So, if you read my stories (and I assume there are at least two of you out there who do), you've probably read The Curse of Womanhood, which was a pretty big deal for 10 minutes at a time back when I was posting it. Now, if you read my stories on TG Storytime (where I do most of my posting), you'll know there's a sequel to The Curse of Womanhood that's been around awhile over there.

This is part of that sequel.

Yes, much like the first, I'm posting this one in blocks. The only bad thing about that is that it'll take a little longer to get the whole story here, because unlike the first, this one isn't writing itself as easily.

But, here's the first three chapters, with the next three coming at some point in the near future. I don't see this one lasting as long as the first did, but I still have no clue when I'll actually be done with it. I honestly think I'm close, probably within one to three chapters of finishing, but we'll see where the story chooses to take me.

And now it's time for the story to take you...

...r time. Your time. That was a shitty joke, ignore it.

~o~O~o~

1.

"Please tell me this isn't what I think it is?" Mom asked as she held the bra up by the strap. I was frozen in shock, hoping beyond hope that the bra was all I'd accidentally dropped in the laundry.

Of course, the only thing that crossed my mind was, "What do you think it is?"

She rolled her eyes. "What I think is that you brought a girl home at some point and she forgot her clothes."

I felt relief wash over me. She just thought I'd brought a girl home. If she found out what it actually was, I'd be screwed. She'd probably kick me out or kill me if she found out I was a crossdresser. This little event just told me that I needed to find a better hiding place for my clothes. "Yeah, Gabby Larson, last week. She's got a nice little birthmark under the left one."

She rolled her eyes again. "I don't wanna think about what you do with your girlfriend, Kenneth, just make sure the next time you've got one here that she takes all her clothes back."

I smiled. "Yeah, Mom."

She tossed the lacy undergarment at me and left my room. I finally let out the breath I didn't realize (or even understand how) I was holding in. I shut and locked my door, then opened my closet and pulled my foot locker out. I carefully folded the bra and put it away, then returned the foot locker to its rightful place. I shut it back up in my closet and unlocked my door.

Four years. Four years, I'd been getting away with my crossdressing, and it had almost come crashing down on me just because I'd been stupid. I reached for my phone and texted Gabby. Almost caught. You're my exit strategy. She'd know what it meant, as she'd helped me and kept my secret ever since I realized I enjoyed crossdressing. I had to admit, I had a little bit of a crush on her, because she was such a great friend. I should probably ask her out at some point.

The door opened again, and I nearly dropped my phone. Mom stood there, holding onto a laundry basket. "By the way, your cousin will be here tomorrow."

"Which one?" I asked.

"Amanda, remember? We talked about this last night?"

Well, I woulda remembered if not for the near panic attack of losing my favorite hobby. Amanda was my favorite cousin, even though I hadn't seen her since she finished that surprise transition she'd sprung on the family. I probably wouldn't even recognize her now. I didn't know why her sister wasn't coming, but Melanie and I were never very close. Probably had something to do with her being older than Amanda and I.

"Oh, yeah. Do I need to set up the spare room?"

"I took care of that. Just... Don't treat her any different than you used to, okay? Aunt Sarah tells me that there are still some people that treat her badly."

I rolled my eyes. "She's my cousin, Mom. Just because she's not a guy anymore doesn't mean I'm suddenly gonna treat her bad." Hell, a part of me wondered if she crossdressed before that sex change.

"Good. Tomorrow, you meet her at the bus station."

I nodded. "Yeah, I will."

2.

The sun was hitting me hard. It was close to a hundred degrees, and there wasn't a whole lot of shade outside the bus station. I tried going inside for the air conditioning, but they wouldn't let me in. I stood underneath a tree that looked like it had seen better days twenty years ago, but most of the limbs were dead now.

Amanda's bus was supposed to arrive at eight fifteen, but it was a good twelve minutes late. I was starting to regret that pair of panties I had put on, now. They felt wonderful, but the sweat was worse than wearing briefs. I kept having to adjust them every few minutes just to stay comfortable.

Finally, I saw the bus pull into the station, and then five minutes later, people started spilling out of the building. I walked over to the building and recognized Amanda as soon as she walked outside. She looked like a lot like Melanie, but a little more endowed, and somewhat more feminine. Her brown hair had streaks of pink in it, like some anime girl. I almost wanted to laugh, but I was too busy being surprised at just how... Natural she looked. If I had never met her, I'd assume she was born female.

"Hey! Kenny!" she shouted, waving. I wasn't exactly far away, so I didn't understand why she was shouting. "Long time, no see!"

I laughed now. "Yeah, especially since you look like a girl now."

"Uh, I am a girl now. But, you've got a point. How's stuff with you and your mom?"

"Pretty good. How's everybody out there reacted to your... Change?"

She shrugged. "Some better than others. Steve helps, though."

"Steve? That goofy guy you hang out with all the time?"

"He happens to be my boyfriend."

I felt stupid now. "Oh."

"And as far as 'goofy' goes, he's outrageously sweet and that makes up for it."

I picked up the duffel bag she'd set beside her. "Well, I've got Mom's car right now, so let's get going. This heat is killin' me."

She nodded. "Yeah. Just be glad you don't have to wear a bra." She used her hand to fan at her exposed cleavage. "The girls are hot and that gets sorta annoying after awhile."

I laughed again. I almost wondered if it would be a good idea to tell her about the crossdressing.

3.

“So, were you gay?” I asked. The car was being an asshole again. Good thing I actually knew how to fix it. If Mom hadn’t dated that guy who worked at Autozone, this would actually be a problem for me. “No offense, or anything, but I didn’t think people just suddenly started liking their old gender when they had a sex change.”

Amanda was leaning against the side of the car, arms folded under her breasts. “To be honest, I don’t actually know. I mean, I do like guys, but I think I’m just attracted to Steve because he’s my best friend.”

“But, no attraction to girls at all?”

She shook her head. “Not unless admiring them as competition counts.” She smirked. “You got a motive behind these questions?”

I started to blush. “Uh, no.”

“Are you gay?”

“No! I’ve got the hots for girls, pure and simple. It just seemed odd that you didn’t leave the hetero bandwagon even after the opposite gender became the one you used to be.”

She smacked me on the head. “Hetero bandwagon…” I heard my text ringtone. “You’re phone’s ringing.”

“Yeah, grab it for me, will ya?”

She reached in and grabbed my phone off the dashboard. “Somebody named Gabby, asking ‘Has she ever seen the foot locker’.”

Oh, crap. “Uh, gimme that, please.”

“This wouldn’t be the same Gabby you’ve had a crush on for most of your life, would it?”

“It is, but gimme the phone.”

She held the phone away from me as I went to take it from her. “Foot locker?”

“Yeah, y’know. That one my dad left me when he, well, left.”

“The one that just sits in your closet being neglected?”

“Yeah, that one.”

She tossed the phone back in the car. “Your mom would know all about that foot locker. Why is it so secret?”

“It’s not important.”

She was full-on smiling now. “Oh, it sure seems important.”

I sighed. “It’s not, okay? Now let’s get going, I got the fan belt back on.”

She opened the passenger side door and sat down. “Yeah, let’s go, because I want in on this foot locker secret.”

I felt the color drain from my whole body. Great. Gabby waits twelve hours to respond to my text, now my cousin’s gonna know I’m a crossdresser.

4.

I was grateful that Mom was down the road at her friend Stacy’s, because pulling out the foot locker would be frightening enough with Amanda alone. If Mom were home, I’d be downright scared. Even so, I locked the door behind us, opened my closet and pulled the foot locker out. “You gotta promise me you’ll never talk about this to anybody but me and Gabby.”

She nodded. “Believe me, I’m good at secrets. Show me.”

I took a deep breath, unlocked the foot locker and opened it. For some reason, I closed my eyes, as if I was walking into a firing squad. Time felt like it was dragging by, and when I finally opened my eyes, Amanda was sitting there poking through all my clothes.

“Where do you get the money to afford this stuff? These are better brands than I wear!”

That breath I’d been holding in fell out in a wash of relief. “You don’t think I’m… Weird?”

She looked amused. “I’m transgender and you’re a crossdresser, if you’re weird, then so am I.”

“And you’re not gonna tell anybody?”

“Good with secrets, remember?” She flashed me a warm smile. “Besides, you’re my favorite cousin, I wouldn’t tell anybody anyway.”

I plopped down on my bed. “Oh, thank God. I was afraid for a minute.”

She pulled out a bright orange demi bra that I only wore once. “Seriously, where does the money for this come from?! If I could wear stuff this nice, I’d be really happy!”

I laughed nervously. “Well, anything that fits, you can have.”

She shook her head. “Nope, this is your stuff, I’ll just have to scrounge up enough to buy it myself.”

I put the clothes away, locked up the foot locker and put it back in the closet. “Thanks, Amanda.”

“You can call me ‘Amy’, y’know.”

“Thanks, Amy.”

“No problem.” She sat down on the bed beside me and hugged me. “We’re family. And, if the mood strikes me, you can be kind of a dress-up doll for me.”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Either way, we’re family. So, do you just crossdress, or are you actually curious about being female?”

I shrugged. “I don’t really know. I mean, the idea seems interesting, because I like the clothes and would kinda like the body to go with them, but… It just seems frightening.”

She put her arm around my shoulder. “Frightening is a word for it. Also, enlightening, wonderful, silky, warm…”

“Warm?”

“Blankets feel warmer now, I can’t explain it.”

“I just… I don’t know. Besides, it’s not like it can happen overnight, and then what if I wanna be a guy again?”

She looked as if she wanted to say something, but before she did, we both heard the front door open. “Oh, your mom’s home.”

5.

“That is some amazing surgery, sweetie,” Mom said, admiring Amy. “How’d they do it?”

Amy shrugged. “Medical magic and Mom’s got good friends.” Something seemed wrong about how she said that. “She sends her love, by the way.”

“On that subject, how’s it feel to be the little sister now? Your mom would tease me a lot when we were going up.”

“Melanie and I have… Interesting moments. I’m a dress-up doll for her more often than I wanna be.”

Mom nodded. “I know what it’s like being the tomboy little sister.”

“Well, I’m not too much of a tomboy. I don’t go out of my way to wear skirts or dresses, but I don’t exactly shy away from cute things, either.” She ran a hand through her hair. “After all, I did have Mel put these pink streaks in.”

“I did something similar. I had your mom bleach my hair.” Mom laughed. “For a boy, of course.”

I was starting to get hungry. “Uh, so what’re we havin’ for lunch?” I asked.

Mom shook her head. “You’re a big boy now, go find something.”

Amy said, “Is that Italian place I like still open?”

“As a matter of fact, it is. Let’s get going, then.”

6.

That Italian place that Amy liked was literally called ‘That Italian Place’, a joke on the part of the owners. Mr. and Mrs. Traversa had the nicest little restaurant in town, and I meant little. Seven tables, and two ceiling lights, the rest of the dining room was lit by candles, real old-world like.

I always got lasagna, Mom always got spaghetti and Amy - when she was Adam - always got pizza. Her taste buds must have changed slightly, because she was ordering the lasagna for the first time since the place opened.

“What? It looked good. It always looks good, I’m just addicted to their pizza.” Amy dug into her lasagna as soon as it hit the table. Mrs. Traversa looked as surprised as I was. “I should bring my boyfriend next time, get him to bring me here.”

Mom popped a meatball in her mouth. “Boyfriend, huh?”

“Yeah. My best friend, Steve.”

“And he’s fine with your being transgender?”

Amy nodded. “Yep. We’ve been friends forever, it just sorta grew naturally.”

I scooped some lasagna into the gullet. “So, do you two…” I said, suggesting the question I had no intention of outright asking.

“That’s none of your business.” She took a sip of the white wine that the Traversas really shouldn’t have been serving minors. “The answer is no, anyway, but it’s still none of your business.”

Mom nodded to me. “At least you had the decency to hide the question, Kenny.”

I chuckled. “No problem.”

“Why didn’t you ask your friend Gabby to lunch, honey?”

I wolfed down one of the pieces of garlic toast that came to the table. “She prefers Mexican to Italian food.”

“Then why doesn’t she ever come over when I make tacos?”

I shrugged. “I ask. She just doesn’t come.” I took a gulp of my glass of wine. “How long you stayin’, Amy?”

Amy held up her hand in a Hold on gesture, then swallowed her food. “Just a couple of days. The house is getting sprayed for roaches. Mom and Dad are having a third honeymoon in two years, Mel’s at her friend’s place, and Steve is visiting relatives back east. Said friend of Melanie’s is also a friend of mine, and Steve’s sister, but they wouldn’t let me stay with them for fear that I’d root around Steve’s room looking for stuff he bought me. Joke’s on them, I know every nook and cranny of Steve’s room, and I wouldn’t actually have to look.”

Mom laughed. “Word from the wise here, your boyfriend’s sister will never let you stay at their house while you’re dating.”

“I figured that out already. Stephanie’s outrageously cliche when it comes to dates, too. Steve has to pay, even when I’ve got more money saved up for the date than he does.”

“Enjoy it. A boy who pays is a boy who stays.” Mom glanced over at me. “You keep that in mind, too, Kenny.”

I took another drink. “Yeah. Bag a guy who’ll always pay for me, that sounds like good advice, Ma.”

“You know what I mean. You make enough from working with Uncle Terry, when you take Gabby out on a date, you should be able to pay.”

“We’re not actually dating, Mom. She’s just a friend, right now.”

“A friend you’ve been in love with since she first showed up in elementary school.”

I shook my head. “I also had a crush on Christy Forsythe, remember?”

“So did all the other boys in your class after she walked into the locker room topless.”

Amy turned red. “Oh… I wasn’t the only one who did that…”

I burst out laughing, probably confusing the other two sets of people at tables in the place.

7.

“You’re being quiet,” Gabby said. She wasn’t even looking at me, she was fixing her makeup while we sat there, just parked at the lake. “How are you this quiet when your cousin came to stay with you for a couple days?”

I shrugged. “Maybe because all we did was go to lunch and she crashed on the spare bed after a four hour bus trip?”

“Still. She knows now, right?”

“Yeah, she knows, why?”

Because now you can get crossdressing advice from somebody who actually crossed the threshold between crossdresser and transgender, this should be a gold mine for you!”

I rested my hand on the steering wheel. “I don’t know if Amy actually was a crossdresser.”

“I’ve seen her Facebook pictures, she dresses way too good to not have crossdressed.”

I laughed. “Nah, she says Melanie helps her out with that.”

“About her for a second, are those implants or did she go with hormones? Because her tits are huge.”

“I didn’t ask, because that would just be rude. Amy’s the closest thing to a sister I have, and I’m not gonna ask her crazy ass questions like that.”

“Oh, cool, so I can ask her when we get back to your place.”

I sighed. Somehow, my best friend and my transgender cousin being in the same room with me didn’t seem all that good. “Just so long as nothing weird happens.”

“Please, you’re thinking too much about this.” She reached for my shirt. “Are you wearing a black bra under here? You’re lucky this shirt is dark, otherwise that thing’d be showing itself off even under your clothes.”

8.

Gabby and I walked into my room, where I found Amy doing something with her tablet. Gabby immediately shut the door and locked it, while Amy just… Well… Laid on my bed doing something with her tablet.

“Amanda, nice to meet you, I’m Gabby,” she held out her hand.

Amy looked up. “Nice to meet you, too. I’ll shake your hand in a second.”

Gabby looked surprised. “Um… Why do I gotta wait?”

“Emailing somebody important. Just… Two… There!” She sat forward and shook Gabby’s hand. “You can call me Amy, by the way.”

I took my shirt off. “What was that email about?” I asked. Amy and Gabby were both staring at me. “What?”

Amy shook her head. “I’ve got the rack to show it off, but he has all the cute bras…” Gabby broke into laughter.

I blushed. “Yeah, yeah, what was the email?”

She turned to Gabby. “You keep his secret pretty well, mind keeping mine, too?”

Gabby nodded. “Yeah, I don’t mind.”

“Okay, now this is gonna sound absolutely crazy, but it’s all true. I didn’t get sexual reassignment surgery.”

“You mean you’ve still got the dick?”

Amy shook her head. “No, I’ve got a vagina, but it’s not cosmetic. I’m one hundred percent genetically female, and a sorceress did it to me.” She looked over at me. “And she’s willing to make you female for a day if you want to.”

I felt my mouth hang open. Crazy didn’t even begin to cover how this sounded.

9.

“So, sorceress equals magic,” Gabby said, “are you saying you became female by magic?”

I didn’t want to believe it, but Amy looked too natural to just be a normal trans girl. I’d noticed that morning that she looked like she’d been born female, and magic could explain that, but I didn’t want it to be true.

On the other hand, though, if magic was real, and Amy had a sorceress friend who would be willing to change me into a girl for a day, then I could actually experience what it felt like to have breasts in my bra cups, or an ass that actually felt right in my panties. The idea of actually experiencing these clothes that I’ve been wearing for fun for four years felt enticing.

“Amy, I don’t mean to be rude, but have you gotten psychiatric help?” Gabby asked.

Amy shook her head. “I’m not crazy, it just sounds like I am. But seriously, if a gynecologist was to examine me, they’d never be able to tell the difference.”

“You’re serious? Like, seriously serious?”

“Yep. Periods and possible future babies included. I thought it was crazy when it happened to me, but it didn’t take too long to accept it. I was closet transgender and didn’t even know, now I’m exactly who I wanna be.”

Gabby sat down on the bed. “Okay, this is just too weird. I’m not saying I believe this, but if it’s true, your friend can change Ken into a girl for a day?”

“Wait a second,” I said, somewhat quietly.

Amy carried on like I hadn’t said anything. “I wouldn’t call her a friend. She’s the principal of my school and she helped out Mel once. We get along more than anything else.”

“But she can do it? And it’s totally reversible?”

“Yeah.”

Gabby turned to me. “You’re gonna do this, right?”

“Wuh - Wait,” I said, my voice a little louder.

She kept on like I hadn’t said a word. “Because this would be awesome, Ken! We could hang out as girlfriends for once and have a great time, you wouldn’t need to hide your clothes because you wouldn’t be crossdressing as a girl!”

I grabbed her by the shoulders. “Wait a second!” I spoke in the loudest voice I could without yelling, so that I didn’t get Mom rushing up here to find out what was going on. “I’m thinking about this, okay?” I took the bra I was wearing off and folded it up. “This isn’t some quick decision I can make, it’s not like just changing a shirt or that sort of thing.” I sat down at my desk. “I don’t even know what exactly I’m going to feel with this change.”

Amy stood up. “According to Ms. Malski, nothing. You’d go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow morning as a girl. Then you’d go to sleep tomorrow night and wake up the next day as yourself again.”

“Was your change instant?”

She shook her head. “No. I went through a week of gradual changes. I still looked sorta like a boy when I went back to school, so that made it easier for people to think I was actually going through a normal transition.”

I sighed. “And what do I tell Mom? I can’t exactly tell her the truth.”

She gave me a weird look. “Why not? I told my parents the truth, they were accepting.”

“Mom doesn’t even know I crossdress, what the hell’s she gonna think when I tell her I’m gonna be a girl for a day? Or that magic exists?”

“That she should call my folks and ask them, because they’ll tell her exactly what I told you.”

I shook my head. “I hate to tell you this, but that’s not exactly gonna put her at ease.” I looked over at Gabby. “Why are you so gung-ho about this?”

Gabby leaned back on my bed. “You don’t get it, Ken. You just don’t. I have no female friends, at all. It’s not that I don’t want to be friends with other girls, it’s just that nobody wants to hang out with me except for you.”

“You just want a shopping buddy for a day?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I wanna know what it’s like, and it’d be nice to see you fitting your clothes properly for a change.”

I stood and walked over to the bookcase on the other side of the room. “This is just… Look, Amy, if this can really happen, gimme a little while to think it over, okay?”

Amy nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine. Ms. Malski won’t do anything until I give her the go-ahead. Take the time you need, because I can always stay a couple more days.”

Gabby sat up again. “I think you should do it,” she said. “Ya never know, maybe you’ll like being a girl?”

I ran a hand through my hair. “I’ll think about it.”

10.

Sleep didn’t come to me. I just laid there, tossing and turning. Thinking. About Amy’s offer. About Gabby’s total certainty that I should do it and that I’d like it. About… Everything. I stopped tossing and just stared at the ceiling. It still had the glow-in-the-dark stars I had Mom stick to the ceiling when I was little.

I sat up and looked out the window beside the bed. I wasn’t entirely sure why the sprinklers were going, but I seemed to remember Mom saying something about the timer not working right. The look of the wet grass in the moonlight made it appear as though the yard was covered in tiny diamonds. I loved the look of wet grass at night. Would that change if I were to take up Amy’s offer? How much would change?

I thought about Amy. She was a bit more feminine, but that was the only real difference between how she was now and how she used to be as Adam. But her change was permanent, presumably to improve her life. If I was gonna become a girl for a day, it might be more playful. I might not be Kenny for that day.

I laid back down and closed my eyes again. Thinking about it. That’s all I’d do for now. Maybe I’d do it, maybe I wouldn’t. I’d have to talk to Amy about it.

11.

I woke up and immediately felt something was wrong. I was still male, so Amy hadn’t changed me in the middle of the night without my knowledge, but something still felt outrageously wrong. I looked around my room and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, but I couldn’t shake the feeling.

I threw on a shirt and a pair of shorts and walked out into the hallway. I heard talking from the kitchen, so I assumed Amy and Mom were already awake. I walked out into the kitchen and instantly knew what was wrong. My foot locker. Sitting there. Open.

“Kenneth Matthew Brewster, we need to talk,” Mom said.

12.

I felt like my heart was about to leap out of my chest and strangle me with the ventricles. I wanted to shout at Amy, because the foot locker had never been found before she came to visit. Except that I really couldn’t blame her. She didn’t know about it until yesterday, and she’d been here dozens of times as Adam. I just wasn’t thinking straight.

So then I wanted to shout at Gabby. She’d probably called Mom up and told her about the foot locker, trying to influence my decision and indirectly force me to take Amy’s offer. But that didn’t track, either. Gabby had kept my secret for years, and she wouldn’t just rat me out like that just for one day of girl fun.

I walked over to the table and pulled out the remaining chair and sat down. “Look, I can explain,” I started, but Mom held up a hand to stop me.

“First, where’d the money come from?”

“Some of it was from Uncle Terry, some of it Gabby bought.”

“So Gabby knows, too?”

“Yeah.”

She sighed. “And when did you start doing this?”

I started twiddling my thumbs. Why? I was having flashbacks to when I got caught sneaking cookies into my bedroom after dessert when I was little. “About four years ago. After that Halloween party.”

“The one where I dressed you as Little Bo Peep?”

I nodded.

She sighed. “And you’ve kept this hidden from me ever since?”

“Yeah.”

She let out another sigh. “I need to know, do you wear any of this to school? Particularly the underwear?”

I shook my head. “No. Occasionally I’ll wear panties when I’m going somewhere, and Gabby’ll ask me to wear a bra when we hang out sometimes, but not often.”

Mom turned to Amy. “Amanda, did you know about this?”

Amy answered, “Kenny told me yesterday.”

Mom turned back to me. “Kenny, I’m not going to judge you, I just want to know: Do you have a desire to be female?”

I shook my head. “Not in the same way Amy did.” I kept trying to relax. Mom wasn’t treating me like a monster or a freak, she seemed legitimately concerned about this. “Every now and again, I wonder what it would feel like to wear the clothes as a girl, but I don’t want to be one.”

Mom leaned forward. “Baby, why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?”

I looked up from my twiddling thumbs. “What?”

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and explained. “Baby, I never told you about your uncle Hud.”

I was confused. “I don’t have an Uncle Hud.”

“No, you don’t. You did, but that’s the reason you only ever meet the grandparents on your father’s side.”

“Huh?”

She looked over at Amy. “I imagine your mother hasn’t told you about Hud either, right?”

