We were both totally on edge, so we ended up playing the video-game again to try and distract ourselves. It was getting progressively harder to clear each level, like those last seven pieces of the cauldron were either hidden behind super-fiendish puzzles, or they were being guarded by really powerful bosses.

By dinner time we'd been at it for about three hours and we only cleared three more levels. At least it wasn't frustrating. Like it was a good challenge and the game-play and mechanics were good, it didn't feel like the devs were just screwing with us.

And each step of progress came with good rewards, our characters levelled up a few more times and we got more abilities and stuff. So even though the bosses were tough, we were advancing to keep up with them.

Eventually we paused it to think about dinner.

I looked at Alexis and asked, "What do you think about Primo's? Third time's the charm?"

She bit her lower lip and frowned, then shrugged "I don't know Chloe. I didn't get this far last time around. I guess we did the spell last night? So I don't know what happens tonight."

That gave me a little wave of anxiety but I picked up my phone and tried.

"Primo Pizza, Frank speaking." He answered on the second ring, and just like that it was like everything was back to normal.

I let out a sigh of relief, "Where've you guys been? We've been trying you for two days."

"Yeah sorry, Mrs. Tony convinced the old man to take a break for once. We were supposed to have an answering service tell folks we were on vacation, but hey? Didn't work. Anyways what can we get'cha?"

It felt good to finally order our usual, an extra-large Hawaiian pizza and a half dozen cheezy-garlic stix with marinara dipping sauce. After two strange and confusing days we were finally going to get our pizza.

After I hung up I smiled at Lexi, "Forty-five minutes till dinner."

She grinned "I've never seen you so happy about pizza before."

I blushed but shrugged, "As far as I'm concerned it's a good omen. It means things are going to work out ok tonight."

Lexi giggled, "That's what went wrong the first time around, is it? Our lack of pizza jinxed the magic?"

"That has to be it right?" I smiled. "Primo's was closed Saturday night, we tried the spell but it went wonky. They're open tonight, we're gonna have pizza, and the spell is going to work."

"Damn right," she nodded, though she was still grinning.

We both took a few minutes to stretch our legs and use the washroom, then we got back to the game for now.

When the doorbell rang we paused the game and I went to the door while Alexis grabbed us some plates and napkins from the kitchen. We still had a bottle of diet cola left from yesterday, and she poured us each a glass as I came back to the den with our food.

"Oh yeah, that smells awesome!" she grinned.

We settled back down on the sofa together and dug in. It tasted just as good as it smelled. It almost felt like another thing just clicked into place for us.

The two of us talked more as we ate, but we sort of avoided the topic of the magic and Selene and her store. Like for now neither of us wanted to focus on the freaky stuff.

Instead we discussed the game, and how it was getting harder but felt like a good progression.

She had some critique but it was fair. And she admitted she was actually enjoying it. Like for a retro game it wasn't bad.

It didn't take long before we'd both had enough to eat. I packed up the left-overs and loaded them into the fridge while Lexi topped up our glasses with diet cola. We both had another bathroom break, then we sat back down together on the sofa.

Like before, she was sitting right up against me, so we were almost cuddling. It really felt good, and I hoped whatever happened tonight, we'd be able to keep doing this.

We had a few more hours to go yet before midnight, so we decided to keep playing the game for now. We unpaused it and got back to slaying monsters and solving riddles. We managed to find three more pieces of the cauldron, but that took us another few hours.

After we cleared the second-last level I asked, "What do you think? Do we have time to try for the last one?"

Alexis shook her head, "I think we'd better leave it till tomorrow Chloe. It's half past eleven now. We should probably start getting ready for the spell."

I took a deep breath then nodded, "Yeah. Good call."

When we saved our progress on the game, the campaign screen said we were at ninety-six percent. I shut off the TV and the console, and we both took another break to stretch and visit the washroom and stuff.

The two of us went back to the kitchen and Lexi topped up our drinks again. Finally we moved some chairs around so we could sit right next to each other at the table. The instructions were on the table between us, and all the other stuff spread out in front of us.

I followed the directions carefully, one step at a time. The contents of the first pouch went into the bowl. The candle was lit then I put the lighter off to the side. I don't know what I was expecting but it smelled awful. Like I guess I was thinking cinnamon or red apple or cherry, and instead we got soggy cereal and mouldy gym socks.

The instructions said to use the candle to light the incense and I was almost afraid to find out what that was going to smell like. Fortunately it was kind of sweet-smelling and the thick grey smoke soon obscured the stink coming off the candle.

