Whadday'all think? Do we need a Fate rewrite with Fabulous Genderqueer Stella? I mean obviously we do, because Fate was Fate. Bad but with a lot of good stuff in it. Fate was something else.

18 166 Twig ~Nemesis~

I tried five spell-breaking spells. None of them worked. I'm pretty sure that's because Amber is Amber. When the Dragonfire princess enchants you, you stay enchanted.

Amber has been apologizing a lot, every time the two of us are alone she says she'll unspell me as soon as she can. "Just as soon as we find the Nemesis and get rid of it. Or you could promise not to tell."

I shrug. I would promise, but I'd break the promise. That makes it hard to be as angry a her as I could be. We're both willing to do things that seem wrong for the sake of protecting a friend.

My last hope is that going to earth will break the spell. Maybe Vera can do it. Her Dreamix magic is different from mine.

And then I'll tell the grownups everything and we won't have to fight a Nemesis by ourselves. I read about it in the shadow magic book: a half grown Nemesis kind of sounds worse than a mature one. According to the book the Nemesis isn't fully aligned to its person until it matures so this Nemesis will be able to attack anybody. Anytime. From anywhere since we don't know who took it.

I really want this to be over with.

Vera sends a message: We're backstage! This is so cool! Annabelle is really nice!

I squeal and bounce. No matter how nervous I am, this is exciting! Vera sends a selfie with Madder and Annabelle and I go show my roommates, who don't really care about earth celebrities but know I'm excited.

I'm ready to go, dressed in jeans and a cute top. Amber of course is all dolled up in glitter fabric. We head out to the courtyard where Jamie is waiting, just hangin' out like the princess' friend and not like a former villain. I give him a sideways look and he shrugs apologetically.

Amber has the portal spell, folded up in her hand. She crowds the three of us together and throws it up in the air. Lights swirl around us and then we're somewhere else.

We appear in the middle of a crowd and nobody seems to notice. That must be part of the magic. We're dressed just like everybody else waiting to get in—or at least like the teenagers. Annabelle has been singing for years and she has fans of lots of different ages. Amber leads us confidently through the crowd, right past the line to get in. We get glared at by a whole line of English teenagers but Amber hands Jamie and me our passes, laminated cards that hang around our necks. She greets the security guard, "I'm Annabelle's friend Firejewel."

The guard says, "Well you knew the magic word. Badges?" He scans the cards with his phone and lets us in with a firm order to stay out of the way and directions to backstage.

Inside the big concert hall is huge, concrete floored and echoing. Annabelle sold out this gigantic building. There are big wedges of seats with wide aisles in between and one raised wedge that connects to a circular stage at the center. There's no audience yet but there are a bunch of people cleaning up and checking lights and things. One of the workers points us to the backstage door where more people are hard at work.

Annabelle's dressing room is twice the size of Aria's back in Magix, big enough that she and Madder and Vera's teacher miss Nadine are all gathered at the dressing table and Vera and Shimmergloom are over in a corner. Vera is having raptures over Annabelle's stage costumes but Shimmergloom looks a little bored. She spots us first and waves, "Mateys!"

Vera looks up, smiles, hesitates. My heard drops. I start to say hello—but Annabelle sees us and she and Amber say hello and hug and chat like they've known each other forever which they clearly have since Annabelle says how much Amber's grown. Because of course Amber is friends with the most famous popstar on Earth.

The most famous popstar, in person, is lovely. Sleek brown hair and bright eyes and a genuine smile for all of us. She calls Amber Firejewel and says something about 'the guild' so I guess the most famous popstar is a gamer. So we do the introduction thing, Vera and Shimergloom too, and then to my surprise Annabelle asks, "What's this about… magic? Again?" She's looking at all us teenagers and focuses on Shimmergloom, "You look..." Annabelle's eyebrows quirk up.

Shimmergloom ducks and blushes a little. "She be my mama. She says sorry for kidnapping you and stealing your voice, Miss Annabelle."

The adults go wide-eyed, which I guess is normal for grownups who only ever saw magic once. Annabelle looks between all of us and then to Miss Nadine and Madder. "I want to know all about this. But I'm going on stage in an hour so this may not be the time. Is anything going to happen today?"

Amber says, "No." and Shimmergloom says, "Maybe."

Madder takes over, "The 'Shadow Thief' who put curses on us has quit, I hear, but a strange woman came to my house last week and tried some magic."

Annabelle looks at Shimmergloom again.

