September 8th, after a first day of school I could never forget. Not even if I wanted to, not even if I lived 300 years. Well, I say that like it’s the morning, but it’s really just past midnight.

Jade is coughing on a cigarette next to me, we’re on the back deck. It’s painfully obvious that she doesn’t smoke. I had to carry her (again) because of how sore she is, and to be fair my back aches more than a small amount…

“How do you stand these things?” I hear in her soft voice. “Wait, why are you grinning like that… it’s almost creepy.”

“Sorry, I just remembered how sexy you are. Ouch!”

She pinched my butt.

“Don’t worry! I’ll get over it! Ah! Double ow!”

She pinched me with both her hands! What is she, a crab?

“You better never forget how sexy I am, or they’ll be hell to pay!”

That doesn’t even make sense!

I look at the crescent moon, leaning over the rail of the porch. It almost looks like a cradle, although for as many times as I looked at it before as a crescent it’s never seemed so majestic.

“…Hey, Jade. You’re my girlfriend now, right?”

“Duh.”

“Pinch me, I’m dreaming!”

She did.

Rubbing my butt, I said, “I just don’t like being ambiguous is all.”

I felt her come up behind me and peck my cheek, wrapping her arms around me. I also felt something poke me, which was gonna take some getting use to.

“Well, aren’t you guys cute.”

“Oh. Fuck.”

“Babe, you gotta tell them who’s talking!”

“Wait, I get a standard pet name like ‘babe?’”

“Don’t ignore me, Tayler Lovelace!”

“This can all be explained…” I turned around, having Jade go behind me. “Mom! I can explain!”

“I eavesdropped, so actually you can’t.”

Me and my mom stood off, both of us posed as if to clash in a head on fight.

Before we burst out laughing.

“This is Jade. Jade, meet my Mom.”

“Please, call me Mary. Oh, but Tayler, please don’t be so… open about it. Jeez.”

“I thought you were closing tonight, sorry.”

“Yeah, right! You just forgot, be honest.”

I noticed Jade was still visibly stupefied. “We got you good, huh? I was just playing along with her, to be fair. So don’t pinch me, it wasn’t my idea.”

My mom wandered off somewhere and Jade finally looked at me. “I didn’t know such a family existed…”

“My mom is basically a free spirit.”

“You’re damn right I am.” She’d come back, holding a box. “Incase you ran out. Make sure yours aren’t expired.”

I put out my cigarette and grabbed the box. “I will.”

“What do you want for dinner? It’s my turn to cook.”

I set the box down on the patio table and Jade peeked inside. “I already set out some chicken to thaw, so let’s just have that.”

She waltzed off to the kitchen and Jade had her jaw dropped. “Just like that? And neither of you are embarrassed? This could never happen in my household!”

“She had to raise a male teen basically by herself. Oh, sorry, that probably made you uncomfortable.”

“No,” she pouted. “I’m jealous, if anything.”

How is even pouting cute when she does it?

- - - -

That night passed by rather uneventfully after that with Jade sleeping soundly next to me after a late dinner in bed. There was something very comforting about having your soul mate sleeping next to you.

It was morning, the morning of the 8th, I felt high on satisfaction, I could only imagine this is how superman feels when fighting villains. Little did I know how apt that would be.

I was sitting at a round (redwood) table. The school had a thing for round tables, it seems. Matches the very knightly high windows and marble (replica?) statues of Michelangelo and his contemporaries… I was caught zoned out on the Greek section of statues, particularly of Aphrodite, pondering how symbolic it felt.

I must’ve really changed my life yesterday, I decided.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see what looked like a 9th grader looking around before she approached me. I’m told I’m not very approachable, so she must be a brave one.

I looked over to her, she wasn’t far from me now and took in her look. First of all, she was holding a longboard, you couldn’t miss it. It all looked only natural even though she was in a mid length light blue checked skirt with immaculately clean white tights covering her legs. Her top was a shade of light green with a grey cardigan on top, which tied it all together.

“Hi,” she said. She sat down adjacent to me, which I thought strange when we had all this room at a round table. “I’m Sophia, but everyone calls me Sophie.”

