We shot the males, but they kept coming. Some say they be too hard and too tough, but they be wrong. I seen the blood with my own eyes I did. I seen it running in streams from the bullet holes in their skin.

Then we shot the women, and things went bad. I shot one in the shoulder and my own arm went limp. Weren't no hole in my arm, I swear it, but felt like it ripped from my body.

Then the howitzers fired and the big women in the rear units were hit. A second or two later, my body lit up. Invisible flames burned my skin, burned the whole platoon. Everyone rolling around in the grass screaming. That's when we fell. That's when we lost the battle.

- Memoirs of the Fallen Soldier, 1942, The Last Great War

Lesly squirmed in her seat, but not because it had become too small. She hadn’t grown much last night and her clothing (which had originally been purchased for Ky) fit perfectly. No, she squirmed because of what would soon happen. It was her worst nightmare — one from which she couldn’t awaken no matter how hard she tried. She had to speak, out loud, in front of an entire class.

Her homeroom teacher, Mrs. Henry, doubled as her social studies teacher. During homeroom, she’d asked if Les would mind talking about her experience of ascension. It would be ‘an excellent social studies topic’. Les had tried to refuse, but found herself agreeing to the request before she could stop herself.

She’d spent the entirety of her first two periods worrying about it, creating a snowball of anxiety in her intestines, freezing them solid. The squirming was to make it go away, to make her heart slow down, to make anything better. It didn’t make it worse, but it didn’t make it better. She was about to make a fool of herself in front of the whole class, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Except...she could tell Mrs. Henry she’d changed her mind.

There it was. Such a simple solution, yet one so difficult for her to achieve. An Elite should be able to command a normal to do anything. At the very least, she should be able to say ‘no’. Yet the thought of saying ‘no’ frightened her nearly as much as the speaking itself.

Furthermore, if given the chance, Ky would speak to the class without batting an eye. Ky would do it without fear and without hesitation. If she couldn’t start being brave like Ky, she’d never —

“Lesly Watts.”

“Yes!” Les looked up quickly. Too quickly. Her entire body jerked, causing her desk to shift forward. This resulted in a few soft snickers from the boys.

“Are you sure you don’t mind speaking?” Mrs. Henry asked.

“Um…” Les picked at her nail. Her eyes darted toward the door and, for a split second, she considered how long it would take to reach it. The response appeared in her mind: 3.491 seconds — as if it would do any good.

“If you’ve changed your mind, it’s fine,” Mrs. Henry said.

“No.” Les said, her mouth moving of its own accord. Then, her body did the same, rising from her seat and walking on autopilot toward the front of the class. She was both herself and not herself, watching her body from the outside while simultaneously controlling it.

“My goodness.” Mrs. Henry placed a hand on top of Lesly’s head. “You’re already taller than me. I’m five-three so I guess that puts you at five-four?”

“Yes,” Les said. “W — we measured this morning.”

The eyes of everyone in the class were glued to her. Some of the faces she knew, but many she didn’t. After all, it was only the second week of school. A couple of the girls whispered to each other in the back, probably the cool girls, the ones she didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of. To take her mind off it, she found Jakob. He sent her a thumbs-up.

“Now,” Mrs. Henry said. “I’m sure you all have questions for Lesly, but let her talk first. Then you can ask questions.” She turned toward Les, her expression one of expectation.

“Oh. Um...my name’s Lesly Watts...and...uh…” Les knew how stupid she sounded. She could feel herself losing the respect of her classmates, assuming she had any to begin with. However, she couldn’t force herself to think of anything brilliant to say. She’d memorized a few things to talk about, but none of them appeared in her mind at the current moment, at least not like the answers to math problems.

“If they want to ask questions...” Les shifted her weight from foot to foot, desperately trying to stop her face from reddening.

“Alright,” Mrs. Henry said. “Does anyone have any questions for Lesly?”