"Not my Mama! I don't be knowing who it was!"

Amber stands straight and says, "It's all right Annabelle, we're here to protect you. Can you pretend we're special effects if you have to?"

Annabelle's smile is the affection of an aunt for a favorite niece. She doesn't thing anything is going to happen. "I suppose. There are holograms in the show, just flying stars and flowers and things. Why don't you find your seats? Maddy and Nadine can help me get ready."

We nod, and Annabelle calls one of her security guys to show us to our seats. As we leave I hear Annabelle asking Madder if she'd like to come on stage too.

All us teenagers are in a little balcony with ten seats and someone's left flowers and some soda and snacks. Jamie laughs, "The high life!"

They sit down and start talking about Earth snacks, and Shimmergloom leans over the edge of the balcony to watch the audience come streaming in.

And I finally get to talk to my sister. Vera leans on the edge of the balcony, her long braid dangling. She didn't say hello to me! She looks worried.

So I'll say hello! "Vera! I have to tell you-" and the enchantment activates and what comes out is, 'I really missed you! We have so much fun and I always want you to be there!" well that's true but I didn't plan to just say it out like that.

Vera smiles a little, just faintly. "Mom sends me videos. It looks like you're having a good time. It would've been nice having you here while we were chasing the Shadow Thief. Are you really sure he's done messing with us?"

I'm not sure what the spell will let me say, so… "Amber! Why don't you tell Vera how we know the Shadow Thief is finished."

Vera's eyebrows go up and she looks back and forth between us like she guesses I just did something kinda low but not sure what it was.

Amber jumps and stutters, "Um. We met him. He said that stealing people's shadows wasn't as much fun as he expected so he's not going to do it anymore."

Vera says, "But who was it?" She glances at Jamie, who is in fact wearing his yellow hoodie and is looking super uncomfortable at where the conversation went.

Amber says, "We'll tell you after the concert ok? It's a long story."

Vera nods slowly, looking skeptical. Amber looks ashamed. Clearly trying to change the subject—because we do have a little time before the music starts—she asks, "You met a strange witch on Earth?"

"I don't know what she was." Vera says, giving up on the Shadow Thief for now. "She came to madder's house, said she was a talent agent and then cast a spell and disappeared. I drew a picture." Vera conjures it from somewhere and hands it over. "I'm not that good at drawing people's faces."

Amber and Jamie look at the drawing and shrug. Amber says, "There aren't many magical beings on Earth but there are some. Maybe we can help track her down later."

The lights go down and music starts and we don't have time to talk more because the show is starting.

And it's amazing. Music swells, I can feel the beat coming up through the floor. Annabelle steps out on stage dressed in gold and shining like a candle flame.

The five of us ignore our chairs and hang over the front of the balcony. there's a great view; the only thing we can't do up here is dance. A bunch of people on the main floor are up and dancing. Holographic effects fly through the air, glittering sparkles and blowing leaves. They're not quite as impressive from this angle. We're close to the projectors so we don't see all the effects but we still see stars flash from Annabelle's feet and trail after her microphone.

At the intermission a concert employee invites us to come backstage again. Annabelle is in between costumes, in a bathrobe er on her face. "Oh it's hard work! I get so sweaty! All right, Nadine, want to help me put my makeup back on?"

"Let Mademoiselle Hume do it. She is une fille talentueuse at makeup."

Vera's blue eyes go wide. "I couldn't..."

"Sure ye can!"

"Under the lights nobody can see the details." Annabelle giggles, just like an ordinary girl. And after a second Vera reaches for the brushes and she's in her element talking makeup with the big star.

Madder and Nadine crowd in too, talking makeup with my teenage sister like she's another professional. Like she could belong with these famous people.

Amber squirms, looks out the dressing room door. I think she's just bored until she says, "Something's wrong. I can sense dark magic."

We all look around. I stretch out my senses but feel nothing. But Shimmergloom holds out that little bell and it tinkles nervously. "There be something."

Nadine says, "Dark magic? At a sold-out concert? People could get hurt!"

Madder asks, "Do we need to cancel and send everybody home?"

Vera looks as horrified as I feel at the idea of canceling such a huge event halfway through just on our say-so! Maybe this kind of thing is normal in the magic dimension, but not here!

Annabelle turns from the mirror, her makeup repaired. Her lips are bright red and her eyes sparkle from halos of rainbow eyeshadow. Vera's managed to make her face stand out at a distance without looking clownish from up close. In fact she looks really badass for someone wearing a bathrobe and about to change into a dress made entirely of sequins. Her expression is thoughtful. "Maddy… you wrote a duet to This is Me didn't you? Do you have the music for that?"

