The Secret Society               by: Rocketman                 © 2000

Episode 1: "Transformations"

 

"Let me show you something¼ "

Chris Wren arched his eyebrows, "All right¼ "

Andrew Johnson took a deep breath and picked up the assigned novel they were reading in English. The two of them were alone. The others who comprised their little cliché, which occupied a small niche next the gym, were elsewhere at the moment. Probably, out playing Magic the Gathering or something.

Their group didn’t really have a name, but Johnson sometimes referred to it as the Millennium Group. None of the other members called it that though. Johnson laid the book flat against his palm. "Now watch carefully…"

He turned his palm upside down. Now the book should have slid off and onto the ground, but instead it just hung in the air, completely unsupported. Chris leaned closed, trying to find a hidden wire. He could find none.

Johnson moved his hand all around the hovering book to prove to him no tricks were involved. "Whoa….that’s creepy."

Another hand motion and the book fell into his hands. "Cool" responded Chris. Johnson smirked, he’d expected his friend to be a little more surprised than that. "Not impressed?"

Chris shook his head, "No, it’s just, well, you don’t see that everyday. Hey you think we should show that trick to the others?" He knew Chris was nervous. Johnson looked down at the green ROP scrubs Chris was wearing, just like his. An idea came to him.

"One more thing first."

Johnson reached over and clutched Chris’ green shirt. The part he’d touched immediately changed color, becoming pink. The color spread across the shirt and to his pants. He yelped and grasped at the spreading change, but nothing halted its advance.

Chris shot his friend a venomous look, "Very funny. Now change it back. Not only is this embarrassing….really embarrassing, now I can’t get into rotations, this is my only pair of scrubs."

Johnson tossed up his hands and relented. "All right, I thought you, of all people, would have a sense of humor."

Chris rocked his head from side to side, "I do. Just not about stuff like this. This is just freaky!"

Johnson touched the scrubs again and they returned to their former color. Chris breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you."

Johnson responded with a grunt. Chris folded his hands, "So how’d you do that?"

Johnson stood up, "Have to go. I’ll see you later."

Chris frowned, "That’s all?! You show me something that incredible and then you just run off without giving me an explanation?"

Johnson crouched beside his friend, "Remember when I told you about that dream where I got incredible psychic powers, the ability to do anything I wished?"

"Yah…."

"If it makes you feel better, then you could just call it that, a dream come true. Pure fanciful magic that requires no explanation."

Chris didn’t respond. "Bye, Chris."

"Bye, Andrew."

Chris stood around for a couple of minutes. He looked carefully at his ROP shirt, trying to spot an errant spot of pink. Nothing. The color was the same as it had been when he put it on this morning. Chris stretched for a minute and scratched his long blond hair.

So long that he had to tie it back into a pony tail. He contemplated getting it cut. Nah, maybe at spring break or something. At least he wasn’t as bad as Andrew. He not only got infrequent haircuts. He also never shaved. As a result, his face wore a thick coat of black facial hair that stretched from his neck to his lower lip and connected with his side-burns.

The bell rung, or rather buzzed. Another costly, dubiously necessary expenditure Warrenson High School had made recently. As well as an eight-foot-high, spiked fence intended to ‘keep the bad people out’. Chris grabbed his backpack and pulled it over his shoulder. Although he could’ve rolled it along like a piece of luggage, since it had wheels.

A rather long story, actually.

His next class, Civics, was dull and exceedingly long as usual. The day finished with Spanish, where he ran into Andrew again, who was just leaving. They exchanged nods, but nothing more.

Chris took 20^th Street home. As usual, it would be a long walk since his home was five miles from the high school. Sometimes he went to a friend’s house and then home, but that would not be the case today.

A student wearing a trench coat glanced at him oddly. Chris gave him no response. The student kept looking at him nonetheless. He came over next him and walked in step.

"How you doing?"

"Ahh…pretty good, you?"

The student shrugged and answered, "I could be better." Chris felt his heart pulse in response to irrational fear. He tried to disregard the normal stereotypes, but he couldn’t. He’d always been smaller and shorter than most of the other guys. One the reasons he got along with girls better than most of the other males in his classes. Merely a supposition. But, at times like this, his height seemed like a disadvantage rather than an opportunity.

The student smiled faintly, "So did he talk to you?"

Chris walked faster than normal. If he needed to, he could sprint. During the earthquake preparedness simulation he chased down a crazed panic victim and tackled him while everyone else was far behind.

"Did who talk to me?"

The student folded his hands and sighed, "Johnson."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, you know what I mean."

Chris didn’t like his tone. "What’s it to you?"

He chuckled, "You have no idea what’s really going on here do you? You don’t really know what’s at stake in all this. More than mere hovering books and color changing clothes."

Chris felt a shiver travel down his spine. How did he know about that? Had he been watching?

"Like what?"

The student reached out to him, "Take my hand."

Chris gave him a disbelieving look, "No way!"

"You’re going to regret that choice."

The student stopped walking and Chris just kept on going, hoping that he would leave him alone. After a little ways, he looked back and saw that the student was gone. Breathing a sigh of relief, he continued down the street.

When Chris got home, he noticed, like usual, his mom wasn’t home yet. His older sister was away, at some friend’s house. His younger brother was there, watching Dragonball Z.

"Hey Kevin." Kevin Wren uttered a grunt and kept watching. Chris looked in the backyard. Cal, their black and white dog, was sleeping on the porch. Contrary to popular belief his dog’s name is not Bandit.

Chris took his pack upstairs and lay it against his bed. He would take care of his homework later. He joined his brother by the TV. It was rerun episode.

The phone rang. He looked at Kevin, who was completely engrossed by the program, and realized he would have to take care of it.

He picked up the phone, "Hello?"

Silence.

Another crank call or something.

Chris shook his head and was about to hang up when he heard a click. "Hello?!"

A sharp, sudden screech cut through the silence. Chris hung the phone up quickly. His ear was ringing.

After a few moments, he could hear normally again. Deciding he wasn’t all that interested in watching Dragonball Z. Shock of all shocks!

He decided to get a quick snack, go back upstairs, and take care of his homework.

He reached over and opened the refrigerator door. His fingers wrapped around the door handle and rapped against it. Something about that didn’t seem quite right to Chris. He looked at his fingers. They were fine, their usual size, it was his nails that weren’t right. He’d just trimmed them the other day, yet they were around an inch long and a brighter shade of pink than they normally were.

Taking another look at his hands, he realized they did seem slightly different. Perhaps a little softer, gentler….

Chris shook his head and let go of the door handle. He couldn’t figure out what was going on. His hand looked kinda like his sister’s. Slim and feminine. Chris knew something weird was happening.

He had to call Andrew. But where did he put his phone number? He looked in his day planner. The number was there. He dialed the number on the phone and got a busy signal, and the same when he tried again.

Someone was at the door. A key turned in the lock. "Chris….Kevin!"

