=:= Ashley =:=

Maria gave them a polite smile as she said, "Mr. Nesbitt, Mrs. Nesbitt, thank you for agreeing to speak with us."

Ashley and Maria were sitting on the sofa in the family room. Dad was in his easy-chair, mom was in the armchair next to him.

It was about nine o'clock Monday evening. Back at the Watson house they'd ordered pizza for dinner again. Brittany was there too, and it should have been a nice meal. But Ashley hadn't really been interested in eating. She'd been feeling more and more homesick the past few days.

Ever since the attack at school last week, she just really wanted to go home. And she was feeling even worse after the coven meeting yesterday. Everything Kara said was still stuck in her head, and she was sure the others all blamed her for Zoe's disappearance and Cindy going crazy.

After dinner, she finally asked Maria if she would help her try and talk with her folks. Maria agreed, they called ahead, then the two of them got in Maria's car and drove over to her house.

Now here they were sitting in front of her parents, and Ashley was second-guessing herself. Her stomach was doing flip-flops and she was starting to think maybe it wasn't so bad after all just staying with the Watson family.

"We agreed to meet you because we're hoping you and our...child, will give us some answers." Dad sounded on edge. It wasn't quite his angry-voice, but Ashley knew that wasn't far off.

Mom was still just staring at her. She couldn't tell if mom was angry, shocked, upset, or something in between.

"I'll do my best," Maria replied. "I know all of this was a shock to you both."

Ashley's mom nodded "Shocking, to say the least. So please, enlighten us Ms. Watson. What... How did this happen?"

Maria glanced at Ashley, "Would you like me to explain, or...?"

"You please," Ashley said quietly. She was still too nervous, she didn't think she could explain it without the anxiety overwhelming her.

Maria nodded, then looked back to her parents. "As you know, your child is trans. I've already emailed you both a fair amount of information on that subject. In short, forcing her to delay her transition was causing her a great deal of stress and psychological harm. Beyond that, letting her endure the wrong puberty was causing irreparable changes to her body. I know this can be a very difficult situation for families, for parents. But as hard as it is for parents, it's even harder for the children who have to live with it."

Ashley was watching her folks. They both just nodded slightly, listening. She had no idea if they'd bothered to read the stuff Maria sent. She'd given them loads of links and stuff in the past, and she doubted they looked at any of it that closely.

Her parents didn't interrupt or try to argue yet, so Maria continued.

"This is where things will be more difficult to believe. When my niece Sadie learned of Ashley's situation, she asked me to help. I won't go into details on this, but I and some other associates have access to magic. We were able to help Ashley, by giving her the body she should have been born with. I won't apologize for that. I wish we could do this for every trans person out there."

Maria paused again, then concluded "To ensure Ashley's sudden change wouldn't raise concerns or alarm, my friends and I changed other things too. We made it seem as though she'd always been Ashley, so that nobody would notice anything out of the ordinary. So that family, friends, her school, and so on, would all recognize and remember her as she is now." Maria sighed, "That is something which I do have some misgivings about. And as you know, that has been undone for the two of you."

Ashley was almost holding her breath now as she watched her mom and dad's reactions. Her parents were both frowning, both quiet for a few more moments. Finally it was dad who spoke first.

"There's no such thing as magic," he stated. Though he wasn't sounding very sure of himself.

Maria shrugged slightly, "Call it what you will, Mr. Nesbitt. Magic, a miracle. I'm sure Ashley would call it a blessing. Surely you're aware of how much happier she's been since we helped her?"

Ashley saw her mom nodd slightly.

"Yes," mom said slowly. "Gord was always a quiet boy. He didn't socialize much, he rarely smiled. But since last May, Ashley's been happy, outgoing, spending time with Sadie and her sister, and making more friends at school."

Maria nodded, "I'm glad you've noticed that, Mrs. Nesbitt. And I appreciate that you're making an effort to understand. I should point out though, that you just deadnamed and misgendered your daughter a handful of times. Her name is Ashley, and her pronouns are she/her."