For a heartstopping moment, no hands were raised and no mouths were opened. What would happen if no questions were asked? Would the entirety of her presentation consist of speaking her name?

Then, as if in response to an unspoken prayer, hands started rising into the air a few at a time. After a few seconds, nearly half the class had a hand raised, some waving them eagerly back and forth.

“Liana.” Mrs. Henry pointed to a tan-skinned girl with rainbow headband in her long hair. The girl appeared to be Asian, but Les had learned not to make such assumptions.

“When did you find out?” Liana asked. “Was it a surprise?”

“Last Saturday,” Les said, finding the answer to the question much easier than thinking of random things to say. “We all thought my sister would become an Elite. When the doctor said it was me, we were all surprised. Especially...well...yeh...we were all surprised.” She’d been about to mention how her sister had been the most surprised but she didn’t want to relive that particular memory, especially not in front of an audience.

“Darian.” Mrs. Henry pointed to a group of boys in the back. The one with the spiky hair spoke up.

“What’s it like to grow so fast?” He twirled his pencil as he spoke. “Do your bones crack and stuff? Does it hurt?”

“Ummm...no. It feels...good...I think.” She couldn’t possibly talk about her fantasies which had, embarrassingly, become more frequent. “Sometimes it’s hard to tell when I’m growing. I just wake up and notice little things like my pajamas stretching or my feet falling off the edge of the bed. This morning I could reach the top cabinet without standing on my tiptoes, and my Mom had to look up at me.”

“Ekko.” Mrs. Henry indicated a particularly pale girl with freckles and thick glasses, similar to the ones Les herself used to wear.

“Are you — are you going to become a superhero?”

Lesly giggled at this. “No.” Upon noticing a slight look of disappointment on the girl’s face, she continued. “I mean...I doubt it. But maybe. I haven’t thought about it much.” Superheroes were only in movies and television shows, or so she thought. She’d have to look into it.

“Are you going to stay at this school, or move to an Elite city?” A chubby boy asked. He had curly hair, a chin dimple, and reminded Lesly of a kid who had been picked on a lot last year. Perhaps it was the same kid.

“Raise your hand next time, George.” Mrs. Henry said, resulting in an earnest nod from George.

“Um. I don’t know,” Les said. “I suppose if I get too big for the seats, I’ll have to move.”

“Well, that won’t be a problem,” Mrs. Henry said. “We have accommodations for Elites at this school, and we welcome your attendance for as long as you wish to stay. If the standard coursework becomes too easy for you, we can tailor it to suit your needs. Unfortunately it’s still the most common reason Elites choose to leave. When you become smarter than your teachers, there’s only so much we can do.”

Mrs. Henry offered an apologetic smile, and Les felt an odd mixture of humility and pride. She couldn’t imagine becoming smarter than her teachers, even in math. For example, today they’d studied equivalent ratios. Although she could ‘see’ the answers immediately, she had difficulty explaining to herself why they were correct. When she looked at the ‘flashcards’ in her mind, it interrupted her attempt to work out the problem manually. As far as she was concerned, it made her dumber since it hid the actual process needed to reach the solution.

“Sebastian.” Mrs. Henry called on a brown-skinned boy with an earring in his left ear.

“What’s five thousand four hundred fifty-two times eight thousand three hundred ninety-five?”

“Um.” Les hesitated for what she hoped would be an appropriate amount of time. Half of her wanted to impress, but the other half didn’t want to distance herself from her current peers. “Four five seven six nine five four zero.”

Sebastian typed on his iPad then said, “Dude! She got it right! Look at that!” He held the pad up for the other boys to inspect. He hadn’t needed to because the entire class had typed the numbers into their own iPads. They all reached the same conclusion, a faint chorus of astonishment erupting from their mouths.

“Looks like she’s already smarter than you, Mrs. Henry,” Sebastian said.

Lesly’s eyes widened. “I’m not!” she blurted. “I — I just see the answer. I can’t even describe how I arrived at it. I’m really not that smart.”

