In this magical romantic mystery, a teenage boy wakes up one morning to find himself afflicted with a strange musical curse. The boy tries to find the source of the curse to end it but finding magic in today's world isn't easy, especially when love is involved.

NOTE: Comments have been disabled but kudos and private messages are welcome.

This is a complete story of four parts and I'll post one part every Sunday.

Music Magic
by Terry Volkirch

Prelude to a Curse in A Flat

Steve's life was an opera — teenage angst set to music. Something strange happened to him when he listened to music, something impossible, starting at the tender age of fourteen.

One morning, lying in his bed, he woke up to his radio playing a song he'd never heard before. A wonderful female vocalist sang, and her voice was magical.

Can you hear it, can you feel it in the air?
It's like fingers runnin' through your hair.
Comin' through the trees and runnin' through the earth,
If you're still, you hear.

The words consumed his thoughts, became his universe. 'Heed us!' they implored. They seeped into every pore of his skin and filled every corner of his mind. His scalp tingled as if fingers actually ran through his hair. The trees outside his window whispered and the earth hummed. He gave himself to the song, and as soon as he did, he felt different. His whole body tingled and it felt so good that he actually moaned. He felt wonderfully relaxed all over, like getting a super awesome massage, so he couldn't help moaning. And as he moaned, his voice changed. It raised in pitch and stayed that way.

His voice had been moving towards a more masculine pitch, exactly as it should for a pubescent boy, and suddenly having a girly voice bothered him a little. Still, he stayed put and listened, more intrigued than fearful, even as the one line of the chorus repeated several times near the end and echoed in his head after the song ended.

It's time you're hearin' a woman's voice.

He felt… odd, quite different from his usual mornings. He swatted at his clock radio to turn it off and missed several times before he succeeded. But he never missed!

'Two arms,' he thought, raising them a little off the bed and letting them drop and bounce. 'Check. Two legs,' repeating the same action with his legs. 'Check.' He wriggled his fingers and toes, touched his nose, lips and ears, felt the top of his head. He felt intact but still not quite right.

Frowning, he slipped out from under the bed covers and slowly sat up. That's when he found a major change. His chest wobbled, causing his eyes to widen in surprise and disbelief. Boys didn't have chests that wobbled. No way!

He ignored his chest for the moment and reached up to feel his neck as he cleared his throat a couple times. 'Must be coming down with a cold or something,' he thought when he continued to hear feminine tones. It was so easy to ignore or explain away the impossible.

He got up — there was that chest wobble again — and scuffed his feet out of his bedroom and down the hall to the bathroom. His pajamas were all wrong, hanging more like a dress, but he mostly ignored that too. He needed to relieve himself and wake up from what had to be a very strange dream.

When he got to the bathroom, he squinted at the bright morning sun that lit up the nearly all-white decor. He stood, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the light and soon felt his gaze drawn to the large mirror over the sink. Several things battled for his attention but his chest won out with two small but noticeable breasts pushing out against the fabric of his… extra long tee shirt. If he wasn't already preoccupied, he might have wondered how his blue and white pajamas turned into a lavender sleep shirt but instead, he focused on his chest.

He remained fairly detached for the moment, thinking that although the breasts might seem small at first glance — an A cup at best — they felt heavier and larger than they looked. Most boys at school would consider a girl with those breasts to be flat-chested. He had to disagree.

His hair caught his attention next. It was a little longer and a lighter shade of brown than it should be, but other than that, it still looked somewhat boyish. Then his face caught his eye. It was definitely more feminine, though it was hard to define exactly what was different about it. He also noticed that his height hadn't changed just before he was reminded of a certain pressing need.

He shook his head and moved to stand in front of the toilet, flipping up the toilet seat and lid together and hiking up his sleep shirt. His self-examination could wait. He really needed to pee. But that led to a fruitless search and a very rude and complete awakening. After fumbling for a good minute and failing to find what he was looking for, he ended up screaming long and loud, hitting a perfect high A and then dropping half a step when he realized that he was screaming just like a girl.

~o~O~o~

Steve's mother, Sue, came running when she heard the screaming, and there, in the bathroom, she saw a very freaked out teenage girl.

"Who… who are you?" she asked the girl. "Where's Steve? Where's my son?"

Steve had stopped screaming when his mother appeared, but he wasn't sure he wanted to see her at the moment. He didn't want to see anyone. He just wanted his apparent bad dream to end.

"I'm Steve," he said quietly, feeling emotionally numb after having had a good scream. "I just want to pee and go back to bed."

"Very funny, young lady. Where is he? Please tell me you two weren't sleeping together."

That stung — more than a little — and Steve found himself crying.

"Hey," his mother said gently, realizing she went too far. "I'm sorry. Here now. Go ahead and use the bathroom. I'll wait for you in the hall."

"But I can't stand up and pee!" Steve wailed.

Sue didn't know what to make of that. The girl wasn't making sense. The first thought that popped into her head was that the girl was on drugs. She didn't say anything though. She just took charge.

"Lift your sleep shirt. Now!"

Steve wasn't sure what a sleep shirt was but he guessed correctly and did as he was told, revealing a pale pink hipster.

"Panties down. Now!" Sue ordered.

Steve looked down and gasped. He was wearing panties! He pulled them down like they were on fire, stepped out of them and kicked them in the bathtub.

Sue thought that was a bit extreme but continued issuing orders. "Put the seat down."

Steve hesitated.

"Do it!" Sue barked and the girl complied.

"Now Sit!"

Steve sat on the toilet.

"Relax… and pee. Now!"

Steve heard the sound of tinkling and immediately felt a great sense of relief. It felt so good that it didn't even occur to him to be embarrassed, not even after his mother finished his female urination lesson and led him from the bathroom to the master bedroom. They sat together on his mother's bed while he tried to compose himself. The panties remained in the bathtub.

While Sue patiently waited for the girl to begin her story, she had a good look at her face and noticed a very strong family resemblance to her son and husband. 'What the hell?!' she thought. She suddenly wondered if her husband, Jack, had been unfaithful and her anger returned.

"Again, I ask you," Sue said. "Who are you?"

"I already told you and you won't believe me so what's the point," Steve said.

"Look here. I have to be at work in less than an hour. I don't have time for this. Just get dressed and go to school… or go home. I don't care which. And if you know where Steve is, I'd appreciate it if you told me."

Sue wasn't as concerned about the possibility that her son was sleeping with the girl. She suspected they were half-siblings and her mind skipped ahead to thoughts of divorce. She barely noticed when the girl got up in a huff and marched down the hall to her son's room. She absently followed and watched as her unwanted house guest went through her son's clothes, and she just shook her head when the girl took off the sleep shirt, threw it on the floor and put on one of her son's tee shirts without first putting on a bra. But she received a bit of a shock when the girl slipped on a pair of her son's underwear.

"What are you doing in those clothes?!" Sue asked as she slowly went over to sit on her son's bed.

Steve stood in front of her still wearing just the tee shirt and underwear. "What did you expect me to wear," he shouted, "that dress? I'm not wearing a dress!"

The girl confused Sue for a moment before realizing that they were talking about the sleep shirt. How could the girl not know the difference between a sleep shirt and a dress? Nothing made sense.

"If you mean what you were wearing a moment ago, then I agree you shouldn't be wearing that outside. Where are the clothes you wore when you came over?"

"Hah!" the girl suddenly shouted, startling Sue. She had a very smug look on her face as she continued. "If you can find any more girls clothes… that fit me… I'll put them on and leave." She momentarily looked a bit flustered when she tried to cross her arms over her breasts but her smug look quickly returned when she dropped her arms at her sides.

Steve had an older brother who was away at college but no sisters. The only person in the house with feminine clothing was his mother and she didn't have any clothes that looked like they'd fit, at least not very well. His mother was a couple inches taller and had a very full figure. He knew that she wouldn't be able to find any clothes that would fit his current body other than what he was wearing when he got up that morning.

Sue fumed. She wasn't going to be treated badly by anyone in her own home, especially not some strange girl. "I'm not your nursemaid. I'm not going to find your clothes for you so just get them on and leave my house before I call the police."

Steve's face went pale. 'She wouldn't dare, would she?' he thought. He looked closely at her face. 'She would! I am so screwed.'

Once again, the girl started crying. She slumped down on the floor, sobbing and trying to speak between sobs. "I… don't… have… any… other… clothes," she said. "Please… please don't call the police."

Another ten minutes went by as Sue watched the girl cry herself out. She believed the girl was sincere and that only confused her more. Why would a girl come to her house with almost no clothes and sleep? And where was her son?

"Okay. Okay," Sue soothed. "Don't worry. I'm not going to call the police. I still want answers though, and I want them soon. I need to finish getting ready for work first. I should be done in about thirty minutes. You've got until then to figure something out because I'm not letting you stay here after I leave."

"Oh…," Steve said. He wanted to curse but his mother taught him too well. He wouldn't curse in her presence.

Sue watched as the girl picked herself up off the floor and resumed looking through her son's dresser. She shook her head and got up off the bed to go back to her bedroom.

~o~O~o~

Steve tried on a couple pairs of jeans but they wouldn't stay up. He tried adding a belt but the belt wouldn't tighten enough to hold them up so he gave up on jeans and found a pair of shorts with elastic that worked, soon to be replaced by a pair of gray sweat pants with a draw string that he could tighten enough to keep them up. Socks were no problem but he almost started crying again when he tried on all of his shoes and none of them came close to fitting. They all flopped around on his feet, reminding him of clowns.

He shuddered then. He hated clowns. But he was too upset to dwell on that subject. He needed to find decent footwear, though he suddenly wondered why. Where would he go? What would he do? He couldn't go to school. Thanks to all the school shootings across the country, his school required student badges. There was no way he could get a badge to match his current body.

He flopped on his bed and stared up at the ceiling, almost wishing he could cry again. He thought about how much he'd been crying since becoming a girl and how much better it felt after having done so. 'How very strange,' he thought. 'How very, very strange.'

His morning was strange, and the strangeness continued. As he was lying on the bed, he began tingling again, just like when he was waking up, when the bad dream had begun. He wondered if he was about to change into something else, an animal perhaps, or an alien. Nothing would surprise him after that morning.

The tingling lasted about a minute, and when it was done. He did a quick body check. He still had a human body as far as he could tell, and when he sat up, he noticed an absence of wobbling that evoked some optimism. After a quick cupping of his hand between his legs, he shouted with joy, and he noted that his voice was back. He was a boy again!

He tore off his sweat pants, threw on a pair of jeans — they fit! — and went looking for his mother. He found her applying makeup and he almost laughed when she smeared lipstick across her cheek after he startled her. She wiped it off and didn't try again right away. She decided she had something more important to do first.

"Where have you been, young man? And where's that strange girl? Who is she? What's she doing here?"

"Whoa! Hold on, Mom. I think I need to show you something before I answer any questions."

"What do you mean? I want to know what happened to that girl!"

"We need to perform an experiment. If it fails, I'll… I'll do all of the housework… for a day."

"For a week and I'll consider it," she countered.

"Right. A week then. But if this experiment succeeds…," he said, pausing to gulp. "I think all of your questions will be answered."

Sue looked at her son with suspicion but still followed him back to his bedroom.

"This all started," he began, "when I was listening to music. I don't know if it will happen again but here goes nothing." He turned on his radio alarm to hear some male vocalist belting out an 80's tune.

Sue raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Ah. Maybe it doesn't work when men sing. Hang on…." He hit the scanning button to change the radio station until he found a song with a female vocalist. The words came through loud and clear.

'Cause I'm just a girl, I'd rather not be
'Cause they won't let me drive late at night
Oh, I'm just a girl, guess I'm some kind of freak
'Cause they all sit and stare with their eyes

The familiar tingling came back and with it, the changes. Steve was right. A female vocalist made all the difference. The lyrics might have helped too, or perhaps it was just coincidence. It didn't matter because as he faced the radio, he mouthed the words to the next two lines and the change was complete.

I'm just a girl, I'm just a girl in the world
That's all that you'll let me be

He knew he'd changed so he turned off his radio and as he did so, he noticed something funny about his clothes. They were different! He wore a very feminine top in a bright blue color, very different from the dark green tee shirt he put on not long ago. He pulled the collar out and looked down to see that his breasts had returned, and this time they were nestled comfortably in a light blue bra. 'What the f…," he said, almost cursing again before he remembered that he wasn't alone. He wanted to inspect his jeans and underwear, suspecting them of changing as well but instead, he turned to look at his mother.

She was lying unconscious on his bedroom floor.

~o~O~o~

Playlist for Part 1

1. A Woman's Voice by Wendy Wall
2. Just a Girl by No Doubt

~o~O~o~

 © 2012 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.

In this magical romantic mystery, a teenage boy wakes up one morning to find himself afflicted with a strange musical curse. The boy tries to find the source of the curse to end it but finding magic in today's world isn't easy, especially when love is involved.

NOTE: Comments have been disabled but kudos and private messages are welcome.

This is a complete story of four parts and I'll post one part every Sunday.

Music Magic
by Terry Volkirch

Feminine Fugue in B Minor

Two years later….

Steve stood at the front door of his house, trying to make sure he didn't forget anything. He had his hand on the knob but hadn't yet opened the door.

"Don't forget your ear plugs!" his mother called from the kitchen.

"Got 'em!" he called back. "No way I'd forget those," he muttered. "But I'm sure I'm forgetting something else."

His mother walked into the room and shook her head. "I still wish you'd let me get you an MP3 player and set you up to be a girl all day at school. You might learn something."

"Mom!"

"But you make such a cute girl. Would it really be so bad?" She sighed.

"I bet Dad would think so," Steve replied.

"Your dad isn't here. He's at work. I'm asking you."

Steve pretended to think about it before blurting out, "Well… yeah. I don't care if my ID changes. Someone would find out and I'd get in a lot of trouble."

"That's not why you won't try it."

"It is too! Well… that and the clothes are a pain. It doesn't make sense that I change back but my clothes don't."

Sue shook her head. "Nothing about it makes sense," she said.

"True. And that includes keeping my girl clothes. I can't believe you want me to keep them. I'm not going to wear them again."

"I already told you. Clothes are too expensive to waste. We gave away a few things as you outgrew them, like your bras." Steve cringed. "But you might need an outfit again. What if you changed while you were taking a shower? What would you wear then?"

"Ew! Mom! Don't even."

Sue rolled her eyes but knew better than to press her point.

"How long do you stay a girl now?" she asked suddenly.

"Three hours," he reluctantly admitted.

"And how long did you stay a girl when you first started changing?"

"About an hour".

Sue gave him a warm smile. She wasn't trying to be cruel. "If you keep becoming a girl for a longer period of time, you might have to stay that way for days instead of hours. And someday, you might not change back. Did you ever consider that?"

"Yeah. Sure. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"So what if I would? I love you dearly, but I admit it. I've always wanted a daughter. Is that so bad?"

"It is if you had anything to do with my changing," he retorted.

"What?! You still accuse me after I fainted when I first saw you change?"

"Well... I can't help being a little suspicious."

His mother walked up to him and put her hands on his shoulders. "I only want what's best for you, my darling little girl." She realized her mistake too late and gave Steve a guilty smile.

"How can this even happen? And why? Why me?!" He started crying, something he did with increasing frequency. It disturbed him but he couldn't help himself. Crying had become somewhat addictive after he found how good he felt afterward.

"There there," his mother said as she embraced him.

~o~O~o~

He eventually remembered what he'd forgotten. Remembering didn't matter so much though. It would've made his walks to and from school more comfortable but it wouldn't prevent him from having to return home that morning. Sometimes things just happened that can't be helped, as Steve found out only fifteen minutes after school started.

As he slumped down in his seat near the back of his geometry class, half listening to his teacher drone on about the wonders of isosceles triangles, he caught another sound, a musical sound. A classmate was quietly humming a catchy little tune and he strained to hear more of it, not thinking about who was doing the humming.

Music held a strange fascination for Steve. He found it to be so beautiful, yet he feared how it could change him, making it a sort of forbidden fruit that he couldn't help but crave. Listening to the radio was like walking through a mine field. He still listened though, once he found stations that tended to play a majority of songs with male vocalists, and he learned all he could about music, including memorizing song lyrics and learning to read music. Reading music made it possible for him to hum popular tunes — according to the music charts — that were sung by female vocalists. He'd get the sheet music and lock himself in his room to hum his newest musical treasures. Humming became Steve's favorite way to hear a melody and made it almost impossible to resist listening, even when a girl was doing the humming.

His friend, Amber, sat diagonally to the left and up one row, and she absently hummed to herself. 'How odd,' he thought. She never showed any musical inclination at all. She was normally safe to be around, never singing, humming or whistling to threaten a gender change. Sometimes he wished he could be more than friends with her but for the moment, being her friend was enough. That and trying to figure out what song she was humming. It made the back of his neck tingle. It was that good. 'Oops.'

He realized his mistake too late. He began humming along with her before he knew what he was doing, and as he did, his whole body began to tingle.

"Oh, shit!" he muttered under his breath. "Not here!" He stopped humming but it was too late. He started to change, a process that only took about a minute to complete even though it felt like an hour.

Looking around, he didn't see anyone watching him. He'd changed in public before and no one other than his mother ever seemed to notice. It was part of the magic. During his transformation, he became the invisible… teen. He wanted to say boy but that was no longer true.

'Not again,' echoed in his head for a short time, until he looked to his left and saw Dave eyeing him with confusion and… interest. 'Oh, no.'

"Hey there," Dave whispered. "Where did you come from? Got a name? I'm Dave." He flashed a smile and Steve thought he'd puke.

By this time, even Mr. Packwood noticed something was happening that didn't involve geometry. He walked back to Dave's desk, glared down at him and asked, "Care to share?" He always asked troublemakers that same annoying question.

"Yeah," Dave replied. "I'd like to know who this girl is." He pointed to Steve.

That did it. Steve freaked out. He jumped up, shouting over his pretty little left shoulder as he ran out of the classroom in a skirt and low heels. "Oops! Sorry! Wrong class! How embarrassing!" His nervous feminine laughter faded away as he escaped down the hall, leaving a lot of confused students and a cranky teacher.

~o~O~o~

Music filled the world. With an ever growing population, the number of musicians and bands naturally increased, but electronics made the biggest difference. With speakers and stereo systems, songs could be played virtually anywhere at all hours of the day and it took constant vigilance to avoid them — an impossible feat as Steve found out.

Up to that point, his musical curse had activated just over a dozen times out in public. Sometimes, the music played too loudly for earplugs to completely block, and sometimes his own weak willpower sabotaged him. The music blared and seeped into his head. Before long, he started singing or humming along with it, and if the singer happened to be a woman, a minute later, he was Stephanie, or Steph as his mother liked to call him.

He'd discovered his new name when he'd had his wallet during a change. His wallet had become a small purse and all of his identification had displayed his new name as Stephanie Anne Hamblin. He had to get new identification and had stopped carrying it with him except when he absolutely had to. He'd recently gotten his drivers license and the thought of having to carry it around stressed him out more than a little.

His present transformation stressed him out more though. It was the first time he'd changed in school. Amber's humming caught him by surprise and he could have kicked himself. He could've easily avoided it if he'd tried. What was it about humming that he found so irresistible?

He thought long and hard about his curse as he walked home from school, not even trying to suppress the feminine sway to his denim skirt as he walked. He just carried on, hugging himself to keep warm in the cold autumn air.

It felt as if someone wanted him to be a girl, someone very devious. That someone must have realized that music made a great way to trigger a series of temporary transformations. That way, he could hide away for short periods of time until he became a boy again. It allowed him and perhaps, eventually, everyone around him to slowly get used to his gender change. 'Simply devious,' he thought. He couldn't completely avoid music and he hated to admit it but he found himself slowly getting used to being a girl. It no longer bothered him nearly as much as it did his first time.

What bothered him most was how it was even possible. Everything he learned, everyone he knew said that spontaneous sex changes didn't happen. But they did happen! His body proved it. The real world obviously had limits, and beyond modern knowledge something else, something magical took over to fill the gaps. Magic existed.

The next logical questions were who did it and why? Finding who did it might lead to an answer as to why. He could simply ask the person why they cursed him. But how could he find the person responsible? And could he get that person to end the curse? More importantly, by the time he found the culprit, would he want to end it?

'Oh!' he thought. 'Logic is so frustrating! I'm so sick of logic!'

He realized that he sounded like a human sci-fi character who vented her frustration at her unemotional alien husband and son, but instead of crying, he laughed. He amazed himself by relating to the female character and he laughed. Then he sighed and wondered if he'd ever go back to staying male, though he vowed to at least find the person who cursed him. He wanted answers. He felt that he deserved that much.

~o~O~o~

Steve got home without mishap. He unlocked the front door and locked it again behind him. Then he ran upstairs to his bedroom and sat down on the edge of his bed, carefully keeping his knees together and spending a good five minutes trying to will himself to go back to being a boy. It didn't work.

