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=== Magitech, Inc. === A round-robin story from the "It Starts Here" thread on the tg_fiction Yahoo Group by Hawkyn, Scott Jamison, Trismegistus Shandy, Bonnie Blair, and nom deplume edited by Trismegistus Shandy Started 16 July 2016 by Hawkyn; round-robin thread trailed off 6 October 2016; final scene added and edits made January-February 2018 by Trismegistus Shandy http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TG_Fiction/ ----- Part 1 by Hawkyn He sat at the monitor and stared at the application. Name, Date of Birth, Address, etc., etc.... The same information he had put on the last thirty applications, and he had yet to hear back from any of them. Typing in his name, it dawned on him that no one was actually looking at applications. That the whole idea was to have you go out to the Internet so they didn't have to deal with the throngs of people trying for each job. Then they would hire from their list of friends of friends and claim they'd opened the jobs up to everyone and those guys were the best. With each letter he typed, he got more and more angry. How could they just blow everyone off like this? Make us all waste our time so they could keep it all within their circle of friends? He stopped typing and stared at the web page, fuming as he thought about all the time and effort he was putting in. Then he decided to do something. He would do a little test to see if they were paying attention. It was just one application and it was a company he had never heard of anyway. "Okay, Magitech, your tag line says you can find anyone a job. Let's put you to the test," he said to himself. He erased Samuel from the first name and entered Samantha. Last name was changed from Clotchsky to Potts. He did a quick Google search for penthouse apartments for rent overlooking the river, and entered that for the address instead of the piece-of-shit trailer his brother was letting him stay in. For education he listed Miskatonic University with a degree in Applied Mystics with a minor in Illusions. For work history he listed Special Operations for the CIA and Paranormal Research contracting for the FBI. With each question, he created a persona of a person who was so outrageous that anyone looking at the application would have to check it out. To be sure, he listed his cell phone as the contact number for the CIA and his home phone for the FBI. The next page of the application came up. It asked for personal information: age 26 instead of 46; sex: female, to go with the name he'd created; the height, weight, etc., were filled in with what he would like in a girl. The next page was for references... which he filled in with "available on request", never expecting anyone to be asking for them anyway. The last page was a disclaimer about the information being accurate. He clicked "Yes" and typed in Sammi Potts for the signature, then clicked submit. "That should get a rise out of them," he chuckled as he turned off the computer and went to bed. ----- Part 2 by Scott Jamison ----- There were no email or text responses to any of his applications in the morning, so Samuel went out to the local independent coffee shop for a Job Club meeting. His old friend Jen, who'd also been out of work for a while, had invited him when he lost his job. It was really more of a mutual pep talk than anything else, but it felt good to get out of the trailer, and if you ordered right, the coffee wasn't really so expensive. The club had some new members that morning, a 28 year old hair stylist who'd developed a cluster of health problems that prevented him from working in a salon, and a married couple who had been two years from retirement when the company they worked for got taken over, and they were "right-sized" without their pensions. Samuel was able to give them a couple of survival tips he'd learned. When Samuel returned home, there was just one employment-related email. From Magitech. Apparently someone actually was reading their application files! He opened the message. "Dear Ms. Potts," it began. "We are pleased to say that your application matched a position opportunity from one of our clients not listed on the public boards. With your previous experience, we are sure you understand the need for confidentiality. The client has requested that we perform an initial phone interview. The following times are available:" Well, it had been a nice joke, but apparently here was where it was going to end. On the other hand, if he could get someone on the phone, that was a chance to sell them on the real Samuel. The next paragraph was interesting -- it seemed Magitech had a proprietary Voice Over Internet Protocol called "Magitalk" that they wanted him to download for the call. That would give him some time to think. Samuel set about cleaning the trailer during the download, as always taking a moment to gaze at the photo of him with his late wife at the home they'd had before the fire. He sighed, and returned to the computer. The installation went smoothly, and Samuel set about exploring the new program. One of his job strengths was learning new software quickly, which he had been careful to mention even on the fake application. It was compatible with his current headphone and mike setup, good... wait, the "voice modulation" settings were unexpectedly robust. Samuel grinned as he thought of a way to continue the joke. Sure enough, he could adjust the pitch and contrast to make his voice sound very different indeed. With recording and playback, Samuel started creating "Samantha's" voice. He preferred sopranos to date -- his wife Danae hadn't been nicknamed "Squeaky" for nothing, but Samuel decided that a cool alto made "Samantha" sound more professional. He'd shut off his webcam and claim it was out of order. When he felt satisfied with his new phone voice, Samuel sent in his preferred appointment times, and reviewed his copy of the fake application. ----- Part 3 by nom deplume ----- Several weeks went by. His job search continued, but to no avail. Each rejection or ignored response added to his growing gloom. The trailer felt like a prison, and he yearned to escape his dead-end circumstances. When the email came he was so startled that he laughed out loud. "Sammi, Please present yourself for an interview at 10:00 am on Wednesday 20 July at 2918 Stott's Mill Road. You will be spending the morning with your potential co-workers and having lunch with senior management, so please dress appropriately." Samuel sat back in his chair, stunned by the words on his computer screen. He'd done it! If he'd only known that fabricating a completely false persona was all it took to land a job interview, he'd have saved himself a lot of time and frustration.... But as it began to sink in, the full enormity of his dilemma hit him. Why in hell had he answered that want ad as a woman? Now he was sunk, and he'd have to send them a humiliating reply. Should he confess that he was really a man and try to come anyway? No, that would only expose him as a liar, certain death for a job applicant. There was only one way that he could come out of this and still have a shot at that position, and he had two days to prepare himself.... ----- Part 4 by Trismegistus Shandy ------ "You're crazy," Jen said flatly, after he explained over the phone what he needed. "Come on, Jen, I need your help with this," Samuel pleaded. "I've got to look like a reasonably convincing woman by Wednesday morning." "And if I help you, then what? Suppose you get the job, are you going to keep dressing as a woman every workday for as long as the job lasts?" "...I guess." "And then they'll find out, sooner or later, and fire you." "Huh. -- No, wait. They can't fire you for being trans. It's illegal in this state." "But you -- *are* you trans?" "No, but they don't need to know that." "A trans person would be living as as woman all the