As I walked back into my room, Aeriel stirred, slowly lifting herself upright on the bed.

“...hi, Queen,” she said, her voice slightly slurred from drowsiness.

Has she been asleep this whole time? I blankly said “hey”, waving at her as I passed the bed, making my way towards the bags piled up in the corner of the room. As I sat down in front of them, I heard the covers rustling, and soft footsteps approaching me.

“What are you doing?”

I felt a light weight push against me, as Aeriel sat down behind me and rested her back against mine, posing that question.

...I don’t know.

Once Zoey had gone home, Melissa wandered off back to the kitchen, saying something about some new clothes that she wanted to make. Emily left soon after, scratching her neck and muttering about how she needed to take a shower. I was left standing awkwardly in the middle of the living room, with nothing to do.

“...going through my stuff,” I responded as I absentmindedly rummaged around in my bags. Pulling a few worksheets from my maths class out, I glanced over them.

There weren’t any tests that I missed in the week I was away, right? So much has happened that I don’t even remember where we were up to.

Setting them aside in a small pile, I dug around further inside my school bag, finding a small book.

Oh, Foxspell! I remember this… we were reading through it in English class. Everyone’s probably finished it by now, though–we were getting pretty near the end, last I remember.

Modern fantasy, huh? A boy turns into a fox, and… I think he runs away into the bush, away from his family? I should probably re-read it from the start; I barely remember any of it.

I opened the book to a random page, reading through it a little to try and jog my memory.

When we first started reading about it, everyone was saying that it wasn’t that great, but… now that I actually think about it, it’s a little similar to our situation. Except, instead of a run-in with a fox, it’s… whatever that weird dream was.

...

A fox, huh… Is Emily going to turn into a fox someday? She is becoming more and more fox-like, what with her fangs and all… Will she run away like that someday?

I vigorously shook my head from side to side, trying to rid myself of that unpleasant thought.

No, she probably won’t. We have to stick together… her, Zoey, and I. If she runs, I’m going with her. I don’t care about anything else… I just don’t want to be alone.

I don’t think I could handle losing her, or Zoey. 

“Flora?” Melissa’s voice came in through the doorway, startling me out of my train of thought. I quickly whipped my head around to face her, colliding with Aeriel’s head in the process.

“Ye–Ow! Sorry–um–y-yes?” I asked, rubbing my head where I had whacked against her.

“Do you know if Zoey will be back in time for dinner?”

“Not sure.” She said that she’d be back soon, but didn’t specify when. How long does it take someone to get ready for a sleepover?

“Could you text her and ask?”

“I don’t think I have her number.”

“Ah, don’t worry, then.” Melissa started heading back down the corridor to the kitchen, calling out behind her. “When you’re ready to eat, come and let me know.”

I should get her number next time I have the chance… once I have a new SIM card.

 

“She’s so nice…” Aeriel mumbled, as I returned to my book.

“Hm? Melissa?”

She leaned back, pressing her weight into mine.

“Yeah… she seems like such a nice mother.”

My gut twisted slightly as I listened to her, recalling my last encounter with my own mother.

“I’m… a little envious of you and Emily,” she said, lifting herself off my back. “Having her as your mother.”

Huh?

I pushed a little bit of energy throughout my body, floating up as I spun around to face her.

“My… mother?”

“She is your mother, right?” She shuffled around, tilted her head sideways as she turned to face me. “I mean, you live here now.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t…” What does she think a mother is?

“Did I get it wrong?”

 

'I don’t know you. Who are you, really?'

My stomach continued to tie itself in knots as I was reminded more and more of my mother.

“Y-yeah… Even though I live here, Melissa’s not my mum.” I curled up in the air, resting my chin on my knees as I spoke. “That’s… not how families work.”

“Why not? Why can’t it work that way?” Aeriel asked, earnestly.

“...I… don’t know.”

Do spirits have a concept of family? She did accidentally call me ‘mum’, even though she doesn’t actually have any parents…

Maybe spirits get to choose their family, unlike humans...

 

*****

 

I’m lonely.

I laid down sideways on the couch, fiddling with one of the zippers on the cushion as I waited.

