:=: Jessica :=:

Jess lay back in her hospital bed, staring at the ceiling. She was bored, frustrated, and above all, depressed. She was in the 'psych ward', under supervision.

She wanted to draw, it helped her pass the time. But no-one knew what happened to her things. They wouldn't say it, but she was pretty sure her stuff was gone. Either the paramedics or the cops tossed it all, or they just left it in the alley where they'd found her, and it'd all been scavenged by now.

Her pencils and sketchpad were the only things that had been important to her. She sighed and tried not to let the despair grow.

Why the fuck did they have to save her? Why'd some 'good samaritan' have to find her and call 911? Why didn't she wait for a better time, or look for a more secluded spot, before...

Jess sighed again. Stop thinking about it. It's the past. Nothing she can do now but wait and see what happens next. Whatever it is, it'll suck. Life hated her, and she felt the same way about life. The sooner she could get rid of it, the better. She just had to wait and watch, till the next opportunity came up.

It was Wednesday, mid-afternoon, when she heard some voices just outside her door. She recognized one as the doctor who'd seen her this morning. She hadn't bothered to learn his name. Like most of the staff, he refused to use or acknowledge Jessica's name or correct pronouns, so she didn't care about theirs.

She could hear them clearly, just outside the door. She wondered if the doc knew she could hear, or if he just didn't care.

"This is Mr. Campbell's room. He was brought in early Monday morning. Overdose, we don't know if it was intentional. There's some mild pneumonia we're treating him for, and we suspect some liver damage."

Jess clenched her teeth as the doc kept casually misgendering her.

The next voice was a woman's, Jessica didn't recognize her. "Thank you doctor."

A moment later, two women entered the room and approached Jess, stopping a few paces away from the bed. Jessica's eyes flicked over both of them.

The taller one looked to be only a few years older than Jessica. She had shoulder length, wavy brown hair, dark hazel eyes, and her fair skin suggested she got out in the sun now and then, but not enough. Jess estimated she was about 5'7". She looked well-fed. Not quite fat, but curvy. She was wearing a long flowy brown and green dress with a ruffled skirt, and brown sandals. There was a silver pentacle necklace hanging loosely around her neck, and slung over her left shoulder was a faded black canvas purse that was decorated with various buttons and patches. Jess noted several pride flags among the numerous flower and cat appliqués.

Jess's eyes moved to the shorter one. She looked to be in her mid-30's. She was an inch or two shorter, and somewhat slimmer than the other one. She had short black hair, tanned skin, brown eyes. She looked more professional. She wore a black skirt and a blouse that was white with floral prints, and she was wearing pantyhose and heels. She carried a black leather purse.

Jessica knew they were both sizing her up at the same time. She was used to that. She knew what she looked like, unfortunately. And without her own clothes and any makeup, she looked worse than usual. Going through the wrong puberty sucked for anyone, but it had been especially cruel to her. She'd never had access to blockers and likely had no hope of ever getting on HRT.

She was tall, 5'10" at least. Her body was best described as lanky, and the last two years on the streets left her skinny and sort of gaunt. Her adams apple was prominent, her voice deep. Worst of all was the scruffy facial hair. The hospital had provided a cheap safety razor, but it wasn't very effective. At least her dark red hair was long, albeit a bit thin and stringy. It hung past her shoulders, and nobody at the hospital had tried to get her to cut it. Yet. She knew to everyone else, she was just some homeless guy.

The three stared at each other for a second or so, then finally the younger one spoke. "Hello. My name's Samantha Carlisle, or you can call me Sam. And this is Maria Watson. She's a social worker. Is it ok if we speak with you for a bit?"

Jessica was wary. She hadn't had much luck with 'social workers' or 'therapists'. In her experience they all had an agenda. These two weren't wearing hospital badges so they were from somewhere else.

"Who sent you? The cops?"

Maria shook her head, "Not at all. Samantha and I are volunteers."

Jess closed her eyes, "If you're here from some church or jesus-group, you can get the fuck out. You're not gonna save me."

Samantha spoke up, and Jess could hear the smile in the young woman's voice, "I'm a witch. So, definitely not here to talk about Jesus. Maria and I volunteer with a support group for LGBTQIA+ youths. Please, may we talk with you?"

