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From: J R D <jrdss@pobox.alaska.net>
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Subject: {ASSM} Change of Life [3/5]
Date: Sat,  1 Dec 2001 11:10:13 -0500
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Had to get a new email, so I'm reposting my old works under the new 
addy to get it out.

Change of Life, pt 3

Now, onto the boring stuff

-------------------------

DISCLAIMERS

-------------------------

This story contains scenes of an erotic and/or controversial nature, 
and is not intended for the perusal of minors.  Further if perusal of 
such material is considered illegal in your area or immoral by your 
religion or personal beliefs, you should likewise bypass this story.

This story remains the property of the author.  Permission is granted 
to download, photocopy, copy and repost so long as any such action 
contains these disclaimers, and no attempt is made to profit from 
this story.

All characters in this story are the creation of the author, and any 
resemblance to real persons, alive or dead, are purely coincidental.

This story may contain aspects of fantastic science or magic.  The 
parameters of what this science/magic can accomplish are completely 
at the discretion of me, the author, and, as such, I make no 
apologies for any rules of "real" physics, chemistry, biology, or 
magic that may be broken within the story.

-------------------------

Now onto the fun stuff

-------------------------

Change of Life, pt 3

{You haven't noticed, but Joe waits till the last second to summon me 
to his side, so that I can be here to protect you and the rest of his 
family as long as possible.}

"But why are you talking to me now?  You never have before."

{To convince you to tell him how you feel.  Surely you must know how 
he feels every time he leaves you.}

"But people need him."

{Not as much as you and his children do.  Look, the fact of the 
matter is the other Masters don't need him as much as they say.  He 
just keeps them from putting their own butts on the line.  All you 
have to do is say the word, and he resigns and becomes yours alone.}

"But what about his duties?"

{He hates them.  He has never wanted power, he told you that.}

"But what about the monsters he says no one else but you two can fight?"

{In our entire time together there's been maybe, MAYBE one of those. 
He hates his life, at least the part without you.  Do him a favor, 
Bronwyn, and give him the reason he needs to leave it behind.}

Bronwyn thought about it and smiled.  "Thanks,...  What is your name?"

{You know, you're only the second person to ask me that in all my 
years as the Soul Blade.  Joe was the first.  My name is Richard.}

"Thank you, Richard."

{Any time.  Time to go.}  And just like Joe before, the Soul Blade was gone.

Bronwyn grinned widely as she heard the doorbell ring.  She went 
downstairs and opened it to see Laurie standing there, Jacqui and 
Jeremy by the car by the curb.  Laurie said, "Hey, hun, ready to go?"

"Yes, I am."

"You seem happy.  Where's Joe?"

"He had to go out.  Akashic Master stuff.  But a friend of his told 
me about how I can bring both his and my problems to an end."

Jeremy said, "Look, if you ladies want this to be a girls' night out, 
I can bow out."

Laurie was about to say something, but Bronwyn (knowing Jacqui's 
plans to try to get the two of them together) cut her off, saying, 
"Nonsense.  We'd love to have you along."

Bronwyn strode up to the car and Jeremy opened the door for her. 
Laurie stepped up slowly and Jeremy opened the door for her.  Laurie 
said, "I don't need you to open my doors."

Bronwyn sighed.  Jeremy said, "Well what-" but suddenly jerked his 
head to face the other direction.

Bronwyn asked, "What is it?"

"Wait here," he replied, and started walking down the street.  Laurie 
was about to protest, but without slowing down, he turned back, 
yelled, "WAIT HERE!" and took off at a run down the street.  They 
felt him summon the Dark One's power, and knew something was up. 
Then the women felt it.  A wave of pure malicious intent.  The feel 
of evil.  And despite Jeremy's order, they took off down the street 
after him.

They saw Jeremy run into an alley, and followed him.  When they got 
there, they saw Jeremy in battle with another man.  At least it 
looked like a man.  When they looked closer, they saw it had claws, 
and half of its face seemed melted.

The two battled briefly, but Jeremy was no Akashic Brother, and 
eventually the... thing landed a clawed attack, stunning Jeremy.

Bronwyn was the first to leap forward and throw up a shield.  The 
thing shrieked and lashed out at her.  Bronwyn expected the shield to 
hold, but was surprised when the thing's claws ripped right through 
her shield and into her.  Laurie and Jacqui, with their healers' 
abilities, knew that it was a mortal blow.  Laurie lashed out at the 
thing with a stun blast, while Jacqui used her magics to try to save 
Bronwyn.

