"Can we please talk about this Steph? Come on I know you felt it too." Jake sighed, looking at his sister as she drove.
"I'd rather not." Steph replied.
"I just... I literally can't stop calling myself Jake! I can't even call myself a girl, because I'm a guy... I mean, shit you know what I meant." Jake groaned.
"Like, I know Jake. I know. I was getting changed in the freaking girl's locker room and didn't feel a thing! I thought back to the boy's locker room and I blushed bro... God, after that I haven't been able to not call myself a girl." She sighed.
The two sat silent. Steph was driving them home, but both were troubled. Not only could they not say who they were anymore, but their minds had finally adjusted to their new form. After a few more minutes of silence, they finally pulled into the driveway. The two walked in without a word said and walked right up to the couch where they both laid down with a flop.
"School totally sucks." Jake mumbled through the couch which his face laid flat on.
"Ugh, you're like, telling me." Stephanie sighed. "Girls are mean and boys look good... life's weird af right now." She sighed. She knew she was Steve, a father, and a husband, not a teenaged girl, but every fiber of her being felt like a woman. Name, body, everything.
"Well, you two look like you had a rough day." Alana quietly greeted as she walked into the room.
"Hi mom." Jake said.
"Hey." Steph greeted.
"Oh, well you two look upset, I guess I shouldn't let you know about our progress." She teased, turning to leave before she heard something loud behind her.
"What progress what progress?!" They both called in unison, quickly back on their feet.
"It's not much." Mark warned, appearing from behind Alana with the book in hand. "But, we may at least be able to control it... slightly."
"Well, like, don't keep us hanging Dad!" Steph called out, not even caring that she called what should be her daughter dad.
"Ok, so we found some of the runes on the cover and translated it online." Mark explained.
"So, now we can open it without immediately changing." Alana added, taking the book from Mark and placing it on the table. "Turns out, we were doing ti too rudely and without intent, which caused the book's magic to act randomly."
Alana opened up the book, which caused Jake and Steph to flinch. Luckily, no light came out, and the old, confusing pages remained visible for the first time.
"So, is it like a kinda spell book?" Jake asked, staring at it intently.
"We think so." Mark agreed, sitting down next to Alana. "But, we haven't gotten a direct translator yet... we only really figured out how to open it and some of the chapter titles."
"Still, it's progress." Jake sighed. "So, do you know what spell was used on us?"
"And like, when can we figure it out?!" Steph quickly added.
"Sweetie, it took us all day to just understand how to open it." Alana gently told Steph, talking automatically in a soothing, motherly tone. "And tomorrow it's just gonna be me since your father has to go to work. So I'll be able to get some translation done in-between my chores but after tha'"
"Bullshit!" Steph yelled.
"Honey, keep your voice down." Mark sternly said.
"No! I am NOT your daughter, I am a m...mmmm... maaaa! You know what I am and who I am! You don't have chores, you don't have work, and we don't have school! Why does this matter?! If we can translate the damned thing, then we don't need to keep up appearances." She argued.
"Well that's... not a bad idea actually." Mark suddenly agreed.
"What?!" Alana and Jake called out.
"Think about it! If we can translate this book, who cares if we miss some work and school or whatever? This thing is huge, and just ONE major spell completely altered our lives. There's gotta be a spell that could let us alter reality and fix things after we're done right?" He thought aloud.
"Baby, isn't that risky?" Alana asked.
"Risky, is staying like this." Mark argued. "Remember last night? How long do you think it'll take before we fully adjust? We may loose ourselves even!"
"Wait, what happened last night?" Jake asked concerned.
"Nothing baby, but it was a worrying sign of things that could come I agree." Alana added. "Fine, fine I guess we should hurry."
"So, the question is, do we just start picking spells... or do we all work together and translate as much as possible?" Mark asked.