A Change of Perspective

by Optimizer

Part 4

~~~~~

"We should do this more often," Laurie declared happily, looking around the table at the other Sisters, who made noises of agreement around mouthfuls of food.

Bronwyn, Laurie, and Jacqui had come to meet Miranda for lunch, the official reason being reports and consultation on Erica's progress. That was almost an excuse, though, since she was doing so well. Mostly they were just catching up as friends.

"How's Rochelle?"

Bronwyn lit up at the chance to talk about her eldest daughter. "She's great. Her jewelry business is going well, and her travelling lets her keep tabs on Sisters around the world." She sighed. "I wish I saw her and little Colin more, but they're happy."

Gossip, stories, some salacious evaluation of their waiter, and even a few recipe tips were exchanged. In the end, very little Sisterhood business got done. By the time the waiter brought the check, the ladies were in a very good mood.

"Are you heading back right away?" Miranda asked.

Jacqui shook her head. "We're going to get some shopping done, I think," she replied. "No need to rush home. It's been a while since the three of us got out without Alice and Lani." A knowing exchange of smiles; children consumed so much of a Mother's time.

Miranda confirmed that with her own reply. "I have to get home and do some work. Haylie's got her last soccer game after school, and then there's a team party. I'll never get anything done tonight." The women laughed.

~~~~~

Erica had been home from school about half an hour, wrapping up her homework and looking over the schedule for finals next week, when the doorbell rang. She checked through the peephole first (reflecting that, as a boy, she probably wouldn't have been concerned) and saw Cory standing on her porch.

With some surprise, she opened the door and said, "Hey, what's up?"

He looked at her impassively. "Can I come in for a minute? I've got something I need to ask you about."

She debated a second, but despite his reticence of late Cory was fairly harmless. He and Eric had gotten into their share of trouble as kids, and then a few times later... but it had never been malicious. He just wasn't a violent guy. "Sure. Something about the project?" A milestone was due next Wednesday but things had seemed well in hand.

He came in without saying anything, just looking around. "Is your mom here?"

"No, she took my sister to soccer." As she said that, she had one of her new intuitions that something was wrong. Cory was acting... strange.

He went into the kitchen and she followed, standing back a step or two. He looked around, frowning, then put a hand in his jacket pocket and started speaking. "Something's been bothering me since school started. A few things. Y'know that time us guys snuck into Lincoln High, planted that backdoor in their computer lab?" She nodded cautiously. "We had a ladder to get on the roof, and got in through the courtyard, they don't lock the doors coming in. That was easy. But on the way back out..."

"I've heard you tell this before, you know," Erica said wryly. Actually, Eric had gone on that little expedition, too. But Cory told the story well, and enjoyed bragging about it.

Cory just peered at her. "Yeah, I know. Bear with me, I've got a point." He resumed. "We made it to the outside wall, and Scotty got down first, went around the corner. You know, to be a lookout. I dropped down, and I'm standing there waiting for the guys to hand down the ladder. Josh starts to lower it, and the security guard pops out of the door in front of me, all, "What are you doing here?"

"I give him some BS to hold his attention, 'I'm just walking, I'll leave.' That kind of stuff. And two feet over this guy's head, that ladder is hovering right there. Josh can't make a sound, or we're screwed. I got lucky again, calmed the guard down, walked away, and he goes back in, didn't see anything. No problem after that." Cory was glaring at Erica by now. "But somebody helped Josh hold that ladder up there. I know he couldn't have done it on his own. I even remember someone helping him... except I can't remember who."

His frown deepened. "I was telling this story a couple weeks back. And I got to that part... and I couldn't remember who was there. It was me, Scotty, Josh, and... who?" He shook his head jerkily, as if he were trying to jolt the memory loose. "Scotty said it was Derek. He said Derek was with us that night. But I don't remember him being there. I never even liked him much. Still, I couldn't think who it had been, and Scotty was so sure." He frowned at Erica. "I've told that story any number of times before. I even remember telling it at the beginning of the summer. Why the trouble now?"

Erica was feeling a chill. It had been Eric who'd helped Josh noiselessly suspend the ladder. Adjusting the memory had apparently not taken right. A girl wouldn't have been brought along on such a prank - not by high school boys, anyway - but four boys had to be involved. So some other boy had been substituted, evidently... but why didn't Cory remember the updated history?

"Then there's something else. Your programs in class."

Erica's chill intensified. She worked hard to keep it out of her face.

"Programmers have a style. You know it, anybody that's, like, collaborated on a program knows it." He looked her in the eye. "I always counted on you for the hairier parts of the code, but I knew I'd have to clean it up some." He shrugged. "No offense, but you always made your functions too big, and your comments were useless half the time. You could juggle a lot of things in your head; actually, you always ran too many things together in one block. But you never thought about how someone else would understand what you wrote."

Now he stared meaningfully. "Not this year. You break everything down into smaller steps, and your comments are much more... descriptive." His frown seemed permanent by now. "You're not exactly a superstar programmer anymore, not by yourself, but you're a much better team player."

Erica shrugged, noncommittally. "Thanks, I guess."

"Another thing. I looked at your Gamercard. You got three or four thousands last year. You even got two over the summer. Since school started, though, you've barely gotten any Achievements."

Erica shrugged again. "Kinda busy with cheerleading." She was starting to feel genuine nervousness.

"And there's something else. This is..." he trailed off. Then he squared his shoulders. "You're, like, attractive. At least, you should be. I remember thinking you were hot, last year." She started to reply, but he overrode her. "But this year...it's like... like the thought of kissing you is... disturbing."

Trying to defuse things, she smiled and joked, "Am I supposed to be crushed?" She couldn't keep all her unease out of her voice.

He just stared at her. Then he spoke. "Something about this is bothering you." She gasped as he pulled a gun out of his pocket and pointed it at her.

"Here's the thing. Every time I think about that night at Lincoln High, I think of you. Why is that?"

Erica, petrified, could only see the barrel aimed at her chest. "Oh, Goddess, please, just put that away. Just, just go..." She was screaming for her Mom in the back of her mind, calling for help. She couldn't send concepts yet, just emotion, but she could feel her Mom reacting to the distress she was sending.

"No." He was firm, unshakable. "None of this makes sense... unless my own memories - everyone's memories - have been tampered with." He glared at her, daring her to deny it.

"I don't... Don't you hear how crazy that sounds?"

~~~~~

Miranda sat in her folding chair at the edge of the soccer field, watching Haylie run about with the other girls. Suddenly she bolted upright at the impact of Erica's empathic scream. She reached for her eldest daughter's mind and came close to panic herself at what she saw through Erica's eyes. Fumbling, she grabbed for her cell phone as she turned and strode over to one of the other mothers nearby, pretending to receive a call.

Holding the phone up to her ear, she braced a friend. "Connie? I need to run, Erica needs me at home. Can you take Haylie to the party for me after the game?"

"That's fine," the woman replied. Seeing Miranda's pallor, she asked, "I hope it's not serious?"

"I don't think so," Miranda called over her shoulder, jogging toward her car. As soon as she was inside, even as she was starting it up, she was 'calling' her Sisters.

Jacqui was driving the car, the three Sisters chatting idly, when Miranda's telepathic cry for help reached them. They had only just started home, having spent the afternoon shopping. Within seconds Jacqui was pulling to the side of the freeway.

"Oh, Goddess, we've got to get back there." Laurie was working to make a link to see what was happening with Erica as Bronwyn 'talked' to Miranda and Jacqui navigated the car to a stop.

"We'll meet up in her garage." Bronwyn was always cool and collected in a crisis. Not for her power alone was she High Priestess of the Sisterhood.

Miranda pulled off the road into a parking lot as soon as she was away from the game, and began to chant the teleportation spell. She had to get to Erica fast.

"I've 'seen' where we're going from Miranda," Bronwyn said. "Be careful; we can't startle the boy, he'll kill Erica."

All Sisters could manage teleportation of several hundred yards. Some could do a mile or more. The witches held hands, forming an awkward 'circle' in the car to share power - and Jacqui proved her almost unprecedented ability by teleporting all three witches over fifteen miles to the Jardin home.

~~~~~

"Tell me what the fuck is going on. Now." Cory's voice was level, the hand holding the gun was steady. Erica could see his eyes darting, the sweat forming on his brow, though. He was on the edge, his control - and her position - was very precarious.

"Please, just, just put that down. I, I, I don't know what you want to hear, but..."

"I want to hear why the fuck I know what your kitchen looks like if we've only ever seen each other at school!" he roared.

Erica's heart was racing, she felt faint. For the first time in weeks, she wished for Eric's strength back. Overpowering Cory was impossible, for Erica at least, and she'd barely started to learn Magic. Her mouth worked, unable to make a sound...

Suddenly she heard her Mother's voice in her mind, had a feeling she was close by. Stall him. Say whatever you have to. Help is coming. With the message came a sense of Miranda's intense fear. But also maternal rage, the fury of a mother bear whose cub was threatened. And a certain... confidence, a sense that this problem could be dealt with. That helped immeasurably.

"O... okay." Her tone was placating, submissive. Surrendering. "Just... wait." She held out her hands, warding him off.

"Talk fast." He practically growled.

Erica didn't need much prompting. "My Mom's a witch." Cory stiffened, and she rushed on. "I know, I didn't believe it either. I used to be Eric, a boy. One of your friends. Then my Mom changed me, made me a girl. A month before school, last summer." She drew a deep breath. "She changed everybody's memories, no one was supposed to remember."

Cory just glared, giving no outward reaction.

"She wanted to let me learn what it was like to be a girl, to see life from this side..."

~~~~~

The three Sisters materialized in the garage. Miranda was already there, straining her Magical senses to keep track of the dangerously unstable situation in the kitchen. She wasn't even paying attention to the words being spoken, she was watching the emotions of both the youngsters. Jacqui worked to collect herself - teleporting that many people that far was a strain.

Bronwyn snapped curt orders. "I'm going to conjure the gun from him. Miranda, Laurie, the second I do that, you two knock him out. Everyone clear?"

The two women nodded, clasping hands.

~~~~~

"So you fucked with my mind, my memories, my self - with everyone who knew you - so that you could get a look at the inside of the girl's locker room?" There was murder in Cory's glare.

"I didn't do it. My Mom did. It was supposed to be a gift."

"A gift that involved wandering around in my head, rearranging the furniture to suit you?" He wasn't anywhere near panic now. He was coldly furious, and it was even more frightening.

"I didn't..." she began, and then she felt the power being used. The gun was gone, and a surge of Magic slammed into Cory.

He grunted, staggered... but didn't go down. Unsteadily, he struggled to focus on Erica.

In the garage, Miranda screamed. "He's fighting it! Dark Power! He's a Brother!" The other Sisters were shocked. Nothing about this situation was expected, everything was happening so fast...

Cory took a step toward Erica, who was paralyzed with shock. The assault he felt intensified; it was nearly impossible to keep his eyes open. He turned and ran - or at least stumbled - to the back door, out into the backyard. Heedless, he trampled through the garden. The further he got from the house, the lower the force ebbed. With the same strange familiarity he'd felt about Erica's home, he recalled a trail through the woods at the back of their yard...

Miranda burst through the door into the house, racing to Erica. Bronwyn came in on her heels, shouting, "We have to stop him!" Jacqui and Laurie were not far behind.

Miranda was squeezing Erica in her arms, tears running freely. "Oh, my baby, thank the Goddess you're okay..."

Bronwyn gave commands to the Donovans in a low, firm voice. "We can't let him get away. We need to know what's going on. Get past him, back me up." She paused for a second. "And keep your senses open. Something about this setup isn't right."

Cory was running hard, keeping his breathing even. He wasn't the fastest on the track team but he knew how to cover ground. Not far now, he'd be out on a street in seconds. He hoped that being in public would make him a less vulnerable target. At that moment, a dozen yards up the trail, the air shimmered and twisted. A slim, older woman was suddenly blocking his way.

Physical assaults between Magic-users were pretty much unheard of, in both the Brotherhood and Sisterhood - for much the same reason that machine-gunners didn't bother with bayonets. Cory's attack nearly succeeded simply because it was so hopeless. By the time Bronwyn understood what was going on, his left hook was flying. She only just shifted her defenses from the Magical level to the physical before it landed.

He was rebuffed backward, landing flat on his ass. For a moment he gaped up at her. Then, with the speed of the fit teenage boy he was, he rolled over and charged off through the woods, angling away from her and the Jardin house.

He reached a small clearing and stopped short. A younger, athletic woman stood on the far side. Immediately, he felt the same kind of pressure he'd felt at the house. Stronger, even. In the half-instinctive way he'd come up with then, he pushed back, as hard as he could, trying to counterattack.

The woman might have smiled, slightly. "Is that all you got?" She gestured, and the force that had repelled him from the other woman seized him, from all directions. It was like being gripped in an invisible fist.

