"How do you think they can offer a weeklong trip to Greece for $99?" asked Ana.

"Beats me. It might be a scam," said Lisa.

The two girls were at the door to a travel agency advertising on local bulletin boards. It was called "Wizard's Travel Agency" featuring a crude clip-art logo of a conical hat with stars on it. But it promised the lowest prices anywhere. Greece, Costa Rica, or Thailand — all three were $99 apiece.

The outside the building didn't promise much. Actually it didn't promise anything. A hand-lettered plastic sign over a door in a big, grey, concrete building in the old industrial area in town. Most of the businesses there were closed, and the ones that were open were there because they the nature of their business required their rent to be very, very cheap. Shabby dressed officer worker were milling about outside some of them smoking cigarettes and flicking them into the street.

"Maybe they use black magic," quipped Ana as they opened the door and went in.

The inside was much nicer than they expected. It was tastefully decorated with real wooden furniture, art on the walls. At the far end of the room was a woman typing on a computer.

"Hello," she said as the two girls entered. "Please have a seat."

Ana and Lisa exchanged a glance. The two girls were very close friends, they'd been living in the same apartment for a year now.

Besides this, they had very different interests. Ana was outdoorsy, and had studied ecology in school. Now she worked for the state parks. Lisa had studied photography, but now had a job working in video editing.

They both sat down. The woman stopped typing and turned to face them, putting on her glasses. She was maybe 30ish, but had kept herself up. She had wispy blond hair and a very friendly smile.

"How can I help you today?" she asked warmly.

Both of the girls just stared at her. That was because she had four arms.

Two were folded on the desk in front of her, and the other two moved some books off of the desk.

Ana and Lisa exchanged another glance. Both of them communicated the same message — I don't know either.

"Is this your first time here?" asked the woman.

"Yes," said Ana, "it is."

"Have you heard of us anywhere before?"

"No, we saw an ad on a billboard."

"Ah. We don't get too many customers from those. But welcome to Wizard's Travel. My name is Claire, I'm one of the agents here."

"You have four arms," blurted out Lisa.

"Yes, that's true. It's supposed to help be a little more productive. Because of the economy, we've had to let our secretary go last June. So I'm doing double duty here. The company sent these to me to help with the workload. But really, most of what I do is talking, so I've been trying to get an extra head."

"You can get an extra … head?" asked Lisa.

"Oh, they're not cheap," said Claire. "But let me explain this for you. We're an Accredited Magic Performer from the International Guilde of Wizards and Magic Users. So what that means, is we're licensed to use magic for our business, and to allow our clients to use magic as well."

"So you can magically send us to Greece?" asked Ana.

"Are you referring to the special?"

Both girls nodded.

"Well then, I'd better explain first. So I'm sure you're wondering how we can send you to Greece for a week or more for $99. Well, first of all, that is only the price of transit."

"But even so, that's absurdly cheap."

"I'm glad you think so. But here's why. We cut down on mass to decrease the cost of shipping."

"Reduce mass?" asked Lisa.

"Shipping?" asked Ana.

Claire smiled. Clearly she enjoyed explaining this. "Yes," she grinned. "We only send your heads."

Both girls just let their jaws drop.

"We express mail them over, of course. It takes only a little bit longer than a plane ride. But you'll be in stasis through the trip anyway, so you won't even notice the time it takes."

"What if they're lost?"

"We insure all our packages. If your head is lost, rest assured it will be replaced and our customer service department will see to you getting compensated for the inconvenience."

"I'm still a little confused," said Lisa. "You take off our heads. Off our bodies."

"It's a perfectly safe magical procedure. Would you like to try it?"

Both girls eyes widened. Then they looked at each other. They both graduated smiled. The message was simple.

"Yes," said Lisa.

"Me too," said Ana.

"Very well," said Claire, standing up. She went to the door at the end of the room. "It's this way."

The door led into a large warehouse with a high ceiling. Shelves and shelves of large and small cardboard boxes were lined up along the walls, very neat and tide. In the far end of the room, where Clare led them, stood a large white … something. It was big, about six foot cube, and looked extremely high-tech. A couple wires ran into a laptop on a folding table.

"This is our storehouse, and also where we receive visitors to the city."

"Do you send our bodies in a separate box or something?" asked Ana.

"Oh, forgive me, I left that part out. No, your bodies stay here in storage. We only send your head."

"But what about … our heads. When we get there, I mean?" asked Ana again.

"We have many different options for renting or borrowing a body. And if you're willing to lend your body to other customers, we can give you a discount off your own rental."

"So wait, I just want to make sure we're getting this right," said Lisa. "You use this thing to cut off our heads with magic. Then you send us to Greece in a box. Then over there, we get new bodies?"

