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Author's Note: I interrupt the previous DRU story to bring you this DRU surprise. I got a lot of PMs and comments about ending For The Fairest on such a wicked cliffhanger. I let everyone stew and groan at me for a while about it, knowing that in the back of my mine I always had something like this planned. It was a bit evil of me to do, ending the story on such a thing but I had a lot of fun doing it. Now that the fun is over though, I give this little story. Call it an epilogue or For The Fairest 1.5 :) I'd like to thank djkauf and Indy for the magical editing and everyone for enjoying this universe :)

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“Hey Trace,” shouted a voice as I wandered aimlessly down the hall.

I barely heard it though, my head still in a fog. I’d been in said fog for a few days now ever since I read that letter. It’s one thing to find a strange diary sitting on your bed but it’s another to find a letter addressed to a daughter that didn’t exist two months before hand. I think when I read it the first time, I was a bit shocked. All I could remember was holding the letter, tears running down my cheeks and my hands shaking. I’m not sure when I recovered but I managed to read it a few more times, each time I cried a little more. But unlike the first time, my shock was replaced by anger. Anger for having read its contents, anger that the writer could do something like that, anger that they weren’t around now to see what had become of me.

“Earth to Tracy” said the voice again as I made it to my locker.

I turned around and faced my “stalker”.

Chris Harper was standing behind me, looking out of breath and as cute as ever. That last bit didn’t escape me in the least. I wouldn’t deny I still felt something for him, made apparent by our time at the Halloween party a few nights ago. I almost lost myself to him again, mesmerized by his gooey eyes. That mesmerization was lost as soon as I took a look at his sling. Looking at it I couldn’t help but be reminded by what happened. He’d gotten shot because of me. Everything that happened after that was a bit of a mess. I wanted to try to talk to him again but I wasn’t sure what to say.
I still wasn’t sure what to say.

“Hi” I managed to get out, trying not to look at his shoulder.

He caught me looking because he laughed. “It’s not as bad as it looks actually. The doc said the bullet went clean through. They patched me up and I only had to spend the night in the hospital. My sisters were a wreck of course; you should have seen Cindy bawling.”

Cindy? “I thought she was your cousin?”

“Technically.” He said quickly then added. “My aunt and uncle adopted the two of us. Well her first…you know the drill.”

I nodded. I’d forgotten actually. It was strange how things like that happened. While the two of us were dating, I didn’t really hang out with Cindy much. But in her defense, she wasn’t around all that much either. I thought it was because she didn’t like me but it turned out she got wrapped up in her own little adventure involving crazy Hunters, a strange baby and dragons. At least that’s what Chris told me. If it weren’t for Linda suddenly appearing in their lives, I wouldn’t have believed any of it. Most people in Ravencrest thought she was a distant relative the Harpers took in. After the mess that was involved with her, Chris tried his best to fill me in. It was a big hush hush thing and apparently, I wasn’t completely in the know. In my defense I was a bit busy with my own stuff, too. I never really thought about it until now but Cindy and I seemed to have this knack for stepping in it, didn’t we.

It kind of ticked me off that Carson wouldn’t tell me about it either. He was in the thick of things but he had made a promise not to tell anyone what really happened. I guess he was just protecting his girlfriend. I couldn’t help but shudder at that, Carson dating someone. I suppose it was bound to happen but there were bound to be problems. After all, our family stopped me from dating Chris. I couldn’t imagine what Trev was going to say when he found out about the two of them.

I diverted my attention back to my former boy toy.

“So did they say how long you’ll be wearing that thing?”

“A week at the most I think.”

I nodded. “I’m sorry about…”

“No” he said, cutting me off. “You don’t get to apologize for that. It was my own fault. I charged into that blindly.”

“He was after me, you shouldn’t have been there. If you’d only stayed like I asked then…”

Chris touched my arm gently. “You were in danger…I…”

“You don’t have to protect me.”

“I know but I want to.”

Damn why does he have to be such a nice guy. It’s a shame that most of the girls in school think he’s such a scrub. I got such hell for dating him; everyone kept giving me dirty looks in the locker room and going out of their way to tell me how much they disapproved. I tried to defend him but when Chris refused to defend himself it was kind of a moot point. He was a great guy, loving and caring and always there for you but he did nothing for himself. That’s not why we broke up of course; I guess I just got tired of trying to get him to open up. If I had known what he was truly hiding and he’d known my secret, well maybe things might have been different.

Talking to him made me forget my problems for the moment. The letter evaporated from my thoughts. Unfortunately so did everything else. It’s sometimes hard to forget that we don’t have all the time in the world to talk, especially in the middle of school. The bell went off, signaling the fact that now both of us were late for class. I hadn’t even noticed but the hall was devoid of people, well except for the two of us.

We both cursed. I quickly opened my locker and switched books.