"Who sent you?" she demanded. "Who are you working for?"

"Fuck you," Cory spat. Still wriggling, fighting... though it made no difference.

"What is the Brotherhood up to? I won't ask again," Jacqui said.

"Whatever you are, fuck you!" he screamed, lashing out on that new level as hard as he could. It didn't even dent Jacqui's shields.

At that point, the other witches appeared in the clearing. Miranda brought Erica with her. The danger was past, now, and she wanted her daughter to see that. To know that she would be safe.

"Suit yourself," Jacqui was saying to Cory. "We'll find out one way or another."

She turned to the other witches and looked straight at Bronwyn. "You're right. Something's off about this whole situation. We need answers, fast, and he doesn't want to give 'em up."

Miranda was bristling, resembling nothing so much as a furious mother cat whose kittens had been threatened. "He doesn't have to give anything. We can take what we need."

Laurie spoke up, concerned. "Let's just... take a moment, everyone..."

Miranda practically growled. "Who else is coming? What do they know?" She waved at Cory, still struggling. "He was going after Erica! We can't afford to fight through his mind, breaking shield after shield. There's no time!"

Bronwyn pursed her lips, mulling that over. Miranda focused on her. "We let Brothers get away with attacking Novices right in front of us now?"

Erica had been standing to the side, dazed and numb. At that, she stirred. "Mom, wait. He wasn't..."

"Quiet, honey. There's more going on than you know," Miranda said absently. More firmly, she looked meaningfully at Bronwyn and said, "Much more."

Bronwyn stood up straight. "True. We need intel, and quickly." She turned to Laurie, making eye contact.

Laurie paused, then nodded reluctantly. Bronwyn nodded more decisively. Both grasped Jacqui's hands. Miranda reached out too, pulling Erica forward. Her daughter should be part of this. Jacqui began to chant.

Erica joined the circle, lending her power. The communion of the circle let her see the spell, perceive the forces flowing, feel the thoughts of her Sisters somewhat. The light gathered, and crashed into Cory like a wave.

The Sisters were focused, intent. Only Miranda possessed any real enthusiasm, though. The three senior Sisters were simply carrying out an unfortunate but necessary task, eliminating a demonstrated threat.

She could see in their minds what they were doing. Overwhelming and obliterating his power, cancelling it. They would remove it permanently, blot it out, taking all aggression, all will to harm from him. He'd be gentled; a passive, quiet man with no Magic, who wouldn't hurt a fly. It was a weapon they used against evil men, she could see memories of them using it on the... the 'Brotherhood'?

Erica was horrified. Cory had threatened her, but he wasn't evil. At most, he'd overreacted... though what would she have done if she'd discovered someone had covertly altered her memories? What would Eric have done?

Cory resisted frantically, but he was simply, completely outclassed. The light was shoving inward; compressing, consuming his will to fight. Erica saw it, felt it happening. Laurie noticed the girl's distress, and began to probe for the cause. But it was too late; Erica pulled back, withdrew from the circle.

Only a Novice would make such a mistake. Abruptly breaking the link caused the built-up energies circulating among the women to discharge wildly, dispersing. The pain was excruciating for all of them, and crippling for Jacqui, who'd been the focus of the circle. She fell on the ground, dazed. Bronwyn staggered and Laurie sank to her knees. They had been to either side of her, and were only marginally less impaired.

Cory shook his head, the attack fading. He thought as quickly as he could. It was obvious he couldn't win this fight. He barely knew how to wage this fight. Running from people who could teleport was useless. But an opportunity had opened - he had no idea why. Not for victory, but to cost his assailants as dearly as possible.

Taking all his rage, all his hate, all his terror and despair, he focused everything he had in the unfamiliar manner he only half-understood and blasted every bit of it... at Erica. She screamed, agonized, as darkness crept in from all directions, extinguishing her light. It was savage and unrelenting and powered with Cory's entire soul. She blocked as much as she could, instinctively, but she too had been stunned by the collapse of the circle.

One witch remained. Miranda had been away from the focus and hadn't broken the circle herself; she was shaken but able to think. She saw what was happening to her beloved daughter and she acted with all of a Mother's resolve - and fury. Perhaps if Jacqui hadn't been there to spark the idea, the form of her counterattack would have been different... but it was in any case effective. Her power swelled and exploded from her, enveloping Cory in light.

~~~~~

"Well, this is a fine mess." Jacqui was not happy.

The Jardin kitchen was a tense place again, and now crowded as well. Miranda and Laurie and Bronwyn sat at the table, sipping coffee. Erica hugged herself by the counter and Jacqui paced about. Several major decisions had to be made quickly.

"I'm sorry," Miranda said contritely. "It was the only way I could see. He was going to kill Erica!"

Bronwyn broke in sharply. "But you didn't have to add the subspell making it permanent!"

"I'm sorry," she said again. "I wasn't thinking clearly. He was killing my Daughter! All I wanted was to make sure he'd never be able to threaten her again."

"Well, she certainly won't be doing that anytime soon," Laurie muttered. Cory - now physically a young woman, looking slightly comical in ill-fitting male clothing - lay on the couch in the living room, held asleep by Laurie's Magic. He'd been unconscious when the witches had recovered.

Erica had stayed mute all the way back to the house, but now she spoke up. "What's the 'Brotherhood'?"

The other women fell silent, staring at her. "Goddess, what a fiasco," Bronwyn sighed. "This is much too soon for you to be hearing this, but I suppose there's no sense protecting you anymore." She took a sip of coffee. "I will have to summarize, there isn't time for the whole story right now."

"The Sisterhood has existed for tens of thousands of years. There have been people using Magic since we were human, I suppose. But there are two ways to power, via Light - the way of the Goddess we follow - or via Darkness."

"The Dark Power is not inherently evil, any more than aggression and conflict are necessarily evil. But like aggression and conflict, it can easily bring out the worst in men. And when it does, terrible things happen. Long before recorded history, the followers of Darkness betrayed and nearly destroyed the followers of Light."

She sighed. "Magic itself changed in that betrayal and the following struggle. Before, Light and Dark were in harmony, and available to all. After, the Dark Power was oriented to men and the Light to women. Men can no longer use the Light, women cannot use the Dark. Perhaps some terrible mistake was made, that caused that change and led to the betrayal. Perhaps that splintering was part of the betrayal itself. We cannot know, this far removed."

She went on. "Only a few men survived the battles, former followers of the Light, stripped of their power. In hiding, they found the Goddess. She gave them the power they needed to save humanity from the Dominion of the Brotherhood, but Her price was their masculinity. The Sisterhood of the Transformed was founded, granted new powers of Light to contest the Darkness."

"After a long struggle, the Brotherhood was defeated, though not destroyed. Nor should it have been. Just as most men - even in an invading army - are not truly evil, most Brothers do not desire conquest and destruction." Another sip. "But the Sisterhood remains to guard against the times when powerful Brothers turn evil. To protect humanity from another Dominion."

She looked at Erica. "One of these conflicts, you've heard of. World War II. Even the ordinary histories record that Hitler was deeply involved in the occult, and that he survived dozens of attempts on his life."

The novice absorbed that soberly. After a few moments, she asked, "So, there's men in the Brotherhood, and Transformed men in the Sisterhood. What about women? Birth-women, I mean? Don't they have any kind of Magic?"

"Yes they do, or can. Magic of Light, and powerful, but it is not a Magic suitable for direct struggle with the Brotherhood. Subtle, defensive, nurturing. The peaceful path of the Light, Wicca and similar ways."

Erica was speechless, processing what the High Priestess had said. Miranda spoke up. "What are we going to do if the Brotherhood knows where we are?"

"Nothing about this fits," groused Laurie. "The Brotherhood is sometimes evil, but rarely this stupid." She looked around at the other Sisters. "An attack like this is too clumsy. He had no idea what he was doing. He wasn't even using proper spells, just raw power."

"I've checked everywhere around here. There's no trace of Dark Magic, no sign of Brotherhood activity," Bronwyn concurred. She looked toward the form on the couch, musing. "Magically, not even that strong. Above average, perhaps, but not remarkably so."

"Erica." Jacqui said peremptorily, getting the girl's attention. She pointedly nodded toward Cory. "A classmate of yours?" She trusted her hunches.

"Yeah," Erica replied, abstractedly. "He was a friend of mine, before, y'know, I was Transformed. We went way back." She shook her head, hardly able to believe that Cory had tried to kill her. "Somehow, he knew something was wrong. He remembered what our house looked like, even though he shouldn't." She hugged herself. "He was so scared, so angry."

"For most men, being scared means being angry," Jacqui noted wryly. She reached for her shoulderbag and pulled out a laptop. "What's your wifi password? I need to check things out."

Erica was amazed all over again at the speed Jacqui gathered and correlated information. Some of it was Magic, which allowed exploits no ordinary computer security scheme could defend against. But much of it was Jacqui's extraordinary mind - the intuitive leaps she could make were dizzying, but almost always turned out to be well-founded.

The older Sisters couldn't even follow the bulk of what Jacqui was doing; computer literacy wasn't a common trait in the Sisterhood. It had only been about fifteen minutes when Jacqui sat back and said, "I think I know what's going on. Cory was adopted."

"Yeah, that's right. So?" Erica asked.

"So, from what I can gather from hints in some of these sealed records, his father was in the Brotherhood. I'll lay odds the 'fire' his birth parents died in was the result of some intra-Brotherhood power struggle. Maybe the other Brothers didn't know about Cory, or didn't care."

She sighed. "Either way, he was adopted by perfectly normal parents, I just scanned them. He was never trained, never knew anything about Magic."

"'Cory's Luck'!" Erica blurted. At the stares of the other women, she shrugged. "He was always lucky. Just little things. The teachers never called on him if he didn't know the answer. He was killer at poker, you didn't dare call his bluffs. Things like that."

Bronwyn nodded. "That fits. Unconsciously using his power, not even knowing what he was doing." She shook her head ruefully. "He's not a Brother."

"How come I wasn't lucky like that? As Eric, I mean?" Erica asked.

Miranda said gently, "When a Sister gives birth to her son, she performs the Birth Rites. It blocks off her son's access to the Dark Power." Erica frowned. A lot of unexpected information was coming at her fast.

Bronwyn looked at Miranda. "Still, this explains why your memory spells didn't take fully."

"I did everything..." Miranda started to object.

"That was not an indictment, Sister, simply an observation," Bronwyn broke in, her tone reminding everyone that - and why - she was High Priestess. "You were changing hundreds of minds at once. No one would expect you to sense just one mind among them, passively resisting, and only partially at that."

Miranda waved in the general direction of the sleeping girl in the next room. "But how could I have missed that? Someone with the Dark Power, in my house?" She looked to the other witches. "Eric and Cory played together all the time when they were little. He slept over here a few times!"

Jacqui shook her head. "He probably never used it here. Power really develops at puberty, kids don't do Magic. Not that kind, anyway. And why would you suspect anything? I got introduced to the High Leader of the Brotherhood and didn't have any sense he was more than a creep." She dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "Water under the bridge. Right now, we have someone who is not going to accept a Transformation easily, if at all, and only she can undo it." As she said that, she stared at Miranda, who averted her eyes, abashed.

Erica sensed something being left unsaid, but Jacqui kept talking. "We have to figure out what we're going do, and fast. No matter what we do, it's going to be a very busy night, and we're already late to pick up our girls from the babysitter."

"We only have two options," Bronwyn stated flatly. "Either we somehow convince her to voluntarily join the Sisterhood, somehow get her to accept and work through her Transition - if she can - or we open her mind, change her into a girl and make her forget she was ever a boy."

Erica was more than appalled, she was dumbfounded. "You can't do that! We'd be doing exactly what he was afraid of!"

"It's not something I want to do, or even take lightly, my dear," Bronwyn said solemnly. "But the fact remains that she hates us and poses a definite threat, which we cannot ignore."

"But we struck first!" Erica protested. "How would you feel if you found out someone changed your memories?"

Jacqui cleared her throat. "Erica, listen. I've studied this more than any other Sister, I think. I had a very hard Transition." She sighed. "The sons of Sisters are raised with a positive view of women. Not disparaging of masculinity, but Sisters know in their hearts what's in store for their boys." Erica looked at her Mother, thinking about what that meant. But Jacqui put her hands on Erica's shoulders, forced her to pay attention. "Even then, and even when the Transformation is presented in the most positive and non-threatening way possible, better than one in ten boys don't go through with it. They just can't adjust."

Jacqui shook her head. "I can't even imagine a worse scenario than this. Transformed against her will - as an attack - by people she feels she has every reason to hate. People she was willing to kill - and came very close to killing." Erica shuddered involuntarily; the memory of consuming darkness was fresh. "I don't see how a successful Transition is even possible here."

She went on, inexorably. "And leaving her as she is? Stuck in a hateful body with no hope of going back? She'd be a threat to herself, and to the Sisterhood. She could expose you and your Mother, and probably us. Best case, we all go into hiding with new identities. Worst case, the Brotherhood finds us before we can." She sighed. "I have a daughter almost Haylie's age. I can't put her at hazard like that."

"I'm sorry, Erica," Bronwyn said. "It's a war. At least a cold one, and we never know when it might turn hot." She sighed. "And sometimes in war, innocent people get hurt."

"At least let me try," Erica pleaded. The witches exchanged long looks.