 

Since spirits did not have actual relatives amongst each other, I had to explain the concept of a human family to her from scratch. In all the chaos of the past few days, she had forgotten that I was half-human, so the reminder came as quite a surprise to her.

“Oh, um–I remember now… you did say that…”

She recoiled quite a bit when I mentioned that the couple we had talked to on Thursday, who had essentially thrown me out of the house, were my parents.

“Um–I… I’m sorry.” She was quite apologetic, even lowering her head to me.

“No, it’s fine. You didn’t know.” As much as I tried to reassure her that it was alright, she still backed away, bowing to me all the while.

“I–uh… I’m gonna go and see how Grace is doing.” With those parting words, she flew away and disappeared through the wall, leaving me alone in my room.

 

After a few minutes of sitting by myself, bored out of my brain, I wandered outside to find Melissa rummaging around in the kitchen, preparing dinner for herself.

“Oh, are you hungry?” 

“I guess.”

We opted to have dinner with just the two of us, since Emily was still in the middle of her shower. She had said something to Melissa earlier about not wanting to eat anything that evening, thanks to her huge meal during lunchtime.

“I trust her. She… knows her body better than I do.”

Dinner was a fairly simple affair, consisting of a few salad-type ingredients stuffed inside some bread rolls that Melissa found near the back of the freezer.

I hope they haven’t gone off…

After we had eaten, Melissa opted to return to what she was working on before, muttering something about how her project “has to be ready in time,”. I tried to follow her, but she shooed me away at the door to her room.

“It’s a secret! I don’t want you blabbing about it to anyone.”

As a result, I was left wandering around the house with nothing to do. I ended up waiting in the living room for Zoey to return, flopping down onto the couch and squirming around until I was comfortable.

 

I’m so bored… and kinda lonely.

I rolled onto my stomach, flapping my legs against the couch cushion as I waited for something, anything to happen.

When will Zoey come back? And when will Emily finish her shower?

As I writhed around in my boredom, the doorbell finally rang. I quickly leapt up off the couch, running to the door with a huge smile on my face.

Finally! She’s back!

The doorbell rang again as I dashed over. Throwing open the door, I found Zoey fluttering in front of the doorbell button, holding both hands out in front of her as she pushed it. She turned towards the sound of the door opening, and a relieved expression appeared on her face as she spotted me.

“Floraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-” she screamed, a few tears dripping down her face as she quickly flew towards me. Her voice became muffled as she collided with my chest, grabbing onto my clothes as she wailed.

“Cars… cars are scary!” she screamed as she clung to me, her small body shaking. I glared up towards Eddie, who was standing just outside holding a backpack with a thoroughly apologetic look on his face.

“...What did you do?”

He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “I… we still need to work out how Zoey’s going to ride in the car.”

“He–he wanted to put me in the glovebox!”

A small fireball appeared in my hand as my glare intensified.

“I-it was–I’m sorry.” He waved his hands in front of himself, backpedalling a few steps. “That was… It was meant to be a joke. I shouldn’t have said it.”

“We’ve gone through a lot, okay?” I snapped back. “Now is not the time for jokes.”

"Now I know why pets always freak out inside cars..." Zoey whimpered. "It's terrifying!"

“I… I’m sorry.” He held the backpack out towards me, and I looped my not-on-fire arm through one of the straps. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”

I slammed the door in his face.

 

*****

 

As I walked back towards my room, with Zoey still clinging to my shirt, I almost bumped into Emily as she walked out of the bathroom.

“Oh, hey. Nice shower?”

“Mmrgh.” She gave a noncommittal grunt as a response, fiddling with the towel that was awkwardly wrapped around her hair. The tips of her ears poked out of the top of the bundle, the fur wet and matted down flat, and another towel was wrapped around her tail.

She gestured for us to come into her room, and we followed in behind her. I flopped down onto the soft, carpeted floor next to her bed, depositing the backpack just beside me. As Zoey fluttered off my chest, settling down on top of Emily’s desk, I glanced down at my shirt and saw the slight tear stains she had left behind.

I hope she’ll be okay… 

“What are you doing?” she asked, staring at Emily who appeared to be going through some kind of strange ritual.

