“Ugh, you pixies are lucky you can get away without eating anything,” Katelyn said, tying her hiking boots. “Those were probably the worst scrambled eggs I’ve ever had.”

The five of them were in their cabin that morning, getting dressed and ready for the activities planned that day, which included a big hike around the perimeter of Lake Wildwood.

“Why’d you eat them if they were so awful?” Sybil asked.

“Energy, girl! Can’t go on a five-mile hike on an empty stomach!” Kate said, flashing a determined grin. “If you wanna get the gains, you gotta feed the machine! Us humans gotta eat to get strong!” She raised a fist and flexed her bicep, which bulged considerably. Hell yeah, Kate worked hard for these muscles.

“Sounds exhausting,” Rowena commented.

“What, eating? Or being strong?” Eve asked, pulling her curtain aside and stepping out into the central cabin area. She wore a simple tank top, tucked into a pair of khaki shorts. Her long hair was braided into pigtails, and she topped it off with a baseball cap to shade her eyes from the sun.

Beyond that, two cute, fuzzy triangular ears poked out from the top of her head. The fur matched her royal blue hair color, and the junction between cat ear and baseball cap was . . . unclear. A blue cat’s tail with a white tip extended out from just below her belt line, and swished lazily back and forth. Sprouting from both cheeks were a handful of whiskers, which twitched ever so slightly.

“What. Are. Those.” Sybil deadpanned as soon as she turned around and saw Eve.

“You like them?” Eve asked eagerly, her new tail swishing with excitement. “I’ve been practicing my illusion magic,” she said, waving a hand through her ears, which blurred as it passed through. “The trickiest part was figuring out a way to link the illusion to my psyche so they would act like they were really part of my body. See?” She frowned, and her cat ears drooped as well.

“You’ve got to be kidding me . . . “ Sybil commented, rubbing her forehead.

“What?” Eve asked. “What??”

“Lol, weeb,” Kate said in a playful mocking tone.

“I don’t even watch anime! If anything, you and Rowena are the weebs!”

“Guilty.” Kate shrugged. “I ain’t even gonna deny that.”

“Geez, I at least thought someone here was going to like it,” Eve harrumphed, folding her arms. “Well fuck you guys then.”

“Rona probably does, eh?” Kate said, laughing.

Rowena tightly clutched her backpack straps. Behind her large glasses her marigold cheeks were blushing furiously. She hastily averted her eyes.

“It-it’s, uh . . . it’s nice,” she stammered.

Eve beamed at the meager compliment. Katelyn raised an eyebrow towards her pixie.

“Hey you know, why don’t we get going?” Rowena said hurriedly, “There’s so much, y’know, uh . . . nature stuff out there, wouldn’t want to miss it! Right? Right? . . . Okaylet’sgo.”

The golden pixie hustled out the door as she was finishing her sentence.

The other three shared looks among themselves.

“What was that all about?” Eve asked, tail swishing curiously.

Sybil shrugged. “We should get going though,” she said, “hike starts in ten minutes.”

Eve and Sybil hoisted their packs and fluttered out the door. Katelyn, however, hung back. She slowly approached the curtain at the back of the room.

“Hey,” she softly said. “You wanna come? Can I open the curtain?”

“. . . yeah . . .” came August’s voice, barely above a whisper.

Katelyn gently pulled the curtain back, revealing August, sitting on his bed. He was wearing his usual outfit: a hoodie and grey pants, but had added a pair of hiking boots to the ensemble. He looked glumly at the floor.

A long moment passed.

“The group is leaving in a few minutes, do you wanna come with?”

“I . . . I don’t know.” August clutched his hoodie sleeve.

“Look, I’m really, really sorry about last night,” Katelyn said. “I didn’t mean to--”

“No, I know,” August interrupted, “I know you didn’t mean it or anything.”

He paused for a bit.

“No, it’s just . . . I just wish I didn’t look like this. I mean, those other kids will be out there and I don’t want to--" He took a long, slow breath. "I just want to be normal.”

“Yeah . . . me too,” Katelyn said absently.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing,” Kate quickly responded. “Look, those shitbags will find anything they can to make fun of; you could be the most normal kid in the school and they’d still try to pick you apart. They’re a bunch of fragile little dinks who think they have to tear everyone else down to lift themselves up, and what they say means nothing.”

