Chapter 15: Becoming Henry

When the last period of class ended, the girls piled into the room, expecting to see Dawn in her usual corner, but she wasn’t.

“I sent her off on a little errand,” said Henry. “She should be back soon.”

Almost on cue, the black-haired freshman burst through the door, carrying two large plastic grocery bags. “Sorry I’m late,” she panted. “There was a long check-out line.”

“What have you got in the bags?” asked Misty.

Henry interrupted. “That will play out later. Right now, you should all be naked.”

Some of the girls had started to strip, but most had not. They made a heart-felt apology and got undressed.

When they were all nude, Henry spoke. “It is customary for someone who has gone on a trip to bring back a gift to those he left behind. I have a gift for all of you, giving you just a taste of what we saw in this other world.”

The enthusiasm from the girls varied greatly.

The sorcerer walked in the hall and came back with a box full of headgear that covered the wearer’s eyes and ears. All eight of them were white in color.

“What is this?” asked Iris as she picked one up.

“It is a virtual reality headset. Put it on and you’ll feel like you are in a real environment. In your case, it will be at a banquet that was held in my honor. You will see and hear all the things May and I experienced last night.”

He reached into his pocket and tossed each girl a foam earplug.

“What’s this?” asked Serena.

May stepped in, “An instant translator. In this alternate world, they don’t speak English.”

Henry nodded, “Put it in your right ear.”

Bonnie asked, as she was putting on the helmet, “What are you and May going to be doing while we are watching?”

Henry spread his hands, “I need to spend some time with my apprentice, training her.”

The blonde still looked suspicious, “I suppose so...” She slipped the virtual reality helmet on.

The sorcerer pulled out a large coin and placed in front of his girls. With a flick of his wrist, he got the coin spinning. The spinning did not stop. Eight beams of light came out of the coin, each one aimed at a helmet.

Henry stood up and escorted his apprentice to the door. “They’ll be entertained for about an hour,” he whispered.

May walked through the doorway and found herself back in the room with the fireplace.

“Here, we can talk,” he said.

The brunette interrupted him, “Before you say anything, I need to say something.”

“By all mean,” said Henry.

“A few days ago, I asked if Dawn was going to be all right, after her bonding with the room. I now realize that I was asking about the wrong girl.”

Her Master nodded, “Very good. Who do you think you should be worried about?”

“Bonnie; she is in pain and constantly needing to have her excess energy drained. She is not doing well, is she?”

“That’s right. A human body is not designed to hold the energy she is, over the long term. Even when I completely drain her, she still has a residual amount of magical energy in her.”

May trembled with fear. “Wha-what’s going to happen to her?”

“She’ll start to show deterioration in about three years. By her fifth year, she’ll still look normal outside, but inside she’ll have the body of a ninety-year-old. Her bones will be brittle, she’ll be arthritic, and her memory will start to fail. Her organs will soon afterward fail, and she’ll die.”

The apprentice clutched his arm. “Can’t you cure her, Master?”

“This is something I can’t do. You can do it. It’s not difficult, but you will have to learn how to do it.”

“Could you teach me?” she asked.

Henry shook his head. “This is something you will have to learn on your own. It will be up to you whether Bonnie lives or dies.”

May blinked back her tears, “I understand. Show me where your books are.”

The young man led her through the only visible door. Through it, there was a long hall. The floor was made of a hard, dark wood. On each side of the hall was a large double door. There was about ten feet between each set of doors. Lit candles, set in sconces on the wall between each door, illuminated the corridor. The hallway seemed to be endless. May saw the dim candles leading ever further away into the depths.

The sorcerer pointed to the first door on the right. “This is my bedroom. I may take you in there sometime. Especially when I want to take my time using your body.”

May shuddered at the prospect.

He nodded toward the door across, first door on the left. “This is my playroom and the room where I cast some of the more elaborate spells. You will spend some time in there, that’s for sure.

Henry walked up to the second right door. “This is my kitchen and dining area. I don’t entertain much, but I must be ready. I could be called on to host a party like Collem threw.”

“Where would you get the staff?” asked May.

“My harem would be in charge, but I can summon entities that would serve, for a price.”

Pointing to second left door, he said, “This will be where you will spend most of your time.” He threw open the doors to reveal a large room, much wider than it should be, with the doors on each side. Inside was a large slanted table. It looked like a wooden drafting table. There was a tall padded barstool behind it. Next to the stool was a large, comfortable-looking, arm chair. Surrounding the table on all three sides, were shelf after shelf of books. Most of them were bound, but some were scrolls.

