Authors Note: The first posting of this story I considered 'unfinished' and rough. I was impatient with it and just posted it one day without much thought. This is the revised version with grammatical and spelling errors fix. I am 'fairly' certain that I got all of them. The biggest challenge of my writing is grammar and spelling so it takes more than a couple of drafts to 'finish' one of my stories.

I also fleshed out the story a bit by adding some details and conversation lines that enhanced the plot. I was going to change the ending but I decided to add a couple of twists instead for when I go back and add perhaps another chapter or prequel to this universe. The ending grew on me although at first I thought I ended it too abruptly so I didn't change it… much. I am a fan of subtleties and I added a few to the story and made a few previous subtleties not so subtle for non-subtle people not like my subtle self and the other subtle people who didn't find the subtleties subtle at all.

Yeah, whatever. Anywho…

I honestly don't know when I will start writing on this universe again. When I envisioned Alira I saw a past and future Alira who were different but the same. I have a general idea of how the life of the past Alira came about but if I write about her I doubt there would be much if any TG involved in the prequel. But I have an idea… That I will not share because like most ideas they can change and modify so much that they never reflect the original and false expectations are set for the reader anticipating the idea to come about in the story. I am probably going to practice up my writing skills with a few more stories before coming back to add a chapter. This story is a benchmark for me. Something to rate myself with concerning newer stories I write.

 

William's Construct

by Triss Morgan

 

Scrambling, William launched himself up the side of the hill in fear. His pursuers chased after him while taunting and yelling out obscenities. He ignored them and kept trudging along to escape the insults thrown by the boys closing fast behind. Faster and faster Will wished his little body up the hill, yet slower and slower it responded out of weariness. The boys giving chase could see that they were catching up to the little boy and this only served to fuel their fire and yell out more obscenities and taunts while running to catch up.

Soon, William realized he would be caught and then he would have to take the impending beating from the boys. But luck seemed to turn his way as he sighted a hole in the side of the hill that looked just big enough to hide in. He immediately changed course to take him out of sight of the boys long enough to hide him so he could stuff himself in the hole.

William managed to scramble behind some boulders that took him out of the sight of the boys behind before his arms gave out from fatigue. He knew that he only had a few precious seconds before they would be over the boulders and beating him senseless. He stuffed himself feet first into the hole hoping the boys would overlook it and think he had continued up the path into the trees.

After he finished pushing himself in he saw the boys climb over the rocks and land on their feet. They paused briefly then continued around the bend and into the trees. Will couldn't believe his luck. They were easily thrown off of his course, even if it would only be for a few precious minutes. Those minutes should be enough for him to run back down the hill and seek better safety.

Quickly, Will began moving his small body forward and out of the hole, but instead he found himself slipping back into it. He whimpered out of frustration and tried moving forward again but his luck seemed to have turned again. Gravity had taken a hold of him and was stubbornly pulling him deeper and deeper into the darkness of the hole. The boy had no idea that it had been this big when he first shoved himself in the hole that he was currently slipping deeper into inch by inch. Panic overtook him. He realized for every second he was stuck in the hole was another second that he lost for his escape from his assailants. Eventually they would return when they didn't find him in the trees. That thought spurred William into a desperate struggle with fingers and nails clawing for any purchase and forward motion. This seemed to only speed his fall into the darkness behind him.

Suddenly, the little boy lost contact between his feet and the ground and his slow and steady plunge back into the void became a faster plummet as he lost all contact with the earth on his body. A moment spread into an eternity as weightless, dark oblivion enclosed him. Oddly, exhilaration spread throughout his body until that moment in eternity was ended by jarring shock impacting his small body on the earth below. Pain overwhelmed him and caused his mind to quickly succumb to complete darkness.

 

* * *

 

Slowly, the boy began to awake and collect his thoughts. He saw a radiance that seemed to become brighter by the moment. The boy's first thought was of his death, but he quickly pushed that thought away since his body was racketed with intense pain. His next thought was a wish for the pain to end, but his mind screamed that this was good since it proved that he was still alive.

Minutes or hours, he didn't know which, seemed to pass while the glow became stronger and his pain lessened. He realized that he should probably get up and see what fate had brought him this time after he conceived of the clever idea to hide in what turned out to be a deeper than realized depression in a hill just so he could avoid pain and trouble from another sort. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Will thought with a pained shrug. His life seemed to follow that pattern. He wasn't sure what fate had against him to curse him so frequently.

As he stood up he took in his surroundings that were illuminated in a pale light that permeated the area. He quickly grasped that he was in a small cavern with pale-yellow stalagmites hanging from the ceiling. He also remarked that the floor was clean and appeared to be paved in a dark blue and gold marble pattern that told him someone made this place. Even with the pain running up and down his back and legs he resigned himself to the beauty this chamber invoked and couldn't help but admire its splendor. Everything seemed to glow with a penetrating light that had been increasing since he had first fallen into the chamber. Or could it be since he began to regain consciousness? He didn't know. He looked for the light source but could not find it except that the light seemed to be stronger from the direction of what looked like a hall that led out of the current chamber. He decided to walk into the hall seeing as he couldn't see any other way of getting out. Even the hole in the roof that he fallen through could not be seen.

Whether from shock or pain, he noticed that he was unusually calm, especially after his ordeal with the boys and him falling through a hill to crash dozens of feet below. He slowly walked through the hall gradually loosing his limp from the pain that was quickly fading into an afterthought. He was certain that he had broken something but was no longer so sure.

As he walked down the hallway he noticed strange patterns on the sides that seemed to be illuminated by the pale light that was brighter than the rest of the hall. The patterns dazzled him and they seemed to dance across his vision with him unable to focus completely on them.

He eventually came to the end of the hall and the beginning of a much larger chamber. He entered not just a larger chamber but a much grander chamber and wondered how such a room could exist under the little hill he had run up to escape his pursuers? He looked about the chamber taking in the view seeking anything that would help him despite the overwhelming curiosity nagging in his mind. Around the edges of the giant room he saw only darkness hinting that this room could be much larger than he first thought. Giant, white, marble pillars ringed the chamber stretching towards the hidden ceiling holding who knows what from falling from above. The marble floor slabs where inlayed with large illuminated patterns that drew the eye towards the center to a white, patterned, marble table that had something peculiar lying on it.

With curiosity getting the better of William he started towards the center to see what was atop of the marble table. As he got closer he noticed wisps of smoky light collecting in between him and the marble table. He stopped a moment to think on this and the smoky light stopped collecting as well. Curiously, he took a few more steps forward and the light began to collect again. By this time the boy had completely forgotten his pain while his young nature reasserted itself and he looked on with wonder. The closer he got the brighter the collection of wispy light before the table. Finally, he saw what was on top of the patterned marble table.

It was a coffin. Kind of like the gold coffins the William has seen on TV about ancient Egypt. It seemed to be shaped like a person. Probably the person laying in the coffin the boy thought for obvious reasons. It was patterned with teal and silver lines designed to emulate and outline the features of the person who was laid to rest inside. It also seemed to outline weird symbols that were similar to the symbols and patterns that adorned the floor and hallway.

