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THE WITCH WINS by BobH (c) 2011 Note: This tale is a 'What If?' based on the story 'Merry-Go-Round' by Dale Ribbons and Eric, with their permission. The 'What if?' in this case being "What if the witch had won?", hence the title. There are a couple of points where, inevitably, it incorporates chunks of dialogue from their tale, though these have been recast so that they are now seen from the other person's pov. This is a standalone tale so you don't need to read 'Merry-Go-Round', but why wouldn't you? Naturally, it also contains spoilers for that story. ******************************** 1. Merry I opened my eyes and smiled. I was back where I belonged. And this time I was staying. Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I padded over to the antique full-length mirror and admired my magnificent body. I was tall, with long legs, a shapely rear, slim waist, and firm, perfectly proportioned breasts. Long hair cascaded down over my shoulders, framing a face that a movie star might envy, what with its full, luscious lips, tiny nose, and large brown eyes. I sighed with pleasure at the sight. "Well hello again and good morning, sexy!" I said, grinning. "Mama's back and she's never leaving you again!" Leaning forward, I kissed my reflection. "Merry?" said a voice from the bed. It was Tim, my seriously-handsome husband. I had woken him up. "Yes," I laughed, "yes I am. Now and forever." "Someone's very happy this morning," he said, smiling at my obvious joy. "Why wouldn't I be?" I replied. "I'm young, I'm beautiful, and I'm married to a gorgeous man who's fantastic in bed." "Well, I don't like to boast," he said, giving that adorable, lop- sided grin of his, "but I can't really argue with your assessment." Smiling, I threw back the covers, leaving him naked before me. "Looks like someone's glad to see me," I purred. "Always," he replied, reaching out and pulling me onto the bed. He rolled over on top of me and we kissed long and passionately until he came up for air, grinned at me and started working his way down my body. With consummate skill he tongued my nipples erect, nipping at them with his teeth and getting me very, very aroused. Moving down over my belly with gentle kisses and caresses, he came at last to my pussy. I was holding my breath as he slowly parted the lips, fingers moving into that wonderful wetness, easing back the hood of my clitoris, his head dipping between my legs as his tongue took over. When it came to sex, Tim was a maestro and his tongue played a symphony on my clit until I could hold it in no more and screamed out his name as I climaxed in great, rolling waves of ecstasy. "Oh, Tim!" I croaked, still coming down from my orgasms as he crawled up beside me and took me in his arms. Now *that* was the way to start the day. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world. Alas, we couldn't cuddle for long because it was a weekday and unlike my husband I had a job to go to. While Tim made us breakfast I got dressed then sat at my dressing table and did my make- up. I never tired of looking at my beautiful face and could quite happily have spent hours applying cosmetics and admiring it. What a vast improvement on the face that used to stare back at me from the mirror! After we'd eaten breakfast, Tim drove me down to the railroad station, and we shared a lingering goodbye kiss until it was time for me to board the train for Boston. Fortunately our little town - Hawthorne - was on a commuter line so the service was regular and reliable. I remembered the station being built back in 1833 when the railroad eventually reached us. I was deeply suspicious of it at first but it had proven a definite boon to the town. As he did every day, Tim stood on the platform waving to me until the train was out of his sight. Ah Tim, so sweet! He would spend the day as he always did working on his comic strip 'Mr Amazing'. He thought his talent lay in his writing and drawing abilities, but though he was undeniably gifted in those areas his truly exceptional talent was as a lover. I'd anticipated enjoying sex with him, but he had exceeded my every expectation. Somewhat to my astonishment, he had awakened a sexual appetite within me I had never known was there and taken me to levels of ecstasy I'd never imagined I could reach. I'd had to share him with my body's previous tenant these past few months, but not any more. Now he was mine and mine alone. Tim was convinced a Hollywood studio would see the potential of 'Mr Amazing' if he could only bring it to the attention of the right people and I decided I would help him. I was owed favors by some surprising people and it was time to call in a few of my markers. I wanted to do something nice for Tim, and as his wife what was good for him was good for me. His wife. It should still feel a little strange thinking of myself as Mrs Tim Macintyre, but it didn't. It felt right. Very right. My first time in this body I had not been confident of my ability to play that role and so had fed Tim my special 'tasty treats', which were designed to magically lull any suspicions he might have and to bind him to me. Later, annoyed by my own uncertainty, I had dispensed with them. Which turned out to be the right thing to do. I soon realised I had never needed them in the first place. In reflective mood, I reached into my purse and pulled out a photo of the ladies of the little husband-swapping group I had formed. Of course, our group was different to others of its kind in that we swapped our husbands by swapping our bodies. They were a motley group, but you can only work with what you have. There had been five of us at first: the town sheriff, Victoria 'Tori' Bulwark, thuggish and corrupt but useful for getting things done; Sophia Hampshire, the wife of the mayor and one of the wealthiest people in Hawthorne; her French maid, Mimi; her sister-in-law, Susan Hampshire, whose husband Sophia was secretly in love with; and our town librarian, the almost painfully plain Natalie Greenwood, who until I woke up this morning had been me. Meredith Macintyre had become our sixth member just over four months ago. Now she was Natalie Greenwood. And she always would be. The way the club worked was that every month, on the night of the full moon, we would all switch bodies. The others all had a geas on them that not only compelled them to live the life of the body they found themselves in and prevented them from talking to outsiders about the club but also from telling each other which of them was in which body. Six days later we would wake up back in our own bodies. Everybody was supposed to get a turn being everybody else, but I had been keeping Meredith's body for myself. She had had her six days in each of the other bodies in turn, and this morning had woken up in mine, the body she would now be waking up in every day for the rest of her life. My office was a ten minute walk from the rail terminus in Boston. If the weather was bad I would take a taxi, otherwise I wouldn't dream of doing so. After so many years where I might as well have been invisible for all the attention I attracted, now I turned heads. I got admiring looks wherever I went and I loved it. On that ten-minute walk I revelled in every lustful glance and occasional wolf-whistle. "Morning, Jill!" I said to the pretty receptionist, as I stepped out of the elevator and into the offices of Johnson & Co. We occupied the whole floor and it was a pretty standard open-plan collection of cubicles save for the glass fronted offices in each corner occupied by the partners, one of whom was me. Once in my office, I sat down, turned on my computer, and surveyed the contents of my desk while waiting for it to boot. My eyes alighted on a framed photo of Tim and me. I smiled at the memories it brought back. It was taken on our wedding day and showed Tim in a smart suit and me in a simple dress. Of course, at the time it was taken it was not me but my predecessor who was Meredith Macintyre - or Meredith Kelly, to use our maiden name - but as part of the body-swap spell I