have.”

I didn’t bother to mention that I wasn’t very happy with what those abilities were either. I’d never play a character with those abilities, but now I was stuck having to live with them…or die. That was enough to make me shudder at the reminder of my previous death. I did NOT want to repeat that, which meant, I’d have to learn how to use what I had…whether I liked it or not.

Matt gave me a worried look. “What if Nadine and that other guy come after you?”

“They probably think I’m dead,” I said, with a shrug. “Or that Heather is dead. I’ve probably got a little time, but I don’t know how much.”

“So, what are you gonna do?” Teri asked, giving me a worried look too.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” I admitted with a scowl. “Back when I was playing sports, there was one thing that every coach agreed on… You can’t win unless you put in the time and work before you ever get on the field…”

“And in non-jock speak?” Matt asked with a faint smirk.

“Practice,” I said with a sigh. “I need to figure out what I can do now, and how to do it better. That means, I’m probably gonna need a lot of practice.”

“And where are you doing to do that?” Teri asked. “I mean, it’s not like you can go practicing magical superpowers in our back yard, without the neighbors noticing…”

“I know a place,” Matt said.

The two of us looked at each other, then as one, we both announced, “The Heap!”

--------------------

The Heap was an illegal dump site, where people had been abandoning furniture and appliances for decades, because it was often cheaper and easier than taking them to a real dump. The various hills that surrounded the area made it difficult for anyone to really see the place, which was why it was such a long favored junk yard.

Back when Matt and I had been in middle-school, this had been a popular area for some kids to play hide and seek, or to race around on their bicycles. But then, the city council decided to clean up the area, chasing away all the kids in the process. Within a year though, people began dumping their garbage here again, though by that point, the kids had already found other places to hang out and never bothered to return.

I looked around the Heap, which looked much the same as the last time I’d been here, a couple years ago. There was a rotting mattress, leaning up against an abandoned refrigerator, with a recliner and washing machine sitting beside them. Wherever I looked, there were piles of this clutter, which made an enticing yet dangerous playground for kids.

“There’s nobody around,” Matt called out, after having walked around the area. “So we should be good, unless someone shows up with a new load of garbage.”

“If they do, we’ll see them coming,” I responded.

Since the coast was clear, I brought up my invisible screen and began looking over my skills and abilities again. Then, my eyes settled on the section for ‘gifts’, which like the one for ‘skills’, was actually pretty small.

GIFTS:

LOYALTY: YOU GAIN POWER FROM YOUR COMPANION’S LOYALTY. AS THEIR LOYALTY INCREASES, SO DOES THE EFFECTIVENESS OF YOUR ABILITIES.

MAELYNE’S BLESSING: THE CONDITIONS HAVE NOT BEEN MET.

I didn’t know what the difference was between ‘gifts’ and ‘abilities’, though ‘loyalty’ looked like it was probably a passive and none of the abilities had been. Loyalty didn’t give me any percentages, but looked like it might be a useful power…IF I had companions, IF they were loyal, and IF the bonus was high enough to be worth it. There were way to many ‘ifs’ for my satisfaction. And as for the second gift, ‘Maelyne’s blessing’, it was greyed out, and apparently not even active.

“So, what are you going to do first?” Teri asked.

Matt give his sister a look of annoyance since she’d insisted on coming, but he didn’t say anything. I understood, that he didn’t like his kid sister tagging around, but at the moment, she was just as involved in this as he was. In fact, she was the one who’d helped me with my hair, and found clothes for me to wear, so she’d probably been even more helpful than him, so far.

“It’s magical girl transformation time,” Matt teased me.

I flipped him the bird, then activated both my armor and weapon. Suddenly, I was surrounded by sparkles and light, and a second later, I was wearing the armored dress again. Or maybe, it might have been a little more like a tunic than a dress. At least, that was what I told myself. And in my right hand, I held the gold metal staff that I’d seen Heather fighting with.

“Now, we just need to find you a magical animal,” Teri announced excitedly.

“Maybe that’s what these companion abilities are for,” I mused.

However, in spite of the fact that I was curious about those ones, I decided to start at the top of the list. That meant ‘shield wall’, which was the only ability that I’d actually seen in use, or had actually used myself so far.

“Shield wall,” I called out, willing that power to activate

Suddenly, a glowing wall of light appeared in front of me. My screen was still up, and I watched as my mana bar went down. From what I could tell, shield wall cost me about 50 mana points. Since my mana pool was at 330, that wasn’t very expensive. I nodded in satisfaction because I now had a better idea of how much this particular power cost to use.

“I wish I’d brought a baseball bat,” Matt said as he looked over the glowing wall. “I want to see how tough this is…”

“Will this do?” Teri asked, holding up a golf club.

Matt gave her a look of surprise. “Is that Dad’s… Nevermind.”

Teri took a swing and hit the glowing wall, though the club bounced right off as though it was a real wall. I’d seen Nicole bounce right off this thing, so I wasn’t surprised. Unfortunately, the shield only lasted for about ten seconds before it faded.

“Try it again,” Matt suggested. He held up a metal pipe that he’d found next to one of the junk piles.

I activated the ability again, though this time, I didn’t say anything out loud. After all, Heather hadn’t said anything when she used the ability, and I’d already used it once yesterday, without having to say anything. As soon as the glowing wall reappeared, Matt began smacking it with his bar, while Teri used the golf club. After another ten seconds, it vanished again.

“Okay,” I said. “I’m getting a better idea of how much it costs to use, and how long it lasts. I still don’t know how strong it is though…”

“And it’s not like we have calibrated testing tools out here either,” Matt pointed out.

