He plans to free Natalie

"I'm sorry Natalie," Adam said earnestly as he looked deeply into Natalie's eyes. "I want to help you, but I don't understand how this all works with the... you know, magic and stuff."

"What are you talking about Adam?" 'Natalie' asked. Her face twitched between puzzlement and panicked desperation.

Adam's heart sank as he realised what a coward he was being. The guilt of leaving Natalie as a semi-aware prisoner in her own body piloted by a submissive stand-in was almost too much. But he couldn't risk helping her break free. There were too many unknowns, and besides, Helen would kill him if things went pear-shaped.

"You have to stay strong. I'll work out a way to sort things out. And you," Adam was now speaking to the soul or magic that was controlling Natalie, "stop doing whatever people tell you to do. It'll get you into trouble."

"Seriously Adam, you're being so weird." The flashes of panic on Natalie's face seemed to subdue a little and Adam released her hands.

"I've got to go," Adam said as he got up from the stool. "I'll get this sorted, I promise."

***************

The train journey home felt like it took no time at all. Adam almost wished he'd never get home as the thought of explaining things to Helen made him feel sick. Not only had he lied about why he would be late home, he had met up with his ex (albeit she was magically altered) and was going to advocate for her to be released from the spell. At least, that's what he felt was the right thing to do.

Adam trudged down the road towards home with his shoulders slumped. Dusk was just beginning to fall as he reached the front door and clumsily let himself in.

"Hello lovely, I'm upstairs," came Helen's chirpy tones.

Normally Adam would answer in kind, but instead he mumbled a response as he took off his jacket and shoes. He slowly made his way up the stairs and found Helen in the office flicking through the spellbook as he had predicted.

"How was work?" Helen asked without turning round.

"It was fine," Adam replied dispassionately. He kissed the crown of Helen's head and braced himself for what he was about to bring up. "I was thinking about what we've done to Natalie."

"I've been thinking about that too," Helen interjected before Adam could finish his point. "I still haven't found a spell that will make her forget about the magic or at least make her compliant."

"I was thinking maybe we shouldn't use anymore magic on her. Maybe we should just release her from the spell and trust she'll-"

"We can't risk that Adam," Helen said bluntly, cutting off her boyfriend again. "She tried to steal the spellbook once, she'll try and steal it again if we let her."

"But it's not right manipulating her like this. I just... I don't know. I guess I just feel bad about what we've done to her."

"Now you feel bad for her Adam?" Helen scoffed. She spun round in the office chair, her hands placed firmly on her hips. "You seemed fine with her not having control of her body whilst you were fucking it!"

"W-what?" Adam stuttered in shock at being confronted so firmly by his girlfriend. "I was caught up in the moment! Besides you basically threw yourself at me. You loved being in her body as much as I loved fucking you in it. But I'm starting to realise how messed up it was. We used Natalie's body against her will and now she's trying to break out of the spell that's puppeting her."

"How do you know that?"

Adam gulped as he suddenly clocked what he had just said. He had intended to gently coax Helen towards releasing Natalie from the spell. But now he was going to have to tell the truth.

"I'm sorry Helen, but I met up with Natalie after work today. I had to see how she was after you cast the spell on her. She messaged me and it was so out of character that I felt the need to see how she was for myself. She's not behaving like you'd expect if the caretaker spell or whatever was based on her own personality."

"How do you mean?" Helen asked calmly. Rather than being angry with Adam she seemed to be intrigued.

"She was totally submissive. She told me she'd basically let her male colleagues touch her up. Who knows what else she'd let them do if they pushed her."

A ghost of a smile appeared on the corner of Helen's lips. "Would that be a problem?"

"Yes!" Adam almost shouted, exasperated by how funny Helen was seeming to find this. "We can't let her become the office whore! Think about how Natalie will feel when she regains control of her body. She'll definitely want **** on us then."

"Ugh, I suppose you're right," Helen sighed. "I haven't found any suitable spells to erase her memory of the spellbook, so I'll have to take control of her myself if she's trying to break free."

"Maybe you could try reasoning with her?" Adam suggested with a hopeful smile. "She might listen to you if you apologise and promise to leave her out of things?"

Helen just rolled her eyes. "I can try, but I don't think she'll be willing to listen to me."

"Thank you, Helen," Adam said, already feeling a little less guilty. "Hang on, but what about your body? You can't leave it empty."

"I'll have a caretaker soul take my place. I worked out what went wrong with the one I cast on Natalie...."

"So you knew she'd be so submissive!"

"Umm, yeah I guess I did. Didn't think it'd be an issue to be honest." Helen held a finger up to her lip coyly.

"And you were angry with me!" Adam exclaimed as calmly as he could. He was beginning to worry about Helen's disregard for how her magic impacted the lives of others. "Look, can you please just go and possess Natalie again? I can have a look in the spellbook for something to erase certain memories or whatever."

"Fine! Though I was thinking I could make my stand in search the spellbook for me."

***************

Shortly after her and Adam's conversation, Helen had quickly cast the spell to implant the caretaker soul in her body and left to possess Natalie. Adam was certain she did this to avoid discussing the morality of what they were doing further, but didn't say anything. He was, however, secretly rather proud that he had turned things around. He'd been in the firing line for his secret rendezvous with Natalie, but now she was feeling guilty for her **** of the spellbook's powers. At least Adam hoped she was.

With the real Helen gone, Adam was left with her body being puppeted by the caretaker soul spell. He had tried to encourage this 'Helen' to strip off her clothes or do something vaguely sexual, but she had quickly shut him down and asked him to leave her to read the spellbook. It was clear this particular replacement soul wouldn't be so easily influenced. He took the fake Helen's advice and made his way to the living room to wait for word from the real Helen.

Fortunately, Adam didn't have to wait long until he received a text from Natalie's number which confirmed Helen had possessed her. Helen had been a little angry about the messages Adam had sent his ex, but Adam had excused himself by saying he was just seeing how the caretaker soul would respond. Helen had thankfully seemed to accept this explanation but had then gone quiet.

This made Adam panic a little. He held off chasing her with another message for a while, but gave in after a few minutes. He asked Helen whether she'd tried speaking to the real Natalie and how she'd responded. Helen quickly replied that she must have sent Natalie's soul to sleep along with the faulty caretaker. She hadn't managed to wake her yet, but would do later in the evening.

Feeling happy that at least Natalie's body was in safe hands with Helen, Adam flicked on the television. He tried to find something to watch and settled for the news. He watched lazily and soon found the newsreader's dull voice sending him to sleep.