time, not just at work. Do you want this job enough to do that?" "It's none of their business what I do on my own time. Come on, Jen." "All right," Jen said with a sigh. "I owe you one after you got Todd off my back. But we're even after this, remember." ----- Part 5 by Scott Jamison ----- A kick to the trailer door announced Jen, laden down with carrying cases. She was a substantial woman, while Samuel was an average-sized man--one of the reasons he'd picked her to help him was that she was the one female friend he had whose clothes would kind of fit him. Sam relieved her of some packages so that she could get in. "Did you shave your legs already?" Sam nodded at her inquiry. "Good. With dark enough pantyhose, it wouldn't show, but I for one find hair under hose really uncomfortable. Hmm, your five o' clock shadow isn't too bad, good thing you've got really light hair, but shave your face again and then we'll apply the depilatory." When Samuel returned from the tiny water closet, Jen shook the printout of the fake application in his face. "Sam, I might -- just might -- be able to make you look like an ugly woman, but this Sammi Potts is fifteen years younger than you, four inches shorter and at least fifty pounds lighter. Wait, is it even legal to ask your weight on a job application? Anyhow, no amount of makeup and padding is going to make you resemble the woman you sold this company." "Jen, my unemployment insurance runs out in two weeks, Big Box Video Rentals is still stuck in Chapter 11 proceedings, so who knows if or when I will finally get my severance check, and the collection agency is breathing down my neck about Danae's final hospital bills. This is the first nibble I've gotten in months, I *have* to take this chance, no matter how ridiculous it sounds." Jen sighed. "Fine, but you owe me big time. Let's get started with the depilatory." After a moment: "Ow! That burns!" "Sissy. Might as well pluck those eyebrows while we're here -- Adrian would be better for this, but he can't work with the chemicals anymore." Several minutes of torture later, Sam was allowed to take a breather. "Next, clothes fitting! I looked it up on the Internet and apparently there's special underwear you can use to be more convincing, but I'm not made of money either. Just don't take your skirt off in front of anyone." The next few minutes involved more grunting than Sam had thought there would be. "Hey," said Jen. "Didn't you have a telephone interview with that Padma Ng person from Magitech? She'll probably be there too, and she's going to notice if your voice doesn't match." "I... didn't think of that." "Better rehearse." Samuel pulled up the recordings he'd made of the modulated voice on the Magitalk program and started trying to imitate them. "A little too high; remember, your voice sounds lower-pitched to you because of internal resonance." As the fitting continued, Sam kept replaying the audio and trying to match it until something clicked and Jen's head snapped up. "You've got it now. Keep it there." Samuel found that it was surprisingly easy to keep his voice in that register, and the throat pain from the previous tries had vanished. ----- Part 6 by Bonnie Blair ----- Scott stepped away from the stacks of clothes and told himself that he had to look in the mirror to see. What he saw sent shock waves through him. All the clothes he had on did make him look like a woman. Jen was right; he did look a bit on the ugly side, but she said that maybe with enough makeup on, he might look a little more convincing. So he sat down in front of the makeshift vanity (they'd squeezed a folding chair into the bathroom) and stared at all of the items she had laid out to use. He gulped once more as Jen looked at his face. "So, Princess, are you ready to see what we can do to make you so much more convincing?" Somehow he got the idea that she was beginning to enjoy transforming him! ----- Part 7 by Trismegistus Shandy ------ Samuel presented himself at the offices of Magitech at nine-thirty, half an hour early. In the voice he'd been practicing for two days, he said to the receptionist: "Hi, I'm Sammi Potts. I have a job interview at ten a.m.?" "Yes, of course," the receptionist said, consulting a list on her desk. "Have a seat and I'll tell Mr. Faraday you're here." Samuel sat, crossing his legs the way Jen had coached him, in a cushioned chair in the lobby. He started to pick up the copy of _Sports Illustrated_, but decided that he needed every bit of help with his cover he could get, and picked up _Cosmopolitan_ instead. He was just starting to read an interview with one of his favorite actresses when someone called his nom de metier. "Ms. Potts? Samantha Potts?" said a man's voice. Samuel looked up. "That's me," he said, standing up and smiling. The man was a couple of inches taller than Samuel, and wore a business suit with shaded glasses. As he approached him, Samuel saw there were tiny unreadable letters or symbols etched into the frames of the glasses. The man looked him over for a few moments before saying: "Ms. Potts --I believe you said on your application you prefer to go by Sammi, am I correct? -- I am Robert Faraday. I'll be your first interviewer today." Faraday led him to a nearby conference room, where he asked him a few questions about his work experience. Samuel answered as truthfully as he could without giving away the fact that he'd lied on the application -- which was not very truthfully at all. When asked about his job with the CIA, he said he was unable to say much because it was classified, only to have Mr. Faraday to produce an authentic-looking clearance document and ask again. He made shit up. Finally Mr. Faraday said: "Magitech is largely a consulting firm -- a sort of high-end temporary agency. We provide our clients with experienced and knowledgeable people for certain types of position," with a sly nod. "I would be your manager here at Magitech, but you would have another manager at one of our client companies who you would see and report to day to day, while you would report to me by email once a week, and see me once a month for departmental meetings. "So you won't be seeing most of your fellow Magitech employees very often, but we have one in the office today who is between consultancies, who will interview you as well, and give you a chance to ask her some questions about what it's like working at Magitech." A few minutes later a short dark-haired woman came in. "Hello," she said. "Sammi Potts? I'm Janice Berger." "Hi," Samuel said, rising and offering his hand. She shook it and they sat down at the conference table. "So," she said, "I don't like to pry, but it's important -- you'll understand why in a moment. You haven't been living as a woman very long, have you?" "Um... ah... no, I guess not." Samuel wasn't about to say it was less than two days. But damnit, Jen had pronounced him "acceptable" after two days of intensive training. What had he done wrong? "You're pretty good," Janice said. "Don't worry, most people wouldn't have spotted you. But the background check gave you away, as well as the yin-yang detector in the lobby." "...Background check? Even before the first interview?" He really wanted to know about the yin-yang detector, but had a feeling someone with his fake background should already know. "Yes. Mr. Faraday asked me to talk with you about benefits, though I'm not with HR... but I'm knowledgeable enough about a couple of things *you'll* want to know about. One, Magitech is one of the few employers whose benefit package includes sex reassignment. Two, we have proprietary technology that does a better job of it than anything available elsewhere." "I... see," Samuel said weakly. "It really works," Janice said in a low, confiding voice. "I had periods for the first couple of years after my transition. Not lately, though... I'm pregnant with my first child." She beamed