What a surprise that this wasn't even the real surprise!

Kalos' mind raced as Aoife walked back to her and left her mom waiting.

It wasn't chocolate. That had already been discussed and, in deference to her white dress, discarded. The hum of potential ran under Kalos' skin once again. The dress and photoshoot had been everything Aoife had promised. This surprise had to be even better if it was the "real surprise" and the photoshoot, by comparison, wasn't even the main show.

> "Are ye ready for your real surprise?

The pink girl snuck a look at Becca, but she was waiting rather patiently. Whatever the real surprise was, Aoife had thought it was important that Becca be there. To... to witness? To join in? But whatever it was, she took some small satisfaction in the idea that it was for her first. Aoife had left Becca hanging. She'd prioritized Kalos.

"Will I need to be brave?" Kalos held her hand out in a silent admission that she was ready, that this was a yes.

Aoife seemed thrilled from the crown of her head on down through her toes. Thrilled, but contained. She knelt to take both of Kalos' hands in her own, almost like a proposal.

"Yer awready brave, dear'in. Ah ken how much ye'v struggled an' overcome. Ah ainlie wantae make thin's better fur ye fae this moment oan. A'm waantin' tae gie ye this gift." It was a strangely sobering sight to have Aoife so serious, holding both her hands and talking like this was life and death. Kalos was on the precipice of something huge: she could sense it even if she didn't yet know what it might be.

Aoife took a deep breath and made sure she had full eye contact before she asked. "Wull ye be pairt o' mah world? Leaf th' gorgon 'n' th' Mansion behind ye. A'm waantin' ye tae be free."

Kalos opened her mouth to say yes and then shut it again. She wanted to give the same gravity to this decision that Aoife seemed to be giving it.

Was this Aoife's world? Dresses and camera lenses and perfect days? There'd been a few people on set, but not a gorgon in sight. But also, there hadn't been anyone to make her feel stupid or small. Here, she was as beautiful as she saw herself.

But. Kalos liked being a gorgon. What would it mean to leave being a gorgon behind?

"What does it cost?"

She saw a glimmer of respect in Aoife's eyes. And maybe... anticipation. She could tell she was already on the hook.

"Ah wun't lie tae ye. Th' cost is yer power."

Kalos felt it again, that buzz of excitement and promise. Her power? What power? She didn't fight bad guys or even leave the Mansion. Not really. She couldn't.

But maybe... maybe if she left it behind... She might be free.

"I want my surprise."

Becca felt the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Something about the way Aoife offered her surprise was ominous. Her posture stiffened, but this was Aoife. She had to give her the benefit of the doubt, even as doubt was indeed what creeped into the back of Becca’s mind. ”Ah hink Ah am? What dae ye hae up yer sleeve, sis?”

”Sae many things, sister, bit noo we can drop th’ secrets.” Aoife placed a hand on Becca’s cheek, looking over her shoulder to the fountain. ”Ah hated ye, ye know. Fer aw th’ things th’ world gave ye. Th’ things Ah wasnae allowed.”

The admission was blunt, but there was no malice in her tone. Becca knew her sister had baggage she carried with her as an abandoned child, but she had never said it in so many words. ”Ah gie that. Ah’ve wanted tae be here fer ye tae make up fer it.”

”Ay course,” she responded, chuckling. ”Mah super-powered heroine ay a sister, taught tae help th’ less fortunate. Loch her poor, abandoned kin.”

Becca opened her mouth, but the words were stuck. When Aoife said it, Becca sounded condescending instead of compassionate. Was that how her sister saw her?

”But Ah did nae stay abandoned. Ah was taken in by fowk fa gae me true gifts; showed me th' burdens an' curses ay th' warld. My sister wasnae gifted, she was cursed.”

Aoife waved her hand, and the set dressing—the wardrobes, the backdrops, and even the marble fountain faded away. Becca saw the other Aoife talking to Kalos now, holding her hands, and an elderly man approaching with a walking stick. ”Aoife? Ah’m… Ah’m nae cursed. What ur ye talkin’ abit?”

