Where does it all go?!

Melissa stood next to Emily, holding a platter of sandwiches out to her as she sat at the dining table. She was the only one still eating lunch, even outpacing Eddie significantly, who had given up trying to compete with her.

“How are you still hungry?!” Zoey exclaimed, shifting around in her seat uncomfortably as she rubbed her stomach.

She had been eating alongside Emily, all the while listening to her complain about how she had to wait until we returned before having lunch, and she ended up eating quite a lot more than she anticipated. When I asked her if she was okay, she had responded with “I-it’s fine. We walked a lot today, so I should be–urp–alright,” while pushing away her still half-full plate.

Is she okay? She looks kinda green…

Emily had promptly pounced on her plate, only asking for permission to finish it off once she had pulled it over to where she was sitting.

“Yeah… that’s fine…” Zoey sounded somewhat defeated as she relinquished claim from her leftover food.

 

“That reminds me, there’s something I need to try at some point.”

“Oh?” As I leaned against the bench, I looked over at Zoey, who was gingerly lifting herself out of her chair, trying not to move too fast. “What is it?”

“You remember how yesterday when we had breakfast, I was stuck being small?”

Oh, that’s right, the jam tart. I let out a small giggle, recalling the sight of her working her way through her food. It was so big in her hands… she looked like some kind of rodent, nibbling away at it.

“Yeah?”

She slowly made her way over to the bench, resting beside me as we watched Emily demolish the last pieces of the food that was given to her. Originally, Melissa made a large stir-fry for everyone, but when Emily had scarfed it all down alarmingly quickly, including whatever was left over from everyone else, she started going back and forth between the kitchen and the dining table, rapidly making sandwiches and delivering them to her.

“I… didn’t actually have any issues, only eating a jam tart for breakfast. I don’t think I even had much for lunch that day, so now I’m wondering–do I really need to eat while I’m big?”

She smirked as she watched Emily finish her food, seeing her turn to Melissa and pout when she was told “We’re out of bread, so I’m not going to make any more.”

“I’m thinking–I still don’t know, like, what my limits are for eating, while I’m small. Or what happens to what I eat when I shift between forms.” Her eyes briefly widened as she whispered, “best not to think about that…”

Glancing towards her, I watched her fidget with her clothes, trying to loosen them around her stomach.

“...Are you sure you’re alright?” I asked, concerned. She weakly waved a dismissive hand towards me.

“I’ll be fine. I just ate too much, thanks to Miss Black-Hole here.”

“Pfft.”

“Hey,” she called out towards Emily, “do you really need to eat that much?”

Sighing as she accepted the fact that there was no more food, Emily deftly picked up her empty plate, along with her cup of drink, and effortlessly bounded upright.

“It tastes so good though– how can I not eat it?” she said, depositing her plate next to the sink.

“We’re almost out of ham, cheese, and bread now, though,” Melissa commented as she started filling up the sink. “I need to go shopping tomorrow.”

...That’s right, before I forget.

“Can I come with you?” I asked. “I need to get a new SIM card for my phone.”

“Oh,” she clicked her tongue, “We forgot to buy you one yesterday. Yes, that’s fine.”

“We can make a day of it,” Emily added. “There’s a few things I need, as well.”

“...Can I come too?” Zoey asked, timidly.

“Sure.”

She glanced towards Eddie and Jennifer, seeking approval, and smiled as they both gave her a thumbs up.

 

*****

 

“Right, anyway. Practice.” Emily grabbed my hand, dragging me off towards the living room as she gestured for Zoey and Eddie to follow her.

What is it that she wants to practice?

“Like I said before, I think I’ve figured out my abilities,” she continued, “...somewhat. I-It's a little inconsistent, though.”

Reaching the living room, she let go of my hand, drifting to a stop in the middle of the room.

“I'm pretty sure I can hide my ears and tail now.” She turned towards Zoey, reaching up to fidget with her ears as she spoke. “What you said before really helped. I just need, like, a proper mental image of what I want to happen.”

