The door to her bedroom was closed, but the window remained open as Nadia laid quietly atop her bed. With a pillow tucked beneath her head, Nadia listened to the sounds of the night: crickets chirping, the hoot of an owl, the sound of a truck from afar, the howls of wolves. All of which she would have usually ignored. Moonlight was soon covered by the clouds of an approaching thunderstorm, darkening the room. Thunder rumbled from the west.

No one could go back to Pozalm until the first full moon. Everyone was stuck at the house, including her, which meant almost a full month of being a girl no matter what happened. Nadia wrote down her options. Option one was to hide in her room and refuse to come out until she could go back to Pozalm, but there was a huge downside in how boring that would become.

The second option was to pretend nothing happened and try to live like normal, except everything served to remind her of the weird turn her life had taken. The third option was to seek out Dementia Dan. She drew quite an unflattering picture of him. Her father was against this idea and she had no idea where to even begin looking.

The next plan was her masculinity preservation list.

The number one item on the list was to be stoic.

Number two was to think about the Roman Empire.

She recounted the last remains of her past manhood that still held meaning for her, and those that no longer served her. The fencing sword was against the bed, she still loved the way it cut the air when it fell swiftly, how it represented an art of combat and strategy that she relished, and all the techniques she had learned as a child. She hoped that staring at it, thinking about it, would keep her in touch with her manhood.

It did in a sense, and in another sense, it didn't. The childhood memories of practice and tournaments helped, but she knew fencing wasn't exclusive to men. She could remain a woman and still actively participate even though she would have to adjust to the strengths and weaknesses of a new body.

One sport she didn't want to think about was football, she had played a few practice games as a back-up running-back before the change and that would be next to impossible now. Yet she could still spend an enjoyable time thinking about the strategy of game. There was simply no way she could think to get herself a starter position on the football team in this condition. Practice would begin before Nadia left and Nathan returned.

What was something else that a man would like? There was the cover of a swimsuit catalogue folded under her mattress which she had pulled out earlier, but when she looked at the woman it only made her curious. After a while, she had found herself at the mirror comparing herself to the model. That was really bad, she needed to be attracted to girls, right? Or did that have nothing to do with it? The catalogue, which had been under the mattress for a month, crumpled into a ball between her hands before landing in the trash.

Great, now she was disgusted with herself for ever being a boy in the first place. She stayed in bed rolling on the mattress as the wind picked up and the thunder became closer. Despite this, she was on the verge of finally falling asleep when the door opened. Light from the hall streamed inside. Natalie was in her pajamas, and came in for a good night hug. Her little sister hopped up on the bed and sat beside Nadia.

"Nadia I'm scared."

Nadia told her little sister to hop up, and she did.

"You're very pretty. Can I call you Nadia while you're a girl like me? Will you get mad at me? That weird guy calls you Nadia and you get mad."

Nadia laughed a little, "I'll let you get away with it."

Natalie hugged her sister, they rubbed cheeks, and then she whispered in her ear.

"My wish came true."

"Your wish?"

"I wished for a big sister."

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Nadia sat her at the opposite end of the bed, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, champ, but this isn't permanent. I'll be your big brother again soon."

Natalie ignored what Nadia had just explained, "When I grow up, I hope I'm pretty like you."

"You're going to be much prettier than that. Now get to bed."

She crawled in Nadia's lap.

"You have such a pretty voice." After a minute of silence, she stared at Nadia pensively, "Why can't you stay like this?"

"Because it's not who I really am. Was it really that bad when I was your older brother?"

"No. I liked you then too. I just like you better now."

Natalie yawned, was silent, and finally fell asleep in her big sister's lap. Nadia sighed before falling back to the mattress herself. Natalie rolled to her side, snuggling under her arm. The action plan fell to the floor as Nadia turned off the light and went to sleep.