Amy shook her head.

“Hud was my twin brother. When we were six, he went to a Halloween party in one of my sister’s dresses. We came home that night and he talked about how much fun he had wearing Sarah’s dress. After that, he got into a harmless little habit of trying on Sarah clothes and mine. We didn’t see anything wrong with it, it was just harmless fun. Your grandfather didn’t look at it that way.” Mom sighed again. “Your grandfather beat Hud to within an inch of his life. My mother called the police, but all they did about it was haul my father into a cell for twenty-four hours, then he was released and came home to finish the job.”

I didn’t have words. My grandfather had killed an uncle I never knew about. An uncle who had been a crossdresser, just like me. I looked over at Amy and saw pain and torment in her eyes. She was actually trans, this probably hit her worse than it did me.

Mom continued, “My mother immediately took Sarah and I to her friend’s, and then we never saw her again. The adoption was dealt with in less than a week, and Sarah and I did our best to just blend in with our new family. Uncle Terry helped. He’d been Sarah’s friend at school, and already treated us like his little sisters even before we were his step-sisters.”

I asked, “So… Did you ever try to get in touch with Grandma again?”

She shook her head. “No. And she passed just a few months later, drove her car into the lake near our old house. Your grandfather went to prison for murder. I don’t know if he ever got out.”

Amy was hugging her legs to her chest. “That explains why Mom and Dad were so accepting of me when I came out.”

I rubbed at the back of my neck. “I wish I’d known about Uncle Hud before now. I woulda told ya about my crossdressing before.”

Mom took my hand. “Ken, you never should have hidden this from me in the first place. I would have accepted you even if that sad chapter of my life had never happened. You’re my son, and I’d love you no matter what.”

“I was always afraid of what you’d say.”

“You never should have been.” She leaned back in her chair. “So I take it that silky black number I caught in your laundry the other day was actually yours and not Gabby’s?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“You’ve got good taste.”

Amy laughed. “That’s what I said, too.”

I felt a light smile coming on, but at the same time I couldn’t. “How did you find out?” I asked Mom.

“I was walking past your bedroom this morning and saw the foot locker. I hadn’t seen it since your father left it with you, and was curious about what you kept in it.”

I chuckled. “Kind of a surprise seeing an army foot locker with dresses in it, huh?”

She smiled. “Very much.”

“Can I keep doing it?”

“Baby, you bought the clothes, you’ve kept this secret for years, I’d be wrong to take away something that you enjoy, especially since my own brother enjoyed the same thing.” She smirked. “Just one thing.”

“What?”

“Grow your hair out. Short-haired girls don’t have the same flair that you should have.”

13.

“I’m surprised you’re not in that cute sundress I saw in the foot locker,” Amy said, sitting down on the lawn chair next to mine.

I laughed. “Not in public.” I looked over at her, sitting in that standard not-trying-but-still-succeeding-at-being-sexy posture that girls usually had when they sat on lawn chairs while tanning. “Nice bikini.”

She smiled. “Thanks. You had it all the way at the bottom, have you ever worn it?”

I nodded. “Yeah, just not often. Or for the last couple years.”

“I don’t even have a bikini, so thanks for letting me borrow it.”

“I’m surprised Melanie hasn’t made you wear one.”

“Oh, she’s made me wear one, I just don’t own one.” She took a drink of the Mountain Dew she brought out with her. “Mel actually owns more clothes in my size than I do, all because she wants me to wear them.”

“That… Sounds a lot like her.”

“So,” she sat up, “do you still need time to think? Because you can take all the time you need.”

I shook my head. “I don’t need anymore time. I just wanna talk with Mom about it.”

“Good luck explaining magic to her. I had Ms. Malski come to the house and explain it to my parents, neither they nor I understand it yet.”

I laughed. “Yeah.”

“Plus, you’ve still gotta tell Gabby that your mom knows about the crossdressing.”

“Yeah. I don’t know how.”

“Um… Gabby, my mom found out and she’s okay with it springs to mind.”

I sighed. “I know. I’m just… Worried, is all.”

“About what?”

I sat up. “You saw how she was last night when you made the offer. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear she probably wants me to be a girl.”

“I’m not gonna make any arguments for or against being female, seeing as I’d be kinda biased, but don’t get pressured into being a girl for longer than you want to be.”

I shook my head. “I won’t. Hopefully, she gets it.”

“So, you just wanna talk to your mom about it now, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Well… I’m gonna tell her that I’m doing it.”

“You are?”

“Yeah. Female for one day, and nothing up here,” I poked my head, “is gonna change, right?”

She nodded. “Nothing mental is gonna change. You’re gonna be you, but with a bigger rack and slit between your legs for twenty-four hours.” She sighed. “Well, there are other differences. The hips and butt are a little difficult to get past the first few hours. I suggest getting your walk down before you change, otherwise you’ll be tripping over things for awhile.”

I sighed. “This is gonna take more getting used to than I thought.”

14.

I opened the refrigerator and took out the milk. I unscrewed the cap and took a big gulp straight out of the jug. Suddenly, a hand yanked it away from me. “Not so fast, young lady,” Mom said, a smirk on her face, “you’re supposed to be using a glass with this.”

I smiled. “It was just a quick drink.”

“So, what did you want to talk about?”

I put the milk back in the fridge. “Y’know how Amy looks spectacular for being trans?”

“I do.”

“If I told you it was because of magic, would you think I’m nuts?”

She sighed. “Well, I did just find out that you’re a crossdresser. Totally unrelated, we may be moving closer to the asylum next summer.”

I smiled again. “I’m not joking. If she wasn’t in the bathroom, she’d tell you herself.”

“Okay, assuming I do believe this, what about it?”

I took a deep breath. “Amy offered me a chance to be female for a day.”

Mom raised an eyebrow. “A day?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “I’m not completely convinced either, but Amy’s too much evidence in magic’s favor than against it. Assuming it’s true, whaddya think? I’m seriously considering it.”

“What exactly would it entail?”

“I’d just be female.”

“One hundred percent?”

“Amy says she’s capable of bearing children.”

“For a day?”

“One day. Or more, if I decide I like it.”

She put her hands on my shoulders. “You want to try this?”

I nodded. “I told you this morning, sometimes I wish I knew what it felt like to have the body type my clothes belonged to. Amy says she knows a way to for that to happen.”

Mom let out a breath. “I want to talk to Amy about this first.”

As if on cue, Amy entered the kitchen, patting her face down with a towel. “Amy hears you,” she said, laying the towel over her shoulder. “What’s goin’ on?”

Mom sat down at the table. “Kenny told me about this offer you’ve proposed to him.” She crossed one leg over the other and laid her hands in her lap. “I’d like to know a little more about what happened with you, first.”

15.

Amy told us the whole story, from the panty raid to the school dance the following week, all about her slow, magical change from male to female. Just knowing that my change would happen while I was asleep and that it would be instant made me feel a little more at ease, but it was still unnerving.

Mom looked in shock. I couldn’t blame her. The whole thing sounded crazy, but Amy was the proof in her own story.

“Amy, sweetheart, I’m so proud of you for being as strong as you are,” Mom said. “If it were me going through this, even if I did feel better as the opposite gender, I’d be scared out of my mind.”

Amy nodded. “I was at first. Luckily, I had Steve.” She took a breath. “Now, don’t let what happened to me scare you, Kenny.”

Mom shook her head. “I can’t say I’m not scared. Even if it’s just a day, it’s a day where I’m looking at a strange girl that used to be my son.”

I hadn’t thought of it like that before. As far as Mom, Amy and Gabby were concerned, I’d just be me in a stranger’s skin. Maybe I shouldn’t do it. I couldn’t make up my mind.

“Baby, if you want to do this, to be female for a day, I’m behind you.”

I looked up at Mom and saw a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. She wasn’t just saying that to act supportive, she was truly being supportive. She’d really be behind me if I actually decided to do this. Amy was smiling, too, and I could tell my favorite cousin was behind me, too. Of course, she’d set this whole thing up, so why wouldn’t she be?

I took a deep breath, and nodded. “Amy, tell your sorceress friend that I’ll do it.”

16.

Amy poked through the foot locker. “Ooh! This one!” she squealed with delight, pulling out the pastel pink nightgown that Gabby had bought a couple months ago. “I’m sure you’ll fill this one out pretty nicely.”

I nervously pulled the nightgown on. “This is gonna feel weird,” I said. Mom looked both amused and sympathetic at the same time. “I’ve only worn this a couple times, and I’ve never slept in it.”

“Believe me, sweetie,” Mom chuckled, “sleeping in one of those will feel like sleeping wrapped up in a cloud.”

I sat down on my bed. “Okay, so I’m just gonna wake up as a girl, right?”

Amy nodded. “Yep. Ms. Malski got it all ready.”

“How does she do this?”

“I don’t actually know. When she changed me, she’d planned it, but the jerk jock she changed was just a whim that same night, so I assume she can just do it mentally or something. I’m gonna warn you, though, I changed gradually over the course of a week, you’re gonna just go from male to female overnight. It’ll probably feel a lot weirder for you than it did for me.”

I sighed. “Well, no turning back now.” I looked back and forth between them. “You can go to bed now.” As if the idea had just occurred to them, they both left my room, Amy turning the light off as she shut my door behind her.

17.

I was standing in a giant white space. Nothing anywhere, just me. I spun around several times, hoping I’d find something, but nothing was there. Eventually, I spun so much that I fell down on my ass, dizzy. I didn’t get back up, I just sat there. I pulled my hair away from my eyes, but that was about it.

Wait… My hair wasn’t that long…

It wasn’t blonde, either.

I stood up quickly, almost disorientingly. Since when did my hair reach my shoulders? And why was it blonde? What the hell was happening to me? It wasn’t just my hair, either. Sure, I had plenty of girls’ clothes in my foot locker, but those stockings on my legs weren’t included. Neither were the heels. And neither was the dress I was wearing. I didn’t have too many dresses, but none of them were black, and none of them were backless.

I don’t know where this outfit came from, but I sure looked hot in it.

Or, at least, I would if I actually had the right parts to go with it.

Not even a hint of breasts, and I could feel my dick. My waist was thinner, my hips were wider, and my ass was bigger, but I honestly just looked like a pear-shaped thin guy in a black dress.

I walked a little into the whiteness, praying that something tangible aside from myself would appear at some point. After God only knew how long I was walking (assuming this was a dream, time had no actual concept), I finally stumbled upon a chair, literally. I didn’t know when the chair came into being, I just tripped over it. I use the chair to stand back up, and then the odd feeling of the edge of the chair hitting my breast rushed to greet me.

When had those grown in? I gripped them, surprised at their weight. They didn’t even look as big as Amy’s but they felt huge. How did Amy deal with big boobs if they felt this heavy? Then again, that’s what bras were for. I wasn’t wearing a bra right now, so they felt heavier.

I gripped the chair and sat down in it, smoothing the hem of my dress underneath me the way Gabby had taught me once. I just sat there and waited, hoping that something would happen eventually. Maybe I’d wake up. I didn’t notice that I had my legs crossed. It didn’t feel too uncomfortable to have them crossed the feminine way. Was my dick gone, too?

“Hey there,” Gabby said. Gabby? What the hell was she doing here? I turned around and saw her standing there, an odd look in her eyes. I couldn’t quite tell what it was, but it… Concerned me. “What’s that you’ve got up top, sugar tits?” She reached for my breasts and gently squeezed the right boob. “Ooh… Nice and juicy.”

“Lemme go,” I said, trying to push her hand off of me. She just gripped tighter. “Gabby!”

She giggled. “Sorry, baby, I just couldn’t help myself. They’re so much more fun to squeeze on somebody else than they are on yourself.”

Okay, that was not how Gabby was. I stood up and backed away from this… thing in Gabby’s shape. The girl in front of me just laughed. “You’re jumpy.”

“What are you?”

“Nothing. Everything. All things. No things. I’m a mindfuck in a bottle, and I’m here to work my magic.”

“Are you… Are you that sorceress that Amy talked about?”

She shook her head. “No. I’m something inside you.” She was suddenly grabbing hold of me, pushing me against an invisible wall. “And I wanna be let out!”

18.

I woke in a cold sweat. I was breathing heavily, my heart pounding. I looked over at my alarm clock, it was three-forty in the morning. I laid back down, slowly. I wiped the sweat off my brow. Whatever the hell that was, it scared me.

I just laid there for another twenty or thirty minutes, staring at the stars on the ceiling. I didn’t want to go back to sleep, for fear that I’d have that… Dream… Again. I rolled over on my side and my arm bumped into my right boob. Suddenly, I was very awake.

I sat up again and turned on the lamp by my bed. They weren’t fake, they weren’t imaginary, this wasn’t a dream.

A girl was me.

I got up and walked over to the mirror above my dresser. The reflection looked sorta like me, but the influence from Mom’s side of the family was definitely there. The blonde hair from my dream was there, too, laying gently on my shoulder. I almost fainted looking at the cleavage I was now sporting. I had to be at least a cup size smaller than Amy, but I couldn’t really tell without her in the room. I tugged on my nightgown a little and peeked under it. The sight of a pair of tits hanging from your own chest would likely freak out any guy, and it was sure doing a number on me.

The hallway light came on. I quickly locked the door. “Kenny?” Amy asked. Why was she awake? “You okay in there?”

I gulped. “Don’t come in.”

Of course, that wasn’t the voice I was used to hearing coming out of my mouth. Why would it be? I wasn’t me right now. Except that I was, just not the way I used to be.

“Unlock the door, Kenny, I wanna make sure you’re okay.”

Opening the door would have been the smart thing to do, but I didn’t at first. I was still… Exploring, for lack of a better word. Avoiding touching certain things, for fear that one day may end up being more if I decided I liked them. I wanted to make sure that I could go back to being Kenny the next day, with my little curiosity sated and everything else back to normal.

“Please, Kenny. I don’t wanna wake your mom up.”

I sighed, then unlocked the door. Amy opened the door and stood there, amazed. I pretty much grabbed her and pulled her into my bedroom, then shut the door again. Amy continued to stand there and gaze at me, like she was jealous or (in some odd way considering she was straight) turned on by the sight of me. “Please stop staring,” I whispered.

She nodded. “Yeah, sorry. Last time this happened, I was the one changing, and it was gradual.” looked me over, head to toe. “You look… Why are you blonde?”

I shrugged. “I think my dad was blonde. Maybe being female brought that out?”

Amy shrugged. “I dunno. I just look like a female me, you look like a female you with blonde hair.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

“So, how do you feel? Do you feel different? Do you feel weird?”

I shook my head. “I… Honestly didn’t even notice right away. I sorta had to bump into my boob with my arm to notice.”

“So you don’t feel different at all?”

“No, I feel different, but the differences aren’t really there unless I think about them. Is that… I dunno… Normal?”

She shrugged again. “I dunno about normal, but it could be something that Ms. Malski did with her magic to help you along, since this is just for a day.”

I groaned. “I’m not gonna start liking guys, am I?”

She shook her head. “No, no. You’re still gonna have all the same likes and dislikes, I’m just saying that Ms. Malski might have adjusted your mannerisms and things like that. Might have already adjusted your brain to your female body so that you’re automatically used to everything.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least I wouldn’t want to just hop on the first guy I saw and start mackin’ on him. But one thing was still a problem for me. “I had this… Weird... Dream.”

Amy nodded. “Yeah. I had weird dreams, too.”

“What happened in yours?”

“An awful lot of foreshadowing.”

“Huh?”

“Just… Stuff. I’d be changing in the dream, or I’d already be female in the dream, and I’d be acting like nothing weird was going on. What was yours?”

I rubbed at the back of my neck. “I was in this big white room, wearing a dress I don’t own. Most of me was changed, but I didn’t have any boobs or other parts. I walked around the room, tripped over a chair and suddenly I was done changing. Then Gabby walked up to me and started trying to… Flirt? I dunno. With me. She groped me, and it creeped me out.”

“Okay, that’s fucked up.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

“Is Gabby into girls?”

I shrugged. “I dunno. She’s had boyfriends, so she’s bi if anything.”

“Well, maybe you should ask her while we’re all out having a shopping trip today.” Amy walked back over to the door. “I’m getting back to sleep. You probably should, too.”

I sighed. “Yeah. I just hope I don’t have any screwed up dreams again.”

19.

Of course I’d have a fucked up dream again.

I was naked in this one, all five-foot-five of me spread across a table, on my stomach. The table was made of stone, which was just uncomfortable, especially to the boobs. I tried getting up, but then I was pushed back down. “Don’t move, sweetpea,” Amy said. Amy, this time. “Just getting you ready.”

“What’s going on now?” I asked.

“Just, y’know. Making sure you’re ready.”

“For what?”

She sighed. “Your date, dummy.”

“I’m not dating anybody!”

“And who’s fault is that? If you’d just let me help you with your makeup we wouldn’t be doing this, and you know that.”

“Why are you getting me ready for a date I’m not having?”

She made a tsk noise. “You just aren’t understanding it, are you?”

“No, I’m not!”

She leaned in and whispered in my ear. “And you’re not gonna here.”

20.

I wasn’t sweating this time, but I was just as freaked out. I wasn’t going back to sleep this time. I got up and walked over to my desk and pulled out my notebook. It was a habit of mine to write down my dreams, when I could remember them. These being likely magic induced dreams, I remembered every little feeling.

My handwriting was different. Instead of my usual sloppy handwriting, I was looking at probably the girliest handwriting imaginable. I was even dotting my i’s with hearts. That seemed stupid and just superfluous, why was that one of the changes? At least it wouldn’t last long.

I wrote about the dreams. The one with Gabby and the one with Amy. Two of the three people that knew about this. Would there have been a dream with Mom if I’d laid back down? I didn’t want to think about that, especially if it was as sexual as the last two I’d had. Granted, sexual meaning that I’d been naked in one and there was fondling in the other.

21.

The sun started to rise a couple hours later. I had gone from writing about my dreams to just plain writing. It was something I always enjoyed. It was likely being awake two extra hours of the day, or maybe it was actually my change, but I had a rush of inspiration hitting me. I wrote about an elf running away from home because of her abusive parents. I was having a lot of fun writing it, which hadn’t happened in awhile.

There was a knock on my bedroom door, then Amy asked, “Can I come in?”

“Yeah.”

She opened the door, one hand holding a hairbrush and the other a toothbrush. “Remind me which one of these I use on my hair and which one I use on my teeth.”

I laughed. “The big one is for your hair.”

She sat down on my bed. “I knew that.” She started brushing her hair out. “How’d you sleep?”

“Another freaky dream. This one with you in it.”

“Ooh, cool.”

I shook my head. “No. Not cool. You had me on a stone table naked getting me ready for some ‘date’ that I wasn’t going on.”

“Okay, I understand the not cool part now.” She walked over to me and started brushing my hair. “I wasn’t doing this, was I?”

“No. This feels kinda nice.”

“Cool. Whatcha doin’ there?”

She was looking at my story notebook. “I’ve been up for two hours writing this story about an elf running away from home. I just got her to this town where she meets some dwarves.”

“Ooh, can I read it? It sounds like it would be neat to draw some stuff for it.”

I had forgotten that Amy loved to draw. The idea of her drawing stuff for my writing sounded kinda cool. “Yeah. Just, lemme get a little further along, okay?”

“Yeah. You’ve got plenty of time until your mom gets back anyway.”

Wait a second. “Mom’s not here?”

She shook her head. “She got a call a few minutes ago, I’m surprised you didn’t hear it. She told me to tell you when you woke up.”

“Where’d she go?”

“Her work, somebody called off and they need her to fill in for a short shift.”

I felt a little more anxious about Mom seeing me now. I had felt that getting it over with when everybody woke up would be easy, but I hadn’t even heard the phone ring. Hadn’t heard the door open. Had I been that caught up in my writing? Jeez, inspiration was hitting me a little too hard.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Amy said, almost like she’d read my nervousness in my hair. “My mom and dad were on vacation the first couple days of my change, they came home and were totally okay with it. Granted, I’d never heard any of that stuff about Uncle Hud until yesterday, so Mom kinda makes sense now, but Dad was totally okay with it, too. He still tricks me into helping him in the garage, which grosses Mel out.”

I sighed. “Hopefully she comes home soon, though. If you and I are going shopping with Gabby today, I sorta want Mom to see a little of me before I get home and go to sleep just to be Kenny again.”

“That reminds me.” She sat down on the windowsill beside me. “You need to pick a name.”

“Kendra’s a name.”

“You’re not really gonna go with that, are you?”

“Right. Because Amanda is so very different from Adam.”

“Hey! It’s kinda backwards at least. You’re using the same first three letters.”

“Mom told me that she was gonna name me Kendra if I was a girl.”

“Oh. My mom wanted to name me Emily. I prefer Amanda.”

I rolled my eyes. “Still. I hope she gets home soon.”

Almost as if on cue, I heard the front door opening.

22.

I quickly stood up and then froze. Mom was actually about to see me. Assuming Amy was right, my mind was changed a little, so I took my new look in stride, but Mom went to sleep last night with the image of her son in a nightgown and was now about to walk into my room and see me filling out that nightgown the way it was supposed to be filled. All the nerves were rushing back to the surface.

“I brought donuts!” Mom shouted from the kitchen. “And chocolate milk!”

Amy turned to me. “If that’s not a reason to go out there, I don’t know what is.”

“Yeah, nervous,” I said.

“I know, but don’t worry about it.”

“I’m gonna be worried for the rest of my life.”

“I assume you mean day.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, how about I go and warn her first?”

“Warn me about what?” Mom asked. She was standing in the doorway, looking me up and down. “I always knew you’d turn out pretty if you’d been born a girl.” She walked over to me and pulled some of my hair up lightly. “I see you got your dad’s hair. Well, a little lighter. Your dad was more dirty blonde, you’re more golden.”

I had to ask. “This isn’t freaking you out in the slightest?”

She nodded. “Yes it is.” She smiled. “But I don’t want to worry you.” She grabbed me by the shoulders. “Today’s for you, sweetie. Experience being a girl for a day. You never know, you just might like it.”

I coughed out a laugh. “I’m sorta afraid of that.”

“Don’t be. If you like it, then you get to be the person you wanna be. If you don’t, then you get to stay the person you always were and today’s just a day to be out of character for fun.”

I nodded. “Yeah.” Then the next question I had to ask. “Would you have rather I been born a girl?”

“I can’t say it hasn’t crossed my mind, but I love you however you want to be.” She walked over to my foot locker and opened it. “Now, I saw an outfit in there that I think should work just fine for you today.”

My eyes widened. “I don’t get to pick my own clothes?”

“I’m not saying you have to wear it, but it’s relatively modest and should allow you some comfort since it’s hot today.” She picked through my clothes. “Though, wearing a bra will probably be a tad uncomfortable with the heat.”

I gulped a little more loudly than I wanted to. Even if I was determined to enjoy it, today was already gonna be a long day.

With this chapter, you'll all be caught up with where the story is on TG Storytime. I'm hard at work on the next chapter, though. It's slow going, sadly.

1.

The outfit that Mom had picked out for me was more modest than I thought it would be: A simple blue shirt and tan shorts. I wore a pair of Amy’s flip flops, because my feet were smaller than the girls’ shoes that I owned. That wasn’t a big deal, I sorta figured they would be. I’d luckily bought bras that fit perfectly when they had boobs to support. That was an odd, yet comfortable feeling. Nothing feels weirder than having something lacy touching really sensitive skin, but at the same time, it felt great to have a reason to be wearing one of these things.

The sight in the mirror was more surprising with clothes on than it was with a simple nightgown. The girl looked so comfortable, so normal, it was hard to believe that she’d been male twenty-four hours before. For some reason, I felt more like I was dreaming after getting the clothes on than I had when I was actually dreaming.

I stood there, staring at the mirror for a little while longer. Suddenly, everything was rushing at me. I was about to go outside. Like this. With this face and body. In these clothes. I’d never been outside in these clothes, even though I actually had the right shape to wear them. It was hard to breathe now, and I slowly backed down onto the chair behind me. I was scared now, frightened of being seen in public like this.

