Chapter 100: 99. Denounced

"This is kind of pretty actually," I commented as I looked out the window. "I've never been here before. Maybe we'll come visit more often, now that I know where the waypoint is."

Kaitlyn shrugged and had a sip of her cola. She said softly, "You get used to it."

She looked and sounded depressed. She wasn't acting nervous or anxious, or even scared. This was more like she was dejected, resigned to her fate.

The two of us were sitting in a little tea-house at the west end of a nice park, in the middle of Vancouver. The park was at the end of a knob of land that stuck out into a big bay, or I guess they called it an inlet. Kaitlyn might have found it boring but to me it was scenic. It felt like we were surrounded by water and mountains.

Back home it was cold and we had snow on the ground. Out here they didn't have any snow yet, and the air was cool but not cold. Warm-jacket weather, but not winter-coat weather.

Apart from the warm jacket that was currently draped over the back of my chair, I was dressed casual. I had jeans and a t-shirt, and running shoes. I hadn't even bothered to bring a purse, I had some ID and money in my jacket pocket.

Kaitlyn was dressed 'girly', or at least in what she thought was a girly style. She was wearing dark leggings under a knee-length plaid wool skirt. She had an attractive pink blouse, and black ankle-boots on her feet. She had a little purse now too, which was black but decorated with a pink kitty pattern. She was even wearing some lipstick. Her dark purple jacket was on the chair next to her, along with her purse.

She also had a backpack on the floor by her feet, which contained all her clothes and the few other belongings we'd bought her since bringing her back to Earth.

In addition to the scenic view outside, we could also see Kelly and Keira. They were both sitting on a park bench about seventy meters away, overlooking the water. Like me, they were dressed casual. Skinny jeans, running shoes, warm jackets. And as usual their clothes all matched so nobody else could tell the two of them apart.

After a few minutes, Kaitlyn pointed out "There's Kelsey."

I looked where the teen indicated. Kelsey had just emerged from her car, she was walking towards my girlfriends. Her back was to us, the parking lot was between the teahouse and the benches where the twins were sitting. She was dressed like the twins, in jeans sneakers and a jacket, with a purse draped over her shoulder.

"I sure hope this goes ok." I said quietly.

I concentrated and switched on my sight. At this range it was hard to see, but I could just make out their auras. Kelly's and Keira's were familiar of course, a little more purple on the left and a bit more red on the right.

Kelsey's was darker. It looked stained like Kaitlyn's did at first. By now the the teen's aura was about one-quarter pink, though that surrounded a dark-stained core. I didn't know if the darkness would ever truly leave, but I figured the brighter her aura got the better.

My young companion shrugged again and whispered, "I doubt it will. My daughter never liked surprises."

Kelsey was standing in front of the bench now, she and the twins were just starting to talk.

I kept my eyes on them, but I replied to Kaitlyn "I know you'd prefer to stay with me and the twins, but we're not really in a position to look after you."

"I don't need looking after," Kaitlyn sighed. "I'm five hundred and seventy-nine years old, I'm not a child."

I gave her a warning look, "You are now. You're fifteen years old, and if you do wind up staying with us you'll be going to school starting next month."

She stared down at her drink, "That's still better than what'll happen if you leave me with Kelsey. She'll either sell me off, or put me to work as a prostitute."

I frowned as I turned towards my girlfriends again. Kelsey had joined them, all three were sitting together on the bench now. Kelly was on the left, Keira in the middle, and Kelsey on the right.

"I don't think your granddaughters will give her that option."

Kaitlyn finished her drink and set the glass down. Her voice was quiet but her tone was almost pleading as she said, "I just really don't want to be left with her, Lady Tegan. I'd rather stay with you three. Or send me someplace else, leave me with some humans. I just don't think it'll end well, even if you force her to take me."

I turned back to look at the kid again. She sounded really worried, and she looked scared again. And the fact that she'd rather be with strangers than Kelsey gave me pause. To be honest I was never thrilled with this plan either. We were hoping Kaitlyn could be reformed, and Kelsey didn't seem like the best choice for that.

I thought it over once more, then finally nodded. "Ok. We won't leave you here. Kelly and Keira are going to hate me for changing the plan at the last minute but..."

Kaitlyn let out a sigh of relief and I could see the tension actually unwind from her. I hadn't realized just how stressed she was about this.

"Thank you Lady Tegan," she said softly. She added, "My daughter carries a gun when she's meeting with fae. Because she knows she's at a disadvantage, and fae don't usually expect guns. She knows you're fae, and when she figures out my granddaughters are too, she'll forget about using magic. If she feels threatened and outnumbered, the gun will be her first choice."

I stared at her for a moment as that sank in, then I grabbed my jacket and said, "Come on, kid!" I pulled my jacket on as I hurried out of the teahouse.

Kaitlyn picked up her jacket and purse, and scooped up her backpack.

I hurried across the parking lot towards the bench where the three redheads were seated. Kelly hadn't given me the signal yet but I couldn't risk waiting. If Kelsey was armed I had to get close enough to intervene. I had my shield spell ready as I hurried to join my girlfriends.

As I approached the three of them I picked up their conversation.

"..is impossible!" Kelsey stated. Her tone was somewhere between angry and exasperated. "You can't be fae! That can't happen!"

"It's true mom," Keira replied with a shrug. "You did the spell, you saw it in our eyes."

Kelly added, "We've been full-blooded fae since Samhain."

Kelsey shook her head, "But how?! And who would do that for you? Even if such a spell were possible, it must have taken a dozen mages to pull it off! Why would they do that for you?"

By now I was just a few meters behind the bench. Keira and Kelsey hadn't noticed me yet but Kelly did. She gave me a subtle 'stay there' gesture, they weren't ready yet for me to join them.

