:=: Nicole :=:

Nikki smiled as she relaxed, sipping her coffee. It was around noon on Monday, and she was wearing nothing but a nightshirt. Today was Yule, and she'd swapped shifts with a co-worker to get today off. It meant she'd have to work on the thirty-first, but that was ok. She'd have the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth off as well of course. The others all had a full two weeks off from classes, they wouldn't be back to their regular routines till January.

She knew the tasting counter was fairly quiet at this time of year anyways. The retail shop was much busier, with people buying last-minute gifts or booze for their various celebrations and parties.

Nikki had made a nice breakfast for everyone this morning, and now Jess, Kara, and Cindy were sitting on the sofa, playing video-games. Samantha and herself were still sitting at the dining table, relaxing and sipping coffee.

"You're looking very relaxed." Sam commented.

She smiled, "I am. It's nice having a break now and then. And I'll be busy later in the kitchen."

Cindy spoke up, "I hafta get started soon too!" The small teen was planning to make dessert again for them.

"I knew there was a reason we kept you around, kid." Nikki teased.

Cindy stuck her tongue out at Nikki, then she finished her game.

Jessica and Kara continued playing together while the small teen went into her room, then emerged with some papers. She set the pages and her phone on the kitchen counter, and started pulling ingredients out of the cupboards and fridge.

A few minutes later, Nikki finished her coffee and got up to get herself another. Cindy had bowls and the mixer out now too.

She watched for a bit as the girl would double- or triple-check the recipe, then check something on her phone screen, then measure out the next ingredient, and then check the recipe and her phone again, before adding the ingredients to the bowl.

Nicole knew the small teen had a lot of trouble with math and numbers, but it looked like Cindy had worked out a system to help keep her from making mistakes when she was doing her baking.

After a few moments of watching, Nikki asked "Need any help there, Cindy?"

"Shhh." Cindy replied, as she stayed focused on her hobby. "Don't distract me."

Nikki smiled, then rejoined Sam at the dining table.

Sam smiled to her, then leaned closer and whispered, "She's really into her baking. I almost wonder if she's doing it to impress you, love? You're a wiz in the kitchen with the savouries, maybe she wants to join you there for the sweets..."

Nikki considered, then whispered back "Could be. But she takes most of her fashion cues from you, hon. She might be trying to impress me with her hobby, but she dresses like you. All she's missing is the pentacle around her neck."

Sam sat back looking a little surprised, and Nikki smiled. Her girlfriend obviously hadn't noticed that. Nikki was pretty sure Jess and Kara had though. She thought it was fairly obvious right from the start, the kid was trying to take after Samantha.

After a couple minutes, Sam then asked, "Speaking of clothes, are you going to get dressed at all today, love? You're not going to just stay in your nightshirt all through dinner and our Yule celebration, are you?"

Nikki rolled her eyes and protested, "But it's my day off..." Then she smiled, "I'll put on some clothes before I start working on dinner." That would give her another couple hours of comfort and laziness.

• • • • •

Their apartment had smelled delicious all afternoon. First they had Cindy's baking, and now Nikki's cooking. Food was in the oven and would be ready soon. At the moment, the five of them were in the living-room together. Sam, Jess, and Nikki were sipping wine, while Cindy and Kara had soda.

They hadn't really planned on doing any big gift exchanges, but it turned out there were still some presents to be given and unwrapped.

Sam had given Nikki a tastevin, which was a fancy but somewhat archaic thing sommeliers used to use for tasting and checking the quality of wines. They weren't really used nowadays, but Nikki was happy to receive it, and thought it was kind of a neat thing to have. Sort of symbolic of her passion for wine.

Then Nicole had given Sam a charm bracelet, with five little charms already on it, representing the five of them. There was a little cupcake for Cindy, a pen and a pencil, for Jess and Kara, a tiny wineglass for Nikki, and a small pentacle for Sam.

Jess and Kara had exchanged gifts as well. Kara gave Jess some pretty silver earrings with little emeralds set in them, and Jess had given Kara a rugged-looking mens wristwatch.

Cindy had also done well, she'd received her own laptop. That was mostly because she'd need it for assignments and things, when she started school in the new year. She also got another game for her console.

