I wasted a few more minutes pacing back and forth in my bedroom while my mom was in the shower, before I finally started to think clearly. Whatever I was going to do, I probably wouldn't want to do it naked. So I needed to get dressed.

I turned on my bedroom light and moved to my dresser, then froze as I faced an entirely different problem. All my clothes were the wrong size. Stuff that fit my five-foot-ten-inch hundred-and-eighty-pound body wasn't really going to work on the tiny girl body I'd woke up in.

My underwear was all useless now, none of it would even stay up on me so I'd be going commando for a while. I tried a pair of grey track pants with a draw-string. With the string tied tight the pants at least stayed up, but they looked ridiculous and the legs were too long. It was the best I could do though, for now.

Then I pulled on a black t-shirt. It worked but it just sort of hung on me like a shapeless blob.

I took a deep breath and sighed. I was dressed, that was one thing out of the way. With my bedroom light on I glanced around for my phone, and spotted it sitting on my desk next to my wallet. My stomach lurched slightly though as I realized the phone was smashed and bent.

"Fuck," I frowned as I moved to it to check it over. My wallet was mostly ok, but I frowned as I realized there was some dried blood on it and in it.

That's when it finally hit me. I really did die, I really was killed by that damn SUV.

I picked up my wallet and looked through the contents. All the ID and stuff in my wallet was the same. My old picture on the drivers license. My dead name. It wasn't much use to me now, I looked totally different and the name sure wouldn't fit. I kind of hated that name anyways, so I wasn't too torn up about needing a new one.

Then a thought occurred, and I quietly asked myself "How'd this stuff even get here? Shouldn't it have been carted off with my body?"

"I retrieved them."

I let out a startled yelp and spun around to see who was speaking, but there was nobody else in the room.

"Who said that?" I asked nervously. "Who's there?"

"If those things had remained with your body, authorities would have identified you and spoken to your mother already. Now you have time to talk with her yourself, and let her know what's happened."

I looked around but there was no obvious source for the voice. I realized it sounded like that tall woman, the one I saw after I was run over. The one I made the deal with. But I couldn't see her anywhere.

"Uh, where are you?" I asked. "Why can't I see you?"

"You can't see me because I'm in here with you," she replied. "It is a partnership, remember?"

I frowned, "I don't understand, here with me how exactly?"

My right arm moved on its own, as I reached up and tapped myself on the forehead.

"In here," I said, though it wasn't me moving my mouth or lips.

My heart was racing again as I pulled my arm down and shook my head slightly, "Please don't do that again, that was freaky as hell."

I took a couple deep breaths then asked, "So you're in my head? That's great. First I got run over by some dickwad in an SUV, then I got reincarnated as a girl, and now I'm hearing voices."

"You act like you aren't happy about the second thing," she stated in an amused voice. "Strange, considering you fantasized about it twice in the span of a few hours after you found my amulet."

I felt my cheeks going red as I went very quiet for a few moments.

Then I tried changing the subject, "Since we're talking, can you fill me in on some stuff? Like what the hell am I supposed to do now? You said you took my phone and wallet so the cops wouldn't identify me, that's great. What the hell do I tell my mom? I mean, if I just say 'hi mom I got killed this afternoon but don't worry I got reincarnated into a cute girl' she's going to throw me out of the house. She won't know me, I'm just some stranger to her."

"Just tell her the truth," the voice replied. "I will help you to convince her."

I took another deep breath, then sighed and asked "And who or what are you exactly? What do I say when I get to the part about you?"

After a brief pause the voice replied "I'd rather you not say anything about that, but I suppose you'll need to tell her something about how you were brought back from the dead."

"Are you a forgotten goddess?" I asked. "Or an angel? Or an ancient sorceress?"

"Yes, that last one sounds good," the voice stated. "That will do nicely."

I frowned but asked "Ok. And what's your name? What should I call you?"

After another pause the voice replied, "You may call me Lily."

"Really?" I asked. "Lily? That doesn't sound like a powerful ancient sorceress name."

Lily sounded amused as she responded, "Well it's not my real name, obviously. It's a nickname. Or a short form. But it will do for now."

She added, "Speaking of names, you're in need of a new one. I think I shall call you Mara."

I frowned again, "Wait what? No, if I'm getting a new name I should get to pick it myself."

"Nonsense," Lily replied. "I brought you back to life, so I get to name you. And I name you Mara."

After a few moments I realized I was pouting, which led to a mix of happy and embarrassed feelings. Thinking back to what I saw in the bathroom mirror, I was positive I had a very cute pout.

I also had to admit being Mara sounded kind of cool. It was a better name than anything I'd have come up with anyways.

Before I could respond to Lily I was startled by a sharp knock on the door, then my mom stated "I hope you two are decent, because I'm coming in to have some words with you and your girlfriend."

