:=: Jessica :=:

Jess and Kara had gotten up early together, but despite their early start they still didn't have enough time for breakfast. There was just enough time for a quick coffee, before they had to hurry out to catch the bus.

It was a chilly morning, there was a stiff breeze and some blowing snow that made waiting at the bus stop unpleasant.

Jess grumped a bit, "I can't wait till we get the teleportation spell done! We could jump straight to the dining hall and have breakfast there, skip the commute completely."

Kara frowned and glanced around, then replied, "Shouldn't be talking about that sort of thing out here, Jess. And I don't think your sister would be too happy if we were 'jumping' around where people could see us."

Jessica shrugged, "We'd do it somewhere private. We could use my room at residence for the rest of the year. Teleport there in the morning, get breakfast, go about our day, then go back to the dorm in the afternoon and teleport home."

Kara was looking thoughtful, like she might actually be considering it. Jess was positive it was a better option than waiting around in the cold for the bus, and if it meant they could spend an extra half-hour in bed every morning that was just a bonus.

At long last the bus arrived, and they quickly got on board. The ride was fairly boring, and stretched what would have been a fifteen minute drive - or a zero minute teleport - into a nearly forty minute commute. They even had to transfer once at the bus depot, since the condo was so far from the university. The condo was great in almost every way, but it just was not conveniently located for university students.

Finally they arrived at the campus, and made their way to their first class. Jessica was growing more and more apprehensive as they approached the room.

Their first class every Monday was with Mr. Preston. She hadn't seen him or heard from him since last Wednesday, when she'd met him in his office. That night she'd passed on his decision to Nikki, and presumably Nicole had let the Goddess know about Doug's decision.

Nothing further had been said though, by anyone. Nikki hadn't told her anything, and there'd been no announcements or anything about Mr. Preston or his class in her university email account.

When they reached the room, Jess saw other students already there waiting. She and Kara took their seats and waited as well.

The clock ticked to nine am, then as it got to as it got to five minutes past, several students were getting a bit restless. Jessica stayed silent but felt a growing sense of dread.

Finally, at about ten minutes after nine, Ms. Winters came into the class, and Jess started to feel her stomach growing cold and heavy.

Ms. Winters was in her fifties, her hair was blonde fading to silver, and she wore it in a peculiar bowl-shaped cut. She wore large glasses, that spent as much time hanging around her neck on a chain as they did perched on her nose. She was about the same height as Jessica but carried a little extra weight on her frame, especially around her hips and behind.

Her style was rather eclectic, but today her clothes reminded Jess of some of her sister's outfits. The older prof was wearing a long dark crinkly skirt, and a loose t-shirt, and had a long heavy sweater hanging open overtop of that.

Her normally-quirky expression was absent this morning, and she looked serious. She stood at the front of the class and cleared her throat. "Good morning folks. I'm very sorry, but I come bearing sad news." She took a breath, then continued, "Mr. Preston passed away last Thursday night. He had been fighting cancer for some time, and unfortunately, it finally got the best of him..."

There were some shocked gasps around the room. Jessica just closed her eyes and let her head slump forward a bit.

She couldn't help but feel guilty. Even if everything worked according to plan and this was what he wanted, she couldn't shake the feeling that he was gone because she'd interfered. She wanted to heal him so he could keep teaching, not have him disappear that much sooner.

She felt Kara's hand on her shoulder, as her friend whispered, "Jess, are you ok?"

Jessica nodded slightly. Ms. Winters was speaking again, and she looked up, focusing on what the woman was saying.

"Class this morning is cancelled, but starting next week we'll be resuming here at the same time. Mr. Preston briefed me on his course outline before the semester started, and he was keeping me updated on the class and all of your progress. He knew this day was coming, and he made sure that we'd all be able to carry on without him. So for now, class is dismissed, but I'll see you all again here next Monday morning."

The other students slowly started to pack up their things and head out. Some looked almost as upset as Jess felt, others didn't seem that bothered. Ms. Winters stayed where she was, watching as they all slowly filed out. Kara packed up as well, but stayed in her seat, watching Jessica.

When everyone else was gone, Jessica finally got up and moved up to the front. "Ms. Winters?"

