Chapter 44: 36. Luck of the Draw

As soon as school was out me and Kaylee set off to go visit that grocery store. It was way out of our way, on the south side of town and normally we only went to the cafe there with the club if someone had a car. On the other hand it was only a thirty minute walk, and I knew Melanie walked to work so it wasn't that big an ordeal.

Just a minute or two after leaving the school me and Kaylee both heard someone behind us calling our names, and when we stopped and looked we found Marissa and Melanie catching up to us.

"Hey, where are you two going?" the short blonde witch asked. "You both live in the other direction right?"

I stifled a sigh. It was bad enough Kaylee was already in on this, I really didn't want even more club members to know about it before I had a chance to look into it myself. Though oddly enough, I almost felt like I could trust the two younger witches more than my girlfriend with this. And I knew I could definitely trust them more than Paige or Brooke, at least when it came to keeping things from Miss Hawthorne.

"We're following up on a lead," Kaylee explained. "A guy in our class got turned into a girl with rabbit ears, and we're trying to figure out who's responsible."

Naturally that got Marissa excited. A huge smile spread across her face as she asked, "Seriously? What guy, what's his name? Is he still at school, or is he hiding out at home until we can figure this out and turn him back?"

I gave Kaylee a look and stated maybe a little too forcefully, "Her name is Kenzie. She's not a guy and she never was. She's a trans girl, just like me and Melanie."

Despite my glare and my words being directed at my girlfriend, it was the excited young blonde who responded first.

Without batting an eye she responded, "Sorry Cass. So is Kenzie still going to school? What's she look like? I haven't seen any bunnygirls around. I know we're not going to try and change her back, so what are we investigating exactly?"

While Marissa was shooting off her barrage of questions Kaylee slipped her arm around me, then after the younger witch was finished my girlfriend apologized. "Sorry Cass, I didn't mean to misgender her."

Melanie commented, "I've seen her. She's tiny, like you'd think she was in grade school not high school. Cute though, and I thought the bunny ears were fake but I guess not. She's fast too, I only saw her once when she was running through the hall."

All four of us started moving again as Kaylee told the other two where we were going and what we were looking for. The werewolf was surprised to find out we were investigating a vending machine at the store where she worked. She was vaguely aware of the bank of machines by the exit but hadn't noticed anything unusual about them.

And Marissa was her usual excited self when it came to all this stuff. She spent the next ten or fifteen minutes speculating on who or what was responsible, though in the end it was all just guessing. And the best guess was a rogue witch, someone who could work powerful magic into strong enchantments.

Kaylee was definitely taking Miss Hawthorne's side believing that this was bad and dangerous, while Marissa was just excited about investigating some new magical thing. And Melanie was more or less quiet, but I hoped she was thinking the same thing as me. Like basically if this was giving trans people magical transitions then it was a good thing and shouldn't be stopped or interfered with.

Eventually the four of us reached the big box plaza where the grocery store was. Melanie gestured, "I usually go grab a latte before my shift so..."

"Aw c'mon!" Marissa grinned as she pointed to the grocery store. "There's an Incident going on right under our noses, we have to go look at that with Cass and Kaylee!"

I shrugged, "It'll still be there in ten or fifteen minutes. Let's get drinks first."

Kaylee frowned like she wanted to argue but she kept quiet, so the four of us headed to the cafe. Marissa got a flat white, Melanie got her usual latte. I got a cold frothy chocolate drink with lots of sugar and whipped cream, and Kaylee got some iced tea. I couldn't convince the others to grab a table and relax with our drinks though, so as soon as we all had our beverages we turned around and went to the grocery store.

The bank of vending machines was right there just inside the exit next to the shopping carts. It was the sort of thing you almost didn't see, those ubiquitous gum-ball machines with the red cast-iron body and the glass square or dome on top so you could see the contents. They were set up in two rows of six, with the bottom row all twenty-five-cent machines that dispensed gum or candy or nuts and the upper row was larger one- and two-dollar machines filled with stickers and temporary tattoos and cheap toys.

And sure enough the two-dollar machine on the end had a faint purple glow of magic around it. Inside the front of the glass part was a card with pictures of some of the plushies inside, like there were kitties and puppies and foxes and bunnies and stuff like that. The illustrations were all kind of cute, and I definitely wanted to try and get a bunny plushie to add to my collection.

The others watched as I walked up to the enchanted machine and looked it over. I had a sip of my sugary chocolatey drink then nodded, "This is it. There's an enchantment on the machine itself."

