=:= Amanda =:=

"So what do you think, now that I'm finally cleared to drive again?" Ben asked, grinning. "Dinner and a movie tonight, then Kevin's place for the Halloween party tomorrow night?"

Amanda shook her head "I'm sorry Ben. I can't. We have some family stuff again tonight."

It was the last Friday in October, and it was a full moon tonight. Amanda wasn't sure if Maria would want them all to go over to the coven, but she was sure there'd be more training after school or this evening.

They'd been practicing magic every day this week, since Maria came back from that meeting on Sunday. Amanda didn't want to say it, but it was really taking all the fun out of learning magic.

She and Ben were sitting alone together at one of the tables in the cafeteria, having lunch. Jenny and Beth were sitting with a group of grade nine kids, friends of Jenny's that Beth was slowly getting to know. And Sadie and Ashley were a few tables over, talking quietly as well.

Amanda had been spending most of her lunch hours with Sadie and Ashley the past several weeks. And occasionally Jenny and Beth would join them as well. Ben hadn't been around for the past five weeks, because he'd been off recovering from a serious injury he'd suffered last month.

He had short red hair, blue-grey eyes, and some faint freckles on his cheeks. He was smart, even a little geeky at times, but he looked hot. He wasn't exactly an athlete but he was fit and he looked good. He'd lost some weight in the first couple weeks he was away, but the past week or two he'd been getting back to normal again and was starting to look healthier now.

He usually dressed fairly casual, wearing jeans and sneakers. And he had a collection of unusual t-shirts with weird or off-beat text or graphics on them.

Ben had finally returned to school on Monday, and Amanda's suspension was over as well, so she was finally spending more time with him again. She couldn't hang out after school though, because of all the training that Maria was insisting on. And her aunt seemed more paranoid than usual because of this threat against the coven, so Amanda knew it was pretty unlikely that she'd be allowed to disappear for several hours to go on a date.

Ben sighed, "Ok, so no date tonight. What about tomorrow? Are you up for the party? Or we could skip the party and go out tomorrow, just the two of us?"

"I don't know yet," Amanda sighed. "I'm sorry, things are just really crazy right now."

Ben frowned and had another bite of his burger. After a few moments, he asked quietly "You're all still dealing with uh, losing your mom, huh? That must be pretty rough..."

Amanda nodded slightly, "That's part of it... Things are getting a little better though." She leaned closer and lowered her voice, whispering "It's not official yet, and we haven't said anything publicly, but it looks like aunt Maria is going to adopt all four of us. So we'll be a proper family."

She could see the surprise on his face, then some uncertainty. He kept his voice quiet as well as he asked, "Is that a good thing? I mean, it's only been like a month and a half, right?"

"Yes it's a good thing." Amanda gave him a slight smile. "Even if it takes a while to happen, we all talked it over last week and everyone agreed. It'll bring some stability and stuff that we haven't had in a while. And it'll be good for Beth too, she was really feeling lost, till this adoption stuff came up last week."

Ben looked thoughtful as he ate a bit more. His eyes wandered over to the table where Jenny and Beth were sitting with their friends. After watching them for a minute or so, he asked "What's her story, anyways?" He looked back at Amanda, "I get she's your cousin, and like she totally looks like Jenny's sister, but... Where'd she come from? You never mentioned a cousin before, and now suddenly she's living with you and your aunt?"

"I'm sorry Ben," Amanda sighed. "I promised not to say. All I can tell you is, she had a really rough time, and she's got memory problems, but we're the only family she's got. Us four girls plus Maria are basically the only family any of us have now."

Her boyfriend nodded slowly. "Sounds like your whole family had a really rough time last month."

"Yeah, we did. But we're sticking together and looking out for each other."

After a few more moments he frowned, "What happened to your grandparents? Didn't you say they were living out west somewhere?"

Amanda sighed, "Yeah, our mom's parents are in Alberta. They're still alive but they uh, kinda stopped talking to all of us last year after Jenny came out as trans then Sadie came out as gay." She scowled as she added, "They didn't even come to mom's funeral."

"Wow. Fuck them." Ben scowled as well.

As they both finished their lunch, he asked "You're sure you can't spend some time with me after school?"

Amanda frowned, thinking. Finally she nodded. "An hour? We can hang out for an hour, if you can drive me home afterwards."

He smiled, "Great!"

