Chapter VII

For Lilly, it felt as if time had simply stopped. The hallway was silent as she stood there, fingers wrapped around the orange gem, while she stared down at the face before her—a face that belonged to her. The doppelganger looked as surprised as she felt, which once again made her wonder if there was, in fact, some sort of weird mirror in front of her that was distorting the world and making it appear as if she were on the ground despite her standing up. However, she knew that was ridiculous since it was obvious that the image before her wasn’t a simple reflection. It was silly to think otherwise and yet, she found herself unable to accept that what she was looking at was real. Simply put, it was impossible. She knew as a fact that she didn’t have a twin so the only other explanation was that she had to be seeing things.

“Um...guys?” Alice said suddenly, breaking the silence. “Are you okay?”

It was then she remembered that Alice and Jay were standing nearby though, despite having been behind her just moments before, they were now directly in front of her and behind the doppelganger. Both had uncomfortable looks on their faces but, for some reason, they didn’t seem terribly shocked.

Wait, where’s Eric?

Remembering that the boy had been standing in front of her just before everything went white, she turned to look over her shoulder, wondering if he might know what was going on. He did claim to have some sort of magic and, while she felt stupid for even thinking it, she was prepared to believe even that if it explained what was happening. Yet, when she looked, there was no sign of the lanky boy. The hall behind her was devoid of any other students.

What happened to him?

“Uh...Reiner? You good?” Jay asked, a tone of irritation in his voice. “What the hell are the two of you doing anyway? You gonna take the stone or what?”

Lilly’s head snapped back to stare at the boy. He was talking to Eric despite the fact that the boy was nowhere to be found while also not seemingly confused by the fact that there were now two of her. Could he just not see her double or was something else going on. What threw her off even more was that he was looking directly at her when he asked the question despite having addressed Eric. Getting irritated by the situation and wanting some sort of answer, she decided to respond.

“What on earth are you talking about, Jay—?”

Lilly paused mid-sentence, her eyes growing wide once again. She noticed the difference almost instantly. The voice that came from her mouth when she spoke wasn’t hers. Her voice was all of a sudden deeper and, despite sounding so foreign to her, was also oddly familiar.

“Uh, are you high, dude?” Jay growled. “I mean, come on. Stop screwing around. Just take the stone and get outta here. We got places to be. I don’t have time to deal with your nonsensical ramblings.”

He’s talking to me? she realized. But he’s addressing Eric? That doesn’t make any sense…

It was then that a possibility suddenly occurred to her. If not for the already strange course of events, she would have considered herself utterly pathetic for even thinking that it might be possible. Yet, in a situation where nothing was making sense, she couldn’t help but to try and reason it out with any answer she could come up with. She quickly turned away from Jay to her double still crouched on the ground. She was no longer staring back at her but instead down at her own body. Slowly, the girl reached up and grabbed a strand of her hair, pulling it out to look at it. She then turned her attention to her hand before placing it against her chest. Lilly instantly felt her cheeks go red and she considered herself lucky that both Jay and Alice were looking at her and not the double. However, the double’s reaction to her own body and Lilly’s position in relation to her made her hypothesis seem even more likely.

When she looked down at herself, however, her suspicions, despite being utterly ridiculous, were confirmed.

The sight she was greeted with was not her own body but one completely foreign to her. Her chest was much broader than before and her arms were longer. In addition, she was no longer wearing the girl’s uniform of West Wilham High but the boy’s, with long dark blue slacks in place of the skirt she normally wore. She slowly raised her hand up to her own chest and exhaled sharply. She could tell instantly that, in addition to no longer having a bra on, her chest was completely flat...like a boy’s. Her hair wasn’t hanging down in her vision either and when she reached her hand up to her head, she found that it was cut so short that she could only see a little bit of her bangs in her field of vision.

“Fucking hell,” Jay snapped. “What? You got a headache now, Reiner?”

