Dead King's Sword (Old Draft)

3. Accidental Body Swap

Zeren

***

A soft giggle near my ear woke me. I opened one eye, then the other. A boy I had never seen before had been watching me sleep. He was small, around two feet tall. The sunlight played across his messy bronze hair and olive skin. "Who are you?" I asked.

He laughed into his hands, then said, "I'm Sir Farts A Lot." The boy placed his hands on his hips and puffed his chest out as his little nostrils flared.

"That's not your real name, is it?"

"It is." He shrugged. "I made a picture."

"Where is your mother?"

"With Daddy."

"Shouldn't you be with them too?"

Sir Farts tugged my arm. "Come look at my picture, Eriri." I slid out of bed and followed him. The whole thing felt like a dream. Not real. The boy had stolen someone's painting supplies and had apparently mistaken painting for rubbing colours on the floor. He stood, over the messy swirls of colour, proud of his work. He grinned at me.

I acknowledged his work, saying, "To be honest, I'm not sure I could do any better." I turned halfway and accidentally glimpsed my reflection in the mirror. In the looking glass, I recognized the girl's blonde hair. She had stuffed her straight, androgynous body into a baggy shirt and white shorts. And when the sunlight peeking through the drapes hit her skin, it burned slightly.

I shrunk back from the light, not liking how it stung Erin's skin. Sir Farts seemed to understand my displeasure and hurried to draw the drapes closed, blocking the sun's penetrating gaze, leaving red, green and blue handprints behind on the cloth. He smiled again.

I was in Erin's body; I studied the pictures of her and her family on the dresser. This was her room. But why was I here?

I remembered having a dream where I had seen her sitting by the lake, crying in the moonlight. I had sat next to her without saying anything. I wasn't sure how long we had waited in silence, but now it seemed that we had switched bodies. There was no record of anything like this happening. How strange my life had become after meeting her. How did I return to my own body?

"Sir Farts?"

"Yes, Eriri?"

"How do we escape from this place?" If Erin's family found out I was in their daughter's body, they would prefer to kill me first and ask questions later.

Sir Farts pursed his lips and puffed his chubby cheeks full of air. "I know-I know a secret tunnel."

"Show it to me."

Sir Farts ran to the doorway, poked his head outside, and then ducked back inside. "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh, what?"

"Big trouble." Sir dropped to his hands and feet and then crawled underneath the bed.

Amelia Gatti entered a moment later. I was shorter than her in Erin's body, which made me more nervous. Plus, I wasn't anything close to the daughter she knew. So, if she found out we had switched bodies, I was as good as dead.

She wore a long black dress with a high collar, and her sable hair had been manipulated into a bun with thin sheathed daggers disguised as chopsticks sticking out of it.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Absolutely wonderful," I said, remembering to smile as Erin would smile while talking to her parents. Even if I found her absolutely terrifying, I wouldn't let Amelia know I was afraid of her.