Chapter 25: With a Little Help From My Friend

*REAL HADLEY'S POV*

Did I hear her right?  I run outside and see for myself.

As soon as I see her, there's an immediate recognition that I haven't seen in anyone since I have been this way.

"Hadley!" She greets me with a hug.  

Yeah, I'm still confused.

"How do you know it's me?" I ask her.

She pulls away from me and gives me a "duh" look.

"I'm a witch, remember?" She responds.

"Yeah, but I didn't think you could tell..." I start.

"You underestimate me," she continues, "how could I ever believe that woman is you?"

"Hell, I was believing it..."

"That's because this whole process went horribly wrong..."

"Yeah, how does that happen?" I ask her.

Melody looks at me seriously before responding, "I'm actually not sure.  The whole procedure is a mixture of science and magic from what I understand, and that's a combination that can make many problems if done incorrectly..."

"Well, that's great..." I start sarcastically.

"Actually...well, maybe..." She thinks out loud.

"What?" I ask.

"I don't want you to get your hopes up," she starts, "but I might be able to find something to switch you back to your original body."

Huh?

My eyes go wide, "Really?"

"Well, maybe...usually it's something that requires both people to be in agreement and there might be some risks..."

I'm still stuck on getting my body back, "OMG, Melody, I can't imagine how awesome it would be to just be me again..."

She grabs me and shakes me out of my giddiness, "Hadley, listen to me.  This is serious magic.  I haven't been doing any of this long enough to know exactly what I'm doing, and there are great risks involved.  Please understand that."

I look at her skeptically, "How much worse can it get?"

Despite Melody's warnings, I am too focused on the fact that I might actually be able to be in my own old body.  As much as this one is thinner and prettier in a lot of ways, it's just not mine.

I have no idea how the real Briana is handling having my body.  Just walking is a struggle for me.  She has these light feet that make me feel like I'm ballet dancing all over the place.  I'll be she feels like she's carrying around cinder blocks on her feet.

Either way, Melody gets to studying everything she can find on the subject of soul switching and body snatching and whatever else...I ask her what I can do to help and she keeps telling me she just has to study.

At one point, I think she gets tired of me bothering her so she asks me to mix some things and stir them into her cauldron.  

Of course, I hear laughter behind me.

"Baby, what are you doing?" my husband asks me.

"I have no idea," I tell him, "just what I'm told."

"Why?  Do I look witch-y?" I ask hopefully.

"Maybe, if you weren't stirring together the ingredients for play dough."

I look down and sure enough the bubbly mixture is firming up.

"How did you know what this was?" I ask him.

"Did you never pay attention when your mom used to fix this stuff for us when we were kids?"

"No..."

"Oh, that's right," he is remembering, "you and Evie were too busy putting it in my hair...."

"Woops..." I reply sheepishly, "I'm sorry honey..."

"No, it's okay," he replies (not bitter at all), "going into the fourth grade with no hair was a character builder."

While Mason and I chat about frivolous old times, Melody is still hard at work looking for a spell.

It's really starting to get to her...

"Hmm...maybe if I use this spell to find a lost object along with a spirit summoning spell..."

"Why do we need to summon anything?" I ask her.

"We need to get her here first, or do you think it will work if we just call her up on the phone?"

"Yeah, no..."

Melody is still talking to herself, "Okay, maybe if I do this...well, at least I can get her here."

She turns and walks away from her spell book and starts chanting stuff about finding what is lost and bringing it back along with spirit summoning.  Shoo, I think this is a good way to get possessed. 

Just when I think it's not going to work, something starts happening - bright lights start spinning around Melody and she starts chanting faster.

So something is working and I can only hope she's not summoning a rodent or something.

Suddenly I hear a loud pop and can't help but flinch and turn away.

As I do, I hear, "Where in the hell am I?"

Sure enough, it's Briana in my body.  Well, damn.

Mason is prepared and grabs her.

"Let go of me!" she screams.

"Where are we going to put her?" He asks.

"The bomb shelter on the property." Melody replies.

"The what?" He is astounded, but she points in a general direction, and sure enough, there's a little opening that goes underground.

"Wow, Mel, that's amazing!" I compliment my talented friend.

"I'm glad that worked," she replies.

"What's the worst that could have happened?" I ask.

Melody raises her eyebrows and looks at me, "it's a spell to move whole groups of molecules through the air - she could have gotten here in a pile of slop."

"Eeeek," I yelp.

"I told you that this is serious business, Hadley," she cautions again, "Are you sure you want to pursue it?"

Without question I answer, "Absolutely."

As Melody goes back to her spells, Briana is locked in the bomb shelter.  There's really just a toilet in there, but we keep her fed.

As Mason and I sleep, Melody stays up all night looking for a solution to our problem.

The next morning, I am startled awake by a knock on our door.

"Who is knocking so loudly?" Mason groans.

"Who is it?" I ask.

"It's Melody, I need to talk to you...but I don't want to walk in on...well, you know..." the voice on the other side of the door responds.

"Give us just a minute," I yell to her.

"Okay," Melody responds.

I roll over and pathetically try to push Mason out of bed to get him motivated.

I get, "Come on, baby, let me sleep a little bit longer," as a response.

I slap (pathetically) his arm, "You can sleep when you're dead, come on, get some clothes on or I'm just going to let Melody in, and then you'll be embarrassed."

He rolls over on to his stomach mumbling, "I don't embarrass easily."

I sigh, grr, what if Melody has some sort of news?

"No, you don't get it, you'll be in-bare-ass."  I yank the covers off of him and swat him playfully (sort of).

"Yowch!  Oooh, you're going to be sorry!" He rolls over like a freakin' tiger and pins me down, but he's got a big grin on his face.

I wiggle to get loose but it's really no contest.  Damn this little weak body.

"What are you going to do now?" He asks laughing, "You're stuck."

As exciting as play time in the morning with Mason is, we have business to attend to, "Melody is right outside," I spoil the fun breathlessly.
He gets an "Aww, darn" expression on his face and climbs off of me.

I stand up first and he's sitting on the edge of the bed looking at me strangely.
"What?" I ask.
"Come here, I think I see something...turn around," he takes my arm and guides me into a twirl.
Just as I'm about to ask him what it is, his hand comes into contact with my backside, leaving a stinging retaliation swat.
"Ouch!  Damn it, Mason!" I squeal, "You got me way harder than I got you!"
He smiles broadly, obviously proud of himself, but he grabs me around my waste and pulls me toward him.
I wrap my arms around his neck as he keeps me steady for our morning kiss.

After another few minutes of us not getting ready, we finally get dressed and get Melody.

"Took you all long enough," she joked, "I was starting to go gray out there.  I certainly hope that newly-wed spark is still there for J and me when we've been together as long as you have."

This makes me grin.  I don't know how, but I am jonesin' for him just as much as I was the first time he kissed me.  Maybe we have an over-flow of hormones?

"What have you found out, Mel?" Mason gets down to the point.

She looks seriously at both of us before replying.

"I found a spell that will get the bodies switched back, Hadley will have to die again."