Trans Witch: College of Secrets Read online

  After a couple of dozen more twists and turns, Snuffles stopped at a bend in the maze and whined.

  "What is it, boy? Are there scary books back there?" said Lily as she passed the magical creature to take a look herself.

  She gasped at the sight she beheld.

  Clearly, they had reached the center of the stacks, as there was an open oval area with a ring of benches around the perimeter of bookshelves. There was something else, at the very center, something Lily found she couldn't look directly at. If she tried, her eyes just seemed to slide off of whatever it might be. She tried harder, forcing her gaze to focus upon the middle of the labyrinth. Her eyes watered, and her head began to hurt. Once her eyes slid away from that attempt, a jagged, orange afterimage bisected her vision. It was as though she'd stared at a line of direct sunlight from floor to ceiling. Now that she looked away, she thought she could feel some sort of radiance from that direction. She held out a hand and took a step towards what she could not see, intending to touch it.

  "I wouldn't do that if I were you," said someone from behind her. She turned to see Jesse from her English class sitting crisscross upon one of the benches, a massive tome laying open upon her lap.

  "Jesse! Why am I not surprised to find you here, at the center of this many books? What would happen if I touched this... thing?"

  Jesse favored her with a rare smile. "This is my happy place, both figuratively and literally speaking. I come here to get away from everything. And sometimes, I stare at the Nothing. If you tried to touch the Nothing, you'd likely just miss. If you tried harder, you'd get pushed back, hard. Every semester, someone tries it, and every semester, that someone ends up in the Infirmary."

  Lily glanced at the Nothing and failed once again to see anything. "What, do they get burned?"

  Jesse shook her head. "No, they babble. They can't stop babbling. It's a sort of fugue state, I hear. Professor Wizard Hartman has had to snap them out of it. Afterwards, no one remembers anything about the experience, but they never try it again."

  "Have you tried it?"

  "Not yet. I think about it sometimes, I'll admit."

  Lily frowned. "If it's dangerous, why is it even here?"

  Jesse shrugged. "No one's ever told me that one. I'm guessing it has to do with the books, and the shape of the labyrinth. To me, the Nothing seems to be a magical vortex created by all the energies whirling around it."

  "Like a tornado?"

  Jesse shrugged. "Sure. Or a whirlpool."

  Snuffles whined, still hesitating to join them.

  Jesse pushed the book aside and leaped up from her seat, letting out a squee of delight. "Snuffles! How are ya, boy?"

  Snuffles rolled around on the floor in front of Jesse, showing his less fluffy belly. Jesse scratched his tummy and Snuffles let out a happy sort of growling and mewling.

  "So, uh, how does one get out of here? Back the way we came?"

  Jesse didn't look up from petting Snuffles. "You can, or there's a portal on the opposite side that'll take you back out into the Library directly. It's one-way, though, so be sure you want to exit before you take it."

  Lily took a few steps to the side, so that her view wasn't obstructed by the Nothing. Now she spied a silvery archway, directly across from where Snuffles stood. "Why is it one-way?"

  "I asked Bucher that once, and she said, 'because it's a labyrinth' and wouldn't elaborate further." Jesse stood and faced Lily. "I hoped I'd run into you today. The others and I had a talk. We think you're in danger."

  "I'm beginning to think that myself, though nothing direct has happened."

  "—Yet, " said Jesse. "You might have an easier time doing detective work if you could pass unnoticed around SOAM."

  "Unnoticed? Do you have an invisibility cloak for me?"

  Jesse laughed. "No, nothing like that. No, you'd be better off hidden in plain sight. As a student."

  Lily shook her head. "No, I don't really want to start all over, at my age. I might audit some classes, but I'm already teaching English, and now working here at the Library—"

  Jesse shook her head. "No, not like that. We mean a magical disguise, so you look like you're in your twenties again."

  Lily took in a deep breath and let out a deep sigh.

  "What? Did I say something wrong?"

  Lily shook her head. "I, well, let's say I don't want to look like I did in my twenties. I worked very hard to become the middle-aged woman I am today. I don't want to regress; I don't want to look like a guy again. It would be far too disturbing."