at Samuel, and put a hand on her belly, which wasn't showing yet. ------ Afterward, Samuel couldn't recall the rest of his conversation with Janice Berger, his transgender prospective co-worker. That bombshell she'd dropped --that she used to be a man, and now she was *pregnant*, for God's sake -- and expected him to be pleased about the prospect of being completely female himself... He thought he'd asked her a few perfunctory questions about what it was like working at Magitech, but couldn't remember what they were or how she'd answered. It didn't help that his next interviewer had another bombshell to drop that drove most of that conversation with Ms. Berger out of his mind. "Ms. Clotchsky, or Ms. Potts if you prefer, reinventing yourself is one thing," said Padma Ng, a striking Asian woman. "We are quite sympathetic with that; we even encourage it... but blatant lying about your work experience is quite another." He gulped. What to say? Before he could think of anything, she went on: "You would never have been called in for an interview, however, if our background check had not shown us your potential as well as exposing your lies. We think you can make something of yourself, and we expect you to do so if we hire you. But after the bad start you've made, we expect you to make a gesture of good faith. Promise me you won't lie again, either to your managers or co-workers at Magitech. You won't be required to disclose private information -- the things we've learned in our background check will stay on HR's secure, un-networked servers, and your manager and co-workers won't know about -- but you must not lie about anything to us ever again." "I won't," Samuel said, though he wasn't sure he wanted to work here now. "Say it again," she said, taking a blue, faintly glowing crystal out of her briefcase and sliding it across the conference table toward him. "Put your hand on the stone and say it as a complete sentence -- 'I, Sammi Potts' (or whatever name you prefer to go by), 'swear never to knowingly speak falsely to my superiors or fellow employees of Magitech.'" Samuel thought this was weird, but not the weirdest thing that he'd heard all day, and did as he was bid. "I, Sammi Potts, swear to never speak falsely to my managers or fellow employees at Magitech." As he said his girl-name, he felt a tingle shoot up his arm from where he was touching the crystal, and when he finished the sentence another such tingle. What was going on? "Hmm. Your memory could use some work, but that's close enough," said Ms. Ng. "Now for some questions." ----- Part 8 by Scott Jamison ----- Ms. Ng pulled an ordinary-looking tablet computer out of her case and set it down beside her left hand. Samuel couldn't see it well from his angle, but the color scheme on the screen looked like the latest version of that model. "Now, Ms. Potts, tell me about your most recent work experience. Remember, you're under oath." Samuel composed himself. "I was with Big Box Video Rentals for twelve years, the last fo-- three years and seven months as Assistant Director of Marketing." He wasn't sure if that crystal would consider rounding up a lie, but why test it when he didn't know the penalty? "Why did you leave that position?" "The company went into Chapter 11, and I was one of the people they didn't need anymore. I'm still waiting on my severance check." Ms. Ng's left hand was dancing over her tablet, presumably taking notes. "You must have been aware for some time that the business model of chain video rental stores was becoming obsolete. Why hadn't you jumped to another company before the bankruptcy?" "Our CEO was making big noises about getting into the online streaming video market if our tech people could pull it off -- and I felt I had to keep *that* job, because I couldn't afford to lose the salary, not then." "Tell me more about that last part." "Must I?" Ms. Ng nodded. Samuel swallowed hard, then continued. "I have to go back a few years. Danae, my wife, and I were expecting our first child in our new house. We'd married relatively late, and sunk most of our money into a nice place that would be good to raise kids in." Happy scenes danced through his memory for a moment. "Then there was a fire, some sort of electrical fault. The house was a complete loss, but that wasn't what I cared about at the time. Squeaky... the burns were bad, she had internal organ damage, and she lost the baby." His eyes felt hot as he tried to blink back tears. "My condolences. Go on." "The insurance company tried to make out the fire was our fault somehow - - in the end, they only covered the remainder of the mortgage, plus the fees for the lawyer I'd had to hire to get them to cough up even that much. Danae had been in the hospital for a couple of months by then, and she looked to be on the mend when suddenly she got a lot worse. The doctors did more tests, and that's when they found the cancer." Ms. Ng had a sympathetic expression, and pushed a box of tissues closer to Samuel. Had that been there before? "The cancer was inoperable, but there were lots of treatments the hospital could try. And I gave them the go-ahead. Nothing worked for long, and I signed off on experimental treatments and specialists that weren't covered by our insurance. And I was putting my nose to the grindstone at work to make sure the money kept coming in. Danae was a real fighter, and she lasted just over a year from the first diagnosis. She might even have beat the damned cancer if the fire hadn't --" He broke down sobbing, absently noticing that some of his makeup was coming off on the tissues. Samuel composed himself. "When they changed the bankruptcy laws a few years back, the government made it harder to discharge medical debt, so I was up to my eyeballs with no real way out. I needed every cent of my assistant director salary to fend off the hospital's collectors, even after I cashed out my retirement account. Plus, I was spending most my office hours burying myself in my work so I wouldn't be thinking about --" The sobbing started again. Ms. Ng let him cry for a bit. "I can understand some of your circumstances. Doesn't telling the truth feel better?" Samuel blinked. He did feel somewhat lighter; he hadn't talked about these things in detail in a long time. His brother Matthias had put up with it for a while, but then asked Sam to "stop whining." "Now, about your actual job duties..." There Samuel was on solid ground, and the interview went smoothly for a while. Ms. Ng's left hand paused and she looked directly into Samuel's face. "Now, since your application was absolute rubbish, I want you to tell me what you *actually* know about the paranormal." -------- Part 9 by Trismegistus Shandy -------- "Nothing whatever," Samuel replied. "I don't even know whether any of it's real." That wasn't quite what he'd intended to say, but it was close. "Really? Well, try this. Try lying to me about something basic; your name, for instance. Say your name is Grover Cleveland or something." "My name is Sammi Potts," he said. That definitely wasn't what he'd tried to say. "See there? Once you've sworn an oath on the wordstone, you can't easily break it. Not casually, like that. There are ways to break such an oath, but there's a high price to pay. So now that you know the paranormal is real..." But I *did* lie about my name didn't it? My name isn't Sammi Potts, it's... He panicked, realizing he wasn't sure what his name was. Maybe it *was* Sammi Potts? Yes, the more he thought about it, he was pretty sure it was... Then he remembered that he used to go by a different name. Sammi wasn't a guy's name; his mother had named him... Samuel, that was it. But it didn't seem to fit him anymore. Maybe because of the girl-clothes he was wearing... or maybe because he'd sworn an oath on the "wordstone" calling himself Sammi Potts. He realized that while he was frantically thinking about his