Page 11

CHAPTER TEN

T he next morning, Friday, they drove back out to the wiggle. Demetrius offered to drive, but Cody said he’d do it. That curvy part of 118 was just over a mile past the entrance to Parson’s Pines retirement community on the north side of the road, and almost a mile and a half beyond Morley Trail, the dirt road that circled Parson’s Pond, on the south. Demetrius couldn’t help a grin as Cody guided the truck through the gentle curves, then eased to a stop on the gravel shoulder.

“I’ll be damned, it really does look like a wiggle,” Cody said. “I feel like I’ve missed out on something my whole life.”

Demetrius patted his thigh a couple of times. “It’s good to know we’re always learning, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

They got out and Cody locked the truck. He pointedly pushed the key fob into his left front pocket and looked at Demetrius. “In case anything happens, the key’s in my left front pocket.”

“I saw that. Why are you telling me this?” Demetrius stepped over the drainage ditch and heard Cody do the same behind him. The sun was out and the temperature mild. A few white, puffy clouds floated overhead, the gentle breeze poking them along. Scents of approaching spring were stronger today. Was it the spring equinox or the spring solstice? Demetrius could never keep those straight.

“We’re dealing with a witch and a demon. Who knows what’s going to happen? I could be turned into a frog or something.”

“A frog?”

“Look, I don’t know. I’m going off what I was taught about witches growing up.”

Demetrius looked over his shoulder. They’d entered the trees and the sunlight was slightly muted by the branches overhead. The leaves were still unfurling from their buds, but it wouldn’t be long until everything was green. Birds chirped and trilled, and somewhere close by, a woodpecker went to town on a tree. It felt like a good day for a walk in the woods. It was too bad they were trying to track down a possible murderer experienced in dark arts, and his demon sidekick.

“I think we’ll be okay,” Demetrius said. “It’s mid-morning, the sun is out, and the birds are singing.”

“It’s like you’ve never worked one of our monster cases before.”

“Look, when we get back to the truck, I’ll reach in your pocket and get the key out. Sound good?”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

“I’ll hold something of yours,” Demetrius said.

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“I did, but I like when you talk dirty.”

They walked in silence for a bit. Demetrius picked a path between the trees, checking the compass app on his phone to keep his bearings. He wanted to return to the clearing they’d found the day before, but he wasn’t quite sure about the direction. Yesterday’s encounter with the witch had left him feeling a little scattered when they’d walked back. He paused to tie a red shop rag around a low tree branch before moving on.

“Do you think Tracey was the one who called in Rita’s body?” Cody asked. “I can’t imagine anyone just wandering this far out in the woods and finding the body so quickly.”

“Yeah, Tracey said she called Lucia.”

“So, Lucia knows about the witch and the demon and everything.”

“I would assume so.”

“Would have been nice of her to share the details with me last night.”

“You know what she would say,” Demetrius said, and Cody chimed in to say it with him. “It’s an active investigation, so it’s need to know.”

A squirrel foraged among the leaf litter nearby. When it heard their approach, it popped up from behind a fallen branch to give them a look before scampering off. Once the sound of its departure had faded, Demetrius noticed how quiet the woods were around them. The bird song had stopped, and no other small critters were out and about.

“Got pretty quiet,” Cody said, his voice low.

“I noticed that.”

Demetrius walked another few yards, hearing Cody close behind him. The trees here were old growth, tall and thick. High overhead, budding leaves crowded the ends of the heavy branches. The only sounds were the rattling of fern stalks, brown and stripped of leaves from the cold winter air, and the groan of heavy branches swaying above them.

A flash of sunlight caught his eye, and he stopped, turning his head to squint in that direction.

“What do you see?” Cody stood close and followed his gaze. “Oh, bingo.”

The sun shone down into the clearing, filling it with light that coaxed them closer. Demetrius led the way through the trees, moving slowly, senses on alert. He reached a final tree before the clearing and stopped. Cody stood just behind him, one hand on Demetrius’s hip.

“I’d say we got really lucky finding it again, but I don’t think this is a lucky place.” Demetrius nodded and, with Cody right behind him, felt safe enough to take a single step forward. “Careful, Demmy.”

“I know.”

Demetrius took another step and looked around. The sunlight today helped the place feel a little more open, but as he took in the white stones scattered around the grassy area, Demetrius noticed something a bit off about the quality of the light. It was almost as if someone had placed a filter over the space that dimmed the light slightly and lent the area a vintage feel.

