“Lily?”

Her head snapped up. Did he say my name? No one had called her that in a long time. He flinched, eyebrows furrowed. She tuned back in to everything, including the wetness that slid down her face. She scoffed, “Sorry, I don’t know why I’m crying.” She released him to wipe her face. “It’s frustrating.”

“Lily,” he said again, softer. She stilled.

“What?”

He opened his mouth. Nothing. He repeated the motion. A familiar look came over his face, a deep frown set in. Followed by a growl. He gestured with his hands, as if that would magically get his point across.

“Are you having trouble talking? I could make another paper,” she offered. She jumped when Willis practically lunged at her, fumbling to get a grip on her hands. 

He shook his head. “You’re going to make me cry. Again,” he whispered. He released her then, settling back in place. She gave him the chance to muster his words. “This is a mess. I want to make it work,” his voice sounded like he had gargled nails. “But we can’t keep doing this, right?”

“Doing what?” she dared to ask.

“Coming out here.”

Is he going to say it?

“But I like being with you too.”

She sat up. “Really?”

He nodded. His eyes drifted to the beach. Ears flattened against his head. He licked his lips. “We’re friends… right?”

“Of course we are!” she declared much louder than she intended. Slapping a hand over her mouth when he jerked his head up. She coughed, face warmed. “We’re friends. We can fix this. We can make this work,” she said. Half to him, half to herself.

It can’t be that hard. We just need to find something else to do. Her hum filled the silence between them. She tapped a claw against her face. There weren’t exactly many options of what they could do or places to go. At least safely. Did safety matter at this point? We’ve already pushed this so far. She was going to the border behind her mother’s back to see an Erys. Probably one of the most dangerous things she could do.

She paused. Wait- “Does your father know about all this?” she asked. She had been so wrapped up in everything else, for a moment she lived in a world where Willis’ sibling hadn’t caught them together, red handed. Surely they would have said something?

“She knows about me coming out here. Anything to do with you was left out,” he said. “Velvet is a pain in the ass, but he’s no snitch. They were willing to keep quiet for me.”

Lily sighed, shoulders slumped. “That’s good.” One less thing to worry about. 

She returned to her thoughts. Where could they go? What could they do? I’m already on this side of the border. Maybe- “I have an idea. I need you to have… an open mind on this one.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Okay?”

“We could go to Abaddon- you know, further into the kingdom? Maybe even during the day?” every word she spoke the worse it sounded. It would be asking for trouble. Yet it would be freedom. A fresh start.

“I think that’s one of the worst ideas you’ve ever had,” Willis deadpanned. Understandably so.

Her eyes narrowed when a subtle smile spread across his face.

“Though it's nothing that I can't fix,” he said with a hand on his chest. He stood from his spot. “Have you ever heard of disguise magic?”

“Uhm- probably?” it came out more of a question than she meant for it to. The name sounds familiar. I’m sure I saw it looking through the spell archives. “Does it do what the name implies?”

Willis' smile slipped to a grin. The most genuine one she had seen from him in what felt like ages. “More or less! Though disguise implies an illusion, while this is more…” he trailed off, as if he lost his train of thought. The stars that appeared on his cheeks said otherwise. He was there, then suddenly, he wasn’t.

“Shapeshifting!” the stranger before her finished the sentence. Voice thick with a notable accent. He threw out his hands dramatically, nearly falling over in the process. “I’m fine, I’m fine! Doing that just makes me dizzy.” They were shorter than Willis, with long black hair that was messily tied in a way she couldn’t completely see. Their eyes were gold, matching the necklace they wore. Freckles dotted their face. A dark jacket over their purple shirt.

“You look like Velvet,” Lily blurted out her first thought. 

“What?” he spoke in Willis’ voice, accent gone in an instant. Deflated like a balloon.

Something about his sudden change in tone made her chuckle, “No need to look so dejected.” She stood up from her spot. At this height, he wasn’t much taller than her. The reality in front of her sunk in. “You completely changed your physical form.”

His ears perked up. “I did! I’m a whole new person. A true nobody.” He took a bow, smile returned to his face. “I’m sure you’re starting to see the bigger picture.”

She circled him. Her face scrunched up at the full sight of his hair. It was in a messy, low ponytail. Segmented into three parts with gold rings. “Did you do your hair yourself?”

“I did.”

“It shows,” she grimaced. When he whirled around to her, she added, “It looks like a rat's nest.”

“Your attitude is a rat’s nest,” he retorted with crossed arms. 

“Would it not have been easier to change your hair to exactly how you want it?”

