Almost the second that Mom and I had settled into our seats in the booth she began her lesson. “Crystal, being aligned to the Divine and learning to use its magic is unlike with any other element. Firstly, as primary elements both Death and the Divine are more far-reaching than other elements. All other elements have aspects of them both and that allows us limited control of those other elements, though it can be strenuous and difficult. For this reason, primary elements are also the most versatile elements, and the Divine encompasses light, life, and creation.”

I was familiar with the various elements and the theory behind primary, secondary, and tertiary elements so I merely nodded in agreement as she mentioned that part. “Dad always said that there was more to Divine magic-users than just heals and seals. I always thought that he was talking about the illusions and stuff,” I said as I thought about her words.

‘Yes, there is far more to us than that, Snowflake,” my mother said with a slight smile. “Yes, we can heal and cast seals, wards, and illusions. We can even subtly nudge the minds of others, but we can also create. Not just illusions, those are merely created by manipulating light and the minds of others, but actual physical creation, though that aspect of Divine magic is strenuous on the caster and difficult to master. Creation is also change though. For example, when we heal a wound we are using the creation aspect of the Divine as much as the life aspect.”

Mom paused a moment in her lecture, a pensive expression on her face before continuing to speak. “Your primary element is Ice, so since you’re aligned to both that and the Divine it would be easy for you to use the moisture in the air or nearby water to create Ice should you need it. It would be simple, but not really dangerous since Water is Ice if you remove the Fire aspect of the element. That’s not a bad use of change and because you are not creating something out of thin air, change can be easier than pure creation. In many ways though, it can also be far more dangerous and morally questionable.”

“How?” I asked uncertainly.

“Let us say that I take a quarter from my pocket or purse and I change it into a gold nugget of the same mass,” Mom suggested after a moment’s thought. “Now, I could do that many times and become very rich but such an influx of gold could hurt the economy if I tried to profit like that. Personal trinkets are one thing but trying to gain wealth that way would be immoral, not to mention silly since we can become wealthy far easier by offering our services casting wards, illusions, and such, which are far less strenuous on us. Good Divine magic-users are much sought after and well paid.”

I nodded as I followed her line of thought but said, “Okay, I’ll give you morally questionable. How is something like that dangerous though?”

“I change my hair color every morning to appear as if I am a River Nymph. I don’t actually change it though but merely use illusion to alter the way light reflects off it to make it appear aquamarine rather than gold. The reason that I do this is that creation magic is wild and often has a will of its own, especially when interacting with living creatures. It requires much effort to get only the change that you want and, if you’re not extremely careful, you could change a living creature in unexpected and dangerous ways. And once you’ve changed something, or someone, in that way it’s almost impossible to return them to the way that they were before,” she cautioned.

“But isn’t that basically what healing magic is?” I inquired.

My mother shook her head sadly. “Living things heal naturally, so we’re only speeding up a natural process or returning the body to a natural state through purification. Changing something with creation magic is against the natural flow of a person’s body. You may think that you’re helping them by removing an imperfection or giving them their dream look. That dream could become a nightmare though if you do not exercise exacting control over the changes that you are making in them. If you are only concentrating on the outside changes then the person could be changed inside in ways that you did not expect, ways that could kill them or change their lives forever. You traveled to the Fire Plane last night, right?”

I was very uncertain about ever attempting to use creation magic to change anything, ever, after that little lecture. Then I found myself confused by the sudden change in topic. “Umm… yeah?”

“You have a very strong connection to both Ice and the Divine, Crystal. I suspect that, if you tried, you could travel to the Frozen Plane or the Holy Plane as well,” Mom said her voice and expression both deadly serious. “I am asking that you please never attempt that. Each elemental plane has its own dangers but from what Grundle has told me those are two of the most dangerous. The Frozen Plane is home to the Frost Giants and Frostkin. The Frostkin are Ice elementals and can be friendly enough but the Frost Giants are violent and deadly. They though, pale in comparison to the dangers of the Holy Plane.”

At my look of disbelief, my mother continued her explanation. “Gnomes can travel to all of the planes, and many do, but Grundle said that none will dare travel to the Holy Plane for fear of the Mist. The Mist is everywhere on that plane, wild creation magic that changes anything that comes in contact with it. Only the Angels are immune because they are Divine elementals, all else is changed. People who come back from there are nothing like they once were, some are completely new species of Paranormals, and some don’t live long enough to find out. There is a balance in change; when something is created through change, what once was is destroyed in the process. That is the danger of using such magic without caution and exacting precision.”