Jessica opened her eyes and looked at the pair again then sighed, "Fine, not like I've got anything else to do here." She added sarcastically, "Pull up a chair."

There were no chairs in the small room, the only furnishings were the bed she was in, and the little adjustable wheeled table for her meals. Even the walls were mostly bare, save for a whiteboard where the nurses wrote the date, the name of the nurse on duty, and the room number. At least she had the room to herself, no roommate to deal with.

Maria asked, "Is there a name you'd like us to call you? And would you like to tell us your pronouns?"

Jess raised an eyebrow at that. They knew she was trans? They sure didn't get that from the doctor.

"My name is Jessica, or Jess for short. She / her. I didn't ask any support group for help, who sent you?"

Sam replied, "Thank you Jessica. One of the nurses here contacted our group, and suggested that you could maybe use some help."

Jess nodded. It had to be Susan, the nurse from yesterday afternoon. She was the only one who'd respected her name and pronouns, and so the only nurse who's name Jess had bothered to learn.

She sighed though, "Thanks, but you're wasting your time. There's nothing anyone can do to help me."

Maria spoke next, asking, "Would you at least talk with us? Tell us your story. Maybe things aren't as bad as you think."

Jessica scowled a little, "Pretty sure things are exactly as bad as I think. I'm stuck in here because the docs think I might be a suicide risk. And last I heard, the cops might charge me with possession cos I still had some drugs on me when they found me. When the paramedics brought me in here, somehow my stuff didn't come with me, so I've got literally nothing."

She paused, then summed it up, "So either the hospital sends me back on the street with some donated clothes, probably mens clothes, and a few dollars. Or they keep holding me in here in the men's side of the psych ward and I get dead-named and misgendered constantly. Or the cops decide to haul me off and toss me in jail for a while, which would be even worse."

Jessica watched her two guests. Samantha looked like it bothered her to hear this. Maria kept a somewhat impassive face though. No surprise, the social worker was probably experienced at keeping her emotions hidden. Jess wondered what Sam's deal was, then decided she must be a student shrink or something, tagging along with Maria and learning the ropes.

Maria then said, "Well, we could try to help in a few areas. First, what about your ID? Perhaps we could help you with a legal name change..."

Jess cut her off, "I've looked into how that works. I don't have my original birth certificate, and I'm homeless. Even if your group coughed up the cash for the fees, and had a mailing address I could use, I wouldn't meet the other requirements."

Samantha asked, "Do you have any family who could-"

"Fuck them!" Jessica spat. Gesturing towards the door, she continued, "If you two have anything to do with my parents you can just fuck right off!"

Sam went silent, looking startled or chagrined by Jess's anger. Maria looked a bit more sympathetic.

"Don't worry Jessica, we haven't been in contact with your family, nor would we, without your express consent." She then asked, "There's obviously a lot of anger there. Do you want to talk about that?"

Jess was still glaring, but then shrugged, "Fine, whatever. I figured out I was trans when I was twelve. Came out to them, told them I wanted to be called Jessica, told them I was a girl. I thought they'd help me. I thought... I thought they loved me."

She had to stop talking for a moment. It still hurt, after all these years. The betrayal still hurt so damn much. It took her a few seconds to get her emotions under control again, before she continued.

"Instead, dad spent the next two years trying to beat me straight any time I mentioned being trans or the name Jessica. Mom made sure my hair was always cut super short, and all my clothes were as masc as possible. Any time I did get my hands on something they deemed 'girly', they'd make me watch while they destroyed it or threw it out."

Samantha was looking more upset, but trying to hide it. Maria looked sympathetic.

Neither of them said anything though, so Jess concluded, "When I was fourteen, I'd had enough. I took off, and wound up on the streets. It sucked, but it was still better than 'family'."

Maria asked, "And you've been on the streets since then?"

Jessica shook her head, "I got busted for stealing when I was fifteen. I think the cops contacted my folks, or tried to? I ended up with Children's Aid though, so I figure my folks didn't want me."

She sighed as she went on, "CAS put me in a foster home. It was more of the same. No-one cared I was trans, they always used my dead-name, kept treating me like a boy. There were still beatings, but that was at the hands of the other boys there. I was only there like six months or so." She shrugged, "I guess I was 16 when I escaped. I've been on the streets since then."

