“Well, that was a complete waste of time,” Taylor said. “Do you know why the Knowing One used an illusion instead of a transformation when he came to see the portal here in the women’s quarters?”

 

“Um, I thought we’d decided that was because he’s a wuss?”

Taylor looked so worried and guilty that I had to give her a hug. “Come on. We can’t do anything until we talk to the Gray One, but for now, you need to relax. How about a game of — Tag! You’re it.”

“I like being a nagini well enough, just on the physical level, but — well, I don’t know how other people in my country will react.... Even if people are getting used to seeing magical stuff happen, they might stare at me a lot.”

“I think the transformation spell is interacting with your link with Serenikha. It’s making you look more like her.”

My psychic link with Serenikha had held steady all through high school, growing no stronger but no weaker, ever since my first trip to her world. I still shared dreams with her, and I still had occasional moments of aphasia, where I couldn’t think of a word in English, only in one of Serenikha’s languages. And then, my first semester in college, it suddenly seemed to get a lot weaker — I shared no dreams at all with her, and had much less aphasia than usual.

“I am so close,” he said, hissing with frustration. “I could feel Serenikha’s soul returning — but it would not lodge securely in her body, your own was still tethered there.”

“I’d never had wine before. They don’t let kids my age drink it, back home. But when Pientao gave me a cup I thought I’d better drink it to be polite and to stay in character, because for all I know Serenikha drinks it all the time and it would look suspicious if I said I didn’t like it.”

There was no reason I should have to put up with all this nonsense just because I was female; Mom and Taylor never took half this long to get ready, even on fancy occasions. (Mom wore her hair short, I reflected, which might be a factor.)

“You’re not too uncomfortable being of the opposite sex?” Dad asked us. “My first time, I panicked when I realized I was a girl.”

Mom and Dad had tried to raise me and Taylor without gender stereotypes. They’d given both of us gender-neutral names, and had me wearing her hand-me-downs, skirts as well as pants and shirts, until I was old enough to rebel against them.

Would it not work with her so far from the Gray One’s office? This place must be empty of magic, or the Gray One would have rescued her by now — perhaps the return spell would not work here.

This story is set, with Morpheus' permission, in his Travel Agency universe.

“If we can recreate this ‘Coke’ from materials to be had in our own world, we will do as much for the happiness of the speaking peoples as if we replicate a steam engine or internal combustion engine.”

This story is set, with Morpheus' permission, in his Travel Agency universe.

“Dear body-borrower,

“I hope you have fun in my body and my world, but not too much fun, if you know what I mean.”

This story is set, with Morpheus' permission, in his Travel Agency universe.