Gender Bender in a Blue Blender - 6. Chapter 6- The Lyceum

"This is ridiculous," Adain huffed as he received another automatic e-mail about the backlogged lyceum appointments. He showed the message to Talon by shoving his phone in the blond's face. "It's been three days!"

Talon gently lowered Adain's phone back down. "If the girls don't have any luck on their end, we might have to just go in person. You said there are usually always twelve Laeramen at the lyceum, right? They can't all be attending citizens every second of the day. One of them's bound to head out for lunch sometime."

"You're right! We should sneak over there during lunch and try to ambush one," Aid suggested with a manic glint in his eye. "You'd think they'd be concerned about the whole town developing amnesia left and right! It's not just Dad and Grandpa anymore."

"Then, that's what we'll do," Talon decided.

Adain's main concern shifted from his cursed form to the memories slipping through his parents' fingers as the days passed. Turning back and forth caused him all kinds of confusion in the interim. He noticed that he actually liked specific feminine clothing and products. He'd stopped wearing tinted lip balm since that day, but he found that different kinds of clear lip balm served other purposes. Aid was equally impressed with the buffered razors women used to shave their legs. His legs had never been smoother since anything he did to his female form translated to his male one and vice-versa.

Part of him was still very annoyed and jealous about Talon's mysterious male crush if he were honest with himself. He tried to pry all the information he could out of Lynne between classes, but she only kept giving him weird hints. Something about the guy knowing Talon for a long time and being absent from campus for a while. Maybe the guy was in a sports team, and they were out competing? Adain hadn't realized that athletes were Talon's type.

Can't you give me any more clues, Lynne? Adain wrote in a note later that morning during the one class he shared with the girl and passed it to her.

You sound very much like a wary girlfriend. Are you sure you haven't already fallen for Talon yourself? Lynne wrote back.

Adain huffed and sat back in his desk chair. The girl might not be wrong, and that fact ate at him something fierce. He couldn't think of a worse time to discover he had romantic feelings for his best friend than while gender-swapping. Aid had tried verifying it repeatedly in both forms. The dread and excitement that filled him during each interaction he'd prompted felt the same in both states. Well, almost the same…leaking while being turned on in female form was an incident he could have lived without. And whenever he thought of possibly experiencing a menstrual cycle, he was gripped with bone-chilling fear.

Okay, so, hypothetically, I have some kind of attachment to Talon…would you tell me more about his crush, then? Aid finally wrote back.

It's just not my secret to tell. But, if you really like Talon, you should sincerely tell him and have him make his choice. Lynne responded.

Adain scowled at their written conversation. He belatedly grasped that Lynne's vague hints were nearly identical to his attempts to tell Talon he liked him. Aid had insinuated it on more than one occasion. Still, he hesitated to be more direct about it until they resolved at least one of the curses. If protecting his parents' memories meant sacrificing himself and suffering through a menstrual cycle, then Adain would do it!

After their morning classes, Talon and Adain rushed to the parking lot and headed toward their town's lyceum. Different campaign tables were set up in front of the building for everything from repairing potholes to providing more support for teachers. But, they didn't see any Laeramen among them. Once inside, there was a line of people just to get to the information booth. Talon and Adain played PukemonWalk on their phones while they waited.

When it was their turn, Talon was getting ready to explain their visit, but Adain beat him to the punch. "We're here to see the next available Laeraman. Urgent business."

"I'm afraid that many of our council members are indisposed at the moment," The receptionist responded in a monotone voice.

"Are there any of them that are active today?" Talon asked. He didn't want to draw any attention to the fact that he was a human seeking a Warlock councilman.

But, there wasn't any screening for average humans. "We can wait for as long as we have to."

"The remaining active Laeramen are also indisposed-" The receptionist responded when Adain cut her off.

"Like I said before, this is an urgent matter. Have you checked in with your father, grandfather, or even a young uncle lately?" Adain prompted. "Do they seem as if they're suspiciously developing Alzheimer's and crave awful-tasting coffee as of late?"

The expression on the receptionist's face changed when Adain mentioned lousy coffee. "Wait one moment, please," she replied as she made a phone call.

"Nikoal? Yes, I know he's exhausted. But, there's a young witch at the front desk that you might want to talk to." After another moment, she hung up the phone.

"Have a seat, and Nikoal will be with you in a moment."

Adain and Talon sat down as instructed. But Aid felt that the whole interaction was weird. The last time he checked, a woman was kept from performing the duties of a Laeraman, let alone being the representative of one. Was Nicole a modern, gender-neutral name or something?

However, the young black woman who approached them was not a Warlock. Her hair was styled in a natural afro, and she wore a purple power suit. The elegance with which she walked reminded Adain of runway models.

"My name's Nikoal Lewis," she greeted as she shook their hands.

"Talon Williams," Talon responded.

"Ad-Niada," Adain corrected himself in mid-speech. "Niada Calistro."

"A Calistro, huh?" Nikoal mused aloud with a raise of a perfectly manicured brow. "I really do want to talk to you. Come this way."

