Teen Witch: Ladies

“Adrian, cut it out,” warned Max.

“Shh,” Adrian whispered. “I can barely hear them.”

They had paused on the stairs when Adrian had decided to eavesdrop on his sister and her friend.

“I don’t know,” said his sister, Jaime, in her room. “Can’t we just be our normal selves, instead?”

“But, that’s boring,” replied Jamie’s weird friend, Esme. “If we drink these, then we can be five years older, and we won’t have to beg one of our parents to take us.”

“We could get in a lot of trouble,” Jamie said. “I’d rather just wait until later to see the horror movie. It’s not that big a deal.”

“Come on,” Esme said. “This wouldn’t be the first time I made you an adult.”

“Whoa,” Jamie said, her voice sounding funny. “Cut it out, Esme, please. You’re getting my clothes all stretched out.”

“Don’t you want to be a sexy grown up with me?” Esme said. “You look hot.”

“Just do it by yourself, okay,” Jamie said in a notably deeper voice.

“I…” Esme sounded hesitant. “I don’t want to do it alone. I’m not 100% sure that the potion will work exactly how I expect it will.”

“So, you want me to be a test subject? Is that it?”

“We’ll both be,” Esme said. “I can’t change myself without something like a potion, and I’m still learning how to brew them right. If I can just get this to work, then…”

“You’re planning on selling it, aren’t you?”

“Just imagine how much I could make with something like this. Imagine it.”

“No, Esme,” Jamie said. “It’s been a long week. Let’s save the experiment for another time.”

Esme groaned and said, “Fine. Be your boring 13-year-old self. Give me that bottle.”

“What are you doing with them?” Jamie’s voice pitched up as she spoke, sounding more like herself by the end of the sentence.

“They’re both going in the trash,” Esme said. “There, happy?”

“I am,” Jamie said. “Come on. Let’s go watch some TV before the boys get here.”

The bedroom door opened, and the boys took that as their queue to act naturally, again. They calmly walked up the stairs and came face to face with the girls in the hallway.

“Hey, kids,” Esme said with an amused smirk. “What’cha up to?”

“J-just hanging out,” Adrian said, trying to sound casual. “Going to my bedroom.”

Max nodded, but he looked like a frightened rabbit.

Esme gave the two of them a doubtful look but then smiled again. “Have fun,” she said and walked past them to the stairs.

Jamie glared at her brother a moment before following Esme down, leaving them alone in the hallway.

“What was that all about?” Max asked.

“Hold on a second,” Adrian said before sneaking into his sister’s room. He returned a few nervous seconds later, holding a pair of small bottles in his hand. “I got ‘em. Come on.”

Max followed Adrian into his bedroom, and took a seat on a chair as Adrian shut the door.

“Do you know about Esme?” Adrian asked as he walked over to his bed and sat down.

Max shook his head.

“She’s a witch,” Adrian explained.

“Like a Wiccan or something?”

Adrian shook his head and said, “No a real witch. You know, like, the kind that casts spells and brews potions?” He held up the bottles, and Max noticed some clear liquid inside of each.

“Are you serious? How do you know?”

“That’s right,” Adrian said, remembering. “You just moved here this year. You didn’t see what she did to Tommy.”

“The quiet kid?” Max asked.

“He didn’t used to be so quiet, not until Esme put him on display on the beach.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means she can do magic and that these bottles are the solution to our problem.”

“You mean the movie?”

Adrian nodded. “We have the tickets, but your dad got sick, and my mom is busy. Right now, we’re not old enough to go to a PG-13 movie on our own, but with this…” He held up the bottles again and smiled. “...we can both be 16 year olds. We can go by ourselves.”

“You want to sneak out?” Max asked, sounding worried. “I don’t know.”

“We can borrow some of your older brother’s clothes. I’ll tell my mom I’m sleeping over here. You’ll say you’re sleeping over at my place. We can do it.”

“Let’s just wait for another day, Adrian,” Max pleaded. “I mean, I don’t want to lie to my parents.”