Maria sighed, "I'm sorry, Jessica. CAS should have treated you better, and shouldn't have placed you somewhere like that."

Jess shrugged again, "It is what it is. Life hates me, I'm used to it by now."

Before either Sam or Maria could respond, one of the nurses walked into the room. "Time for meds, and I have to check Jason's vitals. Can you two wait in the hall? I'll be done with him in about ten minutes."

Jess scowled at the nurse's words. She noticed though, both Maria and Sam also seemed annoyed by it. Maria sighed softly, and Sam had her lips pursed like she wanted to say something but was holding back.

Maria then said to the nurse, "Just give us two more minutes, please?"

With a shrug and a nodd, the nurse stepped back out for now.

The social worker then looked back to Jess and asked, "Is there anything we can do for you right now, Jessica? Anything you need?"

Jessica responded without hesitation, "A sketchpad and some pencils. If I could draw, it'd help pass the time. All my stuff went 'missing' when they brought me in here."

Sam asked, "You're an artist?"

Jess nodded, "Yeah. I love to draw, paint. I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. I'm pretty good at it too. And it brings in some money now and then, sometimes folks will pay ten or twenty bucks for a good drawing."

Maria then said, "I'm sure we can do that. Is there anything else you need?"

Jessica gestured to the small combination tv / computer / telephone attached to a metal arm on the side of the bed. "They want ten bucks a day to let me watch tv or get online... past three days I've just been staring at the walls."

Samantha nodded, "I'll take care of that before we leave today."

Maria then asked, "Is it ok if we come back tomorrow, Jessica?"

Jess was a bit surprised that they'd agreed to her requests so quickly, without asking anything in return. She thanked Sam and nodded to Maria, "If you bring me something to draw with, then yeah, come back any time."

She actually hadn't minded these two. They seemed to care, even if there wasn't anything they could really do. And it was nice to be treated with respect, some basic human decency, for once. If she could get more art supplies out of them, that would be icing on the cake.

Her two guests promised to return tomorrow with the supplies, then bid her a good afternoon. Jessica sighed a little as she watched them leave.

Shortly after they'd left, the nurse came back in with her meds. Jessica sighed and took the pills, then kept quiet as the nurse went on to check her breathing, heart rate, and so on.

About fifteen minutes after the nurse had finished up and left, a middle-aged woman wearing a hospital volunteer vest came in.

The woman gave her a brief smile and said, "Hello. I'm just here to set this up for you." She moved around the bed to the tv / terminal and started tapping on the small keyboard.

Jess smiled a little. She hadn't really been sure that her two guests would follow through on their promises, so this was a pleasant surprise.

After a minute or so the volunteer nodded, "There we go. Your friends paid for the week, so you're all set. It's pretty easy but I'll just show you how to get started..."

The volunteer quickly showed her how to access the different functions, then left as Jessica settled back and started channel surfing.

:=: Samantha :=:

Sam finished setting the table, and checked the time. Nikki should be home any minute now. She moved back to the kitchen and set the oven to preheat, then started preparing a salad.

She didn't actually cook that often. Nikki was by far a better chef than her, but she liked to try now and then. And she felt it was unfair that Nikki often came home from a full day's work, only to start doing more work in the kitchen.

Of course, Sam also had an ulterior motive this evening. She needed to talk with her girlfriend and didn't want to wait while she was busy cooking. So, she would have dinner ready and they could eat and talk as soon as Nikki was home.

She didn't have to wait much longer. As soon as she heard the door open, Samantha slid the baking sheet into the oven and set the timer, then called, "Welcome home, love! Dinner will be ready in twelve minutes."

"Oh, wonderful." Nikki smiled as she came around the corner into view.

Nicole looked beautiful as ever, but this evening she also looked tired. Dressed for work, she wore black slacks and a white blouse. She had comfortable flats on as she spent most of the day on her feet. Her long jet-black hair was tied up into a bun, and instead of the 'goth' style she preferred, her make-up was somewhat conservative. She still kept the little stud in her nose, and her earlobes were still stretched, holding some discrete black plugs.

