=:= Sadie =:=

Amanda pulled the door closed behind her as she retreated into the kitchen, where Jenny and Beth were both finishing their breakfast. Sadie knew her twin would keep their younger sisters company, and keep them distracted.

She felt the buzz of magic from Maria's spell, and a moment later Ashley appeared on the sofa. She was curled up, clutching her phone in one hand and her backpack in the other, and she was hyperventilating.

"Ashley it's ok," Sadie said quietly as she sat down on the sofa next to her girlfriend. "You're safe now."

Ashley flinched as Sadie put her arm around her shoulders. Then she opened her eyes, and let out a sob of relief. She dropped her phone and backpack as she wrapped both her arms around Sadie, pulling her into a tight hug.

"It's ok Ash," Sadie whispered. "Calm down, just breath ok? Just breath."

It was a few more minutes before Ashley had calmed down and started breathing normally. She still had tears in her eyes as she finally let go of Sadie and sighed "Thank you..."

Maria had been watching quietly, standing next to the sofa. She asked, "Ashley, can you tell us what happened?"

Ashley nodded, wiping her eyes first. "Um... It's my parents... This morning... They used my deadname... And they were acting like the magic didn't happen to me? They remembered the old me, they were angry that I didn't wait till I was eighteen to transition... And they wanted to know how I did all this... How I got to look like this..."

Sadie and Maria exchanged a look, then Sadie asked, "Didn't you see the messages last night?" She could tell by the blank look on her girlfriend's face that she had no idea what she was talking about.

"The text messages, from the coven?" Sadie prompted.

Ashley shook her head, "I turned my phone off last night so I could focus on that assignment..."

Maria sighed, "I have to speak with Sam and Nikki."

Sadie asked, "Do you think it's safe for us to go to school?"

"I don't know Sadie," Maria replied. "That's one of the things I need to talk to them about. You two sit tight for now." She got her phone from her purse then sat on one of the wingback chairs as she called the other witches.

Ashley asked quietly, "Could I get something to drink?"

"Of course." Sadie got up, "Are you ok to walk now? We can go into the kitchen." Now that the magic was over, there was no need to hide from Beth and Jenny. They could just say Ashley came over early or something.

Ash nodded and got to her feet. She left her backpack and phone on the sofa for now, and followed Sadie into the kitchen.

Sadie closed the living-room door behind them, to give Maria privacy while she was on the phone.

"Hi Ashley." Jenny said. "How come you're here this morning?"

The two thirteen-year-olds were still sitting at the kitchen table. Jenny had finished her breakfast, Beth was eating the last of her cereal. Amanda was at the table too, holding a glass of juice.

"Hi Jenny, hi Beth, hi Amanda." Ashley said quietly. She still sounded a little unsteady.

Sadie said to Jenny, "She came by early so we could compare notes on a big assignment that's due today." Looking at Ashley she asked, "Juice ok?"

Ashley nodded, "Yes please."

A minute later the two of them sat down at the table as well, and Ashley had a few deep gulps of her juice.

Sadie was glad to see her friend seemed to be recovering ok now. From what she could see, Ashley hadn't been hurt at all. She was probably just in shock, and maybe had a bit of a panic attack over what happened with her parents. Not that she could blame her friend for that.

Her mind wandered a little, trying to imagine what it would be like. She didn't have anything similar with her family, Jenny and Amanda both knew all about her past and how she'd changed, so did Maria of course. And it would be upsetting if Beth found out, but Sadie figured Beth would be more freaked out than herself. The closest she could think of was if she went into school and the teachers and everyone didn't know her. If they suddenly remembered how things were before, when Amanda didn't have a twin sister.

That thought sent a pang of fear through her. What if that actually happened? What if it wasn't just their families who were affected, but everyone? She and Ashley would go into school and everyone would be freaking out about them. If they were lucky they'd be thought of as strangers, but the worst thing Sadie could imagine would be if everyone somehow knew who they'd both been. She couldn't imagine everyone using her deadname and wondering what she was doing back in high-school...

