UnTwisted

by Elise Allen

  She put her hand on the doorknob, and Flissa again noticed Zinka’s ragged fingernails. They didn’t look like she’d been biting them, more like she’d been clawing her way through a brick building. Zinka’s knuckles were red and raw also. Flissa had no idea what Zinka did to deal with stress, but if those were the results, Flissa fervently hoped she’d never be the one to stress her out.

  “I’m trusting you,” Zinka whispered, her hand still on the doorknob, “with something that could get me in a lot of trouble. Maybe expelled. So can you keep a secret?”

  Flissa didn’t hesitate. “Yes. Of course.”

  Zinka turned to Loriah.

  “Sure I can,” Loriah said. “I can’t promise I will, but—”

  “Comrades,” Flissa reminded her. “Sisters-in-arms.”

  Loriah considered, then finally nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’ll keep the secret.”

  “Good,” Zinka said. “Come in, but do it like I do, and shut the door behind you. Quickly.”

  Zinka opened the door just enough for her to slide in, then Loriah followed suit. Flissa was the last to enter. She slid through as tightly as possible, letting the door edge scrape the front of her body on the way in.

  The room was small but cozy. The walls were blue, much like the outside of the dorm. There was a desk and chair against the right wall, a closet and dresser on the left. At the far end of the room was a loft bed—a wooden platform that held a wide mattress. Beneath the loft was a couch just big enough for two people, plus a cloth beanbag pouf and a small wood square that could work as another seat or a coffee table. A fluffy white throw rug sat on the wood floor in front of the couch. There was some dirt on the rug, and on the floor too—it looked like Zinka had tracked it in on her shoes and hadn’t had the chance to sweep it up. Still, compared to the disaster zone of Sara’s side of their room at home, the place was pristine. And even though it was a fraction of the size of their room in the palace, there was something sweet and comfy about it, and Flissa felt immediately at home.

  “I love it,” she said. Then she turned to Loriah. “Are they all the same?”

  Loriah nodded. “Almost. They change up the colors. My walls are tan and my rug is orange. But where’s the secret?”

  Zinka had climbed up the wooden ladder to her loft. Now she came back down using only one hand to brace herself. Her other arm had something tucked into it—something wrapped up in a blanket.

  “So it’s a rule at the academy that you can’t keep non-magical animals as pets,” she said. “They say it’s weird for the Magical Animals. Even though none of them live on dorm, just to have pet animals around on campus…it gets complicated. But my first day here—weeks before classes even, right after the dorms were built and they moved us all in—I found this little sweetheart curled up on my bed.”

  She turned around. Wrapped in the blanket was an adorable orange tabby cat.

  “Awwww!” Flissa cooed.

  Zinka unwrapped the cat and set it on the couch. It immediately reached out its front paws and stretched, then hopped off the couch and curled around Zinka’s ankles, purring so loudly Flissa could hear it across the room.

  “She’s so sweet!” Flissa said. Then she gasped as she realized, “You sculpted this cat in Magic Lab yesterday!”

  Zinka nodded. “I named her Teddy, like a teddy bear. Because she’s so cuddly. And from minute one. There’s no way she wasn’t someone’s pet before. Probably got abandoned during the Battle for Unification.”

  Teddy was gorgeous. She was sleek with short orange fur, and symmetrical stripes of slightly darker orange all through her coat. She moved gracefully, like a dancer, her whiskers standing out long from her face.

  Zinka scooped Teddy back into her arms. “Wanna pet her?”

  “Yes!” Flissa said immediately. She moved to Zinka and took the cat in her arms, then laughed because it seemed like Teddy wanted to look at her as much as she wanted to look at Teddy. The cat rested her front paws on Flissa’s chest and looked her right in the eyes.

  “Those eyes,” Flissa said. She frowned. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen eyes like that on a cat.”

  “I have,” Loriah said. Her voice was soft and grim. Flissa hadn’t even realized Loriah had moved closer to her until she heard it. “And you’re wrong, Flissa. You have too.”

  Flissa looked more closely at Teddy’s eyes. The irises were yellow, but a bright flaming yellow. Had she seen a cat with eyes like that?

  Then her limbs went weak, and she dropped Teddy to the floor.

  “Yup, you got it,” Loriah said softly.

