I got home, panting, and closed the front door, trying not to shut it. I didn't need my family thinking anything of it. But luckily, the house was silent. My parents probably weren't home yet, or they'd be fussing around in the kitchen with dinner. I headed for the stairs, walking past Harley focused on a game in the office, and ran up.

Upon reaching my room, I quickly turned around and shut the door. I let out a big breath. That thing - whatever it was - was after me. Golden boy. Who was he? What did he want from me?

I didn't realize I was backing up until I bumped into my bed. Surprisingly I didn't trip on anything on the way there, because my room was a mess. But I needed to calm down. I should have made tea or something. Immediately I thought of what Dr. Singh had told me earlier. Meditation.

     I dropped my backpack and positioned myself on my bed. I'd never done it before, but I was pretty sure you were supposed to sit cross-legged with your hands resting on your knees. I could do it, it was easy. I tried to calm myself and slow down my breathing.

It should get me thinking more clearly, and then I could asses what had happened. But I couldn't stop panting. I was an athlete, for star's sake, I should have been fine. But for some reason I couldn't stop. Maybe I should just start anyway. I straightened myself and closed my eyes.

Pitch black.

I opened them. No, not the darkness. My breaths were still ragged. I took deep breaths to slow them down, and noticed a feeling in my stomach. It felt like a swarm of bees. I tried closing my eyes again.

I let myself fall into the place of darkness, abandoning my fears. That light couldn't find me here. But here wasn't much comfort either. I tried to focus on my breaths, but eventually my lungs took over and I slipped into a different state of mind. My mind was fighting off thoughts to stay like this - a state of nothingness. I let myself be empty, reduced to nothing but a blank slate. For a moment I felt like I was floating.

How familiar it felt. There was nobody there, just me. I was reminded by how lonely nothingness is. This darkness should protect me, but why did I feel more scared?

I heard a low growling, and scratches on the ground. I couldn't see anything, but I imagined creatures skittering across the floor. Moving back, I felt moisture seep through my shoes, drenching my feet.

Then a gut-wrenching screech. I covered my ears and as I looked down, I saw my shadow growing in front of me. I turned around. Sure enough, I could make out the figure of the black eagle from the dim light that had appeared. It let out another piercing screech.

I stepped back, hoping it wouldn't see me. But I had a feeling of dread in my chest, knowing that whatever I could try was hopeless. It always got me.

The eagle stared at me with its jet-black eyes, and cocked its head, as if assessing me. I was afraid of what it might see. Then it screeched again, and I gasped as its head lunged towards me. I ducked, but it struck again, closing its beak around me. My bones crunched, and it released me. I fell into the hard ground, my body bruised by the crush. Then it bit me again, and again, and again like a little bug. Each time felt worse than the last, but I knew it was just toying with me. It could kill me with one bite, but for some reason it wanted me to hurt.

I reached out with my arm, wishing desperately that I could drag myself away. But I didn't have the strength. And there was nowhere to run.

Just then, I saw the golden light again. It was faint at first, but the glow steadily got stronger and stronger. I could vaguely see the ground in front of me, littered with dirt and puddles. Weakly, I tried turning my head, pain immediately shooting through my neck. I rolled over to lay on my back, slowly letting the pressure ease.

Ahead of me was the eagle, its dark eyes ablaze by the golden knight standing in front of it. It had to be the golden boy. From my angle, it looked like he had light blond hair, sort of a honey color. But there wasn't much else I could tell about him. He was wrapped in the golden light.

The eagle cawed and tried to bite him, but the boy quickly dodged it. Then he thrust his hand forward facing up, and a spark of light was emitted. He moved his other hand towards it and stretched it across with his fingers, forming a long sword. A sword made of light.

He lunged toward the eagle, dodging all of his attempts at bites. The eagle spread his wings in frustration, but the boy promptly raised his sword and cut one of his wings straight through. The eagle cried out and turned on him, trying desperately to keep up with him. But for golden boy, he was just a big target. He continued cutting the bird, feathers flying, his sword glowing, until it was forced to kneel down. Finally, he raised his sword for the killing blow, and brought it down on the wailing eagle's head.

I watched in horror and in awe, unable to move. As the sword dissipated, the light emanating from the boy got brighter. It became so bright that the sky turned white, and I could finally see the landscape. It was an endless expanse of nothing, a blank abyss. But no longer dark. The chasm was illuminated, and I couldn't see any of the creatures that I had thought were there. I looked back at the boy. He was looking at me, too, and our eyes met.

My eyes flashed open, and found myself staring into another set of eyes. It took me a moment to adjust to the dimness of the room compared to the light I had just seen. The boy who the eyes belonged to sighed a big breath and lowered down. He was sitting on his knees in front of my bed. How did he get in here?

Suddenly, I realized something. The slope of his nose, the bushy eyebrows, the curve of his jawline. I had known these things for thousands of years. I remembered him. Everything was coming back to me in the blink of an eye. I remembered, and the word rolled off my tongue... "Leo?"

He smiled with relief and let out a breath. "Yeah. Hey, Pisces."

My eyebrows shot up. Pisces.

