I jerked awake to something yanking my arm.

“Issa!” Kyrae shouted. “We’re going to be late.”

“Go ‘way,” I loosened a little and slipped my upper body between my coils where Kyrae couldn’t get to it.

“Issa! I’m not playing around; we will be late!” Kyrae banged on my scales and I pulled tighter.

“Late for what?” I mumbled, my lower body muffling my drowsy voice.

“Our first meeting with Tutor Phaeliisthia. I want to rest too, but we need to show her we’re serious!”

Meeting? Tutor?

Oh no.

I swore and pulled my upper body out as fast as I could, pulling a muscle from how tight I’d been coiled. Sleeping while coiled tightly wasn’t a good idea for a reason.

“Get dressed and let’s go!” Kyrae insisted. “I checked the sundial before I came over here and we have less than five minutes.”

“Ow,” I whimpered, rubbing a hand over my now-throbbing side. “Five whole minutes?”

“Issa!” Kyrae stamped her foot.

Grumbling, I finished uncoiling myself and darted for my discarded shirt. I tossed the smooth-feeling shirt up and started to get my arms into it.

Once I got my shirt over my head, I yawned, popping my jaw all the way. “Why’d you wake me up, then, Sis?”

My sister exhaled and plopped down onto the edge of my bed. “I, uh, wanted to talk for a bit.”

I started to straighten the wrinkled fabric. “About how weird all this is?”

Kyrae nodded. “I dunno. It just doesn’t quite feel real. I’m worried I’ll just wake up and you’ll… be gone.” She whispered the last part.

I pinched myself. Then I reached over and pinched Kyrae. She pouted at me. “That doesn’t prove anything! We don’t know what magic can do!”

I tilted my head. “But aren’t we going to learn?”

“Ugh.” Kyrae balled her hands into fists. “Why—How are you just going with this!”

I met my sister’s eyes and snapped my mouth shut to actually think. “I… I guess I’m just going along with this… hmmm. I dunno how to put it in words.”

Kyrae crossed her arms. “Well give it a try!”

I folded my hands nervously. “It beats being dead? And if I am dead, it beats whatever kinda dead my curse was gonna make me.” I slurred my words together, speaking without surety. “And hey, weren’t you the one who convinced me to go along with all this!?”

Kyrae winced. “I guess, yeah.”

“What changed?”

My sister pulled her arms to herself and rubbed at one elbow. “I dunno, Issa.”

“Then we both don’t know!” I slid over and wrapped her in a hug.

“How is that a good thing, Issa?” Despite her tone, Kyrae pulled her arms out and hugged me back.

“We never used to know, right?”

“And we hated it!” Kyrae fired back.

“Well yeah, but now we don’t know, but we’re not gonna starve. Or we already starved.”

“That—you…” My sister trailed off. “How can you be so positive!”

“Easy! If all this is real, then I’m not some ke’el imposter. I’m kelaniel and ra’zhii. I don’t get the difference, but at least people accept me now, or they will. Both of us aren’t gonna have our bodies doing more weird gross stuff, either. And we get to learn magic and eat good food! All I gotta do is control my curse and then I’ll be a princess with super shadow powers!”

A small smile threatened to break Kyrae’s frown. “Damn it, Issa.”

“I have power now, sis. And you will too! We made it!”

Kyrae was quiet in my arms for a long while, until she suddenly shoved away, putting distance between us. “What about Phaeliisthia! And Uzh! And this estate and all this talk about roles to play, but also not playing them! I can’t make sense of any of it!”

“I’m just gonna go with it!” I answered.

“Are you? Or are you just putting it off because you also can’t make sense of it!”

I stopped for a second, shaking my head as if to clear it. “No way! I’ll be fine!” I’ll be fine?

My elf sister stamped her foot. “I knew it! You’re just trying to leave all our problems upriver! Well it’s gonna flow down, and then what’ll you do!?”

My next breath hitched. Suddenly, I couldn’t take my mind off everything. Kyrae’s words popped the little bubble I’d been building around myself.

“I…” I hiccupped. We’re so far from home. Where is home? What about family? Do we actually have a family? What will Phaeliisthia do to us? Is our maybe-family coming back? What happens when they do? Will I end up stuck in a nicer cage?

Cool darkness wrapped around me. I need to get out of here. I need to be somewhere safe.

“Issa!” I heard Kyrae croak in a sudden, pained whisper.

Kyrae! I reached for her, my hand just extending out past the shadows to brush her fingertips. The little window of a shade-lit room pulled closed into complete darkness.

I screamed soundlessly.

The world twisted and I was somewhere else, shadows swirling loosely around me. Shivering, I looked around, my breath still coming in quick short bursts. Above me was a cage of damp roots, and I smelled rich soil. Light barely filtered in from outside, although I could see flowers. Not here. Not here either.