My heart skipped a beat, I'd forgotten about my mom. She was out of the shower, she saw my light was on, and she heard me talking. She obviously assumed I had a girlfriend over and I was talking to her. Or talking to me. She thought I was my own girlfriend.

The door opened a moment later and my mom stepped in and started to say something, then frowned as her eyes scanned the room looking for her son.

Mom was ready for bed, ironically she was dressed a little like me except in better-fitting clothes. She wore a pair of loose grey track-pants and a small white t-shirt. She still had a towel wrapped around her hair for now. And like me she was barefoot.

She finally fixed her eyes on me and demanded "Who are you? And where's my son? And what are you doing in his clothes?"

For a few seconds I just stared at her, frozen with a deer-in-the-headlights look on my face. I didn't know what to do or what to say. Finally I decided to just try Lily's suggestion. I figured the worst that could happen was my mom killed me again.

I was so nervous though, once I started to talk I couldn't stop. I wound up speaking too fast and the words almost tumbled out over each other in their haste to escape my lips.

"Mom it's me I'm your son I know this sounds crazy but please hear me out after you went to work I found this strange amulet in Great Uncle Albert's stuff and I wanted to show it to Jason so I took it with me when I went to his place but before I got there I got killed by an SUV because the driver was looking at his phone and he ran me over as I was crossing the street and I died but don't worry I'm ok now it turned out the amulet belonged to an ancient sorceress named Lily who brought me back to life except now I'm a girl and none of my clothes fit and I don't know what I'm going to do and please I really hope you believe me and oh yeah Lily said my new name is going to be Mara now and I'm sorry!"

I was cringing by the time I got to the end, but mom just stood there staring at me. I knew it would take her another minute or so to parse everything I just said.

After half a minute I added, "I'm sorry I know you hate when do a huge info-dump like that but I can't help it it just happens when I get super nervous like this I'm sorry I'll stop now."

Mom continued just staring at me with wide eyes. Her face was pale and she looked somewhere between shocked, scared, and curious. I was a little surprised as I realized she didn't look angry or skeptical.

She took a couple deep breaths then finally said in a quiet, nervous voice "You haven't done the nervous-info-dump thing since you were twelve and you spilled soda on my laptop..."

She gulped and added "I heard on the news a pedestrian was killed by a distracted driver at Main and West. They said they hadn't identified the victim yet, but my son would have had his wallet and phone with him."

"Lily brought them home for me," I replied quietly.

I turned and picked them both up off the desk then held them up so mom could see them as I added, "But they're not much good to me now. I mean, the phone's a write-off, and all the ID's got uh, my old name and picture on everything."

Mom suppressed a sob as she took the wallet from me, and I put the busted phone back down on the desk.

She opened up the wallet, and as soon as she saw the drivers license and the dried blood she dropped it as her eyes filled with tears.

I didn't stop to think, I just moved forward and wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a hug.

For a moment I was distracted as it hit me that she was taller than me again.

I quickly pushed that out of my head for now and just said quietly "Mom it's ok, I'm not dead. Uh, I mean I'm not still dead. I'm back. It's still me. I'm just uh, shorter. And a girl now, I guess."

She didn't pull away from the hug, she let me continue holding her as she fought back more tears. After a minute or so she sniffed, "This is impossible. It can't be you. This can't be real."

"Yeah I kinda said the same thing at first," I replied with a grimace. "But it feels pretty real from here."

We stood there hugging each other for another minute or so till she finally stepped back and frowned. "Who were you talking to? I heard talking."

I blushed, "I was talking to Lily."

"What?" Mom looked around nervously, "She's here? Where is she?"

"She's not here here," I replied with a grimace. "I uh... She talks to me in my head? Like telepathy I guess?"

That didn't really make her any less nervous, she just looked uncertain. She looked me up and down, then commented "You know this is impossible. It can't be real. How do I know you're not just some stranger who stole my son's wallet and broke into my home?"

I really didn't know what to say to that. As I stood there trying to think of an answer, my mouth moved on its own as 'I' answered "Here's a little demonstration of Lily's magic. Hopefully this will convince you magic is real, so you'll believe me about everything else I've told you."

My eyes were wide and I blushed, I really didn't like when Lily did that. Before I could react though I felt another strange sensation. There was a pulse of warmth from the amulet that was still hanging between my boobs, then I felt a crawling sensation all over my body as my clothes rippled and changed.

My mom's eyes widened too and she took another step back as she stared at me.

"Aaaah!" I gasped and wriggled a little from the sensations, then it was over as fast as it started. I looked down at myself and my jaw dropped open.

The huge track-pants had shrunk into a pair of black tights, and the baggy black t-shirt had grown and morphed into a knee-length short-sleeve black dress. The tights and the dress both fit me perfectly.

Mom just stood there staring at me for now, she had a hand over her mouth and her eyes remained wide with shock.

I blushed and grimaced again, "Uh, yeah. So that's magic, I guess?"

After another minute or two mom finally sighed "I think I need a drink."

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