There was a knock on my door. “Hey, Kendra, hurry up!” Amy said through the door. “I know just the place to go!” I didn’t answer, didn’t move. I just sat there, looking up at the mirror over my dresser. The door opened and Amy stood there. “Hey, what’s up?”

I actually found my voice for once. “I… Don’t know if I can do it.”

“What? You were all for this before.”

I nodded. “Yeah, then I looked at… At Kendra.”

She walked over to me and looked at the mirror. “You mean at the cute girl sitting in a chair?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow, so this is what it’s like to be the one with more feminine knowledge. Look, Ken,” she didn’t say Kendra that time, “I personally think you’re gonna do just fine. You look great and you have at least some reflex action for being a girl, nobody’s gonna know except us and Gabby.”

The girl in the mirror didn’t look relieved. She didn’t even look like Amy’s words had given her some comfort. I took a deep breath and slowly nodded. “You’re right. I’m a big b - girl, now. I should just get up and enjoy the day, because it’ll probably be the only one I have.”

“Well, it doesn’t have to be the only one, but I can understand if it is. Just be happy Ms. Malski got rid of your body hair in the transformation. You have no clue what kind of hassle it is to shave your legs.”

I had to admit. That brought on a laugh. “Actually, I do. I’m a crossdresser, remember? I’ve actually been wearing skirts longer than you have.”

Amy let out a defeated sigh. “You’re right about that.”

2.

I felt outrageously self-conscious as Amy and I walked through town. If people were staring at me, they were doing it behind my back. Which almost concerned me more, because it meant they were staring at my ass in tight shorts. I hoped that we were close to reaching wherever the hell it was that Amy was taking us, but something told me I still had to endure a little while longer of walking in hot weather. If only Mom hadn’t needed the car.

I glanced at other girls that were out. Either because of my own natural curiosity or because I’d become female for day, I compared myself to them. Not as competition, or anything like that, but just… I noticed how they walked, how they stood, how they managed in their clothes or with their jewelry. Some looked trashy, some looked really girl next door, and some looked like no guy would date them unless they were the only two people on the planet.

Finally, we reached a clothing store that I’d never noticed before. Despite all the clothes I had in my foot locker, I didn’t actually go to any trendy fashion stores, I stuck to places like Walmart or Goodwill, places that catered to both genders who wouldn’t actually care if I were buying clothes for my “girlfriend”. But this place that Amy had walked me into was probably the closest thing to a high end fashion boutique that I’d ever seen.

“Okay, are you ready?” she asked, a smile on her face. That smile disappeared when she turned around and looked at me. “You don’t look ready, why aren’t you ready?”

“What are we doing here?” I asked in response.

“You’re here to get your first real taste of trying clothes on with a girl body.”

“Couldn’t I have done that at home?”

“It’s one day, enjoy being in public for a day.”

“I don’t really need to.”

“No, but it’s more fun this way.”

“For me or you?”

Gabby’s voice suddenly asked, “How about for me?” She stopped then, a bundle of clothes hanging over her arm, and she stared at me. “Holy crap, you’re… You’re… Holy crap.”

I felt myself blush. “You really don’t have to say it like that.” I was doing that nervous girl thing where I looked away from her. Why was I doing that? Gabby could stop staring at me, for one thing. “Staring at me is also something I wish you’d stop doing.”

She shook herself out it, like a dog shaking the water off of itself. “Oh, yeah, sorry. You’re just… So cute. And I never thought you’d turn out blonde.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Dad’s hair. I guess it only makes some kind of sense that more of him would rub off on Kendra than it did Kenny.”

“Kendra?”

I nodded again. “That’s the name I picked. I can still be Ken if I’m Kendra.”

She giggled. “Yeah, that makes sense.” She held up some of the clothes had. “Well, are you two ready to get started?”

I looked back and forth between Amy and Gabby. “Did you guys plan this?”

“Duh,” Gabby answered.

“We wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t,” Amy added.

I sighed. “This is gonna be a whole lot of awkward, isn’t it?”

Gabby giggled more. “Well. Not totally awkward.”

3.

I had the distinct impression that I was trying on more clothes than Amy or Gabby were. Amy was already back in the outfit she’d started the day with, and Gabby had only tried on a couple of them, while I’d been forced to try on a dozen different combinations of shorts and tops. They left the pants aside, which was comforting considering the heat. The skirts I’d seen Gabby grabbing worried me, but I knew that Amy was buying at least one of those for herself.

I had to admit, though, trying on the clothes was fun. Just the sight of myself in the mirror, of Kendra wearing clothes that were the right sizes for her and made certain features emphasized. Not just my boobs and butt, either, but just the color of my skin or my facial features, too. The idea that the color of a shirt would actually draw attention to my eyes was just… Unexpected. (Mainly because guys would rather be looking at the things covered by the shirt.)

A part of me wanted to stay this way just for the thrill of trying on clothes.

But at the same time, I still got to try on clothes as a guy, I just didn’t have the body that fit the clothes. I didn’t hate being a guy or love being a girl, I was still indifferent to all of it.

As I changed back into the outfit I’d worn to the store, the door to the changing room quickly opened and Gabby slid inside. “What are you doing in here?!” I asked, quietly, frantically.

“I wanted to see.”

“Me naked?”

She rolled her eyes. “Please, you’re not naked. You’re wearing a bra, the puppies are covered up for now.” She poked my breasts. “Wow, you’re kinda squishy, too.”

“Stop!” I caught sight of my increasingly red face in the mirror as I brought my arms up to cover my breasts. “That’s… Super weird, okay? Don’t do it!”

She giggled. “Sorry. I couldn’t resist. Poking your own boobs isn’t as fun as poking your best friend’s boobs.”

“Why would you poke your own boobs?”

“You have never been a twelve year old jealous of the mean girl in school who teases you for wearing a training bra.” She grabbed the shirt I’d just taken off. “Put this back on, you’d look totally cute in it.”

“When it’s paid for.”

“You wait here and I’ll go pay for it,” she said, then as quickly as she came inside, she rushed out and left me alone again. I just sighed. She was having way too much fun with this. I liked the shirt, sure, but what was wrong with the one I’d been wearing? I sighed.

I pulled my shorts back on and sat down on the small seat provided in the dressing room and waited. Gabby was taking forever for some reason. I wondered if she was talking to the clerk, telling them all about me. I was getting anxious just waiting there. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket (a phone right up against your ass is uncomfortable; understand this) and found an email from someone I didn’t recognize. I was about to click on the email when the door to the dressing room was opened again and the shirt Gabby was buying thrown in my face.

“C’mon, time for food.”

I sighed again.

4.

“Why can’t we get cheeseburgers?” Amy asked, looking at the salad in front of her. I had a matching salad and Gabby of course followed suit. “Are you against meat or something?” she asked Gabby.

Gabby shook her head. “No, I just had a craving for salad. I dunno why, I dunno how, just, the whole time we were trying on clothes I wanted salad.”

I shrugged. “I can’t say I’m a big fan of salad, but I’m not gonna complain when I’m not paying.” I dug in. “Where are we going after this, anyway?”

Amy shook her head. “I don’t live in this town, so it’s your choice, local girl.”

Gabby nodded. “I have an idea.”

“Please, nothing uber-girly or embarrassing,” I said as I scooped up a tomato with my fork and dropped it in my mouth.

“Nowhere like that,” she said through a mouthful of lettuce. “Well, okay, somewhere like that.”

I glared at her. “Where?”

“This cute romance movie that starts playing today.”

I gulped down some carrots. “You want to go see a chick flick? I didn’t even think you liked chick flicks.”

She shook her head. “Just because I don’t go see them very often doesn’t mean I don’t like them. I just wait until they’re on Lifetime.”

Amy munched on some croutons. “Is it at least a chick flick with some hot actors?”

Gabby scratched at her head. “Um… I don’t know, actually.”

“I won’t go see a chick flick unless there are hot guys.”

I set my salad bowl down on the table. “So, getting magically changed into a girl doesn’t automatically mean you like chick flicks?”

She shook her head. “No. I can’t tell you how many really gory movies I’ve dragged Steve to that he’s almost thrown up at. And he’s not that squeamish.”

That made me giggle. What little I remembered about Steve from the last time I visited Amy, he was kinda dweeby and not all there. He seemed like a nice guy, though. I wondered how good a boyfriend he was for Amy.

And then I wondered if I was thinking that because I was a girl for now. Most of my thoughts hadn’t changed at all. I thought of the things that interested me before and they still interested me. Nothing girly interested me, save the clothes that always interested me. I looked over at guys in the food court but didn’t find any interest in them, and girls still looked great to me.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Gabby asked, a concerned look in her eyes. “You look like you just got kicked in… Well, you don’t have nuts right now, so… Just kicked.”

I shook my head. “Just taking stock of some thoughts, is all. Nothing to worry about.”

Amy looked at me with a cautious eye.

5.

“What was the title of that movie you wanted to see?” I asked Gabby as we stood outside the movie theater. None of the movies that were playing looked like chick flicks in the slightest. “I see Warcraft, Finding Dory, Central Intelligence and Independence Day 2. Correct me if I’m wrong but none of those are chick flicks. Finding Dory comes closest, but it’s a family movie not a girl movie.”

She sighed. “I guess it’s not playing anymore.”

“What was it?”

She rubbed at her chin. “Now that I think of it, I can’t remember. I just know it had that guy from Hunger Games and Emilia Clarke in it.”

Amy rubbed at her chin. “I don’t think I know what that is.”

I shrugged. “Neither do I.”

“You haven’t seen commercials for it at all?” Gabby asked.

“Nope.”

“You either?”

Amy shook her head.

Gabby sighed. “Fine. I guess we go see Warcraft.”

“Why Warcraft?” I asked.

“You like fantasy movies.”

“I’ve never played Warcraft, though.”

“So what? It’s still a fantasy movie.”

I sighed, then looked over at Amy, who just shrugged. “Okay,” I said, “let’s go see Warcraft.”

6.

As we sat through the movie, I munched on popcorn and felt that Gabby was getting just a little too close to me. More than once, I felt her hand on mine and then she quickly moved it to grab at the popcorn. It just seemed… Wrong. Gabby was hot, yeah, but she’d never been like this with me when we were at the movies, and we’d gone to plenty of movies together.

I put it out of my mind quickly each time, however, as the movie was really good. The CG was better than the Hobbit movies a couple years back, and the acting was decent. I was actually considering a subscription to World of Warcraft thanks to this movie, and I used to make fun of people who played that all day long.

Gabby’s hand landed on mine again, and this time she full-on grabbed my hand and locked fingers with me. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye, but she didn’t look like she was doing anything other than watching the movie, and occasionally drinking from her soda cup. I didn’t move or pull my hand away, because it wasn’t unpleasant, it was just somewhat weird.

Was Gabby turned on by me as Kendra?

7.

I stretched when we got back outside. “Well, there was a pleasant way to kill a couple hours,” I said, then took a large gulp of my drink. “What’s next?”

Amy yawned. “I dunno. Can we head back to your place for me to take a nap? Going to the movies always makes me tired.”

Gabby nodded. “Yeah, I say we just spend a few hours hanging out at your place. Maybe you can try on some of your other clothes.”

“Works for me. It actually would be nice to see how my other stuff fits me.”

I couldn’t get the hand holding out of my head. Gabby hadn’t taken her hand off of mine the whole rest of the movie and the urge to ask her what the hell was going on was almost too much to bear, but I held my tongue. If Gabby was into girls - which was a distinct possibility - I didn’t want to accidentally out her here, or anywhere where it wasn’t just the two of us.

I had to wait until we got back to my place.

8.

I rooted through the foot locker, looking for something I’d considered wearing since I got up that morning. I set aside some of my clothes, which Gabby looked through like she’d never seen them before, despite the fact that she’d bought most of them for me. I’d paid her back for all of them, but still. I pulled out a pair of tops I’d never worn before and finally found what I was looking for.

“Okay, there is no way I was anywhere near you when that was bought,” Gabby said as she saw the slinky black dress I was holding. “Why haven’t I ever seen it before?”

I giggled. “I got it at the Goodwill, told the clerk I was buying it as a Mother’s Day gift. She seemed pretty jealous of Mom because of it, too.”

“Uh, yeah, I can bet. Do you know how long I’ve been looking for just the right LBD?” She took it from me and held it against herself. “And you find the perfect one for you when you don’t even have the assets to show it off? Girl, you are lucky.” She handed me back the dress. “This would be a big deal for anybody, but you’re gonna do something that a lot of natural born girls haven’t done yet.”

I pulled my shorts down. “Seriously? It can’t be that much of a big deal in a girl’s life.”

She shrugged. “It’s not, really, I just wanna exaggerate this moment.” She walked around me and I felt her grabbing her my bra. “Now, off with this.”

I pulled away from her. “What?! Why?”

She looked at me like I was crazy. “Um, look at it this way. The straps on the dress are like twigs, and the straps on the bra are like trees. Wearing that bra under that dress is like trying to hide the tree with the twig.”

I blushed. “So… Ya mean I have to go braless?”

“Girl, you’ve been crossdressing for years, this can’t be new for you.”

“I didn’t need a bra when I was crossdressing, I only wore them when I wanted to go with the full package.”

“Well, you’re just fine without a bra now. You’re perky enough to go braless for fifteen minutes while you wear that dress.”

I sighed. “Okay, but… Just let me take it off, okay?”

“Jeez, what’s up with you?”

I was starting to freak out a little bit. I didn’t want to outright tell her that I thought she was into girls. “Uh, nothing, just… Having somebody grab my bra was a little weird.”

She sighed. “Oh. And here I thought this was gonna get weird.”

I chuckled nervously. “Weird, right.” I turned away from her and reached behind to finish unhooking my bra. I pulled it off and then I was pulled around face-to-face with Gabby and she was staring at my boobs. “What the hell are you doing now?!” I screeched, quickly covering my breasts.

“Kenny, dear, please. I’m looking at you naked.”

“Why did you just call me dear?”

She shrugged. “It’s what my mom told me when she wanted to teach me how to do my first self examination.”

“That’s not what this is about, is it?”

She shook her head. “No, I just wanna see what your tits look like.”

I was certain I was red as a beet. “Why?!”

She reached out to touch me, but I pulled back. “C’mon, I know how to handle boobs, I’m not gonna hurt ya. Don’t you get how weird this is, Kenny? The only guy friend I have now has bigger tits than I do, this is intriguing to me. Are you telling me that if I was to suddenly turn into a guy, you wouldn’t be even a tiny bit interested in seeing how big my dick was?”

I shook my head rapidly. “No! Why the fuck would I be?!”

She shrugged. “I dunno. I thought guys had literal dick measuring contests all the time.”

“Not literal dick measuring, just metaphorical.”

She sighed. “Whatever, just lemme see the boobs.”

“Why?”

“Kenny, I’m not gonna do anything weird, just lemme see ‘em.”

“Letting you see them is weird enough!”

“Why? It’s not like seeing naked tits is something I don’t do everyday.”

“Seeing my naked tits is something you don’t do everyday!”

Gabby grabbed me by the shoulders. “Look, Kendra, you’re only going to have these magnificent mammaries for another five hours, you’re not risking anything by letting me see them!”

I clutched at my boobs a little tighter. Ignoring the fact that I thought she liked girls, it was still creepy as hell that she wanted to see me topless. “Just, please, no looking, okay?”

She sighed again. “Fine. You get this dress on and then we’re gonna have some fun.”

I gulped as she turned away from me. The concept of “fun” worried me.

9.

“Oh, baby, you look fantastic!” Mom said, amazed. I filled out the dress a little more than I thought I would, and my legs were completely exposed, to say nothing of the cleavage I was showing off. I smoothed the dress under me and sat down at the kitchen table.

“Thanks,” I said, nervously. Gabby sat down across from me, and Mom sat at the remaining seat. “I didn’t honestly think this would look good on me.”

“Please, girl, everything looks good on you,” Gabby said, an odd sparkle in her eye. “I just wish I looked half as good as you do in those outfits.”

I felt myself blush. “C’mon, you’re hot enough.”

“Whatever.” She leaned back in her chair. “So, when does your cousin leave?”

Mom answered, “Tomorrow morning. She’s napping right now.”

Gabby and I knew that already, but there was no way Mom could have known that we knew. Our conversation proceeded from there to everyday topics: Mom asked Gabby about her parents, we talked about what Gabby and I planned to do over the summer, and just anything. It was no different than any conversations I had with my mom on a daily basis, but something felt different about it, and not just the fact that I was wearing a dress.

My thoughts began to drift. I began to focus on what might be different about this. I couldn’t get it out of my head. That was when I realized I was looking at Gabby’s chest on accident, and looked away as quickly as possible. She was wearing one of her tighter shirts, and it was stretched across her like it was holding on for dear life.

“Honey? You okay?” Mom asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just, thinking about stuff. And things.” I got up from the table and started for my bedroom. “I’m gonna get changed and go for a walk.”

“Okay, baby. Be careful! I’m sure there are some boys you’re gonna attract around here.”

“Yeah,” I muttered under my breath, “I know.”

10.

The sun was starting to set as I made my way back home. The walk did wonders for helping me clear my head, which was exactly what I left the house to do. I prayed that Gabby would be gone when I got back to the house, otherwise I’d actually have to talk to her about it, and somehow I felt our friendship wasn't surviving that conversation.

Unfortunately, my mind was made up for me when Gabby was leaning up against a street light a couple blocks away from my house. She had a weird look on her face. “Um… Are you okay?” I asked.

“No.”

“Why?”

“Don’t change back.”

I felt surprised, even though I thought this was the conclusion we were going to end up with anyway. “What? Why are you saying that?”

She rubbed at her arm. “Look, Ken… You’ve gotta have it figured out that I haven’t exactly had a boyfriend. Like, ever.”

“So?”

“I don’t like guys. Attraction-wise, I mean.” She looked away from me for a second. “C’mon, you’ve gotta have that figured out by now.”

I shrugged. “I sorta got the idea from earlier. And then the I wanna see your boobs thing didn’t help.”

“Oh, good, so this isn’t a total surprise for you. Please, please, ask your cousin to tell her witch that you wanna stay a girl.”

I folded my arms under my breasts. “Are you saying you wanna date me, but you don’t wanna date guy me?”

She sighed. “Basically, yes. I’m just not attracted to guys, okay? I’m gonna be honest and say I don’t even know if I like girls, but I like you as a girl. Does that make any sense?”

I took a moment to think. “It makes a little sense. But you could always ask Amy to have that witch turn you into a guy, y’know.”

She shook her head, rapidly. “No way. Just because I don’t like guys doesn’t mean I wanna be one. Guys have hair in places I like being hairless, and I happen to love playing with my boobs and fingering myself - speaking of which, you should totally try both of those things before you change back.”

I blushed. “Uh… I’ll think about it.” Granted, not like I hadn’t thought about it a lot of the day. “But, look, this is kinda weird, y’know? I mean, I really wasn’t expecting this.”

She nodded. “I know, but I needed to get it out. You’re the only guy I’ve ever had something resembling a crush on, and now that you’re a girl, you’re perfect. I… I know it’s selfish, but I want you to stay this way.”

I saw that she was serious about this. It was a look I’d never seen in her eyes before, and I’d seen all kinds of looks. The only words I could muster were, “I need time to think.”

11.

“I don’t know what to do.”

Amy had a surprised look on her face. She sat cross legged on my bed, a concerned look on her face. She rubbed at her chin. “This is serious.”

“I know.”

“You need to think about this.”

“I know.”

“And I think you really need to get a dog.”

I sighed. I clicked on another picture that the website showed of the Huskie. He was a beautiful looking dog, and the idea had crossed my mind more than once. “Really? Dogs are hard work.”

“All pets are hard work.”

“What if Mom doesn’t like him?”

Clearly, she’d been listening to the conversation, as I heard Mom shout from down the hallway, “Buy the dog if you want a dog!”

I glanced back over at Amy, who was doing her best not to burst into laughter, and I couldn’t blame her. I was almost there, myself. After about a minute, the both of us just gave up and started laughing loud enough that we could probably wake the dead.

Ten minutes of laughter and one email about the dog later, Amy and I were finally calming down. I started wiping tears from my eyes, as I’d been laughing too hard. When the both of us actually stopped laughing, I told her the one thing I’d been putting off ever since I got back home. “Gabby wants me to stay this way.”

Amy sat there looking surprised. “No way.”

“Yeah.”

“But, she didn’t seem like a lesbian.”

“I guess I’m the only guy she’s ever had a thing for.”

“Holy shit.”

“I know.”

“What are ya gonna do about it? I can text Ms. Malski, if you want.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to just make this decision now, if you know what I mean. I wanna put careful thought into this.”

“That’s a great idea, but you sorta have until midnight, which is only a couple hours away.”

“And,” Mom said, standing in the doorway, “you have to think about how that would affect more than just you and Gabby.”

I felt myself blush. “You heard that, huh?”

“I did. I assume you were going to talk to me about this, as well?”

I nodded.

“Good. I don’t want you making this decision lightly. If you stay Kendra, you’re running into a whole mess of problems with school next year, with getting your ID changed, with relatives. And that’s not even considering the anatomical problems you’re not having to deal with in your little twenty-four hour party here. Being female every day of your life isn’t the picnic you boys think it is.” That was said with a smirk. “I love you either way, baby, and you’ll still be my child either way, but think about everything that’ll change if you decide to stay Kendra.” Mom turned and walked back down the hallway, away from my room.

I sighed and turned to Amy. “Is there any chance your witch friend can give me an on/off switch?”

12.

Gabby started talking before I even had a chance to open my mouth. We’d agreed to meet at our usual hang-out spot, which would be a make-out spot to anybody else, as it was a hill that overlooked town. In fact, there were probably dozens of couples we knew that used this place as a make-out spot.

“I know what you decided,” she started. She lied down on the hood of the car, which had to be hot considering the temperature and the fact that I’d just killed the engine. “I know what you decided, and I’m just gonna havta be okay with that. I freaked you out earlier, didn’t I?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but, I haven’t made my decision yet.”

She sat up. “Huh?”

I crawled up on the car and laid beside her. “I said I haven’t decided yet. I’ve only got an hour and a half left, so I’ve got to make my decision soon.” I was holding a bottle of Mountain Dew and unscrewed the cap. “I’m sorta confused on where to go.”

“Look, I’ve thought about what I said before, and I really shouldn’t have pressured you like I did.”

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure if it were you that was going through this gender change thing and I was the gay one, I’d probably do the same thing.”

She giggled. “Yeah, I’d just like to see you as a gay guy.”

I shrugged. “If I stayed a girl, I’d be a gay girl.”

“Still. How much to which side are you?”

I shrugged again. “I dunno. On the one hand, we’re so close that I don’t think our relationship would be screwed over badly if I went back to being a guy. On the other, I can’t say the idea of dating you isn’t something I’ve thought about before.”

“Okay, the double negative sorta confuses me. So, are you saying that you have thought about dating me?”

“Yeah.”

“So, is this a 50/50 shot that you’ll stay Kendra?”

“Yeah.”

“Is there something I could do to sway your decision?” she asked with a smirk.

I laughed. “No. But there’s something we can do, either way.”

“Huh? What?”

I put the cap back on my Dew and dropped it to the ground beside the car. I didn’t answer her with words, I just rolled on top of her and put my lips on hers. Our tongues met quickly, intertwining. My hands gripped her face, and then I felt one of her hands on my boob. The feeling was really, really weird, but I just kept kissing her. That hand finally slipped under my shirt, and then I felt her fingers working their way into my bra. Her fingers rubbed at my nipples, which were starting to harden.

I let go of her face but I kept up the kiss. One of my hands went down to her shorts and I unzipped her. I slid my hand into her panties, completely on autopilot now, and inserted a finger into her vagina. I began to rub at her private area and pulled my face away before her teeth clamped down on my tongue.