Kevin answered back, "Yah mom…what is it?"

"Is your brother here?"

Chris answered quickly, "I’m here mom."

Judy Wren walked into the kitchen, carrying a brown bag filled with groceries. "I’ve got a couple more bags in the car. Could you get them, Chris?"

Chris nodded, "Sure."

He grabbed a bag at random from the back of their Ford Escort and took it back into the house. Judy, who was in the process of putting the groceries from the first bag away, glanced over at him and told him to put the other bags on the kitchen table.

"Your nails are getting kinda long." She remarked.

Chris clutched his hands, hiding his fingers from view, "Yah. I suppose."

Judy looked over at her son and frowned at the way he was hiding his fingers, "Let me see them."

Chris’ heart stopped. He didn’t know what to do. He had to come up with some excuse, like he always did. But then he didn’t have any prior experience with suddenly having long nails. He cringed and waited.

She held his hands for a second. She knew something was wrong. She blinked her eyes a couple of times and looked at them again.

"Is that…..nail polish?"

All right, she knew something was wrong. But how could he work from here?

"Well, mom. You know Katrina…."

That was all he had to say, "Oh, that quirky, mixed up girl. What….did she want to test and see if it was the right color before she put it on? Honestly…..why haven’t you rinsed them off?"

Yah, that’s the ticket, thought Chris. Fortunately, she didn’t take much notice to their length or the change in his hands.

"I just got home a little while ago…..I was gonna though…right when you walked in…..right afterward"

Judy smirked, "Christopher Wren."

He knew what his mother was getting at, "Oh, don’t even go there."

"Kinda like wearing nail polish?" She asked with an odd grin.

"Yah, it makes me look pretty….I was just gonna wash it off….here I go, right now."

Chris walked quickly into the bathroom. He turned the hot water on carefully. His changed nails took some getting used to. He lay his hands under the stream and waited for the color…..he hoped….to rinse off.

Slowly, but surely, it did. His nails, still long, were at least of a more normal color. The nail clippers were in the medicine cupboard and when he was finished using them, his nails were back to their original length.

Looking them over critically and felt better. The change in the texture and shape of his hands still bothered him, but at least now they weren’t as obvious as they had been.

He had to admit something majorly weird was going on. Even weirder than the stuff in the stories Johnson wrote from time-to-time. Which reminded him that he’d have to call his number again.

Chris finished taking in the groceries and sat next to his brother. Since Dragonball Z was over, at least his sibling was responsive to questions. He even asked him something.

"What was mom talking about, you know, your nails and stuff?"

"Oh, Katrina got this new color nail polish and, I don’t know why, she just wanted to test it on me first."

Kevin looked at his brother in strange way. "How many fingers did she put it on?"

Chris realized the error in his claim. If she wanted to test the polish, why would a girl who was notoriously greedy about her polish put some on each and every one of his fingers.

"What are you watching?"

Shrug. "Simpsons."

"Which episode is it?" That’s all he had to do. His brother had a severely short attention span when it came to conversations. He went on about the episode and they watched and laughed. Judy came over a few minutes later to check on them.

"I thought you were gonna wash that stuff off your fingers."

"What?"

Judy pointed to his hands, "The polish, it’s still on."

Chris looked down in horror. His nails were long again and not only that, they were the same, pink color they had been before he washed them. Seriously freaky.

"I must have forgotten."

Judy gave him a strange look that was interrupted by a handful of barks from Cal. Judy groaned and went outside to feed the dog.

Chris ran over to the bathroom and proceeded to take care of his nail problem a second time. He emerged from the bathroom as he usually looked, except for his hands, a problem he didn’t have the first idea how to remedy.

He called Andrew’s number again, yet another busy signal. He must be on the Internet. Chris grumbled and put the phone back up. There was no knowing when he might get off. Him and his Scully porn!

His mind filled with possibilities. Surely, if he could cause a book to hover in the air and make his clothes turn a different color, then changing the way he looked might not be out of the question.

For a while, he’d convinced himself that what he had seen this afternoon was a daydream and nothing more, even though he couldn’t remember falling asleep or waking. Now, with what had happened to his hands and fingernails, there was no denying that something strange and inexplicable was going on.

Judy returned from the backyard, "By the way, we’re gonna have pizza tonight. The usual?"

Chris and Kevin agreed on the usual. Since Sarah, his older sister, was over at the friends house for the night she didn’t have a say in the matter. Now that’s what’s known as a pointless sentence.

"That okay with you, Chrisie?" Now Chris was used to his mother referring to him that way, maybe, but she hadn’t used it in a while and with the circumstances of the day, it just unnerved him.

"It’s cool, mom."

Judy nodded, picked up the phone and called in their order. Chris decided it was time to get started on his homework. He went upstairs and into his room. He went through his schedule. In English, he had a book report due tomorrow. All he had to do was write a final draft of that. ROP had a chapter to be turned in at the beginning of next week. He’d probably do that on Saturday or Sunday. Andrew usually forgot about that and turned it in after school.

Then, Calculus….he’d take care of that during English tomorrow. He loved Calculus at times, it was the one subject that truly interested him, but the homework was a nightmare. Maybe he’d take care of it tonight after all.

Ok, Civics after that. No big problem, just read from the book and copy the next few lines of the preamble of the Constitution and change them into words he understood, simple.

All right, then Spanish. Just study as usual, which was pretty simple. He pulled out his rough drafts of the book report and a clean sheet of paper. He began with the heading, copied the first two paragraphs word for word then made the changes that his peers had marked on the third and fourth paragraphs. Pretty simple.

He scratched his neck.

Ouch! Something really hurt. He looked at his fingers and felt his mouth drop, the long, pink nails were back and with a vengeance. Probably in response to his repeated attempts to eliminate them. The nails looked as though several coats of polish had been applied to them rather than just a little bit, like at the beginning.

He knew his mom was really gonna freak when she saw them. He knew he could try cutting them again, but at this point he realized they would probably just come back again…..maybe bright red next time. Chris shuddered to think of the possibility. Like it or not, he was gonna probably have to live with them until they just went away or he could figure out a way to fix them.

In the meantime, he rewrote the book report until he heard the doorbell ring, meaning the delivery man had arrived. He set aside his work and went downstairs. Judy laid the pizza on the kitchen table and lifted it open. They all just served themselves.

Chris anticipated a comment from his brother and definitely something from his mother about his nails. But no one said anything about them. Chris laid his hands out as his mother got a slice for herself, right in plain view. Nobody said a thing.

He thought about this for a minute. Now his mother, he could explain with the old I’m-ignoring-that-because-you’re-doing-something-weird routine, which didn’t quite fit in these circumstances but it was the closest thing to a rationalization that he could come up with.

He took his pizza upstairs and thought about the whole situation as it stood.

Fact, as far as he knew, this afternoon during lunch his friend Andrew had caused a novel-sized book to hover of its own accord. Soon afterward, he changed the color his scrubs to pink. Which was surprisingly similar to the current color of his nails.

