[i]Looking around Yayauhqui’s eyes landed on a familiar figure. A tall man with one skeletal leg and a painted face approached her. As always his greetings were cold and shallow but there was a look of joy that danced in his eyes. “Yayauhqui…you look more and more like her each day”…he said, “I see she allowed you to wear your spools.” He gestured to the golden spools in her ears. They were decorated with a small scene of a festival or something similar. She never questioned how the man knew her or why she was in a world that she knew no longer existed. He reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, “There was a letter…” he said quietly, “but it is best that you know in time.” He gave a ghost of a smile before bringing her into a quick and sudden hug and then leaving.[/i] The same dream again, Yayauhqui groaned. It never changed, although their conversations varied greatly but many were about her growing up. She would ask questions that the man would dance around. She knew his name to be Tezcatlipoca but she chalked everything up to her mother’s line of work. Rubbing the sleep from her amber colored eyes the girl headed into the bathroom that joined onto her room and showered before changing into her school clothes and quietly made her way downstairs where her little brother John was already eating breakfast. “Mornin’ Yaya!” He chirped. The boy was her half-brother and unlike her, his entire life had been spent in the United States. He never ventured to Mexico like she had. No, his father was too “American” to allow his son to do that despite his wife being Mexican-American and having several blood ties to Mexico. Their mother shot her son a look, “I mean Yayauhqui.” The boy still struggled to say his sister’s name, which was Nahautl for “black smoking mirror”. Her step-father absolutely refused to call her by her first name or even her nickname so he stuck to her middle name, which was Rosa, or her last name. They did not have a very good relationship. It wasn’t physically abusive nor was it full of borderline sexual tension. They simply did not see eye to eye on many things. Yaya’s nationality being one of them. Richard loved her mother and her mother loved Richard. He could tolerate his wife’s occupation which frequently took her out of the country but he could not tolerate the fact that his step-daughter, by all technicalities, was an immigrant. She was a U.S citizen now but his mind was too clouded his by prejudice. To make this tension worse, her mother did not tell him about Yaya’s father. Richard had assumed that Grace had been left by a deadbeat Mexican who’d rather spend money on getting drunk and a donkey than Grace. Yaya quickly brushed her hair into a bun before sitting at the table to eat breakfast with her brother. The large ear spools that had been a present on her eighteenth birthday a few weeks ago caught the attention of her brother. As she explained how in the Aztec world, jewelry was very normal and in high demand. Their mother was smiling as she listened to her daughter. “Okay you two, it’s time for school.” Richard said as he walked into the kitchen. There were times when he wasn’t a total ass to Yaya, the mornings before school were usually those times. John groaned as he went to get his backpack at a sluggish pace while his sister cleaned off the table and gave their mom a hug goodbye. To Grace’s surprise her daughter was beginning to resemble her father. It was terrifying to say the least. The ear spools, her straight dark hair, and the shape and color of her eyes belonged to her father. “Have fun at school!” she called behind the three as they walked down the drive way. John was the first to get dropped off, leaving Yayauhqui and Richard alone for a half an hour drive. Grace wanted her children to go to good schools; it cost a bit extra and it was a longer drive but her kids were getting a good education. “So…Garcia.” He said, glancing at the girl briefly before putting his attention on the road. “What’s the deal with those earrings? Are they some sort of sp*c—“ That was the first time that he had ever called her that. It hurt deeply that in his eyes she would never amount to anything. She was his step-daughter! She called his parents grandma and grandpa, she went to school and got good grades. She didn’t end up pregnant like he thought she was going to. Yayauhqui sat in silence as the man continued on, tears gathered in the corners of her eyes as she listened to him. Richard wasn’t bad…just a dick. He made sure she got food and a home but that couldn’t make up for everything. The girl snapped as he tossed out the racial slur like it was nothing. He had pulled over to let her out a block from the school since it usually was packed with parents dropping off their kids and she really didn’t want to be seen by him. Her body acted on its own accord. Her nails lengthened and her hands began to turn into paws then the rest of her body followed the transformation; her tanned skin was replaced by spotted fur, her bones shifted to those