Sapphire's Place - Raven's "Doorway into Summer"

This story has been an odyssey. It has stretched me in ways that I would never be stretched as a writer. For that I would like to thank Alan Lockridge, who came up with the idea for this story. He was the high bidder for the entire bake sale. Without his generosity, it would not have been the success that it was. Without contributors like Alan, FM would be just an idea. So, in recognition of that contribution, I wanted to make his story special.

Anne approached me with the idea of writing the 5000th story to be posted on FM. I thought that would be the perfect showcase for Alan's story. I approached Alan, and he agreed. Here we are. That was not enough. I asked the invaluable Steve Zink to come along on this project. His contributions as an editor and writer have added greatly to the community. I thought it would be the perfect honor for him as well. His editing on this story has helped me a great deal. Thank you Steve.

Now. The story itself. I usually deal with 2-3 characters in my stories. This story has at least ten different characters. I tried to breath life into each one of them with their own separate problems, motivations, etc. I found it more challenging then I ever imagined. Alan's story parameters just happened to dovetail with a story that I've had rumbling through my head for years and years. This is the perfect opportunity for it to come out. For that I want to thank Alan. I hope you all like it.

This story contains all of things (hopefully) that Alan asked for. The thing was, the entire story was too big for just one book. So, this book is the first part of a trilogy. By the end of the odyssey, I can only hope that it will become known as the TG version of the Lord of the Rings. I never imagined that the story would take on this epic scale. There's an old saying, "Be careful what you ask for..."

To my readers who have been faithful to me all of these years, thank you. Thank you for being so patient with me. This story marks my return from oblivion. I am officially un-retired.

The Doorway into Summer

By Raven

Prelude: Vernal Equinox

Billy Powers sat on his Granddad's knee, and looked adoringly up at the smiling face of the family patriarch. Even though he was only five years old, he seemed to understand the crazy stories his Granddad told him about a magical place called "Summer."

Billy's Mom, Jennifer Powers, always frowned at the two when she heard her dad spinning his yarns yet again. She'd say something like, "Oh, Dad! I wish you wouldn't fill Billy's head full of that nonsense. I remember when you used to tell me and Rick those stories when WE were kids. They haven't gotten any better, either."

Rick was Jenny's brother, and Billy's Uncle Rick.

"Hush, Jenny. Billy's jut a kid; so let him be a kid. You and Rick were never much interested in my stories, but Billy here loves 'em. Don't you, Billy?"

The man the world knew as John Smith, a fairly nondescript name, looked directly into his grandson's eyes. The lad was all smiles and big rimmed glasses. "You bet, Pappy!!" he blurted enthusiastically.

"Pappy" was Billy's name for his Granddad.

Jenny Powers added, "Dad!! It's just that Billy's tested out with a genius level IQ. The people who tested him say that he has a great future ahead of him. He can be anything he wants to be, so I don't want him sidetracked by your silly fantasy and science fiction stories."

Eventually he relented to his daughter, but not before protesting, "Besides, the stories are all true."

"Sure, Dad," said Jenny in a patronizing tone. "Just like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny."

"Jenny!!" admonished the man. "Not in front of Billy. You'll ruin all of the holidays for him."

Billy's mom dismissed her aged father with a gesture. "Billy hasn't believed in Santa or the Easter Bunny for almost two years. He's too smart for that, aren't you, Billy?"

"You bet, Mom," said Billy, with an equal dose of enthusiasm. Up until this point his head had been snapping back and forth watching his elders argue about him. He looked a lot like a spectator at a tennis match!

"That's my little Einstein," beamed Jenny Powers.

"I'm tellin' ya, Jenny. You have to let kids be kids, and play. If you don't...well, it comes back to haunt them."

"Dad!" Jenny started sternly. "Promise me that you will stop filling his head with all of these lies."

"I promise."

Little did Jenny know that her father had already related almost every story that his failing memory could retain to his grandson. He believed that after he was gone SOMEBODY had to remember them.

"Just one last story. Okay?"

Jenny considered her father carefully. "You absolutely promise me? One last story?"

"Would I lie to my own daughter?"

Jenny started back to the kitchen to finish her preparation for the evening meal. "Just be done by dinner, Dad. I wonder how Mom ever put up with all of your stories?"

With that, Billy's mother was gone, leaving the two to the telling of one last story. She didn't stay long enough to hear her father say something under his breath, with a tear in his eye. "Sarah loved my stories...she understood."

Sarah Smith had long since left this mortal coil. After her death, Jenny and her husband took her father into their large house on South Harbor Island off the coast of North Carolina. Justin Powers, Jenny's husband and Billy's dad, made more than enough money; so having John Smith live out his remaining years with them was no hardship. Heaven knows, the huge house (six bedrooms) had enough space. Yet, John missed his departed wife. He loved her very, very deeply.

It was the kind of love that few people understand, let alone experience.

Billy asked his Granddad innocently, "Pappy? How do you know so much about this place called 'Summer'?"

"That's because I lived there. That's where I was born, and where I played when I was your age."

Jenny Powers was walking close by, close enough to overhear a little snippet of the story. She just shook her head. "That man!" she uttered in exasperation.

Fortunately, neither Billy nor Jenny's father heard her comment.

"Really?" asked Billy, his eyes full of wonder and adoration. "Then why are you here? Why did you leave? How did you get here from there?" he asked in rapid-fire succession, not unlike a machine gun.

In fact, his Granddad wasn't quite sure that Billy took a breath in between each query!!

No matter how many questions, he knew there was but one answer. "This!" replied Billy's Granddad, while simultaneously pulling a multicolored piece of jewelry from his pocket.

"WOW!" exclaimed Billy. "What is it, Pappy?"

To Billy's eyes, there were four rings of different colors, full of twists and kinks and turns, all held together by another ring of the purest gold. That ring also was full of kinks and twists and turns. "It's a puzzle, my boy. A puzzle that has an infinite number of solutions. Don't you recognize the rings? I've told you stories about them. Here...what is the green ring?"

The much older man pointed to the jade green ring that was interlaced with a red ring, a black ring and a blue ring. All of them hung loosely from the gold ring, like keys on a key chain.

"T-that's the...energy ring."

"Very good. And what does it do?"

"It turns one kinda energy into another."

"And the red one?" quizzed the man.

"That's the matter ring." The boy remembered it all now.

"The black?"

"That's the space ring, Pappy!!" Billy liked this game with the pretend rings.

"Very good. What about the blue one?"

"Time!!" Billy almost shouted. "That's the time ring."

"And finally, the gold ring?"

"That's the master ring that controls them all. It unlocks the full powers of the rings, an' lets 'em work together."

"That's right, Billy. But you see all of the twists and turns? The rings can be fit together in any number of ways to make a bigger ring that you wear. When you put it on, something magical and special will happen."

"Really?" Billy was awed now.

"Only one person in all of Summer knew every way that it could fit together. Each way made something different happen. He was the most powerful wizard of all. Do you know who he was, Billy?"

"It was you, Pappy, wasn't it?"

"Your mom is right. You are a smart boy, Billy. The problem was that a ring of that much power attracted the most evil of people. There was a really, really bad one called Nemesis Bane. So, in order to prevent him from getting it, I had to use the ring to make a doorway into this world. When I came here, I took the name of John Smith, and met your Grandmother. I never went back. Ever. And because I left, a terrible curse has fallen upon the land."

"Is that true, Pappy? You're from there?"

"Yes. And it is written that somebody from here, but who is not from here, will someday go to Summer and lift the curse from the land."

"Is that you, Pappy?" Billy had to know.

"No, not me," his Granddad guffawed. "I am much too old. I don't know who it is, but until then, I am entrusting you with the rings. Always remember my stories, for they will guide you. Never tell anybody that you have them. It'll be our secret...promise?"

"I promise, Pappy!!" stated Billy, bravely. He accepted the treasure, while hugging his Granddad deeply.

"Boys? It's dinner time. Billy, go wash up."

Billy did as he was told, but took a side trip into his bedroom to hide the rings inside the secret compartment of his toy box. Nobody would ever find them there.

However, as boys sometimes do, no matter how smart they are, he forgot all about the rings.

John Smith died later that year, very peacefully, in his sleep. He had a smile on his face when they found him.

Chapter 1: The Ghosts of the Undone

Billy walked quietly and carefully through the canyons of furniture. His movement was such that not even the dust on the plastic furniture covers stirred.

The young man toggled the switch to the overhead lights into the "on" position. They worked...but then, he knew they would. It was just that...when you haven't been home to the house you grew up in for ages, you weren't sure how much still worked.

Billy hadn't crossed the threshold of this house since the day his parents died. It was a horrible car crash on the mainland, and the police assured him they died instantly. It didn't make it any better.

And this...this would be the last weekend that he would ever be able to spend in this place. The realtor hired by the estate already notified him that the buyers met the asking price. They even wanted all of the furnishings. All that was left was for Billy to go through all of the personal effects to decide what he was going to keep. The rest would either be sold or donated to charity.

Billy sighed. He wasn't even able to say good-bye to Mom and Dad.

No. He'd been away at school when they died. In fact, they were on their way to Raleigh to catch a flight to Boston to visit him. That stray memory caused tears to well up in the corner ducts of his eyes. Still...after all of this time...they would not come.

A sense of guilt, it seems, makes a wonderful dam.

Only a few days before the accident, Billy got into a shouting match with his Mother. "You never come to see me," he said. "You and Dad don't care about me. That's why you sent me here, away from home."

That wasn't true, and Billy knew it. He'd made that decision as much as they. It was just that when you are a fifteen-year-old prodigy, there is only so much high school can teach you. So M.I.T. offered the boy genius an unprecedented scholarship in physics. The boy had a natural aptitude for the subject.

And so...Billy packed up and moved to college to compete academically against students who were four, five, and even six years older than him. It wasn't much of a challenge. Even now, he was due to graduate in a few weeks at the tender age of eighteen, and one year ahead of the other people in his freshman class.

This is now, and that was then. Being under the age of sixteen when your classmates were much, much older didn't do much for the social life. That, and being torn away from his circle of friends who had dubbed themselves the "South Harbor Island Irregulars." So, in the end, it was never Billy's fault.

Unfortunately, the emotional maturity of a child genius does not match the intellect. That was why he placed the ill-fated call to his parents within the first few weeks at M.I.T. He was just...lonely.

After their death, Billy threw himself into the study of physics. His professors would say that he was driven, and indeed he was. Driven by a need to know how the universe worked. What cruel hand had caused the death of his parents. Billy just needed to know why!!

Billy was jerked away from his reverie by the ringing of the telephone. The realtor was very thorough. He picked up the handset to inquire who was calling. "Hello?" The traditional greeting was the best.

"Billy? Is that you?" came the voice on the other end of the line.

"Hi, Uncle Rick," said Billy, recognizing the voice almost immediately. His Aunt and Uncle tried to take the place of his parents after they died. Nobody could.

"You know I prefer William now," the youth reminded his relative.

"I'm...sorry. You'll always be Billy to us. That's what your parents would call you if they were still alive."

"They're not. I don't want to talk about it," Billy cut his Uncle off.

That didn't stop Rick. Nobody in the family was able to get Billy to talk about his feelings, and they were all worried. Something was going on inside. The name change, and selling of the house of his birth were just two bits of evidence. It was if distancing himself from everything that he knew would make it like it never happened.

"The house is yours, Billy. William. Selling it won't change anything. It won't bring them back. Keep it..."

"I SAID I don't want to talk about it," Billy replied, vehemently making his point.

"Fine. Your Aunt and I were down last weekend to make it a little easier on you. We put all of the personal things in the family room. We even found your old toy box."

"My toy box? Where did you find that thing?"

"It was in the attic with a lot of your baby things. You should look through it before you just throw it away. There a lot of toys in there that your Granddad made for you."

That was a name Billy hadn't heard in years and years. It was a person he hadn't thought of in years and years. Suddenly, he felt warm inside. The kind of warmth he hadn't felt in years.

The silence must have made Rick uneasy. "Billy...are you okay?"

Billy brushed away a single, solitary tear that ran down his face. "Uh...yeah. Granddad. I heard you."

"You'll look through there, then."

"Sure, Uncle Rick."

"Okay, then. The phone's working, so if you need anything, just call. Or even...if you just need to talk."

"Uncle Rick," Billy began, "we've been through this. I have to do this alone."

"I know," answered Rick. "We just want you to know that...you're not alone. Never."

"Thank you. I'll talk to you later." With that, the youth hung up the phone.

Granddad. All of the stories that his Granddad told him ran across his mind. Stories of a wondrous place he called, "Summer". The ironic thing was that it was like winter there, and that was part of its powerful mystery. Granddad said that the people there were looking for a way to turn winter into summer again.