At least that was an explanation, but why didn’t they change immediately, just like the shirt and pants had? Was it some kinda weird psychic magic that slowly got in your system and settled in a certain part of your body after time, kinda like lead that settles in the tissues of the brain?

Ok, now he knew that just seemed like a stretch, but with all had been happening this day, he knew he was beyond arguing that what happened during lunch had never happened. This whole day would make a pretty good X-Files episode. Ah, who was he kidding, if it was ever made into an episode, it would be nothing but crap.

He could just imagine it.

"Mulder, what’s our case this time?"

"Well, Scully, it looks like a high school senior out in Stockdale, California witnessed one of his classmates using telekinetic powers."

"Of course you know that crap doesn’t really exist right, science will prevail as usual."

"Oh, it gets better."

"What do you mean? Was someone murdered by these supposed ‘telekinetic powers’?"

"No, his classmate changed his ROP scrubs pink and later in the day, his nails got really long and…..also turned pink."

"Right…"

It would probably be a real rating bust, but it’s a whole different thing when it’s actually happening to you, he thought. He set the thought aside. Right now, it was just his fingers, which wasn’t all that bad compared with what he realized could have happened. Lying on his bed, he took a bite of pizza and looked over his final draft. Finishing it though would be a chore with his nails.

Surprisingly not as difficult as he imagined it to be though. His lengthened nails required him to adjust his pen position from time to time, but since his natural pen position didn’t interfere with his nails, they didn’t hinder his work much.

By the time he was done with a second slice he’d gone back for, his final draft was done. He looked it over, comparing it with the rough draft. He froze as he realized a major difference between the two and not only in content.

The neatness of the script was improved, though wouldn’t have taken much.

Well his hands were slightly smaller; something he’d yet to connect with what Andrew had done to him earlier. Did that really mean anything in regards to his handwriting? The size of his hands?

Chris set aside his English assignment now that he was finished and picked up his Calculus book. A little bit of the work was done, but the vast remainder was still uncompleted.

As he looked through the problems he concentrated on a certain one. Working it through in his mind, he reached a hand up to his hair instinctively and curled a couple of strands around his finger. He’d done it once or twice before in his life, but this time it felt strange.

He pulled his hands away, laid them on either side of the book and focused on the assignment. When finally finished with the assignment he put the book away, with the paper and leaned back against his bed.

He held his hands outstretched in front of him. No change, they were still the same as they had been over an hour ago when they returned for a third time. Chris sighed and let them drop.

He spent a little while downstairs on his Playstation till it was time for bed. He took a quick shower and was relieved to discover that his hands were the only parts of his body affected by this strange stuff. Dressed in a nightshirt and some shorts, Chris laid down against his bed and quickly fell asleep.

His mother and brother went to bed shortly afterward.

The night, while quiet, was not dreamless for Chris Wren. In his sleep, he had a vision, a vision of a great tower of shimming gold standing alone in the middle of a desolate landscape. Gray figures yelled out at a craft traveling across the desolation. A hellish place of utter despair. Then the vision shifted to an open air café, calm, pleasant, except for one thing, every time he moved about, people bumped into him and knocked him over. They had no regard at all for him. It was like they didn’t even see him….

"Chris, wake up!" yelled Judy.

Chris opened his eyes and stretched. Another morning. He scratched his neck and was quickly reminded of yesterday’s legacy. So it hadn’t just been some creation of his mind, it had really happened. He didn’t know what seemed worst, that laws of physics had fallen on its head or that he might be going crazy. Given the growing possibility of first, Chris worried about both being true.

Sitting up, he got dressed quickly and went downstairs. Breakfast went swiftly and soon he was off to school. His mom dropped both him and his brother off at the same time since Warrenson was right next where Kevin went to school.

Chris knew first period would be a difficult since Andrew had the same class. He arrived early and looked about for his friend. He hadn’t shown up yet. Mr. Cegy said hello to Chris in that passive, yet unsettling manner that was part of his nature.

Chris returned the gesture, turned in his report and occupied his seat. And waited.

The rest of students came, but Andrew did not. Chris felt worried. Had something happened? Was he sick? And how come Mr. Cegy didn’t say anything about his fingers? At this point he hoped it could all be explained as something simple, like witchcraft…..or wizardcraft….was that even a real word?

The bell rung. Andrew was never late for this class. It was by far his favorite. Wesley arrived a few minutes late, as usual. That meant Andrew wasn’t gonna come today. Chris knew he was in for another day of pink, inch-long finger nails if he wasn’t successful at getting this fixed.

After a lesson that went faster than Chris had expected, the bell rung again and everyone in the class left. His ride to rotations was Ben, so he followed him out. Just outside the door stood Andrew, arms folded, looking at the wall.

Chris’ eyes bulged. He had to speak with him.

"Hey, Andrew!"

Andrew glanced over at him and nodded his head, "How’s it going?"

Chris presented his fingers to Andrew, "Oh, about like this."

Andrew frowned, "Sorry, telepathic spill-over. Allow me to correct it."

Chris held his hands out and allowed Andrew to touch them.

"All right, finished." Chris looked at his hands, relieved, they were back to normal.

"You know, I got to tell you. I’m really sorry about what happened yesterday, you know, snapish and all. I just kinda don’t like telling people about what I’ve learned to do. You’re actually one of the first persons I’ve done hovering and changing stuff for."

"Cool" was all Chris chose to say.

Andrew and him parted company at that point.

Ben parked his car in front of the doctor’s office. Chris’ chiropractor work site was in the business complex next door. He walked through the partially hidden path and over to the office. One of the female medical assistants smiled and said hello to him. Chris returned the gesture and quickly went to work, applying hot and cold packs, compresses and working with patients developing their upper body strength in various ways. For instance, will medicine balls. Sure, I know that’s not what a real chiropractor’s office would have. He’s probably got different stuff, stuff I’m not at all sure about but I’m not changing it.

About halfway through his rotation, Chris began to feel weird, really weird. He stood still for a minute, looked around the room, smiled at a passing MA and promptly passed out.

When Chris awoke, he discovered he was surrounded by several people.

"You all right Chris…."

His hearing wasn’t quite all back. "Oh dang, I must have passed out or something." His throat felt different and sound that emerged from it higher than it normally was. He felt clueless as to why though, despite his medical education.

"Do you have to call anybody?"

"Just Mrs. Hanlon. Can I use the phone?"

"Sure, it’s right over there."

Still not completely aware of what was going on, he walked over to the phone. He felt unbalanced, different, but he wasn’t sure exactly how or why.

He dialed the number he knew by heart, dialed the location number and waited for the confirmation sound. When it came, he replaced the phone and sighed.

"She gonna call right back?"

He tried to clear his voice but the foreign sound of it remained.

One of the MA’s looked him over carefully and asked, "You gonna be okay?"

Chris nodded slowly, "Yup, I guess."

