Lanie woke up really early the next morning. After leaving the office feeling dissatisfied and unhappy with what Angelina had said, Lanie had decided to just go to bed early. But she ended up waking up at 6:00 the following morning. She couldn't get back to sleep, so she decided to just get up and shower for the day.

After getting out a fresh change of clothes, Lanie went back into the shower area. She stripped down, left her dirty clothes on the bench, and turned on a shower nozzle. While she was soaping down, Rachel came in wearing only her bra and panties.

"Rachel?" Lanie asked.

"Hey Lanie," said Rachel. "I lost a game of Truth Or Dare with Taylor last night, so I had to sleep in my underwear."

"Ah," said Lanie.

"But it's morning now," Rachel said as she reached back and unclipped her bra. "So that means I can actually wear clothes again."

"That's good."

Rachel took off her panties and started showering at a nozzle opposite Lanie's. "Oh, and one other thing happened last night that I think you should know about," said Rachel.

"Oh?"

"One of the staff members came by our dorm after you went to bed. She said we'd be getting a new roommate today."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I don't know what her name is, but she's gonna be bunking with Melody."

Lanie nodded. "That's nice," she said. "It'll be fun to show her around the place."

"Yep, it will."

***

After breakfast, Lanie and Rachel waited in their dorm room with the rest of their roommates for their new roommate to show up. At around 10:45, there was a knock on their door. "Come in!" said Lanie.

The door was opened by none other than Angelina. "Good morning, ladies!" she said. "Welcome your new roommate Jenny!"

Angelina stepped aside to allow a new girl to enter the room. The girl looked significantly younger than Lanie or any of her roommates-no older than twelve or thirteen. She had strawberry blonde hair, dark brown eyes, and freckles all over her face. Her clothing wasn't anything fancy-just a plain white T-shirt and purple shorts. "Hi," the girl said awkwardly.

"Hi Jenny!" said Melody. She went up to Jenny to give her a welcoming hug, but she stopped herself when she saw how uncomfortable Jenny looked.

"She's a little nervous," said Angelina. "She just lost her parents and her sister to a burglar, and she's never been to a foster home before. But I told her you all would welcome and accept her, so-"

"Don't worry," said Rachel. "We'll help her get used to living in a foster home."

"Excellent," said Angelina. "That is exactly what I want to hear." She gave Jenny a hug and said "You'll be okay," before leaving.

When Angelina had gone, Jenny smiled awkwardly. "Well...hi guys," she said. "What are your names?"

"I'm Melody," Melody answered. "I'll be your new bunkmate."

"My name's Rachel," said Rachel.

"I'm Lanie."

"Taylor. And that's Alexis."

Jenny nodded. "It's nice to meet you all."

"Want to sit down?" Lanie asked.

"I guess."

Lanie and Rachel both sat down on the couch with Jenny, with Melody standing right beside them. "Sorry about your family," said Rachel. "The rest of us have all been orphaned, too."

"It's not just that," said Jenny. "It's..."

"What is it?"

Jenny hesitated. "I...don't want to talk about it?"

"Really, what?" Lanie asked. She was getting a bad feeling. "Go ahead and tell us. Get it off your chest."

"No, really, I don't want to," said Jenny. "I just don't."

Lanie and Rachel exchanged glances. It didn't look like this girl was gonna crack easily. But from the way Jenny was acting, and how she didn't want to talk about what was eating at her...could it really mean what Lanie thought it meant?

"How about we go get some lunch?" Lanie suggested.

"In the cafeteria?"

"No. There's a Subway just down the street. We can go there for lunch."

"Can we do that?"

"Of course! And besides, Subway is really good!"

"Well...okay, I guess," said Jenny.

Yes! Lanie thought. Her idea to get Jenny to crack just might work.

***

Lanie, Rachel, and Melody took Jenny with them as they went down the street to Subway. The four of them ordered sandwiches for themselves and sat down at a table while they waited for their food.

"Do you guys always go out to eat?" Jenny asked as they waited.

"No, not always," Rachel answered. "We usually get food from the cafeteria at the foster home."

"It's pretty good food," said Melody. "You'll love their pizza."

Lanie cleared her throat. She wasn't going to beat around the bush here. "Jenny, what is it that's bothering you?"

"Lanie!" Rachel scolded. "She said she didn't want to talk about it!"

"Rachel, this is serious," said Lanie. "Jenny, I promise you can tell us. We're not in the Pretty And Pink foster home. There aren't any security cameras watching us."

"Wait, they have security cameras at the foster home?"

"I...don't really know," Lanie admitted, "But I know they don't have them here."

"Lanie, what are you getting at?" Rachel asked. Rachel may have been a sweet girl, but she thought Lanie had stepped over the line. Hadn't Jenny said she didn't feel comfortable opening up to them? Did Lanie not have any respect for people's privacy?

But what Lanie said next shocked everyone at the table. "You were a boy, weren't you?" Lanie asked. "Angelina and Ruth turned you into a girl, didn't they?"

Jenny's jaw dropped, as did Rachel's and Melody's. Jenny tried to move her mouth, but no words came out. "What did you just say?" Rachel asked.

"I asked her if she used to be a he," said Lanie. "Well? Did you?"

"Yes," Jenny forced out. "How did you know?"

"Because..." Lanie hesitated. Over the last week, she'd built up a taboo around revealing that she used to be Landon. But spilling the beans now was the only way to earn Jenny's trust. "Ruth turned me into a girl, too."

"WHAT?" Rachel gasped. "You...you were a boy before you came to Pretty And Pink?"

"Yes," said Lanie. "My name was Landon. But Ruth talked me into letting her turn me into a girl."