• • • • •

"Ok... Can we just talk, straight up?" Ben asked, looking at Amanda. He was frowning a little, sitting behind the wheel of his old red Corolla. He hadn't started the engine yet.

Amanda sighed "Yes of course. But I really need to get home soon."

After school they'd wound up at a nearby cafe. They had a nice conversation, Amanda enjoyed spending the time with her boyfriend, but when the hour was up she'd told him she needed to get home. And now instead of taking her there, he wanted to have a 'talk'...

Ben took a deep breath, then asked "Amanda, are you trying to dump me? Or have you just been avoiding me for some reason?"

"What? No!" She was caught off guard by the question. "Why would you even ask me that?"

He sighed. "This whole thing about going home right after school, that only started this week. It started when I came back to school."

"It's not like that, Ben." Amanda sighed. "Like I said, it's family stuff. It came up on Sunday..."

His expression shifted to a frown as he said, "I got shot for you Amanda. I spent over a month recovering from that. And you know what's weird? You said you got kidnapped and stuff, but I found out, the cops never heard anything about that. I just have your word for it. According to the police report it's like, I got shot and you just left me. Then you turned up on Friday when I came out of ICU but my folks never heard anything from you before that."

"Ben..." Amanda knew she couldn't tell him the truth. He'd never believe it anyways, but she'd known since last summer when the stuff happened with Sadie that she couldn't tell anyone about magic. And since she and her sister had joined the coven, there was even more secrecy.

He just shook his head. "I think I deserve the truth, Amanda. You're acting weird, your whole family's been weird. Just tell me what's going on, ok?"

She sighed deeply. "Ben, I'm not allowed to say. And even if I told you... You wouldn't believe it."

"Try me. Tell me, Amanda... Or we're finished." He hesitated, then added "You owe me. I almost died for you. You owe me the truth."

Amanda sighed again. She knew he was right. He tried to protect her, and he was nearly killed for it. She said softly, "Ok. But you have to swear you won't tell a soul. And you won't believe me anyways."

Without hesitation, Ben nodded "I swear." He kept watching her, waiting for answers.

She gulped, then sighed. Keeping her voice just above a whisper, she told him. "When those guys jumped us last month, they were after me. They were human traffickers, Ben... I was taken over the border into the States. They were trying to grab Sadie too... They were going to sell us overseas somewhere... But my aunt Maria's a witch. People from her coven rescued me, with magic. That's why the cops were never involved."

She paused and asked, "You've seen the news, about that organized crime ring that the police broke up about two weeks ago? That was them. Maria's coven did something, tipped off the cops about them or something."

She continued, "Anyways, after that Sadie and I got initiated and joined the coven. We've been learning magic. And Sunday, we all found out there's some new threat against the coven. So now Maria's making us train even more, incase the threats turn out to be true."

When she'd finished, Amanda glanced over at him. She could tell by the look on his face she was right. He didn't believe her.

He sighed and shook his head. "That's the best you could do? You couldn't even come up with a convincing lie. Witches and magic... Why don't you just straight up dump me? Why go through all this crap with me?"

"Ben..." she gulped. "It's true."

"Then prove it!" he scoffed.

Amanda hesitated. She knew she shouldn't do it, but it seemed innocent enough. She concentrated, focused, and cast the spell.

"Holy shit!" Ben gasped as he stared, wide-eyed. Hovering between his knees under the steering wheel was the ball of light Amanda just conjured.

She whispered, "It's real. That's a light spell. Just a harmless ball of light... We're learning other things too, but that's the only thing I can safely show you."

Ben was still staring down at it. He reached down and poked it with his finger, and the ball popped out of existence like a soap bubble, scattering a few little sparkles that quickly faded. He just mumbled "Holy shit." again as he stared down at the floor with a thoughtful frown.

Amanda watched him quietly, waiting to see how he'd react after he had a few moments to process it.

Finally he looked up at her and asked "How come Ashley got in, and not me?"

"What?" Amanda blinked at him. "What makes you think..."

"Come on Amanda." He frowned. "She's been going home with you and your sisters after school all week. If you're learning magic then she must be too."

She sighed again then finally said "I don't know. Maybe because you're a guy? Everyone I've met so far in the coven is a girl."

"That's sexist," Ben pointed out. "I want in."