Mrs. Henry, her own eyebrows raised, stared at her for an uncomfortable moment. Then she said with a chuckle, “Well. You’re certainly one of the most humble pre-Elites I’ve met.” She turned toward the class. “And for the record, Sebastian, teachers are happy when their students surpass them. It means we’ve done our job well.”

The rest of the questions were unremarkable. Someone asked about how much she ate. Another asked about her makeup (which, to the surprise of many, she wasn’t wearing). And more boring questions which she welcomed as they were easy to answer without requiring much thought, and without causing much embarrassment.

Everyone asked at least one question. Everyone except for Jakob. He sat and listened, his face difficult to read. She’d have to ask for his thoughts later.

She definitely couldn’t miss their club today.

***

“We have to break up.”

Lesly couldn’t believe her ears. They’d just begun their second game of chess (she’d won the first without cheating), and he’d blurted the statement from out of nowhere. A cacophony of emotions roiled inside her heart, so many she couldn’t begin identify them.

“What?” she managed to ask. “Why?”

“I read about it last night.” Jakob said, his face downcast, his eyes cloudy. “It’s impossible for an Elite and a normal to get married. In most states, there are laws against it.”

“But…” Marriage? Who said anything about marriage? Why couldn’t he just be her boyfriend? “Can’t we just — ”

“You’re already as tall as I am,” Jakob said. “Soon you’ll be over nine feet. I’ll be a little kid compared to you.”

“So!” Lesly gripped the table so hard her knuckles went white. “I don’t care how tall you are.”

“You would care,” Jakob said. “You just don’t know it yet.”

She could feel the anger rising, though she wasn’t entirely sure why. Perhaps it was because of the element of truth involved. It would be weird to have a boyfriend who only came up to her waist. She’d never heard of an Elite with a normal boyfriend. But the ones with boyfriends prior to ascension...what happened to them?

“Fine.” Les glared at him. “Then I’ll make you my vassal.”

This caught him off guard, and his surprise felt good. So good, she decided to double down. “And I’ll make sure you never have a girlfriend.” This only caused a slight smirk from Jakob, so Les continued. “I’ll do it. You know I can do it.” She was overcome by a sudden wave of confidence, and she welcomed it.

“Good,” Jakob said, then glanced down at the board.

“W — what?” Lesly’s confidence waned.

“I said good.” Jakob moved his black pawn to e5. “Because I think I’m already your vassal.”

“What do you mean?” Les asked. “We haven’t —”

But they had. They’d kissed. Was it enough to make him her vassal? Surely not. She wasn’t even a full Elite yet.

“I don’t know.” Jakob sighed. “But ever since we...you know...I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. And not just thinking. Feeling. Like when you were nervous today — “

“I was probably projecting,” Les said. “My sister says I do that. She’s going to show me how to control it.”

“I don’t mean during third period,” Jakob said. “I mean first and second periods. I felt like I wanted to crawl out of my skin even though the classes were boring. My stomach was ice cold.”

That was exactly how she had felt, but it made no sense. Jakob’s first two periods were held in an entirely separate building. There was no way she could’ve projected that far. Unless…

She swallowed, realization dawning. “W — well you’re the one who kissed me!”

“I know.” Jakob shrugged his shoulders.

Even though she’d threatened to make him her vassal, she hadn’t really intended to follow through on it. Had she? Her confidence had all but vanished and she had no idea how to handle the situation. Would she even want him as a vassal? How did Elites choose? She knew most opted for young vassals due to long Elite life expectancy, but that was about it.

“You don’t really want me as your vassal...do you?” Jakob seemed...sad. “Be honest.”