In contrast to Jay’s irritation, Alice looked genuinely concerned as she looked between Lilly and the double, her brow furrowing as she noticed the girl on the ground tugging at her skirt.

“Guys? Is something going on?” she asked hesitantly, before turning to address the double. “Lilly? Are you okay? What happened?”

The double seemed to realize she was being addressed as she suddenly turned her attention away from her skirt and looked directly up at Alice. Lilly held her breath, wondering if the girl was going to say anything when, out of the blue, she suddenly smiled. However, it wasn’t a sweet or happy smile but one of intense excitement. Moments later, she began laughing. Jay and Alice both stared at her like she had lost her mind and Lilly could feel her cheeks heating up in embarrassment.

“Yes!” the double suddenly exclaimed. “This is it! I knew that stone had held some sort of power but I never imagined it would be something like this!” She then turned to stare directly at Lilly, her smile widening. “Don’t you see what we’ve discovered! They all doubted me and yet I was right! Finally, after all this time!”

“Uh...Harper,” Jay stuttered, looking genuinely thrown off for the first time since Lilly had met him. “Wh-what’s wrong?”

The double continued to laugh before seeming to think of something. Before Lilly could snap out of her shock and try to talk to her, the double spun on her heel and darted through the open entrance of the boy’s bathroom just behind her.

“Wha—!” She tried to call out but her voice caught in her throat.

“Wait, Lilly!” Alice protested.

Jay was staring after her like she was insane. “That’s the boy’s bathroom, Harper!”

Feeling her panic begin to increase even more and knowing she had to do something, Lilly acted on impulse and raced after the girl with her face. Normally she wouldn’t dream of going into the boy’s bathroom but, given the absurdity of her circumstances, she decided she had bigger problems to worry about.

The minute she entered the bathroom, she noticed Brad Fischer at one of the sinks, staring at her double while clearly stunned that a girl would so nonchalantly walk into the boy’s room. She feared the rumors that could potentially spread after this but she forced herself to push the thought from her mind and deal with the problem at hand. Yet, despite already having an idea of what might’ve happened to her, when she stopped alongside her double at the sink and stared into the mirror before her, she still wasn’t prepared for the face that stared back. There was no denying it anymore. Her reflection no longer displayed her own features. Instead, when she looked in the mirror, she found the face of Eric Reiner staring back.

Holy shit! he thought in horror. So...I'm not seeing things? This is real life? I’m...actually in Eric’s body? Then that means…?

She slowly turned away from her own features and to the girl beside her, who was staring at her reflection with wide eyes and an ecstatic grin.

That’s Eric then… He and I...switched bodies?!

Lilly wasn’t one to even consider the possibility that the supernatural could be real. She was a realist and didn’t care for playing games and pretending like the world had some cool secrets it hid from the common person so to have somehow switched bodies with somebody threw her mind into disarray. In addition, she felt overwhelmingly confused. Despite being much taller and with a deeper voice, not to mention she was now a guy, something she didn’t even want to consider, nothing felt weird. She didn’t feel off balance despite the drastic shift in body weight. It felt almost as if she had been born in that body and had already lived her life with it. The only real differences she felt were smaller things like the rougher feeling of her skin or the odd sensation of speaking with a lower voice. It was both painfully foreign and uncomfortably normal. She spared another glance at Eric, wondering what could possibly be going through his mind while also fearing what he could do with her body. After all, she didn’t know the guy and thus, had no reason to think he would consider her own reputation and well-being while suddenly being in the body of a girl.

“H-hey!” Brad finally stuttered, staring straight at Eric. “This is the guys room! What the fuck are you doing?”

Lilly turned to look at the big boy, trying desperately to find something to say that could save the situation. But when she realized that, as far as Brad knew, she was Eric Reiner, and therefore, anything she said would probably just make the situation worse. In addition, it seemed the real Eric didn’t have the same fears as, much to her terror, he turned to look at Brad with a smug grin on her face.