  Jesse nodded. "Yes, well, with this kind of illusion, you could look like the twenty-something you should have been. That you were in your heart all along."

  Tears prickled at the corners of Lily's eyes. "You could do that?"

  Jesse nodded. "Not me, personally, but as a joint effort of the four of us."

  Lily considered this. "But how would I explain my absence otherwise? What about my classes?"

  "I think we could make it something you can put on and take off as needed. I'll have to talk with the others. Are you interested?"

  Lily said, "How perfect would the illusion be?" Then she thought of the trans girl and her girlfriend further back in the stacks. Her heart beat faster, coming upon an exciting thought. "Could you, I don't know, just transform me? Is that what trans wizards do here? Just poof and their body changes to match their soul, no hormones or surgery required?"

  Jesse shook her head with a sad expression upon her face. "I'm afraid we can't. That kind of morphology is forbidden."

  Lily's heart sank. "Forbidden? But why?"

  "Professor Wagner says that performing morphology on a human could be abused too easily. That it had been abused in the past, which led to it being forbidden. Even the books on the subject are prohibited; they're hidden away somewhere. No one knows where."

  "But if someone did find those books, could they—"

  "Professor, believe me, Aiden asked me all these questions when he came to SOAM last year, too. Even asking about this subject can get you suspended, even expelled."

  "But I'm not a student!"

  "Correct. I don't actually know whether staff are ejected from SOAM for pursuing forbidden topics. Faculty aren't, though they have their own code by which they abide."

  Lily groaned. "It just figures that the Administration would forbid something that could mean everything to people like Aiden and me."

  Jesse held up her hands, palms upwards. "All we can offer is a disguise of sorts. It could still be helpful in finding your wife."

  Lily nodded. "Okay. What do we do next?"

  Jesse shut the book she'd been reading and snapped her fingers twice. The heavy tome floated up and shelved itself. "I'll talk with the rest of the Quartet, and we'll find you later and figure things out."

  "Great! Thanks, Jesse, you and your friends are very kind."

  "Well, we like you, Professor S. And we like Professor Penny, too. We want to help."

  At the mention of her wife's name, the coin in the pendant upon Lily's chest warmed considerably.

  Lily peered around the center of the stacks, scanning the hundreds of books on the shelves surrounding her. "Are you here, love?"

  Jesse gave her a strange look.

  "Just had a feeling come over me," she said to Jesse. She touched the pendant with her fingers and said in a softer voice, "I'll find you; I promise!"

  Chapter Nine

  After following Professor Bucher's instructions on how to deal with Snuffles' waste products, Lily noticed the time. She was already fifteen minutes late for class!

  She bade a hasty goodbye to the Librarian, cleaned herself up, and dashed down the halls to the portal. She emerged in the English Building's hallway and collided with her sister. A paper cup of coffee flew up into the air and exploded upon the hallway floor. Both women sprawled on the floor and groaned.

  "Lily! Where did you come from!" cried Ellen, scrabbling t
o pick up her glasses, purse, and a sack.

  "I'm so sorry! I'm late and in a terrible hurry, sis."

  "Obviously! Help me up, would you?"

  Lily had gained her feet by then, and though she wanted to continue her headlong rush to get to her classroom, offered Ellen a hand and pulled her up. "I really can't stay!"

  Ellen shoved the bag she held at Lily. "Here. Zach said you seemed like you might be having a bad day, so I brought you some muffins from Beanz. That's your coffee all over the floor," said Ellen, straightening out her clothing and hair.

  "Sorry, sorry! You are an angel," said Lily. "I am having a trying day! I have to go!"

  She left a spluttering Ellen behind as she turned the corner to her classroom's hall, with a bit more care this time.

  When she entered the room, she found that less than half of the desks in the room were occupied by students.

  "My apologies, class! I was unavoidably delayed by a mess in the Library—er, the Philosophy Department Library!"

  Fully awake this time, Andrew smirked at her. "Bunch of us left already. Fifteen-minute rule."

