Chapter 5

8 October 2011

As I looked down at my hand, I could see that there was something wrong with my chest. I didn’t know why I screamed when I saw that, must’ve been some kind of instinctive reaction to seeing something that didn’t belong. Looking at my chest, I now saw that something was most definitely wrong. Sticking out from my chest were a couple of large mounds where there hadn’t been any before. And when I say large, I mean bigger than your average sized college student, but smaller than some of the more exotic type of women.

I quickly stepped out of the shower, onto the bath mat, and looked in the mirror. I had to wipe some of the steam off, since I loved to take warm showers. I gasped when I got a good look at the girl in the mirror. She was quite simply, beautiful. If I didn’t know it was me, I would probably have done anything to date her.

She had long black hair and very wet hair at that. She had piercing green eyes, which looked like they were holding a deep secret from the rest of the world. The rest of her body was very curvy, although it seemed to flow nicely and not take anything away from the large breasts that were on her chest; those seemed to flow nicely with the hourglass shape of this new body. I turned to get a good look at my butt that was behind my now wider hips, and sure enough, it did stick out some. I would say that it may have been a heart-shaped butt now, and looking down where my manhood used to be, I could only see my new womanhood sitting proudly on display.

When looking in the mirror, I noticed that I could see traces of the old me in there. Like this girl would probably already exist naturally if one of my chromosomes were the other one from the start. Also, this girl was a little bit taller than I had been. Whatever was going on was definitely beyond the realm of the normal everyday life.

As I continued to look at this new me, I heard a jingle coming from my hand that had the ring on it, as my arm moved it around. Looking down at it, the ring was gone, replaced with a charm bracelet that was very popular a few years back. At the moment, there were only two charms dangling from the bracelet.

The first charm was the symbol for Starfleet from the franchise, “Star Trek,” a show which I watched with a passion while I was growing up. The second charm on the bracelet was a top hat with a magician’s magic wand; my guess that this charm was representing my favorite comic book heroine, Zatanna Zatara.

I walked back out into my apartment bedroom, towel wrapped around my chest like how I had seen the girls on some television shows do it, and flopped down on my bed. I was so confused right now. What had happened to me? Why was I now a girl? Who were those strange men chasing after me? I don’t know how it happened, but I started to cry.

I just cried and cried for who knows how long. When I finally got some kind of hold of myself, I looked over at the clock and saw it was only seven at night. I thought I would take Mr. Larson’s advice, and give Alex a call. Maybe she would help me, if she would even believe my story.

I reached into my jean pocket, and pulled out my cell phone. I found Alex’s number in the directory and called it right up. As it was ringing, I thought, ‘Crap! I better disguise my voice somehow.’

Before I could think up a good way of doing it, I heard, “Hello?” from the other end.

I tried talking really low, something that might not exactly work with my higher pitched voice, which I found was a bit on the sultry side. “Alex, this is Mike.”

“Oh, hi, Mike,” she replied, disappointingly.

“I was wondering if you would like to come over and talk about the ring. I’m considering not selling it now.”

“Sure, I guess,” she replied, sounding a little more upbeat. “I can come over right now, if that’s okay with you.”

“Yes!” I replied, sounding a little too excited, and breaking the tone of my voice. I cringed and continued, “Come as soon as you can. I’ll be here by myself, and I’ll leave my door unlocked so you can come in.”

“That’s great!” she replied.

In a more worrisome tone she added, “Are you alright, Mike? Your voice sounds a bit off.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m going to take a quick shower. See you soon.”

I turned off my phone and dropped it back onto the bed. What was I going to do about clothes? I didn’t have anything very baggy to wear, considering that my frame was drastically different than it was as a guy.

I quickly rummaged through my drawers, hoping to find something. I don’t think I brought any oversized ratty clothes with me, in case I had to do something where I was concerned about the state of my clothes.

“Crap!” I swore loudly.

Alex was going to be here any minute, and I couldn’t find anything to wear to cover up my new body. I was pretty sure that she didn’t want to walk in to my apartment and find a naked woman in there.

