Volume 1: Part 1

All of my life I did some pretty stupid things to try to fit in. I would climb the big oak tree without thinking about how I would get down. If the local lake froze over, I'd be the first to see if it was safe to skate on. Other kids would look on, amazed I could do back flips from the swing set. Meanwhile, I did my best to hide the scrapes and bruises I acquired learning to do them. Yes, I was the risk taker; the daredevil.

And then it all went to shit…

It was late spring, near the end of my eighth grade year, and I had been riding on three years of unabated rebelliousness. I'd been suspended so much that I knew my teachers hated me. My grades had slipped from As to Ds. Most of the other kids thought it was cool when I pulled off a huge stunt. Otherwise they were disgusted by me, and thought I was a total ass. Which even I knew was true. The one friend I had in the world was on her last leg with me; and I knew that as well.

A major problem of mine happened to be denial. I knew most of the kids hated me, and never denied that fact. They weren't really my friends. Whenever they suckered me in to doing something, it was usually for their benefit. Usually it would be to my detriment. I was pretty good at not getting caught. However, when I did, I got caught in the worst situations. Still, my denial that I could somehow "win" friends kept me going.

"Yo, Jesse James!"

I looked up at the red-faced kid, as I walked down the aisle of the bus toward him. "I told you to stop calling me that, Brandon," I said, taking a seat across from him.

"What's wrong with it?" Brandon asked. "You're like that famous outlaw."

"No," I said. "Because my last name isn't James. And I've never robbed a train."

"Whatever," Brandon said. "Did you get them?"

"Not exactly," I said.

About a week ago, Brandon had asked me to do a rather daring thing. It ran the risk of putting my friendship with Erin in jeopardy. She happened to be that one friend in the world that I mentioned. Brandon gave me a pretty tall order, that not only involved stealing, but also numerous other things. Among those were invasion of privacy, destroying someone's trust, and quite possibly embarrassment for the victim. In some sick twisted way, the risk kind of excited me.

"I knew you were a chicken shit," Brandon scoffed.

"Not entirely," I said. "I didn't completely fail."

Brandon sat up excitedly. He looked like a dog about to start panting from the heat. "So you got her panties?"

"No," I said, lowering my voice. "I managed to get something else though." I pulled the article of clothing slightly out of my school bag.

Brandon reached over and touched the item briefly. "Why the hell would you grab those?"

I shrugged. "I panicked a little," I admitted. "Grabbed the first thing in the drawer."

Brandon rolled his eyes. "Weak," he said, sitting back in his seat.

"Aren't you going to take them?"

"The hell do I want with them?" Brandon asked. "You keep them."

"I don't want them!" I said, shoving the clothing back into my bag.

"Well… then… give them back to your girlfriend," Brandon said.

"She's not…"

I shook my head, and retreated back to my seat. There was no point in arguing. Brandon had already tuned me out. I failed to deliver, and therefore failed to "win" a friend. It wasn't the first time I failed, and definitely wouldn't be the last. Pulling the zipper closed on my bag, I sat back and stared out of the window. No big deal. I'd be home soon, and could put all of this behind me.

After a short quiet ride, the bus eventually pulled into my neighborhood. My father and I lived seemingly well. By no means did we live in the richest area of town. One could call our dwelling fairly humble. It had pretty much everything we needed. There were two bedrooms, one and a half baths, a kitchen and a living room. Outside, we had a patch of grass, and enough room to squeeze my father's construction truck into the drive.

Inside the house was where we spent the money, or rather my father's money. My father, being content with four walls and a roof over our heads, had no problem splurging on a nice entertainment system. At least no problem getting one for himself. He had to watch his NASCAR and baseball, after all. That's not to say he never bought me anything nice. My room had always been furnished with the latest in gaming technology. If I only had friends to play with, it would've been awesome.

The bus screeched to a halt outside of my house. I gathered up my bag and rose from my seat. Taking one last look at Brandon, I knew he didn't have another word to say to me. His face contorted into one of disgust, and he quietly shook his head. I rolled my eyes as I turned toward the aisle. As I stepped off the bus, I was somewhat relieved that Brandon hadn't hurled an insult at me before my departure.

I reached my front door by the time the bus rolled away. My father's truck was gone, so I figured he was on a job. He usually worked until sundown on most nights. So it left me with a lot of alone time after school. Actually I had way more alone time than that, as my father never really spent time with me. Sure, he was home at nights, but he usually left me to my own devices.

Devices were usually the first thing I went to when I got home; gaming devices that is. I tossed my bag onto my bed, and flopped down on my beanbag chair. After switching my television and game console on, I sat back and pulled out my headset. At least I had online friends. Well… they were my friends until I kicked their asses at the latest first person shooter. I tended to rub it in a lot when I won.

"What's up asshole?" a familiar voice asked, as I got into a game lobby.

"Not much, Striker," I said. "Just got home from school."

"School is for losers," Striker responded. "More fun to sit at home and blow shit up."

"Yeah…" I said. "And smoke yourself retarded."

"Yeah, fuck you," Striker said. "You're lucky you're on my team. I've been lighting it up today, son."

"Please. The only thing you light up is a joint."

A long moment of silence passed without Striker giving a response. I cracked a grin, thinking I had won our little exchange. The game progressed to a loading screen, and hung there for several minutes. Eventually I got kicked from the match. Then I got kicked out of multiplayer mode completely. I exited back to the dashboard, and noticed I wasn't connected to anything online.

"Shit," I said, tossing my headset to the side. "Fucking internet…"

After twenty minutes of checking, and resetting equipment, I finally gave up on the internet. I returned to my room and shut everything down. Then I sat down on my bed, and yanked my school bag over to me. For a fleeting moment my mind told me to do my homework. This notion lasted only to the point of getting the bag unzipped. I changed my mind and tossed the bag onto the floor. The article of clothing I'd stolen from Erin briefly caught my eye.

"Why didn't that prick take these?" I asked of nobody, while reaching down to retrieve the object in question. "Now I just have to toss them."

I yanked the piece of clothing from my bag. Balling them up in my fist, I took a stroll over to the garbage can. My hand moved out toward it. Then I stopped. For several minutes I stood there and stared at the loose pieces of material hanging between my fingers. Something told me I should probably return them to Erin. More particularly without her knowing I had taken them.

My hand slowly opened. The soft creamy material burst forth like a flower opening its petals. A piece of it spilled out of my hand and flopped down; dangling in the open air. I couldn't pull my eyes off of the tights dangling in my hand. They held some kind of appeal. They were dainty… soft… so feminine. For some reason I felt a sudden urge to feel them on my body. I recoiled and tossed the tights far away from me.

"What the hell was that?" I asked, looking at the discarded tights. "Why would I think that?"

I backed away. Eventually the back of my legs caught the edge of my bed. I lost my balance and quickly found myself sitting. Leaning forward onto my knees, I looked over at the tights again. As I continued to stare, my body continued to lean. Mindlessly I removed my sneakers and socks. I rose to my feet again. By the time I reached the other side of my room, I had removed my shorts and briefs. My shirt fell to the floor behind me.

Seconds later I stood holding the soft tights I had so carelessly tossed away. I studied them more carefully. Slowly they became an object of desire. They were so soft, and creamy looking. There were two distinct patterns running the length of them. One pattern consisted of what looked like interlinking diamonds. The other pattern was a ribbed piping that alternated with the diamonds. I held them in my hand for so long. Somehow I couldn't put down those cable knit tights.

"Well I guess it wouldn't hurt to just try them on," I whispered, as I looked dumbly at the tights.

Any hint of concern flew from my mind. I found myself sitting back on the edge of my bed. My hands slowly worked one of the legs into a bunched up coil. I watched myself dip my toes into the center. By the time I had slipped the tights up to my knee on one side, I brainlessly set about on the other side. I stood up, slowly pulling the tights over my knees. They slid up my thighs and over my butt. Before I knew it, my fingers yanked out of them, and the waistband snapped against my skin. Oddly enough, they fit me perfectly.

Suddenly I felt lightheaded. I plopped back down on my bed. My hands instinctively reached for my thighs. The material of the tights felt so good beneath my hands. I looked out over my feet. For some reason it turned me on to see my lower body encased in the tights. They embraced my legs like a soft, warm hug. Everything just all of a sudden felt so good.

Then it all felt so horribly wrong. My lightheadedness turned to a staggering dizziness. Something gnawed at my stomach, as if from the inside of me. I felt sick. The room began to rock back and forth. The sound of rushing water filled my ears, and my head felt stopped up.

Immediately I pulled my hands from where they were, and tried to push myself from my bed. In my mind I thought I better get to the toilet quick, or I would be vomiting all over my bedroom. That's when the floor grew closer and closer, before I landed with a thud upon it. I couldn't move. My whole body seized. The light in the room slowly dimmed until it reached complete darkness.

Some time later I jumped to the sound of a car door slamming. I cautiously pushed myself to my knees. For a moment I couldn't figure out why I was on the floor, but then it dawned on me. I had passed out. I looked to the window. It wasn't dark outside yet, so the car door slamming probably wasn't my father. I still had time to get myself sorted out.

My hands came to rest on my thighs. Beneath my fingers, I felt the textured material of the tights. Then I suddenly remembered all that had happened. I had put on Erin's tights and was about to get friendly with them. "I really am an ass," I thought to myself, as I reached for my bed to steady my ascent. "Now I'll probably have to wash them."

I rose to my feet. Instantly I realized something was different. Perhaps I was losing my mind, but various things around my room seemed off. My bed seemed higher. Posters on my wall seemed to not match up with my normal eye level. I felt slightly unbalanced, and at some point I wondered if my legs were working properly. They felt a bit tingly, as if they'd fallen asleep on me.

"Wow, I must've hit the floor hard…" I jumped back a step. My hands instantly reached for my mouth. "What the hell?!" I jumped again at the sound. "What is wrong with my voice?"

One thing I had been so proud of, had to be my voice lowering this year. While my body paced itself with puberty, my voice jumped out to an early lead. Now it seemed as high as it was before puberty hit. Maybe even higher. I rubbed my throat, and quickly stumbled to the kitchen; thinking a glass of water would make it go back to normal. My entire body felt sore, as if I'd been through seven hours of gym class.

I managed to reach the kitchen, only stopping to brace myself twice in the hallway. Quickly getting a glass of tap water, I brought it to my lips. Somehow I missed my target, and the water started dribbling down my chin. It ran down my neck, and worked its way down my chest. I slammed the glass down on the counter, and reached for a washcloth. That's when I looked down and beheld another startling change. Dropping the washcloth, I spun around and ran for the bathroom.

The lights over the mirror sprung to life. My mouth dropped. Thin, neatly shaped eyebrows shot upward, above tear-filled hazel eyes. Soft, pouty, pink lips trembled. A small feminine nose flared as I took a sharp breath. My breasts… My what? In the mirror stood the reflection of a rather shocked young lady. Her… my… breasts rose with each staggered breath. Instantly I reached for my penis, and I fainted once more when I found it wasn't there.

"Wow! The transition really kicked her ass."

A young feminine voice greeted me, as I returned to consciousness. I looked up to see a rather fit girl, around my age, stooping down over me. She had short dark hair, a square jaw, and piercing blue eyes. As she looked me over, I in turn looked her over. The girl had on a tight tank top, that nearly thrust her breasts right into my face. She didn't seem all that feminine, however, but instead had a somewhat tomboyish charm to her.

Another girl quickly stepped over from behind the first girl. She squatted down in front of me, straddling my legs. Her hands steadily reached for my face, and she held my eyes open with her thumbs. As she leaned in to look into my eyes, I gazed past her glasses into her brown eyes. Strands of her black hair fell gently and dangled past the arms of her glasses.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Did you hit your head?"

"I…" I stared at her for a moment, still distressed over my higher voice. "I don't know." Glancing back and forth between the two girls, I finally focused on the girl with glasses again. "Who are you?"

"Extraction team," the first girl said. "We're here to get you out, before the others find you."

"The others?" I asked.

"Trust me," the girl with glasses said. "You don't want to know."

The tomboyish girl offered me her hand. "Can you walk?"

"I… guess so," I said, taking her hand.

The two girls helped me slowly get to my feet. Once more I found myself staring at the mirror. I staggered backwards, and the two girls caught me. This wasn't right at all. There should have been two girls and a boy in the mirror; not three girls. I freed my right hand from one of the girls, and reached for the mirror. My mouth opened, but I couldn't find any words to express my disbelief.

"Not exactly what you're used to seeing?" one of the girls asked.

I shook my head.

"Don't worry," she said. "Sometimes the change can be pretty drastic. You'll get used to it eventually."

"How?" I asked, breathlessly.

"It takes time," said the girl with glasses. "But after the shock wears off, we all just start to accept it."

"Accept what?" I asked. "Turning into…"

"We all change," the girl with glasses said. "Some of us more than others. But most of us usually don't look the same afterwards." She shrugged her shoulders. "I used to have red hair and freckles."

I cocked my head to the side. "I don't…"

"It's probably better that way," the other girl said. "Helps us move on from our old life."

"I don't want to move on," I said, pulling away from them. "I don't even know what the hell is going on here!"

The girl with glasses raised her hand, attempting to calm me down. "Take it easy," she said. "We'll explain everything."

"The transition is a huge shock at first," the other girl said.

"You're telling me!" I said, backing away further. "I came home after school. Then I put these damn things on." I pulled at the tights. "Next thing I know, I look like this!"

"I told you it was the tights…" the girl with glasses said, looking over at the other girl.

The tomboy shrugged, looking at me. "I figured you went crazy and ripped the rest of your clothes off."

"Wait," I said. "The tights? These?!" I looked down at the tights.

The girl with glasses was nodding when I looked up. "Considering that's the only thing you're wearing, I can only assume they're the magical item that changed you."

"Magical item?!"

"We're losing her," the other girl said.

I looked down at the tights once more. Then I quickly tore at them, trying to free myself from them. The two girls let out a moan of disproval, as they turned away from me. I yanked the tights down my legs, stumbling into the wall behind me. Pulling and yanking at the tights, I finally freed them from one foot. Then I hopped on that foot until I could peel the tights from my other foot. I threw them to the floor. Then I kicked them away, expecting to be changed instantly to my former self.

Nothing happened. I looked toward the two girls. They both were hiding their faces from me, not wanting to look at me directly. I suddenly realized they were being ashamed for me, as I clearly wasn't ashamed of myself. Standing in the nude, in the presence of two strangers, I suddenly wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

"Well that's a first," the tomboyish girl said.

"Everyone reacts differently," the girl with glasses said. "Probably our fault. We really need to get better at delivering the news to them."

"What is going on?" I asked. "What's happening?!"

"I told you we would explain everything," the girl with glasses said. "But not here. And you can't go anywhere like that."

"Do you have a dress to wear, or jeans?" the other girl asked.

"Dress?" I shook my head in disbelief. "Why in the world would I have a dress?"

"Not the girly type, I take it?" the girl with glasses asked.

"I'm not a girl at all!"

The two girls instantly turned and looked at me. Then they looked at each other. Tomboy girl started to speak, but then stopped. The two girls looked back at me. Both of them squirming as they tried to hide their discomfort in looking directly at me.

"What do you mean, you're not a girl at all?" the girl with glasses asked.

"I mean," I said. "That up until I put those damn tights on, I was a boy."

"Oh shit," the tomboyish girl said, quickly covering her mouth. She took a step back.

The girl with glasses shook her head. "No," she said. "That's not possible."

"It's true!" I said, getting defensive over her disbelief. "Why would I lie?"

"That's not possible," the girl said again, stepping over and grabbing my wrist. "It's not supposed to…" She stormed off to my room, pulling me with her. "Tory, get the tights!"

The girl with glasses pulled me into my room. She yanked on my wrist, swinging me out around her. Tory, as I now knew her, joined her a few moments later. I now stood there, front and center, naked in front of the girls. Glasses girl looked around my room. She kicked at discarded clothing, and pushed over a pile of video games. Yanking my dresser drawers open, she tossed out a few of my socks and underpants. She turned and stared at my wall full of posters, and baseball pennants.

"What the hell do we do now, Leann?" Tory asked; her voice a harsher lower tone.

Leann spun around and looked at her. "I don't know!" she exclaimed. "This has never happened before!" She stepped over and snatched the tights from Tory. Then she stepped right up to me, thrusting the tights in my face. "Where did you get these?"

"I…" I looked at the tights, and then back into Leann's menacing glare. "I kind of borrowed them from my friend."

"You mean you stole them?" Leann asked.

"I was going to give them back," I said.

Tory scoffed, folding her arms and shaking her head.

"So you're not Julie Hanover?" Leann asked.

"No," I said. "Who is that?"

"The girl you stole the tights from," Tory said.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I got those from some girl named Erin."

"How the hell did she get them?!" Leann asked.

"How the hell should I know?!" I shrugged.

"Dammit!" Leann shouted to the ceiling.

"What do we do?" Tory asked, putting a hand on Leann's shoulder.

Leann shook her head as she turned to her friend. "Stick to the plan," she said. "We still need to get her out of here before the others show up."

"What others?" I asked, stepping toward them. "Why do I have to leave?"

"Listen!" Leann said, spinning back around to face me. "I don't know what the hell happened, or why in the hell you decided to put these on." She held the tights back up. "But for now, we have to get out of here before some very bad people show up. Understand?" She thrust the tights into my hands. "So put these back on, or find something else that fits, and get dressed. We're rapidly running out of time."

"I'm not putting those back on," I said. "Look what they did to me!"

"Well they're not going to do it again!" Tory said. "Just put some freakin' clothes on."

"Please," Leann said, her voice starting to calm a little. "It's weird enough that you're naked." She turned and stepped across the room. "But to think you used to be a boy…"

---

 
 
To Be Continued...
 

Volume 1: Part 2

I yanked at my old pair of baggy jeans, pulling them up for the eleventh time. Tory and Leann hadn't slowed down for a second since we left my house. After a short drive, with Tory behind the wheel, we parked on the outskirts of downtown Greater West Allis. Now we had walked several blocks, with me fighting my clothes every step of the way.

It probably would've been easier had I been a girl to start with. At least I would have had some female attire for my new female body. Still, had I been granted the same male mind I possessed right now, I probably would've burned that female attire. Everything felt so weird; walking, talking, having the girls refer to me in female pronouns. Despite all of that, I had kept the very tights that had caused all of this misfortune.

Perhaps I still had doubts about what Tory and Leann had said. Maybe I could put the tights on again, some time later, and change back. It could be like one of those movies, where I learn a lesson, and then go back to normal. Although the two girls seemed to know what they were talking about, there could be a slight chance that they were wrong. So I had shoved the tights in the front pocket of my hoodie, which now hung down to my knees. The bagginess of my clothes simply reinforced the likelihood that I was stuck as a girl.

"Would you hurry up?" Leann asked. She had turned to walk somewhat backwards so she could see me.

"You try walking in clothes that are five sizes too big," I said, with gritted teeth.

"I offered to buy you a new outfit on the way," Tory said. She had stayed beside me most of the way; perhaps thinking I might run off.

"That offer died immediately when you said bra and panties," I said, recalling the conversation in the car. "I'm not a girl, and I'm not going to dress like one."

Leann stopped her stride, causing us to catch up to her after a few steps. She reached out and clamped her hand around my upper arm. "I'm not going to say this again," she said. Her voice had become hushed, but with a harsh, scolding tone to it. "You are a girl now. You might not like it, but it is what it is." She glanced around. "When you say stupid crap like that, you draw attention to yourself. Get it?"

I tried to pull away from her grip. "You're the one causing a scene right now," I said, angrily. "All I said is I'm not going to dress --"

"Yeah!" Leann exclaimed. "You're not going to play along and dress like a girl. I get it." She sighed heavily. "Honestly, I don't care how the hell you dress. I really don't. But stop with the 'I'm not a girl' bullshit. Because you are a girl now."

"Fine," I said, yanking my arm from her grasp. "You don't have to be a bitch about it."

Tory chuckled at my remark.

"You think this is funny?" Leann asked, looking at Tory.

"I'd be lying if I said no," Tory said, still smiling.

"Besides," I said, drawing Leann's attention. "Haven't you ever heard of gender rights, or whatever? I can be whatever gender I feel I am."

Leann looked as if her head was about to explode. She let out a rather low, but primal grunt. Then she turned in a huff, and began walking away from us. I stood and watched her, smiling as if I'd won some great battle. When I turned to look at Tory, I found her simply shaking her head.

"What?!" I shrugged. "She started it."

"Come on," Tory said. "We better catch up."

We walked about another five blocks. By this point I didn't care if I left my jeans behind. They were just too big. Everything was big. My shoes felt like my feet were swimming in them. I had nearly stepped out of them quite a few times. Even my socks had fallen down into a bunch around my ankles. Several times I had contemplated putting those damn tights back on. At least they fit.

"And we're here," Leann said, stopping abruptly.

"We are?" I asked, struggling to finish our walk.

"Home," Leann said.

With a melancholy smile, she extended her arms toward an old run-down theater. I strolled up beside her, and simply stared at the building. It looked as if it had been built in the late 1800's. The large wooden marquee outside had seen better days, but you could still manage to make out "The Regale" upon its faded surface. The two modern buildings, sandwiching the theater, made it stand out like a giant eyesore. I peeled my eyes away from it to take in my surroundings.

"This doesn't make any sense," I said.

"What's that?" Tory asked.

"I've walked by this area at least fifty times before, and have never seen this building," I said. "It doesn't even fit!" I stepped closer to the building. "Looks like it should've been torn down years ago."

Leann scoffed at my remark. "This theater is an historical landmark!"

"Wait…" I glanced back and forth at the two girls. "Did you say you lived here?"

"Sort of…" Leann's eyes fell upon the ground, and she shuffled her feet.

I stared at Leann for a moment. "Like a figure of speech?" I asked. "Like you love the theater so much that it's your second home?"

"No," Tory said. "As in we live here." She walked over to the door and pulled it open. "For now…"

"I'm not going in there," I said, taking another gander at the building. "This place should be condemned."

"Stop being such a baby," Leann said. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

"Seriously," Tory said. "Haven't you ever taken a risk before?"

"As a matter of fact," I said, straightening up, "I've been known as a bit of a daredevil."

"Well…" Tory held her hand out in front of her, angled toward the door. "After you, daredevil."

That happened to be all the prodding I needed. I yanked up my jeans, and pushed onward. My shoes slid around my feet with each step. For a brief moment my head was filled with the thought that I was still shrinking. Then those thoughts flittered away as I stepped across the threshold of the theater. What I saw before me was simply magnificent.

Inside, the lobby looked immaculate. I expected cobwebs, and broken furniture. Instead what I saw could very well be described as a functioning theater. Or at least it would have been, had the place still been open. The floors were clean, the counters dusted. Even the area for the coat check seemed in proper working order. The entire lobby looked as if it would at the time of its prime.

"This place is amazing," I said.

"It was an absolute wreck when we got here," Leann said, walking in behind me. "But it's amazing what you can do when all you've got is time."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

Tory came up beside me. She slipped her arm around mine. "Wait until you see the auditorium," she said, as she started to pull me away.

"Hold on you two," Leann said. "I think we need to talk first."

"Oh come on!" Tory exclaimed. "She has time for a tour."

"I think it best if we explain what's going on first," Leann said; her voice growing stern.

Tory dropped my arm reluctantly. "Yeah… okay," she said with a sigh.

I followed Leann across the lobby. We passed a rather clean concession area, and the box office. Walking further in, we passed a few offices, and finally arrived at the end of a hallway. Leann reached out and opened the door at the end. I peered around the doorframe, and noticed steps leading downstairs.

"This isn't some weird cult is it?" I asked, stepping away from the door.

Leann looked surprised.

"What?" Tory asked.

"I'm not gonna be locked in a cage down there or something," I said. "Scratching the number of days into a wall, while I wait for you guys to eat my heart."

"What the hell are you…" Leann shook her head. "No!"

"That's just all kinds of wrong," Tory said, pushing past me and heading downstairs. "Although the cage part does sound fun," she said over her shoulder.

"Look," Leann said. "Please, just give us like ten minutes. If you don't like what you hear, I will gladly take you back home."

"You'll return me to my normal life?" I asked.

"Of course," Leann said. "I don't want you to feel forced to be here."

I glanced down the stairs again. "Ten minutes?" I asked, looking back at Leann.

Leann nodded quietly.

I sighed, and shrugged my shoulders. "What the hell…"

I cautiously followed Leann down the old wooden stairs. They sounded rickety, but felt solid as a rock. As we neared the bottom, I could see where we were headed. The theater had a rather large underground area beneath the main stage. It had a few large pulley systems to carry people and props up. The rest of the downstairs appeared to be a changing area for the performers. Only now it had partitions set up, and seemed to be converted into a communal sleeping area for several more girls.

A few of those girls stared at me as I descended the last few steps. Tory strolled out into the middle of the large room. I could hear her yelling, "new arrival," as she disappeared into the distance. Leann casually reached out and took my hand. It surprised me, as the gesture had been the first congenial thing she had done since we first met.

"Right through here," Leann said.

She gently pulled me along the side of the underground area. A few girls poked their heads out of their makeshift bedrooms. Leann and I weaved our way back to what felt like the corner of the basement. It broke out into a larger communal area, with several tables and chairs. There were a few couches and even a large recliner near the back of the room.

Leann walked me over to one of the couches, and had me sit down. Then she gracefully sat down next to me. For a few seconds I saw some of the resident girls take cautious looks at me, but then they retreated back into the sleeping areas. Across the way, I could spot a large area filled with bookshelves. They nearly had their own library down here, from the size of it. I couldn't even take it all in, before Leann drew my attention.

"It's a little underwhelming," she said, but we do our best to make it home.

"Are you kidding me?" I said. "This setup is pretty impressive." I glanced back out at the sleeping areas. "Are you sure you're not a cult?"

Leann chuckled. "Technically… I guess you could say we're a cult," she said. "But it's not like a religion, or anything like that. More like…"

"A halfway house?"

"Well that's closer to it, I guess," Leann said. "But the girls aren't abused, or anything."

"So it's all girls?" I asked.

Leann nodded. "Everyone here is a teenage girl," she said. Then she gave me a sober look. "Even you…"

"But not forever, right?"

Leann sighed. "I should probably start at the beginning," she said. "But it's a little weird."

"A few hours ago, I was a boy," I said. "I put on a pair of magic tights, and turned into a girl. Weird got tossed out the window quite a ways back."

Leann nodded thoughtfully. "I'm afraid it gets stranger than that." Leann turned her body toward me, lifting her legs up on the couch and sitting sideways facing me. She reached up and removed her glasses. "First of all," she said. "These aren't real."

"The glasses?"

"Correct," Leann said. She sighed. "My sister was so much better at explaining this…"

"Just hit me with it," I said, turning to sit the same as Leann. For some reason I reached out to touch her knee, as if I needed to comfort her for this conversation.

