Thankfully, I only had to use my new pain relief spell a couple of times on Sunday, and mostly took it easy for the day. By midafternoon, the discomfort seemed less intense without the spell in effect and when I checked before bed, my flow seemed to have stopped completely. Thank goodness Dr. Diaz was right about my period being relatively short, though I did wear panties and a pad to bed just in case it wasn’t quite over yet.

Monday was supposed to be our last day of freedom before school started up, but it ended up being pretty busy for me, my sister, and Melody. I was extremely grateful that my period was over since feeling terrible and having to keep constantly casting spells to alleviate the discomfort from it would have made the morning even more miserable. The morning was the worst of it since the three of us had to leave with Mom and Aunt Merry right after breakfast to visit our new school.

If we were going to start classes the next day, the three of us needed to get our entrance exams out of the way, register, and sort several other issues out. For that, we needed to go to St. Michelle’s School for Girls and meet with the headmistress. Carmen had already gotten all of that done before the holidays to prepare for attending there, but we had arrived in Edmonton too late for that. I would have much rather continued to homeschool, like Jess and I did when we still lived with Dad, but this was a school for Paranormal girls, and Mom pointed out several reasons why it would be a good idea for us to go there.

There were social aspects, of course, but the biggest reason was that we could learn to use our respective Paranormal abilities better. Mom could teach me Divine magic, but even with an alignment to the Divine, her ability to use magic for other elements was limited. She had very little experience using Ice, which was my primary element. Even in just one semester, the school could probably help me to get a much better handle on Ice magic than what I had managed to work out on my own, or at least on how to use it consciously rather than instinctively whenever I panic.

Melody was decent with Fire magic, from what I had seen, but she was mostly self-taught, and she was also aligned to the Death element. She had avoided using Death magic like the plague since she Manifested, but having some idea of what could be done with Death magic, even if she planned on never using it herself, would be useful. No knowledge is ever wasted, and there were aspects of the Death element that weren’t about death, decay, or necromancy, such as darkness.

If it were just about magic though, I probably would have asked Mom to just let me keep homeschooling and try to work out Ice magic on my own, so I would have more time to work at the club and spend with Selina. It wasn’t just about me though. I was going through with this for my sister and my girlfriend.

I had heard from several people already how good the shapeshifting teachers at St. Michelle were. With their help, maybe Jessica could get over whatever block was keeping her from being able to shift her ears and some of her other bunny features. If she was going to make her dream of being a big-name Hollywood actress come true, then she needed to be able to take on a form that looks completely human.

As for Melody, she seldom admitted it, but having to drop out of school when she first Manifested made her feel stupid. She wasn’t, of course, but she could be hard on herself about stuff like that. She was mostly going to the school to protect me and Jess, but this would allow her to finish high school, get a diploma, and hopefully help resolve her low self-esteem regarding having to drop out.

We drove to our destination in the Charger, crossing the river at the closest bridge as we made our way toward Muttart Conservatory. Apparently, the school was on private property near there and I followed my GPS until we pulled into a side road that led to a pair of large steel gates that were currently open in a ten-foot-tall brick privacy fence. There was a large sign to the right of the gates that confirmed that we had arrived at our destination.

I was surprised that there was no illusion covering the site or the usual telltale graffiti on the sign that usually marked Paranormal spaces. There was however an obfuscation spell that I could sense. It was likely the type of spell that would make non-magical folk not notice the place or anything unusual, and then forget it existed if they did happen to notice it. The latter probably didn’t happen often though since it was on private property and away from the main road.

I continued to drive up the road and through the trees that lined either side until I spotted the school itself. It was a large and old-looking brick building with smaller buildings on either side and except for the buildings and the parking lot that I pulled into, most of the property seemed to be occupied by snow-covered trees. I guess that made sense since a lot of Paranormals, like us Nymphs, were very connected to nature.

Once I had claimed a spot in the mostly empty parking lot, we got out of the Charger and followed a cobblestone path that had been cleared of snow and ice to the main building. We entered though the main doors into a spacious hallway where a flurry of activity was going on to prepare for the start of school tomorrow. Brownies and various other Paranormals were dusting, waxing the checkerboard-tiled floor, and performing various other acts of cleaning that students arriving tomorrow likely wouldn’t realize had been done, or just not care about.