Madder stammers, "You want to pull out a duet we never even tried at a sold-out concert? I mean yes, I have it on my phone. But my voice is nothing like Louisa's. And I don't have the clothes for it."

Amber perks up. "That's easy. What do you want to look like?"

Madder looks at Vera, who hands over a sketch. Amber snaps her fingers and Madder's ordinary clothes transform into a weird getup of silver leather and glitter fabric. Madder's dyed hair goes from faded to bright fire-engine red. Madder turns in front of a mirror, her gray eyes alight. "Oh. Wow."

"Magique!"

Annabelle says, "Bloom told me I have magic in my voice. Maybe we can back you up if something does happen."

I want to say yes just so we don't have to mess up the concert. Nothing's happened yet after all. Vera says what I'm thinking, "But you can evacuate the audience if you need to, right?"

"Oh yes. I have very good security people."

One of those security people sticks his head in, "Ten minutes!"

"Thanks we're going. Shoo, all of you, I have to put my clothes on the normal way! Maddy, you up for this?"

"To sing something we never practiced in front of thousands of people? Sure!"

We go back through the backstage halls to our balcony. Jamie looks around warily as we walk and Amber has her hands spread like she's feeling for magic in the air. I don't sense anything and when I glance at Vera she shrugs. Shimmergloom looks troubled. "If it be the missing Nemesis then we're all up a creek without a paddle. There be too many innocent bystanders here."

Vera asks, "How could a Nemesis from te magic dimension get here?"

"Maybe someone brought it."

Amber and I look at Jamie, who shakes his head and shrugs. I turn towards them, gesture at my mouth then at my sister, and scowl. This conversation would work better if they knew who Jamie is. Amber looks super guilty, which I think she should, but I can also understand why she won't tell them now. Shimmergloom might freak out that her parents' enemy is here.

We get back to our box and the house lights go down as spotlights flash over the stage. Laser lights make holographic flower petals fly and Annabelle appears sparkling, her silver dress reflecting a green spotlight as she begins a wonderfully bouncy song.

Then something's appearing in the air like a hologram, points of light coming together. A human shape but made of dark oil with faces fading in and out in its mass. It appears completely, suddenly solid, standing on nothing above the audience. The crowd looks up and points and cheers, but the creature throws its head back and laughs.

Annabelle pauses mid chorus. "Well, everybody!" she calls out, speaking on the beat. "Looks like a wicked witch is here to stop the music! But we won't let her! Help me out, all of you!" And she returns to the song. The fans sing along, their voices rising like a tide.

Jamie is talking quickly, "It's not a mature nemesis yet, that's why it's so blobby! We can fight it!"

Amber nods, determined, and climbs up on the rail of the balcony so the audience can see her transform. The swirl of crimson glitter around her looks a lot like the holograms, and she launches herself into the air above the crowd and throws fire at the Nemesis.

It responds by shooting out a bunch of black snaky things that swim through the air. "I'll destroy you, Princess Firejewel! Songs can't save you!"

Annabelle calls, "I bet they can, if everybody helps!" Her fans love it, shrieking about how realistic the holograms are and how great all this is.

Shimmergloom waves to the crowd, transforms and leaps into the fray with a joyful whoop. Vera hesitates, looks at me, "Call Mom!"

I've got my phone out. "Mom, we're about to fight a Nemesis in a packed auditorium! Get here right now!"

Over the noise I have to lip-read Mom's image saying, "On our way!"

A black snake comes sliding through the air towards us and Vera slices it with her glowy purple sword. She turns, whips into her magic clothes, and vaults over the railing to join Shimmergloom. They've both got glowy swords and they fight like they can read each other's minds. Shimmergloom whoops with joy but Vera is tensely silent.

Jamie nudges me, "Hey, go on. I can't fly remember!"

Shimmergloom and my sister are keeping the flying snaky things off the audience and putting on quite a show. Annabelle has paused, letting the music continue as she catches her breath and watches.

I vault off the balcony, transforming in the air in a wash of sparkles and rise up to hover behind Amber, up under the dome of the roof. Amber is glowing. Her hair swirls weightless, tugged up by the flaming tips.

The Nemesis is just Amber's size but unfinished, an oily blobby thing. In its substance faces come and go, like it keeps trying to take on a final form but can't quite make it. The faces are girls and boys and look like they could be real people. They look like Amber.