had access to all her memories. This was how I was able to effortlessly take over her life and to do her job. She however did not have quite the same level of access to my memories. It wouldn't do for her to know my magickal secrets after all. We had been married by a Justice of the Peace, I remembered, and so had not had the big wedding I had dreamed of since I was a little girl. Business problems at the time and the heart attack that had followed -with all the attendant medical bills - had meant my father was in no position to pay for his daughter's wedding. If only great- grandpa Jack Kelly hadn't lost the family fortune in 1929 in the Wall Street Crash! So Tim and I had essentially eloped and got married on the cheap. My predecessor regreted that, and so did I. I'd been married several times down the centuries, yet I too had somehow missed out on the big wedding. "Got you your morning latte, Meredith," said Sharon Hodge, my PA, marching into the office. In the process of placing the coffee in front of me, she somehow managed to lean forward enough to give me the sort of view of her impressive cleavage she usually reserved for her girlfriends. I wasn't interested, but it amused me that she wanted to flirt with me. I liked being desired. More importantly she was a first-class PA and she had a cynical, bitchy sense of humor that I really appreciated. "OK," I said, sipping my latte, "what's the first thing we need to tackle...?" That evening, before boarding the commuter train back to Hawthorne, I visited Victoria's Secret. Being as thin, flat-chested and angular as it was, my old body had always looked ridiculous in lingerie, the very opposite of sexy, but since I'd upgraded I couldn't get enough of it. Now when it came to lingerie I was like a kid in a candy store. Never having had much in the way of breasts before, I'd developed a particular fondness for pretty bras. but, really, it was all wonderful. I loved wearing sexy lingerie, and Tim loved seeing me in it. I stocked up on all manner of delightful items but was disappointed that neither the Newbury Street nor the Huntington Avenue stores had the particular teddy I had set my heart on. Fortunately, they could order it and get it mailed to me directly. I was assured it would be with me before the end of the week. When I got home, Tim was still at the drawing board in his studio, working to meet a deadline. He was so focused on what he was doing he didn't notice I was there until I kissed him on the cheek. "Oh hi, honey!" he said, clearly pleased to see me. "I've got maybe a half-hour to go here and then I'll be finished for the day." "Half hour will be perfect, Tim." I kissed him again, then left for our bedroom. A half-hour would give me just enough time to get ready. After a quick shower, I sat at my dressing table and did my make-up. The effect I was going for was 'wanton slut', and I think I achieved it. That done, I laid my Victoria's Secret purchases out and started to dress. First I put on the garter belt; then I carefully rolled a stocking up each of my frankly world-class legs and attached them. Next came the studded choker at my throat, and the long opera gloves I rolled up each arm. Large earrings, each a small curtain of fake diamonds, and six inch heels (do *not* try to wear these outside the bedroom) completed the outfit. My glistening red lip gloss and the light sparkling from my earrings constrasted nicely with the black of everything else. It had been a half hour, so I sashayed into Tim's studio and leaned seductively against the door frame. "Hello, lover," I said, affecting a breathy little Marilyn Monroe voice. Tim's eyes went wide. "Holy hell, Merry!" he said. "I know!" I laughed, coming over and sitting in his lap. I could feel him growing hard and wiggled my bottom into his crotch appreciatively. "I feel like I should be quoting Mae West on the subject of guns," I said. "God, it's like it's my birthday all the time lately," he said, caressing my breasts and making my nipples very hard, "and I have a new present every day!" "I'm all for you having me every day, Darling!" I giggled. And have me he did. That was pretty much a typical evening for us all that week. On Wednesday I lunched with my mother, who travelled into Boston from their home in Worcester for our meal. Relations had gotten strained between Mom and my predecessor, but I was taking steps to repair them. It had been a long, long time since I'd had a mother and father. Now that I had them again I was going to make sure things between us were great. For all their problems, I liked being part of a family, and you rarely get a second chance at something like this. Tim was delighted to see us patching things up too, which was a bonus. I bumped into Natalie Greenwood the following day, the only time I saw her all week. I got a call from the post office to say a package had turned up addressed to me from Victoria's Secret. It was a nice evening and Tim was busy in his studio working hard to beat a deadline, so I decided to stroll down to the post office and pick it up. I put on a black miniskirt and matching knee high, stiletto heeled boots before heading out. Not the most sensible attire to take a walk in perhaps, but they say if you got it you should flaunt it - and I definitely had it. At the Post Office I signed for the package then opened it to check it contained the teddy I'd been expecting, which it did. As I was leaving the building I almost collided with Natalie, who was entering it. I greeted her gaily. She responded frostily. Looking at her I found myself already distanced from that body, found it strange to think it had ever been mine. Natalie was painfully thin with no breasts to speak of, several inches shorter than me and - physically, at least - several years older. She did not look comfortable in her skin, but that was OK. She didn't know it yet but she would have the rest of her life to get used to it. Unable to resist the temptation, I opened the package and held the teddy up against my body. "I can't wait to show this and wear this for my Tim! I just know he will just love me in it - don't you?" Laughing, I walked away leaving Natalie fuming behind me. Teasing her like that had been great fun. She would be expecting to wake up back in this body in two days time. Boy, was she in for a surprise! And the other ladies of the club weren't going to be happy, either. Each of them, having not yet had a turn at being Meredith Macintyre, would have been expecting to wake up as her on that last round of swaps. When they were back in their own bodies they were going to be furious and, thinking she was me, they were almost certainly going to take it out on the town librarian. I chuckled as I imagined the scene. Two days later, I didn't have to imagine it. The phone rang early that morning. It was Tori. She sounded nervous. "There's been a disturbance," she said. "A 'disturbance'?" "Yes, the ladies of the club forced their way into Natalie Greenwood's home and confronted her about not getting their turns in your body, and Sophia pulled a gun on her." "A gun? Oh my. What happened." "Well, I disarmed her and Natalie, pretending to be you, threatened them and ordered them out." "Pretending to be me. So you know that it's me in this body?" "Well, yeah. I figured it out when we confronted Natalie." "So you actually all summoned up the courage to go to her home and stand up to her while thinking she was me? I'm surprised. I hadn't realised you were all feeling suicidal." "Wh...what are you going to do?" asked Tori. I could hear the fear in her voice. "This time, nothing. Everything is going so well at the moment that I'm feeling very generous, but I want you to pass along a message to the other ladies. They need to know that if they try and stage this sort of mutiny again the consequences are likely to be severe. Have you got that?" "Yes, Meredith," said Tori, quietly. "Good. It would be terrible if an accident were to befall any of you." No sooner had I put the phone down, Than I heard the doorbell. Our maid answered, and a few seconds later announced: "It's