Finally, the wispy light collected into a more distinct form shaped like a woman. After a few more seconds the form became more defined and took on the intricate features and details of an adult woman, but she was still glowing and it was a warmer glow than the rest of the chamber. William's breath caught in his throat when he looked closely over her.

She was beautiful. Even at his young age the boy couldn't help but admit that. She stood taller than his mother, probably just less than six feet he thought. Long vibrant silver hair shown with red highlights that changed as the hair moved around her shoulders or where the light reflected off of it. A long heart shaped face with a strong jaw gave off a regal aristocratic impression. Her skin was smooth and had a slight tan that was barely noticeable under the glowing skin. A white robe cascaded down her body providing modesty but still giving off many hints suggesting a lush womanly body that was attractive, toned, and confused young William. The image provoked unfamiliar feeling from his prepubescent body. Then he noticed her eyes. Deep ocean blue eyes that penetrated his soul and there also seemed to be something else, something that perturbed him. There was the unmistakable presence of power behind those eyes that told William that this was an adult that would not be trifled with. He couldn't help but stare at the woman for several moments while lost in wonder at what stood before him.

"You have come at last, young William," declared the glowing woman with a slight smile tugging at her full lips.

William continued to stare and he wondered how such a woman could know his name when he had never seen anyone like her before?

"I have been waiting for someone like you for many, many years. I am glad that you've finally arrived," stated the woman plainly and she seemed to wait for Will's response now.

Neither person spoke for several minutes as William continued to stare while the woman observed her visitor with a keen eye that could penetrate even the most guarded exteriors. Light continued to swirl around the grand chamber while they stood face to face with it dancing around and between them as if excited to see what would happen next. Who would concede first. Finally, the woman broke the silence.

"You can speak now," she stated plainly.

William, finally managing to break his trance, spoke, "Wow!" and that was all he was able to produce from his boggled and sensory overloaded mind.

"Ok…" said the woman and she seemed to hesitate for a moment to think as if unsure of some decision, and then as if coming to that decision she continued.

"I am the construct of Alira. I am her guardian of her tomb and the powers that lie in it. You, young William, are a person of great potential." She waved her hand before her dramatically. "I have been created to pass on these powers that I guard here to a person that is most worthy to receive and do good with them." She paused as if waiting for William's response and when she didn't immediately receive one she asked, "Any questions?"

William continued to stare at her, and thoughts of him either dreaming or being dead skipped across his mind. He couldn't understand how she knew his name and how she could be real. Being an inquisitive person, William decided to begin with questions since everything he was seeing here seemed too awesome to believe. He felt that death or dreaming were the most logical answers to what he was experiencing. Then again, it could also be some elaborate hoax created to deceive and make fun of him. That thought didn't last long because no one would go through the trouble to create such a hoax to deceive him. They would have to be the best pranksters living to pull something like this off. Most people bent on making fun of him or hurting him would just come right out and either beat him or cruelly tease him. Staring into the woman's deep ocean blue eyes William managed to focus and he began his questioning.

"How do you know my name?"

"You seem like someone who would be named William." She responded coyly. Seeing no response from her admirer she added, "Actually, I read the aura or energy around your person and each aura is unique to that individual. It told me your name and what you are like as a person," she finished although her attempt at humor was lost on William.

"Ok, so you 'read' this aura, can you 'read' peoples minds too?" He quizzed.

"No, despite what most people think in your society, there is no such thing as telepathy. The closest any person has come to that is a strong empathic ability. Sometimes that will give images and words other than emotions and feelings. This is especially true between twins or siblings."

"Ok, another one: Who is Alira?"

The woman gathered herself up as if preparing for a huge monolog on a subject that was to be presented before her clueless student.

"Alira was a great sorceress who lived many centuries ago. Her life was a sad one to begin with. She was first taken when young as a slave for a dark man who abused her in cruel and unspeakable ways. This dark man taught her to use magic in ways that could only hurt her and help him. Eventually, she managed to break his hold on her and she killed him. She set out on her own vowing to never be a slave again. At the time she freed herself she was miserable and only performed evil acts to make others suffer with her. It was hard for her to conceive of anything else since the dark man had warped her mind so thoroughly. Eventually, she fell in love and changed her ways for a man who saw her pain and dedicated himself to freeing her of it. She then devoted herself from then on to only do good works and help people in need and punish those that did terrible deeds to good and innocent people. She became a protector and teacher. She tried hard to make up for the evil acts she performed during the first part of her life, whether she felt satisfied and repentant with her accomplishments we have yet to see. Later in her life, a terrible twist of fate happened. She had no choice but to be buried and leave her power in this tomb for a person worthy enough to continue her ideals and not abuse her power. That is why I exist. I am her construct and I am able to judge a person who is worthy to receive her power. I have decided that that person is you, William." She looked solemnly at William sending shivers down his spine as she had told this story. His wonder and awe for the woman was quickly changing to something more akin to anxiety and fear.

William thought for a moment on what the construct said about Alira. He wasn't so sure anymore whether he was dreaming or dead. There was something telling him that this was very real. Finally, he asked, "Why was I chosen?"

The construct peered at him with a frown that told William that she wasn't going to like the explanation she was about to give him, but she answered and said, "After the many centuries Alira has been entombed here, you have been the only person to enter… ever. Because of that, I am forced to make a decision. I will not exist for much longer. Despite all the power that you see around here, it has weakened significantly over the years after I moved Alira's tomb to the New World and now only seems to serve as… visual effects you might say. I will no longer be strong enough to exist any longer. When that time comes and I cease to exist, this power will be released and no one will continue the ideals, work, and guardianship of Alira." She glanced out of the side of her eyes looking forbearingly at William and continued, "Because of these circumstances, I am allowed to place precautions that come with this power since I will not have time to properly train or prepare you. There are consequences that will be enforced on you when or if you abuse this power while imbued with it. Every consequence of this power will help strengthen you in working with it and help keep you from abusing it. Power has its responsibilities, especially powers that are entrusted to you. Always remember this, William."

William was quivering by now and wished he was dreaming so he could wake from this frightening dream. The look in the construct's eyes as she warned William was enough to quell any ideas of wanting power of any kind for any reason whatsoever. He decided it was time to bow out and hope he could escape something that seemed certain to happen judging from the look she was giving him. Time to test my luck, he thought.

"Thanks, but I think I will be leaving now. I don't want anything to do with this power you were going to give me. I appreciate the thought though," As he was saying this William was inching towards that hall wanting to just get away from this tomb and the glowing woman who was beyond the creeping-him-out stage. He continued talking as he shuffled back, "If you could just point me in the direction of the nearest exit I will wake up, err, I will just leave actually." The construct frowned at this and William hastily added, "On second thought, there is no need to show me out. I can find my way. See ya later… or not." He said quickly and started to walk faster towards the hall. He was never good at talking himself out of things.

