The night was essentially over after that. The young lovers spent some time just kissing and holding each other, not needing to say anything, before returning to their bedroom for yet more kissing, more cuddling and… other activities. 

In the morning, they woke up together, not wanting a repeat of the scare from the day before. After a healthy breakfast of oatmeal with brown sugar and fruit, they returned to their positions on the sofa from the morning before and Jana picked her game back up, preparing to fight her way through Alfheim. 

“Is that really what elves look like?” Ella asked before she could stop herself. 

“I wouldn’t know personally. Even in my day you didn’t hear from them very much. Dwarves and giants got around a lot more than they did.” She was silent as she watched poor Atreus wanting to do everything he could to help these strangers. 

“So you haven’t been to any of the other worlds yourself?” Ella hoped her questions weren’t annoying. Asking a norse girl about the nine worlds was probably a bit tactless. 

Jana shook her head, “No such luck. Very few ever did actually. I mean you have to be dead or a god to visit three of the worlds, and most of the others would kill you pretty fast regardless.” She smiled in satisfaction as a well-timed axe throw took out an annoying group of growing vines. “If this is all Alfheim is like, I think I’ll stick to Midgard.” 

“You might be right. It’s not like our world is boring or without it’s own magic.” Ella smiled, squeezing Jana’s thigh, her hands occupied killing dark elves, as she thought again of the future they had discussed the night before. A chance to learn magic together. To grow old side by side in a cute little house in the woods. Surrounded by friends and close to the family she cared about. “... Oh crap.” Ella said with a sudden realization.

“What?” Jana asked, distracted for a moment by the exclamation and forgetting to dodge Kratos out of the way of a very powerful attack. The genie cursed and paused the game to give Ella her full attention.

“David. I forgot to call him last night.” They had gotten a little caught up in other matters after Jerry had left.

“Oh is that all?” Jana asked, relieved. “He’s not in a different time zone from us right? Do you think he’d be awake by now?”

“He should be. Might be at work by this point. Not sure of his schedule.” Ella took out her phone and looked through a couple of old messages from her brother to see if there was any hint. She stood up and waved her phone at her girlfriend. “Gonna try and call him now. If he’s not there, I’ll be right back. If he’s there… well I could be gone for hours. Got a lot to catch him up on.”

The genie smiled and nodded in understanding. “Take however long you need bunny. I’ll be fine over here with the boys.” She wiggled the controller in the air to demonstrate her point.

Ella left the room, but didn’t go far as Jana could still hear her a few seconds later. “Hey David. It’s Ella. Sorry I haven’t called in a while. I’ve got some big news when you have a chance to talk. In brief, I have a girlfriend, she is amazing. Aaannd she kinda helped me move out! Not just that, but Jerry grew a pair and is talking about divorce! So… yeah, lots to talk about, call me back when you can. Love you, miss you. Bye!” 

Jana even heard the sigh as Ella hung up before walking back into the living room. “No luck. I hope he calls back soon. I hadn’t realized until just now how much I have to catch him up on.”

“I’ll say. Like this amazing girlfriend you mentioned. Will I ever get to meet her? She sounds nice!” She smirked mischievously across the room, while making Kratos dodge away from another attack.

Ella smiled back, playing along. “Oh she’s wonderful, but I’m not sure if you two would get along. You’re too similar, you’d probably fight.”

Jana’s smile widened, “I was tempted to make a clone of myself to argue with to keep this joke going, but I don’t want things to get out of hand.”

Ella couldn’t help but blush at the thought of two of her girlfriend… Maybe she could ask for that trick for her birthday… “Yeah, let’s not do that just yet.” She said in a mutter, looking at her phone to see if she could change the subject in her flustered lesbian brain. “So, if I can’t get ahold of David, do we still want to go to Canada today?”

Jana paused her game again so she could consider the matter. “I think we should. If we wait too long, I’ll start to panic again. I need answers to know what to do next, and Rhea is my best option.” 

