After returning to school, I and the other girls in the Auto Shop class had to hurry to clean up, get out of our coveralls, and straighten out our hair and uniforms to look presentable. I barely made it to Home Economics and into my seat beside my sister before the bell rang to announce the start of class. Unfortunately, our class wasn’t jumping right into baking and cooking today though. First, we were having a fairly dry lesson going over various weights, measures, and conversions that we would need to be familiar with once we got to the fun stuff.

When I wasn’t distracted by growing horniness and needing Jess to keep me focused, I was far too conscious of Delilah and her friends glaring at me from behind, as if by doing so they might trigger me to spontaneously combust. Good luck with that, bitches. If I didn’t spontaneously combust when I bonded with Cinder, then it certainly wasn’t going to happen now.

Still, when the bell sounded at the end of the class, I was happy to get out from under their glares for a few minutes as Jess and I walked to our lockers to put our books away and grab our gym bags. “You looked pretty happy when you showed up for class, Sis. I take it that you and the other girls had fun picking out cars to work on?”

“Yeah,” I replied with a grin as I let the past hour of class fade away and focused on the fun I’d had before it. “You won’t believe this, Jess! I found a Toyota Supra that’s only a couple of years old! I think the person who owned it before was street racing and over-revved it. The engine and drivetrain are both a mess and need to be rebuilt, so that’s gonna be a lot of work, and it’ll need some front-end work, but the interior is practically new, and the rest seems to be in good shape.”

My sister sighed and rolled her eyes dramatically. “You know I don’t speak mechanic, Sis. I’m glad that you found something you like and can have fun working on though.”

“Thanks, Sis,” I replied, trying not to blush from getting so giddy over a car. I was still giddily giggling as I added, “Clarice found the perfect car for you though.”

“This can’t be good; you’re giggling about it. I get the distinct impression that there’s a joke being played on me. What is it, Crystal?” the Púca asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

I looked away from my sister as we hoisted our gym bags and secured our lockers. I was glad that Clarice swore me to secrecy, and I was bound to the promise because otherwise, I would have probably let it slip. “I… uhh… can’t tell you, Jess. Clarice made me promise not to, she wants it to be a surprise. I guarantee it will be a good car for you though, and it is so appropriate.”

Jess pouted, but I was bound to the promise and couldn’t break it now, even if I wanted to. Thankfully Melody showed up to provide a distraction, a grimace on her face, as she worked the lock on her locker to get her stuff for gym as well. “Everything okay, sweetheart?” I asked in concern.

“Yeah, just a bit of a headache, Babe,” she replied with a sigh. “These catch-up sessions with Mrs. Jenner make my head throb from all the knowledge she’s stuffing into it. They faded pretty quickly after the first two sessions though, so I’ll be fine.”

“If you’re sure...” I quickly shut down the irrational urge to cast my pain relief spell on her because that would be a very bad idea. First of all, Demons and Divine magic don’t mix. More importantly, though, the last thing I wanted was to use Divine magic at school where people might be able to sense it and possibly give away my true nature and dual alignment.

I sighed and settled for giving her a quick kiss, after making sure that nobody was looking our way. Probably not the best idea since I was horny again and was so damn tempted to do so much more than just kiss, but I thought my girlfriend deserved at least something. She finished grabbing her stuff and, once she had secured her locker, we were on our way to the gym.

Rose and Clarice awaited us outside the changing room and we all quickly stepped inside to get out of our uniforms and into our gym clothes. I sighed to myself as I started getting undressed. As uncomfortable as wearing clothes all day was, this was worse. It was a tease; letting me get undressed just long enough for an instant of true comfort before I had to get dressed once again. It was actually kind of infuriating, especially since I would have to go through it again once gym class ended.

“They’re not really identical twins, you know,” I heard Delilah say snootily to another girl. “The Púca is a shapeshifter, she can look however she wants.”

“Are you a complete idiot naturally, or do you work at it?” my sister retorted coolly, not even thinking about covering herself as she stood there half-naked and looked at Delilah like some sort of prize idiot. “Of course, we’re not identical now, my base form is a bunny since I Manifested. That doesn’t mean we weren’t identical before Manifesting though. Identical twins share a close bond, and we grew up attached at the hip and in each other’s heads. Why else do you think I want to look like my twin? Other than her being the most beautiful girl in this room, hands down.”