“Hey you want to meet up with me this weekend?” he asked as I slammed my locker.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

The two of us started speed walking to class.

“I’m not talking about a date. I was thinking more along the lines of sparring.”

“Chris, you were just shot.”

He laughed. “Weres heal real easy. The sling is merely for show. Well OK, that’s not one hundred percent true. It hurts like a bitch but by Friday everything will be fine.”

I sighed. “Can I think about it?”

He smiled. “Sure, give me a call with your decision.”

I went a little weak in the knees at that smile. Damn him. I nodded my head as we rushed into the classroom together. Of course, everyone---including Cindy---stared. The teacher gave us a nasty look for interrupting his lesson. Chris and I quickly rushed to our seats. I dropped into my usual next to Cindy. He was still staring at me when I sat down. It’s strange but I suddenly realized something. Maybe it was because Chris called her his “sister” or maybe it was because I’d been so preoccupied but Cindy was sitting in the exact same seat that Craig used to sit in.

I smiled back before taking out my notebook.

After class, I found myself in the girl’s bathroom. Something that was so strange and foreign to me only a few weeks ago was now commonplace. It kind of scared me how well I’d adjusted to it. Adjusting to this whole new life was kind of frightening actually. Before I couldn’t stand it, hated everything about being a girl but that had changed. I’m not saying I’d run off and join the cheer squad or flounce around in a frilly dress but I definitely wasn’t the same old Trevor. Looking in the mirror I couldn’t help but wonder, given the chance to turn back, if I’d take it now. After the change happened the first time, I would have said yes without thinking about it but now things were different. My friendship with Mary was better than ever, I had more friends, more confidence and a better love life.

Now there were complications, too.

OK, so not severe ones but they were there.

I turned on the sink and started washing my hands, trying hard not to think about the letter. Of course, when you try not to think about something it’s usually the first thing that you do. I sighed.

My Dearest Daughter, I know that you’re scared and confused. I know that you probably can’t quite comprehend what’s going on and I understand that. Given the choice, I never would have wished for something like this. I was being selfish…

My thoughts were interrupted by sobbing. I shut off the water quickly and turned around, looking for the source. I scanned the bottoms of the stall, looking for the tell tale signs of feet. I didn’t see any but I knew there was someone else in here with me. I decided to rely on my instincts, scanning each stall. My eyes fell on the second one from the left. I’m not sure how but I just knew there was someone there. As I got closer, I got a strong whiff of a flowery perfume. Was it possible I had smelled it and not even realized it?

I knocked gently on the door.

“Go away” sobbed a voice, the girl on the other side clearly in a real mess.

I thought about doing exactly what the girl asked but I couldn’t. Whether it was my chivalrous male nature shining through or if it was just the fact that I couldn’t leave a girl crying alone. I took a deep breath and said. “I can’t do that.”

The girl didn’t say anything so I took the first step. Well, the second, the first being actually talking to her. I tried to open the door but it was locked so I put a little muscle into it. I know vandalizing school property is a no no but this girl sounded really upset. The door snapped open easily thanks to my Were strength, wood and metal popping away. The girl looked up at me in surprise but not as surprised as I was when I saw who it was. It was Misty Curtis, formally the bane of my male existence. She was the bane of my female existence too.

Misty looked up at me, her tear streaked mascara all over her face.

“It’s you” she snapped. “What the fuck do you want?”

OK, so she still had her old hatred for me. I guess that wasn’t going to change.

I’d like to say that I felt sorry for her but I really didn’t. Even looking at her in her halter-top and tight jean skirt, I still couldn’t help but see Mike Curtis, the bastard who made my life a living hell. He’d been that very same bastard up until a few days ago when Mary---my best friend and resident witch---decided to pay him back for all the hell he’d been causing. I wasn’t really keen on the idea of her turning the football star into the school slut but after a day of watching him get ridiculed, I couldn’t help but crack a smile. Mary was sure enjoying it, going out of her way to make sure Mike---err---Misty was punished as much as “she” could be.

Maybe that ridicule had finally gone too far though.

“You OK, Mike?” I asked, without even thinking about it.

“What did you call me?” she asked.

I cursed. I just called her Mike didn’t I? One of the things about the spell was that everyone now thought of her only as Misty. Well everyone that wasn’t an Unseen. It was strange but I was unaffected by Mary’s spell but so were Dana and Chris too, Cindy as well as far as I knew. Mary told me later that some spells didn’t work on Unseen; Weres for instance had a lot of resistance, especially to reality altering spells.

“Misty” I said, trying to recover quickly.

“No you didn’t,” she said, her eyes getting big. “You know who I am? Who I really am!”

I shook my head. “You’re a bit confused.”

“She did this didn’t she? That little friend of yours. She’s a witch.”