“Right.” She checked her phone for the time, “It’s 10 am now. What is the proper time of day to call on an immortal witch?”

“Hmm probably give it till 12 in case she’s a late riser…. Also they’d ask us to stay for lunch if nothing else.”

Ella nodded her approval. She loved the idea of spending more time with the Olsen family. But it meant they had plenty of time to talk about some other things that had been on her mind. “Since we aren’t going anywhere for a while, do you mind if I pick your brain about a few wish ideas? We have so many and I just want to know what is possible.”

Jana decided to save her game and turn it off before discussing business of this sort. “Ok love, shoot.” She said once the TV was off.

Ella began, knowing that this was a long shot, “I don’t suppose I could just wish for hormones and medical treatment for trans people to be free across the world?”

Jana shook her head a little sadly, “I’m afraid not. I love the impulse, and we could do a lot of good in other ways, but something that big and that sweeping wouldn’t stick without breaking the rules and warping the free will of some people at the top. Otherwise the jerks in charge would break it down as fast as we built it.”

“I knew it wouldn’t be that easy…” Ella could see just how it would play out. She’d wish for gender therapy to be free, and in hours, people like her mother all over the world would clutch their pearls and take action against this “perverse danger to society.”

She paused as a new idea started to form in her head, “You can make any amount of money possible out of thin air, right? So if I wanted to donate to a bunch of charities, there isn’t a limit?”

Jana smiled, “You had me worried when you asked about money. I thought you were asking how rich you could be. Yeah, I can make any amount of money for something like that, for one or multiple wishes, depending how you phrase it.”

She nodded her approval before continuing. “Ok, so we can get the money other ways if this next part doesn’t work. Instead of creating the money from nothing, could you take the money from a few billionaire assholes? Redistribute their wealth so to speak?”

A gleam came into the genie’s eyes. “Just when I thought I couldn’t love you anymore! That’s the best idea I’ve heard in decades, bunny! We are absolutely doing that!” She let out a little laugh, “In fact, between us, I’ve already started doing it, just a bit.”

Ella sat up a little straighter. “You’ve… already started taking money from rich jerks?”

“Yep.” She gave a shrug, “I mean sure I can make money out of nothing, but that would affect inflation after a while, soooo I’ve been taking small amounts from billionaires and corporations here and there. Never enough to get noticed. Just a few thousand at a time that people like that could easily lose in their sofas. But your Robin Hood idea would probably get their attention.”

“So… the checks for my parents and the money for the house…” Ella started laughing before she could help it. Her home and everything in it had been funded by saying, “Screw you, capitalism!”, which was the only thing that could make her like the house more! “Oh that is too perfect! So who’s “generosity” paid for this house?”

The laugh was so infectious that Jana couldn’t help but join in, “Seth Kesos mostly. He’s rich enough to fund his own space program, he can fund this humble home.” Kesos, as the richest man in the world thanks to his business, Nile.com, had more than enough cash for Jana to play with. And with his history of under paying his staff, working with questionable companies, funding failed politicians and lobbyists, and just being a big elitist jerk, he was also a fun person to target.

“Oh yeah he has the money to pay for this and then some. He has…” Ella paused to look up the man’s net worth on her cell phone. “HE HAS HOW MANY BILLIONS!? Ok! I’m not sure if this wish can wait. No one man needs that much!”

“Definitely! Tell me how to divide it up and I will take him down a tax bracket.” She cracked her fingers to prepare herself for the magic. “Not like the bastard has been paying his taxes right for a while anyway.”

Ella grabbed a pen and a piece of paper from the table and started writing out some numbers. “If he has... and we take… Right then!” She capped the pen and turned her attention back to Jana. “We could “redistribute” almost half his money and Seth would still be in the top 5 richest men in the world… I think that’s still plenty… but we could do more if we are careful and particular about it.”

“Particular how?” Jana asked, loving how devious Ella had been through this thought process.