“It’s opening night,” Adrian said, brimming with excitement now. “You know how crazy the crowds get at a new superhero movie. We can’t miss out on that. Everyone’s going to be talking about it tomorrow. We have to go tonight, man. We have to.”

Max sighed, realizing that his friend was not going to be talked down now. “Okay,” he said, surrendering. “I’ll do it.”

Adrian punched the air and cheered. “All right, we’ll get the clothes and head out an hour before the movie. We can change clothes and drink the potion in the garage before we ride to the theater. No problem.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Max repeated, but he had his doubts.

***

Later, with all of their preparations made, the two boys stood in the garage of Max’s house, wearing some of his older brother’s shirts and underwear. Adrian handed Max one of the bottles and held up his own.

“Ready?” Adrian asked, uncorking his bottle.

“I guess,” Max said, pulling the cork on his own. They both held up their bottles as if to toast each other and then drank down the potion.

It went down, icy cold, and left a fruity flavor behind in their mouths. A chill filled their stomachs and spread throughout their bodies. Max felt his body stretch taller, his bones elongating, his flesh swelling, filling out the oversized clothes. He looked down to watch the floor recede further away, and noticed something strange happening on his chest. At first, he thought he might be growing muscular pecs, but the expanding flesh there seemed too soft and hung freely from his chest. There was more unusual growth occurring lower down. His hips spread wider as his ass and thighs thickened up, to the point that he would have thought he was getting fat if not for his narrow waist. Suddenly, his crotch pulled inwards, and he felt an opening appear where his boy parts had been.

“What’s happening to me?” Adrian said, his voice sounding more mature and distinctly feminine now.

Max turned his attention away from his own body to see a confused teenage girl standing where his 11-year-old friend had been. The growth slowed to a halt, as the icy sensation faded. Finally, their transformations were complete.

In stunned silence, the former boys tentatively touched their mature feminine bodies, checking the length of their longer hair and cupping their breasts, feeling the soft weight of them. After summoning up some courage, their fingers brushed their crotches, confirming what was no longer there. They readjusted Max’s older brother’s clothes, which hung loosely from their shoulders while feeling uncomfortably tight around their hips.

“What the hell?” Max asked, thinking how weird it was to hear how similar he sounded like his own mother now. “Why are we girls? I thought the potion was just supposed to make us five years older.”

“I don’t know,” Adrian said. “I don’t know. Maybe we were wrong. I mean, Esme did make the potion for herself and my sister. Maybe it’s only meant for girls. Also, she did say it was experimental, so maybe this is just a weird side effect.”

“Oh, man,” Max said, feeling increasing panic. “What do we do? We can’t go out like this.”

“Well,” Adrian said. “We can’t stay here, either, can we? Do you want your parents to see us looking like this?”

Max crossed his arms over his chest, covering the shape of the mounds of flesh there. “We need to find someplace to hide.”

Adrian thought quietly for a moment and said, “I know a good place to hide. It’s dark, and no one will be looking in our direction there.”

“Where?”

“The movie theater,” Adrian said. “We have the tickets. We just need to go there, take our seats, and watch the movie, just like we planned. Everyone’s going to be so focused on the movie that they won’t pay any attention to us.”

“No,” Max said. “We can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I…” Max searched for some good reason other than the fact that he did not want to be seen looking like this in public. He could not think of anything. “I just don’t want to. This is so embarrassing.”

“We’re going,” Adrian said, picking up his bike and mounting it, only to discover that it was too small for him now. “Come on. So what if we’re girls? We’re old enough for the movie now. No one’s going to bother us, and no one will recognize us, looking like this. We just need to act like everything is normal, and we’ll be fine. Okay?”

Max sighed, realizing that he did not want to spend any more time dithering in his garage where his parents might find him looking like this. “Fine,” he said. “Let’s go.” He grabbed his little bike and awkwardly started pedaling it next to Adrian as they headed to the theater.

***

Seeing the gathering crowd outside of the movie theater, Adrian felt his excitement growing. “All right,” he said. “We’re here. Let’s chain up our bikes and get in there.”

