“Welcome to your new home,” Rhea stepped into the house, backward, her arms dramatically outstretched. “It’s not as big as Angela’s house, but it’s home.”

“We…live here alone? Just us?” I looked around, noting that the place WAS much smaller. It was a single story house with aging wood floors, faded walls, and furniture that looked like it came from a thrift store.

“I live here too,” Mellie said, walking into the house and passing by me and tossing her purse on the couch.

“You’re never even here,” Rhea rolled her eyes, walking into the kitchen which wasn’t even close to an open concept. The house felt so claustrophobic compared to Angela’s; I shuddered inwardly. “You show up for parent-teacher conferences and then you disappear for months at a time.”

“I have things to do,” Mellie shrugged.

“So…we’re here…by ourselves?” I asked nervously.

“Don’t get too excited,” Mellie said, patting me on the back. “You’re under the world’s biggest microscope for the foreseeable future.”

“So um, why do you go to school…exactly?” I asked, stepping forward a bit. “I mean, couldn’t you be older and…do something else?”

“We can’t just change our bodies,” Rhea stared at me as if I should have known that. “We usually start as a teenager and we grow up; the difference between us, and humans, is that we take thousands of years to go from teenager to adult. We usually stop at the equivalent of about thirty years old. I guess it’s a way of putting new Fae in their place.”

“Okay I said, frowning. “But Angela wasn’t that old and she’s-“

“Your mother isn’t normal,” Mellie reminded me. “Remember, she attuned her own soul, she has the ability to change herself in any way she sees fit. She’s an anomaly, like you, but not one that the Seelie council would care about. They care about you because you’re a game changer.”

“Hold on, wait,” said. “They care about me because I’m a neutral soul, but they don’t care that my mother can go around attuning souls on her own?”

“It’s not something she’s abused, until you,” Mellie said. “and it’s not something that’s going to get out. She’s in enough trouble.”

“But they already know I exist,” I said, to no one in particular.

“They know you exist, but they don’t know how. For all we know, only one member of the Seelie council has ANY idea.”

“So, here we are then,” I felt defeated. Meredith was dead, I couldn’t go after mom. I was stuck here, in Ypsilanti.

“Here we are,” Rhea nodded. “Let me show you your room.”

“Are you even…sad about it?” I asked Rhea as I followed her through a brief hallway and into an empty room that had nothing but a mattress, on the floor. “I mean…about Meredith?”

“Of course I am,” She nodded. “Meredith was a good friend…for an Unseelie, but we lose people sometimes. Over the centuries I’ve lost a lot of friends. It happens. Like Broderick said, we’ll have time to grieve later, right now we have to be on guard.”

“I…I don’t know if I can do that,” I admitted. “I just feel so…I can’t explain it…empty I guess…”

“It’s because you’re young,” She said, almost emotionlessly. “Very, very young. You’ll get over it in time. Give it fifty years and she’ll be a distant memory. That’s the funny thing about people really, even with Fae. You get to know people, they become an intrinsic part of your life, they’re there for you at every turn, you trust them, you rely on them, you love them. Then one day, they’re gone. They’re relegated to memories that are vivid at first, and then they fade. Every day you remember them a little less, you mourn them a little less. The hole in your heart is there, always, but it scabs over, and you can go on. A person is a person until their essence is ground down into a few scattered pictures, letters, and the memories you have. Remember this, and remember it well. Souls don’t die, our memories can vanish, we can be killed, but our souls will live on to gain new memories and become part of the universe once again. Natural order, Jasmine.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” I admitted. “One day we’re all just…gone. My mother, my sister…you…me…”

“And Broderick,” She nodded. “And Mellie. Everyone.”

“The afterlife sucks.”

“Yeah,” She nodded slightly. “So, what are you going to do with yours?”

“I think…maybe I want to furnish this room,” I said, looking around. “I need a litter box for Mr. Giggles and-“

“That’s Annabelle’s cat, right?” She asked, glancing toward the door where Mr. Giggles was sitting prominently as if he owned the place. “She trained him to use the toilet.”

“You…can train a cat to use a toilet?” I cocked my head at her. Was that even possible?

“Yeah,” She said dismissively. “You just…put the litter box in a sort of ring inside the toilet and widen it until it’s crapping in the toilet consistently. It’s…um…I think it’s called City Kitty, there’s a kit.”

“That…sounds gross,” I raised an eyebrow.

“No, Jasmine, having a box of poop in your house is disgusting. Having a cat that uses the toilet is civilized.”

“So what do we do now, then?” I asked, looking at the room.

