Hyacinth sat at her desk and looked at the stack of papers on her clipboard. The rays of the setting sun sneaked in through the gaps of the window-shutters, casting a faint glow on the studio apartment she had rented out in Edgewaters, Avriya. Her feet sank into the soft rug she had placed below her desk.

  The healer had just recorded her observations from the most recent aura level evaluation trial, and some of its results were unusual, to say the least. Of course, about half of the students remained in the same divisions as they were in before. Skye, Hazel, Nova, and Luka to name a few of them. Nova and Luka were already in the top group, so they couldn't move up further, and the former, despite not needing to go to advance in her training, chose to attend the evaluation anyway just so she could help the instructors with their jobs. Hyacinth smiled and shook her head. Nova, I swear people like you are keeping this entire community from falling apart…

  It was no secret that Silver Run Academy and the mage training programs were severely understaffed, making Hyacinth work long hours as a teacher, a healer, a magic instructor, and advisor to the High Mage. In fact, she had just completed a twelve-hour shift, and wanted nothing more than to get under the covers and turn the TV on and her brain off. Perhaps she'd tune in to a sitcom or a feel-good family movie or some cheesy drama; anything to stop her from being alone with her thoughts and going into another downward spiral.

  Hyacinth clicked her pen with a nervous, half-hearted smile. TV could wait; she had students to evaluate. And so, she began reading the notes off her clipboard.

  Alexis Bingham

  Strengths: Her mind-hearing is startlingly accurate. Her range is impressive, too— being able to hear the thoughts of people up to 10 meters away is a much longer distance than most telepaths can achieve. She's on-track for advanced-level aura magic for sure.

  Weaknesses: Alexis's visual telepathy is a lot weaker than her “hearing”— she can't detect images as accurately as inner monologue. She also doesn't seem to know when to turn off her abilities, much to the detriment of both her and the people around her. I tried teaching her a few mind-clearing techniques, but they don't seem to work.

  Previous group: Intermediate 2

  Final group:

  Hyacinth paused, ruminating over her student's placement. Then, after a while, she put her pen down again.

  Final group: Intermediate 3.

  Hyacinth sighed. Alexis deserved the promotion; it's the least she could get for putting so much effort into her magic classes. Relieved to be done with the first bit of her task, Hyacinth began reading the rest of her notes.

  Skye Everson

  Strengths: I saw a lot of improvement this time around during her trial. It's clear she hasn't given up despite struggling with her aura. In fact, she seems to be working with it as opposed to against it, and is willing to improvise on the spot, like with her ice spear move. And though it's still present, her “sticky ice” issue seems to have gotten better from last time, too.

  Weaknesses: Unfortunately, Skye still has little control over her aura, and is all too prone to letting her frustrations get the best of her. Props for her efforts, but she still has a long way to go.

  Also, during evaluation practice, Skye's aura seemed to be a lot stronger than is typical for her. I won't judge, but it's clear she has taken some sort of magic-enhancing drug that time around. Auralillies, most likely. At least she didn't take them during the actual evaluation.

  Previous group: Beginner 1

  Final group: Beginner 1

  Hyacinth reviewed her notes. In all honesty, she wanted to put Skye in a higher-level group, but something stopped the healer and she didn't know what it was. Skye had practiced hard, so it was only fair she got rewarded for her work. But at the same time, it was important for her to get acquainted with the principles and theories of aura-magic before she could apply them, even if studying them “slowed her down.” The last thing Hyacinth wanted was for her students to move on too fast, take on too much for their level. Considering the state of auras at this moment in time, doing so could be dangerous.

  I don't want another Holly…

  Hyacinth shook the thought out of her head. She couldn't let herself think about Holly again, not unless she wanted her day ruined. To this day, what her former sister had done, no, what Hyacinth made her do, still caused bile to rise in the healer's throat.

  Hyacinth returned to her notes. The past was done, she couldn't change it. The least she could do was prevent it from happening all over again.

  Cayto Halifax

  Strengths: For someone who looked like he didn't want to be here, he's off to a solid start. His control over his electricity is quite good; he's able to guide it to where he wants it to go and in the right amounts. He also seemed to know his limits this time around, and avoided hurting himself. Those are always good qualities to have.

