Two weeks.

For two weeks, Sophie was a prisoner of the Heathers. She went where they told her to go and did what they told her to do. She received little respite from the constant sleepovers, parties, and shopping trips. She had to constantly be on. Constantly pretend to be happy and enthusiastic and excited for all of Heather M.’s plans.

In that time she had had little opportunity to test her powers. At home, she was always too exhausted from entertaining the Heathers all day to worry about it, and when she was with the Heathers the pinpricks simply never came up, except for one instance when she prevented Heather M. from getting her heel caught in a large crack in the sidewalk. She saw no sign of any of the strange animals, either. From the way the cloud cat had vanished at the sight of the Heathers, Sophie wondered if they avoided them.

Never had she felt more impotent and useless.

Now, however, an opportunity had come to pass which would allow her to play around with her powers more and spend her time as she saw fit. She would have Thanksgiving break to herself; Heather M. was out of town with extended family. For the first time since breaking up with… she wretched internally at the thought. She wouldn’t be happy, that wasn’t possible. But she could feel faint elation building as she counted down the minutes to the end of her final period in class with her fingers drumming upon the desk. The Home Ec teacher seemed to drone on and on about cross stitching, even Sophie could see that most of the other students had already checked out. Heather S. and Heather K. were sitting on the chairs on the other side of the room. Sophie thanked her stars that she had decided to sit away from them today. Eventually, the metallic ring alerting students of the end of the day echoed through the halls, and Sophie gleefully grabbed her bag and hurried towards the school’s exit. If she was lucky, she could even avoid any further confrontations with her “friends.” She hesitated as she neared the doors, however, as she found Natalie from her math class picking books up off the ground. Sophie hurried over and knelt down to help her up.

“Hey, you okay Natalie?” Sophie asked, her voice full of worry. Natalie nodded her head slowly and sniffled gently.

“Y-yeah. I just fell into a coughing fit and lost my grip on my books is all,” she replied through a raspy voice. Sophie began to gather the spilled books in a pile for her friend. 

“Are you sick?” Sophie raised one of her eyebrows.

She nodded. “Just a bit, nothing serious. Honestly, I think I caught it from the guy I sit next to in band class.” She picked a small handkerchief off the ground and tucked it into her pocket. “It’s fine though, it gets me out of a family thing this weekend that would have definitely sucked.” Sophie smiled. It was nice to talk to someone who she didn’t have to be on her guard around.

“Well… take care of yourself, okay?” she replied cheerfully. “I need my math buddy back at full health on Monday. Who else will I make cheat for me?”

Natalie snickered. “Besides me, there’s not a single person smarter than you in that class and you know it, dummy. So I guess you’re screwed.” Sophie helped her to her feet, walked out the doors together, and separated at the sidewalk as Natalie got into her parent’s car and Sophie began her long trek home. Even in the face of the increasing chill of the November weather, Sophie remained optimistic. This was going to be a great weekend.

This happiness was quickly destroyed when she woke up Wednesday morning with her throat on fire. She found she could barely swallow due to the pain. She wasn’t going to want to do much except lie around today. Struggling her way out of bed, she shivered as the chill air grazed her skin. After pulling on the most comfortable sweater and sweatpants she could find, she made her way out into the hall where she nearly ran into her mother.

“Oh, Sophie, I was just coming up,” she said. “Come downstairs, we have a surprise for you.”

Sophie tried to say “I think I’m sick,” but her voice just came out as a quiet wheeze. She was disturbed to realize that she couldn’t talk at all.

“Oh, That doesn’t sound good.”

Sophie pointed to her neck and mouthed the words “sore throat.”

“Oh sweetie, that’s terrible! And during Thanksgiving, too,” her mother replied, her face full of worry. “Come on downstairs. I’ll make you one of Grandma’s honey teas and show you the surprise. Two for one!”

Sophie frowned. She was not a fan of the lemon and honey tea recipe her mother would shove down her throat whenever she got sick.

Her mother rolled her eyes. “Oh, hush. You know it always makes you feel at least a little better. Besides, I think you’ll like what else is waiting for you.” 

Sophie followed her mother down the cold wooden stairs, wondering what could have her so excited. She could hear voices in the kitchen. Was someone here? She soon found out when they reached the bottom and entered the kitchen to find, sitting at the table across from her father, Sophie’s brother, Lars.

Lars, the brother who was supposed to be at Minnesota State. The same brother who hadn’t yet seen Sophie’s new body. The same brother who would often tease her about being feminine. He wasn’t supposed to be back this weekend, her dad had even said as much two weeks ago!

Sophie’s mind went blank, save one single thought.

Shit.