“This place feels… old.” Cody had moved up beside him, and he pitched his voice even lower, as if not to disturb someone. Or something.

Demetrius took Cody’s hand and held it tight. He needed to feel connected to him, to feel safe. The warmth of his skin and the familiar grip of his fingers helped.

“So, the theory we’re working with is that these rocks were once gravestones?” Cody gestured to the thin white stones just visible within the grass and weeds.

“Yeah. And those stones behind us were the foundation of the church.” Demetrius turned and pointed to the line of gray stones closer to the trees. “We’re probably standing on someone’s grave right now.”

Cody made a face and looked down. “Sorry, old timer. No offense.”

Demetrius approached the stones of the foundation, and Cody followed. The charred trunk of what might have once been a massive tree leaned nearby. He noticed two large, flat stones that lay within the line of trees. They appeared to have been purposefully set in place, and a smaller, more rounded stone butted up against the nearest flat-topped one, leading to the line of stones they’d previously looked at.

Cody stood beside him. “I see the pattern now. Those two larger, flat stones would have been the cornerstones.”

Demetrius gave him an impressed look. “How do you know that?”

Cody smiled. “I listened in class sometimes.”

“Uh huh. Did one of your ex-girlfriend study buddies drill that fact into your brain?”

He leaned down for a kiss. “Actually, it was you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. We were studying for an American History test.” He leaned in for another kiss. “I wish you would have drilled me.”

“Oof,” was all Demetrius could manage as a number of extremely graphic scenarios ran through his mind.

“Anyway, it looks like we have, indeed, found the good parson’s church.” He looked back across the clearing. “And the gravestones that go with it.”

Demetrius took in the clearing. Cody had taken his hand, but the contact did little to dispel the chill crawling up his spine. The sunlight still felt off. It was dulled, but also too sharp, too selective in how it illuminated the broken gravestones and casting odd, angular shadows around them. He glanced at a patch of wildflowers growing defiantly between two of the larger remnants of gravestones and watched as they suddenly stilled, despite him being able to feel the breeze. A drop of sweat traced his temple as he realized that what really disturbed him about this place was how the wilderness hadn't been allowed to fully reclaim it, despite having had decades to do so. It was as if the woods were reluctant to touch whatever lingered here.

Cody squeezed his hand. “For a place where a church used to be, it’s pretty damn creepy out here.”

“I agree. Do you suppose the witches are buried here?”

Cody frowned. “In a church graveyard? Pretty progressive for back then, don’t you think?”

Something moved off in the trees. Cody tightened his hand around Demetrius’s, and they both looked over their shoulders.

“You heard that, right?” Cody said.

“Yep. Who’s out there?” Demetrius called.

“And there goes our element of surprise,” Cody said.

“Do you honestly believe we ever had the element of surprise going for us?”

“You could let me dream.”

A figure stepped out from behind a tree. It was several yards away, but from what Demetrius could tell, it was the same man they’d seen in the woods the day before. He wore that same black hoodie, the hood up and pulled down to cover the top half of his face, black jeans, and black boots. Though he was a little shorter than Demetrius and didn’t appear to be very muscular, the way he stood and looked at them without reaction gave him a threatening air.

“Who are you?” Cody released Demetrius’s hand and took a step forward, putting himself between Demetrius and the new arrival. “Show your face.”

The man stood still for a moment, simply looking at them. Then he reached up and pulled back his hood. It took a moment for recognition to kick in, and then Demetrius said, “Oh, hi.”

“You know him?” Cody said.

“Yeah, he’s a past client of ours.” Demetrius moved up beside Cody. “Baron, right?”

Baron was in his mid-twenties, and he’d hired Demetrius to clear some chipmunks from the hall closet of his big McMansion in the Hollow Hills subdivision out near the high school. He’d said he was a video game developer and had moved to Parson’s Hollow because of its history of paranormal incidents.

Baron watched them a moment, his face expressionless and body very still. Then he gave a single, slow nod. Gone was the stoner dude persona Demetrius remembered. Now Baron appeared more than a little threatening.

“Yes, I’m Baron. And I’m glad to see you’ve found your way back to this special place.”

“Son of a dolphin fucker,” Cody said, hands on hips. “I am getting really sick of these power hungry assholes coming into our town and cozying up to us for months and months, and then all of a sudden turning out to be dicks.”

“Son of a dolphin fucker?” Baron said, cocking his head. “What does that even mean?”

Cody jabbed a finger at him. “It means you’re a dick, that’s what it means. You’re a murdering, demon-releasing dick, and I’m really tired of dealing with dicks like you.”

