In a dimly lit tiki bar on the edge of a forgotten coastal town, Nicholas sat nursing a lukewarm beer, his eyes fixed on the woman across the room. Miss Eleanor-elegant, distant, and entirely unaware of him-smoked a thin cigarette and stared into her glass as if it held secrets she had no intention of sharing. Nicholas had watched her for weeks. He knew her routines, her silences, the way the world seemed to bend around her without ever truly touching her. He wanted that. He wanted *her*.

The woman who approached his table smelled of incense and saltwater. She wore a silk dress the color of sea foam and a turban of green and gold. Thick turquoise beads hung around her neck, and her eyes glittered with something older than the bar itself.

“Madam Eliana,” she said, sliding into the seat beside him without invitation. “You look like a man who has already decided what he wants.”

Nicholas didn’t bother with pleasantries. “Can you swap my body with hers?” He nodded toward Eleanor.

Eliana followed his gaze, then smiled slowly. “I can. But the price is high, and the work is yours.”

They negotiated in low voices while the jukebox played something mournful. In the end, the terms were simple: five thousand dollars in cash, paid upfront, plus a single gold locket that had belonged to Nicholas’s late mother. Eliana took both without counting the bills. “The money buys my silence,” she said. “The locket buys the magic. Everything else you must gather yourself.”