I pulled the shadows back around me and they twisted again.

This time I was in a dark cellar. Around me were skinned and drained birds on hooks, root vegetables, and racks of jars. I hiccupped again. There was a door and shadows and it wasn’t too cold. A way out, and walls. I need walls. I can stay here a little while.

I curled around myself, tight as I dared, and waited without knowing why. My hearts thumped loud in my ears. More shadows caressed me, and I shivered against the familiar sensation.

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***

Oh no, Kyrae thought, I didn’t mean to, I just wanted us to feel… What did I even want?

Familiarity.

Kyrae stood frozen, clutching at the air where Issa had disappeared in a swirling mass of darkness. The last thing that had gone had been her bright emerald eye, wide with fright… and her outstretched hand.

Issa’s limb had been pulled back into a maelstrom of roiling darkness right as Kyrae had touched the tip of her sister’s finger. The speed and sharpness of the motion made Kyrae’s stomach twist into knots. The young elf wanted to scream, but only a soft choking sound came out.

Is Issa gone? Did she leave me? Did she get taken by her curse?

She… she can’t have, right?

But…

I was right here. She had me. I had her…

I’m… I’m not okay either, Sis.

Kyrae gagged, almost retching, and fell to her knees. She stared at the finely polished floorboards. Why did I press her? Is this all my fault?

All I want is for us to be happy. Doesn’t Issa want the same?

A knock on the room’s shutter startled Kyrae. She flinched away, eyes darting between the door and the window. Suddenly, the room seemed too large, and Kyrae couldn’t breathe fast enough.

The shutter opened a moment later and sunlight lanced in, sending Kyrae scrambling backwards. A horned head interposed itself between the bright light and the room. Phaeliisthia was outside, somehow, floating seemingly effortlessly with one arm resting on the sill. She drummed her golden talons into the wood.

“You’re late,” she said simply.

Kyrae blubbered in response.

“Are you unwell? Your sister—” Phaeliisthia’s glowing white eyes caught onto something in the middle of the room and she cut herself off.

“I see,” the uncanny woman sighed. “All my power, and some things are never quite simple enough. You!” she addressed Kyrae.

The elf flinched away.

“Hold very still.”

Kyrae froze in fear.

Phaeliisthia waved another hand, tracing a complex sigil in the air with her fingers. Writing like golden silk hung for a moment before bursting out into a liquid light that washed over the room. Kyrae felt a sort of film cover her the moment it reached her and she closed her eyes reflexively.

When she opened them again, radiant brightness filled every corner of the room, warmth slowly soaking into her like sunlight on a dry season day. More sunlight streamed in from open shutters and the wood floor felt to her feet like it had been soaking outside for a full day.

Kyrae swallowed heavily, breath hitching. Phaeliisthia was gone from the window.

Issa… Please don’t go…

The young elf rolled onto her side against the warm wood and started to cry in earnest.

***

The door to the cellar burst open, hinges screaming in protest, and I shrieked along with them. Phaeliisthia stood in the aperture, a bright glow surrounding her body as golden threads of magic traced countless symbols in the air around her. Power thrummed through the cellar, and the room itself seemed to waver.

My shadows retreated from around me with a sound like claws on polished stone that rang through my head. I shrieked again and tried to leap away.

Phaeliisthia crossed the room in a single step and grabbed my shoulder. “Look at me,” she commanded.

I tried to look away.

She grabbed my chin and slowly turned my head to face hers. Immediately, her strange eyes caught mine and I went slack.

“Hold very still, child. This will take but a moment.” I tried to wriggle away, but I couldn’t move much.

“Child…” Phaeliisthia chided again. “Issa. Listen. Your curse is affecting you strongly right now. I will not hurt you, but my job becomes immensely more difficult if you keep moving.” She spoke slowly and used simple words.

I wanted to lash my shadows at her, but her light burned too strong. The moment I tried, I saw her face over Nyss’s body and I drew in a sharp, ragged gasp.

No! No, I don’t want this!

I froze, and Phaeliisthia unleashed her spell. My left eye felt like it was on fire. At the same time, light and warmth seemed to dig their way under skin and scale alike. Writhing, I screamed: a haggard, pained screech that I could scarcely believe came from me. Phaeliisthia hissed, but stayed completely still, her grip like solid stone against my flailing.

After what felt like hours of near-burning warmth, the light faded.

Phaeliisthia’s elegant face slipped from an intense mask of concentration to a complex look I couldn’t place. “Thank Jaezotl. Issa, dear, are you alright?”

I shook my head. “I…” I couldn’t think of any other words to say, and tears replaced them. Whatever I blubbered had no real meaning behind it.

Phaeliisthia flinched away at first, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Tyaniis you noble fool,” she whispered. “Issa, dear, take deep breaths.”