Lars looked at Sophie with a grin that quickly faded into a perplexed expression.

“Surprise!” her father exclaimed. “Guess who drove back up to visit for the weekend?”

With a sharp inhale, Sophie tried to scream out. “I’m Thomas! But my real name is Sophie! You pooped your pants at Charlie Cheddar’s when we were kids and it was hilarious!” Unfortunately, all that came out a dry rasp.

“Sore throat,” her mother explained as she prepared tea. “She woke up with laryngitis or something. Don’t think I’ve ever seen this come over one of you so fast.”

Lars was staring between Sophie and her mother, mouth agape. “Okay, what’s going on? This is a prank or something, right?” Beads of sweat began to accumulate on Sophie’s forehead, be it from nerves or sickness, she wasn’t wholly sure. There had to be a way to sidestep this, right?

“Hmm? What are you talking about?” her father asked.

Lars dropped his backpack onto the floor next to the kitchen island. “Who is this girl? Where’s Thomas? Where’s my brother?”

Their mother laughed. “Come on, Lars, don’t tease her just because she’s dressing a little differently now.”

Sophie could feel herself starting to panic. She needed to find a way to reset Lars now. He was beginning to see that this wasn’t a joke. But what could she do? It wasn’t like she could just write it all out on paper. Right?

“Come on, seriously, who are you? His girlfriend?” he asked Sophie, his tone pleading. Sophie’s heart broke a little. “I want to see my bro.”

Their father sighed. “Alright, that’s enough, Lars. I know you like to call her ‘bro,’ but have you ever thought about how that makes her feel?”

Lars opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to come up with a response.

“...What?” he finally managed.

“How about I get you some breakfast with that tea, Sophie?” her mother asked.

Sophie gave a hesitant nod, and her mother placed a plate with two over-medium eggs in her usual spot at the table. Heather M. had convinced her mother to go along with a “fad diet” last week, so Sophie hadn’t been able to convince her to grace Sophie’s plate with anything chocolatey or sugary since. So gung-ho had she been on joining Sophie as a sort of weird mother/daughter bonding exercise that she’d even put the snacks above the fridge where both she and Sophie couldn’t reach. Her father, of course, was given a pass.  She sat and ate slowly, trying to figure out how to communicate with her brother. He was still glancing around the kitchen, growing increasingly agitated.

“Screw it,” she thought. “Paper it is.” She made a writing gesture and her father found her a pencil and a pad of paper.

She started writing “I am your brother,” but quickly crossed out “brother,” replacing it with “sibling.”

“I have the same mole and everything. My name is Sophie.”

She tore the paper off the pad and handed it to Lars who looked at it and frowned. When he looked up, she pointed to the mole on her face.

“Does Thomas have a mole?” he asked.

Sophie attempted to groan but found that it hurt her throat too badly. Lars could be so dense! However, she wasn’t sure if she could reset him through writing, anyway.

There was a tense silence in her brother’s stare as she ate breakfast. It was clear that he wanted answers and was frustrated by the fact that he wasn’t getting them. She couldn’t help imagining how confused he must be to come home and find his parents treating a stranger like his sister. She tried to eat quickly but found it was too painful and slowed down. As she was close to finishing, an idea struck her. She took out her phone and texted Heather K.

Can you pick me up? I have an emergency and need to get to the Well right away.

Unfortunately, the response didn’t come right away. Instead, Sophie finished her breakfast, choked down the accursed lemon and honey tea, and indicated that she was going to go to the bathroom.

“I’m gonna get my stuff unpacked,” Lars said slowly, following Sophie out of the kitchen.

Outside of the bathroom, he stopped her. “Hey, what the hell is going on?” he asked. “I feel like I’m in The Twilight Zone.”

Sophie rasped in response.

Lars groaned. “Christ. I get it, you can’t talk. But come on, you have to give me something to go on here. At least tell me where Thomas is, okay?” Lars brushed past her, barging into her bedroom. “Is he under the bed? Waiting in the closet with a wiffle bat? Seriously, this is starting to get annoying.” Upon looking around, his eyes widened after catching sight of a few of Sophie’s discarded bras and other clothing laying on the ground. “What, are you living here, too?”

Sophie stared at him, her cheeks growing increasingly red. She shoved him out of her bedroom, closing the door behind her. How was she supposed to answer a question like that? Would he believe anything she tried to write? He must have noticed her nervous expression because his own softened.

“Okay, look, whatever is going on, it might not be your fault. I get that,” he said. “But you have to understand where I’m coming from. I just want to hang out with my brother and parents and not worry about the final I’m totally gonna fail, okay?”

Sophie tried to muster her most sympathetic-sounding wheeze. She mentally cursed herself for leaving the pencil and pad in the kitchen.

