I awakened in a cold sweat and wiped away the small pool of perspiration that’d formed between my breasts and swept back my sweat-slicked hair. I suppose it’s telling how deep I was into the dream because it took me at least a full minute before I noticed the strangeness of that action.

Trailing a swirl of blankets tangled around my middle, I stepped in front of my mirror to see the disheveled and anxious girl from my dreams looking back at me. The sheets wrapped around me slowly fell to the floor as though in slow-motion presentation of a body new and perfect. I must have been at the mirror for a while, because a shout of “Teddy, you better get down here if you want to eat before school” echoed from downstairs.

At first, I didn’t even know where to begin. I placed my hand on my breasts and squeezed them back in and down to roughly where I had everything the night before. Then I pushed in the curly, long auburn hair that was framing my delicate face so nicely. I pulled up a selfie on my phone and rearranged my squarish jawline and chin back into place, then I pinched my cute button nose and pulled it out into its normal bumpy schnoz shape. I squeezed my eye sockets so that they seemed smaller and beadier. I pushed in the long fluttery eye lashes and yanked on my cute delicate feet until they looked fit for clown shoes or my usual size 12 sneakers. I decided not to worry about the missing dick; it’s not like I’d need it for anything in particular, and I was a little curious to see what it would be like not carrying it around all day.

I started to throw on clothes and noticed another problem, my jeans are too long. I must have been about 2 inches shorter. I didn’t have time to figure out how to fix this problem. I cuffed my pants, gathered my things and headed downstairs. In the kitchen, I hugged Mama Cathy and grabbed a couple strips of bacon to munch on in the truck. “Thanks, mom. I keep oversleeping for some reason.” I said in light vibrant soprano.

Mama Cathy’s eyes furrowed and she cast her head ever so slightly to the side in a look I knew to be one of intense suspicion. “What is wrong with your voice?” And her own voice sounded as different to me as mine must have to her. Sure, it was weird that I sounded like that, but why was she acting like I’d committed a major crime; was she already on to me?

I coughed roughly and used that to bring my voice back into accordance with what it normally sounds like, much like I had done the day before. “Guess I woke up with a frog in my throat.” I offered lamely, and then laughed as though I’d told an amusing joke.

Mama Cathy continued to look at me as though she was seeing someone else entirely and not her handsome son; someone that she wouldn’t trust to share a sidewalk with, much less her own kitchen. “Maybe you should be getting to sleep earlier. Better not be up all-night texting with Javi and Vera.” She said in an icy tone.

Maybe we stood there staring at each other after that exchange for no more than a couple seconds, but it felt like I’d already spent the day in an interrogation room under her vigilant eye by the time I looked away and said “Thanks again for the bacon, see you tonight” hurrying off quickly and banging my hips into the counter. Oh shit, they were still too wide.

“Try not to destroy anything on the way out.” Mama Cathy said with more venom than mirth in her voice.

Javier was waiting outside my truck when I left through the front door. The look of harried anxiety must have followed me out because his only comment was a questioning rise of his eyebrows.

That silence lasted for nearly a minute before curiosity won out and Javi asked “So, how are you this morning?”

“I think I know what my power is.” I offered, then added “Sort of, anyway.”

“Is it being unreasonably annoyed and mysterious?” He asked, egging me on.

I decided to ignore the barb and just launch into it. There was literally no one else I could talk about this with. “I’m like a shapeshifter.” I lifted my hoodie and shirt and grabbed some tummy fat and pulled it out like taffy. I didn’t want to do anything more complex while I was driving.

Javier jumped back towards the door, his eyes wide. “That is so weird.” And after he collected himself, he poked a finger at the long bit of skin before I smacked at his hand. “Okay, chill, brother. Just wanted to touch it.”

I pushed the flesh protuberance back into my body and pulled down my hoodie. I debated whether or not to tell him about the state I found myself in when I woke this morning. I couldn’t see him having any special insight on the subject so I stayed quiet and tuned into the barrage of questions sure to follow.

“So, can you do your face too? Can you turn into famous people? Or me? Or Vera?” He laughed and I tried not show an expression that would tell him that he’d hit very close to home with that last question.

“I don’t know. I haven’t really tried to turn into anyone else” I said truthfully. “I guess I’m having trouble enough keeping my own shape.” I didn’t want to go into full detail but I did have to talk to someone about this slow dissolution of my physical identity, if not my mental.

“Yeah, I noticed you were still looking a little.. umm, well different. Not as much as yesterday, and least your voice is normal today.” He said and I gave him a look.

“Wasn’t normal when I woke up. Nothing much was normal when I woke up this morning.” I wanted to be upset about what was happening every day since I had activated the shard’s power. I think though that I was more upset that I wasn’t more upset. That moment in front of the mirror before my mom’s voice shattered my quiet reflection was about as happy as I can ever remember being, and that worried me more than any of this other stuff.

“What was it today then?” Javier asked. “Wake up as a black bear?”

“It was just different. Look, it’s just a bit unsettling is all. Should never have touched that stone.”

“Well, if we hadn’t done that would I be able to do this?” We were at a red light and Javier grabbed my phone and I watched the percentage charge inch up from 78% to 79%. “Huh, what about that, Constable Odo?”

