There's a dead middle schooler in my pool.

I found her in our pool. Face down, floating in diluted red water. 

Dead. 

“Holy shit.” I was still half asleep, thinking maybe I was still dreaming as I teetered on the edge of the deep end, an icy March wind whipping at my face.

I’d only ventured outside to check if the pool was covered.

It wasn’t. Well, it was. Nicholas insisted he’d covered it the night before.

He was semi-correct; the cover was secure. Well, except for the giant fucking hole burned through the middle.

The pool cover was scorched, flecks of debris drifting lazily in the breeze, speckled across ripples. 

A quick glance at the cloudy sky told me there’d been no storm. No lightning. No… freak accident. My thoughts whirred.

What could possibly cause that amount of damage?

Did an animal do this? Nope. Unless bears could use lighters.

I dropped into a crouch and squinted. The girl wasn’t what I expected.

A poofy pink sparkly dress. Thick blonde pigtails tied with rainbow-colored ribbons.

She looked like she had walzed straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon. I was a Mew Mew Power, Sailor Moon kind of girl.

I had memories of coming home from school, making myself a big bowl of cereal, and watching 4Kids. 

I knew what she was. 

Yep.

I lurched back, a shriek escaping my throat. There was definitely a dead middle schooler in our pool.

More importantly, a dead magical girl. 

Holy shit.

Sailor Fucking Moon was dead in my pool. Crawling back on my hands and knees, my morning coffee crept back up my throat in a thick sludge. “Nick!”

My roommate appeared almost immediately, wrapped in his robe, cradling his morning coffee, thick curls hanging sleepily over his eyes. “It’s seven am,” Nick grumbled, folding his arms. Nicholas Bright was the unofficial leader of the house. “Someone better be dead.”

It took several seconds for him to notice the girl. When he did, his expression crumpled. His cracked croak splintered into a shriek as his gaze landed on her.

“What the fuck?”

He staggered back, falling onto his ass.

“What the fuck?”

Without thinking, I kicked off my slippers, dipping my toes in the water.

Freezing cold. My body retracted, a shiver sliding down my spine as I lowered myself into the shallows. Still, I slowly eased myself into the water. Up to my waist, I waded over to the dead girl. It wasn't her body I was focused on. There was something illuminated across the pale skin of her throat, like liquid stars. 

Something drew me towards it, a phantom hold wrapped around my spine and pulling me forwards,  suffocating my throat so I couldn't speak, so I couldn't explain why.

Words were suddenly so hard.

So painful. Like bullets under my tongue.

Nick, usually calm and collected, was hyperventilating behind me. 

“Have you lost your mind?” He hissed. 

Yes. I fought to cry out, as I reached forward, my fingers grazing over her neck. 

Yes, I’ve lost my mind, I thought manically. 

Nick. I can't move. I can't… I can't breathe. 

Closer. 

A cavernous hole hollowed her out. Her skin was ice cold. Slimy. 

A cry built in my throat. She'd been dead for a while. 

Longer than hours. 

Days. 

Weeks. 

Months. 

Her skin was almost plastic, like one of a doll. 

Years.

Something, like a feather tickled my arm, creeping up my elbow. I felt it grab me, phantom fingers entwining around me.

Not just my skin and bones, but my blood, my being.

I lurched back when the thing finally let me go, like elastic, slipping, falling underwater. 

Water filled my lungs. But I barely felt it. Barely felt the need to fight back.

Wading back to the surface, I waded to the side and climbed out. My body was tingling, my brain felt choked, wrong, like a parasite had crept inside my skull and was whispering. I was half aware of the real world, Nick yanking me out of the pool.

The bitterly cold tiles I was curled up on, soaking wet, shivering, my head in my arms. But a voice was in my head. Loud.

Invasive.

“It's called a soul stone,” it hummed inside my head.

“When the girl died, her soul stone split into fragments, letting her body free.”

“We need to call the police, right?”

Nick’s voice sliced through.

My roommate was crouched in front of me. His eyes were  frenzied. “Like, now?”

I lifted my head, blinking water out of my eyes. “Did you… say something?” 