Ashley bit her lip as she watched the emotions across her mom's face.

First her eyes widened, then she frowned, then there was a faint blush. Finally though all she said was "Ok. I'm sorry."

Dad was still frowning quietly, but the look in his eyes suggested he was thinking everything through as well.

Ashley felt a little spark of hope. Maybe her folks were coming around?

"So what's going to happen next?" dad finally asked. "Are you going to brainwash us again to forget about our son?"

"No," Maria stated firmly. "Ashley and I are both hoping that you will accept her for who she is. And that you can appreciate that you've always had a daughter, even if you didn't know it until she came out to you a few years ago. Ashley is hoping she'll be able to return home again soon. I hope so too, but I need to know she'll be safe here."

Her parents glanced at each other, then looked at her. Ashley gulped. She knew they could tell how anxious she was.

"Ash..ley," mom said, hesitating over her name. "You've been sitting there quietly through all of this. Do you have anything to say?"

She gulped again and took a deep breath. She glanced at mom then dad, but finally let her eyes drift down to a point on the floor between the two of them.

"I miss you both. I'm sorry I let Maria and her friends use magic to uh...deceive you both. But I was scared how you'd react. I'm not sorry that they changed me though. It feels like they saved my life. It feels like after all those years pretending to be someone else, now I'm finally me."

She took another deep breath then sighed, "When you remembered all that stuff about the old me a couple weeks ago, I was really scared. Because of how upset you were, and how you kept calling me the wrong name and stuff."

She suppressed a shudder, then said, "I want to come home, I miss you two and I want to be here with you. But I can't, if you won't accept me for who I am. I can't stay here if I'm not comfortable..." Her voice trailed off and she looked down at the carpet, biting her lip.

After a few moments of silence, mom said softly "I've missed you too. I'm sorry we scared you away."

Ashley glanced up and saw mom was looking at her. Mom gave her a tentative smile, and Ashley felt a little more hope. She mirrored her mom's expression with a small hopeful smile of her own.

Dad sighed, "Ok. I still don't really believe what you said about magic, but clearly something's happened that's beyond our understanding. I think Carol and I need to have a conversation. We need to sort things out, before we make any decisions."

Mom looked a little sad about that. Ashley was too, she'd been hoping she might be able to move back home right away, if this conversation had gone well.

"Of course," Maria said with a slight nodd. "I'd be happy to meet with you again, to discuss any questions or concerns that come up after you and your wife have had time to think things over and discuss the situation with each other."

That seemed to be the end of things for now. All four of them got to their feet. Mom and dad escorted Ashley and Maria back to the front door. Before they left though, mom pulled her into a brief hug. She didn't say anything, just a quick hug then she let go again.

Ashley felt some tears welling up but she smiled slightly. "Bye mom, bye dad... See you again soon?"

Mom nodded, while dad just said "We'll be in touch."

As they got back into the car, Maria asked "How are you feeling, Ashley?"

"Ok I guess," she shrugged. "I mean, it didn't go great, but at least they listened. Maybe they'll change their minds."

Maria nodded as she pulled the car out of the driveway. "I think they will. I think your mother is almost there, and your father is starting to come around as well. He just needs a little more time."

Ashley sighed, "I hope so... Not that I'm not grateful for everything you've done for me, and letting me stay with all of you and stuff. But I'm homesick and I miss my folks."

"I know dear," Maria said, giving her a sympathetic smile.

"Thanks Maria," Ashley smiled weakly.

=:= Kara =:=

"Do you think he'll be ok?" Jess asked, taking another sip of her cola.

Kara nodded. "We're here. He'll be fine."

Jessica smiled, "I meant, do you think his dad is going to try anything? Assuming he's been monitoring Trevor somehow."

It was Tuesday afternoon, and they'd driven Trevor to Port Colbourne so he could meet with his friend Christine. He'd arranged to meet her at a cafe next to the canal. Kara suggested that they and Jessica could stay, seated at another table incase of any trouble. But Trevor declined, saying he'd call or text them when he was finished there.

