“What are you reading there, anyway? If you’re not over at Cathy’s or at the school for only a half hour, you’ve got your nose shoved so far into that thing I doubt you can smell anything but ink anymore.”

Matthew looked up from his book and collection of papers to see that Art had set a cup of tea onto the table beside him and had already started drinking from his own. Without a word, he picked up the dark blue cup from its coaster and took a long sip. He could feel his exhaustion running out of his head and down his shoulders and gave a big sigh. “This is good. Is it Cathy’s?”

“Mhmm. She loaned me a few small containers of tea to try out here. You like it?”

“It’s perfect. Just as good as Cathy’s”

Art gave a proud smile and took another sip.

Matthew sighed as he finished around half his tea in one go. “I’m looking over some notes from my old teacher.”

Art gave his brother a funny look. “Matt. You graduated in 1972. What could possibly be in that book that matters to you now?”

Matthew gave a dry laugh. “No. I mean, he was my old history teacher from college, but he was also the one who taught me magic.”

Art looked shocked at that. He knew it made sense. There wasn’t a way to magically learn magic… he assumed. But it still came as a shock to him that his brother would even have a magic teacher. “Whatever did he teach you magic for, anyway?”

“To guard the vessel.”

“Vessel? Oh, that old trophy thing? You mentioned that on the car ride up here, but you never told me what exactly was so special about it.”

Matthew frowned as he remembered his teacher’s warnings. “It used to be this old bowl, but he helped me change the vessel to the trophy when I took the job at the high school.” Matt paused for a second. “It was used to house a terrible demon. A few thousand years ago it terrorized much of Northern Africa, and some even say it was responsible for a number of plagues.”

“Haha.” Art laughed at his brother. The laugh grew a little strained when he noticed his brother wasn’t laughing along with him. “Jesus. You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“I am. Old Mr. Potts helped to move it to teach me the binding ritual in case I ever needed to move it to another vessel. I was about to do just that before I left for good, but then you got sick, and I didn’t get the chance. I just assumed, ‘well, it’s not been touched in forty years, it’ll be fine for another six months while I take care of my brother.’ Now look at where that got me. A missing vessel, stolen by some unknown person, and maybe a demon on the loose. I’m looking through the book Mr. Potts gave me to learn the first ritual to bind it, but it doesn’t look like anyone wrote it down.”

“That’s why we went to that Sid character’s place? To figure out if he had it?”

Matthew nodded at his brother. “Yeah. But as far as I could tell, he neither had the trophy, nor knew anything about it. I would guess someone took advantage of the situation and grabbed it while no one was looking. And as luck would have it, there aren’t any cameras in that hallway either.”

Art thought over his brother’s words for a moment before his face went pale, and he had to set his cup down on the table. “Matt. Isn’t this a big deal?”

That got a laugh out of his brother. “Yeah. It is. And unless we want to deal with an honest to god demon, whatever that is, I have got to figure out how to locate the dang thing, but this book isn’t getting me anywhere.” Matthew rubbed his eyes and closed the book, apparently giving up for the night.

“So if there’s nothing in there that can help you, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to go see Tyler again.”

“Tyler? The girl we met on Wednesday? What’s she got to do with all this?”

“I don’t know, but my gut says she’s the key to this whole thing.”

Matthew picked up the mug from the table and greedily finished the tea. “This really is wonderful, Art. Just as good as Cathy’s.”

Art gave his brother a grin. He picked up the mug from the side table and took another sip from his tea, sinking into the leather armchair.

◊◊◊

“Okay. Run that by me again.” Orlando said as he leaned back on his patio chair. They had moved outside at Tyler’s recommendation when her mother came home from work dead on her feet. Tyler made quick work of the small standing fire pit and despite the pleasant crackle of the logs the air was still cold enough to make everyone shiver a bit. Autumn was coming to an end at this point, and the fresh smell of leaves started to give way to the sharp smell of snow. Even though there wasn’t any snow on the ground yet.

“I said our souls are irreversibly combined.” Eris repeated.

“But, I thought you just said we were bound together?” Tyler asked. This was news to her.

Eris sighed. “I wasn’t sure myself until recently, but I was looking into our connection a little deeper ever since you did the spell with the locket. It’s just…” Eris’ voice trailed off.

“Just what, Eris?” Tyler asked. “Please tell me, I need to know what’s happened to me. To us.”

Orlando and Kyle looked at Eris, they both looked just as eager.

