I backed away from the door. “That’s not possible,” I stuttered. “You can’t be there. You’re... you can’t!”

“Open the door,” she said again, and went on. “We need to talk.”

I complied mechanically, closing the door enough to permit the chain to be removed, before throwing it open again. Cayley stepped inside. She was shorter than I though, being used to seeing her from the inside. She was attired simply, but attractively, in a close-fitting top and jeans. Around her neck was the necklace.

“How?” I stammered out.

“That’s what I was hoping you could tell me,” she said. “But I’m guessing it has something to do with this necklace.” And with that, she removed it. The image of Cayley was yanked away, and standing in her place was....

“Aubrey,” I breathed.

“You know who I am,” she noted. She held up the necklace. “I saw it in your car. That was the proof you'd done something to Cayley, right? So I stole it. And then I put it on, so it wouldn’t look like I had stolen something. And that was when...”. She gestured expansively. “You really shouldn’t leave your magic necklace in an unlocked car, Cayley. Or what should I call you?”

“I’m Ben. At least... I mean, I’m Cayley too, but I was Ben first.”

She nodded, and thrust out the necklace to me. “Put it on.”

I did not move to take it. “I don’t really want to.”

“Put it on,” she insisted. “I have to see.”

And so I stretched out my hand and grasped the necklace. Slowly, I lowered it over my head. The change rippled out, shrinking my stomach and torso, widening my hips, reforming my legs and arms and changing my features to those of Cayley. I waited until I was sure it was done before speaking. “Well? Did you see what you needed to see?”

She nodded again, more slowly this time. “You can take it off again, if you want.”

Hurriedly I did so, and I saw her eyebrows raise at the way the skin seemed to be pulled off of me, revealing the man underneath. Finally, she spoke. “Why did you do it? Where did you get an honest-to-God magic fucking necklace? And who are you, really?”

“The answer... well, it’s all the same story, really.”

She blinked. “I’m waiting.”

So I told her. I told the truth, for once, and all of it. I told her about the art show that no one attended, except for the mysterious woman who told me I could take her place at Belmont House. How she told me I would have to disguise myself, and gave me the necklace to do it. How on my first night, I got a note, presumably from her, which insisted that I never remove it in or near the house.

She was a good listener, never interrupting or even making a noise until I brought her back up to the present. Only then did she begin to pepper me with questions, requesting clarification on the difficult points. It was exhausting, but I felt such a great sense of relief at the same time. By the time the flow of questions ceased, I felt drained but calm. Everything was out on the table now, and whatever happened next, I could be proud of that.

Aubrey looked at me, and I found that I could now meet her eyes. Suddenly she moved, and to my surprise, I found that she was hugging me tightly. “You poor thing. That must all have been terrible!”

I hugged back, but soon pushed away. “You mean you’re not mad?”

“Oh, I am so fucking pissed at you!” She slapped my arm. “When were you going to tell me about this?”

I flopped back on the couch. “Sometime between never and not ever?” I shrugged helplessly. “Was I supposed to just bring up the way I had stolen a spot on false pretenses? Or maybe lead with the magic, gender changing necklace?”

“I see what you mean.” She frowned. “Not gender changing. It changed me to look just like you. I mean, Cayley. You know what I mean.” She picked up the necklace from the coffee table where it lay and dangled it from a finger. “It only makes that one change, I guess.”

“And it changes more than just you. It changed my clothes too, and my license and email address and, oh, all kinds of things.”

That led to another round of questions. Aubrey seemed to be trying to figure out exactly what the rules were, what changed and why. But after fifteen minutes of discussion, she was no closer to cracking it than I had been.

“Haven’t you been just completely freaked out, all the time?” Aubrey asked finally. “I mean, magic! That’s a paradigm shift, right?”

“The weird thing is how quickly I got used to it,” I confessed. “Not just the magic, but the results of it.”

“Yeah, I was wondering about that. And Darren... I mean, don’t take this the wrong way, but are you straight?”

“I thought I was. I mean, I’ve dated girls before, and done, you know, stuff. But when I was Cayley, I felt... I don’t know what I felt. Like my body was telling me things and my brain just went along with it. Does that make sense?”

“It’s as good a description of physical attraction as any I’ve ever heard.” She returned the necklace to the table. “So, what do you want to do?”

“What can I do? Do you think I should go back? Tell everyone what I really am? Beg to stay?”

“Maybe. But what I meant was, what do you want to do right now? Like, for dinner. I’m hungry.”

I just stared at her. “You’re acting like we’re still friends.”

“We’re not?”

“No! At least, I am. I mean....” I took a deep breath. “I lied to you. I lied to everybody, from the first moment we met. What’s more I hurt you and betrayed that friendship. I’m so, so sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” she said gravely. “Now are we friends?”

I nodded, momentarily too overcome for speech.

She took my hands in hers. “You’re forgetting something else. From the very moment we met, you supported me. You talked me down when I was being stupid about my parents, and you helped arrange my transfer so I could go to school and stay at Belmont.”

