Club Luna

Announcement content warning: bigotry and speciesism

It was about half past twelve when Brooke and Paige pulled up in front of my house. They were in Brooke's car for a change, since everyone could fit in it. We only needed Paige's mom's minivan when all seven of us were together.

Kaylee and Nina and I were waiting in front of our house, and we all climbed into the back seat of the car. I ended up in the middle again, since Kaylee really didn't like being too close to Nina. For that matter she'd probably be happier if my little sister wasn't with us at all, but Kaylee's plan depended on Nina's magic to make it work.

As Brooke pulled out for the short drive to Monora Forest she commented, "I'm not sure how long this is going to take, but how do folks feel about going out afterwards for a bite to eat? Or we could stop by a cafe or something, if folks aren't hungry."

"Sure," I nodded. "Either way sounds good to me."

A couple minutes later we were parked at the edge of the forest. We all got out of the car, and Kaylee made sure she had her notes while me and Nina each carried a box of table salt.

"Are we sure we're not going to get lost?" I asked as we set out towards the woods.

Brooke replied, "I'd like to think both Paige and I are competent enough at orienteering. We've both brought proper compasses, and I printed out a couple proper maps, along with a satellite view of the forest."

"And all that's back-up anyways," she continued. She held out a chunky blue-grey gizmo with a monochrome LCD screen and stated, "I have an old GPS, it's a lot more rugged and reliable than a smartphone. I already plugged that meadow into it as our destination, and I set a pin for the parking lot too."

Paige pointed out "It's still electronic and potentially susceptible to magical interference. Hence the maps and old-school compasses. Either way though, we should be fine."

The five of us were already out of sight of the parking lot, following one of the trails through the woods. Paige and Brooke were up front, while me and Kaylee and Nina followed behind. The weather was great too, it was another nice warm bright sunny day. And the trail we were on was wide enough that we were all in the sunshine, rather than shaded by the trees.

After a few more minutes my girlfriend grumped, "We'd still be better off if Melanie and Marissa were here."

"Sure," our club leader responded with a shrug. "But they're not here, so we'll do our best without them."

Brooke added, "If the situation weren't so serious I'd have suggested putting this off another week, or till whenever the other two could join us? But after the latest incident I don't think we can just wait and hope nobody else has a run-in with those fairies."

"Agreed," Paige stated. "This is what Club Luna's for, this is why we're here. So we do what we have to do, to keep the public safe from supernatural harm."

Kaylee sighed unhappily as we all kept walking.

She was obviously still thinking about Marissa and Melanie though, and a few minutes later she looked at me and asked "Melanie didn't say anything else in her text? About why they blew off the club meeting on Friday, or what they're up to? Or when they'll be back?"

"Nope," I shook my head. "She apologized for missing the meeting, and apologized for her and Marissa not being around. She said they'd try to make it to my birthday on Saturday, but she couldn't promise for sure they'd be there. And she apologized for that too."

"I wonder why she responded to your text but nobody else's," my girlfriend complained. "And neither of them said a word on the group chat."

I rolled my eyes, "Maybe it's because I asked if they were both ok and told them I was worried about them? Instead of just complaining at them for missing the meeting, or demanding answers? Maybe it's because I treated them like friends, instead of just a couple people who happen to be in the same club?"

Kaylee frowned, while Brooke and Paige both exchanged a glance.

Our leader brought the five of us to a stop and sighed, "You know Cass, you're right. Me and Brooke and Kaylee owe the two of them an apology."

She looked at her girlfriend then at mine as she added, "Marissa isn't the same annoying over-excitable young kid she was when she first joined Club Luna a couple years ago. She's changed a lot lately. She's grown up, become a lot more reliable and responsible."

"And yet she still blew off the last club meeting and she's been ignoring all our texts and messages," Kaylee pointed out.

Brooke frowned at my girlfriend and said in a pointed tone, "Sometimes it feels like Marissa's not the only one who's changed."

Kaylee stared at our former leader for a moment, then decided to change the subject slightly. "Anyways, I'm pretty sure I know exactly what happened to Marissa."

