Katherine (TW-K)

How many people ever get the chance to reinvent themselves entirely? To choose a new name? And, if I was understanding Elspeth's intent correctly, a whole new identity.

I asked, "So, Katherine's a blonde, Isabella's a brunette, and Deirdre's a redhead?"

Elspeth nodded and continued to stare me in the eyes by way of the mirror.

I sighed and considered my options. What difference did it make, really? I wasn't going to be me anymore. "Katherine."

Elspeth nodded again, and I looked in the mirror to see for the first time what it looked like when a witch worked her hoodoo.

It. Was. Freaky. As. Fuck.

My face fucking melted and shifted as if it were made of clay and someone was pushing and pulling on it in several different directions at once. Oh, and it hurt like Hell. My ears, nose, cheeks, jaw, eye sockets, the bones of my forehead. The whole shape of my head distorted agonizingly. After a couple of seconds, I decided squeezing my eyes shut as tightly as possible was infinitely superior to watching the changes, and did so.

It didn't take long, thank God. When the pain abruptly stopped, I eased my eyes open to see the damage, half expecting to still look like some postmodern sculpture gone horribly wrong.

Instead, I saw a really cute blonde looking back at me. Like, really cute. Button nose, full lips, the whole nine yards. Long, thick, pin-straight, honey blonde hair hung down to my collar bones, with side-swept bangs partially obscuring one of my sapphire blue eyes. Katherine was apparently a fan of the tan, and for the first time in my geeky life I looked like I'd spent some time out in the sun.

Elspeth interrupted my inspection by saying, "Hi, there, Katie!" Was I a "Katie?" Apparently I was now. She produced my driver's license and handed it to me. "Katherine Summers," it read, showing my new face and listing my age as eighteen. Wait, eighteen?

The other naked woman in the room answered without my having to ask the question aloud: "Yup! Eighteen again. I thought it'd be fun if we were in the same year. You're a freshman again, just like me."

I groaned aloud in my newly cute voice. Freshman year all over again.

Elspeth continued, "I'll get all the details of rearranging reality straightened out this afternoon, but you're Katie Summers, an undeclared major. You grew up in Los Angeles, and being a cute natural blonde decided to double down on the whole beach bunny thing. Sun, sand, and surf. Everyone who knows you thinks you're kind of a cliche, but you're so darn adorable at it they give you a pass. Oh, one more thing!"

She moved around behind me and put her hands on either side of my head, fingers splayed. I could swear I saw little bolts of lightning leap from her fingertips to my skull, and for a split second my vision went white with searing agony.

"There," she said, "that should take care of it. I can't make you forget who you were before today, because that's not part of my power set. But I did tweak the levels of serotonin, dopamine, and hormones in your brain to make you naturally tend to be cheerful, friendly, and affectionate. I also reduced both your cortical thickness and convolution."

If I was confused before, now I was just befuddled. My cute blonde beach bunny voice asked, "Huh?"

Elspeth laughed out loud. She had a very pretty laugh. "I made you a little dumber, cutie."

Panick bloomed in my chest. In the mirror, I could see that the blood drained from my face and my eyes went wide as saucers.

Her arms went around my waist, and Elspeth hugged me tightly. She said, "Easy there, Katie. No need to panic. You're still plenty smart enough to go to college. Just now you'll find that you're merely average, instead of the brainiac you were before. Nobody like a geeky beach bunny."

Tears came unbidden to my eyes, but I blinked them back. I might find a way out of this, but it wasn't going to be today. I needed to just deal with the situation.

"So," Elspeth interrupted my reverie, "when can I move, in?"