School was over again and Maya slid into the passenger seat of their car. She sighed and rested her head against the window. All day she’d been distracted by what Arista had told her. She could be cured easily, but at the cost of her and her sister’s individuality.

Being fused with her sister. The thought was terrifying. Who would she end up being? Sure, Maya had a different personality than Jackson, but she hadn’t known it would happen. Choosing to go with something so dramatic, though, and at the cost of her sister…

“You’re quiet, Maya,” Brielle said.

“So are you.”

“You’re thinking about what she said last night?”

“I just wish there was some other option.”

“We’ll just have to wait,” Brielle said. “They’re working on something better. Forget about it, okay? I’m not losing you.”

When they pulled into the driveway, Maya saw someone sitting on their front porch and watching them. She was a teenage girl with cropped brown hair. Maya didn’t recognize her, and as they walked up Brielle positioned herself in front of Maya to shield her.

“Hello,” the girl said, standing up. “My name is Victoria. We met briefly when I helped cast the spell to stabilize you. Can I come in? I have something you might want to hear.”

Victoria followed the two inside and they all took a seat in the living room. She took a moment to absorb the furniture and decor, clearly impressed. Brielle was tapping her foot impatiently while Maya squirmed.

“First off,” Victoria said, “everybody is still looking for a way to permanently stabilize your body, Maya. So don’t worry about that. An answer is coming, I’m sure. But I spoke to one of my other mentors who studies magic theory and he knew of an experimental spell that might be able to help.”

“We’re kind of desperate,” Maya muttered.

“Not too desperate,” Brielle insisted.

Victoria nodded and continued, “If there’s no way to save Maya’s body, we can still save her mind. It’s possible to move one person’s mind into another person’s body and have them share residency, creating a multiplicity from two separate people. As twins, especially twins with the same magical origin, it would be really easy to pull off with an almost certainty of no adverse effects.”

Maya’s stomach bottomed out. Move her into Brielle’s head? Have her be stuck sharing a body with her sister for the rest of her life? She couldn’t imagine trying to live every day stuck that closely to someone else.

Brielle told Victoria, “I’m not comfortable with this.”

“I won’t do it,” Maya said, “I’m going to wait for a cure. They’ll find something.” In a small voice, she added, “They have to.”

Victoria nodded pensively and stood up.

“I thought you deserved to have options,” she said. “I apologize for just dropping in on you like this. I’ll see myself out. And don’t worry: I’ll keep asking around for advice. Someone has to have a good idea.”

“Thank you for trying,” Maya said.

Victoria left, and when their parents returned Maya and Brielle filled them in over dinner on what Victoria had said.

“That sounds terrifying,” their father said. “You won’t agree, will you?”

“No, I don’t want to do that.”

Their mother added, “And the other option was to fuse you together. There’d no longer be two of you. That’s just as scary.”

“I know, mom,” Maya muttered.

“We’ll just wait until they come up with a real cure,” Brielle insisted. “Anything less isn’t worth agreeing to.”

Dinner was quiet after that. Maya wanted to scream. Why couldn’t she just have a normal life like everyone else?

In the morning, Maya tried to stay positive around her friends. She really did. But they were looking at her differently, even if they wouldn’t admit it.

“You’re acting weird, Maya,” Amelia said on their way to homeroom. “Are you feeling sick again?”

“No,” Maya replied bitterly. “I feel fine.”

“Then what’s wrong? Please let me know so I can help.”

“I don’t need help,” Maya insisted. “I just need people to stop worrying about me.”

“Okay! Jeez, Maya, I’m just trying to help.”

Adeline let the matter drop. Maya sighed. It was going to be a long day. She was just so tired.

Maya ended up having another coughing fit in English, disrupting class and drawing the ire of the teacher. Lily gave Maya a concerned glance, but didn’t say anything. Even though Maya kept glancing at her throughout class, Lily didn’t seem to want to look at her.

By the time school was over, Maya was a little dizzy. Something was wrong. She wasn’t supposed to be feeling like this already. Was this in her head? The spell had returned her to top form, hadn’t it?

“There you are.”

Maya shook her head clear and tried to smile at Brielle. She’d just arrived at the back door of the school where Brielle was waiting. And Adeline was there too.

