Carter sat leaning over his knees, which were pressed together so his panties weren’t visible beneath his skirt. The TV was on and the commercials were droning on, but he was looking at Victoria.

She was sitting beside him, off to the side so she wasn’t too close. She was looking at him too, some disposed-of tissues on the side table nearby. Her eyes were still a little red and puffy, and she looked… defeated.

Carter sighed. He was so bored.

“So…” he said, shifting in his seat and trying not to ask about magic, “How’s school?”

Victoria was silent for a moment as she mulled the question over, then responded with a grunt.

“Sure, me too.”

Carter thought back on what she said through the door. If Victoria was telling the truth, then the spell would wear off on its own by tomorrow. Maybe. If she’d read that in the book and never tested it, there was no way to know for sure.

“Any other movies you want to watch?” he asked quickly.

“Not really,” Victoria mumbled, turning to stare blankly at the TV screen, “You?”

“Not really.”

They were quiet for a while before Victoria said, “There’s nothing to do in this house.”

“No, there’s not,” Carter agreed.

“We could go play in the woods,” she suggested.

“I really don’t want to leave the house right now,” Carter told her.

She nodded.

Carter really didn’t want to ask her about magic.

“Any idea what you want for dinner?”

“Chinese?”

“Alright.”

Carter had had no intention of—

“What exactly can you do with that magic book?”

At first, he thought Victoria wasn’t going to answer but she finally muttered, “You know. Stuff.”

“Give me one example,” he demanded.

“Well… I can walk on walls?”

“Geez. How long does that last?”

“About five minutes?”

“So what’s the point?”

“Running away, I think.”

“Oh. Anything else?”

She shrugged.

“Victoria?”

“I mean… there’s a lot of stuff in there. I’ve only tried some of it.”

“What kind of stuff haven’t you tried?”

“Like… some spells require burning stuff or like… last too long.”

“How long?”

“Permanently?”

“Like what?”

“Like stuff. Like… I dunno.”

She was refusing to talk about the dangerous things in there, he was sure of it. And that made his stomach turn.

He didn’t press the matter, and she didn’t elaborate.

Carter adjusted his shirt, and then fixed his socks as well.

After a few moments, Victoria let out a sigh and glanced up at the clock. Carter followed her gaze. It was just coming up on three. There were a good few hours before dinner.

Carter pulled his legs up onto the couch and folded them under himself.

There was a show on TV, but Carter couldn’t bring himself to care about the characters long enough to keep his interest.

Finally, he asked, “So what exactly did you mean when you said ‘trying on clothes’ earlier?”

Victoria snapped to attention.

“Wha—? Um… well, I thought we could see what happens to the clothes as you put them on. Since the spell changes clothes to match how you look. So we’d be… um, playing dress up.”

Her cheeks were red and she refused to look right at Carter, as if the thought of watching her brother play dress up was only now something she found embarrassing to think about.

“What makes you so sure everything won’t turn out the same as this outfit?”

“It might,” she said, shrugging, “But it’d be a pretty useless disguise, then. And sneakers and sandals wouldn’t become the same thing, right?”

Carter nodded and stood up.

“Do… do you want to do this?”

Carter’s suppressed a groan, but nodded.

“Might as well,” he said, “But I don’t want you to watch me change.”

“No!” she blurted out, “Of course not.”

She was blushing even harder than before.

Carter returned to his room slowly, turning the idea over in his head as his stomach turned in sync. It probably wasn’t too late to give up and turn to a single-player game for the rest of the day. Victoria seemed to be too broken to care.

He had promised, though. Kinda. She’d thrown the idea at him, but he did softball it back to her.

So Carter grabbed five or six different shirts and a few different shorts and pants. His sneakers and sandals as well.

He decided not to grab any more underwear. Bad enough he’d have to see himself wearing panties at all. He wasn’t going to tempt fate any further towards putting him into a thong.

When Carter checked, Victoria was still sitting on the couch in the living room, fidgeting and glancing around at nothing.

Carter let out what might have been either a groan or a sigh before locking himself into the bathroom.

He gave one last glance down at his shirt, hoping that this particular shirt would still look cool and edgy when he put it back on after all this.