Nick stared back at me. He grabbed my hand, pulling me into an upright position. My head spun, my thoughts screaming.

But it wasn't my pain that writhed up and down my skull, my scream that rattled between my teeth. Thoughts that were tumultuous, angry, screeching at me. Nick paled when I coughed blood into my hand.

He crawled back. “Did you hit your head?”

But his voice felt far away, faded, like ocean waves. 

“There's a— a dead girl in our pool!” 

“What do we do?” 

“We call the police, right? What if they think we did this? I’m too young to be arrested! Art school, they said! Go, it’ll be fun! They said! Oh God, am I an accomplice to a crime I didn't commit?!"

“Lana! Lana, are you even fucking listening to me?!” 

“Can you feel it?” The parasitic voice was louder, slinking through my skull.

My body dropped suddenly, like I was cut from strings. Nick’s cry echoed.

I felt him scoop my contorting body into his arms. “Fuck! Lana? Lana!” 

”How does it feel to touch a dead girl’s soul, Lana?” the voice hummed.

“Can you feel her power?”

I could.

It was vicious, angry, poison streaked through my blood. 

Pulsing through me, sending my body into a vicious, agonizing arch.

Nick set me down on the kitchen table, his clammy hands pinning me down as another girl's scream ripped from my throat. Pain. Scalding, agonizing pain that tore her apart. I felt it. All of it. Everything she'd felt. “Don't worry, it's okay,” Nick’s voice collapsed into a cry. “I'm calling an ambulance! You're okay, Lana!” 

”Do you accept it?” the voice asked. *”I need your consent, Lana. Otherwise, you will reject it.” 

Yes.

The word choked my tongue.

Yes.

Yes. 

Yes.

And just like that, my body… stopped. 

Stopped flailing.

Stopped contorting manically.

Just… stopped. 

Opening my eyes, Nick was staring down at me.

I slowly raised a trembling hand, as golden flecks of stardust ignited across my palm. Magic. 

Somehow, my lips broke out into a grin. 

Slowly, my body left the wood of the table, floating upwards.

Nick staggered back. “What the fuck is happening?” 

Pink and violet light crept across my torso, my clothes morphing from pyjamas, into a springy yellow dress with sparkly rims.

Wings sprouted from my spine.

But as quick as it came, the light ignited in my hand sputtered out immediately, like a dying flame. 

”I’m sorry, there must be some kind of mistake,” the voice exploded inside my head, just as blood seeped from my nose.

Pain hit like a lightning bolt, but this time it was mine.

My body shuddered, transfixing pink light turning blood red, as my transformation abruptly stopped. I slammed back down on the table. Something hit the table with me, a glistening ruby gem. 

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you are twenty five years old, with a fully developed central lobe,” the voice said.

In the next instant, the conjured clothing was ripped from my body. It sliced into my skin like razor wire as it tore away.

“We do not accept adult magical girls. The cut off age for acceptance is nineteen. Adult bodies cannot withstand the transformation. At your ancient age, you would haemorrhage.”

Blood spurted from my mouth in a fountain.

“Fuck you,” I managed to sputter, my vision blurring. 

“However.” the voice continued. ”Your friend is different.”

Through half lidded eyes, I saw Nick reaching toward my soul stone. 

His eyes were already empty, the voice pulling him towards it. 

“Adult females cannot handle the transformation. But adult male bodies can. It's well known that adult males are easy to manipulate. Their fragile emotions rival those of an adolescent female. Nicholas will be a great addition to the team— perhaps a brother figure.”

Nick. 

No!

My mouth opened, but I was choking on blood.

Nick took the soul stone, rolling it around his palm, as I felt both myself and it begin to splinter.

Overwhelming burning light erupted in front of me.

Nick’s body was flung into the air, hovering in its allure.

“Lana!” His cry broke my heart. “Lana, what's happening?”

“Nicholas Bright,” the voice boomed in my skull. His body twisted, his scream rattling my ears, as my body shut down.

His eyes ignited, razor sharp wings protruding from his spine. Clothes burned from his flesh. “Do you give me your consent to become a magical girl?

Darkness spotted my vision, but I stayed conscious long enough to hear his reply.