Everything slowed down. Lily and the intruding dog stared each other down.



Lily couldn't think. The sight of her transformed friend clamped into Trixie's mouth made her see red. She reflexively lunged for the dog. That was a big mistake. Trixie immediately leaped over Lily's arms and bolted for the door.



Lily flailed on the ground for a second before struggling to her feet. She clumsily sprinted out of the room to pursue the dog. The next few minutes could only be described as pure pandemonium. Lily chased Trixie throughout the entire house. The chase caused even more destruction than Trixie could do on her own. Lily did not care what she ran into or knocked over. Nothing else mattered to Lily except getting that swimsuit back. If that dog got away, Lily would likely never see Celine again.



The chase continued until not a single room of the house was left unscathed from it. Lily just could not catch up to the four-legged monster. Trixie ran back into the living room and stopped for a second. Lily saw her chance and sped up. That only spooked Trixie back into motion, though. It was then that the dog saw her own chance, and bolted for the still open front door.



"No!" Lily thought frantically. If she couldn't catch Trixie indoors, she would have no chance outside. There was nothing Lily could do to stop Trixie from zooming out the door with Lily's transformed friend in her teeth.



Lily's heart sank as the dog disappeared through the door frame. Nonetheless, she continued to give chase. Trixie ran across the front yard and seemed poised to dash across the street. A coming car sped by and cut her off. The car's loud horn scared the dog into changing directions. Lily saw a glimmer of hope. If she could get Trixie to head to the back yard, she could use the fences to box the dog in.



Lily was able to chase Trixie to the corner of the backyard. The dog looked for any possible escape route. Before Lily could try to tackle Trixie, the dog took off running to the right, and plowed right into a rose bush.



Trixie yelped and struggled in the thorny branches. The swimsuit in her mouth quickly got tangled in the sharp thorns. Lily desperately ran over to the bush. She could not get there before Trixie escaped the bush.  Lily could only watch in horror as the swimsuit she had been trying to get back was torn apart between the dog's teeth and the thorny branches.



Time seemed to stop there. The image of the shredded swimsuit that had been Celine took over Lily's sight. For a second that seemed to last forever, Lily stood there numbly, unable to look away from the tattered remains of what had been her friend.



Lily was so shocked that she didn't notice a burst of smoke coming from the torn swimsuit. Before Lily knew what was happening, Celine was laying on the ground in front of her, returned to her human form.



It took Celine a moment to process that she was back to normal. Slowly, she realized she was breathing. Then, she realized she could feel arms and legs. She clumsily got herself into a sitting position. She could move again!



Celine turned her head to find Lily staring blankly at her. Celine was only vaguely aware of what had happened over the last few minutes. She had been left hanging over the bathtub, bored out of her mind. Then, she saw a dog walk in and felt its mouth grab her. The rest was a blur, but Celine was pretty sure the dog was running. From there, Celine couldn't tell what was going on. She felt many sharp things pierce the thin nylon she had been made of. It was an unpleasant sensation but it didn't hurt the way something poking skin would have. The next thing she knew, she was lying on the ground, transformed back into a human.



Lily was still staring at Celine in stunned silence. Celine figured this would be as good a time as any to see if her voice worked.



"Hey, what are you looking at?" She said in a way too snarky tone.



Lily finally blinked and realized what she was looking at. So many emotions flooded into her mind. Relief, surprise, worry, anger, curiosity, joy were all being felt in equal measure. She bent down and hugged Celine and told her she was happy to have her back, before hitting her on the arm and calling her an idiot. Celine waited for Lily to calm down before trying to have any real conversation.



"Well..." Lily said, finally breaking the silence.



"Well, what?" Celine asked.



"What happened with that spell you used? Why didn't you change back when we left the beach? Could you change back? Were you aware of what was happening? What was it like? How did you change back now?" Lily overwhelmed Celine with questions.



As Lily finished talking a light rain began to fall.



"Okay, let's talk about this inside." Celine suggested.



Lily still looked flustered, but she agreed. The two of them walked back to the house. They stopped dead in their tracks once they were inside, though. They stared, horrified, at the destruction Lily's chase of the intruding dog had caused. Unfortunately, their talk would have to wait. Luckily, Celine was able to help out with magic now that she was human again. She was able to effortlessly clean up every mess and repair any broken items. It took them a while to address everything that had been displaced by the chaotic chase, but they soon had the house looking as if nothing happened.



"So, what's the story?" Lily finally asked as they finished restoring the house. "Why did you spend the last week as a swimsuit? Did you not know how to change back, or were you staying like that willingly for some crazy reason?"