The older woman nodded, "Yes Jessica, what is it?"

"Will there be a service or something? I'd like to pay my respects..."

Ms. Winters sighed and shook her head, "There was a small family service yesterday, dear. Just family, and a few close friends were there. Mr. Preston didn't want anyone to make a big deal out of things. That's why he kept quiet about his illness, and made all his arrangements in advance."

Jess sighed. "Oh... I see... Well, at least I got to say goodbye to him..."

She then noticed both Kara and Ms. Winters looking at her a bit oddly after that statement.

Jessica then clarified, "I had to see him at his office on Wednesday... I said bye as I left."

Ms. Winters then asked, "What were you seeing him about? I looked at his notes this morning, and there was no mention about meeting with you last week."

Jess bluffed a little, "Oh, it was just a follow-up. I'd seen him the week before as well. There were some issues at home and I had to miss some classes. It was just a minute or two, he wanted to know if things had improved. Maybe he didn't bother to write it down?"

Ms. Winters just nodded, "I see."

Jessica then moved back to her desk and gathered up her stuff, and finally she headed out with Kara.

"You ok, Jess?" Kara sounded worried about her.

"Yeah... I'll be ok... Do you want to go get a coffee or something, since we have some time to kill?"

Kara nodded, and the two made their way over to the dining hall. They got coffee, and some food since they'd had to skip breakfast at home this morning.

Once they were seated together, Kara asked quietly, "Didn't you talk with Sam and Nikki, about helping Mr. Preston?"

Jess sighed, and nodded. "I talked to Nikki... The two of us went to see Mr. Preston a week and a half ago, back on the twentieth."

Kara frowned, "And?"

Jessica shook her head, "We couldn't do what he wanted..." She really didn't want to lie to Kara, but Nicole had said they should keep it just between the two of them.

Kara sighed, "Oh... I see."

Suddenly Jess felt some tears coming up. She didn't actually know if Nikki or the Goddess had even done anything. Maybe Mr. Preston had actually died naturally from his illness, before they could intervene. He had made his decision last Wednesday, she'd passed it on to Nicole, and then he'd died the following night... She hoped that the Goddess had helped him, but she wouldn't know for sure until she could talk to Nikki about it.

Kara could obviously see the tears in her eyes, and said "Hey, Jess, it's ok. You did what you could. And like you said, you got to see him last week, right before he... I'm sure he knew you liked him."

Jess smiled weakly, wiping her eyes. "Yeah. I told him he was my favourite teacher... I wanted to make sure he knew that."

Kara nodded, "I'm glad you did. I'm sure he appreciated hearing it."

Jessica nodded. She then took a deep breath and then a sip of her coffee. She decided to talk about something else, something happier.

"So... You're coming back to the condo after class this afternoon. Full moon tonight, first sabbat for both you and Cindy. What do you think?"

Kara hesitated. "I'm still a bit nervous, to be honest. I don't know why..."

Jess smiled, "You've done fine the last two Sundays. This is the same, but different. Less work and stuff, more fun? Though we'll probably be teaching you some more spells tonight. You need to get caught up to me and Sam and Nikki."

Kara nodded, "So, some fun, but then more work again."

"I guess a little work." Jess shrugged. "But it's magic, that's always cool, fun to learn more."

Kara nodded again but stayed quiet.

Jessica then grinned, "You're staying the night again too right? That's three nights in a row. You may as well just move in, at this point."

Kara blushed slightly, then said with a small smile, "I'm seriously considering it..."

Jess smiled widely when she heard that.

:=: Kara :=:

The rest of the day's classes had been fairly quiet. Kara was still worried about Jessica though. Her friend's mood remained low through the rest of the day. She was clearly still in shock over the loss of her favourite prof.

Finally around three in the afternoon, the two of them headed over to the nearby cafe.

Kara knew Jessica thought of their weekly get-together as 'Queer Coffee Club' but she'd told Jess not to say that to the others. She knew some people didn't like the word 'queer', and she also felt it wasn't right to make assumptions. They knew Carrie was gay, and Orin had sort of hinted he was either gay or bi. And while they had some suspicions about Mike, neither he or Megan had ever confirmed anything, as far as Kara knew.