I decided I should introduce myself. “I’m Tayler. Is your hair naturally that color?” It was an interesting shade of brown and red, almost, and I honestly couldn’t tell. It seemed to somehow fit with her slightly Asian features.

“Oh, yes, it actually is…” she twirled a tress of it. “It’s a recessive gene in my family and I somehow got it!”

“Gene’s will do that. Like, I’m two inches taller than either my dad or mom."

“Interesting. Oh, I’m sorry to bother you, I just noticed you’re all alone.”

So she was just a good Samaritan, huh? “Just waiting for a friend, well, she’s my girlfriend now.”

“She’s already your girlfriend?”

“Huh?”

“I was kidding before, I heard about you yesterday.” The girl named Sophia let out a giggle. “I just wanted to meet the infamous man who carried a girl all the way to the nurse on the first day of school.”

Oh, I thought. Already rumors about me on the first day. “Well, I’m glad the rumors about me this year are that I’m a gentleman?”

“I need help.”

“Uh, alright. Shoot.”

“My parents kicked me out.”

“What?”

In response she lifted her shirt. There was a fist sized bruise on her abdomen. She lowered her shirt quickly.

“…” Seeing that, that’s all it took for me to get seething mad. At what, I’m not sure, I hadn’t known this girl for even a single hour yet, yet I was angry for her.

She hadn’t been brave to approach me, she was desperate.

I didn’t notice that Jade had walked up with our food. She sat down with a flop, across from us. “What’s going on? Why do you look so mad?”

I tried to calm myself, taking a deep breath, and ignoring Jade. “Yeah, you can stay with me.” I took out my phone, “what’s your number?”

“I don’t have a phone anymore, my parents broke it last summer.”

“Hm. Well, meet me after school right here.”

“I was hoping I could talk to you more before then…”

I thought about it for a second. She shouldn’t skip class, but under the circumstances she probably couldn’t think about anything else. “Would you like to get some coffee?”

She nodded yes.

I turned to Jade. “Jade, this is Sophie. She’ll be staying with me it seems."

Sophie gave her a smile, waving slightly. “Hi! It’s nice to meet you, Jade.” She seemed uncomfortable but it was hard to identify why.

“That’s just like you, isn’t it? Before you leave, are we meeting at your house after school?”

“Yeah, that works. I’ll text you if something changes.”

With that me and Sophie left for some coffee.

Even after we had left the noisy Academy and made it out of it’s grand gates, we continued to walk in silence. I wanted to break the stifling air, but thought better of it. I stole glances at Sophie occasionally, trying to remember where exactly I knew her.

Yeah, I definitely knew her, but only vaguely. “You had short hair, right? The last time I saw you, you had a bob-cut.”

“I didn’t think you remembered me. We had eastern philosophy class together.”

“I’m surprised I didn’t remember, sorry. There was only one middle school student in that philosophy class, and with such unique hair you’d think I’d remember.”

“I was also in your group on the field trip.”

Was she? I feel like a bad example now, damn. “How’d you get into a junior level philosophy class, anyways?”

“I begged the counselor, basically. I want to go to college for philosophy.”

“You must be smart.”

“Thank you… I want to be a writer someday like Albert Camus.”

“Ah, I love his works. Have you read The Myth of Sisyphus?”

“Wait, is that really how you say Sisyphus? I’ve been saying it as syphilis this whole time!”

“That’s a STD, actually.”

“Oh god!” She shrieked in horror, eyes wide. “So embarrassing! Just kill me now!”

“But you’ve read it? That’s awesome. That book changed my life when I read it. Something about it just clicked with me.”

“Oh, so you’re an absurdist?” There was a certain amount of distaste in the question. “A watered down nihilist, that’s what an absurdist is.”

“I didn’t take you to be an elite gate keeper type!”

“Just kidding! I am too!” She gave me a huge grin and held up her hand for a high-five. How kid-like. Accepted.

“My favorite book is The Stranger. Standard answer, I know, but there’s something especially timeless about its story,” she said.

“Yeah, his essays are entertaining but not like The Stranger. That was gripping and just perfect. Plus, it speaks to something everyone will or already has gone through.”