To be honest, that kind of power scared me and it took a few minutes before I was able to say, “That sounds like it’s hard, and a huge responsibility.”

“All magic comes with responsibility, Snowflake,” my mother gently advised. “That being said, for those of us with a strong elemental alignment, magic can be deceptively easy to use. There are no silly incantations, hand waving, or rituals, only Witches and other unaligned require such things. Some of us, those with a strong alignment and natural talent for magic, can even use magic accidentally if not trained properly.”

I felt my cheeks burning as I mumbled, “I… uhh… kinda figured that out.”

To her credit, Mom managed to keep the smile twitching at the corners of her lips from forming completely. “Uncontrolled magic use can be dangerous, so I guess that I should start actually teaching you some control. Close your eyes and feel for the light inside you. Let that light fill you, don’t just use your element, become one with it.”

Until lunch was ready, my mother taught me the basics of using Divine magic. We didn’t get to any spells yet but she did promise to teach me a basic healing spell and an illusion to make my ears look more like those of a normie during our next lesson. This lesson was all about getting a feel for my Divine magic and the various aspects of it. She also advised me that, while on the surface it might seem easy to use magic since the intent was the important thing, spells are more powerful and effective the more well thought out they are. So, when casting it is always a good idea to know exactly what you want your spell to do and how it can be done within the limits of the aspects of one’s element.

She also taught me a bit about our ability as Muses to inspire others. Apparently, this is not an ability that we have any real active control over. When we spend a lot of time with people, especially if there are feelings of affection, trust, or love we sort of become synched to those people and that connection lets them tap into the Divine through creative thought and skills.

I was tired by the time that lunch was served, not to mention hungry. Dance lessons and magic training burn a lot of calories and I was eating for two. At least Melody and Jess looked as tired as I was. They were both a little sweaty and Melody’s scent was really turning me on as she and Jess sat to either side of me.

The talk at lunch was mostly dominated by our various instructors telling the others how our lessons had gone and figuring out when we would be going to pick up Rose for the double date and shopping trip. Carmilla said that the sun was due to set at roughly a quarter after four so we could leave then and she would follow us at a discrete distance on her motorbike. I had been wondering who the Kawasaki Ninja 650 in the garage belonged to, it was a nice-looking bike, sleek, and I heard that they performed well. Hers was a solid black, looked pretty sweet, and the standard tires had been changed for really high-quality Pirelli winter tires.

Since both Melody and Jessica had built up a good sweat before lunch they wanted to go shower it off once we were done eating. As horny as Melody’s scent had been making me all through lunch though, I decided against a shower of my own. Although some quality time with my handheld showerhead would have really hit the spot, I did have other things that I should do.

Jessica had been insistent that her girl boot camp would resume once she was less sweaty and since I had no idea how much she wanted to do that afternoon, I figured that now might be my only chance to get anything else done. The Dicken sisters hadn’t really pushed me to the point of perspiring so I figured that while they were off showering I should clear out whatever crap that Lita had put in the trunk of the Charger for her ‘client’. We would need the trunk space if we were going to be doing Christmas shopping.

Since Carmen and Sorcha were heading down to get Ashe some exercise I figured that we could all take the elevator down together. I was also thinking that it might also be a good idea to get off to a better start with Lou. With that in mind, I called out as he headed to the elevator, “Hey, Teen Wolf!” Then, once I was sure I had his attention, I said, “We’re heading down to the garage. They want to exercise Ashe but I need to check some things on the Charger after everything that happened last night. Do you want to come with?”

Lou was a bit wary when I first called him but then his eyes lit up and his mouth split in a grin once I had made my offer. “Really?” he asked cautiously.

“Yeah, I don’t need to do anything major, just empty the trunk and look for any damage on the body from the fight. I don’t think there was anything but it’s a good idea to check. I should probably check under the hood and make sure she didn’t do anything there too. I only really checked the interior last night,” I said with a shrug. “It’d go faster with two people.”

To say that he seemed eager would be the grossest of understatements but that wasn’t surprising since it had been easy to peg him as a car guy when we first met. He was a bit awkward though as he replied, “Uhh… thanks. That would be really cool.”

