Chapter 134: 106. Hard To Control

"It looks like Kaylee's prediction was right," Paige said as the six of us sat down together in the school cafeteria.

It was noon on Friday, and we hadn't had any more trouble with reporters since Wednesday after school. There hadn't been any new magical attacks or incidents either, not since the incident with Mr. Guthrie. We were all still keeping an eye out for things, but I got the feeling we were hoping it was over now that the two unpopular teachers had been removed.

Unfortunately we were stuck with Mr. Graves as our math teacher, and the real substitute gym teacher wasn't that great either. Mr. Howard reminded me a lot of Mr. Sanderson, the only difference was he didn't hate me. Not yet at least.

"Keith and Chaz each face a twenty-five hundred dollar fine," Paige continued, "And they're being sent back to the USA. Their camera and audio gear was seized, along with their laptops, but they'll get their phones and their car and everything else back."

Kaylee grimaced, "I'm glad we won't have to deal with them anymore. I don't suppose losing their gear means they won't be able to use any of their recordings or anything?"

Our club leader shook her head, "No such luck. I'm pretty sure they uploaded all their files to cloud servers on a regular basis, specifically to avoid that kind of situation."

"Sorry Melanie," she added as she looked to the wolfgirl, "I just hope they don't publish your name or anything like that."

The ravenette werewolf sighed, "Me too. Bad enough they know my secret, last thing I need is the rest of the world knowing it too."

"One thing I don't understand," my girlfriend commented, "Is how the border services people even knew to look into those guys. It's not the sort of thing they'd do just randomly or as a routine check."

Nina and I exchanged a smile as I responded, "You can thank our club sponsors for that."

"Our mum tipped them off last week," my sister added. "After the club meeting last Thursday, they contacted the border people about what those guys were up to."

I nodded, "She told us last night. She said mundane problems are best taken care of with mundane solutions. She also said something about calling in a favour."

That put a smile on Paige's face, "I'll have to officially thank your moms on behalf of the club. Maybe at the next regular club meeting? That's only a week away."

By that point we all had our food out and everyone started eating, so the conversation tapered off for a minute or two. Melanie eventually broke the silence.

"I got a text from my dad this morning while we were in first period," she said with a sigh. "So I ended up calling him in between periods, and we had a little talk."

"He's moving today," she told us. "He found a one bedroom apartment in Peterborough, he'll be out of the house and out of town by three this afternoon. He obviously noticed all my and Cerys's stuff disappeared from the basement a couple days ago, so he knew we already had somewhere else to stay."

After another sigh she continued, "Dad apologized for the big argument we had Sunday night, and he apologized for telling those guys about me. He knows he screwed up, but what's done is done. Anyways, he basically just wanted to let me know he was sorry about how everything turned out. Like not just Sunday, but I guess my whole life and how our family fell apart. He wished me and Cerys well, he said he hopes things get better for us and all that stuff? And he said maybe him and me can talk again some time."

She sounded a little emotional as she added, "So my mom gave up on me a couple years ago, now my dad's gone too. So it's just me and Cerys now, all we've got's each other."

By that point both Cerys and Nina were hugging the wolfgirl from either side.

"Damn," Paige frowned, "I'm sorry Melanie. I wish there was something I could do to help."

The werewolf shrugged, "It's fine. I mean, at least we're not out on the street right? Tanya and Julie have been super nice to us, same with Nina and Cass. We've got a place to stay, the Underwoods are looking after us and paying more attention to us than my dad ever did. They're all treating us like we're part of the family..."

As her voice trailed off Cerys took over, "Mel's right. Cass, Nina, you and your moms have been amazing. The two of us are a pack, but we're not alone. We've got all our friends too."

I started to respond to that when we were all distracted by a sudden commotion on the opposite side of the lunch room. All six of us turned to look. I wasn't sure if there was a fight about to break out or what was going on, and it took a moment to spot the source of all the yelling.

"That's Steve Ford," Melanie stated. "He's in some of our classes, but he's not on Paige's list."

I recognized him a moment later, as one of the school's bullies. He was the guy who mouthed off at the wolfgirls last October, then Melanie showed off her supernatural strength when she picked him up and pinned him to the wall.

Now he was freaking out, he had his hands on his head as he stumbled around shouting and swearing for some reason. Meanwhile a few of the kids around him had their phones out recording him or taking pictures. And a teacher was already heading over there to find out what was going on, when I suddenly saw the problem.

Steve lowered his hands and revealed a pair of tall brown fuzzy ears sticking up out of his head. Then he turned and I spotted a long brown tail with a tuft of fur at the end, hanging out the back over his jeans.

"Oh no," Paige groaned. "Are those horse ears and a tail? Cass is this from another one of those plushies?"