Turning his back to the mirror, Carter grabbed a tee shirt and slid it on. When it was settled, it wasn’t as snug as the other shirt, but it was clearly a thinner fabric, and now a soft blueish green instead of the strong forest green it had been. It was also very, very clear that he was wearing a bra under it.

He undid and dropped the denim skirt and slid into a pair of pants.

“Oh god!”

As soon as he had it buttoned, his pants had collapsed into themselves until they were constricting his legs. It took a moment for Carter to regain his balance, and then he dared to glance down. He could indeed see every curve in his hips and legs. A brief glance backward showed his ass to be very prominently displayed as well.

I felt less naked in a skirt, he thought.

When he finally managed to sit down on the toilet, he pulled his sneakers over and slid them on. Even before they’d been laced up, they’d gotten smaller and changed from bold red to soft pink.

Fortunately, as Victoria had predicted, the clothes he’d taken off had returned to normal. He reminded himself that this was only temporary, but as he checked himself out in the mirror the thought did not seem to comfort the scared girl reflected back at him.

It’s just like looking at an older version of your sister, he told himself.

That thought did quell his teenage discomfort at being around a cute girl, but did nothing to make the situation any less icky for him.

No use putting it off, he supposed.

As he tried to steady his breathing, Carter left the bathroom and returned to the living room.

“Oh… cool,” Victoria said. Her shoulders were tensed and her faced scrunched in uncertainty, but she was leaning forward and invested in what she was looking at.

Carter could sympathize with both her discomfort and her interest. He let her take it all in, as he just stood there and squirmed.

A silence began to draw out, and Carter gave a fake laugh to disrupt it.

“I’ll try something else, them” he offered, and Victoria nodded.

Carter next tried one of his button-down shirts, which didn’t change much beyond becoming thin enough to almost be translucent. The next pair of shorts became a ruffled skirt, which was actually a refreshing change from the leg-stranglers.

He also tore off his socks and slid into his sandals, which became incredibly strappy and tight.

Fashion over comfort, he guessed, for as little sense as it made to him.

Now that the initial tension was over, Victoria was clearly more relaxed and bouncy. He gave her a minute to look it over, commenting to herself about the way it looked at him.

For his part, Carter just tried to stand there and look more comfortable than he felt.

“Wait. Tuck in your shirt,” Victoria said, suddenly addressing him specifically.

“Uh… okay, but turn around.”

Victoria looked surprised at his command but did so anyway.

“Okay, there,” he announced when he was finished.

“Oh, that’s much better.”

The next shirt Carter tried became short enough to expose most of his stomach, so he quickly tore it off and grabbed a polo shirt from the pile. That simply became a bit more form-fitting. Again, the pants became incredibly tight, to the point where he feared a wrong move would tear them apart. His sneakers became a little different this time, with little butterfly patterns along the side, but didn’t change dramatically more than the last time or anything.

“I want to see a jacket this time!”

Carter let his shoulder’s drop. He did not like the idea of his little sister choosing his outfits for him. But he trudged his way into his bedroom, loathing the way these pants made him move his hips while he walked, and grabbed a coat from the closet.

He felt regret for the tank top as soon as he pulled it on. It was bad enough of a reminder that he no longer had the frame he used to, but it was cut just low enough for him to see the tops of the fatty newcomers to his body. He looked away and slipped the jacket on. His shorts again became a skirt, and the sandals did become entirely different from before, though still majorly strappy.

“How about a sweater?”

That seemed fine, until Carter realized just how much the sweater actually conformed to his body’s new curves.

Almost dreading the outcome, he pulled on a pair of khaki pants, and was amazed when they merely shrunk a little bit into a pair of capris, ending halfway down his lower leg. He made a note of these particular pants for later and went out to see Victoria.

“Wait, why aren’t you wearing shoes?” she asked.

“They weren’t changing all that much anyway,” he said, “Wasn’t that the point? To see the clothes change?”

“Yeah… hold on. Wait here a second.”

“Victoria? Where are you—don’t go into my room!” he called after her.

“I’m not!” she cried back, and that did not ease Carter’s worries.

He followed the sound of her voice, and found her in their mother’s closet picking out shoes.

“No, I am not wearing mom’s shoes.”

“Oh come on,” she whined at him, “I just want to see if they change more than the bra did or not.”

Carter squirmed a little bit at the mention of the bra. But even that didn’t make him as uncomfortable as the thought of putting on women’s shoes.

