Following Otrea's suggestion, I spent the rest of the day resting. As I id in bed, my thoughts drifting listlessly from one daydream to the next, I realized I missed my birthday. I'd already considered the possibility that it'd passed, but after eight days in this world, I was certain the date had passed me by.

  Not that it mattered. Even if I'd remained on Earth, we would've had a small celebration and then life would've returned to the way it was. Even if I'd finally be considered an adult in the eyes of the government, I hadn't made any pns to capitalize on it. Moving out would've been impossible.

  My thoughts drifted to Laura. How long it would take before she could move on? No doubt my birthday probably weighed heavily on her. Whether I was considered dead or missing, it would likely depress her further. If there was magic I could use to tell her I was alright, I'd love to have it. Sadly, I'd probably have to be a god to cast such a spell.

  Eventually Harriette came and pulled me out of my spiraling thoughts. Together she and I made our way to Otrea's study where we'd be discussing her pns. Honestly, I had no idea why Otrea wanted me there. Even if I felt for Eurycelia's plight, I was a powerless outsider. I had no role in what was about to transpire.

  "Good morning, Bernice," Otrea greeted me the moment I stepped into the study. Eurycelia was already seated at the table, but surprisingly Kyra was nowhere to be seen.

  "Will Kyra be joining us?" I asked as I took a seat.

  "She owes her sister some time after being gone so long," Otrea grinned mischievously. I didn't quite understand, but I was certain there was more to what Otrea said than what I understood. She likely found my ignorance amusing. "We won't need her here to have our discussion."

  "Now then," Otrea continued, turning her attention to Eurycelia. "Our primary goal is to purify the young princess of Ciriczar and restore her health. Knowing nothing of what she's been afflicted with, we should assume the worse."

  Eurycelia's gaze fell as her expression crumbled. "If even you cannot cure her, then at least I will know there was nothing I could've done."

  "Do not be so quick to allow your will to erode," Otrea chastised Eurycelia. "Even if I fail, we may still find success in magic avaible to Bernice."

  "How?" I gasped. My eyes widened as I stared at Otrea waiting for an answer.

  "You are not the first celestial who's blood I've made use of in my experiments. I am well aware of the properties I should expect and yet the blood I obtained from you has defied expectation. Its potency would imply you are a direct descendant of a higher power."

  My mind reeled as Otrea's words hung over me. I was the daughter of two completely normal people. Both of whom had died before I was even old enough to remember them. If there was anyone odd in my family tree, it was Laura. But even if she seemed almost ageless, she wasn't a god. It wasn't possible for me to be directly connected to one.

  Or... was it?

  Strange things happened to me with some regurity. Even the color of my eyes had been odd before I even came to this world. I'd constantly been told the color was impossible. One of my grade school bullies even attacked me, attempting to rip 'the contacts' out of my eyes.

  Still I had clear memories of doctors taking my blood, and it'd been red. There was no way I'd been a celestial prior to my transmigration. But even that didn't mean anything. I didn't have the same body I'd had on Earth. There were simirities, but what if I really had been remade into a god's child? But if that was the case, why was I a warbeast? The only race not created by the gods.

  "Bernice is a celestial?" Eurycelia looked at me, her eyes filled with hope.

  "She knows nothing of magic or how to wield it." Otrea noted, quickly dashing Eurycelia's hopes. "But she doesn't need to know everything, just how to heal others. I will go with you, while Harriette trains Bernice in healing magic. If I cannot cure the princess, I will use what I know to prolong her life. Once Bernice can cast the spell needed, Harriette will bring her to us and the princess will be saved."

  "How? It's not possible I could use a spell I just learned better than you."

  "Healing magic is a poor simucrum of the gods' divine power. No matter how hard we mortals try, we will never match what a celestial could accomplish with the same spell. It has nothing to do with age or training. You were simply born for this, Bernice. You are the only one of us who can manifest a miracle."

  Suddenly having the fate of someone else thrust upon me gave me goosebumps. It felt as if Otrea had just dumped a heavy weight on my shoulders. "But... what if i fail?"

  Otrea's expression softened. "Sometimes even our best isn't good enough. Even after centuries that is as true for me as it is for you. We will simply have to live with the outcome."

  "That can't be!" Eurycelia cut in, her voice ced with desperation. "Even if you have to give her a different body, or make her an undead, please Lady Ladnier. I can't let her die."

  "Council... No, Eurycelia, if her body is afflicted with a curse death will not cure it. Binding her soul to her mortal form and raising her is just not possible until the curse is gone."

  "Then give her another body. Your daughter said you had dozens, and the means to move between them. Please!"

  "If it were possible, I wouldn't be opposed," Otrea sighed. "Souls are extremely fragile, they only grow hardier as one strengthens their magic. If I were moving your soul, Eurycelia, it might be possible. But if I recall the princess is young. Her soul wouldn't survive intact. At best she'd end up like my daughters."

  The mention of Kyra and Adelita confused me. Despite being undead they both appeared quite lively. Kyra drank tea, slept at my side, and dispyed a wide range of emotions. What was so wrong with them to have Otrea speak as if they were the best of a collection of bad options?

  "End up like them how?" I asked, unable to keep my curiosity in check.

  "Adelita's soul left her body during preparation for the resurrection spell I was developing. I used my magic to capture it, but the magic was too much for her. Adelita's soul fractured. She developed a second persona, Kyra, and the two have been forced to share her body ever since. Even with all my magic they cannot be separated. Any attempt risks ending their lives."

  "The princess is younger and more inexperienced than Adelita was," Otrea continued, her voice tinged with sadness. "Comparing them I believe if I attempted to move the princess's soul, it would shatter. Then, not only would she die, she'd be robbed of whatever afterlife awaits her. I believe that is a fate worse than death, and thus not worth considering."

  Kyra and Adelita share a body...

  The revetion of Kyra's birth and the truth behind her connection with Adelita stunned me. They weren't twins, but they weren't the same person either. Finally I understood why Kyra had called out to Adelita in the forest, and how Adelita had been able to respond. She was there, inside Kyra's body, simply hiding and waiting her turn.

  What did this mean for Kyra and me? If I kissed Kyra, did that also mean I was kissing Adelita? If Kyra had been waiting for Adelita's consent to tell me, how was I supposed to treat this information? Was I supposed to lie and pretend Otrea had never brought it up? I couldn't do that.

  "Have faith," Otrea stood and pced her hand on Eurycelia's shoulder. "I do not believe we will fail."

  Walking toward the door Otrea stopped and turned back. "Follow me, Bernice. I want to show you something. As for you, Eurycelia, stay here and rex. We will be back soon."

  "Where are we going?"

  "A storage room, though I guess you could call it a graveyard. Since Kyra so kindly informed you about the bodies I keep, I believed it would be prudent to show them to you. Especially since my most recent creation was made with your blood."

  "You used my blood to make a body?"

  "Yes," Otrea chuckled softly. "But I'm afraid it didn't have the effect I was looking for. Your blood is too potent and it has hampered my ability to modify the body further. Which wouldn't be a problem, if not for her age."

  "Her age?"

  "I do not rob graves. I first shape the bodies of deceased animals into an infant of the species I'm attempting to become. Then I slowly age the body with magic. It can take months for my would-be host to reach an appropriate physical age. This body... well you'll see it in a moment."

  Otrea led me into a rge room. Its walls were barren and there wasn't a single piece of furniture. The only thing within the room were several stone caskets. "The cases are enchanted to preserve the bodies until I have a desire to use them." Otrea informed me as she began to open one of them.

  Inside was a young girl. She had ruddy brown hair, dull lifeless skin, and a pair of fox ears growing out of her head. Despite knowing she was created by Otrea and not someone who actually died, I couldn't help but feel depressed. My mind couldn't help but see her as if she was a real person who's life had been cut woefully short.

  "If she were alive, she would produce golden blood just like you," Otrea touched the girl's forehead. "Which is exactly what I wanted, if only I'd waited a bit longer before applying your blood."

  "You're not willing to become a child again?" It wasn't as if anyone would treat Otrea any differently. She was still someone who demanded reverence from all who knew her. The size and shape of her body didn't matter. Not as long as she made it clear who she was.

  "It will only take a few months to craft a repcement. I can be patient, Bernice."

  "What will become of this body?"

  "Would you rather be a fox than a bunny? I had pnned to remove her ears and tail once the body was more mature, but like this she appears no different than a typical warbeast."

  "If the princess's soul would shatter at your touch, I'm certain mine would to."

  "You have all the time in the world, Bernice," Otrea ughed. "We can wait for your soul to harden. The truth is, I don't know what to do. For now, I'll hold onto her."

  "I can't say I fully understand. Why show me this body?"

  "You strike me as the curious type," Otrea replied as she walked along the rows of stone caskets. "So I thought I'd show you what I pnned to use your blood for."

  "Why do you need a celestial body in the first pce?"

  "Power?" Otrea ughed, looking back at me with a mischievous glint in her eye. "There are spells my current body cannot endure casting. But now is not the time for a lesson in such things."

  Opening one of the caskets, Otrea held out her hand. She started to chant, causing a violet aura to began radiating from her open palm. As the light swirled a rge white sphere appeared out of Otrea's hand. It pulsated for a second before gently drifting into the casket. Once the sphere was inside, Otrea colpsed like a puppet with cut strings.

  I watched in horror. Otrea didn't move. Knowing she could move her soul between bodies, I was certain that was exactly what she'd done. But I couldn't just watch her colpse and not fear the worse. I wanted to run to her side and check on her, but I held back, waiting with baited breath.

  "Talk about small," a high-pitched voice came out of the casket Otrea had colpsed in front of. Out of the open lid a tiny woman with bright blue hair flew on butterfly wings.

  Fluttering over to me, the tiny woman—who I suspected was Otrea—grinned. "What do you think?"

  "You're... a pixie?"

  "Correct!" Otrea fluttered up to pat me on the head. "This body is one I'm certain no one will expect."

  "Why?"

  Otrea's grin widened. "Because, sorcerers take pixies as familiars all the time. No matter what body I take, Eurycelia will have difficulty getting me into the castle. Like this, however, she can simply cim she's formed a contract with me."

  I was stunned. Otrea, the powerful witch who could fell armies all by herself, had willingly turned herself into an adorable pixie. Even crazier, it was so that she could pretend to be the familiar of a sorcerer weaker than her.

  Fluttering around my head, Otrea chuckled. "Come Bernice. We should return to Eurycelia."

  "Oh!" Just before we left the room, Otrea jolted. Spinning around in the air she wagged her finger. As she did so, her discarded body floated into the air and colpsed into the now vacant stone casket.

  "Now I see why they're all the same size," I said with a dry ugh.

  "Yup," Otrea gave me a wide grin before fluttering down the hall.

  "You know," I started, as I rushed to keep up with Otrea. "You're acting a little different."

  "Different bodies can affect the mind in different ways," Otrea rolled over and began to fly backward so she could look me in the eye. "Pixies are mischievous and whimsical by nature. There's nothing to be done about it."

  "Really?" I asked. The thought of my personality being changed by the body my soul inhabited worried me. If I was in Otrea's shoes, I wasn't sure I'd have been willing to do it.

  "You look so concerned," Otrea pyfully ughed. "Don't worry about it. Once you live six-hundred years you start embracing these kinds of things."

  As we continued down the hall I couldn't help but be impressed by Otrea's power. A moment ago she'd been a beautiful woman with purple hair and an intimidating aura. Now she was a pyful pixie doing barrel rolls through the air. It was really unfathomable.

  "Bernice," Eurycelia stood as soon as I entered the study. Her eyes widened as Otrea came into view, hovering right over my shoulder with a trickster's smile pstered on her face. "What..."

  "This is... Lady Otrea." I motioned toward the pixie fluttering beside me.

  "Well you can't use that name where we're going can you?" Otrea chuckled fluttering over to Eurycelia. "You can call me Weyr."

  "Weyr?"

  "Yeah. Because like this, I can follow you any Weyr!"

  As Otrea ughed maniacally at her joke I felt a strong compulsion to press my palm against my face. "Lady Otr—Lady Weyr's pn is to have you pretend she's your new familiar."

  "Really?" Eurycelia sounded calm, but her twitching brows betrayed her true feelings. Her inability to hide the shock and discomfort seared on her face spoke louder than any words could.

  "You've got to drop the honorifics, Bernice," Otrea winked at me. "You'd never refer to someone's familiar with dy."

  At Otrea's instruction I noticed Harriette, who'd been standing quietly in the corner of the room, stiffen up. As Otrea's devoted attendant, Harriette was almost a fangirl. I knew she didn't like the thought of us being disrespectful toward her mistress. But now, Otrea was telling us to.

  "So you're going to be my familiar?" Eurycelia asked after taking a deep breath to calm herself.

  "That's the pn!"

  "How do you pn to fake the pact?"

  "Fake it?" Otrea tilted her head as she came to a hovering stop in front of Eurycelia's face. "What's the point of faking it?"

  "I can't bind you to my will!" Eurycelia cried. "It'd be a disaster, and its illegal."

  "There's no w against having a binding pact with a pixie," Otrea shrugged. "So I don't see why you can't."

  "You... you... you," Eurycelia stuttered, trying to rebuke Otrea somehow. With a agonized groan she put her head in her hands, surrendering without ever making her point.

  "So tell me," Otrea grinned cheerfully, a mischievous glint in her eye. "Do you prefer Mistress Eurycelia, or is Lady Eurycelia more your style?"

  Cossimeri