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“Wait, how did you know that? It happened at camp, with your sister.” Masha narrowed their eyes and crossed their arms in front of their chest.
“I…uh…” Vee instinctually started scanning the boba shop looking for the nearest exits. “Luz told me about it?”
“I thought she lost most of her memories from camp when she got that concussion.”
“She did! It's just, she told me BEFORE her accident.”
Masha looked skeptical, but thankfully didn't press the issue. “If you say so. Well, I gotta go to the Gravesfield Historical Society for my shift. See you around!”
Vee gave them a weak wave as they ran off with the rest of their taro milk tea. Once Masha was safely out of the café, Vee buried her face in her hands.
Shit. Shit. Shit. She’d been trying so hard to fit in, be a perfectly normal human who did NOT have Cabin Seven!Luz’s memories, and after months of pulling it off, she might have given herself away.
All the way home, Vee was plagued by what she should have said to keep her cover, to the point she wanted to bash her head against a wall. As her family probably wouldn't appreciate that, she furiously slurped the last of her mango star jelly instead and threw her empty cup into a trash can with more force than was strictly necessary.
She slammed the front door shut behind her, and it felt satisfying to stomp through the living room in her boots on the way to the stairs.
“What's wrong?” Concerned, Hunter looked up from where he was playing video games with Luz.
Vee paused. It wasn't every day that her brother was home, and he knew a thing or two about having a secret identity.
Luz scooched over on the couch to make space in the middle for Vee, and she flopped down between them before recounting how badly she’d messed up.
“So. What do I do?”
“Tell them the truth,” Hunter immediately answered.
He and Luz exchanged a knowing look. “He’s right. You're friends, and maybe it'll be a little awkward at first, but the longer you try to keep the secret, the worse it'll get.”
“What if…what if it goes wrong?” Vee didn't think Masha would react like Jacob, but she absolutely didn't want to wind up in a cage again.
Hunter gave her a reassuring squeeze. “We can be there as back up.”
***
Vee wound up inviting Masha over two days later to make homemade cookies while their mom was (conveniently) at her vet clinic. This had the advantage of being both private and on her home turf. If Masha didn't take things well, this was the best possible place it could happen.
Masha arrived bearing some black cat-shaped sprinkles — “For decorating!” — and a bottle of (non-alcoholic) sparkling apple cider. Vee led them into the kitchen where Luz and Hunter had started gathering ingredients.
“So you’ve met Luz…” Her sister plastered on a smile. Their first interactions in the fall had been awkward, and for the most part, Luz steered clear of Vee’s old cabinmates.
“And this is my brother Hunter.”
“Brother?” Masha perked up with interest. “I haven't seen you around too much. Did Camila take you in too?”
“Sort of?” Hunter stammered. “Only part time. But Vee and I also share a…creator.”
“I haven't heard that one before!” Masha shook their head. “Yeah, just because you pass on genetic material doesn't mean you get to call yourself a parent.”
Given that Vee hadn't the faintest idea who her biological parents had been or the specifics of how Belos had brought her species back from extinction, she couldn't exactly disagree.
Hunter bravely tried to explain the situation. “It uh…happened in a lab?”
Masha’s eyes widened in (what they thought was) understanding. “OOOH — so like a sperm or egg donor? Did you connect through a database or ancestry website or something?”
“No, not exactly,” Vee answered, and bit her lip. She'd been planning on easing into her reveal a little, preferably with warm cookies to (literally) sweeten the mood, but this was as good a lead-in as any. “To be honest, I had something kinda big that I wanted to tell you today. Maybe I should just show you now?”
She looked over at Luz and Hunter for reassurance, and they nodded. Hunter seemed primed to strike if anything went south, and Luz patted the pocket with the memory potion she'd brewed just in case (courtesy of one of Eda’s books).
And so, heart beating madly, Vee returned to her basilisk form, bracing herself for yelps, screams, or even an attack.
Instead, there was silence.
Gingerly, Vee opened her eyes.
