Melissa and Sheila took a moment to carefully hide the book away in Mel's room. Sheila checked out the bathroom. The plumbing set-up took a few minutes to figure out - the toilet was larger and configured more like a trench in the floor than what she was used to. She worked out how it was meant to be used and did what she had to do. She washed up and rejoined her friend. They went out the back of the house and Mel spoke to her mother.
"Mom, we're just going out for a walk. We'll be back in a little bit."
"OK, girls, where are you going?"
"We thought we might go over to the school and get a little running in."
"Alright, just be back in time for dinner."
The two girls walked out into the street, taking in the changes in their neighborhood. Houses seemed to be larger, and cars and trucks were differently configured. The changes in things are less startling than the changes in people. They find themselves having to stifle laughter at the sight of their neighbors as centaurs. They make their way to the high school - even though school isn't in session, the track is still open to the public. The girls make their way onto the track. Smiling at one another, they begin cantering around the track. As they get used to running on four hooves, they segue into a full gallop. Once they've worked up a good sweat, they saunter off the track for a breather.
"So, Mel, was it as much fun as you thought it would be?"
"Actually, it was. It helped calm me down a bit, too. What shall we do next?"
"Let's go over to the library, I'd like to look a few things up on-line."
With that, they walked over to the public library.
"What are you looking up, Sheil?"
"Nothing. Everything. I want to get a sense of how much things have changed."
Sheila went online and looked up various news and other sites. It seemed like everyone on Earth was a centaur now, and always had been. Human history was remarkably similar to what it had been, considering the change that had been made. She guessed that this must be a side effect of the magic. Maybe that meant that there were safeguards against casting a spell that would accidentally negate the caster. She hoped so. She realized now that they had been fooling around with something very powerful, and that they were very lucky not to have done anything more catastrophic than they already had. She had to wonder why Melissa's uncle had left something like that just lying around. If they could get everything back to normsl, they'd better be real careful before they tried anything else with that book!
Sheila logged off and joined Melissa, who was also on-line.
"Hi, Sheila, I've just been looking at stuff on Youtube - old TV shows, stuff like that. It's weird seeing all of my old favorite shows with the actors as centaurs."
"I'll bet it is. Anyway, I've bene checking up - it looks like we changed everyone on Earth. Even the historical pages show people like Hitler and Cleopatra and so on as centaurs."
"You mean one simple spell changed all of human history?"
"Maybe. Or maybe it just changed everyone's memories and all of the records. It's hard to say."
"So, what next?"
"I think we ought to go back to your house and try to change everyone back. Then I think we'd better decode the rest of the book before we try anything else."
"So soon? Sheila, I know I was the one who was freaked out at first, but I've kind of started enjoying this a little. It's like seeing things you've always known with new eyes."
Sheila thought about it a little, and said...