Did I intimidate him or something? I tried not to think about it. I was going to have a hard enough time focusing on getting anything done. I was horny as hell, I had been in clothes all morning, and every instinct that I had was screaming at me to take them off and get laid.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” I thought to myself as Carmen, Lou, Sorcha, and I descended to the garage level in the elevator. From the way that Lou was sniffing the air, and the sizable tent in his jeans, I was pretty sure that he was well aware of my current arousal and I was going to be alone with him. I hadn’t been alone with a male since before I Manifested and became a Nymph and my currently dripping groin felt achingly empty. He smelled good too; there was that certain musk that all men seem to have to various degrees but there was something more too, something like fur and earth that was almost primal, but then he was a werewolf.

I wanted Melody to be my first time, I really liked her and I felt a connection to her. I was hoping that we might have some sort of relationship, maybe something like my mom and Pandora shared. I was relatively certain that Melody understood that I was going to need a lot of sex, probably more than she could keep up with. In fact, I thought that she might have an easier time accepting the idea that I was probably going to end up being promiscuous than I was. Not yet though, not until I had been with Melody.

With that resolution in my mind, and a will to keep my thighs closed for the moment, I stepped out of the elevator and led the way to the Charger. Once I had taken my keys from my purse I opened the driver’s side door to pop the hood and then left my purse in the seat as we took a slow walk around the car to check for any dents or gouges in the paint. Thankfully neither of us spotted anything and soon we were looking under the hood.

There were no surprises under the hood either, so it seemed that Lita hadn’t installed anything but what I paid for yet. Lou seemed to be in heaven as he looked at everything under the hood, which was good since his mind was on the car and not doing anything with me, not that I could say the same. I really needed to get laid soon or I was going to explode. I was so distracted that I barely noticed Lou ask, “How did you get your hands on something like this, in such good condition?”

I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself so that he didn’t notice my condition when I finally gave a slightly edited reply. “It was my Dad’s. I guess that it was the first car he ever owned and he and a friend fixed it up. Jess never really had an interest in cars but Dad taught me everything he knew; it was kind of our thing y’know? We worked on his car when it was needed and rebuilt his old motorbike for me together as sort of an early eighteenth birthday present. When he… died, Jess and I lost everything. Then Aunt Merry showed up and she knew about the car and the guy who was taking care of it for Dad, so she took us to get it so that I would have something of his. She said that he would have wanted me to have it.”

“You call Merriwynd ‘Aunt Merry’? I’d be afraid of her killing me if I tried that. Damn, that guy must have been sorry to let this baby out of his hands,” Lou said with a smile and a shake of his head.

“She and my dad go way back, they grew up as close as siblings, and she and Mom are close too. I called her that when I was little, I guess I just got back into the habit when I figured out who she was. Yeah, the guy didn’t want to let us get away with this beauty but like Aunt Merry says, ‘Fey always pay our debts,’ so we made sure that he got exactly what he deserved,” I said with a shrug before pulling myself out from under the hood. I was starting to get good at this selective truths thing.

Once Lou was clear of the hood I closed it and I made my way around to the back to open the trunk. There were several boxes inside and a pair of carefully bubble-wrapped nitrous oxide tanks. I just stared for a moment and would have asked what the hell that bitch Lita was planning on doing to my car, but I already knew damn well. The stuff in the trunk only confirmed it.

Besides the NOS tanks, there was a nitrous injection system kit, a police scanner, high-temperature brake pads and fluid, an underbody glow kit, a window tinting kit, and an interior LED lighting kit. Once we got a good look at all of it Lou whistled appreciatively. “Damn Crystal. We could really trick out your car with this stuff and, best of all, none of it would be difficult to do ourselves with two people.”

“I dunno, I’ve never tried installing a NOS injection system before, it could be tricky and NOS can be dangerous. Doing anything underneath the car would be a tight squeeze too,” I told the Werewolf uncertainly.

“We could go to my uncle’s shop to do the work,” Lou suggested. “He’d probably even help us so he knows that it’s done properly. He’s a normie, like my dad was, but he’s in the know about Paranormals and he knows cars. I hang out with him sometimes and he’s been teaching me to be a mechanic. I know that he’s done this kind of work for drag racers and stuff too and he never lets them leave the shop until he’s sure that they’re familiar with how the NOS system that he installed works and all the safety stuff that goes with it. He’ll want to make sure that you’re not thinking of using it for street racing though.”