But the choice of who did what turned out to be the wrong one. 
Jacqui's powers, although greater than Laurie's, flew right in the 
face of reality.  And maybe it was the sudden shock of seeing Bronwyn 
struck down, or maybe it was the presence of the thing, or maybe it 
was the severity of Bronwyn's injuries, but whatever it was, this 
time, when Jacqui bucked reality, reality bucked back.  HARD.  Laurie 
felt a huge backwash of magical energy and Jacqui was struck down.

Laurie felt and knew her daughter was physically okay, but quickly 
shielded and linked to Bronwyn.  But it was too late.  Bronwyn... was 
dead.

Laurie looked up at the thing, and grew angry, preparing to violate 
her oath never to take a life, when she heard Joe's voice yell, 
"BRONWYN!!" and suddenly he was there, lashing out with pure 
lightning at the thing.

He turned to Laurie, his expression asking a silent question as to 
Bronwyn's condition.  Laurie looked up at him, and, with tears in her 
eyes, shook her head, signifying there was nothing she could do.

Joe screamed, "NO!" and shoved Laurie out of the way, taking Bronwyn 
in his arms, using his magics to repair her body.  But it was 
useless.  Although Bronwyn's body was restored to pristine condition, 
her soul was gone, and the body remained lifeless.

As Joe sat there rocking back and forth with Bronwyn's body, begging 
her to return to him, Laurie saw the thing stagger to its feet.  She 
saw Joe's eyes open and his face contort into a visage of utter rage. 
He threw his hand back and the thing froze.  Joe clenched his hand 
into a fist, and Laurie felt every cell in the thing's body explode. 
She was forced to throw up every shield she had to prevent from 
psychically going through the same thing it did as it died a 
horrible, painful death at Joe's hand.

After the thing died, Laurie was going to say something to Joe, who 
was stroking Bronwyn's hair, still begging her to return to him, but 
she heard Jacqui say, "Mom, what happened?"  There was something 
strange about Jacqui's voice, and Laurie went to her child.  When she 
lifted Jacqui's face, she gasped in surprise.  "Mom, what is it?"

"You're...  You're Jack again."  Jacqui looked at her hand.  Despite 
the fact that she (for her soul was still Jacqui) still had all the 
outward accouterments of Jacqui (dress, heels, even nail polish and 
make-up), her body had indeed returned to its larger, more masculine 
form.

"No, I don't want to be Jack anymore," she cried, before clapping her 
hands over her eyes and started bawling.

Laurie didn't know what to do.  There was more pain here then she had 
ever had to deal with in her life.  She heard Jeremy moan and went to 
him.  She may not have been able to do much, but Jeremy's physical 
injuries were easily dealt with.

Jeremy was unusually silent as she shielded and linked, drawing out 
and neutralizing the wound and the toxins she discovered were in it.

Laurie then went over and took her daughter (son?) by the shoulders 
and helped her to her feet.  As she walked past Joe, who was holding 
Bronwyn to his chest, she said, "Joe, we've got to go.  We can't do 
anything more here."

Joe slowly seemed to recover.  Without saying a thing, he lifted 
Bronwyn into his arms and teleported them back to his home and into 
his bedroom.  He carefully set Bronwyn on the bed, crossing her hands 
over her chest.

Laurie didn't know what to say, but right now, Jacqui/Jack needed her 
more then Joe did.  She took Jacqui/Jack to the guest room and 
proceeded to tuck her into bed.  After she kissed Jacqui/Jack good 
night, she/he asked, "Mom, can you change me back?  I'm not sure I 
can do it right now, and I don't really want to be Jack anymore."

"I'll see what I can do."

Laurie went back to Joe.  He was just sitting on the chair staring at 
Bronwyn's lifeless body.  "Are you going to be okay?" she asked.  He 
didn't say anything, but nodded his head slightly.  She put her hand 
on his shoulder.  "Joe, she's gone."  He said nothing, but clenched 
his eyes shut, as if he could shut out that awful truth.  Laurie, 
knowing he needed time to himself, said, "I've got to go prepare to 
cast the transformation ritual to turn Jack back into Jacqui."

"You can't do that," he said to her.