While Cindy was excitedly looking over her new laptop and texting with Tanya, Sam commented "Maria sent me the information for getting Cindy set up at school. Cindy's already figured out what classes she wants, but Maria said we really need to get her transcripts, ideally before the end of the school year."

Nikki nodded, "We can ask if She would be generous and conjure up whatever Maria says we need, like She did for the other documentation."

One of us will have to review Maria's missive, Nicole. And then we will need to determine what sort of details would be appropriate for the child, while still meeting the requirements. After that, it will be done.

After hearing from Her, Nikki added "I'll look at what Maria sent later, and we'll figure out what's required. She says She'll do it, but we need to understand the specifics first."

Cindy then grinned and asked, "Could you ask if She'd conjure up some drivers licenses for me and Tanya? We don't wanna hafta go through the testing and lessons and all that stuff again."

Samantha rolled her eyes, "Don't push your luck, Cindy. You don't need a drivers license, but you do need the transcripts. Or you won't be able to graduate next year."

The teen pouted a little, while Nikki and Jess both smiled.

The kitchen timer started beeping, and Nikki got up. "Just about time for dinner. Would someone get the table set please?"

There were some grumbles and complaints, but Samantha got Jessica and Cindy to take care of that, while Nikki was busy. Sam and Kara tidied up the living-room, gathering up the discarded wrapping paper, as well as the glasses from their drinks.

Twenty minutes later the five of them were sitting at the table, and Nikki was serving up the food. She'd gone a little extra fancy for the solstice, making a stuffed rack of lamb with roasted potatoes and vegetables. And of course there was more wine with dinner, though Cindy stuck with soda.

As they ate, the conversation turned to the days ahead. Samantha was still uptight about having both sets of parents visiting, and still worried about all the questions they'd have about Cindy.

Nikki and Jessica had both been trying to convince Sam things would be fine, but Nikki had a feeling that her girlfriend would remain stressed until the day after it was all over and done with.

With the talk of families and xmas, Kara was looking a little uneasy too, Nikki noticed.

Jessica saw it as well, and asked "Hey Kara? Everything ok? You're looking a little uptight..."

Kara sighed, "I got some angry emails and voicemails from my folks. About me not coming home for break..." She hesitated, then added, "I'm not sure which part made them more angry... The fact that I'm not home for the holidays, or the fact that I'm staying with my girlfriend."

Nikki sighed a little. She'd got the feeling Kara's family situation wasn't great. Now it sounded like at least part of the problem was her parents had an issue with their child being queer. She asked, "Are you worried they'll cause problems for you, Kara?"

The blonde shrugged, "I haven't told them I moved out of residence. Not that I think they'd come all this way, but if they did, they wouldn't know where to find me." She then sighed, "Worst case scenario, they cut me off and kick me out? I'm not really planning on ever moving back home anyways, but there's some stuff at home I'd miss if they got rid of it. The bigger problem is, I'd be screwed for university next year. This year's all paid for, but I'm kind of relying on them for money, for tuition and food and accommodations next year..."

Samantha then said, "Well you don't need to worry about a place to stay. You're always welcome here, Kara."

Nicole pointed out, "If we accept the Goddess's offer, then there won't be any worries about money. Tuition wouldn't be an issue, for anyone."

They all got a little quiet after that. Nikki glanced around the table, taking in everyone's expressions. Jess and Kara both looked like they were daydreaming. Thoughtful, but with slight smiles. Cindy had a sort of questioning look on her face, like she was still weighing the pros and cons. And Sam looked thoughtful, but with a slight frown.

Nikki then asked, "Cindy? You look like you have questions?"

The small teen then said, "Yeah. If we're all living on some winery somewhere, then we'll be off in the country someplace, right? I don't wanna be so far away I can't see Tanya or go to school and stuff. It's already gonna be hard getting there with busses and stuff, unless someone drives me." She then added with a grin, "Of course, if I had a licence and a car, that might solve all those problems."

Jessica smiled and said, "Kara and I were thinking the same thing, actually. About the commute to Brock and all. A car would solve it... But then, so would the teleport spell."

