Chapter 26: Epilogue—Kyle

Kyle nervously rocked on the balls of his feet as he panted, having run all the way to his best friends’ house. His breath fogging up the pane of glass on the front door as he felt the full chill of the season as autumn finally gave way to the cold sleep of winter. He braced the back of his neck against his flannel lined jacket, not that it helped much when he was already this cold.

Relief came when the door opened and Tyler ushered him in with the promise of tea or cocoa, which he readily accepted the treat. Soon he was sat at the family’s little dining table, warming his hands against a cup of jasmine.

“Everything okay?” asked his friend

“Yes! No? Maybe.” came the excited, then deflated reply.

Christine came into the room then to see what was going on, said a quick hello and ducked back out of the room.

Tyler turned back to Kyle with a questioning look on her face. Kyle recognized the small tilt her head gave when she was trying to ask a question without actually saying anything as something Tyler did for as long as Kyle knew her. The gesture alone allowing him to feel safe enough to explain.

“Do you remember that night you and Eris proved magic to me?”

Tyler’s expression fell, “Kyle, oh I’m so sorry. Are you okay? I thought you looked pretty uncomfortable at the time.”

Kyle realized how the open question came across and quickly shook his head and hands in an effort to calm his friend. “No! No, no, it’s okay. I actually wanted to talk to you about— well, about that.”

“What do you mean?” Tyler said as she began to drink from her cup now that the tea was cooled enough.

Kyle felt the urge to mimic the action and followed through, hot jasmine warming his stomach. “Well, you see, it was uncomfortable. I remember wanting, no needing, to undo it at the time. Like, once my mind processed that it was my hands I was looking at, I could feel my skin crawl.”

Tyler nodded her head, “I’m familiar with the sensation.”

Kyle felt a pang of guilt. How long must Tyler have gone with that feeling, not knowing why it was happening. He closed his eyes and squinted away the tears that threatened to expose him. “Well, I’m feeling that again, and I needed to know if you knew why. Everything’s how it was with before the magic, but now I’m experiencing it again like I never changed back, and I wanted to know if the magic had any side effects.”

Tyler looked confused and stunned, before she seemed to recover and then asked for Eris like she was right next to both of them. “Eris? Can you come downstairs?”

Kyle was about to ask why she didn’t yell for her. Surely, Eris couldn’t hear her from all the way from the bedroom upstairs, when suddenly the young alien was next to Kyle’s left as if she had been there the whole time. It took considerable effort not to spill his tea from the surprise.

“Kyle? You're here? Is everything okay?”

Kyle felt a unique queasiness from the question. No matter how he looked at her, she looked like any other girl at school. Mundane until she wasn’t. He felt his throat close as he remembered what this little girl was capable of.

Thankfully, Tyler explained for him. “Kyle’s feeling a little off since the demonstration, and wanted to know if there’s anything that didn’t get put back right?”

Eris looked a little too closely at Kyle, and the nerves set his skin on fire. He couldn’t stand this feeling and wanted desperately for it to be over. Thankfully, Eris soon backed off with a knowing smile on her face, but instead of answering outright she asked a question, “just to be sure, when exactly did these feelings start?”

“Ummm. Yesterday?” he wasn’t sure if that’s exactly when it started, but that’s when he noticed it.

Tyler looked more confused, “But the demonstration was way before that, why did it happen all of a sudden?”

Eris smiled again and pulled a small ring from her pocket. She seemed to concentrate on the ring as a warmth entered the kitchen, as unnatural as it was welcome against the cold October air. She handed over the small band to Kyle and said, “here, this’ll help.”

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“Help with what?” he asked as he held the small golden band in his left hand, but when he looked up, Eris was gone and Tyler still looked confused. “What was that about?” he asked Tyler.

“I dunno, but I bet we’ll find out when you put on that ring.”

Small and shaky hands put the ring on his right ring finger, and instantly the feeling of unease lessened. Kyle gave a small sigh of relief as the feelings vanished, and then noticed the small smile of amusement on Tyler’s face. “What? What is it?”

“Umm, well, you might want to look in the mirror.” Tyler said as she gestured towards the bathroom.

Kyle stood up and hurried to the bathroom, and felt all kinds of new sensations.

Feelings that immediately became clear when she saw a young brunette look back at herself in the mirror. “Oh.”

◊◊◊

Kristy laughed as Tyler and her walked to the front doors of the school. She still wasn’t sure how she was going to explain everything to the school, but if Tyler could manage, then so could she. The only big worry was no one would recognize her.

“You know, I thought for sure you weren’t trans because of how badly you reacted to this the first time.” Tyler said.

“To be fair, I had the standard reaction at the time.”

“Yeah! If you hadn't had shown up at my front door over the weekend, I’d never have guessed that you were gender-fluid. It’s going to be interesting the first day you come to school as Kyle again.”

A small giggle erupted from her belly. It was a familiar sensation with a different sound, and it was magical to her ears. “I know! I almost want to deal with the dysphoria just to see people’s reactions.”

After her change back at the house, the two had spent hours talking about their experiences. What it meant to be trans, some terminology, and sharing stories that felt relatable on a level Kristy wasn't sure was possible. All those years of weeks or months going by without her understanding why she just felt off made so much sense.

“Just be careful not to expose the secret of that ring to others. It would be a huge pain. Not for you, I’m sure that Eris could make you another. But it would be difficult to explain.”

“Hey! I’m plenty difficult to explain without magic!”

“Yes,” Tyler responded, rolling her eyes in a mock gesture of sarcasm, “you’re an enigma.”

Their conversation was cut short as they entered the main office to put through the paperwork Kyle’s parents had signed over the weekend, when they both caught sight of Orlando’s mother speaking with the person sat at the front desk.

“I can’t believe you need me to sign paperwork just to take my kid out of school. Shouldn’t you only need that for kids entering?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” came the small voice of the lady at the front counter. “But it’s procedure. Whatever school Orlando will be attending is going to need this information.”

“Fine.” came a huffed reply as she finished signing the last paperwork, took it from the woman at the desk without so much as a 'thank you' and walked past the two girls in the doorway.

Tyler and Kristy stood stock still at the entryway with a stunned look on their faces.

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