"Good morning, Lila, Violet!  Breakfast will be on the table in no more than ten minutes!"

And Lila sees someone poke her head out the door of said bedroom, snatch up the bracelet, and dart down to the table.  "G'morning sis!"

Lila doesn't have a sister.

Lila doesn't have any friends who'd call her "sis" either, not since they were seven.

And all that doesn't matter because she doesn't even recognize the girl who just ran down the stairs!  What's happened?  This couldn't be a prank on her; Mom wouldn't stand for that even if some stranger somehow wanted to do it!

"What - what -" she babbles in the direction of the stairs where this strange girl had vanished.

(She gets the strange feeling this's like something that might happen at the beginning of a story...)

But getting no answer, she finishes rinsing her face the fastest she's ever done it (still giving a sharp mental wish that Mom would tell her just how she got her own face), gives the comb one quick stroke through her hair, and races downstairs with her hair still frizzy.

She's still there.  And looking a bit concerned when Lila turns up all still frazzled!  "You alright, Lila?  I know I'm pale, but you look like you've seen a ghost."

Ophelia - Mom - is cooking three things at once (well, if toast counts as proper cooking), but she still has time to look over at Lila even before she dishes up breakfast.  Something causes a momentary very-concerned expression to flicker over her face at that point.

Lila throws her hands into the air.  "Who are you!?  What's going on!?"

But even as she brings them down on the back of her chair, she's sure - with a sinking feeling - that the answer is going to be far weirder than she thought.  There're three chairs at the table now with three placemats, not two.  There's another sunhat hanging next to hers and Mom's in the hall, and a new pair of shoes next to the door that doesn't look like anything Mom would wear.

Ophelia hums worried tones that strike a chord within her daughters; both know them.  Both know their meaning; something's very, very wrong right now, so be careful, watchful, thoughtful.  "I'm your mother, dear.  Violet's been your sister for most of your life, as far as I recall.  We're having breakfast before you two go to school.  If something's 'going on' with that, then either you or I are very wrong about the way the world should be, and either of those options are rather concerning."

Her obvious concern, and the sharp-like-a-knife tension slipping into her stance, does not stop breakfast.

Violet falls back as if Lila's words had physical force.  "Amnesia doesn't work like that...and you didn't hit your head or anything like that this whole week to begin with...so what's happening?"  She wraps her arms around herself, rocking back and forth in obvious worry.  "What's wrong, Lila?"

"Yeah, amnesia doesn't work like this outside a pulp novel or bad TV show!  And I didn't think we were in one of those!  But --"

She looks back and forth between Mom and Violet.

"If nothing's wrong with me, then it needs to be wrong with you!"

Violet recoils from the accusation, letting out a pained whine.

Ophelia...

Now knows that something is very, very, wrong.

"Lila, darling, you're out sick today; you had a horrible migraine when you woke up and it's bad enough that going to school would be pointless.  And while I tell the school that, you can look through the old photo albums; you're going to need to know what happened in them regardless of whether they're correct."

That's her businessmom voice.  Oh dear.  That voice only comes out when there's an emergency.

"MOM!  Don't make me miss school today too!"

Wait, if she got dropped into an alternate universe or something - and it's not like there're any other stories looking more plausible at the moment - "Wait, I am still in Mr. Brenner's history class, right?  And Ms. Dermot's precalc where we have a quiz today?  On math, not on family history or anything!"

She pushes back her still-frazzled hair and slides into her seat at the table as if everything was fine.

"...Yes, I believe so."  This time her voice is faint with ill-concealed worry.  "...If you're going to school today, then...Be careful, darling.  I don't know who or what could have done this how, but...If someone did this, they were likely trying to hurt at least one of us.  They might not stop trying just because their plan failed."

"The reason I want to have you out of school today is not because your teachers might notice; I expect that if anyone will, it is those who you hold dear.  Are you prepared for your friends to think something is wrong with you, darling?  I know I wouldn't have been, when I was young.  ...Also.  You are distressing your sister, young lady.  I know that she appears to have been erased from your memory by powers yet unknown, or perhaps inserted into mine and others', but I did not raise a child who would think of a person as wrong simply for existing, Lila."

"Yes - I'll be careful - and - I'll do it like I'm acting in a play.  I think I can do that!  And I'd rather do that - even if I'm not telling my friends - rather than just sit at home."

She jumps up with a shallow smile and bobs a quick curtsy as if she was onstage.