The construct looked on William as he hurried toward the hall and smiled sadly shaking her head. "William, I have already made my decision. When you leave here, you will leave empowered, although you will need to learn control and how to use this power on your own. That I cannot help you with since every person is different and I have no time left. I might be able to help you later, but not now. So this power and the essence that first came with it will now be yours."

After she finished declaring that last part she rushed forward in a blur of light while William's frightened legs began running full out to escape her. He obviously wasn't fast enough, he noted with detachment, as the light washed over him and darkness quickly engulfed young him.

 

* * *

 

An alarm went off in the darkness shattering it with a very familiar and very annoying screech. William opened his eyes yawning. He stretched out and wondered why he would set his alarm for a Saturday morning. He debated about going back to sleep but then remembered last nights dream. It was very vivid for the first couple of seconds but seemed to fade rapidly like most dreams do. He wasn't eager to continuing that dream so he thought it best to remain awake for the time being. He quickly pulled off his covers, got out of bed, and plodded towards the bathroom. After taking care of morning business he looked into the mirror and began combing back his hair.

"What the heck!" he yelled as he looked into deep ocean blue eyes. Not the normal puppy dog brown that he was so used to. The contrast between his new eyes and tanned face left a striking impression. He shook his head, rubbed his eyes and looked again. Still there he thought. He then remembered the woman construct in last night's dream. It was starting to come back to him after fading earlier this morning. He breathed in and out to calm himself. His eyes were the same as the woman's. It was a dream wasn't it? His eyes seemed to state plainly that it wasn't a dream. Perhaps it was some strange coincidence that his eyes spontaneously changed to blue from brown over night?

"Whatever," William snorted.

He quickly changed his cloths and decided it best to retrace his steps back to the hole he found yesterday to find out what was really going on and hopefully fix it. He wasn't eager to explain to his mother why his eyes spontaneously changed color.

He started down the stairs and came past the kitchen. His sister, Melissa, was inside fixing herself some breakfast as he rushed by. She shouted, "Hey! Mom said for you to weed the garden before you went out today."

William just continued on past the kitchen not looking in her direction and shouted over his shoulder, "Can't talk… busy!" And he continued out the front door with his sister explaining the trouble he will be in if he doesn't do it before mom gets back. He grabbed his bike and stopped. How is it that he still had a bike when the same bike was trashed yesterday during his escape? How did he get back into his bed last night from the tomb? He mentally chalked those strange questions up to be figured out later.

Speeding down the old gravelly road William couldn't help but enjoy the wind blowing past him while he skimmed along past houses and fields. It was a grand day, he decided, a day to be enjoyed with the sunshine and warmth that was ever present on all grand days. Will tried to jump the front tire of his bike while traveling the gravel road and nearly lost control. He sighed, but he wasn't daunted. He still thought it was a grand day and continued down the road enjoying the smell and tastes of the neighborhood. He avoided the school since he didn't want to chance running into the boys again even though it was a Saturday. No need to risk spoiling this grand day, he thought as he relished the sunshine and clean air all the more.

While traveling past a pair of houses he noticed a boy named Tommy get out of a car and limp up the steps of his house. Will didn't know him well and Tommy was a year older who was only a little bigger than himself. He wondered why he was limping but didn't slow down and continued on with no more thought to the subject.

After awhile, he came to the bottom of the hill a few miles past the school. He hopped off of his bike and looked up the small knoll for any sign of the hole. He soon spotted the path leading up the hill and past the pile of boulders that eventually led into the trees. Deciding to check around for the hole he started up the hill, and walked around the rocks for several minutes but couldn't find it. There was nothing to indicate that a hole was ever here.

Strange, he thought. He debated on getting a shovel and digging down to prove beyond a doubt about the dream but just the thought of digging a hole that didn't seem to exist wasn't what he would call fun. Plus, he had the unmistakable fear that is he stayed around too much long that the hole would suddenly appear below his feat only to drop him into the chamber below and that wasn't an attractive thought.

William sat down on one of the firm, stable looking rocks so he could rest and enjoy a bit of the view from up near the top of the hill despite the weirdness of this day. He looked toward the West and noticed looming storm clouds collecting and knew that the day wasn't going to stay so nice, warm, and grand. He resigned himself and decided there was nothing more to learn here and enjoy what was left of the clear day.

William, being twelve years old and in seventh grade, was bright for his age. Although sometimes he was considered too bright and some people thought he needed to be 'dimmed' a bit. He was looking forward to summer beginning next week just so he didn't have to be around people that constantly picked on him since William was already in high school. While all seventh graders and up were in high school he was the one that most went out of their way to vent on. It was all thanks to an overzealous politician building a bigger than needed high school, and some eighth graders who decided that they didn't like being in the middle school as they spilt gasoline up and down the halls off the building only to be fried by their own match as the vapors ignited. Cruel, cosmic irony.

Sighing, William picked himself up and traveled down the hill and back to his bike. Getting on, he started up the long sloping road back up to his house. A spur of the moment thought had him taking a side trip along a path through a field and into a copse of tall conifers. He soaked in the crisp, clean smells of a field in season as he entered the trees the trail traveled through. Out of the corner of his eye he saw some kid on a dead run back towards the road. His bright day just became dimmer as fate twisted yet again for young William.

"Hey, Loser!" shouted a boy as he jumped out by the path the running boy took. He stuck his arm out across the dirt trail clothes lining William off of his bike which sent him over the end of his seat and crashing on his back forcing all the air out of him. For a moment all he saw were stars as he heard laughter around him. This isn't good, he thought with pointed obviousness.

"Hey!" shouted one of cruel voices, "I thought we beat up your bike enough yesterday so that you couldn't use that piece of junk to run from us anymore?" questioned a boy named Joe in a slightly bewildered and harsh voice. He was the tallest and meanest of the three boys who chased him yesterday and with an athletic build that shouted future football linebacker he was an intimidating sight.

"Yeah. Where did you get this new one? That last one couldn't have been fixed. We made sure of that," declared Toady proudly. There always seemed to be one for every group of bullies. This one just happened to also have the nickname and the short weasel like look that went along with the stereotype.

Although, the third boy, Eric, didn't say anything as usual as he stood by laughing. William would have been considered him an okay guy other than the fact he hung out with the wrong crowd that seemed to torment those smaller than they were.

"Spying on us again? We will have to teach you what happens to those that get into other people's business then run away without talking to us!" stated Joe as he cocked his foot back with Toady moving closer in anticipation and Eric also had the look of anticipation on his face.

The kicking and hitting started in earnest. William just had to stay and bear it as usual since he was down on the ground and they wouldn't let him up. He could never understand why people like them wanted to beat people that couldn't fight back. At least they usually got bored when he didn't offer a resistance. But this time the three boys were taking the beating to a whole new level. Normally, they would keep it light until they were bored since they didn't like to leave too much 'evidence' of any crimes rumors claimed they had done.

Pain exploded throughout William as the beating became more incessant. Shards of agony moved from each blow to his head drowning out all thoughts. Fists and kicks rained down on his small body causing ruptured capillaries and deep bruising. Will became worried but his mind had shutdown by then with all the pain assaulting it.

