TheXtra Path

“Have you seen this person?” Karlee said holding a flyer with a picture of her brother. The student ignored her, only sparing a casual glance. Undeterred, she approached the next pedestrian. “Excuse me, have you seen this person?”

The guy shook his head and said, “Sorry, I’ll keep my eyes out for him.” He took the flyer.

“Thank you, please let me know if you see him,” Karlee replied with a smile. She moved on to the next person. “Excuse me, have you seen this person?”

After a few more minutes, a guy approached her and handed her a water bottle and more flyers. “I’m impressed, Karlee. You’ve been doing this every weekend for hours. That’s some dedication to your brother. This university is pretty far away, too.”

“Hey, Jason, thanks for the refill,” Karlee said with a smile. “And for always helping out. It means a lot.”

“I couldn’t leave a girl in trouble alone, could I?”

“Oh, my knight in shining armor, shall I reward you with a kiss?”

Jason took an elaborate bow. “M’lady, my only pleasure is to serve you.” He looked at her with a wink. “But, if you insist . . .” He puckered his lips.

“Oh, stop that,” Karlee giggled and gently pushed him. “You’ll get none of that from me.”

“Hey, you brought it up first,” Jason said.

“Oh, we’re here because a detective contacted me. He said David stayed at that apartment complex we were at about an hour ago. He might still be in the area.”

“That’s good news, isn’t it?” Jason asked. “Someone’s seen him since he ran away. How about another hour here, then move on to the next place?”

“Sounds good to me,” Karlee said. They both picked up the flyers and started handing them out.

Karlee had met Jason three weeks before on the first day of class after she had been a girl for a week. He had immediately asked her out on a date, but she turned him down saying she had stuff to do on the weekends. A week later, he found her handing out flyers of her runaway brother, and he offered to help after hearing her story, minus the fact she used to be a guy.

Karlee knew he was only helping her because she was pretty, but over the last few weeks, they had developed a true friendship. She genuinely enjoyed his company. Then, she immediately felt guilty that she was using him to find David. She shoved those feelings aside; anything to find her brother.

An hour passed and they handed out almost all of the flyers. Jason stretched. “Shall we head out?”

Karlee was about to agree, but then a voice called to them. “Hey, are you the guys handing out the flyers?” The two paused and looked towards the young woman running towards them. She was pretty with bright silver hair.

“Yes,” Karlee said. “How can I help you?”

“I saw. . .” She took a moment to catch her breath. She began again and held up a copy of the flyer she had. “I saw this guy a couple of weeks ago.”

The world shifted in Karlee’s mind and her whole attention focused on this girl. Karlee grabbed her shoulders. “You have? That’s great! How was he? Was he healthy? Happy? How did you meet him? Was he with other people?”

The questions came out in a torrent. Jason placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back a bit. He apologized to the girl. “Sorry, my friend has been looking for her brother for weeks, and this is the first clue we’ve had. Could you explain how you met him? My name’s Jason, by the way. And this is Karlee.”

“Tessa,” she replied, a little overwhelmed by Karlee’s outburst. “I understand. Let’s see, to answer your questions, he came by I think it was two or three weeks ago. He came by with two girls and asked me to translate something from Spanish. I’m a TA for a Spanish teacher.”

Karlee felt confused, along with a tinge of jealousy. He was with two girls? Why was he with them and not her?

Tessa continued. “The translation had something about a crystal and whoever it affects turns anything they touch into wine, women, or gold.”

“Looks like your brother is getting into the occult,” Jason laughed stopped short when he saw her ashen face.

Tessa smiled politely. “I thought so too, but I accidentally bumped into him.”

“Don’t tell me you were a guy before,” Jason said. He seemed a little off-put by the conversation and Karlee’s sudden silence.

Tessa laughed. “No, no, I’ve always been a girl. However, my body did change. My hair used to be black and my body . . .” she blushed. “It wasn’t this curvy. People think I dyed my hair.”

Karlee’s mind raced. David must have gone back to the cave; it was the only explanation. Why didn’t she think of that?

“Did he . . . did he say where he was going?” Karlee asked.

“No,” Tessa said. “But, he did leave me his email address.”

Karlee’s head snapped to attention. Finally, she had a way to contact him.