"Okay," Leann said. "You know how the tights changed you?"

I nodded.

"Well everyone here," she said, "along with many who aren't here… All of us received, or came into contact with, a particular item that changed us." She held up the glasses. "Mine happened to be these. Well…" She eyed the glasses. "Not these specifically, but my item was glasses." She laughed slightly. "I thought they'd make me look smarter. Fact is, I didn't even need them. I have perfect vision."

"So basically, everyone here has been changed like me?"

"Well not… like you," Leann said, looking at me thoughtfully. "You're the first… you know…"

"Boy to girl?" I asked, now oddly smiling about it.

"Right," Leann said. "At least out of the ones here, or that we know about."

"There's others?"

Leann sighed dejectedly. "I'm so bad at this," she said. "I always get flustered, and… and go off topic…" She hung her head down. "I wish my sister was here."

"What happened to her?"

"Long story," Leann said. "But that's for another time." Her head rose to where I could see her eyes. "We only have ten minutes."

For a moment I sat puzzled at her remark, but then I remembered our agreement upstairs. "Oh… right," I said, straightening my poster. "Well it's more like eight minutes now."

Leann blinked a few times. "I'll get right to the point then," she said. "A long time ago, in ancient Greece, there was a young girl named Amara."

"Hold on," I said. "We're starting back in ancient Greece?"

"Can you let me tell the story please?"

"Okay, okay," I said, sitting back against the arm of the couch. "Greece then."

Leann collected herself for a moment, then continued her story. "Amara grew to be a beautiful young lady, and was soon after given the honor of being a priestess in the service of Artemis. She loved her position, and wanted to remain in it forever. Unfortunately, the position was reserved solely for young virgins, and Amara knew she couldn't remain young. So she tried her best to serve in the time she had.

One night, while Amara was attending to her duties, she heard a scuffle between another priestess and a man. The man had seemingly hidden himself in the temple, and waited until nightfall to try to rape one of the priestesses. Only the attempt was cut short when Amara intervened.

Amara struck the man in the back of the head with a statue of Artemis. The tip of Artemis' arrow pierced the man's skull, and he bled to death upon the temple floor. Despite the fact that Amara committed the act to aid her fellow priestess, the act itself was considered reprehensible within the temple. Amara was cast from the temple, and ostracized by the community.

She fled her village, made her way through the countryside, and eventually wound up on the cliffs overlooking the Aegean Sea. Overcome with grief, and the fact that she couldn't do the duty she loved, she attempted to take her own life. She prayed to Artemis, that she might serve her in Elysium, and then cast herself into the sea."

"So wait," I said. "She died?"

Leann shook her head. "No," she said. "She survived the incident. She took it as a sign, that Artemis was watching over her. From that day on she devoted her entire life to finding a way to become immortal. To remain in an ever-youthful state, so that she might continue to serve Artemis."

"And she succeeded?" I asked, looking at Leann confused.

"To a degree," Leann said. "Unfortunately for us. For thousands of years, we've had to live with the result of her discovery."

"Why is that unfortunate?" I asked, jumping up from the couch. "You basically just said you… we're… immortal!"

"No," Leann said, rising from the couch. "I said she sought a way to become immortal. I never said she achieved it. She only managed to attain her youthfulness."

My head tilted to the side, as I stared at Leann.

"We can still die," Leann said. "Gunshot wounds, being stabbed, hit by a truck… We just can't die of old age, or get sick."

"I don't understand."

"Well, I wasn't done explaining it all," Leann said.

"So there's more?" I asked.

"A lot more," Tory said, coming into the room behind me. "But maybe we should take a break? Let you at least get your head around that bit of it?"

Leann looked at me anxiously. "Can we at least offer you a bed for the night?"

"I don't know," I said. "My dad's probably worried about me. I should really change back and go home."

"Change back?" Leann asked, a little off guard.

"Yeah," I said, chuckling. "Like change me back to a boy, and take me home. Like you said you would."

"I only said I'd take you home," Leann said. "I can't… We don't have a way to change you back."

"Are you fucking serious?!" I threw my hands in the air, but then quickly reached for my jeans as they started to slide down. "Are you telling me I'm stuck like this?"

"Well, that's the thing," Leann said. "We've been trying… This whole organization down here…"

"What she's trying to say," Tory said, coming up and putting her arm around my shoulders. "Is that we've been trying to find a way to fix the curse that Amara started."

Leann nodded.

"So in the meantime, I'm stuck like this?" I asked.

"Yeah," Tory said. "But it's not all bad. And we're really close to finding a way to reverse it."

"Well I guess that's something," I said.

Tory turned me toward the sleeping area. "Why don't you get some sleep?" she asked. "We'll talk more in the morning."

"Yeah…" I said, yawning. "I am a little tired."

"Tomorrow we'll find you some clothes that fit," Tory said.

"No panties!" I exclaimed.

Tory smiled at me. "Sure. Whatever."

---

 
 
To Be Continued...
 

Volume 1: Part 3

I kept having the same dream that night. Over and over, I would fall asleep. I'd find myself falling through some kind of vortex. It kind of reminded me of the intro to Doctor Who?. I would spin and fall into pictures of my past. At times it might have been my future, as I couldn't recollect the memories.

Regardless, the dream would always end the same way. I would fall until I saw nothing but darkness surrounding me. I would float there. A voice would then cry out to me; a female. Only a few of her words made sense. I would wake with a start, mull over her spoken phrase, and then drift off to sleep again. The message she left stuck in my brain.

"This is how it must end."

"What's that?" A different voice shattered my dream.

"Huh?"

I sat up abruptly. The cot, I had spent the night on, creaked and bounced slightly with my exaggerated movements. I had managed to twist the covers all around me, and pulled them loose from the foot of the bed. That's where my eyes fell upon Tory. She stood there in eager silence.

"What's going on?" I stammered.

"It's morning," Tory said. She cocked her head to the side. "What did you just say?"

"When?"

"Before you woke up," Tory said.

"Oh…" I shrugged. "I don't remember."

I reluctantly looked down at my breasts. They heaved beneath my t-shirt. Beyond all reason, I had hoped I would wake up as my normal self today. I wished this had all been a dream before I fell asleep. Unfortunately, Tory standing at my bed, and seeing my new breasts greet me, stomped those hopes and wishes into the ground.

"I laid out some clothes for you to wear today," Tory said. She gestured to the old wooden chair next to me. "I hope they fit." She sat down gracefully on the foot of my bed. "If you want a shower first, we have…"

"No," I said. "I'm fine." My thinking was the sooner I got out of here, the better.

"Suit yourself," Tory said. She pointed to the clothes again. "It might be a small thing, but I managed to find a pair of underwear that might work."

I turned to look at the pile of clothes. A smile spread across my face as I laid eyes on a pair of what looked like green male briefs. They were definitely panties, but at least they didn't look like panties. "Thanks," I said.

"No problem," Tory said, standing from the bed. "I should let you get dressed."

"Wait!" I flipped through the clothing a bit. "This is a skirt, and tights."

"Is that a problem?" Tory asked.

"Um… yeah?"

"Well we're kind of low on options," Tory said. "I can try to find you some jeans."

"I'll just wear mine," I said.

Tory put her hands on her hips. "And stop to pull them up every half block? I don't think so."

"Well I'm not wearing a skirt with tights," I said.

"Honestly," Tory said, walking over to the clothes. "I didn't think you'd mind."

"Why would you think that?"

"Well…" Tory reached down and yanked my covers off. "You slept in your other pair."

I looked down in horror. Half of it being that Tory abruptly tore my covers off, the other half from seeing what I was wearing. My lower body was encased completely with those damn cable-knit tights. I scrambled to get out of bed, kicking and flailing like the tights would consume me whole.

"What the --"

Tory had clamped her hand over my mouth. She held it there for a moment until she could see the dread and despair fleeing from my eyes. Slowly she removed her hand, and put it on my shoulder. She shook her head, and pulled me in for a hug. I don't know why, but it felt right. Despite my hardly knowing her, Tory had a rather comforting way about her.

"Just calm down," Tory said quietly in my ear. "Everything's going to be okay."

"I don't even remember putting them on," I said, my voice quivering.

"I know," Tory said, as she pulled away from the hug. She took my hand and pulled me back to the cot. We sat there on the edge of it for a moment. Then Tory finally turned to face me. "How much did Leann tell you?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Basically she gave me a history lesson," I admitted.

"How much history?"

"About the Greek girl, and Artemis, or whatever," I said.

Tory nodded thoughtfully. "That's just how it started," she said. "It got a little more complicated over the years."

"Like?"

Tory sighed. "Well… let's see." She pushed herself from the cot, and began to walk around the tiny living space. "There's the arrow of Artemis. The maiden's curse. A sorceress at some point… And that was only the first hundred years or so." Tory stopped to face me. "It's quite…"

"Complicated…" I said, reluctant to use the word.

"Yeah…" Tory looked at me sympathetically. "I mean, if you really want, I can give you the whole story right now."

I waved her off with my hands. "I just want to know why I ended up in these damn tights again."

"Well that," Tory said, "would probably be the item affinity part of the magic."

"Item what?"

"Affinity," Tory said. "It means taking a natural liking to something. Or in the case of our curse, it means you have a deep infatuation with the item that changed you."

"So I'm in love with these tights?" I asked, snapping the material against my thigh.

Tory pursed her lips momentarily. "Not just those tights," she said. "All tights."

"You gotta be kidding me," I said.

"Here," Tory said, walking over and pulling the other pair of tights from the chair. "Just looking at them…" She held them up in front of me. "Do you want to touch them?"

I gazed at the tights for a lingering moment. For reasons I couldn't explain, I did have a strong desire to touch the tights. I felt my head moving up and down in a silent nod. Not only did I want to feel the tights, but I wanted to feel them on me. I wanted to wear them. They needed to be a part of me.

"So you're going to wear them?" Tory asked.

I shook myself from my mindless stupor. "What?"

"You just said you would like to wear them," Tory said.

"When?!"

"Like five seconds ago," Tory said. She handed the tights to me, along with the pair of panties. "I suggest you put them on before you go crazy."

I reluctantly took the clothing from her. "Can that actually happen?"

"It can, at first," she said. "Over time your desire will calm down. It doesn't completely go away, but you'll have a little more self-control."

"This really is a curse," I said, while looking down at the pair of navy blue tights.

"It's not that bad," Tory said. "You just like tights now."

"Oh, I love tights!" I exclaimed.

Tory tried unsuccessfully to hide a smile.

"Dammit!" I exclaimed.

"Look on the bright side," Tory said. "At least it's not a bustle. Not a lot of places where that looks right in this day and age."

I gave her a stone cold stare.

"I'll… step out," Tory said. Followed by her excusing herself from the small living space. "Let me know if you need help with anything," she said from the other side of the partition.

For a long while I stood there, tights in hand. I don't know if it was the item affinity, or whatever, but I really started to see no harm in wearing the tights. The panties, however, I had a strong objection to. Not only that, but I feared the snowball effect these two articles of clothing would have. Like, why not go all the way and put on the skirt too? Or we could even add a dress to my ensemble. I shuddered at the thought.

I glanced around to make sure nobody would see me nude this time. My eyes caught a glimpse of my discarded male attire. After a short-lived thought of wearing those jeans, I reluctantly removed the old magic tights. Quickly I pulled on the pair of panties. They didn't fit exactly the same as boy's briefs, and were a little snug. An audible sigh escaped my lips.

"You okay in there?" Tory asked.

"I'm fine," I said. "Can't I just hang out here all day?"

Tory chuckled. "It's actually really boring here during the day," she said. "We're usually out at school, or some of us have day jobs."

"You actually go to school?" I asked, as I cautiously scrunched up one leg of the navy blue tights.

"Of course," Tory said. "Most of us do. It's a good cover."

I dipped my toes into the foot of the tights, and carefully pulled them up to my knee. Then I began the entire process over on the other side. "So you just keep going to school forever?" I asked.

"It's part of the five summer curse," Tory said.

"Five summer?" I asked, pulling the tights up to my waist.

"Man, Leann really left a lot out," Tory said. "The five summer curse is the rough translation of the spell, or whatever, placed on Amara. Basically, after every fifth summer, your body is rejuvenated, and you revert back to the day the spell started."

"You mean I have to go through all of this again?" I asked, as I walked around the partition.

Tory glanced over me, taking note of the different pair of tights. "Not exactly," she said. "You still remember everything. Anything you learn or do. It's just that your body gets a reboot." She gestured for me to walk back to my makeshift room.

"Hold on," I said, turning to look back at her. "Do you have to go through puberty every time?" My eyes grew wider. "Shit! Am I going to start having periods?!"

Tory burst out laughing, but then seemed to chide herself for being insensitive. "No," she said. "You're basically in the body you're going to stay in." She smiled knowingly. "For now, at least. I mean, until we find a fix. But it won't change much." She walked over to sit on the cot. "Unfortunately, you might get periods. Us actual girls couldn't even escape that." She shrugged. "I'm not sure, with you being a guy before and all. But if you need me to, I can help you through it."

I sighed. "This keeps getting better," I said.

"Honestly," Tory said. "It's not as bad as it seems here. We're like one great big family."

"That's another thing," I said solemnly. "What about my dad?"

"That's up to you," Tory said. "It's hard either way you handle it. Some girls, like Leann, lost their parents early, and they never had to know." She sighed. "My parents never knew. They think I ran away. Others…"

"Bad?"

"Well…" Tory looked off to the side. "They stayed with their parents. Watched them grow old and die. And tried to live with the fact that their families never understood why they never grew older themselves. Some of them even got ostracized for being different."

"I never really thought of that," I said. "Leann brought it up briefly last night."

"Yeah…" Tory said. "Sometimes you just have to understand that she's seen a lot happen."

"Where is she anyway?" I asked.

Tory shrugged. "She runs off on secret missions all the time," she said. "Probably the hardest worker out of all of us. Always trying to find a cure, and always hunting down potential girls to recruit."

I sat down on the old wooden chair. I was close enough to Tory that our knees nearly touched. "Be honest," I said. "Is it possible to cure this… curse?"

"You know… I was hopeful at first," Tory said. "But as time goes by, all I see are dead ends." She placed her hand on my knee. "I don't want to get your hopes up, Jesse. But there may never be a cure."

"I have to believe that's not true," I said. "This all has to end."

Tory jumped up from the bed. "That's it!" she exclaimed.

"What?"

"I remember what you said when I came in here," Tory said. "You said 'this is how it must end.'"

"I don't remember saying that at all," I said.

"Maybe you…" Tory started to say. "I don't know. Maybe you are the key to stopping this." She paced back and forth for a moment. "You're different from us. You have the desire to change back hardwired in your brain." She stopped to face me. "I mean, who else would want to change back more than someone that doesn't even want to be a female?"

"Whoa…" I stood from the chair. "Let's not get carried away. I'm not special."

"Maybe you are!" Tory exclaimed.

"Okay," I said. "Assuming that… I have no clue even where to begin."

"Well for one, we can begin with some shopping," Tory said. "You're going to need a new wardrobe."

I let out a long, exasperated sigh. "I'm not ready for this at all," I said.

"You look ready to me," Tory said. "Let's go."

I looked down at myself. Suddenly I realized during the course of our conversation, that I had managed to completely dress myself in the borrowed clothes. A soft yellow t-shirt complimented the lightweight floral skirt and navy tights. I didn't even recall doing so, but I had slipped on a pair of flats while sitting in the chair.

"Am I really that out of it?" I asked, catching up to Tory.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't even remember putting this on," I said. "And yet… here it is."

Tory smiled. "It's probably a small remnant left over from the spell," she said. "It will wear off." She stopped to face me. "I promise you will have a mind of your own in no time."

"Did I…" My hand drifted up to my shoulder. Casually I felt around until my fingers touched the outline of a strap. "I even put on a bra."

"I hope so," Tory said, grinning mischievously. "You're going to be trying on clothes."

I glared at her, as she began to ascend the stairs. "Smartass," I said, quickly following after her. After a few steps, I got over her remark. "So are we taking your car?"

"Nah," Tory said over her shoulder. "Everything is within walking distance of here." She reached the door at the top of the stairs, and opened it. "Plus parking is a bitch in this city."

I walked past her. She closed the door behind me. We walked for a moment in silence, passing the offices. Everything I'd seen last night, looked just as immaculate as before. Somehow it even looked cleaner. Did they have some magical twilight cleaning spell, or something? Like the brooms from Fantasia.

"So… what's your item?" I asked, trying my best to keep up.

Tory turned in stride, and pulled a few times at the strap of her top.

"What? The tank top?" I asked.

"It's not a tank top," Tory said, stopping. She turned to me, casually unfastening her jeans, and slid them down slightly. "It's a leotard. Unfortunately, I happened to get sucked into this world during the eighties workout fad."

"I don't know," I said, thoughtfully looking down at her thighs. She had managed to barely expose a little skin, which brought a smile to my face. "I kind of like it."

"You would," Tory said, whipping her jeans back up. She turned away as she fastened them. "I'm just glad it wasn't the thong style. Imagine living forever with a string between your… never mind." She turned back to face me, with a grin. "You'd probably like that even more."

I shrugged. "I wouldn't know anything about it," I said. "I wasn't even alive then."

Tory shook her head, and continued walking. I followed behind her. We neared the front entrance of the theater. After seeing the busy morning streets, I suddenly had a change of heart. Call it nerves, or what have you, but I suddenly felt like I couldn't do it. I couldn't walk out onto the busy sidewalk.

"You okay?" Tory asked, standing at the door.

"No," I said.

"What's wrong?"

I glanced out the windowed doors. "What if they know?" I asked. "Like I don't even know how to walk like a girl."

Tory let out a hearty laugh. "Most girls don't even know how to walk like a girl these days," she said. "Don't worry about it."

"I don't know," I said, still looking outside. "Any tips?"

"Just don't walk like a gorilla, and you'll be fine," Tory said, pushing the door open. "It's a nice cool morning. Enjoy the walk, and don't even think about it."

The brisk morning walk seemed to actually calm my nerves a little. Nobody stared at me. In fact, fitting with typical city life, nobody seemed to give a damn about either of us. A few guys along the way would give us a passing glance, but I'm pretty sure they weren't checking that I was walking right. Being a young boy, myself, I knew exactly what was going through their minds.

I shook that mental imagery from my head, and tried to focus on other aspects of the city. Some of the buildings looked like massive towers from the street. I got out to the city on occasion, but never really got out to walk around. Hell, parts of the city you wouldn't want to walk around. This morning though… This morning it felt nice and refreshing.

In the distance I could hear jets flying over. While close by were the sounds of car engines and horns. Crowds of people waited at the crosswalks. Even the vendors were out; yelling over the morning commute to their customers. The slight smell of exhaust mingled with the smells of various foods being sold on the streets. Everything felt so alive.

"You hear me?" Tory asked, waving her hand in front of my face.

"I'm sorry," I said, focusing on her. "What did you say?"

"I said we could check out some of the thrift stores first," Tory said. "Get some basics. Then circle back." She pointed across the street to a rather crowded store. "That place has some really nice tights. We can pick some up."

"Sounds good," I said, still not sure about stocking up on female attire. "Any place that sells… you know… unisex?"

Tory smiled while shaking her head. "Don't worry," she said. "I'm not going to force you to buy anything you don't want to wear." She patted my shoulder. "We can probably find you some nice jeans and tees. Do the whole tomboy thing. It'll look cute." She gestured over her shoulder toward the tights store. "I guarantee I'm not going to be able to keep you out of there though."

Tory was right. Even as we moved away from the store she pointed out, I had the desire to go back. It took everything I had to keep walking further and further away from that store. I even stole glances back at it, as if checking that it was still there. Just as I was thinking this whole item affinity thing would be hard to escape, we turned the corner and it dissipated. We made our way over to a small, somewhat rundown, thrift store.

"You sure about this place?" I asked, looking over the halfway burned out sign.

"Don't let the building fool you," Tory said. "They have some nice things."

The store did indeed have some nice things. Most of the items looked like they were new. We strolled by shoes and boots that looked as if they'd been worn once or twice. The clothing on the racks looked as if it had been worn once, washed, and then returned to the store. I had been in my fair share of secondhand stores, when my father and I were struggling. Yet, I had never seen any of them have clothing as nice as this one. Maybe a piece here and there, but not entire racks.

"Is this like some weird magic store?" I asked Tory, in a hushed voice.

Tory looked at me strangely. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Everything looks new," I said.

Tory chuckled. "The owner here is a little obsessive," she said quietly. "They send stuff off to the next store if it doesn't look good." She glanced around the store. "Between you and me, this store has the best clothing within walking distance." She smiled. "Cheap too."

"I… don't have any way to pay for this," I said, suddenly realizing any money I had was back at the theater in my jeans' pocket.

"Don't worry about it," Tory said. "We got you covered."

"You sure?"

Tory nodded. "It's the least we can do after yanking you away from your home."

"Well… thanks," I said.

"Just don't rack up a crazy bill," Tory said. "But get enough to hold you over for a few weeks."

"Weeks…" I muttered, realizing the gravity of my situation.

"Hey," Tory said, trying to change the mood. "This is cute." She pulled a hanger from the rack. Clipped to it was a green and navy plaid skirt. "Matches your tights too," she said, as she held it in front of me.

"Um…" I took a step back. "What happened to the whole tomboy thing?"

Tory gave me a disappointed look. She put the skirt back; a small click sounding as the hanger hit the rack. Then she coaxed me to follow her with a come-hither waggle of her finger. We walked through the store a little bit, working our way to the men's section. Tory walked down an aisle filled with jeans, and held her hand out toward them.

"I'll be over at house goods," she said. "Getting you a few things for your room."

"Okay," I said, a little absentmindedly.

I looked around for a changing room, but quickly realized they didn't have one. There were only a few mirrors set up along the walls. Turning back to the jeans, I chose a pair I thought would fit. The floor was clean enough, so I kicked off my shoes and started to pull the jeans on over my tights. Instantly I realized they were too big, and removed them.

I had to remind myself that I wasn't as tall as I used to be. During my transformation I had lost maybe half a foot or so of height. It had been one of the first things I noticed. My own room at home had even thrown me off. I pulled another pair of jeans from the rack; a pair with a shorter inseam.

As I pulled this pair of jeans up under my skirt, they felt weird as well. It wasn't the tights, or the skirt. Something just felt wrong about the jeans. I'm not even sure if my new female body had anything to do with it. I removed the jeans, and tried another pair. Then I tried another pair. The same feeling kept returning to me.

I slipped my shoes back on, and stormed off to find Tory. Eventually I found her looking at little trinkets in the small house wares area of the store. She seemed a little surprised at my sudden return. I strolled right up to her. My mouth flew open as I prepared to yell at her for bringing me here. I had convinced myself that it was this oddball thrift store that strangely sold new clothing.

"Didn't find anything you like?" Tory asked, unassumingly.

"I…" The cobbled up obscenities in my head couldn't break free to my mouth. "Something about this place is off," I managed to blurt out.

"What do you mean?" Tory asked.

"There's something wrong with the jeans, or the men's clothing," I said. "Something is going on here, and I don't like it." I stepped closer to her. "Did you put some kind of spell on me, to make me hate male clothing?"

Tory burst out laughing. She walked away from me. I waited for a moment, and then chased after her. We weaved through rows of clothing, and finally ended up back at the jeans section. Tory thumbed through a few pairs of jeans, and pulled one off of the rack. She tossed it to me.

"Put them on," she said.

"I already tried this pair."

"Humor me," she said.

Again I slipped off my shoes. I took the jeans off of the hanger. Then I pulled them on under my skirt. The same feeling returned to me. It seemed to strike the instant I finished pulling up the zipper. The jeans simply felt weird. I looked up at Tory, and she stood there silently.

"Why do they feel weird on me?" I asked.

"Well I can see a few issues right off the bat," Tory said. She reached out and tugged the sides. "They don't hang well." Her hand went around to the back, and she tugged some more. "The pockets are halfway down to your knees." She walked around behind me. "And no shape at all to the backside. It's like you're wearing a sheet."

"So they're not like… cursed jeans?" I asked.

"Jesse…" Tory walked back around to face me. "The girls and I… We're not witches. We can't cast spells to make you hate a pair of jeans." She shrugged. "Maybe it's because your junk is missing?"

I rolled my eyes at her, as I slowly removed the pair of jeans. "I don't know what to do," I said, starting to sulk.

Tory moved closer to me. "Could you do me a favor?" she asked.

"What's that?" I asked, while hanging up the jeans.

"Could you just try on a few things over in the lady's side?"

My head turned to look at Tory. I could feel my spirit sinking already. The question alone carried the sting of defeat with it. Ever since I met my new "friends," I had been fighting with them about wanting to play the part of a girl. When I looked Tory in the eye, though, I could tell she wasn't asking out of some ulterior motive. She had joked about putting me in skirts the night before, but she seemed sincere now. I shrugged at her suggestion.

"If you don't like anything over there," Tory said, while picking up my shoes. "Then we'll figure something out." She coaxed me to walk, with her, back to the women's area. "It's important that you're comfortable though." She put her arm around my shoulders. "You might be like this for quite a while."

"Wonderful…" I muttered.

---

 
 
To Be Continued...
 

Volume 1: Part 4

Altogether we had visited four stores in Greater West Allis. After getting over my sulking in the thrift store, I actually found some things in the women's section that I liked. I managed to find a few pairs of jeans that weren't overly girly. They had plenty of neutral t-shirts to choose from, though some of them fit tighter than I normally liked. Tory talked me into a few sweaters for colder weather, and somehow found a way to get me to purchase a couple of skirts.

Although I was convinced I would never wear the skirts, Tory did seem pretty convincing when stating they'd go better with tights. In fact, the mere mention of tights made my head fuzzy. So I went along with Tory's suggestion. If anything it got her to shut up about it, and saved me the headache. I started to wonder if that's how she won most of her arguments. Regardless, I had to admit to myself that I didn't have the body of a boy anymore.

The next stop happened to be a discount shoe store. Tory wasted no time here, leading me straight to what she considered the essentials. She had me pick out a pair of sneakers, while she looked at some dressier flats and boots. I had a hard time figuring out my size at first. For one, the size on the bottom of my borrowed flats had been completely worn off. So I had no idea of determining my size from there. Tory had already walked away, and left me on my own.

Instinctively, I reached for my usual size eleven, and learned immediately they were enormous on me. My feet were practically swimming in them. I pulled out a box of tens, and they were too large as well. Frustrated, I kept going, pulling out a pair of nines, then eights, and then sevens. By the time I had slipped a pair of size six shoes on, Tory came back to join me.

"Sixes," I remarked. "Can you believe that?"

"What are you talking about?" Tory asked, now noticing the boxes spread all over the floor.

"I went from size eleven all the way down to six," I said. "That's five whole sizes!"