Natalie Greenwood for you, ma'am." "Thank you," I said. "Tell her I'll be with her in a minute." I checked my hair and make up and smoothed down my skirt, making sure I looked perfect before walking through to the parlour to greet my visitor. She looked terrible. More terrible than usual, that is. Her too-pale face was long, plain and unmemorable with small eyes, thin lips that stretched over somewhat protruding teeth, a long nose, weak chin, and frizzy hair that I knew from bitter experience was almost unmanageable. That was how she always looked, but now she was clearly upset as well. "Not feeling well, Natalie, my dear?" I said, sympathetically. "Tori told me about the trouble you had earlier. That's a shame. I mean, we all knew Sophia was a little unstable, but nobody expected this." "Knock it off," she said, "I've had enough of this cat-and-mouse crap, Natalie. I know you're the witch. I also know your stories of being descended from town settlers are lies. You *are* one of the town's settlers!" "If you can't call me by MY name and be polite I will ask you to leave, Natalie," I said, my voice cold. "So what's it to be?" I smiled, watching her tremble with fury but slowly bringing it under control. "I am sorry, 'Meredith'," she said, trying hard to sound contrite, "please accept my apologies." "Now that's much better, dear Natalie." I laughed. "Wow. You are smart, Natalie. I don't think boring old 'Euripides' had figured that one out. I believe he was getting wise to me being a sorceress, though. That was another reason for me to move on. So, how did you figure it out?" "Well, 'Merry', there was your portrait, and then your photo albums. Your supposed grandmother Vivien looked just like you... the same as her grandmother, Rachel, and so on. I checked the town records. Every so often one of your ancestors would suddenly die, and an heiress would show up soon after. The question is why? Why? If you are immortal, then why steal my body?" "Well, that's the thing. I'm not really immortal. I know ways of keeping myself young and vital, but they don't last." I sighed. "Poor dear Natalie, haven't you noticed how lethargic that body, your body, is yet? That's the effect of my spells wearing off. Don't worry; you won't suddenly turn into a crone. That only happens in movies and stories. Not in real life. You'll just age and die like any normal person." "So all this business with the club was practice runs?" "Yes, partly. You see, I had to build up the power for the switch to be permanent. The club ladies unknowingly did that. They're such fools! Then I had to find the right person. And you were it. You have...had such a lovely body, and now it's mine. So kind of you to trade!" I laughed softly and ran my slim hands down my body. "I've never been so happy! And Tim is such a wonderful husband, so sexy and cute." I smiled ruefully. "You know I really do love him. I didn't expect that! I may even share my youth secret with him, and keep him forever!" "I won't let you get away with this, Meredith!" she shouted angrily. "Oh, and now you start with the clich?s! Get real, Natalie. I'm a sorceress who has been around ten times longer than you! What can you do, who can you turn to? The other club members can't help you...they're too afraid and they have no real power! I've planned things well, dear Natalie. No, witchcraft cannot touch me." I put my arm around her shoulders. "Face it, dear Natalie. There's nothing you can do. So why don't you go home to your dull as dishwater husband, and life as a librarian, and forget what you've lost? It will be less painful for you that way. I know you think I am evil and some kind of a monster but it's not true." "Tim loves me more than he ever loved you," I said, with quiet passion. "It's a lie!!" Enraged, Natalie threw herself at me, but being weaker than me her attack was totally ineffectual, and with a single shove I pushed her to the floor. "If I was as evil as you think I would just kill you, but I'm just too nice. It won't be too bad for you, Natalie. Really, it won't. I'm not a monster, you know. You'll enjoy living the quiet life as a charmless librarian with a dull husband and life. That won't be too bad." "You know what I think, 'Meredith'," she replied, climbing slowly to her feet and facing me squarely. "I think the main reason you're keeping me alive is that you want to rub it in. That every day you want me to remember that you're living my wonderful life and I'm stuck in yours, in this poor excuse for a body." She was right, of course. "Would I do such a thing, I ask you?" I said with a laugh, my voice full of obviously feigned disbelief. "Well, I hear my husband coming. Drop by any time, Natalie. We're always glad to see you." Tim came in and said, "How's my favorite librarian?" to Natalie. He kissed me and put his strong arms around me. I returned his kiss and embrace enthusiastically. Natalie walked off, her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Oh, Natalie," I called after her from the arms of my handsome husband, "Tim and I are having a dinner party next month. Just a little shindig to celebrate the full moon...you know why. I'd like you and your delightful, distinguished husband Sam to come. In fact, I insist on it, Natalie! Tim and I won't take no for an answer." "Is she oK?" asked Tim when she had gone. "Only she seemed a little down." "She is a bit down, yes, poor dear," I said. "It's girl stuff, nothing you need concern yourself with, but I think talking things out with me has cheered her up a little bit. I hope so, anyway." "She's lucky to have a friend like you, Merry." "Yes, I suppose she is." I looked up at Tim, who was gazing at me adoringly. I loved it when he looked at me like that, and at such moments there was nowhere in the world I would rather be than in his arms. "I don't know why," I purred, smiling at him seductively and walking my fingers up his chest, "but after that exchange with Natalie I really want you to carry me off to bed and make wild, passionate love to me." "God, Merry!" he said, grinning, "I don't know where this recent appetite for lots of sex has come from, but I love it! Your wish is my command." That adorable man then swept me off my feet and carried me off to our bedroom, a trip that took longer than it should have because I had my arms around his neck and we were locked in a long, passionate kiss the whole way. God, but I loved my life! Later, laying totally sated in Tim's arms and feeling tired but very happy, I thought back to my conversation with Natalie and the matter of Sam 'Eurypides' Greenwood. I'd suspected Sam knew I was the sorceress, and while Natalie hadn't confirmed this she hadn't denied it either. If he did know, that could be a problem. He was sharp enough to have noticed the change in his wife every time someone else was inhabiting the body of Natalie Greenwood, but as yet he had not tried to tell anyone else about what we were doing. He believed we were all willing participants, but if he discovered his new wife wasn't, and knew I was the one behind our game of body-swap musical chairs, this might change. And I couldn't allow that. I didn't know how likely a scenario this was, but I hadn't survived as long as I have by taking unnecessary risks. My geas on the women of our little club prevented them discussing the body-swapping with anyone who didn't know about it. I realised I needed to place Sam under the same geas as them, one that would prevent him from revealing what he knew to outsiders and from making any hostile move against me. While I was at it, I would put him under another one, too. I wanted Natalie to accept her new life and new identity because then my victory would be complete. Which meant I not only wanted Sam not to say anything that would delay this - I wanted him to encourage her to do so. Having made the decision, I reached out with my mind and laid the geas on him there and then. With someone I didn't know well the process would have been much more involved, but I was married to Sam for twenty years. Now that it was done, I nestled up against Tim and sighed contentedly. It