---

David sat in the security booth with Debby. They ate popcorn as they watched a man trying to open a safe.

“Ten bucks he doesn’t open the safe,” Debby said as she stuffed a handful of popcorn into her mouth. “He had trouble with the last lock.”

“I don’t know, he might do it,” David said, scooping up popcorn as well. “He managed to hack into the security system and override the cameras.” He pointed at another screen, which showed the same safe, minus the man.

“That just means he has a good tech guy,” Debby said. “The actual thief might not be that skilled.”

The thief cracked the safe open and emptied the contents, taking extreme care with the bottle of wine. Then, he was gone.

David turned to Debby with an outstretched hand. “That’ll be ten bucks,” David said with a cheeky smile.

Debby poked him in the stomach. “I don’t think so, you never made the bet.”

“Is that the way you want to play?” David said as he poked her side. She let out an extremely cute squeak; she covered her mouth with wide eyes. A sly grin formed on David’s face.

Nancy walked in to find Debby on the floor in a fit of giggles with David tickling her. “Ahem, am I disturbing something?” Nancy asked with a raised eyebrow.

David turned red as he stood up. “Ah, my body sort of acted on its own. It wanted revenge on the primal level for all the training she put me through. Turns out, Debby is extremely ticklish. It’s an unexpected cute side.”

“Hey, don’t tease me,” Debby said, recovering. “I’ll have to make my abs rock hard so I’ll no longer be ticklish. It’s rather embarrassing.”

David nodded. “I’m not against that idea. But, I think it’s built into your body, like Sam’s cooking.”

Both Debby and Nancy’s faces blanched at the thought of Sam’s cooking. Nancy shook her head. “We even hired a professional cook who watched her every move. We have no idea how the food turns out so bad.” She looked at the TV monitor. “Did they take it?”

Debby nodded. “We’ll track them. If we find out who hired them, we’ll increase the price.”

Nancy nodded, then turned to David. “You should get some sleep. The first client comes in tomorrow.”

“I’ll help Debby reset the vault,” David said, making his way to the door.

Debby stopped him with a gentle hand on his shoulder and a warm smile. “I’ll take care of it. Get some sleep.”

“But moooom, I’m not tired.” David let out a huge yawn and laughed. “Fine, fine. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

David made his way to his room and locked the door behind him. Another eventful day. For the last week since the funeral, everybody started to get into a routine; he tried to make time for each of the girls. He figured the best way to do so was to learn from them.

Debby was in charge of the security detail, so she was teaching him how to fight, shoot, and set up defenses. Samantha was teaching him how to code, Susan how to manage properties, and Cassidy how to de-escalate a confrontation. With Juliet, he would have discussions about their plans and argue back and forth about politics and ideals.

For the girls who didn’t have specialized skills, he fished for their hobbies. Rachel was easy enough; she loved to read, so he would read the same book and they would talk about it. Alex loved to dress up; it was one of the few times she showed any emotion. So, David ordered a bunch of clothes and helped her set up a fashion show. Once the other girls learned about it, it became a much bigger deal than he had planned, as they each wanted to show off to David.

Leah loved board games and was always recruiting others to play with her; David played his fair share of odd games over the last week. Ellie enjoyed watching movies and TV shows; every night, she would set up a movie for everyone to watch together. Aubrey liked to people-watch and listen to other people’s problems, so David would talk to her about random observations.

Nancy was busy managing the mansion and setting up tutors for each of the girls. The girls’ lessons would begin soon. Since becoming young, Nancy seemed to be working herself to the bone. David forced her to relax by giving her massages. He’d have to learn how to give a proper massage at some point.

David drifted off to sleep thinking about each of the girls. They would start leaving the mansion soon for their assignments, so he wanted to make as many memories as possible with each of them. Another girl would join them tomorrow.

When he woke up, David felt something warm and soft press against his body. He opened his eyes to find Cassidy wrapping her arms and legs around him. David had to admit, it wasn’t a terrible way to wake up. He tried to peel himself out, but she only squeezed harder.

“Okay, Cass, I need to get up,” David said tapping her arm.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she smiled at him. “Good morning, handsome. What brings you to my bed today?”

“Oh, ha ha, this is my room,” David said as he finally got out of her arms and sat up.

