“I don’t think we should be playing with that.” said Olivia. As a prefect, she always thought it was her duty to be responsible. Unfortunately, this took the form of telling us not to do anything fun. It’s a shame, because she was really quite kind otherwise.

“Shove it, Olivia!” laughed Ava, playfully. She snatched the package from Evelyn’s hands. “I want to see what it does!”

It was Christmas evening at St Clare’s School For Girls, and Evelyn had just received a parcel from her great Aunt. It had arrived quietly in the evening, separate from all the other presents, and had come with a short note, written in a flowing old-lady script.

“My dear Evelyn, this flute has been in my care for nearly a century. I’ve heard of your troubles this past year, so I loan it to you with the hope you use it wisely. Point the end of the flute at a bully and play a note to change their tune. Do not get carried away with it, girl. ~~ Mildrid”

So it was we were now we huddled in the common room, wondering what it actually did.

“We must be very careful.” warned Evelyn, “My great aunt is perhaps the most unusual woman in our family.”

Ava chucked at that. She thought that Evelyn was the most unusual woman in her family.

“We should hand it in to Professor Tumut”, said Olivia. “She’ll be able to tell us if it’s dangerous.”

“And she’d never give it back!” complained Ava, “Let’s just try playing it first, quickly, see what it does.”

“Who should we point it at?” I asked. “I don’t want to risk something bad happening to me.”

“Try it on me then!” said Ava, opening the box and handing the flute to me. “Don’t be a wuss, Sophie!”

I hesitantly took the cold brass instrument. “Um, I don’t know. Maybe Evelyn should be the first one to use it?”

I glanced at her, but she shook her head. She was as worried as I was.

“What about Charlotte?” 

I looked at the ditsy girl sitting to my left. 

“Me?” said Charlotte “But I don’t know how to play the flute.”

“I don’t think you need to know how.” I said “I think you can just blow across it?”

“Oh, okay.” said Charlotte, unfazed. She was pretty used to us telling her answers. Barely passing her classes, she was quite different to the rest of us. I mean, Ava failed plenty too, but that was just because she didn’t try. 

Charlotte took the flute and raised it to her lips.

“Point it at Ava first!” I said nervously. Whatever this thing was going to do, I didn’t want it doing it to me.

“Oh, right, okay.”

She turned a bit, pointing the end at Ava, who grinned.

“Fire away!” laughed Ava and threw her hands in the air.

Charlotte blew and a soft, airy note sounded… then she slumped forward, unconscious.

“Oh no!” shrieked Olivia “What do we do!? She’s hurt!”

Evelyn, however, reached out and gently brushed Charlotte's lips. “She’s still breathing.” she said. “I wonder what happened? Did you feel anything, Ava?”

We turned to look at Ava, and found her mouth wide with shock. She was looking at her hands like she’d never seen them before, wiggling them in front of her eyes. I tapped her on the shoulder.

“Oh! Hi!” she said, her voice strangely bright. “Um, this is weird!”

“What happened?” Olivia whispered.

“Well, um, when I blew into the pipe, I guess it put me into Ava’s body?” said Ava, scrunching up her face. She reached down and squeezed her breasts. “It feels really weird.”

“Oh, you’re Charlotte?” said Evelyn, as if this was as normal as a stroll down to the kitchens. “Do you know what happened to Ava?”

Charlotte shook Ava’s head. “Noooo, I can’t feel her or anything.” then she giggled and patted herself down “Or can I?”

“Ha ha”, I said, “Can you get back to your own body?”

Charlotte scrunched up Ava’s face again as if straining. “Oh no! Does that mean I’m stuck?” she suddenly looked very worried. “I don’t think I want to be Ava! She’s too short!”

Olivia picked up the flute and pushed it into Charlotte's new hands. “Try blowing it again. Point it back into your body.”

Charlotte did so, and a moment later her body sat up again, giggling.

 “Ooooh, that was fun!”. 

Ava, meanwhile, just blinked. “What happened!? Did it knock me out?”