Kara chuckled, "Teleporting would be more environmentally friendly. Carbon neutral and all that."

Sam just sighed a little, looking conflicted.

"Hey hon, don't worry about it." Nikki told her. "I wasn't trying to pressure anyone, I just wanted to reassure Kara that there were other options."

Sam gave her a smile, "Thanks love."

When they'd all finished eating, everyone helped clear the table and clean up. Then Cindy brought out the cake she'd made for dessert. It was about twelve inches square, and around four inches high. It was coated in dark chocolate icing, with light pink icing highlights.

As she set it on the table, she announced, "It's chocolate cake, with whipped cream and cherry jam inside, and chocolate and cherry icing." She then added, "Sorta the same kinda flavour ideas as a black forest cake, but different."

Nikki glanced at her girlfriend, smiling. Cindy was obviously trying to impress Sam with this one.

The small blonde cut it into slices and served it up, and then they all dug in. Nikki was impressed again, the kid seemed to have some real talent for this stuff.

Afterwards, they set one slice aside along with a glass of wine. Those went out on the balcony for the spirits. Then the five of them prepared to celebrate the winter solstice with a little ritual.

Nikki knew both Kara and Cindy found these things boring, but she and Sam both felt it was important to follow the traditions. The Goddess had never said anything either way, but she was certain She appreciated them doing these things for Her.

Sam, Jess, and Nikki performed the ritual together, while the other two watched quietly.

After it was complete, Nikki said "Cindy, before Jess gets on with teaching you and Kara more spells, could you please share the curse you invented? Tell us the details of it?"

The others were surprised, but Cindy nodded, "Sure!" She ducked into her bedroom then returned with a piece of paper. "I wrote it out that night after I came up with it, since Jess didn't want to."

Nikki studied what the girl had written, and Sam had a look at it too. It was impressive that the small teen had worked this all out on her own, and with no real magical experience.

"This is the problem here." Nikki indicated one of the words Cindy had changed. "That's the difference between a safe spell, and an unlockable curse."

Samantha nodded in agreement.

Nikki then stated, "Let's correct this so it's safe, and then Jessica, I'd like you to do a proper write-up for the new book."

Jess and Sam both looked surprised, while Cindy smiled happily. Jessica asked, "Right now?"

"Yes please." Nikki nodded. She got herself a pen and made the correction on the sheet of paper, then handed it to Jessica. "Sam and I will work with Kara and Cindy tonight, while you're translating that into runes for the book."

Jess took the piece of paper and nodded, "Oh, ok..." She went to get out the special pens and inks, while Sam retrieved the ancient tome, and the five of them got to work.

:=: Samantha :=:

"Merry Christmas!" Mom announced happily, as she and dad stepped through the door. Mom was carrying a couple bags full of gift-wrapped parcels.

Sam smiled, hugging and kissing them both, "Hi mom, hi dad! How was the drive?"

"It was fine." Dad answered. "Weather's good, and the traffic was fine."

Her mom added, "Sorry we're early. We already checked in at the hotel, but everything went so smoothly and traffic was lighter than your father expected."

Rather than driving all the way home again tonight, they'd decided to spend the night in town and head home tomorrow. They would all meet somewhere for brunch tomorrow morning, before her parents left.

"That's ok." Sam smiled, "Let me take your coats, then you two can get comfortable."

"You need to do the introductions before we get settled, Sam." her mother stated. Then she frowned, "Samantha I don't see any decorations up at all."

Sam took their coats as she sighed, "Mom, you know this isn't my holiday. It's never been my holiday."

She quickly hung their coats in the utility room then led them to the living-room area. Jess, Kara, and Cindy had been playing Cindy's new video-game but they turned it off when the Carlisles had arrived.

Jess got up and gave their parents a hug, "Hi mom, hi dad! Great to see you both!"

"Hey kiddo!" Dad grinned as he hugged Jess, and then mom hugged and kissed her little girl.

Kara and Cindy both stood up as well. Jess then said, "Mom, dad, this is Kara, my girlfriend. Kara, these are my folks."

Kara shook their dad's hand as she said "Nice to meet you sir." Then mom gave Kara a brief hug.

