Dinner was just starting in the club by the time Melody, Jessica, and I had gotten our shopping bags put away in our rooms and were ready to head downstairs. As Rhissa and Melody headed downstairs to join the others though, I held Jessica back and called out, “You two go on ahead, we’ll be down in a minute.”

“Okay, don’t be long though. It’ll taste better hot,” Rhissa offered with a nod before pulling Melody along with her.

“We won’t take long,” I promised. Then once they were on their way I pulled Jess into my room and sat her down on the end of my bed that wasn’t currently covered with shopping bags. The bed had been made by the housekeepers while we were gone and I had noticed when we returned that all three of our rooms now boasted brass nameplates just like the other permanent residents. I guess that it really was home now.

Jess looked at me uncertainly and asked, “What’s up Crystal? I’m… uhhh… hungry.”

“I didn’t want to bring this up at the mall but that kiss shook you up a bit and you were quiet all the way home. Are you okay, Sis?” I asked, taking her hand in mine and squeezing it.

Her ears twitched as she tried to brush it off and change the subject. “I’m fine, Crystal. What about you? I know how hard it is for you to be around so many people for that long and I could smell the desire on you all the way home.”

I let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m getting used to it, I’ll be fine until I can do something about it later. Jess, this is me. I know that I may look like Crystal now, but part of me is still Seth and I know you better than anyone. I don’t think we have ever kept secrets from each other and I wouldn’t think we’d start now. Please, talk to me. I can’t be there for you if I don’t know what’s going on with you.”

She hesitated a moment and then it all came out at once. “What the hell was up with that?! Rose is fucking here of all places and she’s a Púca too?! She kissed me! I kissed her back! And I liked it! I wanted more, I wanted to…” She cut off however that sentence was going to end, her cheeks bright red.

“Welcome to my world,” I said with a sigh as I put an arm around her and pulled her close. “When I was Seth I was only interested in girls, but now I want to do that with everyone; guys, girls, or otherwise. I want to do it all of the time and being attracted to guys like that still freaks me out a bit in my head. This is me now though and I need to get used to that idea. You may have changed your look and your last name but inside you’re still the same person and this is just a new part of yourself to discover. Don’t be afraid to explore it if it could make you happy. If I can adjust to being a Nymph, I know that you can adjust to this. No matter what, you’ll always be my sister and I will never stop loving you.”

“I…” Jess started to say something but stopped, seemingly uncertain.

“Jess, is liking girls new to you? Do you like guys that way? You’ve never really talked to me about this kind of stuff and I was never very good with the touchy-feely stuff but we’re both girls now, sisters, and I want you to be able to talk to me so I can be there if you need advice, a shoulder to cry on, or just need the ear of your best friend.”

Jessica let out a sigh and said hesitantly, “I don’t know. I think I like girls, it’s not the first time I’ve been attracted to one, but it’s the first time I ever… y’know. Rose is one hot cross bunny, but I’m not really sure if we could ever have anything more than raw attraction. I mean, up until today we hated each other’s guts.”

“I’ll be honest, I feel the same way about Melody. At first, she pissed me off and embarrassed me but I’ve been seeing more and more good qualities in her that I really like as we get to know one another. I’ll admit that you read me like a book, I think I’m really into her so I’m going to see where things go between us. It might be a one-time thing or it could become something amazing. You never know unless you try, Sis,” I pointed out. “And what about guys?”

My sister shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve tried to be attracted to guys but I only seem to be attracted to them at a certain time of the month. Before my birth mother died she started prepping me for when I Manifested. She told me that when we’re fertile we’ll want to make babies and we get really turned on around guys. Until I started thinking of you and Dad as my brother and father I had problems being around you during those times. It wasn’t really a problem after that since you were the only guys I spent a lot of time with. Usually, if I got turned on by seeing a hot guy on TV or while we were out I would just... take care of it on my own. Since we’re both being honest, I think my attraction to girls is more genuine but I was scared of what you might think.”

“Well, I’m hardly going to hate you for that, especially now,” I told her as I wrapped her up in a hug. “Even as Seth it wouldn’t have bothered me, girls liking girls was hardly the weirdest thing we’d ever seen. You’re my sister, I don’t care who you choose to have a relationship with so long as they treat you well and make you happy. If they don’t, we’re gonna have words. I may be your sister rather than your brother now but I’ll always watch out for you.”

