“I’m big again… I’m back to normal!” Zoey shouted, hurriedly looking over her body. She reached down to pick up the mirror, holding it out in front of her.

“...Or not. My hair’s still green…”

 

“Greater fairy…” Aeriel and Mira were both staring in awe at Zoey, whispering in unison.

“A… greater fairy?” Zoey tilted her head at the two’s reaction, looking confused. Her wings flapped, sending a slight draft around the room.

“I’ve only ever heard about them in legends!” Aeriel continued, flailing her arms around. “The last time any of us saw one was hundreds, if not thousands of years ago!”

 

“All the newly-born spirits are told stories of greater fairies. They hide their wings and blend in to human society, acting as watchers or guardians. A kindly old stranger, or someone who can sit with you and listen to your struggles; we were always told that these sorts of people were fairies. We…” She trailed off, looking to the side dejectedly.

 

“The greater fairies were like family to us spirits, older sisters or mother figures, but… they disappeared a few hundred years ago.”

 

“My big sister…” Mira stared at Zoey with sparkles in her eyes, before leaping forward and hugging her like a small child. Zoey reached down and patted her head, causing her to giggle and cling tightly to her.

 

“Do spirits even have family?” Emily asked.

“No, not really, aside from the fairies. Spirits are born from residual magic, thoughts, and desires. We don’t have parents, so… a lot of spirits are envious of human children, and their families. And with the greater fairies gone…” Aeriel pulled her arms in close around her body, attempting to comfort herself.

“We don’t have anyone we can look up to anymore.”

 

I took a few steps forward, pulling Aeriel into a hug.

 

“...Thanks, mum… I-I mean, Queen.”

I felt a heat rapidly spread throughout my arms, and steam began rising from Aeriel’s head.

“I’m sorry, Queen!” She buried her head further into my chest in embarrassment. “I just…”

“It’s okay.” Reaching up, I stroked Aeriel’s hair. She got sucked into a different world, with no clue of what's going on around her. If she's looking for a mother figure, I'll do my best to be that for her.

 

A few moments later, a knock resounded on Emily’s door.

Huh? When did Melissa disappear? I didn’t even notice…

Glancing over, I saw Melissa standing in the doorway, with Elena just behind her, a light blanket wrapped around her body and a bag hanging from her arm.

 

“Hey girls, um… what’s with all the hugging?”

“Flora’s a mum now!” Emily called out, causing me to instantly stiffen and turn red.

Great, that weird feeling is back!

“Now there’s two plumes of steam!” She exclaimed. Instinctively, I looked up, and saw a small cloud of steam forming near the ceiling.

 

“Blue hair…”

Huh? I reached around to the back of my neck, and brought forward my hair to look at it.

It’s blue again… the same blue that it changed to before. Why does it keep changing colour?

 

“Elena!” Zoey called out, pulling away from Mira who let out an upset groan. She rushed over to Elena’s side, her wings fluttering behind her.

“Zoey, hey. Umm… what happened to being small?”

“I… don’t know.” Zoey faltered for a moment, trying to form an explanation.

 

“Who’s this?” Grace inquired.

“Oh, um, hello.” Elena jumped slightly, startled. Turning towards Grace, she gave a slight bow.

“My name is Elena. I work as the guidance counsellor at their school.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Grace, and I’m…” Grace paused for a moment, before gesturing towards me, “this one’s older sister.”

 

Mira and Aeriel leapt forward, trying to get in on the introductions.

“I’m Mira!”

“And I’m Aeriel.”

“Hello,” Elena knelt down, matching eye level with Mira, “I’m Elena.”

“So what are you?” Mira leaned forward inquisitively, causing a surprised expression to briefly flash across Elena’s face. She quickly composed herself before replying.

 

“I… don’t actually know.” She slowly pulled the blanket away from her shoulders, allowing her wings to show.

 

“A raven!” Mira shouted, leaping forward to touch Elena’s wings. She squinched her eyes shut as Mira fiddled with her feathers.

“Raven? I thought they were crow wings…” Zoey commented, “and wasn’t her front yard filled with crows when we visited?”

“There were some bigger ones mixed in. They might have been ravens, but I don’t actually know what the difference is,” Emily replied.

“They’re… s-still there… the birds… eep!” Elena tried to reply, her face twitching, before falling backwards as Mira began stroking her feathers in the wrong direction. A loud clatter echoed around the room as she bumped into Emily’s desk, causing the shelves to rattle.

 

“Should we move to the living room? It’s getting kinda crowded here,” Melissa suggested, walking forward and holding her hand out to help Elena upright.

“Us three need to get changed, too,” Emily added, gesturing towards both Zoey and I.

I did pack clothes, didn’t I? I’m pretty sure I did, but after that dress-up session… I don’t wanna wear clothes that girly again, at least for a while!

