Tuesday morning I was staring at my phone again during breakfast, re-reading that chapter of The Captain's Pet. Purely for research purposes and not because it was hot and fun.

I finally found out what the collar did, what sort of effect it had on space-Tabby, and I was probably as anxious and excited as real Tabby about the implications. Like if Jinx's magic meant that the real collar could do that stuff too, it made a lot of sense why Tabby was embarrassed. She was also excited though, I was sure of it.

From what I'd read in her story, and the fact that real-Tabby's collar had that code on it that Jinx kept bugging me to scan, I could guess that it would install some sort of app on my phone. And if Jinx was right when she hinted that her magic could duplicate the sci-fi tech stuff in Tabby's story, then that would let me control her collar.

It was neat and wild and also hot. About the only real problem was I knew I couldn't be trusted with that kind of thing. Still, it was a really cool idea. I wasn't sure if it was something Tabby came up with on her own, or if she got the idea from somewhere else, but a pet collar that let the owner remote-control how horny she was sounded like a lot of fun. In fact it sounded fun enough that I might actually want to try it out for myself too, like get one of those collars for me as well.

I was just starting to wonder if that was something Jinx could do for us when my sister's voice finally brought me out of my daydreams and back to reality.

"I said are you just about done breakfast?" Avery repeated herself. "Hello, are you there Cheryl?"

I blinked and grimaced, "Sorry sis! I got distracted reading something on my phone."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah I could tell. Are you just about finished eating? It's almost time to go."

All three of us had cereal for breakfast this morning, and both me and Avery had coffee while Jinx had a glass of water. They were both finished eating, while my bowl was still half full. The colourful sugary nuggets had turned into an unappetizing mush though, so I decided I'd had enough.

While I was dumping out the rest of my soggy cereal Avery asked, "What were you reading anyways? It must have been pretty captivating to suck you in like that. So I can only assume it had nothing to do with your school work."

"Yeah it's not school related," I grimaced. "It's a sci-fi story that Tabby wrote? Or she's still writing, I don't think it's finished yet. It's really good though!"

My sister actually looked impressed, instead of giving me a hard time for being so focused on something that wasn't related to my studies. "Huh, I didn't realize she was an author. What's it about?"

"It's sort of fan-fiction, based on a web novel another author's been working on for a while?" I explained.

I was maybe a little too enthusiastic about it as I explained the concept behind the original SpaceFox story, then started to tell her about Tabby's take on it.

After a minute or two of my excited babbling I finally caught myself and blushed, "Actually um, I should have said this from the start but maybe don't mention it to Tabby? She didn't want me to read her story, she didn't give me the link or anything. I found it on my own based on some details she let slip, and she doesn't know I've been reading it."

Avery sighed and shook her head, "Fine. You should probably come clean with her though Cheryl. Tell her you're reading it before you slip up and she finds out on her own."

"Yeah," my shoulders slumped. "You're right. Maybe I'll do that in the car this morning on the way to school."

My sister made a face, "Yeah, that won't make the drive awkward in any way."

A knock at the front door downstairs meant Tabby was here so Avery and I both let the subject drop for now. Then my friend let herself in as usual and called up, "Hey everyone, I'm here!"

"Hi Tabs!" I called back. "We'll be down in a sec!"

I grabbed my backpack and hurried down the stairs, while Jinx and Avery followed behind me. Tabby was waiting just inside the front door, she was all ready to go in another of her cute new outfits. She and I were actually both dressed sort of similar today, with leggings and a skirt and a top. I was still wearing my big dark hoodie overtop of everything though, while Tabs had a cute spring jacket.

Jinx and Avery both greeted my best friend when they joined us by the door, then we all headed out to the car together. Me and Jinx got in the back seat again while Avery and Tabby sat up front.

Then as soon as we were on our way I braced myself and spoke up, "Hey Tabs? I have a confession to make? I hope you're not going to be upset with me, but I kind of found your story and started reading it."

She didn't look back at me but from where I was sitting I could tell her eyes widened and her cheeks were going red. She sounded anxious as she sighed, "Oh..."