Aoife stepped away, shrugging her shoulders at her misinformed little sister. ”Th’ mutant curse. Mah new family taught me ‘at mutation was an imitation ay true power. An' Ah did hate ye,” she reminded Beca. ”Ah wanted tae break ye an' take th' false power ye defined yerself wi'.”

Take her power? How did Aoife plan on doing that? Did this have something to do with the two Aoifes? The rumors of cult sightings in the city came back to Becca. They had been hard to believe before, but the way her sister spoke now… and she had Kalos. ”Ye cannae dae thes. Ah thought we were makin’ things better. Ye’re mah sister.”

Aoife’s face softened, warming to her sister. ”Ah am. An’ Ah dinnae hate ye; ‘at’s why we’re here. Ye’ve given me a gift. A little sister who cares an’ a niece Ah really loove. An’ Ah dae thes it ay loove noo.”

Where the fountain once was, there was now a small recession in the floor. From the well, a glowing, shimmering font of light bubbled up. Goosebumps covered Becca’s arms as she felt the energy of the light bubbling up from the ground. ”Ah want tae take yer curse away sae ye can join me, sister. Sae ye can baith taste true power.”

Some of the Supremes could not stand to be so close to someone so cursed, but the Elder Supreme was glad to do his part to cleanse the accursed. This was his gift; this was how he could serve the Mystic Plane. Raising his staff, ”Bow your head, young fräulein. Before you can be bestowed with your blessing, we must purify you.” The Elder muttered an invocation in German. The gem set in the head of the staff, the elder’s eyes, and the palm of his outstretched hand glowed with a black energy.

Aoife led her by the hand to the photographer who was no longer a photographer. Kalos squared her chin, unsure if she should protest, but... she had to give it up, right? She had to let being a gorgon go.

"Will it hurt?" She wasn't afraid, just trying to be prepared. The Germanic chanting fell off for only a moment so he could answer.

"Yes."

Aoife's hand was gone from Kalos' now. She balled her fists and bowed her head as asked, tucking her chin. As the chanting continued, blackness enveloped her like octopus ink. The buzzing in her skin magnified until the gorgon was trembling, unable to stop her body from shaking. She took a step forward— or tried to. Her knees were like jelly and Kalos crashed hard into the ground, catching herself with her hands. The buzzing was intense, but she refused to give in to it, to let it scare her.

She'd asked for this. She should see it through.

Except, parts of her were crumbling away. A dusting of pink fell down onto the floor below her. Kalos hugged herself and squeezed her eyes shut.

That when it started to hurt.

Her hands. Her eyes. Her blood.

There was nothing she could touch, or not touch, that didn't hurt. That didn't make her make pathetic mewling sounds.

Eventually, she heard someone— Aoife?— calling her name. Her muscles were knotted and Kalos couldn't seem to unknot herself.

"Is it over?"

The buzzing was no longer making her feel as if she was going to shake apart. In fact, it had left her so suddenly that she almost felt a phantom version of it. Like she couldn't deal with the lack.

The offer rattled Becca, forcing her to confront who Aoife was. Her sister was in some kind of cult that believed mutants were cursed. She was not a mutant, but she could be in two places at once. Aoife believed there was a "true power," and wanted to give this to Becca and her daughter. That meant taking away her mutation, which... could she really do that? "Aoife, ye cannae dae this. Stop, please," she begged.

"Sister, Ah promise thes is fer th' best. An' we can e'en help Maya when yer ready. An' wee baby Iris."

Becca's mismatched eyes flared. "Stay away frae them. Mah family disnae need fixin'."

Aoife looked back to Kalos and The Unmaker, smiling. "Ah hink yer family's willin' tae see th' truth, little sister."

A hand was placed on Kalos and Becca saw the dark energy flare up around her. "Kalos, nae!" she shouted, running forward.