“I can’t do it,” Max said. “Let’s just go find someplace quiet to hang out until this wears off.”

“Come on,” Adrian said. “We’re ready now. We even stopped to do some shopping to make you more comfortable. We can’t back out now.”

Max adjusted the new bra he was wearing and said, “I want to get out of here.”

After feeling an uncomfortable amount of bouncing around and noticing how visible the shape of his nipples were through his shirt, Max had insisted they stop off to get women’s underwear. In the nearest open store, they grabbed a variety of sizes of the cheapest bras and tried them on in the changing rooms until they found something that fit. The final cup sizes were further down the alphabet than they had expected, but they felt a little more supported now. It was only after they had paid and left the store that Max realized he had just been manipulating a woman’s breasts for over fifteen minutes without feeling at all excited or embarrassed about the experience. Somehow, it had felt so natural that the strangeness of the experience had not even registered in his mind. That worried him more than anything else, how comfortable he was feeling now.

“Well,” Adrian said, as he started chaining up his bike. “I can’t force you to go in, but I am going in, with or without you. So, you’ve got to decide if you want to be on your own like this or in the theater with me. Up to you.”

Max groaned and started to chain up his bike next to his friend’s.

With everything secured, Adrian grabbed Max by the wrist and dragged him to the door of the theater. Max did not resist but he put in no effort himself. The noise of the lobby was overwhelming. Many overlapping conversations fought to be heard over the sound of movie previews on TVs and the noise of the concession stands hard at work. Max smelled popcorn, but fought the urge to get in line to buy some.

“Want to play some arcade games first?” Adrian asked.

“Let’s just get to our seats as fast as we can,” Max replied.

They made it to the line for theater number one just as the doors opened and people began to file in to find their seats. Through some miracle, they had amazing seats near the center of the theater. They sat down and tried to get comfortable as the pre-movie ads played. Sure enough, as expected, the crowd was abuzz with excitement.

“Hey,” Adrian said, noticing the snacks people were holding. “We should get some popcorn.”

“No,” Max said. “I don’t want to move from here.”

“Fine,” Adrian said. “I’ll go get it myself.”

He went to stand up, but Max grabbed his arm and pulled him back down to his seat. “No!” Max said. “Don’t leave me here alone.”

Adrian sighed. “But, I’m hungry. Come on.”

“Hey,” said a boy who had just sat down to the left of Adrian. “I could get you some popcorn.”

Startled, Adrian and Max looked at him. He was a highschool student, probably about the same age as the two of them appeared to be. They noticed that there was another teen boy sitting beside him who was looking at them as well.

“I’m Nathan,” the other boy said. “This is Rick,” he added, introducing his helpful friend.

“Hi,” Adrian said, sounding a bit spooked. “I’m Adrian. This is Max.”

“What the heck?” Max said, shocked that his friend apparently had just blown their cover.

“Nice to meet you,” Rick said. “So, is it cool if I got all of us some popcorn and drinks?”

“Uh,” Adrian said. “Sure, yeah, go ahead.”

Max gave Adrian a dirty look, but he kept quiet.

“Okay,” Rick said. He stood up and Nathan joined him as they walked out of the theater.

With the two boys gone, Max said, “What were you thinking?”

“I don’t know,” Adrian admitted. “I just felt a little… funny? I don’t know. I just didn’t want to say ‘no’ to him.”

“Great,” Max said. “Now, they’re going to be bothering us for the rest of the movie.”

“It’s fine,” Adrian said. “We’ll thank them for the popcorn and drinks, and then everyone will be so focused on the movie that they won’t pay us any attention. Don’t worry about them.”

Max sighed and could not help but worry. He kept glancing towards the theater entrance, watching for the boys’ return, but it was the arrival of two girls who made him start sweating.

“Oh no!” he said.

“What is it?” Adrian asked, getting annoyed now.

“My sister just walked in,” Max explained, as he tried to hide his face with his hand, “with Esme.”

Adrian’s head whipped around to find the girls walking up the aisle and taking a seat at the side of the theater, just one row down from where Adrian and Max were.