I didn’t want to drag anything out of her, but if it spoke to her she certainly has had a turbulent life so far. I wonder how long she’s been getting abused? "That's a pretty neat looking longboard you have there."

"It's electric!" She got on top of it and used a remote, now in her hand, to make the thing move.

"Wow! I'm impressed! It's stylish like a longboard but highly functional!"

"My skirts are all weighted so that they don't fly up when I skate!"

"You've really thought of everything!"

She got off the longboard and turned to me with a sorrowful expression. “This has been going on as long as I can remember. My step-dad hates me.”

"How long has this been going on?"

"My step dad has been in my life a long time, since I was a baby, but he started verbally abusing me in 5th grade. Last year, he threw a coffee cup at me and that's how I got that bruise."

Surely I didn't hear her right… "Last year? That's a long time ago for a bruise to still be there!"

"It's never gone away. You're not gonna believe me… it'll seem like it's gone away, but then it... festers, all over again."

"After what happened yesterday, I believe it."

"What happened yesterday? Oh, your talking about sex." Her nose wrinkled, upper lip stuck out.

"Listen here lil' Miss Jawbreaker! Don't get the wrong idea!"

"Mhm."

"I'm gonna wait until I'm married, like a good Christian!" I put on my best facade, holding my head high.

"What a joke." She wasn't buying in. What a cynical little underclassmen I have here.

"In all seriousness, what made you come to me, of all people? How'd you even find me?"

"When I was in your group, you told me to come find you if I needed anything, anytime. I just had a good feeling that you meant it, not just empty words."

I didn't remember this, it's always upsetting to me when someone remembers with clarity something I said but that I can't recall like them, in this case I couldn't remember saying that at all.

But it's a likely thing I'd say to this cute girl, at the time a middle schooler who I was put in charge of in that group.

"Have you gone to CPS?"

She nodded her head. "I've gone to them so many times that I've given up hope. Um… I actually don't drink coffee, could we just keep walking?"

"Want something to eat?"

"I have no appetite… I just want to talk right now."

"I'll listen."

A brief lull filled the air before she began. "I lost a lot of friends over this past summer, all of them. It seems if I overstay my welcome people just get fed up with me… like nobody can stand me. It feels like I'm just a burden on everyone. So I had to rack my brain for who I could go to."

"And that's when you remembered me, huh? I had a friend stay with me for a year in middle school when he was being abused. I know how horrible CPS is, and then when they do 'help' they just send you to a compound that feels more like a prison. Not everyone is lucky and gets a good foster home."

Her eyes were wide with disbelief. I'm guessing I hit the nail on the head.

"My life is hard right now, but it could just get so much worse with CPS getting mixed in… And then I'd have to leave all my friends and leave my mom to fend for herself. I just can't take it."

That such a young girl was struggling so much, dealing with issues nobody should have to think about at that age…

"I'm sorry, but now you can relax. Take a deep breath. I'll help you from here on out. On that topic, do you have everything you need to move in?

"Move in… sounds strange to me. But yes, basically everything I own is in my backpack."

I glanced at the tan bag on her shoulders—it looked painfully empty. "I'm guessing you need some things. Let's go shopping."

"Oh, don't worry about me! I'll be fine!"

"Sophie, you're partly my responsibility now if you're staying at my house. What do you need?"

"I need clothes… and probably some bathroom stuff."

"Ever gone thrift shopping?"

"You don't wear underwear?"

Let me fill you in.

We'd picked out a few outfits for her, gotten some cheap beauty products, and now I was asking if she needs 'undergarments,' while we were at the Krongers I work at.

"I basically don't have boobs, so no. She grabbed her breasts and (futility) pushed (nothing) together. I guess that was fair. "I'm at training bra size. There's not even a point."

"What about, you know, panties?"

"Nope."

"..."

"My body temperature naturally runs hot. I always feel too hot, that's why all my clothes are light." She came up and put her hand on my arm to demonstrate.

"..."

She did feel very warm.

"Underwear are just constricting anyways, and nothing feels as nice as a cool breeze on your va—"

"Say no more, please!"

