Chapter 1: The Unexpected Transformation
The afternoon sun bled through the gap in Lewis's curtains, catching dust motes in a lazy swirl. Cay Bennett stood in the doorway of his bedroom, her arms crossed, her mouth a thin line of displeasure. She had knocked. She had waited. She had been greeted by his mother, a harried woman who waved her toward the stairs with a distracted apology about laundry and dinner and why couldn't Lewis ever pick up after himself.
Now she stood in the wreckage of teenage neglect, and she understood the homework situation with perfect clarity.
Lewis sat in his gaming chair, one leg hooked over the armrest, earbuds dangling around his neck. He looked up at her with the particular expression of a student who had been caught and didn't much care. The flickering desk lamp cast an unflattering light across his face, highlighting the faint shadow of stubble he was clearly trying to grow.
"Miss Bennett," he said, drawing her name out like he was tasting it. "Didn't expect to see you here."
"I'm sure you didn't." She stepped further into the room, nudging a half-eaten energy drink can aside with the toe of her flat. "I've left you three messages. Two emails. A note on your locker. And you've submitted exactly zero of the last four homework assignments."
Lewis shrugged, the gesture loose and careless. "Been busy."
"Busy." Cay repeated the word flatly. She gestured at the room around them, at the paused YouTube tutorial on the TV, at the game controller balanced on the arm of his chair. "This is what busy looks like for you?"
"Priorities, Miss Bennett." He grinned, and there was something insolent in it, something that suggested he found the whole situation amusing rather than concerning. "You wouldn't understand."
Something flickered in Cay's chest. A warmth that had nothing to do with the stuffy room. She pushed it down, pressed it beneath the surface of her professional composure.
"Your grades are slipping, Lewis. Your parents are going to get a call from me tonight, and that call is going to mention the words summer school and academic probation. Do you understand what that means?"
He tilted his head, studying her with an appraising gaze that made her skin prickle. "You know, for a teacher, you're pretty hot when you're angry."
The words landed like a slap. Cay's jaw tightened. "Excuse me?"
"I'm just saying." He uncrossed his leg, leaned forward in his chair, elbows on his knees. "You come all the way to my house to yell at me about homework. That's dedication. And that tight little bun? That no-nonsense teacher vibe? Some guys dig that."
"Lewis." Her voice came out strained, and she hated the crack in it. "That's completely inappropriate."
"Come on. You can't tell me you've never thought about it." He stood, and even though he was barely an inch taller than her in her flats, he used the height to look down at her with that insufferable grin. "Teacher and student. It's a classic. There's probably a rule against it, sure, but rules are made to be broken. Isn't that what you're here to teach me?"
The warmth in her chest exploded.
It wasn't anger, not exactly. It was something older and more primal, something she had spent her entire adult life burying under lesson plans and faculty meetings and early morning jogs. It surged up her spine like fire, crackling through her veins, and she felt the familiar, terrifying sensation of her body beginning to shift.
Her bones groaned. Her muscles swelled. Her height shot up, the ceiling of his cramped bedroom suddenly much closer than it had been a moment before.
Lewis's grin faltered.
"What the hell?"
His voice pitched upward, and his eyes went wide as he watched her continue to grow. Her blouse strained at the seams, buttons popping and pinging against the walls. Her skirt split along the side, revealing the impossible curves of emerald skin that had replaced the pale, modest flesh of Cay Bennett. She grew to seven feet, then past it, her head brushing against the low ceiling, her shoulders broadening until she filled the space between his bed and his desk.
She flexed a hand and watched the muscles ripple beneath her green skin. Her voice, when she spoke, came out low and resonant, a vibrating growl that made the posters on his walls tremble.
"Who's the teacher now?"
Lewis stumbled backward, his hip catching the edge of his desk and sending a stack of textbooks clattering to the floor. "What are you? What the hell are you?"
Cay stepped forward, her bare feet leaving shallow impressions in the carpet. She had ruined her shoes when she outgrew them, and she could feel the cool air on her skin, could feel the raw power thrumming through every tendon and fiber. Her mind felt sharp and clear, stripped of all the careful restraint she wore like armor. She liked it.
"I'm your punishment," she said, and her lips curved into a smile that showed just a hint of teeth. "You wanted to see me angry, Lewis. You wanted to push me. So here I am."
She moved with startling speed for her size, crossing the room in two strides and planting a massive hand on his chest. He went down hard, the breath leaving his lungs in a wheeze as he landed on the rumpled sheets of his bed. The mattress creaked beneath him, and when she leaned over him, the flickering lamp cast her shadow across his face like a predator descending.
"Y-you can't," he stammered. "This is. This is assault. I'll call the police."
Cay laughed, and the sound rumbled through the room. She lowered herself onto the edge of the bed, folding her immense frame until her face was inches from his. The heat of her body rolled off her in waves.
"Go ahead," she said softly. "Tell them your teacher turned into a seven foot giantess and pinned you to your bed. I'm sure they'll believe you."
Lewis swallowed. His bravado was gone, replaced by the wide-eyed terror of a man who had just realized he was no longer the biggest thing in the room. But beneath that terror, Cay could smell something else. Something that made her nostrils flare and her smile widen.
"You're not scared," she observed. "You're excited."
"I'm not," he said, but his voice cracked, and his body betrayed him with a subtle shift against the mattress.
Cay pressed her hand flat against his chest, feeling his heartbeat racing beneath her palm. She leaned closer, her lips brushing the shell of his ear.
"Here's how this is going to work," she murmured. "You're going to learn what happens when you skip class, when you ignore your assignments, when you talk to your teacher like she's a piece of meat."
She drew back, holding his gaze with emerald eyes that seemed to glow in the dim light.
"You're going to take your punishment. And when I'm done with you, you're going to thank me for it."