“What are they doing here?” Adrian asked. “I thought they wanted to see a horror movie.”

“They must have changed their plans.”

“Well, they are thirteen,” Adrian reasoned. “They can see this movie without an adult.”

“We need to get out of here,” Max said.

“Relax,” Adrian said, to himself as well as Max. “We don’t look like ourselves right now. There’s no way they would recognize us.”

“What if Esme can sense us, somehow?” Max said. “You know… with magic? We did use her magic.”

Adrian observed Esme and Jamie for a minute, neither girl even looked in his direction once. “We’re fine,” he said. “As long as we don’t draw too much attention, then they won’t even notice us. Besides, like I said, they wouldn’t recognize us if they did. Don’t worry. Just… try to enjoy the movie.”

Max sighed and hoped that it would be a short movie.

***

Nathan and Rick returned with four drinks and a single giant tub of popcorn.

“It was cheaper,” Rick explained. “And, I thought we could all share.”

“Thanks,” Adrian said.

“How about I sit between the two of you?” Nathan asked. “We could share better that way.”

“Sure,” Adrian said, vacating his seat to let Nathan sit in it next to Max while Adrian was sandwiched between the boys.

Max just sat quietly horrified at witnessing his friend abandon him for such a nonsensical reason. If given a minute, he might have thought up some way to resist what was happening, but the previews started playing seconds later. Everyone quieted down and settled in to watch the screen.

The popcorn was passed from one boy to the other, never Adrian or Max. They were allowed to take a handful of kernels from it when it was near. Max was a little irritated at the arrangement, but he kept quiet and ate his free snack when it was in reach.

Fortunately, the movie provided a good distraction from the boys. There was plenty of spectacular action and dazzling special effects to keep his attention. Plus, the heroes were looking particularly good this time around. Max was not sure just what it was about them. Maybe there had been a subtle change made to their costumes. Strangely, Max found himself paying more attention to the male heroes than the female. Normally, he would look forward to seeing how the women looked in their tight fitting costumes, but their bodies interested him less this time. This change in focus only began to worry him, though, when one of the men had a shirtless scene during which he showed off his ripped chest and abs. Max felt himself begin to sweat, and his bra, which had fit him well enough earlier, started to feel a little too tight.

Max had a final sip from his cola to cool himself down, and reached into the popcorn bowl to get some of the final kernels in the bottom. His fingers brushed against Nathan’s fingers, and the two of them exchanged a look. Max realized that there was something very pretty about the way Nathan’s eyes twinkled in the reflected light of the theater screen. Nathan smiled pleasantly, and Max considered what it would feel like to kiss him.

A loud explosion in the film caused Max to snap out of his sudden infatuation with Nathan. Realizing how strangely he had been behaving, he stood up and started to try to escape from the situation, he tripped his way past Nathan and slipped past Adrian on his way to the aisle.

“Max?” Adrian whispered. “Where are you going?”

Max did not reply. He just sidled his way out to the aisles and nearly ran out of the theater and walked to the bathrooms. He took a step into the men’s room and only realized his error when he got funny looks from the guys in there. He turned around and headed for the women’s room.

“Wait, Max!” called Adrian, who was walking towards Max. “What’s the matter?”

Max just ignored his friend and entered the women’s bathroom, where he found a sink and started to splash cold water on his face to calm himself down.

“Max,” said Adrian, standing beside him. “Talk to me. What’s wrong?”

Max dried his face with a paper towel and said, “I don’t know. I just felt… weird. Like, I wasn’t thinking about things the way I normally do.”

“What do you mean?”

“Tell me,” Max said. “What do you think about Rick?”

“He’s… nice,” Adrian said, smiling pleasantly. “I mean, he’s kind of cool. I wish I could hang out with him more.”

“What do you want to do with him?”

“I don’t know,” Adrian said. “We could watch more movies, or…”

“Kiss each other?” Max suggested.

“Kiss?” Adrian said, sounding shocked. Then, after a moment of consideration, he seemed to warm up to the idea. “Maybe,” he confessed. “Wait, what am I saying? I don’t want to kiss boys. That would be… weird, right?”

