Melissa

  I walked behind the guard in silence, rgely staring at the ground as the dark furred rabbit guided me down a series of hallways. The guard, who looked menacing with a spear in their hands, eventually came to a stop in front of an unadorned wooden door. It was when the guard reached for the doorknob that I noticed something.

  “You have thumbs.”

  The rabbit gnced back at me, and tilted their head to the side. “Why wouldn’t I have thumbs?”

  Despite the pine looks, the rabbit’s voice came out as smoothly as any human’s, and with a definitively feminine ring.

  “Are you… A girl?”

  The rabbit gave a small nod. “Yup yup. I’m Joanie. Nice to meet you, Heroine.”

  “It’s… Melissa. Actually.” I rubbed the back of my head as I spoke, but Joanie only gestured to the open door.

  “You’re supposed to wait in there, Miss Melissa.”

  “Until dinner?” I asked, voice trembling from nerves. “By myself? Why are they separating me from my friends?”

  “Wouldn’t know. Guess the Countess has taken a special interest in you.” Joanie shrugged as she spoke, then gestured toward the doorway again.

  “The room won’t eat you, or anything,” Joanie promised. “Bed looks pretty comfortable.”

  “Will you… be guarding the door?” I asked. I had the vague thought that maybe I could go looking for Lonna and Talith.

  That was dashed when Joanie nodded her head. “I’ll keep you safe, yup yup. Me and Lucinda.” She thumped the butt of her spear as she spoke, drawing my attention back to the weapon.

  “Is your weapon… Named Lucinda?” I asked, a little taken aback. “Is it a sentient weapon, or something?”

  “...Nope nope. Just a six foot redwood shaft and an iron point. You’ll find fifty like her in the armory - none half as pretty.”

  So far, it had been pretty difficult to read Joanie’s emotions; her head looked like that of an oversized rabbit, after all. When she spoke of her spear, though, her blue eyes seemed to sparkle, and her voice was filled with affection.

  “You… must really like her. To have named her and all.”

  Joanie eyed me for a moment. She looked strangely wary. “Wait inside. Countess Koleff might get mad, otherwise.”

  “Mad that you’re talking to me? Or mad that I’m not in my room?”

  The rabbit shifted uneasily, looking up and down the hallway. “The Countess likes things just so. Said you wait in the room, while I guard the door.”

  I frowned for a moment, then walked past the threshold of the door and turned back around. “So. What if we do it like this? With the door open? That way we could talk while we wait.”

  “...” Joanie hesitated for a moment, clearly torn. Then, slowly, she shook her head back and forth. “Nope nope. Sorry Miss Melissa. You’re interesting, but if I’m following the Countess’s orders to the letter, door definitely has to be closed.”

  “But-”

  Joanie didn’t wait for me to finish my sentence, but instead smmed the door shut, leaving me to stare bnkly at the wooden surface for a moment.

  “...Miss Melissa, huh?” I whispered to myself after a moment. “Maybe I should have told her the truth, too…”

  Sighing, I turned to look about the room that I was effectively trapped in. There was a rge mattress, on a frame with four wooden posts. Each post was carved to resemble a rge squid, with the curved pointed head being the top of the post, and the tentacles clinging to the length of the wood. When I pressed a hand down on the bed, I found it to be surprisingly soft. I was sure if I id my head down on it, I would be asleep in no time.

  I hadn’t even realized it before, but the meeting with the countess had left me exceptionally tired. The idea of putting my head down on the bed and sleeping was incredibly tempting.

  Instead, I took another look around the room, looking for something to distract myself with until dinner. Being in a strange house, locked away from literally the only people I knew in this world… it just didn’t seem like the proper time to sleep.

  The only other things in the room, however, were a writing desk, a floor length mirror, and a window - not quite rge enough to fit through - currently letting in the light of a te day sun. I peered out of it for a moment, looking over carefully trimmed hedges, before turning my attention to the mirror.

  It was the second time I’d seen my reflection since coming to this world.