"And - I'm sorry, Violet - I didn't mean to hurt you; I didn't mean you're wrong yourself - just - one of us is misremembering."

She pauses, looking across the table at Violet, trying to remember what she'd hoped for way back when she was a little girl imagining having a sister.  "Were we... do you think we were... close?"

Judging by the fierce hug Lila's getting...yes.  "Close as we could be," she murmurs.  "It's okay, you were scared."

"Then to school you shall go, darling.  ...Please be safe."

After a moment of shock at the hug, Lila hugs back.  Real or not, she's got a sister for now.

Breakfast is quick - she doesn't want to be late, and she still needs to get her bag - but she says, "Violet, what were we doing yesterday?  I was talking with Gene and Kate after school, and then I just went home and studied and read."

"I stayed late for an art project; we studied together.  It was mostly math; you do have that quiz today."

Violet's bag is already tucked up next to her chair; she clearly believes that preparedness is a virtue.  Where's Lila's?

Ophelia scoops up her Business Gear and starts the car, while all this is happening.

Lila's bag is up in her room; she runs up to grab it (and grab a tie for her hair).  Oh goodness, she thinks; is she being a bad example to her new little sister?

She'd like to ask either Violet or Mom, when they're not in front of each other, whether they have any guesses what's going on here... but she doesn't expect them to.  Well, Violet at least; Mom sounded like she might have some guesses - as little as that would make sense!  But alone time is probably sparser now that there're three of them in a hasty morning, and anyway, she has a part to keep playing.

Ophelia is...rather quiet, in the car, thinking, with what attention isn't on the road.

Violet is idly humming something quiet.  "You ready for the math quiz, do you think?"

Lila almost got into the front seat next to Mom like always - before remembering there was a third person there now, and getting in the back next to Violet.  It still felt weird.

"Yeah... er, were we studying that together yesterday?  I - well, I" (she taps herself, to distinguish herself from the other Lila whom Violet remembers) "still have trouble with turning triangles into unit circles, or however you say it."

"It's pretty simple if you...So if you draw a line segment from the origin to points on the unit circle, sine is your y value, cosine is your x value.  I don't know why they're set up that way around, they kind of just Are.  And it doesn't actually matter what triangle you have when you go looking for sines and cosines; angles are angles.  And tangent is...sine over cosine.  And then there's secant, cosecant, and cotangent, which are one over their corresponding..."

She pulls out an index card, and consults it, to be sure.

"...why do people do weird name things with math.  Secant is one over cosine and I hate that."

"Anyway, did that help any...?"

"I, uh, maybe?  You don't know why these ratios - sines and cosines turn into a circle; they Just Do?  If I read that in a story, it'd be some huge clue to the laws of magic or something a hundred pages later!"

For that matter, there's a nagging thought in the back of Lila's mind that maybe there really are laws of magic in this universe.  After all, she's got a lot more reason to think there's magic than she had yesterday.

Probably sines and cosines and unit circles aren't a clue to that.  They're already a clue to physics and engineering, or so Ms. Dermot says.  But she should keep her eyes open.

"I don't recall that having ever been explained, so much as only defined, off the top of my head.  Sine's the length of the right-angle side Opposite over the length of the Hypotenuse, cosine's Adjacent over Hypotenuse, tangent's Opposite/Adjacent.

"...Now I'm actually thinking about whether lines-that-are-tangent-to-things are related!  Bwah!  I mean I guess you can y equals mx plus b it, sort of..."

Lila tries to pay attention, but her eyes glaze over pretty quickly, and she turns to wondering what it would've been like with a sister who actually liked math like this.  Had her other self gotten to like it more, too?

By the time they get to school, the nagging feeling about magic has come back and grown.  As they inch forward in the dropoff line, she leans forward and whispers, "Mom - any idea how this happened?"

"If it's not magic I don't really know what it could be.  I'll see if I can find out anything.  ...I love you; stay safe."

And then it's dropoff time.

"Love you too!"

Lila grabs her bag and jumps out of the car, suddenly excited.  Even Mom agrees there's magic.  And she's in the middle of it, playing a part.

Her friend Gene is in the hall as they walk into the building, lightly frowning in boredom as usual.

"Oh, hey, Lila," he says, raising his hand lightly.

And then he continues in the next breath, "Hey, Violet."

So, her friends also remember Violet.  Probably Lila's the only one who doesn't.

Violet waves quietly at Gene.  This is not abnormal Violet-behavior.