“Well we could watch a movie,” She suggested. “I just picked up this teeny bopper drama called Audrey’s Trial. It finally ties Woodcrest, Allison, and Makayla together, you know, because the author forgot to.”

“Um, wait, everyone knows that Makayla was connected because Aleah took the –“

“Hey guys,” Mellie poked her head in. “Don’t you think Jasmine ought to get registered for school?”

“You know, I think I’ve totally reconsidered the school thing,” I interjected. “I can just-“

“Nope,” Mellie stepped through the doorway, leaning against the frame as she used one hand to brush her golden blonde hair from her face. “We could be here in Ypsi for a long time, and you’re going to go stir crazy if you just sit in this room. There are very VERY few things for a girl your age to do in this town. You can only go to school for a few years, then you have to take a long break. Fifty years or so, and then you can go back for a bit. Still, you’re doing it, because Rhea’s not going to want you moping around the house. Let’s get you registered so I can get out of here.”

“Where are you going this time?” Rhea asked, a bit of sarcasm in her voice.

“I was thinking of heading out to the desert,” She shrugged. “They have this new festival in Arizona that was supposed to be like ‘Burning Man’, but they burn a giant wooden duck instead. Unfortunately, I have to stick around town to watch out for SOMEONE, so I’ll just head down to Sidetrack and have a drink instead.”

“You have to come with us to get her registered, parent or guardian, remember?” Rhea pointed out.

“Oh…right…okay, down to the school….then,” Mellie looked sorely disappointed as she turned and motioned for us to follow.

“Remember, we can’t use the mirrors,” Rhea reminded her.

“It’s always something,” Mellie muttered.

The ride to the school took about five minutes. To be fair, Ypsilanti is maybe ten miles across, and in the center, a water tower that looked like a giant brick penis. I chuckled a bit as I remembered a lady years ago who made Ypsilanti merchandise, like cups, and luggage tags that actually had an artist rendition of the tower and said ‘Homesick for the Brick Dick’. God, I kind of missed being out in the world, and to be honest, Ypsilanti wasn’t all that different than it had been…what had it been now? Thirteen? Fourteen years? I was starting to lose track.

“Out we go,” Mellie said as she stopped the car. “Let’s get this over with, I need my wine.”

As we stepped out of the car, I noticed that she was holding a thick manilla envelope; probably all of my identification papers. I couldn’t imagine that they wouldn’t have prepared for this.

The school was pretty much like any other, with ‘Ypsilanti Middle School’ written proudly across the front in blue block letters. The building itself was a mixture of brick and rectangular window frames comprising the entire front façade.

“Ugh, I remember middle school,” I sighed. “I hated it, it was so…claustrophobic.”

“It might be different for you now,” Rhea suggested. “Now that you get to go through it was a girl. I lived a lot of lives, I remember, being trans…always the hardest. You do it a lot over the course of your life. Reincarnating is like rolling the dice; universe doesn’t care. It’ll stick you in whatever body, no matter if you have a male or female soul. It sucks, but it’s not something you have to worry about now.”

We passed through the metal airlock, one set of doors, then another, and then onto a tile floor and an open-air reception area of sorts. It was cleaner than I remembered. Had they remodeled in here?

“Through heeeeeere,” Rhea walked us through a glass door and into the front office. Yep, just like I remembered. As we approached the front desk, I saw someone I would have remembered anywhere, it was Ashleigh, the girl from the ice cream store. The trans girl, actually.

“Wait, you work here?” I said, confused. “I thought you worked at Go Ice Cream?”

“Hm?” She said looking up at me. “Oh, I remember you! Are you here to enroll, or do you already go here?”

“She’s here to enroll,” Mellie spoke for me. “Um…eighth…grade…I’d guess.”

“Well, how old is she?” Ashleigh asked, turning toward her computer and typing a few things in. I became aware of Mellie opening the manilla envelope and rifling through a few sheets of paper.

“Thirteen,” She said, semi-confidently after reading the paper.

“And you’re a parent or guardian? I’m going to need to see a birth certificate, and…oh, you probably have everything we need in there.”

I waited patiently as Ashleigh filled out the paperwork. I watched her closely, hoping that she didn’t notice I was starting. She was about the age I’d been when I’d been…appropriated by Angela. Her hair brunette hair was shoulder length, mostly straight but flared at the bottom – much like Meredith’s had been, but it less…sleek. It seemed a bit more stringy. It was hard to tell that she was trans really, I guess I just knew what to look for.

“Okay, you are all set,” She said to me. “I’m going to bring out a schedule for you here-“

“Oh, shit,” Mellie said, staring down at her phone.

“What is it?” Rhea perked up and looked over to her.

“We…have to go. Now.”