They shared a hug and kiss, then Nikki moved past the kitchen. She dropped her purse on the coffee table then with a loud sigh, she slumped onto the large sectional sofa.

"Rough day?" Sam asked as she watched her girlfriend.

Nikki shrugged, "Just tiring. We had three separate bus-loads this afternoon. Must have seen well over a hundred tourists in the span of two hours? And that was ontop of the usual summer crowd."

Nicole worked at one of the more popular wineries in the region, and today she'd been at the public tasting counter. She enjoyed the work, and she had a promising future at the winery, but it did get tiring some days. You can only pour so many 1-ounce tasting glasses before your eyes start to glaze over.

Nikki then asked, "How was your day? Did you get out of the house at all, or are you still making it a literal 'stay-cation'?"

Sam made a face, "Hey I've been out walking in the park every day!" Her expression shifted back to serious as she added, "I did go a little further today, actually. Maria Watson and I went by the hospital. There's someone there who needs our help."

Nikki raised an eyebrow, "Which kind of help? Is this just through the non-profit? Or are you thinking of something more direct?"

Sam bit her lower lip, then said, "Let's save it till dinner. It's just a few more minutes."

Nicole watched her for a moment. Sam knew her girlfriend was curious, and probably already guessed that Sam was going to talk about some sort of magical intervention. Nikki probably hadn't guessed though just how big an intervention Sam had in mind.

Nikki then stood up asking, "What are we having? I'll open some wine."

"Baked salmon, it'll be a little bit tangy." Sam smiled, knowing Nikki would want to pair it with something appropriate.

She wasn't disappointed, as Nikki moved to the fridge and picked out a bottle of off-dry Riesling.

A few minutes later, the two were seated together at their little dining table.

"This is really good Sam. Where'd you get the recipe?"

Sam grinned, "Food network. I don't think I've watched anything else yet this week."

Nikki smiled back, "Well it's definitely a keeper." After a few more bites, she then asked, "So, what about this person you and Maria saw? You want us to work a little magic on their behalf?"

Sam hesitated, and took a sip of her wine. She then looked at her girlfriend and stated quietly, "Nikki, I want us to break rule one for her."

Nicole was just taking a forkful of salmon into her mouth, and she froze, staring back at Samantha. She slowly put the fork back down on her plate, and frowned slightly. "Sam, are you serious?"

Rule One, no changing reality. It was the first of the self-imposed rules they'd agreed on several months ago, after they'd realized how much power they could access through Nikki's connection to the Goddess. They had changed reality once already, by accident. It had been what brought them together, but both had been scared by how much could go wrong if they tried to tamper with reality again.

Samantha nodded slowly, "Yes. I've spent the last two hours thinking about this..." She went on to describe Jessica and her situation, and the past that had led up to where she is today. Sam finished, "Nikki she's just waiting for the chance to try again. We don't have time to try tackling all of her challenges one by one... There's just too many of them, and she's basically given up hope. I want to give her what she needs, the life she deserves. Before she has another chance to end it."

Nikki sighed a little and asked, "Are you sure she's suicidal?"

"Yes. I Saw her Truth."

Nicole nodded slightly, understanding.

Sam was referring to one of the many spells they'd both learned. It was one of Samantha's favourites. They called it a truth spell or a knowledge spell. It allowed them to literally see the truth in a given situation. It even worked on the written word, which helped Sam quite a bit at University.

The two ate silently for another minute or two, then Nikki said softly, "I have to ask Her. This will need all three of us to be in agreement."

"Of course. I assumed She would want to know, regardless."

Sam watched as Nicole settled back in her seat, and closed her eyes, as she prepared to communicate with the Goddess.

Nikki wasn't praying or meditating. Embodied within her was an actual piece of the Goddess. Last November Sam had tried to cast what she thought was a powerful spell, and instead she'd accidentally summoned the Goddess and embodied Her within Nicole. Since then, Nikki was Her 'Earthly vessel' and Sam was Her priestess.

Nikki's eyes fluttered open again after a few moments, and she sighed, then picked up her glass and drained the last of her wine. "She agrees... but we have to speak with Jessica first. If we do this, there's no going back. So we've got to get Jessica's consent before-hand."