Dad said, "None of that sir business, Kara. I'm George, and this is Mary."

Kara nodded, "Ok... thanks George. Hello Mary."

Sam could tell the tall blonde was feeling extremely awkward, but she did a good job of hiding it. Sam was also feeling uptight, as her parents' attention turned to the smaller blonde.

"And you must be Cindy." Mom smiled. "My goodness you're adorable!" She gave the girl a tight hug.

Cindy looked surprised at the hug but replied politely, "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Carlisle, it's a pleasure to meet you both."

Everyone was dressed up of course. Sam was wearing a long skirt and a nice blouse. Jess was wearing slacks instead of jeans, and she had a pretty blouse as well. Kara was wearing a button-down shirt and trousers. Cindy wore a cute white and pink dress, and had even put on a little bit of make-up and spent some extra time with her hair this morning.

Nikki finally emerged from the bedroom. She was wearing one of her black dresses and had just finished doing her gothy make-up. She smiled, "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Carlisle!"

Sam was still watching her parents, waiting for one of them to start asking questions about Cindy. She knew it was coming, and she was dreading it.

Her mother turned and greeted Nikki with a hug, "Hello Nicole! Lovely to see you again!"

Dad was sort of frowning though, looking confused. He wasn't looking at Cindy though. Finally he asked, "Sam? Those two bedrooms? They weren't there before." He was staring at the two doors on the wall where Sam's desk used to be.

Sam felt her stomach go cold. She'd spent the past month worried about how her parents would react to Cindy, she hadn't even thought about the way the apartment had been changed. She didn't have any excuses or explanations prepared for that.

Her mom frowned, "George what are you going on about now?"

Dad gestured, "Those two bedrooms? They're new, Mary. They weren't there, last time we were here." He walked around the sofa and stuck his head in, looking in Cindy's room first, then Jess and Kara's.

Her mom rolled her eyes and looked at Sam, "You know your father, sometimes he gets all excited about the strangest things."

Sam glanced at Nikki, still feeling shocked. It seemed like her mom didn't notice anything was wrong, but her dad did? She didn't know what to say or how to react.

Her dad finally emerged from Jess and Kara's room and looked at her. "Sam? I don't get it? When we visited in September, I swear those rooms weren't there. And in July, after Jessica's accident, she was staying in the guest room, sleeping on a pull-out sofa... We've been here four times since you and Nikki moved in, and I swear there were only two bedrooms."

Mom meanwhile said, "George don't be silly. The rooms didn't just magically appear. It takes time to furnish a place, and you know how small Sam's last apartment was. I'm surprised they've got their home looking as lovely as it is, and they haven't even been here a year yet."

Sam still hadn't been able to say anything. She felt like a deer in the headlights, blindsided by this.

Then Nikki's phone buzzed. She checked and announced, "That's my folks, on their way up."

Soon enough the Elliots arrived, and it seemed Sam's dad was sufficiently distracted with the new round of introductions. The two sets of parents had never met before, so there was a lot for them all to discuss with each other. Simon and Faye Elliot were not into the holidays as much as Mary, but they were happy about the large get-together.

Nikki made sure everyone had drinks, and Sam and Jess started getting out the snack food.

Apparently neither of Nikki's parents noticed the additional bedrooms, though they had both visited a few times over the past year as well.

It seemed only Sam's dad had noticed the change, which was something Sam was confused about, as well as concerned. She'd definitely be talking with Nikki about that later, and hopefully the Goddess would be able to enlighten them on the situation.

To Sam's surprise, none of the parents questioned Cindy's presence at all. They all just seemed to accept the small teen as part of the group.

Samantha couldn't help but notice that Cindy seemed to be on her best behaviour today. She was going out of her way to be polite to both the Carlisles and the Elliots, and so far there hadn't been any joking or teasing, or pouting or complaining.

They had some extra chairs and little folding tables, and Cindy started helping Jess with more of the food and things. Nikki continued to serve drinks, though Sam knew her girlfriend wouldn't let anyone have too much. Nikki wouldn't let anyone drive if they'd over-indulged on the wine.