Kaylee shook her head, "That's not a horse tail, and the ears look wrong too. I'm pretty sure those are from a donkey."

"That's not one of mine," I added with a grimace. "I can tell from here he didn't use a plushie at all. This is someone else's magic."

Suddenly Melanie was on her feet as she pointed, "There, trying to sneak away! C'mon, that might be the priestess!"

The wolfgirl was pointing at a figure in a big black hoodie and black pants, just as they slipped out of the cafeteria. They had their hood up and they were sort of hunched over like they were obviously trying to hide their identity, which only made them stand out as obviously suspicious. If they'd just walked out normally Melanie probably wouldn't have given them a second glance.

Instead she took off after the mystery figure, with Cerys following right behind. The rest of us did the same, we all abandoned our food and hurried out of the lunch room after the two wolfgirls.

None of us were moving supernaturally fast or anything, and the wolfgirls probably already had their quarry's scent so even if they did manage to get away they couldn't stay hidden for long. As it was the halls were pretty empty in the middle of lunch period anyways, so we could all see the mystery person as they fled towards the back of the school. They weren't even going that fast, they were moving really awkwardly like they were having problems with their shoes or something.

Melanie and Cerys were easily catching up to them, while me and Nina were catching up to the werewolfs. Paige was right behind us, while Kaylee gave up the chase almost immediately and got left behind just outside the cafeteria.

The mystery person led us into a stairwell at the very back of the school, where we cornered them. They ended up backed against a wall, with the stairs next to them and us between them and the doors.

That's when I got my first good look at the person, and I realized they were wearing clothes that were all way too big. Like their pants were baggy and too long, and their hoodie was way too big. In a way it helped keep their identity secret since they were sort of lost in the loose clothing, but that really didn't help them with their escape.

"I take it you're Medeia?" Cerys asked. "May as well show your face, we've caught you and it's time to come clean."

With a sigh the figure pulled back their hood and revealed themself. They appeared to be a teen girl, about the same age as the rest of us. Like about seventeen or eighteen I figured. They were almost stunningly attractive though, even without any make-up.

Their jet-black hair was a bit messy from the hoodie, and it was long enough that it disappeared inside their outfit past their shoulders. Their face was pretty and they had flawless fair skin, a small nose and full pouty lips. Their eyes were striking, a bright purple colour that was definitely unnatural. I couldn't really get a feel for their figure because of the baggy outfit, but they seemed rather petite and I was sure they weren't any taller than myself.

One strange detail was despite looking femme they were wearing guy's clothes, which didn't seem like a good disguise if they wanted to blend in with the rest of the students. Then it struck me, with the oversized ill-fitting clothes they looked a lot like I did when I first met Club Luna and transformed into my true form.

"Hold on," I said to the others, "This might be another victim? They look like they might have just been transformed."

The stranger looked back and forth between me and Cerys and the others. They didn't look scared though, if anything they seemed wary and confused.

They finally spoke up, and their voice sounded just as pretty as their looks. They half demanded, "How do you know about Medeia?"

Paige shook her head, "Never mind how we know, just answer the questions. Are you Medeia, are you the priestess?"

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"I'm not a priestess!" they replied indignantly.

They stood up straight, which didn't actually do much for their stature. All it did was confirm they definitely weren't any taller than me. Then they stated proudly, "I'm a level nineteen sorceress, so you'd all better just leave me alone!"

"Level nineteen? What's that supposed to mean?" Paige asked with a frown.

"No way!" Cerys gasped. "Harrison? Is that you?"

The self-proclaimed sorceress's eyes widened as they gave the wolfgirl an uneasy look. Then their lips started moving and I caught a surge of magic as it started forming around them. Before they could complete whatever spell they were casting I reached out and dispelled it. The magic drained harmlessly into me, while the stranger's expression shifted from shock to fear.

"How did you do that?" they gasped as they stared at me. "What are you?"

We were all interrupted for a moment as Kaylee finally joined us. She was breathing hard as she moved to my side and apologized, "Sorry I'm late."

I told her, "It's ok Kaylee. We're just questioning our mystery sorceress right now, trying to figure out who they are."

With our focus back on the unnamed brunette Cerys asked again, "So are you Harrison or not?"

The stranger's eyes were still wide as they glanced around, maybe looking for an escape route. Now that they knew I could stop their magic there really weren't any other options though. They already knew they couldn't outrun us, and they were outnumbered six to one.

The sorceress finally sighed, their shoulders slumped, and they let themself slide down the wall until they were basically sitting on the floor at our feet. Their knees were drawn up against their chest and their arms folded across overtop of their knees to hide their face, so we were mostly looking at the top of their head.

