When last we saw our progagonist:

John looked around at those closest to him. “Well?”

What a question. Do we open it or not? We had thought we were prepared, but were we? We didn’t want to die. We truly had nothing to lose, but life itself. To hold on for more, or not?

Very quietly, and with more calm that I found somewhere, I said “Open it.”

Chapter Two – Becoming Mila

Miles is transformed into Mila by Steven Boutros who becomes fascinated by the beautiful creature he has created. Meanwhile Mila's husband is preparing to move them both to Redhaven, a religious community where misogyny rules and an undercurrent of sexual tension pervades.

Always Fi
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

There was no voice. With a buzz the gates swung open and the cab continued up the drive to the large house.

It was impressive. Large columns beside the entrance. Two storeys with attic rooms visible. Wings extended either side. A fountain in the forecourt. At least one of us has done well, Gary thought to himself.

He wondered for a moment whether his war buddy would meet him on the step, or whether he would have to ring the bell. Only for a moment as he could see the figure stepping out of the house.

Having assigned detentions, sanctioned the fifth year prefect and threatened Tegan with expulsion after she'd been at the school for barely an hour. Ma White sweeps back off into her office leaving Tegan with hundreds of questions and several punished girls that might want a pound of Tegan's flesh.

Marcus winces as he gets out of coach Henreid’s SUV. It was a little painful to move around, after what coach Henreid did to him at the school.

“Remember Marcus, you need to keep this between you and me if you want to stay in school.” A smile appears on coach Henreid’s face.

“Yes, sir.” Marcus takes his gym bag out of the SUV and heads towards his front door.

An cryogenic experiment, A brave volunteer starts to dream about being the opposite sex. Is it malfunctioning equipment or intentional or something entirely different all together.

"Ahh, I am SO excited about this!" Krystie squeaked as the plane started to taxi down the runway at London's vast Heathrow airport.

"Never been to America before?" Viks asked.

"Nope!" Krystie giggled. "Never even been outside Europe before, and even then it was only for the other launches, heh."

"Didn't get much of a chance to honeymoon thanks to 'other considerations'," Mikey, Krystie's husband, chuckled as he tried to calm the squirming fifteen-month-old child in his lap.

Searching
By Maryanne Peters
A father searches the dark world of male prostitution for his lost son.