really didn't get much better than this. And then it did. * 2. Natalie By the time I climbed into my Avalon and pulled away from the witch's Maple Street house, from what had been Tim's and my home, I was too upset to drive back to the house I now shared with Sam Greenwood. Sam had already been very sympathetic and understanding of my plight and the last thing I wanted to do was dump any more of my troubles on him, at least not while I was in this state. So instead, I drove up into the hills overlooking Hawthorne, parked my car, laid my head on the steering wheel, and sobbed my heart out. It was gone, all gone. I'd lost Tim and I was going to be stuck in this wretched body forever. I don't know how long I was there but, eventually, I pulled myself together and drove back to the house that was now home and to the man who was now my husband. "My God, what's wrong?" said Sam when I got back. One look in my eyes was enough to give him his answer. "Oh, no!" he said. "That's still Meredith in there, isn't it?" I nodded silently and he took me in his arms, holding me gently as, between sobs, I told him everything. "I can't believe she could do this to you!" he said shaking his head. "What can I do, Merry?" "What can anyone do?" I answered. "But you'd better start calling me Natalie. That's who I am now. Meredith Macintyre lives on Maple with her husband Tim!" It was in a daze for the next couple of days as I absorbed the full enormity of what had been done to me. Eventually, with great effort, I pulled myself out of it. Yes, a terrible wrong had been done me, but it could have been much worse. I had only lost my beauty. If others could survive the loss of limbs, disfigurement, and disability then I could survive this. Tim had been taken and if, as I was going to have to accept, I was never getting him back, there were far worse husbands I could have ended up with that Sam 'Eurypides' Greenwood. If this was going to be my life then I needed to 'try it on for size' and see if I could be Natalie Greenwood without it killing me. So one night I seduced Sam. He enjoyed it and so, somewhat to my surprise, did I. I'm not sure what he thought - probably that I was 'going native' - but this was something I really needed to do. Still, as hard as all this was for me it probably wasn't easy for him either. His wife of twenty years had revealed herself to be a witch and had abandoned him for another man, leaving me behind in her place. "I know I've been a burden to you, Sam," I told him one morning, "Please forgive me." "There's nothing to forgive," he said, looking like he wanted to say more but couldn't find the words. I came to a decision. If I was stuck as Natalie I didn't want to be alone. "Sam," I said, "I want you know if we can't get me my former body back, I am prepared to be as good a wife to you as I can." Sam said nothing. He just smiled,and kissed me. Taking his hand, I led him off to bed to our bed. Sam wasn't the sexual athlete Tim was, but the sex was nice and afterwards I felt safe, secure and protected. It might have been an illusion, but if so then it was one I desperately needed right then. I woke the next day feeling pretty awful and looking worse. Something I'd ate the previous night had clearly disagreed with me. Given this, I wasn't too thrilled to get a phone call from Meredith. "Hope I didn't wake you," she said, "but a special meeting of the town council has been called. I have an announcement the whole town is going to love. I insist you be there, Natalie." "Of course, Meredith," I replied. "Anything you say." "Naturally. Well goodbye, darling. Give my regards to your husband." "Who was that?" asked Sam, coming in for breakfast and seeing my face. "The wicked witch of the west," I replied. "She's called a council meeting for tonight for some big announcement she's making. She insists we be there." "Then we had better be," said Sam. "There are consequences for disappointing her. Which reminds me, there's something I've been meaning to ask you." "Yes?" "It's that research you did, discovering she's almost three hundred years old and has claimed to be her own descendants many times down the years." "What about it?" "I need you to give me a copy. I want to follow up on it." "OK, but what are you hoping to find?" "I'm not sure yet, but knowledge is power. There may be something in her past we can use against her." "How?" I said, exasperated. "As we figured out last night, she's laid a geas on you that appears to prevent you from seeking to harm her either in word or deed." "And we're pretty sure that she defines harm in this case to include any attempt to restore you to your true bodies, yes, I know. But within those limitations there might still be something I can do. I won't know until I've checked it out." I shrugged my shoulders. As plans go this wasn't one that held out much hope, but as Sam said it was pretty much the only one available to us. At midday, all the great and the good of Hawthorne were gathered in the council chamber. I had no idea what this was all about but now that everyone else was here I was sure Meredith would be making a grand entrance. And so she did. The witch swept into the council chamber looking like a catwalk model in a new fur coat and sexy, high heeled boots that I recognised as Gucci. She had seriously upgraded my wardrobe since becoming Meredith Macintyre. But then, it was beginning to seem like everything about her was an upgrade on me. Her hair shone and her perfect, beauty queen face, was positively glowing. As she began to talk, it was clear she was bubbling over with excitement. No one could take their eyes off her. "I have such great news, everyone!" she announced to the chamber. "I especially wanted to let you know, dear Natalie, as you've been such a help to my husband from time to time, that I've managed to get him a huge Hollywood contract for Mr Amazing! It's going to be a major Hollywood movie. It will help our town as well, with all the publicity. And some of the movie will be shot here!" The crowd erupted in cheers and applause, congratulations poured in from all sides, and my heart sank. Tim was beside her, face beaming, his arm around her waist. I wanted to leave then and there but I knew better than to depart before Meredith had had a chance to gloat. Sure enough, twenty or so minutes later, after she had circulated and basked in all the thanks and appeciation directed at her, she contrived to get me alone for a little girl-to-girl 'chat'. "What was that about?" asked Sam after Meredith moved on, his face a picture of concern. "The usual," I replied, bitterly. "She said this proved Tim was better off with her, that I didn't deserve him, and how happy they both were together." "Oh, Merry!" he said. "'Natalie'," I corrected him. "She's Merry now and I have to accept that, however much it hurts. Could you take me home now please, Sam? Only I don't think I can bear another minute of this." Having stolen my life I didn't understand why Meredith then took such obvious glee at rubbing it in. Why torment me like that? I was in a daze, after the meeting and Sam, clearly concerned, suggested we should go for a walk to clear our heads. It was a crisp Saturday afternoon so I agreed. Unfortunately, who should we see on our stroll than Tim and Meredith, who were also taking a walk. Not that they even noticed us. Walking hand-in-hand, they only had eyes for each other. Seeing them like that, so young and beautiful, so clearly in love with each other, was more than I could take and I started crying. "Maybe she is right, Sam. Maybe she's right that Tim loves her more than he did me! Maybe she's a better Merry than me! She got him a million dollar Hollywood contract. Maybe I should just accept the truth that she's a better Merry than I was and let her live my former life, and I should just make do with this one." Sam said nothing, but took me in his arms and hugged me tightly, comforting me. When we got home Sam poured us both a drink, which calmed me down considerably. Looking at him curiously, I finally asked him about something that had been