:=: Nicole :=:

Nicole slowly drifted awake. There was an aroma of fresh brewed coffee in the air, and it was calling her. She sighed a little. The bed was so warm and comfortable... and big. She frowned. This wasn't her bed. It wasn't Brooke's bed either. Where was she?

Her eyes opened and she glanced around, then gasped as memories of last night came back to her. Holy shit, that really happened...

She was alone in bed now, and she was still naked. There was light coming in around the curtains over the desk. The clock on the bedside table said it was almost 9am Thursday morning. The bedroom door was open and Nikki could hear some quiet movement out there. Her clothes were still neatly folded on the nearby chair, and she spotted the nightshirt she'd borrowed, laying on the foot of the bed.

She thought back to last night again. She'd... Nick... had been an asshole again, as usual. Brooke's friend Samantha was a witch. She'd been turned into a girl. And then she came home with the witch, shared a bottle of wine, and... had maybe the best sex she'd ever experienced? She pinched herself on the thigh, just incase she was still dreaming.

Ouch. Nope, she was awake, and this was real.

Nicole realized she had a decision to make, probably the biggest decision of her life. She curled up a little tighter in the duvet as she lay there, wide awake now. She let her thoughts wander back and forth through the two sets of memories.

Surprisingly, some of the Nick memories were clearer now. She remembered his skill with cars, his work at the garage. And his love for that stupid Mustang. She frowned, thinking of how he'd treated Brooke. God he was dense. He really did like the car more than his girlfriend.

Thinking of girlfriends, she pictured Samantha and felt a flutter in her heart, and between her legs. They'd only just met, and under some pretty weird circumstances. But she felt like she was already falling for the cute witch. Unless that was some component of the magic or something? Was she really attracted to Sam, or was it just part of new mindset the spell had given her?

She thought about her new memories. They were still clearer, still felt more 'real' than the Nick stuff. Was there anything in these memories that would 'make' her like Sam?

Ok, yes she was gay, and she felt glad for that. In a way it meant her sexuality didn't really change. Nick or Nicole, either way she liked girls. That didn't actually prove anything. She didn't think suddenly Sam was exactly her 'type'. She didn't really have a 'type'. It was all about personality, compatibility. Which was harder to evaluate, she sighed.

Finally she gave up that train of thought, and considered some other aspects of her new life, compared to the old one.

Ok selling make-up at the mall wasn't exactly the greatest calling in the world, but she wasn't going to spend her whole life doing that. And she had other interests, other talents. She loved to cook, and she was pretty good at it. She could easily get better work in the hospitality industry. They were surrounded by literally dozens of great hotels, wineries, and 5-star restaurants.

She knew she was smart, capable, and had her whole life ahead of her. And hell, she'd survived having her entire life turned inside-out by magic. After this, she could handle anything, if she set her mind to it!

Finally sitting up, Nikki reached down and grabbed the nightshirt, and quickly pulled it on over her head. That was her biggest problem now... she still felt weird about her body, and that awkwardness drained some of the confidence she'd just been feeling.

With the nightshirt on, she slipped her legs out of bed and stood up. Quietly padding over to the door, she glanced out into the living-room.

"Good morning," Samantha smiled at her. She was wearing the red nightgown from last night, relaxing on the sofa with a big mug of coffee in her hands. "There's fresh-brewed in the kitchen, help yourself. Mugs are in the cupboard by the fridge."

Nikki nodded "Thanks."

As she entered the kitchen, the cat dashed out, startling her. She spotted the carafe on the counter, next to a bowl of sugar and a little carton of cream. Nicole found herself a mug and fixed up a coffee, half spoon of sugar and double cream.

Then she went back out to the living-room and joined Samantha on the sofa. She sat at the far end again, leaving space between them both. She stayed quiet for now, just sipping her coffee as her thoughts went back and forth over everything that happened last night, and what she'd just been thinking about before she got up.

Eventually Sam asked her, "How're you doing?"

Nikki paused, thinking, then finally answered "I'm... conflicted. Confused. Maybe a little afraid."