I couldn’t help but grin at the display. “You’re right, all this and more would be worth it if I could but with but a gesture… very slightly charge my phone.” I said dryly and plugged the phone into the USB.

“You ass. You’re missing the point; I’m getting a lot finer skill with this electricity thing. Won’t be much longer probably before your thing isn’t so overwhelming” Javier’s point was strangely comforting. Maybe I was just getting in the hang of things and these morning transitions were merely bumps on the road to greater control of my power.

“I’ve been testing it out a lot too,” he added “I can’t seem to do electric stuff without drawing it from somewhere first, which is usually pretty easy because there are outlets and electrical stuff everywhere. And even then, I can only affect things within about 10 feet of me.” I eagerly listened to his account of his own abilities, happy to not have to think about my own for a while.

“Where have you been doing this testing, anyway?” I asked. “Giant arcs of lightning aren’t exactly inconspicuous.”

“In my room, some. And you know, in the backyard when my mom and dad are out.” He said, looking sheepish. I knew that his backyard was fenced, but it wouldn’t have been very difficult for someone to peer between the wooden slats.

We pulled into the parking lot at school and got out of the truck. On the way in, I said “Javi, you have to be more careful, anyone could see in your backyard.”

Javi held the door open for me “I was careful, I did a walk around the outside before I did anything. And it was only for a few minutes. I even got rid of the little RC car I accidentally exploded. Waited until garbage day and put it in the bin myself.”

Once we were in the building proper, I decided that it was a good time to stop talking about exploding anything. Javi seemed to come to the same understanding and left off to go to his locker.

While walking through the building, I noticed a strange and not unpleasant sensation; an ease of gait that I hadn’t felt before. It took me a moment to realize that it was because I wasn’t carrying a dick around in my pants for the first time in my life. It seemed so weird that I totally forgotten that I hadn’t had time to put it back this morning. I felt a sudden paranoia then, thinking about what I was carrying instead. I had a pussy and was just strolling around with it in my pants with no one the wiser. I haven’t been pantsed since early in middle school, but the thought that someone could was simultaneously horrifying and exhilarating.

In class, it proved exactly as much of a distraction as one might imagine. I tried to concentrate on the lecture, but I couldn’t stop thinking about using the new equipment. So much so that things began to feel a little damp, which was both a whole new sensation and a whole new problem. I had no idea how much moisture I might produce and did not care to find out in the middle of class, so I worked extra hard to maintain concentration on schoolwork.

At lunch, we all took our places in the gazebo and Vera seemed to sense again that there was something between Javi and I that she was not privy to. I watched her eyes dart between us and could practically see the gears in her brain trying to work out a solution before she finally said “So like, did you guys bang last weekend, or what?”

I laughed a little too hard. “No, I mean, that’d be… Javi’s my bro and all, but… Vera, no, we didn’t” I sputtered. Javier just looked at me like I was the most useless actor he’d ever seen.

“Vera, if I were into that, I think I could do better than Teddy. No offense, but my shit is top tier.” Javi added in an effort to save me. Vera remained nonplussed and finally gave up and returned to her book.

The rest of the day passed without incident, but thoughts of how I had awakened this morning were never far from my mind. I could apparently change into any form, so why did I wake up in that one? Had it been because of the dreams?

I would have liked to be able to say that when I got home, I did my homework and dutifully attended my moms so as to mend whatever trespass I had made this morning. That scornful look Mama Cathy had given me had stayed with me throughout the day as well. Nevertheless, I instead took it upon myself to flick the bean at the earliest possible opportunity.

I found limited success at the endeavor, but I guessed I’d still need some practice. It would have been so much easier if I had a tutor already familiar with the subject matter, but I was not about to facetime Vera for that conversation.

After that, I determined to work on the finer details of the power as Javi had suggested. And since I knew him so well, that seemed as good a starting point as any. I pictured his wide grinning face and attempted to make mine look the same. It took some finagling but I got it after a time. I ran a search for ‘50 famous actresses’, found one that looked very pretty and simulated her face as well. Strangely though, I didn’t think her face looked nearly so beautiful as the one I had woken up wearing.

I wondered if I could get back to that form if I wanted, and as soon as I thought it; it was true. For some reason, this form didn’t need to be sculpted into place like the others. I tested it again, sculpting my face and body back into its original form and again, it took only a thought to return to the dazzling young woman I found myself as this morning.

Mama Liz called me to dinner shortly after that and I had to re-sculpt myself into being once again. I was getting a bit faster at it though. Mama Cathy seemed to be giving me the stink eye all through the meal no matter what I said or did. She harangued me about school work, spending too much time with Javi, spending too much time in my room, being on the internet too much and so on until Mama Liz finally told her to lay off and let me be.

I still had no idea what had set her off, so I did the dishes and went straight to my room without even a ‘good night’. I mean, sure, I had broken the law and almost certainly put my entire future in jeopardy, but she didn’t know that. I tried not to think about the problem and just fired up a strategy game on my pc to force it all out of my mind.

That night, if I had dreams, I didn’t remember them. When I woke, I could feel my face smiling. There was a cool breeze coming in over my bed where I had left the window cracked open and I stretched my body fully. I extended my arms and legs and felt a delightful series of pops in my joints as I did so. I wasn’t even that put off that I awakened female again. My previous supposition was mostly out the window though. I had not dreamed of the girl again last night, so why was I the girl again?