After losing track of time during the agony and pounding, William felt something break in his side after a massive kick was delivered. He screamed out in agony with it echoing off the trees scaring nearby birds into flight. Then the situation got weird.

Inside of himself, in the center, William felt something burning. He achieved a whole new level of fear because of this. He quickly suspected this was related to the beautiful yet frightening construct. The pressure and burning kept building, and he became more alarmed wondering what would result from this.

Suddenly, as if floodgates were thrown open, the pressure exploded from within. White light danced in his vision as he screamed once again in dire agony raking his throat raw. Burning pain wholly filled every part of his body leaving nothing untouched. The pain continued to grow and then as suddenly as it had started… it stopped.

Silence permeated the area for a moment until someone rudely interrupted it.

"What the hell was that?" quivered a white faced Toady.

"Lightning," Eric stated plainly but not so sure himself judging from the hint of fear in his voice.

All three boys looked up and saw the dark rain clouds above. They then felt the first smattering of raindrops on their faces. While beating little William they had failed to notice that the sunlight had disappearing behind the clouds signifying impending rain. All three looked back at William on the ground to see that he was unconscious with mud already beginning to cover him as the rain began to pour down in earnest.

"Come on," said Joe to the other two. "I think he has learned his lesson," The other two nodded hastily eager to get undercover from the storm and away from anymore lightning. All three hurried off sloshing in the mud as the rain drove harder into the ground leaving William completely soaked through.

Soon, William began to come around from the ordeal. He was thankful the boys had left, but even more thankful that all the pain had disappeared. He paused as he thought about that. He should still be in a lot of pain from the beating but he didn't feel the slightest twig. Except for the cold rain and mud he seemed to be ok.

He gingerly raised himself up from the mud and stood turning in the rain looking on his surroundings. He noticed a large maple tree off to the right that was split down the center, charred, and steaming in the rain. Probably from a recent strike, he thought. He saw his bike lying on its side untouched. William guessed that they hadn't gotten around to destroying that yet. He just shrugged, counted his luck, picked it up, and started along the path back to his house deep in thought as he replayed the strange events in his mind.

As he came around the front of his house he had come to the conclusion that the lightning was just a coincidence, or a coincidence until proven otherwise that is. This was unlike William since he fancied Sherlock Homes and Homes always claimed that there was never such a thing as a coincidence. He needed time to sit and think about this for a while after he got back into his room.

Dropping his bike on the porch he entered the house and froze. What happened next was the scariest thing that could possibly happen to any boy his age. He was already beginning to regret he was left alive after the beating and wished he was the tree the lightning had struck when the voice spoke.

"Freeze, mister!" shouted a shrill voice that had the power of making hell freeze over on a whim. "You have tracked mud into this house, again!"

William's heart skipped a beat, many beats in fact. Heart failure seemed imminent. He was caught, and he knew it. He had been too distracted to notice he was still covered with mud from head to toe. He was going to die even after surviving a chase up a hill, falling down a hole, some construct claiming possession of him, another beating that rivaled Rodney King, and finally, a lightning strike. As if to validate the thought lightning struck near the house at the same moment flashing the interior of the house with an eerie luminescence. Coincidence? William thought. Not likely. He was about to die and nature was just confirming the thought for him. William knew that it couldn't get any worse for him, but he soon found out that he knew nothing at all.

"Also, you were supposed to weed the garden this morning," she paused a moment to let the comment sink in. "I know Melissa told you about that." The voice stated threateningly.

Yep, William realized that it could get much worse. The past twenty-four hours all seemed to come crashing down on him and weeding the garden was the straw that broke him. He started to cry, and then cry harder making a pitifully choked, sobbing noise. His mother, seeing her poor boy in muddy clothing sobbing his eyes out did the best thing any mother could do at that point. She hugged him and began patting his head while shushing him. This only served to make William cry harder. He began to apologize profusely between sobs and then mumbled incoherent words about his day in the rain and why he was muddy. The poor sod couldn't have sounded more helpless if he tried. His mother, being taller than Will, hugged him to her breast while she rocked and shushed him. Eventually, William managed to calm down.

"Don't worry, dear, Melissa will help me clean up this mess."

"Like hell I will!" a voice shouted from the kitchen.

"Just go change your clothes and have a nice, long, hot bath," she whispered cajolingly ignoring Melissa for the outburst.

William got up and moved back up the stairs to do as she said. He was too broken to do anything else right now. As he discarded his clothing on the floor and stepped into the nice warm shower, he noticed his deep ocean blue eyes again in the mirror. That was enough to bring him back from his self-pity. He wondered why his mother hadn't noticed his eyes. He then realized that it was dark downstairs since no one had turned on the lights when the storm came in. He didn't know how he would explain his eyes away.

With no other thoughts than those of comfort and cleanliness, he stepped into the shower and washed.

 

* * *

 

After dressing he heard his mother calling him from downstairs. Now he had little choice but to see what his mother thought of his eye color. He couldn't avoid it forever. Maybe he could hide for a few hours but he killed that thought and decided now was better than later. His mother would notice his eyes soon, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to go through this alone.

He stepped around the corner at the bottom of the stairs and saw his mother fixing lunch. Realizing he had skipped breakfast that morning made him feel ravenous with hunger as the aromas assaulted his nose. He sat down while his mother dished him up some beef stew and then sat the bowl down on the table in front of him.

"Eat up. Melissa cleaned and ate already and went to Carrie's house for the weekend." His mom stated.

But before he could dig in she asked the question his stomach had distracted him from thinking about in the past couple of minutes.

"William, look at me," he looked up, "What happened to your eyes? Why are they blue?" she thought for a moment, "Where did you get the color contacts? Are they clean? I hope they haven't been shared with anyone else. You could get pink eye and other diseases that way," she paused the interrogation to take in a breath and look closer. "Those aren't contacts! What is going on, young man?" she commanded sternly.

William didn't know what to do. The truth was too outrageous to even mention to his mother. He was going to come completely clean but he became defensive and decided to tell a half-truth instead.

"I just woke up and they were like this, mom." He replied with a grimace. No mother would believe such a lame explanation no matter how close to the truth it hit.

His mother rose back up and put her hands on her hips and gave him her best skeptical eye. "Just woke up like that, huh? Why don't I believe you?" Her mother alarm was going off big time and William knew it. He changed strategies.

"I felt sick and passed out yesterday. I remember noticing that they were a little different when I went to bed last night. I was tired and I haven't been feeling very well lately." He looked at his mother earnestly with tears of frustration threatening to spill out of his eyes. Her instincts to care for her sick child kick into high gear when she saw a single tear leak out of the corner of his eye. Almost all doubt left her face then, but that was enough. She started consoling him again. It was ironic the first answer being closer to the truth didn't wash with his mother and the second being more of a lie did. He normally didn't cry but his emotions seem to be bubbling under the surface more than usual. Then his warning alarms went off.