“Wow, okay.” Baron widened his eyes and turned in a circle before facing them again. “This is not at all going as I had imagined.”

“Good,” Cody snapped. “And now that we know your identity, we’re going home and telling everybody.” He lifted a hand and glared. “Bye, asshole.” Turning, he extended his hand. “Let’s go, Demmy.”

“Uh…” He was stunned by Cody’s outburst but not really surprised. Baron, on the other hand, seemed bewildered at the reception.

“You can’t leave,” Baron shouted.

“Watch us.”

Heath stomped out of the woods on the opposite side of the clearing from Baron, trampling the grass and some wildflowers until he managed to halt his shambling, stumbling walk. He looked even worse than he had at the library the day before. Sores and patches of burned skin marred his cheeks. One particularly painful looking one oozed on his forehead. His hair stuck straight up on the left side of his head. His arms swung as if he had limited control of his muscles, and his legs were stiff. He still wore the lanyard with his library ID around his neck.

“You!” Heath shouted, pointing across the clearing at Baron.

Demetrius tugged Cody’s hand, and they backed away toward the edge of the clearing, halfway between Baron and Heath.

“Uh oh,” Cody murmured.

“Yep,” Demetrius murmured back.

“The fuck?” Baron shouted. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“You released me, but refuse to host me.”

“Yeah, because look what you do to your hosts!” Baron waved both hands at him. “You’re burning through that guy’s body. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“This is what happens when I take people over,” Heath said. “I require a host, and I can’t control it.”

“Well, there’s no fucking way I’m letting you inside me.” Baron shot a glare at Demetrius and Cody. “Yes, I heard how gay that sounded, and no, I’m not gay.”

“I didn’t say anything,” Demetrius said, raising a hand and shaking his head.

“I deserve what I was promised,” Heath said with a snarl, taking an awkward step forward.

“I promised you freedom, and you got it. Now you work for me.”

Heath sneered and took another step. “I. Do. Not.”

“Yes. You. Do.”

Cody eased Demetrius back a step. “Get ready to run.”

“I need a new host,” Heath said, and Demetrius could hear a rattle in his voice now. It sounded like Heath’s body wasn’t going to last much longer.

Baron gestured at them with both hands. “There you go! Take your pick!”

“The fuck?” Cody said. “Nope.”

Heath tipped his head back and spread his arms wide. With what looked like the last of the strength left in Heath’s body, he swung his arms forward and brought his hands together in a hard clap, causing a concussive shock wave that traveled outward. It scattered leaves and flattened grass and flowers and shook branches overhead. Before Demetrius and Cody could even think to turn and run, it knocked them flat on their backs.

A flash of light followed, accompanied by a burning all along Demetrius’s skin, as if he’d been spattered with hot grease. He cried out and turned on his side, curling himself into a ball. Were they being burned alive within flames produced by the demon? Was his skin turning black and peeling away from muscle and bone?

The heat was persistent, but it didn’t seem to be doing physical damage to him. It crawled along his limbs and around his head, stroking his face and then slipping into his ears, inside of him.

Beside him, he heard Cody shouting and screaming, the pitch of his voice rising and falling, cracking with the intensity of the pain. Demetrius’s heart ached at the sound, and he tried to think of something, anything, they could do to escape. But he felt planted, as if roots had sprouted from his body and dug into the earth.

And then something inside him shifted hard, as if his entire being, his identity, his individuality, had been scooped out of him, lifted high, and then slammed back down. Vertigo swamped his senses, leaving him dissociated and gasping, on the verge of vomiting. His body felt different, alien. His swollen hands tingled, shoulders and neck aching in all new places, knees sending out gentle waves of pain.

The blinding light went out. Around them, the woods fell silent. He heard nothing from Baron or Heath. Slowly, he let his body relax, easing tightened muscles, spreading his limbs. He was gasping and moaning. He ached, but not in the places to which he’d become accustomed. These aches had selected new spots in which to settle. His body felt heavy, as if gravity had more to work with.

“What the fucking hell was that?”

Cody’s voice sounded tremendously different. Demetrius attributed it to the experience they’d just endured, but it also sounded as if he were somewhere off to his right instead of on his left. Had they been tossed around by whatever spells Heath and Baron had cast? Was that why he ached in all new places?

“Some kind of trap spell?” Demetrius’s own voice sounded rougher, deeper than he was used to. “We’re not possessed, are we?”