August looked up, pale eyes misting.

“Damn,” Kate whispered to herself, “why don’t I ever think of insults that good when I’m actually being made fun of?”

August chuckled miserably. “You and me both,” he said. “Still, I don’t know if I want to go out there, looking like I do, like a freak.”

Kate winced slightly.

“Hey man, I really wish you wouldn’t say that about yourself. It totally came out wrong when I said it last night, but I do think you actually look really, really cool. Like, I think you having eyes that glow is the dopest fucking thing in the world, and you should be proud of them.”

“You think so?”

“Absolutely, dude.” Kat shoved her hands in her pockets and sat down next to August. “And you know what, if you don’t wanna go on the hike, then fuck it, I’ll stay here with you and we can chill, ya? Who needs some dumb nature hike?”

“You’d . . . you’d do that for me?” August asked, taken aback.

“Oh for sure, man. We can hang out on the dock or whatever. Grab some more ice cream, who knows. Whaddaya say?”

August smiled sincerely.

“You know, let’s go on the hike," he said. "I think I can handle it now. I actually really like being out in the forest. Like, a lot.”

 

~~~

 

They had to run, but Katelyn and August caught up to the hiking party just as soon as they were heading out. They met up with the rest of Team Indigo, breathing heavily.

“What took you so long?” Rowena asked as they began their way along the trail.

“Nothing, just forgot to pack some sunscreen, that’s all,” Katelyn said.

“Oh shit! That’s what I forgot!” Eve exclaimed, whiskers bristling. “Do either of you two have any sunscreen on you?” she asked Sybil and Rowena.

Both pixies shook their heads.

“Okay, uh, that’s fine. Kate, can I borrow a handful from your bottle?” she asked nervously.

“Um sorry, but I’ve only got the spray kind,” Katelyn said, digging through her backpack and pulling out a spray can. “It’s not really . . . shareable? For pixies?”

“Oh damn, damn,” Eve muttered. Her cat tail flicked and swished in anxiety.

“Can pixies get sunburned?” August asked, screwing up his face in confusion.

“Oh yeah,” Eve exclaimed heavily. “I used to think we didn't, especially with the mist that’s everywhere, and y’know, skin that’s made of magic, but nope! We definitely do.”

Sybil floated up close to August’s head, wearing a sly grin. “She turned from purple to bright pink,” she whispered, “and lost probably like three layers of skin from peeling.”

“Oh shit, uhhh, what am I gonna do?” Eve said, staring up at the clear, bright, sunny sky.

“Why don’t you ask one of the pixie camp counselors?” Sybil suggested. “I’m sure they brought extra.” 

“Looking like this?” Eve gestured to her ears and grabbed her tail. “Oh, hell no!”

An incredulous expression settled over Sybil. She put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows sharply.

“Can’t you just disband the spell?” Rowena asked. “And then recast it after?”

“Ahh, I didn’t bring my gauntlet with me!” Eve responded, clutching her head in her hands, which phased through her cat ears. “I’m stuck until we get back to camp!”

“Hey, don’t worry,” Katelyn said. “Why don’t I just--”

 

Psshshhht!

 

“Ack!” Eve yelped. “My eyes!” She slapped her hands to her face, dripping wet. “It burns!”

“Kate, what the fuck!” Sybil exclaimed. “You sprayed her like you were trying to exterminate a bug!”

“Well, sorry!” Katelyn threw her hands up in the air. “I was just trying to help!”

“Honestly,” Sybil crossed her arms, “I feel like I’m surrounded by clowns sometimes.”

Rowena pulled out a handkerchief and began wiping off Eve’s face and dabbing her tears.

“Killing pixies already, Chuck?”

Team Indigo turned around, and just behind them, Team Red stood, wearing menacing looks on their faces. It consisted of six girls, three human and three pixie, some of the most popular students at Goldfield high. Everything about them was posh: hair perfectly cut and styled despite the outdoor conditions, flawless skin, designer brand outdoor clothing. They reflected a lifestyle and wealth that Katelyn could only dream of.

“Honestly, I thought you’d wait until you’d gathered a whole army before you started killing them,” a girl with auburn hair sneered. “I’m a little disappointed, actually.”

“Fuck off,” Katelyn said bluntly. She had no energy for this.

