I frowned to myself as I turned another page of the ancient tome I was reading. Or at least, I liked to pretend it was an an ancient tome. It wasn't all that old, only a couple hundred years, and it wasn't really a tome either. More like some old wizard's notebook.

It was still pretty cool though, there were some interesting spells and stuff. And at least a quarter of the book was all speculation and insights on demonic magic. Some of it was written in latin, some of it was in some obscure chthonic script, and chunks of it were in an old demonic language. And thanks to Socha's earlier tampering and the stuff she taught me in my sleep, I could read all of it.

I stopped when I found something potentially useful, and transcribed it over onto my laptop, translating it from demonic to English as I typed. Then as I turned my attention back to the antique book the bell rang, and my stomach grumbled.

It was lunch time but I wasn't quite ready to stop. I'd already spent my gym class in the library study cubicle, and I was on a bit of a roll. I figured I'd cover another couple pages and finish the section I was looking at before I went to get something to eat.

So I kept reading the almost-ancient sort-of-tome and ignored my stomach. I was determined to figure out how to implement the idea I had back at halloween, even if it took me another month to do it.

I didn't make much progress in November, or at least not directly. There was indirect progress, in that I started figuring out how to do the research and where to find the resources I needed. Like I remembered when Nina pointed out where to find that fae antiques and enchantment expert, so I visited Fiachra in secret a few times. And he told me about an esoteric bookstore that did trade with the supernatural community, and that they were a good source for rare and forbidden manuscripts and stuff.

That was all a little wild, and if I hadn't been focused on my idea I might have been more amazed and impressed by the situation. Like there was this funny old guy with his unassuming antique store, only he was fae and he routinely did business with other fae, angels, demons, witches, and whatever other kinds of supernaturals were around.

Same with the bookstore, which was run by two friendly human witches and their underworld nymph partner. Both the bookstore and the antiques place were open to ordinary humans as well, but if you were supernatural or you were a human in the know then you'd get access to inventory that wouldn't be available to the general public.

The bookstore also turned out to be a source of information, as I discovered the ladies who ran the place liked to gossip. So I got to hear about some of the wild stuff going on in the local supernatural community, stuff that normal human society was completely oblivious to.

The biggest news they had to share was about that weird vampire cult Mitch and James said were in Toronto. Apparently they just went through some kind of huge internal upheaval, and by the first week of November half of their leaders were missing and they were scrambling to regroup and sort themselves out.

Fortunately my November was a lot quieter than that. I found those resources and made some connections, and generally got things ready. Now it was the first Friday in December and I was finally beginning the actual research. I felt optimistic about my idea, but I wanted to work on it by myself because I could imagine my parents or my sister trying to talk me out of it for one reason or another. There were some unknowns after all. I was positive I was on the right track though.

After a minute or two I found another potentially useful bit, and started transcribing that over as well. It wasn't much, but I figured it would help. I already knew there wouldn't be any break-through discoveries in this book. It was primarily about demonic magic, and my problem mostly involved a divine artefact. But demonic magic is what I could work with, and I figured the better I knew my tools the better my chance of success.

I actually had another old book on order, that funky little bookshop sourced a copy of some sixteenth century manuscript written by some old thaumaturgist priest. I figured it should give me some insight into how the divine stuff worked. Then maybe I'd figure out how to use demonic magic to work better against a divine target.

With the next passage copied into my laptop I started reading the old book again, when I was startled by someone joining me in the little study cubicle.

"Cassandra?" the small catgirl asked quietly, "May I speak with you please?"

I grimaced and set the old book aside as I looked over at her. Neither she or Kenzie had said so much as a word to me in over two months, and they'd both made a point of avoiding me ever since I messed with the catgirl under Socha's influence. She looked as uneasy and awkward as I suddenly felt, which was no surprise considering how our last encounter went.

My heart and my mind were both racing and I gulped, "Kirstie... Yeah of course. Um, I'm sorry it's taken this long for me to apologize but um, I'm really really sorry for what I did in September. I would have said something sooner but I was um, worried about upsetting you and Kenzie."

She gave me a look that was somewhere between sceptical and incredulous, "You were worried about upsetting me? Aren't you some kind of powerful demon or something? Why would anything about me worry you in the slightest?"

