Beauty and the Vial: Tested

Chapter 10 ~ Steph and Penny

By Jo Dora Webster

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How will Penny tell Steph about her secret lives?

Chapter 10 ~ Steph and Penny

I arranged to meet Steph in the courtyard facing the Agape Duro forest. I wanted to show Steph the secret room first then tell her mostly everything.

"Steph, do you trust me?"

"Always, Penny."

"Good! Follow me!"

Steph followed Penny into the sacred grove. Penny had heard stories of all kinds of strange things happening there and she shared them with Steph. A lot of the children said that it made them very uncomfortable to be anywhere around it. Yet she felt right at home being right in the middle of it. Penny led her to the other side of the grove which was bounded by a steep incline. They had passed the banks of a stream which meandered through the sacred grove and watered all the trees vegetation and wildlife within it.

They came to the stream's source which was a waterfall that flowed into a basin which fed the rest of the stream. Penny led Steph on a hidden path which led around underneath the waterfall. Hidden from view was a framed marble rectangular block flush with the almost vertical incline. However there was no indication of a knob or key hole or anything around it which might suggest a way to open it.

"Thank you for showing me this, Penny. Looks like we have come to a dead end since we have no key to open the door"

"At least you see it is a door. What if you are the key?"

"I'm the key? How could I be the key? Would I just touch my palm to the door and it would open?"

"Why don't you try it?"

"Okay."

"Steph touched the door and found that it wasn't really solid and her palm passed right through it. Next she walked forward and Penny came forward through the apparent door too. From this side, inside the room under the waterfall, it appeared to be open, revealing the path and the waterfall beyond. Then she noticed something amazing. Penny didn't look like a boy anymore, she looked like the girl that she'd always imagined Penny to truly be."

"What is this, Penny? You are a real girl and I'm the same as I always am. Penny, is that really you?"

"Yes, I'm still the person you knew as Alex and now I am really Penny. You see this place reveals the true self of who ever enters it. The girl you see before you is my true self."

"Have you really turned into a girl? May you be like this for always as my BFF?"

"Steph, I'm sorry. I just look like my true self using a glamour which is a kind of majick. It would take more power than this room has to transform me into a girl for always. Steph, I wish it was completely real, but do you like the way I look now?

"Oh yes, Penny. I love it!"

"Good! For me this place is for learning and discovery. It is always a place where I can take a time out from the sometimes cruel human world. All you have to do is imagine something and it will appear as real as it needs to be for your purpose. Food and things you need to sustain yourself would be real while other things would be a glamour mostly."

"Steph, do you believe magic is real now?"

"I do, I really do!

That's good because what I need to tell you is about magic but not the magic here but about the magic that my Great Aunt Montine has in Denver. Great Aunt Montine wanted to teach me about being a woman so she changed me into one. She changed me into Gail Adella. I believed if I stayed Gail Adella my family would disown me. I wasn't ready to be a grown up. I begged her to change me back into Alex and we had a fight over it. Because I told her that I didn't want to be Gail Adella again we came up with the story about Gail Adella faking her death and being put into witness protection. Do you believe me Stephanie?

I believe you Penny. Oh goodness I believe you. I'm glad that you waited to tell me at this special place. If you had told me before I believed in magic, I would have been angry at you for not telling me the truth. Oh Goodness, Penny I so loved you as Gail. It makes me feel so much better to know that Gail lives on inside you. Gail and I were BFF's so I guess that makes us double BFFs. Thank you for telling me the truth, Penny.

There is a little more which is a bit hard to take. The Greek Goddesses are real too and this place is dedicated to Aphrodite. Great Aunt Montine is her priestess and that has been passed down from mother to daughter from the ancient days in Greece. The Goddess of Hate, Erida stopped the line of daughters by making them all sons like I was made to be. Erida cursed me and that is why I'm not a real girl. My friends who are Avatars of Hera and Aphrodite are going to get me an audience with the Goddesses to beg my curse be removed . When they grant it I will be a girl from then on just like you.

Penny I believe you. You must have had a hard time keeping all that inside and not having anyone your age to share it with. Now you do BFF, Now you do! I love you Penny!

I love you too Steph my BFF. I will be away tomorrow at Hera's shrine to meet with the Goddesses and when you see me afterward I will be Penny for real like you see me now. If you have seen all you want to see here, I believe we can get back in time to get breakfast. Okay?"

"Okay!"

We left the special room and retraced our steps back to the Lamur Preparatory campus. I led her to the Faculty Cafeteria and we were in time for breakfast. We each got a tray full of breakfast items and we began to eat.

Everything I told you including the place we went has to be kept secret for the safety of ourselves and the ones that we love, Steph."

"I'll keep it all secret for always, Penny. I guess we get to take the standard tour of the school from here."

"That's right Steph. When I become Penny for real, we can share a dorm room. Would you like that?"

Oh yes Penny, I'd love to have my BFF for my dorm mate. Are you going to be able to show me our dorm on this tour?"

" The Headmistress has given me dispensation to show you our dorm room today. I'm going to save the best for last."

We toured the classroom building first, then the STEM building, then the Fine Arts building and then the Language Arts building. After viewing the Workforce building , we turned outdoors to view all the sports fields. Steph was so glad to find out that there was more than one Field Hockey pitch available. She was an avid participant and she wanted to teach me the sport so that we could try out for the team together.

Next we toured the indoor athletics venues and I showed her especially the gymnastics and the dance studio. Steph was glad that there was a girls basketball program and she wanted me also to try out for the team after we worked on the basics so I could catch up with her skill level.

We made it back to the cafeteria for lunch which was very delicious and Steph commented on the high quality of the food served. While we were in the area we toured the rest of the support buildings like the student cafeteria, the library and the auditorium as well as passing by the supervisory offices. We went by the boys dorm and finally we went inside and explored the women's dorm. Finally we saw the canteen and activity room.

We came upon dorm 117 which was vacant and would become our dorm room. My new uniforms were hanging in my closet and my uniform under ware was in my drawers I had brought a tote bag so I could get one uniform with accessories to take with me to my audience with the Goddesses.

We planned out what kind of amenities we wanted for our Dorm Room and compared what items each of us had to contribute. I realized that I did not even know what kind of things I would want as a girl living in a dorm room. As Steph made suggestions I wrote them down and I volunteered to get many of the items since I didn't have any female specific items to bring and share plus some items we both would need to have gotten.

We had Stephanie's parents invited to eat supper at the faculty cafeteria with us so we had to get over there at that specific time so we left the dorm room and headed over to meet them. We met her parents and we all ate together a wonderful meal. Afterward Stephanie and I said our goodbyes since she would be going home with her parents.

I felt good knowing that Steph still loved me even after I had revealed all that to her. We finished the tour of the entire school so our time was well spent. After supper I headed back to my dorm room. I decided to go to bed early knowing that I wanted to be at my best since I was to attend an audience before two Goddesses. I got ready for bed then climbed between the sheets. I must have done something right since by the time my head touched my pillow I fell fast asleep