"So how are we getting back at that bitchy witch?" Jacob sidled up to me as I was heading to our first class. We had signed up for a couple of our earlier classes together so that we could hold each other accountable but right now I was really cursing that clever thinking. I had even tried to get out of the house early to avoid him but it seemed fate wanted me to suffer.

"Don't call her that." I responded flatly. "And we are not doing anything. I'm not mad enough at her to bother. And even if I was, you wouldn’t be getting involved." I was already tired enough from getting less than 4 hours of sleep, so putting effort into a conversation I had no interest in was beyond me.

"What, you're telling me you're just gonna leave her alone? She's robbing you of your fucking manhood dude!" I grit my teeth at his words. "What happened to all that rage from last night? Where has that self-righteous fury gone? Or is the magic making you a subservient pussy or something?" He added the last comment with a joking laugh but it was too much.

Whirling on him, I growled, "my rage from last night hasn't gone anywhere dipshit. I'm just exhausted after having a long night of dealing with a lot of harsh truths. Like the fact that I need to reconsider some friendships." He stepped back at the venom in my voice as I continued. "I am not gonna let you pretend like you're my good buddy after last night. All of you decided to gang up on me in some fucked up cross between bullying and coercion. I mean what sort of morons think it’s a good idea to corner their friends to force them to talk about whatever problems they’re going through? The only conclusion I’ve been able to come to is that y’all are either idiots or assholes. And furthermore, you specifically," I emphasized my point by jabbing my finger into his chest, "called me an idiot and generally were the exact opposite of what I'd consider a friend when I admitted something that was actually stressful.”

“You know, now that I think about it, I can't remember a single time you've taken any of our hardships seriously. Not when it was Mel, not when it was Richard and certainly not when it was Amanda. You talk a big game about trying to help people improve their self esteem yet you take every opportunity to kick them while they’re down. I mean, fuck! I’ve known you for what, a year? And in that time, I’ve watched you lose friend after friend. And don’t even let me get started on your partners! It’s almost as if every time you start getting close to somebody, they do something to piss you off. You always make it sound like it’s mostly their fault. I’m starting to think that maybe I should stop feeling sorry for your bad luck and consider the possibility that you just treat people like shit when they’re in vulnerable places." I hadn't even realized I had so much pent up anger towards him until that moment. I also hadn't noticed that I had been pushing him back with each stab of my finger while I was talking. I had him pinned against a wall and he looked absolutely enraged but I could see a hint of fear behind it. 

I took a step back as I realized I was shaking. Unclenching my fists, I took a few deep breaths and shook my head, trying to think clearly without the red haze of my rage influencing me quite so heavily. "Look I'm obviously not in a mood to deal with you so I'm gonna sit on my own today. Maybe I’ll change my opinion about you in a couple days. We can try to talk then I guess." I stormed away from him before he could say anything and made my way to class.

I spent the first portion of class trying to focus on the lecture through the adrenaline that was still rushing through my veins. I wasn't used to letting my anger get the better of me like that and listening through it was not a skill I had ever built up. The fact that it happened twice in as many days made me feel guilty and out of sorts. I tried to calm my nerves by browsing social media but when I pulled out my phone, I was met with 7 messages. My anxiety spiked at the sight and I threw my phone back in my bag and turned to my notes, choosing to doodle instead. I started by drawing a rendition of a meme, starting with a computer screen claiming everything was error free in a console window. I added a table underneath it, along with some data cables for arms, ending in floppy disks with for hands. I positioned them so that it looked like the little guy was leaning back on the desk. I added some legs, using data cables again, but used some ram sticks for feet. I then proceeded to surround it with fire. The fire ended up getting a bit out of hand though, as I found myself covering my entire page with more and more flames. Maybe this wasn’t the greatest method to feel better. It felt a little cathartic but it still felt like trying to bail out a boat while it was still taking on water. I knew it would eventually help but it wasn’t a real solution. I also just didn’t have the patience to wait for it to start working. 

I zoned back into what the teacher was saying for a couple minutes and realized I must have been ahead in my studying as I already knew the topic she was covering. While it would be nice to make sure I understood it, I couldn’t do that right now, so I grabbed my bag and snuck out the back door the moment she had her back turned for more than an instant. I felt guilty, but as I got outside, I knew I had made the right decision. The fresh air almost immediately helped me breathe easier. I considered going back to the water tower, but I didn’t want to risk going there in the daylight. The idea of going there multiple times in what was technically a single day felt weird as well. Instead I walked home, trying to enjoy the mild breeze that made the morning almost bearable.