Samantha nodded, looking sympathetic. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She nodded, "Yeah." After a moment she continued, "I noticed last night, and I've been considering again this morning. I think I might be smarter than him. I remember my grades were definitely better, but maybe he just didn't try as hard. And, I feel like my life is better, I have more potential. I can see more options. And I definitely feel like I'm a better person... I have empathy, I care about other people's feelings. He certainly didn't. And..."

Nikki hesitated again, then with a slight blush she admitted "And I think I like you. Like, maybe I'm falling for you... But then I also can't help wondering, how much of any of that is really me? Maybe it's just the magic... maybe I only think I'm a better person, maybe I only like you because magic is making me feel that way. I don't know if what I'm thinking and feeling now is really me, or just... things being put into my head." She sighed and stared down at her coffee.

Sam stayed quiet for now, looking thoughtful. Eventually she nodded, "Ok, yeah, I can understand all those doubts and questions. I know that you have nothing to go on but my word but, I promise you that I haven't done anything magical to influence your thoughts or feelings towards me. And for what it's worth... I like you too, Nikki. I think I like you a lot which... makes me nervous as well. I'm afraid my feelings might affect my judgement, though I'm trying to not let that happen."

She paused again, then finished, "As for stuff like being smarter, or more empathetic... that could just be from being raised differently. Nurture versus nature? Girls are raised with different expectations and are treated differently. It might just come down to that. Maybe that makes you a better person. Or, maybe you really are a better person."

Nikki listened quietly, sipped her coffee. She then smiled a little. "So, we went from enemies to friends pretty fast..."

Sam grinned, "Enemies, to friends, to lovers, all in one evening." Then her expression went more serious. "Are you ready to tell me what your choice is? How you want us to proceed, about the spell?"

Nikki smiled, "To be honest I think it was enemies, then lovers, then friends." Then she answered the question, "Yeah. Lets do it - finish the spell, get it over with."

"Ok. You understand though, like I said last night, I don't actually know what will happen... I suspect that there's not much more that will change, but I don't really know. And... once it's done, there's no going back." Sam sounded a little uneasy as she reminded Nicole of the unknowns.

Nikki nodded, "I understand. And to be honest, I could almost just say skip the spell and stay like this? But there's one thing that's... That I'm having trouble with. And I'm hoping that'll be fixed when the spell gets completed."

Sam looked concerned, "What is it that's bothering you? If you don't mind me asking."

"Uh... despite all the memories and stuff... I still feel really weird and awkward in this body." Nikki was blushing, and couldn't quite look Samantha in the eyes. "I mean, I don't feel like a guy or whatever... but I guess I don't feel 'right' as a girl yet, either..." She then added, "It's mostly only weird when I see myself naked, though. I mean, I could probably get used to it eventually..."

Samantha nodded quietly, "Ah... I see."

Nicole had another sip of her coffee and tried to relax again, feeling her blush gradually fade. Finally she asked, "So, when do you think we can try to complete the spell?"

Sam replied "We can do it any time in the next couple hours. I don't have to be at class today till 1pm, so it's up to you and whatever your schedule is."

Nikki frowned, "I don't have to be at work until noon, but I'll have to go home to shower, change, and do my make-up and stuff, so I should probably be out of here by 10. Can we do it right now?"

Sam nodded, "Ok." She drained the last of her coffee then got up and started clearing the space between the sofa and the tv, pushing the coffee table and other clutter off to the side. She then disappeared into the kitchen for a moment, before returning with a box of salt.

Nikki asked "Can I help? What should I do?"

Sam shook her head, "Just relax, this will only take a minute."

While she watched Sam start making a large circle with the salt, Nikki frowned. "I kind of wish I could apologize to Brooke, you know? But I guess that would just confuse her. Like, she doesn't remember Nick, she'd have no idea what I was apologizing for."

Sam had finished making the circle, and nodded, "Yeah, you're right. We should still call her later though, or at least text her, and thank her for hooking us up. She'll be happy about that. Even happier if we tell her you spent the night here."

Nicole giggled a little, "Yeah she'd love to hear about that."

Sam then motioned to Nicole, "Ok, come and kneel here." She indicated where, and how Nikki should be facing.

Nikki nodded and moved into position, being careful not to disturb the salt. "Should we be naked? I remember reading something about witches being naked when they did their thing."