I thought about it for a moment and shook my head. “Hell no, drag racing might be fun though. I’d never use NOS on anything but a straight line, I’d be too worried about losing control and damaging the Charger. Unless it was an emergency, like outrunning snatchers or someone trying to kill me, I don’t think that I would ever use NOS on city streets.”

Lou seemed pleased as he nodded. “If I were you, I’d probably pull out all the stops in that case too. There isn’t really drag racing specifically for Paranormals but Castrol Raceway has various types of racing if you’re interested in that. They allow teens and they try to keep everything as safe as possible. It’s all done at nights on weekends from April to October and you’d have to have a racing helmet but my uncle could let you know if the Charger would need any modifications for specific event types. He’s installed custom roll bar kits for other classic muscle cars that meet racing standards and still allow the rear seats to be usable, so you could probably talk to him about that for the safety factor too if we do install the NOS kit.”

“That actually sounds like a good idea. I wouldn’t mind a permanent roll bar that I don’t have to disassemble and remove to get passengers in the rear seats, it would be safer all around if there’s an accident or something. When do you think that he could get us in to do the work? Installing all of this and a custom roll bar or cage is going to be more than just an hour or two of work,” I said as I considered the boxes in the trunk.

“I’ll give him a call when we’re done here. Maybe he can get us in on Sunday since it’s Boxing Day and the shop will be closed anyway. He might be able to get the roll bar pieces ordered in by then too, he should be able to order a custom roll bar kit based on the model of the car. He knows a few companies that make and ship them but It could cost at least a few hundred bucks,” the Werewolf told me.

“I’ve got plenty of money to cover it and pay your uncle for the time in his shop too,” I replied. “Now let’s get these boxes out of here and the NOS canisters somewhere safe so I have room for bags. Jess is probably waiting for me by now to do some sister stuff before we go on our date tonight.”

With Lou’s help, I managed to put all of the stuff in the trunk into an unused corner of the parking garage where it wouldn’t be disturbed until we needed it. He was talking excitedly about the mods and it was nice to have someone with a similar interest in cars to talk to. We got off to a bit of a rocky start but I thought that we might just become good friends. Sure, he was probably going to say stupid things sometimes, but I just had to keep in mind that Lou doesn’t always think about the words before they leave his mouth. Having to think about what I say before I speak made me realize that I was really no prize in that department either, even if I was working on it.

As we rode the elevator back upstairs I sensed that Cinder was waking up so I gave her some mental snuggles. ~Good afternoon Cinder, did my sweet baby have a good nap?~ The only real response that I received was the content bubbling of her infant thoughts and the feelings of love and affection that washed over me and wrapped around my mind like a warm blanket.

I was so lost in that that I almost missed it when Lou said, “Hey, Crystal. I’m sorry for not thinking and being such a jerk when we first met. Mom and Carmen both keep telling me that I need to work on the brain-to-mouth thing. Thanks for being cool about it and letting me help with the car.”

“It’s all cool,” I said, accepting his apology. “I get the same problem sometimes, and I’m very sorry about freezing your underwear. I was angry and I can’t really control my magic yet, especially when I’m upset. It’ll be nice to have a friend that I can talk to about car stuff.”

As I was expecting, Jess was in her bathrobe and awaiting me outside of my room when I got there. “I saw that you were trying to make nice with Lou, how’d that go?” she asked as I approached.

I didn’t answer until I had opened my door and we were both ensconced safely inside with the door closed behind us. “Well, other than being horny and wanting to rip my clothes off and fuck him senseless almost the entire time, it went well. We took a good look over the Charger and the stuff that Lita had in the trunk, we talked about cars, he apologized for being an ass, and I apologized for nearly freezing his balls off. He might help me install those mods that Lita had in the trunk on the Charger.”

“That’s good, now I won’t have to listen to you talk about cars all the time,” my sister teased, “though I suppose now you’re more focused on other things. What did that bitch put in the trunk anyway?”

“It looks like she was going to make the Charger all Fast and Furious for that asshole who was paying her. There are even NOS canisters and an injection kit. That might be cool if I decide to take up racing as a hobby, I guess there’s a track here that does various types of racing and the season starts in April,” I informed her.