"But-"

Without taking his eyes off of Bronwyn, he said, "Laurie, at our 
level, our power is based on pure Will.  We basically MAKE the 
universe obey us.  A very large part of that is confidence.  Right 
now, Jacqui has been shaken by her first large failure.  It'll take a 
couple of days for the Paradox to work its way out of her system, but 
after that, SHE has to reverse the transformation on her own.  It's 
the same principle as a man getting back on a horse immediately after 
he's been thrown.  If you change her back, then she will never have 
the confidence to properly manage her magics ever again."

"But she's suffering so much."

"Laurie, I've never been through a Paradox backlash myself, but I 
have seen others deal with them.  If you do this for her, she will 
suffer far more in the long term."

Laurie just nodded.  She left the room, and was going to return to 
Jacqui when she heard the phone ring.  She heard Jeremy pick it up 
downstairs, and then call out to her.  Laurie came downstairs and 
took the receiver from him.  "Hello?"

On the other end of the connection, Julie said, "Please, Laurie, tell 
me it isn't true.  Is Bronwyn..."

Laurie choked back a sob.  "She's dead, Julie.  Killed by some 
monster in an alley only a few blocks from home."

"Oh, Goddess, why?  Norma suddenly looked up and screamed, 'Momma!' 
then broke down in tears.  Then the rest of us felt her passing. 
Norma's still crying.  Even the babies know something's wrong."

"Julie, I know you've got a lot there, but when do you think you can 
come over here?"

"Why?"

"Joe... is in bad shape.  I don't think I can do anything for him. 
He needs his mother."

Julie was silent for a second before saying, "I'll be over as soon as 
I get the girls to sleep."

Laurie hung up the phone, and was about to return upstairs when she 
heard a knock on the door.  "Oh, what now?!"

She stormed over to the door, and almost threw it open.  But she took 
a few seconds to compose herself before opening the door.  She was 
surprised when the Hermetic Master stormed inside.  Without waiting 
for her to say anything, he demanded, "Where is the Akashic Master?! 
He just suddenly disappeared from his fight with the Marauder, and 
now we've lost the Marauder's trail!"

"Look-"

"Look nothing!  Where is he?!"

Laurie was about to tear into this man, when Jeremy, who had been 
standing by silent, said, "He's upstairs.  First door on the left."

Laurie was shocked.  After the Hermetic Master stormed upstairs, she 
turned on Jeremy.  "How dare you?!  The last thing Joe needs right 
now is that arrogant son of a bitch making demands on him, ignorant 
of what's happened!"

She expected Jeremy to bite back with a scathing reply, but instead 
he just stepped over to the door and opened it again.  Laurie was 
going to ask him what he was doing, when she heard what sounded like 
thunder upstairs.  The Hermetic Master then flew down the stairs and 
out the door.  Jeremy closed the door behind him and said, 
"Sometimes, to a man who won't cry, violence is as effective a 
release as tears."

Laurie just nodded, not sure of the actual wisdom of Jeremy's words. 
Then she noticed Jeremy's subdued state.  "Are you okay?"

Without actually answering her words, he said, "Your child needs you."

Laurie started upstairs when the phone rang again.  She almost 
shrieked.  But she pulled herself together and answered the phone. 
"Hello?"

"Mom?" Marcus asked.  "What's wrong with Jacqui?  She seems to be in 
such despair, but she's shutting me out."

"Marcus, Bronwyn's dead."

"Oh, lord."

"But that's not it.  When Jacqui tried to save her, she suffered one 
of those... Paradox backlashes I believe you call them.  Her body has 
reverted to Jack again.  She's pretty upset about that."

"I'll be home on the next flight."

"Sure you won't get into trouble?"

"Probably, but my wife needs me.  Be back as soon as possible." 
Laurie heard Marcus hang up, and set the receiver down.

She finally managed to get back upstairs to her child.  As soon as 
she stepped into the room, Jacqui asked, "So when are you going to 
change me back to Jacqui?"

"I'm... not."

Desperate, Jacqui asked, "Why?!"

"I asked Joe about it, and he says that you have to change yourself 
back.  In order to deal with the after effects of the backlash you 
suffered, you have to do the repairs.  He said that it'll take a 
couple of days for the Paradox to get out of your system, but then 
you can do this on your own."

"You mean I'll have to be like this for two days?  Oh, Goddess, 
please don't let Marcus come home early."

"Actually, he just called.  He'll be on the next flight home."

