"I still can't believe you did that," my sister said as she paced back and forth in her living-room. "That was..."
Her voice trailed off and she stopped for a gulp of her wine. She'd opened another bottle as soon as the five of us got back to her flat, while Wes grabbed himself another can of beer.
Yuki and I just got a glass of water, but we hadn't even touched that yet. We were both exhausted, as soon as we got in I slumped into the arm chair and wrapped my tails wrapped around in front of me so I could hug my soft floof like a pillow. And my favourite little arctic kitsune was half asleep inside our headspace, all curled up with her tails wrapped around her.
A moment later Shirley shook her head and resumed her pacing, "That wasn't a normal blackout. Never mind all those lamps exploding, you also turned off everyone's mobile phones. And you killed all the cars too. That's impossible."
"Of course it's not impossible," Cara responded from where she was perched on the back of our chair. She was back in her normal raven form again, and didn't seem the least bit troubled by any of the evening's events. "Our employer blacked out all the power in the entire world last week. Yuki and Aster barely managed to cover a few blocks, and it only lasted six and a half minutes."
My sister gave our bird friend an exasperated look, "That doesn't make it better!"
"Well obviously not," the raven replied calmly. "In fact it's significantly worse than what Gaia proved herself capable of."
Yuki mumbled in a cute sleepy voice, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do all that. I just wanted to use some lightnings to spook those two guys, but it accidentally came out a lot stronger than I meant."
Unfortunately no-one but Cara and I could hear her. And we already knew our raven didn't think any of us did anything wrong. I sent the little arctic kitsune a thought-hug though, and let her know it was ok.
"It was bloody amazing is what it was," Wes chimed in. He was relaxing on the sofa with a can of beer in his hand, and he must have asked a half dozen more times for us to put in a good word with Gaia for him. After another swig of his ale he added, "Not just how you cut power to half the city, but the way you got our ride's car working again just by tapping the door."
"We're just lucky the driver didn't say anything. Except for all we know he might have gone straight to the police as soon as he dropped us off," Shirley sighed as she turned around and walked the length of her living-room again.
Then she stopped and looked our way as she half demanded, "And what did you do that made it look like you and Yuki were both there at the same time? That freaked me out! And I could tell the driver had questions. Why did you think that was a good idea?!"
I stifled a yawn before responding, "That happens when Yuki and I co-front."
When I saw the confused looks on her and Wes' faces I elaborated, "That's when we're both in control of the body at the same time, sort of driving it together like a team. Anyways we figured that out a few days ago. It lets us use both kinds of magic at the same time, and it gives us a power boost. But it's really draining, so we can't keep it up for very long."
"I think you just need more experience," Cara commented. "That's why Gaia told us us to continue practising."
"Yeah," I nodded slowly. "You're probably right."
Normally we couldn't use my shape-shifting magic unless I was fronting, and we couldn't use Yuki's lightning magic unless she was fronting. But if the two of us fronted together, then we had access to both. We'd been surprised to discover our magic seemed a lot stronger that way, but we figured it's because when we were co-fronting we were pooling our resources and working as a team. So whichever magic we did had twice the power behind it.
The other surprise was unless we specifically used my shape-shifting magic, our body automatically shifted to look half-and-half between me and Yuki. Our hair was black on one side and white on the other, one of our eyes was my purple while the other one was Yuki's pink. Even our tails changed. One was black, one was white, and the one in the middle was half and half.
We both thought it looked anime-cool, but I could sort of understand why my sister was freaking out about it. And she was right, the ride-share driver would definitely have some stories after tonight. I just really hoped he saved them for his mates at the pub, rather than telling them to the authorities like Shirley was worried about.
Then Wes spoke up again. He looked over my shoulder at the bird perched on the back of the chair and asked, "So at the restaurant tonight you said you had something that might help me get a job with Gaia, right? What is it, what's it do?"
The raven ruffled her feathers and sniffed, "We have one last bottle of magic water that Yuki collected from the magic mountain in the Cairngorms. It's the same magic water that gave her and Aster their magic and changed them into kitsune."
"Wait isn't that the same water that's making everyone sick?" Shirley asked with a frown. "How do you know it's not poison?!"
Cara responded in a matter-of-fact tone, "Oh I've no doubt that it's quite toxic to some humans. But for Aster and Yuki it was not. It transformed their body and gave them magic, but it didn't harm either of them."
Wes frowned, "So it's magic for some people and poison for others? How do you know it won't hurt me?"
"I don't," the raven replied with a little shrug of her wings. "But if you're that desperate for magic and the possibility of working for Gaia, then you may as well take the chance. It's not like you'd be risking anything important."
I rolled my eyes then told Wes, "I don't think it'd hurt either you or Shirley. I'm pretty sure the kind of people Gaia's targeting right now are the ones who're actively fighting her or going out of their way to damage the environment."
Both Shirley and Wes started talking at the same time in response to my comment, but I didn't really hear either of them. I had another really big yawn, and didn't bother trying to fight it or stifle it this time.
Then I curled up a little tighter and rested my head on the arm of the chair while I hugged my tails a little closer and mumbled, "We can talk about it more tomorrow ok? If you want to try it you can come back to our place in the morning."
I didn't bother waiting for a reply, instead I slipped into headspace and exchanged a good-night hug with Yuki before the two of us drifted off to sleep together.
"That's it? It just looks like ordinary water," Wes stated as he looked at the bottle I'd just pulled from the fridge.
It was about half past ten Sunday morning, and all five of us were standing in the little kitchen back at my and Yuki's flat. Cara was perched ontop of the fridge, while my sister and her boyfriend stood just inside the doorway.
