A Family of Witches

Ares stood in the bathroom, staring at his reflection in the mirror. A girl stared back at him, brows furled in a mix of confusion and frustration. He sighed and pulled his pendant out of the pocket of Hestia’s pants. Ares closed his eyes as he put it on.

With another deep breath, Ares opened his eyes. He nearly reeled in surprise. There he was in the mirror; it really was like looking at his twin brother. Why was this so uncomfortable for Ares? This was what he was supposed to look like, right?

“It’s fine,” Ares muttered, glancing down so he wouldn’t have to look at his reflection.

It must just take some time. He’d had a whole week to get used to the new feminine face that the spell had given him. In all likelihood, it would only take a day or two for him to get used to this reflection. After all, even if it felt weird and bulky by comparison, it was the correct one.

Lunch would be ready soon. Giving his reflection one last glance, Ares left the bathroom and headed down the stairs. He could already hear voices in the dining room. It took him a moment to gather up his courage before turning the corner and walking through the doorway.

The conversation stopped and so did Ares. Everyone’s eyes were on him. Eris was grinning. Dora looked a little sad. Vega came over and gave Ares a small kiss on the forehead.

“It looks great, dear,” she said. “How do you feel?”

“Aright,” Ares said, shuffling uncomfortably.

“Glad to have you back,” Eris said.

Lorrie told him, “Come get something to eat, dear. You already skipped breakfast and I won’t let a son of mine go hungry.”

“Thank you,” Ares said, taking his normal seat.

Lorrie sat a plate down in front of him and Ares picked up a fork. Conversation continued, but occasionally someone would glance over at Ares and he’d shiver. They weren’t really seeing him, they were seeing the illusion.

“Do I…?” he began to ask, and the table fell silent. “Do I really look like I did before the spell?”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely.”

“Of course, honey.”

Vega looked concerned.

“Why… do you ask? Can you not remember?”

“I mean…” Ares shifted nervously in his seat. “It’s been a week. It’ll feel normal again before long.”

Everyone stared at him for a moment and he turned his gaze back to his food. After a moment, he heard the additional clinking of silverware against plates. Now that he wasn’t the center of attention, he could relax a little.

Dora was the first to get up and leave. Shortly after, Ares finished his meal and stood up to take his plate to the kitchen.

“Ares,” Hestia said suddenly, “I wanted to talk to you.”

“I’m sorry,” Ares replied without looking at her. “It’s my turn to help Dora with her magic. I really don’t have time to spare. You understand.”

He left quickly, before anyone could call him out. Ares placed his plate in the sink and rushed after Pandora. She waited for him at the top of the stairs and the two retreated to her room.

“Are you going to keep wearing that amulet?” Dora asked, closing the door.

“Well, yes, of course I am,” Ares replied. “It helps me look like myself.”

“Oh.”

“Oh? What’s wrong?”

“It’s just…” Pandora shrugged. “I thought you looked really pretty.”

Ares couldn’t stop himself from blushing a little. But he managed to push it aside and focus on Pandora’s studies for the moment. She was improving; slowly, but improving.

With that out of the way, Ares headed up the stairs and knocked on Eris’ door. She opened it with a grin and invited Ares inside. Each of them picked up a controller and Eris picked out a game for them to play.

“I’ve been swamped with work,” Eris said in the middle of running her sword through a demon chief. “I really needed a break right now.”

Ares wanted to reply, “I told you so,” but thought better of it. He was just glad that Eris was spending time with him again. She didn’t seem as uncomfortable around him anymore.

“Yeah, this summer has been busy,” he replied, but cringed. What was going on with his voice? Nobody else seemed bothered by it, but every time Ares spoke it sounded wrong. And he didn’t know why.

He shared this observation with Eris, who pursed her lips and paused the game.

“Are you sure that wish spell didn’t do anything to your mental state?” she asked, turning to face Ares.

“I don’t know why it would,” Ares said, shifting in his seat. “I think it’s just because it’s been a while since I heard my normal voice, so it’s still weird to me.”

That didn’t explain why he hadn’t felt this uncomfortable when the transformation first happened.

