Once I was fully dressed and looking the best I could, without my sister’s promised lessons to come with all of the self-care stuff and makeup that we had bought for me yesterday, I left my room and was immediately swarmed. Mom, Aunt Merry, Melody, Jessica, and Rhissa were waiting outside my door and practically smothered me in hugs. When they had finally let me come up for air they all looked tired, like they hadn’t slept well at all and I suddenly felt really bad for worrying all of them.

This left me conflicted because I also really wanted to drag Melody into my room to finish what I hadn’t been able to finish in the shower earlier. My growling stomach managed to talk some sense into me though and attempted to get my mind off sex for the moment. I didn’t think that Melody was ready to give me some sugar anyway since she didn’t look too happy at the moment. None of them did. “Mmmm, sugar. Something sweet would be nice, like real maple syrup on pancakes.”

They all looked worried, but whereas Rhissa, Melody, and Jessica looked like they might be feeling guilty as well, Mom and Aunt Merry obviously weren’t too happy with my decision-making abilities. I hadn’t seen Mom’s stern ‘you done goofed’ look yet, well up until now anyway. It’s a good one, I give it a ten out of ten. That extra element of ‘I was so worried about you’ really brought it to life for me. I felt as small as a grain of rice. “Wow, rice would be really good right now, maybe fried rice with sweet and sour chicken balls. Dammit, stomach, stop distracting me!”

Where was I? Oh yeah, I was feeling really low, like underground levels of low, like maybe the business end of a growing carrot or potato. “Mmmm potatoes. I could really go for some hash browns right now. Arrrgh, why do all my idioms suddenly involve food?! I’m hungry enough as it is. Well, at least I wasn’t thinking about sex… dammit. Wow, I’m glad that I used a panty liner, I’m dripping like a faucet right now and I’ve never noticed just how perky Melody’s breasts are before, is she even wearing a bra? Maybe I should check to be certain.”

I winced as I looked up from the half-Demon’s bust line, caught a look at the bevy of tired and still worried faces, and decided that I really should apologize for worrying them like I did. “You got this, Crystal. You’re a Snow Nymph so you just need to be cool. Cool as ice, that’s you. You’re like a whole bucket of ice cream… that ice cream was really good, I wonder if we have any more… Stop that dammit!”

Right, I was about to apologize. “This is hard; the words just won’t come. I know how they feel. Noo! Bad brain! No sex thoughts, just apologize, dammit!” Finally, I managed to mumble, “I’m… uhhh… sorry for worrying everyone.”

There, I did it! I felt so accomplished, I totally deserved a reward for my efforts. Maybe Melody would help me out with that? My mother snatched that brief hope away when she said, “We’ll talk with all of you about it at breakfast. Isabella said that you need to eat, Crystal.” She was still wearing that frankly epic stern/worried look and since she’s usually so bubbly I wasn’t looking forward to whatever that talk was going to involve. On the other hand, “Yay, food!” I practically ran to the elevator.

I packed away twice as much as I usually do during breakfast; a glass of milk, pancakes with maple syrup, eggs, hash browns, a banana, and I even managed an entire sausage before my stomach decided to protest red meat. It was a really satisfying meal overall. The sausage wasn’t one of those little breakfast sausages either but one of those big thick German ones; juicy, a bit salty, and so satisfying as it slides down your throat. The hash browns and pancakes really hit that craving I was having on the head and, while I couldn’t have ice cream, the banana I had finished my meal with was really good and filling.

I was just eating that banana when Jessica forced a smile and teased, “Well, I see that you’re feeling better this morning, Sis. Maybe now that the three of you are fed you’ll be able to focus on something besides food. If you can manage to pull your mind away from the other thing that seems to be on your mind, well until you and Mel can get some alone time anyway.” She was trying but I could still see her bunny ears twitching in worry.

“Hmmph?” I asked, my mouth full of that wonderful banana. I wasn’t quite sure what she was getting at and, if one could discount the fact that I’d been a guy just under a week ago and now had an infant symbiotic Fire elemental contentedly snuggling in my body and mind, I was feeling pleasantly normal. Well, my new normal anyway.