“I dunno, Sis. Isn’t racing dangerous? After what happened with Dad in the hospital…” Jessica said, looking worried as her voice trailed off.

I put my arms around her, hugging her tightly. “I’d be careful and I’d probably only do drag racing to be safer. Lou and I were talking about getting custom roll bars or a roll cage just in case for safety and I’d probably want my own pit crew and medical person in case of accidents. I’d want Dr. Diaz there or at least on the speed dial of my pit crew. It’s all just academic right now and I’ll do my research and prepare to make it as safe as possible. I may not even have time if I’m working nights by the time the season starts.”

Jessica nodded in relief but arched her eyebrow at my last comment as she broke our embrace. “Working? As in…”

“I’m thinking about it,” I admitted. “The Dicken sisters made it seem fun and after what I saw today I’m actually eager to learn, especially the pole dancing part. Anita was amazing and when I was watching her it was like, ‘I want to be able to do that.’ So, maybe when you start going for your bartending training, I’ll ask about maybe giving it a try. They’re right about the job having a lot of good points for people like us.”

“If it’s going to make you happy then I say you should go for it, Sis. You know that I’ll support you no matter what you do, as long as you do your best to do it safely.” This time, she hugged me before adding, “Now let’s talk fashion. We need to get you all dressed up for the date anyway and then we’ll see how much you remember of that makeup lesson that Heather gave you.”

For the next hour and a half, Jessica pounded into my brain the intricacies of teen girl fashion. The types of clothes, what should be worn with what, a million different color names, and various looks that would work for our face and body type and coloring. I was again laser-focused on the lesson because Jessica made sure to pander to my vanity and tell me how and why all of these looks would either not work for me or make me look my best.

Once she had driven as much knowledge into me as she could during that time she got me into a sleeveless crimson and black skater dress that she thought would be cute and sexy with my leather jacket and knee-high boots. It had black lace along the neckline and hem, showed a lot of cleavage, and it barely went down to the middle of my thighs but I felt sexy in it. The strapless bra and panties were crimson as well and very sexy, though they would have been more so if I wasn’t wearing a panty liner in the panties to keep from soaking them.

Then, now that I was properly attired, Jessica had me try and put on my own makeup. I remembered how Heather had done it, but it takes a gentle and steady hand to do it right. It took me nearly a dozen tries and makeup removal wipes to get my face looking like Heather had. And then Jessica had to pop my balloon of elation by making me wipe it off again so she could teach me an evening look that would be more appropriate for our double date. It only took me eight attempts to finally get that one mastered to the point where my sister thought that I was presentable for the evening.

By the time I was finished, Jessica barely had twenty minutes to rush to her room to get ready. She was much more experienced with clothes and makeup than me though and it helped that she already had her clothes for the evening set out. She was going with a similar dress to my own in baby pink but with a more modest hem and neckline. I was satisfied that both the dress and the black wool overcoat she wore over top of it would keep her cottontail safely hidden. To complete the outfit, she was wearing a poofy black knit cap that would hide her ears well and a pair of fleece-lined black ankle boots with a modest heel.

Melody was waiting for us in the common room chatting with Carmen and Sorcha. I was pretty sure that they were talking about the strangeness of getting used to having an infant Salamander sharing one’s body and mind but they stopped to look up as we approached and Carmen gave a wolf whistle. “Looking good girls! Lou already locked himself up for the night, Crystal, but he said that he’ll talk to you tomorrow about taking the car into his uncle’s shop.”

I nodded distractedly as I stared at Melody. She was still in the usual Chinese girl form that resembled her natural form, but it wasn’t that which was making me stare. I was used to her just wearing jeans and t-shirts but at the moment she was wearing a sexy little black dress and a leather jacket and boots similar to my own. I thought that she might be wearing makeup too, though that could have been shapeshifting with her. Still, she had made the effort and that meant a lot to me. Also, she looked so damn sexy.

Melody was staring at me as much as I was at her. Finally, she managed to say, “Umm… Carmilla said she’d be waiting for us in the garage. I guess that we should get going if we’re going to be on time to pick up Rose and get some shopping in before dinner.” She kissed me on the cheek to not mess up my makeup and then looped her arm in my own to lead me to the elevator. I was so smitten that I was barely aware of my sister walking alongside us.

“Have fun girls, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Carmen teased as the elevator doors closed.