Kara knew he thought they'd returned to the vineyard, but in fact they'd just gone around the corner and were now in a nearby Thai restaurant having a late lunch. There was no line of sight from here to the cafe, but that was irrelevant. Jessica and Kara were taking turns keeping an eye on Trevor using magic.

Kara sighed, "I hope his father will stay away and leave Trevor alone. But I have a feeling the Reverend will show his face and stir up trouble."

"Yeah, me too." Jess sighed. After a moment she added, "Oh, Christine's cute. Blonde hair, green eyes, bit tall but it suits her."

"You're supposed to be watching for trouble, not checking out Trevor's friend." Kara pointed out with a bit of a grin.

Jess giggled softly, "I know. It doesn't hurt though to be watching inside the cafe as well as outside. And anyways, we're hoping there won't be any trouble. In which case this could be a boring, uneventful afternoon."

"Right," Kara nodded. They raised their tea in a mock toast, "Here's hoping for uneventful."

They were both quiet for a few moments as the waitress brought their meals over, then the two of them started eating. Jess was having pad Thai and Kara tried a coconut shrimp dish that sounded tasty.

About ten minutes into their meal, Jess commented quietly "Maybe nothing, but there's a suspicious-looking van. It circled twice and now it's parked across the road from the cafe."

Kara closed their eyes for a few moments as they worked the clairvoyance spell. They soon located the van in question.

There was a large intimidating-looking man sitting in the drivers' seat. The back windows were heavily tinted to prevent anyone seeing inside. That didn't hinder their magic of course, and Kara let their focus shift to the vehicle's interior. Reverend Clark was waiting in the back of the van, along with another large, burly man.

"Looks like trouble after all," they commented. "Probably waiting for Trevor to leave the cafe?"

Jess frowned, "Just Trevor, or maybe both of them. I wonder how his dad found him?"

Kara thought for a few moments then suggested, "Spy app on his phone, would be my first guess. His old man's probably been waiting since Friday for him to leave the spiritual retreat."

"Yeah, that would do it." Jess frowned. "So what do we do? Go make ourselves visible and hopefully scare them off? Or do you want to wait, let the Reverend do something, then intervene?"

Kara sighed, "After the mess Cindy made last week, we should probably keep things subtle. But I'd really like to make a point with this guy. He's been causing us trouble for what, six weeks now? I'd like to make enough of an impression on him that we never have to see him or his bigot brigade again."

Jessica nodded in agreement, "That would be nice. What are you thinking, though?"

They were quiet for a few minutes as they thought about it while eating some more of their lunch. Finally Kara replied, "Much as I'd like to kick his ass clear across the canal, physical violence is out. I don't want to do anything that would lead to more police involvement. That leaves a magical intervention."

The redhead nodded, "Ok, so what spell did you have in mind?"

Kara was about to reply when they frowned. Through the clairvoyance spell they could see Trevor and Christine getting up from their table and walking together for the door of the cafe. At the same time, the reverend and his buddies were getting ready to emerge from their van.

"Time to go," Kara stated. They pulled out enough cash to cover the meals and tip and left it on the table as they stood up. With Jessica rushing to catch up, they strode out of the restaurant.

They were just rounding the first corner when they heard the scream. Kara put on a burst of speed and quickly came around the second corner and took in the scene.

The reverend and one of the men had grabbed Trevor and were stuffing him into the back of the van. The other man was still behind the wheel and had the engine started. Christine was down on the sidewalk, but was getting back to her feet.

The two men had Trevor half inside the van when Kara was suddenly right there with them. They grabbed the thug since he was closest and yanked him backwards, sending him stumbling. Then they did the same for Reverend Clark, shoving him back too. Finally, Kara helped Trevor out of the van, asking "Are you ok? Did they hurt you?"

Trevor nodded "I'm ok, thank you!" His voice was wavering a bit, he was obviously shaken by the experience.

