"So what I was thinking," Tabby said once the four of us were comfortable in the living-room, "Is maybe there's some sort of curse we could use to get money? Either directly or indirectly. We've already found ways to use different curses to our benefit right? Like the obvious ones, me and Cheryl both got bodies we like, and we've used curses to fix our clothes and even got Jinx back to her normal form."

Avery sighed, "All those things might have had positive outcomes, but they haven't been perfect. And I'm not convinced there won't be more fallout down the road from some of these things. And nothing went entirely smoothly, right? Every time we've done something there's been unexpected side-effects, or the outcome hasn't been quite what we intended."

She added, "It feels to me like it's more a case of getting used to things or making the most of it, if you know what I mean?"

"Yeah to a point," Tabs replied. "I was surprised and a little freaked out to turn into a catgirl, but getting used to the ears and tail was nothing compared to the euphoria of getting everything else about my ideal body."

She looked at me and asked, "What do you think Cheryl? Are you happy with how things turned out for you?"

Me and Tabby and Jinx were all sitting on the sofa together, with me in the middle. The small half-demon was on my right and my best friend to my left, while Avery sat across from us on the recliner.

"I guess I'm pretty happy," I replied with a shrug. "It was definitely a surprise and stuff, but you already know I wouldn't go back. I'm still getting used to a lot of stuff though, and there were definitely some unexpected things. Like the way my clothes got all sexy and stuff."

Tabs nodded, "So like I said, on the whole it's been pretty good for us so far."

"So what do you think Jinx?" my best friend asked as she looked past me to the small ravenette. "Do you have a curse that we can use to get money?"

The half-demon shrugged, "Not exactly? Just conjuring up a pile of gold or silver isn't a curse, that'd be a wish. Or some other kind of spell, I'm not sure? That's not to say it's impossible to do with a curse, but..."

Her voice trailed off for a few seconds as she frowned. Then she sighed, "I'm not sure if this is cheating, but you and Cheryl have been really good to me so I'm going to try and tell you some of the rules? I am - or I was - a book of curses. Not wishes, not generic magical spells. Curses are meant to have victims. And sure there's ways you can use that to your advantage, to get what you want, but like you've already figured out there's always a cost or a negative somewhere. Because they're curses."

"So yeah you could do a curse so that a pile of gold appeared in the middle of the floor," she continued with another shrug. "But that's gotta come from somewhere, and there's gotta be a cost. The easiest option is to curse some rich duke or prince or king or something, so a bag of his gold goes missing and just happens to appear here at your house. That way the victim is the guy who's lost a bag of gold. That's the thing though? Like I said there has to be a victim. And if it's not someone else then it's going to be you."

Avery spoke up, "So in modern terms, if a sack of money appeared then the victim might be the bank who's vault it disappeared out of. Except money has serial numbers and banks keep track of them when they're in large easy-to-carry sacks. And in that case there's a good chance that our 'good fortune' will turn around and bite us in the ass when we get caught with stolen money. Even if there's no way to prove we actually stole it, just being in possession of it is bad enough."

Tabby frowned, "Most money's electronic nowadays so we don't even have to curse the bank to lose any cash. Just figure out how to do it so some numbers show up in a bank account or something."

"That's just as bad as having a sack of money appear," my sister stated. "Numbers in the computer are audited, and when you open a bank account you agree to their terms. Somewhere in the fine print it says if the bank makes an error in your favour you have to let them know. If you don't then it's considered theft, and when they discover the mistake they're going to want their money back."

"Even gold is tracked nowadays," she added. "At least when you're moving big enough volumes of it to matter. Sure you can pawn your grandmother's gold jewelry without too much trouble, but show up with a literal bar of gold or a sack of gold coins and people are going to start asking questions. Especially if you do it more than once, or you're trying to cash more than a few thousand dollars worth at a time."

I asked, "So it looks like there's no way to do this that won't backfire on us later on?"

My best friend sighed, "I'm positive there's a way. We just have to figure out how to do it. It's like a logic puzzle or something, but if we work at it we'll find the loophole."