"Well, I was stuck." Celine answered honestly. "Turns out it's hard to do magic when you don't have hands or a mouth."



"You didn't know this before you went and transformed yourself?" Lily asked, bewildered by Celine's lack of foresight. "Did you actually learn everything about this spell before you decided to try it on yourself?"



"Obviously not." Celine replied nonchalantly. "I thought I would still be able to do magic, even while transformed into something else."



"You are completely hopeless." Lily said. "What if you had been stuck as a swimsuit forever?!"



"It wouldn't be so bad if you would wear me instead of leaving me hanging in your room." Celine said, waiting for Lily's reaction.



"What are you talking about?" Lily asked. "You enjoyed that?"



"The days where I was just left on the hanger were pure torture. It was so mind numbingly boring. Being worn was up there with the most enjoyable things I've ever experienced, though. Honestly, I wouldn't mind doing that again, if it was only until you take me off."



"Are you serious?" Lily said as Celine enjoyed the puzzled look on Lily's face.



Lily decided to turn this back on Celine.



"Alright, if you want to be on me so badly, I'll let you." Lily said with an evil grin on her face.



"Wait, really?" Celine asked. She had clearly not expected Lily to say something so bold.



"Oh yes," Lily continued. "But, you're going to have to do something first. You're going to go home, pull out whatever book you got that spell from, and actually READ! You're going to learn everything about that spell before you even think of using it on yourself again. In fact, you're going to do that for any magic you use period! I'm not from a family of mages, so I can't believe I have to tell you what should be common sense when it comes magic. Apparently, I do though. Know what you're doing before you do it!"



After Lily finished letting out a week's worth of worry and anxiety, Celine meekly agreed. A while later, they were in Celine's living room. Celine retrieved the book she found the spell in and began reading. As she did so, she shared with Lily everything she learned.



"So, when something is transformed by this spell, the transformed state acts as a kind of shell. The true form of whatever is transformed remains suspended inside the shell that the transformed state creates. The reversal incantation is listed here, but something can also be changed back to normal by sufficiently damaging the transformed object and breaking the shell."



Celine demonstrated by transforming a pillow into a vase. She then dropped the vase on the ground, where it changed back into a pillow upon shattering.



"Well, that explains why you changed back when the swimsuit was torn." Lily said, still sounding a little stressed.



"Oh, were you worried?" Celine asked jokingly. "Maybe you were a little freaked out when I got ripped apart?"



"Well, knowing all of these details would have saved me a lot of worry." Lily retorted. "I might have even enjoyed ripping you up!"



"Oh, that's cold." Celine responded. "I bet you can't wait to rip apart the next swimsuit I change into."



"You seriously want to do that again? Was it actually that enjoyable?" Lily asked incredulously.



"Like I said, being left on a hanger was painfully boring. When I was being worn, that was another story." Celine said, getting a dreamy expression as she remembered what it was like.



"Are you coming on to me?" Lily asked.



"It was just an enjoyable experience. Why do you have to make it weird?" Celine replied, barely containing a laugh.



"Seriously though, you actually enjoyed being worn?" Lily continued to ask.



"Yeah, it's actually pretty crazy. Your sense of touch gets heightened, but in a good way. I'm not sure if it's part of the spell, or if that's just what being a swimsuit feels like. All I know is that it was one of the best feelings I've ever experienced." Celine said.



"Well, that's pretty hard for me to wrap my head around." Lily replied.



"I know how you can understand it." Celine said with a sly grin.



"What do you m-" Before Lily could finish her question, a ball of blue light appeared in Celine's hand and was thrust into Lily's head. Lily disappeared with a loud pop and a puff of smoke. When it cleared, a white swimsuit was laying on the chair Lily was sitting on.



Celine picked up the swimsuit and stretched it slightly. She smiled knowing what Lily was now experiencing.



"I could tell how much you enjoyed wearing me." Celine said to the swimsuit in her hands. "Glad I could be comfortable for you, but now I'm curious what it feels like to be the wearer instead of the one being worn."



With that, Celine got undressed and put the white swimsuit on. She instantly thought it was the most comfortable one she has ever worn, just like Lily had thought when Celine was the swimsuit.



"I can't believe you left me hanging for all of those days. If I had something as comfortable as this, I would wear it every day." Celine said, giving the swimsuit a playful tug.



"Don't worry, I'm just going to take a trip to the pool. You seemed skeptical that I enjoyed being worn, so I wanted to prove it to you. Have fun!"



With that Celine packed up her stuff and the two of them made their way to the pool with their roles reversed.