Chapter 20: Chapter 20

Waiting for something always seems to make time go slower. Nothing could have made an hour take so long as knowing that her perfect body was waiting on the other end of it.

The various forms of magic show paraphernalia hanging in cases and frames on the walls lost their appeal quickly. Most stage and street magicians were just performing simple illusions and sleight of hand, if not outright deceptions and cons.

Most people wouldn’t risk doing real magic out in public - who knew when someone watching might work for the government or some other shady organization looking to collar you.

The only thing that made the wait tolerable was having Aiden by her side. His hand rarely left hers as they walked around. She couldn’t wait to be able to feel it for real, among other things.

She also wondered what his kisses might taste like.

She was on her third Coke when the bartender cleared his throat.

“Ms. Turner will see you now.”

Aiden smiled and stood up, offering her a hand. Ashe gladly took it and stood up as well, smoothing out her dress.

“Right this way,” the bartender stated. He escorted them once more to the ‘Staff Only’ door, and into the long hallway with myriad doors.

Despite the similarities to the Underground, it somehow felt completely different. The Underground was a gateway to freedom and de-regulation of necessary magical goods and services, but this was a land of gatekeepers, paper-pushers, and red tape aficionados. Ashe hoped she wouldn’t be making a habit of coming here. She mused that if she spent too much time here, she’d likely end up stuck as a secretary or something menial. At the very least she’d get trapped in some kind of pencil skirt business suit.

Despite being here recently, Daphne’s office had changed dramatically again. The flooring was now lush grass, while the walls gave the illusion of a forest extending out around in all directions. Or maybe it wasn’t an illusion at all. It was hard to tell with this office.

“Welcome back, Ms. Gray, Mr. Rowe,” Daphne said as she offered the thinnest of put-upon smiles.

“If you’ll have a seat, everything is ready for the final setup.”

The pair nodded and took their seats. Ashe couldn’t keep her foot from bouncing as eager jitters ran through her.

Daphne produced a stick of silvery chalk - a special blend for drawing particular spell arrays - and began tracing out the matrices on her desk. The work was incredibly intricate and precise, with esoteric runes and other symbols that had not seen common use in spellwork in decades.

Ashe found herself in awe watching her work. Based on this demonstration alone, it was clear why the woman was head of her department. Even Aiden sat in slackjawed wonder. Runic magic had never been his strong suit.

With a final flourish of the chalk, Daphne finished tracing the framework for the spell and began placing various material components around the design. She ground a few herbs in a mortar and pestle, dumping the paste into the middle of the shape. After lighting a stick of foul-smelling incense with a flicker of fire from her fingertip, she placed it into the congealing paste. Bone Meal was powdered around the inner edge of the circle, then drawn in like spokes of a wheel towards the center. Finally, a series of six evenly spaced black tallow candles were placed around the design and lit in similar fashion to the incense. 

Ashe could barely contain her excitement as she watched Daphne work.

‘Soon,’ she thought, ‘I’ll be fixed, no more demonic bits, just me and Aiden and a candlelit dinner for two!’

All other lights in the room were extinguished as Daphne began intoning the words of the spell, weaving the ambient magic of the world through the circle and the components.

Ashe could feel the power building, feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing at attention, the strange bitter ozone taste in the air, and the spine-tingling thrum of electricity.

Pain lanced through her body, like a spear driven vertically through the core of her being. She tried to scream, but her voice wouldn’t function. Her body wouldn’t respond to her attempts to lash out at whatever was hurting her.

A voice cut through the agony in her head. It was guttural, chilling, and there was a disturbingly familiar quality to it… hearing it was almost enough to make one feel saturated, as if they’d gone walking in a dense mist. 

“Now now, what do we have here, mon cher? Trying to get rid of my little gift?” Boucher’s voice drawled, echoing through her.

“You!” her mind - no, her soul cried out in abject horror. “Why can I hear you? Are you the one that did this to me?!”

