It was late in the evening when Maya and Brielle finally walked through the front door. Their parents were sitting on the large couch in the living room, watching TV. Brielle sat down on the other couch and stretched out, and Maya stood behind the couch and leaned up against it.

“You two are looking good,” their mother said.

The pair had just come back from the salon. Maya hadn’t done much, just trimmed her hair and had them done up in bantu knots. Brielle had insisted on getting box braids done in a cropped style that came down to her chin.

“You were right, Mom,” she said, pointing at her hair. “This took forever. So worth it, though.”

“I’m glad, for as long as I had to wait on you,” Maya added.

“I told you that you could go and just pick me up later.”

“No, I’d rather spend that time with you. Besides, it was fun talking to the stylists. And I did step out to grab some takeout at one point.”

“And wouldn’t share,” Brielle reminded her.

Their dad chuckled, asking, “You two really are joined at the hip, aren’t you?”

Maya nodded and rested her chin on Brielle’s head. Her sister shook her off and Maya chuckled. Then she climbed over the back of the couch and landed upside down on the cushion.

“Are we gonna get started on that new show tonight?” she asked Brielle, righting herself so she was sitting up.

"Actually,” their mother said, “we were thinking we might have a movie night tonight. What do you girls say?”

“What movie?” they asked in unison.

There was some debate over which movie would be appropriate for the whole family to watch. Their mother didn’t like action movies, their father didn’t like dramas, and nobody but Maya seemed interested in a romantic comedy. They eventually settled on a horror movie that Brielle suggested, about a family dealing with a demon-possessed babysitter.

Brielle moved to the big couch while Maya got up to make popcorn. When she returned to the living room with two bowls of popcorn, Brielle was sitting right between their mom and dad, talking and laughing with them. A frown tugged at Maya’s lips, but she managed to suppress it and sat down on the edge of the big couch, a little out of the way of everyone else.

“Are we ready?” their father asked, taking the larger bowl of popcorn from Maya.

The movie was scary enough for Maya that she found herself looking away a lot more than she’d been expecting. Beside her, her family would jump at every little jumpscare and Brielle would shriek and laugh, burying her face in one of their parents’ shoulders. What was she doing? Had Brielle forgotten everything their mom and dad had said? On the TV, the parents were arguing with their kids about how to deal with the ghost haunting them.

When the movie was finally over, Maya breathed a sigh of relief and sat her bowl of popcorn down on the side table. That movie had been too loud; her head kind of hurt now. Brielle was chatting with their parents, but Maya couldn’t be bothered to pay attention.

“Maya, are you okay?” Brielle asked.

Maya rubbed her head and replied, “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m gonna go, alright? I told Amelia I’d be available to game with her tonight. You don’t need me, right?”

“Okay, honey,” their mother replied.

“Have fun,” their father added.

Maya gave them a weak smile and got up to leave. Once she was in her room, Maya curled up on the bed and rested her aching head on the pillow. She couldn’t get the image of Brielle acting like nothing was wrong out of her head.

When Brielle finally returned to their room that night, she gently nudged Maya awake and suggested she might want to change into some pajamas. Maya did so, but her headache hadn’t completely gone away and the popcorn must have upset her stomach.

“If you’re feeling bad, I can use the air mattress,” Brielle suggested. “That way you have the bed to yourself.”

“No, it’s fine,” Maya insisted. Their parents had finally gone and bought the pair of them an air mattress so they didn’t have to sleep together, but it had remained unopened and sitting in their closet since then. “It’s your bed, too.”

Maya slid back into bed and turned away from the middle. After a moment, she felt the bed move as Brielle did the same. That was good. She just wanted to feel like her sister was close.

“I love you, Brielle,” Maya muttered. “I don’t ever want to lose you.”

"You’re not going to lose me, Maya. Why would you even say that?”

But Maya was already asleep.

In the morning, Maya felt better. Brielle had the phone, so Maya spent most of the morning in her pajamas on the computer. Occasionally, Brielle would step outside to grab breakfast or take a shower, but otherwise she was just lounging on the bed.

