It was strange being back home for the first time in nearly two months, but also nice. Everything was almost exactly as I’d last seen it, especially my room, but it all felt subtly different now. My room, for example, was the same as it had been when I left, but it was definitely a boy’s room and no longer quite fit me.

Dad had wanted to keep the party fairly small so he hadn’t invited too many people. However, I think he’d intended this to be a sort of coming out for me. He wanted to show me off to some of the other family who hadn’t seen me since before my awakening…and before my change. As a result, the aunts, uncles, and cousins who were present kept staring at me, unsure of what to think.

“Aaron?” my cousin Ron exclaimed when she saw me. He was a couple years older than me and was the closest person here to my own age. He stared at me in surprise and asked, “Is that you?”

“No,” I responded sarcastically, trying to cover how self-conscious I felt. “Dad just started inviting a bunch of random school girls.”

Ron laughed at that. “Dude, it really is you.”

I gestured down at myself and said, “I’m not a dude anymore.”

“No shit,” Ron responded, still staring at me. “I mean, it’s hard to believe you could just turn into a girl like that…”

I talked with Ron for a minute, giving him vague answers to his questions about what it was like being a girl and going to the Academy. Then I excused myself from him and went to Amylia, who was standing by the wall, staring at a family photo that hung from it.

“Is this what you used to look like?” Amylia asked me, gesturing to the picture of me.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “Mom and dad don’t really have any pictures of the new me, but I think they plan on taking some tonight.”

“You looked a great deal like you do in your normal form,” Amylia commented with a faint smile. Then she turned and looked over the gathering party, having a strange look on her face.

Several of the people here were from Amylia’s bloodline, though not all of them. I’d already made sure to introduce her to each of the people who were from her bloodline while she made sure to mingle and meet the other Were present as well.

“I just wish I could have invited Traci and the others,” I said, thinking that it would have been cool having more people who were closer to my own age.

“Having Traci here would be…problematic,” Amylia commented with a look of amusement.

“I know,” I responded with a bright blush. “Especially with mom and dad…” I shuddered at the thought of what they’d think if they saw me and Traci both go Were at the same time. Or at least, at what they’d think about what would come next.

Amylia and I went to the kitchen where mom and aunt June were busy talking with each other while mom finished preparing dinner. As a few of the only non Were present, they felt a little left out, and the full moon hadn’t even risen.

The only other non Were at the party was my dad’s cousin Mike. He was of mixed parentage and had taken after his normal father rather than his Were mom. Unfortunately for him, being a normal in a family of Were, everyone felt sorry for him and looked on him almost as though he was crippled, though everyone was too polite to say so to his face. However, he never let it bother him and always joked that he was just a Were human and his alternate form just happened to look like his normal one.

“Amylia,” aunt June greeted her when she saw us.

“I imagine this might seem a little strange to you,” mom told Amylia with a smile.

“I’m not quite as unfamiliar with Were as that,” Amylia responded with a wry smile. “In fact, I was recently at another party full of mythics…”

“Oh yeah,” mom responded with a forced chuckle. “I almost forgot.”

It was just then that Vivian came over, giving Amylia an odd look. Of course, she was the only one besides myself who knew Amylia’s secret, having learned about it from Dr. Merchant and the others. So far, Vivian had kept it to herself, but I didn’t know how much longer she’d be able to contain a secret like that.

“It’s nice to see you again,” Vivian greeted Amylia, then smiled at me.

“Is Edward coming by any chance?” Amylia asked Vivian casually, though I could see the interest in her eyes.

“No,” Vivian responded with a pleasant thing. “This is more of a family thing.”

Amylia nodded and gave a faint smile, though she looked a little disappointed. “I do appreciate the invitation,” she told my mom. “I know it must seem inappropriate for one of Erin’s teachers to intrude in a family affair, but I assure you, my motivations are anything but.”

After this, I left Amylia’s side while she continued mingling with the guests, taking extra time to talk with my dad. I noticed that there was a lot less suspicion towards her than there’d been at the last party, though that was to be expected. Everyone here already knew my mom fairly well and most had previously met aunt June. The guests here were more familiar with the Touched, which seemed to make all the difference.