“Charlotte took over your body.” I said, “I think this is a kind of possession flute.”

“Oh my god!” said Ava, grinning. She felt herself up. “What did she do? I can’t remember a thing!”

“She was only in you for a minute.” said Olivia, biting her lip and squeezing her legs together. “And now that we know what this does, we should definitely hand it in to Professor Tumut.”

“Are you kidding?!” shouted Ava “I’ve got to try it! Who’s turn is it to be possessed next?”

She looked at each of us, her ratty face beaming with excitement.

“Come on guys! It’s easy! You just wake up a minute later, no harm done!”

I shivered. What would Ava do inside my body? She didn’t have much of a filter in her own -- she’d probably make me run around the common room singing or something.

“I’ll give it a go.” said Evelyn “But I do want a turn after. I think whoever gets possessed should be allowed to choose who they possess next.”

Ava looked around at us, pleading. “What do you say, girls?”

Olivia bit her lip. I could tell she was curious... and since there hadn’t been any harm…

“Very well” said Olivia “As long as Ava uses her turn on Evelyn.”

I shivered slightly, wondering what it would be like inside Olivia’s body. I’d get a turn in either her or Charlotte, right? That could be really fun. 

“I’m in too.” I said, swallowing nervously.

“I’ve already had a turn!” chirped Charlotte.

Ava grinned again and wasted no time pointing the flute at Evelyn.

“Please don’t do anything weird!” said Evelyn.

Ava blew an ugly note and her body slumped forward. A second later, her trademark grin grew on Evelyn’s innocent face.

“Wow!” said Evelyn’s voice. Ava’s sharp way of speaking sounded very odd coming from Evelyn’s floaty and soft register. It was like she was a whole other person.

Evelyn’s body suddenly stood up. 

“Wow!” she said again. “I’m so tall!”

Ava made Evelyn jump up and down, laughing as Evelyn’s bust wobbled in a way Ava’s never could.

“This is amazing!”

“Take it easy, Ava.” said Olivia, “That’s still Evelyn’s body.”

Ava stepped over to her own sleeping body and dug through the pockets of her robes.

“I can’t feel my old body at all!” she said. She grabbed one of her own small boobs in Evelyn’s hand and laughed. “Haha, look everyone, Evelyn’s feeling me up!”

Olivia’s eyes went wide and she glanced around the common room to see if anyone was watching. Luckily it was pretty deserted because of Christmas.

“Stop it!” hissed Olivia, “That’s…”

“What?” said Ava, Evelyn’s voice sounding smug. “It’s my own body! Who says I can’t touch it!”

A naughty look flashed across Evelyn’s innocent face, then Ava bent down and kissed herself on the lips. I felt a strange sensation grow between my legs.

“Ava!”

“Kidding! Kidding!” she said, “I actually only wanted my mirror.”

She pulled out a small pocket mirror and let her old body flop back onto the couch. Looking at her reflection, Ava tried moving Evelyn’s face into all sorts of expressions. Usually Evelyn was very gentle and quiet, she never made faces, but now…

“Oh man! She looks so funny when she frowns!”

Ava turned and made an exaggerated frowning face at me and Olivia. 

“Hey, I didn’t get to do any of that stuff when I was you!” said Charlotte. “I want another turn!”

“After me!” I said.

“I think that’s enough Ava.” declared Olivia “Evelyn shouldn’t miss more than a minute or two.”

Ava pouted and stuck Evelyn’s finger up at Olivia, but went back to her seat. I chuckled -- it was really weird seeing Evelyn act like this. 

I watched closely this time, wanting to see what happened to Evelyn’s body as she came back to awareness. Ava took the flute and aimed it at her own body, then she stuck her finger up at Olivia again and blew.

It was instant, one moment Evelyn’s face was frowning, then it relaxed and glanced around. Evelyn blushed to find the gesture she was making at Olivia and quickly dropped her hand back into her lap.