name, Ms. Ng had been speaking. He paid attention to her again. "...revealed that you have potential for magic," she concluded. "So we'd like you to come on board for our intensive training program, and if that goes well, move into a permanent position. After the first two weeks, you'll be working for one of our clients during the day, and continuing your magical education in night courses -- a couple of hours three nights a week for another year. You'll be eligible for the entire benefit package starting from week two -- including the special benefits Ms. Berger told you about. Does that sound like something you'd be interested in?" ----- "I got the job," Sammi said to Jen. He'd called her as soon as he got home from the interview. "Thanks again for your help. Now I just need one more favor." "What is it?" "I need to go shopping for more clothes. The stuff you gave me is only going to be good for two or three days." "Man, you must have really wanted that job." "It's a unique opportunity; I couldn't pass it up, despite the... disadvantage I started out with because of that stupid joke." The oath Ms. Ng had made him swear on the wordstone just after he was hired allowed him to talk about his job in general terms to people outside of work, but he couldn't talk about the paranormal aspects of his new job. "So, will you help me one more time?" "Sure, on one condition. You come pick me up at my apartment, so I'm not spending any gasoline, and you buy a couple of things for me while we're shopping. Now that you're earning money again." "It'll be three and a half weeks before I see a paycheck. But, yeah, I think my savings will stretch to that. See you in a few." "And you can tell me more about the job while we drive to the mall." *No I can't,* Sammi thought, hanging up. ----- Part 10 by Bonnie Blair ----- So he got himself dressed as best as he could and got into his car to pick up Jen. He'd never liked shopping before, and now to try and shop in the women's department was going to be an experience that he wasn't too sure of. As he pulled into the parking lot, he saw that Jen was waiting outside her apartment. "Oh, 'Sammi,' we're going to have so much fun today. You're going to learn just how much women enjoy any trip to the mall we can make, whether we're browsing or going for that special outfit. So what do you have in mind to look for today? I think you look darling in what you have on now, but you definitely need some skirt/blouse outfits and a dress for work. Maybe we should even look for a party dress in case you get invited out somewhere." "Stop it, Jen. I'm hoping that after a few months at this job, I can find another one being the real me." "But, honey, this is the real you now. So go with it and see where it leads, ok?" When we got to the mall, he opened the door and slid out of the seat; Jen had just reminded him not to open up his legs. "Can't let the boys see your pretty panties, unless you really want to." As he heard the clicking of his heels on the pavement and put the straps of his purse over his shoulder, Jen came around the car and gave him a big hug. ----- Part 11 by Scott Jamison ----- Jen had sobered up some once the actual shopping began. "Since you're going for the 'respectable middle-aged business woman look', we can skip entire sections." She looked critically at a rack of pantsuits. "These are definitely out. They're cut too tight in the crotch for even a woman wearing a maxi-pad to feel comfortable, let alone what you're packing." "I'll keep a look out for something baggier." Jen explained that for work you didn't need too many outfits -- just enough variety to make it appear that you had changed more than you did. "Accessories are key. Understated but diversified." Sammi hadn't been shopping for women's clothing since Danae went into the hospital the last time, but he was soon reminded of her complaints that the fashions had shoddier materials than the equivalent men's outfits, for higher prices. It certainly seemed so to him. The changing room was navigated without incident, though a couple of the chosen items were not in fact the sizes their labels would imply. To Sammi's mild surprise, the sales clerk took his credit card and driver's license without blinking an eye. Perhaps she was used to trans people who hadn't gotten their ID updated? Sammi realized that in a city of this size, trans people of various types must have been all around without him noticing. That was a huge chunk out of his savings, though. Jen wore one of the scarfs Sammi had bought for her out of the store, and toyed with it while they ordered salads in the food court nearby. "Didn't you have your ears pierced at one point, Sammi?" "Yeah, back in my rocker days, before I finally admitted I couldn't play guitar. My first straight job didn't allow studs, so I let my lobes heal shut. I have a couple of Danae's clip-ons if I absolutely have to decorate my ears for something." "I can't wait to hear your 'cookie talk.'" Sammi looked at Jen's smirk. Every member of the job club, once they actually found a job, was supposed to bring cookies to a meeting and give a talk about how they landed the position. Somehow, "lie on the application and crossdress for the interview" didn't seem like a good lesson to teach. On the way back from shopping, Jen tried again to get Sammi to go into details about the job. "I signed a confidentiality agreement. But I can tell you that I'll be helping the company's clients train their workers on new software." This was more or less true. What Sammi had left out was that true to its name, Magitech created and used magical technology. Some of it was "magic items" like the wordstone or Mr. Faraday's spectacles, but they also made software. In this case, a travel agency for the paranormal community would be using Magitech's new application to make travel itineraries for beings that couldn't travel by normal channels. His skill at learning and creatively using new software would help him teach the employees. Sammi was happy to get back to the trailer, finally get out of the pointy shoes (no heels yet, thank the stars) and girdle, clean off the makeup, and get into some dude clothes to relax. All too soon, the weekend was over, and Sammi was dolled up in full regalia for his first day at work. Ms. Ng nodded in approval. "Here's your security badge, your new employee manual, and a Magitech coffee mug. That last one is non-magical; you have to earn upgraded mugs. Oh, and while we're here --" She turned to her datapad. "I'm going to use my admin access to set your new voice as default so you don't have to worry about slipping out of register. That was very good craftsmanship, by the way; one of the reasons we decided to go ahead and hire you." Sammi felt waves of cold and warmth pass through his larynx and mouth. It felt like his teeth shifted a bit, and his jaw felt off for a moment before returning to "normal." "Uh, thanks." ----- Part 12 by Trismegistus Shandy ----- Sammi's first two weeks on the job were just training. Ms. Ng led him to a small classroom with two other new employees; they had a few minutes to get acquainted before their first teacher arrived. Jason Reynolds was a short white man with trim brown hair and beard, a little older than Sammi, who had apparently just learned of the existence of magic last week, like Sammi -- being given a demonstration at the end of a successful interview. Alice Paul was a young black woman with light skin, who'd just been out of college for a year when she lost her first job. She'd known about the existence of magic since she was a little girl -- her grandma had taught her some basic spells and potions before she died -- but she admitted there was a lot she didn't know. Alice stopped talking when Robert Faraday came in. He gave them a brief outline of the magical history of the world for the next few hours; when they stopped for