"Hey!" he said, looking down at his chest. "That's right, boobs. I'm talking to you. Stop growing. I mean it. That's an order. Stop! Growing!"

Over the past two years, his breasts had increased to a small B cup when he transformed. They didn't usually seem to grow but once in a while, they had a sudden growth spurt after one of his transformations, and just like that, all of his bras — except the one he got with his latest change — no longer fit. It made him wonder how much his breasts would've grown if he'd been a girl full-time. Perhaps they occasionally had a magical growth spurt to catch up to the size they'd normally be at his current age. Who knew how magic worked?

"I guess I can't stop you," he told his boobs. "But I hope you'll forgive me for trying. Maybe someday I'll… like you. Both of you." He knew he was being silly but he didn't have anyone else to talk to about it. His father still didn't know — or more likely had a serious mental block — and his mother kept trying to encourage him to be a girl.

He flopped on his back, flipped his hair out and away from his head and stared up at the ceiling. He suddenly realized that his hair grew faster — or perhaps independently — as a girl. He had several haircuts as a boy and yet his hair as a girl was longer than ever. He wondered if he might have to go to a salon to get his hair cut as a girl and that thought really depressed him. A few tears ran down the side of his face as he waited to change back into a boy.

~o~O~o~

"Hey, Steve!" Amber called from a lunch table. "Over here! I saved you a seat!"

He raced over to her and waited to catch his breath before he drank down a full bottle of water that he'd brought from home. He also prepared a bag with a few things to eat before he changed so he'd be ready to run back to school right away. Lunch with Amber was often the highlight of his day and he didn't want to miss it, though that day, he nearly did. Timing himself at home, he discovered another fifteen minutes had been added to his girl time. By the time he got back to school, he only had another quarter of an hour before lunch hour ended.

"What happened to you in geometry?" Amber asked him. "Where've you been?"

She wore jeans and a light blue, long-sleeved knit top that hugged all of her curves perfectly. Her long, straight golden hair seemed to glow from the light of the heat lamps behind her in the kitchen area. The sight of her inspired a wonderful daydream that involved just the two of them and a picnic lunch and it took a moment for Steve to come back to reality and answer her.

"Family emergency. Sorry. I slipped out the back. I didn't want to interrupt such a fascinating lecture."

He'd thought of an excuse and rehearsed it in his head on his way back to school. It sounded plausible enough, though Amber raised a skeptical eyebrow.

'How does she do that?' he thought. She always looked like she knew when he wasn't truthful. 'So why doesn't she ever call me on it?'

"You missed something really weird," his friend told him.

"Oh?"

"Some girl ended up in your seat. She caused a scene with Dashing Dave and suddenly realized she was in the wrong class. She flew out the door and no one has seen her since. The few who saw her face said they'd never seen her before."

"Yeah," Steve said. "That does sound weird." He paused to nibble a carrot. While he chewed, he began feeling guilty about his lie. He normally confessed soon after getting the skeptical eyebrow treatment.

"Uh…," he began, after swallowing. "About that family emergency. I… I'm sorry. That's not really true. It sort of is. I mean, it was kind of a personal emergency… for me. I… I just can't…."

"What?" Amber interrupted. "Just say it."

"I can't. I'm not ready to tell you. Just… just forget it."

Amber shrugged and sighed, wishing he'd open up to her. She wished a lot of things, but they rarely came true. She really wanted to like him as more than a friend. That couldn't happen though. She sighed again.

"Hey," Steve said. "Don't be like that. Come on. I'll take you to see that movie you wanted to see. What was it again?" With his earplugs stuffed in his ears during the music, he figured it would be safe enough to sit through a movie. He made it through all but one out of a dozen or so movies without changing. The only reason he changed in the one movie was because the sound in the theater's sound system blared louder than normal and the movie featured several songs with female vocalists. He didn't have a chance.

Amber looked at him like he was from another planet in spite of his best intentions. "Brimstone and Broomsticks," she said, with very little enthusiasm that had nothing to do with the movie.

"Yeah. That one. Wanna go this Friday night?"

"No, thank you."

"How about Saturday night then?"

"Take a hint, Steve!" Amber shouted as she began to cry. "I can't be your girlfriend!" With that loud proclamation, she jumped up, did a perfect slam dunk of her lunch bag in the nearest trash can and ran out of the lunch room.

"Shot down again," he moaned quietly. He kept telling himself he was happy just being her friend but he couldn't help asking her out every so often.

~o~O~o~

Amber avoided eye contact with Steve the rest of the day. They had two more classes together and then everyone spilled out into the parking lot. The pair of them usually walked home together but Steve left his friend alone that day. Her stiff posture whenever he came near her made it clear that he wasn't welcome.

Since he started transforming into a girl, Steve picked up more subtle cues in voice tone and body language as well as whatever words were spoken. His social and communication skills improved in leaps and bounds. That part of being a girl never bothered him. Instead, he looked on with fascination as we watched and eavesdropped on groups of girls. He could follow several conversations at once and he loved it. He found his life very strange but it had its good moments.

As the crowds thinned out, Steve gave up on his people watching and entertained himself by watching his breath billow out ahead of him in the cold air. But he didn't like what he saw in the sky beyond his breath. Heavy clouds rolled in, threatening rain and making for a gloomy mid afternoon. The boy quickened his pace to try to get home ahead of any rain. He wasn't dressed for it.

'That's what I forgot this morning,' he thought, missing his coat. 'I'm too used to hoodies. I hope I don't get soaked.'

He caught up to the last two students, a boy and a girl who'd been ahead of him on the sidewalk, and almost screeched to a halt. He saw a colored glow around both of them. The boy mostly glowed red-orange and the girl glowed yellow. He could see the colors distinctly against a white house across the street from where they were walking, and he watched in amazement for several seconds as the colors changed slightly in hue and intensity as the two teens talked.

"Ah. Excuse me," he said to them as he finally resumed his fast pace and passed, shaking his head.

He spent the rest of his walk home deep in thought. The colors meant something important, something related to his sex changes. He was sure of it. He just needed to do some online research when he got home to figure it all out.

~o~O~o~

Steve sat at his little wooden desk, looking at his computer and listening to the radio. He found a classic rock station that rarely played songs with female vocalists. When the odd song came up with a woman singing, he could easily jump up and turn it off before he changed. He wasn't paying too much attention to the radio at the moment though.

The current website on his computer displayed an article about auras. According to the article, auras had colors and could be seen if a person sensitized their eyes to them. On the odd occasion, trauma could also sometimes trigger the ability to see auras.

After checking on the meaning of colors and how they reflected the current spiritual development and emotional states of a person, he was sure he was seeing auras, and it made him wonder if his musical curse could've triggered his new ability.

'But that doesn't make sense,' he though. 'I was traumatized when I first started changing. Why see auras now after two years?'

His mind wandered to various subjects — school, his parents, friends, very good friends — and he soon found himself wondering what color Amber's aura was at that moment. He imagined seeing a hint of blue around her, with purple and pink occasionally flaring up. He thought that would look good with her blonde hair.

He found himself very focused on Amber as he stared out through the window above his desk. He suspected that he loved her and idly wondered about the color of his own aura and whether he could see it. If he concentrated on Amber, he suspected that he'd see pink, the color of love, but fear and frustration kept him from trying it.

He switched back to thinking about auras again and suddenly realized something important. His day had been quite traumatizing, with two events that he'd certainly never forget. Changing into a girl at school scared him well enough that morning, and at lunch he endured something even worse. Amber's loud and clear public announcement that she couldn't be his boyfriend shook him to his core. She'd never gone that far before. She'd rebuffed his subtle advances before but up until that day, she'd always been polite and gentle about it, leaving the door open for the possibility of a future relationship, at least in his mind.

Dwelling on Amber took up a large amount of Steve's thoughts, making it difficult to pay attention to the radio. That's how he'd ended up changing into a girl the few times before in his bedroom and it created the perfect storm that afternoon. When a certain song started playing, it completely overwhelmed the lovesick boy.

When the truth is found to be lies
An' all the joy within you dies

Don't you want somebody to love?
Don't you need somebody to love?
Wouldn't you love somebody to love?
You better find someone to love

The song sucked him in with the female vocalist's strong voice and very appropriate words. He started singing along with the chorus the next time it came up and he felt the tingling. He knew what it meant but he didn't care. He almost wanted it to happen. He wanted to cry and he wanted to be a girl so he wouldn't feel any shame when crying.

By the last verse, he'd changed completely, and tears dripped down onto his breasts. The words matched his reality and mood perfectly.

Tears are runnin', runnin' along down your breast
And your friends, baby, they treat you like a guest

With a last little tingling on the back of his neck, he sang along with the chorus as he got up from his chair. The song finished and his hand swatted his clock radio, turning it off in one easy swipe. Then he flopped back on his bed to continue crying in perfect comfort.

~o~O~o~

"Steve? Are you in there? Dinner's ready. Steve? I'm coming in."

Sue barged into her son's room to find a familiar girl, fast asleep. She looked down and smiled, staring for a short time before covering her daughter with a blanket to keep off the chill. She kissed the girl's forehead and then quietly shut the door behind her. Stephanie apparently needed her beauty sleep.

Steve's mother couldn't stop smiling as she slowly walked back downstairs to rejoin her husband for dinner. She'd always hoped that her son would grow to like being a girl and wondered if it might not be happening. Her son had been turning into a girl more and more frequently lately. She knew she was being selfish but she couldn't help wanting a daughter.

"Well?" her husband, Jack, asked as Sue sat down at the dining table. "Where is he?"

"She…." Sue quickly stopped herself after crawling out of a pleasant daydream of shopping with her daughter.

"She?" Jack frowned.

"Sorry. I was thinking of someone else. Steve fell asleep. He must have had a hard day at school. I know he sounded stressed out this morning. I'll reheat something for him later."

"Ah. A little stress is good for him. It'll make man out of him."

Sue playfully slapped his arm and he laughed.

"Seriously, Jack. Haven't you wondered what it would be like to have a daughter?"

"My mother has often told me she wanted a second granddaughter but I haven't really thought about it."

"Yes, I don't blame Mother Hamblin about that. Our niece isn't the most feminine girl, is she?"

"Nothing wrong with being a tomboy," Jack said firmly.

'If only the reverse was true,' Sue thought, and she decided to pursue the matter. "Isn't it interesting that girls can wear anything but a boy would be attacked if he wore a dress?"

"What? That's different."

"How so? I admit that dresses probably wouldn't flatter a boy's frame, but what's wrong with a skirt? Scottish men wear kilts."

Jack paused to think. He tried to be fair in spite of years of conditioning by the mainstream media and his peers. Still, the majority of American men fell back into sexist stereotypes so easily.

"I guess it might work if all the boys were wearing skirts. The Scots all grew up with kilts so they're used to them. But here, if only one boy wears a skirt, the other boys would beat him to a pulp — not the best way to fit in."

"And why do boys feel they have to beat up a boy wearing a skirt? Does it somehow insult their male pride?"

"Maybe. I think it's just too different… and disturbing. You know how bad peer pressure can be."

"You wouldn't like it then?"

Jack looked confused. "Like what?"

"A feminine son. Ben has no trouble wooing young ladies but Steve isn't the most masculine boy, is he."

"Is that what this is about? Steven? He's had an eye on some girl…."

"Amber," Sue said.

"Right. Amber. He's had his eye on her for a while now. What happened?"

"Nothing so far. Nothing after months of trying."

"Well, there are plenty of other fish in the sea. I'm sure he can find some other girl."

"Jack! He doesn't want another girl. You know Amber. She's been here several times. They're perfect for each other."

"How do you know? Has Steve been talking to you about girls?" Jack raised his voice a little as he got a little defensive when it came to dating advice for his sons. It didn't sit well with him that his youngest boy would confide in his mother instead of him.

"No, he hasn't been talking to me, not in any depth anyway, but I can read the signs well enough."

"Oh, I can read signs. There's stop signs, yield signs, speed limit signs,…."

Sue playfully slapped his arm again and laughed. "Men!" she said.

"Love you," Jack said. It was his gentle way of saying that he'd had enough of the conversation.

"Love you," Sue responded. She decided to continue putting off the unveiling of Stephanie. Her loving husband sounded like he needed more time to get used to the idea of having a daughter.

~o~O~o~

Just over two miles away on a large acre lot that abutted a wilderness park, an uncommon family spent much of their time behind a veil of magical camouflage in a modest two-story split-level house. Painting the house to blend in with the trees and shrubs helped but strong magic handled most of the work. If someone wandered too close or was acquainted with the family that lived there, they'd suspect that a house would have to exist nearby, but the magic confused or distracted them just enough to make them forget all about the house. Witches needed all the protection they could get. People of the modern world could be just as cruel as those who instigated the Salem witch trials.

Amber sat in her father's soft black leather recliner, close to her mother who sat on a spotless white sofa. The television was on but Amber muted the sound. She wanted to have a serious discussion with her mother.

"Why can't I go to school with Max and Sarah?"

"Amber… you know why. Your brother and sister can wield magic and you can't. We've discussed this at least a dozen times."

"Maybe half a dozen," the girl muttered, a pout forming on her pretty face. She knew the reason that her mother always gave her. And with her uncanny ability to know when someone is lying, she knew it was the truth. But she also knew deep down that it wasn't the whole truth. That's why she never gave up. Someday, she'd get the full story.

"Even if your father and I wanted you to go — which we do — you can't pass the entrance exam, not without magic. You can't practice magic so you can't really learn it, and half of the required classes deal directly with the use of magic. I'm sorry, Amber."

"What about potions? You don't need magic for those, do you?"

"Yes. All magic items require an enchantment on one or more of the ingredients. Please, Daughter. Drop the subject." A tear rolled down her cheek. "You're breaking my heart."

"Oh, Momma. I'm sorry." The girl rushed to her mother's side and hugged her. She didn't want to cause her parents any emotional pain, but it always seemed to end up that way whenever she brought up the subject of her education. It just served to reinforce the feeling that something was being hidden from her.

"You have to go to school and that only leaves having to learn with mundanes."

Amber's lower lip trembled.

"Oh, Daughter. I don't think of you as a mundane. I never have. But you can't go to the Academy and I can't home school you. I have too many responsibilities, as does your father. I'm so sorry."

The girl looked deep into her mother's eyes and saw the love and at least some truth there. She would've smiled at that moment, except in addition to the pleasant view, she saw shadows of guilt and dread looming in the background. Her mother definitely hid something from her and she vowed to find out what it was.

~o~O~o~

The packed lunchroom buzzed with clattering tableware and boisterous voices. Friends huddled close together so they could hear each other speak. Steve looked around for a friendly table and made his way over when he spotted a couple friends that he'd been neglecting lately in favor of Amber. He came up behind one friend, Greg, and had to suppress the urge to give him a makeover. Greg's barber styled haircut, loud, short-sleeved dress shirt and tattered brown corduroy pants with canvas high-topped basketball shoes screamed geek. His second friend dressed quite a bit more normally at least, with colors that mostly matched and nice, if inexpensive, Levi jeans.

Steve sighed and compared his own school clothes. He did often wear hoodies but they displayed clever and interesting designs and they were always perfectly color coordinated with the rest of his outfit. On colder days, he might consider moleskin jeans but on that day, he wore black designer jeans with black Mephisto walking shoes. The shoes were by far the most expensive thing he wore that day but they were worth the money.

He briefly wondered what kind of outfit his clothes would become if he changed into a girl at that moment. His male outfit yesterday was nicer than he'd worn during any of his previous changes and it became a very feminine top and skirt. He almost froze to death on the walk home but he couldn't help appreciating the nicer clothes when he hung them in his closet.

He'd consider helping the boys dress better if he could get away with it, but he knew better. They wouldn't understand. Luckily, the urge to help them passed. He slowly shook his head and carefully sat on the bench next to his friend.

"Hey Greg," Steve said.

"Wow! Look at this, Dan," Greg said, smiling. "Steve really is still alive!"

"Yeah, about that. I guess I've been a little preoccupied with Amber lately."

"Preoccupied?" Dan shouted from the other side of Greg.

"He means he was stalking her." Greg tried to joke, but it fell flat. Greg didn't have the greatest of social skills.

"Chasing, lusting after, wooing…," Steve began, only to be interrupted by the two boys.

"Wooing?!" they chorused.

"My mom's word for it, okay? Just shut up. I'm trying to apologize."

"Real men don't apologize, dude," Dan huffed like he was serious but his eyes twinkled. He wasn't quite as bad as Greg when it came to casual conversation.

"Ha ha, Dan. Call it what you will, but I really like Amber. I thought she really liked me too, but after yesterday, I'm not so sure."

The two boys exchanged looks.

"Yeah, we heard," Dan said.

"Couldn't miss it, you mean," Greg added. "I think they heard Amber in the next state."

Steve turned away to hide his blushing and took his time, gathering his thoughts. As he stared into space, he started seeing a riot of colors mixing over the heads of his schoolmates. The auras returned with a vengeance, after being fairly dim and easy to ignore up to that point.

The curious boy looked around the lunchroom, seeing mostly red and orange among the boys and mostly yellow among the girls, just like the boy and girl he saw on the way home from school yesterday. As he continued scanning the room, his eyes fell upon Amber. Her aura glowed a light blue color, just like he imagined, until she suddenly got a funny look on her face and looked back in his direction. When she saw him, her eyes sparkled and her aura flashed a bright, clear pink, the color of love.

'What the f…," Steve thought.

Amber quickly looked away and Steve watched, fascinated by a storm of flashing purples and reds that swirled around the girl's head. He figured she must have felt his eyes on her because she suddenly jumped up and raced from the room, just as she'd done yesterday.

"Earth to Steve!" Dan's voice suddenly registered.

"What is it?" Steve turned to look at the two amused faces of his friends.

"Did you two have a moment there?" Dan asked. Both boys noticed who Steve was looking at.

"Pretty cool if you did," Greg piped up. "No words required. Dude, can you teach me that?"

"I think I need to go," Steve said quietly, leaving his lunch bag on the table.

"Can I have your lunch?" Greg asked.

Steve waved a hand towards his lunch bag as he turned to leave and both of his friend tore into the bag, looking for goodies. The carrots and celery didn't impress them but the small bar of organic dark chocolate made up for the vegetables. They split the chocolate bar between them and forgot all about their friend's odd behavior.

~o~O~o~

Steve drifted through most of the rest of the day, trying not to think about Amber and her aura, trying and failing. He managed to focus in his literature class but that was only because his friend wasn't in the class and the whole class period was devoted to reading their chosen books for book reports.

The current scene in his chosen romance novel featured a woman, Janey, trying to get the attention of a man named Will who seemed perfect for her but was completely oblivious to her flirting. What Janey didn't know was that Will knew she was interested in him. He was interested in her too. He just couldn't get up the nerve to flirt back. Shyness plagued him most of his life and threatened to leave him with a life totally devoid of any deep, meaningful relationships with women.

The frustrated teen could totally relate with the woman in the story, and he mentally shouted at the man to get together with her. He also took careful note of everything the woman tried to get the man's attention. He evaluated each and every technique to see if they might work on Amber.

Dressing well didn't work for either him or Janey, though he kept dressing well once he started. He found himself drawn to nicer clothes. The style of clothing he used to wear when he changed remained fairly similar, and with a closet full of casual girl outfits, the idea of changing sex while wearing nicer clothes appealed to him. He developed an appreciation for nicer clothes in more vibrant colors, and that included girls clothes — probably girls clothes more than boys if he was honest with himself.

Smiling more to get Amber's attention seemed promising at first. It didn't last though. Smiling so much either desensitized her or made her wonder if he was up to something — probably both. Janey had the same results so he shouldn't have put so much hope into it. He shouldn't try so hard. That's what Janey concluded after all of her attempts. Love either happens or it doesn't. It can't be forced.

Steve sighed and vowed to try a variation of Janey's latest failed method. She sent her love interest a greeting card, something that had to fail. Most men don't appreciate pretty covers and long, sentimental verses like Janey used. She should've just given the guy a short, hand-written note. But Steve didn't have the same problem. He wanted to try a nice card and add a short note, asking her why they can't date and see what happens. It couldn't hurt to try.

He turned his tablet off and set it on his desk, sighing again. Who was he kidding? A note would hurt because he knew what her answer would be. There was something odd about Amber. What was he missing? And why was he looking for answers in a romance novel? He shook his head and tried not to cry.

~o~O~o~

Mid afternoon sunshine filtered through dead leaves that still clung to branches of a long line of oak trees. The trees had been planted a couple hundred years ago along the narrow road that passed by the Hamblin home, providing welcome shade in the heat of summer but not doing much to help during the colder months. The stiff leaves rattled as a strong gust of wind hit them and Steve crossed his arms to try to ward off the chill.

'Screw this,' he thought. 'Tomorrow I'm not forgetting to wear a heavy coat, a very nice but heavy coat. I need to get one first though. I'll have to go shopping tonight.'