"I'd wear underwear, for you!" She gave me a grin that could only be described as shit-eating.

"Ha! I'd just get you a kids bundle pack."

"I wouldn't fit in those! I have hips…" She was pouting now. She definitely didn't have any hips, not yet at least.

"You don't believe me, just wait till we get home!"

"I work here, please calm yourself. You can go commando if you want, it's your body after all. It just makes you a perv." I laughed.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"..."

She didn't deny it.

That's kinda scary.

We went through a self checkout stand without incident and headed home.

By the time we got home, Jade was already there inside watching Netflix. It looked like a bad sci-fi movie, you know the type.

School had ended, and although I didn't know it yet, it was going to be a long night.

Jade welcomed us home.

It was good to see that she had made herself comfortable at my house.

"Jade has something supernatural happen to her, too. You can tell her about your problems."

"What's happening to you?" Sophie tilted her head.

"Well… after a traumatic incident, I seem to be turning into a male."

Sophie's eyes went wide. "So there's someone else like me…"

"I'll show you your room. Jade sleeps with me, so it's all to yourself."

"That's my room there," I gestured to the right. "At the end is the master bedroom, and here," I opened the left door. "Tada! All yours. Make yourself at home."

"Wow, I get a bed! I've been sleeping on the floor for forever…" She looked at me with downcast eyes. "I was hoping I could show you something, Tayler?"

"Sure."

I expected she wanted to show me her bruise, and I was partly right.

She turned around and pulled up her blouse, showing me her back. There was a… huge claw mark on her back.

"What the hell…"

I touched her back—at closer inspection, there were scars all over. Some faint and faded, some would last her whole life. They were mostly white, like they didn't bleed at all.

"That's not all."

She took off her shirt and faced me.

"Who did this to you, Sophie?"

There were bruises and cuts all over her chest, too. She sat down on the bed and took off her shoes, then slipped off her white tights.

Everywhere—her legs were mangled everywhere.

"Jade!" I yelled, "Jade, come here!"

"Look," she pulled up her skirt. "Pubic hair does grow anymore, my boobs shrunk, and it's like I never hit puberty. Isn't that weird?"

She didn't cry. Her face was a stone-like expression.

Jade opened the door. "Jesus Christ... Tayler, get the first aid kit!"

"Wait, it's not as bad as it looks!"

I ran out of the room and headed to the bathroom getting our emergency first aid kit from under the sink. Rushing back, Jade had Sophie in an embrace.

"—stuck, and I can't feel pain."

"Huh?" I placed the kit on the bed.

Jade looked at me and summarized it as this.

"She's cursed."

Sophie pushed Jade away from her.

"In 7th grade I met a man with a… living tree. And he cursed me. My memory of it is hazy. I woke up in a strange building with a person who called himself a Mage. He told me about the curse on me. I'm not alive, but I'm not dead, and I can't feel any pain. I get wounds like these, mostly cuts, they come and go randomly. Weird things are happening to my body… like it's… reversing. I'm still getting taller, but my hair stopped growing, and started shrinking."

This whole time, she spoke like she was telling the forecast.

Nonchalant-like and naked.

"So what you told me earlier…" Things were clicking together.

"I was just testing to see if you'd believe something… strange, like that. My stepdad really threw a cup at me, but it missed. And then I really was kicked out."

"Where was the building?" I asked.

She layed down on the bed. "I could never find it again, but I was in the back of a used car lot, in the dealers office."

I looked to Jade. "I'm going there tonight."

Jade had no objections. "This is our best lead. You should. But shouldn't you go during the day?"

"I've been there but the dealer just looked at me funny when I told him what that Magician man looked like."

"That's why I'm going at night, I'm sure you never went in at night. I doubt anybody does, besides this Mage dude."

"I'm going with you, then," Jade said.

"No… I should take Jawbreaker here if anything. She knows what the guy looks like and the right locations. You do remember that, right?"

Sophie sat up with a start. "Yeah! Let me go with!"

I looked away from her nude body. "You're gonna have to put on something a little more sturdy than a skirt. And dark. We're sneaking in, I don't want to have to explain to a cop what I'm doing breaking into a car dealership."