lunch, Alice said she was going to the little girls' room, and gave Sammi a significant look as if to ask "are you coming too?" Sammi resolved to ask Jen why women did that, the next time he saw her, and got up and followed Alice to the restroom. He needed to pee anyway. ----- Part 13 by Scott Jamison ----- Like many of the more progressive companies these days, Magitech provided three restrooms, "Gentlemen," "Ladies," and "Unisex." Which Sammi supposed might be even more useful here, as horror movies had taught him that paranormal beings might look human on the outside, but who knew what some of them were shaped like under their clothes? Alice unerringly went straight to the ladies', so Sammi followed. As they waited for stalls, Alice got chatty, which made Sammi slightly uncomfortable, as he was used to not talking to people in restrooms. "So, you've lived here all your life?" "Not always in the city limits, but in this general area, yeah." Alice's eyes flickered down to where Sammi usually wore his wedding ring -- the design was perhaps too masculine for safety, so he'd left it at home. "Any kids?" "No... we weren't lucky that way. I'm widowed." "I'm so sorry to hear that? What was he like?" Danger! Mindful of the wordstone, Sammi went with, "I'd rather not talk about that right now." Stalls opened up, and Sammi began the process of getting ready to pee, something he still wasn't used to in this kind of outfit. All went well until his stream decided to bifurcate, spattering over the sides. Sammi indulged in some unladylike cussing, which sounded weird to him in his new voice. He quickly wadded up tissue and mopped up what he could, including some drops that had ended up on his shoes. When Sammi emerged, Alice gave him a bit of the side-eye but didn't say anything. For lunch, Sammi had a sandwich he'd made at home while the other new hires carried the conversation. Alice was straight out of college with a biochemistry degree, while Jason was an Army veteran who'd spent most of his time fixing computers at bases around the world before doing the same in civilian life. After lunch, Mr. Faraday asked if there were any questions so far. Jason raised his hand. "If all you've told us is true, how is it that I've gone all my life without seeing any evidence until now?" ----- Part 14 by Trismegistus Shandy ----- "As I mentioned during the history talk," Mr. Faraday said, "magic was already waning when writing was invented, and it faded out completely within a thousand years. Humans lost the ability to work magic, and magical creatures sickened and died unless they migrated to another plane of existence. The ones who died didn't even leave bones; the loss of magic made their corpses disintegrate completely in a very short time. "So it's only in the last century or so that a few humans have been born with the ability to work magic, and magic still isn't strong enough for untrained humans to work magic by accident. The magical creatures who've returned to Earth have done so very carefully, using illusion magic to make themselves look like humans or ordinary animals. And the humans who *are* trained to work magic are obliged, by their mentors or teachers, to help keep magic a secret from the general public for as long as possible. You all swore to a non-disclosure agreement at the end of your hiring interview last week, and you'll swear to another before we move on from theory to practice. "Of course we won't be able to keep magic secret forever, once it gets strong enough for humans and certain animals to start working it by accident, without training or conscious thought. But the longer we can keep it secret, the better for us -- the stronger the position we'll be in when it finally becomes generally known. Magitech employs over 85% of the trained mages in the U.S., and more than 60% worldwide; pretty much all the rest in this country are freelancers who prefer not to work for a corporation, while we have a couple of minor competitors in the international market. I hope you'll understand if I don't say any more about them." Sammi nodded. "But you demonstrated magic to us -- at least to me -- before I agreed to take the job, and swore to the non-disclosure agreement. What if somebody sees you doing magic with the wordstone and then doesn't take the job, and doesn't swear to the non-disclosure agreement?" ----- Part 15 by Scott Jamison ----- Mr. Faraday thought a moment, then replied, "We have had a handful of people who reacted like that; fortunately, they were all doing so because they had a loved one they refused to lie to or keep secrets from. Magitech was able to find ways to accommodate them. But you're probably thinking of someone who threatens to go public with the existence of magic. I am assured there are contingencies in place, but that I do not have the clearance to know what they are." Sammi nodded, as did the others. A threat you didn't know the details of was more effective in this case. "And now, on to the Guidelines of Magic. We don't call them Laws, because there are so many holes in our knowledge, and loopholes and exceptions in what we do know, that almost any of these could be disproven in the future...." Sammi went into notetaking autopilot, only catching the odd phrase in his immediate attention. "Most human wizards require 'props' to properly channel the magical energy, which is why we're such a successful company. We don't know if it's a rule or merely a placebo effect, but enchantments work better if the prop matches the intended effect in some way, such as optical devices for sight enhancement spells. But it's the wizard's own magical energy that powers the effect, so a normal human putting on a pair of runed spectacles would not be able to activate their special abilities." "Magic works best when the target is cooperating, or when the magic is merely enhancing a natural process. The greater the resistance, the more power it will take to get the desired result, and the greater the chance that the spell will fail entirely." "Yes, you could heighten your or someone else's chance of participating in highly unlikely coincidences. You cannot, apparently, pick only good coincidences. Several wizards have died in bizarre one in a million accidents trying to win the lottery." "There are many ways to abuse magic. Most of them have their own consequences, but as you'll see in your employee manuals, Magitech can also punish you for breaking the company policies." ------ After a long day of lectures, Sammi was looking forward to soaking his feet. But as he was unlocking his trailer, he was interrupted. "Hey! Who the heck are you, lady? And why are you trying to get into my trailer?" Sammi turned around to see his slightly younger brother Matthias, the struggling real estate "magnate." "It's me, Sammi--er, Sam-u-el." The new name had gotten to feeling natural very quickly. "Not with that voice, you're not." "Matthias Earl, don't you dare take that tone of voice with me!" "Mom!?" Matthias looked shocked. "Oh, okay, she's dead so it must be you, Samuel. What the heck are you doing in that getup?" "Long story, but the short version is that it's a requirement for my new job. Don't ask, I'm under a non-disclosure agreement." "Riiight. Y'know, you may make one ugly woman, but somehow it's convincing. Anyhow, it's good you've got a job, because I've found a buyer for this lot. You'll need to be out by the end of next month." ----- Part 16 by Trismegistus Shandy ----- Sammi thought quickly. He still had almost three weeks until his first paycheck, and another two weeks till the next... he wouldn't have enough for the first month's rent, security deposit, and so forth on an apartment until after he had to move out. He'd have to crash on a friend's sofa temporarily. And ditch a lot of his stuff, because he couldn't afford to store it all. Well, he'd only be wearing male clothes on evenings and weekends