“This is my reading room. It contains all my English books, plus most of my non-magical books. I have a Guttenberg Bible, a first edition Huckleberry Finn, and numerous other rare books in here.

“None of my other bookrooms have a place to read, so you’ll end up hauling massive tomes into here, to pore over them.”

May nodded, “I understand.”

As they left, the door closed behind them of its own accord.

“The third right door is my Latin library.” He opened the door. Candles flickered on as they opened. Inside were row upon row of books, mostly scrolls. “You will spend a lot of time here, especially in your first decades.”

Leading her across to the third left door, he showed her where his ancient Greek books were kept. It looked quite similar to the Latin library.

“The next few doors contain more ancient languages. I’ll introduce them to you as you gain the skill.”

“How long is this hallway, Master?” May asked.

“It has no end. Most of the doors are unused. You won’t be able to open them.”

Henry turned and looked his slave dead in the eye. “Far in the depths I have some ... things that are extremely dangerous, and should never be allowed to escape. Those doors are warded with spells that you can’t see yet, so the doors cannot be opened from the inside. These ... creatures will do anything; say anything for you to let them out. If you hear a girl, or any other voice, screaming down the hallway, ignore it.”

“I understand,” said May fearfully.

“Have you decided if you still want to have Serena’s body?” asked Henry, changing the subject.

The brunette nodded, “Several people said that that curvy a figure did not look good on me. Could I change to Iris’s body instead? She is not quite so ... extreme.”

“Certainly; I’ll get it done as soon as possible.

“Let’s get you back to your sisters. The show should be over soon.”

“I have just one more question,” said his apprentice. “You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to.”

He nodded. “You may ask your question.”

“You said that when you switched bodies with Henry, he agreed to it voluntarily. How do you get a young man to agree to become an old man?”

“That is a very good question, and a tale I will tell only once, when all my girls are with me.”

When they got back to the entry, the door to room E-14 appeared. The two of them crossed back to the hidden classroom.

All the girls were still watching the dance performance on their VR helmets, when they returned.

Henry walked over to Iris and pulled a green string out of the exposed top of Iris’s head. He connected it to May, who had followed him, and the string disappeared in a shower of sparks. The willowy senior was not aware of anything that had happened.

He whispered, “Remember, you won’t see any change until you wake up in the morning.”

“I remember,” she whispered back.

Just then, the coin stopped spinning, and the projection stopped.

The eight girls removed their helmets and started talking to each other.

“You can see what I mean when I said it was different,” said May.

The others nodded in agreement.

“I was trying to figure out that story was that those dancers were performing,” said Monica.

“I think it was kind of like Romeo and Juliet,” said Misty.

Other girls nodded in agreement.

Henry interrupted them, “I believe that Dawn has something to say.”

The black-haired freshman was suddenly uncomfortable from being the center of attention. “P-Please look this way.” In the corner, where she usually sat, there suddenly a large metal door that shone like a mirror.

“What’s that?” asked several girls.

“It’s Stanley and my first major effort to improve this room. We thought about what was needed most, and built it.”

Henry led the way. “You told me about it, Dawn. Now, I want to see it.”

The girl bowed her head. “I hope it pleases you, Master.”

Through the door was a room that looked like it was made of concrete. Spaced evenly around the room were six shower nozzles.

Everyone stood in the entrance looking in.

“A shower room, neat!” said Iris.

“No more long walks to the locker room,” exclaimed Bonnie.

“But something’s strange,” said May. “There’s no way to turn the water on and no way to change the temperature.”

“That’s where Stanley comes in,” said Dawn, walking into the center of the room. “He can’t hear your speech or talk back, but he can feel your contact to the floors and walls. In the past few days, I have taught him to identify each of you by your foot size and your weight.

“If you walk under a nozzle, Stanley will turn on for you.”

The freshman walked under the closest shower nozzle, and it turned on.

“If the water is too hot, slap the wall once and it will cool down. If you want it warmer, slap it twice.”

Dawn demonstrated each maneuver.

“And, as Stanley can tell you each apart, he will remember what temperature water you prefer.”

“What if there is more than one of us under a spray?” asked Bonnie, as she joined her sister.

The designer thought for a moment. “I hadn’t thought of that.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “I just told him to set the temperature at the average of the two or more.”

May felt like something was missing. She finally exclaimed, “Hey! There’s no drain here.”

Dawn nodded. “Stanley reabsorbs everything right through the floor.”