Rummaging around, I managed to find a pair of baggy shorts that didn’t really fit well when I was a guy. I tried putting on a pair of boxer shorts at first, and when I pulled them up, I had a load of difficulty trying to get them around my new rear end. I don’t know how I managed it, but they did get on me. The baggy shorts were a little easier, but not by much.

Looking in the closet, I found one of my button-up shirts. It would have to suffice for now. It wasn’t difficult getting the sleeves to go up my arms, although I definitely couldn’t button it up all the way to my neck. I did manage to get most of the way, and hopefully Alex wouldn’t take offense with my new breasts peeking a little bit over the top of my shirt.

I heard a knock on the door followed by Alex’s voice, “Mike? Are you here?”

‘Crap!’ I thought to myself. She was here and I wasn’t ready for her. Here I was looking like a girl that had just woken up wearing her boyfriend’s clothes. I groaned, and heard, “Mike? Are you here? This isn’t funny, Mike.”

I swallowed a gulp of air for luck, and then headed out to face Alex. I was hoping that she wouldn’t overreact and storm out here. I didn’t know who else to turn to in these matters. I don’t think anyone would, since guys don’t spontaneously become girls in the span of a few hours.

Entering the living room, I saw Alex standing by the couch, looking out the windows toward the university. She appeared to be waiting impatiently, like she was under the impression that I was standing her up or making her run around at her expense. I felt bad that she might be feeling that way, so I decided that it was time for me to speak up finally.

Clearing my throat, I said, “Alex?”

She turned and faced me, and I felt extremely nervous that she wouldn’t believe anything that I said. The look on her face leaned that way, as it was one that mixed of surprise, disappointment, and anger. “Who are you?” she asked, trying not to let her anger seep too much into her words. “Are you Mike’s long lost girlfriend or something?”

“No…,” I replied, reluctantly. “Not exactly, anyway….”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she replied, her anger starting to rise.

“I’m not sure. It’s kind of difficult to explain.”

I thought to myself, ‘Boy, should I just outright tell her?’

“Try,” she said pointedly. “I’m already disappointed in him for wanting to sell such a nice ring without asking me first. Now, he asks me over here to talk about it and I see some kind of airhead who looks like she left her clothes and home and slept with him.”

“What?!” I exclaimed. “That’s not true!”

“Oh, yeah?” she said, stepping over to me and looking me in the eye. “Well, you can tell Mike that if he doesn’t have the balls to talk to me himself and use some floozy to do his dirty work, then I don’t care what he decides to do with the ring he found.”

Alex turned and was storming out of the apartment, I had to say something to get her to stay, otherwise I would lose one of the few friends I have in this town. “Alex, please stay. It’s me, Mike!” I exclaimed to get her attention.

She turned just as she reached the door and scoffed, “That’s a laugh. You barely look like him. Why should I believe such a cockamamie story like that?”

“Because, the night that I found the ring, we were racing back from the dock and I tripped over it.”

Alex crossed her arms and gave an expression that she wasn’t really buying this story. “Oh, yeah?” she replied, sounding totally unconvinced.

“Then I suppose that I just let you have the box right then and there, right?”

She was testing me, I just knew it.

“No. We went and asked your mom about the box first, to see if she knew anything about it. She said that she didn’t, and was very reluctant to give it to me. I didn’t get the box until you ran after me, after your birthday party, to give it to me so I could try to get into the box. I’m now wishing that I never did.”

The look on her face went from disbelief to total shock. Whatever it was that she was expecting, the truth wasn’t it.

“Mike?” she asked softly.

I could feel tears well up in my eyes again. Why was I so damn emotional all of a sudden?

“Yeah,” I replied, about ready to start bawling my eyes out again.

I flopped down on the couch, looking at her. She walked over from the door and sat down next to me.

“Is it really you?” she asked.

“Yes, it’s me. I don’t know how this happened. I was in the shower, getting cleaned up from my crazy bicycle ride home, when I noticed that I looked like a girl.

Alex gave me a hug and said softly, “Oh, Mike, I’m so sorry that something like this happened to you.”

