"I look stupid, don't I?" I asked Alyssa as she took a step back, mascara brush in hand. It would have been more accurate to say that I hoped I looked stupid.

Alyssa chuckled to herself but kept any answers to my question to herself. She was finding the whole thing, especially my delusion quite entertaining. She knew as much as I did that my androgynous face would take to makeup quite well.

Part 21

Sadie reached into her purse to pull out whatever she was referencing, but Amy stopped her.

“Not yet,” she said, “I want it to be a surprise for her. Now, Chrissy. Be a doll and tell Sadie what you told me and Julia earlier.”

Hope's Light

Chapter 4

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Four - Enemies

When appearing again in front of Krux and all his gun-toting troopers, I’d changed clothes. Gone was the casual jogger garb, replaced with biker’s gear of white leather: boots, chaps over jeans, gloves, and an armored jacket - one with enough pockets to wedge in all the currency I’d just recovered. My bike, of course, was stuck in a galaxy far, far, away - but I knew the pattern of this outfit well enough to replicate it.

Being an angel had certain advantages.

Title

The New Girl at Uskweirs Manor

a pastoral romance by Miriam Robern

Correspondence, Concoctions, and Coaching

Monmouthshire, May 1812

Dearest Mother—

I hope this letter finds both you and Father well and in good spirits.  I myself have been blessed with good health in the last few months.

I'd woken up at the crack of dawn to the sound of the cocks crowing. This had been the second night in a row that I hadn't been able to get any real sleep.
 
I'd managed to sleep for a few hours after Nabo bid me good night but dreamed only of fire. Her destructive nature had infected every facet of my imagination and I feared what she would do to me.
 
'Look what she had already done' I thought to myself as I stared at our reflection in the mirror.
 

It shouldn’t be a big deal. All Billy's friends have visited the widow's house and each seemed to come away better for the experience. Visiting her has been a rite of passage for boys in town for as long as anyone can remember.

Billy knows he should want this. The whispers about him have been growing and even his friends are starting to ask questions. Tonight is the night if he's going to end the rumors. Should it matter if it’s Halloween and there’s a full moon in the sky?

'Cause the stars are dull when they're compared to you and I
And if people don't like it, then they can close their eyes
'Cause we're not the same and we don't have to try
'Cause we're brighter than fireflies
We're gonna light the sky

Chapter 6

A few days later, we were flown to Miramar airfield in California, then driven to the Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton. We were in a secure ward where I was started on hormones while Kat was given a series of minor procedures to change her facial features to be close to how I was expected to turn out. She was not happy undergoing the changes, except for the operation that augmented her breasts. She was stoic, though, taking one for the team.

Pool Area:
Kassie paces herself as she counts mentally how many strokes it takes her to reach the other end of the pool. When she reaches the other end, she turns around pushes off the wall, and starts swimming towards the other end. She makes sure to take into account how far she glides before counting her strokes again. She knew the wall of the pool was on her right-hand side this time and that the rope that separated her from the other lane in the pool was on her left-hand side.

Hope's Light

Chapter 3

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Three - Sin

Languages are magic.

Think about it. By making weird sounds or scribbling strange markings against a surface, we transmit ideas, conjure images the recipient has never seen, and organize the very way we think. And it’s not limited to only verbal or written mediums; there is language in music, in mathematics, in dance and motion, and yes, in the act of making love. They are the tools by which we interact with each other and the universe at large, coordinating our very perceptions into meaning.

Mostly we use language to manipulate the thoughts and ideas of others, but some…well, some use it to manipulate the world directly. And what lies behind it.

After the initial shock of the changes, I took a moment to thoroughly analyze my body, trying to process everything that had happened. My reflection was almost unrecognizable compared to the person I once was. My hair had grown significantly, flowing down my back in soft waves. Its color had transformed as well, shifting into a beautiful gradient of light blue at the roots that deepened into light purple at the tips. It shimmered slightly in the light, almost as if it had absorbed some of the water's essence.

Part Twenty

She was kidding, right?

This feminine/sissy nonsense had already spun out so much more than Chris had expected. The main way he was able to reconcile the embarrassment of letting his cousin do all of this to him was the fact that there was a clock on it. Amy definitely wouldn’t be able to explain this to her mother; she was manipulative, but not that manipulative. Even if Chris couldn’t speak up for himself, as Amy now had that video to use as leverage, his current image was so much more extreme than a simple prank.