Maya and Brielle barely looked at their parents as they ate breakfast. Their parents didn’t offer any conversation. Maya offered her parents a “goodbye” as they headed for the door, but Brielle just grunted.

Once they were back in school, Maya felt more at home. Now that a week had passed, she was back into the groove of things. Getting to see her friends and finally hang out with them as herself had done a lot to boost her mood as well.

And she’d started making new friends as well. Okay, one new friend—the only person who didn’t seem to care that Maya was “the magical girl”—but she was just as much into anime as Maya was and it was always a delight to see her. They’d spent a lot of time talking before English started, and finally Lily insisted on giving Maya her number so they could talk outside of class.

“You’re sharing your phone with your sister?” she asked, blinking in surprise.

“It’s just temporary,” Maya explained. “Until our parents get another one for us. Actually, it may be permanent.”

“That sucks. Aren’t you rich?”

Maya winced.

“A little,” she admitted.

The bell rang and the teacher stood up from his desk.

“Okay, class, today we’ll be splitting up in groups of threes to work on an assignment. Find your partners and turn to page one hundred and ten in your textbooks.”

Maya and Lily grinned at each other and shoved their desks together. Lily started looking around for another person who could join them. A girl with curly brown hair and thick eyebrows tapped on their desks.

“Mind if I join you?” she asked. “Name’s Charlie.”

“Sure,” Lily said, and Maya made a whimpering noise in confirmation.

Charlie pulled up a desk herself and sat down so she was facing both Maya and Lily.

“I’m Lily.”

Maya added softly, “And I’m Maya.”

“I know who you are, magical girl,” Charlie replied, a glint in her eye.

Maya groaned a little.

“She doesn’t like that.”

“Oh, of course. Forgive me.” Charlie pulled her binder and a pencil from her bag. “The last thing I want is to make you uncomfortable.”

“She’s just a little sensitive,” Lily said quietly.

Lily opened her textbook to the page the teacher had indicated and positioned it so Maya could read.

“Do you want me to do the writing?” Charlie asked.

“We can take turns,” Maya assured her.

“Okay. I only ask because I got a job over the summer working for an online news site. It’s part of a special program they run to let kids get a taste of the professional journalism world.”

“I heard about that,” Maya said. “That was you?”

Charlie nodded excitedly. She insisted on doing most of the writing, and seemed to dominate the conversation as well. Maya could barely get a word in edgewise, except for the occasional cough. Lily seemed to notice as well, because she kept sparing apologetic glances at Maya.

“It’s fine,” Maya mouthed.

As class was winding down, Charlie took their finished assignment up to the teacher and then sat back down.

“You don’t talk a lot, do you, Maya?” she asked.

“Sometimes.”

“I’d like to get to know you more.”

Next to her, Maya felt Lily tense up a little.

Maya asked, “Why? Because I’m the magical girl everyone’s talking about?”

“No, you seem pretty cool. I’d love to hear what you have to say when you actually talk.”

She smiled softly, and Maya’s heart fluttered. The bell rang at that moment, and Charlie rolled her eyes.

Standing up, she told Maya, “We really should hang out outside of class sometimes.”

Maya just nodded dumbly. Charlie waved to her as she left, and Maya had to bite her lip. She said goodbye to Lily, who looked a little sour for some reason, and headed off to her next class.

Maya met up with Brielle just as lunch began, and the two headed toward the cafeteria together. Brielle was smiling again. It was a relief to see her doing better.

“So I met a girl in English today.”

“Hm?”

“Her name’s Charlie. She’s the one who got that journalist job.”

“Ah.”

“She seemed nice. A little forceful, but I… I think…”

“Hey!”

Brielle and Maya turned around to see a freckled girl storming up to them.

“Adeline,” Brielle growled, stepping in front of Maya to shield her.

Adeline came to a stop in front of them. Even though she was shorter than Brielle, she stood like she was looking down on her. There was a cold fury in her golden eyes.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” she demanded.

“We’re going to lunch. The fuck are you doing?”

"Adeline,” Maya said softly, “please leave us alone. We’re not hurting anybody.”

Adeline scoffed, “Not hurting anybody?! You’re going around and telling everybody that I’m transphobic! That’s low. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

Brielle snorted and Maya rolled her eyes.

“Did you really forget?” Brielle asked, “The first day we were back. You seemed very keen on telling us that we’d made some kind of huge mistake and you were going to make us regret it.”

“God, you are so dense!” Adeline cried, getting the attention of several other students, “I wasn’t threatening you!”

“You weren’t?”

“It sounded a lot like a threat, Adeline.”

