UnTwisted

by Elise Allen

  Flissa’s other friends also came by a lot; they wanted to show their support. At any given time there were several hoodle team members around, and even though they talked and laughed together, the team seemed like they were in the same daze as Flissa. Flissa understood; in a way, they were missing a sister too. They were missing Zinka.

  A week into Sara’s illness, Amala came to visit, and said she wanted to talk to Flissa privately. Flissa met her in the parlor, and they sat together on the couch.

  “I feel like you deserve to know where things stand,” Amala said. “I’ve spent the last week doing many interviews, many meetings, and all kinds of research, and I believe we understand now how everything happened.”

  “You do?” Flissa asked.

  “Yes,” Amala said. “For starters, Zinka and Raya did know each other in the Twists. I’ve spoken to your friend Loriah about this and she didn’t know Zinka, but other Untwisteds saw them together. More than that, some overheard Zinka and Raya talking about blinzer stones, and the damage they’d do to Kaloon if they ever got hold of them.”

  “Zinka said that?” Flissa asked.

  Amala simply gave a slight nod and continued. Honestly, everything else she told Flissa was just confirmation of things Flissa and Sara had discovered themselves. The Shadows had decided yes, the explosion from the Twists could indeed have released Raya into Kaloon and permanently changed her from a lioness to a cat without diminishing her power. They thought once that happened, Raya sought out Zinka, thinking she’d be an ally. They also believed Zinka dug up blinzer stones for Raya—or at least went digging to try to find them. And they’d changed their opinion on Loriah’s spell terrors. They now thought she’d been cursed by Zinka or Raya.

  “Raya did it,” Flissa said. “I don’t believe it was Zinka.”

  Amala continued the story of “Things Flissa Knew” with the sleepover and the Genpo curse, and then what happened to Sara. “Since that day,” Amala said, “Zinka has been kept in a Shadow-designed detention cell, with magic-absorbing walls that ensure she can’t get away.”

  Flissa listened to the whole story, then shook her head. “You left something out. You didn’t say if Zinka worked with Raya because she wanted to, or because she was forced to.”

  That was the question that tortured Flissa. It was the one thing she needed to know. Had she been completely fooled by Zinka, or were her instincts about her right?

  “I did leave it out,” Amala said. “I had to, because Zinka’s not telling us. That means one of two things: either she was willingly working with Raya all along, or she wasn’t, but she’s too frightened to tell us the truth.”

  “What about Raya disguising herself as Teddy?” Flissa said. “Zinka had no idea Teddy and Raya were the same. Why act like a hidden pet cat if Zinka wanted to work with her?”

  “First of all, you’re the only one who says Zinka didn’t know the cat was Raya,” Amala said. “It may be the case, but Zinka hasn’t said it at all. If it is the case, it does seem likely that Raya didn’t trust Zinka would work with her, and acted like a loving pet to learn about her. That way she’d know Zinka’s soft spots—the best ways to threaten her to keep her in line. But unless and until Zinka speaks up for herself, we have to follow the evidence and keep her where she is.”

  Flissa shook her head. “It just doesn’t feel right,” she said.

  “For what it’s worth, I agree,” Amala said. “I’ve been around a very long time, and I’m a very good judge of character. I spent a lot of time with Zinka, and I believe she was acting under duress. I can only hope she tells the truth, or that the truth makes itself clear.”

  Amala left after that, and Flissa crawled into bed with Sara. She did that sometimes; she didn’t think her sister would mind.

  A week or so later, Flissa was sitting on her bed playing a card game with Loriah and Galric. They’d dealt a hand for Sara too, and each took turns playing her move and telling her what they were doing.

  “I’m discarding three,” Galric called to her. “You good with that?” He waited as if she was answering, then said, “She thinks that’s a really bad move. I’m discarding two.”

  “They got her!” Flissa’s father announced, stepping into the room. “They found the cat!”

  “What?” Flissa breathed.

  “Where?” Galric asked.

  “The scenthounds who grabbed her scent from Zinka’s room tracked her to a tree near the edge of the kingdom. She was curled up in an abandoned raccoon nest,” the king explained. “And there was a blinzer stone in the nest. She did have two stones to do the Genpo curse, and now we have them both in Shadow hands.”