Gene waves back at Violet and turns to Lila.  "Up for kicking a ball around after school?  Or are you just going to be studying with your sister?"

That's quite normal for Gene... until the last line.

"Ask me over lunch?" she says.  "I might be busy."  Either learning more about her sister or... well, figuring out magic to learn more about her sister.

"We're having a quiz today.  In math.  Don't know if Lila has other tests coming up though."

'So she should, but might not, be free from studying,' goes unsaid, as it's obvious.

"Oh yeah, that.  Well, let me know if you get up to anything else fun."

Lila almost wants to tell him the whole thing; he'd definitely think that was interesting.  But it'd be breaking character, and it's almost class time anyway.

"Maybe some family history.  Talk later?"

"Yeah, maybe you'd find family history fun," he says with a friendly grin.  "Later."

He heads off down the hall.

It is indeed almost class time.  "See you in math."

Lila sets off down the hall for her first-period class - chemistry - before realizing it might not be the same in this universe.  So she awkwardly opens her planner in the middle of the school hall... only to find out that it's the same chemistry class after all.

Once there, with the teacher lecturing on electron shells, her mind - as usual - wanders.

Magic is real.  It's somewhere close by.  She can almost feel all the possibilities.

How can she find out about it?

Well, if there's a secret magical community hiding themselves... 

... then if they're really good at hiding, she won't be able to find them.  But that's no fun.

But if they aren't that good at hiding -

Well, she's already escaped one of their memory-changing spells!  (If that's even the sort of spell they used.  And if they even tried to change her memory too.)  So maybe she can pierce through their Masquerade!

And where to start...

Well, she could just wait for lunch, jump up on the table, and start screaming about magic to everyone - including any secret magic people - in the lunchroom.  But they probably wouldn't like a public challenge like that.  And Mom did say to be careful.

So who should she mention it to?

(The bell rings, and Lila realizes she hasn't been paying attention to the last half of the lecture.  She quickly copies down the homework and scrambles out to English.)

As the teacher starts talking about the newest chapters in the book they've been reading, Lila looks around the classroom.  Her eyes pass over Aeslin, a quiet girl who - as usual - is sitting on the other side of the room wearing a nondescript loose black dress with a star pendant.

Then Lila does a double-take.

Aeslin's black dress looks for all the world like a traditional witch's robe.  And... is that a witch's hat on top of her backpack, straight out of the picture-books?

She can hardly not talk to Aeslin now.

Lila runs up to her as soon as class's over.  "Hey, Aeslin!"

Aeslin looks at her blankly.

Lila glances around; thankfully no one seems to be listening closely.  "What'd you say if I told you I just saw some magic?"

Aeslin looks irritated.  "I'd tell you I like this hat as a hat; no need for assumptions."

Lila feels a bit guilty, but Aeslin didn't say to stop, and she wants to try one more time.  "I'm really curious - say, about what might make someone immune to magic - and I thought you might be a good person to ask?"

Aeslin narrows her eyes.  "Immune..." she whispers thoughtfully.

Then she shakes her head a moment.  "Got to get to my next class.  See you over lunch?"

(Somewhere else, at exactly this moment, Ophelia Mondegreen permits herself a small moment of fond motherly exasperation in between solving corporate problems and doing her own research.  She doesn't yet know why she's doing that, but she will have opinions, later, on whether this is even remotely like 'being safe'.)

Finally - after a history class which is normally her favorite, but today seems to be dragging on much too long - it's lunchtime.  Lila looks for Aeslin, but doesn't find her at the moment.  She does see Violet, which reminds her that she might as well be playing her part.  And Violet would want to know too.

"Hey," she says simply.  "How was your morning?"

"Good.  Yours?"

"I finally got Aeslin to talk with me - and I think we both really want to talk to her!  About, well, what we were talking about this morning."

"Huh.  I'm surprised that I'm not surprised that I'm surprised by that.  Really should've figured, with the hat.  Probably should talk.  Where's she?"

Violet's sitting as far away from the general bustle as possible, incidentally; while Lila's talking, she snacks on some of her lunch.  (It's grapes, mixed nuts, and chocolate-dipped pretzels; she's all-in on bite-sized finger foods today, apparently.)

Lila scans the crowd of students.  "Yeah, I thought she just liked black dresses, but - oh, there she is!"

She puts down her egg sandwich and waves.