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she stretched her arms out, moving her hands in a wide circle before bringing them together in front of her chest. She twitched slightly as she concentrated, her ears wiggling from side to side a tiny bit. Zoey sidled up next to me as we watched her.

“She’s been kinda stressed about this, hasn’t she?” she whispered to me.

“Yeah,” I replied. “I’m glad she’s making progress, though.”

Emily let out a quiet growl, shaking her head back and forth as a few wisps of flame escaped from her ears.

Did she just mess up?

“Umm,” As Zoey and I made our way to a nearby couch, still watching Emily wrestle with her new powers, Eddie walked next to where I was sitting, leaning sideways and resting his elbow on the arm of the couch. “What’s she doing?”

Oh, he can see me this time. Right… he wouldn’t have any idea what’s going on, would he?

“Emily needs to hide her ears and tail, right?” I explained. “She’s supposed to be able to control illusions, so she’s trying to cover them up with one.”

“I… think I get it?” Eddie knelt down next to the couch, matching my eye level as we chatted. “Like a kitsune does, right?”

“Uh, maybe?” I think Zoey said something along those lines...

“Yeah, similar to the kitsune legends, and like what you see in fantasy,” she chimed in where I had left off. 

“Right, right. So… what do you need me for?”

“The issue is that since both of us are, well… not human anymore, there’s things we can see that you can’t. We won’t be able to tell if her ears are invisible, ‘cause there’s a pretty big chance that her illusions won’t work on us.”

She leaned across in front of me, staring closely at Eddie.

“That’s why you’re here. You’re our guinea pig.”

Eddie slumped forward at Zoey’s comments, shaking his head slightly.

“I did tell you that we were going to experiment on you.”

“Yeah, yeah… and I did willingly sign up for this, but...” He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “What are you going to do to me?”

“Oh, nothing much.” Lifting herself up, she crawled across in front of me to stare closely at him. “We just need your eyes. That’s all,” she said in a sing-song voice, sending a chill down my spine.

You make it sound like we’re gonna pluck his eyes out!

As Eddie recoiled, backing away from Zoey’s slightly maniacal grin, he fell backwards as Emily screamed “I got it!”.

“...I think,” she hastily added onto the end.

Did she figure out her illu–huh? No, she didn’t… they’re still there.

“Ooooh,” Eddie leapt upright, marvelling at the apparent spectacle of Emily’s head. He circled around her, carefully inspecting her. “You’ve… you’ve… got no ears!”

She got it? I squinted my eyes, trying to spot any difference compared to how they looked before. Oh, she really did. Are they… I think they’re slightly transparent now.

“Yep!” She puffed out her chest triumphantly towards Eddie, her hands on her hips.

“No, like at all!” He continued, sounding somewhat panicked. “You have no ears at all!”

“Eh?” She froze, staring at Eddie with confusion in her eyes before hurriedly reaching her hand up to the side of her head, where her human ears used to be.

Uh oh… since she doesn’t have human ears anymore, if she hides her fox ears…

“I need a mirror!” she exclaimed, hurriedly looking around the room before running out to go and find one.

She returned less than a minute later, hanging her head dejectedly as she carried a small hand mirror.

“It doesn’t help…”

 

“Okay, so what do you see?”
Zoey and I stood between Eddie and Emily, trying to direct the conversation between them so that we could get all the facts in order.

“I see my fox ears, like normal,” Emily replied, moving the mirror around as she inspected both sides of her head. “No, wait… they’re slightly see-through?”

So she sees the same thing as us...

“And what do you see?” Zoey asked, turning to Eddie.

“I don’t see–she looks like she has no ears at all.”

“Hmm, this is a problem…” She paced back and forth between the two of them, muttering under her breath. “Hiding them is all well and good, but if she stands out more by having no ears at all…”

...I have an idea.

“Hold on a sec.” Moving next to Emily, I quickly reached out beside her head.

Her hair reached past her shoulders, so when she didn’t have to tie it up, she often tucked it behind her ears so that it didn’t get in the way. However, since she didn’t have her human ears anymore, she had taken to pushing all of it behind her back, exposing the side of her head.