Another wet, drawn-out chuckle answered her. “I’ve had your family in my collection since long before you were ever born, Chrissi… imagine my surprise the first time I met you and felt my mark upon you - a boy, as it seemed… I’d only ever claimed the ladies of your family. There you were though. Awkward as could be… a stammering little stick in baggy clothes, trying to hide… at first I mistook you for a tomboy, wasting her charms… until I found out you were really a boy - biologically, at least. So I waited. Waited for you to figure out what you really were… for you to go to your precious little employer for help, like all those poor, unfortunate souls do when they want to transition but the powers that be just won’t let them.”

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Boucher’s voice let loose another wet, rasping laugh in her head.

How could he have known about her… before she knew about her!? She hadn’t even considered being a girl before she was a Knot Thing… had she?

“Of course, you had to be a dense egg… couldn’t figure out what you were, just kept living in misery, wearing masks around your friends, around your boss, your family, even me… but I can see through masks, Chrissi. I saw you clearly from then on. So I formulated a little plan. Got my pieces in place… and got you into a situation where your hidden desires would finally turn you into the daughter I was rightfully owed. Now here you are, trying to throw away my gift… that’s awful ingracious of you, Chrissi.”

“M-My name… isn’t… Chrissi…” she thought, laboring to think the words through the haze of pain. “My name… is… Ashe!”

She pushed back against Boucher with all her might, her soul sending waves of power crashing into the demonic presence of Boucher within her.

“What!? What’s all this now!?” Boucher wailed, taken by surprise as he tried to latch his claws into his prize.

“This is my soul, this body is mine, and this is your eviction notice, you squatting, toad faced, bog-gargling backwater voodoo piece of SHIT!” The last word resonated through the core of her being, and she felt the presence of Boucher depart, blasted clear of her by the power of her inner resolve.

Relief washed over her body, and she returned to her senses. Now free of her mental sparring match with Boucher, she could feel the complex spell Daphne wove starting to take hold of her physical form.

Her demonic features receded into her body, fading into the fluffy innards. Her sackcloth skin turned to a more natural peachy flesh tone.

Beside her, Aiden watched in wonder as she went from a succubus to a far more natural human appearance.

Daphne released her hold on the ley energy as the spell reached its conclusion. She opened her eyes and took in the changes that had occurred. “Good… everything appears to have worked according to plan. There was an immense amount of resistance against the spell at the beginning. I worried it may fail.”

“Oh, that? Just an unwanted visitor. I got rid of him. I’ll be paying him a visit in person later. Jerk.”

Daphne quirked a brow, but asked nothing further.

“For now, I just can’t wait to be done with this whole Knot Thing… thing,” she finished lamely.

“Fortunately for you, I would imagine that you won’t have to wait long to unravel now that the outside interference has been dealt with,” Daphne stated evenly.

“Thank you for all the help, Ms. Turner,” Ashe said, offering her hand for a shake.

Daphne eyed her offered hand, then smiled.

Ashe blinked, confused, then looked down at her own hand. A single golden thread had sprung up from the seam around her wrist. 

She gasped, and grabbed it eagerly, glancing at Aiden. He would finally get to see her as a real person - a proper human being again instead of a Knot Thing. 

She pulled hard on the thread, and a marvelously pleasant buzz flooded through her body. 

Golden light swirled around her as all the stitches began unraveling, the cloth falling away from her body. In a burst of magical energy, the sackcloth girl that had been Ashe Gray for the last few weeks was now wonderfully, beautifully human.

She smiled at Aiden, grinning so wide she thought her face might split - feeling the muscles in her face move, the sensations of the clothes against her body, the pressure of the chair supporting her, her hair tickling her cheeks, neck, and back.

She couldn’t contain the giggles that sprang up from her belly, light and melodic. When she caught Aiden’s eye, he was staring at her, absolutely captivated.

“Beautiful,” he half-whispered, as if he hardly had the breath to speak any louder.

Ashe blushed deep scarlet, and she savored the feeling - the heat rushing to her face. She was finally human again. She was finally… herself.

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