“Connor, what is this about?” her mother asked.

“Please be patient,” she replied, getting out of the car. “Trust me.” Turning to Summer and Autumn, she whispered, “You know what to do, right?”

“Just watch for Frost until you give the signal,” Summer said, the two of them taking off for the trees.

Connor had insisted on doing this in the park. They were by the picnic tables, which were otherwise empty. Slowly, Connor’s friends filtered in: Jacob, Harmony, Robert, Violet, Edward, Catalina, and finally Eric and Rosalie. With each new person she greeted, Connor grew more and more nervous.

“What’s going on?” Eric asked, sidling up to her. “Why did you call us all here? Even your parents. Are you alright? You’ve been MIA for a while.”

“I’ll explain everything, I promise,” Connor replied.

“Connor,” his father said slowly, “is something going on? You can talk to us, you know. If this is about… you know, then you don’t have to do this alone.”

“It’s okay, Dad,” Connor said, trying to smile. “This is a little bigger than you realize.”

From inside her coat, she pulled out the glamour disk and held it up. Then she took a deep breath and placed her hand on the center. The familiar magic washed over her and then the disk was gone.

“I’m actually Luna,” she explained, glancing around from shocked expression to shocked expression. “I’ve been pretending to be a girl for the past few months in order to hang out with everyone as someone else.” She signaled for Summer and Autumn to float down from the tree, then folded her arms across her stomach. “It turns out, I’m actually transgender. I found the glamour disk in my uncle’s things and have been using that to disguise myself. But I was afraid that people wouldn’t accept me for who I really was, so I didn’t tell anyone. I hope you can all forgive me for this.”

Her focus was on Eric, and his expression was not promising. It was clear he was replaying all the events of the past few months in his head: all those times she lied about who she was to him. He actually looked a little sick.

Rosalie stepped apart from the crowd to come stand by Connor, surprising her.

“Wait, did you know about this, Rosalie?” Catalina asked.

“Toward the end,” Rosalie admitted. “Does anyone have a problem with this?”

“I can’t believe you had magic all this time and didn’t tell us!” Jacob cried. “That’s so cool, man! Girl, I guess?”

“Can that make you look like anything?” Harmony asked.

“Hold on,” Robert interrupted. “How did you really meet Summer and Autumn, then?”

“Oh, they knew my uncle,” Connor replied, the weight on her shoulders starting to fade.

People really didn’t seem to mind that she was a girl. Connor refused to look at her parents at the moment. Sure, they deserved to know the full truth, but she wasn’t looking forward to hearing what they had to say.

Eric finally just turned and walked away. Connor nodded to herself, but could fear tears welling up in her eyes. That was to be expected.

“Connor,” her mother said, taking her gently and pulling her away from the crowd. “We need to talk.”

“All of this was really going on behind our back?” her father asked.

Connor averted her gaze and nodded.

“That’s really where I’ve been going every couple of days,” she explained. “I know I should have just told everyone the truth, but it really did seem like the best idea at the time.”

“What were you hoping to accomplish with this, Connor?” her mother demanded.

“I… wanted to date Eric,” Connor mumbled. “He only likes girls. And we can’t afford HRT, so I thought…”

“Oh, Connor.” Her father wrapped her up in a hug. “That was a very reckless decision. But I’m glad you at least came out on your own terms.”

Connor nodded.

“And while we can’t afford what you need right now,” her mother added, “we’re going to do whatever we can to support you, dear.”

“Excuse me.” Rosalie had stepped closer. “I couldn’t help but overhear. If you’re strapped for money to help her transition, my mentor might be able to hook you up with a magical doctor who’s willing to travel and can offer their services for comparatively cheap.”

“You’d do that for me?” Connor asked.

“Of course. What are you going to do with the glamour disk, though?”

Connor nodded slowly, then took the glamour disk off. She placed it on the ground and stood up.

“The person looking for it will find it here.” She turned to everyone else. “How about we get out of here?”