Thankfully, Mom knew her way around the school from when she and Pandora had Rhissa attending here the past few years, so she knew where we needed to go. Mom led us straight down the hall and past classrooms to a large foyer area with the biggest pair of curved staircases I had ever seen, which took us to the second floor. Then, we made our way down another hallway to a large, sturdy, wooden door with a polished brass plate that marked it as Administration.

Inside that door was a cozy reception area where a large, blue-skinned woman with a pair of large horns on her head sat behind the reception desk. She looked up as Mom opened the door and led us through. “Tiffani! I haven’t seen you and Pandora since Rhissa graduated last year,” she offered cheerfully.

“Hi, Noriko. We’ve been keeping pretty busy with running the club, you know how it is,” Mom replied before getting to the reason for our presence. “My daughters here just came to live with me over the holidays. Crystal was a late bloomer and just Manifested recently, and I thought that St. Michelle’s would be the best place for them so they can learn to use their abilities, so I’m here to get them and Miss Sòng here registered for classes.”

“Sure, that’s not a problem, Tiffani. They have their PDA cards and other documents, right?” At my mother’s nod, she went on to say, “I’ll get the paperwork and entrance exams ready for them while you all meet with Headmistress Collins. Just let me buzz you in.”

“Thanks, Noriko.” Mom said as Merry took a seat to wait for us.

“Dana, Tiffani Cummings is here with some prospective new students,” the big blue woman said as she pressed the intercom.

“Send them right in, Noriko,” a feminine voice replied with just a hint of intercom static.

Mom led us past the reception desk as Noriko began looking through filing cabinets for something, and right through the door in the back. This door led to a spacious office with comfortable-looking chairs and a couch positioned around a coffee table to one side. The other side was more of what I was expecting with a large desk positioned in front of a massive bay window, a pair of chairs facing it, and behind the desk and seated in a big leather office chair was a somewhat average-looking woman.

She had a slight figure, pale skin with the start of crow’s feet around her eyes, dark brown hair shot with grey, and intense blue eyes that seemed to be watching our every movement and critically analyzing our features as we filed into the office behind my mother. She looked like the stern but fair type, but there was nothing obvious to hint that she was Paranormal. Looking like an average normie didn’t mean anything though since she could always be a Psychic, Were, Mage, or have some kind of shapeshifting ability.

The headmistress continued to examine us as Mom once again explained things, going into a little more detail this time. Once she was done, the woman leaned back in her chair thoughtfully. “I can’t say that we’ve ever had a Snow Nymph here before, or a Nymph period, for that matter. As long as Crystal can control herself, I don’t have any issues with her attending though. Half-Demons aren’t very common either, but I’m sure all three of you will benefit from the education that we can give you.”

“So, we’re in then?” Melody asked hopefully. She was the only one of the three of us looking forward to going to school.

“Of course, I know that Tiffani and Pandora can cover the school fees and, as I said, you will all benefit from what we can teach you here. I’ll have Noriko escort you all to a classroom to administer your entrance exams while Tiffani and I work on the paperwork.” She must have caught the worried look on Melody’s face as well because she quickly clarified, “This is not a pass or fail exam, Miss Sòng. This is merely to see where you are at in your educational journey so we can tailor your more mundane classes to your individual needs.”

Melody breathed a sigh of relief, and both my sister and I put an arm around her to show our support before Headmaster Collins called in Noriko. The Oni woman was already prepared, having a stack of papers and some pencils and erasers for us on her desk, which she carefully snatched up as we passed back through reception, and she led us to the closest classroom to take our tests. For the next two hours, my sister, girlfriend, and I did our best to complete the exam.

That exam was a lot easier than I thought, but Jess and I had both been doing well at our homeschooling and were even a little ahead of where we were supposed to be. I was so glad that Melody had completely sated my desires last night and I had given myself a few orgasms in the shower this morning as well so I could do this without being completely distracted by thoughts of sex. I was just starting to get a little horny by the time we were told to put down our pencils, but it hadn’t been enough to shake my focus during the test.

With the exam finished, we were taken back to the Headmistress’s office, where she was having tea with Mom and Aunt Merry while they waited for us. The school’s head honcho graded our exams herself and, an hour later, was able to give us our results and suggestions for our educational needs. There were a couple of surprises that came from the exams though.

The first surprise was that Jessica and I were even further ahead in our studies than I thought we were since we had both scored above ninety-five percent on a test designed to meet graduation requirements. Take that, people who think Nymphs are all bimbos. Private schools generally have a higher standard, but we had both done well enough on the exam that we could have passed the finals for all of the required classes to graduate then and there.

