"Sorry," the girl said, though she had a very slight smile on her face. "I didn't mean to startle you."

I just nodded as I caught my breath, "It's ok, I didn't even see you there. My bad."

She looked barely sixteen. She was maybe an inch shorter than me, and very slim. She was wearing an attractive black dress, and her long straight black hair kind of matched. She was pretty, though as near as I could tell she wasn't even wearing any make-up. Her skin was very fair, and between the black hair and black clothes it probably made her look paler than she was. Her eyes were green, with lots of gold flecks.

According to the small name-tag clipped to her dress, her name was Skye.

I couldn't help wondering why she wasn't in school. I knew it wasn't winter break yet, and this was a weekday after all. I also wondered if she was working unsupervised, she seemed a little young to be left in charge of a store. Or maybe her parents owned the place or something.

She finally asked again, "Was there anything I can help you with? Did you want to have a closer look at any of the jewelry?"

"Ah, no thanks." I shook my head and looked down at the business card I was still holding. "Is 'Madame Selene' here today?"

Skye shook her head "She's off today I'm afraid. Maybe I can help you?"

I hesitated a moment. "Is there a uh, manager or someone I could speak with?"

"No," she replied with a slight frown. "It's just Selene and me, and she's off today."

I tried to conceal my disappointment as I wondered what I should do. There was nobody else in the store, no other customers or anything. I wasn't sure I wanted to try and explain my predicament to this teenage kid, but it seemed like I didn't have any other choice.

I sighed, then asked her "This is kind of awkward but uh, do you sell magic spells here?"

She wasn't the least bit phased by my question.

"Of course," she nodded and gestured towards the book cases. "Most of the spell books are in the 'Wicca' section, but if you're looking for something specific then check the appropriate areas. Like 'Divination' and 'Crystal Magic' and so on."

I glanced at the book cases but even from here I could tell that wasn't what I wanted. They were all just normal mass-produced books.

"Actually I don't mean like that," I said as I looked back at the girl. "I'm not looking for a published book or whatever. The sort of thing I'm talking about comes in a big padded manilla envelope, and looks like it was thrown together at the kitchen table? Incense in little plastic baggies, photocopied instructions, stuff like that."

Skye tilted her head to one side as she gave me a slightly puzzled look. "What kind of spell are you talking about? What's it supposed to do?"

I felt my cheeks starting to colour as I admitted "I don't remember what it was called. Vera Vitum or something like that?"

She was still giving me that puzzled look as she frowned. "Is this something you bought here? Do you have the receipt?"

I sighed and shook my head, "I didn't buy it, I found it last night in a snowbank."

That actually seemed to surprise her. Her eyebrows shot up for a moment then she frowned again, "Ok... And what brings you here? Are you trying to return it or something? Did you bring it with you?"

By now I knew my cheeks were bright red. I glanced around to double-check there was nobody else in the store, then I leaned a little closer to the girl and half-whispered, "I'm here because I did the spell last night and when I woke up this morning I looked like this! It turned me into a girl!"

The teenager sort of stared at me and did a very slow blink. Then she asked in an incredulous tone "So you found a strange spell in a snowbank, took it home and cast it? Without even knowing what it was?"

"I read the notes!" I insisted, though I was still blushing brightly. "It was called Venom Veru or something, I don't remember. It said it would give me a perfect life, but instead it turned me into a girl!"

Skye slowly looked me up and down, then asked calmly "Are you sure you weren't already a girl, before you cast the spell?"

I glared at her, "What kind of question is that? Of course I'm sure!"

She shrugged slightly, "Sometimes people don't know. Some folks need a little guidance to figure that sort of thing out."

I didn't even know how to parse that. How could someone not know they were a girl? It didn't make any sense.

Finally I sighed, "Look let's forget that and move on a little. What I really want to know is if there's some way I can reverse the spell and fix everything."

"You want to reverse the spell that turned you into a girl?" she deadpanned. "The one that you cast after you found it in a snowbank?"

"Yes!" I stated, trying to keep my calm. "Do you even know what I'm talking about, or are you just messing with me?"

Skye apologized, "Sorry miss, you have to admit it all sounds a little farfetched. Did this spell change anything else? Or did it just do the girl thing?"

I sighed, "It also changed all my clothes and my ID. For all I know it's completely changed my past around. I don't even know if I'm still taking the same stuff at university anymore. About the only thing it did right was it fixed my broken leg."

"You had a broken leg?" she asked calmly.

"Yeah," I nodded. "I was skiing at the resort just west of here, and broke my leg on Tuesday. Spent half the day at the hospital in town here. I had a cast, crutches, the works."

I blushed again as I admitted, "That's the real reason I even tried the spell. Normally I wouldn't have done anything that stupid. This was supposed to be my big winter vacation and instead I was stuck on crutches and in pain. I was feeling pretty down about my life, and between all the beer and the painkillers, I guess I thought the spell would be a fun distraction. I never for a minute thought it was real or that it would actually do anything!"

Skye was quiet now, and I realized her slightly-amused expression had given way to a more serious look. She had a thoughtful frown on her face now as she stared at me.