I felt my cheeks heating up as I mumbled, "I just don't like to make people unhappy. And um, I kind of wanted to be friends with you and Kenzie? But I know that's... I know you both must hate me after what happened before."

Kirstie watched me for a few more seconds, then asked "Is it ok if I pull a chair in here? Like I said, I'd like to talk with you."

"Sure," I nodded. I still felt anxious though, and while she went into the next cubicle to grab a chair I tucked a bookmark into the old notebook and closed it, then shut the screen on my laptop.

The catgirl dragged a chair into the cubicle then sat down just inside the doorway. She watched me for a few seconds then asked, "What happened to you, after that day me and Kenzie confronted you? I know you missed a week of school after that, and since then you dress and act like a completely different person."

My blush got brighter and I sighed, "When you first met me I was kind of... not quite possessed but I wasn't myself. I was sort of being controlled or influenced. Then after that my friends and my family did something to protect me. So um, this is the real me now? I'm sure if you ask Kenzie, she'll tell you I was like this before too. It's just... I guess it was around June when I started to be different."

"That's not an excuse though," I added. "I'm still really sorry for how I messed with you. I know it was wrong and I'm sorry I messed things up for you and your family."

Kirstie looked thoughtful, but she didn't comment on any of that. I noticed though that she seemed to relax a little more, like maybe she realized I wasn't a threat after all. She asked, "Can you still do magic? Can you still change things like you did before?"

I frowned, "What? I mean, what sort of stuff? What do you want changed?"

"Or..." my frown deepened, "Do you want me to reverse the stuff I did in September?"

She grimaced as her cheeks flushed. She sat back on the chair and let her feet swing back and forth beneath her. I couldn't help but see that as the sort of thing a little kid would do, even though I knew Kirstie was a middle-aged adult just over two months ago.

The catgirl finally admitted, "I don't want anything undone or reversed or changed back. I've gotten used to all this? Kenzie and Kimmie have too. They're used to thinking of me as their sister, and having me attend school with them. I don't want to go back to work at my old job either. I figured that out after only a few days away from it."

"I'm still unhappy about how all that came about," she added. "You shouldn't have done that without telling me up front what you were planning. But I don't want any of it taken away."

"So what do you want then?" I asked warily.

She asked, "There's a few things. First off, do you have any more of those plush toys?"

I frowned again, "I do, but they won't work on you. Once you've used one of them that sort of bonds or links you and it. So you can't use any others, and yours won't work for anybody else."

"It's not for me," Kirstie stated. "It's for Kathie."

I responded with the obvious question, "Who's Kathie?"

She grimaced and lowered her voice to a whisper, "My wife."

"What?" I asked in surprise, as a bunch of new questions popped into my head at once. I decided to go with the easiest one first, "Wait so your family is Kathie, Kirstie, Kenzie, and Kimmie?"

The catgirl rolled her eyes, "Yes, we have a bit of a theme going on with names. It wasn't a big deal when it was just Kathie and Kimmie. Then Kenzie stuck to the theme when she picked her name. So I guess I did too..."

She was blushing again by that point, while I actually realized it was kind of cute. Maybe a bit over the top though.

After a second or two I pushed on with the harder question, "So um, I guess your wife wants to be a demi-human too? Does she want to be a catgirl like you, or a bun like Kenzie?"

The catgirl kept her voice down as she explained, "She's not particularly interested in either option. But thanks to your plush toy and what you did to my ID, there's now a substantial age-difference between Kathie and I, both physically and on paper. The two of us are still adapting to the other significant changes I've gone through, but your magic has basically deleted our marriage just like you erased my job. I thought maybe one of those toys would make her younger too, like the cat did for me? Then we wouldn't have the age gap anymore."

I sighed and leaned back in my chair as I rubbed my forehead. "Then she'd have the same problems you did in September, with her ID and work and everything."

Kirstie nodded, "I know. But you fixed that stuff for me, even if it wasn't the way I expected? And you offered to fix the other problems too. I suppose we'd need to make another deal, but this time I will definitely be a lot more specific."

"No," I shook my head. "I can't do that again."

She frowned, "Why not? I know you can still do that stuff, I saw you studying that weird magic book when I got here. You were reading some language I'd never even seen before and translating it on the fly into English."

