Heather sat on the bed opposite
Diana, waiting patiently in the tiny dorm room. Diana's roomie Tanya
hadn't wanted to leave; but when she got a mysterious text about a
party down the hall, she couldn't leave fast enough.
Diana felt a twinge of guilt
about the text as she sat Indian-style on her bed and shook out her
hands. She cocked her head from side to side, stretching her neck.
“What are you doing? It's not
like the Olympics or something.”
Diana glared at Heather. “Says
the armchair quarterback.”
Heather shrugged. “Are you
ready, or what?”
Diana settled herself, and
lowered her head. She stared at her hands and pinched her face as
she focused as hard as she could. She took a deep breath and let it
out. “Ready.”
“Finally. Okay. Here goes.”
“Just say it already!”
“You don't have to get all
pissy. You made me wait.”
“Heather, I swear, if you
don't-”
“Sharon... Mary... Elizabeth...
Dulcet... Vaughn.”
Diana felt the magic flow and she
tried as hard as she could to hold it back. She focused her
thoughts. Diana Jean Morgan. Diana... It was no use. The
magic flowed past her grasp. She stared at her claws. “Damn it!”
“It's the power of your true
name,” Heather said, biting into a chocolate chip cookie from
Tanya's stash. “So it's really hard to keep your Glamour up when
someone knows it, huh?”
Diana focused for a minute until
the magic flowed and she was her old self again. She leaned over and
grabbed a cookie. “Yeah. I can't have some random person outing
me. I need to figure out a way to keep that from happening.”
“Maybe an enchanted item? We
use totems to help with spells. Maybe you could enchant something
with Fae magics to hold your Glamour even if you can't concentrate on
it.”
Diana snorted. “Like I'd have a
clue how to do that.”
“Maybe-”
“What?”
Heather sighed. “I don't know.
It might sound crazy.”
“No, I'm ready for anything.”
“Maybe you can weave another
Glamour as your old one is dispelled. Like envision that everyone
sees you as your old self until you can fix it.”
Diana pondered it for a second.
“Okay, let's try.”
They spent the next half-hour
with each repeating Diana's true name, and Diana working on her
Glamour. By the time Tanya barged back in, Heather was reporting
that she only saw a glimmer sweep over Diana for a fraction of a
second.
Diana was frowning. It wouldn't
be enough.
“Hey! Those are my cookies,
bitches!” Tanya ran over and grabbed the package, looking at the
six that were left. She glared at Diana. “I can't believe you ate
all my cookies!”
“There's six left,” Heather
said, her mouth full of cookie.
“How was the party?” Diana
asked, trying to distract Tanya.
Tanya glared at Heather until the
witch got up and moved to Diana's bed. Then she sat down and took
out a cookie. “It was a hoax. Someone playing tricks. A couple
dozen girls got the text. So we decided to schedule a real party
next week.”
“Did Brit or Carmen get the
text?” Diana asked, as innocently as she could.
“No, just me. So what are you
up to tonight?”
Diana shrugged. “Heather and I
were just chatting about magic. Imagine how cool it would be if you
could just snap your fingers and have all your homework done for the
year.”
“Oh, that would be cool”
Tanya said, flicking her blond hair and biting into a cookie. “I'd
become a famous movie star and have my own private island.”
Diana laughed.
They spent the next hour chatting
and daydreaming, until the dorm monitors called lights out.
“I'll see you tomorrow,”
Heather said, getting up to leave.
Tanya closed the door behind
Heather and turned back to Diana. “So what is it with you and
Heather now? It feels like you're deserting the Fierce Four.”
Diana got up and grabbed her
nightshirt. “Heather and I have a lot in common.”
“Like what?”
Diana searched for something to
say that wouldn't be a lie. “We have similar parental issues.”
She hoped that would be enough to satisfy Tanya, and closed the
bathroom door to change. When she came back out, Tanya was busy
texting on her phone.
“Brit and Carmen say Hi, and to
turn your phone on.”