I picked up the little knife blade and passed it through the candle flame, then the incense smoke. The instructions had a diagram of good places to make the cut, but my hand wavered. I was just too squeamish for this.

"Here, I'll do it." Lexi said.

She carefully took the blade from me in her right hand, and took hold of my arm with her left hand. I closed my eyes and looked away.

A second later she said "There, all done. Ya big baby."

I was surprised, it didn't even hurt.

She held the shot-glass under my arm to catch the blood. When it was full she used some paper towels to apply pressure to my arm while she set the shot-glass on the table. After a minute or two she put the bandaid on my arm.

I smiled, "Thanks Lexi. You should go in to nursing or something, you're really good at that."

She smiled but gestured for me to keep going.

I opened the second pouch and dumped that in the bowl with the incense. There was a flash of gold flame which startled us both. Then I picked up the creepy pen and passed it through the candle flame, then the incense smoke.

The next step was one of the ones I had to be super careful about. There were a bunch of words I had to write on the parchment in blood, and they had to be done in a very specific order. There were five rows of five words, all in some weird exotic 'magic' language.

It sort of reminded me of those 'magic number' squares, except with strange words instead of numbers. Mostly because the words were laid out in a five by five grid, and the order was unusual.

The instructions had the words marked out, and showed the order to write them. It was basically starting in the centre and spiralling outwards counter-clockwise, to end in the top left corner.

It also said while doing this, to stop after each word and concentrate, visualize what I wanted the spell to do. The instructions said this was critical and this step could take like twenty or thirty minutes if it's done right.

So I did what it said, I wrote the first word then I focused. I pictured myself as a girl, how I wanted to look, and with my new name. I visualized all my ID and stuff being changed to match. And I pictured how I wanted to be cute, and more self-confident like Lexi. Finally I thought about how I wanted everybody to remember that's who I always was, so nobody would notice anything different.

Basically it was like fantasizing the perfect life I always wanted, always wished I'd had. Doing that twenty-five times in a row, in between carefully writing these strange words down one at a time was actually a lot more mentally taxing than I thought it would be.

Sure enough it took at least a half hour as I carefully wrote each word then concentrated on what I wanted. When I was finally finished, I had a freaky looking square of words written in my own blood. Suddenly the whole thing gave me the creeps and I had some doubts. Like for a few moments I forgot what I'd seen in the pagan shop, and just sort of wondered what the hell I thought I was doing.

I glanced nervously at Lexi but she just gave me a confident smile and nodd. That was all it took for me to keep going.

The next step was more writing. After all my visualizing and stuff, I had to write out what I wanted around the outside of the parchment, to sort of form a square of my words around the square of 'magic' words. That took another five or ten minutes.

Then the third little pouch was dumped on the incense. This time there was a flash of red flames. I passed the parchment over the candle flame, then waved it through the incense smoke.

The final step was the super critical one. I had to say each of those magic words out loud, and in the correct order. I had to start from the top left and spiral clockwise inwards, so the last word spoken was the one in the middle. Once I began I wasn't allowed to say anything else. I had to say each word in order and that was it. When the last word was spoken, the spell would be activated.

I took a few deep breaths then started reading. I spoke slowly and carefully as I took each word one at a time. I made sure to speak clearly and enunciate properly, and didn't go too fast so they slurred together. It was all going fine till I got to the end. Then I just kind of stopped talking and frowned at that final word.

It was long and complicated and I had no idea how to pronounce it.

Lexi was watching me closely and after a few seconds she figured out why I stopped.

She leaned closer and said helpfully, "It's pronounced -"

Suddenly she clamped a hand over her mouth as we stared at each other with wide eyes. Just like that, both of us knew what went wrong when we did this the first time.

Alexis must have said that final word out loud and triggered the magic. Everything I'd prepared and put into the spell wound up hitting her instead of me.

We stared at each other for a few long seconds. Finally she moved her hand from her mouth and whispered, "Pronounce it like it's in French."

I looked back at the parchment in my hand, and at last the word made sense.

I glanced back up at her and saw she was watching me expectantly. She was biting her lower lip again and wow that still did things to me. She gave me another little nodd, and I looked back at the parchment.

I took a deep breath and spoke the last word out loud.

There was a flash of light as the parchment flared out of existence, immediately followed by the pen, then the contents of the bowl. It was like a domino effect, one thing after another flashed and vanished, and it didn't stop there. The candle went next, then the bowl vanished, along with the shot-glass and the lighter.

Lexi and I sort of stared at each other with wide eyes again. I had no idea what to expect, and from the look on her face neither did she.

Then a moment later there was another really bright flash, and everything went black.

PurpleCatGirl

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