"That's not entirely accurate," Tory said, a little hesitantly. "You wore an eleven in men's. That's like a twelve or twelve and a half in women's. So you lost six whole sizes, or so."

"Great," I said, hanging my head. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I sighed. "I've lost half of my feet."

Tory restrained her laughter. "It's not that bad," she said, as she stooped down to help pick up some of the boxes.

"Maybe for you," I responded. "You probably changed hair color, or skin tone. I literally lost my manhood."

Tory sat down next to me. "You didn't lose anything," she said. "At least… not if you still feel inside that you're the same person."

"That's just it," I said. "I'm starting to feel like I'm not."

"Really?" Tory asked. "Like how so?"

"Just little things," I said. "Like I don't feel comfortable at all in this body. Yet, I feel like I have to make it look feminine to fit in. The whole thing is giving me a massive headache."

Tory put her hand on my shoulder. "Look… I know Leann gave you a hard time about being a girl. But I'm going to tell you right now, not to lose that piece of you that wants to be a boy again. Don't ever let go of what makes you unique, or all is lost."

"What else is there to lose?" I asked rhetorically.

"Hope," Tory said. "Don't ever lose hope."

I never would've thought shopping to be so emotionally draining. My mind had moved on to thinking that shopping was probably not the best thing to be doing right after a magical body change. Even saying that in my head began to sound crazy. Our next stop at the lingerie store didn't help matters either. If anything, it managed to bring up more decisions on what kind of girl I wanted to be.

Luckily I had Tory there with me. She attempted to keep me thinking practical throughout the process. Had I been alone, I probably would've fallen victim to my… male desires when it came to picking out lingerie. And that was, for the most part, my problem. I still thought like a guy, wandering around trying to think of how to look like a girl. At least I still had thoughts, for the moment. When we hit the tights and pantyhose, however, I became a mindless robot.

Tory slapped the button to start the dryer, then jumped up to sit on it. We had been shopping for the past few hours, and had stopped off at a laundromat to wash some of my purchases. That is to say they were my belongings, but I had no money to pay for them. Tory had somehow pulled together enough money to pay for everything. I thought maybe they had some secret stash of money to help other girls out. Maybe they took donations.

Tory smiled at me from her perch upon the running dryer. "See Jesse," she said. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"If you say so," I grumbled, as I neatly folded pieces of my new wardrobe.

"I thought I was never going to get you out of that tights store," she said. "We must've been in there for over two hours."

I looked up at her, a little embarrassed. "Does it really get better?"

Tory nodded. "It does," she said. "It just takes some time."

"Like what are we talking here?" I asked, continuing to fold clothes. "Days? Weeks?"

"Maybe a month or two," Tory said.

I sighed. "Well it's better than a year or two, I guess."

"Yeah," Tory said. "It's really not a huge deal. You'll still want to wear them, but you won't have that whole 'I can't survive without them' feeling anymore. It helps to feed the urge early on."

"So I have a concern that's been bugging me," I said.

"What's up?" Tory asked, helping me slip a few of my new belongings into a bag.

"Well…" I looked down at the pile of clothing. "It kind of has to do with all of this." I took a deep breath. "That is to say, how can you afford all of this?"

Tory smiled. "Normally we don't tell all of the girls this, but…" She looked me over. "I have a good feeling about you." She leaned in closer. "Can you keep a secret?"

I turned to face her. "I am the best secret keeper in the world," I said, cracking a smile.

"Here's the thing," Tory said. "We have a few thousand years of history behind us." She paused. "I mean, not me personally, but collectively." She held her hands up as if to wave that comment off. "Anyway, years and years of history, and years and years of collecting. Currencies, trinkets to sell. Well… you get the picture. We're kind of sitting on some wealth." She loaded some more of my clothes into a bag. "And the fact that we save a ton of money on food helps a lot."

"Wait a minute," I said. "We don't have to eat?"

"Have you been hungry or thirsty since you changed?" Tory asked.

I thought back for a moment over the past twenty-four hours. After my change, I had a glass of water, but it wasn't because I was thirsty. I hadn't had a bite to eat either. In fact, I hardly saw any food at all around the theater. Beyond all of that, it was now apparent that I wasn't even hungry or thirsty. Oddly enough, I felt fine. I found myself silently shaking my head in response to Tory's question.

"There you have it," Tory said. "We can eat if we want, but we can also go without food or drink."

"For how long?"

"Indefinitely," Tory said, with a chuckle. "We can't die, Jesse."

"Wait…" I looked up at her. "Leann said we could die to things like being shot and stabbed."

Tory's face turned sober. "She… lied," Tory said quietly.

"She what?!"

Tory sighed. "She lied," she said. "She tells new people that they can die to things like that. But it's for a good reason."

"To build trust?" I scoffed.

"Think about it," Tory said. "Think back to several hours ago. You were in shock. You were questioning everything. If you ran away scared, you at least wouldn't run away with the knowledge that you're invincible as well."

"Don't you think that's the choice of the individual?" I shook my head in disbelief. "Are you scared of us running off and becoming vigilantes?"

"No," Tory said. "We're scared of the opposite." She looked straight into my eyes. "Imagine if they got the silly notion in their head that they're unstoppable. Imagine if they used that knowledge to do harm to others… like the Nymphs."

"The what?" I asked.

Tory groaned. She slapped a pair of folded jeans down on the counter. "I really wish Leann would tell new girls everything. Her sister really was better at orientation." She looked up at me. "You know those bad people we told you about? The other ones?"

I nodded quietly.

"We call them the Nymphs," Tory said.

"What? Like they have sex a lot?"

Tory gave me a look of disgust. "That's a nymphomaniac," she said. "I'm talking about nymphs. Mystical spirits that take on the form of young maidens. Usually dragging young men into the woods to trick them. At least that's what they do in the stories," she trailed off.

"Oh…" I said quietly. "So… they're like our enemy?"

"I wouldn't say enemy," Tory said. "We're just… opposed to each other in how we see things. They like to use their immortality for devious purposes, while we try to help." She shrugged her shoulders. "Think of it as we're the ones who want to lift the curse, and they're the ones who want to remain immortal. But it's not like we're at war… yet."

"So Leann's group had a falling out with them? Is that what happened?"

"You could say that," Tory said. "You're better off getting the whole story from Leann." She sighed. "If she'll tell you, that is."

"What's the deal with her sister anyway?"

Tory shook her head. "Another thing you should ask her."

A couple of hours later, we returned to the theater. Tory showed me to a more… intimate room with an actual bed and dresser. While it was still down in the basement, it was like a private office, compared to the cubicle I had stayed in the night before. It even had a door with a lock, making it more like a dorm room. We spent a little time putting some of my new belongings away, before Tory introduced me to the communal bathing facilities.

It felt a little overwhelming at first; staring at an open room full of showers. I had only started showering with the guys in gym class, and even that felt uncomfortable. Tory droned on about how they had converted a lot of the underground facilities themselves. I had to admit, I admired their tenacity. Not to mention their knowledge on indoor plumbing. Of course, I had to factor in their years of combined research and schooling.

"So… we all shower in here?" I asked, my eyes drifting over the large tiled room.

Tory put her hand on my shoulder. "You get used to it," she said. "I hardly even look at the other girls now."

I turned my head slowly to look at her. Tory's face beamed with a mocking smile. "That's not exactly what I was concerned about," I said.

"I know," Tory said. "I know." She gestured toward the shower room. "If it makes you feel any better, it's pretty quiet this time of day. Would be a good time."

"Well… I kind of wanted to talk to Leann," I said.

Tory glanced at her watch. "She's not due back for another hour or so," she said. "You should…" Tory shifted uncomfortably. "How do I put this without it being weird?"

"Really?" I asked. "What about the past day has not been weird?"

"Good point," Tory said. "I was going to suggest that it would be a good time… to explore your new body." She shrugged. "I'm sure you're curious."

"Okay… that did sound a little weird," I said.

"Told you," Tory responded. "I never can think of a way to make it not sound sexual." She shrugged again. "I could guard the door if you'd like?"

"Could you… just bring me a towel?"

"Sure," Tory said, giving me a knowing look. "I'll leave it right outside here." She gestured to a bench on the other side of the shower room's wall.

"Thank you," I said, sheepishly.

"No problem," Tory said. "You can leave your clothes on the bench too. I'll take care of them when I come back."

"Tory," I said, catching her before she walked out.

"What's up?"

"Thank you… for everything today," I said.

Tory simply smiled at me. "I'll leave you to it," she said, turning to walk out. "I would suggest the body wash in the pink bottle. It's amazing!"

I waited for a moment, making sure Tory had exited. In my solitude, I took another gander around the larger room. There were toilet stalls off to the far side, and several sinks lined the opposite wall from the bench. I stepped over to the nearest sink, and peered into the mirror. It had been about the fifth or sixth time I had seen my new self, and it still left me in a state of horror and amazement.

Before the change, my hair had been on the lighter side of brown. It had been short, with a tapered style. Now it sprung forth from my scalp, like a fountain of black wavy ribbons. My nose seemed smaller. Although that could have been due to that fact that all of my features had become smaller. Thin, neat eyebrows bent in quizzical worry above my hazel eyes. Oddly enough, my eyes seemed to be the only thing that met with subtle change.

Everything else seemed like a far cry from my former appearance. My ears were smaller. The small cleft in my chin had gone away; replaced with a slightly more rounded point. It looked as if my entire face had changed from chiseled angles to nearly oval. One benefit I did notice was an improved complexion. My acne had completely vanished. I watched as my new pouty lips moved into a smile at this realization.

"Oh…"

Tory's voice startled me. I spun to look in her direction.

"I thought you would have started by now," she admitted. She held up a large fluffy towel. "I can just leave this."

"Sorry," I said. "I was just looking at some of the changes."

Tory placed the towel on the bench. "I get it," she said. "It can be pretty harsh. That's why I thought you might want some alone time."

"I don't know what I want," I said, turning back to the mirror. "Honestly… I never really did." I sighed, looking at this new reflection mimic my movements. "I spent most of the past few years trying to figure out where I fit in. And doing some pretty stupid things in the process."

"Well," Tory said. "I'm not qualified to answer where you fit, but you should know that you're welcome here. For as long as you need."

"You mean I'm not a hostage?" I asked, smirking at her.

"That was never our intention," Tory said. "We just try to help other gir… others like us. Some stay, others move on. Attempt to make it on their own. Our only goal here is to get them on their feet, and try to pass on some knowledge."

"Tory," I said. "You can call me a girl."

"I didn't want to upset you," Tory said. "You've been through a lot."

"I know," I said, turning to face her. "I also know that you're all girls here. So it's probably best that I try to fit in for now." We stared at each other, for a moment, in awkward silence. "Think I'll get that shower now," I finally said.

Tory shifted her position. "Sure," she said. "I'll be close by. If you need anything just shout."

I nodded silently. Tory turned and made her way out of the room once more. After one final glance in the mirror, I made my way over to the bench. Sitting next to the towel, I contemplated getting naked in this strange place. It's not that I didn't trust anyone. They could have murdered me in my sleep if they wanted to go that route. I simply felt uneasy about the massive changes.

In less than one day, my entire life had been flipped on its side. I was vaguely aware of where we were in the city, let alone where I might end up in the end. My father had probably spent a sleepless night wondering where in the world I had gone. Even in my most rebellious phases, I had never run away from home. Now I felt miles from home, and worried that I could never return. Taking a shower in some strange place seemed to be the least of my concerns.

I slipped off my borrowed shoes; now wondering where they had come from. Did these girls keep a small collection for people like me? I laughed inwardly, reminding myself that I was the only girl like me. They had told me I was the first, and only, boy to change into a girl in their magical world. However, I also had the thought, in the back of my mind, that Leann could have lied to me about that as well.

"What is the truth?" I quietly asked the empty room.

Slowly I removed the rest of my borrowed clothing. I placed it neatly on the bench, next to the towel. There seemed to be an internal struggle when it came to taking off the tights. Somehow I prevailed, tricking myself into thinking that by removing them, I could wear a new pair. It seemed to work, as I soon found myself completely naked; stepping toward my first shower in my new female body.

---

 
 
To Be Continued...
 

Volume 1: Part 5

An old, musty smell greeted me, despite the cleanliness of the vast shower room. It reminded me of the showers in gym class. Selecting a spot close to the door, I quietly strolled over. I stood to the side, not wanting to get blasted with cold water. The vintage knobs creaked as I turned them. Water trickled from the shower head. Several spurts later, and it was flowing in a steady stream before me. Cautiously I pushed my hand into the stream, and found it to be suitably warm enough.

Stepping into the stream, the water cascaded over me. A slight bit of trepidation filled my body, and I could barely move. I stood for a long time; letting the water beat down on my head. My eyes held tightly shut. Only recently had I begun showering with the guys in gym class. Now I stood naked, in a female body, showering in a weird underground facility, beneath a magical theater that nobody could see.

I felt my body shaking. The water temperature seemed fine. This was something else. I exhaled in tiny little bursts. My lips curved into a smile. Then the shaking moved up from my stomach, past my lungs, and exploded out of my mouth in a fit of laughter. How in the world could I not laugh? Everything about this was insane!

"Are you okay in there?" Tory's voice echoed through the bathroom outside.

"I'm fine," I said, trying to subdue my laughter.

"It sounded like you were crying," Tory said, a little closer now.

"I'm laughing," I said.

Silence greeted me for a long while. Then, as if from just on the other side of the wall, Tory's voice returned. "Why?"

"I just realized," I said, between giggles. "How completely insane this all is."

"You sure you're okay?" Tory asked.

"Should I be?" I responded. "After what happened… is anyone here really okay?"

"Do you need anything?" Tory asked, after another long moment of silence.

"Yes," I said, smiling at myself. "Could you get my penis for me?" I couldn't hold back my laughter now, and let it echo throughout the shower room. Eventually it died down, and I started to worry I had made Tory mad.

"I'll be outside," she said, nearly a minute later.

I felt a little ashamed at my outburst. "Tory," I said, only to be greeted with silence. "Don't be mad."

I poked my head out of the shower room, but she was nowhere in sight. Groaning at my stupidity, I returned to my shower. The water felt different to me. Not like it was magical water, or anything strange like that. It simply felt different on my body. It felt like even my skin was new, and I was feeling water for the first time. This new sensation is what eventually caused me to examine myself.

Tory had been right about me wanting to explore. I knew she wasn't talking about anything sexual when she had said it, but I couldn't lie. I had thoughts about that as well. My brain still worked like a teenage boy's mind. This time around, however, I thought it best if I approached my new body scientifically. The first step was to actually look at it; to really see it for the first time.

I stepped back, away from the water. My hands moved out to the sides, as I tilted my head toward the floor. The first thing to fill my vision were a pair of rather perky breasts. They weren't huge; somewhere between oranges and grapefruits. I shook my chest a little and watched them jiggle. While I had never been that enthralled by bouncing boobs, I couldn't help gazing at my own new pair for awhile.

After jiggling my breasts several times, I started to get accustomed to their weight, and how they felt upon my chest. In my current position, my breathing managed to hit my nipples with rhythmic blasts of cold air. It wasn't long before they stood proudly erect, and my mind began to wander. Without realizing it, my hands had reached up for them. My fingers gently grazed the erect nipples, and the surrounding pink circles of flesh. They seemed to be twice the size as I had before the change.

I emerged into a trance-like state after another minute. My fingers continued to move about my breasts. I pinched my nipples a few times, gently, and cupped my breasts. Slowly my eyes drifted shut, and my head fell back. I felt myself slowly moving toward the flowing water in front of me. It felt safe and inviting.

Suddenly my eyes fluttered. For a brief moment I envisioned myself standing up to my knees in a pool of water. A rushing waterfall flowed over me from overhead. The sound of which soon joined with my vision. Other sounds trickled in slowly; sounds of nature, like birds singing and leaves rustling in the wind. I found myself surrounded by a dense forest. It felt as though I had been to this place before. All of it seemed familiar; even the sound of twigs breaking behind me.

My head jerked to the right. I could see a male face in the bushes, staring longingly, and watching my every move. My eyes shot open. I twisted my upper body to the right. Instinctively, my hands and arms covered my naked breasts. Searching for the intruder, my eyes scanned the inside of the shower room. There was no one there. The vision of the forest, of the waterfall; it all dissipated. Trembling, I returned to the warm water of the shower.

Feeling a little freaked out about my vision, I quickly hurried through the rest of my shower. Exploration of my new body could wait. Perhaps it would be best to see it in a more private environment anyway. Tory had mentioned moving me to a private room. They probably thought it best considering my special circumstances. After all, I was the only girl in the place that used to be a boy. Apparently, news of my accommodations didn't sit well with everyone.

"How come the new girl gets a private room?" I heard a girl saying, as I exited the bathroom.

"It was Leann's call," Tory said.

The girl saw me exit, and stormed off. "So unfair!" she exclaimed as she walked away.

Tory turned her head and saw me. "Sorry about that," she said. "Hailey is a bit of a drama queen."

"She's got a right to be angry," I said. "I'm new here."

"She can be angry all she wants," Tory said. "I've been here almost as long as she has, and I still have a roommate. Besides… She's not in charge." Tory turned her entire body now to face me. "Feel better?"

I shrugged.

Tory waved me to follow her. "Maybe when you're wearing some clothes."

I tightened the towel around my chest. Luckily I had seen enough movies and shows to know how girls should wear a towel. I didn't know everything though. For instance, I didn't have a clue how to put my hair up in a towel. So I squeezed as much water out of it, and let it hang. To be honest, there were things I really didn't wish to know, and things I had to learn on the fly. Cleaning a new set of genitalia in the shower came to mind.

I shook that thought from my head, as I tried to key in on where Tory was taking me. We had walked down a corridor from the showers, and taken the first right. Then after passing two hallways, we had turned left. Tory pointed out the letter "C" on the wall, and lovingly referred to it as C-block. As if the place didn't feel enough like a prison.

Down this hallway were several doors; all on the right side. We passed a couple of them. One even had an old poster taped to the outside. It seemed to showcase an old theater production done here at The Regale. Finally we arrived at an open door, and Tory reached inside to turn on a flickering light. I chuckled when I saw the sign by the door.

"C-4," I said, smiling. "Luckily I have plenty of experience with that."

Tory gave me a puzzled look.

"You know… like the explosive?"

"Why would you have experience with explosives?" Tory asked.

"I'm a pro at first person shooters," I bragged, adding a not-so-subtle smile.

Tory simply shrugged. "I don't get it."

My smile faded. "Seriously?" I asked. "You all don't play video games?"

"Not a lot of time for games around here," Tory said. "And as far as technology goes… Well, we don't even have internet."

I groaned. "It's like you're all living in the stone age."

"What did you expect?" Tory asked.

"I guess living in the basement of an old theater should've clued me in." I sighed, as I stepped into my new room. "But how do you do research, or anything?"

"Good old-fashioned books," Tory said.

I shook my head quietly, and sighed.

"Do you need anything?" Tory asked.

"Just a little privacy," I said.

"I understand," Tory said. "I put your belongings away. I'll let you get settled."

Tory disappeared with the closing of my door. I stood for a moment, staring at the closed door, before turning to face my new dorm room. While it may have been a private room, it still looked pretty small. There was a small bed in the corner, with a stack of clean sheets on top of it; a step up from the previous night's cot. Next to the bed stood a desk and chair. Tory had set up the alarm clock there, that she had purchased earlier in the day.

Following along that wall, there stood a four drawer dresser. It rose to slightly past waist high. Probably would have been exactly waist high on my old body. My change in body mass still baffled me. It defied everything I had learned in science class. I managed to hold onto a little shred of doubt about my change; thinking maybe I had slipped into a coma, and all of this was a dream.

Everything seemed too real though. That reality hit even harder as I looked at the wall opposite of the door. A metal bar stretched across the entirety of the room on that side. Hanging on the bar were the clothes I had spent all day shopping for and cleaning. Washing them to wear at this very moment, and quite possibly for the rest of my life. This was my new reality.

I eased myself into the chair at the desk. For a long moment I stared at that wall of clothes. A medium-sized metal rack sat beneath the hanging clothes; proudly displaying my small shoe collection. The truth was, I didn't want to wear any of it. If I had been even slightly interested in cross-dressing before, I probably would have enjoyed this entire turn of events.

My mind kept circling back to the life I had left behind. Granted, I was a teenager, so it wasn't like I'd been stripped of being a world class surgeon, or anything like that. Still, it was my life. I had friends, and family. Well… a friend, and a father. There were at least two people probably worried sick about my disappearance.

All day long I had thought about going back home. To at least tell my father where I had gone. However, the more I thought about it, the more I worried about what he might think. How exactly do you explain a magical body transformation, without sounding crazy? If I'd simply been like the other girls, I could have stayed at home until college, and then move away. But if I went home now, and tried to explain this, I'd probably end up in a different room this size; complete with padded walls.

A subtle knock on my door drew me out of my ponderings. "Yes?"

The door opened a crack, and Tory stuck her head in. "Leann is back, if you want to talk with her," she said. "She's in the auditorium."

"Thanks," I said, without changing my gaze.

"You alright?" Tory asked. "I'm kind of worried about you."

"I'm fine," I said. "Just… thinking."

"Well… take your time," Tory said, before pulling the door shut.

It seemed time is all I had. Tory had grown on me at least. I figured she would be extremely pushy all day, but she had given me space when necessary, and support when I needed it most. She seemed to get over the initial shock of me formerly being a boy, a lot easier than Leann had. In fact, I was actually dreading talking to Leann again, but I needed some answers.

I certainly didn't want to go upstairs in a towel, however. So I decided I best get dressed. As if right on cue, I sensed the sudden urge to wear tights again. Tory had said the urge would die down over time. I hoped it would be sooner, rather than later. Admittedly, I never hated seeing a nice pair of legs in tights. Take them or leave them, they made a girls' legs look pretty good. I just never figured I'd be the girl wearing them.

This time, though, I pushed myself to go about dressing without being a mindless drone. It wasn't like I wanted to enjoy the experience, but rather be aware of the experience. I had always been a daredevil, yet somehow I never took a dare to wear female attire as a boy. I still wasn't even sure what possessed me to slip on that first pair of tights. Was it fate? Or was it something more sinister, or magical?

I stood before the stout antique dresser. As I pulled open the top drawer, I wondered about all of the old things the girls had kept over the years. They must have amassed a serious amount of ancient fortune. I gazed at the small collection of panties in the drawer. Even if I stood there for a hundred years, I knew I could never decide on which ones to wear. Closing my eyes, I let my hand hover over them.

Eventually my hand dropped, and I opened my eyes. Fate had ironically picked out a pair of boyshorts. I pulled the boyshorts from the drawer and examined them. Given the fact that I hardly wanted to shop for lingerie, I had let Tory inject quite a bit of her knowledge in the matter of picking out what was best. She gave me insight into what might be comfortable, or appropriate for certain situations. With my circumstances, she had also tried to pick out styles that might help me feel at ease.

That being the case, we mostly picked out boyshorts and classic brief styles. Of course, this came with the promise that she'd get me something else if I wasn't comfortable with the selections. I really didn't care about colors, so I let Tory pick for me. After nearly fourteen years of wearing white, it didn't seem to matter all that much. So I ended up with a little bit of white, a little bit of black, and a few "fun" colors; as Tory put it.

I gazed past the pair of pastel green boyshorts, straight into a mirror above the dresser. My pretty little face, something I still couldn't quite get over, was actually sporting a smile. Of all the bizarre things that had happened to me in the past day, I was actually smiling about a stupid pair of panties. My eyes rolled as I turned away from the mirror. After checking that my door was still closed, I pulled at the top of my towel. It dropped unceremoniously to the floor.

Stooping over, I stepped into the pair of boyshorts, and slipped them up my legs. They were a light cotton knit, but didn't feel all that different from my old underwear. Maybe Tory had the right idea of easing me into this gently. I found a matching bra in the drawer, and slipped it over my shoulders. Tory had picked out a few front-closing bras for me, in hopes they would be easier for me. This happened to be one of those bras, and it was indeed easy to close.

I had to adjust the bra a little, but eventually got it sitting comfortably over my breasts. The idea of having female genitalia still made me feel weird. Thinking of breasts as boobs, rather than a male chest, almost made my head hurt. That wasn't even the complicated part of my change. I still had no idea what all was going on down south. Health class can only show you crappy drawn images in a book. They don't let you look at a real vagina up close, or touch one.

As I sifted through the next drawer, full of tights, I wondered about who the oldest girl at the theater was. Not by how long they had been stuck with the ageless curse, but rather who was the oldest before being changed. We were all stuck as teenagers now, but had any of them been older? Was there a woman in her thirties walking around the building? I had to remember to ask Leann about it.

Speaking of Leann, she was probably waiting on me. I eventually decided on a pair of tights. Just touching them made me want to wear every pair in the drawer. However, I pulled a pair of dark grey tights from the collection, and strolled over to the chair. I took my time pulling them on, one scrunched up leg at a time. It's almost like I didn't care what else I wore, but putting on the tights had to feel like the main event. I hoped this feeling would go away quickly.

Tory had associated it to a residual sickness. Something that would eventually die down, but at the moment made it feel like I couldn't live without tights in my life. The spell worked almost like an addictive drug. It hit extremely hard at first, making you feel alive. Then the craving persisted, to where you had to wear the item as much as possible. Unlike a drug, however, the craving went away with time. A few girls had even kicked the habit, so to speak.

Needless to say, this didn't make me feel any better. I felt like I had been tricked into taking a "drug" that I never consented to trying. Yes, I put on the tights. But I didn't think for one second that they would change me into a girl and dictate my life. If anything, I just wanted to get off on wearing something I thought Erin had worn. I actually hated the fact that the spell hadn't changed my male mind as well. Perhaps if I thought like a girl, I wouldn't mind being in this new body so much.

It infuriated me. I didn't want to wear a bra, but now I needed the support of one, or at least something to cover up my breasts. I also didn't want to wear panties, but that had become, "Why not? I'm wearing a bra." To add to this, I didn't want to wear the tights, but because of the spell, I loved tights. The only part of my brain that had changed, in fact, was the chemical imbalance persuading me to love nylons of all types.

Of course it all made sense to finish the look with female clothing. Why wear an entire feminine base layer, without putting on a pretty dress over it? I jumped to my feet, yanking the tights up over my pantied butt. Furiously, I stormed over to my makeshift closet. Pushing aside the skirts and feminine tops, I searched feverishly for my hoodie and jeans from the night before.

"Where are they?" I muttered. "I bet Tory tossed them out."

I stormed over to the dresser, and yanked the third drawer open. It had a few pairs of socks and some belts stored away. I slammed the drawer shut, and yanked open the last drawer on the bottom. There, neatly folded side-by-side, were my old pair of male jeans, and the hoodie. I dropped to my knees, and stared at them; fighting back tears which were welling up inside of my eyes.