Jessica hugged me back, nearly squeezing the air out of my lungs. “Thanks, Sis. Now let’s go down to dinner, I’m starving.”

Dinner was as hectic as breakfast was and there was a lot of talking back and forth since Sunday was the only day of the week that those who lived in Pandora’s Box got to have dinner together. Breakfast was an everyday thing and lunch happened fairly often when the kids weren’t in school but except for Sundays, and the occasional holiday, everyone just got dinner from the kitchen whenever they were hungry and had the time since the club opened at four in the afternoon. Everyone seemed to be close enough to relish these times where they could all be together though and it made me hopeful that Jess and I could maybe fit in and start thinking of this strange place as our home.

The only one conspicuously absent during dinner was Lou, though we were told that was because it was a full moon and he was locked up tight for everyone’s safety since he couldn’t control himself in his wolf forms yet. He would be locked up the next two nights at sunset as well since the moon stays full for three nights, not one as a lot of people seem to believe. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about him saying something stupid, and he probably would have with the direction the conversation turned over dinner.

Everyone tried to get us in on the dinner conversation, in fact, for part of the meal me and Jess were the focus of it. It was our resident Undine, Nixie, who started the conversation. “So, I hear that the two of you will be turning eighteen in a few weeks and graduating this year. Have you given any thoughts to your futures?”

Carmilla had taken a sip of blood from her goblet and gave us a serious look as she put in, “Nixie is right, you’re Fey so it’s something you should be considering. Trust me, when you aren’t mortal and don’t visibly age, it’s best to do something that you either enjoy or that suits your lifestyle, preferably both.”

“I really want to become an actress if I can ever get better control over my human form,” Jessica admitted.

“Concordia University here in Edmonton has a very good Performing Arts program,” Pandora suggested. “You could keep living here, use the money you have saved for school, and make some spending money by working here part-time. If you’re not comfortable with what we do, we could always use another bartender, we’d be willing to pay for the course to certify you when you turn eighteen too. It’s a weekend course and having it as a fallback would make it easier for you to find work elsewhere when you eventually try to make a name for yourself in acting.”

My sister considered it for a moment and nodded, a smile forming on her lips. “That’s not a bad plan, I never considered going to school for it or having a backup plan, but having a Performing Arts degree could help me get my foot in the door and I could learn a lot. And being a bartender might be a good job for people watching or practicing how I interact with people.”

“You should also keep in mind that you’re probably going to only get only twenty years at the most out of an acting career before people start noticing that you’re not aging. You may be able to change things like general body shape and appearance but I’ve never known a Púca that can make themselves look older than their mid-twenties, the youthful appearance is part and parcel of being Fey,” Mom added.

Krysti grinned, her fox ears twitching in amusement as she said, “People never think about the negatives of eternal youth. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of positives. There are so many things, and people, to enjoy if you keep an open mind, and as long as everyone involved is consenting and good with it, the more the merrier and loads of fun. Your problem is that you have basically three choices if you have a career in the public eye; retire and disappear before people start noticing the age thing, try taking on a different look and starting again, or start hawking anti-aging snake oil.” She winked at the Lamia of the group as she said the last.

“Well she’s not getting any from me, it doesn’t work anyway. I have plenty and I age normally,” Nadia shot back. “Seriously though, there are dangers to all the options besides retiring and finding a quiet place to live out the rest of your life among other Paranormals. If you take a new look but don’t have the proper background and documentation, or choose the wrong beauty product to endorse and it doesn’t work, people are going to figure you out or at least get suspicious.”

“Well, if I can manage a twenty-year career in acting I’ll be doing better than most, I guess. That’ll give me plenty of time to decide what I want to do with the rest of my life out of the public eye. I just want to make it big and live the dream for a bit. Dad… he believed in me and I want to prove him right too.” Jessica admitted, her ears twitching as her eyes started to tear up.

I leaned over to put an arm around her and whispered, “You’ll do it, Sis. I believe in you too and Dad would be proud.”

“So, what about you Crystal? What are your plans?” Lou’s mother, Genevieve, asked me.