Her eyes widened. “She did it to you too, didn’t she? You really are Trevor aren’t you?”

She laughed. Suddenly whatever depression she was in was gone. There was a malice in her eyes though not nearly as wild as the one Mike used to get. This one was desperate, like a scared girl looking for answers. Now I felt a bit sorry for her. It was clear that she’d gone through hell the last few days and now here she was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Of course, she’d discovered the truth---Mike might have been dumb but he was really perceptive. Now he was starting to put more pieces together, something that no one wanted him to do.

“I think you need to go to the nurse Misty.”

She got to her feet. She moved forward, grabbing my shirt. “You’re in on this too, huh. I bet you wanted to be a girl, bet you’re one of those little sissies. Your bitch of a friend fixed you up and then said what the hell let’s do the whole population. You get Harper too?”

Harper?

“What the hell are you talking about?”

She snorted. “If you didn’t notice. Kind of convenient that Trevor and Craig disappear and suddenly Tracy and Cindy show up?”

Shit, how had I not noticed that? Where was Craig? Chris told me some weird story but I’ll be damned if I remembered that. How did Curtis notice something that I completely ignored?

I needed to do damage control and quick.

“Look Misty, I’m not sure what’s happened to you but it’s clear that you’re not feeling well. Why don’t I walk you to the nurse’s office, maybe you can lie down?”

I reached for her but she pushed my hand away angrily.

“So you can mock me the whole way there. Fuck off. I don’t need your help, I don’t your help. You fucking freaks are all the same and as soon as I figure the whole thing out I’m going to tell everyone.”

She stormed past me, her heels clicking loudly as she ran for the door. I turned to go after her but she was out the door by the time I got there. In the hallway, I looked for her. I caught a fleeting glimpse of her but she was too far away to stop now. I couldn’t help but sigh. Me and my big mouth. To think that I actually thought that Misty might be different than Mike, that she might have learned a little humanity after the change. I guess a change of gender doesn’t always mean a change in personality. That last thought gave me a slight pause. Is that what happened to me? Did changing me into a girl somehow brainwash me into a girl’s way of thinking?

Looking down at myself, I couldn’t help but laugh. At least I wasn’t wearing a halter top and the shortest skirt imaginable. I didn’t feel any different either so clearly Misty was blowing smoke, this time it was a little less dangerous than before but something worth thinking about. Not her accusations but what she said about Cindy. Now that I thought about it, it was a tad bit strange that she appeared right after Craig left. Was it just coincidence or was it something more?
I cursed and looked at my watch. There was still a lot of school left for the day but maybe I could catch up with her later. I’m sure it was nothing but it wouldn’t hurt to ask her a few questions.

…I was thinking only of myself and not what was truly important. Your father and I discussed for a long time about what we really wanted and as much as I wanted to give him another strong son to be proud of in the back of my mind I wanted a daughter too. It’s sad to think as I write this that my dream came true and that it will no doubt cause you a great deal of pain.

The letter was still fresh in my mind as I left school. The sun hit me in the face, blinding me. It was extremely rare to be so sunny like this; it was November after all. It was reasonably warm too, a lot warmer than it usually is. This time last year the temp was down in the thirties and you could feel it trying to snow. Today it was in the mid forties and though the wind had a slight chill, it wasn’t the cold blast that most people were used to. The weather however was the least thing on my mind as I shielded my eyes and looked out across the field.

The Ravencrest Rhinos’ football field was behind the school, situated between the baseball diamond far in the corner and the soccer field that took up the rest of the space. Back when I was a guy, most of our gym classes were spent out here. As a girl, gym was still out here but we didn’t do as many sports as they did. I paused at that thought. The boys were “they” and “them” now; I couldn’t help but wonder when that happened. Was I so far into this new life of mine that I didn’t even think of myself as one of “them” now. Did I even want to?

I finally caught sight of the cheerleaders. There were about fifteen girls out there. I’m not sure if that was normal or not but there were very few things about Ravencrest that were. I took a deep breath as I walked slowly toward them. Back when I was Trevor, the cheerleaders were a bit of an enigma to me. They were these school goddesses, meant to be always seen but never approached. Any guy of my status who even looked their way got their asses kicked by any jock, no matter the sport. It was like The Mummy movie. No one could touch the pharaoh’s mistress without death. It wasn’t that extreme of course but it sure felt like it sometimes.

As I approached the girls, I couldn’t help but feel like I was going to get pounded.

But I was OK now because I was one of them. Well not a cheerleader but I wasn’t something that was trying to take them away.

Getting closer I glanced at the football team practicing at the far end of the field. Looking into the bleachers there was a small group of girls---their girlfriends. I turned my attention away from them and back to the school’s elite. The cheer girls were dressed in white and maroon---the school colors. They weren’t in their uniforms though because it was practice, instead they were wearing either wind shorts or warm up pants. I couldn’t help but cringe when I looked at the girls wearing the shorts---it was way too cold for that.