“Maybe,” Eris said, turning back to the game. “Still, I’m going to redouble my effort to find a cure.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“You’re my brother. Of course I’m going to do that,” Eris insisted.

They played for a bit longer, but Ares had to go. His friends were already in the call when he booted up his laptop and he joined. Ares mumbled a hello, but didn’t say anything else at first. What if his family was wrong? What if there was something odd about his voice? His friends would notice right away.

“How are you, Ares?” Finley asked.

“Fine.”

“Is something wrong?” Mercedes asked, her accent slipping through.

“No. Why? Does it sound like something’s wrong?”

“You just sound terse.”

Ares sighed.

“I’m sorry, y’all,” he said. “I’m just stressed out. How is everyone else?”

The conversation continued where it had been left off. Of the seven people in the call, only Ares and Finley were boys. They’d gotten used to it being mostly a female space, but the others had done a lot to make them feel welcome anyway.

“By the way, Finley, Mercedes,” Ares said, once he had a moment, “now that I’m better, you’ll definitely be able to visit next week.”

“Awesome!” Finley cried. “Can’t wait.”

“That is great,” Mercedes added, “but I’m awfully busy with my combat training. I might not be able to make it next week.”

“Oh, that sucks,” Ares said. “Do you think you’ll have time later in the month?”

“I think so, yeah.”

“Great.”

After dinner, Ares helped to clean and put away the dishes. Then he went to the front door and put on his shoes. He’d been taking the amulet off periodically through the day, but could tell that it was losing power. Still, it probably had enough juice for a little while longer.

Ares started walking in a big circle. There was an awful lot of woods to explore. He found himself at a shallow stream just east of the house. There weren’t any fish but there was the occasional beaver dam. In a few places, trees had fallen over the stream; when they were younger, Ares and his sisters would use them to cross the water without getting wet.

Following the river, Ares eventually found an old circle of stones. It used to have some spiritual significance way back before the family moved in, but it was so disused that the kids had been able to play on it when they were young. Ares made his way through some berry bushes and, after getting only a little lost, found his way back to Amaryllis’ glade.

“Are you here, Amaryllis?” he called out.

“Take it off.” Ares turned to see Amaryllis standing with her arms folded. “I can tell that it’s not real and I don’t like it. Get rid of it.”

Ares removed the pendant and felt his body shift. He was a little smaller, a little shorter, a little less heavy. A weight seemed to fall off of his back. Finally someone could see what he really looked like, even if he was kind of embarrassed to be seen this way.

“That’s better,” Amaryllis said, relaxing. “Deceptive magic is such a human concept. It’s very unpleasant to see.”

“Sorry. It was a gift from my sister.” Ares stuffed the pendant back into his pocket. “It’s supposed to make me look like I used to. If I didn’t wear it, all her hard work would have gone to waste and she'd be upset. I couldn’t do that to her.”

Amaryllis nodded and her expression softened.

“What brings you here?” she asked, sitting down and motioning for him to follow suit.

“I just need to vent a little,” Ares admitted. “My friends don’t know what happened to me and my family is worried about me, so I can’t really bother them with this stuff.”

“Go on.”

“It’s just… it feels really weird to have people look at me and see an illusion. They’re not looking at me. I mean, they are. They’re looking at the person I’m supposed to be, but not the person I actually am. And that makes me feel disconnected from them.”

“But you won’t talk to them about these insecurities?” Amaryllis asked.

“I know that I should. My parents would probably understand. I bet they’d understand it better than I do, at least. It’s just… hard to talk to them about these things.” She paused. “I’m also worried about what will happen if my friends find out. They don’t have to know; I can keep them in the dark about this whole thing until someone finds a cure for me. But I kind of feel like I’m lying to them and I don’t enjoy that. If they come over and I’m using the pendant to hide how I look, I’m just going to feel awkward the whole time.”

Amaryllis nodded slowly.

“I want to help,” she said, “but I’m not sure how. I am sure of something, though. You’re pretty smart, Ares, and I think you’ll end up doing what feels like the right thing to do.”

“I hope you’re right,” Ares mumbled.

“Can you wait here for a moment?” Amaryllis asked, standing up.

“Oh… sure?”