"Our girlfriend did it," Kelly said with a grin. "Tegan's kind of a legend over there."

I saw there was a fair amount of chatter going on behind the scenes, the twins' link was buzzing with activity. I could also see clearly all the dark stains in Kelsey's aura. Her soul was probably stained even darker.

Kelsey shook her head again, "I don't believe it."

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Kaitlyn finally came up alongside me and I made a 'shh' gesture so she knew to stay quiet.

"Actually that's not our only surprise for you, mom." Keira said.

I figured that was our cue so I motioned Kaitlyn forward. I led her around to the left, then out in front of the others. I kept the two of us sort of closer to the twins, so if I had to put up a shield spell all four of us would be protected with Kelsey on the other side.

As me and Kaitlyn started moving, Kelsey stated "You know I hate surprises."

She frowned as she saw me and the kid. Her eyes only stayed on me for a second then she stared at the teenage girl next to me. The confusion was clear in her expression. There was more than enough family resemblance in Kaitlyn that Kelsey had to know this girl was a relative.

"Hello Kelsey," I greeted her, though there wasn't a lot of warmth in my tone.

The woman stared at Kaitlyn for a few seconds. I saw her lips move slightly, and with my sight already on I saw the surge of magic through her. It was just the harmless identification spell though so I didn't stop her.

Her eyes flashed with light, but of course there was no corresponding flash in Kaitlyn's eyes. Kelsey would know the girl was fully human.

"Who is this child, and why is she here?" Kelsey asked with a frown.

Both the twins and myself hesitated, it seemed none of us wanted to be the one to answer that.

Then Kaitlyn spoke up and saved us all the hassle. Instead of being quiet and timid, there was actually some bravado in her voice. "Hi kiddo. My name's Kaitlyn Connolly. Lady Tegan and the girls dragged me out here because they were planning on leaving me with you. They wanted you to 'raise' me, but I've been telling them that's a bad idea. And anyways I don't need to be 'raised', I'm older than the lot of you combined."

Kelsey frowned at the girl, "Excuse me?"

Since I agreed not to leave her with Kelsey, Kaitlyn's mood had obviously picked up considerably. She actually seemed to be enjoying herself now as she grinned, "I'm your old man, Kelsey. Your girls turned against us. Lady Tegan and the twins did this to me."

The frown on Kelsey's face grew darker as she stared at Kaitlyn for another second or two. Then she looked at her daughters and scoffed, "I don't know what sort of game you're playing at, but there's no way you'll convince me this girl, this human child, is my father."

Kelly nodded "She is. Or she was. Now she's a fifteen-year-old human girl and she needs a home. And a grown-up to look after her."

"She's your dad, she's your responsibility." Keira stated. "You're going to look after her, and you're going to raise her right. That means school, that means taking care of her health, and it means helping reform her. Which means the 'family business' is closing its doors, right now."

"Actually," I interjected. "Change of plans. We're not going to leave Kaitlyn here after all. Sorry."

I looked at Kelsey and added, "Still shutting down your business though. I'm not sure how much you can do without your father's help, but either way we're not going to let you keep hurting people."

All three of them were staring at me now. The twins with a questioning frown, Kelsey just looked defiant.

Kaitlyn spoke up again, she nudged me and said "She usually keeps it in her purse. She'll pretend she's digging out her phone or her keys or something."

Kelsey's face paled slightly and her eyes widened as she stared at the teen. I think that's the moment she realized we were telling the truth about Kaitlyn, and that her dad just exposed her backup plan. Her purse was hanging over her left shoulder, her arm was resting against it and I saw her hand shift slightly.

"What's in her purse?" Keira asked warily.

Kaitlyn replied, "Her gun."

Kelsey suddenly moved, she dug her hand into her purse while she started casting a spell. By this point though she'd lost any element of surprise, and she was facing three fae who already knew she was hostile.

My shield spell came up, separating Kelsey from the rest of us incase she managed to get a shot off. It proved to be redundant though. Kelly's spell left her mother temporarily paralyzed. She sat motionless on the end of the bench, unable to finish her spell and unable to reach her weapon.

I let my shield drop again as Keira leaned closer to Kelsey. She touched her hand to her mother's forehead and as her eyes flared with her spell, I heard her whisper "Sorry mom."

I saw the flash of light in Kelsey's eyes a moment later as the spell took hold. I was still uncomfortable with this part of the plan but I knew it had to be done. I'm sure Kelly didn't like it either, but we needed to be sure Kelsey wouldn't try to keep operating her father's business. We had to make sure she stopped hurting people.

As Keira moved back, Kaitlyn stepped forward. She reached her hand into Kelsey's purse and pulled out the gun. It was a squat, heavy-looking revolver, made of brushed-steel with a black handle and a short barrel.

"May I keep it as a souvenir?" Kaitlin asked with a hopeful smile.

"Absolutely not," I stated. I reached out and took it from her, then teleported it about a half kilometer out into the bay.

The teen pouted, "Aw."

Kelly and Keira both stood up as Keira asked "So we're keeping the kid after all?"

"For a while longer," I replied. "Until I find someone else who'll take her in."

Kelly sighed, "I guess we're done here?"

I nodded, and the four of us turned and walked away together. We left Kelsey frozen on the park bench as we headed back towards the teahouse. They waypoint was about a hundred and fifty meters away in a small clearing in the woods, but it wouldn't be dusk for another two hours so we had some time to kill.

As we crossed the parking lot, Kelly turned and dispelled her magic.

I glanced back as well and saw Kelsey sitting there alone on the bench. Her shoulders slumped in defeat and she just slowly shook her head as she stayed seated for now.

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