“Hey Tracy” said a perky voice from my left.

I turned and found Britney Hawkins. She was one of the smart ones---wearing pants. She was stretching, looking particularly limber today. A small part of me wished I was still Trevor so I could really enjoy what I was seeing. The rest of me was appalled at having such a thought. Britney was a sweet girl, we had a few classes and though we weren’t really friends we got along pretty well. At first, it was hard because she was the first one to notice my change from weakling Trevor into stud Trevor. I’m not sure what would have happened if I’d stayed that way but I had this fantasy of possibly asking her on a date.

I guess that was over now.

“Hey Brit” I said, trying to act a part. “You seen Cindy?”

Britney turned to the group, I did the same. I scanned the faces of the girls---all in various stages of stretching. I knew most of them from class and from around school. A few of them I even knew personally---not that I was ever friends with any. Some of them even joined in the ridicule Mike and his goons used to give me. One of them---Tara Heart---even went so far as to spit in my face. I looked past all of them and found Cindy hiding in the back of the group, wearing a tank top and maroon warm up pants, her hair in its usual long braid.

“Never mind,” I told Britney. “I found her.”

I wove my way through the girls toward her. Throughout the rest of the day, I couldn’t help but think about Misty’s words. It was hard not to think about them actually. It was strange that Cindy just appeared right after Craig disappeared. It was stranger still that Cindy appeared just as I did as well. I couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe there might be something connecting the two of us. The letter was pretty vague on things, especially on what had changed me. I prayed for a daughter, wanted one more than anything. When you were born and I looked at you in my arms I couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss. It’s horrible for a mother to think that about her child but I really wanted a girl. That’s when she came to me.

“Hey Cindy” I said as I finally got to her. “You got a minute.”

She was laughing with one of the other girls---a joke I didn’t hear. She turned to me and when she did, she looked a bit surprised. I guess I was probably the last person she expected to see out here. I’d heard the rumors about Tracy Locke being the tomboy after all. Cindy smiled at me and nodded, pointing toward a section of the practice area after from the others.

“What’s up?”

I took a deep breath. “I wanted to ask you about Craig.”

For a split second, I saw her eyes pop open.

She recovered quickly. “What about him?”

“Chris and I never really discussed it. He was kind of vague on where his brother went and I was just curious.” OK, time to drop the bomb. “It’s a little strange you know, his disappearing when you show up?”

There I said it. Now it was time for her to react.

It didn’t take her long.

“No stranger than you showing up the moment your brother disappeared.”

Right for the throat. I knew Cindy was a fighter but that took me by surprise. I was certain that most people had bought the bull shit.
Cindy was in top form today. “People leave, other people come. It’s not that hard to comprehend. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to get back to practice, it’s the playoffs you know.”

She started back toward the others but I wasn’t done. She didn’t really answer my question, just sort of danced around it.

“Where did Craig go?”

She sighed heavily, turning around. “Why do you care, you didn’t know him.”

OK, offensive time.

“What if I told you I did?” Her eyes widened a bit. I closed the space between the two of us quickly. “What if I told you I knew a lot of things, things I shouldn’t know?”

Cindy tried to fight. “Then I’d say you were well informed.”

I lowered my voice into barely that above a whisper. “What if Trevor never left Ravencrest at all?”

I was going out on a limb here, it was a risk but I was confident it would pay off. It was just too damn convenient that Trevor and Craig disappeared around the same time Tracy and Cindy showed up. I couldn’t prove anything but if I threw myself out there, maybe just maybe she would do the same.

I saw her body visibly stiffen.

“What are you saying exactly?” she whispered, looking around to make sure the other girls weren’t nearby.

I did the same before I spoke. “What if Tracy Locke wasn’t around before Labor Day of this year?”

Cindy’s eyes got as big as saucers then they slowly roamed around my body. When they got to my face, she squinted as if trying to see something. Her eyes widened again because I think she saw what she was looking for.

All I could do was nod my head.

“I’ll tell the other girls something’s come up and I need to leave. I’ll meet you outside the locker room in fifteen minutes.”

I nodded. “I’ll be there.”

Cindy turned and walked off toward the girls. She staggered once before getting to them.

Mission accomplished.

“So it happened on your birthday, too?” she asked as we drove.

Cindy was taking things pretty good, all things considered. After all, it’s not every day that you find out that you’re not the only one the universe fucked over. After meeting her outside the locker room, neither one of us said anything until we got out to the bike rack. We strapped my bike into her trunk---I so had to start driving more---then got into her Miata. Neither one of us said anything until we got out of the school parking lot. As soon as we did, we both started talking at the same time. I guess we really were two teenage girls after all. Through the babble, we were both able to make out each other’s stories.

