Ashley bit the inside of her cheek as her mother moved the hairdryer across the back of her head. She had insisted Ashley let her dry her hair before she walked to school, because it was getting “too cold” and her wet hair was “going to freeze into a helmet.” Ashley hadn’t taken a shower the night before, so she had to wake up extra early to get clean before school. Her mother was taking her sweet time drying Ashley’s hair, and Ashley was beginning to get impatient. She had to talk to Tabitha before Mateo met up with them again. The fox had gotten awfully close to her friend, and Ashley wanted Tabitha to know what happened the day before.

After what felt like years, Ashley’s mother decided her hair was adequately dry. She quickly put on her uniform, almost forgetting to put on her shoes before she walked outside. She was early for once in her life, so she started towards Tabitha’s house. Her thoughts were racing as she half-jogged up the street, afraid of what Mateo could be up to. She and Edwin didn’t have any hard evidence that Mateo was evil, but they did know he didn’t have problems with lying and creepy magic. What if he had brainwashed Tabitha, and that was why he was always with her?

Turning a street corner, Ashley saw Tabitha ten feet ahead of her, walking closer. Sitting upon her shoulders was Mateo, and the two were completely engrossed in their conversation. Ashley stopped, unsure how to interact with her friend now that the suspect was present. Noticing her abrupt pause, Tabitha glanced at her friend before recognizing her. A smile of recognition grew, and the girl jogged to meet up with her friend.

“Good morning! Mateo was telling me all about your little incident yesterday. Why didn’t you invite me over?” Tabitha pouted as she reached Ashley.

Ashley was frozen, before realizing Tabitha was referring to the transformation shenanigans, rather than Jake getting hexed. She ran a hand through her hair, still warm, and faked a laugh. “Oh, I was kind of trying to keep things on the down low, but obviously that didn’t work.” Ashley rubbed her neck, trying to think of something to say other than don’t trust the fox on your shoulder! “Mateo was really running the show yesterday, planning meetings and all. Ask him why he didn’t give you a call.” Ashley unconsciously shot the animal a glare before catching herself.

“It wasn’t anything new for you, Tabitha. I didn’t want to hassle you.” Mateo sweetly replied, lightly rubbing his cheek on Tabitha’s chin.

“But I’m part of the team, aren’t I?” Tabitha replied.

“And my parents aren’t.” Ashley added.

“Well, make sure you don’t leave me out next time.” Tabitha said.

“After what you did for the people in the park? I wouldn’t think about it.” Ashley bumped Tabitha with her elbow, and the two resumed their normal morning discussion about homework and their peers as they walked to school.

-----

Tabitha flipped through her binder, looking at her work with disdain as she waited for the photos on her camera to transfer to one of the school computers. She loved her photography class, but the time spent waiting for files to transfer was not a high point. Tabitha leaned back in her chair, watching the progress bar inch forward.

The door to the computer lab opened and Tabitha jumped up, hoping it wasn’t her teacher. She peeked through the space between the large monitors, only to be even more disappointed with who she saw: Sarah.

Sarah glanced down the row of computer Tabitha was seated at, and smiled in what looked to be a friendly way (but Tabitha knew that it was definitely devious, because that was just how Sarah did things). She walked up to the computer next to Tabitha, despite the entire row being empty, and took her seat. Sarah pulled a flash drive from her skirt pocket and plugged it into the computer tower, typed in her login information, and turned to Tabitha as she waited to login.

“So, how have you been doing? Enjoying this textural project for Ms. Sexton?” Sarah asked, resting her head in her hand and leaning her elbow on the desk.

“It’s great. I have a lot of photos I can use already, since I really like getting up-close shots.” Tabitha responded as monotone as possible, trying to make her disinterest palpable.

“See, I like photographing people, so I’ve had to go out specifically for this project. I was out at the park on Saturday and saw some good stuff.”

“Oh, that’s nice.” Tabitha suddenly realized where this conversation was going. How much longer did her camera have?

“Yeah, its really nice out there. But there was something very interesting that happened out there…” Sarah put a finger to her chin. “If I recall, there was a weird monster that started attacking people in the field. But then these two people came out of the woods and started attacking it. It was almost like something out of a movie. Have you ever seen something like that before?’

Tabitha sweated as her files reached 90%. “Can’t say I have.”

“That’s strange.” Sarah started clicking through files on her computer. “Because when I took a picture of these two people, they called me ‘Tabitha.’” Sarah expanded a photo of Ashley and Edwin from Saturday (or more accurately, Ruby and Sapphire). “I know you aren’t the only Tabitha in the world, but when it’s photography that sets you apart, I have to wonder.”

“Nope, I’ve never seen them before.” Tabitha watched as the progress bar suddenly shot up to 100%. “That sounds really wild though!” Tabitha ejected her flash drive and camera. “Anyway, I need to get back to the classroom. See you!” Tabitha quickly pushed in her chair, and walked out of the room.

Sarah looked over at Tabitha’s computer, shaking the mouse. “She didn’t even log out…”