Amanda shook her head "If they find out I told you, I'll be in trouble. And I don't know how they'd react about you wanting in." With a pang of nervousness she added "They might decide to bring you in since I told you, but make you a girl or something first so you fit in with the group."

Ben took that as a joke, chuckling "Yeah right." He stopped though as he saw how serious her expression was. He sounded nervous as he asked "Wait, they can do that?"

She nodded, "Yes the coven can do that. I know one time they changed a guy into a girl just to prove a point."

"Wow..." He gulped a little. Then his expression shifted to a frown and he asked, "Is that what happened to Jenny?"

"No!" Amanda sighed. "Look Jenny's trans, ok? She wanted to be a girl, and Maria used magic to grant her wish. Please don't tell anyone Ben. I mean, some people know she used to be a boy, but nobody knows she's basically a cis girl now thanks to magic."

She sighed once more, "I really can't say anything else. Now please Ben, I have to get home."

He nodded. "Right. Ok."

Finally he started the car. He was quiet as they pulled out of the cafe parking lot, and then headed for her house.

As they were nearing her place, Ben asked "What happened to the guy they changed? Did they change him back?"

"She got used to it and she's happy as a girl now." Amanda glanced at him and added "No more questions about this stuff ok? If you like being a guy and want to stay that way, please forget this entire conversation."

He was looking nervous again as he nodded, "Ok, yeah. Forgetting the conversation."

=:= Brandi =:=

There was no sensation of movement, as the large open-concept home faded into existence around her. She was standing by what she assumed was the front door. There was a large fireplace a meter or two away on her right, and big bay windows along the wall on both sides. The fading light outside made it hard to see anything beyond the windows though.

Infront of her she could see a large staircase leading up to a second-floor with a gallery hallway. To the left was a large dining table, and a little further beyond that was a large open kitchen area. To the right, facing the fireplace was a large leather sectional sofa and a couple easy chairs, and beyond that was a fabric sofa and a couple more chairs facing the other direction, where a large-screen tv was mounted on the back wall.

A half dozen people were standing around, some around the dining table, a couple more in the kitchen area. The only one Brandi recognized was the one dressed like a goth. She'd met Nikki about a month and a half ago, after the fateful weekend she'd spent as Tanya's temporary girlfriend.

Brandi hadn't moved yet, and hadn't said anything. She couldn't help feeling nervous, knowing everyone else here was a witch. And some, like Nicole, were fearsomely powerful.

She was hoping Tanya would appear before anyone else noticed her, but it was not to be. Two of the others spotted her and headed her way.

Brandi couldn't help but stare, forgetting her nerves for the moment. The one on the right was a blonde teen, she looked about sixteen. She was maybe an inch or two taller than Brandi, but much skinnier. Her hair was about shoulder-length, and she had light blue eyes. She was smiling as she approached.

Accompanying the teen was an honest-to-goddess catgirl. She looked about four or five inches taller than Brandi, and was also a bit slim, but not skinny. She looked around nineteen or twenty. Her short hair was a light purple colour, and the fur on her cat-ears and tail was the same.

"Hello, you must be Brandi!" The small blonde smiled. "I'm Cindy, and this is Zoe."

The catgirl put an arm around Cindy's shoulders as she smiled, "Hello Brandi. Nice to meet you."

"Uh...Hi?" Brandi replied awkwardly, still trying not to stare.

Finally she noticed motion next to her, as Tanya appeared to her left. Brandi relaxed a little as she felt her girlfriend's arm slip around her own shoulders, and she leaned a little closer against the tall blonde.

"Hi Cindy, hi Zoe." Tanya smiled. She gave Brandi a little squeeze and said softly, "Sorry it took a minute to catch up."

Brandi just nodded. Tanya had warned her that she'd need a minute or two before she'd be ready to cast the teleport spell again.

Cindy grinned up at the tall blonde, "Better keep practicing, Tanya. It's been almost three years, it shouldn't take you that long between teleports."

"Some of us have classes you know?" Tanya pointed out. "Not to mention practice and games. Hockey season started this month."

The small blonde just giggled a little, then said to Brandi, "Before you two go back home tonight, I'll give you some tips on how to train. I've figured out some tricks to get your magical strength up to speed a lot quicker than Tanya did."