After a few awkward seconds I realized she wasn't going to say anything else so I continued, "It's really good Tabby! I've been enjoying it a lot! I read up to chapter four last night, and that one was so good I had to re-read it this morning."

"Oh?" she responded, and this time she didn't seem so shocked. "You actually like it?"

I nodded, "Yeah! It's really good! The characters are really cool and I like how it's set up. It's different enough from the original that it feels new and original, but close enough that the setting's familiar."

Tabby was smiling by that point, "Thanks Cheryl. I'm sorry I was trying to keep it secret from you, I was worried you wouldn't like it."

"I think 'like' is putting it mildly," Avery commented. "She wouldn't put it down at breakfast this morning. And when I asked her about it she enthusiastically told me and Jinx all about it."

That got my best friend blushing again, but she was still smiling too. At least until I told her, "There's just a couple questions I have about it?"

Her smile faded and she sounded anxious again as she asked, "What sort of questions?"

"The first one's about the healing pod?" I explained. "Like I'm curious how it got on their ship, where it came from, did the other guy know about it, that kind of thing? I'm only up to chapter four though so maybe that's explained later on."

Tabby grimaced, "Not yet. I was planning on having that come up in some backstory at some point, but I haven't actually got that far in my planning."

"Gotcha," I nodded. "The next one is about the main characters? I guess I'm curious because space-Tabby seems a lot more like me than she is like you? And space-Cheryl's nothing like me at all. Maybe she's a bit like Avery? But space-Cheryl's really confident and strong and brave and takes charge and stuff, I've never been like that. While space-Tabby is more passive and does what her friend wants and just kind of goes along with things?"

I added, "I guess that's not really a question? It just kind of stood out to me, especially since you said on the weekend that space-Tabby was like your ideal self or something."

Tabs was blushing again by the time I finished talking, while Avery made a little 'snerk' sound like she was trying not to laugh. That only made Tabby blush brighter, and it took her a few seconds to respond.

Then she did her best to sound sort of calm and casual as she replied, "I mean, it's just fiction right? It doesn't really mean anything Cheryl. Maybe don't try and read into it too much, just enjoy it?"

"Ok that makes sense," I nodded. "So I guess there was just one last question then? About that collar. I read what it does in the story, and Jinx sort of suggested yesterday that the curse magic might have duplicated the sci-fi tech functions. So um, do you think it would really work? Can I scan that tag with my phone and try it out?"

After a second I added, "It'd be really cool if it did work. I was thinking it'd be pretty neat if I got one of those collars too, then you could scan it with your phone?"

She looked like her cheeks were going to burst into flames or something, and shook her head "I don't think that's a good idea Cheryl. Anyways we're nearly at the campus and there was something I wanted to talk to all of you about too."

I knew she was trying to change the subject on me, but I figured we could talk about the collar thing again on the drive home maybe. So I went along with it, "Ok Tabs. What did you want to talk about?"

"Along with my homework and studies I spent some more time last night thinking about everything the four of us were talking about?" she explained. "You know, the loophole stuff? Using curses for good instead of to hurt people, all that kind of thing? And I got to thinking about what Jinx said, when she was telling us about gods and demons and other supernatural stuff. So I started searching online to see if I could find anything along those lines."

Avery glanced at my friend before returning her focus to the road. She frowned, "Don't tell me you actually found something?"

Tabby nodded, "I found a few things."

She took a deep breath then told us, "There was some stuff I'd actually seen online before, but I basically ignored it? Like at the time I thought it was a prank or a meme or something. I thought people were goofing around and it was a kind of online joke? Anyways about a year ago there was a flurry of activity in one of the online trans communities I belong to, about people getting magic transitions and becoming catgirls, bunnygirls, foxgirls, that sort of thing. And like I said, I assumed it was a joke or a prank or something. There were even pictures, a few people posted selfies, but it's not hard to fake that kind of thing with filters and stuff these days."

"Only now that you're a real live catgirl you realized that the stuff you saw last year might have been real after all?" my sister asked.