“So,” Maya began, not taking her eyes off the screen, “my friend from English class, Lily, wants us to join the anime club at school. What do you think?”

Brielle thought it over for a few minutes, then replied, “It doesn’t really sound like something I’d have fun with.”

“What? Really? But I really want to go.”

“Go without me,” Brielle told her.

“But I…” Maya groaned and paused the game so she could face her sister. “I’m just… not comfortable trying new things alone. I’d really appreciate it if you were there, at least to start with. You wouldn’t have to stay.”

Brielle started chewing her lip, but didn’t look up from the phone.

“Brielle…”

“Maya,” she finally said, setting the phone down, “I want to say yes, but… maybe this will be good for you?” Maya’s heart sank. “I’m not always going to be by your side, remember?”

“Yeah… I… alright,” Maya mumbled.

Brielle flashed her a comforting smile and said, “You’ll be fine, I promise. You’ll have one friend there already.”

“That’s true…”

“At any rate,” Brielle continued, pulling herself off the bed, “I need to get going. I’m spending the rest of the day at Eric’s house.”

“Oh?!” Maya cried. “Wait, hang on. Let me get dressed.”

She jumped out of her seat, but froze when she saw the look on Brielle’s face.

“You mean… you’re going to spend time with Eric,” she realized. “Alone.”

“Well…” Brielle blushed and started rubbing the back of her neck, “no, it’d be fine if you came. I’m sure he won’t mind.”

Maya sat back down. Obviously Brielle wanted to spend time alone with Eric, the way she couldn’t stop fawning over him. If Maya came, she’d just be in the way.

“Actually, I think I have some homework I need to finish before tomorrow anyway,” she lied. “Go on. Have fun.”

Brielle walked over and gave Maya a brief hug.

“I’ll see you tonight.”

Once Brielle was gone, Maya sighed deeply and slouched in her chair. Then her stomach growled. Maya wasn’t even all that hungry after her stomach ache last night, but it was close to noon and she should probably eat something.

She poured herself a bowl of cereal and stood at the kitchen island to eat it. Maya could hear her dad eating lunch in the dining room and didn’t really want to confront him. Unfortunately, he was finished before her and came in to wash his plate in the sink.

“Good afternoon,” he told her.

“Hey, Dad,” she replied quietly, paying attention to his face.

His expression shifted, ever so slightly. Maya could tell that he was a little uncomfortable hearing her call him that, even after all these weeks. She scowled and focused on her meal.

Her father left quickly, without another word to Maya. Once she was alone, Maya sighed and dumped the rest of her food down the drain. She wasn’t hungry anymore. Maya returned to her room and booted up a new game.

“I feel so welcome,” she muttered, coughing briefly into her arm.

Maya was a few minutes into her game when she felt a spasm in her gut. She started coughing again, violently. Maya covered her mouth, but couldn’t stop hacking up. She slid out of her chair and to the ground, curling up into a ball.

Finally it stopped. Maya took a moment to catch her breath, then wiped the drool from her mouth, shut her eyes tightly, and started to sob. Her chest hurt.

Where was Ilham? Maya had to know that she was okay. She had to get her clean bill of health and assurance that this was a random illness that was going to pass.

She couldn’t imagine the alternative.

Maya decided not to tell Brielle or her parents what had happened. She sent an email to Ilham, begging for answers, and then did her best to ignore how she was feeling. By the next morning, she felt mostly better anyway. It was probably nothing.

When she and Brielle were getting out of their car the next morning, Maya spotted someone she hadn’t been expecting. Her heart leapt to see a girl with curly brown hair and thick eyebrows waiting at Brielle’s normal parking spot. Charlie grinned when she saw that Maya had spotted her.

“Hey there, Maya,” Charlie said, folding her arms. “How are you today?”

“I’m fine,” Maya said, smiling softly.

Then Charlie turned to her sister and asked, “You’re Brielle, right?”

"I am. You are?”

“Charlie Barnes, aspiring reporter,” Charlie replied, standing up even straighter. They started walking toward school and Charlie continued, “So you’re the original, then?”

