Lady Ann's Folly: Chapter Two - Part Five

A shudder ran through Ann’s body and if she’d been privy to the conversation Burt had with the gypsy he met then she might have recognised it for what it was: the cord of her destiny being detached and replaced with a new one.

She felt diminished in some ethereal way by it and she should have been. Unless the pendant intervened once more, her fate was that of a lowly peasant girl now; nothing but a working class strumpet. The bright future as Lady Ann Neville was stripped away in that instant, even if the physical and mental transformations were far from complete. That destiny belonged to Mavis now.

Some instinct within her recognised this, for Ann’s eyes went wide in wild panic. She had wanted this – she had fantasised about it – but the reality was something completely different. It was cloying and inescapable.

She released her grip on Mavis’s hand as though the flesh had burned her. The pendant fell free, tumbling to the floor. Ann fell against the table, propping herself on her arms. She could feel herself shifting; stretching. Her hair about her face was changing; lightening slightly; curling; growing thicker.

Ann groaned, pressing her hand to her face, Already she could feel differences in the shape of her face; the size of her features. Then she gripped the sides of her head in horror as she could feel shiftings inside her very skull. Her form and face were the visible changes but she knew that her actual grey matter was transforming too. Her brain was changing from Lady Ann’s educated mind to Mavis’s limited one.

It was a mistake. It was a dreadful mistake. It was so obvious now. But there was nothing she could do to stop it! It was already over half way done!

She rocked back then fell against the table and several feet away, Mavis saw her, looking down at her own hands, seeing the fingers narrow and lengthen, the wrists become slimmer.

Mavis had no idea what was happening to her but she didn’t like it. The discomfort was all through her now; in her legs and arms; her stomach; her head; her chest. She didn’t have the slightest conception that their destinies had been exchanged but she could tell that something horrifying and profound was happening to her.

The pendant was at her feet. It had to be that surely that had done it. She’d heard stories of enchanted jewellery as a child but never once had she imagined herself into those stories. Her mind started to try to make sense of Lady Ann’s actions now that she knew that crucial puzzle piece but a quake ran through her mind, disrupting her thoughts. She knew nothing for a moment and only swayed in place.

Ann flew upright again, gasping for breath and then gaping down at her chest. The low cut chemise had been designed to show off a cleavage that her slender body hadn’t possessed, but suddenly her form was swelling there, her breasts inflating to fill and then push out against the loose space within. They connected; something her own breasts had never really done; and went on expanding forming an astounding cleavage that dazzled Ann. She hadn’t known until now how much she’d envied that on becoming a woman.

Ann staggered to the mirror and looked into it with dread. Already her features were unrecognisable as Lady Ann. The alterations were still happening but she was somewhere in between; neither Ann nor Mavis. Behind her through the glass, she could see Mavis herself, clutching at her chest; at the diminishing bosom that fit now more naturally into the beautiful gown she was wearing. Her hair had darkened, losing its waviness. Her hips had narrowed, her hands and arms becoming more slender. She was obviously overcome with anxiety and confusion. But Ann said nothing to reassure her. She had her own troubles.

She turned back to the mirror and at that same moment the changes slowed and then stopped. It wasn’t Ann looking back at her in any way. It was Mavis. She was Mavis now. She had become the peasant girl completely. “Oh my goodness,” she whispered. “What on Earth have I done?”

Behind her, the other woman groaned and the Ann looked back at her.

The slimmer woman’s transformation was also complete. From her pretty head down to her feet; dressed as elegantly as her form required; she was Lady Ann.

The exchange had done its work.

They had switched places entirely.