Natalie was, at least, good at bluster. She strode from the church, her unlog pleted, with a grin on her face, as if nothing had happened—as if she’d received a css she’d been expeg.

  As if she didn’t have a cock between her legs.

  Her friends—and a det portion of Tinford—were there, waiting for her. The cheers came out, and Natalie ressed in by a sea of gratuting bodies. The mood was iious, pierg even through the strangeness of what she’d been through. For a sed, Natalie pretehe farce wasn’t a farce; she let her unlog be celebrated, as if nothing was amiss.

  And really, it deserved celebration, didn’t it? Weird her circumstances might be, but she’d received a powerful css. One even The Bestower had said would be potent, and unique. Natalie didn’t know what to make of it all … but it deserved celebration.

  The following minutes passed in a blur. As the ultimate event of the night—and unlogs at midnight, well past whe folk had goo bed—the festivities petered off.

  It wasn’t more than a half-hour before Natalie had, rather than following her parents home, ended up with Jordan, in her bedroom. That didn’t draw any odd looks, from either her, Natalie’s parents, or anyone else. The two of them had been inseparable sihey could string words together. Of course Natalie had ended up in Jordan’s room after her unlog. Jordan had ended up in Natalie’s room, back when it’d been hers.

  “So,” Jordan said, closing her door, and spinning on Natalie. “What happened? What is it?”

  Natalie’s pstered-on facade melted. She stared, distraught, at her dark-haired best friend, not having a clue how to even broach the subject. Of course Jordan had seen through her. That, at least, Natalie had expected. She’d beeing odd looks from Jordan since she’d walked through the church’s double doors. Jordan had always been able to see right through her.

  “I got a weird css.”

  How else would she phrase it?

  Jordan wasn’t surprised by the annou. Because, obviously she’d known something , and what else, arriving from the church post-unlog?

  “Spill it.”

  Natalie ughed, then rubbed her face.

  “I don’t even know how.”

  “Start anywhere. What, not a fighter type?”

  “It’s, uh. A fighter type.” Then, broag the least-strange part of her situation, she said, “Fighter-mage mix, looks like.”

  Jordan’s eyebrows shot up. “Ah.” Then they furrowed back down. “That isn’t it?”

  “Not remotely.”

  “I’m waiting.”

  “I seriously don’t know where to start.”

  Jordan pulled Natalie to the bed, and they sat down. She gave Natalie a serious look. “Start anywhere. We’ll figure it out together. Promise.”

  It was hard to expin, really, how the words struatalie. She couldn’t articute why, but they hit her like a thunderbolt. Natalie had to force her gaze away from Jordan’s green eyes. Her heart smmed in her chest, all of a sudden, and it wasn’t even from the immi versation—and all the awkwardness, and strangeness, it would entail.

  Natalie cleared her throat.

  “It’s uh. It’s a sex css.”

  The ck of grace was iional. She’d grasped for a way to stop Jordan from staring at her with those intense, ed eyes, and nded on the absurd sentence.

  It worked. Jordan leaned away, taken aback, and said, “What?”

  “It’s a sex css. A, um. Fighter-mage-sex-type css.” Now that Natalie was saying it out loud, she couldn’t help but be amused at the absurdity of everything. “What? Never heard of them?”

  “Excuse me?”

  Somehow, Jordan didn’t take offense—didn’t bee angry that Natalie was iing things, defleg. Because she could tell Natalie wasn’t. Seriously, how did this girl have such a good read on her? She knew Natalie was telling the truth, even when what she was saying was ridiculous—impossible.

  “Um.” She shrugged. “Yeah. A sex css.” Natalie wasn’t timid, normally; it was a state-of-mind drawn out by her iuation. But in the presence of Jordan, and having had a half hour—not nearly enough, but something—to digest things, she was regaining some of her fidence. “I guess I should start from the beginning.”

  Natalie expined.

  The Bestower, the three options she’d been given, then the bizarre fourth. Her acceptahen her unlog’s abrupt ending—and the skills she’d received.

  And, of course … the st skill.

  The weirdest part of everything, somehow.

  Her cock.

  She hesitated, not sure how to even broach it.

  No tactful way, was there?

  “And [Heavy onry],” Natalie finally said, after a long pause. “Which, uh, gives me …”

  Jordan waited.

  “A cock,” she finished. “It, uh, gave me a cock.”

  Jordan had absorbed her annous patiently, with that same ed, attentive look the whole way through, minimizing her entary even though she’d visibly had questions. Natalie’s skills were strange, and there were tons of things to talk about for each of them.

  Now, though, Jordan stared bnkly.

  “What?”

  “Yeah. It gave me a cock.”

  “What?”

  “Elder Britt’s always going on about how the gods are capricious, isn’t he?” She shrugged. “Guess they’re having a ugh at my expense.”

  What else would she say?

  “A … cock?”

  “What, need me to prove it?”

  The words left her mouth without forethought. The first thing that had popped into her head.

  “Uh,” Natalie said. “Not that—I don’t mean—“

  “ I?” Jordan asked.

  A long, frozen moment. Jordan blinked, as if her words, too, had escaped without her thinking about them.

  “Not that I don’t believe you—?“

  “You want to—?”

  “Only if—?”

  “Really?”

  “Uh,” Jordan said. “Just … I believe you … but proof? Would be … nice?”

  Natalie wasn’t offended. It was su insane, mind-bending sario, wasn’t it? Jordan believed Natalie—but at the same time, proof would help settle things.

  “Okay. Uh. Yeah?” Natalie said.

  It wasn’t like it was weird, or anything. Jordan was her best friend … and sure, both of them preferred girls over boys, but the two of them had never been ied romantically in one ahey were totally fortable with each other.

  What was showing off her new cock?

  Just … part of the expnation.