The two of them followed the Witch down several hallways until they stood before a door with a digital lock. After swiping her card and a retinal scan, the door opened, revealing a much taller hallway of stones of different sizes. The mouths of other hallways were arched, reminding Adain of ruins, of all things. Nikoal opened a wooden door at the end of one of those hallways and led them into an office with minimalist furniture. Even the shelves looked brand new, though Aid noted the bookends were the same rainbow-metal molded ones his dad also had in his study.

Talon and Adain looked back at the hallway and into the room twice since the contrast between the modern furniture and the hallway was startling. The Witch motioned for the two to sit at a couple of chairs on the other side of a desk where she sat.

"This is my father, Laeraman Lewis's, office," she explained. "Our family moved here from another Warlock community, and my father was chosen to be one of the few in their ranks. Though we haven't been here as long as other families, I've always wondered why Alexander Calistro was never chosen as a Laeraman despite his faithful citizenship."

"He was never offered a position on the council," Adain replied. "And, strange as that is, we're technically here because of him and all my other male family members. Something's going on. My cousins believe a curse has been cast on our neighborhood's Warlocks."

"It's not just your neighborhood, Niada," Nikoal admitted. "It's a curse that seems to affect the entire town and all male Warlocks within its radius. I've been looking into families that could be powerful enough to cast such a curse, and the name Calistro often comes up."

Adain frowned. "But, both my dad and grandpa have been affected by it. They couldn't have cast it on themselves, as well."

Nikoal shook her head slightly. "No, not the men," she argued. "Modern research in the last few years has been unequivocal regarding the potency between male Warlocks and female Witches. Witches are, and have always been, more powerful than the men."

Aid let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. If that was true, the mishap he had the week before regarding his rain cloud spell made much more sense. "Th-the only Calistro Witch I can think of was Grandma Oleah Calistro."

"There was Oleah," Nikoal agreed. "And there was Shay Calistro-Kelly…not that Della Calistro should be left out of that list."

Della Calistro was Avery and Aura's mom, yet another cousin of Adain's. But, the name that hit him like a sucker punch was his mother's, Shay. "My mother's been gone for so long, they think she's dead," Adain countered. "Grandma Oleah supposedly left town before my dad even turned seven."

"Hun, I hate to be the one to tell you this," Nikoal elaborated. "But, the last records of your mother had her right here, sitting where you're seated now, arguing with my father."

Adain suddenly stood up and slammed his hands on the desk. "She was here?"

The Witch nodded. "None of the other Laeramen took her seriously when she stormed into the lyceum ranting incoherently. My dad was the only one who tried to hear her out. She gave him several of these," Nikoal said as she handed Adain a small piece of bismuth. "And said she'd uncover the truth about Oleah."

Aid's breath was sporadic as he held the bismuth in his hand. "I don't understand…dad and Grandpa said they came here asking about Mom. Why didn't any of the Laeramen tell them?"

"Like I said, my dad was the only one who took her seriously," Nikoal answered. "And whatever she told him, He promised not to divulge it until she found proof of whatever she was searching for."

"Where's your dad now?" Talon asked. "Where's Laeraman Lewis?"

"I'm surprised you haven't heard," Nikoal responded. "All of the Laeramen have caught the worst of this curse. Half of them have already moved on to the next life, and the other half are at death's door. My father himself is in a coma. So, believe me," the Witch concluded. "I'm as invested in this as you are."

::

Adain's mind was reeling. When he'd read and heard that message about the Laeramen being indisposed, he never would have imagined that it was because they were either dead or halfway there. He'd been in a state of shock ever since. Talon had been the one that promised Nikoal we'd give her any information we came across regarding my mother and Oleah. But, the entire drive to their apartment was all but blacked out to the young Warlock.

It wasn't until Talon handed him a pair of pajamas that Aid realized they hadn't returned to campus. "What about our classes?" Adain asked aloud, feeling like a lost child during a town festival.

"Exams are over; we can afford to miss a few days," Talon's response sounded downright alien in Adain's ears.

"But-"

"But nothing," The blond rebutted as his thumbs tapped away at his phone's keyboard faster than most people mashed buttons while playing Super Bash Brothers against skilled friends. "Adain, you need time to process all of this. I'm letting your family know so they don't panic when you don't respond to their e-mails."

Adain nodded absentmindedly. But his mind still needed to catch up to everything revealed to them. The Laeramen lied. Were Witches stronger than Warlocks? That could have been anyone's guess. The Laeramen lied. His mother had gone to the council first, and she had been chasing information about his grandmother. The Laeramen lied…

"All this time, my dad and grandpa were led to believe that mom had left the town of her own volition without a known motive," Aid spoke aloud. "The whole town whispered wild theories behind their backs, everything from a passionate love affair to joining a cult."

Talon paused in his e-mailing to give Adain his undivided attention.

"They lied, Talon," Adain affirmed. "Those old magical farts lied to their faces."

"Yes," Talon agreed. "And one way or another, we're going to find out why."

"How?"

"For once, I'm the one suggesting it," Talon confessed. "I think it's time we find out what is behind your mom's warded door."