That made me frown as well, as I realized she must have been there watching me longer than I thought. I tried not to worry about it though, and instead I sighed and told her "Ok maybe I could do it, in theory? But I really don't want to. You know it's dangerous, right? Making demonic deals? I'd be too worried about messing something up and doing it wrong, and getting your whole family angry with me again."

She gave me a funny look, "What kind of demon's afraid of making a demonic deal? Isn't the whole thing stacked in your favour? That's like a casino trying to discourage people from gambling."

"I don't want to talk about it," I mumbled. "And I don't want to make any more deals."

Kirstie stared at me for a few seconds before asking, "Can you just give me another of those toys then? I'll give it to Kathie, and if she uses it maybe we can talk with you later about getting some help."

I sighed again, and I couldn't help feeling like it was a bad idea. And I was sure the small catgirl was trying to bully me into doing what she wanted. On the other hand my stomach was rumbling and I was still hoping to get something to eat before my lunch period was over.

"Fine," I muttered as I picked up my backpack.

I opened it up and reached in, then a moment later I pulled out one of those frosted capsules. I also took out one of my school notebooks, and carefully tore some paper out of the back of it. Then I quickly jotted down the instructions and warnings, before popping open the capsule to take a quick look inside.

After seeing the small plush fox, I added the trigger word 'Kon' to the instructions then folded up the paper and tucked it inside along with the toy.

While I did all that Kirstie watched in surprise. She asked, "You just carry those things around with you? Isn't that dangerous?"

I shrugged as I sealed the capsule up again. The truth was I used some of my demonic magic to teleport a capsule directly from the box in my closet into my backpack, but I wasn't going to tell her that. Nobody knew I could teleport, and I was hoping to keep it that way.

"Here," I said as I pushed the capsule into her hand. "I'm going to get some lunch. Good luck with your wife."

Then I scooped up my laptop and books and things and stuffed it all into my backpack. I got up and moved past the catgirl without another word, then headed for the library exit.

As I passed the office I waved, "See you later Ms. Sutton, have a good weekend!"

She waved back, but I was already hurrying into the cafeteria. I bought myself a bottle of water and a chicken sandwich, then went into the lunch room and found a place to sit by myself. I'd only just taken the first bite of my lunch when someone slipped into the seat next to me.

"Hey Cass," Kaylee smiled. "You're late for lunch, what were you up to?"

I washed the mouthful of sandwich down with a gulp of water then shrugged, "I was in the library. Got lost in a book and lost track of time I guess."

Not that I wanted to lie to her, but I really didn't want to try and explain my conversation with the small catgirl. I especially didn't want to have to explain what Kirstie wanted, or that I gave her another of those plushies.

Kaylee accepted my excuse without question. Actually she looked like she had something else on her mind, she seemed a little distracted or preoccupied. At the same time she was focused on me though, which left me wondering what was going on.

I took advantage of her distraction and had another big bite of my sandwich. I got the feeling she wanted to talk, and if I waited I probably wouldn't get the chance to finish lunch before the bell rang.

After hesitating for a few seconds the cute redhead finally took a deep breath and asked, "Cass would you like to go on a date with me tomorrow? I was hoping to take you somewhere nice for dinner, then maybe we could see a movie or something? Or we could go back to my place after and just hang out, like we used to? My folks are going to be out of town tomorrow night so we'd have the place to ourselves. If you'd rather just do dinner though that's fine of course. Or I'll understand if you don't want to go out with me..."

By the time her voice trailed off she was blushing, while I stared at her in surprise. I had no idea she was thinking about getting back together with me. Not after everything that happened over the summer, and the fact that I was part demon. Not to mention how I acted when Socha was manipulating me and all that stuff.

I fumbled for my water then had a couple gulps of it, before nodding, "Ok, um yeah? Dinner sounds nice. And um, a movie or just hanging out would be nice too. Either's good."

She let out a little sigh of relief and smiled, "What time would you like to meet up? I can come by your place then we can walk to the restaurant if that's ok?"

"How about we meet at five-thirty?" I suggested. "Then depending where we're going, dinner at six-ish?"

Kaylee grinned, "That sounds perfect! Thanks Cass, I can't wait!"

"Me too," I smiled back.

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