Samantha grinned a little "Nah, that's not necessary. Though, if you want to, I won't complain."

Nicole smiled as well, but decided to keep the nightshirt on.

Sam then moved to her knees inside the circle as well. The two were facing each other, and were very close together due to the size of the circle.

Sam reached out and took Nicole's hands in her own. "Ok, all you need to do now is relax. Try to stay calm, don't pull away, and don't try to leave the circle. Just stay here with me. You can close your eyes if you want, or leave them open. This shouldn't hurt, and it shouldn't take too long, but try not to move until I say we're done. Ok?"

Nikki nodded, but asked, "You didn't need all this stuff last night, why's it necessary now?"

Samantha sighed a little, "Two reasons. First, I'm still a little drained from last night. It took a lot out of me, and using a proper circle will make it easier to summon and contain the magic. Second, things last night didn't exactly go as planned, and I don't want to risk screwing it up again. So this time, I'm doing things a little more 'by the book'."

"Ok, that makes sense." Nikki could feel some anxiety building now, and took a deep breath. She then nodded and, trying to sound calm, said, "Ok. I'm ready."

Sam nodded, and then closed her eyes and started to concentrate. Her lips moved as she softly whispered some strange words that Nikki couldn't quite understand.

Nicole glanced around and realized she could see little flickers of light forming in the air around them, like the ones she'd seen last night in the theatre. The floating lights circled the two of them, hovering in the air above where the salt had been laid out.

Nikki waited for the little lights to move in and land on her, like they'd done in the theatre, but this morning they kept their distance. Then after a minute or so, they just sort of faded away.

Samantha had opened her eyes, and was looking frustrated and confused. "It's not working..."

Nikki nodded "I can see that. Why not? What's wrong?"

"I don't know..." Sam shook her head. "I'll try again."

Sam's eyes closed and she focused, once again whispering the strange words. Nikki saw the flickery lights reappear, but they faded away even faster this time.

The frustration was even more evident on Sam's face this time, and Nikki sighed, "It's not going to work, is it?"

Sam finally gave up and let go of Nikki's hands. "I don't understand. I can summon the power and charge the spell, but for some reason when I try to cast it, it just doesn't go anywhere. It's not binding to you like it's supposed to."

"Shit." Nikki cursed softly.

:=: Samantha :=:

Finally Sam got to her feet and apologized, "I'm sorry Nikki, I think I need to do some more research. I thought I had a handle on this thing... but obviously I was wrong." Sam could feel that cold feeling in her stomach again. She was so sure she had it solved last night at the cafe. It should have worked. Unless she was wrong about what had happened. Or maybe she'd screwed the spell up even more than she originally thought...

Nicole looked like she was trying not to let on that she was upset, as she asked, "Can you get help or something? Do you have other witches you can talk to, a coven or something? If you can't figure it out yourself, there must be someone else who can."

Samantha tried to sound confident. "I'm going to do everything I can to solve this. Don't worry."

Nikki sighed, "Ok. I'm going to get dressed, then I'd better head out."

While Nikki was in the bedroom, Sam swept up the salt and disposed of it.

She was in the kitchen rinsing out the coffee mugs when Nicole emerged from the bedroom, her phone in hand.

Nikki asked, "Can I get your number?"

Samantha nodded, "Yeah of course!" She grabbed her phone as well and the two quickly exchanged numbers and contact info.

Then after a slightly awkward hug, Nikki was gone.

Samantha sighed, and locked the door. She moved to her bedroom, and kneeling infront of her dresser, she slid open the bottom drawer. She kept it there, hidden under some old t-shirts, wrapped in a white cotton sheet.

She carefully unwrapped the ancient book, and gently set it down on her desk, next to her laptop.

She'd found it just over 6 months ago, in a dusty old box in a storage room at the university. She didn't know exactly how old it was. Centuries, at least. It was thick, containing nearly a hundred and twenty vellum sheets, bound inside a sturdy unmarked leather cover. The pages were covered in strange runes marked in black ink. There were also several unusual diagrams and illustrations scattered through its pages.

Sam's thoughts drifted back to late spring when she first discovered it.

She had no idea what it was, but it seemed nobody else knew it even existed. There was no indication where the storage box had come from, no catalog number or anything to suggest the book had been recorded as university property.