“No!” Adeline threw her hands up in frustration. “I’m training to become a witch, you morons. I’m angry that you went outside official channels and used unregulated magic! That stuff is dangerous! I couldn’t care less if you’re trans or nonbinary or whatever.”

Maya felt her face start to burn. That wasn’t at all what she thought the situation was. Now she felt kind of bad. She’d told Lily that Adeline was being transphobic.

But Brielle shook her head.

“Even if that’s true,” she said. “You’re still being kind of a bitch. You don’t get to tell us how we do or don’t transition, Adeline.”

Adeline groaned and glanced between Brielle and Maya.

With less enthusiasm, Adeline said, “I don’t think you two understand. Unregulated magic is dangerous. There’s a reason people aren’t allowed to use it if they want into the guild. What happened to you, getting split into two people? That’s typical of this kind of magic. You’re lucky it wasn’t worse.”

She took a deep breath.

“And things might get worse,” she continued. “There might be other side effects that you aren’t ready for. One way or another, you’re going to pay for what happened.”

Brielle folded her arms and scowled. Maya wrapped her arms around her stomach and looked away. A whine escaped her before she could suppress it. Adeline just sighed and took a step back.

“I just thought you should be ready for whatever happens,” she finished.

“What just happened, Adeline, is that you’ve upset my sister,” Brielle said, glancing over at the shaking Maya. “Big fucking mistake.”

“I’m trying to get you to realize how bad this situation is!” Adeline cried, curling her hands into fists.

“It is bad,” Brielle agreed, taking a few steps forward. “If you don’t leave me and my sister alone, I’m going to the administration and they’ll sort you out. Or I’ll sort you out myself. Understand?”

“You bull-headed—”

“Stop!” Maya cried.

She ran forward and pulled Brielle away from Adeline. Then she stood in between them and held up her arms to block them. Brielle blinked in surprise.

“Please don’t get in trouble for me,” Maya begged her sister.

“Maya, she—”

"She’s not the one who’ll get in—”

But she was interrupted by a harsh cough, then another. Maya brought her arm up to her mouth and continued coughing into her elbow. When it stopped, she shook her head.

“Are you okay?” Adeline asked.

“I’m fine.”

“Maya, if you’re sick—”

“I’m not sick. Just a tickle in my throat,” Maya insisted. “Come on. Let’s just please go to lunch.”

Brielle nodded, then glared briefly at Adeline before taking Maya’s hand and pulling her away.

“Actually, Brielle, can we find somewhere private to eat?”

Brielle paused, then nodded. She let go of Maya’s hand and they started walking away from the cafeteria. They found an empty hallway toward the back of the school that people rarely used and sat down near the windows.

“What’s wrong, Maya?”

Maya pulled her lunch out of her backpack and sighed.

“What if she’s right?” she asked. “One thing already went wrong with the spell? What if there’s more that we’re not aware of?”

“She’s not right,” Brielle said, not moving to get her own lunch out. “This wasn’t supposed to happen, but it’s not a bad thing. It’s amazing. You have to see that.”

Maya nodded. It was good to have a sister.

“Honestly, Maya,” Brielle continued, “even if there are a few bad apples like Adeline and Lucas, I actually feel really good about this. Our parents might be shit, but overall everything has gotten better for me. Adeline doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

“What about me?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re great. You’re confident and assertive, but I’m just… an anxious mess. It’s hard for me to talk a lot of the time. I feel like I’m living in your shadow.”

“Maya…”

Brielle grabbed her sister in a tight hug.

“You’re perfect, Maya. You’re calm and compassionate, so compassionate it kind of annoys me sometimes. You’re all the best traits that I had before the spell. There’s nothing wrong with you just because you haven’t found your footing yet.”

Maya sniffed.

“Thank you.”

Maya relaxed and unwrapped her sandwich. Tuna melt. Brielle had made it for her that morning while Maya made breakfast for the two of them.

“This is good,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you how good your cooking is.”

"A sandwich and chips are hardly cooking. You’re the one who’s good with the skillet.”

“You’re right,” Maya said, smirking. “I’m good at cooking, cleaning, and other wifely duties.”

“You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know. I’m just teasing.”

“But if I’m being honest,” Brielle said, shifting uncomfortably, “when we first met, I did kind of envy you.”

“You did?”

“Yeah.” Brielle looked away, blushing a little. “When I woke up and saw that I looked, well, pretty much like I did before, I was a little disappointed. And then I saw you, and you were so obviously feminine in ways I wasn’t. All this time, I’ve been thinking ‘that could have been me’ when I looked at you.”

