As the flower petals fell away around us I realized Jenna and I were back at home, in the middle of our basement games room. We were still hugging as we stood next to the pool table, facing the comfy leather sofa and the big entertainment unit.

  "As happy as I am to be home I don't know how wise that was," I sighed. I held my girlfriend a little tighter and pointed out, "There were dozens of people out there, between the police and emergency services and all the other witnesses."

  She rested her head against my shoulder again and mumbled, "Don't worry Vikki. I made sure everyone was looking the other way before I teleported us."

  That made me pause for a moment as I tried to figure out if she was serious or not. Then I pointed out, "Constable McIntosh wasn't looking the other way. She saw you appear, and she saw us both disappear."

  "I made sure everyone but the police dy was looking the other way," Jenna responded without missing a beat.

  Then her friend Ember spoke up from behind us, "Uh Jenna? You know me and Ashley both saw you disappear right? You poofed out right in front of us in the middle of a card game."

  "And we just saw you and Vikki return," Ashley added.

  My girlfriend mumbled into my shoulder, "I made sure everybody except the police dy and Ember and Ashley was looking the other way."

  I slowly turned the two of us around so we were facing the card table. Ashley and Ember were sitting next to each other, with drinks in front of them. And Jenna's big plush pink pony was in a chair across from them. There was no drink next to her, but she did have a huge mountain of pretzel sticks on her side of the table.

  "Hey!" Jenna excimed as she raised her head and frowned at her friends. "How'd you two lose all your pretzels already?! I wasn't gone that long, was I?"

  Ember looked like she was trying not to smile as she replied, "Me and Ash made some crazy bets when you weren't here. I'd swear this pony's some kind of card shark though! She's gotta be counting cards, or she's got some kind of system."

  "Tell me about it," I said as I rolled my eyes. "Either that or she cheats."

  Ashley smirked, "Let's not make any unfair accusations Vikki. Like Ember said, she might just be that good."

  From their expressions I could tell both of Jenna's friends were kidding around, same as me. None of us actually believed the plush pony could py cards, let alone cheat at the game. But Jenna liked to pretend her pony friend was real, and once I got used to that I realized it was pretty cute so I started pying along with her. Now it seemed like her friends were doing the same thing.

  Then Ember's expression got more serious as she asked, "So uh, I heard something about the police? Did Jenna just use magic to bust you out of some kind of trouble?"

  I sighed and shook my head, "No. There was a serious car accident at Main and the highway, and I saw part of it. A local Goddess turned up and saved the victims so nobody was hurt, but I ended up having to give my witness statement to an annoying police woman. Although Jenna might have talked her way into some trouble, if that cop decides to follow up on a few things she told her."

  "Speaking of which," I added as I gave my girlfriend a hard look, "Did you really get a visit from the Lottery and Gaming Commission? Is that why I haven't heard anything about the Professional Piglet Racing League since we moved?"

  Jenna cringed while her friends both looked surprised. My genie mumbled, "Maybe? It's no big deal though, that was ages ago. And I haven't been involved in piglet racing since then."

  Before I could question her more about that Ember spoke up again, "Hold up, what did you just say about a local goddess?"

  "What makes you think you saw a goddess?" Ashley added. "And how would you know she's a local?"

  That's when I realized both our guests were staring at me in surprise. So I expined, "I know Cassandra's local because I sold her a house in the spring. Then we saw her again in the summer, and Jenna told me she's a demonic goddess. After what I saw today I don't doubt it. She saved two people from certain death."

  I lowered my voice and added, "They might even have been dead already, maybe she actually brought them back."

  Our guests exchanged a look, then Ashley asked "So there's a goddess named Cassandra living in our little middle-of-nowhere town? I mean, I know this pce is a hotspot for supernaturals but are you sure there's a goddess living here?"

  "She's more than a goddess," my genie admitted quietly. "She's also a demon, but everything I know tells me that's impossible. I've been doing my best to avoid her at school, because impossible demon goddesses make me anxious."

  The auburn-haired girl spoke up again, "What do you mean, avoiding her at school? Are you saying one of the profs is a goddess?"

  Jenna shook her head, "She's a first-year student, like me. You two have probably already seen her. She hangs out with that arctic wolfgirl and the little catgirl and the flower nymph with the purple hair and the cambion with the white hair."

  "Wait you're talking about Cassandra Underwood!" Ember excimed. "I could tell from her scent she's not human, but I never would have guessed she's an actual goddess!"

  Ashley looked at her friend, "You know her?"

  "Not personally," the curly-haired ravenette shook her head. "But our pack's matriarch -"

  Ember suddenly cut herself off as she gave me a guilty gnce, then her shoulders slumped and she sighed, "Whoops. I guess I just outed myself there. You know about the supernatural though so I'm sure it'll be fine. Just, y'know, please don't spread it around?"

  Without waiting for my response she turned her attention back to Ashley and continued, "Anyways according to Ms. Tate, Cassandra and the rest of her coven are all officially friends of the pack. They're the ones who caught the killer that was hunting us back in July."

  I found myself staring wide-eyed at Ember after that, as a bunch of dots suddenly connected in my mind. I was sure she had to be talking about Belinda Tate, the woman who bought the Walkers' house in the summer, who Mr. Walker believed was a werewolf. Now it seemed like my girlfriend's friend just confirmed that fact, and admitted she was part of that same pack.

  Then another revetion hit me. The guy who's pickup smashed my car at the Walker's farm, the guy Jenna and I saw Cassandra Underwood stalking a few days ter at the big box pza, must have been the killer Ember said was hunting the wolves. I remembered Belinda had her arm in a sling when I met her, that she was recovering from some sort of injury. Which meant that guy probably tried to kill her, then crashed into me as he made his escape.