Since it didn't seem to belong to anyone, and no-one else knew about it, and it sort of sparked her combined interests of history, literature, and languages, Sam had brought it home to try and decipher it herself.

Sam had managed to identify the runes on the internet, and then began transliterating the text from the odd glyphs into English characters. That's when she'd realized it wasn't in English at all. She recognized some of it was in Latin, and eventually figured out large parts of the text were written an older form of Welsh. Several blocks of text were written in a third language she still hadn't been able to identify, let alone translate.

She'd picked up an English/Latin dictionary and an English/Welsh one, and between the dictionaries and various online translation tools, she'd set to work deciphering the old tome. It had taken her 2 full months of research and work, to get through the first dozen pages. The book talked of a Goddess, of magic, of rites and power.

Sam had assumed it was a work of fiction, or maybe meant to be something like a fairy tale. At least, she'd thought that until she happened to read one passage aloud, and her English/Latin dictionary suddenly burst into flames in her hands.

After she got past the initial shock of that experience, she could barely contain her excitement. In high-school she'd been a neo-pagan wannabe witch, but by the time she started university she'd mostly given up on all that. Now she had an actual, ancient book of real magic, and all she had to do was finish translating it!

Over the next few months she'd managed to translate another two dozen pages, and had learned several more simple little spells. She could conjure light, she could heal small wounds, and her favourite was the spell that let her 'see the truth'. That one had already helped her countless times.

Then Samantha had grown frustrated with her slow progress. Nearly five months, and she'd translated less than forty pages. Two thirds of the book still awaited her. And judging by some of the diagrams and drawings, things looked to be much more exciting towards the end.

So, she'd skipped ahead. She translated bits and pieces of pages that seemed promising, until finding a passage that she was sure described stronger magic.

Two weeks later and she'd finished deciphering a spell that seemed to be truly powerful. It spoke of invoking the Goddess Herself, manifesting Her power on Earth. And that was the spell which Sam had used for the first time last night, on Nick.

And it was also what she was staring at now, with growing apprehension.

The spell covered three full pages of the book, and had been one of the most difficult things she'd translated so far. A few passages were in that mystery language and so still eluded her. Thanks to her transliterations, she could at least pronounce the words, even if she didn't know what they meant.

Had she messed something up in the translation? Or mispronounced the unknown words? Or did something in that cryptic passage contain a warning, or change the meaning of the parts she did understand? Perhaps was there more to the spell that she missed. Something on the preceding pages, or those that followed? She'd skipped past more than fifty pages to find this spell. And there were almost two dozen more pages after it. Was there some fundamental magical paradigm she'd missed, by skipping ahead?

Sam started to feel nauseous, as she realized just how deep a hole she had dug for herself. And for Nikki.

"What the fuck have I done?" Sam whispered to herself. "And what am I going to do..."

:=: Nicole :=:

Nikki pulled into the empty driveway and breathed a sigh of relief. She knew her dad would be at work, but she was afraid her mom might be home. Despite everything else that changed last night, she still wasn't entirely sure if the magic had reached as far as her family's suburban home. If they were expecting Nick, and Nicole walked in... She wasn't sure what would happen, but she knew it wouldn't be fun.

Her key worked on the front door, and she made straight for her bedroom. She braced herself as she reached her door. If it still looked like Nick's room in there, she figured she'd have to flee right back to Sam's place.

Opening the door, she breathed a sigh of relief. There was her white make-up table. Her pink dresser. Her bed with the black and pink sheets, and her pile of stuffies. And some of her dirty clothes, still scattered on the floor.

She checked the clock, and figured if she didn't spend too much time in the shower or doing her makeup, she'd have time for a quick meal before she had to leave for work.

There was a large white terry bathrobe hanging on the back of her bedroom door, which she grabbed and set next to her on the bed. She kicked off her boots in the direction of the closet, and let the rest of her outfit join the dirty laundry already on the floor.

Nikki kept her eyes focused on a spot on the wall and avoided looking down at herself, and quickly wrapped the bathrobe around herself, and headed for the bathroom.

She knew the shower would be difficult. At first it wasn't too bad, just standing there with her eyes closed as the warm water poured over her. It felt different on her soft, smooth skin. It's like her whole body was just a little bit more sensitive now.

