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One day, out of the blue, Lizzie says, "You're siblings with Grian and Pearl, right? The ones over at Hermitcraft?"
"Hm? Yeah," Jimmy says distractedly. He rearranges a few dishes in the cabinets. With how many mugs people keep bringing into the dorms, they'll probably need to enlarge the cabinet again soon. "Why do you ask?"
"Isn't that odd? I'm not siblings with them, but you are," Lizzie presses. "Jimmy, how did that even happen?"
Jimmy turns to her, frowning. "What do you mean? It's always been that way, as long as I can remember."
The silence stretches on and on. Lizzie keeps eye contact with Jimmy, or tries to; his gaze keeps sliding away. His hands fidget with a plate, clearly itching to escape this conversation.
But Lizzie thinks some things need to be said. Even secrets can be forgotten, and if something's forgotten, it might happen again.
That's just about the last thing that she wants.
"Jimmy," she says. She tries to be stern, but it comes out softer than she intended. "I didn't know you could lie."
He flinches.
"I'm not lying," he says.
Before, Jimmy used to be able to say 'the sky is green' without batting an eye. Not that he would, but he could.
Now, he follows Their rules.
Lizzie leans back against the counter, already feeling weary. "I still love you," she murmurs. "After all, no matter how many siblings you have, I'll always be your sister."
Jimmy stares at the floor.
"But... tell me what happened?"
"Do I have to?" Jimmy asks. "Can't we pretend that this is how it's always been? I was being honest, Lizzie. I don't remember what it was like anymore, when it was just me and you."
And his voice wavers, just enough to break Lizzie's heart. It's almost enough to make her agree - almost.
But siblings are similar in more ways than one, and Lizzie needs to know this story - she needs it more than she wants it. It's a story about magic, after all. And it's a story about her brother.
"I just want to know what happened. You don't have to tell me," Lizzie says, taking a step back.
Jimmy hesitates.
Then his shoulders slump as he puts away the plate. "It's a long story," he says. "It started when we came here."
"When we came... here?" Lizzie asks, confused.
Jimmy shakes his head. "When Grian, Pearl, and I arrived at the university," he clarifies. "We didn't look alike, or sound exactly the same, but people mistook us for one another."
"What do you mean?" Lizzie interrupts.
Jimmy laughs again. He sounds a little more normal this time, as though he's genuinely finding her words funny. As though she'd made a big joke.
She hadn't been joking. She doesn't correct him.
[]
When they came to the university, none of them were related. Or perhaps they were, but if so, it was hard to tell. The shapes of their faces were different, their eye colors didn't match, and they greeted each other in the way siblings never have to.
Still, they claimed they were siblings, and perhaps they were. Their voices and accents blended together, somehow, and occasionally - despite their differences - people would mistake one for the other.
Pearl in particular was a little miffed about this situation.
"After all," she'd say, hands on her hips, "I look nothing like you two!"
Jimmy and Grian would only laugh, amused at the whole situation.
Jimmy's hair was lighter and Pearl's hair was darker and they were all different heights, but they claimed to be siblings. The university - and the faerie hill it sits on - has a way of making words into reality; so of course, it was only natural for them to look as close as siblings.
Belief makes things true, here.
Their names suited them, in ways no one could put a finger on. They felt more like True Names than safe names, but each one of the siblings would only laugh if asked.
"None of us are that careless," Grian would say, eyes glinting with amusement.
Even Jimmy, whose name seemed about as ordinary and True as a name could get, seemed fairly unconcerned about it being known. Whatever name he'd been born with, it wasn't the one he wears now.
However, despite this claim to safety, the siblings gained a reputation - collectively, and individually.
Jimmy went by many names: Solidarity, Codfather, the Sheriff, and, occasionally, the Law. He was around fairly often, and though his presence wasn't overbearing, people tended to notice when he was in the room.
Pearl had fewer names. She was known as Moon, sometimes, and also Queen. Some days, she was both. Some days, she was neither.
In contrast, Grian had nearly no names whatsoever.
Sure, folks would say he's "bright as the sun," or that he was "following in Icarus' footsteps," but the truth is that no one gave him any new names. Those were titles, metaphors, nothing more. Not Names; not for him.
After all, he practically embodied mischief and incorrigible humor. It seemed wrong to attribute his antics to any other Name than 'Grian.'
The problem is that everybody knew that these siblings were students of the Forbidden Major.
Grian claimed to study architecture, although he was often found in the chemistry classes after hours.
He makes fireworks, he said, showing the burns scattered across his skin as proof.
But Grian's hands were also marked by silver nitrate scars, pale to dark patterns that looked strange when squinted at. His eyes always flitted about, focusing on things that aren't there (shouldn't be there).
They say that burning your hands with silver nitrate will grant you the Sight until they heal.
It is not a gift.
Pearl attended courses for agriculture, animal science, and landscape design. It suits her, people said. She tucked flowers in her hoodie and feeds the stray animals, the perfect image of someone who loves nature.
The bit of the school garden that she tended to seems to glow at night. Students avoided it, even though the plants were lush and thriving.
The Court can be found in the greenhouse, by the back rows of mint and rosemary.
The garden belongs to something else entirely.
Jimmy majored in pre-law, or sometimes, political science. Not as a double major, though. If asked about the courses, he'd vehemently deny taking one or the other with nervous hand gestures before leaving the conversation entirely.
He liked the rules. Jimmy was often correcting those who don't follow them, his voice loud in a way that's hard to ignore.
He'd make new rules on the spot, though, ones that made no sense at face-value. "No one's allowed in the bio classroom today," he'd say, unprompted. Those who don't listen simply seemed to disappear.