as long as he had this job, so he could make do with a lot less of them. Then another thought occurred to him. Some companies had temporary housing for workers visiting from other locations. He could ask Mr. Faraday if Magitech had such a thing and if he could stay in it after being evicted until he got his next paycheck and could get an apartment. "I'll be out by then," he told Matthias. "But probably no sooner. I'll have to collect a couple of paychecks before I have the money to move." "Sounds good. So if I can't ask why you're dressed as a woman, is there anything I can ask about how my big brother's been doing lately?" Sammi told him the little he could about the job. "I can't give any more details because of the non-disclosure agreements," he apologized. "Very hush-hush." "I don't want to think about why they've got you dressed up like that. I guess you want to change now you're home?" "Sure," Sammi said. He went in his bedroom and changed into a T-shirt and sweats, his usual attire in the evenings when he wasn't going anywhere. He found Matthias looking through his refrigerator. "I've still got plenty of the beef stew I made yesterday," Sammi said. "Sounds good," Matthias mumbled absentmindedly, then gave him a sharp look. "Why are you still talking like a woman?" Sammi stammered, then tried to pitch his voice low as he said: "Sorry -- habit, you know. I've been practicing it for a while, getting ready for the job and all." But he didn't think he sounded like a convincing man. ----- Tuesday, after the morning's lesson, Sammi asked Mr. Faraday if she could speak with him privately. "I have to move by the end of September," he explained. "And I won't have enough to pay for a deposit, first month's rent, and moving costs until my second paycheck -- which will be the third of October, if I understand correctly. So there'll be a few days when I don't have anywhere to go. I'll try to see if I can stay on a friend's couch, maybe... but with my, uh, condition, that might be awkward. I'm not sure how many of my old friends I can still ask favors like that from. Does the company have temporary housing for visiting employees, or something? Or could I get an advance -- $600, let's say -- on my second paycheck at the end of September?" "I think we can accommodate you," Mr. Faraday said. "Let me talk with Padma and get back to you." The following day, Padma Ng came by the classroom after the afternoon session and told him that the company would pay for him to stay in a residence hotel for the first week of October. "Thanks," he said. "That takes a load off my mind." "We expect great things from you, Ms. Potts." "I, uh... I hope I won't let you down." He wanted to ask her to reverse the change she'd made to his voice, but he didn't dare. He wasn't allowed to lie to her, but he couldn't tell her the truth, either. Thursday, the basic lessons on magic ended, and they started getting training on using and troubleshooting the software they'd be training the company's clients to use. Robert Faraday left after introducing them to their new teachers, a couple of the programmers and documentation writers from the team that had built the software. Sammi, Alice and Jason all proved quick studies, and they decided during lunch Friday to celebrate by going out to supper together. But before they left that afternoon, Ms. Ng came in and said: "Sammi? Could we speak for a few moments?" Figuring this was something to do with the housing assistance he'd requested, Sammi said "Sure," and followed her to a conference room. "I'm sure you remember," Ms. Ng said as they sat down, "that after a week of employment you're eligible for the full benefit package, including the sex reassignment process that Ms. Berger told you about. It's much faster and more painless than the traditional procedure, but it will take a day or so. Would tomorrow or Sunday do?" ----- Part 17 by Scott Jamison ----- Sammi thought quickly. "That's a... big decision. May I have more time to think it over? There are things I have to do this weekend." "Certainly," said Ms. Ng. "I should have realized that you would have been too busy to plan properly during the training period." At dinner that evening, Sammi noticed to his irritation that Jason tended to talk over both him and Alice -- he had been more polite in class, but apparently a little alcohol brought out bad habits. It turned out that Jason was married and had two teenage children; his house was about halfway paid for, and this job would go a long way towards keeping them afloat. Alice took advantage of a lull in Jason's monologue to speak to Sammi directly. "I overheard that you were needing a new place -- so am I. I was bunking with a college roommate, but her boyfriend is moving in, and I won't live in the same apartment as a man." Sammi noticed the emphasis on "won't." "There's a two-bedroom in the same complex; it's pretty affordable if I have a roommate, and I could use an older woman with more local knowledge to show me the ropes. I don't have many friends around here yet." Once again, Sammi asked for more time to think about it. At home, there was a message from Matthias, reminding Sammi to pack up soon. "I can store your extra stuff at the property on 18th Street free for a couple of months, but I need the trailer on the day." As Sammi cleaned the trailer and sorted items into "keep," "toss," and "storage", he considered Alice's offer. Maybe it really was time for a change. Life certainly seemed to be pushing him into that direction. Monday morning before class began, Sammi visited Ms. Ng's office. "I've decided to go ahead with it. Is this coming weekend available?" Ms. Ng looked at her computer pad. "Yes, the clinic has facilities open. I'll have someone from there call you tonight on the Magitalk." Sammi told Alice that he was willing to share the apartment with her. "I'm having some work done this weekend; I'm not sure how different I'll look, but it's part of the company perks." Alice's eyes narrowed a bit, but she seemed happy to have found a roommate so quickly. That night, Sammi got a Magitalk call from Hal Tworivers, a man whose ethnicity was hard to tell at a glance, although Sammi assumed from the family name that there was Native American in there somewhere. "I'm a registered nurse at the Magitech Clinic, and I'll be explaining a bit about the procedures. First, I should mention that you'll probably be staying the whole weekend. It's possible to do a complete sex change in one day, but it's better to use two, and you're going to be exhausted in any case." He sent over a large PDF. "You can study that later, but in simple terms, we'll be using potions and shaping devices in a magical ritual to convince your Y chromosomes to become X, and make any other genetic edits you request, and your body will reshape itself accordingly. The doctors will be guiding the magic, but most of the energy will be coming from you." "Thus the exhaustion," replied Sammi. "It's not like some of the fantasy you may have seen, where we can just wave a wand, and *poof* you're a Victoria's Secret model. I should mention that while we can smooth out wrinkles, take out that touch of gray in your hair, and you'll be losing some mass as it's converted to energy for the transformation, you won't actually be getting any younger. " "So I might look mid-thirties, but my body will still be 46? Even the new parts?" "That's the size of it. In most ways, it will be as though your body had been born genetically female." There were a couple more downloads. "I'm told you're new to the existence of magic, so I'll remind you that it goes more smoothly if you're properly prepared. I'd like you to use the NewYou visualization software to design your new face and preferred body shape so you can fix that in mind." After half an hour of further discussion, the nurse signed off. Sammi pulled up the new software. Using