Still, Jessica’s comment had prompted a few smiles, and even giggles, on otherwise dour faces. I could feel yet another presence in my mind as Carmen tentatively said, ~Knock, knock… Crystal, you need to take smaller bites, especially when eating something like that.~

~Why? I’m a big girl, I won’t choke or anything,~ I protested.

Carmen rolled her eyes at me from across the table. ~Geeze, Crystal. Don’t be so thick. Everyone understands that you were hungry, I ate like that too, but girls generally take smaller bites and take more time chewing so you’ll need to work on that to fit in at school. What your sister was talking about though was that you had half a banana in your mouth and you just held it there for a moment before eating.~

~I was savoring the taste! Now that I’m almost full I don’t want to rush, and you just said that I have to eat slower, so what’s the problem?~ I sent back to her in agitated confusion.

~Well, you ‘savoring the taste’ looked an awful lot like you were doing something else, and keep in mind how half the people in this room make their living. Do you remember that skill that Sukoha is always teasing Lou about testing?~ the younger girl prodded.

I nearly choked on the last of my banana as I made the connection and my face turned that lovely shade of red that I call my own. I may be a Nymph with sex on the brain now, but I didn’t think I was ready for something like that yet. If that was the case though, why did the thought of it turn me on even more than I already was?

It was as I was carefully considering that coital conundrum that shit got real. As in, Tiffani, Dr. Diaz, and Aislinn raking their respective daughters over the coals for acting without considering the consequences as everyone else watched. Dr. Diaz’s usually calm demeanor was gone as she started in on us. “Everyone was worried sick about the three of you! What were you girls thinking?! I would expect this kind of thing from Sorcha, she’s only four, but the two of you should have known better!”

If Carmen had slouched any further into her chair, she’d have been under the table, though I wasn’t exactly doing too well in that regard myself. It was Carmen who answered though. “Crystal didn’t want to do it and I wasn’t too sure either but I pushed her into doing it. They were babies and they needed to bond with someone soon or they’d die. I thought, ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ Grundle said it was a symbiotic relationship so I figured it would be something like those birds that ride on a rhino’s back, and they were so small and vulnerable, they needed us.”

“You both felt apprehension and yet you did it anyway and allowed Sorcha to do the same?” my Mom put in, making me feel like I was going to melt under her glare. Well, when she put it like that it did sound pretty bad.

I didn’t have much time to react or reply though as that was when Aislinn practically roared, “What’s the worst that could happen?! You could have died from the fever! You could have exploded! You could have been cooked alive from the inside out! You could have burst into flames and burned down the whole building!” Wow, she had really thought about it. To be fair though, we hadn’t known about the possibility of spontaneous human combustion until after we were unconscious. Not that I was going to bring that up and give them more ammunition. I figured that it was best to just keep my big mouth shut.

“Grundle didn’t think anything bad would happen and Ashe wouldn’t do anything to hurt us. She was sure that we would survive and she was entrusting us with her children and trying to make sure that both they and we are safe,” Carmen pointed out.

Like me, Sorcha seemed to figure that it was best not to bring any more attention to herself than necessary. She can be a smart little girl. Not that it helped either of us as Dr. Diaz gave us both barrels worth of glare to let us know that we weren’t succeeding as she snapped, “If he is smart, Grundle is on another plane very far away and contemplating what he can do to make up for what he did. The stress caused Sorcha to Manifest early and Crystal damn near died from the fever!”

“As for Ashe, she is an animal!” Aislinn quickly added. “She may be clever and may have taken a shine to you girls but you can’t know what she’s thinking! You can’t trust her to put your safety over her natural instincts!”

I let out a long sigh and spoke up. “You’re wrong about Ashe. She’s as sentient as we are, possibly even more so. I guess that her kind communicates telepathically with one another and that their hosts can do that too if they’re smart enough to understand that. Ashe talked to us and explained things, and she knew things about the three of us. Things that aren’t apparent to others, like that Sorcha’s seal form would be white. She knew things about me too, Mom… about both of us.”

“How did you know…” Dr. Diaz started to ask.

Her question, which I assumed was regarding the color of Sorcha’s seal form, was cut off as my mother asked seriously, “What things, Crystal?”