“Ooh, sorry… You’re just… So good at this…”

The hand that wasn’t playing with my nipple moved to my pants, unzipped them, and worked its way into my panties. For the first time in my life, I felt a finger inside me. The sensation took my breath away, and then I started to feel the juices inside me flowing. Almost as if we were in sync, Gabby started to moisten up as well, and while the feeling was odd, it wasn’t unpleasant.

We were both moaning at about the same time.

I pulled my hand out of her panties and pulled my shirt and bra off, doing for her now what I’d refused to do earlier. She did the same, and I saw her exposed boobs for the first time. I brought my head to one and started licking at her rock hard nipple, which caused her to moan even harder. Once again, her hand slipped into my panties and I felt her finger inside me again.

Gabby pushed me away from her tits and then rolled us over, putting herself on top. She paid me back for my nipple suckling by doing the same to my boob, and yet another new feeling hit me straight in the chest - literally. The feeling of her tongue on my nipple and her finger in my cunt brought me to orgasm quickly, and this wasn’t the same as when I came as a guy. My whole body shuddered, as the pleasure rolled over me. I moaned so loud I was afraid somebody in town would hear me.

I kissed her again, our tongues touched once more, and then our nipples touched. The feeling was electric, erotic…

Exciting.

13.

I woke up with Gabby’s hand on my boob and my hands on her’s. I went to get up, but she was on top of me, like she had been before I fell asleep. About three seconds after trying to get up, I realized her hand was still in my panties, her finger resting exactly where it had done such wonderful things last night. I eased her hand out and gently slid out from underneath her. Clearly, everything we’d done last night had worn her out more than me.

I quickly found my discarded bra and shirt and slipped them back on, after making sure there wasn’t any dirt to rub against my skin. My body felt a little more sensitive, oddly. I wondered if it had anything to do with all the contact or just sleeping on the hood of a car all night long.

I reached into the car and pulled my phone out of the glove compartment. It was almost dead, of course. I’d left it on the whole night. Before I shut it off, I noticed a dozen texts from Amy. That was when it hit me: I was still Kendra. I hadn’t changed back yet, even though I was supposed to change back at midnight.

I moved back over to Gabby and gently tried to wake her up. “What?” she asked when I finally got her awake.

“I’m still Kendra, in case you didn’t notice.”

“Oh. I was kinda hoping you’d decided to stay that way.” She sat up and put her clothes back on. “Wait, you haven’t decided to stay, right?”

“No.”

“Then why are you still Kendra?”

“I don’t know! Lemme just drive you home, and then I’ll go home and find out what’s going on.”

She nodded, then hopped in the car and fastened her seatbelt. Before I started the car, she leaned over and gave me a kiss on the neck. “For somebody who’d never felt the inside of a pussy before, you sure knew what to do with one.”

14.

I shut the engine off and just sat there in the car for a little while. What would I do? I could stay female and actually have a girlfriend, or I could go back to being male and Gabby would just be a girl who happened to be my friend. Neither seemed like bad options. I wished I had hours to think about it, but I needed to get inside and explain to Mom where I’d been all night.

I grabbed my phone again and walked up to the house, opened the door, and there was Amy carrying her bags. “Geez, what took you so long? My bus leaves in a half an hour.”

I sighed. “Sorry.”

“I tried calling you last night. How come you didn’t answer?”

“Sorry, sorry. I was just… Well…”

She rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to tell me every detail. So, you gonna change back or no?”

“Which should I do?”

“Uh, that’s your decision, cuz. Did you enjoy being the girl in the relationship for a day or do you just wanna go back to being the guy you didn’t have a problem being?”

I sighed again. “Just lemme go apologize to Mom real quick, and then we’ll go, okay?”

“Yup.”

I took a deep breath and walked inside the house, where Mom was sitting on the couch, watching TV. She looked over at me and smiled. “I was worried about you.”

I nodded. “I know.”

“Have you made your decision yet?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Well, don’t leave this up to a coin toss, understand? Now get your cousin to the bus station and hurry home. Her sorceress friend said you have to be asleep for everything to change back if that’s what you decide.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”

“Ken,” her voice took a softer tone, “it doesn’t matter which you choose, pick the one that makes you the happiest.”

I nodded.

15.

I turned the ignition off when we got to the bus depot. I sighed. “I still don’t know what to do.”

Amy looked like she was about to burst into laughter. “Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you and Gabby talked it over?”

I shook my head. “Well. I mean, if you count the pre-sex stuff.”

She smacked me on the back of the head. “I said I didn’t want to hear the details.” She unbuckled her seatbelt. “What did you talk about?”

“She just basically asked me if I’d stay Kendra.”

“Really? A basic question like that and then you were scissoring like maniacs?”

I shot her a glare. “We didn’t scissor. And you said you didn’t want details.” I tilted my head back and looked up at the ceiling of the car. “Why does this have to be complicated?”

“Because you found out your cousin knows a sorceress, your best friend is a lesbian and you’ve been a girl for a day. Girl brains immediately complicate everything.”

I unbuckled my seatbelt. “I guess.”

“Look, Ken, not to rush you or anything, but you really do need to make a decision.”

I sighed. “I know. I know! This is just the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make.”

She smiled. “Oh, please, fashion choices were a tough decision for you before you got the body to show them off.”

“Not my point.”

“Yes or no.”

I took a deep, deep breath. I had some real consideration to do here, and only a minute or two to do it. I didn’t have a problem being either boy or girl, and nothing really big would change either way. Mom would still be there, Gabby would still be there. The only change aside from my body would be that if I stayed a girl, Gabby and I could actually date.

But then there were the problems with staying a girl. School, periods, getting hit on by guys. None of those actually seemed horrible, but they were hassles. School was the biggest problem, because it meant either exposing myself as transgender or passing myself off as somebody new. The girl named Kendra hanging out with all of the boy named Kenny’s friends would screw up that illusion quite quickly.

I exhaled, finally, and said, “I wanna go back.”

I looked around the car and realized that Amy was nowhere near me. I got out of the car and found that she was pulling her bags out of the trunk. “Sorry,” she said, you were taking too long.” I rolled my eyes. “So, did you choose?”

“Yeah, I’ll go back.”

She hugged me. “Okay, I’ll text Ms. Malski while I’m on my way home. Just go home and take a nap, and you’ll wake up Kenny again.” She backed away and picked up her bags. “Well, time for me to go, cuz. Don’t hesitate to call or text, got it?”

I nodded. “Bye, Amy.”

She flashed me a smile, then walked up to the bus she was taking and waved to me just as the bus passed by. I waved back, then sighed for the billionth time and got back in the car.

16.

I pulled the car in the driveway and sat there. I wasn’t tired, yet. I knew I would be, eventually. I got out of the car and walked into the house, gave Mom a hug, then went into my bedroom. I had time to kill before I eventually felt the need to take a nap. Now I just had to find out what to do to kill said time.

My phone rang, Gabby’s picture popped up on the screen. I wasn't sure if I wanted to answer it. Even though she had said that she’d accept my decision, I couldn’t help but feel she’d be disappointed in my choice. I held the phone to my chest and waited for it to stop ringing.

I set the phone to vibrate and set it down on my desk. I reached into my desk drawer and pulled out the notebook I’d started that elf story the day before. Writing always passed the time, and I could even use my experiences in my transformed body as research. What better way for a guy to write about a voluptuous female elf than having been a voluptuous female himself? Granted, I had no experience on the elf part, but nobody really did.

Seven pages later and I’d been proved right about the time passing. Suddenly it was dark outside and I was struggling to keep my eyes open. Had I really written for so long that it was night time now? Sure, Mom had dropped by and left me a sandwich in the meantime, but that was the only thing I remembered aside from writing. I’d skipped right past naptime and straight into bedtime without even realizing it.

I looked over what I had written. That was something I did whenever I considered myself done for the day. I’d gotten my elf maiden from her hometown to a dwarf kingdom not far away, and given her a bow for a weapon. I’d even introduced a love interest in a human guy who’d pledged his life to her in exchange for lifting a curse on his village. It actually seemed kinda sweet the more I thought of it, though the idea of a guy falling in love with me was creepy.

“Are you finally done?” Gabby asked. She was sitting behind me, on my bed. When had she come into the room?! How hadn’t I noticed her walking into the room?! “I’ve been sitting her for three hours waiting for you to get out of your little trance there.”

I blushed. “Uh… Whuh when did you get here?”

“Like I said, three hours ago. Your mom even brought in a plate of sandwiches and had a conversation while you were out of it.” She took a drink of the soda I didn’t notice. “You ate most of the sandwiches, by the way. You’re lucky you’re going back to being a guy tomorrow, otherwise you’d have to start paying attention to fatty stuff.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

She shrugged. “You only get like that when you’re really into it, and I thought it might be like people sleepwalking, y’know? I didn’t wanna accidentally hurt you or anything.”

I sighed. I guess it wasn’t impossible that my writing trances were like sleepwalking. I didn’t think I got into them enough that Gabby had ever noticed them, though. “Okay, I’ll take that. How come you came over, anyway?”

“You weren’t answering your phone and I wanted to know if you wanted to go see a movie.”

“We just went to the movies yesterday.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t stop me from being bored today. You wanna see a movie?”

I shook my head. “I’m actually starting to get tired. You wanna just watch TV with me till I fall asleep?”

She smiled. “Now that sounds like couch cuddling.”

“More like my bed.”

“Ooh, even more fun.”

I walked over to the bed and poked her in the chest. “Not that kind of fun. As good as it was, not when my mom’s in the house.”

The smile faded. “You’re no fun when your mom is home.”

I sighed. “Whatever. Move over, I’m laying down. You pick a movie.”

17.

Of course she picked something on Lifetime. I was kinda bored watching it, which did wonders for my fatigue. More than once, I had to struggle to keep my eyes open. I would have just let myself sleep, but I wanted to make sure Gabby went home before I did. As much as I enjoyed what we did the night before, I didn’t want her doing anything with me that could potentially keep me stuck as Kendra.

“Why aren’t you crying?” she asked, wiping at her eyes with a tissue.

“Because I’m just about asleep and do I really need to cry about a woman winning a court case? Why isn’t she happy?”

“Because her husband is innocent and she knows it! She wanted it all thrown out, but her lawyer went ahead anyway. This is actually depressing!” She wiped at her eyes with another tissue. I had to admit, that was awfully sweet to know she had a tender side. “So help me, I will find a movie to make you cry.”

I yawned. “Not tonight, you won’t. No offense, but can you go home before I fall asleep?”

She sighed. “Fine, I’ll go. I was a little interested in seeing how the process worked, but I’ll go just to please you.” She was smiling.

I laughed. “Whatever. I’ll see ya tomorrow so we can see how my new stuff looks on me without boobs.”

“Not as good, but still adorable.” She hugged me. “See you tomorrow.”

18.

I could see both my bodies floating in the air. My male body was sitting down, looking all sullen and sad, like I was regretting something. My female body had a similar look, but more hopeful.

I possessed neither body, and simply seemed to be some sort of floating nothing. I moved toward my bodies and tried to reach for them, but I couldn't.

My male body fell off of what it was sitting on, and began to convulse. I tried to help it, but being a floating nothing, I just couldn't do anything.

Help me! my female body screamed, an expression of pure pain on her face. I looked down at my male body and watched him die. What could I do? Become! What did that mean? Become?

She put a hand to her chest, over her heart, and nodded. I moved closer to her, but she backed away. She shook her head and pointed at my male body. Become.

I realized what she meant. She wanted me to become one with my male body. I moved into him and the convulsions stopped. I opened my eyes and my female body smiled. Happy. She began to fade, but her smile and her warmth remained. In spite of that, I felt like I would need her.

The warmth remained, but her presence was gone.

19.

I woke up and immediately knew that I was male again. Lil’ Kenny was standing at attention, no doubt thanks to the panties I was wearing. I took a deep breath and let it out. At once relieved and depressed at the same time.

I walked over to my desk and turned on my lamp. I looked at myself in the mirror and laughed. Two days female and it was like I was rediscovering myself. Surprisingly, the thing I missed the most about my female body was the blonde hair. I wondered if Mom would have a problem if I bleached it.

I pulled out my notebook and sat down to write. I didn’t much want to go back to sleep. Alleviating my fears that my elf maiden story was just Kenda expressing herself, I was just as lost in my writing as before. So much so, in fact, that when Mom walked in, I didn’t even notice until she threw my pants at me.

“Get dressed,” she said, “and as cute as those panties are, you should probably wear boxers.”

“Why?”

“The doctor. You have a scheduled physical before school starts, remember?”

I sighed. “Oh, yeah. I’ll be dressed in a minute.”

“Good.”

“Hey, what would you say if I bleached my hair?”

“Just so long as that's all you bleach. Keep the manscaping to yourself.” She smiled, then shut the door.

I laughed. Mom probably gave me too much freedom.

This took longer than I wanted it to, but I'm getting a better pace to my writing, so hopefully that speeds things up for everybody. Get ready for a rollercoaster.

1.

“Kept busy?” Dr. Santos asked as he walked into the room. I sat there in nothing but my boxers, more than a little self-conscious. “Seeing anyone?”

I laughed. “Not really. To either question.”

He sighed. “It’s important for a young man to keep active and find someone in their life.”

“Did you just see that on Dr. Phil or something?”

He let out a light-hearted glare toward me. “I remember being a slack-off loser when I was your age, and would rather most of my younger patients not follow my example.”

I folded my arms across my chest. “Yeah, because who would want to be a doctor, heading out to the golf course every other day and driving a Lamborghini?”

He checked some things off on his clipboard. “It’s a Ferrari and I’m only at the golf course three times a week.”

“My mistake.”

He asked me the usual questions, health, the family, whether or not I was going to try out for sports at school. I gave the usual answers. The conversation went as they do whenever you see a doctor that you’re used to seeing.

Then, suddenly, I got oddly self-conscious. I wasn’t wearing a shirt, and felt like I really should have been. And then there was the cool draft I felt against my chest. What was going on? I shivered for a second, then Dr. Santos told me I could put my shirt back on. Why did I feel so much better wearing a shirt?

“You okay, Ken?” Dr. Santos asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, just… Weird chill, that’s all.”

He nodded his head oddly, then turned back to his laptop. I was happy he didn’t pry into that any further, because it confused the hell out of me. I’d never felt that before. I pulled on the shorts I’d worn and then my sandals. I was hoping that I’d be able to leave soon.

The minutes ticked by as Dr. Santos tapped away at on his laptop, then he finally turned around around and handed me his customary Tootsie Roll Pop, something he did despite the fact that I wasn’t a kid anymore. “Alright, Kenneth, you can go now. Talk to Mikaela at the front desk, she’ll have the card for your next appointment.”

I took the Tootsie Roll Pop and smiled. “Thanks, Doc.”

2.

Mikaela was a new girl I’d never met, around my age and almost exaggeratedly gorgeous. I would’ve asked her out on a date, if she didn’t seem like she was annoyed with everything.

Not to mention if not for Gabby.

The card I was given listed an appointment in three months, so I assumed I was reasonably healthy. I gave Mikaela a smile that she didn’t return, and left the doctor’s office, where my mom was waiting in the parking lot with a magazine in her hand and the car’s AC going. Despite the fact that it was colder in the car than it was in the doctor’s office, I didn’t feel that chill that had hit me inside.

“How’d it go?” Mom asked.

“It was a regular physical, nothing weird.”

“Good.”

I nudged her with my elbow. “You’re being weird, what’s up?”

She shook her head. “Just curious how it felt having a man see you mostly naked instead of Gabby.”

I rolled my eyes. “If I was still Kendra, it’d probably creep me out.”

“If you were still Kendra, I’d rather you see a gynecologist.”

I coughed out a laugh. “So, what’s up today?”

“Hmmmm… You still have three days off before school, I’d say you get out there and enjoy the rest of your summer vacation.” She smiled. “And maybe go spend the day with Gabby.”

I noded. “Sounds like a plan.”

3.

“No.”

I was leaning up against the support beam beside the stairs that connected the first floor of Gabby’s house to the basement. She was moving boxes around, looking for something, but she wouldn’t let me help. I didn’t know why she wouldn’t let me help, though. “Is there some sort of reason you won’t let me help you?”

She nodded. “Yeah, it’s personal.”

I glanced down at the box that was sitting beside me. “It’s not sex toys, is it?”

Gabby grabbed the box and pulled it away from me. “No.” Then, with a smile, she added, “The sex toys are in my bottom dresser drawer. If you’d spent a little more time as Kendra, I would have introduced you to them.”

That weird chill hit me again. I shook and asked, “Can we go upstairs? It’s… Damp… Down here.”

She looked at me funny. “No it’s not. It’s dusty down here, but it’s not damp. You okay?”

I shook my head. “I’m… I dunno. It’s weird.”

She smiled again. “You’re weird.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Look, let’s just go upstairs. I bet you’re not gonna find what you’re looking for down here.”

She set the box down on a table. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” She patted me on the shoulder. “If you put something cute on, I might still let you see the sex toys.”

I smiled. “Whatever.”

4.

“Okay,” Gabby said as she clasped her hands together in front of her, “we need to find something to do to kill some time before I have to kick you out.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You have to kick me out?”

“Yeah. You know my dad, he doesn’t like you being here for dinner.”

I’d never understood why exactly, but she wasn’t wrong. Her dad had never much cared for me being in the house in the first place, which I always attributed to him just worrying about me having sex with his daughter. If he knew what Gabby and I had done on the hood of my mom’s car the other night, I wondered how he’d feel.

I walked over to her bookshelf. Gabby had a decently sized collection of fantasy books I’d never heard of, which was pretty impressive because I had a decently sized collection of obscure fantasy books, in addition to the ones everybody knew about, like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter.

Looking at her books made me think about that story I was writing at home. “Hey, you got a problem if we head over to my place for a second?” I asked.

She gave me a confused look, then said, “Sure. Whaddya need?”

“Just wanna grab my notebook, that’s all.”

She smiled. “Actually, that gives me a good idea.”

I dreaded that smile now. “What kind of idea?”

“Think you could write a nice little erotica short based on us from the other day?”

I raised an eyebrow. “You want me to write a story basically about us having steamy lesbian sex?”

“Essentially.”

“Why?”

She poked me in the chest, which felt… Odd. “Because we had a moment the other day, and I want a memento.”

I was about to say something when the room began to spin. Everything around me went in every direction except the one it was supposed to be. The walls grew taller, the floor shrank into a purple square, and the ceiling became a red and white umbrella that eclipsed the… two suns? Why were there two suns? What the hell was happening?

“Are you okay?” I heard Gabby ask. She was standing right in front of me, but she was twenty stories up at the same time. I tried to move closer to her, but then I was standing on a floor made entirely of her face. I moved my foot away from her nose, but I ended up by her left toe instead.

“No,” I said, though my voice was pure helium. I grasped at my throat, only to find myself scratching my arm instead. I tried to clear my throat, but instead ended up with a ear ache. I decided to seek out Gabby’s bed and sit down. It had to be somewhere around there. “Can you help me to your bed?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said, or at least one of her did. There were suddenly about nine Gabbys standing around me, not including the one made out of putty that was clawing its way through the ceiling. There was another one out the window, waving a flare around for some reason.

I had to be dreaming, that was it. Except that, unless I’d fallen asleep on her couch, or something, I hadn’t actually gone to sleep. I had been wide awake when I’d gotten to her house, and I was fairly certain I’d been wide awake when we’d come upstairs into her bedroom, so why was everything so fucked up?

“Gabby?” I called out to her. She’d disappeared, all of her. The room was suddenly back to normal, except everything was in grayscale.

“I’m here.”

“Where?”

“Right in front of you.”

I didn’t see her. I reached out into the air in front of me, but she wasn’t there. I didn’t feel anything.

“No, you’re not.”

“Ken, swear to God, you just grabbed my boob.”

“No I didn’t.” My voice sounded normal again, but I could still hear the embarrassment in that line. Even though I couldn’t feel that I’d accidentally groped her didn’t mean that I hadn’t accidentally groped her. “Sorry, if I really did.”

“You’ve touched more than that, so don’t worry about it. What’s going on? If you can’t see me, what do you see?”

“The room. It’s completely gray, though.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah.” The door opened. There was a figure there, female by the body shape. “Wait, did you just open the door?”

“No. Why, is the door open?”

“You’re not the one standing in the doorway?”

“No, Ken, I’m not. Are you high?”

The figure stepped closer to me. I recognized her, but I couldn’t peg where I knew her from. I moved closer to her, but I didn’t seem to be gaining any ground. Was the room fucking up again? “Gabby, where am I right now?”

“Uh, sitting on my bed. I helped you there, remember?”

“I’m not seeing the same things you are.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. This is weird.”

“No shit. Uh… Help me to the door?”

“No.”

“But, the girl…”

“What girl?”

“Her! The one in the doorway!” I did my best to point at the figure, but God only knows if I was actually pointing. The girl in the doorway put her hands to her mouth and started to giggle. I could hear the giggle, almost as if she was standing right beside me.

Where the hell did I know her from?

“Ken, you are not getting moved. Just lie down, I’mma call your mom.”

“Don’t,” a voice said, but it wasn’t mine. “Don’t let her.”

The girl had moved closer to me again. I know I saw her at some point in the last couple days now, but I still couldn’t peg her. Why did she look so familiar to me?

“Don’t…” This time it was my voice.

“What?” Gabby asked.

“Don’t do that,” my voice again.

“Have her leave,” the girl’s voice. What was her name? It started with a K, I knew that much. Why couldn’t I remember more?

“I think I’ll be fine if I just have some rest,” I said. “Mind if I take a nap?”

I still couldn’t see Gabby, so if she was making any sort of look on her face, I didn’t know. Eventually, I heard her sigh, and say, “Okay. I’ll be back in here to check on you in twenty minutes.”

“Okay, thanks,” I said. I finally felt the bed underneath me. I heard the door open, then close again. I couldn’t tell if there’d been enough time for Gabby to have left, but I had no reason to believe she would have stayed in the room.

“Good,” the girl said. I felt her sit down beside me, and her hand suddenly started to caress my face. “Just drift to sleep. Drift… To sleep…”

It was strange. The second she started talking, I started to feel my eyes getting heavier, then close. I could still feel her hand on my face, I could feel warmth spreading from her body to mine. Then, the warmth started to spread through my body. From my face to my arms, to my legs, to my vagina, to my breasts.

I didn’t even have time to realize what I was saying to myself before I was asleep.

5.

“Please get up, please get up, please. Get. Up.”

The voice sounded like it was coming from a million miles away, but I knew that was just my fucked up sense of hearing after whatever the hell had just happened to me. I rolled over onto my side and tried to shut the voices out. The bed was too comfortable.

“Goddammit, Ken, wake! Up!”

Ken. Ken… Ken… Why did that sound so familiar?

“I mean it! Get up, now!”

I knew that I recognized that name, but I couldn’t think of who it belonged to. Was it somebody I knew? Was it somebody I’d dated? He didn’t sound like my type of guy. Come to think of it, I couldn’t remember the last guy I went out with. Maybe I needed to head out to the mall and start flirting a little before school kicked off.

“Kenneth Matthew Brewster, get your ass out of my bed now!”

Kenneth? Wait… Ken… Kenneth… That had to be where I recognized the name from, but there was a slight problem there.

My name was Kendra.

I opened my eyes to see Gabby standing there, looking down at me. “How long have I been asleep?” I asked.

“That’s what you’re asking?” She looked like she’d just watched me grow a second head.

“Yeah, because I don’t remember falling asleep.”

“You’re not asking why you’ve suddenly become a girl again?”

“Again?” What the hell was she talking about? I’d always been a girl. “Are you okay?”

She now looked like she’d seen a thousand ghosts having an orgy. “Oh… Oh… Oh no… Oh shit oh no…”

“What?”

“Gimme your phone.”