“I don’t really have a lot of options as a Nymph and I never really had a plan for my future anyway,” I confessed. “Rhissa convinced me to keep an open mind about maybe working here and doing what you and Mom do. I don’t know if I’ll like it, or even be any good, but I guess it won’t hurt to maybe learn to dance and watch a show or two after I’m eighteen to see if it appeals to me.”

“Oooh! We can teach you to dance!” the Dicken sisters all squealed at once before Stella took charge and added, “Anita is the best pole dancer we have, Adora really knows how to work a crowd, and I love working on choreography. You Nymphs are so graceful, agile, and flexible; we could help you develop some awesome routines. We could start this week when the club is closed!”

“I dunno, I… uhh…” I started to reply uncertainly. I still wasn’t sure about it and I had a lot of hang-ups to get over before I felt that I would be ready for that. It was the half-pleading half-excited looks on their faces as the three leaned eagerly toward me that made me sigh and say, “Sure, but not tomorrow. I have a bunch of stuff to do tomorrow. And we can’t spend all day since Jessica, Melody, and I have to start studying for the school’s entrance exam.”

“Awesome! We’ve got a protégé!” Anita said with a huge grin. She and her sisters were so animated after that as they discussed what they wanted to put me through, routines, and costume possibilities. They acted like it was a given that I’d end up dancing at the club eventually and they were only too happy to help me prepare. I, on the other hand, was quiet for the remainder of dinner as I thought about just what I had gotten myself into.

After dinner, we had split up to do our own things, which left Jessica, Melody, and me putting away all of our new clothes and other stuff in our rooms. Once we were finished with that we hung out with Rhissa, Carmen, and little Sorcha for a while. Melody had some concerns about how she was going to pass the entrance exams for St. Michelle’s since she hadn’t been in school since she was fourteen and was supposed to be a senior like us. Carmen was two grades behind us so she didn’t really know what questions they might ask on our tests but Rhissa had graduated from there last year.

“Don’t worry about it too much Melody,” Carmen suggested. “Really, most of my entrance exam was just proving that I’m a Paranormal so no normies get in. When I took my test before Christmas break started the Headmistress told me it wasn’t a pass or fail kind of test, I think it’s just to get an idea of where you are for school knowledge. What was it like for you Rhiss?”

“They would like to know where you’re at with your education,” the Huldra agreed with a shrug, “but I was out of school for almost two years when I started there. They put me in an accelerated learning program with one of the psychics they have on staff. Basically, I spent one of my elective classes one on one with her and she got in my head to help me learn what I was missing until I caught up.”

Melody was looking at her in both interest and concern as I looked up from where Jess and I were teaching Sorcha to play checkers. “Really, what’s that like? I don’t know if I feel comfortable with someone getting in my head. I got secrets I’d like to stay secret.”

“Mrs. Jenner, the one I worked with, is a projective telepath,” Rhissa clarified for the half-Demon. “She can’t read minds but she’s very good at putting thoughts, knowledge, or even memories into people’s heads. She used to work for the PDA before the school hired her. Even if she could read minds it would be unethical to read a student’s mind without permission. She just kind of pours her own knowledge of the subjects you need help with into your brain at high speed. It’s like speed reading but she made sure that I would retain the information. If you spent the whole semester with her, you could probably be caught up by graduation.”

“Well, as long as my private thoughts can be kept private, I guess I wouldn’t have a problem with that. I kinda feel like a failure sometimes, dropping out like I did. It would be nice to graduate, even if I’m just going to work as a bouncer,” Melody admitted with a sigh.

“It wasn’t your fault that you had to drop out,” I told her sternly, turning my head to look her right in the eyes. “Your life got screwed up when you Manifested, I think any Paranormal can understand that. You were living on the streets and trying to figure out what you were on your own without any help. Survival was more important. You did survive and didn’t turn to the dark side, a failure couldn’t have done that.”

“I… uhh... wow. Thanks, Crystal, I…”

I cut her off as I climbed into her lap, to Rhissa’s and Carmen’s token protests, and kissed her as enthusiastically as I could. When I finally came up for air and she had a dopey grin on her face I said breathily, “I wouldn’t be interested in a failure, Melody. Now about that make-out session that I promised you earlier...”

Melody swallowed the lump in her throat and all but gasped out, “Your room or mine?”

“I like it here, we’re already comfortable and I’ve got you right where I want you, so…” I suggested playfully as I kissed along her jawline up to her ear to tug it with my teeth.