  Weaknesses: As of now, it's hard to say. Cayto didn't attempt anything beyond basic lightning lines, which may indicate a lack of experience or experimentation, but I can't blame him for playing it safe after what happened to him last time. In fact, I'm surprised he went to get evaluated at all.

  However, I do get the sense that he might be unwilling to cooperate with his groupmates or instructors, going by his overall demeanor. He does give off the impression of silently judging everyone.

  Final group: Beginner 1

  Hyacinth picked up the paper. The next student on the list was Ivan, who had recently suggested that she follow an integrated group model for the mage training program. Hyacinth didn't think the idea was a bad one. In fact, she made a mental note to try out the new system the following day. True, it would be more overwhelming to supervise a larger group of students, but if it made her workday shorter, so be it. Hopefully the more experienced students would be able to take some of the load off her.

  Ivan Everson

  Strengths: I wasn't expecting Ivan to attend the evaluation either, but his performance really blew me out of the park. Not only did he take on advanced-level illusion magic like it was nothing, but his execution was flawless, too. At this point he's not just an illusion mage anymore— he's a fire mage, a water mage, and a teleporter, too! Well, he's not actually any of those things, but the way he summoned the image of a flame genuinely convinced me it was real to the point where I was afraid to touch it. But when I did, I didn't get burnt. That was the only giveaway for him being an illusioner.

  But even more impressive was Ivan's ability to make his illusions interactive. When he made it rain inside the gymnasium, the droplets looked so real I swore I could actually feel them trickle down on me, even though they weren't really there. And don't get me started on the puddles! Most illusion-puddles are easily detectable, because if you step in them, your foot will phase through, but Ivan's puddles splashed. Yes, I mean that. They splashed. And if that wasn't enough, when I looked in one, I saw my reflection, too— that's how lifelike they were. If I lost all of my senses other than sight, it would be virtually impossible to distinguish Ivan's illusions from reality.

  Weaknesses: I'm being completely honest here when I say that I couldn't find any. But what caused this drastic upgrade in Ivan's illusion-casting abilities to happen in such a short period of time? Only months ago, he was struggling with the basics of aura magic. Now he's performing at an impossible level of expertise. I need an explanation.

  Final group: Advanced 3

  Hyacinth flipped the page, and a sense of dread overcame her. Four students down, twenty-four more to go. There was no way she could evaluate all of them in one sitting, not when her mental energy was completely depleted. She needed to do something else for a while.

  And so, Hyacinth left her papers on the desk and grabbed her phone and the TV remote off the nightstand. With her phone, she set an alarm for the following day, early in the morning. She could always continue working on her papers then.

  With the remote, Hyacinth turned on the TV, going to channel 5 with the expectation of kicking back to some low-quality entertainment. Instead she got jumpscared by a bloody cadaver on screen.

  "We regret to inform you that three new victims of "Bloody Mary" have been uncovered," a serious-looking anchorman standing in front of footage of the butchered corpse reported. "Bloody Mary, an unidentified serial killer that has been preying on the sick and injured for several years, has targeted three new people— two men and a woman, to be precise. One of these men, Walter Hayes, was found dead three days ago inside his house at 9:46 pm. He allegedly lived alone, and his death was reported to us by his neighbors. His boss, Michael Harrison at the Lakefield Center of Business and Commerce, had informed us that only a week before Walter's death, he called in sick to work, supposedly because of the flu. But judging by the amount of blood left on his body, it is highly doubtful that Mr. Hayes died of the flu. Instead it is believed he has been murdered."

  Hyacinth's face went pale, and her blood chilled. Wanting to get the disturbing scene out of sight, she switched to channel 6, which, fortunately enough, happened to be streaming relaxing piano music. Whoa, what the hell was that? She thought, still shaking from whiplash. I don't think I want to know.

  But what if I do know?

  The thought sent a shiver down Hyacinth's spine. As much as she hated the possibility, that didn't make it any less present. It was too much of a coincidence for Bloody Mary to be known for “preying on the sick or injured.” Plus, the pattern of wounds on the man's corpse looked hauntingly familiar.

  Holly, I swear if this is you…

  Hyacinth ran to the bathroom, her head swimming with nausea. Why? Why would her ex-sister go down this path? Where have I gone wrong in teaching her?