My sister shook her head, "You heard what Jinx said. There always has to be a victim, which means someone's going to suffer for it. Worst case scenario is it backfires and we end up in jail or something. But honestly it'd be just as bad if some innocent bank employee took the fall instead."

"I still think there must be a way around it," Tabs stated. "Even if it works out so we're the victim, if we do it right then the 'penalty' won't be so bad. Like my magical transition right? The cost was I accidentally turned myself into a catgirl? That's not so bad, I got used to it really quickly, and honestly it's more than worth it."

Avery just shook her head again, "I don't know Tabby. It feels like too big a risk. Stealing money is wrong, and from what Jinx said that's the only way to make it work. She can't just create it out of nowhere. And even if she could, that's probably forgery which is also illegal."

"I guess," Tabs frowned. "So we'll forget about that idea. For now. There was something else I wanted to talk about now that we're in private."

"More curse-related stuff I assume?" my sister asked.

Tabby nodded, "Yeah. I said at the cafe that I got a ton of questions from classmates right? A couple of those came from friends asking if they could get in on the magic as well. They're both trans, and when they found out I got a magic boost to my transition they both begged me to tell them how I did it so they could get that too."

I smiled, "That's the first thing I thought Friday night when I read those curses. This would be great for helping folks. So how do we do it?"

"That's what I was thinking too," Tabs smiled back. "As for how, I guess there's two options that came to mind? We'd have to talk to them in private, let them know about the curses and stuff, maybe even let them meet Jinx? Then work out what they want, and finally do the curse so they get their wish."

It was pretty clear from my sister's expression she didn't like that idea, but she spelled it out for us to be sure. "I think that's a bad idea. The more people who know about Jinx the greater the chance of something bad happening. Same with Cheryl, if people start to think she's got access to magic it's going to put her at risk."

"Yeah that's what I thought," Tabby agreed. "So the other option would be to use the same curse I did on myself, and word it the same way? Basically curse them to receive their ideal body. And do that without letting them know. Like if we did that tonight, they'd wake up tomorrow in their ideal bodies, but they wouldn't know how it happened. That'd keep Cheryl's and Jinx's names out of it."

Avery sighed, "That means they're going to suspect you're the one with magic, Tabby. Either way you and Cheryl are best friends, you both had unexpected transformations this past weekend. The same weekend that Jinx showed up. I think however you do this it's going to bring way too much attention to the two of you, and to Jinx."

"And don't forget what she just told us," my sister added. "These are curses, there have to be victims. If you're using them to grant people's wishes it's going to backfire one way or another."

I grimaced, "She's got a point Tabs? Especially doing it without warning them? What if their ideal body isn't human? Being a catgirl might not be too bad for you, but what if someone's dream body was something really weird?"

Tabby frowned, "Weird or not if it's their ideal body it should make them happy, right?"

"It might make them happy," Avery replied, "But it might also ruin their life. It could make them happy about one thing while still leaving them with a boatload of other problems."

"Damn," my best friend sighed as she slumped back in her seat. "There has to be a way to do this. It's not fair that we've got access to some amazing magic but we can't actually use it without hurting people."

"Yeah," I made a face. "I want to help people with it too, but not if it's going to hurt them. Or us."

After a few seconds I looked to my new friend and asked, "What do you think Jinx? Is there some way to help trans folks with their transition, without causing us and them lots of trouble too?"

The small half-demon shrugged, "I'm sure it's possible? Loopholes exist, it's just a matter of finding them. My suggestion is just start casting curses, and if those cause problems then use more curses to fix the problems. Sooner or later you'll find the loopholes and everything will work out."

"That's just another excuse to get us casting a bunch of curses," Avery stated with a frown. "The more likely outcome if we keep trying to fight fire with more fire is sooner or later we all end up getting badly burned."

Then she got up and started for the stairs as she added, "Anyways I'm going to start making dinner. Please don't do anything that's going to get us arrested. Or worse."

"Ok sis," I sighed.

Tabby shook her head, "I'm not going to give up on this. We'll find the loopholes and figure it out."

"Jinx you mentioned wishes and other kinds of magic," my friend added as she looked to the small demon. "Any idea where we can learn more about that? Or I don't know, maybe there's a way we could use some of your curses to get our hands on some magic that won't blow up in our faces or hit us with negative side-effects?"

