Helen Lets Her Friend Know

"Alright." Helen began. "Promise you won't think I've gone mad."

Kaz put her fork down and crossed her hands on the table. "Helen, love. I said you could tell me anything."

"Okay. So..." Helen began, feeling a weight off her chest. "I'm a witch. Spells and such."

"Being a Wiccan isn't that strange, love." Kaz said with an eyebrow raised.

"No, like... actual spells. Commanding people with your words, swapping heads. That sort of thing."

Kaz's eyebrow raised higher and higher. "Prove it then."

"That's the problem! Adam and I have a wager, where I can't cast a spell." Helen groaned. "For 24 hours."

"How far into it are you, then?"

"Barely halfwaaaay." Helen complained.

"Spells are that good then?" Kaz asked, moving her chair closer. "Can I try one?"

"Adam'll kill me."

"C'mon. What's the harm in having another witch in your circle?" Kaz pleaded.

Helen thought about it for a moment. She did owe Kaz for getting her this managerial position. And she trusted Kaz quite a bit. After a while, Helen sighed. "Fine. After work come with me. But there are some conditions."

"Like what, Helen?" Kaz asked, unable to resist giving a giddy smile.

"Firstly. No using any spells on Adam or I without my permission. Secondly. Adam will not know about this. No matter what. Thirdly. The spellbook stays with me. And lastly. I do not have to ask to use spells on you." Helen said. She knew the list of demands were a lot. Especially that last one.

Kaz thought about it for a minute before stretching her arm out. "Deal."

Shaking Kaz's arm, Helen couldn't help but get excited. Mostly to have a new test dummy. However, as they tried to pull their arms apart, a shock traveled up both arms, causing the two women to jump.

"Ow! What was that?!" Helen asked, rubbing her now sore arm.

"That wasn't one of your spells?" Kaz asked.

Shaking her head no, Helen went back to work, finishing her shift with the shock running through her mind. After clocking out, Helen walked over to reception to meet with Kaz. "Ready to learn some spells?" Helen asked with a grin.

"Of course, I just have to grab my jacket!"

A while later, Helen was leading Kaz upstairs. "How's the decoration? Adam pitched a fit at that painting."

"Hmm... I would've put that over there, I think." Kaz answered, pointing across the hallway. "And Adam picked the paint, right?"

"Of course he bloody did! Man bought it and painted it without even asking me!" Helen shouted, the past argument still kindling in her head.

Kaz giggled a bit at that as Helen led her into the office room. "Is that it over there?" Kaz asked pointing at it. Seeing Helen nod, Kaz wasted no time flipping through the pages. "Most of this is all gibberish! I can hardly under- Why do you look like that?"

Looking down at herself, Helen remembered she was her mother from the neck down. "You can tell I don't look normal? I suppose Adam was right, when you touch the book, you become aware of it."

"Is it... weird to be like that?" Kaz asked.

"Honestly it feels TOO natural. Maybe because she's my mother, and only 20 years older than me, more or less. Maybe it's the magic. I couldn't tell you to he honest." Helen answered.

"Huh." Kaz muttered as she flipped through the pages. "I found something here. You might find it interesting."

Raising an eyebrow, Helen wandered over to have a look. "Deals made regarding this book and its contents are ironclad." Helen read out, the text glowing faint blue. "Test it. Try taking the book."

"Alright. If you say so." Kaz said as she shrugged her shoulders. Grabbing the book, Kaz began to walk towards the door until stopping suddenly. "Helen, I can't walk anymore." Taking a step back, Kaz took a step to the right, once again finding it impossible to leave the room. "Maybe the window?" Kaz muttered before walking there, finding she couldn't open it, despite putting all of her strength into it.

"Oh shit!" Helen shouted. "I can't cheat!"

Kaz looked back and furrowed her brow before she remembered. "Maybe you should've read the whole book before making the deal." Kaz said with a cocky grin as she sat down and opened the book once more.

"Kaz, the book is all gibberish at first! The more you use it, the more it becomes clear! I literally couldn't understand that last night!" Helen protested.

Kaz smiled. "Relax, love. I was just teasing. Can I take some photos of these?" Kaz asked, pulling her phone out.

"Sure. Actually, I don't know if that breaks the deal."

"Huh? Good point. I'll take one and see." Kaz said as she snapped a photo of the Astral Projection spell. Wasting no time, she stood up and walked to the door, finding no issue walking out. "It worked Helen! It worked! It's... the photo's gone." Pulling up her gallery, Kaz showed Helen that the picture had seemingly deleted itself.

"Don't worry." Helen said as Kaz sat back down. "Read all you want today, and you can come over tomorrow after work. Adam's working late, so he won't come in and spoil the fun!"

"Alright. I'd like to try this spell out. 'Displacement.' There's no description." Tracing her finger over the words, Kaz slowly read them out. "Nothing hap-" Kaz began to say before vanishing completely, the book falling onto the bed.

"Kaz? Kaz!" Helen shouted. A second later, she received a text message from Kaz.

"teleport." Was all it said. A bit later, Helen got another message. "see u 2morrow. spell took me back 2 work."

Responding with a thumbs-up emoji, Helen read through the book again. She couldn't cast anything still, she still had a few more hours of the deal, but she could read. Adam never mentioned that was off limits.

"Helen, you weren't casting spells, I assume." Adam said as Helen began waking up.

"No, no." Helen said hazily, opening her mouth and yawning. "Page ummm... something. Read it." Helen said, passing the book that was just under her face to Adam.

"You couldn't break the deal? Oh, so that means you tried to cheat." Adam said, clicking his tongue.

"No! You never said reading was not allowed! I just read that part and thought I'd share." Helen said with a cocky grin.

"Fine. I suppose you won then. But I'm not happy about it. You'll get your reward after you give your mother her body back." Adam admitted, crossing his arms.

That was still a win for Helen. Immediately, she began the chant and seconds later, everything was back to normal. "Now about my reward..." Helen asked, mentally cursing her mother for wearing such boring clothes that Helen was stuck wearing.

Adam rolled his eyes. "It's been hardly 5 minutes since it's been 24 hours. You can't give the spells a break?"

"Of course not." Helen answered.

"Fine." Adam said with a sigh. "For winning, I was planning to..."