"Exactly," Tabby nodded again. "So last night I was searching on social media, and found there's even more people who've got instant magical transitions like that? They weren't cursed or using spells, they were talking about enchanted plush toys? Like you get a magic plushie bunny and get turned into a bunnygirl? Or an enchanted fox plushie and turn into a foxboy. And last week I'd have laughed and ignored the whole thing, but considering I got turned into a catgirl by a magic curse book who's now a cute girl named Jinx..."

Jinx and I were both grinning by that point. The small half-demon wasn't even blushing though, she was too shameless for that.

"So what did you find out?" I asked. "I mean loophole wise? Did you come across anything we could use, or any ideas to do safe cursing?"

Tabs shook her head, "Not yet. I'm getting to the good part though, so hang on."

"Anyways so I was following that thread on social media," she continued, "And I came across some posts from a bunnygirl who lives about a ten or fifteen minute drive west of our college campus? They were from just two weeks ago, and they were about her and her wolfgirl girlfriend getting visited by a real life goddess and her angel."

My eyes went wide as I asked, "Seriously?"

"I told you there were local gods all over the place," Jinx stated with a smug smile.

Avery frowned, "I can almost believe in enchanted plush toys, considering I've got a living breathing talking ex-magic-book in the back seat of my car. But what makes you so sure this bunnygirl really met a goddess?"

Tabby shrugged, "Ok I can't be positive she really met a goddess? But her description of the goddess and her angel sounded kind of familiar. As in, I think maybe we know where to find one of them, and we've seen the other."

"No way!" I gasped. "Who are they? Where do we know them from?"

Tabs was smiling as she announced, "According to the bunnygirl, the goddess is a short silver-haired coed with purple eyes, and her angel is a young goth woman with black hair who dresses all in black and has silver jewelry. Oh and the goth angel's name is Raven, the goddess was called Amethyst."

She glanced at my sister and said, "I'm pretty sure your barista crush's name is Raven, isn't it? And we saw her a couple weeks ago with a short silver-haired girl that you said was her girlfriend, right? Except what if that wasn't her girlfriend? What if the silver-haired girl is really her boss?"

"This is too cool!" I exclaimed. "My sister's crushing on an angel! We have to go to the cafe after class today, we can ask the barista if she really knows a goddess! And get her phone number at the same time so you can finally go out on a date with her, right sis?!"

Avery shook her head, "No! Absolutely not! Do you know how crazy that would sound? Walking up to a stranger and asking if she's an angel, based on a post by some bunnygirl we don't even know?!"

"And on the one in a million chance that she really is an angel," my sister added a moment later, "Then revealing we know that might be dangerous!"

We were pulling into the campus parking lot by that point, and Avery's focus shifted to safely finding us a parking spot.

Meanwhile Tabby responded, "I don't think we should just go ask her in the middle of her shift at the cafe. That's a bad idea, for both the reasons Avery said. But we could still try and talk to her. Maybe we could sort of ask if she knows anyone named Amethyst? Like say we heard something online? Or I don't know, we'd put more thought into it I guess."

"I still think we should go over there again today after class," I stated. "That gives us all day to figure out the best way to approach her. Or if nothing else then Avery you should really just go ask her out. We've got less than three weeks left of classes right? You're running out of time. Don't let her get away, sis!"

Avery shook her head as she pulled into a spot then turned off the car. "Just drop it please Cheryl? Whether she's an angel or not, I'm not going to bother her at work. And now that we're here I need to go. Like you said, there's less than three weeks left and all of us should be focusing on our classes rather than anything else."

We all got out of the car, then Tabby commented "You know Avery, Goddess or not something tells me the silver-haired girl isn't the barista's girlfriend."

"Oh yeah? What makes you say that?" my sister asked in a tone that made it clear she wanted to drop the subject.

Tabs gestured, "Because it looks like she's actually into that tall redhead over there."

All four of us turned and looked. About half a parking lot away there was a petite silver-haired girl walking alongside a tall redheaded girl. They each had an arm around the other, and as we watched the two stopped at the edge of the parking lot. They gave each other a hug and kiss, then separated and hurried towards two different buildings on the campus.

"Huh," I frowned. "What sort of classes do you figure a goddess would be taking here?"

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