Chương 158: Interlude 34 – Another Coming-Out

=::= Kaylee's PoV =::=

"How do I look?" I asked nervously. "They're not going to freak out are they? I mean, they're definitely going to freak out when I tell them. But when they first see me it'll be ok right?"

My girlfriend nodded, "You look like you did two days ago. You look human. The only thing missing is your glasses."

That made me grimace, "If I put them on now it'll mess up my eyes and give me a headache or something. I'll just go without, since I'd be taking them off soon enough anyways."

"Ok," Cass replied with a shrug. Then in a serious tone she asked, "How do you feel? Apart from being anxious, I mean."

This time I grimaced and cringed, "I feel really weird and self-conscious, and that makes me feel even more weird?"

"It's hard to even put it into words," I added as I reached back and ran a hand across the top of my behind. There was nothing back there but my own tush, under the tight capris leggings I was wearing.

"I looked like this all my life," I continued quietly, "I've only been a small demonic foxgirl for the last twenty-four hours. Except now this feels all wrong? Not having my tails feels weird, and my ears are stuck on the sides of my head and they don't move, and it's super disorienting. And I never thought I'd say this, but I even feel too tall now."

I sighed and shook my head, "It's like you said though? It wasn't just my body that changed, but what felt comfortable changed too. So now what I always thought of as my 'normal' or 'natural' form feels wrong."

"You're probably feeling dysphoria," she replied in a soft compassionate voice. "Not gender dysphoria obviously, but this isn't your true form anymore. That's why it feels wrong."

"Oh," I nodded slowly. "That makes sense. I can't imagine what you or Melanie or Willow must have gone through, if you all felt this way for years. I don't think I could last a whole day with it."

"And um," I felt my cheeks going red as I looked down and poked my tummy under the tight t-shirt I was wearing. My outfit was really unflattering to my original form, but I was wearing it because it wouldn't be too loose or baggy once I changed back again. For now I quietly admitted, "I feel all fat and ugly again. I really want to go back to my real form."

Cass pulled me into a hug as she replied, "You've always been beautiful to me Kaylee."

I hugged her back and sighed again, "Thanks Cass. That's not how I feel though, and it's not what my mom says either."

"Is that why you wanted to be so much smaller?" she asked softly. "You said it was more than just learning how to teleport, you said there were other reasons."

"Yeah," I grimaced once more as I continued to hold her. "There were three things I wanted. Getting access to demonic magic so I could teleport was one. The second thing was having a magical body so I could be cute and slim and attractive without having to worry about diet or excercise. And the last thing was not aging, so I could stay with you and not worry about getting older while you stayed young."

Rather than respond she just held me a little tighter after hearing my confession.

She continued to hold me for another minute or so before quietly suggesting, "Why don't we head over there now? The sooner we do this the sooner I can cancel that spell and return you to your real shape."

"Right," I grimaced again. "Ok, let's go and get this over with."

There was no sense of motion or movement, I wasn't even really aware of the spell, but one moment we were in Cass's bedroom and the next moment we were in my room at my parents' house.

I blinked and looked around, at my bed and my desk and bookcases and dresser. Then I asked, "If this goes badly and I have to move right away, what are we going to do about my stuff?"

"I'll teleport everything into the spare room at home," my girlfriend replied. "All your clothes, books, bookcases, desk. Everything but your bed, I guess? We can leave everything in the spare room until we've made the changes to the house, then once there's enough space we can move your things into our bedroom."

"Can we move my stuff today even if things don't go badly?" I asked.

Cass smiled, "Of course. We can do it right now if you want, before we talk to them?"

That made me smile as well, and I nodded "Yes please."

It was exciting to watch, especially with the knowledge that I now had the potential to do that kind of thing myself. I didn't know how yet, but I was going to learn. For now it was enough to watch as my bookcase along with all my books and everything else on it disappeared in a swirl of light. That was followed by my desk and everything on it including my computer, and a moment after that my chair vanished too. My dresser was the next thing to go, and at that point there was no furniture left in my room other than my bed.

All that was left was my clothes, and I opened my closet door and looked inside. Then I frowned, "None of this stuff will fit me anymore. It's all too big."

"We can fix it with magic later," Cass responded as the entire contents of my closet vanished in a swirl of light. "Clothing is fairly easy to change, I can teach you how when we get back home."

All too quickly her demonstration of magic was over, and there was nothing left to do but go and talk to my folks. I felt some growing anxiety as I led my girlfriend out of my former bedroom, then down the stairs. We found mom and dad together in the kitchen, dad was off work today so he was taking it easy. They both had mugs of coffee in front of them, dad was reading a book while mom was looking at something on her phone.

"Kaylee!" my mom was surprised as I led Cass into the kitchen. "When did you get home? I didn't hear the door."

"And what happened to your glasses? You didn't break them did you?" she added with a frown.