“That… ummm… thing that we’re not supposed to tell anyone about,” I admitted awkwardly. “She kinda blabbed when she was telling us why she chose us and about Sorcha being aligned to Water and the Divine and having some sort of special power. Carmen kinda figured it out, Mom.”

Mom did not look happy about that and neither did Merriwynd. Pandora sighed as she put a hand on Mom’s shoulder and gently caressed it, telling her. “Honey, I’ve been telling you for years that you wouldn’t be able to keep your secret from the people that you live and work with forever. We all have secrets and we all trust one another with them. I wouldn’t go telling any new hires or the part-timers, but the people here right now, we’re family and I don’t think that a single one of them would think any differently of you or Crystal.”

“Except for Merriwynd, I’ve been here the longest of all of us,” Carmilla said from across the table. “Almost all of you know my secrets and my past, Tiff. We’ve all suspected that you had a big secret but we didn’t press because whatever that secret is, it doesn’t change the fact that every single one of us owes you and Pan more than we can ever repay, most of us owe you our lives. We have this family because of you and, whether you choose to share that secret with us or not, we will never let anyone do anything to break up this family or to hurt you or anyone else in this room.”

Every single person around the tables nodded grimly in agreement even as Sukoha spoke up as well. “I know that I was the newbie before your daughters and Melody showed up, but I agree. You and Pan were on your vacation when you found me in Rio de Janeiro, you didn’t have to help me but you did and I will always love you both for that. I owe you my life and more, so whatever secret you have is safe with me.”

“What happened?’ Melody asked, her curiosity piqued.

The Kuromihar shrugged but there was a pained look in her eyes as she explained, “I was on the run from ‘monster hunters’. They caught up and I was dying from my injuries when Pan drew them off and Tiff brought me to their hotel room. I was delirious then but ever since I always wondered how Tiff managed to get me past the crowds on the street and through the hotel lobby, how I healed up so quickly from the verge of death, and how she just happened to have a festival mask with a Divine enchantment that would make me look like a normie on the trip here until I could get settled in and register with the PDA.”

Mom sighed and rubbed her temples. “I guess that you’re all involved whether you want to be or not, as long as Crystal and I are close to you but this secret cannot leave this room. I’m not truly a River Nymph, I’m a Divine Nymph… a Muse. Crystal is one as well, though she really is a Snow Nymph, she’s just aligned to both Ice and the Divine.”

Lana, the only one of us even being close to being a normie summed up what everyone was thinking. “That doesn’t change anything except that we now know why you don’t use Water magic much, and now we know who put those insane wards and illusions on the building. Yeah, I agree that you should be hiding it on principle but neither of you should feel forced to hide it from your family.”

Annika nodded in agreement, and then the seven-foot Amazon smiled as she added, “And if anyone takes too much of an interest in either of you beyond what’s normal in a club like this, we’ll all have your backs and make sure that they aren’t on the right track.”

After that was all settled everyone was sworn to secrecy, even little Sorcha. I had been worried that a child so young might let it slip accidentally but now that she was Manifested the young Selkie was as magically bound to her vow as any Fey. It actually felt good to have one less secret from everyone.

We of course still had the secret of our real pasts, but everyone knew that Jimmy had worked on something for us and that it had been for our own safety so that was largely ignored. Many of those in the club had had Jimmy do such work for them, and all of them had pasts that they didn’t want to be dredged up. As Nixie had said with a haunted look in her eyes, “It’s better for us all that we live in the present and be the people we are now. The past is behind us and it should stay there.”

Before we all went our separate ways for the day, Mom had Carmen and I recount everything that we had learned from Ashe including what she had revealed about Sorcha’s power and what the three of us could expect as Salamander hosts. Both Carmen and Sorcha had identical marks to mine, even in the same location, so it was decided that next year when she was ready for school everyone would help to homeschool Sorcha until she was ready for high school. Between her ‘tattoo’, learning about her power, and being Manifested so soon, there was no chance she could go to a normie school. Hell, Carmen and I were going to have enough trouble explaining our own marks when we started at St. Michelle’s.

We were all getting up to go when Carmen’s mother cleared her throat and said, “Carmen, Crystal, and Sorcha. Tonight when the club opens I want you all to come in for a complete physical.”

