“Prince Charming,” Allie corrected, then she looked at him sternly. “Do you think I don’t know what this is all about?”

He didn’t deny it. “Indulge me,” he said. “One dance is all I ask.”

“Why should I?”

“Out of simple gratitude for all I have taught you.”

“No—you lied to me! You said tonight would be a lesson, not a free dance ticket.”

“It is a lesson,” Milos insisted. “Come, look here.” He led her to a mirror in a nearby hallway. “Look at yourself,” he said. “Before I met you, you would never dare to skinjack someone this beautiful.”

The girl in the mirror certainly was stunning. “I never felt I had the right … .”

“Why? Do you think so little of yourself that you should only skinjack people less attractive than you are? Why not a girl as beautiful as you?”

Allie couldn’t look away from the reflection. “I’m not beautiful… .”

“Then I think you don’t see yourself clearly. You are on the inside what she is on the outside. And your outside is pretty good too.”

Finally she broke away from her reflection and turned to him. “We should give these people back their bodies.”

“Yes,” agreed Milos, “but first the dance.”

He held out his hand to her. She looked at it for the longest time, then she put her hand in his, ending their little cat-and-mouse game. But now a new game had begun.

Milos, in the body of the beautiful young man, led her to the living room, where all the furniture had been pushed aside to create a dance floor. A dozen couples were dancing, and people without partners danced as well to the steady beat. Allie was never much of a dancer, but this girl came furnished with extensive muscle memory when it came to dancing. Allie found herself dancing better than she ever had before, and sweat soon began to bead on her forehead. She had almost forgotten the curious sensation of perspiration!

The song segued into another, and they kept on dancing through two songs, three, and then the pace slowed. The fourth song was a slow dance, and Allie found herself moving right into it. Milos’s arms swept around her, drawing her in, the space between them vanished, and she could smell cologne on his neck. She had to remind herself it was neither his cologne, nor his neck.

It was halfway through the song that Allie realized this girl was in love with this boy. And while the girl’s mind and soul might have been asleep, her body was not.

Suddenly the room felt like a sauna, and Allie had to get out.

Pulling away from Milos, she hurried, pushing past the minefield of dancing couples, and out the back door, to an expansive pool deck.