“I — I don’t know.” Les picked at her thumbnail. Thankfully, her nails repaired themselves each night now. If they hadn’t, she’d have worn it down to nothing over the last forty-eight hours. “Are...are you addicted? I mean...do you feel…”

Les knew vassalship eventually became a permanent relationship, but it usually required weeks or months. He couldn’t possibly have developed an addiction from a single kiss. Then again, if he’d felt her emotions from across the school grounds…

“I don’t think so,” Jakob said. “It’s been twenty-four hours, and I feel ok. I guess. Not like I’m going to die or anything. But...”

“But?” she asked, surprised at a surge of relief. Did she want him to become addicted?

He took a deep breath, then exhaled. “I’m glad you came to the club today.” He extended his arm forward, his hand reaching the middle of the table.

She stared at it for a while, then extended her own hand, allowing her forefinger to come into contact with his. As soon as their skin made contact, she heard a nearly inaudible sigh leave his lungs.

“We shouldn’t — ” She couldn’t finish her sentence because she felt it too. By touching, something had been made profoundly right. The outlet for her emotional energy had widened considerably, allowing her unburden herself by expelling it in an unrestricted fashion. She found she could release all of her emotions (both positive and negative), or limit it to what she wanted him to experience. She chose the former, sending both good and bad vibes so as not to cause him distress.

“I don’t want to kiss,” she said. Half of her did want to kiss, but only half. And neither half wanted to initiate it.

“Ok.” Jakob said, then intertwined his fingers with hers.

“If we keep doing this, you’ll get addicted,” she said.

“I know.” The way he said it made her think he’d come to the realization a while ago.

Slowly, she curled her fingers around his, marveling at how they were the same length. They wouldn’t be for much longer. She’d continue growing and growing. And he —

He’d become her vassal...

***

“But I grew an inch since yesterday,” Les said, annoyed she had to sit beside Paisley at the back of the bus while Ky sat alone near the front. They’d tried to sit together but Paisley had demanded they separate, claiming the need for ‘private time’ with her ‘vassal’.

Ky had glared, but hadn’t argued. Neither had Les. Perhaps it was because Paisley had surpassed the six-foot mark, and with it, had gained some intangible dominance neither sibling could fully comprehend or resist.

“It’s too slow,” Paisley said. “Are you sure you’re eating enough, getting enough sun? Are you masturbating enough?”

Les had been about to answer until the last question shattered her train of thought. Her mouth clamped shut and she turned to face the window. Luckily no one occupied the seats near them so Paisley’s question likely hadn’t been overheard.

“Well?” Paisley asked.

Hoping her face wasn’t too red, Les turned back toward the budding Elite. “I’ve been eating until I get full, and Ky makes me exercise outside. She — ”

“Wait.” Paisley glanced over, her green eyes piercing. “She makes you exercise?”

“Um...” Les didn’t know what to say.

Paisley let out a sigh and thumbed through a column of pictures on her phone. “You’re the one ascending, not her. She can’t make you do anything.”

“I know.” Les couldn’t help but feel guilty. It must be Paisley’s doing. Les wanted to argue, wanted to repeat how Ky would be Prime and she’d be Ky’s vassal, but it wouldn’t get her anywhere. At best Paisley would roll her eyes. At worst she’d get angry.

“Are you masturbating?” Paisley repeated the embarrassing question, not even bothering to lower the tone of her voice.

“Why do you care?” Les clapped her hand over her mouth, feeling immediate remorse at having snapped.

Paisley scoffed. “It’s obvious I’m going to become a Mega and it’s obvious you’re going to becoming my vassal. I can tell by your reaction. If I want you to feel ashamed, you feel ashamed, not the other way around.”

“So.” Les said, suddenly aware of how Paisley’s elbow rubbed up against her arm. Since they’d both grown, there wasn’t as much room on the bus seat.

“Starting tomorrow, you and your sister will no longer take the bus. I’ll pick you both up and drop you off.”

All at once, a million questions popped in Lesly’s mind. “How? You can’t drive.”

“Don’t ask silly questions.”

“But —”

“We’re Elites,” Paisley said. “We can do anything. Driving is mundane, so I’ll leave the task to my father, not that it should be of your concern.”