Surprisingly, her story was very similar to mine.

I nodded my head to her question. “At my family’s hunting lodge. My father practically disowned me over it.”

“That’s gotten be rough.”

I sighed. “I think he’s finally coming around.”

Not that Dad was really showing it. After our little talk in his office, Dad left the country. He apparently had some business abroad to attend to. He promised to be home in time for Thanksgiving though. We were supposed to do a little father daughter bonding as soon as he got back. I wasn’t holding my breath though. Sure we’d sort of mended things but I think it weirded Dad out a bit. It weirded me out too.

“My folks were OK, a bit shocked but OK.”

Her folks were in fact her aunt and uncle. Chris and Craig---I mean Cindy---lost their parents when they were young. Their older sister Carly stepped in for a while but it didn’t take long for their uncle Patrick to take them into his home. Them becoming Cindy’s parents was a new development, having just adopted her back in September. The Harpers were good people, even if they were Coyotes.

We didn’t say anything for a minute or two.

“So this letter you mentioned?” she asked after the short silence.

“OK, so after the incident with Damien and his craziness, I found this diary in my room. Leather bound, blank pages. Out of it I found a letter, addressed to me by my mother.”

“She’s dead right?”

I nodded. “Long time ago, after I was born”. I took a moment to collect my thoughts. “According to the letter, Mom somehow did this to me, whether she meant it or not.”

Cindy bit her lip. I could see some indecision on her face before she slowed the car and pulled it over. We were only halfway to my house so it was a bit confusing.

She turned to me. “If I tell you something you swear you won’t say anything?” I nodded, she took a deep breath. “You don’t think it was Lady Moon do you?”

“Lady Moon?”

She looked at me like I’d grown a third eye on my forehead. “You don’t howl to the moon?”

I laughed. “No but it sounds like fun.”

She smiled before continuing. “We Coyotes howl at the Moon, she’s our Goddess. It might sound crazy but shortly after changing, she actually started talking to me.”

“The Moon talks?”

She shook her head. “It’s hard to explain. Anyways for a while I thought she might have been the reason for my change.” She looked at me, squinting. “Are you sure you haven’t been hearing her too. Maybe you just haven’t noticed?”

I shook my head. “The only voice in my head is my annoying dog.”

We both laughed. After a minute or so, the laughing died down. The two of us sat in silence again.

“You don’t think it was magic do you?”

Another part of the letter came into my head. The figure that stood before me was bathed in a brilliant white light and told me she was here to answer my prayers. She did something; a bright white light came from her hand and surrounded me. I felt so warm and safe. When it was gone, she was still there. I could only see her face though; it was the most beautiful thing in the world.

I’d been thinking about the whole magic route too but Agatha had already tested me. Her tests had all come back negative.

“I’ve pursued the magic angle but nothing came from it.”

Cindy scoffed. “Yeah, well in my experience magic users don’t always tell you everything.”

“You’re talking about the whole Linda thing?”

She nodded.

“How’s she doing?”

“Real good” she beamed. “Better than ever in fact. She’s so smart; it won’t be long before she starts walking.”

I think Cindy was being a little too enthusiastic but it was refreshing. All mothers boasted about their children and Cindy was no different. Even though Linda wasn’t technically hers, Cindy was probably going to be the only mother the girl knew. That boggled my mind a bit when Chris first told me about it. Here I was having just recently become a girl and his “cousin” was taking in a baby to raise. It was even more mind blowing now that I knew that Cindy was in fact Craig and that his change was just as recent as my own. It made me wonder, did he get a different change than me or was it just that he or rather she adapted to things a lot faster?

After another moment of silence, Cindy restarted the car and we were on our way again. We didn’t say anything more until we got to the house. I tried to remember if Craig had ever been here because I know Cindy had never been. When we pulled through the gate and open to the house, her eyes got huge. The Harper house was nice, it was a good size but it was a shed compared to ours. I guess it’s one the perks of being the richest family in Ravencrest. I directed her to guest parking around the side then the two of us went in through one of the doors there. I shouted as soon as I got inside, hoping that no one responded. Thankfully, my prayers were answered so I led her through the house. The whole time Cindy didn’t close her mouth, staring at the grandeur of it all.

“Carson and Chris said…I mean I’ve seen it from the street but wow.”

I laughed. “I think it’s too big”.

We meandered through the rest of the house until we got to my room. I was a little nervous letting her inside because it wasn’t exactly the room that most teenage girls had. Sure, it was starting to turn that way but there was still a lot of Trevor there as well. For instance, I had a vanity but no makeup and while the walls had taken on a more gender neutral color, I was still a little messy with clothes all about. I turned several shades of embarrassment as we entered, especially with the bra hanging off one of my chairs.

Cindy didn’t seem to notice.