And then... everything twisted. Becca stumbled, falling to the ground, which did not feel like the ground anymore. Her sense of direction was warped, and even as she tried crawling forward, she could not grasp which was was up or forward, like an intense bout of vertigo. "Ah cannae let ye interfere yet," her sister's voice echoed, though she could not find her now. She feebly crawled toward Kalos, watching in horror as her daughter looked to crumble away. Becca screamed, but if Kalos could hear her, she showed no signs.

It was only when the spell was over that Aoife lifted her hex on Becca so she could stabilize enough to see the final result. The girl balled up was not coral pink. Calcified bits littered the floor, but the dark-skinned young woman left behind was not visibly harmed. And she was Kalos.

A human Kalos.

Becca called out again, trying to get to her feet. The old man, done freeing the young girl, approached the redhead. He raised his staff and Becca felt her limbs go numb like their connection to her brain was disabled. "Ah, die Mutter. You're not willing to see the truth yet. But you will be."

Aoife took Kalos' hand, soft and new, and offered to help her niece up. "Kalos... ye've done weel. Ah know this hasnae been easy. Yer ma is still unsure," she confided, allowing Kalos to see Becca kneeling on the ground, her eyes full of concern. Aoife muffled the voice calling out until it was a faint echo. "She needs tae see ye join me. Then she'll understand. Ah know it. Aw 'at's left is fer ye tae step intae th' Well. Receive your gift frae th' Mystic plane."

As the man approached, Becca panicked, thinking of what she could do now. She could not feel her arms and her legs felt like jello. She had one choice left, even if it was dangerous. Her powers were still over-charged and uncontrollable, but the warehouse was made of metal. Screaming, Becca pushed hard. The building quaked and the ground beneath them rumbled. Screws started popping out of the structure.

"That's enough of that," the Elder barked, placing a hand on Becca's forehead. And suddenly everything burned. Her skin. Her muscles. Her blood. Her soul was burning.

Kalos stumbled to her feet with Aoife's help. She could feel that she had toes, and somehow she just kept over-correcting her balance and wobbling backwards. It took longer than it should have for Kalos to process what Aoife had told her, and longer than she should have to open her eyes and see Becca at the other end of the warehouse.

"Mom..." Becca was kneeling before the old man and Kalos lifted her foot to take a step in her direction, but hesitated, and ultimately set her foot back down. Becca didn't look happy, but Aoife asserted that was because she just didn't see how this was going to pan out yet. In all honesty, Kalos wasn't sure that was true. Kalos had definitely chosen, but Becca... why would she? She was powerful, conventionally beautiful, and in control.

Kalos closed her eyes for one final gut-check. She wanted this still, right? She was still willing to break the chains of her past and move forward, to receive power. She could deal with Becca afterwards. Kalos would help her leave if this wasn't what Becca wanted, but first she had to have her surprise.

The building groaned and the earth shook for the briefest of moments. Kalos considered that her sign. She gave Aoife's arm a squeeze and the two turned away from Becca. It was her choice to make, and she was so thankful to have Aoife to help facilitate.

At Aoife's instruction, Kalos knelt in front of a bowl someone had scooped out of the ground, she put her hands into the glowing bubble of... of water? of power? and hesitated with the glowing liquid cupped between human fingers that were wholly new to her. Was this even real? A dream?

"Everything will be okay after this, right, Aoife?"

"Ye'll hae true power. Ah coudnae be mair proud o' ye in this moment. Drink up, Kalos."

She closed her eyes and drank.

If only Kalos could see the ramifications of today. If she could know how it all played out, then she wouldn't have to second guess herself.

Somehow the glowing water wasn't ending. Somehow, Kalos felt as if she was being filled from the cool liquid in her throat down more and more until the light branched into every corner, nook, and cranny of her being. She choked as it continued to pour in and scrabbled at her throat, overbalancing until she fell forward into the bowl of glowing potential.

Kalos wasn't at risk of drowning, even if the bowl wasn't nearly as shallow as it had looked. She pushed herself up out of the water and gasped for air. And when she opened her eyes she saw unexpected additions around the warehouse.

Shadows. Smokey figments as if the world were water and someone had dripped ink. Kalos saw a flurry of movement near herself and flailed against it. Her arms went through it... actually... they followed it. Exactly.