Eris sighed again, bracing herself. “The magic that was used to bind us together? It was never meant to be used on a human. It was originally intended to bind me to an object. In fact, it should only work on me, since whatever is left from the original magic was intended for my soul, if I have one. Only I’m not sure what it would even mean for me to have a soul, to be honest.”

“If it was only meant for you, how did it work on me?” Tyler asked, confused.

Eris sighed again. “Honestly, I should have checked things out first thing when I woke up, but I sort of focused on fixing your body? Anyway, what the original ritual was meant to do was bind my… existence to a physical object, specifically anything bowl shaped, and hold me there. The magic sustained itself on my magic to ensure it never broke on its own.”

Tyler thought for a moment, “But. I’m not a bowl? And why a bowl anyway?”

Eris nodded, “Ritual magic is only as effective as the combined belief of everyone doing it. Focusing on 'put Eris in the bowl' is slightly easier to conceptualize than 'bind the witch'. If it was the original ritual that was cast, then nothing would have happened. But the rebinding ritual that was used seemed to have been focused entirely on the will of ‘bind to’, the original intent of the destination of a bowl being lost. And whoever prepared that ritual didn’t finish it in the first place. I bet whatever text was originally used for the rebinding was mistranslated too, and I think ‘bind to’ got misinterpreted to ‘meld with’.”

Tyler’s eyes widened with understanding and her face paled.

“What does that mean?” Orlando asked. “Shouldn’t it work the same regardless?”

Eris shook her head. “No, it wouldn’t have worked the same at all. Magic isn’t a set of instructions to be followed like baking, it’s got a will of its own. Or rather, the impression of a will.”

“Impression?” Orlando asked.

“Yes, impression. I told Tyler before that magic was good at reading the intent, but not the context. It’d be more accurate to say that magic binds itself to a person’s will and molds itself to that will. It’s not a cake, it’s more like a river. When a river is first forming, it’s just the path of the least resistance, right? So over the years as it rains that path gets dug out more and more. Magic is like the water. It molded itself to the path, but it carried with it the will to change the land itself, and over the years you have a giant river.”

“Okay” Orlando said, “So then magic bound itself to the words ‘meld with’, what does that mean for Tyler?”

“She means we’re not just ‘bound’ together.” Tyler said. She gulped, trying to wet her parched throat. “We’re not separate people anymore, are we?” She asked Eris.

Eris looked down as she responded, “We’re not. In fact, I don’t know what we are, but when the ritual was completed, all that I am and all that you are, were sort of cut and grafted onto each other. In fact, I’m pretty certain if we were to try and separate now, we’d both die. And it’d be a death more permanent than anything that might come after a regular death. It’d be the equivalent of destroying a soul.”

Tyler brought up her legs up onto the chair she was sitting on and rocked herself as she took in the words that Eris said. Was this why she could do magic like it was second nature? It would also explain why she had been constantly surprised at her own actions and moods lately. What she had initially mistaken for finally being comfortable in her own skin was probably Eris’ own moods and impulses influencing her own. Was she even ‘Tyler’ anymore? What did that even mean? She started to cry again.

Now it was Orlando who moved his chair and put an arm around her shoulder. It felt nice, and she began to calm down again.

“Thanks” she managed.

“It’s going to be okay. It’s obvious that this is affecting you a lot, but isn’t this a good thing? Ever since you told me you were ‘bonded’ with a goddess, you never once complained about it. As far as I could tell, you actually like this situation, right? So cheer up. Please?” Orlando asked.

Damn him, why’d he have to be so kind right now. Tyler blushed a little and looked up at the person she realized too late that she had a crush on. But looking at Orlando now, she didn’t feel that anymore. She didn't know what changed between Monday and now, but what was once affection now turned to simple friendship. But that friendship was precisely what she needed right now.

“Can't we just magic you two better?” Orlando asked. “There's got to be something we can do.”

Eris shook her head. “There’s not really anything we can do about it. While magic can affect a soul, I don’t think it can replace what isn’t there, at least not to what it was before. At best, you'll be a different person completely. At worst, whatever happens to a soul when it's destroyed will happen to us. Both of us are missing something, and each of us are making up for that something in each other.”

“You mean we really are affecting each other?” Tyler asked.