“What?! But that’s not fair, I just had one yesterday!” I griped.

Both she and Mom gave me a glare that was cold enough to even make one of my kind shiver. Even Pandora was in on it. “Well then, maybe you’ll think twice the next time you form a symbiotic relationship with a creature from another plane, Crystal. I need to establish a new baseline for each of you now that you’re bonded to ensure the future health of both you and your symbiotes,” Dr. Diaz said in a tone that would allow no arguments.

I was still brooding about having to go through another physical as we went about our business for the day. Mom, Merriwynd, Jessica, Melody, and I took the truck and we planned to make a full day of it to try to get everything important done before we had to return for when the club opened at four. Our very first stop was a legal office where we met Mom’s roguish friend, Dannick.

Dannick turned out to be some sort of finance lawyer, though both Mom and Aunt Merry said that he was involved in some less than legal business as well, but usually for the right reasons. He looked like a pretty average guy with a bit of a Mediterranean look, but looking normal didn’t exactly mean anything and he did seem to be at the very least in-the-know about Paranormals since he had one of those blue pieces of graffiti by the office door and at least one layer of Divine magic to keep the normies out.

Despite his reputation as a rogue, Dannick’s business seemed to be doing very well, the office was pretty swank and he was wearing a very expensive suit. It also seemed that he was a regular at the club and while he hadn’t met me, Jessica, or Melody before he was friendly and only leered a little bit. I had briefly worried that he was going to ask where we got that much cash but I was much relieved when he said that it was better if he didn’t know.

Ten minutes, and a very modest fee for his services, later and we were on our way to the bank to open accounts with the checks that he had given us. Jess and I each both had one for just over ninety-thousand and Melody had one for the twenty thousand that she had saved while making very good money by killing very bad people, and making it look like she’d killed a few good ones too. It was nice to have a bank account again, especially one with such a hefty balance.

After the bank is when we got to do all the stuff that I had been looking forward to. First, we made our way to the government building so I could get the new license plates for the Charger. Then we went to buy the insurance, a set of winter tires, a security system, and a few other necessities like an ice scraper and some emergency supplies to put in the trunk. The others were a bit bored, but I was in my element and I was able to get a great price from the guy who sold me the tires, thanks to my new… um… assets.

Once all that was done we stopped back home to have lunch and drop off the stuff for the car so I could get it all set up later. It seemed that we still had one more important errand for the day though, registering with the PDA. Melody and Mom would be doing it as well; in fact, we would all go in together. With that in mind, Mom and Aunt Merry wanted us, and especially me, properly prepared. So we spent a good hour going over my new identity and background in my bedroom.

We had already gone overall of it extensively once with Jimmy, and I had all of the important details that could possibly be asked memorized, but they wanted to make sure that I was seeing Crystal Lumi Cummings as me. It had to feel like the truth to me so I wouldn’t mess up when asked questions about my identity and such. That wasn’t actually as hard as Mom and the others thought it would be for me though.

Seth had been declared dead and no longer existed, so I obviously wasn’t him anymore even if my body didn’t make that blatantly obvious. I had to be someone right? Well since Mom legally had two daughters and I wasn’t Jessica and since Mom had named me, and all my documents were in Crystal’s name, then that meant I was Crystal. So anything printed on those legal documents was the truth as it applied to Crystal, and thus me.

After all of that preparation was a lesson from Aunt Merry on how to tell selective truths since I wasn’t the actress that Jessica was and I could still possibly get tripped up. Aunt Merry suggested that I take the time to think about any questions before answering. We might be compelled to tell the truth but we were not compelled to answer immediately. So I was to take the time to think about not only any questions that I was asked but also how they were asked. Then I was to answer those questions truthfully based on what had actually been asked, not what I assumed they were asking.

Taking the time to think about any questions might also help with the other part of the plan as well. Mom and I are Nymphs and let’s face it, we have a reputation, especially when those Nymphs look as hot as us and have those slightly high pitched and bubbly musical voices that we were blessed (cursed) with. Yeah, so people generally assume that we’re bimbos from the moment that they meet us.