It snapped into place then. They were... decisions. A fore-shadow.

Kalos' head snapped up and her eyes glowed a steely gray. She wanted to see.

Becca’s vision blurred at the intense pain running through her body. She was being changed on a genetic level, and those changes were rippling through the rest of her being. There was nothing cosmetically changing, so the only sign of the searing pain was Rebecca screaming on the ground.

Finally, after the burning subsided, the Elder pulled his hand away from Becca’s face and stepped away. ”Welcome to absolution.” Now that the girl was human, he dropped the hex disabling the nerves of her limbs.

Stumbling back to her feet, Becca realized it immediately. Since she was eighteen, she had lived with magnetic fields. It was a special sense, not sight but something distinctly her own. That sense was gone, and the world lost clarity as though she was deafened or blinded. Her sister was not lying; Becca was no longer a mutant.

The desire to tackle an old man was strong, but Kalos was more important. Her daughter was no longer balled up and in pain, but she was in the mysterious, swirling energies of the well in the ground. Aoife stood and watched as her niece was going through her rebirth but was taken out of her moment of pride when Becca grabbed her throat. Rather than panicking, she just smiled. ”Ah see The Unmaker has prepared ye. Noo ye’re ready.”

”Hoo could ye dae thes? Ah’m gonna—“

”Ye’ll what, little sister? Ye’ve got nae powers, and we’re tois ay th’ six strongest Mystics in th’ world. E’en if ye turn doon our affer, hoo dae ye plan on keepin’ us from bringin’ Kalos intae th’ fold?” Aoife vanished from Becca’s grasp when she tried tightening her grip, leaving her looking at Kalos.

Becca ran into the pool, feeling the tingling sensation around her ankles, creeping all over her skin. ”Kalos, honey, are ye okay? Please tell me ye’re still okay.” She could only imagine what kind of traumatic experience it could be to look down at your hands only to see something unfamiliar. She had not even seen a mirror yet.

Becca wrapped Kalos up in a hug, surprised by how soft her arms were. ”Ah’m sorry, Kalos. We hae tae gae.”

Only it would not be that easy. Emerging from the shadowy corners of the warehouse, hooded figures were circling the Well. ”Ye’re nae takin’ Kalos, Rebecca. Ye dinnae hae th’ strength.”

She did still feel weakened from whatever the old man did to pacify her, and her powers were indeed gone. There was nothing to push or pull; she was a skilled fighter, but in her state, she could not fight off a crowd. But there was one option. She heard it in her head; a wordless beckoning, calling for her to drink.

Looking at the font of power bubbling up next to her, Becca dipped a cupped hand in, pulling shimmering pool back to her lips. She just needed to be able to protect Kalos. The cool, tingling sensation permeated her body. A handful of the mystery liquid was enough to flood every cell of her body, transforming her delicate genes for the second time in minutes.

Magical energies swirled within her, latching onto that intense desire. Protect.

There was a flash. When Becca opened her eyes, each glowing in its signature color, there was a bubble surrounding the well. Swirling blue and green energy pushed away the hooded figures who came too close, and burnt into the ground at the edge of the bubble was a runic word, repeated: Protect.

Finally able to breathe for the first time in minutes that felt like hours, Rebecca hit the hotkey on her phone—an SOS to her husband. Becca pulled out the mirror she kept safe in her back pocket, opening it up. ”Kalos, Ah need ye tae trust me; we need tae gae. Ah know Aoife is…” She trailed off; what was her sister now? ”Whatever she said, her friends are nae guid people. We can talk when we gie it ay here. Sae please, Kalos…”

Gawain jolted awake as the sound of his comm went off. He had been sleeping next to Iris' crib, where the baby was finally sleeping her well-fed little harpy sleep. It had to have been for about an hour, because Gawain did not have feathers anymore. Oh, good. At first glance he thought his phone had pinged, but it only took a moment to realize it was the X-comm instead.

Becca.

SOS.

