“It’s kinda weird, being here while I’m this small.” Zoey fluttered down, sprawling out on top of Emily’s head between her fox ears as we walked inside. “Even if I hover at head height, everything still looks huge.”

“Did you want to find a space to turn big again?” Emily asked, wiggling her ears slightly.

“Nah, not yet. I’ll do it when we need to start carrying stuff, but–” Zoey levered herself upright on top of Emily’s head, and jumped off backwards–“for now, I want to practice my flying.”

“Cool. Once Flora gets everything she needs together, then we’ll move it all out to the car. Grace, where’s your car?”

“Hmm?” Grace tilted her head slightly at Emily’s question. “It’s parked in the driveway currently.”

“Oh, the station wagon?”

“Yeah. I’ll open the boot once we’re ready.”

 

“Actually, I’ve been wondering about something for a while.” As we reached the living room, I stopped just in front of the corridor leading to my old bedroom, turning around to face everyone.

“Zoey, you know your fairy ‘turning big and small’ thing?”

“Yeah?”

“What should we call that?”

Zoey tilted her head sideways, looking slightly confused.

“What do you mean?”

“Like, what’s the best way to refer to it? Would it be ‘turning big’ and ‘turning small’? Or shifting between fairy form and human form?”

She stared blankly at me for a moment, bobbing up and down a little.

“If I’m being honest, I haven’t got a clue,” she replied, looking around at herself. “Do you know if there’s an official name for it?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask Aeriel, when we get back.”

Zoey swooped up, stopping just in front of my face.

“What brought this on?” she asked.

“Well, it’s just…” I averted eye contact, looking down at the floor to the side. How do I phrase this…

 

“We’ve had, like, all this stuff happen to us, and… we’re still figuring out how it all works, right? So… I figure putting names to all the various things and like, abilities that we have, will help us work everything out.”

“I think I get what you mean.” Grace nodded her head in response to me.

“I don’t,” Emily chimed in.

“It’s like,” I continued, “you know my whole spirit thing? With the whole… sometimes I float, sometimes I can’t touch things, and sometimes I make magic. If I know specifically what that is, like if I put a name to it, I feel like it would be easier to learn about it, and how to control it. If I knew whether the difference between me floating and not floating was like...”

I paused for a moment, trying to remember the specific words Aeriel had used.

“...I think it was materialising a human form, or something. If I know for sure what it is that I do, then I think I can learn to stop doing it by accident.”

Realising that everyone was staring at me, I curled my shoulders inward out of nervousness.

“Sorry, I’m kinda babbling… a bit…”

“Nah, I get what you mean,” Grace said, reaching up to run a hand across her horns.

“Yeah,” Zoey added.

“I was lost for most of it, but…” Emily’s stared behind her at her tail. “I think I get it.”

 

I spun around and was about to start walking towards my room, but paused as Zoey spoke up.

“Still… human form, huh…” She scratched the back of her head awkwardly. “I know it might be weird coming from me, considering I’m this small and all, but… it hasn’t really hit me that I’m not human anymore.”

“Me neither.”

“Agreed.”

Emily and Grace both chimed in, adding in their own experiences.

“Honestly though, regarding what to call it, either one works.” Zoey flew up, hovering just in front of me. “I’ll get used to it in time.”

She glided past me, making her way to my bedroom door.

“...and hopefully I can stop being startled every time I see my wings,” she muttered under her breath.

 

...Am I the only one actually starting to get used to this?

 

*****

 

“Do you know what you need?”

Grace stood near the corner of the room, watching me rummage around in my desk drawer.

“I think so. Phone charger, school bag, clothes… what else am I missing?”

“Do you have any consoles, or a laptop or anything?” Zoey asked, fluttering just inside the doorway.

“No. We have a family computer, but that’s about it.”

“What about your books?” Grace knelt down next to me, looking at my bookshelf.

“I don’t even remember the last time I read any of them.”

“Fair point. We can leave them here, then.”

Pulling my school workbooks out of my desk drawer, I laid them in a pile  on the floor next to my school bag.

“I think that’s all of them. The rest are still in my locker at school.” Looking up, I glanced between Grace and Zoey. “Do you wanna start loading things into the car?”

“I’ll go unlock it, then.” Grace levered herself upright, walking out of the room.

Zoey flew over to an empty space in the room, shifting back into her human form. “What’s ready to take?”

“My school bag, and my workbooks.”

 

As Zoey walked out of the room, with my bag on her back and carrying my workbooks, Emily called me over to the bags sitting just in front of my clothing drawers.

“You can make your own clothes, right? Do you still wanna take these?”

I moved over, kneeling down next to her, and opened one of the bags.

“Oh, the clothes we bought. Yeah, I’ll take them. I still don’t know much about girls’ clothes, after all, and I want some references.”

Emily raised an eyebrow as she stared at me.

“...Is that why you’ve been wearing the same clothes all week, just in different colours?”

Forgive me for only knowing how to make the most basic clothes!

Tying up the handle of the bag I was looking through, I started gathering all the bags together, placing them in the middle of the room.

“Honestly, though, it’s kind of a miracle they’re still here,” I said, as I moved the last one into place.