puzzling me for a while. "You were married to her for twenty years," I said. "What was she like in the beginning? Did you love her? Did she love you?" "Those are big questions," he said with a sigh, "questions I've been asking myself since you discovered just how old she really is." He took another sip of his Scotch, summoning his thoughts. "When she arrived in town and became the new librarian I was naturally curious about her. Her parents had allgedly divorced when she was a toddler leaving her to be raised by her father. We now know this is total nonsense, of course, and she's a dead ringer for her allegedly dead mother because they're the same person. We got talking, discovered we had a love of the same books, started dating and, eventually, we married. Oh, I can't claim ours was a great, passionate romance. No, it was two lonely people finding each other. But I thought we loved each other. I loved her anyway, at first." "At first?" "She was always emotionally distant and sex between us was always perfunctory, then it dried up altogether. I don't think she enjoyed sex very much." "That's certainly changed," I said, bitterly. "Yes, well, I think part of the problem was that she had pretty major body-image problems. She may have had a taste for designer clothing and done the best with what she had, but she clearly didn't like the way she looked. She didn't like it at all. So, anyway, eventually our marriage became one of little more than mutual companionship, which I think is what she wanted all along. She hates being alone." "Can't fault her for that," I said. "Who would choose loneliness over being with someone?" "Indeed," he replied, staring wistfully into his glass. "Sam," I asked, "how old am I supposed to be?" "Forty-two," he replied. "You were twenty one when we wed, and we've been married twenty one years." "And now you know the truth, how old physically would you say this body actually is?" "About ten years younger than that." "That's what I think, too," I said, "and that makes sense. If you figure the witch stopped her body from aging any further when she was in her early thirties - and if you figure she can pull off maybe twenty years in an identity before people start to ask themselves why she isn't aging, then it makes sense she'd claim ten years either side of her physical age to stretch it out as long as she could." "That's logical," said Sam, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "And it means that even without all this body-swapping, she would have been leaving me pretty soon anyway." When I woke on Sunday, I thought back over the events of the previous day. Sam had said nothing when I suggested I should just accept the witch is a better Merry than I was, let her live my former life, and just make do with this one. Was that the geas preventing him from speaking against her or did he agree with me? I couldn't tell, unfortunately. Yet, looking at things logically, it was the only sensible thing for me to do. My life had been stolen from me by a powerful witch and she was keeping it. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but I had to accept that fact and move on if I was to have any hope of future happiness at all. I looked over at Sam, asleep there on the pillow next to mine, and smiled. I didn't love him but he was a good man. If anyone could help me through this, could help me accept I would be Natalie Greenwood until the day I died, it was him. And accept it I would. Which is not to say I still didn't have anger and frustrations that needed to worked out. On Monday I called a meeting of the ladies' club at Susan's house which, since they still believed me to be the witch, they could hardly refuse to attend. From the things the witch had said I knew she couldn't have stolen my body without their help. The monthly swaps had built up magical energy somehow until the swap was permanent. So I decided a little payback was in order. I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say I managed to put a fright in each and every one of those bitches. It wasn't nice, but it was no less than they deserved. 3. Merry "Natalie, darling," I said "you simply must come to dinner on the sixteenth, it's the night after the next full moon. Just a few friends, nothing fancy. Cocktail dresses will be fine. I won't take no for an answer." "Sam and I will be glad to come," she replied, "so nice of you to invite us, Merry dear." I frowned. There was something in her voice, something...unexpected. "No, it's only for us girls," I said. "My, Natalie, you sound far happier than the last time we talked." "I am, Meredith. I'm not happy, but I've grown content with things as they are. Only a fool makes their lives miserable while pining for things that are gone forever." Was she telling the truth, I wondered, and if not then what was she up to? It was impossible to tell over the phone; we would have to meet in person. "My, you are a good little girl! I'm so glad to hear it. It would be tragic if an accident would have - well. Tell you what, come to my office around twelve and we'll do lunch today." "I would be delighted. See you at noon," she said, then hung up. Hawthorne was twenty miles from Boston so she would have to take the train, but I knew Natalie would come. My invitation to her had not been a request. At noon, I watched from my glass-fronted as she entered the offices of her former workplace and walked over to the receptionist. Sharon my PA happened to be in my office with me, as did Kathy Collins, one of our trainee secretaries. "It's so sad," I said, smiling, "she might be wearing expensive clothes but she really doesn't look good in them. It's like her body just can't be made to look elegant or stylish." "I know," laughed Sharon, "and oh dear, that face! Nature has not been kind to her, poor cow." Kathy was giving us a disapproving look. "Yes?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "You shouldn't be so mean about her," said Kathy, hotly. "She's a real person with real feelings and it's not her fault she's plain and unglamorous." "Oh, like little miss barbie doll would know anything about that!" sneered Sharon. "I was a fat kid who wore glasses," said Kathy, "so yeah, I do actually." "Thank you, Kathy," I said. "That will be all." When she had left, I did a quick check of my hair and make-up then grabbed my coat and went out to greet my visitor. "Natalie, so good of you to come," I said, all smiles. Taking her by the arm, I led her to the elevator. In the street, thanks to my long legs, Natalie almost had to run to keep up with my strides as I led the way to Luigi's, the Italian restaurant where I ate lunch most days. Making her have to scurry after me like that amused me no end and I was in a great mood by the time we were being seated by the waiter. I was the center of male attention and pretty much every man in the restaurant looked me up and down appreciatively at some point during our meal, while completely ignoring Natalie, of course. Which was only to be expected, and the way things should be. As a beautiful woman, such attention was my due. Turning to Natalie, I focussed the full force of my mind on her. She looked close to fainting, as if the gaze I was subjecting her to was reading her mind and soul. Which in a sense I was. Oh, I couldn't really read minds but I could feel intent. If someone was lying to me or meant me harm, I would know. After a few seconds I relaxed. Her change of heart appeared to be genuine. "Sorry for doubting you, dearest Natalie, but it's a question of better safe than sorry. It's good to see that you are sincere in what you said about being content and not trying to recover what is unrecoverable. I just hate dishonesty, don't you? By the by, as you probably suspected, you will not change with anyone at the full moon. That part of our little game is over, but the others will. I know you have impersonated me to the others. I love it! It is vastly amusing!" I looked at Natalie appraisingly "You accepting who you now are doesn't come as a total surprise to me," I said. "I'm entirely comfortable in this body now. It feels