I reached into my shorts pocket and pulled out my phone. She took it from me, nearly scraping me with her fingernails. I thought I had longer fingernails than she did, mine looked weirdly short. And I wasn’t wearing any nail polish.

“Who are you calling?” I asked.

“Your cousin. I need her to talk to that sorceress she knows.”

“Uh, why?”

She looked over at me, concern flashing across her face. “You.”

6.

“What’s your name?” Mom asked, staring me in the eye. Over a day of doing nothing and that was all the farther we’d really gotten. Oh, I’d told them other things, and they’d told me things about the boy they thought I was, but it always kept coming back to my name.

I sighed and answered for about the fiftieth time. “Kendra Selene Brewster.” I took a bite of the Snickers bar I’d been eating. “How many times to I have to say that?”

Gabby was standing on the other side of the room, a concerned look on her face the likes of which I’d never seen before. Why was she so scared? Well, other than the fact that everybody seems to think I used to be a boy. I don’t get it, I think I’d know if I used to be a boy. Had everybody taken crazy pills at exactly the same time?

Mom held up a photo of her and some boy, probably this Kenneth that they keep thinking I’m supposed to be. “And you don’t remember being male at all?”

“How could I remember being a guy if I was never a guy?”

“Sweetie, the pictures aren’t fake, you were a boy, you just don’t remember it now, for some reason.”

I leaned back in my chair. “Okay, say i really was a boy. Why don’t I remember it, if I was?”

“That’s what I hope your cousin tells us,” Gabby said, finally speaking up. She walked over to the kitchen table and pulled a chair out. “If she ever gets here.”

Almost as if on cue, there was a knock on the door. Mom got up and opened the door, and I saw Amy and a girl I didn’t recognize. That sorceress she talked about nowhere in sight. Whatever was going on, maybe Amy could explain that I had always been a girl, like I was certain of.

The unfamiliar girl sat down in front of me and that was when I realized she wasn’t a girl at all. Oh, she was wearing a bright yellow tank top with an obvious bra underneath and a pair of short shorts that looked absolutely adorable on her, and her fingernails and toenails were both painted the same bright yellow as her top; her hair was longer than mine and her makeup was perfect.

But she her flat chest and her slight bulge made it obvious that she was a boy.

Not that I had any problems with that. She was still cute, and if not for the fact that I wasn’t into girly boys, I might go out with her. Or, well, no. I was still treating her like she was a girl, so maybe I wouldn’t. Either way, if she wanted to express herself as female, I was okay with that.

Ugh... I was sounding stupid.

“Kendra,” Amy said, “this is my friend Dean. She’s Ms. Malski’s… um…”

Dean finished the thought, “Ms. Malski’s my stepmom. She’s also the reason I’m the way I am, but I’m better off this way. Last but not least, she’s teaching me the tricks of the magic trade.”

I nodded my head, just to make movements, if nothing else. “Okay. What’s that gotta do with me?”

“Mom thinks you… Affected… The spell she used to change you the other day.”

“What spell?”

“See, that’s what I’m talking about. Somehow, you’ve made your spell take effect again, and you’ve rewritten your whole past. Mom told me that part’s almost impossible, even for higher level sorceresses like her. She mentioned something about genies being able to do it, but then she tossed that idea away because something about genies not being around anymore. I’m only just starting my magic training, so what I can do is absurdly limited right now.”

Mom asked, “So why did your mother send you? It sounds like something she should be here for.”

Dean shrugged. “I dunno. I’m getting pretty good at reversing minor spells. Like, last week Mom turned an apple into a curling iron, and I turned it back into an apple, but then she turned me back into the old me, and I couldn’t reverse that, so she had to. Not only is this a pretty high level spell, Ken… Dra… Kendra… Reversed it herself and somehow changed her past in the process.” She looked back at me. “Mom says that you might be capable of magic.”

Mom sat down in a dining room chair and looked like the wind had been knocked out of her. “This is all… All this was supposed to be was Ken experiencing how it felt to be female while wearing girl’s clothes, how did all this happen?”

I folded my arms under my breasts. “From my point of view, nothing happened. I was a girl yesterday, a girl the day before, and all the way since the day I was born. Everybody acting like this is wrong somehow makes no sense to me.”

Gabby said, “Trust me, this makes no sense to anyone. You were a boy yesterday, not a girl, and you’ve always been a boy.”

I just couldn't see it. I remembered being a girl too clearly, from Gabby and I having sleepovers when we were little to that day at the mall when I had my first kiss with Shawn Breckenridge. It was probably the most disgusting kiss I’d ever had, but it was my first.

Hearing that this life I remembered was supposedly fake was starting to get on my nerves. “Look, I’m fine the way I am, okay?” I stood up and walked to the door. “I’mma go out and enjoy the rest of the day at the mall, or something.” With that, I shut the door behind me and set out for the nearest inner-city bus stop.

7.

His eyes were on me the second I sat down at the food court with my ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato and mustard sub sandwich. I had to admit, I was doing as much staring as he was.

If course, I was dressed specifically to make boys stare at me. After leaving home, I made it to the nearest clothing store and bought myself some new stuff, mostly to keep me from sweating too much since it was almost a hundred degrees outside. I’d picked a scoop-neck tank top and tiny, tiny skirt, plus a pair of sandals with a three inch heel.

The girls, naturally, were getting most of the attention.

I went to take my first bite out of the sub when that Dean girl sat down across the table from me. “You gonna eat the other half?” she asked. I slid it across the table to her. “Thank you, I’m goddamned starving! Amy never told me how long it would take to get here, and I haven't eaten since we left town.” She glanced over at the boy I was almost flirting with. “Oooh, he’s cute.”

I put my half of the sub down. “Why’d Mom and Gabby send you? No offense or anything, but you really don’t have any stakes in whether I was really a boy like they say I was.”

She shrugged. “No, but I volunteered. I love going to the mall back home. I honestly think I’ve developed some kind of shopping… Well, complex, really. I just like to shop.” She took a pretty big bite. “You freaked your mom and your friend out when you left.”

I sighed. “Whatever. I’m fine the way I am. They can leave me alone.”

Another bite. “Yeah, you said that.” She let out a light burp. “And your family says otherwise. Now, my mom sent me out here because she thinks I can help you, I don’t honestly know how, and you’re just fine with your change, which from what Mom tells me means one thing.”

“What?”

Big bite again. “A sorceress’ body knows that it needs to change itself, and will do so once her power has finally been awakened. If you're really a sorceress, like my mom thinks you are, then your power awoke and your body reshaped itself like it should. Why your mind changed is the question.”

I leaned forward. “But I don't feel like my mind changed. I don’t remember being this boy they say I was.”

She nodded. “I know. And I don’t know how to fix that, but I think I know how to get you to fix it.”

I leaned back. “Now I’m confused.”

8.

“Okay,” Dean said as she sat me down on my bed. Amy, Gabby and Mom all around us. I had to admit, my room did look like a boy’s room. I could have sworn I had yellow curtains. “I need you to lie down now.”

“Why?”

She pulled her phone out. “My mom gave me this list of spells to awaken deeper parts of someone's mind. Mom doesn’t think you actually rewrote your life after I texted her some extra details, now she thinks you’re one of at least two personalities. Y’see, everybody has some form of split personality, usually a part of us that we repress or just something we never knew was in us to begin with.” She tapped away at her phone. “Lie down.”

“Why?”

She glared at me. “When the alternate personalities are allowed out, your body may experience some… Effects. You’ll be fine if you're lying down, but you might accidentally hurt yourself if you sit up.”

I sighed. “Whatever. Just get this over with.”

She placed a hand on my chest and started saying something in a language I couldn't understand. Nothing magical seemed to be happening, at least from my perspective. I yawned, my hand was slapped away from my mouth.

That was when my body started tingling. My vision doubled, blurred, then finally, everything went dark...

9.

The dark enveloped me, and then that was replaced by the light. The two danced around and swapped places constantly, but in spite of this, the brightness of whatever room I was in never actually seemed to change.

The floor… Wasn't there. I walked along it, never once hearing footsteps, despite the fact that my heels should have been making a distinctive clicking sound. The place didn't seem to have any sort of air, though I wasn't having trouble breathing. The whole thing was creeping me out.

I kept walking, despite no obvious evidence that I was even moving. The place was just a giant nothing, for all I knew I was walking in place. I stopped to look around for a moment to get my bearings, but my bearings never really seemed to get got.

I decided to sit down. Either something would happen, or I’d bore myself to death not doing anything. If I were lucky, one of those alternate selves Dean talked about would show up at some point.

A shadow crossed over me. I looked up and saw… Well… Me. A girl that looked exactly like me, wearing a short sleeved shirt and a pair of blue jeans. She held out her hand for me to take, so I did. She pulled me to my feet and patted me down like I was dusty.

“There you go, good as new,” she said, a smile on her face.

“Who are… You?”

“Technically, you. My name’s Kenneth.”

“You’re the guy everybody keeps mistaking me for! Well, but you’re not a guy.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m not, and, well, this is complicated.”

“Actually, that Dean girl explained it, I’m… We’re split personalities, and you’re the dominant one, but I’m the one that took hold when your magical sorceress powers decided to come out, for some reason.”

She scratched at her head. “Well. That… No, I can't say that makes sense. I’m a sorceress?”

I nodded. “Yeah. And apparently your body changed because of it. I guess boys can't be sorceresses.”

She rolled her eyes. “That makes sense. Stupid as it was to hear out loud.” She walked around me, as if looking for something but not quite certain what. I looked around again, wondering if maybe I could actually find something if I actually knew I should be looking for something. Of course, that attempt failed horribly.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Looking for the way out.”

“How do you know there is one?”

She grabbed me by the shoulders. “Look, this is your mind, this is my mind, this is our mind. There is a way out, we’ve just gotta find it.”

10.

It took us five hours of searching before we finally found the way out. The girl, Kendra, looked completely out of it. I wondered what she’d been told in the real world to make her look so down.

I also wondered why she would be a split personality to me. Was there some part of me that wanted to be female? She seemed so very different from me, it almost made me wonder what her “life” had been like. Made me wonder if she still had a dad.

The more I thought about it, I wondered what would happen to her when we made it out of here. Would I be in control of our body? Would she? Would we merge somehow, and have the memories of both our lives? Would one of us just die off being pushed to the back of our mind? Would the other be a nagging voice at the back of the mind?

Did I really have the right to be in control of our body? Her life was just as real to her as mine was to me. I couldn’t take that away from her, it would be wrong. I wondered if there was something I could do to help her. If I was really the sorceress that I apparently was, maybe there was some way to give her her own body.

The exit before us looked an awful lot like that doorway made of light that I’d seen before I didn’t wake up. The doorway was about six times larger than any real door I’d ever seen, and yet I was certain only one of us would be able to go through it. I stepped toward it, but stopped.

“What’s the matter?” Kendra asked.

I turned to her. “What’ll happen to us?”

She shrugged. “I dunno. Dean didn’t tell me that.”

“What if one of us… Y’know… Dies?”

The color drained from her face. “If what they’re saying is true, I’m not real anyway. I can’t die, I’m just a part of you. You’re the real us, and I’m… The part of you born female, I guess.”

I stepped away from the door. “But if I’m really a sorceress, wouldn’t that make you the real one?”

She shrugged again. “I don’t know, okay? Maybe nothing will happen to either of us and we’ll both be okay when you step through that door, you’ll just be the dominant personality again. I’ll go find some cave in our mind to live in. But we’ll never know anything, our body will probably die, and then Mom and Amy and Gabby and everybody we know will watch it all happen if you don’t go through that door.”

I felt tears welling up in my eyes. She was actually willing to live with whatever consequences there were. I took a deep breath, then took a step toward the door.

Then a thought crossed my mind.

“Hey, while you were… Y’know, me, us, whatever, did you and Gabby do anything?” I asked.

She raised an eyebrow. “What? What are you talking about?”

I walked back over to her. “Well, Gabby and I kinda had sex the other day, and I was just - “

She cut me off. “I’m a girl, doofus, and so are you right now. There was nothing I could do with Gabby.”

“So what? I was a girl when we had sex.”

She shivered. “Ugh… I didn’t know that and I didn’t want to know that. I’m straight, you didn’t have to tell me you aren’t.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “Male brain, male urges, okay? Besides, Gabby’s gay, too.”

Shock spread across her face. “I didn’t know that either.”

That made sense. If Kendra wasn’t gay, Gabby would have had no reason to come out to her, since she didn’t come out to me until I was a girl.

I patted her on the shoulder and then turned back to the doorway. The light only grew brighter as I neared it. Then a warmth encased me, wrapped itself around me and spread inside me. The feeling was so strange and yet familiar at the same time.

And then for whatever reason, I had a song by Men At Work stuck in my head.

11.

The reason for the music in my head was revealed to be Mom listening to the 80s station on XM radio. I sat up and rubbed at my forehead. There was Amy, Gabby, Mom and someone I assumed was “that Dean girl”, though she was clearly just an androgynous guy in absurdly cute clothes. Definitely cute enough to be mistaken for a girl.

They were all looking at me with concerned looks on their faces, especially Gabby and Mom. I just looked around at all of them and prayed somebody else would say something first. When it became obvious that nobody was gonna talk, I just said, “Hi.” It surprised me for a second that my voice was still female, but, it probably shouldn’t have. If I’m gonna be a sorceress, I guess I’ve gotta have the anatomy to have the ‘ess’ on the end.

None of them said anything. I could tell they were all anxious, probably not even sure who they would be talking to. I couldn’t blame them. They’d just spent the better part of an afternoon with Kendra, and now I was back in control.

Mom was the first one to say anything. “Sweetie, are you… Kenny or Kendra?”

“Kenny,” I said. “Though I guess Kendra’s probably the more appropriate name, now. I’m not the girl that didn’t know she’d been a boy, though.”

Gabby breathed a sigh of relief. So did Dean. Amy just looked relieved, but neither she nor Mom sighed. “It’s about time you’re back,” Gabby said.

I pivoted on my bed, but didn’t get up. For some reason, I was exhausted now. Something told me it had something to do with the heels. “How long was Kendra here?” I asked.

“Not too long, just a little over a day.”

“A little over a day?”

Amy said, “Well, Dean and I had to get here.” She stepped closer. “It’s like a five hour drive and we couldn’t exactly make it in a night.”

“What did she do the whole time?”

Mom answered, “When we weren’t asking her questions, she took naps and watched TV.”

Dean stood up. “Okay, it looks like we’ve settled your personalities and put you back in control. Now I’ve just gotta text my mom and ask her what to do next.”

“Your mom?” I asked.

She looked confused, then smacked herself in the head. “Duh. The other one. My mom, the sorceress that turned Amy into Amy, fixed my life and helped you discover your feminine side. She’s our principal at school, and she adopted me after getting me away from my shitty old family.”

I realized for the first time that I was wearing a skirt and my panties were pretty plainly visible. I closed my legs instantly and probably turned red as a beet. “Um, so… Uh… Kendra said something about me being a sorceress?”

She nodded. “Yeah, my mom’s about eighty-five percent sure that something you did the other day when she let you experience femininity awakened latent magical power inside you, and then that power changed you to accommodate the fact that a sorceress’ magic physically needs a woman’s body to sustain it.”

Gabby said, “That seems kinda sexist, but if it keeps Ken as a girl, I’ll take it.”

Dean turned to her. “It’s actually a sad trade-off.” She turned back to me. “The magical power of a sorceress in a way replaces your reproductive system. Your body contains so much magic that you’re rendered infertile.”

“Completely?” I asked.

She nodded. “If there’s been a case of a sorceress having children, it’s never been recorded.”

I scooted across my bed back against my bedroom wall and hugged my knees to my chest. In the span of a day, I’d caused a split personality to come forth, be repressed again, become permanently female because of magic, and lost the ability to ever have children.

Tomorrow was going to be the hardest first day of my life ever.

12.

It turned out that the day wasn't that difficult, only because Gabby, Dean, Amy and I all went to a lake party. There was this weird moment where that Mikaela girl from Dr. Santos’s office suddenly lost her clothes, but other than that, it was pretty uneventful and fun.

Which only served to make me feel today, the first day of school, would be much harder.

The only bright side to all of this that I saw was that years of crossdressing had given me quite the wardrobe when I became stuck this way. Cleaning out most of my guy clothes had been relatively easy and painless, though I kept some shirts and a pair of pajamas. For sentimental and practical reasons.

I didn’t worry about makeup, even though Mom offered to let me use some. I didn’t think I was ready for that yet, despite being pretty good at putting it on. I stood in front of the bathroom mirror and took several deep breaths. I wasn’t sure if I was ready at all, but I knew I needed to be, regardless of how I felt.

Then again, I was an uber-powerful sorceress, did I really need to go to school?

“Hey, do I really need to go to school since I’m some super powered magic person?” I asked mom as she walked past the bathroom.

“Yes,” she said, bluntly.

I sighed. “Okay.”

“Just act natural, you’ll be fine.”

Fine. Fine she says I’ll be. The one thing I didn’t feel like was “fine”. I sighed again and took a brush through my hair. It wasn’t a mess, but it wasn’t exactly neat either. Stupid tangles.

I grabbed my bookbag and then the purse that Gabby was loaning me. I didn’t carry the purse, though, I just tossed it in my bookbag along with my binder and notebooks. Not every girl carried a purse openly, I had to remind myself. A part of me was trying too hard to go to school presenting myself as a Valley Girl. Probably the Kendra part of me I created. The smarter part of me just wanted the day to be over.

Gabby was waiting for me outside. She was smiling, which told me the outfit I’d picked out was just what she was asking for. A cami top and a pair of short shorts and some bright purple sandals. I was wearing a necklace that Mom had given me, a small heart pendant that nestled itself in my cleavage. In fact, the cleavage was clearly on Gabby’s mind, as her gaze drifted there.

“My eyes are up here,” I said, pointing to my face.

“No, you did not just say that,” she said through laughter.

“I never thought I’d have a reason to say that.”

The two of us giggled almost uncontrollably, but we managed to get ourselves back together before the bus got there. We made our way to the back, our usual spot, except that I usually too the seat across from her. This time, we took the same seat and her hand grasped mine almost instantly.

I moved her hand from mine and slipped it under my shirt. She had a look of surprise on her face when I slid her hand under my bra and positioned her fingers to pinch at my nipple. “Somebody wants fun,” she said, a playful smile on her face. “Good thing we've got plenty of cover back here.”

I pressed my lips to her’s and slid my tongue into her mouth. She moaned lightly, which made me moan. I put my hand up under her shirt and mentally smiled when I found she wasn't wearing a bra. I rolled her nipple between my fingers, causing her to bite my tongue on accident. I broke off the kiss, but then we got right back to it almost immediately.

13.

I stood in front of the principal, who was apparently a perverted old man, because he wouldn't look at my face, but my breasts instead. Annoying, but understandable. I’d stare at them if I wasn’t the one they were attached to. Hell, I stared at them in the mirror after my shower this morning.

“So, miss Brewster, you’ve moved here from Mississippi after your home was destroyed in a flood and your mother sent you to live with your aunt, and your transcripts were destroyed in the flood?”

I nodded. “It was a horrible flood.”

He rubbed at his chin. “It's not the best lie I’ve heard, but it's not a bad one.”

I was confused. “What?”

He leaned back in his chair. “You’re not the first person affected by magic to come into my school, Kenneth. I’ll approve Kendra’s transfer, the schedule we mailed you last week will still apply. Your teachers have been notified that Kenneth won’t be in class and that Kendra will. Just make sure there are no magical problems in my school, miss Brewster. Last year, I had to stop the gymnasium from being destroyed in a fight between a succubus and a magical girl, I don’t want a repeat of this situation, even if it did enlighten me to the existence of magic.”

I blinked, no doubt a look of astonishment on my face. “A succubus and a magical girl?”

He nodded. “Quite enlightening, but you need to get out now. Class starts in a few minutes.”

14.

I felt eyes were watching me, despite the fact that I was blending in with the crowd relatively well. Nobody was really looking at me, I just thought they all were. And, honestly, there were probably guys looking at me, though I had absolutely no interest in looking at them. Guys did nothing for me, which was in a way reassuring and slightly weird. Some part of me that I’d created was into guys, so why wasn’t I into guys at all?

I shouldn’t think of it, though. I had a great girlfriend, and I didn't want to screw that up by turning myself… I guess dating guys would be straight now. I didn't want to be straight, there.

I found my newest locker assignment, a row and a half away from last year’s. There were three people chatting nearby, a girl and two guys. I recognized the girl as… Mindy, I think her name was. Neither of the guys looked familiar, but one of them was wearing a letterman jacket, so I assumed he had gone here last year.

The guy not wearing the jacket was glancing over at me every few seconds. Even if I was into guys, he’d be nothing to look at. Scruffy dark hair, light stubble and didn't seem to want to look clean. But above all that, the way he looked at me was… Creepy, for lack of a better word. Something was off about him, I could tell.

“Hey,” a voice said. I recognized it and turned around to see Terry Hughes walking up to me. He couldn't have recognized me, could he?

“Hi?” I said, almost nervously.

“Ken, I recognize you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “How?”

“I’ve spent time around a succubus and a magical girl this past week, sorta been enlightening.”

“A succubus and a magical girl?”

He nodded. “Sorta been enlightening. But that's not important. So, what's up with you and why is it magic only seems to come to girls?”

I sighed. “I’m a sorceress apparently.”

“Ooh, sounds interesting. And which side of the attraction fence do you land on? I ask for the sake of Mindy, because she wants a girlfriend and finds you attractive.”

I laughed. “Not that I wouldn't be interested, but I’ve only got eyes for Gabby.”

He sighed. “Well, that explains why she wouldn't go for it.” He patted me on the shoulder. “Well, catch up with ya later, gotta get to class.”

I watched him walk away and giggled to myself. Succubi, magical girls and sorceresses all at one school. I wondered if I’d ever meet one of the other two. I wondered if they’d be hot.

15.

I set my food tray down beside Gabby’s. She smiled as I sat down and leaned over to give me a peck on the cheek. I put my arm around her and started feeding her some french fries. She returned the favor by plucking my burger apart and feeding it to me. If I’d known having a girlfriend would be this nice, I’d have done it before.

Then I noticed that guy from earlier. He was staring at us, specifically at me. I was getting even more creeped out than earlier, because at least he wasn't outright staring before. I tried to ignore him, but that was almost impossible

Thankfully, Gabby decided to talk. “What's up, beautiful?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Nothing. Just a weird feeling, that’s all.”

She smiled and kissed my lips gently. “That’s called being in love.”

I wrapped my arms around her, pressed my tits to hers. “And it’s a wonderful feeling.” I licked her lips and then took more of her mouth into mine. I couldn’t believe I’d gone years knowing her without knowing how good she tasted. It was something I didn’t want to go without ever again.

16.

I hated gym class when I was a guy, and being a girl didn't change that at all. Sure, I was in the girls locker room with a bunch of attractive girls, and we were all in different states of undress, but at the same time, the bitchiest girls seemed to be the ones in my class. I’d have to text Amy later and see if she had this problem.

Case in point was Casey Vasquez. I remembered a big thing with her last school year where she and her friends on the cheer squad had used the pool for a nude photo shoot thing in an attempt to make it big online. Her dad was the local District Attorney, so she and her friends got off without even a single charge, despite what they’d done.

She walked into the locker room, turned on a radio that apparently had been left there for her, and started singing very, very badly along with pop music that sounded like it came from the early 00’s. I swear I actually heard some Backstreet Boys mixed in there, and I mean vintage. After that, she walked past every girl on the cheer squad and gave them a pat on the back, a little hug, the girlfriendly kiss (not the romantic girlfriend kind). Everybody she didn’t want in her locker room, she scowled at.

I received one of the scowls.

I couldn’t figure out why. She’d never met “me”, she didn’t know who “I” was, I was just in the locker room changing from my regular clothes to my gym clothes. I tried my damnedest to ignore her, but that wasn’t easy.