Sophie started changing right in front of us. We left.

Out in the living room with Jade I spoke under my breath. "It's like she knows no shame… jeez."

"I can explain that."

"Really? She was basically flirting with me earlier when we were shopping, too."

"She probably has no self esteem since she lost her femininity. I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't feel human anymore. Like she's in limbo."

"You would know, wouldn't you?"

Under supernatural circumstances, Jade was quickly becoming a man.

"My case is slightly different… but yes. We'll have to give her a lot of the love she's missed out on," Jade said.

"We're kinda acting as her parents, aren't we…"

"I'd be glad for you to be my parents," Sophie said, behind us. She was in new clothes—the new clothes we'd gotten hours ago—all dark colors.

I motioned for her to come to me and she waddled over, looking down.

I picked her up, she was surprisingly light. "You can stay with me for as long as you need. I'm not going to college or anything right out of highschool, so I'll take care of you until you can take care of yourself."

"...Thank you."

She pecked my cheek. It was a clumsy and childish sort of kiss.

Something smelt. I sniffed her. "I think you need to take a shower…" I said, putting her down.

"Yeah, I haven't been able to bathe in awhile, I forgot..." she ran off to the bathroom.

"Tayler, are you sure—"

"I can go to college later in life. She's had enough pain for a whole lifetime."

Maybe more pain than anyone's ever had in a lifetime.

No longer human… Huh.

I suppose I felt that way in the past. I can only imagine how she feels. Maybe that was why I said what I did.

"I just wanted to be sure you weren't being impulsive."

"Jade—"

Jade might not be able to have kids if her condition kept at the same pace, if her newly acquired genitals turned her to a full-on male after being born a complete woman.

I think this will be a test on our relationship. I think this will tell both of us exactly how stable of a couple we really are, or are going to be.

It was hard for me to believe I'd really met her yesterday. It felt like I knew her my whole life...

"What is it?" She asked.

"Nevermind."

"Tell me what you're thinking."

"I'm thinking about what your thinking, honestly. Do you support this? Does it change anything for you?"

"We never got to talk about what we aspire to do after graduating, but now I know. If you want to be her guardian—then I will be too. We're a two man team, now." She gave me a warm smile.

She did say we need to give her love, didn't she?

I nodded my head. I thought, though, what a stupid question I had asked. Of course it changes a lot of things. It completely changes the next four years, at the least.

"What're you gonna do Jade? We really never got to talk about it, like you said."

Our futures.

"I'm going to be a psychiatric nurse, if everything works out right. I could work as a school nurse."

I guess I'll be getting some early practice dressing wounds, she said.

She really would. We were gonna need more than a first aid kit, Sophie had so many cuts over her body…

It looked like she got in a fight with a tiger while someone was throwing stones at her…

Unbelievable, yet it was true.

I guess considering that you wouldn't be worried about nudity.

You would be trying to survive. Trying to get away from it all. You wouldn't care, she probably doesn't care about anything at all right now.

Focused purely on trying to find a place to rest her head for the night.

Everyday. All summer break.

"I'm going to make her a therapy appointment."

"That's the best idea I've heard all year," affirmed Jade.

"Do you like kids?" I asked.

"I want to work with youth. I'm not sure how I feel about having kids. With recent events… I'm just not sure."

Should I tell her I wanted kids? It felt selfish to say, under the circumstances.

Like I would be demanding something she was unsure she would be able to do.

"I can tell you want kids. Nobody who didn't would say what you did."

"Yeah, I do…"

"We could be foster parents. We don't have to have our own. I realize I might not be able to have kids at all at this rate."

On second thought, it's that what I'm doing right now? Being a foster parent…

"How much does that matter to you, Jade?"

"I've been told my whole life that giving birth is a beautiful peak of being a woman, by society and my parents. It bothers me a lot that it might be taken from me. Anyone would."

"But it must feel worse as a woman…"

"After yesterday… I had a big shift in mindset. I'm not sure anymore. You'll have to give me more time to think it over."

"How do you mean a change in mindset?"

"...That it's not so bad being a guy. I have you, and if I have you then nothing else matters."