“You can sit wherever,” I said as I walked across the room over to my desk. It had one of those drawers that locked where I kept all my valuables. The key stayed with me at all times. I unlocked the drawer, took out both the letter and diary and brought them over to her.

She was sitting on the edge of my bed.

“I haven’t showed these to anyone yet.”

I didn’t really know who to show. In fact, she was the only one I’d told about them too. I thought about sharing them with Mary but it felt wrong somehow. Sure, she was my best friend but Mary had this way about her. She didn’t really like the mushy stuff and then there was that whole thing with her own parents. We didn’t talk about things like that, because I could how much it hurt her. She lost both her parents whereas I had Dad and Constance. It was kind of a sore subject.
Telling Greg about it was out of the question. Sure, he knew my secret now, but he was still a little weary around all of it. I guess I couldn’t really blame him.

I’m not sure why I decided to open up to Cindy about it. At first, I was just going to tell her about being Trevor and leave it there. It was up to her to fill in her side of the story, which she did. After that, though she got talking about the change and wanting to know how it happened. I somehow let slip about the diary and the letter and here we are.

“Can I read it?” she asked, referring to the letter.

For a moment, I almost told her to go screw herself. Hey, it was mine, written to me by my mother. As far as I was concerned, it was the most precious thing to me in the world. She was a mother, she’d understand. Then I realized that I was being selfish. If our changes were somehow connected, ---I couldn’t see how they weren’t---then she had the right to know too. So reluctantly, I handed the letter over.

I sat impatiently for her to read the letter, thankfully, it wasn’t very long. As she read, the last bit of it came into my head. She never told me her name but she told me she gave me a gift. She said on the eve of your sixteenth birthday that the daughter I always wished for would come forth and that all my prayers would be answered. I had conflicting emotions about this revelation. On one hand I would get a daughter and on the other I would be losing a son, a son who had been a son for sixteen years. She left shortly after telling me this and I couldn’t stop myself from writing this letter. I wish I could be there to see you now, my beautiful girl but if this letter is in fact in your hands then I know it not to be so. I can’t imagine the pain and suffering you’ve gone through, how scared and angry you must be. If I could take back what I’d done I would do it in a heartbeat. I love you so much my darling child, my wonderful daughter.

Cindy finished reading and looked up at me. “I think your mother is wrong,” she said, handing me back the letter.

“What do you mean?” I asked rather defensively.

“About this being her fault” she quickly clarified. “A lot of people wish for things, I’m sure there isn’t a mother out there who doesn’t wish for a cute little girl. I think she was being too hard on herself. She could have never known that someone would hear her prayer and make it so.”

I had had the same thoughts myself.

I started to walk the letter and diary back to my desk to look away but Cindy stopped me. “Wait, maybe we can use those.”

That gave me some pause.

“Think about it” she continued. “You said the diary just appeared in your bedroom right?” I nodded. “Well whoever put it there must have left some kind of fingerprints on it. We find out who it is and maybe they can tell us what’s going on.”

I felt like an idiot for not thinking about that myself. Of course, whoever put it there must have known that my mother had the diary. If that was the case, they must have at least been asked by her to give it to me. The only problem is that they went out of their way not to be known so would they be stupid enough to leave fingerprints? It took me only a second or two to work out a solution. Maybe not fingerprints but possibly something else.

I set the book on my bed and slowly kicked off my shoes. Cindy watched me for a second. She looked away when I peeled off my shirt and then it clicked with her too.

“Good thinking,” she said as I unbuttoned my pants.

I slowly finished stripping and closed my eyes.

You could go out of your way of not leaving fingerprints or DNA evidence easily enough but there was no way to fool the senses. I concentrated and ten seconds later, I opened my eyes in wolf form. There was a gasp from Cindy. I turned to her and she just stood there staring. I ignored her for a second, turning my attention to the bed. I jumped up on it and sniffed the air, especially around the book. The first thing I smelled was the dust. Whoever did have it was keeping it somewhere a bit dusty, probably hiding it away until the right time. I sniffed the book itself, smelling the leather. I might have even smelled the cow that the leather actually came from. That was a bit mind blowing and distracting. I tried to push the fresh meat out of my head as I concentrated harder. I spent quite some time sniffing the book, trying to get everything from it I possibly could. I even went so far as to lick it---the only thing I got from that was a bad taste.

After ten minutes, I gave up. Whoever handled the book---as strange as it was---had no odor.

How was that possible?

I closed my eyes and transformed back. Before turning back to Cindy, I grabbed the blanket and covered myself with it. “Nothing” I said “which makes no sense.”

If Cindy heard me, she didn’t acknowledge it. When she spoke, her voice was quiet. “You’re a white wolf.” I nodded. She smiled big. “Shortly after I changed I had this dream and in the dream there was a wolf, a white one. There’s no doubt about it Tracy, we are definitely connected somehow.”

