Excerpt: No More Faerie Business

She never expected fall to be so wet. Even that Halloween night as her skin burned with fever, the damp rain left her hollow shoulder blades aching. They always seemed to ache though, even from the time she was quite little. Like once at her third birthday party, Callysta and she were dressed as princesses for their party. Callysta played with her father’s girlfriend’s makeup, smearing bright pink lipstick all around her mouth. Rajuna was the kind of girl to get dirty, play with all the neighborhood kids in the woods and not like to take baths. Callysta and she, even from the start, were very, very different, even though they were in utero together and should have had some special bond. But one look at them and everyone that met them could tell that they were different. Most did not even know they were twins, just sisters rather close in age. As they were blowing out the candles on their birthday cake, Callysta pushed her sister’s face into the cake, smearing vanilla frosting all over Rajuna’s princess dress. Rajuna was laughing, but then Callysta kicked her onto the floor, Rajuna banging her head on the edge of the table and clunking her shoulders on the hard tiled floor. That is when the aching in her shoulder blades first started. It had been a long life battle, but like a trooper, Rajuna never did once complain about her sister’s behavior to their father, for he seemed too caught up in his own affairs to truly watch over his daughters.