As the six friends sat around a table with their drinks, Kara frowned. Something felt off, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was.

The mood today was low all around it seemed. Carrie was already talking, about being homesick and how much she missed her girlfriend. She'd be going home for the holidays of course, but that was still a couple weeks away. Orin and Mike then talked a bit about the upcoming holidays as well, and going home to see their friends and family. Megan was a local girl so she didn't have that problem, she still lived with her parents.

Kara had already made her mind up about not going home, but she wasn't ready to tell the others she'd be staying with Jess. Fortunately before anyone asked her about her plans, Orin asked Jess what had her so out of sorts.

That led to Jess talking about her favourite teacher dying, and that brought about gasps of surprise and words of sympathy from Carrie, Mike, and Orin. Megan didn't say anything, she just looked sort of awkward and kept quiet.

After a few moments of silence, Mike then started talking about something funny that had happened in class today, to try and bring the mood up a bit.

Something still felt sort of off to Kara though, and she looked over her friends, trying to place what it was.

Jess was still looking upset, but not as sad as before. There was definitely still sadness in her expression, but she also seemed a little uneasy. Kara wondered if Jessica was feeling the 'off' sensation as well.

Kara had known Megan about as long as she'd known Jess, though she wasn't anywhere near as close to the brunette. They'd met in the first week, she and Jess shared one class with her, photography with Mrs. Brown. She knew Megan was also first-year in visual arts, but on a slightly different program.

Kara looked at the two music students next. She'd known both Carrie and Mike since the second week. The five of them had started meeting up for coffee that week. And then the week after, Mike had invited Orin to their weekly get-togethers, and the six of them had continued meeting up almost every week since.

Kara looked at all of them quietly, but nothing stood out as wrong or off about any of them.

Finally she gave up on it. Wherever the 'off' feeling was coming from, Kara couldn't pin it down. It did cross her mind that there's probably a spell she could use, but the only one she'd learned so far was the clairvoyance spell.

She might learn more tonight, but for now she was trying not to think too hard about her first sabbat. She didn't want to let herself get too anxious when it was still several hours away.

Kara hadn't joined in the conversation at all, too busy lost in her own thoughts, so she was surprised to realize it was already four o'clock and their little group was getting ready to head their separate ways. They all exited the cafe together. Outside, Mike, Carrie, and Orin bid them all a good day, then the three headed off in different directions.

Megan held back and looked at Jessica. "Jess? Before you go, could I have a word with you? In private?"

Kara raised an eyebrow, then frowned. Her first thought was the girl was going to ask Jess out or something.

Megan was cute, and suddenly Kara could see she might be a rival. She was about 5'6", halfway between Jess and Kara. Slim, athletic, she had a very pretty face. She kept her dark hair short, and she had bright blue eyes and an attractive smile.

Jess hesitated, looking more awkward. She glanced at Kara, then looked back at the brunette and told her, "Kara's with us, Megan. It's ok to talk. We should go somewhere private though."

Kara frowned more, and asked "Jessica? What...?"

The redhead then suggested, "Let's go to res. I know my room's empty, the three of us can talk there."

Megan nodded quietly. Kara was curious, but kept silent for now. She knew this had to be about magic, and figured the strange feeling she'd had during their coffee must have been coming from Megan.

As the three walked towards the Lowenberger building, Kara kept trying to figure out what was going on. She and Jess had known Megan since the first week of September, but they hadn't spent any time with her. Not outside of Mrs. Brown's class or the weekly coffee meet-ups. Aside from being in a different visual arts program, she also knew Megan was active in some of the university's sports programs.

She'd had no indication Megan was involved with Sam and Nikki, or their 'secret club' though. And she couldn't remember seeing a tattoo on the brunette's wrist, so she was sure Megan hadn't been 'initiated'.

Jessica's dorm room was empty of course. Jess's bed still had her sheets and pillow on it, but Tina's side had been stripped bare. Jess sat on the chair by the desk, and Kara sat on the foot of the bed.

Megan wheeled Tina's chair around. Before she sat down though, she leaned forward and pulled Jessica into a hug.

Jess looked a bit surprised, and Kara was even more startled.