"I am going to call Dr. Parker and have him make a house visit for us. Were going to get to the bottom of this. Any child that is passing out and waking up with a different eye color has got to have something wrong with them." Without another word she hurried off to the phone and placed the call. William knew that he had carried the act off too far, but then he knew he couldn't have explained away his eye color to his mother. The contact idea didn't even cross his mind before she asked the question and his mother could see that they were obviously not contacts. He was screwed no matter what he did now. He was terrible at talking his way out of things and even worse at lying to his mother.

Later, Dr. Parker arrived to take a look at William. Dr. Parker had been the family doctor since William was born. He was old with grey hair and a friendly disposition, but he was still able to walk around with a sprig to his step suggesting youthful tendencies. He began examining William while asking him questions with a hem and haw coming out now and then in response. Finally, he took a blood sample, some skin samples, and said he will be in touch and then quickly left with few pleasantries exchanged. This was very odd for Dr. Parker.

His mother just told him to rest up and that is what he did all day Saturday and Sunday not having to deal with Melissa since she was over at a friends. Finally, Dr. Parker came by Sunday afternoon to talk about his findings. William knew that it was bad because of the clinical attitude Dr. Parker was taking, and he never visited on Sundays for work.

"The news I have to tell you is very surprising and remarkable. I thought my samples somehow became contaminated but the skin and blood samples both checked out. Fortunately for you, William, you are not sick," William stopped breathing. He wasn't sure if he should be happy, sad, or something else. He could see the other shoe was about to drop. "But you are a girl!" finished the good doctor looking relieved, exasperated, and confused all at once.

William's heart stopped which seemed to be happening a lot lately. Dr. Parker said it with such fervor and conviction that he knew he wasn't joking about something like this. His mother, bless her heart, hugged William and said sternly, "This isn't a joking matter, Doctor Robert J. Parker!"

Dr. Parker's hands went up and he quickly explained, "I am not jesting, my dear. I wish I were for William's sake. I checked my tests five times over with the same results. No sicknesses, but lots of female hormones, with the XX chromosome pairing instead of XY. I don't know what to make of it since I delivered William myself and know for a fact that he is, or at least, he was a healthy young boy," defended the doctor as he looked down towards William's pants.

William put his hands on his lap and could only look uneasily at the doctor and that must have been enough to confirm for Dr. Parker that he was still male in that aspect.

Will's mother just stared at Dr. Parker not quite soaking in what he had just said while her mouth was open. Finally, she finished soaking. "How did this happen? What is going to happen to William? How can we stop it?" pleaded his mother rapidly.

"Frankly, I don't know how this happened. I wish I did. From what I am able to ascertain from the blood tests and skin samples they all suggest that William is entering puberty, but puberty a young woman would enter. I am willing to bet that given time, Will's body will correct itself and take on the secondary and possibly, if seemingly impossibly, the primary characteristics associated with his, um, gender. I don't know how to stop it. Like I said, by his genetics, William is totally female. I didn't have any samples of him from before to see if his DNA read as male. If we were to reintroduce male hormones and suppress his female hormones that could very well cause more damage and severe complication to his body than what, in my professional opinion, is acceptable. I suggest that we take a while to let this settle in and think about how we can help William deal with this transition," Dr. Parker finished.

William, by that time, let out his breath he had been holding for the entire monolog. He began replaying the events from the large underground chamber with the woman construct. She mentioned that there would be consequences associated with this power that was supposedly given to him. These consequences were also to help strengthen poor William too. Were they there only if he abused his power though? Then he remembered the last part: 'this power and the essence that first came with it will now be yours'. This 'essence'. His Sherlock Homes wannabe mind was working overtime. The construct was made to represent Alira and her power after her death. The construct would pass on the power and essence from where the power first came from. Alira was a woman. The construct had deep blue eyes. The power was originally Alira's. The essence associated with the power is changing him into a girl. Bloody hell!

By this time William's mother and Dr. Parker were looking at William as he finished the last bit of logical deduction and turned ghost white. They had been discussing what to do during the transition. Fortunately for William, summer was about to begin and he could hide out around the house during the time his body began to change. William was never a social person and liked to do things alone and he didn't have to worry about any friends coming over to hang out. That was a surprising plus for being an outcast, he thought sardonically.

Doctor Parker said that he would help as much as possible. He didn't know how fast William's body would change and so he suggested that they play it by ear until the time William needed new identification records and then Dr. Parker would call in a few favors and get that taken care of. Will's mother and the doctor both agreed that they should keep this secret so Will wasn't made into a lab rat while testing is performed by doctors that didn't care for anything else other than prestige and name recognition. His mom and dad had a bad history with doctors like that.

Another bonus for the good doctor is that he had kept everything confidential and is the only other person besides William and his mother to know. William didn't want Melissa to know but his mother pointed out that she would find out eventually and the sooner the better. William conceded the point, but he wasn't looking forward to her reaction with the news.

Eventually, Dr. Parker left William and his mother alone. Melissa would arrive from a friend's in a few hours and William's mother said that she would tell her. All he could do was nod his head and go to his room to think.

William's dad was a hippy. Center-your-life-force-and-make-the-world-a-better-place-through-love-and-crystals kind of hippy. His mom and dad met at a concert and got married a week later. His dad never liked being around children, but he respected the idea. After Melissa was born, William's mom could barely keep him from leaving. Two years later William was conceived and his dad left abruptly saying that he couldn't be around children and needed to be out in the world keeping it alive and aligning his spiritual awareness. Etc. etc. He left a few things behind and one of those things was a book on meditation. William first picked up this book not knowing what to expect, but soon found out that after repetition and practice he became quite good with meditating and relaxing. This helped William in the past few years as he dealt with being classed as a social outcast while still achieving the good grades expected by a proud mother.

Shortly, he was on his mat in the lotus position delving into a deep relaxing trance. After relaxing his mind and body for several moments William noticed something different about himself. He had become adept enough that he could change his body temperature and almost 'see' things about himself. What he saw was a strange kind of energy in his center. He knew immediately that this was the power given to him by the construct. There was no other explanation for it. Deciding to see if he could manipulate it he began to 'poke' at it and see if he could get it to loosen from the tight confines it was bound in. He wasn't successful. He attempted to channel the energy out of the tight confines but only managed to get a couple of wisps out of it and they quickly dissipated.

Meditating on this more, he decided that with practice he would be able to release the energy outside of the confined space and manipulate it. What to do after he was able to manipulated it outside of the space he didn't know. He would find out when that happened. He wondered what other consequences the construct put on him. He was curious to know since this was beginning to get him excited about the possibilities. Until he remembered the price he was paying for this power so far. He became depressed after that thought, but someone knocked on his door interrupting his self-pity.

"Can I come in, Will?" asked his sister Melissa.

Before William could speak or get up she was already stepping through the door and into his domain. She loved to annoy him with that. This time was no different.

"Mom told me. Is it true?" She bent down and looked into Will's eyes. "Wow! Your eyes are different! I am going to have a little sister now! This is so cool!" She clapped her hands together, "This is so weird! My little brother will become my little sister!" Melissa proclaimed exuberantly. She beamed and thought out loud of the things that they could share and do together. Melissa always did look to the bright side of things when it was to her advantage, William noted glumly.

