Maya was still riding high after her successful introduction to the anime club the day before. By the time lunch came around, Brielle and her weren’t as tense around each other anymore, but they still hadn’t been talking to each other much. Neither seemed to want to be the one to apologize.

“I need to go to the restroom,” Brielle muttered, standing up and walking away.

Maya continued eating, but after a few minutes Brielle didn’t return. She looked around, even craned her neck trying to spot her sister in the crowded lunchroom. There was still no sign of her.

“I’ll be right back,” Maya said, standing up.

Where would Brielle have gone? Maya tried to push down the budding panic in her gut. nothing bad had happened to Brielle.

Just like how there’s nothing wrong with you? she thought to herself.

She shoved the thought down and headed toward the nearest restroom. Maya almost sighed in relief when she saw Brielle standing in the middle of the hallway. That turned sour when she saw that Brielle was in the middle of an argument with another girl—Adeline, the witch in training.

“—do this to yourself?” Adeline was asking.

“Look!” Brielle said, throwing up her hands. “I get it. I really do. It was stupid and reckless and I could have gotten seriously hurt. And you’re right, it didn’t turn out like I thought it would. But I’m glad I did it. I’m glad I didn’t have to foresight to stop myself. I wouldn’t change the results for anything.”

Adeline was fuming.

“Why not?!” she demanded. “How, after knowing just how wrongheaded a decision it was, can you still be defending it? You were literally split into two halves! That should be traumatic!”

Brielle looked over to Maya, and Adeline followed her gaze. Maya walked up to stand next to her sister, and Brielle wrapped an arm around Maya’s shoulders.

“The thing you don’t understand, Adeline, is that I love my sister very much,” Brielle continued. “She means the absolute world to me, and even if we don’t always see eye to eye I’m never, ever going to regret what I did to get her.”

Maya nodded, adding, “We know that people think of her as the original and me as just a copy. And if you all want to think that, then fine, but it doesn’t change the fact that we’re sisters through and through. We’re always going to be family no matter what.”

Brielle finished, “Do you understand that, you wannabe witch?”

Adeline glanced between Brielle and Maya, the confusion on her face slowly ebbing away.

“You really are two separate people, aren’t you?” she asked. “Really and truly.”

“Yes,” Brielle said, squeezing Maya tighter.

Maya nodded.

“And you really do love each other,” Adeline realized. Her expression fell. “I… I need to go. I’m sorry.”

She turned and ran off, leaving Brielle and Maya alone. Brielle shook her head and folded her arms, muttering under her breath. Maya just snorted and leaned up against her sister.

“You know, I was worried,” she said. “When I saw you arguing with her, I thought I was going to have to interrupt a fight.”

“Me? Get in a fight? I’d never,” Brielle replied, smirking. “Besides, we don’t have to worry about her or anyone. As long as we stick together nobody is going to be able to hurt us.” She frowned. “You know I don’t think of you as a copy, right?”

“I don’t think of myself as one, either,” Maya said, leading the way back to the cafeteria. “And you know that I love you very much. I don’t blame you for wanting to live your own life, even if it means we’re not spending every moment together.”

“I’ll always be there for you when you need me, Maya. And I trust your judgment with Charlie. You know her better than I do, anyway.”

“Thank you, Brielle.”

Maya and Brielle returned to the lunch table and sat back down. There wasn’t much time left in lunch, but everyone seemed to notice a change in their attitudes. The table was all happy laughter and smiles until the bell rang after that.

“See ya, Maya,” Brielle said.

Maya waved as she separated from her friends and headed toward her locker. It was in a crummy location way in the back of the school, far away from all her classes. Just her luck. Maya shoved her English and math books away with her binders and grabbed her stuff for the rest of the day.

She had almost gotten her new binders and books into her bag when Maya heard a familiar voice behind her.

“Surprised to see you alone, copycat.”

Maya’s breath caught in her throat and her whole body tensed up. Slowly, she turned around to see a slim boy with a square jaw leering at her from a short distance away. When he saw the look on her face, he sneered.