With that in mind, our schedules for this semester would most likely just require a physical education class, and for the rest, my sister and I could focus on electives and classes to help us master our Paranormal abilities like the shapeshifting and magic classes respectively. Not that those would show up on our transcripts. They would show up as some other simple elective that we weren’t actually taking, like Art or something, in case we decided to attend a normie college or university, like Jess intended to.

Melody’s lack of education showed in her results, but that was also where the second surprise came in. It seemed that my girlfriend had a knack for complicated mathematics. Her scores in the math and algebra sections were way above her general education level. For my girlfriend, the headmistress was suggesting a physical education class, a trigonometry class to challenge her a bit, and two class sessions with Mrs. Jenner, the projective psychic who had helped Rhissa catch up so she could graduate last year. It was also suggested that she take both the magic and shapeshifting classes to refine her skills in those areas.

It was after lunch by the time that the Headmistress was finished with us, and we had our new schedules sorted out. We each had seven classes to choose, but there were only five classes per day and the schedule would alternate each day. We did each finally work out a schedule that worked for us and would let us have our P.E. classes together so Melody could watch over me and Jess.

I ended up choosing auto shop for my first-period class, followed by home economics, physical education, magic studies, art, study hall, and then a drama class that Jess convinced me and Melody to take with her. Jess started with computer studies, followed by home economics and P.E. alongside me, then she had art and shapeshifting before having study hall and drama with me again. Melody only had physical education and drama with me and Jess, but she did share my magic studies class and Jess’s shapeshifting class. The rest of Melody’s schedule consisted of trigonometry during first period and then her psychic catchup sessions with Mrs. Jenner during second and sixth periods, when she wasn’t teaching classes to the Psychic kids at the school.

Unfortunately, we weren’t done yet when we got our schedules sorted out because we still needed to go to get fitted for our school uniforms and gym uniforms. So, after a late lunch at the closest Subway sandwich shop, we headed to the tailor that St. Michelle’s contracted for their uniforms. Thankfully that didn’t take nearly as long as I feared.

The tailor was actually a Divine Mage, and she was able to use her magic to adjust pre-made uniforms to our individual sizes. Watching her, I realized that I still had a long way to go before I could have the control and precision that she displayed with her Divine magic. Even Mom was impressed by her control, though we both kept quiet about our Divine alignment.

The uniforms were made from silk and wool mostly, and the gym clothes from cotton, to avoid any allergy issues with the Fey attending St. Michelles. They featured a white blouse with a feminine tie that matched the black, red, and green tartan skirt. There was also a black blazer with the school insignia worn over the heart, white knee socks, and simple black Mary Janes. The outfit was completed by a black beret with a band around the base that matched the tartan pattern of the tie and skirt.

The gym uniforms were simple white t-shirts with the school insignia on the left of the chest, a pair of tight-fitting black shorts, and some white sports socks and black running shoes. I had a feeling that those gym uniforms were going to be a problem. The school uniforms had long sleeves on both the blouses and blazers, but the gym shirts were short-sleeved and Melody, Carmen, and I wouldn’t be able to easily hide our Salamander marks. We really needed either a good way to hide them or a very good excuse for why the three of us had matching tattoos at our ages.

By the time we arrived back at the club, laden with our new clothes for school, it was already after three o’clock. The club would be opening in less than an hour and, unfortunately for me, that meant I wasn’t going to have time to slip in more dance and pole dance practice with the Dicken sisters. Mom was able to give me a brief Divine magic lesson in my room, however, before she had to return downstairs for the club opening.

After that, Melody, Jess, and I decided to just hang out in the common room with Lou, Sorcha, Carmen, and Selina. I had just sat down with them and was watching Selina and Sorcha playing dolls together when Carmen asked, “So, how’d things go today?”

“Well, Melody is apparently some kind of math genius, but has a lot of catching up to do otherwise, and me and Jess can get away with a fairly easy semester. I am so not looking forward to going to school though,” I said before letting out a long sigh.

“It’s not surprising, Sis, and I feel the same way,” Jess offered along with a side hug. “You and Mel haven’t been to a regular school in years, and I’ve never been to one. I grew up in the deep woods until you and Dad found me and by then I was already Manifested so we started home-schooling. I am looking forward to learning to better control my shapeshifting though, and you can get better with your Ice magic too.”

