It had been seventeen days or so since she had made her choice to remain as Roni instead of going back to being the guy she had been before. She still felt she had made the right choice, but there was one thing that was bothering her. Sitting at the kitchen table, thinking about what had happened over a month before, the August heat causing her to sweat slightly, Roni gazed at the Amulet of Zulo, her mind on Abby.
Unsure of what had happened to the other guy-turned-girl, disturbed that she could find no trace of her, almost ready to believe there had never been someone named Abby, Roni sighed. She didn't want to believe it could be true, just as she didn't want to believe she had always been female. That the idea of a necklace being able to turn her from a unhappy man to a happy woman seemed ridiculous. But, deep down, she knew it to be true and that there was no use denying it.
Another sigh escaped her as she thought about Ted, Kira, and Dakotah. The necklace was something she would never tell them, figuring it was something she didn't need to tell them. But, even as she found herself resolute to keep the secret to herself, to put it behind her, she knew she had to do something about the Amulet of Zulo and the possibility of one day finding Abby was real and wanted to go back.
"And I think I know what to do," she muttered as she reached out and scooped up the necklace, but didn't stand and instead began to idly tap the edge of the amulet against the table top.
The idea of what to the do with the thing had been bugging her for the past couple days and it was only last night, after dinner with Ted, followed by a return to his place, where she didn't leave until this morning, that Roni thought she had an answer. But she found herself doubting and that she had to make sure it was the right choice. Which led her to wonder how she would do what she was thinking of doing. Standing, displeased with the notion of what she was about to do, she headed for her bedroom.
Inside, she shut the door and turned to the bed. On it, she had left two garments. One was a pair of undies like she had worn when she was about five so, pastel blue with pastel yellow duckies printed on them. The other was a man's polo shirt, one she was certain she had worn when she had been a guy.
"If what I remember is true," she told herself as she sat down the bed, thinking.
On one hand, she thought she could return to being a guy, which would confirm that the transformation could go either way. And with such reassurance, she could return to being Roni, she hoped, and thus give the amulet to Abby, if she ever turned up.
But, on the the other hand, Roni figured she could use the necklace and try and turn back the clock to when she had been a little girl. "Of about five," she guessed as she looked at the panties, which weren't actually hers, but had been bought from a department store. Sighing, conflicted as to what she should do, not liking either of her choices, she stared at the two garments, worrying her lip.
"What if I cannot go back?" she asked herself. "What if I turn myself back into a guy, or regress my age, and I find there is a limit to the amount of times the magick can be used?"
Displeased by such a notion, she dropped the Amulet of Zulo on her bed. Thinking about her life, her friends Kira and Dakotah who she worked in the same department store with, Ted, who was in the computer field and rising fast, weighing the pros and cons of what she could gain with the knowledge of trying the amulet a second time versus what might be lost and could happen, she continued to worry her lip.
After some time, she heaved a sigh and thought, "Might as well get this over with," and thinking a moment longer, she chose first the men's shirt. Picking it up in one hand and the necklace in the other, she took a deep breath and then touched the two together.
She wasn't sure was to happen, but she was certain something was supposed to. Making sure both were in contact with the exposed skin of her hands, then her arms, she huffed when nothing seemed to happen. Picking up the undies, she tried again and when again nothing seemed to happen, she tossed them down on her bed. Glaring at the amulet, thinking she was being stupid, that there was no way any piece of cheap costume jewellery could transform a person, that she had been born female, was happy so, and was uncertain what she was trying to prove, she huffed, "If I see this Abby, and she was transformed from a dude, I'll just have to explain the change is one way," before standing and heading toward her jewellery box.
Putting the necklace back, she turned back to the bed and after a moment's thought, tossed the panties in her laundry basket, not sure what to do with them now. Picking up the shirt, she folded it and decided that she would give it to Ted before dropping back on the bed. Leaving the room, thinking of the errands she had to run, she stopped, turned and looked back the way she had come.
Her thoughts drifted and suddenly it came back to her that her transformation, "If I am remembering correctly," had been a slow one. Worried that she wouldn't see the outcome right away, that she would have to wait, she snapped, "Deal with it later."
---
The rest of the week slipped by and Roni saw no proof that she was turning in a man or slipping back to being a little girl. Everyone around her treated her like she was what she appeared to be, a nineteen year old young woman, which left her wondering what had gone wrong. Thinking of Abby, still wondering if the other girl actually existed, Roni figured that if she did, the best to tell her, if she turned up asking about the amulet, was to tell her the transformation was one way. Believing this was the most likely truth, she still held out on the possibility of slowly changing, but being oblivious to what was happening.
With this in mind, she began to push away from the thoughts of ever having used the Amulet of Zulo. And when it seemed for sure she wasn't going to transform, even after trying the necklace in combination with the shirt or the panties, she turned her thoughts to other matters. The top being her period, which she hadn't missed, at least not since she had been younger. Worried about what it might mean, she prepared herself to talk with Ted about it, but only after she had went to see her OBGYN.
On top of that, she had begun to see around town on a couple off chances a young woman with long, light brown hair. There was something about her that seemed familiar, but Roni couldn't quite put her finger on it. Certain she knew, or had known, the young woman, Roni found trying to figure out who she was and her own personal issues a welcome distraction from the Amulet of Zulo and her decision to give it away, should the other girl prove to be real and turned up to potentially collect it, which Roni found herself thinking was all too likely, despite what her mind insisted.