In front of the library, Lee and Chris collected their bikes from the bike rack, mounted them, and started toward the mall. Lost in their own thoughts, they passed the ride in silence as both went back over what Charlie had told them, as well as the stuff they thought the young woman had left out. This brought them back to their own worries and hopes. And as they approached the three story structure that took up a number of blocks, both wondered what they’d do if the Amulet of Zulo didn’t solve their problems.
With no answer to such question, though each figured they’d have to accept the life they had to live, they parked and locked their bikes. Neither in a hurry, it was Chris who took the lead as they headed into the mall. Coolness from air conditioning, a din of overlapping voices, and a multitude of smells of cooking food greeted them as they entered the food court. Gripping the plastic shopping bag tight, Lee fell in step alongside Chris, who asked him something, but over the noise, he couldn’t hear and had to practically shout, “What? I can’t hear what you said. Could you repeat it?”
Chris, after she’d moved out the way of someone who forced their way between them as they passed, leaned close in effort to make herself better heard and hollered above the noise, “I said that I’m going to the bathroom. Where shall I find you?”
“Oh, okay,” Lee called back before he explained, “I’m going to try Ginnam’s Skate and Apparel first. If I cannot find anything, I’ll be in either Spenser’s Fairings or Tropical Point.”
“All right,” Chris replied and when they came to a hall that branched off the food court, the two parted ways briefly. And as she passed the lockers that shoppers could pay to use, the pay telephones, and made her way down the hall to bathrooms, she hoped it would be the last time she used the woman’s restroom.
The baggy clenched tight in his hand, scared that he’d drop it and loose it, Lee threaded his way through the thick crowds. When he came to centre court, he turned to his left and headed down the wing toward the escalators. Making his way up to the third level, he made his way toward Ginnam’s, one of the few mid-size shops. Inside, he passed the manned counter upfront, ignoring the Goth guy with a bored look on his face as he sat on a stool in front the register, the displays set up for CDs, tapes, records, skateboarding stuff, and other various collectables. Heading toward the middle of the store, he kept to the right side, where all the clothes for boys, teens, and men were arranged on the walls, wracks, tables, and displays.
When he’d last been in the store a couple months ago, right before school let out, he’d bought a long-sleeve greyish-white shirt that had black horse bathed in blue flames charging across a desert landscape on it. He hadn’t worn it all summer, hadn’t had the chance to in the past month, but was thinking of wearing it the first day of school. A quick search of the shirts on the wall and he could tell it wouldn’t be up there as he turned to the nearest wrack that had shirts and tank tops hung on it.
A thorough search turned up nothing and he moved onto the next wrack. When he reached the table of discontinued items and stuff the store wanted to get rid of as fast as they could without having to send it back to companies, Lee started to despair that he’d find another one. Certain that the shirt wouldn’t be in with the things piled in a careless manner on the three tables, he made a half-hearted effort to look, and was surprised to find a several, all folded in manner that looked more like they had been wadded up, and shoved under a pile of blue and black skateboard pants that had a number of rips.
“Probably designed intentionally so,” Lee thought as he looked at the tags on the shirts, and breathed a sigh of relief when he found one in his size.
Not sure how he should go about using the amulet, whether he should go into the changing stalls at the back of the stall, use it here and now, or wait for Chris, he mulled over his options. After a moment, he scooped up a couple pants in his size, the shirt, and some shorts and took them toward the rear of Ginnam’s. Finding a booth unoccupied, he slipped in and dumped the whole mess on the bench within. Wanting to do this right, he folded the clothes he wouldn’t need and set them as far away as he could from the shirt he needed.
A series of deep breathes and he whispered, “Please, please, please let this work,” and he shook the Amulet of Zulo out the plastic shopping bag, reached for the shirt, made sure the sale tags were still on it, and after a bit more of hesitation, touched the two together.
Like the time he’d touched a doorknob in winter and got a shock from the metal, he felt the same thing again. Dropping the shirt as he gasped, he juggled the necklace for a moment in effort to keep it from falling to the floor. A tingly sensation rippled through him and as he shivered, he slipped the amulet back into the bag and then turned to look at the mirror.