I was Pisces, one of the twelve Zodiac.

A ruler, and protector of my kingdom and the people of Earth.

"Leo... what happened?" My head flitted around, trying to make sense of everything. It was a human's room, and I recognized it. I had memories in it. But how? I squinted at a trophy on the wall. It depicted a person swimming through water, and at the bottom the words read:

County Swim 2017
1st Place 200 fly
Basil Galley

     My eyes widened. "Who's Basil? Why do I remember her?"

     Leo sighed. "I should have realized I would have to spell everything out for you. What's the last thing you remember?"

     I put my hand to my head. It was like I had two different sets of memories. On one hand, I remembered trying to meditate. On the other hand.... I remembered sitting in the conference room. "I don't know which one was real... Did I just wake up from a dream? We were having a meeting... and then someone else burst in. That's all."

     Leo looked to the side, dread creeping to his face.

     "Although... I do remember feeling cold. And helpless for some reason. I don't know why, but it was like I was drowning... or falling or something. And I never drown!" I snapped my finger up.

     He gave a light smile, but there was not enough in him to chuckle. "It was Aquila. He... put a curse on all of us. As far as I know we're all humans now, and you and I are the only ones with our memories."

     My eyes narrowed. "But, that doesn't make sense." We were divine rulers, celestials, not humans. This kind of thing was impossible.

     Then I noticed something about Leo. He looked slightly different than normal. His eyes were not golden, but a kind of light brown. Tentatively, I reached my hand out to his face. He watched as I did, with a sad look. His skin was not flawless as always, but had rough textures and discoloration. There were a few moles on his neck, and his hair was longer than it normally was, making him appear almost shaggy. "Leo... what happened to you?"

     "I'm just a human now," he said, pulling my arm away.

     A worry bubbled up inside me, and I scrambled off my bed to my desk. I frantically sifted through the drawer.

     "Pisces, what are you doing?"

     I pulled out the first mirror I could find, and my breathing got more ragged. "No... no!" I put my hands to my face, the terror glinting in my eyes. Never in a million years could I imagine this. There were dark patches under my eyes, like someone had left coffee stains on my normally pristine complexion. My hair felt like it had a strange fluffy frizz. My eyebrows had hairs out of place. And worst of all, as I turned my head I saw a little red dot on my temple. "Oh my gosh! I have a pimple Leo!" I slammed the mirror down. "A pimple. What even is that?!"

     He smiled wryly. "Yeah, people get those Pisces."

     "But we're not people, Leo! What do we do? What are we..." I struggled to catch my breath. Finally, I spoke again. "So this wasn't all a dream?"

He shook his head. "If it was, it would be a pretty long one."

I furrowed my eyebrows, and he explained.

     "I'm pretty sure it's been at least 5 years."

     It took me a second to process this. 5 years. My mind was spiraling out of control. That would be not too long in the Celestial kingdom, but on Earth that's... Before I could respond, he grabbed my wrist and started pulling me out of the room. "Right," he said. "Now we need to get out of here."

"But... I have more questions! I need to at least grab makeup!"

"We don't have time right now," he responded.

     Just then, a loud rumble started below us. The garage. "My parents are home," I whispered. "Or, Basil's..."

     Leo cursed under his breath. "We'll move slow."

     He pulled me slowly down the stairs, and we got to the office door. As we moved past it, I could see Harley in there, his back turned to us playing a game. I subconsciously stopped. "Harley..."

     The garage door opened, and I heard loud footsteps walk through. Leo pulled me forward. We tip toed down the hallway toward the front door. But then a figure moved ahead of us, into the kitchen. My dad. We froze. If he looked forward he would see us. But instead he stuck his head in the fridge.

     We moved forward ever so carefully as he shifted around in there, and the whole time I could only think 'where was my mom?' My dad pulled his head out, and Leo swiftly pulled me into the nearest open door.

     "Leo!" I whispered. "Now we won't kn-"

     "Shh!" He put his hand over my mouth. We stood there, in the entrance to the bathroom, and heard footsteps approaching. My eyes widened, and Leo pulled me against him, so we were leaning against the wall.

     We froze there and waited for what felt like an eternity as the footsteps grew louder. And louder. And finally they were right there. I could see a black ponytail wave by in the doorway, and then it was gone. My mom.

     Once it felt clear, Leo released me, and I raised my fist at him. But he only grabbed my raised wrist again and pulled me through the rest of the hallway. We passed a wall with a big collage of family photos on them. The faces of my mom, my dad, and Harley all smiling as we stood in front of something. And then there was my face, or rather, Basil's face, smiling with them. A pang of guilt shot through me.

     We creaked open the front door and flew out, our feet pounding on the street as we ran. And as I ran, I couldn't stop the well of emotions that was rising. I couldn't stop thinking about the faces of my family. I couldn't stop thinking about the house that we left behind. Even if I had only been with them for a year, I had 18 years worth of memories to go with it. I blinked away a tear. What did those memories mean to me? Were they even real? But I couldn't think about that right now. I was suddenly aware of a whole other life that I knew was real. And that was more important than those stupid human memories.