"What? It isn't enough that you have a little brother, now you want to see him changed into a little girl for your amusement? I probably won't change much if not at all. I bet you that I will stay as a boy and be a jock on the football team with plenty of girlfriends," defended William futilely.

Melissa just smirked and brought out the proverbial needle, "Nope, mom told me all about what Dr. Parker said and what will happen to you. You are going to be a girl because he said your genes say so and you are going through a girl's puberty. I will finally have someone I can share stuff with and confide in. I bet you are going to make a cute little sister too!" She finished while gushing.

That hurt as William came crashing back into reality. Melissa and William have always had an agreement to never cause trouble for mother to worry about. They would always share responsibilities to help her out. They got along but they were not very close as some siblings were. Melissa was obviously looking forward to the closeness a new sister would bring.

Now William paid a closer look at Melissa to see what he had to look forward to for his future. Melissa was pretty in a cute way with her dark natural tan, dark puppy dog eyes and very dark brown hair cut at her shoulders. She was about 5'7" just shy of mother's height and with a build that suggested youthful athleticism with several hints of the beautiful woman that she will grow up to be. She was already a split image of their mother in more than just body.

William sighed again. His Sherlock Homes mind was going at it again. He was resigning himself on becoming a girl. He had the nagging suspicion that being empowered with Alira's essence meant more than just a sex change into his female twin. Sometimes being bright came with a downside. Sometimes he would rather live in ignorance. Why couldn't he have had the option of the blue pill instead of being force fed red one? In fact, he wouldn't be in this situation if he wasn't so bright and curious. He shoved that line of thinking aside.

He asked her "Could you please leave me alone? I don't feel like talking much right now."

"Ok, but when you feeling like talking or need help with… um, other stuff then you know where I live. See you later, sis." She smiled sweetly but with no hint of malice showing, just anticipation of having a baby sister to share 'sisterly' things with. William couldn't help but groan.

After she left, William laid down on the bed and wondered what life would bring now that he was going to become a girl. He had another sneaking suspicion that he would be a complete girl, especially where it counts. Not some boy-girl on hormones, but a fully developed girl, and not just any fully developed girl, but a girl with power. William quickly shunted that line of thought aside before it developed into the cliché that was bound to follow. Soon after, he fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

Over the week, William was able to avoid Joe and his boys at school without any other incidents to worry about. He noticed a couple boys his age who were just older not showing up for school either. Tommy was one and another named Kyle.

Melissa calmed down a bit when she didn't see any changes in Will but she was looking at him like she wanted to talk more about it and it seemed to be eating her up. Will made sure he wasn't caught alone with her.

His mother went on as usual and he would catch her staring at him every now and then. He imagined that she was worried about him. He just didn't take coddling very often so she never pressed the issue until he would be ready to talk to her.

Dr. Parker showed up once more retrieving more samples with a full physical thrown in to add to the discomfort, but he still claimed his first findings were correct, and reiterated on what to expect and guess on how soon it would begin to happen.

Will wasn't able to improve his control over the ball of energy that was stuffed into his body, until Saturday night that is.

William was in his usual meditative form just relaxing after trying futilely again to manipulate the energy with almost no affect. He contemplated what he was going to do during the summer and if he could earn some extra spending money to supplement his allowance. Perhaps he could mow some lawns for some of the elderly. He wasn't sure what he was going to do or what he could do without his mother looking in on him constantly.

Suddenly, William was hit with inspiration. Each time he tried to manipulate the confined energy he was actually forcing his will on it. That is something a guy would do to his environment to get his way. He became certain that being changed into a girl had more to do with the power than it first appeared. A woman would coax and guide things her way instead of using force. It became obvious that he would have to think like a girl to get the energy to work with him. This thought disturbed him but it made more sense as to why the construct told him the consequences would help him.

He gave it a try. At first nothing except the usual wisp of energy flung off of the outside. He adjusted his thinking again and decided to nurture the energy into releasing. 'Ask' it to help him out. He got a reaction almost immediately. The outside actually expanded and then gave off a shell of energy that far surpassed anything he was able to do before.

Now he had a slightly expanded ball of energy with loose energy floating around inside of him slowly dissipating thought out his body. He was fatigued from doing that just once, but he wanted to do more. He wasn't sure what he could do with the floating energy but thought on it a moment. William impulsively gathered the remaining energy and pulled it towards his hand and wondered if he could make it glow. He opened his eyes and looked down at his hand seeing that it was glowing a pale light. It was quickly becoming dimmer every second, but it temporarily lit his room up for a few moments. He was ecstatic.

Soon after, his hand stopped glowing and William felt really tired. He was still excited about his discovery and wanted to practice more, but his tired body said otherwise. He took a break to eat then went to sleep early for the night.

 

* * *

 

During the night William was dreaming of himself as a pilot flying through the sky chasing pigs through the clouds. He was having a grand time and didn't notice the irony of the dream as he flew through pink puffy clouds in chase of pigs while coming out on the other side with sausage on his wings. After only a few minutes of blissfully chasing the swine he suddenly found himself in the large tomb that contained Alira's coffin. He instantly became more lucid and would have ran away if he could have moved his feet but he wasn't in control of his dreams anymore.

"Welcome back, William," said the warm voice he could never forget. "You have pasted the next step related to attaining control in the power given to you. I thought it would take you longer to reach this step. I first thought years when you were more grown, but I am glad that you are progressing faster than I anticipated. I honestly didn't know if you were suitable for this imbuing," she said seemingly proud of herself in her choice. "I have only a little time before I must go. Do you have any questions?" She paused on that and looked earnestly at William.

William had many questions after the first encounter, but now he couldn't think of any. So instead, he asked, "Why are you still alive? I thought you fell apart because you gave me this power that held you together?"

The woman construct just smiled on that and looked off to the side for a moment as she sat down on one of the marble steps leading up to Alira's coffin before she answered. Without thinking Will found himself sitting too.

"I was created by Alira a moment before she died to represent her and her power as you know. Simply put, I am the power and the power is who I am. I have existed for much longer than Alira anticipated and I have become more and more aware as a result. I observed the world changing as time went on, and much to my disappointment, I could not coax anyone worthy to enter into the chambers to fulfill my purpose. I managed to help you inside because you where partly in so I could exert some influence over you.

"I didn't immediately fade away which was originally intended. I believe it is because I am more aware."

The construct paused a moment and then she turned and look William directly in the eyes with those ocean blue eyes. "I know you won't like this one bit but I can't stop it now. I am fading away but as I fade I am combining with you and we will become one. Because I am just a construct you will have primary influence on your body and you will not be aware of what parts of me are left behind. It will seem normal to you although you will probably pick out parts that never existed before we combined. In many ways this came out better than Alira anticipated." She paused for a few moments allowing William to digest what she said.

Before he could say anything she looked into his eyes smiling her warm smile and said, "I won't be able to visit you again since we will be so much alike we will essentially be one. It is best that you and I allow the combining without separation. We wouldn't want you ending up with split personalities now would we?" she smiled wider at her attempt with humor, but Will wasn't smiling. He was frowning. She coughed. As if constructs needed to cough, Will thought irritably. She continued, "I hope for the best and I think it will happen for us. Sweet dreams, William."

