Before they could decide on what to do, they heard a door slamming and Carrie commented, "Dammit, my mom's home! Only she would be my mom if I was still Serj."
Not sure what to do, the three girls stood frozen in place, terrified that they may be discovered and wondering how to explain why there where three girls standing in a teenage boy's room. After a couple of seconds like this, the moment past and than Beth moved to the window and motioning to the others, she opened it and climbed out. When the others had joined her, she explained, "We'll have to go to my house. I don't think my parents are home yet."
Carrie and Maggie agreed that this was a good idea and looking at her friends, the Neko girl told them, "Be right back."
When she returned, she was carrying their shoes and a change of Serj's clothes. Seeing the look on Maggie's and Beth's face, she said to them, "Just in case I have to turn back into a male again. You got the amulet?"
This last bit was directed toward Maggie, who nodded and patted her purse. A short time later the strange trio let themselves inside Beth's house. Through the house and into her room, they stopped and starred. The room had undergone a transformation as well. The walls were covered in posters that depicted several bands that were popular among teenage girls. The bed was now covered in bright coloured sheets and when Beth opened the dresser, she found that the clothes had become feminine. Opening the closet, she found the same thing had happened.
Leaving the other two girls standing in the doorway to her room, she began to look around the house. There were no traces left of a teenage boy having ever lived there. She paused in her search when she noticed the blinking red light on the machine.
Pushing the button to play, she heard her mother saying, "Beth, honey, I'm sorry, but the business conference is going to go on longer then I thought. I probably wont be home until Wednesday. Try to stay out of trouble and take care." Bothered by this, she looked around and noticed what the other thing that was bothering her; the lack of any sign of Tobias.
Grinning, she returned to her room, saw Maggie and Carrie sitting on the bed, talking, and clearing her throat, told them, "Tobias is gone and from what I can see, there has never been a male named James living here."
Maggie shook her head and asked, "Who is Tobias?"
Sitting down in a chair that was sitting in front of a combination vanity and desk, she recounted her problems with her step-father before her transformation. Afterward, Maggie took the Amulet of Zulo out of her purse and hanging it with the rest of Beth's necklaces, she asked, "So where does this leave us and should we use the amulet to alter ourselves again? Also, what are we going to do about my brother? Something says that I should leave him like that, but something else says that I should find a way to change him back."
Beth began to flip through a fashion magazine and Carrie adopted a thoughtful look on her face. After a bit, Maggie said, "Also, this may sound weird, but I want to use the amulet to become male again. I really enjoyed it; much more than then being female."
Carrie nodded thoughtfully to this and throwing down her magazine, Beth replied, "Okay. But this may sound weird, but if I'm to be a female, I want to find a way to regress my age so that I grow up like one. Right now I only have memories to depend on." Carrie still looked thoughtful and as she ran a hand through her hair, Maggie looked at Beth with a look that suggested of a sexual hunger.
Finally, Carrie interjected with, "I think the best course of action is one of two. We either go back to the library and continue with our research or we go down to the uniform store and see what we can find there. I mean, that's were Beth and I transformed."
Beth nodded and commented that both were good ideas, "But which one is the more sensible of the two?" she asked.
Nobody had an answer right away and it was a couple of minutes before they had and answer on what to do. Since they would not have any time on the library computers until next week, they decided that they should head for the store to see if they could find any answers there. "I mean, both mine and Carrie's dreams were pretty much centered in and around it. The only other option I can think of is to try and look for the white building from the dreams. And I'm quite sure there is no building in town like it."
Having nothing to say to this, Maggie and Carrie stood and the three left together for the uniform store.