---

Author's Note:Guess who's back. I'm not just talking about me either. So I had a bit of the dreaded Writer's Block with my Misty story. I promise to get back to that as soon as I can but right now I'm going to give everyone a story they've been asking for. That's right, its the return of Kelly. We don't exactly pick up where her last tale left off but its really close. You might want to read Season of the Witch before this one as it is a direct sequel.I'd like to thank djkauf for the excellent editing.~Enemyoffun.

---

 
 
Chapter 1:
 

“Are you a good witch or…”

That’s the question of the hour.

I hit the pause button; the image on the flatscreen froze. I couldn’t help but sigh heavily, tossing the remote onto the cushion next to me. Looking at the screen, seeing Glinda the Good frozen in mid-sentence gave me some warm comfort. I couldn’t remember how many times Jess had gotten me to watch that stupid movie. She had a bit of love for Wizard of Oz, what with her being a witch after all. I vividly remembered her saying more than once “That’s going to be me some day”, pointing at the pink clad witch on the screen. I could also remember being jealous. Not of being in pink of course but of the possibility that she would be able to use magic and I would not.

Oh, how things change.

I reached for the remote, allowing my hand to hover over it before I actually picked it up. I wasn’t sure if I was really in the mood for the Wizard. Jess used to watch it from time to time, especially when she was feeling like shit. She said it cheered her up. I thought it might help me get out of my funk but so far, things were only going from bad to worse. I knew life wasn’t going to be easy but I never thought things were going to be so bad, especially when everything seemed like it was finally turning around.

I was a bump on the wall before, a barely there that no one noticed or cared about. Then I went to Ravencrest and everything changed. My stupid cousin cast a spell on me; it turned me from nobody Dud Kelly into super witch Kelly. Ok, so not Super Witch per se, but it unlocked my true potential. A potential that cause nothing but problems from Day One. Stalked by crazy cultists, tricked by fake friends, life fell apart fast. It took burning down a nightclub and being stabbed by my evil boyfriend to make me realize how important life truly was. After that, I wanted to grab life by the balls as it were and finally start living. We came back home to California and I thought I could finally live a little.

I was wrong.

I wanted to fall back into some kind of normal but that didn’t really work in my favor. As per the plan, I went to my best friend first. Tommy and I had been really close as kids. We had a bit of a misunderstanding in middle school though. After he went through puberty and I did not, I thought he was abandoning me to hang out with the bully who’d been terrorizing us for years. In truth, it was all part of his plan to protect me. A plan that eventually led to us rekindling our dead friendship. Then I went to Ravencrest. When I came home, he was the first one I sought out. I was a little apprehensive about talking to him but I needed to confide in someone about what happened, someone who I thought and knew could handle it.

Tommy cracked under the pressure.

I’m not sure if he thought I was nuts or if he just thought I was some kind of freak. Our conversation in The Square went Ok but things were kind of different after that. I tried to hang with him afterwards but it was usually us sitting around in awkward silence. It was hard to find something to have in common when one of us is not only a girl but a witch as well. I have to give him some props though; he handled the whole magic thing quite well. After our talk in The Square, I brought him back home for dinner and my rents laid down the law to him. I don’t think they were too happy I told him everything, but I needed someone to confide in. After they made him swear on pain of death not to tell anymore, things were good.

That is until school started a few days after that. Dad cleared everything with the higher ups. As far as they were concerned, I had been one very confused girl. That’s right: girl. Dad used a great deal of persuasion and a tiny bit of magic to convince them that I had always been his daughter and that; I was just going through a very severe tomboy stage. The school eventually bought it but my peers weren’t so forgiving. Lots of nasty rumors started to spread. Some labeled me as a transgendered freak, others a Lesbo. Others simply just kept their distance for fear that I might infect them with something. In the end, I became more of a pariah than I was before. It didn’t help that Tommy turned his back on me too. After the second day of school, he just stopped coming around.

I guess I couldn’t blame him. Hanging with me was social suicide.

So here it was two weeks later---me the pariah----hiding in the Den.

The light flicked on, blinding me out of my thoughts. I cursed, shielding my face from it. I heard feet on the stairs and a second later, my sister appeared at the bottom of them. She crossed her arms and frowned at me. To look at her, you could barely tell the two of us were related. Jess resembled Mom: with her long reddish brown hair and green eyes where I took after Dad with my blonde hair and blue eyes. Jess was also very active, outspoken and courageous. College life had done nothing to hinder that activity either. She was active in several clubs and was a sorority sister. I couldn’t help but snort at that last one. It made me shiver a bit too. When I asked her if there were vampires in it, she laughed but told me all about the others.

Jess went to Mumford. It was a small college most people had never heard of. It was in Northern Cali and catered mostly to the Unseen. Sure Norms could go there but the Unseen population outweighed the Norms like 3 to 1 or something.

“Tell me you’re not moping in the dark again, sis?”

Jess was getting a thrill out of calling me sis. We were never all that close back when I was a boy, mostly my fault. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was a bit jealous of her. Plus her outgoing personality clashed drastically with my gamer geek loner persona. A few days after we returned home from Ravencrest, Jess was there. She practically rushed into the house and threw herself at me. My folks practically had to use a crowbar to pry me out of the hug. From that moment on, Jess tried to get home whenever possible. She apparently decided it was her God Given Duty to turn me into the perfect girl. I’m not talking about dresses and makeup. I’m talking about making sure my life and soul were adjusted to the “New Me”---her words, not mine. I think she secretly wanted a little sister too.

I snatched up the remote and shut off the movie before she saw what I was watching. Jess came into the room with that energetic stride of hers, dropping onto the couch next to me. It was the weekend so I hadn’t bothered to dress this morning. Instead of the usual bed pants I wore, I’d taken to wearing an old t-shirt and some boy shorts. The shorts were one of Jess’s ideas. She said it would help me adjust better. I quickly pulled my legs up onto the couch, sitting with my knees at my chin. Jess ran a finger along my hairless leg, making sure I’d shaved this morning. I shuddered at the touch. Then flinched when that very same hand went to my head, ruffling my hair.

“I really wish you hadn’t cut it,” she said, frowning.

One of the first things I did when I got back, after gutting my bedroom of course was to get a haircut. Having the long hair was fine in Ravencrest because no one knew me there but it was going to be really hard to explain how it got so long in only a few weeks. So it was a decision based on reality more than anything. One my sister protested too but I was more than happy to change. Now my hair was cut short, about the same length as boy me but styled more like a girl. I’m not sure what the hell they called the cut but it was so much easier to take care of.

“I like it like this” I said, batting away her hand.

She pouted. “I wanted to braid it.”

“Why are you here?” I asked, changing the conversation.

She scoffed. “I came to see my little sis.”

I knew that was a lie. For the last two weekends, Jess had been here. I couldn’t remember the last time she’d ever wanted to be home that much. Even during vacation time from school.

I raised an eyebrow, questioning her true motive.

“Ok” she confessed. “Mom was worried. Frankly, I am too. I thought we agreed that loner, dork boy was gone?”

He was gone, at least for the most part.

Jess had helped a great deal with that. For starters, she had helped redecorate my room. Not that I didn’t like all the action figures and comic posters. She felt they were a little boyish and more importantly, a tad childish too. A small part of me actually agreed with her. We spent my first weekend back taking them all down, boxing them up and putting them in the attic. She then helped me girlify things a bit. We painted my room a light blue, changed the curtains and some furniture. We moved one of her spare mirrors onto one of my walls and hung some nice prints. She even donated a crap ton of her old clothes that no longer fit. I took and shoved most of that stuff in the closet, except the jeans. I was beginning to really like the cut of girl’s jeans, especially the skinny leg ones. There was just something about them that made me feel that extra bit feminine.

“Loner boy is gone,” I said, reassuringly.

“Then what’s the deal?”

I sighed. Damned if I knew. I’d been in a great big funk lately. It wasn’t just school either. It was life in general. Sure, I’d been through a lot of huge changes but it was more than that. I couldn’t really place my finger on it but I had this strange feeling that here should be more. Sure, I was a girl now and a witch but everything else seemed kind of normal. Was I bored? Did I miss running around, getting chased by cult members and psychopaths? Did I miss arguing with Mary, laughing with Maggie and Misty? Did I miss Ravencrest?

Jess nudged me. “I know that look.”

“You do?”

She nodded. “You know what I do when I’m bummed?”

I groaned. Here it comes.

“It’s called Retail Therapy.”

Shit, how did I know she was going to say that?

“Definitely this one”

The “this one” in question was a scrap of denim that I think might have been a skirt at some point in its small life. What it was now I had no idea. What I did know was that it was never going anywhere near my body. The look I gave my sister was enough for her to know it too. She quickly put the article back on the rack and went to more sensible offerings, chuckling all the way. I guess I couldn’t really blame her. This was probably the greatest bit of payback ever for her. It was her retribution for all those horrible years I spent tormenting her.

“How about this one?” she asked, coming back with a more sensible looking one.

Sure, it was still a skirt but it was still much too small for me.
“Not on your life.”

“Kel, you’ve got great legs…you should show them off.”

I was “showing them off” in a nice pair of jeans. My mother helped me pick out these jeans. They were nice and sensible. They were a lot better than whatever it was my sister was wearing. I’d never understand how mixing a skirt with leggings was supposed to be in style now. A lot of the girls at my school were dressing like that too. I mean where did it say that something like that even looked remotely good. I thought my sister above all that but I guess I sadly underestimated her.

“The day I wear either of those skirts is the day you shave your head.”

We both laughed.

It might not have seemed like it but we were having a good time. Jess was right; this Retail Therapy was really helping me get over my grumpy mood. Besides her two skirt choices, we did have a nice selection of outfits to go with. I couldn’t help but laugh at that term. Who would have thought a few months ago that I would be in a teen boutique picking out clothes---outfits no less----with my sister. What was the world coming to?

Jess dragged me over to shoes. I tried to protest, telling her I had enough but she insisted. I tried to pretend I was interested but I really wasn’t. You can take me shopping for clothes no problem but shoes. Why go shopping and buy something that you only need one pair of? I mean Jess has at least twelve pairs; my mother has enough to supply a small country. Before---as a boy----I might have had two pairs. Now I already had four. There was no reason I needed anymore.

“These?”

“No”

“How about these?”

“Not a chance”

Jess sighed. “We were having fun weren’t we?”

“I’m having loads. I just don’t see the need to buy more shoes than you need.”

She relented.

We left the boutique with lighter wallets. Jess seemed giddy with our purchases, me I was indifferent as usual. Clothes were clothes. Sure, I liked my jeans but I wouldn’t go out of my way and blow my entire paycheck on them. Jess on the other hand, I’m pretty certain she’d blown numerous paychecks on clothes. Thinking about money made me feel a little down again. Dad was already starting to gripe about expenses. It was one thing to pay for Jess’s college and whatever she needed but we were spending a small fortune on me now. It cost a lot of money to redo a bedroom and buy a whole new wardrobe.

As we were leaving the boutique, I couldn’t help but scan the numerous storefronts around us. I wonder which one of them were hiring?

Jess caught me looking. “You don’t want to work here.”

“Why not?”

“Trust me.”

Jess had her first job here in this mall. I guess she was the voice of wisdom. It was kind of funny what only a couple of months does to a person. Before I never would have thought about getting a job but now I couldn’t help but feel a little more responsible. Maybe changing genders really was the best thing that could have happened to me.

We left the mall shortly after that. Jess tried to talk me into staying but I really wanted to do some shopping on Main Street. Sure, I liked the mall for its variety but Main Street had a lot of the little shops that I liked to frequent too. Besides The Box was there too. The last time I’d been in there was the day when all the shit hit the fan. It had been right before I was supposed to go to Ravencrest---the legit way. I went in there to browse the new selection and shortly after that, my life, as I knew it was over. A small part of me was itching to get back there. I wanted to be somewhere familiar; somewhere I could be myself, regardless of the gender.

When we hit the parking lot, Jess was still in pretty high spirits.

“You want to drive?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.”

In California the driving age was fifteen but I spent the whole of last year procrastinating. Now that I was sixteen and home, it was starting to nag at me. Life was starting to nag at me actually. I wanted to explore every bit of it. Well I did. Now I was in a rut again. Losing Tommy and burning out at school kind of destroyed any ambition I might have had before. Now I was just content to let other people drive and sit beside them---the passenger seater for life.