As the afternoon progressed, it seemed like her dad had forgotten all about the changes to their apartment. He was sitting on the sofa with Simon and Kara, and the three of them were enjoying a lively discussion. Meanwhile her mom and Faye were talking, and had somehow roped Jess and Cindy into their conversation as well. The four of them were sitting around the dining table.

Nikki moved up next to Sam as she stood behind the kitchen counter, and gave her a quick hug and kiss. She whispered, "Doing ok there, hon?"

Sam smiled a little, returning the kiss. She whispered back, "I'll survive..." She then added quietly, "I wonder what's got into Cindy today. She's acting like little miss manners there, and I haven't seen her phone once yet."

Nicole replied quietly, "She's definitely trying to impress... I wonder if she's looking to score points with you and me, or with our parents?"

Sam then noticed a brief look on Nikki's face, like she'd just had a thought or some insight.

"What is it, Nikki? You had an idea?" Sam asked quietly.

Her girlfriend whispered, "Later."

Before Samantha could respond to that, her mother addressed the two of them.

"Sam, Nikki, come and sit down. You've both been so busy, we haven't had much of a chance to talk yet."

Samantha nodded, "Ok mom." She and her girlfriend joined the others at the table.

Faye smiled at them both, "We were just saying it's not too late you know, to book something for a spring wedding."

Nicole immediately groaned, "Mom, not this again..."

"Why not? Nikki, we've seen the way you two look at each other." Mrs. Elliot wasn't going to let up yet, by the sound of it. "So why keep putting it off?"

Then Sam's mother added, "I'm also still hoping for grand-children, you know. From both of my girls."

Both Sam and Jess grimaced at that, as their mother looked at the two of them.

Faye nodded, "Absolutely. The sooner these two tie the knot, the sooner we can expect them to start a family."

Nikki sighed as she whined, "Mom..."

Cindy suppressed a giggle, as the three young women squirmed a little under the gaze of the two mothers.

Fortunately their moms didn't keep pushing, and the conversation soon moved on to other topics.

After a while, Jessica and Cindy excused themselves and brought out more food, this time setting out a couple plates of cupcakes and fancy cookies. Jess let everyone know that Cindy had made all the desserts, and the young blonde blushed as everyone complimented her on them.

Towards evening, some presents were exchanged. The Carlisles were more into the holiday spirit, and Sam's mom had put some time and effort into the gifts she gave the five girls.

Sam got a nice new dark green hoodie, Jess received a new pair of skinny jeans, and there was a black blouse for Nicole. Cindy was surprised but happy to get a pink hoodie, and Kara was very surprised but pleased with the navy-blue blazer she was given.

The Elliots had cards and gift-cards to hand out. Sam, Jess, and Nikki had some small gifts for their parents as well. Unsurprisingly, Nikki had some wine for Faye and Mary, but she had scotch for the two fathers. Sam and Jess had some books for their parents, and Sam also had a book for Nikki's mom.

After the gift exchange, Sam made a pot of coffee. They all enjoyed some more of Cindy's desserts along with the coffee, and there was some more conversation as everyone mingled a bit more.

Finally as it was getting late, Nikki's parents wished everyone a happy holiday as they got themselves bundled up, then headed for home.

Sam's folks stayed another hour or so, talking a bit more with the five girls. Eventually though, they started packing themselves up. Mom was starting to ask about the plans for brunch tomorrow, but Sam noticed her dad was looking at the two new bedrooms again.

He wandered over and had another look, tilting his head as he looked around the door frames and then the floor.

Her mother scolded him, "George, stop fussing about the architecture. The girls have had a long day and I'm sure they'd like to get tidied up and into bed."

Sam gulped a little as her dad wandered back to the front door. He was looking puzzled again. "There's no sign of any new construction. I don't get it, Sam? I swear those rooms weren't there before."

Nikki spoke up, "Like Mary said, we didn't have them furnished for a long time so we left the doors closed. We originally had Sam's desk and bookcases along that wall, since we weren't using the two rooms."

Sam sort of held her breath as she watched her dad.

He frowned, looking thoughtful, then finally he said, "Well, it's not a good idea to leave rooms closed off like that for any length of time."