“Well, you said he hasn’t been paying his taxes right. So when they try and investigate what we did, he’ll be found out. That’s more money gone with possible jail time. And his wife could get pissed and divorce him, even more gone. But even though I want him taken down a few pegs, I don’t want any hard-working people around him to suffer. You know, no cooks or gardeners losing their jobs because of budget cuts or something like that.”

The redhead nodded her approval. “Good thinking. Don’t worry. I can try and magically nudge things in the right directions so only the assholes get hurt. Besides, we’re looking to wound, not kill.”

“Exactly!” Ella said, pausing to think if there were any other details and finding nothing. “I think that should do it!” She took a deep breath and said her wish, “I wish that our friend Seth would “misplace”... let’s say 80 billion dollars, with one million each going to a different deserving charity around the world.”

“80 billion!?” Jana repeated, pausing before she could snap. “That’s one million to 8000 charities!”

“And he’d still have 100 billion to get back on his feet. He can spare it to help a few hundred abuse shelters and LGBTQ+ scholarships and the like.” Ella smiled as the snap of the wish rang through the house. “You know, the one thing I regret about this wish? It won’t happen all at once. We can’t see all of it. This is the one time I’ll watch the news for BS about celebrities.” 

“I kinda hope he throws a fit and demands his money back. Imagine the bad press of a billionaire having a bitch fit at an inner city food bank! He’ll look like such an ass he’d be worthless in the public eye if he tried to sue anyone!” Jana chuckled, conjuring a phone to see if any word had reached the media yet. “Hmm probably an hour or two before they even hear about the donation, longer till they hear about the theft.”

“Yeah, about that... No trace on anything, right?” Ella asked, briefly nervous.

“None.” Jana said without hesitation. “I did leave a very faint trail to offer them an explanation, but that goes cold at an internet cafe in Amsterdam just to leave them extra confused.”

She laughed, kissing Jana in thanks, happy with the good work they had just done and excited for their upcoming entertainment over the next few days.

__________________________________________________________________

About an hour later, the lovers got their first alert connected to their scheme as the news reported the anonymous donations. It was called “The Great Gift” by most outlets and the world was overjoyed by the generosity and fascinated by the mystery of it all! Feeling very good about themselves and full of mischievous joy for what was coming next, the girls prepared themselves for the next part of their day.

With a snap of Jana’s fingers, and a wish used (sure they didn’t have to use wishes to travel, but with 12, now 11, wishes to go, Ella felt she could spare one), the pair materialised in the Canadian forests with a now-somewhat familiar puff of smoke. Ella looked around, recognizing the clearing from their previous visit. Jana snapped her fingers one more time, and suddenly both girls were wearing hiking gear.

“Shouldn’t need to walk for too long this time.” said Jana. “Quite a few pack members would’ve picked up our scent last time, so they should recognize it and come looking.”

Ella smiled at her. “Do we even need to walk?” she asked, hugging the taller girl’s arm. “If they’re gonna come to us, maybe we should just wait here. Just the two of us, enjoying the peace and qui…” She was cut off by the sound of a wolf’s howl, which was closely followed by two more. “Dang it!” pouted Ella. “That’s not fair!”

Jana grinned at Ella. “Sorry, cutie. We’ll find some quiet time for ourselves later. Maybe we can visit the hot springs after talking to Rhea.”

Ella was so busy focusing on the thought of cuddling with Jana in the warm spring water, that she ended up getting quite a start when a pair of massive wolves emerged into the clearing.

The wolves both froze when they saw the girls, as if recognizing who they were, before one turned to the other and gave a series of barks and snarls. The second wolf grunted in response, before turning to look at the underbrush from where they had emerged.

Jana was the first to speak up. “Uh… Hi. We’re here to visit Rhea…” She grinned awkwardly, before pausing. “Wait… I remember you two! You’re Lupa’s brothers, right?”