“No, but you sound different. What’s wrong with you?” Cody said, then cleared his throat. “Fuck. What’s wrong with me? Why do I sound different?”

“I don’t know. I feel different.”

“So do I.” Leaves rustled as Cody moved around. “What the fuck did that fucking asshole do to us? Are we possessed?”

“I don’t think so. At least not like Heath had been. I’m still thinking like myself even though my body feels different.”

Demetrius sat upright. Movement was more difficult, as if the spell or curse or whatever the hell it had been had changed his mass or the way gravity affected him. He felt like he’d been hit by a bus and then trampled by a herd of horses.

“He shrank my hands,” Cody said.

“What?” Demetrius lifted his hands and stared. His eyes were adjusting from the blinding flash and back to the muted sunlight through the trees, but he couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing. “Mine are huge.”

“You don’t have to be a dick about it.”

“I’m not being a dick. Look.”

Demetrius up held his hands and looked over at Cody. Only he seemed to be looking into a mirror instead, because he saw himself looking back.

“Where are you?” Demetrius asked, his voice pitched lower than usual. He reached up and touched his throat, felt the scratch of beard along his jaw, and jerked his hand away.

Across from him, his mirror image never moved. It just sat and stared. Then it reached up to touch his mirror image face, even though Demetrius himself didn’t move.

“What the fuck happened to us?” his mirror image asked quietly.

“Where are you?”

Demetrius looked around, but when he looked back his mirror image hadn’t moved. Then he watched as his reflection lifted a hand and waved.

“I’m right here,” it said. “Are you over there?”

Demetrius lifted his own hand. “Yeah, I’m right here. But I don’t see you.”

“I don’t see you, either.”

“I’m looking in a weird mirror or something,” Demetrius said. “I’m seeing myself, but the me I’m seeing isn’t doing the same things I’m doing.”

“That’s what I’m seeing, too.”

“I sound different,” Demetrius said.

“Me, too.” There was a pause, then his image put a hand on its chest as it stared at him. “I’m Cody, I know that. But I sound different, and I’m looking at my body sitting across from me and moving in different ways than I am. I don’t feel like I’m the same person I was before.”

“What the fuck happened to us?”

“Let’s try this. I’m going to lift both arms over my head. You sit still and tell me what you see.”

“Okay.”

Demetrius held very still, keeping his suddenly larger hands in his lap, long legs stretched out. Across from him, his mirror image slowly lifted his arms until his hands were over his head, looking like he was in the middle of a robbery.

“Wait, is that you?” Demetrius said.

“This is me,” his image said.

“Cody?”

“Demmy?” his reflection asked.

Demetrius felt a chill of terror in the center of his chest, like he’d been run through with a spear of ice. “Oh, fuck me.”

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” his other self said. “Like, really bad.”

“I think so.”

“Stand up and walk toward me.”

Demetrius got slowly to his feet, surprised to find he stood much taller than usual. He was actually looking down at his own reflection who stood before him awkwardly, as if unfamiliar with how his body had been put together. How could this be?

“I don’t like this,” his image said, standing and staring.

“Neither do I. Take a step toward me and I’ll stand still.”

His mirror image took a step forward. Demetrius noticed a cut above its left eye, probably from a tree branch or something, and reached up to touch the spot on himself. No pain, and no feeling of a scabbed-over wound.

“We’re fucked,” his reflection said. “We’re fucked good and deep, and we didn’t even get dinner first.” His image looked down at his shirt. “I’m wearing your clothes.”

Demetrius looked down as well, surprised and scared to find himself wearing the windbreaker, flannel shirt, jeans, and Timberland boots Cody had been wearing.

“I’m wearing yours.”

“I’m looking at myself,” his image said. “But I’m not inside me. I think I’m inside you.”

“That fucking dick,” Demetrius said.

“He swapped us,” his reflection said. “That motherfucker. He made us swap bodies.”

“Oh my God.” Demetrius held his arms straight out and spread his fingers, staring at his hands—Cody’s big hands—with wide eyes. “I’m inside you.”

“Sounds really kinky when you say it like that,” Cody said, but in Demetrius’s voice.

“Will you not do that right now, please?”

He watched himself shrug and smirk, and in those movements he saw Cody’s personality coming through. A dizzying sense of impossibility made him unsteady, followed quickly by a cold, frightening feeling of invasion. He shared more with Cody than anyone else in his life, but he still kept many things to himself. And if Cody was inside his body, did that mean he was also inside his mind?