Now, normally, I would be fighting those preconceptions tooth and nail. However, Mom convinced me that this could work in our favor. If we played the pretty little Nymph bimbos then whoever the PDA had registering us would underestimate us and just figure that there was a good reason for the stereotype, especially since most people know that Paranormals of the Fey variety are compelled to tell the truth. They certainly won’t think that we’re technically lying through our pretty white teeth.

So we were going to play those roles to the hilt. With that in mind, we also dressed the part. Mom wore one of her really sexy sheath minidresses and four-inch stiletto shoes under her winter jacket. Mom was so gorgeous and generally bubbly that I couldn’t help but think that she’d have every guy there eating out of her hand.

I, on the other hand, wore an ice blue satin miniskirt that barely covered all of the important bits and a cream-colored silk halter top that not only left my midriff bare but also showed a damn lot of cleavage, especially with that push-up bra underneath, putting my large breasts on display. Over top I wore my newly altered leather jacket, left strategically unzipped and opened to show off my assets, and those boots and the purse that went so well with it. Jess even helped me with my makeup to sex me up just a bit more.

We had arrived at PDA headquarters by two-thirty. Just like the office in Vancouver the building was a large warehouse with an attached office affair boasting the sign Werehouse Imports and Exports. We made our way to the office portion and were escorted up to the second floor where the receptionist took Mom’s name and the purpose of our visit. She informed us that we would all have to have our intakes separately and gave us the forms to fill out before we were called to save on time.

Since Jess and I weren’t eighteen yet Mom had to sign a permission form for them to do our intake sessions alone and they had to have two people in the interview with us, one of whom had to be the same gender as us. Mom lucked out and got Jimmy for her intake interview but since I was called next I never got to see who would be interviewing Melody or Jess. I ended up with a somewhat pretty Japanese woman with a tail and cat ears and a middle-aged man who was slightly overweight with a bushy black mustache that I was half-afraid was going to reach out and grab me every time that he exhaled.

Soon we were all seated in an office and the man said, “Welcome Ms. Cummings, I’m Mr. Shaw and this is Ms. Nakamura, so what brings you here today?”

You know, I could have just answered that one properly right off the bat, but this was a perfect opportunity to build up my bimbo cred right out of the gate. I had committed to it and, in my mind, if you’re going to do something you should do it right. So I twirled my hair with my finger and smiled at them as I replied in my chirpy little voice, “A car.”

Ms. Nakamura gave me a look that just screamed that I made her embarrassed to be female. While Mr. Shaw sighed and tried again. “Do you know why you’re here in this office today, Ms. Cummings?”

I quickly nodded. “Yeah, Mom said that we were here to register with the PDA.”

“Good,” Ms. Nakamura said with a relieved expression. “Do you know what PDA stands for?”

I did, but I also knew a few other things that it could stand for so I was able to reply proudly, “Public Displays of Affection. I get in trouble for those all the time.”

“Yes, it does stand for that, but here it stands for Paranormal Defense Agency,” she countered, barely suppressing a groan. “We protect people from dangerous Paranormals and provide services to Paranormals like yourself who just want to fit in. Now, to help you properly we need to know a few things about you that weren’t covered in the basic forms that you filled out.”

“Oh, do you mean things like my favorite color and stuff?” I ventured. “I really like white and ice blue, they’re so cool and relaxing, don’t you think?”

“That’s… not exactly what she was talking about,” Mr. Shaw told me, looking like he suddenly wished that he was anywhere but inside that room with me. “You and your mother are the first Nymphs that we’ve had register locally. Do you have any specific dietary requirements?”

“I need to eat,” I said thoughtfully after a moment. Then after several long seconds of just letting that hang there, I threw them a bone. “Umm… I think that we can eat most normal stuff, we eat a lot of the same stuff that the Fey do.” I figured that I had to give them a little something once in a while so they didn’t start thinking to ask very specific questions. That could screw up everything. I noticed though that most of the questions seemed to be standard and were actually typed out on the same paper that he was jotting his notes down on.

“Are there any other requirements that you have for your everyday life?” Ms. Nakamura asked before suddenly thinking better and specifying, “Other than breathing and all of the other things that the normies need to do too.”