After all of what I had been through, I felt touched that Tory had actually kept my old belongings. My hand ran gently over the hoodie. Tory had told me not to give up on wanting to be a boy again. She believed, as I did, that there could some day be a remedy for the curse. As I stared down at my old clothes, I knew it was her way of saying to hold onto hope. I had to push myself to be strong. Whatever it took, I would find a way to end this curse, and return to my former self. Even if it meant wearing tights and skirts for awhile.

---

 
 
To Be Continued...
 

Volume 1: Part 6

I didn't expect much from a thrift store hair dryer, but I had managed to get my hair nearly dry before coming upstairs. Out of all of the shocks to my system, the long hair seemed to bother me the least. In fact, I hardly paid it any mind at all until the shower. It was kind of a pain to take care of, but I managed. What really bothered me the most, was the fact I was getting used to my new female attire; the tights in particular.

A dim light stretched across the quiet auditorium. I'd never been to a live production of anything, but the lighting was not unlike that of a movie theater before the show. Brighter lighting cast down on the stage, but there were no spotlights focused there. Two girls stretched on stage, unaware of anything going on outside of their world. Rows of seats, lined with red velvet, stretched away from them like a giant fan. One girl sat alone amongst the middle.

Cautiously I proceeded down the aisle, getting closer to the girl who sat alone. She didn't even seem to notice as I reached her row and started to walk toward her. Finally, as I approached the seat next to her, she glanced up at me. Her glasses caught a slight reflection from the stage light. For a brief moment I could even swear she smiled at me.

"Tory said you've had a productive day," Leann said.

I took a seat next to her. "I guess you could call it that," I said.

"I'm sorry I was… such a bitch to you last night," Leann said, swallowing hard; presumably with her pride. "The situation caught me off guard."

"Water under the bridge," I said, trying to play it cool.

"It's just that I tend to… research the girls that come here," she said.

"How is that possible?" I asked. Her silence struck me as off-putting, and I turned my body to face her. "Wait a minute… You know who's going to be cursed?"

"Sort of," Leann said. "It's more complicated than that."

"I want to know."

Leann turned her face slightly toward me. "We know when there are items in the wind, so to speak." She sighed. "Don't get me wrong though. It's not our fault they're out there."

"Who's fault is it?" I asked. "The Nymphs?"

"So she told you…" Leann turned her face away toward the ground.

"Not everything," I said. "I still have a million questions."

"Well, since you asked that one in particular," she said. "Yes. It is the Nymphs. A long time ago, we used to all be together. We were all sisters; so-called Maidens of Artemis."

"Like Amara?"

"Sort of like Amara, but not all of us priestesses," Leann said. "Everyone that came under this spell, or curse as you call it, originally sought to serve as Amara once did. They devoted themselves to becoming a maiden of Artemis. Some even established temples for her, and set up their own ranks of devotion."

"So where do the Nymphs come in?"

Leann breathed a long sigh. "Eventually the temples were abandoned and forgotten. The priestesses and high priestesses abandoned the old rituals of worshipping Artemis. They left the maidens, new and old, to fend for themselves, and find a new way." Leann turned to me once more. "That's when the corruption seeped in."

"Corruption?" I asked.

"How much do you know about Artemis?" Leann asked.

I chuckled slightly. "Would you believe last night is the first I heard of her?"

"It's not surprising," Leann said. "Sometimes she's not even mentioned in history classes anymore."

"So tell me," I said, turning my body more toward her.

"Very well," Leann said. "Artemis was a Greek deity. Twin sister to Apollo. Daughter of Zeus and Leto. She was the goddess of hunting, animals, the wilds, the moon, childbirth, and virginity. She was also the protector of young girls, and many believed she cured sickness. Many believe after she was born, she helped her mother deliver her twin brother."

"Pretty ambitious," I mused.

Leann looked at me with disdain. "Do you want to hear this or not?"

"Sorry," I said. "Just never got into the whole Greek gods and goddesses thing."

"I'm not surprised," Leann said. "They're all but myth now." She turned to look at the stage. "I wouldn't believe it myself, except for the curse. Still… I don't believe everything that's written. For one, I find it hard to believe a newborn child could help deliver another child, fresh from the womb. At times I even wonder if maybe Amara wandered into something else during her servitude. Something darker… more sinister…"

"So how does that lead to the Nymphs?" I asked.

"Well… Artemis was the goddess of virginity," Leann said. "Abstinence. Chastity. No matter what you call it, Amara, along with all maidens and priestesses after her, held highly the belief of never having sex."

"And the Nymphs like to get freaky?" I said, smiling.

Leann sat back, pushing her glasses up onto her nose. "If you must put it so crudely," she said. "Yes. The Nymphs were eventually tempted, and overcome by carnal lust. They have no qualms of using sex to get their way. They overindulge in it at times."

"You would think that, if anything, would break the curse," I said, chuckling.

"If only," Leann said. "Sadly, there's no true love's kiss either in our reality. It's a difficult thing to forfeit. Sex, that is. Especially when you're gifted a young flawless body that cannot be infected, nor transmit disease. Men all but drool over you. Which is why the Nymphs find it so easy to bend them to their will."

"So everyone here is a virgin?" I asked.

"Not everyone," Leann said, shifting nervously. "As I said, the old ways were abandoned. While a vow of chastity is encouraged for maidens, it is no longer a requirement. It's more of a suggestion now. Though I would caution from abusing the leniency. Most likely it will lead to a depraved lifestyle."

I turned my gaze up to the ceiling. The whole convent setup was starting to make much more sense to me. For some reason, I felt Leann wasn't being fully honest with me. If I had to guess, I would say that every single girl in the building was a virgin. To most guys, that thought alone would be an incredible turn on.

However, since I was a virgin myself, I found it hard to look at the girls here as if they were conquests waiting to happen. I'd probably come off as stupid and childish for attempting anything. In fact, the youngest girl here was probably twenty years older than me. They all seemed wiser, poised, more educated than myself. Every single one of them seemed to carry themselves as an adult, despite their bodies stating otherwise.

"Why did you lie to me?" I asked quietly.

"Huh?" Leann's head jerked to face me. "When?"

"You said we weren't fully immortal," I said, pulling my gaze back down on her. "Tory told me otherwise."

Leann turned away, shaking her head. "I don't know why she goes and does that," she said. "The lie is meant to protect you."

"I don't need protecting," I said. "Especially if I can't die."

"Well, that's not entirely true," Leann said. "You can die, but there are very few people who can k…"

"Kill us?" I asked.

"I shouldn't have said that," Leann said. "There's nothing to worry about."

"Except the people who can kill us?"

"They're way too busy to worry about it," Leann said. "Trust me though. As long as you don't go out playing superhero, they won't even bother."

"Are they Nymphs?"

Leann shook her head quietly. "They're… something else," she said. "Entities which wield a horrible dark magic."

"So we can use magic?"

"None of us here are capable," Leann said. "That much is true. As far as I know."

"Can the Nymphs?"

"They are tricksters," Leann said. "In the past, they sometimes used temporary things like potions, or faerie dust. But they don't possess any real magic, or anything beyond highly seductive behavior."

"What exactly does that mean?" I asked.

"You really do have a million questions," Leann said with a slight laugh. "It means the only spell they can cast on you, is wearing you down until you relent to what they want. Some call it 'enchantment.' I call it guys thinking with their… you know." She gestured toward my lap.

"I see…"

This was all becoming harder and harder to grasp, let alone take seriously. Despite what had happened to me, I still refused to believe there were people like this living out in the world in secret. Why would they choose to dwell in Greater West Allis, when they could live anywhere? I turned my attention back to the stage. The two girls were now progressing through some warm-up routines. It seemed like Leann and I were about to be a two person audience for them.

"I come here to think," Leann said, catching my gaze. "Sometimes those two take center stage, and dance the night away. Sheila is the one with the fire red hair," she continued, pointing toward the girl. "She was born in Ireland right at the turn of the eighteenth century. For her seventeenth birthday, she received a pair of fashionably ornate dance slippers."

"And that's what changed her?"

Leann nodded. "Paige is the other girl," she said. "Born in nineteen-eighty, she turned in ninety-five. Believe it, or not, another tights girl. Only more specifically, they were hot pink dance tights."

"I like her purple hair," I said, nonchalantly.

"She definitely stands out," Leann said. "And she can be a little spunky at times." Leann smiled as she mused over something. "Paige was taking ballet at the time of her change," she continued. "Was really getting good at Pointe work. It took her a little while to come to terms with her new life, but since then has been taking lessons, of sort, from Sheila. She's said before that it makes her truly feel alive when she dances. Sheila enjoys teaching her classic styles." Leann smiled once more. "Although, as time passed, I believe they both taught each other some new techniques," she finished.

"You know an awful lot about them," I said.

"Well… like I said, I research the girls usually before they come here," Leann said. "Your case threw me completely for a loop."

"How did you know where to find me?"

"We all get this… feeling… when an item is used," Leann said. "It's hard to explain, but eventually you'll feel it too. It sort of directs us to new girls." Leann shrugged. "I guess it was used to seek out new maidens in the old days. Now it's used to try to get to them before the Nymphs do."

"How often does a new girl fall victim to the curse?"

Leann shrugged again. "It depends," she said. "There can be long dry spells, over years. Or we could have one next week, or next month."

"And you get this same feeling when a new item is created?" I asked.

"Not exactly," Leann said. "The Nymphs are tricksters, and they hold true to that title. Sometimes they'll simply feel like turning a girl on a whim. Other times they might be longtime entranced servants, that they grant the gift of youth. And sometimes it's for revenge, and they plan on using them for… more despicable purposes." Leann cringed at the thought. "Either way, we have someone on the inside that lets us know when there's a new item out there."

"Like a spy?"

"She's a Nymph," Leann said, reluctantly. "But sympathetic to our cause. Don't get me wrong. She's not entirely on our side, and she likes to play games. She only tells us there is a new item in play, and sometimes the name of the girl."

"Like how you were looking for someone else when you found me?"

"Julie Hanover," Leann said. "The name was accurate. She just didn't have the item."

"I've never heard of her," I said. "I got the tights from my best friend, Erin."

Leann laughed. "You mean you raided her drawers looking for panties," she said.

"How…" I jerked my head to face her. "How did you know that?"

"I've been busy today," Leann said. "Secret mission." She winked. "Doing a little research on you."

I looked at her angrily. "To what end?"

"Honestly… to know if we can trust you," she said. "We were convinced Julie would be fine. But you, and your friend, kind of threw a wrench into it."

"Look," I said. "I don't even know how Erin got the tights, okay. And I was going to give them back…"

"Julie gave them to her," Leann said. "Simply let Erin have them at a sleepover. Neither girl got around to wearing them. Yet, you managed to put them on the day after raiding her drawers."

"Yeah…" I looked down at the floor. "I really can't explain why I did that."

"Oh, I can pretty much figure that one out," Leann said, glancing down at my lap. "But we'll just leave it at 'fate' for now. I'm concerned they might try to take Julie again, however."

"Well, if it's any consolation," I said, "you can trust me."

"I believe I can," Leann said. "You're less of a risk than I thought you'd be."

"And I kinda get why you didn't want to tell me everything," I said.

"To be fair," she said. "I'm like that with any new girl. I don't want them to get any crazy ideas. Imagine… hundreds of girls running around thinking they're Wolverine, or Deadpool."

"Wait a minute," I said. "Do we get cool regenerative powers like theirs?"

Leann looked at me crossways. "If I said yes, would you disregard the fact that I know what you're talking about?"

I studied her for a moment. "You're totally a comic book nerd too, aren't you?"

She looked away from me. "I'm a Marvel girl," she said, before turning back to glare at me. "But I only read them when I'm completely bored. So don't go passing it around," she said with a huff. "There's enough prattle around here about me being a nerd as it is."

"Cool," I said, turning my gaze toward the girls on stage. "I mean, not that you're considered a nerd. But about being a comic book… erm… aficionado." I turned and gave her a wink. "Your secret's safe with me. Although, I don't know why you'd hide that."

"It's… complicated," she said.

"Sometimes we have to be what everyone wants us to see," I said, looking back at the stage.

"Where did you hear that?"

"My mother used to say it to me," I said. "When I was really little. One of the only things I remember about her."

Paige boldly sashayed out to the center of the stage. I was kind of disappointed that nobody was running the spotlights now. It seemed the two girls were ready to give their performance. Sheila cleared away some mats, and other items they had been using to stretch and warm up. Then she walked off to the side, and leaned over a CD player. It was probably the most modern item they had around here to play music.

Light, airy flute music began playing; something I didn't recognize. I was tempted to ask Leann, but decided to simply watch the performance. With a few long strides, Sheila quickly joined Paige in the center. As the music continued, the girls began their dance. They probably didn't take notice of us at all.

Paige moved first, doing a series of fast, brisk steps. As she neared the side of the stage, she did several leaps; the last taking her high in the air with her legs spread completely parallel to the stage floor. She landed it flawlessly, and then gracefully did another smaller jump which landed her facing Sheila. Then she slowly gave a low curtsey, and came back up.

From center stage, Sheila repeated nearly all of Paige's moves the opposite way. There were some slight variations, like a few moments of quick sashays. Her final leap brought her back foot up to nearly touching her head. She too landed it flawlessly, and did a series of small jumps until she was facing Paige. Then she returned the curtsey.

After a brief moment of stillness, the two started dancing toward each other. At first they would do some quick footwork. Then they would linger in an elegant pose. A series of small jumps came next, followed by another elegant pose. Then, as if they discovered each other, they cautiously moved in. Eventually they reached each other, and began a rather mesmerizing dance.

Sheila seemed to let Paige take center stage, so to speak. She continued to dance, but she let Paige dance around her. There were a few moments where Sheila would take Paige in her arms, and spin her around. Other times she would act as if she were entranced by Paige dancing around her body. At one point, Sheila reached her hand out for Paige's cheek, and appeared to be bringing her in for a kiss.

The music suddenly broke into ABBA's "Dancing Queen." A song my father loved to play secretly, but vehemently denied it. Paige pushed Sheila away. She began dancing on her own, in a rather contemporary style of dance, but still mainly ballet. Sheila slowly backed away, as if she was losing Paige to the new music. She even seemed to display an attitude of the music being too risqué to dance along to with her.

Full of energy, with a fast-paced series of moves, Paige danced out the entirety of the song. At several points she would writhe, and snap her body about, trying to gain Sheila's attention. By the end of it, she had spun to the floor. She held her knees tight to her chest, and looked across the stage at Sheila. If I were to attach a story to the scene, it would appear like Paige was looking to Sheila for approval. Like she wanted Sheila to join her in the high energy dance.

Instead, another song came on quickly after. It was very classical, with the main instrument being a harpsichord. Sheila danced out into the center. Her steps looked as if they belonged in the king's court, or at a Renaissance faire. She danced as if she were trying to impress upon Paige the importance of taking it slow and steady. Each of Sheila's steps were perfectly timed, and fit beautifully with the music. Eventually she ended up back on her side as the music drew to a close.

The two girls looked as if they had been split by a great divide. Music had brought them together at first, but their differences in time had split them apart. Sheila held her hands over her head, and suddenly started clapping. A lively Irish jig began to play, and she danced out with more energy and enthusiasm. She seemed to shed the stale dance of the nobles, and looked as if she stole away to have some fun.

Slowly, Paige lifted herself up, and moved toward Sheila. Paige seemed intrigued by the new dance. It had liveliness like hers, but it was to older music like Sheila's. As they moved toward each other, they suddenly found a new love for the dance they had both shared. At least that's what I was writing in my head at the time. Eventually the two reached center stage, and began dancing with each other again. By the end of the song, Paige held tight to Sheila, as Sheila dipped her; running her hand through her hair.

I started clapping once the music finished. Both girls seemed startled, as well as Leann sitting next to me. She hesitantly joined in clapping, as if she had never applauded the two girls before. They both straightened themselves, and walked out to the front of the stage. For a brief moment they squinted, trying to see us, but gave up. Then together they gave a few deep curtseys, and retreated from the stage front as our applause subsided.

"That was beautiful," I shouted toward the stage.

"Thank you," Paige responded, looking out into the darker auditorium. "Whoever you are."

"It's Leann," Leann said next to me. "And Jesse."

"Oh," Paige said. "Leann and the new girl. Thought we were alone in here."

"She means, thank you for the audience," Sheila pronounced loudly, as she nudged Paige with her elbow. "It pleases me that you enjoyed it." After a short pause, she addressed us again. "If you don't mind we would like to work on a few steps now."

"The stage is yours," Leann shouted. "I've always wanted to say that," she said, in a lowered voice.

We watched silently as the two girls ran through some moves. Even in practice they looked graceful and flawless. It was actually rather soothing to watch them move about the stage so effortlessly. I could see why Leann chose this place to think. Especially if Paige and Sheila were always on form like this. They both had their own flare to their dance, but I could tell they had picked up things from one another. Watching them gave me time to think as well.

"Something I don't understand," I said, still watching the stage. "I get why the Nymphs don't want to change back. It's a pretty sweet deal if you're in it for their reasons. But why do the girls here want to change?" I asked. "Watching those two, makes me wonder why anyone would want to give that youthfulness up."

"I've asked myself that question so many times," Leann said. "The short answer is that some of us here don't want to change back. The long answer… Well I haven't figured that part out yet." She took a deep breath. "We were all maidens once. I imagine back then it wasn't a curse at all. To have eternal youth. To never get sick. In a time when people had shorter lives, and less access to medicine. Even in the time I grew up, before the change, people had the same problems. Maybe we're just tired of watching everyone around us die. My sister and I lived through so many wars…"

The mention of her sister reminded me of the conversation the night before. "How did your sister die?" I asked, turning abruptly to look at her.

Leann turned, looking surprised at me. "My sister isn't dead," she said, chuckling. "She just isn't here."

"Well where is she?"

"The Nymphs have her," she said, turning away again.

"What?!"

"They're holding her," Leann said.

"For how long?"

Leann swallowed hard. "For about ten years now," she finally said.

"Leann, that's insane!" I exclaimed. "Why haven't you tried to get her back?"

"Because the person holding her wants something she thinks we have," Leann said. "Even if we did have it, I still wouldn't hand it over to her. If it's one thing my sister pounded into my head, it was to never give the Nymphs what they want. They'll simply want more."

"But it's your sister!"

"She's alive," Leann said. "The Nymph, I mentioned earlier, gives me updates. She seems in good spirits, and is well taken care of; from what I hear."

"So you know where she's being held?" I asked.

Leann nodded. "She's being held by a woman who believes she's the reincarnation of Aphrodite," she said.

"We should get her back," I said. "Screw Aphrodite, and whatever she wants. Let's just go and demand they release your sister."

"No," Leann said, turning to face me. Her face had a look of dread upon it. "This woman is… unpredictable. Plus she has many loyal followers. She could possibly destroy us."

"She would have done that by now, if she had the power," I said. "We should just go to the cops," I said.

"We can't," Leann said.

"Why not?"

"If anyone outside of our group finds out about us," Leann said. "Our entire livelihood could be at stake." She sighed. "Besides… anyone that goes into that place, runs the risk of becoming entangled in the Nymphs' web of seduction. Men especially are weak to their ploys. And they're not above enchanting women either." She sighed yet again. "At best, they'll let their toys go, and laugh as they try to remember where they've been. At worst…"

"What is it she wants?" I asked.

"Aphrodite?" Leann asked, rhetorically. "She's under the delusion that every so often, Amara is reincarnated in one of the maidens. And she thinks Amara has some key to a hidden treasure. So she likes to take girls, and put them through tests, where she ultimately decides if they are one of these reincarnations."

"What happens if she finds one?"

Leann shrugged. "She hasn't found one yet, as far as I know," she said. "She thought my sister was one of these reincarnations. She also thought my sister had an amulet that could point her toward them."

"Is there any validity to what she's claiming?" I asked, still not trusting Leann to give me the whole truth.

"Like I said, she's delusional," Leann said. "She thinks I've hidden the amulet, but it simply doesn't exist."

"Well, delusional or not," I said. "I think we should try to get your sister back." I reached over and placed my hand on hers. "I'll go with you. I'm sure Tory would go as well."

Leann turned her face to look at me. "I'm scared of what she might do," she said. "She could hold us captive as well." She swallowed hard. "Goddess only knows what she does to the ones she feels aren't Amara. She probably keeps them as sex slaves, or worse."

"Leann," I said, calmly, as I took her hand in mine. "We have to try."

Leann looked into my eyes with concern. "Always the daredevil, aren't you?"

A smug smile spread across my lips. "If the occasion calls for it," I said.

---

 
 
To Be Continued...
 

Volume 1: Part 7

My hands clung tightly to the cold metal bars in front of me. A dank, musty smell filled the large underground cavern. At times there would be a rather cold updraft stirring a faint scent of perfume. In the distance I could see lamps glowing; hanging near other cell doors. Every so often I could make out the sound of a young female crying.

"This was a great plan," Tory said, from somewhere on the floor behind me. "Let's just walk in here and demand they return your sister!"

"I told you she was crazy," Leann said. "I told everybody she was crazy."

"Well you forgot to mention the dark prison in her basement," I said, turning around to face them. "What the hell are we going to do?"

"Who knows?" Leann asked, rhetorically. "She's got all the time in the world to torture us."

"But she can't kill us, right?" I asked.

"There are fates far worse than death," Tory muttered. She looked up at me. "And we can still feel pain. Or wasn't that obvious when the guard dragged you in here by your hair?"

I reached up to gently rub my scalp.

"Okay," Leann said. "We don't need to turn on each other. It's what she'd want us to do."

Tory turned away from her, choosing to stare at the grayish-brown wall instead. I leaned back against the cold metal bars. Perhaps we did underestimate what we were walking into today. For one, I figured I could at least put up a fight against the guard Tory mentioned. I failed to take into account that I severely lacked the physique I once had. So instead, I found myself knocked do the ground, and literally dragged caveman style down to this cell.

"How long do you think we'll be kept here?" I asked.

Leann only gave me a silent shrug.

Several hours earlier…

"This is the place?" I asked.

"Sure as day," Leann said. She pushed the button on the intercom system. Then she stood watch over the street behind us.

"Looks creepy," Tory said, a little more quiet than usual.

I stood at the gate, gazing up toward the top of one of two large towers. The wood-shingled roofs of which made them look like old wizard towers. We had walked all morning long, across town, to arrive at what appeared to be a vacant parking lot; as the sign said outside. At least, that's what everyone else saw; everyone that wasn't in our little circle of magic and mystery. To us, it looked like a gated off mansion, or some cult compound.

A young female voice blared over the intercom system. "Yes?"

Leann returned to the intercom. "We're here to seek an audience with the mistress of the house," she said.

"Say her name," the voice responded.

Leann sighed, rolling her eyes. "Aphrodite," she said.

After a lengthy pause, the voice returned. "Proceed."

An electrical buzzing sound echoed off of the iron gate. Tory hesitantly pushed it open. Then she waved for us to follow her. I stepped in front of Leann, and went through the gate after Tory. Turning back, I saw Leann give one last look around. Then she followed after me, closing the gate behind her.

Inside the gate, the pathway lay decorated with fancy white stones along the sides. To the right and left of us, were intricate fountains, surrounded by lush green grass. Tall, rich green bushes lined the inside of the fence on the inside. I wondered what happened if anyone scaled the fence. Did they fall victim to what was inside? Or did they simply continue to see an abandoned parking lot. Everything about this new magical world left me wondering about a great deal.

Before I could manage to vocalize my questions, the front door to the mansion swung wide open. Two burly men stepped out onto the railed porch. They were probably three times my size, and looked quite intimidating. A young girl, about our age, followed them out and stood at the top of the stairs. She eyed us with caution.

"I thought there were only girls here," I said, quietly to Leann.

"I told you the Nymphs like to use men," Leann responded. "Kind of a given they'd have free security."

"I'm starting to think this was a bad idea," I muttered, sizing up the guards.

Tory looked over her shoulder. "Too late now."

The mansion looked even bigger inside the gate. Old wood siding stretched around the outside. I wondered if it was kept painted by slave labor. If I hadn't had the thought of my life ending in this place, I probably would have found it breathtaking. The shutters on the windows looked nice, as well as freshly painted. The landscaping looked immaculate. Even the stairs up to the front porch looked nice and clean.

"State your name," the girl said, halting our progress at the top of the stairs. "And your purpose for being here."

"You know who I am, Sophia," Leann said. "And you know why I'm here."

Sophia stepped forward, her tanned skin glistening in the sunlight. Her makeup had been done in such a way as to make her appear in her twenties. The apparel she wore added to this. With a grey pencil skirt, white button-up top, and black court shoes, she looked like the stereotypical secretary. Sophia squinted her emerald eyes at Leann. Then she turned her gaze on Tory, studying her for a moment. Lastly she turned to me, looking me over from head to toe. Sophia spun around; flipping her raven black hair as she strolled away.

"Let the one with glasses pass," Sophia called behind her. "Take the other two to a cell."

"What?!" Tory exclaimed, as the two burly men stepped toward us. "No!"

"It'll be fine," Leann said, putting her hand gently on Tory's shoulder.

"You've said that before," Tory said.

"Tory…" Leann eyed us both as she backed into the front door. "I'll try not to take long."

One of the men grabbed Tory's arm, tightly above the elbow. She squirmed beneath his harsh grip, as he started to drag her through the front door. Eventually, Tory stopped fighting, and allowed herself to be escorted. I didn't go as quietly. As soon as the other man reached for me, I shoved him away. I started to make a run for the front gate, but he recovered quicker than I thought.

As soon as I had made it down the stairs, I felt his presence on top of me. It was like he leapt from the top of the stairs, to meet me at the bottom. The incident caught me off balance, and I went stumbling into the grass to my left. Before I could pick myself up, the man had grabbed my arm like the other had done to Tory.

I took a swing at the large brute's face, managing to loosen his grip in the process. What I didn't realize was that he was actually keeping me from falling over. I still hadn't fully recovered my balance, and as soon as he let go, I fell again. When I attempted to stand, he shoved me hard. I tumbled back to the ground, like a helpless little girl on the playground. Then he reached down, grabbing a large portion of my hair, and began to drag me unwillingly toward the house.

"What the hell did you expect to accomplish?" the man snarled at me. "The gate's locked anyway."

The ogre-like brute continued to pull me along. Every so often I managed to get some footing. However, the pace at which I was being dragged, made it a constant struggle to retain it. Several times I nearly tumbled to the ground. Half dragged, half carried, with a little stumbling of my own, we drew closer and closer to the front door. I still managed to get a few good slaps in, before we reached our destination.

My clothing did not survive the ordeal. The pair of navy tights, I had worn, had holes and tears in them from the wooden stairs. My black skirt had a patch of mud smeared across my backside, and my white long-sleeved top had a lovely grass stain stretching the length of my entire left side. It seemed my entire outfit had gotten wet as well; possibly from the morning dew. One could even see my bra through the white material of my top.

