"Hey Cass, c'mon in!" Kaylee greeted me with a smile as she stepped back and held the door open.

I smiled as I hurried in out of the cold, then she closed the door behind me.

"Thanks Kaylee," I replied. As I started undoing my winter jacket I added, "Better not get too close to me today. And maybe I shouldn't have come at all? I think I'm coming down with something."

"Aww. Like a cold?" she asked as she took my jacket. Then she went to hang it up while I started pulling off my boots.

"Uh-huh," I replied. "My throat's kinda scratchy and I'm a bit achy today."

Once I had my boots off she asked, "Can I take your scarf too?"

I shook my head as I blushed, "No thank you. It's hiding that stupid bite mark..."

"Ah," she grimaced.

Then we started for the stairs, before she hesitated. "Do you want something to drink? We've got orange juice if you need some vitamin-C. Or we could do a hot drink?"

"Hot chocolate?" I asked with a hopeful smile.

She giggled, "You got it!"

I followed her into the kitchen, where she filled up the kettle then got it started. And while that was heating up she pulled out a couple big mugs and a can of instant hot chocolate mix. Finally she produced a big bag of mini-marshmallows from a cupboard, which put an even bigger grin on my face.

While we were waiting for the water to boil Mrs. Holt came into the kitchen and said hello to me. She was like a taller older version of Kaylee, right down to the red hair, colourful stylish glasses, and big comfy sweater.

She stayed and talked with the two of us, and Kaylee prepared a third cup of cocoa for her mom. When the water was boiling she poured and mixed up the drinks, then dumped a handful of marshmallows in my and her mugs. And she dropped two or three into her mom's.

Mugs of cocoa in hand, me and Kaylee headed upstairs to her bedroom. And she made sure to close the door behind us so we had some privacy. We both sat on her bed together, and I finally took off my scarf since my neck was getting hot.

"Yeah that doesn't look great," Kaylee commented as she frowned at my neck. "I can't believe she bit you!"

I grimaced, "At least she didn't bite hard? Like I'm glad I don't have to worry about growing fur next full moon."

She slowly shook her head and sighed, "I know you're all right, but I feel awful about what happened. Things could have been so much worse, and I'd never forgive myself if you got hurt. That wolf is going to be in so much trouble when we catch her."

After a gulp of my cocoa I asked, "We're not going to hurt her are we? And for that matter, are we even still going to look for her? I thought the club was suspended?"

Kaylee sighed, "Cass she attacked you without any reason. You were just standing there in the barnyard and attacked, she knocked you down and tried to bite your throat! She's dangerous, she needs to be stopped."

Her voice dropped to a whisper as she continued, "She could have killed you. Or if she wasn't trying to kill you then she was trying to turn you. And turning someone against their will is..."

She shook her head again, "It's almost as big a crime as killing. You heard May, once someone becomes a were there's no way to make them human again. People get used to it, they adjust to it. And some people like it, some people seek it out because they want it? But doing that to someone without consent is horrible. And it almost happened to you, because I left you alone when I should have been looking out for you."

I shook my head, I wanted to hug her but I didn't want her to get sick. "Don't blame yourself Kaylee. It's not your fault. And I'm fine. Well, apart from catching cold, but that's my own fault for not dressing up warmer last night."

She gave me a sad sigh, then finally asked "So do you want to do some more magic lessons today? Or just hang out?"

"Um," I frowned, and had another gulp of the hot chocolate.

The marshmallows had all melted into a goopy sugary mess which was probably really unhealthy but was actually really yummy. I smooshed it around in my mouth and enjoyed the sugar overload before swallowing it.

Finally I sighed, "I might not be that good at learning spells today? Between my throat and my neck and stuff, I might not be able to concentrate."

"Ok Cass," she said as she gave me a sympathetic smile.

We were both quiet for a bit as we sipped our cocoa. Then I got an idea and asked, "You do healing spells right? Maybe you could cure my cold, then I'd be up for learning magic."

She grimaced, "I know a few healing spells, but nothing can cure the common cold. Though now that I think about it, I could use a spell to heal that hickey."

"Really?" I grinned. "That'd be nice. Can you do it?"

Kaylee nodded, "Sure!"

She set her mug down and started focusing as she brought the Word the Will and the Way together. It only took a couple seconds before I saw a faint purple glow gathering into a small ball above her right hand.

She was focused on my neck, and after a few more seconds she sort of pushed her right hand towards me and the magic jumped from her hand to my neck. There was a little shiver down my spine and a few of the little hairs on my arms stood up, but nothing else happened.

"Oh right," she frowned. "You're spell-proof."

My shoulders slumped, "I guess I shouldn't complain. My weirdness saved me from Mrs. Reeves and the werewolf."

We both drank the last of our cocoa, then Kaylee suggested "I'll teach you a healing spell, then you can try healing yourself? Your anti-magic doesn't block your own spells so it should work."

I nodded, "Ok Kaylee, thank you."

Unfortunately I still wasn't really feeling up to learning spells, so it took longer than usual for me to get it. The Word part wasn't that hard. The Way was more complicated, and the Will was hard to control and focus with the way my throat and muscles felt.

I did my best though, and after about a half hour I felt ready to try.

"So when I have the spell ready, I just point it at my neck?" I asked. "Like aim it at the bite-mark?"