Finally she grabbed the bottle of body wash, took a deep breath, and started washing. She had some mixed, conflicting feelings as she washed, but managed to distract herself by trying to understand why it felt awkward and weird.

She was certain she didn't miss Nick's body. The thought of having his big hairy body turned her stomach. She certainly didn't miss having a penis.

She didn't think it was some kind of dysphoria or gender thing, since she didn't have a problem when people referred to her as a girl, used she/her pronouns for her. And her name was right. She felt like Nicole, or Nikki.

So why was she having so much trouble with her body? It's like there was some piece missing, something that didn't quite fit right, but she didn't know what it was.

She shook her head slightly, as she got to work on her hair. As much as she loved it being this long, she realized it needed a lot more maintenance than a 2" crewcut. And it took a lot more shampoo and conditioner, to get it clean.

When she finally emerged from the shower, she took a couple towels and wrapped one around her hair, then used the other to quickly dry herself off before wrapping herself up in her terry bathrobe again. She moved to the counter and picked up the blowdryer, and started drying her hair.

Finally back in her bedroom, Nikki sat at her make-up table, still bundled in her large bathrobe. It had taken longer than she expected to get her hair dried and brushed. She looked at the large assortment of products on the table infront of her, and got to work. As with just about everything else today, it was both a familiar routine, and the first time she'd done it.

She had a style in mind already, and went for a dark red lipstick, then selected somewhat matching tones for her eyeshadow. Her nails were a bit out of place but she didn't have time to deal with that today.

When the makeup was complete, she selected a cute matching set of panties and bra from her dresser, along with a pair of dark grey patterned tights. In her closet she located the knee-length black tea-dress with the abstract roses embroidered on the shoulders in red thread.

She laid out the clothing on her bed, then Nikki sort of braced herself for the discomfort. She then shrugged off the bathrobe and quickly dressed. Her outfit was completed with a pair of cute black Mary Janes on her feet.

She took a few more minutes infront of the mirror, double-checking her makeup and checking her hair again. Once she was satisfied, she glanced at the clock again. Crap. No time for breakfast after all.

Nikki pulled on her jacket and grabbed her purse. Mom still wasn't home, she noted with relief. She still wasn't ready to meet her parents as their daughter.

It didn't take long to drive to work, and soon enough Nikki was hurrying through the all-too-familiar concourse of the Pen Centre. Whether you worked there or not, just about everyone in the area knew the place, it was the biggest mall in the region.

What was unfamiliar to her, were the looks she received. Yet another aspect of her new life that she remembered, but had yet to experience until now, was the way men checked her out. From teens to old men, she caught them looking her over.

Nikki tried to ignore them, and hurried into the store.

"Hello Nicole," Annie Gilbert, the store manager and her boss greeted her as she hurried in.

"Hi Mrs. Gilbert." Nikki ducked into the back and took off her jacket, and signed in. Then she joined her boss behind the counter, and settled in to a long shift. She was here from noon till 6pm, except for a 30-minute meal break.

Her shift started off all right, but things quickly began to go wrong. She had excellent knowledge of the products, and a natural talent for working with them. She knew how to run the register, and even knew the boss's override password, from that time Mrs. Gilbert had accidentally said it out loud while typing it.

Despite all the memories of working here for the past eighteen months, Nikki simply didn't feel like she was cut out for retail. Especially not at the start of the xmas shopping season.

Customers got on her nerves. They were demanding, rude, thoughtless. And she was still feeling eyes on her, from every other guy who walked past the store while she was near the front.

The worst were two who actually came in. One was picking up a gift for someone. Another was just there waiting while his girlfriend or wife or whatever was shopping. The first kept trying to flirt with her, the second just blatantly stared. At her tits, her ass. She almost wondered if he was being that obvious on purpose.

She wasn't quite halfway into her shift and she was already feeling frazzled, emotional, and starting to snap a bit at customers.

Finally her boss called her aside. "Nicole, what's gotten into you today? This isn't like you at all."

Nikki was feeling overwhelmed. Her emotions were all over the place. Angry, scared, sad. And her thoughts kept drifting back to the magic that thrust her into this, and the cute witch who'd cast the spell.