natural, right and proper that this is who I am, and the face I see in the mirror every morning is the one I expect to see. I remember being you, of course, but I no longer remember what it *felt* like to have any body but this one, and I'm sure the same is true for you." Natalie looked uncomfortable. "It...it is," she said, uneasily. "But I don't understand. Why should that be?" "I'm sure a psychologist would say it's our mind's way of coping with the change, an adaptation we make. But they would wrong. The real reason is fate." "Fate?" "Yes," I said, "fate. Believe it or not there really is such a thing as destiny - and as a sorceress I would know. From the moment you were born your destiny was leading you here, to Hawthorne, and to our body swap. Now you have the body you were meant to have, and are the person you were always destined to become. Me too, of course. I really must thank you for taking such good care of my beautiful body, Natalie, and I hope you enjoyed it while you were keeping it ready for me. I know you're upset it's gone but what you should be feeling is grateful to have had the use of it for as long as you did. If you think about it you must see you were never it's owner, not really. It was always mine. You were merely its custodian until I was able to take permanent possession of it and assume my rightful place as Meredith McIntyre and you could take yours as Natalie Greenwood." "No, that's not true!" said Natalie. "It can't be, it mustn't be!" "Oh, but it is!" I insisted. "Of course you miss having my magnificent body and wish you still saw my beautiful face in the mirror rather than your own. I understand that, and I sympathise. But in reality the face you see there now, the face of Natalie Greenwood, is your true face. At long last you're who you're supposed to be and finally seeing the real you. I know it doesn't seem like it now, but this is a *good* thing. Our body swap was both inevitable and necessary, and everything is now as it should be. Haven't you wondered at how quickly we've become comfortable in these bodies or how soon you accepted the new status quo?" "I didn't want to make myself unhappy pining for a body and a life I'm never going to get back. I accepted this is who I am now because it's less painful that way." "Oh Natalie, I know that's what you honestly believe but the reason for your swift capitulation, and why we became so comfortable in these bodies so quickly, is because our sprits recognised they were where they were supposed to be, that they were finally home. It would not have happened otherwise." Natalie shook her head slowly, trying to deny the logic of my words, but I could see I had planted real doubt in her mind. "And then there are our husbands," I continued. "You have to know I make a better wife for Tim than you did. I don't deny you made my Tim happy in your way, but he deserved better and now he has it. Even you can see he's happier with me. He told you himself how much his marriage has improved since moving here, and he regularly compliments me on how much better I've gotten in bed. Tim always had a larger sexual appetite than you did but in me he has someone with a love of sex that matches his own. And anyone who spends any time with us at all can see how besotted we are with each other. When I told you he loves me more than he ever did you you probably thought I was just being cruel, but can you honestly now deny it?" Natalie bowed her head. I could see she wanted to, but she couldn't. Anyone with eyes could see the strength of our love for each other. "I've really enjoyed our lunch date," I said, and I had. "With the library being shut on Wednesdays we should do this every week. In fact, I insist on it." * The annual Tri-City ball and auction to benefit the local churches' food pantries had come around again and this year Tim and I were elected king and queen by acclamation. Saying I was easily the most beautiful woman there was not vanity on my part but a simple statement of fact. I looked spectacular in a designer strapless gold gown from Paris. And I *loved* the fact I was able to wear a strapless gown. On my old body there would have been nothing to hold it up. When Tim and I took to the dance floor all eyes were on us and we moved with grace and elegance. The auction went well, and by the time we returned home I was positively buzzing. Tim, however, looked serious. "What is it, darling?" I asked. "Now that we have money there's something I want to do for you, Merry, something I always promised myself I would if we ever got rich." He took my hand and looked into my eyes. "I know you wanted a full wedding with the big dress and all your family and friends around and it's always been a deep regret of mine that because we didn't have much money back then we had to settle for a Justice of the Peace." "I got you," I said, "which means I hit the jackpot, big wedding or no big wedding." "I feel the same way about you, my darling, but I want us to renew our vows so that I can finally give you that big wedding." It was something I had ever considered doing, but Tim then did something that made up my mind for me. Getting down on one knee, he took my hand in his and said: "Meredith Macintyre, will you marry me?" He didn't realise it but this was the first time he had popped the question to me. Only one reponse was possible. "Yes, Tim, oh yes, my darling!" I said, tears welling. How did he do it? How did this delightful man keep finding ways to make me love him even more? We embraced, and as we were kissing I realized what was needed to make my wedding perfect. "I want to do this properly so we'll need a year to plan it," I said, "and I want Natalie to be my Maid of Honor." "Wow, offering her a big role like that is very generous of you, Merry," said Tim, "but do you think she'd accept it?" "Trust me, my love," I laughed, "she won't be able to refuse!" Oh, this was going to be truly delicious! Natalie would have to watch and smile as I walked down the aisle on her father's arm and married Tim, would have to listen to everyone congratulating us, and would have to see me star in the big wedding she had always wanted for herself. I don't think I could have come up with a more exquisitely perfect torture for her had I wanted to. The folowing morning, I told Tim it was time we got around to a task we'd been putting off for months. He agreed, and we set to it. "Wow, it sure is dusty up here," said Tim. "You were right, Merry. We've put off tidying the attic for way too long." Most of what was in the attic was junk, the detritus people hide away that gets deservedly forgotten, but there were one or two items we could do something with. This was a nice bonus, but it wasn't the intended purpose behind my suggestion. "Tim, look at this," I said holding up an aged, ornately carved wooden box no bigger than my hand. "What is it?" said Tim, as I opened the lid and pulled out an old and rather ugly metal amulet. "An old piece of cheap jewellery, I think," I said, handing it to him. As he touched it we both felt a strong jolt of energy shoot through our fingers, like a large static shock. "Owwww," said Tim. "What the hell...?" As he was speaking, so a small, hidden drawer sprang out from the bottom of the box. In it was a piece of folded paper, which Tim reached over for and opened to reveal some writing. "What does it say?" I asked, and Tim read it out: "If a man and a woman should grasp this amulet, And if their love be true and their hearts be pure, Then shall their aging be stayed for two hundred years and sixty, And the power of the amulet shall be spent." "It has to be some sort of joke!" I laughed. "Probably," said Tim, "though from the look of it it's been in this attic a very long time." Actually, I had bought the amulet and box in a Boston flea market only last week, and the jolt we had felt had been a harmless little spark of magic. "Well if it has stopped us aging, lover," I said, "it'll be at least a decade before we start to be able to tell." "Yeah," said Tim, shaking his head and laughing. "I'm embarrassed I actually took it seriously for