LIGHTNOVELONLINE 14. Unconvinced (Tess)
Amy and I stood quietly as her sister looked the two of us over. I knew she'd have something to say about the purple eyes or the silver hair, but for now she just seemed cautious and confused.
She leaned out into the hall and glanced left and right, as if expecting to find her brother lurking just out of sight around the corner.
Hailey was a few years older than myself, and she stood a couple inches taller. Her short curled hair was platinum blonde, though the telltale dark roots confirmed that wasn't her natural colour. It looked all right on her though. She had a pretty face, with blue-grey eyes and fair skin. Her figure was fairly slim, and she didn't appear to have a lot of curves on her. What she did have looked pretty good though, she was wearing a short lightweight blue skirt that ended a couple inches above her knees and showed off her long legs. On top was a t-shirt that had to be a size too small. It highlighted her skinny frame and made the most of her small chest.
After a few more tense awkward moments she finally asked "Who are you two, what can I do for you?"
Amy seemed to be almost frozen at the moment so I spoke up instead.
"You must be Hailey?" I asked her with a friendly smile. "I'm Theresa. And this is your sister Amethyst, but I think she's a little anxious right now."
The blonde looked surprised, then very skeptical as her eyes went up and down over Amy again.
Finally she frowned and said, "I don't know if I should be angry about such a hopeless stunt, or impressed that my brother somehow convinced you two to attempt it. I didn't think he even knew any girls."
I started to worry Hailey was just going to close the door in our faces if Amy didn't speak up, so I gave her a bit of a nudge. That seemed to snap her out of it and she finally responded.
"Hailey it's me," she insisted. "Please can we come in and talk? I don't want to do this in the hall."
The blonde rolled her eyes, "Seriously? You're really going to try and convince me?"
Amy sighed, "I have to. If I can't convince you then there's no way mom and dad will ever believe me. And I don't want to lose the three of you from my life. There's already so many other things I'm trying to deal with and..."
Her voice trailed off, but the stress and even fear was evident when she was speaking. And it was in her eyes and her expression too. She looked and sounded almost desperate.
Hailey was still frowning, but after another couple seconds she sighed "Fine. You can come in, for now. Mostly because I'm curious how this little performance is going to play out."
She stepped aside for me and Amy to enter, then closed the door behind us.
Amy led me straight in, she obviously knew her way around her sister's place as she brought me to the living-room then the two of us sat down on a sofa there.
From what I could see, Hailey's apartment was only a little larger than mine. It was a one-bedroom, but the biggest difference was she had a balcony. The door was open but there was a screen door in place, to allow the fresh air to come in. The furniture all seemed relatively new, it didn't look fancy but it was in good condition. The sofa was comfortable, it was big and had very soft plush blue cushions that the two of us sank into.
Hailey sat across from us on a big matching blue chair. Her eyes were going up and down over Amy again. She finally asked, "So you're still claiming to be my brother? Honestly if he was going to hire someone to do this, I'd have thought he was smart enough to hire someone who was at least similar to his body-shape."
Amy took a couple deep breaths then in a tense, nervous voice she said "Hailey first off please stop misgendering me. I'm your sister now, and I'm using she/her pronouns. And like I said on the phone, my name is now Amethyst. Or you can call me Amy."
The blonde rolled her eyes, "Ok I'll play along. My brother's five-foot-eleven. Last time I saw him was a few months ago, at Easter. There was no mention of him being trans, though to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if he was. But he sure hadn't started transitioning at that point."
She shrugged and gestured towards Amy, "You're at least eight inches shorter than him, your body's a different shape, your face is completely different. You look and sound like a cis woman. If you're trans, you transitioned young. There's no possible way you're him."
Amy just nodded slowly, "I know it's unbelievable, and impossible. But..."
She hesitated, then said to her sister "Let's do the thing. Ask me something only I'd know. Some secret or some little family thing that nobody else would know. Let me prove it's me."
Hailey rolled her eyes, then looked thoughtful. Finally she smiled, with a bit of an evil glint in her eyes. "Ok, here's something that not even my parents know and I doubt my brother would ever tell another soul. So if you're somehow listening in on this bro, sorry but you're the one who set it up."
She fixed her eyes on Amy and asked, "If you're really my little brother then tell me how old were you when I caught you trying on my undies and a skirt?"
Amy's eyes widened and her face went bright red. She looked for a moment like she wanted to sink into the sofa and disappear. She ended up staring down at the floor, and in a very small voice she replied "Thirteen. And you promised you'd never mention that ever again."
Hailey's eyes widened slightly as well, and I saw the flicker of doubt come across her expression. After a slight hesitation she asked, "What did I ask you to do, in return for me keeping quiet about that?"
Still blushing and staring down at the floor, Amy responded softly "You made me do your chores for a whole month, and you had me cover for you with mom and dad whenever you spent the night at Mark Rutherford's place."
I stayed quiet for now as I watched and listened. It looked to me like Hailey was maybe starting to believe Amy, but I knew there were still a few impossible hurdles to get through.
After a long pause, the blonde spoke up with another question. She almost sounded nervous now, as she asked Amy "What colour was the skirt I caught you in?"
"It was black," Amy replied in a half-whisper. She added, "The panties and bra were pink. And you said you were going to have to burn them because the idea of wearing them again after I did was too gross to contemplate."