“Ooh, are we gonna get to see your Spirit Queen dress?” Mira and Aeriel both leapt forward, eyes sparkling. I tilted my head, confused at Mira’s question.

“Flora,” Emily called out. Looking over, I saw her pointing at the princess dress hanging on the back of her chair with a mischievous grin on her face.

Not again!

 

“I wanna see it!” Aeriel exclaimed, leaping forward and grabbing my shoulders.

“...see what?”

“Your Queen dress!” She leaned in closer to me, floating slightly.

“Um, what do you mean by… queen dress?”

“Huh?” Aeriel’s face went blank. Mira stepped forward, lightly tugging at her dress.

 

“She doesn’t remember anything about being the Spirit Queen.”

Aeriel looked back and forth between Mira and I.

“But that’s… shouldn’t the Queen always… wait, but if…” She sputtered, before snapping back upright and staring at my face.

“That actually makes sense, if we’re... “ Her expression faltered for a moment, “not in our world anymore.”

“Not in… our world?” Mira’s face paled, and her shoulders began trembling.

 

“Queen,” Aeriel lifted her head to face me, a determined look in her eyes, “this is a very important question. Where are we?”

“...Earth?”

“Hmm… so this world is called Earth.” She tapped her chin with her finger, thinking for a moment before continuing. 

“...Mira, you’ve never heard of either Earth, right?” She turned to Mira, who jumped slightly, startled. Taking a few deep breaths to compose herself, Mira replied.

“No… never. It doesn’t even sound similar to any places in… in our world.”

 

“So if we’re in a different world,” Aeriel stood upright, posing to present her theory, “then it makes sense that there would be a different Queen.”

“But shouldn’t there already be a Queen?” Mira asked. “Wherever there are spirits, there will always be a Queen.”

“That’s true. Spirits cannot exist without a Queen. However,” Aeriel continued, crouching down to Mira’s eye level, “didn’t you find it strange? The only spirits we’ve seen have been from our world.”

“Wait, that means-”

“That’s correct. We are the only spirits in this world.” Aeriel turned to me before continuing.

“This is why it seems like the Queen lost her memory. She’s a different Queen.”

“Oh, uhh…” Mira’s eyes turned wide, and she floated over towards me. “It’s nice to meet you, Miss New Queen.”

“Um, thanks.”

 

*****

 

“So, um, you said something about a… Spirit Queen Dress?”

“Yes! Come on, bring it out.” Aeriel looked at me expectantly as she talked, Mira standing just behind her with a similar expression.

 

Melissa had left the room, heading towards the kitchen to prepare lunch. Elena and Grace both followed her, leaving Emily, Zoey, and I to get changed, accompanied by the two spirits.

 

“...how?” I looked blankly at Aeriel.

“Oh. Right. New Queen. Umm…” She looked away from a moment, “You should have some sort of image… in your head… of a colourful dress. The Queens all have their own unique dresses, so you should instinctively know what it looks like.”

I leaned back a little, trying to picture what she was describing.

A Queen dress. A dress fit for the Queen of Spirits? Would it be like that princess dress Emily keeps trying to get me into?

Suddenly, an image of a multicoloured dress appeared in my mind.

This? But… isn’t that way too revealing?!

It was a strapless dress, putting most of my shoulders and chest in full view to everyone. The waist was thin, form-fitting all the way down to the hips, where it gently draped out and fluttered all the way down to my ankles. The fabric was iridescent, shifting from colour to colour as it moved. Never too bright or too sharp, the colours held an indescribable quality that you would only see in fantasy. My face turned red as I imagined myself wearing it.

...I’m just glad I didn’t imagine how I used to look!

 

“Okay, I know what the dress looks like.”

“Alright. Now, you need to spread power throughout your body, while picturing that dress.”

“Wait,” An unpleasant thought formed in my mind as I listened to Aeriel’s directions.

“What’s gonna happen to my current clothes? Do I… need to be naked for this?”

“Ah. Umm…” Aeriel paused for a moment, looking very confused. “I… don’t think so? None of the previous Queens wore human clothes, so I have no idea.”

Well, whatever… I’ll take everything out of my pockets, just in case… wait, this dress doesn’t even have pockets!

I stood in front of Aeriel and took a deep breath.

Okay. Find the same feeling as before… there is it. Now, spread it through my body, while picturing the dress…

“Wait, stop!”

My eyes snapped open at Aeriel’s shout, and I looked down to find the shape of the dress replicated perfectly on my body, only… it was made out of water.

It splashed on the floor, soaking both my clothes and the carpet around me.

 

“Um, sorry Emily.” I nervously laughed, looking towards Emily who was watching the spectacle with a slight smirk.

“No, it’s fine, it’s just water. And this is kinda fun to watch.” She giggled, her tail swishing back and forth on the bed she was sitting on.

