Synopsis:
This chapter follows just after "BotC: -4c- House Rules."

In this part of the story Danny Sweet has already transformed into a little girl and is about to meet her new parents at the home of Merlok the magician.

Story:
"Hilda, come quick! And send the girl back to her room and lock the door!" Jana shouted from downstairs.

Danny didn't know what was going on but she did know that was supposed to be her new parents downstairs there to meet her and take her away so getting sent back to her room so suddenly was a huge disappointment for the girl.

Hilda locked the little girl in her bedroom as ordered and hurried downstairs to see what was the matter. When Hilda arrived in the main entry hall an argument was already well underway.

"That is not hardly the point," a dark haired stranger in a brown business suit said waving a piece of paper in his hand. "Displacement magic is forbidden by the council."

"Teleportation you mean?" Jana asked and turned briefly to Hilda and whispered to her. "Go inform Merlok we have a situation here."

"Yes, my lady," Hilda said and hurried off.

"Teleportation is just the tip of the iceberg and you know it," the fellow said. "I mean kidnapping - displacement of individuality. Disruption of life outside the boundaries you were given. Failure to carry out your orders as set forth in the guide book by the high council."

"Oh shut up, Finnian! What orders are you talking about? The rules of conduct regarding a wizard of the high tower?" Jana asked. "Merlok is no longer a member of the wizard's guild. You have no right to demand he follow your... rules and restrictions."

Finnian glared at her and threw down his document in disgust. "Bring me Danny Sweet. That is not a request. It's a demand."

"There is no one by that name living here," Jana shot back.

Suddenly Merlok cleared his throat as he entered the room and said,"It is all right, Jana, I'll handle this now. You may retire to your quarters. I'll see to this. Now what do you want, Finnian? Are you here running your fools errands again for Kelvor? And who is this other with you? Is this one of Kelvor's new rules? Sending his errand boys out with helpers? And a woman helper no less."

Jana turned and left as Merlok studied the young lady standing beside Finian in the hall.

"Her name is Veela and she is here to aid me in retrieving the boy if you should refuse to do so yourself," Finnian explained.

"By what law do you dare come into my domain and make demands of me?" Merlok asked growing weary of talking with these unwanted guests any longer. "I am asking you to leave now before I lose my temper."

"You have kidnapped Danny Sweet," Finnian said. "He went missing a few weeks ago at the same time two unauthorized teleportation spells were used in the area and an investigation led us here."

"I may teleport wherever I please," Merlok said unimpressed with their detective work. "And I am not a kidnapper. The boy put the ring on of his own free will. You can not blame me for that. I only stepped in to take care of the child afterward. That IS allowed according to the wizard's guild's own guidelines, is it not? Preventing discovery of our magic from non-magic users is a top priority for both the safety of ourselves as well as the security of our secrets. The one you call Danny Sweet fell victim to a ring curse that not even I could easily undo then and there at his residence. I had a hand in the spell, admittedly, but that was long ago. The council had different rules and regulations then which allowed for experiments of this nature. So you see, I was alerted when the boy placed the ring upon his finger. I had no choice but to step in and take matters into my own hand."

"Where is the boy now?" Finnian asked. "I demand you show him to me. Bring him here at once!"

"Boy? There is no boy here. Danny Sweet is a little girl now and can not be returned to normal. So you see, then, the complexity of the problem here and now you can understand my reluctance to turn the child over to you," Merlok explained.

"Anything that can be done can be undone. Turn the child over to me at once," Finnian demanded.

"I offer you an alternative, if you care to listen," Merlok said holding his hand up to stop his guest from barging right up the stairs or anything.

"What alternative?" the gentleman asked intriqued but no less angered at the further delay.

"I have in my posession somewhere in this house the original essence of Danny Sweet. Therefor I propose that my half-sister Jana should take the boy's place at least until I can further study the problem and try and come up with a way to reverse the damage already done," Merlok offered. "Jana has already expressed interest concerning this potential proposal and I think it would be a splendid idea, don't you?"

"You intend to keep her as a little girl," Veela butted in.

"On the contrary, my dear, I intend to do whatever I have to to fully cooperate with the council's demands but as this spell originated mostly by myself, I feel it is best that I handle things a certain way," Merlok said. "Though you are correct. I did originally plan to just give the girl away to a new set of parents out of sheer laziness on my part I suppose but once again the council has proven itself correct in these matters. So I will cooperate but under the conditions of my proposal. The girl remains with me and Jana shall take her place as Danny Sweet until I can find a way to reverse the ring magic."