My heart fluttered at the words.

It seemed we were all taking small steps in the right direction.

- - - -

I woke to my alarm I set for The Witching Hour.

That's 3:00 am, for the uninitiated. It's supposed to be the most spiritually active time of night, the time when witches creep about.

Or that's what they say.

I didn't pick this time for that reason, I picked it because it seemed to me the time with the most amount of people sleeping.

It could aptly be named The Crime Hour in my case.

"Good luck," Jade said in a sleepy voice, rolling over in the bed.

Sleepy voice, add it to the list of adorable attributes she has.

I knocked on Sophie's door and opened it.

Mmm? she moaned.

In a whisper, I asked, "Sophie, you still wanna go?"

"...Yeah."

I turned on the light.

She had asked for a light blanket, but she had kicked even that off in her sleep, along with her pants. Seems she slept in the dark clothes we'd need for tonight.

I turned around, saying, "get dressed then, I'll wait in the front room."

I stood by the door and not even a minute later she rounded the hall with a sever case of bed head, putting it into a ponytail.

"A ponytail looks good on you," I commented.

She seemed at full attention, which was good. I didn't need a sleepy partner in crime.

We walked to the car in silence, we got in with the doors going thud.

I gave Sophie Jade's phone, she let me use it for this. "The password is five, five, seven, eight. Don't forget it, okay? You're the lookout on this mission, comrad. Try to keep the screen on."

Sophie saluted me. "Yes, captain! The password is fifty-five, seventy-eight!"

"Pull up the maps app and navigate us," I told her.

I knew the general direction, so I started the car and got going. The car dealerships were all in the middle of town, or in-between the two districts Lakeside and New Southwest. There's seven total districts, with a new one rapidly in development.

Just ten years ago the population of this town was around 60,000, and ten years before that it was 30,000. Now, its just over 100,000. That's how rapid development is. The areas outside of town are rapidly changing, too. The east side is called "Old Farms," which I hope is self explanatory—there's no farms there anymore.

The town isn't too wide—probably just seven miles wide on a map, if I had to guess—but there's a major highway running north to south down the middle of it. So the town is actually surprisingly long. There's another highway that runs through and criss-crosses the bigger one, but it's so minor I forget that it's even technically a highway.

I was driving from Dry Acres on the Northside—so called because it is especially desert-like.

Taking the back road, as a matter of course.

"Why are we going through Orchard District?" Sophie asked.

"Cops are more likely to be patrolling main roads."

"This is actually pretty exciting…"

"Never. Ever—do something like this again. Ever. Even if it's me telling you to."

"I won't, captain! And neither should you, readers!"

She's growing on me.

"Say, comrade Jawbreaker, which dealership was it?"

"Madison Used Auto."

"And where in this office did you say it was?"

"It's not in the office, its behind it. It looks like it's a cellar, going down to a basement."

"Oh really…" I'd been thinking this whole time.e it was in the office. "Could you describe the door and lock?"

"A double door at a slant that was made of wood with a handle… I think. It didn't have a lock on the outside."

This sounded like cake, as long as there wasn't a lock on the inside of it, but who would do that... I decided not to corrupt the young woman and my fellow partner in crime anymore than I already was, and didn't tell her that.

In my experience, doors are just polite suggestions. If someone really wants to get in, they will one way or another.

We'd gotten to the main road, exiting us just down the street of the dealerships. I went a block past them, and found a convenient alley to park in, next to a convenience store that was conveniently still open.

All to its namesake.

We both got out. "Do you remember the password?"

"Fifty-five, seventy-eight."

"Good."

I looked around for cameras in the alley. There were none.

"Follow me, and keep your voice down from here on out."

We walked in silence for a couple blocks. At some point Sophie had grabbed my hand.

Since the dealership was on the main street, where a cop could easily see us in the street lights lining that road, we had tracked behind it. Luckily the lot behind it was just dirt.

We trekked through the sand-consistency dirt silently and at full attention.

If a mouse farted I could've heard it.

I looked at the moon. Not the time to be sentimental, but the last time I looked it seemed like a cradle… it was in the waxing phase right now.