  “What about Raya?” Loriah said. “Did she run?”

  “She did not,” Flissa’s father said, and the tips of his mustache pointed straight up. “They grabbed her while she was sleeping; only then did they get the stone. Now she’s locked up in the same detention center as Zinka, the blinzer stones are secured, and Maldevon Academy reopens its doors in the morning!”

  Flissa’s father cupped his hands over his mouth and made the sound of a roaring crowd. Flissa and Loriah exchanged a look. Sometimes Flissa thought her father was far too silly to be a king.

  “How do we know those are her only two blinzer stones?” she asked.

  “Well, it stands to reason she’d keep them near her,” her father started, “plus the Shadows have been doing magical sweeps, and so far there are no signs of others. They’ll keep searching, but the headline of the scroll is ‘The Danger Has Passed.’”

  The words were barely out of his mouth when they all turned to look at Sara, still lying motionless on her bed.

  “Her danger will pass too,” their father said, placing a comforting hand on Flissa’s shoulder. “She’ll be better soon. Now you should wind up this card game early tonight. School tomorrow!”

  “Wait,” Loriah said. “Are you sure the cat’s Raya, and not some other decoy cat?”

  “When they grabbed her, she woke up and used her magical signature,” he assured them. “Blue sparks—no blinzer stone to magnify it. And to make doubly sure, while I wouldn’t dream of putting you through it, we had other Untwisteds who had met Raya come in and identify the sparks. Magical signatures are like fingerprints. It’s her, and she’s locked away.”

  He walked to Sara’s bed and kissed her head, then came back and planted a kiss on Flissa’s head as well before he walked out of the room.

  Flissa looked at Loriah and Galric. None of them really knew how to react. Flissa thought they should be jumping up and down and hugging each other because Raya had been captured, but everything just felt strange and unsettled.

  The next day, Flissa felt awful leaving Sara behind to go to school, and when Amala told everyone that the Kaloonification Ball was back on and would occur in two weeks, Flissa’s heart sank. The ball had meant everything to Zinka, and Sara had been so excited to go. It felt wrong to even think of it going on without them.

  At lunch she sat with the hoodle team, but none of them had an appetite. It was as if they could all feel the empty space where Zinka used to fit.

  “I just don’t get it,” Rosalie said, listlessly batting at an apple with her wing. “All the things they’re saying she did…none of it sounds like Zinka.”

  “’Cause it isn’t,” Dallie responded. “She wouldn’t do any of it. It’s bogus.”

  “Dallie,” Trinni snapped. “She did some of it. She cursed Sara.”

  “Because she was scared and someone was making her do terrible things,” Beverly-Ann said.

  “Why would you say that?” Loriah said. “Flissa’s right here.”

  “It’s okay, I agree,” Flissa said. “We all know Zinka. We know her better than anybody. She wouldn’t hurt anyone. Not willingly.”

  Flissa knew in her heart it was true. Even though it destroyed her every time she thought about Zinka turning that stone on Sara, she remembered the tears running down Zinka’s face and she knew—she was absolutely certa
in—that Zinka had only done it out of terror, and she hadn’t meant to hurt Sara as badly as she did.

  So how could she be okay with everything going back to normal when it didn’t feel normal at all?

  For three days she slogged through school and came home right after hoodle practice. The team never hung out for dinner and homework anymore; they were all still friends, but Zinka had always rallied them together. She was their glue. Flissa knew it would get better. They’d get used to it, and maybe another team member would step up and take Zinka’s place at the center of the team, but right now it just felt strange.

  That’s what was on her mind when she tromped up to her room, dropped her satchel, and plopped down on her chair to take off her shoes.

  “Aw, come on,” said a voice from the other side of the room. “Aren’t you even gonna say hi?”

  Flissa’s insides leaped.

  “You’re awake!”

  Sara grinned. She was still lying flat on her bed and looked devastatingly weak, but she was awake and she was talking and she was smiling and—

  “Miss me?” Sara asked.

  “You have no idea!”

  She bounded onto Sara’s bed and squeezed her tight, then opened up a vial of message milk to call their parents.