She had unwrapped the towel from around her head, and placed it down on the floor. Then, she laid down on her bed, dangling her head off the side upside down over the towel.

“...water in my ears,” she mumbled, as the water from her shower dripped down onto the towel. “I can’t use a hairdryer, either, which sucks.”

“Why not?” Zoey asked, sprawling out on her stomach on top of the desk.

“Too loud.”

 

Over the next minute or so, I watched as Emily’s face slowly turned more and more red, until she lifted herself up, swaying from side to side as water dripped all over her bed.

“...I feel sick.” As the blood stopped rushing to her head, her face went from red to a slightly sickly green. “Flora, could… could you do that warm air thing you did last night?”

“Um, sure.” What was it, again? Fire and air… push it out, and control it.

A warm breeze wafted around the room, and her ears wiggled from side to side happily. Unwrapping the towel from around her tail, she held it out in front of her, not caring about how damp her clothes were getting.

“It’s so thin!” Zoey exclaimed, climbing upright and running off the desk to launch into a graceful flight. She hovered in front of her, marvelling at the way her tail slowly puffed up in volume as it dried. “How much of that thing is fluff?”

“Yeah, it’s–okay, there’s something I need your advice on.” Emily combed her hair, now nearly dry, with her hands as she spoke. “We’re going out tomorrow to buy stuff for Flora, right? One of the things we need to get her is a hairbrush.”

“Do I really need one?” I don’t think I’ve ever brushed my hair before…

“You’ve got long hair now, so yes, you definitely need one. Anyway…” She smoothed out the slightly dishevelled fur on her tail, laying it down in front of her. “I think I need some kind of new comb as well, for my tail. But, like… should I get a hairbrush, or a petbrush?”

As the last bits of moisture evaporated from her hair and tail, I stopped sending warm air around the room.

“Because–I mean, there’s the… embarrassment of buying a pet brush for myself, but,” she pushed her tail towards me, as if showing it off, “this is very clearly fur, so would a pet brush be better?”

As she spoke, I absentmindedly reached my hand out, combing my fingers through her tail.

It’s so soft!

“Hya!” She let out a small squeak, a slight blush rising to her cheeks. “Flora…”

“Your tail is really soft, and the fur is quite fine, so I’d hesitate to go for a pet brush, honestly,” I said, continuing to brush her tail with my fingers. “I’d be worried about damaging–”

My voice was cut off as a bright burst of flame erupted from her tail, startling me. As I quickly pulled my hand back, away from the fire, it died down to reveal a rather embarrassed Emily, pouting and blushing quite badly.

“Don’t do that!” she yelled, picking up her tail and hugging it close to her. “It really tickles!”

“S-sorry.” I leant back, apologizing while trying to suppress a giggle.

As soon as Emily let go of her tail and rested it back on the bed, Zoey pounced, swooping down and landing on it. She wrapped her arms around it, rubbing her face against the fur.

“She’s right, it’s so fluffy, and soft-Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” She screamed as Emily flicked her tail to the side, sending her flying across the room.

“Just… stop already!”

 

*****

 

In her annoyance, and since it was getting rather late, Emily sent the two of us off to the bathroom. Zoey clung to the back of my shirt, peeking over my shoulder as I stopped off at my room to grab my towel.

“Um… what should I do?” she asked. “I kinda don’t want to turn big right now.”

“Why not?” That… might make taking a shower kinda difficult.

“You know how my parents can’t see me, right? Not until I make them aware of me, or whatever the stupid condition is.” She buried her face into the back of my shoulder grumpily. “I… want to see whether, if I spend more time as a fairy around them, they’ll be able to see me properly. So… I’d rather stay as a small fairy right now, so I can try and get used to it.”

“Hmm… in that case…” Reaching the bathroom, I slipped inside and closed the door. “How about you use the sink as a bath?”

“Ooh, that works!” She climbed up on top of my shoulder, leaping forward and landing next to the sink. Walking over to the taps, she grabbed the handle, trying to twist it as hard as she could.

“...I can’t turn it on.”