Next to me was that Mikaela girl from the doctor’s office. I didn’t know she went to my school. She looked even more nervous to be changing in front of everybody than I was. I honestly wasn’t sure if I could entirely blame her, too. I was looking at her boobs the whole time feeling a mix of envy and lust because she was huge. D-cup at the smallest. That was the lust part talking. The envy part wondered if Gabby would like me with bigger boobs.

“God, does she need to be such a bitch?” Mikaela asked.

“Some people are just like that,” I said as I pulled my gym shirt over my head. “Especially sluts on the cheer squad.”

“Whaddya mean?”

“Rumor has it she slept with most of the football team last season.” I honestly was surprised that rumor came in handy. I’d heard it over the summer, but considering I was a guy then, I didn’t think I’d get a chance to be a gossip girl.

“That sounds impressive,” she said, almost as if she were wishing she’d done it. I think she realized what she’d said, because she immediately covered her mouth and said, “I didn’t mean that.”

“Whatever,” I said, coming off a little more flippant than I intended. She put her gym shirt on and my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when I saw our school logo stretched across her tits. Good god, why was she that damn hot to me?

“You’re staring at the assets a little more than I’d like…” she said.

I looked away from her boobs and mentally scolded myself for looking at a girl that wasn’t Gabby. “Sorry, just… Y’know, I’ve been kinda a late bloomer.”

She rolled her eyes. “I wish I was a late bloomer.” I heard her mutter something under her breath, but I I couldn’t tell what it was supposed to be. Either way, I just grabbed a rubber band and tied my hair into a ponytail, then followed her and the rest of the girls out into the gym proper.

17.

By the time gym was over, I didn't think I could be so sweaty. The front of my shirt was practically glued to my sports bra, and my shorts were pretty much crawling into my ass. If not for my panties, they probably would be halfway in my ass.

Mikaela was probably just as sweaty as I was, and I’d noticed she did her best to stay away from the guys. I wondered why, but, I also could tell she was plenty self-conscious about people looking at her. Weird thing was all the guys sniffing around her. Cone to think of it, something about her did smell kinda… Enticing? Was that it? I couldn't tell, I just pushed it out of my mind. Gabby would kill me if she thought I was kissing another girl.

I was quite convinced the girls locker room had a better shower system until I actually got in there and discovered just how true that was. The water was warmer, the stream was finer, everything pointed to the girls locker room shower being 1000% better on the skin than the one in the boys locker room.

I was taking care of my hair when the curtain was pulled open and Casey Vasquez stood there, naked as can be and with a scowl on her face that almost implied she murdered pandas for fun. “What the fuck are you doing in my stall, whore?” she asked as if I’d stolen her kidney.

“It didn't have a name on it,” I answered.

“Everybody knows this is my stall. You must be a new girl, because otherwise you would know where your place on the pyramid is here. I’m on top, and you're somewhere on the bottom making sure I don't fall on my butt. If you're lucky, you’ll climb high enough to guard my panties from the perverts or the swim team. But you will never be on top.”

I folded my arms across my chest. “That mean girl shit may work on others, but don’t even think it’ll work on me. There are tougher girls out there than you. You wanna be a bitch, be a bitch, but I will not be pushed around by someone who can't even walk past a door without checking out her reflection.”

She stood there with her hands on her hips and an annoyed look on her face. She ran her tongue around her mouth, then said, “Whoever you think you are, you're not. You wanna get ahead in my school, you need to get behind me and know your place.” She pushed past me and shoved me out of the stall. “And just wait until you try for a boyfriend. I know all the boys in school, and none of them will date a girl I’ve blacklisted.”

I rolled my eyes and wrapped my towel around my chest. “Whatever,” I said. I was gonna have to ask Amy’s sorceress friend how cursing people worked. She'd be less of a bitch if she was forced to do something outrageously embarrassing. Heh. She fancied herself a gift to men, maybe she’d calm her shit if the guys saw her kissing a girl. Then she’d have trouble getting a boyfriend.

Mikaela was standing at the door out of the locker room, less sweaty, but still with that weird smell. “I would not have been able to do to that bitch what you just did.”

I shrugged. “I dealt with cunts like her at my old school, she’s no big deal.” Not an outright lie, but a minor bend to the truth. “I never told you my name. I’m Kendra.”

“Mikaela, but my boyfriend and my best friend call me Mike.”

“Ooh, boyfriend?” That made her nervousness around guys seem weird, unless she was just trying to make sure she wasn't tempted to cheat. She musta moved here during the summer if she had a boyfriend, because I thought she was an actual new student.

She smiled. “Yeah. Oh, there he is.”

“Hey, Mikey,” Terry Hughes said as he walked up and gave Mikaela a kiss. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back. When they finished, Terry looked at me. “Oh, hi, Ken.”

Mikaela asked, “You two know each other?”

Terry looked surprised. “Oh, yeah, this is Ken Brewster,” he said, motioning to me.

The wheels seemed to be turning in Mikaela’s head. “The guy from Dr. Santos’ office that kept staring at my boobs?”

I blushed. “Can I help it if you’ve got a great rack?”

She rolled her eyes. “Please, I get enough of that from Mindy. So, are you being possessed by a magic sex demon, too?”

“Magic… Sex demon?”

“Yeah, I’m sharing headspace with a succubus.”

Terry added. “And her sister’s a magical girl.”

That explained his comment from before, but it still confused the shit out of me. Succubi and magical girls were real? Then again, I was a sorceress, I guess anything was possible at this point.

“So, Kendra,” Mikaela said, “we should hang out sometime. Maybe bond over what it’s like to be girls who used to be boys.”

“Wait, you were a guy?!”

“Shhh! Keep it down! Yeah, I was, and like I said, we’ll have to bond over it sometime. Right now, since school’s officially over for the day, I wanna go have fun with my boyfriend.”

I smiled. “No problem. You two seem like a cute couple.” I waved. “See you later.”

18.

Gabby was in a good mood when I got onto the bus and sat beside her. She immediately unzipped my shorts and started fingering me. I payed her back by slipping my hand under her top and fondled her breasts. Her other hand went up to my head and she tangled her fingers in my hair. I brought my lips to hers and kissed her hard.

The bus ride was pretty much the two of us making the other one moan and trying to keep it down the whole way. We decided to get off at the stop by Gabby’s house, because she wanted to see my ass wiggle as we walked home. I obliged her, putting on a show I’d only seen in porn videos. She reciprocated by putting a $20 in my panties. I told her I wasn’t her stripper and gave it back to her, but kissed her nonetheless.

The walk home was slow, but peaceful. It was still hot, but the combination of wind and the outfit I was wearing kept me from sweating too much. I still felt the sweat trickling all down my body, but it was manageable for the distance I had to travel, then I’d be right back in air conditioning, probably sitting at my desk and writing. I’d probably text Amy later, ask her if that sorceress she knows could give me some pointers on magic. No point in being a really powerful magic user if I wasn’t gonna use it, right?

I spotted Mikaela getting dropped off by that boyfriend of hers. She waved, then walked into her house. I didn’t even realize we lived like two blocks away from one another. Amazing how much smaller this town feels now that I know there’s a shitton of magical people here. I still needed to ask what was up with all the magical girls and succubi that were apparently tearing up schools left and right.

Suddenly, that thought was shifted elsewhere. I could feel something off, something very off. It didn’t take me long to figure out why, either. He was twenty paces behind me, pretending like he wasn’t following me. That guy from school, the one that had been watching me. He had his bag slung over his shoulder and he was walking around like he didn't have a care in the world.

I sped up. I didn't want him catching up to me. He didn't try to match my speed, instead he just sauntered along like he was in control of the situation. Honestly, I couldn’t dispute that, because I didn’t know the situation. I started walking as fast as I could go without running.

I rounded a corner at a house that was just down the road from mine and came face to face with the guy. One second, he’s behind me, the next he’s in front of me and sniffing at somebody’s flower bed.

“You’re a hard girl to catch up to, Kendra,” he said. He turned to me and a smile spread across his face. “You’re pretty fast for someone who isn’t running.”

“Who the hell are you and how do you know my name?” I demanded.

That smile didn’t fade. “Sorry about that, I forgot we hadn’t actually been formally introduced. My name’s Lucian, and I know that you’re a sorceress.”

This is it. The end of this tale. It's taken me longer than it should have (I hit a massive roadblock in the form of writer's block), but it's here now, it's the final end. It's also technically become longer than novella length, but I don't really consider this a novel. Also, this chapter contains cameos of characters from a different story that hasn't been posted here yet. That story is up on TG Storytime, if you want to read it before I start bringing it here, the title is Don't Fear the Reaper.

Also, I just added a scene I had forgotten to write originally. It's the very last scene.

1.

We stood there for a long time, just staring at one another. Lucian with that smile of his and me with a very concerned look on my face. Or, well, what I assumed was a concerned look on my face. I couldn’t really see it. Either way, the two of us were staring at one another and it was disturbingly like one of those cliffhanger endings from anime where the protagonist and antagonist stare at one another.

I decided to break the silence. “What do you want?” I asked.

He didn’t answer right away, instead he just took a step closer to me.

I backed away. I wasn’t incapable of fighting, but even as a guy, I’d sorta been more of a runner. “Stay back,” I said, “I’m not very good at it, but I do know how to do some spells.” It was a lie, but he couldn’t possibly know that. Then again, he knew I was a sorceress.

“Your spells are exactly why I followed you. I’ve seen you around school for awhile now, and when I finally saw you today, in all your beauty as opposed to the guy you used to be, I knew now was the time.”

For awhile now? This guy’s known about me being a sorceress since before I knew I was a sorceress? “Time for what?” I asked.

He took another step closer, but I couldn’t move this time. I didn’t know what was keeping me trapped there, but it was almost like my feet were made of cement. “I have a little family problem that I’d like you to help me deal with. You see, my father’s incarcerated, and I’d like him out.”

I laughed. “You want me to use magical power to break somebody out of jail? Can’t you just hire some people to do that?”

He shook his head. “Not this prison. Not ordinary people. No, it may not surprise you to learn that there are magic prisons, used for only the most dangerous of people. One of them is my father, and only someone as powerful as you can help me.”

“And why should I?”

He put a hand on my shoulder and suddenly I felt insanely cold, almost ice cold. “Do you know how this world would react, Kendra - Kenneth - if they found out about people like you or I? People of magic? People like Mikaela? You’ve seen movies, societies rise against people they’re afraid of.” He took his hand off me and I felt the warmth return to my body. “Consider the idea of society rising against you as incentive to consider my offer.” He walked past me. “Have a good day, dear Kendra. I’ll speak with you tomorrow.”

I could finally move again, but I didn’t for a moment. I still felt somewhat cold, and that feeling didn’t want to go away. What the fuck did I just get myself into?

2.

“What’s up, baby?” Mom asked as I walked in the door. “You and Gabby didn’t break up, did you?”

“What? No, Mom, we’re fine. What?” was the best I could get out. I was still too freaked out by Lucian and his ultimatum. I couldn’t think straight and I still felt freezing cold. I was beginning to regret shorts and a cami top as wardrobe choices. Then again, outside it was like almost a hundred degrees. I was only cold because of that bastard Lucian.

I walked down the hall into my room and locked the door. I wanted to be alone, so that I could think. I set my bookbag down on the floor beside my desk and crashed on my bed. So now I was being threatened with the whole world knowing who and what I am if I didn’t break this dickhead’s dad out of jail.

I wondered why he’d target me specifically. He was clearly magic, and knew exactly what he wanted, why have me do it? And why couldn’t he go for some other magic person out there who would be more than willing to jump at the chance to break into a jail? There had to be a criminal out there who happened to have magic power.

I sat up and pulled myself against the wall. I couldn't think now. I needed to do something, talk to someone. Locking myself in my room was the wrong idea. I didn't even know who to talk to.

I grabbed my phone and texted Amy, Is that sorceress of yours busy?

Five minutes later, I received a reply of, She's on her way.

3.

The place I was asked to meet at was a little coffee house with exterior tables. Ms. Malski was sitting at a table already sipping from a cup of coffee. Nobody else was with her, but I didn’t feel any sort of anxiety. Almost completely the opposite of the meeting with Lucian.

I sat down across from her at the table and was given a cup of black coffee as a server walked past. “I hope you don't mind, I ordered for you while I was waiting,” Ms. Malski said.

I shook my head. “No problem.” I took a drink. “What did Amy tell you?”

She pulled out a small book and slid it across the table to me. “I can't say I’ve come across many magical beings in my lifetime, but my mother did. She left me this book. I don't know if this Lucian you met will be in it, though.”

I opened the book and found dozens of pictures of people with newspaper clippings beside them. Some had notes scrawled on them, like one of Marilyn Monroe with “Succubus?” or Ronald Reagan with a pair of devil horns drawn on his head (that one may just have been a joke). I went through page after page and didn't find anyone resembling Lucian. I did find a picture of that guy at the lake party doing the poker game Mikaela lost her clothes at.

“I just saw that guy yesterday,” I said, pointing to his picture. The newspaper clipping was dated August 19th, 1938.

“Loki. One of the few I have had the pleasure of meeting. He's not so bad after you get past the tricks, but his brother is an absolute horndog.”

I looked up from the book. “Thor?! Like, the Norse God, Thor?”

She sighed. “He’s less a God and more an animal when his pants are down. Not one of my interesting boyfriends, that much I’ll say.” She took another sip. “Is he in there?”

I shook my head. “Not from what I can see.” I slid the book back across to her. “If I describe how he made me feel, will that narrow it down?”

She shook her head. “Not really. Most of my mother’s notes weren’t actually meeting the people, but more by reputation.” She slipped the book back into her purse. “What was his demand, exactly?”

I slumped down in my chair. “He wants me to free his father from a magic jail.”

“And that’s all he told you?”

I nodded. “That’s it. His father’s in some sort of magic jail that somehow he can’t free him from and he needs me to do it.” I took a sip from my cup. “And seeing as I don’t know how to do any actual spells that aren’t me creating an accidental persona, I don’t see that happening, and then I’m a very public sorceress.”

She tilted her cup toward me. “That you don’t have to worry about. I can put in a call to Loki and get him to fudge with reality a little. It’s not like it’s the first time he’s done it and ordinary people are none the wiser.”

That eased my mind a little, but if that guy knew about me, he had to know about somebody who could warp the fabric of reality. He probably had a contingency plan specifically for Norse Gods.

I pulled myself up and sat straight. “What about… Spells? That kind of thing? Shouldn’t I know some? Like maybe how to kick this guy’s ass the next time I see him?”

Ms. Malski nodded. “I knew that would come up, and took the liberty of having Dean deliver a sort of starter kit that I found among my mother’s things recently. Dean’s been progressing nicely herself, so I decided to hold onto it in case Amanda or Melanie developed any sort of prowess. It’ll be at your house when you return.”

“What exactly comes in it?”

“Spells, ingredients for potion mixing, honestly you can find a lot of information if you just read a Harry Potter book. JK Rowling must have been a sorceress herself.” She took a sip of her coffee. “It shouldn’t take you too long to acclimated to the process. I learned it on my own, since my mother died shortly after I was born, and I’ve been doing well. Dean’s come along quite well, though she’s not a sorceress.”

“Wait, she’s not? But you sent her to help me that day.”

She nodded. “I did. I should correct my statement, Dean’s not yet a sorceress.” She snapped her fingers and suddenly we were in a classroom, me behind a desk and her at the chalkboard. I was damned certain I wanted to practice this one first. She drew male and female restroom symbols and wrote Dean’s name down under both of them. “Much like you, Dean was born male but with a vast amount of sorceress power within her. It’s possible that something similar to you would have happened to her, but it’s also possible that her power would have simply remained within her body and never left the magical plane.”

“Magical plane?”

She drew four lines on the side of the board. “There are a few of them, and I don’t know all of them. One is dedicated solely to sorceresses and sorcerers.” She turned back to me. “And yes, there is a distinction between sorceress and sorcerer magic, that’s why you couldn’t just remain male and be a sorcerer.” She turned back to the board. “One is for succubi, and one is for magical girls.”

I raised my hand like this was a real classroom. “Can I get some clarification on the succubi/magical girl thing? Apparently they nearly trashed my school last year.”

She shook her head. “All I know is from my mother’s book, and she only knew one magical girl. Now, there’s a difference between all this magic, one main difference is where the magic is stored.” She drew a circle around the female restroom symbol. “Though there is a magical plane dedicated to sorceresses, our power is stored in our bodies. This is what causes us to be infertile, because our bodies can handle the strain of the magic, but it still causes damage.”

“What happens to sorcerers?”

“Sorcerers suffer much the same fate, they become sterile.” She pointed to the magical girl line. “Magical girls don’t actually connect to their magic, and it’s far more limited than ours. Their magic is pretty much cemented on fighting the succubi.” She pointed to the succubi line. “That leads us to the succubi, who somewhat store their magic in their bodies, but as succubi have no physical bodies and need to take hosts, they suffer no ill effects. Their magic is also concentrated almost completely on sex.”

I stood up and walked over to the chalkboard. “Okay, so back to Dean, how is she a sorceress now when her body is still technically male?”

“I was just getting to that. It’s her magical aura.”

“Aura?”

“Yes. Every magical being has an aura. This aura is connected to our magic, and also to our gender. Someone with a male aura, for instance, can’t use sorceress or magical girl magic.” She drew a line going from Dean under the male symbol and Dean under the female symbol. “When Dean confronted herself about what she wanted, her aura changed to female, even though her body didn’t.”

“So the aura isn’t tied to the gender so much as it has its own and the magic is tied to that?”

“That’s a way of looking at it, yes.” She erased the board. “Now, did any of this help you figure out what this Lucian might be?”

I sighed. “I dunno. He doesn’t just seem to be a sorcerer, or like his aura is out of sync with his gender. He just makes me feel cold around him.”

Ms. Malski snapped her fingers and brought us back to the coffee house. “Well, hopefully that little crash course gets you closer to understanding how to use your own magic power when the time comes.”

I stood up. “Honestly, I’m hoping the time never comes.”

She nodded. “I understand, but if Lucian is serious about his threat, you may have to do something about him sooner rather than later.”

I took one last gulp of the (surprisingly) still hot coffee. “I know.”

4.

It was dark by the time I got home. I collapsed on the couch next to Mom for some crappy reality TV (The Voice or something, I wasn't paying attention). She microwaved a bowl of popcorn and we mowed down on that through another hour of something.

I finally got up and went to my room to sleep at 11:40, finding probably a dozen messages from Gabby on my phone. That magic starter kit Ms. Malski mentioned was sitting on my desk. It was a cardboard box with some spell books and a smaller box of potion ingredients inside it. I took out one of the spell books.

I flipped to a random page and picked out what looked like the easiest spell to pronounce. “Alakatha… Alakathabaventu…” Okay, easiest was the wrong thing to say. I closed the book and set it down on my desk only to turn around and find a blow up clown behind me. Something told me I was saying it all wrong.

I deflated the clown, stuffed it in my closet and changed into a nightie. I was barely awake and super distracted, I shouldn't be trying magic in this state.

I crawled into my bed, pulled the covers over me and felt the comforting embrace of sleep take hold of me. Hopefully I’d wake up tomorrow and find Lucian was just a bad dream.

5.

A hand pulled my blanket off of me. I nearly wet the bed when I saw Lucian standing over me. He pulled me out of bed and threw me at my desk. “Trying to get help, Kenneth?” he asked. “Wrong idea!”

Flames kicked up around him, burning the posters on my wall and going straight through to the wallpaper. The flames split my bed in two, and then came together into his hand, forming what looked like a fire whip. “Now, young lady, get ready for your lashes.”

“Get the fuck away from me!” I shouted.

“I warned you, Kenneth.” He flicked the whip against the wall, tearing a hole in the room. I didn't see the hallway outside, just a blinding white light. “I warned you, and now this is going to cost you.” He flicked the whip out again, this time wrapping it around my wrist. “You’ll learn and then you’ll do what I want.”

I spat at him. “Go fuck yourself.”

He was on me in a second, his hand around my neck. He… Was trying to kiss me?! He brought his lips to mine and pressed them against me. I kept my mouth shut so as not to accidentally invite his tongue inside, but he tried to force his way in anyway.

I tried to knee him anywhere, but I couldn't get a good angle. I tried to bring my free hand up and punch him, but he grabbed it and forced it down. What the hell was his aim here? Did he want to kill me or fuck me?!

I tried my hardest to concentrate, to push him off of me, but it wasn't working. I could barely move, could barely breathe thanks to the hand around my neck. I was starting to lose consciousness.

That was when I started to feel something. Something welling up inside me. I balled my hands into fists and felt the whip around my wrist start to melt away. He moved his hands away from me then backed away. I wanted to rip his face off now that my hands were free.

That was when I realized I didn't need to. I was pushing him away without touching him. His face was twisted in pain and his eyes were red as dried blood. He tried his best to snarl at me, but he couldn't. Instead, he just turned into some sort of winged creature and zipped out the window. I heard him screaming the whole time.

I let my arms drop to my sides and collapsed onto the floor. Whatever I’d just done exhausted me. I crawled along the floor and pulled myself back into my bed. At about that time, the room started to morph, to return to normal. I was back under my blanket and the world was right again.

Had that whole thing happened in my mind?

As if to prove it to me, Mom opened the door and said, “Sweetie, keep it down, I’ve got work in the morning.”

6.

I wanted to stay away from school. Lucian would be there and I wanted to avoid him in every way possible. Whatever that dream… Thing… Was, I didn’t want to experience it again. The only problem was that I couldn’t stay home. Mom would get a phone call at work if I wasn’t at school, and seeing as the principal knew I was magic, he wouldn’t take any kind excuse for tardiness, so despite my feelings on the matter, I needed to go to school.

Gabby was waiting for me outside the house. I was plenty pleased about her outfit, a bright orange top that clung to her like a second skin and a pair of shorts that looked painted on. Her eyes brightened up when I walked outside, which put me a little at ease. I gave her a kiss and a brief fondle before the bus arrived.

Luckily, Lucian wasn't on the bus, so hopefully he didn't live anywhere near us. I was hoping that my worry over him wouldn't overtake most of my day. The make-out session on the bus wasn’t making me as wet as I wanted it to thanks to that bastard.

“What's up?” Gabby asked, taking her hand out of my panties.

I sighed. “Just… A lot.”

“Hey, tell me. Is it something about yesterday?”

I nodded. “Yeah, this guy named Lucian. He knows… Everything, and he wants to out me as a sorceress if I don't do what he says. Amy’s sorceress friend said that was no big deal, reality warping could just fix that, but I’m still… Nervous, y’know?”

She had a look on her face that said I’d just spoken every one of those words at the same time. “Whoa,” she said. “I never knew dating a sorceress would be this cool.”

I rolled my eyes. “There was nothing cool about when he tried to come after me in a weird psychic dimension.”

“What did he try to do.”

“Kiss me. Force himself on me. Mind rape me, I guess.”

“Holy shit, you're going to point his guy out to me so that I can beat the shit out of him as soon as we get to school.”

I sighed. “Assuming that’ll even do anything.” I snuggled up against her. “It’s so sweet and dom of you to offer to protect lil’ ol’ me.”

She pressed her finger to my lips. “Shush. Just get in the mood.”

7.

Whenever I noticed Mikaela, she seemed kind of odd. I considered asking her what was up, but I also wanted to keep my guard up in case Lucian just appeared out of nowhere. If not for his ability to send me into a magic dimension, I’d consider myself safe, but even being in public wasn't a security mechanism.

I walked into class and sat down next to Terry, who was busy writing something. Probably some kind of love letter to Mikaela, or something corny like that. It was kinda funny how cliche a couple they seemed to be considering one was a guy possessed by a succubus.

“You look stressed,” he said. “Some sorta magic thing?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

He laughed. “Sounds like a pain in the ass.”