That struck a resonant chord in Billy. How he longed to turn the sorrow of winter that his life had become into the joy of summer once again.

That was when Billy remembered the long summer days when he and his friends played Dungeons and Dragons together out on his enclosed back porch. Billy was the Dungeon Master. In fact, he'd constructed his dungeon or world based upon all of the stories of his Granddad. When the summers turned to autumn and winter they would all play the game at his house after school. They would continue to play on the weekends.

They played to find a way to solve the mystery of Summer. And then, that last summer ended.

Billy went off to school. The game was never finished.

"I wonder?" questioned Billy aloud.

He hurried into the family room to find stacks and piles of clothes, mementos, and personal items. It only took him five minutes to locate his old Dungeon & Dragon materials. There were the books, the manuals, the maps, the miniature figures, and his notes. Even Billy could not remember how the mystery of Summer was to be solved. The only thing that he could recall was that it had to do with a white rose. The Winter Rose.

"I wonder?" repeated Billy again.

He was there to confront the ghosts that he'd avoided for so long. The ghosts of his parents, and now this. It touched his sense of incompleteness. How could he put all of this behind him, how could he find the answers he sought, without finishing what he'd started?

Yes. It all made sense now. Billy was there to say good- bye. He was there to put his ghosts to rest.

The ghosts of the undone.

He decided to call up the South Harbor Beach Irregulars. They would all be seniors or juniors in high school now, but they would still be there on the island. Their families, like all families on South Harbor Island, had been there for generations. It stood to reason they would not have moved away.

It was April, and things were starting to warm up. The Irregulars could spend the weekend. They could finish the game.

Billy sensed that if he could finish the game, just finish ONE thing in his life, he could lay his parents to rest. Their ghosts would haunt him no more.

Chapter Two: The South Harbor Island Irregulars

Billy sat on the dusty floor, legs outstretched and spread- eagled. Between his legs was a wooden toy box made of still aromatic North Carolina cedar. It was the toy box made for Billy by his Granddad when he was just two months old.

And Granddad fashioned toys of all shapes, sizes, and imaginings every month thereafter. They were things unimaginable, things that you would find in science fiction novels.

The strange thing was, as he sat there, Billy could not recall his Granddad ever actually READING a science fiction novel. It never occurred to him why he never wondered about that before.

Strange. Yet he shrugged it off.

In one movement, Billy opened the toy box with an eerie "SQUEAK." It was the kind of a sound that you'd hear in a scary movie on Saturday afternoon. Clearly, the box hadn't been opened in some time.

The smell of cedar, as fresh as the day the box had been made, filled the air.

Billy closed his eyes and remembered the day that his Mom made him put the toy box away for good. His Mom never did like the stories that Granddad told. And his sad passing gave her the opportunity to store it away for good in the attic.

"We'll put it up here for safekeeping," she said. "For your children when you are a father."

Unfortunately for her, the stories from Granddad were not so easily forgotten. So it was that Billy picked up the game of Dungeons & Dragons, and those tales had a new outlet. A new medium.

From there, the South Harbor Island Irregulars were born.

South Harbor Island was an odd kind of a place. It was situated in the lower part of the Outer Banks just off of the coast of North Carolina. It was about the size of Key West in South Florida, but there was not a single bridge to connect it to the mainland (or any other island in the Outer Banks, for that matter). The Islanders, as they preferred to be called, were too proud for that. The population was about 10,000 people strong, and a collection of old, old money, the families who served that money, and eclectic artists and artisans. It was an...interesting...mixture.

And then, of course, there were the fisherman and ship builders.

No, South Harbor Island was connected to the mainland by a ferry that ran four times a day. If you missed the last ferry of the day, you were stuck on either the mainland or the island for the night. For the proud denizens of South Harbor Island, being stuck on the mainland was a fate worse than death!

Even though South Harbor Island could support a school system of its own, all of the children of high school age had to make the long voyage to the mainland to attend the institution of higher learning. That didn't make any sense, since there was a Community College on the island, although it did specialize in marine biology.

The mainland, filled to bursting with nouveau riche from "Technology Triangle", looked down their snooty noses at the islanders. That tended to construct a makeshift caste system at the East Bend High School in the mainland town of Townsend.

In the end, all of the South Harbor Island kids befriended each other. They formed tight knit groups. That in and of itself was a little out of the ordinary. In high school you usually have jocks hanging with jocks, nerds with the nerds, brains with the brains, the popular with the popular, the thugs with the thugs, etc. Not so with the Island kids. They were not unlike the kids in the movie 'The Breakfast Club'. All of the subclasses and subcastes were equally represented. So it was with the Irregulars.

It helped that the Irregulars also went to the same middle school, which WAS on the island. South Harbor Island did support a system of elementary schools and middle schools. There was even talk of building a high school of their own, that would no doubt be the archrival of the East Bend High School Mariners.

Mariners, what a joke, thought Billy.

He'd only been to the high school for one year before going on to M.I.T., but this much he knew. There wasn't a mariner in the bunch. If you wanted a real fisherman, you had to come to South Harbor Island.

That made Billy smile for the first time in a long time. That, and the thought of his old friends in the South Harbor Island Irregulars. That was it, he had to see them. But how...how to get them all together?

Billy started to put a small wooden toy, which looked strangely like a space ship, back into the box. He was about to close it when he noticed some old writing on the inside of the lid. It was a simple rhyme that read:

Red over green, and green through blue.
Once around gold, a door to step through.

That was curious. He couldn't ever remember seeing that writing before. A closer inspection demonstrated that it was the handwriting of a person that he knew long ago.

"Pappy," Billy said aloud. Sure enough. It was the writing of his dear old Granddad.

Exactly what it meant, he had no idea. The memory of the man compelled the lad to touch the raised handwriting on the cedar wood. It made him feel...closer...to his Granddad, and through Granddad his parents, for just a second. His fingertips caressed the etching lovingly.

Then suddenly, a little door opened, depositing a strange little ring into his hand. Not a single ring, but four rings colored green, red, blue and gold, all linked together. It was the ring that Pappy had given him oh so long ago, and he'd hidden in the toy box.

The memory of it played across his mind's eye.

His Mom put it away with the rest of his toys shortly after Pappy's death. He'd never been able to play with the ring. Another Ghost of the Undone.

"I'll see to that," stated Billy. "I'll use it as a prop for the game when the Irregulars meet. I'll make it a part of the game, the most IMPORTANT part. That's how Pappy would have wanted it."

There was almost a part of Billy, the part that listened to his Granddad for hours on end, which came to the surface just then. The joy that goes with just being a boy. Then it was gone.

Billy closed the lid of the toy box, to look at all of the personal things that he had to go through before the weekend was over. If he got the Irregulars together for a game, he would never get through it in time. There was no reason to think he could even get them all together. It was a Friday, after all. There was no doubt they would have plans...lives to lead. Lives that went on without him.

"Screw it," stated Billy to the ghosts that haunted him. Everything else could wait.

He had to finish one thing first before going on to everything else. The game would finish two things, at one time. Economy of effort...one of the things he learned from Physics.

But how to get them...

"The blood oath! The blood oath of the South Harbor Irregulars," he remembered.

It all started with a call. The call would go out.

Chapter Three: Blood Oathwbw

Billy looked at his watch. 3:00 p.m.

High School would be letting out in another half hour, but the ferry to South Harbor Island wouldn't get in until about 6:30 p.m. That was one of the realties of life on South Harbor Island. All of the high school kids had to wait until all of the islanders who worked on the mainland got to the ferry launch. To kill the time, they took up extracurricular activities such as sports, cheerleading, clubs, etc. For Billy, it was the science club and chess club.

David was Billy's best friend...or one of his best friends. The other was Kevin. The three of them formed the core of the South Harbor Island Irregulars. David was more like Billy, and was also a member of the science club and chess club. Kevin, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of both Billy and David. His only interests seemed to be to hang out, and chase girls. He was motivated only by getting in and out of trouble.

The other members of the Irregulars were assimilated into the group through friendships with the central three. For instance, David was also friends with Tony, and through David, was the first outsider to join the group.

That had a side benefit, as Tony was an avid fan of comic books, and all things collectible. On the weekends, he worked in the local comic book/gaming store. As such, the group had access to the latest gaming material or miniature figurines. Tony was also the nerd of the group. Unfortunately, he was very overweight and wore thick glasses, which made anything physical prohibitive for him. He was a natural for the games of Dungeon & Dragons.

Otherwise, outside the gaming arena, Tony was very backward and shy.

Billy's memory wandered back in time to remember the exact order of membership into the Irregulars. Next came Greg, who was also a member of the chess club. Video games and computers were more of his milieu. Greg joined the group through Billy.

Rachel came on board shortly afterward, through Kevin. Rachel was actually Kevin's girlfriend at the time, but like all of Kevin's relationships, it was short lived. Thus was the lot of the "bad boy" of the group. Rachel remained the only girl in the Irregulars.

That made Billy pause for just a second. Why was Rachel the only girl in the group? It wasn't like there was a shortage of girls in their age group on South Harbor Island. And it wasn't like they had a shortage of good looking guys in the group, either.

After Rachel broke up with Kevin, she started to date Kyle. Kyle was the best looking guy in the Irregulars, and naturally a jock. By the time Billy left for M.I.T., Kevin was already the star quarterback on the junior varsity football team. Many locals who followed football actually thought he was better than the starter on the varsity football team. However, since he was only a freshman, and Matt Wilson (the starter) was the son of one of the richest families on the mainland, feathers would have been ruffled! The bias of mainlanders over islanders reared its ugly head once again.

That relationship lasted only so long. Rachel, it seems, developed into one of the prettiest girls that people had seen in those parts for some time. She had multiple beauty pageant titles under her belt by the time she got into high school. Then it was on to the cheerleaders. She, by far, was the most popular and social of the Irregulars. The elite of the mainland even accepted her as one of their own.

Was it any wonder that absolutely everybody in the Irregulars had a crush on her? To Rachel's credit, she remained steadfastly loyal to the Irregulars, despite her social status. Billy deeply suspected that pressures of being so popular forced her to conform to what was more or less expected of her. The Irregulars was the one place in all of the world where she could just be herself.

And the game. Her character in the game was the one world where she could be who she wanted to be.

How else could you explain the prettiest cheerleader religiously playing a game of Dungeons & Dragons with people who were her complete opposites? It was release. It was escape.

Rachel also, unfortunately for the rest of the group, started to attract the attention of older boys. That is how Mike came to be a member of the Irregulars. He was also the only member of the group who was not a native Islander.

Mike came from Florida, and attended South Harbor Island Community College. Attended, as in the past sense. Shortly after starting at the college, Mike started to develop an interest in software. So he quit and started to work for a small software company on the island. Like Kyle, he was also a football star in his high school days.

It was love at first sight when Rachel and Mike first laid eyes on each other. The only problem was that, due to the age difference, it was something of a forbidden love. Mike had to literally wait until she graduated from high school before they could do anything about it. So, for the most part, their mutual affection manifested itself in a close friendship and longing looks from across the room. Rachel brought Mike into the group so they could do SOMETHING together, but, judging from the way that they were never out of touching range from each other, one suspected that something...more...was definitely going on.

They at least HAD to have kissed at least once. How else could you explain the intensity of their smoldering glances, the reality of their star crossed passion. Oh, they would have each other; it was only a matter of time.

And THAT made all of the other members of the Irregulars insanely jealous. Mike did what he could to assuage those "sore" feelings by providing the group with...how shall we say it...controlled substances. Just beer and weed. Enough to make the gaming ritual an existential, stream-of- consciousness event.

Billy thought, how could I have forgotten all of them? Especially David. And the Blood Oath.

Eventually, everybody began to have their own outside activities. Distractions from the South Harbor Island Irregulars. There were football games, practices, club meetings, and even, in the case of Tony and Mike, jobs.

It all came to a head when Billy learned that he would be going to M.I.T.

They'd met one last Saturday, and in a teary eyed postponement of the game, declared their fealty to one another. The Blood Oath, they called it. When one of the Irregulars called, for any reason, they could invoke the Blood Oath. Wherever they were, whatever they were doing, they were sworn to obey its call. When the call went out, they would meet on Billy's porch to resume the game that would now be unfinished.

One would make the call and recite these words: "The call is made, the Blood Oath invoked." That person would call the next, and that person the next, until ALL were called.

Then, Billy moved away to school. The Blood Oath was never made. The obligation to one another never invoked.

Would they honor the call? Have they stayed together? What has become of all of them?

Many questions raced across Billy's fevered mind. There was only one way to find out. It was time to make good on the Blood Oath.

Billy raced to the phone. His fingers called David's phone number from rote. The youth could only hope against hope that his best friend still had his one number, and his own answering machine in his bedroom.

