“Please start from the beginning,” Meredith said. “What kind of troubles have you and Sybil been having?”

Everett told her all about the deterioration of his and Sybil’s relationship. He told her how they used to be great friends as children, and how approximately two years ago they started to drift apart. He told her about how it had started with Sybil becoming extra clingy and needy, then how she started to get more upset than usual over small offenses, then larger ones, until he no longer could exist without setting her off. And finally he told her about her shift from angry to heartbroken earlier that day.

After it all, Meredith sat in silence for a long while, deep in thought.

“So . . .” he spoke up, “what’s up? What’s going on?”

“Hmm,” she said, “normally this is caused by the human turning away from part of themself.” She looked up at him. “Tell me, Everett, what do you know about Pixies and the Bond between them and humans?”

Everett thought back to the lessons he had learned in third grade.

“Well, when a baby is born, a pixie is assigned to them or something, and it’s supposed to serve as a guide and a companion for that person as they grow up. Even though they look the same age their whole life, they start off just as helpless as the baby does; like, they can’t talk and can’t move more than a couple feet away. But as they get older they grow up too and you can get further apart from each other.  Everyone gets one, and they’re always obedient to the wishes of their human, or at least they’re supposed to be.  You also can’t cast spells or do magic or anything without their help.”

Something that’s a lot easier to do when your pixie wants to cooperate, he thought with annoyance. He had been doing very poorly in his Intro to Magic and Spellcasting class at school. They hadn’t managed to cast a single spell yet, but that was just because Sybil wasn’t putting in any effort, right?

“You’re partially correct, but it goes much deeper than that.” Meredith crossed her legs and clasped her hands together.

“The Bond is not formed after the child is born, nor is the pixie a separate entity that is ‘assigned’ to that person. In actuality, long before birth, as the brain is first developing, a portion of the baby’s consciousness ‘splits’ away from the child, and remains as an ethereal form, clinging to the child as they develop. When the baby is finally born and takes their first breath, that consciousness begins to absorb the latent magic in the air and starts to take shape, and within a couple hours the Pixie manifests within a few feet of the child.”

She leaned forward and stared intensely into Everett’s eyes.

“What I am saying is that you two were connected from the very first moments of your soul’s existence. She’s not merely some stranger who you must get along with, she is an extension of your very soul, and the means by which you connect to the greater magisphere. She is a part of you as much as you are a part of her.”

Everett blinked.

“So . . .” he said, “if what you’re saying is true, if she is me--”

“Not one-hundred percent you, but an extension of you, yes.”

“So if she’s an extension of me, shouldn’t we be exactly in sync? Why would we be fighting? Unless . . .”

Meredith smiled and nodded.

“Go on,” she said, twirling a finger.

“If she’s a part of myself . . . and we’re fighting . . . then it’s basically like I’m fighting with myself right?”

“Exactly! You’re a rather bright young man, aren’t you?” Everett twitched at the title.

“But what am I fighting with myself about? I like myself well enough. I’m not conflicted about anything, really.”

“In most cases, the Bond begins to deteriorate when the person denies a portion of themselves, or makes choices that actively contradict who they fundamentally are. You seem like a sweet enough kid, you haven’t been getting into drugs or joining any hate groups, have you?”

“What? No.”

“Denied sexuality can also be a factor. Are you secretly attracted to other boys, maybe?”

“What? No!”

She chuckled.

“Alright, alright, fair enough,” she said. “You’re sure that you’re not avoiding anything though? Anything that you might not have thought about before?”

“Pretty sure.”

She paused and the room was quiet for a moment.

“Everett, may I request something of you?”

“Sure, shoot.”

“Normally I would take the time to help the client sort through and figure out what the issue is themselves, by talking things through and reaching a conclusion naturally. I’d hate to skip all of that and jump to the center of things all at once, but this situation is serious and there’s not much time left unless measures are taken to strengthen your Bond with Sybil immediately.  Would you be willing to let me perform a soul-reading for you?”

“Soul-reading?”

“Yes, I would take a look at your soul and see what it is that’s causing this unknown inner conflict. It feels like cheating, but I think it might be necessary today.”

Everett scoffed. “Why didn’t you just start off with that then? If this is such a serious situation then why wait?”

“Well for one, legal reasons. Your guardian hasn’t signed a waiver, and am I correct in assuming they don’t know you’re here?”

“ . . . yeah.”

“And the other reason being that it doesn’t help much if I learn what’s going on, what really needs to happen is you learning about yourself, and the only real way to do that is through introspection and working through things yourself.  Anyways, we’re low on time and if I at least know what’s going on, we can address the issue much quicker. So do I have your permission?”

“Sure, yeah why not?”

Meredith nodded and stood up.

“I just need to get some things then, if you’ll wait here please.”  She stepped through a back door into another room, which gave Everett a moment to think about this new information about Sybil. He realized that, at the very least, he probably wasn’t treating her with the respect she deserved.

Meredith came back into the room holding a black velvet bag and some chalk. She moved to the coffee table in the center of the room and began drawing a pattern on its surface. It looked like two opposing triangles with six small circles surrounding them, with lines connecting everything together. She then dumped out the contents of the bag, which were revealed to be six smooth polished crystals of different types, which she placed in the center of each circle.

“Mind if I light some incense as well? It doesn’t affect the spell or anything, it just helps with my concentration.”

He shrugged. She pulled out some sticks and lit them, filling the room with the pungent, yet relaxing odor.

