The four kids looked up. In the sky, flying straight for them with open talons aimed in their direction, was a strange bird. Even from a distance, it was obvious that it was a very large bird. It had the body of an osprey, only it was way too large to be one. But what clearly set it apart from what one would think of as an osprey was not its size, but its head. Its head wasn’t the kind of head that one would expect to find on the body of an osprey. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t a bird’s head at all — but that of a young human woman.

  Simon stared at this monstrous creature, transfixed in horror. “Out of the way!” shouted Clara, as she ran past Simon, pulling him to the ground. As soon as he landed, he looked up and saw the creature’s talons go right through the place where he had stood just a moment earlier. As he got up, he could see the creature fly away and begin circling back for another attack.

  Before the creature could strike again, the air filled with a familiar smell of cinnamon and herbs that all but completely masked out the dumpy smell of this diseased part of the forest. He turned and saw Samantha standing up, her hand still toward the ground as she dropped what looked like a shining piece of silver. Clearly, she had activated a summoning chip.

  Up in the sky, the creature flew back at the students. Instead of attacking again, it perched on a low branch on a nearby tree. “So, summoning perfume,” it said in its raspy voice. “You have played straight into my hand.”

  “How?” asked Samantha.

  “Because now you can not lie to me,” answered the creature, “not without me sensing it. And without your ability to deceive, you will have no choice but to confess your crime before I carry you off to judgement.”

  “What crime?” asked Clara.

  “You,” insisted the creature, “are the ones who are draining these trees of their vital essence — destroying life in the forest.”

  “No we’re not,” insisted Clara.

  “Really?” said the creature, incredulously.

  “You just said you’d sense it if we lied,” reminded Clara.

  “Then why are you here?” asked the creature, swooping to a lower branch and staring Clara right in the eyes.

  “We’re on a field trip,” she explained. “We have to get cores to build our first wands.”

  “Misty Peaks?” asked the creature.

  “Yes,” affirmed Clara.

  “The students of Misty Peaks go on that field trip every year,” retorted the creature. “They never do it in this area.”

  “It’s my fault we’re here,” said Simon.

  “Then you are the one who is destroying the trees?” demanded the creature, turning toward Simon.

  “No,” said Simon. “But I am the reason we ended up here. I got angry, so I ran over here, and they followed me so that our group wouldn’t get separated.”

  The creature flew around and landed on another branch, closer to Simon.

  “And who are you?” asked the creature.

  “A student at Misty Peaks Academy of the Magical Arts,” said Simon.

  “I know that,” insisted the creature. “What is your name, child?”

  “My name?” asked Simon

  “You’re going to have to tell her your true name,” said Lilith. “You have to!”

  Simon gulped. “Rosemary,” he said, quickly and quietly.

  “Louder,” said the creature, inching toward Simon. “Clearer.”

  “But they’ll hear me too,” protested Simon.

  “Don’t worry,” said Clara. “We won’t judge.”

  “But what if one of you tells?” asked Simon.

  “What if you don’t answer my question,” said the creature, “and I carry you off to judgement?”

  “Okay,” said Simon. “My true name is Rosemary Corbin.”

  “Rosemary Corbin?” said the creature, as it inched further toward Simon — this time close enough to stare him closely in the eyes. As it did exactly that, Simon could feel its eyes tearing into his soul. He felt his heart race. No matter what the reaction of his human companions was, it seemed that this scary bird had an issue with him having given it a girl’s name.

  “I know I might look like a boy to you,” said Simon, “but that’s not who I am inside. I was born in a body that made me look like a boy. Because of that, the doctors said I was a boy — and my parents gave me a boy’s name, called me a boy, and dressed me as a boy, and everything. But it wasn’t who I was inside — so the name they gave me wasn’t my true name.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “And your true name is Rosemary?” asked the creature.

  “I think so,” said Simon. “I found that name after I got my invitation to come to school at Misty Peaks. And I like it so much more than the name my parents gave me. And Wednesday, a friend cast a spell on me that turned my body into a normal girl’s body for a while — and she kept that spell active for until Thursday morning. And it felt so — right!

  “And then we came out here to ask creatures if they can give us something of themselves to use as wand cores so we can build our first wands. The others here have all succeeded — but I failed because every time I tell a creature the name my parents gave me, it runs or flies off.”

  Without another word, the creature flew at Simon. He thought he was done for as it fiercely fluttered its wings. But then, to his relief, it circled around and landed again on the branch. As it did so, Simon saw a very large feather floating down. It landed in his hands. As he held it up, he recognized the blue glow which signified that he, too, had received a core for his wand.

  “Every wand must have a core given by a creature of magic,” said the creature, “and now you have a feather from a harpy.”

  Simon looked at the creature in amazement. He had heard of harpies before when his grandfather had read to him about Greek mythology. But he had not known that they were real — not until now.

  “Thank you — Magnificent Harpy!” said Simon, excitedly.

  “Use it, Rosemary Corbin,” said the harpy, “to make your wand and become an excellent witch. For you are no wizard — but a witch. Yes — a lot of you does look like a boy. But your eyes are those of a little girl if ever I saw one.