Eris nodded. “I felt a little off ever since I was woken up, and now I know why. For a while, I had thought that sleeping for so long had affected me in some way, like a trauma, but what I think actually happened is I’m now a bit of you, and you're a bit of me. I’m much less impulsive, and it feels like I’ve lost something vital to myself. But what is missing isn’t empty like it should be, instead it’s filled with whatever part of Tyler I’m bonded to.” She looked directly into the eyes of Tyler, and she saw something in them that she recognized. “Whatever we are, we’re no longer separate people. But you know what? Thinking about everything that’s happened, how nice you and Christine are, how you welcomed me and housed me. No one else had ever done that for me. If this situation had to happen, I’m glad it was with you. And if we’re stuck like, well, I think that’s a good thing.”

Tyler couldn’t hold back anymore and pulled her friend into a hug. “Thank you, Eris. You’re the best friend I could ever ask for.”

After a long hug, Tyler finally calmed down and was able to breathe freely again. She then noticed that Kyle hadn’t said anything this whole time.

“Kyle? Are you okay?” Tyler asked. Kyle had been sitting across from the fire, staring at his hands for the last few minutes.

“Yeah. I’m okay. But I can’t get it out of my head.”

“What, out of your head?” Tyler asked.

“Earlier. When you turned me into a girl? At first, it was new and weird, but then when the new feeling went away, it got really uncomfortable. Like everything just felt wrong. Is that how you felt? Back when…” Kyle drifted off.

Tyler was surprised. Her friend was normally cracking jokes at anything uncomfortable, but right now, he just seemed somber. “Yeah. That’s called dysphoria. I used to spend a lot of time looking up trans issues online, but I didn’t know they applied to me until recently.”

Kyle nodded. “I was only like that for a few minutes. You must have been in agony after so long.”

Tyler shrugged. “You sort of get numb to it. And before you know it, you either retreat inside your head or you become a shell of a person. That’s actually the first thing I’d like to do with magic. To give everyone the body they need.”

Orlando spoke up. “I still think it’s dangerous to give magic to the world. But seeing how happy you are now, and hearing how Kyle felt just now. Well. Let’s say I’m coming around to your side of things, Eris.”

Eris gave a smirk to the tall teenager, “Thanks. But I wasn’t going to wait for your permission either way.”

Orlando frowned a little. “Yeah, I know. And it’s not like I’ll be able to stop you. Just. Be careful okay? I’d be a wreck if anything happened to Tyler. And I know Christine would be completely inconsolable.”

Tyler couldn’t help but grimace at the thought. Her mom was always a little overprotective, but thinking about how she’d react if anything happened to her… It made her curl back into a ball on her seat.

Eris noticed Tyler and moved her chair a little closer and put her arm around her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Tyler. I won’t let anything happen. I promise.” She smiled and added, “You’re stuck with me forever.”

That made her feel better, and she leaned into the side hug. She didn’t even care that the armrest of the patio chair dug uncomfortably into her side, she just enjoyed the comfort of her friend.

◊◊◊

Andrew Lemont was not a man to be trifled with. He was the kind of person to spend more time in the gym than out of it, with a physique to match. He wasn’t necessarily lumbering, but he was taller than average, and his wide shoulders and resting frown made him unapproachable by nearly everyone. Even puppies tended to avoid him, much to his dismay. He brushed the last of the hair trimmings out of his short, black hair as he turned off the engine to his 2010 silver Volvo. As far as modern-day cars went, it was ancient. And while he didn’t necessarily need the money, it was the cheapest on the lot to rent.

He pulled out his smartphone, the largest one he could find, and reread the email his boss had sent him. He was used to the old geezer always telling him to go wherever with no followup information, but he trusted him enough at this point to understand he’d know what he needed to. Eventually. Andrew looked at the address listed on the end of the email. For the fourth time, he pulled up the address on the maps app and verified he was at the right place. It’s not that he didn’t trust the smartphone to know where it was going, he didn’t trust his own sense of direction. It had failed him a number of times over the years, and he wasn’t ever going to let it derail a job ever again. He triple checked that the Wi-Fi, cellular, and GPS settings were all on and the application chimed that he was in the right location.

He looked over the steering wheel and finally took in the one-story townhouse. It was brown and had absolutely nothing to note about it. He knew that he was either going to be working with Mr. Fredrick or Ms. Marisa again, simply by the look of the place. Both agents had a knack for picking the most boring, easily missed places as their temporary bases of operations. He hoped it was Marisa, he couldn’t stand Fredrick.