"Oh... ok. Thanks." Brandi nodded, not really sure what to make of this young witch. Tanya had mentioned Cindy's name a few times, she knew the two were friends. But she couldn't help wonder if Cindy was the younger sister of someone else here, or maybe that older woman was her mom or something. It also seemed a bit weird how the catgirl had an arm around her. There seemed to be a little too much of an age difference for them to be a couple. Maybe the catgirl was Cindy's older sister? Though there wasn't any family resemblance between them.

She realized Cindy was still staring at her, with a wide grin on her face.

Tanya had noticed as well, asking "What are you smiling at now, Cindy?"

"I'm just really happy that Brandi's here, and she's gonna join the coven." Cindy replied, still grinning.

Tanya narrowed her eyes a little, asking "Why?"

"Cos it means I'm not the shortest witch in the coven any more." Cindy replied with a smirk.

Brandi suppressed a giggle at that. She wasn't the least bit self-conscious about her stature. She was almost exactly five-feet tall, but she actually liked being small. Or 'adorably fun-sized', as Tanya sometimes called her.

"Cindy's self-conscious about her size," Tanya whispered to Brandi. The taller blond then rolled her eyes at Cindy and said, "You might not be the shortest any more, but you're still the smallest. And you still look the youngest."

Cindy pouted, "C'mon, do I really look younger than Maria's teens?!"

"Probably." Tanya shrugged, "They're all seventeen."

"Zoe, back me up?" Cindy looked at the catgirl.

Zoe smiled, "Sorry cutie. She's got you there."

Cindy was still pouting when the catgirl leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You're still the cutest though, so it's ok."

That seemed to cheer up the small blonde as she grinned. "I can live with that." She stuck her tongue out at Tanya, and finally she giggled "Teasing aside, it's nice to meet you Brandi. If you two want anything to drink, help yourselves. There's wine, soda, water, whatever, in the kitchen."

Zoe and Cindy wandered back to the dining table and they sat down next to each other, while Tanya guided Brandi over to the kitchen.

Looking in the fridge, Tanya grinned at her "Want to try some wine? Nikki owns the winery..."

Brandi wrinkled her nose as she replied quietly, "No thanks." She leaned in and grabbed a can of soda.

Tanya got herself a glass of wine, then she led Brandi over to the large dining table, and the two of them sat down at the end across from Cindy and Zoe. The four of them were sitting at the far end of the table, while everyone else was at the other end.

There was already a conversation in progress as they sat down, so they stayed quiet and listened for now.

"They're working on their training every day after school. Ashley too, but she can only stay an hour or so before she has to go home. And I can't exactly supervise the three of them all the time. I have to spend time with Jenny and Beth, and especially have to keep Beth away from the magic." It was the older woman speaking right now.

Nikki nodded, "Do what you can, Maria. We'll see if we can send someone to help with their training. I'd send Cindy, but she's got her hands full right now with the defensive spell-crafting."

The older woman, Maria apparently, nodded. "Thanks. There was one other thing... After school today, Amanda asked me something, and I didn't have an answer for her." She hesitated, then asked "Is our coven a women-only organization?" She added quickly, "Woman and non-binary, I mean. Sorry Kara." She apologized to the tall blonde sitting across from her.

Nikki and the tall brunette sitting next to her exchanged a look. The brunette asked, "Amanda wants to know if Ben can join us?"

Maria nodded, "I'm not sure Sam, but my guess is she's thinking that since Sadie has Ashley with her, it would be nice if she had her boyfriend."

"We'll talk more about this later, Maria." Nikki decided. "For now, let's get started with some introductions."

Brandi blushed as she was introduced to everyone else, and they all introduced themselves to her. The others all seemed friendly as they greeted her, welcoming her to the coven.

She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but for a group of witches celebrating the full moon sabbat, so far it felt more like a staff meeting. Or a low-key office get-together.

After all the introductions, the actual witchy stuff finally began. Nikki, Sam, and Jessica got up and did some ritual stuff while everyone else watched quietly. Then Jess sat back down, and Samantha asked Brandi to stand up and join herself and Nicole.

Feeling awkward again with everyone watching her now, Brandi stood up. As she started towards the two coven leaders, Tanya whispered "You'll be fine."

The initiation was actually somewhat underwhelming. Sam told Brandi their rules, most of which were about keeping the secrets. She was reminded not to do magic in public, not to talk about magic or the coven infront of anyone, that sort of thing. Then Nikki asked if she swore to uphold the rules and keep the secrets.

Brandi nodded, "Yes, I swear."

