A sensation of falling takes over my body as I feel myself being flung through an endless void of white. I attempt to reach out to grab onto something, but the rushing wind is all I feel.

Wind? Air? No, it’s something more primal. I sense it more than feel it. I reach out farther, trying to process my overloaded sensations.

Flash!

I find myself looking at a hand reaching towards the ceiling. My hand? No, it’s too thin, delicate. The bright light clears and I realize I am laying on a hard surface draped in a thin cloth. Someone else is in the room too. Quickly sitting up, my head reels, and I wince as all my senses switch on in an instant.

Applause!

The room erupts into thunderous applause. The room seems to be a sort of small auditorium full of 30 or so people looking down on the center stage where I was sitting on a wooden table. My eyes frantically darted around taking in all I could.

‘Welcome to your new home child!’

The voice came from a woman sitting next to the table with her back to the crowd. She had pale cream skin and blue eyes with a head of curly, yellow hair that disappeared behind her shoulders. She was wearing a costume that looked much like a cutesy witch costume from a child’s cartoon except it was trimmed with gold embroidery. It seemed to be an odd thing for someone in their 30s to be wearing.

Beside her stood a tall, slender woman with straight white hair. She wore a maid’s dress with a pair of half-circle glasses on her nose. She looked to be in her late 20s.

Congratulations, Headmistress. That is the fourth successful transfer today.’

‘Thank you, Miss Irons. The Ley Lines connection is strong today.’

‘W..W...What the hell is going on?’ I managed to squeak out.

My voice was pitchy and dry. And feminine. I grabbed my throat only to feel its slenderness. A strange chill washed across my body. Everything was different. Strands of brown hair fell over my shoulders onto the white garment that covered my new body. I slid off the table and attempted to stand, but my legs gave out as my brain struggled to control the new foreign flesh. The maid was quickly by my side and caught my weight as I fell.

‘What did you do to me?!’

‘Relax. It will take you a minute to adjust to your new body. You will get used to it in time. Miss Irons will take you to your room to get some rest. You have a busy day tomorrow.’ The witch stood from her chair and turned away to leave. Everyone else in the room began to filter out through the doors at the top of the auditorium.

‘Send me back! You have to send me back, my family! I…’

She turned back toward me and put her finger to her lips.

’ Shhh, forget your past. You are not allowed to talk about it here anymore. This is your new home and your new family.’

She raised her hand, closing all but two fingers. A flash of yellow light formed an odd pattern in the air and my mind was suddenly muddled. I tried to remember my family and was met with a solid wall in my mind. Their images were taken from me with only blurred figments remaining. Frustration and anger welled up in my chest.

‘No! Send me back!’

I pushed off of the maid and threw my hands around the witches’ neck. I squeezed with everything I had, but it felt like I was trying to bend a steel pole with my bare hands. I felt so weak, like all my strength had been removed.

‘You are overwhelmed, child. Rest and acclimate to your new body. You will learn more tomorrow.’

Unfazed by my attack, she raised her hand to my forehead. Another flash of light and my mind blanked. I succumbed to the sleepy darkness.

-

I sat up suddenly, lying in a small bed. The room I was in consisted of a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe with a mirror on the front. It looked like a college dorm room with its tan painted cinder block walls. The window over the bed indicated that it was dark outside. I slipped onto the cold ground and flipped on the light switch, walking over to the mirror to survey my new form.

What stood before me was an attractive girl in her late teens draped in a white cotton nightgown. Her straight light brown hair stopped just below her ribs and her eyes were a sharp hazel color. Her muscle tone was athletic, and her body shape sported curves idealistic but, not over-exaggerated. If the height of the door was standard, she stood around 5 feet and a few inches.

What concerned me the most was that however hard I tried, I couldn’t remember what I looked like before. Any attempt to remember was met with a blinding wall in my mind’s eye. After a few moments of fighting against it, I moved on to other memories. Where I was from, what I liked, what kind of car I drove. Nothing would come through the suppressing barrier. If it wasn’t for the alien feeling all over my body I might have believed that this was what I looked like all along.

A faint glimmer came when I attempted to remember my family. It wasn’t clear, but the hazy image of three people made it through. Two women and a man appeared in my mind, but their features and characteristics were fuzzy, blurred by the veil. All I knew was that they were my family and I felt a desperate need to return to them.