Some learn from instinct, from dumb luck and folklore.
Some learn by Knowing. This is no more reliable than any other method; Knowing is its own kind of danger.
The siblings' reputation continued to grow. Other students - those who knew the dangers - began to avoid them.
After all, students of the Forbidden Major cannot hide what they are.
And such students are always, always doomed.
[]
He hadn't gone by Grian before he came to this university.
He goes by it now, though, a name that trips over the tongue and curls around the edges. It means "sun," which is irony if you look closely enough.
He'd broken a lot of rules. His siblings had followed them well.
Perhaps that's why his luck ran out first.
[]
"He came back Wrong," Jimmy says. "My brother came back Wrong and we didn't know why."
Lizzie's eyes are unbearably bright with tears. She holds them back well, but Jimmy knows the signs. He goes back to staring at the floor.
"I don't remember," she says, finally. "That was... back when I was dealing with the pool club, I think?"
Jimmy nods. "Around then, yeah."
Lizzie sighs. "I see. So - Grian came back with a bit of Other?"
At this, Jimmy's face screws up. "That's - well, that's not quite my story to tell," he says apologetically. "But. It wasn't quite like what you're thinking of, if that makes any sense."
It doesn't, really, but Lizzie just hums agreeably. Some stories get more confusing the more they're explained, after all, and she wants to know what happened to her brother. Whatever happened to Grian - as interesting as that sounds - can wait.
Jimmy makes a face. "Pearl and I wanted revenge," he says.
[]
Here's the thing; everyone knows that ignorance is dangerous, and knowledge is just as bad. There's no winning the game, only participation rewards and penalties.
The rules are clear when it comes to the fae.
See nothing.
Do not be seen.
But Pearl and Jimmy, hands full of salt and sage and silver, go to the Court. Their brother came back, marked in ways he never should have been, and they're furious.
They walk into the hill freely, determined to make a deal.
It's autumn when they enter, bargaining with information and asking for a favor in return. Recklessness is rarely rewarded, but they are careful and prepared and in the end, they are given what they ask for. Perhaps it helps that what they offer in return is something the fae want; a mutually beneficial deal is the hardest to strike, but is kindest to all parties involved.
It's autumn again when they leave. There's no leaving the Autumn Court when it's Spring, so a semester passes without their presence. The professors mark them down as absent; this does not affect their tuition. Time moves strangely in this place, and there are systems in place for circumstances such as these.
The siblings return, eventually.
Unexpectedly, Pearl and Jimmy come back whole and hale and hearty.
Unsurprisingly, they also come back Wrong.
[]
"Wrong?" Lizzie interrupts, confused.
Jimmy smiles wryly. "They call me Canary, now," he tells her. With a rustle, two bright yellow wings unfurl from his back, glimmering in the afternoon sun.
"Ah," Lizzie says.
She understands the importance of names and Names, here. She knows that some Names are more than names - some of them are titles. Titles are the kinds of things that can sway a person, turning them dark one day and light the next.
Lizzie has been called many things, too, once.
However, she's a simpler person nowadays. Less people calling out to her, and she's shed most of her reputation since getting her gen ed requirements. Obviously, her brother wasn't so lucky.
"Don't worry," Lizzie adds. "You'll always be Jimmy to me. My little sea-bling."
The wings vanish, and Jimmy blinks at her. "Err... that's kind of you? I think?"
"Of course it is," Lizzie says. "I'm your favorite sibling, after all."
Jimmy laughs. "That's true."
[]
The story goes like this: the three siblings (who don't look alike but are easy to mistake for one another, who talk differently but whose voices overlap just so) go under the hill and return. They are different, now.
Nobody really notices, at first.
It's hard to notice such things. The university is strange, and gaps in one's memory is common enough that it causes more trouble to question such things than it does to simply let them go.
Jimmy has two siblings, and they must be his siblings. Pearl looks like him; they share the same dark eyes (filled with stars that form constellations). Grian has the same hair as him, locks of brown and blonde (speckled with feathers that grow darker every day).
Grian majors in architecture, although he attends chemistry classes for all his electives. The smoke alarms never go off while he's in class, despite the explosions that occur at his desk.
"What've you blown up today?" Pearl would ask, her eyes ringed in silver.
Grian tells her, "Nothing that wasn't meant to!"
Pearl majors in landscape design, borrowing a small portion of the school garden for her assignments. She arranges flowers beautifully, with light emanating from every corner of the path. There are no lanterns, but it never grows dark there.
(On the first Monday of each month, the animals found in that garden walk upside down.)
(It's best to avoid it on those days.)
Jimmy changes his major. It used to be pre-law or political science; now he studies pre-law only, his words chosen far more carefully than before.
He also deals in favors, now. It's said one can find him by talking to the graveyard cat.
(It's also said that this is a last resort.)
Nothing really changes.
The siblings have always been related, as far as anyone can tell. They're sometimes mistaken for one another, although they all look very different. Their voices blend together (and their wings have similar silhouettes,) so it's only natural.
Grian is known for his mischief. He never lies, but somehow people find themselves with less than they started with. Burns decorate his skin, but never where they should be.
Pearl is often found in the shadows. As quiet as ever, until she begins to talk - and after that, gravity rarely feels the same again.
Jimmy is a pillar of the community, although he's neither trustworthy nor reliable. People say he wears a crown on his head, or a hat, sometimes - either way, his face is shadowed when you look.
Nothing's really changed.
It'd be best not to say otherwise. After all, the siblings are fiercely protective of their own.