“Wow.” she said quietly. “That really was instant.” Then she smiled. satisfied. 

“Did you have fun, Ava? I’m glad you got to see what it was like to have my body.”

“She had a lot of fun!” laughed Charlotte.

Ava meanwhile was pushing herself back up, rubbing her shoulder. “I shouldn’t have let myself fall like that.” she said “I think I must have clipped the armrest or something. Owww.”

I laughed at her. 

“Serves you right.” 

She stuck her tongue out at me.

“So is it my turn now?” Evelyn asked, the dreamy girl surprisingly focused. She was keen.

Olivia sighed and nodded. I wonder who Evelyn would choose -- Charlotte may be kind of dumb, but her body was like a exaggerated version of Evelyn -- a bit taller, blonder, and bustier. On the other hand, Olivia’s more stern and solid figure might appeal to Evelyn. I smiled at the idea of the responsible and focused girl being controlled by somebody so airy and dream-like.

Evelyn picked up the flute and smiled at me.

“Are you ready, Sophie?”

What?

She raised the flute to her lips and blushed. “It is okay if I have a turn as you?”

I shut my open mouth and steadied myself. That’s okay, I thought, just means I get to definitely pick Olivia.

I nodded at Evelyn and watched her blow a note.

______

A second later I awoke to find myself cuddling with Ava on the other couch. It was like no time had passed at all -- just suddenly my body was in a different position. Evelyn had kicked by slippers off and loosened my tie, I noticed, and my right hand was on Ava’s--

I yelped and jerked my hand back. I stared accusingly at Evelyn -- I hadn’t expected anything like that from her.

“I made her do it.” said Ava, grinning. “And you think I got touchy when I was inside her.”

I gasped.

“It was nothing like that.” said Olivia, quickly. “They just played a prank at the end.”

Charlotte giggled. “And she flashed your boobs in the middle.”

“Evelyn!” I said, shocked.

Evelyn shrunk down her seat a bit. “I knew you wouldn’t mind, really. We’ve compared our boobs before. Besides, it was like it was my body.” She smiled shyly at me. Grrr.

I huffed a little and redid my tie. I didn’t really mind, but it still felt a bit… odd? I imagined my body standing up and flashing Olivia without me there. I tried to get it through my head. That had just happened -- I had stood up and flashed everybody. But I also had been asleep… I glanced down at my body. Nothing had changed about it, yet for a minute or two it hadn’t been mine at all.

I looked up at the others and raised the flute. Conveniently, it was already in my hand from when Evelyn had blown back into herself. 

“Fine then.” I said. “You’re turn, Olivia.”

Olivia went red and shuffled in her seat. She squeezed her legs together again and shut her eyes tight.

“Very well.” she said, biting her lip. “Have fun…”

I pointed the flute at Olivia and blew. A kind of tearing sensation came over me, like my very soul was being ripped out of my body. Then…

Foonk!

I landed in Olivia’s body. It didn’t feel like I’d moved anywhere, but my whole perspective had suddenly shifted. 

“Holy hell…” I whispered, hearing Olivia’s innocent voice coming out of my lips. Strangely, I felt a little bit horny. Had she--?

“Soooooooo, what’s it like?” said Ava, grinning mischievously.

“It’s-” 

I caught up again. It felt really weird to talk out of somebody else's mouth. 

“It’s nice?”

I patted myself down, feeling Olivia’s body through her thick jumper. I was really surprised to find how much bigger I was in the chest.

“Well, hurry up!” said Ava, “Show us the goods!”

Charlotte chuckled, and Evelyn blushed. “It’s only fair”, she said.

“Fair would be if I made you flash everybody!”

I straightened up and put on my best Olivia impression, exaggerating her prim way of speaking to a comical level.

“This body must remain prim and proper at all times, otherwise I will tell the teacher that you aaall deserve a detention.”

Ava guffawed. I continued.

“I will serve the detention too, of course, to make sure none of you are having fun.”

