Jennifer stifled a giggle and pulled out her cell phone. A couple taps later and it was recording, both video and audio. She put the house phone on speaker and propped up her cell phone so the camera had a good view of both her and the house phone.
"So let me get this straight. You used the supposed town curse on me, which DOESN'T EXIST, and now I'm supposed to choose whether you get to give me a transformation, or a dare. That right?"
Kyle's voice was slightly distorted coming out of the speaker, but still recognizable "Not any more. You took too long. Now you get both."
"Oh, boo hoo." Jennifer looked over at her recording cell phone and mimed an exaggerated fake crying expression.
"Good to hear you're taking this just as seriously as everything else. I'm a big fan of karma. So your punishment is going to combine both of those things. First, your transformation." Kyle paused.
"Oh no I'm sooo scared." Jennifer rolled her eyes.
"In Greek and Roman mythology there's a creature known as a Hydra. If paid attention in freshman English class, you would know about it, and more importantly, what its special ability is. Do you know what that ability is?"
"Duh, no. All those things died hundreds of years ago. Of course I don't care what they did. You really are such a nerd. No wonder you stooped to such a dumb way to get my attention. Are you going to ask me on a date next? Yuck!"
An audible sigh from the house phone caused Jenn to cover her mouth and suppress a giggle. She was clearly having fun with what she thought was a prank call, and one she planned to turn against Kyle in the most embarrassing way possible.
"The hydra's ability was that when a head was cut off, it grew 2 replacement heads. For your transformation, you will become a Transient Hydraform. You will gain the hydra ability, but it will affect all parts of your body: If you lose an arm, 2 will grow back. When you are fully asleep at night, most of the extras you have grown during the day will be reabsorbed into your body. That's the transient part. But remember how I said 'most extras'? Anything you grow that is impactful enough to change you at the core as a person will stay, permanently."
"That's not it though. You will also gain 3 traits. You're going to start with the first trait and the others will manifest over time as you grow as a person... or as a hydraform. Your first trait is Empathy. Whenever you cause someone to feel something bad, you will physically feel that, but at a greatly increased intensity. Break someone's heart metaphorically, and your actual heart will physically break. But hey, you're a hydraform now, so that's fine, right? Having your heart physically broken a dozen times a day should be attitude changing. I hope you like pain."
Jennifer's expression had gone from humorous trolling to aghast horror. "What the hell? Why would you even try to do that to someone, even as a joke? That's messed up!"
"This isn't a joke, Jennifer. You were diagnosed with Transient Hydraform when you were a baby, but it has been dormant for years. When it starts to show, people will be surprised at first, but everyone in the world has heard about the miraculous hydraform baby who lost an arm in a freak accident, grew 2 replacements, then the extra shrunk back into the body just fine. People will just accept it. We're almost done, your dare is up next."
Jennifer stared down at the house phone and tried to formulate something sensical. She mouthed at open air for a few seconds before spitting out, "You need help, you little nerd. Not only is this pathetic, it's harassment, and it's recorded. I'm calling the cops." She reached over to hang up the house phone, but her hand froze in the air, unable to reach the button. Her eyes opened wide and she gasped in terror.
"No, you won't, cause we still have the Dare to do. It's a 2-parter. First part - You won't ever tell anyone about this call, or that you used to be... hehe... normal. And secondly, you are going to experience through your empathy what I felt when you... 'disgraced' me. Enjoy!"
With a click, the call went dead. Jennifer stared at the phone. A second later, a searing pain tore through her...