I waved that aside. “Madge and Gerald did all that....”

“Only after you asked,” she broke in. “Short answer, it wouldn’t have happened without you. You took care of me, like a friend. So I don’t care what you happen to be packing in your pants at any given moment.”

This time, I was the one who came in for the hug. After about a minute, she whispered, “This is nice and all, but I wasn’t kidding about the hungry thing.”

I laughed, and we broke apart. “So, two questions. What’s good around here?”

“We could do sushi again.”

“Perfect. And the other question... who am I going to go with? Cayley or Ben?”

I eyed the necklace uneasily. “What do you mean?”

“Come on, let’s talk on the way, or I'll never get to eat.” She snatched up the necklace and sort of corralled me toward the door. We elected to take my car, since I knew where we were going.

Once we were out on the main road, Aubrey spoke. “Here’s what I mean. You’ve got this whole magical double life thing, right? You can pick who you want to be, like that!” She snapped her fingers.

I shook my head. “But it’s like I was just saying. Cayley, she’s a lie.”

“Only if you mean her to be.” I must have looked as confused as I felt, because Aubrey went on. “When I was thirteen, I chopped off all my hair and dyed it green. Was that a lie?”

“No, of course not.”

“Right. It was just a terrible, terrible choice.” She flashed a smile. “I got into so fucking much trouble. Anyway, I was trying to change my identity. We change our appearance to change who we are, and to change the way that other people treat us. That doesn’t mean it’s a lie, unless we’re lying to ourselves and trying to be someone we’re not.”

“It’s not the same.”

“It’s just the same! If you want it to be. If Cayley is part of who you are, then the real lie would be denying her.”

A denial rose to my lips, but her words got through before I spoke. Was it true? Was Cayley part of me? Was being a woman part of who I was now? And what did that mean about Ben, about the man I was right now? It was so much the default for me that I had a hard time thinking about it as anything but an unescapable normal.

“I don’t know,” I said miserably. “When I think about putting it on, of becoming her, I feel... ashamed, in a way. Like everyone is going to know, and call me a pervert. Like I’m doing something wrong, something taboo.” I used a convenient stoplight to look over at Aubrey. “But when I have it on, it feels like the most natural thing in the world. I’m not saying I don’t notice anything different, but I’m just me, in my body, and it’s easy to forget I was ever anyone else. What does that say about me, Aubrey? What is wrong with me?”

“Nothing’s wrong with you,” she replied in soothing tones. “It just means you’ve got some questions you need to answer.”

I laughed bitterly. “Plenty of those. You want to hear the weirdest part? That body is exactly what I’ve always found most attractive. I look at myself, and I can’t decide whether I want to fuck her or be her.”

Aubrey’s expression changed, and before I knew what she was doing, she had slipped the necklace around her own neck. In moments, she had taken on Cayley’s distinct appearance.

“What are you doing?” I hissed. A car honked behind me — the light had changed, and I tore my eyes back to the road and accelerated.

“Giving you a chance to answer some of those questions. From another point of view. It will be Ben and Cayley going to dinner.”

I was unsettled. The last time, she had taken my shape only briefly, but now she was proposing to stay that way through the course of an entire meal. I kept my eyes resolutely on the road.

“Damn,” she said after a minute. I risked a glance over and felt her cupping her breasts. “So that’s what this is like. Instant boob job.”

“Stop that!”

“I’m sorry, does it bother you?” She tugged the neck of her top forward and looked down. “Seriously, I’ve got to get me some of these.”

“It’s weird. It's like you're touching me.”

“If you’d rather wear it....?”

I turned the car, glanced over again. “That’s not what I mean. Just, cut it out, that’s all.”

She subsided, but my sense of unease did not. The barest sight of her activated some sort of fight-or-flight response. That was me! My body, walking around, out of my control! The fact that she had Aubrey’s mannerisms and speech patterns only emphasized the uncanny strangeness of it all.

We arrived at the restaurant, got a table, sat down. We were in public now, too late to switch even if I wanted to. I kept peeking over my menu at Aubrey, who gave every evidence of studying hers closely. “You keep looking at me,” she said, without glancing up.

“Sorry.”

“Want to fuck me or be me?”

“Neither, at the moment,” I replied, glaring. “What are you getting?”

She arched an eyebrow, but said no more.

Dinner was awkward. I kept getting the impression that Aubrey was flirting with me — little touches on my arm, a flick of her hair when she laughed. She also seemed to be leaning over the table enough to show more cleavage than strictly necessary. It was a relief when the meal was over and we returned to my apartment.

“You can take that off any time you like, now. You’ve made your point.”

“Just a bit longer,” she said, and shaking my head, I closed the apartment door behind us.

“You can use my bed tonight. I’ll take the couch.” I pointed the way into my bedroom and she went inside, while I got a spare pillow and some sheets out of the hall closet. I had just about gotten them set up, when I heard someone clear her throat, and turned.