  “Flissa!” Zinka cried. “What are you doing?”

  Flissa was woozy and her head spun. She glanced down and saw the cat was fine, just contorted into a knot to wash herself. “I’m sorry, Teddy,” she said breathlessly.

  The only cat Flissa had ever seen with eyes like that wasn’t a cat at all. She was a brutal lioness named Raya—one of the few Magical Animals powerful enough to cast spells. When she lived in the Twists, Loriah had been forced into Raya’s gang and compelled to do unspeakable things for her. That was how Loriah and Flissa met—met again, years after they’d seen each other in Kaloon. Raya and her gang took Flissa, Sara, Galric, Nitpick, and Primka prisoner. They’d barely escaped with their lives.

  “What?” Zinka asked. “You’re both acting really weird. You don’t like cats?”

  “Not that cat,” Loriah said.

  “Oh, come on,” Zinka said. She scooped up Teddy and held the cat in front of her face. She moved the cat’s paw as she spoke in a high-pitched voice. “I love you, Loriah. I’m the sweetest little love pig of a cuddle kitty and I make everything better.”

  “Okay, that was seriously creepy.” Loriah took a giant step back. “Even if I did like the cat, I wouldn’t now.”

  Zinka turned the cat to Flissa and did the same high voice. “You don’t think I’m creepy, do you, Princess Flissa? You love all your subjects, even the cute and fuzzy ones.”

  Flissa looked closely at Teddy. She stared into those yellow eyes…but she didn’t see anything special—none of that weird sense of something more she got when she looked into Nitpick’s eyes, or the eyes of another Magical Animal. Teddy was a cat. A tabby cat, with tabby stripes and that little dark orange tabby M over her eyes. And yes, her eyes had the same coloring as Raya’s, but so what? Plenty of humans had the same-colored eyes, and it didn’t mean they were automatically related.

  Most importantly, Raya was in the Twists, and the Twists and everything in them had been—if not destroyed, then as good as destroyed because they were cut off from Kaloon forever. And even if somehow, in some way, Raya did get out of the Twists…she was a lion, and Teddy was a cat, and no magic that she knew of could turn one into the other.

  Teddy meowed and rolled over in Zinka’s arms so Zinka was holding her like a baby.

  “Awwww, see?” Zinka said. “She wants you to rub her belly.”

  Cradling Teddy with one arm, Zinka rubbed the cat’s belly with the other. The cat purred and closed her eyes like she might fall asleep.

  Flissa laughed at herself for being so superstitious. The cat was ridiculously adorable, and anyone could see how sweet she was. It was cruel not to play with her and rub her belly.

  “I’m so sorry, Teddy. Am I ignoring you?” She dangled her braid over the cat, who batted it at it, making Flissa and Zinka both giggle.

  “No,” Loriah said sharply. “Stop. Flissa, what are you doing?”

  “I know what you’re thinking, Loriah, but Teddy’s a cat,” Flissa said. “Just a cat.”

  “Not just a cat,” Zinka said. Then her voice jumped two octaves. “The cutest-wutest-woogiest-wittle kitty cat! Oh yes you are! Oh yes you are!” She took the end of Flissa’s braid and waved it in Teddy’s face. Teddy attempted a fierce face that was so sweet, Flissa and Zinka dissolved into giggles.

  “Cut it out!” Loriah snapped. “You want to mess with that thing, Zinka, you go ahead, but, Flissa, I’m n
ot kidding, I’ll pull you away from it if I have to.”

  Zinka looked horrified. She flopped down on her couch and covered Teddy’s ears with her hands. “What is wrong with you? Are you allergic to cats or something?”

  “Not to cats, to evil,” Loriah said. “I’m out of here. And, Fliss, if you’re smart, you should follow me.”

  She stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

  Zinka picked up Teddy and held the cat up to her face. “That girl is mean-mean-mean,” she said in baby talk. “We can be sisters on the field, but everywhere else she’s the worst.”

  “She’s not,” Flissa said. “I’m sorry, you have to understand—”

  Loriah threw open the door and stormed back in, slamming it behind her. She’d been gone less than a minute, but already her eyes were wild and her ponytail stuck out in all directions. “Okay, I tried. I did. But I can’t live in this dorm if that cat’s here too. I’m turning you in.”