Jess then smiled, "Yeah, they were a bit stuffy when we first moved in. But it's fine now, dad."

Sam then smiled as she sighed a little, then bid her folks a good night. There were more hugs and some kisses, and they agreed to talk in the morning to decide where to meet for brunch. And then at last, her folks were gone.

Nikki closed and locked the door while Sam let out a long sigh of relief.

"Do we want to do the cleaning up tonight?" Jess asked. "Or deal with it all tomorrow?"

Cindy grinned, "Tomorrow!"

Sam shook her head, "Tonight."

There were some grumbles, but everyone chipped in and helped.

Jessica and Cindy were doing the dishes, and Jess asked "What was with that little miss perfect routine, Cindy?"

Cindy shrugged, "I dunno. I just figured, Sam and Nikki'd want me to play nice and stuff around their folks?"

Kara was putting the leftovers away, and chuckled, "It was cute. I didn't think you knew how to be so polite."

Cindy stuck her tongue out at that, then giggled.

Jessica then said, "Hey sis! All that time you spent worrying about Cindy, and nothing happened."

Sam and Nikki were putting away the folding tables and chairs. Samantha nodded, "Yeah, I don't really understand that... I was sure someone would have questions or something."

The small teen grinned and suggested, "Maybe they were awestruck by how perfect and polite I was being?" She then added, "Mrs. Carlisle said I was adorable!"

Jess teased, "All that proves is you're a good actress."

Cindy giggled, "Good actress, great at baking desserts, no wonder everyone loves me. I'm awesome!"

While her sister and the young teen were joking with each other, Sam and Nikki finished folding up the extra chairs and small tables, and started moving them into the utility room.

When out of sight from the others, Sam asked quietly, "You had something on your mind earlier, about Cindy?"

Nicole replied softly, "Not me. The Goddess made a comment. She suggested, Cindy was trying to impress both of us and our parents, because the kid might be hoping someday she'll be 'officially' made part of the family..."

Sam was surprised at that, but frowned. "She's already part of our group, and we're her legal guardians. Short of adoption there's not much else we can do. And we're not going to adopt her."

Nikki just nodded quietly, as the two of them went back out to pick up the last of the folding furniture.

When they were back in the utility room again, Sam said quietly, "I thought my heart was going to skip a beat, when my dad started asking about the new rooms. How come he noticed that? I thought when She changed reality, nobody knew except us?"

Nicole was silent for a few moments, then replied, "She says there are some people who can see. Or who 'have the sight' as she put it. She says it's very rare and random, but apparently your dad might be one of them. He never noticed anything strange about Jess though, so She says it's just a fluke he picked up on the change to the condo."

Samantha frowned as she considered that. She wondered what 'very rare' meant, in terms of numbers. Were there other people around town or at university, who noticed when reality changed?

:=: Henry :=:

Henry carefully poured out a measure of rock salt. He levelled it off, then squeezed the plastic ridges back down on top, and pressed till it felt like it was going to hold. Finally, he set it down next to the others.

That was the twelfth. That should be more than enough. Ideally he'd only need one, but he felt it was best to be prepared.

He now had a dozen 12-gauge shotgun shells loaded with rock salt, and another dozen that were still full of #2 lead shot. He picked up the water bottle from the end of the workbench. He'd filled that up last night at church.

He'd gone to the Christmas service of course. It helped keep him focused, helped prepare him for the task he knew was coming. The water had come from a tap in the bathroom after the service last night, but as far as he was concerned the water came from a church, it was Holy water.

He didn't really know how to go about blessing or consecrating things, but he figured some Holy water and a prayer would be good enough. He opened the plastic bottle and started sprinkling some of its contents over the shells as he recited the Lords Prayer. He saved most of the Holy water though, he'd be needing it later.

With that done, he turned and picked up the gun. It had been a gift from his dad, back on his sixteenth birthday. He hadn't been duck hunting in over a decade now, but he'd taken his share of waterfowl with it over the years. Now he'd be using it to hunt something infernal. He knew the barrels were too long though, it would be unwieldy in the cab of his pickup.