  Hyacinth couldn't ignore the question any longer, not unless she wanted it to eat away at her brain more than it already had. This whole time she was running from her past, her mistake. She thought she could start clean at Avriya, make up for her failure with Holly by doing a better job teaching her students, keep herself busy by constantly working, reading, browsing the internet, listening to music, or watching TV— all so she wouldn't be alone with her thoughts again, forced to relive those unpleasant moments of her stolen childhood. But here she was, and she could still feel the blood on her hands.

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  “When I grow up I want to be like you, Hyacinth!”

  “I'm flattered, but why?”

  “Because you're nice and pretty and everybody loves you, and I'm just some girl people are afraid of because of my blood aura. But you're a healer, and because of that, people automatically think you're one of the “good” aura-havers! It's not fair!”

  “I know it's not fair, Holly. But if you want, I can teach you to heal, too.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really. Blood-healers have existed before, and I bet if you practiced enough, you could become one as well.”

  The other girl jumped for joy, her holly-red eyes that she was named for sparkling. “Thank you, Hyacinth!” She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her fraternal twin sister. “Teach me everything so I can become a healer!”

  The following years would be some of the most taxing on Hyacinth's conscience, but she followed through anyway. Who wouldn't do anything to make their sister's dream come true, especially after she's already faced enough disappointment in her life? Hyacinth had always told Holly that anything was possible, that she could be whatever she wanted to be, that she’d always be there for her. But how far was Hyacinth willing to go for that promise?

  Far enough to buy old and sickly animals from the shelter and give them to Holly to butcher, apparently.

  The girl crouched over the body of a newt, her silvery-white, pink-faded hair veiling her face. She held a hand over her mouth, but her muffled sobs could still be heard. “Why?! Why does this always happen?!” Holly cried out, her tears landing on top of the dried blood of the amphibian. “Whenever I want to heal an animal, I end up killing it instead! Tell me, Hyacinth, what is wrong with me?! Why can't I heal like you?!”

  Hyacinth could only give a sympathetic smile, one that masked the horror she truly felt. “I'm sorry, Holly, but I can't do this anymore,” she answered. “As much as I want you to follow your dreams, I cannot be a part of them if it involves me going against my conscience. I can only take so much guilt, you know.”

  Holly's face went pale as she tried to process Hyacinth's message. “So you're not letting me heal anymore?”

  “I can't. It pains me to watch all these innocent animals die when somebody else could have bought them and gave them a good home.”

  An indescribable look of rage and sadness reflected in Holly's eyes, and she immediately broke into heavier sobbing. “Hyacinth! I hate you! What happened to “you can be whatever you want to be?!” To “I will always be there for you?!” Have you given up on me already?! Do you really think I can't become a healer?!”

  “I dislike the word “can't,” but I do think you'd be better off if you took an alternative route instead,” Hyacinth suggested. “If using your aura to heal is this much of a struggle for you, then why won't you become a doctor or nurse instead? Those professions are in demand, and you can still heal people, as you've always wished to do. You just won't be using your aura, that's all.”

  Holly's expression twisted into one of pain, as if Hyacinth just told her most devastating news of her life. “So you have given up on me!” The blood mage accused as she grabbed the body of the newt and wrung her anger out on it. “I know you probably think I'm useless and disgusting and a waste of space, but I'll show you otherwise! Whenever I get the opportunity, I'll heal somebody, ANYBODY with my blood aura, and you'll stop thinking I'm useless. I promise you I'll be successful, I promise!”

  “But I don't think you're useless…”

  Ever since Hyacinth announced that she wouldn't be supporting her sister's “dream” anymore, a sense of dread loomed over the healer. Every day felt like a day closer to disaster, a day that would burn a scar in her brain.

  She couldn't have been more correct.

  On a Friday afternoon, when Hyacinth came home from school, she opened the door of her house. It was eerily silent, and that same sense of dread which had loomed over her for the past year or so filled the atmosphere. It was so thick she could've choked on it. “Mom? Dad? Holly?” Hyacinth called out, only to be greeted with more silence. “Oreo? Where are you?”