  "Holy heck!" Ashley excimed, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You weren't kidding, that really does look like she brought those people back from the dead!"

  I blinked and looked at her, then realized she had her phone out. She and Ember were both staring at it, and I could hear some noise from the speakers like car engines idling and people shouting in the distance.

  The werewolf frowned, "What the hell's she thinking, doing all that in full view of the public? It's already all over the internet! So much for keeping a lid on the supernatural stuff around here."

  It only took a moment to realize they were watching a video from the accident scene. I knew there were lots of people with their cameras out, so I wasn't surprised that Cassandra's miracle was already avaible online. That led to another worry though.

  "There aren't any videos of Jenna, are there?" I asked nervously. "Either her teleporting in, or the two of us and my Jeep teleporting out?"

  That led to a quick gnce around the basement before I looked to my girlfriend and asked, "You did teleport the car, right? I'm gd it's not down here with us, but..."

  "It's in the driveway Vikki," she replied. "And don't worry. Like I said before, I made sure everyone was looking the other way before I teleported us."

  Despite Jenna's assurances I was still nervous, but Ashley tried to put my mind at ease.

  "I haven't seen anything about a Jeep disappearing," she told me. "Nothing here about you or Jenna either. I don't even see you in the background of any of these videos."

  Ember shook her head, "I'm pretty sure I saw your car in the background at one point, but it was blurry and nobody would know it's you. So don't worry about it Vikki."

  Then Ashley changed the subject a little, "Since my wolfie friend here outed herself I may as well come clean too. I'm also a supernatural, half fae to be precise. I promise both me and Ember are safe though. We're just a couple normal college students, who happen to have unusual family backgrounds."

  "So Jenna, you have to know we're both super curious," she continued as her focus shifted to my girlfriend. "I've never met anyone who could teleport before. I always thought that was impossible? Or at least, not the sort of thing normal mortal supernaturals could do..."

  The werewolf added, "No pressure obviously. I remember you said you'd been around for a while, and that you had magic, but if you're not comfortable talking about it or it's a safety thing we'll understand."

  My girlfriend cringed slightly, "It's supposed to be a secret, but I feel bad about keeping it from my friends. So maybe just promise to keep it to yourselves?"

  "We won't say a word. You can count on us," Ashley promised, while Ember nodded in agreement.

  That was good enough for Jenna. She grinned and flicked her wrist, setting off another little explosion of pink flower petals as she announced, "I'm a genie!"

  At first neither of our guests responded. They exchanged a gnce, but it seemed like neither of them were sure what to say. It took another second or two before Ember finally spoke up, "You mean like with a mp and three wishes and fantastic reality-bending magical power? That kind of genie? For real?"

  "Yeah!" my girlfriend nodded. "Except instead of a mp I was imprisoned in a hip fsk. Vikki found it and released me back in June, so of course I offered her some wishes. She didn't want to be my temporary mistress though, so she used her very first wish to set me free! No more prisons, no more masters!"

  Ashley sounded almost hesitant as she asked, "What about the fantastic reality-bending magical power?"

  "Oh yeah, I've still got that," Jenna shrugged like it was no big deal.

  Our guests exchanged another look, then Ember asked "So um, I don't suppose we could see some kind of cool demonstration?"

  "We did just see her disappear in a shower of flower petals," Ashley reminded her friend. "Then she and Vikki reappeared in another flowery explosion. That was pretty cool."

  The werewolf couldn't argue with that, but she looked like she wanted to. In fact both of them seemed like they had even more questions for my girlfriend. I decided to leave them to it, as all the emotions and stress of the st couple hours started to catch up to me.

  So while Jenna started talking with her friends about being a genie I quietly made my way to the fully-stocked bar at the back of the room.

  There were several bottles of fine red and white wine in the temperature-controlled wine storage unit, and a few more bottles of white chilling in the fridge along with a half dozen different kinds of beer. I felt like I needed something a little stronger though, so I helped myself to a gss and selected a bottle of rum then poured myself a double. I topped that off with co from the soda gun, then headed over to the big leather sofa. I settled down into that with a weary sigh, before taking a good long sip of my drink.

  "Vikki?" Jenna asked quietly as she settled onto the sofa next to me. She slipped an arm around my waist and cuddled up close before continuing, "Are you ok? You're not upset with me for telling my friends about the genie stuff, are you?"

  I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and shook my head, "Not at all love. I'm just a little overwhelmed by everything else that happened since I left the Scherer's pce this evening."

  "If my car hadn't died when it did then I'd have been in the intersection," I added softly. "That truck would have hit me. It might have killed me. Instead it almost killed those other people. Or maybe it did, but Cassandra came and brought them back? Anyways, I don't know what to think about all that, or how to feel about it. Other than some stroke of luck saved my life but put other people at risk in my pce."

  My genie hugged me a little tighter, "I'm just gd you're ok Vikki. I don't know what I'd have done if you'd been hurt."

  "Me too," I held her closer as well. "I'm gd everyone's ok, and I'm sorry for not calling or texting sooner. Sorry for scaring you."

  Then after a gulp of my drink I apologized again, "I'm sorry for ruining our fun Friday night pns too. I'm not feeling up for doing much of anything tonight, I'm afraid."

  Jenna shook her head, "That's ok. How about I see Ashley and Ember out, then we can spend the rest of the evening cuddling here on the sofa?"

  "That sounds really nice," I replied with a smile.

  PurpleCatGirl