"Did ya have enough to eat this morning?"

"Enough."

"Are you on your period?"

Chris paused a minute to play her question back over in his mind.

"Uhh…….eh?!"

One of the MAs explained, "You know the blood loss could cause you to be a little woozy, especially if your flow is heavy."

Flow? Chris looked around. Surely they realized that this line of questioning was completely absurd. No one corrected the MA though.

"Do you need to use the restroom or anything?"

Chris thought a little more and in a voice that still sounded weird, responded, "I think I’ll use the restroom."

He knew where it was. He locked the door behind him and looked over at the mirror. In the instant he looked at himself in the mirror, a thousand thoughts fill his head.

And the world became a little clearer and hazier in that moment. The reflection in the mirror was not him. Even though she did look a little bit like him.

Still the same long, blond hair tried into a ponytail, although it had a different look to it. His face, often subject to sparse breakouts, was now smooth and free of blemishes. His features were all still there, but now they took on a feminine shape. Rounded, smoothed chin, brown eyes, short nose. They all reminded him of his sister, except they were on him.

He looked down quickly and then back up, as far as he….she could tell, she was a regular female now. Something seriously bizarre was going on and she had a feeling that Andrew had something to with it.

Chris sighed and looked herself over. She moved her shoulders and realized she was wearing a bra. Grimace. She could feel the bra around her shoulders and knew it was there without having to actually see it. Satisfied?

Her knees felt suddenly weak. She sat on the floor for a minute, back against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. It was a really crappy-looking ceiling.

So she closed her eyes and thought for a minute. Time for assessment.

First of all, the MA’s didn’t seem to recognize that anything was wrong. They just accepted him in her changed form…and he could only suspected that whoever she would meet would have a similar reaction to her. Ack! Pronouns!

Chris sat there for a while, till one of the MA’s came along and knocked on the door. "Christine….are you all right in there?"

Chris arched her eyebrows. Surely, whoever had caused this inexplicable change could’ve thought up something more original? Well, maybe not. He looked down again, this time at….her ROP internship badge…and realized that it too had been changed. Actually just made longer if you thought about it. If in any other circumstances, he would merely have thought that someone had pulled a prank on him and taped on a couple extra letters….except that it was sealed close….oh well.

Chris stood, took another look at herself, adjusted her green shirt and walked over to door. Unlocking the door, she walked out. One of the front office ladies went over to her.

"Are you all right?"

Chris tried to smile in that sly way that told volumes and culled doubt

"I’m just peachy."

The front office lady smiled and padded her on the shoulder, "That’s good to hear."

The phone rung at that moment. Chris went over to the phone and answered it.

"Mrs. Hanlon?"

"Yes…Christine Wren? Hi, what’s going on?"

"Well, I fainted for a second, but I’m okay now."

"All right….hmm. I’m in Lancaster right now. Just sit down and stay where you are. I’ll be there in a little bit. We need to file an incident report. Do you have any idea what caused it?"

Chris sighed, "Well, I ate breakfast, a pretty good one, so I don’t think it’s blood sugar. One of people here thinks it….um….could be…my period….but that’s just a guess."

"Okay….well sometimes these things just happen for no reason at all. I’ll be there in a little bit, okay?"

"Sure, bye."

Chris hung up the phone and looked back at the others, "She’ll be here in a little bit."

"You should probably rest until then" responded the chiropractor. Chris sat in one of the chairs in the front office. One of ladies there smiled, "Feeling okay?"

"Ah, pretty good."

She nodded, "Would you like something to read?"

"Um…sure."

"Let’s see, I’ve got Vogue, Woman’s Day, Cosmopolitan, Fashion, and Mademoiselle."

Uh….no, thought Chris. "Anything else?"

She frowned and shook her head, "There are few up front."

Chris looked through the ones up front, the same magazines the front office lady had mentioned, only a few months older.

A Newsweek. Was she really that desperate?

Chris picked it up. "Complete Desert Shield Coverage." No… The rest were kinda medically-related. In that they advertised drugs and medications in a saccharine manner that dispelled doubt about their side effects while giving vague explanations that any lay-person could understand.

Chris returned to the front officer empty-handed, "What did you have again?"

The lady gave Chris a grin that told her she had expected her to come crawling back.

He settled on Vogue. Which had a big, cover picture of Catherine Zeta-Jones-Douglas on the front, exceedingly pregnant. He flipped through the articles, showing complete disinterest. Perfumes, body oils, youth creams and other stuff definitely aimed at a female reader.

Which Chris had to admit she was, at the moment She laid the magazine aside and folded her arms on the table.

Sigh.

Boy did she wish Mrs. Hanlon would hurry up.

Chris looked through the charts and other stuff, but wasn’t allowed to work on any patients, at least until Mrs. Hanlon showed up. Chris’ watch beeped, time to go.

"Umm, I have to tell my ride about what’s going on."

The front office lady nodded and let her go over to the path, Ben and Erica were both over by the car. Ben waved and put his backpack in his car. "Ready?"

Chris shook her head, apparently this thing went pretty darn far. "Not quite yet. You see….I fainted…and you know Mrs. Hanlon has to report it and stuff."

Ben nodded, "How long do you think it’s gonna take?"

"She should be here in a little while. I’m not sure if she’s taking the White Whale or anything though. Yah, I think it’ll be fine."

"So you don’t need a ride back?"

"Which I just said…." Ben nodded and Erica said goodbye.

Chris picked up her backpack, which still looked the same from the outside at least

The two got in Ben’s car and drove off. She searched her pack and found that everything was as it had been before.

Chris sighed and returned to the doctor’s office. A different lady working the front desk, a newbie, sat next to Chris.

"So you’re with the ROP program?" Read the badge, thought Chris.

"Yeah."

"So is it cool, you know, do you like it?"

She nodded, "Yeah, it’s cool."

"Cool."

"Do you like school?", the woman folded her hands.

Chris didn’t have any idea what school was like for him….her now, so he just used what he knew from before. "It’s good."

And she’s never asked this before, after months and months of me going here and she chooses today to ask.

The woman nodded, "So you want to go into medicine?"

That would explain the fact…that I’m in a medical ROP program.

"Yup."

"What do you want to do?"

"Well, I’m not really sure yet, but probably something involving physical therapy. A physical therapist, probably."

"Cool."

Chris watched the door carefully and tapped her once again long and bright pink nails on the table. Is that allowed? Am I even allowed to have long nails? No one’s telling me to cut them, so they must be okay.

"Involved with any other groups besides the ROP?"

"Well, I’m in Campus Life Club."

She understood, "Cool."

Chris sensed a really tough question coming. The woman bent over in her direction and asked, "So you’re a senior, right?"

"Yes…"

"Are you looking forward to the prom?"

At least her answer was the same despite her gender, at the moment.

"I’m not really all that interested in going to the prom."

The woman appeared shocked. "Nobody’s asked you?"