Aeslin comes over.  She's left her hat somewhere - maybe stuffed it in her backpack; it's looking even fuller than before.  She doesn't have any food.

Her pursed lips get tighter when she sees Violet.

"Oh, hey, I was thinking about magic immun... er," she glances at Violet, "we were talking about, er, a game design idea."

"I know you know what she thinks she knows.  There any way of testing it?"

Violet's closed up her lunch.  She seems to be giving this conversation her full attention.

Aeslin swings her backpack down on the table with a thump.

"Well, I could just go ahead and do a simple test..."  She pulls out what looks like a pen about twice as long as normal, and starts twirling it between her fingers.  "... But your, er, idea might not work with, er, every combination."

"You can speak clearly. Violet knows about the magic. ^{It was pretty hard to miss.}"

Aeslin sighs.  "Sorry.  Habit.  But they aren't all wrong... this cafeteria's probably not the best place to start casting spells at you."

"Afterschool?  Claim a study session.  Pretty sure our mom knows, so do it at our place.  If she doesn't get help herself, somehow.  Or maybe your place has stuff for this?  Test both of us."

Aeslin frowns.  "I don't want to have to explain this to my parents... or my tutor... even though I'm clearly not the one who revealed the secret of magic to you...  After school?

"But first, tell me - what spells were going on last night?  I think I'm still feeling some magic residue on you!"

"We don't know for sure.  Lila?  Your story, your choice."

"Either a memory spell on everyone else, or a cross-universe spell on me.  Or a memory spell on me.  As far as I know, Violet didn't exist before this morning.  Then I woke up, and she said she was my sister, and Mom knew her and all her stuff was all over the house."

She holds out a hand to Aeslin.  "Test me if you want."

Aeslin stares at Lila wide-eyed.  "That - I haven't even heard of a cross-universe spell outside legends!  Or a memory spell that'd work in one stroke on everyone from your mother down to the teachers... and if they're doing that, what would Violet be?  An uninvolved girl brought in from somewhere else and memory-charmed too?  A pre-readied golem?

"The one thing that might be possible is a memory spell on you yourself - but a memory spell that'd excise your sister from all your life at one stroke also doesn't exist!"

Aeslin draws her wand across Lila's hand in something like a knot.  "Well, at least you've got magical residue on you..."  She wrinkles her nose.  "No telling what it's from.  You could be a vampire for all this's telling me, and then it might just be your natural magic.  First thing when it's safe to cast, I'll want you to repeat your story under a truth spell."

"Test me too."

She circles her wand over Violet's palm.  "Same with you.  Either there were a lot of spells cast on you, or you're a vampire or something.  Or golem - I'll test that after school, just to be sure."

"...not a golem, I'm not Jewish."

"Okay - well, the standard term for animate material creatures created by magic is either 'golem' or 'doll.'  In English, I mean.  Myself, I like 'golem.'  But if you really want 'doll' -"

She holds up her hands.

"Really, I don't think you are one, if you've got a full episodic memory..."  Her face suddenly brightens.  "Hey, I can test that!  What were you doing after school last Friday?"

"...painting.  Do that every Friday.  Not sure precisely which parts.  Would not think this is sufficient evidence to support or disprove automaton-nature.  Think there's interesting parallels between autistic people and trope-informed robots in play here."

"I can do a magical test after school - though now I'm thinking that if we're already positing unprecedentedly fast memory spells, we can also posit unprecedentedly realistic golems!

"Say, why not just cut class and do it now?"

"...Education is important."  Violet disapproves.

"Yeah, we can't just not be in class!  Not without an urgent reason."

"Fine, fine.  Well, I could give you a synopsis of memory spells, but... copying or erasing memory is easy; creating brand-new episodic memory is hard.  And," (she glances down at her place on the table, empty save for her backpack) "I should probably get some lunch for myself at some point...  Any other questions, though?  Before the Grand Magic Free-Test this afternoon?"

"...how do you do - no, that's better answered in private."

"Who might've done this?  And why?"

"No idea.  I could list all the magic experimenters I know of, but there're a lot of others I don't...  And why?  Well, there're some Elf-kings and Vampire-lords who'd like new memory magic to keep people like you from finding out about magic.  It's starting to leak out.  As you can guess."  She purses her lips, suddenly unsettled.  "You know, if they got this spell... and it really is so easy to cast... they just might be able to actually do it."

"...I do not think my mother would approve of that."

"Which means we'd better figure out what happened, first!  I'll go get everything we need - see you after school!"