The cold air momentarily allowed him a reprieve from Amber. His thoughts roamed ahead of him in time. He imagined walking through the warm shopping mall with all the nice department stores and tried to decide which one he'd like to hit first. He didn't even notice when he ended up on the porch of his house until he found himself blocked by a closed door. He shook his head as he pulled out his house key to let himself in.

After a small snack of some carrot sticks, the preoccupied teen ended up in his bedroom, sorting through some music choices that he'd recently downloaded to his computer. He hoped to lose himself in music and forget all about Amber for a while.

Since he'd started listening to the classic rock station on the radio, he found a lot of older bands that he liked. One band that really caught his attention was Pink Floyd. They had a unique sound that caught his ear, and all the members were male. He wouldn't have to worry about female backup singers.

The first album he chose to listen to that afternoon, Dark Side of the Moon, had actually been recommended by his friend, Dan. Dan liked a lot of the same older bands that Steve did, one of the many things they had in common, and the great majority of the bands they both liked had male vocalists. Steve really appreciated that fact.

Dan made a good friend, appearing fairly normal in spite of having a strange mother who was into astrology and Wicca. But really, she was cool, and she never forced her beliefs on Dan or anyone else. If only she didn't burn so much incense. Steve hated visiting their house. He had a strong sense of smell and hated incense so he usually avoided Dan's house and listened to music in his room. It was safer that way.

The lovesick teen shook his head and started playing the music, falling in love with the album after only the second song. He laid back on his bed and let the soothing sounds wash over him, helping him to forget all about his problems.

After a song called "Time" finished, Steve remembered that he'd heard parts of it before as bumper music for a late night radio show. The strong bass chords had caused a thin, glass vase on his dresser to vibrate, reminding him of some of the strange topics on the radio show that played on the weekends. They covered many fringe ideas from aliens and UFOs to telekinesis and levitation. The distracted boy imagined being responsible for the vibrating vase by using telekinesis, and while he had his fun, he missed the beginning of the next song.

The Great Gig in the Sky seemed interesting for a title for a song, but the vocals were even more interesting. Mellow piano started the song and Steve barely noticed. Nearly a minute later, a man briefly spoke and very soon after that, a woman began wailing to the melody. There were no lyrics. She just inserted herself into the song like another instrument. It was unlike anything the boy had ever heard before and he found himself transfixed. After hearing the melody repeat, his lips and voice tried to match the wailing woman and a familiar tingling began.

The song ended and the next one called Money began. The words to that song reminded him of his plans to go shopping that evening. But he just called off those plans because he wouldn't be able to fit well in any boys coats. Instead, he kept very still, trying to ignore his curves and the call of his relatively new floor-length mirror on the back of his door, urging him to look at his reflection and see his new outfit.

"Dang," he said in a clear soprano voice.

~o~O~o~

The next day started out well enough. Steve made it through school and made it home without hearing a single note of music. Amber ignored him and he ignored her back, allowing him to focus on lectures and actually learn something. All he had to do was resist the temptation to play any music before dinner and he'd be at the mall in no time. He was determined to get a new coat.

The family quietly dined on meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans for a ridiculously long time of forty five minutes or so, and before his father could even think about loosening his belt and belching, Steve called his mother into the kitchen and begged her to let him drive her car to the mall — he knew better than to ask to drive his father's beloved car. The teen quietly but forcefully explained that he needed a nice winter coat to keep from freezing on his walks to and from school — and to keep from looking drab as well.

Sue smiled at her earnest son and nodded. "Sure, I'll let you. But I'd like a favor in return."

Steve gulped and gave her a half smile. "You want a mother-daughter outing. Right?"

"Mmm hmm," she nodded.

"Fine. When and where?" he asked, looking down at his feet.

"Oh… some future date at a place to be determined."

"Mom!" he looked up, horrified. "Please not the mall. Anything but that."

Sue frowned. "Oh, poo. You like shopping. But fine then, never mind. I understand. Let me get my car keys and you can go."

"Thanks, Mom," he said quietly.

She waved him off and Steve soon sat behind the wheel of his mother's dark blue sedan, heading towards the mall. He purposely left his tired old coat at home and hummed as he drove, enjoying the anticipation of replacing the coat. He couldn't understand how he could've ever liked such a ratty old thing.

~o~O~o~

Steve gave up trying to decide which store to hit first. Instead, he let his intuition guide him to the perfect parking stall close to the mall and hurried inside. As soon as the warm air hit his nostrils, he took in the scent of soft pretzels and the perfume of a nearby girl. They didn't really go together well but it didn't matter. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and sighed. It felt like home.

The half-filled hallways didn't slow him down at all. He strode towards Macy's, sensing a sure score of a long, double-breasted wool coat. Nothing would would stop him from his goal and nothing did, but unlike most men, he didn't stop after finding the perfect black coat. He browsed through the dress shirts, slacks and a couple racks of blazers, silently scoffing at the limited variety before drifting towards the women's clothing. He had to force himself to go past the shoe section and then he stopped to look at some cute purses that caught his eyes. He had yet to collect any large purses from any of his changes and he felt a strange compulsion to buy one.

Though he enjoyed it, the browsing didn't go well for very long. The strong feeling of being watched interrupted his fun. He looked up from a red leather hobo bag into the eyes of a blonde girl about his age and her eyes disapproved of his actions on so many levels.

'What am I doing?!' he thought as he turned and quickly hurried out of the store. 'I'm not a girl. I'm not!'

The flustered teen took his new coat out the shopping bag and put it on in preparation for going outside into the cold, but before he left, he ended up leaning back against the wall near the opening of a trendy clothing store. He took some deep, slow breaths to calm himself and cocked his head. He heard music coming from inside the store.

'That's right. A lot of small popular clothing shops play music. Damn!'

He left his ear plugs at home, thinking that he'd only hit a couple of large department stores. They never played music. Only the smaller stores where zillions of teens flocked to played the music, and he found himself outside one of those stores.

The music wasn't very loud in the hall but it should have warned him away. He should have paid more attention to where he stopped. He was safe enough for the moment. The store currently played a song with a male vocalist. His luck didn't hold though. A song started and just as he pushed off from the wall to walk away, he recognized the song. He bought the sheet music for it only a couple months ago and learned the melody. He loved that song!

Of course he couldn't leave. He had to hear it played as it was meant to be played — with a female vocalist. The intro ended and the beautiful breathy voice of Angela McCluskey began, pulling him back towards the store. He gently fell back against the wall and mouthed the words of the first verse until it got to the last two lines of the verse. He quietly sang those lines out loud.

Feeling A Change
In The Air

The tingling hit hard but he didn't care. The magic would protect him from being discovered. No one would notice him change.

'Bring it on!' he thought. He actually wanted it. He wanted to shop as a girl!

He closed his eyes and the tingling continued as he muttered his way through the chorus. The hairs on the back of his neck shortened and became finer and blonde as they stood on end.

To Look The Other Way
To Get What You Want
Throw Out Your Troubles
Find Your Song
Cause There's A Change
Change In The Air

The tingling stopped but Stephanie continued to quietly sing. She loved the song and actually hearing it for the first time was a magical experience. It gave her the excuse to do something that she'd wanted to do for a long time — the excuse to shop as a girl. Her inner male bristled at the thought but Steph wouldn't be denied.

The song ended. She took a single deep breath and opened her eyes before flipping her hair out away from the fur-trimmed hood of her new feminine coat with her left hand. She thought about how little money she had and debated whether to continue shopping for about three seconds. Then she pulled out her father's emergency credit card and quickly took her coat off, stuffing it back into the Macy's shopping bag before she walked into the small clothing store with the wonderful music.

~o~O~o~

Steph sat in the car in the driveway of her home, staring at the garage door through the windshield. She sighed and called her mother on her cell phone.

"Hi Mom."

"Steph?"

"Yeah, it's me. I'll tell you all about it in my bedroom. But first I need you to distract Dad, please."

"Right. I'll meet you in your room in five minutes. I can't wait to hear about this."

Mother and part-time daughter met up in the bedroom — with the door closed and locked — and had a very nice talk about earlier events. Sue felt disappointed but happy too. She liked that her son was at least giving his girl self a chance, and she loved helping whenever she could. If necessary, she would explain away the credit card purchases as gifts for relatives, which was true enough. Jack would understand. The total didn't run too high — only a few hundred dollars.

"A few hundred dollars?!" Sue gasped.

Stephanie shushed her and explained that she wanted to have a good and proper shopping experience as a girl. It wouldn't happen again.

"Right. Won't happen again," Sue said with a knowing look.

Stephanie noticed and rolled her eyes.

"Well, then," Sue began. "What all did you get?"

The two of them went through a half dozen shopping bags, most of which had several items in them. Stephanie modeled her nice new cobalt-colored wool coat first. The belted coat with a fur-trimmed hood looked good on her and Sue approved.

"You've got good taste, Daughter."

Stephanie responded by sticking out her tongue and Sue laughed.

After a short fashion show, they eventually got to the last shopping bag and Sue shrieked with joy. "Makeup?! You got makeup?!"

"Mom! Please!" Steph hissed. "Remember you-know-who?"

The two stood and held their breath, waiting to see if Jack heard. He did. He just happened to be passing by on the way to bed. He rapped lightly on the door and called out, "Everything okay in there?"

"Yes!" mother and daughter both shouted.

Jack looked a little confused but shrugged it off and continued on to bed. The two females of the house let out a sigh of relief.

"Mom?" Steph sat down hard on the edge of the bed and patted the bed next to her. Sue joined her on the bed.

"Yes, Sweetie?"

"I'm a little scared. I think… I think I might be starting to like this." She gestured to herself, her clothes and body.

"Oh, Honey. It's okay. It's understandable. Shopping is so addictive." Sue smiled.

"I'm serious, Mom. I know you like the idea of having a daughter but try to look at this from my point of view. I'm not saying this is true, but even if I wanted to stay a girl, assuming that it's possible, how could we explain my sudden, complete sex change?"

Sue paused to think. Her daughter had a point. People didn't magically change sex in today's world.

"I've been changing a lot lately, and it hasn't all been exactly accidental."

Sue raised an eyebrow. "How long does it take you to change back now?"

"Last time it took me a little less than five hours."

"Wow," was all Sue could think to say.

"I'm so scared." Stephanie sniffled and tried to fight back the tears that rolled down her cheeks.

Sue twisted around and hugged her, whispering in her ear. "We'll get through this, Baby. I won't let anything happen to you. Don't worry."

~o~O~o~

Steve fell asleep as a girl that night. As Steph, she dressed in her lavender sleep shirt, the article of clothing that she got the first time she changed. It still fit well enough, and when he woke up the next morning, he didn't mind it so much. His panties were a different matter though. He shimmied out of them while lying in bed and threw them into the farthest corner of his room.

'I'm not giving up yet. I can't,' he told himself. He renewed his vow to find whoever was responsible for his sex changes and get them to undo the curse.

Several of last night's purchases still hung about on the back of his desk chair and on door knobs. The rest were either neatly folded or hung in the closet — except for the makeup. That was kept in a small makeup bag in his top dresser drawer.

The makeup didn't bother him too much, being such a small amount and being out of sight. The makeup only consisted of mascara and a couple different shades of lipstick. Stephanie contented herself with starting small.

Steve shuddered when he thought of the makeup lesson that he got last night though. "Boys don't wear makeup," he muttered, and that much remained true, thanks to his mother's eye makeup remover. The lipstick wiped off easily enough but the one brand of waterproof mascara stubbornly clung to Steph's eyelashes. It took two tries to get normal looking lashes again.

"Normal," he huffed. "What is normal? I don't know anymore."

The teen got himself ready for his last day of school for the week. He got dressed, had breakfast and swore as he left the house. He still didn't have a nice warm coat to wear to school.

"If at first you don't succeed," he said with a brief grimace as he fumbled with the key to lock the front door. He had his back to the porch and flinched as someone behind him finished the thought.

"Try, try again," a feminine voice said. It was Amber.

Steve's heart thumped like a large, happy puppy's tail hitting a wooden chair leg. He swore that the sound could be heard for miles. He gulped and turned, flashing his friend a tentative smile.

She smiled back. "Ready to walk me to school? You and I need to talk."

He just nodded, and like a puppy, followed closely behind his friend until they got to the sidewalk, where they could easily walk next to each other.

"I'm sorry about yelling at you in the lunch room," Amber told him.

"It's okay," he said. "But I wasn't really asking you out on a date. I just wanted to see a movie with you."

"Steve… don't start."

"I'm not lying!"

Amber raised an eyebrow.

"Okay! Okay! I'm not exactly lying. I'm just telling a half truth. No, it wasn't an official date, but yes, I was hoping to try to see if I could turn it into one. Happy?"

"Not really, no. But I'm satisfied that you're being truthful."

Steve gave her a wry grin. "What about you?" he asked.

"What about me?"

"Why can't we date? Is it against your religion or something?"

Amber laughed. "No," she said. "It's not against my religion. I…," her voice got very quiet, "I only like girls. Sorry."

"What?! Really?!"

She nodded. "I thought you knew… or maybe I was just hoping you did. I guess I should've told you earlier. I wasn't exactly happy once I figured it out for myself. I… I want to like you as more than a friend."

"I know," slipped out of his mouth.

"You know?! How could you?!" She glared at him.

He wanted to tell her about seeing her pink aura a couple of days ago, but he wasn't sure how to explain it. And he was afraid she wouldn't believe it. He still wasn't sure he believed it himself.

"That look you gave me… across the lunchroom. I saw… love." Again, he told a half truth, or maybe it more like three quarters. It was enough to satisfy Amber at least.

She sniffled and walked a little faster. She hated putting him in the friend zone but she couldn't see him as anything but a friend.

"It's your fault, you know," she said suddenly.

"My fault? What the hell?" he said, matching her faster pace.

"Don't take this the wrong way but you've been acting a little strangely lately, for a boy that is."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean." She held out a hand and stopped with him, turning to face him. "You've been acting a lot more like a girl. I thought you might be trying to be more feminine for me. That's one of the reasons why I didn't say anything about liking girls."

"Until now," he corrected.

"Until now," she agreed.

Steve paused to think about what Amber said. She was right. He was effeminate for a boy, but he had a good reason for it. He wasn't going to tell Amber though, at least not yet. She wouldn't believe him without proof and he didn't feel like missing school again.

'That's not exactly true though,' he thought. 'Damn. Now I'm telling myself half truths.'

Amber liked girls so she'd probably love him as Stephanie, and she might never let Stephanie go! He couldn't take that chance. He couldn't be a girl, not full time. And he still had to find the person who cursed him. Didn't he? Suddenly, he wasn't sure it mattered so much any more. Amber liked girls, and he could transform into the girl of Amber's dreams. He just had to get himself to embrace his inner girl and hope that Amber didn't freak out about the magic. Easier said than done.

"Steve?" Amber said, snapping him out of his tortured inner debate.

He couldn't bring himself to tell all so he put her off with another three-quarter truth. "I guess it doesn't matter how girlish I act. It's my body that's stopping you."

"Pretty much," she said, turning to resume the walk to school with Steve lagging behind, deep in thought.

~o~O~o~

Steve and Amber didn't avoid each other the rest of the day. They just made an unspoken agreement to linger together and try to take some comfort in being close without speaking. They didn't need words. They had body language.

Steve actually liked keeping his mouth shut for a change. It kept him from accidentally saying too much as he was likely to do. The challenge of non-verbal communication kept him on his toes and satisfied his inner girl at the same time.

A raised eyebrow here. A smirk and sideways glance there. The whole, long exchange at lunch reeked of flirting. The two teens sat together once again and ate their lunches in companionable silence.

Amber liked it too. He could tell. Her eyes told him. So did her aura. The pink color surrounding his friend was unmistakeable. If only he could tell her. But if he did, he'd have to go into how he could suddenly see auras, and that led him back to his deep, dark secret, the one he only willingly shared with his mother.

He decided then and there to discuss the matter with his mother. He'd invite her to go shopping with him for a coat in the men's section of Macy's — or maybe Nordstrom. And he might even change into Stephanie after he got a coat. His mother would like that.

~o~O~o~

Later that day, in his Physical Education class, Steve sat on the wooden bench in front of his locker and blushed. For the first time in his life, he felt funny changing in the boy's locker room.

'Where the hell did that come from?' he wondered.

Dan sat next to him and noticed something was off about his friend. He playfully slapped Steve on the back of his head.

"Ow! Watch it, Dan!"

"Oh, come on. I barely touched you! Don't be such a girl."

Steve gasped. 'No. No way. He couldn't know. Just a coincidence. Moving on. Getting dressed now.'

"What's your problem?" Dan asked as he watched his friend look like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

"Nothing," Steve yelped, then calmed himself. "Nothing at all," he said forcefully. His inner boy was back in control. He was a boy, damn it. And he belonged in the boy's locker room.

"Yeah," Dan said. "Sure. Whatever."

The two boys sat and finished dressing in silence. But after they'd finished and got up to go into the gym, Dan stopped his friend.

"How come you never come over any more?"

"Your mom's incense, remember? I can't breathe with that crap burning."

"Oh. Right. You told me before. It's just as well I guess."

"What do you mean?" Steve asked, frowning.

"My mom thinks you're gay."

Steve gasped.

"Hey. It's not like she's against gays. I just don't want her to think I'm gay. I'm afraid she might give a love potion to the wrong person."

Dan laughed to show he was joking and turned to run out into the gymnasium, but Steve didn't share his friend's amusement.

Steve paused to wonder if he might have a second suspect for his musical curse, the first being his own mother. He still hadn't taken his mother off the list, not considering how much she loved having a daughter.

The suspicious boy shook his head and followed Dan to start warming up for his class. They were playing volleyball. He loved volleyball.

~o~O~o~

Right after school, Steve sent Amber home with a sideways glance at Dan. She nodded acknowledgment and went on her merry way. She might have been humming but Steve didn't notice for once. He had a mission, and he went over the details in his mind as he walked with Dan.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? Dan asked him after they'd walked a couple blocks.

"Hey. It's Friday. We don't have to do any homework. It's a good time to relax, unwind and have a little fun."

"You know what I mean," Dan grumbled. "My mom?"

"What about her? I'll set her straight. I'll tell her about Amber and she'll leave you alone. Okay?"

"Yeah. Sure. If you say so." Dan hunched his shoulders and kept a close eye on the ground directly in front of him as he walked.

Steve appraised his friend's tone of voice and body language. He saw some skepticism and suspicion, which wasn't too surprising given that he invited himself over to Dan's house at the last minute. But it was Dan's fault. His friend did mention that he hadn't visited for a long time. Going over to Dan's house might give Steve a good opportunity to do a little detective work.

"Hey. I forgot to tell you. I listened to the Dark Side of the Moon album a couple days ago. Pretty cool."

Dan looked up and nodded. "Yeah. I thought you'd like it."

"The Great Gig in the Sky was pretty awesome. I've never heard anything like it."

"Which one is that again?"

Steve lightly punched his friend in the arm and teased him about not being obsessive enough about his music. They fell into a long, involved discussion about bands and the passage of time went unnoticed until they arrived at Dan's house.

~o~O~o~

The two teens made a first stop in the kitchen, looking for snacks, and it wasn't long before Dan's mother made an appearance.

"Hey Mrs. Griffin."

"Hello Steve."

The woman looked like an ordinary housewife, dressed in loose black slacks and a short-sleeved knit top with a random mix of various shades of gray. She didn't wear an apron but Steve noticed that her fingernails were trimmed short, as was her slightly messy ash brown hair, and she wore minimal makeup. Considering all of the freckles across the bridge of her nose, he felt sure that she wasn't wearing any foundation.

She noticed him giving her a good look and gave him a funny look back, so he decided to just dive right in and get it all over with. "Do you know Amber Jones?" he asked her.

Her growing smirk quickly changed to a look of confusion. Steve liked that. Keeping her off balance could help get her to give something away, assuming she had something to hide.

"If you don't, that's okay. I'm just trying to figure out where she lives. I've known her since elementary school. We're very good friends but she's never invited me over to her house. She's been to my house several times yet I have no idea where she lives."

Dan rolled his eyes. Steve noticed and still continued. "I guess I should say that I've been trying to date her but she's playing hard to get."

"Really?" Mrs. Griffin said, smiling.

Steve gave her a wide-eyed innocent look while Dan interrupted to answer his mother. "She certainly is." Then he turned to his friend. "I thought you'd given up on her after she yelled at you in the lunch room?"

Steve sighed. "I can't give up on her."

"I see," Mrs. Griffin said. "Sorry, but if you're looking for a love potion, I can't help you. I don't do love potions."

"I'm not looking for a potion," Steve told her. "I just want to know where she lives. I thought about trying to serenade her or something."

"Dude," Dan said. "You've got it bad."

"Yeah, I do."

Dan's mother looked thoughtful and decided that she'd misjudged her son's friend. "I'm sorry but I can't help you with Amber's address either. I have no idea where she lives. I've seen her parents at parent-teacher meetings but never talked with them. They seemed a bit… different."

"Different?" Steve asked.

