Test mind trading on the twins, Aiden and Georgia

You've claimed and altered memories and traded claims between holders without issue. Which makes you wonder. Could you swap memories outright between two subjects?

"I can claim tangible items like I did with Pearl's hoodie, and give those things to other people without a problem," you say, your fingertips buzzing with possibility. "Does that mean I can do the same thing with intangible claims, too? Like - when I claimed Pearl's snarky attitude, what if I gave it to somebody else instead? Would their personality change to be more like Pearl's?"

The question stumps Yu. "My guess is that whoever you gave an intangible to would inherit the claim, transference in the sense you're talking about shouldn't be physically possible." She shakes her head. "We don't have to guess, though. Try it out."

You face Aiden and Georgia, a thrill running through you. "Aiden, I claim your mind - your personality, memories, everything about your mind that makes you 'you', really. And I'm giving it all to Georgia."

"That's not too bad," says Aiden, relieved. He makes a face at his sister. "You don't have to believe this is real, but don't do anything weird, even as a joke! I mean it!"

Georgia rolls her eyes. "Like it's possible to prove your mind belongs to me now anyway."

You're disappointed. "Guess that door is closed."

Yu perks up. "What exactly were you trying to do?"

"Put Aiden in Georgia's body and vice versa."

Your friend thinks the problem through. "It's impossible for two objects to exist in the same place at the same time." She snaps her fingers. "Ooh. Claim Gho's mind and give it to Aiden, too!"

There's an idea. You look back to the twins. "What Yu said. Gho, I claim your mind, personality, memories, everything about your mind that makes you 'you', too. All of it belongs to Aiden, now."

Georgia scoffs at the attempted trickery. "Of course everything that makes me me belongs to Ai, and everything that makes Ai Ai belongs to me. We're twins. Who else would that belong to?"

Aiden wrings his hands. "Give it a rest for two seconds Gho, will you?"

"It feels like we're close," says Yu, shivering involuntarily.

You feel it too. A cold shiver of potential.

Your wording was off, you realize. You try again. "Both of you, I reclaim your minds like before. When I say 'go', Georgia, your mind will rewrite itself to become Aiden's mind, and Aiden, your mind will do the same, rewriting itself to become Georgia's mind."

You pause for a second to appreciate the magnitude of what you're attempting here, and to give the twins time to process your words. Georgia remains dismissive. Aiden, anxious. Yu holds her breath.

"Go."

Aiden and Georgia convulse violently. But before there's time to worry or to fall over, they still again.

Georgia recovers first, wiping sweat from her brow. Then, eyes wide, she gawks over at Aiden and touches her face. She looks down at her hands and body, panicking when her eyes fall on her chest. "Oh my god, Gho, I fucking told you this would happen!" She pulls her red plaid overshirt open, drawing attention to her body. "This is a real-life witch's spell monkey's paw situation we're dealing with! This is not the time to be an adult in a kid's fantasy book!"

Aiden, recovering second, also startles at the unfamiliarity of his height, facial hair, and attire. "How - this almost feels real," he says, marveling at his rough face and biceps. "Am I dreaming?" He pinches himself. "No, this is too real." Eyes widening, he turns to Georgia in a rush. "Ai, I've seen hypnosis shows exactly like this. I know it feels convincing at first, but that's how they get you to play along. Chase is using the power of suggestion to trick us into playing along with his magic act, everybody is in on it!"

Beside you, meanwhile, Yu gapes.

"Holy cow, transference works? " She's gobsmacked. "There's nothing more complex than a human mind, but you swapped them anyway, they're definitely in each other's bodies! This - this is HUGE, Chase!"

You feel giddy. "And it only took a minute to figure out, too. Let's keep the ball rolling!"

"Okay, but, let's check first," says Yu, barely keeping her cool. "Ai, Gho, do you um, want to stop, or are you good to try more tests?"

Georgia (Aiden) maintains a stiff mask of calm. "I am very purposefully not expressing any displeasure with current circumstances to either of you," she says levelly. "Yu, you are my favorite cousin. And Chase, you seem like a nice guy. The only thing I want is to end up back in the right body, please."

Aiden (Georgia) regards him(her)self with closer attention, poking his arm. "Unless these are our right bodies," he says quietly to himself. Realization dawns on him. "That was Chase's trick, Ai. He must have hypnotized us to think that we're each other. But we're not. I'm still Ai, and you're still Gho - you think you're me, but you're not, and neither am I. We're still each other! That's why we don't know anything the other one doesn't know!"

"I still remember everything! Are you crazy?" Georgia grabs a lock of hair and shakes it at her brother. "I'm a network admin, like you know how to troubleshoot a server!"

"I must, though!" insists Aiden, concentrating hard. "You turn it off and turn it on again! Run a debugger! Google it!"

Georgia groans. "I'm going to lose my job. I'm going to flunk school. I'll have to be a lesbian. Mom's going to flip..."

With the new Georgia still muttering to herself, Yu turns cautiously to her third cousin, who's back on her phone. "What about you, Lina? Are you okay "

Lina doesn't look up from the screen. "Still don't care."

Yu flashes you a hesitant thumbs-up. "I think everybody's okay for now, but don't push them too much harder. We don't want to hurt anyone."

Honestly, Georgia (AKA Aiden) seems well on his way to a meltdown, but if Yu says he's okay, he's probably not acting totally out of character.

(Commissioned chapter)