~~~~~

Cory woke slowly, looking groggy and sluggish to Erica. She could vaguely feel the power operating as Laurie removed her Healing sleep spell. Then, all at once he was totally awake, panicked and struggling. His arms were restrained, legs too. His eyes focused and he saw the ropes tying him to a chair. He looked up and saw Erica sitting in front of him, no one else around - and then his eyes shot back to his arms. His body. His breasts.

"What the fuck?!" he exclaimed, then a made a wordless horrified cry at his own voice.

Erica spoke urgently. "Please, wait. Please. Just listen to me."

Cory kept struggling. His desperate spasms failed to free his limbs.

"Please listen." Erica pleaded. "Just listen for a minute." Cory finally stopped thrashing around and glared balefully. For just a moment, Erica felt almost as if she were under Magical attack again, even though she knew that was impossible. The hate and anger in his expression was intense.

Halting, unsure, Erica began. "I'm sorry. This isn't anything we wanted, that anybody wanted. This is all a big misunderstanding." She trailed off.

Cory just glowered. Then he pointed his chin down at his body and snarled, "This is a 'misunderstanding'? My mind wasn't enough, you had to fuck up my body too?"

Erica spread her hands. "You were trying to kill me, and, well, my Mom did what she had to, to save me."

"You tried to kill me." His voice was terrible, soaked with hate and an undercurrent of terror. But the worst thing was the absolute lack of hope. It was obvious Cory felt he was facing his death, or worse.

"I didn't... They weren't..." Now she was wringing her hands. "Things just... got away from everybody." Pleadingly, she asked, "Look, just let me explain?"

He sat motionless, set in stone. Incongruously, Erica was struck by what a pretty girl Cory made. On the slender side, with slim hips and a modest bust. A little like Bronwyn. But she couldn't afford distractions right now, and Cory didn't need any reminders of his new status yet.

Falteringly, she began again. "I wasn't kidding about the Magic. Obviously. My Mom's really a witch. Along with a bunch of others, they call themselves the Sisterhood." She looked away. "They all started as men, becoming a girl is... sort of like an initiation. That's what my Mom did for me."

She paused. "I just found out a lot of this. There are men that they fight, men with Magic. They thought you were one of them."

"Oh, it's all just a big mistake." Goddess, he sounds bitter, Erica thought.

Eric had been, too, she realized, and with less reason.

"Unfortunately, yeah." She looked in his eyes. Despite the features, she couldn't think of Cory as a 'her'. "When you threatened me, they... well, they kinda went ballistic."

Once again he indicated his reshaped body. "This is 'ballistic'?" A faint tremor in his voice now; Erica felt a rush of sympathy, and shame. He must be so frightened!

"Mom sorta had to. Sisters can't kill."

"They were doing a good job before!" he snapped.

"No, even then, they were just going to sorta burn out your power, wipe out your aggression."

Anger was back, now, in full measure. "What? That's supposed to be better?"

"No!" she said forcefully. "Once I saw what they were doing, I stopped them."

He frowned and stared at her, exuding disbelief... but she could see he hadn't expected her to say that.

"Look, I understand why you attacked me. I think even they do, now." She sighed. "And now I'm trying to keep it from getting any worse."

"Change me back. Let me go." Suddenly he was shouting. "Leave me the fuck alone!"

"Um... we can't." She couldn't keep her hands still. "Goddess, we all wish we could, but we can't."

Resigned sarcasm now, but still shouting. "Of course. I know too much. So let me guess, you'll really fuck up my mind now?"

"Listen." She had to make him understand. "I mean we actually are not able to change you back now. Nobody can, except you."

For the first time, there was honest confusion on his face. "What?"

"The spell is permanent, unless the Transformed One undoes it."

He just scowled, trying to process that. "And how do I 'undo it'?" he spat.

"That's... um... that's the hard part. You have to learn the Transformation spell." Her eyes dropped. "But to do that, you, uh..." She squared her shoulders. No sense pussyfooting around it. "You have to acclimate. To being a girl."

She could actually watch the dumbfounded shock on his face shift to obstinate rejection. "Fix this, or I swear to God, the second I'm out of here I kill every fucking one of you or die trying!"

The other witches stepped into the room at that point. Cory's expression was poisonous. He was wriggling again, trying to work free from the ropes. Miranda held her daughter's shoulders. "Erica, this isn't going to work. She... he can't trust us."

"Why the fuck should I? Bitch?" Under other circumstances, the women might have found it amusing, how against his instincts it was to insult her like that. To use the word, despite his rage. But they had probed his mind, seen that he wasn't prone to such things... and it made the whole tangled predicament all the more tragic.

"No reason at all, from your perspective." Bronwyn was somehow authoritative even as she was apologizing. "We are all truly sorry it has come to this, but what Erica told you is the truth. It is now beyond our power to restore you to your male form."

"Bullshit!" he screamed. Then, he visibly restrained himself. In a quiet tone containing an impressive amount of menace for a soprano, he said, "Change me back now, or one of us dies."

"There is only one way to do that, as Erica told you. We can instruct you, help you, but you have to voluntarily adjust, adapt yourself to being female first." She spread her hands helplessly. "The only way out now is through."

"Buncha crap," Cory growled.

"How do you know? Are you an expert in Magic?" Jacqui asked pointedly.

Cory didn't concede the point. Instead he shifted ground. "How can I know anything? You screw with people's heads just for fun! There's no excuse for messing with somebody's mind!"

"I know it must seem that way to you, but it is a matter of survival for us." Bronwyn sighed. "I have no way to prove this to you, but..." She searched for words. "Changing merely peripheral memories, planting subtle and temporary Suggestions, is one thing. There is an unmistakable, almost tangible difference between that and fundamentally altering who someone is, damaging their free will. Once that line is crossed, it's irrevocable, they cannot be restored. We cross that line only in desperate circumstances, and I assure you, we have not done so with you."

He was unmoved. "Not yet. As you said, I've got no reason to trust you."

Jacqui piped in. "If we were the brain-eating monsters you think, why would we be talking to you?"

That stymied him for a moment.

Erica jumped in. "Honest, all my Mom did was change your memories of me." She paused, then continued thoughtfully. "It never really occurred to me, what that meant." Cory sneered, and she said, defensively, "She kinda tricked me into this whole girl thing, I've had my own stuff to deal with."

Miranda felt pierced to the heart to hear Erica say that. She hadn't been 'tricked'... well, not really. Well, not completely...

Jacqui tried to get things back on track. "If you accept our help, we can teach you the Magic you will need to Transform yourself back into a boy."

There was a brief pause. "How long would that take?" His voice had lost none of its hostility, granting nothing. It was an accusation far more than a request for information.

As an accusation, it struck home. "Ah. Unfortunately, that could take... a few years. Particularly in your case, there are... difficulties..." Jacqui's eyes weren't focused on the present, flashing back to earlier times.

"Years?" Erica remembered her own reaction to that news, how she'd squeaked. Cory delivered his line better; a hiss with clenched teeth. Her heart sank.

"I'm afraid so." Jacqui had recollected herself. "You'll need to live as a girl, learn women's Magic."

"For years." No change in his tone or delivery. The rejection was obvious.

Laurie sounded compassionate as always. "I know it doesn't sound appealing right now, but we can help. No one else would have to know. We can change memories, both now and when you become male again..."

Cory interrupted rudely. "I'm thinking my parents are going to remember adopting a boy." The sarcasm was thick, troweled on. "Can you change their whole life as parents without changing who they are?"

More exchanged glances. "No," Bronwyn conceded.

"Then fuck you. I'm not letting you turn them into zombies." He shrugged. "At least if I'm dead there's no point in screwing with their minds."

Erica looked horrified, realizing that Cory was right. Ruthlessly 'rearranging the furniture' in the minds of Cory's parents - at least - was unavoidable. Probably grandparents and other relatives, too. The other Sisters hadn't even mentioned that, just accepted it as given. The cost of doing business.

Laurie was speaking. "Sisters cannot kill. I'm afraid that, ah, reconciling you to the situation is the only available path." She spread her hands helplessly, worriedly. "But if we force you to accept being a girl, it will destroy any chance of you becoming a boy again. Only free minds can perform Magic." It was obvious to all she was troubled. Jacqui frowned herself.

Cory looked from her to glare directly at Bronwyn. "What if I just kill myself? No blood on your hands, right?"

Horrified silence reigned for long moments. Erica was dumbfounded to see the Sisters actually considering the idea...

But Bronwyn ultimately shook her head. "The Sisterhood has far more practice covering up a Transformation than a vanishing. We cannot afford to bring that kind of attention here."

Cory bunched in on himself and pointedly looked away. Clearly he had nothing more to say to them.

"We have our own families to protect. And through them, a world. You leave us no choice. I'm sorry." The witches, in silent accord, began forming a circle, though not even Miranda displayed any real enthusiasm this time. Laurie was particularly slow to join. Erica yanked her hands from her Mother's and hugged herself, face a study in distress.

"I promise, for what it's worth, you and your parents will be happy..." Bronwyn's eyes were sad as they took in the rigid statue the former boy made, saturated with hate and fear. The Magic began to gather...

And then, to everyone's surprise including her own, Erica placed herself between Cory and the Sisters, locking eyes with Miranda. "Mother, if you do this, you'd better just do it to me, too." She was suddenly shaking, not sure herself if it was in rage or fear or both. "I will do whatever I can to stop you, and I will never forgive you."

"Erica, honey, please..." Miranda's shock and grief were palpable. Bronwyn looked taken aback, and even Cory betrayed some uncertainty.