"I'm not sure how to put it. They had this aura about them that kept everyone at a distance. I don't know how to explain it."

Steve found that to be very suspicious. It sounded almost like magic to him. But then he keyed in on a particular word that Dan's mother mentioned. "Aura? Can you see auras?"

"See them? I was speaking figuratively. I've heard of some people seeing auras but I never have."

"Oh," Steve said, obviously disappointed.

"Wait… do you see auras?" she asked.

"Yeah, I do."

"Dude!" Dan shouted. "Are you serious?"

"Very," Steve said. "You're glowing mostly yellow at the moment and your mom's aura is a murky green."

Mrs. Griffin sat down hard on a tall wooden stool, looking quite surprised and impressed, maybe even a little envious.

"I dabble in the magic arts a little but I haven't been serious about it," she said, mostly to herself. "I never really believed everything I've read."

"Wait," Steve butted in. "Are you saying magic isn't real?"

"Oh, I think it's real enough," she said. "There's so much we don't know about the universe. I'm sure there's room for at least a little magic."

"Hey," Steve said, ready to cross Dan's mother off his short list of suspects. "Thanks for the chat but Dan and I want to chill out and listen to some music. Right, Dan?"

"Yeah. Sure." Dan gave his friend a puzzled look and grabbed a bag of potato chips off the kitchen counter on his way out.

Steve found some carrot sticks to nibble and followed his friend after giving a little finger wave to Dan's mother.

"What a curious young man," Mrs. Griffin said to herself once the boys left the room.

~o~O~o~

The two boys bonded with some classic hard rock in Dan's bedroom for a couple hours while Steve carefully made sure there were no female vocalists — it wasn't that difficult. And after a nice, incense-free visit, Steve walked home for dinner.

He thought about Mrs. Griffin and though he couldn't bring himself to cross her off his list of suspects — just in case she happened to be a good actress or something — his intuition put her in the very low probability category.

'Then who?' he wondered. 'Who else could it be? And how do I find them?'

After some reflection, Amber's parents sounded interesting. A sudden flash of inspiration whispered to him that they had motive. He felt sure that Amber had mentioned him to them. He could see her confiding in at least one family member that she wished he was a girl so she'd be attracted to him, or her actually. It made sense, in a completely irrational way. If they could use magic, they might consider cursing him to become a girl for their daughter — not the most ethical use of magic but some parents had trouble saying no to their children.

'I have got to find out where she lives,' he thought. He really didn't know where she lived, strange as that sounded. Maybe they had something to hide. The more he thought about it, the more likely it sounded. He couldn't blame Amber. He felt certain that she was totally oblivious to his sex changes. But he knew next to nothing about her parents. They suddenly became his top suspects.

~o~O~o~

Playlist for Part 2

3. Somebody to Love by Jefferson Airplane
4. The Great Gig in the Sky by Pink Floyd (no lyrics)
5. In the Air by Morgan Page

~o~O~o~

 © 2012 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.

In this magical romantic mystery, a teenage boy wakes up one morning to find himself afflicted with a strange musical curse. The boy tries to find the source of the curse to end it but finding magic in today's world isn't easy, especially when love is involved.

NOTE: Comments have been disabled but kudos and private messages are welcome.

This is a complete story of four parts and I'll post one part every Sunday.

Music Magic
by Terry Volkirch

Emotional Arpeggio in B Major

"Come on, Mom," Steve whined from the open front door of his house. The clock read one o'clock in the afternoon but time flowed at a different rate for the anxious teen. "I want to get there before the stores all close."

Sue smiled at her son as she put on her coat in the entry way, loving how they both shared a love of shopping. 'If only,' she thought.

They both climbed into Sue's car and as she drove them to the mall, Steve worked up the nerve to bring up a difficult subject. "I'm thinking of telling Amber about… Steph."

Sue turned briefly to look at him. "Really? Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"No. That's why I'm talking to you about it."

His mother didn't say anything.

"I found out that she's only attracted to girls. She wants to be my girlfriend but she can't."

"Damn," Sue said, so quietly that Steve couldn't hear it.

"I'm really torn, Mom. If I'm Stephanie, Amber and I can be together. But I can't be a girl!" A tear rolled down Steve's cheek.

His mother noticed him acting more and more like a girl and it broke her heart to see him in such emotional pain. Still, she felt she had to push him to do what she thought best. "Can't or won't?" she asked.

"I'm a boy, Mom. I was born a boy!"

"Oh, Honey. You've never been very masculine. I'm sorry but you're nothing like your brother."

Steve turned away and pouted as he looked out the passenger side window.

"It's true, Steve. But you're right to be a little apprehensive. We still don't know how we could explain a sudden sex change, and we still don't know if it's ever going to become permanent."

Steve sniffed and dried his tears with his sleeve.

"Come on, Steve. Don't cry. We're going shopping!" She tried a little humor but her son wouldn't let himself be amused, and he continued to sit in silence, hoping she could find the right words to help ease the pain.

"Okay. Okay. Let's see if I can come up with something." She remained silent and thought long and hard about the problem for the rest of the drive and well into their shopping excursion.

~o~O~o~

After forty five minutes of aimless wandering, Steve and his mother ended up at Nordstrom. He found the perfect coat — even better than the one he got at Macy's — but he still wasn't happy. Neither one of them had been enjoying themselves. The problem of what to do about Amber still loomed over them. It wasn't until they were out of the store that Sue finally decided on a good strategy. She pulled her son over to a bench and both of them sat down to have a discussion.

Steve added a few more interesting pieces of information that both intrigued and frustrated Sue. Not knowing where Amber lived seemed odd, as did Mrs. Griffin's observation about Amber's parents having some sort of aura that repelled people.

"Something's not right about Amber and her family," Sue began. "It really does sound possible that they could be some sort of witches. But we still don't know for sure so I say you should test the waters."

Steve gave his mother an inquiring look.

"You mentioned being able to see auras. Bring up the general subject of auras with Amber and watch carefully how she reacts. Don't tell her that you can see them right away like you did with Dan and his mother. Be patient. See if she tries to change the subject or looks uncomfortable."

"Right. I get it," Steve said. "I'll talk about it with her at lunch on Monday and then tell her that I can actually see auras after school."

"I don't think you have to wait that long but it would be best if you're alone when you tell her. It's not likely she'll confess anything with others around."

Steve nodded again. "Test the waters. I like it. I should've thought of that myself. I did it with Dan's mom, though it wasn't planned. I guess I've been too emotional to think straight when it comes to Amber."

"Maybe it's that time of the month," Sue joked.

"Mom!"

She chuckled. "Sorry. Couldn't resist."

"It's okay," he said, smiling. "But anyway, your idea is a good start so I think you've earned a little reward."

Sue's eyes went wide. "Really? You're not just saying that?"

"Naw. Let's go to that music store. I've been wanting to check that place out for a long time but they always play music so I've avoided it."

"Are you sure?" his mother said. That's what her voice said anyway. Her eyes were saying, "Oh please oh please oh please!"

"Yes, I'm sure."

His mother wasted no time. She grabbed him by the hand and began half dragging him towards the music store.

~o~O~o~

Shortly before reaching the music store, Steve asserted himself. He managed to pull back and stop his mother so he could talk to her.

"Mom!" he said in a loud whisper. "Slow down! I need you to hold my bag. I don't want my coat to change like last time."

"Oh! Right. Sorry." Sue's eyes gleamed. "I'm anxious to see Steph and her new outfit."

"Hey. Thanks for reminding me. Let me take my Mephistos off and put those in the bag. I don't want to lose another pair."

"Wait a second," Sue said, looking a little sheepish. "I want you to try something. Please. Leave the shoes on."

"Are you nuts?! These shoes are expensive!"

"Your father and I make good money. We can afford another pair so please leave them on. I want you to try something."

"Oh oh."

"Don't 'oh oh' me. I want you to imagine having a pair of Louboutin pumps as you change… to see if you can affect your new clothes."

"Louboutins? No way! They're a lot more expensive than these." He pointed to his shoes with a look of shock.

"Just try it. And while you're at it, imagine wearing some makeup."

"Mom!"

"Come on. Loosen up and try it. Please? For me?"

"Fine then," he huffed. "You might as well bury me. Steve is dead."

"Oh, Honey. Don't be that way. No matter what clothes… or skin you wear. You'll still be you. You'll always be you."

"Hah."

"People change all the time. Experiences change us, shape us. And there are lots of things we have no control over but we always control one thing."

"What's that?" Steve asked with a pout.

"We control how we react. You can let life push you around and beat you down or you can try to find something good about situations that you don't like. At the very least, you can look at bad experiences as life lessons and move on with a smile."

"I guess." He didn't look too sure.

"Just let your inner girl out and have some fun. Who knows? You might even like it. Didn't you like your first shopping trip?"

He blushed and looked down at his shoes. "Yes, but that was just supposed to be a one-time thing."

"But why deny yourself something that you like? If you like something and you have the opportunity, then do it!"

"Okay, Mom." He gave her a faint smile. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Now let's get moving! We only have another…," she looked at her watch, "six and a half hours before the stores close!"

Steve laughed at his mother's enthusiasm, especially since it was contagious. "So many stores…," he began.

"And so little time to clean them all out," his mother finished.

He passed his shopping bag to her and they linked arms, walking the last little way to the music store.

~o~O~o~

The first couple songs playing in the music store had male vocalists, giving Steve a little more time to change his mind. To make sure he didn't chicken out, he busied himself with looking at CDs, shuffling from aisle to aisle in the pop rock section.

Sue hovered nearby the whole time, staring at her son, even though she could tell that it bothered him a little. He did notice but he understood how excited she was and left her alone.

By the time he got two-thirds of the way through the pop rock bands, a song with a female vocalist started playing. Sue gasped and Steve stopped browsing to give the song proper attention.

He had the sheet music to the song. He knew the words and melody but he'd never heard it sung before. The powerful energy of the music would've made him tingle even without his curse. He closed his eyes and let each and every note and tone caress him with its magic.

Remembering his mother's request, he managed to picture himself dressed in a nice skirt and Louboutin heels, and he added makeup, but only because the nice outfit that he imagined cried out for Stephanie to look her absolute best.

He remembered the chorus fairly well and mouthed the words to it the first time through. When the chorus came up a second time, he quietly sang along, knowing that no one would notice, no one except his mother. As he sang, the tingling hit a crescendo and he felt himself rising in height. He was getting new shoes with a much taller heel and it made him smile.

Wake me up
Wake me up inside
I can’t wake up
Wake me up inside
Save me
call my name and save me from the dark
Wake me up
bid my blood to run
I can’t wake up
before I come undone
Save me
save me from the nothing I’ve become

Once again, the song seemed to match his mood and current reality. He felt like a nothing, with a strange secret life that he'd been fighting for so long, and the longer it went on, the more he distanced himself from virtually all of his friends. Only Amber held a special place in his heart but he'd never get anywhere with her unless he became a girl. He was so screwed.

The song ended and Stephanie looked over at her mother, crying tears of happiness. "You look so beautiful, Steph," she said quietly. Then she looked down and actually squealed. "You got them! You got Louboutins!"

The girl looked down and lifted one foot to see the tell-tale glossy red sole. Adding just a splash of red to catch a man's eye was brilliant. Louboutin was a genius, and the cost of his shoes reflected it. Now Stephanie had a pair of her own and she was most pleased. She basically got them for the price of a much less expensive pair of Mephisto shoes. From what she could see, the rest of her outfit looked very nice as well, with a white shell top, blazer, skirt and thick black tights to keep the chill off her legs. She had to fight the urge to run and check herself out in the mirror of the women's restroom.

After breathing deeply a few times, she took a short step, then another, and another. The shoes didn't seem to give her any trouble or slow her down at all. It was almost as if she'd been born with high heels.

"Come along, Mother," she called over her shoulder as she walked out of the music store.

Sue followed, giving her daughter an appreciative look from behind before catching up to her. "I know. I know I shouldn't say this but you look beautiful, Steph." She looked closely at her daughter's face. "You have a little makeup too. Just the perfect amount to go with your nice outfit."

Stephanie blushed and said in a quiet voice, "Thanks, Mom."

~o~O~o~

The two of them had a nice time time together, mostly window shopping but still accumulating two more shopping bags full of clothes and accessories. And the girl surprised her mother, first by picking up a little more makeup and then by getting her ears pierced.

"You realize that the holes might be gone after you change back, right?" Sue asked.

"Yes, but I'm not really worried about that. I'm more worried that I'll still have them. I'll have to keep these studs in my ears to keep the holes from healing shut, and that means I'll have to explain my pierced ears to my friends."

Sue chuckled. "Ever the worrier. You forget that plenty of boys and men have pierced ears these days."

"Not around here," Stephanie muttered.

"Just leave the studs in your ears tonight and let come what may. That's what I say."

"You're so poetic, Mother."

"Well… the rhyming was purely accidental, but I'm happy about it."

They both laughed.

"This really does suit you… Steve," Sue said, suddenly very serious.

"I know. But I'm still scared."

"I know, Sweetie. But I have a good feeling about it. Things will work out. You'll see."

"I hope you're right."

Sue smiled and looked down at their shopping bags. "I'm hungry," she said. "I think we've done enough shopping… for now. Let's go home and start dinner."

"What about Dad?"

"He's out with his buddies tonight… something about college football or something."

"Right. He loves his football."

"I'm just glad he doesn't foist it on us. I'm happy to let him go free for one night a week."

"Me too. I mean about not having to watch it. I'd much rather shop."

Sue smiled again, a smile of love and pride. "Here, Steph," she said, holding out the Nordstrom shopping bag. "You can wear your new coat. We have a long walk in the cold to get to the car."

Stephanie wrinkled her nose with slight displeasure at the thought of wearing a boy's coat. She'd much rather have her new wool coat that she got a couple days ago but she figured she'd cost her parents enough money for the time being — girls could be so expensive! She accepted the shopping bag and pulled out the coat to put it on, purposely not looking at it as she did so.

Sue gasped before her daughter got her second arm in the sleeve and Stephanie turned to look at her mother. "What? What is it, Mom?"

"Look at your coat, Dear," Sue whispered with a look of awe on her face.

Stephanie looked down and gasped. "What the f…."

"Watch your language, Stephanie."

The girl blushed and took the coat off to get a better look at it. She saw a tag that read "faux mink" and smiled. "Fake fur. That's good," she said. "I wouldn't want to wear a real fur coat. This is pretty cool though. I think I like it."

"But I was holding the bag," Sue whined. "How did your coat change?"

Stephanie shrugged. "I guess you were too close to me," she said. "But I'll take it. You have to admit it's a very nice coat."

Sue nodded but had to add. "Except now you still need a men's coat for school."

"What?! Oh… crap."

~o~O~o~

Steve sat and moped on his bed all morning the next day, wanting to get another coat but afraid to go to the mall. The temptation to turn into a girl was too great. It was also far too easy. So many stores played music and even ear plugs couldn't block it well enough for his taste. Even if he could barely hear it — so it wasn't enough to make him change — he'd want to rip out his ear plugs and listen.

He'd been changing into a girl far too often lately and it really did scare him, especially since it currently took him so long to change back. That and the fact that he found himself disappointed and even depressed after turning back. Wanting to be a girl — liking being a girl — was the real reason he moped. It wasn't the lack of having a nice men's coat.

He could add his preference for girl's clothes to the list of things that disturbed him that day. Even some of the nicer male clothing he'd accumulated no longer held his interest. He hated the limited variety and mostly drab colors that he found in men's clothing.

"But I was born a boy," he told himself. "I am a boy. The school, state, whatever all say I'm a boy. I must be a boy!"

He flopped on his back and tears rolled down the side of his face. He cried for several minutes, until he felt an all too familiar call — the call of the closet, more exactly, his female wardrobe.

His girl clothes called him, implored him to wear them, to give himself a fashion show and adore himself in the mirror. But the pronouns were all wrong. He'd have to be Stephanie to even fit in the clothes.

"Stupid clothes," he grumped.

He quickly got up and turned on the radio, this time tuning into a radio station that played modern hits. It only took the first song he heard for his inner girl to get what she wanted. A woman sang and Steve raptly listened. The first verse wasn't exactly relevant but the second verse fit his current state of mind fairly well and the third verse nailed it. He didn't know the words so he couldn't sing along at first. He just listened.

Cause I am here and it eats me up
But I love the way it feels
I really shouldn't stay
But I can't give up
The more it hurts, the more I need

A short form of the chorus played and then two verses repeated. The back of Steve's neck tingled, his torso hummed, and as the song wore on, it homed in on exactly how he felt at that moment. The words of the chorus repeated and he stood next to his bed, singing along in a clear soprano voice.

It's like an addiction
And I just can't break free of the madness
It's like an addiction
Am I the only one with the sadness

I can't let go
I, I, I can't let go
I, I

"That was brilliant," the girl said, pouting. "Now I'm stuck hiding in my room… with lots of new outfits… and makeup to practice with." She slowly smiled. "Just what was I thinking?"

She moved towards her closet, intending to have a private fashion show, and suddenly stopped. "Yes, Steve. Just what were you thinking?"

He didn't think. He reacted… like an addict. The clothes, the makeup, becoming a girl was an addiction, and he had no rehab center to go to for a cure. He had to find the person responsible for his curse, and he had to find them soon.

~o~O~o~

Sue came up in the early afternoon to find her part-time daughter sitting on her bed, wearing turquoise jeans, a black bra and nothing else. She held a bra in her lap with several more bras in a heap next to her.

Stephanie looked up at her mother with a sad face and said, "They don't fit. I had another… growth spurt."

Sue wasn't sure if Stephanie was upset because she'd miss the bras or because she didn't want larger breasts. It didn't matter though. Her daughter needed a hug so she sat down next to her and hugged her.

They both had a good, short cry and then Sue scooted a bit farther away on the bed. "What about your bra from last night?" she asked.

"It pinches and squishes like all the rest." She gestured towards the heap of bras.

"How does that one feel?" Sue asked, looking at the black bra.

"It's a perfect fit of course. Here. Check out the size." Stephanie turned her back to her mother and reached around to pull out the tag.

The tag read "34B" and the cup size was definitely larger than all of the other bras. They were all a size 32B and they fit well when she first got them, though lately they had started to feel a little tight. She wondered if she'd been growing slowly up until her latest change that morning. Maybe she'd been a part-time girl enough to develop a little on her own. And then her body got impatient and had a growth spurt to catch up to where it felt it should be.

Sue looked concerned. "So you've only got one bra? Will that be enough? Would you like to go get some more today?" she asked, her voice tinged with hope.

"Naw. I'm good. I mean, I have enough."

"Are you sure? You look so unhappy."

"I was trying to have a fashion show but it got cut short. I can't wear my black bra under a white blouse. It looks so tacky."

Sue nodded agreement and then quickly shook her head. She barely recognized her son. In his place was the daughter she always wanted, but her daughter's sadness kept her from celebrating. That and the fact that she felt guilty for her enjoyment of having a daughter.

"Come on," Sue said, grabbing Stephanie's hand and pulling her up. "Get dressed because we're going shopping. You like it. I like it, and you should have choices. No daughter of mine is going to be caught wearing a black bra under a white blouse."

"Okay," Stephanie said in a small voice, grabbing a thick turquoise sweater and pulling it over her head. She pulled her long hair out and looked in the mirror to make sure her bra didn't show — it didn't. And as she looked in the mirror, she realized that her breasts weren't the only thing to have a growth spurt. Her hair looked to be a couple inches longer and it made her smile. She decided the longer hair flattered her. Somewhere deep inside was a boy screaming at her to stop but she could barely hear him over the excited pounding of her heart. She really did like the way she looked, and she loved clothes shopping. She couldn't wait to get going.

~o~O~o~

The girl and her mother snuck by Jack easily enough. He found himself glued to the television set watching pro football. Mother and daughter looked at each other and gave each other a look that said, "Ugh. Men."

They both smiled all the way to the car and broke into laughter once they were safely on the way to the mall.

Once the laughter ran its course, the two of them settled into their own thoughts for a good distance before the girl turned to a serious topic.

"Mother?"

"Yes, Steph?"

"Please take it slow. This'll be my first time shopping for lingerie."

"Oh! Okay. Does that mean Victoria's Secret is out?"

"Mother!"

Sue laughed. "Sorry. Your new bra you got this morning looked rather plain. I thought you might want to spice things up."

"Nice try but I don't think I can handle a sexy bra… at least not today." She flashed an impish grin and her mother laughed.

"Oh, my. I think we're having too much fun. But look. We're here! Time to shop."

They pulled into a parking spot fairly close to the entrance and walked briskly into the mall. The weather started to turn clear and cold and neither one of them thought to bring a coat.

Sue stopped to hug and rub her sides once she got inside. "Oh! It's freezing out there!"

"Just about. Maybe we should find a nice jacket as well as some lingerie."

"Because wearing nothing but lingerie under coats is so sexy!" Sue joked.

"Mother!"

"What? Parents have sex too."

