Done!

Forty Eight

It was a bad idea.  From the very beginning, John had thought so.  He had tried to get them out of it, to change the plan even a little bit, but no one was listening to him.  Tiana would have her way no matter what.  Keith, the follower, was going to do whatever she told him to do.  Larissa, for some reason Larissa was going along with the plan as well. 

He didn’t understand.

Now they were back at the Cottonwood Standing Circle, standing at the four corners with Tiana in charge. 

This was a bad idea.

He begged Larissa with his eyes, hoping she would get the message.  But she wasn’t responding to him.  She kept her eyes on Tiana, only glancing at him and smiling. 

He watched as Tiana performed some sort of ritual.  She passed a chalice around, insisting that everyone take a drink.  He faked his turn.  He would not participate in whatever she had planned.  But he watched closely as Larissa complied.  What was she doing?

Then it happened.  He wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but it felt like a hundred lightning bolts hit the ground all around them.  He was thrown to the ground and the world went black.

When he awoke it felt like he had been asleep for hours.  His body ached, but he was still in one piece.  He sat up and looked around. 

Larissa was gone.  Keith was there, on the ground as well as Tiana.  His heart sank.

John walked over to Keith and saw that he was dead.  There was a small trickle of blood coming from his nose and his body was still.  John put his hand over the boy’s neck and tried to feel for a pulse.  There was nothing. 

Slowly he made his way to Tiana’s body.  He stood over it, knowing it was an empty shell.  The woman, alien, whatever she was, that had embodied it that morning was now in Larissa’s body and far away.  Finally he looked down and saw the chest moving.  Startled he bent down and put his hand on her head.

Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled.  Though it was a smile unlike anything the previous Tiana had ever given him.

“Tiana?” He asked.

“John?  Did I make it?”

“Tiana?” John repeated.

“No.  It’s me Larissa.  Don’t you recognize me?”

John sat down hard next to the woman’s body.  He was stunned.

“Larissa?  But…how?”

“What do you mean? Why are you…” The girl sat up and looking down at her body went silent.

“You see what I mean?”

“We switched bodies?  How is that even possible?”

“I don’t know.  I don’t even know if I believe that you are Larissa and not that monster…”

“John, I swear…” She started and then stopped. “Oh, I see what you mean.  How could you know who I really am?”

“Keith is dead.” He blurted out.

“What?” Shock rolled across her face.

“Keith, he didn’t make it.  I think the only reason I made it was because I didn’t drink that potion.”

“You didn’t?”

“No.  Do you think I am a fool?  She wanted to kill us all, or you did, I don’t even know anymore.”

The body of Tiana stood up slowly and walked clumsily to Keith’s body.  She sat down next to his and took his hand.  She sat silent for several moments.

“You are correct, John.  He’s gone.  There is no trace of his spirit anywhere in this body.”

“I guess maybe we should go back to the lodge, call someone.”

“Yes.  I agree.”

He watched as Tiana/ Larissa stood.  They started walking back to the lodge, but it was slow going.  She tripped several times and lost her balance often.  While they were walking, John had time to think about the woman next to him. 

He knew for certain one way he could tell who she was.  There was still some potion left in that bottle.  He had pretended to pour it out, but had left some, afraid that too much would actually kill Tiana.  He would give her some in a drink.  If she changed, it would be sudden and he would kill her.  If she didn’t, well, he would figure that out when they got there.

They finally arrived back at the lodge and Tiana/Larissa sat heavily on the couch.  All the grace she had had before was gone.  She certainly was walking like Larissa.  She sat like Larissa. 

He poured her a drink, sprite with lime, and added the rest of the vial.  He walked over to her and handed it to her.  He watched as she drank some, not even questioning him about the contents.

“Thank you John.”

He watched as she closed her eyes and seemed to fall asleep.

Forty Nine

When she woke up she was on the couch in the lodge.  It was the strangest dream she had ever had.  She wanted to shake it quickly, the image of Tiana’s body when she looked down, Keith’s body dead and lifeless and John not believing she was herself. 

She sat up and felt the room sway around her.  She blinked several times, trying to figure out why everything looked off.  She was seeing everything from a different angle.  John’s image appeared in front of her and she reached out a hand to him, as though asking for help.

And nearly screamed when she realized it wasn’t her hand.

“It wasn’t a dream?” She asked.

“No.”

“I am in Tiana’s body?”

“It would appear so.”

“I assume mine is gone?”

“Yes.  As is the car and all of your clothes.  Well, the clothes that would fit Larissa’s body.  Tiana’s clothes are still upstairs.”

“Oh.  I guess that makes sense. I think I need a drink.”

“Here, have some water.” John handed her a glass.  She drank deeply before speaking again.