The wolf closest to Jana nodded, before looking back to where his brother was staring. From out of the underbrush, there emerged a third wolf, with shabby grey fur, and a somewhat withered appearance. The elderly canine took one look at the girls, and gave a brief bark, as if asking who they were.

“Uh… Hi…” said Jana, nervously looking between the three wolves. “I don’t suppose one of you could shift? It’d make communicating easier.”

The grey wolf seemed to roll his eyes and sigh, but then began to transform into his human shape. Before Ella had time to worry about suddenly having to face a naked old man, she noticed that this transformation was accompanied by a slight gust of wind, and the wolf’s fur, instead of receding into the skin, instead formed a grey robe, similar to a monk’s. As the elderly werewolf finished shifting, he took on the appearance of a cheerful looking octogenarian, with a white beard and long wispy hair on his head.

“Well, Well, Well…” said the old man, smiling and rubbing his hands together as if excited to get to work. “We’ve been wondering when you would arrive, Jana! And you too Miss Ella. Pleasure to meet you both. I’m Karl, Sofia’s husband!” He spoke with a light British-Canadian accent, which added to his more distinct presence.

“Oh hi!” said Jana, excitedly shaking Karl’s hand. “Sofia told me about you. You’re a mage, right? That’s how you did the robe thing?” She gestured to the apparel that had materialised around Karl as he had shifted.

“I’m also a wizard, yes.” said Karl proudly. “I specialised in conjuration and summoning. I’ve trained under Rhea herself for over 60 years now. I must say, it’s been quite the boon, being both a wizard and a werewolf. It’s especially helpful with…”

As the old man spoke, and spoke… and spoke, Ella and Jana exchanged a brief glance. Karl was evidently one of those old folks who loved to tell neverending stories about himself. There was something endearing about it, but they weren’t there to hear his life story. Jana gave an apologetic smile, as if to say, “Sorry bunny. Looks like this could take a while.”

Farkas and Vilkas each gave loud barks, and Karl turned to look at them. “What? Oh yes! Right…” He grinned. “Sorry boys. I’m rambling again. Would you two like to take it from here?”

The wolf twins looked at each other and shrugged, which was quite an unusual sight for two quadrupeds. As the brothers started shifting into their human forms, Karl waved his hand, and conjured up a set of identical robes onto the boys to preserve their modesty. Soon enough, the two powerful beasts had reverted to a pair of lanky teenage boys, each wearing grey robes.

“Ahh! Grandpa!” complained one of the twins (Ella wasn’t sure which was which.) “This thing itches!”

“We have company, Vilkas.” replied Karl, dignified but stern. “You know how outsiders feel about this sort of thing.”

“I’m Farkas!” snapped Farkas, crossly.

“C’mon, Bro!” said Vilkas, laughing at his twin’s annoyed expression. “Cut the ladies some slack. You don’t want them to see any more of your scrawny ass than they need to, right?”

Farkas swiped at his brother, who saw the attack coming, and dodged it, laughing at his own joke.

“That’s enough, you two!” said Karl, sounding slightly more strict than before, and the twins stopped squabbling.

Ella grinned a little as she watched the boys’ antics. She hadn’t gotten much of a chance to get to know Farkas and Vilkas on her previous visit. She had seen plenty of them as wolves, but hadn’t really spoken to them while they were in human form. Now maybe she would have a chance to get to know the rest of the Olsen family? For a start it seemed that Farkas was a little more aggressive of the two, while Vilkas was faster, with both wit and agility.

“Right.” said Vilkas, stepping forward. “Like grandpa was saying; we’ve actually been waiting for you girls to come back to visit. It’s great that you’re finally here.”

“Wait, really?” Jana and Ella said together. This was a surprise. It hadn’t been that long since the girls’ last visit, and it didn’t seem like the Olsens would be missing them already. Well, except maybe for Logan.

“Yeah…” said Farkas, joining the conversation and looking slightly perplexed. “You said you’re here to see Rhea, right? Isn’t that what this is about?”