Stephanie held her hands over her ears and hurried ahead of her mother. "Too much information! I can't hear you!"

"And we like it!" Sue shouted but her daughter was going "la la la" and didn't hear her.

The two of them were having so much fun they didn't notice a familiar face approaching.

"Hi Mrs. Hamblin," Amber said. "It's nice to see you again. How's Steve? Is he here?"

"Steve?!" Sue squeaked, looking ahead at Stephanie who had turned around and started walking back.

"Yeah. Is he here?"

Sue looked back and forth between Amber and Stephanie, waiting for a collision. It was like a train wreck. She couldn't stop it and she couldn't look away.

"Mrs. Hamblin?"

"Hey Amber," Stephanie said as she walked up next to her friend, forgetting for the moment that she wasn't supposed to know her.

"Do I know you?" Amber asked. "Wait… you look familiar."

"Oh! She… she's my niece, Stephanie. She knows you through Steve. He talks about you… a lot."

Amber blushed and looked away. She didn't see through Sue's lie. She just knew that she felt flattered and embarrassed at the same time, and she was unsure of what to say, giving the part-time girl time to realize the situation.

"Oh!" Stephanie yelped. "Yeah. I'm sure I saw your picture or something. Somewhere." Her voice suddenly got very quiet as she realized how nervous and suspicious she sounded. "Steve really… likes you."

"I'm going to leave you two alone," Sue blurted out. "I need to use the ladies room. I'll be right back." She turned to Stephanie and mouthed the word "auras" while moving her eyes to point to a relatively isolated bench where they could have a semi-private discussion. Then she rushed off.

Stephanie understood her mother's message but she felt tongue-tied. She wasn't supposed to talk to Amber about auras as a girl! She'd be a stranger to her friend and wouldn't get anything out of her.

At the same time, Amber felt uncomfortable. She felt a sudden strong attraction to Stephanie and didn't understand it, other than just finding her attractive. Love had much more to it than physical attraction though. She knew that but she couldn't seem to think straight.

"Let's sit over there on that bench," the part-time girl said.

"Okay."

The two of them slowly made their way over to the bench and sat down, staring straight ahead. Their brains worked furiously to think of something to say but their mouths remained unused for the moment.

"So!" they suddenly chorused after a few awkward minutes, then laughed.

"You first," Stephanie said.

"No, you."

"Well… my… aunt was just saying that Steve talks about you a lot. Maybe too much?"

"Oh? And what does he say?"

"Something about you kind of bugs him."

"Yes?" Amber's eyes had a slightly angry look, making Stephanie cringe a little.

"It bothers him that he doesn't know where you live."

"Oh! That." Amber looked away. "He isn't supposed to notice," she said quietly to herself, but Stephanie heard. Still, she filed it away for the moment. She really wanted to know where her friend lived.

Stephanie waited a short time and spoke up. "Your turn."

"Yeah. My turn. Um… you look a lot like Steve."

Stephanie frowned. She wasn't sure how to take that.

"I mean as a cute, feminine version of Steve," Amber quickly added.

"Thanks. Cousins sometimes look a lot alike, just like siblings… I guess."

"Sure. I can so see a family resemblance." Amber stared a little too long and turned away again, blushing.

Stephanie guessed why her friend blushed and joined her. Both girls looked diagonally away from each other, desperate for something to talk about.

"So?" Steph started. "You gonna tell me where ya live or am I gonna have to mess ya up?" She tried a little humor to loosen things up.

"Sure. 1313 Mockingbird Lane," Amber said with a smirk as the two of them slowly started turning towards each other.

"I've seen the Munsters. Your name isn't Marilyn but you're too cute to be a monster." Stephanie remembered that Marilyn was called the plain one in a family of monsters but was actually considered to be very good looking by most people's standards.

"I am the Marilyn in my family but… wait…. You really think I'm cute?"

"Yeah! I mean… sure." Stephanie blushed again, especially since she saw a brightening glow of pink surrounding her friend. Amber's aura glowed the color of love.

"Did Steve tell you that I find girls attractive?"

"No. He didn't tell me but you just did. So did your aura." 'Oops!' she thought. 'Too soon!'

"What was that about my aura?"

"Can you see auras?" Stephanie asked, deciding to dive right in since she already gave away the fact that she could see them.

"No, but I know they exist. Did you just say that you can see my aura?"

"Yeah. It's glowing a bright pink. I can tell you like me."

Amber smiled. "Interesting. Steve and I would never work out, but something tells me you and I might."

"What?! No. I… can't."

"Can't or won't? Do you like girls or don't you?"

"I do but I can't."

Amber sighed. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm not usually this forward, but my parents always tell me that if you really want something, you should try your best to get it. 'No regrets,' they say."

The mentioning of parents reminded Steph that she still didn't know where her friend lived. She decided to try the same tact that her friend was using on her.

"That's actually very good advice. And that's why I have to ask you again. Where do you live?"

"I'm sorry but I can't tell you that."

"Can't or won't," Steph said with a smirk.

Amber smiled. "Touché," she said. "But I meant what I said. I can't tell you. I'd have to show you and I'm sorry. I don't have time to show you today. I need to get going."

She stood up and when Stephanie followed her lead, she reached for the part-time girl's hand and pulled it up to her mouth, kissing it. "I feel like I already know you," she said. "I hope we can be more than friends. Until we meet again, Stephanie."

Stephanie gave a nervous laugh and blushed.

"You even laugh like Steve. Weird… but cute."

The two girls gave each other a finger wave and Amber walked quickly out of the mall. Stephanie turned around to look for her mother and almost ran into her.

"So? How did it go?" Sue asked, anxious to hear all the details.

Stephanie blushed for the umpteenth time. "A little awkward. I think we'd be kissing in the back of a movie theater by now if she had her way."

"What?! What happened to testing the waters?"

"Oh, I tested them alright. I ran a bath, dipped my toe in and then slipped in for a good, long soak."

Sue just stared.

"Can we shop now? I think I need some retail therapy."

"Sure," her mother said. "But I'll want to hear all about your conversation with Amber before we get home."

"Whatever."

Stephanie sighed and found herself drawn to the same music store she'd visited the day before. She didn't have to worry about turning into a girl so she walked in and resumed browsing where she'd left off in the pop rock section. She tried to focus on the albums but her thoughts kept returning to Amber.

She briefly looked up, noticing that her mother had drifted over to the DVD section, and then listened as a song began playing with a female vocalist. If she'd been anywhere near the store as a boy, she would've changed into her current form for sure. As before, the lyrics fit her life all too well and she couldn't help but listen. When the chorus played, tears started rolling down her cheeks. The beauty of the song and the painful yearning in her heart for Amber combined to create a perfect storm of bittersweet emotion.

I have died everyday waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more

The song continued and Stephanie cried the whole time it played. Her mother noticed and came over to check on her.

"Steph? Honey? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mom. I need to get that song that just played. Then we can get some bras."

They left the music store with the soundtrack to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 and moved on to Macy's, buying a half dozen bras and two nice, warm matching red coats that they wore as they left the mall.

~o~O~o~

Back at the Jones residence, with Amber doing homework in her bedroom, her parents met in their inner sanctum in the basement to discuss a very important and disturbing matter. Surrounded by bookshelves and narrow tables filled with various magic items, the couple stood in the center of the room on a thick, round carpet with a pentagram design.

"Are all of the privacy seals in place?" Kate asked her husband, her eyes wide with fear.

"Yes, Dear. Now please. Tell me what's got you so upset."

"This!" she thrust a letter in his face.

He calmly took it and read the following:

I'm coming back to finish what I started.

You will pay me in full for what you did to me.

- Morgan

The text was typed but the name appeared to be signed in blood with a calligraphy pen. It wasn't the blood that upset the man though. It was the name.

"Her again!" he spat. "Why can't she leave us alone?! Hasn't she harmed our daughter enough?!" It took great willpower but he managed to take several deep, calming breaths. One of them had to stay calm.

"What are we going to do, Cam?"

"I'll ask the Council for options. I don't think they can do much on their own but they might know a specialist that can help us."

"Isn't that what got us into this mess in the first place? A specialist?"

Years ago, when the proud parents took baby Amber to their coven's meeting place for her magic christening, a strange woman interrupted the ritual, shouting obscenities and literally breathing fire. Everyone backed away and the mad woman rushed to the front of the large room to pick up Amber, holding the infant above her head.

Kate and Cam stood horrified and paralyzed with fear. If they got too rough, they might cause Amber harm. But the baby's mother found enough courage to speak up at least. "Who are you?" she asked in a meek voice.

"Oh? You don't know me?" the woman mocked, still holding the baby high in the air. "I'm the priestess you hired to christen your daughter! That's who I am! You didn't wait for me but I came anyway. I'll show you what it means to humiliate me!"

After hearing negative rumors and doing some research, the Jones couple decided against having the priestess named Morgan christen their baby daughter. Although they never met the christening specialist before that day, they called the agency to cancel and decided to have a local member of their coven do the christening.

Canceling the appointment wasn't too bad in itself, but because of a mixup, Morgan wasn't notified by her agency. The priestess only found out about it from a couple of gossiping witches at the agency who looked at her and laughed as they openly talked about it in front of her. Morgan was outraged.

Of course the Jones family was innocent of any wrongdoing. But that didn't stop Morgan from blaming them for everything. The unbalanced priestess prepared for the christening in spite of the cancelation, though she changed the ritual to suit herself rather than the child. When she showed up for the christening, she meant to seal away Amber's magic instead of releasing it, and she succeeded. Her powerful magic ensured that virtually no one else could overcome her seal, leaving Amber to be essentially no different from any mundane human.

Morgan performed her dark ritual and escaped before the magic authorities showed up. She'd been in hiding ever since.

"Morgan was… or is a specialist," Cam conceded, "but she isn't exactly sane."

"Isn't exactly sane?! She's bat shit crazy!"

Cam rolled his eyes but knew better than to ask her to calm down. Her magic power far exceeded his own and he didn't think it would help the situation if she shrunk him down to three inches tall like she did the last time he said the wrong thing.

'My wife isn't crazy or evil,' he reminded himself. 'She's just volatile and impulsive… nothing like Morgan, who planned her actions with great malice when she sealed away my daughter's magic.'

"I still want to consult the Council," Cam said. "We need help. And in the meantime, I think it might be best if you handle arrangements to get Amber safely to and from school. We certainly can't let her walk by herself like she's been doing."

Kate's face showed that she didn't think about the danger of Amber walking to and from school. She started crying and Cam hugged her.

"It's okay," he murmured in her ear. "We'll stop Morgan. No one's going to harm our daughter."

Kate sniffed and whispered back, "What do you think she'll do to Amber? What more can she do?"

"I don't know. I just don't know."

~o~O~o~

Steph remained quiet on the drive home from the mall. As they pulled up in the driveway, her mother couldn't stand it any longer. She had to know.

"Please, Steph. What did you and Amber talk about?"

The girl paused a short time and asked, "Why did you leave me, Mom? It was really awkward."

Sue just looked guilty and didn't respond.

"Oh, no. Please say it isn't true. You left me because you hoped we'd get together and I'd stay a girl? Mom!"

"Yes. Okay. I admit it. That was part of the reason. But I also left you alone so she'd be more likely to give something away. Remember the plan? Testing the waters?"

"Right. She didn't give much away, but you're probably right. I doubt she'd have said as much if you were there."

"So what did she say?"

"I tried to get her to tell me where she lived and she said something very strange. She said that she couldn't tell me. She'd have to show me… someday… later."

"That is strange. What else?"

"She knows about auras. When I told her I could see them, she wasn't surprised. She can't see them herself but she's certain they exist."

"That's interesting… and promising. Anything else?"

"Not really." She suddenly looked away, out through the passenger side window.

"Steph…."

"Okay. Fine. She flirted with me. She… likes me. But I sort of already told you that." The girl turned back and stared at her feet, blushing.

Sue smiled but didn't say any more on the subject. "Okay. Enough chit chat. Let me have a head start to distract your father. Give me five minutes and come through the garage. Okay, Sweetie?"

"Sure, Mom. Thanks."

Sue got out of the car, leaving her daughter with her thoughts and a bag full of new bras that begged for a fashion show.

~o~O~o~

Monday arrived, cold and wet, and Steve still didn't own a decent coat to keep him warm. He quickly got dressed and begged his mother for a ride to school between nibbles of some toast at their small kitchen table.

"Only if you hurry and eat," Sue said. "I don't want you skipping breakfast. You're still a growing… boy."

Steve knew she wanted to use feminine pronouns but he ignored it for the moment. Desperation for a ride kept him civil. "I'm hurrying! I'm hurrying!" he said between mouthfuls.

"Please don't talk with your mouthful, young man." She mostly caught herself from making a gender mistake that time. She stuttered a little on the last word but didn't pause.

"Hah! You sound like my mother," Steve joked.

"Hey! I am your mother!"

Steve stuck his tongue out at her. "No. You're Steph's mother. I can hear you talking to her. Me? Not so much."

"I'm trying," Sue said, pouting. Then she got a mischievous look on her face. "How would you like me to sing a song for you? Any special requests?"

"Mom! You wouldn't dare."

"Wouldn't I? Just name a song. Any… and I'll sing it."

Steve shrieked and ran upstairs to brush his teeth.

Sue chuckled and something just occurred to her. She waited impatiently for her son to come back downstairs and ambushed him as soon as he returned to the kitchen. "Steve…," she said with a slight lilt.

"I mean it, Mother. No singing!"

Sue pouted and then suddenly reached up with both hands to finger his ear lobes. "Feel anything different?" She let go and laughed as she watched his face.

"Mom!" he shrieked as he fingered his ear lobes. "I've still got my studs! I still have pierced ears!"

"Yes. I can see that."

Steve frowned and took a few deep breaths to calm himself. "They don't look too girlie, do they?"

"They look fine, Steve. They're just studs, not dangly hoops or anything."

He gave her a pleading look and she just responded with a reassuring smile.

"Come on," she said. "Let's get you to school."

~o~O~o~

They pulled up in the driveway loop that passed by the front of the school. Steve gave his mother a peck on the cheek and quickly got out of the car, ready to run for the comforting warmth of the school, but his mother had some last minute wisdom to impart. She rolled down the window and shouted for all to hear.

"Don't forget to clean your pierced ears so they don't get infected! Bye! Love you!"

Steve turned to wave, and he kept waving as Sue drove off. It didn't occur to him to be embarrassed — as most teenage boys would be by such a display from their mother — until he turned to run for the entrance. Luckily, school wouldn't start for another thirty minutes and no one cared to stand out in the cold just for the chance to insult him.

The teen went inside and stood looking out one of the large front windows in the school lobby. His breath fogged the window a little and he found himself drawing little hearts on the glass with his finger. After amusing himself for several minutes, he watched with interest as a large black sedan pulled up and Amber emerged from the front passenger side. It looked like he wasn't the only one to get a little relief from the weather. So why did Amber look so unhappy?

"Hey Amber!" he called as she entered the school.

"Hi Steve. You're here early."

"So are you. I got a ride to escape the cold."

"I'm not sure why I got a ride. It's all hush-hush."

"And it's pissing you off."

"Yeah," she agreed, a sour look on her face. "I like to walk. I've got a nice coat that keeps me warm and the exercise wakes me up nicely. But my parents nearly went ballistic when I tried to walk this morning. They insisted that I get a ride to school… and they wouldn't say why." She growled in frustration.

Steve admired her coat for a few seconds before blurting out, "I like your coat." He almost added that he wished he had one just like it.

She gave him a sideways glance but didn't say anything.

"Anyway, I'm sorry," he said. "Family secrets suck."

Amber turned to look at him directly and studied his face for a minute. It made him a little nervous at first but he soon turned hopeful as he wondered if she might have a change of heart about dating.

"I met your cousin yesterday," she said suddenly. "I saw her at the mall with your mother."

"Oh?" he said, feeling a stab of fear.

"Yeah. Where've you been hiding her? She's hot." Amber kept focusing on his face.

"Really? Thanks… I mean she'll probably be happy to hear that… if you don't mind me telling her… um…," he trailed off. He tried to look away but felt mesmerized by his friend's eyes. Her two green truth detectors bored into his soul, making him gasp, thinking she could see his deep, dark secret. He didn't dare lie. He couldn't.

"I…," he tried to say and stopped.

"Yes?" she said, encouraging him to continue.

"I have to go," he said, breaking free of her eyes and quickly hurrying to his locker. "I'll see you at lunch!" he called over his shoulder.

Amber stared at his back, thinking how feminine he looked. Something didn't quite add up but she couldn't figure out why. If she didn't know better, she'd say that Steve and Stephanie were the same person. But that was impossible. She knew Steve's family had no magic ability.

The girl shrugged and slowly walked to her own locker, biding her time until she could get some answers at lunch. Her parents might be able to keep secrets from her but she wouldn't tolerate any more from her friend.

~o~O~o~

Amber caught up with her friend for their first class. She wanted to stare at him some more, liking the way he squirmed whenever he even thought about lying, but she managed to focus on Mr. Packwood's droning voice as he talked about math theorems and proofs.

She liked proofs. They laid bare some of the truths of the universe, just as her eyes did when Steve tried to lie to her. She couldn't wait to uncover yet more truth during lunch. She only hoped she'd like what she found.

Her mood brightened when she anticipated having a serious discussion with Steve, and she almost considered humming, something she did when she felt brimming with a strange mystical energy. Overflowing with energy happened more and more frequently, even causing her to hum in class a couple times. Humming seemed to dissipate the energy so she could concentrate. She meant to discuss it with her parents but kept putting if off, thinking they'd just say she was crazy.

Her parents had been upsetting her a lot lately, being more secretive than ever. She hated secrets! She did. And she meant to uncover them all. Soon.

~o~O~o~

Lunch came and Steve approached Amber ever so slowly across the lunchroom. She watched him closely and noticed that he looked scared. She wondered what could scare him so much and decided to be considerably gentler than she'd been in her imagination, where she interrogated him using a spotlight and a leather riding crop.

"Hi Steve," she said, smiling.

"Hey Amber," he responded as he slowly sat down next to her.

"I'm sorry if I seem a bit cranky," she told him. "My parents have been really weird lately."

"Yeah. Me too," he said absently.

"What?"

Steve continued to mutter and she let it go for the moment. She turned to look at him and wait for him to look back so she could gauge his answers. That's when she noticed his earrings.

'What the hell?' she thought. The studs looked familiar and it soon clicked. She remembered Stephanie having the same pair. To be fair, the plain silver studs were common, but they looked like starter earrings. Both Stephanie and Steve just got their ears pierced. Coincidence? She didn't think so.

"Nice earrings, Steve," she said, smirking.

He snapped his head around to look directly at her. Her eyes caught his and tightly held them. There was no escape this time.

"What? I…." He almost said it. He wanted to tell her so badly. If only the words didn't kept sticking in his throat.

"Say it, Steve. Tell me what's going on with you… and Stephanie. Who is she?"

She had him. She'd know if he lied and she wasn't taking any prisoners, not after the way her parents had been acting. He had to tell the truth so he swallowed once and said it, "I'm Stephanie."

Amber's eyes went wide. He told her the truth that she suspected but didn't believe. Steve and Stephanie were the same person. It was impossible! Stephanie was definitely all girl and Steve, though he looked somewhat effeminate, was all boy. He couldn't fake being being a true girl, not without magic.

"Impossible!" she shouted as she quickly stood up, causing everyone in the lunchroom to stop and watch.

The silence after Amber's shout was nearly absolute, until she started shouting again. "You can't be! You can't!" Tears rolled down her cheeks. "But you are," she said, much more quietly, accepting the truth that she saw in her friend's eyes.

She rode an emotional roller coaster as she thought about all of the ramifications of her friend's confession. Steve's family had no magic ability and yet Steve clearly needed magic to pull off his transformation, so it had to be her parents doing. She used a bit of irrational logic to deduce that they transformed Steve into a part-time girl so they could get the two teens together. In spite of what they told her, maybe they didn't accept her being a lesbian. Maybe they were somehow trying to get her used to loving Stephanie so she'd eventually love Steve. That made her angrier than anything else and it took all of her willpower not to try slapping the smirk off of all the boys she saw staring at her. Instead, she stomped out of the lunchroom and out of the building. There was no way she could concentrate on school so she headed home for a showdown with her mother. Her mother normally worked from home and she was the one who was to ferry Amber to and from school. Amber should've called her to ask for a ride home. But she wasn't supposed to skip class. She didn't think she could get her mother to pick her up so she walked home. At least that was her intention. She never made it home that day.

Steve watched her go as a single tear zig-zagged through his beard stubble and dripped from his chin onto the table. "Good bye, Amber," he said. Then he threw away his lunch after barely nibbling one corner off his sandwich and he slowly scuffed his feet to his next class. It was going to be a long day.

~o~O~o~

Morgan waited near the school in her small compact car, drinking hot chocolate to ward off the chill. She didn't have the money to keep the engine running for the heater — the price of gas was too high and she had limited savings — so she settled for hot chocolate.