“I can teach you.”

I almost took her up on that offer but I didn’t feel confident enough for that. Jess was a great driver but I could only imagine how she would be as a teacher. She had offered to do the same with my magic as well. Now that I was no longer in Ravencrest and without a teacher, I was sorta stuck on the whole magic front. Mom of course had Jess to teach and our closest relative was a great aunt, on my father’s side. She was a Norm too, knew nothing of magic. Mom said she made a call and that the nearest Coven was looking for someone but in the meantime I was prohibited from even thinking about magic. Ok that wasn’t true but I definitely wasn’t allowed to use it. It was against the rules to use unsanctioned and unsupervised magic at my age.

I could only imagine the shit storm I caused back in New York.

“So where too now” she asked as soon as we got into the car.

“Can we hit Main Street?”

Jess smiled big. “I like where your mind is going sis.”

Main Street and The Square was a short ten minute drive from the mall. I spent the whole drive trying to work up the courage to actually walk into The Box. When we finally arrive, Jess pulled up in front of Carson’s instead. I turned toward the restaurant, looking at the crowd of people already inside. A crowd that consisted of a lot of my classmates. One of whom was Tommy. He was sitting with a group of kids from one of the sports teams. I’d heard that he was trying out for Soccer so I’m guessing those were some of the guys on the team. I felt a small bit of jealousy. I thought Tommy was different, I thought he would be able to see past me and see me. Ok that made no sense. I wanted him to see that I was still the same me I was before all this---just a little different now.
But he was just like the rest of them.

As soon as we got to the entrance, my feet turned to lead. I think Jess sensed my apprehension but she gave me the extra little shove I needed. I took a deep breath before opening the door and stepping inside. You know what, the building didn’t implode. Sure, a few of them looked my way but no one said anything. I let out my breath as we made our way to the counter. Tara Brown was the girl there. She was in my English class. She gave me a little longer look but said nothing. Well nothing except what she had to say.

“Welcome to Carson’s. Can I take your order?”

I got a shake and some fries, Jess got one of their cheeseburger combos. While we waited for our food, I couldn’t help but scan the gathered masses. The place was pretty full today, only a few empty tables and one booth left. As my eyes scanned the crowd, I caught them going to Tommy again. He and his new friends were laughing about something. He looked happy. He shouldn’t look happy. He blew me off, if anything he should be upset. He lost his friend, why wasn’t he upset. I felt a tingle in my fingers, a twitch in my gut. My blood started to boil, my face got hot. WHY WASN’T HE UPSET? Black lightning started to dance across my fingertips.

My hatred flared. I shot daggers at Tommy. I wanted to shoot something else at him, too.

Suddenly I felt a gentle hand grab my own. I looked to see Jess, her hand tightly holding mine. Her warmth and caring killed whatever rage that was building inside of me. As soon as the tingling stopped and hot pain died down, I could think straight again. As soon as I realized what almost happened, I cursed. I’d almost done it again and this time there were people around to see.

“It’s ok” said Jess, holding my hand and our food on a tray. “Let’s sit.”

She led me to the booth. Luckily, for Tommy, it was on the other side of the place.

I sat with my back to him. If I couldn’t see him then I couldn’t try to fry him.

“I’m sorry,” I said, wanting to cry.

The first time I was lucky there was no serious damage done. It was after my first day of school. After everyone had been assholes to me all day. I got home and I lost it when my mother asked me how my day was. The force of the blast knocked over all the furniture in the living room, cracked our front window and sent my mother on her butt. It was only a little burst too. I had only felt a little tingling then and there hadn’t been any lightning on my fingers. I could only imagine what today would have been like if Jess hadn’t been there.

“You want to tell me about it?”

I shook my head but told her anyway. “What gives him the right to be happy? I’m his friend. He shouldn’t be happy, he should be miserable like me. I mean, he ditched me. He was supposed to understand, he was supposed to be there….be my friend.”

I felt it again. My skin was starting to tingle. Jess gently touched my hand and the tingling stopped.

“Sweetie, he is your friend. He’s just a little scared right now. How would you feel if your best friend turned into a girl and then told you magic was responsible?”

“But I know about magic, it wouldn’t scare me.”

“Sure but you’re not a Norm like him.”

I opened my mouth to say something contradicting her but she was right. I sometimes forget that this isn’t Ravencrest. Ninety nine percent of the people here are Norms. If any of them actually knew about the real world around them, they’d probably piss themselves. It was a scary thing. It was also the reason that we kept ourselves hidden from them. Bad things tended to happen when Norms found out about us. So what do I do: I go and tell the first Norm I know? How freaking stupid was that? It pissed me off that I was so naíve and that he was so ignorant.

“You’re right,” I admitted, sighing.

“Of course I am,” she said, taking one of my fries.

We sat in silence while we ate or rather while I tried to keep Jess from eating my fries. In the middle of our “fight”. We let more than a few fall on the floor. My sister was such a pig sometimes. I sighed then bent to pick them up. As I was doing so, I took a tiny peek back to look at Tommy. I promised myself I wasn’t going to get angry. Unfortunately he was gone. However I did catch eyes with someone else. There was a girl sitting at the booth behind where Tommy was. I’m not sure why I didn’t notice her before, I guess I wasn’t really looking. I was now and I had to say she was hard to miss. She was the type that stood out. Long dark hair, straight bangs, much more dark eye makeup. Her clothes were tight too, her shirt cut to show off her chest, her skirt shorter than I thought possible. What the hell kind of trap was this?

The creepiest thing about her though was the way she seemed to be staring at me. It was not the look of a someone staring at a stranger. It was the look of someone staring at another person they knew or at least wanted to know. It was a hungry, lustful look---thank God. It was more of an “I see you” type look. Very creepy. It sent shivers down my spine and for some reason I couldn’t stop staring at her. I wasn’t mesmerized or anything, intrigued maybe but not like I wanted to be her friend.

I finally broke the gaze. The girl gave me a slight smile, her plum colored lips curling ever so slightly.

I picked up the fallen fries.

“You there space cadet?” asked Jess, touching my shoulder, causing me to jump.

“Jeez” I snapped, shaken from my trance.

“Jumpy, you’re not going to pop again are you?”

I stuck my tongue out at her. “No, just creeped by that girl over there”

Jess didn’t look. “You mean The Scary Sherry” She scoffed. “That girl wants to look sinister but she’s full of a lot of hot air.”

“I hate girls like that”

As soon as those words came out of my mouth, I caught sight of another type of girl I hated. Becky Raulings to be exact. She was the female equivalent of George Davis. But whereas George was of the threatening variety, Becky was the Queen Bee. Blonde, big breasted and popular, she ruled the school with kindness while secretly sucking the life out of it. Ok, that last bit was probably an exaggeration but after my few run ins with her, it was close to the truth. Much like George, Becky seemed to find me the newest target of her torment. She even went out of her way to find me, which was creepy on so many levels. I’d report her for stalking if she didn’t already have most of the administration in the school eating out of her hand. It also didn’t help that her father was the Superintendent.
As I was taking fries to the trash, she went out of her way to slam her shoulder into mine.

“Watch it, He She Freak.”

It was one of her clever little insults she made up for me.

Her two clones---Amber and Courtney---snickered and sneered along with their boss.

Fucking lemmings.

After the day I was having, I definitely wasn’t in the mood for Becky.

“What’s the matter Beck?” I said, making sure I could be heard by those close by. “Afraid that I make a better girl than you do?”

A couple of the guys at a nearby table laughed. Even Amber snickered before Becky shot her an evil glare.

“You little…” Becky’s anger flared. She nearly lost it in front of her adoring fans.

She kept her cool and did the next best thing. She took the shake from one the laughing asses and threw its contents at me. I got hit full on with chocolate. I can’t say that I didn’t deserve it but I kind of did. I was stunned for a second then the anger started. There was a lot of laughing. Becky puffed up, taking pride in her work. People like her made me sick to my stomach. I could have reached, I could have decked her. Hell I wanted to barbecue her ass. Instead, I decided to be the better woman. I smiled, took the cup from her hand and drank the last of it in one gulp. It was a bold move but one that had just as much merit as her own. It showed in one quick swoop that I wasn’t afraid of her.

Becky looked like she wanted to pop again.

She almost did too but was stopped when the Manager suddenly appeared.

“You” he snapped, pointing at Becky. “I saw that. So did my security cameras. Make another move and you’re banned for life. Now get the hell out of here before I call the cops.”

Becky huffed. She stomped her foot like a spoiled child and turned in one quick motion. Her Clones followed suit. Halfway to the door though, there was a crack. I turned just in time to see the heel on one of her shoes snap and her stumble to the floor. I gasped, not sure what happened but when she hit the ground, I couldn’t help but feel gratified somehow. That is until I saw Jess giving me daggers. I think she thought I was somehow responsible. I shook my head, trying to look as innocent as possible. A moment later, the room erupted in laughter. All the laughing faces made me feel good but not satisfied. No one deserved humiliation, not even the ones who regularly dished it out.

I sighed then walked over, reaching to help her to her feet.

“Get away freak,” she snapped, swatting my hand away.

That only made people laugh more, everyone that is but The Scary Sherry girl. She sat there, silently sipping her drink. The corners of her mouth turned up slightly though.

“Fine, stay on the floor” I said, pissed that she couldn’t even be human enough to ask for help.

I left there and stormed off toward the bathroom. I stopped myself from going into the Men’s at the last second. I cursed and went right to the sink. I grabbed as many paper towels from the dispenser as I could, wetting them and trying to get the shake off my shirt. I wasn’t doing so good. As I was trying desperately to scrub, I saw the door open behind me in the mirror. I half expected to see Jess but it was a girl about my age. She was there too, out there but not laughing like the others. She had been in a corner booth, hiding from them it seemed. I would be too if I had hair the color she had: light purple and dressed like my cousin.

“Talk about a total mess” she said quietly.

“Its nothing” I said “I’ve had worse.”

“I was talking about Queenie actually,” she said with a smile, the piercing under her bottom lip highly noticeable now. “You showed her though.”

“Me?”

Did she think I caused Becky to trip? Oh crap, oh crap.

“Yeah, telling her off like that. Then drinking that shake. God that was amazing. Wish I could do something like that when I wanted.”

I sighed. “Years of being tormented.”

And knowing how to deal.

“Still it was awesome” she said, before moving into one of the stalls and shutting the door.

Before the door closed all the way, I caught sight of the coolest tattoo on her calf: it was a purple flower, slowly weaving its way up. I knew those flowers well. It was a hyacinth; Mrs. Braddock had them all over her back garden and in her house. I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of it before trying desperately to get the rest of the shake off.

I stopped after a few minutes, my task slightly successful. The purple haired girl was long gone now. I even smiled at her when she left. I finally admitted defeat too, exiting the bathroom to find Jess looking anxiously toward the door. She seemed to sigh in relief when I walked out and headed toward her.

“What a bitch” she said when I got to the table. “I so wanted to deck her.”

“She’s a nothing”

“You’re braver than I am. You don’t deal with that all day do you?”

I shrugged. Jess squeezed my hand, giving me a sympathetic smile.

“Lets get out of here, I’m all shopped out” I nodded. “You toss the crap, I’ll hit the ladies then we can go.”

I nodded as she slid out of the booth and headed to the bathroom. I started gathering everything to put on the tray when I noticed something written on one of the napkins. It definitely gave me pause: You owe me one now, I’ll collect later. The message sent a chill up my spine. I looked around to see who might have left it but there was no one around. I scanned the collection of faces, most from before were still there except for two: the Scary Sherry girl and the purple haired girl from the bathroom.

Did one of them leave this note and why?

Jess arrived a moment later. “You ok?”

I crumpled the napkin and stuffed it in my pocket. “Yep good” I said, smiling.

“Then let’s go.”

I took the tray and carried it to the trash. I couldn’t help but look over at the table where the creepy girl had been sitting. Thinking about her just made me shiver. I shook it off as we left the restaurant. I couldn’t help but think one thing as we headed to the car though. Here I thought home was going to be boring and nothing like Ravencrest at all.