Gently grabbing a few locks of hair, I lightly pulled them along the side of her head, draping them over the spot where her ears used to be.

“There we go.”

Quickly ducking around to her other side, I reached for a few more bundles of hair, mirroring what I had done just before.

“Does that work?” I asked, stepping back a bit.

Emily was frozen still, her mouth slightly open and her cheeks lightly tinged with a pink hue.

“Ooh, that’s great!” Zoey chimed in. “Add a few hair clips, just to keep it in place, and you can’t even tell anymore!” She circled around Emily, making sure to check every angle.

Eddie leaned over my shoulder, startling me a little as he added his opinion.

“Yeah, that’s great. Unless you look closely, you can’t see that her ears are missing.”

“Perfect! That’ll... “ I jumped forward away from Eddie, my heart racing slightly from the shock of him suddenly talking next to my ear, but my voice trailed off as I saw Emily’s non-responsive condition. “...You okay?”

“Huh?” As if her brain had rebooted, she suddenly twitched, turning to face me with her eyes wide. “U-um, yeah. This–it works fine, except that I tie my hair back for PE. I-if I get a haircut, I can–I should be able to…” She stammered and fidgeted with her hair, backing away slightly, before running off towards the kitchen, screaming.

“Muuuum? I need a haircut!”

A few moments later, two startled voices echoed out in unison from the kitchen.

“...You’ve got no ears!”

 

*****

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon experimenting, messing around with our new abilities and showing them off to Eddie. I took the chance to practice switching between elements, with him watching in awe as he witnessed my hair shift through various different colours.

“...and here’s fire.”

C’mon, firefirefirefirefire–

“Woah… that’s so cool.” He gingerly reached a hand out towards the fireball resting in my palm, quickly pulling  away as it flared up. “Ack–too hot!”

Is it really that hot? I lifted my other hand up, holding it over the flame. I can’t really tell… Actually, that’s a stupid question, of course it’s hot. It’s fire. It just doesn't affect me... for some reason.

Crushing the fireball between my hands, I visualised a ball of water, trying my best to change the energy within my body to match.

This is cold water… When I create it, it will be cold water…

Lo and behold, a small ball of water appeared in my palm. I continued pushing energy into it, trying to increase the size.

Woah, too big–it’s dripping everywhere.

As Eddie watched me practice using my powers, Zoey silently snuck behind him, holding a finger up in front of her mouth in an effort to keep me silent.

What’s she doing?

Once she had moved out of his line of sight, she shifted into her small fairy form, flying back towards me. She swooped around in front of him, circling in the air until she was hovering just in front of his face, but he showed no reaction to her. Dejected, she hovered back and landed on my shoulder.

“...He can’t see me. Again.”

 

One thing that I had worked out earlier, while I was experimenting with my abilities, was that while he could definitely see me when I suppressed all of the spirit energy flowing throughout my body, it was still fairly easy for him to lose track of me. Additionally, the more energy I spread throughout my body, the less presence I seemed to have. The result was that as soon as he took his eyes off me, he couldn’t find me again until I made a bright ball of light directly in front of him.

I had a good bit of fun messing with him, while I was floating. From his perspective, I was completely invisible, but I realised that not only could he see anything that I created with spirit energy, such as a fireball, but I could also touch him, as long as I properly visualised it.

That must’ve been how I kicked off the ground last night, while I was floating.

His reactions to me poking him while I was invisible were rather amusing, but he had startled me quite a bit when he waved his arm around on reflex, swinging it completely through me.

I really am, like… intangible, or on another plane of existence, or something.

 

“Hang on, I wanna try something…” Zoey’s voice was sly as she pushed herself off my shoulder, swooping down in an arc and pulling up to a stop near Eddie’s jacket pocket.

Once we had figured out the intricacies of whether Eddie could see me or not, we had told him to try and keep track of me, as I tested out my powers. Because of this, he seemed very focused on the ball of water that I was shifting around in my hands, trying to keep it from dripping on the floor. He was completely oblivious to Zoey’s presence, even as she grabbed onto his pocket, reached inside, and took out his phone.

“...got it,” she whispered, wobbling in the air as she tried to carry it over towards me.

