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A Twin-Twin Situation

[written by special request. Takes place in my “Celcia Navigator” universe, using characters the requester created.]

There are a couple twin girls at my school who we think are some kind of witches.

And it’s not because of their personalities, though I can see how you might arrive at that conclusion if you’d ever met them. I mean, Luna Comett actually calls herself a master of the dark arts, and Hayley Comett has inhuman strength and is a bit of a snob. Everyone thinks they’re a little eccentric. Something must be off about them, they say.

And I, personally, am proud to be friends with them.

The name’s Emily, by the way. I’m one of the goth kids Luna took under her wing.

The year is 3075. The place is Venus. Luna, our friend Rachel, and I got off the spacebus and walked up to the front steps to Venasia Heights High School--a tall, corkscrew-shaped, platinum-plated tower near the outskirts of the city.

“Hayley not coming today?” I asked Luna, adjusting my gray knit cap on my shoulder-length black waves.

“Hayley never ditches,” Luna said simply. She took her magic wand--which was simply an elegant cigarette holder, and I doubted it had any actual magic in it at all--and held the tip to her shoulder so that her pet spider could climb on. The spider waved in thanks before running down a thread of spider silk to dangle happily from Luna’s wand.

Many times, I wondered if the spider was actually Erdin Widow, the famous model and pilot. She could turn into a spider, so I heard. Erdin was currently serving on the Celcia Navigator, but there was no other way to explain how weirdly human Luna’s spider acted.

“Besides,” said Rachel, pushing up her tinted glasses, “today’s the big game. Hayley can’t miss that. Her cheerleading team is performing.”

Big game? Big deal. All I cared about was seeing Hayley’s show. Yeah, Hayley was a snob, but that just made it more entertaining

In the distance, there was a low rumble, like thunder. It wasn’t thunder. We all knew that.

“Aaaand that must be her,” I said.

Sure enough, a gold and green speck appeared in the sky. It grew bigger and bigger, and with a mighty whoosh and a thud, Hayley Comett, the Shooting Star herself, landed perfectly on her feet in front of us.

“You took the cannon today,” Luna noted. “Overslept?”

“Nah, I just didn’t want to take the spacebus with the rest of you commoners,” Hayley said. She took off her crash helmet, freeing her long, blonde hair, and tucked it under her arm. With her other hand, she pulled her signature emerald and gold cigar from her matching jacket pocket and stuck it between her lips.

“F-for the last time, smoking isn’t allowed at school,” Rachel said nervously. She had a cupcake in her hand, and she took a tiny bite out of it.

Hayley took out her lighter and lit her cigar staring Rachel down, and Luna, too, faced Rachel, purple wisps of smoke curling up from her cigarette. Everyone knew that smoking wasn’t allowed, but nobody bothered telling the twins that anymore. They were their own people.

In fact, Rachel was the only one in our group that steadfastly refused to smoke. Luna had gotten me into it. Smirking, I took a cigarette of my own out of my black jacket pocket and lit it on the candle on Rachel’s cupcake. Rachel just sighed heavily.

“You better come to the game tonight,” Hayley said, breathing out a puff of smoke. It smelled like freshly-cut grass. “I have a big finale planned.”

“We’re coming,” I promised. I stuck my cigarette in my mouth and pulled out my phone, trying to appear as bored as possible. I didn’t care about the game, and I wanted to make sure everyone knew it.

“Good. I’d have punched your destitute behind all the way to Saturn if you said no.”

Luna snorted. “My magic will stop you.”

Hayley arched an eyebrow. “You think?”

With that, she picked up her twin and tossed her high into the air until Luna was no more than a yelling speck in the sky, before she vanished in a twinkle. All that was left was her witch’s hat, which floated lazily to the ground.

“See ya!” Hayley chirped, and jogged up the front steps and into the school.

Rachel sighed again. I picked up Luna’s hat and offered it to her.

“Hold on to this until she gets back,” I said. “I’m already wearing my cap.”

Rachel put the hat on, and the two of us followed Hayley into the tower.

___________________

The football stadium was on the flat roof of the school. It was the last game of the season, and the stands were packed. So packed, in fact, that the faculty was running around directing hoverdrones to drop new rows of seats above the existing ones.