Before he could say or do anything else he promptly fell into a deep dreamless sleep that continued throughout the night.

 

* * *

 

Sunday morning brought a slew of unwanted changes, at least unwanted by William. The first thing he saw in the mirror that morning was an androgynous person staring back. He had to stare for a moment before realization set in that he was staring at himself. He also wasn't sure if the person in the mirror was a girl or boy. He looked like he could pass for either. He took a closer inspection of himself in the mirror and noticed that his face had changed shape slightly and become softer with the features. Looking down to his chest he noticed his nipples were slightly enlarged and had some swellings surrounding them. Moving down his waist didn't seem any different but his hips and rear were a tad bigger.

Sighing, William didn't feel panicky which kind of surprised him but he had all week to think about this and he felt a bit relieved that it finally started to happen. Just so he didn't feel like he was a boy on death row waiting for the switch to be pulled. It was certainly pulled now. Thinking back, he bet that this had something to do with his experimentation of the energy last night. If this happened every time he experimented with the energy then he would look like a girl by the end of the week. Oh joy, he thought.

A thought crossed his mind. William decided to check lower to see what had changed below the belt. As he looked down he noticed the bathroom counter was a bit lower than normal. He must be getting taller as well. There is a plus to this after all, he remarked ruefully.

Pulling the waistband of his pajamas out he inspected himself. Half sized was the first thought to cross his mind. This set him off as realization hit him that he would probably be all girl in a while and he would be sharing quality mother daughter and sister sister time with his family. It could be worse, he thought. He could be turning into a frog. For some reason that amused him and he shed the rest of his clothing and hopped into the shower.

Later he walked down to the kitchen to grab breakfast and he bumped into Melissa on the way. Both quickly apologized and then Melissa took a good look at her little brother. A smile crossed her young lips and Will could see the wheels turning in her head. Deciding not to stick around and let her open her mouth so she could start the torment or worst yet, gushing, William hurried on and into the kitchen.

After fixing himself breakfast his mom happened to walk in and with the talent that all mothers had she spotted William and realized what was amiss. Staring for a moment she just shook her head and said that they would talk later. William felt relieved and he knew he was in for a full inspection by his mother after she got back from work.

Will spent the rest of the day doing what most twelve year old boys do best. Gaming. After getting bored of that he decided to browse the net and look for anything on the sorceress named Alira. He wasn't surprised when he didn't find anything after an hour of searching.

Despite the consequences from playing with the power last night he decided to mediate and see what else he could do with it. He didn't have as much luck tonight as he did last night but he was still able to coax off a lot more energy than during the entire first week. The outer shell of the energy, once again, expanded a bit more so that he was 'filled' further than before he started meditating.

Eventually his mother came home, knocked on his bedroom door, and entered. William just sat on his bed playing a game not bothering to look at his mother. She just stood there and eventually got tired of his unresponsiveness and stood in front of the TV. Knowing that eventually he would have to let her do a full inspection he got off of his bed, stood in front of his mom and took off his shirt waiting.

His mother scrutinized his face for a few moments and then his chest. She started reaching down to pull off his pants when the silence was finally broken.

"Mom!" William said with exasperation.

"Don't mom me. I have seen you plenty of times before so this is nothing new to me or you." She answered while glaring at her son with hands on her hips. She was waiting for his corporation before she took matters into her hands, figuratively speaking or course.

William knew that he would eventually give in. He was just putting up a token resistance to try and save himself from any embarrassment. Sighing he pulled down his pants. His mother kept a clinical expression on her face as she scrutinized his lower portions while walking around him. William began having the feeling of being meat for inspection.

"I didn't think it would be so sudden and quick," observed Will's mom as William pulled up his pants trying to save what little dignity he had left. Which was none when he realized his sister was in the doorway taking in the whole scene with a thoughtful expression. She turned around and left too soon for William to recover and yell at her about knocking before entering a person's room.

With few pleasantries exchanged between him and his mother she left for the night leaving Will to himself to think of what the future would hold for him now.

 

* * *

 

For the next month William continued developing in body and power. He progressed much slower than the first night but he eventually became adept at making his hand glow, but couldn't do anything else. His body kept changing bit by bit and his regular checkups with Dr. Parker where always the same with him cataloging the changes and predicting what would happen next. The doctor always offered him encouragement on each trip. William was just glad for the encouragement but he ignored him since he didn't want to dwell too much on the subject. His mind was always on another game or how he could improve his control with the power. He did try and convince his mother that he didn't need to go to school but like all good mothers she told him to stop being ridiculous and face up to his situation, in a motherly way of course.

William, feeling extremely bored one day after a month of hiding around his house decided to venture out and ride to the local mall and hit the arcade. It was about an hour's ride on his bike. He quickly brushed back his lighter colored hair behind his ears and pulled on some baggy cloths to hide his changes. During the month his hair had grown faster than normal competing with his body that had added five inches to his height. While walking to the door he told his mother that he was going to the arcade in the mall. He was surprised when she told him to have fun instead of drilling him with more questions. William just thought that she must have been glad that he was going out to do something other than hide away. But his Sherlock Homes wannabe mind was turning away.

On his way there William sped down the road enjoying the warm breeze and the fresh smells that he had missed since he had been staying indoors for the last month. He was enjoying himself so much that all he wanted to do was ride around a bit more, but he soon came into the outside of the city and in the parking lot of the mall. He agilely locked up his bike and walked into the mall with only one destination in mind: The arcade of course.

After a few minutes of walking past the shops in the mall he realized that people were watching him more than normal. He thought that maybe he had something on his rear or some weird stain on his clothing that was attracting their attention. He decided to stop by the restroom and check and see what was wrong with him. He stepping inside and stared into the mirror for anything weird or off but he just couldn't see anything. Suddenly a voice interrupted him.

"You. Girl. This is the man's restroom. You shouldn't be in here," exclaimed some older man as he was walking out of a stall while buckling up his pants. William just stared at the guy and then stuttered out an apology while leaving the restroom only to enter no-mans-land.

He passed some woman who smiled at him as she left the restroom and he moved to the mirror. Looking at the mirror he saw himself staring back at him in his large faded blue shirt with baggy blue jeans. He looked like himself, but then he didn't. This was becoming strange to him because for the first time since the morning after he changed he looked at himself with a new perspective and instead saw a young girl who was probably thirteen or so with light brown hair that seemed washed out with a slight red tin while in the light. He had still thought people would see him as a boy if he dressed up in his old clothing, but he realized that he had been fooling himself all this time by ignoring the fact that his body had changed too much to disguise his femininity with just clothing. He accepted it, but then he didn't. Confusion set in as he then noticed that the face in the mirror looked familiar but it only looked a little bit like his own. Gasping he realized that the face was very similar to Alira's construct's face. His mind put two and two together and he realized that his body was changing into the body of Alira's construct. There was enough of his old face left to suggest that she could perhaps be a cousin of his, but not a sister or his twin.