“What do we do?” Cody asked, coming forward and looking up at him. “Wow. I really am a lot taller than you.” He placed a hand on his neck and winced. “Does your neck always hurt like this?”

“Pretty much,” Demetrius said, now realizing his voice had sounded so alien because it was actually Cody’s voice. “I never knew your knees and shoulders hurt this much.”

He watched himself shrug and make a face. “Not a big deal. Football wasn’t easy, even in high school.” He waved a hand. “And, you know, our life in general.”

“I get that.” He put his hands on his hips and turned, smacking his head against a tree branch. “Ow.”

“Yeah, you’re going to have to get used to ducking a lot if you want to avoid giving me a concussion.”

“Wait. Where are Baron and Heath?” Demetrius asked.

They turned toward the clearing. Heath lay in a crumpled heap. His skin was pale, limbs twisted into an unnatural pose. His eyes were open and staring up into the branches overhead, glasses canted at an unusual angle.

“Oh fuck,” Cody said “He’s dead. Oh, shit. I bet Lucia is going to blame this on us.”

“Oh, man. This is going to crush Tracey,” Demetrius said.

“Yeah,” Cody agreed.

“Oh, shit.” Demetrius looked around, heart pounding. “Does that mean the demon’s dead? And where’s Baron?” He walked into the clearing and looked all around. Baron was nowhere in sight. “How did he get away so fast?” He turned back. “Do you think he got possessed?”

“I don’t know. But seeing as how he’s a witch and vanished in front of us yesterday, I’m going to assume he blipped himself out of here before the Heath demon managed to work his magic.”

“Why wasn’t he able to possess one of us?” Demetrius asked.

Cody came up beside him and reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a hex bag and held it up. “I brought my Grandma’s hex bag with me when we got out of the truck.”

Demetrius smiled and reached over into the pocket of the jacket he’d put on that morning, and pulled out the hex bag he’d dug up from behind their house. “Me, too.”

“It must have been enough to deflect the possession,” Cody said.

“But not enough to keep from fucking up something else.” Demetrius looked down, into his own face. “This is strange.”

“Yeah, it is.”

Demetrius stuffed the hex bag in his jacket pocket and put his head in his hands. “This is beyond fucked up.”

“Yep. And now we’re going to have to figure out how to get this reversed.”

“But how? And with who?”

“We need to be careful who we tell about this,” Cody said, and Demetrius couldn’t look away from the earnestness in the expression on his face. It was strange seeing himself in three dimensions.

“What do you mean?”

“We can’t just run and tell everyone we’ve swapped bodies. We’ll get hauled off to the looney bin.”

“You’ve got a point. But we’re going to need help.”

“True. But let’s get home and talk it through first.” He reached down to press a hand over his crotch. “Did you have to pee this bad when all of this started?”

“Oh, yeah. But there was no time to go.”

“All right, I need to pee. Sorry, you need to pee.” He turned away—dear God, was the bald spot on his head really that fucking big?—then looked back. “Um, is it okay if I touch your dick and stuff?”

“And stuff?”

Cody sighed and rolled his eyes. “May I touch your body in its intimate places during bodily functions?”

“Yes, for God’s sake. Just go pee before you piss my pants.”

Now that Cody had mentioned the need to pee, Demetrius had to go as well. Or, Cody’s body had to go. He turned to face a tree and stood for a moment. This was going to be really strange. And also, in a very weird way, sort of hot.

He unzipped Cody’s jeans and reached inside, pulling the elastic of Cody’s briefs down. His cock was big, even soft, the bush full as it brushed against his hand. His fingers were cold, and he sucked in a breath at his own touch. It was strange to watch himself pee from so far up. And with a different dick in a much larger hand than he was used to. When he finished, he stood and stroked himself a few times, squeezing out the last drops of pee and marveling at the fact he was now running Cody’s body.

“Are you jerking me off?”

“What?” Demetrius jumped and quickly tucked himself away, being careful with the zipper. “No. I had to pee, too.”

“Looked like you were kind of…” Cody gestured down by Demetrius’s crotch. “Stroking me.”

Demetrius felt his cheeks burning and looked away. “We should go.” He paused, looking back at Heath’s body. “I feel bad leaving him out here.”

“I’m not carrying him to the road,” Cody said. “We’ll call it in once we get back to town. Let’s go.”

Demetrius began to walk in what he hoped was the direction of the truck.

“It’s okay, you know,” Cody said from behind him. “I did it, too.”

Demetrius glanced over his shoulder and narrowly missed knocking himself out on a tree branch. “Did what?”

