Club Luna

"Do you think it's about Kenzie?" I asked as me and Kaylee made our way through the crowded hall towards Miss Hawthorne's class.

My girlfriend nodded, "Probably. This stuff is serious, it needs to get resolved as quickly as possible. Before it happens to anyone else."

I sighed quietly but didn't bother to argue. As far as I was concerned it wasn't a problem.

Kenzie certainly didn't think of herself as a victim, she was really happy with what happened and how things turned out. She really liked her bunny ears and tail too. The only people who were acting like this was some kind of tragedy were May and Kaylee, and that was starting to get on my nerves.

When we got to the classroom we found both Marissa and Melanie already there, and Miss Hawthorne was there too, seated behind her desk. That was a surprise, she normally didn't attend Club Luna meetings. And the group message about the emergency meeting today came from Brooke.

Me and Kaylee picked our usual seats together in the middle of the room as we greeted the others. And just as we were getting settled Brooke and Paige arrived as well.

"Please close the door behind you," our teacher stated when the last two arrived.

Brooke took care of the door while Paige glanced around then asked, "Shouldn't we set up the candles? Or are we not doing a circle for this meeting?"

Brooke added, "It's the middle of the school day, there's kids and teachers around. I think we should do a circle."

May sighed and flicked her wrist towards the door as she stated, "No need."

My eyebrows shot up as I saw the flash of magic, then all four walls, the door, the windows, even the ceiling was bathed in a bright purple glow. It only took me a moment to realize she'd sealed the room completely. I couldn't even hear any sounds from the hall or outside anymore, like we were completely isolated.

"Take your seats please and we'll begin," our teacher told Brooke and Paige. Then as they moved to sit down she continued, "There are two urgent matters we need to discuss which won't wait until the next full moon, and both of them are important enough to merit my direct involvement."

She turned her attention to the two youngest club members, "Marissa, Melanie, I understand the two of you encountered some demons last month. Had I known there were any demons in Canada I'd have made a point of ensuring you girls were all better informed. So let me make this clear right now. If any of you encounter demons in the future, I need to be told immediately. Not find out about it in a text message twelve days after the fact."

"They didn't seem all that dangerous," Marissa pointed out.

May sighed, "No, some demons aren't. But some are, and there's no safe way to find out which kind you're dealing with."

She took a deep breath then stated, "Demons are incredibly rare, which is fortunate because they're among the most powerful supernaturals on Earth. And some of them are also the most dangerous. You can't harm them, your magic might not even affect them. Meanwhile they can rip your soul from your body on a whim and destroy it on the spot. So please, no heroics girls. If you encounter demons, get away as quickly and quietly as you can then contact me."

My stomach lurched slightly and all six of us were a bit pale hearing all that. Marissa and Melanie especially, considering they're the ones who actually confronted the demons.

"You said they're among the most powerful," Kaylee asked nervously, "What's stronger than demons?"

"Gods," May replied quietly. "Most Gods are more powerful, but some of the weakest Gods would be challenged to take on a true demon. Some of the stronger angels could also handle a demon, but that's less common."

That left me with a question, "So if there's some Gods weaker than demons and some angels stronger than demons, that means some angels are stronger than some Gods. How's that work?"

May sighed again, "We're getting off topic but angels draw strength from the Gods that created them. Angels are essentially created from a piece of their divine master or mistress. Hence, a very powerful God will have very powerful angels. And the angel's strength will rise or fall with that of their maker."

"What about fallen angels? Do they lose their strength when they're not with their god anymore?" I asked next. Kaylee knew why I was asking, but I was pretty sure nobody else in the room would guess.

"That's even further off-topic Cassandra," our teacher replied, "But in a nutshell fallen angels aren't really 'fallen'. They're angels who've rejected their creator and become independent. When they leave they take that piece of their God with them but the connection is broken. However strong or weak they were at the time they departed is how strong they will remain. At that point they're no longer tied to their creator, so whether their former master grows stronger or weaker later on it won't change the independent angel."

By that point Kaylee was looking at me, and I was sure she was thinking the same thing I was. My parents both came from fairly strong mainstream gods. Their gods kind of ruled half the world or something six hundred years ago when they both quit, which meant my parents were both probably pretty powerful.

"To get back on topic," Miss Hawthorne stated, "Marissa, Melanie, and the rest of you, stay away from demons. If they wanted to harm you there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop them. Have I made myself clear?"

We all nodded quietly, and I was pretty sure everyone took May's words to heart.

With that out of the way Miss Hawthorne continued, "On to our second topic, regarding our demi-human student. This is incredibly serious, and dangerous. Kaylee thank you for your email last night by the way."

Hearing that left me feeling sad and maybe a little betrayed, but I kept quiet. I kind of suspected my girlfriend would be the one to tell our teacher all the stuff I wanted to keep secret.