“Your ‘big sis’ isn’t here to save you this time,” Lucas said, walking closer.

Maya pressed herself back against the lockers and whined.

“Did she finally realize you were a burden and give up on you?”

“Lucas,” Maya mumbled, shutting her eyes, “leave me alone. You don’t have to do this. I know your father is putting you up to it.”

She heard Lucas growl, “Like I told the other freak, I’m my own man. I know that this is wrong. And deep down, I think you do too.”

“What?” Maya asked, taking a few steps away and opening her eyes.

“Don’t lie to me,” Lucas said. “You have his memories, don’t you? You know that Jackson wasn’t really a girl. He’s a man, with a man’s body and a man’s soul and no amount of magical corruption can hide that fact forever. Just because some people are brainwashed to think that magic is okay doesn’t mean everyone is going to let him get away with it forever.”

“Shut up,” Maya said. She covered her ears. Her whole body was shaking.

But Lucas continued, “You don’t have to be caught up in this. You can still turn to God and repent for being part of this. He’ll forgive you and welcome you into his embrace if you publicly reject the pagan magic that created you. You don’t have to go to Hell, Maya.”

“I said shut up!” Maya cried.

Everyone in the hallways stopped for a moment and turned to look at them. A few of them turned away and continued what they were doing. others started muttering among themselves.

Lucas told her, “Don’t let him drag you down like this.”

Maya curled her hands into fists and stood up straight. She locked eyes with Lucas and snarled, “Brielle is my sister, and she’s my twin too. We were born together, we both made the decision to seek magical help, and we’re both happy with the results. I’m not some pawn you can turn against the rest of my family, you transphobic, magiphobic piece of garbage.”

Lucas opened his mouth to speak, but Maya wasn’t done.

"You think you’re better than me,” she said. “Privileged white boy, sitting on this throne and commanding that the rest of us follow impossibly strict rules or we get punished, because if you don’t need something, then the rest of us must not either. But some of us do. If you were sick or disabled, you’d see the importance of having magic publicly available to everyone. If you had to look in the mirror every day and see someone else looking back at you, you’d understand why we couldn’t just choke it down and pretend like nothing was wrong. People like you will never understand what it’s like to have to take an active role in fixing yourself! And we don’t need your undeserved superiority-complex making things harder for us!”

Maya was breathing heavily. Her vision was swimming and it was hard for her to get a sense of balance. When she could focus again, Lucas was scowling.

“I gave you a chance,” he told her, before turning and storming off.

Maya took another moment to lean up against the lockers and breathe deeply. But then the warning bell rang and Maya groaned. She was going to be late to class.

The end of school couldn’t come fast enough. Maya needed to see Brielle and tell her what had happened. Brielle wouldn’t like it, but she needed to hear what Lucas had done.

When the final bell of the day rang, Maya returned to her locker and started grabbing her things. The hair on the back of her neck wouldn’t stop standing on end. Maya closed her locker and took a deep breath, then started heading for the exit where Brielle would be waiting for her.

“There you are,” Brielle said when she caught sight of Maya. “Jason said he had something to show us before we left.”

“Can he hurry?” Maya asked, glancing out the window at the rain. “I want to get home before the storm gets worse.”

Brielle nodded in the direction of the boy who was heading their way. Eric and Amelia were with him, both looking upset at something. Jason had a tablet in his hands, and handed it over to Brielle with a mumbled, “Look at this.”

It was a news website. The headline of the article read “Magical Mistake Yields Teenage Twins.” And right under it: “by Charlie Barns.”

“Charlie?” Maya asked.

Her breath stopped. She felt lightheaded again. Maya couldn’t even focus on the writing. Beside her, Brielle was scanning the article and clenching the tablet so tightly Maya thought it might break.

“I can’t believe this,” Brielle muttered.

Maya took the tablet from her and started reading.

Maya admits to having changed more than she thought she would. “I’m not sure if I am the same person,” she tells me. Her description of her friends and family indicate that they see her as a newcomer, frequently forgetting that she remembers many of the events that they describe to her.

