I walked into my room, curious at what was taking Chris so long, and went statue still at what I saw. As color drained from my face, my heart jumped into my throat. Chris, my roommate, stood next to my bed, holding the Call of Duty disc we had been looking for in one hand. But we both focused on what he had in his other hand: a short wand with a sparkling silver star on it. But only I knew what it was. Chris was holding my magic wand.

“Chris,” I said, my voice a whisper trying escape a suddenly dry throat, “put that down.” I didn’t know what I was more afraid of: that he would use the wand to do something stupid, or that he might learn the truth.

We had been friends as boys, playing the same games, the same sports, and eventually went to the same college. I knew just about all there was to know about him, and he about me. Except for this. But then, no one knew about this.

I couldn’t pass the wand off as a simple oddity. Chris was holding it, and if you hold an honest to honest to goodness magic wand, you can feel it. There’s a tingle that jitters through your body, a hum that fills your mind. You become aware of all the hidden ways the world is put together. And looking at his face, I knew that he knew.

“Brian, what is this?”

“It’s . . .” my wand. My magic wand. My magic fairy wand. The words choked up in my throat. “It’s none of your business.”

I moved up to him quickly, reaching out to take my wand back, but Chris twisted away and held it back. I was taller than he was by a little bit, but he was stronger and pushed me back with a rough shove to my chest.

“Whoa, buddy. Hang up, this feels weird. Why do you have it?”

Despite my friendship for Chris, I knew that he had a bit of an asshole complexion. If he had something to torment me about, he would use it. Normally, that was fine: I could give as good as I got. But not about this. That wand, and what it meant was too important to me. Plus, Chris wasn’t the most tolerant person in the world. He never let out what he really thought in public, and nothing he had ever said in private was strong enough or terrible enough to break our friendship over. That was my privilege. But I couldn’t maintain that anymore if he knew about the wand. And, by extension, about me. I could no longer ignore it when he muttered certain insults under his breath.

“Chris, give me my . . . it. It’s dangerous.”

“So, it’s yours? Why do you have it, Brian?”

I balled up my fists but pulled myself away. I had an idea cross my mind. I had never tried this as a human, but it should work. Should. I was what I was, and Chris was holding my wand. I could still hit him and take it back, but that risked damaging it. Or worse, Chris might do something stupid with it. Humans could use fairy wands, if they got it in their mind to do so.

“I’ll make you a deal. Give my wand back, and I’ll answer three questions about me or it. Whatever you want to know. I’ll even tell you what happened between me and Jenny Pierson back in freshman year.”

That got him to waver, and I could tell from his confused look in his eyes something had happened. He was considering my deal and wasn’t sure why. He didn’t understand magic. Hell, I didn’t understand magic. Not fully, but I knew that this should work.

After a long moment, he relaxed. “Deal.”

“Said thrice and done,” I said, my voice a bit of a whisper. Then Chris brought my wand back into reach, and I’m not sure if he moved his arm, or if it was moved for him. I didn’t care. I snatched it from his hand, and suddenly smiled at the familiar touch. The flood of fairy magic that rushed like a wave into my body. Magic that last year had been alien and terrifying now comforted.

Chris blinked. He looked confused, as if unsure why he had given up the wand.

“You have three questions to ask me.” I said. I didn’t have to remind him of my boon and did so because it was better to get it over with now than at some later moment when I didn’t have time to prepare, or the answer could come out in an even more embarrassing way. But also, partly, because I was what I was, and I didn’t welch on my deals.

Chris looked at me and my wand, then back at me. “What happened between you and Jenny?”

“Nothing.” I said matter of factly, “I drove her home that night and we stayed up till two watching The Last Airbender. We fell asleep on the couch together. That’s it.”

“That’s it!? Why the hell wouldn’t you say that? Why the hell did you fuck with me for five years?” He said, and then, before I could give him sensible answers to his last two questions, he interrupted, “Those aren’t my questions.”

I grimaced but nodded. “Fair enough. You have two questions left.”

“What the hell is that?” A strangely simple question to answer, all I had to do was answer only what was asked.

“It’s my magic wand. You have one question.”

“Why do you have it?”

I sucked in a breath. I thought for a moment, knowing that ‘why’ questions were the most open ended. I could say a lot of things. I could say because he gave it to me. I could say because my Lady gave it to me. I could say because it called to me. I could say because it was mine. All true things. But they wouldn’t be the Truth with a capital T. And if I didn’t tell Chris the Truth, I didn’t think things would end here. In fact, I kinda knew it wouldn’t. If I did tell him, I didn’t think we could still be friends. But then I shouldn’t have to hide this from him.

I am what I am.

“Because I’m a fairy.” Those words had been held back by my lips for most of a year. I’m not sure I had spoken them to myself, even. But as I started to speak them, they came out in a long-awaited tumble. Chris didn’t say anything, and I stared in his eyes, searching for a clue what he might do.

“What are you talking about, Brian?”

“I don’t have to answer that,” I reminded him, “but I will.”

“Brian, what do you mean by . . .”

“Bippity. Boppity. Boo.” I zig-zagged my wand over my body as I spoke and watched the silver and white glitter fall from it like snow. The flakes descended and fell over me and I glowed lightly in response. It had taken me damn near six months to be able to do this willingly. And now it was so easy I could do it with a flourish.

My body changed. I lost nearly a foot in height and almost eighty pounds in the blink of an eye. My blond hair turned stick straight and brown, topped by a little sparkling tiara. My breasts grew out and my body hair thinned. My face softened. I wore simple black sneakers, with white tights around my legs, and above them was a short play tutu and sweatshirt with an embroidered tooth on it. And as the coup de grace, a set of wings fluttered from my back.

Chris jumped back and tripped over his feet, falling to the floor in a wide eyed stare.

“Any more questions?” I asked.