"Oh, no!  No!  Mom, you can't let him see me like this!  You can 
change me back temporarily, and I'll make it permanent after the 
Paradox goes away."

"I can't, Jacqui."

Tears started to well up in Jacqui's eyes, and Laurie had to fight 
not to run and cast the spell Jacqui wanted.  "Please, mom."

"I'm sorry, Jacqui."

Jacqui's face grew angry.  "You inflict this on me, and now that I 
need you and want you to make me a girl again, you won't do it?!  I 
hate you!  Get out!"

"Jacqui-"

Jacqui threw a pillow at Laurie and screamed, "GET OUT!"  Laurie 
walked from the room, hearing her daughter in her son's body dissolve 
into tears.

As soon as she was outside the room with the door closed behind her, 
Laurie dissolved into tears of her own.  She heard Jeremy say, "I'm 
sure she's just upset.  As soon as she gets a chance to settle down, 
she'll realize what she said was wrong."

Laurie pulled herself together and wiped the tears from her eyes.  "I 
know, but that doesn't make the sting of her words any less."

Jeremy nodded.  "What about you?  Are you going to be okay?"

"I think so, but right now I can't worry about me.  Are you going to be okay?"

Jeremy didn't answer and remained silent until they heard a knock on 
the door.  "That'll probably be Julie," he said before returning down 
the steps.

"Great," she thought, "something's wrong with Jeremy, too."  She went 
downstairs and opened the door to see Julie standing there.  They 
quickly hugged.

"Where is Joe?"

"Upstairs in his room."  Julie started upstairs, but Laurie said, 
"Julie.  Joe tried to restore her after she died, but only managed to 
repair the physical damage.  There's now a perfect, but still dead 
Bronwyn laying in their bed.  It's... creepy.  I just thought you 
should know."

Julie nodded.  She went upstairs and into the Master Bedroom.  She 
saw Bronwyn lying atop the bed, and Joe in the chair, staring at her, 
unmoved from where Laurie had left him earlier.  Julie stepped up to 
him and put her hand on his shoulder.  Even in the dim light of the 
room, she could see his eyes were red with grief.  She said only, 
"Joe," and he collapsed against her, breaking down into tears.

"Oh, mom, I failed her.  I failed both of them.  First, I couldn't 
save Tarina, and now I've lost Bronwyn."

Julie just held her son as he cried his eyes out.

************

Marcus came home early the next day and was greeted by a hug from 
Laurie.  "Where's Jacqui?"

"She's upstairs.  She locked herself in the guest room last night and 
won't come out."

"I'll go talk to her."  Marcus charged up the stairs and knocked on 
the guest room door.  "Jacqui, it's me.  Could you open the door for 
me, love?"

"Marcus, no!  I can't stand for you to see me like this!"

"Jacqui, I don't care what you look like.  I love you.  Please open the door."

"No!  You'll hate me if you see me now."

"Jacqui, I could never hate you.  Now stop being silly and let me in."

"No!"

Marcus shook his head.  He concentrated and changed his locale in 
space.  He may not have had the Correspondence skills to teleport 
cross country, but a ten foot teleport was no big deal.  Marcus 
teleported into the room, and saw Jacqui (as Jack) crouched by the 
door, listening.  He softly said, "Jacqui."

Jacqui turned, saw him, and shrieked.  She tried to cover her now 
male face with her hands, saying, "Don't look at me!"

She heard in her mind, {Jacqui, stop being silly.  We forged this 
connection so that we would always be together.  So what if you've 
reverted to your male form?  I still love you, and always will.}

{But I'm a guy now.  How can you love me?}

{You're not a guy, Jacqui.  You're a girl in a guy's body.}

{But-}  Jacqui was surprised when Marcus suddenly pushed her hands 
out of the way, took her face in his hands, and kissed her.  {You... 
You... kissed me?  Even though I look like I do?}

{Because I love you, Jacqui.}

{But-}

{Jacqui, what do you want me to do to prove it to you?  Do you want 
me to take you to bed and make love to you all night long?  Because 
if that's what you want I'll do it.  Jacqui, I love YOU.  The package 
YOU are wrapped in is irrelevant.}

Jacqui just looked at him for a bit and leaned against him.  {Just 
hold me until I can change myself back.}

{Done.}

After a few minutes, Jacqui suddenly straightened up.  "Oh, Goddess, 
I've got to go apologize to mom.  I'll be right back."  She kissed 
Marcus on his cheek and ran to find her mother.  She found her 
downstairs in a chair in the den.  She threw her arms around her mom 
and said, "Mom, I am so sorry for what I said to you last night."