“I told her that in private,” Maya whispered, feeling the blood rush from her face. “I trusted her… and she wrote a story about me.”

“Where is she?” Brielle asked the group.

"I know where her locker is,” Maya said, passing the tablet back to Jason. “But we’ll have to hurry.

Charlie was indeed still at her open locker. Maya’s heart was pounding in her ears as she walked up. Beside her, Brielle was fuming. When Charlie saw Maya, she smiled softly.

“Hey there, cute stuff.”

“The fuck is wrong with you?!” Brielle cried.

“Charlie… how could you do this?”

Charlie scowled at Brielle’s outburst, then turned to Maya and furled her brow.

“What do you mean?”

Brielle spat, “We saw the article, you bitch!”

“Oh, good! What did you think?”

Maya stood there, slack-jawed.

“I trusted you!” she cried, her vision blurry from tears.

“It’s not a big deal.” Charlie shrugged. “People want to know about these kinds of things. And obviously you’re willing to share.”

Brielle reached up, like she was about to grab Charlie by the collar, but restrained herself and continued fuming.

“You have to take this down, now,” she snarled.

“Woah, hold up. You can’t stop the free press.”

“Charlie, please,” Maya begged, crying openly. “Please take it down. I’m not… I’m not some freak. I don’t want people gawking at me like this.”

Charlie placed a hang on Maya’s shoulder, but Brielle batted it away. Charlie scowled at Brielle. Brielle responded by pulling her sister away.

“Maya, I’m sorry you’re handling this so poorly,” Charlie said, closing her locker. “Trust me, though: it’s not the end of the world. You’ll see. But I have to get to my bus. See you later, cute stuff.”

She walked past them, giving Maya a brief pat on the shoulder as she did so. Maya buried her head in her hands and tried to stop the tears from flowing. Brielle grabbed her and held her close.

As soon as they got home, Maya ran to her room and locked the door. She curled up on the bed and kept on crying. The tears wouldn’t stop for anything. Brielle hammered on the door, trying to get Maya to let her in, but Maya wouldn’t move from her spot. Eventually, Brielle gave up and left her alone.

Every now and then, the tears would stop and Maya would just listen to the thunder outside, but after just a minute or two they’d start again. Between her sobs, she’d cough, and sometimes the coughing would evolve into a whole fit. Then when it was over, she’d cry from the pain in her chest.

As it got dark out, Maya heard a fumbling with the lock. She’d finally stopped crying, but wouldn’t move. She heard the lock click and the door opened.

“Thanks, Mom,” she heard Brielle say before the door closed again.

Brielle came to stand over her, holding a bowl of ice cream.

“Sit up and eat something,” Brielle ordered.

Maya tried to obey, sitting up despite the pounding headache. She took the bowl from Brielle, but just left it sitting in her lap. Brielle sat down on the bed beside her.

“You’re going to be okay,” Brielle said, leaning in for a hug. “Not tonight. Maybe not for a while. But you’re going to be okay.”

“I liked her, Brielle,” Maya admitted. “I liked her and she sees me as just a magical experiment gone wrong. Just like everyone else.”

“That’s not true.”

“It is, though.” Maya blinked and a few fresh tears trickled down her cheeks. “For the rest of my life, I’m going to be the magical girl.”

“No, you’re not,” Brielle insisted. She adjusted herself so she could hug Maya from behind. “One day, high school will be over. We’ll be off to college and surrounded by people who don’t know about the spell or about us being trans. But we’ll still be sisters. That’s the only thing that matters.”

“What about Mom and Dad?” Maya asked.

“They’re coming around.”

Maya grunted, but made no further comment. She took a few bites of ice cream and Brielle moved back to sitting beside her.

"I did your homework for you.”

“Thank you. I don’t think I would have been able to do it.”

“Just relax, Maya.”

Maya focused on her ice cream. When she was done, Brielle took the bowl downstairs. She returned to find Maya already in her pajamas and lying on the bed. Brielle sat down and placed Maya’s head in her lap, letting her doze off.