"No. You tell me the Sisterhood is meant to fight evil, to protect the innocent." She looked at everyone present, cold anger making her tremble a little. "Cory's not evil. He's the most innocent one here."

~~~~~

In the moment, Erica was surprised at how quickly the other Sisters realized she was serious. Only afterward did it occur to her that maybe the witches didn't need words to discern how she felt.

It threw things into confusion for a while. Bronwyn, Laurie, and Jacqui went off to confer alone. Miranda's few abortive attempts at persuasion were ruthlessly shot down.

In the other room, the witches spoke in low but urgent tones. "This is bad," Jacqui said.

"There has to be a way to get through this mess without permanently damaging anyone's mind..." Laurie said. It was almost a prayer.

"A false hope," said Bronwyn sadly. "We'd all love that, but there's no chance of success here. You saw Cory."

"Success might even be worse," Jacqui pointed out. "Say we talk him into going along for now. With the Goddess' blessing, say we even convince him to go through a Transition. But we'd be setting both of them up for heartbreak! To go back to being Cory, back to his parents, he - she - would have to give up her newborn son!" She shook her head. "And Erica will have been party to it."

"Are you seriously suggesting mindwiping Erica?" Laurie said.

Jacqui and Bronwyn exchanged glances. "No," Jacqui admitted.

Bronwyn spoke slowly, thinking out loud. "I don't think she understands how traumatic an unwelcome Transformation can be. She might change her mind once she sees..."

"But we'd have to deal with Cory until then. Who has every reason to expose us." Jacqui shook her head. "And the longer this spins out, the bigger the mess to clean up."

By the time the trio of Sisters returned, icy silence ruled the room.

"Erica," Bronwyn began, "you need to understand the danger we're in. Our enemies look for certain patterns, strange happenings. We've gotten much better at covering our tracks in the last few years, but we're not perfect. We already took a chance changing your records from boy to girl, instead of shifting you and your Mother to new identities." Erica's eyes widened. "We felt the risk was minimal, and that it would ease your Transition if you didn't need to uproot everything."

Jacqui's voice was clipped, clinical. "But whatever we do now, it'll be a rush job. We've never 'disappeared' someone, it's just not something we do. It'd be risky enough altering Cory's records without any prep work, but a criminal investigation into a disappearance would draw a lot of dangerous attention."

Erica looked back and forth. "Can't you set him up with a new identity?" She indicated Cory.

Jacqui shrugged. "That'd be even more risk. All the problems of both. Altered records, plus we'd still have to deal with a missing boy. We'd be scrambling to make sure it wasn't linked to you and your Mother."

"But could you do it?" Erica said intensely.

Jacqui threw her hands in the air, frustrated. "We have reserve identities we could adapt. I suppose it could be done. In theory." She took a deep breath. "Again, though..."

Cory interrupted. "You're all forgetting something. I don't want some other identity! I'm not going to be a fucking girl!"

Jacqui and Bronwyn nodded sadly, knowingly. Laurie stared at the floor, and Miranda just looked sick and frightened.

Erica wrung her hands, a few tears welling up at the corners of her eyes. She moved to Cory and begged. "Cory, please, it's not so bad. I really think they're telling the truth, eventually you can change back. I'll help you, I'll keep them honest. I won't let them mess with your head anymore. With anyone's! Please, Cory."

Cory looked taken aback, for just a moment. Then the walls slammed back down, the shields went up. "Fuck you. All of you."

"Cory, listen. Think for a second. I'll fight them if I have to, I mean it, they'll have to brainwash me. But..." She bit her lower lip, then whispered. "I can't beat them."

The witches now looked very uneasy; Miranda looked terrified. Cory squinted at her. Eager for any sign she might reach him, she rushed on.

"I'll fight, I swear it, but I'll lose. If you make them change us, they'll change your parents anyway and... and... and everybody loses." She took a deep, ragged breath, tried to control herself. "But we can make them set you up as somebody else for a while, let your mom and dad think you ran away." He twitched. "Cory can come back. Eventually. They won't need to brainwash anybody. You can protect your family, if you just try for a while."

He looked away, at the wall.

"Cory, please. Please. It's not... You can do it, I know it. You're smart and strong, you can get through it. It's not a death sentence."

She held her breath, searching the mask Cory's face had become. On a boy's face the expression would have been called 'flinty', but the unmistakably feminine features, the pale complexion - especially in contrast to the dark black hair - reminded Erica crazily of porcelain.

"Please, help me make this right," she whispered. Maybe it was his male reflexes reacting to a crying girl, but Cory turned from her and squinted searchingly at the Sisters. Then he looked at the wall.

Erica held her breath. Prayers to the Goddess she suddenly doubted poured forth in her head. He looked back at her.

The angry tone made it clear it wasn't a surrender. "What exactly would I have to do?" But Erica suddenly felt hope in her heart.

Jacqui stepped forward. "You'd need to live as a girl. Dress like one, act like one, learn how to be one. Some things we can't tell you about, you have to learn for yourself. For reasons of Magic. But we would promise to tell you everything that we can tell you."

"You leave my parents out of this." The Sisters tried not to show any signs of relief. It was a negotiation now, not a standoff.

Jacqui looked at Cory. "It would still be safer to adjust your history..."

"No fucking with my parents' heads. With anybody's," Cory snarled.

"Let her... him live here. It's our fault, we should take care of him!" Erica interjected. Cory glowered but made no comment.

It was Jacqui's turn to look away in thought. Finally she turned back, caught Cory's eyes. "If we do this, we'll need your cooperation. You'll need to help us make it look like you ran away. Even if it hurts your parents."

"So, you'll take a chance for her sake, but not some random civilian like me, huh?" Cory asked pointedly. Jacqui had the grace to look faintly embarrassed.

~~~~~

Negotiations took time, but eventually an agreement was hammered out. As reparation, and in exchange for keeping the Sisterhood's secret, Cory would receive their assistance and protection. The Sisterhood would cover basic living expenses. He'd be given the training needed to master the Transformation spell.

'Cora' would live with Erica and Miranda, and attend 'her' old school as a transfer student. Neither Jacqui nor the High Priestess - nor especially Miranda - liked the idea. Entirely aside from the security issues, they felt a clean break was best. Laurie, however, eventually agreed with Erica that the Sisterhood's new ward needed at least some familiar surroundings. And Erica was the only Sister that Cory would even provisionally trust. Or, at least, didn't mistrust quite as much.

None of this went very smoothly, of course.

"One more thing. The first thing you teach me is how to protect my mind from Magic." Cory had been unbound from the chair but there was always a Sister between him and the exits.

"That is rather advanced..." Laurie began.

"I don't give a fuck how you want to do it. I don't give a fuck how it's supposed to be done." Nothing in his body language was remotely feminine. It looked like an alien, male spirit - a furious, demonic one - had possessed a girl's body. "I have to know my mind is my own, or no fucking deal."

The witches exchanged glances, helplessly. "We can't," Jacqui said. "It'd be like... like... trying to teach you Fourier transforms before you'd learned algebra." She shook her head. "I just don't see any way to..."

Erica broke in. "Cory, they have binding oaths. I've seen it. They take them seriously. If they give you their word like that, they'll keep it." The emotionless tone wounded Miranda, but not nearly as much as the fact that her daughter had used the word 'they'; that her daughter felt a gulf between herself and the Sisterhood.

Cory stared at Erica for a time. "Shit. I guess I have to trust you on that one." He frowned, thinking furiously.

"We can swear not to observe or alter your thoughts..." Bronwyn began, reluctantly, ruing Erica's stand. This Transition would be incredibly hard as it was. If they couldn't peek at Cory's progress from time to time, perhaps even plant the occasional Suggestion, it would likely be impossible. Although - she considered - there might be ways around it. Laurie had sworn not to peek at Jacqui's journal during her Transition... so she'd had Bronwyn do it. They could bring in another Sister...

If she hadn't known Cory was Magicless right now, she'd have suspected him of reading her mind. He interrupted her. "No. You will all swear not to snoop on my thoughts and feelings, or change them, or let anyone else do it either."

Finally the Sisters swore their oaths, and Cory less-than-gracefully pledged to abide by the terms. He made it clear that if they failed to live up to their side, he would consider himself free to do as he saw fit.

Once it was done, they all fell silent for a moment. Bronwyn spoke first. "Cory, we have much to do over the next few days. We will honor our word. We all want this... imbroglio resolved as quickly as possible."

She instructed with all her considerable gravitas. "But this means you must start making adjustments, too. From now on, you must think of yourself as a girl. Your name will be 'Cora', and you must come to accept it as your own."

His hands clenched... but after a moment, 'she' nodded sharply.

Jacqui tended to pounce on problems once the strategy was clear. "We need you to write a note to your parents. Say you're going away, you can't tell them why, but you're safe and you'll call soon." Cora's clenched teeth made the witches tense up. It looked like he... she was about to scrap everything. But once again she made a single sharp nod.

~~~~~

Bronwyn, Laurie, and Jacqui were at long last on their way back home. First, Jacqui had to teleport back to the car and drive it in.

Apologies had been pouring into the phone from Laurie to their beleaguered babysitter as they'd walked out the door. Bronwyn had been on her phone with another Sister discussing legal and financial machinations. Jacqui had been awkwardly tapping at her laptop all the way to the car, juggling records. They'd been more than slightly ambivalent about leaving the Jardins alone with Cora. Still, they'd already extended their trust, at least provisionally. And they couldn't keep the girl under guard forever.

Miranda had been instructed to keep Cora out of sight, lay low, and await further orders. Haylie had been shuffled into bed as soon as she was dropped off, with her own strict instructions to remain in her room. Miranda's grim countenance had prompted a most uncharacteristic meek obedience.

The girl in question sat on the bed in the Jardin guest room, still swimming in Cory's too-large ensemble. Her legs dangled over the side; the bed was high and her feet didn't reach the floor. She didn't stir when Erica walked in.

"I, uh, got some pajamas for you," Erica said. She didn't add that they were Haylie's; Cora wasn't actually much bigger than the eleven-year-old.

The neophyte Sister didn't react. She just sat there, looking at nothing in particular. She didn't look angry, or depressed. To Erica's worried eyes, she looked dead. "Well... I guess we'll go shopping for you tomorrow," she offered.

"So I can get some dresses?" Cora quipped. But even her acid was diluted.

Erica fidgeted a little. "Well... some, maybe. But, I mean, you don't have to wear frilly stuff all the time. If you don't want to."

"I don't."

Erica suddenly realized that Cora hadn't even gotten a good look at her new body yet. It made her newly grateful for the gradual change she'd undergone. While it was happening, it had seemed bizarre and hasty. Nevertheless, it had subtly given her just enough time to adapt. Or avoid panic, at least.

Maybe the Sisterhood really was that old.

Something to think about later. Right now, she somehow had to help Cora begin coming to terms with what had happened. "C'mon, let's get you changed." She gently guided Cora to her feet and led her to the bathroom. The rookie girl offered no resistance, or indeed animation. Erica was struck again with how much tinier Cora was now. Cory had been nearly half a head taller than Erica; she was now half a head shorter, just under five feet.

They went in. Cora stared at her face in the mirror. The resemblance to Cory was clear - but the features were finer, the eyes wider, the lips fuller. "Huh. I think my eyes are lighter," she muttered.

Erica set the pajamas down, but before she could turn to leave, or even close the door, Cora was pulling her shirt off. "Hey, I don't... I mean, you can have some privacy..." she said, backing away.

Cora was looking at her reflection, no more than mild curiosity in evidence. "What does it matter?" she said almost casually. She reached up and ran her hand over a breast. There was no passion in the action; she might as well have been evaluating a swath of fabric. To Erica's eye, Cora's breasts looked to be a medium A-cup. She felt an unexpected twinge of jealousy when she noticed how symmetrical they were; Erica's own left breast was a tad larger than the right.

Erica stood paralyzed with uncertainty. Cora unbuckled her belt and the loose pants and briefs dropped to the floor. She stared for a long time at her crotch.

Just a bush, the dark hair made it hard to even see the lips. She stepped out of the pants, spread her legs slightly, and reached down to touch herself. Again she displayed no emotion as her fingers probed for a time. She turned to the side, examining her profile. Then she turned further, and looked over her shoulder at her back and derrière. Her hair was still black, but now went down to her shoulderblades; she pushed it aside and looked at her ears.

Erica could feel herself getting a little wet, and cursed her Transformed libido. Cora was very cute. Short, elfin, slender - she might well weigh half what Cory had. Yet there was enough female padding in the right places to make her gender unmistakable. The word "nubile" might have been coined to describe her.

Her wasp waist emphasized the feminine curve of her hips. She even had less leg and underarm hair than Erica did naturally. Her mind, desperate for a tangent, marveled for a moment about how accustomed she'd become to shaving her legs.

Cora looked down again at her crotch. Calmly, she asked, "How do I go to the bathroom with this thing?"

"It's, uh, not that big a deal." Erica managed to impart the requirements without having to get hands-on. Cora didn't blush or betray any outward signs of chagrin. She was utterly matter-of-fact about things. Once the situation was resolved, she simply washed her hands and donned the pajamas. Then she picked up her clothes and the girls went back to the guest bedroom. Cora resumed sitting on the edge of the bed, staring into space.

After the attack, the standoff, and the angry negotiations, Cora's lack of emotion was disconcerting. Erica wondered if she was starting to go catatonic. She couldn't let Cora just withdraw into a shell. She needed to figure a way to get the poor girl to at least acknowledge the strong feelings that must be roiling inside. If Cora didn't express them, she couldn't deal with them. Although Erica knew she hadn't completed her own Transition, she was already a firm convert to the healing power of a good cry.

But if she pushed too hard, would that be worse? She didn't know what to say. After a moment, she knelt on the floor in front of Cora and grabbed her limp hands. Although there was no outward response, at least she didn't pull away. "I'm so sorry this happened. I know you probably hate me, but I promise, I'll do what it takes to make it right."

There was a long silence. Erica came close to despair. Then, a whisper. "I still don't know if I can trust you."

She almost protested - hadn't she done enough, alienating her Mom, bucking the High Priestess? But she seized her tongue before it could lash out, wondering in the back of her mind if Eric would have been able to. If he would have recognized the need, how badly Cora was hurting. Instead, she simply asked, "Can you give me a chance to prove it?"

Cora considered that. "I guess so," she finally said.

Still holding one of Cora's hands, Erica got up and sat on the bed next to her. Although she didn't want to crowd the girl, she'd also become a firm believer in the comfort of physical contact. "What are you thinking?" she asked diffidently.

Cora considered that. For a moment, her eyes regained some wariness. Erica wasn't sure if that was progress or not. But Cora replied. "I don't know what I'm thinking. Like, five hours ago I was a computer geek on the guys track team. Now I'm a tiny little girl with a squeaky voice and I have to learn Magic! I don't even believe... I never believed in Magic."

"It was a big shocker for me, too," Erica said. "I always thought my Mom was, like, a little flaky. Then, one night..." The story of her Transformation came spilling out. She kept nothing back, even the embarrassing parts, encouraged by the interest Cora showed. Any engagement was better than those dead eyes. Besides, she'd never had anyone to talk to about it except her Mom.

She wrapped up with her Mother leaving her at the table holding the scrapbook. For an interval Cora was quiet, but - thank the Goddess - it was a thoughtful, meditative silence.

"So... what do you think about all this now?" she asked.

"I don't... Goddess, I don't know what to think either." Erica made a little squeak of frustration. When Cora cocked her head, she suddenly realized how girlishly she was acting. She couldn't remember when she'd last been so self-conscious about acting feminine.

With a little more dignity, she said, "It's just so confusing, you know?"

Cora looked away. "That's not the word I'd pick."

Erica mused that things were bad when biting sarcasm was an improvement. She put her hand on Cora's shoulder. "I know you're scared, and I don't blame you. I was terrified when I first realized I was stuck as a girl. But I'll be there to help. We can do this together." She smiled, hoping to cheer up the new girl. "And really, it's not all bad." It was her turn to look away. "Honestly? Before this... I'd almost decided to stay a girl."

She felt Cora stiffen, but the involuntary Transformee didn't pull away. "And now?" she asked quietly.

"Now I'm not so sure. I love my Mom, and I liked the other Sisters, but... seeing what they did..." She shook her head. "I don't think I want anything to do with that."

After a lull, Cora spoke. "Don't you miss being a boy?"

That stumped Erica for a bit. "I..." She searched her feelings, floundering. "Not really. Not usually. Not anymore. I mean, at first, sure. But after a while..." She shrugged. "Only once in a while, these days. Like when..." she abruptly cut herself off.

"What?" Cora asked.

"Well..." she began, reluctantly. "...when you had that gun on me. For a second I wished I was strong enough to try to grab it."

"Oh." Cora brooded for a while. Eventually, she said, "Sorry. I mean, I thought you were... I don't know what I thought. But if it really wasn't your fault..." she trailed off. "Sorry."

A conditional apology was probably all she'd get. "S'okay." She thought for a second, then asked, "Speaking of... if you knew something was up, I woulda thought you'd do something more, I dunno, subtle. You're usually pretty tricky."

Cora squinted sideways at her, then shrugged. "Game it out. I knew that somebody could change people's memories, change the internet, everything." She put up her hands. "So, something or somebody that could squash me like a bug if they knew I knew. And nobody else picked up on it. I watched for months, but nobody else seemed to think anything special about you."

Cory had been like this sometime, explaining some programming trick. "So I couldn't ask anybody for help. And even, like, investigating was risky. I couldn't even do much web searching on you, in case there were traps for people looking." She shrugged. "But I couldn't just let it go. Who'd get replaced next? Who'd already been replaced, but I didn't know to look?"

Erica felt terrible, imagining how scared and lonely Cory must have been.

"So, someone or something powerful and sneaky. I couldn't beat 'em on power, or probably on sneaky. Literally the only clue I had was you. So I picked when I hit, when you were alone. And yeah, I brought a gun. Wasn't sure it'd do any good, but... something I heard once. Some Chinese general, he said, 'On desperate ground, fight.' Maybe it won't do any good, but if you just sit there you automatically lose."

Erica tried to picture herself - or Eric - doing what Cory had. She shivered. For a while, nobody said anything.

In a calculated risk, she edged closer, pulled Cora into a gentle hug. For a moment, Cora pulled back, and Erica feared she'd made a mistake... but then the girl sagged closer.

"I don't have anything of mine anymore," Cora said despairingly. "Not even my body. I didn't know anyone could take that away."

"You've still got your mind," Erica said. "And it was always a really good one."

"And how long will I have that?" she whispered.

"I'm not some pod-person who replaced Eric, you know," Erica said with as much reassurance as she could muster. "I had to learn a lot, but I didn't die or anything."

At that, Cora began to weep, softly at first. Erica had been half aiming for this, but now that it had arrived it was unnerving. She just held her friend, stroking her hair as the tears increasingly flowed, as frightened and grieving sobs choked out. It was clear that Cora, or Cory, had little experience with crying.

Erica was hardly shocked when the grasps and gasps began to shift into strokes and moans. If her own experience was any guide, Transformed bodies were very easily aroused. She herself had felt some stirrings at their physical contact, though she never would have acted on them absent signs of reciprocation. So she let her hands move, kissed the top of the apprentice girl's head. Cora desperately needed to release some tension, and anything that would make her new form less terrifying would be a plus.

Cora tilted her head up, and their lips met. Seconds later their tongues slicked against each other. Erica sensed Cora's tears running along her own cheeks, and wondered if she'd ever have a 'first time' where she didn't feel guilty about something.

The new girl's arms pulled tight, forcing them together, clutching Erica like a life preserver. Erica sensed Cora wriggling her hips, understood the tension that drove the motions, even if Cora probably didn't yet. She ran a hand over Cora's ass, extracting a moan and some flexion.

Cora eased up on her hold and they lay back on the bed. It was strange making love to someone smaller than herself again. She snuck a hand up and started unbuttoning the pajamas Cora had just donned minutes ago.

She decided not to advance things until they were both naked. No matter how potent the hormones of her Transformed body, Cora was not remotely comfortable with being a girl. Having a pretty, nude female to look at, to touch, would likely help distract her.

Once they were properly unclothed, Erica got right to business. It would normally be madness to rush a girl's first time, but circumstances were hardly normal here. If she could get Cora to come quickly, her freshly multi-orgasmic nature would almost force her to keep going.

Her finger found Cora's clit almost instantly and provoked an involuntary yelp of shock and pleasure. Cora struggled in her embrace for a moment, until Erica realized what she was aiming for. She let go with her other arm and kept massaging Cora at her most sensitive point. The girl commenced licking and suckling at Erica's breasts.

Erica used the rapid thrumming technique that she'd found so effective on herself. For a few seconds she was unsure if it was working - she'd expected a moan or at least a whimper. Instead Cora panted faster. Erica felt moisture beading on her own pussy lips and squeezed her legs together.

Cora grunted, her breath hitched... and she started to buck. About the third pulse she finally cried out, unable to contain herself anymore. Even then she wasn't as loud as Erica had expected.

Erica held herself close, kept her finger moving between Cora's clenched legs. The orgasm and Cora's moans eventually subsided. She reclined, breathless. "Whoa," she said, stunned.

"I know," Erica said, appreciatively.

Presently they moved into a 69 with Cora on top. The girl was so slight that her weight was no problem. But Erica had to bend more than she'd have liked to get her tongue into Cora's pussy.

Even Cora's labia were beautiful. Eric's porn collection had always included fleshier pudenda that didn't quite conceal the delicate lips within, and Erica concurred. While probing between those inner lips, Erica confirmed that Cora lacked a hymen. She silently thanked the Goddess for small favors. She didn't want to think about how complicated things might have become, psychologically, if Cory had been a virgin.

There were further testimonies to Cory's carnal education. While Cora's technique on Erica's flesh understandably lacked subtlety, she was already better at cunnilingus than Eric had been. The naïveté was almost charming in a way.

They kept at it for over an hour. At the end Cora still couldn't be termed 'relaxed', but she was able to fall asleep, which was the best Erica had hoped for.

Miranda watched Erica's thoughts until the girls nestled together under the covers and dozed off. She was both incredibly proud of her daughter's compassion and courage and terribly frightened and frustrated about the situation those traits had landed them in.