Once inside the mansion, the guard let up slightly. He flung me to the floor, and turned to close the doors. Before I could recover, he had a tight grip on my upper arm, and the back of my neck. Then, without further commotion, Tory and I were dragged through another door. We were escorted downstairs, and through what appeared to be a wine cellar. After opening a door in the back of this cellar, we entered into a rather cramped antechamber.

Unlike the room before, this antechamber looked unfinished. The walls were mostly dirt, with some large stones jutting out in various places. At the end of the room was a large iron gate, with another brutish man standing guard by it. When he saw us approach, he unlatched the gate, and swung it open. The other two men pulled us through the gate, and I heard it slam behind us.

Faced with a rather large room on the other side, I immediately knew what we had walked into. We were in a dungeon beneath the mansion. Spread across the outer room, were several more iron gates. Each of them had a small prison room carved into the rock and dirt behind them. There were no windows, or beds. Upon the walls, in various places, were shackles and chains, illuminated by the soft glow of oil lamps. The only things seeming to be amiss from this place, were the stereotypical nefarious torture devices.

There were no guards inside the main chamber, which surprised me. I looked around for a weapon, thinking maybe I could try once more to escape. However, my mind kept coming back to my failure before. If something went wrong, Tory and Leann could be in danger. We would still have to deal with the guy outside, after dealing with these two. Not only that, but I had no idea how many more of these massive security guards existed in this place. I decided to play the waiting game, and hope Leann got us out of here soon.

The brute holding on to Tory, swung a cell door open. "In you go," he said, shoving her to the ground inside.

"Hey!" I exclaimed. "There's no reason to treat her like that."

"Shut up, you dizzy bitch," the man holding me said.

He shoved me to the ground; possibly harder than Tory. I landed next to her with all of the grace of someone slipping on ice. The ground felt cold and slightly damp beneath my hands. By the time the gate had been slammed shut behind us, I managed to get to my knees. I reached out to Tory, trying to see if she was alright. She shrugged me off, pushing herself up to her feet.

"Why are we being held here?" she asked, running to the iron bars. "Hey! Come back!"

It was no use. The two men walked away. They completely ignored Tory's pleas to return, and silently left the room. As I made it to my feet, I began to examine myself. There seemed to be a massive tear along the right knee of my tights. However, when I looked closer, my knee was perfectly fine.

"Are we able to get cut or scraped?" I asked, my mind now completely off of what had transpired.

"Yeah, we just heal fast," Tory said, still gazing out the bars. "Someone? Anyone?" she continued to shout. "Hello?"

"Tory…" I said, calmly. "They're not coming back."

"This can't be happening," Tory said. She turned away from the bars, and began to pace around the cell. "Not again…"

"Have you been here before?" I asked.

"This is not good," Tory said to herself. "Not good at all."

"Tory?"

She continued to pace; lost in her own little world.

"Tory!"

I couldn't reach her. Tory seemed to either be in shock, or the events of this morning had stirred up some horrible memories. Eventually she calmed down a little bit, and collapsed to the floor. There she sat, silent and unmoving, staring at the bars. A few hours passed.

"It was nineteen eighty-three," Tory muttered.

I looked over at her. "What was?"

"I was thirteen," Tory said. "All I wanted to do was be like my older cousin."

I stood quietly, making my way over to where Tory had sat down. Slowly, I eased myself down next to her. The ground seemed colder over here. Not that it was warm anywhere else in the makeshift dungeon space. Falling on my butt outside didn't help matters either. My skirt still had mud on it, and moisture from the morning grass had seeped all the way to my skin.

Tory looked up at me, as if she had just noticed my presence. "She was beautiful," she said. "My cousin that is."

"What did she look like?" I asked, trying not to trigger her again.

Tory smiled, seemingly recalling her cousin. "She had long brown hair. Just an explosion of curls. You know… those really tight spirals, that women shell out money for," she said. "But it was all natural. She hated it." Tory let out a slight laugh. "But I absolutely adored it." She glanced at me. "She had a body that women envied, and men drooled over. Constantly working out."

"She sounds amazing," I offered, still testing the waters.

"She's about fifty, or fifty-one now," Tory said. "Probably still looks amazing. I was just… awkward. Skinny. Braces. My hair was always a rat's nest." Tory sighed. "I remember she really got into the whole eighties workout craze. She was that girl. Always in leg warmers and leotards."

"Let me guess," I said. "You stole one of her leotards?"

"Not everyone steals their item." She gestured in quotes at the word. "No. It was all the doing of that slut, Gabby."

"Gabby stole it?" I asked.

Tory looked puzzled for a moment. She shook her head. "Nobody stole anything," Tory said. "Gabby was my cousin's best friend. She was constantly making fun of me. Calling me a twig, skank, or whatever else she could think of that day. Which wasn't much, most days."

Tory sighed, staring at the metal bars. "Gabby was always this perfect-looking little proud bitch. I hated her so much," Tory said. "Wanted to see her gone. So I tried to set her up. To get my cousin to catch her in a lie that would destroy their friendship." Tory turned her head to face me. "Only… at thirteen… Let's just say I wasn't the best at setting traps."

"She found out?" I asked.

"More than found out," Tory said. "She managed to turn my cousin against me. To the point where she didn't want to speak to me." Tory turned away again. "Her last words were to 'stay out of her life.'"

"That sucks," I said, reaching out to put my hand on her shoulder.

"You can imagine my surprise," Tory said, "when I received a package from her a week later. She sent me my very own workout attire. With a note that said I could be just like her. Leg warmers. Tights. The leotard. It was like Olivia Newton-John dropped off her gym bag at my house."

"The girl from Grease?"

"Yeah…" Tory rolled her eyes. "Anyway… I couldn't wait to try it all on. It being a gift from my cousin and all." Tory's mood dropped. "I had barely gotten my sneakers on by the time the spell took effect. I woke up completely changed, with Gabby standing over me."

"Yikes!" I exclaimed. "That's just all kinds of creepy."

"Turns out Gabby was a Nymph," Tory said. "She set the whole thing up. Waited for me to put on the leotard. Then she dragged me off to some Nymph lair while I changed over."

"So this isn't the place she took you?" I asked.

"This place?" Tory looked around. "No. This is some cult sect. They all worship Aphrodite here. I've never been here before."

"How did you get out of the other place?" I asked. "Maybe it could help."

"Leann," Tory said. "Gabby had changed me out of spite and revenge. I was being kept as her personal slave. She made me do some… unsavory things. Even had me entertain men, all so she could watch me awkwardly stumble through every interaction with them." Tory shivered a bit. "I didn't know who, or what I was at that point. Gabby told me I had to do those things to earn food and water. Constantly toying with me. Always promising to free me if I did as she asked. After several months of being held captive, Leann found out about it. She… rescued me."

"Tory… I don't know what to say."

The rattling of keys jerked my attention over to the cell door. "In you go," a male voice echoed, before shoving Leann into the cell.

"What happened?" Tory asked, jumping to her feet.

Leann looked back at the cell door. "My meeting with Aphrodite didn't go as well as I had hoped," she said, as the cell door clanged shut. "We might need to try another approach."

---

 
 
To Be Continued...
 

Volume 1: Part 8

"Have you thought of a new plan?" I asked, eyeing Leann across the cell.

"I have," Tory said. "We sit here until someone lets us out."

Leann sighed. She rolled her head around to give Tory a look of disdain. "It's not so much a plan," she said. "We simply need to appeal to Aphrodite's senses."

"That would be great," Tory said, excitedly. "Except you said she was crazy!"

"Well even crazy people have something they want," Leann said. "We simply have to find out --"

"You keep saying that word," Tory said. "Simply." She tossed a dirt clod across the cell floor. "There is nothing simple about this."

"She's right," I said. "It's hard to be diplomatic when you have nothing to offer."

"Maybe we do," Leann said, sitting up straighter. "Maybe I can convince her I know where to find the amulet."

"Do you?" I asked.

Leann sighed. "I told you, it doesn't exist."

"Well she seems to think it does," Tory said.

"That's the point," Leann said. "I bargain with her, to at least get you two out of here."

"That solves nothing," I said. "We came here for your sister. Now she'll have both of you."

"It would be worth it," Leann said. "To make sure you two are alright."

"You can't keep playing the savior forever," Tory said.

"It used to be my sister's job," Leann said. "I guess I just took on all of her responsibilities."

"You know," I said. "It never occurred to even ask… but what's your sister's name?"

Leann started to open her mouth. Suddenly the cell was filled with the sound of metal hitting metal. I looked up to see a guard unlocking our door. There were three of them total; all equally as brutish as the one I had encountered earlier in the day. Two stepped into the cell, while the one with the keys stood outside. From behind him, a smaller frame stepped forward.

"The exquisite Goddess, Aphrodite, has requested an audience with the new girl," Sophia said.

"Her name is Jesse," Leann said.

"I don't care," Sophia said, as she seemed to be dusting dirt from her sleeve. "Please step from the cell."

I looked to Leann and Tory. Leann simply nodded. As I rose to my feet, Tory gave me a brief glance of concern. One of the guards stepped closer to her, and caused her to quickly look at the ground. I could tell the other two girls were defeated. Calmly I strolled to the cell door, letting one of the guards wrap his meaty paw around my arm. The cell door clanged shut behind me as we walked through the larger center room.

As we progressed through the mansion, I expected to be led to some archaic dungeon throne room. Instead, the guards escorted me upstairs to the main entrance. We proceeded up a flight of stairs. Then we went up another flight. Sophia took the lead the entire time. She sashayed up the stairs; her tight skirt accentuating her firm butt. With a few glances at the guards, I knew I wasn't the only one impressed with her cheeks thrusting up and down like pistons.

Sophia stopped suddenly. She spun on the balls of her feet. "Wait here," she said, to the guards. She lowered her chin to gaze at me with the tops of her eyes. "Promise you won't run off?"

I nodded reluctantly.

Sophia lifted her head, turning her eyes to the guard holding my arm. She had this raw sense of confidence about her. Instantly the guard dropped his hand, setting me free from his grip. As I reached up to rub the area, Sophia reached up to knock on the large wooden door to her left. The two guards took a step back, but I could definitely feel their presence too close for comfort.

After a moment, a loud click sounded from the door. Slowly it began to open; filling the empty hallway with a terrible creaking sound. A soft warm glow beamed from the crack, and slowly engulfed both Sophia and me. Another woman greeted us on the other side, while I could hear at least two more girls giggling behind the door. I felt a hand gently touch my back, and turned to face the culprit.

"This is Cassandra," Sophia said, as she pushed me toward the door. "She will help make you presentable."

"Presentable?" I asked, puzzled.

Sophia kept prodding me into the doorway. "We simply can't have you meet the Goddess looking like this," she said, gesturing at my body.

"Don't worry," Cassandra said, taking my wrist. "You're safe with us."

Cassandra took over where Sophia left off. She pulled me the rest of the way into the room. The door creaked shut behind me. Three other girls jumped toward me, circling me, all with bright smiles. They giggled as they pulled at my clothing and lifted my hair. As Cassandra pulled me further into the room, the other girls followed.

"Girls… please," Cassandra said, lifting her hand to shoo them away.

The girls retreated, still giggling. I started to wonder what was wrong with them. Cassandra eventually let my wrist drop from her grasp. She walked away, giving me a moment to take in the room. It had a rather heavy feminine atmosphere. A massive four poster bed took center stage; draped with sheer white material that cascaded from the rods overhead. Pink satin sheets covered the bed top, along with too many pillows to count.

To my left was a sitting area, with a rather plush white loveseat. A very elegant coffee table sat before it, with an intricate ivy design beneath a glass top. There was actually a bucket of ice with champagne in the middle, with several glass flutes set around it. On my right were shelves filled with any kind of shoe one could imagine. Behind it stood an open wardrobe with several dresses pulled out and on display.

I turned my head a little further to the right, and saw two of the other girls. They were smiling at me. Their eyes trailed up and down my body. Perhaps one of them was Aphrodite. It would explain their crazy behavior, if she was truly crazy. Still, it puzzled me as to why Aphrodite would want to meet in a room like this. Did she like to be intimate with new people? Is that what made her crazy in the eyes of Leann?

"When will Aphrodite get here?" I asked, trying to deduce the company I was with.

The girls giggled.

"Don't be silly," Cassandra said, returning to my side. "The Goddess never comes to this end of the house."

"Then why are we --" I watched Cassandra reach for the waistband of my skirt. I jumped away from her. "What are you doing?!"

Cassandra looked at me with alarm. "Forgive me," she said. "I should have given you more warning, but we are pressed for time." She stepped forward, and again reached for my skirt's waistband.

"Seriously," I said, slapping her hand away. "What are you doing?"

"It is customary to assist maidens in their preparation," Cassandra said. She smiled, then hesitantly reached out for my skirt once more.

"Okay," I said, stepping back. "I don't know where you all are from… but this is making me very uncomfortable right now."

"Do not be ashamed," Cassandra said. "We are only here to serve."

"Yes," one of the other girls said. "We only wish to serve."

The girls giggled behind me, causing Cassandra to give them a stern glare. They instantly quieted themselves. Their heads lowered, like scolded school girls. Cassandra studied me for a moment. Then she took a deep breath. Slowly she raised her hands toward an open door in the back of the room. I moved cautiously over to the door, avoiding contact with her.

"Are you shy?" she asked, following me into the adjacent room.

"Not really," I said, turning to face her.

"Then why do you resist my helping you?"

"Helping me?"

Cassandra seemed lost in thought for a moment. "You are to go before Aphrodite, yes?" she finally asked.

"Yes," I said. "At least that's what they told me. I don't see how you undressing me helps with that though."

Cassandra took a step back, seemingly baffled by my statement. "You wish to bathe in your clothing?"

"Bathe?"

"Of course," Cassandra said.

She gestured to something behind me. I slowly turned to look through yet another open door. Beyond which I could see a large sunk-in bathtub. Candle light danced and glistened; casually rippling across the surface of the water. I also noticed the room we stood in was some kind of area to apply makeup and fix hair. Thinking back on history classes, the term "powder room" seemed to fit the bill.

"So…" I continued to look around. "You want me to take a bath?"

"The Goddess has asked us to make you presentable," Cassandra said, as she lowered her head. "It is customary to assist maidens in preparation," she repeated from earlier. "If you wish to prepare yourself without assistance, I shall remove myself. Though it would be of great insult to your hostess."

"My hostess…" I said, dragging the word out. "You mean Aphrodite?"

Cassandra nodded. "The Goddess herself."

"Well…" I stood there thinking about the plight of the others down in that cell. "The last thing I would want to do is insult her," I finally said. "I'm just not… accustomed… to needing… assistance."

Cassandra lifted her head. From the corner of her eye, she looked in on the other three girls. Then she slowly walked over and closed the door leading to the bedroom. After turning around, she studied me for a lingering moment. Right as I was starting to feel awkward about the scene, Cassandra walked back over to me. She stood very close.

"May I?" she asked, gesturing toward me.

I swallowed hard. Then quietly nodded.

Cassandra hesitantly brought her hands up to my chest. She looked at me, as if to check once more if she may proceed. Her hands grew closer. I had no idea what to do, or where to look. So I stood there with my arms at my side, staring at her golden hair. While this wouldn't be the first time I would appear nude to another woman, this was definitely the first time I let one undress me. I felt the top button give way on my top. The second button followed shortly behind the first.

I couldn't help but tremble. Cassandra wasn't even trying to make the situation feel sexy, but perhaps that's why it did. She seemed so methodical at doing this. I'm sure she had probably been assisting other women for centuries, if I had to wager a bet. So while she was used to undressing other women, I wasn't even used to undressing for gym class in front of other guys. Suddenly I began to wonder if her demeanor would change any, if she knew I used to be male.

"You seem nervous," Cassandra said. She smiled at me. "Trust me," she said. "You're not alone." She continued to unbutton my top. "The Goddess has an admiration for the old ways. Most girls today are not used to the idea of a handmaid." My silence prompted her to look up at me. "Relax," she said, running her hands up and down my arms.

"I'm just not sure what to do," I said.

"You don't have to do anything," she said. "Ease your mind, and allow us to cater to your needs." She tilted her head. "Consider this a safe space."

At this point she slid her hands beneath the shoulders of my top. Then she ran her hands down my arms. My top gently slid down my arms with her movements. I began to realize how easy it must be for guys to fall victim to the charms of the Nymphs. In fact, I wasn't even sure if Cassandra was a Nymph. She could have been one of their slaves. As those thoughts danced around in my head, I felt her hands at my waistband once more. This time I didn't stop her.

Cassandra gently unfastened the two buttons holding my skirt closed. She slowly lowered to her knees, bringing the black skirt down with her. Lifting her hands up to lightly take mine, she brought them to her shoulders. Somehow I picked up on what she intended for me to do. Using her shoulders as support, I could take weight off of my feet to step out of the skirt. After doing so, she helped me slip my shoes off as well.

"You're a natural at this," Cassandra said. "Are you sure you didn't have a servant in a past life?"

I chuckled at the thought. "Not that I'm aware of," I said.

I felt her fingers hook inside the waistband of my tights. Following the same routine as the skirt, she slid them to my ankles. Then she had me use her as support as she slipped them from my feet. Those poor navy blue tights were brand new, and had not even made it through the morning. Suddenly I felt naked, despite not being completely nude. I knew it was because of the tights being removed.

"I'll need to replace those with something," I blurted out.

Cassandra looked up at me. "I'm sure we can find something that will appeal to your tastes," she said. "However, the Goddess does have certain… inclinations." Her hands came to rest on my hips. "With your permission?"

"Just get it over with," I thought, as I nodded to her.

As if reading my mind, Cassandra slid the panties down my legs unceremoniously. She helped me step out of them. Then she rose to her feet. While Cassandra strolled around behind me, I noticed the room had taken on a very drastic change in appearance. Where there was once a large window, with heavy velvet curtains drawn, now stood an immense chamber before me. Large columns reached to a sparsely lit ceiling, while candle-lit chandeliers hung off to the sides.

Along the walls sat stone benches, topped with lush pillows. Flowered pots were scattered between them, filling in the empty spaces. A few statues peeked out from the shadows of the columns, but I couldn't recognize them. Young women graced the floors and benches. Some of them reading what looked to be ancient texts. While others lounged, and discussed topics that escaped my ears. In the distance, a young girl came running up to me; her look ecstatic, as she screamed at me in delight.

"Milady," Cassandra said, shaking my shoulders gently. "Your bath awaits."

It took me awhile to shake the image from my head. We were nearly to the bath before I realized Cassandra had finished undressing me. Before letting me step in, she dropped to one knee and tested the water temperature. Seemingly happy with the result, she held her hand up to me, and helped me walk down into the water. The water felt so warm and relaxing. Yet, I felt so weird being nude in front of a complete stranger.

That feeling would persist, as Cassandra wouldn't leave my side for more than a minute. In fact, the only time she left was to tell the other girls to gather my discarded attire. When she returned to the bathtub, it grew even more awkward. After she had added fragrant oils, and other various things to the bath, she actually started helping me bathe. She ran a large sponge over my shoulders, arms and back. Then she moved down to my legs and feet.

"Doesn't look like you'll need a shave," Cassandra said, running her hand over my right leg. She took my foot in her hand. "We'll want to do your nails done though."

I simply nodded, tuning her out for the most part. The water appeared slightly milky. It had this light white film to it, obfuscating what lay beneath the surface. So I had at least some form of modesty, despite Cassandra lifting parts of my body from the bath. My eyes closed, and I took a deep breath. The soft, sensual scent of jasmine filled my nostrils; mingled with a touch of sweet lavender. Beneath it, I could detect the warm undertone of sandalwood.

I didn't question why these scents seemed familiar. Nor did I question why the sound of water trickling in a bath brought back memories. Instead, I floated away from time and space; lost in my mind. Images of lightly clothed maidens filled my head. They hovered over me; drawing water from the milky bath water surrounding me. As one of them lifted a pitcher over my head, I found water pouring over me in the present.

My eyes shot open the instant the water stopped flowing over them. Hair now clung to my face, making it hard to see. I found myself back within the soft tones of the bathroom. These images of other places were starting to become more frequent. With each one, I found myself startled at returning to the present. Like the here and now seemed to be the dream world.

Cassandra's fingers were suddenly on my scalp. She vigorously, but gently massaged a sweet smelling shampoo into my hair. My eyes shut once more, but I was not greeted with another image. Nothing but candlelight danced beyond my closed eyelids. For a moment, Cassandra hummed a song softly beneath her breath. I didn't recognize the melody, but it was soothing nonetheless.

After a few moments, she poured another pitcher of water over my head. I could feel her hand resting against my forehead; shielding my eyes from the shampoo. Another pitcher full of water followed, and then another. When I opened my eyes, I could see that another one of the girls had joined us. She stood to the side, holding a white garment in her hands.

Cassandra held her hand out to me. I placed my hand in hers. She then helped me stand from the water. The other girl turned her head down and to the side, as to not look upon my naked body. Cassandra had me stand in the middle of the bath for a moment. She dipped a brass pitcher into the milky water, and carefully brought it up over my head. Slowly she poured the contents over me, letting it flow over my entire body. After setting the pitcher down, she reached up and gently squeezed the excess water from my hair.

"Milady," Cassandra said, offering her hand to me again.

I took her hand once again, and she helped me step from the bath. The other girl lifted the white garment up to my shoulder level. It seemed to be some sort of bathrobe, but didn't seem all that opaque. When it had finally been wrapped around my body, I realized I could see everything beneath the light material. It also didn't help that it clung to every wet spot upon my body.

Cassandra whisked me away before I could muster a complaint. She ushered me back into the powder room. Once there, she had me sit in a padded chair with armrests. The other girl quickly pulled over a peculiar looking bench. It had a place for her to sit, but also a slanted area that looked like a small worktable. As she lifted my feet onto the slanted part, I knew what she would be working on.

She examined my feet for a moment, before looking up at Cassandra. "What do you think?"

Cassandra looked down at my feet. "I think just a nice shine," she finally said.

"What color, milady?" the other girl asked of me, her voice soft and calming.

"Gold," Cassandra answered for me. "It might leave an impression."

The girl nodded. She pulled open a drawer beneath the table, and began to rattle through bottles of nail polish. I studied her for a moment. She seemed rather young compared to most of the girls I had been around the past few days. Leann had at least a century and a half of education behind her. Even Tory had about fifty years of living. This girl in front of me seemed to still be childlike, despite looking the same age as Cassandra. I began to wonder if some of them were purposefully kept uneducated.

The other two girls, from before, soon joined us in the powder room. Cassandra directed them to sit on either side of me. Each girl picked up one of my hands, and began inspecting it. While they pulled out files and nail polish, Cassandra walked over to the makeup table. She carried back over with her a hairbrush and hairdryer.

"I still remember the days before this contraption," Cassandra said, holding up the hairdryer. "Sometimes we wouldn't even have time to wash the lady's hair." After plugging it in, she leaned over my shoulder. "I guess it's only proper that I introduce the other girls," she said. "This is Emma." She pointed to the girl on my right. "The one on your left is Olivia. And the one at your feet is Ava."

The other girls shyly looked up at me when their names were mentioned.

"Do all the girls here have names that end with an a?" I asked.

Cassandra looked at me for a moment. Then she smiled. "Actually, I never thought about it," she finally said. "But to answer your question… No, not all of them."

The whirring of the hairdryer soon filled the room. All I could do was sit and watch the girls do my nails. They worked in a concerted effort, which seemed extremely efficient. By the time one had finished using a file, she had passed it off to the other girl. Meanwhile, the third girl handed over a bottle of base coat; which I knew of from my friend Erin. About the time Cassandra had finished drying my hair, Emma had started on the first coat of gold polish on my fingernails.

Cassandra pulled over a rolling cart. Upon it were several tools and apparatuses for fixing hair. I wasn't completely ignorant to what girls went through to make themselves pretty. However, I was completely ignorant as to having things done to myself. Cassandra thoughtfully picked out a rather large roller from her selection. The next thing I felt was her separating out a lock of hair, and rolling it up.

One lock at a time, Cassandra wound my hair up into various-sized rolls. The two girls to my sides continued to work on my fingernails, passing the bottle of polish back and forth. While the girl at my feet had her own bottle, and thoughtfully busied herself with making my toenails a glistening gold. Tory had mentioned nail polish, along with makeup, while we were out shopping. However, I felt events were moving too quickly then to bother with such things. I had to laugh at the irony of it all.

"What size shoe do you wear?" Cassandra asked, leaning over my shoulder again.

"Uh…" I nearly blurted out "eleven," before remembering that drastic change. "Six," I said.

Ava smiled at me. She had a pretty smile and a pretty face, which actually wasn't saying much. Every single girl around here had a pretty face. Part of the spell, assuming Ava was under it, was that every girl appeared desirable. Like no matter what they looked like before, the curse changed them into what could be termed as fair maidens. I returned the smile, and she stood; tucking a loose strand of dark brown hair behind her ear. Then she gave a slight bow, and left the room.

"She'll pick you out a nice selection," Cassandra said, as she finished putting one last roller in my hair.

She stepped away; back over to the makeup table. From the corner of my eye, I could see her gathering together makeup. This had to be the most bizarre evening of my life. The spell itself took awhile to get over, but eventually I accepted that it had happened. However, it was hard to accept being subject to a makeover to meet with Aphrodite, in some weird magical mansion; complete with a basement dungeon.

"Why didn't Leann go through all of this to meet with Aphrodite?" I asked, stating the question that had been burning in my mind.

"Because they've met before," Cassandra said, without looking over at me. "The Goddess likes first audiences to be more memorable."

"So it's all for show?" I asked.

The two girls at my sides looked at each other. Then quickly went back to their task of applying another coat of polish. Obviously the audacity of what I had said did not sit well with them. Cassandra turned and faced me. She had a large makeup brush in one hand. The look on her face was one of displeasure as well.

"I would suggest you mind your tongue a little more in her presence," Cassandra said. "It's rather unwise to make the Goddess cross with you."

"I'm sorry," I said. "It just seems like this is a lot of effort to just talk to someone."

"You need not apologize to me," Cassandra said. "I'm but a servant." She turned back to face the table. "Though my words still hold true. The Goddess will not suffer a stray tongue for very long."

"But why all of this?" I asked, looking down at myself.

"Truthfully?"

I nodded.

"The Goddess is vain," Cassandra said. "It is well known her beauty is unsurpassed. Especially by a mere mortal. Or even a pseudo-immortal." She strolled over to me. "Think of your first audience with her as a competition of beauty. You will look your best, and she will look hers."

"So it is a game," I said.

Cassandra placed her hands on my shoulders. "One you will never win," she said. "But it amuses the Goddess when we try."

"So that's all this is?" I asked. "Just something to amuse her?"

"What else would a Greek Goddess desire?" She looked down at Emma and Olivia. "None of this shall be spoken of again."