“Oh?”

“I was expecting my parents to have gone through my room, after I disappeared. If they found these clothes, and realised they were mine, I’m sure they would’ve thrown them out.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed as I spoke.

“Oh well, maybe they haven’t had a chance to, yet,” I continued, “considering that one of the bags has a giant logo on it.”

The heat rose to my face as I recalled the events of Monday, in the underwear and clothes shops.

Maybe it was just the novelty of it all, but dressing up was kinda fun! Embarrassing, definitely, but still fun.

Zoey and Grace arrived just outside the doorway, peering into the room.

“Are these ready to take?” Emily asked, looking at me.

“Yep.”

“Cool.” Emily lifted up two of the bags and passed them to Zoey, before taking the other two and following her outside.

 

“How’s it going?” Grace asked, sitting down on the chair at my desk.

“Fairly well, I think…” I laid down on top of my bed, staring at the ceiling. “I just need my phone charger, toothbrush, and I think that’s it.”

Grace glanced around, taking in the details of my room.

“Honestly, thinking about it… you really don’t have that much stuff.”

“Well, Mum threw out all of my toys once I got into high school.”

Rolling over sideways, I stared at Grace.

“...Hey, did Mum or Dad say anything about me after I left yesterday?”

“Ugh,” she rolled her eyes, “I hate them so much. They kept going on about like, ‘who was that girl’ and-”

“Wait-” I interjected, my face turning pale as I realised something terrible. “Did I even say that I was Felix?”

Grace placed a finger on her chin, thinking for a moment.

“No, I don’t think you did. You just said that you were my younger sister.”

“That’s why! No wonder they reacted like that… how were they supposed to know who I was? All because I panicked…” My voice trailed off as I buried my face into the mattress.

“I did try to explain it after you left, though.”

“How’d that go?”

“Terribly. They didn’t believe me, even with Elena backing me up.”

Elena’s words from this morning flashed through my mind.

‘It’s not safe for you to live there.’

“Is that why you’re moving out as well?”

“Yeah.” Grace lifted herself out of the chair, moving to the door and peering just outside. “After listening to them say stuff like ‘I just want my son back’, or getting on my case about my tail and horns, I just want to get out of here.”

“'I just want my son back'... And Elena couldn’t do anything to convince them?”

“She tried, but no.” She leaned against the wall next to the door, letting out a loud sigh. “Dad was… well, you know how passive Dad is, but Mum really had a go at her.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. She was laying into her, saying stuff like ‘give my son back’. She really thought Elena had stolen you, or something.”

A pang of guilt seared into my heart.

“Well, think about it,” I mumbled. “She’s just come back from a trip, and her son’s gone missing. Then this weird girl shows up, claiming to be her daughter… who wouldn’t flip out in that situation?”

Grace knelt down next to the bed, staring intensely into my eyes.

“Do you really think it would’ve helped? You know what they’re like.”

“I know, but…” Reaching up, I grabbed my pillow and hugged it tightly.

“Look.” She placed a hand on my shoulder. “Even if, somehow, you had told her in such a way that she would’ve believed you, I’d wager she’d either kick you out, or… she’d do something crazy to try and fix you.”

My breath caught in my throat as I listened to Grace’s words.

“...fix?”

“You remember what happened back when I was in high school, right? Back when...” Grace paused, glancing up towards the door. “Back when I was still dating Lillah.”

“I know that something happened, but I never found out what.”

“Well-” She suddenly stopped talking as footsteps echoed down the hallway, signalling the return of Emily and Zoey.

“I’ll tell you later.”

 

“How much more is there to take?” Emily poked her head around the doorway, peering inside the room.

“Not much, I think,” I replied. “Just a few little things, and whatever toiletries I need.”

“Hmm…” She walked into the room, shortly followed by Zoey. “You’ll probably need a toothbrush, and a razor. We have an unopened packet of toothbrushes at home, so you can probably just take one. Your current razor is a guy’s one, so should we buy you a new one?”

“A guy’s razor should be fine, honestly,” Zoey interjected. “There’s basically no difference between mens’ and womens’ razors.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. The only thing that’s different is that one of them is pink and costs a bit more.”

“I may as well take them, then, since we’re here.” Swinging my legs off the side of the bed, I stood up, looking around at my room.

“Did you wanna take that, too?” Emily asked, pointing at my pillow, which I was still wrapping my arms around.

“Y-yeah. It just feels weird, sleeping on a different pillow.” I stammered slightly, a little embarrassed to realise that I was still hugging it.

Emily giggled as she watched me, standing there clutching my pillow tightly.

“...what?” I asked, trying to glare at her.

“It’s nothing,” she responded. My glare really doesn’t have any impact anymore, does it?

 

“Do you want me to take that?” Emily held her hand out towards me, gesturing at my pillow.

“Yes, please.” I awkwardly handed it to her, averting eye contact. After she ran out of the room with it, I glanced around.

“Is there anything else I’m missing?”

Zoey thought for a moment, before clapping her hands together.

“That’s it!” she exclaimed, startling both Grace and I. “Your documents. You need to take as much documentation as possible.”

“Documentation?”