“I’m well aware of the room I am in, dear Fischer,” he said. “However, you must feel like a true fool now! All of your declarations of my stupidity when, in reality, I’ve had magic at my fingertips this whole time!”

Shut up! You dumbfuck! You’re gonna make me look like a cringy idiot!

Yet, she couldn’t get her voice to work. Instad, she was forced to watch as Eric made an utter fool of her. Brad was staring at her in clear confusion and, before he could say anything, Eric continued, turning his attention to the orange gem still clutched in Lilly’s grasp.

“Yes…so this is how it works. Fascinating. Truly fascinating.” Then, he began laughing once again, reaching forward to take it from her. She didn’t have the strength or the care to resist. “I need to tell the others! Damien’s gonna flip when he sees this! Come on, Harper!”

“Wait…!” she protested, but Eric ignored her.

Instead, he turned and bolted out the door, leaving Lilly and Brad to stare after him in shock. She didn’t know what to do or even how to process what was happening but, knowing that she both needed to figure out what was going on and how to switch back, as well as knowing she couldn’t just let Eric run around in her body, Lilly decided she would have to deal with finding an explanation for Brad, Jay, and Alice later. She then sprinted through the door and turned to see Eric rushing down the hall.

“Reiner?” Jay snapped, still standing beside Alice, both looking completely unnerved. “What the fuck is going on?”

“Uh…” she stuttered. “I’ll...explain later!”

Then, leaving Jay to shout after her in protest, she turned and sprinted after Eric, praying that she could figure out a way to both switch back into her own body and to prevent Eric from doing anything else.

***

Liz sat with her head against the desk as she fidgeted with her blue mechanical pencil. Damien was still focussed on his homework, Vinny was probably surfing some online message board on his phone, and Eric still hadn’t returned from the bathroom. Because of this, she was quite bored. Normally, there was always something entertaining going on in the clubroom but, with Eric not in and the other two worn out from club rush, it was a rare quiet day. The girl had her headphones, which she usually wore around her neck when she wasn’t using them, over her ears and was listening to some relaxing piano music—something that was usually very helpful in clearing her mind. Liz sighed, repeatedly clicking the pencil until the lead fell out and then carefully putting it back in through the tip only to start the process over again.

I wonder what’s taking Eric so long. Did the poor guy just eat something bad? She smirked, remembering the time he ate one of the school cafeteria’s bean tacos and claimed that it had ruined his stomach for nearly two weeks.

Well, he wasn’t being totally over-the-top about it. The school tacos are utter shit.

Liz had only eaten them once and she had to agree with Eric in that both of them swore to never eat them again. Vinny, however, seemed to like them and neither she nor Eric could fathom what his stomach was made out of to be able to handle it.

She chuckled. Good times, I suppose.

The girl then glanced over her shoulder at Damien, who was staring at his computer with a look that made him seem lost in thought. She watched him for a moment, marveling at how cute he looked whenever he was struggling with his homework. The boy then seemed to come to an epiphany as he suddenly sat up straighter and began hurriedly typing.

Good job, Damien she silently cheered. You get that homework done!

She smiled happily and was turning back to face forward when the door to the clubroom suddenly burst open. Figuring it was Eric, she pulled her headphones down just as Vinny jumped at the sudden noise. Both of them turned to look at the door and both immediately stared in surprise since the person at the door wasn’t Eric, but a girl from their year that Liz only barely recognized. They had a few classes together and Liz remembered Eric and Vinny teasing her during club rush but it took a moment for her to remember the girl’s name.

Oh, Lilly Harper, she recalled.That new girl. But what the hell would she want with us? There’s no way Vinny and Eric actually convinced her to join the club.

Lilly was stopped in the doorway, looking at each of them in turn before suddenly smiling in a mischievous manner and stalking inside.

