The girls leaned over my shoulder to read as I stared at the school map.
“Hold the hell up!” Asha let out as she snatched the paper from my hand.
“She’s considered a Legacy!” Isis beamed.
“She’s rooming with Maggie,” Souxie said as she took the paper from Asha.
“What does special admissions mean?” Asha asked as she snatched the paper back.
The three girls looked at me as my eyes widened with my hands in the air.
“I do not know!” I admitted. “I do not know what any of this means…”
“Because you’re…not really Danielle, right?” Asha asked with growing suspicion. They all shared another glance at one another before looking back at me. “Aight,” she popped with a chin towards me. “So who are you, really?”
Asha Avery
I didn’t like new bitches.
New bitches meant new attitudes, new problems, and a bunch of fake shit I didn’t have time for. I noticed now that Maggie has been elevated to this new social status, it was bringing on new problems…like this one right here…
“So…you’re a princess?” Isis asked with a hesitant tone. “An actual princess, but you met a witch, and she told you about your…sister who you didn’t know about, and now you’ve switched…places?”
“Yes! That is it!” She pointed with an anxious nod. “I do not know how I closed my eyes in one place and opened them in another, but my name is Ayira. Not Danielle.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and one leg over the other as I stared at this…foreign broad with the fakecoconuts in the sandaccent she was putting on. I wanted to leave her behind, but Souxie insisted on keeping her around to explain herself and now here we are. The bright lights of the dining hall were filtered by the hanging banners of different social clubs. Since dinner wasn’t being served, most students only came in here to make their way to the second dining hall where you had to pay to eat or just to tour the school. We found a table in the back corner, away from the main aisle that split the hall in half. All three of us sat on one side with this…Danielle sitting by herself against the corner with wide dark eyes. Her hair was braided down from theroots with thick bamboo beads at the end. She looked like she could be from the islands…maybe east African…maybe west…I dunno. She looked like the average bird in New York, truth be told. I wasn’t taken aback by her looks, but I could tell by the men that glanced at her, their interest was piqued. She’s pretty don’t get me wrong but nothing unique or special in my opinion.
“Whew! Sorry I’m late y'all!” Maggie let out as she dropped her things on the table before collapsing in the seat beside Souxie. Her white hair that stretched down to her back side was now curling up in the ponytail until it was no longer than the length of her neck. “What’d I miss?”
We caught Maggie up with the latest tales of weird shit when Isis suddenly leaned forward to show something in the brochure for the school.
“Is this where you come from?” She asked, pointing to the train map. Ayira leaned forward before taking the map to see for herself. When her eyes widened in recognition, she looked up at us before looking back down. “It is… You’re from the Kingdom…”
“Shit,” Souxie murmured in awe.
“That’s right!” Maggie said with a point. “You told me or––” shaking her head, “your sister was telling me her mother was interested in all things Underground, like she was trying to get back to something or somewhere.” Maggie leaned in close while looking around to make sure no one heard her. “I was going to tell Danielle this, but she disappeared before I got the chance to say it. I overheard them talking about you––her seeking asylum.”
“Asylum?” We all repeated. Ayira looked at us, confused.
“That’s why the school is interested in you…Your mother wrote letters asking for help to Dr. Holmes.”
“Not my mother,” Ayira said with her hand on her chest.
“Well the woman who raised you, I mean her.”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” I cut in with my hand hitting the table. “Y'all are really buying this princess shit?”
“It’s possible,” Isis shrugged with a pout.
“She met a woman who turned out to be an evil witch in the middle of this alley, in the middle of a random desert kingdom and now she woke up in her sister’s shoes and clothes and we’re supposed to believe it?”
“Yes, exactly!” Ayira nodded. “The woman said my mother would be punished for lying. I closed my eyes there and opened my eyes on the train. I do not know how else I can properly explain myself.”
“Which means Danielle was on her way here,” Souxie said before taking the papers in her hand. “That sounds like mirror work…Old ancient spell work done but I’ve only ever heard stories…People switch souls, but never bodies…”
“My mother is a witch…she comes from a family of high priestesses,” Ayira said.
“So that means Danielle is…where exactly?” Maggie asked with the realization settling in. Ayira gasped with her hand over her mouth before she suppressed a faint giggle. “Oh my God, I know that lady is probably freaking out right now…”
