Surprised by her brothers arrival, Greta momentarily lost hold of the smooth marble in her hands. With a shriek, she dropped the priceless artifact, much to Mrs. Maple horror. Using his athletic skills and reflexes, Robert made an attempt to catch the orb and almost in sync with his sisters hand, they missed the fragile item by fractions of a section.
"No, get away!", a panicked Mrs. Maple shouted out to the siblings, but it was already too late for them to react.
The glass shattered on the floor and bright flash of light blinded everybody inside the store. Smoke and electricity was in the air, causing all three bystanders to cough. Mrs. Maple managed to hold onto a shelf next to her, despite her temporary blindness, while Robert and Greta both fell down to the floor. Slowly, their vision returned, as they where coughing from the smoke.
While slowly recovering from his coughing fit, Robert noticed how he was facing in a direction, opposite from what he expected. He could have sworn, that he should see the wall at the back of the store, and not the entrance, from where he came. He coughed a last few times, when a slight breeze swept through the room and over his exposed shoulders and bare legs. Confused, he was about to check what happened to his t-shirt, when he suddenly noticed the fist he had coughed into the whole time. The hand was smaller, you could call it almost petite. His fingernails where painted in yellow nail polish, which had already started to wear off. He followed along his now slender and hairless arm, over to shoulders way to slim for young man of his age. A yellow strip that belonged to a striped spaghetti top and another that was connected to a training bra lay over each of his slim shoulders. With a gulp, Robert looked down at himself and saw the rest of what used to be his sisters outfit. The top went far enough to cover the cleavage, a pair of b-cup breasts would be producing, from his perspective though he could see it anyway. Coughing one last time, the weight he was aware of now started to shift. Cold sweat started to collect on his forehead, as his eyes went further down to his jeans shorts, that ended halfway above his smooth knees and the unprotected, hairless legs which where connected to them. His small feet where covered by a pair of beige sandals, inside he could see his cute toes, painted in the same color, his nails where. Still in disbelieve about what he was seeing, he wiggled them inside his new footwear, somewhat amazed by seeing them move. His heartbeat started to rise, and he prepared for his final test. Spreading his legs a little bit further apart, he could already feel the material of his jeans shorts press tighter against his crotch, causing him some unfamiliar sensations. Carefully, he ran his slim fingers along the rough material, confirming his worst fears.
Panic began to take hold in him, as Robert looked around for his sister. He was not surprised, when he found her in a quite similar condition as himself, but what shocked him was her head. She may have had his body, but her head was still the same! Shoulder length brown hair, blue eyes and a feminine face. Grabbing for his own hair, he felt his regular short hairstyle. Tracing his face, he got the sensation of soft feminine hands gracing his slight stubble.
"What the hell just happened?", he asked, while trying to stand up on his unfamiliar appendages. The slight shifting of weight on his chest made him cringe internally.
"I- I don't know...", Greta replied while exploring her hairy arms and flat chest.
"Oh my dear children, I'm afraid the orb has swapped your bodies around. These once where very valuable, magical artifacts, made by cruel rulers to extend their own lives. I'm afraid the process is quite irreversible.", Mrs. Maple explained in a sad voice.
By now, Greta managed to stand up as well. Robert wasn't that much taller than her, but from his new body, he still had to look up a little bit. Seeing his sister, with his athletic, manly body from the neck down and then looking down at himself, made his new girly legs weak. His breath got a little more shallow and his heart rate did rise once more. Only it wasn't his heart, it was Greta's. It also were her lungs, he not used to get oxygen from the air. Suddenly he became aware of every minute aspect of his new body. Strange sensations, unfamiliar clothes, his stomach turned upside down, as he thought about all those foreign organs inside him.
"What are we going to do now? How can we even go to school like this?", he asked in a scared tone, while Greta looked down at the floor, feeling like this was all her fault.