“Damien! Off the computer, my friend!” she called out. “I am commencing an emergency meeting of the Magical and Other Anomalies Investigation Team and attendance is mandatory!”

Uh...what the hell?

Liz, and even the typically quick to react Vinny, just stared at the girl in shock. Damien, who hadn’t bothered to turn around when the door initially opened, spun around in his chair and furrowed his brow as he looked at Lilly.

“Uh...are you, like, trying to do an impression of Eric or something?” Vinny finally managed to get out. “Cause, uh, full marks and all but...why?”

Lilly laughed, shaking her head in clear amusement. “I would assume my impression would be flawless, Vin’. After all, while I might not look like it, I am Eric Reiner! This is no impression but the real deal!”

Liz opened and closed her mouth, still unable to get herself to say anything. She exchanged looks with Damien, tilting her head in question, but he merely shrugged as if to say he had no idea what was going on either.

I don’t get this, she thought in bafflement.

Vinny was nodding his head but he was staring at Lilly like he thought he was imagining everything. “Okay. So you’re Eric? Is that what we’re going with?”

Lilly nodded. “Of course.”

“Right.” Vinny chuckled and shook his head. “Alright, I don’t know what’s going on but I’ll get behind this.”

“Vinny,” Damien snapped. “Don’t just accept this! She’s clearly trying to screw with us!”

“Yeah, and Eric probably put her up to it,” he responded casually. “I, for one, think this is hilarious.” The boy then turned to look at Lilly with a grin. “So? How much is the dumbass paying you?”

Liz was still trying to process what was going on when, before Lilly could respond to Vinny’s question, Eric Reiner himself appeared from behind her, looking so out of breath that Liz realized he must have run there as fast as he could.

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“You’re...really out...of shape,” he grunted, eyeing Lilly with an irritated expression.

Lilly merely shrugged. “And you’re quite fast. I’m impressed. You run or something?”

“Okay!” Damien snapped, getting to his feet and putting his fingers to the bridge of his nose as if the situation was giving him a headache. “Eric, now that you’re here, you mind explaining what you’re doing? Did you pay her?”

Eric suddenly seemed to notice the three others in the room and, instead of reacting with his typical dramatic flair, he seemed to pull back, as if just being there was making him uncomfortable. Lilly, by contrast, did exactly what she had expected him to do.

“You guys really don’t have any faith in me, do you?” she asked with a laugh. “Come on! I’d never pay some random girl to do something like this! I’m offended you would even suggest it, Damien!”

The boy just stared silently back at her, as if his brain was once again struggling to find some way to react to Lilly’s performance.

At the very least, she deserves an award for acting, Liz thought to herself. She might be screwing with us but her impression of Eric is so on point that part of me wants to just bow down to her right here. I mean, the girl can act!

“Oh, I love this!” Vinny cheered, looking like he was having the time of his life. “Alright, I’m biting! Miss Lilly, if you are telling the truth and you are Eric Reiner then I want you to explain to me how this little predicament happened!”

Lilly grinned slyly. “That I can do! You see…” She then reached down into the pocket of her skirt and, much to Liz’s shock, produced the orange gemstone that Eric had found at the beach. “...this is the cause. I told you all at the start of school and I’ll say it again! This gemstone is magic and now I know what it does! You see, Vinny, it has caused me to switch bodies with Lilly Harper!”

Liz and Damien once again exchanged looks of confusion and even Vinny failed to react immediately. The blonde boy’s smile wavered a bit as he stared at the stone clutched between Lilly’s fingers.

Switched bodies? Liz’s attention shifted over to where Eric was still standing quietly, looking like he really wanted to say something but also not knowing what to say. I know Eric isn’t a bad actor either but it’s almost scary how good he is at mimicking Lilly’s facial expressions from club rush. Not to mention, he doesn’t do things for no reason. Sure, he has his fun and all but a prank like this is really out of character for him. It’s almost if…

Coming to a quick decision, Liz got to her feet and faced Lilly with a challenging grin. “So you’re telling me that you actually are Eric Reiner and that the gemstone switched you into Lilly’s body?”