A once familiar voice greeted his ears, although it was a little deeper than he recalled. "Hey, this David. Here comes the beep. You know what to do!"

Same 'ole David, thought Billy.

At the beep, Billy left a simple message. "This is a voice from your past. The call is made, the Blood Oath invoked. Tell the others. My house. 8:00. It's time to finish the game."

Billy hung up. Time to get things ready.

All of the other duties and the other ghosts would have to wait their turn.

Chapter Four: "The call is made..."

David Talbot got home around 6:03 p.m.

"David?" his mother called, after the slamming front door.

"Yeah, Mom?"

"Dinner's at 7:00! I need you to clean up your room before then."

David sighed. He was eighteen, and his mother still treated him like he was eleven. If he WANTED a messy room, he should be ALLOWED to HAVE a messy room. There should be one place in all of the universe where he could just...throw things. Where order was random, and not something that had to actively be arranged. Such was his life.

"Oh, and David?" continued Mrs. Talbott.

"What-" David started.

"I think you have a message on you answering machine."

"Who is it?"

"I'm sure I don't know. I don't listen to your messages. Maybe it's a girl."

That was a sore spot, and his mother knew it. He was just...awkward around girls. That's all.

David made the familiar trek up the flight of steps to his room. Sure enough, the message light on his answering machine was blinking. The L.C.D. indicated there was only one message.

The first one in a long time. David wasn't exactly at the top of the social food chain, and everything seemed to change once the Irregulars slowly drifted apart. Without Billy and the game to hold them together, there just didn't seem to be any need to keep up the pretense of meeting. David and Kevin still hung around occasionally together, but even that was becoming a rarer and rarer thing.

Kev took the dissolution of the Irregulars the hardest. Then his parents split up, and things went downhill. Since then, Kevin had frequent run-ins with the law.

David hit the 'Play' button on the answering machine.

So stunned was he by Billy's message that he could only stand frozen like a statue. David's mother chose that point in time to check up on her son. "David? Honey, is everything all right? Who was on the phone?"

"I-It was Billy. He's back on the island."

"Such a sad, tragic story. His parents were nice people. It's been a while since you talked to him, hasn't it?"

"Almost three years. The last time I saw him was at the funeral. I tried to talk to him, but he was just so torn up, you know? I tried calling him at school a few times, and writing to him. But nothing. Now, he calls me."

David's mother offered a little unsolicited advice. "Be a little easy on him, honey. It's hard to lose your entire family."

David intellectually understood her words, but taking it to heart was another matter. A large part, a very large part of him, considered Billy's silence to be a betrayal of their friendship. A friendship that dated all of the way back to kindergarten. It felt like an abandonment that left HIM all alone.

Without his best friend.

"What did Billy want?" asked Mrs. Talbott.

"He wants us to come over...our group. He wants us to finish the game."

"Oh, that silly Dragons and Cellars game? That's a game for kids."

"Dungeons & Dragons, Mom. It was the last time we were all together. We vowed that we would all finish the game. It's...important."

She understood. The bonds of friendship, especially this friendship, were strong. They'd survived three years of tragedy, and it was time they were renewed. Besides, she was deeply concerned that her only son was becoming...disconnected. He needed friends. Friends other than that awful Kevin James boy!

"Will you be eating dinner here or over there?"

David leaned in to kiss his Mom on the cheek, saying, "I love you, Mom!"

"You'd better," she whispered, heart breaking over love for her child. "But don't think this excuses you from cleaning up your room..."

"Mom..." David protested.

"...later," she continued her thought.

David sighed. "I'll probably stay all night. Don't wait up for me."

"I figured," she commented, as she turned to continue her dinner arrangements.

It would only be for her and her husband. Maybe it was a GOOD thing that David would be out of the house for the night. There were other relationships that SHE needed to attend to.

***

The phone rang at the James' residence. For a change, Kevin was home.

Since the divorce, he split time between his Dad and his Mom. Currently, his Dad had custody of the troubled youth. Mr. James was the captain of a fishing vessel that sailed each morning from the South Harbor Island pier. Their house was a facsimile of a cozy New England house on the Island waterfront.

The former Mrs. James now resided on the mainland. Kevin hated it there. The sea was his first love...that is, when he wasn't getting into trouble.

"Yeah?" he breathed into the mouthpiece of the phone.

"Hey, Kevin? Is that you?"

"Yeah," he repeated. He was a man of few words. "Who's this?"

"David."

"Hey there, Davey-boy. What's shaking?"

David was one of the few people in his life that Kevin somewhat grounded. The one person who DIDN'T give up on him.

"You're never gonna believe who's in town!"

"Who? It better be some babe!"

"Billy."

"Billy?"

"Not only that, but the call's been given. His house. 8:00."

"What the Hell's THAT supposed to mean?"

"Don't you remember the oath? We have to finish the game."

"That stupid assed Dungeon & Dragons game? I'll pass."

"Kevin, you promised. We all promised."

"C'mon. It's a Friday night. Me and a few of the boys are gonna meet down on the waterfront. Gonna have me a real good time."

"Kevin!!" David scolded. "Billy's our friend. Doesn't that mean something to you? Remember all of the times that he was there for you when we were kids? Remember the time you ran away from home, and he hid you in his cellar until everybody's temper cooled down? He needs us now. Besides, we all vowed to complete the game when the call was made, and now it is made. We HAVE to go."

"Stupid Blood Oath," Kevin remembered. David had effectively guilted him into going.

However, David was not without sympathy. "Hey, look at the bright side. You'll get to see Rachel again."

She was an ex-girlfriend that he'd never, ever gotten over.

"Isn't that who you're supposed to call on the phone tree?"

THAT reminder brought a smile to Kevin's face. He remembered that night when they all took the oath, and constructed the phone calling tree. One person to the next. First Billy to David, and then David to Kevin. After that, it was Kevin's turn to select who he would call. There was only one choice.

Rachel.

The troublemaker in him just couldn't let Rachel and Mike have unfettered access to each other. Kevin was her first, after all. A little fact that only he and Rachel shared. In truth, Rachel was his first, too. If there was truth to the old saying that you never forget your first love, then it was certainly accurate for Kevin. The only problem was that Rachel had moved on, leaving Kevin way behind.

It would be worth it to go to Billy's, if nothing more to see Rachel again. Interfere with the damned Romeo & Juliet story between Rachel and Mike. Rachel was only about a month away from her eighteenth birthday. They could consummate their relationship at that point. He couldn't let that happen. Kevin knew that he had to stop it somehow, some way. There was no way that some twenty-four-year old, college dropout should have her.

"I'm in," confirmed Kevin. "See you there, Squirt." Kevin's name for David.

It made David wince. He was a little sensitive about his height.

No sooner had Kevin hung up the receiver, than he dialed a new number. A number that he knew by heart. Rachel's cell.

Chapter Five: The Phone Tree

Putting the phone tree together had required more strategy and cunning then the game of Dungeons & Dragons itself! It was not so much a question of who was going to call whom, but who was going to BLOCK who from calling whom. The first two steps were easy. Billy was the initiator of the chain to his best friend David. David naturally selected Kevin, the third person in the central triad.

Although...David WAS dangerously close to picking Rachel. He, like every other male member of the Irregulars, had a crush on Rachel. What separated David from the rest of the guys was that he never, ever let her (or anybody else) know about it. So he carried around an unrequited secret longing in his heart for the girl. In fact, in the many years that the group met, or did other things, David had barely said two words to her.

So that meant that if David were to select Rachel as his branch of the phone tree, he would actually have to SAY something to her. That was the one thing that he couldn't do. The poor boy's shyness was almost too heavy a burden for any human to bear.

That was why David's friendship with Billy was such an integral part of his being. It allowed him to come out of his shell. Even Billy flirted with Rachel, and even if he was just emulating his best friend, it gave Billy hope.

And that is why it was so crippling and debilitating to David when Billy went away.

In the end, David's innate shyness compelled him to pick the only other person he knew reasonably well. Kevin.

After David, it got interesting. Kevin was equally compelled to pick the one that got away. Rachel.

***

Rachel picked up her cellphone on the first ring.

"Hi! This is Rachel," was her ever perky greeting.

Kevin savored the pleasingly sweet soprano before identifying himself. Her voice was one of the first qualities about Rachel that attracted the boy. It was just one level higher than average, with the slightest whisper about it.

He closed his eyes to picture the possessor of the voice in his mind's eye. Rachel was short, at 5'1". Not only was she short, but petite at ninety-five pounds, dripping wet. She possessed the deepest brown eyes that you ever saw, with small Cupid's bow lips. She was an intoxicating, if mind- boggling mixture of Hispanic and Sicilian blood. Explosive, too. She had only A cup breasts, but definitely didn't need any more. To top it all off, the diminutive girl had dark, wavy brown hair that hung to the junction of her shapely shoulder blades.

The other defining feature about Rachel was her pierced navel, which she took every advantage to show off with a never-ending supply of belly shirts. "Hello? Is anybody there?" questioned the object of everybody's desire.

That was enough to wake up the delirious eighteen-year-old boy.

"Yeah," Kevin started. "It's me. Kevin."

"You?" her tone changed instantly. It was almost indignant. "What do YOU want, and how did you get THIS number?"

Kevin looked at his own reflection in the full-length mirror that inhabited the back of his bedroom door. Fortunately, he could take the wireless phone into his room for a semblance of privacy. Not that anybody was home. Nobody was EVER home for him!

The youth stood a rather large 6'5", which was imposing enough. Kevin augmented his looks by completely shaving his head, and wearing small hoop earrings in each ear. The completely shaved pate was fashionable among black guys and older guys trying to disguise a receding hairline. However, Kevin was as white as white could be. In fact, the absence of hair only accentuated his piercing ice blue eyes. As for the rest of him, he was clad in his usual attire of leather pants, black shirt, and black combat boots.

All in all, he was quite striking. As he intended. You wouldn't be lying if you said the boy was the fantasy of many a girl in high school and South Harbor Island. The "bad boy" image only made him more the forbidden fruit. Fruit that many a girl had already tasted.

Still...there was the one that got away. Should NEVER have gotten away.

Kevin told Rachel smugly, "I make it my business to know these things. You don't need to know who I got it from."

"Then lose it," his ex requested, before continuing, "or I'll get a new number."

"I can find that number just as easily. This boy has skills."

"Too bad one of those skills is an overblown ego. It's too bad that you don't have either the brains or the ability in bed to match that sense of self."

That one stung Kevin. Rachel was his first. He wasn't as good in bed then as he was now. Another thing that he intended to rectify with her.

However, before he could respond to her attack, she added something else. "Maybe I'll just get Mike to kick your ass once and for all."

"Oh, yes. Mike. How is the old man? I'm surprised he hasn't dumped your sorry little ass for somebody younger. I think I saw him cruising the recess at the elementary school the other day."

"SHUT UP!" Rachel screamed into her cell phone.

Kevin ran his hand over his freshly shaved head. If he was going to do this last game with the damned Irregulars, he was going to do it right.

There was no reason to joust with her anymore.

"The word is given. No, wait, that isn't it. The call is made. Be at Billy's at 8:00 p.m. Plan to stay all night."

"Excuse me? What did you say?" Rachel's voice softened once again.

"I said, the call is made..."

But before Kevin could finish, Rachel asked, "Billy's back? He's here?"

"Yeah. And he wants to finish that stupid game."

"But...I have a date. And before you start anything, it isn't with Mike."

"Cancel it. We gave an oath. That stupid Blood Oath. Whenever he called, we came."

"I remember," commented Rachel.

"If I remember, you cried. You told him whenever he needed you, whatever he needed, you'd be there. I can see your word is as good as always."

Rachel defiantly stated, "I'll be there."

"It's a date."

"It is NOT a date. I'm going for Billy. And if your dumb little brain has forgotten, Mike will be there, too. Mike and Kyle. In fact, I should thank you. You've given me a reason to call Mike. Bye."

With that, there was nothing left but a dial tone.

That was the one thing that poor Kevin had forgotten. After he picked Rachel as his branch of the calling tree, she got to pick next. Her pick, of course, was Mike.

"Damn!" said Kevin aloud, bitterly.

He was once again reminded of how shortsighted his old plan was.

***

Now, the rest of the phone tree fell into place.

Rachel, of course, called Mike, who was still at work checking the code on a new software program. She gave the word.

Mike was only too happy to heed the call. A good three months has passed since the older man saw Rachel. Even then it was in passing at the grocery store. Rachel was with her mother, which limited their contact to lingering glances to each other from across the aisles.

A full eight months earlier than that, the two decided that they just couldn't bear to be around each other without consummating their love. For the good of all concerned, they decided to stay away from each other until she was eighteen. Mike made Rachel realize that she could see other guys.