Before either Kara or Trevor could respond further, Kara was grabbed from behind. The driver had emerged from the van and grabbed them by the upper arms. The reverend and the other guy were back again now too. The Reverend grabbed Trevor once more, while the thug lined up to drive his fist into Kara's gut.

Kara had a grim smile on their face, as they focused on the brute and worked the spell. His blow never landed, the man vanished mid-swing. The reverend and the man holding Kara both looked stunned, staring at the space where their accomplice had been.

Kara repeated the spell, this time their eyes were on Trevor's dad. Like the first man, he too vanished.

The last guy let go of them and took a few steps back, gasping "What the fuck..." A moment later he was gone as well.

Trevor was standing half in, half out of the van. His eyes were wide as he stared at Kara. "What did you do?"

Jess and Christine approached from across the street, and Christine hurried to Trevor's side to make sure he was ok. The blonde teen was slightly frantic, between the fear and adrenaline of the attempted kidnapping, and then seeing the three men vanish before her eyes.

Kara replied calmly "I sent them away. Not too far, but far enough to give them time to think about things."

"Are you two ok?" Jess asked the teens.

They both nodded, the two were shaken and upset but neither were harmed. Christine said "We're going back to my place. We've got a spare room at home and my parents said Trevor could stay with us for now."

Jessica smiled, "That's great!" She looked at Trevor, "Stay in touch. And wipe your phone, it might have some kind of spyware or tracking app on there that your dad's using."

Kara added, gesturing to the van "Free van if either of you know how to drive."

The two teens looked at each other and shook their heads.

"No thanks. I don't want anything to do with my father's stuff." Trevor stated.

Kara nodded and reached in the door, turning off the engine. They left the keys where they were, and then said to Jess "Let's go home?"

Ten minutes later, the two of them were in their SUV heading back to the vineyard, while Trevor and Christine were on their way to her place.

"Hey Kara?" Jessica asked, "What did you do with the reverend and his buddies?"

They couldn't help grinning as they answered. "I sent them to my home-town. The Reverend wound up in an empty stall in the girls' washrooms in Essex District High-School. The first guy went to a diner on the main street in town, and the last guy wound up behind a grocery store."

Jess grinned. "Clever. I guess they'll be back soon enough, as long as they've got bus fare on them."

Kara shrugged, "I hope it was enough to scare them off."

=:= Sidney =:=

True to her word, Cindy turned out to be a little wiz when it came to baking cakes. Sid didn't have much of a sweet tooth, but the kid whipped up a mean chocolate cake yesterday. She'd also been making herself useful around the house, sweeping and dusting, and doing laundry. She did the dishes after their meals, and even helped out with the cooking when he let her.

She'd even walked with him over to the shop for groceries, and she insisted on paying for everything.

A few of his friends and neighbours noticed he had a house-guest, and Sid had started referring to Cindy as his grand-niece, visiting from Canada.

Since their conversations on Monday, the teen hadn't said much about her life, or where she was from. She didn't talk about her family at all.

Sid on the other hand had filled her in on his own boring life. A Melbourne native, he'd retired from teaching at sixty-two and moved out here to Wye River a few years back. He'd been married once, but his wife passed away young. He had no children and never remarried.

He passed the time nowadays working on his hobby, he was an amateur nature photographer. When he wasn't at home, he was off travelling, hiking and touring the back-country, looking for new places and wildlife to shoot with the camera.

Cindy seemed genuinely interested in all of this, and even asked to see his pictures. They spent the afternoon sitting at the small desk in his living-room, looking at photos on his computer.

Sid was surprised to find himself enjoying the teen's company. He'd never really considered himself lonely before, but suddenly having this odd, quiet, helpful teen around the house was bringing him a lot more joy than he'd expected.

She was like the grand-daughter he'd never had. It was only two days since he'd invited her home for a meal, and he was already getting used to having her around. As much as he was getting to enjoy her company, he knew it wouldn't last and he figured it was time for her to focus on the life she'd run away from.

