Ashley awoke disgustingly early, thanks to the incessant screaming of her alarm clock. Oh, so now you decide to work. Should have turned you off yesterday. She reached over to her bedside table and smacked the machine, shutting it up. With a groan she shifted under the covers, trying to get back to sleep. But something was off. She sat up, suddenly realizing what was wrong. "I'm... a boy?" she whispered, looking herself over. Did she transform in her sleep? No, she was only in her halfway form, not the full outfit. Could it be a dream? She pinched herself, and the resulting pain deemed the theory highly unlikely. Was everything else a dream, and she only hallucinated she was a girl? There was no way to prove that theory. Ashley thought back to Mateo’s warning yesterday, and realized this must be his fault. How the hell was she supposed to explain this to her parents?

On her bedside table, Ashley's phone started vibrating. She reached over, not bothering to get out of bed, noting that Edwin was calling. Usually he just texts... and why is he awake right now? She answered, and from the tone in his voice Ashley immediately knew she wasn't the only one in a dilemma. "Ashley, are you having a 'problem' right now?" Edwin whispered.

"Halfway form here. Do you think this is what Mateo was talking about?"

"Probably, but I have bigger fish to fry right now. I share a room with my older brother! As soon as he wakes up our secret is out! There's no way he won't tell my Mom!" Edwin hissed, staring from beneath his blanket at his sleeping brother. He was in deep slumber at the opposite end of their room for now, but he would soon rise.

"You have a brother?"

"Yes! Never told you because it never came up. I have to go now; I'm worried that talking will wake up Jake. Text me. Bye." Edwin hung up and immediately started planning. If he couldn't escape his brother, he'd just have to make the first move.

Ashley sighed, dropping her phone beside her on the bed. Damn it, her pajamas were too tight now. She stepped out of bed and made her way to the closet when she heard a knock at her door. "Yo, Ashley, get up." Cecilia demanded. "Dad's making pancakes."

"Tell them I'm sick. My throat feels terrible." Ashley whined, adding in a few coughs for the added effect.

Cecilia could hear there was something different about Ashley's voice. "Gross," she added, before returning downstairs to wait for breakfast.

Grabbing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from the bag Edwin gave her, Ashley let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She’d deceived Cecilia, and by extension, gained some time without her parents. They were both terribly afraid of germs, and would probably keep their distance. Now, it was time to scheme.

-----

Jake Bell groggily awoke to find a young girl standing over him making finger guns. She looked somewhat familiar, as if he had seen that face somewhere before. He rubbed his eyes, expecting her to be just a hallucination. "You'll do what I say, no talking back." she firmly stated, placing one foot onto Jake's bed.

"Sure, whatever," he mumbled, scooting back towards the wall and further away from the home intruder.

"Nothing I say leaves this room." The girl inhaled sharply before beginning. "I'm your brother Edwin and due to some circumstances I have magic now and this is one of the side effects." she quickly sputtered.

"Hah! Like I'd believe that, dream creature." Jake rolled over, determined to go back to sleep. He felt the back of his head become wet, and turned back to face a steady stream of water. Like a faucet, water sprayed from the girl's index finger and into his face. "Turn it off!"

"Don't make fun of me! I have magic now and I will use it!" She blew off her finger as though it was a gun, smirking at Jake. "I know things about you no one else would, brother. I doubt you told anyone that you made an entire package of pudding for yourself while bawling your eyes out when your girlfriend dumped you. You cried in the pudding as you were making it! And it was my favorite flavor!"

"I was trying to forget that myself, you know!" Jake sat up in bed, water dripping down him as he moved. "I guess I have no choice but to believe you, 'Edwin'."

"Good! Because it's the truth." Edwin sat at the end of his brother's bed. "So, now you get to help me out here. We have to keep this a secret from Mom, and I can’t do this alone."

"Why can’t Mom know? You already told me." Jake looked down at his brother, noticing he was wearing a white skirt. "Where'd you get the clothes?"

"My partner gave me some of her clothing. Like it?" Edwin smiled, flattening out his skirt.

"You have a partner? In what? Magic school? And sure, it’s cute."

Edwin flushed red. He had been joking with the skirt question; Ashley gave him quite a few because she never wore them. But there was something unexpectedly nice about being called cute. "I guess I should explain. A few days ago, I met this magical fox and he told me I had to defend the town from evil. Then there was a giant monster and my partner and I had to defeat it. My partner goes to my school but she's in another class. I know it sounds crazy, and it kind of is, I totally assure you its real. I mean, I have water powers! It's so cool, like, I can do this," Edwin began forming a ball of water between his hands. "It's hard to believe, even for me."

"No, that doesn't sound that weird. A few months ago, there was a giant monster at my school and some kids defeated it. Did I tell you about that? Or just Mom?"

"What!?" Edwin yelled. "How do you keep something like that a secret?!"

"Yeah, they did a whole assembly about it. There's monsters coming from another world or something, and the one kid at my school comes from that alternate world and they recruited another kid from Earth. But there isn't anything to worry about because they'll fight whatever appears. And sometimes they're boys and other times they’re girls but it's all fine... and...” Jake looked up at his brother, eyes wide with shock. “Oh my god Edwin. I think you're one of them."

