Even though I felt fine, I didn't risk aggravating my injury so the next day, I woke up early and walked to school. I was still walking on the city sidewalks when two teens ran up to me and began taunting me, “Well, if it isn’t the little pipsqueak.” The one with bright red hair exclaimed as soon as he got near me. He was wearing dark baggy clothes with a lot of metal rivets and chains. “Oh, are you going to keep walking? I guess our last encounter was enough to show you that size matters.”

When I continued to ignore him his companion that had died his long hair a festive purple added in, “Oh look, she’s scared of you.” As his words ended, I felt a hand push me from behind causing me to stumble forward. It’s just that there was nobody there when I looked back. It must have been some type of mind magic. It wasn’t all mental attacks and protection. A lot of it were things like telekinesis, clairvoyance and astral projection were grouped into it.

I swept the group for shadows and when I didn’t see any extra ones, I discounted basic invisibility and mental influence. It wasn’t that it wasn’t possible. I just thought they lacked the discipline to get any advanced spells that might hide their shadows. Instead, it was more likely to be a telekinetic attack. Were these the kids that were picking on the old me? I wasn’t sure but I was never one to provoke. Even in my old life there were a few people that wanted to prove themselves by fighting me. Still, I didn’t attack right away and gave them a warning, “Do you need a beating or are you going to walk away?”

My “intimidating” voice came out soft and sweet. Their laughter and another invisible push were their answer. “Fine,” I said and then muttered a spell. They continued to laugh as I exploded into action. ‘Herculean Strength’ had no outward indications that I had cast it so when I grabbed the kid’s arm, he was unprepared, and I broke it without effort. He gave a scream but then gritted his teeth and cast a spell I wasn’t aware of. I watched the kid with all the metal in his clothing, take on the same metallic sheen. He held his arm and looked at me with madness in his eyes. His friend moved back, and I felt multiple light impacts hit my legs. They didn’t hurt but put me off balance. The kid with the bright red hair rushed forward and I was forced to tumble in the direction I had been pushed and I felt the wind as his punch flew over my head. I moved to keep my distance, ready to attack either of them.

But the fight ended before it even began. A cop car that was driving by, flashed its lights when he noticed us causing a disturbance and the two teens ran away. They zipped into the alley they had been standing near and vanished from my sight. The cop didn’t get out but watched me. I gave a nod of thanks and hurried on my way. The cop watched me for the next couple of blocks and when the kids didn’t reappear, drove off.

I got to school without anything else happening but skipped my normal exercise routine. My day passed like it had yesterday and I learned a little more on how to modify my limited spell selection. It was just that the teachers kept acting strange around me. Like yesterday, they hung around or called on me more often.

At least my lunch was still relaxing. The cheer squad seemed to know all the gossip in school and great teenage calamities played out in my head as I listened to their endless stories. Breakups, fights, and emotional struggles were portrayed as I ate. The one thing they didn’t cover was the gossip about cheerleaders, so I didn’t know why Ann was upset. She hadn’t been earlier but by lunch she looked so gloomy that all of us tried cheering her up.

Even during cheerleading practice, she was still upset but not talking. Because of my injuries, I was told to practice my balance and ended up stand on a square block that had loose pieces that went on top on it. They were in different sizes and when I stood on them, they wiggled a little forcing me to strengthen my stance or fall off. So, I wasn’t near her to even try and find out what was up. She ran out right after practice and got into Neal’s sports car.

When I got home, I tested the birth control pill one more time but got the same result. I didn’t have any confidence in the pills I received and decided to pick up rubbers. But where to hide the pills? I couldn’t just toss them in case my mom wanted to check up on me. I finally decided to put them in my school locker. That way if my mom asked me, I could bring them back and still have enough time to adjust the packs, so the right amount was missing from them.