I guess I did get a cradle in my life, but fit inside was a freshman girl, abused and devastated, now holding my hand while we tried to dig up 'the truth.'

…Whatever the hell that is.

On the edge of the dirt was a sufficiently large bush of sagebrush, still in bloom. I looked around. It would have to do...

I whispered, "when you show me the door I need you to run back here and hide behind this bush. Keep a lookout of all around you. If you see anyone, which I highly doubt, text me and lay down right here. I mean it literally, lay completely down right here. And wait."

She nodded her head vigorously.

Alright, I thought.

We walked up to the building. I checked my phone for the time… exactly 3:45. I would be lying by omitting the truth if I didn't say my heart was racing.

Sophie led the way a couple paces ahead of me. She seemed to be taking me to the side facing southwards, which would be the back of where the front door was situated.

It was pretty dark on this side, the moon was casting a shadow here, but I could still make out the shape of the cellar door—

The doors opened and someone climbed out. Me and Sophie frooze, stock still.

It appeared to be a woman, wearing a trenchcoat and hat that blocked her features. The way the coat hugged her body, however, made it abundantly clear that it was a woman.

This is gonna sound bad anyway I say it.

I knew her shape from somewhere, regarding her backside as she closed the double doors leading downwards.

She turned around and studied us both. "Tayler… what a surprise."

I knew the voice. That downright seductive voice.

"I've got work to do at the moment, but why don't you meet with me tomorrow?" She said, as if it was perfectly understandable.

With that she walked away. Not too quickly, nor slowly. As if this was the most natural coincidental meeting spot, 3:45 am, behind a used car dealership.

"...Stay with me," I whispered to Sophie.

I walked up and pulled the handles to open the wooden doors.

Double doors to another dimension.

- - - -

Things aren't always what they appear to be.

Or more precisely, nothing is.

I think the height of folly is to assume that you could know something, anything, with absolute certainty. Certainly, no bigger a fool exists than the people in the world that think they've "got it all figured out."

And you can–with impunity–ignore those kinds of people wholesale when the inevitable happens and you meet one of those fools.

My point is, going into this "cellar," all I knew for certain was nothing.

That's to say, I expected anything—

And yet, even then, all possible expectations I could have had were blown away.

As life often does.

I grabbed Sophie's waist tight to me as we descended the granite stairs of the cellar, they went about twenty feet down.

There was no guard rail and a mild wind blew in our hair.

I looked to the sides.

It looked as if I were staring at the milky way through a shallow pool—as if the only thing separating me from the void of space were a thin layer of water.

I looked up. There were no stars, just a normal rafter you'd see in any basement., about 20 feet up and going ad infinitum in all directions.

"Woah…" Sophie said, holding my arm that was half wrapped around her.

Not that I wasn't astonished. I was, too… I was just worried about a few other things at the same time, like if whoever I was going to find here was friend or foe.

Below the staircase was what looked like normal grass. Two cherry blossom trees stood on either side of this "island," seemingly floating.

There was something I couldn't quite put my finger on…

Was it the lack of walls and never ending rafters?

No, I think I came to terms with that.

I think what I was looking for was where the light was coming from.

It was well lit, like there was natural light coming in… but there was no distinguishable source of illumination to be found.

When we got to the grass I let Sophie go, saying, "stay close."

Not that it was a huge island, it was probably the size of a big office.

There was a bearded man in the back. "Who visits me at such a late minute?"

"That's him," Sophie said in a low voice.

"I'm Tayler Lovelace!"

"And I'm Sophie Lovelace! Remember me?"

He looked up from… Whatever he was doing at his desk. He covered up the papers, but you could still see a sword hanging on the ledge of the table.

"So The Fool and Death are in cahoots… it seems you've met out of order," the man said. We were close enough to talk normally now.

When I said he had a beard, I didn't mean he had a long 'wizard' beard. No, his was a fairly normal reddish goatee with mustache, well trimmed. His golden blonde hair went to his shoulder, held back with a black hairband.

"I've come with a few questions for you."

"You have exactly 10 minutes before this place closes to the moral realm."

I didn't know what that meant, but his tone made it abundantly clear that I didn't want to be here when it happened.