The mirrorwalker was on his feet in an instant, already heading out the door, grabbing his gear on the way out. He ran past a student in the hallway.

"Tell Mrs. T. I gotta go, Iris' sleeping in the room" he called out in a hurry as the student jumped out of his way. Something was wrong. He hated that feeling.

Becca had sent an SOS, and Mirror was tracking her signal. She had a mirror on her whenever she went out for exactly cases like this, so all he had to do was find it and get her out of whatever danger she was in. Hopefully, he would not be too late.

Please don't let me be too late.

From half a step behind Becca Kalos watched. She saw Becca's shadow dip down before her mom drank in reality. She saw Aoife regrouping with the one she called "Unmaker" and she saw shadows she didn't understand around the edges of things. Some people filled those spaces. Some were yet unused. Kalos resolved to walk out the door, but her shadow died out quickly. There were too many unknowns in a room full of this many people.

It was too easy to fall into an observational role. Kalos shook herself and wondered if she could walk through Becca's shield. As soon as she'd resolved to try, she saw her shadow do it. Then disappear. She didn't need to try it now that she knew, her mind had changed.

Becca was clearly in crisis mode. It was a crisis that didn't feel all that impactful to Kalos. No one here seemed to want her dead, but they sure as heck all seemed ready to fight about it. A certain shadow caught her attention because it was in such an odd location, a person was coming out of a shiny bit of metal. The shadow flickered and died, but she spotted a different one not too long after.

And that meant Gawain was coming. Soon.

"Becca? Mom—" Kalos called for attention until she saw Becca's shadow turn to look at her, her face following soon after. The shadows sometimes changed before they happened so she had to wait for it to really happen. "We don't have to fight about this."

Kalos stepped up beside Becca, slipping her hand into her mom's soft hand.

She was momentarily distracted that her hand was soft now, too. She wasn't pink any longer, but now... still a contrast from Becca's skin.

"You didn't give her a choice, Aoife." Kalos called out angrily from the safety of the bubble and tugged Becca toward the shadow that was solidifying. Mirror had made their decision on their point of entry. It would be best if they were there and ready.

"Eet's better tae ask forgiveness thin permishin."

None of this felt real. Minutes earlier, Becca was casually arriving to share a sweet family moment with her sister and daughter. If only she could rewind the clock to that level of innocent naiveté. Her mind was racing, panicked in the face of the uncertainty in her life now. Kalos was not scared, which hit Becca with the sinking realization: she really chose this. Aoife convinced her to change everything about herself.

Kalos called for her mother’s attention and Becca faced her daughter, relearning the new hues and textures of her face. This was the Kalos she loved; the differences of her face did not change that. This was just their new reality and they would learn to live in it.

Once they were free.

Becca felt the soft, delicate young woman’s hand in her own, steading her. Kalos did not want to fight; she wanted a way out of this where their family stayed together, unchanged. Unfortunately, everything had changed.

Even Kalos recognized how wrong it was for Aoife to put her sister in the position of forgoing her mutant birthright and accepting magic. Aoife was ready with another justification. Becca was disappointed, because Aoife really believed she was doing the right thing. ”Her cult isnae concerned wi’ choice, Kalos. They believe some people ur born wrong. It's one hin' if ye choose tae listen tae them,” like Kalos did, and Becca could not hold that against her daughter, ”but they arenae gonnae lit th' 'wrong' mutants bide th' way they ur.”

Aoife appeared outside of the bubble, meeting her sister’s eyes silently. Becca returned the gesture with a look of hurt in her eyes, because her sister had bought into a dangerous ideology and they were all suffering now. ”That's th' kin' ay group yer aunt wanted us tae join.” If Aoife had just taken Kalos, would Becca had lost her daughter to an anti-mutant cult? She shuddered at the thought.

Becca wrapped an arm around Kalos, who was leading her. She did not think about the guidance much; Becca was finally aware of the portion of her focus passively keeping her barrier up. She could feel an invisible tether between herself and the protective aura. She already had the mirror set down on the floor, so she just had to keep the bubble up for a few more seconds. Hopefully. ”Kalos an' Ah didne need fixin', Aoife. Ah’m sorry ye werenae able tae see 'at.”

