“What do you mean that’s not your name?” Lillian says, arms crossed as she glowers. The two of us are alone in the room now, the rest of the teachers and my friends having vacated a few minutes ago at Lillian’s request. She got the basic facts and accounts from everyone — though no one mentioned anything about Umeso’s other identity or them being a part of why the attackers were here — and now she’s intent on talking to me directly. Or, well, not to me, she’s expecting a totally different person. The person she’s got, though, is intent on making things difficult for her.

“My name’s Ruem, not Biat,” I say, smiling wide.

Her eyes narrow. “What game are you playing, wandering spirit?” The emphasis on the final two words is tangible, clearly meaningful, but if I ever knew what they meant I’ve since forgotten.

“No games, Lillian, just telling you the facts,” I say with a shrug. The way her mouth twists when I say her name is delightful.

“It’s Headmistress to you, you little twerp,” she says, almost spitting the words. After a quick roll of the eyes, she takes a step toward me and says, “I don’t have time for whatever nonsense you’re on about. Velgis’ stooge is here, so tomorrow you’ll have to show her what you’re capable of.”

“What, like punch her?”

Looking at me like I’m something she found under her shoe, Lillian says, “No, do not punch a representative of the High Council, you absolute twit. Did those monsters knock a screw loose in that empty head of yours?”

The increasing agitation radiating off this woman is nourishment to my sleepy bones. Energy buzzes through my body, and I start shifting from foot to foot, my body unwilling to stay still. “Heh, you could say they knocked the spirit right outta this body, actually. Had to get a whole new one to fill it up!”

Lillian’s eyes dart up and down my body, presumably as her brain tries to connect the puzzle pieces. Cocking her head to the side, she says, “Are you saying… you really aren’t Biat anymore? Something happened to her?”

“Ding ding!” I shout, pointing at her. “It only took you ten minutes to figure it out!”

“It was hardly ten minutes,” Lillian mumbles offhandedly. “What, so you’re actually Ruem again, now?” I nod and she sighs. “Well you’re certainly more annoying this way, but the point remains: you need to show off that powerful form of yours tomorrow.”

I shrug again. “Yeah, that… ain’t gonna work. The transformation stuff was Biat’s whole bag.”

Fingers clenching at her sides despite her clearly wanting them around my neck, Lillian says, “Then get. Her. Help.”

My body stills and my arms cross. Some of the glee this situation has instilled in me disappears. “I… can’t. She’s gone. Trapped, I think.”

Within the next few seconds Lillian’s face goes through a wide range of emotion, more than I’ve ever seen from her before. Irritation gives way to confusion, realization, shock, denial, and finally, fear. Her usual guarded nature completely gone, she softly says, “G—gone? You don’t know where?” I shake my head, unable to say anything. My own emotions are rattled, seeing her like this. Clapping her hands to the sides of her face, Headmistress Onpertet stalks this way and that, loudly muttering. “This is exactly what Velgis wants. He’s been looking for the opportunity and I’m handing it to him on a silver fucking platter. This is the worst possible thing that could happen. I’m fucked, we’re all fucked, this school is as good as his!” She goes on like this for two solid minutes, and for once I can’t think of anything to say or do. I’d wanted to frustrate her, upset her even. Breaking her wasn’t something I thought was possible, but I imagined it could only be a good thing. Yet the reality of it is… more uncomfortable, than anything.

“H—headmistress?” I say, taking a step toward her, one arm extended.

Her pupils snap to mine and suddenly she’s upon me, her fingers digging painfully into my shoulders. “You said she’s trapped!? So she’s alive?!?”

“Ow, fuck, lighten up!” She doesn’t, and my attempts to push her away prove futile. “Ugh, yeah, she’s alive! I can feel it!!”

Her fingers loosen, but not completely. “Can you find her!?”

“I want to! I think I can!”

She finally lets me go, her face breaking into a smile that’s painfully genuine and the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen. “Yes, wonderful!! Then you must do it! You and your friends have got to go find her!”