As the brunette held Jess, she was grinning happily and gushed, "Thank you Jessica! It really has been a miracle! Diane and Michael... I mean, mom and dad are happy again, and healthy! It's just like they used to be, before... Thank you so much!"

Megan finally let go of Jess and then sat down on the other chair.

Jessica was blushing a little, still looking surprised at the sudden embrace. She was smiling as well though, as she asked "How are you settling in?"

Now it was Megan's turn to blush. "Wow... I mean, it's a huge adjustment! This is only the fourth day, and I'm still getting used to everything."

Kara had heard enough to know that Jess, and probably Sam and Nikki, had done some sort of magic for the brunette, but beyond that she still had no idea what was going on and wanted to understand what Megan was up to with Jessica. "Jess, what's all this about? What's going on?"

Jess apologized, "Sorry Kara. Megan is... She's Mr. Preston's granddaughter."

Kara frowned and looked at the brunette again.

Megan gave her a nervous smile and said, "Hi."

She certainly wasn't looking or acting like she'd just lost her grandfather. And none of this explained the conversation Kara was trying to understand.

Jessica then said, "Megan, I didn't realize you'd be coming to Brock... It was a little shocking to have you suddenly join us for coffee today."

Kara looked at her friend, frowning. Megan had been coming to their coffee meet-ups right from the start... Hadn't she? Kara suddenly realized, thinking back to last Monday she could remember two different versions of the afternoon. One where Megan had been there, and one where there'd only been five of them at the cafe.

Megan grinned, "I couldn't resist. But I'm not doing traditional drawing this time, I've already done that. This time around, I'm focusing on modern media... Photography, videography, electronic media. And I'm doing a bunch of sports as well, not mountain biking though. No sense tempting fate again! Anyways, I'll probably still see you around campus, and of course we'll see each other in Mrs. Brown's class, and at coffee Mondays."

Kara was staring at Megan again. She knew something magical had inserted this girl into their memories, and Jessica seemed ok with that fact. Kara was still cautious and suspicious.

"Barbara... I mean, Ms. Winters should do well enough with the class. She has very detailed instructions, and she was already helping a lot anyways." Megan then added, "She was one of the handful of people who knew about the cancer. She's known since August, so she'd be able to take over whenever it happened."

Jessica sighed, "Ms. Winters is ok, but I'll still miss Mr. Preston..." She then grimaced, "Oh my Goddess, it's really weird talking to you like this! I'm sure it's even weirder for you."

Megan giggled a little, "It is! But it's like you said? I already know how to... I know how to be me."

Jess sighed again, "I'm sorry I missed the funeral..."

Megan shrugged, "The funeral was small and quiet and boring, and kind of depressing. And it was one of the weirdest things so far? How many people are forced to attend their own funeral?!" She made a face at that. "Couldn't exactly tell mom and dad why I didn't need to go, though..."

Kara finally interrupted again, exasperated. "Jessica? Megan? Will one of you please tell me what the hell is going on?"

Jessica looked at her and said, "Sorry Kara. I didn't know till I saw her at the cafe, but I thought maybe you'd realize too. Maybe only me and Nikki know, because we were both involved." She then glanced at Megan.

The brunette gave Kara another nervous smile, and said, "Hi Kara... You used to know me as Doug Preston..."

Kara's jaw dropped open and her eyes went wide.

As she sat there stunned, Jess continued to talk with Megan.

"What was it like? Can you tell us?" Jessica sounded very curious.

Megan grimaced, "I was really nervous that night, after I spoke to you on Wednesday? I sort of thought it was going to happen that night when I went to bed. But then I woke up Thursday morning, same old Doug, and then I started to doubt and question the whole thing." She sighed a little. "I even started wondering if it was some kind of elaborate prank or joke. Though I couldn't explain how Nicole had done the thing with the lights and the fireplace..."

Jess nodded in agreement, "The 'magic demonstration' bit is pretty hard to ignore."

Kara found herself agreeing with that as well, remembering when Jess had first shown her the light spell and then a glamour.

Megan then continued, "So by Thursday night, I was sort of ready to forget the whole thing. I went to bed like usual. Then there were some very strange dreams... I dreamt of someone who called herself 'Ceridwen' and said she was a Goddess..."