In fact, he made her promise to see other guys. Even sleep with other guys if she wanted to. He wanted her to be sure, so when they did get together, they would both know it was right.

She made him promise, too. Mike lied.

He never intended to see anybody else. He didn't want anybody else.

So he bided his time, FINALLY applying himself to one thing. His job. And he'd become pretty proficient at it. He learned to write code, and was actually starting to design software. Mike wanted to build the stable environment to give Rachel everything she could ever want.

In that, she was his muse. His inspiration to make himself better than he was.

Still, every now and again, the love of the sea, the reason he first came to South Harbor Island, called out to him.

Naturally, Mike and Rachel took the time to whisper a few sweet nothings into each other's ears.

He came away from the phone call with his heart beating like a trip hammer. He would see her tonight, even if it was only to play the game.

****

Three years ago, Mike had selected Tony as his branch of the phone tree for purely practical reasons. The comic book and gaming store where Tony worked was right next door to his place of employment. Tony still worked there, so ultimately, it was a very insightful choice on the part of Mike.

"Hey, Bill," Mike shouted down the corridor of Island Software.

The delayed response was, "What?"

It was delayed because Mike's former boss, now partner, was busy stuffing his face with snacks from the kitchen.

"Going next door for a few minutes, then I'll be back. I'll be leaving early tonight. I have an important...event to attend to."

It was important, too. Not only because of Rachel. All members of the group, with perhaps the notable exception of Kevin and Kyle, were concerned about Billy.

Mike wasn't sure about Kevin and Kyle. Concern seemed to be beyond those two. It was only natural they had a bitter rivalry. Cut from the same bolt of cloth, thought Mike.

And both of them want Rachel's heart. It wasn't the first time that Mike wondered what the hell he was doing. Wasn't he too old for Rachel? Shouldn't he just move on?

Something kept him there.

That same thing hastened his step over to South Harbor Book & Games.

***

Tony was, as anybody would expect, happy to get the call. He got a chance to go back to that game, that one game that he hadn't been able to figure out.

So, he canceled his usual Friday night game with his new gaming group. Tony waited all of this time, spent hours and hours trying to figure out the mystery of Billy's land of "Summer" ever since he left for M.I.T. It was his one consuming passion.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the only thing he actually consumed! The guy was up to a hefty three hundred pounds. On only a 5'10" frame, and most of it was around his middle. That type of physical limitation tended to restrict one's social activity to...well...eating and gaming.

Tony was great at both. He hoped Billy had enough food.

The game was going to solved, one way or another.

Tony called Greg, his branch of the phone tree.

***

Greg was actually the one person out of the group that Tony stayed in contact with. In fact, as time went on, Greg and Tony became fast friends.

It took a few phone calls to get through, but Tony eventually made contact with the brainy youth. Greg was widely considered to be the second smartest of the Irregulars, after Billy, of course. Greg, in truth, had benefited the most from Billy's untimely exit to M.I.T.

It allowed Greg to get out from underneath the intellectual shadow of Billy. The absence of scholastic competition propelled him to the top of his class, and at this continued rate, he would be the class valedictorian.

There was only one little problem with the equation. In his heart of hearts, he knew he didn't earn it. All of his academic accolades had been handed to him by default. Just because Billy went away.

It didn't exactly make Greg bitter. He wasn't mad at Billy at all. That is, unless you exclude the fact that Billy chose to call David rather than him with the phone tree. It was just like back on the playground or at recess, when they were picking up teams to play ball. Greg was ALWAYS the last pick.

And so he was, yet again. Okay, maybe he was a little bitter.

More than that. He had something to prove. Greg HAD to prove that he could beat Billy at his own game.

And that was why Greg and Tony spent hours upon hours talking about the unfinished game, and mysteries of "Summer". Tony convinced him to join another gaming group, which he gladly did.

If there was one thing that Greg could do better than anybody else, it was watch and learn. Learn and become better. The best.

Tony's call to Greg was a most welcome one. Opportunity had finally come knocking at his door. Even though it technically knocked at almost everybody else's door before it knocked upon his own.

Nevertheless, Greg gathered up his worn notebook of notes and theories. Time to put them to the test.

It was too bad that he wasn't even close.

***

The last call was from Greg to Kyle. Kyle was the one that nobody wanted to call.

After Kyle and Rachel broke up, nobody quite knew why Kyle hung around with the rest of them. Eventually, they figured it out. The athlete of the group had such a force of will, an indomitable will. His very nature, quite literally, would not allow him to admit defeat.

In his mind, quitting the group would be admitting defeat. Kyle's personality trait manifested itself in a group setting to one of fierce loyalty. However, on the flip side, it also created an air of arrogance and superiority. He was good, and he knew it. He was handsome, and he knew it.

Strangely enough, he was able to accept his breakup with Rachel. Everybody suspected that he was able to rationalize it by believing that he was too good for her. Even though they all KNEW that he still loved her.

It wasn't exactly that Kyle was trying to get Rachel back, either. He was trying to prevent Kevin from getting her back. Now, THAT would be admitting defeat. Kyle really didn't have a problem with Rachel moving forward, it was just that a step back would be telling him that HE just wasn't good enough.

So...as odd as it was to everybody in the Irregulars...Kyle was a vocal supporter of the Rachel and Mike relationship. It opened the door for Mike and Kyle to become, for want of a better term, athletic buddies.

Kyle invited Mike to join a softball team. That developed into throwing darts after the game with some of the guys. And THAT led to watching the games at the sports bar. Mike even bought the underaged Kyle a beer or two.

The tension and dynamic created a natural rivalry and hatred between Kyle and Kevin. They physically fought on more than one occasion. Neither could claim victory.

Yet.

***

It was just about 6:05 p.m. when Billy's phone rang. It was Kyle.

"All calls have been made. We're all in," announced Kyle.

"I can't believe it," answered Billy. "Everybody's coming."

"You aren't the only one that has things to tie up, man."

"I guess not. It's good to hear your voice, Kyle."

"Really? We were never that close."

"Yes. I know that. But I always understood you a little better than everybody else."

Kyle considered that for a second before replying, "Hmmm. Maybe. We were all worried about you after your parents died, you know?"

That made Billy smile. Kyle's loyalty, despite everything else, could always be counted upon. Billy would be relying upon Kyle's will to get everybody to finish the game tonight.

"I'll see you when you get here, Kyle. I've got to get everything set up. Got a lot to do."

"Catch ya later!"

Billy put the phone down. The game would go on.

Now, there was only one thing left to do.

Play it.

Chapter Six: The Game

The players began assembling at exactly 7:46 p.m. Tony and Greg were the first to arrive, together, as thick as thieves. They were followed shortly by David.

Within minutes, Rachel entered in all of her splendor. Mere seconds after that, Mike arrived. You had to give the two credit. At least they TRIED to make it look like they came separately.

Tony glanced at Greg, who returned a knowing smirk. The two of them looked at David, who returned the conspiratorial expression...grudgingly. Even though he was secretly in love with the little girl, there was something inherently "cute" about the way they were enacting "Romeo and Juliet".

Even Billy smiled. It did nothing to vanquish his overwhelming sense of sadness. Many things were coming to an end tonight.

He'd spent several hours preparing for the game. He set up the props, maps and boards the same way they were when last they met three years ago. All of the player's icons were positioned in the same places where they left off. Billy cleaned the porch, positioned plenty of comfortable chairs, a couch, and love seat for the marathon session. What did he care? They were being sold, anyway.

He called a caterer to supply the group with plenty of food and drink for the game. He had plenty of money from his parent's estate, even though it was currently controlled by Uncle Rick in a trust. Rick set it up so Billy had enough discretionary cash at his disposal, particularly on this weekend. He really wanted his nephew to want for nothing...considering the circumstances.

As an afterthought, Billy placed an extra call to Mike. He asked the only one of them "of age" to bring plenty of controlled substances. Billy wasn't surprised that Mike agreed, although it took a little coaxing. Mike professed to be out of that type of behavior. All that Billy had to do was to remind him that it was a special occasion. An ending.

And THAT thought trigger a hidden emotion deep within the heartbroken youth. Seems it had been there all along. All of his studies of physics were for naught. For every iota of effort he put into figuring out the way the universe works, the more he realized that he could never control it. He could never control the forces that took his beloved parents away from him. And at that moment, he reached the only possible conclusion that his logical, ordered mind COULD reach. If he couldn't control those forces, he would have to protect himself from them.

He would have to shield himself from anything or anybody to care about. That way he couldn't be hurt. Nothing would ever break him again, because they could never touch him.

So, in the truest sense of the word, this WAS an ending for Billy. He was figuratively checking out. Saying good-bye. Permanently. Although nobody would ever know about it.

But as much as he tried to project an upbeat image of happiness, there was still the shadow, his own little cloud of doom, which hung precipitously over his head.

"What?" Rachel squeaked, at seeing all of the grinning males around her.

Simultaneously, they all said, "Oh...nothing."

Then Mike entered, carrying a couple of cases of beer.

"There's more out in the car. Will you grab them, Tony...Greg?"

He was just in time to see the smiles fading from their faces.

It compelled him to ask, "Is there something going on here that I should know about?"

That only brought the smiles back to their faces.

"C'mon, Tony," urged Greg, as he scrambled out the door toward Mike's SUV.

Meanwhile, Mike had Billy take one of the cases, while the two of them transported the drinkables into the kitchen. Billy had a cooler waiting. Rachel tagged along.

"How are you, Billy?" Rachel asked, as the two men loaded bottles of beer into the cooler.

Billy winced. This was just the first of them to ask the question that he was going to have to field over and over tonight. It was inevitable, but he DIDN'T want to talk about what was going on inside of him.

"Yeah, man. If you need to talk or anything..." added Mike.

Billy left no doubts about where his head was at, as he answered them as directly as possible. "I'm fine. But I don't really want to talk about me. All of you agreeing to be here tonight is enough. It means a lot to me, so let's just have fun. That means no fights with Kevin."

"I swear," pledged Rachel.

"I'll do my part," added Mike, "although Kyle and Kevin are the ones you really have to worry about."

"I know. I've set their places as far apart as possible."

By the time the three of them returned to the living room, Tony and Greg had the rest of the things supplied by Mike. David, who was left to greet the other two remaining Irregulars, was chatting cordially with Kyle.

Everybody greeted Kyle. Again, Billy had to deflect questions and queries about the state of his emotional health. And still...he provided them no answers.

Instead, he motioned for everybody to follow him out to the porch. They were still one group member light, but it was officially game time. The old clock on the wall read 8:01 p.m.

"C'mon guys," Billy urged, as cheerfully as he could manage. "The game awaits."

He added to Tony, Greg, and Kyle, while pointing at the remaining alcohol, "Bring that with us. I have some coolers and mixers out on the porch."

Surprisingly, it was Kyle who noted the conspicuous absence of the group troublemaker. "Where's the Jackass?" His "pet- name" for Kevin.

"Late, as usual," more than one of them said at the same time.

The splendor of the setup out on the porch made them all gasp. The dining room table was now sitting in the middle of the wide and deep screened-in porch. There were candles all aglow everywhere, due to the shortage of lamps. Oh, there were enough lamps to provide ample light, but the candles provided amiable light. It was the atmosphere that Billy was trying for. Apparently, he'd succeeded.

In the middle of the table were the maps that the adventurers' resident mapmaker, David, had written during their earlier adventures. There was the scale model of the setting, which was a snow blown expanse surrounded by high mountains. In the expanse were all of the figurines of the players' characters. The last were Christmas presents from Billy to the rest of the group more than four years ago. He'd spent hours upon hours of time on those miniatures, which showed on the exquisite detail and craftsmanship.

There were also two picnic tables, which were usually set up out on the porch, filled with plates and bowls of food. Food of every imagining, from wings to pizza, even to cake.

"Wow!" said Rachel.

"You can say that again," replied Kyle.

David, as per usual, said very little. Being the shy one of the group was such an oppressive burden.

Tony picked up the miniature of his character from the board, saying, "I haven't seen this for sooo long. Shit, this takes me back."

Greg agreed, "It's like we never left."

They all agreed.

David took this chance to speak up. "Except for Billy's mom and dad. I miss them."

"Me, too."

"Yeah."

"Ditto, man."

Everybody chimed in, acknowledging the underlying reason to why they were all there this night. It was a warm early spring evening in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. All of the weather reports promised that the weather would hold. It was a good night for gaming.

Billy motioned them all to take their places. They all graciously complied, taking their designated slots by their respective character figurines and materials. Once there, Billy said his piece. "I know you all are concerned about how I'm doing. I know you all want to know about how I've been after the death of my parents. We'll get to that...as the game goes on. I wanted you all here so we can finish this game, and I appreciate it that you all honored our oath. Let's forget about all of our problems, at least for one night, and have some fun. What do you say?"