"What?" Paige asked with a frown. "What do you think happened to her?"

A smug look settled on my girlfriend's face as she turned and pointed at my little sister, "I think Ninaya happened to her."

The small demon had been quiet so far, she'd just been walking along beside me and listening to the conversation. Her eyes widened in shock and she shook her head, "I didn't do anything!"

"What are you trying to say, Kaylee?" I asked with a frown.

My girlfriend still looked smug as she stated, "I heard Ninaya and Marissa talking back at Melanie's place, the night we had that BBQ party? She was going to feed on Marissa! And a week later, Marissa mysteriously went missing! It's pretty obvious to me what happened."

Nina's face was pale and her eyes were wide as she shook her head, "But I didn't... I don't...."

"You didn't what?" Kaylee demanded. "You didn't feed on her? Just what exactly did you do to her then?"

I stepped forward to put myself between my sister and Kaylee as I stated, "Leave her alone. You don't know what you're talking about."

My soon-to-be-ex girlfriend side-stepped around me as she half shouted, "Answer the question, demon! Did you feed on Marissa's nightmares?"

Nina gulped but nodded slowly. She mumbled, "I did, but that doesn't -"

"See?!" Kaylee interrupted as she looked to Brooke and Paige. "She admitted it! She fed on Marissa, now Marissa and Melanie are both ignoring the club, ignoring our texts. She did something to them, I'm sure of it!"

Brooke and Paige both looked at Nina, while Kaylee continued staring at her. The shy demon seemed to be stuck in a permanent cringe. Her face had gone from pale to splotchy red and she looked like she was about to burst into tears at any moment.

I took a step towards her, I wanted to give her a hug and comfort her. I even started to say something reassuring, "Nina, I -"

She was too frightened and emotional to handle it. My little sister let out a small squeak then vanished completely as she teleported herself away.

"Damnit Kaylee!" Paige suddenly exclaimed. "What's wrong with you?"

My former girlfriend demanded, "Me?! What's wrong with the rest of you?! She's a demon, she's dangerous! And all of you keep treating her like she's a normal person, you even let her join our club! Why am I the only one who sees how wrong that is?!"

"She's not dangerous Kaylee, she's our friend!" Paige stated angrily. "Cass's moms even adopted her! Do you think they'd do that if she was a threat?! Or do you think that small shy anxious demon somehow pulled one over on a couple powerful centuries-old angels?!"

Kaylee shouted back, "I think that shy quiet thing's just an act Paige, and I think she's got all you people completely sucked in! She spun a sad story and got you all to feel sorry for her, now she's manipulating everyone and got all of you eating out of the palm of her hand!"

I finally turned my back on the argument and pulled out my phone. It still had signal, so I wrote up a quick message to Nina. "Hey sis, are you ok? Where'd you disappear to? I'm on your side ok? I know you didn't do anything to hurt Marissa, and I won't let Kaylee or anyone else hurt you. I promise!"

Paige and Kaylee continued their shouting match behind me, but I tuned them out as I watched my phone. After about a minute I saw the 'Nina is typing' indicator, then her reply popped up on my screen.

"Thank you Cass. I'm at home in my room. Mom yelled at me for teleporting home. She said I'm grounded for breaking the no magic at home rule," she wrote. Then she added a couple crying emojis along with, "Kaylee hates me and now everyone else hates me too."

I sighed but wrote back, "Brooke and Paige don't hate you, I know Marissa and Melanie don't hate you either. And I don't hate you sis, I love you. I'll talk to mom when I get back, I'll tell her it wasn't your fault you had to come home early."

After that I also sent her a half dozen heart emojis, then I put my phone away and turned back towards the others just as Brooke finally spoke up.

Our former leader had been quiet while the other two were arguing, but she raised her voice and demanded "Shut up the both of you! Don't you get it? This is a fae trick! Get us fighting, turn us against each other! They're trying to split us up, and they've already manipulated you into chasing Nina away! We all need to take a few deep breaths and calm down. Ok?"

Kaylee glared at the tall blonde, "The fae didn't feed on Marissa's nightmares Brooke, they didn't make her and Melanie abandon Club Luna."

