Fall in love in a weekwe get by

– I! Not! Magician! – It didn’t sound impressive and weighty, as intended, but… yes, too – almost hysterical! Is she contagious, or what?!

– She is a fool. And I, it seems, am no better. Wait here!

The ghost disappeared – this time completely, and I sat on the floor and stared at my not-my hands. She brought her palms to her eyes. She clenched and unclenched her fists. Strangers, but mine?! No, mine – but strangers. Wrong ring, wrong manicure. There is no usual bracelet watch. But the skin is soft and silky, even after the best cream it’s not like that for me.

What am I wearing? Some kind of depressing hybrid of a lab coat and an evening dress – a long, ankle-length, unbuttoned robe made of white dense satin, under which, thank everything, there are quite normal, only too tight and bright trousers and a tight T-shirt. ?Very tight! And there is something to wear! I felt myself, then tried to look at it, then felt it again… Those are boobs! I couldn’t add a couple of sizes in an instant, could I?

In the heat of an argument with a hysterical ghost, I too easily accepted that I was not in my body. I almost forgot about it. But now the understanding has dawned – it’s true. For some reason, my brain immediately rejected the possibility that the “hereditary dark one” had drugged me or drugged me with some kind of rubbish. Any nonsense is based on what is known, but here…

I suddenly wanted to look in the mirror. But there are mirrors in this ritual… well, not the hall, obviously! Ritual closet? In general, there were no mirrors, and there was no powder compact or lipstick with a mirror in the pockets. It's generally depressingly empty. Only a single key, however, on a very unusual keychain. A round matte white plaque, similar to a large coin, glowed slightly or – what is it called?! – opalescent? I turned it over in my hands for a long time, trying to understand what kind of material it was. Perfectly smooth, pleasant to the touch. Not ceramic. Too heavy for plastic. Not metal. Bone? There are no such bones! The unknown material fascinated me, and I did not immediately notice the inscription, not embossed or applied on top, but as if fused inside, into the very depths of the keychain. ?PCiHBI. Abracadabra… ah, no, that's not all. ?PTsiHBI im. Panacea G. Hmm. Well, at least one word is familiar. It turns out that something related to medicine is already information.

Turning the strange keychain in my hands, I thought about moving again. If I am in the body of this hysterical ghost, and the ghost… well, he is a ghost – what about my dear and rightful body? Unconscious? In coma? Died? Not this! We must return to it when the ghostly girl understands where she made a mistake and corrects everything! Otherwise, it turns out that I’m looking after someone else’s apartment, and in the meantime there’s a fire, a flood and an invasion of robbers in mine?!

– Hey, how long should we wait? – I screamed. What if he hears? – Where are you? Are you thinking of bringing me back or not?!

– I don’t think so, because I can’t. “The girl floated right out of the wall, seemingly the same, white and translucent, but her voice sounded different. Smooth, muted, without hysterical notes. Otherworldly or something. It was completely freezing. – You won't come back.

– How can I not return? Why?! “I started to think wildly about everything at once: about the charlatan witch who probably had a hand in this outrage, and the ticket to Sydney bought last week. ? unfinished projects and materials not delivered on time, even about brazen red-haired Alice, whom she promised to feed and brush while Mrs. Wilburn sunbathed on the beach in Brighton.

– Wrong paths, dark, forgotten. They accepted the victim and closed. For good.

–What sacrifice? “I wanted to scream, but instead I squeezed out a barely audible whisper, because I already understood: I am the victim. The real one.

“I,” the girl seemed to echo. -You are still alive, but I am not.

– But if I’m alive, I need to be brought back to myself!

– Stupid. You are alive – here. In my body, but the body is not the main thing. You are still you.

– And you? “Somehow I immediately, instantly forgot my own irritation and indignation, giving way to acute, unusually painful sympathy.

– Not anymore. Time is lost, the paths are closed, the ritual is completed. The connection with the body is severed. If you hadn’t been pulled into it, a body would have been found here in the morning.

– What am I supposed to do?

It's not like I was expecting an answer. It seems clear and so – accept the situation and move on. But they gave me the answer, yes what!

– You must cheat fate. Bypass the curse, otherwise it will take two more lives.