I activated the shield wall a few more times, getting a little more familiar with the ability. Each time, Matt and Teri continued to test it, even throwing rocks and random pieces of junk. I was just thankful the thing held, because they were getting a little carried away, and I could have been beaned in the head.

Next, I decided to test Maelyne’s shield, which was listed as only being a rank 1 power. I’d never seen this one used, so I had Matt and Teri back up before I activated it. As soon as I did, the shield appeared, but instead of just being a glowing wall in front of me, there was now a glowing dome above my head.

“Nice,” Matt exclaimed.

“Yeah,” I agreed, looking around at the dome I now stood within. Unlike the wall, this shield was protecting me from just about every direction.

However, I quickly saw a small problem. My screen was still up in front of me, so I saw that this ability had taken about 200 mana points to activate. That was expensive compared to ‘shield wall’, but what was worse, was that my mana bar was still dropping. Maelyne’s shield was still sucking power, and as soon as my bar hit 0, the dome vanished.

“That thing is a total gas hog,” I said in annoyance.

In games, it always frustrated me when some power cost so much to use, that you couldn’t afford to actually use when you needed it most. From just this one test, it looked like Maelyne’s shield was going to be one of those powers.

“Try it again,” Teri told me with an eager grin. She was clutching the golf club in a way that gave little doubt about what she had in mind.

“I can’t,” I responded with a scowl. “I’m all out of juice…”

Then, brushing the long red hair out of my face, I focused on my screen, watching as my mana bar slowly filled back up. It took about ten minutes before the bar was full again, which was a good sign that this wouldn’t be a very effective power in a fight. What good was a shield that could only protect you for half a minute, then left you completely defenseless for the next ten minutes?

“Okay,” I said once I was ready. “Let’s try this again…” I brushed a couple strands of hair out of my face again, then activated Maelyne’s shield.

Matt and Teri immediately went to work on the shield, hitting it with bar, golf club, and rocks until it ran out of power and vanished again. After that, we had another long wait before I had the power to try it a third time.

“This should protect you against some angry baseball players,” Matt told me. “But we don’t know how strong it actually is. Is it strong enough to protect you from someone with a gun?”

“No idea,” I replied with a sigh. “I’d prefer not to find out the hard way.”

We tested this ability a couple more times, with Matt trying to find new ways to damage the shield, though we didn’t really have many options at the moment. We were in the middle of a junk yard, so there were plenty of things to throw, but unfortunately, we didn’t have anyone strong enough to actually throw the big things. Then, a popup suddenly appeared on my screen.

MAELYNE’S SHIELD HAS INCREASED TO RANK 2.

“It looks like I just leveled up my shield,” I announced, feeling rather pleased by that, in spite of the fact that I couldn’t see myself being able to use it very much. Still, every athlete liked to see their performance improve, and every gamer liked to level up.

“Gratz,” Matt told me.

“So, what next?” Teri asked.

“My next power is lesser heal,” I answered with a slight frown. “But without anyone being injured, I don’t know how to really test that one…”

“I volunteer Matt,” Teri immediately responded. She held up her golf club and grinned evilly.

“I’d rather not,” Matt said, giving his sister a flat look.

“It’s just a healing spell,” I said, remembering how those usually worked in various RPGs I played. If someone was at full health, it probably wouldn’t do anything. And since I wasn’t about to ask Matt or Teri to risk something that I wouldn’t, I activated the ability and tried to focus it on myself. A moment later, I felt a pleasant warmth through my body, but nothing else. “About what I expected. And no, I’m not injuring myself to make sure it actually works.” When Tina began to grin, I added, “Or Matt either.”

“But you’re welcome to volunteer,” Matt quickly told his sister. She responded by flipping him off.

The next ability on my list was ‘companion 1’, which didn’t even have a rank listed next to it. I assumed that this was because the power didn’t rank up like the others, though I could be wrong. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time.

I was curious about the companion abilities, because the description was a little vague. Did Heather already have companions that this would summon for me, or would I have to find my own? Would any animal work? Wanting to see for myself, I activated the power. Nothing happened. I didn’t even lose any essence.

“Not real impressive,” I muttered to myself.

Just as I was clicking on one of the companion abilities again, Tina touched my arm and asked, “So, what do you have for us next?” This time, my mana bar suddenly dropped all the way to 0, and Tina jumped back with a gasp of surprise.

“What’s wrong?” Matt demanded.

“I don’t know,” Tina answered with a strange expression. A moment later, she pointed to the air on front of her and asked, “Can you guys see this?”

“See what?” Matt asked.

When I looked at the space in front of Tina, I could actually see a screen in front of her, much like the one I had. Hers had some writing, but I couldn’t make out what it said.

“There’s a message right here in front of me,” Tina announced with a look of amazement. “It says, ‘Maelyne’s champion has invited you to become her companion. Do you accept?’”

“NO,” Matt and I both exclaimed at once, while Tina just grinned and responded, “Yes.”

An instant later, a new popup appeared on my screen. TERI LOUISE CORSKEY IS NOW YOUR COMPANION.

“Oh wow,” Teri gasped, staggering back for a second. “This feels awesome…”

Matt immediately glared at me, demanding, “What did you do to my sister?”

“It was an accident,” I protested defensively. “Besides, Teapot was the one who agreed…”

My eyes went back to my screen, where one of the companion abilities now had a side tab, along with a small bar beneath it labeled ‘loyalty’. So, this was how I acquired companions. Matt was never going to forgive me for this