“I heard about your changes,” aunt Susan said as she came over to me and looked me over. “You look quite lovely.”

“Thank you,” I responded self-consciously. It was a little awkward to have people who knew me before my change seeing me like this for the first time.

“If I didn’t know better,” she said pleasantly. “I’d think you were a real girl.”

I froze at that, suddenly feeling hurt. “But I am a real girl,” I blurted out before turning and running to my room.

When I threw myself on my bed, I was startled to realize that I was crying. I wasn’t even sure why since I’d been insulted far worse than that by Teressa and others, and this time it hadn’t even been intentional. But for some reason, that simple comment seemed to have hit me harder than any of those other taunts.

Aunt June came into my room half a minute later, exclaiming, “Erin, are you all right?” Then she came over and put a hand on my shoulder, adding, “I saw what happened…”

“I know,” I protested, wiping the tears away in embarrassment. “I’m overreacting…”

“Maybe,” aunt June agreed, giving me a gentle hug. “But that’s pretty normal for a girl your age.” I smiled weakly at that while she continued, “Your mom is having a little talk with Susan right now, and for a moment, I almost thought Amylia was going to curse her.”

“Really?” I asked in surprise.

“Really,” aunt June answered with a smile. “I don’t know why she’s taken such a liking to you, but you’d almost think that Susan had just insulted her favorite grand-child or something…”

I stared at aunt June in surprise for a moment, then realized that she still didn’t know about Amylia yet. I giggled a little at that. “She has been really nice and understanding,” I told aunt June.

“Well come on,” aunt June told me with a smile. “Dinner’s ready and it looks fantastic.”

A few minutes later, I was sitting down at the dinner table, nearly drooling over the delicious smelling food. Aunt Susan had apologized as soon as I’d come out of my bedroom and actually looked bothered by the way she’d hurt my feelings. However, Ron was now giving me really odd looks across the table, perhaps realizing now that my changes were more than just skin deep.

“Is there something wrong?” mom asked Amylia in a concerned tone when she noticed that Amylia wasn’t touching her beef wellington.

“The food is delicious,” Amylia responded with a smile. “But I’m afraid I don’t eat beef.”

“I didn’t know you were a vegetarian,” aunt June responded with a faint look of surprise.

“I’m not,” Amylia told her, giving my mom a wry smile. “It’s only beef that I won’t eat. You see, my mother was a cow.” That earned a few week chuckles until Amylia added, “Or I should say, she was a cow during the full moon.”

Suddenly, the table went silent and everyone stared at Amylia in surprise. “Your mother was a Were?” aunt June asked, staring at Amylia as though she thought she might be joking.

“She died when I was extremely young,” Amylia explained, looking straight at my dad. “I never really knew her or any of the Were part of my family.”

“So, you’re a Halfling,” dad commented, suddenly looking much more interested in Amylia.

“Actually, no,” Amylia responded, casually taking a bite from some of the food on her plate. “I’m a hybrid, like Erin.”

There was a moment of silence before aunt June burst out laughing. “For a moment, you had me,” aunt June told her, obviously not believing Amylia’s claim.

I was about to protest that Amylia was telling the truth but then I noticed that Amylia was watching aunt June’s reaction with a look of amusement. Everyone else seemed to have taken their cue from aunt June and assumed that Amylia had been joking as well. Then I realized that whether everyone believed her or not wasn’t important. They’d get to see for themselves once the sun set in a little while.

After this, the conversation drifted until Amylia abruptly said, “I wasn’t aware if you knew this, but Erin just won a rather large duel against another student a few days ago. She won by turning her opponent into a frog.” Then she looked to aunt June and said, “If I remember right, that was a specialty of yours.”

“Congratulations,” mom and dad both exclaimed while other people at the table added similar sentiments.

Aunt June just stared at me with a look of surprise. “But that spell is way above your class level,” aunt June protested, obviously being confused.

“Your tutoring of Erin has been quite admirable,” Amylia told aunt June with a look of amusement. “She entered the Academy behind her classmates but is now ahead of most of them.”