Lilly nodded firmly. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

“Alright, then how did it happen? How did the gem switch you?” she pressed.

Damien looked at her like she was crazy for even bothering to pretend like she believed him but Liz wanted to be certain that this was a mere prank. As arguably stupid as it was for her to even consider that Lilly might be telling the truth, she wanted confirmation just to ease her mind.

Lilly didn’t even hesitate to give her response. “We touched the gem at the same time.”

This time, it was Vinny who replied. “Touched? What do you mean?”

“Are we seriously playing along with this?” Damein muttered but all present in the room ignored him.

“We touched it,” Lilly explained. “I had my hand on the gem and so did she. I think it acts as a pathway or something for the consciousnesses to flow into the opposite body.”

Liz frowned, realizing that in all the time Eric had the gem, none of them ever touched the thing at the same time. Eric’s annoying habit of constantly tossing it prevented that. With the information she wanted, Liz decided to go in for the final strike in determining what was going on.

“Okay then,” she said, extending her hand out. “Let’s switch then, Reiner.”

Eric suddenly looked horrified, like he wanted to protest, but the boy kept quiet, which only furthered Liz’s fear that something might have actually been going on. Vinny and Damien were staring at her with cocked eyebrows but she ignored them all, facing only Lilly.

“Why not, right?” she pressed. “If you aren’t lying then it should switch us. After all, there’s no way I could think you weren’t telling the truth if I wound up in Lilly’s body.”

Part of her had expected Lilly to find some way around it and yet, she still found herself unsurprised when the girl grinned wryly and extended her own hand, holding the gem out for Liz to touch. The room was silent, as if even Damien were holding his breath to see what would happen, so, deciding she should just go for it, Liz stepped forward and placed her bare palm against the orange surface of the stone.

Instantly, everything went white.

What the hell?

She immediately began to panic, frantically trying to look around to see anything but she couldn’t move. It was like she didn’t have any physical existence and, before the terror could truly set in, she found herself back in the clubroom where she had been moments earlier. It was so sudden that she was forced to blink to get her vision to stop being blurry. Yet when she did, she was greeted with a sight that caused her to inhale sharply.

She was looking at her own features, which had a smug grin upon them that was very reminiscent of Eric. Knowing what must’ve happened but not wanting to believe in something so preposterous, she hurriedly tried to find some way to prove that she was wrong. Yet, the minute she realized she was seeing clearly without glasses and that her hair was cut down to her shoulders, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was no longer in her own body but in the one owned by Lilly Harper.

Which means…

The person in Eric's body is the real Lilly and the person now in mine is…

Eric!

“Vinny, give me your phone!” Liz shouted suddenly, turning a frantic look to the blonde boy.

“W-what?!”

“Just do it!” she insisted.

To his credit, Vinny took it from the desk and handed it to her, all the while looking completely thrown off by everything that was going on. Once she was holding his phone, Liz immediately pulled up the camera and put it into selfie mode.

Oh my god… I can’t believe this! she thought. Eric wasn’t full of it? He...actually found magic! What the hell! This can’t actually be happening! The whole club is just supposed to be a joke! I never thought he’d find something to actually investigate!

It was such a surreal experience, staring down at a reflection that wasn’t hers. She slowly raised her free hand to touch her face and the image of Lilly in the phone did the same. Liz narrowed her eyes, slowly lowering the phone and placing it back on Vinny’s desk. Then, as expected, the person she now realized was Eric spoke, his tone and mannerisms the same but now with her own voice and face.

“What did I tell you, Liz?” he asked slyly. “This gem has the magical properties to allow people to switch bodies and I have figured out how to use it! In fact…” He smirked, glancing over at Damien, who was looking between the two of them as if begging somebody to explain. “I suppose I have finally found a way to counteract your siren’s song! Now that I have your face, Damien will be wrapped around my finger! With this, the war is essentially won!”