Boy was I wrong.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

---

Author's Note:Ch.2, right on schedule so far. Here's hoping my muse seems to think that way. I'd like to thank djkauf for the excellent editing.~Enemyoffun.

---

 
 
Chapter 2:
 

“Are you girls going into town again today?”

Jess and I were in the basement again. I was vegging on the couch; Jess was over in the corner doing some yoga. We had started the morning doing that crap together but I wasn’t as limber as she was. She was trying to help me take better care of myself. She was convinced that yoga was one of the better ways to do that. Besides, she said it helped with the whole concentration thing. I think it was her unofficial way of helping me with my magic. Though she was forbidden to teach me because she was still technically a Novice, she was secretly taking it upon herself to give me some pointers. I think it kind of bummed her out that she couldn’t mold me into the super witch that she claimed to be.

I think it upset her that the Coven around here was so single-minded.

Mom came to the bottom of the stairs when neither of us responded.

“Kelly, are you just going to veg all day?”

I shrugged. “Sunday”

Mom gave me one of her looks. It was the same one she gave Dad when he was being lazy. It was the same one she used to give me when I would sit all day in my room playing computer games. She was right, too. I had promised myself that when I got home I was going to try to be a different person, a better person than I was before. I didn’t want to be that same lump I was before the change. Tommy rejecting me though, and the others treating me worse than before kind of smashed all those dreams. It didn’t help matters that Jess and Misty were pushing me to do better. I’d been keeping in touch with my Ravencrest friends via Skype. Whereas Maggie tried to cheer me up the best she could, Misty was convinced I needed to do something active with my life. She suggested running. I actually bought the stuff for it but I just didn’t have the drive to go out and do it.

Mom sat on the edge of the couch, taking the remote from my hands. “Honey, are you all right?” She looked over at my sister, who was in her own little word, no doubt hiding in her iPod. “Your sister told me about yesterday.”

Of course she did. I completely forgot that Jess was Mom’s little spy. It was probably the real reason she wanted to hang with me so much these days.

“Don’t you dare blame your sister” said Mom, doing that freaky thing where she somehow knew what I was thinking. “She was worried about you. I’m worried, too. Your life hasn’t been easy these last few months.” Mom took my hand and gave it a good squeeze. “I’m afraid that…”

I sighed, pulling my hand from hers. “I’m fine Mom. It’s everyone else that’s having a problem.”

Ok, so half truth. I wasn’t fine but I wasn’t depressed either. I was disappointed and a little pissed actually. Not at them but at me. I was falling into the same rut as before. I was the same stupid naíve kid. Here I thought life was going to be different just because I was different now. Sure, I changed gender but I was still the same fucking wimp as before. Now I was a wimp with magic, magic that I couldn’t even use or control. The only real change I’d gone through so far---besides the physical one---was that I was now a ticking time bomb. A time bomb that could go off at a moment’s notice.

“I’m trying to do better.”

Mom smiled. “I know you are, sweetie.”

She patted my hand and continued. “I still want to see you try a little more, especially while your father and I are away.”

Away? Were they going on another mission?

“You off to some far off wherever again?”

She scoffed. “I wish. We got called in. The Main Office wants to debrief us on Ravencrest and other things. So your Dad and I are going to be in Sacramento for a couple of weeks.”

The “Main Office” she was referring too was the Regional Coven. It was officially what Mom and Dad actually worked for. The college jobs were their cover for the Magistrate work the two of them did. It was a way for them to look official when they traipsed all over the globe investigating monsters. It was funny how I rarely paid much attention to any of that crap before but thanks to Melissa’s tutelage, I was starting to pay a lot more attention to the Unseen world around me. Especially on how things worked. The Covens were complicated to say the least. Each area had several local Covens---made up of the local witch families---like the one in Ravencrest. Those local Covens answered to a Regional Coven, one that covered several miles. Those Regional Covens answered to a National Coven---the US one was in Washington DC. Then those National ones answered to the big one in Europe---the High Coven. It was a lot more political than I thought.

A lot more complicated, too.

I couldn’t help but think that the real reason Mom and Dad were leaving had something to do with me. The local Coven was already having a bit of an uproar about me I guess. They didn’t like to have an Unsanctioned Witch in their territory. An Untrained one, at that.

“Wait, you’re not going to send me to Ravencrest again are you?”

I was kind of anxious this time. At least there I could be myself and not be treated like a freak.

Mom shook her head. “A colleague of mine is going to come and stay with you while we’re going.”

“A colleague?”

Mom made a strained face. It was like she was trying to keep calm while she spoke. “Someone from the Office. She’s coming here to help you.”

The way Mom said “help” didn’t sound to promising. I could read between the lines. The Coven was sending someone here to babysit me. No doubt this person---I’m guessing a woman---was here to evaluate me. Maybe even try to take over the teaching that Melissa started back in Ravencrest. I should have been a little excited about that but I had a feeling of foreboding nonetheless. It bothered me that the local Coven was being so standoffish about all of this. Sure the one in Ravencrest had been a little strange around me but for this one to completely ignore me until now, it made me wonder if things weren’t exactly on the level.

“so when are you guys leaving?”

“Early tomorrow morning, while you sleep. My colleague” She said the word with distaste. “will be here when you get home from school tomorrow”

Damn.

I cursed. This was all coming too fast. Sure I knew the Coven was going to send someone eventually, but I was certain it would have been under different circumstances. I also thought mom was going to be here to supervise. I wanted to get angry about it but I just didn’t have the energy for that. Instead, I just sat there in a numb state for a bit. I listened as Mom explained some things to me but it literally went in one ear and out the other. It was clear that Mom wasn’t happy about how things turned out either. Mom sat with me a while after our little talk then excused herself to go pack. Me, I sat there still, staring off into the distance.

Until Jess dropping down next to me broke me from my numb state.

“I’m beat,” she said, patting me on the knee.

Beat, I was anything but. Sure, I was an emotional wreck, my life seemed to be crumbling around me but I wanted to regain it. The first thing on my list was to take some advice from a friend.

“I’m not,” I said, taking a deep, reassuring breath. “In fact, I think I’m gonna go for a run.”

Ok, so why Misty thought me and running was a good idea I’ll never know. Surely she was crazy because I was the most out of shape person on the planet. Ok, so I know that’s not exactly true but I’m pretty certain the last time I’d exercised was back in Kindergarten gym class. They used to make us do all those elaborate warm ups before class, it used to take up most of the period to do so. That was back when gym class was fun, back when boys and girls were on more even ground and there was no ego to get in the way. Now in the gym, exercising was still there but only for a few minutes, the rest of the class was a jock feast. Or something I liked to call “Make Kelly Look Like a Total Loser” Class.

Of course, that was a moot point at the moment.

Ever since getting back to Ravencrest and my “true” gender being revealed, gym class was a non-existent entity to me. The school wasn’t sure how to handle my sudden change in gender. Sure whatever my father did worked but there were still some soft spots in the whole thing. The Coven was going to try to reinforce it but until they did, I was a bit of an in-betweener I guess. I was allowed to use the proper bathroom in school but the gym class was out of the question. Which to be fair was fine by me. I’m not sure I could deal with the day-to-day humiliation of girls kicking my ass in something I hated, too. Back in Ravencrest, gym was fairly easy. Most of the people there didn’t really know me and my gender swap was handled by magic.

Things here were a little more complicated. I guess the phrase “No one truly goes home” actually had some merit to me. Sure Carsonville was home but I felt like more of a stranger here than anywhere. It’s like those movies where the adopted kid goes looking for his birth parents and finds that they have a new family. The kid in the movie will sit in their front yard, staring through the window, looking at the life he or she should have had. That’s how I felt right now. I was that kid and this is the life of someone else, someone who wasn’t me.

Sighing, I found myself taking a short break.

Ok, it was the fifth break in so many minutes now.

I was in the park, only a few blocks from my house actually. I did say I was out of shape after all. I’d only been running for about twenty minutes now. Sure, I’d been running around the park for ten of those minutes but I was trying to work up the courage to go farther. Misty said to really get into the spirit that I eventually had to work up to running two miles a day. I laughed when she told me that. That was easy for her to say, she was Miss Super Athlete. I was a Lazy Loser as a guy and I was shaping up to be one as a girl as well. Some great life style changing I was doing. I even bought the outfit for it too. Well, Jess picked it out, actually. I’m not sure why I let her talk me into buying it though. I was wearing these tiny little black shorts that barely covered my butt and this shirt that felt like it was vacuum sealed to my body. Sure this is what girls supposedly wore to run in but I felt like a side of beef.

It only helped that the park was fairly deserted today.

Reeves Park was a small little thing. Its main attractions were a tiny little play area for kids and a large fountain of a dolphin in the center. There were some chess tables set up too, and a small picnic area that had definitely seen better days. In the paper, it kept saying that the town was trying to raise money for a park retrofit but it was a losing project. All people seemed to care about around here was moving forward. The park was a moot problem to them. It was all about new shopping centers and things like that. In fact, the park money they raised last year had been used to build some kind of Skate Park on the other end of town. No one cared about the small things anymore, which was a real shame. I loved this park, it was sad to see it fall into such disarray. It was even sadder that after hours this place turned into a hangout for punks and jackasses.

Thinking about that made me a bit more depressed but it gave me the drive to run some more. I started on my fourth lap around the tiny little place, trying not to draw the attention of the guys sitting in the picnic area. I knew two of them from school---Mike Douglas and his brother Frank. They were decent enough guys. Mike was a bit of a techie; Frank was a grade above me. They used to be semi-friends with Tommy and me back in middle school. That is until Mike discovered he wanted to spend more time taking apart computers than playing on them and Frank discovered girls. Unfortunately for me, I seemed to be one of the girls he was discovering now. I cursed as I caught him staring. I was going to kill Jess for making me wear this outfit.

I cursed again when he got up from the bench and started toward me. Sure I was running but Frank wasn’t being too subtle about things. He was pretending to walk around, looking at stupid things. It was kind of pathetic actually. Though it was clear, he was checking me out. Every time he thought I wasn’t looking, I’d catch him staring in my direction. It wasn’t the usual stare I’d been getting around here lately either. I knew that one---“Hey look, she used to be a guy”. This one was a “Hey, look at her” type of stare that I was hoping to avoid. I made some rules when I got back home and Rule #1 was No More Boys. Sure I still liked them but it was just too weird. It was different with Jack. I didn’t know him. That turned out to be a major problem of course but it was different here. It was just too damn weird to be involved with any guy here. I used to be one of them; I used to see them in the locker room.
It was just too damn freaky.

Not freaky for Frank apparently. After his meandering, he finally decided to make up his mind. He was coming directly for me now. He wasn’t being subtle about it, either. Shit. I wanted to panic but that wouldn’t help anyone in the least. I suppose I could have run away but that wouldn’t have helped anyone. Instead, I took a quick look around. There were a small handful of people in the park today. A mother and her two small children over by the swings, an old man on a bench feeding the pigeons and the two Douglas brothers. Going to the kids was just creepy and I definitely didn’t want to hang with the brothers so my best bet was the old man. I know it was kind of rude but it beat the alternative.

As Frank got closer, I made a beeline toward the benches. There was this little stone walkway with benches that circled around the fountain. This was one of the areas that was in need of some work. Especially the poor fountain. The dolphin was made of copper and sure it might have looked cool at one time but now it was green with age and covered in pigeon crap. It was a pretty sad sight indeed.

I got to the bench before Frank got me. I dropped down on it next to the old man. Frank stopped dead in his tracks. It’s not so easy to hit on someone when there’s an audience.

“That was a cold thing to do,” said the old man chuckling. “That one hasn’t taken his eyes off you since you arrived. He just gets up the courage to talk to you and you pull a fast one on him.”

I was surprised to say the least. Here I thought he was only interested in the birds.

“Have you been watching me?” I asked, feeling very uncomfortable.

“Yes but not in any way you might think” he said with a warm smile. “Sitting on this bench here, you tend to see the whole park.”