I hiccupped and didn’t listen.

The strange woman frowned. “She will owe me for this indignity.” With a sigh, the strange woman hugged me from behind. “Hold tight and close your eyes.”

I did neither.

Phaeliisthia wordlessly placed a pale hand over my face and I felt a floating sensation and brightness glowed at the edges of her pale, slender fingers. In moments, the cool stone under my scales was replaced by sun-warmed wood.

“Issa!” I heard Kyrae shout.

“Ky…rae?” I croaked, my voice hoarse.

With unnerving alacrity, Phaeliisthia lifted her hand, let go of me, and shifted backward out of the way of my speeding sister’s footfalls. I blinked my eyes open just in time to see Kyrae midair, a scalesbreadth from my face.

My elf sister impacted me and rubbed her cheek against mine, her skin smoother than I remembered. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make you feel like that—I just—I don’t…”

“What you did wasn’t wrong, Kyrae. Inelegant, perhaps, but Issa must be made to face reality.” Phaeliisthia answered simply, sitting down cross-legged in front of us with her back to the sunlight.

Kyrae looked from Phaeliisthia to me, and back again.

I croaked something, then swallowed and tried a second time. “I… I don’t know.”

I thought about everything that was going on. Kyrae and Phaeliisthia let me have this moment, though the latter drummed her talons against the wood and rested her head in the other hand.

Eventually, I found my words. “Is… will we get used to this? Is this really real?”

“I don’t know,” Kyrae answered.

“Jaezotl help me,” Phaeliisthia whispered, then said much louder, “This is real. You will get used to it. Your sire whisked you away from death and poverty straight into a world of Temple and noble posturing, bickering and nonsense. I suppose I should have foreseen you would be shocked by this revelation, but I mistakenly hoped the realization of your new world would be less drastic.

“You are very lucky your sire made the unusually insightful decision to petition me for aid. Among any and all who are qualified in this world, I am one of the few who will not impress a societal hierarchy onto you.”

I sniffled. “How’s that supposed to make this more real?”

“It doesn’t. Time does. You’ve had, what? Three weeks? Combine that with a curse that is trying to consume your soul and I’m mildly impressed you’re still holding things together. Children at your age should be trying to find the largest worm in the garden or counting flower petals incorrectly.”

“We’re almost adults!” I protested.

Phaeliisthia chuckled. “Perhaps by your standards. By mine, your sire is still a child, grasping at reeds and trying to understand the world based on the arbitrary rules she and her ilk use to contain their understanding.”

“How old are you?” Kyrae blurted.

I winced, expecting vitriol.

Instead, Phaeliisthia shrugged. “I stopped counting a while ago. It is bothersome, inconsequential knowledge. I believe I was somewhere in my fourth millennium when your empire was founded some not-quite thousand years ago.”

What?

“How?”

Phaeliisthia smiled and I could swear I saw sadness in her eyes for a brief moment. “My kind do not age. Some fools think us immortal, though we bleed like any other, and death may indeed find us.”

“Why Jaezotl then?” Kyrae asked.

“Respect. I will go no further than that, as some knowledge is best left in the past.”

“What are you?” I asked.

Phaeliisthia covered her lips with two elegant, gold-taloned fingers. “You will find out before your stay here is over. Promise me this, however: inflict upon your sire the same burning curiosity you feel toward that knowledge now. I think the perspective ought to do her some good.”

I smiled at that. My mind was still whirling, and I felt like throwing up, but I smiled anyway. “Kyrae?”

“Yeah, Issa?”

“If this isn’t real, do you want to see how far we can go?”

“No.” Kyrae shook her head, sending her mop of black hair flying about. “I want to make sure this life is real and we really will never go back to scrabbling for scraps. I want to live, like you should.”

I winced. “Okay, sis. I’ll try.”

“Heartwarming,” Phaeliisthia said saccharinely. “Do you require more time to yourselves, or perhaps with me present?”

I shook my head. “I just want a nap.”

Kyrae also shook her head. “I think we’re okay now… and thank you—for saving Issa and bringing her back.”

Phaeliisthia stood and dusted herself off. “I will not let either of you come to harm. My word is law, and no force on this continent may say otherwise.”

“Maybe I believe…” I left the “you” unsaid.

In that cellar mere moments ago, this strange woman in front of me, who was now smiling mischievously and radiating a smug aura like the skink that got the beetle, was an entirely different entity. Powerful. I… wanted to be like that.

“Good,” Phaeliisthia huffed, after I made it clear I wouldn’t finish my thoughts aloud. “Because you should believe I am capable of at least that much. Now, do you care to join me and your other sister for your first lesson? I believe her and Nok-Nok are waiting in the courtyard, and that you two have made me late.”