the computer's camera, he took pictures of his current face and body. (The focus wasn't too hot on the full-body shot.) Then the program prompted him to design the new face. At first Sammi just played with the various possibilities (blue skin if he really wanted it -- fangs? Nah.) Then he made a face based on everything he found attractive in a woman. This turned out to look way too much like Danae for comfort. Sammi mourned for a few minutes, then erased those settings. For his serious attempt, he made a face that looked more or less as he remembered his mother looking at his current age, then youthened it, and made it a touch prettier. Having a strong family resemblance to himself would probably be best. But pretty, as he was a bit tired of being told he was homely. Then he tackled the body. There were warnings not to be too drastic with the changes, and Sammi did like his current height, but he slimmed down the waist and didn't add much to the hips. Medium-sized breasts? Yeah, medium-sized. The result was perhaps a bit larger than he personally liked in a woman, but was well within acceptable social standards. Satisfied with his work, Sammi turned on the "morph" button, which created a loop of the male face and body dissolving into the female ones. It was kind of hypnotic, but after a hour, he yawned and realized it was time for bed. In the morning, the one image he retained from his dreams was walking naked through a hall of mirrors, each showing a different combination of male and female parts in his reflections. ----- Part 18 by Trismegistus Shandy ----- After she made her decision, Sammi decided it was time to make some other changes. While she was sorting and packing her things to move, she put almost all her male clothes in a box to take to Goodwill, throwing away the underwear and many of the socks, and keeping a few androgynous items like T-shirts and sweat pants. She couldn't afford to buy a lot more clothes until after a couple more paychecks (most of the first would have to go to Alice for her share of the first month's rent, deposit, and so forth), but after dropping off a few boxes of clothes at Goodwill Thursday evening, she did a little shopping, and bought a few more feminine clothes, including a nightie and a more casual outfit to wear on the weekends. This was the first time she'd been out in public as a woman, except for shopping with Jen and going to work; previously she'd worn male clothes in the evening and on the weekends. Except that one time she'd stopped at a gas station after work, without going home to change first. She was spending a lot of time thinking about how to tell her few friends and family members about her transition -- how to explain to Matthias and Jen, who knew a little already, how it had gone from a pretense to a reality. She wasn't quite sure herself; how could she explain it? Maybe it was partly a matter of the oath she'd sworn on the wordstone that changed her name from -- what was it? Samuel, that's right --to Sammi. And of course the pressure of needing a new place to live, and Alice's timely offer, had sped up her decision. But she didn't think it had pushed her into a decision she wouldn't have made otherwise. Well, she could practice on the job club, when she gave her cookie talk, and based on how that went, decide how to tell her other friends and relatives. Working regular office hours, Sammi couldn't make the usual Tuesday morning job club meeting times. She talked with Jen, and arranged to give her cookie talk -- and incidentally come out as trans -- at a special meeting next Tuesday after work. Two days after her transformation, and two days after finishing training and starting her real job. She still wasn't sure how much she could say about her job without violating her oath; she needed to figure that out. Hopefully people would be so distracted by the coming-out narrative that they wouldn't notice how vague she was about the actual job, the interview process, and so forth. ----- Part 19 by Scott Jamison ----- The extra training had turned out to be practical instruction on actually using magic for beginners. Alice, who had already known how to use magic, had tested out by Monday afternoon, but it took until Friday morning for Sammi to successfully enchant a keyring so she could cast a spell through it that would make keys point to the locks they fit -- provided the lock was in line of sight. "Seems kinda underwhelming." She sighed internally as she looked at Jason, whose keyring had an effective range of twenty meters, regardless of line of sight. "You're still just beginning," assured the instructor. "And from what we've worked on, your affinities are for presentation and persuasion spells. Plus, I see that your enchantment will hold better than Jason's. It will last a good year, while he'll have to renew his monthly. Everyone has different strong points." Then it was off to the legal department, where a stoic older man named Preston Eisenhower the Third ("no relation") walked Sammi through the paperwork to get all her documents up to date with her name and gender change. "Really thorough looking," she commented, as she started on the fourth form. "Do you get a lot of people who are going through... this?" "I am given to understand that the incidence of people wanting sex reassignment in wizards is higher than in the non-magical population," said the attorney. "I don't have actual figures. But many of our employees need identity changes in a hurry for one reason or another, so we have experience in these matters." Friday night's "dinner" was Gatorade; liquids only was the order. Sammi decided to watch some porn before bed, give Mr. Happy (Ms. Happy?) one last treat. Several minutes in, Sammi stopped the video. He had just connected the thought of men's penises entering his vagina, and he wasn't ready for that notion. Sammi had been told that his sexual preferences might alter somewhat after the change, but they hadn't yet. Maybe some lesbian porn instead? A few minutes later, she was feeling much better. Sammi was at the clinic before the sun rose, and meeting the ritual team. The leader was a woman name Dr. Stephens, who looked to be in her sixties, and presumably knew perfectly well that her eyebrows looked satanic. "I'm trained as a surgeon, and have done mundane sex reassignment surgery as well. Since this is a radical change to your body, we treat it as a medical procedure as much as a magical ritual. Dr. Fameel," a man in his forties with very dark skin and interesting scars on his cheeks, "is a gynecologist. You already met Mr. Tworivers, who will be assisting us as lead nurse, and 'Doctor' Chelsoir is the nurse-anesthesiologist." Doctor Chelsoir, a stout woman somewhere between thirty and sixty, frowned. "You know I hate it when you put quotes around my title. A doctorate in nursing is a perfectly valid reason to call me 'Doctor.'" It was clear that this was a well-worn conversation. Dr. Stephens harrumphed and turned back to Sammi. "I must say I'm impressed with your craftsmanship on the NewYou target template. Not only is she aesthetically pleasing, but someone who it would be plausible for you to become. We should be able to get you very close. _Some_ of our patients are lazy or overly optimistic and just cut and paste airbrushed porn photos or cartoonishly exaggerated ideals." "So sue me for being a huge Doc Savage fan," said Hal. "Wait," said Sammi, "then you --" "Ayup. My parents named me 'Princess.' Which would have been a bad enough name for someone who actually wanted to be a girl. Anyhow, it turned out I just didn't have the potential to look like Doc Savage; I had to settle for only mildly buff." The team went to prepare for the surgery. Hal said, "Empty your bladder again, even if you feel you don't need to, then change into the clothes on the tray there." Sammi took her time peeing standing up one last