“Hello, Maya,” Adeline said. “Have you thought about the offer at all?”

“Which one?” she asked.

Adeline’s expression darkened.

“Yes, I heard about that,” she said. “I’d forget about it if I were you. You can’t seriously consider every idea that somebody has.”

“We’re not doing anything right now,” Brielle said, “We’re waiting until someone figures out how to fix Maya for good.”

“But think about it,” Adeline said. “This might be the best thing for you both. You were clearly supposed to always be one person, right? And I’ve read over what the spell is supposed to do. This will take the best traits of both of you and combine them into one person. You wouldn’t each be half a person anymore.”

“How can you say that?!” Maya cried.

“That’s crossing a line,” Brielle said, scowling. “We’re not less of a person because there are two of us now.”

“I just mean—”

“I know what you meant,” Brielle said, bristling. “Fusing us together might as well be killing both of us. I thought I understood you better, Adeline. How can you say such a thing?”

“It’s not going to kill you,” Adeline insisted. “From your perspective, it’ll just be like gaining a new set of memories. You’ll still continue, just as a slightly different person.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Maya said, “We’ll still—” She coughed. “—it’ll still be losing my sister. I’m not going to lose Brielle even if it meant becoming a better person.”

Adeline groaned.

“I get it,” she said. “You don’t want to lose each other. But this is the best possible outcome. Even if someone does figure out how to stabilize Maya permanently, experimental magic always has unforeseen consequences. This might be the only way to really avoid that in the future.”

“I’m done here,” Brielle said, grabbing Maya by the arm and dragging her toward the door.

“Brielle! Think about it!” Adeline cried.

Brielle threw up her middle finger but didn’t turn to look back at her. Her grip was actually hurting Maya a little bit. When she let go, there was a red mark on Maya’s arm.

“You hurt me…” Maya said quietly.

“I’m sorry,” Brielle replied, “I just… I thought she was my friend.” Maya could see that she was on the verge of tears. “I thought I could trust her.”

She started to sniffle, and Maya grabbed her in a hug. They stood there for a little while as other students passed them by. When Brielle got her breathing back under control, they returned to their car.

That Saturday, Maya ignored her homework and stayed in bed. Her lightheadedness was back and she kept having coughing fits. There was a pain in her stomach that was keeping her from eating as much, but she wasn’t sure why.

“Are you okay?” Brielle asked, kneeling down by the bed and placing a wet cloth on Maya’s forehead.

“Is the doctor here?”

“He’ll be here this evening, I promise,” Brielle replied.

“Something went wrong, Brielle. I know it did.”

“It’s okay. It’s probably just a bug. Not everything is magic, you know?” Brielle tried to smile. “He’ll tell you that you’re just overreacting, you’ll see.”

Her cell phone started ringing. She glanced at the screen and frowned, her brow furling in confusion. Brielle answered and put whoever it was on speaker.

“Gemini! I want to meet up and check in on you two.”

“Ilham, how did you get this number?” Brielle demanded.

“Magic, dear. Both of you, meet me in the park in thirty minutes.”

“Wait—!”

But the line went dead before she could say any more. Brielle cursed, then sighed. She turned back to Maya.

“Do you feel like you can move?”

“Are we going?” Maya asked, sitting up despite the dizziness in her head. “I think I can get there with help.”

They sneaked out the front door and into their car. The drive to the park was quiet. Maya was feeling a little better, but her thoughts were occupied by wondering what Ilham wanted.

When they reached the bench from before, the Arab woman was already sitting there, in plainclothes for a change. Maya sat down next to her and wrapped her arms around her stomach. Brielle stayed standing, grinding her teeth.

“What the Hell?!” she cried, throwing her arms up. “I’ve been trying to get in contact with you for a week, dammit! I thought you helped people, you witch! We needed your help for a change and you were nowhere to be found! I should… I swear…”!

“Brielle, that’s enough!” Maya cried. “Let her speak!”

Brielle gave her a glare, but then her expression softened. Ilham looked unfazed. She just crossed her legs and turned to face Maya.

“So things aren’t going well, I take it?” she asked.

