"You're just a stupid, know-it-all girl," Dion screamed hotly, his voice echoing across the barnyard as he stated at his sister.
Arms crossed over her front, pulling tightly her shirt and causing her developing breasts to brush uncomfortable against the fabric, Holly snapped back, "Yeah? And you're just a stupid boy who does know when to listen to those in charge."
"Why should I listen to you," ten year old Dion snarled. "You think that because mom and dad put you in charge whilst they are away in town, it gives you free-reign to do whatever you please, and be as bossy as ever," and breathing heavily, he glared at his twelve year old sister before screaming, "Ever since you got tits, you think that makes you grown up. Those aren't tits. They're mosquito bites."
Stung by Dion's words, and struggling not to show it, Holly belted out, "Shows what you know, you stupid little boy. And yeah, since I am in charge, I do have free-reign to do as please."
"Nuh-uh," Dion spat back, then added, "It just means you can be even more of a bossy, stupid girl who has mosquito bites on her chest."
Holly continued to glare at Dion a moment before spitting, "You do not know anything. If you were a girl, you'd understand better how idiotic what you are saying is."
"I'm glad I am not a dumb girl," Dion shot back. "But if I were, I bet I wouldn't be as stupid and bossy as you. In fact, if I were a girl, I bet I would be a better one then you. You whine and complain about everything, about how difficult your life is. But I bet it isn't as hard as you make it out to be."
Still hugging herself, Holly stared at her brother a moment longer before huffing, "You don't know what you're talking about," before spinning about and storming across the open yard in front of the house.
Watching his sister march away, Dion breathed heavily for a moment before screaming, "That's right. Run away. Run away and cry like the stupid, dumb girl you are," before turning away and marching into the house, slamming the door as hard as he could, not caring that Holly would like tattle on him to their parents when they got home. Muttering darkly, he headed upstairs, kicked off his shoes and flopped down on his bed and stared up a the ceiling.
Outside, Holly quickly passed the barn, empty and falling down in one or two places, and headed out into the back forty. Sniffing, "Stupid Dion. Why does he have to be so pigheaded," she slowed to a walk and continued to hug herself until she reached an old stone wall that marked the halfway point of the property. Climbing up on it, she walked alone it until she came to one of the few trees growing close to it. Sitting down, her feet dangling over one side, she tried to calm herself. Thinking about the argument with her brother, which now seemed stupid, as all she asked was for his help on something, followed by her explaining why he had been doing it wrong, her thoughts drifted to what he had said about her and her breasts.
A heavy sigh escaped her and looking down at the barely there puff her soft cotton shirt made, she thought about the two uncomfortable breast buds that now dominated her chest. Sore, tender, sometimes itchy, mom had explained what was happening was normal for a girl, that it marked her first steps toward womanhood and being adult, and that, in a year or so, her body would get even more sure of itself as more changes came about. Muttering, "You're the one who is stupid, Dion. If only you knew, maybe," and letting it go unfinished, she sniffed aloud, feeling like she might start crying.
This was something else she felt Dion didn't understand and considered that if he knew better that for reasons she didn't fully understand herself that her emotions often seemed to be on wild pendulum swing he might not say the things he did. Sniffing, starting to cry, she whispered, "If he was a girl, I bet he would understand," before shifting in place.
Sun glinting through the branches, the light bounced off something metallic, catching her eye as she did, and wondering what it was, Holly leaned to her right a bit. Peering in the small gap in the wall, she thought she saw something and her problems with Dion forgotten for the moment, she stuck her hand down into the hole and began to work out the bit of metal. Pulling it free eventually, she found herself holding a tarnished looking necklace that had a person on one side who it was hard to tell if they were a man or a woman, and were in the process of what looked to be a painful transformation, and funny word stamped on the other side. Trying to say the word, thinking it was along the lines of Zoo-loo, Holly wondered what the thing was and why it had been stuck down into the wall. The argument Dion pushed from her mind, her own curiosity and love for knowledge creeping over her, Holly studied the amulet a moment longer before deciding a trip to the library was in order.
---
It was a week before Holly could get to the library. Her fight with Dion forgotten, and never told about to their parents, the twelve year old girl found her mind on other matters as she went to school, avoided her brother, hung out with Patty and Janice, did whatever chores her parents assigned her, and tried figure out what she had found. When she finally was able to convince her dad to drop her off at the library one Saturday, it was off course with the provision that she wouldn't go anywhere else and that he would pick up around three. Agreeing, she then spent the next couple hours studying the Amulet of Zulo, learning what it was called, and what it could do, Holly found the whole thing hard to swallow at first, but then started to get an idea about how she could possibly use it to teach Dion a lesson.
"And if the thing does what these stories say," Holly reasoned, "It's not like I would leave him the way he was. If he learned anything, it would be easy to change back," as she read about the twelve hour time frame between transformations.
Ideas formed in her mind and after a moment, she stood and despite what she had agreed to, she exited the library. Heading a block over, she entered a small shop and browsing the selections, she made her choice. Purchasing it, requesting no bag, she left the store, folded what she bought up as small as possible and slipped it into her tight front pocket. Glad it didn't make too much of a noticeable bulge, she quickly headed back to the library to wait for her dad.
Hours later, she paused outside Dion's bedroom and listened to the dark and silent house. Hearing nothing, she clenched her hands, the plastic gloves she was wearing making a subtle noise as she did, the cotton panties clenched in one hand, then reached out with her free hand and opened the door before her. Peering into the room, the moonlight streaming through the partially open curtains, Holly looked at her brother, wearing a pair of dark green pyjama bottoms and a white t-shirt, and the sheet and comforter only partway covering him. Believing the punishment she had planned would teach him, she stole across the room.
A heavy sleeper, which Holly was happy about, Dion didn't stir as she crept closer. Dropping the undies on his exposed arm, she waited a moment to see if he would do anything. Studying the white cotton panties with a Unicorn print she had bought earlier, which looked exactly like a pair she had had when she was Dion age, and where the same size she had worn then, she stood a bit longer next to him before taking from around her neck the Amulet of Zulo. Careful to make sure it didn't touch her exposed wrists, Holly reached down and touched it to her brother's arm and the panties. Moaning slightly in his sleep, Holly held her breath when Dion twitched, then released it when he seemed to settle deeper into his sleep.
Watching, waiting, Holly nearly swore aloud when it became clear her brother wasn't changing into a girl. Wondering what she had done wrong, she touched the amulet to him a couple more times before whispering, "Dammit."
Disappointed it hadn't worked, she scooped up the undies and after a moment of thought tossed them into the laundry basket in Dion's closet. Figuring it might cause some interesting results when their mom found a pair of girls panties amongst Dion's dirty laundry, Holly gave her brother a final look before slipping out. Shucking off the plastic gloves, she crept back to her room and flopping down on her bed, she stared in the direction of the Amulet of Zulo, now wrapped up in one of the gloves. Trying to figure out why it hadn't worked, she decided the stories were bull before reaching out and dropping it in the drawer of her nightstand, she tossed the gloves across her room, rolled over, slid beneath the sheet and, her thoughts still trying to sort of why the necklace hadn't worked and if it was a load of shit, she was asleep in minutes.