"I'll get plenty of money," she muttered, "after I steal that girl's magic."

She almost kicked herself for sending the letter, alerting Amber's parents. She gave herself away by sending that letter because her huge ego seemed to thrive on attention. She couldn't help herself.

"I'll be lucky to grab her," she muttered again. She saw that Amber was delivered to the school by car that morning. She fully expected the girl to be picked up too but just in case, she sat outside the school. And her determination paid off. She couldn't believe it. The girl was walking towards her, on the same side of the street where she parked! And there was no one else around. Perfect.

The powerful witch nearly drooled with anticipation, waiting for the right time to cast a powerful sleep spell and steal her precious cargo away to her hideout, where she intended to suck every last bit of magic out of her for as long as she could. She'd keep the girl well-fed with normal food to keep her alive, but she'd starve her of magic, just like she planned so many years ago. A witch didn't come into power until a couple years into puberty so Morgan had to wait. She sealed away the girl's magic to keep it all for herself, like a magical human battery.

Amber never noticed being stalked. She walked right into the trap, barely noticing as she suddenly got very sleepy and barely missed collapsing on the sidewalk, instead falling into somebody's arms. She fell asleep and dreamed of Stephanie. Whatever else happened, she'd always love Stephanie.

~o~O~o~

Steve made it to his second class after lunch before deciding it was hopeless. He wasn't learning anything. He couldn't concentrate. So instead of going to his next class, he wandered outside and walked home. The weather chilled him to the bone, enough that his teeth chattered, but he barely noticed. All he could think about was Amber.

A blast of wind hit him when he was still several blocks from home. He hugged himself and picked up his pace, daydreaming about coat shopping with Amber. Everything was about Amber, and when he got home, he grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch, wrapped it around himself and headed upstairs to his room to drown himself in music. He got to his bedroom and turned on his radio just in time to hear the perfect song. He let the first verse wash over him as he lied on his bed. Then he joined in with the familiar chorus and felt the tingling start.

Look into my eyes
Eyes are the windows to the soul
Look into my eyes
Eyes, oh you will know
There is no surprise
Eyes, because love is plain to see
Look into my eyes
Eyes

The song continued along with his transformation. By the time the song reached the second verse, Steve was no more.

Truth is truth
And time can never leap it
This I know
We will always keep it

'How ironic,' Stephanie thought. She told the truth and appeared to lose the girl of her dreams when they should be together, celebrating. The chorus repeated and she sang along in her clear soprano voice until the song ended and the tears began.

~o~O~o~

Stephanie had fallen asleep on her bed and only just started waking to the sounds of shouting. What little light peeked through her curtains told her it was just around sunset. She must have slept several hours but she shrugged off the idea of wasting a free afternoon and listened.

"Where is he?" a man shouted, someone she didn't recognize. "Where's Steve?"

"Who are you?!" she heard her mother shout. "What are you doing in my house?!"

"You tell him, Mom," Stephanie said quietly with a grim smile. She had no idea what was going on or why someone was looking for her male self and she didn't care. They wouldn't find Steve even if they checked every room. She continued to listen and it sounded like that's what the strange man intended to do. She heard footsteps stomping closer and sat up in anticipation.

A man threw open her door and looked at her in the dim light coming from the hallway. "Who are you?" he asked with a demanding tone.

"I could ask you the same question," she shot back. "This is my house. But instead, I think I'll just ask you to leave… before I call the cops."

The man smirked just as Sue entered the room behind the man. "Don't bother using the phone, Stephanie. It's dead. My cell phone is dead too."

"I'm very sorry," the man said. "I know this looks bad but I'm desperate. My daughter went missing this afternoon."

"Who's your daughter?" Sue asked. "What are you talking about?"

Stephanie suddenly had a sick feeling in her stomach. She felt certain that she knew who he was talking about. "Amber?" she asked. "Amber Jones?"

"Yes! Of course, Amber. Oh. Wait. I guess I haven't introduced myself. Again, I'm sorry. My name is Cameron Jones, Amber's father."

"And you used magic to kill our phones," Stephanie said, followed by a sigh. "You can restore them now. We won't call the police." She looked at her mother and patted the bed next to where she was sitting. Sue noticed and sat down.

"You know?" Cameron asked, looking a little surprised.

"My mother and I know about magic and figured out that you're a family of witches," Stephanie said. "It was fairly easy to come to grips with magic and witches since I've been cursed to become a girl. Whenever I hear a woman singing or humming, I turn into a girl for several hours. Only magic could do something like that."

"What?!" the man asked.

"Yes, I'm Steve… or at least I will be in a few hours, after I change back into a boy. I go by Stephanie when I'm a girl."

Cameron stared at the girl for a short time, looking all around her but not directly at her. "You've got the strangest aura I've ever seen," he remarked. "It's got all the colors of the rainbow."

"Oh. You can see auras too?"

"What?!" The man looked shocked. "You can see auras?"

"Yep… ever since your daughter accidentally changed me into a girl at school by humming in class and then later rejected me as a boyfriend. According to what I read on the Internet, I was traumatized into seeing auras."

"Hah," the man scoffed. "The Internet is a nuisance. But I think you're right in this case. Fascinating."

"That's one word for it," Stephanie said. "It's not the first word that comes to my mind though."

"I suppose you've had a rough time of it," he said softly, "seeing as you're a mundane. Not having had any exposure to magic and then turning into a girl? I'm truly sorry."

"So you're saying you had nothing to do with it?" Sue suddenly asked.

"I had no idea. If some witch cursed your son, it's no one I know… unless it happens to be the same woman that kidnapped my daughter."

"Wait a minute," Sue said. "You said your daughter went missing. You didn't say anything about kidnapping. Is that why you came here looking for your daughter? You don't think we had anything to do with the kidnapping, do you?"

"No! Of course not." He looked a little embarrassed. "It's just that I know your son is friends with my daughter and I hoped she was here. Now that I see she isn't here, I'm sure it's a kidnapping. My wife and I were warned it would happen." He bent his head down, looking a little embarrassed.

"Hey," Sue said. "It's okay. I'm sure I would've done the same thing for Stephanie."

"Steve!" the girl said.

Sue just waved her hand a little and said, "Whatever."

"So what about Amber?" Stephanie asked. "What are you going to do? Can't you use magic to find her? Can I help?"

Cameron held his hand up to interrupt. "Slow down there, Stephanie. We've been trying to use magic to find her but the witch that most likely kidnapped her is very powerful and has strong privacy wards to block most scrying magic."

"But if she was here, wouldn't your magic been able to tell?" the girl asked.

"Very good," he said. "But there are a few natural sources of magic interference, like… love."

Stephanie looked down and blushed.

Amber's father looked thoughtful for a short time before continuing. "I'm not sure there's anything my wife and I can do but now that you mention it, you might actually be able to help since you two are very close. I know because she's mentioned you as well as Steve. She really likes you." He stopped then and raised an eyebrow just like Amber did when she detected a lie. "But she thought you were two different people."

Stephanie looked down and said in a quiet voice, "We didn't now for sure if she knew about magic so we didn't want to give away my curse. We told her I was my own cousin."

"You actually managed to lie to her?" he asked. "I didn't think that was possible."

"Actually, I remember her looking down and to the side a lot," Stephanie said. "She was a little shy when we met. Doesn't she have to look into your eyes and concentrate to really be sure if you're lying?"

"Yes, of course. You're right about that."

"I always thought it was amazing that she could tell whenever I was lying but I didn't think it had to anything to do with magic."

"We're not sure that it does. It's probably related, but not directly. But enough of that." He turned to Sue. "Mrs. Hamblin, may I please take your daughter to my house to see if we can use her to find my daughter?"

Stephanie tried to interrupt to say that she wasn't her mother's daughter but Sue just talked over her. "Of course, Cameron. But please. Call me Sue."

"Thanks, Sue." He turned back to the girl. "Come on, Stephanie. Let's get going."

"Right, Mr. Jones."

Sue and Stephanie got up and headed for the stairs, followed by Cameron but they all forgot one little thing.

"Honey?" Jack called. "What's going on? I tried to park in the driveway and some car is blocking it."

Sue's husband showed up at the base of the stairs and looked up at the three of them. He recognized his wife but had no idea who the other two were, though the girl looked vaguely familiar.

"Jack! You're home early!" Sue shouted nervously.

"No, I'm not. I'm right on time," he said, scowling. "Who are these people?"

Cameron spoke quietly behind Sue. "I take it he doesn't know anything about Stephanie?"

Sue shook her head slightly and the man behind her went into action, aiming a quick spell at Jack. "You are getting sleepy," he said.

"I'm getting sleepy," Jack agreed, and then yawned.

"You will go right to bed and forget everything that happened since you arrived here at home."

Jack said he'd go to bed and forget everything. He started up the stairs, even saying, "Excuse me," to Stephanie to get by her. He continued on to the master bedroom and shut the door.

"Will he be okay?" Sue asked.

"He'll be fine. He'll forget this ever happened, though he'll likely be hungrier than usual in the morning since he'll be skipping dinner."

Sue and Stephanie nodded.

"You should park your husband's car in the driveway after I leave. That should prevent any awkward questions tomorrow morning."

"Right," Sue said. Then she kissed Stephanie's forehead. "Good luck, my darling daughter."

"Aw, Mom."

Sue smiled and wandered off into the living room to flop down on the couch and relax after all the excitement. Cameron and Stephanie continued on to the front door.

"Now then, Stephanie. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes," she said as she opened the door to leave. "I've been trying to get an invitation to your house for a long time. It's a shame it took a kidnapping for it to happen."

"You've actually noticed that you've never been able to visit us?"

Stephanie nodded. "Amber said something about that too. She was surprised that I noticed."

Cameron shook his head as he got in the car and unlocked the passenger side door. He waited until Stephanie got in the car to continue. "Amazing," he said. "We have some strong protection enchantments on our home. You shouldn't have been able to notice anything was amiss."

"I guess it has something to do with my curse then."

"I guess so."

~o~O~o~

Playlist for Part 3

6. Bring Me to Life by Evanescence
7. Addiction by Medina
8. A Thousand Years by Christina Perri
9. Eyes by Kaskade

~o~O~o~

 © 2012 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.

In this magical romantic mystery, a teenage boy wakes up one morning to find himself afflicted with a strange musical curse. The boy tries to find the source of the curse to end it but finding magic in today's world isn't easy, especially when love is involved.

NOTE: Comments have been disabled but kudos and private messages are welcome.

This is a complete story of four parts and I'll post one part every Sunday.

Music Magic
by Terry Volkirch

Enchanting Crescendo in C Major

Neither Stephanie nor Cameron said anything on the short drive to the man's home. They both concerned themselves with thoughts of Amber, wondering and hoping that she was okay.

The car pulled up and Cameron had to fight himself not to run inside. He had to make sure Stephanie could get through the various wards that his wife had placed in all the doorways, using what amounted to magical keys to unlock his home. Otherwise, Stephanie would likely be paralyzed or sleeping or in some other state that wouldn't be very helpful in their search for Amber.

The two of them made their way through the kitchen and down a narrow stairway to the basement, finding Cameron's wife, Kate. Quick introductions were made and Cameron explained the girl's visit.

"That does sound promising," Kate said, turning to Stephanie. "But are you sure you're really a boy?"

"Not right now, obviously. But yes, I was born a boy."

"And you have no idea who cursed you?"

"No…," she trailed off, staring down at her feet and blushing.

"Stephanie?" Kate asked.

"I'm sorry," she said in a quiet voice. "I thought it might have been you and your husband. You were the only two people that I knew who might be able to do it."

Kate offered a kindly smile. "That's understandable," she said. "I hope you realize now that it's not true. I'm not sure I could create a curse like yours even if I tried. I don't know anyone who could."

"Except maybe Morgan," Cameron added.

"Yes, except her."

Stephanie's eyes threatened tears. "Why would she do such a thing?" the girl asked.

"Because she's crazy," Kate told her as she gently stroked her hair. "She needs help and she'll get it… right after we get our daughter back."

Stephanie sniffed once and calmed herself. She was there to help Amber and she was anxious to start. They were all anxious to start but Kate explained that she needed to do some research and conduct a few tests first. They started work immediately.

~o~O~o~

Over three hours passed and Kate watched Stephanie turn back into Steve, still wearing the clothes that he'd worn as Stephanie. They didn't fit all that well but they were good enough for the moment. The boy was too focused on saving Amber to care about wearing a skirt. He did have to kick off his slingback heels though. They were too small for his feet. He got lucky that they had elastic bands so they had some give and didn't damage his toes. Or maybe it wasn't luck. His curse almost seemed to have an intelligence of sorts.

Steve shook his head and left his shoes under the glass coffee table that sat in front of a small brown couch, where he sat at one end and Kate at the other. Cameron had gone back upstairs to check with relatives who were out searching for Amber.

"How many times have you changed?" Kate asked.

"I'm not sure… a couple dozen maybe. I lost count."

"You must have quite a wardrobe." The woman smiled and Steve returned it.

"It's okay. I've outgrown some things though. I had to pick up several bras recently. Well… I didn't really have to. You know…," he felt a little embarrassed, but only a little.

"Yes, I know," Mrs. Jones told him.

"So what about the tests?" Steve asked.

"They're done. But I'm not sure you'll like the results."

"Try me," the boy said, setting his jaw.

Kate noticed the gesture and sighed, thinking that he still had a lot of boy left in him. She wasn't sure her idea would work but it was the only thing she could think of trying.

"I want you to wear this." She got up off the couch and walked over to a table where she picked up a simple gold amulet on a black silk cord and returned to the boy, placing it around his neck. "And I'm sorry but you'll need to change back into Stephanie."

"That's okay," he told her, his eyes shining with love. "I'll gladly do it for Amber."

'I know you will,' she thought. 'I can see the love you share. I've seen it in my daughter's eyes too, especially when she spoke of Stephanie.'

"There's one more thing I need you to do," Kate said. "We'll leave you alone so don't worry about that. You can do it privately. The amulet will take care of everything else."

"Do what, Mrs. Jones?"

"It's a sex magic ritual."

Steve's eyes widened in shock. "But… but…."

"I take it you've never explored your body in that way," Kate said.

"Not as a girl," he said, blushing.

"Good. That will make the ritual more likely to work. But you should know something," she said with a sad smile.

He beckoned to her to continue with his eyes.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to tell him the rest. "You'll likely end up staying a girl after the ritual." She had to tell him. She had to give him the opportunity to decline, though it greatly pained her to do so.

To his credit, Steve didn't look surprised or even the least bit upset. "I'll take that chance," he said.

Kate gave him a warm, grateful smile and suddenly had a thought. Stephanie might make a wonderful daughter-in-law, assuming she had some latent magic ability. Unfortunately, she still had some prejudice when it came to mundane humans.

"So then," she said, "would you like me to sing something?"

"What?!"

"Would you like me to sing to change you back into Stephanie? You said any woman or girl singing would change you."

"Oh! Right. Sorry, but I was thinking of moving things along as quickly as possible. You know… doing it during the music." He blushed furiously. His face felt like it was on fire.

Kate smiled. "Of course," she said. "Good idea. Let's get you set up on the couch then. I'll go upstairs and get a radio while you lie back and make yourself comfortable."

"Okay," he said in a quiet voice, watching her go up the stairs. Could his life possibly get any stranger? He doubted it.

In less than a minute, Mrs. Jones returned to the basement with a small clock radio. She set it down on the glass coffee table and plugged it into a socket on the wall by the couch.

"There you go," she told him. "Anything else before I go back upstairs?"

"Naw… I'm good," he said, looking away.

"Please don't touch anything on any of the tables," she said. "I'm not sure if the ritual would be disrupted if you did. Other than that, just go ahead and do what comes naturally. I don't think it matters but consider keeping your eyes closed when you reach your climax. You should have a vision that will lead us right to Amber." As she talked, she lit a large round candle on a small table in the far corner of the room before turning out the lights.

"Sure. Got it," he said quietly.

"I'll leave you to it now. Good luck… Stephanie."

"Thanks, Mrs. J."

~o~O~o~

Steve turned on the radio and set the tuner to a station with modern dance hits. He suffered only a few seconds of talking before the next song played. And once again, it happened to be a perfect fit.

He reclined diagonally against a corner of the couch and let the words caress his body. The tingling began almost immediately.

Tell me baby if it's wrong
To let my hands do what they want
Late at night I pretend we are
Dance, dance, dance, dance, dancing in the dark

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as a short form of the chorus started. The tingling hit hard, centering on his groin. The feeling never felt so strong, or so good.

Dancing in the dark,
ooh la la, ooh la la, ooh la la
dancing in the dark.

Normally, the tingling would end and he'd be Stephanie by that point. But the tingling didn't end. It intensified. She became Stephanie and her body hummed as she fantasized about Amber. In her mind, the two girls stood in a small bedroom and slowly undressed each other next to a fluffy white canopy bed, surrounded by hundreds of candles. Both girls snuck in little kisses on the neck, upper arm, stomach, wherever their hungry lips could reach bare skin as they pulled and unwrapped one of several layers of sheer white cloth from each other.

Erotic images set the mood but Stephanie still needed something more. Her hands slipped under her skirt to help herself along as the song continued.

I wanna see who you are,
I got a sex drive just push to start
Push push push push to start
I got a sex drive just push to start.

The song continued with its blatant sexual innuendo but it barely registered. She totally focused on Amber as she pushed all of her own buttons, and her magic fingers sent herself over the edge. She shuddered in ecstasy… and a vision started.

In the vision, she felt so relaxed, and just a little cold. The sound of a small car engine buzzed in the background and a faint aroma of hot chocolate lingered in the air. The car fast forwarded several dozen miles in the span of only a few seconds and drove up a mile-long dirt road that led to a small house surrounded by a dense thicket of small trees and shrubs. The vision replayed the scene just slow enough that she could tell where she was going.

After the car stopped, she felt two arms wrap tightly around her and drag her into the house, where she ended up being locked in a small bathroom. It wasn't the worst jail cell. She was given food and she could use the toilet, take a bath and drink out of the faucet, but she lost her freedom. She cried often, thinking she might never see her family, or a wonderful girl named Stephanie ever again. It was horrible and the worst was yet to come.

The two arms returned several times, casting dark magic each time to pull magical energy from her body. It never lasted long and afterwards, she felt tired and empty. She sat on the toilet seat and leaned back against the tank, humming the same little tune that she favored when she was especially sad. It was the same tune that she hummed when she changed Steve into a girl in her geometry class, though she didn't realize it.

Stephanie slowly roused herself from the vision. She'd seen enough. She shook off the mental cobwebs and slipped on her shoes, in a hurry to get upstairs and direct Mr. and Mrs. Jones to Amber. They might prefer written directions and leave her behind but she wasn't going to be left behind. She'd insist on directing them as they drove because she had a little something that she wanted to say and do to a certain kidnapper.

~o~O~o~

After her third plea in the Jones' living room, Stephanie had enough. She couldn't believe her ears! Amber's parents wanted to wait at least a day to rescue their daughter. Their own daughter!

"I can't believe you two!" the girl cried. "We need to rescue Amber! Now!"

The man of the house shook his head. "I know it might look bad, but I keep telling you we have a good reason for not acting rashly. First, we need to contact the…," Cameron was interrupted by his wife's sharp elbow and a stern look. "We need to consult, strategize, get reinforcements. We can't just go rushing in."

"Why not?!" Stephanie countered. "She's your daughter and she's in trouble. How can you not go rushing in?"

"Because we'll get our asses kicked, that's why," said a male voice behind the girl. She whipped around to see a tall, dark haired young man with a serious look on his face. "Morgan is more powerful than all of us combined. There's no way we'd win if we tried to fight her with just our family."

"What about guns?" the girl asked with a hint of desperation in her voice.

"What about them?" countered the boy. "Morgan would easily block the bullets with magic. A gun would be useless."

"Who are you?!" Stephanie finally asked him. He'd been annoying her and she wanted a name that she could scream at him.

"I'm Max," he said. "I'm Amber's older, nice looking, unattached brother." His smile threatened to turn into a leer but he somehow restrained himself. "And you are?"

Stephanie felt nauseous. She knew what he was up to and she didn't appreciate it, especially during a time of crisis.

"Look, Stephanie," Kate said. "We shared your vision. We know Amber isn't in any real danger for the time being. She'll be okay until we can mount a rescue operation with a good chance of success."

The girl vaguely heard Max say that it was nice to meet her, since he heard her name, but disgust and embarrassment caused her to throw etiquette out the window. "I can't believe you people! You shared my vision?! You could've told me you were going to do that!"

"I didn't want to distract you from your task, Dear," Kate smiled.

Stephanie could tell that the woman meant well. But the whole business still upset her. "I want to go home. Please take me home now," she half said, half demanded. She couldn't take any more of Amber's family. Their cold logic drove her crazy.