Reaching over, I dropped the plug into the bottom of the sink, and switched both of the taps on. As the sink slowly filled up, she sat down at the edge, dipping her feet inside the water.

“It’s nice… Could be a little warmer, though.”

Right as I turned the hot water up a little more, Zoey pushed herself off the edge of the sink, slipping into the water without even taking her fairy dress off.

“Thanks. This should be fine.”

“Cool.” As I turned the taps off, she sprawled out until she was comfortable, her wings sending waves through the water. Grabbing a shower cap, I ducked into the shower, pulling the opaque curtain across behind me.

“Hold on, you’re showering now?”

“Y-yeah, if that’s alright.” I’m just worried, okay? And I don’t have to worry about my clothes, since they’re made out of energy, anyway.

“It’s fine… just let me know when you finish, and I’ll turn around.”

 

“Hey, Flora?” As I was halfway through my shower, Zoey’s voice floated in through the curtain. “How are you holding up so far?”

“Hm?”

“With the whole ‘being a girl’ thing?”

“Oh, that.” I instinctively glanced down towards myself, before blushing and looking away. “I-I’m still a bit… it still feels weird, seeing myself like this.”

Turning the water off, I swirled warm air around inside the shower to dry myself.

“I should get used to it soon, though… hopefully…”

As I busied myself forming my pyjamas out of energy, a few splashing sounds echoed out from the sink.

“That’s good.” Zoey sighed loudly, grunting slightly as the splashing noises receded. “We’re going back to school on Monday, right? Emily and I should be fine, but… you know where the girls’ toilets are, right? And the changing rooms?”

“I-I think so.” I timidly peeked out from behind the curtain. Good, she’s… soaked, but still dressed. 

Zoey looked up as the shower curtains rustled, her eyes widening as she spotted me.

“Oh, you’re dressed already… right, spirit clothes.” Her wings flapped back and forth, sending water droplets splashing against the mirror behind her. “Um, could you do that… warm air thing for me, please?”

 

After we had cleaned our teeth, or attempted to, in Zoey’s case, we made our way back to Emily’s room.

“I really wish that I could, like, shrink things down to my size.”

Opening the door to her room, we peeked inside to find her curled up on top of her bed, her arms wrapped around her tail. Her ears briefly twitched at the sound of the door, but she didn’t seem to stir.

“...Is she asleep?” Zoey whispered, latching onto my back and peeking over my shoulder.

“I think so.”

A small patch of the fur on her tail swayed to the side as her soft breath pushed against it. She twitched as it tickled her nose, smiling and pulling it closer to her in her sleep. I backed out of the room, whispering “Good night,” as I closed the door.

“G’night…” a slightly groggy voice echoed back to me.

Making my way back to my room, Zoey jumped off my back, flying further down the corridor.

“I’m gonna see if Melissa has any spare fabric.”

Huh? I tilted my head to the side, confused.

“Well, I can’t exactly sleep in a regular bed like this, can I? The covers are too heavy… I’ll get stuck.”

“O-oh, right.”

“I can probably stack a few layers of fabric on a shelf, and make a pretty comfy bed.” She disappeared further down the corridor, waving to me. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Good night.”

“G’night.”

Time to go to bed. We've got a bunch of stuff to do tomorrow...

 

*****

 

“Queen?”

Mira?

Opening my eyes, I found an inky blackness surrounding me. I flailed my arms around as I floated, unable to tell which way was up, or down.

“Queen… Where are you, Queen?”

A small platform slowly materialised out of the darkness, from the same direction as Mira's voice. I flew towards it as fast as I could.

“Please… you have to…”

In the distance, Mira appeared, slowly staggering forward. Her body was covered in wounds, and her dress was torn. Small spurts of flame popped up around her, disappearing shortly after. 

“Queen…”

A slight red glow appeared behind her, slowly growing in size. The same primal fear I had felt on Monday seeped into me, as I recognised the distinctive colour.

The mages?

I gritted my teeth, putting my full focus into trying to reach Mira. However, no matter how fast I flew, I couldn’t get any closer to her.

“...help me.”

 

My eyes shot open as I snapped bolt upright in bed, panting and gasping for breath.