  No response. Hyacinth entered the kitchen and turned the lights on. It was empty, save for a puddle of cat vomit on the floor. She scrunched up her nose and cleaned the mess off the floor with a wet napkin.

  Poor Oreo, Hyacinth thought with a tinge of sadness. Then she walked up the stairs and tiptoed down to her parents bedroom. Hesitantly, she gripped the door handle and began twisting it, her skin crawling. She despised this sensation of paranoia that overcame her, swallowing her whole. It made her feel like a stranger in her own home, and she hated it.

  “Mom?! Dad?!”

  The sound of the bedroom door creaking open was the sound of the last of Hyacinth's innocence leaving her body.

  “Mom, Dad, no!”

  On the bed Hyacinth's parents lay, their faces and bodies drained of all color and warmth. Their bedsheets were stained with crimson, and dried-up trails of blood trickled out of their open wounds. The entire bedroom stunk of death, a stench that would never leave Hyacinth no matter where she went or how much time had passed.

  Failing to notice the clumps of black-and-white fur on the ground, Hyacinth ran to the bathroom. She felt sick. She needed to throw up. She couldn't take any of this anymore.

  “Oreo, you too?!”

  Hyacinth knew she should've fainted by now, but against all laws of nature, she somehow retained her consciousness. Instead, she collapsed over the toilet with her mouth hanging open and her hands gripping the sides of the bowl to stabilize herself. She couldn't bear to look at the sight behind her— not again, not in a million years. Seeing the dead body of her beloved family pet was enough to send her reeling.

  Meanwhile, a single scrunched-up note written on lined paper sat on the bathroom shelf, which Hyacinth picked up once she finished vomiting into the toilet. She then unfolded the paper, spreading it out in front of her. As she read the note, she could feel her heart sink:

  Dear Hyacinth,

  I am terribly sorry for the mess I have left behind— that was not my intention, I swear. But Mom and Dad had caught fevers, and Oreo appeared to be sick, too, so I did what any good daughter would do and tried to make them feel better. You have taught me to heal using my blood aura, and I have used the techniques I had learned from you, but in the end, it was as if my aura had a mind of its own, and all of my efforts amounted to nothing. I wouldn't blame you for hating me right now; not when I hate myself more than you could ever know. But I also want you to know that even if I'm completely irredeemable in your eyes, I still look up to you, and I still love you. You have taught me that even if everybody turns me down, and even if the world around me turns dark and gray, I should never lose hope, and I should always strive for a better tomorrow.

  So that is why, even after all the pain I’ve caused, I refuse to let this incident limit me. I will continue to work towards my goal of becoming a healer worthy of standing next to you, and while you probably won't forgive me then, I hope that one day you'll at least see me, not as a lost and helpless child in need of guidance, and hopefully not as a cold-blooded murderer, either, but as an equal.

  ~Holly

  Tears welled up in Hyacinth's eyes, and a crushing guilt weighed on her chest. Why did life have to be so cruel to her, out of all people? And why did she have to be stuck with a sister like Holly?

  Wait, no, scratch that— Hyacinth didn't have a sister. Holly always has been and will continue to be a stranger to her. Maybe Hyacinth was denying reality, but who was to decide that this current reality was the most “real” out of all of them, that it was the only valid interpretation to be placed on a pedestal above all others? Perhaps in an alternate reality, Hyacinth never had a sister, and her parents and Oreo were still alive. And maybe in another, Hyacinth didn't have a family at all— she was born of and raised by herself, never to know the pain of losing that which she didn't have. And in another, all of this was nothing more than a bad dream, and she was bound to wake up soon. Those other realities seemed a lot more pleasant than the one she was currently in.

  Hyacinth ripped Holly's note to shreds, crumpled them up, and disposed of them in the wastebasket. She then looked at her reflection in the mirror, a reflection she could barely recognize. She knew that nothing would be the same after this day, and she wouldn't be the same, either.

  “I don't have a sister,” Hyacinth said to the stranger in the mirror.

  ***

  Hyacinth looked up from the toilet bowl, snapping out of her flashback. Her arms were shaking, and her vision blurred. Out of shock, she slammed the lid and backed away from the toilet— the position she was in was all too similar to one she has been in before, an experience she preferred not to replicate from a time she preferred not to remember. Hyacinth had left all that behind, right? Holly was dead to her, so she shouldn't be able to still haunt the healer to this day… right?