There was a vocal and enthusiastic consensus.

"There's tons of food and things to drink, so help yourself. I hope you guys brought change of clothes, 'cause I think we're gonna go all night. If you get tired, there are places to sleep. If you need a shower, well, you know where everything is by this time."

Everybody grabbed a beer, or in the case of Rachel, a mixed drink. By that time, there was also a joint being passed around.

Kyle, ever the loyalist, insisted on a toast. "Here's to our Dungeonmaster, the ONLY one who could get us together after all of this time. All except one."

"Speak for yourself, loser," came from the threshold of the kitchen to the porch.

It was Kevin, clad all in his leather and black, wearing a dark pair of sunglasses. He casually reached down to the cooler, cracked the beer with an audible "Pssft" and said, "Here's to Billy. Our leader."

There was a clinking of metal to metal, metal to glass, and glass to glass.

"Now that we've gotten that out of the way, we start as we always start. Roll call."

A mixture of groans and snickers greeted Billy's corny suggestion about how to start. Kevin took the only seat available, to Billy's immediate right. On his left was Tony. All the way across the table, at the most distant point, was Kyle. Between Kyle and Mike was Rachel. Billy sat at the head of the table, with David to his immediate right. Tony and Greg sat side by side.

It was Greg who started the role call, by picking up his figurine and stating, "Tark here, Dungeonmaster."

He used a low, growling voice, as Tark was a half-orc barbarian. A character as far way from the real Greg as could be. Greg was a 5'10" slender youth, with glasses and mousy, short brown hair. His character was 7'6" tall, with huge muscles chiseled out of granite. He preferred settling any problem with his club, the damage from which was pretty considerable! The reason: Tark was as dumb as a post. The adventurers always got into their fair share of scrapes, as Tark would dive into any situation without ANY consideration of the consequences. As far away from the controlled Greg as "humanly" possible.

Tony picked up his character, squeaking in the highest voice that he could muster, "Muffy here."

Tony's character was the only one of the group that changed their gender for the game. Many people wondered about that when he first did it, but he passed it off to his obsession with another passion. Tony loved all things, anything, having to do with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". In fact, on Tuesday nights at exactly 8:00 p.m. you could always find Tony in the same place: camped out in front of his family's big screen television. Nobody but NOBODY was allowed to interfere with the new episode of "Buffy". The big guy knew every "spoiler" website, and was a member of every "Buffy" posting board. He knew every little bit of "Buffy" trivia, no matter how obscure.

Again, the character was as far away from the real person who played it as possible. Muffy, the character, was a small (5'4") human female, who possessed acrobatic fighting skills. She was modeled after the television character, therefore possessing above average looks, lithe athletic body, and a knack for wisecracking in the face of danger. For weapons, she was proficient at crossbow and sword...just like Buffy.

It was down to Kevin. He still hadn't removed his shades, nor made any indication that he intended to do so.

Kevin nonchalantly lifted his figurine, an elf, adding to the growing slate of adventurers. "Thud here, oh Dungeonmaster."

Thud, by contrast, was EXACTLY like the real life person who animated him! He was a Ranger, which meant that he was a survivor, if a somewhat unorthodox fighter. He had some magical ability, but like the character himself, was unfocused, uncontrollable, and wild. The magic centered on an innate talent to change probability to his favor. Thus, quite literally, stacked all of the odds in his favor.

The trouble with that equation is that probability, albeit mutable, could not be created. It could only be transferred from one thing to another, so that meant that anybody around Thud ran the serious risk of having their probability, or luck if you will, lowered. Only those who traveled with Thud could truly appreciate the level of trouble that followed him. It tended to make him somewhat of a loner. A rogue.

Two other characteristics about the incomparable Thud needed to be known to understand the adventurer. He had a "charisma" level of 18, or the highest. That made him an attractive, lovable rascal, who could charm his way in and out of any situation. Few had resistance to his charm...it was almost hypnotic. When Kevin was rolling the dice for his character's alignment, he had the designation of "chaotic/neutral". In short, he could do anything he wanted, for any reason at all. Even evil.

Thud's figurine bore long blonde hair, down to his shoulders, with only pointy Elvin ears piercing through. It was a reflection of Kevin's real hair color before he shaved his head. Truth be told, when Billy went away to M.I.T., Kevin DID have long blonde hair, as long as his character's hair.

Thud was the wild card of the roving band of adventurers. Like the real boy, no focus, no goal, and no motivation. He cared about one thing...a good time.

Billy added his portion of the opening dialog, "The DM is in. As is tradition, there will be no non-player character of the DM. I will pass notes to David...err, Tui, since he is the cleric. The Cleric is to treat the information obtained through these notes as inspirations or messages from his Gods, so everything is consistent. My guess is that you all will need that, since we've been away from the game for so long."

"Not me," claimed Tony/Muffy.

"Nor I," growled Greg/Tark, completely in character.

"We'll see. We'll see," said Billy, while noticing the notes that Tony was clutching, and the notebook bedside Greg's hand.

These guys have done their homework, thought Billy. They've been busy. Interesting.

David was next, "I, Tui, am here."

Although bold sounding, it was uttered in a subdued manner. Tui was human like Muffy, but from a completely different part of "Summer". He was a man of religion, a healer. The unique element about Tui was his ability to communicate with the Gods of "Summer". Through this ritual of nightly prayer, the Gods would talk to his subconsciousness to give him an innate understanding about what was going on, or what the future held. Only a part of those messages would leak through to his conscious mind to the point that he could tell others about them. For the most part, the communications would manifest themselves as intuition. Call it an ability to correctly guess which way to go, or which action to take. Many suspected that the level about which messages actually made it through to the part of his mind that was aware was connected to his faith.

A faith, which wavered quite often, thus the inconsistent results. The Gods were not without their gratitude for his efforts, so each night they would "implant" the spells that he was going to need to make it through the rigors of the following day.

It worked...as long as Tui got a chance to rest and pray. Sometimes, most times, events conspired to seriously restrict those times. Nevertheless, Tui's unique and rare abilities made him the de facto leader of the hearty band of adventurers. A position, much like the real boy, he DIDN'T want.

Mike's player character was the third, and last human of the band. "Grimal is present and accounted for," he acknowledged.

Grimal was short and slight, unlike Mike. What he lacked in physical presence, he more than made up for with the power of his mind. Grimal, it seems, was a part of a secretive sect in still another part of "Summer". His homeland was on an island across a vast sea of ice. This sect studied the nature of matter to such a degree that their minds could perceive the pattern of atoms in an object, organic or non- organic, and the bonds that held them together. The Tonesians, Grimal's people, could unmake the bonds that held matter together, shift it around with the power of their minds, and then bind it all together again. The same power gave the Tonesians the skill of being able to move objects with just the force of their will. All in all, a supercharged telekinetic.

"I am here, too. Taldrin," intoned Rachel in a voice more forceful then her own. It hurt her throat.

Now here was an odd circumstance. Except for Taldrin's height, and the fact that she was an elf (complete with pointy ears), she was EXACTLY like Rachel. Taldrin was comely, sexy even, and a Ranger like Kevin/Thud. The difference was that Taldrin was of good and disciplined alignment. She fought for, and always did the right thing. Taldrin and Thud were from rival strains of elves. Where Taldrin's race was characterized by dark features, Thud was graced by light features.

Taldrin's forte, along with fighting, was her tracking skills. It was through her skills, and the insight of David/Tui that the party had made it this far into the game without a major disaster. Taldrin was clearly second in charge of the band.

Here's where it got interesting. Earlier in the game, Taldrin had the misfortune of drinking a love potion that would make her fall deeply in love with the first person she saw. That person was Tui, a human. A human forbidden to elves. How much like her real world was this?

Except in this world, she could do something about it. But she fights it, and nobody knows about her compulsion. All but Tui, who has tasted the fruit of Taldrin's loins.

And THAT, in no small part, fueled the fantasy of the real life David's unrequited fantasy of Rachel.

Taldrin was currently tracking the quest inside the game.

Then came Kyle. He grunted, "Harkon...here!"

Harkon was a centaur. A centaur warrior...make that an oversexed centaur warrior, with unrelenting appetites. They were appetites that he had no reason to quell. His life was one big party, for even fighting was a pleasure.

Harkon thought his shit, horse shit, didn't stink. Difficulty was, it did stink, like the rest of him, with supernaturally powerful pheromones. Few creatures could resist their pull. Harkon's only physical equal in the party was Tark. Where Tark was bulk, Harkon was sinew.

There was a pregnant pause. Then Billy the DM spoke. "Now, we resume the game. When we left off..."

Chapter Seven: The Game Remains the Same

"Okay, where were we when we last left off?" queried David, as the leader.

"I have my notes right here, Dave," responded Tony quickly.

That earned the portly boy a stern look from Billy, the DM.

"Oops," he blushed, while readjusting his glasses. Then he ran a hand through his greasy ponytail.

Tony had grown his hair longer since the last time Billy was in his presence. It made the host wonder, for just the briefest of moments, whether there was something else motivating the switch to a different gender inside the game. Did Tony ever have a girlfriend, or for that matter, show the slightest interest in girls?

There was a name for that, wasn't there? Billy attempted to recall some of his studies in first-year psych class. Oh, yeah. Transgenderism. But he also remembered that the condition was also related to extreme fetishism. There was such a love and obsession with the female form, that one wanted to become one with it.

Billy shook it off. He couldn't imagine why anybody would want to be a girl!!

In any event, the expression that was directed to Tony was intended to reinforce their tradition of staying "in character." That meant using character names. The only exception to the rule is when somebody had a real life question such as, "Are we out of beer?"

Granted, this was borderline, but somebody was bound to cross it. Billy needed to make an example out of somebody, and well, Tony just sort of stumbled into it.

"Sorry, I meant Tui. I know where we are, Tui."

"Proceed," David/Tui tried to command. It made everybody smirk.

Yup. They were right back into the flow of the game. Time and people may change, but the game remains the same.

Tony/Muffy gave a quick synopsis of where the quest stood from his notes. "We're standing in the Akashtic Snow Fields. Akash is located in the extreme northern hemisphere, near the polar ice cap."

"What are we doing here?" asked Greg/Tark in his faux "booming voice". He then stayed right in character. "I'm c- c-cold."

Everybody looked at David. This was right where the game left off. They were on a quest for something, but they just didn't know what. They were all waiting on an "inspiration" from the Gods to tell them. The only thing he's received was an urge to go north, which they'd been following for some time now.

Food and shelter were scarce.

Billy handed his best friend a note. There was the inspiration they were looking all looking for.

"A magical artifact. That's what we are looking for. It's the key to everything."

The real life Greg and Tony looked at each other...confused. All of their planning and plotting was all for naught. They'd guessed wrong.

"Are you sure?" question Tony/Muffy.

David/Tui looked at the note, looked up, and stated, "The Gods have spoken to me."

"Uh, what is our overall quest here? I'm sorry. I forgot," from Mike/Grimal.

It was Rachel/Taldrin who answered this time, "To banish this perpetual winter that has gripped the land for as long as everyone can remember. To return the seasons, the Spring, Summer, and Fall to the land."

Leave it to Kevin/Thud to not respect the sanctity of the game. He made the not insignificant point, "That's what I love about Billy. Most DM's would just do a dungeon or castle. We have the whole world to roam around in to solve some earth-shattering problem. No wonder we've done this for years and years, and haven't gotten anywhere."

Billy glared at Kevin. They all did.

"C'mon Kevin, play along," requested David. David was the only person who Kevin MAY listen too.

Now it was Kyle's turn, "Yeah, Jackass."

Tensions were starting to mount already, and Kevin was just starting to get out of his seat. Despite the fact that Kyle was a star athlete, they were almost the same exact size. Kyle had just a little more muscle mass than Kevin.

"No fights tonight," Billy reinforced. "You all promised."

Kevin sat back down, then announced, "Fine. I, Thud, am going up ahead to check things out."

"Here we go again. Thud, as usual, is off on his own."

In actuality, it wasn't such a bad strategy. In the game, David/Tui and Rachel/Taldrin may have been responsible for the quest getting this far, but it was Kevin/Thud who ultimately made things happen. Kevin was not as dumb as everybody would believe. Or...maybe it was just that he knew how Billy's mind worked after so many years of friendship. Kevin sensed that Billy's mind worked in a systematic, extremely ordered/organized way. Every ad lib, every twist and turn was planned in advance. The boy had figured out every possibility, and then planned for it. Kevin's freelancing was designed for one purpose, to figure out the edges of that planning. Then he would take Billy outside of his plan on an unexpected maneuver. It forced Billy to make something up as he went along to account for the "Kevin factor". Definitely not his strong point, especially as he was trying to keep the other members of the party on course.