Aunt June didn’t know what to say to that, though she obviously appreciated Amylia’s complimenting of her tutoring efforts. Mom and dad both just looked at me proudly. However, the subject of the frog spell resulted in Amylia telling a story about when aunt June had been a student at the Academy and accidentally turned the boy she was kissing into a frog.

“After that, young Calvin was stuck with the nickname of the Frog Prince for the rest of his time there,” Amylia continued her story, looking to a very embarrassed aunt June and adding, “And if I remember right, most of the other boys avoided you for the rest of the school year…”

“Thank you for reminding me of that,” aunt June said, looking less than pleased about it. Then she had a look of dark amusement in her eyes as she asked Amylia, “So, has anyone ever guessed your last name?”

At the blank looks from everyone else, Amylia explained, “I gave up my last name after a…messy divorce.”

“Define messy,” aunt Susan asked with a smirk.

“He tried to kill me and our son,” Amylia answered grimly, earning several gasps. “A few years back, someone…,” she paused to give aunt June a pointed look, “spread the story around the Academy that if anyone was able to guess my last name, I would grant any favor they requested.” Amylia gave a loud snort at that. “Now about once a month, a student comes up and starts guessing what my last name once was.”

“And has anyone ever guessed it?” dad asked curiously.

“Erin knows what it is,” Amylia responded with a look of amusement.

“And what is it?” aunt June asked with a curious look of her own. Vivian just sat there with a smirk, obviously already knowing the answer, thanks to Dr. Merchant.

“I think I will answer that one in a little while,” Amylia answered carefully.

After this, the rest of dinner continued without event and before long, everyone was starting to get ready for the sunset. Most of the guests went into one of the back rooms and changed into a bathrobe, though a few seemed perfectly content to undress in front of everyone. I could tell that nearly all of our guests were watching me with expectant looks, obviously looking forward to seeing what I looked like when I changed. All that attention just made me a bit nervous.

Everyone went out to the back porch to wait, including those who would not change. I could feel my succubus squirming inside, eager to come out and play. And then it happened and I began to change, along with nearly everyone else. I grinned at that, excited for the sense of freedom that came with being a succubus.

While I changed, some of the guests watched me, even though they were changing as well. I just looked over to Amylia, who was also transforming, though no one else seemed to have noticed it quite yet. Then mom glanced at her, only to freeze and gasp in disbelief.

“Amylia,” aunt June blurted out in shock.

“I told you that I was a hybrid,” Amylia responded pleasantly. “In fact, I am a mythic…”

“You KNEW?” aunt June demanded at me, looking confused and almost frantic from this revelation.

“She told me last full moon,” I admitted with a smirk.

I stretched my wings for a bit, savoring how good I felt, then I reached for the pendant around my neck and activated the spell within. A moment later, I was clothed in a conjured black dress that hugged my magnificent curves. This was so much easier than putting on real clothes.

Then I looked around at the gathering of animals who were all staring at me and Amylia. Ron was currently a moose, aunt Susan was an otter, and Vivian was in fox form. Of course, there were a couple other animals present as well, including the black bear that was my dad.

Aunt June looked completely stunned while Amylia gestured down at herself and calmly explained, “I am a hybrid, both sorceress and mythic. I have lived for over two centuries and Erin is the only other one like me that I have met.”

“That’s why you escorted Erin to that mythics gathering,” aunt June blurted out.

“Indeed,” Amylia agreed with a bow of her head. “And I believe I also promised to tell you the surname that I surrendered so long ago.” She stood up straight and said, “Dupree. I was once known as Amylia Dupree.”

This was the third time that I’d heard Amylia make that revelation but it still had a bit of an impact on me. Mom and aunt June stared at her as they both obviously recognized the last name.

“As in Robert Dupree?” mom asked her quietly.

Amylia hesitated only a moment before answering, “Robert was my son.”

This was the first time I’d ever seen a bear’s jaw drop open in shock. Mom and aunt June had similar looks on their faces as well.

“As Erin would say,” Amylia said, looking straight into dad’s eyes. “I am your great plus grandmother.” She paused with a wry smile and added, “I told you that we had much to discuss.”