  I looked fairly simir to the wanted poster. Not exactly right: my eyes had been a little closer together in the poster, and my nose had looked a touch too big. Still, the artwork had done a good job capturing the softness of my face, the roundness of my cheeks.

  It hadn’t captured my long eyeshes, or the vibrant green of my eyes, of course. No more than it had captured the fullness of my lips.

  I reached up to touch a finger to my cheek, feeling the soft smooth skin. The mirror image of me did the same.

  Next, I reached out toward the mirror, fingers touching the cool gss. The image in the mirror reached out as well.

  “It really is me…” I whispered. “I look like… Like a girl…”

  A half-forgotten memory stirred, as I looked at myself in the mirror. It had been Halloween. I’d wanted to go as a cheerleader. Some of the more popur kids in school had gone in drag the previous Halloween, and it had been a big hit.

  My mom said they’d only pulled it off because they were popur, though. That I would just get beaten up if I tried. She outright refused to buy the costume.

  Which was why I saved up my allowance so that I could get it for myself.

  It took months. I’d been… What? Thirteen? And the allowance I’d gotten for chores had only been about five dolrs a week.

  I’d managed it, though. I got the costume. Put it on as a test. Stood in front of the mirror.

  I’d known I’d look funny. A guy, with a few stray hairs on his chin and a lot on his legs, dressed in a too tight skirt and a too small top, wearing a badly made blonde wig.

  I’d expected to look ridiculous.

  What I hadn’t expected was for it to hurt. Looking into the mirror, and seeing a man in woman’s clothing.

  I just broke down crying, on the floor. Where I stayed until Mom found me.

  She confiscated the costume. Said that she wouldn’t see her son bullied or beaten up.

  I didn’t argue.

  I’d never put on feminine clothes again.

  This was just another costume. Just a really good costume. One that would come off, when this adventure ended. One that I’d never get to put on again.

  A tear slipped down my cheek; then another. I didn’t understand why I was crying. I’d known all along that this would one day come to an end. I was going to transform back, go back home, and put this entire crazy adventure to rest. I was going to watch television, and read books, and know better than to dream of a fantasy nd.

  I was going to go back to how things used to be.

  So why was I crying?

  I didn’t understand. I couldn’t comprehend where all these tears were coming from. Did I want to stay so badly? Did I want to live in a fantasy world, in a fantasy body, nursing this fantasy? Of being the Heroine, being a girl?

  Being Melissa?

  Unsure of the answers, I wiped away my tears.

  I was still wearing the green dress, with the tiny little tear. I’d barely even processed, until now, that I was wearing feminine clothing again. The realization only drove me deeper into confusion, though, and soon I was forced to wipe my tears away all over again.

  Eventually, I stopped crying. I don’t know how much time passed. The sun was a lot further down, though, and the room had started to darken. It would probably be dinner soon.

  As if on cue, the door to the bedroom opened. On the other side was Joanie. With her was a familiar figure: a slightly chubby mia, with blonde hair and blue eyes. The shopkeeper’s daughter.

  I stared at her for a moment, completely nonplussed to be meeting her again, in the Countess’s mansion. “What… What are you doing here?”

  The mia, meanwhile, slithered into the room as if it was the most natural thing in the world to be here. She was holding something in her hands: a white piece of cloth, marked with symbols and lines. Unsure what it was for, I took an uncertain step back from the girl.

  The mia only tilted her head to the side, though, as if confused. “What do you mean what am I doing here? I’m here to take your measurements, so Mom can try and get through that emergency order on your wardrobe.”

  “Emergency order…?” I asked, numbly.

  The mia nodded, firmly. “Yeah. Ten pairs of trousers, ten blouses, three dresses, and a riding corset? In two days? Mom nearly screamed. She’s going to have to get outside help, even with me casting spells…” There was obvious worry on the mia’s face but when she noticed me noticing, she put on a broad smile.

  “I’m Cttara, by the way. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Heroine.” Saying so, she gripped the white strip of fabric she’d been holding between both hands, and pulled it taut. Between what she’d said, and the markings…

  “Is that a measuring tape?” I guessed.