I pointed a mockingly stern finger at Ava, who was in stitches laughing on the cough. I made Olivia wiggle it back and forth in an exaggerated way.

“Do you find this funny?!” I chided her. “You just WAIT until the headmaster hears of this!”

“Olivia?” an innocent voice said.

I froze. Ava’s laughter cut off instantly.

I looked up to see one of the other girl’s making her way down from the bedding area. “Is everything okay? I heard you shouting.”

“Everything’s-fine-you-can-go-back-to-bed-now” I let out in a rush, Olivia’s voice strangely high pitched. “I was just playing a game!”

The girl frowned at me, confused. I couldn’t remember her name, but I think she was a friend of Olivia’s.

“Oh… okay then.” she frowned again. “Please don’t make too much noise. I wouldn’t have thought I’d have to ask you that, Olivia.”

“Right, no, thanks, sorry!” I said in a rush. Ahh, this was not a good Olivia impression. Thankfully, the girl shuffled back off to bed.

“It was weird seeing Olivia get flustered like that.” said Everlyn, thoughtfully. “Normally she’s so in control, but you’re-”

“Yeah thanks”, I cut her off. “That was close.”

“That was brilliant!” said Ava, “She had no idea that you’re not Olivia!”

“Well, obviously.” I said, “Nobody knows about the flute.”

“This is amazing. I think we should make this a game.” Ava continued, ignoring me. “I bet you two hobnobs that you could get through all of potions tomorrow without anybody realising.”

“I can’t stay in Olivia all that time!”

“Actually, maybe you should get out of her now, it’s been a few minutes.” said Evelyn.

I fixed Ava with one of Olivia’s piercing glares -- only half joking -- and then blew myself back into my sleeping body. It felt a little uncomfortable from lying on its face all that time.

Olivia woke up instantly and glanced around, confused. She felt herself up and frowned. “I feel completely normal.” she said, almost sounding… disappointed?

“Ava wanted me to stay in you till tomorrow.” I said accusingly. Olivia fixed Ava with the exact same glare I’d made her give a second ago.

“Noooooooo.” said Ava, “I bet that Sophie could pretend to be you all through potions without anybody noticing. It’s different.”

Olivia didn’t miss a beat. “Well I can’t miss potions, so that’s out.”

Charlotte suddenly chimed up, out of the blue. “I bet I could do the splits in Everlyn’s body.” she said.

We all turned to look at her. Where had that come from?

“See, it’s a game!” said Ava. “Somebody makes a bet. If they win, they get to take over the loser’s body for a bit. If they lose, the loser gets to take over their body.”

“And my body is just used to decide the bet?” said Evelyn.

“Yes! Well, whoever’s body is needed for a particular bet, I mean.”

“I don’t like this.” said Olivia, predictably. Then she blushed. “And I don’t think you could do the splits in Evelyn’s body, Charlotte.”

“Wait, are you taking the bet?” I asked, surprised. “You know that means Charlotte gets to control you for a bit if she wins?”

“I know.” siad Olivia, quietly.

“Okay then!” said Ava, grinning. She threw the flute over to Charlotte. “Go for it, girl!”

Charlotte smiled confidently and pointed the flute at Evelyn, who shrugged. She seemed really unfazed by this whole ‘body possession’ thing.

A moment later and Everlyn’s body was doing practice stretches, while Charlotte's body lay collapsed onto its side.

“Ugh!” Evelyn’s (usually soft) voice grunted “What the hell, I can barely move my arms!”

I watched as Charlotte tried to contort Evelyn’s body into a pretzel, something that had apparently been easy for her in her own body.

“On to the splits.” said Olivia smugly.

Charlotte stood Evelyn’s little body up, hands high in the air. She actually looked more graceful - and solid - than I’d ever seen Evelyn look.

It wasn’t enough though, Charlotte tried to bend down, forcing Evelyn’s chest forward as she crab walked the legs out sideways, but she barely made it halfway into a split before getting stuck.