Sam's eyes widened as her girlfriend's words sank in. No-one else knew their secret. In the past several months, they had used their magic to directly help people almost a dozen times. They'd always been able to do it in secret though, behind-the-scenes. This was the first time the Goddess had wanted them to reveal themselves. Of course, it was also the first time they'd planned to rewrite reality.

Nikki then asked, "When do you want to do this, Sam? As soon as possible, I assume?"

Samantha nodded, "I'd like to go tonight. After we've finished dinner, if that's ok?"

"Ok. I'll get changed as soon as we're finished dinner, then we can go." Nikki glanced at the time, "How late are visiting hours at the hospital?"

"They don't have fixed hours. I'd like to make one stop on the way, though. Maria and I promised to bring some art supplies, so she can draw. I want to make sure she knows she can trust us to keep our word."

Nikki shrugged, "Ok. At the big-box arts and crafts store?"

Samantha smiled, "Thanks love."

They didn't speak much through the rest of the meal. Sam was trying to figure out how they were going to explain that they were offering Jessica a literal miracle, and wondering if the young trans woman would even believe them.

After dinner, Sam did the dishes while Nicole got changed. She'd gone into the bedroom looking like a professional junior sommelier, and a half hour later she emerged looking like a sexy goth ready for a night out.

Nikki never looked too emo, but she did lean into the eyeliner, eyeshadow, and dark lipstick. She'd taken her hair out of the bun and it now hung straight down, reaching halfway between her shoulders and her behind. Her blouse and slacks had been replaced by a knee-length black dress, black tights, and black leather ankle boots. A black leather belt completed the outfit, and emphasized her waist and hips.

Nikki picked up her purse and asked, "Ready?"

Sam nodded and grabbed her own purse from the hall table, and the two of them set out.

Forty-five minutes later they were at the hospital. Sam was carrying a large bag from the arts and crafts store, as she led Nikki through the corridors to the correct ward. This area of the hospital was kept locked, visitors had to be buzzed in and out.

They were stopped at the door by the nurse on duty. "I'm sorry, visiting hours are over."

Sam frowned, "I checked, I was told there were no fixed visiting hours."

The nurse shrugged, "For the rest of the hospital. Not this ward. Unless you're family, you'll have to come back tomorrow, between 9am and 5pm."

Sam was about to protest more, when Nikki stepped up. She was fumbling for something in her purse, and Sam felt a tingle of magic in the air as her girlfriend cast a little spell.

Nicole then held up her hand infront of the nurse and said, "Sorry, I should have just showed you this to start with."

The nurse stared at Nikki's hand, which held nothing at all. Her eyes though were flicking back and forth as if she was reading something. After a moment she nodded, "Ok, that's fine."

With a buzz the door unlocked, and the two young women stepped through. Nikki made a show of putting the nothing back in her purse, while Sam suppressed a smile.

It was a spell Nikki had come up with on her own. Mostly. She'd taken their spell to 'see the truth' and, in her words, she turned it inside out, and called it 'Share a Lie'. With it, she could make other people see or hear just about anything she wanted.

Sam was very proud of her girlfriend, but Nikki didn't like taking all the credit for the spell. She claimed she got the idea from a sci-fi show she used to watch. The main difference being where the tv show had used 'magic paper', Nikki's spell just used magic.

As they approached Jessica's room, Sam whispered, "What did you show the nurse?"

Nikki smiled and whispered back, "Court order, appointing me as Jessica's legal representative. As far as the nurse is concerned, I'm a lawyer working for our nonprofit."

Sam grinned, then nodded towards the door, "This is it."

:=: Jessica :=:

Jess had spent the last few hours watching various inane nonsense on the little bedside tv. It still beat staring at the walls and ceiling, but she really hoped her guests would return tomorrow with a sketchpad as they'd promised. She was just settling in to watch some procedural drama when she heard footsteps and then there was a knock at the entrance to her room.

"Good evening, Jessica. I hope you don't mind another visit?"

It was Samantha, and Jessica couldn't help but notice the large bag with the arts and crafts logo on it. She also noticed the young goth-looking woman who followed Sam into the room.

Jessica smiled, "No, come in." She turned off the tv and pushed it off to the side out of the way.

Sam smiled, "This is for you. I hope I got the right stuff, I asked them what was appropriate for drawing..."