"Even if Nina did that it wouldn't have hurt Marissa," I stated. "And I was there that night Kaylee. Marissa asked Nina to take her nightmares. She wanted her to do it, she gave Nina permission. I was sitting right next to her, I heard the whole thing."

Brooke sounded exasperated as she sighed, "For all we know Marissa ate one of her silly magic mushrooms and made herself sick. All the secrecy and silence from her and Melanie's probably because she's too embarrassed to admit it."

Paige actually facepalmed, "Oh my goddess, I bet that's exactly what happened!"

"Cass?" Brooke turned her attention to me, "I saw you texting. How's Nina doing, is she ok?"

I sighed, "She went home. She's pretty upset, and teleporting home got her in trouble with our mom too. I don't think she'll be joining us again today."

"She shouldn't be joining us at all," the redhead stated with a scowl. "She's a demon, she's not one of us."

"Shut up Kaylee."

The words slipped out of my mouth before I really had a chance to think about what I was saying. I didn't shout them at her, I didn't even sound angry. If anything I probably sounded tired and bored, like I'd finally had enough of her badmouthing my sister.

She stared at me in shock, and for that matter even Brooke and Paige looked surprised.

"What?" I asked with a shrug. "Nina's my sister, I'm tired of listening to Kaylee talk trash about her."

I looked to her and added, "You don't have to like Nina, you don't have to be friends with her. Just show some common decency and stop dissing her in front of her family and friends."

The cute redhead was still staring at me in shock, then she turned to look at the other two girls. From her expression it was clear she was hoping or expecting them to back her up.

"Cass has a point," Paige stated.

Brooke added, "You've been pretty unpleasant to Nina right from the start, Kaylee."

"Because she's a demon!" Kaylee stated. "And like I said earlier, none of you seem to get it. Why can't you see that? Why don't you understand? She's evil!"

Paige sighed and shook her head, "She's a kid who's been neglected and abused and taken advantage of. Why don't you see that? All you see is the demon part, while you ignore everything else."

Without waiting for a reply she added, "This outing is over. We needed Nina's magic to make this work since we don't have Marissa and her sleep spells. Now we don't have either of them. Let's head back. We'll have to reschedule for another day."

Brooke agreed, and both she and Paige turned to start back to the parking lot.

"No!" Kaylee insisted. "We can't give up now!"

Paige stated, "We can't do it without Nina, and you chased her away. You can come with us Kaylee, or you can stay here. Your choice."

Kaylee demanded, "Give me the map. And Cass, give me that box of salt. I'll do it myself if the rest of you are so eager to give up."

"Now you're being unreasonable," Brooke responded. "You can't do it by yourself, you don't know all the spells. That's why Club Luna is a club, remember? We help each other out, combine our strengths and our talents."

The redhead didn't bother to respond, she just reached out and snatched the map pages from the taller girl's hand and grabbed the salt from me. Then she turned and stalked off deeper into the woods.

Paige shrugged, "Suit yourself. Cass, are you coming with us or staying with her?"

I sighed, "I'll stay with her. I'll do what I can to keep her safe. Talk to you two later."

"Be careful," Brooke said, then she and Paige started heading back the way we came.

By that point I was pretty sure Kaylee had to be under some kind of spell or influence, even though I hadn't seen any purple glow or anything like that. I figured it had to be something subtle though, because I was positive she was being completely unreasonable.

Paige was acting a bit too argumentative too, but Brooke seemed to pull her girlfriend back from going too far. I figured maybe Brooke wasn't as affected as Paige, but I had a feeling she wasn't thinking entirely clearly either. It didn't seem right that the two of them would walk off and leave me and Kaylee behind in a situation we knew to be dangerous.

My guess was whatever was going on, Kaylee was the most affected, then Paige, then Brooke. I was fairly sure I hadn't been affected, since I'd have felt it if someone tried to use magic on me. And I didn't think Nina was affected either, since she didn't try to argue. She just ran away, which felt more in-character for her.

With a quiet sigh I set off after Kaylee, hurrying to catch up with her before she got out of sight.

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