Chapter 3: Switching Bodies
All characters and names are entirely fictional and are 18 years old or older. Please read the previous chapters for a better understanding of the plot lines and the characters.
Additional note: This chapter and some future chapters will contain gender-swapping content. When Molly and Tom swap bodies, they still think of themselves in their original gender form. For ease of reading and understanding, the pronouns will reflect the way they think of themselves, not their actual appearance. So, when Tom is a female, he will continue to refer to himself as "he." When Molly is a male, she will be referred to as "she" or "her."
Chapter 3: Switching Bodies
"I'm a witch."
I heard the words, but my brain didn't connect the meaning. She could have told me she was a toothbrush, and I would have reacted the same way.
"You're a witch?" I said smiling. "I'm a vampire. Nice to meet you."
"Tom, vampires don't exist. I'm being serious."
"Vampires don't exist? Molly, witches don't exist either! What's going on here?"
"Tom," she began, then paused, "Ward, listen. Magic is real. Witches are real, and I'm a witch. Didn't you notice anything funny when you asked the coach for permission to stay with me next weekend?"
It took a couple of minutes for the meaning of her words to sink in. Molly waited all that time, watching for my reaction.
"The coach
was
acting strangely when I asked about spending time with my girlfriend," I recalled. "You're not going to tell me there was some kind of magic spell on him or something."
Molly didn't say a word, she just looked me in the eyes.
"You're serious! You really are a witch. A real witch!"
"I've never been more serious in my life."
"You mean like Hogwarts and Harry Potter is real? You're like Hermione?"
"That's all fiction, Tom. Something that J.K. Rowling made up, well mostly."
"But you can do magic and all that other stuff?"
"I'm not sure what you mean by other stuff, but I can do magic. That's how I knew your coach would give you permission to stay with me next weekend."
"Shit! You did put a spell on him!"
"It was a simple spell, really," she explained softly. "We call it a compulsion spell. I cast it so it only gets triggered when you say the word "girlfriend" to him. He'll remember giving you permission, but he won't remember why. He'll think there must have been a good reason for it, so he'll keep his word."
My mouth dropped open as I remembered the scene.
"But wait.
You
told me to tell him I was going to stay with my girlfriend," I was getting suspicious. "Did you put a spell on me, too?"
She looked hurt.
"No! No! I would never do that. Tom, I think too much of you to ever use magic on you, well, at least without your permission."
Now it was my turn to get serious.
"I don't know if I can believe you. Ever since our date, strange things have been happening."
"Like what?"
"Well, you seem to be reading my mind. You always seem to know what I've been thinking. In bed, you seem so tuned into my body and know exactly what to do to calm me down or get me aroused."
Molly started to laugh.
"That's a different kind of magic. That's the kind of magic that people do every day, reading body language and showing love, caring, and respect. You don't need to be a witch to do that."
"So, magic is real? There are so many stories, movies and shows about magic, witches, wizards, dragons, vampires and well, all that stuff. How much of that is real and how much is just something people made up?"
"Tom, most of that stuff is made-up. The magic community wants to keep their activities secret, but sometimes people find out about some things. So, we started spreading stories about vampires and werewolves just to throw them off. Witches have been doing that for centuries. That way people won't know the difference between the stories and real magic. Sometimes the best place to hide something is in plain sight. After a while, people think that everything is made up."
"All this time, I've been going out with a witch?" I asked, still trying to take it all in.
"Molly Spellman is a witch? Spellman! Oh my god, why didn't I figure that out before? And you're from Salem, Massachusetts! I must have been an idiot not to have seen it before."
"I don't think you're an idiot," Molly said reassuringly, "Up until now you didn't think magic was real, so why would you think witches are real? And even if you believed all of that, why would you think someone with the last name of Spellman is a witch. Give yourself a little credit here, Tom."
"Can you fly? Like on a broom I mean."
"I suppose I could if I tried, but I'd feel a lot safer on a plane or in a car. Besides, even flying brooms don't travel very fast and if you don't keep your mouth closed, you could end up with a lot of bugs in your teeth."
She had a funny grin on her face when she said that. I couldn't tell if all that was true or if she was putting me on.
"What about a magic wand?"
"Oh, I do have that! It's here in this drawer."
She opened the drawer to the bedstand. She reached in and pulled out a twelve-inch, pink, plastic vibrator. She held it up, beaming.
"I call her Betty. Isn't she beautiful?"
"Get serious, Spellman, that's not the magic wand I meant."
She laughed at the joke, but it turns out, the joke was on me.
"Look again, Ward."
And with that, her pink, plastic vibrator morphed into a 12-inch stick.
"This is such a great disguise. Not only would anyone not suspect it's a magic wand, but it doubles as a friend on lonely nights. And it never needs batteries! Although Betty's been pretty lonely since I met you."
She returned Betty to the drawer.
"Well, you did lie to me about using magic on me, Spellman."
"I certainly did not. I would never -"
I held up my hand to stop her.
"You've had a spell on me since the day I met you. It may not have been witch magic, but I haven't been able to stop thinking of you ever since."
"You say the nicest things," and she leaned over and gave me a kiss on my cheek.
Sitting back, her facial expression became more solemn, and she took on a more serious tone.
"You need to promise me that you'll never tell anyone about me or witches or magic. It is a secret held within the magic community that can never be violated. Do you promise?"
"Why didn't you ask me this before you told me you were a witch?"
She thought about that before replying.
"I suppose that does make sense. Now that I think about, that
is
what I should have done. But I have a funny feeling about you, I can't put my finger on it, but I trust you. I also felt that somehow, I knew you would agree. I'm not sure how I knew that, though."
"No matter, Molly. You know me too well. I promise not to tell anyone you're a witch, or that magic is real. Okay? But you still haven't told me why you're telling me this now. Is it because of the coach?"
"No, it's because I want to perform magic on both of us."
"I'm not following you."
"Two days ago, you asked me to teach you how to make love to me, to help you to sense how I feel and to be able to react to make me feel good during sex. I want to use magic to keep that promise. But I want your permission to use magic on you to do so."
"You're not going to turn me into a frog or anything like that, are you?"
She laughed, "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not going to make love to a frog."
"You're not going to take away my free-will, are you?"
"I would never do that."
"Promise?"
"Witch's honor," she said holding up her right hand.
"Is there really such a thing as witch's honor?"
She smiled, "No, not really. I just made that up, but I thought you would like it. Honesty is as valued in the magic world as much as in the non-magic world. It may be even more important with witches. After all, if you live in a world where anyone can cast a spell on you, you can't form relationships or alliances to protect yourself without trusting that a fellow witch is going to be honest with you."
"Tom," she added. "Do you trust me?"
"Molly, I trusted you from the day you took my hand and brought me up to your dorm room." Then I smiled and added, "I trusted you from the time you tried to kill me with that taste of Pad Thai."
We laughed, and it seemed to break the tension.
"Ward, you can be such a dork at times. But do I have your permission to do magic on you?"