Luna was back from her unplanned trip to Mercury. Rachel had given Luna her hat back, and it sat askew on her amethyst-purple hair as she sat, elbows propped on her knees, waiting for the game to start. Smoke swirled lazily from her cigarette. Even her pet spider looked bored.

“This would go a lot faster if I could use magic to speed up time,” she commented.

I just shrugged, scrolling through social feeds on my phone. I took my cigarette out of my mouth to say, “Probably, but you’d mess up the spell and get sent flying again and miss the halftime show.”

Luna glared at me with her one eye unobscured by her hair, but I could tell she knew I was teasing. Also, that I was right. “Thanks for the ever-unfailing confidence, Em.”

“Always happy to help.”

Rachel giggled, sucking purple Mars-mallow frosting off her finger. She had yet another cupcake in her hand. Her parents owned this cute little bakery downtown, and they were always supplying her with her favorite treat. Luna, Hayley, and I had our smoke, Rachel had her cupcakes. Rachel liked to keep a lit candle on her cupcakes, too, despite the obvious fire hazard. She claimed it kept the cupcake fresh-out-of-the-oven warm. More than that, it looked witchy and cool.

Drums, off-key guitars, and kazoos--the official instrument of Earth--signalled the start of the football game. The players ran out on the field, decked in hot pink and gray. The students in the stands erupted into cheers and started chanting the players’ names. Luna, Rachel, and I just sat still. Football games were way too cheerful. And boring. And there were no creepy potions or bats involved.

So instead of watching, I said to my friends, “Hey, check out these sneak peek photos of next week’s Madame Venus competition! Think the producers got our letter about creating zombies to take the models’ places?”

“I hope so,” said Rachel. She and Luna leaned in to see my phone.

We spent the first half of the game browsing the social and news feeds on my phone while everyone else in the school shouted, cheered, and booed all around us. Someone had won a court case by having a better song and dance number than his opponent. Red gummy candies had finally won the right to go to law school. Same old news, but way more interesting than the game nonetheless.

Then the drums, off-key guitars, and kazoos returned, and we finally perked up.

“It’s time!” Rachel squealed. She had frosting all around her mouth.

The announcer boomed over the speakers, “Please welcome the cheerleading squad from Venasia Heights, Hayley’s Comets, performing a brand-new, extra-extravagant, super-special routine titled ‘The Comett Shot!’”

Upbeat band music played as Hayley led her cheerleading team out onto the field, smiling like a supermodel before sticking her expensive cigar in her mouth. Even from our distant seats, we could see the spark as she clicked her lighter.

All the other cheerleaders wore the school colors of hot pink and gray, but Hayley was bedecked in gold and emerald-green sparkles. She waved to the crowd, and the crowd roared.

Four more cheerleaders came out wheeling a large, round cannon. It was painted green, and trimmed with gold. Hayley used this cannon at every game, so I figured she was proud of it. I bet it was made with real gold. I wanted to roll my eyes. Luna was right next to me, though, so I restrained myself.

Her teammates gathered around her and laced their hands together, creating a stable platform that Hayley climbed onto. She grabbed one gold-sneakered foot and straightened her leg all the way up into the air, next to her face. I was impressed. Her flexibility and balance were incredible.

Then, it got even better. The other cheerleaders launched her high into the air, so high I had to crane my neck to see her. The audience gasped an applauded as she flipped over and over like a gymnast as she descended. Part of me hoped she might land flat on her face in the dirt. But nope, she landed perfectly right into her cannon. Marching to the beat of the music, the cheerleaders spun the cannon around once and aimed it straight up into the starry sky. One of them lit the fuse with a match.

“Ten!” the cheerleading team shouted. “Nine, eight…”

The crowd joined in. “Seven, six, five, four…”

Luna, Rachel and I shouted along, “THREE! TWO! ONE! FIRE!!!”

BOOM! Hayley rocketed into the sky. Up, up, up, leaving a trail of hazy cigar smoke behind her. He disappeared in a twinkle as bright as the stars.