I looked about, he had a point. The fountain was in the center of things and his bench was in a place where he could see pretty much all of it. I took a closer look at him too. He seemed to be pretty harmless. He wasn’t nearly as old as I thought he was either. Sure most of his hair was white but there were still flecks of color and there wasn’t nearly as many wrinkles to his skin as I thought there was. Most of his face though was obscured by the old style hat he wore, like the ones the gangsters wore from this 1930s movies. His cane was the most interesting though. I was always impressed when someone went out of their way to get something cool crafted like that. It was made of polished wood, the head of which was an intricately carved owl.

You he saw me looking at it and smiled. “It was a gift from an old mentor of mine,” he said, reaching into his little bag and spreading more breadcrumbs. “He said it was a gift from his mentor.”

“Wow, must be old” I said then quickly apologized.

I didn’t want to imply that this guy was ancient.

He chuckled. “Older than you think.”

I couldn’t help but smile. There was something about this old guy. I couldn’t remember the last time I just sat somewhere and talked to a complete stranger. It was kind of nice actually. It helped because the Douglas brothers were still lingering. Frank was back with Mike, trying not to look in my direction. It was only half working though. I tried my best to ignore him.

“He doesn’t give up that one,” said the old man.

It was strange because he wasn’t even looking at Frank. It was kind of cool that he could do that.

“Well I’m not interested.”

“No one is at first. It takes time and a lot of patience. You get to know someone first, share your secrets with them. Sometimes it’s not easy but eventually that person comes around. You just need to give them time, let them work out their own problems.”

“Does that work?”

I couldn’t help but think about Tommy.

He shrugged. “It worked with my wife.”

“Certainly something to think about.”

He laughed. We sat in silence for a moment then he said. “Well it looks like you’re off the hook; your young man is leaving.”

I looked and sure enough, the Douglas brothers were in fact going. I let out a sigh of relief. The old man patted me on the knee. Then he reached into his coat, bringing forth a coin. It was about the size of a silver dollar and very old. It was like no coin I’d even seen before either. He placed it on my knee.

“This has been fairly lucky for me, why don’t you keep it.”

I shook my head. “It looks really old, I can’t take that.”

He laughed as he stood, crumpling up his bag. “I insist. I’m really old too; I have lots of things like that. It will do you more good than me, I think. It might give you the courage to talk to that young man.”

I laughed. “I’m not interested in him.”

He smiled as he tossed the bag into the garbage. “I wasn’t talking about that one.”

We both laughed. He took his cane and slowly started to walk away, whistling a soothing tune. It was a familiar old song but I couldn’t quite place it. I sat there and watched him go, feeling all the better for it. There was just something about getting sage advice from the elderly that made you feel good inside. Sage advice it was, too, even if he didn’t know he was giving it. I was being a little harsh on Tommy. If he was a true friend then eventually he’d come around. If he wasn’t then it was his loss. I would just have to find other friends, better friends. Maybe ones without the added appendage too.

Thinking about that last bit made me laugh.

I sat on the bench a little while longer. I found myself looking at the old coin in my hand. There was no date on it but it had to be well over a hundred years old. It was two sided. On one side there was a strange bird---it might have been an eagle or an owl but it was far too worn to tell. On the other side was a torch. That I was pretty certain of. I ran my fingers along it. It too was pretty worn down. I also found some writing. Too much of it was gone to read but it looked Latin to me. Clearly, the old guy had been carrying this coin around for a long time but why would he give it to me? I was a complete stranger, it just seemed kind of odd to me. Unless he had no one else. That thought kind of made me sad. It was clear he was lonely because he was feeding birds in the park by himself.

I made a mental note to come here every Sunday in hopes of seeing him again. Hey, if two lonely people could find company in one another then more power to them.

Thinking about that made me smile.

I sat on the bench for a few more minutes before my stomach grumbled. I groaned. It being Sunday there were only a few places open. The food court at the mall was just too far of a run, besides I only had a couple of bucks on me. That was definitely not enough to afford mall prices. The best I could do was one of the vending machines in The Square. I cursed. The Square on a Sunday afternoon was full of kids my age. It was going to be like throwing chum to the sharks. I shook my head. No I wasn’t going to think like that. I was going to take that old man’s advice. He said I needed courage. Sure, he was talking about courage to talk to Tommy but I could use that as universal courage as well.

Courage to face any obstacle.

Courage to face my fears.

Courage to face my life.

I smiled at that last thought then pushed myself off the bench.

Thankfully, The Square wasn’t as packed as I thought it was going to be. Sure, there were still a lot of people my age milling about but a lot less than a typical Sunday afternoon. I nonchalantly walked through it, trying not to draw too much attention. It was a little hard considering the way I was dressed. I did get quite a few stares though. A lot of the guys I passed were eying me up, which was increasingly uncomfortable. Some of the girls were looking at me too. I tried not to pay attention. The more people I walked past though, the more I got stares. I started to flush with embarrassment. At first, I was convinced it was because of the outfit I was wearing then I knew it was because of the outfit I was wearing. I tried not to let it bother me but the more people that stared the more I felt like shriveling up and dying.

Thankfully, I made it to the vending machines without a problem.

They were in a little alcove in-between Knick Knacks, this little antique shop and The Jock Strap, a testosterone inspired sporting goods store. As I was browsing the selection, I noticed a presence behind me. I instantly tensed up, waiting for the ridicule that was soon to follow. Instead, though, I found Tamara Young standing next to me, smiling of all things. Tamara was one of the more popular girls in school. Not quite the Queen Bee like Becky but she was pretty close. I’d known Tamara for a while but we definitely didn’t run in the same social circles.

“Damn girl, you really are a girl aren’t you?”

I gave her a raised eyebrow. “Last time I checked”

She looked embarrassed. “I mean we know you said you were but we just thought…”

I nodded. “Now you know.”

“Look, sorry about all the crap before. I’ll make sure the others know they’re sorry too”

I smiled at that. I didn’t feel quite as embarrassed now.

Tamara left after that, going back to a bench to sit with her friends. That didn’t stop the staring though. I tried not to pay attention as I took some money from my fanny pack, got some snacks and found myself a quiet place to sit. There was this little corner I liked to frequent. It was out of the way, hidden by a row of shrubs and far enough from the main circle that no one bothered with it. Sure enough, it was deserted. I dropped down on the bench there and tore open my meager bag of chips. As I ate, I couldn’t help but feel a little better about myself now. Sure I still felt naked practically wearing nothing but I was kind of glad I wore this outfit. Without even realizing it, I just proved to everyone that I was in fact a real girl, not just some “freak” pretending to be one. If this didn’t convince people of the truth then they were assholes to begin with.

I was minding my own business eating when someone else stepped into my little sanctuary. I looked up to see myself staring at that girl again. The purple haired one from the bathroom yesterday. She was holding a book close to her chest, her head downcast slightly. She gave a look that said, “What are you doing in my spot”.

“Oh sorry I’ll go,” she said quietly.

“No it’s Ok, there’s plenty of room.”

I slid over slightly on the bench. She gave me a quick smile before walking over and dropping down next to me. I caught a quick glance at the cover of her book: Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece. I didn’t quite see the author but the title certainly caught my interest. It wasn’t everyday light reading that’s for sure. It was cool though.

“Cool book” I said, trying to show interest.

She quickly pulled it to her chest again. “Yeah thanks”

I bit my lip. Way to make a first impression. Ok, second actually.

Time to change tactics.

“I’m Kelly by the way,” I said sheepishly. “Yesterday wasn’t exactly the best place or time for introductions.”

“I’m Penny,” she said shyly.

“Cool, like the girl from Inspector Gadget.”

She gave me a look. “Sure why not.”

We sat in awkward silence after that. A minute or so later, Penny opened her book. She decided it was Ok to read it with me nearby. I couldn’t help but catch a glance at what she was reading. It was something about satyrs I think. Hey, I guess every girl has to have a hobby of some kind. I know I sure had a few strange ones. While she silently read, I tried to eat my chips as quietly as I could which was a bit of a problem because they’re chips. When I was done, I crumpled the bag and unsuccessfully missed the garbage can. Cursing, I got up to properly throw it away. As I was doing so, he was there. I tensed up as soon as I caught sight of him.

I knew it was only inevitable.

After all, George Davis did live here too. He went to my school; he hung out at The Square all the time in fact. So far, though I’d been doing a good job avoiding him. He was definitely someone to avoid too. If anyone was going to take interest in my new situation, it was going to be George. Sure, it was clear that I was definitely a girl but I’m sure the son of a bitch was going to find some perverse pleasure out of the whole thing. I tried to pretend I didn’t see him and quickly returned to my bench. I could have run but that would have left Penny to him. I know George and Penny was definitely the type that would receive his ridicule as well.

“Don’t panic,” I said softly as I sat down, hoping Penny heard me.

A moment later just as I predicted, George and his cronies were there. I should have known those two were close by as well. With the three of them now there was definitely no way for me to get away. I cursed.

“What is this Asshole Week?” I said, not realizing I said it aloud.

Penny snorted.

George apparently heard me as well because he sneered.

“Look guys if it isn’t the little pansy freak and his new little girlfriend”

When George said “his”, Penny gave me a strange look.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m a girl, you dick.”

“Sure you are” said George with a smirk. “And a fine looking one at that. How much did the surgery cost I wonder?”

“Why, you interested?”

Shit, where did that come from?

George sneered again, Penny laughed.

“Tell me did it hurt when they cut off your dick?”

I shrugged. “Did it hurt when they cut off yours?”

This time his cronies laughed too.

I’m not sure what was going on. Where the hell was this new found courage coming from? Was I no longer afraid of George? I mean it had been a while since my last run in with him, it felt like a lifetime ago. Sure I was a boy then and a coward at that. Tommy had been there too. For some reason though, George wasn’t nearly as menacing as he was before. In fact, he was a bit of a joke now. Like a clichéd bully from those bad teen sitcoms. I couldn’t help but snort.
This only pissed him off more. “You laughing at me, freak?”

“Sure I am because you’re funny,” I said, feeling even more courageous. “You’re a joke George. You’re neither menacing or threatening. You’re pathetic actually. I’m not sure why I was ever scared of you but I can tell you, you’re nothing to me now.”

“You little…”

I interrupted him. “C’mon Penny, this corner is no longer cool.”

She nodded, slipping off the bench. I could feel her fear; you could cut it with a knife actually. She wasted no time as she quickly rushed over to my side. The two of us started to push our way past the three of them when George grabbed my arm. Sure he might not have been menacing but he was still stronger than I was. I just hoped he was too much of a fool to try anything. Apparently, I was wrong. He wrenched me back, twisting my arm as he did so. He gave me a shove, pushing me into Penny. Luckily the two of us managed to stay on our feet.

“Where the fuck do you think you bitches are going?”

His voice was different now. There was a vicious edge to it.

That’s when he pulled the knife. It wasn’t a little pocket knife either. It was a nice one. Trust me I know knives. My Dad had been teaching me how to fight with them but that was a while ago and a different body. There was no way I could handle George like this. Sure maybe with some training again but he was bigger and stronger and my sense of balance was all wrong. Besides there were three of them and only one of me even if Penny still managed to be super chick we were outnumbered. This wasn’t a Jackie Chan flick. Two of us and three of them, one of which was armed. There was no way out of this without someone getting hurt.

“Whoa George, not cool, man” said one of his friends, Dave I think his name was.

George ignore him. “Hey how bout we see if this freak really has a dick after all.”

He came at me fast. The knife blade going right for my chest. I felt my skin boil, the power slowly starting to rear its ugly head. The anger was overwhelming. I wanted to tear him to pieces. Instead, though I never got the chance. George stopped in mid-lunge; his body completely froze like someone had stopped him. Someone did I noticed. I’m not sure why I didn’t feel her until she was almost on us but I sure as hell felt her now. Her magic though, it was different than anything I’d ever felt before. It wild and strong, a fierce kind that made any other I’d ever encountered feel docile in comparison. I looked behind George and his cronies to see her standing there. It was the girl from Carson’s, the Scary Sherry. She was standing there like she owned the place, clad in a tight top and even tighter leather pants. Sinister and yet very cool.

“Little boys shouldn’t play with knives,” she said in a cold manner.

Both of George’s friends stepped away from her, freaked that she seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

“What the fuck?” said George, trying to move but he couldn’t.

