“Come on,” I begged. She wouldn’t tell me what the change was, which was annoying as hell. “What did it do?”

“I’m not telling.” Her singsong voice taunted. “But I’m sure you’ll notice soon enough.” She frowned. “Or maybe you won’t. The card didn’t say whether you’d be made aware of the change.”

“Yours didn’t either, but you still felt the changes.”

“True. What color was that card?”

I thought back to it. “Blue. It said ‘mental change’.”

Her fuller lips pursed and she shrugged. “Mine was yellow. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just a different sort of change. It was… kind of mental? But it had more to do with, well…” she bared her teeth, “…something else.”

I sighed. I guess she really wasn’t going to tell me. I tugged at my yoga pants and leaned back, motioning for her to grab a white card. “If you’re not going to share what happened, then let’s move on. We’ve got… nine more squares to go?”

She didn’t move. Why was she staring at me? “Do I have something on my top?” I looked down and checked, but my Dungeons and Dragons tank looked clean. I stretched it out to get a better look and felt it pull against my back in between my shoulder blades.

“No. Just admiring.” Judging by her mischievous grin she was full of shit. She reached forward and grabbed another card, giving me yet another glance at her ass. I wonder…

Was it entirely prescient of me? Not at all. But I wanted to see how she’d react. I reached forward and put one hand on her left cheek, squeezed, and let go. Her response was instantaneous.

“Nnnngh…” Her knees buckled together and she had to hold on to the table for support. “Oh my God.”

“That feel good?” I teased. Her head was down, hair blocking my view of her face, but I could hear her gasping loudly for breath and imagined a look of ecstasy in her eyes. After a moment she pounded the table with one palm, squeezed her thighs together, and stood up straight before turning to me. Ah, crap. I knew that look.

I’m in trouble.

She pointed her finger in my face. “Why the fuck would you think that was oka— What are you… oooh…”

I’d doubled down, grabbing her finger and twisting her hand out so her palm opened up. Then, looking her in the eye, I started rubbing the soft part of her palm with my thumbs.

The school she attended was known for their old-school practices. Laptops, phones, etc. were all not allowed on campus, so she had to do all of her work by hand. No wonder most women end up with carpal tunnel. My thumbs felt out her flesh and the knots that hid just underneath, digging into them with my nails and rubbing the soreness away. It had the intended affect. Her eyelids drooped as her body both tensed and relaxed in different ways. She bent forward a little at the waist and knees, leaning into the amazing feelings in her palm. A soft “Nngh…” escaped from behind her soft lips before she bit down on her bottom one.

“I know it was unexpected,” I said slowly, carefully easing up on the pressure I was exerting on her hand, “but it felt good, didn’t it?”

When she didn’t respond I dug my nails back into her hand— hard.

“Oh shit!” She exclaimed, eyes opening wide as she nearly fell on top of me.

“I asked if it felt good.” I smiled.

“Fuck you— oh! Oh, stop! Yes, YES it feels good!” She said through breathy gasps.

“Then we’re fine, right? This is a sexy game, after all.” I let go of her hand, and just like that the spell was lifted. She looked exhausted, panting for breath and squinting as a bead of sweat dropped into her eye. Eyes unfocused, she dropped down on the couch next to me. “By the end of this game, me grabbing your ass probably won’t be anywhere near the worst thing we had to do, I’m sure.”

I leaned back in the opposite corner of the couch as her and watched her pull herself together. She didn’t look at me as she dragged herself entirely onto the couch, careful not to brush against me or offer me any new parts of her that I could massage. A rosy hue dusted her cheeks when she finally cleared her throat. “Let’s keep playing then.”

“Let’s.”

The holographic card was still in her hand. She held it up, read it, and grinned.

The world has a long history of shit-eating grins, dating back to the first neanderthal to discover a scat fetish. Over the millennia since, countless easier-to-clean, (and stomach), examples have risen. Like when the serpent convinced Eve to bite the pomegranate, for example. Brutus’ must have been one for the times as he stood over Caesar, hands red with blood. Hundreds of years later the Beach Boys’ grin when they got away with stealing Chuck Berry’s Sweet Little Sixteen— among other songs— and then topped the charts might’ve given Brutus’ some competition. Then last year in 2030 when Bethesda revealed Skyrim for the PS6, you just know those assholes backstage had on the most fiendish shit-eating grin the universe had ever seen— ever since God wore one while making it in the first place.

This one left them all behind.

Ah, fuck.

She looked at me with a devilish joy as she said, “The card reads, ‘Ask a question of your choosing’.”

Double fuck.

“What,” she asked, leaning toward me, her top giving me a tantalizing hint at cleavage, “am I thinking about right now?”

Triple fuck.

“Oh, come on! That’s not even a fair question!” Shit! How am I supposed to get out of this one?

She laughed, making her breasts jiggle before sitting back. “Sure it is. Now answer.”

I scowled at her.

The world has a long history of wonderful scowls… Ah, fuckit. Mine was nowhere near consideration of being on that list. Think!She could be thinking about school. Maybe work? No! What was she thinking about right now!?

Closing my eyes, I put together everything I could. She’s mad at me. Maybe thinking about hurting me? She’s having fun torturing me. Maybe she’s just thinking about how much fun it is to watch me squirm? Then it hit me. She’s horny!

“You’re thinking about him!” I said.

“Wrong!” she laughed, kicking her bare legs in the air in a gleeful little dance. “Suck it!”

“Argh!” I sighed, then motioned at the board. “Now what happens?”