  "There's no such rule," said Lily, sounding more defensive than she wanted to. "But I am sorry."

  Andrew snorted but said nothing further.

  Why couldn't SOAM be like a respectable magical place, with time running differently there than elsewhere? At least I'd have something to blame this on. Not that I could talk about it, though.

  The Queer Quartet sat in formation at the front of the classroom, expressions sympathetic; Lily found comfort in this. They're probably used to living a double life, juggling SOAM with the rest of Moraine. I've got to get better at this!

  She settled into the lesson, but soon noticed a face at the back of the room that didn't belong here; Dean Professor Wizard Jaqueline "call me Jackie!" Wheeler. The woman alternated between listening to Lily teach and writing on a clipboard.

  After twenty minutes of stumbling through an analysis of Frankenstein, she had the class write an in-class, take-home essay to occupy them while she pulled herself together.

  She spent a blissful minute and a half pretending to sort through papers on her desk before rising once again to cross the room to talk to Wheeler.

  In a hushed voice, she said, "Dean Wheeler, to what do I owe the honor of you auditing my class today?"

  The Dean smiled with her mouth, but it never reached her eyes. "My dear, you're doing fine, just fine! Shame about your new duties making you late for class. We'll have to figure out some schedules together, don't you think?"

  Lily simmered. How dare the woman judge her outside of SOAM? "Yes, it certainly will take adjusting. But many University students juggle far more difficult scheduling conflicts. I think I can handle it, given a little time."

  Dean Wheeler glanced from Lily to her clipboard and back. "I hope that's the case. I would hate to have to insist upon an assignment change for you."

  "You can't—"

  "—I assure you, I can."

  "But why? This is my career. I'll fulfill my obligations in your department. Please, Dean Wheeler, leave my work here alone."

  The Dean pressed her lips together into a thin line and rose from her seat. "Yes. Well, let's hope an intervention doesn't become necessary. I hope to see you back in the department later. Join me for dinner tonight, since you couldn't make it last night?"

  Lily nodded. "I can do that."

  "Good. Here's some paperwork for you to fill out. You'll need to file it with Professor Sample by the end of the week." She placed a manilla folder with her name on it on the desk and left the room without a goodbye.

  Lily returned to her desk and made a point of not making eye contact with anyone in the room while she checked social media in hopes of a distraction. She ate one of the muffins; it turned out to be cranberry orange, her favorite. As tasty as it was, she couldn't eat another, because of the guilt she felt about knocking Ellen down.

  After some time had passed, a murmur arose among the students. Lily started to admonish them to be quiet during her assignment, but many of them slipped their papers onto her desk and departed. The class period had ended.

  Once more, she found herself alone with the Queer Quartet, none of whom said anything, seeming not to want to break the silence. Lily let the silence draw out for a bit, then crossed the room to shut the door.

  "I'm having a difficult day," said Lily, as she sat back down at her desk and faced her four remaining students.

  "No, really?" said Cameron, rolling their eyes.

  Hannah swatted at them. "You're not helping! Professor S., did you figure out what that coin I gave you was for?"

  Lily nodded and allowed herself a smile. "It was a message from Penny. It meant so much to see her again."

  Hannah and Jesse exchanged a look, then Jesse said, "So, it worked. Good. I wish we had more good news for you, but all we have is a… procedure. The disguise I mentioned."

  "I mean if you want to call it that," said Cameron.

  "Are you kidding?" asked Aiden. "It's going to be fantastic!"

  Cameron turned to glare at Aiden. "And if it doesn't? Then, poof, we've lost another teacher."

  Lily held up her hands. "Wait, wait. What's this poof? You didn't mention a poof, Jesse. It's a dangerous…procedure?"

  Jesse started to answer, but Cameron cut her off. "It's not dangerous in and of itself. But if someone can see through it, you'll be in trouble for trying to fool the Administration."

  "And you think they're behind Penny's disappearance?" said Lily.