Maya started to squirm a little.

“No,” Brielle said firmly. “We split evenly.”

“Oh, cool. Do you remember different things or—?”

"No, we both have all the memories we did before the spell.”

“Interesting. Why do you think it happened? Did the person casting the spell mess up or did you secretly want a sister all along?”

“Charlie…” Maya mumbled. “I don’t like these questions.”

Charlie stopped walking and turned to face Maya.

“I’m sorry, cute stuff,” she said quietly, her expression softening. “I’m just curious is all. You know how reporters are.”

Maya felt her cheeks flush and nodded. She couldn’t look directly at Charlie without grinning, so bit her lip and tried to hold it down. But Brielle was scowling.

“Charlie, can you leave?” Brielle asked. “I want to talk to my sister alone.”

Charlie flared her nostrils briefly, then turned back to Maya and said, “I’ll see you in class, then.”

When she was gone, Brielle told Maya, “I don’t really like her.”

"Charlie can be a bit much, especially at the start,” Maya agreed. “But she’s a kind person. She’s been helping me through a lot of feelings I wouldn’t have been able to process otherwise.”

“She seems nosy to me,” Brielle said, folding her arms and glaring in the direction Charlie walked off in. “Are you sure you can trust her?”

“I’m sure, Brielle,” Maya said sternly. “I know how to pick my own friends.”

“I just don’t want you to get hurt! That’s all! She’s kind of suspect to me.”

“Well, don’t hang out with her then! You can just spend time with Eric instead!”

“What does he have to do with anything?!” Brielle asked, exasperated.

“I… forget it,” Maya said, beginning to walk away.

“Maya!”

Maya didn’t stop walking. After a moment, she heard Brielle start to follow her. They made it to the outside of the library late, but didn’t speak to each other again before the bell for homeroom rang.

By the time lunch came around, Maya and Brielle had let off some steam. They didn’t acknowledge each other, but they did sit together like they always did. Their friends noticed a change in their attitudes, but didn’t pry.

When the school day ended, Maya and Brielle said goodbye and Brielle headed toward the parking lot. Maya stayed behind at her locker, trying to collect her breath as she filled her backpack. When she was ready, she headed toward the classroom that Lily had told her about.

“Hey there,” Lily said when Maya entered. “Welcome to anime club.”

There was a whole crowd of people here that Maya didn’t recognize. She took a deep breath and sat down at one of the tables. Her hands were trembling.

“Brielle didn’t come?” Lily asked.

Maya shook her head, explaining, “She went home. My mom is going to pick me up when we’re done.”

“Well, while you’re here, let me introduce you to the other members of the club. Hey everyone!” The group fell quiet. “This here is Maya. I’m hoping she wants to stay in the club, so everyone make her feel welcome.”

“Hey, Maya.”

“We’re glad you’re here.”

“No way! The magical girl?”

“So cool!”

Maya shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Lily flashed her an assuring smile. There was a flutter in Maya’s heart, but she pushed it back down. She was interested in Charlie. It wouldn’t be fair to any of them for her to start pining after another girl, too.

With Lily sitting by her side, Maya was able to field a few questions about herself and Brielle. It would have been nice if her sister were there to take the lead, but by the time the club president formally began the meeting, she was feeling alright. These people didn’t seem too bad. If anything, they actually seemed to think she was kind of cool for being created from magic.

“So,” Lily said quietly to Maya, “are you glad you came?”

“Yeah, I guess I am,” Maya admitted. “Thank you for inviting me.”

“Well, I’m glad to get to spend time with you outside of class. Maybe… we can hang out one weekend and watch something together?”

Maya thought about it for a moment, then nodded.

“I’d like that.”

Lily smiled softly.

For the rest of the meeting, Lily introduced Maya to the different club members individually. With Lily there, Maya found it a lot easier to get comfortable around these people she didn’t know. Hopefully some of these people might even become close friends of her own.

And for the first time in a long time, she didn’t feel like she needed Brielle to watch over her.