For a long while, the crowd watched the spot where she’d disappeared in stunned silence. Then they began to cheer wildly. The cheerleaders danced around and began to form a pyramid. Only one spot was empty: the very top. That would be Hayley’s spot. Figures.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed. So did Luna’s and Rachel’s.

I frowned, looking at the notification. “It’s from...Hayley?”

Luna and Rachel didn’t bother to take out their own phones, as mine was laying in my lap and more convenient to look at. I opened the message and showed it to them.

It was a selfie. Hayley floated nonchalantly among the stars, her blonde hair floating in the zero gravity out from beneath her crash helmet, which she must have put on while she was in the cannon. Her face shield was clear, so I could see her wide smile and her wink. She pointed with her cigar like an excited tourist down at a far-awayVenus. Her cheerleading uniform glittered in the light of the stars.

“Show-off,” I muttered. Rachel nodded in agreement. Luna just shrugged. Hayley was her twin. She was used to it.

The crowd drew a collective gasp, bringing our attention back to the field. In the sky above, there came a bright streak like a shooting star. It came closer. It was aiming for the field. It was Hayley, flipping and spinning and doing cartwheels, and then...she landed right on the top of the human pyramid. The music stopped with a dramatic, loud note.

The crowd went wild, jumping and screaming and chanting Hayley’s name. Hayley bowed, oblivious to how her underlings were trembling trying to keep the pyramid from collapsing. Hayley was really much to tall to be at the top.

Hayley hopped down, tumbling into a somersault when she hit the ground for good measure, and she and her cheerleading team left the field, taking the cannon with them.

Luna huffed, sending an extra-large puff of purple smoke billowing from her cigarette and nearly blowing her spider away. “The whole school loves her now,” she said, “but they’ll love me, too, at the afterparty.”

“Why?” I asked. “Gonna show them some of your dark arts?”

“Actually…” Luna’s dark eyes glimmered. “Yes, in fact.”

“Um,” Rachel spoke up, waving to get Luna’s attention with a pudgy hand. It was dark enough that I could hardly see her eyes behind her purple-tinted glasses. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Yes.” Luna readjusted her witch’s hat, which had been crooked all evening. “I am a master of all dark magicks. And if I do get blasted to kingdom come, it’s going to be much more spectacular than the cannon, just you wait and see.”

________________

The afterparty was held on the lakeshore in front of the school. It was nine in the evening, and moonlight glistened on the water. I smiled. This was going to be fun.

Colorful, floating lantern drones drifted above the heads of the students. Buffet tables full of food were set up around the edges of the party area. Close by, Rachel danced happily in circles, a cupcake in each hand. Loud music thrummed in the air. I wasn’t big about parties, and I scrolled through my phone, the screen hazy through my cigarette smoke.

Louder than the music was the sound of explosives being set off. Hayley was at it again, blasting fish out of the water. Luna had told me that this was one of Hayley’s hobbies. Normally, Hayley caught the fish, but right now, she just let them splash back down into the lake. Everyone laughed at the flopping fishes.

In between explosions, many of our classmates went up to her and gushed about her performance at the halftime show. Others waved amiably.

“Hey, Bobo!” Hayley waved back to one of them, completely ignoring one of the poorer, less popular students who was squealing excitedly at her. “See you in baseball practice next week. And, hey, Jocelyn, we still on for that boxing rematch?”

What a snob.

Luna tapped my arm with her cigarette holder, leaving a spot of ash. “Emily, watch this.”

She raised her “wand” and pointed it at the lake. The next time an explosive went off, sending dozens of fish flying into the air, Luna spoke a word in some strange language--so strange, my universal translator couldn’t decipher it. The water fell back into the lake, but the fish remained in the air, floating eerily in halos of purple light. Their eyes glowed yellow.

In Venesian language, Luna murmured, “Spirits, arrive.”

The fish began to whisper: “Beware, humankind!” “Please, rescue me...please!” “Run…” “Look behind you…”

Some of the students shrieked and jumped away from the lake, and away from Luna. Once they got over their shock, though, they began to cheer.

Rachel grinned. “Awesome!”

Then, Luna’s wand began to spark. She faltered. “Uh-oh.”