“Oh, you want to know about the ring?” I continued, “It’s now a charm bracelet.”

I held up the bracelet so she could see it.

“A crazy bicycle ride? A piece of jewelry becoming a different piece? What do the charms mean? Maybe there’s some magic that turned you into a girl, now that I think about it…,” Alex rambled off, like she was trying to piece everything that happened to me today together.

I look puzzled when she said the word, “magic.” Did magic really exist? Or was she trying to get back at me for making her believe that I was some kind of jerk?

“Okay, Mike,” she finally said, “tell me everything from the moment you left the comic book store.”

Leaving my own questions aside for the time being, I related everything that happened to me when I left the comic book store at the end of my shift today. I included everything, the bird that seemingly warned me about the strange SUV, the chase through the streets, and the chase through the woods. The whole time that I was telling Alex my story she just seemed to nod and kept asking me to continue. When I had finished my tale I asked, “Well, what do you think happened to me?”

“I can’t say for sure,” she started, I looked crestfallen hoping that she might why this had happened to me in the first place. “But, I think I know someone who might be able to help us.”

“Who? Who would know about something like this?” I asked.

I then joked, “The local witch doctor?”

She giggled at that, and said, “While that may not be a bad idea, I do think that we need to keep a lid on this for as long as we can. I don’t think that revealing this fact to more of the Unseen in Ravencrest would be a good idea at the moment.”

“Unseen?” I asked wonderingly.

“Yea, there are a bunch of us here.”

“But, what are Unseen?” I asked, bewildered.

“Wait,” she stammered. “You never heard of us?”

“Uhh…, yeah.”

“Oh, this is just great,” she said, shaking her head and facepalming herself.

“You mind telling me what’s going on?” I asked.

She sighed, then replied, “Right, gimme a sec to figure something out.”

Alex got up, and began pacing across the room. Clearly, she was trying to word something but not quite figuring it out.

“Okay,” she said. “First, things first. Did your parents act strangely around you, or did you think they were keeping something a secret from you?”

I thought about it for a little bit. I never really paid too much attention to what my parents were doing. The only time that I ever saw them was during the weekend, but even then, I was pretty focused on my schoolwork. Over the summer, things were a little different, but I was pretty much consumed by a few of my computer games.

“I can’t think of anything at the moment,” I replied.

“Okay…,” Alex said, now trying to come up with another way of trying to explain what needed to be explained.

Before she could think too long though, I asked, “What is an Unseen anyway?”

“Uhmm…,” she replied thinking, “That’s a little tricky to explain. The simple definition is anything that isn’t exactly human.”

“Not exactly human? What do you mean?” I replied, a little frustrated.

“Well, how much of the fantasy worlds in literature do you know?”

“A bunch,” I answered. “I must’ve read ‘Lord of the Rings’ at least seven times. And I loved to watch movies with magic and monsters in it. What are you saying?”

“A good chunk of that is true. Although, Hollywood tends to embellish due to story and monetary reasons.”

“What?” I asked, confused.

She sighed, and facepalmed her forehead again.

“Look, I’m a witch,” she said outright.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Watch this and see for yourself,” she said.

She held her hand out in front of herself and appeared to be concentrating hard. I didn’t notice anything at first. A few seconds later though, it appeared that my eyes were becoming more level with hers. I looked down at the ground, and I saw that the couch was off the ground and hanging about six inches in the air!

“This can’t be happening! This isn’t possible!” I said.

The couch dropped with a loud thud. I was bounced from the couch onto the ground, landing on my butt. I rubbed it, although it didn’t feel too bad, probably the new cushioning helped with that.

“Are you okay, Mike?” she said, coming over to me.

“Yea, I think so. What did you do?”

“I levitated the couch about a foot in the air. It’s something that I’ve been practicing.”

“Practicing?”

“I told you before, I’m a witch. I can use magic.”

“Okay…,” I replied. “So, the Unseen are witches?”

“Not all the Unseen. There are also vampires, weres, fae, and nereids, among a whole lot of others.”

“What?” I said, my jaw dropping.