Upon arriving, I made my way to my room, hoping against hope that I wouldn’t run into anyone in the hallway. Upon arriving successfully, I closed my door quietly and rummaged through my drawers, looking for a bathing suit. I wanted to move, but the heat was just too much for me to think about running. So the simple solution was to just go for a different type of cardio. I found it after a few minutes and was halfway through pulling my jeans off when I realized what an idiot I was. I had a woman’s breasts now. While that thought sent a shiver of happiness down my spine, it was countered by the realization that I couldn’t exactly swim with just trunks on. I tried digging through my drawers to find a shirt that I could get away with wearing in the water. But each time I tried one on and pulled it taut against my body, I could see my breasts clearly outlined. After the fifth shirt, I tried seeing how it would look without the bra on, but all that accomplished was shocking me. My chest looked bigger than it had on Monday. 

That was absurd, wasn’t it? Sure, it had been a little over 24 hours since I had last looked at my breasts, since I had slept in the bra in my tired state, but I would think I’d have noticed a change since then. I held them in my hands and found that either my hands had shrunk or my breasts had definitely grown as my fingers fit comfortably around them. I bit my lip as I looked down at myself, thinking about how wild this entire experience was. Not being able to trust that my body would be as I expected day to day was a little terrifying, but also a bit exciting for some reason. Or maybe the simple fact that my body was quickly becoming something I actually liked was responsible for my excitement. I snapped out of my thoughts as I realized I was just short of groping myself. I blushed and let my hands drop as I tried remembering what I was doing. Right, testing shirts for swimming. I tossed on a shirt, and found even worse results when I tried making it cling to my body. Not only did it show off my shape even more, but my nipples were very easy to spot poking against the cloth. Sighing, I removed the shirt and put my bra on again and threw on one of the more colorful shirts that were scattered around me. Just because I couldn’t swim didn’t mean I couldn’t do some other sort of cardio. Machines weren’t my favorite source of cardio, but they sounded a lot better than the heat outdoors.

Before I left though, I decided I was calm enough that I should try to respond to my notifications. The first was my own message from the night before. I sent a quick reply to Estus thanking them for helping me. The next two were from Amanda; one from last night and another from this morning, both of which were simply checking in on me considering the state I had been in last night. The next one was from Richard and was essentially the same, though he also asked how I was holding up with the physical changes considering they sounded like a nightmare to him. The last three were a string of messages from Rachael, but I left them for the moment and opened the house group chat. It took me several attempts of typing out messages, just to delete them and restart before I finally had a paragraph for them.

Hey y'all I know that you're just trying to make sure I'm ok after last night but I'm not. I'm really mad at y'all for ambushing me with all of that last night. I know I probably deserved some hazing but it went too far and I need some space. If Mel shows up, please don't give her any crap about this, it'll just make the situation worse. I’m the only one that should be mad at her. Oh also, don't tell anybody about what's going on with me and stuff. I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be a secret…

I hit the send button before I could flip flop on it any more and moved on to the messages from Rachael. They were all from this morning and hinted that someone had messaged her about my freakout last night. She wanted to meet up for lunch so we could talk since she knew better than to ask me to explain over text. I sent her a message agreeing and followed it up with another thanking her for always being there for me. She was always so sweet despite my flawed personality. Having an actual sibling to compare her to, I couldn't imagine what kept her around through all my shitiness but I counted myself lucky that she chose to. After another moment of thinking, I realized I should send her an awkward request as well. I sat there for five minutes, trying to figure out how to phrase my question. Finally I typed out the message, hit send and threw it into a gym drawstring bag. 

With that, I made my way to the gym, where I proceeded to work up a sweat for a little over an hour. By the time I made it back home, I was practically begging for a cold shower. I tossed my clothes in my room and jumped into the freezing cold water. While I expected the shock of the cold, I had failed to take into account how certain anatomy would react and found myself distracted once more by my new rack. I couldn’t say the feeling was unpleasant. If anything it was far from it, but nonetheless I ended up cutting the shower short, finding it too distracting.

