After twenty minutes of walking, Zoe reached Skylar's house. She knocked three times on the door and waited. For a minute, there was no answer. Zoe knocked again, but there was still no response. Zoe was starting to wonder if she should check the mat to see if the Gregsons still kept a house key under there when the door was finally answered by Skylar. "Zoe?" said Skylar. Her blonde hair was all messed up, and her eyes were tinged with red like she'd been crying.

"Hey Skylar," said Zoe. "Alan wanted me to bring you this award." She handed Skylar the bronze plaque Mrs. Fury and Alan had given to her.

"Thank you," said Skylar. "I take it the party's over?"

"Well, about that..."

"Come inside," said Skylar.

Zoe hesitated. Was Skylar on to her? But then she remembered what Mr. Al had said. "Okay," she said. She followed Skylar in and sat down on the couch with her.

"Was everyone else there at the party?" Skylar asked. "Alan, and Isaac, and Brittany, and-"

"Yes, they all were," said Zoe. "But Michael came too."

"He did?"

"Yeah. He wanted to brag to the rest of us that he'd decided to ditch you and your date."

Skylar's eyes started to well up again. "Yes. He did. I finally got him to agree to start dating me, and now he just..." She couldn't take it anymore. She started to cry again.

"Actually, something happened to Michael," said Zoe. "He got turned into a girl."

Skylar was so surprised, she stopped crying. "He what?"

"Right after Alan told him to get out of there, he just suddenly turned into a she."

"Oh no," said Skylar. "First Ralph, now Michael."

"I know, it's crazy," said Zoe. "I don't know how it keeps happening, but-"

"Actually, I think I do," said Skylar.

This is it, Zoe thought. This is when she's gonna tell me she's a witch.

"You know I'm adopted, right?"

"Right."

"My parents placed me for adoption when I was, like, four or five. They wanted to get rid of me because...well..."

"Well what?"

"Do you believe in witches?"

"Yes."

"Well, my mom was a witch. She'd been hoping that I'd inherit her magic, but I actually didn't. I was a Muggle. Or I guess a Squib..."

"What...you mean you weren't born with magic powers?"

"No. I'm completely normal."

It was as if a curtain fell on a lit stage inside Zoe's mind. She, Miles, and Mr. Al had been wrong. Skylar wasn't the witch they were looking for after all. In hindsight, Skylar being innocent made sense. Since Michael had just ditched Skylar and went to the club party-which Skylar hadn't followed him to-then she couldn't possibly have put a curse on him, or on Alan's backyard. And, of course, Zoe had found absolutely nothing when she broke into Skylar's house in search of evidence. "Oh..." Zoe said, not doing a very good job of hiding her disappointment.

"But I think it was a witch responsible for what happened to Ralph, and now Michael," Skylar went on. "A lot of witches like turning boys into girls-especially against their will. But they do it in secret to prevent the authorities from throwing them in prison."

Suddenly, Zoe remembered what Mr. Al had told her about the witch family he'd staked out. "Did you have a little sister?"

"Yeah, I did. She was born around the time my parents threw me out. I don't know how old she'd be by now, because sometimes witches can speed up or slow down their aging."

"Ugh," Zoe groaned. "Things just got so much harder."

"Harder?"

Zoe took a deep breath. "Skylar, can I tell you a secret?"

"I mean, I just told you a secret, so I guess so."

"Do you remember Zack Fletcher?"

"Yeah."

"I'm actually him. A witch's curse turned me into a girl."

Skylar's jaw dropped. "No way!"

"Yes way," said Zoe. She told Skylar about her little bathroom error, and the revelation that Mr. Al was secretly a witch hunter who harbored unfortunates who'd been affected by witches' curses like Zack/Zoe had. And she begrudgingly told Skylar about how Mr. Al had had her and Miles try and scope out Skylar as a suspect.

"You mean," Skylar said when Zoe was done talking, "All this time, you and Miles have been stalking me because you think I'm the one to blame for all this?"