  Sara laughed. “They’re right down the hall. Can’t you just go get them?”

  “Not a chance,” Flissa said. “I’m staying right here with you.”

  “How do I look?”

  Sara wore a soft pink ball gown trimmed with lace and beads. The bodice clung to her body, tapered at her waist, then flared into a full skirt over crinolines. The sleeves sat just off her shoulders, and a tiara of tiny pink roses nestled in her hair.

  “Is that the dress you picked out with Jentrie and Krystal?” Flissa asked.

  Ever since Sara woke up from Zinka’s curse, Flissa had been teasing her about going ball-dress hunting without her. Apparently Krystal and Jentrie told her the story while Sara was out cold.

  “You really need to let it go,” Sara said. “I would’ve loved your help; you weren’t talking to me then.”

  “And that is to my eternal shame and regret,” Flissa said.

  She said it with such pain in her eyes, Sara hated to see it. She wished her sister wouldn’t beat herself up. Then again, she supposed if she’d watched Flissa lie on a bed barely moving for three weeks, she’d feel terrible about a lot of things too.

  “Fliss, I love you,” she said, taking her twin’s hands. “And we both messed up in the beginning of the school year, remember? But I’m okay, and everything’s good…and I really need you to tell me if this gown works on me.”

  “I love you too,” Flissa said with a nod. “Twirl.”

  Sara did. Her skirt flared beautifully, like a pink cloud all around her.

  “You look beautiful,” Flissa said.

  Sara beamed. “You do too. I think it’s the first dress you’ve worn all year.”

  Flissa wore an A-line dress in a dramatic shade of deep purple. Her hair was loose and long, a single tendril from each side pulled back and pinned with a jeweled barrette. They stood side by side and grinned at one another in the mirror.

  “It’s the first ball we get to go to together,” Sara said.

  “Together with your date,” Flissa said.

  Sara felt her cheeks get hot and she couldn’t stop smiling. “Stop! We’re all going together. And yeah, Galric asked me and I’m going with him, but he’s not my ‘date.’ That just sounds weird.”

  “Weird ’cause it’s a date, or weird ’cause it’s Galric?”

  “Weird ’cause it’s weird!” Sara said. Then she took Flissa’s hand. “Come on. I bet they’re all downstairs with Vincenzo ready to take a zillion portraits.”

  As Sara and Flissa walked out of the room, Sara thought about the last few weeks. A lot of it she didn’t remember. She remembered finding the blinzer stone, and she definitely remembered the horrible pain when Zinka cursed her, but nothing after that until she woke up in bed.

  “Stop right there!” Primka shouted as Flissa and Sara got to the top of the staircase. Sara stole a look at Flissa because it was exactly what she’d expected: Katya, Primka, and their mom and dad, all of them dressed up because they were going to the ball too; and all of them huddled together around Vincenzo and his easel, looking way too close to tears. The only ones not there were Galric and Rouen; Sara wondered if Rouen was helping Galric get ready.

  “Get their picture, Vincenzo,” their mother urged. “You’re both so beautiful!”

  “Thank you,” they chorused, then they burst out laughing.

  “No laughing!” Vincenzo wailed. “I need to paint you quickly so you won’t be late! Pose!”

  Sara struck a dramatic pose on the railing, while Flissa smiled demurely, her mouth closed in a prim, straight line.

  “A little something in the middle, please?” Katya asked.

  Sara rolled her eyes and leaned one hand casually on the railing, while Flissa flashed an actual smile.

  “Perfect!” Vincenzo said. “Now don’t move, or I’ll scratch you.”

  Sara caught Flissa’s eye again and they smiled without moving.

  Apparently Katya had thought Sara might stay cursed for months, but three weeks was more than long enough. By the time she woke up she was like a baby zebra—wobbly in every joint as her body tried to remember what it was supposed to do. Her parents had suggested she stay home from school and get better, but she had wanted to go back as soon as possible. Amala adjusted her schedule so she’d have someone close to her—Flissa, Galric, Loriah, Krystal, or Jentrie—in each class so she could lean on them or get help if she needed it, but the truth was she didn’t really need anything; she just liked being in classes with her friends.