~~~~~

While Miranda was rolling fretfully in an attempt at sleep, Jacqui sat in her home office, still working Magic both supernatural and technological. She had conjured the pistol back into Mr. Ellsworth's safe, and the note into Cory's old room. She had erased any traces of Cory on the Jardin's side of town, and created spurious indications of him taking a bus to San Francisco. More would need to be done, but the exact steps would depend on how the police pursued the case.

Now, Jacqui was laboring to arrange medical, academic, and custodial histories for the Sisterhood's newest member. It was frustrating how many shortcuts she'd had to take, each one a calculated risk. As a very minor consolation, the school transfer didn't need to be Magically rushed. It could proceed via normal channels and be ready in time for next semester.

She sighed, a nauseating mix of fatigue and tension swirling in her stomach, and looked at the clock. After three in the morning. She'd reached her limits for the night. If she didn't rest now she'd be useless tomorrow. She shut things down, locked her screen, and moved through the darkened house.

Every so often she had nightmares that she'd made a mistake, that the Brotherhood knew everything, that they had just been playing with her. Sometimes she was back again on that stone slab, Magically restrained, moments from being raped.

Worse, though, were the times when it was Alice there on the slab.

She crept up the stairs and silently opened a door, peeking in on Alice and Lani. (An impromptu sleepover had been called, it having been too late for Bronwyn to make the drive.) The girls lay in deep slumber, wrapped around the stuffed giraffe between them. Jacqui, tired, fought back sudden tears. The love she felt, the gratitude that their babies were safe, was overwhelming.

In the dreams, it was never Erich Lancaster threatening her; it was always some faceless dark figure. Even her subconscious saw no threat from little Lani anymore. Such a sweet girl. The Goddess' way, the way of love, was better than hate and fear. Jacqui had no doubt of that now.

She closed the door without a sound, and made her way down the hall to her Mother's room, going slowly to take a chance to compose herself.

Bronwyn and Laurie were sitting on the bed, talking in low murmurs. Jacqui stepped in and they looked up at her, questions in their eyes. Jacqui put off those queries, and said raggedly, "I don't know about you two, but I would really like to be held."

Their arms opened and Jacqui fell gratefully into a group hug. She squeezed her dear friend and mentor, and her Mother, both of whom squeezed back just as fiercely. When she kissed Laurie, she was a bit taken aback at the tongue that probed in return. Then, as she felt her body respond, the surprise faded. Naturally the Chief Healer of the Sisterhood had a sense for what people needed.

Bronwyn picked up the change in tenor and began to undress Jacqui from behind. The women, unhurried, took turns removing clothes from each other in a delightful slow dance. Bronwyn and Laurie had gotten older since they'd first played these games with Jacqui, but never lost their allure. Beautiful, both of them, in different ways. Bronwyn, slim and elegant, with an odd combination of dignified gravitas and a dirty mind. Laurie, voluptuous and so unselfishly giving. Around fifty they were now, sagging a little here and there, laugh lines on their faces. No less gorgeous for all that.

Jacqui wasn't a teenager anymore herself. Still in shape, still playing basketball - she'd come that close to trying out for the WNBA - but thirty was just a year away.

In the back of her mind she wondered; if she was going to have another child, it should be soon. Carrying babies was a young woman's game. She'd frolicked with men on occasion; Bronwyn had taught her the ways Sisters used to prevent conception. She'd never found a man whose child she wished to bear, though, and the mental reserve she had to maintain made sex with them substantially less pleasurable than it should be.

Not like with her beloved Marcus, the boy who'd given her Alice just before being killed by the Brotherhood. Goddess, that weekend with him had been so good...

She had long ago deduced that Marcus had been helped by Bronwyn and Laurie. He had been too good to be true in some ways.

What Bronwyn had said to Cora was the truth, though. Suggestions and planted dreams could only do so much. Her and Marcus' love had been tended and nurtured and encouraged, certainly. It had been no less real for that.

Could she love another man the way she'd loved Marcus? For Sisters, finding a mate was a matter of hard choices. Men who would be content with their sons being turned into girls - let alone their mates having been boys once - were practically nonexistent. The scattered exceptions in history were almost fairy tales, legends told by Sisters.

In real life, it came down to two alternatives. Many Sisters would find a lover, get pregnant, then fake their death and flee to raise the child alone. Others would use a divination to find a good man who was fated to die before long, and bear his child - Jacqui's father had been a soldier. Either way involved pain and grief.

Mind-controlling a man to accept the situation wasn't an option so much as a grim, distasteful necessity, only occasionally resorted to in their battle with the Brotherhood.

Laurie's lips between her legs, Bronwyn's hands on her breasts and tongue in her mouth, drove away all dark reflections for a time. They coaxed her into a relatively lengthy session; her fatigue had been largely mental and emotional, not physical, and lovemaking was better restorative for that than sleep. It was a rare passive interlude; Jacqui tended to be aggressive in bed.

Lounging decadently in the afterglow, gently stroking each other, did them all good. But duty called, and there were things to discuss before they could sleep. She rolled onto her belly, lifted her head, and softly filled the women in on what she'd been doing, the misdirections and refilings.

Bronwyn sighed. "After your Transformation, I thought we'd seen the worst case scenario," she lamented. "But this... Goddess, I never imagined such a debacle in my nightmares."

"No way around it, the odds are terrible here. We've got to come up with a fallback plan if Cora can't manage a Transition," Jacqui mused.

"One that doesn't cost us Erica," Laurie said with, for her, surprising sharpness. "Goddess, we could really use that kind of determination."

The other two nodded thoughtfully. "This is going to give us trouble no matter what happens," Bronwyn fretted.

Laurie sniffed. "You know, luv, we're not the only ones being inconvenienced. Miranda made a mistake, but we were about to make one just as terrible."

"How could we expect someone with the Dark Power who wasn't a Brother?" Jacqui said, defenses up.

Laurie's voice was that of Mother scolding daughter. "The point is, we didn't check, didn't ask, didn't think. We only reacted."

"Well, if he'd done something like that to the Brotherhood, they'd just have killed him," Jacqui riposted faintly.