This time, even Vinny was unable to play along with what he believed was a joke. The way Eric was speaking was so similar to his normal behavior that seeing it coming from Liz’s body must have had even him shaken up. Despite the situation, Liz clenched her teeth, turned, and stalked toward Eric. She knew that since he was currently her, she couldn’t exactly slap him for his stupid comments so, instead, she grabbed his collar and wrenched him close so she was looking right into her own eyes.

“You do anything to my body, Reiner, and I swear to god, you’ll be butchered so thoroughly that they won’t be able to tell your ass from your head...which you definitely don’t want seeing as it’s already hard enough as it is!”

“Ha!” Eric laughed. “I’m you though. You wouldn’t dare to harm your own face, witch!”

“Call me a witch with my mouth again and I’ll tell Harper to take off her pants for all in this room to see your pale ass!”

Having her usual back-and-forth with Eric served to calm her nerves a little bit but she was still internally freaking out. Part of her wanted to immediately take the gem from Eric and switch back into her own body while the more curious part of her wanted to see what being somebody else was like. At the same time, though, she also felt like turning bright red at the realization that Eric Reiner could feel every inch of her body like it was his own.

“Enough of this,” Damien suddenly growled, looking between Eric and Liz in a strange mix of fury and panic. “What’s going on here? Liz, you can’t actually be playing along with this, right?!”

Naturally, her boyfriend was addressing Eric, who she could tell was about to say something else stupid, so she immediately turned and began stalking across the room. Damien turned to her in surprise, his eyes narrowed in obvious suspicion.

“Er, Harper?” he said hesitantly.

She ignored him, stopping only inches away from him before leaning down so that her lips were right beside his ear. She saw him tense up and, despite feeling a pang of sadness as seeing the boy she loved so uncomfortable around her, she did what she had to and whispered soft enough that only he would hear.

“If I were lying to you and I wasn’t actually Liz, then how would I know about that cute little birthmark on your ass that you’re so embarrassed about?”

Damien’s eyes went wide as he jerked backwards, hitting his hip against the table. His mouth was open but he couldn’t seem to get any words out. Liz simply smiled smugly, folding her arms across her chest in satisfaction.

“Y-you…!” the boy was stuttering.

“Would I ever tell anybody something like that?” Liz went on. “Because I’d be really hurt if my boyfriend trusted me so little. So, which is more likely, Damien—your girlfriend is a liar or magic is real. Choose wisely. Your love life depends on it.”

She was mostly joking since even she probably wouldn’t have believed in magic so quickly when put on the spot but part of her did hope that Damien wouldn’t be so quick to think she betrayed his trust and told a random girl like Lilly Harper one of his more self-conscious secrets.

After a moment, he sighed, looking up at Liz with a tired expression. “Are you really telling me that Eric isn’t full of it—that the damn stone can actually switch people’s bodies?”

“See for yourself, buddy,” Eric called over, holding the gem up for Damien to see.

But the boy instantly shook his head. “No. I…if that is actually magic then…I don’t want any part of it. For now…I’ll take Liz’s word.”

Liz smiled. “Thanks.”

“W-wait, hold on!” Vinny protested, looking at Damien in shock. “Are you being serious? I thought this whole thing was a joke!”

“Excuse me,” Liz snapped. “If you think I would ever do something so embarrassing as an impression of Eric then I’m a little pissed off! What do you take me for, Vin’?”

The blonde boy looked between the other three members of the Magic Club in disbelief before seeming to find some convincing. “Alright! I want proof too then! Eric!” He turned to look at the boy turned girl and forced a confident smile. “Let’s switch.”

“Oh hell no!” Liz protested immediately. “It’s bad enough that Eric had ever been in my body! I’m sure as hell not letting you in it! God…I’m gonna have to find some way to bleach my insides!”