Ella and Jana exchanged another confused look, before Jana spoke. “We came here to see if Rhea would be able to train us in the ways of magic.” She explained, “It’s possible that I’m not gonna be a genie for much longer, so we thought it would be best for the both of us.”

“Oh…” said Farkas. “I thought this was about… I mean, he’s been trying to contact you…”

“Uhh, Fark?” said Vilkas, interrupting his twin. “I don’t think they know about that yet. Maybe we should just take them to Rhea?”

Ella stared at the twins. “Wait... Someone’s been trying to contact us? Who? Why?” The expressions on the young wolves’ faces seemed to suggest that this wasn’t a simple case of somebody trying to make a social call.

There was a sudden whooshing noise, and the group all turned to see a small wooden staff flying from out of the trees, and into Karl’s outstretched hand. “Well, whatever the reason you’re here…” said the old wizard, tapping the staff on the ground as if testing its durability as a walking stick. “Clearly the best option is to pay Rhea a visit!”

Vilkas and Farkas both grinned as they heard this. “You’re gonna use your magic to get over there?” asked Vilkas. “Me and Farkas were gonna head there on foot.”

Karl chuckled. “You boys should really try to spend more time as humans. Try to balance things out a little.” He tapped his staff against a nearby tree, as if inspecting the bark. “Besides, it wouldn’t be very fair to our guests if we expected them to keep up with us on foot, would it?”

Vilkas shrugged. “I guess. How ‘bout we meet you there? Race ya!”

Karl grinned and nodded to something over his grandson’s shoulder. “Looks like Farkas is already winning.”

“What?” said Vilkas, before turning to see his brother speeding off into the trees, already halfway to wolf form. “Hey! No Fair!”  he growled, dropping down onto all fours, and scurrying off. As the lanky teen scrambled along, clumsily tangled in his robe, he too started transforming back into his preferred form. The robe vanished into fur, and his hands and feet became paws as he picked up speed. Within a few seconds, the second large wolf was speeding away into the woods, barking angrily at his twin, and gaining on him.

“Those two…” sighed Karl wearily, once the wolves were out of earshot. “My boy Markus was never that bad.”

Jana wondered if that was true or if the old man was just being nostalgic. “How are Markus and the rest of the family?”

The old wizard smiled, “Oh all very good. Very busy today though. Lots to get ready with the big hunt tonight. The younger crowd always looks forward to the full moon. I can’t say I blame them. Why, I remember my first full moon as a wolf. It was back in the year…”

“The full moon is tonight?!” Jana asked with genuine surprise, though she was happy to have this chance to stop a long story before it started. 

“Wait, what?!” said Ella, who had been silently pondering what Farkas and Vilkas had been saying, but now her attention was fully in the moment. “Big hunt?! What does that mean?” As nice and friendly as these canines were, she couldn’t get the image of the Hollywood style werewolf hunting humans through dark forests out of her head.

“Ella, calm down!” said Jana, rushing over to her girlfriend and taking hold of both her hands. “We don’t need to worry about that. It’s still hours before moonrise, and even if we are still here by then…” Jana gave a mischievous grin, as if suddenly realising something. “Well, we can shapeshift, remember. We can just join in the party.”

The old man shook his head knowing just what had made her panic. He motioned for them to follow him and walked at a gentle trot as he talked, “Don’t worry dear. Everyone here who wasn’t born into the old lycanthropy has had that same thought. Why I remember, back when I had just started to court my wife, Sophia. An older apprentice told me the wolves went savage when the moon rose and would eat any flesh they caught.” He let out a bark of a laugh. “I spent half the night hiding in Rhea’s cave quivering like a cornered rabbit before I realized he was full of it!”

The story actually helped Ella feel a bit better. “What about Rhea? Did she explain what was going on?” She asked, curious what sort of person the witch was.