Kara and Jess exchanged a look at that, and Jessica nodded, "Ok. That would be 'Ceridwen, Goddess of Transformation and Rebirth'. Appropriate."

Megan's eyes widened, "You mean she's real?"

Kara nodded slightly, while Jessica answered, "Yes. She's the one who gave you your miracle." She then added, "Go on though, I want to hear the rest of this story!"

The brunette nodded, "Ok... Well after the weird dreams, I woke up Friday morning and first thing I noticed was I could breath clearly, and there wasn't any pain! It was amazing! Then the next thing I noticed..." She blushed, "I sat up and the next thing I noticed was that I was a girl. My ugly old pyjamas had been replaced with a little white nightie..."

Megan blushed a little more, then continued, "And of course I wasn't in the same room, or even the same house! I got out of bed and there was a mirror on my closet door, and I saw myself... And then all these new memories started flooding into my head. I don't know how long it lasted, but when it was finished, I was mostly me, and Doug was more like a memory..."

Jessica just smiled and nodded, "That sounds about right."

Megan then asked, "What about you, Jessica? You told me a little last week. Can I ask, who were you? Before?"

Kara looked to Jess in surprise, "You told her?" She remembered Jess had shared her secret on the night she'd offered Kara a miracle of her own, and at the time Jessica had said no-one else but Sam and Nikki knew about her past.

Jessica shook her head, "I didn't tell her the details Kara. Only that I'd experienced a change that was similar to what we'd offered her." She then looked to Megan and said, "Like I said last week, the circumstances for me were different... And I don't really like thinking about it too much, to be honest."

Jess hesitated, then explained, "The short version is, I was trans but had a really rough time of it. Sam and Nikki came along and offered me the chance at a better life, and I took it. My miracle changed a lot of outside stuff for me... Basically magicked me into the body I should have had in the first place, and into a better family situation. But I don't think my personality changed all that much, because I was already me on the inside?"

Megan nodded slowly. "Thanks for telling me, Jessica. I'm glad you got your miracle." She then asked, "If that Goddess is real, is there a way I can thank her? I take it, she's the one who actually did all this for me? You and Nikki were... Ambassadors or something, for her?"

Kara shrugged slightly, "I guess you could pray to Her, thank Her that way? That's the normal way of communicating with Gods..."

Jess grinned and added, "We can also pass along your thanks. We kind of know Her."

Kara sighed and gave her friend a look. She was pretty sure that was exactly the sort of thing Sam didn't want her sister talking about.

Megan smiled, "Thank you, both of you. And I will try praying to her... But if you'd pass along my gratitude, that would be appreciated too." She then said, "I'd better get going. Thanks for the chat, Jessica, Kara. See you both at Mrs. Brown's class tomorrow."

The brunette gave Jessica another quick hug, then Kara was surprised to get a hug as well, before Megan turned and left the room.

:=: Henry :=:

Henry was frustrated. He'd been watching the university for a week now, but he still hadn't seen Jason. He knew what the problem was. The place was just too damn big, and he didn't know where to look. This would have been a task for the PI, but the man had refused to do any more work until Henry finished paying for the last job.

So he was on his own.

He was parked in one of the many lots. Each day he'd tried a different location. Today he'd got a good spot, sort of in the south / centre of the campus. It gave him a view of the main group of buildings, the main entrance, and three other parking lots. His notepad was on the seat next to him, along with some loose pages and a pair of binoculars. He'd try not to use the binoculars if he didn't have to. He wanted to avoid raising suspicions for now.

It was around four in the afternoon when his luck turned. He spotted a group of students emerging from a restaurant not far from the university's main entrance. One of them had bright red hair.

Henry glanced around, then risked the binoculars.

"Jason..."

For the first time in the Wrong life, Henry could see his son. Jason was standing with five other students, they were talking. There were two boys, two girls, one Henry wasn't sure about, and then Jason. After a moment, the two boys and one of the girls waved and started walking away in different directions. The other girl and the question-mark were still talking with Jason.

Then the three of them started moving together, and they were heading this way.

Henry set the binoculars down, and made some notes, the time and location, where he'd seen the group of students. Then he kept watching.