Cassidy sat up and looked around, confusion on her face. “Hmm, would you look at that? How did I end up here?”

“You mean to say, you came to my room and unlocked my door while sleepwalking?” David said while shaking his head.

Cassidy hugged him from behind. “My love for you is just that strong. Why did you lock the door? I’m pretty sure a deadbolt lock wasn’t there before.”

“Alex, three nights ago,” David said.

“Ah, that makes sense,” Cassidy said in understanding.

A knock sounded at the door; before David could respond, it opened and Aubrey walked in. Cassidy’s sleepwalk did not include locking the door behind her. “Nancy says-” Aubrey cut off when she saw Cassidy hugging David on the bed. Her face turned bright red and she fled from the room.

David groaned. Aubrey always jumped to conclusions, though he didn’t blame her for all the situations she caught him in. “Come on, Cass, let’s find out what Nancy needs.”

“Aw, I wanted to cuddle a bit more,” Cassidy said giving him another squeeze, but she let him go.

They made their way to the kitchen where Juliet, Nancy, and Susan were sitting at the table and talking. Leah was cooking eggs; gratefully, she was much better at cooking than Samantha. “Good morning,” David said. A chorus of ‘hellos’ greeted him back.

“Scrambled or sunny-side?” Leah asked.

“Sunny-side,” David yawned. “Do we still have bread? I’d like some toast as well.”

Leah gave an enthusiastic thumbs up. “You got it. Cassidy?”

“Scrambled for me. With cheese,” Cassidy replied. She sat down and poured a cup of coffee. She rubbed her shoulder. “David, I think you kicked me last night in your sleep.” All noises stopped as they looked at Cassidy. Cassidy only smiled smugly and took a sip of her drink.

“Cass, don’t say things that people will misunderstand,” David chided her. “She sleepwalked into my bed last night. Through a locked door. Nothing happened.”

Juliet glared at Cassidy. “I wonder if it was sleepwalking.” All of the others stared at her. Leah served her burnt eggs.

“Ahem,” Cassidy cleared her throat; only Juliet could make her uncomfortable. “You know, I’m not very hungry right now. I’ve got to get to my job interview.”

She finished her cup and retreated out the door. “Good luck,” David called after her. He turned to the other girls. “Play nice.” He didn’t want to get involved too much with their competition of seeking his attention, but he did want them to get along as much as possible.

“I’ll have to install a different lock,” Nancy said. “Sorry, I thought the last one would be strong enough.”

“It wasn’t the first time, and it probably won’t be the last,” David said. “And no, Leah, that doesn’t give you an excuse to sneak into my bed.”

Leah’s face flushed as she looked away. “I . . . I wasn’t thinking that,” she said, clearly indicating that’s exactly what she was thinking about. She served him his breakfast.

“Anyway,” Nancy said. “The first client is coming today at about noon. We have six people on the list who have agreed. We need to space them out so it’s not conspicuous.”

“Right,” David said. “Juliet, can you tell me about him, what’s his name?”

“Fredrick Henderson,” Juliet said. “He’s been a long-time rival of Julius. He worked mainly in finance, but our paths crossed many times. He’s loud and confrontational, but he is brilliant at his work and knows how to get things done. He’s bald with quite a bit of fat on him.”

“I remember him at the funeral,” David said. “He was the most outspoken one, am I right? I’m surprised he was the first one to sign up.”

“Who knows what goes through his head,” Juliet mused. “However, with him, any financial trouble we have will be over. Hopefully. We seem to keep the same skill sets from before our transformation.”

“I still can’t believe you’re Julius,” Nancy said, glancing at her.

“Was Julius,” Juliet corrected. “I may have his memories and knowledge, but I don’t consider myself him anymore. Please treat me as his daughter; makes things easier.”

“Right,” Nancy nodded.

“Um, before I forget,” David said. “My sister contacted me last night.”

“What? How?” Juliet asked, with a somewhat panic in her voice. “David, we have to be very careful, especially at this point in our project.”

“Um, she has been looking for me since I left. She ran into Tessa, the TA who translated the transcript from the cave. I sort of left Tessa my new email.”

Juliet rubbed her temples and groaned. “David, why didn’t you tell me that before?”