Diana stretched out on her bed
and opened her phone. She scrolled through the texts about the
mystery party and the upcoming party and who was saying what about
whom. She scrolled through message after message and got caught up
in yet another weekly mundane drama.
They spent the next hour texting
and chatting. Diana got lost in the infectious hijinks of random
funny video links and teasing wars. She tried to forget how
different she'd become, and just blend. Guilt ate away at her good
feelings, until she had to put up her phone. The thought of the real
Diana in Scotland, slaving away for the Fae was infuriating.
Especially while Diana the Fae changeling enjoyed the luxurious
heritage Diana the human deserved.
Things would be changing.
Diana stared at the ceiling, not
wanting to give up her life here; but she had to face the fact that
it was based on a lie. She wasn't the person everyone thought she
was. She wasn't even who she thought she was; and she'd have to hide
her true nature for the rest of her life.
She needed to go to Scotland and
rescue the “real” Diana. There was no doubt about that. But
then what? What would she do when they got back here? How would she
fit in?
The next day, she and Heather
lingered in English class until everyone had left. Diana used a
little magic to cloak them from the teacher and they had the room to
themselves.
“Sharon Mary Elizabeth Dulcet
Vaughn,” Heather said as soon as the door closed.
Diana gritted her teeth as she
worked the magic to avoid showing her Fae self, before changing back.
She made the expression look like a smile.
“Impressive. I didn't even see
a glimmer that time.”
“I'm going to need to create an
identity for Sharon Vaughn. I've been thinking; and when I rescue
Diana and bring her back, I can't still be her.”
“But you'll have to look
human.”
Diana took out the sketch pad she
used for art class and turned to a blank page. She waved her hand
over it and focused on a mental picture. A second later, the image
of a blond girl with emerald green eyes appeared on the page as
though she'd sketched it with colored pencil.
Heather stared at the page. “Who
is she?”
“Nobody. Me. I just made her up
in my mind.”
“A Blonde? I mean, you'd be
hot, but you're going blonde?”
Diana focused, creating the image
in her mind. She closed her eyes and made Sharon Vaughn, human
person, come to life. All her school records, history, everything,
basically a carbon copy of her history as Diana Jean Morgan. A
moment later, she opened her eyes and saw blonde hair in her
peripheral vision.
“Wow.”
“So call me Sharon Vaughn from
now on, okay? As far as the world knows, Diana went to visit sick
relatives in Scotland.”
“And you're going to get her?”
Sharon thought about it, and
decided that there was no reason to put it off. “I'm going to
catch the next flight out.”
“I want to go with you.”
Sharon stared at Heather,
wondering how she'd gotten so lucky to have such a loyal friend. She
thought about the Fae holding Diana, and what they might be capable
of. “It's too dangerous.”
“Do you know a spell to find
something?”
Sharon pursed her lips. “You
know I don't.”
“Then I'm going.”
“No, you're not.”
Sharon looked out the window of
the airplane as she tried not to think about all the close calls
she'd had so far in the day. The metal detector had gone off when
she'd gone through, for some reason. She had nothing metal on her,
having removed her shoes and belt and everything, so she guessed it
had something to do with her magic.
Next time she'd have to magic her
way around them.
The security people had wanted to
give her a pat-down, but it had been easy enough to make everyone
believe they had without actually touching her.
Then there was the steel boarding
ramp airway from the gate, which had tested her focus to the limit.
And now, she was surrounded by a cramped sardine can of humanity. At
least the airplane wasn't made of steel. And the seat next to her
had been vacant in the reservation system.
She began to worry about her
parents and how they'd get along with the real Diana. Maybe she
could smooth that over with magic too. She couldn't exactly explain
it to them. Oh God. What about Bobby? She'd have to stay friends
with him. Maybe she could arrange to visit for all the holidays.
That train of thought derailed
when she felt someone sit down next to her. She didn't want to turn
away from the window and look, thinking that if she didn't
acknowledge the person, that maybe she could ignore them. Then she
worried that she could somehow snuff someone out of existence by
believing them away. She sighed and turned to her neighbor for the
eleven hour flight.