His familiar reflection looked back at him and for a split second, he thought something was off, that he should be seeing a girl, about the same age as Chris’ older sister, named Nancy. But as quick as the feeling came over him, it passed and he was left confused. Telling himself, “You’re not a girl. It was only a trick of the lighting” he waited a moment before he shut his eyes, focused, and tried to will himself to start to turn into a dog.
Only to find he couldn’t. A smile crept across his face as he opened his eyes and feeling like whooping, he glanced down at the baggy the Amulet of Zulo was in and whispered, “Thank you,” before he collected items and exited the changing booth.
Outside, he almost collided with Chris, who immediately asked, “Did it work?” as Lee breathed out, “I did it. I stopped the curse.”
Chris felt an excitement come over her and about to ask for the necklace, she never got a chance as the boy thrust it toward her with the words, “Here. I no longer need it. I hope it works for you like it did for me,” before he indicated the clothes and said, “I’m going to put these back,” and about to leave, he gave Chris a sheepish look and furthered, “Um, whether or not it does, do you want to hang out some time?”
“Sure, I’d like that,” Chris replied, suddenly feeling weird and it took her a moment before she realised she found Lee attractive, that, if he was a couple years older, she would want to actually date him.
With a wave, Lee told her, “See you around?” and giving him a shy nod, Chris watched him walk over to a nearby table where he put the clothes he’d brought out of the booth.
Her hold on the bag tight, Chris stared at Lee for a moment longer before she thought to herself, “Get it together. You have the Amulet of Zulo. Use and go back to being Christopher,” and with a last look at Lee, who she understood was watching her from the corner of his eye, she began browsing the teen section of clothes for boys.
Not finding anything she’d might have worn when she’d been a guy, she soon exited the store and wandered into another. Several stores later, she finally found, in the size she’d worn when she’d been Christopher, a pair of shorts, a tank top, and sandals exactly like the ones she had worn when her sister had turned her into a girl. Seeing they were within her price range, she decided, “To hell with it,” and heading for the changing stalls, she slipped into one of the empty ones, locked the door and standing just out of range of the mirror, she proceeded to undress until she was down to just her panties.
A gaze down at her bare breasts and she told them, “Good bye. I shan’t miss you,” before she took the amulet out of the bag. Brushing hair from her face and forehead, she reached down toward the male clothes, touched it to all three items as best as she could, and uttered a soft yelp when she felt a zing go through her fingers, into her hand, and up her arm. A tight band suddenly constricted her chest and she gasped out, shifted her stance so that she was bowlegged and resisted the urge to squat down.
Unable to recall how fast the change had happened the last time, Chris thought that, if she didn’t know any better, it seemed to be happening faster. A look down, and she watched as her breasts regressed until all she had was a flat chest with two erect nipples surrounded by wide, pink circles. Her body started to loose the feminine curves she’d gained through puberty, or so her memories insisted, whilst inside her body something felt like it was being pulled downward. Another gasp and as her underwear started to get tight around the waist and leg holes, she pushed down on the garment until her pubic hair and the pad she’d put in moments ago were exposed.
The sensation inside her grew to levels that were near unbearable and unable to stand any longer, she stumbled over and sat down on the bench. Gazing into the mirror, even as she forced her panties down and off, she took a quick peek at her face, which was no longer round and feminine, before she peered down as she spread her legs. Female genitals exposed, she watched as her vulva fused together. As this happened, her clit and clit hood joined to her urethra opening and started to extend outward in, at first, a thin, pinkish-white shaft. As it started to gain girth, and took on more of look of a penis, the sensation in her body upped and without realising she was doing so, Chris began to bear down until, with a relieving pop, her ovaries, now testes, descended and filled the sack that had been seconds ago her vulva.
Male genitals moved forward and unaware that it happened, her pubic hair took on a courser feel as it darkened. Height and weight increased some and after a moment, Chris found the discomfort lessening as his shoulders, hands, and feet were the last to change. Standing when the last of the transformation finished, he stared at his naked self a moment longer before he looked down at his dick.
Glad to see it again, he took a deep breath of relief and whispered, “Welcome back, you old sight for sore eyes,” before he reached for the tank top, shorts and sandals. And without a second thought as to what he was doing, he began to get dressed.