She looked at her boss, and felt her lower lip tremble as her emotions churned. She decided she had to get out of here, or she wouldn't last much longer.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Gilbert... I think I'm coming down with something? I've been getting dizzy spells and headaches on and off... I'm starting to feel nauseous now..."

Her boss frowned a little, then sighed, "Ok, I'll try to get Kimberly in here early. Are you going to head home? Or to the doctor?"

Nikki remembered Kimberly was the assistant manager, she was due to start in about an hour anyways, when Mrs. Gilbert's shift was over. Nikki replied "I'm going to head home, and call the doctor to see if I can get an appointment..."

Mrs. Gilbert nodded "Ok. If you think you're going to have to miss part of your shift tomorrow, call me as soon as you can so I can get someone to cover for you."

"Thanks Mrs. Gilbert." Nikki moved into the back room and grabbed her purse and jacket, signed out, and then headed out of the store. She tried to ignore everyone around her as she made a bee-line for the parking lot.

When she reached her car, she quickly got in and started it up. She didn't know where she was going, but she still wasn't ready to go home, and she certainly wasn't going to the doctor.

Nikki ended up driving aimlessly for a while, before she eventually wound up at a small park. There was almost no-one around on a cold grey November afternoon. She saw one or two people out walking dogs, but that was it.

Finally all the emotions she'd been ignoring and suppressing boiled up and burst out. Nikki curled up a bit in her seat, wrapping her arms around herself, and cried. She let it all out, the tears flowing for a good five minutes.

Finally her sobs slowed and the tears came to a stop. She slumped in her seat and sighed deeply. She was a little surprised when she realized, she actually felt a bit better after that.

After a few deep breaths, she straightened up, then folded down the sun-visor to check herself in the little mirror.

"Ah fuck." she laughed. She was a mess. Luckily she had wet-wipes and some napkins in the glove box. She wouldn't be able to fix her make-up, but at least she could clean up the disaster that her tears had made of it.

As she cleaned up the mascara streaks and smudged eyeshadow, Nikki reflected on the catastrophe that had been her afternoon.

She had the memories, the knowledge. But it wasn't real. She remembered working retail for almost a year and a half, but she'd never really done it. Just like she remembered a lifetime of being a girl, but it hadn't even been a full day yet. Everything about her life was artificial, untrue.

She sighed and shook her head. Her whole existence was a lie.

After she was presentable, she pulled her phone out of her purse and started texting Samantha.

Sam had to finish the spell. This needed to be fixed.

She couldn't keep going like this.

:=: Samantha :=:

Sam had just barely made it to class on time. She'd been frantically trying to translate parts of the book, hoping to find something to help Nicole or at least explain what had happened, but there simply hadn't been enough time.

Fortunately she only had the one class today and it had just ended. She'd seen Nikki's texts and responded. As she emerged from the building, she spotted the little black Rio waiting by the curb nearby, and Sam hurried over.

Sam started to say hello as she slipped into the passenger seat, but caught herself as she noted the puffy red eyes and faint smudges of mascara. "Nikki, I'm so sorry... Are you ok?"

Nicole sighed a little and shook her head, "Not really. Can we just get back to your place, and try to fix this?" Her voice was soft and quiet, and she sounded tired.

Samantha bit her lower lip, but nodded quietly. That cold heavy feeling settled in her stomach again. She wasn't sure how she was going to break the news to Nikki, but she wanted to do it in private, and not while Nikki was driving.

It was only a 10 minute drive, and they were back at Sam's place.

As soon as they were inside and the door was closed, Nikki asked, "Please tell me you've got something? You've talked to your coven, you all have a solution?"

Sam sighed, braced herself, and said, "Nikki... I'm sorry. There's no coven. It's just me, and a book. And I haven't finished translating it yet..."

Nicole blinked slowly, and repeated, "A book... that you haven't finished translating." She took a deep breath, and asked, "Samantha, tell me the truth. Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Her voice stayed level, but there was edge to it.

Samantha shook her head slowly, and whispered, "I'm sorry Nikki. I'm trying... I thought I understood... but it's..." She shook her head again. "I screwed up. I'm sorry..."