The two girls nodded, lowering their heads.

"Now then," Cassandra said, walking around me and sitting at my feet. "We'll apply a top coat to your nails. Then we'll let you rest for a moment while they dry."

That moment turned out to be close to half an hour. I was actually beginning to get tired by the time Cassandra came back into the room. After watching the girls literally slave over me, I was scared to move. I didn't want to mess up their hard work. Admittedly, I couldn't deny how feminine my hands and feet looked now. It only took a simple thing like nail polish to make them stand out.

Cassandra first walked to my feet. She reached out and gently touched a few of my toenails. Then she stepped to the side of my chair and did the same thing with my fingernails. Convinced they were dry, she helped me stand up. She walked me over to the makeup table, and had me sit in another padded chair. I'm sure if I wasn't thinking like a guy at that moment, this entire setup would have been a young girl's dream. What girl wouldn't want their own three room suite to get ready in?

Cassandra settled into her own chair. She pulled out a small tube, and squirted some flesh looking product onto her finger. Then she quickly set about rubbing it all over my face. I shut my eyes as she worked, and didn't open them until she stopped. When I did open them, I saw her holding containers up next to my face. She went back and forth on two of them, before finally picking one and opening it.

Next Cassandra grabbed a little white sponge and dabbed it into the container. It was some kind of cream, close to the color of my skin. As she lifted the new substance to my face, I suddenly wished I had at least taken a crash course in makeup application. At least then I would know what to do, or how to react to different situations. The only thing I could think to do, was close my eyes again.

After a short while, Cassandra had stopped patting the sponge over my face. I opened my eyes, only to see Cassandra gesturing for me to close them again. That's when I felt a large brush flit all over my face. It left behind a light dusting of some powder; fragrant, but not too strong. A few moments later, she followed this with brushing something on my cheeks.

With my eyes open now, I could see her dipping yet another brush in some dark pink powder. I didn't close my eyes this time, and actually watched her apply this powder to my cheekbones. Then she barely touched my chin with the brush. After this, she pulled out a smaller brush. She ran this one through some rather dark powder, and lifted it up past my eyes. A few seconds later, I could feel her spreading it over my eyebrows.

Cassandra gestured for me to close my eyes. I followed her orders. For the next minute or so, I felt her brushing another powder over my eyelids. She used a smaller brush, and I could only assume she was applying eye shadow. It's one of the very few things I actually knew the name of when it came to makeup. There were others, but at the moment I kind of felt out of sorts.

Cassandra eventually finished with the eye shadow. When I opened my eyes again, I took a quick look in the mirror. Even with partial makeup on, I looked a lot older. My eyes were surrounded with a sultry, smoky gray. While my eyebrows looked more pronounced above them. My cheeks looked contoured, and had a hint of blush. I actually looked pretty sexy.

"You have a lot of color in your eyes," Cassandra said, turning my face back toward her. "They're such a deep hazel." She picked up a tube of liquid eyeliner. "I think we'll take advantage of that aspect. Perhaps with a little Greek flare."

She reached up her thumb and gently pulled my lower eyelid down. Then she set about applying a rather thick layer of eyeliner to the bottom rim. I couldn't stand to look at the applicator coming near my eyes, so I looked toward the ceiling. Cassandra made quick work of it, however, and had both of the bottom eyelids done in seconds. Afterwards, she started applying eyeliner on the top.

With the tops of my eyes, she did a type of curve. On the outside corners of my eyes, she curved the eyeliner up and slightly away from the eye. Then on the inside corners, she curved it down. She didn't go too far out, but it was enough to slightly touch the bridge of my nose. It looked really sexy when I saw it later in the mirror. She finished off my eyes with a quick couple of coats of mascara.

If I hadn't of known about Aphrodite's little game of beauty showdown, I definitely would have thought this was excessive. I still did, in a way. Who needed to apply makeup, and go to all of this trouble, only to talk with someone? I hadn't even applied anything to go out this morning. Though I did get offers from both Tory and Leann, I declined them. They dropped the issue, saying something about me going with a "tomboy natural" look.

I thought about the two of them, sitting there in that filthy dungeon cell. Meanwhile, I was upstairs being pampered and waited on by servants. It didn't seem right. As Cassandra started applying a lip liner, I wondered if the two of them were hungry, or thirsty. Then I realized we didn't even need to eat, or drink. At least that was one less thing to deprive them of.

Cassandra pulled out a tube of lipstick. It wasn't quite red, but had a darker pink tone to it. She set about applying it to my lips. Then she held up some tissue in front of them. This happened to be one thing I had seen numerous times. I leaned forward, and closed my lips around the tissue; rocking them gently back and forth. She tossed the tissue in the trash, and then applied a little more lipstick.

This is when the makeup really started to feel weird on me. I had never worn makeup before. Not for practical purposes, or for theater, or even as a joke. It felt like I had a mask on. That it wasn't really my face. And when I looked into the mirror beside me, I really got the feeling that it wasn't me looking back. It seemed like someone else behind a glass pane.

"One more thing," Cassandra said, drawing my focus. She brought up a small container with some gold powder, and a medium size brush. "This will give you that sort of Ancient Greece bronze look." She went about applying it gingerly to various spots upon my face. "There," she finally said, lowering the brush. "Close your eyes."

I followed her instructions. A few seconds later, I heard the sound of air leaving a can. Then I felt some mist hit my face. She had me keep my eyes shut, and hit me several times with it. When I was finally allowed to open my eyes, I found her already up and out of her chair.

"Give that a moment to set," she said. "I'll be right back to finish your hair."

"This is torture," I muttered, after she had left the room.

I spun around and stared at myself in the mirror. The woman staring back didn't even look recognizable. At least she didn't look like the face I had reluctantly gotten used to over the past few days. She even looked sad; angst-ridden perhaps. Whatever it was that afflicted her, it seemed to have nothing to do with the spell. She… I… had moved past that now. Things had changed so rapidly, that it had become a secondary issue. My focus was now on getting myself, along with the other girls, out of here in one piece.

"Here we go," Cassandra said, lightheartedly.

She came up behind me, and lightly touched my hair. Then she began putting gold pins in various places along the sides. She produced a strand of golden knots, mixed with blue jewels. It looked rather expensive, priceless perhaps, like an ancient heirloom. Cassandra draped it over the crown of my head, and fastened it near the base of my skull. Lastly, she set about removing the curlers from my hair.

When all was done, I had an explosion of curls erupting from the top back of my head. The strand of gold and blue held them out of my face. So my makeup remained flawlessly on display. It actually looked so beautiful, that I felt sad knowing it wouldn't last. I was sure the look could be replicated with some work. However, after tonight, I would probably go back to my boring no-makeup look. Or perhaps I could start wearing a little bit.

"We better get you dressed," Cassandra said, after teasing my black tresses for a moment.

Up to this point, I had completely forgotten about my attire. Here I was, sitting in a white gown that left very little to the imagination. My skin was clearly visible underneath. The darker areolas of my breasts were like flares in a moonless night. I tried my best to at least keep the gown from opening, as I followed Cassandra into the next room. Emma, Olivia, and Ava were awaiting us, and quickly snapped to attention when I entered.

"You look stunning, milady," Ava said, upon seeing me.

"Quite beautiful," Olivia offered.

"Most certainly," Emma chimed in.

"But not as beautiful as the illustrious Goddess," Sophia's voice came from the corner of the room.

"Perish the thought," the three girls said in unison.

"None is more beautiful than the Goddess," Cassandra said.

I looked over to see Sophia studying me. She seemed intent about it, as if she were sizing up the competition for Aphrodite. If they only knew how little I cared about her stupid little game. Cassandra casually walked up behind me. Without any warning, she whipped my gown from my upper body and let it fall in a puddle about my feet. Sophia's eyes moved over my naked form, as Ava quickly recovered the discarded garment.

"I must say," Sophia said, still looking me over. "You're one of the prettier ones in recent months."

"How many girls get caught in your little trap here?" I asked, trying to take my mind off of being nude in front of four fully clothed women.

Sophia's lip curled on one side. "I fear we got off on the wrong foot," she said. "It was never our intention to throw you into that cell."

"Yet you did," I said, trying to muster some sense of bravado.

"Only because you resisted," Sophia said.

"Well I'm not resisting now," I said. "Are you still holding the other two in a cell?"

"For the time being," Sophia said. "Call it incentive that you continue to play nice."

Emma walked over to me. She held up a dress over my front. It was emerald green, with spaghetti straps. The skirt seemed to be knee length, and flared out slightly from the waist. I was about to comment on it looking nice, when Emma turned to Sophia. After studying it for a moment, Sophia shook her head.

"Something with some blue in it," Sophia said.

"I'm surprised you're not dressing me in a toga," I said.

Sophia actually smiled at my remark. "Just because our organizations stem from Ancient Greece, doesn't mean we can't appreciate modern style," she said. "However, if you'd like us to pin a bed sheet on you…"

"No," I said. "I'll stick with this century."

Sophia raised her hand for the girls to continue. "How long have you been running with Leann's little alliance anyway?" she asked.

"A few days," I said.

"And they've already brought you in on a rescue mission?" Sophia raised her eyebrow. "Impressive." She waved another dress away, leaving me standing there in the nude.

"I wouldn't say it's a rescue mission," I said, feeling a little less confident without clothes. "More like… a diplomatic negotiation."

Sophia chuckled. "Did Leann fail to mention that we don't really appreciate uninvited guests?"

"She may have hinted at it," I said.

"It's really a shame she found you first," Sophia said. "She's probably filled your head with all kinds of lies, or half truths."

"Well it's not like she laid claim to me," I said. "There's no reason why I can't operate freely."

"Of course," Sophia said. She proceeded to wave yet another dress away. "Less black. Maybe more gold," she said to Emma. "What has she told you about Aphrodite?" she asked, turning her attention back to me.

"Not really much at all," I said. "She keeps saying she's crazy."

Olivia and Ava gasped.

"The Goddess is of sound mind," Emma said, a bit perturbed.

"Girls…" Sophia said, calming them down. "Others are allowed to have opinions. It was not meant as an insult, I'm sure." She smiled. "Our guest is merely stating what was said by another." She looked at me. "Are you not?"

I nodded. "I really don't know what to think," I said. "I haven't met her yet."

"That one," Sophia said, pointing at a blue dress. She turned her attention to me again. "Well, might I ask that you keep an open mind while talking with her?"

"Keeping an open mind has been my motto for the last few days," I said, as Emma brought over the dress to hold in front of me. "I'd like to avoid spending the night in a dungeon, if possible."

"I'm sure something more comfortable can be arranged," Sophia said. "That is if you end up staying a while." She tilted her head, studying the dress for a moment. "I like that one," she said to Emma. "A shame we're not allowed to parade you around in the nude." She winked at me. "But the night's still young…"

"Let's get you dressed then," Cassandra said.

Cassandra had been silent for the last several minutes; standing in the corner out of the way. There was a definite order to things around here. The three girls worked under Cassandra, and she in turn worked under Sophia. I had no idea how far up the ladder Sophia had climbed, but she almost seemed like a personal assistant to Aphrodite. It seemed like she ran the mansion, and handled the day-to-day stuff. She definitely commanded respect from the men around the house.

Cassandra held up some kind of garment before me. It had straps. It had holes. I wasn't quite sure at all what to make of it. Growing up in a house with no females, I wasn't exactly pressed to know these things. Needless to say, I really didn't have a lot of choice in what I was wearing tonight. At least, I didn't think I had a say. Clothing wasn't going to kill me, however, so I played along with the whole dress-up routine.

Sensing my hesitation, Cassandra went down to her knees. She held the garment at my feet. It obviously had two leg holes, so I stepped into them. Cassandra carefully pulled the garment up my legs. It settled neatly into place. Thankfully it covered my butt and my nether area; at least for the most part. She brought the rest of it up and over my shoulders.

A lacy floral pattern stretched from my groin up and over my breasts, in a sort of T shape. It had thin straps that stretched over my shoulders, and fastened in the back like a bra. It efficiently held my breasts in place, but didn't seem to have a ton of support. Fishnet material stretched down the sides from my breasts to my hips. It left little holes exposed everywhere. Four thin straps hung from the bottom; two in the front and two in the back.

"I'm not really liking the idea of stockings," Sophia said, as she saw Emma approaching me with a pair in her hands.

"Mistress…" Cassandra said. "With all due respect, this girl has a nylon affinity."

I looked puzzled at Cassandra. How did she pick up on that from one little thing I said earlier? I chalked it up to the simple knowledge of her job. She probably went through a lot of these situations. I shifted my body, trying to get used to this thing I was wearing. Now I really wished I had paid more attention to Tory in the lingerie store.

"I see," Sophia said, looking me over. "Very well. In the interest of being hospitable. Wouldn't want her to endure any unnecessary hardships."

"Thank you, Mistress," Cassandra said, giving her a bow. She proceeded to take the stockings from Emma.

"Pity really," Sophia said. "You have nice legs."

"Thanks," I said, as Cassandra had me sit on a stool.

Sophia watched for a moment, as the stockings were carefully rolled up my legs. "I guess it's not too bad," she said. "At the very least the stockings will accentuate them."

Cassandra finished bringing the second stocking up my leg. She fastened the front two suspenders to the tops, then had me stand. After fidgeting with them in the back, she eventually fastened the back suspenders as well. The lingerie seemed a little too sexy for the occasion, but at least I wasn't standing in the nude anymore. That was a small victory, I suppose.

Emma brought over the dress Sophia had chosen. For the most part, the dress was blue. It had a deep neckline, that showed off some of the lingerie when finally in place. The straps were just big enough to cover the straps of the lingerie. On the sides were panels with a lace design, over a lining of gold material beneath. The skirt was a little tighter than I had hoped for, and it barely covered the tops of the stockings. Cassandra pulled the gold laces in the back, making the dress snug around the midsection, before tying them off.

Olivia stepped forward, and put a gold necklace around my neck. Then she lifted my right hand and slipped a bangle onto my wrist. Ava came up behind her. She started comparing shoes to the dress, I assumed to match color. A pair of blue heels were cast to the side, as they simply didn't match at all. She seemed pleased with a pair of black heels, that were much lower.

"The gold ones," Sophia said.

Ava hurried over and grabbed a pair of gold heels. I cringed when I saw them. They had five inch heels, and very little support. While they covered the toe completely, they left a lot of the foot exposed. A little sliver of material covered the heel, but then came up into double ankle straps. Ava did not hesitate helping me step into them, and buckling me in.

"I'm not really used to heels," I admitted.

Sophia nodded. "It's more for presentation," she said. "You'll have an escort. They'll make sure you won't fall."

"That's reassuring," I said, offering a half smile.

Sophia stood, and walked over to me. "You know what I find the most disheartening about all of this dress up?" she asked rhetorically. "The girls can never keep any piercings." She reached up and gently rubbed my earlobe between her thumb and index finger. "The holes just heal right up." She flashed me a grin. "Still… it is fun to play with needles. As long as you get them out in time."

I swallowed hard. "I'll take your word for it," I said.

"Would you like some clip-ons?" Cassandra asked.

"It's not necessary," Sophia said. She turned to Cassandra. "Perfume," she said. "I'll go and gather the escort." She turned and walked to the door, pulling the latch to open it. "I should warn you," she said, looking over her shoulder. "Be respectful during your audience." With that, she walked out of the room.

I took one step from the room, out into the hallway. My feet wobbled beneath me. Surprisingly, I had not broken an ankle yet. The thought of that made me wonder if it would heal as quickly as my scrapes and bruises from earlier. As I pulled at the hem of my skirt, the two guards from earlier stepped toward me. Sophia stood behind them, as if she needed protection once more.

This entire place, along with the inhabitants, seemed rather odd. One minute they trusted you enough to be alone, and the next you were being grabbed by guards. Although, the one time I happened to be grateful for them was at that moment. I hardly had to walk on my own. The guards pretty much held me up, to the point where only the balls of my feet hit the floor at any given moment.

Sophia led us back downstairs. We ended up on the main level, and turned the opposite direction of the stairs to the dungeon. If I thought the place was weird before, it got about ten times stranger in the next room. Huge wooden doors creaked open. A dimly lit lounge area greeted us on the other side. Sophia kept her stride, leading us right through the middle of this room.

I managed to peak around the guards at certain moments. What I saw baffled me. Leann had hinted at the activities that went on here, but she really didn't prepare me to see them on full display. Scantily clad women paraded around; some not wearing anymore than panties. I thought for sure one of them, at least, was completely nude. While some of them glanced at us, or took some form of notice, most of them seemed completely absorbed in their activities.

The first sight that drew my attention, happened to be a middle-aged man sitting on a sofa. He seemed well off, like a politician, or lawyer. Two girls cuddled up in his arms. One methodically rubbed her hand up and down his exposed thigh, as he ran his hand through her platinum blonde hair. The other had her breasts exposed, and teased him provocatively by swaying them back and forth before his face. She kept a tight grip on his hair, as if to prevent him from moving his head forward to touch her.

I turned my head away, to the other side of the room. There I saw a lounging bed, with another male. This one a bit older and out of shape. A black-haired beauty, Asian by the look of it, knelt between the man's legs. She quickly stroked up and down on, what I quickly gathered, was the man's penis. He moaned in ecstasy, as she whipped her hair across his large belly.

Beside them, another girl teased a rather fit man with a slow dance. I noticed his wrists and ankles were taped to the chair he sat in. He struggled; desperate to touch her. When she stepped off to the side, my eyes instantly dropped to look at his erect penis. It twitched uncontrollably. A glistening string of pre-cum dribbled down to the chair seat, where it joined a rather considerable puddle.

I quickly turned my head away, feeling myself blush. I kept thinking the man must've been struggling for hours like this. In fact, everyone in this room seemed lost and unaware of time. They also seemed completely unaware of the other activities in the room. Unless, of course, they were watching. Which there were some groupings that were apparently letting that happen; either willingly, or unwillingly.

"Please," said a man, tearfully. "She's my girlfriend."

I looked until I found the source of the commotion. It came from a young man, perhaps mid-twenties, sitting in a chair. Actually he was handcuffed to the chair. He was completely naked, except for a strange little cage that appeared to be locked between his legs. His face wore an expression of horror, and he seemed to be crying as he watched the scene in front of him.

A rather commanding woman, fully clothed in black latex, stood over another docile female. This other woman was completely naked. She timidly remained on her knees, looking straight at another man's rather large exposed member. The woman in black coaxed the naked female to kiss it; much to the objection of the boyfriend. As we passed, I could clearly hear her order the woman to put it in her mouth.

I thought back on what Tory had told me. About how Gabby had forced her to perform sexual acts on strange men. While some of the people here seemed to be enjoying the activities, I wondered how many were being forced. Then I began to worry about my own safety. Would I suffer some fate like this if I pissed off Aphrodite? Is this why Sophia escorted me through this unending room of sexual depravity?

It wasn't all male and female either. There were girls caught up in the acts as well. One girl I passed, was being forced to lick and kiss another girl's boots. Still another was blindfolded with her wrists tied behind her back. Two girls teasingly rubbed ice over her exposed nipples, and laughed wickedly as she begged to be set free. The room went on like this, like some bizarre sex museum.

It made me really question the properties of Amara's curse. Leann was pretty scarce with the details. Did the victims of the curse suddenly come of age? Were they even all legal? Did anyone really care? I definitely saw some police mingled amongst the sea of sex. However, like the others, they seemed completely caught up in their own little worlds.

As we finally reached the doors on the other side of the room, I witnessed one final act. Two girls, and two young guys, had claimed a daybed at the end of the room. They seemed to be engaged in a game of sorts. Each time the girls could coax the guys into performing a sexual act on each other, the girls would return in kind. The odds didn't appear to be in the reluctant boys' favor, as the girls were still completely clothed. All they had to do was kiss each other, and it prompted the guys to do more.

"Care to join?" one of the girls asked of Sophia.

Sophia turned and smiled at them. "Perhaps later," she said.

The other girl looked me over. "Can she join too?"

"She has an audience with the Goddess," Sophia said, as one of the guards opened the door.

"Lucky you," the girl said to me. "Feel free to come back later." She looked back at the two guys. "Kiss his neck," she cooed to one of them.

Sophia reached out to gently take my elbow. "Avoid those two when they're together," she said. "Unless you want to be played like a fiddle." She tenderly encouraged me to walk through the open door. "They're even worse with board games."

"It's nice to know you all play games other than the sexual variety," I said.

"When did I ever imply the board games weren't sexual?"

Sophia winked at me. She escorted me through a small antechamber. The large door behind us closed shut, and the guards were nowhere to be seen. I felt nervous now, as the setting turned somewhat ominous. Only the sounds of our heels, clacking upon the marble floor, could be heard.

We walked toward doors that didn't seem to fit at all with the rest of the mansion. They were large, perhaps three times as tall as either me or Sophia. The vast majority of them had an ivory sheen. Gold inlay swirled through them, forming shapes of roses and swans. As we approached, an audible clunk echoed throughout the chamber. I watched as the massive doors swung open with ease, and presented the room inside.

"Time to shine," Sophia said, stopping at the door.

"You're not going in?" I asked, my stomach in knots.

"She didn't ask for me," Sophia said. "I'll be right outside to escort you." She dropped her hand from my arm. "Where I escort you to, depends on how well you're received by the Goddess."

"Wait!" I exclaimed. "What do I do in there? Do I kneel? Bow?"

Sophia thought about it for a moment. "She is quite fond of the curtsy," she finally said. "Very feminine."

"How do I do that?"

"Ugh," Sophia groaned. "Millennials…" She glared at me for a moment, before rolling her eyes. "Like this."

Sophia proceeded to demonstrate how to do a formal curtsy. She took into account my attire. I did my best to mimic it. She looked so refined with hers. I, on the other hand, had a little trouble in the heels. My balance wasn't quite together in this new body, and towering on five more inches didn't help matters.

"Good enough," Sophia said, prodding me forward. "Don't keep her waiting."

I proceeded past the open doors. Guards to either side closed the doors as I passed. They weren't as ugly as the other men around here, and could've probably had lucrative careers as models. Unlike the other guards, they didn't walk with me. My legs wobbled, as I walked. A few times I had to correct my steps, in fear of falling flat on my face. I figured blood on Aphrodite's marble floor wouldn't exactly be a good peace offering.

Once the doors closed, I grew very self-conscious about my loud footsteps. I tried to walk on the balls of my feet as much as possible. After walking a few meters in, I could hear a strange ethereal melody filling the room. It sounded like a choir singing from some lofty balcony above. While it was pleasant, it did seem rather haunting not being able to see the source. Massive columns stretched up to the high ceiling. Around the room, scallop-shaped sconces produced a soft light.

As I grew closer, I could make out a female form casually lounging upon a throne. The throne itself was ivory, with gold inlay. Roses seemed to be the main theme, yet behind her the throne back looked like two swans with their necks elegantly touching. It seemed so far away, like the room went on forever. I began to wonder how in the world all of this fit in what was perceived as a parking lot. Then I remembered magic.

After walking another few meters, I started to take notice of the statues lining the outer edges of the throne room. They were all made of exquisite gold, and stood atop marble pillars, or marble slabs depending on the size. Each of them represented a young maiden, or at times two to three, in some type of theme. The designs were so intricate and life-like, that they put even the most revered sculptors' works to shame.

The first to catch my attention was a young woman with a bow. She held it across her body and down to the side; her arrow ready, but not drawn. Her attire consisted of a simple loincloth, and a laurel in her hair. Barefoot, she stood on her toes; in a pose that suggested she was creeping through a forest. I imagined she was hunting for something, and trying to sneak up on her prey.

Across from the woman with the bow, was another woman holding a jug of water. Her arm muscles looked so realistic, as they strained to hold the jug on her shoulder. Like the first statue, this girl also wore a simple loincloth, but nothing else. She didn't look ashamed to be topless. In fact, the look on her face was one of determination; like she had a job to finish.

As I continued past the statues, I began to realize partial nudity was a common theme. One of the two girl scenes, I passed, featured a completely nude woman. The other woman sat at her feet, reaching up to cling to her legs. She looked up at the woman, her cheek resting against her hip. While the nude woman reached down, with her hand atop the sitting woman's head. She looked down upon her thoughtfully, or perhaps lovingly.

There were so many others. I passed one that held a pose like a ballerina. She stood on the ball of one foot. Her other foot rested on the side of her knee, with her leg bent and out to the side. With her hands stretched above her downcast head, she leaned gently off toward her bent leg. It kind of reminded me of the dance I had seen the night before. Of course, neither Sheila, nor Paige, were completely nude like this girl.

"Take your time," said a sweet voice from the direction of the throne. "It's not often one gets to take in the sights of my throne room."

"My apologies," I said, squinting at the woman. "Goddess," I quickly added. "They're just so… remarkable."

"No need to apologize," Aphrodite said. "I meant what I said."

I continued to examine the golden statues. There were too many to take in at one given time. They really needed to be in a museum, or some place where they could be viewed at leisure. Though Aphrodite had welcomed me to look at them, I felt I shouldn't waste too much of her time. It was all probably a test of her patience.

So I slowly proceeded toward the throne. Occasionally I would glance at a statue. She had a nice one of a young woman aiming her bow at the sky. Every single one of her muscles seemed tense, as if she were ready to let the arrow fly at any moment. Again, she wore nothing but a small loincloth. It made me wonder if they had any clothing at all, back when these were made.

"The artist is truly a gem," Aphrodite said. "Is he not?"

"He most certainly is," I said, trying my best to sound polite, if not diplomatic. "They're so lifelike."

"Indeed," Aphrodite said. "A poor man was he. Worked with gold, but never became rich or famous. Down on his luck you could say. I gave him a medium. Now he only creates works of art for me."

"How very kind of you," I said.

"Yes…" Aphrodite said. "How very kind, indeed."

My focus pulled away from the statues as I neared the throne. For once, I could finally see who I was speaking with. I had to admit, seeing her made me think everything said about her beauty was an understatement. Aphrodite was striking, and that was putting it mildly. She had the face you could only find on a photoshopped magazine. Flawless could not even begin to describe her features.

If I had to put her on a scale, up against the ten most beautiful women in the world, Aphrodite would tip the scales forever in her favor. Her face looked perfectly symmetrical. She had eyes that seemed to change color depending on the lighting. Her lips had just the right amount of pout to be inviting. While her long waves of strawberry blonde hair framed her face beautifully.

Maybe she had already put a spell on me, but it seemed she could wear anything and still be amazing. She wore a simple chiffon dress; white, and slit up both sides to reveal her bare legs. Her feet were bare, save for strands of gold looped around her ankles and middle toes. Wherever skin showed, it appeared smooth and without blemish. A rather intricate band of gold and precious jewels, crisscrossed between her breasts; separating them and holding the material of the dress against them.

"Do you like what you see?" Aphrodite asked, seductively.