“No,” he insisted.

“But you wore the bra!”

Carter squirmed some more. The bra had been a compromise. This would be giving in.

“I did it because I had to.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“I didn’t want to either.”

Victoria began to huff, and Carter could feel an argument coming on.

So he swallowed his pride one more time today.

“Fine.”

Victoria’s jaw dropped.

“But I’m not wearing heels.”

Victoria made a face, but muttered, “Fine.”

“And I’m only wearing each pair once.”

“Okay…”

“And no more than three.”

Victoria gave him a look, but nodded.

She picked out three pairs and pushed them into his hands before storming off.

Carter, left alone in the closet, just shook his head and turned out the light.

This time, the tank top was a different pattern, but still clung to his boobs a lot more than Carter would have liked. He unhappily took off the capris and set them off to the side with his original outfit, and slipped into another pair of pants that clamped down tight on his lower body as soon as he buttoned them.

With socks back on, Carter looked over the shoes at his disposal. He settled on the boots, which were no sooner on his feet than had transformed into a pair of suede ankle boots.

He didn’t understand the appeal. One trip on the carpet and he was going to break his ankle.

A shiver ran up Carter’s spine. He could not go to the hospital looking like this.

Victoria was still scowling when he came out, but it wavered as she examined him.

Carter glanced at the clock.

3:12

A long way until his twenty-four hours were through.

Unlike the other shorts, the next pair actually became a very clingy pair of denim short shorts, showing off even more of Carter’s legs than the skirts did. He considered sliding out of them, but it was getting a little hard to care.

The tee shirt was nothing special, but when he pulled on the next pair of shoes they instantly became what he recognized as ballet flats. He rolled his eyes and took them off to get rid of his socks.

As long as it’s harmless, it doesn’t matter, he told himself.

It didn’t matter how emasculating this all was, it wasn’t like his sister was sitting out there with a camera to blackmail him later or something.

Victoria clearly liked this outfit more than the others, sitting up straight and taking it all in as best she could.

It was there that Carter realized she had to know how similar they looked, and was probably using this to measure what she’s look like in five years. The thought was somehow simultaneously creepy and endearing, and he didn’t like that it wasn’t wholly creepy to him.

There was only one more pair of shoes left. This time, much to his relief, his pants became a long, flowing skirt instead of tight pants.

Indoctrination through discomfort, he thought briefly, but dismissed it.

His shirt, however, had become a long-sleeved shirt that cut off at the bottom of his ribs, exposing his whole tummy.

I just don’t even care anymore.

This time, it took much longer to figure out what his mother’s shoes had transformed into. They were familiar, but the name “Mary Janes” escaped him.

He returned to the living room, where Victoria “ooh”ed predictably at the sight of him.

“I like it,” she told him.

“I’m glad,” he half-snarked, folding his arms, “What else can we do around here?”

“That’s it?”

He’d done this eight times now!

“I’m basically out of clothes to try on,” he said.

She was silent for a few moments, clearly deep in thought, and it took Carter longer than he’d admit to realize how dangerous that was.

He opened his mouth to say something, but Victoria had already stood up.

“I’ll get one of mom’s dresses for you to try on.”

Carter stamped a foot into the carpet.

“No! What is wrong with you?! I am not—repeat not—wearing a goddamn dress!”

She looked so hurt.

“But… we were having fun…”

“You ordering my around is not ‘fun’!”

Victoria clenched her fists.

“Well I only have to order you around because you’re a bad sister!”

“I am not your sister!” he howled.

“You’re just a bad person!” Tears had begun to run down her face. “Why do you have to ruin this for me? Why couldn’t you just play along?”

Carter kept yelling, but she barreled past him and into her room, slamming the door loud enough to cause him to stutter and stop.

For a moment, Carter stood there. Only when he felt collected enough not to scream himself hoarse did he return to the bathroom and grab his clothes. He threw them all onto the bed and collected up his mother’s shoes.

As he placed the shoes back in the closet, hoping that he correctly guessed which order they went in, he scolded himself for having ever agreed to do this stupid thing. How had he let himself get so caught up in her delusion. Of course agreeing to any one of her stupid demands would only give her the illusion of power over him. He wasn’t going to feel guilty about this.