She watched as Nikki took another deep breath. Despite looking completely frazzled, she seemed to be keeping herself calm for the moment. Sam had been prepared for yelling, tears, anger.

"What about that stuff you said at the cafe last night?" Nikki asked. "The boulder analogy, the spell fizzling... Where'd all that come from?"

Sam nodded and explained, "I used a little spell... it lets me 'see the truth'. I could see you were... soaked in divine energy. It made sense, I had invoked the Goddess. So it wasn't my magic that had changed you, it was Hers. And I could see that it was sort of 'paused'. I remembered, I'd cast my spell on Nick, and I knew that spells work by binding, and since you weren't Nick any more, the spell must have come unbound."

Nicole listened quietly, and finally rubbed her forehead. "That's... just about every word of that sounds like speculation and assumptions, Sam."

Samantha frowned, "Maybe... But it fits the circumstances, and I can't think of any other explanation that fits."

Nikki sighed again, then asked, "Show me the book, please? I'd like to see it."

Sam hesitated a moment, then sighed, "Ok. Have a seat on the sofa, and I'll get it."

Samantha went into her bedroom, and carefully retrieved it from the dresser. She unwrapped it in the bedroom, and carried it out into the living-room.

"If you're going to handle it, please be gentle. It's very old, and probably priceless." Sam then carefully set the book down on the coffee table, infront of the sofa. "It was written in some obscure runes, but uses a mix of three languages. Mostly Latin and an older form of Welsh, and then there's a third one that I haven't been able to identify yet."

Nicole nodded, and gently opened the book, and looked at a few random pages. "Can you show me the spell? And the translation? I'd like to see it for myself, since I'm the one who's been cursed and all."

Sam winced a little at that. It had gone from being a spell, to a curse.

"Ok... here it is." She carefully turned pages till reaching the ones in question. "It starts here, and ends here." She turned the page, indicating the three in question. "The translations are on my laptop, just a sec."

Nikki just nodded and continued staring at the rune-covered vellum infront of her.

Sam grabbed her laptop then returned to the living-room. She sat on the sofa next to Nikki and set the laptop on the coffee table beside the book, and waited for it to finish starting up.

After a few clicks, she had the document open and scrolled to her translated spell.

Nicole's eyes scanned through the text on the screen, then back at the book again. She then pointed at a line on the screen. "See this bit, where you've got 'the spell binds to the intended target'?"

Sam nodded, "Yes?"

"That's wrong. See here?" Nikki then pointed at a line of runes in the book, "It says 'binds to the chosen one'."

Sam frowned, "That's... what? What makes you say that?"

Nikki shook her head, "I can't explain it, but when I look at the text, that's what I see."

Sam opened up another document on the laptop, the transliterated file, and scrolled to the appropriate line. It was one of the Welsh ones. She knew it was possible for her to have mistranslated stuff, but wasn't sure how Nikki could know.

"Here's another error." Nicole was pointing at the book again. "You translated this as 'Invoke' but I'm seeing it as 'Embody'."

Sam shook her head, "I'm not saying you're wrong, but... I don't see how you can be translating on the fly from medieval Welsh written in obscure runes..."

Nikki shrugged a little, and rubbed her eyes. "Maybe because I'm 'soaked in divine energy'? I don't know either, but I'm telling you, that's what it says."

Samantha bit her lower lip, "The thing is... from what I've learned so far, if I get something wrong, the spells don't work at all. I haven't had a spell go halfway, or do something unexpected. Until now, it's been all or nothing. So if there were a bunch of little errors in translation, the spell shouldn't have done anything at all."

Nikki frowned, then looked at Sam and asked, "Do you mind if we order in some food? I haven't eaten since that cake last night and I'm starving."

"Uh... I don't mind, but... I'm kind of strapped for cash..." Samantha sighed, feeling a little embarrassed.

Nikki shook her head, "Don't worry about it." She opened her purse and fished out some cash and handed it to Samantha. "Can we get Chinese?"

Sam shook her head, "We are not eating Chinese take-away next to a centuries-old priceless manuscript."

Nikki giggled a little, "We'll put the book away when the food gets here." Then added, "Get extra spring-rolls, please? I'm not picky about anything else."