“Oh. Ok.” Lesly considered how her mom and dad would respond to the news.

“Now answer my earlier question. Are you — ”

“Yes!” Lesly ducked her head as a few faces turned in her direction. “Yes — I’m — doing it. Sometimes.”

“But is it enough?” Paisley cast a lazy glance at the onlookers who, in response, immediately turned their attention away.

“What’s...enough?” Les asked partly because she actually wanted to know.

“Whenever you feel the urge.”

“What?! No!” Les lowered her voice. “What if I’m in class? Or what if — ”

“If you’re in class, simply excuse yourself to visit the bathroom.” Paisley seemed bored. “It’s what I do.”

Lesly remained silent, considering. She had felt the urge a couple of times today, a tingling sensation in her groin which had persisted for several minutes. It hadn’t been an huge distraction, nor had she felt the need to...touch. It had just been a pleasant reminder she was still growing, and she’d left it at that.

“So you only do it at home?” Paisley asked.

“Yeh,” Les said, exasperated by the Elite’s boldness. “I guess. Unless Ky’s around. She asked me not to project because it makes her...you know…”

Paisley’s mouth dropped open slightly as she regarded Les. Then, she said, “You’re pathetic.”

The words were like a double punch directly to her gut, causing her to recoil, her knees to her chest. “It’s only until I can control myself better. Then — ”

“Who cares if you project?” Paisley said. ”You’re almost an Elite. No one can tell you what to do.”

“I know, but — ” Les could barely hear her own voice.

“Growing should be your number one priority. Control over your emotional aura is a distant second. Masturbation is proven to increase your rate of growth, so do it. If your sister feels weird, who cares? It’s not hurting her.”

Les hadn’t known about the tie between masturbation and growth. She’d have to research it. It seemed like something Ky would’ve mentioned if it were true.

“Why?” Les asked.

“Why what?”

“Why is it so important I grow faster?”

“Again,” Paisley said, her tone annoyed. “I’m going to become a Mega. If you want to become my vassal, you need to become a full Elite. If you stall out at seven feet, I’m not waiting around. I’ll take your sister as my vassal and move on with my life.”

No! She couldn’t do that. Could she?

Yes. She could do it and she would. If Les ‘stalled out’ at stage two for a few months (not exactly uncommon), she might have to watch her sister get taken away. Furthermore, Les herself might never get accepted into Paisley’s hierarchy of vassalship. She could still move to live near Ky, probably, but their relationship would never be the same.

“I’ll do — I’ll do whatever it takes,” Les said, blinking back the moisture in her eyes. “Don’t take my sister away. Please.”

***

“Slow down.” Ky sat on their backyard swing, but didn’t swing. She had enough to do listening to Lesly’s chattering while simultaneously searching the internet. “Start again — the part about Jakob.”

“I said” — Lesly exhaled in exasperation — “he broke up with me. But then he reached out, and our hands touched. I could feel him. Well, I could feel myself influencing him. Know what I mean?” She turned her head to look up at Ky, but it wasn’t easy given her position. She lay spread eagle in the grass, absorbing as much of the remaining sunlight as possible.

“How would I know what you mean?” Ky said. “You’re the Elite. Not me.”

“I knowww,” Lesly’s tone had a whiney quality. “But Paisley said you could do it too. Remember? When she picked up your thoughts?” Before Ky could respond, Les continued. “Anyway, we touched, and it was almost like...kissing. He’s not my boyfriend anymore, but it’s ok. If he becomes my second vassal, it’s better anyway, right?”

“Duh,” Ky said. “It’s what I told you yesterday. He can’t be your boyfriend. Vassal, sure, but you can only have two unless you become a Mega.”

“Okaaay, but...what about Paisley?” Les asked. “Are you sure I shouldn’t be...you know... “

“Found it.” Ky located the page on Elite sexuality. “‘There is no scientific evidence supporting a causal relation between masturbation and ascension. While ascension has been linked to arousal, it’s widely considered to be psychosomatic. No causative relation in either direction has been proven.’”