"Sis? You ok?" Amanda asked, looking worried as she stared at her.

Sadie blinked then forced a smile. "Yeah, sorry Amanda... I was just thinking about something, and kinda freaked myself out."

Amanda nodded slowly, still looking a little worried.

Beth quietly finished her cereal, then got up and put the empty bowl in the sink. Jenny did the same, and the two headed upstairs to get their books for school.

Ashley drained her glass then mumbled "Thanks for the juice..." She was starting to look upset again, Sadie could see tears welling up in her friend's eyes.

Sadie put an arm around her shoulders, "It's ok Ash."

"What happened?" Amanda asked softly.

Sadie whispered, "Remember those messages last night from the coven? They got to Ashley's parents..."

"Oh shit," Amanda sighed. "I'm sorry Ashley."

Her girlfriend was on the verge of tears again as Sadie held her. Ashley gulped and whispered "What am I gonna do? I don't think I can go home..."

"You'll stay here with us." Sadie stated. "Don't worry about the details Ashley. We'll figure it out. But you can stay here."

Before Ashley could respond to that, the living-room door opened and Maria came into the kitchen. She looked a little frazzled as she announced "No school today."

Amanda sighed, "We already missed a week from the suspension... If we miss much more they're going to flunk us."

"I know Amanda." Maria looked apologetic. She glanced around, ensuring Beth and Jenny weren't in earshot, then added "Some people from the coven are coming over in a little while. Nicole wants to speak with you, Ashley. Kara and I will be going over to the school."

Sadie asked, "Why are you going to the school?"

Maria sighed, "To see if it's safe. We need to know if what's happened has affected everybody, or just family members."

"Crap." Sadie sighed, wondering if the stuff she'd been thinking about might actually come true. "It's ok if Ashley stays here with us, right Maria? I mean, if she can't go home..."

Maria sighed again but nodded "Yes of course. I don't know yet where we'll put her, but Ashley you are welcome to stay with us as long as you want, as long as its necessary."

Sadie could feel Ashley was getting more tense, she knew her girlfriend was still pretty upset about everything that had happened. Ashley just nodded and said softly, "Thanks Maria."

Amanda suggested, "Maybe we could make dad's old study into another bedroom? We haven't really used that room for much of anything since..."

"Or she could just stay with me for now?" Sadie suggested. "My room's big enough. What do you think, Ashley?"

Before her girlfriend could respond, Maria said "That's not something we need to decide right now, we'll discuss it later." Something in her voice told Sadie her aunt wasn't keen on that idea. "Right now I have to go and talk with Jenny and Beth."

=:= Christopher =:=

Christopher dry-swallowed a couple ibuprofen tablets, then rubbed his temples. His stress-headache had been going on for the past four hours, and there was no sign it would let up any time soon.

He'd just emailed an update back to Nathan, and he was not looking forward to the response he'd get after his boss read it.

What should have been a fairly straightforward operation had quickly turned into a shit-storm, and the past fifteen hours had been especially trying.

William missed his check-in at twenty-hundred-hours last night, so he'd had Anthony start scrying for the overdue operative. It hadn't taken long before Anthony reported finding William's body on the side of the road, dead of an apparent suicide. There were already police on the scene.

Christopher knew the suicide had been staged, and much as he hated to admit it, he knew William had likely been compromised before he was killed. Odds were the cultists knew the first names and faces of himself and the other four men on his team.

The rest of them had immediately packed up everything vital and evacuated their base of operations. Anything they'd been forced to leave behind was consumed by the intense fire that erupted as soon as they'd left the rented house.

It was much less convenient than the house, but they were now set up in a high-end hotel. Christopher was in one of the large executive suites, and his men were in other rooms in the same building, though not on the same floor.

What made the whole mess even worse, was there'd been no confirmation on the goth cultist's death, or even the destroyed SUV. Nothing on the news, and Anthony hadn't been able to see anything either.

He knew that meant either William's earlier report was a lie and he'd failed to kill the goth, or if he did succeed, the other cultists had cleaned up the mess before emergency services arrived on the scene.