After my shower, I relaxed in my bed, blasting my fan in hopes of staying cool. As I lay there waiting to hear back from Rachael, I devoured content about trans folks on my phone. I started with more general information, but found myself gravitating towards memes once I stumbled upon a few caches of them. I scrolled through them, laughing with some content, having to look up other content, and eventually hitting some that made me want to cry with how relatable it felt. There were also quite a few jokes that made me realize I hadn’t really ever considered the possibility that other guys didn’t think about what being a girl would be like. Maybe there really were more signs than I had realized. Before I knew it, I got a message from Rach saying her class was just about done. I pulled myself together and made my way over to meet her.

“Well you seem a lot happier than the message from Amanda suggested you’d be,” Rachael said as she walked up to the wall I was leaning against. She may have caught me smiling at a meme right before I hid my phone in my back pocket. I was still wearing the same jeans she had leant me a few days previous so I couldn’t carry much in my pockets, but I had brought my gym bag to carry everything they couldn’t. I also had added some supplies I might need for my test in the evening just in case I didn’t go back home. "So did something magically make you feel better this morning?" I scowled at her emphasis on the word. Had she asked the question a couple hours earlier it may have sent me into another spiral of whether the magic was at fault for my late night realization. After all my research though, I had identified enough repressed memories that I was fairly certain these feelings had been around a while. I did idly wonder if magic was capable of doing such a thing though. "Hey no pouting! That's my move and you can’t steal it!" My friend interrupted my thoughts teasingly.

"I was scowling," I mumbled in protest as we entered the cafeteria. "And no, nothing magical happened. You just happened to catch me while I was looking at funny memes, thank you very much." At her grin, I continued. "I don't know what she told you but I deny all allegations made against me and would have the record show I am an upstanding gentle-man with no love for hearsay!" She tilted her head slightly and I thought she might have caught the slight catch in my voice during my usual catchall denial for the things she had heard about me. I even directed my statement about the record at an empty corner of the entrance, where I imagined the 4th wall to exist.

"Oh really now? So you deny that your peers admitted to wrongdoings and in a rare loss of decorum you revealed the secret machinations of a devious rogue agent? Do you also deny that in your anger you stormed out of thine shared abode to scream thine frustrations to the heavens rather than subject them to further wrath?" It took me a moment to parse through her convoluted words. Either she had prepared for my response more than usual or I was losing my touch.

"Wait, how'd you know I screamed out my frustrations?" I asked, breaking the normal pattern early.

"You actually did that? I just thought it would sound cool to say. Can’t believe you confessed to such an out of character action so easily." She giggled at my admission.

"Shit, I guess I played myself on that one." I sighed, not correcting her on the reason I screamed. "I'll meet you at a table and tell you what actually happened," I said, resigning myself to my fate. She'd get the truth out of me one way or another so I might as well give in and at least have a chance to direct the conversation. That way I would at least have a chance at avoiding my late night revelations. I knew she loved me a lot closer to unconditionally than my parents, or anyone else I knew for that matter, but the idea of telling her such a huge thing still seemed beyond terrifying. The sheer idea of it almost made me lose my appetite. Almost. Not quite enough to stop me from grabbing enough food to feed two.

"Ok so spill. What was so bad that you ran off and had to scream?" Rachael asked as we settled down with our food a few minutes later. I really hoped she didn’t continue to focus so much on that scream, as it was a sure way to the admission I still wanted to avoid.

"Short story is I found out they were intentionally fucking with me at Mel's suggestion in hopes of getting me to lash out. I'm guessing in hopes that it would trigger the spell’s effect more or something. I found this out because they ambushed me by claiming they wanted to talk about house stuff. They proceeded to instead stage some sort of half-assed intervention for how I’ve been acting and all but demanded I tell them what was wrong and I got pissed off and rambled about shit that I've been mad about. When I let slip what happened, Jacob was an asshole and didn't believe me while making fun of me so I showed them the bra and such and they got mad at Mel and I uh…didn't want them to cuz that part’s not their problem and that was the last straw for me so I left to clear my head?" I ended my summary, hoping she didn't push for more. She considered my words quietly as she chewed on a piece of chicken.

"Ok, so let’s skip past how little sense you not being angry at Mel makes for now. So you’re saying you what, just went for a run and...Kept going for hours, pausing occasionally to scream into the void?" she raised an eyebrow as she grabbed another piece. I fidgeted under her gaze as I figured out how to answer the question. I wanted to simply say yes, but I knew that wouldn’t fly with her. Trying to determine how much to say and what to omit was difficult though. Especially since I knew she didn’t like me hanging out at the tower.