On Wednesday, I managed a slow jog to school. The two teens didn’t show up, but I wasn’t sure if that was because of the cop car I saw patrolling. Either way, I made it to the school grounds without incident. Instead of going to work out, I found a secluded area and began practicing my spells. Since classes yesterday I knew I needed to strengthen my spells. My success in changing the Stone Skin spell gave me hope that I could do more with what I had. I started with my highest-level spell ‘Herculean Strength’. When I focused on the mathematics that made up the spell a densely packed ball of math appeared in my mind. I expanded and spun the ball looking at all of it, but the issue was that I didn’t understand half of what had appeared. There were strange symbols that looked like lab vials, something that looked like a sound wave graph, and bar chart with pieces missing on the top. Thousands of equations surrounded them. It was as if I walked into an advanced mathematics course in college. It was so beyond what I knew that I had to finally give up. Dynamic Neogenesis wasn’t any better. Both spells were too advanced for me to even begin to mess with.

Since I couldn’t adjust them, I decided to see what Herculean Strength could do. And then spent the next half hour trying to fix my hand. The Herculean Strength spell gave me super strength. It was to the point that I could lift a boulder with ease. Sadly, it didn’t give me a lot of extra durability. Punching something with increased strength might break the object but it still hurt like hell. I supported my swollen hand and headed to the nurse’s office. Cursing that my level four healing spell was too limited.

I had looked up Dynamic Neogenesis last night to see what I was doing wrong. The fact that a level four healing spell didn’t heal well had been bothering me. I wanted to figure out why and fix it. Who knew that it was a one-of-a-kind spell. The site I found the information on even had a picture of Roy along with a little bio about him. The spell’s problem stemmed from the fact it wasn’t made for healing. Any healing it did was a secondary effect. Its main purpose was to rejuvenate and was a ‘fountain of youth’ for those it was cast upon.

The nurse’s office was busier than I expected. Several kids in various states of distress were already here and I had to wait. They had been either competing again others or like me, had been practicing their spells and something had gone wrong. While there were over a dozen students, the nurses worked efficiently, and I made it to homeroom on time.

Janet pulled me aside and said, “My dad said his boss is ok with you babysitting. Are you sure? I heard his last wife was a senior from our school and that she dropped out after having his baby.”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Worst case scenario is I just call the cops on him. Your father won’t get into any trouble if I do, right? I don’t want to get him into any trouble.”

“Na, he’ll be fine. Even if he tries my dad has several offers from other places. You don’t have to worry about him, but if you need money, I have some saved. You don’t have to risk your safety for it.” Janet always seemed to say things like this. She, out of all my friends, was the most caring about how other’s felt.

“I appreciate it but I’m not helpless anymore.”

She seemed to remember something and smiled, “That’s true. You should hear some of the stories about your fight. Did you know that you single handily stomped down three gargoyles and saved us all?” She laughed. “The story has grown in the last couple of days, but I get your point. I just worry about you.”

I was feeling pretty happy as we went to our seats. Even with all the setbacks I had since I got here, I was beginning to enjoy my new life. I felt more comfortable with my shape and being small. I was surprised at how easily I adjusted to being a girl. I especially enjoyed the large variety of clothing. Unlike when I just picked a t-shirt and pants, I could now change my style every day. The clothing I inherited only had the limitation of being revealing in one way or another.

For the most part, I even liked this world as long as I ignored the random beast attacks. Although, according to the internet, they weren't as common as I feared. They happened about as often as car pile ups. Even then they were usually 'C' level attacks or lower and didn't pose a significant threat to the city. A special team was responsible for dealing with these attacks called the 'Quick Response Unit' and I equated them to a S.W.A.T. team.

My day was progressing normally, when the two teens I had fought with earlier tried making trouble with me in the hallway. I had been going to English and hadn't changed the path I took to get there. The fact that I hadn't seen them, in the week and a half I had been here, probably meant that they came looking for me. I heard metal boy's voice as I turned a corner, "Hello little ant" and when I turned toward his voice a book came flying at my head. I barely ducked out of the way when he continued, "That's right bow down and scurry away."