That evening he was frying up some fish for dinner, and Cindy got the little table set for the two of them. When they sat down together to eat, he decided it was time to ask her some more questions. He knew she must have family who were worried about her. And she was probably missing school.

"Cindy, I've been talking a lot about my own boring life the past couple days. I don't want to pressure you, but maybe you could tell me a bit more about yourself?" He added, "If not, I understand. I just think whatever you're running from, sooner or later you'll have to address it, won't you?"

The small blonde sighed, staring down at her plate as she slowly chewed a mouthful of fish.

She finally shrugged, "Yeah, ok. What do you want to know?"

Sid asked, "Well, what about your family? They must be worried about you?"

"I don't have any family." Cindy shook her head. "No parents, no siblings."

"I'm sorry," he sighed.

They both ate quietly for another minute or two, then he asked "I'm sure you're missing school? Won't you need to get back to your studies at some point?"

Cindy grimaced slightly and shook her head, "I graduated high-school like a year and a half ago. I know I look like a teen, like around sixteen? But I just had my nineteenth birthday last week. And even that's kind of a lie, I'd really be something like twenty-five now. It's cos of a curse. It makes me look younger than I am."

Sid wasn't sure how to react to that, so he just nodded slowly "I see. How'd you get cursed? If you don't mind my asking."

She sighed, and a sad look came across her face. "I did something terrible... I don't really want to talk about it though. Sorry Sid."

"That's ok Cindy, I'm sorry I asked," he replied.

After another short break in the conversation, he asked her "What about your friends, the er, witches you mentioned the other day?"

"They took me in after I was cursed," she replied. "I was lost and homeless and stuff, but they were really nice. They kinda looked after me and taught me magic and stuff, made me one of them. And I got good at it, and now I'm a sorceress, like I said."

Sid was quiet for a minute or so, as he thought through everything she'd told him.

Finally he said, "You know Cindy, family doesn't have to mean biological parents or siblings. Really, family is the people who care about you, the people you care about. Sounds like these uh, witches who took you in and looked after you, maybe they're your family."

That seemed to give her pause. He watched as she stared down at her plate, a thoughtful expression coming over her face. After a few moments, she looked up at him and smiled slightly. "That would mean you're family too, right? I mean, you cared enough to take me in and look after me too."

He coughed, then smiled, "I suppose so. I hadn't thought that part through all the way. But you're right, I was concerned, and I cared. And I still care." He paused, then said "I know those other people who care about you must be worried. I'm sure they'd like to hear from you."

Cindy sighed, then nodded. "I'll think about it. I'm really not sure they want me back, though. Not after everything I did last week."

Sid hesitated, then asked "You mean ah, killing those men?" He still thought she was maybe a little confused or delusional, he couldn't believe this kid actually killed anyone.

"Yeah," she nodded. "It wasn't just that I killed them, I wasn't subtle about it. I kind of made a public scene."

She sighed and explained, "We have some rules, about our magic? We're not supposed to use magic in public, not supposed to use magic for revenge, and not supposed to do anything that's like, obviously magic. I was teleporting around in public and throwing fireballs and stuff. I don't even know if anyone saw me or not, but I wasn't trying to hide it."

Sid thought for a few moments, then said "Well Cindy, I think if that sort of thing had been exposed it would have made the news even over here in Aus. 'Teen Sorceress Seen Throwing Fireballs' would be quite the headline. I haven't seen anything like that though, so I think your secret is probably safe."

Cindy looked thoughtful, then smiled. "You know Sid, you're probably right. I know you're trying to humour me, but it's true. And I think my friend would have said something when she brought me the backpack the other day, if I actually had exposed magic to the world."

A few seconds later her face fell again. "That doesn't mean my friends won't still hate me though. I mean, for killing those guys."

"Maybe," Sid replied softly. "But you never know, Cindy. I still think you should at least consider reaching out to them. At least let them know you're all right. Ok?"

"Maybe..." she sighed again. She looked up at him and added, "Thanks Sid. For caring."