And this is the real chapter thirty. Apologies again for the mistake.

As I pulled away from Mr. Stewart’s house, I had a conundrum. April had texted me several more times, but I wanted to go home and compare notes with Mom and Dad regarding the new information Mr. Stewart had given me.

Meanwhile, the clock was ticking, and the Who was coming. I didn’t know how much longer I might have in this dimension, or reality, or whatever, and I wanted to find out as much as I could before I was pulled back into the clutches of Desdemonia’s mind.

Rory is considered by many to be the quintessential male. However, he owns thirty-eight designer dresses.

“Jump his bones!” the crowd screamed.

Natalie thought that she had expended all of her tears. The adrenaline from putting a gun in her mouth and being one twitch away from ending it all had long been filtered out of her system, her sadness and confusion going with it.

But after she heard Sara say she was sorry, she didn’t know what came over her.

She just lost it.

She cried. Hard enough to fill an ocean, probably. And it seemed nothing could stop her.

To anyone following along -- I accidentally preposted some of the later chapters as chapter 29 and 30. This has been worked out now, but if you haven't read the *revised* chapters you might want to go back and read them since they're new material. Oh yeah, and forget everything that was posted before in their places. ;)

Raine

Desdemonia in April’s body went to bed a little while later, leaving me and April in her bedroom.

“Are you sure you want to try this?” she said. “There’s no going back, once the process is initiated.”

“How are the sales today?” Hayley asked as she returned to her flat to find Sophie sat on the sofa, checking her laptop.

“Still good,” Sophie replied with a smile. “I mean, yes, they’re tapering off, but that’s to be expected after this length of time, so- yeah. Publishers are still VERY happy though.”

“I still can’t believe I know a famous author!” Hayley teased, giggling as her friend rolled her eyes and blushed.

XXX

One awful side effect of being unemployed is how much it fucks up a sleep schedule. Falling asleep in the very late hours of the night and waking up in the afternoon felt so horrible and wrong on so many levels. In Nathan’s case, it made him feel like a slob.

Thankfully though, every morning Astian made sure to come to his room to wake him up, usually just by shaking him.

Nathan pretended to still be asleep when he heard Astian come into his room. He just needed a few extra minutes to rest.

This story contains sex scenes

I knew one day I would be seen or caught. I couldn't help it. The urge was just too strong. All crossdressers suffer the same feelings. Guilt and shame. I was a man. Why was I lessening myself wanting to dress and appear as a woman? I had tried to stop before. I had gathered up all my clothes, shoes, wigs, and makeup. I filled three bin bags and threw them in the a skip.

I was too careless
I goofed, please delete this one
Or maybe leave it

Edited after Laika's comment

Eighteen-year-old Nicholas Hammerstein is at the cusp of finishing high school in his hometown of Los Alamos, NM. He has a seemingly ideal life and is blessed with loving parents, a cute baby sister, and great friends. Nicholas is a gifted student and martial artist who has dreams of leaving for college at the end of his senior year. But, living in a world of Emergent humans, he will soon find his life turned upside down as his life and the fate of a kingdom hang in the balance. His future and theirs will be determined by how he navigates the drastic changes in his body and the magical and superpowered Mergent population he joins.

Chapter One

“I’m still not sure how I did it,” I said to Erica as she continued stocking the shelves of her shop with the strange curiosities she sold, in this case some leather-bound books.

“And I’m not completely convinced you did it at all,” Erica said without even bothering to stop what she was doing to look at me.

(Author's Note: I apologize profusely for taking so long to post the latest chapter of this story. Real life has been quite bothersome lately and the energy to write ebbed to a standstill on certain days. However, I can see light at the end of the tunnel and hope to resume posting on a regular schedule. Thank you for continuing to read and I hope you comment as well.)

“God, what day is it?” Cassady sits up rubbing her eyes trying to wake up.

“I think it's Friday.” Jessie turns around to face her cousin.

They had gotten in late from the rodeo they had played at. Instead of staying on their tour bus, Cynthia sprung for a nice hotel room for the group. They were worn out from playing two gigs back-to-back and doing a rodeo several days later.

Drying off after the hot tub, I leaned over and quietly asked Ella, “What exactly is a manicure and pedicure?”

“You really are a boy,” she whispered, her smile taking any potential sting out of her words. “They're going to clean, massage, and colour our hands, feet, and nails. It feels really nice, just relax and go with it.”

“And now,” April flourished Desdemonia’s hands, “Comes the moment we’ve all been waiting for.” She beckoned to me.

I took a deep breath. This was it.

If I took that step forward, I could be leaving humanity behind forever, doomed to an eternity, or perhaps, many eternities as another being entirely. Something so completely alien, even aliens from another galaxy would be more familiar. In exchange for what?

I saw the scowling faces of my parents. I was happy they were there. Hopefully, they would make sure there was no funny business.