She held up her wrist and tapped it, indicating a watch. As she did so, she mouthed “Give me some time.”

Lars nodded, understanding the message. “Seriously? Fine, sure. I’ll give you time. But I’m not playing whatever this game is forever. This whole situation is way too creepy.”

He continued to the stairs, leaving Sophie alone. When she was done in the bathroom she returned to the kitchen to find a message from Heather K.

We’re not supposed to go to the Well without Heather.

Sophie rolled her eyes. Why couldn’t Heather S. still be in charge of the coin?

I told you, it’s an emergency. My brother is here and I’m sick. I can’t talk at all.

She impatiently waited almost a full minute before receiving a response.

Oh. Well, can’t you just hold out for Thanksgiving until Heather gets back?

Sophie gritted her teeth. This girl was impossible. She was beginning to understand why Heather M. treated her the way she did.

He’s worried sick about “Thomas.” If I don’t fix this soon he’s going to start asking my parents questions and get them all confused too. Do you know how solid the magic will be if someone starts seriously pushing back?

This time the response came thankfully quickly.

Well, how bad can it get? Worse comes to worst you can hide out here until we reset them on Monday. It’s not like they’re going to have you or him committed.

It was no use. Heather K. wouldn’t do anything without Heather M.’s permission. And if Sophie bothered Heather M. with this, she would be annoyed. Wait, that was the solution!

Heather isn’t going to be happy if she comes home and finds that Lars caused a huge disruption or called the police or something.

There was another tense wait. This time several minutes. Finally, Heather responded

On my way.

Sophie grabbed the pencil and wrote out a note for her mother. “Heather K. is coming to pick me up. Wants to take me to Heather S.’ aromatherapist.”

Her mother read the note with a concerned look. “Are you sure you don’t want to just take it easy at home?”

Sophie wrote “She thinks she can get me talking right away. I want to have an actual conversation with Lars.”

Her mother nodded as she read. “That’s fair enough, I suppose. But don’t strain yourself.”

A few minutes later, Heather K. arrived. Sophie had never seen her car before. It was a hideous yellow sedan with a few dents and several chips in the paint. Heather M. wouldn’t let herself be seen anywhere near a car like that.

Sophie hopped in and Heather K. said “How are you feeling?”

Sophie rasped.

“Oh, right, you can’t talk.” She giggled.

Heather K. spent most of the drive babbling about this or that, clearly nervous about what she perceived as breaking a rule. Sophie, of course, sat in silence and inspected her surroundings. She’d never seen Heather K.’s car before, the girl had never even mentioned she had one. It was a bit ratty, definitely a used model where Heather S. and K.’s cars were new. There were a couple of CDs piled under empty coffee cups and shopping bags next to Sophie’s feet. She pulled one of them out and inspected it.

“Black Sabbath?” she wondered. This certainly wasn’t in the vein of musical interests she had pegged Heather K. as having. 

Heather K. stammered sheepishly. “O-oh god, my old CD’s. Please don’t tell Heather M. I still have those.” Sophie gave her a weak nod and looked through the rest of the cases. She had the Misfits, Marilyn Manson, even the Plasmatics.

“Do you listen to these?” Sophie attempted to mouth to Heather K. After a few failed attempts at translating, Heather laughed nervously and looked ahead. “I used to a lot, but that was the old me. I don’t listen to them at all now, believe me. I’ll probably even throw them away today, so even if you tell her you won’t be able to prove it.” Sophie felt like she should press her more about her odd behavior, but figured it wasn’t important to the task at hand. Soon they had made their way through the familiar woods and down the Well.

In the cave, Heather took the coin from her pocket. “I wish Sophie Swan were no longer sick,” she said as she tossed it.

She giggled with delight. “I never get to do that.”

Sophie felt the pain fade in her throat. She cleared it. Then, testing her voice, said “Hello?”

“You’re back.”

“Ah, it feels good to talk again.”

“How’d you manage to get sick so suddenly?”

Sophie shrugged. “Who knows? My friend, Natalie, coughed on me earlier. It could be that. You want me to grab the coin?” Sophie bit at her lip. If she could get that coin, she could put up a bubble around her and Chloe and maybe, finally, begin to fix all of the mistakes she’d made.

Heather K. smirked. “You must think I’m pretty stupid.”

She started pulling off her shoes, stumbling a bit as she did. 

“A little, yeah,” Sophie mumbled inwardly. She briefly considered dashing out and grabbing the coin first, but hesitated. Her body was still a little weak from the illness and Heather had longer legs, and made the trek out far more often. If there was a slippery patch somewhere, she’d know how to avoid it. And what would Heather do if she failed? The sound of a sandbag landing next to her echoed in her mind. In some ways, Heather K. was even scarier than Heather M.