We smiled at one another for a minute or two. I think both of us were trying to take in what that meant. I’m not sure what she was thinking but I knew what I was: how were the two of us connected and why?

Cindy spoke first. “You said you got nothing, how is that possible?”

I shook my head. “I was pretty thorough; I even smelled the cow in the leather.”

Cindy laughed. “Makes me hungry just thinking about it.”

We both laughed a bit until the diary came back into the equation. Then the two of us sat and stared at it. It was perplexing to say the least. What kind of person touched something and didn’t leave any trace of them behind. Clearly, whoever they were, they weren’t human. Which left one option of course but how could an Unseen mask their scent from a Were?

“Let me try” said Cindy as she pulled off her shirt.

After stripping, she disappeared to be replaced by a Coyote. Watching someone transform was never going to get easy.

The coyote jumped onto my bed and spent about as much time as I did with the diary. In fact, I think she might have spent even longer. She got so caught up in it actually that I had to nudge her to get her attention. As soon as I did, she turned to me and a second later, a very naked Cindy was squatting there. I turned away, embarrassed. I was a bit sad too, because her naked form truly did nothing for me. I’d accepted that long ago but now it was just another big nail in the coffin.

“Shit” she gasped a moment later. “I don’t understand it. Someone must have put it there.”

I nodded as I slid off the bed. The two of us took a moment to get dressed.

“You don’t think someone used magic on it do you?” I asked as I laced up my sneakers. “Perhaps a spell to hide their trace on it?”

“Why go to so much trouble though?”

I shrugged. I finished with my shoes and walked over to my end table, grabbing my phone. “I can find out” I said, quickly dialing Mary’s number.

The two of us waited in the kitchen.

“This is really good,” said Cindy, her mouth half full with lunch meat.

It wasn’t cow of course but it was the best I could do on such short notice. It was strange really. When we got downstairs, Gloria was nowhere to be found. I guess that wasn’t unheard of---even she had her own life but it was just odd. She was never out this late before. In fact, it was even stranger that Constance and Tommy were gone too. Looking at the clock on the wall, I knew for a fact that Constance was done with work and Tommy’s school let out a while ago.
“I’m sorry it’s not more satisfying,” I said, grabbing another sandwich from the tray in front of us. “Usually we have a lot more meat lying around.”

“Meat is meat”

I couldn’t help but smile. It was strange how quickly my appetite and attitude toward things had changed. To think before all this I was a vegetarian. Now to even think about not eating meat was some kind of sin. I tried to fight the urges whenever I could but it was hard when you could smell everything as you passed by it. In wolf form, it was ten times worse.

We waited while we ate.

On the phone, I quickly filled Mary in on things. I think she was a little ticked that I told Cindy about everything about me but she’d get over it. She’d been a little grumpy lately. I don’t think she really liked her cousin all that much. It was still a few more days before he arrived but for the last day and a half, she talked nonstop about how much of pain this was going to be. I knew Kelly; he’d spent a few summers here over the years. Mary exaggerated things a lot because he definitely wasn’t as bad as she claimed. In fact, Greg and I got along with him really well. It was going to be a bit different this time around though, what with him not knowing about the new me.

We didn’t have long to wait. When the doorbell rang, Cindy followed me through the house to answer it. One bad thing about being the only one home, it took forever to get to the house. When I finally opened it, Mary was standing there looking pretty ticked. But her pissed off look paled in comparison to the look her grandmother gave me. I nearly did a double take because I wasn’t expecting her.

To say that Mrs. Crawford and I didn’t get along was an understatement. When I was Trevor, she didn’t like me because she thought I was romantically interested in her granddaughter but as Tracy, she saw me as a danger. I’m not sure where all the bad blood came from but it was clear that in most cases, Witches and Weres didn’t get along.

I guess that made Mary and me an exception to the rule.

“Mrs. Crawford” I said, giving Mary a look. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Yes, well Mary talks rather loudly.”

“Sorry” Mary mouthed.

I invited both of them in. I introduced Cindy to Mary’s grandmother. The older woman gave the Coyote the same severe look as me.

“A Coyote and Wolf in the same house, how interesting.”

I led all my guests back to the kitchen where we left the diary and letter. Once there I played the polite host, offering them refreshments, drink and sandwich. Mary took both but of course, her grandmother declined.

After a few moments of awkward silence, I jumped right in. I explained about the letter and how I was convinced that Cindy and I were a lot alike. I was talking more to Mrs. Crawford, in hopes she had some much needed light to add to the subject. She didn’t speak until I was finished.

“You’re not alike, not fully anyway.”

“What?” Cindy and I blurted at the same time.