As they neared, he ducked down out of sight. The three actually passed within ten feet of his pick-up. He could have grabbed his boy right then and there, but he knew that wouldn't be enough. He needed to get at the demons first.

After a minute, Henry slowly sat back up and looked. The three students had crossed the lot and were walking straight to another building. Henry looked to the seat next to him. One of the things he'd picked up was a map of the campus. He checked it and confirmed, Jason and the other two were heading for one of the residence buildings, the 'Lowenberger' building.

After the three had disappeared inside, Henry started up the old pick-up. He moved to another parking lot, a little further south, and found a spot that gave him a good view of the residence building. Then he settled back. He knew he might here all night, if this is where Jason was staying. Henry didn't mind though. He'd found his son, that's all that mattered.

It was only about thirty or forty minutes later when Henry was surprised to see Jason emerge from the residence building, with that question-mark still walking alongside. Henry checked again with the binoculars. He needed to know if he was dealing with a third demon.

After a few moments he decided this wasn't a demon, but another victim. It was clearly a girl, but she was dressed in men's clothes, and had her blonde hair cut short to look like a man.

Henry shook his head as he set the binoculars aside. Whatever the demons had done to his son, they were obviously doing to this girl. Well, she might be saved too when he destroyed the abominations. It wasn't really his concern though, and if she got in his way, he'd end her along with the demons.

He watched Jason and the blonde as they made their way to a bus stop. That was unexpected. He'd figured his boy was staying in one of the residences. This explained though why he'd been so frustrated the past week. He'd assumed he'd be seeing Jason emerge from one of the residences in the mornings, so he hadn't been watching the bus stops.

About ten minutes later, Henry watched Jason and the blonde get onto a bus. He wrote down the route number and the time. He knew he couldn't really follow the bus. They stopped too often, it'd be too obvious if he kept stopping with them. He'd get a route map and figure out where the bus went, and then tomorrow he'd be back here watching again.

:=: Kara :=:

Kara was still stunned by the revelation about Megan. She had at least a hundred questions, but she couldn't ask any of them while she and Jessica were on the bus, heading back to the condo. Then when they were finally off the bus and walking the short distance to the condo tower, Jess had asked her not to talk about Megan infront of the others. Kara just nodded, a little confused and frustrated.

Sam, Nikki, and Cindy all greeted the two of them when they came in. Nikki was in the kitchen already working on dinner, while Sam and Cindy were setting the table.

For now, Kara followed Jess into her room as Jess put away her stuff from school. Kara had left hers in her room at residence after they'd finished talking with Megan.

While they were alone in the bedroom, Kara asked "Why don't you want to talk about Megan infront of the others?"

Jess sighed and replied quietly, "I don't think Samantha knows about what happened... It was against the 'first rule', about not changing reality any more? And Sam's been really uptight about big magic lately."

Kara frowned, "I thought Sam and Nikki had to work together for any big stuff? Like when they helped me, that took both of them. And this thing with Megan seems way bigger than the transformation spell..."

Jessica nodded, "Yeah, you're right. Sam and Nikki need to work together to access the big power... but the Goddess can do this stuff on Her own." Jess hesitated, then added, "When Nikki and I went to see Mr. Preston, the Goddess was there too..."

They both heard Sam calling from the dining area, "Just about dinner time, you two!"

Jess then said quietly, "We can talk more about it later."

Kara nodded, and then she and Jess went out to join the others.

Nikki had made another nice pasta dish for them all, along with salad and garlic bread. There was wine of course, though Cindy had cola.

As they started eating, Cindy was talking to Sam. "I was thinking about what you said the other night? I decided I wanna learn to bake. Like, desserts? Cakes, cookies, cupcakes, that kinda thing! I found some evening classes I could go to."

Samantha nodded, "Ok Cindy. We can look into getting you signed up for that tomorrow. We'll be a little busy tonight."

Jess asked, "Why baking?"

"Cos Nikki does all the cooking and stuff, but she doesn't do any baking." Cindy explained. "I figure, if I learned how, then Nikki can do the meals, and I can make the desserts."

Nicole just smiled, "That sounds like a great idea, Cindy. Maybe you can share some secrets with me, once you get it figured out."