“Not exactly? I um,” I paused, doubting myself, “kinda went to the water tower again? Spent a little while up there just taking in the sights? That’s where I screamed to the world?” I winced with the end of each sentence, almost expecting her glare to punch a hole through me.

She continued glaring at me for a few moments after I finished before she let out a sigh. "As long as you were safe, I guess I can't be that mad at you. I mean, you showed up to classes today and didn't just hide from the world like you tend to do when you're avoiding things. So that counts as progress in my book." I squinted at her words, choosing to ignore that she wasn’t completely right about the classes. "What? I know that I've been mad before but I'm worried about you and you seem to be in better spirits than this weekend. Something has obviously changed and I can't help but notice you're still looking rather girly so I know it’s not that. Is that still ongoing due to Mel refusing to see reason? And why aren’t you mad at her?" She asked with an arched eyebrow.

"No?" I said, hesitantly answering the first question. "Nobody has really talked to her since she got back on Sunday I don't think. I mean, Amanda said she talked to her then, but she went out again and nobody's seen her since. I'm honestly kinda too busy being worried to be mad at her. She's disappeared from the house for a few days in the past but she'd text back usually and she definitely never missed class over it. Or at least not the classes I shared with her." I found myself fidgeting as I explained. “I would ask her friends, but I don’t really know any of them. Amanda probably knows someone, but I’m not exactly…”

“On speaking terms? Yeah, so I gathered. Why not just apologize for blowing up at them and ask?” she picked up my words as I trailed off. The question she asked brought a frown on my face though.

“Why should I apologize? They’re the ones who’ve been shitty friends. Ambushing someone with questions because they aren’t answering them on your time isn’t cool. I’m still mad at them for that. If they had apologized separately without lying to me, maybe it would be different. Instead they doubled up on their manipulation.” Seeing her digesting my words, I added, “and technically only Richard actually gave an apology. The other two were too busy trying to coerce me into confessing my problems or some shit.”

“I…see your point. When you put it that way, I can’t say I can agree with their methods even if the base message might be relatable. Waiting on them might be best for now.” She let out a large sigh, poking at her food while she thought. “Oh! Isn’t Mel part of one of the campus pride groups though? I can’t remember which one, but I think she might have friends through that who might know what’s up?”

“You’re a genius Rach! That’s perfect!” A student nearby jumped at my sudden outcry. I dropped my voice again as I continued with my train of thought. “Oh and maybe I can ask Estus about when they meet. Hopefully it’s soon, but if not maybe they know someone who knows her! Or could point me in the right direction or something.” I grinned at Rachael’s bemused smile.

“You’d really go to a pride group just to track her down? That’s so far out of your normal comfort zone, isn’t it?” Rachael held a hand up to her chest and continued in a voice oozing with faux shock. “Is this growth I’m sensing? Does my dearest sibling have an actual friend they care about? Or is this just an excuse to talk to this mysterious Estus I’ve never heard of? Was it love at first sight, tell me more, tell me more.” She teased me, leaning towards me with a predatory grin as she sang.

“No! Estus is just a cool person I met last night! We hung out for a while and they had a lot of interesting points to make!” I found myself blushing as I tried to throw together my response. As I got past the initial portion, the avoidance of the word brother hit me. It simultaneously relieved me and confused me. She didn't have any other siblings, so using the more generic word didn't make sense. Not unless she knew…but there was no way she could know, right? Had she caught my earlier pause after all? I realized she was grinning at me expectantly still. “And no! I mean maybe! I am capable of growth occasionally! And Mel’s obviously a cool girl but I’m just worried about this spell worsening forever. Obviously that’s all there is to it.”

“And was this—” Rachael paused. It looked as if she was considering something as she dropped the teasing grin she had been holding. Then something clicked behind her eyes and she continued. “Was this Estus someone you think could become a good friend? You mentioned they might know when the pride group met; I know I’m not supposed to ask, but are they trans?”

I got the impression she was going to ask something else, but I let it go as I answered. “Um Yeah, they’re nonbinary, how’d you know? Do you already know them? And wait, what do you mean, you’re not supposed to ask?”