Scary Sherry walked around to stand in front of him. She took the knife from his hand, then threw it angrily at the ground. It stuck into the pavement, the blade digging in several inches. As cool as it all looked, I couldn’t condone her using magic like this. Especially not in the open with several Norms present. Then again, she’d already done it once. It didn’t take a genius to figure out she was the one that helped me in Carson’s yesterday. The only question was why?

“You’re going to apologize to these two fine young ladies,” she said, her voice stern.

“Fuck y…” George’s insult died before he could finish it.

I saw the look on his face, the strain and pain. Then there was his eyes. They were pleading for help. It was clear what kind of magic she wielded. I’d seen it before. Sophie could do something similar. She was controlling him somehow. It was scary, dangerous, and definitely dark. There was something different about it too. It didn’t feel like Sophie’s magic. It felt off somehow, darker maybe. Then there were her eyes. They were as black as midnight. I’d never seen anything quite like it.

“I said, apologize” Her voice had changed too; it was like a snarling beast was talking.

George clearly wet himself. His jeans were soaked and there was a puddle underneath him. His nose was starting to bleed too.
I’d had enough.

“Ok, it’s over” I snapped, getting angry. “He’s been punished enough, release him.”

“Not until the insect says he’s sorry.”

“I’m sor-r-r-y”

Scary Sherry smirked. She flicked her wrist and moved in one fluid motion. George fell to the ground, crying as he did so. The girl turned to me as his friends rushed to help him up.

“Why do you bother with them?”

“What do you mean?”

“These insects” she waved at George and his friends. “They’re beneath you, beneath us.”

“They’re harmless.”

She laughed. “They’re bugs. We are so much more.”

I nodded. If I agreed with her maybe she’d stop with all the crap and get the hell out of her. I was done with all of this. I wanted nothing more to do with this stuff. I made a promise to myself after Ravencrest. I was through with magic. I’d let them teach me how to control it, to keep me from my outbursts then I was going to swear off using it ever again.

Scary turned toward the jerks. “You can buzz away now”

They didn’t have to be told twice. The two cronies dragged a whimpering George away.

I was flabbergasted. “You can’t just let them go…they saw…”

“They won’t remember a thing in a minute or two.”

“Why then?”

She shrugged. “Why not.”

Penny found her voice finally. “That was fucking awesome!”

I’d actually forgotten she was there. Not that she was insignificant or anything, she was just so quiet. I cursed though because now she’d seen everything too.

Scary smiled. “It has its purposes.” Scary looked at me and sighed. “She won’t remember in a second either so don’t get your panties in a twist.”

Penny was awestruck. “Wait what?”

Scary ignored her. “You can do better than her.”

“You mean you?”

“We’re Sisters. We should associate with one another. I can teach you so much if you’d let me.”

“Not interested”

She smirked. “Not now but you will be” She reached into her shirt, between her breasts and pulled out a black business card. She handed it to me. “When you are interested though. Come to that place, we’ll be waiting.”

I looked at the card but there was nothing on it. “It’s blank.”

“For now” she said with a smile.

She started to walk away but before she got around the corner, she turned and smirked. “That’s two you owe me now.”

Then she was gone.

As soon as she was out of sight, Penny blinked. She looked around really confused. “Where did those punks go?”

She never mentioned Scary Sherry so I’m guessing the memory spell was now in effect.

“They took off; they were all hot air after all.”

She nodded. “Cool” then she bit her lip. “That was awesome by the way. I’ve never seen anyone do that like that.”

I shrugged. “I’ve had practice with guys like that.”

Penny nodded then cursed, looking at her watch. “I have to go” then she quickly added. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”

“Sure” I said, smiling.

“Cool” she said then bolted.

I let out a huge sigh of relief. Not only because I had a potential friend either. That whole incident could have gone a whole lot worse. Scary was clearly a dark magic user and for some perverse reason she had her sights set on me. Thinking about it made me shudder. I couldn’t also help but wonder a bit. Why were all those dark users so damn interested in me? I looked intently at the card, turning it over in my hands. It was still blank though but her words were still etched into my brain nonetheless: For now.

What the hell did that mean?

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

---

Author's Note:Here's Ch.3, right on schedule so far. I'm doing really good :). I'd like to thank djkauf for the excellent editing.~Enemyoffun.

---

 
 
Chapter 3:
 

They were coming, there were so many of them that I couldn’t see any light. At first, I had no idea what they were because all I could see was shadows. All I could do was run and hope that they wouldn’t follow. No matter how fast I ran though, they seemed to be gaining on me. There were so many, too, and they were screaming. I’m not sure what they were saying but whatever it was they were angry. It was clear they were trying to get me but I just didn’t know why. Why was this happening? What did I do to upset and anger them so? Who were they in the first place to hate me? None of it made any sense. Everything had been fine only a moment ago, then they came. They poured out of nowhere and I had to run to get away from them.

They were so close now. There were hundreds of them.

I could make out shapes now. They were clearly people and they were holding fire. No not fire, torches. They were holding torches. They weren’t yelling either, they were chanting. I tried to run again but they were all around me now, circling in on me. As they got closer, I saw faces. They were my neighbors and my friends. Some were kids at school, others were people from town. There were people from Ravencrest too. All of them looked angry and they were chanting. I could now make out their words as clear as day: “Burn the Witch!” It didn’t make any sense though. How did these people know about me? Then I saw Tommy. Of course, it had been Tommy. The little bastard had betrayed me. He was sneering at me, calling for my head.

Seeing him with them made me angry. I could feel the anger building inside of me. So much rage poured out of me. I blasted out on all sides, spewing my wicked black flame, scorching all of them to ashes. I screamed as loud as I could as I let them all have it. They were monsters, not me. They were the enemy, not me. They were the insects to be squashed like so many little bugs. They should all die and I wanted to kill them. I reveled at hearing them scream and watching them contort in agony as they burned. They were going to burn me so why shouldn’t I burn them.

The only thing that stopped my carnage was the smoke.

It was strange really because with all the fire, I couldn’t see any smoke but I sure could smell it.
Then there was the beeping.

I looked around.

Where the hell was that coming from?

“Ignore it,” said a sinister voice. “Ignore it and burn them.”

My anger had subsided though. I didn’t want to burn anymore.

The smoke smell was stronger and the beeping was louder.

Beeping.

It sounded a lot like a fire alarm.

A fire alarm…

Oh shit…

I snapped awake. It was a dream, a horrible fucked up dream. I was a bit groggy but that was quickly destroyed by the smoke. I snapped up and looked around. Sure enough, my room was on fire. Ok not my whole room, just my blanket and maybe my dresser. I cursed, throwing the blanket off of me. In my panic, I rolled and fell on the floor. The beeping from the smoke alarm was loud and annoying. I jumped to my feet quickly, panicking. I screamed for help, calling out for Mom. When she didn’t come I rushed out into the hall and heading for the linen closet. We kept one of those little fire extinguishers there. Grabbing it, I ran back into my room and went to work. I blasted the dresser first then the blanket. It was a good thing I woke up when I did. After throwing off my blanket, the fire had started to spread. If I had been asleep still who knows what might have happened.

I emptied the extinguisher just to be on the safe side.

When it was all done, I had quite the mess on my hands. I surveyed the damage, cursing as I did so. The rug was scorched where the blanket fell on it, my blanket was burnt to a crisp and my dresser had definitely seen better days. Then there was all the white foam crap all over the place. Mom and Dad were going to kill me. It took me a second to realize why they didn’t come running in as soon as the fire alarm went off then I remembered they weren’t home. They left late last night, probably when I was still sleeping. They were going to be gone for two weeks and a colleague of theirs was going to stay with me.

I wonder what he or she was going to say when they saw this mess.

I cursed then coughed. My room was still filled with smoke but thankfully the alarm had finally gone off.

I stepped around the mess and opened my window.

While the room aired out, I decided to get ready for school. I still had about an hour so I made my way to the bathroom. I stopped at the sink first to splash some water into my face. As I did so, I couldn’t help but notice my hands. Thankfully, they weren’t burned like last time but fingertips were black. I did my best to wash that off, thankful that all it took was a little soap and water. After that incident at the Pit in Ravencrest, I thought for sure my arms were going to stay permanently scarred. Thankfully, though, grandma was able to use a bit of healing magic to get rid of it. She said I was lucky though. The amount of magic I used usually left a more permanent mark. Looking at my hands now, I couldn’t help but wonder how much of my life I might have burned away then and now.

I scrutinized my face in the mirror, trying to spot anything different. I was looking specifically for wrinkles or gray hairs. I know it was crazy but you never know. Burning through your magic was a very serious problem. There were witches my age who got seduced by power and used it all up. One morning they were happy, healthy teenagers and the next they were old ladies in retirement homes, their entire lives burned away in an instant. Melissa had told me quite a few horror stories like that. She said it happened to a young witch at the college she attended. The girl thought she could handle it and she lost control. Now she was feeble, ninety years old and on a respirator. It was a truly scary thing.

Thankfully I got away unscathed.

Again.

I sighed in relief then stripped to get into the shower. As the water flowed over me, I couldn’t help but think about the dream. It was generated out of fear more than anything. I knew exactly what caused it too; it was that stupid girl from yesterday. It was her and what she said. How she implied I might be like her then giving me that card. It scared the hell out of me. After getting home from my run, the first thing I did was bring the card to Mom. I told her what happened. She was not at all happy about it either. She made several phone calls last night. She seriously thought about cancelling their trip altogether. Jess and Dad were pretty pissed too. The two of them wanted to take up arms and go after the girl. Unfortunately, there were rules and apparently taking up arms to hunt down a Burner was not sanctioned. How messed up is that?

In the end, all Mom could do was put warding spells around the house and report the incident in full to the Coven when they arrived. She gave me a warding talisman too and told me to stay clear of the girl. She didn’t have to tell me that twice. “Scary Sherry” creeped me the hell out. I was done dealing with her kind, too. I promised myself to live a normal life and that meant staying away from all this magic crap.

I just couldn’t help but wonder if she was going to stay away from me. I got out of the shower, making sure to dry off as quickly as possible. I still wasn’t quite used to seeing my naked body. It was a little jarring to try drying off a body that was still as foreign now as it was when I first got it. A small part of me still hated my cousin for it but the rest of me---the large part---had forgiven her and moved on. I was done being that woe-is-me girl too. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life pining over what was lost. I was a guy. now I’m a girl and now I had to live with it. Unfortunately living with it was so much easier when I wasn’t thinking about the future. Now that future was here. As far as I could see it wasn’t going to get any better than this either.

I couldn’t help but sigh at that thought.

As I was wrapping the towel around myself, I heard the phone ring. Cursing, I quickly ran out of the bathroom and down the hall to my parent’s bedroom. I got to the bedside phone on the third ring.

“Hello?’

“Kelly, dear is everything all right?”

It was Mrs. Braddock from across the street.

She must have seen the smoke.

“I’m fine, the curling iron just got too close to something.”

Ok so I didn’t have a curling iron and I definitely didn’t need one but it sounded like the smart thing to say.

“Oh thank goodness, when I saw all the smoke I thought something horrible happened.”

I smiled. “Just stupid human error.”

We chatted for a few more minutes. She asked me about my trip back east and other things. I was glad she didn’t mention anything about my life before any of that because I wasn’t sure what to say to her. I was supposed to be a massive tomboy now, just hadn’t come out of my shell. It was the stupidest thing I’d ever heard of but I guess it was better than being my own twin sister or some long lost cousin. Hell, everyone here already thought I was a girl to begin with. Mrs. Braddock didn’t scare me; it was the guys at school that frightened me. I knew how memory spells worked. They were usually very fool proof, with very powerful ones being able to influence full towns if there were enough practitioners casting it. But there were always a few that slipped through the cracks. It was those few that I was afraid of. I was waiting for that one guy to say, “hey you were in gym class with me, I saw you changing in the locker room” and then everything would be a bust.

Memory spells started to shatter when those things happened. It was the reason why they were so risky to use. They were fine if no one broke them but as soon as one person broke them, they fell apart for everyone. I was just surprised that the Coven even authorized the use of one, especially one as wide spread as the one that they used.