  But as much as Hyacinth hated to admit it, the blood mage still had a hold on her— there was no denying it. Everything she had done was because of Holly. Creating an entire new identity for herself and becoming an aura magic teacher at Avriya? Struggling to say “no” and working herself to the point of near-collapse? Becoming unhealthily preoccupied with, and terrified by, the prospect of any human or animal getting harmed by her? Indulging in escapism in her few moments of spare time just so a single thought wouldn't come to her head? All Holly.

  And to make matters worse, it seemed that whenever Hyacinth tried to distance herself from her past, it always found a way to bite her back. That time she was asked by a police officer for information on a murder case was an example. So many signs pointed to Holly being the culprit, yet Hyacinth told the officer that she had no leads for the case. It was a lie, but a comforting one— Hyacinth simply did not have the emotional capacity to get involved in a case that would only serve to unearth the source of her pain, which she'd been trying to ignore and forget. Turning a blind eye and continuing to live as if she never knew Holly seemed a lot easier at the time.

  Except it wasn't easier. That lie still kept Hyacinth up at night. She kept meaning to call back law enforcement, but she always put it off.

  And that wasn't even everything. The healer may have thought of herself as an upstanding, responsible member of her community, but Juliana's concerned comments opened up a whole new can of worms.

  “Hyacinth, this can't be healthy. You always take care of everybody around you, yet you neglect yourself.”

  “Hyacinth, are you sure you're okay? You've just worked for thirteen hours straight for the fourth time in a row, your feet are severely blistered, and you look like you're beyond exhausted. You don't have to say that you're fine when you aren't, you know.”

  “Hyacinth, how come you hardly ever talk about your family? You're the most involved out of all the staff here, yet we hardly know anything about you beyond your name and age.”

  The healer sighed. She could always address those comments later. That was her mantra, it seemed. Later, later, later. Inform the cops about Holly? Later. Finish her paperwork from the day? Later.

  Reward Skye for her hard work and level her up to a more advanced class? Later.

  Hyacinth jumped at the thought. This whole time, something had stopped her from promoting Skye despite her student's progress, and she didn't know why. Only now had she realized— it was because the ice mage reminded her too much of Holly.

  Both Skye and Holly wanted to make the world a better place by helping others and proving themselves as mages. Both of them were sensitive, idealistic, and perhaps a bit naive to the realities of aura-magic. And both of them struggled with controlling their auras, unintentionally causing harm to those around them.

  Can't believe I almost set Skye up for failure because I let my personal issues get in the way of my job. How unprofessional of me.

  Hyacinth rushed out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. The TV had turned itself off by now to save energy, and the only light came from the moon shining through the window-shutters and the glow of the digits on her digital clock sitting atop the nightstand. 12:14 am, the clock read. Until Hyacinth's eyes adjusted, she stumbled through the darkness, feeling her way around to navigate. Eventually, she reached her bed, where her phone lay. She picked up her phone and turned on its flashlight. There was one last thing she needed to do.

  With the flashlight, Hyacinth located her desk, where her clipboard with its notes lay. Once she found her notes, she read over Skye's section one last time before stopping at her student's placement.

  Previous group: Beginner 1

  Final group: Beginner 1

  Next to the clipboard lay Hyacinth's pen, which she took in her hand and put on the paper. She held her breath and made a quick mark on the paper, a mark that stirred up much more tension within her than it should have. As uneasy as it made the healer feel to make this correction, it also took a giant weight off her shoulders. Finally, after years of avoiding her fears, she had done something right.

  A moment later, Hyacinth put the pen aside and released her breath. What was to come of this decision would reveal itself in the future; for now, all she could do was wait. If all was good in the world, then Skye becoming like Holly was just another irrational phobia of Hyacinth's, and the ice mage genuinely deserved the level-up.

  Final group: Beginner 2, the page now read. Hyacinth turned off her phone's flashlight, left the notes open on the table, and made her way to bed, where she tucked herself underneath the blankets and closed her eyes.

  Skye, I want to believe that you're good. I really do, the healer thought as she drifted off to sleep. Please don't prove me wrong.