The auburn girl tittered. “Such mean words! A ‘real woman’ wouldn’t say things like that.”

Both Katelyn and Eve bristled.

The auburn girl grinned like a fox.

“Leave my sister alone.” Rowena moved to the front of the group, putting up a pair of fists.

“Ohh?” the red team laughed amongst themselves. “The librarian wants to fight! What are ya gonna do? Give us a late return fee?”

“I’ll start by ripping your hair out, bitches!”

Katelyn knew where this was headed. She grabbed Rowena between her thumb and forefinger. “Easy,” she said in a low voice.

Rowena looked back at her with contempt.

“That’s right, Chuck,” the auburn girl spoke up, “put a leash on your wasp.”

“So that’s why you sprayed Everett like a bug!” another girl with blonde hair jeered. “You’re all a bunch of wasps and flies!”

“It makes sense,” the auburn girl returned, “Chuck is such a piece of shit, only flies and wasps would want to hang out with him.”

“And corpses too!” a girl with straight black hair chimed in.

“That’s right,” auburn girl said, tone darkening, “corpses with dead eyes.”

All of Team Red locked predatory eyes on August, who stood slightly behind Kate.

“Did you hear?” auburn girl said to her companions. “I know why he’s like that. It’s not that hard to tell, he’s a Fused. I read about them. Their bodies don’t even know how to be born properly and the pixie gets mashed up inside the human. How does it feel to be a complete failure before you even pop out of your mommy’s hairy vagina?”

August slunk back, eyes watering.

“Aww, don’t tease him like that,” blonde girl said in a mocking tone. “He’s just a kid with no pixie who looks like a complete freak. Can you imagine if you had to grow up without a pixie, and you looked so ugly only other freaks wanted to hang out with you?”

“I’d want to kill myself!” dark hair girl replied.

Team Red erupted into laughter.

“You listening, freak?” the auburn-haired girl jabbed. “You should just kill yourself, and rid the world of your ugly face!”

More laughter.

August had full tears running down his cheeks, and he stood paralyzed.

Something snapped inside Katelyn.

She didn’t even know what was going on; it was like she had lost control of her actions. Time slowed down and she watched her right hand ball into a fist. Her arm pulled back, and months and months of strength training paid off as her muscles flexed and launched her fist through the air. In the split seconds before it made contact, she saw the auburn-haired girl’s expression immediately switch from smug to pure shock. God, that was the most satisfying thing Kate had ever seen.

Her fist slammed into auburn girl’s cheek, and pain exploded from her knuckles. She didn’t pull back though. She threw all of her shoulder into it, she would have punched a hole through that girl’s head if she could. The girl crumpled under her fist and fell square on her back.

The blonde girl and the dark-haired girl immediately tackled her, clawing and ripping. Someone grabbed her hair and started yanking on it. Dust billowed up from all the scuffling.

Time to see if all this training would pay off.

Kate grabbed one of the girls scratching at her, heaved, and picked the girl up. Hoisting her high in the air, Kate then tossed her to the ground, where she landed on her stomach with a thump. Kate then turned to the other one, slipped a hand under the girl’s armpit, then hooked it up around her neck, pulling her into a half-nelson. Kate then grabbed the girl’s leg, pulling her mostly off the ground and--

The sounds of shouts and the flash of orange shirts interrupted Kate’s flow. She was pulled back and the other girl was yanked out of her hands.

Time returned to normal and reality came crashing back down, and Kate found herself breathing heavily, covered in dust and sweat. A camp counselor was yelling at her, but she found it difficult to listen. Auburn-haired girl sat in the dirt, crying and wailing, with a bit of blood running down her nose. Blonde girl was dusting off all the dirt she’d picked up from being thrown to the ground, and dark-haired girl was going off to another counselor, pointing at Kate and gesturing wildly.

Rowena, Eve, Sybil, and August stood off to the side, jaws hanging in the air and eyes wide.

Damn, so much for all her talk about keeping her cool.