The air shimmered and twisted, and Emily found herself raising an arm to shield her face a moment before, with a sudden exhale, there was now someone else in the room.

Skill: Create Sister successful!

“Hey,” Teddy said.

Emily lowered her arm, the wind having stopped as suddenly as it’d started, and she took in the new sister she had summoned.

??? Wright

Owl Seeing Eye, Level 1

The girl was taller than Teddy, by maybe half a head. That still left her much shorter than Emily, even with the poofy white and brown hair she had. Big round glasses, perched atop a little nose, partially hid a pair of huge yellow eyes.

The hair and eyes were the only strange things, though; the girl looked rather normal otherwise. She had very pale skin, covered by a white jacket whose neck and brim was covered in feathery fluff, and perfectly ordinary Mary Janes on her feet.

The girl shifted, her shoes clicking together and her hands falling by her side. “Greetings.”

“Uh, hi,” Emily said.

“What kind of girl are you?” Teddy asked. “You don’t look like any sort of predator I know.”

The girl raised her head back and turned her head away from Teddy with a snooty little huff. “I’ll have you know that I am a proud snowy owl. I am very much a predator. Who are you?”

“Owls are smaller than bears,” Teddy said. “And bears are apex predators because they eat everything else. Plus, I’m the first sister, so you need to know the pecking order.”

“Who cares which order you came in,” she said. “All that matters is Big Sister’s opinion.”

“Ah,” Emily said. She wasn’t entirely sure how to act around the new girl, or any other stranger for that matter. The bit of tension between her and Teddy certainly wasn’t helping. “Um. Teddy, be nice. Your . . . sister is new. And please, you should be nice to Teddy, too. I’m sure she can teach you a lot.”

The girl nodded. “I can do that.”

“You should name her, Boss,” Teddy said. “Get it over with so we can all go to bed already.”

“Uh,” Emily said. The girl was staring at her now. Her eyes really were rather big; it wasn’t just the glasses making them look that way. Not so big they would be considered abnormal, but certainly . . . large. “Maybe we should all get to know each other first?”

“I would love to get better acquainted with you . . . Boss?” The girl turned the last into a question.

“Yeah, she’s the Boss,” Teddy confirmed.

“N-no, you can call me Emily. You can both call me that unless we’re in, um, costume,” Emily said.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Big Sister Emily,” the girl said with a nod.

“Good! Um . . . Teddy, you present yourself first.” Emily joyfully flung Teddy under the metaphorical bus.