As she said the last my sister was looking Delilah dead in the eyes, until the other girl turned around in a huff. I noticed that not one thing my sister said could be taken as a lie, especially since she had liberally sprinkled a lot of what she said with rhetorical general statements that could apply to anyone. The truth was that on paper the background for our new identities was that we were identical twins before she Manifested. In reality, we were also very close and had grown up that way too since my dad adopted her.

I couldn’t be sure who Delilah hated more after that dressing down, me or my sister, nor did I have much time to consider it since we had to hurry to get dressed for P.E. All through class she was glaring across the court at both of us as we played volleyball, and I was glad when class ended, and we could get changed and go home for the day. My friends and I were the last ones out of the changing room, partially because I didn’t want to deal with Delilah and partially because I took a little bit of a break just standing there naked before getting back into my clothes to give myself some all-too-brief relief from the mental discomfort.

I noticed that both Rose and Clarice tried to keep their eyes averted, but they didn’t complain about it as we talked. Melody mentioned coming with us on Saturday when the Auto Shop girls among us went to spend the day at the wrecking yard to look for parts for our projects. “I didn’t think you were into that,” Clarice said with a surprised look on her face.

“Honestly, I’m not,” my girlfriend admitted as she leaned in to give me a quick kiss, “but Crystal is. I’m not just her girlfriend, I’m sorta her bodyguard too, so I’d like to be there to protect all of you in case something happens. Crystal can be a bit of a trouble magnet.”

I didn’t even bother trying to deny that last statement as I started to get dressed again. The others had already been dressed and ready to leave for several minutes and I didn’t want to keep them waiting for long. “Yeah, I can see that,” Clarice replied with a mischievous grin. “She probably gets a lot of attention with her looks and the whole Nymph thing. Even when trying to look human.”

“I would ask if you wanted to do something while they’re all mucking about in the junkyard, Jess, but I have to work at the store that day,” Rose said as she teased my sister with kisses. “Besides, I already know that you’re busy that day.”

My sister nodded. “Yeah, as much as I’d love to spend the day with you too, I can’t. The bartending certification course that Mom and Pandora signed me up for is this Saturday, so I can start training and pulling shifts at the club once in a while. I’ll be there practically all day.”

“Don’t you need to be eighteen for that?” Clarice asked in confusion.

“Yeah, but our birthday is tomorrow,” I told her as I put on my bra and reached behind my back to clasp it. “Mom is planning a party on Sunday, while the club is closed, if you and the other girls want to come, Clarice.”

“Sure, send us the deets, and we’ll all try to be there. Alison and I can pick up everyone who needs a ride. Are you coming, Rose?” She inquired as she turned to the black-eared bunny Púca.

Rose nodded, smiling faintly. “Yeah, Jess texted me about it last night and my Aunt was okay with me taking the day off from the store. I’ll probably need a ride though.”

I finished dressing and we all filed out of the changing room to return to our lockers, after a parting kiss between Jess and her girlfriend. Carmen was waiting by our lockers and soon we were all ready to leave for the day. I was a little disappointed that we were using the club’s truck today instead of the Charger, but the girls had made a point about it being an attractive target for thieves or a certain petty high school drama queen.

Using it so much in winter wasn’t really the best idea either since winter driving could be hard on cars in general, even without the wear and damage that road salt would do to it over time. I would probably have to continue using it until I got the Supra running, but after that, I would try to only drive it during the summer. I didn’t think that borrowing the truck all the time was an effective, long-term solution though, so I was pleasantly surprised to sense some form of Divine magic imbued into the Charger when we pulled into the parking garage and parked the truck.

The magic was subtle and hard to detect, obviously my mother’s work. Fortunately, I had time to ask her about it since we still had a little over half an hour before the club was due to open and she was still upstairs. She and the other Dancers had planned on starting my daughter’s homeschooling today, so I wasn’t surprised to see Mom and Pandora going over lessons with Selina on the tablet I had gotten her for Christmas.

“Hey, how are the lessons going?” I asked once we had made our way out of the elevator and gotten into normal conversational range.