“Oh,” Les said, her voice with a tinged with disappointment.

“But again,” Ky said. “If you want to touch yourself, I couldn’t care less. Just save it for when you’re at least ten feet away from me.”

“Ok...but what about Paisley?” Les asked. “What if she keeps growing faster than me? She said — ”

“There’s no way I’m going to become her vassal.” Ky couldn’t bear to consider the possibility.

“But she can force you.” Les said. “Right?”

“She’s not growing much faster than you,” Ky said. “She was a head taller than you last week, and she’s still about a head taller now. She’s trying to make you think she’s getting further ahead, but she’s not.”

“Why would she do that?” Les asked.

“Who knows. Maybe she’s marking her territory, like a dog. Maybe she wants us to be her vassals and she’s trying to get into our heads. Or maybe she’s afraid of stalling out herself.”

“Ohhhh...yeh,” Les said. “You’re so smart!”

“There’s still a chance she becomes an Elite first,” Ky said, speaking more to herself. “Unless you have a major growth spurt in the next couple of weeks.” She looked at her sister who lay sprawled out on the ground. “Are you feeling anything?”

“Um,” Les said. “Not as much as usual. It’s cloudy though, so maybe that’s why.”

Les checked the weather on her phone. “Tomorrow it’s supposed to be sunny.”

“What if — what if I skip school tomorrow and sunbathe?” Les asked.

“That might work,” Ky said. “But you’d have to convince Mom and Dad. Mom told me you already tried to get her to quit smoking and it didn’t go so well.”

“I know.” Les sighed. “It’s like...I lose all my confidence when I’m under pressure. Maybe when I’m bigger, I’ll be more confident.”

“Probably,” Les said. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t help us right now.”

“You’re not mad at me, then?”

“For what?”

“For not being confident?”

Ky forced a laugh. “You get to be better than me at literally everything. It’s what being Elite means. So what if you’re not as confident as me. Soon, you will be. If anything, I’m happy you still have some flaws.”

Les rolled over onto her elbows, her expression one of hopeful incredulence. “You really think I’ll be as confident as you?”

“Sure,” Ky said, trying to hide her annoyance. “Why not.”

Les gave a restrained smile. She tried to hide it, but in doing so, only caused further irritation to Ky.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it,” Ky said.

Finally, the smile vanished from Lesly’s face. Slowly she got to her feet and joined Ky on the adjacent swing. “You know...I’ll never think of myself as better than you. It’s impossible because — ”

“You say that now, but as an Elite, you will be better than me. It’s only a matter of time before you realize it.”

“Let me finish,” Les said. “It’s impossible because I compare everything I do to you. I ask myself: What would Ky do? Like when I presented to the class this morning. I knew you’d have done the same thing, and you’d have done it without fear.”

Ky battled with a mix of emotions. On one hand, she felt a pride and relief that her sister still looked up to her in some ways. On the other, she feared it would only be a matter of weeks, perhaps days, before any advantage she might still maintain would pale in comparison to Lesly’s capabilities. Of course as a natural competitor, Ky would push herself to improve, but what hope did she have of beating an Elite in any area?

“I think it’s why I have those fantasies,” Les said. “I feel myself growing in comparison to you, becoming your equal, and surpassing you in some ways. But they’re just fantasies. Even if I became a Titan, I’d still — ”

“Now you’re just being silly,” Ky said. “If you became a Titan, you’d practically be a god.”

Ky busied herself with her phone, googling ways to avoid becoming a Paisley’s vassal. Google returned four million results, so perhaps she’d find something. Unfortunately, she hadn’t read more than the first few entries before she heard sniffling.

Looking over, she saw Les wiping her forearm across her eyes.

“What is it this time?” Ky asked, annoyed she could feel her sister’s projected sorrow.