-----

The thunderstorm passed quickly, leaving the mountain road moist and the air muggy. Brakes of an old Buick screeched as it pulled to a stop next the side rails. Nothing but mountain forest was on either side for quite a few kilometers ahead, and many more behind. A young man in a new leather jacket jumped out the passenger side of the Buick, thanked the driver, and leaned in front of the side rails. A streetlight shone directly on a left ear with a missing top half. A shriveled red scar lined the top edge.

"Are you sure you want out here kid?" the driver asked, "This is practically the middle of nowhere."

"This is it for me old man, you're too much of a character,"

"You have a lot of nerve."

As the Buick sped off, the young man jumped the side rail and walked downhill into the forest. He moved solidly through woods, crushing the underbrush without worrying about the poison plants, he knew what they felt like and was agile enough to avoid them.

Thorny vines hung from the trees. He sensed them even in the dark, dodging to keep them from scratching his leather jacket, though nothing could be done to prevent mud from clinging to the side of his boot. After trudging along for more than a kilometer, he finally consulted the map. He was heading in the right direction and the meeting site was another kilometer ahead. What the old man wanted better be good, he thought, because he didn't like to take nature in the dead of night.

The forest was a mess, nothing but skinny trees, steep slopes, annoying vines, and poison bushes. Did that old man want to kill him? After more hiking, the amber light finally shone visibly in the distance. There was no mistaking the old man's crystal. Josh found a small clearing that provided great solitude. It was a burnt area of level ground the wizard had carved with his magic some years ago. The old man stood confidently when he saw Josh slide into the circle.

Josh smiled. The wizard stared enviously at his full set of teeth, which were visible in the light of a waning moon.

"Hey Dead, long time no see. You call? It better be something important."

"I require your services."

"You still haven't paid me for the last job."

"I have a check for you. I assure you it won't bounce anywhere this time. If you can do this, I swear I'll rid you of your curse. I'll slay the demon that gives you no peace."

"That's an obvious lie. I knew I shouldn't have come here."

"But you can't help it, can you. You're driven to my call."

"Let's get down to brass tacks. How much do I get paid, and who gets hurt?"

"As I said before, I'll tame the incubus to full obedience. If I can't do it, I know someone who will."

Josh pushed his fingers through a crop of dark blonde hair, "You're such a freakin' liar. I don't even want to hear any more of your crap."

"Are you sure you want to risk it? Your body can barely contain the incubus as it is, if you continue this way, you'll exhaust yourself into a very early grave."

"What do you want me to do? I won't take an easy kill. That last guy was way too easy; I didn't like it. The only reason I did it was because he deserved it. So, who's the unlucky guy this time?"

A picture materialized on a stone in the wizard's hand, he threw it to Josh. It was an image of Nadia just after the book, but right before she had fallen in the portal. The wizard lit the crystal on his other hand to a brilliant shade of amber so Josh could examine the angry looking young brunette in a torn and disheveled boys school uniform as she sat on the ground looking up.

"That is a picture of her direct from my memory. She lives at 431 Mackenloo pike. If you can find her, kill her."

"What kind of joke is this? You said I'd have a challenge. If you want to kill some helpless girl, then do it yourself. I don't want any part of it."

"This girl is not helpless. She is powerful and wicked, brimming with pure evil. She has stolen something that belongs to my clan, and wears it as a prize. It is a necklace with a fair-sized wizard pendant. The pendant has a skull shape on one side and a small turtle with chrysanthemum flowers growing off its shell on the other. Kill her if you can, then bring the pendant to me. I need that sacred pendent in order to stabilize your powers. I can assure you that you will be given quite a worthy challenge, a worthy challenge indeed."

"Well, if you can't get your pendant back, then she must be something else. I'll do it once the check clears. We have a deal, but you better keep your word about the other payment."

Josh snatched the check and the stone which held Nadia's image and leapt backwards out of the clearing. Then he turned his back on the wizard before he darted up the hill toward the road.

"Good, very good," Dead-leaf laughed.