Kevin was just as competitive as anybody. He wanted to win as much as Tony and Greg. More so...with one small difference. He wanted to win for himself, Thud, and not the group. Why share the glory, and riches that followed, with anybody else?

The strategy worked. It actually forced Billy to Game with Kevin at a side table, while the rest went through the regular game. In the past, Billy allowed Kevin to do this because he, more than any other, gave Billy a challenge. It also allowed Kevin to advance in experience and skill. He encountered things, accumulated things, which nobody else did.

For instance, Thud had on his belt what appeared to all the world to be a small pouch. It was his own little pocket dimension where he could store just about everything. All he had to do was get the pouch (which was elastic and expanded) around the merest portion of an object to suck it in. All he, as the possessor of the pouch, had to do to call something forth was stick his hand in, and them picture it in his mind. It came to his hand. There was plenty of treasure, objects, and even food and drink in there that nobody knew about.

That was one of the motivations for Thud to sneak off on his own. He was going to eat without sharing with the rest of the band.

Billy pointed to a separate picnic table where he'd set up another little gaming station. "Go over there. I expected this...just not so soon."

They all sighed.

***

The Irregulars played for several hours through the frozen oblivion of the Akashtic Snow Fields. The now disheartened band was slowly dying from a combination of exposure, hunger, and sheer exhaustion. All with the notable exception of the Thud.

By approximately 1:00 a.m., Thud made his way back to the rest of the party to tell them he'd located the shelter of a cave just ahead. The hurdles they would have to pass were three rather nasty Frost Giants and an Ice Elemental. The gaming party quickly surmised that the inordinate amount of firepower (pun intended) could only mean they were guarding something of great value.

That was something Thud was hoping they wouldn't figure out. As per usual, he wanted the treasure, whatever it was, all to himself. Ah, well. Kevin decided to play the consummate team player, for now. Once they had it, he'd steal it, and put it into his little bag of goodies.

Out in real life, all of the Irregulars were thoroughly drunk or high from the consumables that either Mike or Kevin supplied for the occasion. Kevin brought with him several tablets of "X" (ecstasy) or "rolls" as they called them. He'd had one, and slipped one to Rachel (who was only too happy to accept). The main feature about "rolling" was the feeling of amorousness that it produced. A feeling that Kevin planned on parlaying into play for Rachel once things began to wind down.

It was working, too. But not as Kevin intended it to. Rachel was REALLY getting into her character's role as the paramour of Tui. And THAT was giving David a raging hard on! So much so, that he couldn't even get up from his seat to get something to eat. He had to ask Kyle to bring something for him.

They formulated a plan to deal with the Frost Giants and Ice Elemental. Tark's strategy was simplicity in itself. "Tark bash!"

It was funny how much Tark resembled the Hulk, of Marvel Comics fame.

The thing was, after struggling against the elements, inch by inch, EVERYBODY was spoiling for a fight.

Even Thud.

Tui brought a semblance of rational thought into the mix. "Everybody remember, that we're cold, tired, and hungry. Our constitution and strength are going to be at a very low point. Bottom line here, folks, is that we can't take too many hits."

Muffy correctly concluded that, "That's probably why we've had to go through so much to even get here. It was designed to reduce our strength and constitution. The very thing to fight Frost Giants. What kind of weapons do we have?"

They all called out with the cache of weapons.

"Crossbow and sword," rang out Muffy.

"Bow and arrow," added Taldrin.

"Just my fists," offered the centaur Harkon.

"I gotta club," said Tark. It was a stretch for Greg to act so dumb.

"No weapons here," said Grimal. "Just my mind."

"Me as well, my friend," stated Tui. "And I haven't had a chance to pray for a while. My healing power is also at low ebb. I only have a few spells left, and I don't know how much use they will be."

"The Gods of this universe designed this thing well," joked Thud/Kevin.

They ALL looked over to Billy, who just grinned. The first heartfelt grin he'd had in a while. He wore it well.

The circumstances of the game put Thud, of all people, at a crossroads. Just as Billy intended when he let Kevin play out his little side game a few hours ago. He was forcing him to make a choice to opt for teamwork. It was clear the rogue elfin ranger would not be able to retrieve whatever this magical artifact was by himself. He would need the team. The team was hungry and tired. He could give them food and drink from his pouch of goodies. He had weapons a plenty. However, he would be forced to reveal to them all the depth of his deceptiveness for all of this time.

Thud stayed quiet for the moment to see if they could formulate a plan that would spare him.

"Let's see, these things are ice based. Is that something we can use?" posited Tui.

"Bows and arrows are not going to work on these things," said Taldrin.

"Nor my sword," added Muffy. "It'll be like attacking a glacier with an ice pick. They're probably reinforced by magic, making them as tough as a diamond."

Tony, the real life person, had encountered this particular brand of monster in other games.

"Good point," concluded Tui. "Grimal? Do you have any ideas?"

"It occurs to me that ice needs to be smashed. What we need are weapons to crush. But the only crushing weapon that might be effective is Tark's club."

That was just the opening that Tark/Greg was waiting for. "Tark, crush. Crush real good!"

"Thanks there, big guy," grinned Muffy/Tony, patting Greg on the arm in real life.

"Here's the dig," Grimal continued, "we're all weakened, so our blows are going to be ineffective. Even Tark's blows. Do you have any fire spells left, Tui?"

"Yes, Grimal. A few. We've used them all up trying to stay warm enough to go on. We're still chilled to the bone. I think I'm going to have to save them for the elemental. No luck there."

Everyone paused for a second to retrench.

Then Taldrin/Rachel made a suggestion, "Wait a minute. Maybe we're looking at this all wrong. Even diamonds can be cut. All you have to do is figure out where the fracture point is, the weak point, and hit it. That's how diamond cutters do it."

It made Billy smile. They were FINALLY on the right track. They would need teamwork, specifically from one team member, to solve this.

"That's good," nodded Muffy/Tony.

"Yeah," came from Harkon/Kyle.

"Tark smash."

"WE KNOW!!!" they all said.

"We can do this," stated Tui/David. "All we need to do is have Grimal figure out their pattern of matter, and then loosen it a little bit. He can tell us where the weak point is."

"Then Muffy and I can hit it with our arrows," was Taldrin/Rachel's part of the plan.

"That may or may not work. What if the fracture point is inside, and not on the surface? We are going to need brute force."

David held up his hand to Greg, who was getting ready, "Yes, that means that Tark smashes. Harkon can use his rear hooves to kick. Muffy can use the flat of her sword. I just wish we had more weapons, and some food to recharge us."

Thud/Kevin was left with no choice. "Er...um...guys? I think I can help?"

"How can YOU help?" queried Harkon, in a disingenuous manner. He wasn't the only one of the roving band who had little regard for the ranger.

"You see...um...awhile back there. Almost four years ago. I happened upon a little sack here."

Kevin gestured toward his belt in real life.

"It's a pocket dimension, and well, I've been storing things there ever since."

"Food?"

"Yeah...and weapons, too."

"You fucking Jackass," uttered Kyle (in real life) angrily.

"Hey, it was my character. I just played him the way I had to," defended Kevin.

"Even if it's a little too close to real life?" Rachel spat out. That effectively took care of Kevin's play on her.

"Hey," growled Billy, although he was secretly glowing inside. All of Thud's secrets were about to come out. "Stay in character."

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" quizzed Tui, the leader. "I'm inclined to let Tark smash you and be done with it."

That made Tark/Greg smile broadly.

"I'm telling you now. I'm willing to share."

"He's up to something," was Muffy/Tony's conclusion.

That was something they could all agree on.

"I suppose you have treasure in there, too?" Grimal motioned to the nonexistent bag.

"I do."

"So THAT'S where all of that missing gold and treasure went to from the last quest. You little thief," said Taldrin/Rachel.

Thud/Kevin only nodded.

Tui/David ordered, "Spill it. You tell us all of it, or we kill you here and now, even though we need the manpower."

So that's what Thud/Kevin did, while he supplied them with food, drink, and even fire. That spared Tui from using a spell. They were even able to construct a makeshift shelter in the blowing snow (from the materials in the bag) to catch some rest before pushing on to the cave. An Arabian- style tent looked out of place on the plains of snow, yet it did the job. Thud promised to empty out his bag for everybody to share after this was all over.

Thud was able to supply Tark with a +5 damage club, and Harkon with a +2 mace. Muffy and Taldrin split a cache of Arrows of Unerring Accuracy. Taldrin got a magical bow to add some power to her arrows. Grimal and Tui didn't take any weapons, per se, as their power was not of force but of mind and spirit. Although Tui took a fire wand just in case.

Finally, Thud took a cloak of camouflage. Although a cagey fighter, they all decided that his true skill was as a charming thief. It was by invoking that charisma that he was able to mend the fences.

In reality, they all wanted to throw Kevin out of the game. Unfortunately, the charisma power, inside the game, prevented them from doing so.

The rest and food restored their strength somewhat, at least to the point where Grimal could concentrate to use his powers. It was Tui who formulated the final gambit, after getting the information supplied by Thud from his reconnaissance.

It seemed the Frost Giants and Ice Elemental didn't even know what they were guarding. They didn't even know how it got there, only that they were compelled to not let anybody have it. Thud was able to see that it was a multicolored ring, frozen inside a huge block of ice.

So, Tark and Harkon would initially distract the three Frost Giants from up close with their smashing weapons. Muffy and Taldrin would strike from a little farther away with ordinary arrows. In the meantime, Grimal would scan the Frost Giants with his singular ability. He would loosen the bonds of their cohesion, identifying the weak points. Thus would Grimal communicate the weak points to the primary four, to do their damage as impromptu diamond cutters.

Through all of this confusion, Tui and Thud would confront the Ice Elemental. It was Tui who would take on the Elemental through the use of fire. Thud would use his virtual invisibility to make it to the huge block of ice. Thud's task was the simplest. All he had to do was get a portion of the block into the mouth of his pouch, and the whole thing would get sucked into the pocket dimension.

It would melt inside the pocket dimension, that Thud assured them was sufficiently warm. Who cares if it flooded that dimension? Thud had an item they could use, so use it they would.

It was up to Tui to keep tabs on Thud, to put the proverbial bell around the neck of the cat, so as to keep him from sneaking away with the magical ring.

The plan constructed, the band, Thud in tow, set out for the Cave of the Frost Giants.

Chapter Eight: The Battle in the Caves

The brilliant and bold plan did not go as well as they'd anticipated.

At first, the tide of battle seemed to be going entirely in favor of the band of adventurers, their well thought out strategy solid. The element of surprise, coupled with a coordinated multilevel attack, only lasted so long. It was as Tui surmised. Their reduced strength and constitution began to wane before they even felled the first Frost Giant.

It was an awesome shot from the bow of Taldrin. Not that the others hadn't contributed. Grimal loosened the bonds of the Giant's component ice, while simultaneously locating its fracture point. Muffy marked the fracture point with an Arrow of Unerring Accuracy, tip heated white hot from a fire, and driven deep into the core of the beast. It took multiple whacks from Tark to chip enough of the ice away from the Giant, before Harkon finished it with one mighty "WHACK" and "CRUNCH" from his enchanted mace.

They'd hardly had any chance to celebrate when Tark was laid low from behind by the second Frost Giant. The third Frost Giant joined the fray, standing over the fallen and unconscious half-orc barbarian.

It had taken nearly all of their combined energy and resources to dispatch one Frost Giant. Now they had to deal with two at the same time, and their strongest member was down for the count!

In the meantime, Tui and Thud made their way deep into the Cave of the Frost Giants. Tui was hidden with Thud 'neath the Uncanny Cloak of Camouflage until the din of the battle was just a distant commotion. They had to split up to find the magical ring before the Ice Elemental found them.

That was the EXACT point where the unpredictable "luck" of Thud kicked in. In other words, Thud's magical nature changed probability, much like a hex, so that he found the ring encased within a huge, glacial block of ice. Tui's "luck" was commensurately altered downward, such that he found the Ice Elemental.

Tui conjured and threw an ineffective fireball at the Ice Elemental.

Billy, playing the role of the Elemental, roared, "Bah. Puny human. Is that the best that you can do?"

All Tui/David could weakly offer was, "Uh-oh!"

"The Ice Elemental unleashes a blast of cold at absolute zero. If he hits you with it, it will take half of your strength, constitution, and hits points. Now, roll," indicated Billy, which communicated the gravity of the situation for Tui.

David rolled the ivory multisided dice. The roll usually would have been enough to save him, however, Billy had to grade it downward. Tui was within the ambit of Thud's hex field, so he didn't get the benefit of ANY doubt. The bottom line was that it took him under what he needed to roll to avoid the Ice Elemental's onslaught.