Jess took the bag and dug into it, finding a large sketchpad full of heavyweight watercolour paper and a set of quality pencils, along with a sharpener and an eraser.

"Wow! This is... " Jessica was taken aback. She'd been expecting a dollar store drawing set, or something from the discount bin. Finally she looked up at Sam and smiled, "Thank you. You don't know how happy this makes me."

Samantha smiled back at her then motioned for the goth girl to step forward, introducing her. "Jessica, this is my girlfriend Nicole. Nikki, this is Jessica."

Jess nodded, "Hi," as she looked Nikki up and down. She was a couple inches shorter than Sam, and a fair bit prettier too, though the goth look didn't do much for Jessica. Nikki was also quite slim. Not skinny, but apart from her chest she was a lot less curvy than Samantha. She'd be interesting to draw though, Jess thought. Her jet-black hair and dark make-up contrasted very nicely with her pale skin.

Nikki smiled back to her, "Hello Jessica, nice to meet you."

Jess was starting to wonder what these two were doing here. And for that matter, how they got in. She was pretty sure that visiting hours for the psych ward were long past. It was after 8pm now, and she'd already closed the curtains in her room even though it wouldn't be dark outside for another hour yet.

Before she could ask, Samantha suddenly said, "I'll get the door. We'll want to talk in private, and without interruptions."

Jessica blinked at that. In the three days she'd been here, none of the hospital staff had ever bothered to close the door to her room. She'd looked at it herself yesterday, to see if it would get her some privacy. She'd realized however, it was meant to be locked from the outside. They'd only close the door if they wanted to keep her locked in, but she couldn't lock them out.

"You can close it, but you won't be able to lock it." Jess said, as Sam walked towards the large door. "It only locks from the outside."

Sam gave her a slight smile and quietly swung the door closed. "I'm not going to lock it. Just hide it for a little while." She then turned her back to Jess and started doing something with her hands, moving them up along the door frame, over the top of the door then down the sides.

Jessica glanced at the goth, frowning, "How's she going to 'hide' the door? What's that even mean?"

Nicole was looking a little uneasy, or nervous perhaps. She glanced towards Samantha, then looked back at Jessica and asked, "Do you believe in magic?"

Jessica thought back to the afternoon, Sam had said she was a witch. Jess assumed that meant dancing around in moonlight and chanting and stuff, but the idea of actual witches and spells and magic was laughable.

Smiling, Jess asked Nikki, "Are you a witch too? You're the 'goth' witch, Samantha's the 'earthy' witch?"

Nicole smiled a little at Jess's question, but didn't reply.

A few moments later, Samantha returned to Nikki's side. Both of them stood beside Jessica's bed, and Sam said, "Ok, that should give us maybe an hour and a half of privacy."

Jess rolled her eyes, "Right, you've magically hidden the-"

Her mouth dropped open and her eyes went wide. Looking past her two guests at the corner of the room, the door was gone. There was just plain unmarked wall, painted the same boring pale yellow as everything else around here.

She slipped out of bed, forgetting for now about the hospital gown and her ugly unshaven legs. She walked past Sam and Nikki, and put her hands out and touched the wall. There was no trace of the door. No seams. No indication it had ever existed. She felt a bit of a lurch in her stomach as she realized, it also meant there was no way out.

She turned back towards the two young women, "This is impossible! How...?"

They were both watching her closely. Studying her reactions, probably.

Samantha replied calmly, "It's basically just a glamour. The door's still there, but you can't see it or feel it. The hospital staff won't even realize it's gone, so they won't miss it."

Jess was feeling nervous now. She didn't like being trapped, and was worried what these two wanted with her. She should have known they'd want something, the way Samantha had been so generous with the tv and then the art supplies.

She moved around them and slipped back into bed, pulling the blankets over herself up to her waist. "Ok... what do you really want from me?"

The two glanced at each other, and then the goth spoke up. "We don't want anything from you, Jessica. We're here to offer you the chance for a new life. It's what we do... it's why we started our support org. To help young LGBT people in need. Sam feels... she thinks you need a lot of help, so we're here to offer it."

Jessica remained skeptical and wary, and asked, "What kind of help, exactly? And what are you gonna want in return?"