"'Not as bad as the Brotherhood' isn't much to brag about." Laurie noted dryly. "We have wronged Cora. I hope the mistake isn't irrevocable, but we should learn from it in any case."

"No one shows the Goddess' Love more than you, Laurie. Thank you for being our conscience." Bronwyn's loving smile wasn't the least bit sarcastic.

"I have a feeling this Transformation is going to test the Sisterhood like never before. Goddess grant we're equal to the task." Jacqui hated to see Laurie's brow so troubled.

Silence reigned for a moment. Bronwyn broke it first. "What we owe her aside, I'm worried about someone who possesses the Gift of the Goddess and doesn't share our values. Cora could be very dangerous once she's got some training."

Jacqui shrugged. "We're safe for now. From that, at any rate. Women can't wield the Dark Power, and she can't manifest the power of the Goddess yet. Even after her First Flow... with her attitude, I'm not sure she can learn."

"Especially from Miranda. Cora has reason to hate all of us, but she's the one who Transformed her." Laurie hesitated. "Should we bring in another Sister?"

Jacqui and Bronwyn exchanged pained glances. Bronwyn took responsibility. "No. Not yet."

"But..." Laurie began.

Her friend, lover, and High Priestess overrode her. "For now, we still have to regard Cora as a threat. At least a potential one. The fewer Sisters she can expose, the better."

Laurie frowned. "How can she trust us if we don't trust her?"

Bronwyn shook her head. "Luv, for now we don't - can't - trust her. Not any more than we're doing right now." She sighed. "Perhaps in a few weeks..."

Troubled though they were, sleep was not long in coming once the light was switched off. It had been a long day.

~~~~~

Miranda sank into the bath, almost whimpering with exhaustion. She begrudged spending even the energy it took to keep her face above water. It had been another very rough day. Disastrous, in fact. The morning had started out rotten and things had only gotten worse from there.

Trying to explain the situation to Haylie had been draining all by itself. Deciding what her adopted daughter needed to know, versus what she had to be protected from, had taken serious thought. In the end, she told her most of the truth of who Cora had been, and that an unfortunate accident had occurred. They needed to show Cora the Love of the Goddess by keeping her secret and helping her learn Magic.

Most eleven-year-olds couldn't be trusted with such a situation. Yet Haylie had kept the Magic secret all this time, despite temptations. That was one of the few things Miranda wasn't worried about.

She'd hoped the girls' lovemaking last night would soften Cora's attitude, help turn her thoughts to fresh possibilities. Instead the new girl had woken in a venomous mood that made Miranda, half-ashamed, long for a little catatonia.

Maybe it had been having to brush out her tangled mane. She'd never had the opportunity to learn the tricks of long hair. You had to start from the ends and work in stages back to the scalp. Starting at the top - the way Cora had - was just an exercise in pain.

They had not, in fact, gone shopping at all. Aside from the issues of keeping Cora concealed for now - they were still waiting on word from the Sisterhood's leadership - by her behavior she would stand out too much. So they'd scavenged what clothing they could and started some classes on femininity. Miranda had softened her approach greatly; the haughty strictness that had served Erica so well would hardly be appropriate for an involuntary student.

Her adjustments had been in vain. Cora cooperated with the initial deportment lessons to the most minimal possible degree, hardly bothering to conceal her seething contempt and rage. That hadn't helped her performance. End-of-semester exams loomed close, but Erica had stayed home from school, attempting to act as a buffer between her Mother and her friend. With strictly limited results, unfortunately.

Things had come to a head after several hours. Everyone was wiped out, nerves frayed, and Cora had struck a pose... even now, in the tub, Miranda chortled involuntarily. Though beautiful like most Sisters, Cora was such a tiny girl. Striving to stand with ladylike dignity, wobbling on heels, scowling murderously... she'd resembled a cross between a pixie and a Valkyrie, a child playing dress up in her mother's clothes and a scorned woman.

Miranda, run as ragged as her charges, hadn't been able to stifle a chuckle. And that had set Erica off, and then Miranda had lost it, and they'd both tried to stop laughing, Goddess knew they'd tried, but...

Cora, livid, had to be physically restrained from attacking Miranda. Once she'd regained a measure of control, Cora had forcefully kicked the heels off her feet, stalked up the stairs without a word, and locked herself in her room. She hadn't come out for dinner and ignored Erica's plaintive requests to let her in. Miranda had kept her word and not intruded on Cora's mind, but several times tonight she'd felt for the girl's aura just to make sure she hadn't snuck out or hurt herself.

It didn't help that Miranda had work piled up. Planning for Erica's Transformation, she'd arranged for a couple months of light duty so she could devote herself to her daughter at the critical initial stages of her Transition. Since then, she'd been tackling the backlog, but she hadn't planned to take on another Transition so soon!

Dread in her heart, she looked at the clock. Sure enough, it was almost time for the progress report to the other Sisters. Bone weary, she heaved herself upright and began the slow climb out of the too-welcoming water.

~~~~~

Jacqui had set up a conference for the Sisters to discuss the situation. Miranda and Erica sat together in the dining room, looking at Erica's laptop. Jacqui and Laurie were visible by webcam, but Bronwyn was voice-only. Jacqui had been unable to talk her through the necessary computer setup.

Miranda was wrapping up the report. "...and I knew it was wrong, I knew it would hurt her, but we just couldn't help ourselves." Erica had nothing to add; she simply sighed, contrite and despondent.

Jacqui went over the actions she'd taken on Cora's behalf. "I'll drive down tomorrow with the paperwork. The cops aren't prioritizing the search; runaways don't get the resources kidnappings do." She shifted topics. "Erica, we need to strategize about Cora. We can't peek at her mind, so if we're going to find a workable approach we need you to tell us everything you know about who Cory was."

Erica's eyes went vague with thought. "Cory... huh. Smart, for one thing, really smart. Not just, y'know, brains. He's... was... I dunno, tricky. Sneaky. It's like he looks... looked at things from a different angle." She considered her words. "He wouldn't just take the obvious way to solve a problem. He'd come up with another way, usually a better way."

"I don't follow," Laurie admitted.

"We always had Cory check our programs for bugs. Especially security bugs. He just... saw the wrong way to do things, the case you didn't plan for." Her brow furrowed in frustration. "He could... Crap. I don't know how to say it. Sometimes programmers compete for how obscure they can be. They write a program where it's hard to figure out what it does, or that looks like it does one thing but actually does something else. Cory was awesome at that."

Jacqui looked thoughtful. "I think I get it." Bronwyn and Laurie made noncommittal noises.

She tried to think of salient points. "He wasn't religious. Kinda skeptical. He and I - well, Eric - used to make fun of 'New Age' types sometimes," she admitted. "I think finding out Magic is real was almost as big a shock as, well, you know."

Jacqui snorted. She understood that, too.

Erica thought more. "Responsible kinda guy. Mature, for a boy. He never turned in homework late that I remember. Made it to practice for track unless he was sick. Kept the rest of us on course with our group projects." She thought for a few more moments. "Was track captain. And he did debate for a while. I think until Junior year."

"What about his sexuality?" Miranda prompted. "How was he with girls?"

"Well, he wasn't gay, or even bi that I ever saw." Erica snorted. "Got more pussy than Eric did, that's for sure." The other Sisters chuckled a little. Mom had been right, girls and women were a lot less demure when guys weren't around.

"He was..." She searched for words. "Confident. Self-possessed. He knew who he was, y'know?" She cocked her head. "Maybe that's why he did well with girls." She could see how, from a girl's perspective, that might be attractive in a boy.

Miranda smiled inwardly, pleased to see her daughter growing in wisdom, to see a sign her daughter's Transition hadn't been totally derailed.

"But now she isn't that person anymore. Can't be," Bronwyn lamented. "And even if she manages to become male again, she won't be that Cory again. She'll have grown and changed too much." A pause. "Do you think she realizes that?"

"Not much got past Cory," Erica answered sadly.

There was a morose lull. Then Laurie spoke up. "What's she doing right now?"

Jacqui reached out of frame. There came a sound of keys tapping; she looked at a window they couldn't see. "She's on Miranda's netbook, looking up articles on witchcraft and psychology."

"You said you wouldn't spy on her!" Erica objected.

Jacqui rolled her eyes. "We swore we wouldn't spy on her mind, and we haven't. But Erica, come on! We need to have some insight into her thoughts and feelings! There's so much that can go wrong here. Frankly, I still doubt it can ever go right."

"Did you guys spy on my mind?" Erica suddenly asked.

The Sisters were silent. Miranda looked at her daughter, reflecting that she'd have been happier with the girl's growing intuition under other circumstances. "I have. Just a little, just to make sure you were okay."

Erica looked like she'd just bit down on a lemon. "Huh."

~~~~~

Erica knocked on Cora's door one last time. "Cora, please, let me in. I brought you a sandwich." No response. "I'm really sorry. I just... I just want to see you're okay." She waited, knocked again. "Please. I'm so sorry."

Noises, soft, on the other side of the door. Movement. "Go away."

More than she'd gotten all evening. "Cora, please. I feel terrible about... about everything. Can I come in, please?"

She almost gave up, again, when the door clicked. She reached out found the handle would turn. She opened the door and peeked in.

Cora stood at the corner of the bed, facing away. She was naked. The dress she'd been wearing, along with the panties, lay in scraps on the floor. Erica's jaw tightened, imagining the fury that must have fueled that outburst. To her relief, she saw no signs Cora had tried to take it out on her own body; that had been the dark fear haunting Erica's thoughts all evening. The netbook sat by the pillow, screen lit.

"Are you hungry?" Erica asked timidly.

She pondered that for a moment. "A little."

Cora was more than 'a little' hungry, judging from how she wolfed down the sandwich. Erica sat on the bed near her, keeping quiet. Once the meal was over, Cora seemed to be at a loss. She sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the rug on the floor, head turned slightly away.

After a while, Erica spoke. "Sorry, again."

"Why is there always something you have to apologize for?"

The words sank like a dagger into Erica's heart. "I'm sorry. We were all tired."

Cora was silent for a time. Then, quietly, "I know how I look. I hate it. Like a little fucking girl. I don't want to be cute!"

"It's not forever," Erica said, with as much conviction as she could muster.

Cora didn't say anything. She didn't have to.

Erica attempted to move on. "We can't do anything more tonight. You should just try to rest."

Cora replied - not challenging, just certain. "Not gonna happen." Erica could see how tightly Cora was wound.

It sparked an idea. "Look, lay down here. I'll give you a backrub."

Cora pursed her lips and regarded Erica with deep suspicion... but finally laid down on her belly.

Erica began with Cora's neck and shoulders. As anticipated, the muscles were knotted and stiff. Erica kneaded them slowly and gently, never taking her hands off the girl's skin. Miranda had taught her that breaking contact induced subtle tension, a subconscious confusion as to where they'd move to.

She patiently worked her thumbs and knuckles up and down along Cora's spine, then spread to the shoulderblades. Then effluage along her flanks.

It was so weird, a strange kind of inside-out déjà vu. Cora's skin was getting goosebumps, and her breath was coming faster. Goddess, she thought, are all Sisters this easy? She recalled her narrow escape from Lucas, which sharpened her own lusts. Maybe we are...

Down to her waist now, gentle pressure. Cora wriggled once, then held herself still.

Erica didn't need Magic to read Cora's mind. She slid a hand between Cora's legs, and was rewarded with a faint moan.

While she tickled and teased Cora's labia, Erica bent down and kissed Cora's rump. The girl shifted under her, groaning. She wanted to tell Cora she was beautiful. It didn't seem right that she could be so pretty, so sexy, and not appreciate it. A girl should know when she's beautiful, Erica thought.

But Cora hated the very thought of that. Probably hated her, too, for her part in it.

Erica's fingers slid deeper, tracing the new crevices. Last night she'd gotten her tongue in there, but not forcefully. She had a hunch that Cora was going to have to work up to much in the way of penetration. Still, as fingertips began to gently stimulate the clit, Erica let her thumb wander a little into Cora.

Cora was openly panting now, making little noises - they could scarcely be called moans - and she gripped handfuls of the bedspread tightly. Erica leaned down and kissed Cora's back. Cora's backside lurched and she climaxed, whining and whimpering.

Once it had passed, Cora rolled over and dragged her tormentor down beside her. In a bit of a frenzy, she almost attacked Erica with kisses and insistent fingers. Once Erica had to tell Cora to ease up, and she did so, though she remained urgent.

At last they were spent and lay beside each other. Erica knew that no problems were solved... but at least they could be put aside for a time.

They rested, intertwined. Then, "I don't really know you, y'know," said Cora out of the blue.

"Huh?" Erica asked, confused.

"I mean, I've really seen you this year at school, I guess. But what I remember from before, that never happened. It wasn't you, Erica, that I worked with on those programs. It was a guy named Eric, and I can't remember him."

"I guess that's right," Erica said, cautiously, unsure where Cora was going.

"Sometimes I feel like I can almost remember something. Like your kitchen. I must have come here before."

"A few times when we worked on assignments. And when we were kids, you used to come over here."

"Man, that's weird. We did used to live on Chesterton, didn't we?" She shook her head. "So, we were friends for a long time?"

"Well, when we were kids. Then you moved, and I didn't see you until high school."

"That's so fucked up." Cora sat, brooding. "What was Eric like?"

Erica was flummoxed. "I don't know... I mean, he was me, but..." She struggled. "Like me now, but..." A grunt. "A boy. A bit more geeky than you or Josh or Scott, kinda. Played baseball. Built models." She thought a moment. "Wore his glasses more often."

"I like the way you look with glasses," Cora said.

"Well, thanks," Erica said. She reflected a moment more, and smiled. "He thought about girls a lot. Jerked off a lot."

"TMI," Cora said, but didn't seem particularly offended. "I wish I could remember. You know, compare you now to you then."

"It's not that hard. I don't feel all that different..." she trailed off.

Cora gave her a funny look. "When I look at you, I see a girl. The way you move, act, talk. Was Eric, like... effeminate?"

"No!" Erica cried. "I don't... have I really changed that much?"

Cora frowned, staring up at the ceiling. "That's what I'd like to know."

"I guess I could see if my Mom could get your old memories back..." Erica offered.

Cora looked at her appraisingly. "Nah. Nobody's getting in my head again."

"I didn't mean..." Erica quickly began.

Cora cut her off. "Relax. I didn't think you were trying to trick me. No offense taken, or whatever." She shrugged. "If I learn Magic, maybe I'll learn enough to fix my own head. Until then... I guess if I know my head's been fucked with, then I know it hasn't been fucked with. More, I mean." She frowned. "Does that make sense?"

Erica thought about it. "As much as any of this does, I guess."