“We took it slow today,” Pandora said with a smile. “We wanted to get a general idea of what she needs to catch up on since she was out of school for a while and her memory before coming to live with us is so spotty.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Carmen agreed as she plopped into an armchair.

I nodded in agreement. “As long as she’s doing her best, we were expecting her to have some catching up to do, after all. Mom, I know you and Pandora will probably have to go downstairs in a few minutes, but I was hoping to talk to you about whatever spell you put on the Charger.”

Mom beamed up at me. “I tried to make it as subtle as possible, to avoid too much attention from other Paranormals, but I figured that you would be sensitive enough to detect it, Snowflake.”

“So, what exactly does the spell do then?” I asked.

“It’s much like the protections that we have around the club,” my mother happily explained. “Whenever the car isn’t running, the normies will see it as an old beater and their attention will slide away from it to quickly forget about it Nobody should take an interest in it, but still know that something is there so there are no accidents while it’s parked. While the car is running though, that spell would be too dangerous to have active. Messing with other drivers’ minds like that while in traffic could be a problem, and I figured you wouldn’t want to be seen driving a beater.”

Mom knew me so well, but then, she did have the same Nymph vanity that I did. I sighed as I considered the possible issues with Delilah though. “I guess there’s no way to do anything about other Paranormals since most of us can sense magic to some degree.” The magic she did use was probably subtle enough not to be detected by most Paranormals though.

“Unfortunately, there isn’t, Snowflake, and if I put any stronger spells on it, it would most likely attract more attention from other Paranormals rather than less. I would suggest parking within view of the security cameras when you’re at school until you get your new vehicle road-ready.

“Well, that sucks. And I wouldn’t put it past that bitch, Delilah, to torch the Charger, especially with the way she was glaring at you and Jess during P.E.,” Melody grumbled. “I’ll try to keep an eye out for danger to both of you, but we don’t have a lot of classes together and I’m worried about what she might try to pull when I’m not around.”

“I’m more worried about Jess than me,” I contributed grimly. “She’s pissed at both of us now, but I’m fireproof. Sure, I don’t want to have to try to somehow cover up the whole thing with Cinder and the other Salamanders, but she can’t hurt me with her magic, and I’ve got magic of my own to defend myself in case she gets her friends to come after us instead of having the guts to do it herself. Jess isn’t fireproof and has no way to defend herself against any magic that Delilah or her minions might use against her if they catch her alone. Rose is in the same boat.”

Unfortunately, Mom and Pandora had to head downstairs to open the club and get ready to go on stage later, so they weren’t able to discuss things further with us. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out and spending time with Selina, Lou, and Sorcha while doing what little homework we had and trying not to worry too much about things at school. Still, I wasn’t as successful with that last part as I would have liked. I had a bad feeling about Delilah and that she would try to pull something big soon.

I sat in the school library with Jess, both of us quietly talking as we tried not to die from boredom. We had Study Hall this period, but both of us had already finished what little homework we had. I had even finished my drawing that was due for Art class tomorrow, it wasn’t great, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t horrible either. At least we had lunch next period so we could hang out with our friends for a bit.

My day had started with my magic class with Carmen, where Ms. Norstrom had us meditating and learning different focusing exercises that would allow us to clearly picture what we wanted to with a spell in our minds as we drew upon our magic. She wanted to make sure that we had the fundamentals down before teaching us anything more advanced. Not that I minded starting with the fundamentals since Mom had also insisted on just how important it was to clearly visualize what I wanted to do with my magic. The last time I tried to rush things I had ended up with a daughter and I was determined to be more careful in the future, especially with Divine magic.

After magic, I had Art, a class that none of my family or friends shared. Delilah and her minions were there though, and they took every opportunity to send glares and nasty comments in my direction. Somehow, I resisted the urge to experiment with whether I could freeze their undergarments, as I had accidentally done to Lou when we first met. Instead, I satisfied myself with countering each of their comments with my own blistering replies, whispered just loud enough to carry to them and not the teacher.

