The fire crackled softly, emitting its last wisps of smoke, as the Madison party finished up their lunch. The last of the fish they'd caught had been cooked and eaten, so there was no need to wrap anything up for the drive home. Jennifer and Karyn were discussing the merits of some book they were reading, Mr. and Mrs. Madison were laying back, enjoying the sun, and Michelle was casting a longing glance at the water; she and Jenny had had a terrific morning swim, but she did want to get back in the water one last time...
But her father had made it pretty clear that they had to get going after lunch; after all, tomorrow was a school day. They doused the fire and packed up what they had out; Jenny assisted eagerly, on the theory that this would help her chances of going with next time, too. Michelle assisted as best as she could from her lawn chair, though there was only so much she could do. Before long, everything was packed and ready to go.
The whole entourage piled into the van and headed for home. Jenny was sad that it was over, but she had had a pretty wonderful time with her new friend. Everything had gone just awesome, and her mom would be happy to hear that nobody had found out about her secret. She wondered how things wee going at home..
Although he tried to hide it, Jason couldn't help but stare across the table at Becky. She was...she was wearing makeup! She'd only been like this a few months and she was already acting girly! Maybe she even liked boys! Maybe that was why she was so friendly with Andrew! He had to find a way to change back, before it started happening to him, too!
"So the way Becky explained it," Mrs. Gerard said, "since she was not specifically excluded from developmental changes effected by the note, and hadn't yet gone through puberty, she developed as a normal teenage girl?"
"That's certainly how it seemed to work out," Mrs. Connely replied. She poured herself another cup of coffee.
"So, since Jason hasn't gone through puberty yet, either, it's probable that he'll undergo the same thing?"
Becky nodded, trying to shake off the nagging feeling that she'd forgotten something, and wondering why Jason was giving her such a weird look. "I can't think of any reason why that wouldn't be the case," she said.
Rachel laid her head in her hands. "I guess you probably already know how much this could mess up a family's life," she said. "Isn't there any way to undo this?"
Karen shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "Mark and I did a lot of looking on the Internet, but we gave up because it was just too impossible to sort out the meaningful results of a search for transformation spells. But obviously, the notes don't operate under normal physical constraints, so you'd think there would have to be some way to tap into whatever force powers them. It's possible the answer isn't on the Internet at all."
"Which would mean digging through God-knows-what ancient grimoires, no doubt," Rachel sighed. "We can pursue this, of course, but in the meantime, what do we do? I can't very well send Jason back to school like this, but I'm just not sure I can swing the homeschooling thing; I've already got one job, I don't know that I can manage being a teacher on tne side."
Mark shrugged. "There are a few options. I don't know if you can do a private school or not, but there is one a little ways up the Interstate that has doesn't have a P.E. program yet; hence, no locker rooms or public showers."
"No private schools," Mrs. Gerard sighed. "I only wish I had that kind of money."
Mr. Connely nodded. "Well, there are a few curricula we found that are geared towards student self-supervision, if you think Jason can make that work. Otherwise, Karen and I could have him over on school mornings, until he's ready to go back to school."
Jason couldn't believe what he was hearing. Were they seriously thinking that he'd be stuck turning into a girl? No! He had to find a way back, no matter how much digging through ancient tomes it took!
"That's very generous of you to offer," his mother replied. "I think I'll take Jason out of school for a week on sick leave, while we think over our options. Is there anything else I should know?"