"Like I said there are many different options. Would you like to first try the procedure and see if you're comfortable with it? I'll gladly put you back together if you change your minds."

"Sure, but Lisa is going first," said Ana.

"Fine but you better not back out," said Lisa.

"Very good," said Claire. She pulled a lever on the front of the white cube. A cleverly hidden hatch opened, revealing the inside to be hollow, with a chair moulded into it.

"I get inside?" asked Lisa, stepping forwards.

"Please," said Claire.

Lisa went and sat in the chair. Claire opened a drawer at the bottom of the machine, and took out a wide silver band of some flexible material, and what appeared to metal helmet that had some straps hanging off it. She helped Lisa with the helmet, and put the metal band just at the top of her neck.

"Don't move the band," she told Lisa. "That's where the separation will occur, and you don't want to leave any of your neck attached."

"What's the helmet for?" asked Ana.

"To hold her head. This machine is called the Remus 4030. It's a general magical field generator. Once it charges up and we fire it, your friends head isn't going to be attached anymore to her body. It's very hard to catch your head when it falls. So that's what these straps are for."

Claire showed by clicking the straps into a buckle at the top of the machine. She tightened them until the straps were barely supporting Lisa's head.

"Okay, are you ready?" asked Claire.

"I think so."

"I'm going to close the machine, and you'll hear a hum for a few seconds. Then a green light will go on, that lets you know it's charged. When we fire it, it will be very bright for just a moment. But other than that, you shouldn't experience any discomfort."

"Okay, let's do it," said Lisa.

Claire closed the machine and slid the lever until it locked shut. She went to the laptop and made a couple clicks. The machine started to hum, building in intensity before it suddenly stopped.

"Would you like to fire it?" Claire asked Ana with a sly grin.

"Sure," said Ana. She came over to the laptop and looked at the screen. A "Fire Now" button was in the window that had come up.

"I just click this?" she asked.

"Yes."

She clicked. From the cracks in the machine, a soft white light came out. There was no noise.

"Let's have a look," said Claire, pulling the lever to open the machine again.

Ana couldn't hold back a gasp. Lisa's head was detached from her body, gently swaying, but still strapped into the helmet. Her body was still sitting in the chair.

"Did it work?" asked Lisa. "I can't feel anything and I can't move. I guess that means yes."

"I'd say your mass was reduced," joked Ana.

Claire went in, and with her four arms quickly removed the straps and took Lisa's head over to the table.

"Here you go," she said handing Lisa's head to Ana. "I'll help her body out of the machine."

Ana unclasped the harness under Lisa's chin and set her down on the table to take off the helmet. Just as she removed it, both girls dropped their jaws in amazement again. That was because they both were watching Claire lead Lisa's headless body by the hand. It calmly followed her out to a folding chair, where Claire helped it sit down.

"So my body is still alive?"

"Yes, but it has nothing to guide it. It has almost no self-awareness. It will go anywhere we lead it, but it's easier just to put them under stasis. Some bodies have a tendency to wander off on their own."

In amazement, Ana approached the headless body and took its hand. She squeezed its fingers and felt it squeeze back.

"How does stasis work?" asked Lisa.

"I'm glad you asked. Did you notice the clasp on the band around your neck?"

"Not really."

"Well," said Claire, picking up her head. "We have something called a Stabilizer. It's a small flat device that we place at the back of your neck on your body, or at the base of your skull on your head. When our technician switches it on, you'll go into a 'power-save' mode that can last a long time."

"That's cool. Ana's turn!"

"Fine, fine," said Ana. She sat down in the machine and Claire helped her put on the helmet and band. A short few moment later, after repeating the same procedure, Ana's head was sitting next to Claire's on the table, watching her headless body being led over to another folding chair.

"Is this crazy or what?" asked Lisa, winking at her. "I think I can move a little bit if I use my jaw."

Lisa slowly used her jaw to rotate herself on the table. She turned about an inch before Claire knelt down in front of them.

"Shall we go get you guys started on booking the trip?" she asked.

"I think so," said Lisa.

"Woops, I just tried to nod," said Ana.

"I can't believe you told her to switch our heads," said Lisa.

"Technically I think we switched bodies," said Ana. "Besides, I was only getting back at you for only wanting to rent one body for us."

"It was the best deal!"

"But how are we going to share a body?"

"Take turns, I guess. Really, do you think you need more than one? I thought you said you liked it when we were just heads."

"But we're going to be in Greece!"

"Right! Greece is expensive. They use Euros there. Think of all the other money we'll be saving. We only have to get one bed at the hostels. We only need to feed one body. If we split it we get half the price off everything."

"I know, and besides I think it will be fun."

"Are you excited?"

"Oh yes. This week is going to be amazing."