"You shouldn't go after her by yourself, Dear," Kate warned, easily seeing through the girl's motivation for wanting to go home. "Don't forget that it's getting quite late. It's nearly ten o'clock."

"I'm going home. I'm asking you to take me home. That's all. If you shared my vision, you know where Amber is. You don't need me. You probably wouldn't want me to come anyway. I don't have any magic ability so I'd just get in the way."

Cameron smiled. "I'm glad you're seeing reason. You're a very smart girl."

Kate gave the girl a half smile. She wasn't fooled. "Go ahead, Dear," she said to her husband. "Take Stephanie home. She'll stay there if she knows what's good for her. Mundanes shouldn't concern themselves with magical affairs. They'll only get hurt."

Stephanie returned a grim smile. "You know what? Forget the ride. I'll walk." She started to leave the house but stopped to take off the magic amulet so she could give it back.

Kate noticed what she was doing. "Keep it," she said, sounding a little condescending. "You'll need it."

The girl wasn't sure how to take that. Her brain churned a million miles an hour as she started to leave. She kept going over and over what the Jones family said. She wanted to believe they were doing what's best for Amber, but she just couldn't accept it. She paused and turned at the front door for a parting shot, one last attempt to shock them into action. "I'm glad," she said. "I'm glad I don't have any magic, because if I did, I'd be afraid I'd turn out like all of you." She opened the door and gently shut it behind her. It wasn't until she made it to the street that she let out a tremendous scream, startling a black cat that watched her from the lowest branch of a nearby tree.

~o~O~o~

Walking two miles in heels hurt her feet but she kept going. She had to get home and change clothes. Amber needed her!

'Almost there,' she thought, having arrived one block down on the street that ran past her home. She stared up at the oak trees along the way, seeing their silhouettes against the low clouds that reflected the hundreds of city street lights. She noticed there were a lot fewer leaves than the last time she gave them a good look. They seemed to say that time was running out, dropping like sands through an hourglass.

As she turned to hurry up the path to her front door, she thought she saw a black blur race into a bush in the neighbor's yard. She shook her head, thinking she was seeing things, and searched in vain for a non-existent pocket that held her house key. She almost laughed at herself then. She didn't have a purse when she left the house and no purse meant no key.

The girl sighed. She saw that her mother moved her father's car, and she remembered that her father was magically put to sleep for the night. It would be safe to knock, or just walk right in if the door was unlocked. She was just about to try the knob when the door opened.

"Stephanie!" her mother cried. "Where have you been? It's been hours since you left!"

"I'm sorry, Mom. I got so involved in trying to find Amber that I lost track of time." She walked past her mother into the warm house and started for the stairs.

Sue grabbed her daughter's arm, stopping her for the moment. "What happened? Did you find Amber?"

"Oh, yeah. We found her. But her wonderful family would rather make zillions of plans than go rescue her. I couldn't take it so I walked home."

"You walked?! In those shoes?!"

"It was only a couple miles. But yeah, my feet are a little sore."

Sue just shook her head in disbelief.

"Please let me go," Stephanie said, looking down at where her mother still held her arm.

Sue let her go and watched as she went up the stairs. "Is that it then? Are you just going to bed?"

"Nope!" the girl said over her shoulder as she turned down the hall to her bedroom.

~o~O~o~

Making some plans did make sense. Stephanie realized that she'd be too suspicious if she wore all black like she first wanted. She ended up with black jeans and a royal purple sweater instead, and she wisely left the magic amulet hanging around her neck under the sweater. The amulet itself hung just between her newly enlarged breasts. After trying a different bra, she noticed that she had another growth spurt and now sported C cup breasts. Once again, she only had one bra that fit. Normally, she'd be upset and dwell on the larger breasts but she didn't have time that night.

After throwing on some loosely tied sneakers, grabbing her purse — with her female driver's license — and getting her long blue wool coat from the closet, she ran downstairs and started for the door when she felt a tug on her arm.

"Where do you think you're going at this time of night, young lady?" her mother asked.

"Out?"

"Not without me, you don't."

Stephanie turned and looked deep into her mother's eyes. "I would rather you stay here. I have a feeling that I'll be okay, but I can't say the same for you. Please stay here."

"But I'm your mother! I should go with you." Sue tried to get past her daughter to get her coat out of the coat closet but Stephanie wouldn't budge.

"Magic can be very dangerous, Mother, and Morgan, the woman who kidnapped Amber, is crazy. Please. Stay here."

"You'd rather I worry to death then?"

"I'd rather you worried at home and stayed alive. Yes."

"Steph!"

"I mean it, Mom! Please. I don't know how to explain it but I have to go alone. I'll be fine. Now please. Let me go! Amber needs me!"

Sue took one last look, marveling at how grown up her daughter seemed. She cried a mixture of happy and sad tears as she held up a finger to ask Stephanie to wait. She left to get her purse and came right back. Rummaging inside for several seconds, she found what she wanted and pulled it out, slapping it into the girl's hand. "You'll need the car keys."

"Thanks, Mom!" She kissed her mother on the cheek.

Sue turned to go back to the living room. "Good luck, Steph," she said quietly, though the girl didn't hear her, having already left the house.

~o~O~o~

Stephanie did have a feeling, a very strong feeling, that she'd be okay. It came with the magic vision she had. She wondered if there was anything else about the vision that might help her as she got in the car, and she was so distracted by her thoughts, she almost missed a little stowaway that zipped past her into the car.

"I saw you," she said, turning to look in the back seat.

She didn't see anything at first so she stretched up and looked behind the driver's seat. There, on the floor of the car, sat a black cat.

"You can't stay. Out. Get out. Shoo!" she said, holding the car door open.

The cat wasn't impressed. And she didn't budge.

"Okay. Fine!" She slammed the door closed and the cat suddenly jumped up into the front passenger seat for a better view. "I don't have time to fight with a strange cat. I don't know where you came from but I'll take you to the Humane Society tomorrow."

The cat suddenly hissed, not liking that idea at all.

Stephanie's eyes got wide. "Oh, my God!" she said to herself. "I wonder it if has rabies or something."

The cat meowed normally to let her know everything was fine.

"Are you sure?"

Another meow and Stephanie shook her head. "I can't believe I'm talking to a cat."

She drove off, following the same path that she'd seen in her vision earlier that night.

~o~O~o~

Stephanie drove mostly on autopilot, her thoughts all jumbled. She tried to focus on a plan of action but any plan eluded her.

'It's almost like I'm not supposed to have a plan,' she thought. 'Weird!'

She wondered if Morgan could read minds. If so, the old witch wouldn't get much out of her mind.

She giggled and noticed that her passenger seemed to relax suddenly, lying down and purring on the seat. They continued in silence for the next ten miles or so until the cat sat up and meowed.

"Stop? Here?" Stephanie asked.

"Meow!"

"Okay! I'm stopping."

The girl pulled over and parked a couple blocks from the witch's house. Few street lights and even fewer houses lined the road, being fairly far out of town. A wide gravel shoulder allowed for parking and bushes, trees and undergrowth had been trimmed a short distance beyond.

She opened the car door and both she and her passenger got out to walk the rest of the way. The cat led the way on the side of the road and Stephanie closely followed, concentrating on the memory of her vision to make sure they were going the right direction.

Just as the Jones family had done, several wards and shielding spells had been cast by Morgan to hide her house. The magic would've worked if Stephanie hadn't had her vision. As it was, she had to half close her eyes and mentally push herself to continue because of the strong urges she had to reverse her course. She tried distracting herself with something, anything to see if that helped.

'That cat,' she thought. 'What is it about that cat?'

She soon realized that thinking about the cat seemed to make it easier to walk through the protective spells. Then she began worrying that something was off about the cat and the magic shields seemed to dissipate. The more she worried about the cat, the easier she could move.

'Weird!'

Worrying about the cat naturally led her to start pretending that the cat was hers and she started calling out to it, like she was trying to catch it. "Here puss! Here puss puss!"

'What is its name?' she wondered and a name suddenly popped into her head. 'Tabitha? That's an odd name for a cat.' Then a nickname followed. 'Tabby? That's better I guess.'

"Here, Tabby! Here kitty!!" she called.

The cat suddenly veered off down a long driveway, away from the street lights and ran ahead. Stephanie followed while continuing to call out the cat's name. She was so focused on the cat, she almost didn't notice someone blocking her way until she almost ran into them.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. I'm trying to catch a cat. She ran this way but it's so dark I lost her. She's small and all black with yellow eyes. Have you seen her?"

"Enough!" the person bellowed, a woman by the sound of her. It was otherwise hard to tell her gender by the dark clothes she wore in the almost pitch black darkness. "You will come with me," the woman ordered. "Now."

The girl followed, knowing exactly who it was that she followed. She recognized the front of the house they approached by what little light leaked out through the windows.

"Tabby! Are you out here?" Stephanie called, trying to keep her mind off of her real goal.

"I know it's not your cat," the woman interrupted. "So stop that infernal shouting this instant."

"I never said it was my cat. It's my friend's cat."

The woman stopped abruptly and slowly turned. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"My name is Stephanie," the girl said. "Pleased to meet you."

The woman stared into her eyes in the dim light from the house. "No, you are definitely not pleased to meet me. But your name is Stephanie and you do seek a cat." She quickly turned around and resumed walking towards the house. "You are not welcome here, Stephanie. Go now while you still can."

"That's not very nice!" the girl fired back. "And you didn't even tell me your name! Are all people around here as rude as you are?"

The woman stood on her small porch and spun around on one heel to face the girl with a stern look. "You intrude on my property and dare to accuse me of being rude?! Perhaps you need a lesson… a very long lesson. Yes. I like that idea. My guest could use a companion, if only to keep her going. Come inside, Stephanie. I have someone I'd like you to meet."

The girl wisely hesitated, her heart beating a million beats a minute. Still, she had the presence of mind to keep the woman as off guard as she could. She needed the element of surprise to have any chance of succeeding. "What about Tabby? And what about your name?"

The old witch made some familiar looking hand gestures, temporarily deactivating some wards to allow them to enter the house. Then she spoke. "My name is Morgan. Now come inside and don't worry about the cat. Cats can take care of themselves."

"Okay." Stephanie walked up three steps and across the small wooden porch. Her intuition screamed at her to stop but she ignored it and followed the woman into the small house. As she passed through the door, a dark blur nearly tripped her up and disappeared inside. She quickly distracted herself from Tabby by taking a quick look around.

The plain, sparse decor inside spoke volumes about the owner. One plain wooden chair, one small dining table filled with candles and glass vials, and a bookshelf full of old looking books filled most of the visible living space. The air hung heavy with the scents of various herbs and a small knitted black pentacle hung above the mantle that practically screamed, "Witch!"

"Nice place you have here," the girl remarked. "It's a little plain but cozy."

"I'm glad you like it," Morgan said. "Because you'll be spending a lot of time here." With that, she moved to a shut door. The door flew open without her touching it and she made a sudden sharp gesture with her hand.

Stephanie shrieked as she felt giant unseen fingers grip her and half push, half throw her through the open doorway. She quickly stumbled inside and the door slammed shut behind her. She rushed back to try the doorknob but it wouldn't budge. She was trapped, and she wasn't the only one.

She looked around, noticing a sink, toilet and small bathtub, and slumped on the floor in front of the tub, sat Amber, who covered her face and trembled.

"Hey!" Stephanie said. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

Amber snapped her head up, her eyes wide as she recognized her friend.

Stephanie held a finger to her lips to warn against saying too much. Then she quickly moved to hug her distressed friend, who started sobbing. They stayed together like that for a long time before Stephanie finally released her friend and sat on the toilet lid to give them both a little space.

The two girls started talking with their eyes and body language. They knew better than to speak out loud and give themselves away. Their method of communication worked well to keep prying minds from reading their thoughts and true intentions.

It was going to be a long night.

~o~O~o~

Steve woke up on the bathroom floor with the beige shag floor rug bunched up behind him and a slight kink in his neck. After what Amber's mother told him, he wondered if he'd change back but he did. At least he thought he did. He reached up to feel an absence of breasts on his chest. His arms and hands felt stronger too. Something still felt off though.

He looked down to see Amber sleeping with her head in his lap. Such a sleeping arrangement should've had a strong effect on a certain sensitive part of his anatomy, but not that morning. He had a bad feeling.

"Amber?" he whispered. "Wake up, Amber."

She moaned a little and her eyelids fluttered a little before she fully opened her eyes. She looked up and gasped. "Steve?"

"Mostly… I think. I need to check something first. Please get up and turn away."

She understood and propped herself up on one elbow, watching the door and wondering what was happening.

The boy's canvas sneakers bothered him, being too small. Luckily, he remembered to untie the laces before he fell asleep as a girl so they didn't cramp his feet too much. He easily slipped off the shoes and got up to lift the toilet lid. Leaving the seat down, he pulled down his jeans and panties and sat, letting his body do what it needed to do. After he finished, he finally worked up the nerve to look down… and gasped.

"What's wrong?" Amber asked, not daring to look.

He quickly finished his business, stood up to pull up his pants and flushed the toilet. "It looks like your mother was right. I might look like a boy but technically, I'm still a girl."

"What?!"

He hoped the old witch was asleep because he didn't have the patience or skill to explain everything with body language. He still looked mostly like a boy, for the time being, so he used male pronouns to refer to himself. It would be too confusing otherwise. And using male pronouns, he finally told Amber all about his curse — when it started and how it kept progressing until it looked like he'd slowly transition into a real girl on a permanent basis. He couldn't escape it now. He ended with the last details of how he met her parents and how they all worked together to find her.

"I'm so sorry, Amber," he added. "I suspected your parents. I suspected a lot of people of cursing me. But it looks like Morgan is the one who did it."

"Oh, Steve. I'm sorry too." She really was sorry. She was sorry for suspecting her parents and Steve for conspiring to make her love him. Sometimes truth really is stranger and harder to believe than fiction. "But why would Morgan curse you?" she asked. "It doesn't make sense."

"I don't know. Maybe she did it to somehow use me to get to you. Who knows how crazy people think?"

"Are you sure she's crazy?" Amber asked, realizing that she knew the answer when she really thought about it. Hearing how the old witch muttered to herself left no doubt about her sanity.

"That's what your parents told me, and that's what my gut tells me."

"Yeah," Amber agreed. "She's crazy."

Just then the door flew open, startling both teens.

"Who's crazy?" Morgan bellowed. "And where did that… that… boy come from?" She pointed a gnarled finger at Steve. Her hands and voice trembled with barely restrained fury.

Steve didn't know what to say to that. It didn't make sense that Morgan didn't recognize him. If she cursed him, she should know his face at least. He wanted to think about it more. He wanted to know! The answer seemed so close. He couldn't though. He had to keep his thoughts shallow and continue to try to keep Morgan off balance.

"Amber's parents know where we are. You're surrounded so give up peacefully." He just kept saying the first thing that popped into his head.

Morgan laughed. She laughed hard for a dozen or more seconds and it wasn't pretty.

"You amuse me, child," the woman said after she settled down. "There are no witches around for many miles, other than Amber here. But she's impotent." She got a strange look on her face after she spoke about impotence. Her magic sensed something very odd about the boy, something that didn't make sense. "Wait a minute. What is wrong with your aura? It looks like a rainbow. How is that possible? What are you?!"

"I guess you know I'm not a witch. But isn't it interesting that you can't explain me or how I got here? You're not as powerful as you think you are, witch. I got past your magic to reach your house and I can guarantee that I'm not the only one who knows where you live. You're going down, witch."

Morgan nearly frothed at the mouth as she screamed. With her magic, she pulled both teens from her bathroom and deposited them roughly on the hardwood floor.

The witch's eyes literally danced with fire as she shouted. "Tell me what you know, boy! Tell me or I'll skin you both alive!"

"Who are you calling a boy?!" He shouted. "I'm no boy!" Then he turned to Amber. "Sing something!"

"What? Sing?" The confused girl asked.

"Anything… Mary Had a Little Lamb! Twinkle Twinkle Little Star! Anything!"

Amber did manage to start singing. She sang the song that kept her going for the past twenty four hours of hell, the song that kept her from losing hope. She closed her eyes and sang. The first verse didn't mean much to Steve but the chorus certainly seemed relevant.

Dreams last so long
even after you're gone
I know you love me
And soon you will see
You were meant for me
And I was meant for you.

A bemused Morgan rolled her eyes and let the song continue for the moment. Her life had been dull and dreary and she had to admit that Amber had a lovely singing voice.

After the chorus finished, Steve tingled all over. He teetered on the edge of changing and shouted out to the kidnapper. "Now watch this! Amber is a witch, a powerful witch. She's going to change me. You were wrong about her. You've lost it, witch, and it's all crumbling to dust around you. Watch!"

Amber continued to sing and Morgan kept her eyes glued to Steve as he started to change.

Steve's body tingled and hummed, and after Amber had finished the second verse and repeated the chorus, he changed completely into Stephanie. Amber stopped singing, awed and amazed at the change.

The old witch looked shocked. "Impossible," she muttered. "No one can break my seal. No one!" She lashed out with her magic, pinning Stephanie to the floor while the house trembled. The floor buckled and moaned as thick, woody vines forced their between the boards from deep underground and twisted around Stephanie, holding her on her back and allowing Morgan to turn and concentrate on Amber.

"You've caused me no end of humiliation, girl. I don't know you managed that transformation but I'm going to make sure you don't do it again." She advanced on the frightened girl, who slowly backed away until she backed into a wall with nowhere to go.

"No!" Stephanie shouted, struggling in vain to get free of the vines.

Things looked hopeless, with Stephanie trapped and Amber helpless. But then something very strange happened. A very large snarling ball of fur appeared from behind the long drapes that covered the large front window. Stephanie's first thought was of Tabby, and she was right, though she didn't realize it. The size and species didn't match up with her memory.

The black cat had transformed into an angry black panther at some recent point in time and Morgan only barely caught it in mid leap with her magic before it could shred her with huge claws and long fangs.

With the panther suspended a couple feet off the ground and flailing helplessly in place, the witch turned back to Amber. "How?!" she squealed. "How are you doing this?! Your magic is leaking out all over the place!" She implied that Amber had somehow changed the cat into a panther, and she was right. She could easily tell when she felt Amber's signature trace of magic. She'd certainly stolen enough of it for herself over the past day.

The poor girl could only shrug, being frightened out of her wits and totally confused left her speechless.

Morgan paused and the craziness continued. The front door suddenly bowed in, looking like it would splinter and impale everyone on shards of wood. But just as suddenly, the door bowed out and ripped out of its frame, flying out of sight in only a few seconds.

Kate stood in the doorway wearing all black and a grim look on her face. "Keep away from my daughter, bitch," she snarled.

"Mrs. Jones!" Morgan shouted. "How did you find me?!" She slowly turned to look at Stephanie, finally recognizing her as the girl from last night. "You did this! Everything was fine until you showed up!" She sent lightning from her fingertips, intending to electrocute the girl but the energy just seemed to get sucked into her with no ill effects.

"That tickles," Stephanie said, laughing.

"Amazing what you can do with magic items these days, isn't it?" Kate said as she started walking towards the crazy old witch. The amulet that she'd given to Stephanie worked to protect the girl.

"Where's your wimpy husband?" Morgan asked, only slightly off balance by the neutralization of her lightning. "Trying to sneak in the back?" She already knew the answer and she pulled him sharply into the room, not bothering to properly open the back door that Cameron had been trying to open for the past five minutes. The man stood in the center of the living room, a little stunned but otherwise okay.

Morgan forced Kate back with a magic shield and laughed as she began casting a complex spell on Cameron. "Thanks for the idea, Stephanie," she said.

Stephanie, Kate and Amber all watched, horrified to see Cameron shrink in height and weight, looking more and more feminine as the seconds ticked by. His body developed curves and his clothes changed to fit his new body. He became a woman in less than a minute and he screamed in frustration.

"What do you think?" Morgan asked with a definite lilt, sounding more insane than ever. "I think she turned out quite well."

Stephanie kept pushing Morgan farther over the edge of sanity, thinking that the old witch would implode or something. The girl really didn't have a workable plan. She just tried to be unpredictable and hoped for the best. So far, the plan, or lack of one, wasn't working out very well.

Kate and Cameron had their own plan. Laden with magic items and enchantments from the Witch's Council, they tried a frontal assault, and like Stephanie, hoped for the best. With Cameron at least temporarily taken out of the fight, Kate pressed her attack, trying all of the usual offensive magic of fire, ice and lightning, all of which was absorbed by Morgan's shields. The attack was a wasted effort.

"Are you through?" Morgan asked after Kate exhausted the magic items along with her own magical reserves.

Kate didn't respond. She just panted and watched as her husband struggled to come to grips with his new body.

Cameron felt odd. Who wouldn't after suddenly having their sex changed? It was more than just the different body though. He, now she, desperately tried to re-establish a connection to the magical energy around her. She could feel it just beyond her grasp but she kept trying. She had to for Amber and her family.