Frankly, she needed to be called out on her bullshit. Before it got to her head and she was forcing him to spend all his time and money serving her absurd fantasies. She’d probably try to convince him to let her make the spell permanent before the weekend was over!

He refused to feel guilty for what he’s said,

The spell probably got stronger the more he played into it, anyway. The thought made Carter want to throw up. It could be changing the very way he thought and he didn’t know it.

It didn’t matter. He was going to grab a pair of sweatpants and finish the night out with Call of Duty. Even if he had to do it single player.

…

God, why did he feel so shitty for making her upset?

Carter sat down and leaned back against the wall of the closet, closing his eyes to think. He was right—he knew that much. But he also knew that there was a way to be in charge without being a bully. He knew why she was wrong, but he never even tried to really explain it to her.

Everything about the way he handled the situation was wrong, and for that he felt guilty.

And Victoria definitely deserved and apology for that.

Carter sighed and opened his eyes, only to freeze in shock. His sigh had sounded very family, as if he’d been hearing it not just today but much longer. And the closet, for some reason, looked bigger than it had a moment ago.

Looking down confirmed his fears. He was in a child’s body. And when he ran into his parent’s bathroom to check, nearly stumbling over the long skirt he was still wearing, the mirror confirmed his fears.

He was still wearing the same outfit, although the shirt was just a normal long-sleeved shirt now, but he looked just like Victoria.

Admitting that he’d been wrong made him transform into Victoria!

No.

No, that was stupid.

She did this.

“Victoria!” he cried, storming down the hall.

He didn’t know what he was going to do, but he was going to—

Why wasn’t he moving?

Carter was stuck in position, completely paralyzed mid-stride.

Oh shit, he thought, What happened? Why can’t I move?

He was stuck, but he still feel his insides turning and his heart sinking.

The sound of a knob turning got his attention. Victoria came out of her room and closed the door, wearing shoes herself now. She wasn’t crying anymore, but her face was all read and there were tears all over her cheeks. She walked towards his room, not sparing so much as a glance or word in his direction.

Carter heard closed doors open and a few drawers pulled out before he heard the sound of his backpack being unzipped. Soon after, Victoria came out out of his room with her magic book in his hands.

So it was just badly hidden after all.

“You should have listened to me,” she said, rubbing at her eyes with her spare hand, “But you never learn anything. You’re just a jerk.”

She turned away so he couldn’t see her face.

“It’s only for a few minutes, but I told you I would do something to you. Maybe a day alone with nobody to care about you will get you to finally understand how I feel.”

She walked away, and then he couldn’t see her anymore.

Carter heard the sound of the back door opening, then closing.

She did not come back into view.

But she had to be bluffing, right? She wouldn’t leave. What would that accomplish? What would any of this accomplish? What the hell did she mean by any of that?! How dare he accuse him of ignoring her?! After all that she he did for her today alone?!

Oh god, it hadn’t worn off yet. He was still frozen.

It would only be a few minutes, he told himself.

Unless she was lying.

Unless she didn’t know for sure that it would wear off at all.

But eventually Carter collapsed and fell to the ground. He pulled himself up and ran to the living room, then the kitchen, and the bathroom, and then all the other rooms just to be sure.

She was gone.

Carter dropped to the floor and sat there.

He had to find her.

A friend’s house? That was the most obvious place. She could just pretend she was just coming over for the afternoon, and maybe spend the night. But then her friend’s parents would want to call her parents, and that wouldn’t work, so…

As Carter thought, his eyes wandered. It was so weird being the size of an eleven year old. Even from the floor, it was clear how much bigger everything looked.

She might be hanging out at the neighborhood pool… but not while carrying the book; it might get wet.

Even weirder was, if not for Victoria’s long hair and one other, obviously missing thing, Carter couldn’t really tell that this was any different from an eleven-year-old boy’s body. If he had the right haircut and the right clothes, he’d probably look like he did five years ago.

For all he knew, Victoria was just sitting in the car and pouting, but if she really wanted to hurt him she’d need to get somewhere he couldn’t find her just by looking out the window.

Now that he was looking closely, there were a lot more subtle differences in the way his clothes were designed now than when they were for an older teenager. He hadn’t even noticed before in his hurry, but the bra had become a child’s camisole underneath his shirt.

The only place she could go in the woods was…

Carter stood up quickly and ran out the back door, barely stopping to close it behind him.