“You only used they/them pronouns for them. Couple years ago, I’m pretty sure you would’ve sooner had an aneurysm. And yeah, you’re not really supposed to out trans folks usually. Kinda obvious with nonbinary folks if you know their pronouns though.” She replied with something between a wry and sad smile. “Teasing aside, it makes me happy to see you growing. I think I’ve asked you enough questions for today. You seem absolutely exhausted Nattie. Amanda told me you weren’t home by the time she went to bed at 2, but I don’t know how much sleep you actually got. Don’t think I want to know. Just try to get a good night’s rest tonight, ok?”

Her abrupt change in tone and topic threw me off, so it took me a moment before I half-snarked back, “look who’s talking. I know how little sleep you get most weeks. I will promise to get plenty of sleep if you promise me the same thing.” At her responding pout, I added, “I can even get you a nice comfy pillow roughly my size since it seemed to work so well on Sunday.”

Her face turned scarlet as she sputtered, “I was worried about you! You, you bully! You can’t hold that against me! Prop 17 of the sibling convention forbids it!” she muttered something after that, but I couldn’t hear it over the din of the cafeteria. She quickly lifted her voice again. “Well as lovely as this has been, I do have classes to go to and I can’t let my favorite dolt make me late. Keep me updated on your adventures Nattie.” With that final musical request, she stuck out her tongue and stood.

I jumped up and leaned over the table before she could leave, lowering my voice to a hushed tone. "Wait! Um…well two things. One, what about that uh…thing I asked about? And 2. What's prop 17? Is it something to do with what you muttered right after? It seems to not have made it into my handbook! Mine stops at prop 13." I couldn’t help but combine the vulnerable question with some sass.

Rolling her eyes, Rachael responded in kind. "I have no clue what muttering you’re talking about. It’s not my fault you didn't memorize the whole book when I showed it to you years ago. Furthermore, even without that, the idea that yours would stop at 13 is preposterous. Everyone knows there are 7 props per page." With a twinkle in her eye, she rummaged through her bag and passed me a couple items of clothing. She lowered her voice as she continued, "and here's the additional bra and pants you asked for. Anything more though and you're going to need to convince me to take you shopping though. You vastly overestimate how many pieces of clothes I have that could fit you, even if you are smaller than you used to be. As it is, Faith wants her pants back by the next time she does laundry. Which could be this weekend or in three weeks for all I know, so good luck. Oh and there's a little bonus surprise for you too!" She winked as she pranced off ahead of me. I tossed the clothing in my bag and rushed after her, asking her to clarify what she meant, which she chose to ignore as she sped ahead of me with a giggle.

I followed her out of the building and gave her hair a ruffle as I jogged up and past her, getting an indignant squawk as a reward. She started to chase after me but I easily kept out of her reach and after a minute or two she peeled off towards the building for her next class. Her need to be early to every class meant I could rarely get her to take part in my childish games any more. Even getting a couple minutes out of her was something I considered a win, so I still had a grin as I continued on my way. I didn’t actually have anything to do for the next several hours so I simply wandered around campus for half an hour, sticking to the shade. During that time I paused to send Estus a text, asking whether they were part of any of the pride groups or knew where and when they might meet. I also got a message from Dante asking if I wanted to play some basketball or possibly game for a couple hours with the others. It was what I normally would spend my Wednesday doing, but I just didn't have the mental capacity to deal with them today. I was more than a little worried that they would try something similar to what my housemates had, if I was being honest with myself. I responded that I was too busy studying for my two tests in the next 24 hours, feeling guilty for the lie. 

After getting my fill of the fresh air, I headed to the library. Rather than studying though, I was planning to find a good book and curl up in my favorite little hideaway. It had been a while since I lost myself in a story and it sounded relaxing in a way nothing else was. The idea of escaping all my stressors from the past week sounded perfect. Once I arrived at the library, I perused the fantasy section for a good half an hour. After a few false starts, I finally found a book that sounded like it had an interesting premise combined with a female protagonist. I started to skim through the foreword as I made my way to my nook. I never really understood why I felt the need to read them, but forewords always made me feel more connected to the author in a way that made their work more enjoyable. It was also the perfect thing to scan while part of my brain was focusing on navigating around people and objects. I was just about finished skimming it when I plopped myself into my favorite chair and curled up.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me.” a melodious voice came from above me a few pages later. Looking up in surprise, I found myself looking at an amused Estus. “You’re telling me you found not one, but two of my favorite places to get away from the world? Sophia, you are a menace.”

“Do I get a special prize if I find the other locations?” I snarked excitedly as I recovered. “And I could argue that this should be considered you finding my spot since I’m here like 4 or 5 days a week usually! It’s perfect for waiting out the time between classes and even better for long study sessions!” They chuckled as I grinned up at them.