Sam then asked Jess and Kara how their day went. Jessica sighed, and told them, "We found out this morning, Mr. Preston died late last week..."

Kara was watching Nikki's expression as Jess delivered the news. Nicole just sighed, looking down at her food for a few moments. She didn't give anything away though, and just stayed quiet for now.

Samantha sighed, "Oh no. I'm so sorry Jess. He was your favourite, wasn't he?"

Jessica nodded, "Yeah..."

Kara then added, "One of our other teachers, Ms. Winters, will be taking over the class. Apparently Preston had been keeping her in the loop and gave her his course plan and all that. The class was cancelled today, but next week it'll be back to normal. More or less."

The rest of the meal was a little quieter. When everyone was finished, they all helped clear the table and clean up, then after the dishes had been washed, they got started with the evening's plans.

Kara and Cindy stayed back a bit and just watched at first.

Sam got out the old ancient book, and she and Nikki started the 'formal' part of the sabbat ritual.

Some of it was in Latin, some of it was in the old Welsh, and Kara was still amazed that she could understand it all since her 'initiation'.

Jessica got involved in the second part of the ritual, and then towards the end, Cindy and Kara were both brought in to participate as well.

All in all Kara thought it was a bit boring and stuffy. But the others were taking it seriously and she didn't want to rock the boat. Especially if all this stuff made the Goddess happy.

Once the formal stuff was out of the way, things got a lot more relaxed. There was some ice-wine and dessert pastries. A glass of wine and a plate with a pastry were set out on the balcony, for whatever spirits might be interested.

Finally, Jessica started working with Kara and Cindy, to teach them some more spells from the book. Cindy wouldn't be able to actually cast them till she was eighteen, but she still learned and memorized them, alongside Kara. They both memorized the light spell and the truth spell, and then they were working on learning glamours. They hadn't quite got that one down though before everyone was starting to get tired.

Cindy was first, halfway through trying to learn the glamour spell she was yawning almost nonstop. She finally bid the others good night, and headed to her room to get ready for bed.

Sam and Nikki were next. They cleaned up the dishes from dessert, then bid Jess and Kara a good night, before the two of them disappeared into their room.

Finally, Kara was starting to get tired as well, and she and Jess closed the ancient book, leaving it on the coffee table.

They went into Jessica's bedroom and took turns in the bathroom, getting ready for bed.

Finally, Kara slipped into the large comfortable bed next to Jessica. She was tired, but still had questions. "You awake enough to talk, Jess?"

"Sure, Kara. About Megan?"

Kara nodded slightly, "I have about a hundred questions. So, what happened?"

Jessica sighed a little, then explained quietly how she and Nikki had met Mr. Preston, and offered to heal him, and then Doug's request that they bring back his granddaughter instead.

Kara gasped, "Megan was dead?!"

Jess sighed again, "Yeah, apparently over a year ago... Nikki, or the Goddess I guess, explained she couldn't do that. Something about, she could only bring someone back in like the first minute or two..."

She then described what Nicole / the Goddess had offered instead, that Mr. Preston could take his granddaughter's place, take over her life, in order to fix the lives of Doug's daughter and her husband.

Kara listened wide-eyed as Jess described the conversation. She then asked quietly, "Do you think Mr. Preston was trans or something? I mean... It's hard to believe he'd agree to become a girl..."

Jessica shook her head. "I don't think so? I don't think he was even really thinking about that. He just really wanted to help his family."

Kara remained surprised. "I guess we could always ask, next time we see Megan..."

Jess quietly giggled, "Love to see how you work that into normal conversation."

Kara grinned, "Ok I guess it'd be an awkward question." She then asked, "Do you think we'll eventually have Megan joining us in the 'Witches of Welland'?"

Jessica shook her head, "I don't think so... I mean first off, Sam would flip if we had anyone else joining us. But I didn't really get the feeling Megan was that interested? I mean, maybe she'll give thanks or whatever. But I didn't get any sense from her when we were talking today, that she was eager to learn more about any of this stuff."

Kara nodded slowly, "Yeah, you're right. She was grateful, but she wasn't really curious about how it'd happened."