  “Uh-hm. Like I said, I can’t do a thing until we have your measurements and we never got around to that during your st visit. Mom’s busy readying the fabric and getting people to help, so she had to send me.” There was an easy grin on Cttara’s face as she slithered toward me. “Put your arms out, please.”

  I gnced at Joanie, my guard.

  Joanie shrugged, and closed the door.

  “Arms please!” Cttara repeated, more firmly. “If I’m going to pull an all nighter on your clothes, the least you can do is make the measuring easy.”

  “S-Sorry…” I muttered, spreading out my arms as asked.

  Cttara calmly began to take my measurements, humming faintly under her breath as she did so. She measured my chest, waist, hips, and more, each time whispering the number out loud before continuing to the next. She did not, however, write a single measurement down.

  “Are you going to be able to remember all this?” I didn’t want to imagine how the clothes might misfit if the girl forgot anything.

  “Don’t insult my memory,” Cttara scoffed. “Now. Off with the dress, if you’d please.”

  “W-What?” I stammered out, shying away from the girl.

  “What? I need to get a measurement on your bust for the riding corset. Don’t tell me you’re shy about that sort of thing?”

  “Yeah… A little…” I admitted, wrapping a little bit of hair around her finger and tugging softly.

  “Seriously?” the girl shook her head, then pursed her lips. “Tell you what - I don’t have time to argue with your modesty right now, so if you’re a good girl and do everything I say I’ll give you a handy little spell to get rid of that voyeur curse on your friend.”

  “Voyeur… Curse?” I asked, frowning faintly. “What are you talking about?”

  “You know, the spying spell someone spped on the Princess! You didn’t know about that?” Cttara frowned. “It burned through one of the wards I set up in the shop. And to think, Mom always said I was being paranoid when I made them.”

  “I… I didn’t think there was such a thing as spying spells, though?” Lonna had said there weren’t any, at least.

  Cttara just shrugged, though. “Believe me or don’t. I mean, I know which of us I’d bet the ox on - the genius spellcrafter with definitely just the right amount of wards - but… Up to you.”

  I frowned for a moment, before reaching down and pulling my dress up and over my head. That left me in only a pair of boxers and a too small bra.

  “You’ll need to take the breastband off, too,” Cttara insisted.

  “...Fine.” I knew full well I was just being stubborn. I’d allowed Lonna to see me naked, just a few days prior.

  Lonna knew I was a guy, though. Cttara was looking at me entirely as a girl. It made me feel both guilty, and entirely too self conscious.

  The measurements went quickly from there, despite that, with Cttara thankfully remaining professional throughout. Before long, the bra was back in pce - with Cttara’s help - and the dress went back on after.

  “That’s everything I need,” Cttara decred, before slithering toward the writing desk.

  Pulling open a drawer, she pulled out a quill, an inkwell, and a piece of parchment. Moving with swift assuredness, Cttara drew a series of symbols, before bisecting them with a circle. Then she drew more symbols, bisected by smaller circles, each sharing a single symbol with the main circle.

  Then she made more. More, and more, smaller and smaller, until the entire paper was covered in marks.

  “Just have your friend Breathe through that,” Cttara told me, casually handing the paper over. “I don’t know how the spell is anchored to her, so this is just a one day shielding spell. It’s sort of an energy sink, but it’ll make it impossible for the spell to connect, as long as she casts it daily!”

  “Thanks,” I said, reverently taking the paper in my hands.

  “Don’t lose it!” Cttara commanded, moving toward the door. “It’ll be worth a lot, once I’m a famous magi! One of Cttara’s originals!” She pulled open the door, then turned and waved goodbye, before sliding out.

  I waved goodbye myself, then turned to stare at the paper. I didn’t have pockets anymore, so after a moment’s hesitation I folded up the parchment and tucked it into my cleavage.

  Then I sat on the bed, wondering how much time was left before dinner.

  In the end, I didn’t have long to wait.

  EmilieEmber