Now Tui was "on the ropes", too. Things did not look good for the intrepid party.

Thud encountered a challenge of a much different ilk. It seems that the portion of ice in which the magical artifact was encased was round, like a globe. Make that a big globe, approximately three stories high (and wide). And ice of that particular configuration left nothing to stick out, nothing to get the mouth of a pouch around. The elasticity of the mouth of the bag didn't stretch nearly wide enough to get it around the whole thing. He was stuck.

So, back at the real life gaming table, Kevin sat and watched Billy go from player to player, allowing them to roll the appropriate set of dice for the occasion (depending upon what they were trying to do), and then finally announcing the dire results. They were all losing. It did give Kevin a chance to sit there and figure out what to do. Clearly, he wasn't going to bag the mass of ice with the ring.

Now...there are moments in time when you can decide to turn left or turn right. Fate turns upon that singular nexus of time. All Kevin had to do was let the game play itself out, which, considering this new disastrous turn of events, would be in the next few minutes. That meant they would all wish Billy well, say their good-byes, and then go home. Rachel would leave with Mike.

That was something that the real life Kevin most decidedly DID NOT want. In order to get his chance with his ex, he was going to have to prolong the game for awhile...overnight.

So, he made a gaming decision based upon a real life set of circumstances. It was a decision that went against everything that the fictional character Thud was about. Thud should have wrapped the cloak about his person even tighter, and sneak away to live another day. He had plenty of supplies in his bag to make it back to whatever passed for civilization in the land of "Summer."

That was EXACTLY the maneuver that Billy expected from Kevin when the leather-clad boy handed him a note neatly folded over. Billy had to read it twice.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked Kevin.

"Yeah," he confirmed, making the others look at him curiously.

Apparently, they thought he was going to run away, too.

Billy thought about it for a moment, and then said directly to David, "The Ice Elemental suddenly disappears without a trace. The only thing you hear is a rush of wind."

"Holy shit! What just happened?"

"You want to tell him, Kevin, I mean Thud?"

Kevin handed Billy another note.

To which Billy told Tui/David, "Just as suddenly, Thud appears before your eyes. He has taken off his cloak."

That left the ball in the player's court to resolve through play-acting conversation. The series of events that happened next would have serious repercussions for all of them, but they could not know that, as they sat on a candlelit porch on a late March night.

The battle between Tui and the Ice Elemental left the cleric with barely a quarter of his strength and stamina.

David started, "Thud. What happened? Where did the Elemental go?"

The rest of the Irregulars watched David and Kevin, long time friends, interact.

"I slipped the pouch over his little toe. He's in the bag, or another pocket dimension, right now. I'm guessing he's not too happy about it?"

"T-that's brilliant," complimented David through Tui. "What about all of the stuff you had in there?"

"I emptied it out. There's a big pile of it back by the artifact."

"You couldn't get that in the bag?"

"No edges. The only thing to do was to come back here and save your sorry ass!"

That made all of the people on the porch smirk. Thud/Kevin was being uncharacteristically heroic.

"I think we should go and check on the others. If they were as successful as you were, we'll be lucky if they're still alive," suggested Thud.

"You have a plan?"

"Why change the one I just used? Let's just go bag us a Frost Giant or two. I pull on my cloak, and BAM, I'm invisible."

That is exactly what Thud did.

The two of them raced as fast as Tui's depleted condition would allow him to. They encountered, to put it mildly, a desperate situation. The only members of the party left standing were Grimal from a distance, and Tindral firing wildly with her bow and arrow.

Tui surveyed the situation quickly. The Frost Giant on the left had sustained a significant amount of damage, and there was much of his ice mass missing. There was an arrow imbedded deeply within its body, marking the fracture point that nobody had been able to exploit. The Frost Giant on the right was largely intact. And it was mad...VERY mad. The arrow in it had worked its way out.

Both creatures were still battling to the death of their foes...which was imminent.

Tui yelled to seemingly thin air, "Thud, bag the one on the right. I'll take the left."

An unseen ally replied, "Gotcha."

To the two survivors, Tui shouted, "Grimal...concentrate on the left one. Give it all you have. Tindral...aim for the fracture point."

Tui conjured a giant fireball with the only spell he had left. He hurled it toward the Giant, before slumping into darkness. Had he remained conscious, he would have again witnessed the eerie sight of a huge Frost Giant disappearing into thin air.

***

The victory, the cessation of battle, allowed everybody in the Irregulars to take a bathroom break, stretch their legs, and, for those so inclined, grab a new beer. The monumental Battle in Caves had lasted a good hour in "real" time. It was almost 2:30 a.m., but all of the gamers were energized by the success of the quest.

Granted, their several characters in the game were near death, but it wasn't anything that time wouldn't solve. While the majority of the Irregulars sat out a turn, Rachel, Mike, and Kevin, on behalf of their respective characters, made the decisions for the group. Tindral assumed the temporary mantle of leadership.

Billy even complimented the Irregulars on their teamwork. He was more than a little impressed with Kevin's efforts. Kevin, for his part, was feeling particularly smug.

Tindral, with the approval of Grimal and Thud, decided to camp out and recuperate in the cave using the supplies dumped from Thud's bag. The other two were astounded by the sheer mass of all of the supplies that he actually had IN the bag. The three of them started to nurse the others back to health. They decided to build a fire by the ice mass that encased the artifact. It would take at least a week at this rate for it to thaw.

Fortunately, these were the parts of the game where the DM could advance time. There was nothing going on to warrant a blow by blow process.

Tui was the first to awaken, as usual. That was good, as his counsel (with the assist of notes from Billy) was invaluable. As he recovered his strength, he was able to utilize his healing ability to hasten the recovery of the others. In about a week, everybody was up, well, and rested.

The first decision they made was about the pouch that belonged to Thud. They dare not open it up. Nothing else could be put in there, for it could be called forth at great risk. Any breach in the dimension that trapped the Ice Elemental and Frost Giant may give them insight into a way out. And a way out was OUT of the question. The band, sans Thud, voted to burn the magical bag, thus sealing the dimension for all time.

The fringe benefit was that it deprived the least trustworthy one amongst them of his primary means of deception. That was why Thud vocally protested. The end was never in doubt.

The only "up side" was that Thud was lionized as a hero. He was forgiven all of his trespasses. A few more days after the "pouch incident", the ice mass was completely thawed. The supplies were still holding, so there was no real need to rush.

The virtual band gathered around the artifact that was left on a slightly wetter cave floor. "What is it?" asked Tony.

It was at this point that Billy chose to introduce a new prop into their game. The ring given to him by his dear old Granddad. The DM set it down gingerly in the center of the dining room table on the model of the cave floor.

That gave all of the real players a chance to marvel at the strange rings within rings.

"Wow," exclaimed Rachel. "What is it?"

Billy explained, "My Granddad gave it to me when I was a little boy. I found it earlier tonight when I was going through my old toy box. I decided to use it in the game."

"Yeah," asked Greg, "but what is it? I've never seen anything like it before. Just look at all of the bends and curves in each of the rings."

"I think it's a puzzle," Tony correctly deduced. He obviously had experience with such things. "You can fit it together in any number of ways."

"Hey. That's pretty cool," came from Mike.

"So how are we supposed to use it?" was Kyle's contribution to the inquiry.

Billy slipped David a note.

It gave their leader a chance to speak. David as Tui cleared his throat. "I have had a dream about this...a message from the Gods themselves. It is the Ring of the Phoenix."

"That would explain all of the colors," added Thud/Kevin in his restored, flippant tone of voice.

He'd been a hero long enough, and it was too late for the proverbial leopard to change is spots! He was the bad boy, after all, in real life as WELL as the game.

"Yes..." continued David/Tui. "It is magic."

"What kind of magic?" Tony/Muffy wanted to know. Neither he nor Greg had anticipated this twist in the road.

"Depends how you put the rings together. A different pattern will give you a different effect. There is no way to know for sure unless we try it."

"Who's going to try it?" Grimal/Mike wanted to know.

Thud stepped forward in a virtual sense of the word. "I'll do it. It's only fair, since I found it. I beat those Giants almost single handedly."

They didn't appreciate the arrogance of the statement, but they couldn't ignore the fact that he WAS technically correct.

The gamers all looked at each other, and shrugged. They all suspected that Thud was up to something (of course he WAS up to something) yet what could they do?

So the real life David handed the ring over to the real life Kevin. Kevin took the ring, studied it intently for a few seconds, and then started to manipulate the individual rings. He twisted one ring one way, bent a second ring another. By and by, he heard an audible "click" of two of the rings locking into place.

Kevin started to work another ring, while the others looked on, until it too eventually "clicked" into place. The last ring took almost ten minutes before it too, fell into place. Ultimately, the boy was left with a single, solitary ring with an intricate pattern of gold, green, red and blue.

"Put it on."

"Go ahead, put it on," the Irregulars urged Thud/Kevin one by one.

Kevin nonchalantly slipped the ring onto his right thumb (the only finger upon which it would fit). He looked down upon it, then to his comrades.

"Hmmm. Looks good. Now what?"

Billy started to say, "At first you feel nothing, then...slowly..."

Before he could finish his thought about the game, the weirdest thing happened. There was a blast of arctic air blowing through the screen of the window, as it if was just coming off the glacier. It scattered all of the game papers and materials all across the porch.

"What?" a stunned Mike shouted. "What IS that?"

"Damn. I'm freezing," exclaimed Kevin, visibly shivering. "Do the rest of you feel that?"

"No," offered Tony.

Neither did the rest of them, although they did feel a little cool.

"I-I feel strange," Kevin mumbled. There was clearly something amiss.

There was a huge thunderclap, and then a pressure wave that threw everybody but Kevin three steps backward onto their respective assess. All with the exception of Kevin, who was held in place by an unseen force. Like a small doll stuck in the hand of its owner.

The Irregulars started to recover, to get to their feet, only to see a cloud of sparkling silver starting to spin in a vortex around the poor Kevin. A helpless Kevin could only stare out from the growing vortex, stark terror in his eyes.

"Oh my God," screamed Rachel in a shrill voice. "Look at Kevin. This can't be happening. Somebody help him. Kyle...help him."

Kyle instinctively rushed to the sparkling tornado. However, the pressure was too much for even his athletic frame. Mike and Tony quickly joined him, backed him up, and tried to force Kyle closer to Kevin. It was no use.

They were all helpless. All they could do was watch. Every time that silver mote of the vortex struck Kevin, it carried off a little bit of his flesh. It was disassembling him atom by atom, molecule by molecule.

From inside the beautiful but deadly phenomenon, all of the Irregulars could see Kevin open his mouth to scream something. They could barely hear above the roar of the vortex a portion of the words Kevin was saying. "Help...me...feels...so..."

Then nothing.

They all assumed from his rapidly dissolving form that their friend was in intense, inhuman pain.

They couldn't know that it was the most intense pleasure that any human had ever yet experienced. Every sparkling mote that carried off a portion of his being sent a signal of pure pleasure to his assaulted brain. His sexual organ grew from the stimulation, then unleashed its load. Only to swell and release a few seconds later. Over and over it went; all of the while, Kevin came apart piece by piece.

The disassembled atoms of Kevin thickened the swirling mass to the point where the others could no longer see into its interior. The porch was a mess from all of the improbable tumult. So forceful was the pressure from the speeding tornado that Billy and his friends had to shield their eyes.

Then, just as suddenly and unexpectedly as the vortex appeared, it was gone, in a blinding flash of light. Papers from the game fluttered to the floor, like dried leaves in an Autumn wind.

The South Harbor Island Irregulars ran to where they last saw Kevin to find out what happened to their friend. It was also impossible and fantastic that none of them could even speak. Each had to be wondering in their little minds whether they were experiencing a group hallucination.

If not, this was the most amazing game effect that they'd EVER seen.

"Kevin? Are you okay, Kevin?" wondered David aloud.

They all reached the spot of the vortex at the same time. They all let out a collective gasp.

There...swimming in Kevin's black leather clothing...was a small blonde girl with unearthly gorgeous Asian features. She was huddled and clutching herself, afraid to move. Her large obsidian eyes looked up at them with nothing but mind-terror reflected within.

"Is that you...Kevin?"

The beauty slowly nodded her head in the affirmative.

Chapter Nine: The Wake of the Ring

Kevin sat huddled on the floor of Billy's porch. He was afraid to even move. He didn't know what just happened to him, but he...felt...different? Something, mind-numbingly impossible happened to him.

The last thing that the poor...boy...remembered was the sheer pleasure screaming into his brain at 186,000 miles per second. He could not...would never...forget the pure bliss that triggered all of his neurons, all at once, as he was...dissolved into nothingness.