The group made their way toward the parking lot, Summer and Autumn on Connor’s shoulders. Her parents and Rosalie surrounded her, and the rest of her friends surrounded them. Once they had gotten far enough away, she glanced backward. In the shadow of the tree was a crouched figure with pale blue skin gently picking the glamour disk up from the ground.

Connor turned away, satisfied with the transaction.

***

Food stalls were scattered around the town square. Summer and Autumn had insisted on cinnamon waffles, so Connor was standing in line while chilly air whipped around her bare legs. Skirts were amazing, but she couldn't afford tights just yet.

“Alright, I’m back,” she said, returning to the small group of benches that the friend group had assembled. She sat down with the treat in her lap and her pixie friends started tearing into it. “Now, where were we?”

Eric wasn’t there. It seemed like he always had an excuse not to be around whenever Connor was available. Connor honestly didn’t blame him after everything. Everyone else seemed to understand as well, given that Connor had clearly been trying to date him, but thankfully they hadn’t ostracized Connor.

“What about Scarlet?” Violet suggested.

“Ugh, not quite.”

“Come on,” Robert said, “you have shot down every name we’ve suggested for months, now, Connor.”

“I’ll just know it when it hits me,” she insisted.

Everybody had wanted her to continue to go by Luna, but Connor hadn’t wanted to. Luna was just a character she’d been playing, after all. And the name just didn’t resonate with her in the long term. She was determined to find something that really felt like her. Her parents suggested more traditionally Vietnamese names, her friends just whatever they could come up with, and the pixies kept coming up with names from their own culture. Nothing quite fit.

“You need to just pick one you like,” Autumn said between mouthfuls of waffle. “Wear it for a while and get used to it. You’ll know how it fits if you just give it some time.”

“What about Caitlyn?” Catalina asked. “Or Kaitlyn with a K. Hmm, which one feels better?”

“It’s the same name,” Edward retorted.

“No, it has a slightly different mouth feel,” Rosalie agreed. “I definitely vote Kaitlyn. With a K.”

Connor just rolled her eyes.

“Hey, Connor,” Autumn said suddenly, “can we get a soda for this?”

“Cinnamon, syrup, and soda?” Connor asked, standing up. “You two are going to completely ruin your appetites.”

As she got out of range of the rest of her friends, though, Summer and Autumn flew up to speak to her face to face.

“There’s something we need to talk about,” Summer admitted. “We spent a lot of time hanging around Sang, but we don’t like to stay in one place for too long.”

“Now that Sang has passed,” Autumn continued, “we’d like to spend some time traveling again. We’ll be back, but we’re starting to get wanderlust again.”

“Leave?” Connor asked. “You can’t do that.”

“Connor…”

“Just… please not now,” she begged. “It’s too early.”

Summer and Autumn exchanged a look, then Summer said, “I guess we can put it off for a couple of months, if that’s what you need.”

“Thank you,” Connor told them.

Autumn, though, was peaking over Connor’s shoulder, her face pale.

“You may want to take a look back,” she whispered.

Connor turned, surprised to see a boy with buzzed black hair and a growing beard. Eric was looking in her direction, and waved as soon as she saw her. She waved back, but gulped. He started walking up to her.

“Hey, can we talk?” he asked.

Summer’s wings buzzed aggressively. Autumn was fidgeting from nerves. Connor just nodded, not trusting herself to say anything.

“I’ve thought it over,” Eric said, “and what you did really should be unforgivable, Connor. But everyone keeps insisting that you only did it because you were insecure, and that you wanted to tell me but were afraid I’d hate you.”

“That’s all true,” Connor admitted, glancing down.

Eric continued, “I don’t want to spend our last  year of high school avoiding each other. So I’m willing to forgive you for what happened.”

“Thank you,” Connor muttered, releasing a long breath.

Nodding, Eric added, “You look really pretty.”

Connor blushed. She’d been transitioning for a few months now, with some magical help that Rosalie had gotten for her family. It wasn’t as fast as a more expensive magical transition, but her facial hair wasn’t as much of a problem and her skin was softer. Voice training was still going slow, but the more feminine outfits were definitely helping public perception of her as a girl.

“Thank you,” Connor told him. “I’m really glad to know that you’re cool with this.”

