I stifled another long sigh as I stared at the book and my notes spread out over my desk.

Studying was the most boring way to spend a Saturday afternoon, but every time I said anything both Melissa and Susan would complain or remind me that I needed to not fail any of my classes. All three of us were down in our office in the basement, and they were hard at work while I was trying not to die of boredom.

I attempted to focus once again on the stuff I was supposed to be studying, but ended up doodling in my notebook. First it was little drawings of cameras, then lenses, and finally shutters and apertures. I smiled to myself as I thought, at least my bored doodles were inspired by the stuff I was supposed to be learning.

That didn't last long though, and my next doodle started out round like I was going to draw another aperture or something, but by the time I was done it had turned into some kind of magic circle, complete with demonic glyphs and stuff.

Instead of my studies, I was thinking about Lily's daughter.

A few nights ago I dreamed I was her again. It was like that magic tea Susan made for me way back in March was still working on me. Or maybe it opened some kind of door in my mind or something, so after using the tea once I could dream of demon-Mara just whenever. Lately it felt like I was dreaming about being her every other week.

Most of those dreams were pretty good too, apart from the very first one when she died. The ones I had since then were just like visions of her regular life.

I kept doodling as I thought about the latest dream, and ended up drawing out some more glyphs and stuff. I didn't even know what they meant, it was just my pen moving while I thought about her. I was convinced I really was her in a previous life, even though it made Lily uncomfortable. She didn't like talking about it, so I stopped bringing it up with her but that didn't change how I felt about the subject.

My next few doodles were some ancient coins I'd seen in my dream. The other Mara had been helping people again, and she conjured up some more coins to hand out to people. As I was doodling another old coin I thought about the magic she used in my dream. It seemed like a straightforward spell, it wasn't any more complicated than any of the magic Lily taught me.

I was still sketching the ancient coin as I mumbled the demonic words to myself, and a moment later I found myself staring at a dozen shiny silver coins that had suddenly appeared on my notebook. They were in a few different sizes and thicknesses, but all of them were bigger than an inch across and they all looked almost new.

My pen froze and my eyes slowly widened as I stared.

A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed neither Susan or Melissa had noticed anything, they were both still focused on their studies.

I quietly put my pen down and picked up a couple of the coins. They felt real. Not like I was any big expert in precious metal or anything, but I was positive they were real silver.

After another glance to make sure my girlfriends weren't looking, I put the coins back down and tried reciting the spell again. This time nothing happened, and I frowned as I tried to figure out what I did differently.

It took a moment to realize I'd been doodling an ancient coin the first time. I picked up my pen and started drawing again, this time I focused on some coins I'd seen in another dream. Once I had the sketch nearly finished I whispered the demonic words again, and it worked. A dozen gold coins appeared on my desk, each was around three quarters of an inch across.

"Holy crap!" I gasped.

At the same time Lily suddenly spoke up in my head, she sounded alarmed as she stated "Mara stop!"

Melissa sighed a half-second later, "Mara you're supposed to be studying. What are you messing around with now?"

Then Susan exclaimed, "Are those gold coins?! Where'd they come from?"

By that point I was cringing in my seat, "Ok ok! One at a time please! Lily what's wrong?"

"Please step inside," my demon mom stated. "We need to talk."

Her tone made it clear this was something important, so I told my girlfriends "Something's up with Lily, I'll be back in a minute."

Before either of them could respond I closed my eyes and relaxed in my chair, then pulled myself inside.

Once I was in Lily's apartment I opened my eyes. My demon mom was sitting on the big leather sofa, but something looked off. Like she wasn't feeling well or something.

I frowned, "Lily what's wrong? Are you ok?"

She sighed, "Mara where did you learn that spell? That's demonic magic, it's dangerous."

"It's one of the things I did in my dreams," I told her. "When I dreamed I was the other Mara? She used it to conjure up coins."

My demon mom shook her head, "Mara conjuring gold and silver from thin air takes a lot of power. Now I'm going to need to feed tonight, to replenish the energy you just used."

She sounded upset about having to feed, and I suddenly understood why she looked off. My eyes widened, "Oh crap! I'm sorry Lily I didn't realize... So when I did those spells it took magic from you?"

"All the spells you use are powered by my magic," she explained. "Hiding your horns and tail is relatively simple, it doesn't tax me for you to do that. But what you just did, conjuring precious metals, that's very draining."

She added, "It's also dangerous Mara. Please don't try casting spells you've seen in your dreams. You can't know what they might do, how they might affect you."

I sighed, "Ok Lily. Is it safe if I just write them down? Maybe I can talk to you about them instead of trying to cast them?"

She didn't look happy about it but she nodded, "If you must. I'd much rather you do that than have you attempting to cast them without knowing whether or not they're safe."

"I understand," I told her. I gave her a hug and added, "And I'm sorry Lily, I didn't know doing that would hurt you."

My demon mom hugged me back, "I know you didn't. And I'll be ok after I've fed. Now you should probably get back to your girlfriends, they're worried. And curious."

"Can I tell them what happened?" I asked. "Actually can I tell them everything, about your daughter and how I'm connected to her?"

Lily took a deep breath then sighed, "You know I'm still not comfortable with the subject Mara..."

"I know," I frowned, "But doesn't this prove it even more? I mean, I just used an actual demonic spell that demon-Mara used in the past. And I learned it from my dreams, dreaming I was her."

She still looked uncomfortable, like she knew I was right but still didn't want to admit it. "Just go talk to your girlfriends. You may tell them everything if you really must."