"See you then.  Good skill."

"So, Violet, should we just go -- oh, I forgot, the math quiz!"

Lila does, however, get through the math quiz.  And she leaves a message with Mom's answering machine saying she and Violet will be studying with a friend after school.

After that - and several other irritatingly slow class periods - school lets out.  Having no clue of Aeslin's afternoon class schedule (if she actually showed up to the afternoon classes), or Violet's schedule either, she ends up waiting right outside the door near the gym.

Violet is actually also waiting by the gym, rather unsurprisingly.

And so is Gene!

"Hey!" he says when Lila comes up.  "Up to anything this afternoon?  Want to get some frisbee together?"

"Actually we do have some plans.  Studying."

"What's got you so excited about that?"

Before Lila can answer, Aeslin comes up from outside, with a still heavier backpack.  "Hey!  I've got everything together - let's go!"

"Not excited.  Terrified," Violet deadpans.

It's not even a lie.

"What, surprise test tomorrow?  And what're you joining for... Ashley?  Or am I forgetting your name?"

"Aeslin.  Long story."

"Brand new group project.  Due approximately yesterday.  I'm helping."

"Good luck.  I guess."

He leaves.

"Okay, best place I can think of is Briarwood Park.  Hardly anyone should be there now, and it's near my tutor's studio if we end up needing more equipment or anything.  Or we could just do it in one of the supply rooms here if we don't want to head all the way there - I can get us in."

"...Your tutor's place unless there's something particularly useful in Briarwood."

"I was thinking we can run the first tests by ourselves before we maybe bring in anyone else?"

"Then do it at our place. Mom already knows too."

She pauses a moment, thinking.

"Okay.  Got a ride?  Or is it on a bus route?"

"It's close enough that we take the bus home often."

Not too long afterwards, Lila pushes open their door.  "Hi, Mom?" she calls out in case she's home.  "We're home after all."

There's a few moments' silence.

"Looks like she isn't here.  Well, that makes things easier.  Let's go to  the spare --

"Er, I just remembered that's your bedroom, Violet.  Where do you think we should do this?"

"Aeslin, any considerations?  Otherwise...probably the basement.  Quieter and secluded."

"Basement works.  Some spells do better with growing things nearby, but I don't think we'll be doing any of those."

"To the basement, then."

Violet leads the way.  Hmm.  The meditation room is probably best; it has the right ambiance.

Aeslin smiles briefly at the meditation room, and then starts taking a large stack of books and notebooks and wands and pens out of her backpack.

"First up, Violet, the simple basic tests to see if you're a golem - though even if you pass, I still wouldn't be sure.  If we're already considering the possibility of new magic, we should consider the known-possible possibility that you're an unusually exact golem.

"And second, it's too bad we don't have a real check for memory rewriting, but - Lila - I'm going to run the basic tests just in case someone modified just your memory sloppily.  That's still the simplest explanation, even though it's boring.

"And then... while we're here, I might as well map out the earthheart-lines in this part of town.

"Questions?  Suggestions?  Shall we get started?"

Without waiting for permission, she takes a crayon from her pack and draws a quick circle on the tile floor around Violet.  "Oh, just stay in the circle - won't hurt if you cross it, but it'll make the results weird.  OK?"

"It would probably have been better to not draw all over the floor, but, fine."

Aeslin taps Violet's forehead with the wand, and then brushes it over the crayoned circle.  Sparks fly from the wand, some to the circle (where they light it a glimmering rainbow), and some to Violet (where they fade out as soon as they touch her skin, with just a slight momentary cold feeling).  She then waves the wand in the air just over the circle around Violet in a rhythmic pattern.

"Seven days... eight..." Aeslin murmurs.

More sparks start glimmering on Violet's skin, with a little tingling feeling.

"Eighteen...twenty...twenty-two..."

The red vanishes from rainbow of the circle, glowing a brighter and brighter violet.

Finally, Aeslin calls, "Forty-two!", draws her wand across the circle, and lets it drop.  The tingling sparks vanish from Violet's skin.  The circle might still be slightly glistening, but it's once again obviously crayon.

"Well, I've checked for flaws and haven't found any yet.  It would take at least six weeks to make a golem as good as you by compounding.  That's the simple equivalent reckoning - totally ignoring the problems of pressing all the spellfolds on top of each other that mean it'd really take more like a year if everything goes well.  There're only a few golemcrafters in the world who could do that, and as far as we know Gilbert's spending all his time on other things...  If I were a guardsman, I'd say you're clearly not a golem.