I grimaced again as I moved to take a seat at the table, and motioned for Cass to sit next to me. Then I replied, "We came in a few minutes ago, but we were quiet. There's some stuff I need to talk with you both about. It's important, but it's probably going to be a difficult conversation."

Mom put her phone down while dad slipped a bookmark into his book and set it aside as well. Then he asked, "What did you want to talk about hon?"

Both mom and dad sort of glanced at Cassandra, like they were probably wondering why I brought my girlfriend to sit in on a difficult family conversation. Or maybe they guessed she was involved in some way. Fortunately they didn't start questioning me or guessing, they both waited for me to tell them what was on my mind.

It crossed my mind that if I was straight and had a boyfriend with me, my parents would probably be worried I was about to tell them I was pregnant. It even occurred to me to say that now as a joke, just to see the looks on their faces. I fought off the urge though, I knew messing with them like that would only make the rest of the conversation even more awkward and difficult.

Things were going to be hard enough already, so I decided to start off with the easier non-magical topic. "The first thing is, I'm moving out. I've decided to move in with Cass."

Mom frowned, "Isn't it going to be crowded at the Underwoods' house? Do they even have a room for you? And that's only around the block Kaylee, it seems silly to move when you're barely going anywhere. Not to mention you'll be moving again in less than two months, when you start university."

I shook my head, "No mom, I'm not moving in with the Underwoods. I'm moving in with Cass. She..."

"I have a house just off Main Street," my girlfriend spoke up when I faltered. Her tone and body language were all calm confidence again, she made it seem like it was no big deal for someone our age to own their own home. "I bought it back in April so our friends Cerys and Melanie would have a place to stay, then I moved there with my cousin a couple weeks ago."

By that point both my parents were staring at her in surprise. Mom recovered first, she looked back at me again and asked, "What about university? You're not going to abandon your education are you?"

"I'm still going," I told her. "But I don't think I'll be moving into residence after all. I think I'm going to commute instead, so I can stay here in town with my girlfriend and all my other friends."

My dad frowned, "How do you plan on doing that? Even if you had a car, the insurance gas and maintenance all adds up. And that's not a fun drive in the winter hon, believe me."

"I know dad," I grimaced again. "I'm probably not going to get a car. Or even if I do, I wouldn't be too happy about having to drive that far every day for classes."

"So how are you planning on getting to your classes in September?" mom asked. "And if you've changed your mind about residence we need to cancel that and get a refund. You know we've already paid your tuition for this year Kaylee."

I nodded, "I know mom. And yeah we need to cancel the residence stuff. As for how I'm going to get there..."

You are reading story Club Luna at novel35.com

My voice trailed off as I braced myself for the next big reveal.

I was almost surprised neither of them tried to talk me out of moving in with Cass, I really thought that part of the conversation would take longer. Or maybe they were letting that build, like asking about all the individual parts of my plan before they decided to argue about all of it. Either way we'd reached the point where I had to start telling them about magic, and I felt equal parts excited and scared about how that was going to play out.

"So this is where you're both going to freak out," I sighed. "All I can do is ask that you hear me out and let me explain, before you start interupting or shouting."

My parents exchanged a glance, then dad responded "All right hon. Whatever it is you're going to tell us, we'll try and hold our questions until you've said what's on your mind."

"Thanks dad," I smiled. Then I took a deep breath and dove right in.

I started with a little bit of backstory first, to set the scene. "I've spent the last four years learning real magic. Since halfway through grade nine I've been a witch. I specialized in healing magic and spiritual magic, as well as magical research and study. In the last four years I've met a number of other people with similar talents and interests. I've met and made friends with other witches, werewolves, shape-shifters, angels, demons, even goddesses."

"In that time I've helped solve several hauntings," I continued, "I've helped lay spirits to rest, I've helped banish dangerous fae back to their own realm. I've helped confront vampires and necromancers. Basically I've helped keep our town safe from supernatural harm for a few years. I kept all that secret from you, from everyone, for obvious reasons. But I can't keep it secret any more. And that's how I'm planning on travelling to and from university? I'm going to learn how to teleport, so I can jump from home to school and back with magic."

When I finished I braced myself, but neither of my parents freaked out. Instead they just exchanged another look, then my mom sighed.

"Kaylee I don't know what that little story was meant to achieve," mom stated as she frowned at me. "But we all know there's no such thing as magic. Or witches, or vampires, or anything else like that. Your father and I thought you wanted to have a serious discussion about moving out and cancelling your residence at university. Why are you talking about fairy tails and make-believe?"

That made me hesitate, but I decided not to get into that argument. They'd find out the truth soon enough, and for now it just meant I could keep talking without either of them freaking out at me.

"The reason I'm telling you this is because I've changed," I explained. "I'm not human anymore. What you're seeing is not how I look now. This is like a disguise, a mask of my former self. My real body is very different."

"And I'm not wearing glasses because I don't need them anymore. I have better than twenty-twenty vision, plus I can see in the dark," I added with a smile.