 

Aeriel stepped forward, taking my hands as Mira wafted warm air around me to dry my clothes.

“Do you know how to manipulate spirit energy?” She inquired. I shook my head in response.

“I don’t know any of that stuff. All the times I’ve… created water have been by accident.”

“Alright. I’ll teach you how to control it. This is spirit energy.”

I twitched as another weird feeling entered my palms.

“Take it in. Let the energy flow around your body.”

I closed my eyes, focusing on the strange sensation in my arms. My body felt lighter as it spread throughout, energising me. After a few moments, Aeriel let go of my hands.

“Now try and take all of that energy into your core.”

...Where’s my core? The centre of my body?

I took a deep breath, trying to feel the energy as it flowed through my body. As it reached my heart, I tried to gather it all up. Dimly, I heard Emily exclaim “You’re floating!” accompanied by the sound of a camera shutter.

The strange feeling slowly disappeared into my heart, and I opened my eyes.

She’s right. I really am floating!

 

“Aerieeel, heeelp,” I weakly called out, holding my arms out towards her. “How do I move?”

She giggled, watching me flail around helplessly.

“There’s not… too much to it? Just sort of will yourself in a direction, and you’ll go that way.”

“...okay,” I replied, slightly suspicious. That seems a little too easy… but then again, if I’m a spirit now, and the Queen of spirits at that, who knows what I can do!

I turned towards Emily and visualised moving towards her, which caused me to float very slowly in that direction.

“I… did it?”

This is kinda underwhelming!

 

“That’s great!” Aeriel flew up beside me, patting my back as I slowly floated towards Emily. “Normally, it takes new spirits a few hours to learn how to float, let alone move.”

Using my new-found floating ability, I slowly moved towards the floor, gently landing on my feet. As I regained my footing, I shot a glare towards Emily, who was giggling uncontrollably at the sight of me slowly inching towards her in mid-air.

 

“Okay, try bringing out your Queen dress now.”

At Aeriel’s prompting, I closed my eyes, visualising the dress I had pictured earlier. I searched my core for the same feeling that Aeriel helped me find earlier.

Okay, spread the feeling throughout my body… picture the dress… mould it to fit the shape, like I did before…

My eyes snapped open as both Emily and Zoey loudly gasped. Looking down, the pink dress I was wearing as pyjamas had fallen to the floor, and the dress I was picturing had appeared on my body. Emily and Zoey were frozen, mesmerised.

 

“...so beautiful,” Emily whispered breathlessly.

“Yeah…” Zoey added, “it fits you perfectly.”

“You look like a goddess straight out of a movie.”

“And your hair! It’s changed colour again!”

Emily and Zoey still hadn’t moved, and were staring at me in wonder. I walked over to Emily’s desk, the dress gracefully flowing behind me. Picking up the small mirror, I stared at my hair.

It’s… the same iridescent as the dress!

As I moved it around with my hand, the strands of hair changed colour all across the spectrum, with a silver sheen throughout it all.

 

“...What did it look like? When the dress appeared.” I asked.

“It was amazing,” Emily replied, “like a magical girl transformation. Your entire body glowed, like Zoey did before. Your pyjamas fell straight through you, and the dress appeared, glowing just as bright as you did. It was over in almost an instant.”

 

“Um,” Zoey called out, still frozen sitting on one of the mattresses, “Can I do the same thing? Like, as a greater fairy.”

“I… don’t know. I’ve never taught a fairy about her abilities,” Aeriel replied. “Maybe try doing the same thing?”

 

Zoey closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Suddenly, her body was cast in a blinding light, just like before. The silhouette of her clothes gradually morphed into a dress, the same shape as the one she was wearing as a small fairy. The light slowly faded, and Zoey opened her eyes. They went wide upon seeing the same green dress as before, and she rapidly looked around the room, as if to ascertain whether she had suddenly become small again. After a few moments, she sighed in relief.

“That was… easier than I expected.” She brushed her hands along the dress, smoothing it out.

 

“Alright, now that you’re dressed, I’m kicking you out.” Emily stood up off the bed, gesturing to shoo us out of the room.

I walked towards the door, digging through my bag and grabbing my phone out as I walked past. Slipping it into my pocket, I took a few more steps, before freezing.

“Wait, since when does it have pockets?!”

“The dress conforms to the to the user’s will,” Aeriel explained, “so if your image of the dress has pockets, it will have pockets.”

Oh! That’s… convenient.

“...lucky.” Zoey grumbled, fiddling around with her own dress. After a few moments, her eyes lit up, and her hands slipped into a pocket that had suddenly appeared on her dress.

“That's amazing!” She rushed back, picking up her phone and quickly placing it in her pocket.

 

“You can grab your stuff later, so get out of here and let me change.”

I walked out towards the living room, followed by Zoey, Aeriel, and Mira.