"But we're already considering all sorts of weird magic... Or maybe it's the simple answer and there was only one memory spell.  Lila?  Your turn in the circle."

Lila had hardly been blinking through the spell.

"Were you reading her mind?  Are you going to be reading mine?" she challenges.

"No, more like..."  She pauses a moment, fishing for the right word.  "A check for consistency, if your mind's all in rhythm with each other.  If I had enough experience feeling the details, I could use it to tell whether you were elves or humans or naga or so - but that's it, and unfortunately I can't even do that."

Violet's quite intrigued by this.  "Would it have to be one crafter, or - our mother works with computers; could they have modularized it somehow?  What did the visual effects mean?"

"Oh yes, you can definitely modularize golem-crafting and have multiple crafters do it!  Most golemcrafters do!  But you still need to fit it all together and make it all work together as one golem at the end.  Unless you're making a network along the lines of an octopus with multiple brains and almost multiple different minds - there're some fascinating attempts like that in Sumatra that I'd love to see, if I didn't have so many other things to study --  But anyway, you've definitely got one single mind - I've proven that, in case you were doubting - and that still runs up against the fundamental problems of pressing spellfolds together.

"I don't know much about calculating magic with computers - that's another fascinating field of study - computers are so recent and I don't think most mages understand anything near their potential.  Just like I don't think they understand the implications of telecommunications and surveillance cameras -- but that's another matter."

"...Human brains have sections, though."

"Yes, and the sections are working together intricately to make there be just one 'you' overall."

"...I suppose that's not false."

Lila steps up to the circle.  "Here, could you step out and let her check me?"

She looks curiously at Aeslin.  "... You look human, Aeslin... are you?"

Violet exits the circle, and watches whatever happens next intently.

"I wonder if it's possible to build a self-improving spell."

"I'm actually a quarter-oread," Aeslin says.  "And in theory yes!  Golems can cast magic themselves, so we should be able to build a spell to improve itself, but it hasn't been done to any significance at any smaller remove --"

Lila steps into the circle.

"Oread?  That's a rock-nymph, right?  Are dryads and naiads real too?"

"Naiads yes, but they look even less humanlike than Grandpa Palakk - before you ask, these robes aren't hiding anything; I got the human body genes.  Or I guess you could call it human-or-elf-body; Elves look so much the same they've enrolled in human schools without any problems.  Lots of theories why; no answers.  But anyway, the memory test spell."

She taps her wand to Lila's forehead, and then the circle.  Once more, the wand lights up with sparks.  This time, the sparks flying to Lila cluster around her head like in a hairband or coronet, as Aeslin waves her wand in a slightly different rhythmic pattern.

She murmurs something to herself as she casts, but it's in a different language.

After a few minutes, she bends down and strikes her wand across the circle again.

"Good news, Lila!  I can't find any signs of spells sloppily modifying your memory!  Again, doesn't mean they didn't, but it means we've still got an interesting question on our hands!"

"...Huh.  Wonder if you could do - search by specific constraints, if you had enough power."

And then there is magic.

"...Well, that's just great news."

"Oh?  What exactly is 'great news', exactly, dear daughters of mine?  And their unexpected visitor?"

"Mom!  We were -"

Her first reflex, from dozens or hundreds of books, is that telling Mom would just mean she interferes with whatever magic adventures.  But she doesn't like lying... not to mention how lying to Mom usually doesn't work.  And she has no idea whether Violet or Aeslin would be willing to back her up on a lie more detailed than "homework" if she told one.

And then she notices how the circle's still glistening unnaturally.

With only a couple moments' pause, she deflects.  "We were talking about Violet - you tell her."  She nudges Violet.

"Both the obvious tests returned negative.  Aeslin's Lila's blatantly-witchy classmate."

"...That's very resourceful of the two of you, but that was not staying out of trouble, Lila, darling.  You don't know who she works for, if indeed she does work for anyone, or whether she's aligned with anyone who'd wish us ill.  As it happens, I know who you are, Aeslin Sellon, though I had not expected to meet you in this particular circumstance.  Your tutor, with whom I am acquainted, often praises your spellcraft and maligns your dress sense."

Aeslin's surprised - they're actually telling their mother?