Either way, Christopher had to assume the Vessel was still at large, and he couldn't even safely assume the Priestess was dead.

Now they were starting over. They needed a new strategy, they needed to gather more surveillance, and they were short one important member of the team.

The only good news was at least they knew that Anthony's enchantments had worked. They'd successfully turned three of the cultists' families, now they could continue on with the rest of them. And while William would be missed, at least he wasn't irreplaceable. Christopher himself had no qualms about getting his hands dirty. He'd done his share of 'wet work' on past assignments, before he'd been promoted to team leader.

He sighed again, and reviewed the notes on his laptop. Right now the biggest question was, should they go quiet for a while and come up with a new strategy? Or should they try and strike again while the cultists were presumably off-balance?

After another twenty or thirty minutes reviewing his notes and their surveillance to-date, he made his decision.

They'd back off and regroup. He couldn't be sure the cultists were off-balance, but his team certainly were. They'd lost William, they'd been forced to relocate in a hurry... If he had confirmation of the goth's death, he might have felt more confident about continuing their offensive. But as it stood, the situation called for prudence.

Christopher started typing out an email to the rest of his team, letting them know his decision and his updated orders. More surveillance, more intel-gathering. Was the goth cultist still alive, or not?

It was a risk but he'd send Liam to have a look around the vineyard again. He might be able to ascertain if the goth was alive or dead, and maybe get eyes on some of the other cultists.

=:= Nicole =:=

Nikki sighed, rubbing the side of her head as she looked at the others sitting around the table.

Samantha looked as stressed as Nikki felt. Jessica looked worried. Kara looked impassive, perhaps slightly impatient. Cindy was stressed, but she looked more exhausted than anything else at the moment. Zoe looked worried, mostly for her girlfriend. And Maria looked both weary and worried.

It was Friday evening, and the past twenty-four hours had been a whirl-wind of chaos and bad news.

"Maria?" Nikki looked at the social worker.

The older woman responded, "As you know, Kara and I visited the girls' school this morning. The good news is, nobody there seemed to have been affected."

The blonde enby nodded in agreement, "I'll need someone to confirm, but what we found makes me think they're only able to target individuals. It's not something they're doing that affects everyone all at once."

"I honestly don't know if it's safe for the girls to return to school on Monday." Maria sighed. "Maybe it's safe, being a very public place? But I hate to take that risk. On the other hand, I hate to keep them home if it's unnecessary. They've already missed so much school the past two months, I don't want to see them held back a year."

Samantha looked to Kara, asking "You mentioned you found something? What was it?"

Kara replied, "After we left the school, Maria and I went to Ashley's house. Mr. Nesbitt had left for work by then, but Mrs. Nesbitt was still there. We had a...difficult conversation with her. Then while Maria was collecting some clothes and other things for Ashley, I had a look around. Ashley had mentioned sensing magic in the kitchen, just before her parents confronted her. I found a letter on the kitchen table, that was enchanted. It's still in the SUV, but I have it wrapped in plastic. Someone who understands that sort of thing will need to have a look at it."

Everyone turned to look at Cindy. The small witch looked pale and had dark circles under her eyes, but she nodded "I'll check it out as soon as we're done here."

"No." Nicole stated. "As soon as we're done this meeting, you're going to bed. Zoe, make sure she gets a full night's sleep tonight."

Cindy started to protest, but Nikki cut her off. "You're pushing yourself too hard, Cindy. I know we've put a lot on your shoulders and I apologize for that. Either the Goddess can look at this enchanted letter, or it can wait till later. Either way, you need rest." She added, "That's an order. For both of you. Cindy, sleep. Zoe, make sure she sleeps."

The small blonde and the catgirl both just nodded quietly. Cindy still looked like she wanted to protest, but Nikki could tell by the look on Zoe's face, she'd do everything she could to make sure the small witch got some rest.

Nikki then looked to her wife.