“Joanna, we’re going to do a soul-reading, could you please bring Sybil?”

“Yeah I heard,” came the voice from behind the small curtain. Shortly after, Joanna stepped out, leading Sybil with her. Supporting the weaker pixie from the shoulder, they both flew over to the coffee table.

“Now,” said Meredith, placing her hand outstretched on the table as if to give a handshake, “if you could just place your palm up against mine, please.”

Everett put out his right hand, palm to palm with Meredith’s, and Joanna directed Sybil to stand just next to it, placing both of her hands up against the back of his hand. Joanna then went to each crystal, bending down and imbuing each one with magic sufficient to make them glow slightly. She then took her place just behind Meredith’s hand.

“Ready?” she asked, and Meredith nodded. She vigorously rubbed her hands together, and they began to glow themselves, then forcefully slammed her hands into the back of Meredith’s, pushing the magic through the four of them.

Everett felt a tingly warmth as the contact points between his and Meredith’s hands began to glow a white light. Meredith furrowed her brows in concentration and closed her eyes.

They stayed that way for a while, and Everett grew more anxious with every second.

“Almost . . . there,” Meredith mumbled. “Just . . . need to . . . uncover some more . . . layers . . .”

All was quiet. Everett sat, near bursting with anticipation.

. . .

“Oh,” she said.

. . .

“Oh honey, you sweet child . . .”

“What?” he exclaimed. “What??”

The spell faded and Meredith pulled away, visibly conflicted. Joanna shook out her hands and went to sit with Sybil. Everett scooted as far forward as he could on his seat.

“What is it?”

Meredith looked at him, several emotions flashing through her eyes at once.

“It’s . . . well . . .” she stammered, “. . . I mean . . . I, uh . . . well it’s like . . . um, well it’s more complicated than we thought.”

“Why? What did you see?”

“Well, I mean, it’s not that this hasn’t happened before, and I suppose it makes sense since Sybil is female, but usually that knowledge can't be used to diagnose on it's own . . .”--she cleared her throat--“I uh, I think you’re going to have to confront this by yourself. We can help you along, but it’s not something that I can tell you outright.”

“What? Why??”

“It’s uh, well it’s complicated. Also I'm fairly sure you wouldn't believe me if I did.”

Joanna rolled her magnified eyes and flew up to Meredith, putting out an ear. Meredith whispered something to her, and Joanna’s face lit up like a candle.

“Ha! I KNEW it!” She spun around towards Everett, pointing a finger at him. “You’re t--”

“Do. Not. Tell. Them.” snapped Meredith through closed teeth.

“Why not?” Joanna asked, turning back to Meredith. “It’s clear they don’t have a clue, I’m just telling them the answer to the riddle!”

“They need to sort this through themselves, it’s not something we can do for them.”

“Ugh, fine,” Joanna groaned, before turning back to Everett and floating towards him. “Hey, so bit of a random question,” she said, holding her hands behind her back, “uh, how do you feel about girls?”

Meredith gave a stern glare to her, and she threw up her hands in response.

Girls? What did that have to do with anything?

“Uh, I mean yeah, sure I guess I’m attracted to girls, if that’s what you’re asking.” He sat back and thought for a moment. “I mean, they’re soft, and cute, and they always wear the best outfits, and they’re allowed to cry and be vulnerable and stuff. So yeah, I guess I really like girls, what’s wrong with that? Aren’t boys my age supposed to like girls?”

“So, you’ve never felt any kind of desire towards maybe, being a girl, perhaps?” Joanna asked. Merideth gave an exasperated look in response.

“Not really. I mean yeah, sure I guess it’d be nice and all and it would be fun to try out the hairstyles and stuff, but like, that would just be running away from my problems, so I think probably not, right?”

Joanna pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head.

“Kid’s dense as a brick,” she muttered under her breath.

“The fact that you didn’t answer with a resolute ‘no’, is an indication that there might be more going on than you think,” chimed in Meredith.

What was that supposed to mean? He just liked them, that's all. At least girls were way better than guys. Guys were gross and hairy and had penises that did weird things, and they would run around and beat each other up, always having to show off in front of everyone. And even though everything sucked, guys were always forced to show zero emotion. God, why couldn’t he just be allowed to cry on someone’s shoulder for once? He fucking hated it, he didn’t sign up for all that shit!

He stopped himself. What the hell was he thinking? Why did he feel so weird all of the sudden?  What were all these uncomfortable feelings he was feeling, what had just snapped? Something felt very very wrong. Did he hate being a guy?

The answer was immediately and profoundly clear.

Yes.

Did he . . . want to be a girl then?

He didn’t know.

His thoughts were shaken away when he saw Meredith holding something up to him. It was a small vial, with a deep blue liquid inside.

“Here, take this.” She gave him a meaningful look. “When you’re ready to confront yourself, all of yourself, it should help with the process.”

Everett took the vial and looked at it intently.

“I’m a staunch advocate of taking one’s time to process emotions and not moving faster than they are ready, but please do consider doing it soon, for Sybil’s sake.”

He looked down at Sybil, and their eyes met. For a moment, he thought that he might have understood a little bit of the pain she was feeling.

“Well, dear Everett and Sybil, it’s been a wonderful pleasure learning about you two. But it is now closing time for my office, and I believe I’ve done all that I can do for now.” she said, standing up and leading them back through the hallway. “I wish you two the best of luck, and,”--she winked--“enjoy what’s up ahead.”