  Simon — no, Rosemary — placed the feather that he — no, she — had just received into her collection bag. While she was doing that, the harpy flew from the branch it was perched on to a higher one, and then addressed all four of the children. That is, all four of the girls. “Be careful of the ones who would violate this forest,” it said. “There is no telling what — or who else they would harm. But when you find them you can summon me. My sisters and I will — take care of them.”

  With that, the harpy spread its wings and flew off.

  “So we all got our wand cores now?” asked Lilith.

  “Yes,” said Clara. “Time to head back.”

  The four girls got their compasses out. Rosemary opened hers and saw the needle pointing toward Oak Ridge, where she had set it to the last time she had tried it out. She pressed down on the axis while intently visualizing the Adventure Room in Lumière Tower. When she released it, she noticed that the needle had turned — clearly now facing the school, and Lumière Tower in particular.

  “So I heard you tell the harpy,” Samantha said to Rosemary on her way back. “So you had a girl’s body Wednesday evening?”

  “Yes,” answered Rosemary.

  “Because you seemed so much more at ease then,” said Samantha.

  “I felt much more at ease,” noted Rosemary. “I’m hoping that once I have my own wand, I can transform and never have to turn back.”

  “So why were you so scared of us hearing the name Rosemary?” asked Clara.

  “Because,” answered Rosemary, “I’m not yet ready for people to know about this.”

  “But won’t people have to know?” asked Lilith.

  “Why?” asked Rosemary.

  “You said you’re going to transform and never turn back,” said Lilith. “Don’t you think people will notice?”

  “Did you notice Wednesday evening?” asked Rosemary.

  “Samantha did,” answered Lilith.

  “She noticed I felt more comfortable and at ease,” reminded Rosemary, “not that I’m a girl.”

  “That’s because there’s something about you that already seemed more girl-like to me,” pointed out Samantha. “But until the harpy pulled it out of you, I thought you were just gay.”

  “But anyway,” asserted Lilith, “if you want to dress as a boy, you can fool most of us. But don’t you have roommates?”

  “I guess then,” said Rosemary, “that I just won’t let them see me change clothes.”

  “Okay,” said Lilith, “that takes care of that. But here’s the thing about us girls. Eventually, we turn into women — and boys t urn into men. Don’t you think people will notice when that happens?”

  “I’m going to tell people eventually,” responded Rosemary. “Just not yet.”

  Lilith seemed to accept this answer — as the four girls continued toward Lumière Tower.

  When they reached the Adventure Room, Professor Hathaway was standing next to one of the tables with a clipboard and a pen. “Okay,” she said, once the girls got to her. “What did y’all get for the cores of your wands?”

  “You go first,” said Clara, smiling at Rosemary.

  “I got a harpy feather,” said Rosemary.

  “No seriously,” said Professor Hathaway. But then, a change in expression slowly crept over her till she was just standing there with her mouth open. “Seriously?” she asked. “How did that happen?”

  “I can’t tell,” said Rosemary, cautiously, but nonetheless elated at the fact that what she had gotten for her wand’s core was apparently quite a big deal.

  “Hopefully you can, someday,” said Professor Hathaway. “Can I see it?”

  Rosemary pulled the feather from out of her bag and held it out to Professor Hathaway.

  “Remarkable!” said the Professor. “I can’t believe it!”

  She lifted the clipboard. “Simon Corbin - Harpy feather,” she said aloud under her breath as she recorded the information on the clipboard. The mention of the name “Simon” landed on Rosemary’s ears like a punch to the guts. The name never had truly fit her — but now that she knew what her true name was, being referred to by the ill-fitting one she had been given at birth felt particularly unpleasant.

  “You can go put the feather back in your bag now, Simon,” said Professor Hathaway, pummeling Rosemary again with her words without any intent of doing so. And as she inquired on and recorded what the other girls had received for the cores of their wands — Rosemary waited, crestfallen.

  “Okay now,” said the teacher, after having finished with the four of them. “You can go hang your bag in your lockers now, and head off to lunch. And remember, some time this weekend to put your wand construction kits in your lockers too. You’ll need those and your bags next time I see you in class.”

  The girls headed to the locker ports at the right side of the room. Rosemary lifted the handle of one of them and opened the door. Thanks to the key clip on her belt, it opened into her locker somewhere in the school’s storage area.

  “What’s wrong, Rosemary?” asked Clara.

  “It’s just what the teacher called me,” answered Rosemary. “It sucks being called Simon, but at least you’re calling me by my real name.”

  “Well, I might slip up from time to time,” said Clara, “but I will always try to call you Rosemary.”

  “And you can’t blame Professor Hathaway,” pointed out Lilith. “She asked you how you got the harpy’s feather — and if you’d told her, she might have known what to call you.”

  “That,” said Rosemary, “or she might have given me detention and made the rest of the school year miserable for me.”

  “That’s silly,” said Lilith. “She might punish you just a little bit for leading us out of bounds — but that’s it.”

  “Oh, she might,” said Samantha. “A lot of people hate anything that isn’t completely straight.”

  “Maybe,” said Lilith, “but until you decide to tell people, there will be times that we won’t be able to call you Rosemary.”

  “Why?” asked Clara.

  “Because people will find out,” pointed out Lilith.

  Rosemary’s heart sank. She knew that Lilith was right.