“Y — you said I’m silly.” Les sniffed, her eyes hidden by her arm.

“So?”

“P— Paisley called me s — silly too.”

Ky looked up in thought, then shut off her phone. She stood, side stepped to her sister, and placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder. Les jumped slightly, as if surprised by the touch.

“Stand up,” Ky said.

A few seconds passed, but Les complied. She stood, wiped her face again, then turned toward Ky, red cheeks and all. Even though Les had become significantly taller than Ky, and Ky had to look up, she still seemed...fragile. Ky had always felt the need to protect Les, and that hadn’t changed, at least not yet.

Ky held out her hand, cupped palm up. “Spit.”

Lesly’s face scrunched in confusion. “What?”

“Spit.” Ky lifted her hand to Lesly’s mouth. “Hurry up before I lose my nerve.”

Les took a step back. “Why?”

Ky released a forceful sigh. “Because I made a decision. I’m going to become your vassal. Now spit.”

Lesly’s mouth dropped open. They’d discussed the possibility, but neither girl had imagined starting the process so soon. Obviously, Ky wanted to avoid becoming Paisley’s vassal. Also, she wouldn’t mind the increase in her chance to become an Elite. But there was another reason. A more important reason.

In response to the disbelief on Lesly’s face, Ky said, “When I call you silly, it’s different from Paisley. I call you silly because I’m your sister. I don’t hate it when you’re silly, when you give me annoying hugs, and when you share way-too-personal details about your life with me. Sometimes I pretend otherwise, but at the end of the day — ”

Les dashed forward and captured Ky in a tight hug before the smaller girl could react. She could only stand there and endure it as Les buried her face in Ky’s hair, presumably still crying. Ky returned the hug, though she did have a bit of a struggle to breathe.

“Lighten up there, Supergirl,” Ky said. “I’m not made of steel.”

Les giggled and sniffled in a way which Ky was sure would leave a nice wet spot in her hair. Les then pulled back with glistening eyes. “I love you, s — so much!”

“Obviously.” Ky said, not bothering to hide her smirk. “Now spit already. I’m not sure how long I’ll feel like doing this.”

Les bit her bottom lip, stepped back, and eyed Ky’s hand. “Should I brush my teeth first?”

“No bacteria, remember?” Ky said. “Just spit.” In the back of her mind, she was a bit concerned about the taste, but not enough to demand Les brush her teeth. The girl already had enough self-conscious quirks. No need to give her yet another.

“No loogies,” Ky said.

“Ewww.” Les scrunched her nose, but nodded with resolution. She closed her mouth, sucked on her tongue for a second, then spit into Ky’s hand. It wasn’t much liquid, but it was warm and somewhat bubbly, and definitely spit.

Without hesitation, Ky closed her eyes and licked her hand. She tried to swallow before her taste buds could react, but the aftertaste caught her by surprise. Carrots and celery and something salty. Pretty much what Les had eaten for her most recent snack. It didn't taste bad, which was a good thing. If she wanted to become Lesly’s vassal, she’d have to get used to it.

“Was it bad?” Les asked.

Ky looked up to find Lesly’s tears had dried. “Better than French kissing you.”

A hint of a smile dawned on Lesly’s face. “Now you have to obey me.”

“No, you’re pretending to be my vassal, remember?” Ky said. “So you have to obey me.”

“Awww.” Les said, but her smile didn’t waver. “Can we take turns? I obey you one day, and then you obey me the next?”

Ky rolled her eyes. “Now you’re being silly on purpose.”

Les giggled with joy that penetrated Ky’s bones. She supposed she’d have to get used to dealing with her sister’s emotions. As a vassal, they would be amplified, at least until Les learned to control herself better.

“C’mon,” Ky took Lesly’s larger hand and marched back toward the house. “Let’s get you measured.”

“Ok.” Les skipped alongside. “My clothes feel tighter. Maybe I grew another inch!”

“Maybe,” Ky said.