“Not here! Think of the children!” Jessica said, covering Sorcha’s eyes.

“I seem to recall someone shouting something to the effect of, ‘Think of the horny Nymph in the room’ earlier today, when Rose and Jessica were all over one another like a couple of… bunnies. I wonder who that could have been,” Rhissa put in thoughtfully.

I don’t know who blushed worse, me or Jess. The heat in my cheeks almost rivaled that between my legs. Aww, who am I kidding? There was no comparison, the cheeks lost in a landslide. I would only be too happy to leave the room now to get what I was desperately needing and leave my sister to the embarrassment. I stood up and reached out to take Melody’s hand so I could pull her to her feet. I was so damn horny and I wanted her so badly. Okay, I wanted anyone badly, but she was an acceptable target for who I was starting to have feelings for, so I wanted it to be her. “Come on, let’s go… my room… it’s closer.”

Melody was grinning like she had just won the lottery but she was quick to take my hand and stand up. “Well, I guess I’ll see you all later then, hopefully at breakfast. I really hope…”

Whatever Melody was about to say was cut off as Carmen nearly jumped out of her seat on the couch with a surprised, “Eep!”

“What’s wrong Carmen?” Rhissa asked. “You’d think something pulled your tail.”

“You’re the one with the tail, goofball,” Carmen replied as she took the little black bag out from inside her shirt. “I dunno, I just felt something really weird, like my egg pouch jumped or something. It surprised me. Whoa!” The last was said as the black pouch seemed to jump in her hand of its own volition.

Sorcha suddenly let out her own squeal of surprise, nearly knocking the checkerboard over. “Mine jumpded too!”

I looked from one to the other in confusion as they stared at their bags until I felt a noticeable movement in my cleavage, which unfortunately for me was stimulating with how turned on I was right then. “Wow, that felt weird. What was that?” I wondered as I removed my own little black velvet bag to stare at it.

“Krysti said that the pouches would let us know if the eggs were moving inside so we could be ready when they hatch, maybe this is what she meant,” Carmen said thoughtfully.

Sorcha only needed to hear one word in that sentence as she squealed in glee. “Dey gonna hatch! Da eggses is gonna hatch!”

“Food! We need food for them!” Carmen said in a breathless rush. I was still staring at my bag trying to process what was happening when Carmen grabbed me by the wrist. “C’mon Crystal! They’re hatching! We need to get down to the kitchen and get some food ready for them! Grundle said they’re gonna be hungry! Oh crap! Grundle! He said we needed to call him when they were ready to hatch! He said there’s stuff we need to know!”

I was only just beginning to concentrate on what was happening through the fog of desire as Carmen half dragged me away from Melody and toward the elevator with Sorcha running ahead of us squealing and giggling in delight. I glared down at the little bag in my hand. “Oh come on! Now?! Really?! I was just about to get…” Carmen’s elbow nudge and pointed look toward the four-year-old ahead of us holding the elevator door gave me the presence of mind to shut my mouth.

Behind me I heard Melody let out a dramatic sigh and say, “Well, maybe we can get to it afterward. So, Jess? Rhissa? Are we going to watch? I mean even among Paranormals, who on the Material Plane can say that they’ve seen the birth of a clutch of Salamanders?” Jess and Rhissa didn’t say a word as the three jumped over the couch to join us in the elevator before the doors shut completely.

Rhissa took out her cell phone and called Grundle on the ride down to let him know what was happening and that we were on our way to the kitchen. I don’t know about the others but my pouch jumped again on the ride down. We made our way quickly through the club and toward the kitchen where Brock and Cindy were finishing cleaning up the dinner dishes and packing away leftovers. Sorcha nearly bowled Cindy over in her excitement. “Dey hatching, Cindy! We need da food!”

The Mermaid looked at the little redheaded bundle of energy and smiled as her mind voice slipped into our thoughts. ~Okay, girls, you should probably take the eggs out of the bags and put them under the heat lamps to keep them warm. Keep them close and don’t let them roll. I have some ground beef in the fridge that should work fine for them once I break it up into more manageable mouthfuls for them.~

After I made a quick detour to the sink to splash my face with some water to try to get control of my raging hormones, we quickly did as Cindy had instructed while Brock turned on the heat lamps for us. As that was being done, Cindy removed the promised ground beef from the fridge and broke it up into pieces as small as she could manage. Then as we each watched our eggs shiver and shake on the countertop Rhissa, Melody, Jess, and the pair of Merfolk watched from across the counter while trying to give us space. I just watched my egg, torn between horniness, frustration, excitement, confusion, and panic.