  “Another pose!” Vincenzo called. For a sloth, he worked very quickly.

  “Spin around,” Sara said.

  Flissa did, and they stood back-to-back, arms folded.

  “Yes! Very nice!” Vincenzo raved as he started another canvas.

  One thing Sara had definitely remembered when she woke up from the curse was that the Kaloonification Ball had been canceled, so she was happy when Flissa had told her it was back on. It was almost the best news she’d missed—the fact that Raya had been captured was the best. Sara knew Flissa felt a little weird about the Kaloonification Ball since Zinka had put so much work into it, but Sara was sure once they were there she’d love it.

  “One more!” Vincenzo called.

  “These are beautiful, Vincenzo,” Katya sniffed. “Just beautiful!”

  Sara and Flissa put their arms around each other and posed once again.

  It felt so good to be back to normal with her twin. Their new normal, anyway. They didn’t share a life, and they didn’t ignore each other either. They each had their own friends and their own things they loved to do, but at the end of the day they always came back to one another. It was perfect.

  “Oh my universe, would you look at that!” cried Katya.

  Sara looked and saw Rouen and Galric come in from the back hall. When Galric stepped into the light, her breath caught. She’d never seen him so dressed up. He wore black velvet pants and a jacket, and his hair was slicked back. Sara had never thought this word about Galric before, but he looked…kind of handsome.

  “What do you think, Sara?” Katya crowed. “Did he dress up nice enough for ya?”

  “Stop!” Sara and Galric said at the same time, but Katya was having way too much fun. She made sure Vincenzo was done with his painting, then she took Sara’s arm and pulled her down to Galric.

  “He has something for you,” Katya said. “Give it to her.”

  Galric looked down at his hands as if he expected something to appear there, then Rouen leaned over and handed him a wrist corsage with a single large pink daisy. “It’s a corsage,” he said awkwardly. “Your mom said it was a good one to go with your dress.”

  “I did,” agreed her mom excitedly. “And I sew
ed it to the wristband. And look, I made him a boutonniere to match.”

  Galric did, indeed, have a small pink flower in his lapel.

  “Put it on her wrist,” Sara’s dad said.

  “Yeah,” Rouen said. “Vincenzo, get a picture of it.”

  So Galric and Sara had to stand perfectly still while he held the corsage halfway on her wrist. Luckily Vincenzo had them both looking down at the corsage while they posed, so their heads were close together and they could talk without moving.

  “Our parents are the most embarrassing human beings on the planet,” Galric said.

  “Beyond,” Sara agreed.

  After that torture, Sara’s mom had the whole group get together for one final portrait, and only then did they get to escape with Flissa to their carriage. The adults were taking their own carriage and following them.

  “Oh. My. Universe. That was too much,” Flissa said as they shut the carriage door behind them.

  “I think they need a hobby,” Galric said.

  “I think we are their hobby,” Sara said. “Oh, check this out—I’ve been practicing.”

  She concentrated, then leaned out the window and shot off a bubble of scarlet mist. It quickly morphed into a solid red paper lantern, lit from the inside as if from a candle, and floated into the air.

  “That’s so cool,” Galric said. “Do another one.”

  “I’ll do a different shape,” Sara offered. “Give me one.”

  “A frog,” Galric said.

  “A frog?” Flissa echoed.

  “I don’t know, it was the first thing that came to my head!”

  Sara spent the rest of the ride launching magic paper lanterns out the carriage window in all shapes and sizes, then they arrived at the school…and stepped out into a wonderland. The long main walkway was lit by floating red paper lanterns ten times the size of Sara’s own, and the statue of Gilward glowed as if lit from the inside. The main event, however, was in the back fields. Magical twinkle lights sparkled in the trees, balloons full of brightening bugs floated above a dance floor that glowed and shifted from color to color, and fairies dressed in perfect tiny gowns flitted everywhere, leaving their colored contrails as they served appetizers and fancy fruit drinks. The music was thumping and loud; a buffet table bursting with delicious food sat just outside the topiary garden; and right in the middle was an intricate papier-mâché replica of Maldevon Academy itself.