“Of course. Whatever makes you happy.” He turned. “Should we head back to the others?”

Connor nodded and followed Eric. Everyone else in the group looked relieved to see that they were at least on speaking terms, again. They each sat down, the pixies firmly attached to Connor’s shoulders, and slid back into the conversation with ease.

***

“Okay, what about Willow?” Autumn asked.

“Not quite feeling it,” Connor replied. “What about… Charlotte? No, too formal. Why is this so hard?! I’m going to look like a girl long before I have a name as one.”

“You already look like a girl,” Summer said from her perch on the bookshelf.

Connor leaned back in her desk chair, feeling how soft the skin on her arms was getting. Her body hair had thinned out quite a bit as well. She thought her features had gotten softer as well.

It was a relief. They were nearing winter break and she still hadn’t come out to the entire school, though she had started wearing more feminine clothing and it was raising questions. But she was starting to look like a girl. If she could figure out a name to use, perhaps she could return to school as a girl.

“Hazel?” Autumn asked. “Does that work?”

“Hazel… Hazel…” Connor turned the name over in her mouth a bit. “I like Hazel. Let’s try that for a while.” She stood up. “I’m kind of hungry.”

Both of Hazel’s parents were in the kitchen, cutting ingredients for dinner, when she entered

“Hey,” Connor said. “I’m trying out the name Hazel for now. Do you two want help?”

“Help would be nice, Hazel,” her mother replied.

The pixies sat on the windowsill to chat while Hazel rinsed chicken in the sink. She liked how full the house had felt these past few months, ever since Summer and Autumn had stopped hiding and officially moved in. It was as if she had siblings, finally, and Hazel hadn’t realized how much she’d enjoy that until she was living the experience.

With everyone working together, and a little bit of pixie magic, it wasn’t long before everyone was sitting down to eat. The chicken was absolutely delightful. Even with the limited seasoning they had available, it was some of the best that Hazel had ever eaten.

Summer and Autumn sat at the fourth place mat on the table, sharing a small plate of food between them. They were whispering to each other about something Hazel couldn’t make out. After a while, Autumn nudged Summer and Summer sighed.

“There’s something we’d like to talk about,” she told the table.

“Oh, what is it?” Hazel’s father asked. “Is everything alright?”

Summer averted her eyes and said, “Everything is fine. But there is something we’ve been putting off for a while that we need to address.”

Hazel’s stomach dropped. She asked, “You don’t mean…?”

Autumn nodded.

“We’ve been here for quite a while, and we’d like to think about leaving to travel for a bit,” she explained. “It’s just not in our nature to stay in the same place for so long.”

“We’ll be back,” Summer promised. “But there’s still a lot of the world we want to see.”

Hazel wanted to stay strong, but she could feel tears pooling at the edge of her vision. Stupid estrogen, making her feel things. She sniffed and nodded, then felt her mother’s arms around her.

After dinner, everyone gathered in the living room. Summer and Autumn weren’t really dressed for the weather, but they had magic to protect them anyway. They’d be fine. Hazel was more worried about what she’d do without them, anyway.

“We’ll stay in touch,” Autumn assured Hazel, fluttering up to her neck and giving her a small hug.

“I know,” Hazel croaked. “I’m still really going to miss you.”

“We’ll miss you too,” Summer insisted from the arm of the couch.

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait until the morning?” Hazel’s mother asked.

“Traveling at night is easier,” Autumn said. “Magical pathways are open and it won’t take us forever to get anywhere. Obviously, traveling just by flight isn’t really viable when you’re this small.”

Hazel sniffed and wrapped her arms around Autumn.

“Goodbye,” she choked out.

“Goodbye, Hazel.”

Hazel scooped Summer up in the hug as well, giving them both a gentle squeeze. Eventually, though, she had to let them go. She took them out on the front porch, shivering from the cold. Summer and Autumn floated up toward the sky. They gave one last wave to Hazel before floating up and away.

She waited outside until they were distant specks in the sky. Then she went back inside and collapsed into her mother’s arms. It would be a while before she could stop crying and get to sleep.

QuillRabbit

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