"Are you an ally or my enemy?"

"Neither," he chuckled at me.

"How do I get rid of a curse? Two of my friends have a curse, I think..."

"You're asking the wrong questions. This isn't some fantasy, Fool. Everything comes in an order, curses don't just go away so easily."

"...Can you help Sophie?"

He paused and looked at me, as if searching for something. "You've a long journey ahead of you. You must foil each of the cards, in order. I'm yours, and this is my magic shop. You've not even enough time on this lonely night. Leave now, Fool."

"But what about these random wounds?" Sophie spoke up, pulling up her pants leg to show him.

"Random is a bad choice of words, girl-death. Those are the physical manifestation of your mental torment… I didn't expect it to be so bad. But look at the brightside, you cannot die! Kahaha!"

I grabbed Sophie's wrist. We didn't have much time.

"What time does this place open?" I backed away slowly.

"Three in the morn!"

I ran, practically dragging Sophie up the stairs.

I checked my phone when I was outside. 3:59. When I looked down the cellar, it was pitch black.

I closed the cellar doors and took a deep breath, looking to Sophie. She had her hand on her heart.

"Did you get what he said? All the damage on your body, maybe even the weird things with your body… its what your feeling mentally. If you stay with me, it should clear up."

"Yeah… but we still don't know how to get rid of the curse."

I started walking and Sophie ran up, clinging to my arm.

"I don't want you to get upset… but I think he was trying to say there's no getting rid of it. I'll ask again, but that's the feeling I got."

"..."

"No need to sulk. It'll just take some getting used to."

"..."

She would continue to sulk all the way home, until she fell asleep, that is.

But that's progress as far as I'm concerned.

I carried her to her room, the former guest room, but on the way… there was an incident.

I asked her to open the front door for me, seeing as my hands were full with her, and came to a complete stop, bending down a bit so she could open it.

She grabbed my face and kissed me, and it was a 'grown up kiss.'

I spat—mostly involuntarily—and she cried immediately, pushing me away. I put her down and she went quietly to her room.

I sat down on the couch and thought about the interaction.

There had to be a better reaction than that, right? Should I go talk with her; or wait for Jade to talk with her, as a fellow woman?

This just demonstrates my utter lack of knowledge on the subject of raising a teen…

On gut instinct, I decided it would be best to talk with her about it. If she's beating herself up as much as I am, then she'll just open up a cut.

Literally.

I knocked lightly and opened the door. "I'm coming in."

She was curled up in a ball, looking down.

"You can't do that, for many reasons. But I don't need to tell you why, I'm sure."

I sat down on the bed.

"...I think I really really like you."

"Why's that?"

"Because… you told me you'd take care of me. Nobody ever promised me that, not like you did… I can tell you mean it."

"You're confusing your feelings, it sounds like."

"What do you mean?" She looked up.

I felt like I was getting through, yes!

"Just because I'm actually helping you, like tonight, you're confusing your like for love. You can like me, but I doubt what your feeling is love."

She was giving me dreamy eyes.

Maybe I wasn't getting through.

"Look, no more kisses. Your in 9th grade, its about time you get a boyfriend if you want kisses!"

"I can get a boyfriend and you won't kick me out?"

"This isn't some dictatorship, of course you can! Just be smart about it. Come to me or Jade if you need advice, or condoms."

"Tayler… I think I'm lesbian. I only like girls. Like, Jade looks better to me than you."

She'd probably never had the chance to explore her feelings, being so busy just surviving…

But somehow the way she said that hurt my feelings, just the tiniest bit.

"And I only watch lesbian porn, and I watch it all the time. When I'm not watching it, I'm reading it."

"Gah!"

"You were right, back at the store. I'm a total perv." She giggled.

"Ngh!"

Well, that's actually not so bad. I am too, and I've grown up alright.

At least she's open with me, right? Right?

There had to be a silver lining.

"I'm glad I talked to you."

"I'm glad you came and talked with me," she gave me a bittersweet smile.

With that, I got up and left.

Thus marks the end of that night—which was technically morning by that time—and my awkward talk with Sophia.