  Aiden nodded. "We're pretty sure. Before she vanished, Professor Shelley—that is, the other Professor Shelley, Penny, I mean—was all excited about some research she'd been doing—"

  "—Historical research," added Jesse.

  "Right. Historical research. You know. She told us she had something amazing to announce, she just had to clear it with Administration first."

  Hannah chimed in, "She wouldn't let on what it was about, but she was nervous. So nervous, she gave me that penny to give to you in case something should happen."

  Lily frowned. "Why did you wait until I happened into—uh, the Philosophy Department—before giving it to me?"

  Hannah let out a dramatic sigh. "I tried, honest! But the uh, prohibition kept making me forget, or I'd leave it for you to find and it'd reappear on my nightstand or in my purse. I don't think I could give it to you because it would give you prohibited information." She rubbed her wrist when she spoke the word prohibition.

  "This is why I think the disguise won't work," said Cameron. "There are layers of safeguards like that to prevent students from getting away with tricking the faculty and Administration. Not to mention, our teachers know more tricks than they teach us. I still think this is a bad idea."

  Hannah groaned. "We know, Cameron! But what else can we do? We don't have a way to physically change her, and she needs to have a look around, and I don’t know, maybe retrace Penny's steps?"

  Aiden sat up straighter and asked, "Could you sign up as a student instead, Professor S?"

  Lily shook her head. "No, I think that'd take up too much of my time to keep my day job here, and a middle-aged student is going to stick out rather than blend in. Plus, the Administration has their eye on me already. Dean Wheeler made some not-so-veiled threats against me just a little while ago."

  Hannah and Cameron exchanged a look. Cameron turned and looked at Lily. "I guess the disguise procedure is the only way, even if it's risky."

  "So, what do we do?" asked Lily.

  Cameron produced a bracelet from their messenger bag. It was C-shaped and made of twisted copper. "Put this on and say, 'Great Scott!' to activate it."

  "Great Scott?" echoed Lily.

  Jesse laughed. "Cameron's a huge Back to the Future fan."

  Cameron smiled for the first time since Lily had met them. "Just kidding. You don’t have to say anything, it just works while you wear it. And to
revert to your own appearance, just take it off." They offered the bracelet to Lily.

  Lily took the bracelet and put it on. Nothing happened. She stood up and just to make sure, she said, "Great Scott!"

  Nothing continued to happen.

  The Queer Quartet's eyes widened in perfect unison.

  "Why didn't it work?" said Lily. Her hands flew to her mouth as the voice that came out of her was high and a touch nasal. "What happened to my voice? Oh, look at my hands!"

  Jesse jumped up from her seat. "Oh, it's perfect! You did such a great job, Cameron!"

  "Hannah helped; I only did the sensory stuff. She added enchantments to make it more convincing on even a subliminal level."

  Hannah beamed. "With both our magics in the thing, even Professor Penny wouldn't recognize you!"

  "Unless," growled Cameron, "she had a way to see through the disguise. At a wizard college. What are the chances of that?"

  "Oh, she'd have to be looking for it, even still!" protested Hannah.

  "Never mind that now! What do I look like?" said Lily, looking all around her classroom for a mirror.

  Aiden smiled and held up his phone. Lily saw that he had it open to a camera app, and she glimpsed herself on the screen.

  As she moved to get in the frame, Lily gasped. The person on the phone's screen moved like her but had a short blonde bob, not the messy mop of dyed red hair upon her head. She made a face at the phone, and the twentyish girl on the phone made one back at her. She opened her eyes wide and instead of soft brown irises, the girl on the phone had ice water blue. Lily wore no makeup, but on the phone, she had candy apple lipstick and winged eyeliner that threatened to cut anyone who came too close. And while the girl was still a little plump, she had an hourglass figure, rather than Lily's own apple-shaped body.

  Even her clothes were different. Lily's cream silk blouse and comfortable black slacks became a black Imagine Dragons concert t-shirt on top of distressed jeans.

  "It looks like a Snapchat filter," said Lily, failing to swallow her disbelief all at once.

  Aiden grinned like the cat that ate the canary. "See, I told you it had to work with technology!"