"My name is-was Jimmy," said Jenny. "The lady who found me said this was a chance for me to start a new life, and to put my tragedy behind me."

"That's kind of what Ruth said to me," said Lanie. Suddenly, another thought occurred to her. She slowly turned to look at Rachel and asked "Rachel? You didn't..."

Rachel looked horrified, but she nodded. "Randy," she said. "That was my name."

"And I was Mel," said Melody.

Lanie buried her face in her hands. "I should've known!" she said. "How did I not see it? Ruth told me that all the other people at the foster home were girls. She and Angelina wanted me to think I was the only one who used to be a boy! Them and their cronies-they probably told that to the rest of you guys, too! And everyone else that they turned into girls!"

Rachel and Melody were both having emotional breakdowns. It was as if they'd been given red pills and realized they'd been plugged into the Matrix all their lives. "Lanie, I'm so sorry," said Rachel. "I had no idea. I thought Angelina was giving me a new life-a better life. But-"

"Rachel, it's not your fault," said Lanie. "It's Angelina's fault. She's the one who founded this whole operation."

"But why?" Jenny asked. "Why is she turning innocent boys into girls?"

Lanie looked up. "I think I know how we can find out," she said. "There's a secret door in the office. I saw it last night when I was talking to Angelina."

"I've seen that door, too," said Melody. "You think Angelina's got something hidden behind there?"

"She has to. There's no other explanation."

"But we can't break into there," said Rachel. "If it's a restricted area-"

"We're going to have to," said Lanie. "To try and get to the bottom of this. And I'm gonna need your help."

"What can we do?" Jenny asked. "Angelina and Ruth, and that lady who collected me-they're witches. They have magic."

"We'll have to create a distraction," said Lanie. "Tell Angelina there's something going on outside the office, so we can sneak in and see what's behind that secret door."

"I'll do it," said Melody. "I'll tell her that a girl jumped off the top of the building and killed herself."

Everyone stared at her. "You're going to tell her someone committed suicide?"

"If it'll get her distracted, then yes."

Lanie shook her head. "Whatever, as long as it works," she said. "Once Angelina's gone, we'll go into that secret room."

"What if Angelina comes back?" Jenny asked.

"We can have someone stay back and keep watch," said Lanie. "Jenny, you think you can handle that?"

"Yeah, I think so," Jenny answered.

"Okay," said Lanie. "Melody, you'll tell Angelina someone killed herself, and once she's gone, Jenny, you stay back at the office to stand guard." She turned to Rachel and asked "Rachel, are you with me?"

Rachel reluctantly nodded. "Yes," she said. "Bunkmates are supposed to have each other's backs, right?"

"Right," said Lanie. "Now let's hope we have some luck on our side."

***

The plan went well at first. Melody went to the office to find Angelina and tell her a girl had tried to kill herself, and Angelina fell for the lie. She left the office in a hurry and went off to find the suicidal girl. Once she was gone, Melody rendezvoused with Lanie, Rachel, and Jenny. Jenny took her position as door guard while Lanie, Rachel, and Melody went into the office and tried the secret door.

"It's locked," Rachel said when she tried to turn the doorknob.

Lanie frantically looked around. "There's gotta be a key somewhere," she said. She started rifling through the papers on Angelina's desk, hoping to find the key buried in there somewhere.

"I think I found it!" Melody exclaimed. She pointed at the bulletin board, where the key was hanging on a hook.

"Great going, Melody." Lanie took the key, inserted it into the door's lock, and unlocked it. She opened the door to reveal a set of stairs that led down into a dark basement.

"Uh-oh," said Rachel. "I think this might take longer than we thought."

"We'll close the door behind us," said Lanie. "Come on!"

Lanie, Rachel, and Melody went down the stairs. Since Melody was the last one down, she closed the door behind them. The trio followed the stairs for a good thirty feet before coming to a large underground bunker. Lanie flicked on a light switch that lit up the whole room. It was big enough to park several semi trailers in, filled with tables and boxes of potion ingredients and other magical equipment. There were also several cauldrons filled with different colored liquid.

"This is it," said Rachel. "The witch's lair."

"Are they making a bunch of potions?" Melody asked.

"Ruth did mention potions that could turn boys into girls," said Lanie. She went up to one of the tables and picked up a notebook. She flipped through the pages, hoping to find some information about what Angelina's plans might be. But all she found was different lists of potion ingredients and how to combine them.

"Uh, Lanie?" said Rachel. She picked up a notebook from another table and held it out for Lanie and Melody to see. "You might want to see this."

Lanie and Melody both gathered to see the notebook Rachel had found. The frontmost page had the words "Potion? Undetectable? Distribute Through Food?"

"I think I know what they're doing," said Rachel. "They're trying to brew a gender-changing potion and find a way to spike people's food with it to turn more boys into girls!"

"But that doesn't make sense," said Lanie. "How would they go to everybody's houses and put this potion into their food? People would just think they're weird!"

"Maybe they're thinking about sneaking into food manufacturing companies," Melody suggested. "So they can put this potion into food as it's being packaged so people can eat it without realizing it's got a potion inside."

Lanie shook her head. "I guess that's not much weirder than gathering homeless boys and turning them into girls so they can go to your all-girls foster home," she said.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Lanie's heart missed several beats.

"Oh no," Rachel said in an undertone. "I knew they'd find us!"

"How do we..." Melody trailed off when the person coming down the stairs stepped into view. It was Jenny, looking more horrified than ever. "Jenny?"

"Yes, that's right," Angelina said as she and Ruth came up behind Jenny. Angelina looked livid at the sight of them down in her secret underground bunker. "And you four are in a real heap of trouble."

To be continued...