Page 50 of Coven of Corpses

Demetrius held very still, keeping his suddenly larger hands in his lap, long legs stretched out. Across from him, his mirror image slowly lifted his arms until his hands were over his head, looking like he was in the middle of a robbery.

“Wait, is that you?” Demetrius said.

“This is me,” his image said.

“Cody?”

“Demmy?” his reflection asked.

Demetrius felt a chill of terror in the center of his chest, like he’d been run through with a spear of ice. “Oh, fuck me.”

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” his other self said. “Like, really bad.”

“I think so.”

“Stand up and walk toward me.”

Demetrius got slowly to his feet, surprised to find he stood much taller than usual. He was actually looking down at his own reflection who stood before him awkwardly, as if unfamiliar with how his body had been put together. How could this be?

“I don’t like this,” his image said, standing and staring.

“Neither do I. Take a step toward me and I’ll stand still.”

His mirror image took a step forward. Demetrius noticed a cut above its left eye, probably from a tree branch or something, and reached up to touch the spot on himself. No pain, and no feeling of a scabbed-over wound.

“We’re fucked,” his reflection said. “We’re fucked good and deep, and we didn’t even get dinner first.” His image looked down at his shirt. “I’m wearing your clothes.”

Demetrius looked down as well, surprised and scared to find himself wearing the windbreaker, flannel shirt, jeans, and Timberland boots Cody had been wearing.

“I’m wearing yours.”

“I’m looking at myself,” his image said. “But I’m not inside me. I think I’m inside you.”

“That fucking dick,” Demetrius said.

“He swapped us,” his reflection said. “That motherfucker. He made us swap bodies.”

“Oh my God.” Demetrius held his arms straight out and spread his fingers, staring at his hands—Cody’s big hands—with wide eyes. “I’m inside you.”

“Sounds really kinky when you say it like that,” Cody said, but in Demetrius’s voice.

“Will you not do that right now, please?”

He watched himself shrug and smirk, and in those movements he saw Cody’s personality coming through. A dizzying sense of impossibility made him unsteady, followed quickly by a cold, frightening feeling of invasion. He shared more with Cody than anyone else in his life, but he still kept many things to himself. And if Cody was inside his body, did that mean he was also inside his mind?

“What do we do?” Cody asked, coming forward and looking up at him. “Wow. I really am a lot taller than you.” He placed a hand on his neck and winced. “Does your neck always hurt like this?”

“Pretty much,” Demetrius said, now realizing his voice had sounded so alien because it was actually Cody’s voice. “I never knew your knees and shoulders hurt this much.”

He watched himself shrug and make a face. “Not a big deal. Football wasn’t easy, even in high school.” He waved a hand. “And, you know, our life in general.”

“I get that.” He put his hands on his hips and turned, smacking his head against a tree branch. “Ow.”

“Yeah, you’re going to have to get used to ducking a lot if you want to avoid giving me a concussion.”

“Wait. Where are Baron and Heath?” Demetrius asked.

They turned toward the clearing. Heath lay in a crumpled heap. His skin was pale, limbs twisted into an unnatural pose. His eyes were open and staring up into the branches overhead, glasses canted at an unusual angle.