Chapter 1: Mother's Silence

  I see green and brown as I fall. My lips hit pine needles and dirt. I spit them out and lift my head, but when I try to move, there's a magical girl on top of me—Veronica, I think. Her hands rest on my shoulders. I catch her flaming red uniform and skirt in my peripheral vision.

  "What just happened? Where did you take us?" Veronica growls at me.

  "Me? Did you not see Mother's head curse us to never see earth again *after* I cut it from her neck?"

  "It's a trick!"

  "Veronica, please listen, if it were my portal, why would I make it so big to take all of you *with me?* Please, let me up! My mother is dead, and I feel… I feel-"

  Veronica considers me, then stands. "Sad? Your mom was evil, but a mom is still a mom."

  "No—I don't hear Mother anymore. I don't feel so heavy. Is this relief? Can you feel tears and joy at once?" I wipe my eyes.

  Veronica looks at me like I have two heads. "I don't know where your mom sent us, but it better have a therapist because you really fucking need one. Then again, we do have Jenn…" Veronica looks forward for a moment, searching for the others.

  She motions me to follow, "C'mon, I think I sense them this way."

  "You can sense the others?"

  "The lockets sense each other. I'd better depower to save my energy." She turns away, fiddles with her locket. I hear a *click,* and her body glows white. She grows taller, her stride and shoulders changing. She's a different person.

  "Are you a boy?" I ask.

  "No, I'm a transgender woman. The locket allows me to be as I really am."

  "What's a transgender?"

  "Let's find the others. Only Avery knows this about me, and I am sure you aren't the only one who will ask, and I don't want to answer twice."

  After a short walk in the woods, we found Lucy climbing out of a maple tree with a low branch. Avery had fallen beside a large tree trunk, just feet from her.

  "Oh God, Avery," Lucy cries. I watch her eggplant-colored magical girl top and skirt magically change into the same clothes, jeans and sweater I'd seen her leave her house wearing.

  "It's not so bad." Avery holds her stomach with both hands. The Blood Moon Queen's Scepter is still inside her gut. She's still in her white-gold uniform, stained with her blood. Avery looks at all the green around her. We're surrounded by pines, and a few stone ruins stand around us. The crisp air and reddening sky feel like an ill omen. "Not a bad place to-"

  "Avery, if you say this is a good place to die, I will fucking-" Lucy scolds.

  "Kill me?" Avery tries to laugh. She hurts doing it. "Relax, I'll be fine once Daphne regroups with us."

  "You're coughing blood!" Claire shouts as she comes through the underbrush to stand in her sunflower yellow gown next to Lucy.

  "Daphne! Where are you?"

  "Where are the others? Have you done a headcount?" Avery asks Lucy after her next bloody cough. Veronica moves to Avery's other side.

  Lucy doesn't follow Avery's orders about finding the others. Maybe she fears that by the time she gets back, Avery will be dead.

  But she does see me. Eyes narrowing and face scrunching, she looks like she's about to recall her magical girl form and throw down right now.

  I don't move or transform. I wear my black shirt and shorts, like my royal garb; they hang baggy, hiding my small frame, with white stars outlined at each hip, just like my skirt.

  Before it can come to a fight, Claire barrels through the branches, eyes wide with fear. "Where are we? Is this Earth?" Then she sees Avery and gasps. "Oh God—Avery!"

  "I'm certain we aren't back on Earth," I say. No one gives a reply to that.

  Avery goes to talk, and Lucy shakes her head. She looks up as Veronica pulls off her long-sleeved red shirt, revealing a flat chest and a boyish frame. She wraps it around Avery's wound to help with the blood seeping out.

  "I don't think leaving Stella alone right now is a good idea; she could escape." Lucy chides.

  "Avery comes first. Besides, look at her," Veronica motions to me, standing there, unsure what to do. Am I really free of my mother? What does that mean? Am I *allowed* to be here, among them? Should I be?

  "Why do you think Stella killed her mom?" No one answers Claire. She turns her attention to Veronica. Why did I kill Mother? It all happened so fast.

  "Wait, are you a boy?" Claire asks.

  Lucy looks up to see Veronica; she rolls her eyes at this new revelation thrown into her lap. She locks eyes with her for a moment. Veronica nods, knowing Claire's question will be asked again. She sighs and looks back down at Avery. "One thing at a time, Claire."

  "You gonna pull the staff out?"

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  "No, Claire, and neither is anyone else. We are going to wait for Daphne. Where is she?"

  *Daphne. I almost killed this girl.*

  *Daphne was thrown to the foot of the royal dais. Mother's voice filled my head: "What are you doing? Kill her!" I turned my blade toward Daphne. Then—right before Mother could force my hand—I turned it upward. Toward her neck instead.*

  Aerie, Avery's sister, wearing what looks like a silver-gray private school uniform, floats closer above the group with an unconscious Daphne by her feet, floating slowly to the ground. "There you are! I found Daphne, but she's unconscious." Aerie lands hurriedly, and she leans back so the tree behind her takes most of her weight. She looks uninjured but is wincing from terrible pain.

  Claire gently shakes Daphne, trying to wake her, but she remains asleep.

  Avery tries to look up, and Lucy and Veronica push her back down. "Daphne?" Avery, the leader, instinctively tries to assess her injured teammate from afar. "Is she bleeding?"

  "No, but you are. Stay still, Avery."

  Panic flashes in Avery's eyes—the cool, collected leader, afraid.

  "I'm going to die," Avery gasps. She looks at her girlfriend. "Lucy, have I ever told you I love you?" Avery tries to lift her head up and glance at her surroundings, "Where's Aerie?"