One of the buffet tables exploded, sending appetizers flying. An unfortunate drone flying above Luna’s head malfunctioned and began speaking robotic nonsense. Worst of all, all the fish she’d enchanted charged her, knocking her to the grass, leaving her flat on the ground, covered in flopping, wriggling fishes. Luna’s mouth was half-open in surprise, and a tiny fish landed right in her mouth. Reflexively, she swallowed it whole. Everyone stifled giggles, but it wasn’t mean-spirited laughter. It really was an amusing sight.

Then she burped from the fish, and a spark from her cigarette caused an explosion, blowing her purple hair out of her face and left her face covered in ash and soot, prompting another wave of affectionate giggles.

“There goes my outfit,” Luna grumbled, brushing the ash away. She shook a fish off of her hat and brushing more of them from her black, frilly, gothic-style dress.

“I’ve seen you fail worse,” I teased her. “You didn’t end up on Mercury again.”

Rachel stuffed the rest of one of her cupcakes in her mouth and helped Luna to her feet. Luna picked up her cigarette holder and stuck it back in her mouth. Her cigarette had gone out, so she took a match from a fold in her skirt and lit it on Rachel’s cupcake, and re-lit the cigarette. The tip glowed purple.

A crowd of students approached, alight with fascination.

“That was so cool, Luna!” one cried.

“Creepy,” another added, “but cool.”

Luna sent a triumphant smile at Hayley. But Hayley seemed just as pleased with her sister as all of Luna’s new admirers. She approached and gave Luna a hug. Luna hated hugs. She grimaced and pushed Hayley away.

“Good job,” said Hayley. Her cigar bobbed between her lips as she spoke. She let out a puff of lawn-scented smoke before adding. “That was the best spell I’ve ever seen you do.”

Hayley was a snob, but she was a nice snob for the most part. I found it a little irritating. I couldn’t help but like her, even though she considered me as much of a commoner as the girl she’d snubbed a minute ago.

“I keep telling you I’m a master at magic,” Luna said, exasperated. She moved her cigarette holder to her arm, where her spider was crawling. The spider settled onto the elaborate silver and onyx surface. “But...thanks.”

“Just remember,” Hayley called to the students gathered around, “I helped with that trick using my dynamite.”

Hayley gave Luna one last genuine hug and left before Luna could smack her for it. Unfortunately, she took many of Luna’s fans with her.

Luna got a mischievous glimmer in her eyes. She pulled me and Rachel close.

“That was satisfying, but she took half the credit,” she said.

“I saw,” I said, and turned to blow a mouthful of smoke away from my friends’ faces.

“I have a plan. One last way to get her to finally believe that my magic isn’t fake,” she whispered. “Come over for a sleepover tonight. I have a brilliant, brilliant idea for a prank.”

I raised an eyebrow skeptically. “If it’s anything like the spider mech fight…”

Luna had once built a giant spider mech and challenged her twin to a good-natured fight. Hayley had one that fight by a landslide. She’d blown up the mech sent Luna hurtling to Neptune.

“It won’t be,” Luna promised. “This time, my plan will actually work.”

__________________

That night, Rachel couldn’t stop giggling as the three of us crept into Hayley’s room in the twins’ house on Earth. We were all barefoot and dressed in our pajamas--me in a black band t-shirt and plaid, gray and black pants; Luna in a frilly, black and white nightgown; and Rachel in mismatched fuzzy, purple pants and shirt. Luna held a thick spellbook and flipped through it, searching for a suitable spell.

“I can’t wait!” Rachel whispered.

Even I couldn’t keep up my typical nonchalant reputation. I was smiling with anticipation around my cigarette.

Rachel leaned in and giggled to me, “I dare you to take one of Hayley’s cigars.”

She pointed to an open pack sitting on Hayley’s dresser. They shone green and gold in the moonlight. Hayley would be so mad at me if I took one. But then again, she was going to be mad at us anyway, and besides, I deserved a fancy, expensive luxury item on occasion, right? So I took one, making Rachel clamp her hands over her mouth to keep her increasingly loud giggles back.

