Anne eventually made contact with a woman who was willing to try and switch bodies with her.
It was probably awkward to meet up like this, knowing what you were after. To take the flesh of another, and depart with little interaction. Apparently the company feared there were 'psychological' issues if there was prolonged exposure to an identity one used to have. In a number of studies, they found it far more beneficial not to interact with traders in this way post swapping.
Of course, this was the initial visit. To Anne it was a bit like a date... though maybe, this was a bit different. The person in front of her was a fairly pretty and certainly 'exotic' transformation. She Was a rather pretty 'deer-woman'. There seemed to be a rather... haunted look in her eyes.
"So... can you be honest with me Julia?" asked Anne as they ate their meal together. She noticed How the girl was just so... distant. Looking around as she did, as if expecting something to explode around her. "Are you in trouble and that's why you want to swap with me?"
Julia shook her head. "I... no. That's not it. I can't hide that I just want to forget about my life now though." She spoke softly, as she looked down at her food holding it as she could with her short fingers.
"... and you used to be a man? You don't mind staying female?" Anne tilted her head a little at that.
The pretty deer-woman somehow gave a more haunted look at that. "... I've experienced things no man can. Or... maybe should." There was no going back for her. She felt that, deep inside.
"You mean when you... had a baby?" asked Anne curious again.
The deer-woman gasped. "T-They told-"
"I have to know everything about someone I might potentially switch with... didn't you get information about me? I mean I think I mentioned an allergy to peanut butter."
Julia blushed. "I- didn't actually read it. I just... said I was interested in being you instead," the deer-girl said with a little smile at the strangeness of this situation.
Anne sighed. "To be honest Julia, that doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence. I want you to be happy, as well as me. This is a pretty big decision we're trying to make. I never got turned by the sunlight.. I just wasn't interesting enough."
Julia snorted. Of course she knew the secret to transformation having experienced it. "You can always do something really bad. That usually gets somone's attention," Julia said with a half smile on her muzzle. The goddess that changed her into this body... to punish? Or... what? Julia wasn't sure. She had spent so long now in this body and it 'was' her... a company that could offer to trade your life away seemed... a good excuse to not live the consequences of her life. She hated being reminded of her indiscretions, when she looked in the mirror.
Anne sipped on her milkshake through a straw, still studying Julia. This really was a surreal situation. She had a child, and that was... a bit irksome. She didn't really know if that would feel any different to be in such a body. Still, Julia did look to have taken care of herself. Though at the same time... there was some child out there, and her instincts were telling her that her mother was looking for her. Julia seemed intent to avoid it all... and if she swapped places with her, she would be allowing her to do that. Is this really what she wanted to do? To find how to transform in such a way?
"Julia," Anne started. "I... I don't think I can go through with this," she said reluctantly. "I think you have a great body though! You... should be proud. Really. Please don't be unhappy with it..."
Julia looked to her lettuce as she ate it. "I would kill to eat a hamburger again," she said quietly. "But I understand. I probably don't want to use the technology they have either. It's... it's a lot like the energy that the magic girls fought. The Enemy."
"You know about the Enemy?" asked Anne surprised. Few did... she only saw it once.
"Enough to know that they must have a piece of the enemy in their machines... that's probably how they are swapping people's brains. Anyway... it was nice meeting you Anne." She got up from her table. She had... a lot of thinking to do.
"My pleasure," smiled Anne as Julia departed the mall. The human girl stood for a while, overlooking a fountain and all the wondrous species around her. So, this isn't how she would be transformed either. She couldn't take someone else's fortune, the more she thought about it. But she just didn't know who she was...
...That was when she saw the curious looking bottle, sitting on the bench. It felt... like it was calling her. She wondered up to it, even as she seemed to sense time slowing down. The bottle started to glow... 'wish...wish...wish..'
Her wish? Well she wished she was a changed... but more then that. "I wish... I could help people," she said to the bottle.
Then she felt it.. a 'connection' to a strange other world. She thought she could smell ember, smoke and fire... A voice spoke to her, so clear. It was gentle, almost fatherly.
'Hello young one,' Said the voice.
"Who are you?" asked Anne tensing a bit. What could this mean?
'A Master of the Djinn-realm, my name is Kalim," said the voice. "I can offer you what you desire, but it will come with sacrifice. First I would like to know more... tell me, why do you wish to help people?" The voice had a hint of caution in it.
Anne sighed. Talking to a bottle? well, why not? "So many people are unhappy with their transformations, even if I can see they are better off with them. I was denied a transformation because... there just isn't anything wrong with my life."
"... I think you already know, that you are indeed a 'changed', my child," said Kalim from within the bottle. "For you see, this bottle has been seeking you... just as you have been seeking it. Otherwise I could not talk to you."
"I- I don't understand," said Anne a little warily.
"You are a Jeanie, my child. But one without a bottle... as yet. Just as a magic girl needs a totem, so too does a Jeanie need a bottle. That is why you have no abilities or power. To awaken your power, you must accept this bottle. It is... not an easy choice, and I will not begrudge you saying no. This bottle can grant wishes, and has done many times in its journey without a Jeanie to direct the magic... but with a Jeanie, its powers are so much stronger. Almost any wish can be granted. If you wish a new form, wish it and it will be... However, I believe this bottle is for you, if you accept it my dear..'
Anne looked at the bottle curiously as she held it with her hands. "What... exactly is this about? Uh- wait a minute, I don't want to be a slave or anything like that!" Said Anne quickly.
