"Agreed." Dave replied. The joined boys turned around and slowly worked their way to the bedroom door. They had yet to get the coordination of their limbs down flat, but they were better. They slowly made there way down the hall, to the top of the stairs. They stopped there, and gazed at some of the pictures on the wall, expecting some kind of change to them like everything else had seemed to change. But, there wasn't any change. Most of the pictures were of Kyle and his family, with Kyle very much a single person in all of them. "What did these eagle chains do? These are all still the same." Dave commented, pointing at a couple.
"Doesn't matter. We'll get the shopkeeper to explain and fix this mess." Kyle said flatly. He pointed down the stairs and took the first step. Dave gripped the hand rail tightly for balance and followed Kyle's lead. Kyle kept his foot planted, shifting their combined weight to his foot. Dave then did the same when Kyle took a step. They continued this process till they reached the bottom, thankful that they didn't trip.
From the kitchen, they could hear Jason busy making dinner. On the ground next the door, both pairs of their shoes were still there, and their jackets still hung separately. "Weird, so those didn't change either."
Kyle shrugged, not interested in the shoes or jackets. "Okay, the business card is in my jacket pocket." Dave and Kyle walked the short distance to the coat hanger and grabbed Kyle's coat. Sure enough, Kyle pulled out the card. "Let's go outside to call the guy; I don't want Jason to hear what's going on."
Dave nodded, and together they slipped Kyle's jacket over themselves. Kyle grabbed the house phone by the stand to the side. Dave opened the door and shut it softly behind them. The cold air made Dave shiver, which felt odd because only half of the body did so. "Okay, lets make this quick. I don't want to freeze my ass... our ass off standing here."
Kyle smiled in response. "Here, hold the card for me so I can dial." Dave did so, holding it in the space between them. Kyle put the phone on speaker, and dialed in the number.
The phone rang twice before the familiar sound the the shopkeeper came on. "Thank you for calling Merlin's Antinques and Rare Magic's store. This is Merlin speaking."
Kyle froze. He wanted to ask a load of questions and accuse the guy, but he wasn't sure where to start. Dave picked up on this, and answered for him. "Um... Hello. My friend and I are calling about the two-headed necklace you sold him." Dave's voice wasn't angry or accusing. He was surprisingly calm, like he was just calling customer server for a simple problem and not for some magic necklace that literately stuck him and his friend physically together.
"Oh Hello... you must be the friend. I am assuming Kyle is standing beside you." The shopkeeper's tone was friendly and joking, like this was all an inside joke between them.
The shopkeeper's tone made Kyle annoyed. "Yes" he finally spoke. "I am literately standing in the same spot as Dave is. We're sharing a freaking body!"
"You two used the necklaces so soon. I thought your friend's birthday wasn't for a couple days... Well, no matter. I can tell from the sound in your voice that you aren't exactly thrilled with your purchase." The shopkeeper's voice changed to his business tone.
"Uh-Yeah, we're not thrilled with the purchase. You never told me that it would fuse us together." Kyle said, glaring at the phone.
"I apologize for that. My wife, Morgan, has often said that I don't explain the power of the artifacts I sell very well. I thought that 'making you the closest of friends' was explanation enough."
Now Dave was getting annoyed. "You What?" he growled. "Nevermind. How do we become not the closest of friends?"
"Well, the necklaces themselves don't have that power, at least not on their own. There is another object I can sell you, but I am fresh out of stock for the moment. It will take some time to get more."
"What? You can't just wave a wand and undo this." Kyle yelled into the phone. Dave rubbed his ear that was closest to his other head, and gave him a glare. Kyle mouthed, 'Sorry.' "Can't you undo this?" Kyle repeated, quieter.
"No, magic is a lot more complicated then what you see on TV shows or Harry Potter movies. I unfortunately cannot undo the effects myself. But, I did add a couple enhancements to the necklaces. I am sure you have noticed at least some of them."
Neither Dave or Kyle responded, thinking back to how Jason didn't freak when he saw them. And how Kyle's clothes had changed to fit their new body.
"The necklaces themselves only fuse two individuals of the same gender together. It was really beneficial to mages, like myself, who wanted far more power, if you could get over the fact that you would be physically bound to someone. But anyways, that was all they could do originally. I added the adjusting wardrobe charm to help with the clothing issue. And, I added a simple perception charm. People who see you won't... freak out... when they first see you. They'll just accept it, superficially of course. If you really pushed the idea that your form wasn't normal then the charm would break. There was also--"
Dave spoke up again, cutting Merlin off. "Thats nice and all, but... we're still stuck together. You can't do anything."
"I truly am sorry, but I can't separate you yet. I will have the items shipped here as soon as possible. So in the mean time, you two will just have to hang out. I will call you as soon as the shipments are in. Have a good day." There was a click, and Merlin was no longer on the line.
Dave and Kyle stood there for a few moments, staring at the phone. Kyle was the first to break the silence. "At least its not permanent." He said with a half-smile.