“Brielle…”

“I mean, that’s all I ever wanted, right? Part of me thought I was going to end up looking and acting like you. But then I really thought about it. And the more time passed, the more I realized that I liked myself this way. I still get to be a girl, but on my terms and no one else’s.”

She finished, “I think that’s why Adeline is full of shit. We’re each the kind of person who we’re happiest being, regardless of how other people think we’re supposed to be. The spell gave us each exactly what we wanted, even if it isn’t immediately obvious right away.”

Maya wrapped her sandwich back up, placed it on the ground, and grabbed Brielle in a hug.

“Thank you,” she said. “That does make me feel better.”

“Now stop worrying about the dang spell.”

“I will, I promise!”

The two shared a laugh, and then Brielle asked, “Do you want to finish eating in the cafeteria?”

“There will be questions. Let’s just eat here.”

“Can do, sis.”

Brielle started pulling out her lunch from her bag. While she did, Maya reached into her own backpack and pulled out their phone. She navigated over to her email and checked the last message she got.

“4:00pm. Same location.”

Maya deleted the email and put her phone away, then bit her lip. She should send a message back to just forget about it. But she was committed now. One last meeting couldn’t hurt.

That evening, Maya made an excuse about needing to visit Amelia’s house and took the car. She drove back to the park where everything started and made her way to the same bench from that day. At four o’clock exactly, another spell circle appeared on the sidewalk. Maya took a deep breath and stepped in before the world dissolved around her.

“Oh, I thought you’d both be here.”

Maya was in the same library as before, with the big windows covering one wall overlooking a forest with mountains in the distance. Ilham was there, this time wearing a casual sweater and jeans. Maya gulped.

“I didn’t tell her anything about this,” Maya admitted, folding her arms.

“Why not? I’d love to see her.”

Maya shook her head, reminding Ilham, “She’s angry at you. You abandoned us as soon as something went wrong. I shouldn’t even be here, but… I’m kind of angry too. And I thought you should know that.”

Ilham frowned and nodded.

“Come sit down,” she said, gesturing to the table. “I guess I understand you being upset. But everything turned out alright in the end, didn’t it?”

Maya thought back to what she’d overheard her parents talking about. But she wasn’t going to tell that to a stranger. Instead she nodded and sat down at the table opposite Ilham.

“Let me know what’s going on. How are things at home? Do you two get along, at least?”

“Yes, we love each other very much,” Maya said, smiling. “I can’t imagine life without her.”

“That’s very good to hear.”

“All our friends were okay with there being two of us.”

“And your parents? How did they take it?”

Maya frowned and glanced away.

“They’re… struggling. But I have to believe that they’ll come around. They… they still love me. I know they do.”

Ilham nodded, but her expression was distant.

She asked, “So, have you noticed anything strange when you’re around your sister? Like, are you picking up her emotions or thoughts or copying her mannerisms?”

“No.”

“That’s good,” Ilham said, “It means that there’s a nice clean division between the two of you. With magic like this, there’s always a chance of some strange side effects. But if you haven’t noticed anything by now, there’s probably nothing.”

“That’s good to hear,” Maya told her, smiling softly. “I have been a little worried. There’s a girl at school who says that there might be consequences we aren’t aware of yet, and I was worried.”

“Well, if you’d like, I can do some magical readings, but I can almost guarantee you that it’ll all come back negative.”

“Actually,” Maya said, “I’d appreciate that very much. Just to be sure.”

Ilham nodded and led Maya out of the room. They passed through a long corridor until they ended up at a seemingly random room. It looked like a magical laboratory, with lab equipment scattered across various tables and shelves, and in the middle of the room was a doctor’s examination chair.

“Sit and make yourself comfortable,” Ilham said.

Maya did so the best she could. Ilham drew a few vials of blood and set them aside, then drew a series of runes along Maya’s arms. She entered some kind of meditative trance and her hands started glowing a soft blue. Nearby, Maya heard the sound of a pen scratching on paper.

When she was done, Ilham helped Maya up and said, “It’ll be a few weeks before we get any results, but I’m fairly confident that you’ll be fine.”

“Thank you for this,” Maya said. “And there is one more thing.”

“Name it.”

Maya took a deep breath and said, “Unless you absolutely need to, don’t contact me or my sister ever again.”

“That’s harsh, Gemini.”

“You abandoned us, Missus Ilham,” Maya reminded her. “I’d feel better if you were out of our lives for good.”

Ilham rolled her eyes, but nodded. Then she snapped her fingers and the world around Maya dissolved.