“Ha! That old crone? Of course not! She thought it was hilarious so she told me the wolves doubled in size and could breathe fire when the moon was at its peak! My old boss likes to have her fun. This one will do.” He had stopped at the base of a massive pine tree and rolled back his sleeves. “Time to show you a favorite shortcut of mine.”

The girls looked at each other, wondering what would happen next. In the silence of the woods, they heard the old man muttering soft words in a strange language, with the cadence and flow of a poem. As he spoke, the wooden staff glowed faintly, as if smoldering just below the bark. Once the staff was shining along its full length, he tapped the tip to the tree. It was the gentlest tap, but the air rang with a loud crack as a line split down the center of the bark. 

Karl let out a satisfied sigh as the crack widened into a portal of light on the trunk of the pine. “There we go. That’ll save us oodles of time.” He hummed a little tune to himself as he stepped forward and through the portal as casually as if it was the door of his own house. 

“...Where can I get one of those staffs?” Ella asked, looking into the portal in quiet wonder.

“I think the magic was in him, not the wood… Still it is an impressive trick.” Jana had heard tell of this sort of magic. Even as a person that could snap her fingers and go almost anywhere, she was intrigued and couldn’t wait to learn the technique herself.

“Are you ladies coming or not?” The old mage stuck his head back through the portal, which made it look severed from his body. “This gate doesn’t stay open forever you know.”

Ella and Jana nodded and took each other by the hand before stepping into the light together. They felt… unchanged. As if they had just walked around the tree instead of through it. Even their surroundings on the other side weren’t much different. Still the same forest at the same time of day. Turning around, they saw they had stepped out of the same kind of tree; another massive, ancient pine. But this was clearly a different part of the wood. About 50 yards away from where they were standing, Ella spotted the mouth of a large cave, mostly hidden by hanging creepers.

“Well, Bunny…” said Jana, holding Ella’s hand and making her feel slightly calmer. “Welcome to the Cave of Rhea, the wolf-witch!”

“Come along then.” said Karl, casually strolling past, using his staff as a walking stick. “No need to keep her…”

“WHO DARES APPROACH THE REALM OF THE GUARDIAN!” A loud, deep voice echoed out of the cave with enough force to blow back the vines. 

Ella jumped and clung tight to Jana’s arm, unsure what would happen next. After a brief pause, the voice called out again. “SPEAK! SPEAK PATHETIC MORTALS OR MY CHILDREN WILL FEAST UPON YOUR FLESH!!” The voice hesitated and was interrupted by a muffled cough. “THE WOLVES -cough cough- THE CHILDREN OF THE FOREST SH-” the voice was interrupted by another cough and a hacking noise. Ella thought she heard a woman’s voice softly swearing.

Karl cleared his throat and stepped forward. “Mistress, as much as I always love to see you scare the newcomers, one of these young women knows you already. I don’t think this is going to work.” 

There was a clatter and a rustling noise from inside the cave and the vines were parted by a walking stick. Holding the staff and hobbling out of the cave was a tiny old woman of around 4½ feet tall, if she stood up straight, which she wasn’t. Her body was hunched with age and her hair was long and white, free and wild all around her head and down to her back. The only clothes she wore were a simple dress that looked to be made of tattered burlap tied with a rope belt. 

“Well ya could have told me that before I went and made an ass of myself, you mangy old bag of fleas!!” The old woman’s voice was suddenly a lot less scary sounding, and more like that of an elderly chain-smoker with a bad attitude. “You know that voice hurts for me to do!” 

“The witch Rhea?” Ella said it more as a question, as if wasn’t sure they had the right person.

“That’s her.” Jana confirmed quietly with a smile that said “Yes, I know,” before stepping forward to greet her with a small bow. “Hello, Lady Rhea. Remember me?”

The old crone stared at Jana for a long moment, squinting her eyes, “Oh yes! Sophia’s old nanny, the leprechaun, right?”

“Genie, actually.” Jana corrected with a smirk. You could never be sure when this woman was joking. “I hope you are well. Is that a new dress?”