“What’s happening to us?” Max asked. “I feel like I’m into guys now.”

“Yeah,” Adiran said, looking concerned. “Hey, is your bra feeling tight now?”

“Yes,” Max said.

“Mine too,” Adrian said, adjusting the straps over his shoulders. “I feel… bigger now.”

Max looked down at Adrian’s chest and then his own. Although any breasts would seem large on his body, he could tell that they had both grown more busty since coming to the theater.

“It’s the potion,” Max said. “I think it’s still affecting us. It’s messing with our minds, changing how we think. It must still be changing our bodies as well.”

“When did you notice yourself growing?” Adrian asked.

“It must have been when I was looking at boys,” Max said.

“Me too,” Adrian said. “Do you think that’s connected to the change?”

“Maybe,” Max said and sighed. “We should just get out of here.”

“Max…”

“I’m serious. Let’s go.”

“No way,” Adrian said. “We’re already missing too much of the movie right now. It’ll be over soon. We’ve got to stay until the end.”

“No,” Max said. “What if we keep changing? What if…?”

“We’ll be alright,” Adrian said. “Just try to focus on the movie and we’ll be good. Come on, let’s get back in there.”

Adrian grabbed Max by the wrist and dragged him out of the bathroom. Max felt as though he should resist, but his emotions were too confused to do anything but follow along where his friend led him.

***

When they returned to their seats and Rick and Nathan asked what was up, Adrian explained that they had “women problems.” That seemed satisfactory enough for the boys as they did not ask for further clarification. The popcorn bowls had been stowed beneath the seats, which meant that any further interaction no longer had the pretense of sharing food. Max hoped that would mean that Nathan might leave him alone. The boys kept quiet, sure enough, but Max did catch Nathan sneaking peeks at Max’s enlarged breasts. At first, Max forgave it, assuming that Nathan was probably just confused by the sudden growth. Once it became clear that Nathan was now only enjoying the view, Max crossed his arms over his chest.

“Are you cold?” Nathan whispered.

“A little,” Max replied and left it at that. He noticed that the shorts he was wearing were becoming less comfortable, as if they were too small to fit him. Was he growing larger around his hips as well? He realized that had to control himself before it got any worse.

Max shut his eyes and urged himself to calm down, slowing his breathing like he had seen people do when they meditated. It seemed to be working. He relaxed his shoulders and lowered his arms onto the arm rests.

Another huge explosion startled Max out of his meditation. He looked at the screen and saw the hero rescue his girl from danger and carry her off in his arms. Damn, he looked good. So muscular and rugged, so handsome. The next scene had the couple getting romantic. As they became more passionate, Max felt his bra and his shorts grow painfully tight. He fumbled around to unhook his bra and unbuttoned his constricting shorts, relieving the pressure. Realizing that he was losing control, again, he relaxed his arms, shut his eyes, and started his meditation.

Before Max felt any calm return, he was surprised by someone touching his left hand. Max looked beside himself to see that Nathan had taken the initiative to hold  hands with Max. He looked at Nathan and saw the hopefulness in his eyes. What pretty eyes they were. Max gripped Nathan’s hand reassuringly, and Nathan leaned in, seemingly wanting a kiss. However, before Max could respond, he was surprised by what he saw happening just past Nathan: Adrian and Rick were already kissing.

In fact, the two of them were making out vigorously, already lost in their passion. Rick’s hands fumbled about, exploring Adrian’s curves, which were growing at a rapid rate. Adrian’s breasts had expanded from above average to enormous and were now approaching the size of his head. His hips had broadened out so wide that they threatened to wedge him in place in his seat. Soon that expansion had stretched his pants to their limit. They tore open at the seams, revealing soft swelling flesh beneath.

Despite the volume of the movie, their moans and grunts of passion had grown so loud that everyone surrounding them was paying attention now. Some people chuckled, some rolled their eyes, one woman left, most likely to complain to a theater employee. Adrian and Rick, oblivious to it all, kept at it.