The new woman came from a long line of powerful witches. The men in the family always had weak powers but the women could, on average, surpass her wife's impressive power. If only she could tap into it, she thought she might rival Morgan's power. She had to stop the crazy witch.

After looking around the room, watching Morgan pause for a moment of quiet gloating, she focused on her wife, and then her daughter. She felt her love for them and a spark caught fire in her brain, a spark that she fanned with the hope of life and love. It burst into a large bonfire and kept increasing in size until she finally had it. She reached out and tapped into the magic, and she felt like a high-voltage wire full of current.

Morgan turned to watch her, sensing a change in the woman's power level. She threw up a shield just in time as a lightning bolt shot out towards her. The lightning encircled the spherical shield, passing all around it, looking for any openings. But there were none. Cameron opened a channel within her, increasing the flow of energy until the light was painfully bright. Everyone shielded their eyes and still Morgan stood unfazed. After a full five minutes, the electrical energy began to wane. Cameron exhausted herself and fell to her knees, ending her attack. That was it. The Jones family threw everything they had at Morgan and they failed.

The old witch laughed hysterically for a short time and lapsed into several giggle fits. It took her a couple minutes to compose herself, and while she did, Stephanie finally thought to speak.

"Why, Morgan? Why are you doing this? Look into my eyes. You can see the truth in my eyes. You must know deep down that this all started over a misunderstanding. It's gone too far. You've got to stop!"

"What are you talking about?" the witch boomed as she walked over to look down at the girl, still held tight on the floor by vines. "I don't care. I don't care about any of this. I'm going to drain everyone's magic here and become the most powerful witch in history. No one will ever laugh at me again!"

"I think you need help," Stephanie said in a quiet voice. "This isn't right. It isn't nice. You're right that no one will laugh. Instead, they'll all pity you… or hate you."

"Shut up! Just… shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Nothing is more important than love. Who will love you if you keep this up? Please. Please stop."

Stephanie started crying, thinking of how awful it would be to live without love. No matter how much power or money or fame one had, it would never be enough without love.

"You have no magic to drain, pathetic girl," the old witch said. "And I can't fry you with magic. But I can get some small satisfaction of watching you suffer and die so I never have to listen to another word of your drivel." She twisted her fingers and watched as the vines tightened around Stephanie, slowly squeezing the life out of her.

Amber had watched everything up to that point, feeling completely paralyzed with fear. But when she saw the love of her life suffocating, something finally snapped inside. Stephanie's impassioned speech finally motivated her to action like nothing else. Her girlfriend's life would soon end, and with it, the chance for love. She had to act.

Desperate for a weapon of some sort, she looked everywhere, imagining all sorts of scenarios that never ended well. Trying to bash Morgan's head with a crystal ball, stabbing her with the wicked looking athame that lied on the mantel, everything she might use was too far away and required her to get too close. The powerful old witch would sense her if she got too close and the result would be the same. Amber would end up witnessing the death of her girlfriend.

She went around the room a second time and noticed something that she'd missed at first glance. Leaning against the lone chair in the room was a cane, a heavy wooden stick with a pewter handle. The chair and cane stood just a little out of line between her and Morgan. Perfect! She inched forward, holding her breath while watching Morgan's back. Closer and closer, she bent down and curled her fingers around the bottom end of the cane, slowly picking it up and preparing to swing it with both hands like a baseball bat. She inched forward again and when she got within range, she swung with all her might, and she surprised herself. She connected! The blunt, curved side of the handle hit the crazy old witch in the side of the neck, stunning her. The old woman slumped down, losing control of the strangling vine and losing consciousness.

Amber exhaled, after having held her breath the whole time. She felt a little light-headed but she smiled. She did it! She saved Stephanie! Then she looked down and saw her girlfriend's face turning blue. The vine still wrapped tightly around the girl's neck, choking her to death. She dropped down on her knees, clawing at the vine, but it was too strong. She couldn't break its hold! She cried out in anguish and her parents roused themselves.

Cameron felt too weak to use any magic on the vines. Instead, she joined her daughter, picking and clawing at the vine. Kate, also too drained of magic for the moment, tried a different tack. She went over to her daughter's large cat, still suspended in the air.

"Tabby?"

"Mrowww?"

"It is you! I thought so. I'm going to try pushing you down to Stephanie so you can chew through the vines. Hang on."

The woman pushed with all her might and got the panther close but she couldn't make it all the way. Her feet slipped, sending her to the floor and leaving Tabby to snap back twice as far and then swing back and forth as if held between two giant springs. That inspired an even better idea.

"Cam! Amber! Help me pull Tabby back!"

The three of them quickly pulled the black panther back as far as they could and let go, watching as Tabby shot forward and just managed to get her claws hooked into the woody vines. She held on and easily chewed into the vine that was strangling Stephanie, freeing the dying girl.

Stephanie coughed a few times as her face returned to its normal color.

Tabby continued chewing vines that held the girl's arms and legs and let go, zipping back and forth in the air to end up suspended in her original spot. Magic still held the panther but the girl was free and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Kate looked over to check on the old witch and spoke up first. "What do we do about Morgan? Tying her up won't stop her. Nothing will. Once she wakes up, we'll be right back where we started."

"I have an idea," Cameron said. "And I think Amber and Stephanie will like it. It starts with a kiss."

Stephanie sat up and the two girls smiled at each other. Following her father's direction, Amber walked over and kneeled by her girlfriend, planting a long, slow passionate kiss on her lips, and as the girls kissed, Cameron tweaked her daughter with magic, causing the girl to glow. Having the two teens kiss for the first time broke the seal on Amber's magic. When channeled properly, the power of love could overcome any dark magic.

"Now then, Honey," Cameron continued. "I need to borrow some of your magic. Since it's unsealed, I can access it and cast a certain spell that was recently cast on me. I paid close attention to how it worked on me. I should be able to reproduce it."

Amber agreed and the former man used her daughter's magic to cast the sex changing spell on the crazy witch, changing the old woman into an old man.

"I get it," Kate said. "Very clever, Husband. Morgan's magic should be considerably weakened now. We can manage her quite easily. I have just one question. How did Amber still have enough magic for you to cast the spell? I thought Morgan drained her."

"You need to study more and practice less, Dear," Cameron gently admonished, smiling. "Morgan handicapped herself by sealing Amber's magic. She made sure Amber couldn't use her magic, allowing a large amount to accumulate, but she could only drain it little by little through the seal. I'm sure she had it all planned out this whole time. She'd let our daughter store up a large amount of magic, kidnap her years later and use her like a magic battery to exact her revenge. She really is crazy."

~o~O~o~

With Morgan's power greatly weakened, it didn't take long to free Tabby. The black panther was held only by magic and the magic started dissipating right away after Morgan's sex change. Other changes weren't so easy to fix though. Physical changes were permanent unless reversed by more magic. That meant that Tabby and Cameron couldn't change back any time soon. Tabby couldn't change until Amber learned how to reverse it, and she wasn't sure how she did it in the first place so it wouldn't be reversed any time soon if at all. No one else could do it either, not without knowing how it was done. Cameron figured out the sex change spell but she didn't have enough power to overcome the amount of power that was used. That was another limitation. A spell could only be reversed if it was known how it worked and if enough power was used to overcome the original spell.

They called the Witch's Council in to take care of Morgan and his house. The Council wouldn't meddle directly in family affairs but they agreed to do that much, and it didn't take long, giving them all enough time to rest and recharge a little. They felt pretty good by the time they all left Morgan's house.

Stephanie and Amber held hands as the group walked back to their parked cars in the early afternoon sun. The two girls didn't say anything except with body language. They exchanged amused but silent reactions to the conversation between the two women walking behind them.

Cameron tried to keep a brave face as the occasional tear dribbled down her cheek. "Stupid hormones," she said, wiping her face with a sleeve.

"What's wrong, Dear?" Kate asked.

"Me! Us! How can we stay a couple now."

Kate smiled. "Oh. That," she said. "The subject never came up before, because it didn't have to, but I wouldn't worry too much."

"What do you mean?" Cameron looked at her with her eyes threatening a flood of tears.

Kate's heart nearly melted at her husband's display. She couldn't hold back the truth any longer. "I actually prefer you as you are, Dear. I'm sorry if that injures your male ego but it was your gentle, feminine nature that first caught my eye. That and the convenience for making children."

"Really? You're not just saying that?"

"No, I'm not just saying it. We have some shopping to do first. Then I'll show you just how much I still love you."

"Shopping?" Cameron looked worried.

"Yes, shopping. You might fit in some of my clothes but you're definitely going to need a bigger bra. I'd be envious if I didn't find you so attractive."

Cameron looked down at her breasts and blushed.

"Keep it up, Husband," she said with a wink. "You're driving me crazy."

"Kate! Not in front of the children."

Kate laughed. "Funny you should mention children, Husband. I was thinking that I'd like a fourth child, but now that isn't possible. At least it wouldn't be unless you cast a certain spell on me. I wouldn't mind seeing what it was like to be a man… for short periods of time… over and over and over if you catch my drift."

Cameron did catch her drift and the new woman's mouth hung open in shock.

Kate and the two girls laughed a short time until Amber spoke up. "The same goes for us, Dear," she told her girlfriend." You might not ever be able to change back to a male, but I'm sure I could change. I'd like a family — a family of witches — and it looks like there's only one way to make that happen."

Stephanie gulped and bravely gave her girlfriend a faint smile.

The couples split up between the two cars, with Amber riding with Stephanie. Tabby jumped in the back seat of the Hamblin's car and promptly fell asleep. Except for some exceptionally loud purring, the ride back to the Hamblin residence was quiet.

~o~O~o~

Everyone ended up at Stephanie's house and they all filed inside to find Sue asleep on the couch. Jack had gone off to work, not knowing what had been happening, but his wife stayed home to wait. She stirred when they came in but didn't wake up until Stephanie gently shook her shoulder

"Wake up, Mom," the girl said. "I'm back. We're back."

Sue woke up slowly at first. When she saw her daughter, she squealed with joy and bounced up for a hug. The hug turned into a group hug.

They all slowly drifted apart and sat on a chair or couch. Tabby headed for a sunny spot on the floor and curled up there, soon fast asleep. Sue noticed the panther and felt relieved when it fell asleep but she didn't say anything about its presence.

"Well?" Sue asked when they were all finally settled.

Stephanie filled her mother in on the events starting from the night before up until just before they left Morgan's house. She glossed over the part where Morgan very nearly killed her with the vines, not wanting to cause any more worry. She concluded her story with her inaccurate speculation about the source of her curse and watched for a reaction.

Sue smiled at first. Then she looked like she wanted to punish her daughter for worrying her. The look on her face subtly changed to direct her anger at Morgan and magic in general before ending with confusion. "So who cursed you?" she finally asked her daughter.

"Good question," Stephanie replied. "Who did curse me?" She turned to look at the Jones family.

Amber looked clueless. Kate looked pensive. But it was Cameron who spoke up.

"I believe I know the answer to that," the new woman said. She pointed to her daughter and said, "Amber."

"What?!" everyone except Cameron chorused.

"It was my amazing daughter," she continued. "Think about what Morgan said. Amber's magic was leaking out. She's the only one who could've changed Tabby from a house cat to a panther, she broke Morgan's magic seal and I'm certain that she caused Steve to change into a girl. Now that I've used her magic, I can see traces of it all over Stephanie."

"But how?! Why?!" Stephanie cried. "I don't understand!"

Amber started crying but didn't say anything. She just looked more and more confused and upset.

"My daughter's magic had been sealed but remember that there are always exceptions. With enough focus and enough love, anything is possible. I'm sure she didn't mean to do it," Cameron paused and looked at Amber, who shook her head to show that she didn't mean it, whatever it was. "But she is definitely capable of it. I'd guess that it was some sort of wish magic. Combined with love, wish magic is definitely the strongest there is. It's also the most unpredictable."

"My curse started like two years ago," Stephanie said. "Are you sure it was Amber?"

"Amber?" Cameron asked. "Can you remember making any serious wishes having to do with love?"

The girl blushed and nodded.

"Care to elaborate?" her feminine father pushed.

Amber kept looking at the floor as she spoke in a very quiet voice. "I did make a wish… about two years ago. I remember wishing that I could find a way that Steve and I could be together. It was soon after I admitted to myself that I only felt attracted to girls. I was sure that Steve would be perfect for me but I felt no physical attraction to him. So I made the wish." She looked up into Stephanie's eyes and added, "I'm so sorry!"

Stephanie looked back, her mind and emotions in turmoil. She felt Amber's love and tried to return it. But the look on her face only registered confusion and anger. She went through a lot of stress and anguish because of a selfish wish and it would take some time to come to terms with it.

Amber sensed the anger coming through loud and clear. She started crying again and leaped up out of Jack's recliner. She bolted for the front door and no one stopped her, though Tabby did wake up and trot after her through the open door. Sue got up and quietly shut the door to keep out the cold. She then turned and looked at her daughter who was already quickly on her way to her bedroom to cry in private.

~o~O~o~

Stephanie flopped down on her bed and had a good cry. She cried as she remembered all of the times she'd changed into a girl, all of the pain involved. It wasn't until she began to think about Amber that she stopped crying.

Her friend meant well. She wanted the two of them to be together so badly that she made a stupid wish, a wish that slowly got Steve used to being a girl. It took a long time — two years! — but she did get used to it. She even started enjoying it, as of late. She loved shopping. She loved trying on new clothes, girls clothes. She loved wearing girls clothing. Was being a girl so bad then? Could she be one permanently, for Amber? She didn't really have a choice about it being permanent, or at least having it last a very long time, assuming Amber could eventually learn how to undo it.

She still wasn't sure so she thought she'd see what her radio had to say on the matter. The songs that popped up always seemed relevant to her current situation. She sat up and slapped at the button to turn on her clock radio and listened as a song began to play.

I'm wide awake

The first line repeated several times, reinforcing the fact that she finally had all the answers. She just had to make sense of them all. The song continued with her hanging on every word. The first verse mentioned about being in the dark, not seeing everything for what it was, dreaming for so long. Those words pretty much summed up the past two years for her so she continued to listen.

I wish I knew then
What I know now
Wouldn't dive in
Wouldn't bow down

She wasn't sure that she did wish she knew then what she knew now, at least not all of it. It would make a big difference but she was sure that she would've confronted Amber and her family and tried to get the curse lifted. She decided that it might have been better — more bearable — if she'd only known that Amber had truly loved her but wasn't attracted to boys. It might have made her more likely to give girlhood a better chance.

The song continued with some of the words repeating before working more magic. She listened on to hear the last verse.

Thunder rumbling
Castles crumbling
I am trying to hold on
God knows that I tried
Seeing the bright side
But I'm not blind anymore…

The chorus and the words, "I'm wide awake" continued on, leaving her mind humming. She grasped for meaning in the last verse. She was trying to hold on, hold on to love by being a girl. And she had been trying to see the bright side to being a girl. Her increasingly longer times spent as a girl helped. She developed an appreciation for clothes and shopping. She liked romance novels and romantic comedy movies.

The last line of the verse shouted to her. It was true. She wasn't blind anymore. She knew the truth behind the curse. It was accidental but based purely on love. It was a cry for love.

Stephanie finally noticed her cheeks, wet with tears and she got up to delicately dab at her face with a tissue. She did like being a girl. She did. And she loved Amber. If only Amber were there to share the moment. She'd kiss Amber and everything would be perfect. If only….

~o~O~o~

A week later, Steve sat with Greg and Dan during their school lunch hour, trying to think of a way to tell them that he was starting to transition into a girl. Actually, he was already a girl where it counted and the rest of his body would follow suit with all the female hormones coursing through his body so he had to tell them eventually. But not yet, not until he started looking more feminine.

With Amber's parents' help, he was able to get doctor's note to get out of his physical education class. That made things much easier for him since he definitely no longer felt comfortable in the boys locker room. There was no way he could shower with the other boys. Getting out of P.E. might also be a good subject to help him bring up his transition to his friends. He'd already given half an answer to Dan, who missed playing volleyball with him in class. He mentioned the doctor's note, though he implied it was only a temporary situation.

It would be awkward and a little sad to say good bye to his male self, but he actually looked forward to it. It would be a nice way to end his curse and stop bouncing back and forth between two genders. He'd eventually be all girl, either with Cameron's sex change spell or with the end result of the curse, and as a girl, she'd be happy, or mostly happy. His girl self, Stephanie, still waited for one last, very important piece of the puzzle to slip into place. And that piece just happened to be approaching him.

"Hello Steve," Amber said, emphasizing his male name in a mocking way when she got close enough to be heard over the din of clinking plates and dozens of loud voices.

"Hey Amber," he responded, wondering what she was up to.

"Well? Are you going to avoid me the rest of the school year or what?"

"Avoid you?! What the f…!" He almost slipped up but his training kicked in and he caught himself.

Greg and Dan watched the two with great interest. They sensed something important was about to happen between them so they remained where they were for a ring side seat.

"I'll wait for you as long as I can but I can't promise you I'll wait forever." A faint smile played on her lips. She was definitely teasing and testing him. She'd been watching and waiting for him to approach her but he still had too much boy in him. He was still a little dense when it came to girls and she was tired of waiting.

"I'm… moving as fast as I can," he told her. "If you wait, I promise it'll be worth it." He meant his female mix of hormones and his slow feminization, of course, but he couldn't be explicit with his friends listening.

"Oh?" Amber said, raising one beautiful slender eyebrow. "Is that some kind of lame I.O.U.?"

"Nothing lame about it, my sweet. I promise you more than just the moon and the stars and I guarantee prompt delivery."

"I don't know. Sounds like all talk to me."

"Who else would agree to bear your children? Who else is man enough to do that?"

Amber nearly broke character then, barely stifling a giggle. She took a short moment to collect herself and dove back into it. "I'm sure I could find a surrogate mother somewhere if I had to. What else ya got?" She tried speaking with Jersey accent but failed miserably, causing Steve to stifle some giggles of his own.

Greg and Dan grinned as they watched the display. They didn't know exactly what any of the details meant but they knew flirting when they saw it, and they knew where it would lead.

"I've got a certain little magic trick that I know you like," Steve continued. "I know because you gave it to me." He waggled his eyebrows and Amber did lose it. Both of them did.

After a minute of trading giggles back and forth, Amber recovered first and spoke. "I accept your terms and I'll be paying you a visit at your house after school. Don't be late." She exaggerated the sway to her hips as she walked away, mesmerizing Steve and the two boys.

"I don't know what that was about," Dan said. "But I liked it. Congratulations, man. Way to finally get your girl."

"Oh," Steve said. "You don't know the half of it."

~o~O~o~

Steve packed his large red suitcase full of Stephanie's clothes, wondering what his mother and Amber were up to. He didn't plan on going all girl anytime soon. He wanted to enjoy what was left of his boyhood for the next few months at the very least. But he gave in to their request. He liked surprises after all.

As he walked downstairs, carrying the suitcase, his father, Jack, grunted good bye to him from the living room. The man was still clueless about his son's true gender but that was okay. Stephanie and her mother would make him understand, or not. It didn't really matter because nothing would stop Stephanie. Nothing could.

"Bye Dad," Steve said as he fought the large suitcase out the front door of the house. "Love you!"

Jack didn't respond to the last thing Steve said and didn't seem to notice. He was too busy watching a football game on television.

The suitcase occupied too much of Steve's attention so he didn't see Sue and Amber whispering to each other in a suspicious manner. They stopped whispering when he got close.

"The trunk is open," Sue told him. "Throw your suitcase in the back and hop in."

"Fine," he said. "Just a sec."

He opened the hatchback and hefted the suitcase in the trunk. Then he got in the back seat of his mother's car. "Are you ready to tell me what all of this is about?" he asked.

"Just as soon as we hit the freeway," Sue said.

Five minutes later, accelerating up the freeway onramp, Amber finally turned around holding a small cardboard sign. The sign was held with the words facing down so Steve couldn't read it. She handed it to him and told him, "Go ahead. Read the sign."

He flipped it around to see that it read, "Girls Only Road Trip."

He was about to protest when his mother fed a CD into the car's stereo and he heard a song start playing with a woman singing.

I come home in the morning light
My mother says when you gonna live your life right
Oh mother dear we're not the fortunate ones
And girls they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun

"Oh, come on!" Steve said. "This isn't fair!"

The second verse finished and Amber and Sue sang along with the chorus until the words started seeping into Steve's mind where they worked their magic.

That's all they really want
Some fun
When the working day is done
Girls - they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun

Steve silently sang along with his mother and girlfriend in his mind and the tingling began. By the time the chorus repeated, he changed completely and sang out loud in a clear soprano voice.

Stephanie smiled as she jammed the cardboard sign into the the corner of the window so it could be read from outside the car. It was going to be an interesting — and fun — road trip. Of that she had no doubt.

*** The End ***

Playlist for Part 4

10. In the Dark by Dev
11. You Were Meant for Me by Jewel
12. Wide Awake by Katy Perry
13. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper

~o~O~o~

 © 2012 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.