Now I couldn’t wait to go eat some lunch and have more of a distraction from the discomfort of my clothes, mounting horniness, and other stuff that was bothering me. Jess’s voice once again drew me out of my daze. “What’s up, Sis? I know that you’re horny and uncomfortable, I’ve gotten used to what that looks like on you, but there’s more to it. You seem more tense than usual.”

“I dunno, maybe it’s the whole birthday thing,” I mumbled dismally.

“What about it?” she asked, though I could tell from the look on her face and her tone that she already had a pretty good guess.

My voice was barely audible as I whispered back, “It’s supposed to be our eighteenth birthday today. It just… feels kinda weird since we turned eighteen, like a month ago. This doesn’t really feel like our day yet, I guess, and the last time we turned eighteen…”

I trailed off, unable to finish that sentence, not that I needed to. Jess was well aware of how badly our last eighteenth birthday had gone. Dad was in the hospital as a result of a murder attempt and that led to everything in our lives changing.

Dad died due to hospital incompetence, which crushed both of us, and then I found out I was on the same Demon hit list and we had to fake our death and flee our home. When we thought we might be safe with Aunt Merry I Manifested, changing genders and becoming a Nymph. While I was trying to come to terms with that, and we were planning our escape to come live with Mom, Melody showed up and warned us that Demons managed to track us down and she had to flee the city too.

In the resulting shitstorm that followed my motorcycle was destroyed and we accidentally discovered I was a Muse, like my mother, when I healed Aunt Merry. Then Melody had put together the pieces to figure out I used to be Seth. Then there was fleeing Vancouver to lay down a false trail, the whole incident with my father’s backstabbing former friend, and finally meeting Mom for the first time and getting set up with a new identity.

Jess leaned over to hug me, speaking softly in my ear. “Yeah, I can see where you’re coming from, Sis. We’ve got friends and a big family who care about us and want to keep us safe now though. Maybe this time we can actually celebrate turning eighteen. I still miss Dad too, but he would want us to be happy here and try to move on with our lives.”

“I know,” I agreed with a despondent sigh. “I’ve just got this terrible feeling that something bad is going to happen.”

The bell ending class rang a moment later and we gathered our stuff and headed to our lockers to put it away. Melody was already waiting there for us, so we all headed to the cafeteria together. The food in the cafeteria wasn’t bad and they had options for all types of Paranormal diets, but we had to wait forever in line and since everyone in school was turned against us, the Auto Shop girls and anyone close to us were all seated in the furthest corner of the cafeteria.

I tried to cheer up and get involved with the conversation at the table as I ate my grilled salmon, sweet rice, and salad, but the others saw right through me. We were talking about everyone coming to the club for the party on Sunday when Alison asked, “Come on, Crystal, what’s wrong? You’ve been mopey since you showed up for lunch.”

I attempted to give her a smile, but it felt weak, even to me. “Just a case of birthday blues, I guess. Well, that, and I can feel Delilah’s eyes trying to burn a hole in me from the other side of the cafeteria. I’ve got a bad feeling that she’s going to try to pull something nasty.”

“It’s a good thing that the four of us have Drama together next class, and she’s not in that class. Plus, you should be safe with the other girls in fifth period since you have Auto Shop then,” Rose muttered from beside Jessica. “Still, I wouldn’t put it past her to get one of her friends to do something while she’s not around so she can appear blameless.”

“Nobody goes anywhere alone, especially to places like the bathroom, where she and her friends can get you alone and away from prying eyes. Until we know what her move will be, we all stick together in pairs or groups,” Melody stated with a cautious glance toward the other side of the cafeteria.

“That seems like a good precaution, “Trixie agreed.

“If she tries anything, with any of us, I will personally fuck her up,” Bella practically growled. “I’m not scared of getting detention, it wouldn’t be the first time.” While I appreciated Bella’s willingness to protect or avenge her friends, I hoped she would be careful if it came to that. Being a Metal Mage she would be at a distinct disadvantage if Delilah used Fire magic.

There wasn’t really much that we could do right now though, besides sticking together and not giving Delilah a single target, at least until we knew what she was likely to do. With that in mind, we tried to ignore her for the moment since she was highly unlikely to do anything in the cafeteria with all the staff here eating as well. We went back to discussing our weekend plans and tried to convince ourselves that we weren’t worried.