Henry pulled a hacksaw out of the bag from the hardware store. He held the gun firmly against the top of the workbench, then picked up the hacksaw and started cutting. When he was done, he wiped some sweat from his brow and checked his work. This would be much better. The double barrels were now just a little longer than his forearm.

He cleared a few burrs from the end, then twisted the release with his thumb. The action was still smooth after all those years in storage. The barrels dropped down revealing the chambers. Henry slid a salt-filled shell in the right chamber, and lead shot in the left. Then he snapped the barrels back up, locking them in place.

His weapon was ready. Now he just had to take care of the rest of the preparations. He emptied out the other purchases from the hardware store. Rope, a hunting knife, heavy-duty scissors, some road flares. He already had a bible and crucifix on the table. Then he looked around his workshop.

Finding this place had been another sign. He was in the cellar of an old abandoned chapel. It was out in the country, but not too far out of town. The steeple had been removed at some point, and a few windows were broken upstairs, but the cellar was relatively warm and dry, and the workbench he'd found down here was very sturdy and well-built.

Outside, the lot was overgrown. Bushes, trees, and the snowbank meant the place was barely visible from the road. Even his pickup was out of sight when he pulled it around to the side.

He'd cleared the snow away from a few of the basement windows, so there was enough light down here during the daytime for him to work.

He picked up the rest of the shotgun shells, and stuffed them into the pockets of his coat. Salt shells in the right, lead in the left. Then he started cleaning up the metal shavings and the extra salt, and then finally he swept the floor. He'd be staying here until his mission was over, and he meant to keep a clean house.

:=: Jessica :=:

"I probably won't be home till after six, so we'll either be having a late dinner, or someone else will have to cook." Nikki said.

"Why don't we just order something in?" Jess suggested. "Then nobody needs to cook anything."

Her sister pointed out, "Everybody's going to be ordering in on New Years. It'll take forever, and it'll be cold when it gets here, if it gets here."

Cindy then suggested, "Well why don't we just do what we did on xmas? Have lotsa snacks and stuff like that, and skip dinner?"

Jess smiled, she liked the idea. "Sounds good to me. That worked ok last week." She then asked the girl, "Will you be playing little miss perfect again too?"

Cindy's reply came in the form of sticking her tongue out at Jess.

Nikki and Sam both looked like they were considering the small teen's suggestion. New Years wasn't for another two days, but they all wanted to get their plans sorted out ahead of time.

The five of them were sitting around the table having dinner. Nikki had made a simple pasta dish tonight. It was the twenty-ninth, and a full moon night so they'd be doing a sabbat ritual after dinner. It was the third sabbat for Cindy and Kara, and the second sabbat in just over a week since the solstice was only eight days ago.

Sam finally nodded, "Ok, we'll do the snacks thing. We'll need to go to the grocery store so if there's anything special anyone wants, add it to the list. We'll do the shopping in the afternoon, and then we can have everything ready for when Nikki gets home from work."

Cindy reminded them, "I'll be baking. Tanya's mom's gonna drop her off around noon, and me and her are gonna be making cookies and cupcakes. So you don't hafta buy any sweets or dessert, we'll have lots ready." She then added with a grin, "Tanya's gonna stay the night, too."

Jessica smiled, "Cool, another sleepover."

Kara asked Cindy, "You two really hit it off, eh?"

Cindy was still smiling as she replied, "Well we've got lots in common. I mean, we both like baking, and we're both the same age, and in a month we'll be in the same grade at the same high-school." She then added with a slightly sarcastic tone, "Oh yeah, and we were both university jocks who got cursed and turned into teen girls. Probably hard for either of us to find any other friends who could say that."

Kara just chuckled, and Jessica smiled as she watched. She also noticed her sister and Nikki exchanged a little look, and she wondered if there was something about Cindy or Tanya that the two of them knew, that they hadn't shared with the rest of them.

Sam asked her girlfriend, "Nikki, have you had a chance to look at the stuff Maria sent over?"

Nicole nodded, "Yeah I looked it over. There's some questions that came up. If the transcripts aren't needed right away, we might hold off a bit."

Samantha looked a little concerned, asking "Is there a problem?"

Nikki replied, "No, there's just a few questions. We can try to talk with Maria early in January, and still have plenty of time to conjure up the paperwork before the next semester starts.