His day was spoiled, William thought. Then he shoved that thought aside and decided to make the best of the situation and lose himself in the arcade playing nothing but blood and gory games. Smiling, he trotted off to the arcade ignoring the looks from the people around him.

While turning a corner that lead directly to the arcade, he thought he saw his sister go around another corner. That was not possible since she was supposed to be helping mom with a project they had been conspiring together for a couple weeks now. Hmmm, he thought. But then he heard a loud exclamation coming from the arcade and was immediately drawn to the game machines.

Later on, as William was engaged with his gaming, he failed to notice Joe and his cronies enter the arcade pestering everyone they went past. Eventually, Will noticed someone annoyingly leaning in front of his arcade machine blocking the view causing him to die.

"Hey, babe. What's someone like you dressed like that doing in a place like this with all these geeks?" questioned Joe with a leer as he looked Will up and down.

William was so caught off guard with Joe showing up that all he could do was stare at Joe with no clever retorts coming to mind.

Joe looked up again and asked, "What's your name, babe? You look familiar."

William could only continue to stare at him with his stunned expression.

"Look at this, guys, she is love struck with me and can't get me out of her mind enough so she can tell me that she wants me," laughed Joe while Toady snorted on Will's left and Eric laughed on his right forcing William to notice that he was surrounded. Joe stopped laughing a moment and got serious as he said, "Hey, you do look familiar somehow. Who's in your family? What is your name?"

This brought Will out of his befuddled state as he realized that they didn't know him. This could be made to work to his advantage, he thought. But he wasn't about to give Joe the impression that he was 'interested' in him. Pu leeeze! Giving any hint to that would be like the torching of the middle school all over again. Plus, there was something 'off' with Joe and his buddies. He couldn't put his finger on it but there was something that was nagging at the back of his mind. This thought made William think about the day that all this started. He remembered seeing something Joe and his cronies were doing but he couldn't figure out what it was he saw. The thought continued to nag in the back of his mind telling him that this was related to that day, and to be very cautious. He kept looking at Joe hoping that he could figure it out but he still couldn't. He decided to play it cool, or as cool as any person who is scared almost witless could play.

"You don't know them and I don't know you. I am trying to play a game so please leave me alone," Joe laughed and became serious as he took more interest in this young, familiar looking girl he had just met. There was something about her that really bothered him and he decided to find out what.

"No. You can't brush me off like that, babe. Who are you and who are you related too?" Joe demanded in a harsher voice.

Ah oh, William thought as he heard this. This was a bomb waiting to go off since something about William was bothering Joe. Perhaps he somehow was recognizing Joe inside of this nearly formed body? Whatever it was he needed to defuse it quickly.

"You don't know me and I don't know you. Leave me alone before I call over security!"

William soon realized that he said the wrong thing when Joe grabbed his arm and started to pull him towards the back with Eric and Toady flanking. He never was good at talking himself out of things.

"Game's over for you, bitch. Now we are going to talk about what I like to do with young chicks like you who refuse to give their names and don't know a good thing when it is standing in front of them," commanded Joe as he led a stunned William towards the back exit making sure no one was around to witness him grabbing Will.

William realized that this was out of character for Joe. He would never have imagined Joe resorting to forcing a strange girl around, especially in a mall. Then he realized that he was supposed to be this young girl and he became incredibly frightened as Joe pulled him through the backdoor and onto an empty loading dock.

"Ok, bitch! I know who you are family of. You look like you could be little Willie's sister or cousin. He must have told you about us, didn't he? What did he tell you about us?! Don't deny it because I saw you recognize me back there!" He said all this while shaking William by his shoulders.

William was scared almost to death by now. He had no idea how he was going to get out of this one. He decided that he better hold his tongue since that always got him in worse trouble. His lips decided to sputtering uselessly instead.

Joe didn't like this answer and illogically concluded that she knew what he was talking about. He decided that he would prove to this little tramp that he was a real man. He wasn't thinking right as fear and rage took over his actions and he decided to do something that he would never have considered doing... to a girl

"Hold her down. We are going to show her how to have a good time. If she ever tells anyone about this good time we are going to make sure that it is her last!" Toady and Eric both had wild looks of lust and something else that was much scarier plastered all over their faces as they dragged a struggling William down to the ground while Joe began to unbuckle his belt.

It all suddenly became clear to young William as his Sherlock Homes mind finally pieced together what he saw the first day: Joe, Toady, and Eric liked boys more than girls but they had been hiding it. That explained why Eric hung out with them; birds of a feather and such. That also explained some things about Tommy, Kyle, and a few other boys he knew of. They were so scared or humiliated that they didn't dare speak of what these boys were doing to them. These three would do anything to keep their secret. They were going to rape him and make him so scared and humiliated that he wouldn't tell on them. Joe and the boys were also doing this to prove that they were what they considered normal or at least semi-normal guys. Joe must not have been sure that William had seen anything so he didn't press the issue but he must have seen something in his expression that told him that William spread the word to his 'cousin' concerning Joe and his cronies. He thought of all this in detached calmness and then he realized that HE was about to be raped. He wasn't fully female and they would see this and he didn't want to think how they would react to this discovery. He was about to lose his lunch, and other body fluids when a clear and very loud thought entered his mind.

She had promised that she would NEVER let herself suffer this type of humiliation or degradation again. She wasn't about to break that promise now!

Where that thought came from William wasn't sure but he believed it completely.

William found himself digging deep into himself to find the confined energy now begging for release. He didn't have to coax it out. It flowed outward like a raging river rolling over a sand castle and it quickly filled him up completely while changing him so that he could use this power without troubles. William soon became female in all places that counted the most, and this new girl was very very angry.

As Joe was pulling off his pants the girl was held firmly down while clouds began to appear rapidly out of the clear blue sky to hang black above them. The boys quickly noticed the darkening of the day and looked up wondering what was shadowing them. They saw the dark clouds looming above threateningly. Looking at each other they saw fear replace all other emotions on their faces. Then they looked down on the girl. She had changed. Her hair was now silver and very long. Her face was now lightly tanned instead of the darker complexion. This young girl was gorgeous. This young girl was angry and they looked into her eyes and saw horrid anger staring back at them. Eric's bowels loosened and lightning struck blinding out everything present.

 

* * *

 

Later, William dropped her bike on the porch and walked through the house up to her bedroom door. She opened it and stepped inside but quickly pulled to a halt. Her mother and sister were standing inside of a femininely decorated room complete with all the furnishings that any young girl would have at her age. It looked like they were just cleaning up from the decorating and unpacking. So this had been the project they were working on, William mused.

Hmmm, she paused again. William wasn't an appropriate name for a girl who lived in this room, she thought as she looked around the room. She then chose a name more fitting to who she was now. She decided on Alira. It felt right. It felt complete. It set the Homes wannabe mind into circles.

Alira then smiled and hugged her sister and mother while laughing at them for not asking for help with all the changes they made to her bedroom. But she still loved them very much and looked forward to starting a new life with her family.

  

  

  

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