“COME ON!” shouted Evelyn’s voice. Charlotte tried to force her legs wider, pulsing dangerously as she thrust towards the ground. “ARRRGH.”

Ava kicked her and Charlotte sprawled back onto the floor, Evelyn’s body flopping unceremoniously. 

“Not fair!” she grumbled, punching herself in the thigh. 

“Back in your body now!” said Olivia, holding out the flute. Charlotte begrudgingly took it and blew at her own sleeping form. The instant she did, Evelyn’s face crinkled with pain.

“Owww, what did you put my body through?” 

Evelyn looked down at herself, gingerly rubbing the spot on her thigh where Charlotte had punched her.

Punched her with that same hand, I thought.

Charlotte just scowled as Olivia reached over and plucked the flute out of Evelyn’s hand and took her over. Olivia’s body collapsed and Charlotte grinned.

“It was my turn anyway.” she said, Olivia’s prim way of speaking echoing weirdly with Charlotte’s voice. I noticed Olivia paused several times in the process of feeling herself up, spending an inordinate amount of time rubbing Charlotte’s legs.

“Hey, I bet I could do the splits now!” said Olivia. She sprung up in Charlotte’s body, energetically. “Wow, she’s so fit!”

Olivia easily slid Charlotte’s legs out on the floor to either side. She grinned as she wiggled her toes. She also seemed to be grating Charlotte’s hips slightly on the floor, though I must have been imagining it.

“This is so easy! No wonder Charlotte thought she could do it as Evelyn!”

“Yeah, yeah.” said Ava. “Next bet. I bet nobody would be able to tell I’m not Sophie”

Me?

“Hey wait what?” I said.

“You heard me.” said Ava, “Nobody will be able to tell that I’m not you. I’m great at impressions, watch.”

Ava screwed up her face and made her voice comically flat.

“Yeah guys I dunno.” she said in a mocking imitation of me. “Yeah that’s pretty good guys. I don’t know.”

“You already said that one.” said Evelyn.

“That’s because she doesn’t say anything else!” Ava said, gesturing at me.

“Rude!” I said, only half pretending to be annoyed. “Anyway you don’t get to possess me because nobody will take the bet and risk getting possessed by you!”

Ava frowned. “Why wouldn’t anybody want to be possessed by me?”

“Because you’ll make them do something crazy!”

“Yeah, but it will be funny!”

I sighed. 

“I’ll take the bet.” said Olivia from inside Charlotte’s body, still doing the splits on the ground. “But only if I don’t have to leave Charlotte's body first.”

“Wait, does that mean- ?” I started, but Ava cut me off.

“Boo-yeah! Give me that flute!” she snatched the flute from Olivia’s body’s limp hands and aimed it at me.

“Hold on!!” I shouted quickly. “Rules! We need rules!”

“I’ll take your body and go chat with Steph and that over there.” said Ava, gesturing across the common room to where the only other group sat playing chess. “If they don’t ask if I’m really Ava, I win.”

“No!” said Olivia sharply. “Of course they won’t ask if you’re Ava. If they so much as say “Are you feeling okay, Sophie?” or suspect something is wrong in any way, then I win this bet. Evelyn makes the final decision.”

“Fine” said Ava. “Ready, Sophie?”

I stared down the barrel of the flute and gulped. Ava blew into it and-

I was standing on my tippy toes. 

What the hell? Going from lounging about to standing in an instant was weird. My clothes felt a bit ruffled, and my right arm was a bit sore for some reason, but otherwise I felt completely normal.

“Woah.”

I noticed I suddenly felt really sleepy, as if I’d stayed up waaaay past my bedtime. I was still in the common room, fortunately, but the candles had burned more than halfway down. I frowned. Ava had stayed in me much longer than I’d meant her too.

I glanced around the room, letting the hand holding the flute drop to my side. It was basically empty, and a candle flickering up the stairs to the bedrooms signalled that somebody had just left. Evelyn was dozed off on one of the lounges, and Olivia’s body was still slumped over where I’d last seen it. Was she still inside Charlotte then? 