time. The clothes turned out to be her-skin-colored, made of tight but stretchy cotton. A tank top and booty shorts printed with the naked female anatomy the ritual was aiming for. Sammi was embarrassed for a moment when he caught a glimpse of his bulge distorting the cloth vagina in the mirror, but calmed herself with "I will look good in yoga pants... soon." Dr. Chelsoir came in with Hal, who got Sammi arranged on the bed. The older nurse swabbed Sammi's arm for injection. "I'm putting in a muscle relaxant and a mild sedative. The combination may make you a bit loopy, but it's best if you're very relaxed during the procedure." The bed was wheeled into the operating room, and Sammi transferred to the table. In addition to the usual antiseptic smells Sammi associated with hospitals, there was a scent of lavender, her mother's favorite perfume. Dr. Stevens asked a series of questions to ensure that Sammi was ready as the relaxants took hold. She helped Sammi swallow several potions that would do much of the internal work, then said "mask". Sammi was momentarily confused, as the medical team was already wearing their masks. Then she saw the latex mask that had been printed with her new face --you could do wonderful things with 3D printing these days -- as Hal applied an adhesive to the inside. Dr. Stephens gently fitted the mask to Sammi, then said "Girl Power mix." Music started up, and Sammi recognized the opening bars of "I Enjoy Being a Girl." She couldn't help herself and started giggling. "Yes, it is rather silly," admitted Dr. Stevens. "But everything we do to steer the ritual in the right direction makes it just that much easier and more likely to succeed." Dr. Fameel started painting Sammi's body with sigils, and the medical team began a group chant. Sammi was getting a bit fuzzy-headed by now, and lost track of where they were in the operation. "And now we put you in the MRI," said Dr. Stevens after some time (a half hour? two hours?) had passed. This was a modified MRI machine that, instead of taking pictures of Sammi as she was, would be imposing an image on her cells to aid them in changing in the desired way. It was dark in there, and a little scary, but then a screen popped into existence in mid-air in front of Sammi's eyes. It flashed pictures of girls and women of all ages, races, body types and modes of dress/undress engaging in various activities, and all having a wonderful time. Sammi longed to join them, to become a full woman. At some point she fell asleep. -------- Part 20 by Trismegistus Shandy ------- Sammi woke up in a regular hospital bed, with the head cranked up at a 20-degree angle. She looked down at herself, lifting the sheet off her to take a better look. Her breasts were still very small, barely an A-cup, and though her hips were wide, she didn't seem to have much more on her butt than before. She still had a bulge in her shorts, but she thought it was smaller than before. "Ah, you're awake," Mr. Tworivers said. "Let me check your vitals again." "How much longer?" Sammi said, her voice a little hoarse; then "Can I get some water? What day is it?" "Let me check your temperature and so forth before you drink anything. It's still Saturday afternoon -- you had a good long nap, even though you weren't under general anaesthesia. I'm guessing you didn't sleep much last night?" "Not a lot," Sammi admitted. After Mr. Tworivers checked her temperature, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation, he left the room and came back a couple of minutes later with a styrofoam cup of ice water with a straw. "Just drink a little at first," he said, and Sammi took a couple of small sips. "To answer your other question, the changes should be finished tomorrow afternoon or evening. We did the parts that would be painful -- the restructuring of your skeleton -- while you were sedated, but the soft tissue changes will take another twenty to thirty hours. You'll be awake a good part of that time, but tired. You can get up to use the bathroom, but I'll help you in case you're too weak to walk steadily, or I could bring you a bedpan if you feel too weak to stand up." "Let's try it," Sammi said after taking another sip of water. She swung her legs around off the bed and leaned on Mr. Tworivers' shoulder as she stood up and walked into the bathroom. She pulled her shorts down, slightly embarrassed, and sat down on the toilet. Her male parts were definitely smaller. After she emptied her bladder she felt around behind her penis to see if she could feel her labia forming yet. Nothing definite. After Mr. Tworivers helped her get back in bed, he said: "The labor- intensive part of the ritual is over, but to help the spell along, you'll need to keep that mask, tank top, and shorts on until it's completed, except when using the toilet. You can have a shower tomorrow after the transformation is complete. And it will also help if you keep your mind on feminine things. Did you bring a book to read?" "Yeah, it's in my overnight bag... where is it?" Mr. Tworivers brought her the bag and she dug out the espionage thriller she'd been reading. He frowned. "Does that have a female main character?" "Uh... no." "It would help the spell work better if you read something with a female main character. Ideally written in the first person, and by a female author. Or you could watch some movies with female leads... Let me see what I can find." He came back a few minutes later with a stack of novels, women's magazines and romantic comedies. Sammi looked through the books: they ranged from the mid 19th century (_Jane Eyre_) to this year (a small- press lesbian romance). The magazines included _Shape_, _Cosmopolitan_, and _Elle_. None of the movies looked especially appealing, though maybe her tastes would change at some point. After a few moments' thought, she started reading the lesbian romance. She still wasn't sure what her orientation was going to be, but at the moment that was what she felt more comfortable with. She dozed off after reading three chapters and part of the fourth. When she woke up, it was the middle of the night, and a different nurse was attending her. She felt ravenously hungry, and needed to go to the bathroom again -- number one and number two -- after she ate. By this time her penis had reduced to a little nub, and she could definitely feel the beginnings of her labia. She read for a couple of hours more before falling asleep again. ----- When Sammi woke up, it was late Sunday morning. Her genitals had finished changing, and her breasts had nearly reached their full growth, though Mr. Tworivers said her insides would still take a few more hours to finish up. She read several more chapters of the romance novel, ate, and went to the bathroom twice before dozing off again. When she woke again, it was late afternoon. "You're probably about done by now," Mr. Tworivers said. "How do you feel?" "Hungry," she said. "And... I don't feel as tired." "Good, that probably means you're done. You'll still be a little low on energy for a day or two longer, though." He got her something to eat, and after she was finished eating, got her into a wheelchair to take her down the hall for an ultrasound of her uterus and ovaries. Shortly after that, Dr. Fameel gave her a gynecological exam. Everything looked normal. Then another round of vital signs, plus blood tests and a urine sample. The longer she was awake the more energetic she felt. After Mr. Tworivers was finished with the last round of vitals, he said she was free to go... or would be once she'd signed an enormous number of documents. "How does this work, exactly?" she said, skimming through the first document before signing it. "It's not like you can file this with the insurance or government... or can you? Do you file it with that black ops agency that deals with magic?" Mr. Faraday had told them something about that in his classes. "No,