Mrs. Crawford continued. “While it’s clear that both of you might have been changed by the same means, whatever it was it was much stronger in Tracy. There’s no indication in Tracy of a signature but in Cindy I can see a small portion of it. There’s something else, too” She smiled. “A bit of dragon and a very powerful presence.”

Cindy smiled.

Mrs. Crawford continued, turning her attention to me. “This letter and diary, may I see them?” I nodded and handed them to her.

We all watched as she held her hands over the items, her fingers twitching slightly as they glowed. As we watched, the glowing intensified until it was almost too bright to look at. Seconds later, she gasped and the glowing ceased altogether. Mrs. Crawford was visibly strained and sweating, even short a breath for a few seconds. It took her a moment or two to recover. When she did, there was a moment of shock. She looked at Cindy for a second then her eyes lingered on me. She stared at me for the longest of time. Then she smiled. It kind of scared me because I’d known her for quite a while and I couldn’t remember the last time she actually smiled at me.

“You are a very fortunate person, both of you in fact,” she said, still smiling. “It’s been a long time, ages in fact but there’s no doubt about it.”

She stood up, causing all of us to stand with her.

“I don’t understand,” I asked quickly. “What did you find?”

She was still smiling. “You’ve both been given a divine blessing. The Sacred have deemed you worthy. If you’re smart, you’ll accept it for what it is and be happy.”

What was a Sacred? What the hell did any of this mean?

I had another billion questions now. I think Cindy did too but Mrs. Crawford didn’t stay to answer them. Instead, she turned and walked out of the kitchen. I looked to Mary; she was giving me this dreamy look. She was lost in it for some time; the only way to get her out was to stab her in the hand with a fork. She gasped then cursed.

“What the fuck?”

“That’s what I want to know,” I said, “what the hell just happened?”

Mary started to rub her hand. “You stabbed me.”

I snapped my fingers in her face. “Concentrate” She stopped rubbing. “What the hell is a Sacred?”

Mary bit her lip. Then she looked around quickly as if there might be someone watching. But her grandmother was probably in the foyer waiting. “Ok” she said in barely a whisper. “We’re not supposed to say but because it pertains directly to you, let’s just say that they’re the most powerful things in Ravencrest and leave it at that. They’re special; they’re never seen but always here.” She looked at Cindy. “You know what I’m talking about right?”

Cindy nodded numbly.

Mary continued. “If my grandmother says a Sacred did this to you, you’ll have to accept it and move on. There’s nothing anyone can do to change it. Sacreds are extremely powerful. Consider yourself lucky, both of you because Sacreds rarely interfere with the lives of mortals.”

With that, Mary grabbed the rest of her sandwich and left.

I sat there and watched her go. I felt as numb as Cindy looked. So something called a Sacred, changed Cindy and me and we were both just supposed to accept it. I wanted to laugh but nothing came out. Instead, I continued to sit there. We both sat there for a long time, neither one of us moving. After a while, I think Cindy came to her senses. When she did, she looked at the clock and cursed.

“I didn’t realize it was getting that late. My parents are going to kill me if I’m not home in time for dinner.”

I stood up with her. When she looked at me, there was the glistening of tears in her eyes. I suddenly realized I was crying a bit too. Ok so I didn’t really get the answers I was looking for but at least I had a pretty good idea what happened. My mother prayed for a daughter and one of these Sacred people most have heard her and answered that prayer. I’m not sure how Cindy was involved in all of it but at least we both knew that our change wasn’t something malicious. It seemed to be irreversible though. Weeks ago, I would have been really angry to hear that but now I was so used to be Tracy Locke that it didn’t even matter anymore.
In fact, I was happy to be me.

I followed Cindy back to the side door that led to the guest parking. When we got there, she surprised me with a hug. I surprised myself when I hugged her back.

“Thanks for this” she said, still crying. “I know it wasn’t all the answers but at least I know something.”

“If I find out anymore I’ll call you,” I said, wiping my own tears.

“Call me if you don’t find anything too. Just because you and my dork brother are no longer together that doesn’t mean we can’t hang out. Who knows I might be able to rope you onto the squad.”

“Fat chance of that.”

We both laughed.

“I’ll call you tomorrow. Your brother wants to get together this weekend to spar; you’re more than welcome to join us.”

She smiled. “Remind me to kick your ass then.”

“I accept that challenge.”

I hugged her again and she left. I felt good to know that I wasn’t alone in this after all. I’m not sure what connection we really had but I was glad to know that I at least had someone to talk to about these things. I wandered back through the house and found myself in the kitchen. I sat back down at the table and looked at the letter; it was lying where I’d left it. I slowly picked it up, caressing it gently with my fingers. It still made me sad to know that my mother wrote this and probably died shortly thereafter. There was so much I wanted to ask her, so much I wanted to share with her.

I wanted to tell her I loved her, I didn’t blame her and that I was happy to be her dearest daughter.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF