The Changeling

✵prologue: in which the protagonist is introduced✵

She walked through the garden, humming "Mary Had a Little Lamb" in her melodic voice. She looked up at the emerald vines curling and twirling across the wall, dotted here and there with the bright purple grapes. The sun was hot and it burned down on her back, which was bare from her halter necked summer dress. She touched the vine, and it nearly burned her fingers. But she didn't seem hurt, and continued to hum.

She touched the vine again, while humming "Frosty the Snowman", and this time, it was cold. Cold as ice.

✵✵✵

Aria pulled her hand back and shoved it under her arm, to warm it.

"Hey, Aria, there you are! What's up?" Ben, her brother, asked.

She turned to him with a puzzled expression on her pale face. "The vine, it... it was hot, and then it turned cold. It was weird."

"Aria... you're probably not feeling well. Too much heat can't be good for you."

Since the family had moved to California, and after spending her entire six years and three months (which had been her whole life when they'd moved) in England, Aria was having a hard time adjusting to the sun. She'd gotten sunburned five times in the first three quarters of a month.

Aria had lost her accent quickly though (in fact, in the first three days), while Ben was still struggling to. Of course he was seventeen, and Aria was young enough that hers hadn't gotten stuck into her brain.

Aria pouted.

"Let's go find mum and dad." Ben took her arm and led her away.

"Don't you mean "mom and dad"?" Aria asked, smirking.

Ben glared at her, and pulled her less gently to their parents.

She smiled. Her brother was so easy to tease.

"Kids, how's it going?" her dad, Ron, asked. Her parents were actually American but had met in England, and they were clearly glad to be back.

Her father was a short, plump, fifty-four year old man, three years older than his wife, a taller, thinner, Japanese ex-model who didn't quite understand the "ex" part. Her mom, Diane, was one of those annoying people with a lightning-fast metabolism who never gained weight. Aria and Ben both had inherited that. But while Aria had blue-black hair and Asian features like her mother, Ben was blonde like his dad and brown-eyed like his mom. The two of them both had their mom's angular face with full-ish lips and large eyes, with their dad's thick hair. Though Aria's nose was smaller than her brother's. Ben it was an attractive young man, but Aria was still growing into her features.

"We're good. But this vine was doing strange things-"

Ben interrupted and said that Aria wasnt feeling well from the sun.

"Shall we go now?" Diane suggested worriedly.

"Sure, mom..." Aria said. "I hate family reunions anyway."

"Is this just a trick so we can go earlier?" her mom asked.

"No!" she said. "Not at all."

"I still think we should go," Ron said. "If that's alright with you, Benny."

"Whatever we do is fine, Aria's health is the priority," Ben said loftily in his half-English-half-American accent.

Their parents beamed at him, and Aria rolled her eyes. He was such a suck. The "Golden Boy". Whereas she was the troublesome one who they had to look out for all the time.

"Alright, let's go. We can rent a movie if you two want," Diane said.

Aria sighed. "As long as it's not one you're in."