Actually, he had been asked, he had been asked, and he didn’t know whether she had been asked. Oh, that was an awkward thought.

"I’m just not interested in going."

The woman shook her head, "Ah, come on, the prom is coolest thing about high school, it’s the one night that you work four years to get to."

Funny, I always figured that was…oh maybe…Graduation!

Chris shrugged. The woman leaned closer, "Come on. I think you would look great in a prom dress."

This is just getting reeeeally weird.

Shrug.

"Well, do you have a boyfriend?"

Chris really had no clue, nor did he want to think about that, at all. Fortunately, Mrs. Hanlon walked in at that moment.

Chris joined her side. She talked to everyone about what happened and wrote a draft of the incident report that she would file with the insurer. Fortunately, she was driving the Whale, so she could take Chris back.

Chris strapped herself in and laid her backpack next to her.

"Are you feeling better now?"

"Yeah, I’m not all that sure what happened, but I think I’m over it."

"Well, remember if you feel lightheaded just sit down and relax and when you feel better, slowly stand up. The people at your job-site won’t mind, they’d rather have you conscious."

Chris smiled and agreed.

Mrs. Hanlon turned onto the Boulevard. The Whale wasn’t exactly known for providing a gentle ride. Chris occupied herself with reexamining her backpack. All the same books were there, but now an item that hadn’t been there before rested towards the top. A makeup kit.

This is just one of those days…wait…no it’s not, I’ve never had a day like this, which could be construed as a good thing.

The Whale beached itself near the first-year ROP room, which, fortunately, wasn’t all that far from her Calculus class.

Chris looked down at her watch, Oh, still plenty of time left. She gathered up her stuff and exited the Whale, with Mrs. Hanlon saying goodbye.

Calculus, as usual, was consumed with working out a variety of problems noted on the board. Chris took her regular seat, sighed to herself and sat down.

He checked in with his teacher, but other than that, no one spoke to her, the assignment was a review. Everything else appeared as normal, only he had changed.

The buzzing bell came quickly. Chris picked up her stuff and was one of the first people out the door. She intended to catch Andrew before he left his Civics class. Kenneth, one of his friends, walked past, no response.

Ah, don’t worry about it. He did worry that Andrew might not remember her, then what would she do? Chris preferred not to explore that possibility.

She waited, everyone left the classroom, a few of the girls even said a quick "hi" to her, but no Andrew. Figuring she must have just missed him, she went over to the niche by the gym.

All the regular people were there; Julie, Kenneth, Brian, Kale and Nick. But no Andrew. Chris set her backpack over next to the fence. Kenneth was playing Magic the Gathering with Brian. Chris went into her backpack for her cards. She had to recover some semblance of reality. Her heart stopped, they weren’t there.

Chris tried to be calm. He remembered bringing them this morning, but now they were gone. That didn’t mean anything, hopefully. But if it did, whoever had altered him was gonna pay, oh were they gonna pay.

You can mess with my hands, you can mess with my gender, but when you mess with my Magic, that’s something else entirely! Kenneth said a quick "Hi."

Chris returned the greeting, but the history leading up their friendship seemed to have been culled for some reason in this world or whatever it was. Brian seemed friendly to everyone as usual, so that didn’t seem to be any difference.

Julie though seemed to be closer to Chris than she had been. "Oh, I got the new N*Sync CD, you know, the No Strings Attached one."

"And this matters to me…why?"

Julie looked hurt "You were asking me about it."

Chris decided to play along, "Oh yeah, that, of course. I shoulda remembered, I was just thinking about something else."

Julie giggled, "Was it about you know who?"
No I don’t know who, but I figure I’d rather not know.

"Um, no."

Julie nodded, "So you want to listen?" Chris gulped and after taking a deep breath, bravely answered, "Sure." Julie popped the CD in her walkman and handed the headphones to Chris. She hesitantly put them on and endured the first song.

"Yeah, cool, nice, here you go, thank you." With a flourish, Chris handed the walkman back to Julie who seemed satisfied and returned to talking with Kale. Soon, for no apparent reason, they began attacking each other in a non-serious manner.

This lasted only a short while. Julie took out a small container of perfume. Chris remembered that he got sprayed with a similar one back a couple of weeks ago. Julie showed the container to her as though it was reason for her to ooh and ahh. Chris simply nodded, perhaps a faux pas but Julie overlooked it and offered her some to try.

Always a bit of a humorous, frivolous gesture he accepted from time to time, this time though it was honest. Chris reached out her wrist and accepted a squirt. She lifted her wrist to her nose.

She restrained a cough and answered in a strained voice, "Lovely…"

Julie smiled and, thankfully, put the spray away. Chris shook her wrist vigorously when she wasn’t looking, but was unsuccessful in dulling the scent. She looked across the black top to the 400’s classes that faced each other. A man was walking toward that part of the school. His face was covered in black hair and he held a laptop in his left hand. It was Andrew.

Chris picked up her backpack and chased after him. When she made it to the 400’s, he was nowhere to be seen. Chris looked around furtively. She finally spotted him towards the end of the hallway.

Running like she never had before, especially with a backpack on, she finally caught up to Andrew.

"Andrew!"

He turned around and looked quizzically at this woman before him. "Do I know you?"

"Cut the crap. If you can make books fly and fingernails long then you can remember too….can’t you?!" Chris didn’t know for sure, but she certainly hoped he could.

Andrew looked at Chris a moment, something stirred in his mind, "Christine….ahh yes, you’re in Mr. Cegy’s class with me. What’s all this about flying books and long fingernails?"

Chris’ hope collapsed, she didn’t even know how to respond, "Um…..that’s right and stuff."

Andrew smiled, "Are you a fantasy aficionado?"

"Not really."

"Interesting, how about sci-fi?"

Chris shrugged, "Kinda…."

Andrew handed her a story, "You might enjoy this one then, sort of an odd mix, it not only provides entertainment but also serves a useful purpose."

Chris didn’t catch his drift, but accepted the story anyway and said goodbye.

She looked at the paper, she’d read the story before. Chris shook her head, and was about to toss the story away when she noticed writing on the back.

‘We’re being watched. Meet me at the niche after school and I’ll try to help you Chris.’ Hope filled her again, hope to persevere and overcome what had happened to her. That everything would soon be back to normal.

The end of lunch bell buzzed. A day ago he had no idea of the many things that would face him, but there they were, nonetheless.

Civics was still dull and seemed just as long as it had been before, only this time the girls who had always been on great speaking terms with him, were behaving, well, quite friendly.

Whereas before he simply joked with them and connected on a basic level, they asked her to brush their hair and they didn’t hold much back when they really wanted to talk. Interesting.

Spanish repeated a few of those trends, but Chris didn’t pay as close attention to their requests and comments. She had the meeting after school to worry about. The clocked seemed slow as the minutes dribbled by. Eventually, it was the end of school. Chris made sure she was the first one out.

