Chapter 96: 76. Getting Caught Up

"Wow Kaylee," I commented as we sat down next to each other in the large private booth. "You didn't have to bring me here. I appreciate it, but I know how expensive this place is."

She blushed slightly, "I wasn't sure if you'd remember that."

"Yeah," I grimaced, "I pretty much remember everything now. At least, I think I do? I guess if there's stuff I've totally forgotten then I wouldn't know I forgot it, right?"

She smiled, "I'm glad you've got all your memories back."

A moment later her smile faded and her shoulders slumped. She sounded less happy as she sighed, "Except that means you remember how awful I was and all the terrible stuff I said to you."

"It's ok Kaylee," I said quietly as I leaned a little closer. "I did some pretty bad stuff too, but it's all in the past. So let's not dwell on it, ok?"

"Ok Cass," she gave me a sad smile, before we had a look at our menus.

That didn't take long, and we both ended up ordering the exact same as last time.

I asked for the small bacon-wrapped filet with fries, Kaylee ordered a small slice of prime rib with garlic mashed potatoes. Then the waiter got us our drinks, cola served in a big wine glass for Kaylee and a big wine glass full of chilled water for me. He also brought us a basket of warm fresh bread rolls and a little dish of whipped seasoned herbal butter.

Unlike our last visit neither of us were dressed up that fancy. I was in a pair of dark pants and had my big navy blue hoodie on, while Kaylee was a little more presentable. She wore a long dark wool skirt and had a big chunky knitted sweater on top. We both had winter jackets too, but they were left hanging up just inside the entrance.

I helped myself to a roll and some butter, while Kaylee had a gulp of her soda. Then after a minute or so of awkward silence she finally spoke up. She was mostly staring at the table as she talked, and I could tell she was embarrassed and anxious.

"So um, thanks for coming out with me Cass," she said quietly. "There's some stuff I wanted to say, stuff I wanted to talk with you about, and I guess I wanted to make it a little special?"

I smiled, "Thanks for inviting me Kaylee. What did you want to talk about?"

She grimaced, "I guess first off, I never really thanked you for saving me from the fairies? You saved me twice, first from their influence, then you dispelled their shrink magic... You basically saved my life, and I never thanked you for that. So um, thank you. I'm sorry it's taken me literally months to say this, but I really appreciate it."

"It's fine," I shrugged. I felt kind of awkward about it too, like maybe at the time I was uptight about things but it didn't feel like I did anything special. Not that I didn't think she was special, but it wasn't like running into a burning building or anything.

After a pause I realized I ought to say more than that, so I added "And you're welcome. I'm glad I was there and that I was able to help you. Um, even if things were stressed between us, I'd never let anything bad happen to you Kaylee."

"Thanks Cass," she smiled and blushed at the same time. Then she sighed, "And um, that's another thing? I'm sorry. I'm really sorry for how I acted, and what I said. It's not just that I didn't thank you, but after you saved my life I actually yelled at you, and I can't even blame that on the fae. It was... I don't have an excuse. I'm sorry."

I shook my head, "It's ok. You were stressed, there was a lot going on. I appreciate the apology though?"

She gave me another awkward smile, then drank a bit more of her cola while I munched on my bread roll.

After another half minute she asked, "So um, I never really asked you about your magic? I was wondering if you'd like to tell me more about it? Like how you learned it, what sorts of things you can do, how it works? If it's not too awkward or uncomfortable to talk about, I mean."

For the next several seconds I was quiet as I thought about it. There was a little nagging worry that maybe she was fishing for information that she could use against me later, but I really doubted that was the case. She seemed genuine, like she was embarrassed and feeling awkward but making the effort to actually get to know me instead of being focused on what she thought I should do or be.

So I had a sip of water then replied, "I'm pretty sure I already told you I didn't learn it from Nina, right? It was basically Socha who taught me. It happened when I was asleep, I guess it was easier for her to get to me through my dreams or something? And like May said, she's talented with all kinds of magic. She knows divine magic, mortal magic, demonic magic, fae magic, maybe everything? So she started sharing her knowledge of the demonic stuff with me."

