Scott, having duplicated himself with the Medallion of Zulo, was patiently waiting in an office with his mother and father. Both of himself were girls at the moment. The first one was carrying a plastic bag from Macy's.
"Do you really think this will work, Dad?" asked Skylar?
"The plan, or your names?" replied their dad. "I confess I haven't kept up to date on names, but really, Skylar and Skye?"
Skye explained, "They're far enough apart that nobody's really going to get confused. And if people think we're twins, it makes sense. Twins can have similar names, right?"
"I suppose so," said their dad. "Now, about that plan... it really all depends on things we don't know anything about. I just hope that we find out before you get into trouble. You know how your Mom and I worry about you. If we do this right we won't have to worry about you eating twice as much food as one person and you could pay your way through college. If we do it wrong, you could end up deported or in jail. We've all read those stories about the Medallion of Zulo, and even if none of them are true, there are so many things that could go wrong."
The secretary handed them a bundle of forms. Alan immediately took them and began filling them out. When he handed them back, the secretary looked at them and asked "Okay, so who's Skye Dewhurst?"
"It's me!" exclaimed the second Scott.
"Can't we both do it, Dad?" asked Skylar to her father.
"Not unless you want to get arrested for fraud. You only have one Social Security number."
They all walked into a back room. An older man was seated back there and said "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Dewhurst, and family." He shook Alan's and Susan's hands, then both Scotts'. "I understand that you claim that your, er, daughter has a magic medallion that can change people's sex?"
"That's right," said Skye.
"Well, welcome to the preliminaries for the million dollar test at the James Extranormal Research Foundation. I'm Randolph James, head of JERF. So how does, er, this magic medallion work?"
"You touch it to clothes," explained Skylar, "and it transforms you into whatever wears or could wear them. It takes maybe fifteen minutes to work."
"Any incantations? Magic powders or symbols? You just touch it and someone transforms like that?"
"Yup," said Sylar.
"Let me see those papers." He reached for his desk, where the secretary put the papers and read off. "Demonstrating ability by changing sex in fifteen minutes. Are you sure you can do that?"
"Yeah."
"You do understand that the change in sex must be obvious enough to be determined by a party from JERF looking at you, right?"
"I think Dad wrote that down in the application," said Skylar. "The one we sent in before this."
"You understand that this is the preliminary test and the official challenge will be conducted only if you pass this test?"
"Yes, we understand," said Skylar. "How many people make it to the official test?"
"Nobody," said Mr. James.
"Nobody?" said Skylar.
"Seriously?" added Skye.
"Nobody. Now, good luck. Feel free to begin the demonstration whenever you want."
"Oh," said Skye, "the demonstration only works when there are no unbelievers around."
"Very funny," said Skylar. She unrolled the bag, which was much larger than its contents and rolled up tightly. She then took out the Medallion of Zulo and a sock, clutched the sock to the medallion, and put the medallion over her head.
"I really hope it doesn't suddenly stop working now," said Skye.
"It shouldn't," said Skylar. "You know, I really think we shouldn't joke about this."
"I know, sis," said Skye "I'm just scared. And I know you're scared too, because you're me. Magic is real, and nobody's ever done anythign like this before, unless a cabal of magicians keeps things like this secret whenever someone publicizes them. Like one of Dad's ideas."
"When should we see the effects?" asked Mr. James.
"About now," said Skylar. "I used a sock, so it started with my foot. This hurts. I know this is an office, but do you mind if I change my shoes?"
"Why?" asked Mr. James. "Because when you finally do transform into a man, your feet won't fit your shoes?"
"Pretty much," said Skylar.
"Very well."
She exchanged her shoes for the sneakers from the bag. They already fit perfectly. She also loosened her belt and her jeans looked loose enough to fall off, but didn't.
"Let me show you," said Skylar. She stood up and motioned to Skye to stand up as well. She was already noticeably taller than Skye when they stood next to each other. Skye raised up her hand and showed it to Mr. James. "I think it's reaching my hand, too. See? More hair on the back."
The belt soon was no longer loose. The change became more and more obvious and Mr. James gaped in amazement since it was clear that Skylar really had turned into Scott. "How is that possible?" he asked.
Alan explained. "We were having a garage sale. Scott took this old medallion that we were going to sell. We thought it was from the attic but Susan doesn't remember having seen it before. It looks like cheap jewelry but it turned out to be magic. Reliable magic that you can show people whenever you want, just like all those fake psychics who come here wish they had. The million dollar challenge is one of the few legal ways to use it to make money. Did you know that if we just charge people to transform them we could be arrested for practicing medicine without a license? Besides, you probably know more about publicity than we do. This could literally change the world. Just knowing that magic is real would change the world."
"What can it do?"
"Exactly what Scott says. You touch clothing to it and it transforms you. Not only will it work for sex changes, it could be used to make people young or restore lost limbs, and it could be used for a lot of dangerous things like turning people into animals or babies. Scott used it on a costume which was worn by two people and now suddenly Susan and I have twins. A lot of people are really going to want this amulet and once we start with the publicity, it's going to have to happen fast enough that nobody steals the medallion at gunpoint to use on some crime lord."
"Did we pass the test?" asked Scott.
"This is the preliminary test," said Mr. James. "You certainly did pass. You know, most of the people who try to take the test have no idea how big their claims are. Nobody says "I have clairvoyance, and someone's going to get a Nobel prize from studying it" or "I can heal people by prayer and this proves conclusively that only one religion is the true religion." We've never had to schedule a real test yet, so you're the first. How does this Friday morning sound?"
They passed the test, of course. It took several days more to get the money transferred into their bank accounts, since Alan thought it was safer to contact a lawyer first to make sure they didn't run afoul of any money laundering laws. Everyone rested a little easier when the transfer went through, but of course that was only the first step....