"That's impossible, Mateo didn't say anything about there being other Soul Warriors."

"Who's Mateo?"

"The fox. He's the guardian of the cities and he explained our powers to us. Not very well, but I guess he tried."

"I don't know what he said to you, but you have to admit the similarities are suspicious."

"I just don't know what to do if he's been lying to us." Edwin mumbled. "I need to call my partner." Edwin crossed over to his half of the room and picked up his phone from where it sat on his desk. As it rang, Jake pulled out his own phone to text a friend.

-----

Ashley lay on her bed reading the latest Stem Sinword novel when her phone began to ring. "Hello? Everything okay over there?" she answered.

"Jake knows and he's cool with everything, but he knows more than we thought. Mateo might be lying to us and there could be other Soul Warriors."

"Who’s Jake- wait, what?!"

"My brother! Keep up! Anyway, there were monsters and people like us at his high school. "

"What?! How did we miss that?"

"I don't know, magic maybe? Anyway, should we bring this up with him? I don't know why he's lying to us, but he has to have a reason." Edwin began biting a nail as the door to his bedroom creaked open.

"Hey boys, good morning-" Edwin's mother stood in the doorway, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw Edwin.

Meanwhile, Cecilia burst into Ashley's room, throwing the door open. She stopped suddenly at the sight of her sister, before her eyes widened with recognition. "Hey! You're that kid that came over a couple of day's ago!"

"This is why you knock first!" Ashley and Edwin yelled in unison.

"Jake, who's this girl?" Edwin's mother asked, trying to not let any emotion show through her voice.

"Uh..." Jake looked over to Edwin, who had gone pale.

Edwin hung up the phone, weakly smiling at his mother. "Hi Mom. I'm Edwin,” his voice croaked as he spoke.

"What?" she asked, more out of confusion than disapproval.

"It's true!" Jake added, taking her attention off of Edwin for a moment. "He has magic! Show her!" Edwin started forming water orbs into his shaking hands. "See! It's magic! I promise we aren't lying!"

Edwin's mother walked over to where Edwin stood, and he dispersed the water he was collecting. She placed her hands on his cheeks, looking into his eyes. Edwin shivered as her eyes searched him for a certain something, a sign that this was indeed her child. Suddenly her brow softened, and she pulled her child into a warm embrace. Edwin relaxed into her touch.

-----

“Why did you break into my sister’s room, you freak?” Cecilia screeched, pointing at Ashley.

Ashley dropped her book and threw her hands out in front of her, as though she was calming a raging animal. She slid to the side of her bed, slowly getting closer to Cecilia. “I swear, I didn’t break in!” she pleaded, placing one foot on the floor. “This is a long story, so if you’ll just cooperate with me and listen-“

“Stay back! I’m going to get my parents.” Cecilia tensed up, and Ashley was heart broken to see her little sister so terrified.

“No! Don’t do that!” Ashley yelled, quickly standing up and scaring Cecilia even more. “It’s me, Ashley! I’m your sister! I promise I won’t hurt you!”

“Liar! Even my big sister can lie better than that! She isn’t a stupid boy like you!” As she fired back, Cecilia gripped the doorframe tightly for support.

“You believe in magic, right? This is all because I met some magic fox-“

“You’re lying again! Just get out of my house, creep!”

“This is my house too!”

“No it isn’t!”

“Is too!”

“Honey, is something wrong?” Ashley’s mother appeared in the doorway, resting her hand on Cecilia’s shoulder. As she peered into Ashley’s room, she froze upon eye contact with the “stranger.” Ashley tried to respond, but her voice had disappeared and she could only open her mouth in surprise. Her mother quickly moved Cecilia behind her, walked in, and shut the door.

“Where is my daughter hiding?” she said as though she was uninterested with the answer.

“What? No, Mom, it’s me. I’m Ashley, your daughter.” Ashley replied, backing away from her mother.

She crossed her arms. “I’m already disappointed that she felt the need to hide when she had a boy over. I will be even more disappointed if she doesn’t come out and explain herself.”

“What?! You’re misunderstanding this! I’m Ashley! I met a magic fox and now I have magic powers to defend the town! This is all some magic-side effect, but it’s still me! My freckles are the same!”

Her mother squinted, surveying the pattern of freckles on Ashley’s face. “Really? You expect me to believe this is magic?”

“Here, let me show you!” Ashley concentrated all of her frustration, producing a small flame from her palm, which she thrust out toward her mother. Veronica only responded with a stifled laugh.

“You’re trying to fool me with this? I know a magic shop lighter trick when I see one.” With that comment, the fire grew to the size of a baseball.

A flash of light burst in the corner of Ashley’s room, blinding both Ashley and her mother. Mateo jumped out from it, landing on the floor with a small thud for each of his paws. He scampered over to Ashley and scaled her back, draping himself over her shoulder. “Do not be alarmed, Mrs. Reading. The story this child tells is true. I would like to speak to you and your husband privately, if you will allow me.”

Ashley’s mother sputtered, dumbfounded by Mateo’s sudden appearance. She walked to the door, and poked her head outside. Cecilia was knocked back when the door opened, caught pressing her ear against the door to eavesdrop. “Ceci, can you get your father for me?” her mother said, the haughty tone from earlier replaced by shock.