of a large cat and she even grew a tail. Richard tried to jump from the car but his seatbelt kept him anchored to the seat. He screamed when her paws were raked down his arm, fumbling with the buckle, Richard finally freed himself and was able to leave the car to seek help. His wife was notified quickly. Yayauhqui tried to leap from the car but she was stunned by a brilliant white light and soon fell into darkness. --- Practically shooting up from the bed the girl was frightened. Where was she?! This wasn’t her house. Did she die? Wait was it all a dream and she had fallen asleep at school again? The curtains were pulled back to reveal a man wearing a set of purple scrubs. He looked similar to Yayauhqi; he had long dark hair that was tied into a topknot and he had tanned skin. The man’s face was streaked with paint much like the man from her dreams. “You’re awake,” he smiled before dropping the curtain to talk to her for a little while. “Welcome to Heavenly Academy. Is there anything that you remember before this?” She nodded, “Yeah my step-dad was being a prick again and…I had paws…What the fuck am I on?!” The man laughed before patting her shoulder, “Don’t try to think too hard. There’s a uniform for you to change into so you can go meet Headmaster Ichabod. Nice spools by the way,” he said before showing off his own. They were small blue disks with little shards of obsidian and other stones pressed to the surface to make an intricate pattern. Yayauhqui wanted that obsidian! The man smiled again before leaving the girl to change into her uniform before heading out to find her way around. --- Jan sighed as his three ‘brothers’ as they called themselves rushed into the bathroom to fight over the mirror. Together there were a grand total of four boys and two girls in the house. Their sisters were only two years old. Jan was the oldest by a six month difference with Johann, and then came Hans who was fifteen and then finally Frederic who was fourteen. Jan wormed his way into the mass of boys in the bathroom as they all brushed their teeth. They were quite close, calling each other bruder. Johann, Hans and Frederic even called Jan’s father their dad even though their mom hadn’t married Jan’s dad. Jan was feeling sick to his stomach again. The reflection that stated back at him was different than the face that he grew up knowing. His straw blond hair was white and the same length as his wavy hair if it were to be straightened. His green eyes were gold, but that transformation had been going on for a while. It had started out slowly with small gold flakes appearing in his eyes and gradually growing larger and larger. Jan’s skin was a few shades paler and there were vibrant crimson stripes on his cheeks and forehead. However, despite all of these radical transformations he was still the only one who could see them. Fisting a handful of his straw colored locks, Jan began to hyper ventilate. T-that was not him staring back in the mirror! It couldn’t be…Jan didn’t look like that! His brothers yelled for their dad and mom. The thundering boom of his father’s heavy footsteps alerted Jan to the fact that his father was running up the stairs. Lighter steps behind the heavier ones let him know that Amber, his dad’s girlfriend, was right behind him. Surely his sisters would have been left with his brothers downstairs. “Jan?!” His dad grabbed him by the shoulders. Jan was helped to his feet but the face still staring back was not his own—even if they shared the same facial expression. “Jan!” Amber’s voice echoed around the room as she grabbed him from his father and brought him into a hug. They had an odd relationship. She was the mother that he always wanted but he couldn’t help but feel as if he was betraying his birthmother. He never called Amber “mom” or anything similar to the title but she was content with it. It was known that Jan had a panic disorder so they thought it was another panic attack. Jan calmed down after a while but he was still scared. “Boys get ready,” Amber barked to her sons, Jan was going to stay home today to help care for his sisters. Anna was the oldest by five minutes but Ada was the most adventurous. Jan helped Amber feed the twins as his dad went to work and his brothers went to school. His dad and Amber had been together for five years already and Jan hoped that they’d be together for a long time. He lacked a stable mother figure in his life. It seemed like once a mother figure came in they quickly left. They were quiet save for the babbling of the twins. Both girls had been born prematurely causing them to learn and hit milestones a little bit later than other two year olds but they were precious gifts to the blended family. Jan stopped when he smelled the familiar strong smell of floral perfume. He usually smelled it at night and in the mornings so to smell it now was odd. Amber didn’t wear perfume nor did anyone else. He doubted his dad or brothers would have worn floral perfume. “Jan will you go get their bath ready?” Amber asked as she began to clean