I swallowed hard. How could anyone say "no" to that question? This woman was absolutely flawless. She could have worn a potato sack, and still put me to shame. That was actually saying something, as I found my new look significantly attractive. That was after four other women going all out on me. Yet, here this woman sat, with hardly anything to heighten her beauty. As I grew closer, I realized she wasn't even wearing makeup. She had natural tones to her face that made it appear she was, but she wasn't.

"You are absolutely breathtaking," I said, finding myself giving a curtsy. "Goddess."

"I must say…" Aphrodite looked me over. "After the tantrum you threw outside, I would have never figured you to be so civilized now."

"I'm sorry about my… outburst earlier," I said. "The past few days have put me on edge. But I've had time to think about the situation."

"Oh?" She seemed to be feigning interest now, leaning back on her throne.

"The girls here have been… kind," I said. I really wished at that moment I had cared more about vocabulary in school. How could I be diplomatic, if I didn't even know what to say?

"I'm sure the girls could be far more accommodating than you could ever wish for," Aphrodite said, with a grin.

"I've… seen," I said, thinking about the sex room.

"Are you bothered by displays of carnal lust?"

"It… was a little shocking," I admitted, swallowing hard.

Aphrodite smiled. "It's only natural." She casually cupped her breasts over the material of her dress. "Certain societies have taught us that such displays are taboo or immoral. Even those like your leader are such prudes."

"I wouldn't exactly call Leann my leader," I said. "I just met her."

"It matters not," Aphrodite said. "Like all followers of Artemis, they believe in chastity and abstinence. Restraining from the very beauty that brought them into this world." She squeezed her breasts. "Sex is wonderful, and powerful. Such a natural thing should not be forsaken."

Aphrodite's fingers slipped beneath the sides of her dress. As she cupped her breasts even harder, she pushed the material of her dress into the middle. She casually pulled her hands away; gently trailing her fingers over her now exposed breasts. Her middle fingers flicked from her nipples. Then she nonchalantly rested her arms upon the armrests of her throne.

I swallowed hard yet again. "I've always thought it should be shared with someone special," I said, trying to maintain my composure.

"What's more special than when someone relinquishes their inhibitions?" Aphrodite asked. "Do you think those out there," she nodded toward the sex room, "are partaking against their will?"

"Some did appear to be… tied up," I said.

Aphrodite laughed. "All in good fun," she said. "It's their fetish. It's what they desire."

My brow furrowed. "So none of them are being forced to do anything out there?" I asked.

"Well that all depends on your point of view," she said. "Did it ever cross your mind that they desired to be forced?"

"Why would anyone…" I shook my head. "How old are they?"

"What's age?" Aphrodite asked, rhetorically. "Most of them are decades, if not hundreds of years old." She sighed. "But if you're concerned about local laws, then I can attest to their legality. You don't need to worry about partaking in the merriment."

"I'm not asking for myself," I said, shaking my head again. "I think we're getting off topic."

Aphrodite gave me a puzzled look. "I don't believe we settled on a topic," she said. "Nor was the sweet seed of a topic ever procured." She smiled for a brief moment. "Yet if your tongue sought to nurture such a fragrant budding flower, you would find me a most attentive gardener."

"I..." My head started to swim when met with her words. "I was hoping we could talk more about you," I said. "And what you want with my friends?"

"Do not feign ignorance to what I desire," she said, dropping her smile. "You are no more ignorant to what I seek, than I am ignorant to what Leann has told you."

"But I don't understand," I said. "Leann doesn't have what you want."

"That is a point where I must disagree," she said. "Your friends concealed the amulet long ago, and they know to whom it belongs." She tilted her chin down to glare at me with her ever-changing eyes. "I see they continue with their incessant lies."

"What do you need the amulet for anyway?" I asked, getting annoyed with her condescending tone. "You have all of this." I gestured to the immense throne room.

"What consequence is it of yours?" Aphrodite asked. "It belongs to me. I want it back."

I sighed. "Holding us hostage over an amulet we don't possess seems a little…" I searched for a word that wouldn't seem too offensive.

"Silly little girl," Aphrodite jeered. "Are you ignorant of history? Do you know nothing of me?"

"Greek civilization hasn't exactly come up at school yet," I sneered, completely fed up.

Aphrodite's lightheartedness faded; her demeanor becoming rigid. She actually looked more beautiful when obviously mad. "I am Aphrodite," she said. "Goddess of love, pleasure, beauty and procreation. Borne from the discarded manhood of Uranus. The nubile desire of men, who rose from the sea foam on a scallop shell." She took a deep breath. "I welcome all who come here with an open mind and open heart. Their desires shall be met with unabated fervor."

"It didn't seem so welcoming when I got here," I said.

Aphrodite glared at me in silence for a moment. "Careful not to dismantle the kindness I've allotted you," she finally said. "You would have been welcome, had you not caused a scene. We do accommodate guests."

"Accommodate them how?" I asked, extending my arm back toward the last room. "By forcing them to fuck?!"

"Mind your tongue!" Aphrodite exclaimed, rising to her feet. "I will not suffer your disrespect much longer."

"Forgive me," I said, choking back some of my anger.

Aphrodite eased herself back onto the throne. "What do you know of procreation?" she asked. "A fresh virgin, only days from falling prey to Amara's blessing."

"How did you --"

"Stupid, silly girl," Aphrodite said. "Perhaps you should have questioned a little more, those who found you. Or have you not been told the true history of Amara?" She sighed. "Only a virgin can be altered." Aphrodite leaned forward to study me. "No… You have yet to feel the embrace of a lover's arms."

My eyes dropped. It wasn't out of shame, as I had nothing to be ashamed about. I was a summer away from starting high school when this all happened. So I wasn't embarrassed about still being a virgin. Instead, I felt embarrassed about being put in my place; as a young, inexperienced… girl. Aphrodite was right. I didn't know anything about the world. How did I ever expect to negotiate diplomatic terms with her?

"Every six months he comes to me," Aphrodite said, leaning back. She seemed to be speaking to herself now. "Half a year we spend together." She reached up to gently brush her fingers over one of her exposed breasts. "Entwined…" Her chest lifted in an exaggerated breath. She seemed to be in a trance. "Together in the most passionate ways imaginable." Suddenly she stopped all motion, and looked down at me. "Sometimes beyond imagination."

I stood there silently and watched, as she reached down next to her, and brought a red rose to her chin. Aphrodite spun it gently upon her lips. She smiled behind it. Her eyes gazed at me intently. I watched her inhale a slow steady breath. She closed her eyes for a moment, and seemed to be in another world, or perhaps another time. When she opened her eyes again, she appeared to be calm.

"Prithee," she said, "do tell me what is going on in that pretty little head of yours." She lowered the rose to her lap. "I sense confusion."

"This is all confusing to me," I admitted. "And I'm thinking about my friends."

"Friends?!" Aphrodite tittered at the word. "Do you really think those girls are your friends?"

I thought about her question. Aphrodite made a valid point. While the girls had shown up at the most opportune moment, and took me into their strange magical theater, they were hardly life-long pals. Admittedly, I hardly knew any of them. Leann had lied to me from the start. Was she being honest now? Who knew if the others were being honest? I began to wonder why they had even shown up in the first place.

I shook my head quietly.

"You see?" Aphrodite asked. "They brought you here without knowing the whole truth."

"No!" I blurted out. "Leann said you would do this. She said you would try to get in my head."

"Honey," Aphrodite said, leaning forward. "I don't need to get into your head." She flashed me a sympathetic look. "You wear your heart on your sleeve. Everything about you is blatantly clear."

"You don't know anything about me," I said.

"Then stay awhile," she said, sitting back up. "Let me learn all about you." She smiled. "You'll be my guest."

"And get thrown in your dungeon again?" I retorted.

"If that's what turns you on," she purred, finishing it with a wink.

"Let my friends go," I said, attempting to sound as stern as possible.

Aphrodite dropped her pleasant demeanor once again. "What are they to you?" She rose from her throne. "Two silly little girls, who think they can save the world." One slow step after another, Aphrodite sauntered toward me. Her bare feet left little footprints of condensation on the cold marble floor.

"Three," I said.

Aphrodite paused in her stride. "Three?"

"Tory, Leann," I said, "and her sister."

"That is a tall order," she said, continuing to walk closer. "You're bold." Aphrodite reached me. She held her hand out and gently caressed my chin and right cheek. "I happen to appreciate boldness. When it's brought upon by courage, rather than stupidity." Suddenly her lips were within millimeters of my earlobe. "But what will you give me in return?" She asked with a whisper.

I tried to remain calm, but she definitely had a way of making others weak. "I'll stay," I managed, with stifled breath. "Without a fight."

"As a guest?" she asked, still at my ear. "Or something else?"

With all of my strength I turned my head to face her. "As a guest," I said, gazing right into her eyes. "I suppose."

Aphrodite bit the bottom corner of her lip. She gazed at me lustfully. "Shame." She reached up to tug at one of my curls. "We could have made your visit more enjoyable." Aphrodite smiled, letting out a slight moan behind it. "Very well," she said, spinning toward her throne. "You will stay," she said, as she sashayed over to her throne. "The others may go free."

"Just like that?!"

"Just like that," she said, waving her hand behind her.

"Thank you," I said.

Aphrodite reached her throne and spun to stand before it. "Oh, don't thank me, dear," she said. "You and I have much to talk about. Much of which will not be pleasant." She eased herself down on the throne. "And I wouldn't want you to leave this room thinking we're friends." A sly grin rose upon her face. "The hour of testing is upon you," she said, lifting her hands toward the rows of golden statues. "I do hope you succeed where others have failed."

Suddenly it dawned on me where the music was coming from. The sweet melodic tones that had graced my ears from the moment I had arrived, were not coming from some lofty place. They were coming from the statues. Only they weren't singing. No, in fact, they were screaming, or perhaps moaning in agony. As I looked upon each motionless face, in horror, I realized the price of losing Aphrodite's games. She played for keeps, and what she kept were the girls who failed; forever encased in a golden statue.

Aphrodite laughed at my discovery. I began to say something, but she simply waved me off. Two large hands grabbed my upper arms. The guards had come to take me away. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have yelled out my objections. I definitely shouldn't have called Aphrodite a twisted bitch. It may have offended her, and quite possibly made my stay here worse. Regardless, I was dragged, kicking and screaming, from Aphrodite's throne room; her guest, but now under protest.

---

 
 
To Be Continued...
 

Volume 1: Part 9

"Your friends abandoned you."

Aphrodite's taunting voice startled me awake. I stumbled to my bare feet, pulling anxiously at the bonds around my wrists. A medium weight chain held me within a limited area. It was light enough for me to lift, but heavy enough to be a burden after awhile. The chain held fast to the shackles upon my wrists, and was bolted to the floor behind me. Another hot bead of sweat rolled down my brow. It stung when it hit my left eye, blurring my vision momentarily.

Not that there was much to see. I had been staring at the same scenery for several days. A grey rectangular room, probably about fifty feet in length, had become my current residence. The chain only allowed me to reach the middle of this room. At the other end, a camera watched me intently; next to a speaker box which Aphrodite had been using to communicate with me. Below this, upon an old battered Grecian pedestal, a pair of black tights were draped unceremoniously.

This was Aphrodite's latest game. She had shackled me, and left me locked in this sweltering room. Wearing nothing but a black tank top, and panties, I struggled to reach the one item of clothing I desired the most. It wasn't so bad at first. I made it probably the larger part of a day before the desire became strong enough for me to try to reach that pedestal. The irony of struggling desperately to wear an article of predominately feminine apparel was not lost on me.

That seemed to be the one thing Aphrodite hadn't learned from me. She still had no idea I used to be a boy, or that I desired to return to being one. Not that it would have mattered. My fate would most likely be the same as one of those golden statues lining her throne room. It didn't take long to realize that nobody passed her so-called tests. Even if they did, she would probably encase them in gold for having the audacity to best her at her own games.

"Think about it," Aphrodite said. "It has been weeks since I set them free. Have they even returned to ask about you?"

"Go to hell," I grunted, as I yanked on the chain.

"Tsk tsk," Aphrodite said, mockingly. "Such a foul mouth on such a pretty thing."

After one final tug on the chain, I fell to my knees. "What is this exercise supposed to prove?" I asked, through gritted teeth. "I said I give up. You win."

"This trial is not about winning, or losing," Aphrodite said. "Though it amuses me that you think you had the opportunity to do either."

"Then what?" I asked. "Am I supposed to get over my desire to wear tights?"

"Oh, heavens no," Aphrodite said. "That desire is the catalyst."

"Please let me go," I said, with an exasperated whine. "I want to leave."

I imagined Aphrodite smiling on the other end. Her voice certainly sounded like it when it returned. "In due time, pet," she said. "For now, I think we'll bump up the temperature in there to one-hundred and ten."

"Please," I cried out, before being met with the sound of the speaker system clicking off.

The room temperature had been another element of torture added to Aphrodite's game. When her guards first shackled me in here, it was actually rather cool, but comfortable. It stayed this way probably for the first couple of days. Right as I was growing accustomed to my prison, Aphrodite started raising the heat. She started with increments of two, or three degrees, but quickly moved on to adding five at a time. This last jump was an entire ten degrees.

I could feel the rising heat instantly. What I found out, in my short adventure, is that being under this curse didn't exactly keep someone from feeling ordinary things. I could still feel pleasure, which occurred to me during my first shower. When I fought with the guards outside, I clearly felt pain. I even felt temptation, mild curiosity, and arousal, from my stroll through Aphrodite's sex dungeon. The oddest feeling so far, however, was nausea from this heat. While I couldn't get sick, due to the curse, I would hit that edge of no return, and then I'd feel okay again. It was like a rollercoaster of feeling like I was about to throw up, and then not, but then the feeling would return.

This feeling, along with my exertion, made me feel weak. It took all of my strength to crawl on my knees, just far enough to gain enough slack in the chain to lay down. My clothes, or at least what little I had on, were sopping wet. Aphrodite offered to take them as well, but I refused. She wouldn't steal that last shred of my dignity. My mess of black hair clung to my scalp, face, and neck. It had no body left in it at all, and felt like wet plaster.

If Aphrodite's game was to make me uncomfortable, she had far exceeded her goal. Truth be told, I couldn't figure this test out. I asked her every time we talked, but she would ignore me in this regard. She kept denying each guess I had as well. Every single one of her tests so far had a set goal to achieve. This one made absolutely no sense. Maybe that was the point of it; to show that some things in life are simply pure nonsense.

I had positioned myself on my side, as to be able to see the tights across the room. My body lay almost lifeless; chest heaving in staggered breaths. This new heat increase had literally reduced me to panting like a dog. Aphrodite did call me her "pet." Maybe she wanted to turn me into an animal. I started to smile deliriously to myself about that mental image. Did she want me to die of hysteria? Wait… I couldn't die, right?

I could begin to see those wavy lines that sometimes come off of hot asphalt. Laying down had helped relieve some of the nausea, but I still felt uncomfortable. Sweat continued to roll down my face, and other less dignifying parts of my body. I always imagined sitting in a sauna would be kind of neat. Maybe with my hands not bound behind me, it would be more enjoyable. However, at this moment in time, that curiosity to try out a sauna had died a merciless death.

As I continued to stare at that pedestal, those wavy lines became more prominent. My eyelids felt heavy. The short panting breaths seemed rhythmic. Soon I found myself in a trance; brought on by the sheer inability to do anything else. An immense feeling of helplessness washed over me. Despite the heat of the room, I felt a cold chill run up my spine. My body began to tremble, and tears started to fill my eyes.

I could no longer see my desire. The pedestal seemed to be across a great chasm, or rushing river. Now it was a blurred shadow. The stinging tears in my eyes, and the waves of heat, kept me from even seeing what I wanted so badly to see; so badly to feel. My panting turned to sobbing, and I shut my eyes tightly. Regardless of needing any, I desperately wanted some water. I only wanted a taste; a cool drop of liquid to saturate my parched lips.

"Why are you crying?"

My eyes shot open. "Who's there?" I asked with a raspy voice.

A young female reached out, and put her cool hand upon my forearm. "It is I, Tryne," the girl said. "Your humble servant."

"But I don't…"

I stood abruptly. My wrists were free of their shackles. That agonizing pain in my shoulders, from having my arms pulled harshly behind me, was simply gone. The heat of the room had vanished. Although it still felt warm, every so often a cool breeze would hit me. As I looked around my immediate area, I soon realized why. Two young women were fanning me with large palm fronds.

"I am aware the Archeress has requested a respite," Tryne said. "But she is in danger."

"Who?" I asked. "Who is in danger?"

"You, my Goddess," Tryne said, bowing low to me. "Please." She offered her hand. "We must make haste."

I stared at Tryne, perplexed by what she was saying. The day seemed peaceful. There were no signs of trouble. I couldn't understand why she wanted to pull me away from such a relaxing moment. All of my pain had vanished. The stiffness and soreness in my arms had been relieved. Even the blistering heat from my prison had turned to a balmy, yet pleasantly mild day. A light breeze sporadically blew through the large enclosed porch in which we stood.

Tryne's pleading brown eyes beckoned me away from my relaxation. Her outstretched hand seemed to be reaching in desperation. The urgency of the moment seemed illustrated clearly in every inch of her small frame. Her youthful nature and appearance projected an atmosphere of trust and innocence. Despite my understanding of the situation, I found myself placing my hand within her hand.

"Quickly!" Tryne exclaimed, as she pulled me away.

We departed the enclosed porch at a breakneck speed, and soon found our way into a larger passageway. The sound of my bare feet slapping against the marble floor, contrasted discernibly to Tryne's sandaled feet. She did not slow her pace; pulling me down the path, and around a sizeable courtyard in the middle of the building. The few glimpses of sunlight in the courtyard didn't prepare me for when we reached the front entrance.

Shielding my eyes with one hand, I held firmly onto Tryne's hand with my other. She continued to lead me away from the building. I managed the few stairs in front without tripping, and soon my bare feet found lush grass. Tryne continued to pull me along, without saying a word. All I could manage to focus on happened to be her curly black hair bouncing with each step she took.

Eventually we reached a cobblestone path. Dreading what it would feel like on my feet, I cringed as my first footstep landed upon it. Surprisingly it felt smooth, and I took quite naturally to it. For some reason it felt like I had run upon this path so many times before. I knew every stone, and every crack. Anywhere that might have tripped me up, I managed to avoid.

"Where are we going?" I asked, my eyes slowly adjusting to the sunlight.

"The shrine, my Goddess," Tryne said, without looking back. "It is the only safe place."

"Safe from what?" I asked, glancing around us. "I see no danger here?"

"Not here," Tryne said. "But where you are now."

Tryne kept leading me further down the cobblestone path. We passed several buildings; houses it seemed. They were all in disrepair, and some had even crumbled to the ground. None of them were occupied. In fact, there had been no signs of life since we had left the first building. As I continued to look around, I eventually came to realize where we were headed.

In the distance, upon a narrow cliff's point, stood an ancient structure. It was unlike any of the other buildings in the area. It consisted mainly of large, carved stones. The entire structure seemed to be slowly sinking into the soft dirt around it. Two large columns, about three feet in diameter, stretched from within the dirt up to the heavy triangle-shaped roof. A massive Cypress tree burst through the middle of the roof; its tip towering over the shrine itself.

"Are you sure that place is safe?" I asked, as my feet sank into the soft dirt.

Tryne's pace finally slowed. "The shrine has seen its share of weathering," she admitted. "Though it is safe for now."

"Safe for now?" I pulled back, causing Tryne to stop and let go of my hand. "It looks as if it will fall into the sea at any moment."

"Not for another forty years," Tryne said, looking at it solemnly.

I took a step back. "How do you know that?"

Tryne turned to face me. "It is difficult to explain," she said. "I live in this moment, but I have long since passed on."

"You're dead?"

Tryne nodded; her eyes downcast.

"But you're standing right here in front of me," I said.

"I live on in your memories," Tryne said.

"How is that possible?" I asked. "I don't remember this at all."

"This…" Tryne looked out to the shrine. "This never happened. At least… not like this."

"Then how is it a memory?" I asked.

She turned back to face me. "You remember me," she said. "And though I cannot understand why you would find such favor in a lowly servant girl, I can be called to your mind at any moment." Tryne smiled. "In the time in which I lived."

"But how can I conjure up a memory of something that never happened?"

"Because the memory is of me," Tryne said. "I'm a familiar face. What we say and what we do… It doesn't matter." She reached out and took my hand. "You know how I will react. You know what I will say." She smiled. "Because you are saying it."

My bare feet sank into the soft dirt, as Tryne gently led me toward the shrine. I couldn't wrap my head around what she had said. Everything felt so real to me. I could smell the sea, and taste the salt on the wind. The earth below me brought back memories of hunting in the wild; barefoot and free. They were memories of another life though; things I never experienced as Jesse. All of these recollections weren't of my life, but the life of someone else.

"Artemis!"

My eyes focused on the entrance to the shrine ahead of us. A young woman stood there; a veil covering her face. Her arms were outstretched as if to welcome me into an embrace. The mere mention of that name opened my eyes, as if I were seeing for the first time. I suddenly realized why all of these images kept coming back to me, and why Tryne had called me her Archeress and Goddess. We were walking toward my shrine. I was Artemis; or at least I used to be some time in the past.

"Hurry! Hurry!" the other woman exclaimed. "We haven't much time."

Tryne walked with me a few more feet, and suddenly released my hand. Looking at her, I somehow knew why she could not proceed. I suddenly had memories of Tryne. She had been my personal servant for many years, but she was not a priestess. Therefore, she could not enter this place. I strolled past her, and approached the entrance to the shrine. The doorway had sunken into the soft dirt in which I stood.

"You're her. Aren't you?" I asked, following the young woman inside. "You're Amara."

"When you saved my life, so many years ago, I vowed to never use that name again," the woman said.

"Why?" I asked, as I strolled alongside her.

The woman glanced at me. "You know why," she said. "How can I be named 'unfading' when my devotion faltered, so many moons ago?"

"You're here now," I said.

"Because you saved me," the woman said. "You jumped right into the sea after me. Without hesitation." She turned her face to me once more. "You freed me, and opened my eyes. You gave me wisdom."

"Wisdom…" I said, staring straight into her veil. "Sophia?"

"It is I, Goddess," Sophia said.

I cringed inwardly. "Please don't call me that," I said.

"As you wish, Artemis," Sophia said. "Or would you prefer Jesse?"

"This is all so strange," I said, as we stepped toward another door.

This door led into another chamber. It looked to be the inner sanctum of the shrine. A worn statue of Artemis stood as a centerpiece. She traipsed barefoot; her hand on her brow, as if searching for her next kill. Her other hand clasped a strung bow and arrow; gently resting at her side. A short chiton clung to her body like a rippling sea. While a laurel decorated her wavy tresses.

I stepped around the room; examining the varied artifacts. There were several ancient pots and bowls. Most likely these were used in ceremonies. Piles of papyrus -covered in Greek text- littered a makeshift table in the corner. As I continued around the room, I happened upon a broken trinket. It was a small statue of Artemis, or at least her upper body. She held a drawn bow; the arrow of which seemed stained with dried blood.

"So it's true," I said, lifting the statue. "You really killed that man in the temple." I turned to face her.

Sophia stood with her head downcast. "It was the only way to save my sister," she said. "I couldn't live with the thought of a man forcing himself upon another priestess."

I placed the statue back on the shelf. "So everything Leann told me was true?" I asked.

"Leann means well," Sophia said. "But she never saw the bigger picture. She keeps searching for a scientific, or logical way to expunge our gift." Sophia sighed. "I'm afraid it goes much deeper than that."

"Can the cur… spell be reversed?"

"It's not a spell," Sophia said. "And it's not a curse." She strolled over to me. "It's a gift. And I do not possess the power to remove it."

"Wait," I said. "Leann told me you were the one responsible for… this gift."

Sophia shook her head. "I begged Artemis for youth," she said. "I wanted to remain in her service. She felt immortality was too much of a burden on humankind, so she only granted me a youthful appearance. My body continued to age."

"But you're in the present," I said. "You're working for Aphrodite."

Sophia lowered her head. "I never claimed to be perfect," she said. "In this time… In this moment, I am still serving Artemis." She strolled away from me. "In forty years time, the city here will be invaded. This temple will be destroyed and will crumble into the sea. The one responsible for this is… was… Aphrodite. She is fueled by her immense hatred of you and your followers." Sophia let out a long sigh. "In a moment of weakness and selfishness, I gave in to Aphrodite's lure. I pledged to serve her if she would spare me."

"Why does she hate me?" I asked.

"To say Aphrodite is the jealous type, would be putting it mildly," Sophia said. "She considers herself to be the most beautiful creation on Earth. So when she feels another is about to surpass her beauty, she becomes… vengeful."

"And she thinks I surpass her beauty?" I asked, with a laugh.

"That, among other things," Sophia said, beginning to stroll around again. "She sees Artemis as a natural beauty. Because Artemis is one with nature, and hardly gives any effort to being attractive. Her attractiveness is one of pure mystery. A mystery that Aphrodite cannot understand." Sophia stopped to look at me. "Not to mention Artemis' chaste nature is extremely adversarial to Aphrodite's propensity for fornication."

"Yeah… I kind of got that," I said. "Some of the things I saw…"

"Please don't judge me by my future self," Sophia said. "I am most likely a weak shell of a person."

I shook my head. "You're actually pretty strong and confident in my time," I said. "You could take charge if you wanted to."

Sophia studied me thoughtfully for a moment. "You must stop Aphrodite," she said. "You're the only one with the power to do so."

"Power?" I asked. "I don't have any power." I started to walk to the other side of the room. "Right now she has me chained up in a cell. Torturing me…"

"I believe in you," Sophia said. "Others have come before you. Other manifestations of Artemis. But you're different. You're special somehow. There is something about you…"

"I'm not special," I said. "I'm just a kid. All I want to do is rid myself of this curse, and go back to my old life."

Sophia stepped over to me, blocking my path. "Stopping Aphrodite is the first step in returning to your old life," she said. "You must understand. She is one of the catalysts for what you call the curse."

"One?" I asked, looking at Sophia in disbelief. "Are you saying I have to go on some kind of Greek Goddess killing spree?"

Sophia tilted her head to the side.

"How do I know this isn't one of Aphrodite's games?" I asked. "She could be putting these thoughts in my head. Playing with my memories. Seeing if I'll do something, or say something, to give her justification to do whatever. I don't want any part of her world."

"It's not like that," Sophia said. "I'm trying to help you." She approached me; her hand stretched out.

"No!" I exclaimed, backing away from her. "This is the test. I'm not falling for it."

"You are in danger, Jesse," Sophia said. "The walls are closing in. Aphrodite has already written you off, and she'll be going after your friends next."

"My friends?!" I stepped toward the entrance of the room. "She was right. If they were my friends, why haven't they come back for me? Why would they just leave me to rot in this hell?"