“So that means Keith…”

“Keith didn’t make it.”

“But you and I did.  Or at least Tiana and I switched places.”

“Yes.  I didn’t know that was possible.  But yes, you switched places.”

“Do you remember anything?”

“I remember a lot of electricity, like lightening, and then blackness.”

“I remember that and then being pushed.  I remember falling.  I remember feeling like I was weightless and then feeling like I was being sucked down.  Then darkness.  Nothing until you touched me.”

“She pushed you out of your body and took it over.  You must have found your way to Keith’s.  Do you still have your abilities, can you tell?”

Larissa took a deep breath, calming herself.  She pushed her energy out of the body she was in and down into the Earth.  It was actually easier than it had been before.  She connected and then went up, connecting just as easily with the Universal energy.  Then she started pushing out.  She pushed her energy out of her body and into the surrounding area.  It all felt like it had since she started, but easier.

“It’s easier.  It’s the same but easier.”

“Maybe because this body is used to the work so it isn’t fighting you.”

“John, you believe that it is me, Larissa.  Why?  You weren’t sure before.”

“I gave you the potion to drink.  It knocked you out and you didn’t change into an alien.  Instead you got bright, like a light bulb.  You looked just like you felt when we kissed.  I knew it had to be you.”

Her heart started beating faster in her chest.  He believed her.  The relief rushed in as well.  Thank goodness.

“What are we going to do?”

“We’re going to find a way out of here is what we are going to do.  The corporation isn’t looking for you in this body, so we don’t have to worry about them.  We can say that there was a lover’s quarrel between Larissa and Keith, that will help explain the body.  Then we will have to figure out what to do next.”

“I’m Larissa.”

“You were Larissa.  Now you are someone else.”

“I don’t want to be called Tiana.”

“Then we shall call you something else.  Come on; let’s see what she left for you upstairs. We better have everything in order before we call the authorities.”

They walked upstairs and into the ladies room.  Larissa went to the bed and sat down.  This body was weird.  It moved differently than she was used to.  She was disoriented.

“I’m going to have to practice to get used to this body.  It’s very different.”

“Yes it is.” John replied.

“What did she leave?”

“Clothes, shoes, the necessities and, oh!” She watched as John pulled out papers and wallets from the bag.

“Identities?”

“Yes.  It appears she had a few.  We will have to do a bit of research to see if there are criminal records on any of these, or missing persons and the like, but there may be something you can use instead of her name.”

He spread them out in front of her.  There were five altogether, including Tiana. 

“John, she took my body but wasn’t able to take my power.  Do you think that is what she wanted?”

“No.  I think she wanted to take all of our power and your body.  She only got Keith.”

“I wonder what she will do next.”

“I hope we don’t find out.  Let’s get this stuff packed up and call someone.  Lar..Tia… what should I call you?”

“Call me Suzanne.” She said, raising one of the ID’s.  “Call me Suzanne Thomas.”

Fifty

Something had gone wrong.  Tiana knew it as soon as she got up from the ground.  She had been expecting much more from this girl.  She didn’t hesitate, though, and immediately made her way back to the lodge.  Someone else could clean up the mess she left behind.

It took her the trip to the lodge to get used to this body.  It was shorter, rounder than what she liked.  It was harder to breath as well.  How did the girl do it?  She huffed up the stairs and got the girl’s stuff together.  At least what she needed going forward.  She didn’t bother with any of her old stuff.  It would make the story better for the authorities.  It always did.  Three  found dead in some sort of occult ritual and one of them with multiple IDs. 

She smiled at the thought.  She would have to keep an eye on the news channels.

She found the keys to Keith’s car and packed her stuff into it.  She drove out of the driveway never looking back.  At the terminal she paid for a one way ferry back to the mainland and waited.  What would she do next, she wondered. 

The girl’s body had plenty of life left in it.  Heck, she was still a virgin.  It might be fun to go back to college and be a coed for awhile.  Smiling, Tiana knew what she would do.  She would take full advantage of the college lifestyle.  She was going to have some fun.  And if she left some broken hearts and broken bodies in her wake, what did that matter?

She continued to make her plans on the ferry ride.  She got off the ferry, humming softly to herself, following the flow of traffic. 

She didn’t see the traffic stop until it was too late for her to do anything.  They were asking everyone to get out of their cars and wait.  She complied, hoping it was something routine.

“Hi Larissa, we’ve been looking for you.” A man said next to her.  She looked up at him and hissed.

“Just the response I was looking for.” He said and then shouted, “We’ve got her boys!” 