Finally she sighed, "So you obviously didn't read the cautions and warnings. Because if you had, you'd have seen the very first warning was not to attempt the spell while under the influence of drugs or alcohol."

"What?" I looked at her again as a little chill went through me. "Wait you know what I'm talking about! You know about the spell!"

She nodded and replied calmly, "Yes I know it. It's called Verum Viam, which is Latin for 'true path'. Some people also refer to it as 'perfect life' because if you're following your true path, you'll live an ideal life. Usually when someone's life isn't going well, it's because they're not on the right path."

I stared at her for a few moments, then asked nervously "What you just said about casting the spell under the influence? Is that why I got turned into a girl? Beer and painkillers don't mix with magic?"

Skye rolled her eyes dramatically, "No miss. Being drunk when you cast it just explains why you're so confused about the results now."

I frowned as I tried to puzzle through what she was telling me. "That doesn't make sense though. So why'd it turn me into a girl?"

"You were probably already a girl, you just didn't know it yet," she replied, as if that explained everything. "The spell set you on your true path. This is the ideal you, living your ideal life. You're just confused because you were too intoxicated to absorb the new knowledge the spell would have given you, so you could make sense of the results."

I took a deep breath then slowly let it out as I tried to keep myself calm. "I already told you, I wasn't a girl before. Look, can you explain how to fix this or not?"

She frowned as she looked me up and down. "So you want to undo the spell? You want to back to having a broken leg and feeling down about your life? Then what, you'll start drinking and popping painkillers again?"

"No!" I stated angrily. "That's not what I want at all!"

"Well what exactly do you want?" she asked calmly. "Spell it out for me."

I glared at her as I tried to figure out how to put it into words. Of course I didn't want my leg broken again. Of course I didn't want to go back to feeling depressed. I just wanted...

She continued watching me as she waited patiently for my answer.

I couldn't bring myself to say I wanted to be a guy again. I was sure that's what she wanted to hear, but I didn't want to give her the satisfaction. I didn't want to let this teenage kid think she'd outsmarted me.

Finally I replied, "What I want is to speak with your boss. When will she be in?"

"Saturday," Skye replied. "We're open from eleven in the morning until five at night. She'll be here all day."

"That's two days," I sighed. "What the heck am I supposed to do till then?"

"You could go skiing?" she suggested in a helpful tone. "That's why you're here in the first place, right? You said it was your big winter vacation."

I wasn't sure if she was serious or if she was just trying to be a brat at this point.

Before I could respond she added, "If you want to leave me your contact info, I can try to pass that on to Selene for you?"

"Fine," I stated. I gave her my phone number and the name I'd woken up with, then added "I'll be back on Saturday."

With that I turned and stalked back out the door.

Outside I took a few deep breaths of the fresh air. I'd almost gotten used to the smell of sandalwood in there, but it was nice to have clean air again. I turned and walked back to Main Street. I'd intended to go straight back to my car, but instead found myself standing in front of the tattoo and piercing place again, looking through the window.

It was a bad idea.

I wanted to get this fixed. It made no sense whatsoever making things worse. I continued telling myself that as I opened the door and walked inside. The young woman behind the counter greeted me, and I asked what it would cost to get my ears pierced.

The whole thing was a mistake, or at least that's what I told myself as I signed the waiver. I continued telling myself why it was a bad idea and a waste of money as Danni led me over to a chair.

She was around five years older than myself and stood a few inches taller. She had about two dozen piercings that I could see, and possibly even more hidden under her clothes.

There were a bunch in her right ear, from the lobe all the way up and around the outer edge. There weren't as many in her left ear. Then she had her eyebrow pierced, her nose, her lips, and her tongue. Her eyes were blue-grey, and her blonde hair was cut in an asymmetrical side-shave, long on the left and almost buzz-cut on the right over and around her ear.

In addition to the piercings she had her share of ink too. There was a gorgeously elaborate tree-of-life on her right fore-arm, and some sort of tribal pattern that went all the way around her left upper arm.

Normally I'd have been intimidated by someone like her, but she was really nice and actually kind of cute. As we talked I found Danni to be quite friendly too. She explained all the details and options like gauges and safe starter jewelry and aftercare procedures, and she even complimented me on my perfume.

That threw me for a moment, until I realized I must have got enough sandalwood smoke in my clothes talking to Skye that it followed me out of the occult store.

In the end I made some decisions, Danni was as talented and professional as she was attractive, and the process was almost painless. A few minutes later I had some cute sixteen gauge titanium barbells in my earlobes, a page of aftercare instructions in my purse, and I was in a great mood again. I stood before a mirror with a wide smile on my face as I admired my shiny new bling.

I thanked Danni for all her help and left her a tip, then made my way back out the door with a little spring in my step. Rather than rush back to the car and the resort I spent some time wandering up and down Main Street, window shopping and enjoying the small town atmosphere.

PurpleCatGirl

If you're enjoying our work and you'd like to support us, please consider joining our patreon & get early access to new chapters!
https://www.patreon.com/purplecatgirl