"Why would she teach you that?" Kaylee asked. "Isn't her goal to get rid of you?"

I shrugged, "Ultimately yeah, she wants to replace me. But in the meantime, she was using her influence and stuff to get me to further her goals I guess. And I think she was hoping to manipulate me so I'd end up isolated, like she probably wanted me to be alienated from my friends and family."

"Oh," she sighed. "So she had you acting out and stuff. But you resisted right? You kept giving us hints and clues?"

That made me blush as I shrugged, "I guess. It's not like I had any big plan or anything. More like I was um, I guess I was trying to annoy her and show off and stuff? I'm just lucky you were smart enough to connect the dots and figure it out."

She frowned, "Oh. Well either way, I'm glad you're safe from her now. So um, what kinds of stuff can you do? Actually that day it all came out when you were talking to Kenzie and Kirstie... Did you really do some kind of reality-altering magic?"

"Was Kirstie really Kenzie's dad?" she added after a moment.

My blush got brighter as I cringed a bit into my big hoodie. I couldn't help think about my encounter with the catgirl the day before, and I wondered if I'd end up having another awkward meeting with a brand new demi-human on Monday.

I had a gulp of my water and fidgeted with my bread roll as I nodded, "Yeah, apparently. I guess she's trans, maybe she was an egg or something? But she used the plushie that was supposed to be for Kenzie's little sister, then she decided she wanted to stay that way? Not that she had much choice I guess."

"There was a warning in the capsule though," I added quickly. "Like um, you said that was your biggest concern right? That people didn't know what they were getting into? So I started adding instructions and warnings. So now when someone gets one of those plushies, it comes with a warning that it'll turn them into whatever the toy is, and make them a demi-human, and it tells them it's permanent so they know up front."

I cringed again when I realized Kaylee was staring at me, and her expression seemed kind of confused or uneasy.

"Cass?" she asked quietly, "How many more of those enchanted toys do you have? And how many have you given out?"

I bit my lower lip and sighed. I meant to keep that stuff to myself, and now that I let slip that I had more of them I really didn't want to lie about it. My voice was quiet as I confessed, "I'm not sure how many I've handed out. I have um, less than ninety of them left now? Eighty-seven maybe?"

She was still staring at me as she asked, "Who have you been giving them to?"

"Mostly trans people," I replied softly. "I have a secret discord account, I hang out on a couple trans servers and talk about the plushies now and then. People ask about them, or even ask for one, then I mail it to them."

I added, "Mostly to folks in Canada or the States, but I've sent a few even further. Like to the UK, or to Germany? I think the furthest was either Australia or New Zealand."

"Wow," she finally responded. "I guess... I mean if people are asking for them, and you're including instructions and warnings... Are they happy? Like with what happens to them?"

"Yeah!" I nodded. "Folks send me thank-you notes on discord, they even send me selfies and stuff? They're grateful and happy and excited."

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Kaylee looked thoughtful for a few seconds, then finally gave me a smile. "That's really nice Cass. And I'm glad you took what I said to heart, about the warnings? And yeah, I'm glad you're making people happy."

I smiled back. I'd been worried how she might take it, and I really didn't want to advertise too much that Kid Chaos was really me. I still had some fears that people would react badly, like the way Miss Hawthorne did.

"So um, we were talking about your magic?" Kaylee asked. "And how you did some kind of reality-changing spell for Kirstie?"

I blushed and cringed again, then suggested "Maybe we shouldn't talk about that here? Maybe we could save it till we're back at your place."

"Ok Cass. That's probably a good idea," she agreed.

Not long after that our food arrived, which was a welcome distraction. The waiter also topped up our drinks, then the two of us left the awkward subjects for a while as we enjoyed our meals. The food was just as good as I remembered, and even though we both ordered smaller portions there was still plenty of it.

We talked a bit more as we ate, but instead of magic stuff we mostly talked about school and other safe boring subjects. After dinner we decided to pass on dessert this time, and Kaylee took care of the bill. Then we put on our jackets and headed out for the walk back to her place.