There was Aubrey, still wearing the necklace, but very little else. She had on a pair of panties and one of my long sleeved work shirts, but it was plain that there was else nothing underneath it.

I swallowed hard. “Aubrey? Is this some kind of joke? Or a test? If so, it’s not funny, and it’s not helping.”

“I’m not joking.” She unbuttoned the uppermost button of the shirt. “You were so wonderful to me when we first met, and I couldn’t help but think that if you had only been a man, you’d be perfect.” She unbuttoned a second button. “And now here you are.”

I swallowed again. My feet were rooted to the spot. I watched her advance on me, slowly. A third button came apart, and I could see where the cord of the necklace dived out of site between her full breasts.

It was a fulfillment of fantasy on par with my brief stint in Belmont House. Here was a woman, the most beautiful woman I could conceive of, and she wanted me, wanted to be with me. She was offering herself.

I opened my arms, and suddenly she was there, pressed against me. The shirt was fully unbuttoned now, and her soft flesh pressed against my stomach and side. I wrapped my arms around her, slid them up her back.

My fingers encountered the cord of the necklace, and in one quick motion, I yanked it up and over her head.

I stepped back as I did so. The image of Cayley’s body faded as it was ripped away, leaving Aubrey stunner, her smaller frame dwarfed by my shirt. She wrapped it around herself and took a few tentative steps back, her eyes wide.

“What... what just happened?”

“You were trying to seduce me.”

“Oh god.... Oh, god!” Her expression was equal parts mortification and fear. “I don’t know... I mean, I remember, I remember thinking that I wanted...”

“Go get dressed,” I told her. “I think you’ll feel better afterwards.”

She fled into the bedroom, and I carefully wrapped the necklace up in its cord, and stuck it deep into my jeans pocket. A few minutes later, Aubrey came back out, looking more composed, but still shaken.

“I understand if you want to leave,” I said, but she shook her head.

“If anything I feel safer with you now than I ever did,” she told me, settling into my easy chair and drawing her legs up to her chest. “I mean, I would have given you anything right then. Anything.” She shuddered. “Not that you’re not a nice guy, I’m sure, but....”

I held up a hand. “No need to apologize. While you were changing, I think I figured something out. Remember how you were wondering why I was into Darren? Well, I think we may have figured it out.”

Her face shifted from confusion to understand. “The necklace. It does something.”

“Uh huh. For me, it gave me something approximating the, uh, drives, of a normal heterosexual woman. But for you....”

Aubrey rocked back and forth on the recliner. “I was already there, so it gave me more. Made me crazy horny.” She shook her head as if to clear it. “In the car, when I put it on, I was only going to wear it for a minute. I wanted to ask you what it felt like to see yourself, but not yourself. But I kept it on. I kept finding excuses to keep it on, and then we were at dinner and I couldn’t take it off in public. And then we got back here, and it all just felt so natural.”

The necklace dug into the flesh of my thigh. What had seemed so familiar now felt alien. “We should get rid of it. Destroy it, or something.”

“Throw it into the fires of Mount Doom, you mean?”

“I guess.” I considered it. I had tools, a hammer and a saw and wrenches and things. And we were on an island, so it wasn’t out of the question to just drive ten minutes to the shore and throw the thing in.

“It’s up to you,” she told me.

Ultimately, we decided to sleep on it. She asked to take the couch, and I did not argue. It might have felt odd for her to sleep in my bed, after what had happened. A few hours after lights out, I passed her on the way to the bathroom, and found her huddled under the blanket, snoring gently.

As for me, I stayed up way too late doing some thinking. Our explanation made sense, but it didn’t cover all the facts. The thing was, Aubrey’s attempted seduction had not tempted me at all. I had not been aroused, neither physically nor mentally. It was tempting to blame that on the necklace, but what about before? I had few friends on Long Island, but it wasn’t like I never went out or did anything. I went to some Meetups, or attended events with acquaintances in the city. There were women there, some of whom were very attractive, and yet I never pursued any of them. Never thought about pursuing them.

My last relationship was in college and the few months after graduation, before long distance made things fade away. I remember enjoying it, but much of the effort to maintain it had come from her. In fact, that was why she broke up with me, ultimately.

I did enjoy pornography on occasion. I wasn’t entirely asexual. My favorite configuration was a plain old heterosexual couple. It was the act itself that aroused me, that coupling of male and female. But which was I in that fantasy? It was fuzzy and undefined.

No, as much as I wanted to blame the necklace for somehow breaking my sexuality, it was broken long before I found it. My attraction to Darren, my attempts to get his attention and to spend time with him, that was the first time I had truly been interested in a romantic relationship in years.

I did sleep that night, but not long or well. When Aubrey awoke, she found me in the kitchen, sipping coffee, and idly pushing the necklace around my kitchen table. I looked up and told her the truest thing I had ever said.

“Aubrey... I think I might be trans.”