Sam couldn't argue with that. She got her phone and went into the kitchen. From a drawer she produced the menu from the local place, and after a few minutes she'd placed their order. Dinner for two, with an extra order of spring-rolls.

When she returned to the sofa, Nikki was still studying the book. She'd flipped back to the pages just before the spell. She was frowning, nodding slightly to herself now and then, and it looked like she was actually understanding it somehow.

After a pause, Sam asked, "Are you actually able to read it? Getting anything helpful?"

Nikki nodded, "Yeah. This isn't a spell, or a curse. It's a ritual. I'm pretty sure it's saying, this is a ritual that's meant to be performed by the priestess, on a volunteer. I think it's meant to 'embody' the Goddess... basically the volunteer becomes a vessel for the Goddess?" She paused, frowning, then nodded as she read the next part. "Yeah, the volunteer is the 'chosen one', and the Goddess is embodied into her. So she becomes a manifestation of the Goddess, here on Earth."

Samantha frowned as that sink in. She'd ignored those pages. She had figured out they mentioned a ritual, and she'd ignored them because she was looking for powerful magic, not boring rituals. "Fuck." she whispered to herself.

Then another thought crossed her mind, "Wait, that still doesn't make sense. Nick didn't volunteer for this. So it still shouldn't have done anything to you."

Nikki shook her head, "So far nothing says the 'volunteer' is actually participating... It might be that the ritual assumes the volunteer's agreement? Either that, or there's something else I haven't spotted yet."

Samantha considered that. It didn't feel right to her, that someone would be called a 'volunteer' but didn't actually have a say in the process. "I suppose... But how would that explain everything that's changed, though? And why the spell didn't finish?"

Nicole was focused on the book again, turning to the pages after the 'spell', reading to see what comes next. Then she answered, "It mentions that before the Goddess's arrival, She will ensure that the vessel is suitable."

After a pause, Nikki continued, "I don't think some Goddess would be happy about getting embodied into a guy. Especially not a jerk like... like I was. So She made the 'vessel' suitable. As for the rest of the changes, I'm going to assume that She's a nice Goddess and wanted to make sure Her 'vessel' wasn't too messed up by those changes. Hence, the memories, and the rest of reality adapting to fit?"

Sam frowned, "Ok, I kind of see how the physical changes would happen, and maybe the memories too. The rest of it sounds too... too much I guess? Like... ok, how would an ancient Welsh Goddess know to set you up with a job at the mall? And why would She bother, if She was going to 'embody' you?"

Before Nikki could answer, Sam's phone started ringing.

It was the delivery. She buzzed him up, and said to Nikki, "Can you please put the book and laptop on my desk for now?"

Nikki nodded and carefully closed the book, then carried it and the laptop into the bedroom while Sam answered the door.

They used the coffee table in the living room, got a few cans of cola from the fridge, and sat down to dinner. It turned out they were both pretty hungry, so they didn't talk much over dinner.

Samantha enjoyed the meal, but she started to think about all the hours she'd spent, painstakingly translating the book line by line, and at times, word by word. Seeing Nikki somehow just reading it by sight hurt a little. She knew she shouldn't feel jealous, and she knew she should be worried about the bigger problems, but it still left her feeling a little sad.

As soon as they'd both had enough to eat, they packed away the leftovers into the fridge and tidied up the coffee table. Nikki was obviously eager to get back to the book.

Sam just watched quietly again as Nikki turned back to the last page she'd been looking at, and continued reading. There was little else for Sam to do right now.

After a few more minutes, Nicole straightened up, then leaned back in her seat. There was a slight frown on her face, and a distant look in her eyes.

"You've found something?"

"Yeah. The answer, I guess." Nikki sighed. "The spell didn't stall, or fizzle, or fail. It's just not over yet. The final step of the ritual, is the volunteer, the chosen one, has to welcome the Goddess in."

She turned to look at Sam, "I have to willingly surrender my self, and invite the Goddess to take me."

Samantha's eyes widened. "You have to sacrifice yourself, to complete the spell?!"

"I don't have to... I do have a choice." Nikki replied quietly. "I could refuse, tell Her She is unwelcome. And She'll withdraw Her energy, Her preparations will be undone. And I'd go back to being Nick..."