Before she knew it she was cuffed and in the back seat of a patrol car.  She was angry.  She would have done something in the car, but it would have caused all three of them damage and she couldn’t afford to lose this body so quickly.  So she stayed put and tried to calm herself. 

She expected them to take her to the police station, maybe ask her some missing person type questions, but they did not.  Instead they took her to an airstrip.  They did not get her out of the car, but loaded the entire car onto a cargo plane.

They had her.

They left her in the back seat of the car through the flight.  She felt the acceleration of the plane as well as the deceleration when they landed.  At least the landing was smooth, a small consolation for being left bound in the back of a car. 

It wasn’t pleasant.  The body she was in was hungry, again, and needed to use a bathroom.  Different men got into the car to back it out of the plane.

“I need to use a bathroom.” She said.

“We’re sure that you do, but you will have to wait just a bit longer.  We’ll have you in holding shortly.” One of the men replied. 

She said nothing in response.  They drove a short distance into a warehouse.  They pulled up to a row of doors and the men got out.  One man opened one of the doors while the other came to open the back door for her.  He pulled her out of the car and she almost fell for her legs were mush.  She had not stood on them for hours.  The other man grabbed her other arm and they half carried her into the cell. 

One man released her arms from the bindings while the other stood by the door.

“Welcome home.” One of them said, laughing as he slammed the door shut.

She was alone in a cell.  She saw the toilet in the corner and just made it time.  No accidents.  Finishing her business she looked around. 

There was a mattress, no sheets, no pillow, the toilet and a sink.  Nothing else.  Her stomach growled at her again.

As if on cue a small slit opened in the door and a tray of food slid into the room.  At least they meant to feed her.

She may not have known where she was, but she was pretty sure who had her.  The corporation.  And wouldn’t they be surprised to find out the girl they wanted was not the girl they got?  She sat down to the tray of food and gobbled it up. 

She wasn’t some mousy American girl they could frighten into doing what they wanted.  No contract could bind her.  She was from somewhere they had never heard of, she was sure.  Exiled.  She would simply take their bodies and be on her way.  It didn’t matter.

They left her in the cell for a few days.  She was antsy and bored when they finally came for her.  She was used to a lot of freedom and being caged was actually more torturous than she had thought it would be.  Finally in the presence of others, she decided to put her newly acquired abilities to the test. 

They failed. 

She could do nothing.  It didn’t make sense to her.  She should be able to dominate their thoughts.  The girl had enough power to do whatever she liked.  Unless…

Tiana suddenly burst out in a fit of rage.  She jerked at the arms of her captors, but they held tightly.  She had been tricked!  She didn’t know how the girl had done it, but she had not given over her powers. 

Now she was stuck in this body with nothing. 

“Larissa, or should I call you by another name now?  How nice it is to see you. They call me the General.  You shall do the same.  Boys, take her in here.”

They drug her into a small room that held only a table two chairs.  They pushed her into one and then tied her into it. Then they left, nodding as they passed the General.

“We’ve been looking for you for a long time, Larissa.  A long time.”

“Ha!” She said, “You only think you have been looking for me.  I am not who you think I am.”

“Oh no.  You are exactly who I think you are.  Larissa is only your latest identity.  And she will be your last for awhile.  We’ve got you now.  There is no escape.  From this day forward you will work for us.”

Her heart dropped.  What did he mean, he knew who she was?  That wasn’t possible.  No one knew…

“Oh it’s true.  I know exactly who you are.  You thought we were after the girl?  Not even close.  It’s unfortunate, I will agree, that we had to lose a few people before we finally picked you up.  John will be missed.  But I have been looking for you for so long.  It was worth the sacrifice.

Now, young lady, we have a contract to discuss.”

Fifty One

The sun was setting in the sky, painting it orange and pink and purple.  The view from their new home was everything she had ever hoped for.  She still couldn’t believe how it had all happened.

 “Dinner is almost ready.” John said behind her.  He rubbed his palms up her arms before embracing her from behind.

“It is so beautiful here.  I don’t know that I will ever get used to it.”

“I don’t think I will either.  Or get used to seeing you every day.  You are amazing in your own right.  And I don’t mean your body.”

Suzanne smiled.  She knew what he meant.  He had started falling for her in one body and ended up with her in another.  But they made it work.  They had no problems making it work.

Now that she was used to the new body, she liked it more each day.  Her chosen identity had worked in their favor as well.  Suzanne was really the name associated with the body she was in, and Suzanne had been a shrewd business woman for many years.  She had a solid savings account as well as many properties. 

John had found out many details of her life before she reentered it to take advantage of what had been left behind.  In the midst of everything had been this house.  She had fallen in love with it the moment she stepped inside and never wanted to leave. 

So they didn’t.

Instead they had made it home.