"Someone is distributing powerful enchantments capable of causing permanent transformations," May stated, "And they're doing it via a two-dollar vending machine in a public place. Mundane humans, potentially even children are being exposed to dangerous transformative magic. This is... It's so blatantly wrong and risky, it's almost as if someone is willfully challenging both the status-quo and the council."

I frowned as I protested, "But nothing bad's actually happened! That machine's been there at least two weeks, that's how long it's been since Kenzie got her plushie. There aren't a bunch of catgirls or bunnygirls around town. Just one trans girl who got a miracle, and she's really really happy!"

Almost everyone was staring at me in surprise after that, like nobody expected me to speak out like that. Especially not to our teacher and club sponsor.

The only person who wasn't looking shocked was Melanie, but it turned out that's because she had some news of her own.

"Actually there's at least one more," the werewolf said. That got everyone's eyes off me and onto her as she continued, "I met a catgirl last night at work, I talked with her on our break. She's a silver tabby and she's calling herself Sylvia. Though she swears she picked that name long before she turned into a silver tabby."

After a slight pause she went on, "Anyways, Sylvia admitted she's trans but hadn't come out yet. She said she got the plush toy from that vending machine last week, then two days ago she happened to say the magic word and turned into a cat. Then she figured out how to turn into a catgirl. She says she can switch back and forth, cat or catgirl, but she can't get back to her original self anymore. She doesn't want to though, she said she's really happy and never wants to change back. Pretty much the same as Kenzie. She wasn't expecting the magical transformation, but she's very happy and grateful she got it."

I nodded then looked at May and insisted, "So like I said, this is a good thing. It's helping trans people with magical transitions."

"Cassandra it's turning people into demi-humans," Miss Hawthorne responded impatiently. She looked at our wolfgirl and asked, "Melanie did Sylvia mention having any trouble at work? Or at home?"

The werewolf shook her head, "Not really? She said it was awkward getting her manager to believe who she was, but once she got past that hurdle she was ok. She doesn't interact with the public much at work, she does receiving and stocks the shelves and rounds up carts from the parking lot. I guess people stare at her a bit, but she said it's fine. And she didn't mention any trouble anywhere else."

Our teacher sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose for a few seconds, then addressed my girlfriend next. "Kaylee may I see the toys you and Cassandra secured yesterday afternoon?"

I watched as Kaylee got the two capsules out of her purse, then she took them up to the front and put them on the teacher's desk. She moved back to sit next to me, while Miss Hawthorne carefully opened one of the capsules.

That fuzzy black kitty fell out and landed on May's desk, then she opened the second capsule and dumped out the ginger tabby plushie as well. I watched as she quietly cast some kind of spell, I figured it was maybe to analyze or inspect the two enchanted toys.

A moment later her eyes widened and her face went a little pale, as she half-whispered to herself "Socha?! No, it can't be..."

That led to the rest of us exchanging some surprised glances. Brooke asked, "Who or what is Socha? Miss Hawthorne, do you know who's behind this?"

It took May another couple seconds to regain her composure, then she shook her head. "I need to do some additional research. For now all six of you please put this out of your minds. Until further notice, I'll be taking care of this on my own."

That left a bad taste in my mouth again, mostly because I knew she was going to try and stop whoever was helping trans folks. I opened my mouth to say as much, but she cut me off.

"Cassandra, would you please come here and dispell the enchantments on these toys?"

I grumbled unhappily as I got to my feet, "Fine. But only because I know you won't let us give these ones to trans people who want them. I'm not going to dispell any plushies that can help people though, and I won't dispell the enchantment on the vending machine either."

Once again I could tell everyone else was surprised by how I was acting and what I was saying. Like normally I was shy and quiet and timid and stuff, they were probably all shocked to hear me standing up to Miss Hawthorne of all people.

By that point I was next to her desk, and I reached over and put one hand on each of the plushies. There was no shiver down my spine, the hairs on my arms didn't stand up. And the enchantments didn't fail. The two toys continued to glow with their soft purple magic.

I was still frowning, but this time instead of being unhappy it was because of confusion. I tried again, I touched the enchanted plushies but like before nothing happened.

"Uh," I looked up at May. "I can't dispell them? Nothing happens when I touch them, the enchantment didn't go away."

Kaylee looked shocked, "That's never happened before. You dispell any and all magic, anything you've ever touched."

Brooke responded in a quiet wary voice, "Not all magic. Cass doesn't break her own spells, her own magic is immune to her natural absorbing thing."

That made me gulp and I looked back at Miss Hawthorne again. "Maybe whoever made these is the same kind of thing as me? Is Socha something supernatural?"

"No," May shook her head. She didn't sound entirely sure of herself as she added, "You can't be anything like that."

"Huh?" Marissa gave me a quizzical look. "What do you mean, you're some kind of supernatural?"