"I guess I’ll just have to think up a prize. I doubt you can find the other three though. They're even better hidden than these two. I'll admit that you may beat me in terms of the number of days spent here, but if we compared hours, I would be willing to bet it would at least be a close match. After all, you are certainly right about it being perfect for long study sessions." They replied with a smirk.

"Ooh ooh ooh! Does one of them involve a glade in the woods with a little bench that was probably once yellow but is so old and chipped that it’s mostly just gray? About 15 minutes off the nearby trail? And absolutely perfect for a little picnic if one was so inclined?" At the dumbfounded look on their face I threw my arms up in victory. "So just two more then! Oh this is gonna be the best type of scavenger hunt! Will I get any cryptic hints? Wait, no! I don't need them! I will meet your challenge and win your prize without help! No matter what it takes, I will be victorious!"

Shaking their head, Estus responded lightly. "Oh no, now I really will have to come up with a prize. I'll even give it to you if you just find one more since the last one isn't exactly within comfortable walking distance. I swear, you have got to meet my sister at some point. You two would get together dangerously well. You probably drive people nuts with your combined antics. Or she’d manage to fluster you enough that you couldn't keep up the snark.” They sighed and lost some of their enthusiasm as they continued, talking more to their coffee cup than me. “Another thing to add to the list for whenever she comes to, I suppose. By the way, any chance I can have my spot back or am I gonna have to find another spot so you can read your smut in peace?”

Sputtering, I felt my cheeks ignite. “F-fluster? Wait, Smut? N-No way! I had no idea! I only just started reading and I found it in the fantasy section! I didn’t seek it out! And wait, you mean you were already here?” Looking to my sides, I saw that there was indeed a bag with a small laptop and a stack of books on the opposite side of where I’d tossed my bag. Barely missing a beat, I continued as I jumped out of the seat. “Aaahhhhh, shit, I’m so sorry! I got distracted and wasn’t looking where I was going and wow I’m such an airhead. You must think I'm an annoying distraction and that’s why you didn’t reply my text and —”

“You texted me?” They interrupted my rant. “Whoops. Should’ve mentioned I typically leave my phone off on Wednesdays and Fridays. Easier to avoid distractions while I’m working here that way.” Methodically going through the other things I had said, they grinned mischievously. “And yep, that series is quite steamy. You must not have looked at the covers of the author’s other books. It’s totally fine that you didn’t notice my stuff and took over since you obviously were so enthralled by the book already.” As I felt mortified, they took some pity on me. “Oh don’t worry, nobody’s judging you here. I can’t say I haven’t done the same thing. And I did it on purpose. After all, how do you think I know about the series?” After winking at me, they switched the conversation back to a productive track. “So what did you text me about?”

It took me a few moments to compose myself enough to answer the question. “Oh um, I asked whether you knew any people in any of the pride groups. One of my friends hasn’t been home or responding to text messages in a couple days and I figured she might have some friends in one of those groups that might know what’s going on?” I told them a bit more information than they might have needed as my anxiety over Melissa’s well being returned.

“Oh sure, I joined a couple when I was an undergrad and stuck around to help all you baby gays. Who are you trying to track down, I might be able to shorten the process for you if I know them.”

“Oh! That would make sense! Her name is Mel! Or maybe Melissa? Not sure if other people also call her that.” At my words, Estus stiffened and their demeanor shifted as they stepped closer.

“Wait, you’re one of the people that lives with her? Has she been acting weird at all recently? Did she seem tired last time you saw her? Or maybe drained? Has she been talking with anyone a whole lot? Did you ever see extra colors coming off her? Did she complain about any food? Have you noticed anything strange going on around her in general? What about —" They threw question after question at me with an intensity that was altogether too much for my brain to handle. I backed up into the corner with my bag, feeling very small all of a sudden. Noticing my reaction, Estus suddenly stopped. They stepped back and took a breath. "Sorry. Sorry. You don’t need me interrogating you. Let me slow down. And back up. Melissa is my sister. I've been trying to retrace her steps the past few days because she's in a coma."

I felt myself sink to the ground as my voice mumbled the terrible thought that had been plaguing my subconscious these past few days. "And lemme guess. Some of those questions are really vague because you think it's probably cuz some magic got out of hand or something like that?"