Jess looked at Cindy and asked, "You're still looking forward to going back to high-school?"

"Yeah." Cindy nodded, "It's sorta funny I guess, to be going back after a few years of college? But I've been kinda lonely the last couple weeks. And, you guys are fun and all, but I wanna get out and meet other people again."

"You don't mind that you're basically gonna be repeating a year and a half?" Jess thought it would be kind of boring or frustrating, though she knew the girl was probably bored and lonely hanging around the condo all the time too.

Cindy shrugged, "Some of the classes should be pretty easy cos I already know that stuff? And I'm gonna take some courses I never did before, so that'll be new and interesting. And I'll be in the same classes as Tanya, and it's the same for her. She's already done all that stuff before too, so if it's boring, we'll be bored together."

Sam then said, "Boring or not, I expect to see good grades. Especially since you've done it all before."

The small teen sighed, and Jessica grinned. Her sister really was getting a lot of practice at being a mom.

Jess then asked, "What are you gonna do about math?" She knew it was a required subject, and she knew the small teen probably wouldn't be able to pass it.

Cindy frowned, her expression going a bit dark, while Nikki looked at Jess and shook her head.

Jessica realized, that must be the problem that they needed to discuss further with Maria, and she obviously wasn't supposed to have mentioned it.

"Ah, never mind about that." Jess changed the subject, literally. "What are the new courses you're gonna take?"

The girl grinned a little, "Some home-ec stuff, of course. And when Tanya's in her gym class, I'm gonna take history. That'll be the only time we're not in the same class."

At the mention of history, Jessica glanced at her sister. She was wondering if Sam had suggested that, but it looked like Samantha was surprised to hear it too.

Sam asked, "History's a big subject. Are you looking at Canadian history, twentieth century, or something else?"

Cindy replied, "Ancient history. It sounded kinda cool."

Samantha smiled and nodded, "It is."

Finally they finished dinner, and everyone helped clean up. Then they had some of Cindy's cookies for dessert, and as usual, some were left out on the balcony along with a glass of wine.

Then they got started on the sabbat. Sam and Nikki did the ritual, Jessica helped with that. Kara and Cindy watched quietly again.

Afterwards, they all sat down in the living-room with the ancient book.

Kara and Cindy were planning to learn a couple more spells tonight. They were working on the healing spell first, then they wanted to learn to conjure fire. Sam was a little leery about Cindy learning that one, but the girl promised to never use it indoors.

As they were working on that, Jess, Sam and Nikki talked a bit about their progress on the Teleportation spell.

The five of them had been working on that basically all month now. Every Sunday in December they'd been puzzling over it. It was proving however to be even more tricky than the transformation spell.

They knew it was possible, they knew the Goddess could do it. There were just a lot of things that had to be taken into account, and Sam kept coming up with new problems they then had to find solutions to.

At one point in the evening, after listen to the three of them talking about it for almost an hour, Cindy asked "How come we gotta work all this stuff out by ourselves? I mean, the Goddess has all these answers right? She already knows how to do it. I know She can teleport cos I saw Her do it, the night She cursed me. So why not just get Her to tell us? Then we don't gotta spend weeks and weeks messing around with it, and we don't gotta worry about coming up with the wrong answers."

Sam smiled a little, and replied, "She could just give us the answers, Cindy. But She wants us to learn, and to get a better understanding of all of this. Then maybe we'll come up with new and better solutions to other magical problems as well."

Nikki added, "There's also the satisfaction of figuring it out for ourselves, Cindy. Like when you created that spell you used on Tanya."

Jess watched as Cindy nodded slowly.

The girl looked a little thoughtful, then she just said, "Ok, I guess... It just seems, especially with all the problems and stuff Sam keeps thinking up, like maybe we get to a point where it'd be better just to ask the teacher to explain it."

Jessica smiled at that, "Cindy's got a point. If we can't figure it out, sooner or later we'll have to either drop it and move on, or ask for help."

Samantha nodded, "Perhaps. We'll think about that."

Finally as it was getting late, they all decided to call it a night. The old book was packed up and put away, and everyone turned in for the night.