~~~~~

"Jewel Cora Pinto?" Cora cried disbelievingly. "What the fuck?" She waved the Social Security card in Jacqui's face.

The Sister shrugged. "You'll have to tell people you go by your middle name. It was the best I could do. I had to commandeer an identity that's been baking for a couple years. Altering the middle name was as far as I dared go."

The sour expression that seemed tattooed on Cora's face tightened even further as she examined the driver's licence. "So I'm from... Rochester, New York?"

"Your father got a job for a year in the Middle East. Your mother went with him, but they sent you to live with your cousins," Bronwyn waved at Erica, "so you could stay in U.S. schools."

"Right. 'Jewel'..." Cora was clearly underwhelmed.

"Well, I do have one other thing you'll probably like," Jacqui said. She pulled a wide flat box out of a plastic bag.

"A laptop!" Cora's face lit up for a moment before she remembered she was angry. "Got any spyware on it?"

Jacqui let the jibe pass. "Not unless Acer loaded it up at the factory." She prudently didn't bring up the fact that, with Magic, she could see anything she wanted on the laptop anyway.

Cora was checking the specs on the box. "I wonder..." she looked questioningly at the Sisterhood's 'Security Officer'. "Any chance you could pull some stuff from my box at home? My mp3s at least?"

Jacqui thought for a moment. "That should be safe enough. Give me a few days, though. I'm kinda busy just now." She was pulling out her own laptop. "Speaking of, I need you to record a message for your parents, let them know you're okay. We'll leave it on their voicemail. It'll take the heat off even more."

Cora frowned sullenly. "They're not gonna buy this voice."

"I can take care of that," Jacqui declared confidently.

And so it was. She cast a minor illusion spell and Cora's voice dropped at least two octaves. Once the recording program was up, she spoke into the microphone. "Mom, Dad, it's Cory. I'm sorry. Something happened and, and, I had to go. I'm safe, I promise, but... I won't be coming back soon. But I'm coming back, I promise. I... I love you. I'm sorry."

Erica fought back tears and even Jacqui swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. Bronwyn stared out the window, discomfited. The gender might be disguised, but the grief in that voice couldn't be hidden.

The chore done, Jacqui packed up to leave. "Whaddaya gonna use to get it to them? Skype? You don't want it traced," Cora asked, her new breathy soprano restored.

"Nah, I do want it traced. Disposable pay-as-you-go cell, in Seattle. We need all the false trail we can get."

Cora nodded slowly, and a bit sadly. "That'd work."

Miranda came into the dining room where the women milled. "Everything's in place for Cora," Bronwyn told her. She explained the cover story and told Miranda how to access the account Cora's 'parents' had 'set up to cover expenses'. Quick goodbyes and the two senior Sisters were on their way, saying only that they had "another stop to make".

Cora looked over her fresh bona fides once more. "What now? How can I amuse you today?" she challenged.

Miranda and Erica winced. "You need clothes, toiletries... everything, really," Miranda said in a level tone, "and now we have the funds to buy them."

"Dress-up, huh? Awesome," Cora said, with a tone that said 'so not awesome'.

Erica's phone sang. "Ergh, it's Trahn," she explained as she typed a return text. "I'm missing Saturday practice right now, she wants to know if I'm OK."

"I'm sorry your life is so disrupted," Cora sniped. Erica didn't know how to respond and just stayed bent over the phone.

~~~~~

The woman intoned softly in a tongue that predated Indo-European. The room was dark, the air heavy with incense.

Her eyes, unseeing, stared forward, gazing at nothing present. Her voice was altered, eerie and unearthly. In the language of the Sisters, her words rhymed, made several allusions to Sisterhood mythology, and had a musical lilt. In English, they might have been translated as:

darkness bound within light, deceiving shape
the hidden serpent coils, strikes to escape
power beyond memory, two souls unborn
to bridge a chasm, a chasm is formed

Her eyes closed, her head bowed, the words ceased. There was silence for a beat. Then she stirred, looked around as though she were waking from a dream. "Did it work?" she asked, curiously.

The two Sisters nodded in reassurance. "Yes, thank you, Daria," Bronwyn said.

The woman looked troubled. "I don't remember what happens in the trance. But sometimes I get feelings, images. This one... I just picture her at the... the focus, the balance point. A lot of forces swirling around her, a... moment of decision."

Bronwyn and Jacqui exchanged uneasy glances. "If anything more comes to mind, please don't hesitate to let us know," Bronwyn implored. "We can use all the help we can get with this one." Daria promised to meditate on the matter.

The two Sisters left the unassuming tract house soon after, blinking at the midday sun. They remained pensive in the car for several minutes. Finally, Jacqui spoke. "If only it could have been a little more specific."

"Oracular pronouncements seldom are," Bronwyn lamented.

"Do you have any idea how to interpret it?"

"Not yet," Bronwyn admitted. "I'm a bit concerned about a 'hidden serpent' 'striking' and 'escaping'. Let alone 'darkness'."

"'Two souls unborn'? And how does a chasm bridge a chasm?" Jacqui fretted. Logic puzzles she enjoyed, but this was a riddle with missing elements. "I know Cora has a lot of decisions to make, but the way Daria was talking... it sounds like she might become important."

"I know. I'd much rather she have a nice quiet Transition and go back to her life from before." Bronwyn sighed. "Well, maybe Laurie will have some insight."

Jacqui nodded. "Hope the girls are behaving for her."

~~~~~

Erica had been looking forward to shopping for Cora, at least a little. She'd expected to get some fun out of trying different looks out on the girl. Cora proved to be an emotional black hole, however, sucking joy from all she came across. They had tried for the longest time to engage her in the process, get her to make suggestions. She resolutely refused to volunteer any positive preferences, however; instead acting as a font of emphatic vetoes.

Cora stepped out of the changing room wearing a tunic dress, knee-high socks, and flat pumps. She came over to where Erica and Miranda were standing. By some dark, inverted miracle she managed to lumber instead of walk, despite being so petite. "I feel like I'm wearing a long shirt and no pants!" she hissed, face a little red.

"Well, you kinda are," Erica admitted. "But it looks good on you."

"That's so comforting," she snarked back. She glanced at Miranda, clearly asking for permission to retreat to the changing room for the dubious blessing of another potential outfit. Miranda nodded and she marched into the recesses of the back room.

The Jardin women sat in quiet commiseration for a beat. "Too bad she won't let us use some brighter colors on her," Erica said. "She'd could really pull off something all-pink." On a smaller girl, lots of pink could be sweet and pretty. Erica was too developed in the bust and hips; on her it would come across as either stupid or trampy, depending on the details of the outfit. Not that she minded the occasional pink accent, of course... And then she blinked at the "of course". Cora's presence was rubbing her nose in how much she'd changed in the past... was it really only five months?

Miranda was shaking her head. "Or, Goddess would she be cute in a sundress!" Erica bobbed her head and made a "hmm" of agreement.

Cora presented herself again. She seemed marginally less uncomfortable in trousers and a blouse. Miranda had an excellent eye, and the fit was good. Erica could tell that the outfit would need some jewelry or possibly a scarf to liven it up, but felt it would be unwise to point that out to the girl at this juncture.

A couple boys walked by in the main aisle. Erica would hardly have noticed them giving her the once-over if they hadn't moved on to Cora. One said something inaudible to the other and he sniggered. As they walked on they gave each other a fist bump.

Cora glared after them. Without asking, she stalked back to the changing room again.

An hour more of clothes, and they moved onto shoes. Footgear had been a revelation to Erica. Eric had possessed three pairs of shoes - sneakers, sandals, and one black formal - and a single pair of work boots. Erica owned eight pairs of shoes, and four pairs of boots useless for manual labor. She still felt a little restricted in her choices when putting together an ensemble.

Cora was not enthused. She was dismayed at how tiny her feet were, she was irritated at how off-balance she felt from even a one-inch heel, and she was a little stunned at how she could not find any sneakers with just one color. The closest she came were some white sneakers with a butterfly pattern on the toes. Another exhausting hour passed.

"All right, that's enough," Miranda declared. "Let's get all this together and go pay."

"We're done?" Cora said, such plaintive hope in her voice.

"With this store, yes. I'm afraid we have a few more stops to make." The hope visibly died in Cora, but she followed them up front. Miranda got in line at the registers and the girls went to 'freshen up'.

Erica pulled her hair back with one hand and sipped from the drinking fountain. Cora went ahead, around the corner to the bathrooms. After a few seconds, there came a muffled shriek. Erica bolted upright and sprinted in the direction Cora had gone.

She saw the girl emerging from the Men's room, a red flush blossoming on her face, underlining the enraged scowl she wore. She stalked right past Erica and plunged into the Women's restroom without looking to either side.

Erica stood mortified. Shit, she thought, I should have gone with her, just in case. Almost did that myself the first day.

Two young men emerged from the door Cora had fled, laughing loudly. Loudly enough to carry in to Cora, no doubt.

Of course, Erica thought. Naturally it would have to be the two fist-bumpers that had irritated Cora before. The Goddess wasn't showering them with mercy lately.

"Fuck, that was hilarious. She walked right past the urinals like she didn't even see 'em!"

His buddy was just as amused as they brushed past Erica. "Did you see her face when she finally spotted us? That was fucking epic!" He mimed Cora waving her head around in horror, jaw agape.

Erica, glaring at their backs, wished the Sisterhood believed in curses.

~~~~~

"Why do they call them 'boy-shorts'? No boy would wear these!" Cora groused as she held the panties up for inspection. They were going through the day's haul, finding homes for the clothes and other supplies.

"I dunno," Erica answered. "Just what they're called, I guess."

"Stupid name," Cora muttered. She moved on to hose, stuffing them angrily into a drawer. "Stupid clothes."

Erica thought quickly for a distraction; the frippery Cora was almost literally manhandling was too delicate for such treatment. Inspiration struck. "Not necessarily," she said slyly.

Cora didn't say anything; she just looked sharply at her novice mentor.

Erica had a smile on her face. "There're a few good things about girl's clothes. At least when you've got a girl's body to put them on."

Cora's squint remained, dubious. "What do you mean?"

"I was just remembering what I did after my first shopping trip," she said easily. "How about a little game?"

The doubt and caution filled Cora's entire demeanor now. "What?"

Erica pounced. "We go over to my room, and you can look through my stuff." Cora started to interrupt, and Erica kept talking as she put up a hand to silence her. "You can pick an outfit that I have to wear. Then we come back here and I choose some clothes for you to wear."

Cora digested that for a moment. Erica saw her nipples perk up under her t-shirt, and knew that the battle was won.

~~~~~

Erica's wardrobe had undergone enormous expansion over the course of her Transition. Amazingly, though, Cora managed to pick an outfit startlingly close to that 'naughty schoolgirl' look she'd assembled that first night. The wider selection admittedly had some impact. There was a much lacier bra on underneath, and Cora had unerringly zoomed in on Erica's sole thong. The skirt she wore was legitimately quite short, as well, and didn't need to be hiked. The resemblance felt uncanny nevertheless.