Kaylee nodded, "That's right. It doesn't need to be too precise, like as long as you get it in the general area it'll be fine. Just don't miss and heal the wall or something."

I grimaced, "I'll be careful."

To start with I closed my eyes since it helped me focus. I opened them again after a minute or so, and I could see my hand was engulfed in a big globe of bright purple magic. As near as I could tell the spell was ready, so I reached my hand up towards my neck then let it go.

I didn't expect a healing spell to hurt, and considering I was trying to heal the hickey on my neck I really didn't expect it to hurt all over my whole entire body. It was kind of like the sting of quickly tearing off a bandage, except it was everywhere all at once.

And when it happened I let out a yelp as I flinched really hard, then I jumped up sort of shuddered all over as everything went kind of tingly for a second.

"Cass?" Kaylee asked as she stared at me with wide eyes. "What happened?"

I pouted, "It hurt! It was like my whole body sort of stung for a second, then I went all numb and tingly for a bit? I think it's ok now though. Is the hickey gone?"

She nodded as she stared, "Yeah it's gone. Do you feel ok?"

"Yeah I think so?" I nodded as I sort of looked down at myself and tried to figure out if anything felt off.

A moment later my eyes widened as I looked at Kaylee in surprise, "My cold's gone. No aches, my throat feels fine."

She frowned, "That's not... Oh right. You probably just did your overpowered magic thing."

I cringed as I thought about my bright watermelon-sized globe of magic compared to her faint golfball-sized spell, and admitted "Maybe a little?"

After that I sat back down with her and we did some more magic practice, since I wasn't feeling sick anymore. I didn't get any more random power boosts so my spells all felt weak and useless but Kaylee said I was actually doing really well considering I'd only been a witch for two months.

We worked on that until dinner time, then I ate with her and her parents. After that the two of us went down into the family room in their basement and we watched TV and just kind of hung out and talked and stuff. And maybe we kind of cuddled too, which was really nice.

Eventually though it started to get late so I told Kaylee I had to get going. My moms already made it clear how much I'd be grounded if I was out too late tonight. Apparently they really didn't like being woken up by me coming into the house after midnight last night, especially when the two of them had to work in the morning.

So we switched off the TV and came up from the basement, then it took a while to get my boots and jacket and all that stuff back on. And me and Kaylee needed at least ten minutes to get through all our goodbyes and stuff.

It was about half past ten when I finally headed out the door. Kaylee and I waved to each other as I headed down the driveway to the sidewalk, then I turned and set out for home. It was only about a ten minute walk, though the cold night air and slippery ice-covered sidewalks made it feel longer.

I'd just rounded the last corner and my house came into view when I saw her, and I stopped in my tracks.

She was standing in our driveway, leaning against mum's car. And between the street lamp and the outdoor lights on at my place and the house next door I actually got a pretty good look at her.

I decided she was a little younger than me, maybe more like Marissa's age. I got the height right, she was closer to Kaylee's height which put her a couple inches taller than me. Her messy brown hair wasn't quite shoulder length, and she had some random streaks of blonde in it that gave her hair some character. Her face was kind of pretty, though she wasn't anywhere near as cute as Kaylee.

She was wearing clothes this time which was a relief, but she didn't actually look like she was dressed very warm. She was in a pair of blue jeans and a black leather jacket, and she was wearing black army-style boots on her feet.

We were less than ten meters apart, and she was watching me as I stood there staring at her. She straightened up and took a couple steps towards me, till she was standing on the sidewalk about five meters in front of me.

My heart was racing and I couldn't help wondering if she was here to try and bite me again. I wasn't sure what to do though. There was no way I could out-run her, and even if I did run she was in between me and my house.

"Hey," she said as she raised her right hand up in a sort of nervous wave.

She had a nice voice, but she sounded kind of awkward and uneasy. She continued, "I'm sorry about last night ok? I came to ask if you're all right. I didn't hurt you did I? Please tell me I didn't bite you."

I gulped but frowned, "You pounced on me and tried to bite my neck!"

"That's not how it happened!" she protested as she shook her head. "You startled me and I fell off the roof. I landed on you by mistake, I wasn't trying to hurt you! I was trying to sneak around you so you wouldn't see me!"

After that she took a deep breath then asked again, "Just tell me if you got bit or not ok? I don't want any trouble, I just need to know that you're all right."

"You didn't bite me," I stated. "You gave me a hickey but you didn't... I'm not going to turn into a wolf or anything. I'm fine."

She actually looked relieved, she sort of sighed and relaxed, like she'd been stressing about maybe hurting me.

I kept watching her as I asked "How did you find me?"

The girl shrugged and sort of sniffed the air, "By scent of course."

Then she gave me a curious look and asked, "What are you anyways? I know you're not a normal human."

I gulped, but lowered my voice and half-whispered "I'm a witch."

The wolfgirl's eyebrows crept up and she smiled, "No way. Witches are real?"

"Uh-huh," I nodded.

She seemed to hesitate, she looked like she wanted to say something else. Then she sighed and her smile faded. She actually looked kind of sad as she said, "I better go. I'm glad you're ok, and I'm sorry I scared you last night."

With that she turned and took off at a sprint. She ran out onto the street then went past me, and within a few seconds she'd disappeared into the ravine in the direction of the school.

I was left standing there alone on the sidewalk, staring back at the ravine.

PurpleCatGirl

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