She saw a flare of blue light in Nikki's eyes, and apparently that was it. She returned to the table and sat next to Tanya again, as everyone welcomed her once more.

She was still blushing a little as she thanked them, then glanced down at her wrist. Just like Tanya had told her, there was now a small rune tattooed there. Looking around the table she could now see the others all had tattoos as well. Some were larger and more complicated, but hers looked the same as the one she could now see on Tanya's wrist.

The two leaders returned to their seats as well, then Nikki looked at Tanya and asked "How has Brandi been doing so far with learning magic?"

Brandi felt her cheeks going red again as her girlfriend replied "It's a slow start but we're working on it. I'm hoping things will speed up a bit now."

Cindy then spoke up, "Can I make a suggestion?" She was looking towards Sam and Nikki, and the goth nodded "Go ahead Cindy."

The small blonde then said, "For growing strength quickly, there's two spells that are good practice. The transformation spell and the teleportation spell."

Brandi could see the other witches looked confused, and Samantha was about to say something but Cindy continued talking. "Both spells are power-hungry, but the power is tied to the size or weight or whatever that you're trying to affect."

Zoe said quietly, "It's the mass, Cindy."

"Right." Cindy nodded. "With the teleport spell for instance, it's all about the mass, but distance is irrelevant. It's easier to teleport yourself around the world than it is to move a car one inch. Someone starting out will take a long time to be able to teleport themself, but you can teleport small stuff pretty quickly. Teleport a pencil back and forth on a desk. Then send an apple back and forth across your bedroom. Or a book. Then a backpack full of books. You don't have to go far, distance is irrelevant. As soon as you get good at teleporting something, start working on something bigger."

Brandi was listening closely, and she could tell the other witches all seemed to be surprised to hear this. Except the catgirl, it looked like Zoe had already heard this lecture.

Nikki asked, "When did you figure this stuff out, Cindy?"

The small witch blushed slightly, and confessed "Like, two and a half years ago? I figured out the distance thing first, then the bit about the size and weight a little after."

Jessica, the other redhead at the table, asked "You said something about practicing with the transformation spell?"

Cindy nodded "Yeah, that one is a bit more complicated in how much power it takes. The..." She looked at the catgirl.

"Mass." Zoe reminded her.

"Right." Cindy nodded. "The mass of the subject matters, and also the difference in mass to what you want to change them to. So like, making small things big, or big things small, take more energy than keeping something the same size when it's changed." She blushed again and confessed, "I used to sit in the park and practice on squirrels... Changing them into chipmunks, then back to squirrels."

Everyone was staring at the small witch again.

Finally Nicole said, "Ok... I think the teleport idea was a good one. Since apparently distance isn't a factor, that's something that can be practiced in private, within an apartment or even a bedroom. I don't think we should be encouraging anyone to mess with small animals in public parks."

Samantha nodded in agreement. "Tanya, that sounds like a good way to help Brandi get up to speed."

Tanya just nodded, and looked to Brandi, giving her a little smile.

"Zoe," Nikki asked, looking at the catgirl. "Since you seem to know about Cindy's training method, would you talk to Maria please, and make some arrangements to go and help Amanda, Sadie, and Ashley with their training?"

The catgirl nodded, "Yes ma'am."

That seemed to be the end of the 'official business' for the evening. The group relaxed a bit, there were snacks and more refreshments. The others were all talking amongst themselves now. It looked like Cindy was being interrogated by Samantha and Jessica, while Zoe was talking with Maria and Nikki. Kara was with Jessica, watching quietly as the brunette and redhead were both questioning the small witch.

Brandi wound up staying at the table with Tanya, the two of them looking through a large ancient book together. Brandi was amazed to discover she could actually read the strange runes.

Speaking softly, Tanya told her "This is the book that started it all. It's hundreds of years old, thousands maybe? It's got all the knowledge of the Goddess, loads of spells, rituals, all kinds of things."

"Wow." Brandi had moved her chair closer so she and Tanya were almost cuddling a little as the two looked through the book together.

Tanya continued showing her different entries in the old book, but as she did she leaned a little closer and whispered, "I'm so glad you're part of the coven now... Can't wait to get you back home tonight, so we can celebrate..."

Brandi grinned as she felt a little flutter in her stomach. She recognized that tone in her girlfriend's voice, and she knew exactly how they'd be celebrating. Suddenly she couldn't wait to get back home either.