After getting off the phone, I continued drying off. I was kind of glad my hair wasn’t long anymore because now it was so much easier to dry in the morning. As soon as I was done with that, I got dressed. I thought about really girling it up today with one of my new denim skirts but I just wasn’t in the mood. I stuck with the usual jeans and tee. After dressing, I went downstairs for some breakfast. I found some pop-tarts and a note of all things. It was from Mom. She must have written it before she left last night. It was the basic Mom talk “behave don’t do anything stupid” blah blah blah. There was a quick line from Jess on the bottom though, telling me she’d be back next weekend.

I ate my pop-tarts as I walked into the living room to get my backpack. Thankfully, I did my homework Friday when I got home. It was strange how things had changed. Before I would have been scrambling to get it done before catching the bus in the morning. Now I was done and ready to go with several minutes to spare. It was amazing what a simple gender change could do to the way a person goes about their school life. Before I was lazy about those kinds of things and now I was Little Miss Perfect Student.

The bus beeped at the end of the street. I grabbed my last pop-tart and was out the door in plenty of time to catch it.

Definitely amazing.

Teenagers are messed in the head. One minute they hate something, the next they’re indifferent about it, then they forget it completely.
It’s exactly what happened with me.

Ok, so not exactly but pretty damn close. Apparently, word about my weekend encounters had spread like wild fire. First, there was the incident in Carson’s on Saturday which had earned me some points for sticking up to Becky but it was Sunday that had really shined through. At least sixty percent of the popular crowd had been in The Square when I can running in wearing “the outfit” as everyone was dubbing it now. Apparently it was enough to convince most of my nay-sayers that I was in fact what I said I was: 100% girl. The rumors had spread pretty quick too. They hit me as soon as I arrived and followed me throughout the day strangely. People I didn’t even know stopped me in the hall and told me how they never believed I was a guy in the first place. I’m not sure how I felt about that but at least people weren’t ostracizing me anymore.

I couldn’t help but smile though. No one saw me as a freak anymore. I was normal now and that meant I could finally slip into the background like I planned to do all along.

Around lunchtime though, things took another turn.

I was just getting in line, grabbing my tray when I saw them. Tommy and Becky. Sure, I’d seen both of them every day but not like that. Not together. She was practically hanging off his arm as the two of them walked into the cafeteria together. She was giggling and laughing, Tommy was smiling like a fool. I felt like a fool too. Here I was thinking my life was back to normal and I’d been stabbed in the back again. Sure Tommy was free to be with whoever he wanted but why did he have to pick her of all people. I felt my blood boil as I watched the two of them head to a table full of jocks. I wasn’t the only one looking either. Sure Tommy was semi-popular but dating Becky Raulings was something that was not taken lightly.

“You have got to be kidding,” said a voice from behind me, taking the thoughts right out of my head.

I turned and found Tamara Young.

She saw me in front of her, gently putting a hand on my shoulder. I think she misinterpreted my staring for something else because she quickly said. “I’m sure it’s nothing, girl. Becky is a skank; she goes from guy to guy like blowing her nose.”

I nodded, not sure what the heck Tamara was getting at. Then it clicked and I was shocked. She thought that I…that…that was ridiculous.

“I’m not into Tommy,” I said quickly. “We’re just friends or at least I thought we were.”

“Some friend” she said as we moved along in the line.

I barely paid attention as I grabbed some food.

“Hey” said Tamara, pointing in the direction of the tables. “You want to sit with me and the girls.”

I knew exactly where she was pointing. The Girls turned out to be an assortment of primped and pampered girls from one of the higher social clichés in school. Two thirds of them were on the cheer squad, the rest were popular either because of their looks or by association alone. Sitting there with them would have been instant school celebrity status for me. It was tempting, so very tempting. But I had another table I planned to frequent today. Penny was at the other end of the cafeteria, sitting alone, reading her book. That was the table where I belonged, with my new friend and not with some girls who were only going to pretend to be ones.

“Thanks” I said with a smile “but I’ve got another table I’m going to sit at.”

Tamara smiled too. “Well, if you change your mind.”

I nodded and thanked her again.

I paid for my lunch then made my way through the tables, watching as a few eyes followed my progress. They lost interest in me when I dropped into a seat across from Penny. I turned my head to take a look at Tommy one more time. He was sitting at a table with some guys from his team, Becky in a chair next to him. She looked a little uncomfortable but she hid it well.

“That must sting,” said Penny, not looking up from her book.

“What must?” I asked, still looking at Tommy.

“Your Ex with that bitch.”

“My ex?”

I turned toward her, ready to set the record straight for the second time in so many minutes.

“Tommy and I were never together. We were just friends.”

“Rumors say otherwise.”

“What rumors?”

Penny sighed, setting down her book. She shrugged. “They were talking about it in a couple of my morning classes. People seem to think Tommy was yours and that that fight in Carson’s between you and the bitch had something to do with that.”

“You’re serious?” I asked, laughing.

She nodded, I laughed some more. How in the hell did these stupid rumors get started?”

“We were never together” I clarified again. “Just childhood friends. I told him something important the other day and he reacted badly. We had a bit of a falling out. That’s all the drama that’s happened between the two of us.”

“Not my business” said Penny, picking up her book to continue reading.

Shit not a way to start a new friendship.

I decided to change tactics.

“So you’re new here right?”

Penny raised an eyebrow and set down her book. “Yes”

“Where you from?”

“Arizona.”

“Why’d you move here then?”

“My Dad died.”

Shit. Way to go Kelly.

“I’m sorry,” I said sympathetically.

“It happens.”

Penny seemed so cold and indifferent about it but I could see it was affecting her. I could feel it was, too. I’m not sure what to call it but ever since the incident at The Pit, I got this sense around people. It wasn’t like I could read their emotions but I could definitely feel something was off about them. Like Penny for instance. Sure, she was shy but she was holding back too. When she mentioned her father, I could tell she was in pain but there was something else there as well. Was it guilt?

“You want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

Wow, I was really good at this whole making friends thing.

How was it that things were going so cool yesterday and now total suckage?

I was trying to figure out how to approach things again when two more persons appeared at the table. Out of the blue, I was suddenly faced with both Douglas brothers again. Frank dropped into the seat next to me, Mike in the seat next to him. Mike looked a little out of place; Frank on the other hand looked like a man on a mission. I cursed. I’d lowered my guard and now I was going to have to deal with the consequences.

“Hey Kelly” said Frank, flashing me his pearly whites.

Frank wasn’t that bad looking. Tall, dark brown hair, a bit easy on the eyes. He was on the varsity volleyball team too so he was a bit fit. Like I said before, he was a decent guy too. Looking at him though I couldn’t help but think of Jack. Jack was a decent and handsome guy too and that didn’t exactly work out all that well for me.

“Hey Frank,” I said, trying to sound friendly but not too friendly.

“I saw you running yesterday.”

“Everyone did.”

He laughed. Why was he laughing at that?”

“You looked really nice in that outfit.”

“Thanks.”

Seriously? We used to play D&D together; Frank was one of the guys who knew I was a guy. Yet here he was trying to hit on me. Trying and failing miserably I might add.

“I do a bit of running myself you know,” he said, trying to flex without actually doing it. “You and I should do it sometimes.”

Penny snorted at that. I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

“Dude Frank seriously” said Mike, looking flabbergasted and something else too. “I mean Kelly is...was…a…I …our friend.”

I narrowed my eyes at Mike. Gee, thanks a lot.

“That was a long time ago and things change.”

He had no idea.

“I’m sorry, Kelly, Mom dropped him on his head…a lot” said Mike defensively.

I took a deep breath. “I don’t really run all that much. It was something a friend told me to do. You know something to do alone to let off some steam. You know, alone.”

Was that enough to get rid of him and help him get a clue?

“Hey I understand. I like to run alone, too.”

Apparently not.

Ok no more Mister Nice Girl.

“Look you’re a nice guy Frank but I just got out of a bad break up over vacation and…”

“Hey Frank,” said a familiar voice from behind us.

I turned and saw Tommy standing there. Where the hell did he come from and how long had he been standing there?

“Sinclair” said Frank, tensing up.

“I didn’t know you guys were friends with Kelly again.”

“We’re not,” I said, tensing up a bit myself “they’re not. In fact they’re just leaving.”

Frank made no move to leave the table.

“You’re not leaving,” said Tommy, giving Frank a stern look.

“I’m not done talking.”

“Yes you are,” I said, hoping he’d finally get the clue again.

Frank ignored me. Tommy kind of ignored me, too, but then again he never once even looked in my direction. He just appeared out of nowhere, decided to come to my defense but ignores me afterwards? What the hell was up with that?

“What’s it to you, Sinclair?” said Frank, getting a bit aggressive now. “I’m trying to have a nice conversation with Kelly and you come butting in.”

“Maybe she doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“Maybe that’s none of your business” I found myself saying.

Shit, why was I going after Tommy now?

“It’s not” said Tommy, looking a tad bit hurt.

He should be hurt. We were friends then he betrayed me. He didn’t have the right to defend me anymore. In fact, who the hell was he to stick his nose into my business in the first place? Sure, I wanted Frank gone but I could have handled it myself. I was about to say something to that affect when Becky appeared. I cursed as she did her little skank walk and put her arm gently around Tommy’s waist. He reacted to her touch, taking her hand gently.

“What are you doing over here in loser city, babe?”

Babe?

“Just helping a friend,” he said, finally looking at me.

“Ah honey, that’s so cute, doing charity work like that” she said, her voice taking on a condescending tone. “But you can’t always help the less unfortunate. There has to be people like them for people like us to exist after all.”
Fucking bitch.

Tommy clenched his jaw but said nothing. Frank on the other hand looked really pissed off.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” he snapped, pushing himself out of his chair.

His outburst caught the attention of some of the people close by.

Becky laughed. “You’re standing up to me, who are you again?”

God I could have decked her.

“His name is Frank and he’s my friend,” I said, getting to my feet, drawing attention to myself too.

Just what I didn’t want.

“Of course he is” sneered Becky, feeling good about gaining the upper hand again. “You freaks are all friends.”

“He’s not a freak either.” Then added quickly. “None of us are.”

By now, several people were staring at our table. We were drawing way too much attention.

“We’re done here,” said Becky, suddenly looking very bored. “I’m starting to get hives from being in Loserville for so long. C’mon babe, let’s go before we both get nose bleeds or something.”

She started to pull Tommy away. At first, it looked as if he was going to resist but then he seemed to change his mind and followed. I could have punched him the face for that. As they walked away though, he did turn and look at me. All I gave him in return was a rather nasty look before I turned and sat back down.

Penny was practically beaming. “Never a dull moment with you around is there?”

Great. She’s only my friend when the crazy shit happens.

“I hate that bitch,” said Frank as he sat back down a few seconds after I did.

“Just ignore her”

My repulsion for him was gone. I came to the realization just now that he and I were kindred in a way. Sure, he was still semi-popular; he wasn’t enough to be considered anything as far as Becky was concerned. Somehow he and I bonded on that.

“Sunday afternoon” I said and meant it.

“What?” he asked.

“I plan to go running again this Sunday and you’re more than welcome to join me.”

He smiled at that.

Boy, I hope I wasn’t going to regret that.

I looked at Mike and Penny. “You guys are welcome to come along too?”

Penny smiled big. “I’m not letting you out of my sight now. Everywhere you go, chaos seems to follow. It’s fantastic.”

She sounded almost giddy about it which was a complete 180 from before. Penny was definitely a weird one.

Mike said nothing but did give me a strange look nonetheless.

He wasn’t the only one either. A few of those who watched the exchange were looking my way as well. That was the second time I’d stood up to Becky and it looks like people were starting to take notice. Great, just what I needed. How can you be invisible when everyone was looking your way?

I picked up my fork and started to eat my lunch a moment later, ignoring all the stares I was getting as I did so.

Thankfully, the rest of the day was uneventful.

Unfortunately for me though, news of the lunchroom incident spread like wildfire. I definitely wasn’t keeping low key with all this crap that kept happening to me. The rumor followed me through the rest of day, picking up in pace and growing. By ninth period, it had turned into a fistfight between Becky and myself. Somehow, I was now an Amazon martial artist and kicked her ass. I’m not sure where that came from but it was pretty funny. By the time the day ended, people in the hall either stared at me in awe or fear. I’m not really sure how I felt about that. Just a few days ago, these very same people were sneering at me and calling me names and now they all wanted to be my friend? I guess I owed Becky a bit of thanks for that. Sure, I didn’t want any of this to happen but because of her bitchiness I was now nearly as popular as her.