I made for the door, but it was locked. I made every attempt to open it, but it seemed as though the entire door was welded shut. The handle didn’t even wiggle in the slightest. In frustration, I punched the door, and the lack of a sound that returned back was alarming. Was it soundproofed?

I returned to my bed and attempted to push through the wall and see the people I had forgotten. I sat meditating as I pushed against it mentally. The harder I pushed, the firmer the wall stood. At first, the repercussions started as a dull headache, but after a time I felt a warm trickle of blood drip from my nose and my head throbbed with a migraine. I eventually submitted to a white flash of light and I passed out from the pain.

-

I awoke again to a chiming on the other side of the door. I had no clue how long I had slept, but the migraine had gone back to a dull ache.

To my surprise, the door opened to reveal another girl, also apparently in her late teens. She had curled raven hair and a green, tan, and white school uniform. She looked annoyed to even have to be here in the first place.

‘Get up. Come on. We don’t have all day. Your clothes are in the wardrobe. I’m in charge of taking you to your orientation class.’

 I got out of the bed and pressed my thumb on my temple. I was not in the mood for a snippy teen and had no desire to go along with any of this.

‘Look, there’s been some insane mistake. If you can just take me to whoever is in charge. I need to get a few things worked out so I can get back home.’

‘Ya, that’s not gonna happen. You can see Headmistress Victoria at your naming ceremony. You need to go to orientation class first.’

I attempted to walk past her, but she planted her arm firmly on the door frame to bar my escape.

‘Look. You seem like a….nice girl. I’m sure you’re just following directions. So just come with me to wherever this Miss Victoria is and I’ll make sure you don’t get in trouble for not following orders or whatever.’

‘Why did you pause just now?’

‘What?’

‘You paused when you said nice like you had to think about it for a second.’

I winced as the growing anxiety caused my headache to intensify.

‘Is that really important right now? I’ve been locked in this room all night. My memories are all jumbled. I have a raging headache. I need you to either take me there or get out of my way and let me find my way on my own. Either way, I need you to move.’

I placed my palm into her sternum and attempted to push her out of the way. While there was some give this time, I was reminded of the earlier attempt to strangle the Headmistress. This girl was solid as a pile of bricks.

‘Did you just try to push me? I didn’t want to do this, but it looks like you want to make things difficult.’

The girl stepped aside allowing me to pass. As I walked past her she reached for a jade bangle on her right wrist and chanted a few nonsensical words and a flash of green light escaped her hand and enveloped me. I was stopped immediately in my tracks.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I was just frozen in place like I was locked in some invisible field.

‘Let’s try this again. I’m Sable and I’ll be guiding you through your orientation today.’

With a smirk and a flick of her bangled hand, my body began to act on its own. Fighting against it felt very similar to fighting against the mental block. She led me to get dressed in a uniform similar to hers. Then she took me down to the hall to a shared bathroom for some basic hygiene.

As I went through the motions I noticed that the place seemed very much like a girl’s dorm building to some type of college or private school. All of the women around seemed to be in their older teens to early twenties. They all wore the same uniform and were all flawless beauties. It was almost off-putting how beautiful everyone was.

Another strange detail was that almost no one had natural hair colors. Even Sable’s black hair was unnaturally dark as if it had no sheen to it. All over there were greens and pinks and bright yellows and purples. My plain brown hair stood out from the rainbow of colors. As I walked by, many of the girls watched and whispered to each other.

I was then led out of the building and into a yard of sorts. There was a tall wall that seemed to surround the entire complex, and several buildings dotted the inside. A massive gate sat in the middle of the wall, with a guardhouse built into the wall. The building we were heading towards was obviously a school of some sort.

We entered along with a small hoard of other girls. So far not another man had been seen. As we walked past what seemed to be an administration office I attempted a burst of resistance, but all that did was flair up my headache again. This whole situation was putting me in a very bad mood.

We walked around a large room and up a flight of stairs. I was led into a room full of desks and brought to stand in the front by a whiteboard as the rest of the class filtered in. Then a tall woman in her thirties walked in. She wore a light grey and white dress with a grey blazer. Her long straight hair was a powder blue color and she sported a pair of half-circle glasses. This was clearly the teacher.

‘Another rebellious one I see. Well, class, this is the new student who will be joining us from today onward. As with all the other students, treat her with respect, and help her along her path. Her Naming Ceremony will be this afternoon if anyone would like to join us.’