a second there." I was pleased. That little bit of theatre had gone exactly as planned. I'd told Natalie I might share the secret of eternal youth with Tim, and now I was. I loved him, he loved me, and I wanted our love to endure forever. I would soon cast the spells that would stop this body from aging any further, and this time those spells would include Tim as well. The spells took a lot of energy to maintain but I was now powerful enough to keep them up for another person, too. At least for the two hundred and fifty to three hundred years they work on a given body. Then we would need new ones. Because of the business with the amulet, Tim would believe our continued youth to be a lucky accident and so have no reason to believe his wife was a sorceress, just like I wanted. * 4. Natalie "Pregnant?" said Sam, looking shocked. "I'd been feeling sick and thought I was coming down with something, but Doc Hooper says there's no doubt. Looks like you're going to be a father, Sam." "How do you feel about this, Natalie?" asked Sam, his eyes searching my face. Not being able to tell, he was clearly uncertain as to how he should react to the news. "Happy, Sam," I said, giving a little smile, "I feel happy." Then that kind, wonderful man took me in his arms and we kissed. "I'm so glad," he said. "You deserve your happiness more than anyone I know." "And you?" I said. "How do you feel about becoming a Daddy?" "I'm ecstatic," he said. "I always wanted a child. My former wife told me she couldn't have children, that that body was infertile. Looks like she was wrong." "Maybe," I replied, "and maybe not. I wonder how she'll react when I tell her tomorrow?" "Oh, that's right, I'd forgotten. Tomorrow's Wednesday so you have to go into Boston for your regular audience." * 5. Merry "Pregnant?" I said, not quite sure how I felt about the news. "Yes," said Natalie. "Sam said you'd told him this body was infertile. Apparently you were wrong." "No," I said, involuntarily giving a little shake of my head, "I wasn't. Either as a side-effect or by design, the spell I discovered that stops a body aging also suppresses fertility. When your body was bound by the spell it *was* infertile. Now that it's no longer bound and has started aging again it looks like fertility has returned. Interesting. I had no idea that would happen." Looking at Natalie, I actually felt a twinge of jealousy, something I never ever expected to feel towards her. They say expectant women look radiant and she really did. She was as plain and unprepossessing as always but there was a definite glow to her that hadn't been there before. I always knew not being able to have babies was part of the deal of course, and I had reconciled myself to that fact and decided I didn't want children anyway. Now I wasn't so sure. Natalie took a deep breath. "There's something I want to ask you, Meredith," she said. "Sam and I were wondering if you and Tim would agree to be our baby's godparents." I am rarely rendered speechless, but I was then. Frowning, I searched her face for any sign of subterfuge. I found none. I was saved from having to respond immediately by the wine waiter arrived at our table with the wine list. Taking my time, I pondered the implications of Natalie's offer. As I did so I had a sudden moment of piercing insight, one of those rare moments that comes maybe two or three times in a lifetime and changes you forever. I saw my life for what it was and realised what a fool I was being. There was only one thing to say. "Of course, Natalie," I smiled. "We'd be delighted to be the godparents. And we'll be the best godparents any child has ever had." And I meant it. "Oh, and waiter..." I said, "I think this calls for champagne." Natalie looked surprised. "That's...very generous," she said. "Nonsense," I laughed, "this is wonderful news and we're going to celebrate it properly." "Well, in my condition I probably shouldn't have too many glasses." "Oh, yes, of course not, but a couple won't do any harm. Plus, I have some good news of my own." "Yes?" She looked at me expectantly and I found myself suddenly nervous. It now mattered to me what Natalie thought. "It's Tim," I said, "he asked me to marry him." She looked puzzled. "But you're already married?" "Yes, but Tim wants us to renew our vows, to have the big wedding we couldn't afford first time around. And I want to. The idea had never even occurred to me before he proposed it, but as soon as he had I wanted it so badly I could taste it." Natalie's expression was unreadable. "I know you must be feeling conflicted about this, and I'll understand if you refuse and won't try to force you," I said, "but it would really mean a lot to me if you'd agree to be my Maid Of Honor." And - though I wouldn't have before we sat down to eat - I meant that, too. Natalie was silent for a while, thinking it over, then she looked up and gave me a little smile. "Yes," she said, "yes, I think I will." After lunch, and after seeing Natalie off at the train station, I returned to my office feeling oddly content. I think we both knew our relationship had changed profoundly in that restaurant, and I could not have been happier about it. "So," said Sharon, on my return, "how did the meal with horse-face go?" I looked at her, wondering how I could ever have found her amusing and feeling vaguely ashamed of myself. "I'll thank you not to speak about my friend like that in future," I said. Looking shocked, she stammered something in reply before hurrying out of my office. Kathy had overheard the whole exchange and was trying to supress a smile. "Kathy," I said, "could you step into my office for a minute, please?" She did so, closing the door behind her. "Yes, Mrs Macintyre?" "Call me Merry, please," I said. "I think I need a new personal assistant and I was wondering if you would take the job...." * 6. Natalie They were all there at Sam's funeral, my daughter Susan and her husband, my granddaughters and their spouses (a husband for one, a wife for the other), and my great-grandsons, along with what seemed like half the population of Hawthorne, all gathered to see that wonderful man laid to rest. His had been a long and a full life they said, and ninety-three an impressive age to reach, and I suppose they're right. But after forty-one years together, I was devastated by his loss. She came to see me after the service, of course, that slim young woman dressed all in black, her features concealed by the net veil that was part of her hat. I'd heard the murmured speculation from the other mourners as to who she could be, but she had slipped away before anyone could approach her. I knew who she was of course, and was expecting her visit. "Hello, Merry," I said, answering the doorbell. She pulled her veil back to reveal that familar beautiful face. It had now been hers longer than it had been mine, and she looked as young ever. "Hello, Natalie," she said, stepping forward and hugging me gently, being careful not to hurt my aged bones. I moved into the main room, supported by my walking frame and, somewhat clumsily, manouevered myself into my favorite armchair. Merry sat on the arm of the chair opposite mine and fished cigarettes and a lighter out of her purse. "Do you mind?" she asked. "No, go ahead," I said, watching as she lit up. "That's new," I said. "How long have you been smoking?" "About a decade now," she said, blowing a long stream of smoke towards the ceiling. "I started ten years after we left Hawthorne. I'd never smoked before and decided I ought to try it. With a life as long as mine has been you need to try new things now and again, develop new hobbies, interests, and habits." "I smoked in my modelling days," I said. "I quit soon after Tim and I met." "Yes, and at first he wasn't happy about his wife starting up again," she chuckled, "but he's come around now." "So how have you been?" I asked. "Susan still misses you." "We miss our goddaughter, too," she replied, genuine regret in her voice. I believed her. She had promised me she and Tim would be the best godparents any child could have, and they had been. They had taken Susan