Off to Seek a Wizard... by Erin Halfelven

 
My name is supposed to be Dale Steffani. Yeah, yeah, no relation. They had a contest back in my home town, a little place you may have heard of? Los Angeles, California?

I was so confused. If I told Deb my secret, how would she handle it? Could I trust her? If the secret were revealed, even by accident, it would be disastrous. It would affect many people, including my family. How could we explain it? I just didn’t know what to do.

It all came down to two things. Did I have faith in the secret, or faith in Debbie? To tell the truth, I wasn’t comfortable with either one. My head was spinning with worry. If I did tell Deb, how would I do it? I could just see it now…

She turned to see the fire red sky with gold touching the hills in the west. She felt him wrap his arms around her. She loved being in his arms; when they were younger, she would spend hours wrapped in his strong arms. She turned from the sunset and looked up into his strong face. She stood up on her toes, closed her eyes and puckered her lips. His course beard tickled her face but his firm lips melted her heart.
A sharp pain in her back drove the wind from her body. She stepped back and felt her husband grab a hold of her. Surely he’d take care of that horrible pain. Another sharp pain stabbed through her ribs.
“I’m sorry.” He said to her.

CHAPTER 6
It was indeed a wonderful Summer, but it had to end with the return of the August people and the imminent opening of the new school year. Everything had changed for me, and it was a delight. Our neighbours, the new ones, had only seen me as that tall and bony girl who had moved in with her mother and the big policeman, and the local shopkeepers treated me as just one more woman doing the morning bread run.

Debbie walked up, smiling. “You must be Emily. I’m told I have you to thank for saving me yesterday. I’m Deb Holloway, I’m very happy to meet you. I used to date your cousin, Gabe. I was very sorry to hear about what happened.”

We hugged, and she actually seemed sincere. “I appreciate your kind words, Deb, Gabe had mentioned you. Well, are you ready to go learn why everything we’ve done is wrong?”

She laughed, but I noticed her giving me a worried glance. I guess that she was wondering what Gabe had told me about her.

The Witchery Universe
By Dr. Bender

The Witchery Universe is a lighthearted, wacky, romantic comedy universe in the vein of Ranma  ½. Young men and women suddenly discover that they’re expected to marry an otherworldly entity and become a Witch. Forced into a wild relationship with a number of alien suitors, the prospective Witch is forced to choose the one they’ll be spending an eternity with… and the woman they’ll be for the rest of their lives!

I had been told that she was a witch, and I believed them. That's why I was here, standing at her front door. A cold sweat broke out on my face as I tried to force myself to ring her bell. I hesitated for a moment, started to hover my finger over the button and felt myself falter again. Suddenly, the door swung open and the woman faced me.

She and I were about the same height, neither of us being very tall. She was slender, graying and still pretty good looking for a fifty-ish woman. Our eyes met and she smiled and stepped aside, with a wave of her hand she bid me to enter.

The Princess Project

I’m Ron, and my brother Tim, along with our sisters Jenny and Suzie, are two sets of twins.

At sixteen, Jenny and I were the oldest, Tim and Suzie, who were twelve, were oops kids; my parents thought that mom couldn’t get pregnant anymore and got a little careless. Four years went by and the next thing you know, Tim and Suzie showed up.

I’m in my bed, just staring at the ceiling. I have a lot going through my mind, and it’s very confusing. School seems to have gone much better than I expected, which really makes me happy. The touching responses of my classmates in regard to my “death” was a big ego boost. Now I’m going to have to find a way to get my ego back in check. I have to get this head through the doors. Then there’s Debbie’s accident. I kind of don’t know how I feel about it, but I guess I’m glad she’s okay. Last, but very definitely not least, there’s my feelings about the magic.

Emily dressed herself nervously. This was probably going to be the weirdest day in her life. Well, maybe the second weirdest, she thought, giggling to herself. Learning that she had changed into a girl in the first place had to come in number one, of course.

An accumulation of magical residue had changed her from Gabriel Randall, popular Sophomore student and JV quarterback, into Emily Randall, his pretty, supposedly grieving cousin from Flagstaff; Arizona.