Even though it was his own body he was watching, Demetrius could see Cody in the shrug he delivered. So. Very. Strange.

“Felt you up six ways to Sunday. It’s just natural, Demmy. And who better to get the opportunity with than each other?”

“We can’t focus on that right now. Let’s get home and call in about Heath, then figure out what our next step is going to be.”

They were quiet as they followed the red rags through the woods. When he’d untied the final one, Demetrius looked around. He wasn’t sure where to road was, so he looked at his phone—Cody’s phone—and had to hold it out and have him point out the compass app for him. He corrected their trajectory slightly and they set off again.

“Don’t be posting stuff on my social media,” Cody said. “And don’t go into my hidden photos folder.”

“What’s in your hidden photos folder?”

“Photos I like to keep hidden.”

Demetrius looked over his shoulder. “Such as?”

“Personal stuff.”

“Are you blushing?”

“No, you are. Your body blushes, like, every six or seven minutes. What is up with that? And why does your neck hurt so much?”

“That’s where Nicolae bit me.”

“Fucking fucker,” Cody muttered. “I’d like the opportunity to kill him all over again for what he did to you and this town.”

“Don’t say that out loud. There’s a witch running loose around here who might be able to make that happen. And maybe a demon.”

“Jesus tobogganing Christ, the shit we get ourselves into.”

“You can’t say stuff like that while you’re inside…while we’re swapped. People will know right away something is off.”

They were quiet again for a while, then, when they were almost back to the road, Cody said, “We definitely need to have sex at some point.”

“Oh, my God.”

“You know you want to.”

“Can we discuss that later, please?”

“Sure, but now you’re thinking about it. And I really want to know what it feels like to be fucked by my dick.” He laughed, the sound startlingly bright amid the insanity of what had happened to them.

“What is going on?” Demetrius looked over his shoulder and saw Cody shaking his head as he laughed to himself. “Are you having a breakdown inside my body?”

“No. Saying that, I just realized it’s going to bring a whole new level of meaning to the phrase ‘go fuck yourself.’”

“Oh, for God’s sake.”

Demetrius let out a breath of relief when he caught a glimpse of the road through the trees. “We made it.”

“My ass looks pretty good from back here,” Cody said. “I need to keep up those squats.”

“Would you focus on the situation, please?”

“I am focused on the situation. I’m getting the chance to look at myself through someone else’s eyes.”

They came out of the trees a short distance down the road from where they had entered. As they walked along the gravel shoulder to the truck, Demetrius watched the body he inhabited, Cody’s body, move. Everything that had happened might have made him a little crazy, but it seemed as if the gravel shifted differently under his big, booted feet. And the breeze felt different against his body. The aches and pains in different areas of this new larger body were throwing off his concentration. How did Cody get through a day like this?

Back at the truck, Demetrius headed for the passenger door, but Cody stopped him. “This is my truck. I drove here. You should drive home or it will look weird.”

Demetrius groaned as he rounded the front of the truck. “This is going to feel weird.”

“Going to? It already does.”

It took a moment for him to figure out Cody’s long legs, taller torso, and stronger arms as he attempted to get in the driver’s seat. He stood with the door open and closed his eyes, getting in touch with his limbs. With careful concentration, he climbed up behind the wheel. He’d driven Cody’s truck before, but never as Cody. The roof felt too close to the top of his head. And even with the seat all the way back, his knees were cramped beneath the steering wheel.

“How do you manage to do anything every day with this big body?” Demetrius said.

Cody smiled and reached over to cup his crotch, making Demetrius jump. “Everything’s bigger when you swap bodies with a Bower.”

“For God’s sake.” Demetrius smacked Cody’s hand, his own hand, away. “Let me focus so I don’t drive us into a utility pole or something.”

“I never knew your neck and shoulder hurt this much,” Cody said. “And you’ve got a lot of memories of us in high school that are, like, front and center.”

“Hey, no going through my memories!” Demetrius practically shouted. He lowered his voice and said, “How’d you get into my memories?”

“Get us home safely and I’ll talk you through it.”

“Yeah?”

Cody shrugged. “Yeah. Seems only fair, don’t you think?”

“All right, here we go.” Demetrius pulled the key fob out of Cody’s pocket and started the truck. With slow, deliberate movements, he did a three-point turn in the road and then headed for home, forcing himself to keep his eyes on the road and not stare at the sight of Cody’s big hands on the steering wheel before him.

What a fucked up morning.