Hailey went silent at that point, but from her expression I could tell she was maybe starting to believe us about Amy. Or at least, she was starting to believe we were serious.
The three of us sat in awkward silence for a minute or two, then she finally asked "Ok. I'm convinced you know stuff that nobody but my brother should know. But it's still impossible. You can't be him. So how do you explain that?"
Amy took a deep breath, then looked her sister in the eyes. She was still blushing, still obviously embarrassed by the confessions and revelations she'd shared, but she was also determined. "It's magic, ok? There was an accident... A real life goddess was involved. Tess is helping me figure all this stuff out, but it only happened Friday night. During the full moon? There was an accident and I somehow got pulled into it, and this goddess person turned me into this because..."
Her voice faltered slightly but she continued, "She turned me into this because this is what I always wanted. You probably think the hair and the eyes are part of a costume or something but they're not. My eyes really are purple and my hair's really this colour. She also changed my clothes and my ID and stuff."
After another little pause Amy stated, "Forty-eight hours ago I was your brother, and I was deep in denial about being trans. Then magic and accidents happened, now I'm a girl, I'm your sister, and my name is Amethyst."
Hailey looked surprised, then skeptical, then curious. She finally said "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. If there's 'magic' happening, I want to see it. Because so far all you've proved is you know some very personal and embarrassing stuff about my brother's past."
Amy sighed, "I understand sis. I'm scared about trying to show you or prove it somehow. I don't know how it works, and I'm afraid of doing something wrong and somehow hurting you or messing things up one way or another."
I'd mostly been staying out of the conversation, I was there for moral support rather than being actively involved. At this point though I decided to speak up and try to explain Amy's fears better.
I addressed Hailey and said, "The thing is Amy doesn't control it. We're not even sure how it happens or how it works. Our theory right now is the Goddess is acting on Amy's behalf, doing things to help her when she needs it."
Hailey looked skeptical again as she pointed out, "Well it seems like right now she needs some help convincing me you two aren't just lying or trying to pull some sort of prank or scam. So why don't you get her to show up and prove it's real? Can this goddess person pop in and talk to us?"
"I don't think that's a good idea," I stated. "We're talking about an actual Goddess, a divine being. There's rituals and rites, communicating with her isn't something you do lightly."
She frowned at me and asked, "Who exactly are you anyways? How'd you get involved with my 'brother' and all this 'magic' stuff?"
I sighed, but before Amy could stop me I admitted "It's my fault. I was messing around with stuff I didn't understand, and I summoned the Goddess. But it went wrong, and somehow she found Amy and started messing with her life instead of appearing for me. We're still trying to understand how and why that happened. And I've promised to do what I can to help Amy deal with all this. Including helping to convince her family who she really is."
Amy reached over and took my hand in hers, she gave me a grateful smile and whispered a quiet thank you. Then she looked up at her sister and said "Hailey it's been a very stressful and emotional day and a half. I got turned into this and was forced to come to terms with the fact that I'm trans and I wanted this all along, but I know it's impossible and it totally freaked me out. Same thing with my clothes and ID and stuff. I can try to make it happen again, I can try to ask for some magic to convince you, but it scares me and I don't want you to be scared or freaked out too."
Hailey frowned as she looked back and forth between me and Amy. Her eyes settled on her sister and she replied, "I'm studying science. You know I don't believe in magic, or gods or goddesses, or any of that kind of mumbo-jumbo. So if you really want to convince me, I'm going to need proof. And I'm a big girl, I'm not going to be scared."
"Ok sis," Amy sighed. She closed her eyes and looked like she was thinking or concentrating, then spoke in a half-whisper. She wasn't addressing either of us, she was either talking to herself or maybe trying to talk to the Goddess.
"I desperately need my sister Hailey to believe me so I wish there was some sort of benign demonstration of magic, something to convince her we're telling the truth but without directly affecting or changing Hailey herself."
All three of us sat quietly for a few seconds after that, but nothing seemed to happen.
Amy opened her eyes and sighed, "Maybe I should have wished for something to drink. Sis, can I get some water or something?"
"Help yourself," she replied. "Assuming it's really you, you know where the kitchen is."
"Thanks," Amy replied. She got to her feet and moved out of view around the corner, and I heard a fridge door open.
Meanwhile Hailey looked at me and asked, "Do you really believe this stuff? Magic and goddesses and all that? Because if not, you two are some pretty good actresses. Like I can't believe my brother could afford you, you should be in movies or something."
I was trying to hide my own disappointment, I'd really been hoping to witness a demonstration as well. I didn't want to let Hailey know that though, I was worried she'd take that as proof it was all an act or a scam or something. So I just nodded and told her, "I believe it. I saw magic with my own eyes during the full moon Friday night."
Amy returned with three water bottles in hand, but she stopped in her tracks and stared. She was looking at her sister and she looked startled.
Hailey and I both noticed Amy's reaction, and Hailey frowned as she looked down at herself to see what was wrong.
"Woah!" the blonde yelped in shock as she leaped to her feet, and I finally saw it a moment later.
Her soft cushy chair wasn't blue anymore, it was a pastel pink. It somehow changed colour without any of us even noticing. I glanced down at the sofa and felt another little shock as I realized it had changed to a matching pink.
All three of us looked around the rest of the living-room, but I couldn't see anything else different.
Amy put the bottles of water on the coffee table then she slumped down on the pink sofa and sighed deeply.