  “What?!” Zinka set Teddy down and jumped to her feet.

  Flissa couldn’t believe it. “Loriah, what do you mean you tried? It’s been five seconds.”

  “Yeah. I tried for five seconds. I can’t do it.”

  Zinka stormed across the room to get in Loriah’s face. “You promised you wouldn’t!”

  “No. No, I didn’t. You said ‘promise.’ I said ‘I’ll keep the secret.’ It’s different.”

  “You can’t do this!” Zinka hissed. “They’ll take her away!”

  “Exactly! That’s what I’m going for. Dig up the Forever Flames under the castle and toss her in!”

  “Loriah!” Flissa said.

  Teddy blinked up from the couch and gave a plaintive meow.

  “Oh, nice,” Zinka said. “She heard you. You made her upset.”

  “Really?” Loriah snapped. “Then she’s not just a cat, is she, or she wouldn’t understand what I said!”

  Zinka leaned over Loriah, her eyes flaming with fury. “I swear to you, Loriah. If you tell one person about Teddy, or harm one piece of fur on her body, I’ll magic you into the Forever Flames.”

  “I’d make you turn that curse on yourself before you even knew I was doing it,” Loriah said.

  “Whoa!” Flissa said. She threw herself between them and put a hand on each of their shoulders before they could hurt each other. “Too far. This has gone way too far.”

  Flissa felt Zinka and Loriah both leaning against her hands, eager to tear each other apart.

  “Listen to me, both of you,” she said. “Zinka, you have to understand where Loriah’s coming from. Teddy reminds her of someone from the Twists. Someone very, very bad, who hurt her a lot. Hurt both of us, but especially Loriah. Hurt her badly.”

  Zinka’s weight came off Flissa’s hand a little, and Flissa watched her eyes. Something clicked in there, and though Flissa didn’t know for sure, she thought Zinka probably had a list of people who hurt her badly in the Twists too. She didn’t take her fiery gaze off Loriah, but she nodded.

  “Loriah,” Flissa said. “I know exactly what you’re thinking. I saw it too. I saw her eyes. But I’m telling you, Teddy can remind us of Raya—”

  Loriah stiffened. “Don’t say her name.”

  “Okay. I’m sorry. I won’t.” Flissa started over. “Teddy can remind us of…her, but that doesn’t mean she is her. That’s not how magic works. She’s in the Twists. She’s gone, and she can’t hurt you. Turning Zinka in won’t make anything better.”

  “It’ll make me sleep better,” Loriah said, her eyes fixed on Zinka’s.

  “It won’t,” Flissa said. “Because Teddy isn’t her. Okay? She’s not.”

  Loriah finally leaned back, taking her weight off Flissa’s hand. Now when she turned to Flissa her eyes were tired and scared. “What if she is?”

  “She’s not,” Flissa said gently, “but I’ll tell you what. You don’t have to see the cat ever again. I’ll come see Teddy, though, and I’ll pay close attention to her. You know if I believed Teddy was her I wouldn’t hesitate, right? I’d do what had to be done.”

  Flissa heard Zinka start to object. She didn’t want to take her eyes off Loriah, but she pressed hard against Zinka’s shoulder so she wouldn’t say anything. Thankfully Zinka obeyed.

  Loriah thought about it, then she nodded. “Yeah. I know.” She took a deep breath, then ran a hand over her face. “Okay, I’m out. Not saying anything. Yet. But keep that thing away from me, okay? Seriously. Far away.”

  “Why would I possibly torture my cat by letting it near you?” Zinka asked.

  “Zinka,” Flissa objected, but Loriah wasn’t even paying attention anymore. She walked out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

  “Thanks,” Zinka said once she was gone. “But I don’t care if we are teammates. I swear if she even comes near my room, I’ll destroy her.”

  * * *

  After another half hour of talking Zinka down and playing with Teddy—who was really amazingly adorable—Flissa sent a bubblegram to the carriage depot, then headed for the main entrance to the school. As she walked, she sent another bubblegram to her parents, just so they’d know she was almost on her way home.

  It was well past dark now, and Flissa marveled at the brightening bugs blinking like twinkle lights around the topiary garden. She walked through the main building and came out the front. “Good night, Gilward,” she said to the statue as she passed, then she strode down the walkway and into the waiting carriage.