the kitchen once the twins were fed. He nodded and walked slowly upstairs, fearing the reflection in the mirror. Jan peaked his head in and seen his usual reflection, the face he’d come to know just with gold colored eyes. As he started the tub and adjusted the water to the desired temperature he glanced once more into the mirror out of curiosity. Perhaps his stress had finally gotten to him. To his horror there was another figure behind his reflection. It was a female figure with long flowing white hair and gold eyes framed by thick white lashes. She had similar facial markings that his reflection did. The woman was smaller in size than Jan; she maybe came up to his nose. They had many similarities; their noses, chin and the shape of their eyes. Suddenly there was an overwhelming aroma of sweet smelling flowers that blocked his senses, making Jan think it was another panic attack. --- Downstairs Amber wondered what was taking Jan so long. The bath didn’t take long to get ready and they didn’t need much water since the twins were toddlers. “Jan?” Amber put the twins in their playpen before heading upstairs to check on the teen. Water had seeped into the carpet halfway down the hall and she could hear the water still running. One of her worst fears was that Jan was dead. Ivan had confided in her that only a few years ago he had found a suicide note from Jan. The teen reassured his father that it was just to vent his emotions and nothing more. But Amber was still worried. Jan was her son; well at least she’d like to think of him as her son. She cared for the boy greatly as if he were her own. Amber found the bathroom to be empty save for the half inch of water that moved away from the full bathtub. Quickly turning off the water to go find Jan the woman searched every room, calling his name. Already in tears she called Ivan who was a forty minute drive away. Stumbling over her words Amber kept searching before sinking against the wall. A tiny while startled the woman who dropped the phone and scrambled into the corner as she caught sight of something white poking out from under Jan’s bed. Whatever it was the thing was alive because it had moved. “J-jan?” Amber called again, this time the little ball of white moved around under the bed to reveal a tiny fox face. Amber screamed loudly and threw a discarded pair of underwear at the poor fox. The small, frightened animal scooted closer to the headboard in fear. Amber slammed the bedroom door behind her and she ran down the stairs to get to her daughters. They were happily playing with each other, unaware of the fox in the house and that Jan was missing. Forty minutes later Ivan arrived home. Amber told him about the fox in Jan’s room and how Jan went missing. Ivan carefully made his way up to Jan’s room at the end of the hallway. He held a tennis racket in his hand as protection as he opened up the door and found the frightened fox cowering in the corner. The fox’s fur was as white as pure virgin snow but there was a large red mark on its forehead much like the small tattoo that his first wife Rin had on her shoulder. “Jan?” He called; the tiny fox perked it ears up and looked at the man. Ivan moved closer to the tiny fox as it began to make a noise to try to scare him away. “Jan? It’s me.” He said, gently reaching out his hand to the fox before getting his fingers swiped at. Rin had many books about foxes, some were still in the house as a matter of fact but there had been one that Ivan had found on Kitsunes. It had all sorts of notes written in red ink along the margins and free spaces. They were notes that pointed to a greater knowledge of Kitsunes than the author probably knew or had gotten wrong. As he coaxed the fox from the corner, Ivan knew without a doubt it was his son. There was a bright light that hurt Ivan’s eyes as well as Jan’s. Luckily Jan was small enough to bury his head in his father’s arms. --- Jan woke up what seemed like hours later. He was in a strange room that didn’t look like his home in Berlin. The boy pat his body to make sure he was still alive. Seeing his hands sent the boy screaming. The markings that were on his hands mirrored the ones he had seen earlier before his world suddenly got a lot smaller. His nails were long and thick like claws. “I see you’re up.” The nurse was a cheerful woman with light blonde hair and gray eyes that slanted upwards. She had fox ears and a tail which really confused Jan. “Don’t worry. You’ll get filled in once you see Headmaster Ichabod.” She told him with a cheerful chirp as she handed him a set of clothes that he recognized as a uniform. On top of the uniform was a necklace that held a small clear crystal in the shape of a ball that was being held to the black string by a silver claw. “Quickly change into these and head north.” The woman left to allow Jan some time to change. There was a small mirror next to his bed on the wall and once again the strange face stared back at him but this time it felt familiar as if he was used to that face staring back at him.