An evil smirk crept up on my face as I watched her hug Eddie’s phone close to her body, flying within his line of sight but still failing to be noticed by him.

“Hey Eddie… what’s the time currently?”

He doesn’t have a watch, and there isn’t a clock in the living room since everyone just gets the time from their phone.

“Huh? It’s…” He reached inside his jacket pocket, rummaging around it for a moment as his eyes widened in panic. His other hand shot into the pocket on the other side, and he started looking around the room, becoming more frantic as he moved on to searching his pants' pockets.

“Where is it–where did I leave it… I know I brought it with me.”

Zoey slowly fluttered up towards him, still carrying his phone. As he slumped forward dejectly, unable to find it, she reached one hand out, poking his cheek as hard as she could.

“Oi, wake up–or become aware…” she continued jabbing at his cheek, “...whatever–I’m right here. Look at me.”

“Ow–ow–yes, hi… I can see you. Your nails are sharp.” He reached out, trying to grab his phone, but Zoey quickly swooped out of reach.

“Are we gonna have to do this every single time?”

As the two of them started arguing, the door to the living room opened, and Emily popped her head inside.

“Your hair…” I whispered, staring at her.

While the rest of it was tied back, smooth locks of hair draped down over the side of her head, covering the spot where her ears used to be. Messy bangs swept across her forehead, held in place by a few decorative hairpins.

As she looked around the room, with her now-much-shorter ponytail swinging from side to side, her gaze settled on me, and she stiffened, a slight blush rising to her face. She reached up, pulling her hair tie out as she took a few steps towards me, shaking her head back and forth and rearranging her hair.

“W-what do you think?”

The rest of her hair was a little shorter, reaching just above her shoulders. It swayed around slightly as she walked.

“It looks great!” I said, to which her expression brightened up as a smile was pasted on her face. It disappeared as I continued, though, and her ears drooped down to the side. “That’ll work perfectly for PE, right?”

“Oh… yeah… I think I should be fine to go to school now, once I practice hiding my tail.”

She stopped a modest distance away from me, turning her attention towards Zoey and Eddie.

 

“Well excuse me for not being lucky enough to get caught up in this whole mess.”

“Lucky? You think I’m lucky?”

“‘Cause it’s fantasy! Fantasy! In real life! That’s so cool!”

I turned towards Emily, pointing at the two of them as they argued.

“Uhh, is this… okay?” 

“Oh, yeah, they’re normally like that,” she replied, waving her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I have a doctor’s appointment in like two weeks,” Zoey screamed, angrily flying in small circles. “They want me to take a blood test. I have no idea what’s gonna happen! Do I even bleed anymore?!”

That might be a bit… no, actually, now that I think about it, that is a valid point. What will we do if one of us gets sent to the hospital?

As my mind started going down a deep and convoluted rabbit hole, the door to the kitchen opened, revealing Melissa and Jennifer. 

“It’s getting pretty late; we should probably head off,” Jennifer said, before glancing around the room. “...Where’s Zoey?”

“She’s right there, see?” Melissa moved next to her and pointed at Zoey, who was still flying back and forth in front of Eddie.

“Where–Oh, I see her. Zoey,” she called out to her, “We need to go. I’ve got work tomorrow that I need to prepare for.”

Zoey quickly spun around, flying up to her and making a few indeterminate upset noises as she stared at her mother with puppy-dog eyes.

“...You want to stay for a sleepover, don’t you?”

She vigorously nodded, bobbing up and down in the air as she moved.

“Alright, you can,” Melissa replied, to which Zoey flew around in joyous somersaults. “We’ll head home so that you can pick up your stuff, and then I’ll drop you off here.”

“Yay! Thank you!”

 

The three of them gathered at the door, slipping their shoes back on and waving to us.

“I’ll be back in a bit,” Zoey called out, before disappearing through the door as she followed her parents outside.

That was… actually quite a productive day. Emily should be alright to go back to school now, and as long as I can keep a lid on my spirit energy, I should be fine too.

…

Hang on, is Zoey going back home while she’s small?