-Maia POV-

 

After Marissa had gotten her coffee and sipped it for a while, she addressed us.

“So, is this something you want to explain?”

“Yes. But it would probably be easiest if you ask us questions and we answer them as we go.”

“Okay, first question. You said ‘we’ just now.”

“Yes. Tessa’s body disappeared, which is new, but currently we are sharing a body, like we did before.”

“So you two were previously sharing Alex’s body?”

“For all intents and purposes, we were Alex. As far back as we can remember, it’s been us. We often swapped which one of us had control of our body and which one was watching, or even had one of us control part of our body, but it was always us.”

“I see. And you two are girls?”

“Yes.”

“Is your relationship between each other like twins or something?”

[Oh god I hope not.]

{That would make things really awkward. I think I prefer ‘soulmate’.}

[Yeah, that’s much better. Do we tell her that, though?]

{Probably not.}

“Ehh, kinda?”

“So, what now, since Tessa’s body disappeared?”

I frowned in thought.

{Hold on, let me try something.}

Tessa went silent for a moment, before I felt a slight pulling sensation, then almost fell out of my chair. She was now sitting next to me in the same chair. Thankfully, she had kept her clothes.

She smiled sheepishly before getting up to sit in her own chair. I wanted to pull her back to sit in my lap, but Marissa was still watching us closely.

Once we were settled again, Marissa said, “Well, I guess that solves that. So, how do the animal parts work for you two? From what I’ve figured out, my horns, ears, and tail seem to work like how a cow’s do.”

“My antennae work like a moth’s, but I haven’t tried out the wings,” Tessa said, fluttering her wings. I guess that explained her entranced face when she touched her antennae in the mirror.

“Same here. My ears and tail work like a fox’s, as far as I can tell.”

Evidently satisfied by our answers, Marissa stood up.

“So, what do you two want for breakfast?”

“Fruit cereal!”

“Chocolate cereal!”

{Wait, isn’t chocolate poisonous to foxes?}

[It had better not be poisonous to me, because I am having chocolate cereal and no one can stop me.]

{Sigh… I hope you’re right.}

 

-Tessa POV-

 

After we scarfed down our potentially poisonous cereal, Marissa said, “We’re going to have to go shopping today so you two have clothes to wear to school tomorrow.”

“Wait, we’re both going to school?” I asked.

At the same time, Maia asked, “Wait, there’s school tomorrow?”

“One at a time,” Marissa said. After we repeated our questions, she responded, “Yes to both. Whatever caused this transformation took a whole day, so today is Sunday.”

{Well, there goes the weekend, I guess.}

[Not our weekend!]

Marissa smirked at our faces of dismay. “Anyways, since we’re all already dressed, we can go to the mall now,” she said, standing up and stretching.

{Um. Maia.}

[Yeah. Um. Are we just going to go outside… without underwear?]

{And I’m sure these animal features will draw attention too…}

I was suddenly dreading going to the mall. I didn’t want people to look at me. I didn’t want them to see me. Even imagining their eyes on me hurt. I could feel my breath quicken. I was scared. Scared of what people would see, what they would think.

[…Tessa. Tessa. Tessa!]

{Huh? What?}

[You’re panicking.]

{I… Yes.}

[I’m here.]

{Yes.}

I focused on her voice in my head, taking deep breaths. Maia was here. It was going to be okay.

{Thank you.}

[Now, you should probably take a look at yourself.]

I looked down at my chair, before realizing that something was off.

{Well that’s new.}

[Apparently you’re not just a moth, you’re an invisible moth.]

I had somehow turned invisible. It felt different from when I dropped control and went into Maia's mind. My body was still there, just… see-through. Looking around, I noticed that Marissa had left the room, presumably to get her things so we could leave. Maia was still looking at me. Curious, I stood up and walked around. Maia’s eyes followed me as I moved, but I was still invisible. Interesting.

Just then, Marissa walked into the room. “Are you two sharing a body again?” she asked after stopping right in front of me. Evidently, she couldn’t see me.

“No,” I answered. She jumped, reflexively throwing out a punch. In a display of flexibility and reflexes that surprised me, I bent over backwards, dodging her fist, before standing back up next to her. Looking down, I noticed that I had become visible again.

“Ah. Sorry. Weird things happening. So, are you two ready to go?”

“Sure.” “I guess so.”

I tried not to think about the fact that people would see me. I didn’t want people to see me and think I was weird. If I didn’t have the moth parts, would people think I was just a normal girl?

[…Tessa?]

I looked at Maia quizzically.

[Look at your hair.]

I pulled my hair in front of my face. It… was black. Odd. It was white before. Rushing to the bathroom, I looked in the mirror.

Standing there, I saw that not only had my hair had turned black, my previously orange eyes were now gray, not that far off from the bluish-gray color of Alex’s eyes. I no longer had wings or antennae, and my neck fluff was nowhere to be found. I smiled.

There was a slight tug in my mind, then a release. From the dining room, I heard Marissa say, “Woah!” as footsteps bounded towards me.

Bursting into the bathroom was a similarly black-haired girl with red eyes that seemed to shine like a gemstone.

“I can do it too!” said Maia, looking back and forth between me and the mirror. I giggled at the way she seemed so foxlike even without the ears and tail.

“Do you two need me to braid your hair?” Marissa asked from the doorway, eyeing our hair that extended almost to our legs.

We both looked at her and nodded in unison.

After she gave us loose braids and we finished admiring ourselves and each other in the mirror, she asked, “Are you two ready to go now?”

We nodded in unison once again.

“Okay, let’s go. First stop: underwear store.”

Oh.

I forgot about that.