I wasn’t sure that I wanted this responsibility, honor, or whatever it was that Ashe had thought she was giving me when she insisted I take the egg. I wondered if Ashe would take them back after they hatched, or if we were supposed to raise them too? I had absolutely no clue what to do when it hatched, let alone how to care for a baby Salamander long-term. I could barely take care of myself and I had no idea how to care for a baby anything.

I almost jumped out of my shoes, and I did let out a girly squeal of surprise when Grundle walked out from the wall behind me and asked gruffly, with no warning whatsoever, “Did they hatch yet?”

I was busy trying to find my heart and put it back in my chest as Rhissa answered, “No. They’re really shaking, but nothing else yet.”

“Good, that means I can tell you what little I know. Everyone but those of you chosen needs to stay back. You girls let them eat their fill. In the wild, their mother feeds them and then carries them off one at a time to bite the first living creature they come across but in this case, you three are going to let them bite you,” the Gnome told us without the hint of a smile.

Sorcha’s eyes went wide as I sputtered, “You want us to let them bite us?!”

Grundle nodded and from the expression on his face, he was fully serious. “That’s how the bond is made, when they taste your blood and leave their hatching tooth in the wound. Salamanders are symbiotic creatures, they’re mostly energy and can’t hold a physical form for long in the first few months of their lives, so they’ll bond with you and give you their marks. That’s all that I know for certain except that their hosts seem to be impervious to fire and heat. You could hug Ashe when she’s white-hot and the only thing to get burned would be your clothes.”

“Well, I guess that’s one less thing for Sorcha’s mom to worry about,” Carmen muttered beside me. “I thought you’d know more Grundle, you brought us Ashe after all, and you said you’ve seen these bonds made before. Couldn’t you have talked to one of them?”

“Lass, Salamanders are native to the Fire plane, and the creatures there aren’t exactly stunning conversationalists. There aren’t any sentient creatures there that I know of, so to my knowledge, a Salamander has never bonded with a sentient creature before that I could talk to,” the Gnome replied. “You three would be the first.”

“So, you can’t even be sure if this is safe,” Jessica said with a frown.

“Ashe is pretty clever from what I’ve seen and she seems to have taken to these three girls. I don’t think she would do anything to hurt them, especially since she is placing her children in…” Whatever the Gnome was about to say was cut off as the egg in front of Carmen burst open, revealing a bright orange and black Salamander a little smaller than my pinky finger.

“See that orange color, that one’s a male, the females are all red and black like Ashe,” Grundle said before motioning to Carmen. “Go on, lass. Put some of that meat in front of it.”

Carmen dubiously obeyed and before the little guy was finished wolfing down his first meal the other two eggs hatched as well, revealing a pair of females. I really wasn’t sure that this was a good idea as I pushed a bit of the raw ground beef within reach of the tiny Salamander in front of me. Sorcha on the other hand couldn’t have been more eager. Kids.

Several minutes later, all three hatchlings seemed to have eaten their fill and began looking around, probably for their mother. “I dunno about this,” I said as I looked down at the little one in front of me. Okay, it was freaking adorable and I kind of wanted to hold it, but we were talking about it biting me, and apparently leaving its tooth in the bloody wound. I knew very little about these creatures or what this symbiotic relationship would entail and that made me nervous.

Sorcha was ready to just stick her finger right in there but Carmen held her back a moment and looked toward me. She was nervous too, I could see it, but she tried smiling at me. “C’mon, Crystal. We’ll all do it together, on the count of three. One… two… three!”

Against my better judgment, I pushed my pinkie finger toward the cute little beastie as Carmen and little Sorcha did the same. Don’t you just hate peer pressure? The little bugger wasted no time in chomping down on my fingertip, drawing blood and sending a burning pain through my finger and then onward through my whole body. For a moment it felt like I was on fire and I wasn’t sure if it was me, Carmen, or Sorcha that was screaming. And that was about when I fainted.