“Does Mikaela havta deal with this sorta stuff?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Not really. I mean, there's a succubi/magical girl war going down that she's gotta avoid, but that hasn't been a problem yet.”

I blinked. “Okay, one of these days, I’mma need to know what the fuck’s going on with succubi and magical girls.”

He smirked. “I’m sorta in the middle of it and I don’t know exactly what's going on there.”

The rest of the class filed into the classroom and took their seats. The teacher walked in but something… Strange, seemed to float around her. She didn’t go through her normal routine, she just walked in and got started with a lesson that didn’t seem to carry on from yesterday.

And then there was the fact that she was quite often focusing on me.

I knew something had to be wrong about that, but the only thing I could think of was Lucian possessing her, or shapeshifting, or something, and neither of those explanations seemed right. Ms. Bailey was clearly still Ms. Bailey, but there was something off about her.

I made up my mind right then and there: After class, I was going Lucian hunting.

8.

I couldn't find him at all. I talked to the people I’d seen him with yesterday, they hadn’t seen him. I talked to his first period teacher, he didn't know where the dick was. I even talked to a girl his friends said was stalking him, she said he hadn't left his house that morning at all. Apparently, simply hadn't come to school.

But I did get his home address.

I slipped a note in Gabby’s locker not to wait up for me after school, then snuck out between classes. Thanks to the principal transferring my grades over from Kenneth to Kendra, I was already doing well grade-wise, so I didn’t have to worry about anything there. Honestly, this was the first time I’d ever skipped school, and it was the second day of the school year.

The address was a good mile and a half away from the school. I recognized the area because it was where Amy and her family used to live before they moved upstate. It was a nice neighborhood, which didn't surprise me since Lucian didn't look like he lived in a dirthole neighborhood.

His house was dark red, which clashed with the plain blues, greens and whites of all the other houses nearby. His yard was full of shrubs and flower gardens. If not for having fought him magically, I’d assume he was the most normal person on the planet. Then again, maybe the yard was his mom’s domain. Assuming he had a mom.

I walked up onto the porch and knocked on the door, but no one opened it. I reached for the doorknob, turned it, giant sarcastic surprise that it was unlocked. I opened the door and walked inside.

The lights were all off. I was starting to wish I’d brought a flashlight. I felt my way from the door to what I thought might have been a countertop. There was nothing on the countertop, so I didn't knock anything down, thank God.

From the countertop, I felt my way to what I knew for certain was the stair railing. I managed to climb the stairs without incident and found myself on the slightly better lit second floor. There was light coming from a single open door, but it didn’t look like either a lamp or sunlight. I was worried I was actually about to find Lucian, now.

I walked over to that one open door and peered inside. Lucian was there, alright, sitting in a pentagram carved into the floor. He was sitting cross-legged, his hands held out, palm upward, his eyes closed. Meditating was the best way to describe it, honestly. His mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying.

Looking at him in front of me, I finally asked myself what the hell I’d even do now. I was alone in a room with a man who actually knew how to use magic, whereas I was powerful and didn’t know what the hell I was doing at all. What the fuck was wrong with me and why had I even done this?

And then Lucian smiled. “I’ve been expecting you.”

9.

He still didn't open his eyes. He didn't stand up. He didn't even shift his posture in any way. It was actually disturbing. I would have run, if not for that damned feeling of being stuck.

So I stood there, unmoving, completely scared out of my fucking mind. I was a damn moron for letting myself get into this situation, I should have just stayed at school. If I ended up dead, it would be because I was goddam stupid.

Finally, he opened his eyes. “Sorry about the mess downstairs. Haven't really spent time here since I was a kid.” He stood up. “My mom died when I was little, which was what drive me out of the house. Drove me to look for my dad.”

“Do I really need to know any of this?” I asked.

He nodded. “Full disclosure, a helpful part of any sort of deal, like the one we’re about to make where you say you’ll free my dad from his prison.”

“I won't. I don't know or care who your dad is, if he's in a magic prison, he's there for a reason.”

He smiled wider. “Dad didn't meet me until a couple years ago. My mom was a one night stand for him, but she knew who - and more importantly what - he was. When he did meet me, he was ashamed of me because I was half-breed scum to him. When I found out he was in prison, I made up my mind how exactly I’d prove myself to him.”

I laughed. “You mean all this is just an effort to get daddy to love you?” I would have doubled over if not for the You-Can’t-Move thing. “That’s pathetic.”

He grabbed my chin. “When your father is the King of Darkness, you do what you can to get him to love you.”

I managed to move for a second. His magic hold on me must have been based on concentration, and me insulting him broke it for just that little moment. Regardless, I asked, “Whaddya mean?”

He let go of me. “A little over six months ago, my dad was put in a prison by a girl much like you, much powerful magic. She wasn't a sorceress, in fact, I don't know what she was. Don’t know who she was, either, all I know is that she’s one of the only people who could do it, and you’re one of the only ones who can reverse it.” He grabbed my arm and squeezed. It wasn’t painful, it was sort of gentle, like he was actually considering asking me politely or something. “That’s why I need you.”

“Who is your dad?”

He let go of my arm. “Did ‘King of Darkness’ say nothing to you? My father is Satan himself.”

10.

He sat down on a chair I hadn't noticed earlier, but that didn't mean anything. He looked like he hadn’t just dropped a crazy bomb on my lap. How the hell had he just said that with a straight face?!

I still couldn't move, but that was the least of my worries. If what he was saying was true, then he wanted me to free the Devil from a magic prison that apparently some girl like me put him in. Whoever this girl was, I now had an immense amount of respect for her.

If Lucian thought that telling me his dad was Satan would make me want to help him more, he was a goddamn idiot.

“Y’see, magic prisons are unique,” he said, “one person is the lock, another is the key, and the key is chosen at random. It took me some time to figure out who they key was to my dad’s prison, but once you changed, it became clear as day.” He leaned forward in his chair. “And lucky us, we don’t need to know who the lock is.”

I shook my head. “I won’t help you. You reveal who I am, there’s a reality warper who can just erase that knowledge from people’s heads.”

He was still smiling, that bastard. “Reality warpers are so… Inefficient. Changes to reality always leave lingering memories, making it easier and easier to get people to believe each time they have to re-learn the information.” He snapped his fingers and the room changed completely from a chaotic mess with a pentagram on the floor to a clean room with a pristine floor. “Besides, I’ve got some experience with reality myself.”

Of course he did… “I won’t help you. If your dad really is Satan - assuming I even believe that - I’m not helping you let him out.”

He stood up and walked over to me. “I don't think you understand, sweetheart, there are no choices here. I will use you to free my father. You’re the key, and the key exists to be used.”

“Go fuck yourself!” Either he’d decided to let me move, or my shouting at him surprised him. Or, hell, maybe it was me, what with all that magic inside me and such. Either way, I could move and I was happy about it. “You won’t be using me for anything!”

And then fire spat from my hand.

Judging by the look of sheer surprise on his face, I could tell that one came from me. I tried to create the stream of fire a second time, and surprisingly managed it, just by thinking fire. I wondered if most magic was this easy.

Just about when I was beginning to get the hang of controlling the fire stream, it ran out entirely, and I suddenly felt exhausted. I collapsed on the floor and crawled slowly away from the door. Maybe causing a fire wasn’t the best idea. Smoke started to spill into the hallway.

That belief increased two-fold when the fire spread out of Lucian’s bedroom into the hallway. I tried to get to my feet, but fell down again. I couldn’t see Lucian, and hopefully I never did again, but my first priority was getting the fuck out of that house. I couldn’t stand, so I crawled for the stairs. The room beside the bedroom burst into flame as well, I could tell from the gap under the door. The smoke was starting to get worse.

I managed to make it to the stairs, then rolled my way down them. Hitting every step on the way down wasn’t something I enjoyed, but it got me away from the smoke and the fire. I tried to stand again, but the weakness combined with the pain of falling down the stairs made that pretty much impossible. I needed to crawl again. The door was just across the room, straight ahead, I didn’t need to crawl far.

I finally realized what Lucian had meant about the mess. I hadn’t seen it when I came in, but there were shittons of toys all over the floor, like a kid had been playing there and just left everything. He’d also said that he hadn’t been here since he was little. Maybe these were his toys.

About halfway between the stairs and the door I crawled up to… A boot. And beside that was another boot. I reached up and found pant legs. I could barely see, thanks to the smoke spilling downstairs, but I could tell there was someone in front of me. With my luck, it’d be Lucian.

Then the lights came on and I saw a guy in his 30s wearing a red shirt and black pants with suspenders. His hands were in his pockets and he looked very bored. His hair was parted on the left, and his eyes were almost pure steel.

“Well,” he said, “what have we here?”

He reached down and lifted me to my feet, patted the dust and ash off of me, then moved me to the side. He kicked toys out of his way and walked upstairs like a man on a mission. He reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t think of who.

The smoke in the house began to… Move backwards, almost sucking itself back upstairs to the second floor. It didn’t take long for the light from the fire to die down, too. What the hell? I almost wanted to go up there and find out what the hell was happening, but then I realized that Lucian might still be up there, so I stayed where I was.

About five minutes and a lot of doors being kicked in later, the guy in the red shirt came back down the stairs, and he didn’t look happy at all. “Where’s Lucian?”

“I… Um…”

“Don’t get any ideas here,” he said as he walked closer, “now, I’m gonna ask you again, and I’d like a straight answer. Where… Is… Lucian?”

“Idon’tknow,” I said, compounding all three words into one somehow. I didn’t know I could even talk that fast.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose and then sat down on the stairs. “You don’t know. At all?” I shook my head. “Well then. I reckon that puts him at a pretty good advantage, and me at a right nice disadvantage.”

I rubbed at my arm. “Ooooooooooooookay…”

He stood up. “What was your business here, anyway?”

I looked down at the floor. “He was threatening me, so I came to stop him.”

“Threatening? Are you his father’s key?”

I nodded. “That’s what he said.”

He looked like he was about to punch the wall. “That just isn’t good. I’ll have to tell the Boss about this.” He walked over to me and grabbed me by the arm. “You need to come with me, little lady.”

“Uh… Why?”

“What? Did you just ask me ‘why’?”

I nodded.

“Do you even understand what’s going on here? You know who Lucian is, right?”

I nodded again.

“Then ‘why’ shouldn’t even be a question, you need to be kept safe.” He pulled me out of the house, where a small crowd was starting to gather. And a fire truck was rolling up. “Well, that was unexpected.” He pulled me back inside and shut the door. “I guess we’ll just go upstairs from here.”

“Um… Upstairs?”

He closed his eyes. “Get ready, little lady, you’re about to see somethin’ lotsa people don’t get to see until the end.”

Now I was starting to get confused. “What?”

He smiled, and then all I saw was white.

11.

When I could finally see again, the house we’d been standing in was replaced by something that looked insanely like an office building. People were coming to and fro, carrying papers or answering phones, all of them dressed… Well, a lot of them were wearing robes, some of them street clothes. There was a really, really weird mix of styles.

The guy that brought me here walked over to what looked like a reception desk and talk to a woman sitting there. I just stood exactly where I was and took the whole thing in. I was “upstairs”, whatever that meant. Nothing about this seemed to make any sort of sense. I never felt the need to go home more than I did now.

A British voice asked, “What the bloody hell are you doing here, human?” I spun around and saw somebody who looked somewhere between one and five years older than me, wearing a robe, arms folded over his chest. He didn’t look happy in any way.

“Um…” I stammered out, “hu-he… Brought me here…” I pointed to the guy in the red shirt.

The Brit rolled his eyes. “That sod’s always bringing humans up here.” He came closer to me and poked me between my breasts. “Don’t go where you’re not allowed, and for the love of the Boss, don’t cause any problems.”

“Hadraniel!” a woman’s voice called from somewhere. I looked in the direction he looked and saw a freakishly tall woman with horns poking out of her head. She was smiling and waving him over. “She’s here!”

The Brit sighed. “Of fucking course.” He took a flask out from under his robe and took a long gulp of whatever was in it. “Whatever Jubril brought you here for, it had better be something important.” After that, he walked over to the horned woman, then they left.

If I understood what had just happened, I might not have been so freaked out.

Red Shirt walked back over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Alright, little lady, since you came into contact with Lucian, you’ve gotta meet the Boss.”

“The boss?”

He shook his head. “Big ‘B’, darlin’.”

12.

The man known as “the Boss” was a tall, bald man with a single earring who would likely be mistaken for Mr. Clean anywhere he went. He was sitting behind a very large, ornate desk with a bobblehead bulldog on one corner and a mug that read “World’s Best God” just to the side of it. He was going through a good deal of papers.

“Gabe, you know much about that new Pestilence we’re swearing in later?” he asked as Red Shirt and I walked into the room.

Red Shirt shut the door behind us. “More to worry ‘bout, Boss. Lucian’s got his sights set on his daddy.”

Mr. the Boss Clean looked up from the papers. “Lucian… Who?”

“Lu…” Red Shirt looked annoyed and surprised at the same time. “Your nephew, Satan’s bastard kid.”

The Boss let his pen drop from his hand. “Oh! Him. Which one was he again?”

“The one who actually has power.”

The wheels seemed to finally turn in the Boss’s mind. “I remember him, now. The short one. How’d he find out?”

Red Shirt shook his head. “I dunno. Don’t much make sense, since Satan’s locked up in Mobil Avenue next to the reaper’s office.”

The Boss pointed to me. “And what’s this sorceress doing here?”

Red Shirt answered before I could open my mouth. “She’s Satan’s key.”

The Boss sighed. “Dammit.” He slumped in his chair. “Tell me, young lady, did he explain any of this to you?”

I gulped. Time to talk, I guess. “He, um, told me all about him being Satan’s son, and me being the key and all that, but I’d just like to know why me? I only just learned I was a sorceress a few days ago, I didn't even know magic existed until a week ago, why is all of this revolving around me?!” Almost every word of that came out at the same time. I was clearly still nervous as fuck.

The Boss’s eyes flicked over to Red Shirt for a second, then back at me. “How did he find you?”

I shook my head. “I dunno.”

He sighed, then sat straight. “Great.” He turned to Red Shirt. “This isn’t an annoyance.” He turned back to me. “So, miss… Kendra Brewster… How much magic do you actually know?”

“Really none. I’ve kinda just made reactions happen so far.”

He opened a drawer on his desk and pulled something out, then tossed it to Red Shirt. “You were given a starter kit?”

I nodded.

“Good. You probably need a translation guide, otherwise all that book amounts to is gibberish until you’ve taught yourself enough.”

I stepped forward and was handed the book. “Wait,” I said, “can't I just hang out here until somebody stops him?”

Red Shirt shook his head. “Lucian was born magic, but his power isn’t demonic. The fact that he can use you to unlock his father’s cell means he can travel to and from Heaven at any time.”

“Um… Heaven?”

The Boss looked at Red Shirt. “You didn’t tell her where she was?”

Red Shirt shrugged. “Didn’t get much chance.”

The Boss leaned forward in his chair. “Miss Brewster, you’re in Heaven right now. Gabe, here, and Hadraniel, the young man you met in the lobby, are angels.”

“Suh… Suh… So you’re…”

He leaned back in his seat and propped his feet up on the desk. “As a matter of fact, yes.”

13.

I stood outside my house and sighed. No cops, no Lucian, no nothing except a very peaceful neighborhood. Maybe after I set fire to his house, Lucian had run off and skipped town. Maybe he wouldn’t be back to try and use me to free his father, the goddamned Devil, from his magical jail cell.

Maybe pigs would spontaneously grow gills, nest in trees and sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” every time somebody walked past.

Red Shirt - Jubril, apparently his name was; I wasn’t sure how God got “Gabe” out of that - patted me on the back. “If he’s lurkin’ ‘round here, I’ll know. I can't hide from him, but he can't from me, either.”

I nodded. “Right. Do safe.”

He shook his head. “I didn't say that. He's the Boss’s nephew, he's stronger than any angel.”

I scratched my neck. “So, my cousin’s friend explained the magic hierarchy as far as sorceresses, succubi and magical girls, so where do angels and whatever the hell Lucian is fit in?”

He adjusted his sleeves. “It’s a mite complicated, but after I go through your house, I’ll give ya a rundown.” He took a step forward, then turned to face me again. “Probably best you go in first, tell your mom what’s goin’ on.”

I rolled my eyes. He wasn’t wrong, but just the idea that he hadn’t considered that when he was a fucking angel was a little silly. From what I’d seen, angels weren’t that much different from humans. They didn’t even seem to have wings.

I walked into the house ahead of Jubril and found mom lounging on the couch like everything was normal. Then again, I was home two hours before school let out, so for her, everything was normal until I walked into the house. She looked up from her iPad. “Hey, baby, what’s the matter? How come you’re home early?”

I took a deep breath. “Mom, somebody has to check the house.”

She set her iPad down on the coffee table. “What’s going on?”

I was ready to cringe. “If I told you I’m a magic key to unlock a prison containing Satan and an angel needs to look the house over to make sure Satan’s bastard son isn’t here, would you believe me?”

She sighed. “If you’d said that last week, no. Now, it seems like this is par for the course.”

I couldn't deny that. One visit from my cousin and suddenly I wasn't just crossdressing anymore and now fucking angels were involved. Upside down didn't seem to begin to explain how my life had been turned.

A minute or so later, Jubril walked into the room and looked around at everything. “Well, he ain’t here,” he said, almost as if he wasn’t sure what to tell us. “Nice place, though. Homey feel to it.”

I sighed. “Mom, this is Jubril, he’s… He’s the angel I was talking about.”

She looked him over, focusing on his relatively muscular chest, I noticed. “Not what I expected from an angel.”

He smiled. “I get that a lot, ma’am. I hope ya don’t mind me staying the night to make sure your little girl’s safe.”

Mom shook her head. “Of course not. But first, I want to know how serious this is.”

He took a step toward her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Ma’am, I can't promise anything. This boy that's after your daughter is immensely powerful, has magic that’s difficult to counter and will stop at nothing to use your daughter in a misguided attempt at gaining his daddy’s love. If he ain't the most powerful magic user in town, I’m Little Bo Peep.”

Well, if that didn’t freak the fuck out of me, nothing did. “Is there a good outcome to this?”

He shrugged. “Don’t much know, little lady.”

I audibly gulped. I couldn't believe my life had gone this way.

14.

I lied on my bed and held both the starter kit book and the translation guide in my hands, my eyes flicking back and forth between them. Luckily, the translation guide was arranged by spell, so I didn't need to go back and forth between pages to figure out one spell. The pronunciations were the hardest part, but I had quickly figured out that I didn't need to actually say a spell, I could think it and still achieve the same effect. It was easier to pronounce something in my head than it was with my mouth.

Regardless, I was still trying. “Duh… Deh… Delens…” I said. My eyes couldn't believe themselves when my ceiling evaporated right before me. “Shit!” I squealed. I sat upright and flipped through the books to find some kind of undo spell or something.

“Solve Fasciculos,” Jubril said, and the ceiling suddenly returned to normal. He was standing in the doorway, arms folded across his chest. “Not bad, though. Most people I’ve seen accidentally use that end up making mountains disappear.” He laughed. “You probably didn't know there was a mountain range between the US and Mexico.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.” I fell back on my bed. “Hey,” I said as I sat back up again, “is there any way to... Like... change who the key is?”

Jubril shrugged. “If you kicked the bucket, the key would pick another random person.” He walked over to me and squeezed my shoulder. “I think your mom would be a little salty 'bout that.” With that, he left my room and I was once again alone.

I sighed and laid flat on my back again. I poked through the books, looking for spells I thought might help for when Lucian showed up again. There wasn't anything directly offensive from what I could see, but at least I could probably manage to hurt him with something. Better that than nothing, or relying on those weird feedback attacks I’d done so far.

I found one that looked… Interesting. I couldn't quite pronounce it, but it looked… A lot like ‘quiet’. Maybe it was as simple as that? I tried to pronounce it in my mind, but I didn’t exactly get anywhere. This damn spell thing was harder than I thought it should be.

I flipped through the pages and ended up on something that looked like it could be fun for knocking down that bitch Casey a peg or six. A spell to make someone act the exact opposite of what they are. Whatever ‘exact opposite’ was for Casey, I figured it would at least be entertaining to screw with her. Maybe she’d either be just nicer or a thousand percent butch.

“What are you doing?” Gabby asked. I hadn't even heard her walk in. “And how come you disappeared at school?”

I sat up again. “Had to deal with that Lucian guy. It… Didn't go in my favor so much.”

She sat down beside me and put her arms around me. “You okay?”

I nodded. “I’m better than I was earlier.”

She kissed me on the cheek. “Good. Now let's have a little fun before dinner.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re a horrible influence on me.”

15.

“Mr. Jubril, are you sure you don't want any?” Mom asked as she set down the pot of spaghetti on the table. Mom seemed to be getting awfully interested in Jubril. Then again, Dad had been a while ago, so I guess maybe she did want some companionship. The fact that it was an angel that she was semi-flirting with was kinda odd.

He shook his head. “I’m fine, ma’am. Not much I need.”

Gabby leaned close to me. “Who’s he again?” she whispered, jerking her thumb toward him.

“I’m not joking, he’s an angel.”

She looked like she was about to burst into laughter. “What?”

“Legitimate angel. Granted, I haven’t seen the wings yet, but I went to Heaven.”

She let a giggle slip through. “If you’re gonna tell me you met God, I’m gonna call you crazy.”

I would have said something about that, but Mom stuffed a breadstick in my mouth and told me to shut up, thus leading to a very normal dinner for the Brewster household plus my girlfriend. The conversation was pleasant, the food was good, and I had to do the dishes.

Everything seemed normal for the first time in awhile.

16.

“Housul chirosant,” I said, reading from the book. Instead of accidentally destroying my ceiling, I caught a target that Jubril had set up for me on fire. He was busy chewing on an apple that I hadn't seen him grab from anywhere, let alone inside my house, where we haven't had apples since I'd finished eating them the other day. (And still hadn't told Mom about them... Ooops.) He pointed at it and the fire dissipated and the target refreshed itself. I sighed. This was the fifteenth spell I'd tried, and all I seemed to be able to do was burn or disintegrate the targets.

I fell on my ass on the grass and groaned loudly. “Why isn't this working?” I almost shouted.

Jubril sat down beside me. “Well. Two things. One, you're inexperienced. Magic takes years to learn with things like that guide book, and you don't even want to try and learn it on your own. How that sorceress you know did it, I'll never understand. Woman's a damn natural, or something. Second, you're looking for all the wrong spells. People have specialties, things they're talented at specifically. That sorceress you know is probably mostly gifted in transformations. You're clearly not gifted in...” He took out a checklist. “Automotive repair, seed planting, fireworks or artificially creating a sun on the other side of the planet.”

I put my head in my hands and groaned again. “Stop reminding me. What's next?”

He picked up the book from where I'd dropped it and slipped it into his pocket. “Nothing. Your girl's been waiting on you in your room this whole time.”

I sighed. “Yeah.” I turned to him. “Thanks for helping, thanks for watching over us.”

He took a bite out of the apple. “It's my job. The Boss relies on me to do that job as best I can, so that he doesn't have to worry about anything but his job.” He took another bite. “Not that I don't resent it, sometimes. I've got two kids of my own I don't get much time to see.”

“Angels can have kids?”

He nodded. “All the time.”

I turned back to the target. “I think I should try at least one more.”

He shook his head. “Nope. Get in there and get to romancin'.”

I stood up. “You sure?”

“I'll see Lucian a mile away, he ain't here, he ain't in town. We'll be fine. Even if I nod off and sleep, I'll wake up as soon as he's close.”

I scratched at my arm. “Can you... If he shows up, can you actually stop Lucian?”

He took yet another bite. “We're gonna see.”

17.

