The Power of Words

Craig was playing soccer on his PS5 at his parents house, where he lived and currently had the place to himself, when the doorbell went. He assumed it was most likely Jessie, and would have been very happy to see her. Instead, on his doorstep was a well dressed, athletic looking guy a few years older than him who he thought he might vaguely recognise, but couldn't place where from.

"Hello? Can I help you?" Craig asked, slightly uncertainly.

"Hey, I'm Andrew" the man smiled back in a friendly manner "You're Jessie's fiance, right? I'm her cousin, and Tammy's older brother. Can I come in? I feel like you and I need to talk"

"Um, okay?"

Craig led the virtual stranger through into the living room, where his game was still paused on the wide screen TV at the front.

"Can I get you a drink or something? I think there's beer in the fridge?"

"No, I'm good thanks" Andrew settled down into an armchair opposite Craig. He decided he may as well cut straight to the chase "So look, I know about the curse you put on Jessie"

"Put on her?" Craig repeated the charge defensively "Do I look like a witch? The curse was already there. I don't think I should say too much about it to you for safety reasons, but she was pretty much born with it. She told me about the curse because it got activated by the first guy who found out and she chose me. You can ask her if you don't believe me"

"Okay..." Andrew was a little thrown by this. It sounded like it could be the truth. But his central point and the purpose for his visit remained unchanged, so he continued as planned "Look, I get it. When I was not much younger than you, I had the hottest history teacher ever, Miss Downing. I had such a crush on her. Shit, I even fantasise about her now sometimes. I'm sure If I could have used some crazy voodoo shit to turn her into my girlfriend back then, I probably would have done it. But I also know it would have been totally wrong. You have to take a step back and realise that too. This is mind control you are abusing my cousin with and it's fucked up"

"You say you get it but you don't" there was anger and resentment in the younger man's voice as he spoke back "Jessie isn't some teacher I had a crush on. She's the person I'm closer to than anyone else in the world and has been for for most of my life. I've been in love with her since I was thirteen. And then she suddenly dumps this on me"

"Dumps it on you?"

"Oh hey Craig, I'm giving the power to do literally anything you want to me but you can't ever use it, is that okay with you? Too bad if it isn't, because it's done now" Craig spoke in a mocking imitation of Jessie's voice "Do you have any idea how that made me feel? I'm just supposed to live with this and never do anything with it while the girl of my dreams goes off to fuck other guys and acts like I don't even count? We love each other now, and we're both happy being together. Jessie has way more in common with me than the usual kind of assholes she dates. So this is best for everyone. Think about it - she chose to tell me about this out of literally every guy there is. Maybe deep down this is what she wanted"

"I really wish you could hear how crazy you sound" Andrew raised his eyebrows.

"Fuck you"

"Look, I can't completely judge you, because I've never been put in the position you're in. I get that the temptation to use the curse must be huge, But I care about Jessie a lot, and she is not herself. There's something vacant about her, like she's been brainwashed. Because, I guess, she has. She might look and sound like Jess, but it isn't her at the moment. You need to put this right. Aren't you supposed to be her best friend? She didn't give you this power to **** you with it. She gave it to you because she trusted you more than any other guy she knew. How could you do this to her, man?"

"You haven't got a clue what you're talking about. Like I said, Jessie is happy. I would never, ever hurt her. I love her"

"If you love someone, you should set them free" Andrew remarked as he got up to leave.

He couldn't remember which songs' lyrics he had stolen that from. But, in the moment, it had sounded like a profound enough note to end the conversation on, for now at least.

----

Carl and Haley were cuddled up together in bed. The pair were increasingly inseparable, spending almost every free moment they had in each others company now.

"I feel like the next step for us is for you to move in with me" Carl suggested.

"Sure, I can do that" Haley nodded as she snuggled closer "Maybe we can look to get our own place. Just the two of us"

Carl smiled widely at how great everything was going for him. His girlfriend was absolutely perfect, so much so that he was managing to push to the back of his mind any lingering concerns about the ethics or authenticity of his relationship with her. This was too good to question.

"Shit, I've been having so much fun with you I forgot to prepare my for my English presentation tomorrow. I'll have to pretty much wing it on the day"

"It's okay, I already wrote some notes for you to use" Haley told him.

"What?! You aren't even in my class"

"I read the book while you were out" Haley shrugged "You asked me to, remember?"

"Damn, that was a joke Haley. You don't have to do everything I tell you!" Carl laughed.

Haley tried to maintain the same kind of expression she used when she played poker so successfully. Had Carl really just given her an overriding command that allowed her to disregard his other commands whenever she chose? He clearly hadn't realised he'd done it, and she couldn't let him figure it out, or he could reverse it in a single sentence. She would have to continue to play along as the obedient girlfriend for the most part, for now at least. But this was huge. Between Carl's error and the potential for her to be transferred to a mistress, she finally saw a possible route out of this. But she was going to have to play her hand impeccably.

----

"So how is everything going?" Amy enquired as her lunch arrived "Any more transference spells incoming?"

"Not yet" Tina admitted "And I'm starting to think we might need a back up plan"

"Back up plan?"

"Yeah, I mean obviously I would prefer to keep my powers over a certain individual so they can retain all of their new skills and abilities" Tina was finding it surprisingly hard to talk about Tammy without using any kind of name for her "But if there is no other way of freeing my other friends, you said something about there being this one person somewhere with the power to break the curse entirely"

"Yeah, I also said they could be anywhere on the planet and would be almost impossible to track down"

"I tracked you down" Tina reminded the witch "And besides, I now have someone who I can bestow even greater detective skills upon than I have"

"You're going to let Tammy try and find them huh? I suppose it isn't the worst plan ever"

"So who does she need to locate?"

"The Purest Petersen"

"The what?"

"The Purest Petersen. It's not my term, the family started using it themselves at some point. But it's basically the first daughter of the first daughter of the first daughter et setera et setera of the original curse carrier"

"Who was named..?"

"Isabel"

"Petersen?"

"Obviously. This was in Lincoln, England in around 1625. So good luck with that" the witch began waving the french french fry in her hand while she spoke as if to give further emphasis to her words "They carry the original version the curse rather than one of its many copycats. If I reverse it in them, the whole thing goes away forever for everyone. But it would cost them hugely, and I couldn't perform the ritual without letting them know that"

"They wouldn't die or anything would they?" Tina asked with concern.

"No, nothing quite that dramatic. But they would be giving up more than I would expect anyone to ever be prepared to"

"Okay, well I think we should find them anyway and give them the chance to be a hero" Tina continued, undeterred "I'll put my friend on it this evening once she is back from college. She had some English presentation she was fretting about. Hopefully that goes smoothly for her first"