Ok, not quite, but people knew who I was now.

I tried not to let it bother me as I thought of nothing else on the bus ride home. I did discover something interesting though. Penny rode my bus too which meant she lived in the same neighborhood as me. It was weird that I never noticed her before. This morning I had been in my own world and never saw her but today I made note when she got off two blocks from me. I would have to ask her about it tomorrow for sure. Maybe with us being so close like that we could even hang out after school sometime. I might actually finally get that normal teenage girl life I was so craving.

I was barely paying attention as the bus pulled up in front of my house. As soon as I hopped off though, my attention was immediately drawn to the foreign car in my driveway. It was a brand new black BMW. You didn’t see too many of those around here. I looked at the plates but I didn’t recognize the number. It took me only a moment to remember though. The car must have belonged to Mom’s colleague, the one who was going to stay with me while my parents were out of town. With everything that had happened today, I’d completely forgotten all about it.

I took a deep breath as I moved slowly up the walk. I opened the door and peeked my head inside, feeling like an intruder in my own home. The living room was vacant save for the black luggage sitting near the door. I took note of the three suitcases and cat carrier. So clearly my mother’s colleague had a cat. I’m sure Diamond was going to love that. I tried not to let that bother me as I dropped my book bag on the couch and wandered toward the kitchen.

“Hello?” I said, making my way around the corner.

I found my guests sitting at the table.

Well one of them was sitting. She was a severe looking woman in a gray business suit. She was just sitting there like she owned the place, a cup of coffee in hand. She was in mid sip when I walked in. I took note of her: her gray-flecked blonde hair pulled high on her head, the slight lines on an otherwise attractive face. It would have been even more attractive if she would smile but as it were she just gave me this cold, unwelcoming stare. It was the very same one her rather large companion was giving me. Bald, black and built like a linebacker. I’m guessing he had to be her Warden. It only made sense that Mom’s colleague would be a witch. I guess I was expecting someone normal but I guess that wasn’t in the cards.

“Please take a seat, Miss Daniels,” said the woman, pointing to the chair across from me.

She was bossing me around in my own house.

I didn’t want to seem rude so I did as I was told.

“My name is Magistrate Graham” she said, setting her mug down gently. “I have been asked by the Coven to come here and evaluate you.”

“Evaluate?” I asked, “You mean like a test?”

She didn’t respond, instead she said. “You will find your itinerary in front of you.”

I looked down and found a computer printout in front of me. I picked it up and found that it was a list of things, a very detailed and well planned out list. Five AM wake up, five thirty breakfast, six AM training then getting the school bus. She had my school schedule on there too but my eyes were drawn again, to what came after school. First, she penciled in a few hours for homework then there was more training. Training as in magic training?

“Wait” I said, looking up from the list. “Does this mean you’re my teacher too?”

She nodded. “You are to be instructed in the proper use and control of your craft.”

The way she said proper made it sound like I’d been improperly instructed before. I’m not sure I liked the way she just insulted Melissa like that.
The last two things on the list really pissed me off though. The first was a seven pm curfew, which was complete and total bull but the nine pm bedtime was the real kicker.

“I’m not a child,” I snapped.

“No, clearly not, but you are a pupil under my tutelage now and as such you will follow a strict guideline that will help nurture you in a proper manner.”

I scoffed at that. Nurture my ass. She just wanted to control me.

I knew I was going to hate all of this.

I tossed the paper on the table. I wanted to crumble it up and throw it in her face but I was trying not to be a total bitch today. Hey, someone had to set a good example around here. I wanted to get angry though. I wanted to leap up and slug her. I knew Mr. Muscles behind her would never let me get that close but I was almost willing to try. I did feel the anger seethe a bit though. I felt the usual tingle and boil. Magistrate Graham seemed to notice it too because she raised her eyebrow and her cold expression turned into something that might have resembled a smile. I knew her plan right then and there.

Me getting angry was what she wanted. She wanted me to lose control and do something stupid. It all made some kind of perfect, if not twisted sense. She said she’d been here to evaluate me. I actually mistook that to mean she was going to test me in some way. Here I thought it was to evaluate my power level or something but in truth she just wanted to see how long it took me to lose my temper. I could only fathom what the two of them might do if something like that were to happen.

I cursed. Now I knew why Mom was so pissed about all of this. She had to know this was coming. It was probably the real reason they were sent to Sacramento, too. These bastards---this new Coven---wanted to see how long it took me to blow my top and more than likely had a plan in place when I finally did.
So they wanted to play games with me fine then let them play.

I’m really good at games after all.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

---

Author's Note:Look at me still being on schedule. This is great. I haven't been this on schedule in a long time lol. I'd like to thank djkauf for the excellent editing.~Enemyoffun.

---

 
 
Chapter 4:
 

“You’re serious?”

I nodded, not the least bit surprised at the look of shock Mary was giving me. It was the same look I had given that stupid schedule list a few days ago. I couldn’t help but smile as my cousin continued to look as if she swallowed a gold fish. It was not every day that someone could surprise Mary Crawford. I waited a few moments to let it sink in before I continued our weekly Skype session.

“She’s a slave driver too,” I said, sighing heavily.

“When are these assholes going to learn that you’re not dangerous?”

That was a good question.

It took me a few days to get around to finally calling her, what with the tight schedule “Witch Bitch” had me on. Witch Bitch was Mary’s phrase not mine but I was so totally going to steal it now. It fit the overbearingly evil Magistrate Graham rather nicely. Everything about the woman made me want to pull out my hair and gouge out my eyes with number two pencils. The woman was trying to literally control every aspect of my life and she’d only been here a few days. First, it was her tight ass schedule, which I had to follow to the letter or else be punished. Her punishment: reduced time to do my own thing. The free time thing was a compromise I inked out for myself the first time she was there. Apparently, every single bit of the damn time I was supposed to be working on my magic but it was too much. So with the help of her somewhat nice Warden---Mr. Duncan---I was able to get a few hours of the day to myself.

Of course that all depended on whether I played by the strict rules.

Rule Number One: No deviation from the schedule.
Rule Number Two: No talking back.
Rule Number Three: She was in charge
Rule Number Four: When she wasn’t there, Mr. Duncan was in charge
And Rule Number Five: If I followed the rules things would go better for everyone involved.

I’m not even sure if that last one even counted as a rule. It was a more of an afterthought or something. Regardless they were all pretty stupid. I mean who in their right mind gives a teenager rules and expects them to follow them. Anyway, the first two days of Bitch Boot Camp, I followed the rules pretty well. But yesterday I couldn’t take it anymore. It was during one of her strict and pointless magic lessons that I snapped. She was trying to teach me self-control through meditation, it was supposed to help me find my center and calm my inner core. It was total bull. When I called her on it, she got snippy. I was hoping to actually learn something for once. Sure, controlling my magic was important but it was more important to know how to use it, too. The last encounter I had with someone trying to kill me I nearly got sacrificed to a demon because I didn’t know how to fight back. When I brought this little tidbit up she completely ignored me, telling me that there was no use for practical application of my craft. When I brought up Scary Sherry, she brushed that off too. It seems she was looking into it. Whatever the hell that meant.

Anyway, after failing once again to meditate properly, I lost it. I didn’t erupt in a blast of magic or anything; I just kind of erupted in anger. The outburst earned me a reduced free time on this call, which was already almost over with. It all sucked really bad. This was my house and my life, this bitch had no right to come in here and take it over. It was only Thursday too; I still had three more weeks of this crap. Yeah that’s right, three more. Mom called last night, apparently they were going to have to stay in Sacramento another week. She didn’t give a reason but it was clear that the Coven was railroading them. It pissed me off that these bastards would try to keep us apart.

“You want me to tell Grams?” asked Mary, trying to be helpful.

I shook my head. “I don’t think there’s much she can do from way over there.”

“This is bull shit,” said Mary, visibly pissed off. “Who the fuck do these people think they are, fucking with us.”

“Us?” I asked, amused for once.

“Yeah, our family. I have half a mind to hop on a fucking plane and come lay some ass kicking on that bitch.”

“I don’t think that would help either of us.”

Mary sighed and fell quiet for a moment. She leaned closer to her laptop screen. “You gotta get out of there then. Call that Felix guy; get him to fly you here. I clear it with Grams; as soon as she finds out what they’re doing, she’ll steam roll them.”

The offer was tempting but it wouldn’t really solve anything. I wasn’t going to run from my problems. Besides, I wanted to live a normal life now. Being in Ravencrest again would only complicate things. I had enough complications to worry about. No, I definitely had to stay here. Grams had helped enough and now I needed to fight my own battles.

“As cool as that sounds I think I’m going to stick it out here.”

“You’re serious.”

That was the second time in so many minutes she’d used that phrase.

“Dead serious.” I said and meant it. “This is something you can’t run from. Sure it’s a pain in the ass but a very manageable one. I might be pissed but at least people aren’t trying to kill me or something.”

“Ravencrest isn’t all that crazy.”

“Says the Witch whose best friend is a gender changed werewolf.”

Mary stuck her tongue out at me.

We talked a few minutes more after that. I wanted to know about her life seeing as I’d dominated most of the conversation already. She filled me in on everything crazy in Ravencrest. I’d been right of course, that place was nuts. I’m not going to go into all the crazy details but suffice to say nothing has changed there. After she finished filling me in on my friends, there was a knock on the door. I groaned, knowing what that was all about. My allotted free time was up and now it was bedtime. I looked toward the window, it was barely dark.

I hated this stupid schedule.

“I gotta go Mary, talk to you later.”

She sighed. “It’s getting late here anyway. Cya cuz.”

I ended the video chat just as Mr. Duncan stuck his shiny head around my door.

“Ten minutes till lights out.”

I nodded and he was gone.

I took my merry time getting ready for bed. If there was one thing that I dreaded more than the Bitch lessons, it was sleeping. The dream from the other night was sadly not a fluke. Every night since I’d had the same one or one that was very similar. It was always the same too. Me being chased by angry villagers then eventually losing it and burning them all to ashes. They were starting to freak me out too, so much so that I hated going to sleep now. I thought about telling the WB about them but I’m sure she’d say they were nothing so I did the next best thing and called Melissa. Unfortunately she was out of town on some kind of errand for her father. I called Jess about them too, but because of her busy class schedule, we kept missing one another.

I did leave a few voice mails though.

After getting into my bedclothes, I couldn’t help but take a deep breath as I laid down my head.

School the next day was murder.

Ok not literally but it sure felt like it. Once again, I had a nightmare, the same one with the fire and death. I barely got a wink of sleep because of it. Due to my constant tossing and turning, I was in a stupor for my first three classes this morning. It didn’t help that there was a pop quiz in history that I didn’t see coming. By the time lunch finally came around, I was ready to call it quits as far as the day was concerned. Thankfully our table was pretty much deserted again. Thanks to my newfound popularity, I’d become something of a social butterfly in the lunchroom. Not by choice of course. Ever since standing up to Becky twice now, people had completely forgotten I used to be the pariah.

Suddenly everyone wanted to hang with the girl who didn’t take shit.

Thankfully, today it seemed that craze was at an end.

I found Penny sitting in her usual seat, her nose stuck in a book as usual. I dropped my tray on the table loudly as I took my seat across from her. She didn’t even flinch at the hard plastic tray banging the table. She did raise an eyebrow when I dropped my head into my arms, practically ready to fall over.

“Long day?”

“Rough night” I said, sighing. “Been having this recurring freak-mare.”

“Ah, been there, done that.”

“How did you get it to go away?”

“My dad took me to see someone.”

I raised my head at that. “Seriously?”

She set down her book. “It was shortly after…well shortly after something bad happened to me. I was having these horrible nightmares because of it. Dad finally got fed up with me screaming and waking him up every night so he took me to a shrink.”

“And that worked?”

“Eventually.”

That didn’t sound too promising.

It was amazing what a couple of days had done for our friendship. Sure she was still a bit introverted but Penny was finally starting to open up to me. She wasn’t exactly spilling her guts or anything but at least she was talking. It was more than say the beginning of the week. What’s more, I actually saw her talking to other people too. Ok so Mark and Frank weren’t exactly people per se but they better than most.