Maya explained what had happened since they last met: finding a magical treatment, their two options, feeling sick faster than predicted. Ilham kept a neutral expression as she listened, nodding along softly.

“So the answer is simple,” she said. “You choose the option that preserves your individualities.”

“We’re waiting until someone finds a real cure,” Brielle said.

“Maybe you can do that,” Ilham said. “But they couldn’t even keep her well for a full week. If that fails, you have to make a decision. And let’s face it: even if you were originally supposed to be one person, you’re separate people now. You’re both alive, and that makes you too precious to give up who you are.”

Brielle sighed and looked away, then admitted, “You know, I want to be so angry at you. You’ve made my life so much more difficult than it was. But without you, I wouldn’t have Maya. And I’m not going to lose her. So… thank you, I guess. Thank you for screwing up my life.”

“Anytime, Gemini.” Turning to Maya, Ilham continued, “You’re strong, kid. You’ll find a way through the darkness, no matter what life throws at you.” She stood up. “I have to go. If I stay in one place too long, people might find me. But I’ll stay in touch.”

Maya and Brielle exchanged a look, then Maya said, “Actually, Ilham, I already asked you once not to contact us anymore.  I just… you’re not a good person to have in my life.”

Ilham looked hurt, but nodded.

“Alright. I guess I won’t see you anymore, then. Best of luck, you two.”

She snapped her fingers and was gone. After a moment, Brielle sat down next to Maya and wrapped an arm around her.

“We’re not going to have to make that decision, are we?” Maya asked.

“No,” Brielle said. “I’m sure the doctor will have good news.”

The two stopped to get some food on the way back. Maya could only eat about half of her meal. Her stomach growled in protest. She’d been eating so little over the past two days.

Maya wasn’t really paying attention when they got home. She walked through the front door and was almost to the stairs by the time Brielle managed to stop her and direct her attention to the living room. Their parents were in there, along with a tall, pasty man with red eyes wearing a long dark cloak.

“Good, you’re here,” Dr. Rackar said. “Sit down and I’ll begin the examination.”

Maya gulped and sat down on the couch. The doctor took a small marker out of the folds of his cloak and quickly started drawing little symbols up and down Maya’s arms, as well as across her forehead. The symbols began to glow, and Maya whined a little in discomfort.

Her mother and father were sitting on the other couch together. Brielle was standing and hovering nearby. When she saw that Maya was staring at her, she put on a brave face for her.

Then Dr. Rackar took a small flat stone out of a pocket and placed it against Maya’s chest, then her forehead. He placed it against a few other places on her body seemingly at random, then held the stone up against his ear. He waited for about a moment, then nodded. The doctor placed the stone back into his pocket and waved his hand to wipe away the symbols on Maya’s body.

“Just as I was worried,” he said. “I’m sorry, Ms. Patterson. Your degeneration is returning faster than we thought it would.”

“Oh no!”

“Goddammit…”

“Fuck!”

Brielle started pulling at her hair and shaking her head. On the other couch, their father was holding tightly onto their mother. Maya was numb.

“I believe,” the doctor continued, “that the spell we used to return you to full health placed too much of a strain on your body to be as effective as we hoped. You’re becoming sick faster this time, and repeated uses of the spell might cause more stress than we anticipated.”

Maya nodded, curling up on the couch. Just as she’d feared: things were going to get worse. They weren’t going to be able to save her in time.

Brielle sat down next to Maya and wrapped her up in a hug.

She asked the doctor, “Can’t you find a cure? So many people are looking for it. How long is it going to take?”

“I’m not sure,” the doctor admitted. “It’s worth waiting to know for sure. But Ms. Patterson, you may have to make a choice one way or the other.”

He stood up.

“I wish you two the best.” Turning to their parents, he added, “I’ll bill you for my time.”

Their parents bid the doctor goodbye and then sat down on the couch with Maya.

“You’re going to be okay, sweetie,” her mom said.

“I’m going to call everyone I can. If the local mages can’t do anything, someone will have an answer for us.”

“Thank you,” Maya mumbled. “I’m just… I’m just going to go do my homework.”

She got up and headed for the stairs. She just wanted to be alone. That’s all she wanted right now.