"Yes," Zoe admitted. "Skylar, I'm so sorry. We had a hunch that it was you, and it felt like there was a lot of evidence-especially that package that got sent to my house by mistake."

"How was that package evidence?"

"Well, I noticed that the return address was for The Witches' Workshop-"

"Oh, that," Skylar laughed. "It's not a secret witches' society. It's just a company that makes makeup and perfume and things like that."

"Really?"

"Yes. Hold on a minute." Skylar left and came back a minute later with a magazine. She flipped to a page near the back of it and showed it to Zoe. "Here's the ad that I saw."

Zoe stared at the ad with disbelief. "But...if it's a real company...Miles said he looked it up online and didn't find anything about it."

"That's because the company's so new, it hasn't set up a full website yet," said Skylar. "I had to order that lipstick and perfume via mail order."

"Oh," said Zoe. "I didn't know people still ordered by mail anymore."

"Well, I didn't know people stalked people they thought were witches anymore, either."

Zoe hung her head. "Skylar, I'm so, so sorry," she said. To her surprise, she was starting to tear up herself. "Ever since I turned into a girl, it's been so hard. I've had to do my hair, and figure out how to wear girl clothes, and I have to worry about whether Brittany would still like me now that I'm female, and I have to deal with periods every month...I didn't ask for any of this. I just wanted to know who was responsible so I could get some...some kind of...I don't know, justice?"

Skylar saw how distraught Zoe was, and her expression softened. "I know," she said. "It's not always easy being a girl."

"I wish I was still a boy."

"I guess I understand how you feel," said Skylar. "If someone turned me into a boy without my consent, I'd be pretty mad, too. I'd probably want to find out who it was and see them get their comeuppance."

"So...you forgive me?"

"I guess so. You have done a lot for me. You've helped out with the breast cancer awareness club, and you turned down Michael when he tried to hit on you so I could have a chance with him."

"Even if that turned out to be pointless."

"You're still a nice girl, Zoe," said Skylar. "And I remember when you were Zack-I don't think we talked that much, but I did hear from my friends that you were a pretty cool guy. I'm glad we were able to get to know each other better."

Zoe smiled. "Thanks, Skylar," she said. She opened up her arms to hug Skylar. Skylar happily obliged, sharing a loving, sisterly hug with Zoe. Their hug was so passionate, it was almost painful when they broke apart.

"Just know this, Zoe," said Skylar. "If you need anything, I'll be here."

"You too," said Zoe.

***

Later on, Zoe went back to Miles' foster home to tell him and Mr. Al what she'd found out. Both Miles and Mr. Al listened intently as Zoe recounted every detail of her conversation with Skylar.

Miles didn't even try hiding his disappointment at the revelation that Skylar wasn't the witch after all. "I don't believe it," he said. "I was so sure that it was Skylar, I just..."

"Zoe, you said Skylar told you her little sister was born around the time her parents kicked her out?" Mr. Al asked.

"Yes."

"Then we weren't too far off. Skylar's sister could still be at Interstellar High."

"Not 'could,'" said Miles. "She has to be. That bathroom Zack went into, and the locker room that Ralph snuck into, and the breast cancer awareness club party where Michael turned into Michelle-those all revolve around Interstellar High."

"Yes, but we're still no closer to finding out just who this witch is," said Mr. Al.

"So now what do we do?" Zoe asked. "Do you still want us to do our 'witch hunt?'"

Mr. Al shook his head slowly. "I don't know," he said. "Without a prime suspect, I don't know if there's much you can do."

"Well, we can wait for something like this to happen again," said Miles. "See if there's any connections with the incidents with Ralph or Michael. Or even Zack."

"Perhaps," said Mr. Al. "And my associates and I will continue sifting through government records to try and find any possible clue. But until we find something..."

"I guess it's back to normal," Zoe said miserably. "Or as normal as it can be, with me being a girl."

To be continued...