Damien sighed, putting his head in his hands. “If anybody ever overheard this out of context…”

Smirking at his comment, something suddenly occurred to Liz and she spun to face the door in embarrassment. Lilly, in Eric’s body, was still standing in the doorway, staring down at the ground.

Oh the poor girl!

“Eric, give me the gem,” Liz ordered. “I’m giving poor Lilly her body back before your ugly ass scars her for life!”

Lilly looked up in surprise at the mention of her name while Eric merely chuckled.

“Oh, right. Whoops,” he said with a laugh before tossing the gem over the desks and towards Liz.

The girl caught it then turned and made her way to the doorway. She put on as sweet of a smile as she could to appear comforting to the girl.

“I’m sorry about this,” she said. “I’m sure you’re really confused.”

Lilly nodded softly. “Uh, yeah. A bit.”

“He didn’t do anything to embarrass you, did he?” she asked.

“Hey!”

Ignoring Eric’s protest, Lilly seemed to hesitate for a moment before shaking her head.

“No. Nothing.”

Liz smiled. “Good.” Then, she held the gem out for Lilly to touch. “Then I’ll give you your body back so you can leave. That way, you won’t have to worry about that asshole being inside you again. After all, just thinking about him being in me makes me shiver.”

“Seriously, Liz, word choice,” Damien grumbled.

She smirked before shaking her head. “So go ahead, Lilly.”

As much as she both dreaded the thought of once again being stuck in that white void and being in the body of not only a guy but Eric, Liz wanted to make the girl feel as comfortable as possible. She couldn’t imagine what Lilly was thinking and she was sure the magic was overwhelming her. Taking Eric’s body for a few seconds was the least she could do.

Whispering a soft “thanks”, Lilly reached out and pressed her fingers to the stone’s surface.

Moments later, everything went white.

***

For the entirety of her trip home, Lilly’s mind was spinning so fast that she barely spent a few seconds on a thought before something else came to mind. Everything that went down that afternoon was like something out of a movie and she still couldn’t fully believe it had actually happened. After Liz Tao had given her body back, Lilly had immediately turned and sprinted from the club room, wanting to get as far away from them and their magic gemstone as possible.

I still can’t believe that happened, she thought with a shiver as she picked at her plate of spaghetti with her fork. It wasn’t a dream. It was real life. That orange gem actually caused me to switch bodies with Eric Reiner. I was him. I was in his body.

She could still vividly remember the feeling of being him. While, for some reason, being in his body hadn’t felt as weird and unnatural as one would have expected, the drastic difference between her and him was still noticeable. All of the foreign sensations of being in his body were fresh in her mind and some of them were best left forgotten.

She felt her cheeks burning at the memory of the various sensations that she knew a girl should never have felt in her lifetime.

Geez, she thought. Well, how many girls can say they’ve ever had a dick? Though, I suppose at least two.

Her attempt at an internal joke did nothing to soothe her discomfort and instead made her feel nauseous all over again.

She grimaced at her plate of dinner, not feeling hungry in the slightest and instead wishing she could run to her room and hide under her covers while attempting to erase the memories of that insane day.

But what now? she suddenly wondered. What am I supposed to do? Magic actually exists! Everybody scoffs at that club because of their belief in it and now it turns out they’re right?! What are they even going to do with that damn thing? I can’t imagine what the ability to switch bodies would even be good for aside from…

She gritted her teeth as her mind went to dirty thoughts once again.

Stop thinking like that, Lilly! It’s disgusting!

“Hey, Lil’?”

Lilly snapped out of her thoughts at the voice of her sister. When she looked up and across the dinner table, she saw Alexa looking at her with a concerned expression.

“Uh, yeah?” she asked.

“Are you okay? You’re kinda just picking at your food. Did something happen?”

Yeah…something happened…and if I told you what, you’d think I was crazy!