"It's okay, Jacqui.  I understand.  You were just upset."

The two hugged.  As Jacqui got up to go back to Marcus, Laurie said, 
"Jacqui, I borrowed some of Joe's clothes.  You don't exactly fit 
that dress anymore."

Jacqui looked at her now male body still in the dress she had been 
wearing for last night's festivities, and giggled.  "I suppose not."

"You know, Jacqui, despite the old body being back, you still sound 
and act like a girl."

As Jacqui pulled off the dress, she said, "Thanks, mom, I needed 
that."  She pulled off the slip, then looked through the pile of 
clothes.  "No underwear?"

"I figured that was too personal a thing to borrow.  Besides, I 
thought that wearing a pair of panties under your pants would serve 
as a reminder of what you want for yourself.  You could always 
conjure up some underwear if you want."

"Actually I can't.  That's not a skill I have, yet.  But I don't want 
to take these off anyways.  If I have to parade around as a boy for 
another day or so, I'll do it in clothes I want."  Jacqui pulled on 
the simple sweats her mom had borrowed.  Although Joe was a couple 
inches shorter than Jack, he was physically wider and tended to 
clothes that fit loosely on him, so his range of movement in his 
martial arts wouldn't be restricted, so the sweats hung on Jacqui's 
body like a loose sack, but that was more than adequate to cover up 
the bra and panties she was still wearing.

After she was dressed, Jacqui asked, "How is Joe?"

"He hasn't moved from Bronwyn's side.  He still isn't talking much, 
and he refuses to let anyone else touch Bronwyn."

"And what about the Sisterhood?"

"I've contacted our top people.  They're flying in from around the 
globe.  We'll have to make a decision as to who the next High 
Priestess will be."

"Need any help?"

"No.  This may be hard for us to do, but we have to face it."

Jacqui hugged her mom, then giggled.  "You know, with my bra and 
panties on, on this body, under these clothes, I feel like a closet 
crossdresser."

Laurie smiled.  "Go on, Marcus is waiting for you."

"Thanks, mom.  And I really am sorry for what I said the other night."

"Already forgotten."

"You know, you'd think that one of these days I'd figure out that 
mother really does know best."

Laurie laughed.  "Thanks for the compliment.  Now go."

Jacqui went out to find Marcus waiting in the entryway for her. 
"Ready to go home to your daughter?"

"I think so."

Marcus unashamedly kissed "Jack" and escorted her to the car.  They 
drove over to Julie's to pick up Cheryl, and drove home.  When they 
got there, Cheryl started whining for food.  Although Cheryl was 
almost weaned from her breast, Jacqui still unconsciously moved to 
remove her blouse and expose her breast before remembering what had 
happened.  "Sorry, hun, I guess that it'll have to be the bottle this 
time."

Marcus said, "That may not be necessary."

"What do you mean?  I can't even think about transforming back until 
tomorrow morning."

"But you could transform me into a lactating woman."

Jacqui was stunned.  "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure that you need to overcome your fear of the Paradox, and 
that this serves both purposes."

"I'm... I'm not sure I can do this."

"Which is exactly why you must."

Jacqui gulped and nodded.  She cleared her mind of all other things 
then thought of Marcus and how his pattern would look as a woman. 
Then she modified that pattern to what it would look like with 
lactating breasts.  Then she reached out and MADE it real.  She felt 
the Paradox fighting back, but refused to let it interfere.

The world shimmered, and Marcus was suddenly different.  "Well,... 
Mara?  Take a look."

Marcus looked down at his smaller, but now more developed body.  He 
ran his hands over his new female frame.  "Wow."

Jacqui smiled.  "Now take off your shirt, you've got a child to feed."

Marcus a.k.a. Mara stripped off his shirt, and after a quick lesson, 
had Cheryl suckling happily at his breast.  After her meal, they laid 
Cheryl to sleep.  "Do you want to change back now?"

"Actually, there's something I want to try."

"What's that?"  Marcus stepped up and rubbed Jacqui's crotch through 
her pants.  Jacqui felt the semi-familiar feeling of an erection and 
said, "So you want to give sex as a woman a try?  I can do that."