As Max watched, he felt himself growing more excited, feeling turned on just by the sight of them making out. And, as his excitement grew, so did his body. Max looked down to see his breasts swelling larger, like a pair of balloons filling with water. His own shorts were stretched painfully tight around his expanding hips and ass. Before he could react to his own growth, he was startled to hear Adrian scream out.

Turning to check his friend, Max watched as Adrian hit some high point of pleasure, which left Rick baffled. Adrian’s body stiffened a moment, and then relaxed again, slumping into his seat, panting in exhaustion. Then, the growth suddenly reversed. Now, with his excitement ebbing, his body seemed to diminish with it, shrinking smaller. The curves deflated, flesh seemingly evaporating away. Soon, he was skinny again, but the shrinking did not stop there. Adrian began losing years along with his size, becoming shorter and more youthful. His face rounded and appeared more childish, then babyish. The torn clothes he had been wearing hung loosely on him and slowly began to envelop him. As he became a toddler, he recovered his senses enough to recognize what was happening to him. Confusion and fear filled his baby face, and he began to cry, bawling in fear at his disappearing years. When he hit infancy, the shrinking finally stopped, and he lay there on his seat, tears dripping from his eyes as he wailed helplessly.

Max saw all this happen, saw the looks of everyone in the theater, watching what had happened in silent amazement, finding a spectacle in Adrian’s transformation that outshone the movie on the screen. Max realized that something had gone very wrong with the magic and knew that he was following only a little behind Adrian to the same fate.

“No,” Max said, feeling himself growing more excited in spite of himself. His pleasure seemed to have gone out-of-control, increasing from its own momentum. “No more,” he begged as his body swelled up, tits filling like ripe mellons, hips and ass ripping apart his shorts. He wanted it to end, but all around him were boys, cute and handsome, pretty and rugged. His desire burned and he felt dampness between his legs. He screamed as his pleasure grew to a peak. Pure ecstasy shot through him like lightning joy, erasing his mind for a moment, losing himself in the flood of pleasure.

Then, Max felt it all turn for him. His body began to rebound, shrinking away from the peak of its most extreme size. “No,” he said as he felt himself disappearing, pound by pound. “No,” he repeated. “No, no, no…” Each time the word grew higher in pitch as he shrank smaller and younger, falling into girlhood, heading for infancy as Adrian had done. Max heard his friend crying, and began crying himself, his wails reaching the same pitch as he felt his clothes become like a pile of sheets piled around his naked baby body. Through his tears, Max thought he saw Nathan’s face gazing down at him with dumbfounded horror.

Somewhere nearby, a flashlight shined blindingly bright in Max’s baby face, making him wince and squeeze his eyes shut.

“What is going on here?” asked some man with authority in his voice. “Where did those babies come from?”

Several people tried to answer at once, explaining how they had been women moments ago and how they had shrunk.

“Sir,” said a familiar girl’s voice. “I know who those babies are. Would you let me and my friend take them out of here?”

“What?” said the man, sounding ready to refuse her. “Why would I…?” his voice trailed off, and then his tone softened. “Oh, I mean, yes. Of course. Go ahead.”

Moments later, Max felt himself bundled up in the clothes he had become too small to wear. Then, he was lifted up and carried away, cradled in a pair of strong arms. He heard the sound of the lobby and squinted at the bright lights for a short while, then he felt the warmth of the summer air blow past him as they entered the parking lot.

“What happened to them?” asked the girl holding Max. He recognized her voice. It was Adrian’s sister, Jaime.

“I’m not completely sure,” said the other girl, the one who had spoken up in the theater. Max thought that she must be Jaime’s friend, Esme. “Clearly, they drank the potions I made for us.”

“Is that really my brother you’re carrying?” Jamie asked.

“It is,” Esme confirmed. “And, that’s his little friend in your arms.”

“But, why are they babies now? And, why did they look like women before?”