I grinned, "Thanks mom!"

She rolled her eyes as I returned to the body. Susan and Melissa were both standing next to me, they each had a couple of the coins in their hands.

"...looks real," Susan said. "I'm no expert but this is definitely Latin text."

"The gold ones are Roman aurei," I told them. "The silver ones are ancient Greek drachmas. Well, some of them are didrachm and tetradrachm."

"Where'd you get them from?" Melissa asked. "And how do you know what they are? Since when did you know anything about ancient Rome or Greece?"

I sighed and confessed, "I accidentally conjured them up."

"How do you accidentally conjure up a bunch of brand new ancient coins?" Susan asked with a frown.

Melissa added, "I bet the answer doesn't have anything to do with your photography lessons."

I cringed slightly with both of them staring at me, then sighed "If I promise to get back to studying for now, can we leave all the questions till later? If I have to talk about all this stuff I want to wait till Amber's here, so we can all discuss it at once."

Sue and Melissa exchanged a look then Susan nodded "Fine. I'll text Amber and ask if she wants to come over here when she's done work."

They both put the coins back on my desk, and I pushed them off to one side. Then with a deep sigh I tried to focus on the school work again.

Except that was even harder than before, now that I knew the magic I used in my dreams as demon-Mara was real. I wasn't going to try any more spells after Lily said not to, but I spent the next hour or so writing down all the demonic spells I remembered using in my dreams.

• • • • •

"Are these real?" Amber asked as she held a couple of the gold and silver coins in her hand. "They look and feel like real gold and silver, but they can't be real can they? I mean, they can't be antiques, they seem brand new?"

Susan had one of the gold coins in her right hand and her phone in her left, she was comparing the coin to whatever she was looking at on the screen.

"This looks legit," she commented.

Melissa had one of the gold coins in her hand as well, she held it up and pointed to the head stamped onto one side and asked "Who's the guy?"

"That's Caesar Vespasianus Augustus," I replied without stopping to think how I knew the answer. I gestured towards one on the coffee table, "They're not all the same guy. That one's Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus."

Susan frowned at me, "Also known as Vespasian and Caligula. How do you know who they are?"

I sighed, "I wanted to tell all three of you this stuff together. It's complicated, but Melissa already knows a little. Susan remember when I asked you about past-life stuff, and you made me that magic tea?"

She nodded, "You said it gave you nightmares and that was the last I heard of it. Are you going to tell us you were a Roman in a past life?"

"No," I shook my head. "But I was alive for some of the Roman stuff in my past life... The nightmare I had after that tea was because I dreamed of my past death. I died in seventy-nine CE, just north of Herculaneum."

Amber looked surprised, "You were killed in the big eruption of Mount Vesuvius?"

I shook my head again, "No. My death is what caused the eruption. In my past life I was a demon, and I was called Mara. My mother was a demoness who lived in Neapolis, and her name was Lily..."

That got Susan and Amber both staring at me wide-eyed. Melissa already knew that part, but she was still listening closely since we hadn't discussed it in three months and a lot had happened since then.

I went on to tell them how my soul and personality reminded Lily of her daughter, and about all my demon-Mara dreams. Not just the first one from the magic tea, but the way I kept having more dreams since then. Like maybe two or three times a month, I'd dream about being the other Mara. They usually weren't as scary as the one where I died, mostly it was just like visions of her life.

And at the end, I told them how this afternoon I accidentally cast one of the spells demon-Mara used in my dream, that conjured up the drachmas. Then I tried it again, but aimed for Roman coins instead and got the aurei.

When I finished, all three of them were quiet for a few seconds as they stared at me or the magic coins.

Susan was the first to speak up. She frowned and asked, "So does Lily believe you're her reincarnated daughter?"

I shook my head, "She said she doesn't believe in reincarnation. But the magic tea worked, right? And I've had the other dreams since then, of life two or three thousand years ago. I had a villa on the side of a volcano on Thera. I mostly stayed in the Aegean but I visited Lily sometimes, that's how I know about the ancient money and stuff. So I think it's for real, and I think Lily does too. Except she mostly doesn't want to talk about it. I guess it upsets her."

My girlfriends were quiet again for a few moments, until Amber gestured at the coins and asked "So are these worth anything? I guess they are, if they're real gold and silver?"

Susan replied, "If they're real, as in real legitimate ancient coins, they're probably worth a lot. According to the internet, an aureus was auctioned off in the UK last year for over half a million pounds. That's around a million dollars Canadian."

Sue looked at me and added, "Can I take a couple of these? I know some people in the history department at uni, I was thinking I could get their input on them."

"Sure," I shrugged. "I'm not doing anything with them. Not like I can spend them at the college cafeteria or whatever."

I ended up giving a few silver and gold coins to each of them, to keep as souvenirs or whatever. Amber and Susan were both still curious about the money, but Melissa had something else on her mind.

"Mara, what does Lily think about you using this magic? Like conjuring up money, using spells you learned in your dreams?"

Amber added, "And is she ok with you telling us about her daughter?"

"I'm not allowed to do it anymore," I replied with a grimace. "The magic I mean? She said demonic spells are too dangerous, and conjuring coins takes a lot of energy. And she said I could tell all of you about the reincarnation stuff? But like I said, she doesn't really like talking about it herself. I'm sure she'd be happier if I forgot the whole thing, except I really can't."

Both Susan and Amber looked like they understood my feelings on that, while Melissa looked like she agreed with Lily's ban on me using any more demonic magic.

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