Jacqui took Marcus into her arms and kissed him deeply.  Then she 
picked him up and carried him over to the bed.  Jacqui, knowing what 
a woman liked, treated him far more gently then he expected, but gave 
him far more pleasure then he expected.  An hour later, she asked, 
"Do you want to change back now?"

Marcus said, "Part of me says yes, but part of me, the part you just 
got finished indulging, says no."  Suddenly Cheryl started crying. 
"I guess that's the deciding vote."

As she got out of bed, Jacqui said, "Actually, that's her 'My diaper 
is full' cry.  If you're going to be a mother, you've got to learn 
these things."

As Jacqui changed the baby, Marcus said, "Regardless.  I think at 
least until you can change back, I should stay Mara."

Jacqui grinned.  "If you insist, but I've got to warn you, being a 
girl can be addictive."

"Lucky for me, it's only for one day."

************

Bronwyn drifted down the hallway that led into the Goddess's realm. 
She had spent a good deal of time trying to return to her body after 
the connection to it was severed, but she had been unable to overcome 
her death pain and return to life.  Now she flew to the Goddess in 
order to let the Great Lady judge her life and send her to her final 
reward.

She was almost to Her grand chamber when a hooded woman, her face 
shrouded in darkness, suddenly leapt into her path.  Bronwyn asked, 
"Who are you, and why do you block my path?"

The woman almost growled, "Why do you abandon your family?  Has your 
death caused you to cease to care for them?"

"How dare you?"  Bronwyn felt despair wrack her body.  "Don't you 
know I tried to return?!  Oh, Goddess, how I tried!  But I couldn't 
face my death."

The woman just stared at Bronwyn before saying, "Perhaps you need 
more incentive.  Come with me."

Bronwyn sent a request to the Goddess for guidance, but the Goddess's 
voice, usually a perpetual part of her life, was strangely silent.

The woman said, "For a worshiper of the Goddess to feel her presence 
after their death is to be consigned forever to the realm of the 
dead.  If you are to have any hope of returning to your family you 
must do so without the Goddess's help.  But the fact that she does 
not speak to you, should show you that she wants this to be your 
decision."

Bronwyn, somehow, knew the woman was telling the truth.  She looked 
into the Goddess's chamber and, although the temptation to go on was 
great, decided to go with the woman to wherever she would lead.

************

The next day, Shawna walked into Joe and Bronwyn's house.  Then she 
choked back a sob.  With her mother dead, the house was Joe's alone. 
Laurie greeted her with a hug.  "Hello, Shawna.  Glad you're finally 
here.  But where have you been?  I expected you yesterday with Ariel."

"I've been... busy."  Before Laurie could press the issue, Shawna 
asked, "Where's Joe?"

"He's still upstairs by Bronwyn's side.  He hasn't moved since he 
brought her home.  Even bringing his children home the other day 
didn't help."

"I'll talk to him."

As Shawna went upstairs, Laurie said, "Shawna, go easy on him."

Shawna nodded.  She went up and knocked on the door, when she didn't 
hear anything, she opened the door and looked in.  "Joe?"

Without looking back, he said, "Hello, Shawna."

"Can I come in?"

Joe shrugged.  When Shawna stepped in, he said, "Come to accuse me of 
failing to protect your mom?"

"No.  Somehow I think you're doing enough of that for both of us." 
She sat beside him on the chair, him edging over just enough for her 
to have space.

He then asked, "So how are your studies going?"

"Fine.  And thanks for not telling mom."

"I just figured you should be the one to tell her you Awakened."

"And now it's too late."  Shawna sighed.  "Joe, there's nothing you 
can do for her now.  Her soul has departed the consensual reality."

Joe straightened up a bit.  "You're right."

"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing in particular.  Do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Clear everybody out of the house.  Take the kids and Laurie over to 
mom's house.  I want to say good-bye to Bronwyn in my own way."

Shawna gave him a suspicious look, but said, "Okay."

She left the room giving him a look over her shoulder as she passed 
through the door  After explaining the situation to Laurie, she got 
the kids together and they took off to Julie's (after calling her) on 
their bikes.  The girls were still subdued and the entire ride was in 
silence.  When they got to Julie's, and were walking their bikes up 
the front walk, Norma suddenly froze.  Laurie asked, "Norma, what's 
wrong?"