Amaryllis disappeared and Ares was left alone. A chill breeze wafted through the grove, making Ares shiver a little. He was about to stand up when Amaryllis reappeared, holding something in her hands.

“I thought that a gift might cheer you up,” she said, dropping a scoop of berries and small herbs into Ares’ hands.

Ares just stared at the gift for a few moments.

“I… thank you,” he said. “This actually kind of helps.”

“Glad to hear it,” Amaryllis said, smiling softly.

The next day, Ares was hanging around his room while waiting for the pendant to finish recharging for the second half of the day. He was just lying in bed next to his rabbit plushie and playing on his tablet. He would have loved to visit the library and maybe find a few more books on Communications magic, but there was too great a chance that he’d run into one of his sisters or parents. It seemed to pain them, Eris especially, to see him without the illusion on.

Ares was secretly a little glad that the pendant needed time to recharge and he couldn’t just wear it all day. As loath as he was to admit it, every time he saw his reflection with the illusion on it still felt like there was something wrong with his appearance. Nobody could tell him what it was, but he could feel it. He still hoped that it was just the fact that it was an illusion, because then the feeling would go away once he was back to normal. Until then, it was nice to spend time looking like he actually did even if it wasn’t his first choice of how to look.

Someone knocked on the door softly. Ares sat his tablet down and got up to answer it. He realized at the last moment that he hadn’t put the pendant back on and groaned. Whatever; whoever it was would live. Ares opened the door.

“Oh. Hi.”

Hestia was standing there, rubbing her arm awkwardly and not looking directly at Ares.

“Can I come in?”

Ares couldn’t rightly shut the door on her face, so he stepped aside and Hestia walked in. She took a moment to look around. Hestia didn’t visit Ares’ room often; it had changed since the last time she had. Then she took a long look at Ares, long enough that he shivered in discomfort.

“You really do look a lot more like Lorrie,” she said.

Despite himself, Ares felt a little swell of pride in his chest.

“So,” Hestia continued, “how are you doing?”

“I’m fine, really,” Ares said. “I know I should be feeling dysphoria, but I’m actually pretty comfortable. Eris worries that the spell had an effect on my mind, but I don’t think that’s it. I don’t think the spell was being malicious; it wouldn’t make sense when all I asked for was to be happy.”

Hestia nodded.

“Well, that’s good.” She took a deep, shaky breath. “Can I sit down?”

Ares nodded and gestured toward the bed. As Hestia sat down, Ares turned his desk chair around and sat facing her. Hestia twiddled her thumbs for a bit before finally looking at Ares.

“I’m sorry for what I said in the greenhouse,” she said. “It was wrong of me to complain like that when you’re going through something so big right now. I realize that it hurt you to hear me say that. Can you forgive me?”

“Of course I forgive you,” Ares said softly. “You’re my sister. I’m sorry I’ve been so bitter about it. It’s important that we’re all united. And I’m sorry that helping me has been taking up so much of your time. I know you were already under a lot of pressure and I just made things worse.”

“You didn’t mean to,” Hestia replied. “You haven’t done anything wrong, Ares. It was an accident. And I’m your sister. Even if I’m not ready for my certification, it will be worth it to help you instead. I promise.”

“Thank you, Tia.”

The two stood up and hugged.

“By the way, Dora feels like you’ve been avoiding her,” Hestia told Ares.

“I guess I haven’t spoken to her since we had that little scuffle,” Ares admitted. “I should go hang out with her.”

“Not a bad idea.”

The two walked down a few flights of stairs together. Halfway down, Ares realized that he’d forgotten the pendant, but didn’t want to go back and grab it. Tia didn’t bring it up, so neither did he.

When Dora saw who was standing at her door, her face lit up.

“Ares!”

“Hey, Dora,” Ares said. “Are you busy? I wanted to play a bit.”

Pandora was practically bouncing on her heels.

“Awesome!” she cried. “We can have a race with my cars. You can have the red one. I’ll use the blue one. Tia can have the green one.”

“Oh no,” Hestia said, taking a step back, “I’m pretty busy today. I really can’t…”

Dora’s expression began to fall. Hestia sighed.

“Well, alright,” she said. “I guess I can take a break.”