Esme thought a few seconds before responding. “The potions I made were designed to be taken by girls only,” Esme explained. “That explains why they were women. Why they turned into babies after getting so excited… I guess that was because their hormones were out of control from the gender reversal, which muddled up the magic, somehow, and corrupted the age spell. You see, the effects of the potion were supposed to wear off on their own, bringing us back to our normal age. Instead, the corrupted magic brought them back way too far.”

Jamie sighed and asked, “Can you fix this? I don’t really feel like babysitting tonight.”

“Of course,” Esme said, sounding a little too certain to be believable. “Let’s take them to my house.”

***

In the witch’s house, the boys were laid out on the carpet as Esme set up crystals and candles and laid out a few books for reference. Jamie had stepped away to use the toilet, leaving the two babies alone with the witch.

Esme said to them, “Just so you know, even though I am making you older, I have not forgiven either of you for stealing my potions.”

Max and Adrian shared a fearful look with each other.

“You made me look foolish tonight,” she said. “Anyone who knows me would know that it was my magic that did this to you. Now, I look like I don’t know what I’m doing.” She sounded as though she was just barely controlling her temper. “You’re going to pay for this,” she added, ominously.

Jamie returned and asked, “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” Esme said. “I’ll grow them back up now.” She chanted a spell, her eyes glowing eerily green.

Adrian and Max grew, strength and weight returned to them as their limbs stretched longer and their bodies matured into their toddler years. They sat up, and watched each other as they grew into early childhood and eventually back to being 11 years old again.

“There,” Esme said. “They’re back to their regular age.”

“Wait!” Adrian said, having noticed something was amiss. “I’m still a girl.”

Max checked beneath the tattered clothes that were draped over his crotch to find that he was still female down there as well.

“Don’t worry about it,” Esme said, as she packed up her things. “You look just the same as you did before, except for between the legs, of course. No one will know the difference unless they see you naked.”

“Well,” Adrian said. “Can’t you just make us boys again?”

“I can,” Esme said, setting aside her stuff. “But, I won’t do it until I get the truth from you.”

“The truth?” Max asked.

“I want to know who had the bright idea to drink my potions. Which one of you is most to blame?” Esme glanced at both of them. “Answer me, or else get used to your new anatomy.”

“It was Adrian,” Max confessed, without a moment of hesitation. “I didn’t want to do it. It was all his idea.”

“Dude!” Adrian said. “What the heck?”

“Sorry,” Max muttered, averting his eyes. “It’s true, though.”

Esme grinned at the pair of them. “Very good,” she said to Max. “Come see me here in three days. Bring all the money you have, and I will give you back your missing boy parts.”

“All my money?” Max asked.

“Every penny,” Esme said, and her expression turned deadly serious. “If you don’t bring it all, I will know, and I’ll punish you for trying to cheat me. I’ll make you a girl, completely, permanently. Understand?”

Max nodded and tried to remember every hiding place where he had cash stashed in his bedroom.

“What about me?” Adrian asked.

“You,” Esme said, “will have to wait a little longer.”

“How long?”

“It depends,” Esme said and smirked. “I’ll be checking up on you when I visit your sister. If I feel that you’ve learned a lesson from this, then I might turn you back to normal. I’ll need some time to be sure, of course.”

“Oh,” Adrian said, feeling concerned about how long that might take. “Really?” He glanced at Jamie, hoping to get some reassurance from his sister, but she appeared to be worried as well.

“Really,” Esme said, approaching him with a predatory grin on her face. “But, on the other hand, I might just decide that you need more punishment.” She gently slid a fingernail down his cheek and added, “I’ve been looking for a test subject for my spells for a while now. You might be just the guinea pig I need.”

Jamie looked like she wanted to say something, but she held her tongue, seemingly too intimidated by Esme to disagree with her.

“Now,” Esme said, taking a step back and gesturing towards the door. “Go home, kids. I’ll be seeing you all later.”

The boys did their best to put on their torn clothes and made the long walk of shame back to Adrian and Jamie’s house. Max was allowed to sleep over in Adrian’s room, but Adrian never spoke a single word to Max that night. Adrian, it seemed, would need some time to get over this experience, and dealing with Max’s betrayal, no doubt, was not his main concern.