Samantha replied this time, "All we'll ask is that you keep our secret. No-one else knows any of this." She then explained, "What we are offering, is we can... change reality. We could make it so you were born a girl. Your family wouldn't have any reason to abuse you, you wouldn't have had to run away... you'd have a shot at having the kind of life you wanted. The life you deserve."

Jessica's thoughts drifted for a moment, as she let herself get caught up in the witch's words before she shook her head. "That's impossible." She tried to sound sure of herself, but couldn't help glancing towards the corner where the door used to be.

Nicole then said quietly, "It's not impossible, Jessica. We've already done it once before... However, it's not something we offer lightly. In fact, this is the first time we've offered it at all."

Jessica frowned, looking back and forth between the two of them. She still couldn't believe what she was hearing. She asked, "Not saying I believe this is possible, but if it is, what's the catch? It can't just be that easy."

Samantha was about to speak, but Nikki cut her off.

"The catch is, it's not just changing you right now. It changes your past. You'll still remember this life, but no-one else outside this room will ever have known you as you are now. You'll have two sets of memories. The ones from your new life will feel more real, but all your original memories will still be there. And who you are going forward... will likely be some blend of the two. How much of the old and new versions of yourself influence your personality, will depend on how you chose to live your life after it's done."

Nikki paused a moment, then continued, "You might adapt to your new body immediately, or it may take you a bit of time to get used to it. And finally, you will probably lose most of your friends, including any significant others or romantic partners. They won't remember the 'old you' at all, and the new you will likely not have made many close connections... It's complicated, but changing reality means a lot of things are affected. Apparently it's easier for the magic to erase old connections, but more difficult to form new ones."

Jessica noticed that Nicole's voice had been a bit distant and her eyes seemed focused in the distance as she described the 'side effects' of their spell. At the same time, Samantha looked both curious and a little sad. Jess got the feeling that Sam was hearing some of this for the first time.

After taking a minute or so to think it all through, Jess asked, "So, not saying I believe any of this, because I don't, but assuming it's true and I agreed, that's the thing you'd change? I'd be born female, and then everything else would just fall into place around me?"

The two women nodded, but Jess wanted to be more clear. "So I wouldn't be trans any more, and you figure if I was AFAB that would solve all the rest of my problems?"

Samantha nodded, "Yes? From what you told Maria and I this afternoon... It seemed that's where everything started going wrong for you, when you came out to your parents."

Jess shook her head, "No. Look, I get what you're saying and you think it's helpful, but no. You completely missed the point. Being trans isn't what fucked up my life. Having shitty bigoted parents is what fucked me up. Living in a shitty transphobic society is what keeps fucking me up. If I was AFAB and assuming my parents didn't find some other reason to fuck me up and drive me off, they'd probably wind up raising me to be as bigoted and hateful as them. You'd be making me into the thing I hate the most."

She paused for breath, then finished, "I know you think you're being helpful and generous, but it's something you cis 'allies' don't get half the time. I don't mind being trans. It's been part of who I am for six years. What I hate is that the rest of the world wants me and people like me to disappear or die."

She continued to watch the two, and saw Samantha looked like she was going to argue. Nicole on the other hand was just frowning slightly, and looked thoughtful.

Sam's expression shifted before she spoke, and instead of arguing she apologized. "I'm sorry Jessica. You're right. I made assumptions... And yes, I'm cis, and hadn't ever really considered that being trans would be so important to you... I thought having the body you desired would be the most important thing."

Jess nodded slightly, then looked towards Nicole.

The goth finally said, "I apologize as well, Jessica. I'm not exactly cis, but I don't feel like I can call myself trans either." She shrugged, "It's complicated, and not your problem. So, let's assume that we really can change reality for you. What would you wish for? If you could change something in your life, what would it be?"

Jessica thought for a second then stated, "A better family. I'd wish for parents who actually loved me, no matter what. Who aren't bigots, wrapped up in hate masquerading as religion."

Samantha asked, "Would you still want to be trans, still be AMAB?"

Jess sighed a little, "I don't know..." After her rant about it being part of her identity, she didn't really want to backtrack on it. If she'd had loving caring parents she thought, they'd have helped her transition. She'd have got on blockers, then HRT. Now that she's 18, she'd be able to start talking about GRS, and maybe in another year or so she'd get the surgery and it would be done.