I put the cigar under my cap for safekeeping (since I had no pockets) and tiptoed back toward Luna. I flipped a lock of black hair behind my shoulder and peeked at the spellbook.

“Need any help?” I asked Luna.

“No, I got it.” She jabbed a finger at a spell in the book. The page was decorated with illustrations of ravens and feathers. “This one will be perfect.”

“What’s it supposed to do?” asked Rachel. Her tinted glasses were perched atop her auburn-haired head, as it was too dark for her to have them on.

Luna smirked evilly. “You’ll see.”

She stepped a little closer to her sister’s bedside. Hayley was sleeping peacefully, her blonde hair messy and falling into her face. Satisfied that Hayley hadn’t woken up at the sound of their whispers, Luna held the book in one hand and waved the other hand around, and she began to recite the spell in a low voice. It was the same, odd language she’d spoken in when commanding the spirits to possess the fish--eerie and ancient. Rachel and I watched, looking between Luna and Hayley, waiting for something to happen.

Something did happen. Luna’s eyes began to glow purple. The glowing tip of her cigarette grew brighter and burst into a flame that exactly matched the shade of her eyes. Her pet spider jumped awake and crawled up her cigarette holder to nestle in her hair, terrified.

Rachel and I raised our eyebrows at each other. This wasn’t Luna’s usual weak magic. This spell, whatever it was, was going to succeed. And it was going to be powerful.

We turned back to Luna to watch. The smoke rising from her cigarette formed all sorts of odd shapes and symbols, like runes on a cult hideout’s wall. Sparks fell from the flame and exploded into stars, like fireworks. Her purple hair billowed around her face in a wind that whipped through the room. I slapped my hands onto my head to keep my knit cap from blowing away. Then Luna started to cackle, not seeming to care if it woke her sleeping twin. Hayley’s form began to glow subtly with violet light.

A smoky symbol wandered too close to Luna’s nose, and she accidentally breathed it in.

“O foqq cua hu…” Her breath hitched. “Cua hu…” Her breach hitched again. “Ah, ahh...ACHOO!”

The fire on her cigarette sputtered out, the glow in her eyes faded, and the smoke symbols disappeared with a puff of smoke. And Hayley awoke.

“What--huh…?” she muttered in confusion, sitting up.

Rachel and I ducked, hoping she wouldn’t see us. It was too late. She saw Luna standing over her with a spellbook, a hand half-raised. Then she looked down and saw me and Rachel.

Hayley rubbed her eyes groggily and slid out of bed. “Luna? What are you doing in my room?”

Luna took on a space-monster-in-the-spaceship-lights look. “I--uh, I was just, uh...trying to cast a spell to...to...make sure you have nice dreams!”

Hayley shook her head. “Yeah, right.”

She picked up her twin and drop-kicked her out her open window. Luna flew up into the stars and disappeared in a twinkle.

“Ohh, crud,” I cursed, and went to run, but I tripped over Rachel’s foot, and we went tumbling to the carpeted bedroom floor.

Hayley picked Rachel up first and punted her out the window, too. Before I could get up, I, too, was being hoisted into the air.

“Have a nice flight, commoner,” she said sweetly. She had a dreamy smile as though she were still half asleep. Her foot connected with my behind, and I went flying out her window. I heard her mumble something about how pretty the night sky was before she crawled back into bed and fell asleep.

Stars flew past me in a blur of silver as I flew up and up out of the atmosphere. The city lights seemed to shrink as I left them farther and farther behind me. I soon caught up with Luna and Rachel. We were laughing. We grabbed each other’s hands to keep from drifting away in the zero-gravity of space. The planets spun, carefree, below us, and the stars glittered. The sun was a beautiful shade of yellow and orange. With such a beautiful view, I didn’t really care that we’d just been drop-kicked into space. The only thing that would make it better was the fancy cigar I remembered I had under my cap. I took it out and lit it with the burning end of my cigarette. I threw the old cigarette away and stuck the cigar between my lips instead. Smoke dissipated into the dark sky as the three of us admired the beauty of the solar system.

And that’s why I’m glad to be friend with the school “witches.” When the Comett twins are around, there’s never a dull moment.

#writing #my writing #special request #Celcia Navigator

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