Paige frowned, "Are you saying you're not human? What are you?"

My heart was racing and I felt my usual anxiety and shyness returning. I kind of wanted to disappear inside my hoodie again, but I was still standing at the front of the class next to the teacher's desk, with everybody staring at me.

"I don't know what I am," I replied quietly. "Neither do my parents. But I don't think I'm a normal human."

"I'm sorry Cassandra," Miss Hawthorne said with a deep sigh. "You're correct, you aren't human. I'm afraid I don't know what you are either. I've been trying to answer that question ever since you first joined us."

After a slight pause she continued, "Normally there's a simple spell I could use that would tell me immediately, but as you absorb any magic sent your way that spell won't work. So I've been doing it the hard way, with research and observation. And after all this time I'm still no closer to an answer."

"Nothing I've found can absorb any and all magic quite the way you can," she continued with another sigh. "There are some creatures that absorb or consume magic, but you're quite unlike them. The way you can absorb magic then re-use it for your own purposes is rather unique."

She frowned and added, "Honestly the way you absorb any and all magic you come in contact with is the perfect defence against being identified. It's almost like that ability was designed to..."

Her voice trailed off as her frown shifted to surprise then concern. But before anyone could respond to that Marissa spoke up again.

The brash young witch was staring at me as she stated, "Hang on, Cass has to be human! If she wasn't, Melanie would have noticed something was wrong with her scent. Right?"

I turned to look at Melanie, so did just about everyone else in the room. Marissa was right, Melanie would know I wasn't human. Suddenly it made sense why she didn't like me, why she didn't trust me or didn't want to be friends with me. The only thing I didn't understand was why she never said anything, especially after she was so quick to tell everyone about my mom's supernatural scent.

We were all staring at our local werewolf, but she was staring straight at May Hawthorne. And the look on Melanie's face was accusing, almost angry.

Our teacher let out another deep sigh and admitted, "Melanie has kept quiet about Cassandra's scent because I told her to. I didn't want any of you, including Cassandra herself, to be alarmed or upset. Not until I could determine what she was."

That left all of us staring at Miss Hawthorne. The others were maybe surprised or shocked, but I was almost angry. Our teacher knew from that very first weekend I wasn't human and she never told me. And she forced Melanie to keep that secret too, which as far as I could see messed up any chance of me and her being friends.

The wolfgirl took a deep breath then in a pointed tone asked our teacher, "So can I say something now?"

"Yes Melanie," May replied wearily, "What is it?"

"I have a pretty good idea what Cass is," our werewolf stated. "I didn't before, but two weeks ago I found something with a similar scent."

May's eyebrows crept upwards as she nodded, "Yes? Go on."

I felt a surge of something almost like anger. As much as I wanted to know the answers, I'd rather Melanie told me. This was Melanie telling May and the rest of the club, while I just happened to be in the room. They were acting like I wasn't even there, and that made me sad and unhappy and maybe a tiny bit angry.

All that was forgotten though when the werewolf finally answered the question.

"Cass's scent is sort of like those demons me and Marissa met," Melanie stated. "Not completely though, I don't think she's all demon. Maybe half-demon? As for the other half, she smells a lot like you do ma'am. I think she's half demon, and half whatever you are."

May's eyes widened slightly and her face started to go pale again, before she got control of her expression. Then she shook her head and stated in a quiet but unconvincing voice, "That's not possible."

The others were all staring at both me and May, looking surprised or shocked. Like maybe they were suddenly afraid of me because they thought I was a demon, or maybe they were freaking out because we all just found out our teacher was also some kind of supernatural.

Meanwhile I just felt kind of cold and numb and nauseous. I didn't want to believe I was half demon, especially not after hearing May tell everyone how dangerous and awful demons were. And I had no idea what May was but it was probably something just as terrible since she kept it secret.

My heart was racing and I felt upset and numb and shocked and maybe I was even still a bit angry about the whole situation, and suddenly all I wanted was to get away. I wanted to go hide at home with my big bun plushie and forget this whole day ever happened.

I walked back to where I'd been sitting next to Kaylee, but instead of joining my girlfriend I picked up my backpack. Then I turned and ran for the door.

"Cass don't -" Miss Hawthorne called out to stop me but she was too late.

I ignored her and I ignored the magic that she used to seal the room. I wanted to leave and I wasn't going to let anyone stop me. As soon as I grabbed the doorknob the magic from May's spell drained into me, but this time it wasn't just a little shiver.

Instead I felt a powerful current run up and down my spine and all the muscles in my body went rigid. At the same time there was intense burning pain in the middle of my chest and on my arms and legs. I couldn't let go of the door and I couldn't move. My whole body was in pain and it seemed to go on for ages but it might have only been a couple seconds.

Then it was over, all my muscles went limp and I felt myself falling to the floor as everything went dark.

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