We were early, it was about five minutes to ten when we reached the shop. Claire was in charge all morning. She was up early, she called my room to make sure I was up too. We had breakfast at the hotel at nine sharp, and she even drove this morning. Now we were standing in the alley outside the boutique waiting for it to open.

"I told you we didn't have to rush," I said softly.

Claire shrugged, "I know. I was impatient though. Maybe she'll open early? Anyways, it's only five minutes."

I nodded quietly. I was feeling anxious again, but there was also a strange sort of relief. I tried to figure that out as we waited quietly for the door to open.

It only took a minute or two for me to identify where it was probably coming from. Right or wrong, I put a lot of pressure on myself to try and make sure my daughter's life was as close to perfect as I could get it. And fate or luck kept throwing challenges our way, which meant no matter how hard I tried I always fell short.

Now Claire had all but taken over, taken charge. I wasn't ready to let go of all my concerns yet, but it was a start. And knowing that we'd both be there for each other, that I could start thinking about myself as well as her, I think that made a big difference too.

Before I could delve any deeper into those thoughts we both heard the clunk of the door unlocking. It was still a minute or two before ten, but Selene had seen us waiting.

It was the twenty-year-old version who opened the door. "I wasn't expecting to see you two here so early, but come on in."

After Claire and I were inside Selene closed and locked the door again. Like yesterday afternoon, she obviously wanted to be able to talk business with us without interruption.

"So you're back," she said as she made her way behind the counter. "I take it you've come to a decision?"

Claire took the lead again, she stood directly opposite Selene at the counter while I hung back a little and just observed.

"Almost," my daughter replied. "We'd like to know the details of this exchange. How exactly does it work? You said the cost would be Clover's work experience, but that doesn't really make sense. I guess what we need to know is, if we go ahead with this thing how does it actually happen?"

Selene glanced at me then looked back at Claire again. She looked thoughtful for a few moments, then replied "I'll have you both sign a contract. Clover will be the primary customer, but you'll co-sign it since you're a participant. I won't beat around the bush, you'll both be signing the contract in your own blood. Don't worry though, it's painless. Then I'll give you a package which contains everything you both need. Instructions, materials, and so on."

After a glance at the cat she added, "Ok not everything. You'll also need a match or lighter and a little ceramic or glass bowl. You can pick that up at a dollar store on your way back to the hotel."

She continued, "The transaction is completed when you two cast the spell at midnight. The magic will give you both what you need, what you want. When you both wake up tomorrow morning, you'll be in your ideal bodies, your ideal lives. And Clover will no longer be a chemical engineer. The work experience and the knowledge will be gone."

Claire glanced at me. I could tell she was uncomfortable with that last part. I couldn't blame her, it made me uncomfortable too.

"What will I do for work?" I asked. "That's all I've done, it's all I know. Without that I just have a high-school diploma."

"That's not true," Selene replied. "You have life experience. Everything else you've learned over the years will still be yours. And of course you'll have the opportunity to learn new skills."

Claire looked back at the blonde and asked, "What if we're not happy with how things turn out? What if we don't like the way we look, or some other detail of our 'ideal lives' doesn't work for us?"

Selene replied, "The spell goes off what's in your heart, what's in your soul. It'll do what's right for you. Having said that, if for some reason you are unhappy, come back and see me and we'll work something out. Satisfaction is guaranteed, provided you follow the directions. It's all clear and simple. There's some cautions and warnings but honestly hon, neither of you will have any trouble with the instructions."

"Last question," Claire said. "Why aren't you taking anything from me? Why does Clover have to pay for the whole thing?"

Selene glanced at me again and answered, "Like I said from the start, Clover's the one who needs the most help. And she wouldn't accept any help for herself unless you were taken care of first. That's why she's the primary customer, you're just co-signing with her."

Claire nodded, then she moved to me and motioned for me to accompany her. She led me to the back corner of the shop, so we could have a quiet chat together.

"What do you think?" she asked me. "It has to be your decision, you're the one paying the bill."

I was still anxious and I knew she could see it. I took a couple deep breaths then said quietly, "I know you want this, for both of us..."

Claire shook her head "It doesn't matter what I want. This has to be your choice. You heard what she said, you're the customer. I'm just along for the ride."

I must have waffled back and forth twenty times over the next minute or two. I thought about everything we discussed last night at dinner. Then I thought about the trade-offs, of having to learn a new career or find work with only a high-school diploma at my age, versus Claire never having to worry about her transition or medical expenses ever again. And getting that for myself as well of course.

Finally I thought about taking that leap into the unknown. Like Claire said, sometimes you just have to go for it. And if we did stumble or fall, we'd be there to help each other get back up and keep going.

With all of that in mind, I took a deep breath and nodded to my daughter. "Ok. Let's do it."

As soon as I said the words I felt a shock of adrenaline. I'd made the decision. Now we were going to trust this strange shopkeeper and her magic, and hope for the best.

Claire guided me back to the counter. Selene already had a thick old binder out next to the cash register, opened to a page somewhere in the middle of hundreds of similar pages. It was a photocopy of an old type-written contract. She had two strange old fountain pens there, with gold nibs.

