Magicae

Chapter 35: No Longer Me

When Penny had touched her, a feeling like a bolt of electricity shot though Juliette, and her scream abruptly stopped. Juliette could somehow... sense Penny's mind.

"Holy cow... this is weird."

The thought wasn't Juliette's. Instead, it had a very distinctive feel of Penny to it.

"Penny?' Juliette thought. "Can you... er, hear me?"

A pause. Then: "Juliette! Oh my gosh! We're communicating telepathically! This is so cool! But what happened to you? Did the Malum kidnap you? Are you okay? What's happening now?"

Juliette laughed. "I don't know what happened, I don't know who kidnapped me, yes I'm okay, and I don't know what's happening now."

Penny seemed subdued. "Oh. Sorry," she said sheepishly.

"How long have I been gone?" Juliette asked.

"Basically all day. You didn't come back to the dorm after all the families left, so was asked a teacher, and the whole school forgot about you, and MALUM was carved in the janitor's closet so Alex fell down these steps..."

Juliette was having trouble keeping up. "What?"

"Well..." Penny began, and Juliette braced herself for another onslaught of words. "Hang on," Penny said.

Another mind presence had joined them. "Alex?"

"This is really weird," Alex thought fervently. "What's going on—"

They all felt it. Suddenly, every molecule was charged. Energy flooded Juliette's body and her eyes flew open.

She stared around the room, through a purple mist. On either side of her were Penny and Alex, and her feet were a foot off the ground when Juliette looked down.

And somehow, the body she saw when she looked felt like a stranger's.

She was shifting. The threatened change was finally happening.

Juliette felt her arms falling foreward— but they weren't arms anymore. They were her front legs. Something was protruding out of her tailbone, and she could feel her body elongating, growing taller and stronger. Short fur, white tinted with violet, sprouted out rapidly along her body. Juliette's face elongated, her eyes shifting out to either side of her head. Fingers and toes merged together, hardening into hooves.

And a graceful, spiral horn protruded out of her forehead.

Juliette sank down to the ground. The wildness was everywhere now,  and she couldn't tell where it ended and Juliette Unni began.

But was she really Juliette anymore? She didn't know... in fact, Juliette seemed to be fading away with every moment in this new form. Still, it didn't feel bad, like the fog had as it stole her memories and personality. Juliette had just been a shell, housing her until her true self could break free.

Unicorn.

She pawed the ground, snorting. This was who she was. Wild, free... the human form was constraining, and it no longer fit her. She had cast that shell away forever.

Unicorn glanced to either side of her. Pheonix... and Dragon... she knew them. They were her equals, the other parts of her. Unicorn's mind was connected with theirs, and she could sense them also ridding themselves of the human bodies and personalities.

But who were these? Slowly, four small humans emerged from a tunnel in the wall. Unicorn stared at them. Juliette had known them, she was sure, but her memories were disappearing on an unseen breeze.

One of them approached her. "Juliette? Is that you?"

Unicorn snorted and tossed her mane.  No, I am Unicorn. Juliette was my shell for a while, but no longer. This is truly me.

"Did we know these people?" Pheonix asked. "They seem... familiar." Two of the humans were talking with the fiery bird.

"I think so," Dragon said. "But they are so young."

"So were we," Unicorn pointed out. "In our old forms."

Dragon nodded agreement, but Pheonix was still. "What is it?" Unicorn asked, sensing something was wrong through the mental link.

Pheonix frowned. "I don't know... It's as if the human, Penny, is trying to take over the mind again."

"Is she going to?" Dragon asked.

"I don't—" Abruptly, Pheonix's voice changed, sounding much younger. "Alex, Juliette! It's me, Penny. You guys can break free of their minds."

Unicorn eyed Pheonix. She appeared the same, but for the eyes. They were a soft brown, contrary to the flickering orange flames formerly in the depths of her eyes.

"You were the human form of Pheonix, Unicorn explained, doing her best to be kind. The girl was only a child, after all. "Now she is you. In fact, she is who you have always been meant to become." Unicorn frowned slightly. Her explantion should have been better, she thought.

Pheonix— no, Penny— shook her head. "I don't think so. I think— you guys are so old and wise and everything that you think you need to be in charge of our brains, but they're our brains. It isn't right for you to just take them over. I— I think that this is meant to be a union. We should work together instead of you guys forcing your will on us."

Unicorn blinked slowly. An itch was building in the back of her head, and she shook her head angrily to clear it.

The girl standing in front of her leapt back. "Juliette! What are you doing?"

"Juliette! Alex!" Penny said. "I know you are in there. Turn back to human, please!"

Unicorn shook her head. Our human forms are gone. These are our only forms. She didn't broadcast the thought to the others, however. The itch was building, becoming nearly unbearable.

No! I will not— Unicorn began to protest—

—but then fur was receding, hoofs returned to hands, and Juliette stood on two feet.

She faced Penny and Alex, both back in human form. Silence hung over all of them.

Penny broke it. "That was—"

"—really, really, weird," Alex finished.

"I was gonna said terrifying, but that works too."

"It was like..." Alex paused. "I don't know. I mean, I was still in there, just, like, forced to the back. But at the same time I was Dragon..."

Juliette nodded slowly, not knowing what to say. My worst fear... losing myself, my mind. I almost did.

But I didn't. Penny saved me.

"Thank you," Juliette blurted. "Without you breaking free..." She couldn't finish the thought.

Alex nodded agreement, but Penny shrugged it off. "I didn't really do anything... but I don't think that will happen again. My theory is just that out brains were, like, in shock from being in a new body, so it was easier for them to take over."

"Do you think they're still inside our heads?" Alex asked nervously.

"Maybe," Penny said slowly. "But I don't think they're evil, though. We need to learn to work together, I think."

Juliette looked at the other girl. "How do you know that?"

"I have no idea," Penny laughed. "Guess it's just my years of reading fantasy paying off."

"I guess so..." But Juliette wasn't so sure.

So a lot happened in this chapter. What did you think?

R.Q.o.t.C: What is the weirdest place you have ever read and/or written?
For me it would be writing at my cousin's graduation, sitting outside on one of their haybales. Comment your answer please!

Thank you for reading!