Back in Cora's room, Erica made a production of searching through the new clothes. Some of that was for show, to tease the girl a little - but mostly it was to hide the difficulty she had finding anything suitably sexy to dress Cora in. The reluctant Sister had almost exclusively gone for subdued and modest clothing. Fortunately, a little mixing and matching let her assemble something appropriately inappropriate.

Dark underwear showed behind light fabrics, for example. Even a sedate blouse could become rather sexy if a few buttons were deliberately undone. And she was perfectly willing to hike Cora's shortest skirt up a great deal.

Then she moved on to makeup. First, she did herself up, Cora watching with increasing fascination. No subtlety at all - dark eyes, flushed cheeks, bright red lips. While the outfit might have been schoolgirl-ish, from the neck up she looked like a streetwalker.

Cora's fascination collapsed when she realized it was her turn. She sat hesitantly and Erica got to work. Here she did use some subtlety, but she was pretty sure it was on a level Cora wouldn't notice. With Cora, she strove for the same thing her Mother had gone for on Erica's Transformation night - classy-sexy. It fit the outfit better anyway.

Blue-black eyeshadow to bring out the green of her eyes. A little blush - her skin was so fair it didn't take much - and red lipstick only slightly muted. Too intense for school, but not at all unusual for going out at night.

As she wrapped up, she felt a little disappointed - Miranda could have done a more refined job with the cosmetics. Erica just didn't have the lengthy practice her Mother had. Still and all, though, it looked good.

Indeed, watching Cora staring at her own reflection, she decided that going for a little elegance had been the right tactic. Cora was upset enough at being a girl; seeing herself as a slut might have proven traumatic. A sexy but sophisticated image probably wouldn't be as threatening. Hopefully it'd even be enticing. Erica sure thought she looked delectable.

"Come on, stand up, let's see the whole thing," Erica urged. Cora came slowly to her feet, still looking in the mirror. She reached up, and her fingers nearly touched her face, but she seemed to stop herself. Her eyes looked down at the polish on her nails, just finished drying. She stared at her clothes, and turned before the glass, acting stunned, almost scared.

"You look amazing," Erica gushed.

To Erica's surprise, Cora seemed so distracted by the image in the mirror she didn't automatically contradict or snap back. She didn't say anything.

Erica came up behind her. "See what I mean? Girl's clothes aren't all bad..."

Cora still didn't say anything. She just turned around and kissed Erica hard.

For several minutes, the two lay on Cora's bed, kissing and grabbing. All that fresh makeup was quickly smeared and worn away.

At last, Cora spoke, glancing down her belly. "It's still so weird, being all turned on and not having a boner."

Erica didn't want Cora dwelling on what she didn't have. "Let me show you something," Erica said. "Just lay still, okay?"

Cora frowned but complied. Erica unbuttoned Cora's blouse - only a fraction slowly, not quite teasing - then spread it apart, exposing her brassiere and belly. A moment's pause - as much to admire the view as to key Cora up - then she took on the bra. It was one that undid in the front. They'd justified it to Cora as being easier to don, but Erica proved it gave easy access to the breasts as well. The cups slipped to the sides and Cora's endowments were released.

Her nipples were rock-hard, as Erica had known they would be. Neither too large nor too small, surrounded by delicate areolae. She ran a hand along one breast, not touching the nipple yet. Her own body might have lost its ability to turn her on... but the bodies of other girls were still a wonder.

She bent down, lips parting, tongue moving forward...

Cora shifted, and began to speak. "Hey, wait, I -"

Erica paused and allowed a bit of irritation to show on her face, in her voice. "Look, just go with it for a minute? Please?" Cora's mouth quirked. "I'm not going to hurt you! Jeez!"

Cora looked away for a moment. Appearing as suspicious as if she thought Erica were hiding a knife behind her back, the new girl settled back down on the bed.

Not waiting for any more objections, Erica moved straight for Cora's right nipple and began to suckle and swirl her tongue.

Cora made a sharp hiss and stiffened. "Uhhh... fuck..." she muttered.

Erica, unflagging, continued to stimulate the bud in her mouth. After a few seconds, she gently, almost covertly brought her hand up to the nipple on the other side, softly rubbing. Their play up to now had focused on the vagina - and the relatively external portions, at that. Erica was a big fan of the clitoris, but figured it was time to introduce her friend to the wider horizons available to women.

She heard Cora's legs shift, felt her hips turn. She knew just what the girl was feeling. Breasts - nipples especially - could generate very erotic sensations. Somehow, too, the sensations seemed to echo down below. Right now, Cora would be feeling that her panties and her skirt were constricting, confining.

Cora's shoulders flexed. Her breath had become ragged. Erica's hand was squeezing the left nipple a little, her tongue flicking at the right. Cora let out a quiet groan.

Erica could feel - even partially see - how Cora's legs curled, her hips twitched slightly. A (very) few women could come from just nipple play, and Erica suspected Cora might be one, based on how she was responding. But the girl didn't know her own body yet. Women's reactions were more complicated than the straightforward - in Erica's view, almost crude - directness of male arousal.

She decided it was time to go for it. She carefully bit down, and pinched with her hand, and slipped her thigh between Cora's and pressed against the girl's crotch. As if a firing pin had been struck, Cora exploded. She cried out one long "Aaaaah!" and squirmed under Erica like a frantic animal trying to escape.

It was quite a while before the earthquake settled to aftershocks.

"Holy shit," Cora managed once she'd opened her eyes again.

Erica felt happy... and totally turned on. "Let's see if you can do that to me."

Cora smiled, and rose to take up the challenge.

~~~~~

Learning how to manage a fresh, untried body was a challenge. Erica remembered how much trouble she'd had, the first few days especially. So much of one's balance resided in the pelvis - which was shaped quite differently between men and women - and then there was the issue of breast weight. Cora didn't have quite as rounded a figure as Erica, but she was so much tinier than Cory had been that the difficulties were at least as great. Add in arm and leg bones of subtly different shapes - and radically different lengths - and things got even worse. Walking on level ground, or climbing stairs, was no real problem. But jumping, running, dancing, and so forth could be a challenge at first.

Cora proved that yet again as she tripped and sprawled onto the couch. "Graah!" she exclaimed, nearly in a rage. She got back up again and tried to get back into sync, but in her anger she moved too quickly and stumbled again, barely catching herself from falling once more.

Miranda paused the DVD. "Let's take a break, I think we're getting too worked up."

Cora scowled back over her shoulder. "'Easy beat' my ass! I can't just hop around like..." She stopped herself. "Fucking Zumba," she muttered, disgusted.

"It's a simple way to learn some coordination, and it's good exercise," Erica said in placation. "I can maybe get a Tai Chi or yoga one from the library in a few days. It's just, I used this to help get ready for cheerleading." Cora's gaze landed on her. "It's good exercise," she repeated doggedly.

"'Booty circles'," Cora quoted sarcastically. Erica remained silent. She and Miranda had picked the Latin-dance-inspired exercise because it was feminine and sexy. Giving Cora some reflexes and habits in that vein was at least as important as general coordination.

The rest of the session proceeded about the same way. In the end, Cora was so tense she was almost sending off sparks. "I'm gonna go take a shower."

Miranda said, "There's something I have to mention." She didn't look happy, but she kept on. "There's the matter of shaving..."

Cora glared. "Oh, for fuck's sake! I am not shaving my legs. I don't even want boys coming at me!"

Erica spoke up. "It's not just boys. It's everybody."

"What, like girls care?"

"That's just it. They do."

Cora stared under lowered eyes.

Erica felt a little annoyed. "Hello? You think girls don't notice other girls?" She shook her head. "Not in, like, a sex way. But come on! When you were Cory, you had to size up other guys, right? For competition, at, like, the very least."

Miranda was keeping quiet. She was relieved to let Erica take the lead, and happy with how she was handling it. Cora wouldn't accept reproof from anyone else.

Her daughter kept going. "It isn't just being all pretty or anything. It's how you want to come across to people." She gave Cora a look. "What do you think when you see a girl with hairy legs and pits? Like, what's your first guess about her personality?"

Cora's expression was one of intense thoughtfulness. The anger had been pressed aside.

Miranda stepped in. "Whatever you decide, most girls shave their legs. I'm afraid you need to try it, at least for a while." She paused. "Erica can give you some pointers."

Cora frowned, but it seemed she didn't want to make a stand on this particular point. She marched off to the stairs without a word, just a 'follow me' jerk of her head toward Erica.

She followed along, and into the spare bathroom. Before her Transformation, she'd sometimes wondered why Mom had gotten a house that had two full baths. With three females around - now, four - it was less of a mystery.

Cora had stopped, looking around uncertainly. Erica came forward. "Razors are under the sink. Gel's over here."

When Cora saw Erica was closing the drain, she spoke up. "I can just take a shower."

Erica shook her head as she turned on the spout. "Trust me, you want a bath for this."

Naturally, Cora wasn't unfamiliar with the mechanics of shaving. Erica just gave her some tips on avoiding cuts. She was glad long locker-room experience helped her come off uninterested. Goddess, Cora looked sexy in the water, one leg lifted in the air!

A difficulty presented itself as the process worked its way north.

"Where do I stop?" Cora finally asked.

Erica just shrugged. "Where you want, I guess. You don't have to shave it all off!"

"So I saw," Cora said, nodding vaguely at Erica's midsection.

Her innate honesty forced Erica to continue. "You don't have to go, y'know, as, uh, tight as I do. I mean, I got the cheerleader skirt to worry about."

Cora didn't say anything. But it was clear she was mentally comparing that miniskirt to the much lower hems she'd picked.

Erica went on. "But it looks a lot neater, if you just, y'know, shape it. A little."

"What? You don't want my bush if it's a bush?" Cora said, a little indignant, a little joking.

"I don't care," Erica averred, eighty-percent truthfully. "But you're gonna be in the girls locker room in less than a month."

Cora had very mixed feelings about that, to judge by her face.

~~~~~

It was late Sunday evening. The witches spoke quietly into the phones, fearful of waking the newest, most ornery Sister. Miranda finished going over the scarce signs of progress. "She's going to stand out in school. Three and a half weeks just isn't going to be enough time to soften her habits. Not at the rate she's willing to learn. But if we wait much longer she'd have too hard a time catching up academically."

"What about maybe homeschooling?" Erica asked hesitantly.

"No." Bronwyn's voice was emphatic. "She simply must have social interaction, and as soon as possible. Even if she's awkward and uncomfortable at first, it's the lesser evil. She needs to be with other people as a girl. Letting her retreat and hide now will delay her Transition, possibly stall it completely."

"School might really suck for her if people think she's too weird," Erica pointed out.

"Hopefully we can avoid that. But even in the worst case, it's one more semester, then she graduates," Jacqui replied. "College can be managed a little more carefully. Right now our options are limited." Everyone considered that sad truth.

Into the silence, Erica dropped her own bomb. "Why can't you take away the spell that forces her to undo the Transformation herself?"

"What? How did you..." Miranda trailed to a halt. She could see in Erica's eyes that she'd just inadvertently confirmed her daughter's theory.

"It took a while, but I suddenly realized something Bronwyn said. Making a Transformation permanent was a 'subspell'. Something deliberate. Something optional." Erica's voice was nearly toneless.

For a moment, no answer came. "You're right," Jacqui finally conceded. "It's a separate spell. But it can't be undone."

"Why not?" Erica asked pointedly. There was no answer. "Why not?" she demanded again, no longer concerned about volume.

Miranda stared at her daughter. "It's sealed with my life. The spell can only be dissolved by Cora... or by my death."

Erica felt petrified. "Oh, Goddess," she breathed. "Oh, no..."

"You can see why we didn't want to tell you. Cora mustn't find out." Bronwyn spoke urgently.

Erica could see it all clearly. Just the way Cora would. Killing Miranda - something she wanted to do anyway - would give up the power. But that wouldn't matter, if she could force the Sisters to change her back into Cory...

"Oh, Goddess," she repeated. "Why do you do that? What if things go wrong? Why can't you let us have a choice?"

Bronwyn sighed. "I know it's hard to understand, but our traditions have stood the test of time. More time than you can imagine." A pause. "We do not perform the final Transformation and the binding spell, unless we have seen the signs that the boy will be able to manage a Transition."

"But why do the binding spell at all?"

Laurie's gentle voice answered. "Would you have gone through the Transition if you had the choice then? Would you have given womanhood a fair chance?"

Erica was silent, thinking of that first night. Of course she wouldn't have. She hadn't.

Bronwyn continued. "We don't take the choice away forever. What we do is require that a Sister be fully informed before she makes the choice, that she gives Sisterhood a fair shake. But we have never prevented a Sister from Transforming herself back into a man if she so chooses."

"Until now," Erica said quietly.

Continued in Part 5