Sophie watched Heather wade across the pool and saw her opportunity vanish. She had wavered for too long. There was nothing more to do but to follow Heather back up the Well and through the woods.

Heather was mostly quiet on the drive home. However, when they reached Sophie’s house she turned to Sophie and said “You really thought you were going to replace me, didn’t you?”

Sophie shook her head. “Heather, I—”

Heather K. interrupted her. “Well, now you’ve lost everything and Heather M. likes me more than ever.” Her smile tightened into a small grin. “Too bad for you.”

Sophie stepped out without another word. Sophie was afraid of what she knew Heather M. would do if she stepped out of line, but it was all the things she couldn’t predict about Heather K.’s behavior that frightened her even more. The girl quickly drove off and out of sight.

Sophie found Lars in his room, reading a book on his bed. When he heard her, he looked up at her like a cat seeing a stranger.

“Hey, I can talk now,” she said.

He closed his book. “Great! That’s totally awesome and definitely wasn’t made up in the first place. So where’s my brother?”

“Yeah, so as far as what’s going on, I know it’s a little weird, but I actually am…” she hesitated. Dredging that old name up after everything she’d been through felt so thoroughly slimy and disgusting she found her stomach clenching as the sound passed her lips. “...Thomas.”

Lars furrowed his brow. “Uh, no you aren’t. Thomas is a guy.”

Sophie tried to quickly think of some sort of proof. The mole thing usually worked. “Okay, you saw my handwriting earlier, didn’t you? It was the same.”

“Yeah, but Thomas has always written like a girl.”

“Okay, but my face is the same… mostly.”

Lars looked at her face closely. Was there a glimmer of recognition there?

“Sorry, but I just don’t see the resemblance.”

Apparently not.

Sophie could feel her frustration boiling over. This was supposed to be her easy weekend. She gritted her teeth. “You are so aggravating sometimes. Okay, fine, you want proof? Remember when we were kids and you pooped your pants at Charlie Cheddar’s? You told Mom it was because you didn’t know you had to go, but you were playing that stupid arcade game so long you just crapped your pants because you couldn’t hold it anymore.”

“Nah, I still don’t believe you. Thomas could have told you that.” His expression darkened a bit. “Note to self, kick Thomas’ ass for spilling that secret.”

“Ugh! God, your head can be so thick, Lars!” Sophie exclaimed. She began to pace around the room ranting, “This is isn’t supposed to be some monumental endeavor, it was easy for everyone else. Come on, don’t be such an ignoramus. It’s me! I am, or was, Thomas, but now I’m Sophie. No swap-out shenanigans at work. It’s me.”

Lars’ eyes widened with shock. “Thomas? Is it really you?”

Sophie groaned. “Yes! Oh, but, again, Sophie, too.”

And finally, finally, Lars got the distant buffering look in his eyes.

“Oh, Sophie, right, of course, you’re you. I’m sorry, my brain must be fried from all of my school work. I didn’t realize it was you until you began to pace back and forth, spouting off all those big words like a frustrated little scientist.”

Sophie groaned again. “I am not a frustrated little scientist, jerk.”

“Uh-huh, sure. I can’t believe I didn’t pick it out sooner. You’re such a nerd it’s like a big old neon sign pointing down at you that says ‘kick me, please,’.”

Sophie grinned. “Probably all the partying at college.”

Lars frowned in mock indignation. “I’ll have you know that I am in a work-study program. I am far too busy for things such as parties.”

Sophie giggled. It was good to have her brother back. She made her way to the door, stopping short to look back at him. “Note to self, kick Lars’ ass because he stared at my bras like a total perv.”

His face turned scarlet. “I’m sorry! But look — it’s not my fault you’ve finally gone girly. Just give me a little while to get used to it.”

Sophie let out a sigh. “It’ll be a very short grace period.”

Lars looked back at her as he unpacked his bag. “You know…” he quickly turned his head back to his bag. “Nevermind. It’s weird.”

“What?” Sophie asked. Lars stopped for a moment, and slowly craned his head over his shoulder.

“It’s just… you look happier. I’m glad.”

Sophie felt as though the wind had been knocked from her lungs. She quickly retreated out the door after a quick “Thanks,” in reply. She hurried to her bedroom and gently closed the door behind her, using it to prop her weight up. Her eyes drooped towards the ground, her body following in short order behind until she was sat against her door.

She wasn’t happy. Even with her body. Even with all the wishes she’d made. None of it was enjoyable without her.

“A gilded cage is still just a cage.”