Looking behind the card I could see the machine was about half-full, loaded with frosted plastic capsules that were each about the size of a large plum. It was hard for me to tell if the capsules inside were enchanted, since the machine itself was already glowing with magic. I figured they probably were though, since the way Kenzie described it she didn't get her bunny transformation till a week after she got the bun.

It definitely didn't happen when she got the plushie from the machine anyways. And that left me wondering what the enchantment on the machine did, since it was probably separate from whatever enchantments were on the plushies themselves.

"So what next?" Marissa asked. "Are you going to touch it and suck the magic out?"

That made me frown as I had another gulp of my drink. Then I shook my head and said, "I don't want to damage it. We're supposed to find out about it, not break it."

Kaylee frowned at me, "You heard May, it's dangerous."

That made me sigh, then I dug around in my purse till I found a two-dollar coin. I held it out and asked, "Will someone try it for me? I'm really hoping for a bunny, but either way we should get some of the plushies so we can have a look at them."

For the next two or three seconds my friends all sort of looked at me and each other, like none of them wanted to be the first one to touch the mysteriously-enchanted vending machine.

In the end though Marissa grabbed the toonie from my hand as she said, "I'll do it. What's the worst that can happen right? If it zaps me though, you'll touch me and unzap me, right Cass?"

"Right," I nodded.

The brash blonde dropped my coin in the slot and turned the crank, then when the capsule appeared in the slot she pulled it out and handed it to me.

"Thanks Marissa," I grinned. I couldn't tell what was inside yet, only that it was made of white yarn. Then I added, "There's no enchantment on the capsule or the plushie. No glow, no magic."

I popped open the capsule then my grin got even wider as I held up my prize and announced, "Yes! I got a bunny!"

The plushie was small but very cute. It was white, with floppy ears and fluffy tail. The eyes were little knots of red yarn, and while I couldn't really guess what kind of bun it was the colours were obviously meant to be a Ruby-Eyed White, which was common to a lot of certified show breeds.

A little plastic clip was attached to the bun's back, so I clipped it to my purse strap and left my new little friend hanging out in the open where everyone could see her.

"Cute," Kaylee commented. "But that doesn't actually help us at all, does it? If it wasn't enchanted then there's no clues about what happened to Kenzie."

I shrugged, "There's a bunch more toys in the machine. Maybe only some of them are enchanted? How many toonies do we all have?"

There was some grumbling as everyone checked their purses or pockets. I had one more, Marissa had two, and Kaylee had one. Melanie didn't have any, or maybe she did but didn't want to waste money on this stuff.

Either way Marissa dropped another coin in the machine and turned the crank saying, "This one's for you Melanie. I know you're not into cute stuff but who knows? Maybe you'll like it."

The wolfgirl rolled her eyes, but she pulled the capsule out of the chute then looked to me. "Is it safe? Any magic on it?"

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Whatever was inside hers it was made of black yarn, but once again I couldn't see any tell-tale purple glow. I shook my head, "There's no enchantment on that either. It's safe."

She nodded then popped it open, and suddenly it looked like she was fighting a smile.

"Seriously?" she asked as she fished out the little plushy wolf.

It was all black, with some lighter streaks on the head and tail. The eyes were little knots of amber wool, and I thought it was cute even though I wasn't really into wolfs or dogs as much.

"Aww! It's totally you!" Marissa exclaimed with a big grin. Then she turned and dropped another toonie in the slot and said, "Let's see what the machine picks for me. I don't have a fursona or a favourite animal as such. Though I do have a fondness for a very specific wolf."

This time there was magic. As soon as the blonde witch pulled the capsule out of the machine I warned her, "The plushie inside is enchanted. I can see the magic on it."

"Cool!" Marissa's eyes lit up at the prospect of something magical. As usual we couldn't tell what was inside, apart from being made of light-coloured yarn. "Is it safe to touch?"

I shrugged, "According to Kenzie she had her bunny for a week before it transformed her? And she said it needed an activation word. You have to be touching the plushie when you say the word. Otherwise I guess it's safe?"

"I wouldn't take the chance either way," Kaylee warned. "Not unless you want to sprout a tail or fuzzy ears. We don't even know yet if there's a way to reverse the effects. Maybe not, May said it was permanent magic."