She went over to where Andrew had agreed to meet. A swarm of escaping students literally pushed her into the niche. Slowly, the masses thinned out. About twenty minutes after the bell, only the random student here or there passed by.

Andrew arrived. "You came alone?"

Chris tossed her hands up, "How many people do you see?"

Andrew frowned, "Never underestimate the Society."

Until that moment, the name had never come up, "Society?"

If the current circumstances had been different, Chris might have made the association between this ‘Society’ and UN, a paranoid series of Andrew’s making.

"That’s what they’re typically called, their real name is unpronounceable."

Chris arched his eyebrows, "Are you serious?"

"I am."

"So they’re people and not like aliens or time traveling genetically engineered clones or flying orbs?"

Andrew nodded.

"So are they good guys…bad guys….conspirators…people who want to take over the world…just want to take over New Zealand…or just out to have a good time?" Asked Chris.

"Yes, pretty much."

"I hate when you do that!"

Andrew grimaced, "Sorry, but that’s about what we’ve narrowed it down to so far. We just don’t know for sure. "

Chris felt suspicious, "Who are ‘we’?"

"Different people, sorry, I can’t jeopardize them."

Chris had just about had enough of all of this, "Okay, fine with me, just change me back to myself and I’ve never ask about them."

"How do you know I transformed you?"

"You mean you didn’t?"

Andrew shook his head, "No, it was me, I was just wondering how you knew it was me. I mean, am I really that obvious?"

Chris clasped his hands together, "Good, it was you. Now, undo all this."

"I can’t."

Chris clutched her forehead, "Why not?!"

"Because being what you are now is the only thing that keeps them from destroying you?"

Chris gave him an odd sideways glance, "Ok, clear this up for me. Turning me into a….girl….makes me better able to resist this ‘Society’. How?"

Andrew chuckled, "You underestimate the power and abilities of your new form only because you’re conditioned to think of it as inferior."

Chris smiled, "Oh, well since it’s so great, why don’t you try it on?"

Andrew shook his head "Sorry, not interested."
Under her breath, Chris muttered, "I figured as much."

Andrew looked over Chris carefully.

Chris frowned, "What?!"

Andrew shook his head, "Nothing, it’s just that you seem to look, at least faintly, like Gillian Anderson."

Chris waved his hands, "Don’t even go there. Next thing I know I’m part your Scully porn shrine."

"It’s really rather uncanny."

"Zip it!" Andrew relented. Chris folded her arms, "So these powers and abilities I have, what are they?"

"You will discover them as you go along." Chris frowned, "Umm, no. Tell me them now."

"I can’t it’s against our code, besides, if I tell you, the Society will quickly find out and then you won’t be able to defend yourself against them."

Chris understood, but there was one thing she didn’t understand, "Why me? Why’d you show that freaking hovering book thing to me and not someone else? Why change the color of my clothes, my fingers? Why change my body?"

"Quite a lot of questions. Unfortunately, I have little time."

How rude!

"Don’t misunderstand me, by little time, I mean I have little time left here. The Society has found out. I sense it. Soon they will claim me, but to protect you, I’m adding a special strength to your change and your form, so that they will never be able to strip you of it."

"Never?! Whoa hang on, who’s gonna remove it when we beat these guys?"

A flash hit Andrew and he fell over. Chris knelt beside him, "Oh crap….um. Come on!"

Andrew’s eyes flashed open, "Leave me be…."

"First tell me if anyone can change me back."

Andrew took a tired breath as his form began to dissolve. "There is only one besides me, but in all my life I have never found her." Chris sighed. Somehow, she had to find this woman, this magic woman.

Andrew’s body faded into a plume of smoke that hovered around the niche, then quickly dissipated. Chris stood up and turned around. There was no one else on campus. No one anywhere. The entire vicinity was empty. Foul black clouds hung in the sky and hideous sounds emerged from every corner. Non-human sounds. Sounds that terrible, predatory creatures made.

All in all, the campus didn’t look that bad though. In fact, it appeared as though the buildings had just had a new coat of paint. Go figure. Chris decided it was time for another assessment of things as they stood.

Fact one, he was a girl, at the moment, and he….she intended that to be a temporary condition. But the only way to reverse it was find some woman that Andrew never found, who’s name she didn’t even know. Not that hard at all, just a plain ol’ walk in the park. Yup.

Fact two, something, possibly pretty bad had just happened to Andrew. Chris didn’t want to use the word ‘dead’ but seeing as how he had been hit by something resembling lightning and slowly vaporized….it didn’t look good.

Fact three, magic was definitely going on here, which is always a great explanation. How does that work? Magic! See it encompasses all, even if it isn’t really magic, it fits as a pretty good answer until the real one comes along. What Andrew did certainly seemed like magic even though it could have been explained as psychic power or something. That also meant that to be able to overpower Andrew, the Society must have a degree of magic as well.

Fact four, Chris had some powers too, but he had no idea what they were. He’d probably have to find out as he went along.

Seeing as how nothing was happening near the niche, Chris started walking around looking for something, anything. Well, maybe not the Society. To run into them seemed like a bad thing. Unfortunately, that was exactly what he did.

Approaching the 500’s, Chris noticed a group of people around the PE area. There were twelve of them. Three of them were playing a game of basketball. Four were chatting together about music. One was hopping around, complaining about a hurt toe. Two more were stumbling around, trying not to trip over their feet and completely failing. Another was sitting down, grin broadly and ‘reading’ a nudie magazine.

The last one was trying to get the others together but was being totally ignored. All of them were wearing brown robes with a gold symbol that looked like a dead snake.

What a bunch of losers.

The last one gestured wildly. She yelled at the top of her lungs, in a voice that wasn’t all that loud, "Please, come on guys. We’ve got another meeting to take care of. We’re almost there. Just got to finish this one. Then we get rewarded. It’s a really cool reward. Please, I mean we’re supposed to be a society, hello."

Chris could only stare. This was the omniscient, ‘they’re everywhere’ Society? They didn’t even looked like they could take over Guam, let alone New Zealand, and you can just forget about the world. Not even close.

The woman jumped up and down, "Don’t make me call him! He can get very upset you know!"

Basketball dropped and the players ran over to her side. The chatters hushed up and joined them. The sore toe guy hopped over. The two bunglers tripped their way over. And the ‘reader’ walked over, nose still firmly wedged in his magazine.

"Thank you" responded the woman that Chris assumed was the leader, although in this case she used the term very loosely.

"Okay, I call this meeting to order….where’s my gavel?….where’s my table?"

One of people who were playing basketball raised their hand and responded, "Um….Ms. C…….you never had a table."

"Hush" responded Ms. C, "I can smite you in an instant."

The fellow blinked, "Actually you can’t."

Ms. C looked saddened, "Why do you have to take that away from me…now I have nothing to hold over you…*sob*." The fellow raised his hands in surrender, "All right. I am afraid of the smite….gotcha…geez."

"Ha ha. I can smite you whenever I please, if that’s okay with you of course though. Anyway, let’s take roll."