“Hey ladies” said a voice as the Brothers Dim appeared.

Speak of the Devils.

Frank dropped into the seat next to me. No matter how much I tried to get rid of him, there was no stopping him. I think he figured we somehow bonded over our mutual barrage of Becky. Sure, I came to his defense but I would have come to anyone’s defense as far as that bitch was concerned. Then again he’d come to my defense first which complicated things. Then there was the whole “dating” thing. Ok, so it was a planned run together but somehow Frank got it into his thick head that the two of us were somehow an item now. Talk about seriously dense. The stupid run through the park wasn’t even supposed to happen until Sunday but already he was planning the rest of our day together.

How did this get out of hand?

“So what were you girls talking about before we rudely interrupted?”

“Parasites” said Penny, not skipping a beat. “And how to get rid of them.”

Way to go Pen.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear she was channeling Mary.

Mark snorted even though it was directed at both of them. Frank feigned being hurt before turning his attention toward me.

“You ready for our date this weekend?”

I groaned. “It’s not a date.”

He continued to talk as if I never spoke. He was rambling about our plans but I was hardly paying attention. I had a new target now: George. Ever since our run in together last weekend, I couldn’t help but feel there was something off about him. I know it was stupid but I found myself watching him to see if anything felt out of place. Sure he seemed like the same old asshole as before but whenever he turned in my direction he flinched. It was almost as if he remembered what happened at least subconsciously and was reacting to it. I guess it was possible that he remembered everything, what with memory spells being so fickle but usually it was the smart ones who remembered.

And George was definitely not.

There was definitely something different about him though.

Today for instance.

I watched him earlier today and he seemed fine but now as he walked into the lunchroom I couldn’t help but feel there was something different about the way he was walking. It was only a slight change but it was stiff, almost as if he hurt his back or if something was stuck up the back of his shirt. It was a stupid thing to obsess about but I couldn’t get it out of my head.

“You got a thing for Davis?”

I turned and saw Mike sitting in the seat his brother had recently vacated. I think Frank was in the bathroom or something.

“What?”

“You’ve been staring at him for a couple of minutes now, intently.”

I scoffed. “George is a punk.”

Mark shrugged. “Don’t girls like bad boys?”

“Not this girl.”

“Then what’s the deal?”

I shrugged. “Just wondering what his messed up friends see in him.”

Mark gave a look. “Oh” he said, sounding slightly disappointed. “I almost thought you noticed, too.”

“Noticed what?”

“The freaky way he’s been acting.”

“What do you mean?”

Crap, did Mark know something?

“Well he used to terrorize the hell out of me. Every morning the bastard would wait by my locker, demanding whatever cash I had and stuff. But this past week there’s been nothing. No sign of him whatsoever. Not that I’m complaining but it’s kind of creepy that’s all.”

I nodded. It was kind of creepy. Did something from the weekend mess him up, something “Scary” did to him?

Suddenly George stood up, carrying his empty tray with him. He had that stiff walk again. I watched as he deposited his tray then made his way to one of the doors. He was leaving the cafeteria. I bit my lip and made a split decision, standing quickly, startling Mark.

“I gotta go to the bathroom,” I said as if in explanation.

“And you’re telling us, why?” asked Penny, giving me a strange look.

I shrugged, not having an answer. Instead, I quickly made for the door that I saw George leave out of. Ok, Penny probably thought I was a freak now but I’d deal with that later. Right now I just needed to know where George with going. Ok so maybe I was a little bit of a freak but there was just something about his behavior that made no sense to me. It made me wonder about that time those Black Horn dudes took over Tommy. Something about the way George was acting made me think that maybe “Scary” had done the same to him. I’m not sure why she’d bother but it was the only other explanation out there. I knew George and the way he’d been acting all this week was definitely not the George that I knew. Not that there was anything wrong with new George but I just couldn’t sit by and let a bitch like whoever she is mess with him like that. Even if I did kind of find the other day somewhat amusing. Hey he did kind of have it coming.

I managed to catch up to George in the hallway. He was standing in front of a locker; I’m assuming it was his. I tried to look inconspicuous but seeing as we were the only ones in the hall, it was a little hard. So I decided to play things nonchalant. I walked slowly down the hall, passing him then stopping a few lockers down. I pretended that my shoe was untied not that he was really paying attention. As I was “tying” my shoe, I looked back at him. He had the locker open now and was taking a cell out of it. I watched with increased interest as he quickly dialed a number and started to talk. Unfortunately he was too far away for me to make out the conversation but it didn’t last long.

As he was putting the phone back and closing the door, he caught me looking. For a moment, I saw the same look he’d been giving me all week, the one of fear but then it disappeared. In its place was the same sneer that always decorated his face.

“What are you looking at freak?”

“Nothing important.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

I stood up, stretching slightly. “It means that you’re nothing to look at, dick,”

He scoffed. “Tell that to my girlfriend, you freak.”

Girlfriend? What stupid girl would ever date him?

I couldn’t help but laugh. He didn’t like that one bit. He started toward me with malice in his eyes, looking like he was about to do something dangerous. I couldn’t help but think about the knife and the look he had in his eyes then. That same look was there now. AS he got closer though, that looked started to fade and in its place was once again the look of fear he’d been giving me all week. It was as if a switch had been flicked and he was a different person all of a sudden.

This new George stopped about five feet away from me.

“What do you want from me?” he stammered.

“I don’t want anything from you,” I said, taking a step closer.

“Leave me alone,” he whimpered, tears streaming down his face.

I took another step toward him. He was trembling. I reached for him but he pushed my hand away then tripped backwards. As soon as he hit the ground, he started to back pedal away from me. It was almost as if he was terrified of me. It made no sense though. One minute he wanted to pound the hell out of me and next, he was a crying, simpering coward. What the hell was up with that? I took another step toward him then the switch was flicked again. The look on his face changed and he blinked a few times. It was during one of these blinks that I noticed it. There was something up with his eyes. I only saw it for a split second but there was something there, a quick glimmer. Whatever it was, it seemed to be what was “flicking the switch” on him.

“Freak” he said, looking up at me.

Freak, me? I think the guy needed to look in the mirror. Not that it was his fault because he was clearly being messed with. I’m not sure if it was residual from the weekend or something else entirely. I wanted to ask questions but I knew there was no way he’d answer them. So I was going to have to do the next best thing even though it was going to be painful for me to do so. I groaned at the thought, pushing my face past George as I headed back to the cafeteria.

“Are you certain of this?”

I sighed and nodded. “Yes, I’ve seen it before.”

I was sitting at the kitchen table with the WB and Mr. Duncan. As soon as I got home from school, I went right to them and told them what I discovered about George. Hey, I learned my lesson in Ravencrest. If I found something out, there was no way I was keeping it to myself anymore. It only took about a minute or two to tell them everything I’d discovered. Though by her reaction, it was clear my new “teacher” didn’t believe me. Frankly, I didn’t care if she did or not, I know what I saw. It was clear someone was messing with George and using magic to do it. She said they were going to handle “Scary” and this was definitely a part of that.

The two of them gave one another a quick look. Neither said anything for a moment. Then Mr. Duncan nodded.

“Reginald will look into it”

“You believe me?”

“You gave concrete facts and given your prior incidents, we don’t have any reason not to believe you.”

Wow, maybe she wasn’t such a bitch after all.

Mr. Duncan---aka Reginald---left the kitchen after that. I wanted to scoff at his name but that would have been rude. Hey my parents named their son Kelly so I really had nothing to laugh about. Of course, all that worked itself out but still. When he was done, I slowly got up from the table. I had some homework to get done before magic lessons started. I wasted no time as I started up toward my room. I didn’t have a lot but I was hoping I could stretch it out a bit, trying to avoid lessons as much as I could. I definitely didn’t want to spend any longer than I had too trying to meditate. When I told Mary about all that she actually laughed. Of course, as soon as she done, she actually told me it was a good idea. Meditation was actually a good way to learn how to relax. She seemed to think I needed it too, what with my powers being based around anger. I guess there was some truth in that but not enough for me to jump into it one hundred percent.

Unfortunately, homework didn’t take as long as I wanted. An hour after starting I was done. I thought about extending it just to avoid lessons but there was a knock on the door. As I was getting up to answer it, the WB stepped into the room.

“All done?”

How in the hell did she know that?

“Are you spying on me?”

She didn’t answer the question, instead her eyes drifted around the room before settling on me again. She then turned and walked out of the room, the cue that I was supposed to follow. So I did. We met one another in the family room downstairs. A couple of days ago, Mr. Duncan had shifted some of the furniture around so we had a clear space to work with. The WB also put some protection spells and wards around the room to keep me from burning the place down.

When I got there, she was standing in the middle of the room waiting.

“From our previous lessons, it’s clear that the fundamentals of control are completely lost on you. It’s not your fault, controlling our craft is one of the more difficult aspects to master. It’s also clear to me that meditation might not be the answer.”

Thank God to that.

“So” she continued. “I think we might try some breathing exercises.”

She then went on to explain how a simple breathing exercise might help me center myself better and control my anger. It actually seemed simple enough and made sense. So for the next hour or so, she instructed me on how to do it properly. This I actually didn’t screw up on. She seemed to think that if I could actually get control of my anger that I might be able to finally control the power I had within. This was not at all how I originally thought things were going to go. I was certain her strict, dictator tactics were her attempt to get me to pop. It was clear though that she might actually be trying to help me. Sure, she was still a bitch who had no idea how to handle teenagers but she was trying to help me in her own strange way.

The breathing lesson lasted another thirty minutes.

Before it came to an end, Mr. Duncan reappeared. He gestured the WB over and the two of them left the room. Of course, they wouldn’t discuss anything with me. They came back in a few minutes, both of them giving me a look and not a very good one either.

“Did you talk to George?”

“Yes”said Mr. Duncan, towering over me. “I spoke at length to Mr. Davis. Besides being a bit of a hard case, I can assure you that he is not bewitched.”

That was bull. I know what a bewitched person looks like and there was no way in hell that he wasn’t. Either Mr. Duncan was incompetent or a really good liar. Of course, what reason did he have to lie? I mean this didn’t affect me in the least; this was about George and that dark user. I started from the Warden to his witch and back again. They both seemed to be fairly good at their jobs, if a bit stiff. It blew my mind though to think that neither of them knew what they were talking about.

“Are you blind?”

Ok, that I shouldn’t have said but it annoyed me that he found nothing.

“Excuse me?” he asked, getting pissed that I questioned his judgment.

“You saw him right,” I continued. “I mean you spoke to him, actually looked him in the face?”

“Yes” he said defensively, then flashed his ring at me. “This doesn’t lie either. It’s enchanted, meaning it can detect when a spell is being used. Something like a mind control spell would react to my ring. The ring didn’t react, your friend isn’t bewitched.”

I scoffed. “He is not my friend.”

The two of them shared a look again.

“Then clearly you were wasting my time. I see where this was going. This boy wronged you in some way, broke your heart and so you thought to punish him?”

You got to be kidding me.
“Broke my heart! As if I’d ever be in love with that fucking scumbag! He pulled a goddamn knife on me, tried to kill me this weekend!”

The anger was started to build up inside of me. I could feel the tingling and my blood starting to boil. I wanted to breathe, wanted to control it but I also wanted to hurt him. How dare he accuse me of being a jilted lover and trying to punish George? How dare they not trust me? How dare they live in my house? Insects, pathetic little bugs!

Mr. Duncan’s eyes popped. He quickly stepped in front of Magistrate Graham, raising his arms. There was a flare of light and giant shield formed in his hand. My anger seethed out of me, the black flames forming in my palms. I wanted to barbeque them both, I wanted to roast them until nothing was left. I wanted to…I wanted to kill them all. Just when I was about to let go though, a warming calm fell over me. I’m not sure where it came from but it was there nonetheless. It washed over my body, forcing away the anger and the pain. Gone was my intense hatred and my need to kill. When the tingling stopped, I dropped to my knees, exhausted. I could barely move as the feeling of warmth washed over me. I saw a light and the vague outline of a figure. A man maybe but it was too hard to see.

Then a second later, there was only darkness.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF