“If you continue to make up fantastical stories,” Amanda said, lecturing her friend Mary Kate. “One day you'll
end up in a–”
Just then, Amanda's eyes grew wide as saucers. Her jaw dropped and the half-eaten sandwich in her hand fell to
the lunch tray on the table in front of the girls.
All the girls sitting at the table with Grant had similar shocked reactions. Grant had been staring down at
his tiny, feminine hands, feeling embarrassed and humiliated about having to pretend he was a teenage girl.
Now he looked up from his plaid, uniform skirt and finally saw what had stunned Mary Kate's friends into
momentary silence.
Hovering in the air right above the lunch table was the ghostly blue, translucent image of a chubby, nerdy
looking teenage boy.
“I'm sorry I ever laughed at you, M.K.,” whispered Colleen.
“Make it go away,” hissed Penelope.
“Mary Kate, I'm scared,” breathed Edie.
Grant, whether because he was truly a confident and mature grown man or because his Mary Kate persona was
unflappably unfazed by encounters with the paranormal, managed to somehow maintain his composure.
“Who are you?” he asked the spectre.
“You can all see me?” replied the fat, ghost boy. “Good! Then I've finally managed to do something right. Now
don't look too shocked or anything. You ladies at this table are the only ones who should be able to see and
hear me. So... uh... like, just keep eating casually, y'know? As though everything is normal.”
“Who are you?” repeated Grant, a little more firmly this time.
“Oh, I'm sorry,” said the overweight phantom. “I'm still pretty new at all this occult business, y'know. My
name is Paul Hodgson – and I am a wizard.”
“You look like a ghost,” said Colleen.
“You look like a dork,” said Penelope.
“I get that a lot,” said Paul. “The dork comment, not the ghost one. Look, this ghost image of me is just an
ectoplasmic manifestation... like astral projection or something. I'm not really here. I'm using magic to
communicate with all the people who've suffered at the hands of my friend Timmy.”
“A fat ghost is warning us about his evil friend Timmy?” Edie said sarcastically. “I don't know how you did
this M.K., but I totally know this is some stupid practical joke of yours.”
“I assure you, this is no practical joke,” continued Paul. “And your friend... uh... Mary Kate is it? Yeah,
she's not really... well... y'see, she's the reason why I'm here is... because... ah...”
“I'm really a man,” said Grant flatly.
“Bingo!” grinned Paul sheepishly.
The other girls all sat glued to their seats, slack-jawed and bug eyed now with a mixture of confusion and
amazement.
“My friend Timmy got possessed by a demon,” explained Paul. “It's a long story – and my fault ultimately,
which is why I'm trying to make amends for everything. But it was Timmy who changed an adult man named... no,
wait... don't tell me... I'm getting better at this part of magic... ah... erm... Grant is it?”
Grant glumly nodded his head.
“Yeah, Timmy changed Grant into Mary Kate,” said Paul. “And he's been doing a lot of other really bad things
too. There's a demoness possessing Timmy and putting all these ideas into his head. You see, it all started
with my uncle's spellbook. I accidentally switched my friend Timmy into the identity of an evil, old lady.
Well, for awhile she had me fooled into thinking the spell hadn't worked and she was really my friend Timmy.
But by the time I finally saw through her deception, it was too late. I'd thrown away the spellbook and poor
Timmy, living the old lady's life, well... he had died.”
The girls all gasped.
“I don't really know exactly what happened after that,” said Paul. “I suspect poor Timmy wound up in Hell or
something. That would explain why some demonic succubus is manipulating his actions now. Anyhow, I finally
reacquired the spellbook I had thrown away, and I've been studying it and trying to use its powers to correct
all the horrible damage Timmy has been inflicting on everyone. But since I'm pretty new at this whole
wizarding business, and because Timmy has the almost unlimited powers of the infernal realm at his fingertips,
well... uh... it's been slow going.”
“Excuse me,” said Grant. “There's one thing I don't get. The people who did this to me were both girls. One of
'em was a vampire; I'm sure of it. The other could have been a demoness or something. I really don't know.”
“The vampiress is one of Timmy's victims,” explained Paul. “And the other woman is my friend Timmy –
transformed in both body and spirit into an evil, female creature from the bowels of Hell.”
“So... uh... like... Mary Kate is really a man?” asked Colleen.
“Yes,” said Paul. “And I might be able to change her... erm... uh... I mean HIM back to normal. I can't do it
long-distance like this. We'll all have to meet in person.”
“Why all of us?” asked Penelope.
“Well, as I was saying,” continued Paul. “I'm a bit new at this whole magic-user thing. And I'm currently up
against a Princess of Perdition. I can really use all the help I can get! I'm sure that if we all team up
together, I can change your friend Mary Kate back into a man and then...”
“Ewww, I can't get over that,” said Edie. “I've known Mary Kate all my life! How can she really be a man?”
“Reality has been altered,” said Paul patiently. “History has been re-written. But if you team up with me, I
can protect you all from some of these reality re-writes that are still occurring. Please, I really need some
help at this point. I obviously can't rely on the evil, old woman inhabiting Timmy's old life. In fact, she's
another nemesis I'll have to deal with later. But first, I absolutely have to do something to save Timmy's
soul and cast out the demoness within him. And I just can't do that alone.”
The girls all looked skeptically at one another. Only Grant spoke up.
“I'll help you anyway I can, kid!” said Grant in his chirpy, girlish voice.
“Thanks,” said Paul with a smile. “I... uh... don't have lots of friends, so I really will need all the
support I can get. How about the rest of you ladies? Care to go on a genuine demon hunt with me and Mary
Kate?”
“Don't call me Mary Kate,” grumbled Grant sullenly.
What next?