"That's because it is water," I reminded him while my tails slowly swished from side to side. "Completely ordinary water. Except it happened to come from a spring flowing out of the base of a magic mountain that had only forced its way up out of the earth a couple hours earlier."
Our raven friend added, "That's the last of it. If we want any more we'll have to go all the way back to the Cairngorms to get it."
"Assuming we can even get there," Yuki stated. "Didn't the news say the army had the whole park sealed off?"
"Humans won't be able to get in or out. But they wouldn't be able to stop a raven and her kitsune friends," Cara stated confidently.
Meanwhile Wes was still staring at the bottle in my hands. He asked quietly, "And that'll give me magic?"
"Maybe?" I shrugged. Then I flicked my ears and reminded him, "It might also give you fuzzy ears and a furry tail."
"Or it might just kill you," my sister told her boyfriend.
I shook my head slowly as I said, "I really don't think it'll do that. It might not do anything at all, but I don't believe either of you would be on Gaia's hit list."
Shirley frowned at me then looked to her partner again and asked, "Seriously Wes, are you that desperate that you're willing to take the chance? Even if Aster's right and it doesn't kill you, what if it turns you into a tiny foxkin like her and Yuki?"
Wes hesitated. He glanced at the bottle of water before looking back at my sister then teased, "Be honest with me babe. Would you dump me if I grew a tail?"
"Seriously?!" Shirley looked and sounded exasperated. She finally sighed, "This isn't a joke Wes. Are you actually willing to take the chance of having your body completely transformed, or even face the possibility of getting sick and dying, just for the chance of maybe getting some sort of magic and maybe getting to work for public enemy number one worldwide?"
"Well sure," he replied. "Wouldn't you? We're talking about real live magic, Shirl! And the chance to work for someone who's trying to make the world a better place. Hell, for the kind of money she's paying Aster and Yuki and Cara I'd accept way more than just fuzzy ears and a furry tail!"
My sister rolled her eyes, while Wes turned towards me and Yuki and said "So what do you say Aster? Can I get a glass of that magic water?"
Before answering him I focused inwards and asked Yuki, "What do you think? We're probably not going to be able to get any more of this. Do we want to give it to Wes?"
The cute arctic kitsune thought about it for a second or two while her tails all swished around slowly behind her in concentration. Then her ears flicked and she nodded, "Yeah, I'm ok with that. I don't really know that it'll do anything for him, but at least it might get him to stop bothering us about working for Gaia? And Cara's right, if we really want more we can just go get more. The humans aren't going to be able to stop us."
I couldn't argue with any of that. So I focused outwards again and nodded, "All right. I'll grab you a glass."
"Make it two please," Shirley asked as I reached for the cupboard door.
I turned and looked at her in surprise, "What? Why? You were just arguing about how dangerous it was."
My sister grimaced, "I know. But I'm not going to dump him over some fur or a tail, and since I couldn't talk him out of it then I may as well go along with it."
"Whatever happens we'll stick together, right?" she added as she looked to Wes.
He grinned, "Right babe."
"All right then," I responded as I pulled out two tall glasses. A few seconds later I'd emptied the water bottle and filled both glasses to the top. I held them out to our guests as I said, "Here you go."
"Awesome!" Wes grinned as he took his. "Thanks Aster, you're the best!"
Shirley accepted hers with an uneasy smile, "Thanks sis."
"So how soon do you figure we'll know if it's doing anything?" she added.
I shrugged, "No idea. It seemed pretty fast when it happened to me, but then I was half-drowned in a flood and ended up in a lake. One glass probably won't be as potent, and I doubt it'll do anything right away."
Wes looked to his girlfriend and suggested, "Only one way to find out then. Bottoms up!"
With that he gulped down the entire glass, then put it back down on the counter and sort of braced himself for whatever was about to happen.
Which was nothing.
There was no sudden transformation, and no instant access to magic. Like I figured, there were no immediate results or changes. And despite being told that up front, Wes still looked a little disappointed that nothing actually happened.
Shirley held off for another few seconds, like she was maybe waiting to make sure her boyfriend was all right. Eventually though she drank her glass of magic water as well. She didn't gulp it down all in one go like Wes, but she didn't drag it out either, and after another minute or two it was all gone.
"Thank you Aster," my sister said as she put her empty glass in the sink. "And Yuki, and Cara. I suppose Wes and I should get going? I'm sure we'll be in touch if anything actually happens."
I asked, "Before you go, is there anything else we need to figure out about how to talk to mom and dad about all this?"
Shirley grimaced, "Oh right. It's a good thing that water didn't do anything after all! It'll be hard enough introducing you to mom and dad, can you imagine what it'd be like if I looked completely different too?"
"Anyways I think we covered everything last night?" she continued. "When did they want to get together for dinner?"
"Mom didn't say exactly," I replied. "Some time in the next week though."
My sister pulled out her phone as she suggested, "Then why don't I text her, and try to set something up?"
"Sounds great, thanks Shirley!" I smiled.
She ended up exchanging a couple texts with our mom, while the rest of us watched and waited.
"Ok got that sorted," she said a few moments later as she put her phone away again. "We're on for Sunday roast at mom and dad's place this afternoon, at five o'clock."
"Right," I nodded slowly. "Five o'clock..."
My heart rate began to climb as it sank in, while my tails all drooped down between my legs and my ears slumped to either side. In just over six hours my parents would see my new kitsune body. And we'd be telling them about magic, and introducing them to Cara. And maybe Yuki too.