Dad sighed, "All right Kaylee, I'll play along with this game for a few more minutes. If you're not human anymore then what are you? And if this isn't how you look, then what do you look like? Will we get to see this 'other you'? Maybe you have a picture or something on your phone that you'd like to share with your mother and I?"

I grimaced slightly and my stomach clenched a bit as I knew the big reveal was coming up any moment now. I replied, "I can do better than just a picture dad. Once the spell on my appearance is broken, I'll change back to my true form. Then you can see for yourself what I look like now."

Mom rolled her eyes, "All right Kaylee, we're waiting. Let's see some of this 'magic' you're going on about."

I braced myself then glanced at my girlfriend. I gave her the signal, and she dispelled her magic. Just like that, the discomfort I'd been feeling was gone.

My perspective shifted as I got significantly shorter, while my tight clothes suddenly became loose on me. My three tails spilled out at the back, one on either side of the chair and the third one stood up straight along my back so the tip was sticking up over my right shoulder. And my tall fuzzy ears swivelled around before focusing on my parents.

There weren't any screams or shouts or anything like that. My parents were staring though, with wide eyes and slack jaws. It was almost like their brains just rebooted or something.

I stood up and moved to the side so they could both get a clear look at me, then I turned around and swished my tails so they'd see they weren't fake or anything. The leggings that were tight capris a moment ago were now too long and too loose. And the shirt that had been stretched taut over my former body now hung down to my hips like an oversized tunic.

I finally turned back to face them again as I said, "So this is me, this is what I look like now. This is way more comfortable to me than the way I looked a minute ago. I'm a magical creature, a supernatural being. And obviously I'm not human."

After a couple more seconds of silence my dad finally spoke up. He asked nervously, "Kaylee? Is that really you?"

"Yes dad," I nodded. "It's me. This is the new me."

I moved to stand between them both, and my dad slowly reached out and touched one of my tails. He gasped as he felt my soft floof twitch slightly from the contact, then slowly stroked his hand over my fur. I felt something surprising at the same time. It reminded me of using magic but in reverse, like energy was flowing into me.

Then I noticed it seemed like tension was draining out of my dad. The muscles across the back of his neck and shoulders seemed to relax, so did the small muscles around his eyes and across his forehead. For another second or two I struggled to understand what was happening, before it suddenly came to me.

I was feeding on his stress. A single stroke of my tail had taken more tension away from him than a full week of vacation.

Dad let go of my tail after just one stroke. Instead of shock his expression had become more like surprise and curiosity as he reached up, then gently rubbed one of my ears. I flinched slightly at that, and bit my lower lip to keep from making any embarrassing noises. I'd already discovered that my fuzzy fox ears were a lot more sensitive than human ears.

"It's real," dad half-whispered. "The tails, the ears, they're real. This isn't possible..."

"Anything's possible when it comes to magic," I replied quietly.

Mom finally tore her eyes off me, she turned to look at Cass instead. She sounded uneasy, maybe even a little scared as she asked, "Did you do this to my daughter?"

"Yes Mrs. Holt," Cassandra replied calmly. "Kaylee asked, so I told her the pros and cons, warned her of the challenges and potential pitfalls. She thought it over for about a week, then she asked again. So yesterday I did as she requested."

My dad was still watching me as he quietly asked, "You said you're not human anymore? What are you now? Is there a word for this?"

I mentally braced myself before answering, I figured this was the point where they'd definitely start freaking out. I tried to keep my voice calm and level as I replied, "I'm a fox-demon."

To my surprise there still wasn't any screaming or shouting. Instead my mom looked at my girlfriend again and asked nervously, "Does that mean you're a demon too? You corrupted my daughter?"

"No ma'am," Cass responded in that same calm confident voice. "I'm a Goddess, but I'm friends with a couple demons."

That left both my parents looking even more shocked.

After a couple seconds dad looked at me again and asked, "Can you be normal again? Can this be reversed?"

"No dad," I shook my head. "I can wear my old shape as a sort of disguise, but it's uncomfortable so I'm not going to do that anymore. This is the new me, the real me, and it can never be taken away."

My parents both went silent for a few seconds. Neither of them seemed angry, but I was positive they were freaking out. They were just doing it quietly.

Then my dad asked, "When were you planning on moving?"

"We already moved all my stuff a few minutes ago," I told him. "We did that as soon as we got here, before me and Cass came to talk with you. We um, used magic to teleport everything directly from my room to Cassandra's place."

That left my parents quiet again. The silence was actually starting to get to me in fact. I was prepared for arguments or shouting, for them to yell at me. Or even for them to denounce me, proclaim me as evil and kick me out of the house. I didn't expect the quiet shock, and it was starting to bother me.

"Mom? Dad?" I asked softly. "Are you ok?"

They slowly looked at each other, then mom looked back at me. She sighed, "I think your father and I need some time to get used to this... To get used to you."

I nodded, "Ok mom. I'm sorry for springing this on you both. I'm sorry for keeping the magic and everything a secret for so long."