My head spun with the revelation that my new body was living on a dragon in orbit around or orbited by a planet, and again, Makayla’s arms shot out to support me.

“I’ll take you back to your room. You’ll be your old self after some rest.”

I was definitely preferring my new self. Well, as long as my soul didn’t get displaced by a goddess’ spark. Even if I now lived on a dragon floating through space.

Though I was growing accustomed to moving in this body, and my legs no longer trembled like a small, wet dog, I gave the steps a dubious look. With no guardrail, a misstep would mean plummeting six stories, with the off chance that Makayla couldn’t Jedi-levitate me.

That was it! “Can you just lower me like you raised me?”

“How about this, instead?” With a devilish grin, she wrapped her arms around me and jumped off the landing.

My heart leaped into my throat, stifling my scream. Makayla’s eyes were locked on mine as we accelerated, her smile at once mischievous and adoring.

Then, she uttered a syllable that sounded like oy. A tremor coursed through her, and reverberated in my belly.

Our freefall slowed to a floating descent, like a feather drifting back and forth.

Like Lois Lane in Superman’s arms, I couldn’t break our gazes. If my heart had leapt into my throat before, it had settled back into my chest and now jackhammered against its confines.

“You can let go now,” she said, grin widening.

I looked down to find my feet on solid ground, or at least, the mossy surface.

Her hands traced down my arms until our fingers intertwined again. She then turned and led me out of the tower.

In my haze, it was impossible to keep track of the turns we made. At last, Makayla pushed aside a curtain of moss and guided me into darkness.

She shifted around for a moment before saying, “Why don’t you ever leave the bell by the doorway? Where is it?”

Bell? “I don’t know.”

With a sigh, she sang out a note, the pitch the same as the giant vase the Cultivator had stolen. A subtle vibration course through her arm supporting me, and the circular room lit up from several patches of moss growing in globular metal vessels.

Makayla snorted. “I’m just glad you remembered to water your lamps. Look, there’s your bell.”

I looked in the direction she pointed, where a bell sat on a cylindrical stone table, next to a circular platform covered with plush blankets.

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Everything was circular, from the domed ceiling to what looked to be a stone stool next to a stone table. Opposite the bed hung more stringy and not-so-stringy gowns from arched, twisted metal racks, though even more clothes were scattered over the floor.

“Such a muckwallower,” Makayla said, pinching a rumpled yellow cloth between two toes and tossing it onto the platform. “As abbess, I command you to clean up your room by tomorrow.”

If a muckwallower was similar to a pig, it would still take offense at being compared to Alyna. Girl was a mess, her room looking as if a tornado had blown through, then came back around for good measure.

She sat me down, then sank into the comforter beside me. Nimble fingers worked the excuse for a gown off of me.

I reflexively covered myself as the ribbons dropped away; when she draped the yellow cloth over me, it turned out to be an impossibly soft robe. I worked my arms through the sleeves.

“Rest.” With some pressure, she brought me down onto my back, then nestled at my side, head propped up on her bent arm. “I’ll stay with you.”

Like before, her body felt so right beside mine, like pieces of a puzzle.

The light from the moss had dimmed, and given how off I felt in Alyna’s body, my eyelids drooped. Sleep would claim me soon.

No. What if I woke back in our world? I pinched myself, as if that would bring mental clarity. My eyes opened for a split second, enough to fall on a mirror that peeked out from a different gown.

A mirror! At last, a chance to see what I looked like.

“What are you doing?” Makayla mumbled, drowsiness in her voice.

“Nothing.” I didn’t want to disturb her if she needed sleep, but I didn’t want to fall asleep, myself.

No, I wanted to check myself out in the mirror. I leaned towards the moss lamp by the bedside. Could I replicate the bell, but low enough that only it would light up, a little?

I gave a little hum.

Nothing happened.

She poked me between the shoulder blades. “What are you doing?” she asked, voice more awake.

“I need a little bit of light,” I said, “but only from this one.”

“I’m worried about you. You’ve forgotten how to use magic.” She held out her hand. “Repeat after me: yitchak.”

Where her body pressed against mine, a ripple pulsed through her. A gentle light, like that on the fancy new Christmas lights, thrummed to life in her palm.

“Yitchak,” I repeated, extending my hand.

The resonance from the syllables echoed somewhere in my belly and coursed through my body. A little ball of light danced between my fingers.

“Good.” She patted me. “Now go to sleep.”

She closed her hand, snuffing out her light.

My head was clearing, though, jolted by the revelation that I could perform magic! I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that I was the vessel of a Goddess. Turning on my side, I cupped my hands so that the rays trickled through my fingers.

I had little time to consider this when Makayla pressed up against my back, one arm sliding under my neck while one hand rested on my hip. Her light breath warmed my nape, and she curled up, her lap cradling my butt.

If our bodies had fit together before, now they felt almost as one. Her breaths synched with mine, slowing with each inhalation. My eyelids began to droop…

No, I couldn’t drift off, not if waking up meant returning to my hopeless life on Earth.

Behind me, Makayla had stilled, each breath light, and if I didn’t get up now, I’d join her in sleep. With as much care as possible, I disentangled myself from her and sat up. Profound loss sank into my chest as our bodies separated.

I looked over my shoulder.

She lay there, still in the stringy dress, her chest rising and falling in gentle waves.

Smile coming up to my lips, unbidden, and I turned away before the ache in my heart grew unbearable. My gaze fell on the mirror.

Careful not to snuff out the light in my palm, I rose and padded over. I was growing more accustomed to Alyna’s body, since my legs didn’t wobble like a drunken sorority girl.

I removed the gown draped over the mirror frame and hung it on the clothes rack.

Then, I held out my hand and looked.

And gasped.