Norma looked back the way she came, and tilted her head as if 
listening to a far away sound.  Laurie walked towards her when 
suddenly Norma screamed, {DADDY, NO!} and jumped on her bike and took 
off towards home.

Julie yelled, "Tasha, Inya, go after her!"

The two teenagers jumped on their bikes and took off after their 
little sister.  It was only five minutes before they realized that 
there was no way they were going to catch her.  Inya pulled off to 
one side and Tasha followed.  "What are you going to do?" Tasha asked.

Inya rubbed the bracelet and her clothes unraveled and flowed into 
the bracelet.  "What I have to."  Inya shifted to her panther form 
and took off down the street after Norma.

She caught up to her little sister as Norma dashed into the house. 
Inya ran inside and shifted back to human form.  "Norma!"

Norma ran down the steps.  {Inya, have you mastered going into the 
Umbra, the spirit world?}

"No, I can barely manage it with grandpa's guidance."

Without waiting even a second longer, Norma ran out of the house, 
screaming, {Jacqui!  I've got to get to Jacqui!}

Inya almost went after her, but figured dad could do a better job 
chasing her down than she could.  She ran upstairs to find dad.  When 
she went into his room, she saw Bronwyn's body surrounded by a golden 
glow, but dad was nowhere to be seen.

Then she thought about what Norma had said and figured out what her 
father had planned.  She shifted back to panther form and took off 
after Norma, as scared for her dad as her little sister was.

************

Marcus ("Mara") helped the recently retransformed Jacqui to the 
couch.  "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, just a little more tiring than I thought.  I'll be ready to 
change you back in a few minutes."

"Take your time.  I don't want to hurt you getting back."

Jacqui sat back and took a few deep breaths when they suddenly heard 
a persistent banging on the door.  They looked at each other, 
silently wondering if either expected company.  As the banging 
persisted, Marcus went and opened the door.  A frantic Norma slipped 
in, yelling, {Jacqui!  Where are you?!}

Jacqui said, "Norma, settle down, I'm right here."  Marcus started to 
close the door when Inya, in panther form, slid through the closing 
door.

With panting breath, Norma thought, {It's dad!  He's gone after 
Bronwyn!  He's gone into the spirit world to get her soul and try to 
bring her back!}

Jacqui looked to her husband and asked, "You're the one who's more 
familiar with death.  Can he do it?"

Marcus shook his head in that way people have when they have to say 
something that they don't want to say.  "At his level ANY thing is 
'possible'.  The problem is he's staking his life on bringing her 
back.  If she hasn't gone beyond the Veil and he finds her, I'd say 
his chances are pretty good.  If she's gone beyond the Veil, but not 
through the Wheel of Life, his entire life becomes predicated on 
getting her back.  He gets her to come back, he lives.  But if he 
can't get her back, either because she can't face life again or 
because she's passed through to her final reward...  He'll be as dead 
as she is."

"Goddess."

Norma said, {We've got to go after him, Jacqui.  I want Bronwyn back, 
too, but not at the risk of dad!}

"I don't have the skills to do that."

Marcus said, "But you could go to the base and try to convince the 
Masters to go after him.  You have a closer relationship with your 
Master than I do.  You're the only one who can do it, Jacqui."

Jacqui sat there, stunned.  "I... I guess I have to try."  She turned 
to Marcus, gave him a weak smile, and said, "I guess it's lucky I 
didn't transform you back."

Marcus gave her a supportive smile and a kiss.  "Go, love.  I'll be 
waiting for you here when you get back."

Jacqui said, "Come on."  Then she escorted the girls out to the car. 
She drove them to the small house that hid the space gate that would 
take them to the base.  They went inside, Jacqui activated the space 
gate, and they stepped through into the base.

The receptionist on duty looked at them and said, "Mrs. Donovan, 
what's going on?  You haven't got clearance to bring visitors into 
the base."

"I've got an emergency situation.  Where's the Virtual Adept Master?"

"He's in the computer lab working with a new class."

Jacqui told the girls, "Wait here," and took off into the base, 
ignoring the protests of the receptionist.

She ran to the computer lab, and barged right in.  The Master looked 
up and said, "Jacqui, what's wrong?  Why are you interrupting class?"
-- 
"This is reality, not T.V.  Can't you tell the difference?"
"Sure.  I just like T.V. better."

J R D
jrdss@pobox.alaska.net

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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