“Yup, the realm of fantasy is not as fictional as you once thought. The only question is, are you an Unseen, and if so, which one.”

“How could I be an Unseen?”

“I’m not too sure. Maybe we better go ask my mother. She’s been around for a while, and says she’s seen a lot of strange things, even for a witch.”

“Wait, back up a sec,” I said, holding my arms out, trying to get a grasp on everything. “Your mom’s a witch?”

“Yup, all the women in my family are. We’ve lived at that house almost since the town was founded.”

“What about your brother, Charlie?”

“Him? Well, he’s a Dud. Born into a magical family, but no magical abilities.”

“Okay…,” I said, my brain trying to get a handle on everything, although I think it was turning to jelly at the moment.

“C’mon, Mike. Let’s get you to my house. Maybe we can figure out what you are there. And we need to come up with another name for you too.”

“What?” I said, surprised.

“Well, you sure don’t look like a Michael anymore.”

“You have a point, I guess,” I conceded.

“Good, now we have to get going. I might be sent out to get clothes for you, since you’re not quite my size.”

“What?” I exclaimed, again.

“You didn’t think you can get by wearing your old clothes, did you?”

“Well, no. But….”

“No buts, missie. We’ll get your sizes when we get to my house. I wonder if my mom has dealt with any cases like yours.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, I might want to tell you a little bit more about my mom,” she said, as we left my apartment.

“What about her?” I asked, getting into her car.

“She has this knack for getting people to talk, which helps out in her job,” she started. “You see, she’s sort of like a witch version of Sherlock Holmes.”

“The famous fictional detective?”

“Yup. She just doesn’t let many people know that she’s a detective though. So, keep it to yourself, okay?”

I nodded, and watched the road as we headed for the Drake residence by the lake. It didn’t take too long to get there, since it was essentially on the other side of the university from my apartment. But, heading into a witch’s den, which was definitely a different one. Although, when I met them last night, the Drakes did seem to be a nice family. Hopefully, they didn’t have some of the more exotic flares that literature has given them.

“Anything I should expect, knowing that you come from a family of witches?” I asked when she pulled into the driveway.

“No,” she lightly replied. “Just try to be yourself, even though your ‘self’ has changed.”

“Okay…,” I replied, not feeling too much better.

Before we walked into the house, I heard another fluttering of wings as that damn black bird landed in a nearby tree.

“Looks like some things don’t change,” I muttered.

“What?” Alex said.

I pointed my thumb at the bird in the tree. She looked and said, “What about that raven?”

“I don’t know why, but I always have had the feeling that it has been following me around town.”

“Hmm…, maybe Mom would know something about that,” Alex replied, opening the front door.

We went inside to the couch, where she asked me to take a seat so she could go find her mom. While she was gone, the raven fluttered down and landed on the window ledge. I jumped when I saw it there.

“Go away,” I said to it, getting up to go shoo it away.

‘Must find Lord Chiron and tell new varlore is here,’ a voice said in my head.

“What the?” I said aloud, as the bird flew away.

Alex reentered the room with her mother shortly after the bird left, as I was standing at the window.

“What is it?” Alex asked.

“Didn’t you hear that voice?” I asked. “Or see that bird?”

“Mike?” Alex said, “Are you okay?”

“I think so. I hope I’m not going crazy, or something.”

“Why don’t you take a seat, and bring me up to speed,” Alex’s mom said.

“Okay, Mrs. Drake,” I replied, flopping down on the couch.

I then began the long narrative of what happened to me today, while Alex’s mom just sat there, and seemed to take in everything that I was saying. She didn’t ask me any questions until I was finished.

“So, what do you think happened, Mrs. Drake?” I asked.

“I’m not too sure. Alex, why don’t you call Melissa, and see if she can come over to help us out.”

“Yes, mom,” Alex said, getting up. “Should we take her measurements to go get her some clothes?”

“We can do that in a bit.”

“Okay, mom.”

Alex left the room to call this Melissa person.

“What’s going on, Mrs. Drake?”

“I’m getting a second opinion, don’t worry, you won’t have to tell your story again. And please, call me Cassie.”