After a few moments, Kara chuckled quietly. "You know, I probably wouldn't have been curious enough to want in either, if it hadn't been for you and Cindy. Between her dropping hints and letting on that she knew me, and then you finally telling me about the Goddess and all..."

Jess groaned a little, "Yeah, I know... I don't think Sam has forgiven me yet for that." She then quickly added, "I don't mean that she doesn't like you or anything. Just, that she's still mad at me for saying too much."

Kara nodded, smiling. "I know what you mean Jess, don't worry." However, that led her to another question.

"Apart from you blabbing about secrets, Sam also seems to get really uptight about magic sometimes. Do you know what's up with that?"

Jessica was silent for a bit. She then answered quietly, "Yeah, smaller stuff she seems ok with. Even some bigger stuff, like helping you? I think the stuff she gets twitchy about is when it starts affecting more people... Reality-changing stuff, I guess. Like, when the Goddess made the condo bigger so Cindy and us had these rooms? That had to have affected more than just the five of us. Like, it changed the structure of the building and everything..."

She was right about that. Kara had wondered at the time, and thought about it again now. Had someone else's condo got smaller, or disappeared completely? The space for the extra rooms had to come from somewhere. Do the maintenance people and the condo management people remember this apartment as always having four-bedrooms? Kara had no idea how this stuff worked, but as far as she knew there hadn't been any trouble from it.

She then asked, "Do you know why that sort of thing gets Sam uptight? I mean, I can see there could be some moral concerns if it was harming other people, but things have seemed ok so far..."

Jess sighed a little. "I think... I think Sam feels guilty about how all this stuff started? Like how she and Nikki got involved with the Goddess in the first place. I don't know if this is a secret, so keep it to yourself please? But everything got started when Sam mistranslated some stuff in the old book... There was this guy who was threatening to beat her or maybe rape her, so Sam tried to cast a spell on him to put him in his place or something? Except instead of a spell, it was actually the ritual to summon the Goddess, and that caused the first big reality change."

"Woah..." Kara hadn't heard any of this before. She then asked quietly, "What happened to the guy?"

Jessica hesitated slightly, then whispered, "We call her Nikki."

"Holy shit..." Kara gasped softly.

"Yeah..." Jess whispered.

After that, they were both quiet for a minute or two. Then Jessica asked, "Hey Kara? This is your third night in a row staying here... Have you thought more about moving in?"

Kara nodded, "Yeah, I've been thinking about it."

"And?"

Kara smiled a little, "How does this Friday sound? After class, if you don't mind giving me a hand, we could pack up my stuff from residence?"

Her smile widened as Jessica gasped happily, then she felt the redhead's arms around her, as she pulled Kara into a hug.

"That would be amazing! Of course I'll help!"

They were both still smiling happily, as Jessica drifted to sleep cuddled up against her.

Kara stayed awake a little longer, as her mind started wandering. Moving in with Jess meant she'd be able to be herself at home. The private ensuite bathroom and walk-in closet meant no more fears of Kelly or anyone else walking in on her. Except maybe Jessica, and Kara was starting to feel ok with that possibility.

That really only left one thing... Was she ready to change her pronouns? She'd tried thinking of herself with they/them pronouns a few times, but it hadn't really stuck yet. She wasn't entirely comfortable any more with she/her, but her mind kept defaulting there for now, so perhaps she wasn't ready yet.

The other issue was, unlike her physical changes which were concealed by her clothes, pronouns would be a lot more public. She wasn't sure if she was brave enough to go through with it.

That annoying part of her brain kept spitting out disaster scenarios, various ways that everything could go wrong, or it could come back to haunt her. It was probably the reason she hadn't been able to stick with they/them in her own mind.

She also knew Ontario had started to allow non-binary gender markers on official documentation, and she wanted to get all her ID updated. Except that was also a frightening prospect. She hadn't even looked into it yet, but she knew one way or another it'd mean talking to strangers about this stuff. Either a doctor or a shrink or whatever. So she'd been putting that off as well, again because of nerves.

Finally, Kara pushed all the thoughts away. There was no rush, she could deal with that stuff later. For now, she was happy, she was comfortable, and soon she'd be living with people who loved and accepted her.