  Carriage rides usually lulled Flissa, especially after dark. There was something so soothing about a rocking carriage and the sound of hoofbeats. But tonight she kept shifting in her seat and jouncing her knee up and down. Her day had been wonderful and scary and bizarre and incredible…but none of it would seem real until she’d shared it with Sara. She couldn’t wait to sit cross-legged on her bed and tell her sister every single detail. She was sure Sara would have stories too, and Flissa was just as eager for them. This was two days in a row they’d had separate adventures to tell each other—adventures the other one didn’t have to memorize and pretend she’d lived herself!

  Flissa barely waited for the carriage to come to a full stop at the palace before she leaped out and ran inside. Her parents were waiting for her in the ballroom, so she stopped there to have some food, tell them about the school day, and get their congratulations on making the hoodle team. She was happy to spend time with them, but she really wanted to talk to Sara, who they said was already upstairs. Flissa claimed exhaustion as soon as it wouldn’t be brutally impolite to do so, then flew up to her and Sara’s bedroom, flush-faced and eager to spill her news.

  Instead she found Sara in her nightgown, curls sticking out in all directions, wild-eyed and pacing back and forth.

  “Sara?” she asked worriedly.

  Sara snapped to attention. “Finally! You’re home!” She caught Flissa by her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “Zinka’s working with Amala, and they want to get rid of all the Genpos!”

  Sara supposed she should have given Flissa the infor-mation in a better, maybe calmer and less-super-crazed way, but she’d been dealing with it for hours now, and by the time Flissa walked in she was ready to explode.

  “Wait…what?” Flissa asked. “You’re not making any sense. Slow down.”

  Flissa stepped back from the shoulder-clench, then took Sara’s hand and led her to Flissa’s bed, where they both sat down. When they were facing each other, cross-legged, Flissa asked gently, “What happened?”

  Sara took her through the whole thing: finishing detention, getting lost, hearing the voices, then the disturbing scene she’d witnessed in Amala’s office. Flissa listened closely, her face intent and solemn.

  “And that’s everything?” she asked when Sara finished. “You didn’t hear anything else?”

  “Amala said it was almost time to ‘wake the sleepers’ and go, so I ran away as fast as I could. I got lucky and found the moving staircase before anyone came out and saw me.”

&
nbsp; Flissa nodded. “I understand. And did you tell Mother and Father?”

  Sara’s eyes widened. “No! I didn’t tell anyone—you’re the only one. Amala’s a Shadow, Flissa. If she thinks I know about her plan, she’ll do the same thing to me that she wants to do to the Genpos!”

  Flissa bit her lip. “It’s so strange…I know Mother and Father and the whole General Council spent days interviewing Amala before they made her head of school. They were all positive she’d changed.”

  “That’s how good Amala is,” Sara said. “She fooled them all.”

  “Maybe…but I saw Zinka right afterward. Right afterward. She came to hoodle tryouts the second she finished. I made the team, by the way—me and Loriah and Zinka. We’re actually really good on the field together. Some Genpos made the team too, and Zinka was great with them. I won’t lie, she was acting a little stressed out, but no more than she was at Magic Lab, before the Amala meeting. And after the hoodle tryouts we spent the whole evening together. There was some drama between her and Loriah, but if anything, Loriah was the one who was in a bad place. Zinka seemed like herself. She wasn’t acting at all like she’d just been inducted into a massive plot to overthrow the Genpos. She didn’t even talk about her meeting with Amala.”

  “Because I bet Amala told them not to,” Sara said. “She probably told them ‘act natural and don’t let anybody know.’”

  “Maybe…but are they all that good at acting? It’s a big secret to carry around.”

  “We did it,” Sara said. “We acted and carried around a big secret for twelve years. Mitzi acted and carried around a big secret for even longer. Katya—”

  “Understood. People can handle big secrets and act however they need to act. You’re right.”

  Flissa tucked the end of her braid in her mouth and got off the bed to pace. Sara was glad to see it; it meant she was thinking hard, and Sara could use her sister’s full concentration on this. She was feeling lost without it.

  “Okay,” Flissa said. “Let’s try this. It is one hundred percent possible that Amala lied to our parents, lied to the General Council, has been lying to everyone, and is now secretly grooming students to get rid of the Genpos. This is one explanation for what you saw.”