Samantha sighed a little, "We've heard back from Tanya and Becky. So far it seems like only the Carlisles, the Elliots, and the Nesbitts have been affected. Becky, Tanya, and Brandi's families haven't been touched." She paused, then said "It's just a guess, but it could be Nikki and I were targeted, as the priestess and vessel. And Ashley, either because she was a convenient target, or because she still lived with her family, so it was an effective way to disrupt her life..."

Kara suggested, "It's possible they were planning to attack Ashley this morning when she fled her family, but their plans had to change when they realized they'd lost one of their men."

"Oh Goddess I hope not." Maria sighed. "It's hard enough on the girls as it is. If they have to start fearing for their lives..." She shook her head. "I just don't know how we'll manage."

"I know Maria. I'm sorry." Nikki rubbed the side of her head again, frowning.

There was a minute or two of quiet, which was finally broken by Jessica. "What are we doing about QSAW? It hasn't even been three weeks since our 'grand re-opening', and it's already being neglected because of this stuff."

Samantha sighed again, "Maybe we need to think about shutting it down, temporarily. Until we've dealt with this threat to the coven."

Jess frowned, "If we shut it down, the bigots will think they've won. And worse than that, the people who really need it will think the bigots have won. They'll think we've abandoned them. I don't want to let that happen."

Nikki frowned, then asked, "Since you feel so strongly about it Jessica, will you take it over? I'm sorry to do this but I don't think either Sam or myself can afford to spend time on it at the moment. And I won't ask Maria either, she has her hands full now with four girls of her own, plus Ashley."

Jessica hesitated, but only for a moment. Then she nodded, "Yes, I'll do it. I'm not much use to you all with the current situation. We're not working on the new book, and until there's more wards for me to do, I'm not really helping around here. So I'll take over QSAW."

Samantha looked uneasy, "Please be safe, Jessica. We have to assume the Brotherhood knows about QSAW and they're watching it..."

Jess nodded, "It's warded. Kara's got security cameras up. I'll teleport there and back, so I'm not out on the streets. I'll be fine."

"I'll accompany Jess." Kara stated. "When I'm not needed anywhere else, I'll stay with her."

Nikki nodded, "Thank you Kara."

"Thanks Kara," Jess whispered, smiling at her lover. She then looked back to Sam and Nikki and said, "With everything going on, if I feel threatened by those bigots, I'm going to do something about it. I'll keep it subtle and won't get anyone in trouble, but frankly I'm tired of them and I'm done playing nice."

Samantha looked like she was going to disagree, but Kara spoke first. "I agree. Gloves are off. Until we know who's a legitimate threat and who's just an annoyance, we have to treat everyone as dangerous. I'll keep Jess out of trouble, but QSAW is supposed to be there to support LGBT youths, not to act as a punching-bag and hate-magnet for the local loud bigot brigade."

Nicole couldn't argue with that, she'd had about enough of that nonsense herself. "Fine. Don't get arrested and don't draw attention to yourselves or the coven. Beyond that, Jessica and Kara, you do whatever you feel is best. QSAW is in your hands."

She then looked around the table again, to see if anyone had anything else to say.

Cindy was now slumped forward, her head resting on her arms on the table. Nikki almost thought the girl had fallen asleep, until she spoke up.

"Does the Goddess have anything to say?" The small witch sounded tired, but there was also some irritation in her voice. "I mean, it's been a full day since that guy tried to kill you, right? She's had him prisoner since then, she must have something to tell us?"

Nikki knew Cindy had a point, but she hadn't heard from the Goddess all day today. Last night she assumed Arianrhod would quickly extract whatever information that guy had to offer, and it was a little frustrating that the Goddess had been keeping quiet about it.

Soon, Nicole.

Nikki sighed, "All she says is 'soon'."

Cindy made a sound, that might have been a scoff or something equally dismissive. Nicole decided to ignore it, and attribute it to the stress and lack of sleep the girl was suffering from.

"Ok." She stated. "I think that's it for tonight. Maria, keep in touch, thank you for taking care of Ashley. Zoe, get your girlfriend to bed and see that she gets some rest."

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