“You know, your birth certificate. Do you have a driver’s license?”

“License?” Like, my learner’s permit? I wanted to go get it, but Mum wouldn’t let me. “No, I don’t.”

“Do you have a passport?”

“No.”

“Medicare Card?”

“No.”

“Mum has one,” Grace interjected. “Since you’re over 15, you should be able to get your own, as long as you can provide ID.”

“We need to get you a license, then,” Zoey added. “Ideally, with your new details.”

“Then it’s just your birth certificate.” Grace quickly walked to the door, gesturing for us to follow her. “I know where Dad keeps them.”

 

I shuddered slightly as we walked through the door into our parents’ room. Mum always got angry at me if I was in here without her permission… I really hope she doesn’t come back while we’re still here!

“It should be here…” Grace knelt down in front of a nondescript bookcase, situated near the back of the room. She pulled a few books out, digging around behind them, before grabbing a plastic sleeve containing a few pieces of paper.

“That’s hidden fairly well,” Zoey commented.

“I only knew they were here because I saw Dad hide them. Here,” Grace rummaged around inside the sheet protector, before pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to me. “Take very good care of it.”

“I will.” I hugged the sheet close to my chest.

“While I’m here, I might take mine as well.” She slipped another piece of paper out, before placing the sleeve back where it originally was and returning the books to the shelf.

“With that, you should be able to get access to your bank account,” Zoey said, as we made our way back to my room. “How’s your phone set up? Is it prepaid?”

“Uhh, not sure.”

“It’s a prepaid phone.” Grace came to my rescue as I looked helplessly at her. “The SIM card is tied to Mum’s account, but not the phone.”

“Okay, in that case, you need to take the SIM card out, and buy a new one.”

I rummaged around inside my pocket, pulling out my trusty flip phone.

“Seriously, though, your phone is ancient.”

Well, excuse me for not having a smartphone!

“Mum thinks we shouldn’t be allowed to have smartphones until we turn 18.”

Zoey rolled her eyes in response to Grace’s comment.

“Well, if it’s so old that it doesn’t even have GPS, then that probably works in our favour.”

 

“What’s left?” Grabbing my other backpack, the same one I had taken to my shopping trip on Monday, I carefully slipped my birth certificate inside it, trying my best to not fold or crease it.

“It’s just little things. Toiletries, like your razor, toothbrush, and towel.” Zoey leant against the wall next to my door, watching me fiddle with my bag. “It’s all stuff that can be replaced without too much hassle, though, so if you want to leave them here…”

“No, I’ll take them. I’m here, and I probably have time, so I may as well grab them.”

“Do you have a hairbrush?”

“No.”

“Then we’re gonna buy you a hairbrush soon. You’ll need it.”

“Don’t forget your shoes, as well,” Grace said, sitting down on the side of my bed.

“I don’t think they even fit me anymore. I can just make my own shoes, anyway.”

I didn't end up buying shoes on my Monday shopping trip, and my old shoes are just a bit too big.

“Ah, right. It’s just toiletries, then.” After watching me drop my phone charger into my backpack, Grace lifted herself up off my bed, and began making her way to the kitchen. “I’ll grab a few zip lock bags.”

“If that’s all you need, then I’ll go find Emily. We’ll wait for you outside.” Zoey waved, before heading outside and calling out Emily’s name, trying to find her. I slung one of my bag straps over my shoulder, and followed Grace to the kitchen.

 

“You need your toothbrush, razor, and your towel.”

Rummaging around on the towel rack in the bathroom, I pulled my towel up, and shoved it into my backpack.

My birth certificate is in a different pocket, so hopefully it doesn’t get too crumpled!

“H-hey, Grace…” Reaching up into the cupboard to find my razor, I timidly posed a question that had been bothering me since our last conversation earlier.

“You said something before about Mum trying to fix me, and that something happened to you a few years ago.”

“Ah, that.” Grace ran a hand through her hair, sighing loudly. “Yeah… how do I put this… When I was still dating Lillah, I tried to bring her home one night, so I could introduce her to everyone.”

“I remember you saying that, but then it never actually happened.”

“Mum banned me from bringing her into the house. Something about, like, ‘I don’t want my daughter to become one of those…’, though I’m not gonna repeat the words she used. Both her and Dad lectured me for weeks, trying to convince me to break up with her.”

“Ugh,” I groaned. “That sucks. I had no idea it was like that.”

“There’s a few other things they did, but…” Her voice trailed off, and she shook her head vigorously. 

“A-anyway,” she continued, brushing her hair back into place, “that’s what they’re like. That’s why I think that, at this point, even if you did manage to convince her that you’re Felix, it still wouldn’t be safe for you to stay here.”

“Okay.” I nodded, placing the last of my toiletries into my backpack.

“Though, I guess…” Grace started heading out of the bathroom, but stopped just in front of the door. “There is one important question we need to get out of the way.”

“What is it?”

“Do you want to go back to being a guy?”

My eyes shot wide open as I stared at Grace, surprised at the question she posed.

“Huh?! Of course I…” I froze, my voice trailing off as I looked back through my memories of the past few days.

… 

… 

Do I?