with them on their trips around the world and showered her with gifts and with love. "We'd pushed it as long as we could in Hawthorne," said Meredith, taking a long drag on her cigarette. "Even gradually dyeing our hair grey and adopting the movements and mannerisms of older folk, too many people were starting to notice we weren't aging like they did. We both love Hawthorne and we miss it, but I think we miss Susan most of all. How is she doing these days?" "She's a Senior Vice-President in her company now, but I think what she's most looking forward to is taking early retirement in five years and to spending more time with her grandchildren." "That bit I envy her," said Merry, wistfully. We talked for a little under an hour, and then she left. We hugged for a long time at the door, both of us knowing this was probably the last time we'd ever see each other. Afterwards, back in my armchair I went over our conversation and smiled. We had been two old friends catching up and reminiscing something that would have been inconceivable to me once upon a time. I could still vividly recall my feelings the day Sam told me the results of his researches.... "I think I've pieced it all together now," he had said, taking a sip of his wine. "It's all there in the official history of Hawthorne and in the town's archives, spread across dusty diaries and unpublished memoirs that have sat there mostly undisturbed for all this time. As you know, the Pierces were one of the town's founding families - Abraham and Sarah, and their twin daughters, Mary and Natalie. The sisters were not identical twins. One was extremely plain, while the other was considered one of the great beauties of her day. Needless to say, the pretty sister was the favoured daughter and she took great delight in rubbing her less fortunate sibling's nose in that fact and in mocking her at every turn. Her beauty meant she was courted by the most eligible bachelors around, and she eventually married the handsome, dashing son of one of the richest families in Boston, and moved away. Her sister never married. She remained a spinster all her life, the dutiful daughter who looked after her aged parents until their deaths." "That explains a lot," I said, thoughtfully. "Doesn't it, though? We know that at some point she got involved with the dark arts and, judging by your apparent age, that she was able to stop the clock on her body somewhere in her early thirties. About ten years after this her parents passed away and she left Hawthorne. A decade or so later her cousin, Esther, showed up. People at the time noted the remarkable resemblance between the two but given Esther was still in her twenties and her cousin would have been in her fifties by that point, she was accepted at face value. And so it began, the long line leading to the present day." "So I'm paying for the sins of Mary Pierce?" I said. "Oh, no. Mary wasn't the pretty sister. Natalie was." "I don't understand." "Think about it," said Sam. "The last time Mary Pierce returned to Hawthorne again under a new name was over twenty years ago, and the name she chose was that of her hated sister, Natalie. That suggests she expected to be passing it on to someone else eventually, someone who would become the surrogate for her long-dead twin and who she would torment under that name. She was certainly planning ahead." "I never thought I'd say this, but I actually feel a little sorry for her. Imagine carrying around all that pain, all that envy and resentment for so long. And I was the one unlucky enough to end up as the stand-in for her sister." "I'm sorry, my love, but luck had nothing to do with it," said Sam. "She specifically targeted you." "What? But why? Why would she do that?" "That's why my researches took me to Boston. I'd hoped I was wrong, but I wasn't. The man Natalie Pierce married was Edwin Kelly, your ancestor. And there's more." "More?" I said, still reeling from his revelations. "How can there possibly be more?" Sam took out his cell phone and opened his photographs. He scrolled through them until he found the one he was looking for. "The Kellys bequeathed all their papers and a large endowment to Boston Public Library," he said, passing the phone to me. "They also donated a painting of Edwin and Natalie that still hangs on one of the walls. This is a photo I took of Natalie's portrait." Even before I looked at the photo, I knew what I'd see: Natalie was a dead ringer for Meredith Macintyre. "When Mary saw you for the first time it would have been like seeing her hated sister reborn. When she swapped bodies with you it must have felt like she finally had the one that should have been hers all along." "God, so that was why she's been so mean to me," I said, shaken. "There's one final thing, though I have no idea how significant it is, or if in fact it's significant at all," said Sam, "and that's the coincidence of names." "The coincidence of names?" I said, puzzled. "What do you mean, Sam?" "With them sounding so similar, every time Tim calls her 'Merry' she may well be hearing it as her original name, 'Mary'." Here in the present, an old lady sitting in her favorite chair and warming herself by her hearth, I can still remember my shock at that particular revelation. That was the one time when I considered what had happened to us might actually be fate. I soon dismissed it, of course. "So what do we do now?" I had asked. "Now we become her friends," said Sam. "What?" "Think about it. We now know what drives her, the thing that turned her into the person she is, and we can use that. Whatever we may feel about her she's an incredibly powerful witch, potentially a human WMD. There's no possibility of us defeating her so we have to turn her away from the dark side." "How do we do that." "Like I said - we become her friends. Oh, I know it will be hard, but we have to do it. We have to somehow find the person within her that she has the potential to be. And in order to do that we need to forgive her." "Forgive....?! Sam, she stole my body, she stole my husband, she stole my life!" "I know," he said, gripping my shoulders, "and I know this will be particularly hard for you, but we have to do it. And since she can sense our feelings it has to be as real as you can make it. You have to somehow find it in your heart to genuinely forgive her." Somehow, I did. They say that if you pretend to be something long enough you can become it for real. My forgiveness was real enough for Merry to sense it and accept it, but it wasn't fully real for me, not at first. I knew her attutude towards me had changed that day in the restaurant, all those long years ago, but it took almost another year for me. It was seeing her in the big dress at her wedding and looking so radiantly happy that did it for me. It meant so much to her, and in that instant I understood her, accepted what had happened, and finally forgave her. After that we became friends, real friends. And, as Sam predicted, we turned her away from the dark side. 7. Merry From the window that formed one wall of the honeymoon suite in the orbital hotel I could see the Earth beneath us in all its verdant beauty. Now that most of the major environmental clean up had been done and climate change arrested it was home to twelve billion souls. In the gyres of all the major oceans were vast aquatic farms that produced much of the protein needed to feed that many mouths. They were big enough to be seen from space, and in fact the main Pacific farm was passing by as I watched. Sometimes, my life amazed even me. I had come of age in the time of the horse and buggy. The commonplaces of my life today were things no one could have dreamt of back then. Not the least of these was my current body. I had once used sorcery to swap bodies, but in this age of wonders that was no longer necessary. Now they could grow a mindless clone of your old body, rapidly age it to whatever age you wanted, then transfer your consciousness into it. Nor did it need to be an exact copy of your old body. The clone could be customised to an amazing degree. None of this came cheaply, of cour