I shoot an arrow through it. The Nemesis barely flinches but Amber gasps. I call another arrow up. "Amber? You all right?"

"I-it's my brothers and sisters! They never got born so they came to steal my life!"

My heart turns over. Amber looks so magical and cool I hadn't realized she's actually really scared.

From the balcony Jamie calls, "That's not real! It's reflecting what you're afraid of!"

I say, "It's just magic! You can fight it!"

Amber hesitates, her flame-hair flickering weakly. The Nemesis speaks in her voice, "I am magic! I'm everything they could be that you aren't! Let's let all these people judge who deserves to have life!" And it attacks with a wave of dark energy that sends me tumbling in the air. I get my feet behind me and push off a wall, getting back into the air. When I can see everything again Amber and her opposite are trading magic blasts, fire against oily smoke. But Amber isn't fighting like she did in the Magix Competition, like I know she can. She's going to lose if she can't get her heart in it.

I land in an aisle between seats, grin at the fans on either side, and shoot half a dozen arrows through the Nemesis as fast as I can conjure them. Someone reaches to grab me to feel if I'm a hologram, but I dodge up back into the air. Right into a swarm of smoky flying snakes. They bite at my clothes and I awkwardly wave my bow at them for a second before Vera comes to my rescue. She slices through the things and they puff away like the smoke they're made of. "Twig! Do you think Amber-?"

"She'd better be able to! I don't think we can even hurt it!" I push the words with magic; it's too loud in here to talk without it. And then I have another thought, "And someone brought it here from the magic dimension!"

"Oh great!" Vera snaps, "We didn't have enough trouble!"

I shoot the nemesis a few more times for show and fly up to Amber who's still fighting weakly. Of course weakly for amber still means throwing fire from her hands and the whole audience gasps and cheers at every spell.

"Amber! We need to finish this!"

"How? I-I can't just-"

The Nemesis makes a grab for me and I duck back, then something silver flicks in front of me. Jamie's knife. It twirls back to his hand where he's hanging off the edge of our box doing a cool pose. "Amber! It's just a big magical lie! You can win if you believe yourself instead! Decide for yourself that you won't let it win!"

Amber still just looks panicked. The nemesis reaches for her and words come from it even though its mouth doesn't move. "You're just the one that was born! they're all watching you!"

Annabelle waves a quick hand signal at the sound booth and calls through her microphone, "We're not watching, we're cheering you on! Maybe an old friend… and everybody else… can help with our magic! Maddy come on! Dreams are so elusive and sweet..."

Madder is already running onto the stage, microphone in hand, her lower voice coming in under Annabelle's. "But I'll let it go-"

And everybody does join in. The whole audience knows the song and they all sing. A wave of energy rises through me and my wings flood with light.

The energy goes through Amber too. Her hair ignites into a pillar of flame and she tips back her head. "You can't beat me! I'm not locked in by my destiny! I can decide it starting now!"

The Nemesis screams and the magic pulsing in the room shifts its howl to be on note. It bursts apart into a swarm of flying snakes and is gone. Except for a lot of smoky snakes that come after us. A bunch dive at Vera and Shimmergloom but I'm busy with the rest up here.

With the whole audience sending up so much positive energy we have no trouble with the last remnants of the Nemesis. The snaky things fall apart into sparkles and disappear.

Annabelle waves us down and we land on stage, Amber and me next to Annabelle and Shimmergloom and Vera next to Madder, who puts her arm around my sister like they're friends. We all bow, Annabelle tugs us down. "A big hand for my friends who put on such a magical holographic show for all of us! We'll have a moment's intermission so the girls can get out of their costumes but I'll be back with another song in just a minute!" She puts her arm around Amber and we all walk offstage. And as soon as we get off stage we all realize how tired we are. Shimmergloom and Vera slump against each other and we all drop our transformations.

Annabelle says, "Amber, you did it! I'm not sure what, and you'd better not leave until you tell us all about what just happened, but I know a win when I see one!"

I say, "I called my mom. The grownups are going to come."

"That's probably a good idea."

Amber nods somberly, "Yeah, I need to talk to my mom." she says, then smiles again.

I'm feeling pretty good. We won! We did something really cool, in front of a whole huge crowd! Nobody got hurt and nobody thinks we're magic because of all the real holograms. I turn back to ask my sister what she thinks, "Hey, Vera-"

But she's gone. Shimmergloom looks confusedly back down an empty hallway.