Okay, maybe the Masquerade's going to be coming down today.  Hopefully not.  Next to no adults even realize it might happen soon, so they'd all be blaming her, and she really doesn't want to have to run away to Great-Uncle's mountains...

Oh great, she's a mage after all!?

"Uh, thank you, and hi, Ms., er, I don't remember your name?  Your daughters told me a really interesting wild story that doesn't have any of the obvious explanations."

"Mondegreen.  You may call me Ophelia, if you'd prefer.  And if you are referring to the fact that Lila does not remember Violet's entire existence...yes, that was quite a surprise to discover at breakfast this morning.  I've not found any historical evidence of spells with such power or specificity.

"It's really quite concerning, especially considering that I detected nothing."

"Mom?  You know magic too?  Why didn't you tell me!?"

"Me neither.  I didn't find any golem flaws in Violet up to six weeks' compounding equivalent, and I didn't find any traces of memory-spell sloppiness in Lila's mind.  I have to admit, I don't have any clear idea what to check next.  I could check Violet for memory spells, but at that point I could just as well check myself - and I did."

"I was planning to do so this year, once you'd acquired your drivers' licenses; magic is a dangerous tool.  I disagree with the Masquerade, but I do think that it should not be given to anyone who cannot be trusted with a car.  Leaving aside that I find the present metrics for who is trusted with that rather poorly designed, I'd nonetheless be a hypocrite."

"...That is very concerning, Aeslin.  ...We should test for larger intervals, perhaps, but...Somehow, I suspect we will find nothing."

"Are you secretly working as a sorceress?  Have you been casting spells on me - on us - in secret?  Do we have some nonhuman ancestors too?"

"Perhaps - but -"

Aeslin ignores Lila's bubbling questions.

"How good magic detection do you have?  I didn't notice any wards when I entered, but then I wasn't watching for them - could someone circumvent them?  Because I have to say, an expertly-done memory spell on Lila is more boring but still much more likely than an expert golemcrafter coupled with an unknown mass memory spell!"

"You didn't notice my taste in art?  ...I believed my wards rather unimpeachable, but as the burgeoning field of computer security teaches, there is no security that has no flaw.  There are only flaws that have not yet been found.  Clearly someone, somehow, has, here; the breach definitely occurred overnight.  I will check the wardstone over this evening.  Hopefully there will be some useful information.

"I do do magical consulting, Lila, but my day job is in fact a real job that I really do.  I have not been secretly enspelling you, save for wards.  Yes, you're at least half-elven."

"Do you have any enemies you think might've been responsible for this?  Or even any idea why?"

"I think the Masquerade is needlessly causing trouble for all involved parties.  Other than that?  No."

"So if someone was researching spells to preserve the Masquerade - say, a mass memory spell - they might decide your family's a good test subject?"

"If - if so, what'll they try next?"

"They'll try to see how well it worked."

"...Whoever decided that that was a good idea will regret it.  No-one hurts my family."

Lila hugs her mom.

"Now that I do know, can I come with you when you check the wardstone?"

"Yes, you both should.  Though first we'll need to get out of the room, here."

"Uh, should I be going?  I'd love to help, especially with investigations..."

"...You may as well stay.  If you were going to do something, you already would have."

"Where's the wardstone?  What's it supposed to guard against?"

"It's the anchor-point to the wards, that guards against everything I can think of, Lila."

"Hmm... you've got to allow magic inside, and visitors - unless you lock the whole place down at night?  And 'hostile intent' isn't the easiest concept to check for..."

(Lila is waiting eagerly for her mother to lead the way)

"I don't have to do either of those things, necessarily; you're right that I had not locked the place down as thoroughly against visitors as I could have, though.  Allowing my daughters to have friends over without my incipient hovering had a bit more priority, before.  Regardless, now that it's come up, I can show them how the keying process works when it's on maximum paranoia.  It's actually built alongside a comparable electronic security system."

Ophelia continues not leading the way to anywhere at all!

"Hostile intent?  No.  Hostile armament, however...Well, I give my analysis spellwork quite some credit."

"Maybe that's the problem."  She taps her wand.  "I could make this some really hostile armament if I wanted to."

"No, you really couldn't.  If I hadn't had the wards stand down, that wand would have melted in your hands."

"That's a subtle ward!  Do you exempt yourself and your own wand?  Or stand it down whenever you're using it?"

"The former wouldn't be inaccurate to say, though it's not as cut-and-dry as that suggests."

"Could that be how whoever-it-was sneaked in last night?  A hole there?"