“I need to wear natural fibers and I need to be near ice or snow as much as I can but we have this nice big walk-in freezer at home and I guess I can always go there if I need to be near my element. Oh, and I need to have sex. A lot. Like, soo much sex. I don’t think I need your help with that though, I can do that at home.” I replied, letting out a sigh as I considered how damn horny I was.

Mr. Shaw looked pretty happy with that answer until I got to the sex part. Still, he tried to be enthusiastic as he spoke again. “Great, now we’re making progress! Now, we’re aware that there is a large Paranormal criminal element in the area and we’re afraid that your kind might make a tempting target for them, Ms. Cummings. Do you have any special features that could be used to identify you should we need to search for you?”

I twirled my hair again as I thought about the question. Then, as if inspired by the action I beamed at them. “I have long white hair, I’m really pretty, I’m a Nymph, and I have an awesome tattoo. D’you wanna see it?” As I said the last I reached up as if to start taking off my jacket.

“No! No, we… uhh… don’t need to see it, Ms. Cummings. Could you just show us where it is and give us a brief description?” Mr. Shaw quickly countered, making me wonder just where he thought my tattoo was.

I quickly patted my upper right arm and smiled. “It’s right here and it kinda looks like a red and black dragon with its wings wrapped around my arm.”

“Your form says that you can use Ice magic, Ms. Cummings. Do you have any other Paranormal abilities that you’d like to declare?” Ms. Nakamura asked, looking very much as if she didn’t think I could chew gum and walk at the same time.

“Not that I’d like to declare,” I thought to myself with relief that she had added that last bit. Oh well, at least it gave me an out on answering the question. I carefully considered how best to answer that question in a way that might satisfy them without giving myself away. Selective truths for the win.

“Any abilities at all?” Mr. Shaw asked in annoyance after I had been sitting there thinking and twirling my hair for a few minutes.

“I’m thinking,” I admitted chirpily as I put a cute little pout on my face for good measure. I also silently thanked him for making that question so much easier to answer, not to mention more entertaining. For me anyway.

“Don’t hurt yourself, Kid,” Ms. Nakamura mumbled with a sigh.

I was mildly offended at that, pretending to be an idiot doesn’t come easy you know. I let her stew for another minute as I ‘thought’ before finally answering. “Well… let’s see… I can drive a car, and I have a twin sister who’s almost as pretty as me and it’s like we’re totally in each other’s heads sometimes, y’know? Oh! And I’m really, really good at sex! I just love sex, don’t you? I know you’re not as pretty as me, but you don’t need to be pretty to love sex, right? My mom owns a club and works there as an entertainer and she gets paid to take off her clothes, can you believe that?! She gets to have lots and lots of sex too; did I say how much I love sex? She gets to have sooo much sex, and she says I can do that too when I turn eighteen. I think I’d just love to do that when I’m old enough so I can get all the wild and crazy sex I want. Doesn’t that just sound sooo awesome, Ms…? I… uhhh… forgot your name.”

By the time that I had finished blathering merrily along, Ms. Nakamura looked like she wanted to strangle me and Mr. Shaw looked very uncomfortable in his seat as he said, “I… uhh… think that’s all we need, Ms. Cummings. You can go back to the waiting room now. Ms. Nakamura will be happy to show you the way.”

I had a pretty good idea why he wasn’t standing up to see me off himself and I had to stifle a giggle that, while it would have been very appropriate for my role, would not have been good for my self-image. Hey, at least I wasn’t suffering alone with rampant horniness. Oh, and by the way, Ms. Nakamura did not seem happy at all to escort me while I extolled the virtues of lots of sex and getting paid for it, and questioned her about why even someone as plain as her would want to do a boring job like hers when they could have sex all day, every day. Her tail was bristling and her ears were flat on her head by the time we returned to the waiting room.

By three-thirty, we were all heading home with lists of local services and stores that would be suitable for us and new PDA registration cards. The cards looked like customer loyalty cards for Werehouse Imports and Exports and I guess they were that too, but our customer numbers were actually our PDA registration numbers. As we pulled into the underground garage beneath the club I was feeling very accomplished and couldn’t wait to get to work on getting the Charger ready for the road.