I glared at him but didn't make a move. Those in the hallway with us were now paying attention. I couldn't fight in school without getting in trouble and after the book attack neither teen attacked again. If I attacked them now, I would be the one in trouble. 'Another time,' I thought and moved to leave. I saw a look of frustration cross the telekinetic’s face but other than "Look at her runaway" comment they didn't attack me.

I texted my mom when I got to class. But even as I left cheerleading practice she hadn't replied. When I mentioned it when I got home, she just nodded. I could see she was forcing herself to remain calm. I wasn’t sure how much she figured out, but she seemed that she knew I was going to go sleep with somebody tomorrow and was trying not to stop me. She was subconsciously hugging herself even as she spoke to me in a calm voice. It was so unlike her, but I kind of understood. I was the equivalent of a cripple and every time I left the house my mom was afraid that I wouldn’t return. That somebody or something would casually kill me. Now there was a cure, something that could make me stronger, and she was forcing herself to allow me to get that cure.

Friday night came too quickly. I was wearing a short dress that was easy to put on and take off as my mom drove me over to Victoria’s father’s boss’s house. The entire time my mom kept saying things like “call me if you need me to pick you up early” and “If you have any problems, don’t be afraid to call the police”. By the time I got there I was more nervous than when I left my house. Tim was the boss’s name, and I could tell he was well off by the size of his house. While not a mansion, it was big.

I got out of the car and reassured my mom, “I will be ok. I have my phone and will call you if anything happens.” I didn’t say thank you because I knew it would only make her blame herself. I was pretty sure that she knew she was dropping me off to have sex, so how could she be at ease?

I rang the doorbell and soon Tim answered the door. He was an average looking man. He wasn’t fat but due to his age, easy lifestyle, and lack of exercise, he had a few extra pounds around his midsection and no muscle definition. And I really had to babysit his five-year-old daughter.

He gave me a friendly smile and said, “Come in, come in, you must be Stephanie. My daughter is getting ready for bed.” His eyes trailed up and down my body as I walked by and in a deep voice he said, "I'm not sure you were informed but I have a meeting with a client. I should be home between nine thirty and ten o'clock. You get a hundred dollars for the four hours." He looked at my chest and nervously licked his lips, "If you are willing to stay later, I'm willing to increase the pay to three thousand."

I knew what his offer meant. I couldn’t imagine his offer working on any respectable girl, but I had come here to sleep with him so I could get spells. Even so, his straightforward offer as if he was ordering a hooker made me want to leave. It wasn’t too late. But Janet had questioned her father about Tim for me and found out that he was a high-level shadow mage. In his younger days, he was known for his control of automatons and summoning up shadow beasts. Because of that he secured his position in the movie industry. Most of his work was horror based but he also had some sci-fi work under his belt. Getting any of his higher-level spells was worth it, even if I had to sleep with him to get one. But his greasy smile and approach was disgusting. I didn’t want to accept the money but declining would mean I wouldn't be able to get what I was after.

My voice held the unease I felt, as I said, "I'll stay late if that’s ok?"

He still beamed and said, “I’ll show you around and introduce you.” He took me around the bottom floor first and showed me were the kitchen and bathrooms were. Any time I walked close to him, I would feel his hand brush against my ass “accidently”. According to Janet, his accidental touches were why he was divorced and needed a sitter, so I wasn’t surprised he copped a feel. He showed me his house and by the time we walked upstairs he had grown bolder and had “helped” me up the stairs by resting his hand on my mid back and then my ass. He pointed out a couple of movie posters he had help make as if to impress me, but I didn’t really care. I was more concerned on where his hand was going than his movies. Only the appearance of his daughter stopped his wandering hands.

His daughter was adorable and after we were introduced, he left for his meeting. Watching her was easy. I made cookies from premade doh and then we just watched cartoons for an hour. After that, I took her upstairs and put her to bed. I spent the rest of my time watching a movie on his huge television. It was an older movie but unlike what I remembered; the effects were a lot better. I was really enjoying the fast pace and thrilling scenes when I heard the click of the front door lock. He was back! The thought of, 'Should I still go through with it?' flashed through my mind as the door opened.