Masha seemed completely unfazed and was looking expectantly at Hunter. “Well?”
He blinked and double checked that his hat was still covering his ears. (It was.) “Well what?”
“Aren't you going to transform too?”
“Transform? Me?” He looked flabbergasted.
A crease formed on Masha's forehead. “Don't you also do the shifty-shifty thing?’
“Nnno?”
“But you said you were made in a lab? With Vee?”
“Oh. No. Yes. But I'm not a basilisk — I’m a Grimwalker. A…uh...magical clone?”
Hunter raised an arm to nervously scratch the back of his head, and Vee winced. She hadn't meant to out him too.
Masha looked thoughtful for a minute, then snapped their fingers. “A clone of Caleb Wittebane, right? When I thought you were a shapeshifter — or basilisk, I guess — I thought you were just copying the statue.”
He blanched and Luz answered cautiously. “We’re pretty sure. His ears are pointy like a witch’s, but that might just be how Grimwalkers work.”
Vee found her voice. “Aren't you a little…surprised…about this?” She gestured at her clearly-not-human body.
“Oh, I figured out you were some sort of shapeshifter ages ago. Is that how you normally look like?” They frowned. “Or is that offensive? I don't want to assume you have one true form.”
“This is how I look like when I'm not using magic to look different. It's about 50/50 basilisk and mostly-human these days.”
“Mostly human?” Masha cocked their head.
Vee shifted back and pointed to her still-basilisk ears. “When I get nervous, my ears are the first to change, so I thought it would be easier to just always have my real ones.”
“Go back a minute,” Luz interjected. “How did you figure out Vee was a shapeshifter?”
“She was too much like the Luz I knew at camp, and you're not at all like the Luz I met at camp. Also, her friendship bracelet.”
“I thought I kept that covered up!” Vee knew that wearing it would be a risk, but it helped her be brave.
“Most of the time, but it peeks out of your sweater when you raise your hand super high, and I sit a few rows behind you in Spanish class.”
Shifting clothing was always tricky — getting better at making it realistic also meant that it was subject to the same pitfalls as actual clothes.
“Friendship bracelet?” Hunter asked. “What's that?”
Vee extended her arm to him so he could see. “Humans make them out of thread and share them with people they’re close to.”
“At camp Vee really wanted one with a chevron design, and I guess that makes more sense now. Oh, and the colors match her too!”
“Huh.” Hunter examined the olive, teal, and yellowy cream bracelet. “It does look like a bunch of V’s.”
“It was a little…strange…looking like a human all the time at camp,” Vee explained. “Still is, a bit. The bracelet is a nice reminder of myself. Thanks again for making it — it means a lot to me.”
“Yours means a lot to me too.” Masha pulled back the sleeve of their black sweater to show another chevron bracelet, this one in yellow, white, purple, and black.
“Awwww.” Vee could practically see the sparkles emanating from Luz's eyes.
“So…uh…this doesn't bother you?” Vee released her human shape once more.
“Bother me? It's awesome that you're a…what did you say again?”
“A basilisk from the Demon Realm.”
“Right! You were cool already when I just thought you were a human at camp.” Masha smiled mischievously. “Soo…Are you going to tell the rest of Cabin Seven?
“Yeah, I think so. When I’m ready,” Vee added, but with two — maybe three? — champions at her side, she suspected that wouldn't be too long.
“And what about you?” Masha asked, turning to Luz. “If Vee was you, where were you hiding when you were supposed to be at camp?”
“The Demon Realm. It's a long story, but I met a cursed witch and her owl Palisman and…”
“And saved the world,” Hunter interrupted. “And now she's a human witch who can do magic with Stringbean.”
Hearing her name, the Palisman zipped into the room and flew in a loop around Masha’s head.
“Oh, you're almost as cute as Vee!” Masha gave Vee a wink and her (basilisk) face burned. “Now all that's out of the way…someone promised we’d make cookies. And then you can tell me more about that Demon Realm.”