"They are dealing --"

"I don't want to hear anymore," I said. "Take me back to the sanctuary." I glared at her. "I want to go back. I want to leave! Anywhere, but here."

Sophia lowered her head. "As you wish, my Goddess," she said. "But remember this place. Remember what we discussed. There is still time, but it grows short."

"Let me go," I said, in a hushed voice.

Sophia's body heaved in defeat. She lifted her hand toward the doorway. The memory of the shrine slowly melted from my vision. My eyes blinked open. Wavy streams of heat greeted me; in the distance, that taunting pedestal came into focus. Behind me, my shoulders and elbows ached. My wrists were sore, and felt the weight of metal shackles. I tried to push myself up, but barely had the strength to move along the floor.

"Well, well," Aphrodite's voice echoed through the chamber. "She lives after all." A slight laugh came from the speaker box. "I was beginning to worry." After a short pause, she continued. "I have seen all I need to see here. It's clearly evident you do not possess the power to free yourself."

"I could have told you that," I said, with a raspy voice. "Please, just let me go."

"Oh, you're not going anywhere," Aphrodite said. "You may not be the reincarnation of Artemis, but you are far too pretty to be set free. You'll make a fine addition to my trophy collection."

The lock of the door sounded like thunder as it unlatched. Two burly guards made their way into the room, and approached me. Leaving the shackles in place, they released me from the chain. I felt their meaty paws wrap around my arms; lifting me underneath my armpits. My legs and feet would not resolve to supporting me, and I soon felt myself dragged unwillingly from the room. The last thing I remember was seeing the tights draped over the pedestal.

---

 
 
To Be Continued...
 

Volume 1: Part 10

The light of the full moon cast an eerie glow upon the floor ahead of me. I stared out through the window; across the city of Greater West Allis. After my last test from Aphrodite, I had been confined to one of the tower rooms of the mansion. It had been several days since Aphrodite had sentenced me to become one of her golden statues. At this point, I simply wanted her to get on with it. The waiting had become unbearable.

Perhaps this was the final test; to see if I could actually escape Aphrodite's clutches. Left in my solitude within the tower, I had begun to detach myself from what was real, and what was not. Most nights I found myself revisiting the ancient Greek rooms I had previously wandered. The shrine to Artemis had been particularly appealing. I learned so much from the history within that place.

Here in the real world, however, I barely saw another soul. My only visitors were random maidens bringing me food and drink from time-to-time. For the most part, I was left alone; to torture myself with the knowledge of what was to come. Along with the knowledge of what had happened in the past. At least, as far as where the past allowed me to travel. Everything had been related to Artemis.

Stepping into the moonlight, I felt the inevitable tug of the shackle wrapped around my nylon-clad ankle. I had been chained to the floor of this tower room. Wearing only a pair of nude pantyhose, with a red satin robe, I still felt naked. The lightweight robe barely covered the top half of my thighs. For the time being, Aphrodite had been decent enough to give me clothing. A luxury which would be stripped away from me, quite literally, when the time came.

Aphrodite enjoyed these little head games. I knew better than to complain. Any complaint would result in a punishment gorged with humiliation. However, with the information I had gathered thus far, I knew it wouldn't even matter in the end. There would be no modesty in becoming one of her statues. All of the girls were incased in gold while completely nude, and only Aphrodite decided when, or if, they would get any semblance of covering. Either way, I was told the covering was always added later as a separate layer.

I closed my eyes for a moment; basking in the moonlight. The moon seemed to calm my nerves, if only temporarily. How I got to this point made very little sense to me. It still seemed like a dream, or a nightmare. Somehow I had been caught up in a whirlwind that had carried me far away from my normal life. Even if I were wearing ruby slippers, no amount of clicking my heels together would take me home. The door to the room creaked open, bringing my focus back to the here and now.

"This will calm you," Sophia said, setting a tray down on an old worn out table. "Aphrodite has chosen to memorialize you tonight."

"Is that what she calls it?" I asked, scoffing at the term. "I hope you put poison in that drink," I said, keeping my back to her.

A long silence filled the cool air of the room. "Poison would only postpone the inevitable," she finally said.

"Then poison me every single day of my life," I said, as a tear rolled down my cheek. "Nothing can be as bad as the hell you lot have condemned me to."

Another bout of silence filled the air, before Sophia spoke again. "Well… I'll leave you in peace."

"You said you were trying to help me," I muttered.

"Help you?" Sophia asked, stepping toward me.

I stared out at the moon. "In my vision," I said. "You said you were trying to help."

Sophia stepped to my side. "You had a vision?"

"There was a shrine on the edge of a cliff. The sea down below." I cast my gaze down on Greater West Allis. "There were abandoned buildings. A winding cobblestone path."

"What did you see in the shrine?" Sophia asked, stepping into my field of view. Her eyes were filled with a questioning gaze.

"A statue of Artemis," I said, picturing it in my mind. "Ancient relics. Texts. Figurines. You…" I slowly tilted my head up to face her. "Amara."

Sophia's eyes widened. "You…" She studied me for a moment. "How?" she asked, stepping forward. "Why could she not see that it was you?"

"Help me end this," I said, calmly.

"I…" Sophia's gaze turned to the floor. "I can't…"

"You disappoint me," I said sternly.

Sophia's head bolted upright, as if snapping to attention. "I no longer serve you," she said. "It's not as simple as…"

I shook my head quietly. "No," I said. "It never was."

Sophia sighed. "She's too strong," she said.

"We'll see," I said, gritting my teeth.

Sophia gave me a puzzled look, and then hurried to the door. "They will come soon to collect you," she said, glancing out the door. "If you make it…" Sophia sighed once more. "There will be clothes waiting for you."

My heart sank, as I remembered the Sophia of old. I closed my eyes, clenching my fists. "Pray I don't find you there."

Sophia left the room without a word. The door creaked closed behind me. I continued to bask in the moonlight. Revisiting that ancient shrine, to view it once more before they came. The men she sent were not subtle. They barged into my room, grabbing me by the arms. Once my ankle shackle had been released, I was dragged from the room; down into the basement dungeons below.

The dungeons gave way to a darkened tunnel. Dim light at the end grew increasingly brighter as we drew closer to it. Stepping into the light, we came into a larger dome shaped room. The walls and ceiling were not of dirt and rock like the rest of the basement. They instead were a structure of large cut stones. Several box like displays were set about the room, and as I looked closer I realized what they were.

Those boxes were molds of some of the statues I had seen in Aphrodite's throne room. They were horrid constructions of wood and metal; meant to hold a person's body in various poses. An image of some poor girl being dipped into burning hot liquid gold bounced around in my head. It made my gut wrench, and a new hatred for Aphrodite stirred inside of me. Just as quickly as the image faded, my attention was drawn to something else.

Or rather… someone else. Huddled in a dark corner sat an old man; frail and beyond the years of a normal living soul. His body shook uncontrollably. He hid his face from view. The thugs who had been carrying me stopped before we drew any closer. They released me at the same time, causing me to drop to the cold stone floor. I stayed there on my hands and knees, still curious about the old man.

"Good, good," Aphrodite's voice rang out from another corridor. "Right on time."

The beautiful woman glided into the room. Her bare feet seemed to barely touch the surface of the floor as she walked. Decorative gold wire hooked around her middle toes and wrapped around her naked legs; rising up to disappear behind the dark blue material of her double slit gown. Each step she took displayed the restrained sexual elegance of a centuries-practiced woman. More gold jewelry adorned her bare arms, and drew my focus as she raised her right hand.

"You've been a strong one," Aphrodite said, as she brushed her hand through her long silky hair. "Perhaps a dancer… or a hunter…"

"Or you could let me go," I said, trying to remain calm.

"You had your chance for that," she said, turning to walk around the room. "You didn't want to help me." Her hand slid over one of the statue molds. "And you certainly didn't want to serve me."

"You wanted me to give you something that I've never seen before," I said, slowly rising to my knees.

"Enough!" Aphrodite exclaimed, raising her voice. "The time for debate has waned," she said, with a calmer voice. "Now let this be a joyous occasion." She turned to face me. "After all, you're to be commemorated."

I cautiously rose to my feet, well aware that her guards might force me back down. "While I'm sure some would consider that an honor," I said, choosing my words carefully. "I'm not one to appreciate having my body doused with liquid gold."

Aphrodite studied me for a moment. Then she let out a melodic little laugh. "My dear, have you ever heard the story of King Midas?"

I straightened in my posture. "The man who could turn things to gold?" I asked, slowly turning my head to the frail man in the corner.

"Something like that," Aphrodite said. "Though it's more tragic than most know. The version where he turned his daughter to gold is closer to truth." She slowly made her way back around the room. "You see, in some later tellings, the poor distraught king is cured of his sickness. And everything he touched and turned to gold, is restored back to its original state."

"I have a feeling it didn't turn out that way," I said, studying the frail old man. He seemed to lower his head even more than it had originally hung.

"Indeed, no," Aphrodite said. "In fact, the poor king was never cured of his… gift. Why his own daughter, still encased in gold, has a special place in my throne room." She stopped in her walk, and slid her hand over another mold. "I love beautiful things…"

"Gold is more beautiful to you than a living mortal?" I asked, letting some of my disgust slip into the question.

"It's not just the gold, dear," she said. "There is another aspect to the Midas Touch." She turned to face me, smiling pleasantly. "The gold he makes is of the purest, most beautiful variety. It cannot be tarnished. Even if the living who are encased were to curse and scream…"

"Their screams would sound like… beautiful music," I said, my voice trailing off.

"You understand," Aphrodite said. She gave me a proud look. "You've grown so much in so little time."

"More than you know," I said.

"So you see," she said, holding her hand up to me. "I must make you beautiful. I must give you --"

"Hunter," I interjected.

Aphrodite gave me a quizzical look. "I beg your pardon?"

"I want to be a hunter," I said. "I really liked shooter games before all of this happened." I smiled. "I think I'd be a great hunter."

Aphrodite returned the smile. "I'm glad to see you coming around," she said. "Most don't see the importance of this metamorphosis."

"Could I hold a bow?" I asked, noticing my question roused the guards.

Aphrodite studied me for a moment, as if sizing me up for the first time. "That would please me," she finally said. She turned and plucked up an old rotted bow that had been leaning against the wall. "Midas… if I may?"

She held the bow out in front of the old man. I watched as his frail hand slowly lifted toward it. His hand trembled. Thinking to myself, I imagined Aphrodite had given the poor old man another "gift" of long life. It was hard to imagine how misguided and warped her mind had become. Not to mention how warped she had made his mind.

As soon as King Midas' hand touched the tip of the bow, a fine gold dust began to form upon the wood. The old rotted fibers of the wood grew into thin gold strands, managing to mend themselves together. Slowly the entire weapon began to shine, and a golden glimmer sparkled along the bow string. Inch-by-inch the bow became encased with a lustrous gold.

"That's amazing," I said, unable to take my eyes off of it.

Aphrodite slowly nodded, as she pulled the finished weapon away. "You see?" she asked, without waiting for an answer. "Such beauty should be showcased whenever possible." She carefully swung the bow over to me.

Cautiously I slid my hand around the bow. "It's beautiful," I said. "I don't understand though…"

"What do you not understand, child?" she asked, still holding the bow.

"Why the gold didn't transfer to you," I said. "In the stories it says whatever he touches."

"I did not touch the Goddess," the old man croaked.

"Indeed," Aphrodite said, letting go of the bow. "His touch only extends to the thing he directly touches." She took a step back. "And the longer he touches something, the further the gold spreads."

I held the bow in my hand, feeling the weight of it. Though solid gold now, it weighed as much as the original bow might have. It truly was astonishing. As I lifted the bow slightly, I tested the string. It had some actual give, as if it were an ordinary bow.

"So it's not instant?" I asked, still examining the bow.

"An unfortunate aspect he learned long after clinging to his daughter until she was completely changed," Aphrodite said.

I watched the old man lower his head with shame. "So he could have stopped it?"

"Perhaps she would have only had to live with arms dusted with gold," Aphrodite said, quite flippantly. "Now… cease with your questions. We must decide on a pose for you."

"May I," I raised my eyes hesitantly to watch Aphrodite. "May I have an arrow?"

"My Goddess," one of the guards muttered.

Aphrodite raised her hand dismissively. "I don't see how it can do any harm," she said. "Besides, you seem to be a willing subject. It's not unusual for some to bravely face their fate." She turned slowly to face me. "And if you do try something, I shall have you posed in the most humiliating of positions for your transgression. Is that understood?"

"Yes," I said, before wisely adding, "Goddess."

Aphrodite waved her hand again. "Give the girl her arrow."

The guard to the left of me stepped forward. He dug through a pile of old rotted wood and rusted metal. Eventually he fished out a decent looking arrow from the mess. Stepping over to King Midas he grunted for him to hold his hand out. Then he slapped the arrow in Midas' hand, and I watched the transformation once more.

"It's even more amazing the second time," I said, reaching out to take the arrow from the guard. He reluctantly relinquished the arrow, and I held it firmly in my hand. "This is indeed beautiful," I said, looking it over. "And perfect for the occasion." I glanced down at the bow and arrow. "I never thought I would hold a golden bow and arrow again."

Aphrodite stopped cold in her tracks, and slowly straightened her posture. "Again?" she asked, quietly.

Before anyone could react, I reached back quickly. The tip of the golden arrow plunged into the eye socket of the guard behind me. With one fluid motion, I brought the bow up, and the arrow back down. In a split second I had the arrow nocked. The bow continued to rise as I drew the string back. Then I let loose the arrow, watching it sail the short distance between myself and the other guard. It sank deep into his skull.

Both guards lurched away from me. The one across the room fell into King Midas' chair, causing the old man to stumble to his feet. Only in his frail state, he stumbled into Aphrodite. His hand grasped her gown to slow his fall. Slowly, Aphrodite's gown turned to gold. Aphrodite kicked the old man away from her, screaming insults. In his defense he reached out and grabbed her by the ankle; pulling it to the ground. She screamed in horror as gold dust started to form on her leg.

I quickly stepped forward. After yanking the arrow from the guard's skull, I sprinted for the corridor Aphrodite had entered from. She lunged at me, grabbing my arm. The unexpected assault caused me to drop my bow. Turning to face her, I saw the anger in her youthful face. Even angry she looked beautiful.

"Who are you?!" she screamed, still recovering from having her scuffle with the old king.

I reached down, grabbing her wrist forcefully. "I'm Artemis, bitch," I said, glaring at her.

The sound of searing flesh started to erupt from Aphrodite's wrist. Her skin boiled beneath my grip. Aphrodite turned her gaze down, once more with horror. She screamed as she released her grip from my arm. Stepping backwards, she lifted her hand to the light. Streaks of black and green ran from her elbow to the tips of her fingers, while bits of flesh began to rot away. She screamed once more, and bolted for the dungeons.

I quickly reached down and gathered my bow. As I stood straight, I was greeted with the dead gaze of old King Midas. His wrinkled skin hugged dearly to his bones. His white beard looked like a mess of fine wires. And as I looked into his eyes, I only saw two balls of solid gold. His mouth slowly opened.

"You must go," he said. "This corridor will lead you to the outside."

"Your eyes," I said. "What did she do to you?"

"I wept for my daughter," he said. "In my grief, I reached to dry my eyes…"

I felt bad for the old man. "Can I save your daughter?"

"Take these," he said, holding up a few more golden arrows. "I kept them for the true Artemis." His hand shook as he held them. "Perhaps you can end all our curses. But not here. Not today."

I reached out to collect the arrows; careful not to touch his hand. "Thank you," I said, watching him step aside.

"Down this corridor," he said. "Listen for the sounds of nature, Huntress."

A commotion in the dimly lit tunnel prompted me to leave the room. I quickly headed down the corridor. My nylon-clad feet tread quietly and gracefully along the stone floor. The sounds of Aphrodite's guards haunted me from behind for what seemed like an eternity. Then there was nothing. I had run so far and so fast, that I had carried myself into silence.

I slowed down for several paces, until coming to a complete stop. I slumped over to catch my breath. I could feel my chest rising and falling. I could hear my heart beating fast. I could hear… wind blowing. Closing my eyes, I attempted to control everything and just listen. I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Then I took in half a breath and held it.

A twig snapped in the distance. The hooves of a doe beat against the ground as it ran, frightened. Leaves rustled in the trees overhead. Water trickled in a nearby stream. I heard the night owl calling. I heard the crickets chirping. As I slowly opened my eyes, they were greeted with moonlight through a clearing. The corridor had vanished. My feet sank into the damp ground.

"Magic mansions and magic tunnels," I said to myself.

I studied the area around me. On a stump nearby I spotted a gym bag. Just as promised, Sophia had left me a small parting gift. I hurried over to it, and opened it up. Expecting to find some frilly dress as a last ditch joke, I was surprised to find a hoodie with a pair of jeans. Digging deeper I found a t-shirt, bra and panties, as well as a comfortable looking pair of boots.

I left the bra and panties for now, and quickly pulled off my robe; shoving it in the bag. After slipping on the rather form-fitting jeans, I sat down and hastily put the boots on. I had no idea how long I had before Aphrodite's minions came chasing after me. I tied the boots up the best I could, and sat up straight. The moonlight hit my body in just the right way to give me pause. My breasts shined like two porcelain globes in front of me.

I sighed, looking down at my chest for a moment. "Is anything going to be normal again?" I asked the night. Quickly I snatched up the t-shirt and slipped it on over my head. "What am I going to do if I'm stuck like this?"

A distant snapping of twigs put me on edge. I shoved my golden arrows in the bag, and closed it. Then I put on the hoodie, slung the bag over my shoulder, and grabbed my bow. Having no real sense of where I was, I kept the moon to my right, and headed out. I really don't know how long I walked, but somehow I ended up at the edge of the city. Nobody seemed to be chasing me at this point, so I walked the quiet streets back to the only place I could think of; The Regale.

I had a lot of time to think along my walk. I thought about my short, but definitively male past, and what a female future might hold. That is if I didn't find a way to change back; which was what I was desperately in search of finding. Then I thought about my father, and what he must be thinking right now. I wondered if I should go visit him. Perhaps I should be headed home, instead of back to the girls.

My line of thinking even transcended my current predicament. I recalled my visions, and my multiple trips to ancient Greece. Had they caused irreparable harm to me physically, or mentally? I literally killed two men tonight, and it hardly haunted me. It was the only plan of escape I could put together. I imagined Aphrodite had a new profound hatred for me, and would most likely be hunting me.

I reached back, and pulled my hood over my head. The Goddess must have been scared. Acquainting myself with my hunting skills and bow proficiency was the easy part during my visits to the shrine. My magical gifts were a bit harder. I only managed to master one of them in my multiple journeys. Although, it was a potent skill indeed. I lifted my hand out in front of me.

"Who knew that Artemis had the power to relieve and bring disease to women?" I asked the night air. "I never heard that in school."

I lowered my hand and continued walking. It felt like hours as I weaved my way through the city. For a long while nothing looked familiar. Then, as if it were a beacon, I recognized the parking garage from the other night. I hurried one block over, and started up the familiar main street. My father and I used to drive into the city this way. Coincidentally, or perhaps by fate, it had been the street Leann and Tory had led me down after they found me.

Quietly I strolled down the sidewalk. Trying not to draw attention to myself, despite carrying a golden bow in my hand. For a brief moment, I wondered if anyone could see it. After all, it was a bow made with magic. Either way, the few people who were actually out at this hour, seemed to be more interested in where they were going and what they were doing. I hurried along my way, pretending they weren't there, just as they were doing with me. Still I kept my eyes peeled for trouble; either from Aphrodite's men, or others.

Several blocks later I finally laid eyes on The Regale. The old-fashioned building still stood out like a sore thumb amidst the newer buildings. I glanced around the quiet streets, and found not one other soul nearby. Taking it slow, I proceeded across the street. Checking one last time for any onlookers, I placed my hand on the door. Quickly I pulled the door open, and slipped inside.

Prepared to find a pristine lobby, I was shocked to find it in disarray. Furniture had been upturned. Many of the display cases were shattered. There was a darkness to the building that had been so vibrant and vivid the last time I saw it. "How long had I been gone?" I wondered. "Had I been Aphrodite's prisoner for longer than I had thought?"

I quickly made my way to the main auditorium. The large door creaked as I passed through it. Looking out across the seats, I found many of them destroyed and turned over. Some were even missing. The stage sat empty, with several pieces of wood missing from it, or broken. It appeared as if it had never been used by the girls the other night. A damp musty smell blew in to greet me through the closing door.

"What happened here?" I asked, turning to leave.

I found myself running down the hallway of offices. Most of them looked as dilapidated as the lobby and auditorium. Continuing down the hallway, I grabbed the handle of what I remembered as the basement door. I had to jerk it several times to get it to open. It opened with the smell of dankness and decay in its trail. I peered down the dark stairwell.

"Hello?" I shouted. "Is anyone down there?"

After waiting for a few moments, I carefully set my foot on the first step. It creaked under my weight. With great care I made my way down to the basement. Several of the stairs were missing, slowing my descent drastically. I called out a few more times as I proceeded. Only to be met with eerie silence.

A few streams of light broke through from the stage above; casting light on the ransacked area that had once housed cots and temporary rooms. There were no signs of life to this place. Cobwebs seemed to indicate it had been some time since anyone even walked through here. I remembered there was a light switch, and turned to search the wall for it.

The sound of the switch echoed through the empty basement. A few dozen lights slowly came to life amongst the large empty area. Though they provided only a dim light, it at least was something. I carefully made my way through the basement, stepping over and around the overturned furniture. As a precaution, I slowly opened my bag part way, and drew an arrow from it.

"Hello?" I called out once more, only to be greeted with the echo of my voice.

Stopping near the place I had conversed with Leann, I studied the area. There was nothing here; no signs of life. I closed my eyes, listening to the silence; seeing if it would speak to me. Nothing called out to me. It was as if this place had never been touched by the girls, or anyone, for decades. I slid the arrow back into my bag, and carefully retraced my steps. Something wasn't right about this, but I had no real place to start looking for answers. I just felt as if I had to leave.

Several minutes later, I had ascended the stairs. Heading down the hallway, I cautiously checked the offices. They held no clues either. As I neared the end of the hallway, I stopped suddenly in my tracks. Across the lobby I spotted the figure of a girl kneeling on the floor. Reaching back to grab the end of an arrow, I slowly crept toward her.

"Who's there?" I asked, calmly.

"It's gone," a trembling voice replied. "It's all gone."

"Show yourself," I said, as I pulled the arrow from my bag.

"It's like it was never here," the voice said.

"Who are you?" I asked again. "What happened here?"

The shadowy figure slowly turned her head. "Why would they leave without me?"

With one foot in front of the other, I guardedly slinked my way across the lobby floor. Ready to draw an arrow in a moment, I kept my bow raised to my waist. I tilted my head. The kneeling girl stayed concealed in the shadows, to a point I could not make out her face. Her voice didn't even sound familiar to me. It could have been a Nymph playing tricks.

"Where did they go?" the girl asked, growing more upset.

"Who?" I asked.

"There you are!" a voice exclaimed to my right.

I spun on my toes, weapon drawn. "Stop right there!"

The new figure froze in the doorway, properly frightened. Her hands shot up with her palms facing out to me. A slight whimper escaped her lips. Silence filled the lobby for what seemed like several minutes, but everything felt like slow motion to me in that moment. After awhile I could hear the other girl sniffling, and the second girl's heart racing.

"Who are you?" I asked, attempting to sound menacing.

"M-my name is T-Tory," the girl at the door said. "P-please, I just came to get her." She pointed at the girl kneeling on the floor. "That's all."

"Tory?!" I said, lowering my bow.

"We don't mean any harm," Tory said. "She just got lost."

"Tory, it's me," I said, reaching up to pull down my hood. "It's Jesse."

"Jesse?" Tory hesitantly lowered her hands, and stepped into the light. Her eyes grew larger at the sight of me. "You… you made it out alive?"

"What happened?" I asked.

Before I could react, Tory had sprinted toward me. I made a split second decision that she would not be a threat, and put my bow to the side. She drew closer. Her arms stretched out before her. Then her arms were around me, holding me with a tight hug. I put my empty hand up onto her back.

"Everyone thought Aphrodite killed you," she said. "I can't believe you're here."

"She wanted to make me into one of her statues," I said. "I escaped."

Tory pulled back slightly. "You seem different," she said.

"I've… seen some things," I replied, looking into her eyes. "Where is everyone?"

"When you didn't return," Tory said, "we thought something horrible had happened." She broke the embrace, and stepped back. "And when they said you were dead? Well, Leann and Joanne thought it best if we changed venues."

"Joanne?" I asked.

"That's Leann's sister," Tory said. "I guess you two never met. You're going to like her. She was really interested in meeting you. And I just know --"

"Tory," I interjected. "How long have I been gone?"

Tory swallowed hard, glancing over to the other girl. "Four months," she said, solemnly.

"Four months!?" I exclaimed, taking a few steps back. "But this place is trashed!"

"It's a glamour," Tory said. "A spell to make it look this way."

"Right," I said. "Because none of you know magic. That's what you told me. Right?"

"I believe I said we're not witches," Tory said. "Which we're not."

"No," I said. "But you conveniently left out the part that some of you could use magic."

"You were upset," she countered. "I was trying to calm you down."

"Four months…"

"Tory?" the other girl asked from the corner of the lobby.

Tory turned and gave her a calm look. "Could you go wait in the car?"

The girl quickly ran up to Tory. She wrapped her arms around her for a brief moment. "Thank you for coming back for me," she said, before running for the door.

"So you all just left four months ago?" I asked. "You didn't try to rescue me, or even wait?"

"We did wait," Tory said, a little angry. "For four months!" She pointed at the lobby. "This… this was done yesterday. We all moved out of here a few days ago. Not four months ago." She walked away from me, before stopping to turn. "And we did try to rescue you." She sighed. "Or at least tried to parlay with Aphrodite. But you know how she is. She likes to play games. And the last time we met with her… she said…"

"She said I was dead," I said, solemnly. "Which is what scared you all."

"I'm not scared," Tory said, stepping forward. "I was angry. I would've killed to get you out of there. I know what it's like to be kept in that place. To be locked up… or, or… I don't know!"

"I'm sorry," I said, quietly. "Thank you for trying."

Tory paced for a moment, trying to calm herself down. "How did you escape?" she asked, still pacing.

I glanced at my bow. "It's a long story," I said. "One might say it goes back to classical antiquity."

Tory stopped and faced me. "You seem to have grown up quite a bit," she said, forcing a smile. "I know this isn't the greatest timing, but I'm here. With my car." She sighed, before continuing. "Would you be willing to go with me? Back to Leann and the others?"

I studied Tory for a moment, before sliding my arrow back into my bag. "There's some place I need you to take me first," I said.

"Where is that?" Tory asked.

"Home."

---

 
 
The End