“What? It’s not like they can trace me back through my email,” David said.

“And what if your sister talks to the police?” Juliet said sternly. “With both her and Tessa, they would be able to figure out something odd was happening to you and put more effort to find you. Sophia, for example. You have way too many open threads that lead straight back to you.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve never been part of a supernatural conspiracy to create my own country,” David responded indignantly. “I thought I was being careful.”

“Ok, fine,” Juliet replied. “Did you respond to her?”

“No, not yet,” David said.

“Good,” Juliet said. “You can send a reply, but don’t give her details about where you are. Just that you’re safe. We have to make sure she doesn’t spread details about the crystal.”

David opened his mouth to argue, but Nancy stepped in. “David, we just want to make sure you remain safe. Along with everyone else here.”

“Alright, I understand.”

“Well, what’s done is done,” Juliet said. “We’ll have to bring her in eventually. Let’s get ready for the day.”

A few hours later, Debby escorted the old Fredrick into the mansion. Juliet, Nancy, and David greeted him in the meeting room. They were dressed in formal clothes.

Fredrick walked with a limp and had a cane. His hair was mostly gone, with tufts of gray hair hanging over his ears. He was overweight, with the buttons on his shirt nearly bursting and his well-worn jeans barely containing his girth. He was in his early eighties and looked more like an old farmer than a banker.

“We meet again, daughter of Julius,” Fredrick said. “I feel underdressed. Nancy, good to see you again.” Nancy nodded at him politely.

“Fredrick, thank you for coming,” Juliet said with a smile. “Father told me many things about you. I’d hoped you’d agree with our proposition.”

Fredrick let out a boisterous laugh. “I hope he told you all the times I beat him at his own game.” He suddenly got serious. “You play a very dangerous game, girl. I hate being blackmailed. If this . . . drink doesn’t do exactly as you promised, you will have a very . . . short-lived career.”

The obvious threat made David shudder. He was dealing with very dangerous and powerful people, even if they were past their prime.

Juliet only nodded. “I shall take that to heart. I hope you’ve made all of the preparations.”

Fredrick gave a curt nod. “My new life is in order. I have one question. Is Julius still alive?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Juliet said flatly. “At least, not until after.”

“Very well,” Fredrick said. “Give it to me.”

David walked forward with a cup of wine and handed it to him. Fredrick licked his lips as he looked into the red liquid. He asked, “How old will I be?”

“The age varies,” Juliet replied. “18 to 20 is the average.”

Fredrick nodded and drank it all in one gulp. He looked at the cup as he handed it back to David, who touched his hand to start the transformation.

“It’ll take ten minutes,” David said, speaking for the first time.

“And who are you, boy?” Fredrick asked, his face growing a little pale and sweat breaking out across his forehead. He fingered his shirt collar.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” David said. “If you want, you may transform in privacy.” He pointed at a nearby bathroom. “We’ll be out here when you finish.”

Fredrick nodded and closed the door behind him.

---

Fredrick stared at himself in the mirror. He disliked the man who stared back. He was fat, ugly, and cruel. For too long, he put off improving himself. Before he knew it, his life was over, his heart was giving out, and his family was estranged. When Julius’s daughter mentioned the way to become young again, and he saw Nancy transform, Fredrick clung to that hope with all his might. A second chance. Juliet would pay if the hope she gave him proved to be false.

Something was happening to him. Sweat dripped profusely across his forehead and body like he was in a sauna. His shirt was soon drenched. The clothes that fit tightly around his body suddenly grew slack. His jeans fell to the ground before he could catch them. However, oddly enough, his boxers stayed on; they seemed to shrink with his slimming waistline.

Fredrick turned his attention back to the mirror. His skin appeared to ripple. Every ripple seemed to condense his body. His face grew more taunt, losing the fat around his cheeks and neck. He rubbed the top of his head as blond fuzz slowly sprouted from his bald head; he was slightly confused since his hair was originally black, but he was just happy his hair was coming back. His stomach condensed in on itself and his whole body felt sore like he had exercised a week straight. Even when he was younger, he was always overweight. He quickly opened his button-down shirt and looked into the mirror completely at his new body.