“No…I’m just not hungry,” she lied. “Do you want my food?”

Her sister frowned. “No. You should eat dinner! You’re already skinny enough as it is! Eat!”

“I told you, I’m not hungry,” she grumbled. “Don’t worry about me. I’m perfectly healthy.”

Alexa cocked an eyebrow, glancing sideways into the kitchen where their mother was cleaning.

“Mom. Tell Lilly to eat,” she called out.

Their mother simply laughed. “If she’s not hungry then she doesn’t have to eat. I’ll put it in the fridge so she can eat it later.”

Lilly sighed in relief. “Thanks, Mom.”

Anxious to be by herself again, Lilly hurriedly got to her feet and took her plate into the kitchen for her mother to put away. She then rushed past the table and, ignoring Alexa’s concerned look, went into the hallway. When she arrived in their room, she shut the door behind her and flopped onto the bed.

What am I supposed to do? Should I just go on with my life and pretend like it never happened? She snorted. Yeah, sure. Like that’s gonna happen. No way in hell I can act like something like that didn’t happen.

She rolled onto her side and grimaced.

Should I go back and talk to them? No, that sounds awful! I can hardly stand Jay and those four are twenty times weirder! Add that magic stone into the mix and it’s just a recipe for insanity! I want to just go about my life like normal and I especially want to be alone.

She turned and stuffed her face into her pillow before groaning.

Although, something tells me that I’m never going to see “normal” again.

***

Damien Clark sat in his room, staring up at his ceiling with a nervous expression. His phone was still clutched in his hand, his call with Liz having ended just moments earlier. Outside his window, the sun had already gone down and night had arrived. Normally, this would be the part of the day when he started winding down and getting ready to go to bed, yet he couldn’t seem to calm his pounding heartbeat.

If that wasn’t all some elaborate prank to screw with me then…Eric actually got his hands on some magic.

Despite the absurdity of the claims, he found himself fairly confident that they weren’t lying. For one, whenever Eric or Vinny pranked him, they would always own up to it after seeing his reaction. The very fact they hadn’t was enough to cause doubt. Then there was the simple fact that seeing both Lilly and Liz acting like Eric so perfectly was unnerving. But what really did it for him was “Lilly” whispering in his ear about his birthmark. Aside from his family, Liz was the only other person who knew about it since it was embarrassing and he was fully confident that she wouldn’t ever tell anybody for a mere prank since she knew how self-conscious he was about his body.

For the time being, he was going to believe that he wasn’t getting messed with and the gemstone actually could switch people’s bodies. Once Liz had switched with Lilly, the girl had instantly, and understandably, fled, leaving them to figure out the gem. Liz and Eric then switched back and everybody was back to normal. From there, Vinny and Eric swapped and the blonde boy’s stunned reaction just served to convince Damien even more that something was going on. Still, despite their attempts to convince him, he refused to touch that gem.

So, if this is actually magic then…what does this mean? Has Eric been right this whole time and magic is actually more common than we realize? If so then who knows? Is this a government secret? Or is it hidden from even those in power?

Damien leaned forward in his seat and sighed.

I don’t like this. Where did that gem come from? There’s no way it just appeared out of nowhere. It had to have gotten in that cave somehow. The boy frowned. And there’s no doubt that magic is a secret. Whoever lost that stone will surely want it back. So what happens when they find it? We could be in actual danger right now. Hell, we might’ve stumbled upon a conspiracy that could get us all killed.

He scowled. And then there’s Lilly. What’s she going to do now? She’s the only one other than us who knows about the stone. What’s she thinking about all this? Hell, being in Eric’s body probably traumatized her.

Damien got to his feet and began to pace. We should just get rid of the stone. If we throw it in the sea and pretend we never knew about it then maybe we can just go on like nothing happened.

He shook his head. The problem is…there’s no doubt in my mind that Eric is never going to give that thing up.