  "I'm right here, sis," Aerie moves and takes Veronica's place, holding Avery's hand.

  Lucy sniffles before answering, "Yes. You told me on our date last week. And you *are not dying!*"

  Maxine, Jennifer, and Becca, back in their normal clothes, stumble through the brush. "There you are!" Maxine starts to say, overjoyed. Then, upon seeing Avery, Maxine adjusts, "Keep pressure on it. Can I move in to take her pulse?"

  "Ladies, I'll be fine, Daphne will wake up, and I'll be ok," her voice shakes now. She's trembling.

  Lucy looks at Maxine, their human encyclopedia, "I'm a genius when it comes to materials, engineering, and useless facts, Lucy. I have no idea outside the basics what to do here."

  Maxine looks down, "Although Veronica could cauterize the wound."

  "You want me to what now?"

  "Heat up your ax, then press it to the open wound until the heat seals it."

  "You want me to burn her on purpose?" Veronica asks.

  "If it keeps her from dying of blood loss, yes," Maxine says.

  "Claire, why don't you go with Becca to see if we can find any plants to use as a salve?" Jennifer suggests, Becca nods, understanding her real assignment.

  "Hey, calm down. It only hurts if I sit up. Maybe I got lucky." Avery smiles and gives her girls a thumbs-up, but I know. Some of the others look somber; they know, too.

  I move toward a clearing, staying within earshot. This world is beautiful—mountains rise above the river and pasture. But I know Mother. This world is my punishment.

  How long have I been standing here? The silence disturbs me. The cotton in my ears has been pulled free.

  A tap on my shoulder startles me. Jennifer stands there, hands folded, wearing a warm smile—the calmest I've seen anyone since we arrived.

  "It's Stella, right? Are you ok to talk?"

  I turn my head towards her voice. She has brown hair and a rather nasty bruise under her left eye. Slowly, I turn my body to face her.

  "We aren't sure if Avery is going to make it, and I thought it might be a good idea to ask you about your mother's staff."

  "I never want to see it again."

  "Can I ask you to, for Avery's sake? Do you know anything about it that we should know?"

  "It's useless. Without Mother, no magic can be called through it. It's just a stick."

  "Do you know any healing spells?"

  "Unfortunately, that was not part of my training."

  She gently takes my arm and leads me back toward the rest of the group. Lucy and Veronica crouch on either side of Avery. Maxine kneels by her feet. Aerie holds Avery's hand. The rest stand back, forming a loose circle around the fallen leader.

  I hang at the edge, uncertain where I'm allowed to be.

  "Lucy, I had Veronica hold my locket and call the spell No Girl Left Behind, and it worked. If anyone gets separated, you should be able to use it here." Avery locks eyes with Lucy. When she looks away, Lucy turns her attention to me.

  "Jennifer, why are you bringing *her* back here?" Lucy asks.

  "She didn't attack us in the dark dimension; she has magic, and we don't know where we are. Safety in numbers."

  "But she's our enemy!" Lucy exclaims, rising up to physically remove me from Avery's proximity.

  I look over the wound. Mother's staff stands tall in its victory over Avery's stomach. Avery looks pale. Her breathing is a little heavy but not labored. Not yet.

  I say, "The good news is you can talk, so your internal pressure-"

  "Hasn't compromised. The staff is plugging the wound," Maxine finishes for me.

  "Explain it so an 11-year-old could understand it," Claire asks once she's back at the circle around Avery. Becca jogs behind her to catch up to the group.

  Maxine sighs before going into her explanation, "The staff did some damage in the stomach, yes, but it's also acting like a plug. There's damage internally that's bad, but the staff is keeping most of the blood where it's supposed to be."

  Lucy wipes her eyes. "So if we pull it out, she'll die?"

  "Could-could I get some water?" Avery asks.

  Maxine looks at me and clears her throat. I let silence fill the moment. I do not want to be the one to tell them.

  "Maxine?" Lucy asks.

  "It may be too late." Maxine waits, letting that fact sink in for the group. Maxine swallows before saying, "You're asking for water because you are losing fluids, they're pouring out. Inside."

  Lucy shakes her head. "I thought you didn't have that much medical know-how."

  "This is physics, and I understand that. Avery, I'm sorry to say, but I think your body is shutting down. You're dying."

  Lucy glares at me. "This is all your fault. If you hadn't murdered Beta and kidnapped Daphne, none of us would be here."

  "But that's not her real body, right? Can't she transform back into a normal girl after you pull it out and be fine?" I ask.

  "She has to say the enchantment after we remove it," Maxine explains to me.

  Avery grabs at Lucy's pant leg before she can move closer to me. "Lucy, can I talk to you and Aerie? Just the three of us?" Her voice sounded drier. The rest of us walk towards the clearing, out of earshot.

  They speak for a few moments and invite us to come back, but Aerie meets me halfway.

  "None of the others… want to pull it out. She's my sister, and I know- I should, but I'm hoping you might do it. Because I can't." She flaps the long sleeves of her shirt back and forth. Looking anywhere but in my eyes.

  I look at her. Waiting for her eyes to finish wandering. Her sleeves keep moving, but finally her greyish blue eyes meet mine. "If it's what Avery wants, then yes. I agree."

  Avery looks half awake. Her skin is clammy and wet with sweat. I lean on the log rotting next to her.

  I look down and ask Avery, "Are you prepared?"

  She nods, her body shakes. I put my hand on the staff. I start to grip it, to pull it out, and instead it dissolves and flows into me as dark energy. As it does, I can hear Mother's laughter briefly fill my mind.