It was cold out, and we'd had some snow already but it hadn't stuck around. As the two of us walked home together in the dark she commented quietly, "When those fairies shrank me I could still hear everything you and they said, you know? I remember them asking why you weren't scared of them, and what you told them in return."

"Oh," I blushed. "That was... I was under Socha's influence. I don't think I'm scary? I don't want people to think of me like that."

Kaylee gave me a smile then reached out and took my hand in hers, "I know Cass. I was just thinking about it in terms of, we're two attractive young women walking home in the dark? But we don't have anything to fear."

My heart was racing a bit as we walked hand in hand, but I smiled back. "I guess you're right? When you put it like that, yeah."

The shortest way home took us past the school, so as usual the two of us cut across the field then down through the ravine. Except when we came up out of the ravine I realized something was following us. I caught a glimpse of the faint purple glow of magic out of the corner of my eye, then stopped and turned to see who or what it was.

Kaylee frowned when I suddenly stopped and turned, she asked "What is it? What's wrong?"

"There, look," I pointed. Standing at the edge of the ravine was a small red fox. "It's magic, I can see the glow."

A moment later my eyes widened, "I think it's the fairies' fox! The one from Monora Forest?"

The fox looked kind of skinny and scruffy, like it wasn't doing so great. That worried me. I commented, "If it's a fae fox then it's been cut off from home all this time. And if it was the fairies' pet then it's probably starving? And it might not be able to handle our cold weather."

Kaylee shook her head, "You can't take it home as a pet Cass, it's a wild animal. Come on, let's keep going."

We were still holding hands and she tugged gently, so I turned and we both continued towards her place. The fox kept following though, and ended up walking along the sidewalk behind us. It stayed back a couple meters, but it was definitely following us and it kept the same pace as us.

When we stopped on her doorstep the fox stood two or three meters back on the driveway. I frowned, "I'm pretty sure this isn't the way wild foxes behave. It's trained or something. We need to help it."

"Maybe we should call animal control?" Kaylee asked.

The fox suddenly yipped and shook its head, which left me staring wide-eyed.

"Did you see that?" I gasped. "I think it understood what you said, and it shook its head no!"

Kaylee frowned, "That's impossible Cass."

I ignored her and asked the fox, "Can you understand what I'm saying?"

It actually nodded its head.

"Bark twice?" I asked, and sure enough it made two 'yip' sounds.

"See?" I looked at Kaylee. "It can understand us, and it's intelligent. This isn't a wild animal. It's got to be some kind of magic fae fox."

She frowned, "Then we should send it home. I still remember the banishing ritual. I'll get a box of salt from the kitchen. Maybe we can lead it into the backyard, and we can do it on the back patio so it's not as obvious to the neighbours."

The fox yipped and shook its head again, like it didn't want to go home.

I frowned at it, "What's wrong fox? Are you here to tell us something? Or are you here for help?"

It nodded its head, and slowly approached me. It was maybe more wary of Kaylee, but considering she wanted to get rid of it I couldn't blame it. And as it got nearer I could tell the poor thing was definitely hungry. It was skinny, almost shaking in the cold.

Without thinking what I was doing I crouched down and reached out to pet it, but as soon as my hand touched its fur I felt a chill run down my back and all the little hairs on my body stood up. Whatever magic the fox had been carrying was suddenly sucked out and into my body, and it startled me enough I lost my balance and fell over backwards.

"I'm ok," I said as I sat up. Then I realized Kaylee wasn't even looking at me, she was staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the fox.

Except it wasn't a fox anymore. There was a young woman laying sprawled face-down on the driveway. She was wearing cowboy boots, blue jeans, and a short-sleeve blouse, which definitely wasn't enough for the cold December evening. Her clothes were sort of torn and dirty too, and her hair was all tangled and matted.

"Who are you?" I gasped at the woman. "Are you ok? What happened to you?"

She groaned weakly as she rolled onto her side then turned her head to face us. She looked weary, exhausted, and half starved. Her voice was quiet as she half-whispered, "Thank you. My name's Alyssa. I'm... I..."

Her eyes rolled back and she passed out before she could say anything else.