He struggled to make sense of it all. That couldn't be. Could it?

Kevin could still see all of his friends surrounding him. He could hear them all talking.

And what was more...he could actually feel what they were feeling?

There was fear. Great fear. There was astonishment, confusion, anger, and even desire. All strong emotions. Kevin wondered how he could be feeling this?

It was overwhelming. It was all at once. It threatened to drown him under a tidal wave of utter emotion. So much emotion that he couldn't distinguish what was coming from where.

And still...he was afraid to move. Afraid to know WHY he felt the way he felt. Every one of his senses was so acute. On fire.

He looked up into the faces of his friends, looking into their eyes one by one, seeking some clue, some hint, of what just happened.

Amazingly, Kyle was the first of the Irregulars to put a vocalization to what they were all seeing and experiencing. "This is NOT happening. It CAN'T be happening. Kevin just turned into a chick!!"

That was all Kevin needed to confirm what his subconscious mind already knew. It was just that the transfer from the subconscious to the conscious was disrupted. More like blocked by denial.

However, there was no denying it now. The sight of long, golden blonde hair hanging in front of his eyes. The undeniable physical sensation of an unstable, shifting weight high on his chest. The glaring void of familiar extensions from his body. The crush of being so much...smaller and lesser than what he once was.

It all erupted, all at once, with the flow of salty tears from those obsidian eyes down the flawless, porcelain-like skin of Kevin's altered face. His bladder let go. The warm urine dribbled down his legs to pool at his feet.

Mike pulled Kyle way from the circle of friends that surrounded Kevin, saying, "Way to go, you idiot. I know you don't like Kevin, but have a little heart. Don't upset her."

The presence of the words "Kevin" and "her" being used in such close proximity, and in such a manner, was an arrow to the heart of everybody there.

"What?" Kyle protested. "I didn't say anything that anybody else wasn't thinking."

Billy, as the host, finally took control of the situation. "Mike, just keep him away from her until we can figure out what just happened."

Mike nodded to Billy, and then physically restrained the athlete at the far side of the porch. The elder of them asked Kyle to help him pick up the debris from the vortex as the others assessed the situation. The two of them set about the task of cleaning up, albeit silently, to avoid the topic on everybody's mind.

"I'll tell you what happened. It's that ring that you gave her...I mean him. Damn. This is confusing," Tony said by way of jumping in. "I think that it's really magic."

"There's no such thing as magic," David reminded them all.

That drew quick nods of affirmation from Billy and Greg. They were the other two members of the group that were scientifically inclined. The concept of magic did not jive in any way shape or form with Billy's understanding of the way the universe worked. Physics, even quantum physics, did not allow for the concept of magic.

"Then how the fuck do you explain what just happened?" yelled Rachel, at the men left in the circle surrounding Kevin.

The use of the "f-bomb" from the diminutive and feminine girl caught everybody off guard. Even Mike and Kyle momentarily stopped what they were doing across the room. Everybody was understandably in a heightened state of emotion.

At this point Kevin was shaking like a leaf, and STILL hadn't moved an inch from her original position. In fact, if you ignored her violent trembling, one would think the new girl to be catatonic!! For, in truth, she was STILL feeling all of the emotions that her friends were feeling. She was struggling in vain to separate the onslaught of their emotions from her own.

Finally, somebody concentrated on the victim of this incredible phenomenon. Kevin.

Leave it to Rachel. Maybe it was one girl to another, but it was Kevin's ex-girlfriend who reached out to the transformed boy. "Kevin, are you okay?"

That snapped Kevin out of it somewhat. She looked up at her, through the cascade of blonde hair in front of her eyes, opened her mouth, and tried to say something.

Nothing came out. Not a word, not a grunt, or even a sound. She was absolutely mute.

Radically changed hands flew to her throat. Her mouth worked a mile a minute, while the small, slender hands tried to force a word, ANY WORD, out of her mouth.

Still, nothing came.

"Uh...I don't think she can talk," observed Greg.

Kevin's renewed movement exposed the others to the smell of urine.

"Oh, my God. She peed herself," said David, whilst scrunching his nose up in disgust.

That angered Rachel, who suddenly was quite defensive of Kevin. She glared at poor David, growling, "Like you would do anything different?"

She extended her hand down to her new "sister" in order to help her to her feet. "C'mon, Honey. Let's get you cleaned up. You're going to need a new set of clothes."

Kevin took her hand. Now all of those who were not cleaning up got a chance to look at that hand. It was so slender, with long, elegant fingers. At the ends of those fingers were what appeared to be perfectly manicured fingernails that extended another inch way from the fingertips. The only thing that was out of place, given the situation, was the fact that the nails were a golden yellow. They looked more like claws than anything else.

Rachel tried to pull Kevin to her feet, and was able to do so with decided ease. That took her, as well as the others, by complete surprise. That was especially true as they could all see for themselves that Kevin was still a little taller than Rachel. Rachel shouldn't have been able to accomplish the physical task with such facility. Cheerleading was not exactly the best activity to promote bodily strength.

It was starting to dawn on all of the Irregulars that their transformed member might no longer be quite human.

They all assessed Kevin's new physical reality. Now that she was in a standing position, that dense golden hair fell into place over her shoulders and down her back. The thick tresses flowed enchantingly all the way to a rear end that was now hidden behind oversized leather pants. They could all see that she now stood between 5'5" and 5'6" tall. That was a reduction in height of close to a foot.

And THAT type of shrinkage had an immediate impact on Kevin. Even though she was on her feet, she STILL had to look up to see the faces of her friends. She used to look...down...on everybody. The only exception in this new reality was Rachel, who was now disconcertingly almost eye- to-eye with her.

Kevin raised one of those hands to her face to pull away the loose strands of hair that had not fallen into line. She unconsciously tucked the hair behind a small, delicate ear.

Once the hair was away from her face, Billy, Greg and the others could see her new face. The almond shaped eyes were...large...almost too large for the face. They looked surprisingly like the eyes of an anime character in Manga comic books. The nose was cute, and upturned. Kevin's heart-shaped face was accentuated ever the more with full, pouty lips, and dazzling snow white teeth.

Kevin looked like a cross between a Japanese and Korean woman with the height, hair and skin color of a Scandinavian. The combination of these things was quite disconcerting.

She was so beautiful that it actually...hurt...to look at her. It was the kind of perfect, unearthly beauty that was only reserved for goddesses.

They all gasped. That made Kevin's hypnotic eyes widen in concern. She...felt...shifting emotions all around herself.

As for all of the Irregulars...sans Rachel...they all smelled the most incredible aroma wafting into their olfactory organs. It was an indescribable m�lange of flowers, spice, and musk. It was all coming from one person.

Kevin.

While the odor worked its virtual fingers into the systems of Billy, Greg, Tony and David, Rachel put a hand on Kevin. She then explained the reason for their gasps. "No, Honey. There's nothing to worry about. It's just that...you're so gorgeous."

Rachel looked to her male friends for confirmation of that fact, only to see them staring, almost in a trancelike state, at Kevin. Then another thing became immediately apparent to her. The crotches of each one of them was slowly, but noticeably, swelling into a huge erection.

Then Kevin saw it. Just before she...felt...it. Waves and waves of desire and lust were radiating from all her male friends. So much desire that she couldn't shut it out.

It was so...powerful. And, she couldn't separate it out from her own emotions. All she felt was desire, like being caught in an irrepressible feedback loop. Kevin couldn't help feeling want...need, even though it wasn't her own.

Then she felt something that was purely her own. That didn't make it any less terrifying.

Kevin felt the nipples of breasts that she now knew that she possessed begin to tingle and swell. There was this...heat. So soothing and pleasant. Warm MOIST heat, which spread from her breasts to her new maidenhood. Kevin felt herself swoon. She wanted something that she COULDN'T want.

Billy's, Greg's, Tony's and David's eyes roamed downward from Kevin's face to her chest. Prominent erect nipples were now threatening to poke through the black T-shirt that hung like a sack on her drastically reduced upper torso. Even though she literally swam in the shirt, it couldn't hide large, firm breasts that rode high up on her chest. There wasn't even the slightest trace of sagging.

Rachel spat, "I can't believe this. Your friend gets transformed into a...I don't know what...and all you can think about is fucking her? C'mon, Kevin. You're getting changed. RIGHT NOW."

With that, Rachel grabbed Kevin by the arms, and pulled her toward the stairs that led to the upstairs of the house. Kevin literally walked right out of her shoes, leaving them in place in the pool of urine.

She was hastened away by Rachel, leaving a swirl of hair and then a strange scent that almost seemed to seep from her pores. The guys didn't know what it was, but a few seconds later it wasn't only Kevin that would have to clean up a mess from their pants.

"Ooops," gulped Tony. This was very easily the most arousal he'd had in...well...forever.

Then Greg blushed, signaling his similar accident.

Rachel left them with one thought, "Get your shit together, and figure out how to change her back."

Chapter Ten: Revelations and Discoveries

"Hah!" Kyle chided the two who were not able to control themselves. "You busted a nut over your friend. Another guy."

His snickering was not going over well.

It was Billy who raised the brilliant defense, "He didn't actually look like a guy at the time. He looked like a pretty girl."

"Pretty? Kevin is the most beautiful girl I think I've ever seen. Even in movies and magazines," replied Greg, as one of unfortunates not able to control himself.

Mike pointed out something the others hadn't, also in defense of Tony and Greg. He looked right into Kyle's eyes while doing so. "What are you talking about? You were catching a gear when I pulled you away, so I wouldn't get all superior about it. We were all turned on by Kevin."

They all nodded in agreement with each other. The smile was erased from Kyle's grinning face. Greg added a period to the discussion by pointing to Kyle's STILL straining erection. "At least Tony and I GOT some relief."

He always liked getting the last word.

"It's that damned smell or perfume coming off of her. It's like BAM, instant chemical reaction. I just couldn't help myself," pled Kyle in defense of himself.

It was the kind of weak backtracking that you didn't expect from the star athlete of the group. It was especially incongruous from the guy who was now, with the strange alteration to Kevin, the largest male in the group.

"Yeah," David finally contributed to the discussion. "What exactly WAS that smell? It couldn't have been her urine."

"I'm not a biology major, but..." Billy started to surmise.

It was Mike who offered the most help in this spot. "I think I know. Her urine would have made it worse. Marine biology used to be one of my passions before I got into computers. I still dabble in it now and again, mostly fishing."

"Get to the point, Grandpa," prodded Kyle, while making reference to Mike's age.

"The point being," Mike stared Kyle down, "nature has a way for an animal to attract a mate. They're called pheromones. The male who smells it will be instantly attracted to the female who secrets it. They would be in any bodily fluid, and sometimes piss is used to mark a breeding ground for the female. Kinda like laying out bait."

"So Kevin is now secreting this supercharged pheromone?"

"I don't think she's doing it on a conscious level. It's probably something that the body she now has does naturally."

"What is she now?" wondered Billy aloud. "Did you see those fingernails?"

Amazingly, everybody looked to the professional gamer, Tony, for answers. "Hey! Why are you all looking at me? Just because I work in a gaming store and play D & D regularly, I'm supposed to know about magic? I'm supposed to know what's going on?"

Billy vocalized for everybody, "Well, yeah. Who else here has a clue?"

Tony thought for a second. Then he said, "First things first. Can we all agree that what we saw was magic?"

There was a round of positive affirmations.

"Good. Then can we all agree that Kevin is something...more than human right now?"

Another hearty round of yeses.

"It seems to me that everything begins and ends with that ring that she put on. We need to find out everything about that ring that we can. Where did you get it, Billy?"

All eyes turned to the host of this now-disastrous game for his answer. However, what they were all wondering was what new and amazing things was Rachel discovering about Kevin upstairs?

***

"Go on upstairs and take your clothes off. I'm going to get my bag and a few other things," Rachel ordered Kevin, much like an older sister would her sibling, when they got to the bottom of the stairs.

Kevin glared back at the small brunette, a subtle mixture of anger and humiliation in her eyes.

"Oh, don't get so upset. It's nothing I haven't seen before, every day of my life."

It was what Kevin felt that made all of the difference. There was this aura of sincerity radiating from Rachel. And, there was something more. A deep, deep concern, one human to another. It was so soothing and warm that it almost made her blush. It was a sensation that Kevin hadn't experienced since she was a small boy...from his mother.

It made Kevin feel safe. So she nodded her head in the affirmative, sending still another wave of hair falling into her eyes.

The transformed boy grabbed handfuls of the thick tresses in both of her feminine hands, and lifted them in a gesture to communicate to Rachel. An indication of the frustration with her newfound asset.

Rachel, who experienced the d