It wasn't long before we were at the home. It did look like a big house that could hold about three families of four. I had to wonder how many orphans were housed here. We would soon find out as we got out of the van and were led up to the house. Once we were inside Mrs. Bailey introduced us to the other girls and none had been transformed though I didn't know if any were from our world. There were four of them; Crystal Poore who was six, Janet Hopkins who was eight, Denise Richards who was twelve, and Gabriella Gunn who was fourteen. With us that made a total of eight girls in the home which had space for sixteen girls. There was one major rule in the house, no boys in the bedroom or bathroom. The others were to be respectful, do your chores and homework, and no fighting.
Mrs. Bailey took us around showing us the dining room, the rec room, the playground, the bathroom, and finally the bedroom. The bathroom had eight showers, four toilets, and four sinks. While the showers weren't private the toilets were in stalls. The bedroom was pretty much one big room with bunk beds along the walls, eight to a side. There was a walk-in closet at the end with room for some of our clothes should we decide to hang some up. "Well choose your beds girls," Mrs. Bailey told us. "The four empty bottom bunks please. Also later we'll see if you need to go to school over the summer. I hear that Gregorskie's School for Girls of All Ages has a pretty good summer program. Maybe we'll send you there if you need summer school which I think you will. Lunch will be in about two hours. There will be a bell to tell you that it's time so when you hear it come to the dining room." With that she left us alone.
Dike sighed and said, "If only my ring could grant wishes. Then I could wish us home."
I smiled as I put my pack next to the bed I picked out which also had a window by it and said, "Well if it did I doubt if it would be able to... get... us... back." I slowed up as I thought of something that could mean trouble.
The others must have picked up on my hesitancy since Nausikka asked, "What is it?"
I turned to Nausikka and asked, "Do you remember one story called It began when I made her clothes disappear?"
"I remember that," Nausikka said nodding her head. "I read quite a bit of it. I stopped reading the branch where they were becoming she-males since I'm not interested in them. Why?"
"Well then you probably didn't get to the part that could be trouble," I said looking down. "I'm such an idiot for not seeing it when we were with Father."
"Well what is it?" Dike asked with a little impatience in her voice.
"Ok at one point in the story the she-males' power to transform others into she- males was becoming weak," I said and looked at Nausikka. I could tell that she didn't know what I was talking about so I continued, "Well the old woman that gave the character the ring at the beginning was Salmacis who had merged with Hermaphroditus so they became a she-male. I suppose you should say it was Hermaphroditus but that's splitting hairs. Anyway she knew that the she-males' power was weakening as more people were transformed so she went to Olympus to get the Ring of the Gods. This ring was designed to boost the gods power should they need it."
"So why would it be trouble?" Nausikka asked then suddenly got a look of comprehension on her face as it dawned on her. "But Father said nothing was stolen."
"Correction," I said holding up a finger, "Father didn't say if something was stolen or not. He only mentioned the message and the dead mortal." Seeing the blank looks on Dike and Semele's faces I continued, "This means that someone could have stolen the Ring of the Gods and would explain why Father looked so worried. If someone did and tried to boost their power with it then there's no telling what the results would be if it was an unknown power."
As if to make my point the temperature suddenly dropped to below freezing and it started to snow outside. We all started shivering and Semele said, "Nice going." Well I guess it could be seen as my fault since it happened right after I said there was no telling what the results would be.
Mrs. Bailey came in and said, "Come down to the rec room girls. We'll have a fire going in the fireplace shortly, hot chocolate for you to drink, and blankets for you to wrap yourselves in until we get the gas turned back on." She left and we quickly put on our winter wear which we were glad we had. Once we were somewhat warmer we went down and joined the others in the rec room.
Hours later I was dressed in my pajamas and looking out the window. Everyone else was asleep but I couldn't get to sleep quite yet. I kept thinking about how my sisters were happy about the possibility of going back once we found the Ring of the Gods. They had chatted excitedly about it when we were once again alone and Nausikka and Dike thought they would be turned back into boys. I didn't share in their enthusiasm and when they asked me what was wrong I told them that I didn't want to become a guy again. They seemed to buy that and didn't pursue it any further. While I didn't want to become a guy again that wasn't why I wasn't excited. If we found the Ring of the Gods and it is the reason we were here then I was afraid that the power contained in it might have been badly damaged and that we might have to destroy it to prevent it from ripping multiple worlds to pieces. That would mean that more than likely everyone who had been drawn in would be stuck here for eternity. It may not be so bad for some of us but others would probably go crazy. Also I don't know if Father could bring our families into this world. I could only see one slim hope. For me and my sisters we were now of both worlds so we may be able to go back and forth at will. This could be the key to getting the others back before we had to destroy the ring but then it might kill whoever used it. I looked at my sisters and sighed. I should tell them about what I think may happen though I don't want to crush their hope. I slipped into my bed thinking that we needed some more information about what power we were dealing with. Maybe we could find the answer in a library full of books on magic. With this thought I slipped off into dreamland.