Gawain dashed through reflecting surfaces, the outside world becoming a blur, until he knew he was close to the signal. It was coming for a warehouse, one with not many reflecting surfaces at all, but he could sense Becca's mirror from the other side. He just hoped she was still near it. He had his bow and arrows, but the SOS signal was usually reserved for rescue. He'd go in, grab Becca, get out, and ask questions later. A misunderstanding was always better than a tragedy.

Gawain emerged from the mirror on the floor, reorienting himself. The surroundings registered in a moment; some kind of energy bubble, people in cloaks - oh f*** not you again - before he grabbed Becca, and the smaller figure she was holding on to, pulling them into the mirror world, and out of range of whatever f**ery was going on in the warehouse. Cultists. They were everywhere these days.

They stepped out of a window panel a few blocks off on a rooftop, a few seconds later, mostly to regroup. Gawain took a deep breath, trying to stick to priorities. "Anyone else in there I need to get?"

That was... fine. Some mutants were born wrong. Not that Kalos would admit that to Becca, she wouldn't have understood since she had been born in way that she found more than tolerable. That's why it'd been a betrayal of trust to mess with Becca. She shouldn't have even been there. It had been Kalos' special day... only, even that wasn't enough for Aoife. She'd wanted her sister— maybe more than she'd wanted Kalos.

Eyes down, she let herself be tugged along into the mirrorworld a disappointed fog. It wasn't until Becca was stepping out again that Kalos balked.

She'd left her umbrella. Her phone. She was in a soggy dress, having actually fallen into the dang spring of water. And now they wanted to stop on the top of a building. The tippy-top. Like, only a sea of sky up above.

Kalos had done this so she could leave her old insecurities behind. She'd shed her skin. So she took a step out of the mirrorworld, but felt as if her legs were robot legs: working mechanically stiff and only vaguely under her control.

"Can we go home?" A fine tremor had started in her arms and legs. Despite her best efforts to not be afraid, she was squeezing the heck out of Becca's hand.

Becca’s pocket mirror was like an emergency escape button. She would have to lose the mirror for a quick escape, but a small mirror was the price she would gladly pay to get out with Kalos and Gawain. There was no need to explain the situation when Gawain arrived. He could understand the direness of cultists swarming around them, even if he was missing so much context.

Becca met her sister’s eyes one last time, sure the next time they crossed paths, it would be on opposite ends of a conflict Becca finally knew she was begrudgingly taking part in.

The trip was disorienting as ever, but Becca was greeted with the cool breeze of a rooftop. Her jeans were… she wouldn’t call it wet, but saturated with the magical energy she inadvertently bathed in. Not liquid, but thicker than air.

Gathering her senses, Rebecca realized Gawain was asking for a status update and Kalos was… well, she was crestfallen. If anyone had gotten closer to Aoife than Becca, it was Kalos. Part of Becca expected Kalos was going to stay, and maybe she would have if Aoife had not betrayed Becca. Her sweet girl; through it all, she was too moral to believe in forcing choices on others.

Even if she made that choice herself.

”Nae, it’s jist Kalos an’ Ah. Nae gang back noo,” she informed Gawain, returning her attention to the dainty hand she held tightly in her grip. Becca bent low to kiss Kalos’ forehead, soft and new.

Becca was going to go to the hospital to determine exactly how truthful Aoife was being. She wanted Kalos to come, but there was no sense in getting the same news twice, and she wanted to stop putting Kalos through anything today. ”Aye. We’ll bring ye haem, sweet girl. Gawain, let’s gie back tae th’ Mansion.”

She met Gawain’s eyes with a look promising answers later. There was a lot to unpack, and she was sure he would be connecting the dots by now with the dark-skinned young woman his wife was clinging to. Answers were the one thing everyone in the Grey-Morris family would be looking for in the coming days, months, and possibly years. Nothing felt as certain as it was before magic changed everything.