"Not really," Jinx shrugged.

"Obviously my suggestion is always going to be more curses," she added with a smile. "But I suppose you could try praying to one of your local gods? Sometimes you can catch them in a good mood and they'll grant a miracle."

Tabs made a face, "That doesn't actually work. Believe me, I probably prayed a thousand times to get turned into a girl and it never happened."

The small half-demon didn't seem the last bit phased, "Then you're praying to the wrong god. There's loads of them out there. Your best bet is to find one who's local though? And not too big that they're going to be so busy they won't listen to you."

"Or you could try and make a contract with a demon," she added. "A proper demon, not a cambion like me. Some of them will just outright kill you, but find a nicer one and you can often get what you want. As long as you're willing to keep your side of the deal, give them what they want."

Me and Tabby exchanged a look, then I asked "Jinx are you saying that gods are real? And they're out there, walking around like people? Same with demons?"

"Sure," she shrugged. "Why's that so hard to believe? A couple days ago you got your hands on a magic book full of magic curses that really work, now that book's a living breathing cambion. Of course demons and gods exist! And all sorts of other things too."

Neither of us seemed to know what to say or how to respond to that. And anyways we obviously didn't know any gods or demons in our area, and I doubted if there were any they'd be easy to find. Like they wouldn't be listed online or have wikipedia pages or stuff like that.

The conversation seemed to stall out at that point, neither me or Tabby knew what else to ask or how to go about finding loopholes and stuff. But with that topic on hold there was something else I'd been curious about, and I really wanted to ask before my friend had to go home for dinner.

"Hey Tabs?" I asked, "What's the deal with your collar? You've been acting kind of funny about it ever since it appeared, and Jinx keeps saying I should scan it with my phone or something."

Sure enough she blushed again as she reached up and fidgeted with the orange loop around her neck. For a second or two I thought she might refuse to discuss it, but after a long pause she finally started talking.

"So it's from my story," she replied quietly. "Like I told you, it's a sci-fi thing right? The 'Tabby' character in my story gets this advanced collar that has some uh, special features built into it. And it's kind of embarrassing."

Before I could ask she added, "Except that's just a story, and it's science fiction. That stuff can't exist in real life. For one thing I don't even know if it's scientifically possible, but even if it were we don't have the technology. So while this looks like the collar from the story, it can't do the stuff that happens in the story. It's more like a prop or cosplay I guess."

"I don't know much about technology or science fiction," Jinx spoke up with a wide smile, "But I know magic. And there's not much you can't do when it comes to magic. So I wouldn't be so sure that collar of yours isn't capable of doing the things you want it to do, Tabby."

My best friend's eyes widened and her cheeks got even brighter, but at the same time she almost looked a little excited. Like she was definitely embarrassed and maybe a bit nervous, but she also seemed eager.

"So what's it do?" I asked. "Can I scan it with my phone like Jinx keeps saying?"

Tabs shook her head as she closed her hand around the tag and bell, to make sure I couldn't scan anything. "Please don't. It's embarrassing enough knowing the tag implies you're my owner. If if actually does the stuff I wrote about in my story..."

She suppressed a little shudder, but once again I was positive she was as excited as she was anxious.

"Fine," I pouted. "But you have to tell me sooner or later. Or just let me scan the thing and find out for myself. How bad can it be?"

"Bad enough," she mumbled as she got to her feet. "Anyways I'm going to head home now. I have some homework and studying to do, plus it's nearly dinner time."

She called upstairs to thank Avery for the drive and let her know she'd be back tomorrow morning for another ride to school. Then Tabby and me exchanged a quick hug and bid each other a good evening before she escaped.

After my best friend was gone I ended up helping Jinx put her new clothes away. She was staying in what used to be my old bedroom, so she had closet space and a dresser and everything. My old bed was still there too, basically it was like a guest room so the small demon had a place of her own for as long as she was with us.

Then I put my books and stuff on my desk, since I'd have to do some homework and studying later as well. Except as soon as dinner was over I was going to have another look at Tabby's story. If she wouldn't tell me about the collar herself, I'd learn its secrets right from the source.

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