“Meh, I could do that at home, though I guess I’ll probably learn faster with proper lessons,” I replied with a half-hearted shrug. “I’m just not looking forward to spending five days a week at school all day. Sure, it’s supposed to be a safe space for Paranormals to learn, but I’ll have to wear clothes all day, and that and being around so many people is gonna make me all horny and distracted. It’s not like it even matters that it’s a school for girls when I’m attracted to almost everyone.”

“There’s the whole Salamander thing too,” Melody put in, echoing my worries from earlier. “I can probably get away with it since nobody is going to bat an eye at a half-Demon with tattoos, but having an almost identical tattoo to Crystal and Carmen? I mean, maybe we could have explained Crystal’s as a girlfriend thing, but Carmen is only fifteen so unless it’s a copycat thing…”

Carmen sighed as Melody trailed off, showing that she too had been worrying about this topic. “If only I were a real Divine Mage and not just limited to Healing and purification stuff. I still have no idea what to do when they eventually ask me to cast illusions and stuff.

That was when it hit me, and I wouldn’t have to actually lie about anything on my end if I had some selective truths prepared. “I… I think I’ve got it.”

“Got what, Sis?” Jessica inquired as my words caught the attention of my fellow brooding future students of St. Michelle’s.

I quickly began to explain my idea. I had originally gotten my Salamander mark due to peer pressure, which was technically true since Carmen had kind of pressured me into feeding Cinder when I was still uncertain by saying that we all do it at the same time. Melody had gotten her matching mark when we made our relationship official, which was also true because she got her mark during our first date. Since then, it had become a sort of bonding thing between us kids here at Pandora’s Box. Another truth since there was a kind of bonding involved and they did bring us closer by allowing us to communicate telepathically.

“Okay, that could work, but how are we going to explain why your twin sister doesn’t have one and Carmen was allowed to get one at such a young age?” Jess pointed out.

“What if Carmen doesn’t actually have one?” I asked with a grin. “Mom showed me how to make basic illusions, like the thing with my ears. What if we enchant Carmen’s mark with an illusion of nothing? Her mark would still show, but people who can sense magic would feel illusion magic in that spot and assume that the mark itself is the illusion. I would say cover it up using an illusion, but people who can sense magic would feel the spell and realize she’s hiding something. We could give Jess an actual illusion in the same spot to sell the story and sell Carmen as a Divine Mage.”

Melody looked intrigued by the idea but shook her head after a moment. “I don’t know, Babe; I can see two possible holes in this idea. First, what if someone asks Carmen to do the same for them? And second, you’re still just a beginner with this stuff. How are you going to do this?”

“The first is easy, the ‘Salamander mark’ is a family thing, and Carmen won’t do it for anyone else. She can also say that it’s the only illusion she’s managed to get somewhat decent at so far, if anyone asks. It’ll give her Divine Mage cred until we can come up with something later to fake her casting illusions on her own. And I might not be able to cast illusions like that yet, but Mom can.”

Carmen’s jaw practically hit the floor as she gaped at me and then that gape transformed into a grin that nearly matched mine. “That is so devious, Crystal, I love it!”

We filled Carmen’s mother in on the plan when she and Aislinn came to join us and watch some TV and she approved of the idea. So, when she and Aislinn went downstairs to get our dinners from the kitchen, I asked them to pass a message on to my mom that we needed to talk to her when she was able to take a break. Fortunately, the club wasn’t very busy tonight with it being Monday and the day after a holiday weekend and Mom came upstairs along with the pair to deliver our meals and hear out my plan.

Mom spent half an hour chilling with us as we discussed the plan and ate dinner together. By the time she returned downstairs, she had given Jess an illusory copy of my Salamander mark and imbued Carmen’s mark with enough Divine magic to make people believe that her mark was an illusion as well. She even gave similar illusions to Lou and Selina, in case we were all out together for some reason and needed to sell the story, though I think it was mostly because Selina was feeling kind of left out being the only girl without one. I mean, Sorcha was four and she had a mark.

The illusions would have to be renewed once a week or so, but Mom didn’t think that would be a problem and we could do it on Sundays while the whole family was relaxing and spending time together. With that done, and the story prepared, we were all feeling a little less worried about school the next day. I was still worried about being horny and distracted all day, but after I put Selina to bed, Melody and I called it a night early so she could help me to take care of my needs. It was at least two hours before we went to sleep.