She went through each of the letters of the alphabet, ending with L, which meant they named themselves after a different letter of the alphabet. Chris found this rather unusual. She also noticed that C looked quite a bit like someone she knew from school.

C was about to start with the meeting when she looked around and right at Chris. Chris tried to run away, but she appeared right in front of her.

C smiled at her, "Hello. We always like meeting new people. New people are fun."

Close up Chris realized who it was. "Christine?…..Christine Leyson?"

C opened her mouth to speak and stopped, "Oh, I knew I should have disguised myself. What are you doing here Chris? I thought you’d be put in limbo like everyone else on this world."

"……And I thought you were a regular person."

Christine shrugged, "This is my world of birth, but I spend a bunch of time with the Society. It’s kind of hobby."

"Your hobby is taking over the world?"

"Everyone’s got to have one."

"True."

Christine held her hands, "So why aren’t you in limbo Chris? And another thing, you look kinda different. Did you cut your hair?"

"I’ve been turned into a girl."

"That would’ve been my second guess. So?"

"Magic."

"Well, duh. Hello, you don’t think I’m oblivious to that. I mean you reek of magic."

Chris sniffed the air. Christine shook her head, "I meant that figuratively."

"Of course."

A hush moment passed.

"So, what’s up?"

"I was just thinking I’d bring a stop to your plans for world conquest, save the world in the process maybe."

Christine giggled, "Oh, lofty goals. I hope you succeed….and stuff."

"Really?"

"No, not really, I just figured that’d be a nice thing to say, seeing as you’re taking on an impossible goal. We’ve already taken over six worlds. This one is our seventh and last."

"Why do you need seven?"

Christine smiled, "Because then we get a special plaque from Evil the Sorcerer."

Chris froze for a second, "A plaque? Seven worlds for a plaque?"

"It’s a really nice plaque. It’s got gold letters and everything and kinda shimmers when you look right at it."

Chris shook his head, "My point is why take over seven world for just one plaque?"

Christine though about that for a second, "Are you saying we should ask for seven plaques?"

"No…and who is this Evil the Sorcerer, related to Dr. Evil, maybe?"

"No and hush up or you’ll have a lawsuit on your hands. Evil is just his name. He attended medical school for a while but flunked his first year and the title College Dropout Evil is all ready taken. Not to mention Almost a Dr. Evil. So he just stuck with Evil and decided to become a Sorcerer. Back where he comes from any who’s anyone becomes a Doctor or a Sorcerer, if you don’t you have to become reviled scum?"

"A lawyer?"

"Emperor of the Universe."

"Ooo, nice title."

"But it’s such a dead end job, there’s no room for advancement."

"Isn’t that beside the point?"

"Maybe, but then what is the point, really, in a cosmic sense?"

"The point is when you’re Emperor of the Universe who cares about becoming more than that."

Christine shrugged, "I guess people from his world."

"Never mind…..tell me, what does he want with seven worlds?"

Christine had an answer all ready for her, "He just wants to put them in his den, on a display stand. He’s kind of a collector of stuff like that. He’s already got two other sets and he thinks these will go nicely with the décor."

Chris put on a forced grin, "That’s nice." At the same time she thought, I’m gonna count to seven…better make it four, then I’m gonna wake up back at home and none of this will be real. But even at seven Christine was still there in her brown, dead snake emblem robe.

Chris walked over to where the others were with Christine. G, the guy with the nudie magazine eye-ogled Chris for a second, then went back to the ‘articles’. B and J the klutzes nodded and fell over. A, B, D, and E, the chatters looked politely at Chris and went back to talking about how terrible hair can turn out if you try to style it with magic.

"I mean it’s like so not cool. I tried this anti-frizzle spell and it was like, no way. It so did the exact opposite" complained D. Chris found it mildly interesting that the four of them were women.

The toe pain man, F, didn’t even notice her because he was too busy uttering a couple of words that began with his name and hopping up and down. Chris figured he probably could have gotten rid of the pain with a spell. Perhaps it was a spell that caused his problem. Or maybe he was just a masochist.

H, I, K, and L, the ones playing basketball, smiled and just H and I said, "Hi." Which seemed rather odd and apt at the same time. K and L were looking at their finger nails and wondering if they were long enough to easily grab the ball, while still being short enough so that they didn’t break off during the game.

Chris realized something. These twelve people had absolutely nothing in common with one another and those that had somehow connected were completely off topic from the group’s goal. It seemed astonishing that they had conquered and seized six worlds.

Christine tried to call them all back to a semblance of order.

"Okay, this is my friend Chris Wren. For some reason, he’s a girl right now. Why is that Chris?"

"Magic."

"Wasn’t that the reason you gave for why you weren’t in limbo?" Asked Christine

"It’s kind of a universal answer."

"All right. Magic. Did you make the magic?" Christine folded her hands.

"Oh sure, I’m a powerful sorcerer, didn’t you know that?"

"Wouldn’t the correct term be sorceress?" Asked H.

"….ah…yeah…of course, that’s right."

"So do you like that form or something? How come you don’t change out of it since you’re so powerful?" Asked I.

Chris had to come up with something, "Well, there are many advantages to this form. Sure some sorcerers prefer ravens, small creatures and stuff like that….but I say a woman is the perfect disguise."

"But you look a lot like you did before" pointed out Christine.

"Excellent point." G put away his magazine and walked up to Chris.

"Um, Ms. Wren?"

"What is it?"

G slid his foot across the ground, "Well, I was thinking and all…..you know since….you know you’re pretty and all….that maybe…..cause I sometimes do this and all it gets all messed up…..would you….go out on a date with me and all."

Chris took a step away from him. "No."

G frowned, "Don’t make me use a spell, cause you know I can."

Chris took another step away. Christine rolled her eyes.

G lifted his hands, " Though a pervert and a bore, I am all she will love, forever more." Yellow light left his fingertips. Seeing the light bearing down on her, Chris ducked. The light hit H right in his face.

H’s eyes lit up. " Come here lover boy!"

G ran in the opposite direction, "Oh shoot! Not again!"

H ran quickly after him, "Oh please, just a peck darling! Oh how I love you!"

The two of them ran out of sight.

Chris turned to Christine, "I have an odd feeling this kind of thing happens a lot."

Christine nodded, "Far too often. G’s a notoriously bad shot."

The others walked away from the meeting area and back to doing what they had done before. Chris didn’t understand. "Weren’t you calling a meeting together?"

Christine shrugged, "It was just a formality. The world has been conquered."

"Already?"

"Sure, everyone on it’s in limbo. It’s ours. In fact, it’s a rather simple spell. Any idiot can perform it."

So that explains how they took the six worlds.

"What’s going to happen to them?"

"They’ll just kinda stay there until the limbo buffer gets dumped and they cease to exist or Evil gets tired of collecting worlds and lets them go. I wouldn’t bet on that second one though."