The voice inside the bottle sighed. "That is why, it is a 'choice' for you my dear. I will not lie. To have this power, you will be subject to whoever holds the bottle. There is little anyone can do- even as the conduit, to stop your power. It is... not unlike your friend and her key."
Anne gasped. "Y-You know about Ricky?" She asked.
"Of course. I am a Genie Lord. We have knowledge of many things. But on your matter... not all Jeanies get a choice in this. Some serve to pay a debt, others because of 'bad luck', or others end up jeanies due to the wishes of others... but you are a born Jeanie, Anne of Earth. You can choose this course, or abandon it... and live a human life. It can be part of who you are... or you can reject it and never be beheld to anyone. But the possibility to do good, will exist."
Holding the bottle, Anne's eyes started to widen. She could sense the magic and power... a power she knew was instinctively was her own. She knew she could grant wishes... almost any wish! What were the limits? "What.. wishes can I not grant?"
"Any power done by a 'higher magic' can not be undone. Given a keystone has recently affected your world, and you are starting in your power... you will be severely limited. For instance.. you will not be able to transform the 'base state' of a person transformed by the sunlight as that power was made by one of the Prime-Reality relics. You can however, add to it or take away from it. You can not interfere with anything ordained by the Gods... furthermore, nobody will be able to 'keep' you forever. Such is for your own protection in this service, which will last 1 year until renewed by you. You are free to travel as you wish... but whenever someone rubs the bottle, you will be summoned and grant their wishes. You can interpret the wishes in any way you desire.. but a wish fulfilled is a wish fulfilled." The Jeanie-lord's voice paused a but. "This bottle can wonder, and will through your world... it will be easier for you to affect the holder of the bottle, rather then anything else. For the moment, you will be forbidden from changing anyone's fortunes but their own. Until we are satisfied you can control your power."
"Can I.. travel to other worlds as well?" Anne asked. She had always wanted to see other places.. other worlds!
"To travel to another world, you must access it through the bottle alone. However, I would not recommend it until you master your power. There are those who could undo some of these rules that protect you... and you might find yourself truly enslaved, if not at the very least trapped in other worlds separated from your bottle and unable to get home."
"..and this is for one year? Unless I want to keep going I can't leave in the middle of it or anything like that?"
"You are free to leave becoming a Jeanie at any time... but you will never have any magic, again, and you could be vulnerable to to those around you at the time. Relinquish your power with great care, for you could anger the master of the bottle. It would be better to grant a wish badly then to relinquish your power before them."
Anne looked at the enormity of this decision. She could become a Jeanie... or live her normal, human life. She could help people and grant the wishes they desired, or do nothing at all. She could finally have something interesting going on in her life... or just leave it all and return to her normal human life. She wanted so much to have something interesting, and she liked helping people as well. If she could grant their wishes...
Jen smiled as she picked up Ernestine from school. "So, tell me what you learned dear?" She asked, as she put her slug-foot on the gas pedal. She had a new car, one that was specially suited for her. It was amazing how quick manufacturers worked to adapt machines to practically any need since the sun transformed them.
"I made a lot of new friends!" the young slug-girl smiled, with her antenna's twitching around a little. Her new school was just so much fun, and she really enjoyed playing.
Ernestine was... well, a bit tomboyish. Not that Jen raised her child to be stereotypically one way or the other. She was happy for them all to find their own identities in life. She still insisted she had to wear a skirt of course, given jeans couldn't be worn over her slug-foot. Still, Jen adored her as much as her younger sister. "Tell me about your friends?"
"Uh, she's a deer-girl. Her name is Abigail," she said quickly. "She's interested in magic just like me."
"You know you can't tell anyone about the magic stone, right sweet heart?"
The younger slug girl pouted. "I know.. but mom, there's so much we can do with it. Can't you.. wish people to be happy?" It was not often you realise that Jen was practically a goddess at this point, especially to her daughter.
Jen gave that a little thought then shook her head. "Sweety, I've done nothing but try to keep people happy in the world.. I made. Happiness is just something everyone has to work for. All I could do was give them the best chance... allow them the life that would give them the most fortunes. If they know it or not." She thought about her wish often. Was it the right one? People rarely changed by the sun now, but it sometimes happened...
"Mom? Could... you wish that you never went away? Ever?" The child looked pleadingly.
Jen brushed her hand across her shoulder, careful as she drove. "I.. wish I could do that Ernest," She said with a sigh. "I wish I could keep you safe forever... but the Earth-stone can't do those kinds of wishes. Not without changing who we fundamentally are. I've researched it carefully. Each element has a price for the wish you ask for. If I ask for immortality, I might change into a rock or something."
Ernestine looked sadly as her mother explained. Why didn't her mother understood that she just... wanted everything to stay as they were? For her mother and father to always be there for her, and for nobody to ever get hurt.
"So, did you learn about the magic girls?" Asked Jen changing the subject.
"Uh huh!" Nodded Ernest. "Three great Numbers of power."
"Oh you silly, there were four," laughed Jen amused.
Ernest looked strangely at her mother. "Nuh-uh, see? I got the paper from the day it happened."
Jen and Ernestine got out of the car, to the house. The slug-girl looked at the paper, showing the figures of the magic girls fighting the enemy... and a bright light, she had known to be her student Lilly performing the 'Breech spell'. There was magic girl One... Two... Three... "Where is Four?" She asked.
She had seen this picture a million times... but Four was not there any more. She looked on the internet, and...
...it seemed as if Four had been erased.
She had to call Becca.