A handsome well-built man in his mid-thirties with an oversized shirt stared back in the mirror. His toned muscles glistened under the sweat; his skin was even tanner. Fredrick gaped as he touched his face. The youth potion worked wonders; he couldn’t help but flex his muscles. He felt strong and confident. The young man with short blond hair couldn’t keep the smile off his face.

His chest rippled and expanded. Was he going to get even larger pecks? However, something seemed off. While still toned, his chest had more fat density than the rest of his body. The shape they formed was oddly spherical; they pushed out more than expected against his shirt. They almost looked like . . .

As Fredrick was connecting the dots, his whole body creaked and his insides shifted. He leaned against the sink, breathing heavily. He felt light-headed as the world spun around him. He glanced at the mirror and found his face shifting again. He looked to be getting younger again. But, like his chest, something seemed off. His jawline was smoother and his cheekbones higher. Slight differences kept stacking that completely altered his face, removing all defining features of the man who was once Frederick Henderson. In his place, stood . . . a young woman around twenty years old. Her blonde hair grew until it reached her shoulders Her athletic body was only slightly shorter than his former self.

He felt his manhood shrink and get absorbed into his body. His underwear altered into distinctly girly panties that fit snuggly around his now feminine privates and remarkably toned butt. “Oh, nononono.” He cried. He flinched at the feminine husky voice that came out. “What is wrong with me? They did something to me!”

Fredrick was about to charge out, but he still had the presence of mind to realize he didn’t have pants on. He pulled up his jeans. Of course, they were way too big. He looked around for something to tie them up, but, like the boxers, the pants altered and shrunk into tight-fitting shorts that left little to the imagination of the shape of his body’s new curves. Fascinated, he buttoned his shirt back on. The shirt shrunk tighter like the other clothes into a sports bra. His breasts weren’t exactly large, but the bra pressed them closer to his body, removing any sway and creating more cleavage than they might have otherwise had. The sports bra left her toned stomach, shoulders, and arms visible. His hair was getting in the way, so he pulled it back behind his head. It stayed back in a ponytail; a hairband had magically appeared to keep it in place.

Fredrick took another look into the mirror. The girl that stared back was beautiful and physically imposing. The shock and disbelief on the girl’s face changed to anger. He burst out of the bathroom with the intent to harm. He saw Juliet; her eyes widened in surprise as she saw Fredrick charge her. Fredrick raised a fist to punch her, but the young man from before stepped in between them. The appearance of the young man caused a shock to run through Fredrick’s body. The momentum of her punch carried her through as her fist connected with the young man’s face. She tripped into him.

They rolled together on the ground. Fredrick ended up on top of the young man. Adrenaline pulsed through her body as their eyes locked. She wasn’t aware they were kissing until their lips were locked for a few seconds.

She felt hands lift her to a sitting position. “That’s enough of that,” a voice said after a clap. “You don’t want to suffocate him. Did you calm down?”

It took a moment to realize the voice was talking to her. Fredrick nodded, her mind still a little fuzzy. She looked around the room. The person who was talking to her was the escort who had led her into the mansion.

The young man sat up. He smiled at Fredrick, and her heart melted. “Nice to meet you, that was some greeting. My name is David.” He extended a hand.

She took his hand gently. “Fredri-” she began, but that didn’t sound right. She thought for a moment. “Florence. My name is Florence.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Florence,” David said. “Shall we get off the floor?”

Florence nodded dumbly. David stood up and helped Florence to her feet as well.

“It’s one thing to hear about, but another thing to see,” another voice said. Florence looked over and found a silver-haired girl in a business suit talking to a blonde-haired beauty. Juliet and Nancy. Memories returned and anger flared through Florence.

“You! You lied to me!” Florence accused, pointing at Juliet.

“I did no such thing,” Juliet responded smoothly. “I told you you become younger. I never mentioned what gender you’d be.”

“Don’t twist words. You sound exactly like your oaf of a father,” Florence replied. Her eyes widened in realization.

Juliet smiled with a curtsy. “Pleasure to meet you, my name is Juliet, formerly known as Julius. I went through the same process as you. You did ask if I was still alive or not.”

Florence’s mouth opened and closed her mouth like a fish. “I’m so confused,” she finally said.

David laughed. “You and me both. Come on. I’ll explain things the best I can and introduce you to the others.”

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