Gabby and I were on my bed, the TV playing some movie the two of us weren't paying attention to. Neither of us were wearing clothes, but for the most part, all we were doing was cuddling and kissing. In fact, neither of us had even attempted to fondle or play with the other one, but enjoying one another's company was all we seemed like doing right now. I wasn't complaining, I was just embracing and savoring the taste of her lipstick as our lips touched.

She licked at mouth. “Why did I have to wait for a guy to become a girl before I could get a date?” she asked.

I almost laughed. “That would be the stupidest thing you could say, if not for the fact that it's absolutely true.”

“You can't really judge, y'know. You didn't get a girlfriend until you turned into a girl, either.”

I hugged her tighter. “Just shut up and grind against me.”

Her tongue flicked between my lips and my nose. “Your wish is my command.”

18.

Before we could actually get into something hot and sweaty, literally everything faded away. I wasn't laying in bed anymore, I was floating in a void that reminded me of the one I met the other Kendra in. I was still naked, which worried me, but I was more worried about what the fuck was going on.

I considered moving, but I was standing in a void, “moving” was a relative concept that may not actually mean anything. I threw away the idea of moving and stayed where I was, naked, standing in a nothingness. To say that I didn't understand what was going on was a major understatement.

“It's been a little while since you burned my house down,” Lucian's voice said, surprising and concerning me. I quickly moved my hands to cover myself, because reasons, honestly. With this guy's power, I wouldn't be surprised if he's seen me naked more than I actually care to think about. “Also, I see Jubril is hanging around.”

I looked around. I still couldn't see anything other than the void, but I could somehow feel that he was close. I wanted to run, but I had nowhere to go. I wanted to fight, but I had nothing to fight. Wherever the hell he'd brought me, it was effective as hell in getting me scared.

“Look, asshole, I'm not helping you!” I shouted.

He sighed. “I'm not surprised. People don't usually go running to Heaven if they want to help you.”

I rolled my eyes. “I didn't go running to Heaven. Jubril showed up and took me there.”

“Regardless.” He appeared now, almost as if he were emerging from deep shadow. “So, how are you?”

I glared at him. “I hate you. With all of my hate.”

He smiled. “I know.” He patted me on the back. “So, long story short, I'm just about ready to free my father and I'll give you exactly one last chance to do this willingly.”

“Wait, you don't need to be near your dad to do this?!”

He smiled. “Kenny, Kenny, Kenny... We are near my dad.” He snapped his fingers and suddenly I was looking at a room with torches all around. "You didn't think I needed you physically present to open his cell, did you?” He let out a chuckle that sickened me. “It's just easier to perform the spell if you're willing, that's all. Regardless, I can get this under way and then my father will reward me for what I've done for him.”

I dropped my arms to my side. “No.”

He lost the smile. “You're not fucking getting it, are you? You don't have a choice, Brewster. My father will be free, because I'm going to suck the lifeforce from you and open the cage he was unjustly thrown into.”

Suck the lifeforce from me?! “The hell you are!”

He was suddenly right beside me, his hand on my throat. “Too bad you're not gonna be alive long enough to understand how this whole magic key thing works.”

Through gritted teeth, I spat, “No!”

I didn't say any of the spells I'd been learning from the book, I didn't feel any surge of power spit out of me like back at his house, there was just suddenly a bubble surrounding me, him on the other side of it, and a look on his face that almost screamed surprise and fear. Something told me he was expecting this whole thing to go exactly how he planned it and no other way.

This at least seemed like we were on somewhat even terms. I didn't expect to do that, either.

I don't know what he thought he could accomplish, but Lucian ran toward me and tried to punch the barrier I'd somehow created. He shouted spells that I could barely understand, but nothing seemed to happen. If I kept being that lucky, I wouldn't have to do anything until Jubril noticed this was happening.

But, of course, I wasn't that lucky. On his fifteenth punch, the barrier disappeared, and I fell backward, landing awfully painfully on my ass against whatever passed for a floor in this place. I scrambled to get to my feet, but his hand was suddenly on my throat, and I was being pulled up and against a wall. Where the wall came from, I'll never know, but I didn't honestly care, either. Struggling against the creepy bastard holding me against a wall was a bit more important.

“That wasn't very nice,” he said, like some perverted child. I tried to knee him, but I couldn't reach him. I couldn't even punch him. He was holding me against the “wall” with more than just his hand against my throat, he was clearly using magic. “Enough foreplay, it's time to get this over with.”

His eyes rolled back in their sockets and he started whispering something I could just barely hear. It sounded like one of the spells Jubril had tried to get me to do, but some of the syllables were dragged out or cut short. Briefly, I wondered how he’d learned how to use such complicated magic, but that thought was quickly overridden by a desire to stop him.

The room around us suddenly changed. The walls were black, almost as if made out of obsidian or some other kind of mineral like it. The ceiling gained two strips of white, almost like fluorescent lights. The floor because pure stone, but it was cracked with an hellish orange glow peeking through.

In the center was a cage with a shadow standing inside.

Lucian let go of me and walked over to the cage. The shadow’s eyes followed him the entire way. How I could tell that it had eyes was beyond me, but that wasn’t important. Lucian looked as though he was in shock.

“It’s been awhile, Dad,” he said as he got closer to the cage.

The shadow glared at him.

“I know you don’t… I-I know you hate me. But I’ve come to you with the key to your prison,” he waved his hand toward me, “and I hope that you’ll… That you’ll at least accept me.”

The shadow continued to glare.

“All I want is your acceptance. Please, it’s… It’s the only thing I need to keep going.”

The shadow still wasn’t speaking.

That was really pissing Lucian off. He grabbed the bars of the cage. “You can’t even say anything?! I learned all of this to free you! To earn your respect!”

The shadow blinked. For whatever reason, I found that amusing, but the second I let out a laugh, Lucian turned to me and growled. Which I also found amusing. “Aww… Daddy doesn’t love you yet?” I said in a mocking tone.

“Shut your mouth!” He turned back to the shadow. “Do I get nothing for my efforts?”

The shadow finally spoke: “You have done nothing. I am still in this cage, and she is still alive. Perform your tricks and release me from this prison and I shall consider awarding you with respect.”

Lucian let out an angered sigh. “Fine.” He swiftly walked back over to me and held his hand over my forehead. He closed his eyes and began to chant. “Dona mihi obvius,” he said. I felt something inside me, something welling up. “Aperi ianuam.” There was a tingling, now, spreading throughout my body. “Fiat ut solutam.” Light appeared beneath me. I started to lose feeling.

And yet, somehow, I was feeling calm about this. Why was I feeling calm about this?!

“Aperta,” he said, “Aperta. Aperi nunc.”

The light enveloped me, then a buzzing noise filled my ears, drowning out Lucian’s words. His mouth kept moving, so I assumed he was just repeating the mantra he’d been spouting. I had completely lost feeling at this point. The light blocked everything out, now, including Lucian, though I knew he was still there.

And then everything was back to what it had been before the chanting. Lucian was still pinning me up against the wall, the shadow was still in its cage, and I was still buck naked in front of two monsters.

(And for some reason, this was the first moment I realized I was naked in front of Satan... I can be stupid at times.)

Lucian’s eyes were filled with half confusion and half pure rage. The need to get away from the crazy holding me against the wall was strong, so I endeavoured to hit him again. Luckily, when I tried to knee him away this time, I managed it. I underestimated the force I used, and he went flying back against the shadow’s cage.

The shadow laughed, a deep, guttural, horrifying thing that made me want to shit my pants if I was wearing pants. After almost a full minute of laughing, the shadow spoke: “You claim to have brought me the key, and yet you bring me nothing. Explain to me why you deserve my acceptance, half-breed.”

Lucian didn’t look like he was paying attention to his dad, though. He was staring at me, and the half confusion in his eyes from before was gone and all that remained was rage. He rushed at me and grabbed me by the neck again, slamming me against the wall so hard that it cracked (how that didn’t kill me, I’ll never know and really don’t want to). He squeezed, hard.

His mouth curling into a snarl was the last clear thing I saw as my vision began to double. Then I noticed the shadow sitting down on something, which was strange, because I could have sworn its cell was empty. Finally, just as I blacked out, that snarl looked like it was morphing into a smile. Hopefully, I was wrong about that.

19.

areyouokay

I heard the voice, but it sounded like it was a million miles away. It also sounded like it was right beside me, so something was wrong. I couldn’t see anything yet, so whoever or whatever it was talking to me was not yet a real concern, I simply wanted to open my eyes or actually see. For all I knew, it could have been a cherub trying to talk to me.

That made me wonder if cherubs were real. After all, sorceresses, succubi, magical girls, angels, demons, Satan and God were real, so cherubs were probably only par for the course, I guess.

are you okay ken

That voice again. It was a little closer, and no longer right beside me. At least the words sounded separate, now. I needed to find a way to open my eyes. The good thing was that I could feel the ground underneath me. It was like a marble floor. I reached for my face and tried to force my eyes open. Nothing happened, so that wasn’t a good thing.

Since I couldn’t find a way to get my eyes open, I instead tried to get to my feet. I heard something that sounded like footsteps. After spending a good thirty seconds of sliding around on the floor, I managed to find a wall, and dragged myself against it. So, I couldn’t open my eyes, and I couldn’t stand up. This would be worrying if it weren’t so fucking terrifying.

Ken, answer the question, are you okay?

I coughed. I wondered if that was because I’d been choked. “Idunno,” I said. Great. My words were blending together. Sonuvabitch.

Someone put their hands on my shoulders. Someone with slender, feminine fingers. If I was lucky, it was Gabby. I could use a kiss from her right now. The person brushed my face off. I must have been dirty, or something. I didn’t care.

“Kenny? Kenny, can you hear me?”

I nodded, then tried to speak, but all that came out was a mumble.

“How many fingers am I holding up?” The voice was starting to sound familiar. It wasn’t Gabby’s, but I knew it from somewhere. There went my opportunity for a kiss.

“I can’tsee your fingers…” I said

“Well, that’s not a good thing. Look, it’s Kendra, okay? Can you tell?”

That explained why the voice was familiar. Somehow, I’d retreated inside myself to where Kendra was still somehow alive. I wondered if I’d died somehow and was just going to exist alongside the other me. “Help me up,” I managed a string of words that were clear and capable of being understood. Huzzah.

“Okay, that’s another problem, you’re already standing up.”

“Oh, yippie,” I coughed out. Guess my sensations were a little bit more screwed up than I thought. “What am I doing here?”

I heard her sigh. “I don’t know. I think it has something to do with Creepy McFuckface.”

“He tried to use me as a key to unlock his dad’s prison.”

“Like, a magic key?”

“Yeah.”

My eyes finally started to focus, apparently already open. Something seemed different about Kendra, like she was… Well… Different. The last time I saw her, she looked exactly the same as I did, but now, she was… Brighter?

“What?” she asked.

“Did you do something with your hair?”

She rolled her eyes. “If I were a dyke, that might be cute, but it was stupid. Also, if we weren’t, like, the same person.”

“Why do you look different?”

“I don’t understand.”

I wished I could actually understand it myself. There was nothing physically different about her, she was just different in some way. “Just take my word for it.” I rubbed at my eyes. “Why did I come here?”

She shrugged. “I dunno. Creepy McFuckface was choking you, and suddenly you were here.”

I rubbed at the back of my neck. “How do I get out of here?”

She shrugged again. “That’s probably something you have to figure out.”

I sighed. “Of course.”

“So, this is how you did it…” Lucian’s voice said. My eyes went wide as he materialized in front of us, his hands clasped behind his back. “This is how you betrayed me.”

I pushed past Kendra. “I can’t betray someone I hate passionately.”

He chuckled as he started walking toward us. “Two Kendras. Of course. The one the real world sees, and the one the magic chose.” He raised one hand and motioned for me to move, and, unfortunately, I had to comply because he pretty much used the damn Force on me and shoved me out of the way telekinetically. “Good thing I followed you here, then.”

Kendra stood her ground. “Back off, asshole.”

“I don’t really have time to get to know you, so just be a good girl and let me use you to help my father break out of jail.”

I got back to my feet and tackled Lucian to the ground as hard as I could. He pushed me off and elbowed me in the face, somehow drawing blood, despite this being in my head, essentially. I wondered if my physical body was bleeding now. About two seconds after thinking that, I put the thought out of my mind and kicked. My foot didn’t connect with his face like I’d intended, but I at least kept him from getting up.

If he wasn’t pissed off before, though, he was outright furious now. He used magic to lift me up and hurl me a good sixty feet away. I landed hard against the floor, enough to break something internally, I could tell. I struggled to get up, but managed it. Blood was getting in my eyes.

Lucian was standing, as well. He had his hands around Kendra’s throat and looked to be about to start his chanting. I tried to concentrate, to use one of the spells I’d learned that could blow stuff up, but nothing happened. It was difficult to focus on words.

So instead, I shouted. “Lucian!”

He turned toward me and, surprisingly, let go of Kendra. He growled, a sound almost like his dad’s disturbing laugh. “What’sa matter? You afraid I’ll cheat on you?”

Jesus Christ, this guy was fucking annoying. I tried to focus again, tried to think of all the spells I’d learned today.

And then I remembered just the one. Jubril had even complimented me on it earlier. “Perdere!” I shouted at him. His eyes widened as his body started disintegrating from his feet upward.

“You’re not killing me, Kendra! I’m still out there!” were his last words before his head disappeared into nothingness.

I ran over to Kendra, grasping at her neck. “What the hell was he going after me for?!” she screeched, through coughing fits.

And just like that, the pieces all fit together. “You’re the key.”

“What?”

I cursed myself. Of course that’s how it worked. Lucian couldn’t find the key until my aura changed and my aura didn’t change until I accidentally created Kendra after awakening my sorceress power. The key was never me, it was always her. The me inside me. How was it God himself didn’t know this?!

“Oh, wow…” Kendra said. Duh, we were the same-ish person, she could tell what I was thinking. “Whuh… What do we do now? He can just keep coming in here and we can’t stop him.”

“I don’t know! I… I don’t know how to stop you from being the key. I don’t know how to fix any of this!”

And then a new voice spoke: “Yes you do.”

Kendra and I both turned to look at the source of the voice. A bald-headed man with a single earring who would very likely be mistaken for Mr. Clean everywhere he went. God himself was in my head now.

Holy shit, this was a literal deus ex machina.

He smiled. “Of a sort, yes.” He walked over to us and helped the both of us to our feet. “Gabe told you how to end this, he told you at my insistence.”

“What?”

“Who’s Gabe?” Kendra asked.

God turned to Kendra. “My dear, don’t worry about what’s about to happen. You won’t feel a thing and you’ll only be gone for a few seconds before you reawaken.”

My turn for another question, “What are you talking about?”

God turned back to me. “The spell you just used. The spell Gabe complimented you on. The spell that destroyed Lucian in your mind.” He patted Kendra on the back. “You need to use it on Kendra.”

“What?!” the two of us screamed in unison.

God smiled, but it was a warm, caring smile. “I’ve already set aside a vessel for Kendra, she’ll be even be able to visit you at times.”

Kendra didn’t look too happy at whatever that meant, and I just didn’t want to do it. Kendra was a part of me, I didn’t want to hurt her. Even if it didn’t hurt her, I didn’t want to lose her as a part of me!

“Why?” I asked. “Why do I need to do that? What would it help at all?!”

God looked as though he could tell I was apprehensive. “I understand that you’re concerned, but please, I’m not God for no reason. I simply can’t influence Kendra’s existence since I didn’t create her, that leaves it up to you.” He turned back to her. “You won’t die. You won’t be trapped here, and you’ll have a life of your own. Ken won’t be out of your life, and you will still exist. The only thing lost here is Lucian’s chance at freeing his father.”

I just didn’t want to hear that. “There has to be another way.”

It wasn’t God who responded, though, it was Kendra: “Ken…” she said, through tears, “it’ll be okay.”

“What are you saying?!”

“I don’t want this! But if it stops Creepy McFuckface from letting Satan loose, then we need to do it…”

God smiled. “You’re funny things, humans. I wish my other creations had even a tenth of the strength you had.”

Kendra put her hand on my shoulder. “Please… I promise I’ll find you as soon as I can.”

I felt a tear slide down my cheek. I gulped. I almost physically couldn’t do this, but she was right, and it was pretty obvious that God was right, and Jubril had told me that if I died, the key would become someone else. Though, if my magic “luck” held out, that’d probably be me. Hopefully God had a hand in choosing who the next key would be.

“We’d better find each other after this,” I told Kendra.

She smiled. “We’ll be as close as twins. Y’know, like, fraternal twins. I’m cuter, and you’re a lesbian, so we can’t be identical twins.”

I laughed, then took a deep breath. “Perdere,” I whispered, and then I closed my eyes. I couldn’t look at what I’d just done, even if it was the right thing to do. I felt more tears, and tried to squeeze my eyes shut and stop them.

The last thing I heard her say was, “I promise.”

20.

When I finally opened my eyes, I wasn’t in my head anymore, and I wasn’t naked anymore (thank God! Probably literally, too). I was back in the shadow’s cell, and Lucian was standing on the opposite side of the room from me. God was there, too, standing beside me. He helped me to my feet and patted my shoulders.

“I understand how hard that must have been.”

“She’s got a new body, right?” I asked.

He nodded. “Gabe is with her, and helping your mother get adjusted to the idea.” He chuckled. “Gabe and your mother are getting quite attached, I have noticed.”

Though not clashing with his overall obvious kindness, God seemed a little different. So did the shadow, I noticed. I wondered if it had something to do with the two of them standing in the same room.

Lucian growled. “Well, now that little miss sorceress has had her beauty sleep, how about the two of you get the fuck out of my way and let me get this over with?”

God turned to him. “Do you not know who I am, Lucian?”

“Annoying me.”

“You should show your uncle some respect, boy.”

Lucian’s eyes grew wider. “No. You’re… No…”

“I am. And I believe it is time you spent a few centuries in a cage just like your father’s.”

The shadow spoke, and I never thought I’d want to agree with Satan himself, but this I agreed with: “Keep him away from me. It disgusts me to look at him.”

The look on Lucian’s face was priceless.

21.

Jubril was still eating an apple as he walked into God’s office. “Lucian’s all cozy in his cage, and Satan’s cell is hidden away in the magic fabric again. I dunno what happened to Michael, but him being gone was how Lucian found out where his dad’s cage was.” He took a huge bite out of the apple. “Kendra’s mom’s all squared away, and... “ He pulled out a smartphone and looked at it. “Kristana Brewster,” he said, sounding like he wasn’t sure what he was saying, “has been added to reality.”

God was also eating an apple now. “Good. How’s everything else?”

“Well, like I said, Michael’s gone missing, don’t know where he’s out to. Other than, everything’s shiny.”

I raised my eyebrow.

“It’s just something I say.” He took another apple bite. “I’ve got Zadkiel watchin’ over the fabric now, hopefully he won’t up and disappear.”

God nodded. “Good. Now this whole Lucian thing doesn’t seem like a giant clusterfuck that we could have handled ahead of time.”

“Well, if we’d kept a good eye on Michael...”

“Shush.” He turned to me. “Kendra, I’m so sorry for all of this. If I’d known my nephew lived in your hometown before this entire situation, I would have made sure to remove the key from his sight long ago.”

I hugged my knees to my chest. “Nobody’s perfect.” The irony I’d said that to God was not lost on me. “Can I go home now?”

God nodded. “That’s next on the docket. You go home with your mom, your sister and your girlfriend. Gabe goes to visit his kids before he goes on vacation.”

Jubril looked confused. “What?” he asked.

“The lazy one’s down in filing, the trusty one’s out working. You’ve got twenty minutes to visit them before I force you to take a vacation.”

Why did I get the weirdest feeling I was soon going to have an angel as a step-father?

As I stood up, God said, "Just a moment, Kendra. Remember contrarium."

"Huh?"

"It's a spell. Remember it," he said with a shit-eating grin on his face.

22.

When I got home (finally!), I gave Mom a hug, I gave “Kristana” a hug (I also told her I was sorry she had to go by a new name, but she said she was fine with it because she got to pick it out) and then I walked straight into my room and crashed on my bed. It had only been two hours in real world time, but I felt like it had been days. Or, hell, even a month. I just wanted to sleep the rest of the day away and then wake up the following morning and go to school.

I was lying there a good thirty seconds before a pair of soft hands slid under my shirt and started fondling my boobs. I was too tired to stop her, and even if I wasn’t, I’d still be letting her do it. I’d stopped the devil’s son from freeing him and impressed God, this was probably the greatest win somebody could have, and I wanted to celebrate it by letting my girlfriend satisfy me.

“Slip one in my panties, will ya?”

Gabby whispered in my ear, “No problem, babe.”

I moaned a little. “I like it when you call me that.”

She rolled me around, and I saw her very beautiful, smiling face. “But before we get into anything orgasm-inducing, please tell me when you got a twin sister.”

I groaned. “If I promise to write the whole thing as a story, can I get at least one orgasm? I’m gettin’ really wet here.”

She smiled wider. “One and that’s it.”

Coda.

Casey was chatting it up with several of her friends at their private lunch table. They were talking about this, that, probably who they assumed were sluts and who they wanted to fuck badly. Really it was just Casey deciding who was who and her friends going along with it, because they were probably the equivalent of robot slaves for her. Regardless, that's what they were doing.

The table Gabby and Kristana were sitting at was on the opposite side of the cafeteria, but I purposefully walked past Casey's table. As I approached, I caught a little of their conversation.

"Omigawd, who was that creepy drunk guy that was hanging around here earlier? He was cute, but he was... ugh!" Casey exclaimed.

"I know!" Brittney added.

"Totally disgusting," Emily agreed.

"What was he even here for?" Brittney asked.

"To talk to that Mikaela girl," Casey answered. "Probably took her into the bathroom and bent her over a sink. Bet we could hear the screaming if we went out there and checked."

"Uh, no way," Emily said, gagging.

Just hearing that conversation made me curious how this was gonna go, but I took a deep breath, let it out, and whispered, "Contrarium," as I walked past.

And almost immediately, it took effect. Casey's eyes widened, and she stared down at her fingernails. "For fuck's sake!" she almost screamed. Nearly everyone turned to look at her. "What god awful fairy would wear pink nail polish?" She then seemed to realize that she'd styled her hair so that her bangs hung in front of her face. "And why do I have such long hair? What the fuck is going on here?"

"Uh... Casey?" Brittney asked, looking a little confused. The exact same look was mirrored on Emily's face, further making me think they're just robots in people suits. "You okay?"

"No, I'm not okay! Jesus Christ, am I wearing a skirt? What the hell is wrong with me?"

Emily answered, "You always wear your cheerleader uniform on practice day."

"What? I'm not some doofy cheerleader! Ugh, I need to change into something less... Girly... I look like a damn fruit!" She almost angrily stomped out of the cafeteria, looking completely angered by her outfit and her hair.

I walked over to my table and sat next to Gabby, who gave me a peck on the cheek. Kristana asked, "What did you do and how can I do it?"

"Spell God gave me."

Gabby asked, "Wait, you can do magic, too?"

Kristana sighed. "Sadly, no. Ken and I were the same person, now we're different people."

I shoved a handful of french fries in my mouth. "Just wait till she comes back."

"What's gonna happen?" Gabby asked.

"I have no idea, and that makes me giddy."

There was confusion all around the cafeteria, but some of it was barely concealed laughter or giggling. It turned into full-bore laughter when Casey walked back into the cafeteria. In the span of ten minutes, probably raiding some people's lockers, she was decked out in a black half-vest, torn jeans and a pair of combat boots. She'd shaved her head completely, and washed off all of her makeup.

And she was pissed that everybody was laughing at her.

When I took my tray back up after I was done eating, I made sure to go past where she was sitting again, but this time, Brittney and Emily had left. Once again, I whispered, "Contrarium," and once again her eyes went wide as saucers as her original personality took over and realized what it was she'd done to herself.

Her horrified screaming just caused more people to laugh.

I wasn't gonna lie, I didn't feel great about myself for doing that to her, but damn was it satisfying.