Then in a muffled voice the sorceress responded, "Please don't call me that. I really hate that name."

Cerys asked, "So what do we call you? Are you Medeia?"

"No," they replied as they shook their head. "Medeia's just... That's the name of my DnD character."

"What would you like us call you then? Is there another name you want us to use?" I asked in a soft friendly voice. I was trying not to come across as angry or accusing or anything like that, I didn't want to spook them. I added, "And what pronouns would you prefer we use for you?"

They slowly looked up at me with a confused frown. Their voice was quiet and they sounded embarrassed as they replied, "I uh, kind of like the name Willow? And um, she her pronouns would be nice. Thanks for asking."

I nodded, "All right Willow. I know you can use magic, and you just told us you're a sorceress, but maybe we can all just talk this out? Did you curse or enspell Mr. Sanderson and Mr. Guthrie?"

Cerys added, "Don't forget Steve Ford, something just happened to him too."

Willow sighed and hid her face again. She mumbled, "Yes it was me. I'm sorry. I didn't mean... I didn't want anyone to get hurt, not like that. I just wanted to teach them a lesson, for being so nasty to people. But um, this magic stuff is really hard to control."

"After Mr. Sanderson I swore I'd never do it again," she added as she looked up once more. I recognized the pale, shocked look on her face. It was exactly the same expression Harrison had when we were all standing outside the school after the bee attack.

Paige asked, "Then what happened to Mr. Guthrie? And what just happened in the cafeteria?"

Willow shook her head, "I didn't mean it. Mr. Guthrie was a mistake, he said something that upset me and it slipped out. I tried to pull it back though, I thought it was ok when nothing happened? He was all right when the class ended, and everything seemed fine."

"And just now," she continued, "Steve tried to rough me up in the cafeteria. I was minding my own business working on um..."

Her face went red as she admitted, "I was working on a spell to change myself, when he walked by and punched me in the arm and called me a wimp. I called him a jackass and I guess I lost my temper and the magic just did its own thing? It zapped him, and also um, did way more to me than I was expecting."

Melanie asked, "So you didn't mean to turn yourself into a girl?"

Willow's blush got even brighter and she looked down at the floor again, "I did, but not all at once? I've been um, doing it a little at a time. Making small adjustments here and there, for the last two weeks. It was supposed to be gradual, so people wouldn't notice and get freaked out."

"Are you trans?" I asked in that same friendly tone. "And you went looking for a way to transition with magic?"

She sighed, "Yeah. Last June when Kenzie changed it kind of opened my eyes about a few things? Like I realized there was real magic out there. So I talked to her a couple times, she told me how she changed and also explained about being trans? When I realized how relatable the stuff she was talking about was I started to realize I was trans too. I didn't want to be a bunnygirl though, or a catgirl or anything like that. So I went looking for other kinds of magic."

I remembered Kenzie told me last summer that she figured out she was trans after my own magical transition, so it was kind of wild hearing that the same thing happened to Willow after Kenzie's bunnygirl transformation.

Meanwhile Cerys stated, "You found a ritual to Hecate, so you tried to invoke her. And it worked?"

Willow nodded, "I studied and researched for months, I found rituals and spells and everything. I even found out about a magic cave not far from here, that was supposed to have some kind of supernatural history. I did rituals to Hecate there at the last four full moons, until it finally worked. She granted me the power of um, she gave me the power of my DnD character."

"I didn't get all the knowledge and experience though," she added with another sigh. "So like I said, the magic's a lot harder to control than I thought."

"All right," Paige frowned. "Even if the attacks were accidental there's still two teachers in hospital because of you. And I don't imagine Steve Ford's very happy right now either."

Melanie shrugged, "He's definitely a jackass though. Maybe we should let that last one slide?"

Our club leader rolled her eyes then continued, "Willow are you going to stay like that? Or will you turn yourself back to normal?"

She was still on the floor hugging her knees to her chest. She gulped and shook her head, "I don't think I can. I mean, I probably could? But I don't think I could bring myself to undo this. Not now that I've done it."

"Except nobody will know me," she added with a sigh. "My parents, my friends..."

I stated with a lot more confidence than usual, "Then we'll help you figure things out. Nobody's going to ask you to give that up if it makes you comfortable."

"I think we should take her over to our place," I added calmly as I looked at my friends. "My parents will probably have some suggestions, but either way this isn't the sort of thing we should deal with here at school."

Kaylee asked, "What about Steve Ford?"

"He can wait," I stated. "Donkey ears and a tail aren't the end of the world."

After a moment to weigh the options Paige nodded, "All right. That's the best solution, turn it over to the responsible adults."

Willow slowly got to her feet, and we all headed out the back door of the school together.

~ End of Episode Thirteen ~