Chris held her head, "So that’s it? Doesn’t sound like a major accomplishment."

Christine grinned, "Oh, but it is. We were able to vaporize the Great Wizard, Andrew Johnson. Evil’s been trying to do that for a while. He should be very pleased. It seemed rather odd that the spell we used on him worked so quickly. Almost as though he gave up. A wise choice. Evil should be arriving any minute."

An enormous funnel cloud appeared out of the sky and ended a couple of feet in front of them. Chris expected the worst.

The figure that emerged from the funnel was clothed in a brightly colored tie-dye getup. He had long hair that hung on his shoulders and dark shades. All in all he looked rather like a beach dude instead of a sorcerer.

"Whoa, that was gnarly trip, dude" said Evil. Christine bowed. The others just kinda did their own thing. Evil looked Chris over from head to toe, "Cool. Who’s the babe?"

Evil’s glasses flashed and Chris’ scrubs changed into a sleeveless blue blouse and a brown skirt. "Better, don’t you think, baby?"

"No." Evil looked intrigued. "Well, I could always make it a little skimpier." Chris raised her eyebrows. No…bastardo!

Chris felt rather exposed in her new attire. Sure it was still modest but definitely for a girl. His scrubs were exactly the same, no matter his gender. This just felt a like a jolt, a reminder of the profound change he had endured.

Christine frowned, "Sire, it is my esteemed pleasure to inform you that Andrew Johnson has been eliminated."

Evil nodded and chuckled, "Cool. So where’d you find this chick, C?"

Christine began, "Well actually, sire, she’s……"

Evil pulled the sound from her mouth, "I don’t want to know particulars. Is she one of the people who used to be on this world?"

"Yes, sire."
Evil lowered his sunglasses, "Were there others like her? ‘Cus I mean it, she’s

like a major babe."

"Yes, sire. Thousands and millions. If you’re referring to women in general, there were billions."

Evil’s mouth hung open, "No way! Excellent! Man, I’d give up collecting worlds for that. So, like, are they in limbo now."

"Yes, sire."

Evil roared, "Well get them out! It’s a travesty to babe-hood to cause babes to no longer exist and stuff. And while you’re at it, put all the other people back too."

Please don’t tell me this is how I save the world.

All the people popped back into being. Fortunately since most of the people on campus were already home, the Society and Evil didn’t co-materialize with them, a thing that would’ve been, well…..bad.

Evil rubbed his hands together, "Cool. I’m gonna score for sure. Later dudes, dudettes and major babe!"

In a puff of smoke, he vanished. Chris turned to Christine, "How old is he?"

"102 million years old."

"That’s just tragic…."

Christine gathered up the others. Chris asked her, "What happens now?"

She shrugged, "The six other worlds are pretty much on their own in Evil’s den. Since they won’t be fed regularly, they might start eating one another. Not a pretty sight. This one’s a free agent unless Evil changes his mind about Earth women."

"What about Andrew Johnson?"

"Vapor. I told that, right?"

"Yeah. How about me?"

Christine shrugged, "You’re a girl. Deal with it, half of the people in the world have to."

"But how many started out as guys and were magically transformed into girls?"

"Twelve thousand and two."

Chris gave her a look "You actually keep count?"

A shrug from Christine and with that the Society vanished into a puff of smoke. Chris coughed on account of all the transportation smoke and walked over to the grass. An odd looking woman crouched beside a tree.

She was dressed in gypsy clothes and in her hands she held a large violet handkerchief

"Hello, Chris Wren."

Chris took a step backwards, "Who are you?"

"I am the one that you seek."

Her eyes brightened, "Are you the one Andrew spoke of?"

"Yes, I am she."

"How come he never found you?"

She shrugged, "I never really wanted him to find me. It’s much more difficult that way. Such a sad thing. He had a bright future ahead of him. He gave it all up for you. The reason the Society was able to vaporize him wasn’t because he gave in, but rather he gave himself away, to give a second chance to the world. He created you, and imbued you with every power imaginable. A benevolence incantation, one so strong it changed the mind of Evil. For how long, we can only wait and see."

Chris understood, "But the form he gave me is, how should I put this…..unnatural for me."

The gypsy woman nodded, "True, but it has reasons that even I do not yet understand. I can only hope that Andrew’s plans were well formed like all his others have been."

"I see. Well, can you help me, can you lift it from me?"

The woman shook her head, "Child, you scarcely listen. You have been given a gift and it is not a gift that can be exchanged. Andrew overestimated my abilities to remove it from you, but I can give you control over it."

She handed her the handkerchief, "Fold it in half and tie it around your head." Chris did as she instructed. She reverted back to his true form. Glad to be himself again, Chris quickly untied the handkerchief.

The gypsy woman cautioned him, "Be careful with it. If you lose it then the spell reverts back to you and I may not be able to contain it again. And you will be Christine Wren for the rest of your life."

Chris gulped.

She went on, "When you need the powers, just tie it around your head again and the spell will reenter you. At which time the handkerchief will vanish. No one, not even you, will be able to sense it. To remove it and return the spell to the handkerchief, simply place your hands on your head and tell it to return. Try it once."

Chris didn’t really want to try it, but supposed now was the best time figure out how it worked. He tied it over his head and sure enough he was Christine and the handkerchief was gone.

Panic filled her for a second, then she placed her hands over her head. Return. That was good enough. The handkerchief was there again. Untying it reversed the change.

Chris sighed and looked the item over. The same question he’d asked Andrew right before he vaporized came back to him, "Why did he choose me for all this?"

The gypsy woman shrugged, "He knew what was coming and even though his powers could fight Evil, he couldn’t. Some of his powers were locked away, unusable due to a rare magic disorder. And they were the ones he needed most. So he needed a surrogate for his powers. As a side effect, you became a girl."

"Some side effect…."

"I watched as he chose you. His choice confounded me, confounded everyone. He broke you in slowly, showed a parlor trick or two. Then he gave you his powers in two steps. A magic phone call and physical contact. A time-delayed reaction thrown in too. Along with a personal altered reality. I must tell you, his powers are many and great. You should feel honored to inherit them."

Chris nodded, "I do."

The gypsy woman smiled faintly, "Maybe he did make a good choice after all. I see much potential in you."

Chris felt a thought hit him, "Oh, there was this guy yesterday that I saw traveling home from school, a kinda weird guy."

She nodded, "Julian Devers, he’s one of the group that Andrew belonged to. Yes, you’ll meet them all later on. Julian was rather more of a rogue though. He usually went against Andrew’s wishes. But they were close. I kinda figured he would be the one to inherit his powers rather than you."

"Well…..I guess I’m lucky."

She smiled and stood up, "You are, you just don’t know how lucky. Maybe someday you will. So long, Chris Wren. Till we meet again."

"Bye……um.."

"Magenta Rose."

"Bye." She vanished, waving goodbye in another puff of smoke.

Cough! Cough!

Can’t they think of anything more original than that?!

 

The End

 

 

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