“Now, I draw a black card and get to cast one of a number of spells on you of my choice.” She smiled again and I had the too-late realization that playing this game was not the right time to be messing with her. That thought ran through my head as she reached forward and grabbed a black card, giving me a quick look at her thighs again. When she sat back down her chest gave a single, hearty bounce.

Trusting that she’d be reading the card, I adjusted my panties really quick. They didn’t give much room for my junk in the first place, let alone when I was starting to pitch a tent. Something about that thought gave me pause, but just like that my concern was gone. This was normal. What wasn’t normal? The sounds coming from her. “Are you… are you laughing?”

“Shut up.” She stuck her tongue out at me.

“Sorry. I was distracted and wanted to make sure you weren’t strangling a kitten over there is all.”

She glared at me again. I’ve really got to learn to control my tongue… “I’ve got your punishment.” She said, sitting up. “It’s a bit of a custom one, so I’m not sure exactly what it’s going to do to me, but I couldn’t care less right now.”

I held my hands up in front of me. “Whoa whoa whoa! Who said anything about a punishment?”

She held the card up in one hand while pointing at me with the other. A blue electricity began to light up the veins in her arm as she spoke. “You failed your round, so the penalties are worse. Enjoy!”

As she spoke a thin stream of white light shot between the card and the pointer finger that was aimed at me before ricocheting off and into my direction. It hit me square in the chest like I’d touched my ribs with jumper cables and I gasped. The incredible sensation of the Flow working in me was more powerful than anything else I’d experienced before in this game. Zipping balls of light seemed to be moving around my body. They came to a rest in different parts of me— my hips glowed through my skin and yoga pants, along with my chest and shoulders. Lesser glows came from the bones in my arms and legs, as well as my back. I squinted at the glare from the glow in my cheekbones and shut my eyes as the changes began to take place.

CRACK! My hips popped, widening and pushing painfully against the hard part of the back of the couch. My femurs seemed to draw up into me as my feet and the rest of my legs seemed to get smaller. An irresistible urge to pop my knuckles came over me and I began working over my hands, even as they made POP!noises and I felt my fingers shrinking down to match the size of my new, smaller hands. My back tensed, pulling my shoulders back as another loud noise erupted from my sternum. Muffled noises like a silenced machine gun worked their way up my back as my spine shrank, coming to a stop in my neck. I flexed my jaw, the same way you do to clear your ears, and felt it come loose. It settled back in place a bare moment later— but it fit differently. I rolled my arms and shoulders, feeling them pull inward as well. Every part of me, including my face and skull, seemed to be getting smaller. Not by much in some cases, but in other cases— like my legs, feet, back, and hands— it seemed much more pronounced. Before the light left me I felt it working in my throat and my head. Just little tingles of magic being playful before disappearing into the void.

The whole ordeal lasted only twenty seconds or so, but it felt like a dreamy eternity as the Flow had its way with me. Once it came to a stop I opened my eyes. She was standing over me, a look of concern on her features.

“Are you okay?” I blinked. She leaned in closer. “Can you hear me?”

“Shh…” I held up a finger and nodded. “Yeah, I can—” What the hell? I cleared my throat. “I can…” I coughed and tried again. “I can hear—” I glared at her. “Why the fuck do I sound like a girl?”

The tenseness in her shoulders disappeared as she let out a breath. “So you’re okay. Good.”

“I am most certainly not okay!” I sat up quickly, reaching for the table to help me stand. “Why does my voice sound— oof!”

Somehow I’d missed the table. I’d put my weight down on the aether and it supported me as well as could be expected as I fell to the ground. “Fuck!”

“Be careful!” she grabbed me under the arm and helped pull me up. “It might take a while for you to move around naturally again.”

“What do you m…” I squinted. “Why are you taller than me?”

She grinned again. Fuck! I was getting sick of that look. “Look in the mirror.”

I scowled at her and started walking toward the hallway where a full-length mirror hung on the back of the guest bedroom door. I made it two steps before I stopped. Something was wrong.

I looked over my shoulder and caught her staring at my ass. This is not good. I kept walking, feeling an unintentional and unfamiliar movement invade my body. My hips moved back and forth in a womanly sway I was not excited about in the least.

When I made it to the hallway I flicked on the light, caught my reflection, and gasped.

I was a woman. I wasn’t a woman, but I was a woman! My arms were smaller, matching the thinner shoulders that my tank top left exposed. I turned side to side and saw how my waist seemed to pull in before flaring out into wiiide hips. The fat redistribution affect that had happened earlier gave my thighs an exceptionally feminine look, and when I felt down with my hands and swung one hip up to get a better look at my backside I was confronted with booty. I pulled at it and my mouth dropped open wide when it jiggled back into place.

My mouth! I stepped closer to the mirror. My face was so different now! It was still my face, but the bone structure was so different! It was smaller. Daintier. Feminine.

“What did you do to me?” I whispered.

I heard her approach. “The spell gave you a female skeletal structure. I added the higher voice as a bonus, though I had to take a hit for that, too…”

I didn’t care. I looked like a woman.

Men grew up with a fear that a woman might use the Flow against them. It was outlawed— only seventy or eighty years ago— but that didn’t stop everyone. The news was filled with stories of upset wives and lovers cursing their spouses and significant others. They’d make them do things or change things about them. Girls laughed the concept off, but having no control over yourself in those sort of situations was the stuff of horror in the lives of men. How could she do this to me? We were friends!

I rounded on her, a fury rising in the pit of my stomach. I felt fire and anger in my soul as I—

I stopped. There was something else there. Something else lurking behind the fire and the fury. A dull, white light. Inviting. Enticing. Alluring.

The flow!