After a few seconds of indecision the bold young witch popped open her capsule and carefully pulled out the plushy by its plastic clip, and we all found ourselves looking at a cute little blonde fox with a big floofy white-tipped yellow-orange tail. The fox's long pointy ears had black tips and its little feeties were black too. It had amber knots for eyes similar to Melanie's little toy wolf, but the eyes on Marissa's fox seemed to sparkle slightly, like there was something shiny in the yarn.

"Huh," Marissa said after a few seconds. "I'm not especially into foxes, but there's a fox-kin version of Marisa in Touhou. Or I guess it was a kitsune who disguised herself as Marisa. Anyways this actually kind of works for me."

Melanie frowned, "That feels like a coincidence. I mean, it's totally random right? These machines just dump whatever the next thing is in the chute. It's luck of the draw what you get."

Her girlfriend didn't seem convinced. Marissa pointed out, "Cass wanted a bunny, she got a bunny. You got a wolf. I didn't specifically want a fox, but I'm happy to have it. That doesn't seem like random luck to me."

"Kaylee why don't you try it?" I suggested. "Marissa's done it three times now and the machine seems safe to touch."

My girlfriend hesitated another second or two, then stepped forward. She dropped her toonie in the slot and turned the crank, then pulled out her capsule.

"That's enchanted too," I warned. "The plushie inside is glowing."

My girlfriend carefully popped open the capsule but didn't touch the toy inside. She held it so we could all see it contained a little ginger tabby kitten plushie.

"Aww," I grinned. "So cute!"

The werewolf asked Kaylee, "Are you into cats?"

My girlfriend shrugged, "I think they're cute. I guess I like cats? But I don't want to be one."

"It sorta matches your hair colour," Marissa pointed out. "Like you're a ginger, so's the plushie."

Kaylee rolled her eyes then carefully closed the capsule back up without touching the plush kitty inside. She stuffed it in her purse then said, "Marissa you should put yours back in the capsule too. We can give them to May tomorrow, so she can examine them."

"Pfft," the younger witch made a face, "Heck no this is my fox. Cass has another toonie, we can get one more just for May."

I handed her my last coin which she fed into the machine, then came up with another enchanted plushie. This one was black, and she opened the capsule so we could all get a look at it.

"Ooh little black kitty," I smiled. It was very fuzzy, like whatever kind of cat it was meant to be it had long fluffy fur and the tail was almost as floofy as Marissa's fox. The eyes were bright green, and sparkled like the eyes on the fox too. I added, "It's enchanted too by the way, so I guess be careful with it."

Marissa laughed, "Oh my goddess it's perfect for Miss Hawthorne! Frizzy black floof and green eyes!"

"Just seal it up again and hand it over," Kaylee said as she held out her hand. "I'll give it to May tomorrow."

The short blonde rolled her eyes but she closed up the capsule then gave the enchanted black cat to my girlfriend. She kept her fox though, that got tucked into her vest pocket while the empty capsule went in the trash. Melanie kept her wolf too, she stuffed it in her jacket pocket.

Then Kaylee suggested, "Cass I still think you should dispell the magic on the vending machine. Either that or we should use magic to break the mechanism. It's not safe to leave dangerous magic where the public can get to it."

"It's not dangerous," I insisted quietly. "It helped Kenzie. We haven't heard of people complaining about this right? If there were people turning into animals all over town there'd be talk. Marissa would have told us about it at the last club meeting, she's always finding out about this stuff before the rest of us."

The short blonde tried not to look too smug as she agreed, "It's true. If people were freaking out about demi-humans, I'd already be on the case."

"I kinda agree with Cass," Melanie stated, though I got the impression she didn't actually like agreeing with me. I tried to ignore that and just focused on her words as she continued, "I don't like the idea of turning people into animals, that puts a bad taste in my mouth. But helping trans folks isn't a problem. And if people are happy with the results then I say leave it."

Before anyone could respond she added, "And now I gotta run. My shift starts in like five minutes. See you all later."

She and Marissa exchanged a quick hug then the werewolf hurried through the inner doors so she could get changed and ready for work.

The rest of us all exchanged a glance, then Kaylee stated "Well I think it's unsafe, I don't want to leave it like this."

Without waiting for anyone to comment she raised her hand up and cast a spell at the machine. I saw the magic gather in her hand then jump at the machine, but it fizzled or something before actually landing. Whatever she tried to do failed.

"There," she announced quietly. "That should fuse the mechanism, so we don't have to worry about anyone else getting these things. Let's go home."

I hesitated, then just quietly nodded and kept it to myself that her spell failed. I was happier leaving the machine intact, so the next trans person to come along might get a chance at some magic of their own.