"Then I will stay here with the girl to make sure you aren't up to any tricks," Veela volunteered.

Finnian nodded in agreement. "If you'll accept this arrangement...?"

"Of course," Merlok said clasping his hands together with relief and showing the man to the door. "Anything, anything, anything, my dear fellow. Now please be a good errand boy and go back to your master and inform him of the situation. Tell him I'm going to cooperate under these conditions."

"And when can we expect the substitution?" the gentleman asked.

"I will have a temporary Danny Sweet in place by first thing tomorrow morning. You can be sure of that," Merlok replied closing the front door on the fellow and leaving him outside in the cold.

Merlok stood for a moment in pause as he pondered how he was going to explain all this to Jana who had of course never even heard of nor approved of such a proposal. Merlok's clever lie would have to suffice for the time being to buy them some time but now there was still the matter of the other officer of the guild standing there with him in the front hall.

"I expect no tricks from you," Veela said at last breaking the awkward gap in conversation. "And I fully intend to begin work on reverting the child back to normal."

"She is upstairs in her room," Merlok said turning to walk away. "You'll have to ask the maid for the key I'm afraid because I can't be bothered to carry it with me everywhere. Now if you'll excuse me I have some work to do."

Within twenty minutes Veela was up in the little girl's room with her and had taken note of the level of the problem.

The child really had no knowledge of what it was like being a boy before nor any desire to go back to being that way. She seemed quite content to go on being a little girl and living out her life in her new gender and she was ever pleased to go on hugging, cuddling and playing with her little doll Noonie.

Veela also discovered from the child that she'd been taking some pills ever since she got here and recognized the tell tale signs of a drug she'd seen used once before by an evil alchemist living in the mysterious woods.

"Hilda," Veela said to the maid who'd been standing out in the hall awaiting instructions. "Merlok has a storage room full of herbs, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am," Hilda replied.

"I'll need some mocrilibern leaves boiled up to make a tea and I'll need you to bring this child a cup of that tea every hour throughout the day. We mustn't waste any time. Do you understand? The girl's been drugged horribly so and we need to get some antidote in her system to fight off the drug's effects before the damage is irreparible. It may even be too late already but we've got to give it a try," Veela said.

"Yes, ma'am. I'll go and fetch her that tea right away, ma'am," Hilda said hurring downstairs to complete the task.

Veela glanced in the pretty little girl's blue eyes for a long moment, wondering just how much of the mind altering drug had done its work on her for good. She said,"Honey, I know you know this already but it seems like a dream you had but it's not. The dream was real, hun. You were really a boy before."

"That's silly, 'cause I was always a girl, an I don't wanna be a boy," Danny said hugging her dolly close and kissing it on the forehead.

"We'll see, hun. We'll see," Veela said scruffing the child's hair playfully, trying to reassure the poor confused dear.

Meanwhile in another part of the house Merlok had just gotten through explaining the situation to his half-sister Jana. "You have to be Danny Sweet," he said to her.

"And who says it has to be me? I don't even like the idea of changing into a boy at all, let alone a non-magic user like him," she protested. "And what if you don't find a way to change the little girl back to normal again? How long will I have to go on pretending to be Danny Sweet?"

"The idea is we have to convince the council," Merlok said. "Give me two days and I think I can do that."

"What do you mean?" Jana asked. "Convince them about what?"

"Convince them that we've already turned Danny back to normal and replaced him back where he belongs. That's what," Merlok replied. "Don't you understand? There is no way to change her back to normal and the drugs have made things rather easy for convincing the council that the little girl we have has never even ever been this Danny Sweet fellow. All we need is you to go pretend you're him for a couple of days and I'll get rid of the little girl and tell the council that the swap back has already taken place."

"Boy that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of, Merlok," Jana said. "If I take the boy's place, then who'll take MINE?"

Merlok scratched his head for a moment and said,"Well... gee... I never thought of that."

"Okay, well then you'd better think of something quick because you promised them a replacement by tomorrow morning," she reminded him. "And I'm not going to be Danny's replacement if you don't have this plan worked out and I mean like completely worked out."

"There's no time to argue this any longer," Merlok said handing her a brand new magic ring. This one was gold with a bright blue coral stone on top. "You have to wear that ring and become Danny Sweet and you have to do it now."

She held the ring up to the light and examined it closely with interest for a moment... and then she grabbed hold of Merlok's hand and shoved the ring on his finger!

"What are you doing?" he shouted as the transformation spell worked its way quickly through his body, changing him into the original Danny Sweet. "What have you done?"

(...to be continued)

Notes:
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