Pandora’s eyes lit up and she rushed over to her race car set. Ares and Hestia exchanged a glance, then grinned and entered Dora’s room.

Playing with Pandora took up most of the evening. Eventually, though, Hestia had to go back to her own studies. Ares returned to his room as well. He used the time before dinner to check up on the messages from his friends and add his own two cents.

Ares was sure to put the pendant back on before dinner so his family could see him as he was supposed to look. Once dinner was over, Ares returned to see that his friends were already in a call without him. His hand clutched at the pendant, wondering if he should take it off or if he should join the call.

Amaryllis’ words echoed in his head. She thought he would do whatever felt like the right thing. Ares left the amulet on and put on his headset, entering the call.

“Hello, everyone,” he chimed.

“Hey Ares!”

“Nice to see you.”

“How are you doing?”

“Oh, Ares,” Finley said, “my parents said I could definitely come next week.”

“That’s good,” Ares said. “I’m good, too. I’m hanging out with my sisters more.”

“Aww, that’s so cute.”

“That’s great, Ares.”

“Good for you.”

The conversation continued, but Ares fell silent for a bit. His heart was hammering in his chest. He knew what he felt like the right thing to do was. Was he strong enough to actually follow through? This could go horribly wrong, and he wouldn’t be able to take it back if it did. On the other hand, he couldn’t deal with the feeling that he was hiding the truth from his friends any longer.

Everyone was talking about the rumors of the school’s new alchemy teacher when Ares cleared his throat.

“Hey, everyone,” he said quietly, “can I show you all something?”

“Show us something?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“What is it?”

“Did you get a new wand or something?”

“No,” Ares said. “This is… rather personal. I’m a little nervous.”

“You don’t have to tell us.”

“I want to,” he insisted, shaking. Turning on the webcam, he explained, “A couple of weeks ago, there was a magical accident. The pendant I’m wearing helps me look normal, but I was hit with a transmutation and look really different now. It’s not permanent. My family is looking for a cure. But that’s why I was gone for a week.”

“Oh no! Ares, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. But I want to show you all what I look like. Don’t worry, it’s not bad, it’s just… a little embarrassing.”

“Again, you don’t have to show us if you don’t want to.”

Ares took his headset off and took a deep breath. He grabbed the pendant and pulled it over his head. When he opened his eyes, he could see the video of himself on the screen, looking like a girl again. Ares was shaking, but he felt like a weight had been lifted off of his back.

No sooner had he put the headset back on than people started talking over each other.

“Oh my goddess—!”

“How did this happen?!”

“That’s really cool!”

“I can’t believe it!”

“Well,” Finley said, “I guess I’m the only boy in the group now.” He must have seen Ares’ expression fall, because he immediately stammered, “Shit! I’m sorry. That probably wasn’t the best thing to say.”

“You think?” someone muttered.

“Well, I’m glad it’s only temporary,” Mercedes said. “It’s a little creepy to think about. I don’t really like the idea of a boy looking like a girl.”

“I don’t think it’s that big a deal,” someone else said. “What does it matter what he looks like? He’s still the same person on the inside, right?”

“Right,” Ares said, relaxing a little. “Thank you. You get it.”

“Well, I’m sorry that this is happening to you,” one girl said, “but at least you can look forward to getting your old body back.”

“Yeah, it’s not the end of the world.”

“We promise not to tease you too much about this.”

Ares chuckled. So everything seemed fine. He shut off the webcam and leaned back in his chair, fiddling with a long strand of his hair. It felt good to be honest with his friends. And now he wouldn’t be hiding the truth from Finley and Mercedes when they came to visit.

He picked up the pendant and held it loosely in his hands. As grateful as he was to Eris, maybe this had been a mistake. He needed to face this problem head-on without hiding himself away. Oh, he’d still use the pendant to make everyone, especially Eris, feel more comfortable. Besides, it was a really nice gift and he wasn’t just going to abandon it. But if he started to feel uncomfortable again, he wasn’t going to feel beholden to keep using it.

Ares placed the pendant down on the table and rejoined the conversation. It took his friends a little while to get used to his new voice, but everyone seemed to adjust to it just fine. He felt a lot better about himself.