She handed one to me and said, "Just poke the nib into your thumb. It's painless. Then write today's date, your name, and sign it where it says."

My eyes quickly scanned over the contract. It was very generic, but there weren't any loopholes or glaring problems with it. We weren't signing away our souls or anything like that. It basically stated I was agreeing to pay the arranged price in return for accepting the promised services, and that payment would be due when the services were rendered.

I picked up the pen and hesitated. "Uh, which name? Legal name?"

Selene smiled, "No hon. Use your real name."

I glanced at Claire, and she gave me a supportive smile and a slight nodd. I poked the pen into my thumb and sure enough there was no pain, just a slight pinch. The nib filled with blood, then I wrote out the date and my name. I momentarily forgot about the contract as I stared at my name there in writing. Clover Turnbull. It was suddenly a real thing, recorded on paper. In blood, no less.

Finally I signed the contract, and stepped aside.

Claire repeated the process with the second pen. She added her name next to mine, and her signature alongside mine.

It actually reminded me of when we did her legal name change. She was only sixteen, so while she filled out most of the forms and signed everything, I had to co-sign it as her parent. This felt the same but opposite. Now she was the one with the experience, she was the one who was calm and collected, but also proud and happy for me. And I felt like the kid who was doing something powerful and exciting, but under the watchful guidance of my elder.

Selene took the pens and closed the binder. All that disappeared behind the counter, and in its place she set down a large padded manilla envelope. It was one of those nine-by-twelve mailers, and it was bulging in the middle. There were no markings on the outside, apart from a little writing in one corner. Marked there in pencil were our names, Clover and Claire.

"There you go," Selene said with a smile. "Remember, midnight tonight. Read the instructions first, read the cautions and warnings. Just follow the directions, you'll both be fine."

"Thank you," Claire said to the woman. She motioned me to take the envelope, then she moved to the end of the counter where the little black cat was once again curled up on the cushion. Claire gave the cat some pets and scritched its ears.

I felt a little nervous as I picked up the package, as if it might zap me or something. It was just a normal brown paper envelope though, and it was fairly light. The contents were bulky but didn't weigh much.

Selene walked us to the door and let us out as she flipped her sign around to 'open'. I realized she'd shifted to the middle-aged version of herself in the last few seconds. That still left me feeling uneasy, and I hurried back to the car with Claire.

• • • • •

The two of us sat together at the little table in my hotel room. We didn't get much sight-seeing done today, both of us were too excited and anxious about the magic. Now it was finally midnight and we were ready to begin.

My heart was racing and I'm sure Claire's was too. We had the contents of the envelope spread out before us, the instructions were between us, and we had a cheap bowl and lighter we'd picked up this afternoon.

The instructions were typed double-spaced and two sided on a half dozen sheets of paper. I'd swear they were produced on an antique typewriter, from the shape of the letters and the way some of them were a little off-kilter. There were even some typos that had been scratched out in pen and the correct word written by hand.

We had a ziplock bag full of loose dried herbs, which we poured into the bowl. There were two candles, one green and one white, set in little plastic candle-holders. We had also two of those old-fashioned pens with silver-looking nibs, one rectangular piece of parchment paper, and a little baggie full of fine grey powder.

Following the instructions, I lit the green candle first and both of us made gagging noises. It smelled like burning garbage. We pushed on though and Claire used the green candle to light the white one, which somehow managed to smell even worse. Then the white candle was used to light the herbs, and happily those actually smelled kind of nice. The smoke from the herbs soon masked the awful odours coming from the two candles.

Next Claire had to pass her pen through the flames of the white candle, then the incense smoke. I had to do the same, but for me it was both the green candle then the white candle, and finally the incense smoke.

Then we both had to poke ourselves with our pens, and take turns writing out 'magic words' on the parchment.

Claire was writing a square of nine words on the left side of the parchment, I was writing a square of sixteen words on the right side. We both had to write our words out in a particular order, and the order was different for both of us. I let Claire do hers first, then I did mine second.

When that was complete, we dumped the grey powder on the incense, which produced a flash of pink flame and another plume of smoke.

Then we passed the parchment overtop of the two candles. Claire's side was waved over the white candle, while my side went over the green candle then the white candle. Then the whole parchment was waved through the incense smoke.

For the final step, we both had to read our words out aloud. Again they had to be read in a certain order, and both of us had different orders to read in. This was the most critical step, according to the instructions. Once we started we couldn't stop, we couldn't say anything else, we had to read the words in the right order. When the final word was spoken the spells would be triggered.

Fortunately we didn't have to do it simultaneously, so once again I let Claire go first. She cleared her throat and swallowed, then she began. Her voice wavered slightly as she read out each word.

When she was finished she handed me the parchment and I did the same. My voice wavered more than hers, and my hands were shaking slightly as I softly spoke each word aloud.

The moment I said the last word, there was a flash of light and the parchment was gone.

Claire and I looked at each other with wide eyes. Then our pens flashed and vanished, followed by the incense, then the candles. Then the bowl, and finally the instructions disappeared as well.

I gulped, and Claire opened her mouth to say something, when there was one more blinding flash, and everything went black.

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