Rubbing my shoulders, I grumble, “Well yeah, that’s the idea, but Kittpey thought we should actually, like, take some time and plan—”

Lillian’s smile drops. “Take some time? Oh nononono. We can’t have that. You’ve got to go now, as soon as possible. Get her, bring her back, save me, save the school!”

I glare at her. “I don’t want to save you.”

Something of the usual Lillian returns to her, something that causes her face to harden and her foot to tap. “Then don’t do it for me, you brat. You like attending this school, don’t you?”

“I mean not really.”

With a weary sigh, the rest of regular Lillian returns. She puts her hand to her forehead. “Why are you even here, then?”

Though the question is clearly rhetorical, I answer anyway. “My parents forced me.”

“Great. Wonderful. I’m glad this institution of learning is such an awful punishment for you.” Crossing her arms, she levels me with a glare. “What about your friends — Slatterald and Arestran? If that’s the latter’s actual name…” I decide to let that one pass; Umeso wouldn’t want me fighting about it. “Do they hate going here too?”

“Oh no, those nerds love it, I think.”

“Then do it for your nerd friends, if for nothing else.”

I roll my eyes for as long and hard as possible, to make sure she sees. “Again, I was always going to do it, I’ve gotta save Biat. It’s just the time thing—”

Striding towards the door, Lillian says, “You are far more frustrating to talk to than your body’s last inhabitant. Get out. Go sleep. Talk to your friends in the morning. And find Biat. The sooner the better…” She pauses, looking away. Her next words are so soft I barely hear them. “For all our sakes.”

~~~

“Ruem Phasos, the infamously disagreeable woman, wants to just… do what the authority figure says?” Kittpey questions, eyebrow raised and arms crossed. She’s sitting near me on my bed, while Umeso sits in my desk chair. After getting some more sleep — too much of it according to Kittpey — I found my friends and asked them if we could chat in my room. Well, I actually suggested we meet at Umeso’s house, but Umeso said there was too good a chance of being overheard there. I think that’s not the only reason, though… I think they just don’t want to be near their grandmother right now.

“Only because I already wanted to do it!” I shout, poking her in the shoulder. It’s really, really nice to be able to poke someone in the shoulder with my flesh and blood finger. “You’re the one who wanted to wait!”

She slaps my prodding finger away. “Because we have no idea where we’re going, how far it is, how long it will take or what we’ll be up against!” Crossing her arms, she levels me with a hard stare. “I want to save her just as much as you do, but if we get ourselves killed in the process it won’t do her much good!”

I switch to poking her in the side. “I mean we’d probably be up against the goblin girl and her friend, huh? And if they could walk here, we can walk there, right? Also, we beat them before, we can do it again!”

“We didn’t beat them,” Kittpey says, grabbing my hand and smothering it against the bed. “You fought them in a powered up form that, unless I’m mistaken, you no longer have access to. And even then you didn’t win!” Okay, well, rude to remind me. Also, how does she know that, she wasn’t around to see it! Apparently reading my mind, Kittpey says, “Umeso said you got knocked out and Biat’s dream girlfriend had to step in to finish it!”

Throwing a glare Umeso’s way, which is met with an apologetic shrug, I try to wriggle my hand out from under Kittpey’s firm grasp. “Okay, well, maybe! But!” It feels like I should have a rebuttal following that, but none are actually coming to mind. Must be because I’m so focused on my trapped hand.

“But what, Ruem?” Kittpey says, eyebrows raised. There’s a hint of a smirk in the tilted line of her mouth. Those lips look so soft… boys must go crazy over them! And yet no boyfriend? Baffling. Somehow her eyebrows have raised further at this point… oh crap, she’s judging me for staring at her lips, isn’t she? Well it’s not my fault, they’re just— and if she’d get her warm, soft hand off of mine, so I could focus—

“But I’m scared,” Umeso mumbles, drawing Kittpey and I’s attention away from one another. Her hand retreats from mine, and I ignore the disappointment that fills me immediately afterward.