Or would she? She considered, maybe things wouldn't go as smoothly. Even a loving family might have issues. There could be medical gatekeeping, money issues, or other things could go wrong. If these two really could use magic, should she take full advantage? They did say she'd remember all of this, so it's not like she'd forget being trans.

Except it was all nonsense. What they were talking about, was impossible. She couldn't ignore what Samantha had done to the door, but that could be explained somehow. Illusion, or trickery, or... something. Whatever, it was several orders of magnitude removed from going back in time 18 years and changing her entire life.

She was about to say as much, when she noticed something was up with Nicole. The goth was standing still, her eyes closed, but her lips were moving slightly, as if she was speaking to herself. Samantha was standing nearby, watching her girlfriend with a slightly concerned look.

Eventually, Nikki's eyes snapped open and she straightened up a little, moving her shoulders and legs slightly as if she'd just woken from a nap. She then announced, "We have a problem."

Jessica asked, "What problem?" She saw Sam was also looking at the goth with a questioning expression.

Nicole sighed, "We can't just have you appear in another family. That doesn't just change your life, it changes theirs. We... We're not allowed to do that without their consent, and we couldn't get their consent without going through all this with them, and we can't do that without exposing everything and... Basically it's a big snowball of trouble and problems."

Samantha sighed, nodding slowly.

Jessica asked, "But you could change things so I was AFAB? That would be huge changes for my family, why don't you need consent for that?"

Nikki shrugged, "That's why we came to talk to you instead of just doing it in secret. You can give consent, for yourself as well as your family..." Her voice trailed off and she frowned for a moment. She then asked, "Jessica, can you give us another day? Sam and I have to discuss some things. I may have an idea but it's something we can't do until we've had some time to work out some details."

Jess shrugged, "I'm not going anywhere."

Samantha looked at her girlfriend, from her expression Jessica knew the witch had no idea what Nicole was thinking about.

Sam then pulled a card out of her purse, and gave it to Jess. "Contact me if you need anything. That's my direct number, email, all that. You won't have to go through anyone else."

As her guests started towards the corner where the door should be, Jessica asked, "Before you go - Can I ask you a question, Nicole?"

Nikki stopped and nodded, "What is it?"

Jess kept her eyes on the goth girl, watching her reaction as she asked, "When you were describing the downsides of having your life changed... that was first-hand knowledge wasn't it? You said you'd done this reality change once before. And you said you weren't cis, or trans. It was you, right? You had your life changed?"

Sam gave her girlfriend a nervous look, but Nicole just nodded slowly.

"Yeah, it was me. Up till one night last November, I was a 6'2, 200 pound auto mechanic... And a bit of a misogynistic asshole." She shrugged slightly and gestured towards herself, " Since then, I'm this."

Jessica was stunned. Nicole was cute, petite, and undeniably femme. She couldn't have been taller than 5'4" and probably no more than 110 pounds.

After a moment though, she frowned. "Why don't think of yourself as trans? Even if you got the body you wanted through magic, that didn't erase what you were before. You said you still have all your old memories, so you have those experiences..."

Her voice trailed off as she could see Samantha looking more uncomfortable, and Nicole seemed a little awkward as well.

The cute goth replied softly, "I wasn't trans. I was a cis guy, I didn't ask for this. It was an accident." She then quickly added, "It's ok though. I got used to it very quickly, and my new life is a lot better."

Jessica's eyes widened, and she was at a loss for words. She could feel a hundred questions bubbling up in her mind now, but it was obvious her guests wanted to leave.

Samantha lightly knocked on the wall, and suddenly the door was there again. She then looked back and said, "We'll see you tomorrow, Jessica."

Jess nodded and watched the two young women exit, then slumped back in her bed.

Was all that even real? She couldn't explain the trick with the door. She realized, they might have done that as a way of 'proving' they could really do magic. The rest of it though... It was hard to believe. Very hard. Her mind kept going back and forth through the conversation, thinking about everything they had told her, and all she'd observed about them. And the surprise Nicole had shared at the end.

She doubted she'd get much sleep tonight.