“That takes the fun out. I didn’t do this for you to criticize my choices,” he waved her off. His head tilted towards her. “We could easily go around Abaddon this way unnoticed. You shouldn’t have to change much.”

Oh. Right. “I’m not sure if I’d be able to change anything about myself. I already struggle to achieve my Moonlight form.” The idea stirred a sickness in her stomach. She clasped her hands together. “Do you have any advice?”

Willis snickered, “You’re already overthinking. It’s a simple matter of thinking about an aspect of yourself, how it looks now, and how you want it to look.” His eyes shifted back to their usual cyan. “You like to draw, I’m sure you have some sort of creative bone in your body.”

“It’s not about being creative. You’re asking me to manipulate who I am,” she huffed. She looked herself up and down.

“So dramatic! Think of it as playing pretend! Becoming a character,” he rolled his eyes along with his head. He gave her a look. “Unless you want to get caught?”

Definitely not. She dropped it with a sigh. Returning to her spot on the blanket. Willis followed suit, sitting back down. He shifted back to his usual self, swaying for a moment.

“Does it feel weird to be shorter?”

He held his head. “It’s disorienting. Took a while to get used to.” 

Noted… don’t change my height. She would have to figure something out, but that was a later problem. “Does all this mean you… want to go through with my idea?”

His ear twitched. “I guess it does.”

“You could sound more enthused, you know,” she grimaced. Her claws dug into her sleeves. “I only want to do this if you want to.”

“I do. This whole conversation has been a lot, that’s all,” he said. His claws tapped against his fingers. Eyes not quite meeting hers. They were back to this.

It’ll get better… eventually. “We don’t have to talk about anything else.” She kept her breath steady. “Except there is one small thing I would like to propose.”

When he didn't protest, she continued, “I thought maybe it would be a good idea to set up connection? That way we could talk without having to come all the way out here.”

“You mean a communication spell?” his eyebrows furrowed.

“Yeah- you know, through our charms? I’m not that familiar with the spell beyond the basics of it,” she coughed. 

After a moment, he nodded. Wordlessly, he moved closer. There was a crisp crack when he came up from his hunched position.

She licked her lips. The warmth of her magic roared to life. Almost too much in the morning sunlight. Her hand hovered where she raised it.

Willis’ eyes narrowed, darting between her hand and face. Am I doing something wrong?He rolled his wrist. The chill of his magic suddenly swirled. 

“Oh- sorry,” she said. A reflex. She reached out, placing her hand against the star charm that held his cape together. The gesture was returned. We're so close. Her eyes slipped shut. Thought brushed aside.

Focus came upon the push and pull of their energy. His carried a frost within. It was cold, it was darkness, it was death. The end of all things. A fact that felt wrong for someone like him. If Willis was death, perhaps there could be comfort in that. 

Something clicked.

Lily yanked her arm back. He jumped at the movement, doing the same. She cleared her throat, “I think I did it?” Her body felt ready to boil up. I don't know what happened.

“I've done it before and it felt similar,” Willis said. He brought a hand up to his charm. 

There was a tug. A call that stirred in her chest. She answered. “Hello?”

“Hello,” his voice echoed in her head. It made her face scrunch up.

“I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to this,” she admitted.

“Have you not used it?” he thankfully asked aloud, tilting his head. The stars faded.

She suppressed a smile. “My mother only insisted on it recently. There wasn’t much of a need before.” Her skull rang after that first test. How jarring it could be to have someone else in your head.

“Well if it bothers you I’ll try to limit my use. We shouldn’t have to do it too much.” He stood. Hands came together, knuckles crackling. “Are we done then? I’m ready for a nap.”

It’s not even close to noon. “I guess so.” She got off the blanket. Watching while he folded it up loosely. She shuffled around. Should I say something?

When he was done, his eyes fell on her. He looked as lost as she felt. His ear flicked. “Bye.” He turned to leave. 

She should have let him leave. Yet she moved.

He yelped when she pulled him into a thoughtless hug. Was this for him? For her? An apology? Desperation? She didn’t know. Still, she spoke, “Thank you.” Her body melted when an arm wrapped around her. She felt his nose on her head. 

“It’ll be fine,” it was so quiet, she couldn’t quite tell if he was saying that to her, or himself.

She pulled back, clearing her throat. “Bye,” she echoed the farewell. Her gaze remained on the sand. He lingered for a moment, as if to say more, but his retreating steps filled the air. She didn’t raise her head until they faded. Glancing out to the calm sunlit waters.

Everything would be fine.