“I’m as well as I can be surrounded by furry idiots and fools.” She smirked, showing a few sharp teeth. Her gaze fell to Ella and she gave a growl like chuckle, then turned around to wave them into her cave, “You must be the new keeper of the lamp Lupa and Prospero were talking about. Come inside. I think I know why you’re here...”

As Rhea headed back into the cave, Ella and Jana exchanged a confused look. They both looked towards Karl, hoping the wizard could provide some more details, but he had already rushed after Rhea, apparently in a hurry to talk to her about something, which only added to the ever-growing list of questions in Ella’s head.

Did Rhea know about them wanting to learn magic? How could she know that? Was she psychic? Had she been spying on them through a crystal ball, or something? And what had Farkas meant by “he’s been trying to contact you”? Who could “he” have been referring too?

Ella looked back at Jana, hoping she might have an answer to at least one of these questions. However, before the genie could say anything, there came a loud crashing noise from inside the cave, followed by some incoherent yelling. Ella and Jana quickly rushed inside, not quite knowing what to expect.

Rhea’s home was actually very nice for a cave deep in the woods. Smokeless torches lined the walls and there was furniture of carved wood and chiseled stone with moss cushions. It was as if nature shaped itself for the comfort of the witch and her guests, which Ella then thought might have actually been the case. 

Standing by the fireplace was a werewolf, in it’s bipedal form, trying to sweep up the shattered remains of a teapot, and desperately trying to avoid eye-contact with the newcomers. Behind the werewolf stood Karl, who was trying and failing to look calm and collected, and Rhea, who wore an expression of smug anticipation as if she were waiting for the show to start.

After a moment of silence Karl cleared his throat before anything else could be said. “Mistress, maybe you and I should leave the cave for a bit.”

The witch had taken a seat on a large stone chair and conjured a bowl of popcorn out of the air, “You can go if you want, old fool. This is my house, and I’m not missing this!”

“Missing what exactly?” Jana asked a bit nervously, staring between the witch, the wizard and the wolf.

Deciding to take initiative, Ella stepped forward and addressed the anxious canine. “Prospero. Lupa’s boyfriend right? It’s nice to meet you properly… Is this about why you ran away from us the last time we visited?”

Seemingly having trouble finding the right words, even in wolf, the canine just nodded. Receiving a nudge in the shoulder from Karl, the wolf turned around to face the newcomers, still nervously keeping his eyes on the ground.

“I… I like your name. Lupa said you chose it yourself? It’s from Shakespeare, isn’t it?” The wolf gave a little shrug as if he wasn’t quite sure how to answer that.

The awkward silence through the cave that followed, was finally broken by an exasperated cry. “Oh, come on, dude!” came the voice of Farkas.

All eyes turned to the doorway to see the twins had arrived. Farkas had apparently won the race, as he was already in human form (Still wearing the robe to Ella’s relief) and leaning against the wall. Vilkas appeared from behind his twin, his transformation not quite finished, as there were traces of fur along his face, and his ears were still pointed. 

“There’s no point hiding!” said Vilkas, once he had regained the ability to talk. “Talk to your sister already, David!”

Ella felt the world lurch under her as something finally clicked into place. She suddenly remembered another place she had heard the name “Prospero” being used before. It had been the name her brother had used for his favorite Dungeons and Dragons character.

“David...?” Ella repeated, turning slowly back to face the wolf. “But… No… No way!”

The werewolf let out a sigh that was much more human than animal, and began transforming. As his form shifted, he raised a clawed hand and clicked his fingers, causing a robe identical to Karl’s to appear on him. Within moments, a young man in his late twenties with short black hair stood before them. “Hi… Ella…” The voice, the hair, the awkward smile. There was no denying it. Rhea’s apprentice, Lupa’s boyfriend, and this mother flipping werewolf-wizard… were all David Grant, Ella’s older brother.