Jess wins

“We'll see," Jess said, holding her fist out.

The pair counted down, and on the word three, they played their hands.

"Scissors!" Jess yelled triumphantly. "I win." To say she was excited about the prospect of being inside Adam's body again would be an understatement.

"No fair," Helen pouted, mockingly. "It's my spellbook, I should be the one who gets to use it."

"Aww, don't be such a sore loser," Jess teased. "You'll have your turn soon enough."

Helen just huffed and crossed her arms.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road," Jess said. She read over the Substitute Soul spell until she felt confident enough to perform it. Then she looked down at her body and concentrated, repeating the magic words over and over in her mind.

The same strange sensation as before occurred, and Jess felt her spirit leave her body. But this time she was aware of a presence left behind, a sort of consciousness. She propelled her spiritual form towards Adam's toned body and felt her spirit slip inside.

As before, the feeling was overwhelming. She was suddenly hyperaware of her new body. Every single nerve ending tingled and every muscle twitched. She could feel Adam's heart pounding in his chest, and she could hear the sound of his blood rushing through his veins. It was incredible.

Jess started to get control over her breathing, and she felt her body relax. She flexed her fingers and toes, before easing herself into a more comfortable position. She turned to face Helen and, somewhat unnervingly, her own body which was looking at her with a neutral expression.

"Looks like the Substitute Soul spell worked," Jess said, in Adam's deeper voice.

"Yeah, it does," Helen replied, sounding a little uncertain.

Jess continued to look at the face of her own body, trying to process the surreal experience of seeing herself from the outside. If her body was going to be puppeteered by magic, she should probably test how it responded.

"Hey Jess, can you hear me?" Jess asked her body, raising a hand and waving it.

"Of course I can hear you, Adam," the body said, sounding annoyed.

"Right, okay," Jess said. "And you know I'm not really Adam, right? It's actually me, Jess."

"Obviously," the substitute Jess replied. "You've literally just left this body and entered Adam's. Are you testing the Substitute Soul spell, or is your memory that short?"

Jess frowned. Was she really that sassy and sarcastic? "I was checking! This whole magic thing is still new to me, okay?"

Helen held a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle her laughter. "God, you two are hilarious. It looks like the Substitute Soul spell works perfectly. Why don't you try and wake up Adam?"

"Oh, yeah," Jess said, remembering why she had taken over Adam's body in the first place. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on locating his consciousness. She had no idea where she was supposed to be looking, so she just imagined herself diving into the deepest depths of Adam's mind.

She felt a little foolish at first, but after a few moments, she felt a faint pulse in her mind. There was another presence within Adam's body, and she knew instinctively that it was his consciousness.

"I can feel him," Jess said.

"Great," Helen said. "Can you wake him up?"

"I'll try," Jess replied, closing her eyes again. She imagined reaching out and grabbing the other consciousness. She tried to pull it towards her, but it wouldn't budge. She pushed it and shoved it, but it didn't move.

"Anything?" Helen asked, her voice thick with excitement.

"He seems to be in a pretty deep sleep," Jess said. "I can feel him, but I can't get him to wake up."

"That sounds pretty typical for Adam," Helen giggled. "Maybe that first time you entered his body, you did something to knock him out."

"It's possible," Jess agreed. "Either way, I can't seem to wake him up. Is there anything in the spellbook that can help?"

"Lemme see," Helen said, eagerly scanning through the spellbook. She scoured the pages but struggled to make sense of the text. Most of the words seemed to shift around as her eyes focused on them. She could barely retrace the two spells that Jess had performed before.

"Any luck?" Jess asked, watching her friend's face twist and scrunch up.

"It's giving me a headache," Helen groaned, massaging her temples.

Jess got to her feet, stretching out Adam's long legs. "We could just wait until he wakes up?"

"With you in his body?" Helen asked.

"Well, yeah," Jess shrugged. "I can keep checking in to see if he's waking up. Until then I can take his place and fulfill his duties."

Helen raised an eyebrow. "Fulfil his duties? You're hoping for a repeat of earlier, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't say no," Jess replied with a cheeky grin.

"Are you two lovebirds done?" the substitute Jess suddenly chimed in, sounding exasperated.

"Sorry, sorry," Helen said, giggling. "Shall we leave your substitute here and head back to mine?"

"Sure," Jess happily replied. "Let's take the book with us. Perhaps we'll be able to understand it better later."

Helen picked up the book, and the pair left Jess's flat. Jess felt a little bit strange leaving the substitute soul inside her body, but she supposed it was better than leaving it lifeless and vacant.

As they made their way over to Helen's place, Jess couldn't help but appreciate Adam's body. The way it moved and the way it felt. She felt so strong and confident. A wicked thought crossed her mind. Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad thing if Adam was unable to wake up, at least for a while.