In front of me, Ava stretched and grinned. “Hey, I’m not too sore this time!”

“What happened? How long did you stay inside me?” I cringed “And what did you make me do?”

“Only an hour or two.” said Ava, yawning. “I won the bet, by the way. Nobody could tell I wasn’t you.”

It was hard not to feel a little bit hurt by that. Ava patted me on the shoulder lazily as she headed up to bed.

“You can beat me in an arm wrestle, by the way.”

“What? How could you know that?”

Ava just giggled and wandered upstairs. 

________

Ava had apparently worn me out, as well as kept me up past my bedtime, so it was with a bleary shuffle that I made my way down to breakfast late the next morning

I didn’t look nearly as out of sorts as Charlotte, however. She stumbled in about 10 minutes after me, red eyed and frazzled. 

“What the hell happened last night?” she asked, as she took the spot beside me. “I don’t remember a thing after bloody Evelyn couldn’t do the splits.”

“I missed most of it as well.” I told her. 

She raised an eyebrow at me. 

“Ava” I said, gesturing at myself. Charlotte let out a snort.

“I would have thought Olivia would have been better, but apparently…” she trailed off, obviously too tired to get her thoughts into words. “Where is she this morning anyway?”

Olivia, it turned out, was right behind us. She leaned over Charlotte and me, wearing an uncharacteristic smirk.

“Mornin’” Olivia chirped. “Have fun last night, Charlotte?”

“I can’t believe you possessed me all night, Liv. Not cool.”

Olivia chuckled and threw back her hair. “Just having fun, you know! Gotta let my hair down every now and again!”

“Bitch” Charlotte muttered, turning back to her cereal. Olivia grinned and messed up her hair.

“It’s so tight that who knows how wild it can get when I let it go?”

Olivia winked at me, and it clicked.

“Ava?” I asked. 

Olivia grinned wider. “Got it in one. If only you had been there for the bet last night!”

“Were you…”

“No, I only took over Olivia about two minutes ago. That was all her in Charlotte last night! I caught her trying to sneak out of the Great Hall when she spotted you guys and thought, since I had won that bet, I’d better bring her over.”

Charlotte smiled darkly. 

“Make her pick her nose.”

Ava obliged.

“And now stand on one leg.”

Ava did, wobbling slightly.

“Now jump on the table and do that again.”

Ava gave her a look. 

“This just feels like I’m the one being humiliated! Let me jump out of her afterwards.”

She pulled the flute out from somewhere inside Olivia’s robes.

“But where’s your body?” I asked.

“Last night we discovered you don’t need to go back to your own body.” said Ava. “I can just blow right into the next person and Olivia will wake up like normal.”

“How did you work that out?” I asked, confused. 

Ava ignored me. She made Olivia stand up straight as an arrow, head held high in the air like a prince entering a ball. Then she leapt up onto the breakfast table, raised a finger high into the air, and shoved it into her own nose. 

People started to turn around and look at the commotion. I heard whispers of disbelief. Olivia had apparently gone mental.

“Hey, wait a minute! You got to possess Olivia because she bet against you! Who are you going to bet with now?”

Ava crinkled Olivia’s face as she wobbled on the table, a finger in her nose.

“I bet that you can’t make Sophie… I dunno… take off her shoes.”

“Deal accepted” smirked Ava, and raised the flute towards me.

Dammit.

An instant later I was staring down at my school shoes, which had apparently teleported to where my breakfast had been a moment before. I wiggled my toes and found that, yes indeed, Ava had managed to make me take them off. Very impressive.

Next to me, Charlotte giggled like mad. “Your face!!” she laughed, pointing. “You look so resigned! Ha!”

So Ava had ‘won’ that bet too then.

“Come on.” Ava said standing up. “Let’s go find my body.”

“But I haven’t eaten yet!” I grumbled.

“I ate it for you!” laughed Ava, “Come on, Charlotte’s exhausted and I don’t want to stay in her a moment longer than I have to.”