Squinting at my glasses-wearing friend, I say, “I’m not sure that fits with what I was say—”

Kittpey shoves my shoulder. “What’re you scared of, Umeso?” I think we both already know the answer, but even with talking about it yesterday, the subject of Umeso’s alternate identity hardly feels resolved. I get why Kittpey would want to encourage them to talk about it.

“What will… happen to me? If I go there? If I go to the place I apparently used to live?” Umeso says, not looking either of us in the eye. Their body trembles. “What if just being there… turns me back, somehow? What if I lose who I am now?”

“I mean, that’s not gonna happen, right?” I say confidently, despite my lack of confidence in the assertion. Seeing Umeso like this is upsetting  — I’ve always thought of them as so strong-willed, yet lately… “I mean it’s just a place, huh? Sounds like just… a castle, or something, according to Biat? It’s not magical.”

“But why else would they have wanted to take me back there?” Umeso says, almost shouting the first few words. Their hands tightly grip the sleeves of their shirt, and even though I know they’re not very strong, part of me worries they’ll manage to tear the fabric.

Putting on a soothing voice, Kittpey reaches a hand out to touch Umeso’s arm. “I don’t know. And if you don’t want to go, if the what ifs are too terrifying for you — then stay. We won’t think any less of you.” She briefly shoots me a look, which is totally unwarranted, of course I wouldn’t think less of them! “But if you do want to go, then just know that Ruem and I will do everything in our power to keep you safe. We won’t let anything happen to you, not if we can help it.”

Nodding emphatically, I say, “Fuck yeah! Anyone comes for my friend and I’ll punch ‘em right in the nose! I hear you can kill a person that way.”

“Please don’t kill anyone for my sake,” Umeso says, with a wobbly smile. Tears are clearly brimming in their eyes. And we can’t have that — at least, not without a comforting hug.

“Group hug time!” I shout, launching forward and pulling my two friends into an embrace. I’m certain the me of several months ago would never have done this, but the me of today is just so thrilled to even be capable of hugging people — with my arms! — and is starting to really value the concept of friendship. Love is for losers who are just waiting to be tricked by jerks like Radestro. Platonic friendship is where it’s at. And right now I am committed to platonically squeezing the life out of my friends.

“Ruem, I can’t breathe!!” Kittpey says directly into my ear, immediately prompting me to loosen up. Only to help her out, of course, not because feeling her breath and hearing her voice directly in my ear made my heart skip a beat. Umeso, meanwhile, has leaned ever more into the hug and is sniffling. The shoulder they’re leaning against is starting to feel damp. Ah, the sacrifices made for friendship.

After a few more minutes of tearful hugging, not all of which Kittpey deigns to remain a part of, we all separate again. Voice shaky, Umeso says, “I want to go.”

“Then it’s decided!” I shout, throwing my arms up. “We leave at dawn!”

“Dawn was hours ago, dork,” Kittpey says with an exaggerated sigh. “But fine, yes, we can go asap. But can that mean tomorrow, please? I’d like to pack and otherwise prepare for this trip.”

Leaning against the wall, I say, “Oh yeah, that should be fine. Might upset Lillian but what can she do, really? Besides dig her stupid claws into your shoulder — don’t get within clawing range.”

“Noted. And we’ll need food, too,” Kittpey says, turning to Umeso. “Your grandmother seems to have a lot of that on hand. Perhaps she’d let us borrow some?”

The topic of their grandmother immediately darkens Umeso’s mood, but they still force a smile. “S—sure! I’m sure she will.”

“Umeso, do you want to talk some, about her—”

“NO!!” Umeso screams, clamping a hand over their mouth immediately after. “S—sorry. No.”

Kittpey and I share a worried look, but seem to be in silent agreement that forcing the issue right now is a bad idea.

“Alright, then we’ve got a plan!” I say, jumping off the bed and putting my hands on my hips. “Today, we prep, and tomorrow, we save Biat!”